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percabethfeelsfandom · 4 years

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writing prompt: me as a demigod

HI so if you don’t know i’m primarily active on instagram @percabethfeelsfandom and I’ve decided to join this prompt thingy for the month of october except i’m super behind so i’m gonna be posting them in random sprints it’s hosted by @pickocha on insta (thank u for all the support on what i’ve been writing thus far :)

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“I’m not leaving you,” I cried. The satyr smiled, blood coating their teeth as they gripped my hand tightly.

“Yes, you will. You’re going to run. You’re going to keep running until you see the hill. You’ll know when you see it. Don’t stop, don’t stop till you see the tree.” I held on tight and lowered us to the base of a tree, hiding among the shrubs. I peeked above the leaves to check if the monsters had followed but the night was dark, the moon hidden behind the clouds.

“Dylan it’s a forest! There are trees everywhere,” I said forcing sarcasm into my tone to keep it lighthearted but my heart felt like it was caving in on itself. Rain pelted down in sheets, and I could feel the cold in my bones. But the sickly warm feeling of Dylan’s blood was like fire in my hands and soaked down the front of my shirt.

They’d gotten shot on a loose thorn of a monster, and I didn’t need to look down at their front to know that it was poisoned as well.

“They’re catching up. The rain can only hide your scent for so long. Let them find me first. GO,” they began to cough, more blood coming out of their stomach in small spurts.

I held back a sob and pressed my shirt against their front again trying to absorb it. Why wouldn’t it stop?

“You will be a powerful demigod. It was an honour finding you Caitlin. Please run.”

I swallowed and finally nodded. I pressed a kiss to their forehead and thanked them for everything they had done for me these past few weeks.

I helped them up and they walked off in the direction we’d come from, screaming for the monsters to come and get them.

They turned to me once more and nodded in goodbye. I couldn’t bring myself to mirror them so I turned around and ran.

My body seemed to go into autopilot. My mind shut off and every ounce of my energy went into dodging trees that seemed to appear out of nowhere, branched that had fallen in the storm and puddles of mud that made me sink into the ground. The ground seemed to tremble beneath my feet as I ran, thunder booming as I kept running.

I craned my neck looking behind me but the moon had come out from behind the clouds and cast shadows along the trees so everything looked like a monster reaching out to me. I pushed myself to run faster, the voice of Dylan still echoing in my mind.

I’d left them. I had left them to die.

I choked as I paused by a tree. Pushing my dark hair out of my face, trying to see the hill Dylan had described. The entire forest blurred together but in the distance, I could see a hill taller than the others I’d been on. I felt a pull on my gut, like a magnet pulling me and I knew that there was where I was meant to go.

Even with the sounds of the storm crashing around me, I heard a roar pierce the night. White panic sparked through my entire body and I sprinted towards the tall hill. As I ran I tore at my shirt covered in Dylan’s blood and threw it as far as I could towards the right. I did the same to the left until I was only in my undershirt and the tattered remains of my jacket. My jeans stuck to my skin but I took precious moments to kneel into the ground and smother my face in mud and crushed fruit that I found beneath the shrubs.

I didn’t know if it would mask my scent but it would have to do for now. My legs pumped, but I had no idea where on earth I was getting all this energy from but I knew it couldn’t last. My body was reaching its limit.

Another roar pierced through the forest but I finally broke through the edge, opening into a small clearing. The hill stood tall in front of me, a towering pine tree with a golden fleece glowing on its branches. Even from here, I had to blink at the bright light and the aura it was giving off. There was no other way to explain it but magic.

I took off again but my body was spent. My legs felt like lead. I tripped over a branch I hadn’t seen and cried out as my hand caught all of the weight. Even under the cover of the rain, I slapped my hand over my mouth terrified the monster had heard me.

I forced myself up and began crawling up the hill.

Claws sunk into my ankle and I screamed as I was dragged from the hill. For a moment I was weightless as I fell.

The impact of the fall should’ve killed me. But it didn’t.

I pushed myself up and came face to face with the monster that had been hunting me and Dylan since they’d befriended me at school.

The monster’s human face was contorted in anger. But whatever that thing looked like, was nothing in comparison to the sheer fury that was coursing through my veins.

“You want to kill me! Well come on and do it!” I challenged.

I had no weapon on me. Dylan had left me nothing but knowledge about the monster that was hunting me. The ancient manticore.

The monster cracked its neck and began to shift. In moments, as its bones cracked it took the form of a lion, scorpion hybrid. Only it’s human face remained the same, its sleek body blood-red in the night, and it’s tail a dark whip. Seeing it in its true form only inflamed my anger.

This had killed Dylan. My friend.

It tilted its head at me, mocking my stance as I picked up a branch from the ground and held it up like I was wielding a sword.

It roared and charged, but I was already moving. I dropped to the ground and heard it land behind me, its claws scraping against the bark of a tree.

I got up and ran. My senses seemed to heighten as I focused on the area around me, my brain somehow both quiet but also completely aware of exactly where everything was in my immediate vicinity.

It charged again but I grounded my feet, and threw the branch I was holding into the ground. The ground that was soft and supple because of the rain. It sunk deeply in the mud and stood straight like a spike.

The manticore realised too late and felt on the spike, the underneath of its armour pierced completely through. I stayed where I was and let it come to me. I gripped the ground for another weapon and threw gravel into its eyes.

It’s teeth glinted in the moonlight as it cried in pain.

This time I ran. I ignored the pain in my hand from my earlier fall. I ignored the heaviness of my heart at Dylan’s death. I ignored the freezing cold of the rain.

And I ran.

The monster was right behind me, but I knew I’d slowed it down because its footsteps were heavier as it followed.

The pine tree was just out of reach when I turned back for one final look.

“FIRE.”

I looked for the source of the voice and saw a line of people just beyond the pine tree all armed with arrows and quivers. Dressed in an odd mix of orange shirts, armour and pyjamas their arrows loosed shooting towards the monster behind me.

I cradled my head as the arrows whizzed past me but I kept moving. I reached the tree and leaned on it for support, a ripple of energy seemed to pass through me as I stepped past it.

Two people in orange shirts, a blonde girl and a boy with dark hair held their hands out to me as I walked.

My vision turned to static as I felt them grip my arms in support. Their voices blurred together and I pressed my hands to my ears.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” I whispered until my mind finally shut off, and everything turned black.

“On her own? How is that possible?” A deep rumbly voice said as I twisted and turned in my sleep. My entire body screamed in protest but I kept moving, trying to stop the voices. It was too loud.

“It’s not impossible. Percy did it barely.” A girls voice this time.

“She’s a lot older than most campers don’t you think? She’s about our age Wise Girl.” A third voice, a guy this time, different from the first voice, younger.

“Let her rest and then we will ask. What she did was no small feat. Have a small group camper look for her satyr. They have to be out there somewhere.” The older voice said, and I heard the sound of hooves? Before a door closed and shut.

“I know you’re awake.” Even with my eyes still closed I froze, and held my breath.

“We’re not going to hurt you,” the girl’s voice said, “I’m Annabeth.”

I opened my eyes slowly and turned to her at my side.

“Caitlin.” I offered.

She smiled softly and held out a drink, the ice clinked softly in the glass and I sat up slowly, trying to hold it. She lightly batted my hand away and held it up to my lips.

I took a sip and nearly spit it back out. I wiped at my lips and stared at the apple juice coloured drink.

“What did you taste?”

“Nutella?” I whispered.

She laughed and took the drink away. I stared at it still confused.

“Nectar. The drink of the gods. How much has your satyr told you?”

I swallowed hard and looked at my bandaged hands, still trying to wrap my head around it.

“Names have power,” I started off slowly. Annabeth nodded in encouragement.

“The Gods of Olympus are real?”

“Yeah, that’s pretty much it. There’s tons more to it, but I’ll let you heal up more before I blow your mind up.” She got up to leave but my hand shot out and I grabbed her wrist with surprising speed.

“Wait- no. You can’t just drop that on me, the gods can’t be real. I’m Catholic. There is only one God. I’m not a child of- What?” She was staring hard at me and frowning.

“Your eyes. I didn’t realise they were grey.”

“Yeah, my mum said I got the genetic lottery. My ancestors had lighter eyes.” She nodded but didn’t add onto what was bothering her.

“If you can walk I can give you a tour.” I agreed and let her help me out of bed. A pair of shoes had been left by my bedside my old shoes nowhere to be found so I slipped them on and followed Annabeth out. Someone had thankfully put me in a proper shirt and I was in a faded orange shirt that read Camp Half-Blood with a pegasus on the front.

Annabeth began to lead me around her camp, pointing out cabins and areas for training. Training for what I wasn’t sure.

My body was tired but it wasn’t on the same level that it had been when I’d woken up. Breathing was easier and the pain in my hand was gone almost numb. We stopped in front of a grey building with an owl carved over the doorway and plain white curtains.

I felt a similar tug in my gut like I had down on the hill and started towards the building.

“Hey wait you can’t!” Annabeth cried as I walked up the steps. The tug was so strong I thought I was going to drop to my knees. I touched the owl on the doorway, my fingertips grazing the wings and felt another ripple of energy like I’d just walked through a forcefield.

“Caitlin.” I turned to Annabeth and she was staring at me hard again, except she was focused on something above my head. I frowned and looked up, the shape of a silvery owl hovered just above my head, it’s wings outstretched over me.

“All hail, Caitlin, daughter of Athena, goddess of Wisdom,” she whispered with a grin and dropped to her knee. Other people around her applauded and sunk to their knee as well.

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shielddrake · 4 years

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Psychonauts: Setup and Payoff Done Well (If Not Perfectly)

So about a year ago I posted a long lecture about how Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts 3 had major problems in the story department when it came to setup and payoff. I basically said that Final Fantasy XV had lots of scenes with payoff that were not set up very well and Kingdom Hearts 3 had some excellent moments that set up story elements but never followed through on them. And while I think some of those issues have been addressed with some of the DLC released for both games (I reserve my right to be a little salty Episodes Aranea, Luna, and Noctis were canceled) I still stand by my statement that these games have big problems with this.

During the past year, I have received a couple of comments regarding my position on this, ranging from “Can you give a good example of setup and payoff?” to “Well, if you’re so smart, why don’t you come up with a better example?” And I thought, well, what kind of game would be a good example of excellent use of setup and payoff? What game or series would I say does the job so much better than any writer has or does, video game or otherwise?

And then, the middle of a repeat playthrough I always do before a game’s sequel comes out, it came to me:

Now Psychonauts has been out since 2005, so a spoiler warning might seem a little silly here, but I think a lot of gamers have been playing it for the first time since the sequel was announced, so just in case: Major spoilers for the original Psychonauts game under the cut.

Whenever someone tries to argue whether or not video games can be considered art, one of the first games that comes to my mind is Psychonauts, and not just because of its amazing aesthetics. It has some of the best storytelling, script writing, level design, music, voice acting, and art direction I have ever seen. This game is possibly one of the best video games I have every played, despite the flaws that it does have (I’m looking at you, Meat Circus), and it is easily on my list of top ten favorite video games. Is it really any surprise that Psychonauts 2 reached its crowd-funding goal of over $3,000,000 in about a month? And yes, I admit that I am one of those backers, just to put out there any bias I know I have.

But this isn’t meant to be a review of Psychonauts.

I replayed Psychonauts a few months ago with the idea of the first game being fresh in my mind when the sequel comes out, which is supposed to be sometime this year of 2020. I was absolutely inundated with examples of effective setup and payoff as I played, so it seemed like the obvious choice to go over how this story-telling technique can be used not only well, but also to the point where it’s almost like there are far too many examples.

Honestly, I could go on and on and on about setup and payoff in Psychonauts’ story, but for our purposes here most of the focus is going to be on just three big things that are really important to the main storyline: Linda the Lungfish, bunnies and meat, and Raz’s dad.

One thing about setup and payoff is that the setup has to actually happen in a way that the audience, in this case the player, can’t miss it. There are several moments in the game that Linda is mentioned, the first time being in the opening cutscene, where Bobby teases Dogen about the monster at the bottom of the lake. You can’t miss the setup when it is thrown in your face that way.

But that’s not the only time we get references to some sort of lake monster. Before going into Basic Braining, the first official level of the game, if Raz talks to Mikhail, the adorable Russian psychic mentions a “giant, hairless bear” in the woods, asking if Raz has seen it and wanting to wrestle with it. Now, it’s not said for certain if Mikhail is talking about Linda or if he’s just referring to the telekinetic bears you meet later on, but it wouldn’t surprise me at all if it’s supposed to be the former.

The first time the player heads for the lake, Elton will run up to Raz and mention the “brain-eating fish” that supposedly lives there. Well, now we’ve got both a mention of the lake monster and the fact that it goes after brains. Hmm, sound familiar in retrospect?

Optionally, Raz can also talk to Elton about the fish being spooked by something in the lake.

Although only the first lake interaction with Elton is mandatory (whether it’s when you go to see Milla or before then), both of these moments act as reminders of the setup of the lake monster established in the opening cutscene.

And then there’s the scene in the woods between Raz and Lili on the way to Sasha Nein’s Secret Lab. Raz says that something was watching him, a shadowy being that smelled like pond scum.

I absolutely love Lili’s face in this scene, by the way.

We kind of get distracted by their interactions and Lili basically trolling Raz, but that’s part of what makes good writing. The scene is foreshadowing something without making it overly overt…not that the game is subtle every time, but the point still stands. This game does a great mix of the obvious and the subtle.

The game also has optional dialogue with Coach Oleander and Raz reporting on a UPE (Unidentified Paranormal Entity), which he suspects is aquatic in nature. And Oleander seems oddly insistent that the lake monster does not exist, that it’s just a camp fable.

Finally we get to the Brain Tumbler Experiment. Needless to say, it’s in this level that a lot of the elements come together. We come across a demon in the form of a big, shadowy figure that spits out a diving helmet. Again, does that sound familiar at all?

There is a minor mention of the lake monster in the mental vault below the spooky thorn tower (more on that near the end of this post), but other than that there’s a break in the game where the lake monster isn’t mentioned for a while. We don’t get another explicit scene about it until Raz and Lili meet Linda properly at the edge of Lake Oblongata…where Lili gets kidnapped, we go through the boss sequence under the lake, and enter Linda’s brain of Lungfishopolis. And the final payoff occurs with the Hideous Hulking Lungfish transporting us to Thorney Towers and giving Raz her real name, Linda.

Now would any of that be nearly as rewarding if we had never heard of the Hideous Hulking Lungfish of Lake Oblongata prior to her official appearance? Every single player would just have visible question marks hanging over their heads if Linda just showed up out of nowhere. Deus Ex Lungfish, anyone? But that’s not what the developers did. They spent plenty of time building up to Linda, making her reveal not only make sense but also weaving her into the story so that her reveal is more than satisfying.

There is just one thing I’ve always been curious about, a sort of chicken-and-egg scenario. Did the legend of the lake monster start because genetically-altered Linda showed up and starting attacking campers? Or did the legend already exist and Oleander used it as an excuse to write off any “sightings” of the monster? Any ideas?

Moving on from Linda, we come to the imagery of meat and bunnies.

Without knowing the full ending of the game, most players would think that it’s a bit strange I would stick meat and bunnies together in the same category. Sadly, the connection between these things is a bit on the morose side, and they are actually first introduced at the same time as well.

When I first played Psychonauts, the first time I actively thought about bunnies and meat being related somehow was during the Brain Tumbler Experiment, but that’s actually not the first time the game introduces these. Anyone else notice that Basic Braining has figments of meat cleavers, butcher knives, a pig, a duck, and a fox? I could logic that a meat cleaver and butcher knife fit with the whole army theme, but a pig, duck and fox?

Kind of odd animals would be included in all this, especially animals that are either butchered or hunted. At least that’s what I thought at first.

It is in Oleander’s mind that we first see the “meaty plant” that Lili saves from being squashed by Raz. It’s also here that we see bunnies hopping around the snowfield with the Gatling gun. This early in the game, is this important or just set dressing? I’m ashamed to admit, but I thought it was just weird set dressing when I first played, but it makes more sense as the story goes on.

Turns out it’s important all right, since the next time we see both meat and bunnies is in the Brain Tumbler Experiment. “Mr. Bun” seems like a rather random animal to have in Raz’s brain, but then again bunnies showed up in Basic Braining as well. Is there a connection somehow? Sasha tells Raz that an animal may represent a primal fear or memory.

He’s right on the latter, although a player going through the game for the first time might not know why (and I admit, on my first playthrough, I didn’t). And there’s more meat and meaty plants here. Raz doesn’t directly mention these (at least he didn’t during my most recent playthrough, to my recollection) but they are pretty obvious, to say the least.

So that’s two things connecting the Brain Tumbler Experiment and Basic Braining. Is this a normal occurrence? Maybe these things just show up in brains? Lili does mention she had been dreaming of meat plants, after all, both in Basic Braining and in the cutscene before Raz enters Milla’s mind. Maybe it’s a primal need for meat? Don’t tell the vegans I said that. The Vegan Police would be very unhappy with the final level of this game.

After the Brain Tumbler Experiment is finished, we know that the brain interference was coming from Oleander, but it’s not explained why there are meat and bunny references up until that point. There’s actually no mention of either at all in the subsequent levels until the last. Lungfishopolis, The Milkman Conspiracy, Gloria’s Theater, Waterloo World, and Black Velvetopia are devoid of all meat or bunnies, which possibly leads the player to forget about the whole thing for a while (and when I say “the player,” I really mean me).

In fact, we don’t see any sign of either until the final level of the game, Meat Circus. And, oh boy, Meat Circus.

Yeah, it should come as no surprise that I hate this level. I hated it so much that on my first playthrough of this game in 2005, I rage quit and didn’t look at Psychonauts for several days. I eventually went back to it and beat it, but let’s say I was more than a little relieved that they lowered the difficulty for it in subsequent releases.

But I digress.

We reach Meat Circus, the combined consciousness of Raz and Little Oly, and the payoff of all the meat and bunny stuff we’ve seen thus far. We have Frankenstein-esque meat bunnies, platforms made of steaks, rail grinding on bones, trapeze and trampolines of bones and skin, and of course the dark versions of both Raz’s and Oleander’s fathers, who not only are evil but also become a giant two-headed monster. When Sasha said that problems seem larger in your head than in real life, I should have known it would be taken more literally in this game.

I mean, is it really any shock that Oleander is carrying some trauma after seeing his bunny friend be decapitated by his own father? It’s never said how old Little Oly is, but considering his behavior he is clearly younger than Raz, so this happened when he was in the single digits of age. That’s really not something a little kid should see. That’s just asking for PTSD.

Anyway, back to setup and payoff, which is pretty obvious at this point. We have plenty of mentions of both bunnies and meat throughout the game, leading to the final boss that is both creepy and downright terrifying. Not only does this boss conclude Oleander’s trauma with his father being a butcher and killing his favorite bunny, but it also allows Raz to defeat his inaccurate mental image of his own father. Both of them are able to move forward from that point on. Defeating this monstrosity acts as the ultimate payoff and conclusion for both Raz and Oleander.

Speaking of Raz’s dad…

Raz’s relationship with his father at the start of the game is strained, to say the least. When Raz goes to learn Levitation from Milla, the very mention of his father showing up to take him home from the camp makes him nervous. Not the best sign here, and his other comments regarding his dad don’t make it much better.

Once Raz reaches cadet ranks ten and twenty, we get cutscenes of Raz talking with Cruller in tutorials for Pyrokinesis and Telekinesis. During Pyrokinesis, Raz first mentions that his father, Augustus, hates psychics and trained Raz in acrobatics to the point where Raz worried his dad was trying to kill him. During Telekinesis, Raz reveals his suspicions that his father is psychic as well. The memory vault we see of Raz running away from home only reinforces Raz’s perspective.

We’re led to believe that Raz’s statements are the truth, which is a logical conclusion since he’s the game’s protagonist, but the end of the game shows otherwise. At first I thought this meant Raz was simply an unreliable narrator, but that turns out to not be the whole story. While Raz is an unreliable narrator in that there are a lot of things he just doesn’t know, it’s not malicious in any way. Raz simply doesn’t know that he father really does care about him. That’s the magic of using the third-person limited point of view.

Up to this point, we’re led to believe that Augustus is a neglectful father at best, but it turns out that Augustus does love his son. He’s just apparently really bad at showing it. The very fact that he is the only one able to break into Raz’s “hard to penetrate skull” shows that there is a deeper relationship between them. And Augustus is clearly distraught that his own son sees him as a monster in his mind. Poor Augustus.

I think that a lot of the interactions between father and son in this game was cut out due to both budget and time constraints, because I feel like there is more to be said with these two than what we get in the final product. (I’m thinking we’re going to get more of that in the sequel, but that is up in the air at this time.) This doesn’t bother me too much though, since we do get effective enough setup and payoff that it doesn’t seem like it comes out of nowhere. They do finally talk to each other and express their concerns, mending their relationship…in the middle of a battle with a two-headed father monster.

Clearly these two have communication issues. The morale of this story is that it’s important to talk to one each other.

And this is certainly paid off in the end cutscene of the game. When Sasha says they want Raz to come along to rescue Truman Zanotto, Raz doesn’t just run off with them again. He turns around and gives his father puppy-dog eyes, clearly asking for permission to go this time. And Augustus not only gives it, he gives Raz his blessing and encourages him to “show them all.” Contrast this to the backstory of the game, where Augustus flat out forbids Raz from having anything to do with the Psychonauts and Raz running away in secret.

And if that’s not satisfying use of setup and payoff, I don’t know what is.

That’s not to say that all of the setup and payoff in Psychonauts is perfect. To be fair, there are times when the setup can be missed, and therefore the payoff that comes later can be confusing. The most obvious example of this is the nightmare that attacks you in The Milkman Conspiracy. When I first played the game all those years ago, my first thought was, “What in the world? What is this thing and where did it come from?”

Of course, on subsequent playthroughs, I did find the demon room in Milla’s mind, showing the same nightmares she had caged away. This is the difference between a sane mind and an insane one. Milla has all her demons under control (although notice that they have not gone away) while Boyd’s run amok because he has no way of mentally dealing with them, since his brain is a little bit busy with this, well, milkman conspiracy. The nightmares that attack in Boyd’s brain make more sense after I saw the ones in Milla’s brain. In this case, the payoff wasn’t bad since the nightmare miniboss wasn’t a bad fight, but context in the form of the setup made the payoff better.

Other times the setup can be missed? The other big one is the resolution of all the campers’ storylines. Unless the player spends time going around camp throughout the game and seeing the interactions the other campers have with each other, the little scene you have with each one once they are re-brained won’t make a lot of sense. The love triangle between J.T., Elka and Nils? J.T. and Chops having conflict about J.T. abandoning his best friend for his new girlfriend? Crystal and Clem attempting suicide to become more powerful? Chloe thinking she’s an alien? Maloof basically becoming a mob leader with Mikhail as his right-hand man? Elton and Milka’s blossoming love? …Just to name a few? Yeah, the context of all that is missed if the player doesn’t bother to talk to the other campers throughout the game, but I attribute that more to the player than the game. The developers accounted for this in the story, so it’s more the player didn’t look for the setup rather than Double Fine just not bothering to include it.

That’s just some examples of setup and payoff that I feel are probably the most important to the main storyline of Psychonauts. They are far from the only examples. Really far from it. Oh boy, could I go on about the scenarios of setup and payoff that happen in this game.

Dogen talking to the squirrels, who tell him that the short man is going to kill everyone, only for them to really be talking about Oleander?

Elton saying that Oleander’s recruiting office in Basic Braining resembles a dentist office, only to find out that one of the main antagonists, Dr. Loboto, is in fact a dentist?

Oleander having a mental vault trapped behind some mental cobwebs? Well, he has something to hide, despite him saying he doesn’t when you first play through Basic Braining. Of course, getting angry at Raz for snooping around a room with a curtain doesn’t give off the idea that Oleander has something to hide. Nope. Not suspicious at all.

Agent Crueller having all the different personalities around the camp, hinting as his unstable mental state?

The Hand of Galochio appearing in the lake as a reference to Raz’s family having a curse to die in water, and said curse just so happens to show up not only as a gameplay element but as a story element during Meat Circus?

Raz being able to read Lili’s thoughts when she doesn’t mean for him to, then for him to do it two more times near the end of the game?

How Lili’s cold stops her from sneezing out her own brain?

Sasha’s hatred of tacky lamps having to do with his past working in a tacky lamp factory? Or the shoeboxes indicating his father was a cobbler? Or the bed as the location of where his mother was horribly ill and died?

Raz needing to climb the “creepy thorn tower” in the Brain Tumbler Experiment, only to later need to climb Thorney Towers Home for the Disturbed?

The mention of the town of Shaky Claim on the giant tree stump at the camp entrance referring to the sunken town that is (somewhat) explored during the boss sequence under the lake?

Raz talking about being back in high school in Black Velvetopia despite being ten years old? Not to mention the stories the dogs tell about Lana/Lampita and Dean/Dingo?

Lastly, do I really need to mention the incredibly weird and seemingly out of place mental vault below the creepy thorn tower? A brain chicken hatches out of an egg, meets a fish in water, goes to a circus, gets placed in a teacup, and blasts people to death? Kind of a summation of Raz coming out of the egg in the Brain Tumbler Experiment, meeting Linda at Lake Oblongata, entering the Meat Circus, and getting placed in a brain tank and defeating two people? Was the mental vault a foreshadowing of the main plot of Psychonauts? I don’t know. What do you think?

*Takes a deep breath.* See what I mean when I say I could really go on and on about setup and payoff in Psychonauts? There are so many examples that it’s kind of ridiculous. It could be said that there’s too much of this kind of storytelling in the game, but I fail to see how that is a problem. There is such a thing as too much of a good thing, but when it comes to setup and payoff, Psychonauts is not it.

Credits

Screenshots courtesy of the following:

Comic Foil, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCN-Y6XDe0oWyhgjcGunJqGw

Global Gaming, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pjsxNSwSSA

StoryGamer, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXZ1vDFp_dw&t=139s

ThatNotSoAznKid, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ford0MGvWIc

#psychonauts #psychonauts spoilers #setup and payoff #writing in video games

153 notes · View notes

fortysevenswrites · 3 years

Note

all the odd numbers <3

Alllllllll the odd numbers? Okayyyyy then.

1. when you have cereal, do you have more milk than cereal or more cereal than milk?

It’s been a loooooong time since I’ve had cereal, but definitely more cereal, added milk as needed. The last thing I can handle is soggy cereal.

3. what random objects do you use to bookmark your books?

I’m that asshole who dog-ears her book pages. Sorry not sorry.

5. are you self-conscious of your smile?

Not really.

7. do you name your plants?

Lol I’d have to keep plants to name plants. The closest I’ve gotten is when I was house-sitting for my sister and thought I murdered her strawberries last summer. Turns out, I didn’t.

9. do you like singing/humming to yourself?

Not really. I do most of my singing to myself in my head.

11. what’s an inner joke you have with your friends?

Too many to count.

13. what’s something that made you smile today?

I bought these sour gummy snakes at the market today. Had them for brunch. Meal of champions.

15. go google a weird space fact and tell us what it is!

According to the great google and Arizona State University, there are more trees on earth (3 trillion) than there are stars in our galaxy (100-400 billion). That’s a lot.

17. what color do you really want to dye your hair?

Overtone, the hair dye company, has been advertising this color blend called Merlot, which is a mid between red and purple and it’s SO my vibe.

19. do you keep a journal? what do you write/draw/ in it?

I try to, but by the time I’m done with my day, I forget to journal. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

21. talk about your favorite bag, the one that’s been to hell and back with you and that you love to pieces.

answered here

23. what’s your favorite thing to do on lazy days where you have 0 obligations?

answered here

25. what’s the weirdest place you’ve ever broken into?

answered here

27. what’s your favorite bubblegum flavor?

I don’t chew gum.

29. what’s something really cute that one of your friends does and is totally endearing?

My best friend does this nose crinkle thing that is adorable.

31. what is your opinion of socks? do you like wearing weird socks? do you sleep with socks? do you confine yourself to white sock hell? really, just talk about socks.

I wish they would just FUCKING FIT. So I don’t wear socks unless I have to.

33. what’s your fave pastry?

Chocolate croissants. Hands down.

35. do you like stationary and pretty pens and so on? do you use them often?

I have the handwriting of a twelve year old boy, so stationary is wasted on me. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

37. do you like keeping your room messy or clean?

I am blind to most messes. My closet is on the floor, pretty much.

39. what color do you wear the most?

Black. Hands down.

41. what’s the last book you remember really, really loving?

Any book in the Sigma Series by James Rollins. I am trash for a good military thriller.

43. who was the last person you gazed at the stars with?

Probably not since I was still working at the summer camp I grew up at, so, years ago, and probably with my campers.

45. do you trust your instincts a lot?

Yeah. My instincts are always right.

47. what food do you think should be banned from the universe?

I don’t do bananas.

49. do you like buying CDs and records? what was the last one you bought?

Oh man, I used to LOVE buying CDs. The last record I bought was a vinyl of Haley’s Badlands when she did a club concert around the corner from where I live. It was SO much fun. Do I have a way to play said vinyl? No.

51. think of a person. what song do you associate with them?

I recently got news about a person who I used to work with back in the ye olde. The song I’m thinking of is Fuck You Very Much by Lily Allen. So, uh, take from that what you will.

53. have you ever watched the rocky horror picture show? heathers? beetlejuice? pulp fiction? what do you think of them?

Beetlejuice is one of the best movies of all time. I’ve actually never watched RHPS all the way through. And I’ve never seen Heathers or Pulp Fiction.

55. what’s the most dramatic thing you’ve ever done to prove a point?

Quit my job.

57. go listen to bohemian rhapsody. how did it make you feel? did you dramatically reenact the lyrics?

Like I could conquer the damn world. And yes, I did sing along. Duh. And now I want to listen to Radio Gaga. So thanks for that.

59. what’s your favorite myth?

I’ve always been a huge fan of the story of Serenity and Endymion. Goes back to my Sailor Moon phase. As one does.

61. what’s the stupidest gift you’ve ever given? the stupidest one you’ve ever received?

I don’t think any of the gifts I’ve given, gag or not, are stupid. Even the socks I’ve given (and gotten).

63. are you fussy about your books and music? do you keep them meticulously organized or kinda leave them be?

Not really. I like knowing where the books I go back to regularly are, but that’s really it. I used to be really organized about my music back when iTunes was a thing. Now I really just listen to music via YouTube.

65. is there anyone you haven’t seen in a long time who you’d love to hang out with?

Yes, and that’s as far as I’m going to go on that nonsense. It’s been nine damn years. Ugh.

67. how do gloomy days where the sky is dark and the world is misty make you feel?

SO FUCKING GOOD. Love days like that.

69. what are your favorite board games?

Uhhhhhh....I haven’t played board games in years.

71. what’s your favorite kind of tea?

I used to drink green tea before I realized caffeine gave me serious anxiety.

73. what are some of your worst habits?

A great many things.

75. tell us about your pets!

My four-legged roommate Bishop. She’s the black cat I’ve always wanted and she’s the biggest, brattiest baby and she screams when she wants me to pay more attention to her. I am also the the aunt to four dog nieces, Belle (black lab mix), Raven (beagle mix), Ivy (miniature aussie), and Cora (husky/german shepherd mix), and two dog nephews, Sebastian (miniature schnhauzer) and Sven (husky/german shepherd mix).

77. pink or yellow lemonade?

Pink when I’m feeling fancy.

79. what’s one of the cutest things someone has ever done for you?

Someone I know, two years ago, the day after he met me, snuck me a cookie from the leftovers after team meal. It’s been a problem ever since.

81. describe one of your friend’s eyes using the most abstract imagery you can think of.

They change colors, but most often, somewhere between fanfiction yellow, and the color of dead moss. And they’re the best.

83. what’s some of your favorite album art?

I don’t really have thoughts on album art? But I have my Halsey Badlands vinyl right in front of me and it’s pretty cool.

85. do you read comics? what are your faves?

Not often, but I have a giant pile of Power Rangers comics that I’ve been meaning to read through for like...ever.

87. what are some movies you think everyone should watch at least once in their lives?

Blazing Saddles, Pacific Rim, Beetlejuice, Crazy Rich Asians

89. are you close to your parents?

Well that’s a complicated question. Let’s just leave it at that.

91. where do you plan on traveling this year?

Well I was supposed to go to Hawaii for a friend’s wedding this summer, but she pushed it back to 2022, which makes sense. Other than that, California at some point to see my grandparents because I haven’t seen them in over a year because of the pandemic.

93. what’s the hairstyle you wear the most?

Either a ponytail or a messy bun. Sometimes I’ll wear it down, but it depends on which day I am between shampoos. My hair is, well, finicky at best.

95. what are your plans for this weekend?

I have a module for a course I’m taking that I need to watch and do the homework for. Maybe go up to my sister’s house once my niece gets back from her dance tournament

97. myer briggs type, zodiac sign, and hogwarts house?

MB is steeped in eugenics so, no thank you, and also I just don’t have time to take the quiz. I’m a Taurus, and damn straight am I a Taurus. And I’m a Slytherin, full stop (though apparently I’m also a Ravenclaw, which makes sense).

99. list some songs that resonate to your soul whenever you hear them.

marjorie by Taylor Swift, any song on Halsey’s Badlands album, The Pit by Silversun Pickups, Jet Pack Blues by Fall Out Boy, and Save Rock and Roll by Fall Out Boy, to name a few.

these are actually hella fucking cute y'all (except, you know, all the odds)

#asked and answered

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lie-to-me22 · 5 years

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Summer Camp (Matty Healy x Reader)

A/N: sorry for such a long wait, i doubt it's worth it but hopefully you all enjoy anyways!

Summary: Y/N has been a loner for most of her life, her mom works all day long and her dad isn't there. But all that changes once her mom decides it's a great idea to go to camp for the summer. It's where she meets Matty and the rest of the gang and is that where she finds her best friends, maybe even more?

Word Count: 4,336

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The note your mother left you before you left read 'You'll be missed!' in horribly sloppy handwriting. Your mother had to be in work by 5, so she couldn't tell you goodbye in person. She wanted you to enjoy the summer and not have to be locked up in your room with nothing to do, she searched for options. You could've been a lifeguard, not a junior but an actual lifeguard. You despised the junior lifeguard program, you had been forced to join and you hated every second of it. It was just hot weather and running, those two do not go hand in hand. She gave you the option of being an actual lifeguard, but you ruled that option out very quickly. The only option left was summer camp, bugs and unsanitary bunks, you were so looking forward to it.

You finished combing your hair and started to put on your sneakers. Suddenly, the wind blew open your curtains, so you closed locked them shut. You had finished now putting on your sneakers and so you walked out of your room and into the living room, where you left the bags you packed last night. You wanted to leave a note back, informing her that you'll miss her, but you were already going to be late enough, so you advised yourself not to. You rushed yourself and carried all your bags outside, you had to drive yourself. As you were loading your personal baggage into your car, the mailman through mail at your feet.

"Here Y/N, it's the mail. Leave it inside for Karen if you can, hope you enjoy camp!" The mailman said surprisingly enthusiastic, this made you question his motives, because no one, absolutely no one, is that enthusiastic for no reason.

"Shit," you said, you left your car keys inside. You ran back in, praying to whatever deities you could think of in that short amount of time, that you forgot to lock the door. Thank you Allah, you thought and marched into the unlocked door of your house. You grabbed the keys off the kitchen counter and marched back out. Your baggage was now all packed inside the trunk, so you could finally leave. The site where you'd be dropped off isn't that far, you could've walked but you chose not to. But because you didn't, your mom has to come and pick it up with her extra keys tonight. You drove and blasted some of your favorite songs, this would be the last time you'd be able to do that for a long time, there'd probably be no service and no electronic use there anyways. The car in front of you decided that it would be a great idea to stop fifteen feet from where you're supposed to stop.

You mumbled some profanity under your breath as you slammed your hand against the steering wheel, honking your car. Whoever was in the car finally woke up from their idiotic daze and drove. You had an awfully wonderful idea and chased the car, the lady didn't notice at first but once she did, she sped. As she sped, you sped even faster, you both were back to back, neither of you caring how many reds you passed. All you cared about was beating her, your competitive nature kicked in and pressed on that pedal even harder. You passed her, you turned your head around and saw her flipping you off, you just laughed. It didn't take much longer until you got there.

You arrived at the meet up site, this is where the buses are going to pick you up. You dropped your luggage off next to all the counselors, they'll be the ones to pack it in the bus. You observed the people around you, you knew no one. You paid attention to how the friends that were there together acted, the way they talked to each other, the way they laughed when someone would crack a joke. You were very obviously bored out of your mind, and that's when the head counselor, or at least what you thought was the head counselor, caught everyone's attention.

"Now attention pricks and dicks, and to all you lovely ladies out there, listen up. We're boarding the buses now, so grab all your belongings and we'll board you in alphabetical order." You didn't appreciate her language when getting the boy's attention, but you've said worse. It's just that she's the head counselor and you weren't so you could say whatever you'd like, she has a reputation, you don't, actually you've probably already made yours by staring at everyone and not saying a word. You would have thought you were weird too.

"Yeah yeah, thank you Denise," you heard a voice behind you, it was a boy with light brown hair and a boy with dark brown curly hair. You guessed they were brothers, you could see the slight similarities between the too. But you wondered why the boy called his mother by her first name, but you weren't going to ask.

"Bye boys!" Denise said and the boys headed right next to where you were. You took notice in how abnormally large the suitcases of the boy's were. Denise headed back to her car, it was a rental and now you were wondering what happened to her other car. The boys didn't look or act like they were from here, which now you figured they weren't.

"George, shut up! Sorry to break it to you mate, but she'll never like you," the dark brown haired one said, you know knew that the other was named George. You now noticed their heavy accent, very British.

"You don't know that!" George said, very defensively. He looked over at one of the counselors, you noticed the way he looked at her, the look you give when you're in love. Except, George couldn't have possibly known her for more than five minutes, and in those five minutes, he hadn't even spoken to her.

"Believe me G, I do," the other boy said, George just ignored the boy and went back to looking at the girl. The girl had curly blonde hair, she was pretty but she seemed to have no personality, nothing that'll help support her looks. But that's what George was into, who were you to judge? The head counselor was still on the C's of the list, then finally the D's.

"George Daniel, Reshida Daol." George was now forced to sit next to some girl, he didn't look very pleased, he wanted to sit next his mate. I paid attention to each name she called, patiently waiting for my own to be called.

"Y/N Hadler, Matthew Healy," you stepped up to the bus, not noticing who you'll be seated with. You took your seat right behind a boy you remembered to be named Adam, he also had a surname that began with H. You looked outside the window, noticing there was still a bunch of camper's names to be called, you didn't see George's friend. Your seating partner finally went in on the bus, it was the dark brown haired boy, he was who you were gonna sit next to for the rest of the bus trip. The boy made eye contact before he sat right beside you.

"Matty, what's your name love?" he said, his British accent very easily noticed.

"Y/N, I thought you heard already," you said, you figured he was paying attention to the counselor when she was calling names.

"I did, I just wanted to hear your voice," Matty said and leaned into your ear to whisper, "plus I was talking my mate out of shagging one of the counselors."

His comment made you laugh, you did hear their conversation, but you didn't want to sound like some sort of stalker, so you didn't mention it. "Who?"

"Well you see, if you're asking me who'd I'd wanna shag, that'd be you but I don't think you're asking me." His comment caused you to blush, Matty noticed that real quick. "I'm guessing you'd pick me too."

"And why I ever? Fuckin' twat," you said, clearly not being serious, but you didn't like him like that, you just met him for God's sake anyways.

"Alright alright, calm yourself love, no need for that kind of language here." You laughed as he said that, which caused him to smile. "So, her name's Winny, blonde curly hair. But as you can see," he pointed at George who was staring directly at the girl, "my plan has failed miserably. He still wants to shag!"

"How does he know her?" you asked, still laughing.

"He doesn't! That's another thing, what baffles me the most is that he hasn't even spoken to the girl yet," Matty said. You didn't understand how love at first sight worked, no, you didn't believe in it. How could someone fall in love with someone they haven't even said a word to? Or someone who they've maybe only had one conversation with? It doesn't make any sense to you.

"Don't you find that odd?" you asked, seeing if he agreed with you.

"What do I find odd?" he asked you, you guessed you weren't specific enough. That or because you had a conversation in your head, that the question was random to him.

"Love at first sight. How can someone fall for someone they've known for less than a few seconds? I don't understand the concept," you said.

"I think I get it, I like that idea. It gives me hope. I don't think I've truly been in love before, I've became completely infatuated in many women. Although not one of those many I can say that I've truly loved." Matty wanted to love someone, but he couldn't. He would go from female to female, not ever really loving them.

"I guess I get that, I've never been in love either, I've never found someone that I'd want to spend the rest of my days with," you said. Matty nodded his head, acknowledging and agreeing with your statement.

The counselor's were finally finished with taking attendance and seating arrangements of the campers. You took a swift glance outside and took noticed in all of the parents waving goodbye to their sons and daughters, it made you envious. But the thought gradually went away as the time passed, you chatted with Matty for the whole ride, you noticed how charming the boy was and had such an eloquence to his speech. It made you slightly self-conscious but because you did enjoy your conversation you two were having, you brushed it off. The bus trip was long, but it didn't seem nearly as long as you thought it would be, if it had to be anyone, you were grateful that it was Matty that sat next to you for the ride.

"Alright, listen up!" The head counselor called for everyone's attention, only half the kids paid attention though, you were one of them. "We will be giving you your cabins and counselors, then you guys are allowed out. Do not get out when the doors open."

The doors flew open and you saw campers try and hop off the bus, but then she yelled once again that that's not what you are supposed to do.

"Think we can get the same cabin?" you ask him hopefully.

"Chances are slim, although we might. You never know," Matty says and gives you a wink.

"Remember, cabins are split up between genders. Don't want anything happening, if you know what I mean," the head counselor says. Shit, you think. You and Matty had forgotten about that rule. You guys still have a chance of being in the same team though, which left you with a tinge of hope that you'd see him more. You didn't know any of the girls there and that worried you, you didn't know if you'd still enjoy your cabin because of that. "George Daniel, Adam Hann, Matthew Healy and Ross Macdonald are going to be apart the 'Bear Cabin,' which is going to be in cabin 1A."

Matty got out of the seat and gave you a wave goodbye. You still sat paying close attention so you can watch out for your name. You listened to the cabin names, some were Bunny, Gopher, Horse, and Lion.

"Y/N Hadler, Trish Ye, Brenna Lane, Jeana Cortez are the Wolves and are taking cabin 1B." It's going to be the cabin connected to Matty and George, and you liked that. At least you didn't have to be with the girls for too long, the girls were allowed in the cabins whenever as long as it's before the night. You walked out of your seat on the bus and waited outside for your bags, you eavesdropped into the girl's in your cabin's conversation.

"Is she going to be in our cabin?" one of those girls asked.

"I think so, is there anything wrong with that Brenna?" another girl asked who you figured out was Brenna.

"No it's just..." Brenna trailed off. You didn't like how they were speaking of you, but you were practically used to this by now. Once you grabbed your items, you left the rest of your cabin members and headed straight towards cabin 1B. You walked along the trail that lead to both parts of cabin 1. You saw Matty and George chatting, and you assumed they'd be out there for a while longer, so you'd put your own bags away first and then went out to speak with them. You took the bed right next to the farthest door, it was the closest to the entrance of cabin 1A. You set up your blankets on your bed and headed out. Right when you left the door, you saw the rest of your cabin approaching the door. You walked out of their way and walked towards the two boys still talking outside.

"Hey boys!" you said walking towards them. You might not have talked to George but he seemed to recognize you right away.

"Hi Y/N!" Matty and George both said unanimously. Matty asked, "would you care to join us doll?"

"Not sure why'd I'd deny such a lovely offer," you said sarcastically, it made both you and the boys chuckle.

"I'm guessing that's a yes then," Matty said. You reach the boys, and just to teaae them so you started walking off. As you started walking away, Matty grabbed your arm and put you into playful headlock.

"I guess I'll leave you two alone.." George said and you noticed him being slightly uncomfortable.

"Alright, bye Georgie!" Matty said and George just rolled his eyes. "Nah I'm just messin', I'll allow you to stay."

"I'm honored, thanks." George said obviously not meaning it.

"Well what's up love?" Matty asked you as he gradually let go of his headlock.

"Nothing much, just not really enjoying my cabin so far," you said, "what were two talking about before I came?"

That caused George to smirk. "You actually," he said.

"Oh really? What about me?" you asked curiously. Matty's eyes went wide but before he could speak, George did.

"Oh well, just Matty talking about how much-" George got interrupted by Matty's hand to his mouth.

"Of a great friend you are," Matty says and gives you a suspicious smile which made you curious as to why.

"Hmm, sure Matt," you said.

"It's Matty if we're gonna do this properly," he says. You laugh while apologizing for calling him Matt. "Just remember for next time alright love?"

"Alright Matt," you said, this caused Matty to roll his eyes. "I'm just playing."

You gave Matty a big smile and in return he gave you an insincere one.

"So, Y/N where are from?" George said to break the silence.

"Oh I'm actually from where we met up for camp, so Fort Collins. You guys?" you said.

"We're from Manchester. Matty and I are going to be going to college out there for music production," George said.

"That sounds wonderful! I always wanted to work in music, whether that be a band or working behind the scenes I always found it very interesting, so it's cool that you guys are doing that," you said.

"Definitely, glad you understand our passion for it," Matty said. You nodded as you saw the counselor George wanted to shag.

"Oh yeah, Matty told me George," you gave him a wink as she walked past the three of you. George's face went bright red as he was very obviously embarrassed.

"Told you what...?" George asked double checking to see if he knew.

"You know," you said and nodded toward the girl.

"Oh..." George said and was now sure of what you meant by that.

"It's alright George, I say you go for it," you gave him words of encouragement unlike his mate would've.

"She won't like him though Y/N!" Matty said.

"And how exactly do you know that?" you asked him.

"George, yes you're handsome and dreamy and you got those eyes, like posh chocolate," Matty says then interrupts himself, "no sorry, that's me. But none of that matters anyways 'cause she isn't gonna like you."

"First of all, back off mate, I'm not interested," George says chuckling, "and second of all, you're not giving me any insight to why she isn't gonna like me."

"I can just tell okay?" Matty told him.

"And why should I believe you? You haven't had a girlfriend longer than a week!" George said defensively.

"Geez," Matty said, he looked completely devastated by George's comment on his love life. "Don't expect me to help you when she breaks your little heart George!"

After that Matty ran off, down and into somewhere in the woods. He didn't know where he was going, he just ran, passed the trees and now far away from the campsite. Normally the campers go out there with counselors and tour the nature, but because they just got there, Matty has no idea what he's doing. He stopped, he just stayed there and sat down, with George's comment still fresh on his mind. Although, he didn't have much time to contemplate for there was footsteps coming closer and closer to him.

"Fucking bollocks man," Matty whispered. In this moment, he remembered how much he hated nature. He prayed, even though he's not religious, that it was just a camper. His heart was beating faster, and it only got faster as the footsteps appeared to be near. They become faster and that's when Matty ran again, he didn't even pay attention to how fast his heart was racing, he was just focused on running away from whatever that thing was. He hid behind a large tree as he didn't hear the creature anymore, he figured it must've been gone so he sat back down again.

"Fuckin' hell, my best mate calls me a man whore and I almost get killed by-" Matty said, talking to no one in particular but himself, that's the creature was back and now Matty knew exactly what it was. A wolf, a grey, an out to kill him wolf. Matty was now leaned up against a tree as the wolf became closer, he found himself scooting more into the tree than he could. He had to climb, the tree was far too big for him to just go around. If he did go around, then the wolf would have a better chance of catching up to him. So he start climbing it, the wolf started coming closer, but Matty just became faster. He put his leg up on a slightly uneven part of the tree, making sure he was sturdy and then brought up the other one. As he climbed faster, the wolf ran to make sure that it atleast hurt him. All the was left was for Matty's leg to get up all the way, but in that moment Matty froze and looked right in it's eyes. He noticed how cold and heartless they looked, as if their only goal was to kill, maybe that's not true, maybe it was because he had the aggressive urge to kill him, that that is what Matty noticed. Then the wolf clawed his leg, three deep gashed now located directly on his shin. Matty winced in pain from the cuts, but he was grateful that the wolf didn't catch up to the rest of him. The wolf tried getting up the true a couple of times, but failed everytime, so it decided it'd be best to leave him alone, for now atleast. Matty made a sound of relief as the wolf ran off somewhere into the woods, just as Matty had before the wolf chased him. He was officially lost, no where to be found and he was very sure that no one would come looking for him anytime soon. Matty sat there, on top of the tree in only God knows territory. He could just cry and wait until or if anyone came looking for him, or he could try and make his way back. He decided against the latter, so he cried. The trees were shaking due to the wind, he listened to the breeze and it stopped him from crying for a bit.

The wolf has been gone for quite a while now, so Matty finally climbed down the tree. He wouldn't go far in case someone did come looking for him, which started to doubt. At last, he reached the ground, but in that moment he regretted ever coming down. On the ground there was a body, a dead body of another wolf. The tears started flowing again, Matty had a close relationship with nature, of course not close enough to run and join a wolf pack, but close enough that he cared that the wolf died, on fact he cared a lot. That could've been me, he thought. The thought didn't make much sense because well, he was a human, but he did believe it still. It should've been me, he thought, I just lost my best mate over a girl! Now what's Y/N gonna think of me too? No one cared enough to come so might as well have been me.

"No, it shouldn't have," Matty looked up as he heard the voice, tears were still falling down his face. You sat beside him, next to the tree. He thought he was thinking, but it turns out he was talking out loud, "Matty, I'm sure George didn't mean it and I'm not mad about that, I don't think you're like that."

"Well I am, and I would love to change! But since I've been doing it as long as I remember, I don't think I can. I'm a cliché, that's all I am. I've got the leather jackets, I smoke, and as George said 'I can't keep a girlfriend longer than a week.' All of that's true, I came out here looking for a change, my mum thought it'd be a wonderful idea to go summer camp while I was at it. So I did, and now I met you and I saw something in you, something special, I don't know what the hell it is just yet, but I'll tell you when I do. But besides you, it's not starting off as lovely as I'd thought it would be. Of course none of what's happened has been detrimental, except maybe that," he pointed to his cut, "so I guess what I'm trying to say is I will stay here and deal with it as I always do, thank you for listening love."

You were still trying to understand all of what he said, he called you special and in your heart that meant a lot, but you didn't take it as a romantic gesture, but more of as a friend. Although in that context, it could mean either one.

"Look Matty, you're special too, ever since I met you, there's so much more to you than just a cliche and I truly to mean that," you looked Matty into his eyes, you had this odd urge to kiss him, although you didn't, "you're not going to deal with anything on your own anymore, I'm here with you and for you for as long as I can. I'm sure George will apologize when we come back, for now I'm here and I hope that's enough."

"That's more than enough Y/N, I'm glad it was you who came," He left it at that and rested his head on your shoulder.

"I'm glad it was me too, be careful next time okay?"

"Okay," he said, you dropped his head off your shoulder for a second and held him in a embrace, just a warm, secure embrace, as if you were saying that you cared. Even though you'd only met that day, you really did care about it. He started to cry once again, Matty wasn't usually this emotional, especially around others, but he couldn't help it and he figured that he could trust you enough to. He rested his head against your shoulder again, this time you wrapped your arm around. Your hug lingered for a while, but you didn't pay much attention to it since him being okay mattered more than whatever you were feeling towards him. Besides, he probably doesn't feel the same way, right?

#the 1975 #matty healy #matty healy x reader series #matty healy x reader #matty #george daniel #adam hann #ross macdonald #summer camp

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joyofcrime-elinorhigh · 5 years

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Camp Camp REVIEW:

Hello there, everybody. My name is JoyofCrimeArt and the Summer season has just come to an end. It's that time or year where the heat starts to die down, as the brisk Autumn breeze comes blowing forth to refresh our minds and bodies, and to remind us that-wait hold on. Yeah, okay. So I just checked Google and it turns out that it's currently ninety degrees outside exactly. Sorry Autumn, better luck next month. Anyway, with Summer "technically" wrapping up I though now would be as good of a time as any to talk about Rooster Teeth Production's Summer themed adult animated series "Camp Camp."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4c6JUBauBg

(By the way, this intro is so frickin' catchy.) For those who don't know "Camp Camp" is a online animated series that comes from Rooster Teeth Productions, the studio that brought us Red vs Blue, RWBY, and the Youtube Red original movie, Lazor Team. If I had to describe the show I would describe it as "Total Drama Island" crossed with "South Park." So what's the plot? Camp Camp centers around Max, a cynical ten year old who hates the entire world around him. He's the typical cynical, bitter type of character you see a lot in these "adult animated" shows. Max's goal in the series to escape from Camp Campbell, a crappy run down summer camp in the middle of nowhere, and make his way back to civilization. He also has help from his two friends, Neil and Nikki. Neil is a science nerd who is very quick to angry outburst. He and Max share the role as the straight man in most episodes. Then there's Nikki, a hyperactive wild child and self proclaimed "agent of chaos." Out of the main trio she's probably my favorite. She just has some much energy, and it's actual nice to see a character who is actually happy to be at the camp, even though she still tries to help Max and Neil escape. There's also the two camp counselor, David and Gwen. David is an optimistic yet dim counselor who tries to make the three (mainly Max) see the joys of camping, without much success. He often will suffer torment form our main protagonist, sometimes indirectly but often directly. However despite the universes punching bag he's still manages to stay cartoonishly optimistic. I really like David, and he is one of my favorite, if not my favorite character in the show. His constant optimism is really funny but he's not a static character either. In a lot of these type of cartoons we get characters who are either always happy or almost always happy, and they end up being very one dimensional a lot of the time. David is different because while we see him being happy most of the time we see that he does have limits. We see that he gets stressed out by things and is trying his hardest to stay optimistic anyway. It's not like in Spongebob, where Spongebob is always happy because he unaware that things around him aren't perfect. David knows that things around him aren't perfect, but still tries to stay upbeat about it. It's a lot more relatable in that way, at least in my humble opinion. Gwen meanwhile, is the smarter and more snarky counselor who just tries to stay out of everything and just read her trashy magazine. Gwen will often act as the foil to David and it works really well comically. I also really like Gwen's voice actress, Lee Eddy. It's a great voice that really works for her deadpan deliveries, and as we later learn she also a great singer! The show also has a large plethora of side characters. The show uses a clever strategy when it comes to introducing the side characters, usually giving each of the side characters one episode each to shine. Plus they break those episodes up with episodes that are just about Max, Neil and Nikki. This makes it a lot easier to manage all of the side characters, and the stereotypes that the side characters represent makes it very easier for the audience to immediately know what the characters are about. The show has a pretty large cast, so I'll try to hit most of the more notable side characters real quick here. There's Cameron Campbell, the camp's immoral founder who is on the run from the government. There's Space Kid, a kid who likes outer space and always has a glass dome around his head. There's Preston, the psychotic theater kid (Who is a really funny character by the way.) There's Nurf, the camp bully. There's Ered, the cool kid. There's Harrison, the magic kid. There's Nerris, the other magic kid. There's Dolph, who may or may not be a clone of Hitler. Y'know, all of the normal character archtypes. None of these character get to much development beyond there stereotypes, but there still enjoyable and funny in there own rights. Oh, also there's a platypus as the camp mascot, because when in doubt, add a platypus.

(Muack!) Now, as stated before, this show is not for kids. As we learned from "Don't Hug Me, I'm Scared" the more kid friendly something on the internet looks the more horrible and vulgar it probably is. But they do adult humor very cleverly, usually not going "too far." with the joke. There are a lot of adult cartoons out there that just try to be vulgar for vulgarities sake. Show's where every character is just an irredeemable jerk wad. Camp Camp, luckily, doesn't fall into this category. There's some vulgarity in it, but it never feels like they are trying to force it in where it doesn't belong. This shows humor is very clever and funny, and just happens to incorporates some adult themes sometimes. What I like about this show is how closely it does feel to a show that could air on television. The episodes are about the right length, and so is the theme song. Plus the animation in this series is beautiful by web series standards. It looks TV quality, on par with something like PBS Kid's "Wild Kratts" or something like that. Just like Don't Hug Me this makes the adult humor a lot funnier. Since it looks so much like a kid show it makes it more unexpected when they do something very adult and thus makes it more comedic. I admire Rooster Teeth so much for always putting so much effort into there animation, even though they only do web series. It's all done in flash but it's done well, so that all that really matters. Similar to the point above about content being juxtaposed with the animation, this show also has an odd thing with it's music. In the show itself the music matches, but during each episodes end credits the music is always some kind of rap song, for whatever reason. It seems odd but thinking about it it really does works. I think it's because everything in this show has such a weird mishmash of elements that one more weird element doesn't really feel out of place. Plus it's sort of matches Max's anti-authority mentality, so in a way it actually match in a weird kind of way. This show is also really fun to watch if you are already a fan of Rooster Teeth's other works. About half of the cast of Camp Camp are returning actors from RWBY. Max is Sun, Neil is Mercury, David is Jaune, Space Kid is Ruby, Ered is Pyrrha, Nikki is FRICKIN' WINTER OF ALL PEOPLE! It's greatly amusing to see the voice actors from the mostly child friendly RWBY saying such vulgarity. It's a nice extra level for RWBY fans. Same thing I would think would apply if you watch this and then watch RWBY, except backwards. Speaking of voice acting the show has a pretty all star cast for a web show. Big name anime and animation voice actor Yuri Lowenthal voices Neil, Travis Willingham is Cameron Campbell and they even got Dante Basco in one episode! It's really cool hearing all these big name actors voices in a web cartoon like this. Now the show obviously isn't perfect. My biggest problem with the show is honestly, the main character. Neil and Nikki are cool characters but I honestly don't like Max very much. Now Max can be a funny character for sure, but he's not very likeable, at least to me. He's just a cynical A-hole. Which I know is the point and all, but still. I don't hate him or anything, but out of the main three characters he's probably my least favorite. It's just hard to care for a character who doesn't care about anything. Also I sort of don't like how David is the shows punching bag a lot of the time. David is an awesome character, but it's lame that we always see him suffer. Again, I know it's the point but it's still hard to watch. That being said the show does sort of make up for it in the final episode when we get the sorta "moral." of the series, and what the David/Max conflict was leading up to. I don't want to spoil the ending for anybody who hasn't seen the show, but the scene in the season finale with Max and David (If you seen the show you should know what scene I'm talking about.) Is so powerful. From the lack of music to the voice acting to the beautiful message of it all. I would just rewatch that scene over and over on Youtube because of how well done it was. So even the flaws of this show do have a point. It's just kinda a grind getting to that point, but overall I think it is worth it for the message the show is trying to teach. Also it looks like these flaws might be toned down in season two, but it's kinda two early to tell at this point. But that all might just be a personal preference kind of thing, and other people might not mind at all. Especially if you happen to be a fan of cynical or sadistic humor. ...Y'know what I just realized. This show in a lot of ways in just a backwards "Camp Lazlo." Think about it, Camp Camp is about a cynical camper who tries to annoy an overly optimistic camp counselor and show him that life is a sad and pathetic place. Meanwhile Camp Lazlo is about an overly optimistic camper annoying a cynical scoutmaster, trying to show him that life is great and awesome place.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ssnw2GA657s

Random thing. Only recently, when rewatching some of the episodes in preparation for this review did I think to myself, "Why is Nikki's hair green?" Like, I had been watching this show every week for over three months, and I knew her hair was green but only then did I really question-wait a minute. Green hair. Self proclaimed agent of chaos. Oh my God....Nikki is the Joker! It makes so much sense! It was always there in front of us, we were all just to blind to see it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ssnw2GA657s

Another random thing. Just one month before Camp Camp came out, another camp themed adult cartoon came out. Camp WWE. If you are unaware, Camp WWE is a show about the WWE superstars being children in a summer camp run by Ric Flair. I've never seen the show, but I just found it an interesting thing to bring up. The show was created by Seth Green and more importantly IS AN ACTUAL THING THAT EXIST IN THE REAL WORLD FOR REAL! Anyway, I'm not saying that Camp Camp ripped off Camp WWE, as both would have been in production for long enough that they couldn't copy each other. But it's quiet a coincidence. Or is it a coincidence? Hmmmm. Coincidence?....I think NO- In conclusion, Camp Camp is a funny, well written, Amazingly animated web series that I think you all should consider checking out. While not perfect in any way I had a ton of fun watching through the series and all the episodes are easily available on Youtube. So Campe Diem! Have you seen the series? If so what did you think of it? What's you're favorite episode? (Mine is episode 12! Ugh, it's so good!) Tell me what you think about the show in the comments down bellow and I would really appreciate it. I love hearing what other people think about cartoons, and starting a discussion. Any suggestions for things I should review. Suggest them down bellow and maybe I'll do em if I find them interesting enough. Please fav, follow and comment if you liked the review and want to see more and have a great day!

https://www.deviantart.com/joyofcrimeart/journal/Camp-Camp-REVIEW-636395864 DA Link

#camp camp #RWBY #Rooster Teeth #Cartoon Reviews #web series

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maeveses-blog · 5 years

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so, who the HELL is maeve muñoz ?

in HERE you can find a little biography/headcanons about maeve, and i also have a timeline HERE so you can make some sense of dates and time. below i’m just going to fill in the first task ! feel free to hit me up or like this or something so we can TALK!

the basics

camper’s name: maeve amelida muñoz camper’s age: 18 camper’s birthdate: may 30th, 2000 camper’s birthplace: calgary, canada gender identity & pronouns: cis woman & she/her sexual orientation: pansexual

personality

+ traits:

jubilant ( interprets everything as a giant victory, deserving celebration; when she shows happiness it comes as a parade. )

beneficent ( what she has to give, she throws freely, be it herself, her sould, her forgiveness or material possessions. )

whimsical ( half of maeve’s reality plays out inside her mind rather than physically and it often submits to her many whims and odd needs. she lives in her own world, her own way. )

- traits:

dogmatic ( sees the world through very personally colored glasses, regardless of if she’s wrong or right, and hardly anyone can sway her away from her beliefs. )

fickle ( her interests change with a heartbeat and she easily finds herself disattached from groups, movements, places and people. )

remorseful ( her mind and soul is filled with regrets, even those she knows cannot be made her personal burden. her overly enthusiastic behaviour leads her to place the fate of others in her own hands, to view it all as partly her responsability, and so much weighs on her conscience now. )

zodiac: gemini moral alignment: chaotic neutral hogwarts house: ravenclaw any other personality tidbits?: she’s an ENTP-T and she’s a sanguine.

appearance

height: 155cm she’s so tiny help hair color: black eye color: brown any tattoos/piercings?: she does a lot of decisions based on random whims, including her pierced ears (two holes in each), her once quickly infected nose ring and a spear tattoo on her left arm.

the demigod

godly parent: hypnos, the god of sleep any mortal family?: john muñoz, father, deceased. vanessa muñoz, mother. diego muñoz, brother, deceased. abilities: sleep inducing, altering and meddling with memories but especially dream control, both of herself and others, and travelling into other’s dreams. relationship w/ godly parent: a lot of quiet disappointment. she’s always disappointed, never surprised. when/how was the camper claimed?: after three years of being in camp. she woke up a big part of the hermes’ cabin by passing through their dreams - meanhile, hypnos’ symbol hovered above her head. any quests? or smaller missions?: this one depends on what i plot with more people but she definitely always was more keen on the smaller missions, so she could go out for just a bit and then return, and also so she could do more anyway ! what is their fatal flaw?: a need for independence. maeve wants to be able to claim that she can stand on her own two feet with no help, so she often takes on more than she can chew, which combined with her need to always do things her way and no other way, ends in disaster that she can only blame on herself. what is their preferred weapon?: spears !! can be thrown or just pierce through something, so they’re versatile while still being a bit safer due to the range. also, she likes spinning them around.

favorites

favorite camp memory: her first ever capture the flag. it truly helped her feel like a part of the camp and it also poked at her competitiveness - capture th flag is still one of her favourite events at camp. favorite food: pancakes covered in banana slices and honey, just like her dad used to make. also, sangria. favorite color: lilac, especially if it’s glittery favorite animal: squirrels !! she just gets so happy seeing them around in trees. favorite movie: inception, duh. likes: swimming, buying gifts, buzzfeed

dislikes: coffee, rom-coms, showing anger

miscellaneous

mini playlist: a little more - alessia cara; worthy - jacob banks; ribcage - plested; unholy war - jacob banks describe their aesthetic: the sky during a sunset, nearly empty museums, long car trips, backpacks covered in pins and badges, daydreaming in bed, mind palaces if they weren’t a demigod, where would they be in life? in college with no major in mind and highly considering just dropping out.

if your camper was a vine, which one would they be? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oueXfdctqC0

#fleece.intros #there u go

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ghostmartyr · 5 years

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Pokémon Black 2 Randomized Nuzlocke Run [Part 7]

It is time for badge number seven.

Lesgo.

Vertex (Luxray)

Caspet (Gengar)

Nessy (Milotic)

Diego (Gardevoir)

Photon (Rayquaza)

Cerberus (Dodrio)

Squad goals.

Why won’t Unova Gyms ever just let me leave?

And apparently I’m not going through Twist Mountain? I’m getting a lift on a plane?

If that’s the case, that’s happening later. I think I’m going to get Cerberus up to level 40 in the sad death tower before I do anything else. I don’t want to have members of my team lagging consistently. You will all be useful. I will make it happen.

Also, something I haven’t mentioned yet (...I think, it’s been a while to get this far) is that Pokemon Breeders in this gen seem to be available to fight every single time you enter that route. Not like you can fight them if you want. After beating them, if you leave and go back to the route, they will do the exclamation point thing.

This is annoying.

Route 7, also known as that place before the sad death tower, has one.

It is not irritating enough to conjure up hate for. And yet.

Flash forward into the future a bit later, and we have a team where everyone’s above or at 40 except for... Photon. Photon, my friend, we’re just gonna slap the Exp. Share on you and continue with the plot. Your legendary status means me stacking the deck with levels is less important.

I can’t believe this place has a purpose in this game. Or that I get to fly in a plane (I assume, my memory on the sequel games is even worse than my memory for Black and White starting out). There’s something weird about using a plane to get around in a Pokemon game. Doesn’t feel natural.

Oh well, too bad so sad.

...Lentimas Town.

I have no memory of this place.

Hey, Bianca’s coming with us! Yay!

I really have no memory of this place, but there’s some Fire pokemon in Reversal Mountain, apparently, and also Professor Juniper reminds everyone that Black and White happened, so it makes no sense for Team Plasma to be trying to wake up a dragon; they’re all accounted for after all.

My exploits from last game mattered, you guys. They really did happen.

No, but I’m easy to please. Any time the games reference games that happened in the past for the current game, I am made a happy camper. Us and N catching a legendary dragon each is a good thing to keep in continuity.

I’m starting to maybe remember this place... maybe?

I guess we don’t stay here long, so time to not really care. I do continue to like how the setting is not an exact copy of the previous games, though. There’s a lot of repetition that comes from this being a sequel, but everything’s been thought out well enough that it really does feel like a new journey.

Now see, my question is if there’s a cave to this Reversal Mountain, and is it marked with a different title. I’m catching something very soon, but do I have the option of picking between outside Reversal Mountain and inside, or do I... perchance... get both?

It’s probably just one and I should just march into the grass.

I don’t wanna.

Ah, but it looks like I have to step through grass anyway. But there is the option of dark grass vs. normal grass.

I am too battle-weary and scarred. Normal grass.

!!!! A Normal pokemon for the normal grass! Hi Miltank! Let us be the best of friends and not roll each other into death. Photon’s the best bet for not accidentally killing the little lady (I did not check this with numbers and have no plans to).

Only while I was typing, Miltank used Bide, and I missed that, so Nessy with her excellent HP had to go out and deal with the consequences of Photon’s one attack. Nessy and Twister are taking Miltank down at a safe rate. She’s in the orange, so throwing time.

While she’s using Rollout.

Of course.

Hey, first ball! We’re Pokemon Going over here!

Her name is Bessy. Because it is.

But whoops, I need to head back to the Pokemon Center for a hot second and get her out of the Graves box. You’re not dead yet, darling.

Dark grass has Luxio.

It also leads to a strange house instead of fun cave time.

See, right there in the title. Can has pokemon?

Coool. Want to join my gang?

Nessy and Twister seem to be an okay catching combo. Let’s see if we can get it working twice in a row.

Damn it, Nessy. Your first one left him in the green. The green. Sigh.

Farewell, unnamed shark friend.

(he woulda been bruce)

Ahoy random Gigalith in the upstairs of the house with the moving furniture I can’t cap because these are stills. Sadly I’m not in the mood to deal with Sturdy, so I’m going to run from those instead of harvesting them.

Awww, there’s a Castform downstairs. Plus a Spell Tag.

Then the furniture moves and clears up a doorway. Behind which is a trainer.

I feel like a lot of the NPCs we meet in these games have very hard lives. Hello Sentret in the middle of the room. Are you keeping this one company?

Ludicolo is in the front room.

Caspet learns Dark Pulse. Bye-bye, Night Shade.

Waaaaaait. Wait. Aren’t you the ghost girl from the bridge in the last games? I remember you! Is this where you get something to do instead of just being odd? Note that it doesn’t count if it’s an event thing that needs a code or internet or special event items!

She’s looking for her parents.

And her Abra.

....Then a wild Abra shows up.

Is that scripted, or did the Randomizer just give me an amazing gift?

Weepinbell back downstairs.

I go through another door, and get a Full Heal for my trouble. With added wild Octillery. Fuck you, Octillery. You are banned from all my runs forever.

Ooooo wild Haxorus. Look at all these things I can’t have. Downstairs has a stray Riolu. The trouble I go through for a... Dusk Stone. Yeah, okay, that’s nice to have. Toxicroak is also here.

Then back upstairs, suddenly Gible. What’s this place usually supposed to have?

The second floor’s chairs have moved, so I go through one of the upstairs doors. Another trainer room. Yay. With a Mr. Mime. Yay.

I’m really sorry about your life/undeath, NPC Ghost Girl.

Oh, neat. Lunar Wing.

I have no memory of which legendary that belongs to. I want to guess Cresselia, but I don’t know if it’s even in this game. I do know it’s a gen four legendary, which would make sense for the sidequest feel of this house.

Oh wait it doesn’t matter because Randomized Nuzlocke.

...Well fine, but I’d still like to know.

That makes me feel surprisingly sad.

One last door to check out. Empty but for Golett (want) and a Rare Candy. Time to leave.

Back outside there’s an Exeggcute I wouldn’t have wanted. The normal grass has Whismur.

There was a cave after all. Ugh. I can’t believe this counts as the same route as outside. Cave and grass should get to be different.

Heeey! Bianca! Wait, before we team up and I abuse your healing for exp, I need to check the other side of the cave.

Oh. The other side of the cave has a Max Repel and that’s it. Back to Bianca, I guess. And she’s psyched for Heatran, which is a very relatable feel.

Zoroark and Tangrowth for the first encounter of the cave. I say, pretending it matters. Stoutland can also be found here. Knowing their propensity for knowing Crunch, I think maybe something not Caspet can be in the front. Photon, gain your own exp for a change.

Crawdaunt is another feature. It’s a dark, Dark cave.

I was checking to see if Cerberus can learn Acrobatics. No, but he can learn Fly. You know, that classic Dodrio usage. Fly. Which he is absolutely learning.

Aww, a wild Togepi. It’s gone now.

I love getting to wander with someone who handles the healing. It’s so nice battling without stress. Also known as grinding without needing to use up items.

Haa. See, normally you’d be right, but.

Huh. There’s a Magikarp and a Weedle through a different passage. Neat. You will not be missed. Then we come across a bizarrely gen-appropriate pair of Tympole.

Can Triple Battles not be a thing? I don’t care for them. They make me worry. Arguably I could help myself by arranging my team so I would have a good comp for whenever I fell into one, but where would the fun in that sane choice be.

Dust clouds come with Munchlax. Neato.

We’re in a legendary’s nest. They’re all like this.

...Why can you find Luxray and Ninjask here???

Ditto for Steelix and Porygon. Yay for Randomizer randomizing every single room of an area. It’s cool, but in the larger places it can be really disorienting. A male Nidoran also says hello.

I don’t know where to find the Magma Stone to get Heatran, so we’re done with Reversal Mountain, I believe. Geez I hope that’s the name of this place. I’m too lazy to check at the moment.

I have escaped!

And found a Shiny Stone. Win.

I didn’t recognize this place, then I remembered. Water. Bay. Post-game trauma. They messed with the map to keep things interesting.

What.

My curiosity is piqued.

But I want to get something random in the waves before I investigate.

Um.

Well this is awkward.

Level 39.

Photon should not be out front for this. Nessy?

Okay. Nessy gets Regice in the red. Regice knows Curse and Ancient Power. I do have a Master Ball. I can’t deny that I’m seriously tempted by it, but we’re going to try doing this like a standard trainer first.

Net Ball doesn’t work because of course it doesn’t (I just wanted to use it because Surfing), and Regice knows Superpower. Ah yes, the Regis and their. Stuff. First Ultra Ball doesn’t get anywhere. Same for second. Icy Wind is Regice’s last move.

My team has no Fire or Fighting on it. I miss having those options.

Have I been able to buy Timer Balls anywhere? Those would be nice to have right about now, as my Ultra Ball supply dwindles.

I am out of Ultra Balls.

Look, Pokemon Go legendary catching can be rough. You only get so many balls, and even if you do everything perfectly, it still might run on you.

But you don’t end up spending twenty minutes trying to catch one thing.

Seconds after I type that:

Heeeeeyo.

What do I name it, though?

Refrigerator.

That doesn’t fit.

Refriger8r.

Okay, so I have to stock up on Ultra Balls, and possibly also healing options depending on my mood when I look at the prices. Then we go see what Undella Bay and Route 14 have to offer.

The Undella Pokemon Center only has Luxury and Dive Balls. :(

My beloved Timer. Where...?

And then I bought 50 Ultra Balls.

I’m going to sell some stuff.

Okay Bay, what do you have for me?

Yeah, I can make this work.

Assuming I don’t accidentally kill it.

Thank goodness for Nessy still knowing Twister. Gottem.

His name is now Zentrotta. I think we can agree he’d be happier if I hadn’t caught him. Tragedy at its finest.

Caspet is back up front, and for now Nessy will carry the Exp. Share. She’s not had much to go up against, so she’s lagging a tad.

Aw, there’s a little Deerling on the water. Aaand it’s gone.

Hello what is this.

Indeed.

...I have questions I can’t really make myself care about enough to type.

So this guy only moves if we beat him, and before we get the chance to beat him we have to pass some game-acknowledged strength test. I probably need another badge or something. But there’s enough ground to walk back and forth, so what have you got for me, Seaside Cave?

Cool beans.

Nessy, come help not kill it.

Yay, caught.

His name is Blimperton now. Welcome to the box.

Outside, the deep water spots can be Venomoth. How pleasant.

Jelli to you too, good sir.

Huh, okay, they just give you a random Jellicent encounter here.

Game. I was just trying to speed along to the Pokemon Center. Please.

Unfezant down, Simisage down, Vertex can be in for Samurott. Level 41, so I’m. not as overleveled as I usually am except for Caspet. Caspet has reached 47 and I don’t mind her being completely overpowered.

For an update, since I think I’m pretty bad about keeping track of their levels in this: Caspet is 47, Nessy is 43, Vertex is 43, Diego is 44, Photon is 45, Cerberus is 43. Everyone is healthy and alive.

Geez I hate Triple Battles. Random trainers don’t share my feelings. This is an annoyance.

ROTATION BATTLES AREN’T THAT MUCH BETTER, OTHER RANDOM TRAINER. STOP THINKING YOU’RE SPECIAL JUST BECAUSE YOU’RE AN ACE OR A COOL OR WHATEVER THE HECK YOUR TITLE IS I DIDN’T READ IT.

And I can’t continue down through Route 14 because there’s a block of people in the way. So I guess all that’s left to do is check out what the sequel to this route has in store for me.

Last game it did not have anything I wanted.

But this time...!

Eh. I’ll catch you I guess.

Her name’s Tux now.

Meanwhile, in the dark grass...

Yep.

Wormadam, too. Such grass. Much excite.

Off up to Route 13.

New route means yet another new pokemon. ...After we fight a bunch of trainers because I care more about levels than pokemon I’m hoping to never use at the moment.

Several minutes later, the only other trainers are through grass, so let’s go!

Eyo. I don’t think I’ve had you before.

Cerberus, are you up for helping?

Well, one hit almost took half your health. So let’s say no.

Nessy!

...You know, given the amount of damage it’s doing. I think I’m going to Surf and risk fainting before it kills Nessy. Aaand... yeah. Mienshao out.

This grass also has Sandile. And Cascoon.

Nothing I have knows Cut. Languish there for all days.

That Ranger wants a Triple Battle.

Why is this route like this.

Hey, a Heatran! Bianca, guess what!

Oh so you don’t need Cut. Meh. I’m not in the mood.

Professor Juniper and Bianca say hello in town. Bianca, walk about twenty steps to the right so you can find something neat. You’ll love it, promise.

But no, it’s time to listen to an old lady talk about the Giant Chasm. I don’t wanna do that, either. I want my badges. I maybe should have taken the aquarium route to speed that along, but I don’t know if that would actually do anything.

Wait, I was spamming A. Was there a directive in there?

Hm. I sense plot ahead.

This villain understands me.

Oh cool battle time.

Russell, buddy, you run almost as much as blondie scarf from gen 4. Take a chill pill. You have won all the good big brother points you possibly could just by caring about a Purrloin this long.

So everything’s telling us to go to Opelucid. For Dragons.

Hard pass, where’s the surfer Gym? Water sounds way friendlier. I’m going to see if that one’s blocked off or not.

DAMN IT.

The janitor won’t let us pass. ;-;

Okay fine, I guess we’re heading to Opelucid. And plot, probably. The plot is of no interest to me. This is true in pretty much every single one of these games. I’m in it for the pokemon. The human with their human troubles are way less fun.

New route! What will it have for us?

I had to embrace fun when I saw one of the grass patches shaking. Our first route with a wiggly grass option! And it is...?

I’ll gladly take it!

...If I can catch it!

...Preferably without anyone dying!

I’m going to let Photon take a stab. Crunch should be super effective, but Photon doesn’t have STAB adding to it, and Metagross has rocking Defense. So this might be pathetically sad, but nothing should die.

PHOTON.

FRIEND.

NOT FOOD.

Three Ultra Balls in, I am sad.

But we get it! Huzzah!

Its name is Stormy. :)

Ouch, Caspet’s trying to learn Destiny Bond.

Caspet?

You’re not dying. This is the definition of a useless move.

What else does this here grass hold when it’s not wiggling?

ELEKID. Noooo. Why must we always pass like ships in the night... Claydol is also here.

The dark grass’ first entry is Jynx and Magikarp. Chingling is also here. Buizel too.

Cerberus has learned Drill Peck! Oh happy days!

Normal grass has Vaporeon, Huntail, and Spinda to go with what we’ve already seen.

Vertex is moving up front, and Diego is getting the Exp. Share instead of Cerberus for the time being.

Another bridge, another route.

Another set of trainers that really make me want to have a Fire type.

There’s dark grass on one side of the bridge, normal grass on the other. A pass through on my bike didn’t get anything to pop out of the dark grass, so normal grass wins the prize for this route’s catch.

Before that, there are trainer battles.

Of the Triple variety.

yay

Ooooooh. I like this. I like this a lot.

Vertex, do not murder.

Vertex follows instructions, paralyzes Vileplume, and dodges getting poisoned twice. This is why he’s allowed to live. One Ultra Ball later, and new friend acquired.

Named... Bongo.

Geez, this grass also has Mamoswine. We’re not fighting that. The water’s dark spots get Zebstrika.

Uh.

So she shoves me out.

Rude. I’m the protagonist. I go where I want.

I’m starting to rush a little since this part is getting long and I haven’t even hit the badge town, but hey! I do remember this sequence! I remembered it belonging to a different game, but A for effort, right?

Made it to Opelucid.

Since the game itself suggests via Iris to go to Route 9 first, I’m guessing I should clear up anywhere that offers trainers to fight before trying the Gym. Dragon is a pain anyway. I don’t have anything except Nessy’s Twister that’s super effective against it. I think even at the level I’m at, it should be okay, but I also think it could go incredibly badly, which I don’t want.

But before that, Route 11 didn’t force me to go through any grass, so I still have a pokemon to catch there. Let’s watch.

Huh, interesting. ...Vertex, let’s swap you out before something unfortunate happens. Though it is level 36, and he does know Crunch... Yeah, we’re going to be stupid. Magnitude 7 doesn’t do a threatening amount of damage. Yay.

She is caught, and her name shall be Winn.

Now the other side of Opelucid, after healing up.

Miltank! But we have a Miltank. Next.

I like.

Vertex. Critical hits are for trainer battles. Sigh. Farewell, Route 9. I think we could have been great together, but alas. Now to go through all the everything else to do in this route and then go finally get the seventh badge.

Hm. I think maybe I’ll just get everyone on the team up to 50, then go for it. Nice, even number.

Other things of note: I have found a Mart with Quick Balls. The world is bright. But for now, grinding. ...Against Torchic and Deerling, apparently. Maybe I want other grass. Oh, but dude. Glaceon in the dark grass. Nice. Ha, randomized and still offering super effective options outside scary gyms. Golduck and Nidorina are here, too. And Braviary and Pansage.

-winds the clock forward a few hours-

K, we’ve got folks at level 50 now. So, Drayden?

Dragons.

Cerberus is going to sit in first for a while. He’s on the fragile side, but his Attack and Speed are good, and Flying should be neutral to everything in the Gym. Same cloth as Caspet, only physical. Nessy might take over just for the comfort of tankiness, but this is where we start.

First person in the Gym has one level 46 Fraxure.

Dragons are scary.

Oh fuck you.

Fuck. That’s partially on me. If I had used Drill Peck instead of Fly, Fraxure would have been busy Dragon Dancing and would have done zero damage. But I used Fly to try to hit Fraxure hard while avoiding any of its attacks, and.

Look, the screencap’s right there.

Fuck.

Nessy’s going in, under the theory that nothing on my team is going before Dragon Dance x2 Fraxure, but Nessy’s the most likely option for surviving.

It uses Taunt so it doesn’t matter.

Great.

Cerberus, I like Dodrio. An Adamant Dodrio? Wonderful. You will be missed. Fly will be missed. Many things about this feel awful.

Bye.

Stormy is a Jolly Metagross that’s a little quick tempered.

Welcome. You’ll be given the Exp. Share while your new friends try very hard to make it through the rest of this Gym without casualties.

-drums fingers-

With Dragon Dance being a move everything in this Gym is probably going to know, I do not want to play the long game with any of the trainers. I want to go in and kill everything in one hit.

...Caspet is in front.

-hides eyes behind hands-

-gives Caspet a Spell Tag-

One trainer down as planned.

IIIIIII hate this gym.

Druddigon has Crunch. Things to keep in mind.

So now we have the most obnoxious part of this Gym. I get to choose between Rotation and Triple Battle for the next peg up it. My usual path says I do both. In case you haven’t noticed, I hate Triple Battles. Doing one is not high on my list of desired outcomes.

But I’d feel weird avoiding it. Famous last words. -sigh- Caspet, Vertex, Nessy. That’s the order. Let’s do this.

Easy part done. Rotation Battle win. Ugh.

For the sake of my sanity, I’m giving Caspet all three of my Rare Candy. Yes, I have a favorite, yes, it’s the closest thing I have to a starter. If I’m putting her so close to the chopping block, I’m going to make sure she’s fully equipped. Druddigons are surviving to attack her right now, and that’s no bueno.

Triple Battle. Weeee.

It ends in a round because Caspet wins at life. Awesome. Okay.

All that’s left is Drayden.

This guy’s face is a lot less scary when it isn’t up close.

Sooooooo. Level 46 Druddigon is first. Shadow Ball finishes it. Flygon is next. ...That one, I think I can trust to Nessy. Flygon isn’t as much about hard hits.

Level 46 again. Crunch gets a critical hit that just barely keeps Nessy in the green, Nessy uses Surf. Surf brings Flygon to a sliver of red, so I go with Surf again. Hopefully Flygon’s other moves don’t do more damage than a critical hit Crunch, or Drayden feels like healing it.

Yeah, Drayden goes with a Hyper Potion.

...Flygon’s next Crunch gets a critical hit too, what the hell.

Surf after that faints it, though. So that’s two out of three down.

Drayden’s last pokemon is Haxorus. Nessy’s too far in the red to keep in without healing, and Haxorus is high on the Dragon Dance strat list. But if Caspet can’t get it in one hit, I’m pretty confident in Haxorus’ ability to fuck Caspet up.

But I’m honestly pretty confident in Haxorus’ ability to fuck my entire team up. Caspet would be the best bet for ending it fast. ...So, you know. Caspet. Go. Go. not die.

Level 48 Haxorus. Yaaaaaaaaaaay.

CASPET YOU BEAUTIFUL GHOST.

THAT’S BADGE SEVEN.

WE’RE NOT ALL ALIVE BUT ENOUGH OF US ARE.

AND I WAS PREWARNED ABOUT GETTING TALKED TO OUTSIDE ABOUT UNOVA’S MYTHOLOGY, BUT FOR NOW THIS PART IS OVER, THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME.

#Pokemon #Nuzlocke Challenge #Nuzlocke

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pjo-hoo-nextgen · 6 years

Text

The First Quest XV

Two teenagers running at you in full sprint is a terrifying thing, but fortunately for Thalia she’d seen a lot of terrifying things. Eli tackled her in a hug first before Thia latched onto her like a baby monkey. “Well...hello to you too.”

“Missed you.” Thia smiled.

“I just felt like hugging.” Eli noted. “Also I won the race.”

“Oh shut up,” Thia frowned hopping down from her perch. “So, anything exciting? Cool stories? How’s aunt Arty? Did you fight anything awesome?”

“One question at a time or my brain is going to short circuit.” Thalia snorted.

“You do this every time,” Reyna laughed.

“I get excited!” Thia protested.

“Eli...” Thalia looked down at the younger boy.

“Oh yeah, sorry.” He was as bad as his mother when it came to hugs, he liked to make them last forever.

“To answer your burning questions,” Thalia smiled, “We did fight a stray lot of dracnae. Artemis is fine. She’s immortal and all that Jazz. As for cool stories I have nothing. It was a pretty simple run about this time.”

Both kids let out disappointed sighs, and grumbles, but Reyna knew simply by her wife’s body language that the daughter of Zeus was leaving out a lot of information.

“Sorry for disappointing. Tough crowd.”

“It’s fine. I guess not every trip can be as cool as the time you fought those hyperborean bears in the Arctic,” Thia teased.

“Or the time you went to Hawaii to make the volcanos stop spewing cause of an angry serpent dragon,” Eli added.

“Or the time-“ Reyna smirked.

“Don’t you start too!” Thalia protested.

“Only teasing,” Reyna insisted.

— — —

The kids were occupied with a game of uno and their competitive shouting disguised the conversation.

“What really happened?” Reyna questioned, glancing at Thia and Eli to make sure they weren’t listening.

“Something wierd is stirring,” Thalia frowned. “I don’t know what it is but Artemis is extremely antsy about it. She keeps muttering about some sort of ancient power.”

“How ancient?” Reyna asked. “Kronos ancient?”

“No. I don’t think it’s anything that severe or well known. Otherwise, I’m pretty sure we’d have identified it by now.” Thalia pressed her lips into a thin line. “It’s heading this way.”

“You make it sound like it’s not a physical entity.”

“It’s more of a feeling. A pattern of events,” Thalia explained. “Odd things occur. For instance, roads randomly falling apart, structures crumbling, essentially just random chaos.”

“Perhaps...” Reyna’s expression shifted. Her eyebrows furrowed together and her gaze settled back on Thia.

“What?”

“There’s a girl. A new camper who was claimed,” Reyna spoke carefully. “The symbol belonged to Eris.”

“Goddess of discord and shit,” Thalia nodded. A pause settled between them for a moment. “Ooooh. You think she’s got something to do with it?”

“Maybe. I can’t tell if she’s in danger or if this is some sort of scheme,” Reyna admitted. “Jaxon seemed unsure of her, I remember Thia mentioning that, but neither Thia or Eli seemed entirely concerned.”

“Must be a bit of a wildcard then,” Thalia decided.

“All I can determine is that one way or another Eris wants her daughter. She’s important somehow.”

“Leah?” Thia’s sudden emergence into the conversation startled both of the adults. “She’s in trouble isn’t she?”

“I don’t kno-“

Before Reyna could finish her remarkThia was already heading to the door with Eli in tow.

“Where’s she going?” Thalia asked anxiously.

“To find the girl,” Reyna sighed. “Come on. If she gets there when Eris does there’s going to be a big problem.”

“Why is life never easy?” Thalia grumbled already following Reyna in pursuit of their daughter and poor Eli who was dragged along.

— — —

“So you’re telling me that you saw this?” Jaxon frowned at his little brother.

“Yeah, in my dream,” Andy insisted. “Something bad. I can’t quite tell what it is.”

“Let’s find Will. Maybe he’ll know something about it,” Jaxon suggested.

“Just because he’s a son of Apollo doesn’t mean he knows a lot of dream stuff,” Andy replied.

“Then who do you suggest we go to?”

Andy’s answer was the Athena cabin and his entrance was grand.

“Maria! Maria’s Mom!” Andy yelled.

“Andy, honestly...” Maria sighed. Annabeth just snorted at the ridiculous kid.

“I need both of your assistance. Tell me what my dream means.” Andy flopped dramatically onto one of the bunk beds. He rested his hands on his stomach and got comfortable. Jaxon rolled his eyes, this was not a psychologist appointment.

“You have to tell me what your dream is first knuckle head,” Maria slapped Andy’s feet off the bunk bed.

Andy carefully recounted all that he’d told Jaxon. “That’s all I can remember.”

“Well....” Maria frowned. “That’s not much to go off of-“

“Got it,” Annabeth interrupted catching a book Malcolm had tossed at her. As if she’d read it six hundred times Annabeth flipped to the correct page.

“How do you do that?” Andy looked at her with wide eyes.

“Honestly, no idea,” Annabeth laughed. “Anyways, what you’ve described is the essence of Eris.”

“Of who?” Jaxon frowned.

“Goddess of discord and shit,” Maria explained.

“Oh.” Jaxon nodded.

“Anyways, the story essentially states that Eris is responsible for many of the issues we have today. For example manslaughter, murder, forgetfulness, pain, etc. She exists where there’s opportunity for chaos. But she’s almost always accompanied by her sister Enyo which is the female equivalent of Ares but, surprisingly, much more savage.”

“Great, two scary ladies,” Andy whined.

“And based on the dream you described you’ve seen both goddesses,” Annabeth carefully closed the book. “Which unfortunately means, that there’s about to be a lot of trouble nearby.”

“Wonderful,” Jaxon grimaced. “You should have just stayed awake all night.”

“Don’t blame this on me!” Andy scoffed.

“Oh shut up,” Maria frowned. “What are you guys? Four? The point is...Jaxon?”

The eldest Grace had a distant look on his face. “I knew it.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I know what their plan is-part of it anyways,” Jaxon stammered.

“Slow down,” Maria insisted.

“Remember what I told you about the girl we all rescued?” Maria nodded in response. “Think about it. Her powers, her bad record-“

“Oh my Gods...” Andy sat up. “You’re right but that means...”

“She’s at New Rome,” Jaxon concluded.

“Eli and Thia,” Maria breathed. In an instant all three demigods were scrambling out of the Athena cabin.

“Wow, this must be how Percy feels when Chiron and I make plans.” Annabeth frowned.

“Dearest sister of mine, this is how everyone feels,” Malcolm laughed taking his book back.

“Great, I hate it.”

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drink-n-watch · 6 years

Text

Genre : Josei, Horror, Mystery, Psychological Thriller

Studio: J.C.Staff

I hear a lot of you grumbling about this show. I’m guessing expectations may have been very high at the beginning of this season because people feel let down? Nevertheless, a lot of you seem to be stubbornly holding on. Maybe you see a glimmer of hope. Maybe you have a masochistic side. I’m not sure whether this week helped or hurt from your perspective but for me – it stayed exactly the same…

except it’s a cute Slice of Life now

OK, that’s not entirely true. I do believe Zack and Ray are starting to play off each other a little better. It’s still not quite the synergy I’m hoping for but it’s not as painful to listen to as it was. Still, having another actor to moderate remains extremely helpful. I quite liked Zack unceremoniously carrying Ray around like a prop.

I’m just going to throw at you the jumble of random things I noticed this week. For one, it seems that everyone knows each other. So far every new floor “boss” (or judge…) has called Zack by name and seems to be very familiar with him and his personality. This week we had crazy Cathy, and they were chatting like old friends. Cathy didn’t seem as close to Ray as sackboy was but she didn’t consider her a complete stranger either.

I like the obvious fake sky in her window – it’s a nice touch

Likewise, Zack hasn’t been particularly surprised by any of the new players they’ve encountered and hasn’t ever questioned how they know him. The starting assumption was that people simply didn’t travel between floors and each was completely isolated. Zack having committed quite a taboo in the first episode by leaving his basement. However, that doesn’t seen to be quite the case after all. At least, it’s definitely not the full story.

Also why aren’t there anymore sentient typewriters? Rachel should have taken it with her. Sure it’s a hassle to carry around but I bet it would have had some nice insights.

Cathy looked like a B model compared to other characters so far. She seemed less detailed and her animation was rougher. Is it just me? On the flip side, light and shadow play remains interesting.

or maybe I’m just a little bored with the harlequin types

Here’s a mildly amusing to neutral fact. It seems that Rachel and I are pretty much the same size. I smell an easy cosplay in my future!

I warned you it was going to be a jumble….So here’s my crazy theory trying to link all this stuff together. I’m not completely sold on it myself but I think it works. Basically this is Rachel’s own personal purgatory or hell. She is the only real character in the show.

There’s a little scene in the OP that shows a person hanging. We only see the legs but from the build and size, it looks a lot like Rachel. Rachel also seems somewhat preoccupied with God and having broken God’s rules. I think Rachel may have killed herself. This entire hellscape is a product of her guilt ridden psyche.

in reality she’s only torturing herself…

This is why she’s harsh on herself. She judges herself quite clearly and worries about sinning but seems indifferent to the wickedness and misdeeds of those around her. She also doesn’t appear particularly affected by their deaths.

She’s the only one that doesn’t have her own floor so far, because the entire building is her domain. The rules don’t seem to apply to her in the same way. And although everyone knows her, she doesn’t recall any of them. My theory is that she is completely unemotional because the other characters represent different aspects of her fracture mind that she’s divorced herself from.

Zack is her savior but as she can’t truly accept that she deserves salvation. As such, her savior is a flawed, stupid, violent murderer who promises to kill her when she outlives her usefulness. Similarly the various villains are extreme representations of her ego and id corrupted by her self loathing and regret.

have dolls ever not been evil?

Danny is her rational self pushed into delusion and obsession. Eddie is her pride and preservation subverted into a yandere extreme. Cathy may be her righteousness gone way out of bounds and doling out punishments with impunity for any and all perceived failings.

This is why Zack can’t leave without her. None of them can. They don’t in fact exist without her or outside of this place. This is also why there are unsettlingly mundane elements all over. The inhabitants are clearly not quite human yet for all their striking appearance, they all remain very possible looking. At most like cosplayers, not like actual monsters.

All the objects and rooms we have seen may act in unusual ways but they remain common things we can all easily recognize and name. There aren’t any odd magical devices or strange contraptions we’ve never seen before. They are all things a young lady like Rachel would easily know about and know how to use. Finally there was that closing quote “A sinner has no right to choice”. Sure there’s a bit of intuitive leaping required but it all fits.

you just have to straighten it out a little

No one is punishing Rachel, no one is keeping her trapped against her will. This is a prison of her own making and she is the one with all the power. She is the only one keeping everyone else here.

Like I said, it’s only a theory and a rather subjective one at that. One of my favorite short stories is Etgar Keret‘s Kneller’s Happy Campers (it was made into a comic book called Pizzeria Kamikaze and a movie called Wristcutters. I own all 3 and love them all, the movie has a great soundtrack). As such, I have an odd fondness for post suicide redemption stories. It’s a peculiar niche…

everyone loves a good niche

I am loving the slideshow…do you guys like it?

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Angels of Death ep 4 – Hairbrained Genre : Josei, Horror, Mystery, Psychological Thriller Studio: J.C.Staff I hear a lot of you grumbling about this show.

#anime #episodic #Horror #Mystery #psychological #scary

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dandelions-sea-blog · 6 years

Text

These are the Nights that Never Die Chapter Three

Read on Ao3(so much better there)

Rainy Days are the worst....

Previous || First || Next

“Wow… the storm’s gotten really bad, hasn’t it?” Blue says, looking up at the sky. Despite the fact that it was mostly clear, with only a few fluffy clouds covering up the blue ocean above, the RV has been plagued with moaning winds and harsh rain all morning.

“yeah, it’s really raining dimes and nickels out there…” Red says, head in his hand.

“What does that even mean?” Blue asks, giving his friend an odd look.

“that there’s been a change in the weather.”

“Stop.” Blue slaps his palm into Red’s face. It only seems to encourage him.

“Is Red making unnecessarily complicated puns again?” Papyrus sighs, eyes never leaving the table as he scrubs it clean, removing all remnants of their breakfast. He’s tenser than normal; under his eyes are a woven pattern of black swelling.

“Yes, he is,” Blue pouts. Red places a hand over his soul.

“excuse? my puns are only as complex as they necessarily have to be,” He claims in mock outrage.

Blue rolls his eyes, going back to staring at the clouds. They are honestly very pretty… days like these just don’t seem real; when the sky looks just so perfect like this. Ah, if the weather wasn’t so bad they could all go out and have a picnic with the new food that Sans and Edge bought last night! It would be nice to get out of the RV… it has started to accumulate a bit of smell that Blue can’t quite find where it’s coming from.

A particularly bad gust of wind hits the side of the camper, causing Blue to jump and Red to jerk awake from his half nap. Sans watches them from behind.

“why don’t ya come away from the window?” He says from the couch, “ain’t good t’ be that close to glass during a storm…” Sans’ books and spreadsheets laid out in front of him. He does all the planning for the trip; deciding where they’ll stop next, how much water they can use, how much food they have. Blue sometimes wonders what he does to be able to afford a vacation like this… it’s rude to ask though.

“Oh okay,” Blue says, pulling Red’s arm over to the couch. Blue takes a seat next to Sans while Red sprawls out on the floor, snoozing quietly. “...Lazy.” Blue mutters, shaking his head. At least the others have an excuse, being out all night getting groceries.

Sans hardly seems to notice when Blue sits down next to him, frantically scribbling on sheets of paper as he sweats in silence. Everyone seems to be stressed out today; Blue imagines it has to do with the storm. Papyrus is oddly quiet, hardly taking up any conversations or banters with his counterpart, and Edge has been particularly snippy as well. It all makes Blue very uncomfortable, but he refuses to bring it up in fear of making everything worse.

Blue plays with his hands for a while, trying to seem uninterested in the incredibly interesting things that Sans is up to. He may not want Blue looking over his shoulder, after all. He seems pretty deep in focus right now… He looks up at the ceiling, attempting to count every tile on the roof… then all of the corners of all the tiles… then all of the dead flies in spiderwebs that they really should clean off sometime …

“So whatcha doin’?” Blue finally breaks, looking over at the papers laid out all over the coffee table. In the center of them all is a blue notebook with a faded skull sticker on it. Sans smiles, glancing at Blue out of the corner of his eye.

“what, you wanna take a look at my cheat sheets?” He says, scooting over just enough that Blue can get a better view of all the papers.

“What are these?” He asks, looking over the complex documents.

Sans points to the first one. “this is water supply; we can carry about 150 gallons of water at a time, and we gotta periodically flush out the waste water.”

“That sounds hard,” Blue says.

“yeah, it’s a real drain. ”

“Mweeeh… no puns while we're learning!!!”

Sans chuckles, shuffling the papers around. “right now i am focused on making sure that we have enough food to make it to our next stop - this storm has really put us behind schedule… we might have to leave today.” Sans says with a frown, tone shifting minutely towards the ‘worried leader’ side.

“Aw, but we just got here,” Blue complains. Sans snorts.

“tell me about it… it’s a pretty big pain in my coccyx,” He says, nose ridge wrinkling up. “we got some stuff last night, but we’re gonna need a lot more before we head out for our next stop again.”

Blue hums in understanding. “So… if you don’t mind me asking… what is our next stop?”

“heh... i’ll tell ya when i figure it out.” Sans’ voice sounds deeper than usual, raw exhaustion interwoven between every syllable.

Blue raises a brow bone, confused. Don’t they have this trip planned out at all? He opens his mouth to ask exactly that when there is a loud noise from the kitchen, taking both of their attention.

“nGAH!! EDGE! PLEASE REMOVE YOUR BLASTED CAT FROM MY KITCHEN BEFORE SHE BREAKS SOMETHING ELSE!!!”

“I DO NOT CONTROL HER MOVEMENTS, PERHAPS YOU SHOULD NOT STACK THOSE PLATES SO PRECARIOUSLY!!”

“welp... i better go step in before someone busts a skull…” Sans says, sliding off the couch. Blue scoots over entirely onto the couch, looking over the notebook that Sans left behind. He hesitates… is it rude to look in here when Sans had already sort of gave him permission? Yes, but Blue isrealllllly curious; he decides one little peak is a forgivable offense.

Blue giggles to himself as he opens the book, feeling like a child going through their parent’s drawers. Inside he finds page after page of calculations; records of how much fuel they’ve used, how much they’ll need, where they’ve been, places they plan to go… some sections are crossed out with little scrawlings giving reasons as to why this plan won’t work, or why going to that state is out of the question… just a bunch of random, ramblings thoughts and plans that Sans has collected.

Blue finds himself quickly bored with his searches, scanning through the pages until he gets closer to today’s date. He stops when the pages run out, going back to the last writings that Sans made.

Water:

Runs out in 3 days

Black Water:

Overflowing

Food:

Runs out in 6 days

Ammo:

Low but not dangerous. Yet.

Electricity:

Literally the only fucking resource we have.

Closest Safe-Havens:

Pleasant town (Too far)

Gaston (Probably not safe)

Hagersville (Not enough gas)

Berton (Too Residential)

Conclusion: We’re fucked.

Blue hums, looking over the notes. Well these seem… rather bleak. No wonder Sans seems so stressed out all the time! He is doing so much planning and worrying that he doesn’t have time to enjoy this trip at all!

Blue closes the notebook, setting it back down where he found it. He claps his hands together. Well! This certainly won’t do! He won’t allow their brilliant leader to be bogged down with so much worry. Blue is going to make sure that he has fun tonight.

Sliding off the couch, Blue taps Red with his foot. The other stirs, looking up sleepily.

“wha…?” He says, rubbing an eye.

“Get up, lazy bones - we have planning to do!” Blue says, skipping back to their room. Red just shrugs, following along.

“whatever ya say, kid,” He mutters.

“now, have th’ two ‘o ya finally got that out of yer systems?” Sans says, exhausted from mediating the two very large yet immature skeletons in front of him.

Edge frowns, holding his precious cat to his chest. “I would be more satisfied if he would apologize to Doomfanger.” He says with a genteel tone.

“I WILL NOT APOLOGIZE TO THAT ANNOYING CAT!” Papyrus folds his arms, “YOU ARE LUCKY THAT SANS MADE ME APOLOGIZE FOR YELLING AT YOU.”

Edge snarls as the two fall right back into bickering. Sans sighs hard, pinching the bridge of his nose. This… is exasperating. Everyone is exhausted from their stressful night, and waking up to a hoard of zombies banging at the side of the bus this morning wasn’t exactly the most relaxing turn of events.

He doesn’t even try to get between the Papyruses this time, just sitting down on the dining booth as he waits them out. The van rocks as a particularly enthusiastic zombie slams its body into the side of the vehicle. Really, this is his fault. He should have known this place would be crawling with crawlers… except it also had so many useful resources - it was worth the risk as long as they didn’t do anything to catch the attention of any predators .

Anything, such as running out into the middle of the woods at night shouting like a crazy person …

Sans laughs at his own unintentional joke, even if it is in bad taste. He glances over to where he left the kiddo, feeling a deep pang of worry when he realizes Blue isn’t on the couch anymore. He looks around and sees that the back-room door is shut - Blue must be in there. He relaxes once more as he listens to his brother and friend snap at each other over just about every petty squabble one could have. Jeez… they haven’t fought like this since Blue came around…

That guy sure does wonders for the psyche, ironically. Sans really thought that things were gonna get better now that he was around; but nope. It was just a lull in their luck, a pleasant kink of fate. And now that they are settling back in things are going right back to shit.

Sans sighs.

“AND ANOTHER THING - DO YOU EVEN KNOW HOW LOUD YOU ARE??”

He’s lost track of which one is speaking at this point… Sans puts his head against the table, digging his palms into his temples. The headache this entire conversation is giving him has spread to his patients. He’s done .

“ e n o u g h!”

Sans’ hand comes down on the table.

“alright, you two - listen up!” Sans snaps, head jerking up. If he still could, his eye would be ablaze with magic right now. He stands up off of the bench, ready to lay into the two skeletons until they put this petty squabble to bed for the rest of the day.

Except he is interrupted by a familiar, cheerful voice.

“Guyyyys~” Blue says in a sing song voice, walking into the room with one of the biggest grins they’ve ever seen on his face. In his hands he clutches a baby-blue bag - the only item they had found on his person when they discovered him locked away in the basement of his apartment complex. “I have a surprise for you~~”

Papyrus’ arms unfold and his face softens some. Of the three of them he has been the most receptive to Blue’s particular brand of positivity. It seems that no matter how bad his mood gets Blue is able to come in and cheer him right up. Edge is much less so, but even he relaxes a bit, attention turning from the skeleton beside him to the one across the room.

Sans smiles, well, this at least makes his job easier.

“heh, whatcha got there, kiddo?” Sans asks, hands shoved into his pockets. Blue’s smile grows impossibly wider. If he had skin it would probably tear with just how much force he is putting into showing his happiness.

“Close your eyes~” Blue commands.

“Now may not be the best ti-” Edge starts, abruptly cut off by Sans elbowing him in the shin. Papyrus already has his eyes shut, and Sans waits only long enough to ensure Edge’s cooperation.

“No peeking~” Blue says, voice laced with excitement. Sans can’t help the small grin that plasters itself over his face. The kiddo is just so contagious. There is a soft shuffling of fabric from in front of them, and something is unzipped as Blue places the contents of the bag down on the table in front of them.

“Ta-da!!” Blue shouts. Sans winces at the sheer volume of the noise. “You can open your eyes now!!”

Sans opens a socket to take a look at what Blue has decided to get so worked up over. Part of him is honestly expecting nothing - that he’s created some new delusion in his mind to instantly remedy the situation. But once again, the kiddo manages to surprise him.

“heh... where’d ya get that ?” Sans asks, hands in his pocket as he steps forward to observe the grey, book-shaped box that has been set up on the dining table. Even at first glance there is no mistaking what this is; a portable DVD player. Sans hasn’t owned one of those since they were in the Underground, and even then it was way back when he was a babybones. He opens the lid with a finger, looking at the screen inside. It isn’t much bigger than his hand-and-wrist, but it looks to be in perfectly good condition. He wonders if it still works…

“It’s mine,” Blue says proudly. “I carry it with me on the way to work. The buses run so slow, so I like to watch a movie on the way.” Sans snorts; that’s genius. Papyrus has bent over to look at the device, examining it with mild intrigue.

“Well that is very nice,” Edge says shortly. “But what I would like to know is why you chose now to bring on this impromptu show-and-tell.” He snarks. Sans rolls his eyes - jeez, what a wet blanket.

“Well, Red and I decided that it is time for us to have a movie night!” Blue says. The three skeletons stand up straight, looking between each other. Movie night?? Now? Blue smiles, crossing his arms. “I know that everyone is a bit stressed out because of the storm, so since there isn’t any way we can change the weather, we might as well take this time to relax and have some fun!”

Sans blinks, tapping his chin. That… isn’t a half bad idea actually. It’s not like sitting around and worrying about if-or-when the zombies will crawl back into their hiding spots is doing anyone any good. They have the extra electricity from charging in the sun all day; and if the three of them continue to stay this high strung it isn’t the hoard outside the party will have to worry about killing them all…

Edge looks less convinced, scowling at the device. “That has got to be the single dumbest idea I’ve ever-”

“heh i’m in.” Sans says with a shrug.

Both Papyrus and Edge look to him curiously

“Sans, are you feeling alright?” Papyrus asks, sounding worried. His hand comes down on Sans’ forehead. “You aren’t developing a fever, are you??”

“nah bro,” He chuckles, shaking his brother’s hand off of him. “i think it’s a good idea; our batteries are full and they’re just gonna keep chargin’ t’day since we won’t be doin’ much. i say we should just relax and take the day off.”

Papyrus doesn’t seem entirely convinced Sans is entirely sane, though apparently the idea of a movie night speaks to him as well, and he lets up. “Well, it does sound fun…” He says, a smile slowly writing it’s way onto his face.”

Edge is less convinced, looking between the two as if they had just suggested they jump out and try to make friends with the hoard surround them.

“HAVE YOU TWO LOST YOUR MIND!?” He snaps. “WE CAN’T JUST- WE CAN’T- WE HAVE TOO MANY THINGS TO DO!? SITTING AROUND JUST… DOING NOTHING????”

“it’s not doing nothing,” Sans corrects. “it’s a mental health day, for our health.” He closes the dvd player, flipping it over to check just how many watts it uses for his notebook. “if we stay cooped up in here worrying any longer we’re gonna end up killing each other or ourselves; the kiddo’s got the right idea.”

Blue squeals in pure delight. Hands curling little balls at his chest. “THIS IS SO AWESOME!! MWEHEHE… WE’RE GONNA HAVE SO MUCH FUN!!” He reaches into his bag, practically dumping out about half a dozen DVDs. “I don’t have too many with me - if I had known we’d be gone this long I would have packed a few more…” He says, already going through and picking out favorites.

Sans chuckles, strolling across the room to one of the shelves.

“oh, i wouldn’t be too worried about running out of choices,” He says with a wink, opening up the doors of the storage space to reveal his and Papyrus’ collection. Practically every movie they’ve ever seen is in here, and several that they haven’t, all organized by genre and director. He turns around, delighted to see Blue’s awestruck face as he pursues the titles.

“now, what kinda movies you guys like t’ watch?”

In the end, they settled on five movies; A comedy for sans, an action thriller for Edge, a superhero film for Papyrus, a mystery for Blue, and a cartoon for Red. They drew straws to decide who goes first, all agreeing that Sans should get first pick of times since he’s done so much for them all. Blue and Red end up in the kitchen making popcorn while the other three set up the living room, finishing their chores down with twice the gusto.

An air of excitement seems to have come over the entire camper. It seems that for the first time since Blue arrived everyone is in anticipation for something; even Edge, despite his constant grumbles about how stupid this all is, seems to be just a little lighter in his steps as he goes through his routine.

By the time midday rolls around everyone is sitting in the living room, waiting. The spare duvet from the master bedroom has been pulled and laid out in the middle of the room, Papyrus and Edge sprawled out as Sans selects his dvd. Blue has finally finished popping the popcorn he found under the sink, pouring out the warm treat into bowls. He keeps the kettle ready for another batch, certain that there will be more need to be made by the time the day is through.

Blue hops up onto the couch with Sans and Red, offering up the bowls to everyone who wants one; which is everyone. Even Edge takes some popcorn, eating it slowly and savoring every bite. Papyrus is much less conservative with his, taking entire fistfuls at a time and dropping bits onto the mat which are promptly scooped up and fed to Doomfanger. Blue doesn’t actually see Sans eat any of his popcorn, but every so often when Blue looks over a little more has disappeared.

The movie is more to Sans and Red’s taste than anyone else's, but it gets a chuckle out of Blue. Sans, on the other hand, just about busts a rib with every line. Red lets out a constant stream of chuckles, drowning out the dialogue half the time. Blue acts as the runner, going between the living room and the kitchen to retrieve drinks and refresh popcorn. By the time the credits roll on the first movie everyone seems relaxed. Blue comes back from getting another round of snacks to find Papyrus leaned back into the couch with Sans draped over the armrest so the two are almost completely side by side. Red has his feet propped up by Sans’ head, looking halfway to sleep - a sign of relaxation for him. Even Edge looks less… well, on edge. He sits with his spine straight, Doomfanger in his lap. His facebones are no longer scrunched up, his shoulders hung relaxed at his side. Blue smiles at him, feeling his soul warm.

Edge glances over at Blue, face suddenly dusting with a light blush as he looks away, hands clenched. “I still say this is a waste of time and electricity.” He snips, arms coming up to cross over his chest. Blue rolls his eyes.

“Would you like the orange juice, or apple?” Blue asks, holding out the cups in his hands. Edge refuses to look at him as he snatches the apple juice from him. Doomfanger rubs her head into his shirt and he lets a hand down to pet her coat.

“i think boss ha’ next selection, right?” Red says from the couch. Blue nods.

“Yeah, he does!” He says, turning back to the gruff skeleton. “Which one was yours again?”

“Midnight Blaze Racer Four,” He mutters, squirming in his seat.

“Aw, but we haven’t seen the first three??” Papyrus says, sounding just a tad disappointed. “How will we be able to follow the plot?”

“heh... yeah… ‘plot’...” Sans says from his spot on the couch, physically drawing the air quotes with his fingers. Edge turns, throwing a bit of popcorn back at Sans, bouncing off his head with a satisfying thunk . Sans chuckles.

“You will be able to pick up on main story,” Edge assures Papyrus. “Besides, this is the fourth installment, but it actually takes place before the first movie but just a bit after the third-and-a-half, which was a prequel telling the story how Blaze’s mother ended up going from a rich girl from southern california to wanted intergalactic crime fighter.” He is already loading up the DVD and skipping through the commercials for ‘soon-to-be-released’ movies that came out almost a decade ago. “But you don’t need to know any of that because when this movie came out the plot for the next hadn’t even been written yet. This is just the best movie in the franchize, so we are skipping all the garbage that came out with the extension and sticking to the original cannon.”

“...Well now I’m even more confused than when we started!!”

“shhh, just watch the movie bro.”

Blue ends up spending this move squished between Sans and Red, the two of them falling in and out of naps as the spectacle on the tiny screen plays out before them. Honestly, Blue has no idea what is going on, and he has a sneaking feeling that even if he’d seen all the previous movies he would still be lost. This time the movies takes about twice as long as it’s runtime due to Edge pausing it at random intervals to explain some plotpoint from another movie in the franchise, then again seconds later to answer follow up questions posed by a very befuddled Papyrus.

By the time that movie ends the group is very much ready for Papyrus’ much simpler, logical movie about an orphan bit by a genetically engineered snake, gaining the power of super speed and strength and chooses to fight the forces of evil. It doesn’t have to make sense in the real world - it just has to flow logically on its own. Which it does, somewhat. At times…

Papyrus is on the edge of his seat the entire time, and even Blue gets excited, cheering along Snake Lad as he takes on Sir Mongoose and saves Lady Lana, warrior super spy princess, from his evil clutches. Sans seems to get his enjoyment from the flick by pointing out every time the movie tries to do science and exactly why it is wrong, while Red just makes lousy puns on just about everyone and everything there. Edge pretends to ignore it, claiming the effects are too cheesy for him to get involved - but every once in awhile Blue thinks he sees genuine enjoyment on Edge’s face.

Finally it is Blue’s turn! Sans only had a single mystery movie that Blue hasn’t gotten to see yet; it’s an old one in black-and-white. It has a very unique pacing and tone to it, something that Blue can appreciate. Sans and Blue keep a long discussion going on about film techniques and cinematography. Papyrus and Edge seem bored, while Red straight up falls asleep during the first act, though the action scenes at least get some response out of the others.

During the final confrontation where the murderer is revealed Blue notices something. He steps forward, pressing pause on the player and he listens.

“Do you guys hear that?” He asks, quickly getting the attention of the other occupants of the room. They all sit up, listening closely for any sign of disturbance, sharing a look of mild fear.

“Hear what, Blue-Sans?” Papyrus asks with a frown. “I don’t hear anything…”

Sans’ eyes widen as he practically throws himself off the couch, bare bones clacking against the floor as he prances over to the window. He stands on his toes to look out. “...they’re gone……” he mutters, almost too quiet for anyone to hear. Edge and Papyrus share a look of disbelief as Blue smiles.

“See? The storm is over now, and you guys didn’t even notice!” Blue chirps. The others look between each other, seeming blown away by the fact that they could have forgotten about their current situation. Blue rolls his eyes, ejecting the DVD before going to the cabinet to select a new one.

“what’s up kiddo - movie borin’ ya?” Sans asks, going back to lay out on the couch.

“It’s getting late, and I wanna see Red’s movie before we go to bed!” Blue announces, pulling out the DVD Red had anted in. The skeleton chuckles from the couch.

“aw, yer sweet, kid,” Red says, setting his head on his hands.

Edge stands as the movie loads up, taking the empty bowls of popcorn back into the kitchen. Blue frowns, watching his friend leave the room with a deep heaviness in his soul. “...Are you not going to watch the movie with us?” Blue asks, downtrodden.

“No,” Edge replies, scrubbing the bowls harshly with a dry sponge. He growls softly as Blue watches, scrubbing with extra gusto. Blue would like to think that it is just because he is trying to get off the extra butter… but... Blue glances back at Red, looking apologetic. The bags under Red’s eyes seem deeper than normal as he waves a hand.

“don’ sweat it, kid,” He says, a hint of something deeply troubling in his voice. “boss is… complicated…” He leans back into the couch, arms folded over his chest. “let’s just watch the flick…“

Blue isn’t entirely satisfied with that resolution; nevertheless he slots the dvd into the player and presses play, sinking back into relaxation as the cheerful sound of violin music fills the room. Almost as soon as the actual movie starts Edge seems to be satisfied with the dishes, immediately climbing the ladder to his bunk and flinging shut the curtain with a loud grumble. Sans and Papyrus relax some, politely asking that they unfold their bed so that they too can lay down. By now it’s pretty late, after all; they spent the entire day watching movies.

Blue starts to feel sleepy as well, rubbing his eye as the movie splashes bright colors against the dark walls. He moves closer to the DVD player on the table, setting him and Red up at the foot of the brother’s bed. He curls up in the comforter with Red, rubbing his eyes.

“heh, kiddo… ya should probably get t’ sleep yerself,” Sans says from utop the bed, propped up on a pillow. “ya look bone tired.” He chuckles. Papyrus grumbles in his sleep, mumbling something that sounds suspiciously like ‘overused joke’.

“I wanna stay up with Red, though,” Blue says, flighting back a yawn. His head bobs without him meaning too, floating town to rest on his hands. “Everyone else got to watch their movie with friends…”

“heh, i think red’s already asleep kiddo…” Sans says from utop the bed. Blue blinks, looking back to his friend lying next to him. Sure enough, soft snores come from the snoozing skeleton. Blue chuckles, curling up in the blankets.

“What a lazy bones...” He mutters sleepily, petting Red’s skull. A soft purr builds in the other’s throat as he nuzzles into the touch. Blue is tempted to just sleep here on the ground; but that would just be too lazy for his tastes. Slowly he rises to his feet, nudging Red awake as he bundles up their covers. He turns off the DVD player and ejects the disk, making sure that all of the DVDs make it back to the correct case and spot in the cabinet before heading off towards his bedroom.

“Goodnight Sans!” Blue says, following the sleepy Red into the bedroom. “Goodnight, Papyrus…”

“Goodnight!”

“g’night, kiddo…” Just before Blue can shut the door Sans continues. “hey, uh… blue?”

Blue pauses, looking back out into the room. It is dark, the only light coming from the everpresent glow of the outside lamps. Sans’ silhouette would look ominous in any other context, but to Blue it is relieving. Sans’ posture is relaxed, slouched against the back of the couch-bed. Blue can practically hear the other’s calm soul-beat from here.

“i wanned t’ thank ya,” Sans says, contentedness filling the air. “fer t’night…“

Blue feels his cheeks warm, his soul aching in a way he can’t quite place. The smile on his face can’t be seen in the dim light of the RV, but Blue has a sneaking suspicion that Sans knows it’s there.

“Mweh… no problem, Friend! I’m glad everyone had fun...” Blue says quietly, slipping into the room. “Goodnight.”

#my writing #undertale #zombie apocolypse au #fanfiction #underswap #underfell #movie night #fluff #angst

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mistyrayburn · 6 years

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Following my heart lands me in some really awesome places!

I tend to go with where my heart pulls me in life. I’m a very heart driven person. If I fall out of love with anything, I move on. I try my hardest of course to re-love first. That probably sounds silly but I always want that chance to reconnect with something I love. I’ve fallen out of love with photography many times but it wasn’t the art I fell out of love with. Generally people made me hate it. So by reconnecting with the art, I direct my disappointment towards what really deserves it.

Finding places to place my thoughts are just as much of a whirlwind. I had a live journal in high school. I had a website for a while. I may go back to doing that again. There’s FB where I post everything too but I didn’t feel like writing a note. FB I’m trying to make mostly for CITP stuff and hey friends look I’m hanging out with my cats and eating all the wrong foods! Ya know the normal I’m human look at me BS we’ve come accustomed to for attention seeking purposes.

Who doesn’t like attention?

So I figured this should go on tumblr and maybe I’ll move it later to wherever my next whim takes me. Because this blog to me is pretty important and I’m taking my time to find the right words and perhaps photos to go with it.

They’re all on my phone..great! I’ll add them later. ( Photos added )

So in 2015 I was in a wheelchair. There aren’t many pics of me like that because I hated it. I hated it so much. My cousin snuck a picture though and I keep that one nearby always to remember where I’ve been. I posted it on instagram yesterday. The reason for me being in that wheelchair is because my spine is falling apart. I just say that to keep things short but for those of you really wondering, I have no lordosis in my spine. It’s ram rod straight. This causes me to lean forward a bit and not totally be able to stand up straight. A lot of people don’t notice this because people with no lordosis bend their knees to compensate. I wear really baggy jeans..you won’t notice me bending my knees either LOL. I also have degenerative disc disease way worse than someone my age should have. Add to that the fact that every disc in my lower spine is either bulging or herniated and when they do herniate they have nowhere to go because my spinal canal is too small... I have a whole bunch of fun problems already! 9 times out of 10 I’m in some level of pain.

During my time in the wheelchair though I worked with Thurber House covering book events for my book blog. It was something to get me out of the house and make me quit feeling sorry for myself. That ended up extending to visits to The Book Loft, especially after meeting their marketing guy on a random trip up there. This is where my blog actually begins..so I guess I could put /intro here.

The Book Loft was a huge part of my fight to get out of that wheelchair. The building is old and therefore not accessible. When I visited I HAD to get out of the wheelchair. I used a walker and sometimes my cane. I was still restricted to the lower floors in spite of that but the staff was helpful and always got me the books I needed. Thusly friendships were forged and I was a happy camper :) It was one of these trips that I slipped and fell across the street because I was stupid and thought I could get out of the truck and get up the little uphill slope to get to the sidewalk in the rain. My cane slipped out from under me and down I went. Mom said it was the most graceful fall ever... tell that to my herniated L5 disc and the doctors who were seriously worried because the L5 was squeezing a set of serious nerves called the Cauda Equina.. here’s a little bit of info for ya!

Cauda equina syndrome is a rare disorder that usually is a surgical emergency. In patients with cauda equina syndrome, something compresses on the spinal nerve roots. You may need fast treatment to prevent lasting damage leading to incontinence and possibly permanent paralysis of the legs.CES affects a bundle of nerve roots called cauda equina (Latin for horse's tail). These nerves are located at the lower end of the spinal cord in the lumbosacral spine. They send and receive messages to and from your legs, feet, and pelvic organs.

The fall caused me to lose the ability to lift my left foot. Docs were freaking out and pushing me towards surgery and I was fighting them left and right. I wanted physical therapy. Especially after they told me through an EMG I only have 10 percent nerve function in my spine. I had dealt with foot drop before and beat it. This time I wasn’t so lucky. I did get my wish for physical therapy and a nice little note in my file. Thanks doc..I was still right! :-p I AM WALKING.. You don’t know everything!!!

Even with my cane and my walker I was still limited to where I could go at The Book Loft. Little less limited when I got my brace for my foot and could use my cane and it. But I was still afraid to go up that second set of stairs up to the loft or downstairs. This sucked because upstairs was non fiction and sci fi fantasy and downstairs was YA!!!! Still I explored where I could, and as my condition improved, so did my ability to explore!

Places I could explore:

stairs up to the loft, lower west wing and the courtyard

There was one place I still could not visit there though and today while I was kinda in my own head and visiting with no intent to buy anything I decided to see if I could now. I looked over at my mom and I’m like I’m going there. She told me to be careful but I was able to climb those three stairs with no rail ( nothing scares me more than no rail ) and there I was in the biography section! There was self help up there and history and math ( eek ). A section for cats and dogs too! I was so happy exploring and low and behold The ENTIRE Book Loft was free roam for me! All 32 rooms! i can find the secret spot that I can’t remember where it is! Huge stepping stone and for me a great victory.

Stairs leading to the biography section and the other wing.

But that kinds sums up my life. Beating the odds from day one by being ungodly stubborn and tenacious. Medical odds, blood clots and rotten spine be damned.

Will anyone read this? Who knows. But it felt good to throw it out there. I am proud :)

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taylorandashley · 6 years

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Camping will be so cost efficient

guest star: Written by yours truly: Taylor

This is the story about the events that transpired on November 24, 2017. This really happened to us. I swear. But first let me start out with the bit of a preface: Before Ashley and I came to Australia we decided we really wanted to camp as well as stay in hostels. “This will be so cost efficient”, “camping is fun, and we wont have to stay in hostels and we can have our own space.” So we go online, searching for the best backpacking tents, space conscious and light. Sleeping bags and sleeping pads that can be stored compactly, flashlights, pillows that can be inflated or rolled up tight, anything small we could fit in our bags. I have to mention that these items that can be super compact tend to be much more expensive, but “it’s okay Ashley we’re going to be camping TONS, it’s worth the extra money.” Flash forward 2 months… Ashley is lugging around a 10 pound tent on her back which has not moved since the day we left. My sleeping pad has remained in my bag, taking up space and those damn pillows have yet to be blown up. Ashley comes to me and says “Okay, we’re finally going camping.” She plans it all out we’re going to rent a car and drive there. We sit the night before planning our next day, so excited, oblivious of the horror that is planned for us the next day. The plan was for Ashley to wake up around 7 am in time to pick up our rental car for 8am. We plan to head to bed early as tomorrow is a big day. I wake up to a slight rustle of Ashley who’s alarm did not go off around 7 as planned and instead it is now 755am. The rental car place is approximately a 20 minute walk away. I look at my belongings thrown across the floor as if a tornado has gone through the room and she looks at me and says “SOOOO, you’re not packed.” I reassure her that by the time she gets back I’ll be packed and have breakfast started. We should’ve probably looked at this and gone hmmmm, maybe instead we’re in store for a bit of an interesting day but no, we still looked forward with optimism. We lug our 1 million pounds of luggage (that’s what it feels like I swear) into our 2014 Toyota Yaris (YAY A YARIS) and take off from Newcastle. We stop at Big W for some odds and ends and to Anaconda (the best camping store in the world) before we head out. Ashley has a revelation that she’s forgotten her after bite cream (prescription stuff that has been our SAVIOUR from misquotes thus far) at the hostel. Off we go back to hostel to search the room, its not there. Which surprised me as it honestly looks like cream someone would use for their Hoo Ha and I’m not sure who would want that second hand. We continue on for our 2 hour drive towards Crowdy National Park. We have a nice drive talking when Ashley finally clues in: “Wait, I think we were supposed to turn back there.” I get on the phone to look up and it turns out we had gone past our turn off. The GPS gives us 2 options: 1) continue on this route, it looks like a larger loop but it’s apparently only 7 minutes slower or 2) turn around and go on our original route. Maybe if I we had’ve picked route 1 we would’ve had a different day. We turn around to go on our original route. We turn off into a small little town and follow the GPS towards what looks like a dirt road. It’s okay, our Yaris can handle it. We go down this road, gravel a flying and bumping, Ashley quickly realizes that in order to not do damage to this small car she has to drive about 15 kph. About 7 km into the drive Ashley turns and looks at me. “Oh my god, that’s why that long drive was only 7 minutes longer, this 24 km drive is all backroad.” Well we’re too far in now it doesn’t make sense to turn around now. We’re fine. We travel at an agonizing 15 kph, bumping up and down in the Yaris Ashley evading the HUNDREDS of pot holes and me attempting to not throw up on her from the constant stopping and turning around the stupid pot holes. We finally arrive at the campground after what felt like hours, Yaris all dirty, us hating the stupid roads and cursing that we didn’t turn around earlier as we probably broke everything under the car. Get our campsite and as we’re setting up look up and see wild kangaroos EVERYWHERE. We’re ecstatic. At least 5 we can see just right in front of us. “Oh my god we’re camping with kangaroo’s, how cool!” I quickly get on the phone with mom and brag about these roos running wild right beside us. We get our tent set up and head back to the RIGHT ROAD (the one who should’ve taken originally) towards town. We go to the grocery store and starting getting groceries for the next 3 nights. We needed an “Esky” (Australian for a cooler) and have seen these really cool styrofoam esky’s you can get from the grocery store. We buy that along with sausages, hot dog buns (perfect ones) and other random groceries. We head back to the car load in our groceries Ashley begins to pull out of our spot. *HONK* *BANG* *ASHLEY SCREAMS* We look behind and we’ve collided with an extremely large utility truck. We get out and our left tail light has been smashed out and not a scratch on the truck. I look up and hear a lady scream, the truck is rolling backwards towards us… He jumps in his truck and gets in it in time to throw the brake in and stop it from hitting us and another vehicle. We quickly realize this is going to be 50/50 and he has no damage so he can leave. No information required. (Big mistake we know) After getting in the vehicle Ashley looks at the contract from the rental company and realizes that we need to prove there was another vehicle in order for the amount being taken from us from 398$ to 900$. In order to have that we needed his information so the insurance company could call him and confirm there was 2 vehicles involved. New plan: we’ll go to an auto shop and get them to fix it before we take it back on Monday night. Perfect. First shop: we’re moving, we can’t order parts. Second shop: I don’t have a part and neither do my other 2 shops, you’ll have to call and get it ordered and get them to fix it back in Newcastle before you return it. Done. It’s shortly before 3, we head to the liquor store (clearly we need it). We’ll call the Newcastle shop when we get back to the campsite to order the new part. And find Molson Canadian (SUCCESS) head to the check out. We stand in line and *Smash* a guy drops beers right behind us at our feet. Alright sweet our bad luck is just radiating now. We look beside us and see a white 2 door truck with a utility trailer as the back. No. It can’t be the same guy. We turn around to find a driver. We automatically see about 5 of the exact same vehicle. Ashley waits for the driver, its not our man. We drive through the lot and I hear Ashley yell and lay on the horn. I turn and look and a truck is about a foot away from T-boning us on my side. You’ve got to be kidding me. We drive back to the campground. Turns out the most common vehicle around here is a white 2 door utility truck. Everywhere. We stop back at the store to talk to the lady who yelled at the guy when his truck was rolling. I go in and talk to her. Apparently the man is in there every few days and she will call me with his information the next time he’s in. Okay a win. We get back to our tent and crack open a well deserved beer. Its been a rough day. I call the Newcastle shop to order the part for the car, the deadline to order a part before Monday was at 3pm. It’s now shortly before 4. Sweet. So I guess we’re going through insurance now, we better hope to god get that guys information. I go to check on my sleeping pad which “self inflates” the one I just “Had to have” and “It’s okay to spend a little extra money on it” because “I’ll be using it all the time.” It has only inflated on one half and has no indication that it’s going to get any more blown up. Sweet. Sleeping should be fun. Okay time for some food. Yay. We planned for Australian Beef sausages with fresh hot dog buns and some chips and salsa (fancy I know) Im pulling our food out of the car to put into the esky and take over to the BBQ as I notice a few kanagroos within about 20 feet of me. I see a Joey poking out the pouch of a mom. (ADORABLE, RIGHT?) The joey hasn’t quite got all his fur on him and he looks slightly like a rat but his ears are adorable and his head is poking out in his moms tummy. The cutest thing in the world. I kneel down and stick my hand out towards the group of 3 roo’s and the mom comes towards me. I almost cry into the esky while loading it as this is the cutest thing ever. She comes up to me and Ashley starts snapping pictures. Im petting her as she starts to hop by me. I turn to Ashley to see if she got the picture and I see the mom casually start walking towards our dry food bag. No. She’s not going for that… Ashley quickly goes to pick up the bag and just as she does the Mom reaches in with her paws and grabs our bag of hot dog buns! I yell NOOOOOOOO (im very excited about these buns I kept poking them all afternoon) I lunge toward the bag as the mom has no picked it up in his paws. I attempt to rip it from her paws but she’s stronger than I suspect, there I am, pulling back and forth a bag of hot dog buns, losing to a kangaroo. I scream and pull as the hot dog buns going flying. I scramble attempting to pick them up before she can get them (the little thief) she’s managed to get one and is trying to put it in her mouth, I snatch it away and go NO. Swatting my hand at her. I grab all the buns and the bag and try to run for the picnic table by the BBQ. By this time all the campers have gathered. (oh honey haha look at these helpless Canadian girls fighting with kangaroos) But oh no, we’ve left the esky behind. Have no fear, Ashley gets a second wind and grabs the handle of the cooler and takes off. *SMASH* I turn around to see Ashley holding the handle of the cooler in her hand but the styrofoam and contents of the esky are no longer attached to the handle and are scattered amongst the ground surrounded by ice. I look at Ashley who just says, “I’m going to cry.” The noise of the cooler smashing on the ground has scared off our kangaroo friends. We sheepishly pick up the contents of our old cooler and make our way to the BBQ. At this point we’ve said “You’ve got to be kidding me” or “What the hell kind of day is this?” At least a dozen times, but this time we’ve really had it. We finally clean up the mess and make it over to the picnic table and BBQ. We take out a beer each. A toast: “What a shitty day, here’s to an awesome night.” I take out the sausages, which at this point I’m like yes. Okay something delicious. Perfect. I assumed they were more like hot dogs. And tried to tear off the outer layer which I assumed was plastic like back home. It's not. Turns out they wrap their sausages in “edible collagen” and you don’t have an option to not eat the collagen because it all falls out when the wrapping isn’t on it. I don’t know how to explain this so I can help you understand how unappealing this “sausage” looks like. It was like mince beef, add some water and gelatine and stuffed it into an intestine. The outside was browning but the inside you could squeeze the meat out and it would come out. I’ve now had it. I turn to Ashley: “I’M DONE WITH THIS, TAKE ME TO THE PUB.” Ashley: “But I don’t want to waste the food.” Me: “THEY WERE 4$” Ashley being the intriguing foodie that she is, insisted she try the dog food so she puts it in the bun (i’m sure it was the one I wrangled from Sheila (I decided to name the mom roo) She takes one bite into it and the collagen part goes no where but the meat comes squeezing out the end of it. “NOPE. NOPE, I’M DONE.” Ashley: “Its actually not bad.” I’m hangry. As I type this I sit at a hotel restaurant chomping on garlic bread, Ashley and I exhausted from this day, going over it, like did this really happen. We got lost and ended up on the worst road possible, bumping up and down, damaged our rental car with still an unsure way to fix it, almost got t-boned, disappointed by our camping gear, wrestled a bag of buns from a kangaroo, broke our esky, lost our ice and anyway to cool our things for the next 3 days, wasted food and likely became a vegetarian. We have now gotten back to the campground and have forced ourself into our tent, not allowing ourselves near fire, anything sharp or pointy or near other people, just in case we’re contagious. The moral of the story is don’t lose your after bite cream.

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