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roxannarambles · 4 months

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Title: Home For the Holidays

Ship: Nemona x Juliana

Summary: Nemona doesn't have much planned for this holiday season but in the very least, when it comes to getting Juliana a gift, she wants to do things right

Nemona never had such a difficult time getting a gift for somebody before.

Getting gifts for someone was super simple, normally. Just find out what they’re interested in! Then maybe do a little checking to see what they already have and get them something they don’t. Easy, right? With the Winter Solstice coming up, giving gifts was a big part of that. And Nemona had new friends this year, so she definitely wanted to get something for each of them. It was smooth sailing for most of them. For example, Arven: he loved cooking. Nemona talked to Mr. Saguaro to learn what fancy cooking gadgets and ingredients were desirable, and she bought Arven some really gourmet salt from different regions. For Penny, she asked her about the shows she was currently into, and then she checked her shelves of DVDs to make sure what she had, before buying her a nice DVD set of her current favorite anime.

For Juliana, well, of course she loved pokemon battling. Nemona had some really rare and useful Ability Patches, five of them! She knew Juliana would love those, so it was a great gift for her. Piece of cake!

. . . but then Nemona started to second-guess herself.

Getting a gift for Juliana was different, somehow. True, Juliana would love the Ability Patches, but it wasn’t a particularly personal gift, was it? And Juliana was . . . special to Nemona, really special, and she wanted her gift to reflect that. Nemona felt like she wasn’t always really great at telling Juliana just how much she meant to her. Sometimes she would just blurt it out, true, but she usually did that just prior to rushing off in embarrassment, too nervous to see Juliana’s true reaction. And the times she did see her reaction, well, Nemona wasn’t the greatest at reading people, so she didn’t exactly trust herself to know for sure.

Oof. Feelings were complicated. But maybe gift giving could help with that. She could just show Juliana how much she cared for her. That seemed like a lot less scary way to do it. But it had to be perfect. Not too practical and impersonal, but also not too intimate, otherwise that’d be offputting and presuming too much about how close they were. It couldn’t be too cheap but it also couldn’t be too expensive, she didn’t wanna seem like she was showing off or drawing attention to any sort of expense disparity between gifts. Also it should be something creative and unique, something that really stood out, but not so unique that it misses the mark and Juliana doesn’t even like it. Something that was thoughtful and showed she clearly put a lot of effort into it, but not too much effort, something that told her how she felt but also wasn’t too raw and honest in case that was overwhelming or it wasn’t reciprocated.

She could . . . do all that, right? Nemona brainstormed for hours but every idea she had was rejected for some reason or the other. She wandered shops for inspiration, but nothing seemed quite right. She even asked Arven and Penny for suggestions and asked them what they’d gotten Juliana. (Arven had made Juliana some really nice Solstice cookies and Penny had bought her a cute pair of headphones with Umbreon-shaped ears attached) They tried their best to give Nemona suggestions, but none of their ideas really felt like the perfect answer.

Eventually Nemona just had to go with something and hope it would turn out okay. She chose something that had to be custom-ordered, a little on the pricey side but not extremely so. Once she put the order in she tried to just put it out of her mind and stop worrying.

As the Solstice drew nearer, they had to bid Arven and Penny a temporary farewell. Penny was flying back to Galar for the holidays to be with her dad. Arven’s case was a little more complicated. When he learned of his mother’s death, his next of kin had to be notified, once they’d managed to track them down. He hadn’t actually met any of his extended family before. But they did track someone down, Arven’s grandmother on his mom’s side. She lived in Kalos and hadn’t been in touch with her daughter for some time, but had seemed very warm and welcoming when Arven contacted her. She had invited Arven over for the Solstice, and so he was flying out to Kalos to meet her. They made sure to exchange gifts before they left. And so that left Nemona and Juliana in Paldea. Juliana would no doubt be spending the holiday with her mother, of course. It was nice that all of Nemona’s friends were spending time with their families. She was happy for them, truly.

Thinking about it sometimes made her feel a pang of loneliness and maybe even jealousy, but she ignored it as best she could. Her home life was not exactly ideal, true, but she wasn’t going to complain about it and bum her friends out. They deserved this chance to enjoy their time.

There was a piece of bad news that did manage to really dampen Nemona’s mood, though. It turned out that the gift she had custom-ordered for Juliana probably wouldn’t be ready in time for the holiday. They had called that morning to give her the update– they would do their best, but it might be delayed for a few days. Nemona felt very disheartened after that. Not only was she unsure whether the gift she picked out would be a good one, but it wasn’t even going to be on time. She moped in her dorm room after that, not really feeling like going out. She was leaving Mesagoza tomorrow to return to the house in Cabo Poco, since her family wanted her to tend to the house. If she wanted the chance to buy something last-minute, she should really jump on it now. Yet she couldn’t seem to muster the willpower. Seeing all the Solstice decorations and music and such seemed a bit . . . unappealing now. She didn’t want to be a grump, but she couldn’t help feeling like one at the moment.

Nemona was busy zoning out with videos of pokemon matches, munching on junk food, when a knock at her door startled her. The door swung open soon after, a girl bounding in, her voice cheery as she sing-songed,

“Happy Solstice Eve, Nemona!”

Nemona immediately dropped her tablet, her face brightening.

“Jules!”

She bounced off her bed and rushed up to her, hugging her.

“Happy Solstice Eve! How’s it going, you excited to see your mom tomorrow? Betcha she’s excited, we’ve been so busy this semester you’ve hardly seen her for months now, huh?”

Juliana chuckled,

“Honestly I think she’s been enjoying the time alone, she tells me all about the places she’s been exploring in Paldea. She’s kinda been having her own treasure hunt, haha. But yeah, it should be nice! We’re going to have a big Solstice breakfast and everything. Mom’s cooking is the best. Oh, don’t tell Arven I said that.”

“I’m sure he’d understand. Tell your mom tomorrow I said ‘hi,’okay? You still have to invite me over one of these days, I’m dying to meet her.”

“Of course! Oh, and that brings me to why I’m here.”

Juliana had an excited gleam in her eye as she set down her bags. She pulled a brightly-wrapped package from one of the bags, presenting it with a little flourish.

“To my best friend and beloved rival, heehee. I figured we should exchange our gifts now since we’ll both be with our families tomorrow.”

Nemona accepted the gift, a slim, tiny package wrapped in shiny red paper, topped with a little green bow. She felt the guilt and anxiety return.

“A-about that, I . . .”

She trailed off and sighed.

“What? What’s wrong?”

She looked to Juliana with sad eyes.

“I got you something, but the problem is, it’s, um, it’s a custom-order kind of thing and they just called me earlier today and said it’s gonna be late, probaby for a few days. I’m really sorry, Juliana–”

“Oh, gosh, that’s all? Nemona, don’t worry about it, it’s fine!”

“I really wanted to give it to you on time though, I feel really bad . . . I guess I should have ordered it sooner, ugh . . .”

“Nemona,” Juliana put her hands on both her shoulders. She spoke breezily,

“You’re being silly. I don’t even need a gift from you, you know that. Not when I have you!”

She leaned in and rubbed the tip of their noses together the way Pawmi kissed. Nemona giggled,

“J-jules!”

“Now don’t give it another thought, just open your present, okay?”

Nemona tried to ignore the tingly sensation that had spread across her entire body– if she knew any better she’d be convinced Juliana packed as much electricity as any Pawmi’s Nuzzle did– and instead just laughed,

“O-okay, okay, you win. But um, you want me to open this now? It’s still Solstice Eve.”

“That’s okay, you can open it now. Unless you wanna save it for tomorrow when you open gifts with the rest of your family?”

Nemona glanced away from her, discomfort flickering across her face briefly before quickly being replaced.

“Mmm, well, let’s just do it now!”

“Okay! Heehee, great, I can see your reaction then.”

Nemona turned her attention to the little package, excited and curious about what it could be. It was very small, whatever it was. She carefully tore the paper off and found a jewelry box within. She opened the clamshell.

Inside was a necklace. It was a pokeball encrusted in sparkling little gems, red gems on top and white ones on the bottom. The center button of the pokeball was set with a pearlescent gem that had a rainbow sheen. The little pokeball rested on a thin gold chain.

“Oh wow . . . Juliana, it’s beautiful!”

When she looked to her friend, she saw that Juliana actually looked a little nervous.

“You really like it? I know you’re not much of a jewelry kind of person, but when I saw these, I thought . . . well, it seemed like such a good fit for you.”

Nemona smiled brightly, answering,

“I love it! And yeah, you’re right I’m not usually one for jewelry, usually it kinda just gets in the way, you know? But a necklace like this is perfect. It’s so cute and it’s so sweet of you . . . oh, I hope it wasn’t too expensive though?”

Juliana shook her head.

“It was pretty reasonable. Those little gems are tera shards that pokemon drop after they Terastallize, the jeweler collects and polishes ‘em.”

Nemona’s eyes widened.

“Whaaat? That’s so cool!”

“Yeah! Oh, also, there’s a little surprise. It’s also a locket.”

“A locket?”

“Yeah! I guess it’s kinda an old-school thing, hold on, I’ll show you.”

Juliana gently pressed down on the little center ‘button’ of the pokeball. The top and bottom of the pokeball swung open on two hinges, revealing a flat compartment beneath.

“See? You can put a tiny little picture inside it. Usually people put a picture of their pokemon in these, I thought you could put a photo of Pawmot or something!”

Nemona made a delighted noise and gushed,

“That’s amazing!! Juliana, thank you so much, this is such a cool present!”

“You’re welcome! I’m glad you like it so much.”

Nemona hugged her again, squeezing her tight.

“I love it. You’re the best, Jules.”

Unfortunately, Juliana couldn’t stay for very long after that– she’d promised her mom she’d do a bit of shopping for her while she was still in Mesagoza. Juliana invited her to come along if she wanted to, but Nemona declined, saying something vague about finishing up some work. In truth, she didn’t have much work to do; she just was nervous she’d bring the mood down. Or worse, Juliana would notice something amis. But this was fine, she didn’t mind lounging in her dorm the rest of the evening. It was rare she took the time to just chill, after all.

As the hour grew late and she was sitting in bed with Pawmot, she looked up ‘locket’ online. Juliana had mentioned it was sort of an old-school thing. She found a website on the history of the locket and read aloud,

“A locket is a pendant for storing a photograph or other small memento, usually given to loved ones . . . it symbolizes something you want to cherish forever. . . ooh, Pawmot, that’s so sweet!”

It was supposed to contain a photo, but Nemona figured it probably had to be a physical photo. She didn’t have any of those. How did you even get physical photos? She did a little more searching and found out you could get any digital picture printed as a physical photo if you wanted. Great! So she could just use any of the pictures she had on her phone. She scrolled through her phone, trying to see if she had any really good shots of Pawmot. She found plenty of photos of Pawmot, but they hardly could be called ‘good.’ The majority were super blurry because Pawmot rarely stood still and Nemona wasn’t exactly great at snapping pictures.

“Urgh, none of these will be clear when they’re really small. Hold on, let’s try to get a better shot.”

She aimed the phone at Pawmot.

“Smile, Pawmot! Lemme see those cute ‘lil cheeks.”

Pawmot came closer and shoved his face into the phone.

“No, back up, silly, that’s too close. Here.”

She nudged him back and tried taking some shots, but Pawmot squirmed and squeaked at her.

“Hold still, Pawmot, just for a second, okay? Ok, look at the camera!”

Pawmot bumped the phone again and jumped onto Nemona’s chest, nibbling on her face.

“Pawmot, c’mon!”

She struggled to get a proper photo, but the pokemon was way too wiggly and refused to sit still long enough. Eventually she gave up, sighing,

“Ok, ok, fine. Maybe I’ll try again when you’re sleeping?”

Pawmot shoved his way ontop of her again, smooshing his face against hers and chirping happily. Nemona pet his fluffy head and chuckled.

“Not that I really need a photo of you, huh? You’re already in my face pretty much always.”

Pawmot purred, his big ears twitching as she pet his soft fur. Nemona let her thoughts wander as she pet him and relaxed. As her mind lazily rotated around the memories of Juliana’s visit earlier, an idea occurred to her.

A really amazing idea.

“Something you cherish . . .”

She scrolled through the photos on her phone again, until she landed on one that would be perfect.

“Yeah!”

So excited by her idea, she leapt to her feet (Pawmot slipping off of her) and grabbed her bag. It wasn’t too late yet, the shops should still be open.

“C’mon, Pawmot! This shouldn’t take us too long, if we hurry.”

On the morning of the Winter Solstice, Nemona got up pretty early to make the trip out to Cabo Poco, packing some essentials in her bag and taking the first Air Taxi out there. It didn’t snow in this part of Paldea, but it was a pretty chilly morning, cold enough for Nemona to see her breath– she was glad she bundled up. When she arrived, she walked down the familiar path and let herself into the house with her key.

The house was very empty and quiet. Truthfully, the house always felt pretty empty to her, but it felt even moreso this morning, with even the usual house staff gone for the holiday. Nemona did some basic tasks, taking in the mail and checking on some of the family’s pokemon. Her mother was particularly fond of Pachirisu, and she fed the hyper group of squirrels, all of whom seemed very excited to see her. It didn’t take Nemona long to finish the rest of her house chores. After she did, she got herself some breakfast, eating it while sitting on the couch in front of the massive TV. She sighed as she flipped through channels. A million different channels and yet it felt like nothing good was on. She left the station on some cartoon and tried not to think about anything in particular.

Inevitably, her thoughts turned to her friends, though. She wondered what they were up to. She hoped Arven and his grandmother were getting along well in Kalos. Arven had mentioned he was going to cook for her. She bet his grandmother would be very proud of whatever he made. Penny had made a big show of being annoyed about returning home for the Solstice, telling them about all the twee holiday traditions her dad was really into, but Nemona suspected that deep down, Penny was actually looking forward to it. Nemona hoped Penny didn’t take what she had with her dad for granted.

And, of course, Nemona wondered about Juliana. Just down the path from her, so close, and yet so far away. Nemona’s chest ached just thinking about it, but she refused to give into self-pity. Juliana deserved the chance to catch up with her mom and have a nice holiday– Nemona wasn’t going to interrupt that. She sighed, deciding to make herself some tea. Maybe she’d put a movie on to watch.

Nemona was sipping her tea and in the middle of halfheartedly purusing her family’s streaming services for a movie when the doorbell chimed. Huh. That was weird, she was pretty sure there was no reason for anyone to drop by the house today. She moved to the foyer, hoping it wasn’t somebody from house staff that thought they needed to work today.

When she opened the door, she found a delivery man standing there, large box in tow.

“Hello! Have a package here for a . . . hmm . . .” The man checked his tablet.

“Nemona Sánchez?”

“Oh! Yep, that’s me, although I don’t remember getting any . . . oh, oh! Is this from Dragon Claw Sports?!”

She grabbed the box to check before the man could even reply and then exclaimed,

“It is!! Oh my gosh, this is fantastic! It got here on time!”

“Happy to hear. I just, um, I need a quick signature here . . .”

“Right, of course. Sorry.”

Nemona scribbled a messy signature and thanked the delivery man before hauling the box into her house with a grin. She had completely given up on the idea that Juliana’s gift would arrive in time, so this was a really big boost to her mood. Once she’d dragged it in, though, she realized she still needed to wrap it. Dang. There’s no way there was any wrapping paper around here. She wasn’t about to give up yet, though. Maybe she could find something that would work?

After a lot of digging, she managed to find some parchment paper in the kitchen. It took a surprising amount of work but eventually she was able to wrap the box after she found some scissors and tape, although when she finished, her wrap job still looked pretty lumpy and sloppy. She groaned, unhappy with the results. Not only was it really sloppy but the plain white paper was ugly, too. She tried to think of how she might make it look better. Nothing in this house was whimsical or pretty, not in a Solstice-presents sort of way, so it seemed an impossible task.

“Oh! Maybe . . .”

Nemona rushed to her bedroom. Clicking on the light, the room was very clean and stark, much like her dorm room at school. A long time ago, her room had been vibrant and colorful, covered in posters and fairy lights and wild decorations, but that was back before Nemona had been made self-conscious over such things. She’d painted over the walls and given away a lot of that stuff since then.

But not all of it. Nemona got down on the floor and pulled a box out from under her bed. She rifled through the box for a bit, giving a satisfied, ‘Aha!’ once she’d landed on something useful. It was a sheet of pokemon stickers, bright, colorful, childish. Maybe a bit silly, but at least it was something. She went back downstairs and used the whole sheet of stickers on the box. It looked a lot better after that, and she smiled.

It didn’t take long for Nemona to think of her next problem, though. Juliana was still busy enjoying the Solstice with her mom. She didn’t want to interrupt that, but at the same time, she wanted to get her gift to her. Should she just leave the box on her doorstep, maybe? Although somebody might swipe it, that’d be awful. It would take a pretty cold heart to steal a gift like that, sure, but the possibility still made her nervous. Well, she could always give it to her after the Solstice?

Feeling very indecisive, Nemona took her phone out, typing out a text.

hi jules, sorry to bother you but I just wanted to let you know your gift arrived today

Juliana replied soon after.

oh cool!! you can bring it by if you want to :D or if you’re too busy with your family we can do it whenever

Nemona hesitated, then typed out,

ok. sure. we can do it after the solstice that’s fine.

Juliana answered,

ok, if that’s what you wanna do, sounds good.

She went to sit back down on the couch, slumping. For some reason her stomach was twisted into a knot. What was wrong with her? Was she secretly hoping Juliana would want to drop everything just for her stupid gift? Ugh.

so how are things going? enjoying solstice with your folks?

Nemona blinked at the text. Her heart picked up speed, nervous. She hated lying, she hated it so, so much. Especially if it was to Juliana. Not that she ever had lied to her before, she couldn’t think of any time she did, although she did omit stuff sometimes. She’d hoped her family situation could remain a lie of omission, but that was tough with such a point-blank question.

well the solstice isn’t a super big deal for my family to be honest

She hoped being indirect would work.

wait, really??

yeah, we don’t do much for it. but that’s fine, I don’t mind.

After a bit, Juliana came back with,

so what’s everyone doing right now then?

Nemona stared at the question for a while, trying to think of how she could weasel out of this. She answered vaguely,

they’re working

working?? seriously? you tellin me your parents cant even relax at home on the solstice, damn.

The guilt was getting to be too much. She tried to type out an excuse or just laugh it off, but she just couldn’t make herself do it any longer. She typed out her confession.

well they’re actually away on business right now

Juliana’s reply was rapid.

what?? wait so it’s just you and your sister then?

she’s with dad. family business stuff, they’re in unova. mom’s in kalos.

so you’re ALONE?!

yeah, but it’s no big deal jules, I’m used to it! I’ve spent a lot of solstices alone, so no need to worry.

This apparently was not the right way to convince Juliana that it was no big deal.

are you kidding me?? that’s horrible!! why didn’t you tell me sooner, I could have just invited you over to have solstice here!

I didn’t say anything because I don’t want to intrude on your family time. juliana, really it’s fine. it doesn't bother me

I cant believe they’d do that to you, thats so messed up

they’re just super busy is all

I dont care if they’re busy, they still should make time for their own daughter! theyre like NEVER around!!

jules, thank you for being mad on my behalf but i dont wanna make this about me. just go back to enjoying your solstice, ok? we can–

There was a knock at the door and Nemona grumbled.

brb theres somebody at the door again

As she walked to the foyer her phone bleeped again,

how am i supposed to enjoy it knowing youre sitting there all alone?

Nemona typed,

one sec ok

She pocketed the phone and opened the door. When she saw who it was, she sputtered a surprised,

“J-Jules–”

Juliana was clad in a cute Solstice turtleneck and her winter coat, a checkered scarf in her hands. She looped the scarf over Nemona’s head and gave it a little tug, pulling her close. Her hazel eyes sparkled as she said,

“You’re coming with me, tesoro, no excuses, no escaping. We’re gonna give you a happy Solstice this year.”

Nemona was doomed the moment she’d opened the door. How could she possibly resist this girl? She felt her resolve crumbling instantly, her cheeks heating up as Juliana held onto the scarf firmly with a smirk, as if daring her to try and escape. For some reason, she felt a little tongue-tied.

“I-I-”

A laugh bubbled up from her chest and she agreed helplessly,

“Okay.”

They had to stop briefly for Nemona to get her coat and her bag– and then she realized she needed to grab Juliana’s gift too– but then they were off, walking down the path to Juliana’s house. Juliana’s eyes widened when she saw the gift.

“Whoa, that’s my present? It’s huge!”

“Mmm, yeah,” Nemona mumbled, glancing away and feeling a little self-conscious.

“I love all the stickers . . . man, I wonder what it could be. And you said it’s custom-made? Hmm . . . do I get any hints?”

Juliana was poking at the box, trying to see through the paper.

“Hey! No peeking! I thought you liked surprises, Jules.”

“I do, but I also hate waiting.”

Nemona laughed,

“Well you won’t need to wait much longer, I promise.”

“Okay, but first we gotta get you some breakfast. Have you eaten anything yet?”

“Just some toast.”

“Oh, perfect.” Juliana took the steps to her house quickly and swung the door open, calling excitedly,

“Ma, we’re back, I got her!”

The woman that came to greet them was in an apron and had her hair tied back in a loose ponytail. She smiled warmly at Nemona; she had kind, hazel eyes and pretty features, the family resemblance obvious.

“It’s so wonderful to finally meet you, Nemona. Oh, let me help you with that!”

“Oh, thank you! And it’s great to meet you too!”

The woman took the large box from Nemona and helped deposit it on the floor in the living room, right beside their Solstice tree and some other gifts.

“I have to say it feels like I already know you, in a way. Juliana’s talked about you probably every single day since we’ve moved here,” the woman chuckled, wiping her hands on her apron.

Juliana’s eyes widened and then she squirmed, looking embarrassed.

“Mommmm! C’mon, I don’t talk about her that much. . .”

Her mother smiled mischievously, ruffling Juliana’s hair.

“If you say so, dear. The two of us have already eaten, Nemona, but there’s plenty left over. Why don’t I serve you something, Juliana and I can enjoy our tea while you eat. Does that sound good?”

Nemona nodded, somehow feeling a bit more shy than usual. Well, it was Juliana’s mom– it was important that she liked her, she wanted to leave a good impression.

“Y-yeah, that sounds great. Thank you!”

Nemona was treated to a full Unovan breakfast; eggs, bacon, crispy potatoes, toast with jam, and fluffy pancakes covered with fresh fruit. It was a much heavier meal than Nemona was used to for breakfast, but she had to admit that everything tasted amazing. She spent the time chatting with Juliana’s mother, learning more about where they used to live in Unova and where Juliana’s mother used to work; Juliana’s mom also had plenty of questions for Nemona, excited to hear more about her experiences during her first year at Naranja as well as the more recent adventures she’d been having, including a new school club she and Juliana were trying to start up. Juliana mostly let the two talk and would put in the occasional comment or exciting detail.

Nemona found Juliana’s mother to be a very smart and surprisingly very funny woman– not to mention incredibly kind– and she took an immediate liking to her. And judging by just how much she already knew about Nemona, she was perhaps not exaggerating about how much Juliana had talked about her. It felt a little foreign for an adult to listen to Nemona so very intently and to clearly care so much about all the details of her life, for somebody to be so warm and encouraging and present. Well, it wasn’t entirely foreign, because Nemona had some wonderful teachers of course, but that wasn’t quite the same. Nemona found herself actually getting a little emotional over how quickly she felt welcomed into the household, how easily and effortlessly she already felt at home here.

After a very leisurely breakfast, Nemona helped clean up and then they went to the living room to open gifts. They had a little tree dressed in fairy lights and tinsel and a modest number of gifts sitting below it; the room was decorated with pinecones and sprigs of evergreen, a snowglobe on the coffee table and candles flickering merrily on shelves. The house was quite small compared to Nemona’s– the entire downstairs could practically fit into Nemona’s foyer alone. It also felt like the coziest, nicest home she had ever been in, and she was so grateful in the moment that she was here instead of sitting in the cold, empty house just down the path.

Opening gifts didn’t take too long, but it was very enjoyable to watch Juliana and her mother open their presents, especially to see Juliana’s reactions to Arven’s and Penny’s gifts. They had saved Nemona’s contribution for last, at Nemona’s insistence. In truth, Nemona was still nervous about Juliana’s reaction to her gift, even though there was no reason to be. When the time came, though, Nemona realized she still had another present she’d almost forgotten about.

“Right, one sec! I got something for your mom too.”

She got up to rush over to her bag and dig through it. She took a tiny box wrapped in gold paper and handed it to Juliana’s mother.

“Oh, that’s so sweet of you, thank you dear.”

“It was kind of a last-minute purchase,” Nemona confessed, sitting back down with a nervous smile. She’d seen it in the shops last night when she had gone out and they’d been good enough to wrap it there; she never expected she’d be able to give it to her in person, though, so this was a pleasant surprise.

Once Juliana’s mother had torn the paper open, she exclaimed cheerfully,

“Oh, how lovely! Juliana, look.”

She held the box out for Juliana to see; it was a glass ornament in the shape of an Ice Tera Jewel.

“They’re really popular in Paldea, a lot of people put them on the very top of their trees. Like, erm, like the same way a Tera Jewel sits ontop a pokemon’s head, you know?” Nemona explained. Juliana laughed,

“I love that! What a good idea. We should put it up now!”

She fetched a stool to stand on and lugged it over to the tree.

“Careful, dear. Why don’t we have Nemona put it up there?”

“Oh, yeah, good idea. You do the honors, Nemona! Your arms are longer than mine anyway.”

Nemona laughed and took the ornament from her. She carefully placed it on the top, adjusting it until it looked perfect. They all admired it for a few moments. Juliana’s mother said,

“Very nice. It looks beautiful, Nemona.”

Nemona smiled,

“Yeah! Your tree’s terastallized now, heheh.”

“Okay okay but now it’s time for my last gift!!” Juliana said, clearly with other priorities in mind. She got down on the ground and grabbed the large box, her eyes glinting with excitement. Nemona sat back down on the couch and watched Juliana poke and prod at the gift, trying to see through the paper.

“I thought you wanted to open it,” Nemona commented, amused.

“It’s part of the ritual, okay?” Juliana said, knocking on the box as if that would somehow give her more information. Nemona gave a little snort.

Apparently finished with her assessment, Juliana proceeded to tear the paper off with gleeful abandon, finding a plain box inside. She grabbed the pair of scissors to cut through the tape and open the box, rifling through the packing peanuts and flinging them all over.

When she pulled out the contents of the box, her eyes grew wide.

“Whoooa . . .”

Her mother said,

“Oh, goodness. Look at that!”

Juliana held aloft a large saddle. It was made of a rich, beautiful black leather and had a wide, comfortable-looking seat, looking similar to the higher-end saddles that Cyclizar were sometimes fitted with. Juliana seemed speechless, just gazing at it, and Nemona started to nervously ramble.

“It’s for Koraidon. Um, you remember the day I borrowed him? I took him in so they could take measurements and everything. They normally made saddles for Cyclizar so this was a bit unusual for them, but they were very thorough with it. It should fit him perfectly if they did their job right–”

Juliana cut her off with an excited,

“Nemona, this is incredible!”

Nemona smiled, relieved at her reaction– maybe more than she cared to admit. Juliana set the saddle down on the couch beside her, smoothing her hands over it.

“It’s so soft!”

Nemona nodded.

“Yeah, w-well, you know how you’re always saying your butt hurts after you ride Koraidon for too long, I wanted to fix that. It should feel even better once it’s broken in a little. Oh, and it should be more comfortable for Koraidon too! They made sure to make it well-padded. I also made sure they made the seat big enough for when we– uh, when we both ride him together . . .”

Juliana gave an excited squeal,

“It’s perfect! We should go try it on him now, let’s go!”

She started to haul the saddle to the door, Nemona laughing and following after. Juliana’s mother called,

“Juliana, don’t forget your coat! Goodness, that child is always in such a hurry . . . don’t forget your coat either, Nemona, dear.”

Nemona was grateful that the saddle fit Koraidon just as it was supposed to; she helped Juliana put it on and then they went out for a ride together. They raced along the path all the way to Los Platos, tearing through the sleepy town at high speeds, laughing all the way. Juliana wanted to go further but Nemona made her promise to not overdo the first journey out so they could break the saddle in gradually. They spent some time fooling about in Los Platos, enjoying the Solstice decorations and letting their pokemon romp around, then returned home. It was surprisingly still quite chilly out, the overcast skies and nippy breeze suggesting it might rain later.

When the girls returned, Juliana’s mother made them some hot chocolate, and the two went up to hang out in Juliana’s bedroom. Juliana said she used to sit in front of a fireplace back in Unova during the Solstice, but her new house didn’t have one, which kind of bummed her out. Nemona joked she could always just sit in front of her Volcarona, but Juliana loved that idea. They gathered a bunch of pillows together on the floor and Juliana let her Volcarona out so they could sit there together, sipping their hot cocoa. Rain began to gently patter against the windows, and Nemona had to admit it felt incredibly cozy.

“So how’s your butt?” Nemona suddenly asked with a smirk.

“Whuh? Oh, pffft. It’s great! Way better than riding bareback. I could tell Koraidon liked it better too. Thank you again, Nemona, I love my present so much. And I love that it’s something we can enjoy together.”

Nemona's expression melted into something soft.

“I’m glad. To be honest, I was kinda nervous about getting you a gift. I must have spent weeks agonizing over it, so it’s a relief I did an okay job with it. Hold on, oof, getting too warm here.”

It was very toasty in front of Juliana’s snoozing Volcarona, so Nemona pulled her sweater off, tossing it aside. Juliana leaned against her and giggled,

“An okay job? You did fantastic. Also, you worry too much, I meant it when I said I would have been happy with anything, Nemona."

“I knooooow, but I still wanted to–”

Juliana’s eyes brightened as she suddenly exclaimed,

“Oh, yay! You’re wearing it now, that makes me so happy!”

Nemona glanced down and realized she was referring to the necklace she’d given her.

“Oh, yeah! Of course. I’m gonna wear it every day.”

“What?? Aaaa, that’s so sweet, Nemona, you don’t have to!” Juliana buried her face into Nemona’s shoulder bashfully and Nemona laughed,

“Of course I don’t have to, I want to!”

“Heehee, I’m so glad . . . oh!” Juliana looked at her with bright eyes, asking,

“Did you decide yet what you wanna put inside it? I thought I could help you take pictures of Pawmot if you want.”

Nemona’s smile disappeared and she glanced away, suddenly looking very shy. She mumbled,

“Oh um, well . . . I kinda, um, already put something in there . . .”

Juliana’s eyes widened.

“Oh wow, already? Can I see?”

Nemona looked to her, hesitating. She knew that of course Juliana would want to see, she’d always planned on showing her, of course she did, but now that she was faced with it in the moment, there was a sudden terror gripping her. What had seemed like such an incredible, brilliant idea late last night was starting to look like an awful, horrible idea now that Juliana was looking at her and wanting to see, oh god, what if she thinks it’s weird–

“What’s wrong?”

Nemona forced a laugh, grinning,

“Ahaa, nothing! ‘Course you can see, here . . .”

She took the little pokeball up with shaking fingers and depressed the button, revealing the little photo beneath. Juliana leaned in to see.

Then her eyes grew wide and she held a hand to her mouth in shock. The little photograph of Juliana’s face was very crisp and easy to make out– the photo printers at the store did an excellent job with it– so there was no mistaking what it was. Nemona’s heart was pounding and she was trying so hard not to start on her usual nervous rambling, but every second Juliana spent staring in silent shock was just killing her.

Finally, Juliana’s brows curved inward and she squeaked in a high-pitched voice,

“Nemona . . .”

The trouble was that still did not clarify anything- was that good? Was that bad?? Nemona opened her mouth to start backpedaling like a champion, but before she could get a word out, she suddenly found herself in the tightest grip of her life, Juliana squeezing her so hard that it felt like she was trying her absolute best to suffocate her. Nemona grunted,

“Ulllk!”

With her face smooshed against her, Juliana squeaked,

“Nemona this is the single sweetest thing anyone’s ever done for me ever in the history of ever??”

“J-jules– n-need air–”

Juliana loosened her grip a little, saying,

“Sorry, sorry, I’m just– gahhhh!” She buried her face in Nemona’s neck and squeezed her again, making adorable and completely indecipherable noises of joy. Nemona decided if she was going to suffocate this way, it was entirely worth it and she had zero regrets.

Eventually Juliana managed to pull away, though, her face flushed and her eyes just a little teary.

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me sooner, you coulda just– oh, my god, you– you were worried about it, weren’t you! You acted all worried when I asked, you silly Zangoose, why?”

Nemona smiled self-consciously and glanced away, answering shyly,

“I dunno, I guess I was worried that it, um, y’know, maybe you’d think it was a little . . . a little . . . too much? I-I–”

Juliana quickly hugged Nemona once again, saying earnestly,

“Never. You’re never too much, Nemona. Never hold back for me, never.”

Nemona felt as though a soft, rhythmic static was rumbling pleasantly inside her, echoing through her head and crackling under her skin, making it quite impossible to string a coherent thought together. She hugged Juliana back, not trusting herself to speak.

Still hugging her, Juliana giggled,

“To be honest, now I kinda wanna get a necklace too so we can match, and put a 'lil picture of you in there, tesoro."

Nemona’s face grew incredibly warm and the static grew impossibly louder, her heart stuttering in her chest. Some distant part of her mind managed to wonder if this was what people meant when they used the word ‘bliss.’

Juliana finally pulled away so she could look at her and ask,

"Would that be okay? I don't wanna make your present seem less special, so it's fine if you don't want-"

"Of course it'd be okay that'd be AMAZING!" Nemona blurted quickly. Juliana laughed, then said,

"Okay! Oh, wait, I gotta tell mom!! C'mon, let's go show her!"

Juliana bounded up and grabbed Nemona's hand, pulling her along. Nemona stammered,

"O-oh, um, w-we- okay-"

Juliana rushed downstairs, finding her mother in the living room, reading a book.

"Mom, look what Nemona put in her locket!!"

Nemona laughed nervously, not at all prepared for this but apparently this was a thing that was happening now. She held up the little pendant awkwardly and glanced away as Juliana's mother carefully examined it. She felt a blush rapidly spreading across her face.

"Well, now. Would you look at that."

Nemona's gaze flicked briefly to Juliana's mother. When they made eye contact, there was something very knowing in the older woman's eyes. Nemona quickly looked away again, reddening further.

"What a bold statement of devotion. Very beautiful, Nemona."

"Thanks," Nemona mumbled. Juliana exclaimed,

"I'm gonna get one too so we match! I gotta find the perfect picture for it."

Juliana's mother returned her focus to her book, smiling fondly.

"Why don't you borrow my camera, dear? I'm sure you'll be able to get a very lovely photo of Nemona with that."

"Ooh, yeah! Good idea! Thanks ma!"

The rest of the day was spent very comfortably: helping Juliana's mother with cooking, playing games in the living room while Juliana's Gengar and Nemona's Pawmot rough-housed, and later, when the rain eased up, walking along Nemona's litte piece of private beach. Juliana snapped so many photos, but her favorite one was a picture she snapped at the top of the lighthouse when the skies had cleared and the sun was beginning to set. She'd angled it so that the setting sun had given Nemona an orange, radiant glow. She said it suited her perfectly. They stayed out there on the lighthouse until the stars came out, just talking, breathing the sea air, and enjoying each other's company. They could see all the houses below glittering in their multicolored Solstice lights, in Cabo Poco, in Los Platos, and even further beyond into Mesagoza. It had never looked so peaceful and beautiful to Nemona before.

It turned out that it was a much, much happier Winter Solstice than Nemona had ever dared to dream.

#fluff #tropey #someone online said 'what if nemona's family is away on business during the holidays bc they're just barely ever around'#so here you go #pokemon #pokemon s/v #pokemon scarlet/violet #julinemo #terajules #julinemo fanfic

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bethanythebogwitch · 7 months

Text

Today I'l finishing up presenting and giving my thoughts on all aquatic Digimon. For previous parts of this series see all fish, all mermaids, all aquatics part 1, and all aquatics part 2. Today I'll be covering the remaining ultimate/perfect and mega/ultimate level Digimon.

The first one of the ultimate/perfect is Anomalocarimon. Anomalocaris is one of my favorite extinct animals and I'm absolutely delighted that both Digimon and Pokemon based a monster off of it. It also definitely takes after a sea scorpion with it's scorpion-like tail. It was even born from scientific data about extinct species. I think this is a great Digimon that deserved more attention. Anomalocarimon caused a bit of a translation kerfuffle when it was given the English name Scorpiomon (because American kids are too dumb to know what an Anomalocaris is I guess). Well there's also another unrelated Digimon called Scorpiomon so the English dub was forced to change its name to SkullScorpiomon. Yes, this has caused confusion before. Anomalocarimon also has an x-antibody form that looks like it was standing next to a bunch of exploding spray paint cans.

Anomalocarimon

Anomalocarimon X

Next is Dagomon, who was given the English name Dragomon. It's a minor change but kind of dumb because Dagomon comes from the Cthulhu mythos character Father Dagon and has nothing to do with dragons. Despite being named after Father Dagon, Dagomon is clearly Cthulhu as a Digimon. It's also treated as such in the animes. in Digimon Adventure 02 it rules over deep ones in an extradimensional spaces called the Dark Ocean and is implied to be more of a Lovecraftian horror than a Digimon. In Digimon Ghost Game it starts turning people into deep ones and is powerful enough to overwhelm a higher-level Digimon. I know it also shows up in Xros Wars, but I didn't watch that. It wears Buddhist prayer beads. In a heavily Buddhist country like Japan, a monster dressed like a Buddhist is probably the equivalent of historically-Catholic countries having vampire priests. I dig this one and while I say that a lot of Digimon could use more attention, I think Dagomon only showing up a little bit and being overwhelmingly powerful and mysterious is very appropriate for a Lovecraftian Digimon.

Related to Dagomon is Hangyomon, called Divermon in English. It's very much based on sea monsters like th Creature from the Black Lagoon, but with scuba gear. I think it's a neat Digimon. Notably, Hangyomon's most prominent appearance in the anime wasn't actually them. It was in the same episode as Dagomon and the Dark Ocean where at the end it's revealed that the creatures that presented themselves as Hangyomon were actually disguised deep ones serving Dagomon.

Next is Gusokumon and listen, I'm a simple nerd, I see a giant shrimp that shoots fish-shaped torpedos and I like it. It's also based on real-life biological phenomena relates to the deep ocean. Like many real deep-sea animals it lives life on show mode, being able to live an extremely long time while not getting to eat very often. It feeds on injured Digimon that sink to the bottom of the ocean, which sounds a lot like deep-sea scavengers and whale falls (Whamon falls?)

Next is MarineChimairamon, an aquatic chimera. Yes, it's spelles chimaira instead of chimera. When I looked it to to find out if that's an alternate translation from the original Greek I found out that "chimaira" is the name of a heavy metal band from Ohio. So congrats guys, you accidentally have a Digimon named after you. Two actually, because there is also a Chimairamon (English: Kimeramon) and the two are very similar concepts. They're artificial Digimon made out of a combination of body parts of multiple other Digimon. OC, do not steal. I actually like MarineChimairamon more that the original. I can see Coelamon's helmet, Ikkakumon's head and tusks, Octomon's horns, One arm from Ebidramon and the other from Hangyomon, and tentacles from Gesomon.

Finally at this level is MarineDevimon. Just like how MarineChimairamon is the aquatic version of Chimairamon, there is a land-based Devimon. While Devimon is an evil genius, MarineDevimon is consumed by hate and can destroy its enemies with raw power. I think it's a great design for an evil aquatic Digimon

The apex of Digimon evolution is the mega/ultimate level and there are indeed megas lurking in the depths of the Net Ocean. One of the many horrors down there is Cthyllamon. This very new Digimon is an evil version of MarineAngemon. It's just as tiny and like MarineAngemon, it preferes to not fight. While MarineAngemon uses the power of live to drain its foes of their fighting spirit, Cthyllamon terrifies enemies into diving up and brainwashes lower-level Digimon into serving it. Cthylla is a less-well known member of the Cthulhu mythos, a daughter of Cthulhu who looks like a winged octopus and serves as a back up body for big C if he is ever killed. Cthyllamon doesn't really have anything to do with that. I think it's a great counterpart to MarineAngemon and a delightful little villain

KingWhamon is a bigger version of Whamon and that's about all we know about it. Generally the measure for whetehr or not a Digimon is official is if it has an entry in the Digimon Reference Book and KingWhamon doesn't. The Reference Book is where you get the lore of what that Digimon is and does, so we don't have that for KingWhamon. Despite not appearing in the Reference Book, KingWhamon has an anime appearance in Xros Wars and a card in the card game, which sounds pretty official to me. It's a gigantic whale with an island growing on its head. Te idea of a sea creature so vast that it can be mistaken for an island is common in the legends of seafaring cultures around the world. It's a fine Digimon, I just wish we had more to go off of.

Next is Xiangpengmon and while it looks like a bird dragon, it is aquatic. It's based on the peng, a Chinese legendary creature that can turn from a bird to a fish. This is seen in its evolutionary line, starting as the bird Xiquemon, evolving to the fish Huankunmon, and finally ending as a dragon. Chinese dragons were often depicted as living in the sea and being capable of flight. I think Xiangpengmon is a great Digimon. It is one of 6 species that debuted in the China-exclusive mobile game Digimon New Century and all of them are amazing.

If there can be said to be an aquatic Digimon that's the most powerful, it would have to be Leviamon. Named after the mythical leviathan, Leviamon is not only a big red crocodile, it's one of the Seven Great Demon Lords. They are the epitome of evil in the Digital World and some of the most powerful Digimon ever. Each Demon Lord bears the power of one of the seven deadly sins and Leviamon holds the power of envy. Despite being ungodly powerful, Leviamon envies those it sees as better than itself and lashes out against them. How big is Leviamon? It's big enough that it could swallow the Digital World in one gulp. It's definitely for the better that it spends most of its time asleep in the depths of the sea. The lore says that the limits of Digimon power are being decoded and Leviamon has none. Its existence is also the foundation of evil in the Digital World. So it's a being with no limits that is the origin of all evil. Sounds less like a Digimon and more like some unfathomable embodiment of evil that happens to be masquerading as a Digimon. I think that's super cool and while Leviamon is definitely the least visually interesting of the Demon Lords, it's still one of the coolest. Leviamon also has an x-antibody variant and oh boy. The aquatic Digimon have actually lucked out when it comes to having decent x-antibody variants and you may wonder why I call x-antibodies as a whole overdesigned and ugly. This, THIS, is what I mean when I say x-antibody variants are overdesigned. There are so many lines on this thing that it can be hard to tell what I'm looking at. And it's not even the worst x-antibody form, not even close. The seal of envy hovering over it like a halo is cool, but all the Demon Lords get their seals incorporated into the x-antibody designs so it's not even a unique idea. There is just no salvaging this x-antibody design.

Leviamon

Leviamon X

That wraps up the aquatic Digimon and I had a lot of fun doing this. Since Halloween is up maybe I'll showcase some of my favorite spooky Digimon or the other Demon Lords. I may also do an intro to Digimon post because I have gotten comments from people saying they like the Digimon but don't know much about the franchise and how to approach it.

#digimon #anomalocarimon #scorpiomon #dagomon #dragomon #hangyomon #divermon #gusokumon #marinechimairamon #marinedevimon #cthyllamon #kingwhamon #xiangpengmon #leviamon

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weirdmarioenemies · 2 years

Photo

This post made me start thinking about Pokemon shape icons again. They’re funny! I like to think about them! And you know what? We’ve never done a Pokemon post before. So here we go! It’s time to cover every Pokemon that exists, all in one post, by exclusively talking about vague approximations of their shape! I will also be pointing out which I think is most significant of the group, whether funniest, weirdest, or whatever! This will be a very long post.

First we have Just A Head. Just A Head is as simple as it gets, but it proves that sometimes, Just A Head is all you need! Maybe it could bounce about, maybe it could roll, maybe it could even float. It doesn’t even need to be round, necessarily. Lots of possibilities, for Just A Head!

MOST NOTABLE: Polteageist is in here. What are you doing here? You have an entire body! You have limbs!

Head With Legs is much more straightforward. You know what this one is all about, and that is walking, waddling, wandering. It may sometimes have some little arms, but we’re not talking about those. It also doesn’t need to be just a head! Sometimes there is a body, even a neck, but as long as there are not potent enough arms, it is Head With Legs.

MOST NOTABLE: Dracovish being here is very funny to me, because it so WOULD have been in Bipedal Tailed, but then its tail had to go and be its body! So it’s not technically Tailless, either!

There is something fishy about With Fins! It looks like absolute fish, but there are some sea mammals and reptiles included, too! Be careful if you ever wear flippers while swimming, because if this is to be trusted, you will be very easy to confuse for a Cartoon Fish.

MOST NOTABLE: Does Luvdisc REALLY have fins? I guess this is confirmation that it technically does, they are just not really visible with the stylization. Lore!

Next is Insectoid Body! Hooray! This one is very much like the Cootie toy, and interesting for representing insects that specifically do NOT have wings, while most insects Do. However, to make up for this, any arthropod is welcome to Insectoid Body, including spiders, crabs and anomalocarids! Also Shuckle, because they keep trying to insist it’s a bug! But do you know the truth?

MOST NOTABLE: Shuckle is surprisingly NOT the most notable, because CORSOLA is here! The CORAL! And even weirder is... it makes sense, kind of! It has nubs and horns that make it vaguely this shape! Wow!

Quadruped Body is a Dog, and it is a nice little dog. I would pet this dog! Of course, there are a LOT of different kinds of dogs, like horses and turtles and mudskippers, so Quadruped Body is a very crowded category. More dogs than insectoid bodies! That’s not right.

MOST NOTABLE: There is not much weird here, really. I’m going to go with Shelgon, though, because a vertebrate quadruped pupa is always very very funny.

Thank goodness, though, there is room for more bugs! Two Or More Pairs Of Wings is not EXCLUSIVE to flying insects, but there are only two non-insects in here, so it might as well be. I think it is funny that the icon doesn’t seem intended to be an insect, with its four legs and snout, but is vague enough.

MOST NOTABLE: Masquerain is always much weirder than I give it credit for. I keep forgetting its “legs” became wings!

And now let’s get a Hell Yeah for Multiple Bodies! The wackiest shape of all! If more than one part of it has a face, then here it will be! It can be multiple separate things acting as one, one thing with multiple faces, or anything in between! I also really love that it looks so celestial! It could be a solar system, or a planet with a bunch of moons! All of whom are little guys! Or incredibly massive guys, if they are celestial bodies!

MOST NOTABLE: I will use two here, because I just love Vanilluxe and Klinklang both being in this category. They are friends, always have been, always will be!

The hits keep coming with Tentacled Body! This includes anyone with not only tentacles, but also multiple pairs of legs, or even roots (or roots that act as legs)! Cnidarians, cephalopods, plant creatures, rock monsters, and more can be united, a seemingly ragtag bunch of misfits that have more in common than they may think!

MOST NOTABLE: Ferrothorn is the only one here whose tendrils are upside down! So it wins.

There is a LOT going on in A Head And Base! Honestly, kind of TOO much. There are a lot that I think fit better in other shape categories, but I’m not complaining, because I like to think that all of these can be friends!

MOST NOTABLE: Would you expect this to be the section that literally every seahorse Pokemon is in? Because it is. Seahorses are weird, but are they really so weird that it overwrites them being With Fins?

We now settle down with the weirdness a bit with Bipedal Tailed. This category is MASSIVE! And very self-explanatory, you can easily imagine what would be here. Not much Funny to say about it.

MOST NOTABLE: Snover! Both because I love Snover dearly, and because I love that a tree is in this VERY animal-dominated category!

Bipedal Tailless! The most scrimblo of categories! The very icon could be its own scrimblo! There IS a whole lot of diversity here, and a whole lot of spherical bodies with limbs, which is fun!

MOST NOTABLE: Musharna is here, while Munna is quadrupedal! What’s the deal with that! I don’t want Musharna to Stand.

Single Pair Of Wings is funny. That icon is clearly some kind of dragon, but this is far and away a Bird category, so why not make the icon a bird? I don’t know! There are actually far fewer dragons here than I would expect, too, so there is really no excuse. A pair of wings and a pair of feet would also represent bats!

MOST NOTABLE: Mantine and Mantyke are here! Those flappers are more wing than fin! It makes sense with their typing, but it is nice whenever it gets emphasized.

Serpentine Body is here to wiggle! Obviously there are snakes in here, but there are some very interesting choices, too! Like pupae and a sea cucumber! And one shrimp, but only one of the shrimp.

MOST NOTABLE: There are two different ones this time. First, Sandygast??? Huh??? I don’t know! Also Mimikyu is here! Does this imply things about its True Form?

Last but certainly not least, Head And Arms! Another with a lot of diversity, since it doesn’t much matter what the body is shaped like, as long as there are arms and not quite legs. It is kind of interesting to see what they consider to not truly be legs, here!

MOST NOTABLE: Magnemite and Magnezone are here, but poor Magneton is separated, far off in Multiple Bodies! Maybe it’s not so bad. Maybe it’s Magnezone’s older child, Magenemite’s older sibling, grown up and living on its own.

So that is every Pokemon that exists, and ever will exists! Unless they make new shape categories, which I would not complain about. Which is YOUR favorite category? Mine is Multiple Bodies!

#pokemon #pokemon shapes #pokemon shape categories #not mario #funky friday #long post #mod chikako

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hybbart · 1 year

Note

Can we know the thought process/inspiration behind jimmy and tango design?? I found it really interesting, with their shape and everything. So I wanna know if you don't mind ofc! :D

Sure!

to start with I specifically went in with the intent to animate them. Because of that I wanted to create a style that was simple and quick to draw, a lot of straight lines and such. So I created my mcyt style specifically for that (it's started to bleed back into my regular style between not animating for the last several months and raau which is more detail oriented, but...)

For that I took inspiration from kim possible, heartcatch precure, gatchaman crowds, pokemon, and other art styles with simplified, long lines, and kept the designs super simple and easy to memorize and copy over and over. I'm a very inconsistent artist so it only goes so far but... you know. I also simplified the facial features with the eyes and nose and such, and decided to use solid filled areas where their design utilized black. (Jimmy's talons and Tango's claws)

For Jimmy I knew I wanted to make him very birb. Not as much as some of the more harpy level monster boy designs grian sometimes gets, but a bit more than just wings and a few feathers around the ears. I took inspiration from gatchaman crowds and oofuri's bird mouth design for his smile to give him a beak. I tried out giving him a beak lip like I've done in some other designs but it just didn't look right and was too small a detail.

I gave him long bird legs with bird feet cause I love me some inhuman leggies and I knew I wanted him to hop and hold up his leg like a bird. A lot of his bird features had how I would animate him in mind (often still and a bit jerky and very expressive with his wings and eyes) I am NOT good with wings so I decided to go super simplified with them, I knew I wanted them to sit like a heart on the avians' backs. I started out also with a super simplified version of the elfish feathered ears I often give avian monster boys, and at first in my first animation I treated them like ear wings but it looked too awkward and unappealing so I decided to just make them elven, but animated.

For his eyes... I know there was a lot of people who said it was this or that colour. I wanted them to be a bit more spooky though, so I made them brown but gave him a blue glow for his avian self, which changed colours in his other iterations. I also made them big and round to be more expressive, cute, and like his very cutesy skin.

Buff Jimmy was popular by then but I 1) hate buff characters and 2) had a hard time picturing Jimmy that way cause he's so cutesy and squeaky around tango and his skin is adorable. Plus, buff didn't seem very birdlike to me. I did give him a bit of that dorito shape and wider shoulders than hips though. Actually I very specifically tought myself how to draw small butts to draw jimmy to give him that twig-legged bird appearance and cartoony and so not to have his design as sexualized as my other art tends to be (this was a deliberate choice across all my MCYT art) I didn't give him facial hair again cause I'm not a fan and struggle to draw it, I wanted the ranchers to be well within my comfort zone for easy animation.

I wanted to give him and scott- who have very similar and simple outfits - more distinction from each other, so I decided to make his denim and gave him a collar that was like feathers. I also made the choice to give him a very low waist line in his clothing to make him look longer, and because I just like that look. I made his jeans skinny jeans that faded into his talons because it just worked better, emphasized leggies and looked better. I made the choice to give him visible stitching to make it look a bit more like denim too.

Overall the goal was to get that top-heavy but clearly light enough for it to not matter look that a lot of birds have. Also I gave him a stray hair to make his hair look a bit unkempt and feathery. It's stylish but no kept well. I also wanted to give him freckles but I knew I wouldn't be able to keep them consistent enough without limiting myself in a way I didn't like.

I made him slightly taller than Tango, cause I love tall Jimmy and short Jimmy equally and decided on opposite ends of average, but that gaps been growing since tbh.

For Tango... He had a few major inspirations. Cats (lions specifically), fire, and Dr Drakken. I wanted him to look very mad scientist but like, also Creature. The main goal was that he should look ready to crawl up a wall on all fours at any given moment, and have an extra cartoony silhouette. He should look like he's probably made of playdough, and his actual build should be ambiguous.

The pants and sleeves I made puffy inspired by the likes of Magi and Dr. Drakken but sleeker cause the material is thicker and i wanted it to flow into the boots (my first drawing i have clear separation between boots/gloves and coveralls, but i ditched that in the very first frame of animations lol)

I tried really hard to balance out the fire cat features without making him look like a demon. I'm not sure how well I succeeded. If I'm honest the sharp teeth were very much self-indulgence. His tail I made a literal line because anything else looked too thick and I'm terrible at drawing thin tails, and this would be easier for animation. The hair I wanted to look styled but also maybe possible fire but you cant tell quite? I wanted to take advantage of them being cartoons for effect with this art style.

His vest I'm honestly still not sure if it's leather or denim. I just knew I wanted something thick and insulated-looking. I wanted his clothign to be somewhere between engineer and punkish. You know he listens to his music too loud while working on some machine only he understands. And the kerchief was a decision made via a comity of my friends after trying out a few collar styles. His eyes I wanted almost shaped and smaller than jimmy's just like his skin, but still very expressive.

I also gave him a rougher appearance with the wild hair and eyebrows to give him... mmm... ugly isn't the right word, cause he's not. Jimmy is intentionally pretty, while Tango's kinda... feral, unkempt, a tad scary but in a silly way, a bit more goblinoid. Not conventionally attractive, I guess, but that's incredibly vague. I imagine his appearance being described in its movement first and foremost. If any of that makes sense...

But yeah most of his design is defined by sharpness and fluidity. He is liquid but like... a liquid made of knives. I try to make sure his face is a little shorter and sharper-chinned than Jimmy's. I wanted him to have very bombastic movements like he is living motion blur but very pointed. His movements probably come off a bit more masculine than Jimmy's in general, but that's not really something I intended so much as turned out to be an unforseen side-effect of my other design choices.

And, um, well that's it without getting into things I decided later on and other versions of them. the general concept is they're both very animated and cartoony but if very different ways, and take after birds and cats quite a bit. Sorry, this turned out to be A Lot. I really did spend a lot of time thinking about their designs while making them, since I knew I'd be drawing them over and over for animations.

#ask #notes

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whatnownick · 1 year

Text

Reader Insert Mini-Fic: Musical!Beetlejuice Helps You Go To Sleep

I saw a few similar things on here and wanted to try my hand at writing one. Anything to get my NaNoWriMo count higher than it currently is. It’s short, simple, and a little silly. Very self-indulgent. Cringe, if I may. I hope you enjoy it.

Word count: 666 lmao

You can’t sleep. Work has been stressful lately and dread of the following day has started to seep into time you should be spending unconscious. It’s a huge pain in the ass. It’s exhausting. But you have a plan. The last thing you would think of to help with anxiety is a demon, but the demon you know happens to be a pal and up for a sleepover.

As you lay in bed you gaze tiredly up at your ceiling where the specter in question is reclining as though gravity means nothing to him. His clothing is a shabby riot of black and white stripes and his boots look like theyv’e never been polished. A wild shock of green hair sits high on his head and his furry brows meet together as he stares down at you. He is generously shaped and reminds you very much of if a cheeseburger was a person.

“You asleep yet?” He asks in a gravely voice.

“No, not yet,” you admit. As much as you appreciate his company, it doesn’t do a whole lot to make you sleepy. Your eyes want to stay open to catch any little thing he does. He’s unpredictable. Like a spider.

“You want me to sing you a lullaby?” Beetlejuice says with a grin. You know better than to say yes.

When he doesn’t get an answer he reaches into the depths of his filthy coat and tugs out your Nintendo DS. He flips it open and cheerful music starts to play. “Boy, you should really call this thing a BS because this Pokemon team of yours is bullshit. No wonder you haven’t beaten the gym yet.”

“Thanks,” you tell him with a roll of your eyes. You close them and try to let the blips and beeps of the game lull you to sleep. It’s almost like falling asleep to a Twitch stream. When suddenly:

“OH yeah! Suck it, Typhlosion!” Beetlejuice shouts and pumps a fist in the air. Your eyes snap open and bore into his. He doesn’t look even a little guilty. “Oh, hey, since you’re still awake, why don’t you tell me the last four digits of your credit card number for absolutely no reason? Just for funsies?”

“Beetlejuice…” you say, a warning in your voice.

“Okay! Okay, but let me tell you watching you try to sleep is like watching a really slow car wreck.” Beetlejuice snaps the DS shut and drops it onto your bed. “It sounds exciting at first but turns out to be a real slog.”

“I’m doing my best,” you tell him.

“I know ya are, champ. Listen, just close your eyes and imagine somewhere peaceful–like a sandy beach. The waves are crashing against the sand in and out, in and out…” You expect him to start making sound effects with his mouth, but suddenly your dark room around you has been replaced by a shoreline bathed in orange sunset light. Palm trees are bowing over your bed like a canopy and the surf crees up within feet of your blankets. The sound is, surprisingly, Relaxing. “Just like that!”

“Beetlejuice, this is amazing!” You sit up and push your hands into the sand on either side of you.

“Hey, lay back down.” He extends a long striped arm to plant his hand against your forehead and shove you backwards. “You’re supposed to be asleep.”

When he takes his hand away, the sunset has turned into a deep purple sky. He still hangs in the air above you, kicked back with some kind of fruity little drink in hand. Seagulls cry somewhere. Your eyelids start to feel heavy.

With a start you wake up. It’s morning and you’re in your bed. Did you imagine Beetlejuice on your ceiling lulling you to sleep with an impressive illusion made just for you? Or was it real? Something pinches your toe and you let out a little scream as you throw off the sheets.

Your bed is full of crabs.

#reader x beetlejuice #beetlejuice x reader #self insert fic #beetlejuice #beetlejuice bway #writing #fanfiction #my writing #nicks fics

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giggly-squiggily · 9 months

Note

Hey there! I’m back yet again with more scarvio headcannons for your event! I recently started replaying the game and have so many thoughts but! I’ll keep it limited lol. I’m getting kinda close to the end of starfall street and have decided that despite his bratiness Ortega definitely has a super sweet and soft side! Wether this is canon or not I’m not sure (it’s been awhile since I’ve done the story and don’t remember) but I still think it’s a nice concept! And if possible can you do a reader insert? (platonic please!) if you don’t feel like it it’s all good, I know I send in a lot of reader stuff and it can probably get boring after awhile. I’m just a huge sucker for self insert stuff lol. Thanks in advance and I hope you’re doing well!!! -⚡️

{Headcanons to Dabbles: CLOSED!}

ORTEGA!!! Oh man- I freaking love him! While not my favorite of the Starfall crew (admittedly I don't have a favorite as I love them all so much Atticus) I adore him with my entire heart and soul! This was a joy to write for you friend! I've gotcha covered! :D (And don't ever worry about your requests/headcanons being boring! On the contrary I think they're freaking awesome! You always give me the best characters to write for!)

Ortega was…a lot.

Mechanically speaking, he was brilliant- his hands were golden as they turned simple shapes into incredible machinery for Team Starfall to use in battle. He was meticulous, thorough, and still somehow remained ridiculously cute smudged in motor oil.

“Careful, you klutz!”

He was also a bit of a brat. Okay- a full brat.

“Sorry.” You stepped back from the table, admiring the various trinkets and do-hickies across the cloth. “And I’m not a klutz! That was one time!”

“One time falling into my tool setup, two times spilling pink paint everywhere, another time dropping water all over yourself and- how many times have you stumbled and flopped on your butt?” He sent a cheeky grin over his shoulder at you, hands deep within the wiring of the starmobile. He laughed when you pouted, mildly vexed.

“Whatever.” You flopped into the nearest seat, sinking further in your chair as his soft titters carried on. What were you expecting?

Some time passed when he called out again. “(Y/N).”

“Hm?”

“The desk beside you, could you open the second drawer?” When you glared, he sighed. “Please?”

“....Fine.” You did as told only to pause. Among the various screwdrivers and extra wiring sat…

“Yeah, it’s just some whatever piece I was tinkering with. Not much to look at, but I guess you can have it if you want.” He folded his arms with a huff as you carefully pulled out the statue, shaped into a glorious portrayal of your go-to pokemon. Despite his claims, the craft was clearly handled with care- the edges smooth and flawless and the effects of the Pokemon’s typing visible with brightly colored resin. Your go-to was posed in an incredible way- badass and powerful and truly amazing.

“Ortega…did you make this for me?” You asked, looking over to find him having returned to his work. You might have been hallucinating, but you couldn’t help but note the growing flush against the back of his neck.

“Pfft- please. Like I said, I was tinkering. But…if you really like it-”

“I love it!” You cried, heart racing as you looked at the various angles. “I adore it! Thank you so much!”

“L-Like I said- it’s only a tinker!” Ortega fussed, neck coloring more as the blush spread to his ears. “But…yeah, I’m glad you love it.”

You grinned at him one more time before carefully placing the statue on the desk, leaning into your arms as you gazed upon its beautiful form.

Ortega might have been a brat, but when the softer parts come out; it makes it all worth it.

#headcanons to dabbles #dabble #ortega #reader insert #ortega x platonic!reader #fluff #It's one of Pokemon's many tsunderes!#We love to see it :3 #I hope you like it!#pokemon #scarlet and violet

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quikyu · 1 year

Note

How would you rank all the Ultra Beasts? Like, from most to least favorite?

Oooh.... very inch-resting question. I've vaguely thought about this before, but never actually thought to put my favorite ultra beasts in order!

Just a disclaimer first, though-- I don't actually *dislike* any of the UBs. At most I'm pretty neutral ;D

Rankings below :)

Nihilego

My absolute FAVORITE genre of pokemon generally tends to be the eerie-but-cute (and-maybe-dangerous-too) Creature. Nihilego is a faceless, incomprehensibly ominous head-crab-type parasite... that makes cute little sounds and twirls when it's happy and acts so so innocent!!! I love it!!! What a simple yet appealing design (being a cloudy, pastel blue with a bell that looks quite like a sun-hat), conveying a sense of uneasiness within it. It almost looks like a harmless little girl, but.. somethings still not right...? Maybe its the fact that its a parasitic glass jellyfish leaping For Your Face

It's appearance also makes me think about what it predates on in its home-world!?!

Anyways, she's my adorable, freaky little daughter. 10/10

2. Pheromosa

That being said, my second favorite genre of pokemon is pretty much just 'Girl,' and, Yes, the cockroach applies. I personally enjoy the idea of this little girlboss of a pokemon getting haphazardly Dropped into an entirely different galaxy, and just going "Ok" about it... How calm...

Very odd proportions, too-- I do wish the pokemon company had gone further with Bug Traits in the design, but I also personally love the eyes and crown, so I would miss those if they had changed it to be something less humanoid XD And while I love the distant, spiteful attitude it had in the anime, I also enjoy the idea of a more curious and playful buggy, who's just trying to make sense of a new world

I also keep on forgetting that Pheromosa's FAST!!! Very amazing quality to have. Much speed.

3. Kartana

I didn't know whether I liked Kartana or Stakataka more, so just pretend they're the same in terms of rank.

How is this a pokemon!?! A tiny origami samurai!?! CUTE!!! In my opinion, I think Kartana is one of the more peculiar UBs-- especially judging from how it acts in Pokemon Refresh in the SM games. I'd love to go more in depth about Kartana, really, but I don't know what to say XD It's a slicey, dicey, little guy. And I like it lots!

Paper-cut is an understatement!

4. Stakataka

Before I had much interest in Ultra Beasts, I probably would've said Stakataka is my favorite of the group. It's a real big block, is what it is, but I think it's rather endearing... it's a bunch of little giblets, coming together to make... a bigger giblet. Awesome!! It also reminds me of Guardians from Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and I really love those guys

I kind of want to ride it like a horse...

5. Buzzwole

Buzzwole is an INCREDIBLE pokemon. With the same strangeness as Pheromosa, it's a BUG, but rather than being elegant and graceful, it's... completely JACKED!?!? A mosquito on 'roids!! What kind of creature is this thing sucking the blood out of, anyway!?!

I picture Buzzwole as a typical nice jock-- very wholesome, but also very very dense. And also it's a huge mosquito-- did I mention that? Crazy. I want to be its friend.

6. Poipole

From here on out I don't feel as strongly on any of the Ultra Beasts. No problem, though-- I still have opinions!

I like Poipole's position as the "starter pokemon" of Ultra Space. Fun, in how, unlike a normal starter, it's still just as dangerous as the rest of the Ultra Beasts XD ("While spraying opponents with this venom, it laughs wildly!") It's a very cute, almost techno-looking pokemon, and once more the odd, vibrant colorations and body shape really sell it as an Alien. The concept art for it is also adorable, too!!

Ah.. wait... I think I'm starting to like Poipole more just from talking about it...

7. Blacephalon

Blacephalon has a very cool name! Asides from that, while I do like its colors, and the fact that its Head Explodes (which is VERY cool,) I've never really felt much for clown pokemon... It seems like a silly little goober, though-- It has eyes that can emote each side of its head! That's adorable!

Also it's as tall as Pheromosa, at 5'11". I did not know this. I am now terrified.

8. Celesteela

I can safely say that Celesteela is the kindest rocket I have ever seen. XD Just look at that sweet little smile! Of course, it's not really noticeable, when one zooms out to view the rest of the body. I want to like Celesteela more but... it doesn't really... move much? I can't detect much of a personality from it-- it's kind of just there. Sort of to be expected, though. Baby Celesteela, as portrayed in the anime, is very adorable though, and I would like 5 of them.

9. Xurkitree

Xurkitree sort of falls under the same category as Blacephalon for me, just in terms of vibes, I suppose. I appreciate its very joyful, carefree saunter, but nothing else really sticks out to me in terms of what I might like about it...

10. Naganadel

Poipole's evolution! I simply don't like it quite as much, though. It's a little hard to look at right, and I've always thought it looked a little stiff. It's lost all of Poipole's personality :(

However, it has an amazing shiny!

11. Guzzlord

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH"

... That's it XD I never cared much for Guzzlord at all. Big hungry guy.

Anyways, that was a lot longer than I expected it to be XD Thank you for asking!

#quikyu ask #ultra beasts #pokemon

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joekabox · 1 year

Text

So I see a lot of people that talk about the differences between Pokemon and Digimon often bring up the evolution methods between each series, and I gotta say, while I think, overall, Pokemon has a way more cohesive and visually appealing evolution, I think Digimon has a way better thought and concept behind it.

Neither are bad, at all, as both are doing their own thing, and trying to compare them is ultimately not a great idea. But, if I had to choose, Digimon is my preferred (though I might be biased).

The reason, for me, that I prefer Digimon, has to start from the ground up.

So, for Pokemon, evolution is straightforward. Bulbasaur is a small frog creature with a bulb in its back, that evolves into a larger frog with a budding plant in the form of Ivysaur, and then into a much larger frog with a veritable tree growing out of its back in the form of Venusaur.

Pokemon evolution is the maturing, sometimes metamorphosis of a young animal into an adult one.

Digimon, on the other hand, isn't straightforward. Many of the Baby forms are simple shapes with faces - blank canvases if you will, with a general theme at best. From there, you can get Digimon like Agumon - a dinosaur-like reptile creature - who then turns into Greymon, a much larger dinosaur creature, but Agumon could also instead turn into Meramon, which is just a humanoid made of fire. Agumon has also been seen turning into Tyrannomon, which is another big dinosaur, which arguably looks more like Agumon than Greymon, as well as Numemon, which is a small slug monster.

From there, Digimon like Greymon can turn into the fierce Metal Greymon, but Tyrannomon can turn into Metal Greymon too. It's not mutually exclusive. Greymon can also turn into Mamemon, which isn't even a dinosaur, but a small metal ball with a face and big fists.

It seems convoluted and messy on the surface when it comes to Digimon evolution, and you may wonder why I like it better. And that has to come down to it's theme - whereas Pokemon is simply the maturing of a species, Digimon is based on change through life experiences.

The reason Agumon can become Greymon and Numemon isn't because both are logical evolutions for Agumon, but because a Digimon's appearance is merely a representation for us of what's going on in the inside of that Digimon. Agumon turns into Greymon when they are trained by their Tamer well, focusing on their strengths. Greymon looks logical because there's some level of intent there. Numemon, however, is what (generally) happens when Agumon has been lazy and maybe a bit filthy. A tamer may find their Agumon has become a Numemon if they don't clean up after them enough or otherwise mistreat them. A lifestyle that isn't optimal results in Agumon becoming something of a slob, perhaps, and this becomes a physical form for them.

I think nothing portrays this better than the Baby's I briefly mentioned earlier. Baby Digimon are often simple in design, because as a baby, you don't know what you want to be yet. You might have some baked in things that affect your growth, but ultimately, you could be anything. Most Baby Digimon are basic for this reason.

While it's a great milestone in Pokemon for a Pokemon to evolve, it isn't saying anything deep or meaningful much of the time. Growth is inevitable, and as long as you work at it, it'll come.

In Digimon, however, every thing you do for yourself, and even the way your friends and loved ones treat you, shape your growth and determine what you may become. Beyond that, your limits are unbound, your potential infinite, and I find that beautiful.

And unlike Pokemon, in Digimon, you have the choice to start over if you want. If you don't like what you've become, if you're willing to let yourself try again, you can.

Raise yourself like a Digimon. Be who you want to be.

#digimon #pokemon #long post

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deusvervemakesgames · 11 months

Text

Project RBH Devlog 0008 – Decisions, Decisions

I keep forgetting to mention when discussing the game art and inspiration that the top-down perspective on the wall tiles is based heavily on Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, which I will likely be using as reference for perspective in the future as well, for character and enemy sprites.

No need to reinvent the wheel.

As for what I’ve been up to this last week… well it’s nothing surprising. I’m up to 25 possible perks/upgrades that I’ve been preplanning. We’re still well pre-alpha, for anyone keeping track, and the minimum number of perks I want for the alpha release is 100. A daunting number I admit, but I’m already making good progress towards it.

The trick is going to be implementation.

Since this is all pre-planning that I’ve been doing, I haven’t touched the code since the launch a few weeks ago. Even so I can predict where I’m going to have difficulty with adding in some of the new features. My bullet and damage system is versatile enough that adding in damage types and critical hits should be pretty simple. I’ll also need to have a way to check for critical hits, as I want certain perks that grant bonuses when you land a critical hit, and that’s either going to be very easy or very difficult with no in-between.

The thing I’m really concerned about is having multiple damage types. Let’s say you pick up a perk that adds Fire damage to your bullets and then one that adds Ice damage. What happens? Does the Ice override the existing Fire? Do you get both? If you get both, I’m not entirely certain how to check an array for a specific value. Do they mix together into a new damage type like how Warframe does it? If so, then what happens when you get a third?

I’ll honestly have an easier time with the status conditions. Another thing I intend to add, status effects and conditions will provide a great deal of variance between different builds on different runs of the dungeons. I only have a few of them at the moment, but I intend on adding more. It should also be easy to implement. Anything that can get a status effect just needs a single line of code, telling it to run all the functions listed in an array, with the array containing every status currently affecting them.

Speaking of status effects, did you know that in Pokemon, the Burn status halves the damage of affected Pokemon’s physical attacks? I did not until recently, and that’s a shame, because that’s a whole layer of strategy I was entirely unaware of. And it’s so good that I’ll be stealing the basic idea. Common status effects like Burning or Freezing will apply secondary effects as well, to help change up each elemental type/status build from the others.

Sadly, at this moment, I only have three of those planned.

I’ll also have certain status effects that are only applied by landing a critical hit, like a perk that grants you a chance of inflicting Bleed on a crit. Variance and strategy is the point here, and I’m excited for the way my plans are shaping up.

Of course, this is all predicated on the idea that I can figure out a way to preview a handful of perks for the player to choose between, as mentioned in last week’s DevLog.

Speaking of strategy, there’s another thing that I want to implement that I have no idea where to start with.

I don’t know this for certain, but I believe it was Slay the Spire that first invented this style of Roguelike/lite progression, but I’ve seen it more and more, and it’s honestly brilliant. Basically, between each floor of Slay the Spire, you’re shown a map of your progress, presented almost like a flowchart. This map works like a board game, where you select the next space to move to, and then complete that floor. And each floor is labelled to tell you what to expect, from merchants to healing to fights, etc. with some spaces marked as a Question Mark just to keep you on your toes.

This adds a lot of thought and long-term strategy into the basic progression model of any given run and if I can, I would love to implement it.

However, that’s a ways off. First, I want the actual upgrades and combat to work.

Hopefully the code for the upgrade choice system will help me figure out how menus work, because I currently lack a main menu or options menu. And that last one is a big deal because I want to have some accessibility options for this by the time of the full release. I’ve already put in the framework for difficulty adjustment wherever I can so that players can customize the damage and health of the enemies and player to their hearts’ content.

But first, the perk choice system. I need that system to be as versatile as possible so that adding in new upgrades in the future is extremely straightforward.

And that’s all before I get into thinking about the art style and the problems I’m facing on that front with keeping to the hand-drawn stylization.

Well, no one ever said that game design and development was easy.

Until next Devlog!

-DeusVerve

Special thanks to my Tier 3 Patrons, Haelerin and Christos Kempf!

Support me on Patreon

#devlog #indie dev #game development #indie game #game dev #video games #rbh

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dimensionhoppinghybrids · 10 months

Text

It had been several days since Dave had his changes.

It had been a bit of a tense period, due to how the power he had changed a lot of things.

His magic was stronger, he was stronger then ever. It was, in a word. Overwhelming. He had even tried simple TK and the pen he was trying to raise up had shot through the roof of his study.

Dave had to learn a lot again, and that didn't help things.

Measuring strength he had managed to get without crushing something, but magic was out for a while, and even flying, which he could do even bipedal was out due to how unfamiliar it was. It was easy to start but hard to properly stop. He had no proper reference for things like slow, fast, turn, etc. It was hard for now, but he would work through it.

The worst was the aggression.

Not to his family, but that eagerness to fight, dominate, and be on top.

There had been three incidents with nobles just saying the wrong thing enough to be considered a challenge, and getting their face planted into the ground like some sort of comical pokemon shaped plant. They were alive, but the sheer violence made the more snootier nobles back off.

Then a bit later, he found out he could go on all fours and wall climb like a lizard.

That description was more apt since, well. Through a tome he had been given for safe keeping, abd he was researching, he got forcefully transformed into a gigantic Eastern dragon.

Longer and thicker then Reyquaza when going full dragon, he had been by reports, rather massive.

He had been spotted from a distance, and the humans had thankfully thought him to be a new variant of a Pokemon that was wondering about. The arguments on the new, and the few pictures taken showed only so much from.a distance, as he had circled a mountain, then perched there, then disappeared. No one knew after that what happened, but the consensus was that the new "variant," had moved on after resting and stopping for a bit.

And now after some help from friends, he had decided to stay as he was. As a dragon. The tome itself had some, heavy cons to it.

Dave had essentially become a teen again, of a sort. The tome with the curse essentially had a goal. To spread more dragons to the world, and with that task, came the hormones to help solve the issue, one way or another it seemed.

But that also came with the impulsive decisions, abd short fuse of both a dragon and youth.

Suffice to say, Dave was all in all having a hard time of things.

So he sat in a training ground. Heavy weights strewn about like toys that had been picked up and discarded, Dave sitting there, shirtless and looking disgruntled.

Gone was the fur, and replaced with scales of the deepest sapphire, and a milky cream underbelly, rippling with new, dense muscles. He had the purple hair color, but in a mane that now ran down his back, just below his shoulders, with two horns behind his ears, looking a bit like antlers, but radiating magic, along with his long mane. Even his scales radiated with magic.

His eyes, before a calm ocean blue, had gone into shades of lighter and darker hues, with narrow cat like skits gazing from his eyes, and a long moustache and bristles on his draconian muzzle, a trait of his Eastern heritage.

Even his long tail, which lay coiled around him, had a poof of fur. The long abd powerful tail tapping the ground with annoyance.

There was also another thing. Dave had gone from 6'3. To an 8 foot 5. He was taller, stronger, much stronger in both magic and might, and with the worst combo of all.

He wanted to fight. So, much.

But he was unable too, because there weren't any foes really he could go against.

And to the lizard part of his brain, that was like a constant itch that was hard to scratch. He even in some ways, wanted to get properly violent.

The best description that his kids could give? It was like a newly evolved Charizard itching fir a fight and getting the line up of chumps.

No satisfaction or relief for a good fight.

And Dave was banned from going out without escort so he wouldn't almost destroy a city. Again.

He hated this.

So, so badly.

End of part 1?

#the morningstar (dave)#drabble

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adobe-outdesign · 1 year

Note

Can we get a review of Tinkaton and her line since there’s scans of its sugi art floating around now? I love the murder muppets

The Tinkatink line is honestly one of the best lines in terms of overall concept we've gotten in a while. "Small cute Pokemon with hammer" isn't really that remarkable on its own, but the fact that they're part fairy-type and go from being bullied by steel-types to making their hammer out of their body parts and using said hammers to attack them is absolutely incredible. It not only lends to some great worldbuilding (like how Corviknight aren't used for flying taxis in Paldea because Tinkaton keep launching rocks at them), but throughly explains why they have their object and where they get it from, something Pokemon holding objects sometimes struggle with.

Tinkatink itself is fine, looking appropriately pathetic and being a fun little abstract gremlin. I really like how the future hammer is only a nub in this stage; it looks somewhat hammer-y but also resembles a rattle, giving it a slightly baby-ish vibe without going overboard with it.

Visually, I like the super funky mouth (Forretress, eat your heart out). However, I do think the colors are a bit weird; pink on Slightly Lighter pink makes for barely-visible shading, and it's strange that the hair is like half pink and half cream rather than it just being all cream like its evos.

I'm also not a huge fan of the metal diamond on the chest. It's really weird that it goes down past the start of the legs and above the neck; it creates a lot of weird tension points and overall looks way to big relative to the rest of the body. The eyes also look weirdly flat, mostly because the line for the highlights is diagonal instead of curved. It's got the right idea, but could've been refined a bit.

Tinkatuff comes dangerously close to bland transitional middle evo, but I think it just barely scrapes by. This is mostly because of the hair style (ponytail instead of longer hair), the hands being all-pink without the cream of Tinkaton, and the in-progress hammer.

I do think it could've been visually differentiated a bit more however. Tinkatuff has the same metal bits around its waist as Tinkaton, just less of them; it could've easily had metal "boots" or bracers; something that's substantially different than the other stages. I also feel like the legs could've had some cream on them, or the hair to be rounded at the base instead of zig-zagged; once again, just stuff to differentiate it a bit more.

I also wonder if they could've done something more fun with the hammer at this point. It doesn't really look like it should be able to hit things with it at this stage, and while I get the idea of it being "built up", I feel like it could've been a bit less literal about it. Maybe the hammer is more of a baseball bat at this stage; some other blunt-force weapon that makes sense in-between that could be something unique for Tinkatuff to own. None of this is a huge deal obviously—it's not bad as is—it just would've helped to make it stand out a bit more on its own.

All that said, I have virtually no quibbles with Tinkaton's design. The stupidly oversized hammer is delightful, and I love the shape of it and how you can clearly tell it's cobbled together out of a bunch of different parts. I also like how the metal bits around the waist resemble blacksmithing tools, appropriate for its concept.

Tinkaton also has a lot more cream in its design than its pre-evos, which work to break up the body. This is also helped by the zig-zag markings in the hair, which are paralleled by the top of the hammer. The shape of the hair also gives a more unique silhouette than Tinkaton's otherwise very simple body would allow for.

If I had one minor nitpick, it would be that the thumbs being pink feels a bit random and makes them feel disconnected from the rest of the hands; it probably would've made more sense for them to either be cream or have all the fingers be pink-tipped for consistency. Everything else, however, looks solid.

Overall, while there are a few small things I think could've been improved with the pre-evos, this is a very strong line with unique visuals and a brilliant concept. Instantly iconic.

#tinkatink #tinkatuff #tinkaton #pokemon #pokemon scarlet and violet #pokemon reviews

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flossflowergarden · 2 years

Text

Random Wobbuffet Headcanons!

I honestly didn't think I'd have enough for him because even though I love him he's a pretty simple character but the more I thought about it the more I got, so here you go!

He was born in a cave with a bunch of other wobbuffet/wynaut, but didn't know his parents and was raised by the group. While grateful, he never felt anyone he could be particularly close to and had a natural curiosity about the outside world that the others didn't really have, which is why he said goodbye and wandered out of the cave

He was actually happy to be captured by Benny, even though he knew from the start that it would be temporary

Despite their rocky start he really does love Jessie and has occasionally thought of her as his "mommy" in a way. He's never said this out loud though because even he finds it kind of embarrassing (and she'd probably think hewas calling her old, anyway)

He's always thought that physically at least it would make more sense to have a wobbuffet shaped balloon, but he knows how much it means to Meowth so he doesn't say anything

He once tried to build up his counter by throwing rocks at himself to practice. Unsurprisingly, this didn't do anything

He once accidentally sprayed himself with Jessie's hairspray and got completely stuck. The rest of them had to carry him across an entire region to find the solvent

Like the rest of the group, he loves showtunes

- He also likes classical music too

- Most surprisingly, he loves hard rock, heavy metal, and anything else with a really heavy baseline because the vibrations make him wobble, and he likes that

While still patient, he's always been a little different from other wobbuffets in that he's very, very curious. It's why he keeps popping out of his pokeball, he likes to see what's going on around him

- Being with TR (and especially Jessie) only exacerbated these kinds of traits, he's still patient, but much more active in decisions, etc. then pretty much any other wobbuffet

Another reason for popping out is that after that first blast from Pikachu he realized that if he wanted to keep his new trainers safe he would have to build up his counter/mirror coat and was looking for opportunities to do that

- Well, that and he had to make sure he was there to deliver his comedic one-liner (all members of team Rocket are natural-born performers after all

He feels like a weird combination of latex and rubber but without the weird stickiness thankfully

- On that note, you can sometimes hear little squeaking noises when he moves or walks around

He likes hugs. A lot. He's like an overly-affectionate child

It doesn't matter if they're humans or pokemon, Wobbuffet loves kids. It's why he was happy Tobe trained by Benny and eager to adopt those wynaut

(I'm sorry if any of these contradict Canon I'm still not rven fully done with Johto again yet! If they do let me know!)

#Wobbuffet #Jessie's wobbuffet #Team Rocket #Jessie #Jessie pokemon #Benny pokemon #Pokeani

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imfluentinfangirlandgay · 2 years

Text

Elevated Railways - Ch 12

Ingo has been in Hisui for two years when two children fall from the sky - with wings like his. Did they come from the same place he did?

Word Count: ~2900

“Teach me.”

Ingo turned and observed Emmet. He was watching Ingo intently, seeing him flutter his wings in the warm afternoon air. “Teach you what?” He had a feeling he already knew the answer.

“To fly.” He was still watching Ingo, his smile genuine. The wind swept through Ingo’s hair, pushing it into his face. He brushed it away.

“Only if you promise me you will not miss any safety checks,” he said, looking back to the horizon. It was rather windy today.

“I promise.”

Ingo sighed, stretching his wings. Lady Sneasler stood outside with them, watching the sun and the Highlands below them. “Gliscor?” A ball popped open on his waist. He could hear his partner next to him, crooning. “Do you mind a quick race? To show Emmet how we fly?” He looked over at his partner, who screeched. That was a yes. Ingo took off his hat, giving it to Emmet. His coat was already tied around his neck. Emmet grinned broadly at him. He knew that Emmet had been waiting for this.

Ingo backed up a few paces from the edge, so he could have a running start. He knelt down, snapping his wings as they expanded. Gliscor laid its claws out on the ground, like Ingo’s hands were. “Emmet, the countdown, please?”

“Three… two… one… go!”

Both of them shot off, Gliscor soaring up immediately and Ingo running a few paces before he jumped off the edge of the cliff, his wings catching the strong current today and taking him up. He flapped as he changed their shape, as always. The wind was extremely strong today, blowing into his eyes. He needed to figure out some way to protect them, he reasoned. That could happen later. Right now he had a race to finish. He was already at the halfway point, changing his wings as he whipped around the tree, Gliscor at his side. Ingo’s heart thrummed in his chest. The wind was at his back now, pushing the both of them faster. Gliscor and Ingo were neck and neck. Ingo flapped once more, his wings shifting back to gliding mode. He fell into a gentle descent, allowing the winds and gravity to take over for him. The ground and Emmet were racing into his field of vision, his body vaulting over the edge of the cliff and the ground suddenly under him as he continued to glide. He finally fluttered his wings, shrinking them and coming to a stop as his feet touched the ground. He let out the breath he had been holding. He turned around and strode back over to Emmet, whose eyes were as wide as his grin, his hair blown back by the wind. He was practically vibrating in place.

“The winner?”

“Too close to tell.”

“We have a tie again, Gliscor.” The Pokemon glided over to him, grinning as it hugged him with its pinsirs. Ingo patted it and allowed it free to float. Emmet put Ingo’s cap back on his head at an awkward angle.

“Please teach me.” He might as well have been begging by that point.

“We will start simple, keep that in mind. I do not think you will be doing those kinds of things by the end of today.” Ingo was worried this would frustrate or deter his brother, but on the contrary, Emmet grinned wider.

“I want to challenge you to a race someday. I will take time to learn properly.”

Ingo nodded, pleased. “We will start by learning how to control the size of your wings…”

—--------------

The younger twins continued to go by Ingo's tent for the next several days to sleep, still wary of Jubilife. More than once Irida came by to ensure they were alright. In that time, they continued doing whatever Volo was showing them, filling out the pokedex, and Ingo got to catch up on a lot of time missed with his brother. In fact, Emmet was already learning to take off on his own, without the help of Tangela or Alakazam (who Ingo always ensured to have out, for fear that while Emmet was learning, he would hurt himself. The psychic came in handy at least once when Emmet forgot to expand his wings and jumped off the cliff).

Ingo was in the air, just below the cliff face, watching. "Alright, Emmet, full speed ahead!"

He heard footsteps slapping against the ground and Emmets form vaulted above him, into the air. His wings were growing and changing as he jumped until the updraft from the mountainside caught him, lifting him up. "Flap, Emmet!" Emmet did, beating his now-large silver wings to raise him higher. Ingo felt a warm feeling in his chest. He was so proud of Emmet.

"Bravo, Emmet!" Ingo flew up to meet him, changing his wings so that they allowed him to hover in place. "You did it without help! Bravo!" Ingo's voice boomed out across the Highlands, scaring off some Starly below.

Emmet grinned. He noticed Ingo's wings and matched his to them, the feathers blending and morphing seamlessly so that he could also hover in place. His facial wings fluttered in excitement.

"Now we can practice landing. That is the next most important step."

"Could we race?" Emmet asked, his face beaming.

"Once I teach you to land properly. And once you learn to navigate currents. I do not want to have an unfair advantage."

Emmet frowned at him. "You would not."

"I have experience. I understand how the air works up here."

"And I can learn."

"It will not take long to learn to land. I promise. If you do it properly, you can learn by the end of the day."

Emmet considered this. "Then let's-"

"WHAT IN THE NAME OF THE ALMIGHTY SINNOH?" Emmet jolted in the air, his wings faltering, causing him to lose altitude. Ingo caught his arm.

"Emmet, flap!" His wings began working again, allowing him to hover back to where he had been previously, if a little more frightened. They both turned, looking down at who had shouted.

It was Melli, standing at the edge of the cliff and pulling at his hair as his eyes bugged out of his head. Ingo met eyes with Emmet. "Follow my lead for landing. What you want to do is get close to the ground, and then flap a few times to slow yourself as you touch your feet down. Watch." Then he called to Melli, "Clear the platform, please!" And he darted forward.

Melli scrambled out of the way as Ingo soared down, coming a mere four feet above the ground before he flapped his wings twice, slowing himself enough that he could touch the ground. Then he turned, motioning to Emmet. "Pull into the station!"

Emmet wobbled forward, trying his best to copy Ingo. He glided a couple feet off the ground, flapping awkwardly as he touched his feet down. He tripped, stumbling forward and catching himself on the ground. "I am Emmet. I am alright." He stood and brushed himself off. Ingo strode to his brother and clapped him on the shoulder as both of them turned to Melli.

He stood like a Deerling in a headlights, eyes flicking between them. “Melli-”

“Why are there two of you?!” He was pointing at them now. Ingo huffed with amusement.

“Melli, this is my twin brother, Emmet. He fell from the rift as I did, however his memories are intact.”

“I am Emmet!” Emmet said brightly.

Melli continued looking at them for a minute. They watched him as their wings shuddered in the wind. “Did he get taken in by the Pearl Clan too and no one told me?”

Ingo then realized that Emmet was still wearing one of his tunics. And neither of them had on their hats or coats. “No, he is just borrowing my uniforms while in Hisui. We plan to return back to our home soon.” Ingo swept a hand through his hair, tying it back in a bun at the nape of his neck His facial wings fluttered about in the wind. “Emmet came here, somehow, during that deal last week with the almighty Sinnoh and the young twins. We have been practicing flight ever since.”

“I heard you yelling loud enough that it disturbed my Lord. I came to see what the problem was.” He glared accusingly at Ingo.

“Ah! My apologies. I am teaching Emmet to fly now that he has also acquired wings, and I got excited about his accomplishments.” Emmet grinned wider next to him.

“Who are you?” Emmet asked suddenly. Melli’s gaze flicked back to him.

“I am the great Melli, the Warden of Lord Electrode. I take great pride in my work, and I am also the younger brother of the Leader of the Diamond Clan, Adaman.” He straightened, putting his hand on his breast as he got into territory more comfortable for him: himself.

“He is the other Warden of the Highlands,” Ingo added for Emmet. Emmet nodded. He seemed satisfied. “I would like to see you practice once or twice more with landing before we begin doing other things. Landing is a crucial skill and should not be skipped.”

“Can you quiet it down? My Lord is having a rough time with all the new Voltorb rolling around and they do not need to be awakened from a nap again,” he sniffed.

“I will do my best-”

“Nope! Sorry! Can’t do that!” Emmet cut in.

“Emmet!”

“He is being rude to you. I know you have trouble controlling your volume.”

“But I will manage. Do not cross the yellow line.” Ingo squinted at Emmet to make his point, who rolled his eyes. “No more.”

“Fine.” Emmet smiled brightly at Melli again. “I do not like you, though.”

“Emmet.” Ingo looked up at Melli. “Do not mind him. He likes to speak every word he thinks of.”

“If I did that, I would have to put verrry many more quarters in the Swear Jar.”

“Emmet, I am warning you.” Ingo grabbed Emmet by the shoulders, shaking him. “Do not cross the yellow line, please.” Emmet’s smile tightened, but he nodded. “Thank you.” Ingo released him, allowing him to swing to Ingo’s side once again. Ingo straightened up, Emmet doing the same and both crossing their arms behind their backs as they watched Melli. He glanced between the two of them again.

“I have things to do.” He turned and left, his eyes still wide. The twins looked after him for a moment. Then Ingo ran and launched himself into the air, Emmet following suit. They continued the lesson.

—----------------

Ten days since Emmet fell. The young twins had been scarce for the last two days, citing that they had nighttime Pokemon to find. Ingo was nervous, but relented, so long as they checked in with him every so often. Emmet was exceeding at flight practice. He had gotten down the basics and was now practicing with wing shapes in the air, as well as navigation. He joined Ingo on his patrols of the Highlands and in doing his duties, learning more about how to survive in this harsh environment. Ingo also took him around other parts of Hisui, pointing out other Nobles and where the Pearl and Diamond Camps were. He also showed Emmet where Jubilife was, though he ensured that they flew a safe distance at night, to minimize the possibilities of being seen.

As it was, Emmet was beginning to grow bolder. He swooped and even did somersaults in the air, trying to get Ingo to race with him, who still refused. He did not want to, not yet. It was during one of their excursions. They were high in the sky, enjoying the warm afternoon air on their wings and the light sun on their necks. They took turns swooping below each other, Gliscor flitting between them and trying to ‘tag’ them. It made Ingo’s mouth curl up at the corners. He had missed this. He had missed Emmet.

“Ingo!” Ingo slowed, keeping a slow, steady pace with Emmet.

“Hmm?”

“Who is that?” Emmet pointed down and a bit ahead of them to a small group of people moving through the Highlands. Ingo had not noticed them yet.

“I am unsure. Let us ensure they do not require a conductor to get where they need to go.”

Emmet nodded next to him. Ingo called, “All aboard!” as he fell into a dive, Emmet copying him. The wind rushed past Ingo’s face, making him cover his ears with his face wings as he descended quickly in front of the group until he snapped his wings out, landing softly with a flutter. He placed his cap on his head immediately and turned, facing the people. Emmet landed neatly beside him, also placing his cap on his own head. It was already dirty from its time in Hisui. Gliscor settled behind Ingo, just above his head.

Ingo saw who it was and froze. His heart sank.

There were several people dressed in a matching uniform of red, all wearing wide-brimmed straw hats. In front, leading them, was a man in all black armor with thick facial hair and an intense frown. Behind him was another man, wearing a skin-tight body suit and wrappings over his hands and feet. His hair flowed in the wind.

Ingo stiffened. Emmet noticed and stood taller. Gliscor hissed softly.

The group stood and watched them, stunned. Their leader was the first to recover. “Warden,” he said curtly.

“Commander,” Ingo said just as frostily. Emmet’s eyes hardened. He knew who this was.

He flicked his gaze between the two brothers. “What is this? A Zoroark?” He narrowed his eyes at Emmet.

“I am Emmet,” he cut in before Ingo could speak. “I am Ingo’s twin brother. I fell ten days ago when the children fixed the sky.” He smiled, but it was tinted with something venomous, something dangerous. Ingo hoped he didn’t cause too much trouble (as much as he wished to do it himself).

“Hmm.” He snapped his gaze back to Ingo. “It was nice to see you, Warden, but we must be on our way. We have a mission.”

“And what might that be?” Ingo cut in, his voice as equally frigid as Emmet’s smile.

“It is none of your concern-”

“If it concerns young Rei and Akari, then it most certainly is.” Ingo was struggling to keep his voice level and smooth.

Kamado stared at him for a moment, his eyes calculating and sharp. “You know where they are.” He did not phrase it as a question. Ingo did not respond. “They have not returned to Jubilife in over two weeks. I am bringing them back-”

“You will not.” Ingo was shocked at how his own voice boomed out of his body, startling the Security Corps.

“You hurt them,” Emmet crooned, monotone. “You hurt them verrry badly. I do not like people who hurt kids.”

Kamado watched them again, unmoving. “They were only banished temporarily until the sky was fixed.”

“Your two best Survey Corps members, who have done nothing but help you, even at the cost of their own lives, who are also merely children, were given the impossible task of fixing the entire planet,” Ingo cut in, his voice sharper than a blade. “And they succeeded. Not without help, mind you. The moment I’d heard of your actions, I searched for them myself. They were injured and terrified. I did not leave their side for days unless required to. Even now, they are scared to enter Jubilife because of your faulty actions.” Ingo lifted his head slightly, looking the Commander directly in the eye. “You made them your scapegoat. Since they came from the sky, it was clearly all caused by them, was it not? Was it not convenient for you, that these two mystery children with no family be dropped into your lap to do all your dirty work for you, so you can toss them away when you are finished with them? So that if they were to perish, no one would notice? So that you could sweep them under the moving train without taking any of the blame?” Ingo’s wings puffed up in agitation.

“They were fine, were they not?” Kamado countered. “They lived. Everything is fixed. Why do you keep going on about this?” he thundered.

“Because I will not stand by as somebody abuses my twins for their own fulfillment,” he retorted, his voice scathing. Kamado fell silent after that, watching him, his eyes slightly widened.

He opened his mouth to say something when a catastrophic boom ripped the air around them. Ingo and Emmet whirled, looking up at the source of the noise. On the tip of Mount Coronet was a dark aura, something bad was happening up there.

And then the screaming. Even from this far away, Ingo could hear it. It was a young girl. “Somebody please! Dad! Irida! Adaman, anyone!”

Ingo’s heart stopped. He was running before he knew what he was doing, shouting in response, “Akari! I’m coming!” He pushed off the ground, his wings melting and changing shapes as he flapped as hard as he could, gliding up the mountain, Gliscor and Emmet not far behind him.

taglist: @ruyi-years

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#subway boss emmet #submas #subway boss ingo #pokemon legends arceus #pokemon ingo #pokemon arceus #warden ingo #my writing #subway bosses #legends arceus ingo #ingo

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