tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66755842973017346512024-03-12T00:51:23.798-04:00The Rogue's Scribe<i><p>Welcome to my weird hybrid of diary, information center, and promotion hub.</p>
<p>This blog is SUPPOSED to be focused on my writing (mostly fanfiction). I'll post updates on how my writing is going, and promote my latest projects.</p>
<p>I do tend to also veer towards generic venting about my life, as well as talk about my latest obsession, be it a game or other piece of media.</p>
<p>So, come hang out for a while, and get to know me a bit better. I'd love to have you here.</p></i>LycoRoguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01064253326464685398noreply@blogger.comBlogger489125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6675584297301734651.post-5754737013217784252024-02-29T19:50:00.004-05:002024-02-29T19:50:46.066-05:00Happy Leap Day (Thanks, 2024, for the Extra Day to Write This Up)<p style="font-family: serif; font-size: 60%;">Est. Read Time: 15min</p>
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<p>I made it! It was a slog, and quite the trial (evidenced by this being a relatively short update published around 8pm on the last day of February), but I did manage to get a second blog post done this month (hooray for leap days). So, I'm back on track! Now to keep this up for the rest of the year....</p>
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<p>Before I get into it, though, I just wanted to point out that I'm back to using Mali. I still have no clue which font I want to stick with permanently, so it looks like I'm back to rotating them. <span style="font-family: Kalam;">Kalam</span> may be out of the running, though. It feels like a fun, hand-written font, which is what I like for this blog. After all, I wanted it to feel like I AM just handwriting everything. But... is that still the look I want to go with??? And if so, is Kalam any better than my original font of <span style="font-family: coming soon;">Coming Soon</span>??? At the very least, is it better than Mali? I'm thinking 'no' on both of those fronts, but I would still love input if anyone wanted to drop a comment below. Alternatively, <span style="font-family: Josefin Sans;">Josefin Sans</span> was a nice font. It definitely felt more "professional" and less "Geo-Cities". A way to make this blog feel a bit less like some 20-something's online diary from the early 00's and more like a (nearly) 40yo is writing it in 2024. Although... this blog clearly isn't a "professional" resource to learn ways to improve your own writing or whatever anyway. So why do I care that it looks a bit immature???? Especially since I JUST SAID I still like the aesthetic of this being "handwritten"? Gaaah! Why can't I decide on a font!? It's been a year of trying them out! And why is overall decision-making so hard for me lately?</p>
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<p>Yay... burn-out and stress! woooooooooooo</p>
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<p>Hubby and I really just need enough finances to take, like, a month-long sabbatical where we can forget the world exists and we can just fully recharge.... I need the Covid shutdowns back, but without the social isolation, and constant fear and panic that we could catch a disease that might kill us, or that we'd pass to our loved ones and indirectly kill them, or that we'd all catch and then have chronic health issues for the rest of our lives.</p>
<p>Hooray to the last one actually happening to us! wooooo again.....</p>
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<p>This past month, my husband has been prepping for D&D to start back up on Monday. Which means he's been busy plotting away the next stage of our campaign. The teasers he's given me are so good, and I love what he has planned for a repeat NPC. <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.twitch.tv/aurora_morgen" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Aurora Morgen</a> got the writing bug again and has been sending me more notes on nir plot for me to check out. It's been a lot of fun to interrogate the world ne built in order to help nir flesh it out a bit more. Plus, it's been cool to spaghetti-toss ideas at the wall to see which ones Aurora likes. There were some in particular that I've pitched that I truly love. If Aurora ends up not going with them I might have to swipe the ideas back for my own stories somewhere down the line...</p>
<p>Speaking of, since everyone else around me has been bit by the writing bug, and I've been coming up with ideas for Aurora, does that mean I have some new writing myself?</p>
<p>....</p>
<p>Yeah... no.</p>
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Hacker Girl</b>
<br />Facebook sticker
<br />by <b>Birdman, Inc.</b></td>
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<p>I dunno. I've tried changing up what I'm writing about. I thought, "Maybe I'm just burnt out on <i>Miraculous Ladybug</i> and need to write ANYTHING else." So I stepped away from <i>Seduce with Caution</i> and <i>One and the Same</i> and all of my ML plot bunnies.</p><p style="font-family: Mali;">Instead, I've worked on this blog, for more of a casual, "diary-like" writing style. I tried the <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt16152776/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_8_nm_0_q_hailey%27s" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Hailey's On It!</a></i> fanfic idea I talked about in my December update. I tried working on a <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/NoPixel_Wiki" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">NoPixel</a> OC. I played around with more ideas for <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://theroguesscribe.blogspot.com/search/label/Jolene" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Jolene</a>. I tried thinking more about the OCs and world I created for my original story <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.fictionpress.com/s/3341100/1/Blame-Fate-for-This" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank"><i>Blame Fate for This</i></a> that I wrote for <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.twitch.tv/ronoxym" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Ronoxym</a>'s 30th birthday. I tried even thinking more about my OCs and the world I came up with for <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://theroguesscribe.blogspot.com/2016/09/salvaging.html" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">The Race for Destiny</a></i>, my old hodge-podge fanfic/original hybrid story I came up with while in college; my first-ever <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="http://www.nanowrimo.org/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank" title="National Novel Writing Month">NaNoWriMo</a> attempt. Hubby and I FINALLY started crossing things off of my massive To Watch list again. I got back into reading the webcomics and digital uploads of manga.</p>
<p>Oh! I don't think I mentioned that last time. Yeah. I have been reading manga on <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://comikey.com/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Comikey</a>. It's like <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.webtoons.com/en/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">WEBTOON</a>, but for manga. I found out about it because <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://chibisunnie.tumblr.com/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">ChibiSunnie</a> works as a copy editor at Comikey. I started really focusing three mangas there.</p>
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<li><i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://comikey.com/comics/my-housemate-sano-kun-is-just-my-editor-manga/693/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">My Housemate Sano-kun is Just My Editor!</a></i>
<br /> 28yo Shinomiya Teiichiro is so engrossed in his own prolific writing that he frequently forgets self-care. During one of his multi-hour writing binges he faints from lack of sleep, food, and hydration. His dutiful editor (and biggest fan) Sano Satoru finds poor Shinomiya passed out on his floor, and nurses him as he recovers. Fearful that it may happen again, Sano suggests becoming Shinomiya's housemate. That way, Sano can do the house work, prepare the meals, and make sure Shinomiya isn't working himself to death. Plus, if he's already right there, he can always edit Shinomiya's writing on the fly, which will make their work turn-around that much faster.
<br /> It takes some convincing, but Shinomiya agrees, and Sano starts his quest to get Shinomiya to a healtier work-life balance. It doesn't take long for the writer to realize (1) he's been neglecting his health WAY more than he imagined, (2) it's nice to have someone take care of him, and (3) it sure is lonely in the house whenever Sano is gone....
<br /> Shinomiya's prolific writing (but not the self-care neglect that results from it) is such wish fulfilment for me. Also, Shinomiya feels VERY ADHD-coded in the limited chapters that I've read. He hyperfixates on his writing to the point that he doesn't even realize he's hungry or thirsty until his stomach loudly (and rudely... according to him) interrupts his flow, or he's about to pass out being the main bit of evidence. There's also a part that I just read where Shinomiya - who, again, isn't even 30 yet - stands up and his shoulders and knees loudly pop. He laments his aging joints and Sano asks him when was the last time he exercised. Even as little as taking a casual walk.
<br /> ....
<br /> Let me tell you... I felt so called out by Sano's question. I really do need to get better at that myself....
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<li><i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://comikey.com/comics/the-lady-likes-a-nerd-over-princes-manga/292/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">The Lady Likes a Nerd Over Princes</a></i>
<br /> Plucky 14yo Sharina is the eldest daughter of the earl. While at her magical school, she meets the studious and quite somber Riol, third son of a baron. He stops her from touching a toxic flower, and she falls in love at first sight. She tries to win his affections by personally making him a picnicked lunch the next day. Problem being, the scent of the cookies she made Riol catches the interest of the first-prince of their country, Leonardo. An arrogant and entitled brat of a teen. Not recognizing the prince, Sharina calls him out on his rude behavior, which only intrigues Leonardo further. Even after revealing to her who he is, Sharina is unphased and calls Leonardo a thief when he takes the cookies to try. Leonardo is now fixated on Sharina and claims her as his own. "Ever the arrogant narcissist, Leonardo can’t fathom how anyone could turn him down and his persistence crosses into the realm of harassment" [from the official Comikey posting]. Riol's constant rescues of Sharina from the prince's advancements only paints a target on his back as Leonardo marks Riol his rival (and causes Sharina to fall all the harder for Riol).<br /> Poor Sharina and Riol now have to constantly dance around the varied harassment from the prince as he continuously tries to destroy Riol and claim Sharina as his trophy.
<br /> The whole thing is cute and playful and the prince is gorgeous but the biggest prick in the most entertaining way. Plus, you have that good ol' romance plot going on as Sharina tries to win Riol's affections. Meanwhile, Riol won't even entertain the thought of them being romantically involved due to how much higher a societal ranking Sharina is (it wouldn't be proper). Riol is actually only at the school on scholarship. So, despite still being a noble, he's also very much a "fish-out-of-water" as most consider Riol barely a step above peasant. It's just a fun little story, and I love watching them thwart Prince Leonardo's advances.
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<li><i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://comikey.com/comics/from-general-to-bride-marrying-my-strongest-rival-manga/652/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">From General to Bride: Marrying My Strongest Rival</a></i>
<br /> First-princess Leone (age 23) gladly serves her kingdom of Alderia by being the general for their fearsome army. She even received the moniker "The Golden Lion" due to how fierce she is, and yet beautiful with her golden hair flowing like a mane. One day, while in the midst of a heated battle, her opponents - the Kingdom of Zergios - abruptly retreat. Leone soon after discovers that she has been betrothed to the marshal of Zergios as part of a peace treaty. She now has to learn how to make a new life in the land of her once most-heated enemy. Not only that, but she's tasked by her father to help their new allies to prosper.
<br /> Leone is actually incredibly graceful and modest. She has no ill-will towards her new husband or compatriots. She instantly takes on the role of helpful citizen of Zergios. Or, at least, she tries to. The people of Zergios, especially its young prince, are understandably wary of her. She's also unsure of her dynamic with her new husband, who is too busy with war-recovery efforts to truly socialize with her. There's a connection there though, and a potential romance.
<br /> I'm personally so invested in the budding romance between Leone and her husband, as well as how she'll win over the people of Zergios so they believe she truly is their ally now. It reminds me a little of <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.webtoons.com/en/romance/the-dragon-kings-bride/list?title_no=5517" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">The Dragon King's Bride</a></i> with the whole warring nations and arranged marriage that might have a true romantic foundation. Plus, it's nice to see a strong female protag who is also kind, courteous, and helpful.
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<p>I also started up yet another new comic over on WEBTOON: <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.webtoons.com/en/romance/i-will-live-the-life-of-a-villainess/list?title_no=5954" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">I Will Live the Life of a Villainess</a></i>.
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<span font-size="x-small" style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i> Korean woman Yuna Jeong dies when she's hit by a car that ran a red light. However, her life doesn't end there. Instead, she gets <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isekai" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">isekai'd</a> into the land of Kartica; into the life of Duke Rosaria's only child Elena. Problem is, Katrica doesn't exist. It's a fictional country from a romance novel Yuna used to read in her previous life. The other problem? Elena Rosaria is the villainess of that novel.
<br /> According to the novel's plot, Elena is betrothed to the crowned prince. However, he ends up falling in love with the novel's main character Rosetta. Elena then spends the novel making Rosetta's life miserable to try to keep her away from the prince, which would allow Elena to eventually become queen instead. When all other attempts fail, Elena tries to poison Rosetta. In the end, the prince and Rosetta marry, and Elena is beheaded!
<br /> Obviously trying to avoid that outcome, Yuna tries to rewrite Elena's story. New problem: Elena is already an adult and betrothed to the prince. So her complete change in personality is a bit hard to try to hide. Plus, she has that whole struggle of trying to remove herself as far from the Elena/Prince/Rosetta love triangle as possible. On top of ALL of that? Turns out she's not the only one isekai'd into the story! The previously meek and overlooked first-prince is also acting a bit strange and a lot bolder lately. The first-prince and Elena dance around each other as they try to confirm that the other was originally from Earth, as they attempt to rework the fates of the characters they were forced to inhabit, and as a potential romance blossoms between them.</i>
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<p>If you haven't noticed, I have a thing for fantasy romances... what can I say? A woman my age tends to read romance novels. I just do mine via pretty pictures online. Anyway, I do love how unique this story is, because the romance is actually SUUUCH a backseat plot that some of the main comments on the comic are "Oh. Right. This story is in the Romance category." The focus instead is on Elena (Yuna) empowering both herself and other female nobles that would otherwise be overlooked simply because they're women. It showcases Elena's craftiness and strategic mind. It also has a lovely little cat-and-mouse appeal to both Elena and the first-prince getting their footing in the lives they are thrust into. It's like a narrative game of chess. Quite engaging. I caught up on all of the available free chapters in a blink.</p>
<p>Honestly? Between those three mangas, adding in <i>I Will Live the Life of a Villainess, </i>and getting back into <i>The Dragon King's Bride, <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.webtoons.com/en/romance/float/list?title_no=5427" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">FLOAT</a></i>, and <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.webtoons.com/en/action/rental-hero/list?title_no=5814" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Rental Hero</a></i>, I've managed to get a lot of reading in this month. Not nearly the 7.5hrs per month that I'm aiming for this year, but definitely better than my January record.</p>
<p>As mentioned, I also managed to wrestle the TV away from Hubby's obsessive watching of NoPixel content, and we crossed off a bunch of shows and movies I had on my To Watch list for a while.</p>
<p>I'm doing what a writer is "supposed" to. I'm consuming content. Engaging in it. Noting what I like about it, and what I would change. The <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9018736/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_8_nm_0_q_avata" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Avatar: The Last Airbender</a></i> live-action series on Netflix, for instance. If I went into that cold - never saw the cartoon - I would have really enjoyed it. The writing is a bit clunky, but I still liked the characters and the chemistry the cast had. The wardrobe and sets were gorgeous and captured how they looked in the cartoon. The actor they cast for Zuko - <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4020501/?ref_=tt_cl_t_4" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Dallas Liu</a> - was so convincing as the character that he even straight up sounded like <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0002364/?ref_=tt_cl_t_5" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Dante Basco</a> (Zuko's original voice actor) for a bunch of his lines. The CG and green-screening still needed a bit of help, but it was way cleaner and prettier than anything Marvel has given us the past couple of years.... sadly....</p>
<p>The plot of the entire series is "There's this 100year war that has been going on as the Fire Nation tries to conquer the rest of the world." The cartoon almost makes the war secondary to the Gaang's personal growth and development. The live-action, on the other hand, leans a lot harder into the war plot, and the idea that war isn't fun. That it's messy. That it's brutal. That people are suffering. That people are doing whatever they can to survive. The live-action focuses on the world more than the characters, I think.</p>
<p>Sokka is brooding as he suffers imposter syndrome in his attempts to be a Warrior(TM) to protect his home and impress his father. Katara is suffering PTSD from watching her mother violently die trying to protect her. Aang is wracked with survivor's guilt as well as the guilt of abandoning the world; unintentually allowing all the pain that has happened over the past century. Zuko is still his broody, angsty self... never change, buddy. Iroh is mostly unchanged as well, but... less goofy and relaxed. The side characters are also darker and angstier.</p>
<p>The cartoon knew what it was: a cartoon. It dealt with the heavy concept of a war-torn world, but still had the characters - especially the Gaang - as light, fun-loving, playful, snarky, sarcastic, and embracing what limited joys they could find. The cartoon was awesome because it had that great balance of light and heavy. It made you laugh, but also made you think about the seriousness of what these kids are going through.</p>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Sokka got over his misogyny, and then got past his inferiority complex.</li>
<li>Katara got past her anger, and no longer tried to compensate for her mom by being the Mom Friend to everyone else.</li>
<li>Aang matured, embraced his responsibilities, and got past his guilt.</li>
<li>Toph learned that it's okay to be vulnerable around the right people, because doing so doesn't diminish your strength.</li>
<li>Zuko healed from his traumas, and grew the courage to stand up against his tormentors.</li>
<li>Azula realized the emotional traumas and neglect she endured growing up. We don't get to see her overcome them, but realizing they're there and that she's broken was a character arc in-and-of-itself.</li>
</ul>
<p>I don't see any of that happening in the live action though. With the exception of maybe Zuko and Azula (and we haven't met Toph yet), the live-action versions of the Gaang just.... aren't quite the same characters.</p>
<p>And they killed my favorite episode: "The Cave of Two Lovers". I mean, they kind of butchered a lot of the episodes... but did really well with others, such as combining "The Storm" and "The Blue Spirit".</p>
<p>I'm going off on a tangent. Point being, I watched something I really wanted to; was excited for. It was "mid". Not terrible. Not the greatest. Made me want to give the cartoon a rewatch. But decent for an adaptation, and good if it's the first introduction you have to the series. Anyway, I went in with a little bit of an analytical mind. I noted changes I liked. Changes that made sense. Changes that made no sense to me. Changes that just straight up made the story kind of worse. I sorted out WHY I felt that way.</p>
<p>That's what I'm "supposed" to do, right? That's supposed to help me improve my own writing?</p>
<p>I did the same thing for the other shows and movies we watched this month. Same for the many manga/comics I've been reading. Same with helping Aurora with nir story, and even Hubby with his campaign ideas.</p>
<p>So, why isn't any of this translating into ME doing narrative writing!? Why, whenever I bring up a word doc or this blog post do I INSTANTLY think of a million other things I should be doing? I have this work project that isn't crucial, but I've been meaning to do for ages. I have emails to check! I have Facebook or Discord messages to answer. I really SHOULD go through my Tumblr Drafts blackhole and start tagging and reblogging them. Seems like as good a time as any to research credit card options or get lost on Zillow house hunting or work on the dozens upon dozens of popped seems along the king-sized quilt my mom got me as a wedding gift. You know what? It's been AGES since I've played my mobile games on my tablet, or touched my Switch. Let's use the time to play some games instead! That'll help!</p>
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>NuaNia</b>
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<br />by <b>PRANEAT</b></td>
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<p>WHYYYYYYYY!? Used to be that you couldn't STOP me from telling a story. My life was writing. I felt most myself when I was writing. I was bursting with ideas and couldn't write them down fast enough.</p>
<p>And now?</p>
<p>Now I run away from the IDEA of writing. Even this blog post. I'd get a couple of paragraphs in and then magically find something more pressing to do before I forced myself to come back and sit down and just TALK TO YOU FINE FOLKS. No thoughts needed. I'm just having a conversation.</p>
<p>I've NEVER been this writing-adverse before! In the 30-some years since I learned how to tell stories, I have never been this disconnected from writing. This bored with a blinking cursor. The blue lines on notebook paper blending together as my eyes lose focus and gloss over.</p>
<p>I just want to be pre-2020 LycoRogue again.</p>
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<p>The first half of March is going to be a bit crazy. (Implying my life hasn't been a hectic, inconsistent schedule for YEARS now....) I'm on a 9-day work week, leading directly into me and Hubby going to visit my out-of-state family for my sister's birthday, her soon-to-be niece's birthday, and my godson's birthday. In other words: work nine days in a row, have a four-day weekend to visit family, then back to work for a 7-day week before our schedules are semi-back to normal. We also have our first D&D session since October in the middle of my 9-day work week. Then have our second session the Monday after coming home from my long weekend. Oh! And I'll have to work on sale price tags the long week I have post-family-visit.</p>
<p>I'm sure I'll find time to work on writing somewhere in there. Right? I can still get that quarterly story written?</p>
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<p>Guys, I don't think I'll be hitting that stretch goal of publishing a new story at least once per quarter.... At least, not unless I push myself to maybe work on that <i>Hailey's On It! </i>fanfic. I have a skeleton written up. And the back half of the first season is supposed to start in March. Maybe the new episodes will re-inspire me to actually officially pen that fanfic. It would be a fitting time to post my first fic for the fandom too... when the show is back in swing.</p><p>We'll see how that goes, I guess.</p>
<p>If not the HOI fanfic, then.... honestly, I have no clue. The well is dry and I am BEGGING the Muses for enough rain to refill it. Not even all the way. Just enough to end the drought. Maybe nicer weather returning will be the key. Maybe roleplaying again will be. Maybe simply getting sunshine again so my brain isn't just <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSGNXY_CEbg" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">static snow</a> nearly every waking moment. I'll take anything.</p>
<p>Wish me luck. And, until next time...</p>
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</span>LycoRoguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01064253326464685398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6675584297301734651.post-87002098311367631112024-02-10T10:27:00.001-05:002024-02-10T10:27:31.198-05:00Head Empty; Time for a New OC<p style="font-family: serif; font-size: 60%;">Est. Read Time: 30 min</p>
<span style="font-family: josefin sans;">
<p>Well, if this isn't an encouraging start to the year... publishing my first update - my JANUARY update - OVER A WEEK INTO FEBRUARY! Yup. Excellent start. (Do I get points for chipping away at it daily since January 30th?)</p>
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<p>I'll be honest. I hadn't thought of this blog or my New Year's Resolutions at all last month (minus the last two days because I was trying to make my January deadline). This is the main reason I'm still using Josefin Sans for the text font. I just couldn't find the energy to even begin to narrow down which font to permanently keep. As for writing itself, I only ever-so-briefly gave that any thought. Yup. This is an awesome start of a new year for a writer. Why am I STILL so burnt out!? (We'll get to that...)</p>
<p>Anyway, how about a quick refresher on the resolutions I came up with for 2024?</p>
<ol>
<li>Take another run at posting at least one blog update every month; 12 updates in total before the close of 2024.</li>
<li>Read an average of 7.5hrs per month (that's the equivalent of 15min per day for a 30-day month)</li>
<li>Write Plagg-centric stories for the two Friday 13ths this year: September and December</li>
<li>Publish at least one narrative each quarter of the year: 4 stories total; once every 3 months.</li>
</ol>
<p>How am I doing on those? Well...</p>
<p>1. I'm publishing January's post a third of the way into February. So, I'm clearly doing amazing with this goal already. I'll get more into the "why"s below. Regardless, I'm not letting that defeat me, and have been working on it steadily (albeit minimally) for the past 12 days. I'll consider that a little win.</p>
<p>2. I..... forgot to record how much I've read last month. I have no clue how close I got to this goal, but I can safely bet I wasn't close at all. I haven't read nearly as much as I would have liked. I've been so burnt out that I haven't even raced to instantly read the latest updates to those webcomics I started following (and excitedly talked about last post). It... it's been rough. This month hasn't been encouraging either given that I have barely cracked open any printed narratives a week into February... sooooooooo.... yeaaaaaaaah....</p>
<p>3. I have time for this one, but I have NO ideas on what the story plots would even be yet.</p>
<p>4. Head empty. No thoughts. No plots. I'm already fearful about hitting this "stretch-goal"....</p>
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<p>Hubby and I tried. We looked up a list of "20 good luck foods to eat at New Year's". We had at least half of them. We even stood on only our right foot at the strike of midnight so we could start 2024 off "on the right foot".</p>
<p>Maybe we overcorrected for 2023 and ended up jinxing ourselves????</p>
<p>To be fair, the year has at least been kinder to us than it has been for many others that we personally know. Unfortunate for us, that still resulted in adding a lot to our plates. For example, my poor manager ended up losing two loved ones within the same week, and then had a major health scare with one of her pets. She thought she was going to lose him too. Thankfully, he pulled through, but she still had to call off of work the next day to monitor him while he was recovering. So, I had a couple of work days where I was running the shop solo. Weeeeee.</p>
<p>One of those days was the highest sales day of the week. Of COURSE everyone decided to come buy the day I'm alone. Sheesh.</p>
<p>On top of that chaos, Manager was sick for the better part of a week (probably due to a weakened immune system brought on by the stress of all of the above). Then it was Biker Coworker - whom, from now on, shall be simply known as Chatty... because... boy howdy is she! - who was sick for the week. She kept saying "It's not covid! It's not the flu! It's just my annual sinus infection!" The frequency she stressed this though almost makes me question it.... And my throat has been a bit scratchy lately.... yay!</p>
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<p>On top of that, I got into a.... bit of a verbal battle with my General Manager a couple of weeks back. Argument over paychecks and how a sale's payout should be handled. This resulted in GM having to have A Talk with Manager. Said talk was during Manager's Hell Week, so she ended up UNLOADING. It was very much needed and I'm super proud of her. It ended up leaving us in a weird limbo with the GM for the rest of the month, though, and I think he's lowkey avoiding talking to any of us now....</p>
<p>Although, he HAS been a little heavy-handed with the "really appreciate you!" and "Good catch!" and "Keep up the good work!" and "This really helps, thank you so much!" emails this past week, so....</p>
<p>On top of all of that, the work projects keep piling up on my desk. Both figuratively and literally. Before I can complete one I have two more to sort through. When I left work last Saturday I literally had three different piles of projects organized by priority. Meanwhile, both of my coworkers' desks were virtually empty....</p>
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<p>If I don't already have enough going on at work, I'm also apparently an unofficial copyeditor for other companies. For two different manufacturers that our company works with, I've had to go through different marketing material. One was price cards for the current national sale. The other was the merchandizing catalog for customers to flip through. The price cards had multiple typographical errors (such as incorrect pricing) and formatting issues - such as a text box being too small so it bumped the last letter of a word onto the next line - that I had to sort out. I also needed confirmation on a few things.... things the manufacturer sales rep has YET to respond to me about, and it's been two weeks! For the catalog, there were pages that we just got last week that were printed in October and were depicting items that were discontinued in July.... so.... I needed to figure out what to do about those.... There was also a catalog page where the item identification number had a typo in it. If we looked up the item based on the catalog's ID number we wouldn't be able to find it in order to price it up. After confirming that it WAS a typo - as opposed to a new model that we didn't get pricing for yet - I had to break out a permanent marker to manually correct the ID on the catalog page. Real professional looking.</p>
<p>Then, for our OWN company, we use a marketing company to produce our advertisements. I don't know what the hold-up was, but they were a week behind in getting our sale price tags and promotional flyer to us. They prioritized posting the sale on our website first. Fine. I printed the flyer off of the website in order to know what items are on sale for the month. I noticed that one of the items pictured didn't have the proper description. I emailed the GM asking which was the error: the description or the product item? Turns out it was the description. I got one of those "Great catch! Thanks for the help!" emails from him before he emailed the marketing team to fix the flyer online ASAP. On top of that, GM didn't even know what I was talking about at first. He forwarded me the email the marketing team sent him with a proof of the email blast flyer, and the item was properly described there. So.... THAT was a thing....</p>
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<p>Guys <span style="font-size: small;">(manufacturers)</span>. I am begging you. I already have enough on my plate. Could you maybe hire your own copyeditors (and/or get your acts together) so this is sorted out BEFORE it gets sent to your retailers? What are the other retailers doing when they get these messes? Do they have people in their stores catching these errors as well? Or are they just unknowingly running with them?</p>
<p>I haven't even mentioned the cranky, demanding, and entitled customers. The whirlwind customers who can't be bothered to listen to your answer to their last question before they jump into another one. The customers who need you to explain/demonstrate something 3x because they aren't paying attention to you despite specifically asking for that explanation/demonstration. The customers who are told they are already getting an item 40% off and STILL ask "can't you do anything better about the price?" The customers who can't make up their mind, so they buy a product, only to cancel the sale and buy another product, only to cancel THAT and buy the original product again, only to cancel AGAIN and buy something COMPLETELY DIFFERENT from what they came in for. The customers who are incredibly incorrect in the information they got from "researching on the internet" but are convinced that YOU are the uninformed one and/or you're simply trying to swindle them. The customers who "have spent a lot of money with this company" and so they feel you should just "throw in" $400 worth of items for free! The customers who specifically tell you that they do not want X, Y, or Z for the product they're looking for, so you avoid showing them items that include X, Y, or Z, and then they demand to know why you didn't show them those products - as if we're gatekeeping or something - and then COMPLAIN about how the product is DEFINITELY not something they'd buy when they try it out, how dare we show it to them! The customers who decide, four months after getting their item, that we clearly gave them the wrong item and we should correct this.</p>
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<p>When I get home my head officially turns off. There's just too much going on at work, and my brain taps out after that 8hr shift. I can't even really enjoy recreational things if it requires any semblance of brain power. I'm actually a touch grateful that Hubby hasn't started his D&D campaign back up yet. I have no clue how good at roleplaying I'd be right now. Ironic, since that's the limited amount of "writing" I've done in January. I'll explain in a bit.</p>
<p>But first! We need to power through a bit of an info-dump to properly set the stage. Join me as we sift through the drama that is</p>
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<p>As you could probably tell from my last update, I've been sucked down the <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/NoPixel_Wiki" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">NoPixel</a> rabbit hole. More accurately, Hubby has. I'm just along for the ride. Mostly because it (a)allows me time with Hubby, and (b)requires virtually no mental effort on my part to enjoy.</p>
<p>While the main focus for us last year was on <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.twitch.tv/ray__c" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Ray__C</a> and his character <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Raymond_Romanov" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Raymond Romanov</a>, the 4.0 launch brought back <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.youtube.com/@Sykkuno" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Sykkuno</a> to NoPixel, and Hubby has been eating this content UP! There's an ongoing joke that Sykkuno himself has <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/main-character-energy/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Main Character Energy</a> (while still being humble and a little self-deprecating) and is protected by <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.dictionary.com/browse/plot-armor" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Plot Armor</a>. This has resulted in the NoPixel running joke that Sykkuno's character <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Yuno_Sykk" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Yuno Sykk</a> is the "shadow leader" of <b style="border-bottom-color: #FDD017; border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: thin; border-bottom: thin dashed rgb(253, 208, 23); cursor: help; font-weight: normal;" title="A parody of Los Angeles. The city that Grand Theft Auto V - and therefore NoPixel - takes place.">Los Santos</b>. Yuno's return to the server seems to prove that he truly is the Shadow Leader. He's already started, left, and joined at least four different "gangs" and has an apparent platonic harem.</p>
<p>My last post, I had introduced you all to Yuno's first gang "<a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/The_Company" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">The Company</a>". He was an original member and co-founder, but he pretty much did everything he could to not actually run it. While the other 5 founding members each had an executive branch they were in charge of - CEO, CFO, COO, etc - Yuno begged them to just let him have the humble title of "janitor" within The Company. We'll stick a pin in The Company for a beat as we move to Yuno's second "gang".</p>
<p>Fellow Company member <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Benji_Ramos" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Benji</a>, played by <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.twitch.tv/lysium" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Lysium</a>, had a LOT of personal drama in the 3.0 era due to his messy love life. Because of this, Benji spent the in-universe five years between 3.0 and 4.0 to self-reflect. He decided to take a self-vow of celibacy. He wasn't going to let himself be messed up by carnal desires again. Benji and Yuno then met up with <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Tommy_Tate" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Tommy T.</a>, played by <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.youtube.com/@Zerkaa" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Zerkaa</a>. Tommy had also decided to be celibate for 4.0. Add in Yuno, whom, much like Sykkuno himself, constantly claims that "girls aren't into me". Since a prominent gang in 3.0 was "Chang Gang" (aka CG), Yuno joked that they were the new CG: <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Celibate_Gang" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Celibate Gang</a>. He then ran around the server recruiting any of his friends that also decided they weren't going to have any romance RP with their character, ergo the character would be celibate.</p>
<p>The main problem with Yuno co-founding Celibate Gang is that 4.0 somehow brought about "Yuno's Harem Arc". Sykkuno has always felt more comfortable having a bunch of female friends, and so Yuno likewise routinely hangs out with a bunch of female characters. He's also somehow both subtly and INCREDIBLY charismatic, so he's unintentionally wooing ladies left and right. But "Girls just aren't into me," so Yuno (and probably Sykkuno himself) has no clue these ladies have crushes on <b style="border-bottom-color: #FDD017; border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: thin; border-bottom: thin dashed rgb(253, 208, 23); cursor: help; font-weight: normal;" title="him Yuno. I highly doubt any of these players are actually growing crushes on Sykkuno. Their characters are falling HARD for Yuno though.">him</b>. The main "totally not a love interest" is the character <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Charlotte_Mae" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Lottie</a>, played by <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.twitch.tv/MinksOfMars" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">MinksOfMars</a>.</p>
<p>One of the big social "problems" of the 3.0 server was how easily characters could just adopt each other. It resulted in Yuno's 3.0 family tree turning into more of a family web.</p>
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yuno Sykk's 3.0 family, <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/nopixel/images/7/78/DanFailysNightmare.png/revision/latest?cb=20210929201744" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">as presented on the NoPixel wiki</a></td>
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<p>Now, it's been pared down DRASTICALLY for 4.0, but Yuno still has his twin sister <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Ray_Mond" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Ray Mond</a>, played by <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.youtube.com/@Valkyrae" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Valkyrae</a>, his adopted older brother <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Burt_Beans" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Gloryon</a>, played by <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.twitch.tv/Garek" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Garek</a>, and his adopted younger sister <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Raia_Kaine" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Raia</a>, played by <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.twitch.tv/LadyDima" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">LadyDima</a>. Although, a new server rule that just went into affect in February limited everyone to just one adopted kid, so Yuno isn't allowed to call Gloryon or Raia his siblings anymore... it's a whole thing...</p>
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<p>Along with Yuno's adopted-but-no-longer-adopted siblings, Yuno is an adopted cousin to Lottie. Or... used to be? Lottie's adoptive mother is Yuno's adoptive mother's adoptive sister. So, since Yuno's and Lottie's mothers aren't allowed to be adoptive siblings anymore Yuno and Lottie may not be adoptive cousins anymore??? Like I said. It's a whole thing....</p>
<p>Regardless, back when people could still have adoptive siblings and Yuno and Lottie were cousins, neither Yuno nor Lottie knew their familial connection when they started hanging out. They just really clicked and instantly became besties. Then his friends started teasing that Yuno and Lottie were an item. The two sorted out that they were related, and so Yuno would correct everyone shipping him with Lottie, letting them know/reminding them that he and Lottie were related. To which, Lottie kept reminding everyone "not by blood".... For a while a LOT of people leaned into this joke. Even setting up a wedding for the two, much to Yuno's embarrassment and chagrin. Benji and Tommy T. were some of the biggest offenders, teasing that they had to kick Yuno out of Celibate Gang. Yuno would then counter by pointing out how much Benji was flirting with Ray Mond, and how HE was the one who should be kicked out of CG.</p>
<p>As of this writing, all three founding members of Celibate Gang are still holding strong, but they also all still tease each other (or, more accurately, tease Benji and Yuno) about having to be kicked out of the group.</p>
<p>Especially because Yuno's "harem" also includes Ray Mond's best friend <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Giavanna_Costello" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Gigi Costello</a>, played by <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.twitch.tv/angelknivez" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">AngelKnivez</a>. Gigi hated Yuno at first, but instantly fell for him when he went out of his way to make up for a wrong against her (despite Yuno not really having anything to do with the griefing). His adopted sister Raia, despite already being married, also wants to monopolize Yuno's time in a manner that may not be strictly platonic/familial.... The "most eligible bachelorette" on the server also has a passing crush on Yuno. Finally, there are a few female co-workers throughout the many jobs that Yuno works that also seem to have at least minor crushes on him.</p>
<p>But, according to Yuno, "Girls just aren't into me". Uh huh. Sure. It's endearing that the poor man has no clue when someone is flirting with him. And he has no clue how smooth he actually is. I'd give examples, but when I did that to poor <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.twitch.tv/aurora_morgen" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Aurora Morgen</a> ne ended up having a novella's worth of info-dumping to sift through, and this is getting pretty hefty already. So I'll spare the rest of you. If you're truly interested, you can check out Sykkuno's VODs on YouTube, or peruse some of the highlights on Sykkuno's side channel: <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.youtube.com/@DailySproutClips" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Daily Sprout Clips</a>.</p>
<p>There were also two dating-related events hosted in-game. The first was a fundraiser where people offered to be auctioned off for a date with the winning bidder. The second was a dating game with a potential cash prize. For the auction, those being auctioned off for dates were given 10% of their winning bid. Because Yuno has Main Character Energy, Gigi convinced the hosts of the event to give Yuno an exclusive deal: he got half of his winning bid. Gigi knew it would convince the founding member of Celibate Gang to participate (his main focus is to get more money). He ended up being one of the highest-going dates, with his sister Raia winning the date after an intense bidding war for Yuno (a bidding war poor Gigi got outbid in right out the gate). As for the dating game, a bachelorette (the aforementioned "most eligible bachelorette" who had a crush on Yuno) held a series of quick games and challenges to narrow a pool of contestants down to one. Then they would have to decide if they would split the $5k cash prize or if they would try to steal the whole amount from the other. Through a series of Plot Armor-infused events that I won't get into here, Yuno did end up as the winning contestant. The bachelorette sniped the money from him in the end, but watching him somehow sneak his way through the game was quite funny.</p>
<p>For those interested in killing about 20 to 30min each, here is the video compilation of <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://youtu.be/Qlr2i5TAWMw?si=Vq8_E5cCwQhSXdj0" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">the winning auction bid for Yuno</a>, and here is one for <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://youtu.be/ZV27oaiNhQY?si=hIRKgcSk3Tm-2N2a" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">the dating game</a>.</p>
<p>So, as Yuno is going through his "harem arc" and is joking around with CG, he's also struggling to find traction in The Company. It feels like more drama than it's worth as 6 strong personalities clash against each other and half of their days are spent having meetings. Meetings that bore Sykkuno and that he feared were poor content for his streams anyway. On top of all of that, it was the actions of The Company - without Yuno's involvement - that caused Gigi to be mad at Yuno in the first place, because 98% of the drama on the server is simply due to miscommunication. The whole thing was starting to crumble around Yuno and it wasn't the healthiest environment.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, his in-game best friend and former gang leader <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Lang_Buddha" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Lang Buddha</a>, played by <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.twitch.tv/Buddha" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Buddha</a>, discreetly created his own gang, unofficially called <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/OldBois" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">OldBois</a>; spiritual successor to his 3.0 gang <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Cleanbois/3.0" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Cleanbois</a>, which itself was a spiritual successor to his 2.0 gang <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Leanbois" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Leanbois</a>. Yuno fairly quickly jumped ship on The Company and joined OldBois instead. Then, completely unrelated to Yuno (maybe a liiiiiiittle related to Yuno?) The Company and OldBois went to war with each other. It was actually pretty funny to see the extent The Company members went to in order to keep Yuno out of the war and to avoid being aggressive towards him despite Yuno technically being part of the opposing gang.</p>
<p>Plot Armor.</p>
<p>The final "gang" Yuno is a part of? Well, as I mentioned, he does a lot of different jobs to grind out money. His main job is Gruppe 6 aka G6. Basically a NoPixel/GTA parody of those <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brink%27s" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Brink's</a> security trucks for money transfers. Due to the nature of the job, and the fact that most non-cop characters on the server didn't have access to guns yet - including the G6 workers, ironically - G6 workers get robbed pretty frequently. On January 30th, Yuno was doing a job and was the victim of one such robbery. Later that same day, while doing another G6 run, he became involved in a full-on brawl between three or four G6 trucks - with roughly 3 workers each - and a gang of at least 6 robbers. Roughly half of the Gruppe 6 workers were downed and the robbers ended up getting away. All the while, despite 9 different G6 workers calling in-game 911, not a single cop responded. We later found out that they were all busy trying to stop the bombing of a prominent city business. At the time, though? The lack of cop presence to protect the workers, combined with the G6 workers not hesitating to come to each others' aid, sparked Yuno's desire to keep his coworkers safe. For his next job, Yuno teamed up with Raia, her husband <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Jason_Polam" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Jason</a>, played by <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.twitch.tv/nmplol" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Nmplol</a>, and their roommate <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Clayton_Jenkins" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Clayton</a>, played by <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.twitch.tv/boruleum" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Boruleum</a>. They also called up Lottie for extra backup. Yuno, as a joke, convinced the team to don his signature cat-ear motorcycle helmet and glowing shoes, each in a different color, that way they would look like the <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Rangers" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Power Rangers</a>. They dubbed themselves the "<a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/G6_Rangers" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">G6 Rangers</a>".</p>
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>L-R:</b> Jason as the Pink Ranger, Raia as Purple Ranger,
<br />Yuno as White Ranger, Clayton as the Red Ranger (Leader),
<br />and Lottie as Green Ranger</td>
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<p>My favorite part of that picture is that Yuno is the only one looking at the camera and he wasn't even the one who took the picture. Raia was.</p>
<p>The G6 Rangers' mission was to do all they could to keep their coworkers safe, and to promise to come to any G6 worker's aid. As the group did their run they actually did manage to scare away some would-be robbers, which inspired more G6 workers. Within 24hrs there were already G6 Ranger impersonators and G6 workers who wished to officially join The Rangers. Within three days, there were 22 official members of the G6 Rangers! The cat-ears motorcycle helmet and glowing shoes are included as an official G6 Ranger uniform within the Gruppe 6 employee handbook! And Yuno/Sykkuno only created them as a passing joke!</p>
<p>Main Character Energy.</p>
<p>OK, so, what's my point with info-dumping all of this about Yuno and NoPixel? Well, we've circled back to what I said about the limited "writing" I did in January and the irony of it being RPG-based given how I'm probably too burnt out to play D&D.</p>
<p>The more that Hubby and I watch the NoPixel content - mostly via Sykkuno's <b style="border-bottom-color: #FDD017; border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: thin; border-bottom: thin dashed rgb(253, 208, 23); cursor: help; font-weight: normal;" title="Videos On Demand; the recordings/uploads of his live streams">VODs</b>, but also sometimes catching Ray__C's or MinksOfMars's streams - and the more miscommunication there is between characters, the more I think of what I would have said to try to clear things up a bit (but not SO much as to kill the content).</p>
<p>In January, I found myself fantasizing about joining NoPixel and interacting with these characters. Being part of these storylines somehow. It was almost a PAINFUL amount of fantasizing. I seriously had to take a step back and not watch as much of NoPixel with Hubby. It was getting a bit... unhealthy... the amount of time I spent fantasizing and how pained I felt when I realized the minuscule likelihood of me not only getting onto the server but also running into these characters with any sort of regularity... like I said, I had to take a mental break from this obsession.</p>
<p>Before I did though? Well, I can't fantasize about playing on NoPixel if I don't have a character, right? I mean I COULD just picture a self-insert character, but I don't know if I'd want to do something like that in an RPG. I'd want to run a CHARACTER; not MYSELF. What character would I play on NoPixel though?</p>
<p>I debated bringing in manic arsonist and psychopath/sociopath (? I'm still not sure which one she is) <a href="https://theroguesscribe.blogspot.com/search/label/Trish" target="_blank">Trish "Lighter" Morrison</a>. She's proooooobably not the greatest option for a starter character, though. Trying to sort out how to even play the game and create connections while cursing up a storm, dropping f-bombs (which is totally out of character for *ME*) every other sentence, and being as destructive as possible..... it would be A LOT. I don't know if it would even bring me the sort of attention I would want as Trish. I'm sure it would bring in both the hardcore fans and the vicious haters, and I don't have the skin for the haters. Not yet, at least. I also don't know if I would be able to build the character connections I would want to establish for myself on the server. Ignoring all of that, I have no clue if I would even be able to do Trish justice if she was my first character out-the-gate. I mean.... how do you even DO arson in GTA???</p>
<p>I then debated importing <a href="https://theroguesscribe.blogspot.com/search/label/Jolene" target="_blank">Jolene</a>. She'd be a great fit. Sexy. Slinky. Sneaky. Manipulative. Constant flirt. Man eater. Seductress. Cat burglar. Her backstory has her constantly run out of town once her prostitution and thievery is noticed by enough people, so there's my reason for her to be new to Los Santos: running from wherever the hell she was last. Her personality means it should be relatively easy for her to make connections with a bunch of people. Perfect!</p>
<p>Except.... <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/April_Fooze" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">April Fooze</a>, played by <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Fuslie" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Fuslie</a>, is already RIGHT. THERE!</p>
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<p style="text-align: center;">"Siren"
<br />Song by April Fooze (Fuslie),
<br />feat Ryan King and Hubcap Jones</p>
<p>April's also just the character that I'm most familiar with. She's a full-on trope on NoPixel: man-eater manipulators that make money via Sugar Daddies. Jolene would just be another dime-a-dozen. Probably not the best option. Plus, I never remember how I spell her damn last name. So I'd have to either (a)keep a reference sheet on me, (b)constantly look at my character's ID, or (c)accept that I'd be misspelling her last name all the time....</p>
<p>OK, so Jolene's out.</p>
<p><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://theroguesscribe.blogspot.com/search/label/Willow" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Willow</a>'s essentially Jolene-Lite, but with super powers. So, without her powers, I don't know if she'd be able to get around the same issue I was mentally having with placing Jolene in Los Santos. She's out. <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://theroguesscribe.blogspot.com/search/label/Lia" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Lia</a> is just a meeker self-insert of me once you take her powers away. So she's out. <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://theroguesscribe.blogspot.com/search/label/Amara" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Amara</a> is anti-social, so probably not the best choice for a starter character. Plus, I'm White. I don't know if I'd feel comfortable playing a mixed-race character with internalized racism towards both of her heritages because they each traumatized her one way or another. Also... survivor of massive physical abuse....</p>
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<p>Yeeeeeaaaaaah... let's avoid Amara for NoPixel.... Probably best to keep her in the safety of my own private playgroup until I can sort her out more. And if I do ever officially write out Amara's story, you know for SURE that I'll be going through a plethora of sensitivity readers before posting anything publicly.</p>
<p>Moving on! How about my info broker Maggie (aka Magpie) from Scum & Villainy? Again, I don't really know the game's mechanics well enough nor would I have the connections needed to actually GET the secret info to broker. At least, not at first. I COULD still use her in my mental exercise of building a NoPixel character; trust that in my mental mock-up I could succeed in gathering important info. The character <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Giovanna_Gambino" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Gigi Gambino</a> (different from the one referenced above), played by <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.twitch.tv/geega" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">GEEGA</a>, was able to essentially do what I was picturing for Maggie. Namely, just sit and patiently people-watch to get the tea. Too many characters are "loud" about what criminal activities they're trying to do or what their drama is. Add in some Yuno-like charm where Maggie tries to be friends with everyone, and: boom. Info broker.</p>
<p>However, I have two issues: (1)Gigi is already doing more-or-less what I would try to do, and she has more practice at it, so she's going to be more skilled. Why would characters come to Maggie instead of Gigi? (2)If I'm playing through these mental scenarios under the guise of prepping myself for it to come true - manifest it - then I'll have to accept that maybe Maggie CAN'T be a good info broker. I mean, it's largely dependent on my OWN skills.</p>
<p>One of the main downsides of this style of roleplay, as opposed to my normal stats-driven RPGs, is that dependence on my own, actual, IRL skills. When I'm playing D&D or Scum & Villainy or Blades in the Dark or whatever, I don't have to be skilled at, say, lock-picking for my character to be a master at breaking-and-entering. I don't have to be a good musician for my character to move people to tears with their song. My own personal charisma won't help nor hinder my character's attempts at selling snake oil. I have a stat. I tell the game master what I'm planning to do. I roll the stat. If I roll high enough I'll succeed. If I roll too low I fail. Easy. For NoPixel, however, my character is only as skilled and gifted as <u>I</u> am. I could have plans for Jolene to be a master seductress and cat burglar, but what happens if my charisma fails her seduction attempts? What if I personally suck at anything dealing with the various crime mechanics in-game? What if I'm not as sneaky as I'm mentally picturing Maggie? What if people don't open up to her as much as I need them to? What if no one cares about the information she gathers, or she's late to the party and everyone already knows?</p>
<p>If I magic my way onto the server with these character tasks in mind, and I suck at them - at least, at first - what do I have to fall back on for my character until I can get her to where I envision her?</p>
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Tanuki</b> Facebook sticker
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<p>So, there goes most of my established characters. It would probably be safest to think of a brand new character for GTA anyway. One that could grow and evolve with my gameplay, instead of trying to import a character and HOPE I could be skilled enough to do my character justice. What would I do for a new character though?</p>
<p>Head empty. Remember? Nothing but rattling going on up there. And I'm now tasking myself to come up with a NEW character!? For a game I have no clue if I'll ever play???</p>
<p>But try I did. First up: a name. I did that with Jolene, and her whole personality grew from her name. Maybe it could work for this hypothetical character too. But, what do I even use for a name?</p>
<p>There are a fair amount of characters with pun/joke names on the server. Such as <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Ash_Ketchup" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Ash Ketchup</a> played by <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.twitch.tv/ash" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Ash</a>, <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Penelope_Farthing" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Penelope "Penny" Farthing</a> played by <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.twitch.tv/raine" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">raine</a>, and <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.twitch.tv/whippy" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Whippy</a>'s two characters <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Irwin_Dundee" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Irwin Dundee</a> and <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Crocodile_Steve" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Crocodile Steve</a> (if you can't tell, Whippy's Australian). You also have a lot of streamers - especially within Sykkuno's circle - that just do a nod to their streamer name. Sykkuno himself created an Asian character (so the family name is technically first) named Yuno Sykk; said correctly, his name is Sykk Yuno.... April Fooze is played by Fuslie, whose streamer name is sometimes shorted to Fooze. Ray__C plays Raymond Romanov and <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Raycardo_Flick" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Raycardo Flick</a>. Buddha plays Lang Buddha. Valkyrae plays Ray Mond. New player <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.twitch.tv/Ellum" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Ellum</a>, after two failed character attempts, ended up landing on <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Eli_Lum" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Eli Lum</a>. Prominent player <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.twitch.tv/Ssaab" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Ssaab</a> had the characters <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Al_Saab" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Al Saab</a> and <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Sam_Baas/3.0" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Sam Baas</a>. Former Cleanboi and current OldBoi member <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Tony_Corleone" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Tony Corleone</a> is played by <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.twitch.tv/anthonyz" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">AnthonyZ</a>.</p>
<p>You get the idea.</p>
<p>I'm not the greatest at pun names, but I COULD maybe do a play on my online handle!</p>
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Generated by <b>Bitmoji</b>
<br />Cropped by <b>LycoRogue</b>
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<p>Who's ready for some lore drop?</p><p>While it's not the reason I had originally included it into my handle, "Lyco" could be a reference to wolves. I am also routinely describing myself as a Mama Wolf and do have a bit of a penchant for the pack animal. I also included "Rogue" in my handle for two reasons: (1)it is my favorite D&D class. I have such a love/hate relationship with the Rogue class mainly because of how diverse the class is. It is the Communications Degree of D&D classes. You can be a Rogue and then make your character be just about anything you want. It's amazing. But also a bit overwhelming if you don't know which direction to take your character... hence the "hate" part of the relationship I have with the class. My second reason for adding in "Rogue"? (2)Rogue is my favorite X-Men. Well... she's kind of tied with Wolverine, but over the years I've definitely leaned more into Rogue. And that TOTALLY has NOTHING to do with Hubby's favorite X-Men being Gambit.....</p>
<p>Point being, while Rogue exclusively goes by her nickname, she DOES have a canonically-known birth-name: <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Rogue_(Anna_Marie)_(Earth-616)" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Anna Marie</a>. Coincidentally enough, <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120903/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_8_nm_0_q_x-men" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">in the Bryan Singer X-Men live-action trilogy</a>, Rogue was played by <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001593/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_0_nm_8_q_anna%2520paq" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Anna Paquin</a>. So, if I were to name my hypothetical NoPixel character after my online handle, and therefore after Rogue from X-Men, she'd be Anna Marie. Even if I went an extra layer deep and used the actress's name, it would still be Anna. Alternatively, I could go with the original voice of Rogue for me. In other words, her voice actress from <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103584/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_8_nm_0_q_x-men%2520animated%2520series" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">The Animated Series</a>: <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0952801/?ref_=tt_cl_t_3" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Lenore Zann</a>. I think I'd be more likely to respond to Anna Marie than Lenore, though... So that locks "Anna Marie" in. I would just struggle to not accidentally say my name was "Anna Maria" since I've already mentally made that mistake. Or... do I lean into it and change it to Anna-Maria instead of just Anna Marie??? Either way, I'd probably make sure to hyphenate her first name. Then you add in that wolf reference and, boom!</p>
<p>Anna-Marie Wolffe.</p>
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Generated by <b>Bitmoji</b></td>
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<p>Man, if only I could get onto the NoPixel character creator to just generate Anna-Marie, even if I wouldn't be able to actually play her. It would be so cool to see what she might look like if I could make it onto the server. Just get that visual so I could have a proper mental image. The best I had access to, though, was good ol' <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.heroforge.com/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Hero Forge</a>. It may not be the NoPixel/GTA model, but it's also not too shabby of a recreation of my Bitmoji self. Right?</p>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijTmoVJZCa4BcxllLzBUbaG1667C3z3fUZmUExNwiELLPUIbMRxlztpQ3jtTsMNGHmetRb0Re2pbxQ5adDFXXyJjE4EgAvsnjneC29_YetkpUNk56B5PfSPsh79saR0cR1xOaS4Yi42FahIp3khhUuZYoirp9CKZGnM_0iQ_GHQnUjlGqx18pIwT36RIg/s637/LycoRogue%20v%20Anna-Marie%20Wolffe.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">
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<p>Maneuvering the braid so it would go over her shoulder was tricky, but I like how it turned out. Also, a rose-wrapped sword was my wedding motif, so the second I saw that it was a shirt detail option I knew that I HAD to include it! Not to say that I could create this outfit at all in NoPixel, but it was still fun to try to generate my Bitmoji Me on Hero Forge. Give me some sort of mental image of what Anna-Marie could look like in GTA.</p>
<p>The more I look at the side-by-side the happier I am with my end result. It was a fun way to fill some of my "brain empty" time.</p>
<p>I also played with the idea of adding Rogue's signature white-bangs. It's fun, but probably not a feature I'd keep. What do you guys think? Hypothetical yay? Nay? Add it specifically for Anna-Marie to make her a bit more distinct from my LycoRogue Bitmoji self (to make her less self-insert-y)?</p>
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<p>I still don't know much about Anna-Marie. I started up a few character-building questionnaires, but... "Head Empty" and all that. So, I didn't get terribly far in any of them yet. Maybe that will be one of the things I work on for the rest of February.</p>
<p>In the meantime, the bits I have at least semi-figured out are as follows.</p>
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>I think I'd have her be roughly my age IRL. Perhaps a touch younger.</li>
<li>I'd probably lean into the Wolffe last name and have her be a Mama Wolf on the server. Maybe even see if I could convince people to just straight up refer to her as Mama Wolffe.</li>
<li>She'd be part-Yuno: friendly with just about everyone on the server; trying to make connections; trying to build up her "pack". She'd also be part-Raymond Romanov: viciously protective of said pack; her found family. She'd also probably be part Gigi Gambino: sneaky and discreet info-gatherer.</li>
<li>If you hurt someone she cared about she wouldn't overtly retaliate like Raymond. I am not nearly good enough with aiming (in games or otherwise) to attack the way Raymond would. Therefore Anna-Marie wouldn't be terribly skilled at personally physically retaliating (at least, not at first). Instead, Anna-Marie would find sly ways to hit you where it hurts, or just persuade you into making up for the slight. She'd probably be a bit like <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Mickey_Sinclaire" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Mickey Sinclaire</a>, played by <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.twitch.tv/blau" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Blau</a>, in that regard.</li>
<li>I don't know enough of her backstory yet to know why, but Anna-Marie, much like most of Los Santos, moved to the island city in an attempt to start anew. She felt like it was time for a change in her life, and she saw opportunity in the rebuilding of this once-great city (assuming my mental roleplaying is happening this first year of the server, when everything is still new and building).</li>
<li>She has no intentions of participating in criminal activity (not that she couldn't be persuaded/corrupted into doing them eventually). She has no qualms, however, at being "criminal adjacent". Being "in the know" and being a look-out or whatever, but purposefully tries to keep herself the clean face for any criminal friends/found-family she may make in Los Santos. A way to casually chat with the cops and maybe try to throw the scent off of her friends.</li>
<li>Her main goal in Los Santos would be to earn enough money to get a nice, large house that people can just crash at. If you need a place to stay and shelter in, you find Mama Wolffe. She is Sanctuary.</li>
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<li>7b. My personal "main goal", if I ever were to truly make it onto the server, would be to interact with Raymond Romanov in such a way that Ray__C nearly breaks character as he does his classic "No way!" yell at his chat as he walks away from his desk. If I could interact with this man and garner this sort of response, I will consider it a Bucket List item checked off.
<br />....
<br />Maybe that's what I should aim to do for my 40th. I've got 5 months to find a way to set up a gaming PC, purchase and play some GTA V Online to get used to the gameplay, apply to NoPixel, get approved, bring in Anna-Marie, meet up with Raymond Romanov, and get him to crack. Think I could do it?
<br />(Probably not with my current chaotic scheduling.....)</li>
</ul>
<li>She'd probably excitedly try to sign up to be a G6 Ranger.....</li>
<li>She'd probably try to stick to the "Blue and Yellow/Gold" color scheme I have going for my LycoRogue persona.</li>
</ol>
<p>Aaaaaand that's all I have right now. It will be interesting to see what kind of backstory and/or personality I can come up with for her. I'll have to touch base with you fine folks later about that.</p>
<p>While I was on Hero Forge anyway, working on building Anna-Marie, I got the itch to use the site to come up with minis for some of my other OCs. Some of them are still works in progress. The more features the site adds in the closer I can get to making these characters how I actually picture them.</p>
<p>First up was my black panther Tabaxi Emerald Gaze.</p>
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My Hero Forge recreation of the drawing I did of Emerald Gaze back in 2019.</td>
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<p>I wish I could give EG rounder cheeks and make her a bit more muscular. Her variant of black panther is designed off of a jaguar, which are chunkier bois than their leopard counterpart. I'm also not sure I like how shaggy the fur on her forearms and hands are when the rest of her body is short-hair. But, for what I had to work with, I'm happy with how faithful I was able to keep the design.</p>
<p>Next up is my eccentric theater nerd... I mean bard: Bronze Dragonborn Myastan Kriv.</p>
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My Hero Forge design of Kriv vs the official D&D 5e image of a Bronze Dragon</td>
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<p>I tried to recreate elements of a Bronze Dragon within my boy. I was able to find a beaked dragonborn head. Unfortunately, it had spikes down the back of the skull instead of smooth like the other dragonborn head options. I also couldn't give Kriv the Bronze Dragon boney finned cheeks, but I was able to find finned ears with little spikes at the end of them. I tried dropping the ears down enough to look more like the finned cheeks of the dragon. I think I'm close, but I feel like it needs tweaking still. I also couldn't add the fin down the back of his head and neck, so I gave him a green mohawk instead. Canonically, he does have the fin though. I was able to use the bronze metal coloring for Kriv's skin tone. I then added tiger stripes and colored them green to match the dragon. You can't really see here, but I also made his chest and palms that lighter silvery color the dragon has on its neck, chest, and belly. Kriv also has the dragon's green eyes and black horns on the crown of his head.</p>
<p>Kriv probably needs the most tweaking, given the limited selections I had for him, but I'm still proud of what I was able to build in the meantime.</p>
<p>My final D&D character would be good old Jolene.</p>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0KQ58zAheVrX0E9Q6uqn1fdfz5MKwmdYRxPSwxxjZxjaa72pEh3NAshc4f3-sWQqZdit9kWWFVLJcxrdosrO6FZhG54ofr62L0hQdRpNzlyo9tNyz3RFXdy1CVGsDlPxrPs7urG3qWxGVfdYCSxutYsCRabrokoZJWK8LoaSSK9PkUJnERa7O3K1GFbY/s1022/Hero%20Forge%20vs%20OG%20Image.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">
<img border="0" data-original-height="705" data-original-width="1022" height="442" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0KQ58zAheVrX0E9Q6uqn1fdfz5MKwmdYRxPSwxxjZxjaa72pEh3NAshc4f3-sWQqZdit9kWWFVLJcxrdosrO6FZhG54ofr62L0hQdRpNzlyo9tNyz3RFXdy1CVGsDlPxrPs7urG3qWxGVfdYCSxutYsCRabrokoZJWK8LoaSSK9PkUJnERa7O3K1GFbY/w640-h442/Hero%20Forge%20vs%20OG%20Image.jpg" width="640" />
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My attempt at recreating my OG inspirational image of Jolene.
<br />Original image is a <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.grafitart.com/game-graphics-?lightbox=image1xr8" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">character design by Grafit Studio</a>
<br />for an undisclosed Game Insight! game.
<br />I doctored Grafit Studio's image to give Jolene purple hair and eyes.</td>
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<p>Poor Jolene looks like she's 10yrs older in my Hero Forge version. Oh well. Grafit Studio's version is just Jolene in her 20s while Hero Forge Jolene is pushing 40.... Posing her to match her pose in the Grafit Studio image was soooooo tricky, but I think I did a pretty decent job.</p>
<p>Side Note: back when I first grabbed Grafit Studio's image and doctored it to be my visualization of Jolene, I had found it on Pinterest. I didn't bother to backtrack the image to the artist at the time. Dumb move. Bad form. I knew I needed to track down who actually drew the original art and at least link back to them. It kept me AAAAAAGES to track the image down! It was a TRIAL, but I managed it! I'm so glad to be able to now link back to the studio, at least, if not the actual artist.</p>
<p>Anyway, back to my Hero Forge depictions of Jolene. In truth, I can't really have Jolene without also showcasing her possessed version, so here's poor Jolene possessed by the Prime Evil Deception.</p>
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<img border="0" data-original-height="1020" data-original-width="1456" height="448" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQtHaPwOV2WZo1kOOf73oxJuJbRf9FBRD_6F6oFiLQUt1GFhe-IbsFm4z5760JuzBkB-Aevu_yE4jsjbIse6ektEVod55nsCBdnunKt4Q66ZsTlLKymnJIb4zVklBUlxrz4DrcBX2AKZV4RC-HTZ23hK6OsrH3aFrcxNJFdXEM7OO06HxL10zj9cpXqSY/w640-h448/Reg%20Jolene%20vs%20Possessed.jpg" width="640" />
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<p>Canonically, she was terrified and tried to pretend nothing was wrong with her (only feeding Deception further.... not the smartest move on her part). It's more fun, though, to pretend her possession also started to turn her evil. More compelling imagery that way. Also, I couldn't showcase that Jolene's tongue became forked and snake-like. So... pretend that's there too.</p>
<p>I started working on building Trish from the X-Future canon, along with Hubby's character Chayse. I haven't perfected them yet, but here's some starter images of them.</p>
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<img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR2mmQ3X8Gj5hxO4Oa8C2Cyi8Xt5lTu5MjqNGfVxQxpYMc6m3yogMDl84Wr775rCAHUMnZBLBmWnFwh_DLgTt3gKIp9Xs3w3LLvALhez6W1BAnhlPFkh5zwnxTxTm_atM9N8wyGHrBGubCgOV8S_zkGxSwsjVEUq5TDN8T3kyfEc72egCMYH4sG9oT-Mk/w400-h400/Trish%20screenshot.png" width="400" />
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<p>Clearly, I am doing some important writing work here....</p>
<p>Anyway, that's what limited "writing" progress I've done in January. And... the first week of February, I guess.</p>
<p>Considering how long it kept me to write this update, I guess I better stop here so I have time to get started on the next one. Hope to see you a second time this month! Until then!</p>
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</span><p></p></span>LycoRoguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01064253326464685398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6675584297301734651.post-47659272682645828292023-12-31T18:34:00.000-05:002023-12-31T20:48:42.261-05:00Is It 2024 Yet?<p style="font-family: serif; font-size: 60%;">Est. Read Time: 35 min</p>
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<p>Hoo-boy! Why is it that I always seem to fall off the horse the last quarter of the year? My endeavor to post at least one blog entry every month was supposed to be easy! I dropped from weekly to monthly! Gone were 52 new entries each year! Now it was just a simple 12! I'm not sure how compelling the entries were this year (sorry if they weren't), and I know virtually none of them actually talked about writing, but I did still do them! I got them done. I had a goal and I made sure to reach it each month. I had a deadline and I stuck to it, even if I squeaked it in just under the wire (much like today).</p>
<p>And then I missed October due to my recovering from covid.</p>
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<img border="0" data-original-height="398" data-original-width="398" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyApFTiF7YwzyfkV5q3iTh77H7pr9m9dJt9xvfCTBEAueNiIxHqKX3T2tDNwkCR4xL56DGDCc59CsFYMkiA6hoBy88f7w4D0E127ixwTPwqa6Zu3DPm5dvWCcu6ze-egbCoBSxEJSB85S25khG_mLscUdTQi1XUwQkpG9U49kti4TsqITPfJDFD909SEM/s320/bitmoji-20190523015146%5B1%5D.png" width="320" />
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<p>And now I've also missed November, and nearly didn't update this month either! When I started this entry, I had NO idea that I wouldn't publish it until over half-way through the FINAL DAY OF THE YEAR!</p>
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<img border="0" data-original-height="336" data-original-width="352" height="305" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBtJu5FmXzUXaNU2dtDXK2KaqaAypMM-JOJyuprHmZK4MvvErityDvNJ-h4Dq6mTjNumw41MQVtk5Jvywq2HcBDgGpEJLCHFyvXGr9rwzx-0Yb64e6jcQqtUJEL45sNf8bQKazhprVk0cNmqRTMdnp8KSsCTxCuLSdJPqbtRkorcGxxNprUpaC6vIG6_4/s320/bitmoji-20190523014653.png" width="320" />
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<p>If you want a hint of how December has been going, I noticed that I missed my November update on December 6th. I've been periodically chipping away at this post - in an attempt to make it a belated November update, originally - since then. There should be NO reason this kept me virtually ALL MONTH to write, but here we are. So, uh, I guess, buckle up? Because I now have TWO months' worth of blog updating that I'm shoving all together in this epic close to my 2023 blogging year.</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>Why am I so disorganized?</p>
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<img border="0" data-original-height="398" data-original-width="398" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMRHbB65L86Hoq444I-oChj0vfg1tVHMMMr-wOr-Eq8Y3I06i6j6llIQq1ItTq4UDVT4haaHIgwFseluN-XiSyomCnIfI-xeVMZyOw_Bc5oj_Le0WG1u6RTn-axpUuP6InKL9QhjVhtkf1UK7jWLL6wQN5tw1ZV7DWMSRHSRKctILvUT1sOyTjKDo5euw/s320/bitmoji-20190523014715.png" width="320" />
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<p>Speaking of disorganized. I never talked about my font choice for October's belated entry. I tried out Josefin Sans again, and I stuck with it for this update. Maybe I'll go through all of my 2023 posts this January and finally decide on a font. As of right now? I'm starting to feel like <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.vulture.com/article/the-daily-show-guest-host-dates.html" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">The Daily Show after Trevor Noah left</a>... seemingly endless (and aimless) rotating of hosts until they find one that they want to stick with.</p>
<p>So, yet again, if you, dear reader, have a font preference or an opinion as to which of the ones that I've showcased this year is a happy compromise between "hand written" and "professional looking", I ask that you let me know in the comments section below. I'd love to hear your thoughts.</p>
<p>Getting back to the point of this blog in the first place.... Yeah.... I didn't do any writing.</p>
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<img border="0" data-original-height="398" data-original-width="398" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuNok2j7Yb6ZxjHTi4Zv71aLm-MznLKnq_yLMj8LLT49GbQg56rEC8vjfg4oEGhGG3WtoE-kZG0qKsC55Mbz9EAkrea2Wmx4d4V5fWbPSHOt-u0U_kR5WBqzCWD6v5g52M8hgW5yx1zV50XwzE9pVsXgl9wjBATJjVgtnTG8MzDIfTh7arxr0Bk4nJC94/s320/bitmoji-20190523014126.png" width="320" />
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<p>Well, that's not ENTIRELY true, but I'll circle back to that later.</p>
<p>I'm glad I didn't add extra stress to myself by signing up for <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="http://www.nanowrimo.org/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank" title="National Novel Writing Month">NaNoWriMo</a>. I barely found a spare moment to even put my annual Giving Thanks list together this year. When I did, most of my blessings were pathetically generic: I have a safe and secure home, I have food and clean running water, I don't live in a war zone, I have friends who care about me, I'm not struggling to pay bills, so on and so forth.... Yes, those are all important things to be grateful for, things to make sure I don't take for granted. I did also have some more specific blessings that I was able to call out, such as my sister's engagement, paying off my car loan, and both WGA and SAG-AFTRA winning their respective strikes. That all said, this definitely felt like a lean year in the "blessings" department. It just felt all the worse since my birthday with blessings seemingly harder to recognize. Hence defaulting to those more generic blessings.</p>
<p>Anyway, I had recovered from covid and I had a semi-normal work schedule at the beginning of November, but a lot of work projects were piled onto me. I also struggled to get the apartment ready for Thanksgiving and prepped for Hubby's birthday.</p>
<p>Speaking of, a belated Happy 40th to my amazing husband! Love you, Sweetness!</p>
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<img border="0" data-original-height="308" data-original-width="350" height="282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-cY9xSvSejmqmTnm0ZcFMjxRnfXtnHqfCWkrPhaWebbDLAvkJzCyFUJ69IrrSDzP8PIM3y487djo0r5c7v_gjTUwPxdBa48GMAIwvZe95u9xryihs1W-w7escqbpParF_JklxRN0Z61jwTi27VQAEAAOpuGnTxpUHyvVhc5NZ763Uw1OaJqxpzN6mRBA/s320/level%2040%20unlocked.png" width="320" />
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<a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.amazon.com/Funny-40th-Birthday-Unlocked-T-Shirt/dp/B07DVQJNB9" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Shirt my sister-in-law got her brother</a>
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<p>Basically, November was spent playing catch-up on Adulting, instead of playing catch-up on writing. As I already mentioned, I barely even had time to work on my Giving Thanks list, especially when it kept me so long to think of something to be grateful for each day.</p>
<p>So, having extra time/energy to work on writing? Yeah... nah.... <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.twitch.tv/aurora_morgen" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Aurora Morgen</a> and I ended up not finding any time to even meet up to talk about writing, let alone work on our respective writing projects together. I honestly can't recall if the two of us met up at all in November, actually. I hope <b style="border-bottom-color: #FDD017; border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: thin; border-bottom: thin dashed rgb(253, 208, 23); cursor: help; font-weight: normal;" title="Aurora is gender neutral and uses ne/nir/nem pronouns. Forgot to mention that last time.">ne did alright with nir</b> writing, but we haven't really chatted about any of that since October. With everything I already had going on in November, and the weight of recovering from the chaos since my birthday, adding in the stress of trying to shoehorn in time to write, and then feeling like crap when I have to skip it or I'm too burnt out to think of anything creative???? Yeah. Last thing I needed.</p>
<p>Long and short? November was a bit of a mess.</p>
<p>"That's fine," I thought. "I'm on vacation the entire last week of November this year. I'll just relax, recover, and work on my blog post then."</p>
<p>Instead, I spent the first 3 days of my vacation visiting my mom and sister (no writing free time there). When we got home, Hubby and I <b style="border-bottom-color: #FDD017; border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: thin; border-bottom: thin dashed rgb(253, 208, 23); cursor: help; font-weight: normal;" title="We saw The Marvels. I enjoyed it. I am also a Ms Marvel simp sooooo">hit up the movies</b> and had a date day (didn't even think about writing that day). After, Hubby wanted us to take a day to just stay in bed and snuggle in our PJs. The next day, we needed to do our weekly errands, such as grocery shopping and laundry and paying bills, etc. (so, back to no free time to write). With my vacation over half-way done, it was a mad rush to finish cleaning up the apartment and prepping for Hubby's party (both writing and <i>sleep</i> kind of fell to the wayside here). Then it was finally Hubby's 40th and his party. The following day was more-or-less a wash as we ignored the mess and instead recovered from staying up until 3am celebrating. My final day of my vacation? Getting around to cleaning up from the party, and finally using some of my free time to play some long-neglected video games. Such as <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.animal-crossing.com/new-horizons/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Animal Crossing: New Horizons</a>.</i></p>
<p>With my vacation done and seemingly not accomplishing ANYTHING I wanted to do with my free time, I worked nine days straight so Biker-Coworker could take her mom to Disney World for Mom's birthday. That was when I noticed that I didn't actually work on my November update while I was on vacation. I had started this entry way back then, but kept getting distracted/interrupted. Manager had projects for me. Her boss, the GM, had projects for me. Fairly simple, but time-consuming, tedious projects. So, I didn't actually have the same long stretches of downtime at work that I'm used to.</p>
<p>Darn job, wanting me to actually WORK while I'm there.</p>
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<p>Circling back to my tease earlier, though, I will admit that one of the first non-job distractions I had while working on this post WAS writing related! I was typing up the above bit about not joining Aurora for NaNoWriMo, which made me remember the <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hailey%27s_On_It!" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Hailey's On It!</a></i> one-shot I had talked about last update. I still hadn't touched it one lick despite how strong of a hold the idea had on me initially. See above for reasons why. However, thinking about that fic re-sparked my interest in it. I instantly stopped working on my blog - one of MANY interruptions and self-inflicted procrastinations - and whipped out the spiral notebook I started bringing with me to work. I had figured that maybe part of my writer's block problem was the medium I was using. Maybe I needed to kick it old school and physically write on paper instead of attempting to type up something.</p>
<p>It seems to have worked. I started on what I thought was a simple jotting down of the story premise and a bulleted outline for the story, complete with a couple of dialogue beats that I thought of between Hailey and Scott. This simple "two second distraction" turned into a semi-detailed three-page <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.arcstudiopro.com/blog/how-to-write-a-film-treatment#:~:text=For%20example%2C%20if%20someone%20asks,a%20TV%20show%20or%20film." line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank" title="Treatment is probably the wrong word since I wasn't working on a pre-script. But I used to work in video production, so 'treatment' is the closest word I have for what I did">treatment</a> for the one-shot! I haven't gone back to it since (so it's been about three weeks), and I'm probably still ages away from actually sitting down and writing the thing. Still. I wrote SOMETHING. I thought narratively about SOMETHING new. I used my imagination and creativity to come up with a story concept for a few brief moments. I thought of quick dialogue beats. It's more than what I've done for MONTHS. I'm proud of that.</p>
<p>Beyond my prose-written outline for the one-shot, I guess you could say that I also did some other semi-writing. Long-and-short, I <b style="border-bottom-color: #FDD017; border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: thin; border-bottom: thin dashed rgb(253, 208, 23); cursor: help; font-weight: normal;" title="basically, act as an amateaur editor">beta-read</b> for my mom, and that did result in me doing a lot of writing to help give her examples of how to adjust her work. That would count as me writing something this month, right?</p>
<p>Oh! You may not know what I'm even talking about, i.e. - my mom's writing. I forgot that I missed updating throughout the entirety of 2022, so I may have missed mentioning any of this. I guess it's Exposition Time.</p>
<p>Way back in 2020, my mom was encouraged by her networking group to write a nonfiction book. She never wrote a book before. She has always been told (mostly by her teachers) that she's not a great essayist or writer. She would frequently state that <b><u><i>I</i></u></b> was the writer in the family (excluding my deceased father), not her. And yet, here she was, facing the prospect of writing something.</p>
<p>As kind of a way to ease herself into it, in 2021 she agreed to write an essay that would be used as a chapter within a collaborative anthology, a la <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.chickensoup.com/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Chicken Soup for the Soul</a></i>. The theme of the book was how each author shared their internal light with the world. May of 2022, the book launched.</p>
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<img border="0" data-original-height="445" data-original-width="296" height="445" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/W/MEDIAX_792452-T1/images/I/416KQkzBRyL._SY445_SX342_.jpg" width="296" />
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<a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.amazon.com/Houses-Light-Collaboration-Stories-Shining/dp/B09ZCYP9W5/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Houses of Light: A Collaboration of Stories About Shining Our Light</a>
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<p>Later that same year - we actually passed the year anniversary earlier this month - my mom published her solo writing attempt.</p>
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<a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.amazon.com/Serenity-Your-Space-Found-Mine-ebook/dp/B0BLTL7QD9" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Serenity In Your Space: How I Found Mine</a>
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<p>My mom was excited for her book. It's part-How To Organize; part-abridged autobiography. Publishing something 83 pages long - after people spent her childhood telling her she wasn't a skilled writer - was such a wonderful confidence boost. She had done it! She defied all of them! Including herself, who initially believed all the naysayers. It was quite the feather in her cap.</p>
<p>She claimed she was done: "I did the thing. I don't have to try that again."</p>
<p>She was like someone who had crossed off a bucket list item and was like, "Well, that was an experience. I do not wish to do that again!"</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>And yet!</p>
<p>The same woman who orchestrated the <i>Houses of Light</i> collab asked who wanted in on her latest book concept. This time, the anthology includes essays about how the authors ignored the "shoulds" people tried to put on them: "You should do X. You should avoid Y. You should look this way. You should act that way. You should think like this. You should believe that. Etc." My mom was like, "OH! I resonate well with this! Yeah! I can join in!"</p>
<p>The writing bug bit her again. (I totally understand)</p>
<p>She quickly remembered why last year she said that she was done with writing.</p>
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<p>Picture this: It's mid-November. I'm trying to prep for Thanksgiving and my vacation. My mom lets me know that she's done with her essay for the new collab, but she needs a beta reader. I proceed to spend a few hours reading through what she wrote and try to take notes for her. She struggled to hit the word minimum. It showed. She had a handful of completely separate examples of when she didn't follow a "should". There wasn't much connective tissue between them. The writing felt a bit cliché. Like she was writing what she thought people wanted her to say, instead of finding her own writing voice again.</p>
<p>Then, my last morning at my mom's before heading home post-Thanksgiving, she and I have a multi-hour workshop to help her improve and polish. We spent the time she needed to really understand what wasn't working with her first draft and how to revise. What was her authentic message for her essay? How can she re-find her voice after not writing for a year? Which of her many examples did she want to focus on as the central thread of her essay? How can she make the essay sound more like a dialogue with the reader and less like a school lesson?</p>
<p>Jump ahead about a week. It's now the beginning of December. I just realized I'd missed my November blog update. I figure I could do what I did at the start of November: write a belated post for the previous month, and then try to get a second entry in to be my official December update. I distract myself with the urge to work on that <i>Hailey's On It!</i> one-shot. THEN I get a text from my mom that she had completed her second draft.</p>
<p>Part of me gravitated to my mom's writing instead of working on my own because she has an honest-to-goodness deadline, and <b style="border-bottom-color: #FDD017; border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: thin; border-bottom: thin dashed rgb(253, 208, 23); cursor: help; font-weight: normal;" title="Which does remind me that I still need to find time to go through her third draft.... Where am I finding the free time though? TT^TT">I wanted to make sure she had time to polish as much as needed before said deadline</b>. Part of me went to beta read because I was curious as to how Mom used the advice I had given her. Part of me just wanted to procrastinate on my own writing a bit more since I had no clue what I even had to say!</p>
<p>So.... off to Google Docs I went to read my mom's second draft instead of working further on this update.</p>
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<p>My mom did improve a lot. I think she just didn't quite grasp the assignment before we talked. Everything was more focused and more emotional. You could tell she was no longer struggling to find enough to say. I'm excited for this anthology to come out next year.</p>
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<p>We'll see how far she gets this time before she's lured back in to write some more. (Mom, I can hear you screaming right now, "No! No more! I'm done!" Know that I don't believe you.)</p>
<p>Anyway, my purposefully-distracting-myself/procrastinating-via-my-mom's-writing carried me into more work projects that filled the remainder of my 9-day work week. I was therefore left with just a few minutes each day to re-read what I had already written (in order to refresh my memory), edit, and then add another paragraph or two before it was time to clock out for the day. Then, good luck finding time to write once I was home! It was clear that if I wasn't writing at work I just wasn't writing.</p>
<p>In part, that's because I've missed playing video games - especially ACNH - so I've actually used some of my downtime to play, if I'm being honest. (I'm still so painfully far behind. I try to <b style="border-bottom-color: #FDD017; border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: thin; border-bottom: thin dashed rgb(253, 208, 23); cursor: help; font-weight: normal;" title="Setting my Switch's internal clock to a different date/time to make the game believe it's that time instead of the actual date/time">"time-travel"</b> so I don't go longer than a week off of my island. I'm currently up to October 28, 2022.....) In part, my lack of writing time was because Hubby wanted to play catch-up on shows and YouTube-streamer <b style="border-bottom-color: #FDD017; border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: thin; border-bottom: thin dashed rgb(253, 208, 23); cursor: help; font-weight: normal;" title="Video On Demand">VODs</b> we had missed, and my <b style="border-bottom-color: #FDD017; border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: thin; border-bottom: thin dashed rgb(253, 208, 23); cursor: help; font-weight: normal;" title="Fear Of Missing Out">FOMO</b> wouldn't let him watch those without me. The big problem there is that I'm not "ADHD enough" to be able to work on my blog post - or write in general - while also watching something. If there's ANY form of storytelling around me (including the stories told via songs on the radio), my brain laser-focuses on that, even if I'm not actively interested in the story being told. Maybe it's my FOMO again, but I just can't tune out a story that I can hear being told/performed. Even if it's so I could sleep or focus instead on my own storytelling/writing (which is another reason why my "only write at work" method hasn't been going too well for me lately.... work radio station plays acoustic versions of English-speaking pop music). I work best either with ambient white noise or with music that I can't sing along to, be it because the music is instrumental or because the song is in a foreign language. So, no writing while in the same room as the TV. Finally, my lack of at-home writing was, in part, due to being so burnt out that any quiet time at home where I'm not Adulting, or watching something with Hubby, or playing video games, I am instead just straight up napping. I passed out at least four times over the course of writing this month's update!</p>
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<p>UGH! Have I mentioned before how much I hate the back half of the work year? Between everyone's vacations and the holiday store-closures, my regular work schedule seems to fly right out the window from about my birthday until New Year's. Any sort of routine I might have vanishes, and with it, my productivity. Add in that my birthday is about a month after the summer solstice, which means I'm working with less and less sunlight per day. I am a bird person. If it's dark my bird-brain says "time for sleep" so all of my post-work productivity evaporates when the sun sets. My only consolation is that we've passed the winter solstice now, so we are technically to the point where days are getting longer again. Just not soon enough to give me back my energy for the final week of the year.... Still. There's literal light at the end of the tunnel. Sweet, sweet sunlight that will help perk me up and keep me awake and motivated.</p>
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<p>In the meantime, though? 39 has been rough, and EXHAUSTING. How does anyone make it to 40??? I'll have to ask Hubby....</p>
<p>Long story long... 2023 continues to just be a ball of chaos. Trying to find time to write (and not use it to play games, watch TV, or pass out instead) has been tough. Especially since <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/NoPixel_Wiki" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">NoPixel</a> just did a reset.</p>
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<p>All NoPixel players were warned that the reset meant the current 3.0 server was going to be trashed in favor of the new, updated 4.0 server. All roleplay storylines had to be wrapped up before 4.0's launch on December 15th, or the opportunity to close the storyline would be lost.</p>
<p>The new 4.0 server then jumped the roleplay storyline 5 years into the future. <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.twitch.tv/ray__c" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Ray__C</a> had <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Raymond_Romanov" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Raymond</a> stay within the city for those 5 years, whereas most other players had their characters move away and then move back. A nice in-universe way for them to explain their surprise in how much the city has changed since they last saw it, and their confusion as they try to start from scratch again while also relearning how to do anything within the game (lots of new mechanics, after all). That said, Ray__C's storyline had Raymond watch the collapse of the entire city's economy, and all the major infrastructure collapse with it. I don't know if that's the canon reason for the complete redesign of Los Santos, and Ray__C is using it as a jumping point for his character's backstory. It seems like it might be official.</p>
<p>As far as I can tell, the canon story for NoPixel is that 2023 came to a close in Los Santos. Then, during the next five years, there was an economic collapse. Many of the residents moved away. Gangs disbanded after the turf wars bankrupted most of them. Even Los Santos Kingpin <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Lang_Buddha" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Lang Buddha</a>'s businesses weren't safe. His beloved Rooster's Rest ramen shop was overrun by the sewer rats (as explained by Rooster's former manager <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Penelope_Farthing" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Penny Farthing</a>). The legitimate restaurants such as Burger Shot and Lucky Plucker eventually closed as well. All of the big-name movers-and-shakers of the city, who could easily throw away millions without batting an eye, were ruined in the economic collapse of the city.</p>
<p>Then (as version 4.0 starts up), the economy finally started to bounce back in Los Santos. The city was rebuilt. Everything was gentrified. Buildings and parks were rebuilt to be gorgeous, appealing, and alluring. It worked, and a lot of the residents (the players) returned to the revitalized city. They still had little-to-nothing to their names, though, and no one owned property anymore. The fight was on to claw their way back out of their miniscule apartments, become property owners, and realize their criminal and/or financial dreams again.</p>
<p>As a way to conclude his 3.0 storyline, Raymond Romanov proposed to his girlfriend <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Kit_Archer" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Kit</a>. They planned their wedding for December 15th (conveniently the day 4.0 launched IRL, so that way their wedding was off-screen). Ray__C and Kit's player <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.twitch.tv/katec" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">KateC</a> came up with the following storyline for their relationship for the 5yr time skip: RUST was already hurting from all of the gang wars they had participated in throughout the final year of 3.0. With the economy collapse and more turf wars in an attempt to scoop up the failed properties, RUST barely balanced on the edge of bankruptcy. Trying to keep his gang afloat, Raymond did criminal "odd jobs" to try to infuse RUST with funds. When that no longer helped, Raymond became a hitman. Kit, being a cop, was already in a precarious situation; her husband being a known gang leader, and all. When she discovered that Raymond was also an assassin-for-hire it became too much. She couldn't turn a blind eye on him murdering for a living, but also couldn't bring herself to turn him in. She also knew there was no changing Raymond or stopping him from doing whatever shady thing he needed to do to keep his gang alive. She did the only thing she thought she could: she left him. This sent Raymond further into a spiral. All of the therapy he had gone through to help him squash his homicidal-manic tendencies flew out the window. The man was a loose canon yet again. RUST fully fell and disbanded. Raymond was left alone and unhinged.</p>
<p>And that's how <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Yuno_Sykk" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Yuno</a> found him upon his return to Los Santos post-time-skip. It's been fun, the past two weeks, watching the OG interactions that got Hubby and me into NoPixel to begin with. Yuno and <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Benji_Ramos" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Benji</a> and Raymond being the Chaotic Trio, as they are now called.</p>
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Left to right: Yuno, Raymond, and Benji
<br />Ray__C promo Instagram story
<br />Art by <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://twitter.com/nyze_corner" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Nyze</a></td>
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<p>Sprinkle in some <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Mickey_Sinclaire" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Mickey</a>, <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Marty_Banks" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Marty</a>, <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Jean_Paul" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Jean Paul</a>, <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Ash_Ketchup" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Ash</a>, <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Ramee_El-Rahman" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Ramee</a>, <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Flop_Dugong" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Officer Flop</a>, <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Tony_Corleone" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Tony</a>, <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Octavio_Stenberg" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Goofy</a>, <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Tessa_Lamb" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Tessa</a>, <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Irwin_Dundee" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Dundee</a>, <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Ray_Mond" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Ray Mond</a>, <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/April_Fooze" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">April</a>.... just... all of the old favorites that used to play together before their storylines had them drifting apart, and/or their players left the NoPixel roleplay entirely. It's like going back to when Hubby and I first got into NoPixel (and really watching <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.youtube.com/@Sykkuno" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Sykkuno</a> and Ray__C) in 2021. Especially since the game reset has everyone poor, criminal jobs are hard to discover, and no gangs are established anymore. So there is a LOT of interaction between players as they talk amongst themselves in an attempt to rebuild those social networks and try to find the best paying jobs (as well as any insight on how to get started in criminal activities).</p>
<p>Naturally, Yuno and crew have already started up a criminal faction: Yuno, Jean Paul, Marty, Raymond, Mickey, and Benji call themselves "<a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/The_Company" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">The Company</a>", with associate members <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Outto-Tune_Tyrone" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">OTT</a>, and <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Dexx_Martin" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Dexx</a>.</p>
<p>If you can't tell, having such an exciting grouping of storylines to watch has made it real hard to will myself into hiding away to be active and work on my own writing (or even clean the apartment a bit). Especially when it's so much more comforting and enjoyable to passively watch someone else's story while snuggled against my husband. </p>
<p>Speaking of, another passive consumption of story dropped on Disney+ this month. Two, in fact. First up (but 2nd to premiere) is the return of the show <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_If...%3F_(TV_series)" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Marvel What If...?</a></i> Hubby and I haven't found a moment to watch the new season yet (due to trying to play catch-up on NoPixel VODs), but it's on the short list. More importantly, though, was what premiered a few days prior. That's right, the <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://ondisneyplus.disney.com/show/percy-jackson-and-the-olympians" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Percy Jackson and the Olympians</a></i> TV series finally launched! After Disney's first failure with this franchise (<a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percy_Jackson_(film_series)" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">the 2 movies</a>), I was cautiously hyped for the series. Author <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://rickriordan.com/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Rick Riordan</a> made sure that he had better control of production this go, and it shows. The diverse cast may not remotely match Riordan's original description of his characters, but I think that was on purpose. As he grew as a writer he learned how important diversity and representation meant to others. After all, he created the series in the first place so his ADHD son with dyslexia could see himself as a hero. So, I can imagine Riordan regrets having an all-White cast of main characters in his first book. Perhaps that is one of the reasons why they went with a Black actor for Grover in the movies. The diverse cast for the series makes a lot of sense through that lens. I'm still curious about what they're going to do with Annabeth fighting against the "dumb blonde" stereotype, though. Perhaps they drop that character thread entirely. Or, perhaps they use the opportunity (having a Black actor playing Annabeth) to tackle the stereotype that Blacks are less educated/intelligent than Whites. I would actually love to see that racist stereotype addressed.</p>
<p>Either way, with the exception of Annabeth and Chiron (both actors feel a bit stiff, and I was acutely aware that they were reading off a script... and Chiron's CG was a bit rough), every actor understood the assignment and became their character. Percy had me tear up more than once during the two-episode premiere. I cannot wait for the next episode on Tuesday. Expect more gushing about this series next month too. It's probably the closest I'm getting to reading in the near future.... well, that and the webcomics I've become addicted to this fall.</p>
<p>Oh! Right! I missed November, so I didn't really talk about that! OK, Exposition Time part two.</p>
<p>Way back around 2013 or 2014, I discovered the comic book author and artist <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stjepan_%C5%A0eji%C4%87" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Stjepan Šejić</a> on DeviantArt. He hooked me with the DC-comics fanart he did as warmup work. Then I became addicted to his original story <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://imagecomics.com/comics/series/death-vigil" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Death Vigil</a></i>. Via Stjepan, I discovered his wife and fellow comic book author/artist <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.webtoons.com/en/creator/Sigeel" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Linda</a>. In 2017 or 2018, to try to work her way through writer's block, Linda started doodling an alternate retelling of the Greek Myth of the kidnapping of Persephone. In Linda's version, there was a misunderstanding as Persephone willingly went with Hades, but she tried to hide it from her overprotective mother. The more Linda worked on this retelling the more she fell in love with it. In 2019, she published <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.webtoons.com/en/canvas/punderworld/list?title_no=312584" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank"><i>Punderworld</i></a>. One of the places she published it digitally was the webcomic app <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.webtoons.com/en/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">WEBTOON</a>. I wanted to keep reading what Linda was doing with <i>Punderworld</i>, so I downloaded the app.</p>
<p>For years, I only used the app to read the latest Punderworld update. I also followed a Legend of Zelda fan comic called <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.webtoons.com/en/canvas/growing-up-gerudo/list?title_no=245292" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Growing Up Gerudo</a></i>. It's a reimagining of the game <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_Zelda:_Ocarina_of_Time" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Ocarina of Time</a></i>. Instead of Link's mother dying within the Lost Woods and the Kokiri raising him, she had passed in the Gerudo Desert and Ganondorf had adopted him. The writers lace in elements of other franchise lore and bring in characters from the other games, but the core of the story more-or-less takes place within the universe/time of OoT.</p>
<p>I had subscribed to a couple of other webcomics that looked interesting on the app home page, but I never really got into reading them. Then <i>Punderworld</i> went on break as Linda focused on her main comic - the one she had writer's block for when she created <i>Punderworld</i> - <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.webtoons.com/en/canvas/blood-stain/list?title_no=166806" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Blood Stain</a></i>. Liking Linda's work, I subscribed to <i>Blood Stain</i>, but <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoon_theory" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">never had the spoons</a> to get into reading it.</p>
<p>The app went more-or-less dormant for me for a year.</p>
<p>A quick tangential exposition drop before I continue. Way back when I first got into <i>Miraculous Ladybug </i>I was excitedly waiting for the new season 2 episodes to be uploaded to YouTube for me to watch. While I waited for the next episode upload, I'd fill the time by searching Google Images and Pinterest for fanart. Frustrated with never knowing who to credit with the awesome artwork, I would then spend hours backtracking to the original upload by the artist. More often than not, I'd trace the fanart to Tumblr. I wasn't on Tumblr at the time, but this - plus <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.tumblr.com/chibisunnie/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">ChibiSunnie</a> routinely sending me Tumblr links to check out - really pushed me to officially join. Once I finally bit the bullet and joined Tumblr in The Year of Our Lord 2018, the first people I followed were Chibi, the always amazing <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://edendaphne.tumblr.com/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">EdenDaphne</a>, as well as fellow fanartists <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://leecheedoodles.tumblr.com/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">leecheedoodles</a> and <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://ceejles.tumblr.com/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">ceejles</a>. While I was on Pinterest looking for ML fanart it was regularly EdenDaphne, leecheedoodles, and ceejles that caught my eye. How could I not follow them instantly once I got onto Tumblr?</p>
<p>Even when they left the ML fandom, I was still amazed by their artwork. A lot of times I was intrigued by a new bit of media purely because these ladies had drawn fanart for it. Ceejles' <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://ceejles.tumblr.com/post/710754854384123904" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">comic about Loid and Yor (from SpyxFamily) kissing</a> even inspired my story <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/45899638" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Tell Me You Want Me When You're Sober</a></i> earlier this year. I have the opening panels of that Loid/Yor kiss as my phone wallpaper (yes, I'm THAT person). This past August or September, after glancing at my phone, I wondered what ceejles had been working on. I didn't notice any updates from her in a while on my dash (but I'm on Tumblr fairly infrequently now anyway), so I figured I would just hit up her blog directly. That's when I saw <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://ceejles.tumblr.com/post/720118531368337408/lately-i-%CF%89%EF%BE%89" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">this upload of a tweet</a>.</p>
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<a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://twitter.com/ceejurs/status/1669006739927363584" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Original tweet</a></td>
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<p>Oooo. A web comic! On WEBTOON? An app I already had and was neglecting anyway? I was intrigued and decided to give it a look.</p>
<p>I was instantly hooked. It's a dumb little low-stakes teenage summer drama romance. Ceejles' visual comedy is perfect for the story. The main character Waverly is endearingly awkward and goofy. She doesn't see any value in herself and doesn't understand how anyone could ever like her - either romantically or as a friend - but the audience instantly gets what's so lovely about her. Then there's broody love-interest Blake. He's a jerk, but not soooo much that you hate him. He's more, annoyingly antagonistic.... He's also handsome and has his kind, goofy, and helpful moments that lets the reader understand why Waverly is growing a crush on him.</p>
<p>The way WEBTOON is set up, you can spend money to buy coins. You can then use the coins to unlock "episodes" (comic updates) early. Otherwise, they unlock for free once per week. So, as of this posting, I am mere hours away from episode 32 of <i>Float</i> unlocking for free, a week from episode 33, fortnight from episode 34, 21 days from episode 35, and 28 away from reading last week's upload (episode 36) for free. If you get into a series late you have all of the earlier episodes (usually anything older than the latest 5 or so) already unlocked, so you can binge your way to being relatively caught up. I'm doing so currently with another series, which I'll talk about in a moment.</p>
<p>Anyway, I got mayyyyybe 21 episodes into <i>Float</i> before going, "Nope! I can't wait every week to know what happens next!" It's currently $0.99 for 10 coins. Each episode requires 7 coins to unlock. Just to catch up would be roughly $4. I also don't know if the latest episode would then be auto-unlocked for me since I was fully caught up, or if I'd have to spend more coins to unlock THAT one too... and I don't know how long the series will last... What if the latest one is still locked from me for roughly a month if I don't pay the coins? But now I don't have ANY weekly unlocks to look forward to? Do I keep spending money until the series is over? Do I just not read any new updates for that month?</p>
<p>Nope! I decided on "secret third thing": go to the source! November 6th, I bought <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.amazon.com/Float-Kate-Marchant/dp/1989365973/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">the book by Kate Marchant</a> that the comic is adapting.</p>
<p>Gang? I DEVOURED this novel! I got it on the 10th. I cracked it open on the 11th. I then read through it while re-reading through the comic to see how close the adaptation was. There were some bits that were edited out and added in, but it was largely a faithful adaptation. But, keep in mind that I'm a moderately slow reader to begin with, and that reading the novel while re-reading the corresponding comic episodes did stretch out my overall reading time. Even so, I STILL managed to finish the novel by November 16th!</p>
<p>I have now tried and failed to participate in <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://draculadaily.substack.com/about" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Dracula Daily</a> two years in a row. Both years I was doing great all through May, June, July, and the front half of August. This year, I got as far as the first week of September before falling off the wagon. It's been literal YEARS (probably pre-2020) since I've actually completed reading either a novel or a novel-length fanfic. Even back when I WOULD read novels, I was never the type to finish off a significant-sized novel in, say, a weekend. It would typically take me the better part of a month to finish them.</p>
<p>I COMPLETED <i>FLOAT</i> IN JUST SIX DAYS!</p>
<p>Yes, this was one of the blessings I included in my Giving Thanks list this year. Yes, if you like idiot teenagers stumbling their way into a relationship, I do highly recommend both the novel and the comic adaptation. Yes, I was riding that high and wanted to do more novel reading! Yes, I tried giving <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26082916-ready-player-two" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Ready Player Two</a></i> a second chance. Yes, I did stop reading only about 4 chapters in again. I blamed it on the fact that it was Thanksgiving and I just haven't taken the time to read since. However, if I was still trying to get to the ending of <i>Float</i> I know I would have FOUND time by now. I took that book everywhere. I read at work. I read before bed. I read while waiting for the laundry to finish. (That's it... that's all the places I went in those 6 days....)</p>
<p>So, to circle back to what brought me down this rabbit hole in the first place, the chaos of the past month (plus my poor choice in follow-up novel to read) has even killed my briefly re-sparked desire to just sit and read. How am I supposed to motivate myself to do the very active thing of writing a story when I can't even motivate myself to participate in the semi-passive activity of reading what someone else already wrote? How could I complain about others not reading my writing when I can't be bothered to read someone else's works?</p>
<p>That all said, as I mentioned above, I HAVE still read this month. Just... more webcomics.</p>
<p>Now that I've been back on WEBTOON, my phone has picked up the algorithm (damn snitch!) and more and more WEBTOON ads have been popping up when I play a game on my phone or tablet. The way that WEBTOON generally advertises is by picking one of its newer and/or more popular comics and advertises THAT. Peeps, this advertising has worked on me at least four times. Way back when I first started using the app to read <i>Punderworld</i> I got an ad promoting <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.webtoons.com/en/canvas/never-follow-the-wispfinch/list?title_no=226935" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Never Follow the Wispfinch!</a></i> The artwork and premise were intriguing enough to me to at least hit it with a subscribe, but I've never really got very far in it. But then I got an ad for <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.webtoons.com/en/fantasy/mythic-item-obtained/list?title_no=4582" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Mythic Item Obtained</a></i>.</p>
<p>It's kind of a weird isekai-light? The premise is that Yggdrasil, the Norse Life Tree, grew out of the Pacific ocean, and brought with it a population of monsters to invade Earth. In this <b style="border-bottom-color: #FDD017; border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: thin; border-bottom: thin dashed rgb(253, 208, 23); cursor: help; font-weight: normal;" title="Alternate Universe">AU</b>-Earth where monsters and magic are real, Korean man Jaehyeon is a brawler-class dungeon raider on the verge of starving to death. When Jaehyeon first became a professional raider, melee-focused Brawlers were all the rage. They were considered heroes for willingly being on the front line against monsters. In the years since Jaehyeon officially became a raider, however, employers are far more likely to hire range-fighting mages instead; lower risk, higher reward. Jaehyeon regrets letting his prodigious magical talent atrophy. On his latest dungeon dive, he stumbles upon the Mythic Item: Odin's Lost Eye, a one-of-a-kind item that becomes soul-bound when equipped (meaning it can never become unequipped without the user dying). Jaehyeon plans on selling it on the black market to become rich and be able to retire from raiding. He's forced to equip it, however, to save his life from an assassination attempt. In doing so, he's able to teleport back in time. He chooses November 2020, the week when his teenage self decided to become a brawler instead of a mage; a time before his mother's murder and his childhood friend's death. Jaehyeon's new goal? Become a mage instead of a brawler in order to better his life, stop his mother's murder, and save his friend's life. The Norse gods have another task for Jaehyeon. Specifically, the <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norns" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Nornir</a> plan to groom Jaehyeon into their champion, tasked to take down Odin and end the <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%86sir" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Aesir</a>. The isekai-like qualities of the story are that Jaehyeon has knowledge from his past life that he can use to assist him in his new journey. He's also entirely out of his element as he follows a contrasting life path than the one he originally took, all while having the Nornir and Hel, the Norse goddess of death, threaten him with death if he doesn't become strong enough to successfully be their champion.</p>
<p>While I've been subscribed to this comic for the better part of a year (thanks to that WEBTOON ad), I just didn't have the motivation to actually start reading it in earnest until I was on WEBTOON anyway to read <i>Float</i>. Since I got to it so late, the first 74 episodes out of its current 83 available are free to read. Which is what I was referencing before. I could binge this thing for HOURS/DAYS before I got caught up. I'm taking this one slow though. The story is action-packed and a bit intense, so I've been keeping myself limited to just read an arc at a time. Which usually translates to between 3 and 6 episodes.</p>
<p>The most recent comic that the WEBTOON ads suckered me into reading is another Korean-based, action-packed series: <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.webtoons.com/en/action/rental-hero/list?title_no=5814" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Rental Hero</a></i>. This one reminds me a bit of <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Hero_Academia" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">My Hero Academia</a></i> (aka Boku no Hīrō Akademia). Much like the main character Midoriya from MHA, the main character of RH Juwon kind of got the short end of the genetic stick. Much like MHA, the world of <i>Rental Hero</i> is an alternate Earth where people are born with superpowers. You then naturally have Heroism as a career choice that many aspire to. You also, inevitably, have supervillains that prefer to use their powers to bully their way into wealth and power. In MHA, Midoriya is born without superpowers but still wants to become a hero. The current #1 Hero All-Might sees Midoriya's potential and gifts him his powers. Now Midoriya has to learn how to handle the incredible strength and plethora of other powers that slowly develop while he's learning to become a certified hero. Likewise, in RH, Juwon didn't get an objectively offensive power that he could use to save others. He can morph himself into a doppelganger of someone. He can mimic their looks and voice, but nothing else. He uses his power best he can: he pimps himself out as a doppelganger to pose as a hero's alter-ego, and fills in for them socially while the hero is participating in their heroic duties. The hero and their alter-ego can be seen at the same time, helping to throw off anyone trying to discover the hero's identity. One day, Korea's #1 hero Justice requests Juwon's services. Problem is, when Juwon goes to meet up with Justice in the hero's penthouse, he discovers the world's strongest hero has been murdered! In trying to check on the hero, Juwon's powers glitch (or possibly evolve?) and he not only manages to (unintentionally) mimic Justice's looks, but also his powers! He's found out by fellow hero Chrome who hires Juwon to continue to pose as Justice, fooling the world into thinking the hero is still alive. They're now on the hunt for Justice's murderer before Juwon is either found out or targeted by Justice's assassin, assuming they failed their mission the first time. All while Juwon tries to not only master having offensive powers for the first time, but mastering the powers of the world's strongest hero!</p>
<p>This is another action-packed and intense series. I'd probably take it as slow as I do <i>Mythic Item Obtained</i>, except I jumped on board too close to its premiere. It only has 11 free episodes right now. I easily breezed through the first 7 episodes in about a week, and then had to wait for the weekly updates more-or-less all month. Unfortunately, unlike <i>Float</i>, this comic doesn't appear to be an adaptation. Which means either paying to unlock episodes early or just being patient.</p>
<p>It's kind of exciting to be patient, though. Gives the same vibes as waiting for a new TV show episode to premiere weekly on broadcast cable. Probably why the weekly updates are called "episodes." Now, if only I could find the fandom for these comics so I can have some water-cooler talk.</p>
<p>The final big comic that those WEBTOON ads hooked me with? <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.webtoons.com/en/romance/the-dragon-kings-bride/list?title_no=5517" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">The Dragon King's Bride</a></i>. This one started this August and is currently up to 37 episodes, with the 29th episode unlocking to read for free this upcoming Tuesday night. This one is another romance, and so it has me as hooked as <i>Float</i> does. However, much like <i>Rental Hero</i>, I have no way to skip ahead to read the whole story ahead of the weekly updates, like I did with <i>Float</i>.</p>
<p>For anyone who has either read the manga <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Happy_Marriage" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">My Happy Marriage</a></i> or watched its new anime adaptation on Netflix, <i>The Dragon King's Bride</i> has very much the same vibe, mixed with <i>Game of Thrones</i> season 1 <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daenerys_Targaryen" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Daenerys</a> navigating life with the Dothraki. <i>The Dragon King's Bride</i> follows meek, 20yo Lucina. She is the illegitimate daughter of a baron of the fictictious kingdom of Brion. The baron forced his wife to take in and raise Lucina, but the baroness was not kind to this reminder of her husband's infidelity. Lucina was physically and emotionally abused, and forced to stay silent. So much so that she has a speech impediment due to not being allowed to practice speaking while learning the language as a child. She was also never taught how to read.</p>
<p>The story starts off with the baroness selling Lucina to the king of Brion as a new concubine. To make sure the king wouldn't reject Lucina, her half-brother had grave-robbed the sacred ancestral burial site of the Tayar Tribe in order to enhance Lucina's dowry. The Tayar Tribe and Kingdom of Brion had been at war for decades. The baroness was rightfully worried about the Tayar seeking revenge for disturbing their sacred lands, and, right on cue, dragons began attacking the estate. When the Dragon King Hakan refused to accept their surrender, the baroness instead offered up Lucina. She hoped that Hakan would be lured by the prospect of denying the king of Brion something. She was correct. Hakan had a priest marry himself and Lucina on the spot. He then spared only the baroness and her son because they were technically his in-laws now. Then he and his army left with Lucina.</p>
<p>So, much like Miyo in <i>My Happy Marriage</i>, Lucina is from a prestigious family who are in financial decline, and whose stepmother is cruel to her in favor of her own child. Like Miyo, despite the abuse, Lucina has a kind heart and is simply looking for peace and an escape from her cruel family. Much like both Miyo and Daenerys, Lucina is promised in marriage to a man believed to be cruel, cold, and a vicious militant. Like Daenerys' husband Khal Drogo, Lucina's husband King Hakan is the leader of a strong, militant people believed to be barbaric savages. Also like Drogo (as well as Miyo's betrothed Kudou), Hakan proves to be a devoted and smitten husband. Hakan also has a kind heart, and only withholds mercy because he was taught it was the only way to show strength and authority; the only way to keep his enemies at bay and protect his people.</p>
<p>Brion is stylized like your standard Western-Europe-inspired fantasy setting. Tayar, on the other hand, is stylized more like India/South Asia/Middle East (I know those are distinctly different aesthetics, but my white American butt couldn't tell you what those differences are. Sorry. If you could help point me in the correct direction, please let me know below). When Lucina makes it to Tayar it is presented as this gorgeous, thriving, richly-cultured kingdom. She does her best to try to learn the customs and language, all while in awe of her new environment. Much like the fictitious African nation of Wakanda, Tayar is made up of multiple werebeast tribes, and Hakan rules over them all. It was actually his older brother Raikan who had united the tribes in the first place.</p>
<p>That's the true trick of this comic. Tayar is populated by werebeasts, people who can shapeshift into werecreatures (think werewolves). The strongest of these werebeasts are the draconians, who can shapeshift into dragons. The strongest of the draconians are the Guardian Dragon bloodline; the royal bloodline. Despite Tayar being the wealthiest nation on the continent, in true "western colonialist" fashion, Brionians use the fact that the people of Tayar aren't human as proof that they are just the savage, bloodthirsty beasts they can transform into. Hence the long-standing war between the nations. This war actually resulted in Raikan's death ten years prior as he tried (and, sadly, failed) to protect the hatchlings (children) from slaughter by Brionian dragon slayers. During that raid, and in a grief-stricken rage, Hakan tried to avenge his older brother and nephew, only to be mortally wounded outside of the baron's estate. That very night, a 10yo Lucina was trying to run away from home after a beating from the baroness. As she was fleeing, she spotted a wounded red dragon (17yo Hakan in beast form).</p>
<p>Lucina was born with healing magic. She hid that fact from her family for obvious exploitative reasons. She was also advised by the fairy Pooka to keep her powers hidden from the Tayar, for fear that they would also exploit her magic now that she was Hakan's bride. Back when 10yo Lucina spotted a wounded dragon, however? All she could think of was how much she understood what it was like to be in pain, and couldn't bear to see the dragon suffer. She healed him, but ended up passing out from the exhaustion of mending such grievous wounds. Hakan was only able to survive thanks to her, but thought it would be wrong to kidnap his savior, so he instead brought her to what he thought was safety and left her in Brion before returning to Tayar to finish recovering. Ten years later, and he still remembers the little, brave Brionian girl with silver eyes and hair that had saved his life. He just can't seem to put two-and-two together that his silver haired and eyed bride is that same girl. Lucina's spirit was so badly broken by the baroness that she seems like a distinctly different person than that girl (although, Hakan has been getting hints that the two are indeed one and the same). Likewise, Lucina never saw the dragon transform back into his human form, nor has she ever seen her husband Hakan transform into his dragon form. So she never put two-and-two together that Hakan was the dragon she saved as a girl.</p>
<p>The other sticky wicket with this relationship is the secret Hakan is keeping from Lucina. Despite his flirting and sensual advancements with her, Hakan is both a virgin and wary of having sex. For good reason. It is quite difficult for someone to bear a child of the Guardian Dragon bloodline (Hakan's bloodline). So difficult, in fact, that most end up dying in the process. Essentially, becoming pregnant with a Guardian Dragon child overwhelms the mother with a fire aura, due to the bloodline's ability to transform into powerful dragons. As much as I'd hate to use this parallel, think Bella Swan from the <i>Twilight</i> saga being overwhelmed by the vampiric energy of her unborn child. Sadly, in most cases, a woman would succumb to the aura at the time of conception, barely even surviving her night with the king. Those that do survive that initial hurtle could very well wither and die during the pregnancy. Those that survive long enough to give birth could finally succumb to their pain and energy loss shortly after. Which is why, if someone is able to survive giving birth to the next generation of Guardian Dragons, she is instantly wed to the king and becomes his queen. Even so, we find out that the process of essentially being burned alive by your unborn child during pregnancy becomes a chronic pain that you never fully heal from.</p>
<p>Hakan was traumatized as he both watched deceased women being carted out of his older brother's room, and hearing Raikan lament his need to produce an heir and how much psychological damage it was doing to him since he was basically killing all of the women he slept with. Hakan saw the relief, joy, and love Raikan felt when he fell for Giaret and she was able to bear him a son. Raikan was madly in love with his queen and she was his final thought as he died in Hakan's arms. Because of this, Hakan refuses to follow through with the tradition of a widowed queen marrying the late-king's brother. A Guardian Dragon queen, having already survived one birth, is highly likely to be able to survive subsequent pregnancies, and so, as far as Tayar culture is concerned, is an easy choice for the new king's bride. Hakan can't do that to his brother's memory, though. He wants what his brother thought he had: a bride who truly loves him, not just trying to seduce him to become queen.</p>
<p>Hakan thinks he might have that in Lucina, but now he fears losing her. Either because she will refuse him once she knows the dangers (she was sold to him, after all), or because she's not strong enough to survive conceiving his child. However, because it's not a romantic drama if you don't have miscommunication, Lucina had spent her whole life being told she was ugly and unlovable and undesirable, so Hakan's hesitation with Lucina makes her think he doesn't actually want her; that he, instead, has an unrequited love for his widowed sister-in-law Giaret. Meanwhile, Lucina HAS been vaguely warned by the maids and Giaret herself that she's too slender to survive sleeping with Hakan, so she's also worried (since she doesn't think he actually cares for her, and because she was beaten her whole life) that he's into rough sex and THAT is why he'll possibly kill her when they sleep together. So, while she wants him and wants to be with him, she's nervous about getting hurt, and he misinterprets her shaking and hesitation as her hating him for spiriting her away from her family.</p>
<p>So, you have these two idiots just kind of dancing around each other. Lucina fears that Hakan discovering that she's an illegitimate daughter instead of an actual noble (and that she was abused her whole life) will cause him to no longer want her as his wife. Hakan fears that Lucina will leave him if she finds out that bearing his child (and officially becoming the Tayar queen) could kill her. Which means, instead of just talking with each other and having open communication, they're spiraling.</p>
<p>Oh, and also, Giaret does want to bear Hakan's child and become his queen, so she's trying to sabotage Hakan's relationship with Lucina. And Hakan's mother Ada is mentally unstable from the grief of losing her first-born and grandson, as well as nearly losing her surviving child. So Hakan's also trying to handle his violently confused mother suffering from grief-driven dementia.</p>
<p>Clearly, I'm obsessed with this story. Tuesday nights don't come around often enough. Especially because Tuesday nights are when <i>The Dragon King's Bride, Renal Hero,</i> AND <i>Percy Jackson</i> all update around 9pm!</p>
<p>Sooooooooo, yeah! I'm struggling with more traditional reading, but, boy-howdy, every Sunday and Tuesday evening I'm TEARING through these comic updates! So.... there's that. I actually added "read for 15min" to my Finch App daily goals. I hope it will ease me back into reading more and more, and for longer stretches.</p>
<p>Maybe that's what I'll have as a New Year's Resolution. I should probably come up with mine, huh? Well, OK. Here's what I think I can do.</p>
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>Take another run at posting at least one blog update every month; 12 updates in total before the close of 2024.</li>
<li>Read an average of 7.5hrs per month (that's the equivalent of 15min per day for a 30-day month)</li>
<li>Write Plagg-centric stories for the two Friday 13ths this year: September and December</li>
<li>Publish at least one narrative each quarter of the year: 4 stories total; once every 3 months.</li>
</ol>
<p>Those last two feel like stretch-goals since the pandemic hit in 2020, but I need to learn to gently push myself towards goals I want to accomplish. Baby steps. Let's see if I can make them.</p>
<p>Okay. It's now getting into the "evening" portion of New Year's Eve, and I'm sure everyone has celebrations they want to get to. In which case, thank you so much for dedicating a half-hour of your day to this update. Knowing you're there reading what I send out into the aether of the internet truly means a lot to me.</p>
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<p>Anyway, I've already taken up enough of your time. I hope that 2024 is kinder to all of us, and that each one of us finds the time and motivation to accomplish at least some of our more ambitious goals.</p>
<p>A toast to 2023 heading out the door, and another to warmly welcome in 2024.</p>
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</span>LycoRoguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01064253326464685398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6675584297301734651.post-19305245398006569362023-11-05T14:57:00.000-05:002023-11-05T14:57:07.067-05:00A New Fandom Enters the Ring<p style="font-family: serif; font-size: 60%;">Est. Read Time: 20 min</p>
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<p>*sigh* Well, it did it. The year 2023 broke me. My goal to post SOMETHING to this blog at LEAST once a month has been missed. October came and went, and I didn't even NOTICE that I didn't post something until this past Friday.</p>
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Generated by <b>Bitmoji</b></td>
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<p>October was... rough. I feel like that's been the theme of 2023, especially since my birthday. My husband wasn't able to get as many days off as I did. Which meant we couldn't really have a true vacation for our anniversary, as I would have liked. I'd even appreciate a staycation where we could reconnect, catch up on TV shows or movies on our To Watch list, or maybe organize the apartment a bit. Instead, nearly any and all plans I had were interrupted by taking my husband to work, picking him up from work, doing chores while he was at work that I wouldn't mind stopping abruptly to go fetch him, etc.</p>
<p>There was also a LOT of literal getting rest: sleeping in, going to bed early, taking mid-day naps. Just... a LOT of catching up on sleep instead of catching up on house cleaning or our To Watch/To Read/To Play lists.</p>
<p>My poor <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.animal-crossing.com/new-horizons/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Animal Crossing: New Horizons</a></i> island. It's been so neglected. My island is officially a year behind the IRL date. Couldn't even manage to catch up on that over my vacation.</p>
<p>Once my vacation was done, the schedule was MOSTLY back to normal... for about a week and a half.</p>
<p>Manager still had something like TWO-HUNDRED hours of PTO to use before the end of the year! Technically, she has 80 hours she NEEDS to use, because the remaining 120 hours can roll over into next year. But that's the cap: 120 hours; all others are forfeit if not used before the end of the calendar year. Still. That's ten PTO days! And the owners get cranky if their sales associates take time off in December because that's their busy season. Plus, I always take the week between Thanksgiving and Hubby's birthday off. So Manager had a little over a month to use AT LEAST ten vacation days! She decided that the week before Halloween would be the perfect time to use five of those ten "mandatory" days before Biker Coworker or I took our time off. That way Manager still had the rest of the year to sprinkle in MORE vacation time. She also bookended her requested time off with her normal days off each week, bringing her time away from work up to a nice 9-day vacation.</p>
<p>So I was again scheduled to work ten days straight while Manager was on said vacation.</p>
<p>EXCEPT!</p>
<p>Three days into my work week/two days into Manager's vacation, Hubby was NOT feeling well. He barely slept. He was coughing up a storm. He felt weak and feverish. He called out from work. I was feeling fine, and of COURSE no one has any sort of covid protocols in place anymore, so I still went to work. Only to discover that night that... yup... Hubby caught covid a second time. I tested negative, so I was back at work - and out of the apartment as much as possible while Hubby isolated in our bedroom - the next two days. We're now up to my sixth day of work, and Manager's 5th day - out of 9 - for her vacation. I got home from work. I got dinner ready. I crashed while trying to catch up on Dracula Daily entries (another endeavor I failed at, but at least I got further along this year than I did last year). Hubby texted me at 8pm to see if we wanted to do a watch party: me in the living room, where I had set up my nest, and Hubby in our bedroom with his isolation nest. I was feeling very weak, but missed socializing with my husband, so I was game. We watched a couple of shows while texting back and forth. By 10pm I felt like I was on fire while still shivering up a storm. I had already tested that morning and got a negative, so I had to wait until the following morning to test again. However, I had confirmed that I had a fever, so I was 99.9% sure that I had failed to dodge the damn virus and that I was also now covid positive. The following morning did confirm my suspicion. Still had a fever, and now a positive at-home covid test to match.</p>
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://wormsslime.tumblr.com/post/660776790384672768" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Tumblr post by @somanyjacks-writes and @wormsslime</a>
<br />This post has resonated with me for two years now. So true.</td>
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<p>Thursday, October 26th, I called out sick via a picture of my positive covid test and thermometer reading texted to Manager, her boss, and Biker Coworker. Biker Coworker claims to have tested daily on the 26th, 27th, and 28th, and it came back negative each time. However, she still had a fever and vomited on Saturday. She says it was a bad reaction to her allergy medication increase to combat the higher allergy count in the air. Either way, it meant she couldn't work on the 28th, and Manager had to cut her vacation short (apparently Biker was running the store solo both the Thursday and Friday I was out because Manager's boss couldn't find coverage?????). Poor Manager not only had to cut her vacation short, but there STILL wasn't any additional coverage so she had to work solo Saturday through Tuesday! FOUR DAYS! Let me remind you that our store's layout does NOT make it the safest location to try to run solo! This inability to find coverage is such BS!</p>
<p>Anyway, regardless of the fact that Hubby and I were now both covid positive, we decided to keep to our corners. That way we weren't keeping the other awake with our coughing. So, for the second round with covid, I was trying to sleep in the living room on a loveseat for a week. At least this time it was a reclining loveseat, so I was able to stretch out a bit easier, but it still wasn't the most comfortable thing. On Sunday, Oct 29th, nearly a week after Hubby was confirmed positive, he managed to get a negative test. We then decided to trade nests so I could hopefully get better rest. It did help, but I still missed my husband. We both still have really nasty coughs as I write this, so we are STILL sleeping apart from each other to try not to wake the other up throughout the night! I might offer to Nest-Switch again today. That way we each get a week on/week off with sleeping on the loveseat.</p>
<p>That said, I DID finally test negative on Halloween. Both Hubby and I went pretty much the full 7 days to flush covid out of our system. Luckily, neither of us needed medical intervention. There were a LOT of naps though. I probably slept about half the time I was out sick. I couldn't really do much for more than an hour at a time before needing a two-hour nap to recoup. Even though I tested negative Tuesday morning, I was still too worn out - and was still too wary of being contagious - to go back to work that day. Instead, I went back to bed and slept for the next SIX HOURS! That was when I was NEGATIVE! I woke up just before trick-or-treating started, and quietly wept that I would have to miss out this year. Dressing up in costume, passing out candy, and seeing everyone else's costumes are all reasons why Halloween is probably my favorite holiday. And I had to just stay inside in my PJs and ignore the world on my favorite holiday this year.</p>
<p>COVID SUCKS, YOU GUYS!</p>
<p>So... yeah! Here's your reminder that it's STILL HERE! I am the TENTH person I know who caught it THIS. YEAR! Fifth within the past MONTH! Don't let the media make you think this is done and over! Go get your vaccinations and/or boosters if you are medically able! (Hubby and I were actually scheduled to get our booster THIS WEEK! So close and yet so far!) Wear your masks still! Social distance when possible! Be careful out there, folks!</p>
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<p>Now that I've written it all out, it's kind of obvious why I didn't write anything in October. Still hurts though. I even missed Friday the 13th (AKA Plagg Appreciation Day) again. I HATE when I can't even celebrate my own personal fandom holiday! I just don't have the time anymore, and when I DO have the time, I don't have the energy anymore. The rare times I have both the time AND the energy? Inspiration decides to stay away.</p>
<p>We're five days into November, aka <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="http://www.nanowrimo.org/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank" title="National Novel Writing Month">NaNoWriMo</a>. I didn't even REGISTER that it's now NaNo until <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.twitch.tv/aurora_morgen" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Rozsavaria</a> asked me if I was doing it and if I wanted to join nir in writing meet-ups to get some writing done. I told nir that I was not officially signed up for NaNo this year, but it might help shake me out of my writing funk if we met up. We'll see how well that goes.</p>
<p>Oh! Quick side note. Rozsavaria did rebrand online, so, going forward, ne will be Aurora Morgen, or just Aurora (makes things a little tricky if I wish to talk about one of my ACNH villagers, but it's easy enough to distinguish between my IRL friend and an Animal Crossing penguin).</p>
<p>Anyway, despite not having the energy or motivation to write anything for.... quite some time... I DID start getting the itch while I was out sick. One of the cases of not having the energy despite having the time.</p>
<p>The story would be a simple one-shot, but it isn't for <i>Miraculous Ladybug</i>. It's also not for any of the fandoms I've written for before, nor is it an original story. Over the summer I got addicted to a new Disney Channel cartoon: <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt16152776/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Hailey's On It!</a></i></p>
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<p>For those who don't know the show, here's a semi-quick primer:</p>
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<span font-size="x-small" style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The show follows 14 year old Hailey Banks. Despite admitting that she hates trying new things, and what few new things she IS interested in she frequently talks herself out of, Hailey started up a pseudo-bucket-list in the first grade. Her "Big List of Things I'm Totally Gonna Do". The list got so long - at least 411 items! - that she started filling a notebook with it, as shown in the promotional image above.<br />
<br />On New Year's Eve, Hailey made the New Years Resolution to actually do the items on her list. Immediately afterwards, she was attacked by Chaos Bots (the weird robot crab things in the promotional image). They tried to destroy her list, only to be stopped by the time traveling Professor (the purple-haired woman with prosthetics in the background by the roller coaster). The Professor lets Hailey know that her list is a national treasure in the future. In the timeline The Professor is from, Hailey not only kept her New Years Resolution, but she managed to check off EVERY ITEM on her list within that year! Completing her list within a year started Hailey down the path that led her to invent a device that not only stops global warming, but actually reverses it. Saving the planet from its otherwise fiery doom within the near future. <br />
<br />The Chaos Bots, who are sent back in time by some mysterious unnamed villain, were trying to destroy Hailey's copy of her list, like G-rated Terminators. The Chaos Bots' goal is to stop Hailey from completing every item, because that would then set her on a different path that results in her NOT inventing the cure for global warming, leading the world towards its flaming death within Hailey's lifetime. <br />
<br />As The Professor says: "No pressure." <br />
<br />The Professor is then abruptly sucked back through the time portal, but not before she gives Hailey a smart phone loaded with the most advanced AI program from The Professor's time: Beta. He's tasked to be her guide and assist Hailey in completing the list. In order to better accomplish those tasks, Hailey builds Beta a robotic body to pilot, and then hides it inside one of her stuffed animals (hence the teddy bear in the promotional image; that's Beta). <br />
<br />Hailey ends up hiding both Beta and all of this "saving the world" stuff from everyone she knows, assuming it's too overwhelming and/or fantastical to be taken seriously. The only exception is her best friend Scott (the guy behind Hailey in the promo). She knows/trusts that her beloved himbo of a best friend would believe her, so she confides in him about everything. <br />
<br />Well.... NEARLY everything.<br />
<br />Naturally, a cartoon with a 14yo female lead HAS to have a romantic subplot. So here's Hailey's: she grew a crush on Scott back in the 5th grade, and added list item number 143: Kiss Scott Denoga. Like all of her other 400+ list items, Hailey chickened out and never let Scott know about her feelings. Now that they're 14, she fears that he'd never see her in a romantic light, and fears all the more that HER having romantic feelings for HIM might ruin their friendship. You know, that old chestnut.<br />
<br />Added complication to the whole "kiss Scott Denoga" thing... Scott's crush Kristine wants to ask him out. Not ready to come to terms with her feelings and confess to Scott, Hailey gives Kristine her blessing. So Scott isn't even romantically available anymore. Oh, and Kristine now considers Hailey her bestie. Neat.<br />
<br />Despite those complications, Beta keeps trying to come up with plans to cross item number 143 off Hailey's list (thinking it's the simplest to complete) and Hailey has to keep redirecting him to a different list number they could try to accomplish, all while trying to keep Scott in the dark. Luckily, as I mentioned, Scott's a glorious himbo. As Hailey states in the pilot, "he wears the same pair of jeans for a month. He calls potato chips 'crispy dippers'!" Beta's main "nickname" for Scott is "buffoon" for a reason, is what I'm saying.
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<p>So, the show - set up as two 11min mini-episodes within the roughly 22min runtime - follows Hailey, Beta, and Scott as they try to check off all of Hailey's list items within the next year. Beta uses his knowledge from the future and the data he's gathered based on current events and character interactions with Hailey to calculate which list item has the highest completion probability at any given time, and the episodes tend to focus around that. There are some episodes, however, where it focuses more on just Hailey's life and her relationships with her family and friends, as well as maintaining her friendship with Scott by focusing on what he'd like to do that day. Which means a list item isn't necessarily completed each episode, and not every list item warrants getting its own episode - such as her list item to eat a raw onion like an apple.</p>
<p>They've also shown that, as long as Hailey completes the item within the year, she can still add to the list. Which means the writers have 400+ list items to play with to tell their story. They can end the series without showing all 400+ list items (just hand wave that they were completed off-screen), or they can surpass 400 items and just say that Hailey added them throughout that year. We also aren't given the whole list - obviously - that way they can build up Hailey's list based on what individual episode plotlines they want to tell. As of right now, there are <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://haileysonit.fandom.com/wiki/Hailey%27s_journal" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">67 list items known</a> (but not necessarily completed).</p>
<p>I personally love the premise of this show. A risk-adverse girl finds her confidence as she does a bunch of seemingly average childhood adventures - such as completing a corn maze without getting lost, making a female friend, and throwing a successful party - motivated by the fact that completing this list is her first step in saving the world. It's wonderfully high-stakes and low-stakes at the same time. The show creators were largely inspired by the grand adventures the titular characters of <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phineas_and_Ferb" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Phineas and Ferb</a></i> went on, and wanted to create a show with a similar vibe.</p>
<p>The show - not in small part due to Scott's endearing idiocy - is wonderfully cheesy and dumb and playful. Simple things, like winning a sand castle tournament, gain world-saving stakes and are treated with the proper absurdity you'd think that premise would create. Hailey ends up adopting a balding flamingo with a flatulence problem. Scott's girlfriend writes, directs, and stars in a high school musical all about hats (complete with hat parody songs of famous show tunes such as "Seasons of Love" from RENT and "Tomorrow" from Annie). Hailey beats out a bunch of 1st graders in a competition to be Sherriff For A Day at a debunked wild-west-themed amusement park. She represents Scott in a mock trial where Scott "sues" a fellow classmate for ownership of a popular phone app. Hailey competes to be the Crab Queen - a school position similar to homecoming queen at her school that no other student actually wants to win. Weird Al does a cameo as a Willy Wonka-esque owner of the in-universe version of Pringles (Dingles) and takes Hailey and Scott on a tour of the factory in an obvious <i>Charlie and the Chocolate Factory</i> parody. Hailey, who is naturally great at bowling, struggles to miss as many pins as possible during bumper bowling so her notoriously terrible-at-bowling father could win a game.</p>
<p>Hailey - being voiced by <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3521164/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Moana</a></i> star <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm7635388/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Auli'i Cravalho</a> - is also of Hawaiian descent. As a sort of nod to that element of Hailey's character design (strongly influenced by the fact that she's voiced by Cravalho), as well as an in-joke about Cravalho's big break with Disney, Hailey's twin baby brothers are named Dwayne and Johnson. Obvious reference to Cravalho's <i>Moana</i> costar <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0425005/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson</a>, who is himself half-Samoan.</p>
<p>Like, it's wonderfully-dumb stuff like that which makes this show so endearing to me. It gives me the same "dumb plot with semi-high stakes" vibes that seasons 1 and 2 of <i>Miraculous Ladybug</i> had. Even the slow-burn romance between the 14yo female lead and her best friend (well... Chat Noir would be Ladybug's best friend in this scenario).</p>
<p>Over the seasons, <i>Miraculous Ladybug</i> has become more intense, character driven, and full of overcoming trauma. I love that for the show. It has become so engaging - and quite a bit frustrating, but we'll ignore that bit - as it moved away from episodic storytelling and moved towards a more serialized over-arcing storyline. I don't hate that decision because it gives everyone so much to talk about and be inspired to create (well... except me, but ignore that too).</p>
<p>I just miss when ML was a dumb show I was semi-embarrassed to admit that I liked. I miss when it was my mindless show that I could watch to destress and laugh at. We don't have many of those dumb, mindless moments in ML anymore.</p>
<p>But I DO have them in <i>Hailey's On it!</i> and I love that about this show!</p>
<p>Sooooooooo, yeah. While I was recovering from covid, part of my time was spent with my new comfort show: <i>Hailey's On it!</i> Which DID manage to gift me a new plot bunny. I haven't physically written it out yet, but I have played out the scene a few times in my head to try to lock the story in.</p>
<p>As mentioned, the romantic subplot of the show is Hailey HAS to kiss Scott before the close of the year in order to complete her list (and eventually save the planet). There was an episode where Hailey and Beta found a work-around with the whole Scott and Kristine "problem": a part Truth-or-Dare, part Spin-the-Bottle party game. Spoilers for this episode to follow.</p>
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<p>I know that most of you might not care, but I wanted to still throw up that spoiler alert for the few who might have cared....</p>
<p>Anyway, Hailey and Beta reason out that, since it's under the pretense of just following the rules of the game and therefore wouldn't necessarily have any actual meaning behind the kiss, Hailey could kiss Scott without betraying Kristine (and Scott wouldn't be cheating on her). Beta then manipulated the game so that Hailey would have to spin to kiss someone and the spinner would land on Scott. The trick goes off without a hitch (for the most part) and Scott's game. He leans in for the kiss, only for Hailey to realize if she were to kiss him she would want it to mean something, so she pulls away from the kiss and says she quits the game.</p>
<p>That's it. That's the spoiler: Hailey doesn't follow through with the kiss. Super minor, but, again, I don't know who might care about that sort of thing. So I figured I'd play it safe.</p>
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<p>Small little spoiler section this go. Long-and-short of the episode, and the point of me bringing it up in the first place, is that Hailey discovers throughout the course of the episode that she wants her first kiss with Scott to mean something. If she's going to kiss him, it's because he now knows her romantic feelings for him, and, hopefully, returns them.</p>
<p>Therein comes my plot bunny. The more I watch the show, the more I want SCOTT to initiate the kiss. That way he doesn't question it. That way he doesn't think they kissed only because it's one of Hailey's list items that she HAS to complete. Also, that way Hailey doesn't think Scott just went along with the kiss to help her complete the item, since he knows how important crossing an item off her list is.</p>
<p>I have no clue if the creators already know how the kiss is going to happen and who would initiate it. I don't know if they want Hailey to initiate it because it will be an accumulation of the confidence she built while doing the rest of her list. I'm assuming that's how the show is going to go, and I don't hate it. I get it. I'd be game if that's where the show goes.</p>
<p>Still. I really REALLY want it to be Scott to initiate the kiss. So that's my one-shot: Scott lets Hailey know that he sees her in a romantic light, and initiates the kiss. Beta cheers about them FINALLY crossing item number 143 off the list. Hailey confesses that she put kissing Scott on the list way back in fifth grade, but wanted to make sure it meant something when she crossed it off. They talk about her crush and how she stepped out of the way for Scott to be with Kristine, and then talk about Scott developing feelings for Hailey instead. They bond. Beta whines about the "mushy atmosphere" or something. Fluffy little ending.</p>
<p>Oh, and I want the show to NOT wait for "Kiss Scott Denoga" to be the last item Hailey has to cross off. Much like fellow Disney Channel cartoons <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0278866/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Kim Possible</a></i> and <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8050756/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">The Owl House</a></i> (and even ML), I want <i>Hailey's On It!</i> to have a season where Hailey and Scott are dating while they knock off the last of Hailey's list items. I want to see them as a couple, not finish the series with them becoming one. I want to be rewarded for my patience through the slow-burn romance subplot. Which means I may finish my one-shot with a gag list item that Beta is now determined to get Hailey to do since #143 is FINALLY crossed off. Maybe the list item "rollerskate all the way to Orlando [from California]" which is teased in the opening theme song.</p>
<p>Maybe, instead of working on <i>One and the Same</i> or <i>Seduce with Caution</i>, when I meet up with Aurora to work on our writing I'll instead focus on this HOI one-shot. Maybe I'll take a break from ML and work on more HOI fanfic, or branch out to other fandoms. Maybe reconnect with old fandoms like <i>"Hey, Arnold!"</i> or X-Future. Maybe I need to shake things up to finally get my writing mojo back. Who knows?</p>
<p>With any hope, I will have a second November blog post for you fine folks at the end of the month. If I succeed, I have two goals to share in that post: 1) my HOI one-shot, and 2) my annual Giving Thanks list. Maybe focusing on the HOI fandom will inspire me to properly cross off my own goals. Here's hoping.</p>
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</span>LycoRoguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01064253326464685398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6675584297301734651.post-4568910994693728162023-09-30T21:41:00.002-04:002023-09-30T21:41:21.262-04:00Running On 8% Battery<p style="font-family: serif; font-size: 60%;">Est. Read Time: 10 min</p>
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<p>Well. Here we are again, at the end of the month. The last DAY of the month... again. Back half of the day too, no less, and with limited writing time. Normally, I'd be embarrassed or irritated with myself. This month though? I dunno. I guess I'm just too burnt out to care? Sad to say.</p>
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<p>Let's just say that, only 2 months in, 39 has proven itself to be a trying age for me. As I mentioned last month, I finished up July and started August covering for nearly back-to-back vacations my coworkers went on. My manager's daughter was also about to pop any day. Or so we thought.</p>
<p>Manager's Daughter (MD) and Son-In-Law (SIL) don't have much of a community or even in-person support group where they are currently living. Aside from paying for child care, they had no one to watch their toddler once MD went into labor. And since kids aren't allowed in the hospital, that meant SIL would be forced to stay home with their first kid instead of being in the delivery room with his wife. Which meant Manager had a vacation basically "on call" for when her daughter went into labor. She'd then shotgun her vacation time to take five days to watch her grandson while her daughter was in the hospital, recovering, and then bonding with the new baby.</p>
<p>The baby had shifted low in the womb and inverted so she was ready to be birthed way back in August. She wasn't due until mid-September. Everyone was convinced that she was going to come early.</p>
<p>Then August ended. And the first week of September passed. And the second week of September passed. MD was going to doctors appointments practically every four days to see if she was getting any further along. Her due date came and went. Each day my coworker and I would text our manager to see if we needed to come in on our day off so she could go watch her grandson. Each morning she told each of us that she would be working and to not worry about it. It crept closer and closer to the end of the month, and we were ALL getting a bit nervous.</p>
<p>MD was nervous because of all the medical complications that may arise from being over a week past due. Manager was nervous for the same reason, as were my coworker and I, obviously. But we also all had our own (semi-)selfish reasons to be nervous as well. For Manager, she was wondering if she could even take time off anymore to help watch her grandson. Coworker was nervous because she had a wedding to go to yesterday, and she wasn't sure if she'd have to cover for Manager instead. I was nervous because I was scheduled to FINALLY get my own vacation during the first week of October to celebrate my wedding anniversary (and generally just to recover from this summer!). I wasn't sure if my vacation would AGAIN be shortened or otherwise shifted to accommodate me covering for Manager (like it was that first week of December last year).</p>
<p>Then, this past Sunday, Manager waved the white flag. Her daughter hadn't gone into labor yet, but Manager was running out of time that she'd be able to take off without infringing on our requested times off. She decided to take her PTO Monday through Thursday. That way she could be there for her daughter's last check-up before being induced and HOPEFULLY be able to still watch her grandson while her daughter was in labor. All while still being back at work yesterday so my coworker could go to the wedding. Luckily, MD did end up going into labor pretty much first thing Tuesday morning! Manager had her grandson for a few days while her daughter was recovering, and he met his baby sister on Thursday.</p>
<p>Happy ending, but it was one HECK of a stressful September as NO ONE knew what was going on or if we were working; when would we be giving up our days off to help cover Manager's impromptu vacation?</p>
<p>On the plus side, I am FINALLY on my own 6-day vacation, starting today! Woohoo!</p>
<p>(Good thing too, because I was starting to go a bit feral and short tempered this month...)</p>
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<p>Said vacation, and my need to recover since my birthday, are largely why I'm working on this post so late in the day today. I had slept in until noon! I wasn't feeling well last night, so my husband turned off the alarms and let me sleep until I woke up naturally. Guess I was more burnt out than I realized, huh???</p>
<p>Hubby and I spent some time together before I dropped him off at work this afternoon. Then I ran around doing some errands I wanted to get done in preparation for my time off. I then stopped by Hubby's work to have dinner with him while he was on break, limiting my writing time further. A trend that seems to have formed this past year: all of my would-be writing time ends up being interrupted or usurped by some other activity.</p>
<p>Again, normally that would make me cranky and my body itchy as I CRAVE to find time to write. The past few months, though? Well. There's a reason Hubby took over game nights and we switched from <i>Scum and Villainy</i> to D&D. My head has been so empty since May or June.</p>
<p>I've watched the conclusion of <i>Miraculous Ladybug</i> season 5, and that alone usually inspires me: watch <i>Miraculous Ladybug</i>. This season in particular somehow simultaneously has the series' best and worst writing in every single episode. The character arcs and growth were awesome, the actual plot and lore drops were atrocious and would routinely retroactively negate what has already happened in the series and it just....</p>
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<p>For most people, this kind of rage at the source material would inspire them to make "fix-it fics". Stories that allow the author to "fix" whatever it is they feel went wrong in the canon narrative by reworking the narrative themselves. I haven't necessarily written any fix-it fics myself, but I have teased for years now about wanting to do just that with my plot bunny "When Love Matters". Wherein I rewrite the whole series with just one fix: Gabriel Agreste genuinely loves Adrien and is a good father to him. Which means that I've toed with the concept of a fix-it fic a little bit in the past. And yet my frustration with the series didn't even inspire me to attempt a fix-it fic this go....</p>
<p>I'm that far gone and in that desperate need of a break. Here's hoping this week helps me recover enough that my Muse will return to me.</p>
<p>Right now, though? I'm struggling to sit upright to type this post up. I'm lounging on my porch on probably one of the last nice evenings of the year before it starts to get too cold to linger outside too long. The sun is setting. I have lo-fi music playing. I just kind of want to sit on my front porch, close my eyes, and maybe doze a little bit more to the faint sounds of my neighborhood bleeding through my headphones.</p>
<p>I also haven't played <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://animalcrossing.nintendo.com/new-horizons/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Animal Crossing</a></i> in ages. I'm actually dangerously close to the real world time lapping where I left the game. Just a few more weeks and I'll be a year ahead of my island. There's also <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://thunderlotusgames.com/spiritfarer/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Spiritfarer</a></i>, which I also haven't touched in a month or so. Let alone a bunch of other games I either own and haven't started (I'm looking at you, <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://zelda.nintendo.com/breath-of-the-wild/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild</a></i> and <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://zelda.nintendo.com/tears-of-the-kingdom/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Tears of the Kingdom</a></i>) or games I've started but abandoned before finishing them (*cough*<i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Going_Under_%28video_game%29" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Going Under</a></i> and <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ori_and_the_Blind_Forest" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Ori and the Blind Forest</a></i>*cough*).</p>
<p>My To Watch and To Read lists are both so large I literally started up notebooks to list them in to keep track! I haven't touched crocheting in literal years. I have other crafting projects I have mentally sorted out, but haven't managed. My apartment is in desperate need of re-organizing, and Hubby and I have been meaning to fully re-arrange both our kitchen and dining room.</p>
<p>I really don't get the people who leave retirement because they're bored. I could never have enough free time to get through everything I want to do!</p>
<p>Point being, with my brain fried the way it is, and with so many other things - limited interactivity or otherwise mindless-task things - that I could opt to do instead, it is far too easy for me to neglect writing. I feel like I should be ashamed of that, but I'm not. I should mourn that loss, and I do, but only slightly. I do miss telling stories, but who am I telling them to anyway?</p>
<p>I am a writer. I know that to my core. I watch others tell their stories and I desperately want to do the same. I want my players to be just as immersed as the <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.youtube.com/@oxventure" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Oxventurers</a> are when <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8DF056nV-PV52bAmQpiBq5lM17RlHoyD&si=Evhjrx2m65qHsyEs" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Johnny Chiodini runs D&D</a>, or when <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8DF056nV-PUFQbq2TlAzT4BP7pjRhwml&si=EYpBmaABTgj0jq1H" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Luke Westaway runs Blades in the Dark</a>, or, most recently, when <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8DF056nV-PUUx6yNb4LXxnz8AzjOXr_T&si=1pBZ_tLe_OfqpbuX" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Andy Farrant ran Deadlands</a>. (I would also love for there to be an audience outside of the players and have them invested as well, but the key is the player immersement) I want people as invested as Hubby and I were while watching <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.twitch.tv/ray__c" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Ray__C</a> play his characters on <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/NoPixel_Wiki" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">NoPixel</a>, or have other players itch to be as involved in the story being told as those who play with Ray__C seem to be. Even telling the "story" of <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.youtube.com/live/ddYhnKbFJUg?si=ltyq6pywTkXGbzcU&t=22915" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">building a nuclear reactor in Minecraft</a> is something I would love to do. I want to impact people the way professional writers or showrunners have been able to do with their media. I want to take others on a journey the way that I've gone when reading fanfics or fan comics or when I've played video games.</p>
<p>I'll be honest - and this is probably something you've already sorted out - I don't write for myself. Not really. I know I SHOULD. And I do write what *I* want to read, and I do reread my own work fairly frequently. It just feels kind of hollow to me if that's where it ends: me writing a story I want to read, and then I read it.</p>
<p>I have received a few reviews where people rave about my writing, and a small handful of people who have told me that my story has stuck with them and/or they have reread it. Those reviews make me soar. They are my true lifeblood.</p>
<p>It feels so few and far between, though.</p>
<p>I guess I just... I need that COMMUNITY. I need to be seen. I need others to think of me. I need my stories to MEAN SOMETHING to people. I need that interactivity of people leaving comments or writing their own stories that I inspired or drawing fanart or... SOMETHING.</p>
<p>So.... my perpetual struggle for that kind of readership hasn't really helped much with regards to my writing motivation. I'm burnt out, and I don't really have any outside force encouraging me to come back to the page. It's easier for me to turn off my brain, and I seemingly have no exterior reason to fight against that easiness.</p>
<p>Take this blog, for instance. I don't feel guilty about lessening my updates to just once a month. I don't feel guilty about not really having much to say. I don't feel guilty about not having any writing updates. I barely feel guilty about how late this got published. If I hadn't promised myself that I'd publish an update at least once a month, I don't know if I'd even bother anymore (all the more reason why I delay until the last moment to even write these damn updates). Yes, I know there's three of you who will routinely read this blog.</p>
<p>Hi.</p>
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<p>And I don't mean to guilt-trip any of you to be more interactive than you are. But still, I otherwise feel like I'm just screaming into the void.</p>
<p>All year, I've been asking my readers to help me find a new font for my blog (I'm using Kalam again this month, btw). Aside from two comments when I first posed the question in January - my first blog update since October 2021, mind you - my blog has had NO interaction all year. I average about 50 hits (well, 30 per month, and then each post slowly adds the other 20), but not a single comment. And with bots being so rampant online these days who knows if all 50 hits are even people?</p>
<p>My AO3 notifications are slowing down. There's multiple days per week where not a single one of my stories gets a kudos on it, and it's even rarer to get a comment. Maybe once a month? Out of 49 stories? I know it's probably because my fandom is so active that it's hard to even find older content, and I don't post frequently enough to stay towards the top of any search, but still. The fact that I never seem to end up on recommendation threads doesn't help.</p>
<p>I am swallowed up in obscurity, and it's just hard. Ya know? It's hard to fight against that. Especially when so much of my mental energy is used to fight so much else.</p>
<p>I'm hoping this week does help. I truly do. October has a Friday 13th. Maybe I can pick myself up enough to think of a Plagg Appreciation Story. (The boy needs it after the raw treatment he got in the <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladybug_%26_Cat_Noir:_The_Movie" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Miraculous: Awakening</a> movie....) With any luck, some perseverance, a bit of mental recovery, and hopefully some outward encouragement, I could have something to talk to you fine folks about next month.</p>
<p>In the meantime, I'm just trying to recharge.</p>
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<p>Wish me luck.</p>
</span>LycoRoguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01064253326464685398noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6675584297301734651.post-15894637744132550002023-08-31T14:32:00.001-04:002023-08-31T14:32:16.447-04:00August Burnout (Oh, and Bats)<p style="font-family: serif; font-size: 60%;">Est. Read Time: 14min </p>
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<p>Hello, and happy August, everyone! I know, it's not exactly MUCH earlier in the month than I have been publishing. HOWEVER! It is also NOT nearly midnight when I published. So... improvement! Yay!</p>
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<p>After three months in a row of using the Mali font (I did not intend to do that. I forgot to switch to this font last month), I'm back to trying out Kalam to see how I feel about it. After getting semi-used to the Mali font, how does everyone feel about this one? I kind of feel like I'm reading a comic strip, but I also don't necessarily hate that??? Does it miss the "look more mature and 'professional'" mark I've been trying to hit by switching off of the Coming Soon font??? I haven't had a comment on any of my blog posts since January, so I'm not sure how these fonts are hitting. I'd love the input.</p><p>Anyway, as for August thus far. Well....</p>
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<p>My one coworker is a biker, and hit up the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in Sturgis, South Dakota at the start of the month. She left on the 3rd and got back on the 13th. There's only three employees at the place where I work: me, the biker coworker, and our manager (there's more employees within the company, but they work at other locations). As I mentioned last month, due to the small staff, if one of us is on vacation the other two are working straight through it with no days off. It sucks, but we literally don't have the staff to handle vacations any other way without one of us working a multi-level store by ourselves for 8hrs. Plus, the company as a whole is small enough that normal labor laws - which requires at least one day off every Sunday thru Saturday work week - don't exactly apply. So, biker-coworker being gone for 11 days means Manager and I are working those days straight through. Plus, my manager had August 2nd off leading into Biker's vacation. Which means I had the joy of not only working twelve days straight - after working 8 days straight to cover Manager's vacation, and only getting 2 days of recovery before this next long stretch - but I also got to work with Biker on her last day before a long vacation. Clearly, despite promising the contrary, she was fully in Vacation Mode<sup>TM</sup> that last day: focused more on last minute prep work for her flight early the next morning.</p>
<p>Needless to say, by the time my next day off came around on the 14th I just needed to veg. I have been back to my normal work schedule since, which is nice. However, Manager's daughter is expecting her 2nd kid soon, and Manager wants to take at least 5 days off once she does. That way she (Manager) can go watch her toddler grandson for that first week and help around the house while Mom and Dad recover and bond with the new baby. Which means Biker and I will again have a semi-long work week to cover. Also, since it's contingent on the birth of Manager's 2nd grandchild, there isn't really MUCH forewarning as to WHEN this long stretch is going to happen. We just know it's going to be within the next 5 weeks.</p>
<p>Weeeeee.</p>
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<p>On top of all of that, I've also had Projects<sup>TM</sup> at work the past week or so.</p>
<p>Normally, one of the fringe benefits of my job - and one of the reasons having to work 12 days straight isn't TERRIBLE - is that there is a LOT of down time where I can more-or-less do whatever. I can sit and read. I can flip through my socials. My manager likes to play Candy Crush until her phone battery practically dies. Back when I wasn't bogged down with writer's block, I would use this downtime to write. Heck, I'm using some of it right now to work on this blog post!</p>
<p>While I was able to still use some of this downtime earlier this month to work on creative endeavors, which I'll touch upon later, this past week has not left me with much of any downtime at all. If I'm not helping with a customer I am working on spreadsheets or graphic design projects or double checking website accuracy or scanning and retagging the store products or.... herding a bat out of our store......</p>
<p>Yeah. That happened this past Saturday. Randomly, at about 11am, I saw this black blur dash past the office doors. I thought it was the shadow of a pigeon flying past the store's front door, so I didn't really think much of it until a customer alerted me of the rogue bat zipping around trying to find an exit. After the customers that I was ringing up left, I grabbed some Kevlar gardening gloves and a bucket with lid from the maintenance man (he was more inclined to try to kill it, so that's why I took over bat-escort duty). I then set to catch the bat and usher it outside. The thing was QUICK. Just zooming through the first floor at full speed as the poor panicked thing tried to find an escape. Our ceilings are pretty high up, and the bat stayed pretty close to them, so even at its lowest swoop it was still a good foot or two above me. There was just no way I was catching this thing unless it landed.</p>
<p>I tried calling animal control, but they aren't open on the weekends and the outgoing message didn't give a number to call for off-hours assistance. Hoping the bat had worn itself out - which it did - I looked for it again. It had found a dark room to hang from the ceiling within and catch its breath. Problem is, as soon as I noticed where the bat was - which was still WAY too high up for me to reach - I triggered the motion sensor, turning the light on in the room. This instantly startled the bat and it zipped around in a panic again. It shot right past my shoulder as it left the room to try to get away again, but it was too fast for me to even register that it was coming at me. There was no way I would have moved fast enough to have caught it with my bucket.</p>
<p>Thankfully, as it exited the formerly darkened room, it passed the front door. Playing doorman now, I held the door open and called out to it, hoping to catch its attention enough to direct it towards the exit. Kept a minute or two, and the bat near-missing the door about half-a-dozen times, but it finally figured it out and dashed out of the store without fuss. Well, aside from the pigeons that roost above our front door. All of them were like, "Who the heck is this jerk?" as the bat sped past all of their nests in an attempt to find a place to finally go back to sleep. But the bat was their problem now.</p>
<p>Hubby had started up a rewatch of the <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0398417/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">2004 cartoon <i>The Batman</i></a> last week, so I guess it is oddly fitting that this is when I'd have a bat encounter. Funny that it's the 2nd bat encounter - where I was the one who dealt with the bat - in just over a month, however.</p>
<p>Side note: <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005189/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Jason Marsden</a> voices the villain <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefly_%28DC_Comics%29" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Firefly</a> in <i>The Batman</i>. I have always pictured Marsden using a Brooklyn accent as the voice of X-Future character <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://theroguesscribe.blogspot.com/search/label/Devon" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Devon St. James</a>. Marsden's energy coupled with the energy of <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geNMz0J9TEQ" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">The Scout</a> from <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.teamfortress.com/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Team Fortress 2</a></i> just makes me think of Devon every time. The fact that Firefly and Devon are both fire users - Devon can manipulate it via his powers and Firefly uses flamethrowers as weapons - coupled with Marsden voicing this incarnation just makes me picture the character as Devon every time. It's been quite amusing. Anyway! Getting back to my main blog update.....</p>
<p>Outside of the excitement of chasing down a bat, work has been a drudge. My brain is fried. No thoughts. Total burnout. Every time I tried to work on something creative I just got radio static. I spent a lot of my downtime either aimlessly scrolling through my socials or doing mindless tasks I've been meaning to do for a while now. Mostly with regards to picture organizing.</p>
<p>Back when I started up <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.animal-crossing.com/new-horizons/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Animal Crossing: New Horizons</a></i> I realized that there would be parts of this game - by design - that I wouldn't be able to replay/relive. All other games that I had played (with the exception of <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.ea.com/games/the-sims" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">The Sims</a></i>), I could go back, replay the games, and re-experience scenes/dialogue/action sequences/etc. ACNH? Once I've experienced it I've experienced it and then it was gone. Just like in real life (to an extent). That's when I started taking screenshots and the 30sec screen recordings the Switch allows. I was starting to compile them into folders on my computer for me to go back and reflect on how my island used to be; used to look. I could also relive conversations I had with my villagers. Just record as much of my game-island life as I could to look back on later. Some of the villager conversations took longer than 30sec for me to go through, though, and it was clunky to watch half of the convo via one video and half via another. So I started taking screenshots of the recordings and splicing those together into a sort of conversation comic strip. It's also how I've showcased some of these conversations before in this blog.</p>
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<img border="0" data-original-height="1149" data-original-width="2048" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1F3rooStPYut0lQcr7Jz85tcPmeBEb3YJPD5jmiXYKZzV1gbc8E37DBxH64KC_RCYNh-UPnbxK5q8Qol5_iwC7Y3W1BN2kmcjgpv4VNS-zUR7_-DRCg4JDBC3QF0oCthLmlt-Yc4idATrL_AeSJ5kZJWYxddcxGcJUTaH0Tvs_QuU3tpUzcnrY2yq9Ds/w640-h360/May%207%20-%20Maddie%20Wants%20to%20Go%20Viral.jpg" width="640" />
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ooof. Terrible timing there, Maddie. XD</td>
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<p>Deciding to create these "comic strips" of various ACNH scenes that I encountered was truly when things got tedious. I still want to do it though. A lot of effort up front for a nice gift for my Future Self to enjoy later.</p>
<p>It did mean, though, that I couldn't just transfer the images and videos from my Switch to my computer and tuck them in their little folders. Done and done. No. I had turned this endeavor into Projects<sup>TM</sup>!</p>
<p>I did the same thing with the free self-care app I downloaded shy of 18months ago. I'm actually surprised it kept me this long to talk about it. It's called <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://finchcare.com/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Finch: Self Care Pet</a>.</p>
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</a>
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<p>The concept of the app is that you hatch a finch that you can name (and choose a pronoun for between he/she/they). Then you take care of your little "birb" (as the app calls them) by taking care of yourself. The more you use the app for your own self-care the more your birb grows and builds their own personality. As they age you can pick out feather colors to customize them. You can also buy dyes in the in-app shop (using in-app currency that you earn via logging in self-care). Once you have unlocked a color for your birb, you can easily switch between them via your finch's closet. No need to pay in-app currency each time you want to switch up your birb's look. You can also buy clothing and accessories for them to showcase their personalities even further. They also have their own little pet that can accompany them: your app's micro-pet. Your birb can earn a new micro-pet each month by logging in, as well as by completing certain goals you set for yourself. You can also switch through which micro-pet you want to accompany your birb.</p>
<p>I can't recall anymore if I came up with the name or if I went with the one randomly generated when I hatched her, but this is my birb Poki and her little cloud micro-pet Cotton:</p>
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<img border="0" data-original-height="1032" data-original-width="774" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjegw5Ow2puUEWpLnI5UdhIU_p1tobG1eQcoRO8g-5Z36WH0_ozT6SvXGpg24Eky_gbkcrrE3lKOTQWN1b57vS_tV3RZWEVbMp-E3DwQ6Oiryqv2Lpuvs2WGMu61OozGGuiCyJ7oMyIXYduRYdh0dgSSEah33Xb44aLaevtaHle9qXCGu9scCqacSNF1h8/w300-h400/20230829_120643.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="300" />
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<td class="tr-caption" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; text-align: center;">If you're interested in joining the app,
<br />you can use my Friend Code:
<br />XWMEYF4KXA</td>
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<p>Once your birb ages into adulthood (via you interacting with the app), they can start traveling to real-world destinations and learn about the culture there. Poki is currently traversing the Sonoran Desert (mostly within Arizona, USA). She's also travelled to Tokyo, Japan; Bali, Indonesia; Maui, Hawaii (USA); Paris, France; Taipei, Taiwan; and safaried through the Serengeti, Tanzania.</p>
<p>The key feature of the app is your birb going on daily adventures to explore the world and learn from it. It could be something as simple as the easiest way to warm up when it's cold outside, or trying out a new food, or discovering a new song or TV series. It could be something about the area they're exploring, such as how many people live in Tokyo, or what's up with the many faces carved into the Pont Neuf in Paris, or visiting the Tanah Lot Temple in Bali, etc. It could be a thought experiment, such as a preference to be able to rewind time and relive the past vs being able to see the future, or which super power would you like to have, or what element would you like to bend if you are from the world of <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avatar:_The_Last_Airbender" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Avatar: The Last Airbender</a>.</i></p>
<p>You earn energy by checking in with the app and completing either exercises the app provides, or goals you have created for yourself, or just simply journaling. Once you've earned enough energy, you can send your birb out on their daily adventure. You can have them complete their adventure faster by generating more energy. You also earn Rainbow Stones (the in-app currency I mentioned earlier) alongside building up energy. After six hours (or shorter, if you've built up energy while your birb was adventuring), your finch will want to discuss their journey with you. There's two pre-scripted answers you can choose or you can opt to write up your own response. Based on what you picked, your birb will respond in kind. Obviously, it's a bit of a generic non-committal reply if you write up your own response. The app doesn't have writing generators to come up with a response based on what you wrote.</p>
<p>This is the part that I was referencing in conjunction to my ACNH project. The app doesn't save your birb's past adventures to relive outside of noting whether they like or dislike a particular discovery: food, desserts (not sure why it's a separate category), drinks, books, TV shows, movies, songs, games, or activities (such as bathing in an onsen or moon watching).</p>
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<img border="0" data-original-height="5157" data-original-width="2178" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnwRnaooe2hTLI3EPg0Zj3KeVOOfVVlUiSR0p8qNcPjvQAJbwFuYSJnQd3W9n37GMa2OCq_dB29W6aHKYd07uPQ1NyPELzRl23MbNXLMC23JHy7_co3we9OCcbSXFiIDdYRVA6dmeCi9jKRG7L9rBjTJ2uL-nZ0yoqt_PcKgXSob4NecYw7We-eLW7_AE/w270-h640/06.01.23d%20-%20Poki's%20400%20Day%20Info%20pt%204_Drink%20and%20Book%20Discoveries.jpg" width="270" />
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<p>I find the adventure itself, what Poki has to say about it, my different response options, and her reply back to me all adorable. All things I wish to revisit. Much like ACNH, I realized that I would have to record them myself to do so. This results in me taking HUNDREDS of screenshots and then splicing them together so I can later quickly flip through and relive Poki's journeys.</p>
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<img border="0" data-original-height="1848" data-original-width="2170" height="341" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidn230t4ZR08cidoc2q68hWk7MQhZWBWorsRPrEtWsBeCqlUk5DOiXXBomdVeD3kc2Fd2BZ00HiW1o__-Omw81e_getCHqoygsSutj-0XtOGsgxvE8cNL4qqElrEdkmyneRPUtRjSK1mnw_2BJSik9jp-Ztg0vRZkihcWRH5CRxKs0_wsRlgX4W8Qeq84/w400-h341/09.11.22%20-%20Learning%20About%20Nyepi%20Holiday.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" />
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sorry for the blurry image.
<br />It's not this bad on my computer.
<br />Not sure what's up with that. 😅</td>
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<p>Soooooo, yeah. As I mentioned, my brain has been fried, and so I've been using the need for mindless tasks as an excuse to finally get back to my massive backlog of ACNH and Finch images that I've wanted to splice together via <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.gimp.org/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">GIMP</a>. I'm still probably over a thousand images deep for both projects when it comes to backlog. But I did make some progress. So... yay.</p>
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Generated by <b>Bitmoji</b></td>
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<p>Back to that one creative endeavor I did manage this month, though. Yup. Finally circling back around to that. For whatever reason, when I woke up on Saturday, August 19th, I was fixated on my one character <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://theroguesscribe.blogspot.com/search/label/Artie" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Artie</a>. In the past - mostly 2016 - when I talked about Artie, I said that they were still cisfem, but disguised themselves as male for various reasons. They would even purposefully present as female if they felt it would be beneficial to the situation.</p>
<p>Since then, I've felt like Artie was actually the first queer character that I created. I feel like they would definitely use they/them pronouns. I still don't know enough about non-cisgender identities to truly know how Artie would define themselves, so I don't want to canonically say. In one incarnation, Artie still thought of herself as cisfem and did indeed disguise herself as male to better survive in a patriarchal society. In other incarnations? Artie is probably closer to gender neutral? Maybe gender fluid? They don't care if people think of them as male or female. They see the social benefits of both options, and mostly present as one gender or another for those benefits: males aren't questioned on their strength or intelligence, females are allowed to cry or enjoy "cute" things, males are allowed to be a little reckless and exploratory, females tend to have tighter communities to interact with, etc.</p>
<p>The more I thought of Artie while I got ready for work, the more I wanted to introduce them to the world. Back in 2019, I had abandoned this project before finishing my introduction of Lia, but the way Artie was poking at me, I knew I needed to revive my "<a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://lycorogue.tumblr.com/tagged/Meet%20My%20OCs" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Meet My OCs</a>" series on Tumblr. During the aforementioned work downtime on the 19th, I started up the <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://lycorogue.tumblr.com/post/726111891132399617/meet-my-ocs-artie" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">first half of my introduction to Artie</a>. You may notice, if you go through the few blog posts here where I talked about Artie before, that I got some of the details of Artie's early versions wrong in that Tumblr post. Funny how your memory can morph facts. Whoops. I have to say, though, I think what I "remembered" for that Tumblr post feels truer-to-form for how I picture Artie now anyway. Maybe it was always what the character wanted, but I just wasn't ready to have a non-cisgender character yet, so I manipulated the facts for my own benefit.</p>
<p>It kept me another two days, but I did manage to get <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://lycorogue.tumblr.com/post/726282120721563648/meet-my-ocs-artie-part-2-current" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Part 2 of my Meet Artie series</a> published before the close of the weekend. It was fun trying to recreate them on <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.heroforge.com/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Hero Forge</a> and <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://picrew.me/en/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Picrew</a>.</p>
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Generated in Hero Forge</td>
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<img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6tEeSXy8x3JmTPCwRwx4FhxLI0Xiat0Wk0kbSe9ezf6SApojPzgYMfLGv5U1PGaPt0jNs7sAtZdroYlms4qCk_41FIYtw2wLZN-jQembra0o_1KWVdjyKEvBvbe4_AcX9KFG-X37uP_jmTiqqSNjjaM6Fnc-b2jaRscxReKRM_AXUSY4FvZ_fk4meOgs/s320/Picrew%20Maker%20947708.png" width="320" />
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Generated using <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://picrew.me/en/image_maker/947708" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">this maker</a></td>
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<img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgISV7EwonoXmFHWdY_j_nYdOO4e8DxlI0hsBQYsFrXmuXYOeestJ7Ik9rSeKllUG1lyQWxRztNBr2wPuez1p5p4gMLE0fXzhKUj1s07AwSVXz5bmqNdHdRMrAfrhg1opDFOTd3Yqh723F3x_eEY6Vsm3_JokLdrg80B9TSQt1XKK27aHs6Mh1t6b1Quc4/s320/Picrew%20Maker%201990109.png" width="320" />
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Generated using <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://picrew.me/en/image_maker/1990109" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Maker 773</a></td>
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<p>My main problem with Artie is that I have a character that feels interesting to me, but I have no plot for them. As mentioned in those Tumblr posts, Artie was created for a play-by-post roleplay game that fell through. Then I revived them for a one-shot horror-survival game, but we never got past character creation. An <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://theroguesscribe.blogspot.com/2019/09/writing-dystopias-is-my-dystopia.html" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">older post from this blog</a> notes that I tried reviving Artie a third time to write a YA dystopia short story for <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.twitch.tv/ronoxym" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Ronoxym's</a> 30th. The world build alone ended up being five pages long, so I knew that wasn't going to really work out for what I wanted to do, and shelved Artie one more time... in favor of creating <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.fictionpress.com/s/3341100/1/Blame-Fate-for-This" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Colton and Zetelica</a> instead.</p>
<p>I just don't have a specific setting or plot sorted out for Artie. They don't have a "world" like my X-Future/<i>Glitches</i> pseudo-cyberpunk characters do, or my Gyateara fantasy characters. Even Colton and Zetelica have a world: the one I built for Rono's story. Artie? Artie just kind of floats around in my head, popping up now and again to make sure I don't forget they're there. I hope to find a home for them someday. Maybe they'll join Colton and Zetelica in rounding up the spirits of the dead. Maybe I'll import them into <i>Glitches</i> (although, I'm not sure what their powers would be....). Maybe I can find a way of reworking the speculative fiction that originally birthed Artie into fantasy, and they can find a home on Gyateara. Maybe I'll think of a story all for them.</p>
<p>Who knows? It was nice getting them out into the sunlight, though. Maybe it will help me keep them a little closer to the forefront of my mind, and I'll be more inclined to figure out where to put them.</p>
<p>Do any of you have "story-orphaned" characters like Artie? What do you do with them? Were you able to "rehome" them eventually?</p><p>While my mind still ponders what to do with Artie, I hope that September brings a bit more mental recouping so I can get back into actual story writing. It's been a while, and clearly I missed my initial goal to have at least one chapter of <i>Seduce With Caution</i> published by August 2023. Bully me, peeps! Keep me on track! Have me hunker down and FOCUS on this story. I have so many WIPs piled up. It would be nice to finally take one off the pile, you know?</p>
<p>Anyway, until next time!</p>
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</span>LycoRoguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01064253326464685398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6675584297301734651.post-22532943294545744782023-07-31T23:27:00.003-04:002023-08-01T20:30:00.068-04:00The Conclusion of CB vs RUST... Oh yeah... and I wrote Stuff, Too<p style="font-family: serif; font-size: 60%;">Est. Read Time: 34min (8min if you don't read the conclusion of the Raymond vs Lang NoPixel saga)</p>
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<p>Hoooooo boy! I'm- I'm getting later and later with these monthly blog posts. Aren't I? Talk about under the wire, huh?</p>
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<p>First of all, this month's font is back to Mali. I'm still trying to sort out which one I like best. So, yet again, I open the floor to you fine folks. Feel free to let me know below what you think about this font vs others I've shown off this year.</p>
<p>As for what happened this month, the start of July was a touch busy... obviously, with Independence Day on the 4th. Then I didn't really have any writing to talk about yet, so I didn't really have much to even say. Then I DID do some writing, but because I was doing said writing I didn't have the extra time to also work on my blog. Then, the back end of July has been a bit chaotic.</p>
<p>I had my nephew's birthday, my birthday, and then a straight eight-day work week with the coworker that annoys me while my manager took a vacation. Today is my first day off as a 39yo. I have a second day tomorrow. Then I'm at work for another THIRTEEN days straight as my annoying coworker is on HER vacation (she hasn't even been with the company for a year yet).</p>
<p>Meanwhile, heaven forbid I ask for a long weekend three times a year....</p>
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<p>If anyone says anything about MY ten-day vacation at the end of the year so I can celebrate Hubby's 40th they can fight me.</p>
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<p>Let's be a bit more positive though. As I've mentioned, I did write something this month. TWO things, actually. Sadly, I didn't note what had inspired me, so I can't relay that over, nor can I use that information to try to re-inspire me to keep going. Not the most brilliant move on my part. Whoops. But, on the 15th I was just STRUCK with a desire to write. I still couldn't really sort out chapter 4 (let alone the next chapter) of <i>Seduce With Caution</i>, so I decided to just jump ahead.</p>
<p>It was time to get into the meat-and-potatoes of the story. Why I started writing it in the first place. I jumped into Act II. Specifically, I figured it was time to get to the conflict of Act II.</p>
<p>Sorry, Mom. This story WAS originally a smut story, so... I wrote the foreplay and the actual smut this month.</p>
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<p>For those of you who don't wish to know how far down the adult-content rabbit hole I went (or those who want to avoid vague story spoilers), you might want to jump ahead to the All Clear Bitmoji.... For the rest of you, feel free to read on. I promise I don't get explicit. This isn't the place for it. Plus, I don't want to give away too many spoilers to my story. It IS going to talk about me writing sex scenes though... soooooooo.... yeah.</p>
<p>The main conflict of Act II is the fact that Marinette and Chat Noir feel comfortable enough in their relationship and committed enough to each other to lose their virginity to each other. The problem there though is that Chat Noir literally can't. His superhero costume is magical and designed to not be able to be removed. Which means he can't disrobe or even expose himself in order to have sex. Not without de-transforming. Trick there though is that Marinette would then know who Chat Noir was. Chat Noir does offer that as a solution at one point, but Marinette is adamant that he CANNOT let her know who he is. For everyone's safety.</p>
<p>Chat Noir is a touch relieved that the only way for the two of them to have sex is for him to de-transform. He figures that would mean that Marinette would only sleep with him if she knew who Chat Noir was; that she'd know she was having sex with her close friend Adrien. He was feeling guilty that she wouldn't know that fact about her lover.</p>
<p>This initial conflict was the first thing I wrote, back on the 15th. Over 3200 words! Not bad for the first narrative I've written since late May.</p>
<p>The incomplete chapter - I still feel like I need to set up the opening a touch more - starts off with a make-out session. The two are getting pretty into it when Chat Noir's costume blocks them from going any further. Chat Noir laments the design choices he made when initially creating the costume. Marinette comments on his inability to take it off. Chat Noir offers to just reveal who he is to her. It would solve their problems with his costume, and help ease his concerns about her not knowing who he is. They get into a lengthy conversation about it. Marinette tries to reassure Chat Noir. It doesn't fully convince him, but it comforts him enough for them to get back into making out. Things get pretty heated, and he is again blocked by his costume. In frustration, he apologizes to Marinette and then leaves to think things through.</p>
<p>Jump ahead a couple of days, and to the last/penultimate chapter of Act II. Marinette has found a solution to Chat Noir's inability to remove his costume problem. She's also reassured him about the whole "don't know Chat Noir's identity" issue. There was some miscommunication between the two of them for a little bit, that made them question their relationship briefly. Then we get to the chapter I wrote: the actual smut in my "smut story".</p>
<p>Chat Noir just revealed that he's ready for their first time, and has utilized Marinette's solution for his costume problem. He's worried that she feels pressured to reciprocate. She reassures him that she's ready as well, and they stumble their way through their first time together. They have a talk about consent and promise to tell each other what they do and don't like to make sure they are as comfortable as possible. There's some awkwardness. Some laughing. Some bashfulness. Some redirection as some things didn't feel good. Classic first time stuff.</p>
<p>I still have the second half of their first time to write, but where I left it feels like a good chapter break. As it stands, the chapter is over 3300 words. Do I keep going so that their first night together is the last chapter of Act II? Or do I break it up into a sort of two-part final chapter, that way I can write half from Marinette's POV and the other half from Adrien's? I'm kind of leaning towards that second option.</p>
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<p>Okay. If you were one of the people who skipped over my discussion of what I wrote this month, fear not. I am done describing. The non-lewd highlights are that I wrote the majority of two different chapters, both taking place in Act II. The first one I wrote on July 15th, and it consists of over 3200 words. The second one I wrote two days later, and that one got to 3300+ words! I go from writing virtually nothing for WEEKS, and then I crank out roughly 6600 words in two days!</p>
<p>On top of the random internal motivation to write this month, I got a nice external boost earlier this week. Remember the local writing group I went to for three or four years prior to the pandemic hitting in 2020? I've transitioned to "mostly online friends but we still talk fairly frequently" with one of the members: <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.tumblr.com/skarabrae-stone" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Skarabrae-stone</a>. Last Wednesday, they tagged me in a Tumblr "challenge" to list all of our WIP titles. I'm sure there's some that I missed, but here is <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://lycorogue.tumblr.com/post/724025801222258688/wip-title-tag-game" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">my list of WIPs</a> that I had posted the following day. Turns out, if I count WIPs I probably won't return to - such as the 365 Days of Writing challenge and <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.twitch.tv/ronoxym" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Ronoxym's</a> Flash Fiction challenge - I'm up to 24 WIPs! That's stories I've started at least world-building in! It's a much longer list if I include plot bunnies as well!</p>
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<p>Not only did Skarabrae tag me in the game in the first place, but <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://lycorogue.tumblr.com/post/724117401400131584/seduce-with-caution-sounds-interesting" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">they then asked me to talk more about <i>Seduce With Caution</i></a>. Naturally, I had to laugh a little because I have a full-on tag on my blog of nothing but me ranting, raving, gushing, and pulling my hair out because of this story! Gave me yet ANOTHER chance to gush about it though. Easier to do after actually working on it this month. Despite not being in the <i>Miraculous Ladybug</i> fandom, Skarabrae still found the concept intriguing, and offered to be a sounding board, should I need it.</p>
<p>Well, of COURSE I had to take them up on the offer! I sent them the master file I have, as well as those two chapters I wrote this month. We'll see what comes of that.</p>
<p>On the flipside, I did offer to be their sounding board for their many projects. I just need to figure out which one intrigues me enough to ask them to elaborate on.</p>
<p>Actually, I have quite a few people to send asks to. Part of the tag game was to tag as many people as you have WIPs. I do NOT know 24 different writers on Tumblr, but I did get about half-way there: 14 people! Already three of the people I've tagged have played along. Off of those 3 people, 5 others have played. Lots of intriguing titles!</p>
<p>Along those lines, I don't know if I simply tagged my answer to Skarabrae's ask just the right way to catch attention, or if some of the people who saw the tag game decided to check in to see if I was asked about any of the WIPs listed, or if I lucked out that the <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10364034/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_7_nm_1_q_miraculou" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank"><i>Miraculous Ladybug</i> movie</a> hit Netflix this Friday and people were craving some MariChat content, or if I just plain old lucked into catching attention this weekend. Regardless, that answer I gave to Skarabrae about SWC was liked by them and one other person whom I know follows me. Then there were six other people who liked it as well!? I've checked to see if they were bots, since they are prevalent on Tumblr. All of the blogs that liked my post seem legit though....</p>
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<p>Sooooo.... yeah! Between my own internal motivation getting me excited about this story again, and Skarabrae stoking the fire (excuse the pun???), and just... random ML fans also seemingly intrigued by my concept... Maybe I'll actually get more writing done for this story this upcoming month.</p>
<p>After all, August has been, historically, my "Smut Month" for whatever reason... the summer heat, maybe?</p>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>2016: Work on <i>Some Like It Flame Broiled </i>and <i>Rensin's Conquest</i></li>
<li>2018: Rework of <i>Some Like It Flame Broiled</i></li>
<li>2019: Write and publish <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/19642879" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Sparks for the Moment</a></i> (written in July, not August, but still summer!), ANOTHER rework of <i>Some Like It Flame Broiled</i> and rework on <i>Rensin's Conquest</i></li>
<li>2020: Start work on <i>Seduce With Caution</i></li>
<li>2021: Complete restart of <i>Seduce With Caution</i></li>
</ul>
<p>So... uh... here's hoping August works its magic again????</p>
<p>Along with the writing I did this month, there was also the two D&D sessions that Hubby hosted. We're all still trying to figure out our characters, but it's been fun stumbling our way through it.</p>
<p>My character Aubrianne has turned out to be a bit... naïve to the ways of the world. She has a good heart, but doesn't quite consider the full consequences. She just rushes in to try her best against any and all challenges; doing what she can to help people. It's caused... interesting results.</p>
<p>The set-up Hubby created for our characters to all meet each other is a festival. Each of the nine regions of the continent take turns hosting a festival showcasing the collective nobility: the Parade of Princes. The region all of our characters are from is the one hosting the festival this month. We have each ventured to the capital in order to attend. After the first event of the festival, Aubrianne has grown a crush on Prince Benson Foxly from the neighboring region. She knows her place as a commoner though, and won't act upon her feelings. She also doesn't want to root against her own prince during the festivities, so her rooting for Benson is in secret... while also rooting for her own prince (and the crowned prince of the realm) as boisterously as possible.</p>
<p>I don't have TOO much to report with regards to our gameplay quite yet. Like I said, we're still just kind of feeling out our characters. So Hubby's been fairly gentle with us the first two games. We're supposed to officially party up for our first real quest next Monday. We'll see how that goes.</p>
<p>With regards to my own creative endeavors, that's all I really have to report. I truly am hoping to have both more to talk about next month and the ability to post sooner than 11:30pm on the last day of the month.</p>
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<p>Now, I was going to leave this last part out since it is MASSIVE. Plus, it kept me far too long to put together (when I could have been working on other projects). On top of that, it's not even about my own writing. However, I had already spent the past two months talking about the <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/NoPixel_Wiki" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">NoPixel</a> conflict storyline between <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Raymond_Romanov" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Raymond Romanov</a> and <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Lang_Buddha" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Lang Buddha</a>. I felt like I owed it to you guys to at least finish recapping the story. That way, if there are people who were interested in what was going on, I don't leave them hanging.</p>
<p>Also... well... the part about my own writing and creativity this month, while more than it has been for months, still only took up roughly an 8min read. Didn't felt worth publishing a blog post with "only" 2000+ words.</p>
<p>That being said... the "recap" of the final couple weeks of the conflict is still roughly a 25min read in and of itself! Which is why I saved it till the end. If you decide to pull the ripcord now, I do not blame you. Thank you for taking the time to read this far. I appreciate you so much. I hope to see you again next month!</p>
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<p>For everyone else: strap in. This is gonna take a hot minute....</p>
<p>Honestly, when the Raymond vs Lang drama on NoPixel died down my husband and I used it as a good time to cut the cord with <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.twitch.tv/ray__c" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Ray__C's streaming</a>. We enjoy him greatly, but the man streams for 10+ hours nearly every day! That's... that's just way too much content to keep up with! And it's also way too much content to just sort of jump in mid-way, as evidenced by this unexpected 3-part segment I have had on my blog. So, with Ray, it seems to be kind of all-or-nothing. And we needed a break. Thankfully, he took a break as well. Since he would be in Paris anyway for <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TwitchCon#2023" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Twitchcon Europe</a>, he met up with a few of the people who play RUST members, and they went been backpacking through Europe. He got back on the 18th, but Hubby and I are almost afraid to check in on the storyline now....</p>
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<p>All that said, I'm not entirely sure what the true end of the saga is; if it continues past the point that I'm recapping. However, it felt pretty complete. Kind of an anticlimatic conclusion, but you could tell the roleplayers were getting tired with the storyline and wanted to move on. So I'll give them a pass. The whole thing WAS improvised, after all.</p>
<p>Now, even an abridged version of this saga is pretty lengthy, and I already went over most of it last month. So, please feel free to reread <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://theroguesscribe.blogspot.com/2023/06/found-family-feud.html" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">last month's post</a> to catch yourself up on some of the more nuanced details. For this month's recap I'm just doing couple-sentence long highlights.</p>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Ray__C's character Raymond Romanov was a member of the CLeanbois; a gang created by <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.twitch.tv/buddha" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Buddha's</a> character Lang Buddha. Raymond also considered Lang a brother, and the CLeanbois (CB) as his family. CB lived in the in-game mansion dubbed CLean Manor.</li>
<li>Lang went on to create Cerberus, a parent company for all of his many businesses (where he tends to host criminal activities). Raymond and CB co-founder <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Tony_Corleone" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Tony</a> jointly created the street racing team Redline. Raymond created the gang Raymond's Unfortunate <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Scuffed" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Scuff</a> Team, aka RUST.</li>
<li>RUST was given their Golden Rule: Don't mess with Raymond's 1st found family, the CLeanbois. The city knew Lang's Golden Rule: Don't cause problems on his property. Unfortunately, a few RUST members were a bit unclear as to where those lines laid.</li>
<li>Lang wanted to punish Raymond's in-game adopted son <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Maxine_Celsius" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Maxine</a> and new RUST member <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Kate_Myles" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Kate</a> for kidnapping a Rooster's Rest customer who had bad-mouthed their gang (the kidnapping wasn't the issue, but they did so while still on Rooster's property). Lang and his right hand man <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Harry_Brown" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Harry</a> threatened to hunt down Maxine and Kate.</li>
<ul>
<li>Raymond blamed Lang's lack of leniency - especially considering RUST had already punished both Maxine and Kate - on Rooster's Rest CEO <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Penny_Farthing" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Penny</a> whispering lies about the situation into Lang's ear.</li>
</ul>
<li>A couple of days later, Lang requested that Raymond bring Maxine to CLean Manor for a parley. Raymond and Maxine were then ambushed by Lang, Harry, and Lang's oldest friend <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Arush_Patel_Santana" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Speedy</a>. Raymond was tranquilized, Maxine was kidnapped with threat of torture and execution, and a fire fight between CB and RUST ensued.</li>
<ul>
<li>Reminder that on NoPixel characters don't actually stay dead after "executions" unless the player wants to permanently kill off the character. Regardless, the threat is still very much roleplayed with the appropriate gravitas as if it were a permeant death.</li>
</ul>
<li>After the shootout, Lang told Raymond that they were through. Raymond wasn't a CLeanboi anymore. The Manor wasn't his home anymore. Lang no longer considered Raymond a brother any longer. Still, Raymond refused to outright betray Lang to the cops despite having more than enough dirt to get Lang locked up for life and the cops stressing this fact to him.</li>
<li>Raymond and RUST decided to retaliate against Lang by hosting a free food truck event in the public street just outside of The Rooster's Rest. Penny was forced to close down the restaurant since they didn't have customers. Lang, Harry, Speedy, and fellow CB member <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Denzel_Williams" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Denzel</a> tried to stop the week-long food truck event. They shot at event goers, hijacked one of the trucks, and dropped helicopters onto the event.</li>
<li>RUST managed to kidnap Speedy, and got into another shoot-out with Lang, Harry, and Denzel. In a panic, Raymond tried to get Lang, Harry, and RUST member <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Connell_MacGregor" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">MacGregor</a> some off-the-books medical attention. The cops kept finding them before the doctor could meet up with them, however. When the doctor was finally able to reach them, stressed out RUST member <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Bruno_Brown" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Bruno</a> held her at gunpoint to make sure MacGregor was stabilized first. He then accused Raymond of prioritizing CB over RUST. Bruno and MacGregor then nearly left the gang, either of their own volition or by being ousted for insubordination.</li>
<li>Seeking revenge, RUST tried blowing up cars at Cerberus. Harry's adoptive son <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Zaceed_Skengerton" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Zaceed</a> managed to ambush them, and Cerberus CEO <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Nancy_Drew" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Nancy</a> called the cops on RUST, causing both a shoot-out and a police chase. During which, Lang got into his armored car and started hunting down RUST members that got away from the cops. Raymond tried to tell the cops that RUST couldn't surrender because "that armored car is shooting at them!" The cops spiked Raymond's tires, ending the chase and arresting all involved RUST members; Lang, being the mayor during this whole conflict, and his associates went scot-free.</li>
<li>Raymond asked for another parley. He was instantly disrespected and threatened, and the parley ended before he could even start negotiating for a truce. Enraged, Raymond gave the go-ahead for his second-in-command <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Seano_Blackthorne" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Chem</a> (short for his street-name: The Chemist) to follow through with his "Dark Knight" plan. Despite wanting to kidnap Nancy and Penny, as revenge for their parts in the war, RUST ended up grabbing Nancy and fellow Deputy Mayor <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Eve_Summers" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Eve</a>.</li>
<li>Cops and Lang were able to find RUST before they could execute Plan: Dark Knight. There was a long chase and then a Last Stand fire-fight on a highway overpass. The fire fight ended up taking down something like 8 members (??) of RUST along with their opposition: Nancy, Eve, Harry, Lang, and 20 out of the 22 cop characters that were logged on at the time!!!</li>
<li>Four out of the six RUST High Command (including Raymond) were jailed and put on HUT (Hold Until Trial). Their HUT lasted nearly a week.</li>
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<li>Raymond spent the time interacting with his three lawyers - <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/James_Haze" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">James Haze</a>, <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Grace_Daniels" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Grace Daniels</a>, and <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Maya_Mahmoud" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Maya Mahmoud</a> - as well as some "Lifers" (characters with a prison life sentence, and so the players exclusively roleplay within the prison).</li>
<li>RUST was charged with Coop's Law, a very rarely used in-game rule to put away characters that prove a repeat threat to civilians. It was a way for early NoPixel to combat the <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.techopedia.com/definition/1916/griefer" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Griefers</a> that other GTAOnline servers suffered. Along with jail time, the Coop's Law charge was seeking a 5 million dollar fine from Raymond and 1 to 2.5 million dollars each for the rest of RUST.</li>
</ul>
<li>Despite Tony promising Raymond that he would stay neutral in the war between CB and RUST, he planted a spy camera in the prison visitation room for Lang. He also brought back intel that RUST was about 20min from getting a bail hearing. Enraged at the prospect that Raymond might get out of jail, Harry - unmasked - ran into the visitation room and shot down RUST hang-around and prospective member <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Nana_Banana" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Nana</a>, RUST high command member <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Achez_Perez" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Perez's</a> in-game girlfriend <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Cassie_Miller" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Cassie</a>, and two out of Raymond's three lawyers.</li>
<ul>
<li>Suspecting Tony was somehow involved in the shooting, an enraged Perez threatened him. When Raymond yelled at Perez for doing so and told him to not touch Tony, Perez called Tony back up to instead threaten Redline's 2nd in command (and Tony's ex-boyfriend) <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Octavio_Stenberg" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Goofy</a>, assuming it would be the equivalent of going after RUST's visitors at the prison.</li>
<li>With 2 out of his 3 lawyers recovering in the hospital and his 3rd one not "awake" (logged on), Raymond had to postpone his bail hearing. Once his lawyers could be present, Raymond and the other HUT RUST members (excluding Perez) were given a long police escort to the courthouse.</li>
<li>Perez wasn't properly put on HUT, and when the game mechanics allowed him to leave the prison early the cop characters roleplayed that it was a prison break. Perez was instantly captured, placed back in jail, and listed ineligible for bail.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<p>Okay. So, that's just everything that happened between mid-May (the kidnapping from Rooster's Rest) and early-June (Harry shooting up the prison visitors)! Sadly, due to how crazy-busy Hubby and I were the back half of June, we weren't able to watch Ray__C as much. Which means there's a lot of daily events that I ended up missing, but we'll see how much of the back end of this saga I can recap for you fine folks.</p>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Raymond, Chem, and fellow RUST high command member <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Tane_Mahuta" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Kiwi</a> were able to get bail. Bail was originally set for the $5million that Raymond was charged with along with Coop's. However, since Raymond was able to convince the judge that RUST was under possible attack and would need to protect themselves, the judge just set the bail at $4million and allowed Raymond to use the last million dollars towards hiring bodyguards. The bail conditions included Raymond not getting drunk (so his character can't consume anything listed as alcohol), not being in possession of a firearm (originally it was all weapons, but then the judge thought it would be funny if Raymond had a knife to defend himself against people trying to shoot him), staying off of all Cerberus properties (which Lang had already banned him from anyway), and not interacting with Cerberus employees directly. Raymond, Chem, and Kiwi would also be considered accessories if any RUST members broke any laws while they were on bail.</li>
<li>With nothing better to do that wouldn't break bail, most of the next day was spent at the RUST compound with Raymond's security detail and taking meetings. Two RUST members had purposefully attempted to stay neutral in the CB vs RUST war since they technically worked for Cerberus (exceptions to Raymond's bail condition since they are RUST members). While Raymond talked with them, they joked about getting him civilian jobs within Cerberus. One such job is Dodo Freight: you sign in at the warehouse and then drive a box truck around the city to various delivery points marked on your map. You drop boxes off at those delivery spots, and then go back to the warehouse to return the truck. Upon returning the truck you get paid. Aside from a pseudo-freelance job as a flight instructor, Raymond had never held a civilian job before, making nearly all of his money off criminal activity. He joked that this is the perfect time – when he's being hunted and a security detail is trying to keep him safe – to try his first Dodo run. You could instantly tell how exasperated the head of the security company (<a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Solomon_Walker" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Solomon</a>) was by this SBS* play (but you could also tell that the player was having fun with this kind of roleplay because it was more interesting than having his character just stand around the ScrapYard for hours on end). Raymond even upped the SBS ante by also taking a selfie of himself in uniform in front of the Dodo warehouse and the box truck he was driving. He than twatted** out that he's trying his first ever Dodo run and included the selfie.</li>
<ul>
<li>*SBS is short for "small brain syndrome". Basically, it refers to people who can't think of (or refuse to consider) the big picture or the consequences of their actions (such as purposefully putting oneself in danger by publicly announcing one is about to do a delivery run while being actively hunted); situations that are dumb for the sake of being silly, goofy, and dumb/entertaining; or the inability to keep up with a semi-complicated conversation/plot.</li>
<li>**Twatter is the in-game version of Twitter (now rebranded as X), therefore "twat" is the in-game version of "tweet".</li>
</ul>
<li>The whole day was just that sort of SBS casual, goofy role play.</li>
<ul>
<li>Buddha (the player) is now the CEO of NoPixel, and used his administrative powers to have Lang pack up Raymond's stuff from the Manor and send it to the RUST compound via box truck.</li>
<li>Whenever something suspicious happened within or around the RUST compound Raymond – out of reflex – was the first to poke his head out and check on it, only to be IMMEDIATELY reprimanded by Solomon and shooed out of sight.</li>
<li>Sometimes NoPixel players try to recreate reality TV shows or "the losers die" drama 'reality shows', such as the South Korean hit <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squid_Game" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Squid Game</a></i>. The week after Raymond was released on bail the city was hosting a "Survivor"-like game, and Raymond wanted to try out for it. He was told by his friend <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Kermy_Fulker" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Kermy</a> that he needed an audition tape, so they went to the airport Raymond freelances at, and rented a military plane to fly in for the opening shot of his audition tape. Raymond then forgot to lower the landing gear, and ended up blowing up both the plane and Kermy's car (with Kermy inside). Solomon playfully asked if Raymond offering to teach his team how to fly earlier was a joke and noted that his team shouldn't be at fault for Raymond's injuries since they could only save him from himself for so long.</li>
<li>While Raymond was waiting for Kermy to record his audition tape for "Survivor" Raymond ran into <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Jagger_Gerardy" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Chatterbox</a>, the head of the Clowns (a Joker-esque gang). Chatterbox told Raymond that they have a common enemy: Lang Buddha. He then told Raymond he had a fantastic plan. He knew that the best way to hurt Lang isn't to go after him specifically but to instead go after his loved ones, and then Chatterbox proceeded to relay the "Dark Knight Plan" over to Raymond with a straight face (clearly the player had watched some of RUST's streams and saw their "Dark Knight Plan" and decided to have his character relay it over to Raymond word-for-word and act like it was his original idea.) Raymond was like "uuuuh, I'll have to get back to you about that" since it was the failed plan that resulted in the highway fire fight and RUST getting HUT. He then talked to one of his RUST members who told him, "You know Chem got that idea from The Joker, right? And The Clowns are related to The Joker? We basically stole the idea from them..."</li>
</ul>
<li>The last day before the trial, Raymond continued the SBS roleplay, starting with another Dodo run (complete with selfie and twat again). The first stop (which is randomly generated when you start the job) was the building across the street from the Rooster's Rest, funny enough! So, of course, everyone was extra on edge while Raymond was purposefully chill and a little slow with making his box drop-offs. The next stop was right next to Betta Life, the Cerberus business that <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Kitty_Dream" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Kitty</a> (Raymond's ex and Goofy's wife) runs. The third stop was near the <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Yokai" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Yokai</a> house, which had Ray on edge because Yokai had just declared war against Redline (Kate promised to stay neutral since she's a member of the Yokai racing team). The war between Yokai and Redline meant a lot of gun fire and cars zipping around, and neither Raymond nor his security detail could confirm if everything was related to the street race war or if any of it was aimed at Raymond. Thankfully, the last 2 stops were less eventful before Raymond finished the job at the warehouse. When he went to pull up to the warehouse the security detail warned that the parking lot was swarmed by people waiting for Raymond. Thankfully, it turned out to all be RUST and Redline members. Raymond had texted Tony earlier asking for a one-on-one meeting to talk about what happened at the prison. Redline was there to let Raymond know that Tony was "awake" and waiting for him.</li>
<li>Raymond went to the meeting, accompanied by his 6 security guards, who refused to stay outside the meeting room despite Tony's request. Raymond compromised by having his security wait in the back of the room, by the only entrance. That way they could keep him safe - as is their job - but they would be too far away from the actual meeting to listen in. The only other people in attendance were the two RUST members that worked for Cerberus, and that was because they were higher-ups in Redline and were there as mediators. There was also a side room with the door closed and marked as locked that got Raymond and the guards all on edge. The way Tony was acting during the meeting made it hilariously obvious that Lang, Harry, Denzel, and/or Speedy* were in that side room listening in. Especially since Raymond was purposefully calling Harry a lapdog and a POS, and every time Raymond badmouthed Harry Tony would speak loudly about how amazing Harry is and how Raymond should watch his mouth, only to then talk soft and normal again the next sentence (so he clearly wasn't getting mad, he was just covering). The biggest bit of drama during that meeting was Kitty - another Redline higher-up - about to go feral because Goofy was threatened by RUST and she felt disrespected by the security guards because they refused to leave the private meeting room or present her with IDs. Raymond was able to more-or-less smooth things over to the point where Tony and Redline might actually be neutral this time, but Tony was given a warning that if he is even remotely tied to Lang and company's attacks on RUST Raymond wasn't going to hold his boys back again.</li>
<ul>
<li>*turns out it was indeed Lang and Speedy in the side room listening in. Lang was also texting Tony during the meeting to see if it was safe to ambush Raymond again. Thankfully, they never had a clear opening this go. Probably because of the security team.</li>
</ul>
<li>Raymond then had a few more meetings at the RUST compound. During one of those meetings, the one character that Raymond was interacting with was very squirrelly: “Why do you have a security team? Is it safe to talk to you if someone is trying to kill you? Why is your meeting room lined with open windows!?”* As they were talking, Raymond glitched. The world vanished around him and the character model looked like it was flailing while falling into a void. When the character “resurfaced” he spawned in the parking lot back at the Redline compound he met Tony at. Despite not leaving on the best of terms with Redline, Raymond was just like, “Uh... can one of you drive me back to the RUST compound?” Thankfully, a RUST member was still there and brought him back to the ScrapYard. Raymond's security detail was wondering where he went and he needed to explain the situation and warn them what car he was in so they could get back into the compound. When Raymond got back to the squirrelly guy he was meeting with, the guy was like, “WHAT HAPPENED!? DID LANG GET TO YOU!?” Raymond joked that it is possible now that Lang “has these new powers he is still trying out.”**</li>
<ul>
<li>*the windows are purely decorative. You can't snipe someone through windows, the game literally won't allow it, but a lot of role players still act as if it were possible since it would be IRL</li>
<li>**Ray was probably referencing Buddha's new admin privileges now that he's CEO of the server. Especially since, when someone glitches like that, they tend to respawn where their game was last stable; usually somewhere only about 10min back in their gameplay. The fact that Raymond spawned in a semi-hostile area that he was at over an hour before did bring into question if Buddha was messing with Ray__C.</li>
</ul>
<li>The trial was the next day, and took over two real-time hours to roleplay through! I have to admit, it was kind of rough to watch as a Ray__C fan.</li>
<ul>
<li>He had to remind his chat multiple times that his lawyers are PLAYING lawyers and are not ACTUAL lawyers. His chat was getting so toxic and overly invested as they screamed about (a) his lawyers throwing, (b) the persecution's lawyer overly objected to everything, (c) half of the evidence against RUST being game mechanics that can't be roleplayed into the narrative, and so it shouldn't be included, and (d) all of the witness testimony was a waste of time.</li>
<li>Most of the persecution's witnesses straight up lied, but since the cops had been sweeping evidence against Lang under the rug the defense lawyers had nothing to prove perjury. One such lie was linking RUST to the multiple explosions at Rooster's Rest*. When it was Raymond's turn to testify, since the character has ALWAYS been vague and noncommittal when talking to cops, he defaulted to never mentioning anyone by name and answering with "I believe" or "I was informed" which turned most of his testimony into hearsay despite him literally being there to witness the events. Finally, the DEFENSE, for some unknown reason, called Zaceed (Harry's son and main aggressor along with Harry and Speedy in all of these conflicts) as THEIR witness. The prosecutor interjected with, "I would like to remind the witness of his 5th Amendment rights..." and Zaceed was like, "Nah, I'm good" only to then respond to every question with "I can't recall". Even for the question "Is Harry Brown your father," Zaceed was so far into the bit at that point that he just broke out laughing and choked out, "I can't recall."</li>
<ul>
<li>*The "explosions" were actually Lang accidentally crashing the cargobob after hijacking a food truck, and Lang et. al. dropping helicopters onto the food truck event. However, since RUST was hosting said event, both of those instances were used as evidence against RUST with regards to putting "average citizens" in danger.</li>
</ul>
<li>The guy playing the judge did try to lighten up everyone's time during the trial and brought in a lot of humor to the proceeding. He also attempted to rein everything in as much as possible so as to not waste everyone's time (both the players and the viewers).</li>
<ul>
<li>At one point the persecution was trying to push back against Raymond's claim that he was tranquilized at CLean Manor (something that 100% happened) because there was a game-mechanic glitch that didn't include "tranquilized" as a status affect Raymond had on him when the cops found him. This is just one example of those "that's a game mechanic and can't be used as evidence" instances. The judge walked over to Raymond, held out his gun, and asked him "were you tranquilized?!" Raymond instantly shouted, "yes," and the judge put the gun away saying, "he was tranq'd. Let's move on."</li>
<li>Due to how chaotic and jumbled the trial was (<a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAxs4_hUO7g" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">you can watch the trial via Ray's YouTube channel</a>), the judge had to take 24hrs to deliberate. His main concern was the use of Coop's Law. While it would apply, it's kind of a shitty call to slap it on a character instead of using it as punishment for poor roleplaying.</li>
</ul>
<li>In the end, the judge did agree that it was a back-and-forth between RUST and Cerberus, but that doesn't forgive RUST for their crimes. He found them guilty, and convicted them under Coop's Law. He then declared that RUST would be THE LAST people to be convicted under Coop's. The law would be erased from the penal code. Instead, a new law - one that has semi-less vague wording - would take its place. A law pushed forward by Lang as one of his final acts as mayor: Restricting Undesireable Serial Targetings Act (or the RUST act). The RUST Act was designed to enact "harsher punishments against criminals who commit targeted violence against civilians and commercial entities." [from Lang's <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Lang_Buddha?so=search#Events" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Events: Mayoralship</a> page]</li>
<ul>
<li>Raymond was sentenced 2 years in prison and 5 years on parole. In the case of penal sentences, each "year" is a real-world day. So, 2 more full days of his character in jail, and then 5 days of his character acting under parole.</li>
<li>Much like when the RUST members were on HUT, a lot of Raymond's friends and RUST members visited him while he was in jail. Two such friends were <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Yuno_Sykk" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Yuno</a> and <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Mickey_S" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Mickey</a>, CLeanboi members who are closest to Raymond and stayed neutral during the conflict. They both told Raymond to just apologize to Lang, and indirectly blamed Raymond and RUST for the conflict escalating. To be fair to them, Raymond didn't explain himself too well, and so it did sound like he and Lang were equally at fault, instead of Raymond just responding to Lang's aggression.</li></ul>
</ul>
<li>After Raymond got back out of jail, he was contacted by Lang's disowned son <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Kayn_Larp" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Yeager</a>. Yeager and Lang had a major falling out a few months prior to the conflict with Raymond starting. Yeager did not hide the fact that he didn't care what happened to Lang. Yeager's player <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://twitter.com/TheRay_C/status/1662521682589028357" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">vigors even messaged Ray__C as his character</a>, simply saying, "Ray, <b style="border-bottom-color: #FDD017; border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: thin; border-bottom: thin dashed rgb(253, 208, 23); cursor: help; font-weight: normal;" title="Raymond's term of endearment for his friends and family">habibi</b>" at the start of the conflict with Lang. Despite Yeager not being around to help prior to the trial, Raymond hoped Yeager reaching out meant they would ally against Lang.</li>
<ul>
<li>Yeager invited Raymond and a small handful of his closest allies to his island Sanguine Isle. This is a weird part of the game map. It's technically its own map, but it's not a sub-server or anything. You could, in theory, travel from the main game map to the island if you knew where to go. The standard "wall" that kept you locked onto the Los Santos map wouldn't be there, and you could transition to the Sanguine Isle map. More often than not, though, there was a sort of "loading screen" of your characters getting onto a plane that takes off and than lands in Sanguine Isle (kind of like fast travel in other video games or traveling to a different island in <i>Animal Crossing: New Horizons)</i></li>
<li>Once Raymond and his entourage arrived, Yeager invited them to his courtyard. He then handed Raymond an AK rifle, a weapon that was pseudo-banned in-game, and so there's a limited supply of them to avoid flooding the market. Another reason why Raymond was shocked that Harry got away with using one to shoot up the prison. Anyway, Yeager offered Raymond the chance to try out the gun to see how it handles before pricing out how much it would cost to fit RUST with more semi-automatics. Yeager also priced up a number of explosives, offering to just give a bunch of them to RUST to start... as long as they used them in their retaliation against Lang.</li>
<li>Excited for the new partnership, Raymond and his friends followed Yeager to his office to talk shop a bit more. Except, Yeager was actually leading Raymond et. al. to a trap room hidden in his mansion. As soon as Raymond opened the door it transported him and his friends into a water-logged room where they quickly drowned.</li>
<li>Turned out that, while Yeager was originally on RUST's side in their conflict with Lang, the fact that RUST kidnapped Eve instead of Penny was their undoing. Eve is a member of <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/The_Guild" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">The Guild</a>, a pseudo-gang that Yeager was once a part of before being disowned by Lang, but a group he still considers family (very much like Raymond and CB). In a sort of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" mentality, Yeager's and Lang's joint hatred for RUST over the attempted murder of Eve brought them back together. Yeager baited Raymond, drowned him, told him to keep his hands off of Guild members, and then handed him over to Lang, who told Raymond, "I'm always ten steps ahead of you, buddy." (which caused Ray__C to break out in laughter and joy over the new plot twist)</li>
<li>Yeager had told Lang that Raymond was <b style="border-bottom-color: #FDD017; border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: thin; border-bottom: thin dashed rgb(253, 208, 23); cursor: help; font-weight: normal;" title="gun shot residue">GSR</b> positive after trying out the rifle, and even let Raymond keep the AK on him to further frame him. Lang used a helicopter to bring Raymond back into the city and on top of one of the taller buildings in Los Santos: the casino. Lang then gave a speech about Raymond losing everything and how the Raymond that Lang knew died a long time ago*. Lang then threw Raymond off the top of the casino. Thankfully, the EMT that found Raymond knew of the conflict with the mayor, and set up protection around him.</li>
<ul>
<li>*probably referencing the story arc where Raymond was forced into anger management; coming out the more calm and calculating Raymond who runs RUST, as opposed to the "shoot first, ask questions later" enforcer he was in CB</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<li>Now confined to a wheelchair while his back healed, Raymond was taken to the police station to question what happened to him. Raymond being Raymond, refused to outright say that Yeager drowned him and his friends, and that Lang threw him off the casino roof. He alluded to both things - including mentioning that he drowned while on Yeager's island - but never explicitly stated that's what happened (although, to be fair, since he was still unconscious from drowning, Raymond wouldn't know Lang was the one to throw him off the casino). The cop Raymond talked to said that he believed Raymond was being set-up, and wasn't going to charge him for the guns he had on him. Which means he wasn't considered breaking parole. Hooray! </li><li>Now that Raymond had some trust in this cop, he called him to let the cop know that Mickey had contacted Raymond and wanted to meet up. Considering what had just happened with Yeager, Raymond wanted to make sure the cops investigated Mickey if Raymond went missing shortly after the meet-up. Raymond then called Kitty and left her the exact location that he was meeting Mickey so at least someone would know where to start looking for him, should the need arise.</li>
<ul>
<li>Most of this concern came from the fact that, despite now being friends, Raymond once "ocean dumped"* Mickey. It was the main reason he was forced into anger management in the first place. While Mickey had since forgiven Raymond, he had also asked to meet up with Raymond in the exact same spot Raymond had ocean dumped him. Raymond was fearful that Mickey was going to betray him and ocean dump him in retaliation.</li>
<ul>
<li>*An "ocean dump" is a bit of what it says on the tin: one character dumps another character in the ocean. Specifically, it's after the dumpee is unconscious, usually from an execution-style headshot, but it can be from torture/beating/being shot elsewhere. The dumpee can then decide if they want to perma-kill their character. If not, then it's an unwritten rule on NoPixel that the dumpee, upon either being rescued or "washing up on the shore" and recovering from their injuries, roleplays amnesia in relation to the ocean dump. They don't remember what happened, and generally don't recall who dumped them. If an ocean dump is the result of being blooded out of a gang, the dumpee forgets key information that can be used against their former gang. The dumpee can then slowly regain their memory. Also, the amount of memory initially lost is subject to the player, but general rule of thumb is "story first".</li>
<li>Mickey truly did just want a heart-to-heart with Raymond, and used the "ocean dump" spot as a metaphor of what they were both capable of overcoming.</li>
</ul>
<li>As the two were bonding and Mickey was trying to get Raymond to end the feud with Lang, a couple of cop cars pulled up on the beach. Soon they were flanked by about 5 cop cars with their lights going. Mickey was in shock as the cops thanked him for getting a hardened criminal off the streets. Raymond was arrested for breaking parole, and was escorted into one of the cop cars as he yelled "What did you do?" to Mickey. Raymond then hung his head and muttered about being betrayed yet again by family as Mickey swore that he didn't know what was going on. As the cops drove away you could see that there was at least EIGHT cop cars there just to escort Raymond to the station! Ray__C was in hysterics over the excessive police detail.</li>
<ul>
<li>Turns out, Mickey was telling the truth, and <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://youtu.be/dZcKk2IrK9o" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">the shock on his player Blau's face</a> was priceless. Raymond's unknowingly turned himself in. When he was talking to the cops about what happened to him on Yeager's island, he had forgotten that Sanguine Isle is a sovereign state. Admitting he was there also meant that Raymond admitted to "fleeing" the city while on parole. Since Raymond WAS GSR positive as well, the higher-ups also charged him with gun possession despite the obvious plant. Not only was the possession another violation of his parole, but the illegality of the guns made the possession all the worse. The cop that Raymond had talked to believed he shouldn't be charged with anything, but when the higher-ups saw the cop's report they decided to charge Raymond. Since Raymond also let the cop - and Kitty - know where he was going and who he was meeting with, it was easy for the cops to track him down for the arrest.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<li>Raymond was charged for 4200 months (or 70 real-world hours) for breaking parole. Soon after going to prison, one of the Lifers informed Raymond that there were new corrections officer cadets that he should look out for. Turns out the cadets were Speedy and Lang! Raymond tried to set up a prison riot so he could get to and stab Speedy and Lang.</li>
<ul>
<li>Unfortunately, one of the people in the riot planning was an informant for Speedy. He gave the other guards the heads up about the riot and that he and Lang were the main targets.</li>
<li>Lang set Denzel and Harry up as snipers along the prison roof with express orders to shoot any RUST members on sight because they are probably trying to smuggle in weapons for the riot (which is accurate, Raymond was trying to get a RUST member to air-drop knives).</li>
<li>Misunderstanding their assignment, Denzel and Harry started firing on Raymond as he ran from the visitation building to the main prison yard. The other guards locked Raymond up inside the infirmary to protect him from the assassination attempt. Raymond ended up missing the riot... which is probably for the best because it did not go well for the prisoners.</li>
<li>Raymond refused to work with the cops again since every time he did it screwed him over. Because of this stubbornness, the cops didn't have the statement they needed to actually charge Harry and Denzel for the attack. Whoops. Worse yet, because Lang and Speedy were now corrections officers, they were privy to the cops' progress on this investigation.</li>
<li>Missing her boyfriend on her birthday and wanting to help him with the riot, Raymond's in-game girlfriend <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Nunu_El_Nene" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Nunu</a> parachuted into the prison. She was then quickly tasered and captured by the officers. Enraged, Raymond tried to ambush the cops to rescue Nunu. It did not end well for him either.</li>
</ul>
<li>Within a week of Raymond getting out of prison again he managed to steal Lang's armored car, the one with the mini-guns in the headlights that Lang used to shoot down RUST members. When Lang and Nancy tried to recover the car, Raymond used the miniguns to blow up Nancy's car with the two of them inside. He then parked Lang's armored car next to their bodies and blew that up too.</li>
<ul>
<li>In retaliation, Lang had the casino set up a tournament he knew Raymond would want to participate in (a la Prince John setting up an archery tournament to lure Robin Hood). Lang, Tony, and Goofy then ambushed Raymond and took him to the casino roof. Lang was going to drop him off the roof again, but a cop helicopter was flying overhead. Instead, the two had a heated heart-to-heart. Lang told Raymond to give up on his revenge because he hasn't succeeded once. He again warned Raymond that he was going to lose everything. Raymond told Lang that he could not stop now. He's in too deep and he can't hold his boys back any longer. Lang, disappointed, told Raymond to walk away with his life; this was his only chance. Defeated yet again, Raymond did indeed walk away from Lang. It was officially official now. The two were dead to each other.</li>
</ul>
<li>At this point, Hubby and I had visited my mom for her survivorship celebration, so we weren't able to watch what actually happened next. The NoPixel wiki is also kind of bad at updating regularly on a lot of content... but... to be fair, there is a LOT of content to be updated on the daily. So, this is all I was able to sort out.</li>
<ul>
<li>RUST was starting to implode and argue daily with Raymond.</li>
<li>Tony and Redline started attacking RUST</li>
<li>Lang, Harry, and Denzel tried to attack RUST and was wiped out by Kiwi</li>
<li>Other gangs smelled blood in the water and were itching to kick RUST while they are down.</li>
<li>Raymond knew he needed out of the conflict with Lang. They were winning a few battles but massively losing the war.</li>
<li>Raymond called Lang to end the conflict. Lang was clearly over it too and simply replied, "If you want to end it then end it. Simple as that." They agreed to not mess with each other's business ventures. RUST wouldn't mess with Cerberus, and Lang wouldn't block RUST from advancing their car crushing business and other such companies the members were trying to start up.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<p>And... that was it.</p>
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<p>Like I said, kind of anticlimactic. It is all improv roleplay though, and the conflict did go on for over a month! It was time to let the story die and move on.</p>
<p>Anyway, I hope everyone enjoyed this journey through the Raymond Romanov vs Lang Buddha conflict. It was definitely a fun storyline for me and Hubby to watch together, as well as share with you fine folks. Thanks for indulging me going off about this roleplay.</p>
<p>With that though, I will officially sign off. Until next month, where, hopefully, I will have more to say about my OWN stories and less to say about GTA Online roleplay.</p>
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</span>LycoRoguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01064253326464685398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6675584297301734651.post-90489323091739592032023-06-30T23:57:00.007-04:002023-07-01T06:16:44.746-04:00Found-Family Feud and Caring for Spirits<p style="font-family: serif; font-size: 60%;">Est. Read Time: 29min</p>
<span style="font-family: Mali;">
<p>Why, hello, everyone! Coming in under the wire yet again. Like, MAJORLY under the wire! I was visiting my mom the past three days (note on that at the end of the post), and time to go online to finish and publish this post has been very limited. On top of that, due to massive construction traffic made worse by Independence Day traffic, Hubby and I didn't make it home until nearly 10pm tonight! So... while you probably won't see this post until July 1st, know that it WAS published before midnight on the 30th. Still counts as my 1 blog post per month.... right???</p>
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<p>I'm still way burnt out, and just haven't really written anything. So I didn't really have much to talk about again (or, so I thought...). I kept pushing back working on this post in hopes that SOMETHING would come up. Nothing ever did. It just hasn't been a very conducive month for writing or any sort of major creativity.</p>
<p>My first struggle was me still recovering from having bronchitis. Then, it was trying to breathe through the Canadian wildfire smoke finally making its way down to my area.</p>
<p>This was June 6th, at the local laundromat, with no filter. In fact, the sky seemed even MORE yellow to my eye than it shows in these pics.</p>
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<p>These were taken at 2pm! Even with us wearing our masks - a practice we never gave up since covid hit - my husband, who is allergic to most trees, could barely breathe. As soon as you opened the front door you were hit with the intense smell of a campfire. It smelled good to me, since I adore the smell of campfires. For someone who can't breathe around trees, however???? Yeah, he was coughing almost as soon as he stepped out the door.</p>
<p>Even when we were inside a grocery store for an hour, and on the opposite end from the doors so the smoke shouldn't be wafting in far enough to hinder his breathing, he was wheezing. Turned out, just standing outside for less than three minutes - between walking to the car from the house, to the laundromat from the car, back to the car, and then from the car to inside the grocery store - was enough for our masks to be caked with smoke. Not enough to be visible, especially on his black mask, but enough to leave visible traces of soot on the paper towel he used to clean off his mask before heading back to the car! And yet we had neighbors that were just chilling on their front porch in this - no mask - for the two hours we were gone!</p>
<p>The haze wasn't as bad the next day, but it was still bad enough to keep affecting Hubby's breathing, and mine a touch since I had just recovered from a lung infection.</p>
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<p>June 8th wasn't much better, but at least it wasn't as bad as it was down by my mom and sister. They were in the purple and even maroon! Thankfully, the air was finally back down the yellow "moderate" by June 9th, and green "good" by the 10th.</p><p>Now, here we are again, with Hubby still trying to recover from last time, and we're back in the red due to the wildfire smoke! Also, it's apparently wafted all the way to Portugal now!?</p>
<p>If you are somewhere still dealing with this smoke, or dealing with similar wildfire smoke, PLEASE be careful.</p>
<p>Jumping to June 20th, I made a point to have a one-on-one hangout with my niece (much to my nephew's dismay, but he'll have a one-on-one hangout with me in July). Then I worked 4 days straight with the coworker that rarely stops talking, so trying to focus and concentrate on writing wasn't going to happen at work.</p>
<p>This month also brought us ever closer to the conclusion of <i>Miraculous</i> season 5. We only have the two-part finale left! And that should be airing internationally in just a few HOURS from when I published this! I won't give any spoilers, but I'll continue to rage that this season somehow simultaneously has some of the best writing and worst writing of the series. Even within the same episode! The other day I watched a couple of episodes with Wolfhearted, and pointed out the parallels with an earlier episode, and how amazing the writing is for including those parallels. Only to then rage a few minutes later that the whole plot of the episode doesn't make sense and that character reactions felt out-of-character. Only to then turn around and enjoy some of the more significant character developments and arc advancements within that same episode I had just been complaining about!</p>
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<p>The season has taken forever, but has also sprinted by. It's hard to remember all the episodes that happened this season, because early-season episodes feel soooooo long ago now (I mean, they DID start airing in September, but that's not much longer than cartoon seasons used to be in the 90s). I can't imagine how they can wrap things up in just two more 30-minute episodes, and I'm nervous, but also super excited????</p>
<p>It's inspiring me to write more, but it's also exhausting me to the point that I have no energy to work on my <b style="border-bottom-color: #FDD017; border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: thin; border-bottom: thin dashed rgb(253, 208, 23); cursor: help; font-weight: normal;" title="Works In Progress">WIPs</b>, but also also... I want to write fix-it fics (stories that "fixes" the canon story)... which also means not touching my WIPs. So.... yeah...</p>
<p>It's a little bit of a whirlwind of emotions for me right now. Makes me a little glad I didn't join the one event last month. Over on Tumblr, there was an event being promoted. A way to give people accountability to push through and finish their dang WIP. You had until the end of April to sign up. You then had until the end of August, I think, to finish your WIP and publish it online. Between May 1 and Aug 31, you had check-ins you had to hit. Submitting a summary of your story, then submitting sample scenes, and then checking in with half your story complete, etc. As mentioned, these check-ins were supposed to add accountability so people are more likely to push through their doubt and writers block in order to just get the story done. The next-level push, though? Each writer would be paired with an artist. The story summaries would be provided to the artists so they can pick the story that best resonates with them. Then the scene samples are bits you'd want the artist to possibly create fanart for. Now, to clarify, the artists aren't specifically ones that draw art. They could be crafters as well, or AMV editors, or actors/directors/animators, or musicians. The fanart of your work could be the traditional drawing, but it could also be a fiber craft, or an animatic, or a song, etc. Either way, it's real cool! A great motivator to know you're GUARANTEED fanart of your work by the time you're done.</p>
<p>It was suuuuuuper tempting to sign up. Really give me the push I needed to at least finish <i>Seduce With Caution</i> before hitting that 2yr mark. However, I felt so drained and burnt out that I knew having those deadlines would be less motivational and more stress-inducing. Especially when it means I'd be holding someone else (the artist) up. Also, I wasn't sure even what scenes I'd WANT fanart of out of my story. I'd find it so hard to pick. On top of that, while it's cool to HAVE the fanart of my story, the fact that someone made it because they signed up for an event instead of being inspired enough from reading it to feel compelled to create fanart.... I dunno. Hits different. Even if they are still getting inspired based on what you've provided....</p>
<p>In the end, I felt like it would be more overwhelming than anything else, so I opted out of the event. I'm kind of glad now. I just haven't been feeling WRITING anything lately, sadly.</p>
<p>Doesn't mean I'm not still CONSUMING content though. For starters, the <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Raymond_Romanov" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Raymond Romanov</a> vs <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Lang_Buddha" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Lang Buddha</a> saga is still going strong over on <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/NoPixel_Wiki" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">NoPixel</a> (Well, actually, it may have finally wrapped up this week, but I'm a few days behind sooooo). I was going to recap what else happened between those two characters, but my first draft ended up being 11 pages long for just this recap section!</p>
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<p>So... uh... yeah... let's see if I can condense that recap any further. A lot of details and nuance will be removed, but if you're truly that interested in the story you can look it up yourself. A lot of the highlights are on <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.youtube.com/@RayCGaming" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Ray__C's YouTube channel</a>. You can also check out <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.twitch.tv/ray__c" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Ray__C</a>'s, <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.twitch.tv/buddha" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Buddha</a>'s, or <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.twitch.tv/anthonyz" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">AnthonyZ</a>'s Twitch channels to get a bit more of the story.</p>
<p>Okay, to recap what I told you last month:</p>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Ray__C's character Raymond Romanov was a sworn brother of Buddha's character Lang Buddha. Raymond was a member of Lang's gang the CLeanbois (CB), and the two of them - along with fellow members Harry, <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Tony_Corleone" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Tony</a>, Yuno, and Jean Paul - pooled finances to buy an in-game mansion dubbed the CLean Manor.</li>
<li>Lang then created The Guild, a shadow organization, and Cerberus, a legitimate parent company for all of his many businesses; much like how Lex Luthor and Wilson Fisk (Marvel's Kingpin) also have legitimate companies to hide their criminal activities. Raymond and Tony jointly created the street racing gang Redline, a group that Tony now mostly runs by himself with Raymond being a silent partner, as it were. And Raymond created the gang Raymond's Unfortunate <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Scuffed" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Scuff</a> Team, aka RUST.</li>
<li>Raymond made a key rule for all RUST members: Lang and the other CLeanbois were off limits. They were Raymond's found family and all RUST members are to treat them as such. The city also knows of Lang's golden rule: you do not cause trouble on his property; you do not give the cops a reason to come uninvited.</li>
<li>Earlier in the year, the RUST member G Baby was arrested after his truck filled with gun parts was found parked at Lang's prized business: The Rooster's Rest, a restaurant and the first legitimate business he owned. Lang's golden rule was broken, but Raymond convinced Lang to let G Baby live; banishing him from the city instead. This was probably what caused the rift in their relationship.</li>
<li>Early May, while Ray__C was away at a music festival for the weekend, four RUST members unintentionally caused problems at Rooster's Rest again. Raymond's in-game adopted son <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Maxine_Celsius" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Maxine</a> called for backup when a customer Elfy started talking shit about RUST and threatening to not only kill Raymond but also get away with it, because she could just hide behind Lang and she knew no one from RUST would touch her. Irritated with the woman's disrespect, newest RUST member <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Kate_Myles" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Kate</a> kidnapped Elfy, but accidentally did so while still on Rooster's property: the lower parking lot. Lang's golden rule is broken a 2nd time in only 2 or 3 months.</li>
<li>Raymond had a meeting with Lang, Lang's right hand man Harry, and the CEO of Rooster's Rest Penny. Due to Penny twisting the events of the kidnapping, Lang and Harry wanted blood, but Raymond protected Maxine and Kate.</li>
<li>A couple of days later, Lang requested Raymond bring Maxine to CLean Manor for a parley. Raymond reluctantly agreed, but was betrayed by Lang and Harry. They had hidden Speedy - Lang's oldest friend and probably the only person he truly thinks of as a brother - in a secret passage. Then the three of them ambushed Raymond, tranquilized him, handcuffed both him and Maxine, and then kidnapped Maxine with the intent to torture and execute him.</li>
<ul>
<li>Reminder that on NoPixel characters don't actually stay dead after "executions" unless the player wants to permanently kill off the character. Regardless, the threat is still very much roleplayed with the appropriate gravitas as if it were a permeant death.</li>
</ul>
<li>There was a huge shoot-out at CLean Manor as RUST members broke in to rescue Raymond and Maxine. Everyone that was at the Manor was shot down, but neither Raymond nor Lang actually shot at each other (they had their friends do the "honors" instead).</li>
<li>Lang called Raymond and basically told him the two of them were through. The rivalry was now official.</li>
</ul>
<p>Now, to get into what has happened since my last post!</p>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Despite Lang declaring the two of them no longer brothers, Raymond no longer a CLeanboi, and that the Manor was no longer Raymond's home, Raymond still didn't want to fully betray Lang. He refused to shoot him, told the RUST members that they were to only defend themselves and not actively hunt for Lang, Harry, or Speedy, and Raymond still wasn't willing to work with cop character <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Brian_Knight" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Brian Knight</a> in getting enough dirt on Lang to officially lock him up for good. Raymond isn't a snitch, after all.</li>
<li>Wanting to retaliate, but wanting to do so legally so the law would be on their side, RUST set up a free food truck event on the street (public property) right outside of Rooster's Rest where RUST gave away free food from all of the competitor restaurants in the city. This caused Penny to close down Rooster's for the day.</li>
<li>The next day Lang, Harry, and Speedy all decided to retaliate. They first tried using a <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://gta.fandom.com/wiki/Cargobob" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Cargobob</a>, a military-like helicopter capable of picking up and transporting vehicles. While Harry and Speedy were on rooftops across the street and shooting at the food truck workers, Lang scooped up one of the food trucks with the Cargobob. Unfortunately, Buddha, Lang's player, is known for his game glitching out (our Scuff Lord!), and right on cue, the Cargobob glitched and crashed shortly after picking up the truck, blowing up both the helicopter and truck. Harry and Speedy were able to sneak Lang to medical care before getting caught, but his blood was still at the scene of the explosion. Later that same day, the trio got fellow CB member <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Denzel_Williams" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Denzel</a> to join them in dropping helicopters onto the food truck event.</li>
<li>RUST was able to track Lang, Harry, Speedy, and Denzel down, and kidnap Speedy. There was a shoot-out, and RUST member MacGregor chased after Lang and Harry against orders from Raymond. MacGregor was able to take down Lang, but was shot by Harry in the process. Raymond got to them just as MacGregor went down. Raymond took out Harry, and then piled everyone into his car to get off-the-record medical attention.</li>
<ul>
<li>While the game's mechanics does allow any character to revive any other character under certain circumstances*, Ray likes to stay in-character as much as possible and leads the roleplay to follow suit. Meaning, if your character doesn't have the medical background to be able to save someone IRL, then they aren't medically trained enough to revive a character in-game.</li>
<li>*those circumstances are (1) that your character is an on-call doctor or EMT, or (2) that the character that needs to be revived is in a designated "medical" spot. These "medical" spots includes the hospitals, an ambulance, or "grandma's" and "grandpa's" - two off-grid makeshift "criminal hospitals" a la mob doctor offices.</li>
</ul>
<li>Despite Lang yelling that Raymond is dead to him and Raymond should leave him, Harry, and Speedy on the side of the road somewhere because he doesn't want Raymond's help, Raymond still tried to revive them. He called up the doctor who did the toxicology report on him after getting tranquilized at the Manor and begged her to come help. Cops found them at Grandma's before the doctor could get there, so they ran to Grandpa's. Only for the cops to find them there first again. They moved a 3rd time and Raymond accused the doctor of working with the cops. Meanwhile, RUST member Bruno was screaming that MacGregor was dying and they needed to leave Lang and his group to the cops. Raymond finally agreed after Bruno held the doctor at gunpoint to make sure she saved MacGregor first. In the end, all RUST members got caught and jailed for kidnapping the mayor, the doctor, and the doctor's in-game husband and sister who were with her. MacGregor and Bruno nearly left the gang; either on their own or by being forced out for insubordination.</li>
<li>Seeking revenge - but still following Raymond's rule to not harm anyone unless it's in self-defense - a few RUST members went to Cerberus to blow up people's cars. Somehow Harry's adoptive son Zaceed caught wind and hid in one of the trunks in the parking garage. When he caught RUST pouring gasoline on the cars he popped out of the trunk and started shooting. Nancy, one of Lang's deputy mayors and a higher-up at Cerberus, called the cops before joining in on the shoot-out against RUST. Despite RUST telling cops they were the ones getting shot at, the cops still saw them as the aggressors and arrested them.</li>
<li>RUST broke out of their handcuffs and started a police chase. During which, Lang got into his one-of-a-kind (as far as I know) armored car with mini-guns hidden in the headlights, and started hunting down RUST members that got away from the cops. By the time Raymond found out what was happening and was able to catch up with the chase, there was only 1 RUST car left (out of the initial 3 or 4 that went to Cerberus?). Raymond drove beside the cops yelling that his boys couldn't pull over and surrender because "that armored car is shooting at them!" (he still wouldn't call out Lang specifically). The cops told Raymond "we don't care" and spiked his tires despite him not doing anything to impede the chase aside from yelling to the cops that his boys needed protection. All members involved were jailed yet again.</li>
<li>With things escalating, his boys getting killed or arrested, RUST taking a bunch of losses vs Lang, and Lang being able to plant seeds of doubt in the ears of members like MacGregor and Bruno, Raymond asked for another parley. He was instantly uneased because Lang would only meet in the same Manor office that Raymond and Maxine were ambushed in. Harry was also purposefully antagonistic, and every time Raymond verbally defended himself Lang would yell to not disrespect Harry in his own house. Knowing he wasn't going to get anywhere, Raymond left without having the meeting. He simply vaguely threatened that Lang should keep a close eye on those he cares about. To which, Lang tried to call his bluff. This just pushed Raymond to unleash his gang.</li>
<li>As Raymond left the CLean Manor, he gave the go-ahead for his second-in-command <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Seano_Blackthorne" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Chem</a> (short for his streetname: The Chemist) to follow through with his "Dark Knight" plan. Basically, it's the Joker's ploy in <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0468569/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_8_nm_0_q_the%2520dark%2520knight" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">The Dark Knight</a></i> to try to break Batman: kidnap two people Lang cares about, threaten then both, and tell Lang to choose which one lives. The twist is that RUST would kill the one Lang decided to save, but make sure the other saw that Lang didn't choose them. They were originally going to kidnap Nancy and Penny, as revenge for their parts in this war, but Penny wasn't "awake" (logged onto her character). So they grabbed the two deputy mayors instead: Nancy and Eve... despite Raymond actually liking Eve and having no qualms with her.</li>
<li>RUST didn't get a chance to follow through with Plan: Dark Knight. Nancy was serendipitously on the phone with Lang when RUST kidnapped her. Lang and Harry were instantly on the hunt for her and had the police out in full-force. There was a BANANAS police chase, that ended with a Last Stand fire-fight on a highway overpass, which included Raymond unknowingly shooting down Lang! Raymond and one of his high command <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Tane_Mahuta" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Kiwi</a> were the last two still standing before the shoot-out ended (by the two of them being downed almost at the same time). The fire fight ended up taking down something like 8 members (??) of RUST - including Raymond and Kiwi - along with their opposition: Nancy, Eve, Harry, Lang, and 20 out of the 22 cop characters that were logged on at the time!!!</li>
<ul>
<li><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://youtu.be/NSFDgm2v6ZU" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Link to the highlight reel of Raymond's failed parley, the kidnapping of Eve and Nancy, and the fire-fight.</a>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifGTvOSE-ZiOvGzur5R_sBGBDgzmV6Atuo2CR-waYX3qAoxWD2QdiBJU00Ib5k5N_2DBezByQbkVTILulQi5NLGEU-vQ3J85a47vzWrcxAj7GhmAIIClwjPACMX8leqF0Gepk2E3J4hkB4-qWuPJo5Sf9DxXSRknOCeTnVcazxSYzY7jJjKwEQdCR-_mw/s1920/RUST%20v%20Lang%20Fire%20Fight%20Triage.png" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">
<img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifGTvOSE-ZiOvGzur5R_sBGBDgzmV6Atuo2CR-waYX3qAoxWD2QdiBJU00Ib5k5N_2DBezByQbkVTILulQi5NLGEU-vQ3J85a47vzWrcxAj7GhmAIIClwjPACMX8leqF0Gepk2E3J4hkB4-qWuPJo5Sf9DxXSRknOCeTnVcazxSYzY7jJjKwEQdCR-_mw/w400-h225/RUST%20v%20Lang%20Fire%20Fight%20Triage.png" width="400" />
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Triage post-fire-fight
<br />(after some of the initially downed cops were revived)</td>
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</li>
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<li>Four out of the six RUST High Command (including Raymond) were jailed and put on HUT (Hold Until Trial). Considering this is a roleplay server and the judges aren't guaranteed to work a normal 9-5 Monday-Friday schedule, HUT is usually a multiple-day jail sentence. For these RUST members it ended up being about a week.</li>
<ul>
<li>While most players will consider their jail sentence a "time out" and will either play another character or another game entirely, Ray__C decided to roleplay his time in jail. He and his fellow HUT RUST members could plot and plan in jail. Also, instead of leaving them to gather evidence and build a case on their own, Raymond could interact with his three lawyers - <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/James_Haze" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">James Haze</a> (whom he keeps on retailer), <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Grace_Daniels" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Grace Daniels</a> (Haze's former paralegal, now Jr. Attorney), and <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Maya_Mahmoud" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Maya Mahmoud</a> (honestly, I don't really know how she got involved...) - giving them good roleplay content as well.</li>
<li>Most of the RUST members were able to get out early on bail, but even that was a struggle. The cops and Lang had tried to taint the judge pool so there wouldn't be an uncompromised judge available for the bail hearing, let along the actual trial. The DOJ also horribly screwed up filing evidence, hid evidence, never took statements from RUST about Lang and company being the aggressors but took Lang's statements against RUST every time, never gathered evidence of Lang's involvement (such as the blood at the cargobob explosion, despite cops straight up stating that they found it there), and the prosecutor kept editing the official case filing on the docket without noting what was edited.</li>
<ul>
<li>The reason I said "most" members got bail is because poor <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Achez_Perez" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Perez</a> - the MVP during the Manor shoot-out - was incorrectly processed. He was only given something like 3 days jail time instead of being put on HUT. So, when his time was up, he left jail. Since he was SUPPOSED to be on HUT, and it's hard to roleplay a game mechanic releasing him when he shouldn't be released - narratively speaking - the cops instead roleplayed it as a jail break to seek revenge against Lang, Harry, and CB member Tony. So he was thrown back in jail, confirmed he was placed under HUT this time, and wasn't given a bail hearing option.</li>
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<li>The reason Perez wanted to hunt down Tony was because Perez's girlfriend (as in, the character's gf) <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Cassie_Miller" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Cassie</a> was shot down by Harry. While RUST was awaiting a bail hearing, the unjailed RUST members and friends would spend nearly all day in the visitation room at the prison; keeping the HUT members company and making sure they were safe from Lang and company (who was indeed trying to break into the jail to kill Raymond). Despite Tony promising Raymond that he didn't want anything to do with the war between him and Lang and that he (Tony) would stay neutral, he also quickly agreed to plant a camera in the visitation room for Lang. So he went in under the guise of looking for Redline 2nd in command <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Octavio_Stenberg" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Goofy</a>, and "just happened" upon Raymond. The two had a little chat while Tony secretly planted the hidden camera, and then Tony went back to meet up with Lang. Thing is, RUST hang-around and prospective member <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Nana_Banana" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Nana</a> caught Lang staking out the prison, so he had to move before she could get backup. In an attempt to get Tony's attention to show him where Lang moved to, Harry stupidly threw a smoke grenade at him. Ray__C has superhuman hearing or something, and so Raymond was able to hear the grenade go off from inside the visitation room. He sprinted out to check on things and to try and find guards to protect RUST's visitors, which consisted of Nana, Cassie, and 2 of Raymond's lawyers Maya and Grace. While Raymond was away, Lang and Harry checked the camera Tony placed, and Tony informed them that the lawyers were there because RUST was getting their bail hearing in 20min. Harry went full SBS*, basically said, "oh HELL no", grabbed an automatic rifle from Lang's car, raced into the visitation room without hiding his identity, asked the ladies where Raymond was, and then shot them all down. Outside the visitation building, Raymond and Perez heard the gunshots and sprinted back in, only to see the four ladies bleeding out on the ground (Harry had already went back outside).</li>
<ul>
<li>*SBS is short for "small brain syndrome". I'm not entirely sure where the term originated. I also don't know how widely spread it is among gamers/streamers or the greater internet slang lexicon. It could very well be a strictly NoPixel term, or even one just used by a small group of people who are friends with Buddha and Ray__C, since those two definitely use the term. Basically, it refers to people who can't think of the big picture or the consequences of their actions (such as throwing a smoke grenade to get someone's attention or shooting up civilian characters without hiding one's identity); situations that are dumb for the sake of being silly, goofy, and dumb/entertaining; or the inability to keep up with a semi-complicated conversation/plot.</li>
<li>Since Perez saw Tony in the visitation room, knew he was a founding member of the CLeanbois with Lang, and Perez's girlfriend got shot moments after Tony left... he tied the two instances together and felt Tony was at fault. So he called up Tony in a rage and told him, "You f***** up! Run!" Which.... didn't make things easier on Raymond later when he called Tony (after giving a statement to the cops) to try to see what happened and ask if Tony was somehow involved.</li>
<li>The timing of everything really screwed over Perez, since his prison time ended when the cops were there for the shooting anyway. Him leaving when he technically - based on the narrative - shouldn't have been able to, and ESPECIALLY with him raging about his girlfriend being shot... well? It was easy for the cops already there to catch him and roleplay that it was a prison break. Whoops.</li>
<li>With 2 out of his 3 lawyers recovering in the hospital and his 4th one not "awake" (logged on), Raymond had to postpone his bail hearing. Once his lawyers could be present, Raymond and the other HUT RUST members (excluding Perez) were given a long police escort to the courthouse.</li>
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<p>Ooof! This "abridged" version is STILL taking forever! And I still have over 2 weeks of content to recap! I think I'm going to pause it here. If you don't want to wait for me to catch you up next month, you can see the highlights on Ray__C's channel.</p>
<p>But I'm sure you can all see why this improv drama is so captivating to me and Hubby! I also appreciate how much everyone involved - Ray__C, Buddha, Harry's player <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.twitch.tv/harry" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Harry</a>, AnthonyZ, Brian Knight's player <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.facebook.com/gaming/dasMEHDI/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">dasMEHDI</a> - has complimented the roleplay of the other players, talked about how fun the storyline has been, and has done their best to make sure this in-character conflict doesn't become toxic <b style="border-bottom-color: #FDD017; border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: thin; border-bottom: thin dashed rgb(253, 208, 23); cursor: help; font-weight: normal;" title="In Real Life">IRL</b>; they're all still friends. Ray__C even puts in the effort to stress that the CLeanbois (referring to the actual players) are still very much great friends who will still play together, even if the in-game CB is falling apart.</p>
<p>I also appreciate how much Ray__C tries to bring roleplay to as many people as possible. He doesn't just have one lawyer, he has 3. He doesn't just play a different character or game while Raymond is in jail, he makes a point of still roleplaying with those lawyers, and RUST members, and even other jailed characters that he might not otherwise have interacted with. He brought in a bunch of "civilian" characters by way of the food truck event, assuming it would also be a bunch of SBS, and then getting surprised with Lang escalated to the point of straight up attacking the event and the characters involved. The players for Nancy and Eve even thanked Ray__C and the RUST players for coming up with the whole Dark Knight plan, as well as trying to bomb the cars at the Cerberus parking lot, because it brought them into this intense RP, and they were having a lot of fun getting involved.</p>
<p>Hubby and I really don't get why such a relatively small streamer (Ray__C averages about 3000 subscribers) gets soooooo much hate from the viewers and chat when nearly every streamer who has ever interacted with him has sung his praises. They all talk about how much fun he is to play with, how hard he works with his roleplay, how he puts in that effort to include as many people as possible in RP, and how he's just genuinely a nice guy.</p>
<p>I'm not entirely sure how this turned into a Ray__C stan blog, but... I'm cool with it.</p>
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Generated by <b>Bitmoji</b></td>
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<p>The other main bit of content I have been consuming is the game <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://thunderlotusgames.com/spiritfarer/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Spiritfarer</a>. The long-and-short of the game is that you play as Stella, the new spiritfarer (a <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychopomp" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">psychopomp</a>), taking over the ferrying-to-the-afterlife duties from <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charon" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Charon</a>. You're then tasked to find lost souls and care for them as they come to terms with their death and prepare for their passage into the afterlife.</p>
<p>The game play is in the same vein as most other management games. You have to gather and manage resources (although, once you've unlocked a resource it's not too hard to maintain a steady flow of what you need); manage the happiness of the spirit passengers by way of feeding them - but they do have different dietary restrictions, which you need to sort out - completing the tasks they ask of you, and giving them hugs... lots and lots of hugs; and manage the space on your ship as you add new buildings and expand your ship size. The game is chill and filled with tons of different minigames for every task you need to complete: fetch-quests to recruit new spirit passengers, harvesting various resource types, processing said resources in forges or kitchens or on looms, etc, and helping your passengers come to terms with how they lived their life and how they died.</p>
<p>There is a lot of heart, and the passengers each have distinct personalities. Some you will connect with greatly. Others, maybe it won't hurt as much to say goodbye. I know that it hurt when I had to ferry my first spirit through the Everdoor, the passage to the afterlife. It also hurt when I had to say goodbye to Summer and Alice. I also know it will hurt when I have to say goodbye to the jolly and playful Atul. Especially because, as my passengers currently stand, I'll be stuck with a BUNCH of characters that I may find amusing, but I am not emotionally invested in. Astrid is alright, but a bit blunt and brazen. Giovanni is a cad who thinks he's so smooth that he'll never get in trouble for his womanizing. Bruce and Mickey are cartoonishly 1920s mobster muscle. Beverly just seems overly demanding. The only one I might be sad to see leave - as it stands - is Gustav, the eccentric museum curator. And that's mostly because he reminds me of Blathers from Animal Crossing. Gustav is even a bird of prey: taking on the form of a peregrine falcon when he joins your ship.</p>
<p>Oh! Yeah, I should mention, when you first meet them, all spirits are vaguely humanoid with their form hidden under cloaks. Once they join your ship, however, they transform into their "true" form: a humanoid animal in most cases (but not all. At least 2 passengers keep a purely animal form, one takes on a mythical creature's form, one is a swarm of butterflies in a vaguely humanoid form, and one takes on the form of a humanoid mushroom)</p>
<p>Anyway, the story of Spiritfarer is lovely. It's calm and soothing. You can go at your own pace, although, some of the passengers do get a little pushy if you haven't completed your task for them, calling out your name and then telling you "don't forget to ___". As you do help these spirits, however, you learn of their rough lives and the traumas they're trying to work through. One had a neglectful and emotionally distant father, so they picked up smoking to try to get him mad enough to pay attention... only for them to then die of lung cancer and still estranged from their father. Another speaks entirely in metaphor, but I'm pretty sure they also lost a long battle against cancer after watching their father suffer the same fate. Another suffered from dementia. While I haven't gotten far enough to know how this spirit died, I have also learned that one used to hide Jews during WWII.</p>
<p>As you play through the game, not only do you learn about these spirits, but you also learn why they are the first ones for you to ferry to the afterlife:</p>
<button onclick="if(document.getElementById('spoiler') .style.display=='none') {document.getElementById('spoiler') .style.display=''}else{document.getElementById('spoiler') .style.display='none'}" title="Click to show/hide content" type="button">Click to see spoiler</button>
<div id="spoiler" style="background-color: #f6f6f6; border: 1px dotted navy; display: none; padding: 10px;"><i>They are all connected to you somehow from back when you were all alive. They were either family, or found family, or former patients, etc. So you also get to unlock more of Stella's backstory the more you learn about your passengers.</i></div>
<p>Also, according to the notes on the <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://spiritfarer.fandom.com/wiki/Spiritfarer_Wiki" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Spiritfarer wiki</a>, just about every spirit (if not every spirit) is based on a lost loved one of one of the developers. The whole game is just very chill. Very soothing. Very beautiful. But also, a lovely way to work through grief. I didn't realize when I got Spiritfarer how much of that last bit there was. Reminds me of a few years ago when I bought <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.togeproductions.com/project/when-the-past-was-around/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">When the Past was Around</a>. I thought it was a simple, gorgeous looking, point-and-click puzzle game love story that also talked about resparking a passion for a beloved hobby. The story is about that, but it's also about heartbreak and grief. Wasn't expecting that in that game either.</p>
<p>Anyway, if you want a vibe game that tackles the struggle of coming to terms with your mortality, and you don't mind a bunch of minigames, puzzles, platforming, and reading, I do highly recommend Spiritfarer. Added bonus? It's relatively cheap - running about $30 USD - and frequently goes on sale on top of that. It's also a relatively long game, taking an average of about 30hrs to play; longer if you're like me and get sidetracked easily doing the minigames. I'm something like 14hrs in and only about 37% done? So it averages to a $1 or less per hour of gameplay. Not too shabby, right?</p>
<p>Good lord. You'd think this blog post was sponsored between me gushing about Ray__C and NoPixel and me gushing about Spiritfarer... Let's move along, shall we?</p>
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<p>You may have noticed that I haven't talked about <i>Scum and Villainy</i> for a little bit. Yeeeeaaaaahhhhh.... About that.... My brain is just too fried to come up with more quests for the group. I feel a bit guilty that I didn't give everyone a heads up that the last session we had would be the last one for a WHILE, but... it is what it is. Add in the fact that I still feel like the character development of the crew isn't to the point where their End Game goals make sense yet (feels like I'm skipping difficulty levels). However, as far as their actual character sheets go? There's not much leveling they can still do. Unless I come up with a way to give them more things to level up, their experience points are going to cap out and mean nothing to them. So, there's a lot I need to sort through logistically with that.</p>
<p>In the meantime, I'd have to sort through those missions. Do I finally bring back those background story points? Is there something else they should be doing? The crew still hasn't met about half of the factions within the Procyon Sector the game takes place in. Do I start shoehorning those in???? I just couldn't sort any of it out.</p>
<p>So.... the crew and the game are both on hold. Instead, Hubby decided to tag in as Games Master. We haven't played Dungeons & Dragons since the pandemic hit, and we've all been itching to get back into that game. So Hubby offered to run a campaign for us. That way I can still work on SaV in the background, and I can tag us back in once I'm more prepared/Hubby is burnt out and needs a break. We can then keep tapping each other out.</p>
<p>As for his game, Hubby is doing a Game of Thrones-inspired homebrew. There's VERY limited magic, to the point where he rolled a percentile die to see how adapt we are with magic. <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.twitch.tv/aurora_morgen" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Rozsavaria</a> got something like a 94, so it's possible their character isn't even fully human. My character, on the other hand? Twenty-one.</p>
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<p>Yeah. She can't even handle slight-of-hand illusions. Woo! But.. since it was a 21, Hubby determined it was a lucky star, because... Black Jack! Eh. I'll take it.</p>
<p>Now, I had gone into character creation with two different concept ideas.</p>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Concept 1: reboot my gnome character Elymoxa as a human. She'd be a small (about 5ft) spitfire agent of chaos. She'd be a prankster with endless energy and would take very little seriously.</li>
<li>Concept 2: the exact opposite of Moxie. She'd be larger (about 5'9") and muscular, and be basically the "mom friend" of the party. She'd be stoic and protective but will go into Mama Bear Mode if provoked enough.</li>
</ul>
<p>I rolled to choose, and got Mama Bear. Cool. Now that I had my concept, it was time to answer Hubby's questionnaire!</p>
<p>He discovered <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.roleplayingtips.com/players/character-questionnaire/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">this Mother of All Character Questionnaires</a> while prepping his world build. He was able to whittle down the 383 questions to about 160 or so. Still a LOT and it still kept me about 3 hours to answer the questions. Even then, I had to skip over about 45 questions because I didn't know my character enough yet.</p>
<p>Fun little side note: I have decided to answer as many questions in that questionnaire as I can for each of my OCs. It will be QUITE the undertaking, but it might be fun. A way to get back into the heads of my OCs. I also didn't realize how MANY I have. I have five D&D characters: Amara, Jolene, Arianna Snow (an older character I haven't thought about in a while), Kriv (my dragonborn I played in Hubby's last game), and now my new D&D character for this campaign. Then there's the 3 X-Future girls: Lia, Willow, and Trish. Then the characters from my first attempt at <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="http://www.nanowrimo.org/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank" title="National Novel Writing Month">NaNoWriMo</a>: Connor and Natalie. The characters from the <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.fictionpress.com/s/3341100/1/Blame-Fate-for-This" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank" title="Blame Fate For This">urban fantasy story I wrote</a> for <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="http://delusionsofamadman. blogspot.com/?zx=b49d326297c158f0" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Ronoxym</a>: Colton and Zetelica. Finally, my genderqueer OC that I was going to use for a couple of different RPGs, but never got around to really doing so: Artemis. This isn't including other D&D characters I've played once or twice, my vampire characters for the <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire:_The_Masquerade" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Vampire: The Masquerade</a> rpg, or other such one-off characters.</p>
<p>Anyway, back to the D&D campaign Hubby's about to run. The concept is that we all start as <b style="border-bottom-color: #FDD017; border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: thin; border-bottom: thin dashed rgb(253, 208, 23); cursor: help; font-weight: normal;" title="Non-Playable Character">NPC</b> classes; our characters are not yet adventurers. As we roleplay he will unlock possible player classes based on how we play. The questionnaires also helped us sort out our characters and unlocked our initial class options. Based on my answers, I can either keep my character as an NPC or start her as (1) a Fighter, (2) a Cleric of the Mask (god of Death), or (3) a Cleric of the Candle (god of Life)... because "haha... the Luisa-clone gets her powers from a candle...". I debated keeping her an NPC class. The personality I gave her didn't seem to quiiiiite fit with Fighter (although I was kinda leaning that way), and Quarthix's character was already going Fighter anyway. Her biggest fear is death (specifically, a loved one's death), so being a cleric of the God of Death just didn't feel right. Not yet anyway. I may still go that route with her, but she'd need to work her way there. Cleric of the God of Life feels right, but I don't know if she'd be full-on cleric when she meets up with everyone else. Maybe she finally left home in hopes of becoming a cleric??? I'm hoping to sort that out more while building the official character sheet this weekend.</p>
<p>Going back to the option to be a Cleric of the Mask, and the reason why Hubby offered it in the first place. Hubby created a 9-god pantheon, and then put the name of each deity on separate index card. While we were answering our questionnaires, he had us pick two of the cards at random and choose one. I can't recall what both options were for me, but out of the two, I had decided on the God of Death because the other option wasn't even remotely close to something that could relate to my character. So... my character, who fears death, is ironically born under the Death zodiac sign, essentially. Neat. I love me my contradictory characters.</p>
<p>So, without further ado: my newest character.</p>
<p>Meet Aubrianne Zani. She's vaguely based off of <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://encanto.fandom.com/wiki/Luisa_Madrigal" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Luisa Madrigal from <i>Encanto</i></a> (one of the reasons Hubby offered Cleric of the Candle... ha...), <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://gameofthrones.fandom.com/wiki/Brienne_of_Tarth" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Brienne of Tarth from <i>Game of Thrones</i></a>, and the version of Link you play as in the game <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_Zelda:_Twilight_Princess" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank"><i>Twilight Princess</i></a>. She's the eldest of 5 surviving children (two younger siblings died early in childhood), and took on a maternal role to help her mother with her younger siblings. She's super close with her eldest brother (the 2nd child) who also took on a paternal role with watching the younger siblings. She's stoic and extremely protective. She has no problem with killing animals for food or survival (self-defense), but hates the idea of harming a human and will attempt to do as little damage as possible to end a conflict. Also, much like Luisa and Link, she's a people pleaser and very community-oriented. So she does all she can to do odd-jobs around the town to help out the villagers. Move some logs before winter sets in? On it. Help raise a barn? No problem. Wrestle loose goats to the ground until the farmer can wrangle them? I gotchu. Knock out the highway men trying to rob the town? No need to even ask!</p>
<p>By the way, another fun note about Aubrianne? While prepping for character creation, I went to <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">FantasyNameGenerators.com</a> and grabbed 8 randomly generated names that I thought could work with my "Mom Friend" concept. The name options were:</p>
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<tbody><tr>
<td>Selray</td>
<td>Zephifra</td>
<td>Koreena</td>
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<td>Nareen</td>
<td>Tavra</td>
<td>Zani</td>
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<td>Lalnah</td>
<td>Aubrianne</td>
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<p>I had read off my table to the other players to see which name would be easiest for them to remember and/or which one they thought best fit my character design. Quarthix picked Zani because it would be the easiest for him to remember. Rozsavaria picked either Selray or Aubrianne. Since each of those names was in a different column (as shown above), I rolled to see which column to pick from, and ended up with the second column. So, Aubrianne it was. It wasn't until I went to bed that night did I realize, "Waaaaait a minute! Aubrianne is loosely based off of Brienne of Tarth! Dangit! I basically gave her the same name!"</p>
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<img border="0" data-original-height="398" data-original-width="398" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh9RnuFEw0i5kjT_pBdQ-NgT9h6ufRTWFwyse9EutYvp4yj0PnTt3ck3y4I_6zdeV29YFjycCdz3BxMFIPnWYBsSRsiUTJ7ADvBjSBjxcgrWg9hue06D2_qYgXOVQp86OHoQCMs2I0pvK8GJ7ZxkbjiyipUc_M4rmLDYZgUorOzPWqD9iL9iMJKQFzb14/s320/bitmoji-20190523015135.png" width="320" />
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Generated by <b>Bitmoji</b></td>
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<p>Ah, well... I figured her nicknames growing up would be Bri, Aubrey, Annie, or just her last name: Zani (yeah, since it was the easiest one for Quarthix, I figured I'd just make it her surname). The players could call her any of those names, and maybe the whole Brienne of Tarth thing won't be as noticeable....</p>
<p>Eh. We'll see how this goes. We're hoping to get our first session in on July 3rd!</p>
<p>Aaaaaand this blog post is creeping up on the 30min-read mark (and it's almost midnight!!!!), so I should probably wrap things up.</p>
<p>No one commented on my last few posts, so I still have no exterior input on the font change. I'm giving Mali a second month in a row. I THINK I like this one the best, but I'm still unsure. I'm still very much open to input. You have Mali this month and last month, Kalam in April, and Josefin Sans back in March. Please, feel free to comment below on which font works best for you. Or, should I go back to the Coming Soon font that I have used for the past five years or so?</p>
<p>Finally, let's all give my mom a huge congratulations! She's up to 28years of being declared cancer free! Happy anniversary, Mom! Keep going strong!</p>
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<img border="0" data-original-height="398" data-original-width="398" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcdj8Ap8Q504g8sIagGtGVm3WxGYkw_SZv7LmfPZ_DIBEwVQZKvSTqSgbowDW1unWom5EBGRtox8RHLmbng4TWRn34PB8PSQGXjJjbGlC_LsYdHKv7dcdZGANOL9GLKqeIMglAEn5BYwxoACB0aPaDXbAr4Hp200YzybU1m5T_1W834WqhdA-R2NXX5Bg/s320/bitmoji-20190730111737.png" width="320" />
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<img border="0" data-original-height="398" data-original-width="398" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB8kQSkjPtoYEGeyWRYafWVrDDSWwG5sYa6j3MwF_jb0nK2UQa4-7-xV3k-cqF2KNcQxD-7PHVTCsSInESX7N8ArqMjrFIMDstsphIZ4gMeD7tSj6g0magDDm7522FqACG7loPqaBbs4HDdIOB00HuVBuGRutVzTpnh_w3InP_lKE2a9VG4g2VeD3my44/s320/Excited%20Survivor%20Mom.png" width="320" />
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Generated by <b>Bitmoji</b>
<br />Edited by <b>LycoRogue</b></td>
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<p>Also, for all of my American readers, happy Independence Day!</p>
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<img border="0" data-original-height="398" data-original-width="398" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe7qCTXxjNtR-3RtYzlyrhLlVdCAcwYzmmqvnYx9Yqx_BKWV5gPksaZ0aaP0wu4YeBrjwsnCVQtiyqZumsuJEemqKBGX11Njb_DlANkoD5lWEktfX6lCSy8R_eMAyqHNO3oq_e-0ZF4Sfdbvq3798XRB32BhM79ad0mJ6wbmRFiYqyx0gBDAarlYWdKRA/s320/3d2f1c29792f822982c3d31a1a12421f734bb9c8e8ffa64af3cc48ec53074418.0.png" width="320" />
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Generated by <b>Bitmoji</b></td>
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<p>Alright, everyone. Until next time!</p>
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Generated by <b>Bitmoji</b></td>
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</span>LycoRoguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01064253326464685398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6675584297301734651.post-19807315534049353952023-05-30T22:55:00.003-04:002023-05-30T23:59:13.233-04:00Vampires, Attorneys, and Gangstas... Oh, My!<p style="font-family: serif; font-size: 60%;">Est. Read Time: 27min</p>
<span style="font-family: Mali;">
<p>Oof. I'm really getting this month's blog post under the wire again, huh? May has been.... trying.</p>
<p>Yes, there's been stressors and drama at work which has clogged up my creativity and hindered my writing time. I come home after work and just want to plop down on the loveseat next to Hubby and turn off my brain.</p>
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<p>To be fair, though, I can't blame that mindset ENTIRELY on work this month. I don't know how it is in other countries or other parts of the United States, but on the east coast, the pollen count has been INSANE. I've heard stories from multiple people in multiple areas that droves of people have been going to the doctor or urgent care or the emergency room worried that they have covid or bronchitis or some other serious respiratory infection. Only for the doctors/nurses/PAs to tell them it's just a severe allergic reaction to the record highs and record-long pollen season this year. People - such as myself - who normally aren't affected, or, at least not affected too terribly, are now being hit HARD with an allergic reaction. The air is just not very breathable.</p>
<p>Well, as mentioned, I was included in that lot. Except I did indeed contract bronchitis. It started late May 10th/early May 11th as a horrible scratchy tickle around my vocal cords. I felt perfectly fine aside from that intense itch making me want to cough in an attempt to clear my throat and "scratch" the vocal cord itch. These dry, intense coughs became so violent I would get massive pressure headaches from them. By the 14th I couldn't live with it anymore. The headaches were too intense and I woke up that morning with my dry cough now sounding mucusy. I set up an appointment with Urgent Care. I tested negative for covid, and the PA determined it was instead bronchitis. I got my meds later that day.</p>
<p>Monday, May 15th was the worst. Day two of calling out sick, and I spent most of the day lying face-down on the floor because, as uncomfortable as it was to lie on my stomach, it was also the only way to stop myself from constantly coughing. I also frequently had my head buried under pillows to try to counter the pressure build-up. I only ate because I needed to for my meds and I was DETERMINED to take those in a weak attempt to ease my symptoms.</p>
<p>Obviously, Scum and Villainy was again cancelled.</p>
<p>Tuesday, May 16th, I pretty much just slept all day; only waking to eat so I could take my meds.</p>
<p>Wednesday, I was feeling guilty about the fact that me being out sick either meant (a) one of my coworkers was doing an 8hr shift alone, or (b) neither of my coworkers could have their days off. Besides that, each sick day I took was more time out of my PTO that I had dog-eared for future vacations. I wasn't coughing so hard or as frequently, and I had more energy. So I donned my mask (which I do every day for work regardless), confirmed I still didn't have a fever (I hadn't had one the whole time), made sure I was well stocked with Lysol and hand sanitizer, and went back to work. Thankfully, it was a slow day and my coworker understood my lower energy levels. I joked that the coughing would have given me amazing abs over that past week if it weren't for all the sugar I was consuming from the constant sucking on hard candies to try to soothe my throat.</p>
<p>Thursday was my second scheduled day off, so I again mostly slept (or otherwise vegged next to the hubby on the loveseat) outside of eating and taking the last dose of my meds.</p>
<p>Friday I was done with my prescriptions and I felt mostly okay. Still a little weak from battling bronchitis, and I did still have the occasional cough, but at least it wasn't as violent/severe. I was able to finish off a work project that was understandably delayed a week while I recovered. By the time I got home, though? It was crash-on-the-loveseat time. And then you had the inevitable for head/chest colds: the symptoms come back 10-fold once the sun set. By about 10pm my head was splitting and I could NOT sit up any longer (even reclined). I had to be flat. I had to be on my stomach. I had to press the crown of my head into the cold bedroom wall.</p>
<p>Saturday? Sunday? Monday? Rinse and repeat. This illness was lingering. I was improving each day, but only incrementally, and I was HURTING by about 10pm and needed to be in bed.</p>
<p>Tuesday I slept until noon. I did the same when I had Thursday off. If I wasn't at work, I was pretty much in bed. Or, at least lying on my stomach across the living room floor so I could try to spend some time with my husband.</p>
<p>As you could imagine, this didn't leave much time or brain power for me to work on some writing (including working on this blog post).</p>
<p>Last Friday night I had pre-emptively cancelled this week's Scum and Villainy because I'm still recovering (I had also forgotten it was Memorial Day and people probably weren't going to be available anyway), I have had no energy to sort out a new session plot hook, and the pollen-plus-heat is starting to kick Hubby's butt too.</p>
<p>May has NOT been a good month to be creative (or healthy, apparently).</p>
<p>That said, I DID still manage to post something this month. Sunday morning, actually. I woke up waxing poetic about my hubby, and I strongly felt like Adrien would feel the same way about Marinette. The fic is super short for me. Not even 500 words! It's a two-minute read, but it's SOMETHING. So I'm proud of that.</p>
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<h2 style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="font-size: xx-large;">Never Take This for Granted</span></i></b></h2>
<i><b>Summary:</b> Adrien awakes overwhelmed with gratitude to be married to Marinette.<br />
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<b>Rating:</b> General Audiences<br />
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<b>Word Count:</b> 420</i><br />
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<a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/47483335" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">• On ArchiveOfOurOwn</a>
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<a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14237866/1/Never-Take-This-for-Granted" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">• On FanFiction</a>
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<a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.deviantart.com/lycorogue/art/Never-Take-This-for-Granted-964552212" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">• On DeviantArt</a>
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<a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://lycorogue.tumblr.com/post/718576577152155648/latest-story-never-take-this-for-granted" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">• On Tumblr</a>
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<p>This story has had the smallest 24hrs numbers of the last 6 stories I've published. Part of me gets it: Memorial Day weekend in the US, and that isn't the most eye-catching summary I've ever written. Part of me doesn't get it: I thought people preferred drabbles and ficlets they could tear through, and that's why my longer stuff wasn't getting read as frequently as other authors in the fandom.</p>
<p>Despite the lower visibility, this story has had the most positive ratio numbers. Highest percentage of people liking, bookmarking/following, and commenting after reading. So, that's neat!</p>
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<p>While I'm talking about my writing, I should have an important aside about my stories, and, specifically, Archive of Our Own (AO3).</p>
<p>I'm sure you're probably aware by now of ChatGPT and other such writing "AI" programs. I get why everyone is drawn to the novelty of it. It is reminiscent of the chat bots I used to play around with way back when AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) was a thing. I see a lot of streamers and online content creators getting sucked into the hype and having fun with it.</p>
<p>Please stop.</p>
<p>It may seem fun and harmless, but these "AI" generators are anything but. I was kinda screaming about this last year with the image generators like Craiyon and Dall-E. How these generators "learn" to create is by <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2022/09/flooded-with-ai-generated-images-some-art-communities-ban-them-completely/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">straight up plagiarizing</a> <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://rockcontent.com/blog/getty-images-shutterstock-ai/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">the content</a> that creators put their time, energy, heart, and skill into. There's a reason great art inspires us. We get a little bit of the creator's soul, and feel connected; seen. These generators get rid of that soul and boil everything down into an algorithm; calculating what art looks or sounds like.</p>
<p>Plus, ya know, the whole plagiarism thing. It'd be different if there was a generator that only learned off of prompts that creators willingly gave or were paid for. That's not what's happening a large majority of the time. It is art theft with millions of participants (the users of the generators).</p>
<p>With ChatGPT and other chat bots/writing generators, the same thing is happening to writing. <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/05/ai-vs-hollywood-writers-battle-plagiarism-machines-in-union-talks/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">It is one of the main sticking points of the negotiations the Writers Guild of America (WGA) is striking about</a>. To save payroll and residuals (<a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://lycorogue.tumblr.com/post/716692842534322176" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">which are already insultingly minuscule</a>), production houses like Disney, Warner Bros Discovery, Amazon, Netflix, etc <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/writers-strike-ai-chatgpt-1235478681/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">want to have writing generators like ChatGPT check an algorithm of what would be statistically the most appealing story for the masses and then write scripts based off that data</a>. Then have a single writer clean up the script as needed (re: last-second rewrites during production as changes need to be made to meet deadlines or unforeseen production complications). The human script "cleaner" would then go uncredited (which makes it exponentially harder to use that work on their resume in order to get their next job), would not qualify for residuals, and would be paid a pathetic salary to begin with.</p>
<p>It truly is something you would expect to see in a dystopian storyline - media for mass consumption being created by a computer algorithm - but this is the possible future of our visual entertainment. We're already seeing students also using ChatGPT instead of writing up their own assignments, and fanfic writers using ChatGPT to create/finish their stories in an attempt to just build up online clout.</p>
<p>I'll get back to the fanfic writers bit in a second, but first, the students. The biggest issue with this plagiarizing via ChatGPT is that the "AI" isn't infallible. Not by a long shot. It frequently just grabs any random old internet rumor and presents it as facts, or otherwise strings keywords together into a coherent sentence, but the "information" is a fabrication.</p><p>Case and point, the Super Carlin Brothers - Ben and J - had fun asking ChatGPT who each of their spouses were. They got back answers such as <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://twitter.com/jonkerlin/status/1643229474857549831" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">J being married to a voice actress that he MAY have met in passing at a YouTube convention</a> (<a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://twitter.com/BrizzyVoices/status/1643271221721825282" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">the actress's credits listed by ChatGPT were also completely inaccurate, btw</a>), <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/PopcornCulture/comments/12fyjcp/new_development_in_js_secret_wife_and_bens_secret/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Ben's wife Alyce is actually his ex-wife and he's married to J's wife Beth</a>, and <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/PopcornCulture/comments/131bpmn/ummmmm/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">the brothers are married to each other</a>!</p>
<p>And yet, students are just taking the "facts" given by ChatGPT as bible! In a world where misinformation is spread so easily, it's scary that this generator and its ilk are making it EASIER to spread. Another example of this? The streamer <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.youtube.com/@Sykkuno" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Sykkuno</a> reacted to an article that is the top Google search result about his net worth. <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lX4JPos1xBc" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Nearly every sentence within the article is inaccurate, contradictory, and - based on the tense changes and grammatical errors - was most likely written by a literature generator such as ChatGPT</a>. The website still posted the "article" as if it were fact, with no indicator that it was "AI-Generated", and is the top result on Google!</p>
<p>Now back to fanfic writers, which also brings this whole thing back to AO3. <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/25888" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">It's been discovered that a LOT of the amateur creative writing ChatGPT is learning off of is from AO3</a>. The generator - or, rather Common Crawl dataset, which ChatGPT is trained off of - gathers the fanfiction people work so hard to write and share - FOR FREE, mind you - and uses it to spit out new fics within that author's signature writing voice. Something that takes people AGES to develop for themselves.</p>
<p>But now, if you like the style of a specific fanfic writer, but they don't write for your fandom or haven't written a particular plotline you want to read, you can just have ChatGPT write it for you.</p>
<p>Kinda gross, right?</p>
<p>How can you help?</p><p>Well, step one would be to ask all of you reading this to STOP using ChatGPT and similar generators if you've already tried it out, and to avoid touching the thing if you haven't yet (same deal with image generators, btw). Again, I know it's a curious novelty and I understand the draw. I was excited when image generators came out because I suck at drawing and can't afford commissions, but I'm also a very visual person who would love reference pics. The thing is, these generators are actively harming creatives and could potentially destroy the whole scriptwriting career path (and potentially doing the same to reporters, given that "article" about Sykkuno). If you have ever once complained about how all shows and movies are the same and we don't have any original content, ChatGPT and the atrocious contract the WGA has been working with and is trying to renegotiate are large contributors to that (or could be, in ChatGPT's case).</p>
<p>Step two? A lot of fanfiction writers are locking down their accounts. If you don't have an AO3 account, you can no longer even SEE their stories, let alone read them. It's the best us little guys can do to try to hinder ChatGPT until a more ethical way of teaching the generator is developed.</p>
<p>I'm torn on this decision. I know that there are a growing number of you who do check in on my writing on AO3 but don't have an account. I don't want to block you from continuing to enjoy my content. However, accounts ARE free, and I can send out invites to those interested, in order to fast-track your account's approval. Even without my invite, though, most people get approved within a week or so of submitting their request to join the site. So, if you can, and haven't already, I do strongly suggest creating an AO3 account.</p>
<p>The other reason I'm hesitant is that I don't know how much it would protect me anyway. Since I also post my stories to Fanfiction.net, DeviantArt, and Tumblr, locking my AO3 account would only cut off one avenue and may not fully prevent my stuff from being scraped. On the other hand, it seems that those other sites might be so low-traffic comparatively that the generator hasn't started harvesting from them yet. At least, not for literature. On the OTHER other hand, if I do lock my AO3 account to only users, it will at least be one form of protection, and those who don't wish to have an account can still read my stories on the other three sites.</p>
<p>I clearly haven't made up my mind yet, but please be warned that I may be locking down my AO3 account to users-only in the near future.</p>
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<p>Okay. Enough preaching.</p>
<p>While this month has been mostly a wash when it comes to writing and being creative, it HAS been a good month for CONSUMING narrative content.</p>
<p>To start, May 3rd began yet another year of <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://draculadaily.substack.com/about" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Dracula Daily</a>! For those who might not know, Dracula Daily is a project where a man named Matt Kirkland decided to take Bram Stoker's novel <i>Dracula</i> - which is in the public domain - and email it for free to subscribers via substack.com. I believe he started it May, 2021. When it started back up again May, 2022, somehow Tumblr caught wind of it, latched on HARD, and the project went viral. It was so fun to be part of this nearly website-wide online book club last year! I did fall off the wagon around the end of August, though, and so I'm giving Dracula Daily yet another go. It seems less popular this year, but it's still fun to find a few of my Tumblr mutuals again reading along.</p>
<p>To break it down further, for those who never read the actual novel, <i>Dracula</i> is told via dated journal entries, letters, telegraphs, and newspaper clippings. Kirkland thought it would be fun to send each dated entry to subscribers on the actual date they occur. It's a great way to stretch out the novel from a weekend read to something that lasts from May 3rd until November 7th. There are days or even weeks where there is no correspondence. Nothing is recorded within the novel, and so Dracula Daily readers have nothing to read. It adds so much tension when Jonathan Harker writes that he's trapped in Dracula's castle and fears for his life, but then we don't get another entry from Jonathan until over a week later. When you read the entries back-to-back in the actual novel you don't fully grasp that nine days have gone by and Jonathan is getting desperate. When you physically have to wait those nine days... you feel it!</p>
<p>Another fun twist to Dracula Daily is how the novel is pseudo-rewritten. Bram Stoker had kept all of Jonathan's horror within Dracula's castle together in the first few chapters. Then you're finally introduced to his fiancée Mina and her bestie Lucy. There's a tonal shift, but it's a new chapter after everything with Jonathan, so the shift makes sense. However, the dates that Mina and Lucy are discussing Mina's countdown to Jonathan's return and Lucy's love-life are all between Jonathan's entries; essentially giving the reader of the actual novel a sort of rewind/"Meanwhile..." situation. On the flipside, for Dracula Daily, you get Jonathan's perilous business trip interspliced with Mina's and Lucy's correspondence. The stark juxtaposition and resulting dramatic irony creates both a fantastic comedy, but also adds to the tension. You see Dracula forcing Jonathan to write letters home saying he's on his way, but postdating them; implying that Jonathan won't live until the date the letters claim they were written, giving Dracula more time to get away. The next entry is Mina commenting on how excited Jonathan was for his trip and how he should be home within a week. It's comical, but also oh-so tragic that Mina has no clue how terrified her fiancé is and how certain he is that he'll never see her again.</p>
<p>It's been great to read this classic novel, and be part of this online book club (as it were), in order to see the comedy in it all from an internet/meme perspective, but also read the meta from others to really deep-dive and perhaps see symbolism I would have otherwise missed. It's also great to see users warn about things my privilege wouldn't have noticed. Things like how the novel poorly paints the Romani, or people reminding everyone that Transylvania is a region; not a country of its own right, or how the depictions of Dracula are antisemitic, or how troubling/triggering Dr. John Seward's treatment of Renfield could be for those who suffered mental abuse.</p>
<p>By the way, if you DO want to read <i>Dracula</i>, please be mindful of all of those problematic issues and be careful of potential triggers. Be safe out there, peeps, and know that it's okay if you have to skip this classic for your own mental health.</p>
<p>That said, if you still want to read <i>Dracula</i> in real-time, you can always join the Dracula Daily party! Sign-up is always open, and the past entries are <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://draculadaily.substack.com/archive" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">archived on Substack</a>, so you'll only miss the experience of waiting for that next entry. We're only one month/16 entries in thus far, and most are relatively short passages, so it should only take a few hours to catch up.</p>
<p>Anyway, point being, it's great to use Dracula Daily as a way of practicing analyzing content I consume and seeing what resonates with people.</p>
<p>The second bit of content consumption I focused on this month is the visual-novel game <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_Wright:_Ace_Attorney" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney</a>.</i> I started my re-playthrough MONTHS ago. Probably as far back as July???? The final case of the game is INSANELY long compared to the other ones. I must have started that up around October, stopped playing for a while, and then tried to finish this past month. Kept me the better part of a week to finish. It's... a bit intense.</p>
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<p>Part of that intensity helped me with my content-analysis again. Mostly because... I don't know if it's the original writers losing the plot, or if it was a translation error, but... there were a lot of things within the final story you uncover that still don't make sense. Plot points that - knowing who the true culprit is - don't make sense. Timelines that don't properly add up. It's.... it's a bit of a mess in a way the other, shorter cases aren't. So it was fun, and a bit infuriating, to dissect that portion of the game and the overall story. It also helped keep my creativity fresh as I tried to sort out how I would have rewritten that final case to make it read smoother.</p>
<p>The third and final content I focused on this month was more of <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/NoPixel_Wiki" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">NoPixel</a>, a Grand Theft Auto V online roleplay server. While most of the other game streamers Hubby and I follow have stopped playing on the server, one streamer spends most of his hours on his GTA characters: <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.twitch.tv/ray__c" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Ray__C</a>.</p>
<p>Ray has two characters. His cop character is <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Raycardo_Flick" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Raycardo Flick</a>, and his main character is his criminal <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Raymond_Romanov" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Raymond Romanov</a>. And, boy howdy, has Raymond had a LOT of juicy content this past month.</p>
<p>A "little" primer on Raymond to fully get why I brought up this character.</p>
<p>Back when Hubby and I used to watch Sykkuno play NoPixel, his one streamer buddy Ray__C created Raymond Romanov. Sykkuno and Ray gravitated towards a third streamer - <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.twitch.tv/buddha" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Buddha</a> - whom they met while playing the <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rust_(video_game)" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">post-apocalyptic survival game Rust</a> together. Buddha was an OG NoPixel player, and had been playing his character <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Lang_Buddha" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Lang Buddha</a> for over 5 years. Lang was a legacy character on the server, and had clawed his way into being a sort of criminal kingpin.</p>
<p>Lang, Raymond, and Sykkuno's character <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Yuno_Sykk" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Yuno</a> hung out together, did crime together, defended each other, got into mischief together, and eventually, Yuno and Raymond joined Lang's gang. In previous versions of NoPixel, Lang was in charge of the gang the <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Leanbois" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Leanbois</a>. When the server upgraded from 2.0 to 3.0, the Leanbois were unofficially disbanded (new server upgrade tends to be character restart points). Lang decided to recreate the Leanbois with his new crew of <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Harry_Brown" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Harry Brown</a> (one of Lang's best friends), Raymond, Yuno, <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Mickey_S" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Mickey S</a>, <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Jean_Paul" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Jean Paul</a>, and a lot of the original Leanbois crew. They rebranded as the CLeanbois (CB for short).</p>
<p>During this CB era, Raymond and Lang got close. Raymond was willing to kill for Lang. They considered each other brothers. Family. The streamers Ray__C and Buddha used real-world monies to purchase an in-game mansion, got it custom designed, and had it labelled as CLean Manor. While I know the following characters paid in-game funds to be co-owners of the Manor with Lang and Raymond, I don't know if the streamers pitched in real-world funds as well: Harry, Yuno, Mickey, and <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Tony_Corleone" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;">Tony Corleone</a> (one of the Leanbois from 2.0). All six CLeanbois were co-owners of the manor and considered it their home.</p><p>Lang even declared that "the Manor is a neutral/mutual ground for all gang-related affairs." Keep this in mind. It becomes important.</p>
<p>After the CLeanbois managed the most difficult heists available within the city of Los Santos (the setting of GTA V) most of the players got bored and stopped playing. With fewer and fewer CB members active, the ones that were still playing moved on to create new crews. Lang created/heads such new gangs/organizations as <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/The_Guild" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">The Guild</a> and <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Cerberus" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Cerberus</a>, and has become a two-term mayor of Los Santos, a position the character currently still holds. That is also important. Tony created the street racing crew Redline - of which Raymond is a member. Raymond gathered up the street crew that had helped him grind out funds, guns, and equipment for CB heists, and created Ray's Unfortunate Street Team, aka <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/R.U.S.T" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">R.U.S.T.</a> (a nod to the game Ray__C mostly streamed before getting into NoPixel). Despite going separate ways, Tony and Raymond still considered the members of CB as their family and CLean Manor their home. Raymond even went so far as to warn the founding members of RUST and all prospects looking to join that Lang, Tony, and the rest of the CLeanbois are Raymond's family and were off limits.</p>
<p>This dynamic between Raymond and Lang was why Lang is the namesake of Hubby's Scum and Villainy character Quinton's greatest ally. He pictured Quinton and his version of Lang to have that same mentor/brother relationship as Raymond and Lang (or Dick Grayson and Bruce Wayne).</p>
<p>Fast forward to this past February/March. One of RUST's members was arrested after a stockpile of gun parts was discovered in a truck he had parked at Rooster's Rest. Rooster's Rest is one of Lang's many businesses, and probably the one closest to his heart because it was a carry-over from 2.0. Lang has one key rule: do not start trouble at any of his establishments. He does not want the cops to have ANY reason to come onto his properties. So, when <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/G_Baby" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">G Baby</a> was arrested under the suspicion of weapons manufacturing (on account of the gun parts), Lang wanted to rain hellfire on RUST. He resisted though, out of respect for Raymond. Since the streamer playing G Baby was dealing with health issues and was planning on retiring anyway, Raymond and Lang were able to agree to let G Baby be exiled from the city under the pain of death should he return. Tensions were high for the week or so that they negotiated G Baby's punishment (Lang wanted to execute him), and it was obvious that the relationship was strained once negotiations concluded.</p>
<p>RUST had helped Lang get re-elected as Mayor (his second term), but then Lang kept feigning ignorance and had his deputy mayors lie about paying the RUST boys for their work. It became a bit of a running gag with Raymond and Ray__C's chat, but it was becoming more clear that while Raymond still thought of Lang as a brother, Lang saw Raymond more as a tool to manipulate. Or, as I said to my husband, if the two were brothers, Lang was the older one and Raymond was the younger chasing after his big brother like a faithful puppy. And Lang knew it. The whole city (server) knew it. Lang was Raymond's Achilles' Heel, and people were not afraid to use that against him. Any who opposed Raymond and/or RUST knew they just needed to hide behind Lang to avoid repercussions, and RUST was losing respect as a gang.</p>
<p>Fast forward again to last weekend. Ray__C was away at Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC) in Las Vegas when it all went down, so Raymond only knew what happened via second-hand information. However, he made a point to ask MULTIPLE people for their side of the story to try to sort it all out, and ended up with the following:</p>
<p>A prospective Rooster's Rest employee named Elfy entered the restaurant (Rooster's Rest) and started talking shit about RUST. She then saw <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Maxine_Celsius" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Maxine</a>, one of Raymond's many adoptive adult children. She then started threatening Raymond's life in front of Maxine and gloating that he couldn't do anything since she was on Lang's property. Maxine, infuriated, clocked off shift and radioed the rest of RUST about Elfy so they could pick her up when she left Rooster's and properly punish her for the threats and disrespect. Among the RUST members that showed up was new member <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Kate_Myles" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Kate</a>. While the rest of the group was able to keep their heads, and Kate tried to talk to Elfy to get her to stop, Elfy kept instigating. Since the two of them were outside of Rooster's, Kate pulled a gun on Elfy and kidnapped her, not realizing that they were still on Rooster's Rest property (they were on the front steps) and therefore still breaking Lang's cardinal rule.</p>
<p>There was about a week of he-said-she-said about the situation until everything finally came to a head at a meeting on Wednesday. This meeting kickstarted some of the best acting/roleplay I've seen on the server, and the reason I brought Raymond up in the first place.</p>
<p>Lang and Raymond set up a meeting at the RUST compound: the Scrapyard. At the meeting were Raymond, a member of his high command <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Achez_Perez" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Perez</a>, another RUST member <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Connell_MacGregor" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">MacGregor</a>, Maxine, Kate, Lang, Harry, <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Denzel_Williams" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Denzel</a> (a Leanbois member that was grandfathered into the CLeanbois), and the Rooster's Rest CEO <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Penny_Farthing" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Penny</a>. <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://youtu.be/B1FfZx8dp5o" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">To say the meeting didn't go well is an understatement</a>. Despite Maxine getting fired from Rooster's and all of RUST being banned from any and every Lang property, Lang's side of the meeting still wanted blood as punishment, especially since Elfy is apparently the fiancée of Lang's surrogate brother <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Arush_Patel_Santana" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Speedy</a>, and the RUST members that had kidnapped her had also tortured her as punishment.</p>
<p>Despite claiming otherwise, Penny didn't get anyone's side of things outside of Elfy's, and Penny disrespected Raymond the whole meeting. However, when Raymond tried to push back, Lang threatened to kill two RUST members if Raymond continued to disrespect her. Lang said nothing to Penny about disrespecting Raymond. Then, since Penny is a member of the Angels gang, a helicopter with five Angels was discovered on the Scrapyard roof. The other RUST members were able to detain two of the Angels, and Raymond "executed" them (since it's a game, the players can decide if their character is actually dead or just severely injured). Raymond told Lang to take Penny (who was unharmed) and leave, which they did. Raymond then found the leader of the Angels hiding on the Scrapyard roof and shot her down too. RUST took all three Angels back to their gang complex inside one of the executed members' cars. Once there, Raymond called another Angel member, told her where to find those that were at the Scrapyard, and proceeded to explode the Angel's car.</p>
<p>Once back at the Scrapyard, Raymond decreed that Maxine and Kate weren't allowed to go anywhere in the city without at least 4 RUST members with them for protection, since Lang, Harry, and Speedy were on the hunt for the two of them.</p>
<p>Two days later, Raymond brought his son Maxine with him everywhere he went to keep an eye on him, and Kate spent the day with her street racing gang the Yokai. Things were a bit tense, with Harry calling Raymond with vaguely threatening messages about hunting down Kate. Otherwise, it was a fairly light-hearted stream. Raymond even set up an interview for CEO of the local strip club. He was advised to dress the part for the interview, so he had fun picking out a "pimp outfit". On his way to the club, he got a call from Lang. He requested that Raymond bring Maxine to CLean Manor for a meeting to try to discuss potential punishments. Maxine rightfully didn't want to go, but Raymond knew that the groups would be dancing around each other; hunting each other. Raymond just wanted the whole thing settled so he and Lang wouldn't be at odds anymore. He also knew Lang's rule that the Manor was conflict-free so the cops would have no reason to enter the property. Even so, Raymond refused to bring Maxine to the Manor if Speedy was there. Lang swore that it would just be him and Harry there, so Raymond agreed.</p>
<p>He let his gang know what was going down. Raymond's adoptive daughter <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Mari_McKay" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Mari</a> offered to come with, as well as RUST honorary member <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Nana_Banana" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Nana</a>. RUST member <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Bruno_Brown" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Bruno</a> was already in the car with Raymond and Maxine, so he came along as well. Perez offered to get a helicopter and hover near the Manor - but not close enough to eavesdrop like the Angels did - in case Raymond needed backup.</p>
<p>Once at the Manor, Raymond passed out guest keys to his crew so they could move freely through the mansion, but he ordered them to wait outside. He and Maxine then went in to meet with Lang and Harry. The four of them had another increasingly heated discussion until Speedy popped out of one of the many hidden rooms within the Manor, and shot both Raymond and Maxine with tranquilizers. While the two were out Harry yelled to handcuff them, and then the trio kidnapped Maxine. Raymond woke up handcuffed to the desk and alone in the office. He screamed for help, and Perez parachuted into the mansion. Lang saw Perez in the house with his gun out, and called 911 claiming an assassination attempt on the mayor, before ushering Harry, Speedy, and Maxine into another hidden passage. Perez saw they had Maxine, but he wasn't one of the ones Raymond was able to give keys to, so he couldn't follow them into the passage. Instead, he ran down to rescue Raymond. He then directed Raymond - who was panicked and in shock - to the hidden passage, but Raymond couldn't open it. That's when he discovered that Lang had taken his house keys.</p>
<p>Harry "executed" Maxine. Raymond and Lang had a yelling match through the secret door. Raymond took out Speedy. Lang threatened Raymond, but Ray still replied that he won't shoot Lang; they're brothers. He pleaded for Lang to let him get Maxine. Lang agreed, but ended up locking Maxine behind the secret door before escaping up the defense tower on the roof. All the more panicked, Raymond paced screaming to Perez and his gang that he can't get to Maxine and that one of them with the guest keys needs to get inside to help. Raymond lamented not being able to shoot Lang, and Perez told him to not worry. He'll do it. He then climbed up onto the roof while Bruno ran inside to unlock the secret passage door and collect Maxine. While Bruno was gone, Harry's son <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Zaceed_Skengerton" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Zaceed</a>, who was also hiding at the Manor as backup, surprise-attacked Mari and Nana, handcuffed them, and shot them execution style. Not knowing what happened, Raymond ran around the front driveway looking for them.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Lang, from the tower, shot down Bruno and put another bullet in Maxine's back to make sure he wouldn't get back up. Having reached the roof, Perez then headshot Lang and then Harry. Not sure what was going down and still in shock over everything, Raymond tossed Bruno and Maxine in the car and tried to drive off. He was stopped at the gate by the cops yelling for them to drop their guns. Raymond tried explaining that they didn't have any weapons drawn and they were desperate to get to a hospital or EMT. As Raymond crested the hilled driveway, he saw the shot-down Nana and Mari already outside the Manor with EMT (I'm not entirely sure how they got them; if Zaceed had dropped them off or whatnot). During the confrontation with the cops, Speedy, who had been revived by Lang before the latter was shot by Perez, returned the favor and revived Lang and Harry (Lang then proceeded to accidentally fall down the tower ladder and was promptly knocked unconscious again).</p>
<p>Harry and Speedy started shooting at the vehicle Raymond was in, and managed to take him out. Meanwhile, Zaceed drove past the police barricade to also shoot at Raymond. Up on the roof, Perez took both Harry and Speedy out, before dropping down to try to go after Zaceed. Unfortunately, Zaceed had the higher ground, and did manage to take down Perez before the police could then take him out.</p>
<p>The shoot-out at the CLean Manor resulted in all parties at the manor being escorted to the hospital before being brought to the police station. Maxine managed to pull through, but Harry ended up in the ICU. Everyone else was able to get quickly mended and released with no permanent damage, except for Nana who lost her right eye due to Zaceed's headshot.</p>
<p>Raymond then went through two real-time hours of interrogation to try to sort out what happened at the Manor. Even then, he refused to rat out Lang. He gave the cops nothing, and was eventually released despite Lang trying to push for assassination and terrorist charges. Fun note about the cops, all four high-ranking officers on-duty were played by streamers who also have CLeanboi characters. They all joked about being conflicted and tried to pass the case to someone else.</p>
<p>After being released, Raymond got a phone call from Lang. It was part threatening and part lesson on hedging his loyalties between Lang and RUST.</p>
<p>It was an intense story full of betrayal and action, and both Ray__C and Buddha congratulated each other on the amazing roleplay once they were done. You could tell the two friends were having great fun and still greatly loved each other despite what happened between their characters.</p>
<p>Honestly? I know I gave you the full rundown already, but you should still check out the <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://youtu.be/-AJV6SXAy1w" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">23min highlight reel</a> (be warned, this IS GTA, so just about every other word is the f-bomb). <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://kick.com/buddha?clip=99128" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Buddha said it the best</a>: "When Ray wants to RP... like, in those critical moments... he goes, like, 150%!" You really need to hear the vocal acting Ray__C does. It's just... *chef kiss*</p>
<p>And the FEELINGS it evoked! It's four days later and it STILL sticks with me! Although I know that the streamers still love and appreciate each other and their friendship, the BETRAYAL from Lang, and wondering why he did it? It lingers. The plot that Buddha came up with and the energy and emotion that Ray injected? Just so SO good. It's exciting to see that kind of content because it also provokes me to think about how I would have done things differently, or try to reason what Lang did. It gets those creative juices a-flowin'!</p>
<p>So, thank you to Dracula Daily, <i>Ace Attorney</i>, and NoPixel for the great content to keep me company this month. Here's to hoping it inspires more writing from me in June.</p>
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<p>To conclude, I want to take a moment to focus on the point of yesterday's US holiday. Despite how I might feel about the American military and how it's utilized, I still want to take yesterday's holiday as intended: a day where we remember that the military is staffed by people, some of which never made it home from their tours. So, take that drink from the above image and pour one out for all of those soldiers that lost their lives in the line of duty, and pour another out to all of those veterans forgotten by this country. May we all do better to support our soldiers returning home from battle, and do better at keeping them out of danger in the first place.</p>
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<a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.publicdomainpictures.net/en/view-image.php?image=328697&picture=memorial-day" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Public Domain Picture created by Karen Arnold</a>
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<p>Also, in reference to the story I posted on Sunday, this May marked 20 years that Hubby and I have been a couple! How have I been with this man for over half of my life already!? I love you, Sweetness. Agreeing to date my best friend was the smartest decision I ever made. Thank you for being brave enough to ask me.</p>
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<a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://freesvg.org/heart-shapes-i-love-you" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Image from FreeSVG.org</a>
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<p>Finally, Thursday is June 1st, which marks the first day of Pride Month. Especially with all of the conservative pushback the past year, I get how terrifying it must be to not be straight or cis-gender. I get that it may not be safe to express who you truly are right now. My heart goes out to you, and I hope things get better for you soon. Know that I love you and appreciate you the way you are/wish to be. You're not alone. Please, be strong for a little longer. And, if possible, please enjoy celebrating who you are.</p>
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<br />(Sorry, this is an older image
<br />and doesn't include the trans colors.
<br />Know that I love and celebrate you as well.)
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<p>Finally, I nearly forgot to mention, but I'm trying out the last suggested font option for this blog: Mali. What do you guys think? I now have to go through the past few posts to see which font I like the most. Do you guys have a preference?</p>
<p>In the meantime, take care, peeps! Love you all! And thank you so much for sitting through another long rambling from me. Until next month.</p>
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</span>LycoRoguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01064253326464685398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6675584297301734651.post-82088696290102677562023-04-17T15:13:00.002-04:002023-04-17T15:13:22.962-04:00Mistakes Were Made. So Where's My Payment?<p style="font-family: serif; font-size: 60%;">Est. Read Time: 30min (23min if you skip over the spoilers)</p>
<span style="font-family: Kalam;">
<p>Hello, hello, my people! I hope you've been feeling the love the past two months, because this post is going to focus more on my writing frustrations.</p>
<p>To be fair, I'm not really IN the writing funk anymore, thanks to the love I received last month. However, when I first wrote this post at the start of March I was definitely on the Writing Struggle Bus. A lot of the stuff I initially wrote is still valid, so I did want to still share it. Just know that it's not nearly as frustrating, stressful, and/or depressing for me now as it was then. So... YAY!</p>
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<img border="0" data-original-height="398" data-original-width="396" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTBXg3y7RAq7vmf10Z_IPGMNmXCoj6Ga7MkkazuHjAkvs8Zmqk7Mm9J5D4qTmtdWpFfRhrlc1iFE6IFDr8tGQVymqArENb3pBOW-18x5tDQ_BoMnSDez0Is9u0xHWCM4g2AZvajvt_vJmqCWLOM5m_6CbzZVzGdqztb2FEhqDOK4UBNkCl8J66MYP9/s320/bitmoji-20190523012710.png" width="318" />
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<br />Thanks again, everyone, for the love!</td>
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<p>Before I climb back onto that Struggle Bus, I wanted to talk a bit about this post's font. This month I'm trying out the font Kalam. It definitely feels like it has a more "handwritten" look to it than last month's Josefin Sans. I just don't know how I feel about all of my posts being in this font. It definitely has that "handwritten-diary text within a <b style="border-bottom-color: #FDD017; border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: thin; border-bottom: thin dashed rgb(253, 208, 23); cursor: help; font-weight: normal;" title="Middle Grade or Young Adult">MG or YA</b> story" vibe. My concern is that I'm not sure if that's a good thing or bad. I'm also not the biggest fan of he fact that you can't really tell too well when <i>I have things italicized</i> or not. (To counter this flaw, I'm just bolding any italicized writing from this point forward...) Any thoughts on the topic, peeps?</p>
<p>While you ponder that, I'll continue to ponder what I should do about two of my biggest writing projects right now: <i><b>Seduce with Caution</b></i> and <i><b>Scum and Villainy</b>.</i> Both of which I've kinda-sorta at least did some mental exercises for in an attempt to further the story. That counts, right?</p>
<p>We'll start with <i><b>Seduce with Caution</b>.</i> It's been over four months since I've done anything with that story. I gave myself December to focus on the holidays and January to recover, but then February and March (and half of April) blasted by and I am again behind the 8-ball. Over the past few months, I've attempted to just let my brain stew. Passively come up with things like MariChat date nights or akuma attacks.</p>
<p>My brain has failed me.</p>
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<p>Last month, though, I watched the season 5 episode "Elation" with Wolfhearted. It kills me how much this episode is just a PG-rated version of <i><b>Seduce With Caution</b></i>. I'll go over the parallels, but this will involve spoilers for (a) the first 8 episodes of season 5, (b) the episode "Elation" itself, and (c) my story SWC. So let me throw this up real quick.</p>
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<p>.</p>
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<p>Okay, this should be far enough down that those who don't want the spoilers won't see anything accidentally.</p>
<p>In order to better understand what is going on in the episode "Elation" (as well as how it parallels with SwC), I have to do a "quick" recap on what has happened in <i><b>Miraculous Ladybug</b> </i>since the season 4 finale. So, to start, in the two-part finale, Marinette was the only one to listen to Adrien when he confessed that he didn't want to go on some world tour as a model for his father, and she encouraged him to just tell his father this. He chickened out, and his identical cousin Felix offered to step in. Felix proposed to pose as Adrien in order to tell Gabriel he (Adrien) didn't want to go on the tour. Adrien agreed, then was surprised to discover Ladybug gave Felix the Dog Miraculous under the assumption she gave the Miraculous to Adrien. Felix used the mix-up to betray the heroes and brought Ladybug's yo-yo - which had access to the unused Miraculouses - to Hawk Moth (going by Shadow Moth at this point). Despite Ladybug managing to get her yo-yo back, she had lost all of the Miraculouses outside of her own and Chat Noir's, and presumably failed her mission as Guardian and Superhero. At her lowest point, Chat Noir stood by her side and told her he still believed in her (a sentiment the rest of Paris echoed shortly after). Roll end credits.</p>
<p>Season 5 starts off with Marinette wrestling with her new feelings for Chat Noir, which are a lot more affectionate and romantic after his emotional support and faithfulness. Likewise, Adrien is feeling the same for Marinette for a lot of the same reasons.</p>
<p>The first few episodes of the season has Ladybug and Chat Noir stumble their way through being just a duo again. No Master Fu or other Miraculous holders to back them up. They were back to how they were the first season, except now Hawk Moth (now going by the moniker Monarch) is more powerful than ever. They had to wrestle with the guilt of giving their enemy access to more power to terrorize Paris, the critiques Parisians have about them failing (which was only a small few, but their voices were loud), and their feelings for each other shifting.</p>
<p>Eventually, Adrien realizes that it's just too painful to continue holding a flame for Ladybug. Besides, he can no longer ignore his romantic feelings for Marinette. She's who makes him smile and feel like everything will be okay. Even as she's stumbling over herself, she still manages to find exactly the right thing to say to cheer him up and bring him peace. We also get the reveal that he's been struggling to sort out his feelings for Marinette ever since she kissed him at the wax museum way back in the Season 3 episode "The Puppeteer 2" (YES! Validation for enjoying the "cringe" episode!!!). Although, I say that the kid is still fooling himself and he's had feelings for Marinette since that Season 1 umbrella scene. It just wasn't as obvious to him as it was to her.</p>
<p>Well, right as Adrien gives up on his romantic pursuit of Ladybug, Marinette realizes her feelings for Chat Noir. He's her rock. He's the one ALWAYS on her side; even when he's challenging her it's because he believes in her and believes she can be better. He's the one who makes her feel at ease and can calm her when she's spiraling. He's always been her protector and defender. Plus, he's hella cute.</p>
<p>We officially have a reverse love square: Ladybug is now in love with Chat Noir who is in love with Marinette who only sees Adrien as a good friend. Shenanigans ensue.</p>
<p>Which brings us to the 9th episode of the season: "Elation". Having failed with her overt flirting with Chat Noir in a few episodes now (it's... it's BAD. This girl is THIRSTY!), Marinette vents to Alya, who, in turn, tells her that she (Marinette) herself has stated that Ladybug and Chat Noir dating would be dangerous. So maybe it's a good thing that he's not flirting back with her anymore? Besides, Ladybug was the one who asked him to stop pursuing her in the first place. While the girls are arguing, Adrien decided to stop by the bakery for an impromptu hang out with Marinette. Her parents excitedly let her know he's there for a visit, and she sternly turns everyone down. Nope. Not happening. She's busy right now. She's focused on sorting out this whole Chat Noir thing and doesn't have time for Adrien. This causes the girls to argue further before Alya finally suggests that Marinette just step outside to take a breath. Meanwhile, a dejected Adrien leaves the bakery, is ambushed by fans, secretly transforms into Chat Noir to get away, and ends up on the roof he had set up for his date with Ladybug in the season 2 episode "Glaciator".</p>
<p>Marinette exits onto her balcony and the two notice each other. Chat Noir casually mentions being in the area and "happening" upon her. They flirt a little, which includes Marinette calling herself a Chat Noir superfan. Then Chat Noir suggests an evening stroll together to maybe get some of Andre's Sweethearts' Ice Cream. While grabbing ice cream, Chat Noir discovers that Marinette was in love with Adrien. They then have this heartbreaking exchange.</p>
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<b>Chat Noir:</b> You were in love with Adrien Agreste?<br />
<b>Marinette:</b> Yes. But it just made me act in the worst ways. It was too much to bear. What about you? You're no longer in love with Ladybug? <br />
<b>Chat Noir:</b> No. It was too much to bear. It just made me act in the worst ways.
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<p>Marinette somberly responds that at least Chat Noir still has his fans, to which he retorts that maybe his fans won't like him as much if they knew who he was behind the mask. She tells him that she's okay not knowing who's behind the mask. They have this cute moment of testing out little pecks on each others' cheeks and noses before going in for the actual kiss on the lips. (cue me screaming until my throat hurts)</p>
<p>Thing is, though, Chat Noir knows that Marinette doesn't understand that she's kissing her former love Adrien Agreste, and he instantly feels guilty about it. He breaks away and tells her they can't be together.</p>
<p>Fast forward through an akuma attack, Chat Noir officially telling Ladybug that he'll always love her even if it's not romantically any more, her accepting this new dynamic between them, and Chat Noir telling Marinette that he fears taking advantage of the situation with her; that he knows who she is but she doesn't know who he is and that her "love" for him might just be inflated feelings of idolization. He then confesses that he does wish he could kiss her, but would prefer being able to do so outside of the mask so that she knows who he is. They part with a hug. Marinette cries that she'll never get this "love thing" right. Adrien cries that he lost his chance to be with Marinette as Adrien. Tikki simply gives a silent cuddle to comfort Marinette. Plagg points out that Adrien could get Marinette to fall back in love with his civilian half. Roll credits.</p>
<p>Okay, that was a bit longer than intended, but now for the parallels. First, backtracking once more to the season 4 episode "Glaciator 2". The premise of that episode was that Kagami advised Marinette to find someone whom she'll never fall in love with and whom will never fall in love with her, and practice her love confession on that person to better mentally prepare herself for confessing to Adrien. Of course, Marinette spots Chat Noir on a rooftop across the way and calls him over, thinking he's the perfect candidate. In the process of her giving Chat Noir her love confession (never mentioning Adrien's name, of course), there were hints that maybe Chat Noir fell harder for Marinette. Similarly, the whole premise of <i><b>Seduce with Caution</b></i> is that Chat Noir demonstrates his new seduction techniques on Marinette as a way to practice before trying them out on Ladybug. Except the techniques work exactly as intended... on Marinette....</p>
<p>Along with realizing they are now physically attracted to each other, in <i><b>Seduce with Caution</b></i> Adrien (as Chat Noir) and Marinette realize they are starting to also catch romantic feelings for the other. For Adrien, it's because Marinette feels like home to him; a place where he feels warm and loved and comforted and safe to be his true self. For Marinette, it's because Chat Noir helps her become a better version of herself, one that's more confident and brave and sure of herself and comfortable to be her goofy/clumsy self since she knows he won't judge her. Which kind of feels similar to what the duo realize about why they love each other canonically. So, yay, that I was able to sort that out just from pre-season 5 context clues.</p>
<p>Paralleling "Elation" itself, in SWC, Adrien is shocked to find out HE has been Marinette's love all these years... except he again only finds out AFTER she's moved on to Chat Noir. Whoops. It's a touch less heartbreaking in my version though since it's also kind of a ray of hope for the MariChat ship.</p>
<p>Much like in "Elation", Adrien fears that he might be taking advantage of the situation if he (as Chat Noir) and Marinette date. She wouldn't know that she's actually dating her "good friend" Adrien Agreste. Would she feel betrayed or taken advantage of if/when she found out? Very similar to how Chat Noir felt while kissing Marinette in "Elation". The only major difference is that I had Marinette have a similar fear: would Chat Noir feel manipulated or mocked if/when he found out that his girlfriend was actually Ladybug the whole time? Sadly, "Elation" didn't seem to have Marinette struggle with that dilemma.</p>
<p>Anyway, continuing with the parallels, in "Elation", when Chat Noir and Ladybug have their heart-to-heart about his feelings for her, he tells her, "Let's just say my feelings have changed. I still love you, but just as a friend. If that okay?" Which is a VERY simple version of what I had written out for SWC. My version has him confess that she's still his top priority. It's still them versus the world. He will always protect her and have her back. He will always love her, and no one could ever fill her space in his heart. Now that he knows a life with Ladybug in it, he never wants to lose it; he doesn't want to know another day without her. He confesses his undying love for her, but states that it's not a romantic love anymore. Obviously that's a bit much for a 23min episode, but I feel like what Chat Noir canonically said has the same vibe as what I wrote.</p>
<p>Next, similar to MariChat's farewell in "Elation", in SWC it's largely Chat Noir who laments the duo not being able to go on actual dates or him being able to be with her as himself. This causes the Act III conflict in my story as the guilt of having a dual-identity weighs heavy on both of them. Also, the overall conflict for the episode "Elation" was about people telling Marinette who she should/shouldn't date - whether or not it was a good idea for her and Chat Noir to be together - which also parallels a few conflicts within SWC. These conflicts, again, lead to that Act III conflict.</p>
<p>Finally, at the end of "Elation", Plagg reminds Adrien that if Marinette loved his civilian side once, perhaps she can again (after all, she does love the Chat Noir side, and they really aren't that different since both sides are still Adrien). Similarly, when Chat Noir laments his dating conundrum in the 3rd act of SWC, Plagg reminds him that he could always try again to woo Marinette as Adrien now that he knows her better and knows what of his Chat Noir side she values.</p>
<p>So.... yeah! There we have it! All of the parallels I could think of between "Elation" (and the season 4 episode "Glaciator 2") and my long-running WIP <i><b>Seduce with Caution</b></i>.</p>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>OKAY! SPOILERS OVER NOW! YOU CAN START READING AGAIN IF YOU SKIPPED THE LAST PART!</b>
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<p>Phew! Sorry, peeps. That went longer than anticipated. Which, I mean, shouldn't surprise me. That's kind of my MO: running longer than anticipated.</p>
<p>Anyway, the long and short of it - for those who skipped over the spoiler portion - is that a lot of the main plot beats in the episode "Elation" mirror what I have already written and/or planned out for <i><b>Seduce with Caution</b>.</i> On the one hand, that is super cool. Proof that I understand the characters and how they would react in these sorts of situations. I don't even need to go back and go, "Oh, I was close, but based off of canon I need to tweak this bit." My version is just... a more mature version of what we got canonically. Neat.</p>
<p>But the double-edged sword IS the fact that it's so close to canon. If I had posted <i><b>Seduce with Caution</b></i> last year or the year before, as intended, then I'd have this really cool moment where my fans and I could all point to SWC and be like, "Oh hey! Lyco predicted this!" A few years back <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/7398835/chapters/16807156" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank" title="Curiosity and Satisfaction by imthepunchlord">this exact situation happened with a fanfic writer I follow</a>. She came up with an akumatized villain named Aphrodeedee, who used her powers to get people to make out with the first person they saw and were attracted to. Fast forward about 20 months or so and the season 2 episode "Zombizou" aired, in which the Akuma-Of-The-Week used her powers to turn the citizens of Paris into zombies obsessed with kissing instead of eating brains. After the episode aired, a bunch of us who read <i><b>Curiosity and Satisfaction</b></i> freaked out about her predicting a future canon akuma. It would have been so cool if the same thing could have happened for me. But now? I'm afraid people are going to look at those parallels and just nod along like, "Ah, she took canon and tweaked the maturity level of it."</p>
<p>People have reassured me that I should still write SWC and that people will love it even if they already have a PG version of the story. Which, yeah, fair. I wasn't planning on abandoning the story anyway. But still... it would have been cool if people knew I predicted those interactions instead of potentially assuming I drew from canon to make sure they felt in-character.</p>
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<p>Either way, seeing a PG version of SWC play out in the episode "Elation" kicked my butt back in gear. I sent my most detailed outline of SWC to Wolfhearted so he could see what I've been cooking up for the past two years. I then went in to see what needed tweaking. I forgot how many holes there are. I also need to sort out what to do with the 4th chapter. There's mild flirting to match the mild flirting in chapter 3, but it seems almost too mild after what I had in the first 2 chapters.... Also, chapter 4 is LONG. There's this one bit at a used book street vendor that I'm pretty sure I'm cutting, but I need to sort out how much is getting cut. On the plus side, it means another "deleted" scene is probably going to end up on Tumblr in the near(ish) future. So, yay for you guys.</p>
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<p>Sadly, a 9-day work week, dealing with my relatively new and incredibly exhausting coworker, and prepping to visit my mom and sister for Sis' birthday at the start of March had all stalled my writing yet again. Which meant I wasn't able to get TOO far with my reworking of the SWC outline (see also my post last month about the update being massively delayed).</p>
<p>Similarly, I was struggling to come up with jobs for our <i><b>Scum and Villainy</b></i> roleplay sessions. I had already cancelled the session on March 6th because I just ran out of time to plan anything (see aforementioned work schedule and visiting family). Then, as mentioned in the last post, I had to cancel the session on March 20th because of the maintenance on my apartment. A solid month where I didn't run a session and could therefore prep for our next session on April 3rd. So, you'd probably presume I got it all sorted out, and things went swimmingly on the 3rd.</p>
<p>Yeeeeeaaaaaah.... about that....</p>
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<p>Nothing. A complete blank. I couldn't think of a single job for them in the MONTH since we last played! The day of I had a couple of starter ideas, but nothing that could truly pan out. </p>
<p>On top of that, I just never know how much to pre-plan. It seems that the jobs I spend literal weeks coming up with massive amounts of details for - in an attempt to cover my butt for just about any contingency the players hit me with - barely last 90min. Alternatively, when I'm just flying by the seat of my pants? Job takes about 2hrs, easy. We may even run long that session.</p>
<p>For instance, the session we did on February 20th? Yeah, I had that job written up since, like, September, or something. I had been itching to have them run it, but I needed to set up the hook. Finally got everything lined up so that it made sense for the client to reach out to them, and they breeze through the job in about 20min.</p>
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<p>I know the point is that the players are having fun, as am I. And I'm pretty sure we all are indeed having fun. It's just the principle of the thing: I spend WEEKS planning something, and they breeze through it. I wing something, and we're hanging out in that job for hours. It's enough to make me give up on pre-planning. However, the problem then becomes that a lot of the "winging it" jobs have me going "Uh.... sure?" Only to then look back post-session and go "Oh... I screwed up!"</p>
<p>Another case-and-point? The Stardancer crew came into possession of a Dreadnought! We had FINALLY settled on the Stardancer itself being about the size of the <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://cdn.myanimelist.net/s/common/uploaded_files/1447704537-07c824602b8f1dbdbef78960292b614b.jpeg" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Bebop</a> (from <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowboy_Bebop" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Cowboy Bebop</a></i>) and the <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.geeksofdoom.com/GoD/img/2013/12/firefly-serenity-e1387241089451-530x326.jpg" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Serenity</a> (from <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefly_(TV_series)" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank"><i>Firefly</i> and <i>Serenity</i></a>) combined. So.... roughly 225m (738ft) long, 160m (524ft) wide, and 45.75m (150ft) tall.</p>
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<p>At that size, the Stardancer is a Freight-Class starship; one size category up from personal crafts (although, I might sneak another size in for transport ships such as the <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Kom%27rk-class_fighter/transport" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank"><i><b>Star Wars</b></i> Gauntlet starfighter</a> that are about 1/4 the size we came up with for the Stardancer but can hold more than 1 person).</p>
<p>Either way, there are two more size categories between Freighter and Dreadnought (Corvette and Frigate)! The Stardancer crew just went from the canonically smallest multiple-person space craft to the largest! On top of that, the rules don't explain how large the size categories are outside of the fact that Corvettes (just one size category up from Freighter) are now too large to land planetside.</p>
<p>I know that the official SaV rulebook does this on purpose: just give the broad strokes instead of actual specifics, that way no one's hands are tied. The playgroup can work together to world build (universe build?). They can collectively decide on what The Way is and how it manifests. What other non-terrestrial species (Xenos) are there outside of the named Sah'iir or Memish? How much of the overall sector population is human vs xeno? What are the names of the other major cities on any given planet? What about towns? Are there hamlets? What other cultures are there? How do the weapons work? How do the Jump Gates work? What Ur artifacts are there, and how do they work? What are the sizes of the different space ship categories? Etc.</p>
<p>It's freeing to just have fun world building like that. If that's your thing. It really isn't for this playgroup though, including myself. So there's a LOT of debate on how things do and don't work. What's <b style="border-bottom-color: #FDD017; border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: thin; border-bottom: thin dashed rgb(253, 208, 23); cursor: help; font-weight: normal;" title="Over Powered">OP</b> vs balanced? What's realistic vs threatening to break suspension of disbelief? What do the various flora/fauna/buildings look like? It's.... it's a lot. It forces me to do a LOT of research in our time off between sessions.</p>
<p>So, in my attempt to sort out how large this Dreadnought should be compared to the Stardancer, I used <i><b>Star Wars</b></i> dreadnoughts as reference. In SW canon, the size category STARTS at about 5km (3 miles/5280 yd) long, and can go up to 15km (9 miles/15,840 yd) long! That's STARTING at over *20 TIMES* larger than the Stardancer!!!! No wonder these babies can't land planetside! Good grief!</p>
<p>Also, presumably Dreadnoughts are fairly rare within the Procyon Sector, given that there are only three mentioned in the rule book, and each of them are listed as a "notable asset":</p>
<ul>
<li><b>Lost Legion</b>, former military branch of the Hegemony that was tasked to be the former Hegemon's bodyguards until he was usurped. The Lost Legionnaires have stayed loyal to the usurped Hegemon and are now outlaws trying to get his daughter reinstated as the rightful heir. Their Dreadnought <b>Ascension</b> is their main HQ</li>
<ul>
<li>They are a Tier IV faction, meaning they are strong in multiple star systems.</li>
</ul>
<li><b>The 51st Legion</b>, the Hegemony's military branch tasked to keep order throughout the galaxy, has <b>The Scorpio</b>, which they also use as their HQ</li>
<ul>
<li>They are a Tier III faction, which means they are strong in a few star systems or weak throughout the entirety of the Procyon sector.</li>
</ul>
<li><b>Nightspeakers</b>, mystics with dark proclivities bent on seeking a set of dangerous Precursor artifacts. Yet again, they use their Dreadnought <b>Blackstarr</b> as their HQ.</li>
<ul>
<li>They are a Tier II faction, which means they are strong in one specific star system or weak in a few of them.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<p>And then you have the Stardancer crew??? Made up of five people (I haven't introduced you to Morgana yet, have I?), a menagerie of animals, and a single Urbot? THEY have a Dreadnought???? Not even the Maelstrom Pirates (a Tier III faction and the Stardancers' main rivals at the moment) have a Dreadnought!</p>
<p>WHY THE HECK DO THESE CLOWNS HAVE A DREADNOUGHT!?!?!?!</p>
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<p>I didn't recap this part yet, but one of the bounty hunters that the Stardancer crew butted heads against had a Dreadnought (something the bounty hunter definitely should NOT have had, but I was winging it, and this is what happens when I shoot from the hip). A trio of drug dealers found out that Quinton had the only remaining copy of Yon Lirak's drug recipe (from the drug factory they found Jet in before sabotaging it). These former lieutenants of Lirak had a small bidding war to try to get the recipe from him. The winning offer was to take out the one bounty hunter and gift the Dreadnought to Quinton.... who would then gift the Dreadnought to Demarcus in exchange for the Stardancer.</p>
<p>Well.... since this was a spur-of-the-moment negotiation that I screwed up, I had neglected to follow through. A few weeks back, however, Hubby asked if the dealers ever took care of the bounty hunter. I SHOULD have just told him, "Nope. The bounty hunter managed to kill them off" but that felt a bit "<a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=railroading" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">railroad-y</a>", so I instead asked for him to roll to find out. He either got a success without complications or a critical success. I can't recall which one. Regardless, I felt he was due his Dreadnought (still not comprehending how MASSIVE these ships are and how rare they should be, considering the <b>MILITARY</b> only has <b>ONE!</b>) So now the crew had a Dreadnought they named the Final Impact.</p>
<p>HOW DOES A PRIVATE CITIZEN - LET ALONE A CRIMINAL - GET THEIR HANDS ON A DREADNOUGHT!?!?!?!?! AND FOR FREE!?!?!?!?!</p>
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<p>I really screwed myself there. That's after I already broke the economy of the game as well, but I guess I'll save those stories (yeah... I did it at least twice....) for another post. This one's already getting quite long.</p>
<p>Point is, there was absolutely no reason (aside from a major <b style="border-bottom-style: dashed; font-weight: normal; cursor: help; border-bottom-width: thin; border-bottom-color: #FDD017;" title="Game Master; the main storyteller and 'judge' of the roleplay game">GM</b> screw up) that this rag-tag team of five (6, including the Urbot) should ever have a Dreadnought... and yet have one they did. Coming at it from a meta point of view, the crew having a Dreadnought was just too OP. Sure, we canonized that it was too large of a ship for only a crew of 6 to man, and so it had to remain "docked" until they gathered at least 100 other crewmates. Gave us a new on-going story arc, which helped. Point remained that they were going to EVENTUALLY get to use a Dreadnought... AND have a massive space station (did I tell you all about that yet???)... AND this relatively rare size-category ship was just going to sit untouched for weeks/months???? I had no clue how to handle any of that!</p>
<p>On the story side of things, it still didn't make sense.</p>
<ol style="text-align: left;" type="a">
<li>Dreadnoughts are seemingly rare, and there are a lot of higher-tier/stronger factions that don't even have one. How did a bounty hunter manage to get one, man it, and hold on to it against all of these other factions?</li>
<li>How did 3 wannabe drug kingpins manage to take out a bounty hunter and his massive crew in order to commandeer the Dreadnought? How did they pilot it after? I had the majority of Yon Lirak's drug empire freed or killed during the Stardancers' raid on the facility. Were they able to build back up a large enough army to combat against the bounty hunter? How massive of an army did they have to get, considering most of the factory slaves had both no combat experience and were kept frail by design? Would they be able to hold their own against a bounty hunter Dreadnought!?!?! If they could have always done this, why didn't they just do it of their own accord???</li>
<li>Not even the wannabe kingpins' former boss Yon Lirak had a Dreadnought! If they managed to get their hands on one they'd already be doing better than him. Why would they give that up? And for a simple drug recipe!? They could use the force of the Dreadnought to get money via piracy/intimidation. They could use the force of the Dreadnought to take over their rival drug traffickers/manufacturers, or steal someone else's recipe, or force the Stardancers to give the recipe up (that would have been a fun job! Why didn't I think of THAT at the time!?). Why would the wannabe kingpins give up the Dreadnought so easily and without asking for a higher price!? That drug recipe was DEFINITELY not worth it! Especially since they would have to rebuild parts of the factory as well. AND re-man the production line.</li>
<li>As I mentioned, the Stardancers currently have the Final Impact docked since they don't have nearly the manpower to pilot it. I was going to have them trying to dock the Final Impact be this conflict they had to overcome, but, of course, Hubby rolled a crit when creating "legal" paperwork stating that they own the Dreadnought and have the Hegemon's approval to pilot it. Since Quinton's a member of the Starsmiths - basically Space <b style="border-bottom-color: #FDD017; border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: thin; border-bottom: thin dashed rgb(253, 208, 23); cursor: help; font-weight: normal;" title="Department of Motor Vehicles / Department of Transportation">DMV/DOT</b>/vehicle manufacturers - he legit made legal registration, ownership, and licensing paperwork. He could legally dock this ship in a Starsmiths' long-storage docking bay. Cool. Quinton basically just said, "oh, hey, look. I was able to TOTALLY LEGALLY get a Dreadnought. <b style="border-bottom-color: #FDD017; border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: thin; border-bottom: thin dashed rgb(253, 208, 23); cursor: help; font-weight: normal;" title="No Big Deal">NBD</b>. It can just stay here, right?" without anyone blinking an eye. Seems OP. Also, there's just this unused Dreadnought taking up a huge portion of the docking bay and no one is supposed to try to steal it????</li>
<li>Quinton also plans on coating the Final Impact with more of his camouflage nanobots, much like what he did with the Stardancer. I tried to stress to them how large a Dreadnought space ship probably is within our canon (at least 3 miles long!) and that these are NANO bots! It would take MONTHS just to MANUFACTURER enough, let alone another few months to apply the bots. Plus, once all that's done, the Stardancer crew could essentially have an INVISIBLE Dreadnought!?</li>
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<p>Ever since I gave them the Dreadnought I have regretted doing so. It was hard to think of jobs, because all I would focus on was the crew getting a Dreadnought and how was I ever going to course-correct from that? After talking to Hubby about it for a bit, we agreed in retconning and downsizing the Final Impact a touch. I didn't want to just tell the crew, "Yeeeeaaaah, how about the Final Impact is just a larger Freighter-class ship?" It would feel like I was cheating them. I even felt guilty about downsizing their Dreadnought to a Cruiser-class ship. So, despite my better judgment, I decided on "small Frigate", and Hubby agreed it felt more fair.</p>
<p>I discussed things with the other players, and they all agreed that the Dreadnought was a bit much. They were happy to still have a Frigate-class ship. All of the other issues were still in play: they needed a larger crew to pilot the Final Impact (about 50 or 60 people instead of 100), it was going to take months to create enough camo-bots and another few months to "paint" with it, and there was still damage from the wannabe drug lords commandeering the ship from the bounty hunter. I also let them keep the number of weapons upgrades they had already added, but just downsized them so they'd all fit (meaning they wouldn't hit QUITE as hard).</p>
<p>Everyone seemed to think it was a decent compromise, and I do feel a touch better now. But THAT is why I don't trust myself to just "wing-it" on sessions. My brain just doesn't think strategically enough, I "yes, and?" too much, and I end up breaking the game mechanics/narrative.</p>
<p>Which brings me back to April 3rd.</p>
<p>I just kind of threw my hands up in the air and said, "any soft roleplay you guys want to do? Any sort of job you want to go on???"</p>
<p>Thankfully, <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.twitch.tv/aurora_morgen" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Rozsavaria</a> pitched that tI'kæl would need to replenish her Memish seaweed that she uses for ritualistic tattooing. Ignoring that she had previously established that tI'kæl had a seaweed garden on the Stardancer (she probably forgot that she had canonized that fact), we retconned that she had a limited supply and that she had depleted it. Cool. Something for the crew to do. I wasn't going to argue it.</p>
<p>Then we ran into the "Lyco shouldn't adlib" problem again. Roz decided to evoke her character's ally finally. As a reminder, when someone creates a character for the <i><b>Forged in the Dark</b></i> games they typically chose a "rival" that will try to sabotage their character's efforts, and a "friend/ally" who will do all they can to assist the character. Very frequently in our game sessions Hubby has Quinton's friend Lang give background assistance: mostly connections that they can reach out to at any given location to get supplies or information. While we've been frequently using tI'kæl's rival Rye Br'end to antagonize her around their RIP racing, we have yet to meet her ally Ree Lax.</p>
<p>Anyway, Roz finally decided about two months ago that Lax is one of tI'kæl's spiritual assistants. He's a High Priest just one spiritual standing below tI'kæl. As she's on her "pilgrimage", he's in charge of the church. Because of this description, I had already mentally pictured him as a bit tight-laced and more focused on honoring formalities. The stuck-up but well-meaning royal advisor, as it were.</p>
<p>Roz had pictured Lax to be more like <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://youtu.be/pRvTGFT07xg" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Ed from <b><i>Good Burger</i></b></a>.</p>
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<br />Can I take your ooooorder?"</td>
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<p>Makes sense. She DID name the guy Ree Lax....</p>
<p>I couldn't get my own mental image out of my head though. Lax ended up as this spineless, bumbling, flipfloppy, mildly antagonistic (to everyone but tI'kæl and the royal family) kind of guy. His personality was all over the map. I'm going to have to retcon him SO HARD the next time Roz wants to use Lax....</p>
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<p><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> <br /></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></p>
<p>So... uh... yeah. And here we are, another session tonight, and I'm yet again behind the 8-ball. I at least have SOME plot point ideas after that last session. Demarcus wants to convince Hunter Black to start a coup within the Maelstrom Pirates against the pirate queen, so I have to set something up for that knowing full well that Hunter is NOT going to want to overthrow the Banshee Queen. The crew has to find more members in order to eventually pilot the Final Impact, so I'll have to come up with more NPCs for them to interact with and possibly recruit. I want to find a way to introduce the crew to more factions, so I could maybe do something with that. Ishi is going to need scrap or whatever to work on weapons for the Final Impact; the Stardancers could maybe hit up rulebook NPCs in a series of fetch-quests. I haven't done anything with Vorex's hunt for her kidnapped sister even though I had decided a while ago as to where said sister is. I could do something with that. Then there's always good ol' RIP racing, but I haven't really worked out the background drama yet to make sure there's still some sort of plot. I'll have to listen back to the last RIP race session and go from there.</p><p>So, lots of options.... no ideas on how to flesh any of it out yet. Whoooo!</p>
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<p>(BTW, if you're wondering about this post's title? Reminder that the Stardancers' motto is "Mistakes were made. We got paid.")</p>
<p>Me being on this writing Struggle Bus (especially with regards to SaV) does mean I've become a lot more analytical when it comes to my media consumption. I take conflicts from other stories and try to see if any of them would work as akuma triggers within ML. I also now watch shows like <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8111088/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">The Mandalorian</a></i> or movies like <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10298840/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Strange World</a></i>, and spend at least a portion of the time paying more attention to the alien flora/fauna/civilizations than the plot so I can try to get ideas for my game universe.</p><p>It's definitely made my media consumption this year a bit.... different.</p>
<p>Here's to it being the correct track for me to be on, and I'll get more of my writing sorted out.</p>
<p>Please, Muse, return to me! Walk with me some more! I need you!</p>
<p>One last thing before I let you all go. It seems none of my alt-text attempts last month actually did anything. I double checked my HTML and it seems to all match the sample I had found that taught how to create them. So I'm not entirely sure what I did wrong. If anyone knows how to add alt-text to pictures on Blogger, please let me know. I'd love to make sure my posts are more inclusive.</p>
<p>And with that, I wish you all a happy April. I hope, if you celebrated (or are still celebrating) a Holy Season this month that it went well/is going well for you.</p>
<p>Love you all. I'll catch ya next month!</p>
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</span>LycoRoguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01064253326464685398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6675584297301734651.post-90531524766810064162023-03-31T15:16:00.003-04:002023-03-31T15:40:06.959-04:00Incoming Gush Fest<p style="font-family: serif; font-size: 60%;">Est. Read Time: 15min</p>
<span style="font-family: Josefin Sans;">
<p>Hello again, peeps! Phew! I JUUUUUUST barely made my "one blog post per month" deadline, huh? Funny thing is, I had started working on this post back around the 13th or something like that. Had most of it written by St. Patrick's Day. I just needed to finish up my thought, then edit, and then I'd be good and golden to publish.</p>
<p>And yet, here it is, the last day of the month, and I'm only publishing this post NOW. Like, what happened to March!? What happened to February, even? Both months just flew by for me. I'm still reeling a bit.</p>
<p>I know that I'm definitely now an Adult(TM) by the fact that I can't seem to keep track of time anymore. It all just zips by me. As a kid, days would crawl on, and I could do a hundred things between waking and going to bed. Now? I'm lucky if I check three things off my To Do list before passing out.</p>
<p>Case and point: this blog. I never did get back to recapping more of the <i>Scum and Villainy</i> sessions before the end of February. And now it's keeping me over TWO WEEKS to get a post finished! I'm still struggling to find writing time outside of work, and so I end up reconciling myself to slowly chipping away at a post whenever I can while at work.</p>
<p>It is so frustrating that I'm still battling with prioritizing my writing like this. I just have too much on my plate and not enough time in the day to chew through it all. The irony is that this post was all about me not having time to write, how I didn't work on any writing (outside of this blog) since mid-December, but also how I was going to re-prioritize now that I'm trying to get my writing mojo back.</p>
<p>...And then it kept me an extra two weeks to finish said post.</p>
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<img alt="Cartoon version of me: white woman with red hair in a ponytail swept over my left shoulder. I have my right hand tucked behind my head and an apologetic look on my face: upturned eyebrows and a sorrowful smile. I'm wearing a blue shirt with 'I Can't Even' written on it in yellow letters. The shirt is covered up by the word 'oops' written in large green letters and superimposed over the cartoon me." border="0" data-original-height="398" data-original-width="396" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEUjOp2aPfibZZFizlUCxwMpLRcW9VsYuVVSwOkpPSR2VAPPwPS3AZGkOj8N8jm88RmchOcBaIcYIc2vytjtIKLxSHzZ0CAOYrqHAkA-ORGfRFMDP4lBGt0VGOjFx8z7g3eL1t0tSr7pD2ZGGvfyY7RsOCGz5OxBhDJTntYl5X8ra9cR84N2y_A0kH/s320/bitmoji-20190523015143.png" width="318" />
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<p>The even bigger irony is that I now have to basically start from scratch because... well... within those two weeks that this post was delayed... I WROTE SOMETHING!</p>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjISJGzIF1HNVAggr55_OTmO7DtYePdGkt6bKSt80afd1GA5xdKAdesB0xHrCUepWNt_uXzKsDJCcu5kps3dtmUVV7sH6aeZJ6jxLyR4SQGAXPCmpy0DobPzqT8V2Z5_znsnZpBW3urVF9Ur2lBqaZSNUu7JcWLRtlzruvnj3TUh8Qfyy5UOT9KQur/s398/bitmoji-20190523011208.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">
<img alt="Cartoon version of me: white woman with red hair in a ponytail swept over my left shoulder. The image is an extreme close-up on my face, so much so that not even my full head is visible. My eyes are extremely wide open, and my mouth is in a shocked 'o' shape, as if gasping. Superimposed over the top of my head - from about the hairline up - is the word 'WHOA'. The word is in large blocky letters with a galaxy filling in the lettering." border="0" data-original-height="398" data-original-width="398" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjISJGzIF1HNVAggr55_OTmO7DtYePdGkt6bKSt80afd1GA5xdKAdesB0xHrCUepWNt_uXzKsDJCcu5kps3dtmUVV7sH6aeZJ6jxLyR4SQGAXPCmpy0DobPzqT8V2Z5_znsnZpBW3urVF9Ur2lBqaZSNUu7JcWLRtlzruvnj3TUh8Qfyy5UOT9KQur/s320/bitmoji-20190523011208.png" width="320" />
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<p>Yeah!</p>
<p>I'll circle back to that though.</p>
<p>First, you might have noticed that I'm not writing in my normal font of Coming Soon. No, I didn't get an answer from my readers as to which font worked best for you guys. So, instead of dragging out a question that might not ever get answered, I decided to be a bit more pro-active. I'm taking the "finalists" of Indie Flower, Josefin Sans, Kalam, and Mali, and dedicating a post to each font. I'll then go back and see how I feel about an entire post in that font as opposed to Coming Soon. I'll decide from there which to ditch and which I might use permanently. You are of course still more than welcome to comment below on which font you find easiest to read or which font you think still has that unique "handwritten" aesthetic while being a touch more professional looking (bring this blog out of the early 00s and into the 2020s), and the like.</p>
<p>This month, I'm starting with Josefin Sans. I was going to start with Indie Flower, but, after going back through this post while it is in that font, I instantly cut it from the running. Sorry for those who liked the look of Indie Flower, but it definitely felt harder for me to read once it's in a longer format. At least that cuts our possible fonts down to just four.</p>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2SjD59oLLGdAJVHXVC2upjYGkbs2RmF4opeMvZRCQBMIKWI66VFd6WJHRViMeFQRVJ5XE7lwy6peKYpZcDaMgqphsWvNI2XtNwK_-IeWRbrKskw5da-Z_QKBvIpPh8ODMtkynLnCmP_BvfUMWzEA6ONb6N2kX2L591QEvcHbhFu3orp4W3UxYZjj_/s358/bitmoji-20190523012714.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">
<img alt="Cartoon version of me: white woman with red hair in a ponytail swept over my right shoulder. I'm wearing a blue shirt with 'I Can't Even' written on it in yellow letters. I'm giving a thumbs up with my right hand and smiling. The lower half of my body is hidden behind a large green check-mark." border="0" data-original-height="358" data-original-width="349" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2SjD59oLLGdAJVHXVC2upjYGkbs2RmF4opeMvZRCQBMIKWI66VFd6WJHRViMeFQRVJ5XE7lwy6peKYpZcDaMgqphsWvNI2XtNwK_-IeWRbrKskw5da-Z_QKBvIpPh8ODMtkynLnCmP_BvfUMWzEA6ONb6N2kX2L591QEvcHbhFu3orp4W3UxYZjj_/s320/bitmoji-20190523012714.png" width="312" />
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<p>Okay! That bit of house keeping taken care of, let's get back to me actually writing something!</p>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirdnDmq1Y1rrTGIlcq6_wOb2C-Eu8SEhRJhNfu7JwxE7_IwHQCb_incZVf779T2majxNSSel1B3LCa9QLYgJTX0oQ4TNCUqjYH1hSOACbyQXpoPMEprbKFP2uczFbCfcDIRjA79PRTftVulWRJvtMhQ9vNCDTTHcbLfjnUlWwOUOOkGWEz3x0c5Ojb/s398/dd773d8f6b68669f856ebb03ec2c5c82c91e01768a46d090790f1aec0af9505e.0%5B1%5D.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">
<img alt="Cartoon version of me: white woman with red hair in a ponytail swept over my left shoulder. I'm wearing a yellow zip-up hoodie open over a plain blue t-shirt. Only my shoulders up is visible. The rest of the image is the word 'WOOT!' written in bubbly glowing pink letters. Confetti is spraying out from the word. My arms are raised victoriously and my mouth is puckered as if I'm saying the word 'woot'." border="0" data-original-height="398" data-original-width="398" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirdnDmq1Y1rrTGIlcq6_wOb2C-Eu8SEhRJhNfu7JwxE7_IwHQCb_incZVf779T2majxNSSel1B3LCa9QLYgJTX0oQ4TNCUqjYH1hSOACbyQXpoPMEprbKFP2uczFbCfcDIRjA79PRTftVulWRJvtMhQ9vNCDTTHcbLfjnUlWwOUOOkGWEz3x0c5Ojb/s320/dd773d8f6b68669f856ebb03ec2c5c82c91e01768a46d090790f1aec0af9505e.0%5B1%5D.png" width="320" />
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<p>Back around Valentine's Day this year, my husband had introduced me to the song <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97Os8uY16R4" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">"Siren" by April Fooze</a>; the <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/NoPixel_Community" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">NoPixel</a> character of streamer <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.youtube.com/@fuslie" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Fuslie</a>. I've been obsessed with this song for the past month.</p>
<p>Fast forward a couple of weeks to the start of March. The artist <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://ceejles.tumblr.com/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Ceejles</a> posted some fanart she did of <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://ceejles.tumblr.com/post/710754854384123904" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Yor and Loid from the anime <i>SpyxFamily</i></a>. I instantly fell in love with the impassioned - but drunk - kiss in the <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://64.media.tumblr.com/87aa97e99cf7cfdcb821e2414ef61539/e25741ea8e0adcca-ad/s1280x1920/8a216391953dd7e6077e302bb46395fc0f3283c3.jpg" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">opening three panels of the fan comic</a>. I even downloaded it onto my phone to use as my wallpaper.</p>
<p>Then, on Monday, March 20 - the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere - it was like the perfect storm hit. I was listening to "Siren" yet again when I looked down at my phone; seeing Ceejles' fanart of Loid and Yor. Loid being a chiseled blonde, and Yor being a more petite - but still fierce - woman with black hair made me picture them instead as adult versions of Adrien and Marinette. In fact, that's one of the reasons I got into <i>SpyxFamily</i> in the first place. I had seen a bunch of fanart for the show, and kept thinking artists were creating aged-up fanart for <i>Miraculous Ladybug</i>. I was very confused over on Tumblr for a couple of weeks last year.</p>
<p>Anyway, picturing Ceejles' scene with Marinette and Adrien instead of Yor and Loid, and adding in the sultry song "Siren"? A scene instantly started playing out in my head.</p>
<p>I had a rare Monday off, and so I was home. Hubby was at work, which meant I was alone for some uninterrupted Me Time. I had my laptop open anyway in an attempt to iron out the last of what I needed for our <i>Scum and Villainy</i> session that night. As I sat in front of my computer and the Adrienette scene continued to play out in my head I literally told myself - as in, I said it out loud - "You idiot. WRITE IT DOWN! What's stopping you? Why is this not your default? Why are you only writing it mentally? Get it out of your head! Do it!"</p>
<p>And so, I did.</p>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4NIgoiInzFQiIlPVF2L3IolCz3CBTFFbsVBqGYzzCUN1wuvxFfPDhOIaBkV-MetLCUq1oH9cmT-bEBsunusJHj_ARyraLdrCUaTH7hj7vLr-lqf9L3ebz7dKCBa6ENLPTCC22mvZzj1LWH-zF28FMNeXX5kw3K6u0y1IamgVI2muAckSOHKbP7RIe/s398/bitmoji-20190523011219.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">
<img alt="Cartoon version of me: white woman with red hair in a ponytail swept over my left shoulder. I'm wearing a blue tshirt with 'I CAN'T EVEN' written across the front in yellow lettering. My eyes are closed and my mouth wide open in a smile, as if I'm happily shouting. My body from the waist up is visible, and my arms are raised victoriously. Nine cartoony stars zip by from behind me. They vary in color between yellow, orange, pink, and blue. All of them have simple faces: just mouth and eyes. More blue, pink, orange, and yellow decorative stars - simple in design; no faces - speckle the background." border="0" data-original-height="398" data-original-width="398" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4NIgoiInzFQiIlPVF2L3IolCz3CBTFFbsVBqGYzzCUN1wuvxFfPDhOIaBkV-MetLCUq1oH9cmT-bEBsunusJHj_ARyraLdrCUaTH7hj7vLr-lqf9L3ebz7dKCBa6ENLPTCC22mvZzj1LWH-zF28FMNeXX5kw3K6u0y1IamgVI2muAckSOHKbP7RIe/s320/bitmoji-20190523011219.png" width="320" />
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<p>I put "Siren" on loop and had Ceejles' picture up on my phone to help keep me in the right mindset. My Muse decided to pay me an unexpected visit, and, by gum, I was going to follow her anywhere!</p>
<p>I'm clearly a bit rusty after going roughly 3 months without writing fiction. I started writing around 2:30/3:00 in the afternoon. Hubby telling me he was done with work and ready for a pick-up came unexpectedly fast at 4pm. I still had to finish the story, but I also had to work on preparing for <i>Scum and Villainy</i> that night. I was a little bummed to be interrupted after all, and upset that a relatively short scene - for me, at least - was taking over an hour to write. Defeated, I went to get my husband and mentally switch gears.</p>
<p>Then, in a weird twist of fate, the Perfect Storm continued. As Hubby and I got home our landlady informed us that the maintenance guy would be able to work on replacing our busted kitchen overhead light that evening. We had been struggling with this light for at least a year. Sometimes it would work. Other times it wouldn't at all. Others still, it would work but then almost instantly start strobing on us. The landlady thought it was because the bulbs were burnt out, so she tried to switch them out. It worked for a little while before it started again. Then she had to wait for the maintenance guy - who does building maintenance for her as a secondary job - to be able to check the light to see what the problem was. Then she had to wait for a replacement light fixture to be in stock.... it's been a bit of a saga. So I wasn't about to tell her, "actually, we're having people over tonight. Can we reschedule?" because I wasn't sure how much of a delay there would be before the maintenance guy would be available again.</p>
<p>Sadly, this meant having to cancel the <i>Scum and Villainy</i> session because having people over while the maintenance man was in our kitchen felt like a bit much. Especially if he needed to ask us questions or have us help him somehow while he was switching out our light. On the plus side, however, this meant more time for me to write!</p>
<p>It also turned out to be a good thing that we cancelled game since the maintenance man had to turn off the power to the whole apartment, not just the kitchen. While it would have been a bit of a headache to have lost the power with everyone over, I was able to use the time to continue writing thanks to the battery of my laptop and the sunlight that was still coming through the windows. Yay, having a bright, clear, sunny day for the start of spring! And yay that the sun didn't set until closer to 7pm! By then my story was finally done!</p>
<p>It had kept me another two hours - between roughly 5pm and 7pm - to finish writing this "short" scene! About three hours total to write under 1500 words. Sheesh. I know that might be fast for most people, but for me? It's painfully slow.</p>
<p>I also didn't really have much time with my husband between him being at work and me isolating to write. So that sucked. It then took me over an hour to format, publish, and promote the story in my normal 4 sites. Hubby and I didn't have dinner until almost 9pm (we typically eat between 6 and 7). I only really interacted with my husband for three or four hours that day. For people who still genuinely enjoy their spouse's company, that was rough, and I missed him terribly despite being in the same house as him for 4hrs of our time "apart."</p>
<p>But, in the end, the story was complete! It was edited. It was published. I had done it! The first bit of fiction that I've published this year!</p>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGVuGFdigNMSPm1s7ejTgrupAXdKYsVSyZxoxiuDWSVOawSPe2-eF-AUjZ1mDPY6VsuEFdvVnFrE2MfMtO7A9Uak30IwdRc8KKWrBj2HvM-uKfOkWLo1i-uaHUQwvUn-BpETxk1BOEK6IYVAvlN5VzDT8b7g_XzgM_HBrswya5GwvlgpXYo0kI8amR/s398/lets-go.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">
<img alt="Cartoon version of me: white woman with red hair in a ponytail swept over my left shoulder. I'm wearing a blue tshirt with the words 'I CAN'T EVEN' written across the front in yellow lettering. My body is visible from the knees up. I'm flexing my shoulders and arms, meeting my fists down by my hips. I appear to be shouting encouragingly. A yellow solar flare surrounds me like an aura. The words 'LET'S GOOOOO!' are written along the bottom of the image; cutting off the lower half of my legs. The word 'LET'S' is in blue font and curls around the top of the G in 'GOOOOO!'. The actual word 'GOOOOO!' is in yellow and orange lettering, starting with G in yellow, the 1st O in orange, the 2nd O in yellow, and continuing to alternate throughout the word. The word 'GOOOOO!' is also off-set, with one letter higher than the other and the next letter lower, to give it a sort of bouncing appearance." border="0" data-original-height="398" data-original-width="398" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGVuGFdigNMSPm1s7ejTgrupAXdKYsVSyZxoxiuDWSVOawSPe2-eF-AUjZ1mDPY6VsuEFdvVnFrE2MfMtO7A9Uak30IwdRc8KKWrBj2HvM-uKfOkWLo1i-uaHUQwvUn-BpETxk1BOEK6IYVAvlN5VzDT8b7g_XzgM_HBrswya5GwvlgpXYo0kI8amR/s320/lets-go.png" width="320" />
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<span font-size="x-small" style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">
<h2 style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="font-size: xx-large;">Tell Me You Want Me When You're Sober</span></i></b></h2>
<i><b>Summary:</b> While at Alya and Nino's house-warming party, Marinette wandered off to take a breather. Noticing her vanishing act, Adrien went to look for her. Hidden away in the guest bedroom being used as a coat-check room, the two take a moment to themselves. The fun little intimate moment between friends becomes more intimate than either of them anticipated.<br />
<br />
<b>Rating:</b> Teen for mildly suggestive elements<br />
<br />
<b>Word Count:</b> 1450</i><br />
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<a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/45899638" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">• On ArchiveOfOurOwn</a>
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<a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14212196/1/Tell-Me-You-Want-Me-When-You-re-Sober" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">• On FanFiction</a>
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<a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.deviantart.com/lycorogue/art/Tell-Me-You-Want-Me-When-You-re-Sober-954484816" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">• On DeviantArt</a>
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<a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://lycorogue.tumblr.com/post/712357737715122176/latest-story-tell-me-you-want-me-when-youre" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">• On Tumblr</a>
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<p>The story has been up for over a week, and the reception it has received has me in tears in the best way. I don't know what it is about this story that particularly resonated with people, but I've been getting so SO much love and praise. Maybe it's because it's the 7th-shortest story I've ever published on AO3 (out of 48 total), and the 5th-shortest ML fic (out of 30). Maybe that's the overall readership hook that I've been missing: a short story to capture people and entice them to read more? Because that's what's been happening!</p>
<p>It started with AO3 user MeowMeowKissyKissy reading <i>Tell Me You Want Me When You're Sober </i>(TMYWMWYS), and then reading/commenting on <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/15915780" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank"><i>Build Your Own Luck</i></a> and then continued to ALSO read <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/39640488" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank"><i>Rolling Thunder</i></a>. Then, AO3 user dabnyfantown did the same thing. They started with TMYWMWYS, then moved on to read <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/37814974" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank"><i>I'm Not Allowed to Love You</i></a>, followed by <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29669322" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank"><i>Is It True?</i></a>, and then followed AGAIN by <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/17140979/chapters/40310558" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;"><i>Woven Heartstrings</i></a>! Their last comment was on the first chapter of WH, so I'm not sure if that was the only chapter they had read at the time? Assuming that to be true, that's still 7800 words and 4 stories read - at least, in part - between something like 3:45pm and 5:10pm! A couple of days later, presumably after finishing <i>Woven Heartstrings</i>, they read and commented on <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/18648037" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank"><i>I Was Thinking of You</i></a> as well! They even told me they should have been sleeping but "needed" to read more of my content! Like... WHAT!? NEEDED!? Such high praise!</p>
<p>I was crying every time someone like MeowMeowKissyKissy or dabnyfantown commented on my stories. I was getting repeat readers! I was getting key smash comments and caps lock comments and a parade of exclamation points. These people were shouting at me how much they enjoyed my work!</p>
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<img alt="Cartoon version of me: white woman with red hair in a ponytail swept over my left shoulder. I'm wearing a blue tshirt with the words 'I CAN'T EVEN' written across the front in yellow lettering. The words are covered up by my hands as they are both pressed against my chest, as if holding my heart. Only from my waist up is visible. I am smiling with my eyes closed. 22 cartoon hearts appear to be exploding out of me in an aura. They are either white - as if hollow - or they are dark pink or red. Some of the hearts have sparkles on them. The background has a pink hue." border="0" data-original-height="398" data-original-width="398" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBzDXpU4A-dOm99a08_0vK99VYQIanroooWKEj14yIbpRQuGZ4uGqHU6b5lyJMpCH8UF_rnqMp3oIqruKFE4I62_sA-u6bTRvM5bKI3UghRnaJMcyqMaH2XAX2GV3GSFYp97TL_wWVWDTubgkF0r_0gn2f2wZ9k3VDUBeqdU0roWxGCv3SnEkJDXfn/s320/bitmoji-20190523012055.png" width="320" />
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<p>Then came another surprise that truly honored me.</p>
<p>At least within my curated circle of the fandom, the user <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/SteelBlaidd" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">SteelBlaidd</a> is a fairly prominent member. Between May 2020 and March 2023, they have written 38 stories for Miraculous Ladybug! (Reminder that, comparatively, I have 30 stories for ML and I started publishing them 2 years before SteelBlaidd). I've seen them get so much love for their stories, and I also very VERY much enjoy them. This is a case, much like with <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/edelet" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">EdenDaphne</a> or <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/mostlovedgirl" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">MostLovedGirl</a> or <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/zenmisery" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">ZenMisery</a> or <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/buggachat" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Buggachat</a> or <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keyseeker/pseuds/Keyseeker" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Keyseeker</a>, where I truly admire and respect this writer. Well, not only did SteelBlaidd leave kudos and a comment on my story - which alone was like "eeeeeeee" - but they also concluded their comment with, "I realized I had not subscribed to you. An oversight that has now been corrected."</p>
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<img alt="Cartoon version of me: white woman with red hair in a ponytail swept over my left shoulder. I'm wearing a blue tshirt with the words 'I CAN'T EVEN' written across the front in yellow lettering. The lettering is hard to see since only from about my armpits up is visible. My head is tilted to the right and my mouth and eyes are open wide in shock. There is a cartoony calico cat to my left. It also has a shocked expression on its face and has its head tilted to the left. A joint speech bubble is above our heads. It is pink with white outline and contains three yellow exclamation marks that are so large they poke out of the top of the speech bubble." border="0" data-original-height="398" data-original-width="398" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOJ4V_VgFQ532XXy2IKu_dJpGd3RHHYxmYw43IEo6S-uS8SCO7EQ3flnv-W_wFX9kHIR7WnEQ7Ty3y-C66OTsZ2Qi3TBMaA7LOBVPLgapjaM84TZbjNZshKFEbaolxVPaFicokMACtuGFWttX_ufZNiKkw_sis7W9gZ-V6ajyrAynyHUs2Dcr5ngd6/s320/bitmoji-20190523014040.png" width="320" />
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Generated by <b>Bitmoji</b></td>
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<p>WHAT!? Excuse me. Did they call NOT subscribing to me "an oversight"!? ME!? MY work!? I was screaming. First, Keyseeker read and reviewed my story - which, she does quite frequently, and it still makes me giggle with glee each time - but then SteelBlaidd made sure to subscribe to me!?</p>
<p>Peeps, I was on Cloud Nine! After literal years of wondering about my writing and if it will ever get noticed, the reaction to my writing this past week has had me in TEARS with how amazing it's all felt.</p>
<p>Yes, yes. I hear all of you who have supported me through the years already screaming at me. You did remind me that my writing was good and that I was a skilled writer. You did inform me that it was almost a luck-of-the-draw sort of thing when it came to becoming recognized within a fandom; especially a large one. You had told me not to worry, and yet I did.</p>
<p>My insecurities and imposter syndrome got the better of me, and I apologize for not listening to your support; for not trusting you. Thank you for sticking with me and reassuring me the whole time anyway. You are all real ones.</p>
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<img alt="Cartoon version of me: white woman with red hair in a ponytail swept over my left shoulder. I'm wearing a blue tshirt with the words 'I CAN'T EVEN' written across the front in yellow lettering. Only my upper chest and up is visible. I have my arms open wide and welcoming. There's a smile on my face. The word 'THANKS' is blocky and presented like a physical item. At least a dozen of these blocky 'THANKS' is piled up before me. They range in color from green to blue to purple to orange. A yellow 'THANKS' larger than the rest sits at the front of the pile." border="0" data-original-height="398" data-original-width="398" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUWB6D6ABpp8PPCalFaHQ0YaVuvH4HoibId3kBi59WYm1QKdK1lR-7S3MIkLaXOoyYCKGmY4SicjCUBrCSXdrpS-pq1WKMSJq3n9L2OK0MSv9ra4_HqEHqvXGTEtBC8o2yLCd9wavM_bTXO642t79FlN6_CMbwmcQceRWKe8nY-eGdFga5ZpRpvnB7/s320/bitmoji-20190523015529.png" width="320" />
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Generated by <b>Bitmoji</b></td>
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<p>Anyway, SteelBlaidd proceeded to then comment on the story I had posted in December: <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/43622064" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Is He Loved? Is He Happy?</a></i> Their comment made me cry all over again:</p>
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<div style="background-color: #f6f6f6; border: 1px dotted navy; padding: 10px;">
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<img alt="SteelBlaidd's icon online. It is a steel wolf head with its ears turned back and its mouth open viciously. There is a full moon on a deep blue backdrop behind the wolf head." border="0" height="65" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1mw9NgR8IKliFSk6t5KVux8ZckeQDgXxiLcBRuS-erQI2lY1CeskBjCpmyJcRQjygnaFVKd-ZhxN26LEILyD5SCidQAEEVVKBjU8utqft0hMa1t5apj1Ud1xDSwUFkfGXDDXqs-wSuedxv7_ITXNebx60OhLEWvcLkVAl5mbpBSXQSkhbWsa_gHjV/s1600/SteelBlaidd.png" width="60" />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">
<b>SteelBlaidd:</b>
</span>
<span font-size="x-small" style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">
<i>This is why I said it was a grave error on my part to not be subscribed to you.<br />
I could have read this months ago!<br />
<br />
This is a wonderful infill for the episode and the characters have lead you to marvelous places.</i>
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</blockquote>
<p>A "grave error" to not be subscribed to me? SteelBlaidd, you're killing me!</p>
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<img alt="An animated gif. It is a scene from the Miraculous Ladybug episode 'Stormy Weather'. It shows Marinette fidgetting her fingers while looking past her left shoulder. She then abruptly raises her right hand to her cheek and extends her left arm in a dismissive wave, all while jumping to her right and closing her eyes bashfully." border="0" data-original-height="272" data-original-width="480" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlh0aiz2bZk8ZBO98hRBzWniKhpJ1bZMJvzn0BIKB27Dv5f1ksoc5vYsM1-K1N7tEyfrt5hhCCCD-WEXQk6mVzwrToNHs928hWMR6-ybYptwXHr-tgozWsI243AL4p3qKecZcA82V2rA-oSNnEguXJPSkcPR_a_htNMZ1kHJfHlh_0S3Z-9qWKBeCt/s320/pfft%20no%20stop%20it.gif" width="320" />
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Marinette</b> from <b><i>Miraculous Ladybug</i></b><br />
in episode <b>"Stormy Weather"</b></td>
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<p>The reception has been so much more than what I shared above! This is probably one of my most interacted with stories in a while. Here's the Week 1 stats!</p>
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<b style="font-style: italic;">AO3:</b><i> 661 hits, 79 kudos, 6 bookmarks, and 9 comments</i><br />
<b style="font-style: italic;">FFN:</b><i> 249 views, 8 faves, 4 follows, and 3 reviews</i><br />
<b style="font-style: italic;">DA:</b><i> 379 views, but no other engagement</i><br />
<br />
<b style="font-style: italic;">Total Results:</b><i> 1289 views, 87 kudos/faves, 10 bookmarks/follows, and 12 reviews! IN ONE WEEK!</i><br />
<br />
<b style="font-style: italic;">Tumblr Notes:</b><i> 26 total; 11 likes off my post, another 6 likes off </i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="ao3feed-ladynoir.tumblr.com" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: italic;" target="_blank">Ladynoir AO3 Feed's</a><i> post, 5 reblogs off my post, another 3 off LN AO3's post, and 1 comment on my post</i><br />
<br />
<b style="font-style: italic;">AO3 Reviews:</b>
<ol>
<li style="font-style: italic;">Awwww i love this!!!</li>
<li style="font-style: italic;">This was super cute</li>
<li><i>Ah! That was just too sweet. Adrien is indeed a noble fellow </i><b>[redacted due to possible spoilers]</b><i>. Excellent writing!</i></li>
<li><i>Oooh this is lovely. I’m glad that </i><b>[redacted due to spoilers]</b><i>.</i></li>
<li style="font-style: italic;">Adrien is such a sweetheart! They're just too sweet together.</li>
<li style="font-style: italic;">That was wonderful!</li>
<li><i>AHHHH i loved this i love </i><b>[redacted due to possible spoilers]</b><i> im so happy for them thank u for writing</i></li>
<li><i>Sosososo well written I love a king that </i><b>[redacted due to possible spoilers]</b></li>
<li>This <i>is our boy!</i><br /><i>
Always a TRUE gentleman.</i><br />
This <i>is our girl!</i><br /><i>
Always an adorable disaster.</i><br />
<br /><i>
I came to find this after seeing your response to the tumblr post on writing vs posting.</i><br /><i>
I realized I had not subscribed to you. An oversight that has now been corrected.</i></li>
</ol>
<b style="font-style: italic;">Other Reviews:</b>
<ol style="font-style: italic;">
<li>This is cute! I love this and I love that your muse took control for a while! Good job listening and letting her do her thing! Hehe</li>
<li>so good! always happy when you grace us with an MLB fic!</li>
<li>that was great!</li>
<li>YOU WROTE SOMETHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’m so happy for you!!!!!</li>
</ol>
</span>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>Excuse me, but "grace us" with a fic? Someone (*cough*LivreVer*cough*) SCREAMING about how happy they are that I wrote something!?</p>
<p>Peeps! I can't! It's all too lovely! You are all so awesome. I love you all so much!</p>
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<img alt="Cartoon version of me: white woman with red hair in a ponytail swept over my left shoulder. I'm wearing a blue tshirt with the words 'I CAN'T EVEN' written across the front in yellow lettering. Only my upper chest and up is visible, so the lettering on the shirt can't really be seen. I'm smiling with a single tear rolling down my left cheek. Above my head are the words 'I LOVE YOU' written in large, bubbly letters filled in with a yellow-to-blood-orange gradiant and small yellow dots; much like how old comic books were colored in. Covering up my shirt is the word 'GUYS' designed the same way as 'I LOVE YOU' except with a pink-to-lavendar gradiant. The full phrase 'I LOVE YOU GUYS' has a drop shadow." border="0" data-original-height="398" data-original-width="398" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoKEuZIYi7iRqBBPoPgDeStkZ4EDRUAtD0tZrxDy5DLsGG3bcJuIBRp9cVU_qzanx70zXN5kO6yEdtwEUeG7LHd2VJxqT3Ui4U1tDnyVL4N5-c08dHpiBEfgriqfzKQEqI598jl6IwBRzrEQXemFlQZpZfuPOLeLHFOmniakMDoDmxsBa9IEnBT_4X/s320/bitmoji-20190523012231.png" width="320" />
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<p>I will try to hold on REAL tight to all of this love, and remember to come back to this post the next time I doubt myself.</p>
<p>Now, this was where I originally talked about the other "writing" I was doing at the start of the month. Mostly, going back to <i>Seduce with Caution</i> to see if I could push through my block now that I've had four months to freshen up my eyes. I didn't actually write anything for it, but I did go back to thinking about it. I've also been creative with coming up with stuff for SaV, of course.</p>
<p>However, this post is already getting long with me gushing and throwing in about a dozen images. (Speaking of, if you haven't noticed, I did add alt-text to the images I posted today. I'm trying to put in more effort to be more inclusive, so please let me know if there's more I can do. Also, let me know if the alt-text doesn't work. I can't actually preview it before posting....) Anyway, the blog post that I had written earlier this month - which talked about me working on SaV and SwC - was roughly a 30min read all on its own. Add in the post you fine folks got instead? Yeah. Felt a bit much.</p>
<p>So all of that stuff was shifted to a new post draft. With any luck, I'll be able to polish and finish that one relatively quickly. And then you'll have your April blog post in just a week or two from today. Neat, right?</p>
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<img alt="Cartoon version of me: white woman with red hair in a ponytail swept over my right shoulder. I'm wearing a tshirt. Only my shoulders and up are visible. I am in gray scale within a cartoony version of a 1960s rabbit-ear black-and-white TV. I am smiling and pointing above my head with my right hand. Written above me in large, white, blocky letters is 'Stay Tuned'. The words have a dropshadow and arch slightly across not only the TV screen, but parts of the TV itself." border="0" data-original-height="398" data-original-width="398" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX32-bugjgscr9VKLbQ3AF9EQhhJrrdPC29OMx--Ee8D5-i6GSyKZKwSdxm6h6-pnY_5vt08OBNa6cnKg-xQa1-4OuR2D_OL0FcoJ22SpgGNvn9Ny6re9QdOa4XSqv2-ssfIA8pAd32kpTarkOQguEAro9Ig8PQdcHRRAdndxuBXOnfgEj0DRTWd5E/s320/bitmoji-20190523011631.png" width="320" />
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Generated by <b>Bitmoji</b></td>
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<p>In the meantime, thank you all one last time for all of the love and support, both new and very old. You are all beautiful people and I love each and every last one of you to pieces. You truly help lift me up and keep me going. I just want to bear-hug each and every last one of you.</p>
<p>Okay! Enough gushing! I'm off to work on finishing up the job for the next SaV session on April 3rd. And also possibly publishing a new post in a week as well!</p>
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<img alt="Small pixelated emoji version of me. It just shows my face - with a pink complexion - as well as my long red hair dangling behind my head; I don't have a neck or shoulders. I'm wearing a blue bandana across my forehead but under my right-sweeping bangs. My eyes are closed and arched happily. My mouth is in a large, toothy grin." border="0" data-original-height="43" data-original-width="38" height="43" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS8m8gq5tKzT1LiO-1FJroTKxCTANaeN9IHsDQCSkfBtSt5EJzgq_0oUbBb6SDTVCtrkwufPkYl2jO6JXWvEbyRw4KJasRmfHukdwGGHAgOgvMlt2ZG86r6VJFh0WI7kSCcGp-zg3ft7JekpaOtR9eJH6tB_mBFuetXcfNIHqW4ikEYeZyfwGxf0XU/s1600/Big%20Smile%202.gif" width="38" />
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</span>LycoRoguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01064253326464685398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6675584297301734651.post-85476879705936827922023-02-14T17:08:00.007-05:002023-02-14T17:08:48.485-05:00Will You Be My Valentine?<p style="font-family: serif; font-size: 60%;">Est. Read Time: 30min</p>
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<p style="text-align: center;">Happy Valentine's Day, friends!</p>
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<p>It's been a touch longer since my last post than I had intended. It's still very much February though, so I'm still sticking with my goal of at least one blog post per month. Can't be mad about that. It is Valentine's Day though, and how could I miss the opportunity to make my February post also a love letter to my fine readers.</p>
<p>So, may I ask for each and every one of you to collectively be my platonic valentines today? Because I want to share with you all of the love you've shown me over the years.</p>
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<p>You are all such amazing people, and I am always so pleasantly overwhelmed by the love my writing gets. I know I whine a lot about how my readership isn't as vast or active as the fanfic authors I idolize, or I lament my stories not getting spin-off fanfics or fanart or fan theories like big-name fanfics get. I do tend to be ungrateful as I fall into my self-doubt spirals. I am so sorry for that and for guilt-tripping any of you about how you love my stories. How you do so shouldn't matter. What should matter is that you DO love them and read them and support me. So, thank you. I love you. You make my writing worthwhile. Your likes and kudos and faves and bookmarks and comments and reblogs all bring huge smiles to my face. I recognize the repeat readers, and you remind me that my writing is good enough for someone to want to read more from me. I see the new names, and you remind me that my writing isn't as invisible as I believe. You are all beautiful people, and I wouldn't be as far along in my skill if it weren't for you.</p>
<p>I know that the adage (and the healthier option for participating in a hobby) is to do it for me; no one else. However, I used to write for me. I used to tell myself stories. I was content keeping them in my head (maybe take some physical notes to keep the details straight). It was rare that I would actually follow through with writing anything down for years and years and years. If no one else was reading it, why bother putting in the effort to write it when I could just create the stories in my head?</p>
<p>Then I got into fanfiction writing. I still wrote for myself; just to get the ideas out of my head. I never edited, though. First draft was final draft. Throw it up online. If people see it they see it, if not... well... I wrote it for me. Not the greatest mindset for trying to hone or improve one's skills though. And, without trying to improve and sharpen my skills, my desire to become a published author was little more than a pipe dream and wishful thinking living off the scraps of being told most of my life that I was a gifted writer.</p>
<p>Then I started writing for my readers. No, I wasn't writing stories simply because I thought it's what you want to read. In that regards I still write for me. I still tell stories I want to tell and stories I wish I could read myself; so I create them. The part about writing for you, my readers, is more about my motivation. See, my desire and drive to improve my writing stems from my want to put out better stories for my readers. I started editing, revising, and - gasp - PRE-PLANNING my stories so the end results are better for my readers. I feel guilty about not being as prolific a writer as others I follow within the fandom because I want to have more things for my readers to enjoy. I have this blog so I can connect with you and give you a heads up on how I am and where I am with my writing; so you're not wondering where I vanished to. I get excited about parts of my stories because I imagine how my readers will react once they reach those scenes. I refuse to delete anything (I instead cut it and paste it into a "scraps" file) because I imagine some of my readers being fellow authors, and being able to show them where the polished story started and how much I had to revise might be encouraging for them. I started posting those cut bits to Tumblr because I thought my readers would get a kick out of them. I want to tell you all about my <i>Scum and Villainy</i> campaign (which is coming later) because my stories don't feel alive unless others know about them; unless my readers can experience them as well. My stories have all become extroverted divas that need that spotlight to feel real and complete, and you fine folks are all that spotlight.</p>
<p>So, thank you, yet again, for considering what I write worth your (most likely) precious little time available. It means the world to me. You are all such beautiful people. I'm going to explode with love.</p>
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<p>Speaking of my writing, you probably noticed that I didn't update this blog to promote my latest Plagg Appreciation Day story. I also haven't promoted it yet within this post. You may have also noticed - if you follow me on Twitter, Tumblr, AO3, FFN, or DA - that you didn't get a notification alerting you about the latest Plagg Appreciation story.</p>
<p>Yep. You guessed it. That's because there wasn't one. I tried. I spent three days plotting and pondering and playing with ideas. The closest I got to a fleshed-out idea was something akin to <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/13412439" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">The Adventures of Brainy</a></i> where Plagg daydreams that, instead of absorbing into the Miraculous jewels in order to power up a human superhero, he and Tikki transform into human superheroes themselves. I couldn't quite get the concept ironed out in time for Friday, January 13 though. Maybe I'll get it sorted by the next Friday 13th in October. Maybe I'll think of something completely different.</p>
<p>If you have any plot bunny ideas for a Plagg-centric story, feel free to pitch them my way.</p>
<p>Anyway, as it crept closer and closer to January 13th, I, of course, got more and more anxious about my story. I was doing what I always do and beat myself up over the fact that I didn't have this story done. This was MY holiday that I created. How could *I* not meet my own deadline and participate in my own created fandom holiday????</p>
<p>Then the 13th hit, and I realized how much pressure I was piling onto myself. It was FANFICTION. It was something people would read FOR FREE. It was a MADE UP holiday. I was seemingly the only one who even celebrated it, seeing as how I have never seen anyone else post anything Plagg-centric specifically on a Friday 13th or tag anything Plagg Appreciation Day or tag me on any Plagg Appreciation Day posts (exception being <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.tumblr.com/livrever" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">LivreVer</a> once or twice). It DIDN'T MATTER if I posted a story or not.</p>
<p>Ah, the dark side of "I write for my readers": I pressure myself to hit arbitrary deadlines and feel guilty when I don't hit them. As if I'm disappointing you guys. I know I'm not disappointing you all. I KNOW! I have to retrain myself to let that feeling go. I have to remind myself that my readers are all lovely and patient and are excited to read my writing, regardless of when or how frequently I publish.</p>
<p>So, on January 13th, when I still had no idea what even to write, I battled with myself for a bit, and then let it go. I waved the white flag and marked a second missed Plagg Appreciation Day.</p>
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<p>Most of January was spent dealing with headaches at work anyway. Headaches I'm STILL dealing with, actually, but I won't get into that. Point being the few times I wasn't dealing with work stuff I was recovering from said work stuff. My brain was fairly fried, and I didn't even think about fanfiction. The fact that I hadn't seen a new <i>Miraculous Ladybug</i> episode since November probably didn't help motivate me to write anything. Not having the energy to go on Tumblr and interact with the fandom didn't help much either.</p>
<p>Instead, I focused on <i>Scum and Villainy.</i> We were racing towards our grand return to the campaign on the 30th. I needed to be prepared for that.</p>
<p>And I was not prepared for that....</p>
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<p>I didn't have time to break away and listen back to the recorded sessions while I was home, and I had slacked off; waiting until January to even start listening back to them and taking down GM notes. I tried to listen to the sessions like podcasts, but I had to stop too many times to take notes, so it wasn't good background noise for doing house work or getting ready for work. I tried listening while at work, and I got the farthest in doing that, but... work headache stuff... I didn't have the down time I needed to go through everything.</p>
<p>Soooooo.... the last time I ran a RIP race that all of the players could participate in was August! Seemed like a good way to ease everyone (including myself) back into the campaign, as well as introduce new characters! Plus, no real plot-line needed since the plot-line would be introducing the new NPCs. Hubby was off that day, so he created the new RIP race machines and rolled up the NPC start positions for me. Then, when we played, everyone else rolled their start positions. I finished the last-minute set-up. We did some soft roleplay - which is the limited improv I can handle - and the race itself is mostly just me keeping track of where everyone is. I didn't even bother coming up with a cool track design. It wasn't needed. The track wasn't the point of the race that session. The new rivalries were.</p>
<p>The session was fun. It felt like a nice way to ease all of us back in. The following Monday - being the 1st Monday of the month - we had another session. This time I had most of a job sorted out for the group. Not as much as I would have liked (I like preparing for the weird off-beat things they tend to do so I'm less likely to have to think of things on the fly), but enough to fake my way through it.</p>
<p>Aaaaaand then Hubby came up with something during soft roleplay that ended up becoming a job all on its own. The whole session was basically unplanned, soft roleplay... and all improv on my part.</p>
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<p>It was all good. We finished up the impromptu side mission around 10:15pm. We try to finish by 11pm. Definitely not enough time to actually get to the job I had planned. I began to panic a little on what we'd do for the next 45min. Do we just call it early? Am I going to have to scramble to come up with another "short" mission for the crew to go on?</p>
<p>And then the characters Demarcus and Quinton had a long debate about power struggles and setting up allies and what is the best strategy for the group. I didn't really need to do much of anything for the better part of an hour. I just got to enjoy them debate each other. Eventually I interjected to let everyone know how late it was and we should sort out experience for the game. So... aside from the adlibbing I had to do for about two hours during that side mission - which was mostly character driven; I can do that easily enough - it was a fairly lowkey session for me.</p>
<p>I'm going to be spoiled by the time we do our next session on the 20th and I ACTUALLY run that job I had planned out.</p>
<p>Speaking of, let's do some "mini" recaps of what's been going on with the Stardancer crew to catch everyone up!</p>
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Credit to the <i>Scum and Villainy</i> art team:<br />
<b>Brett Barkley, Tomasso Renieri, Juan Ocha, Michaela DeSacco, and Tazio Bettin</b><br />
<i>(Color by LycoRogue)</i></td>
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<p>Tada! Yeah, I realized that I never actually shared my edit of the Stardancer artwork to showcase how the crew had their ship painted! I was going to show the playgroup first and then you guys... except I never came back to update this blog. Whoops. Anyway, I'm back now. This is the chrome-black with neon-green accent lights paint job they picked out for the Stardancer. How does it look? I wish I could have added a bit more dimension to the black paint job to give it more of a chrome look as opposed to just a matte black, but I wasn't as happy with my other two attempts.</p>
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<p>As far as the campaign "plot" for the Stardancer crew (who still hasn't come up with a crew name outside of that), they have started up some trouble while also somehow going under the Hegemony's radar. They've added crewmates and collected quite a few pets. They've made enemies and powerful allies. It feels like we just started our campaign, but, at the same time, they've already outgrown their ship! It's been a bit crazy.</p>
<p>When I last caught you folks up, it was the third session. They had a mandatory mission from the Borniko Syndicate to air an advertisement for the Echo Wave Riders as a way to patch up the rift the crew caused between the two factions. In the process of airing said message for the EWR, the crew caught the attention of infamous wizard-class hacker Vorex. Their ship was spotted by a patrolling 51st Legion spaceship, and that lead to the crew picking the above paint job for their ship to try to disguise it. They finished up with a RIP race on one of Warren's sister moons. Since then, the main "plot beats" have been:</p>
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<li><b>Session 4 -</b> Unfortunately, this was the first game where all three players couldn't attend. So I just sort of piloted tI'kæl so she was still there as the crew FINALLY delivered Ishi to The Cove. There they met Ishi's good friend Hunter Black, 4th in command of the Maelstrom Pirates. Hunter instantly took a liking to Demarcus, and I started the running gag of Hunter enthusiastically asking Demarcus and the Stardancer crew to join his crew/fleet. Demarcus always turns him down and counters that Hunter could join the Stardancers instead. <br />
Itching to fight someone, Demarcus signed up for a big open-call cage match on The Cove against famed Cove MMA fighter "The Prodigy". None of the 14 fighters that went before Demarcus lasted one round, and barely even winded the Prodigy, who was amped up with a bunch of mechanic limbs (a la the anime <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megalobox" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Megalobox</a>, except they're actual artificial limbs as opposed to exoskeletons). Quinton was able to hack into the Prodigy's limbs (after Demarcus got pretty roughed up - including a sword through the left shoulder), and locked him into place so Demarcus could knock him out. Despite Quinton purposefully only freezing up the limbs for a few seconds at a time, people still suspected foul play. Thankfully, Quinton had called Hunter down to see if he wanted to place any bets on the fight, so he was fairly untouchable as Hunter escorted him over to the betting booth to collect their winnings.... which promptly broke the game economy since I wanted to showcase how intimidatingly tough The Prodigy was by making it something like 50 to 1 odds against Demarcus. Even with the players allowing me to retcon that down to about 10-1 odds, they walked away with an INSANE amount of money. Whoops!</li>
<li><b>Session 5 -</b> Hunter's last pet Razor passed away 3 years ago and he's ready for a new one. He sends the crew to fetch him a leaguin; a leopard-penguin hybrid with four wings that lives on the beaches along the equator of the jungle planet Amerath.<br />
I was kind of thinking of the Otter-Penguins from Avatar: the Last Airbender, except leopard-spotted, with a leopard's head and fangs, and with leopard-claws at the end of their webbed feet.<br />
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The crew rounded up about half of a leaguin colony, kept one each for themselves as pets, and sold the rest to Hunter, who kept two as his own pets (they are social animals, after all). Hunter has been breeding and selling the rest on the black market. The crew then started up a campaign to legalize domesticating leaguins and keeping them as pets, even without an exotic pet license.<br />
Leaguins are docile unless provoked, and then they become EXTREMELY aggressive. While trying to fend off the attacking leaguins and corral the rest to take to Hunter, Demarcus broke out his flame thrower. Only one leaguin - who was particularly aggressive - got burned. Demarcus was like, "I like this guy. He's as reckless as me," and decided to nurse and adopt that one. For obvious reasons, it was still aggressive towards him; biting him frequently. So that leaguin's name is now Nippy. Seeing as how Memish are basically "seafood" as far as leaguins are concerned, tI'kæl's pet also kept trying to bite her (as did most of the others, to be fair), so she named hers <span style="border-bottom-color: #FDD017; border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: thin; border-bottom: thin dashed rgb(253, 208, 23); cursor: help;" title="Pain In My Ass">PIMA</span>. Quinton named his pet Languin, in honor of his mentor. I never came up with names for Hunter's pair; I should do that....</li>
<li><b>Session 6 -</b> Chaos Theory had another RIP race. This time through the gas planet of Vet. This is one of the first races I felt comfortable really letting the sport live up to its name. I had described the track as being windy, having a loop-the-loop, and having a gap the machines had to jump over. One of the racers ended up getting bumped off the track at that jump, and was lost in the debris making up the rings of the planet. <br />
Because the track seemed more suited for speed than brute force, Demarcus sat out. One of the team's rivals - Ice Heart from the Gravity Blades - had also stayed in the team bay because Demarcus had blown up his Machine - the Gremlin - the last race they did (the one after airing the EWR message; I forgot to come back to write about that last time). Quinton (as Poet) and tI'kæl (as Sanic) dominated the field, and was even humiliating Ice Heart's teammates AirJack and Bolt. Ice Heart was pissed and screaming at the screen projecting the race. Demarcus decided it would be a fun time to try to antagonize Ice Heart, and when that escalated into a scuffle, he slammed Ice Heart head-first into that screen, bending it around the guy's head and busting up his face pretty badly. As the race continued, AirJack's Machine The Victory blew up, and his escape pod was brought to the team bay. He got out of the pod right after Demarcus took out Ice Heart. AirJack tried to retaliate, managed to stab Demarcus in the side with a piece of busted plasma screen, and then Demarcus promptly shoved him head-first into his own escape pod; breaking his nose and taking out some teeth. With both main rivals now unconscious and bleeding in their team bay, Demarcus casually walked back to Chaos Theory's bay to finish watching the race. The third member of Gravity Blades made it to 3rd place, behind Sanic and Poet. The crew was impressed with Bolt's driving, her overall better (re: less cocky) attitude, and her attempts to keep the peace between her teammates and Chaos Theory. They offered her a spot on their team, but, after seeing her bloodied teammates and Demarcus proudly stating that it was his handiwork, she growled for Chaos Theory to walk away before things got ugly.<br />
Quinton made sure to save the plasma screen shard Demarcus took out of his side. Never know when they'll need something with AirJack's fingerprints on it.</li>
<li><b>Session 7 -</b> Another session that <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.twitch.tv/aurora_morgen" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Rozsavaria</a> had to miss. Which meant, canonically, tI'kæl had something else to attend to, so she left the guys alone. This was also right around Christmas 2021, so I decided to go with something holiday themed: A Christmas Carol. (Technically, I also had a job that was very How The Grinch Stole Christmas, but the guys decided to save that for a session all players could attend). The money lender Benser Cee Grooze (of Grooze and Jybac Moneylending) is also a bail bondsman and bookie on Quinton's home "planet" (it's a colonized moon) of Warren, and Grooze decided it's "harvest time". He placed bounties on all who have defaulted on his loans (bounty was 5% of debt owed), and had forced his workers into mandatory overtime without additional pay. The workers - rallied behind their boss Bob Kranket - had gone on strike. Grooze had put bounties on his striking workers and Bob as well. The crew was asked by a third party to help stop Grooze any way they could. Quinton and Demarcus needed to take down one of the major bounty hunters going after Bob before getting more info on what was going on. They opted to create a massive bounty for Demarcus in order to get the hunter's attention. Interrogation went array, resulting in the hunter and something like 32 civilians dying in a fire??? They promptly took the bounty off of Demarcus, and then went to Grooze with an offer to sell his business to Quinton's friend and mentor Lucian Lang. Negotiations took a bit longer (and a bit more narcotics) than expected, but they got Grooze loopy enough to sign away his company under the guise of becoming a partner in a retirement cruise spaceship. Fearing that Grooze will fight the legality of the acquisition as soon as he's sober, Demarcus sniped him from his own building and planted the rifle and ammo on one of the scabs working during the strike. Bob was then made CEO of the company (with Lang as the silent owner), and he removed all of the bounties Grooze put out.</li>
<li><b>Session 8 -</b> Back from her religious retreat, tI'kæl was mildly appalled by what the guys got up to without her, but at least it was for the greater-good in the long run (no more bounties on defaulted loans or striking employees; or a need to strike, for that matter). Having started up a strong acquaintanceship with Vorex since their meeting in session 3, Quinton received a job from her; a favor. She had discovered that the Counters Guild keeps extremely detailed records of all of their assets, but keeps a separate - but just as detailed - ledger of all their LIVING assets (such as Vorex's kidnapped sister). The ledger is closely guarded and constantly on the move to prevent people from getting to it. Vorex was able to figure out that the Guild was trying to move the ledger two star systems over (to Brekk) to a planet called Nightfall (so named because its 13 moons cause constant solar eclipses, casting the planet in "night" more frequently than "day"). The crew offered their services as "discreet couriers" to the shell company the Counters Guild used to move the ledger without people suspecting what the product actually was. They were given a caged Way Beast that resembled a blue, semi-translucent, ethereal tiger with twin tails wearing a collar. They were also informed that they had a strict timeframe to get the beast to Nightfall, and that they will be hunted down as thieves if they didn't reach their checkpoints in time for other members of this shell company to scan the beast's collar at the designated point. The crew quickly deduced that the collar contained the ledger, and - through Vorex's help - managed to create a way to clone the file from the collar so they could get that to her without stopping the ship (largely thanks to tI'kæl managing to Attune with the beast well enough that Demarcus could get the cloning device against its collar without being mauled). TI'kæl actually got so attached to the creature during her attunement that she wanted to keep it. Quinton had to remind her that the Counters Guild couldn't suspect any foul play, or all of the assets would be instantly moved, and the ledger would be scrubbed; failing their mission for Vorex. Despite some in-fighting among the crew, the actual smuggling job - both of the Way Beast to Nightfall and of the Ledger to Vorex - went off without a hitch. In fact, due to Hubby constantly rolling critical successes while piloting the Stardancer, they hit each checkpoint early.<br />
TI'kæl is now determined to track down where on Nightfall that Way tiger is so she could kidnap it and keep it as her pet.</li>
<li><b>Session 9 -</b> Another RIP race session, this time on one of the 13 moons that orbit Nightfall. Demarcus got a wrist slap over his attack against the Gravity Blades. His punishment wasn't more severe mostly because the cameras did show that - while excessively aggressive - Demarcus WAS only defending himself. He's allowed to still participate in League races, but he is no longer allowed to remain in the team bays unsupervised; indefinitely. Alternatively, the entirety of the Gravity Blades was banned from that race as punishment (ignore that both AirJack and Ice Heart were still recovering and Bolt didn't do anything against Demarcus or Chaos Theory), and are also not allowed in the team bay AT ALL while a race is going on. If they wish to watch instead of participate, they must do so from the stands or via video off-site.<br />
Despite the reprimand over the fighting in the bay, Demarcus was also offered a new League opportunity. The RIP League has a club for pilots called The Basher Bonus Club. Invited members to the club are given a "punch card"; their membership card on which black dots, or "punches" shows up for successful slams, forced retirements, or caused explosions. Forced retirements/caused explosions count as two punches vs the one punch for a successful slam. When five punches accumulate on the card, a Volt (a race-specific form of currency used to repair or upgrade the RIP Machines) is added to the pilot's race earnings and the punches reset. Members must at least ATTEMPT a slam in each race, or they are removed from the club until they are invited back.<br />
Other than that, the race went off without much of a hitch. Some more explosions. Poet and Sanic again podiumed, but this time they were joined by Demarcus (as Doc).</li>
<li><b>Session 10 -</b> This session I attempted to do something similar to the <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fable_(video_game_series)" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Fable games</a>, and offer the same job, but on opposing sides. The mission centered around the Turner Society (the drug traffickers and drug den providers the Stardancers smuggled Vosian Crystals for in the first session) trying to take down their biggest competitor: high-end drug dealer Yon Lirak. He's actually a named NPC in the rulebook. His entry reads: "Runs a factory in Rost [on the planet Amerath] that never
shuts down, producing synthetic narcotics for several major species. [He is] experienced, ruthless, [and] unforgiving" [<i>pg 309 in the rule book</i>]. The crew was given the option to either help the Turner Society take down Lirak's factory (run by slave labor) or help Lirak protect his factory from the sabotage.<br />
They still had that Grinch-themed job that was also on Amerath. That one had a researcher up on a mountain of Amerath requesting that someone stop the Dance of the Fairies festival that happens annually and disrupts the researcher's work for a solid month as the festival goes on in the valley below him. When the crew decided they'd prefer to help the Turner Society (in part because they were already friendly with them, in part because of the slave labor, and in part because Hubby decided Lirak was also a rival to Lang's drug empire), Quinton plotted that they could somehow frame the residents of the hamlet Hovayle who host the Dance of the Fairies festival, and the ruthless and unforgiving Lirak would come after them; affectively ending the festival.<br />
Quinton hacked the servers of Lirak's massive 30-story building and sent out a memo that the workers were allowed a two-day leave to participate in the Dance of the Fairies festival. Sixty-percent of the work force were able to leave and get onto shuttles that the Stardancers had set up before the rest of the facility went into lockdown and bounty hunters were sent to bring back the workers.<br />
Having another brilliant idea, Quinton had himself and Demarcus disguise themselves as AirJack and Ice Heart as they broke into the facility. TI'kæl randomly threw a disguise together and lucked into looking exactly like a flower shop owner from down the street. The trio made their way into the factory, hacked the system to make their way through the levels until they could get to where the drugs were actually being made (most of the building was living space for the slave laborers and guards, an on-site hospital, a brig, and packing facility). When they got to the brig, they found three people locked up. One was a big, burly guy foaming at the mouth trying to get at the guard on duty. Another was a frail fifteen-year-old who looked like he was pushing 90. And a third that looked like a string-bean of a man with a shark head. That was when I passed the floor to our newest player who introduced his shark-headed character as Fin and swore he had no clue why he was locked up. The crew let the trio out, assuming they were all falsely imprisoned by Lirak, and the burly guy instantly started beating the already unconscious guard to death. Having Fin scoop up the frail guy (named Chuck), the crew continued on through the facility. They got to the factory floor, and Quinton hacked into the system to steal the drug recipe, force a self-destruct flushing of the drugs already made, and destroyed all of the materials needed to make more. Sabotage complete, the group broke back out of the facility. Quinton made sure to escape via crashing through a window. He then left behind the shard AirJack had shanked Demarcus with to further frame the rival duo.<br />
After being rescued by the Stardancers, Fin revealed that his real name is Jet Ryle. He's a human, but he's also a gambling addict who isn't particularly good at the gambling bit. He has massive debt all throughout the Procyon Sector, and that was probably why Lirak had him locked up; to cash in on the hefty bounties on Jet. The shark head was also a result of the massive gambling debt he had accrued. One of his bookies offered to forgive his debt if he agreed to some medical experimentation. He happily accepted, got knocked out for surgery, and awoke in a back alley with a shark head instead of his own. Jet's player was inspired by this Sharkman character on the cover of the Gravity RIP rulebook.<br />
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Illustration by <b><a href="https://twitter.com/TheMarvelousMrC" target="_blank">Colin Craker</a></b></td>
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Meanwhile, here's Chuck... he's just the old prisoner from <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116583/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame</a></i>.<br />
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Since sabotaging the factory (and unintentionally rescuing Jet) only took about 90min, they had time to still see to the Grinch-themed job. They split the crew; half would meet up with the researcher Hirg Chent and the other half would go to Hovayle to try to convince the town to not host the festival (or at least keep it down to not disrupt Chent's research). The Dance of the Faeries festival celebrates the annual solar eclipse on Amerath, which initiates the pollination season in that valley. The bioluminescent flowers and mushrooms release glowing spores that are collected by glowing insects; the whole cycle resembles what The Ancients (aka Earthlings) would describe as faeries or Will o' the Wisps. Hence the name of the festival. Since this is a nature-based event, it cannot be rescheduled, and it is the biggest influx of funds to the small hamlet, so the mayor refused to alter the festival at all. Meanwhile, tI'kæl had a great time talking about The Way with Chent, but couldn't convince him to do research somewhere else on Amerath while the festival was going on. Not finding a peaceful solution, and really wanting to take part in the festival themselves, the crew decided they're just murder hobos. They'll trick the researcher into thinking they stopped the festival, get paid for it, and then kill the researcher and transfer the rest of Chent's money to Ice Heart and AirJack to further frame them. The murdering-the-researcher bit went wrong as Chent's pet attacked to defend him. The pet is a domesticated wakeena: a wolf-like creature the size of a pony, has six legs, hyena-like spots, a prehensile tail, and 4 eyes. Chent named it Limainamilx, but called him Milx for short. In the scuffle, Chent's research and tablet/computer that would have been Quinton's access to Chent's bank account were all destroyed. In the end, the hobble Chent was living in was still standing and now vacant, so the crew left a mostly-recovered Chuck there before heading down to Hovayle.</li>
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<p>H'okay... even "abridged" these session recaps are LONG! I mean, the game sessions themselves average about 4hrs so... I think I'm doing pretty good at recapping. Either way, I think I should probably tag out with the introduction of Jet. Maybe I'll find time this month to do another post recapping more of the sessions in my attempt to catch you up with our game. At the very least, you are now caught up on nearly the full first year we've played. Jet was introduced in May, 2022. Also, with that being session #10, you know about half of the Stardancer saga, seeing as how we're going into session #23 this upcoming Monday.</p>
<p>So, to finish up, I'd like to address the elephant in the room (in the blog???). You have probably noticed that I'm still using the Coming Soon font this post. That's because I haven't really had much feedback with regards to the font options I gave everyone last post. Actually, I was offered a few other options to try out, which kind of hinders my ability to narrow things down to just one winning font. So I'm going to try this again.</p>
<p><span style="font-family: Indie Flower;">The first font voted 'yes' on was Indie Flower. So here is a refresher on what Indie Flower looks like. THIS IS THE FONT IN ALL CAPS. <i>This is the font italicized.</i> <b>This is it in bold.</b> My concern with Indie Flower is that it feels like a smaller font. More condensed. Might be harder to read. I'm not sure though, so how does everyone feel about Indie Flower? Is this the keeper?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: Josefin Sans;">The second 'yes' vote was for Josefin Sans. Here's a refresher for Josefin Sans. THIS IS THE FONT IN ALL CAPS. <i>This is the font italicized.</i> <b>This is it in bold.</b> My concern about Josefin Sans is that it feels like a more generic font? It is definitely more print-friendly. Which might be a bonus and might be exactly why I should stick with it perminantly. On the flipside, I think I'd miss that "handwritten" feel of my blog's font. What are all of your thoughts on the matter? Do I go more professional, print-friendly and stick with Josefin Sans? Or do I keep the more unique (but definitely less-professional) hand-written look of some of these other options?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: Kalam;">The first alternative option given was for Kalam. This is what Kalam looks like. THIS IS THE FONT IN ALL CAPS. <i>This is the font italicized.</i> <b>This is it in bold.</b> I do like the handwritten look to it. My concern is that it's SUUUUUPER spaced out. I feel like my already long posts will look unbearably epic in length if I go with this one. Plus, the italics are hard to notice since the font defaults at slightly-slanted. I'm not sure. What's everyone else's thoughts on Kalam? Should this be my new font for this blog?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: Mali;">Another suggested font was Mali. So this is what Mali looks like. THIS IS THE FONT IN ALL CAPS. <i>This is the font italicized.</i> <b>This is it in bold.</b>I don't mind this one. It's not too small or spaced out too much. Has the curviness of Indie Flower. The letters all seem distinct enough from each other, but I could do a quick double check on that: the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. Seems good. My only concerns are that, compared to my current font of Coming Soon, this font doesn't have as much of a hand-written look as I'd like, and it feels larger. I'll have to drop the default font size down for sure, and I don't know if I can lock in a default font point because I've never set one before. Will this font end up with the same pitfall of Kalam? Namely, make my blog look even longer than it already is? I dunno. How does everyone else feel about this possibly being my blog's official font?</span></p>
<p>Along with Kalam and Mali, I was also suggested Patrick Hand (<span style="font-family: Patrick Hand;">which looks like this</span>) and Comic Neue (<span style="font-family: Comic Neue;">which looks like this</span>). To be frank, I wasn't the biggest fan of either option. Comic Neue just didn't seem unique enough of a font and might as well be Comic Sans. In fact, <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://theconversation.com/is-comic-neue-the-new-comic-sans-sans-the-comedy-25697" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">it's supposed to be a "mature and professional" version of Comic Sans</a>. Comic Neue also isn't much different from Coming Soon. Which begs the question: why bother switching?</p>
<p>As for Patrick Hand, the font felt TEENY, and I just wasn't the biggest fan of its over-all look. I do appreciate the research done to suggest these fonts though.</p>
<p>So, again, what does everyone think of the font choices? Stick with Coming Soon? <span style="font-family: Indie Flower;">Switch to Indie Flower?</span> <span style="font-family: Josefin Sans;">Go with Josefin Sans instead?</span> <span style="font-family: Kalam;">Try out Kalam?</span> <span style="font-family: Mali;">Use Mali?</span> Let me know in the comments section.</p>
<p>And, with that, I will leave you all, my wonderful valentines, to enjoy the rest of your Valentine's Day. Know that you are loved and cherished. Best to all of you! Until next time.</p>
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</table>LycoRoguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01064253326464685398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6675584297301734651.post-49104653502215345482023-01-07T17:00:00.001-05:002023-01-07T17:00:00.165-05:00I'm ALIIIIIIIIIIVE!<p style="font-family: serif; font-size: 60%;">Est. Read Time: 28min</p>
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<p>Well! Hello, friends! Yes, I'm alive!</p>
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<p>Boy, have I missed this blog, and you all as well! I had such a great rhythm going. Despite me grumbling about 2019, I was finally getting to the point where I wrote daily and I updated this blog regularly and I was finally falling into a regular routine. Then the pandemic lockdown threw me off my game. Here we are, nearly three years later, and I'm still clawing my way back to that routine. Sadly, one of the largest casualties was my ability to fit in time for writing in general, let alone time to work on this blog.</p>
<p>Hubby's schedule - as I mentioned in my last post waaaaaaaaay back in Oct 2021 - was thrown out of whack for the rest of the year as he helped cover for his manager's maternity leave. His schedule being out of whack meant mine was too. I couldn't sort out a good time to work on my blog, especially since it tends to be a multi-hour endeavor between writing, editing, and double checking on the simple HTML coding. After a couple of missed weeks, and feeling terrible about missing said weeks, I eventually waved the white flag. It was clear I wasn't finding the time to blog, or even time to do any writing that I could then promote via my blog. I needed to realize that and stop beating myself up about it.</p>
<p>It was a rough decision, but I knew I needed to let the blog go. At least, for a time.</p>
<p>"For a time" then became ALL OF 2022!</p>
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<p>I kept thinking to myself, "I should get back into blogging. I miss it." Especially after my cousin started blogging, I got the itch to return here. The timing wasn't right though.</p>
<p>I had written a couple of stories, and I thought I might promote them here. But the timing still wasn't right.</p>
<p>The timing never seemed to be right.</p>
<p>Well, it's now a new year. This is the first week of 2023, and I was determined. All other Adulting tasks be damned. I was going to publish a blog post! I was going to MAKE the timing right!</p>
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<p>I cannot, nor will not, promise I'm back to updating my blog every week. Nor can I promise that I'll even update every Tuesday (I mean, not only have I already missed the first Tuesday of the year, but it's now 4 days later! Sooooooo). I can't even begin to guess if I'll have a regular time of day when I'll publish (like how it used to be noon, Eastern Time). However, I will try to get back onto <b>*A*</b> schedule of some sort. I will also promise to get at least ONE blog post published each month. I'm going to start relatively small: 12 blog posts by the end of 2023.</p>
<p>I'll eventually work my way back up to my pre-pandemic New Years resolutions: reading at least one book a month, writing daily, updating this blog every week, and publishing a new story at least once a month. I'm not there yet. So... baby steps. A blog post once a month, with a stretch-goal of posting more frequently. Write a handful of stories this year. Finish one of my multi-chapter WIPs.</p>
<p>That's right! You don't really know about those, huh? Okay, I'll have to do a 2022 recap. But first, I was hoping you all could help me out with something. Considering how long I have been gone from this blog, and how this is kind of a new start, I also figured it could be a good time for a bit of a refresh.</p>
<p>I started off with my horribly outdated description of this blog. Then I added that "estimated reading time" up at the top. Figured that would help people figure out the kind of commitment they were settling in for. I've also been debating about my font. I know that on certain browsers or computer brands (*cough*macs*cough*) or on mobile you might not see my stylized font. It may just be basic Helvetica or Ariel or Times New Roman, etc. However, for everyone who sees my stylized font - called Coming Soon, by the way - I fear it might be a touch hard to read. I know it's a bit difficult to see the punctuation the way the font is written. In turn, I fear that makes my blog look messy and more unprofessional than intended. It was fine for my late 20s/early 30s, but it might not be what I'm going for anymore. Out of a LENGTHY list of font options, I narrowed it down to five alternatives to this font. I just couldn't figure out which one I like best. So, here's where you fine folks come in, if you could. Which do you prefer?</p>
<p>My case for keeping Coming Soon is thus: it's been the signature font of my blog for years, and I like that it had a "handwritten" look to it. I like that this blog has a "handwritten journal on a scroll" aesthetic. Goes with the blog title, I think. Kinda old-world.</p>
<p><span style="font-family: Indie Flower;">Sticking with the "handwritten" look, one of the first options is Indie Flower. It also has the roundness that my actual handwriting tends to have. In truth, my handwriting is kind of part this font, part cursive. I do this weird thing where I splice cursive into my print handwriting in order to write the fastest for me. I can't deny that the punctuation is at least easier to read in this font than in my standard Coming Soon. I'm just not sure if the readability is overall any better. The words also feel a bit closer together between lines to me. Makes it all look a little cramped. Do you guys agree? What do you think? (Also, this is me testing what this font looks like while <b>bolded</b> and <i>italicized</i>, in case that helps with the decision)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: Schoolbell;">The other option I picked out is Schoolbell. Much like Indie Flower, this font reminds me of my handwriting. Mostly how messy it is. While I do like that it definitely looks like handwriting, much like Coming Soon</span><span style="font-family: Schoolbell;">, I fear it will have the same pitfalls: hard to read, and will make the blog look messy and more unprofessional than it already does (</span>in fact, it's probably worse. For reference, this parenthetical is in Coming Soon<span style="font-family: Schoolbell;">). Schoolbell might be leaning a bit too hard into the "handwriting style" thing. I do think it is a bit roomier than Indie Flower, when it comes to overall layout. So that might be a point for this font comparatively. Thoughts? Also, this is what it looks like <b>bolded</b> and <i>italicized</i>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: Unkempt;">My third option is a bit closer to your more traditional Ariel/Times New Roman/Helvetica/Courier/etc style font, but still has that more unique rounded letter look: Unkempt. I feel this one has a similar issue as Indie Flower with regards to the lines feeling a bit cramped and on top of each other. However, I think this is definitely the most clean and "professional" looking font out of the ones already showcased, while also still kinda-sorta having that "handwriting" feel to the font. If that makes sense? My only other issue with this font is that I hate that the n and h look so close to each other to my eye. I feel like that could hinder people who already have reading issues. Any thoughts on your end about Unkempt? Here's the font <b>bolded </b>and <i>italicized</i>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: Walter Turncoat;">Continuing down the road of "more traditional" style font, I've also picked out Walter Turncoat. Much like Unkempt, it has a hint of handwriting style, but is still easier to read. I also feel like the all-caps design of this font will be easier for people with dyslexia to read. It feels similar to Comic Sans without actually being Comic Sans (and therefore hated upon). If I recall correctly, despite the hate it gets, Comic Sans has been stated to be easier to read for people with reading issues. Which is probably why it is used within comics. In the same regards, perhaps Walter Turncoat will make my blog easier to read for those who would otherwise have difficulties. Plus, there's the added bonus for me that this font reminds me of my father's handwriting. I'm just not sure how I feel about the all-caps, since I tend to emphasize words BY PUTTING THEM IN ALL CAPS and you may not be able to recognize the shift as easily. Thoughts? (Also: <b>bold</b>; <i>italicized</i>)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: Josefin Sans;">My final option is probably the closest I've picked to a "traditional" font: Josefin Sans. It still has a little bit of personality, so I like it for that. It might be the easiest for people to read, and have the cleanest look, which will help refresh this blog's aesthetic. The downside, for me, is the fact that I AM losing that "handwritten blog" vibe I've had more-or-less since I started this blog over a decade ago (dear lord, has it been that long!?). How do you all feel about this font? Is this the one I should pick? Should I pick one of the other options? Should I just stick with Coming Soon? Please let me know in the comments section below. (Also: <b>bold</b>; <i>italicized</i>)</span></p>
<p>In the meantime, I'll stick with Coming Soon until I make an official decision on the font....</p>
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<p>How about that 2022 recap, huh? We'll actually start before 2022. Way back in the summer of 2020, so I can first tell you about that multi-chapter WIP I mentioned at the top of this blog. That's where most of my 2022 went, so it makes sense to start there.</p>
<p>Well, back in the summer of 2020, I read <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/zenmisery/pseuds/zenmisery" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">ZenMisery's</a> story <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24591619/chapters/59398795" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Dressed to Confess</a></i>. It's a WIP, and Life hasn't been the kindest to Zen over the past few years, so she hasn't updated since early 2021. Still, it's well worth a read as-is. Anyway, after reading her fifth chapter of the story - wherein young-adult Marinette and Chat Noir have a make out session interrupted by the fact that Chat Noir can't disrobe - I was inspired to work on my first Miraculous Ladybug smut story (with aged-up characters, obviously). Something about me and August... I tend to think the dirtiest thoughts that month, apparently....</p>
<p>Anyway, I had spent a few weeks poking away at that aged-up MariChat smut story that Zen had inadvertently inspired. None of it seemed to work, though, so I put it on the back burner. Then, December 2020, Zen had asked about the smut story. It got me thinking about it again and I poked some more. Still no progress. Fast forward to August 2021, and I FINALLY reworked the story to the point that I loved the opening chapter. At the same time, I surprised myself that it was an OPENING CHAPTER and not a simple one-shot story.</p>
<p>This has become A THING, and I quickly realized my "goofy MariChat smut story" had evolved into a fairly lengthy slow-burn with lots of sexual tension, flirting, foreplay, and fluff-meets-angst romance that just HAPPENS to also have sex scenes sprinkled in. This became quite the endeavor!</p>
<p>As I've slowly chipped away at this story - now officially titled <i>Seduce with Caution</i> - I've posted updates to my Tumblr (reminder that I'm @LycoRogue on Tumblr, if you want to find me there). Mostly, I've done a lot of pruning even before the story is done. I work on something, realize that it just won't work for the overall story, and dump the cut bits to Tumblr. Because I still love what I write and I want to share it with people.</p>
<p>Here are my cut scenes (and when I posted them, so you can see how long I've been working on this story):</p>
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<a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://lycorogue.tumblr.com/post/667233660494282752/why-chat-noir-loves-ladybug-snippets" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Why Chat Noir Loves Ladybug - Snippets (Nov 7, 2021)</a>
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<a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://lycorogue.tumblr.com/post/691953531777843200/another-deleted-scene-chat-noirs-feelings-for" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Another “Deleted” Scene: Chat Noir’s Feelings for Ladybug
<br />(an evolution of the first link; Aug 22, 2022)</a>
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<a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://lycorogue.tumblr.com/post/668787749991710720/another-scene-for-the-cutting-room-floor" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Another Scene for the Cutting Room Floor: Accidental Reveal (Nov 25, 2021)</a>
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<a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://lycorogue.tumblr.com/post/676467376815063040/another-deleted-scene-adrien-realizing-his" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Another “Deleted” Scene? Adrien Realizing His Feelings For Marinette (Feb 17, 2022)</a>
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<p>On top of the above cut scenes, I also had a few moments of lament. Some were just generic "writing is hard, yo" while others were comments on how canon episodes of the series perfectly paralleled my WIP plot. Whoops?</p>
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<a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://lycorogue.tumblr.com/post/667234176574029824/that-moment-you-realize-the-wip-youve-been" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank"><i>Seduce with Caution</i> is just "Glaciator 2"... (Nov 7, 2021)</a>
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<a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://lycorogue.tumblr.com/post/698576641902919680/oh-sweet-mother-of-pearl-ive-been-working-on-a" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">How did I forget the Kwamis???? (Oct 19, 2022)</a>
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<a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://lycorogue.tumblr.com/post/699958433706835968/lycorogue-as-excited-as-i-am-for-this-season-and" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Season 5 almost perfectly parallels SWC
<br />(contains S5 and SWC spoilers; posted Nov 4, 2022)</a>
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<p>I've also given mini-updates on my progress with <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://lycorogue.tumblr.com/post/695938099507822592/lycorogue-lycorogue-i-am-currently-5-months" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">this Tumblr thread</a> (last updated Sept 20, 2022). Also, <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://lycorogue.tumblr.com/post/696841332173488128/seduce-with-caution-plotting-update" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">this update post from Sept 30, 2022</a>. Finally, I have this teaser about <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://lycorogue.tumblr.com/post/701140106164174848/how-did-a-scene-where-ladybug-and-chat-noir-both" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">love confessions turning angsty from Nov 17, 2022</a>.</p>
<p>If you've clicked those "mini-update" links, you'll notice that I said I had signed up for <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="http://www.nanowrimo.org/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank" title="National Novel Writing Month">NaNo</a> again. It was my first attempt at a NaNo (including Camp NaNo's) since April 2020, and the first one that I actually participated in since November 2019 (I signed up for camp in April 2020 but didn't write a word during it). I had been on a roll with working on <i>Seduce with Caution</i> for a little while, so I figured I'd try my hand at NaNoWriMo again. It was mixed success.</p>
<p>As far as my normal standards go (and the loose "rules" of NaNo), I "failed". I didn't hit 50k words within the month. I didn't even hit a half-NaNo of 25k words. I also tripped at the finish line, and didn't write every day throughout November. My story isn't even half done either. "Failure" all around with those regards.</p>
<p>HOWEVER!</p>
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<p>When you look at my NaNoWriMo project from the lens of "I haven't written a significant amount in two years"? It was pretty successful! Using various story-plotting outlines (which I'll touch upon later), I managed to write up an 18pg (13,000+ word) outline! I OUTLINED, FOLKS!</p>
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<p>I put a LOT of effort into this project leading into November. I did the NaNoWriMo-Prep course. I went through MULITPLE different plotting worksheets, as I mentioned. I started off with the <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/articles/snowflake-method/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Snowflake Method created by Randy Ingermanson</a>. Then I went through the different options provided by NaNoWriMo. First up was the very basic plot outline most people might remember doing in school: <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VjVGy5bvewFzKDCCDaeCyzWcexm7CRJcMMvCQKLiMe8/edit?usp=sharing" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Plot Rollercoaster</a>. It has six main blanks you need to fill in: set-up, inciting incident, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. That's where you grab your broad strokes. It's where I made sure I had the six crucial plot beats needed for a story. Easy. After years of practice, I just do this naturally more often than not. From there, I went to the <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/17t0dYvl2noZS9WEQI-Cjx1Go0GUa1ZxmHnpMT-aiTeM/edit?usp=sharing" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Jot, Bin, Pants method</a>. This is where I went through all of the scenes I wanted, and sort of organized them into vaguely the order I wanted (Spoilers: I rearranged a bit the further into the process I went). I already had these broad strokes of my story for MONTHS now though. Maybe even years.</p>
<p>After double checking I had what I needed, I REALLY got down into the nitty-gritty of outlining. I started large: <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/14KVM0BAb8bSma4fPiglXjqI78gjYgAMm0rCx65Ec54Y/edit?usp=sharing" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">the 9-Step Plot Dot/Point (aka The Hero's Journey) outline</a>. Three main plot beats per act: a set-up, rising action, and climax. It was a way to really see the flow of my story based on what I came up with via the Snowflake and the Jot, Bin, and Pants outlining projects. Then it was time to zoom in a bit more with the <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1f_Uzr21Mt6t5mjq7Z2ih2AvtGqXPVnvoFLmCb27QMms/edit?usp=sharing" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">"Save the Cat" Beat Sheet</a> (I never did sort out why it's called that...). This one is more catered to show/movie/comic book pacing. You'd think that would mean this one is right up my alley. Not quite though. Mostly because of the asymmetrical way this one is formatted: 5 plot beats in Act I, 7 beats in Act II, and only 3 beats in Act III. I still tried it, though, since there are more beats with this one than with the 9-dot one. That allowed me to break down my main plot beats into smaller chunks and see how they still land within this asymmetrical 3-act set-up. Finally, I found my true home: <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1k386XircYTMLIIb5gc5S7UvY9sNFcPGysQHGW0V2sIs/edit?usp=sharing" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Katytastic's 3 Act/9 Block/27 Chapters outline</a>. I had found <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://writersedit.com/fiction-writing/literary-devices/plan-novel-using-three-act-structure/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">a similar set-up</a> years ago. Outside of trying my hand at the Snowflake Method now and again, the 3 Acts/9 Blocks/27 Chapters (or plot beats, in my case) method has always helped me the most on the rare occasions that I plotted out a story first. Sometimes it's great to be able to just break your story down to the smallest level; bite-sized bits to focus on and figure out. Then build back up and out.</p>
<p>First, you look at the overarching story. Break it down into "set-up", "conflict", and "resolution" for the whole story. Those are the themes of each act. Then, dive into each act. What is the set-up, conflict, and resolution of that act? You've now broken the whole story down into 9 blocks. Go into each block. What is the set-up, conflict, and resolution for each block's theme? Those are your 27 individual plot beats. If you keep to the base formula and have each of those plot beats be a chapter, you can break it down again: based on the theme of that chapter (determined by the 27 beats), what is the set-up, conflict, and resolution of that individual chapter? Just keep breaking down into smaller and smaller sets of 3: set-up, conflict, resolution. That way you keep tension but also allow your reader/audience feel satisfied that SOMETHING is being resolved throughout the story.</p>
<p>Granted, here we are, January 7, 2023, 2 months since I needed the outline to be complete for NaNo, 4 months since I started focusing on outlining the story instead of just winging it, and almost 2 full years of me slowly chipping away at this story, and yet I STILL don't think I have ALL of my plot points ironed out. I have enough to get a good portion of the story written and go from there, but not the full outline as intended. Even so, I DO have those 18 pages (13,000+ words) of outline! Far more than any outline I've ever done before. Larger than a lot of STORIES I've done before! Also, unless I shift things while writing/editing, it IS looking to be at least a <b>30 CHAPTER</b> story! I mean, yeah, my preferred outline method (3/9/27) would have had me write 27 chapters either way, but still! The longest story I've written before now is <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/14146644?view_full_work=true" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Peeping Tomcat</a></i> with 17 chapters! And that's STILL an 84k+ word story! Now, roughly DOUBLE that for <i>Seduce with Caution</i>! </p>
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<p>Soooooo, yeah. First major win of NaNoWriMo: I actually focused on my story, and allowed myself to dedicate time to my writing for the first time since February 2020. Second win: I WROTE A MASSIVE OUTLINE! My third win was the fact that I dedicated at least SOME time each day in November to writing. Be it an hour or ten minutes. Even if I only wrote 20 words, it was still 20 more than I had the day before. I did trip at the finish line, missing November 28th, and denying me the "checked in every day of November" badge. Still.... for someone who only sporadically wrote something since the pandemic hit? Writing even 20 words 29 out of 30 days of a month was a pleasant surprise, and yet another win.</p>
<p>Sure, in the end, I never once hit the daily-word-count goal of 1667 words, and I didn't even cross the 20k word threshold. However, I did manage 14,943 words. That's nearly 15k words that I didn't have prior to November. One of the chapters I'm not sure if I'm scrapping because it's a bit meander-y and unfocused, but that's still a win in my book. I STILL spent 29 days writing nearly 15k words. Worlds better than what I've been producing since early 2020.</p>
<p>I did take another break in December to focus on the holidays and getting back to that pre-pandemic schedule I had. But, it's a new month and a new year. Seems a good time to refocus on my writing. That was the main reason why I dedicated nearly this whole week to working on this blog again. It was why I was determined to finish and publish this post today. It HAD to be done before the first week of 2023 had passed!</p>
<p>Likewise, I'm aiming to have <i>Seduce with Caution</i> at least completed enough to have published the opening chapter by August 2023. That will be 2 full years since I wrote the opening chapter and liked it enough to run with it. Three years since I was inspired to write the story in the first place.</p>
<p>So, I hope that some of you fine folks will gently poke and prod at me to make sure I stay on-task for this story. Reminder again that you can find me on Tumblr and on Twitter both @LycoRogue. Also, as a way to entice you to bully me into finishing this project, here's the teaser I had up on NaNoWriMo.</p>
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<span font-size="x-small" style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Summary</b>
<br /><i>Chat Noir is tired of Marinette acting like he’s not attractive or “sexy” enough to win over Ladybug despite them both now being 19. So, he decided to demonstrate his new flirting techniques on her. Problem is: they worked. Before she realizes what she's doing, Marinette is swooning. Thoroughly freaked out, they are now forced to independently struggle with two key facts: (1) Marinette needs to navigate her new desires for Chat Noir, and (2) Adrien has to sort out why he found Marinette's whispered pleas such a turn-on.</i><br />
<br /><b>Excerpt</b>
<br /><i><p>Indignantly, Chat Noir nodded to his abs, clearly instructing Marinette to run her hand across them as they continued their role-playing. Still fighting back more laughter, Marinette complied. She wasn't expecting the tinkle up her arm as her fingers roamed across each ribbing of his eight-pack.</p>
<p>“You like that?” Chat Noir cooed.</p>
<p>“Huh?” Marinette's hand shot back to her side as she glanced up at him.</p>
<p>Dropping his confident act, Chat Noir wove for her to continue to play along. A little whimper escaped his throat as he re-posed.</p>
<p>“Oh. Uh. Right. Sorry.” Marinette tentatively rested her hand back on Chat Noir's abs and hummed her confirmation to his question.</p>
<p>“Wait.” Chat Noir again broke character as he grabbed Marinette's hand. “This is wrong-”</p>
<p>“Yeah, sorry, I-” Marinette couldn't look him in the eye.</p>
<p>“-she wouldn't be seated,” Chat Noir continued. “Here, stand up for a second.” He pulled Marinette to her feet, then stepped closer to her, resting her hand back on his stomach. “Okay, yeah, it will be more like this. Awesome.” He then folded his hands behind his head again. “Okay, so from the top.” His casually goofy tone once more gone as he thickened his voice with honeyed sultriness. “So, you like that?”</p>
<p>Marinette rushed to catch her bearings, mindlessly falling back into her fictitious Ladybug characterization as she again hummed her agreement.</p>
<p>“And what about a man with a strong back?” Chat Noir pivoted, sliding Marinette's hand around his side until it was resting beside his spine. He was firm, and the curvature called for Marinette to run her fingers up to his shoulder. The superhero costume was smooth and welcoming under her touch, and Chat Noir's body heat sent a fever through her. She tried swallowing a couple of times, and couldn't quite get her throat to comply.</p>
<p>“Uh, Chat Noir, maybe we-”</p>
<p>He abruptly turned, and caught her hand. Pressing it to his chest so she could feel his rapid heart beat, he leaned in so their noses nearly brushed. “You know how I feel about you-”</p>
<p>“Wha-?” Marinette forgot they were role-playing. She forgot she was supposed to be Ladybug. Her whole mind went blank at the prospect of Chat Noir liking her.</p>
<p>His lips brushed against her ear, and his breath tickled the little hairs. “-you know you could have as much of this as you want. All you have to do is ask for it.” Chat Noir's voice was soft, silky, low, and challenging.</p>
<p>“Yes, please,” Marinette whispered back without thinking.</p>
<p>“Wait, what?” Chat Noir pulled back, his tone normal, and his heart racing harder against her hand.</p>
<p>“I- uh!” Marinette felt like she was going to melt. Her face, ears, and neck were all on fire. Her heart was pounding, her throat was still blocked, and her legs were heavy. She had no clue why, but in that instant she wanted to feel his weight on top of her, like when they were kids and he'd roll her out of the way of an attack.</p>
<p>“Marinette?” His own face, ears, and neck were vibrant red. He dropped her hand so it wasn't pressed against his chest anymore. “Wha- what did you-?”</p></i>
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<h2 style="font-size: 40px; text-align: center;"><b><i>Seduce with Caution</i> coming August 2023!</b></h2>
<p>Hold me to that!</p>
<br />
<p>Now, to be fair to myself, SWC wasn't the only writing I've done since my last blog post (time to get into that 2022 recap).</p>
<p>Halloween 2021, I had this small sprinkling of inspiration. A scene just popped into my head when I woke up that morning. No surrounding context. Nothing ever came of it. But I did still share the scene with Tumblr. <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://lycorogue.tumblr.com/post/666563945089335296/story-seed-alya-rage-pins-adrien-to-a-wall-in" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Story Seed: Alya Rage Pins Adrien to a Wall in Defense of Marinette</a></p>
<p>A little over a week later, I had this short story crop up ("short" as in, 1579 words): <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://lycorogue.tumblr.com/post/667307571831570432/saving-marinette-from-an-akuma" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Saving Marinette from an Akuma</a>. Not sure why I only shared it to Tumblr and not to AO3, FFN, or DA... I might have to remedy that.</p>
<p>December 2021, I had this plot bunny that ended up not going anywhere, but might still be brewing.... <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://lycorogue.tumblr.com/post/670929083773911040/current-plot-bunny-idea-adrien-is-in-need-of-a" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Adrien Needs a Fake Girlfriend</a>. I'll have to share my updated list of WIPs with you fine folks. I'll circle back to that.</p>
<p>Anyway, then in January 2022, my mind decided to work some overtime, and I had this dream: <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://lycorogue.tumblr.com/post/674637680796221440/miraculous-encanto" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Miraculous Encanto?</a></p>
<p>I've also written and published 5 one-shots since my last blog post! So the past 14-some months haven't been ENTIRELY devoid of writing. Whoo!</p>
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<b><i>I Just Wanted to Kiss You</i></b>
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<a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/35205733" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">On Archive Of Our Own</a> <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13991599/1/I-Just-Wanted-to-Kiss-You" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">On FanFiction</a> <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.deviantart.com/lycorogue/art/I-Just-Wanted-to-Kiss-You-898317591" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">On DeviantArt</a> <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://lycorogue.tumblr.com/post/668242679026647040/latest-story-i-just-wanted-to-kiss-you" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">On Tumblr</a>
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<span font-size="x-small" style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Summary:</b> <i>Sometimes you just get overwhelmed by how much you love your partner, even when they’re seemingly doing nothing out of the ordinary.</i>
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<br /><b>Rating:</b> General Audience
<br /><b>Word Count:</b> 1401
<br /><b>Published:</b> November 19, 2021
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<b><i>I’m Not Allowed to Love You</i></b>
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<a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/37814974" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">On Archive Of Our Own</a> <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14054990/1/I-m-Not-Allowed-to-Love-You" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">On FanFiction</a> <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.deviantart.com/lycorogue/art/I-m-Not-Allowed-to-Love-You-910316998" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">On DeviantArt</a> <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://lycorogue.tumblr.com/post/679111061023113216/latest-story-im-not-allowed-to-love-you" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">On Tumblr</a>
</div>
<blockquote>
<div style="background-color: #f6f6f6; border: 1px dotted navy; padding: 10px;">
<span font-size="x-small" style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Summary:</b> <i>Ever since that night on the Palais de Chaillot, when Chat Noir refused to abandon Ladybug, things have been different between them. Ladybug blushes around him a bit more. She’s been more vocal about how upset and scared his needless risks make her. She laughs more at his jokes, and forgets to berate him for making them in the first place. She’s even flirted with him a bit more.
<br />Adrien is fading from her thoughts as he’s slowly replaced by Chat Noir, and it terrifies her.
<br />Then, one night, Chat Noir takes his shot, and asks Ladybug out one last time. Neither of them could have anticipated the can of worms that would open, and how painful her answer would be.</i>
<br />
<br /><b>Rating:</b> General Audience (Although, a bit of a CW here, there are references to Chat Blanc, and so death and destruction are both talked about in passing)
<br /><b>Word Count:</b> 2363
<br /><b>Published:</b> March 18, 2022
</span>
</div>
</blockquote>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><i>Cataclysm the Doubt</i></b>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/38976978" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">On Archive Of Our Own</a> <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14080840/1/Cataclysm-the-Doubt" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">On FanFiction</a> <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.deviantart.com/lycorogue/art/Cataclysm-the-Doubt-916033575" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">On DeviantArt</a> <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://lycorogue.tumblr.com/post/684191979150753792/latest-story-cataclysm-the-doubt" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">On Tumblr</a>
</div>
<blockquote>
<div style="background-color: #f6f6f6; border: 1px dotted navy; padding: 10px;">
<span font-size="x-small" style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Summary:</b> <i>Barely three hours into becoming a new father, Adrien is not handling the life change very well. It’s a good thing Plagg is right there to get the twenty-something’s head on right. Being able to cataclysm physical things is certainly easier, but sometimes a metaphorical cataclysm is the best option.</i>
<br />
<br /><b>Rating:</b> General Audience
<br /><b>Word Count:</b> 1728
<br /><b>Published:</b> May 13, 2022 (Happy Plagg Appreciation Day!)
</span>
</div>
</blockquote>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><i>Rolling Thunder</i></b>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/39640488" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">On Archive Of Our Own</a> <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14094802/1/Rolling-Thunder" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">On FanFiction</a> <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.deviantart.com/lycorogue/art/Rolling-Thunder-919263242" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">On DeviantArt</a> <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://lycorogue.tumblr.com/post/687044019232079872/latest-story-rolling-thunder" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">On Tumblr</a>
</div>
<blockquote>
<div style="background-color: #f6f6f6; border: 1px dotted navy; padding: 10px;">
<span font-size="x-small" style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Summary:</b> <i>They say that falling in love is like a clap of thunder: sudden and dramatic and obvious. No one mentions that it can also be like rolling thunder: so slowly continuous it’s hard to remember when it even started.</i>
<br />
<br /><b>Rating:</b> General Audience
<br /><b>Word Count:</b> 4737
<br /><b>Published:</b> June 14, 2022 (inspired by <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/39518358" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Finding Yourself in the Details by mostlovedgirl</a>)
</span>
</div>
</blockquote>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><i>Is He Loved? Is He Happy?</i></b>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/43622064" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">On Archive Of Our Own</a> <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14172596/1/Is-He-Loved-Is-He-Happy" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">On FanFiction</a> <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.deviantart.com/lycorogue/art/Is-He-Loved-Is-He-Happy-941056898" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">On DeviantArt</a> <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://lycorogue.tumblr.com/post/703657704906964992/latest-story-is-he-loved-is-he-happy" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">On Tumblr</a>
</div>
<blockquote>
<div style="background-color: #f6f6f6; border: 1px dotted navy; padding: 10px;">
<span font-size="x-small" style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>**SPOILER ALERT:</b> <i>This story is based on the season 5 episode “Transmission (The Kwamis’ Choice - Part 1)”**</i>
<br />
<br /><b>Summary:</b> <i>Marinette seemingly has everything she’s ever wanted. She’s again a normal girl with a normal life, and she has Adrien. However, the fact that Chat Noir - HER Chat Noir - wasn’t at the latest akuma attack is all she can think about. She never dreamed that she would lose him so entirely, and now she’s haunted by two major questions: Is he loved? Is he happy?</i>
<br />
<br /><b>Rating:</b> General Audience
<br /><b>Word Count:</b> 3552
<br /><b>Published:</b> December 14, 2022
</span>
</div>
</blockquote>
<div><br /></div>
<p>Circling back to my list of WIPs/Plot Bunnies, there's actually about 35-ish stories/story concepts on that list! It's kind of massive. Far too long to include wholesale in this already lengthy blog post. If you do want the full details, however, you can find them via my <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://lycorogue.tumblr.com/post/674294984627961856/master-list-of-wips-and-plot-bunnies-as-of-jan" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Tumblr post about it from last January</a>. I still want to also share the list here, though, for simplicity sake. So you fine folks get an abridged version.</p>
<p>I feel like long-time readers will already know most of these, but there are some new ones since October 2021. After I'm done with <i>Seduce with Caution</i> and I FINALLY finish <i>One and the Same</i>, which one of these would you most like for me to work on next????</p>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><b>Fanfiction WIPs</b></li>
<ul>
<li><b>Miraculous Ladybug</b></li>
<ul>
<li><i>Seduce With Caution</i> - Already talked about above</li>
<li><i>One and the Same</i> - My sequel to <i>Peeping Tomcat</i> that has been in the works since autumn of 2018</li>
<li><i>I Don't Care</i> - My interpretation of Gabriel and Emilie’s romance: how they met, them dating, their marriage, and their years with Adrien before Emilie fell into her coma (died?).</li>
<li><i>Love Square Fluff Week</i> - Back before the pandemic truly hit, I was working on the 7-day Love Square Fluff Week writing prompts. I had the first 5 chapters up before I fell into my pandemic-induced writing funk. I just need to figure out those last 2!</li>
</ul>
<li><b>"Hey, Arnold!"</b></li>
<ul>
<li><i>What is Truly Meant to Be</i> - an unintentionally abandoned multi-chapter fic. Arnold and Helga have graduated high school, and Arnold has moved back to Hillwood. He tries to win Helga back, only to discover she's already dating someone. Arnold struggles with the idea of moving on from Helga. Meanwhile, she struggles with the choice between staying with her supportive boyfriend or leaving him for the man she's loved since preschool (and still does love, if she's honest).</li>
</ul>
<li><b>X-Future (a homebrew X-Men roleplay)</b></li>
<ul>
<li><i>Please, Let Me Explain</i> - originally written by my friend <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="http://delusionsofamadman.blogspot.com/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Ronoxym</a>. I kinda-sorta hijacked it (and then overcomplicated it). Rono's character Devon is being shunned by my character Willow because she believed he had left the X-Men to join The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. PLME follows their journey as Devon desperately tries to prove his innocence and ease the pain his two+ year disappearance has caused.</li>
<li><i>Some Like it Flame-Broiled</i> - another story originally written by Rono (based on some of my roleplay in the game) and then kinda-sorta hijacked by me. Also, my first foray into writing smut. In this AU of X-Future, Devon truly did become evil and join the Brotherhood, where he starts an antagonistic sexual relationship with my Brotherhood character Trish. This story focuses on one of these encounters.</li>
<li><b>Untitled battle between Devon and Trish</b> - A knife-fight to the death between the canon versions of Trish and Devon after Trish takes Devon's girlfriend's parents hostage. The story is fully written already, but I was learning how to write fight scenes at the time, and it really needs to be reworked.</li>
<li><i>X-Future: The Second Generation Begins</i> - My adaptation of the play-by-post X-Future roleplay into narrative prose. I don't think I'm even 10% of the way through the game's story before I got overwhelmed with how much there was. Still want to finish this project some day though. I just need to sort out an efficiant way of doing so.....</li>
<li><i>X-Future Snippets</i> - an anthology of one-shots, shorts, flash-fiction, and vignettes - some canon; some not - centered around my three main X-Future characters: Lia, Willow, and Trish. They were a way of exploring their characters outside of the game. I don't know if I'll continue this project per se, but I do want to reconnect with these characters somehow. So I might start up a similar project, at least.</li>
</ul>
<li><b>D&D</b></li>
<ul>
<li><i>Too Many Names, Even For A Gnome</i> - A character study for my gnome Elymoxa. I never really got a chance to play her, so I was using this project similar to <i>X-Future Snippets</i>. I don't know if I remember Moxie enough to go back to this project, however.</li>
</ul>
<li><b>Cirque du Soleil</b></li>
<ul>
<li><i>Varekai</i> - I want to create a novel adaptation of the Cirque du Soleil show about the mythological Icarus falling into the mystical forest of Varekai (as opposed to dying in the ocean, as the myth actually goes).</li>
</ul>
<li><b>World of Darkness</b></li>
<ul>
<li><b>Lottie’s untitled story</b> - This was my NaNoWriMo attempt back in 2014. It was about my <i>Vampire: The Masquerade</i> character Lottie. I liked the character well enough, but I don't know if I still remember where I was going with this story. Probably officially abandoned.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<li><b>Original WIPs</b></li>
<ul>
<li><b>Glitches</b></li>
<ul>
<li>A rework of the X-Future world and original characters (the player characters) as an original story with no ties to X-Men or Marvel.</li>
<li>I also picture it as its own comic/webcomic run or a TV series, but I'm REALLY pipe dreaming with that.</li>
</ul>
<li><b>Gyateara</b></li>
<ul>
<li><i>Lost Loves and Paramours</i> - My 2016 NaNoWriMo story where I explored the backstory I gave my D&D character Jolene Crisslebalm. I actually won NaNo that year, so I have 50k+ words already written for it.</li>
<li><i>The Race for Destiny</i> - My first-ever attempt at NaNoWriMo, way back in 2012. It was an <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isekai" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">isekai</a> where my main character Natalie is teleported to an island country within Gyateara. There she meets Connor, the fabled Chosen One who wants nothing of his foretold fate. Together they must take down a Great Evil in order to prevent the full destruction of the island nation. (I was young, okay? <b style="border-bottom-color: #FDD017; border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: thin; border-bottom: thin dashed rgb(253, 208, 23); cursor: help; font-weight: normal;" title="implying I don't still watch a lot of anime...">I watched a LOT of anime...</b>)</li>
<li><i>The People of Gyateara</i> - An anthology of the various cultures that make up the world of Gyateara.</li>
<li><i>The Divine Legends</i> - the various myths and legends that the people of Gyateara tell.</li>
<li><b>Untitled story about Amara’s backstory</b> - My first-ever D&D character. She's a half-elf scout-class loner who hates both humans and elves for their treatment and "othering" of her because she's a half-breed. This story explains that mistreatment.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<li><b>Fanfiction Plot Bunnies (ideas I haven't started actually writing yet)</b></li>
<ul>
<li>The PV (where Felix is Chat Noir and Bridgette is Ladybug) co-exists with canon</li>
<li>Adrien is in need of a fake girlfriend, and decides to ask Marinette</li>
<li>Rewriting of canon where only one thing is changed: Gabriel Agreste is actually a loving and attentive father.</li>
<ul>
<li><b>Potential Title:</b> <i>When Love Matters</i></li>
</ul>
<li>Non-Magic Game-Streamer AU; Adrien and Marinette are IRL friends who hide that they are also off-camera video game streamers. Same Love Square shenanigans as Marinette is still in love with Adrien, who is in love with Marinette's streamer persona without knowing it's her (and she doesn't know her main gaming partner is Adrien's hidden streamer persona)</li>
<ul>
<li>I picture Marinette being the type of off-camera streamer who just uses an icon since she can design that for herself and she doesn't have the funds to commission someone to make her a vtuber model. Whereas Adrien has a catboy fursona he has a fully animated vtuber model for</li>
</ul>
<li>Three different continuations of <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29967372" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank"><i>Ladybug’s Simp Squad</i></a>.</li>
<ul>
<li>An Adrien and Plagg one that's a touch angsty as Plagg asks Adrien why he didn't mention his swan dive off the Montparnasse Tower while battling Alya for Simp Supremacy. (spoilers: it's because he realized that she can't be Rena Rouge anymore and figured she deserved a win)</li>
<li>Marinette makes Nino a “#1 Rena Rouge Simp” sweatshirt to match Alya's "#1 Ladybug Simp" sweatshirt. (Alya then asks Marinette if she could have a "#1 Carapace Simp" shirt as well.)</li>
<li>Cuddly Ladrien fluff now that Marinette sees how much Adrien cares for her superhero persona.</li>
</ul>
<li>Adrien tries out the theory that “if you want the truth, ask the same question 3x” on both LB and Marinette; to surprising results</li>
<ul>
<li><b>Potential Title:</b> <i>The Rule of Three</i></li>
</ul>
<li>Another retelling of the 12th chapter of <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30402459/chapters/74954490" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank"><i>Remember That Time When...</i> by mostlovedgirl</a>, this time focusing on Adrien dealing with Marinette abandoning him for an evening after she locked herself in the bathroom to hide.</li>
<li>AU ending to the NY Special that is also kind of a retelling of my story <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27550837" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank"><i>I Need Him Back</i></a>. Uncanny Valley couldn't return Adrien's ring to him, so Marinette now has to pick out a new Chat Noir. Tikki and Plagg plot together to get Marinette to give the ring to Adrien. (I guess this could also be an AU of the episode "Kuro Neko")</li>
<li>Alya (as either herself or her superhero persona) pins Adrien against the wall and accuses him of hurting Marinette (built off of that snippet I shared earlier)</li>
<li>Potential collab with <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.fanfiction.net/u/3485794/Taurus-Pixie" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Taurus Pixie</a> telling the love story of Fu and Marianne leading up to their departure during WWII.</li>
<li>Adrien discovers that Ladybug is Marinette, and tries to figure out who this boy is that she’s in love with. Along the way, either</li>
<ol>
<li>Marinette somehow discovers Adrien is Chat Noir and laments that she's been turning him down because she's in love with his other persona (and, likewise, the knowledge that the person he's been in love with this whole time is.... HER!)</li>
<li>Adrien is shocked to discover that HE is the boy she's been rejecting him for and has to deal with that</li>
<li>a combo of the two.</li>
</ol>
<li>A companion story for the New York special. A look at some key scenes from a different character's POV in order to better explain the character's emotion showcased in said scenes.</li>
<ul>
<li><b>Potential Title:</b> <i>See Through My Eyes</i></li>
<li>This is probably now an abandoned concept, seeing as how the special is a couple of years old now and a lot of salt over it has died down anyway.</li>
</ul>
<li>Plagg’s POV of “Puppeteer 2”</li>
<ul>
<li>Another one that's probably abandoned now; the moment has passed. I'm not opposed to working on it though, if my Muse returns.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
</ul>
</div>
<p>On top of that list, I have 3 officially abandoned WIPs; all anthology collections of writing prompts. One is a collection of flash-fiction (stories under 1000 words), one is a collection of writing prompts I received from the local writing group, and one is a collection of writing prompts from a book that provides a new prompt every day of the year (plus one more for leap years).</p>
<p>I may try to revive the 365-day writing prompt challenge at some point, but I'm definitely not ready for that yet. I may also try to revive the flash-fiction challenge, but I'm again not quite in the right mind-set for that. As for the writing prompts from the writing group: (1) we haven't given out writing prompts to each other beyond maybe the first year that I went to the writing group, and (2) I haven't been back to the local group since the 2020 lockdowns. The library in the next town over opened up again before the one in my town did, and I think everyone transferred over to that group. I honestly don't even know if the group in my local library exists anymore or if it's just the one at the other library. Either way, their meeting is on a night that doesn't work for me, so I just haven't rejoined a local group.</p>
<p>Another form of "writing" I've been doing? I'm still the Games Master (GM) for <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://evilhat.com/product/scum-and-villainy/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank"><i>Scum and Villainy!</i></a> We've actually had 20 sessions in total since we started in July 2021! Granted, that doesn't sound like a lot, given that it's been 78 weeks, and we TRY to play every other week. Simple math: we should be up to 39 sessions. Well.... there have been a lot more scheduling conflicts than I had anticipated. But still! Twenty sessions! I don't know if I've ever been part of a roleplay game for this long (IRL time), OR for this many sessions! This is HUGE for me! Add in the fact that <b>*I*</b> am the one running the thing? Mind. Blown! In the best way.</p>
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<p>The playgroup has been on hiatus throughout November and December due to more scheduling conflicts. Same goes for most of January. So the fact that we've stopped on the 20th session is kind of fitting. Our 21st session is currently scheduled for January 30th, and I think the whole group is hyped and itching to get back onto the Stardancer. In fact, there's more crew than when I last talked about the game. All of that will have to wait for another blog post though. I DEFINITELY don't have the space to go over 16 game sessions in this already epic post!</p>
<p>If you don't want to wait, however, there is the World Anvil "world" build I started up in 2021. Sadly, I've been a bit neglectful and haven't updated it nearly as much as I should. Even so, it should still give you a bit of a taste: <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.worldanvil.com/w/procyon-sector-spacelyco" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Procyon Sector</a>.</p>
<p>And now we're back to 2023. This upcoming Friday happens to be the 13th. Another Plagg Appreciation Day for me. Which means I am again on the hunt for inspiration for a Plagg-centric story. If anyone has any ideas, I am open to them. Maybe I'll even have a blog post to go along with promoting the story on Friday. Jury is still out on that. In which case, I'm once more reminding you that you can follow me @lycorogue over on <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://lycorogue.tumblr.com/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Tumblr</a> or <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://twitter.com/LycoRogue" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Twitter</a>, where I will promote my writing. That way, even if I don't have a blog post about it, you can still catch when I have new fanfic published. I also publish to Tumblr, <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/LycoRogue/profile" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Archive Of Our Own (AO3)</a>, <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.fanfiction.net/~lycorogue" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Fanfiction.net (FFN)</a>, and <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.deviantart.com/lycorogue" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">DeviantArt (DA)</a>. I made life easy for everyone and have the handle LycoRogue on all of those sites as well. If you follow me on AO3 or FFN (and maybe DA???) you'll get a notification whenever I post something new.</p>
<p>On that note, I feel like this is a good stopping point for now. Love you peeps so much! Thank you for taking this journey with me. Thank you for sticking with it all the way to the bottom of this epic post. I will see you next month (if not sooner).</p>
<p>Take care, friends!</p>
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</table>LycoRoguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01064253326464685398noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6675584297301734651.post-90822550025806944602021-10-17T18:15:00.001-04:002021-10-17T18:15:18.450-04:00The Mandatory Borniko Syndicate Job<p>Hello, beautiful peeps! I know, it's been a beat, and posting an update on a Sunday is a bit random. I had decided that I wanted to just be on vacation last week, hence the skipped post on the 5th. My priority was spending the time with Hubby instead of squirrelling away to write this update. Hope you guys didn't miss me too terribly.</p>
<p>As for this week? Well, Hubby's manager had her baby this past Wednesday, which means hubby's schedule this week - and straight through the manager's maternity leave - is a bit wonky to help cover her leave. I again took the opportunity to just spend Tuesday morning with Hubby before he did a long closing shift. This blog got neglected in the process, but, ya know... priorities. Then it was just a matter of not having any consistent free time since. I mean, I've been chipping away at this update all week, but I haven't had a solid couple of hours to just sit and write. Which is why there's been such a long delay.</p><p>There might be an ongoing shift of when I post these updates as I try to figure out my own new routine to coincide with Hubby's. I'll have to get back to you on what that new updating schedule might look like. Possibly late in the day Tuesdays, perhaps Sundays since that's my shortest work day, perhaps some other day that I'm not busy with much else. Who knows? Hubby has been getting back into <i>Magic: The Gathering</i>, so maybe Friday nights while he's playing at the local game shop? Maybe Saturday mornings after I've had an evening to work alone on the post?</p>
<p>Like I said, I'll keep you updated once I've figured it out.</p>
<p>Along those lines, since I wanted to spend as much time with Hubby as we possibly could while on our joint vacation (and again this past Tuesday morning), I also didn't sequester myself to try to get any further work done on my writing projects. So no writing updates this go. Not that you guys are surprised about that by now, I'm sure.</p>
<p>We do have more <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.evilhat.com/home/scum-and-villainy/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Scum and Villainy</a></i> to talk about, though. For instance, I finally remembered to ask Quarthix to spell out Demarcus' last name for me, and I also remembered to ask everyone for character ages. Which means I now have an almost-completed official roster for the Stardancer:</p>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><b>Captain:</b> Demarcus Recocu</li>
<ul>
<li><i>Alias:</i> "Captain"</li>
<li><i>Playbook:</i> Muscle</li>
<li><i>Species:</i> Human</li>
<li><i>Age:</i> 25</li><li><i>Background:</i> Former on-call doctor for the Borniko Syndicate</li>
<li>Pilot of the Slambulance</li>
<li><i>Racing Name:</i> "Doc"</li>
</ul>
<li><b>First Mate/Helmsman:</b> Quinton Shrike</li>
<ul>
<li><i>Alias:</i> "Lord"</li>
<li><i>Playbook:</i> Speaker</li>
<li><i>Species:</i> Human</li>
<li><i>Age:</i> 22</li><li><i>Background:</i> Member of minor noble house; family owns the Raven's Nest nightclub</li>
<li>Pilot of the Dark Soliloquy</li>
<li><i>Racing Name:</i> "Poet"</li>
</ul>
<li><b>Crewmate (? - The players haven't figured out an official role for her yet...):</b> tI'kæl </li>
<ul>
<li><i>Alias:</i> "Space Princess" (? - she hasn't confirmed this is her criminal alias yet)</li>
<li><i>Playbook:</i> Mystic</li>
<li><i>Species:</i> Memish</li>
<li><i>Age:</i> Age of maturity for Memish; equivalent to human age of 20<br />
(probably physically 200-some years old, since Memish can live to be about 1000 much like humans can live to be about 100?)</li>
<li><i>Background:</i> Princess and high priestess of Mem; pretending to be on a pilgrimage</li><li>Pilot of Da Wey</li>
<li><i>Racing Name:</i> "Sanic"</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<p>During our last session, we also discovered Demarcus' life's goal. So I can fill this list out for you as well:</p>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><b>Quinton's Life Goal:</b> Become a famous RIP racer (at least, have "Poet" become the GOAT of the sport).</li>
<li><b>TI'kæl's Life Goal:</b> To observe and experience as much of the galaxy as she can manage, all while spreading the glory of The Way.</li>
<li><b>Demarcus' Life Goal:</b> To become an infamous criminal, but also untouchable by authorities.</li>
</ul>
<p>The characters are all coming together as the players are slowly getting to know more about them; get more of a feel for them. Still don't really know what Quinton or Demarcus look like, other than "They fancy." So we still have that hurdle, but the age thing does help a touch with picturing them.</p><p>For anyone who is into the anime/manga <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Piece" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">One Piece</a></i>, we've joked that Demarcus is "Zorro, dressed as Sanji, and trying to become Doflamingo." For those who don't know the series, Quarthix also described Demarcus simply as, “I look like a thug that dresses really nice.” So... there's that.</p>
<p>Now, we may only be up to the 3rd gaming session here in my recaps, but, due to scheduling conflicts and players fighting migraines and the like, we haven't had a session since Aug 30 anyway. Which means session 4 has yet to actually happen (we're hoping to finally play again tomorrow...). That also means we're not too far behind here in my blog recaps compared to where the group is in the actual game. So, without further ado, let's get into Session 3 of SaV:</p>
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Credit to the <i>Scum and Villainy</i> art team:
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<p>When last we saw the crew, poor minor noble Mevakor Nagan was arrested for drug possession, possible drug trafficking/dealing, and suspicion of Vos crystal smuggling. All things the Stardancer crew actually does/did, but they were happy to let poor Mev take the fall. (Is it weird that Mev was only used in 2 sessions, but since they were over the course of 2 months, it feels like we've been with him forever? And so it's weird to not have him with the crew for Session 3?)</p>
<p>Thankfully, the 51st Legion didn't catch the crew smuggling the wanted former-Hegemony-weapons-specialist Ishi. Mainly because Ishi was disguised to be Demarcus' "nephew" Timmy, and "Timmy" was isolated in an interrogation room, waiting for his "uncle's" interrogation to conclude. The crew then tidied the Stardancer back up (after the 51st Legion's ransacking of the ship) as they headed off to the Jumpgate to travel from the Holt star system to the Rin star system. Their main tasks in Rin: (1) find a way to broadcast an announcement the Echo Wave Riders (EWR) gave to the Borniko Syndicate, and (2) get Ishi safely to the Maelstrom Pirates and their hideout The Cove.</p>
<p>The EWR, and therefore the Bornikos, gave the Stardancer crew only two weeks to figure out how to hack either the Hegemony News Network or the galaxy-wide communications device the <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ansible" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">ansible</a> in order to broadcast their announcement. If the crew didn't hit their deadline, the EWR and Borniko would go from allies to enemies, and the Borniko Syndicate would be out for blood against the crew for screwing up the relationship between the factions in the first place.</p>
<p>To recap further: The Echo Wave Riders were good allies with the Borniko Syndicate. They also build a large portion of their faction's identity off of the desire and ability to be the first to try the newest travel technology. The Echo Wave Riders had been hearing about a new land transport coming out, and were lined up to be the first to try them. However, through his channels at the Starsmiths Guild, Quinton negotiated for the Stardancer crew to get the land transports under the guise of testing them out for the Guild. Therefore, Quinton ended up sniping these transports from the EWR. We still haven't figured out if this was intentional sniping. Either way, this royally pissed off the EWR (for in-game mechanics, this gaves the crew a -2 rep with the Echo Wave Riders). Unfortunately, none of the Stardancer crew knew that the EWR were allies of the Borniko, who are their main criminal ally.</p>
<p>Figuring out that the crew that sniped the transports from them were affiliated with the Syndicate, the EWR started breathing down their ally's necks and threatening to end the partnership. In an attempt to placate the EWR, the Borniko offered to broadcast their race announcement that they were struggling to promote. That's when the EWR gave the Syndicate a hard deadline to get it broadcast. Then the Borniko turned around and ordered the Stardancer crew to get the announcement out by that deadline in order to smooth over the issues they caused, "Or else." The crew is just lucky that the EWR never figured out that the RIP racing team that has been harassing their drivers were also the Stardancer crew.</p>
<p>So anyway, the crew has this hard deadline for this job, and they were less than a fortnight away from hitting it. Alternatively, Ishi seemed contented to be on the Stardancer (as long as his escorts/smugglers stopped doing stupid things that might get him found out), so it was easy to decide to work on the broadcast job first. To make things easier, both the HNN and ansible HQs are housed on Quinton's "homeworld" of Warren.</p>
<p>Their first problem, however, came when they simply tried to travel from one star system to the next. The Holt-Rin Jumpgate is notoriously unstable. Well, it's MOSTLY stable, but it also is known to glitch. After talking to Hubby on how to handle this issue that's canon to the game lore, we came up with a chart for me to roll on to see if traveling through the Gate is successful. Sad to say for the Stardancer crew, but the gate wasn't stable that day.</p>
<p>The canon lore of the game comments about "naturally occurring" hyperspace lanes that shorten in-system travel between planets. These lanes are created by paths of Way energy flowing in the blackness of space. I think of these hyperspace lanes kind of like how ocean currents were shown in the movie <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0266543/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Finding Nemo</a></i>.</p>
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<p>Much like how <i>Finding Nemo</i> shows the main ocean currents, I figured hyperspace lanes are set up like highways that you can merge onto at any point, travel quickly on, and then exit out of. Also, like a water current in the ocean, the in-system hyperspace lanes are sections of space where The Way quickly travels. Therefore, similar to animals using currents to move faster between points in the ocean(s), ships (and anything else traveling through the vacuum of space) can use these Way paths (the hyperspace lanes) to move faster between points of space. This is how interplanetary travel only takes about a day (or two, or three, depending on where each planet is in their orbit).</p>
<p>The Jumpgates, on the other hand, I viewed as a bit more complicated since they create artifical paths. While traveling through a hyperspace lane may be similar to a boat finding a current, or a car hitting the nitrous-oxide boost, going through an inter-star-system Jumpgate is more like being catapulted into near-lightspeed travel. Basically, this means you HAVE to use the Jumpgates to get into these artifical hyperspace lanes. First of all, the amount of Way force in these "lanes" between gates makes an almost tube-like "tunnel" for the ships to travel through. So it's near-impossible to even muscle into these lanes. Secondly, with ships traveling through the gates at near-lightspeed, and no way to clearly see the ships from outside the lane, even if a ship could muscle their way onto the Jumpgate path, there's no telling how much space they truly have. There's a high probability that they may inadvertently re-enact the <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Holdo_maneuver" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Holdo Maneuver from <i>Star Wars: The Last Jedi</i></a> (yes, I know it's a controversial bit of the movie, but just go with me here).</p>
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<p>Anyway, I said something about the Holt-Rin Jumpgate not being stable and glitching? Well, we also figured the Jumpgates would work similar to how <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://cowboybebop.fandom.com/wiki/Astral_Gate" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Astral Gates</a> work in <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://cowboybebop.fandom.com/wiki/Astral_Gate" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Cowboy Bebop</a></i>.</p>
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<p>Namely, that the Gates can be opened and closed. As of right now, I don't have the Jumpgates charging tolls, but I have been thinking about adding that to the on-going story. The Hegemony could start charging tolls, at least on the three Gates in the Rin system: the Rin-Holt Gate, the Rin-Iota Gate, and the Rin-Ecliptis Gate (which leads to the Core, where the Hegemon lives). Eventually, this could also bleed to the Iota-Brekk Gate and the currently unopened Holt-Hantu Gate. So, that's a simple (and possibly temporary) difference between the SaV Jumpgates and the <i>Cowboy Bebop</i> Astral Gates: no tolls. The other difference is that turning off the Gate doesn't permalock a ship into hyperdrive like it does in <i>Cowboy Bebop</i> (basically trapping the ship and its passengers in a separate hyperspeed dimension). Instead, the way I imagined the Jumpgates working in <i>Scum and Villainy</i> is a bit more complicated (less complicated???).</p>
<p>I saw turning on a Gate as a way of completing an electrical circuit, literally turning the pathway on. Once the gates are turned on, there's this "current" that flows between them, and that "creates" this Jumpgate tunnel, similar to how hyperspace lanes look between Astral Gates in <i>Cowboy Bebop</i>. While The Way makes these natural paths between planets <i>within</i> a star system, these Gates artificially manipulate The Way to create paths <i>between</i> star systems. That being said, though, I do imagine that there ARE natural Way hyperspace lanes even between star systems, they're just few and far between.</p>
<p>Point being, if a Gate is turned off while ships are passing through them, the Gate's manipulation of The Way vanishes, and the ships instantly drop out of near-lightspeed. They're also kind of "tossed" or "dropped" out of the tunnel created between the Gates, which is lucky, because it also clears the way for the next ship once the Gates are turned back on. I kind of pictured it as if an astronaut is drifting from one door to another, but before they can reach the other door, the artificial gravity is turned on, and the astronaut instead drops to the floor.</p>
<p>I also pictured one Gate in each star system for both directions of traffic. So, to avoid those Holdo Maneuver collisions, the Gates function like a one-lane bridge. Each Gate will either glow green for clear passage, or red for "occupied", or won't glow at all if they're turned off. Ships generally approach Gates from the side, to make sure there's clear passage for any ship that might be exiting. Hegemonic workers then direct traffic, waving ships in and radioing between the Gates via ansible. They tend to alternate between their Gate being the entrance and then the exit.</p>
<p>For instance, the Holt-Rin/Rin-Holt Gate could be used to send a ship from the Holt star system to Rin, and then a ship from the Rin star system to Holt, and then back to a ship from Holt to Rin, etc. If there are no ships waiting, the worker could radio to the other star system, so that the other worker knows they can keep flagging ships into the gate without first waiting for a ship to exit it. If a worker is given the go-ahead to not wait for an exiting ship before sending the next one in through their gate, they tend to push ships through every ten minutes or so (enough time for the previous ship to exit and get out of the way of the one following them. Also enough time for the other worker to radio that they finally have someone waiting).</p>
<p>Given how long a one-way Jump can be, and that a ship has to wait for both the ship in front of them to make the trip, and a ship from the other side to also make the trip, most crews hope to stumble upon one of these "One-Way Chutes".</p>
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Generated by <b>Bitmoji</b>
<br />Cropped by <b>LycoRogue</b>
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<p>Whew! That was a LOT, just so I could explain one little blip in the adventures of the Stardancer Crew. Oh well. Welcome to me and world building.</p>
<p>So, as I'm sure you've all guessed by now, the Stardancer's trip through the Holt Gate towards the Rin star system didn't go according to plan. They were expecting the trip to last about 30min (Which, given they're going at NEAR lightspeed, is absurdly too short. I mean, it takes sunlight about 45 minutes to reach Jupiter. But just go with it...). Instead, the Holt-Rin Jump lasted only 15min. Then the Stardancer was abruptly thrown out of near-lightspeed. Everything on their newly tidied up ship lurched forward with momentum, and was also thrown against the ceiling as the ship literally dropped out of the Jumpgate tunnel.</p>
<p>I had previously decided that the trip from Holt to Rin, using normal hyperspeed and hopping between the naturally occurring hyperspace lanes, typically takes 14 to 20 days to travel (again, ridiculously too short, but ignore that). Based on how far into the Jump they got before getting rudely thrown out of it, they were still about 7 or 8 days from the Rin star system. Longer, if they couldn't find the hyperspace lanes. The Maelstrom Pirates, along with independent pirate ships, also patrolled the space between Rin and Holt, specifically looking for ships kicked out of the Jumps. This wasn't a situation the Stardancer crew wanted to be in, especially with the tight deadline they had. (Although, depending on how they rolled to get out of it, I did have a contingency that it would be a Maelstrom Pirate ship that would find them, and they could at least get the Ishi hand-off out of the way.)</p>
<p>The crew debated drifting back to where the Jumpgate tunnel should be, and ride the current once the Gate is fixed. However, there were a few complications there: (1) if they weren't accurate as to where the lane was, and the forcefield-like "walls" of the tunnel ended up cutting through part of their ship, the Stardancer would easily be torn apart. (2) Since they'd be jumping into the lane mid-way, the Gates may not recognize that the tunnel is occupied, and another ship could be flagged to go through. If that ship was sent from the Rin side, we're back to that Holdo Maneuver scenario. (3) If they weren't fast enough at getting back into the lane, they could collide with that "wall" around the tunnel, or again fall into that first scenario of the "wall" cutting through their ship.</p>
<p>They quickly caved and decided to just travel with normal hyperspace, and hope they can make the journey safely. Good thing for them that Hubby was playing with loaded dice or something, because nearly every time he rolled he got a 6: critical success. Narratively, Quinton, being from the Rin system, knew where most of the naturally occurring hyperspace lanes were, and hit each of them near-perfectly.</p>
<p>The Stardancer hit the outer orbit of the Rin system with six days to spare before reaching their deadline to broadcast the Echo Wave Riders' message.</p>
<p>During the trip to Rin, since he wasn't the one driving, Demarcus tried to use the time to bond with Ishi a bit more. Now that he knew the impish Deilku was the main weapons designer, maker, and seller for the Hegemony, Demarcus wanted Ishi to join the crew. While the bonding worked so far as Ishi tolerates Demarcus the most out of the crew, and he minded less that he has had a much longer stay with his smugglers than anticipated, there was still no way Ishi was going to join the crew. He did offer the crew a discount on his weapons, however. So there's that.</p>
<p>Now in the Rin system, the crew spent another 2 days travelling across the system to Warren. So, the reason I had 'homeplanet' in quotes before is because Warren is actually a moon. The planet it orbits, Aleph, isn't inhabitable, but it does have a lot of valuable minerals that the Hegemony mines to the point of nearly hollowing out the planet. Because of this profitable mining venture, the moon of Warren became a major hub within the Rin system. As the rulebook describes it:</p>
<blockquote>
<div style="background-color: #f6f6f6; border: 1px dotted navy; padding: 10px;">
<span font-size="x-small" style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Warren is one of the moons of Aleph and the home to an <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecumenopolis" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">ecumenopolis</a>—a city spanning the entire surface of the moon. It’s the capitol for the system, and the system Governor Ritam al’Malklaith makes his residence here. On Warren, you can find anything you need—for a price. Its high-rises are full of legitimate business dealings, and its streets far less so.
<br />
<br />Warren is a wretched hive of villainy, yet also the Hegemonic seat of power in the system.</i>
<br />
<br />(Pg 301 in SaV Rulebook)
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<p>I see it kind of like Night City in <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberpunk_2077" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Cyberpunk 2077</a></i>.</p>
<p>Anyway, with only four days left to try to figure out how to broadcast the EWR announcement, the crew decided their best plan of attack would be with Vorex: "The most successful information broker to ever live. She can access any terminal in the sector—though no one can explain how." <i>(rulebook pg 336)</i> It was fairly well known around Warren that Vorex managed to hijack one of the HNN satellites orbiting the ecumenopolis. Relying on his charisma, Quinton suggested going to the hijacked satellite and try to get Vorex to broadcast the announcement for them. If that didn't work, Quinton could try hacking into the satellite himself to broadcast the announcement. If THAT didn't work, the crew could just threaten to blow up the satellite, and hope Vorex valued her stolen property enough to cave instead of allowing the satellite to be destroyed. Both tI'kæl and Demarcus were shocked with this sudden bit of aggression from Quinton, but Demarcus was 100% behind it.</p>
<p>Cloaking the ship, Quinton maneuvered the Stardancer far enough away from the 51st Legion ship patrolling around the commandeered HNN satellite to remain unseen. Undetected (at least, at the time), the Stardancer docked by the satellite, which also served as a mini space station. There was an access hatch along the side, and the interior of the satellite was JUUUUUUUUUST barely large enough for all three crewmates to fit inside without elbowing each other too much.</p>
<p>Unsure how to actually get Vorex's attention, Quinton hacked into the individual satellite's system. He wasn't able to access the full Hegemony News Network, but he could at least play around with that specific satellite a little bit. Quinton started messing around some more to try to get to the HNN feed, but was interrupted by Vorex's assistant AI. I described the AI as a computer screen that descended via thick cable from the ceiling. It had the basic "neon-green simple pixel face on a black screen" used in a lot of sci-fi AIs. Failing to create Vorex's assistant AI before the session, I relied on the rulebook entry (pg 336):</p>
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<i><b>TURF:</b> An automated HNN satellite orbiting Warren (HQ).
<br /><b>NPCS:</b> </i>Vorex<i> (wizard-class hacker, stressed, careful, self-modified). </i>A-0M<i> (maintenance Urbot, cheerful, non-verbal). </i>Tock<i> (security Urbot, protective, staticky, well armed).</i>
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<p>Okay, so maybe I took some liberties there. If this satellite was supposed to be Vorex's HQ, shouldn't it be a large enough space station/satellite for her to live there? But, then it should be fairly easy for the Legion to either kill her by blowing up the satellite, or bust in to arrest her and take back control. Didn't seem to make sense that she'd actually STAY at the satellite. Hense just the small access area, no Vorex the hacker, and no Tock the security Urbot. This left me with the cheerful maintenance Urbot A-0M. I decided this was clearly the AI the crew just encountered. Did not notice the "non-verbal" part, though, so I gave A-0M a chipper little voice as he greeted the three invaders of the satellite. (I also misread the zero in the NPC's name as a capital O. So his name is now pronounced "Ay-Ohm". LOOOOTS of liberties taken with the Vorex entry....)</p>
<p>The confused A-0M greeted Quinton - since he was the one accessing the terminal - and complemented "Vorex" on her great disguise (the AI couldn't fathom anyone but his boss managing to use the satellite). Quinton ran with the misconception and asked A-0M to broadcast the Echo Wave Riders' message. A-0M agreed, once "Vorex" gave the security verification code. Quinton started guessing what the code is. He wasn't even close, but that did send a security alert to Vorex.</p>
<p>A-0M's green-pixeled face disappeared, and instead a grainy and purposefully poorly-lit video call from Vorex herself filled the screen. She, much like Quinton, had a voice modulator active as she demanded to know who the three people in her satellite were, and what they wanted. Quinton quickly explained the situation and assured Vorex that they didn't want to be there any more than she wanted them there. She threatened to boot them out of the system, but Quinton managed to smooth-talk her to the point where she was willing to at least see the video they were supposed to broadcast.</p>
<p>A heavy sigh and a deep groan later, Vorex commented about how frivolous the announcement was, and how it wasn't worth her utilizing her satellite to hack into the HNN broadcast. Quinton and Demarcus both agreed, but also argued back that she was spending more time arguing with them than it would take to just air the video. That wasn't really the point, but when Quinton jumped to threatening Vorex and her satellite, she relented (Hubby had again rolled a 6, otherwise I would have had her majorly push back).</p>
<p>She confirmed with A-0M that he had been recording the three intruders the whole time. She then heaved another sigh before airing the asinine video from the Echo Wave Riders. The crew now contented, they agreed to leave. Vorex yelled after them that she better not catch them messing with any of her work ever again.</p>
<p>Back on the ship, the crew turned on the broadcast to see what the EWR even wanted to announce (Vorex saw it before any of them even bothered to watch it). It was a cheesy video - filled with fireworks, air horns, and a gang of the EWR with their favorite land transports - announcing a system-wide race through Brekk as a way to determine who truly is the greatest pilot within the Procyon Sector. The EWR warned that the buy-in for the race won't be cheap, and only those the EWR deemed "worthy" would even get an invitation to the race. However, the payout and the clout of winning the race will be well worth it. The video then concluded by letting pilots know they had a month to prove their worth. If they managed it, the Echo Wave Riders would extend an invite to the Brekk system race. The video closed out with the crowd of EWR in the video barking out their faction's mantra like they were soldiers responding to their drill sergeant: "speed and skill are the only truths."</p>
<p>Accurately pegging the Echo Wave Riders as "a gang of douches", and confirming that Vorex held up her end of broadcasting the video for them, the crew dislodged the Stardancer from the satellite and descended to Warren. (Quinton was in a particularly bad mood that day, and so he still wanted to blow up the satellite, but the other two managed to talk him down from it.)</p>
<p>The Stardancer was still cloaked, but the patrolling 51st Legion ship did zip back to the satellite upon seeing the broken-into broadcast, and they caught the Stardancer leaving the satellite. Thankfully, the Legionnaires got there too late to get a good enough look at the ship. Also, the Stardancer doesn't have any exterior add-ons that the Legion could use to really distinguish them anyway. The best description the 51st Legion has is "Scarab-class Freighter with factory-paint job (basically a base coat)."</p>
<p>Docked on Warren, the crew scrambled to find out how much the 51st Legion knew. Seeing the pathetic BOLO for them, they decided now was the best time to get a paint job. Won't throw the Legion off completely since they'll still be on the lookout for a Scarab, and they'll know that the one they saw could have gotten a paint job. However, now the Legion would have to file the Stardancer with all of the other Scarabs in the sector since they couldn't be singled out as having "factory paint" still on their Scarab-class freighter. Also, now the crew had more plausible deniability.</p>
<p>Aaaaaaand since the players haven't been able to see my mock-up of the Stardancer with its new paint job, and I want them to be the first ones to see it, I'm going to stop here. This blog is already late, and it's already long, thanks to me trying to describe how the hyperspace lanes and Jumpgate paths work.</p>
<p>I'll save the casual roleplaying the group did, as well as their RIP race for next recap.</p>
<p>I will state though, that I did warn the players out-of-character that Vorex has already created in-depth dossiers on both tI'kæl and Demarcus. Due to Quinton being careful with his disguises and voice mods, and always making sure that everyone uses the codenames, Vorex is still working on his dossier. She is fairly certain that the Stardancer crew is the RIP Racing team Chaos Theory, and therefore "Lord" and "Poet" could possibly be the same person, but she doesn't have enough proof to be certain. Quinton's basically Vorex's Yard Board for right now.</p>
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image from <b>Paddington 2 (2017)</b></td>
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<p>Excuse the pun, but this is going to be a fun thread to pull on for future storylines.</p>
<p>Until next time...</p>
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<img border="0" data-original-height="566" data-original-width="596" height="380" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaBedHhGTU94zaAPuwrkG538C7xyVZm8JMBGnAPISJKMTBkv4W7i7RmnL321Kx4JG5yyJKmNOoW8IOJQSYcl2gThCrXnl4WYtWRUxpHyMl7Ka971zMzI0Bib81DA5L2wm1yDu1aNW-iyA/w400-h380/SaV+-+Same+Time+Same+Place.png" width="400" />
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Scum and Villainy</i> rule book cover designed by art team:<br />
<b>Brett Barkley, Tomasso Renieri, Juan Ocha, </b>
<br /><b>Michaela DeSacco, and Tazio Bettin</b>
<br />(Cheesy Batman-series-joke edits by LycoRogue)
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</table>LycoRoguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01064253326464685398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6675584297301734651.post-52489226158176302032021-09-28T14:09:00.003-04:002021-09-29T16:14:12.713-04:00A Paint Job and an Interrogation<p>Looks like I'm unofficially falling into that "every other week" pattern after all, huh? This time it was a semi-strategic decision, but also an accident yet again.</p>
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Generated by <b>Bitmoji</b></td>
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<p>Last Tuesday was the only day that Hubby and I had the same day off. We had the whole day to just be with each other. So I decided I wasn't going to spend the first four hours of it alone working on my blog post. You guys have gone Tuesdays without an update before. It would be fine. I had Thursday off as well. I could work on my post then and just be a couple of days late.</p>
<p>Except I also bumped back my errands to Thursday so Hubby and I could just have a chill-at-home sort of "date day", as it were. And said errands added to stuff I normally do on Thursday. And the next thing I know, it's Friday, and no blog post.</p>
<p>Whoops.</p>
<p>I also spent that week working on the wrong thing, I think. We were supposed to have our latest session on the 20th... but Hubby ended up getting the closing shift... AGAIN. <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.twitch.tv/rozsavaria" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Rozsavaria</a> had a closing shift this past Saturday, so we couldn't catch up on all of these missed sessions then, and Hubby closed out September with one last Monday closing shift. So we ended up going all of September without a <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.evilhat.com/home/scum-and-villainy/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Scum and Villainy</a></i> game session. Whoops again.</p>
<p>I didn't realize this, though, so I spent the week between the 15th and 20th focused on entirely the wrong thing, looking back in retrospect. See, during our third session, the crew FINALLY painted the Stardancer to customize it a bit. I thought it would be cool for them if I actually did doctor the official artwork of the Stardancer provided by the game so it would reflect the customizations the crew makes to it. All of the add-ons that the group has added to the ship are internal, so, thankfully, I don't have to worry about designing guns or something to mount onto the outside, but they DID come up with a color scheme, and I COULD do something with that!</p>
<p>I figured it'd be a fairly easy edit. Well, semi-easy. The crew wanted a sort of chrome look to the Stardancer, and there is NO WAY I'm skilled enough to draw the shine of a chrome finish using just the matte colors provided in GIMP. Instead, I found some images of paint samples for what the crew wanted. I figured I could cut the shape of the Stardancer out of the image of the paint, then delete the panels of the ship that would be painted that color. The chrome image would show through the edited pieces. Voila! Chrome colored Stardancer!</p>
<p>Problem is, it wasn't nearly that easy. The image was too grainy, so, despite looking like certain sections were just one color, and easy enough to select and delete, I would have had to sit there with the eraser tool to meticulously delete what was supposed to be "colored in."</p>
<p>Maybe if I could just cut the lines off of the image and paste them onto the chrome cut-out? Nope. Lines were just as grainy to do that with and have it look halfway decent. Maybe if I use a vector tool to redraw over the lines on a different layer, then hide the original image? The lines would be there and, as vectors, not be grainy at all! I could then switch out the Stardancer's base color all I wanted!</p>
<p>Nope again. The details of the image the game provides are just too much for me to handle, let alone handle in a fairly decent timeframe. Maybe I just need an image someone ELSE did to recreate the Stardancer using vectors! Then it will be easy to separate the lines from the rest of the drawing!</p>
<p>I spent far too many hours trying to scour the internet for a clearer image of the Stardancer so that I COULD use for an easy edit. Never did find one. The image I've used in this blog is the highest resolution image I could get. Even if I took the official digital pages from the SaV game and try to grab the image of the Stardancer off of that... no dice.</p>
<p>Okay, so what if I tried to refine this original image first? I used the Decrease Noise and Sharpen and all the other such tools for HOURS trying to get the image to the point that it was usable. Still nope. I was getting to my wits end.</p>
<p>FINALLY, I don't know how the light bulb came on, but it did! I switched the image to negative so all of the black detail lines were white, and dropped the opacity down. It worked!!!! You couldn't see the now-black panels of the ship, and instead saw the chrome base layer! AAAAND the white outlines were still visible, so all the detailing of the ship was still there! Whoot!</p>
<p>The group had also picked out an accent trim for the Stardancer's first paint job. That should be a lot easier to figure out. I've done edits like that before. I took a copy of the original image, colorized it to be the color of the trim, placed that image over my chrome image of the Stardancer, and then all I had to do was erase everything that wasn't the accent trim.</p>
<p>This process was a lot smoother, and looked amazing as I moved along. I just didn't realize how much detailing I would be doing. The actual process of erasing everything but the accent bits was far more tedious than expected and kept me DAYS to finish.</p>
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Tanuki </b>Facebook sticker
<br />by <b>Yanare Ku</b></td>
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<p>I hadn't finished listening to and recapping the second gaming session to relay over to you fine folks. I was running out of time to do that. I was spending far too much time working on this project of editing the Stardancer image. I needed to switch gears.</p>
<p>But I wanted to surprise my players with this new image. Get them excited about their decision to customize their ship. I HAD to have this image done by the 20th so I had it for our session!</p>
<p>And then Hubby got called into work, and we had to cancel the game.</p>
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<p>I didn't realize we wouldn't have our session until late Sunday. I attempted to rush through my review of the 2nd session so I was ready for Tuesday, but it was too much to handle with such limited time. Plus, Roz was wondering if she could still come over - since she took off from work for the session - and just hang. We're now going to hang out on non-session Monday nights and play video games together. We started with Diablo III.</p>
<p>Point is, I had virtually nothing prepped for Tuesday's blog update, and I had the opportunity to just be with Hubby all day. Which meant: no blog post last Tuesday. I thought I'd be able to make up the pre-post prepping by Thursday, but that was very much another nope.</p>
<p>All because I wanted to get this image done by the 20th, and we won't actually need it until the 4th.</p>
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Generated by <b>Bitmoji</b></td>
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<p>It's done though, and the way I did it makes it easier for me to doctor again in the future, in case the crew wishes to re-paint the Stardancer. I have a layer that's just the base color. I have a layer that's just the colored trim. I have a layer that is the inverted Stardancer image at low opacity to use as the lines layer. As I said, it SHOULD be fairly easy to doctor the image further from now on.</p>
<p>I was so excited to show you guys the end result, but I think it's only fair that the players be the first ones to see it. But I have it on standby for when I get to that part of the third session recap.</p>
<p>Speaking of, I delayed this post so I had more time to recap the rest of the 2nd session. So, without further ado:</p>
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Credit to the <i>Scum and Villainy</i> art team:
<br /><b>Brett Barkley, Tomasso Renieri, Juan Ocha, Michaela DeSacco, and Tazio Bettin</b></td>
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<p>When last we left the Stardancer crew, they had rescued Ishi from the dark side of the planet Sonhandra, dressed him up as Demarcus' "5 year old nephew Timmy", were ordered by the Borniko Syndicate to air a message the Echo Wave Riders would like broadcasted, picked up Mevakor and his bodyguards, and headed off for a moon gazing party on Mem.</p>
<p>Upon arriving at Mem – and quickly joined by ten ships carrying elitists that Mevakor had invited – the group saw that the moon Yuura was crescent; just a few days away from a new moon. Mevakor was disappointed. He was expecting a glorious full moon. TI'kæl quickly bullshitted that the CRESCENT moons were the best. The moon's “peak” was when the light hit the algae juuuuust right that everything glowed beautifully (the algae always glowed). Instantly, Mev got excited, and gleefully called over the elitists – made up of other nobles and high-end merchants/businessmen – to show off the moon and glowing algae as if he was the expert on the matter. Counting the ten elites, their “arm candy”, and their bodyguards, there's roughly 25 people unexpectedly there along with everyone who came via the Stardancer. There was also a whole “Emperor's New Clothes” sort of scam unintentionally going on with Mevakor at the helm. He's mentioning how fantastic the view of the moon and the shimmer of the algae is, because he didn't want to seem swindled. Meanwhile, no one wanted to seem off-trend, so they all agreed with him. Off to the side, however, the bodyguards were all muttering between themselves that they don't get it, and the whole trip was a waste of time.</p>
<p>As this display was going on, Quinton got Demarcus to help him bottle up some of Mem's surface water and algae, and try to sell it to the elites for a Cred each (about $10,000). They managed to sell 4 vials. Quinton pocketed 3 Cred, and pitched Demarcus a Cred for helping. This was the point – where parts of her home world were being sold off – that tI'kæl decided to peace out, and went for a swim. She purposefully had the crew dock far enough away from her home city that no one would know that she had returned to Mem. As far as her people knew, she's still on her pilgrimage to learn more about The Way.</p>
<p>As everyone was partying, Demarcus found some Memish seaweed. It's edible, but it's just simple vegetation. He still pawned it off as a narcotic and traded it to a noble for some of his actual drugs: a tiny frog-like creature that secreted a hallucinogenic when sucked on. The noble had already partaken in one of the frogs he had, so he just assumed the seaweed from Demarcus added to his high. Demarcus promptly indulged in his vice.</p>
<p>The next morning, Demarcus awoke to the familiar chorus of groans produced by a bunch of inexperienced people waking up hung-over. The crew then found Mevakor in a hung-over stupor along the beach. They tried to collect him to bring him back to Vos and move on to their next job, but he resisted. He had already told all of the other elitists that they were having a 3-day party on Mem to see the moon at its peak and then non-peak. That way they could fully appreciate the beauty of the moon at its peak since they now knew the comparative "non-peak". TI'kæl again jumped in to tell Mev that of COURSE the moon phases are so subtle that it would be hard to notice any difference from night to night (complete BS). What he needs to do is come back a week later to truly notice and appreciate the changes.</p>
<p>Again acting like it was his plan all along, Mevakor roused the rest of the guests and told them that the viewing party would continue in a week. He then told them to think of it as an extended “spa day” before their festivities officially continued. To finish with his hosting duties, Mev gathered everyone's contact information and set up alerts for all of them so he could coordinate the party's continuation.</p>
<p>Contented that he'd be remembered as the best party thrower and the first to start the trend of Yuura Appreciation Parties, Mev joined the crew back on the Stardancer. Going through the contact info he had just gathered, Mev realized he didn't get any contact information for the Stardancer crew. TI'kael gave him a fake number. Satisfied and nursing a bad headache, Mev went to his quarters to lie down, and spent the rest of the trip back to Vos in his cabin.</p>
<p>As Quinton flew the Stardancer to Vos (and tI'kæl spent the time reading a book), Demarcus tried yet again to get on Ishi's good side (especially now that he knew Ishi was a weapons specialist). He found Ishi in the ship's training room trying to build his latest creation. Although he had spent the past year or so basically blind on the night side of Sonhandra, Ishi mostly built large, clunky weapons and devices to get by. He had grown so accustomed to his glasses and using sight for more finely dexterous builds, and couldn't manage with touch alone anymore. Now he was even more out of practice, and he still didn't have replacement glasses, so he was effectively blind with the ability to see colors. Grumbling about his inability to properly build his latest weapon, Ishi reluctantly allowed Demarcus to be his eyes (and sometimes hands) and assist in building the gun. The two did manage to bond slightly. Ishi seems to hate Demarcus the least out of the whole crew.</p>
<p>As the Stardancer neared Vos, they noticed a much heavier concentration of 51st Legion ships patrolling the planet and docking space station. In order to near the planet without too much harassment, they turned on their cloaking. However, to officially dock, they needed to turn the cloaking back off and call down for a docking bay.</p>
<p>The second they are properly docked, the Stardancer was locked to the port by the Legionnaires, and all personnel are ordered off the ship unarmed. After a quick discussion, the Stardancer crew agreed to comply, and take “Timmy” with them, hoping his disguise would hold up. As the crew, “Timmy”, Mevakor, and Mev's two bodyguards exited the Stardancer, they were surrounded by Legionnaires, and escorted away from the dock. As other ships came in to dock, they were treated similarly: locked in place, and all personnel escorted away from the port via platoon of Legionnaires.</p>
<p>Once inside the station-proper, the group was separated into seven individual, cramped, interrogation rooms. Mevakor was, of course, whining and protesting the whole time: this isn't how you treat nobles, he cannot be separated from his “emotional support” bodyguards like this, he demands food and something to drink, his bodyguards better be returned to him unharmed, this is abuse of power and uncalled for, etc.</p>
<p>The crew tried to claim that “Timmy” is too young to be by himself so that he could stay with Demarcus. The Legionnaires didn't care, and still separated him from the others, but they did agree to not question him since he's “too small a child” to be questioned unattended. Instead, they left Ishi with something to drink – a juice box he angrily punctured with the straw and aggressively drank from – and some snacks. He spent his time in isolation quietly grumbling about the whole situation: the “idiot smugglers,” and Maggie clearly not liking him anymore if she sent “those idiots,” and how she's paying double for weapons next time. However, because he was muttering under his breath, the Legionnaires assumed he was grumbling about getting concentrated juice and oatmeal raisin cookies instead of fresh-squeezed juice and double-fudge cookies (which, yeah, he's grumbling a bit about that too).</p>
<p>The Legionnaires then proceed to interrogate the Stardancer crew with basically the same set of evidence thrown at each them: the ship was registered to have been docked on Vos three days prior*, right around the time the Hegemony noted a discrepancy in their crystal inventory records, and the Customs officer noted that Quinton specifically had a cooler full of crystals that he declared (yes, the Customs officer is also in question for potentially letting smugglers through without fully checking all of the crystals declared).</p>
<p>*probably should have been 4 days prior: 1 day to travel to Sonhandra, 1 day on Sonhandra, 1 day to travel to Mem, 1 day to travel back to Vos. I didn't do the mental math properly, so the canon is 3 days. Whoops.</p>
<p>Quinton instantly responded that he still had all of his lovely crystals on display back on the ship. The Legionnaires were welcome to go check out his cabin and inspect them (they, of course do). Quinton also told the Legionnaire interrogating him that the Stardancer was done with its site-seeing the last time they were there. They only came back to drop off the noble that hired them as his escorts and tour guides. The Memish Quinton travels with (tI'kæl) was talking about how lovely her homeworld was, and the noble (Mev) wanted to see it. Mevakor had told the crew that he had “business to attend to” and needed to be back to his ship within the week. So the Stardancer was only back so soon after the previous visit in order to drop Mevakor back off.</p>
<p>In the next room, Demarcus yelled that it was stupid that they were thought to be potential culprits; there was no way they would be so dumb as to return to the scene of the crime. The Legionnaire countered that if the crew thought they got away with it, they might be emboldened enough to try to steal more, and that is why they came back so soon. Strike while the iron's hot. Pushing harder, the Legionnaire asked sarcastically, “So you know nothing about the Vosian crystals?” Demarcus answered with a shrug and commented on Quinton buying a bunch from one of the vendors because he thought they were pretty. Convinced he wasn't going to get anything out of Demarcus, the Legionnaire locked him in the interrogation room to check on his story. As the Legionnaire was leaving, Demarcus again shouted, “What kind of idiot would return after stealing from here? How stupid would someone have to be to do something like that?”</p>
<p>In the room on the other side of Quinton, tI'kæl purposefully spoke only in Memish and pretended she didn't understand Common at all. The racist human Legionnaire yelled for her to learn Common, complained that it's a wonder anyone can communicate with xenos at all within the Hegemony, and whined that he was “always stuck with the damn xenos” and how he wished he could just “get a single human!? Once! Just ONE time, I'd like a human!” before locking tI'kæl in the room and fetching an interpreter.</p>
<p>At the end of the hall, Mevakor was freaking out at the Legionnaire questioning him:</p>
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<div style="background-color: #f6f6f6; border: 1px dotted navy; padding: 10px;">
<span font-size="x-small" style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">
<i>“What do you mean crystals were stolen from Vos the same day I was here? Isn't that what Customs is for? To prevent something like that from happening? How is the Hegemony going to fix this? HOW ARE YOU IDIOTS SO BAD AT YOUR JOB? THIS IS WHAT CUSTOMS IS FOR!”</i>
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<p>(Quarthix loved that Mevakor was ruder than Demarcus. Elitist privilege, baby!)</p>
<p>As Mevakor got more and more worked up that the Hegemonic security measures clearly failed, he began hyperventilating. He then told the Legionnaire the same thing Quinton did: he bought crystals as souvenirs from seemingly reputable vendors. He even noted exactly what shops he bought the crystals from, stressed that he had receipts as proof, and even offered up an audit of his finances as further proof that he only purchased the crystals on the receipts. If it turned out he did indeed have the illicit crystals, it was because those vendors were pawning them off to unsuspecting tourists, and if that's the case then he demands the names of all involved in the offending store so he could buy them out and shut them down for embarrassing him like this. Now angered by the prospect of being framed, he screamed at the Legionnaire for “holding me hostage like this!”</p>
<p>The bodyguards independently confirmed that, yeah, Mev is “the biggest schmuck of the galaxy” and they were clearly just souvenir crystals he dropped full creds on (similar to spending thousands on red-dyed rock candy because they "looked like actual rubies").</p>
<p>Of course, since both Quinton and Mevakor gave the Legionnaires permission to check their cabins for the crystals (not that they needed it), the Legionnaires took it upon themselves to extend this permission to the whole ship. They spent the next hour basically upending everything to try to find the crystals or other contraband. Hubby joked that Quinton will sick his lawyer (who is apparently Lang) on them; neither Quinton nor Lang will stand for this disrespect and abuse of power.</p>
<p>When the Legionnaires returned to the interrogation rooms, they were carrying Mevakor's two bags of crystals. Since the Stardancer wasn't his ship, he never bothered unpacking his purchases. Which meant he never found the drugs that Quinton snuck into the bags when he first met Mev. The Legionnaires, on the other hand, did find said drugs. They poured out the bags of crystals all over the table in Mev's interrogation room, and the drugs spilled onto the table with the souvenirs.</p>
<p>Mev instantly went on the defensive, accusing the 51st Legion of conspiring against him and planting the drugs. That way the Legion had “evidence” they could then use to excuse keeping him captive. The Legionnaire interrogating him assured Mev that no such plant or conspiracy occurred. Mev switched gears and swore up and down that he'd fire his bodyguards if the drugs turned out to be theirs. He kept bouncing back and forth between “I'll have my bodyguards' heads if it's their drugs” and “The Legion is out to get me! Those drugs are plants!” Mev and his bodyguards continued to be detained for Mevakor's outbursts.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, back in Demarcus' room, a Legionnaire came in to finish the interrogation. She confirmed that Demarcus was the captain of the Stardancer and that he did indeed transport Mevakor Nagan and his two bodyguards throughout the star system the past week. She then asked if he knew that Mevakor had illicit drugs within his possession. To which, Demarcus, with the most unconvincing mock surprise, commented that he had no clue and that Mevakor seemed like such a nice and law-abiding guy. “Not that guy! He seemed so innocent! Who would have thought he'd do such a thing?”</p>
<p>The Legionnaire ended up giving Demarcus a “wrist slap” and a strong suggestion to better vet any other passengers the Stardancer picks up from now on, because Demarcus and his crew could have been charged as accomplices to Mevakor's drug smuggling. Demarcus apologized for his “major blunder” in judgment.</p>
<p>Over in tI'kæl's room, a Memish interpreter did come back to try to interrogate her, but tI'kæl spent the whole time excitedly telling the Legionnaire about the Way. The interpreter sighed, told her to shut up about the Way, and kept asking about the missing crystals. But that started tI'kæl on a spiral about how beautiful the crystals were because they resonated with the Way, and how lovely all of Vos was because of the great Way energy there was on the planet. Eventually the interpreter gave up and chalked tI'kæl up as yet another over-zealous religious nut who clearly had no clue what her crew was doing around her.</p>
<p>Eventually another Legionnaire interrupted to let the poor, exasperated interpreter know that they were cutting the Stardancer loose: “These guys don't know anything about the crystals.”</p>
<p>“No shit, they don't!” the interpreter shouted back, and then stormed off yelling that she was taking her vacation time. She didn't care what the higher-ups thought. After that headache of listening to yet another religious zealot, she earned her time off.</p>
<p>As the crew picked up Ishi from his isolation room, the Legionnaire in charge of escorting them back to their ship gave them one last speech about responsibility:</p>
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<div style="background-color: #f6f6f6; border: 1px dotted navy; padding: 10px;">
<span font-size="x-small" style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">
<i>“You're allowed to leave. But, especially since you have a little one with you, make sure to pay closer attention to who you surround yourselves with. I would hate for this young gentleman to be corrupted by such scandalous activities as possible drug [trafficking and dealing] and crystal smuggling.”</i>
</span>
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<p>Demarcus apologized once more. Beside him, Ishi, who conveniently still had a juice box in his hand, went to salute the Legionnaire, but only used his middle finger to do so. “Oh, his hands were full, and the middle finger was the only one free to salute with....”</p>
<p>With that, the four of them boarded the Stardancer, and headed for the jump gate to the next star system.</p>
<p>Thus ends the second session. Sadly, due to Mevakor still being detained by the 51st Legion, the Stardancer crew wasn't able to bill him for escort, travel, and tour guide services. Plus, if it weren't for dropping Mev back off at his ship, the crew could have avoided getting interrogated by the Legion. A rare instance where "Mistakes were made; we got paid" didn't actually occur for the crew. Still, Mevakor became the fall guy they initially tapped him for. Just a shame that he's no longer a Stardancer traveling companion.</p>
<p>Fear not, dear reader. For I assure you this is not the last we've seen of Mevakor Nagan. We all like him enough that I have *plans* for him. I have this whole storyline going in the background for him. I cannot wait for enough in-game time to pass for me to bring about his Grand Return! It will be fun. I just wish I was as skilled at voices as a lot of online DMs. Even before a description or a name is mentioned, just the voice that <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.youtube.com/c/JohnnyChiodini" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Johnny Chiodini</a> uses signals to the players (and all the viewers) that a specific character has returned. Their ability to create so many distinctly unique voices is amazing. They clearly missed a calling for voice acting. Anyway, I'm not that skilled in the slightest, so the players may not get that Mev has returned until I have actually mentioned his name. But it will be fun when that reveal DOES happen. I'm so hyped for this!!!</p>
<p>As for the upcoming recap of session three, well that consists of the crew trying to figure out how to manage the Borniko's order to broadcast the Echo Wave Riders' message throughout the sector, and some shenanigans as the crew destresses and tries to get better gear. Also... the Stardancer itself gets a paint job! Yay!</p>
<p>Soooo... yeah! Until next time!</p>
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Scum and Villainy</i> rule book cover designed by art team:<br />
<b>Brett Barkley, Tomasso Renieri, Juan Ocha, </b>
<br /><b>Michaela DeSacco, and Tazio Bettin</b>
<br />(Cheesy Batman-series-joke edits by LycoRogue)
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<p>OH! Wait! Before you go! I nearly forgot! I DID actually do a biiiiiiiit of writing as well throughout this past week. I still couldn't quite get the third chapter of my newest WIP to work out for me, so I jumped to the end. I don't know how close to the actual conclusion of the story it will be, but fairly close to the end.</p>
<p>Chat Noir's love confession! EEEEEEEE!</p>
<p>I still have tweaks to do, and it's only about 2 pages long, so the chapter itself has to be bulked up. I also don't know if I want Marinette to respond before the conclusion of the chapter, or if I want the confession to be the conclusion and her reaction be the start of the next chapter. Or... both? The confession is from Chat Noir's POV, so do I finish the chapter with Marinette's reaction as seen through Chat Noir's POV, and then retell the confession and Marinette's reaction to it from her perspective as the start of the next chapter? So many possibilities!</p>
<p>Also, big announcement time! This Saturday, October 2nd, is Hubby's and my TEN YEAR wedding anniversary! TEN! How have we been married that long already!?</p>
<p>So, happy anniversary, Sweetness! I love you more than anything. You are my sanity (oddly enough) and my smile! Can't wait to see what the next 10 years will bring.</p>
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</div>LycoRoguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01064253326464685398noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6675584297301734651.post-21813615976892488442021-09-14T12:00:00.003-04:002021-09-14T12:00:00.214-04:00Walking on the Dark Side<p>Whew! Sorry, gang. I somehow didn't realize how long it would take to recap a 3.5hr gaming session.</p>
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Generated by <b>Bitmoji</b>
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<p>I ended up summing up the session, and then realizing that "summary" was still over 12-pages long. Far too large for a blog post. So I edited, and cut, and eventually decided I had to split the 2nd session like I did the first. Between finding time to relisten to the session, typing up the summary, and editing it down into something manageable in this blog... whelp.... I clearly ran out of time last week. So I spent all of this past week working on that.</p>
<p>I'll need to find a way of streamlining this process, or I'll have to resolve myself to only update every other week. I'd much prefer to streamline this process....</p>
<p>On the plus side, sorta, Hubby had to work again the past two Mondays, so we once more had to miss a session. Session 4 won't be until the 20th now. Gives me a little bit of time to catch up on my recaps before the group furthers the story.</p>
<p>Speaking of stories, I'm stumbling a bit with the 3rd chapter of that mystery project (that I totally ended up <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://lycorogue.tumblr.com/post/661330344182759424/hey-girl-for-your-ask-about-wips-game-im" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">talking about on Tumblr anyway</a>... if anyone is interested). In fact, while it's been the last thing I think about when I go to bed, in hopes of maybe dreaming up something I could use or have an epiphany when I wake up or something, I haven't been thinking about it during the day at all. My focus has been solely on getting my SaV recaps done, on Adulting Things, and a little bit on getting back into <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/super-mario-odyssey-switch/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Super Mario Odyssey</a></i>. Honestly, a large portion of my focus this week has been on... not... focusing... and just drifting through social media because my brain is fried.</p>
<p>This is why I didn't want to really promote this new project until I had more of the story sorted out. Who knows when I'll have any significant advancement in this story again? I'll keep plugging along, though.</p>
<p>I tried putting a playlist together in hopes of finding the perfect Muse for this project; get me in the mood. We'll see if that side project will help. Same with tracking down some fanfics that might help inspire me. Some episode rewatches as well. I'm trying to not let go of this Muse that visited me in the heat of August.</p>
<p>However, as I mentioned, this story has slipped from priority as I instead focus on my game recaps, and this upcoming week will probably be spent on prepping for the next session.</p>
<p>So, without further ado, how about we talk about the shenanigans of the Stardancer crew? Since that's where my "storytelling" focus is now?</p>
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Credit to the <i>Scum and Villainy</i> art team:
<br /><b>Brett Barkley, Tomasso Renieri, Juan Ocha, Michaela DeSacco, and Tazio Bettin</b></td>
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<p>First and foremost, I forgot to mention before that the crew, while still undecided on a name for themselves, have managed to come up with a crew motto: "Mistakes were made; we got paid."</p>
<p>And boy, have they stuck to that motto.</p>
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Generated by <b>Bitmoji</b>
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<p>They... do not do things the most... shall we say, refined way? But, as the motto suggests, they manage to get the job done cleanly enough to still get paid the agreed upon amount. So, that's got to count for something, right?</p>
<p>As for the second session, we started off recapping the first session, and trying to figure out if Demarcus does use some sort of racing gear or costume to protect his identity. That way any authorities looking for "The Captain" (Demarcus' "oh so creative and original" criminal alias) won't know that they can just camp at a RIP race to pick him up. Also, that way no one can put two-and-two together that if Demarcus is on a 3-person RIP team with one male and one female teammate, AND he's on a smuggling crew with one male and one female crewmate, MAAAAAYBE the other members of Chaos Theory are ALSO the other members of the Stardancer crew?</p>
<p>Hubby suggested that Demarcus goes by "Doctor" or "Doc" or "Doc Pain" while driving the Slambulance, and that his racing gear is just his old scrubs from when he assisted the Borniko Syndicate. Blood still caked on the scrubs and everything.</p>
<p>"He should look like one of those horror movie asylum doctors. The ones where you're not sure if he's a doctor or a patient there."</p>
<p>Quarthix instantly loved the idea and ran with it, but was still kind of waffling on whether or not that description should be canon. I'm running with it in the meantime, though.</p>
<p>Anyway, as the crew left the RIP Machine hangar - now out of their RIP costumes - they spotted the minor noble they had picked up as a potential patsy: Mevakor Nagan, and his bodyguards. They let him know that they still had one more errand to run, and that they'll meet up with him once they were done. He told them he'd spend his time at the Phoenix Casino, and the two trios parted ways.</p>
<p>The errand was, of course, to collect their info broker Maggie's friend Ishi from the Night side of the tidal-locked planet. There's a strange phenomenon that happens on Sonhandra. No one is sure if there's a natural reason via magnetic waves or whatnot, or if it's a product of the mystical Way (basically The Force from <i>Star Wars</i>), but any and all forms of light extinguish once someone steps beyond a kilometer onto the Night side of Sonhandra. Ishi purposefully made his hideout past that complete-black breaking point.</p>
<p>So the crew needed to figure out a way of finding him without being able to see at all. I had come up with a few ways. I spent a great deal of time talking about a little hole-in-a-wall pawn shop in Sonhandra's capital of Ugar that Maggie sent them to as a starting point. The pawn shop was by one of the town gates leading to the Night side, and Ishi was straight out from that point. Maggie told the crew to start there, head straight into the Night, and he would be nearby once they pass the kilometer mark. I had hoped the crew would go inside the pawn shop, where they would find another of Ishi's allies. If the crew could sweet-talk the shopkeep, he would take them to Ishi in a similar way to how he brought Ishi food and other supplies. If they failed to do that, they could at least buy thermal goggles from him. Assuming they would get their hands on some sort of thermal goggles (Demarcus has a thermal scanner, but wouldn't be able to read the output because of the magic darkness), Ishi had thermal plates buried around his hut that he would turn on so they could see where to go.</p>
<p>Alternatively, although tI'kæl's dark vision wouldn't work in the magic darkness since there is absolutely no light sources to grab at least a little bit of vision from, I had contingents set up so she could find the correct path via Attunement. Namely, the thermal plates Ishi buried were made out of Ur artifacts, which emits Way waves that she would be able to pick up. Like a bloodhound following a scent.</p>
<p>They could also find an AI and have it lead the way by using thermal scanning.</p>
<p>The crew did none of these options.</p>
<p>They assumed they could figure it out when they got there, told me my description of the pawn shop made it sound like it was shut down (despite me specifically saying, "You have no clue how this guy keeps his doors open since it doesn't look like any street traffic comes here" and "The only functional place of business on this street is this guy's pawn shop."), so they didn't bother going inside to scavenge or anything, and just headed out into the darkness.</p>
<p>TI'kæl took the lead, assuming she could see in the dark by using the glow from her tattoos. Then she passed a bunch of signs warning that they were a kilometer out and all light dies beyond that point. Ignoring the warnings, since they already knew that much, she stepped past the kilometer marker, and the tattoos on that leg instantly went out. ALL light sources extinguish on that side of the planet.</p>
<p>Completely blinded and with no other plan, Quinton just starts screaming Ishi's name in hopes of him finding them. Honestly, I think the group is still very much in a D&D player mindset. So they have yet to use the Flashback mechanic used in the <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://bladesinthedark.com/forged-dark" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank"><i>Forged in the Dark</i> games</a>. Especially when they realized that Demarcus' thermal scanner wouldn't work and they probably needed thermal goggles instead. With this mechanic, they could have used a Flashback to state how they already had a pair on them, or that all three had their own pair for this trip. Alternatively, <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.twitch.tv/rozsavaria" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Rozsavaria</a> keeps forgetting the main thing about her character: she's a mystic who gets in touch with the mystical Way forces. She leans into the almost Paladin-like joke of her character basically being a missionary asking if everyone she meets has heard about the glory that is The Way (as if it's a divine thing to worship), but she never remembers to actually tap INTO the Way.</p>
<p>So, now the trio is stranded on the dark side of this planet, completely blinded and with no real plan aside from shouting and hoping for the best. Also, fun added complication: due to this side of the planet never getting any heat from the sun, it's frosted and frozen over, making traction difficult as well. TI'kæl nervously dropped her speed because she wasn't expecting to completely lose her sight, and wasn't sure about her footing. Clueless as to why tI'kæl eased up her advancement, Demarcus took the lead.</p>
<p>As Quinton screamed for Ishi, the only response was a bunch of animals clicking around them (like the sound of someone quickly clicking their tongue against the roof of their mouth). The echoed clicks were similar to how crickets would call and answer each other. Since this was the only sign of life they'd encountered, they kept going straight, towards the majority of the clicks, although the sound was surrounding them slightly.</p>
<p>A few more minutes in, the clicks grew closer and in a tighter circle around them. Spooked, tI'kæl completely halted, but also neglected to let the guys know, so the two of them kept walking, completely leaving her behind. Meanwhile, Demarcus slipped slightly as he and Quinton walked out onto ice. Quinton quickly latched the two of them together to make sure they didn't loose each other, and only noticed how far behind tI'kæl fell when they heard her trying to click back to the creatures around them. Didn't work. It sounded more like the Memish equivalent of a dolphin.</p>
<p>Still not sure what other options they had (again, because they probably forgot about all of the mechanics SaV has vs D&D), the duo kept walking forward with Quinton still calling out for Ishi. In response, Quinton had something that felt like a bean bag hurled at his left shoulder. Grabbing a hold of Demarcus, Quinton directed him to the left and pushed him towards the direction the projectile came from. It wasn't long before Quinton tripped Demarcus over Ishi.</p>
<p>Ishi snarled for the two to shut up, and started dragging them back to his hut. As they're dragged along, Quinton tried to let tI'kæl know they found Ishi by way of communicator. Ishi promptly smacked the communicator out of his hand, and dragged the duo away faster.</p>
<p>Poor tI'kæl was still abandoned out in the black of the Night side of Sonhandra, with the knowledge that her crewmates found Ishi, but with (presumably) no way to find them (or they her).</p>
<p>As Ishi herded the guys towards his hut, Demarcus asked why Ishi was so anxious about any of them talking, and asked if Ishi could see since he was moving unhindered in the pitch black. Ishi simply hissed for them to shut up, and whisper-yelled that nothing could possibly see in that blackness. He then corralled them inside his hut. Demarcus again questioned Ishi's ability to move unhindered as if he knew exactly where he's going in the blackness. Meanwhile, all around them, the clicking changed to a more shrill shriek, and closed in.</p>
<p>TI'kæl nervously called out, "Hello?" into her communicator as she heard the clicks switch over to shrieks. Demarcus radioed back that they had Ishi, and that they needed to find a way to get back to Ugar, but tI'kæl should just head back to the ship. Ishi again barked at Demarcus for using his communicator, and asked if they had someone else past the kilometer point on the Night side. Demarcus kind of casually was like "yup" and Ishi cursed to himself. He then scrambled around his hut for a shotgun, cocked it, and scurried back out of the hut, leaving the guys behind.</p>
<p>TI'kæl tried to inch her way back towards the kilometer marker. She heard the shrieking in the not-so-far distance (about 300 yards / 274 meters). If she had actually followed the shrieking, she would have stumbled upon Ishi's house, instead, she continued back towards the twilight of the planet. About 50ft (15m) away from her, she heard the original clicking and the circling clicks close in. Suddenly, directly in front of her, something roared. It was deep, booming, and the pure vibrations from the roar rattled her bones. Immediately, tI'kæl stopped her slow retreat, and whimpered into the communicator, "Guys.... I'm scared."</p>
<p>She was soon shaken again by two more roars: one from her right and one from behind her as the creatures closed in. As the poor thing stood there whimpering and pleading for help, tI'kæl felt something akin to a water balloon bounce off her left shoulder. When the balloon hit the ground, it burst open and splattered blood everywhere. The creatures roared again, and despite the paralyzing effect the roars typically have, tI'kæl had enough adrenaline pumping that she sprinted towards the direction the balloon came from. As she did, she bumped hard into something that felt like a solid body of cartilage. She bounced off, but then felt the painful nip of "what feels like a single piranha bite into your left arm." She still had her arm (thanks largely to the hardened scales Memish have), and she could use it if she put in the effort, but it hurt like hell and she was bleeding out pretty badly. Still, she kept running until Ishi grabbed her arm, and yanked her in the direction of his hut. Unfortunately, he grabbed and yanked on her left arm, so she hissed in pain, and he promptly growled for her to shut up.</p>
<p>Pushing tI'kæl ahead of him, Ishi swung around and unloaded his shotgun. There was a loud boom, a high-pitched squeal of an animal in pain, the thump of a body hitting the frozen ground, and then flesh being rendered as the other creatures cannibalized their fallen comrade in a mini feeding frenzy. Not wasting a moment, Ishi grabbed tI'kæl and rushed her back to his hut.</p>
<p>Once everyone was safe inside the hut, Ishi quickly bandaged up tI'kæl's arm (we determined that Memish blood is puce). He then let the group know about the creatures that had attacked them: I had named them Krelqaks. They're basically the monsters from the movie <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0134847/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Pitch Black</a></i>. They had heightened smell and hearing to make up for their blindness. They focused on the smell of blood, and swarmed like piranha, with equally intimidating rows of teeth. Roz was all sorts of “Nope” when I showed her the pictures of the <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://riddick.fandom.com/wiki/Bioraptor" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Bioraptor</a> post-game.</p>
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Official images from the movie</td>
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<img border="0" data-original-height="930" data-original-width="1290" height="462" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU105j5xNw-u2fzvYYW87unmPjO3t9LOsRWQQN08Pa_T580PjnbiYpGZRAmIxLXtLkzc7B1EVTOEzfTHajYRuTjMX929tws4JbAe0NFMvBDaqTMAfU6RYqj_psxfBj3Cih4mHruS2YFa0/w640-h462/Bioraptor+-+concept+art+by+Richard+Dolan.png" width="640" />
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Concept art by <b>Richard Dolan</b></td>
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<p>I had come up with some customizations to make these creatures a bit more unique for my game, but this was more-or-less what I was picturing.</p>
<p>Ishi also quickly found out how ill-prepared the crew was: no thermal goggles to see the thermal path he prepared for them, no land transport to safely ferry them back to Ugar, no research on the Krelqaks to properly prepare for them, no research on how extreme “total blackness” truly was on the Night side, not even a tether to keep the full crew together as they wandered the darkness.</p>
<p>As Demarcus put it: “You don't get this far in life by thinking.”</p>
<p>To which Ishi lamented to the sky, “I thought we were friends, Maggie! Why are you doing this to me?”</p>
<p>Ishi tossed a duffel bag of his “blood bombs” (blood-filled water balloons, basically) at Demarcus as the crew discussed getting back to Ugar safely. Demarcus and Quinton agreed on “Plan D,” AKA – using detonation. Ishi put earplugs in to protect his own enhanced hearing from the detonations, then scurried to a trap door in his hut's roof. Cursing out the Krelqaks, he tossed a few blood bombs behind his hut to lure the beasts away from the front door. Then he slid back to the floor of the hut, and shoved a blueprint tube into Quinton's hands. Ishi told Quinton those were his weapons blueprints and Quinton was to protect them with his life. This, of course, piqued Demarcus' interest. The crew had no prior knowledge that Ishi was a weapons designer and dealer on the lam from the Hegemony (he's basically pre-Iron-Man Tony Stark). After passing medical supplies and vegan food rations to tI'kæl (to make sure their food rations wouldn't attract the carnivorous Krelqaks), Ishi lashed her to Quinton to make sure she didn't get lost again, and then he tied himself to Demarcus in order to lead the group. Everything set and all valuable items packed to go, Ishi rushed everyone out of the hut.</p>
<p>Demarcus promptly blew up Ishi's hut. Since ALL forms of light are instantly extinguished, there was no pretty explosion, but there's still the concussive force from the explosion. That brought the hut down and created a deafening boom to attract the Krelqaks, killing some of them in the explosion. The remaining Krelqaks responded by roaring back. It was almost as loud as the explosion itself, and the force of the pack's chorus of roaring caused the crew's bones to vibrate.</p>
<p>As Ishi led the group through the dark, Demarcus tossed a few blood bombs and launched a few detonators to either side of the group. He managed to distract some of the beasts and killed others, and eventually the pack in pursuit of the crew had been taken care of. They still heard more of the Krelqaks' distinct clicking in the distance, but they passed the kilometer markers soon enough for that to not matter.</p>
<p>Now that they could actually see him, the crew discovered that Ishi is a Deilku, an impish-looking xeno (non-human race). He has large, bat-like ears that stick 6” (~15cm) straight up from the top of his head, a scrunched-up button nose, teeny-little beady eyes, and long 4-fingered hands. Deilku have exceptional hearing and sense of smell, but their eyes were developed as more of a secondary sensory, like most humans and their sense of smell. Normally, since most of the Hegemony is designed with humans in mind - and therefore, largely dependent on sight - Deilku wear almost comically thick glasses to better their eyesight. Since he was in the pitch black for months on end anyway, Ishi forwent his glasses. He also has leathery, hairless bluish-gray skin, and was bundled under a massive parka to try to keep warm. The tips of his ears are only about 4' off the ground, making the top of his head only about 3'6” (~ 1m) high.</p>
<p>Basically, he's an amalgamation of <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://disney.fandom.com/wiki/Maz_Kanata" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Maz Kanata</a> from <i>Star Wars</i> and <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://donbluth.fandom.com/wiki/Gune" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Gune</a> from <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120913/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Titan A.E.</a></i> with a little extra flavor from my own imagination.</p>
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<img border="0" data-original-height="505" data-original-width="1252" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkvN80jR0-cc3T2Jh-CgqgnhuN4QzahbLRg01tAG87oR2cnNYbw_bK1MwlM_v9WFgwF34Qwhbu4r3Lq3UjrseqqAR0oeQrBHCGiWHoOojFkDj5uJX_8fkq4yUOEUnhJLxLXHp2UzHWOFk/w640-h258/Ishi+Inspiration.png" width="640" />
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i>Left:</i></b> screenshot of Gune from <i>Titan A.E.</i>
<br /><b><i>Right:</i></b> official model of Maz from <i>Star Wars</i>
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<p>Quinton managed to disguise Ishi as a small child: voice modulator to make him sound like a human child, hat to hide his ears flattened against his head (Ishi hates this because it hinders his hearing and is terribly uncomfortable), make-up to hide his skin tone, and gloves to hide his missing pinkies. They then came up with the ruse that Ishi is Demarcus' nephew Timmy. (Hubby originally said “cousin” but then Roz accidentally said Demarcus was his “uncle” and we ran with it.) Ishi was NOT a fan at first, but realized family members don't necessarily like each other. Knowing he didn't have to act like he liked Demarcus, he easily ran with the cover.</p>
<p>As tI'kael went to the Phoenix Casino to collect Mevakor and his bodyguards, Quinton and Demarcus escorted Ishi to the ship. A burly, bald dude named Rocco, whom Demarcus recognized as a money launderer for the Borniko Syndicate that is stationed on Sonhandra, was waiting at the Stardancer for the crew to return. Upon seeing Demarcus, Rocco greeted him with a bit of condescension.</p>
<p>The Echo Wave Riders are actually trusted allies of the Bornikos, and the Riders have been breathing down the Syndicate's collective necks about the Stardancer crew. First, the crew pissed off the Riders by sniping some experimental land transports they were excited to get their hands on, and then made it worse by seemingly targeting their RIP racing drivers. To try to smooth things over, one of the Borniko's higher-ups MaxiMillions (canon name; I didn't make that up) got in contact with Rocco to pass on a message to the Stardancer crew. Rocco then handed Demarcus a micro-SD card containing a message from the Echo Wave Riders. The crew was tasked to find a way of broadcasting the Riders' call-to-action about a system-wide race they're planning. The Riders don't care if it's broadcast through the galaxy-wide communication system - <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ansible" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">the ansible network</a> – or if it's broadcast through the Hegemony News Network. All they care about is that the word gets out within 2 weeks (all time measured by Earth standards still). This is the mandatory Borniko Syndicate job the crew got as an entanglement in the first session.</p>
<p>Rocco and Demarcus had some back-and-forth, but Demarcus still accepted the job in the end (seeing he had no choice in the matter). Rocco then departed, washing his hands of the job. Demarcus and Quinton were left behind basically going, “Whoops. Didn't realize the factions were friends. Guess we should TRY to get along with the Riders.”</p>
<p>Upon boarding the ship, Ishi instantly grabbed for his weapons blueprints. However, Quinton convinced Ishi to let him make digital copies, “as backups.” Ishi agreed as long as he was instantly given the sole copies of his work to also keep safe. Quinton, through hacking shenanigans, managed to sneak a digital copy of the blueprints for himself while also convincing Ishi that, yes, he does have the sole digitized version of his blueprints.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, over at the Phoenix Casino, tI'kæl looked for Mevakor. (BTW, the image of a phoenix has been morphed throughout the centuries, and now everyone in the sector agrees that a phoenix looks more like a flame-red emu on fire.)</p>
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>BEHOLD ITS MAJESTY!
</b><br />(creative commons emu clipart
<br />doctored in GIMP by LycoRogue)
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<p>I knew I didn't want a phoenix to still resemble what we think of. It didn't seem realistic that Earthen depictions of a mythical creature wouldn't change even when Earth itself is basically forgotten (or, if SaV is like <i>Star Wars</i>, wasn't where these humans ever originated from). I also knew that I wanted the phoenix to now resemble a dopey bird. I almost went with a dodo or kiwi bird, but I've been seeing a LOOOOT of <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.libertymutualgroup.com/about-lm/news/articles/introducing-limu-emu-and-doug-dynamic-duo-insurance-world-starring-new-liberty-mutual-ad-campaign" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Liberty Mutual LiMu-Emu commercials</a> lately. So... emu. The fact that I found this even derpier clipart of an emu to use as a base is just icing on the cake.</p>
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Generated by <b>Bitmoji</b></td>
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<p>In tI'kæl's attempt to track down Mevakor, she figured it would be easier to look for his bodyguards among the sea of elites gambling. Except, she mistook at least 3 other pairs of “big, burly, human males” as Mev's bodyguards, and now tI'kæl is dealing with the realization that perhaps she's a bit racist....</p>
<p>Eventually she did find Mev and his bodyguards at a card table. He was lackadaisically playing some evolution of Black Jack while mostly using the poker table as a means to socialize with fellow elites. When tI'kæl walked up, she overheard Mev talking about his trip to Mem in “hushed” tones (as far as he thinks, they were), and inviting all of the other gamblers to meet up with him there. He planned out a viewing party for them all to observe the moon at its “peak.” Mev also planned for the elites to actually stay on Mem for a few days, turning the viewing party into a full festival. That way they could see the moon not at its “peak” as well, and compare the two; truly appreciate the glory that is Yuura at its greatest by observing it when it's not as well.</p>
<p>Dealing with the fact that Mevakor basically turned her home planet into a tourist trap for human nobility, tI'kæl collected him and his bodyguards to head back to the Stardancer. She gave him a heads up that the captain picked up his “nephew.” Mev then noticed tI'kæl's wrapped arm and asked what happened. She quickly responded with, “[Timmy's] a biter.” Mevakor already found children boring and exhausting, and wanted nothing to do with them, but to find out “Timmy” was “a biter” solidified Mev's resolve to avoid “the kid” at all costs. Perfect. Ishi's disguise and cover as Timmy was better solidified that way. Mev was also overjoyed that “Timmy” was being a brat and locked himself away in his quarters (Ishi was still cranky over the “incompetent” crew that was in charge of escorting him to the Cove, as well as the unexpected detours to bring Mevakor to Mem and then back to Vos before the crew actually took Ishi out of the star system).</p>
<p>And with that, the crew, plus 4 passengers, flew off to Mem. And I'll save the rest for next post.</p>
<p>I do appreciate how quickly the players are latching onto my NPCs of Mevakor, the other RIP racers, and Ishi. I was also shocked at how nervous Roz sounded as tI'kæl was left stranded in the darkness, and especially when she was bit by one of the creatures. I was nervous I wasn't getting the tension up enough, but that reassured me that at least she was getting worried for her character. Quarthix is also really getting into the roleplaying, usually taking the narrative lead when interacting with NPCs or deciding what to do while the crew is on a job. It's probably him evolving as a roleplayer in general, and not necessarily the way I'm running the game, but when I think back to when I first started playing RPGs with him - or even how he is just socially - seeing him take the lead is just so awesome.</p>
<p>Hubby also getting a bit stumped on how to get past the obstacles I come up with is equally rewarding for me. I know he's letting the other two take more of a lead since he's usually the frontman in most campaigns, but he also does swoop in and help them come up with solutions. He doesn't leave them hanging, and he typically thinks outside of the box. So I've been careful to not go over much of the story elements I'm plotting for the upcoming game with him. I figure, that way he can also have the "fun" of figuring it out cold like the other two. Then for him to not think of or stumble upon any of the solutions I came up with? For me to have to "rescue" the players by having Ishi venture out into the wild to find THEM?</p>
<p>It's definitely challenging, but it's such a relief to see that it all seems to be paying off. I hope the story is just as entertaining for you fine folks. I haven't had any comments on these posts yet, so, again, if you'd like me to move on to something else, or start up a separate blog to post this stuff on and just leave this blog dormant until I have writing updates again, please let me know.</p>
<p>Until next time!</p>
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<img border="0" data-original-height="566" data-original-width="596" height="380" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaBedHhGTU94zaAPuwrkG538C7xyVZm8JMBGnAPISJKMTBkv4W7i7RmnL321Kx4JG5yyJKmNOoW8IOJQSYcl2gThCrXnl4WYtWRUxpHyMl7Ka971zMzI0Bib81DA5L2wm1yDu1aNW-iyA/w400-h380/SaV+-+Same+Time+Same+Place.png" width="400" /></a>
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Scum and Villainy</i> rule book cover designed by art team:<br />
<b>Brett Barkley, Tomasso Renieri, Juan Ocha, </b><br />
<b>Michaela DeSacco, and Tazio Bettin</b><br />
(Cheesy Batman-series-joke edits by LycoRogue)</td>
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</table>LycoRoguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01064253326464685398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6675584297301734651.post-68940399250551891492021-08-31T13:04:00.002-04:002021-08-31T23:59:50.617-04:00Let the Race Begin!<p>Hey, peeps. Thanks again for indulging my whining last week. I'm actually doing much better this week. I've even worked on some writing!</p>
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Generated by <b>Bitmoji</b></td>
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<p>Yeah. I know! To be frank, though, I have absolutely no clue when this story will be ready for the light of day. If it ever is. My brain was fried one day. Nothing held my attention. So I just read through some of my WIPs, and something sparked. I started working on this story last August or September. Then I promptly abandoned it. Worked on it a bit more in December or January. Lost it again. And I did a bit more chipping away this week. I managed to finally finish the opening chapter! I also feel like I have said chapter fairly polished. I'll most likely do one last edit before publishing, but I think it's pretty good as of right now.</p>
<p>I even wrote and polished a second chapter! How about THAT productivity increase? Takes me a year to write one chapter. Takes three days to write the second one. Now I need to figure out the rest of the story. I feel like this will be another of my normal 8-chapter stories in order to get the pacing right, but I can only think of 4 more chapter themes. That's it. No actual plot of what happens, but the basic FEEL of what I want the progression of the story to be. And I still feel like I'm jumping things a bit between the first half and the back half of the story. I'll definitely need to pad with more chapters to keep the pace I want and to make the story not feel rushed.</p>
<p>I have a vague idea of what I want to do with the next chapter. I might know what I want to do with the one after that as well, but I'll have to see if I'll need a buffer chapter between those two. If the characters' reactions seem too abrupt. It all depends on how things conclude in chapter 3. I also have the final chapter planned out, but I have no clue how to conclude the whole story. Maybe I'll need one more chapter beyond what I THINK the final chapter will be. And the one before it? Well, I have a "theme" in mind for the penultimate chapter, but I also don't know if it should be before the final chapter, or if I'll again need a buffer chapter.</p>
<p>This story may need another year or so to marinate for all I know. Once I have something a bit more concrete I'll be sure to not be so vague about this project. Until then, though, I wouldn't want you fine folks to get excited about a project that - well, who knows when it will see the light of day?</p>
<p>Instead, let's switch gears and focus on a story I am proud to present to you. It's <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.evilhat.com/home/scum-and-villainy/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Scum and Villainy</a></i> time! Specifically, it's time for the Stardancer crew to participate in their first ever <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://gravity.rip/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Gravity RIP</a></i> official race.</p>
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<td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5vOjjW9der-bqQf8RkP7hOQqbreQ2VL5_j7P3oCNOBztmsJ8UOZmQKrrdxYHm58OPivzQ4MDvg-vFHNankXQkNpG7Y438SW7mascv3ULYR_AiHbNBvtYUmntB1r9oTCZ3AcJRCjHD37o/s976/Gravity_RIP.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">
<img border="0" data-original-height="976" data-original-width="676" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5vOjjW9der-bqQf8RkP7hOQqbreQ2VL5_j7P3oCNOBztmsJ8UOZmQKrrdxYHm58OPivzQ4MDvg-vFHNankXQkNpG7Y438SW7mascv3ULYR_AiHbNBvtYUmntB1r9oTCZ3AcJRCjHD37o/w445-h640/Gravity_RIP.png" width="445" /></a>
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Artwork by <b><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://theamazingmrc.artstation.com/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Colin Craker</a></b></td>
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<p>First, a quick recap of what I covered last week.</p>
<p>The Stardancer crew picked up a job from their info broker Maggie. They need to smuggle highly monitored crystals off of the planet of Vos, and deliver them to the Turner Society, a drug cartel, to use for their main product: Haze. The crew decided to bypass Customs by getting a patsy to cause a ruckus so they'd be waved through quickly with barely a check. They found naïve minor noble Mevakor Nagan. TI'kæl almost instantly liked the guy, but knew they needed him for a fall guy. So she conned him and his bodyguards to join the Stardancer crew on a trip to tI'kæl's home world Mem in order to see the beauty of Mem's frozen moon Yuura. As tI'kæl sweet talked Mevakor (whom she nicknamed Mev), Demarcus distracted the bodyguards and Quinton slipped drugs in to the bags of useless crystals Mevakor purchased. Lucky for Mev, Quinton was able to properly charm (re: exasperate) the Customs agent enough to just get waved through. So no fall guy needed!</p>
<p>The crew decided to keep Mevakor with them in case they were caught on their way to delivering the crystals. They'd pin the stolen crystals on Mev, and hopefully get away with the theft.</p>
<p>The Turner Society has a "society house" (re: drug den) on the tidal-locked planet of Sonhandra, which happens to be in the same star system as Vos. Also, the other job the crew picked up from Maggie was to help smuggle her friend Ishi off of Sonhandra. Easy choice. The crew headed to the tidal-locked planet under the pretense of needing to refuel before continuing on to Mem. Mevakor was content, already picturing what he could pick up at the famous Sonhandra auction house.</p>
<p>On the trip from Vos to Sonhandra, tI'kæl took on the task of keeping Mev entertained, and did so by showing off her carving ritual. In the process, the two bonded a bit more, and tI'kæl accidentally let it slip that the crew were smugglers. Excited to be on a real-life, honest-to-goodness smuggler ship, Mev searched the ship to see what the crew could be smuggling. Not really knowing much about the RIP races, when Mev found the crew's RIP Machines (the tank-sized hovercrafts used to race) he thought THOSE were what the Stardancer crew was smuggling.</p>
<p>The crew and Mevakor parted ways on Sonhandra, but Mev almost instantly gloated about how he's traveling with smugglers. It was one of the most exciting things he's experienced his whole life, and he figured it would earn him "street cred", as it were. Now having to lay low further, the crew snuck their way to the Turner Society's society house Wildside. There, they were barred entrance to the club, halting their attempt to finish delivering the Vosian crystals. Quinton demanded a higher-up meet with them, and while one was being fetched the crew spotted some waifs pickpocketing the crowd. Trying to scare the waifs into leaving them alone, Demarcus wielded his large pistol. It worked, but the kids wanted to prove they weren't truly scared, so they pelted Demarcus with stones from a safe distance before scurrying off. When Demarcus whipped around to try to fire off a warning shot to get the kids to stop, his aim was off and he accidentally killed a nearby shopkeep.</p>
<p>Trying to discreetly duck out of the area before the authorities figured out who fired the headshot, Demarcus was loudly stopped by a local who excitedly asked about the awesome gun he had. Demarcus quickly sold the murder weapon to the local and slipped away into the crowd. He later got lost and somehow ended up in the desert on the daylight side of the planet.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, minor noble Vallis (who clearly partook in her own product) met up with Quinton and tI'kæl. The duo handed over the crystals, and Vallis quickly paid them before rushing off to bring them to the Society's "chefs". The duo was granted access to enter Wildside, but they opted to look for Demarcus instead.</p>
<p>Using communicators and landcrafts, the duo managed to find their captain and bring him back to the ship. Once there, they prepared to pick up Maggie's friend Ishi, only to hear of an official RIP League race to start later that day on Sonhandra. With no true time frame for when Ishi needed to be smuggled off the planet, the crew decided they'll sneak in a RIP race first.</p>
<p>And now we're set for the rest of that session.</p>
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<img border="0" data-original-height="398" data-original-width="398" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIUwcB-2Q5qv0q1rtEx0bPQvC-9cPaLq5NCbjJVgOz0i6Op5UmJFaSH2AiJKSy0N3Z3DCKHYEDPX22A6COBt1zFtscp96nAn84Oi0C35uCT6IhlmsKKIYra0WjEBzAu9TkcuzJ7RdI5H0/s320/Go.png" width="320" /></a>
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image generated by <b>Bitmoji</b>
<br />Pathetic green flag edit
<br />(it was checkered originally)
<br />by LycoRogue</td>
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<p>Also hearing about the race, and excited to see which racing team the Stardancer crew "smuggled" the RIP Machines for, Mevakor talked his bodyguards into escorting him to the track.</p>
<p>The race track isn't just on the day side of this tidal-locked planet, though. It's also close to the equator. The constant sunlight has created not only desert as far as the eye can see, but it's also dried out the surface to the point where it's cracked and actual rivers of lava flow through. The track itself is about 5 or 6 feet (~152cm or ~183cm) above the planet's surface; not terribly too high, but high enough to not be affected by the surface's heat. Part of the track even crosses over the lava rivers. (I checked after the session, and one can actually safely stand about 5 feet away from slow-moving molten lava. So I was surprisingly scientifically accurate as I pulled measurements out of my butt. Neat.) The track is "fenced" in with high-density hologram walls designed to keep these fast moving, tank-sized vehicles from flinging off the track. These "walls" are like laser cheese graters, according to the official <i>Gravity RIP</i> rulebook. They will NOT be gentle against the vehicles if the Machines slam, slide, bounce, or otherwise interact with The Side (what these hologram walls are officially called).</p>
<p>A couple meters away from The Side (on either side of the track) are heat protected, extremely climate controlled, and light-shielded observation towers for in-person race watchers. These VIP luxury boxes are reserved for RIP League members, their guests, and for the most elite of elite; those willing and capable of paying a hefty sum for a seat. Somehow Mev still managed to snag himself a few seats for himself and his bodyguards.</p>
<p>Most RIP fans watch the Sonhandra races from the safety of their own homes via the helicams that fly around the track (I meant to say "hundreds" of helicams, but I accidentally said "millions" so canonically there are at least 2 million helicam shots the director can choose from for the broadcast... whoops... a bit overkill....). Each helicam used at each RIP race is specifically fitted with gear to help it withstand whatever harsh environments the races take place in, so these drones can easily handle the extreme heat of Sonhandra's day side.</p>
<p>While the crew is getting ready for their first official RIP League race, two human males walk past them. Poet (AKA Quinton) and Sanic (AKA tI'kæl) recognize one of the two as Kai, AKA AirJack, the pilot of Victory. This "cocky bastard" (as I described him during game) had been podiuming in most of his races in the underground circuit, and so he was already someone Poet and Sanic had butted heads with quite a bit. Much like Chaos Theory, AirJack was also recently invited to officially join the RIP League, and he joined the Echo Wave Riders' team Gravity Blades. AirJack's companion is his teammate Oron, AKA Iceheart, the pilot of The Gremlin.</p>
<p>While Victory is built for speed, Gremlin is mostly beefy and made to move people out of his teammate's way. “A big, bulky thing, kind of like the Slambulance.” I couldn't think of anything for a description of Victory, but The Gremlin is painted green, and has a large, hideous smile painted across the front. The Machine is covered in racing battle scars – dents and scrapes in the paint job – that were purposefully left there because Iceheart thought it looked cool. There are spikes designed to look like ears coming directly up from the cockpit, and “Gremlin” is written in large lettering across both sides of the Machine.</p>
<p>Originally, Demarcus wasn't really feeling a race, and was prepping himself to be pit-crew (as it were), but the moment he saw the gaudiness of the Gremlin, he decided he wanted in so he could try to take that monstrosity out. He quickly prepped the Slambulance and threw on his gear. </p>
<p>Quinton completely switches up his look (how TBD) so he's not recognizable at all as Poet. TI'kæl unbraids her tentacles and instead spikes them out a little, and she wears a blue racing jumpsuit with blue racing goggles that hide most of her face. Demarcus, on the other hand? The group is still trying to figure out what he does to try to hide his identity, or if he even does. After a race of me calling out Space Jam as Demarcus' racing name, the joke got old quick. So the new racing name placeholder is "Doctor", but we're still workshopping the racing name and get-up. For all we know, Demarcus simply takes off his hat and calls it a day as he climbs into the Slambulance.</p>
<p>Anyway, RIP races don't have qualifiers to figure out the starting grid of a race. Instead, when the vehicles are teleported to the track, they are randomly placed within the starting grid. The addition of luck in setting up a racer's starting position helps add to the drama and make sure the grids don't get too "stale" by having the best racers ALWAYS qualifying to start in the front. (All of this randomized grid bits are canonically part of the <i>Gravity RIP </i>rules) As their first race begins, Iceheart in the Gremlin got the best luck of the group, starting in 9th place. Poet in the Dark Soliloquy started in 14th, Sanic in Da Wey was in 16th, Space Jam in the Slambulance started in 19th, and AirJack in the Victory started all the way in last place; right behind the Slambulance.</p>
<p>For the rest of this post, I'm just editing down the official racing commentary I gave in-game after everyone took their turns.</p>
<p>As the first lap starts, Poet shoots forward. He easily passes the competitors directly in front of him. About half-way through the lap, Dark Soliloquy catches up with Gremlin, and the two are neck-and-neck. The two battle for quite some time, Gremlin holding Dark Soliloquy back for most of the back-half of the lap. Each move Dark Soliloquy makes, Gremlin counters. Just before the final turn, Poet spots a weakness in the Gremlin's defenses. Taking a hard turn, Poet practically upends Dark Soliloquy so it's nearly vertical. The bottom of Poet's sleek Machine just barely misses The Side as the thick, shatter-proof windshield of Dark Soliloquy scrapes against one of the spiked “ears” on The Gremlin. Most of the paint is scraped off the roof of Poet's Machine, and Gremlin avoids damage from Dark Soliloquy's razor-sharp wings. As Poet passes, he drops Dark Soliloquy to its natural position, but rattles his RIP drive a bit more than intended.</p>
<p>Da Wey struggles to pass anyone for most of the lap, but eventually Sanic gives up on traditional racing. She purposefully slams towards The Side, tipping her spherical Machine on its side, very much like Poet did with his. Riding on her momentum, Sanic skates Da Wey up The Side like a skateboard, and flips off of it and over the Machine in front of her. When she again has difficulties passing someone, she does the same thing again and again. Most of the back half of the lap is Da Wey skating up The Side to flip over the top of the competitor in front of her, landing onto the track, and flipping over the next guy the same way. The crowd is going wild and eating this spectacle up! The problem is that The Side is made up of an almost chain-link-style hard-light hologram specifically designed to keep these massive vehicles inside the track. It's like a molten-hot cheese grater against Da Wey each time Sanic tries this maneuver. By the time the final turn is in view Da Wey is hurting from all the scrapes against The Side. The RIP Drive is pretty jostled. Bits of the underside of Sanic's Machine are scraped raw and exposed. There's a hairline crack where the windshield meets the body of the Machine, and water from the cockpit is trickling out, sliding along the spherical body, and whipping at sonic speeds against the Machine behind her.</p>
<p>The Slambulance spends the whole lap at almost “cruising” speeds compared to everyone else (i.e. about 650 mph (1046 kph) compared to the other competitors going roughly 768 mph (1236 kph)). Demarcus has no cares over the other Machines pulling away. He cares about the pissed off pilot of the Victory trying desperately to get around him. He isn't very swift, but he expertly cuts Victory off at every attempt. “If RIP Machines had horns, AirJack would be laying on his the whole lap.”</p>
<p>Coming around the final turn, Dark Soliloquy feigns to the left. As the pilot in front of him – Smog Prime – takes the bait, Poet hard banks around the right of the Avenging Angel. Sanic struggles with Da Wey; trying desperately to push forward in the pack. As she attempts to overtake Rando in the Cardrissian, he spots her loop-the-loop wind-up, and manages to pin her against the Side for a brief second; stopping the momentum she needed to make the flip, and also scraping more off of the orb-like Machine. Struggling to keep Da Wey steady, and water leaking like crazy through the windshield seal, Sanic ops to slow down slightly; dropping back a spot as she crosses the start/finish line. All the way at the back of the pack, Demarcus takes joy in how annoyed AirJack seems to be in Victory, and decides to up the agitation. He abruptly slams on his brakes, forcing Victory to also pull back. Victory fishtails for a moment; the back end of the Machine bouncing off the Side a couple of times. Smoke now billows from the thrusters, and there's a concerning rattling as the RIP Drive becomes unstable. Pissed off at how poorly he's doing, and trying to get away from the Slambulance, AirJack uses the random movements of his fishtailing to throw off Demarcus' visual tracking of him. Finding a new hole, AirJack punches it and squeaks Victory past the Slambulance finally.</p>
<p>Dark Soliloquy is “full-on NOS-ing this shit” and black flames are just ripping out of the turbine. He's easily zipping past the front of the pack, weaving around everyone as he makes his way to first place. As everyone nears the final turn of the 2nd lap, a previously unknown racer from the underground leagues is now in first.</p>
<p>Gremlin's pilot is agitated that his partner is stuck at the back of the pack, and knows that one of them has to try to podium in order for the race to be worth it. So, despite wanting to focus on taking out competitors, the Gremlin charges forward, bumping Machines out of his way, one of which is Smog Prime in the Avenging Angel. The Gremlin nears the final turn of the lap in 7th. As he bumped his way through the pack, the Gremlin is starting to get a few scratches. That's perfectly fine for Iceheart. In fact, he WANTS the scratches and battle scars; it's part of his Machine's aesthetic. He just wishes he didn't have to focus on podiuming so he could instead focus on beating up some of the other Machines more.</p>
<p>Sanic just wants to 'Go Fast' and attempts to weave her way through the crowd. Da Wey is certainly worse for wear, however. There's now “waterfalls of water” spilling out of the cockpit area and large dents in the sides of the otherwise spherical Machine. There's still enough water inside the cockpit to keep Sanic well hydrated and protected from the heat of the Day side of Sonhandra, but she's going to want to finish this race quickly, despite Da Wey kind of puttering towards the final turn. She continues her dangerous maneuvers of trying to swing her Machine up and over the other racers, but she gets a bit ping-ponged between the Machines and the Side. For every Machine she overtakes, another bumps her to the side. The pack wrestles for position, and in the end, Sanic only improves her standing by one, and in desperate need for the race to end. Surprisingly, Da Wey didn't seem to receive any further damage, although that's hard to truly say with it as beaten up as it already was.</p>
<p>At the back of the pack, AirJack in the Victory is having similar struggles. His battles with the Slambulance has left his Machine hurting. One of the wings is dented and creating a lot more drag than he anticipated. Every time he gets some headway around a bend, the Machine he passed is able to overtake him again on the straights. There's this back-and-forth game of tag for most of the lap, pushing Victory back into 19th place as the pack approaches the final turn.</p>
<p>As Demarcus sees the start/finish line approaching, and sees Victory pushed back in front of him once more, he takes his chance. Attempting to piss off and insult AirJack even further, he punches the gas on the Slambulance; not to slam into Victory, but to pass it. AirJack sees the flame bursts explode from behind the Slambulance, and braces for impact. He swerves out of the way, unknowingly opening a path for Demarcus to easily slide through. As the Slambulance gets ready to pass the racer in 18th, he realizes how far ahead of Victory he is. One final insult: he pulls back just before passing the second racer in order to make sure he's nice and cozy right in front of the Victory.</p>
<p>Pissed to be passed by an Unknown, the pilot of the 2nd place Machine (unnamed) aims for the inside of that final turn in a bid to take 1st place back. Poet pushes his Machine a bit more to get far enough ahead of the opposing machine to easily hold the inside and prevent anyone else passing him. It was a dangerous gambit, though, and now Dark Soliloquy is rattling and struggling to hold speed as the RIP Drive wobbles uneasily.</p>
<p>Back in 7th place, Gremlin decides to be “a complete dick” and just slams on his brakes to collide full-on into Avenging Angel behind him. Smog Prime was following too close to move out of the way and gets CRUSHED by this maneuver. Debris is now showering everywhere from Avenging Angel as Smog Prime loses nearly half of his Machine. Smog Prime is purely focused on keeping the Machine steady and on the track; almost ignoring everyone else for a few seconds.</p>
<p>As the vehicle behind Avenging Angel swerves to try to avoid the showering debris, Rando in the Cardrissian takes advantage of the distraction and slips past them.</p>
<p>Back in 13th, Sanic also tries to overtake the racer in front of her. The two fought for the inside curve, but with a quick feign, Sanic was able to psych out the other pilot and sprint past them.</p>
<p>Back in 19th, Demarcus eyes up Victory, already barely holding together. With a mischievous grin, Demarcus pulls the e-brake equivalent on his Machine, purposefully fishtailing the back of the Slambulance so the Machine does a 180. AirJack panics, and tries to move out of Slambulance's way. Demarcus, on the other hand, fully thrusts towards his new rival. The Slambulance easily finds its target, nearly crunching the nose of the Victory into the cockpit itself. In fact, Demarcus would have just folded the cockpit right into the RIP Drive if AirJack didn't instantly pull his own e-brake to get away from the Slambulance. The moment the two machines broke apart AirJack slammed on his Retire button. The lap ends with the massive magnetic drone dropping down to pick the crumbled remains of Victory off the track and off to safety. Inside the claustrophobic cockpit, AirJack prayed the RIP Drive would hold steady until he's at least out of his Machine.</p>
<p>Dark Soliloquy is comfortably out in first, but Nonamé (racer name? Machine name? I was tired and just BSing at this point in the session) is doing everything he can think of to try to steal the 1st position back from Dark Soliloquy. That's when Poet just opens up the throttle and rushes forward until he sees the back of the pack in front of him. The 2nd place racer tries to follow suit to catch up, but is also trying to dodge slam attacks and block against overtakes. It's a bit chaotic at the front of the pack, and he's too distracted holding back everyone else to properly focus on taking back the lead.</p>
<p>Gremlin and Avenging Angel are continuing to battle back and forth. Every time Avenging Angel overtakes Gremlin, the huskier Machine pushes back, bumping more panels off of Avenging Angel; scattering more shrapnel. Avenging Angel, in kind, bumps against Gremlin in an attempt to bust up its exhaust. They tousle for most of the lap. As the duo approach the final turn of the race, Avenging Angel manages to swing ahead of Gremlin. Just behind them, Rando tries to advance, but there's just too much happening with Gremlin and Avenging Angel taking up too much track. Despite all of the movement in the center of the pack, as they near the final turn Rando just couldn't manage a better position within the crowd. On the flipside, during all of this shuffle, and the other pilots getting distracted by even MORE shrapnel coming off of Avenging Angel, Gremlin, and Cardrissian, Sanic sees her opening. She opens the throttle all the way and snakes Da Wey through the pack. She had the determination and power to blast far enough to podium. Unfortunately, as she avoided being ping-ponged any further than she had already endured, she had to slam on the brakes more than she'd like. For every two Machines she overtook, one was able to pass her on a straight away. Still, she managed to weave her way through enough of the cluster to go into the final turn in 7th place! The finish line in sight and Da Wey holding together on a prayer.</p>
<p>Now that Slambulance managed to take out Victory, Demarcus eyed up the other member of Gravity Blades. Majorly overclocking his RIP Drive, the Slambulance roared as it jettisoned forward through the tail of the crowd. It's faster than Demarcus is used to going in his Machine, and he quickly lost control. Slamming into the Side, he scraped off a few panels, a stablizing wing, and part of his cow splitter. The Slambulance rattled violently, and Demarcus quickly realized he won't be able to reach the Gremlin after all. Pulling back down to a more comfortable speed, he willingly fell back into 17th place; disappointingly missing pilots behind him as they zip past.</p>
<p>The finish line in sight, Poet punched Dark Soliloquy one last time. He zipped easily around the final turn and across the finish line. He nearly lapped the pack in his victory lap. Barely a second behind him, Nonamé slid in at 2nd.</p>
<p>Sanic knew her Machine was barely holding on, so she did everything she could to finish the race before her RIP Drive completely gave out. Taking the turn dangerously close to the Side, she slipped past the pilot in 6th – who happened to take the turn a touch too wide anyway. Catching Da Wey coming from their left startled the driver, causing them to also fall back a touch. Sanic comfortably finished the race in 6th, and instantly hit for a pick-up so she could get out of the heat of the track before her cockpit completely depleted of water.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, as he rounded the corner, Smog Prime attempted to pass Da Wey for one last-ditch effort to get a better racing prize. As Sanic's relatively smaller Machine took the turn too tight for Avenging Angel to follow, Smog Prime reset his sights on the previous 6th place pilot. However, this racer is so shaken up by Da Wey seemingly popping up out of nowhere that they instantly dropped speed and shifted to dodge out of her way. This ended up unwittingly blocking the track, and Smog Prime just couldn't wiggle his way past after all.</p>
<p>Gremlin's pilot Iceheart knew he wasn't placing high enough to really make much in Volts, but he could still at least get some more Crits out of this race (racers get bonuses for successful slam attacks against competitors). Plus, he was pissed that his partner had to bail. Revving his engine, Gremlin went to sideswipe Avenging Angel. He sidled up to the Avenging Angel's left as they made the final turn. As Gremlin moved to slam the Avenging Angel against the Side, Smog Prime dodged the 7th place racer's swerves to avoid Da Wey, unwittingly also dodging out of Gremlin's attack. Unable to stop his momentum fast enough, Gremlin collided hard against the Side instead of his intended target. He coasted along the Side as he finished the turn, finally peeling off as he hit the straight away. The paint had been completely scraped off the right side of the Gremlin, along with the right stabilizing wing and one of the “ear spikes.” Free of his pursuer, Smog Prime in the Avenging Angel crossed the finish line in 8th place.</p>
<p>As Gremlin tried to recover from his failed aggression, Rando in the Cardrissian saw his opportunity to make some extra Crits. He lined himself to the Gremlin's left, and easily checked him back against the Side. Pinning the already banged up Machine against this hologram wall, Cardrissian ended up tearing more from Gremlin, dissolving metal off the Machine as the panels heat up to nothing. The walls of the cockpit started to crack and whine with strain, and Iceheart could hear the RIP Drive whirling wildly as it started to overheat. Slamming on his breaks, he pulled back and out of the pin. Rando nearly slammed into the Side instead, but quickly righted himself, just barely scraping his one wing before pulling away from it.</p>
<p>Smelling blood in the water, the Machine behind Gremlin attempted to take the smoking-but-still-moving vehicle out of the race. They attempted to just collide full-on into the back of Gremlin, in hopes of disabling the RIP Drive fully. Iceheart was already watching how much smoke was billowing out of his Machine, so he noticed the rev up to slam, and quickly shifted so the still-solid left side of his Machine took the brunt of the attack. The other vehicle's nose crunched in, and the pilot quickly back away; realizing their greedy mistake.</p>
<p>The Cardrissian finished 9th, with the barely-holding-together Gremlin closely following in 10th, and the nose-crunched vehicle in tow for the 11th position finish.</p>
<p>Back in 17th, Demarcus also tried a last-ditch effort to earn more Crits - and maybe steal a position - by slamming into the vehicle in front of him. The pilot was in a much faster Machine, however, and easily dodged as they took the final turn. The Slambulance bounced off of the Side, lost the other cow-splitter, and had its nose caved in a bit.</p>
<p>With the Slambulance now looking like it's fresh out of a demolition derby, the pilot in 18th attempted to overtake him. Demarcus wasn't about to lose more money by falling further back. Besides, he was liking the profit he was making with all of these slam attack photo-ops. He allowed the Machine to come up beside him, but then he rerouted some of his RIP Drive's power to his side; making it crackle with a lethal wave of electrified gravitrons. With a jerk, the Slambulance smacked hard into the side of the passing Machine; short-circuiting its RIP Drive. The opposing Machine instantly dropped the five feet Machines hover above the track, crashing onto said track for a second before the RIP Drive rebooted, and the Machine hovered back up to finish the race. That second-long shut-down was enough to drop it back into last place as the previous 19th-place holder zipped past.</p>
<p>Just as greedy as the former 18th place racer, the new pilot tried to use their last-minute burst of acceleration to try and pass the Slambulance. Their Machine was pretty banged up as well, however, and could only keep nose-to-nose with Slambulance. Meanwhile, the side of the Slambulance was still crackling with residual electrified gravitrons. It won't be enough to disable this opposing vehicle like it did with the previous one, but it might be enough to keep them at bay. Demarcus again crashed his Machine into the other. The Machine rattled and wobbled, slowly sliding back along the Slambulance, but it tried to keep pace. One last bump from Demarcus, and the challenging vehicle got shaken off like drops of water.</p>
<p>The Slambulance then passed the finish line in 17h with the 18th-place finisher right on his tail. The last place vehicle sped past a second later and the checkered flags finish waving. The race is over!</p>
<p>The race concluded, everyone was brought back to the hangar. AirJack, despite retiring before the start of the 3rd lap, was still cursing up a storm and throwing things. This wasn't the showing he wanted to present in one of his first-ever official RIP League races. Beyond frustrated, he started kicking at the Victory.</p>
<p>(Hubby joked that with only 1 integrity point left on the Victory, AirJack better be careful that kicking his Machine doesn't blow it up. I rolled to see if it would. Sadly, no. AirJack's kicks aren't that powerful, but there was probably a real chance there.)</p>
<p>As Demarcus climbed out of the Slambulance, he called over to AirJack. The rival racer growled back at Demarcus and started raging at him about the poor racing etiquette of purposefully driving so slow at the start of the race. Demarcus quipped back, "Thought you were good at this." AirJack replied that he is good, but the starting position lottery screwed him over by placing him in last place and behind the Slambulance. To which, Demarcus teased, "Oh! So you're only good when you're lucky?" Instead of replying verbally, AirJack picked up a wrench and hurled it at Demarcus, who easily ducked back into the Slambulance to avoid the hit. Laughing to himself, Demarcus finished pulling the Slambulance into his Machine's docking bay.</p>
<p>He now personally has a rivalry with any and all racers on the Gravity Blades team.</p>
<p>Jumping to the audience, Mevakor sprinted around all of the merchandise booths looking for anything and everything available for team Chaos Theory. One race, and the knowledge that his "smuggler friends" brought the Machines to Sonhandra (he doesn't know that the Stardancer crew IS Chaos Theory), is more than enough to solidify him as a hardcore fan.</p>
<p>The only real snafu with Mev being such a fan is that he was also whispering to anyone willing to listen, "And I know the guys that smuggled those Machines onto this planet, but I won't tell anyone because it's a SECRET! But I was on a smuggler's ship – DID I TELL YOU I WAS ON A SMUGGLER'S SHIP? - and they smuggled those Machines in, and it was FANTASTIC- I mean, I don't know anythiiiiiing.....”</p>
<p>Luckily, RIP racing isn't illegal, especially when the racers are official League members participating in official League races. So just about all of the audience members and merchandisers simply thought Mev was delusional and didn't really pay him much heed.</p>
<p>Thus endith our first session of <i>Scum and Villainy</i> with <i>Gravity RIP </i>added on for extra flavor.</p>
<p>Clearly recounting these races takes a lot more detail than I originally thought it would, so I'm going to hold off on describing the 2nd session. That can be next week's post.</p>
<p>Also, we held a session last night, and we'll have another one next week to make up for all of the missed ones we've had to do. So I'll have stories about the Stardancer crew for quite some time. Let me know what you guys think of these shenanigans below. Are you interested? Would you like me to talk about something else? Let me know.</p>
<p>In the meantime, I guess I'll catch you guys next week with more spacefaring shenanigans as the crew attempt to smuggle Ishi off of Sonhandra.</p>
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Scum and Villainy</i> rule book cover designed by art team:<br />
<b>Brett Barkley, Tomasso Renieri, Juan Ocha, </b><br />
<b>Michaela DeSacco, and Tazio Bettin</b><br />
(Cheesy Batman-series-joke edits by LycoRogue)</td>
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</table>LycoRoguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01064253326464685398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6675584297301734651.post-34780665679934416962021-08-24T12:00:00.003-04:002021-08-24T12:00:00.209-04:00And Thus the Tale of the Stardancer Crew Begins<p>Well, looks like my prediction that I would have to skip last week's post because of work proved correct. That's a bummer, because I started working on this post last Monday, in hopes that I'd get the post written before bed, edited before/during work, and published at some point last Tuesday. The fact that I missed that post update despite actually putting in the effort to get it done on time hurts a bit, especially after the weekend of the 13th. But I'll get to that in a minute.</p>
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Generated by <b>Bitmoji</b></td>
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<p>I said last update that I still had a large list of things I didn't get around to writing about before the post got overwhelming. I also said I had intended on continuing with that list this post.</p>
<p>Yeah.... I decided against that.</p>
<p>Most of it was centered on my writing (or... lack thereof, if I'm honest). I was going to talk about Plagg Appreciation Day on Friday the 13th, the first one since November. I was then going to talk about how - minus the plot points I'm coming up with for <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.evilhat.com/home/scum-and-villainy/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Scum and Villainy</a></i> - I haven't written anything in 3 months. Significantly fewer months than when I was in a dry spell leading into the last Plagg Appreciation Day, but still a painfully long time. That would have lead me to talk about the last story I did write, how popular it seems to be, and how that popularity appears to be largely due to <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/mostlovedgirl" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">MostLovedGirl</a> linking to my story <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30402459/chapters/74954490" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank" title="Remember That Time When...">at the end of her story</a> (which had inspired my story in the first place).</p>
<p>I'm still not entirely sure how to take those stats, though. Do I see it as proof that I am a good writer, and I'm only hidden in obscurity because there's such a large flood of stories that people just don't find my work in the first place? Probably. I'm sure all of you fine folks are sitting there screaming at your respective screens that is exactly the case.</p>
<p>Despite that, though, of course my mind made me equally wonder if the only reason the story gets the love it does is because MLG is promoting it, and because it's mostly based on her story. So people only really like it because it's her story still... just... zoomed in for a scene she didn't get into. A little less than a quarter of readers who have left kudos on both <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30868304" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Could Your Paradise Also Be Your Hell?</a></i> and <i>Remember That Time When... </i>(so, the best indication I have that they are readers coming from MLG's story) also left me kudos on my other stories. The number shrinks more if you take out those usernames I recognize as already being repeat readers of mine, and further still once you remove those who only left kudos on one other story other than CYPABYH. Even among those readers that left kudos only on my story, about 32% had either went on to leave kudos on at least one other story, or they were already readers of mine that already had.</p>
<p>Take the group as a whole, and just over a quarter of them - 26% - left me kudos on at least one other story of mine, most of those, though, were usernames I recognized as already had left me those kudos before I published CYPABYH.</p>
<p>In other words, my story didn't seem to get many people to go, "ooo. I have to check out more of her work!" So, if I'm honest, larger than a small part of me still believes that CYPABYH's popularity is very much because of the tie to MLG's story, and not because of its own merit.</p>
<p>I guess I'm stuck in this mindset because, with the rare exception (like, one or two people), no one seems to like my stories enough to suggest them to anyone else in the fandom. (Sorry, that sounds salty to my amazing readers. I promise I'm not hating on any of you or trying to guilt trip you into promoting my work for me. This is a "me" problem. I promise.) See, there are other stories that grab readers more intensely than mine seem to, and so whenever there's those "suggested reads" lists, there's a variety of other stories that pop up, but never mine. My stories - or even just me as an author - never seem to come to mind when someone is creating their "OMG you HAVE to read this story/author's works! It's/they're amazing!" list.</p>
<p>Similarly, I've had friends comment about reviews they've received, or I've seen these types of reviews myself on fanfics I enjoy, in which reviewers remark on how much the story personally affected them. The story saved them when they were in a terrible depression, or it helped them through a rough time in their life, or it's one of the most authentic historical stories they've read, or the story depicts mental health the most realistic, or the concept is the most unique plot, or an update was the greatest unintentional birthday gift they could receive. My stories don't get reviews like those.</p>
<p>People seem to enjoy my work well enough, and I do get the loveliest comments on them. Again, I don't mean to shade any of my readers or the love they HAVE showered on me. It means the world to me, and I routinely reread them to remind myself that my work is indeed enjoyed. I just don't know if any of my stories STICK with my readers. If my stories differentiate themselves from the rest of the pack enough. If I have readers who will reread my stories over and over and over again. If my stories have any sort of staying power.</p>
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I've tried backtracking this meme, but I can't find the original post.
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<p>Yes, I know, I know. I need to remember this meme, keep working hard, and have faith. Don't compare myself to others. Maybe my time to pop just hasn't happened yet. I just need to keep waiting. The hot oil might feel rough, and I may wonder if I'll always stay a shelled kernel, but I have to trust.</p>
<p>It's hard though. Despite reminding myself that perhaps I just haven't "popped" yet, I still wonder if I ever will. Am I destined to be one of those unpopped kernels left at the bottom of the bowl/bag? Will I EVER be able to hold my own - no promotions from an author of a well-loved fanfic - like so many other fanfic writers? Let alone if/when I eventually publish professionally? If I can't build a platform with free stories, how can I be sure that I'll get it once people have to pay for them?</p>
<p>I'm going on a bit of a spiral here - one that missing a blog post update, even when I prepared to have it done ahead of time, doesn't help - which is actually one of the main reasons I decided to scrap the rest of that bulleted list from two weeks ago.</p>
<p>Especially since I "failed" on Friday 13, so talking about my writing right now probably isn't the best idea.</p>
<p>Yes, I know that I'm the only one to look at not posting a new story on the 13th as a failure since there was no true obligation, and readers will appreciate any writing I post, once I do. However, I couldn't help but fall into a funk as the weekend came and went, and there was no new Plagg-centric story for Plagg Appreciation Day.</p>
<p>I started this little fandom tradition 2 years ago, and, until this month, I've hit all 4 Friday 13's since 2019. It's not like people follow me enough for this to ever be an actual fandom event like MariChat May or Love Square Fluff Week or Lukanette June, etc. Still, it would be fun if people did start joining in. And yet the creator of the event can't hit her own deadline of getting a Plagg-themed story done by Friday the 13th? Especially when she had 9 months to plan?</p>
<p>It hurt, to be honest. It still hurts. I know that no one else is mad or disappointed with me missing this deadline, but I'm just super angry with myself and my clogged up inspiration. Especially when I DID think of something, but I just couldn't figure out how to execute it.</p>
<p>Four false starts. FOUR. Within the span of about 72hrs. I started the story four different times; each time getting about a page or page-and-a-half in before realizing it either won't go anywhere or won't involve Plagg nearly as much as I was aiming for. (Yes, they are all saved in case I wanted to use them as jumping off points for other stories later.)</p>
<p>I just couldn't figure it out, and I still can't. I tried scrapping the whole idea I had come up with, since I clearly couldn't figure out how to execute it, but I couldn't think of anything else, even after spending hours looking up writing prompts.</p>
<p>Which is why I tend to not ask for writing prompts, or participate in many fan events like ship weeks. Prompts rarely work at actually inspiring me for a story. I can look at the prompt and go, "huh, that's a neat idea", but it's so painfully rare that they ever actually inspire a story.</p>
<p>So... uh... yeah. That was my week: try to come up with a Plagg-centric story for Friday 13, fail, spend a day flipping through prompts to try to come up with an alternate idea, fail again, spend the weekend depressed because of my "failure." Followed by this past week: try to recover from the weekend by working on this post so it can still go up on Tuesday, fail, figure I can work on it throughout the day Tuesday and just post it late, fail, become mentally exhausted from working every day for 9 days straight, slowly chip away at this post, ACTUALLY publish on my first day off since the 14th, feel a sigh of relief.</p>
<p>Oh, and also Hubby bought me a gift the weekend of the 13th to try to help cheer me up during my funk. Bless this glorious man and his huge heart.</p>
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My "cheer [LycoRogue] up" gift from Hubby. ❤
<br /><i>OK ORCHESTRA </i>by AJR</td>
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<p>Which brings us to right now, and why I'm switching gears again. I'm trying to put the Plagg Appreciation Day debacle behind me (although, not seeing a new story published in 2020 for that collection will always haunt me), and instead talk about the story I HAVE been able to build. Or, rather, the one I've built a foundation for as others co-wrote the main body of it.</p>
<p>We're moving into fun and happy territory, because it's <i>Scum and Villainy</i> story time!</p>
<p>Last Monday Hubby had to work a closing shift. Normally, we would be able to run a session without a player present, and come up with an excuse as to why their character wasn't involved in that job. That's one of the great things about the Forged in the Dark games. That way you don't have to worry about always having everyone available. Problem is, due to timing, the crew is technically still in the middle of a job, so it would be weird to have Hubby's character Quinton randomly vanish. Also, Hubby got off of work at 9:30pm (21:30), and that is normally smack dab in the middle of our session. It would be disrupting to pause the game so I could pick him up, and then for Quinton to randomly pop in for the remainder of the job (or Hubby to continue to miss out on the session despite now being home).</p>
<p>It just made sense to skip game again, but that also means... *drum roll* I still only have two sessions to tell you beautiful peeps about instead of three! Sadly, even THAT is a lot to tell in an already lengthy post (we did a LOT more than I gave our group credit). So this is going to have to be a multi-parter series. I have a head start already for part 2, plus I'm FINALLY getting back to my usual work schedule. I'm hoping both will help me hit my deadline next week. In the meantime though, we've got that first session to catch you up on.</p>
<p>Buckle up, peeps, because shenanigans ensued almost right out of the gate.</p>
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Credit to the <i>Scum and Villainy</i> art team:<br />
<b>Brett Barkley, Tomasso Renieri, Juan Ocha, Michaela DeSacco, and Tazio Bettin</b></td>
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<p>So, quick refresher:</p>
<p>The crew consists of Demarcus (I forgot to have Quarthix spell his last name out for me so I could read his handwriting), who was a mob doctor for the Borniko Syndicate. The players decided that Demarcus already had ownership of the Stardancer when he met up with his crewmates (by way of the Syndicate strongly suggesting he go with them). Despite Demarcus owning the ship, the de facto leader of the crew is Quinton Shrike, a member of a minor noble house. Quinton has the expensive habit of racing in the RIP races: high-octane hovercraft races at the speed of sound. Quinton was invited into the official RIP League, but could only do so with a team. Quinton met up with fellow RIP racer tI'kæl, a Memish princess and high priestess who is pretending she's on a religious pilgrimage so she could experience the rest of the galactic sector. During that meet-up, Quinton asked tI'kæl if she wanted to form a RIP team with him. She gladly agreed, but neither of them had the funds to do so. That's where Demarcus and the Borniko Syndicate come in. Demarcus is charged to show Quinton and tI'kæl the criminal ropes, as it were. The trio now use their services as smugglers to fund their RIP League team.</p>
<p>As the official game starts, the crew has picked up a few jobs offered by their reclusive info broker Magnilda "Maggie" Sanaas. One such job is to meet up with her contact Mino "Quirk" Zer on the crystal planet of Vos (nicknamed "Glimmer," similar to how we've nicknamed Mars "The Red Planet"). The crew are to smuggle some of the crystals off of Vos and deliver them to the Turner Society, who use these valuable crystals as a key component for their drugs (called Haze). Problem is, these crystals are highly valued by the Hegemony, and so Vos is heavily guarded and monitored to prevent any crystal theft.</p>
<p>The other job Maggie had for them was an escort mission. Her friend Ishi is a Xeno (re: non-human; alien) weapons dealer and designer who is in hiding on the night side of the tidal-locked planet of Sonhandra. Ishi has allies within the Maelstrom Pirates, who have a secret haven called The Cove, which is hidden within the in-system nebula the Ashtari Cloud. The Cloud causes standard navigation equipment to act up, making it nigh impossible to navigate within the Cloud without specific equipment the Maelstrom Pirates invented. Hoping this is the safest place to hide while on the lam, Ishi needs an escort to The Cove.</p>
<p>Since Vos and Sonhandra are in the same star system - Holt - and this is the system the crew wanted to start in, they figured it would be fairly easy to do both jobs at the same time. One of the Turner Society's three main headquarters happens to be in the Sonhandra capital of Ugar, and Maggie told the crew that Ishi was hidden just over a kilometer outside of Ugar. Easy peasy. They would pick up the crystals from Quirk on Vos, then head over to Sonhandra to drop them off with the Turner Society before picking up Ishi and heading to the neighboring Rin star system to drop Ishi off in The Cove.</p>
<p>The crew was able to make their way easily enough through Customs on the space station orbiting Vos and took a shuttle down to the crystal planet. Once there, they followed Maggie's instructions in order to meet up with Quirk. After proving they were the crew sent by Maggie for the Turner Society, Quirk handed over the crystals in a container roughly the same size and shape of an Igloo-brand 4qt mini cooler.</p>
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The actual case would look more futuristic,
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<p>Now the crew needed to figure out how to smuggle this container through Customs. They decided to try to find a "fellow tourist" to turn into their patsy. They figured they could stash some illicit drugs on the patsy, and while the 51st Legion was busy detaining the patsy, the crew could sneak through Customs with the box. Quinton also thought to line the top of the crystals with one of his fancy scarves and pile cheap but "suuuper pretty" souvenir crystals on top of the scarf. He hoped that if Customs still tried checking the box while the patsy was being arrested that they'd see the souvenir crystals, get distracted by the commotion (hoping the patsy would put up a big stink about how the drugs didn't belong to them), and hurry Quinton along. The other two would then make sure they didn't have anything illegal on them so they could quickly pass through Customs, and then off they would go.</p>
<p>Quinton purposefully picked the flashiest but cheap crystals he could find. "The more I look like the store keepers swindled me, the better. I want Customs to think I'm some rich idiot." Meanwhile, Demarcus and tI'kæl scouted for their fall guy. Soon enough, they found a man decked out in an overpriced get-up stylized to look like authentic Vosian garb while still horribly missing the mark.</p>
<p>Basically, he looked like a tourist walking through Texas while dressed like Lil Nas X from his "Old Town Road" music video.</p>
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<p>This guy was clearly an oblivious elitist, and he was loudly gloating about all the pretty crystals he just bought. While Quinton wanted to LOOK like a guy who would spend 3 Cred (about $30,000) on souvenir crystals, this guy clearly was gullible enough to ACTUALLY spend 3 Cred on this pile of crystals. The elitist was flanked by two hulking bodyguards, but they clearly cared the bare minimum required to be paid: is their boss alive and unharmed physically? Good enough. They didn't care if he was taken advantage of, as long as he had enough money left to keep paying them.</p>
<p>It kept a little schmoozing, but tI'kæl used her status as a Memish princess to get close to the guy and strike up a conversation with him. She talked to him about the beauty of Yuura, the frozen moon of Mem, and convinced him that he just HAD to go check it out. A bit more bullshitting, and tI'kæl convinced the patsy - Mevakor Nagan - that he HAD to see Yuura while it is at its peak in just two days (Mem is also in the Holt star system). Since she's Memish, she could escort him there to show it off.</p>
<p>While tI'kæl was schmoozing Mevakor (whom she nicknamed "Mev"), and convincing him that he desperately wants to leave his original travel plans on Vos and go to Mem within two days, Demarcus and Quinton managed to bump both bodyguards and spill Mev's two duffel bags' worth of crystals. The bodyguards manhandled Demarcus a bit to make sure the two guys weren't threats before Demarcus convinced the guards that the crew was harmless. As Demarcus talked his way out of the bumping, Quinton helped the other guard pick up his master's crystals, and slipped the hidden drugs in to the bags.</p>
<p>Everything in place, they headed to Customs. Quinton lined up to be the first through Customs, that way if things go awry, tI'kæl and Demarcus could drop their drugs in front of Mevakor's guards to draw attention to them and the drugs hidden within their bags. Luckily, Quinton was oozing charisma (and fake naiveté). He annoyed the Customs agent right out the gate by flashing his Starsmiths Guild badge, because that simple move kinda-sorta warned the agent that, as a Guild member, he's fairly untouchable. Quinton then went extremely over-the-top with his excitement over the crystals he just bought from the tourist market, even offering to pick some of the crystals out of the box to show off how pretty they were. The agent did note that the scarf was hiding something below it, but was already exasperated enough by Quinton that he just waved him through, assuming it was more worthless crystals and the scarf was just woven through multiple layers to (needlessly) protect them.</p>
<p>No longer needing a patsy, the crew gladly brought Mevakor and his bodyguards along to use as potential future fall guys, should someone stop their ship prior to delivering the crystals to the Turner Society. TI'kæl even offered to show off her carving ritual to Mev while on their way to Mem - with a quick pitstop to refuel on Sonhandra, of course. Problem was, tI'kæl got so attached to Mevakor, that she became a touch loose-lipped, and let it slip that they were professional smugglers. She didn't let Mev know WHAT they were currently smuggling, but didn't even consider secrecy at the time, especially because nearly everything she told Mev seemed so new and exciting for him. Giddy about being on a real life smugglers' ship (no one in his Bridge Club would ever believe he actually rode with criminals!!!!), he began wandering the ship. He didn't find the crystals, but he did find the trio's tank-sized RIP Machines (the vehicles they race) in the hangar.</p>
<p>Upon arriving in Ugar on Sonhandra, Mev and his two bodyguards broke off to hit up the city's famous auction house while the crew did whatever "maintenance" they needed. That was when the trio headed towards Wildside, a society house on Sonhandra that the Turner Society runs as a secret drug den. Upon arriving, they were quickly blocked by the bouncers there. The crew didn't resemble their typical clientele (although Demarcus always dresses to the nines; Quinton is a minor noble, dressed "fancy"; and tI'kæl is a literal princess). Quinton demanded they speak to a higher-up, and one of the bouncers went to fetch someone. Meanwhile, the crew briefly discussed the possibility of selling the crystals to jeweler Yola Sprekk. She would easily match the Turner Society's price for the crystals. Demarcus quickly shut the idea down though. The Turner Society was one of the largest drug cartels in the sector, and, as a drug connoisseur himself, Demarcus didn't want to piss off the Society by selling their crystals to someone else (he didn't want to be cut off when instead he could maybe win favor and possibly some discounted/free drugs).</p>
<p>While the crew was waiting to be let in, a couple of waifs were wandering the street and pickpocketing others in the crowd. The crew spotted this fairly easily, and Demarcus tried to deter the kids by pulling out his gun. While intimidated enough to avoid the trio, the waifs still picked up a couple of small stones and pelted them at the back of Demarcus' head to try to still act tough. Pissed off now, Demarcus fired off a warning shot to scare the kids. It worked. Sorta. He was too mad, and fired off the warning shot too quickly. He didn't really aim ahead of time, plus he didn't properly prepare his arm to handle the kickback like he normally would. The shot went stray, and ended up going through a storefront window, killing the shopkeeper inside with a clean headshot.</p>
<p>Sonhandra is fairly use to violent and/or criminal behavior, and most things are fair game. However, the local authorities still rushed in to see if this was going to explode into a turf war. Demarcus quickly sidestepped his crewmates and casually started walking away (to try to not draw attention to him). Problem is, he started walking before his coat fully had the gun hidden again (he needed a minute for the gun barrel to cool without burning his coat), and a local spotted it. He was excited by the model and started calling out to Demarcus, wondering where he got the gun and shouting the make and model across the street. Nervous that the authorities were going to find him due to this loud mouth, Demarcus ended up selling the guy the gun (since he seemed to like it so much). It was a decent price, but still massively below market value. Demarcus then proceeded to casually wander Ugar to try to not draw any further attention. In the end, he ended up getting horribly lost.</p>
<p>Back in front of Wildside, the one bouncer that went to fetch a higher-up returned and whispered something to the other guard. With the "trouble maker" Demarus no longer with the other two, they're finally allowed inside and escorted to a sort of waiting lounge; not quite in the society house proper, but off the street at least. There, they are greeted by a minor noble named Vallis. She's long, lanky, and skeletally skinny with drawn skin, but there's also an elegance about her that comes exclusively from the way she does her hair and the clothing and jewelry she wears; much like the stereotypical skeletal supermodel.</p>
<p>Not to call this model out or anything, but think Anja Rubik back during 2012's Fall/Winter Paris Fashion Week.</p>
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<a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.famousfix.com/post/anja-rubik-walks-the-runway-for-the-lanvin-ready-to-wear-fall-winter-2012-show-18515549" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">
<span face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; text-align: start;">The Lanvin Ready-To-Wear runway during Paris Fashion Week
<br />at Halle Freyssinet on March 2, 2012 in Paris, France.</span>
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<span face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; text-align: start;">(March 1, 2012 - Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images Europe)</span>
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<p>Quinton does know of Vallis, and knows that she's worked with his noble friend and pseudo-lord Lang. The two have never personally met, though. Quinton still took point as he let her know that they had a package from Quirk, and showed her the box Quirk gave them (Quinton had left the worthless crystals on the Stardancer). Vallis has a single, exceptionally long and acrylic-like reinforced index nail. She picked up one of the crystals, and ran her nail along the full length. As she did, the crystal hummed and glowed, and tI'kæl sensed the mystical force of The Way resonating around them. Finding her proof that these are genuine - and high quality - Vosian crystals, Vallis became giddy, quickly paid Quinton and tI'kæl, and gleefully whisked the crystals away to a back room somewhere in the society house. As she headed out of the waiting room, Vallis told the duo that they would still have to pay like normal customers, but they were welcome to partake in the society house while there.</p>
<p>They opted to instead find their captain, who was still wandering Ugar somewhere. Actually, somehow, someway, Demarcus wandered OUTSIDE of the city of Ugar and into the desert-like sun side of Sonhandra. Quinton and tI'kæl made it back to the Stardancer, grabbed their land transports, and headed out to try to collect Demarcus from the sun side.</p>
<p>Breaking out of narration, this is the part of the gameplay (e.g. the part of closing out a job) where we sort out XP and complications to lead into the next job. One such complication was that the crew has a job with the Borniko Syndicate that they HAVE to do. The crew also built up 3 Heat in the Holt system, and earned 5 Cred (~$50,000) for the job. Quinton also purchased 2 Volts during some of his downtime while the other 2 spent their downtime training (leveling up character stats).</p>
<p>Before moving on to pick up Ishi, the crew heard of a RIP League race right there on Sonhandra scheduled for later that day, so they signed up. Meanwhile, Mevakor also heard about the RIP race. He knew he saw RIP Machines in the hull of the Stardancer, and was excited to see which team the crew "smuggled" them for, so he had his bodyguards escort him to the track on the day side of the planet.</p>
<p>That is where we're going to stop this week. Next post I'll talk about the RIP race, and maybe talk about the Ishi escort mission that started in our second session (the one where we were also socializing/watching Odin the kitten). We'll see how long describing the race runs me.</p><p>Thank you so much for sitting through my whining at the top of the post, and I hope getting to read the <i>Scum and Villainy</i> storyline was a nice palate cleanser. A much more pleasant way to send you back to the rest of your day.</p>
<p>One of these days I'll get back to putting this info on my <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.worldanvil.com/w/procyon-sector-28scum-and-villainy-campaign29-lycorogue" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">World Anvil story "wiki"</a> so it won't "clog up" my blog (because someday I'll actually talk about my fiction writing again here.... right?). In the meantime, though, I'll keep letting you fine folks in on the storyline here.</p>
<p>So, catch everyone next week!</p>
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Scum and Villainy</i> rule book cover designed by art team:<br />
<b>Brett Barkley, Tomasso Renieri, Juan Ocha, </b><br />
<b>Michaela DeSacco, and Tazio Bettin</b><br />
(Cheesy Batman-series-joke edits by LycoRogue)</td>
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</table>LycoRoguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01064253326464685398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6675584297301734651.post-65222326462123803232021-08-10T14:16:00.004-04:002023-02-14T08:52:00.711-05:00Holy Smokes! Let's Recap July!<p>Whew! That... was a LOOOOONG week, huh?</p>
<p>What? What do you mean, "It's August"!? *checks calendar*</p>
<p>HOLY SMOKES, I COMPLETELY MISSED UPDATING IN JULY!!!! Well, in that case...</p>
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<p>July just kind of blipped by for me. Sorry about that, folks. Let's see, the last time we chatted I was visiting my mom and sister. The trip was far too short, but it was very nice. After being together for 18 years, I FINALLY managed to take my husband to the <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.ritasice.com/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Rita's Italian Ice</a></i> stand RIGHT ON MAIN STREET OF MY HOMETOWN. I must have told him nearly every summer that we need to take him, and yet we always forgot. WELL NO MORE!</p>
<p>If you're from an area where you have no clue what I'm talking about, Rita's is a big <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_ice" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Italian ice</a> (or... I guess... "water ice" if you're from Philly...) restaurant chain in Pennsylvania. It's so big that they sell their brand of Italian ice in most PA grocery stores - at least, eastern PA grocery stores - and I grew up just assuming they were a national chain. Then I left PA and quickly discovered that Rita's apparently isn't so well-known outside my home state.</p>
<p>They specialize in Italian ice (obviously) and frozen custards. I personally love their gelati (specifically with their mango ice), which is a parfait-like layering of custard and ice.</p>
<p>Oh man. I made myself hungry. I should move on before I start drooling.</p>
<p>After the visit with the family, we finally managed our first real big hang with our local Beardy Man Wolfhearted. Now that we're all fully vaccinated we couldn't wait to hang for a significant amount of time for the first time in over a year. We brought up a small box of residentially-safe fireworks to set off on his lakeside dock and had a mini barbeque. We proceeded to kidnap him for the night and spent some of Independence Day itself with him at our place before Hubby had to go to work and I brought Wolfhearted home. It was nice to go from "I've barely seen you in 15 months!" to "We've hung out for nearly 24hrs straight!"</p>
<p>Independence Day was my only day off that week as my manager took some vacation time to visit her daughter, son-in-law, and her newborn grandson. It had been barely two weeks since she first visited to meet the grandson, and she was already whining that it's been "too long." Guess it's a good thing that her daughter is now about a 2hr drive away from her, as opposed to still being about 10hrs away! I'm fully expecting my mom to be the same way if/when Hubby and I have our first.</p>
<p>So, I hosted the first game of <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.evilhat.com/home/scum-and-villainy/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Scum and Villainy</a></i> the day after a 24hr hang-out with Wolfhearted, and then the following day continued an 8-day work stint as my manager took her vacation. I had completely forgotten about this vacation (and my subsequent work schedule) when I last posted, otherwise I would have warned you fine folks that I would be too busy to have worked on my post. Sorry about that.</p>
<p>My first day off since Independence Day happened to be the anniversary of <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.twitch.tv/aurora_morgen" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Rozsavaria's</a> sister's death, so Hubby and I spent most of the day hanging with her. We spent far too long playing the Pokémon board game <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_Master_Trainer_(1999)" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Master Trainer</a></i> that came out in 1999. It was a blast though. And check out all the pokémon friends I was able to collect!</p>
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<p>Call me James, because most of those pokémon just joined my team of their own volition (also, because a lot of the pokémon I had throughout the game were James' at one point in the series). See, in the game there are these cards you could draw that allow you an advantage. Things like healing potions or extra battle points for when you're dueling with someone. There's also cards that tell you to just straight up pick up a pokémon that's unclaimed on the board. I got that one a LOT. I also, surprisingly enough, considering how much dice don't seem to like me, never lost a single match the whole game. I could have easily ended it about 15min into playing. Instead, I decided I wanted to collect ALL THE POKEMON! (That is the goal, is it not?) In the end - and about THREE HOURS LATER - Hubby beat the Elite Four and won the game. Still, in my heart I was the true winner since I had the most pokémon.</p>
<p>Before hanging with Roz, however, Hubby and I did something we've wanted to do for MOOOOONTHS. We were fully vaccinated. My mother had a chance to see my mid-back-length hair. Hubby and I had a day off together. We practically SPRINTED to the local hair salon and chopped all of our "quarantine hair" off! Both of us lost at least a foot of hair, but I think it was closer to 15 inches (38cm) for both of us!</p>
<p>Behold: the New Me!</p>
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Generated by <b>Bitmoji</b></td>
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<p>I'll be frank, my hair should look about 3x as full and fluffy as that Bitmoji (I have SO. MUCH. HAIR!), but that IS the closest to my hair style I was able to find. So... Hello! I'm going to go back to my LycoRogue persona now....</p>
<p>My second day off that week was spent playing catch-up on cleaning and errands. Also, some recovery from the hang-out with Roz the night before. Then it was right back into the grind for another 7 straight days. I had shifted my days off to bookend my birthday for my mom's trip up to see me, which meant I yet again didn't have my normal Tuesday off.</p>
<p>The last day I had before hitting 37 was spent with last-minute cleaning. All. Day.</p>
<p>On my birthday itself, Hubby made me breakfast, and we cuddled a bit and just relaxed. Then Mom arrived and we hung out for a bit. I opened presents and Hubby took us out to eat. There's still a lot of local restaurants we haven't hit up, so we started to remedy that on my birthday. It was a nice little restaurant/gift shop. We had fun going through the gift shop section while waiting for our food, then we brought it home to eat. We hung out a bit more, and then Hubby headed out for an event he had been excited about for months (and then felt guilty that it landed on my birthday, but I told him to go). Mom then gave me her true birthday gift: helping me destress by helping me organize yet again.</p>
<p>While Hubby was at his event, Mom and I hit up Walmart to get some supplies, and then we got to work. We have a closed-in back porch that we share with our landlady, and has the inside stairs to the upstairs apartments. We get a little corner of the porch to do with as we wish. If we really wanted, we could set up chairs back there and just hang. However, since it's not as private as our front porch, it's mostly used for storage. However, how we were storing things wasn't working for me, so Mom helped me start from scratch. The next day our pursuit continued as we moved to the garage to reorganize that as well. I'm shocked with how much we threw out and how much room we have now!</p>
<p>It was a LOT of hard work, and I was almost glad to go back to work the next day so I could relax, but it truly did help me start of my new year of life on the right foot. Took a lot of weight off and almost instantly improved my mental health a LOOOT. I'm not fully back to how I was a few years ago, but I'm definitely in a much better spot.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the Sunday after my birthday I didn't get MUCH rest outside of work, as I had intended. I also couldn't "relax" much at work since I had to actually do my job the whole time! I know, right!?</p>
<p>But why couldn't I rest even OUTSIDE of work? Well, on the 25th <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://dragnime.tumblr.com/" line-height:="" normal="normal" omnibladestrike="" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank" title="”AKA">Dragnime</a> and his fiancé headed off on a 2-week roadtrip. Some time to bond, get out of their apartment, and take her back to her home state for the first time in nearly a year. They proceeded to pack her up so she could officially move in with him (instead of just staying put because of the pandemic worsening in her home state), and the two made it back home safe and sound about midnight on August 7th.</p>
<p>What does this have to do with me and my frantic July? Well. At the end of May they adopted this adorable little fuzzball.</p>
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<p>I was asked to feed and socialize this adorable hellion while Dragnime and his fiancé were out of town. It was a bit tricky at first to try to sort out how to feed a cat that was in a different home before going to work, and then finding time to feed said cat again post-work. Especially since we also spent at least an hour with him per feeding so he wouldn't get lonely. In the end, we ended up spending up to FIVE HOURS over at Dragnime's place just hanging out with his kitten post-dinner (we'd bring our own dinner over to his place to eat there).</p>
<p>But how can you say goodbye to this face!?</p>
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<p>Excuse the blurriness of the photo, this fur-covered ball of energy wouldn't sit still long enough for pictures.</p>
<p>So, completely unexpectedly, the majority of my non-sleeping, not-working hours were spent at my friend's apartment, playing with his kitten. I would steal away some time to do a little bit on my laptop, but this little stinker wouldn't allow you to just sit still while he was around. He was constantly in the mood to play, and I was more than happy to oblige.</p>
<p>Clearly Hubby and I need a pet, but we also need a home that allows pets first....</p>
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<p>My next day off - July 27th - Hubby and I did our normal errands during my usual work hours since the kitten would expect to be alone during those hours anyway. However, I DID make the mistake of trying to sort out our laundry while feeding the kitten breakfast. I forgot how much cats will not leave laundry alone.... Nothing was damaged, but it certainly took WAY longer than expected as Hubby kept pulling the cat back out of our laundry basket. The focus on the kitten did mean I didn't even THINK about my blog post that week, however.</p>
<p>Fast forward to Saturday and Sunday, where I had a random weekend off. Same deal as Tuesday: when I would normally be at work, I was away from kitten-sitting to do my own errands. One such errand was hanging out with Hubby and Roz on Saturday. We had been talking for MONTHS now about getting Hubby a focus stone to wear and help him realign his energies/aura. We finally managed the trip to do precisely that. The one he picked out is amazing! It's like he has the night sky trapped inside his stone! So pretty!</p>
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<p>It's a blue goldstone. It's supposed to be a pendulum, but it just kept calling out to Hubby, and he's a large enough guy that the pendulum cut actually doesn't look too big on him as a necklace. We then hit up a craft store to get cording for his necklace. Hubby picked out the colors, I did the braiding, and Roz put it together as a necklace for him. She even put a lobster clasp on the stone's chain itself so he can then reattach it to the original pendulum chain if he ever wished to use it for the original purpose again. Also, if he ever wanted to switch out the necklace he wore it with, he can do so easily. I really love the idea of that clasp there for him. And he has seemed a bit happier ever since buying that stone for him. Even if it's not blessed yet to be that focus stone he needs, at least how pretty the stone is brings him joy.</p>
<p>So... uh... yeah! That was my July in a nutshell. The Tuesdays I'd normally publish were instead taken up by: work, errands and spending time with a grieving friend, work, and kitten-sitting/errand catch-up.</p>
<p>I didn't really do much of anything creative throughout July anyway. I was so stressed between work and cleaning for my mother's visit that I didn't really think of my blog. I didn't write anything. I didn't even host more than that first session of <i>Scum and Villainy</i>.</p>
<p>I loved the idea of recording our session and then transcribing the tape so we'd always have the actual events of the evening on record. A way to go back and refresh before a session, or a way to look back in future years to relive the game.</p>
<p>Problem is, the only time I had to transcribe anything - as you saw above - would have been at work. And work decided it didn't want to cooperate. Either insanity ensued, and there was no downtime at work to do anything. Or there was too little downtime for me to get anything accomplished. Then there was the third option: I felt awkward doing so.</p>
<p>Right around the start of July, our work radio called it quits. Technically, the receiver itself was fine, but it was too old and the internet radio provider the store owners use no longer supported that receiver. Cellphone carriers pull the same BS to force people to upgrade to a new phone even if the one they've had for 5+ years is still perfectly fine. How are these companies going to make money off of us if we hold on to old technology as long as it still works, and the darn things don't break like they're "supposed" to?!</p>
<p>So, anyway, we were without music at work while we were waiting for a new receiver to even be in stock! Yup! The provider had apparently sent out a warning in November that all of their older receivers would lose service by the end of June 2021, and yet the owners never alerted us (maybe didn't even read the notice), nor did they order a new receiver before ours became obsolete. Clearly they weren't the only ones, so the company was temporarily sold out. We FINALLY got our receiver yesterday, and it's awesome to have background music again! But that was a solid month of stone silence at work.</p>
<p>Personally, it didn't matter to me. I'm fine with silence as long as there's SOME ambient noise, such as the AC blowing or the printer or elevator resetting themselves. The sound of quiet typing on a keyboard also works. There's always something to keep my mind juuuuuuust occupied enough to not be bothered by silence. I also frequently play music in my head anyway.</p>
<p>My coworkers, on the other hand.... They couldn't really handle the quiet, and so if I just sat at my desk for hours on end typing away without interacting with them at all during our slow periods just felt.... awkward. So I usually filled the downtime chatting with them instead. It was nice, and I really enjoy chatting with my newest coworker; get to know her. However, it also means even less time to work on transcribing the SaV session, let alone prepare for the next one.</p>
<p>There was also the insidious 4th reason why transcriptions of the game didn't happen like I wanted. There were days where I worked with my manager, and she was with a customer while I had nothing else to do. I had downtime. I was alone in the office, so I didn't have to feel awkward about not talking with anyone. I just.... didn't have the mental energy. So instead I'd do some relatively mindless tasks.</p>
<p>One such task was finally starting up a <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="http://www.spotify.com" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Spotify</a> account. I figured I could create a 10hr or so playlist of work-appropriate music that we could listen to while waiting for our new radio to come in. I spent DAYS putting this thing together, trying to find music I'd like, my coworkers would like, and the owners wouldn't mind playing in their store. In the end, I only managed about 9hrs of music before calling it good enough and waving the white flag. Only to then realize that none of the work computers were powerful enough to consistently play music off them all day, and if I played the music off my netbook loud enough that my coworkers could hear it in the office, it would practically blow out my eardrums. I had no way of broadcasting the playlist.... whoops.</p>
<p>While I was on Spotify anyway, I started transferring my music playlists from YouTube over to an actual site intended for music play. So that took up a lot of other mindless-task time. One such playlist, though, was the one I put together for <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://theroguesscribe.blogspot.com/search/label/Jolene" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Jolene</a> back when I was still playing as her and then writing about her during <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="http://www.nanowrimo.org/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank" title="National Novel Writing Month">NaNoWriMo</a>.</p>
<p>Lately <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.fanfiction.net/u/3485794/Taurus-Pixie" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Taurus Pixie</a> has been posting her story playlists to her blog. Lists of songs she listens to that help inspire her for that particular story. As I started to transfer over my Jolene playlist - and as I found more songs I wanted to add to it while listening to the radio in my car - I remembered Pixie's playlists. I was struck with a drive to refine Jolene's playlist. It was no longer just a collection of songs that inspire me while writing about her, it was now an organized story in playlist form. Kept me a few days, but I'm happy with how it turned out.</p>
<p>There's still some blank spots where I haven't found the perfect song yet, and there's about 5 Dua Lipa songs tagged on to the end of the playlist that I would like to use, but I'm not sure what part of Jolene's story they would relate to. Other than those two hiccups, I think this is pretty set.</p>
<p>You can find the Spotify playlist here: <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3k4sxp9mNT065qWN2eoRR8?si=bf70f75e27f74bc1" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Jolene</a></p>
<p>To understand why I picked the songs I did, and how it relates to Jolene's overall story, I explained that in this Google Doc. It's a bulleted list of the 50+ songs I used and a short description of what part of Jolene's overall story that song covers. <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/17ifFb8pVUZC2pCTVfKK3ErEZsXF6FdE0TiMVfCeHXb8/edit?usp=sharing" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Jolene's Story in Playlist Form</a></p>
<p>Focusing on Jolene's playlist also sent me down a different rabbit hole: artist tracking. Up until a few years ago, I would regularly find images I liked on Google Images or Pinterest and save them to my computer without a care of noting who the artist was. It would be for my own private purposes, so it didn't seem to matter.</p>
<p>Then, a couple of years ago, I wanted to post images of Jolene to Tumblr, only to realize how scummy it was that I couldn't credit the artist of the original image I had doctored. It kept me until earlier this year - just this summer, actually - to track down who originally drew the woman I doctored for my main image of Jolene. Now that I was working on Jolene's story again - via building a playlist - I realized I needed to do the same thing with the images I chose for Jolene's paramours. I had all of these images saved, but no clue who the original artists were.</p>
<p>You know how I mentioned before that I would sometimes hop on my laptop while watching the kitten? Well, this was largely what I was doing. I still don't have all of the images tracked, but I did find a lot of the original artists.</p>
<p><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="http://artstation.com" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">ArtStation</a> is a beautiful place.</p>
<p>I now make sure that if I like an image, even if I THINK I'm only going to keep it for my own enjoyment, I don't download the image unless I know the artist, and I credit said artist - and where the image was uploaded - in my titling of the image. That way I have all of the proper info to then slap on a watermark of the artist's name and a link back to their original art posting, should I ever repost somewhere. I know reposting at all isn't cool, even when crediting the artist like this. However, when I want to share something to this blog, for instance, I'd hate to not be able to properly explain myself simply because the artist might not even acknowledge my request to repost with credits. So, this is my backup plan. This also allows me the happy medium option of not actually reposting the image, but instead dropping a hotlink to the image on the artist's page.</p>
<p>For instance, <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.deviantart.com/tahra/art/character-study02-294658617" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">here's the link to the image I had saved for Jolene's stalker Orick Kodgin</a>.</p>
<p>I have to say, it is SOOOO annoying that it feels like at least 80% of all image searches land on uncredited reposts to Pinterest (most sites now have a "share to Pinterest" option so the artist is still credited!!!!), another 5% are Wattpad, and another 5% to 10% (depending on the image) direct you to AminoApps. Lord bless the artists who post to ArtStation, because I know if I find a link to that site I'll get proper artist crediting; that the artist themselves posted it there. Tumblr is usually good at either bringing me to the artist themselves or dropping a link to them. DeviantArt would also be good, but so few artists actually use it anymore. Twitter is hit-or-miss as to whether or not the poster is the actual artist, and so I usually have to do further research to confirm. Let me tell you how much fun THAT is when the posts aren't in English..... I hate being monolingual.</p>
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<p>That's what I spent the time watching the kitten doing, mostly: tracking down the artists of the images I already have saved to my computer. That, and putting Jolene's playlist together. The week leading up to my birthday was Playlist Week, as well as going back onto <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="http://Picrew.me" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Picrew.me</a>. I tried out a few new makers, and I went back to makers I had already used in order to start making Chayse and Ripley whenever possible, since I didn't think of building them originally.</p>
<p>I also spent two or three days gathering up all of the Picrew images I had built over the past few months, and putting them together in a single FB album, instead of just various threads on my page. That way it would be easier to find them and go back through them. Problem there is that I didn't have ALL of the images on one laptop. Some were on my netbook I take to work, and others were on my main laptop at home. As I put the album together I figured I'd use the other laptop at some point to put in the images I was missing. It wasn't until I finished putting an album of over 100 images together did I find out that Facebook no longer allows you to move images around inside an album after it's been published! I used to be able to do that! You can still rearrange the new images when you batch-upload them, but once they're officially published to the album, that's it. No rearranging. So I couldn't just insert the images I missed because they were on the other laptop.</p>
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<p>I didn't have the mental energy to keep going at that point. So now I'm slowly going back through the makers I previously used, make sure I have built every character I'd want to try building with that maker so I can upload all of them together, and then I'll eventually redo that Picrew album. I might also build the album on <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="http://flickr.com" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Flickr</a>, or some sort of public album like that, so I can then share all of the images with you wonderful peeps.</p>
<p>HAHA. This is when I create a Pinterest just to post the Picrew images; credits fully included??? Lord, I hate that site, but that might actually be the best option. I'm open to suggestions of alternate sites in the comments here.</p>
<p>So, yeah, all of that was what I was doing instead of transcribing the recording I made of the first game. To be fair, I DID transcribe the RIP Racing portion we finished the session with (that was the side of the tape still in the recorder). It kept me the better part of a week (see earlier about not having much downtime at work), and that alone was so exhausting. Especially since I had screwed up where the players and NPCs were on the race track a couple of times, so what I canonically said in-game vs what should have happened if I had counted properly was a fun thing to try to juggle in my transcription notes.</p>
<p>Transcribing the SaV gameplay, however, should go smoother since it's a lot of broad description I can then sum up, and a bunch of out-of-character (OOC) discussion among the players as we all tried to get a feel for the game. Unfortunately, with how exhausting the RIP portion was, by the time I was ready to work on transcribing the SaV portion I was mentally burnt out and decided to focus on Picrew and Spotify instead.</p>
<p>I was also MAJORLY stressing. I had the one tape. I didn't want to buy more tapes or a digital recorder in case I was getting either of those for my birthday within the fortnight. I didn't finish transcribing, so my goal to keep recordings/transcriptions of the game was quickly vanishing in front of my eyes (either I would have to record over the 1st session or I wouldn't be able to record the 2nd). I was so focused on transcribing the old session that I didn't even THINK of coming up with game plot-points for the next session.</p>
<p>Thanks to an in-game, post-job entanglement (I'll explain those more in a future blog post when I actually talk about the SaV story thus far), I knew that the crew had a mandatory job from the Borniko Syndicate, but I had no clue what that job would be. I also knew the next job they had lined up was an escort mission for their informant Maggie's friend Ishi. Ishi needed off the night side of the tidal-locked planet of Sonhandra, then smuggled to the neighboring star system of Rin, and escorted into the astral cloud there in order to find haven with the Maelstrom Pirates within The Cove. I had all of that sorted out before session 1, but the crew ran out of time to get to that job before it got too late. We had dog-eared it to start the next session with, but I didn't think of anything new.</p>
<p>What would be their complications with getting to Ishi? What could I provide the players to help them overcome it? What complications would there be with getting Ishi off-planet? What about smuggling him out of the star system? What does crossing star systems even entail? The game says systems are linked via Jump Gates, but what does that mean? How do they work? Are there traffic check-points where authorities might check out ships trying to travel between systems? Would there be such a check-point specifically because they triggered something that would put the authorities on high alert? What kind of complications would there be for the crew as they try to navigate the astral cloud? The book says it's nigh impossible to navigate the cloud without specific equipment, which is why the pirates are able to seek sanctuary there; they were able to build the equipment needed. Could I hint at a way for the crew to get the equipment? Or a way for Hubby's character Quinton to build it himself? Or a way for the crew to pass Ishi off to the pirates outside of the cloud? I also put a bounty on Ishi's head. How hard should I come at the crew with bounty hunters? Is there a way they would know the crew has Ishi? What about tempting the crew to just turn him in for the bounty? How would Maggie react if the crew betrayed her friend like that? How would the pirates react to the crew handing Ishi to them for protection?</p>
<p>As you can see, there's a LOT that I wanted to figure out before we got to the next session (let alone, ya know, the mandatory Borniko job). On top of ALL of that, I also needed to come up with a hook for the next RIP race: how did things evolve within the League after the crew's first race? What objective would they be tasked with this time? Would they have an objective other than winning? Quarthix's didn't quite understand how valuable Volts would be in the game, and how many you would need to repair your RIP Machine post-race, so he wasn't able to FULLY fix his vehicle before we closed out the session. Do I find a way of providing him more Volts so it's easier for him to repair his Machine, and therefore encourage his gameplay of smashing as many things as possible?</p>
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<p>Only one game session in, and being the Game Master quickly went from exciting to overwhelming. Especially since I'm still trash at improv, so coming up with these complications and answers on the fly just wasn't going to work for me.</p>
<p>Oh, yeah, and our place was horribly neglected because of how much I had been working, AND my mother was visiting for my birthday, so I was stressed about that and scrambling to at least clean it enough for the poor woman to have somewhere to sleep when she stayed the night!</p>
<p>Hubby quickly pulled the plug and let the other two players know that we'd be cancelling our second July game; we'd try again in August. That was a huge load off. Plus, that means me missing my July blog posts didn't put you fine folks too far behind on the overall story going on with the game. I'll definitely have to dedicate a post to what's been going on.</p>
<p>All set to host game again the first Monday of August, I forgot I was watching this little attention-seeker still.</p>
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<p>(Okay, he's not nearly this big yet, but he IS very long, so close enough!)</p>
<p>Dragnime and his fiancé thankfully allowed me and Hubby to host game night at their place so we could still kitten-sit without cancelling again. It was a fun experience, although the energy-ball-on-legs wasn't the biggest fan of there being four people in the apartment and NO ONE paying attention to HIM. So he frequently invaded the table to make sure he wasn't forgotten. Certainly made for an interesting night. Also, it meant getting through the Ishi escort mission took a bit longer than intended. The crew technically hasn't finished it, although they did close out another story arc, and they did get their mandatory job from the Borniko (I figured out what the job is! Yay!). So I'm actually pretty set for the next session on Monday since we didn't go through everything I had planned!</p>
<p>So, uh, thank you, kitten!</p>
<p>I ended up not getting a digital recorder or more micro-cassette tapes for my birthday, but Roz DID get me an Amazon gift card, so it's LIKE she bought those for me! Yes, I did end up buying both. That way, if the digital recorder glitches, I still have the analog version as back-up. That is, unless we're over 3hrs into the session before I realize I've forgotten to flip the tape when the one side ran out. Whoops....</p>
<p>I also tested it out, and the digital recorder is good enough to clearly pick up the audio from me playing back the tape recorder. So now the first game session has a digital copy, along with the 2nd session! I can just store these digital copies instead of worrying about transcriptions, and I can transcribe later if I wish! Another huge load off! I also have a dozen micro-cassettes now, so I can also have a bunch of analog back-ups to start us off.</p>
<p>So much good stuff the past two weeks!</p><p>All of that helping me keep the SaV game manageable. Plus a more organized storage at my home. And a slightly happier and healthier husband thanks to the new focus stone necklace. Also, my mom getting me one of those fitness watches, so I can start keeping better track of my own health. Add in that we have a functioning radio at work again, and we found an awesome station yesterday; probably the best option we've found since I started working there. It's upbeat music spanning 80s all the way up to today, but still "work appropriate." No more sleepy, depressing 70s and 80s "easy listening" music!</p>
<p>On top of all that, my hair had a month to grow out. I always love a freshly chopped off hair style the first week or so, but then it gets a bit unrulily as it grows out because it no longer has the weight of being long, and it just poofs out ridiculously. My favorite time is about a month after getting my hair cut because it's still short, but it's just weighed down enough to be manageable again.</p><p>I do have to admit, though, that my sister-in-law did just gift me curl-defining hair products to help with the freshly-cut poofiness. I have wavy/curly hair, but my loose curls are only well-defined when wet. Once my hair dries out it just becomes a rat's nest of poof and frizz, which is why I tend to just blow-dry my hair straight or go at it with a flat iron. That's also why I like my hair a bit longer so the natural weight of it pulls it straight. </p><p>Well, between the new hair products, and my hair now being long enough that it's easier to pull it back into a ponytail again, I have somehow been blessed to avoid bad hair days just about every day since the cut. Yeah! This whole time! Even with the high humidity and near-constant rain.</p>
<p>The Delta variant of COVID is quite scary, and Hubby and I are back to wearing masks nearly every time we step foot outside, despite us both being fully vaccinated. Ignoring that terror in our lives, however, it seems like being 37 more-or-less suits me. Here's hoping this keep going.</p>
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<p>What I REALLY need, though, is for my Muse to return to me by means of my writing. While I've been creative a lot the past month, between the Picrew images, sorting out Jolene's story a bit more, and coming up with <i>Scum and Villainy</i> plots, I still haven't written anything in a little over 3 months.</p>
<p>What really REALLY sucks about that is the same thing that sucked back in November after THAT writing dry spell: this Friday is the 13th.</p>
<p>Yup. First Friday the 13th since November. First unofficial Plagg Appreciation Day since November. I have yet to miss a Friday the 13th since I started up this little tradition for myself. However, yet again my self-imposed deadline is crashing in on me, and I have no clue what I want to write.</p>
<p>If anyone has any prompt ideas for a Plagg-centric or otherwise Plagg Appreciation story, please PLEASE leave them in the comments section. Even if you read this post after August 13, 2021, please feel free to leave those ideas. Lord knows I'll always need them for future Plagg Appreciation Days.</p>
<p>Whew-boy, I still have so much left on my checklist of what I wanted to talk about after my unintentional hiatus, but this post is LOOOOOOOOOONG already, and it's already after 2:00pm! So I think I'll just have to continue all of this next week.</p>
<p>So... here's to hoping I can chip away at the upcoming post throughout the week so I can actually publish something next Tuesday. My manager is taking more of her massive amount of accumulated vacation time next week. Which means I'm working straight through from August 15th to August 23rd. Whoooo! Why do I seem to start off these long bouts of covering vacation time with SaV games?</p>
<p>Anyway, if working through my post day ends up too much, I'll try to at least play catch-up again on the 24th. Either way, I'll catch you beautiful people later! Take care, all, and stay safe!</p>
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Generated by <b>Bitmoji</b></td>
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</table>LycoRoguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01064253326464685398noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6675584297301734651.post-6309495431432112242021-06-29T12:00:00.002-04:002021-08-09T16:10:06.682-04:00Meet the Stardancer Crew<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">
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<img border="0" data-original-height="398" data-original-width="398" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpyN6xx5EaYTkwaEpmzmDJ7Kr8v3ZYm1sc9jyE5wjkhY89iGBFVDWdZ_HprqKRih6NXloZ2jv79z1F6HFFkRFM4or-a5CVO8OZteipfx-lbEuBsROdvDzLdBQBGsuUjkj8RTMKth-B0FI/s320/bitmoji-20190730111737.png" /></a>
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<img border="0" data-original-height="398" data-original-width="398" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw4lcMx_C_tc5lLN2ux2-nM1S-f85EHmePU1LPeGSrrRYvgoFD_ieguTVgekgxEjRYsKf-UZLSzI18gsSPsT9-qvW6Fm3u4H7mwp-6oT2zLdxvZvoMWLr_pqTHA-iL5UsaeCs7587lbdk/s320/Congratulations.png" /></a>
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Generated by <b>Bitmoji</b></td>
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<p>Hey, peeps! Today my mom is celebrating 26 years being cancer free! Way to go, Mom! Also, for the celebration, Hubby and I managed to make our way down to visit her for the first time in 15 months; literally the longest I've ever been away from my mom and sister my whole life. But we're here now, and we're celebrating!</p>
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<img border="0" data-original-height="398" data-original-width="398" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr3INYTzTtTYe-UVmMj0lblJCISNc4KzckjjxsMdvV-TYC2OYV-6iTlk7SjTVfMk3Sdqv_PnAL2G2sdIbYIsnVIFUbPExDVvDpRe42vxIAGOFQr8z6ZgT5J8w7FDdATu44xj-yf0DweJI/s320/Excited+Survivor+Mom.png" /></a>
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Generated by <b>Bitmoji</b>
<br />Edited by LycoRogue</td>
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<p>Because of me visiting family, I didn't really have any time today to write up this blog post. Luckily(?), I fell behind last week, and so last week's missed post is now this week's. Win?</p>
<p>So, what exactly happened to delay my post a week? Well, for starters, my laptop is old (for laptop standards) and has been maddingly sluggish as of late. It kept me FOREVER to get just about anything accomplished last Tuesday, and eventually I needed to wave the white flag and get errands done instead (also, I needed to put the laptop away before chucking it across the room). I figured, "no worries. I'll work on it during work downtime." Valid plan, to some extent. Most of this blog was indeed written at work, but I didn't have the downtime I thought I would, so it was very much a week of slowly chipping away at this blog. Especially since I just kept getting too burnt out post-work - or I had other plans - so I barely even touched my laptop, let alone my blog, outside of work. Ironically.</p>
<p>But, I'm here now, so who's ready to meet the latest spacefaring crew?</p>
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<img border="0" data-original-height="398" data-original-width="398" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipU8FGeDlRWctAPU9_HRLMGuuKXxGuQx2E3TlCE6fNdZnFJ2gHxGjg9LvmS1VpUe9CfpJzQZolDJl66AXgCt4mgJpgsbnDGSTb5Cx9GbiW7rcJCG2cbzCmmKAwXBqOqDB0wzhvReV9Hdg/s320/Space+Lyco.png" /></a>
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<p>The 21st was Game 0 of the new <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.evilhat.com/home/scum-and-villainy/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Scum and Villainy</a></i> campaign that I'm going to be running. It kept a few hours, and perhaps not-so-few "have we made a decision?" prompts from me, but we've got the base crew!</p>
<p>Let me introduce, the crew of the Stardancer!</p>
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<img border="0" data-original-height="962" data-original-width="1721" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYwsQb2fw2ZVQiStAdsiKfD23HjnUg3H2ZJg21vWrDph3AEx49Vs9R8yK6wQU1wOvK1LqdJHAQ2jCfuJKfD9zQdloahwGGqY6IkmQlg8GZFE6rP085xRIvUM6Gmi5W11Xemyvtw4YGwtM/w640-h358/Creative+Commons+Stardancer.png" width="640" /></a>
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Credit to the <i>Scum and Villainy</i> art team:<br /><b>
Brett Barkley, Tomasso Renieri, Juan Ocha, Michaela DeSacco, and Tazio Bettin</b></td>
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<p>The crew doesn't have an official name yet, and they didn't pick out the ship name of Stardancer, but still, yay!</p>
<p>Let me explain, the SaV rulebook provides three different ship options for the crew to pilot. As I tried to explain to the players last Monday night, that doesn't mean there's a fleet of "Stardancer" ships zipping around the sector a la Firefly ships in the <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefly_(TV_series)" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">TV show <i>Firefly</i></a> <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefly_(TV_series)" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">and movie <i>Serenity</i></a> (the ship is Firefly-class and the individual ship name is Serenity). It means that the class this ship is - CF-350 Series Scarab-class Freighter, by the way - looks like the above image, and this particular type of ship is good for less-than-legal things, such as smuggling, blockade running, and illicit sales. Once the crew decided they wanted a Scarab, they happened to find one that was already dubbed "Stardancer." Just like the other options were a ship named "Cerberus," which is good for bounty hunters and/or extraction specialists, and a ship named "Firedrake," which is a ship within the class of choice for the rebels and generic Hegemonic criminals. In other words, these pre-owned ships were what was available at the time, and this crew chose the "Stardancer."</p>
<p>Normally, one of the parts of crew-building includes answering the question, "How did you get your ship?" Was it something the crew legit paid for? Was it something one of them inherited? Did it use to be a ship for legitimate business, but the pilot/owner decided criminal activities were more profitable? Was it commandeered from someone? Was it abandoned and the crew just salvaged it? Were they the only surviving mutineers? Was it a gift from someone rich and/or powerful? The answer to this question of how the crew got their ship in the first place could potentially be quite the fun plot-point later down the line. <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Millennium_Falcon" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Much like the reveal of how Han Solo came about owning the Millennium Falcon in <i>Star Wars</i>.</a></p>
<p>Which brings me full-circle back to the name. Han didn't name his ship the Millennium Falcon. It already had that name, and he just never renamed it. Why would he? It already had quite the legend attached to it, and it was a sense of pride that he piloted THE Millennium Falcon. Similarly, after <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirates_of_the_Caribbean:_The_Curse_of_the_Black_Pearl" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Barbossa mutinied for control of the Black Pearl in the <i>Pirates of the Caribbean</i> franchise</a>, he didn't rename the Pearl. It was important to him that he was the captain of the Black Pearl specifically.</p>
<p>So, that's what happened with this crew. Somehow, someway, they ended up with this Scarab-class freighter already named "Stardancer." They haven't decided if they wish to rename it, but "Stardancer" is on the ship sheet, so that's what it's called for now. (Although, Hubby has joked about what the crew and ship names should be; more on that below). I also don't know how the crew came about owning this ship because they weren't quite sure themselves. We'll see if they come up with something by the time we start our first game on the 5th. Otherwise, I might have to come up with something myself for a nice plot-point down the road.</p>
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<p>Anyway, after picking their ship, the crew was able to customize it a bit. One of the lines on the ship sheet actually includes the prompt: "Colors/Look". Granted, the crew hasn't thought too much about what the exterior of the ship looks like yet, but I'll be sure to have fun in <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.gimp.org/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">GIMP</a> a bit as the crew lets me know more about what they want their ship to look like.</p>
<p>Okay, this is all well and good, but what about the crew themselves?</p>
<p>Last update, I introduced you to tI'kæl (boy, her name isn't going to be annoying to write all the time with those special characters in it....). <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.twitch.tv/rozsavaria" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Rozsavaria</a> and I got a bit more in-depth with her character Monday night. Previously, I let you fine folks know that tI'kæl is Memish, which means she's an aquatic alien from the ocean planet Mem. She has dark purple - almost black in some parts - scales covering her body and long tentacles for hair. She keeps her tentacles loosely braided, and she ritualistically carves her scales and embeds bioluminescent seaweed into the wounds as a way of religiously tattooing herself. The seaweed she uses happens to glow yellow, which matches the Ur artifact she wears: a choker made of golden star shapes linked together and capable of keeping someone alive while unprotected in the vacuum of space for up to an hour per full-charge.</p>
<p>Speaking of, Roz and I briefly talked about what kind of ritual tI'kæl would have to do in order to recharge her artifact. As of right now, we have that it has to bask in star light, so tI'kæl has to walk around in unobscured sunlight (so, not underwater or during cloudy days), or it has to be in a window of the ship so it can absorb the star light while they are flying through space. I feel like it's not quite specific enough of a ritual though, so we're still brainstorming between now and the 5th. Maybe if it has to be UNINTERRUPTED bathing in star light for a week? Maybe it's okay that it's a fairly simple "ritual" since she'd be without it for an in-game week anyway? Meh, we'll sort it out.</p>
<p>TI'kæl is also a princess of Mem with priestess-like duties to uphold. I wasn't able to get Roz to elaborate on what either of those elements of tI'kæl's backstory means though. Is she the daughter of her tribe's chief? Is her father a king of an actual kingdom (I did make a lot of <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://disney.fandom.com/wiki/Ariel" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Ariel from <i>The Little Mermaid</i></a> jokes that night)? Is the entire Memish population of the whole planet united under one patriarch, and tI'kæl is the princess of the entirety of Mem a la <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Leia" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Princess Leia and Alderaan</a>? Does her people have a sort of parliament that does the actual governing, and she's a royal figurehead? Is that why she's more focused on her high priestess duties? Does her people consider religious figures political leaders? Is she a "princess" because she's a High Priestess? What are the ramifications for her people that she has left Mem?</p>
<p>I guess we'll have to iron those details out a bit more as we play.</p>
<p>Likewise, Roz and I will also have to figure out more details with regards to her NPC friend and NPC rival. She had picked "Laxx, a xeno" as her friend, but we're not sure if "a xeno" means they're also Memish, or if they're a different alien species, and, if they're a different species, what are they? We also need to figure out if they have a gender. Alternatively, tI'kæl's rival is "Rye, an unrequited love." How far is this love unrequited? Is Rye still friendly with tI'kæl, but is also almost antagonistic to try to keep some emotional distance? Does Rye straight up hate tI'kæl? Does Rye want to befriend tI'kæl, but she's the one causing the tension as a means to try to get over them? Is Rye Human? Memish? Another type of xeno?</p>
<p>Circling back to me teasing Roz that tI'kæl is basically Ariel, Roz determined that tI'kæl is just curious by nature and desires to experience as much of the galaxy as she can. An underwater princess that wants out of the oceans of her home so she can be with humans and experience all the wonders they do? I mean, come on, that's a little bit like Ariel, right? Maybe then Rye is her pre-Kiss-The-Girl-singalong Eric? We even joked around the table that tI'kæl would use the futuristic sci-fi tech, but not as they are intended (at least, not unless corrected) because she doesn't know any better. For instance, when I gave the players a character questionnaire, one of the questions was "when was the last time you've used a blaster? Why?" TI'kæl's answer was "this morning at breakfast. Blasters are quite good at cracking nuts; just enough weight to them but still easy to hold and swing."</p>
<p>Anyway, getting back into the meme roots of her character, while building tI'kæl's RIP racer persona and machine, Roz went full <i>Sonic the Hedgehog</i> memes. Her machine is called Da Wey (so she can ask people if they'd like her to show them Da Wey, or if they already know Da Wey), and is shaped like the Egg Mobile from Sonic.</p>
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<img border="0" data-original-height="539" data-original-width="840" height="410" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtWpJTWF-faCyr9MkoPhSpCdOLZhKHiSynBhkgW4s0YIWg2k1u7hdmFzUKYeB9qz0ANhGITX2r23JYaNxQVm-xBZ-t86tSWLBPGbzOedGEPgHTeiY3GBHH5QQVWJluzGDMVB-bK0f7z4U/w640-h410/Egg+Mobiles.png" width="640" /></a>
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Various Dr. Robotnik/Eggman and Egg Mobile sprites ripped from the games</td>
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<p>Roz was thinking Da Wey would be the spherical one in the bottom of the above image, mostly because it's the most iconic out of these options. However, I think either of the top two, especially the one from Sonic 2006 in the top-left, would be closer to what a RIP Machine would actually look like given the stats she chose. Which, of course, was nothing but acceleration because "gotta go fast."</p>
<p>To finish off the meme, tI'kæl's racing name is Sanic.</p>
<p>Switching gears over to Hubby, I'd like to introduce you to the Human Speaker Quinton Shrike. Speakers are basically respectable persons that are on the take. They're your classic corrupted politician or dirty cop or white-collar con-man. In Hubby's case, Quinton is a spoiled rich kid with an expensive habit and the knowhow to either not get caught or talk his way out of trouble.</p>
<p>Hubby hasn't figured out what Quinton looks like quite yet, but he's an apprentice with one of the more powerful guilds: The Starsmiths. Starsmiths are in charge of building starcraft, legalizing/registering them, and maintaining the hyperspace lanes between planets and between jump gates (which connect star systems). As a badged member of the Starsmiths, Quinton has a lot more pull and leeway with regards to the Stardancer's build. Quinton is legally licensed, which means he can therefore make "legal" improvements to the ship, talk his way out of most minor violations/infractions, as well as know enough of the dark market for ship parts to know how best to go undetected by the galactic law.</p>
<p>Quinton's family owns a small nightclub called "Raven's Nest" on the moon Warren, which is also an ecumenopolis: a single city that covers the entire surface of the moon. Warren is also where the governor of the sector lives, so it's a major political hub. In other words, maybe not the best place for a crew of outlaws, and yet Quinton helps ease his stress (an important game mechanic) by going home to assist with the nightclub. THAT'S gonna be interesting.</p>
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Generated by <b>Bitmoji</b><br />(yes, I'm lame and reused this image <br />in the same blog post)</td>
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<p>Hubby's rival is Manda, a Guild member. We talked about them - her? I can't recall if we landed on Manda being a her... - being a fellow Starsmiths Guild member, but Hubby landed on Manda being part of the biggest faction in the sector: the Guild of Engineers. However, Manda WANTED to be a member of the Starsmiths, which is where the rivalry started. There was only one position available with the Research and Development (design) department of the Starsmiths Guild, and Quinton won out over Manda. Instead of taking a different position within the Starsmiths and working their way into the R&D division, Manda decided they would rather pout and join a more prestigious guild instead, in an attempt to lord it over Quinton. He doesn't care, though, which just irritates Manda further.</p>
<p>As for Quinton's friend, Hubby couldn't resist. One of the streamers he watches for <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://dotesports.com/streaming/news/what-are-nopixel-servers-how-to-apply-to-play-gta-roleplay" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">nopixel</a> is <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.twitch.tv/buddha" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Buddha</a>. He has been playing GTA Online for years, and has been involved with nopixel for multiple server generations. His character <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Lang_Buddha" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Lang Buddha</a> is a powerful criminal mastermind within the game's fake city of Los Santos. Lang is rich, is one of the only (if not THE only) characters to own his own penthouse, is a major crime boss in the city with his gang the CLeanbois, is influential enough in-game that the server developers custom designed CLean Manor - a mansion for Lang and the CLeanbois that they bought for $3-million in-game currency - and Lang owns multiple businesses both legal and illegal in nature throughout the city. One of his more legal ventures is the Rooster's Rest, an authentic Asian tea and ramen restaurant and social hall. Hubby had joked for a while about bringing in nopixel characters as inside-joke cameos for our SaV game, and during our Game 0 he pulled the trigger.</p>
<p>One of the options for a Speaker's ally is "Arryn, a Noble". Hubby scratched out Arryn's name and wrote in Lang instead. So now I guess we have to rebuild Lang Buddha as a space noble. That will be interesting. Hubby already has the connecting story that Quinton's family had been faithful stewards of Lang's family for years (generations?). This led to Lang becoming particularly close friends with Quinton and his immediate family. Lang even funded the Raven's Nest as a part-investment, part-gift for the Shrikes.</p>
<p>Now, I had mentioned above that Quinton is a rich boy with an expensive habit that he used less-then-legal means to fund. What is that habit, you might be asking? Well, it's RIP racing. He's become addicted to it, but it's not a cheap habit to have. On top of that, Quinton has become fairly good at the underground races, and wants to move up into the official RIP League. He can't without a team, though. Quinton had been watching Sanic race for quite some time, and respected her skills, so he asked her if she wanted to form a team with him. When tI'kæl agreed, they realized they did not have the funds needed to start up the team. That's when they went to search for sponsors, upon failing at that, Quinton suggested they become a criminal crew to get the crits they needed to get themselves started in the League.</p>
<p>Much like Sanic, Quinton went with acceleration as his main RIP Machine stat. He dubbed himself "Poet" for his racer name, and christened his Machine "The Dark Soliloquy." I haven't taken the time to doctor any of these images to better fit Hubby's description, but the basic shape of The Dark Soliloquy is that of the Batwing.</p>
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<img border="0" data-original-height="1173" data-original-width="1486" height="506" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzIBVRxzdxCCz8Z43Llh8TH4ep9Uebod-3UwtC8nfx1beWdy1OaGiwEsknR5yEDvnj9XUcKYCV9VL8lVKSsxBNyz6gKiId_CjW6HedV0deZkiGAQ9MtvKdDjX7FhEUXlLy-HwQUkAWL7k/w640-h506/Batwing.jpg" width="640" /></a>
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Batwing designs from the <i>Batman</i> franchise</td>
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<p>Hubby's design has The Dark Soliloquy's cockpit area painted a deep, royal purple, with the wings and thrusters of the Machine a rich, hunter green. Also, the thrusters are specially designed (probably by Quinton himself) to produce black flames. The main reason Hubby picked out the Batwing as his inspiration for his Machine is because of those sharp wings. The Dark Soliloquy's wings are actually hammered to be razor sharp, to help cut through both air friction and the competition if they get too close! Finally, instead of the "bat ears" at the end of the cockpit, the tip is a sharp, sword-like point.</p>
<p>I'll have to have some fun in GIMP to re-design the Batwing into Dark Soliloquy, and then show you guys closer to what Hubby had in mind.</p><p>Now, as I mentioned, Quinton and tI'kæl started their partnership by attempting to find a sponsor (or sponsors) for a team. This is how the duo met Quarthix's character.</p>
<p>Time to meet the crew's Muscle: Demarcus. (Sadly, I can't quite read Quarthix's handwriting, so I can't read what the last name is. I'll get confirmation and update later).</p>
<p>Demarcus is more than just the standard Muscle, he's kind of a Jack-of-all-Trades, but REALLY likes brawling with people, which is why he's "mostly" the Muscle. Quarthix hasn't really figured out how or why Demarcus became the "mob doctor" for the Borniko Syndicate, but that was his main station within the faction when Quinton and tI'kæl came to them to see if they'd be willing to sponsor an up-and-coming new RIP racing team. They didn't really want to sponsor the team, but they were intrigued by the duo enough to offer a few favors. One such favor was offering Demarcus as a new crew member for the duo. Demarcus had been getting a bit antsy within the Syndicate, and he would be able to better show Quinton and tI'kæl criminal means to fund their team. Feeling a touch obligated, but also intrigued by the new "job opportunity", Demarcus gladly threw his lot in with the two RIP racers.</p>
<p>Demarcus started "training" Quinton and tI'kæl by introducing them to one of the Syndicate's main info brokers.</p>
<p>Quick time-out on Demarcus so I can tangent about the info broker for a minute. When building up their crew and customizing the ship sheet, the players got to pick a "trusted contact" that they all have access to and equal standing with. The options for the Stardancer ships were a dockmaster, a keen-eared barkeep, a tugboat captain, a diplomat, and a reclusive info broker. Tugboat captain was instantly dropped from contention, and the group reasoned that Quinton was basically their diplomat already. There was some debate between dockmaster, barkeep, and info broker, but it didn't take long for the group to decide on Citani, a reclusive info broker.</p>
<p>I was already planning on bringing <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://theroguesscribe.blogspot.com/2021/05/new-addiction-nopixel.html" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Maggie the Info Broker</a> into SaV. There would be no point in doing so, though, if the group already has an info broker as a contact. Poor Maggie would be redundant, just as she would be if I ever did manage to make it onto the nopixel private server. So, instead, I saw their choice as a golden opportunity. Maggie was going to be fairly hidden and reclusive anyway, so.... much like Hubby scratched out Arryn's name to put in Lang's, I scratched off Citani and put in Maggie's name. Roz had already memorized that the character's name was canonically Citani, so when I corrected her that the friendly info broker was actually named Maggie she seemed disappointed. I guess "Maggie" isn't Sci-Fi enough for her? So, while I was helping Hubby and Quarthix finish up their characters, Roz researched names that use "Maggie" as a nickname, and came across the old Norse name Magnilda. It means "strong fighter" or "battle maiden", depending on the source. Neither meaning quite matches the personality I gave Maggie, but I still liked the way the name sounded, so I figured I could make it work. She'll be like the fantasy or sci-fi barkeep that seems humble, but when push comes to shove, she's a scary force to contend with when she's trying to defend someone.</p>
<p>Think something like <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFF0NCV0q-g" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">the depiction of Mrs. Bluveridge in <i>Muppet Treasure Island</i></a> when her inn and the boys are being attacked by pirates.</p>
<p>Circling back to Demarcus, while building up the crew and choosing a contact, the next step is to choose a faction that hates that contact - causing the crew to drop in standing with them - then choose a faction that is also friends with the contact, increasing the crew's standing with that faction. Since Maggie is an info broker, it was easy to decide that the Hegemony's military faction The 51st Legion wouldn't be a fan of hers. So Maggie is a recluse mostly because she's on the lam from the Legion. On the flipside, Quarthix thought it would make sense if the Borniko Syndicate were the ones that introduced the crew to Maggie. And so, that is why Demarcus specifically introduced Quinton and tI'kæl to Maggie.</p>
<p>As for Demarcus' personal friend and rival, much like Roz with tI'kæl, Quarthix isn't quite sure any of the history between Demarcus and the two characters Quarthix picked, but we'll figure it out via roleplay. In the meantime, we know that Demarcus is friends with Shod, a weapons dealer, and rivals with Chon-zek, a bounty hunter. We don't have descriptions of these characters, their genders, or if they are both human. It's kind of bare-bones, but it's a start, and we can flesh these two characters out while also fleshing out the two that Roz picked for tI'kæl.</p>
<p>Quarthix also set up Demarcus' heritage as a "wanderer": spacefarers that don't have one true planet as their home. Demarcus himself could have been born on a spaceship, or on a space station, or on a planet his parents were visiting, only to leave again soon after. Quarthix described Demarcus specifically as a "space hobo." However, Demarcus is fairly nicely dressed for a hobo. We're not sure if he's always dressed like this, or if it's a result of the Syndicate taking him under their wing, of if Quinton convinced Demarcus to dress sharper (especially since Demarcus loves hitting up the Raven's Nest whenever Quinton goes home), but Demarcus dresses in a leather vest with coattails and a "fancy" hat. Quarthix literally didn't think of any other description for Demarcus, but he knows this brawler and part-time doctor cares about his looks.</p>
<p>Now, Demarcus' reason for loving to hit up the Raven's Nest is because he loves to indulge in drugs. All drugs; any kind of drug. He doesn't care what it is or what it does or if he's tried it before. If it's a drug the locals are partaking, he wants in. So, while Quinton is helping his family run the nightclub, Demarcus is in the darkened corner trying out the latest batch of... whatever he can get his hands on. Considering tI'kæl's goal to "try everything," she's probably in the booth right beside Demarcus trying out the drugs with him.</p>
<p>Since Demarcus is now a member of the crew, he was convinced to also be a member of the RIP team, which they named Chaos Theory. Demarcus has tried RIP racing before. He's not as good as the other two, and isn't nearly as engrossed in the sport, but he likes the adrenaline rush and the potential to kill off the competition. Since destruction is more fun to him than actually winning, Demarcus went with a hulking Machine; nearly all weight. He actually repurposed an old ambulance to be his racing tank in the RIP races.</p>
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<a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/83944-moc-ambulance/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Design showcased on Eurobricks forum</a>
<br />Posted by Fabz on June 24, 2013</td>
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<p>This is surprisingly close to what I was picturing when Quarthix talked about his RIP Machine designed to look like a blocky and tank-like ambulance. I'll have to show these pictures to him to see how close it matched his mental image. I'll also have to see if he was picturing different colors or decals on the outside. More fun in GIMP! Guess I might as well make it a hat-trick and figure out custom designs Roz wants on Da Wey. It would be fun to customize these base designs into something more original. It's not writing, but it's still a way to spark my creativity, so I'll take it.</p>
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<img border="0" data-original-height="398" data-original-width="396" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMUyFm6msOK8o02JBqkgbj5y4dce1wFIHnAq4Q6DHQs9mQFPpX_ORG8N7lR6WLlTWC0ta8qomb6mU8dnElR3zAWnavUuQ5nFRlnA3lj0tHs9GZsS8ZazBz_SWWPC4mQq9yMCjThgscOkQ/s320/bitmoji-20190523012710.png" /></a>
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Generated by <b>Bitmoji</b></td>
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<p>Anyway, Demarcus leaned heavily into the design of his Machine, naming it the Slambulance. I mean, if most of what he's doing is slamming into the Machines around him and sending them to the hospital (Hopefully. The grave is also an option....), at least he's giving his competition fair warning.</p>
<p>Not wanting to be one-upped by Roz in the meme department, Hubby convinced Quarthix to use the racer name Space Jam.</p>
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Doctored album cover for the <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117705/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_3" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Space Jam</a></i> soundtrack</td>
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<p>Honestly, Demarcus is only there to help his teammates in the race and smash as many other racers as he can, and I'm all for this. These races are going to get interesting.</p>
<p>Another potentially interesting element of this game are the statuses the Stardancer crew have with the factions of SaV. I already discussed how they have favor with the Borniko Syndicate because of Demarcus' connection with them and the tie back to Maggie the info broker. I also mentioned how the crew's friendliness with Maggie caused them to be in poor standing with the 51st Legion. Well, while customizing the Stardancer during character creation, there are three times the factions are either directly or indirectly involved. The third time is because of the contact the players choose: "one faction is also friends with this contact; one is enemies with them."</p>
<p>The first is the general body upgrades. After choosing the 2 initial upgrades the crew wants to start with, they got to choose a faction that helped them with these upgrades. The group picked out two generally illegal upgrades, so they had Borniko help them out. Maybe the Stardancer was another way the Syndicate "invested" in the trio. Either way, after choosing the faction, the group chooses one of three options:</p>
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>Pay the faction half of the crew's starting funds for the upgrades.</li>
<li>Owe the faction a favor and gain one status with them.</li>
<li>Stiff the suckers and lose a status with that faction.</li>
</ol>
<p>The group went with option #2, and so they are now just waiting for the Borniko Syndicate to come a'knocking. Which of course means I have to come up with a job the Syndicate will ask the crew to do for them. It also means the group is already in pretty good standing with the Borniko with a +2 for the status with this faction. Makes sense if Demarcus is a kinda-sorta member of the Borniko.</p>
<p>The second, and, in this case, final time the group needs to make decisions with regards to factions, is with the other two upgrade options. Now it doesn't need to be the ship itself, but auxiliary items. After picking the two upgrades, the group collectively figures out which of those upgrades was a "gift" from a faction, and which one caused tension with a faction. They decided on a medical bay, added on by the Starsmiths Guild, thanks to Quinton. He's a member of this guild, and he was able to talk his way around having the illegal-unless-licensed particle cannons, as well as the completely-illegal cloaking device. In the end, the Guild helped as a favor to Quinton, adding a point in their status. On the flipside, Quinton managed to convince the Guild of Engineers to let his crew do the field testing of the latest land transports (the land transports being the other upgrade). This meant these transports were no longer available for the Echo Wave Riders, a gang of extreme racers and daredevils always itching to try out the latest transportation tech. They were hyped to get the land transports, until Quinton unintentionally (or MAYBE intentionally) sniped them of the opportunity. They now have an eye on our small little crew, and possibly a way to steal the transports. Regardless, there's some serious beef between these guys.</p>
<p>So, our final results are, 0 or neutral status with most of the game's canon factions. The crew has a +1 status with the Starsmiths, and a +2 with the Borniko Syndicate. On the flipside, the crew has already managed to piss off the 51st Legion, with a -1 status. And they have seriously insulted the Echo Wave Riders, dropping their view of the Stardancer crew to -2!</p>
<p>Speaking of the crew as a whole, Hubby may have actually thought of a potential name for the crew and for the ship (as I mentioned towards the top of this post). For obvious reasons, each player is asked to come up with a criminal alias for their character. Not really being subtle about who they are, tI'kæl picked "Space Princess." Quinton picked "Lord." After some back-and-forth between Doctor and Captain, Quarthix decided that Demarcus would go with "Captain." Mainly so he can say he's "Captain" Demarcus, even if he doesn't actually captain any spacecraft.</p>
<p>I tried to help Hubby come up with a potential gang name, and joked that they could be "The Elites" since they have a "Princess", "Lord", and "Captain" in their crew. Hubby followed up with the suggestion that their ship should then be rebranded as "Privilege." To which, I questioned if they repainted the ship to be entirely white.</p>
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<br />This is a terrible joke,
<br />and I apologize.</td>
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<p>Hubby sent the "ideas" for the crew name, ship name, and... ship color, apparently... to Quarthix, who loves the idea. I also sent the options to Roz, who simply responded with "Oh my" so.... she's the deciding vote and hasn't settled yet?</p>
<p>As of right now, this is still simply "the crew" of the Stardancer. Come July 5th, however, they may be The Elites of the white Privilege.</p>
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<p>Oh man, that was a LOT of game lore I just dumped on you guys, huh? I also found my old GE handheld micro-cassette voice recorder from... at least college, but I think as far back as high school, honestly. So I've had this dang thing for something within the neighborhood of two decades!!! Anyway, I found it, it still works, AND I can still buy micro-cassette tapes! I know! In The Year Of Our Lord, 2021, I can still find analog options like actual cassette tapes! Boy, did my mom win out when she got me this thing for a gift, didn't she?</p>
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<p>Point being, I'm going to attempt to record our game sessions. A 90min tape recording at half-speed should be more than enough time, especially since it auto-turns off if there's more than 3 seconds of dead air. Right? Starting the game at 7pm, that carries us to 10pm. Add in bathroom breaks, and... yeah... that should be enough time. Worse comes to worst, I can just turn the tape over and keep going.</p>
<p>Either way, I'm then planning on going back over the recording and kinda-sorta transcribe it. I'll sum up the action bits and any exposition, and then transcribe the actual in-character dialogue. We'll see how long it takes for me to go, "screw this; I don't have time for this!" I do like having a permanent thing to go back to to refresh my memory though. I loved it when I played the D&D campaign as Jolene and the whole game was written out as a real-time play-by-post. I still periodically go back and read through it if I have forgotten a detail from that game. Same with the actual play-by-post X-Men roleplay <i>X-Future</i> that Hubby ran. I also really enjoy the fact that I can re-live Oxventure sessions both through the <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKVj_5q1Z3Q&list=PLoid6oOAGqMcZ3YWFqABFXbx9l5edm6XK" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">YouTube uploads</a> and <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://outsidexbox.libsyn.com/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">their podcast</a>. Same for the <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.evilhat.com/home/blades-in-the-dark/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Blades in the Dark</a></i> campaign the <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Lwxp-5QxR0&list=PLoid6oOAGqMfUBhX62lurFKfEMBTpRFZB&index=1" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Oxventurers post on YouTube</a>. There's multiple Twitch and YouTube channels dedicated to RP campaigns; most notably <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.twitch.tv/criticalrole" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Critical Role</a></i>. There are clips, or full streams - if you go to the player themself - of nopixel gameplay.</p>
<p>I just adore this ability to go back, and I'm sad that my roleplay with characters like Kriv, or Emerald Gaze, or Airis, or Mara are just left to fading memories. I tried to remedy that by writing session summaries for both the D&D campaign I played Kriv, as well as last year's attempt at <i>Blades in the Dark.</i> My memory is only so good, though, and if I happened to be busy the day after a session, the details started getting SUPER fuzzy, and the journaling attempts failed.</p>
<p>This time, though! As long as I either a) get more tapes in time to rotate through them, or b) transcribe a tape within a fortnight (we're playing SaV every odd-week Monday), I'll be able to keep track of everything! Might even invest in a digital voice recorder so I can just straight up keep the recordings after each session.</p>
<p>Which means I'll have access to a LOT more lore and general story to relay over to you fine folks. It's a bit much for my blog posts, especially if I ever get to the point of swinging this thing back to a writing blog. I'm seriously thinking about just creating a fan wiki for everything. The problem is that I can't just call the campaign "Scum and Villainy" because it would be about this specific campaign; not the game itself. Which means coming up with a unique name to distinguish our playgroup from the games themselves. Much like how OutsideXbox and Outside Xtra have their D&D campaign specifically listed as Oxventure, or nopixel for that specific server's version of the GTA online game. I'd also want to title it more based on the galaxy we collectively build, that way if the Stardancer's crew switches out with new characters, or the crew pick a new ship to fly, it can all still be contained on the wiki.</p>
<p>And you guys know how good I am at names/titles.</p>
<p>So this might be something to pitch to the group, or wait for something to organically form.</p>
<p>Alternatively, I remembered that a bunch of YouTubers I follow - specifically <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.youtube.com/user/RedEyesTakeWarning" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Overly Sarcastic Productions</a> and <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFQMO-YL87u-6Rt8hIVsRjA" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Hello Future Me</a> - have mentioned the program <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.worldanvil.com/dashboard/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">WorldAnvil</a>. It's mostly a writing assistant program, helping organize storybuilding elements and the like. However, these YouTubers also promoted the fact that World Anvil is great for roleplayers as well, because it's great at organizing player characters (PCs), non-player characters (NPCs), locations, events, etc. You can also share the link after essentially creating the equivalent of a fan wiki. Excited that I wouldn't necessarily have to come up with a title for this thing (since you can change up the titles on World Anvil), I went to work on writing something up. Except.... you can't put in all the PC information yourself. The players would each have to sign up for at least the free version of World Anvil in order to add in their character information themselves.</p>
<p>Switching gears, I cancelled the campaign mode and decided to use World Anvil as if this game were a story series I'm plotting. Managed to put in the characters' information that way! Whoo! I spent some time on Sunday getting started on the articles to see how it looks and if I want to keep investing in this "pseudo-wiki" attempt. This is such bare-bones, and I'll have to play around to see the easiest way for others to navigate this page, but <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.worldanvil.com/w/procyon-sector-28scum-and-villainy-campaign29-lycorogue" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">here's my starting "world build" page for SaV</a>.</p>
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<p>Whew! This... this was a long one. Guess it makes sense it kept me a week to slowly chip away at it, huh? Anyway, I'll let you fine folks go. I hope to get back on time next Tuesday, but I might be so excited by Monday's first ever SaV official game that I may be a toooouch late with my update while I try to organize how much of the story I want to relay over to you sweet peeps.</p>
<p>In the meantime, one final Happy Pride Month to my LGBTQIA+ readers.</p>
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</table>LycoRoguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01064253326464685398noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6675584297301734651.post-20465580318192499962021-06-15T15:06:00.001-04:002021-06-15T15:06:19.216-04:00Building Us Some Aliens (and Their Tech)<p>Oh yay, I'm back in the habit of completely losing track of my weeks. That's... fun. Maybe life is becoming "normal" enough that I should put in the effort to audit my time again. That seemed to have helped me a bit prior to the world shutting down. I need to find my binder and print off the next couple of months. Guess I know what I'll be focusing on tomorrow.</p>
<p>In the meantime, what DID I do this past week?</p>
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<p>Well, to start, Sunday I covered for my manager so she could drive out to see her newborn grandson. So a big congratulations to her, her daughter and son-in-law, and the new babe born Saturday night.</p>
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<p>A lot of the rest of the work week was spent working on price tags in some shape or form. Through store owner shenanigans, the sale tags weren't ready until Wednesday, but the sale started Thursday, so instead of a casual day or two to scan the store, print the tags, and prep them before putting them up on Wednesday, me and the newbie had to rush around the store doing everything that day. Thankfully, we didn't really have many customers interrupting us, but still.</p>
<p>On top of that, there's a particular product where I'm specifically in charge of creating the pricing printouts. It's normally just a tedious job because there's about 50 different product that are then slotted into 12 different pricing packages each, so it's a LOT of data entry. A fairly simple job, though. Just... tedious. This time, however, part of the packages had price increases because the freight cost of getting the product went up. Problem is, no one actually told me what the surcharge was for the freight, so I had to find a way to figure that out first. Also, there's usually only about 20 or 30 pieces of product that go on sale at any given time, and most of the sales are the same, so I just need to copy and paste some of the pricing into the new sales header. Still tedious, but not nearly as time consuming. Now I had all 50-some products with all 12 packages each that needed price increases. My eyes started going a bit googly, and I started including typos. I must have re-sent/re-printed these price cards about 3x because I just kept catching math errors. Third time's the charm, though, because I THINK I caught them all now?</p>
<p>Well, after I was done with the everyday price increases, I had to work on the sales cards themselves. Again, with the actual sales items, it was only about 20 or so pieces, so it wasn't AS overwhelming. Except one of the stores kept having issues with the new everyday pricing I sent them. They kept telling me they were missing price cards for some of their product, and I... just couldn't find them???? I have no clue how they printed out the price cards in the first place, because they just weren't on the main shared server all the other pricing was stored in. So I had to create new price cards while rushing to try to get the sale cards done in time for the sale.</p>
<p>It was mild chaos.</p>
<p>And then I went to put up the sale cards late Saturday... only to notice the disclaimer on the bottom of the cards said "June 23 through July 12". The disclaimers aren't readable in the program I use to update the price cards.</p>
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<p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>The price increases took effect this Saturday, so the new everyday pricing had to be up, but I must have gotten confused with everything, and thought the Fourth of July sale also started on Saturday. I mean, our Memorial Day sale on these same products was about a month long, so why wouldn't this sale?</p>
<p>With a heavy sigh, I started pulling all the sale cards back down. At least now they're all set for the 23rd, and that's one less thing to do this week. Right?</p>
<p>Work has been a bit exhausting, so post-work has been as much recoup time as I could muster.</p><p>Honestly, this is the hazy part of the week for me. I know that at least some of the days <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.twitch.tv/rozsavaria" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Rozsavaria</a> and I met up for our new walk routine. I think she stuck around a few days to chat about <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.evilhat.com/home/scum-and-villainy/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Scum and Villainy</a></i> and her character, so... there's that.</p>
<p>In fact, she stayed at my place for about 5hrs post-walk yesterday so she could work on her character build, as well as generic hang-out time where we watched YouTube videos and just chatted. (Dear lord, I only JUST NOW realized how late she hung out and how long she and Hubby worked on their characters... well... technically Hubby spent most of that time watching nopixel and Roz's husband's stream on Twitch, but still....)</p>
<p>I think last night was the most writing-adjacent work I did this past week. I needed to explain my vision of how the game universe would play out. Then Roz, Hubby, and I talked about whatever tweaks we felt should be done to make sure things were balanced.</p>
<p>The majority of my creativity was actually focused on Roz's character and helping her build tI'kæl. She thought it would make her name look more alien if written as if it were the pronunciation guide in a dictionary. So the pronunciation is:</p>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>/t/ as in <b>t</b>op, be<b>tt</b>er, ca<b>t</b></li>
<li>/ɪ/ as in <b>i</b>t, b<b>i</b>g, f<b>i</b>n<b>i</b>sh<b>e</b>s</li>
<li>/k/ as in <b>c</b>an, spea<b>k</b>er, sti<b>ck</b></li>
<li>/æ/ as in <b>a</b>pple, c<b>a</b>n, h<b>a</b>t</li>
<li>/l/ as in <b>l</b>et, fo<b>ll</b>ow, sti<b>ll</b></li>
</ul>
<p>In other words, it's a slight slant-rhyme with the word "decal".</p>
<p>Anyway, as I mentioned, Roz wants to run an alien character - or a Xeno - for our SaV campaign. Unlike RPGs like <i>Dungeons & Dragons</i>, SaV only gives the vaguest instructions on how to run a non-human character. It's mostly, "have fun figuring it out yourself, but here's some basic guidelines on how to keep it balanced."</p>
<p>Roz made things slightly easier by going with an alien race the rulebook used as an example on how to build a Xeno character, in part because the race is called "Memish" and she thought it looked a lot like "Memeish" and got a chuckle out of that. Also, the race is from an aquatic planet, so, instead of hair, the mostly humanoid Memish have tentacles. We joked that they almost look like humanized Knuckles the Echidna from the <i>Sonic the Hedgehog</i> series. Add in that SaV has its own version of The Force from <i>Star Wars</i>, called The Way.</p>
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<img border="0" data-original-height="665" data-original-width="428" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic16TgrMHXUzufl7YBgZ0R_Buz_j8oYqH0j5D0G9c8A4urMoq9JKYJwk13Fcij7ZhEJsyr3N2bzO14FdYap8YQxZ1ebvdMOdzl-NS6QPGfCCnMnOdBLxTUMQkNNg_fuV7Xu6CsPObQ3PQ/w412-h640/Xeno+Mystic+-+Credits.png" width="412" /></a>
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Okay, so maybe he doesn't look THAT much like Knuckles,
<br />but same energy, I think.</td>
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<p>Anyway, leaning in to "memeish" aliens that kinda look like Knuckles, and can use The Way... well... of course she's loosely basing tI'kael off of Ugandan Knuckles.</p>
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<img border="0" data-original-height="465" data-original-width="1151" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbEzqIRYYpn6YxwPNglI-GZMTrcmvX-cQw3Xd1dmOQFPC90kTcYXsqPdTBIKaVLW9qtPnlVa5bLhUaykK3vD3bi50qqqFrHm3mA9NzMh08DTIjsME_kmPv1H2NwB9dArKRsrQmDft2I6c/w640-h258/Ugandan+Knuckles.png" width="640" /></a>
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Old meme is old</td>
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<p>Thankfully, she's going a BIT more serious with her character, but Ugandan Knuckles here was her inspiration. You never know from where inspiration shall strike.</p>
<p>Anyway, we needed to flesh out the Memish alien race a bit more to better know what her character is capable of. I gave her a heads up that I was planning on figuring out how her bonuses due to her physiology could also be hinderances in certain situations, because I think making traits both bonuses and flaws depending on the situation makes them feel more real. For instance, due to the dark purple skin tone Roz picked for tI'kael, we assumed she is from deep, deep, deep in the oceans of Mem, and therefore has excellent dark vision, given that light would be scarce where she grew up. I warned her that this would also mean extreme light sensitivity and she'd have to have special eye coverings. </p>
<p>Roz also chose to be a Mystic, which is basically a Space Wizard (aka Jedi????) who can tap into The Way a bit more easily than the average person. Part of a Mystic's build is that they carry an Ur artifact with them. These artifacts are ancient technologies that virtually no one knows how to use except through experimentation. They are also so old that the technology itself has become corrupted, and so the artifacts glitch and cause problems for their owners, usually mutating them in some undesirable way. Think of the movie <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_in_the_Sky" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Laputa: Castle in the Sky</a></i> and both the floating city of Laputa itself, as well as the robot sentinels on it. Or, think of the game <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_Zelda:_Skyward_Sword" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword</a></i> and the ancient technology left behind when the Hylians first ascended to Skyloft.</p>
<p>Anyway, when introducing a new artifact to the game-universe of SaV, the book asks five questions:</p>
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>What does the artifact look like?</li>
<li>What does it do? What's the effect of using the artifact?</li>
<li>What are the requirements? The conditions for activating the artifact?</li>
<li>What are the glitches? The side effect(s) of using the artifact?</li>
<li>How common is it?</li>
</ol>
<p>We had to figure out what tI'kael's artifact would be. Roz had already made a mock-up of what her character would look like using one of the <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.dolldivine.com/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Doll Divine dress-up games</a>.</p>
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<img border="0" data-original-height="1049" data-original-width="992" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF0OWujPHFO6EgwEAhQSHyvGrpFk8cQAL_oIwcKeeNACbY81gU_nBFIpT1goNpwZjOo9V1x3JNOZXg0_Vu3_q67LBAPxjbiY4oB37rMvxcNJLR_CnEY_F2k453ZghY6u2Fl-9Kx-U7mok/w605-h640/195438236_1397389037287151_7648244007365777828_n.png" width="605" /></a>
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rozsavaria's design of tI'kael<br />Generated via <a href="https://www.dolldivine.com/space-princess.php" target="_blank">Space Princess game by Inkscribble</a></td>
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<p>I personally love that Roz had tI'kael loosely braiding her tentacles. The yellow tribal tattoos are actually the Memish's ritualistic carving of their hardened scales that they then embed with bioluminescence.</p>
<p>Anyway, Roz pointed out all of the star-shaped jewelry she gave her character, and wondered if any of them could be her artifact. Since Roz liked the idea of her artifact somehow working as a safeguard against the vacuum of space, I instantly zeroed in on the choker. It would help her breathe without atmosphere and keep her body temperature even. It was a bit tricky to try to find a way to balance that via the answers to the other questions, but, after Hubby and Roz talked it through with me, I think we came up with a fair piece of equipment for her.</p>
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li><b>What does the artifact look like?</b> A golden choker made up of star-shaped segments.</li>
<li><b>What does it do? What's the effect of using the artifact?</b> It allows the wearer to survive in the vacuum of space for up to an hour when fully charged. Any time activated will drain this charge, and once depleted, it must be fully charged again before it can properly activate.</li>
<li><b>What are the requirements? The conditions for activating the artifact?</b> The item must be worn around the throat. Once the choker is set aside to recharge, the choker will not activate until it is fully charged again. This will take a week, regardless of how much remaining charge was on the choker prior to charging. (I might come up with a ritual that needs to be done to recharge it, but I'll have to talk this through more with Roz)</li>
<li><b>What are the glitches? The side effect(s) of using the artifact?</b> The necklace slowly changes the physiology of the wearer, altering their lungs in order to better survive in space. Prolonged use will make breathing any sort of atmosphere suffocating. (We'll have to figure out how many uses will make breathing on terra firma impossible)</li>
<li><b>How common is it?</b> Unique (I was thinking it's an artifact of a space program, similar to NASA's space suits, so it was already fairly rare when it was created, and became more-so as other necklaces were lost to time, but it's not necessarily a one-of-a-kind item. TI'kael just happens to be the only one with an active choker right now.)</li>
</ol>
<p>We think this artifact build is fairly balanced. What do you guys think?</p>
<p>Honestly, it was a lot of hard work - and brainstorming, and time - to try to figure out Roz's Xeno character, but I also had a lot of fun. It was cool to think of the possibilities, and I'm still thinking of ways to either make life more complicated for tI'kael or a bit easier for her, based on the fact that she's not human.</p>
<p>We'll see if I get to do this again for Quarthix's character when he joins us for the official character creation session on the 21st. In the meantime, I'll have to focus on making those other RIP racers, now that I've got a bit of a starter sounding board going on what alien life might look like.</p>
<p>Along those lines, I've caught up to where I last left off with <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voltron:_Legendary_Defender#Main" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank"><i>Voltron: Legendary Defender</i></a>, so I have some more inspiration from that show on what aliens might look like. I'm definitely bringing in some alien species cameos, I think.</p>
<p>WOW! For someone who couldn't remember what they did this week, this blog post still managed to get a bit long, huh? I'm so excitedly anxious to get this game started on July 5th. I just hope all of my prep-work before starting helps carry me through enough sessions to make the effort worth it. I'd hate for this campaign to die off just like all the others. Roz seems excited though, as is Hubby, and both SaV and <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://gravity.rip/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Gravity RIP</a></i> play well with just two players and a GM. So even if Quarthix becomes bored or gets too busy, we should still be able to make this campaign work.</p>
<p>The next 6 days before our official 7pm Game 0 (character creation and discussion of the game mechanics) is going to be exciting and busy and take forever to get here while also zipping by like nothing. I'm so stoked!</p>
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<img border="0" data-original-height="398" data-original-width="398" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSJw7W_bx8bKUvJMGwCktCwzvlIkdodNLbFXMh6E8U5G8OJU2l6xAhwtIEns7dvhJgnD6JjmHR_bEbzvTt2psMQC5I8rJ8P8jnIq9cOGlNgbG6aukPK9vmBBwA-3eTBvGulr7LhH0kuOE/s320/bitmoji-20190523011028.png" /></a>
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Generated by <b>Bitmoji</b></td>
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<p>Until next week, peeps! I can't wait to let you know how Game 0 went, and all about Hubby's and Quarthix's characters. EEEEEE! So exited!</p>LycoRoguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01064253326464685398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6675584297301734651.post-28431629395218402162021-06-08T13:19:00.001-04:002021-06-08T13:19:46.597-04:00What is Prep Work Anyway?<p>Holy smokes, this week breezed by! What did I even do this week? *checks notes*</p>
<p>Oh! Nothing! Cool. Cool.</p>
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<img border="0" data-original-height="398" data-original-width="398" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgISdTdTfjbwwhnWLONx9cfO0sdALmFlTprxZu_opN_HNWY7f3sjMtEziP8Wy4N4qXxR35JPiq5f1Z4eNaEZHh5lByAfuBiF81RLHktuGAQhZEZa7UA9ShN7f5dwG0bMvEnm7nBEFPg8VQ/s320/bitmoji-20190523015135.png" /></a>
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Generated by <b>Bitmoji</b></td>
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<p>So, Wednesday was the start of a pretty social week, which means all roleplay prep-work and writing kind of took a back seat. That's always a good idea when one wants to start up a campaign in a couple of weeks, right?</p>
<p>Well, to be fair, I was still kinda-sorta working on the prep-work. See, <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.twitch.tv/rozsavaria" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Rozsavaria</a> is going to be one of the players for <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.evilhat.com/home/scum-and-villainy/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Scum and Villainy</a></i>, and on Wednesday, she unofficially created her character. In other words, she came over to flip through the rulebook to figure out how she wants to build her character. We won't do actual character building until the 21st (in theory; the date isn't officially locked in yet), but she likes to prep as well so she doesn't take hours to character build the day-of. It also gives her time to play with her build and tweak things before actually starting play.</p>
<p>Along with reading through the book on Wednesday, Roz also borrowed it to photocopy some pages, which meant I didn't have it for my day off on Thursday. That's fine, Hubby didn't have work either, so we had a long-needed re-coup day anyway. Then, Friday, I was still training the newbie, so no RP work going on while on the job. I probably could have worked on it a bit more Friday night since Roz had returned the book, but chaos was about to go down on <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://dotesports.com/streaming/news/what-are-nopixel-servers-how-to-apply-to-play-gta-roleplay" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">nopixel</a>.</p>
<p>One of nopixel's players is a streamer known as <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.twitch.tv/burn" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Burn</a>. He had become good acquaintances with <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.twitch.tv/sykkuno" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Sykkuno's</a> character Yuno Sykk, and saw how popular the character was. As a gag, Burn created a second character modeled off of Yuno, and named him NoYu Sukk. He then spent the better part of last week running around the nopixel server with this Yuno parody, purposefully trying to ruin Yuno's reputation. He and Sykkuno played up this "evil twin" gag for four or five days. Canonically, no one is quite sure what NoYu was, because Yuno kept switching up what to call him, between "evil twin" or "evil clone" or "identical cousin."</p>
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<img border="0" data-original-height="984" data-original-width="1310" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii4IEFZ47tf3rsGjeddMGK34lqP2NgSsjaRar5LkEu2GCp39jMsORn8eXogkZuXavrU45x7P4pBkh-kAEoJz1YSv9fVKfI_QZ_cEkTU5FStn0ecSwdutNiZQXxreyGwyOojcrpxV-RsbI/w640-h480/Yuno+and+NoYu.png" width="640" /></a>
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sykkuno put no effort into creating his character, resulting in him constantly referring to himself as ugly. Because of this, he typically wears a motorcycle helmet, making it harder to differentiate between Yuno and NoYu when both are masked.</td>
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<p>Anyway, after a few days, Burn was getting tired of the joke and wanted to get back onto his main character, so he let Sykkuno know he wanted to kill off his character. I believe in-character NoYu told Yuno that he wanted to go out in a blaze of glory, and soon. Well, Sykkuno's birthday was June 4th, which happened to be a Friday, so Yuno came up with a plan to hold a major birthday party for himself, which would also serve as NoYu's grand finale. His plan was to host the party in the lobby of The Vault; the most secure bank in-game. He'd convince the party goers to all dress like him, that way NoYu could blend into the crowd. Then, since Yuno is a master bank hacker, and NoYu is the <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bizarro" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Bizzaro</a> version of him, they'd have NoYu fail a hack attempt. The hack attempt - regardless if it succeeds - will signal the cops. NoYu would then start shooting at the cops, forcing them to breach into the bank, where they won't be able to tell which "Yuno" is shooting, and be forced to start up a major fire-fight within the bank.</p>
<p>The first part of the plan went off without a hitch. In fact, it may have gone better than any would have expected. Yuno had Twatted (the in-game version of Twitter) out the time and location for his birthday party, as well as instructions on how to dress up like him. These Twats started about 24hrs before the party, and there was also a lot of word-of-mouth. It seemed like at least half the server knew about the party by the time it went down. As evidenced by what seemed to be at least 60 characters showing up as Yuno to wish him a happy birthday.</p>
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<p>Instead of having NoYu fail a hack, they had switched gears a bit. The first thing you need to do to break into the Vault is to set off thermite to blow open the barred door to the main offices of the bank. Yuno set off a thermite claiming it's his birthday candles. This was also his "special invitation for the cops" that he had told his cop friends to keep an eye out for. Unfortunately, despite the 24hr planning, and Yuno calling up his friends and telling them he'd really like their roommates/cousins/twins/etc (aka in-character telling the players to switch to their cop characters instead of showing up to the party as their main criminal characters), only one cop responded to the Vault hack. He was promptly set on fire by NoYu and then kidnapped and trampled by the other guests before the cop managed to get some backup trickling in and could be brought to the hospital. The big bummer there, though, was that this was one of the players that specifically switched to his cop character for Sykkuno, but didn't get to really enjoy it because he was ambushed so early. His character was revived soon enough, but, for immersion reasons, he couldn't respond to the same crime he was already taken out of. He ended up being one of the few cops responding to other crime going on, more-or-less missing the whole ordeal. Poor guy.</p>
<p>Anyway, it kept a little while, but eventually there were about seven or eight cop cars out front and the "true party" could begin. NoYu started shooting up the guests to force the cops to breach for the shooter(s). Everyone scattered. There was chaos. But not as many cop casualties as Yuno was going for, and NoYu slipped away unscathed. Eventually, NoYu managed to get himself caught and brought to the police station, where he tried to blow himself up to no avail. Some time later, the cops were able to bring Yuno in to identify NoYu. He did, stating that NoYu was his evil clone that had slipped into his totally innocent birthday party and started shooting everyone. Yuno had also blown himself up at a gas station a little time before that, coincidentally right about the time NoYu - through a game glitch - managed to pull out his phone while in lock-up, so Yuno claimed NoYu called a hit on him, and NoYu admitted to it.</p>
<p>The cops pretended to be disgusted by the whole thing, and one of the cops started a fist-fight with NoYu. She was getting her butt handed to her, which gave her an excuse to defend herself with a knife, taking NoYu down via stab wounds. He could still be revived with an EMT or hospital care, and Burn was trying SOOOO HAAAAARD to get the character killed, so he had NoYu try to instigate the cops further. Instead, through another glitch, one of Yuno's friends that was also there for the identification - <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Hunter_Skye" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Hunter "Wingman" Skye</a> - broke into the line-up room and shot the downed NoYu in the head before sprinting away from the cops. Burn was like "that was a bullet through the head! There's no coming back from that, right? Wingman, you are the best!" (Technically, if he didn't want to kill off the character they COULD find an in-game reason for him to have survived the headshot, but this was Burn's out.)</p>
<p>Wingman ended up getting caught and given jail time for the murder of a suspect in custody, but it just meant he had to RP in the prison for about 40minutes or something. In the meantime, NoYu's body was processed, declared dead (because the player let the other players know he wanted the character dead), and Yuno was called in as next-of-kin to identify the body. There was this touching moment where Burn typed up notes to "fall out of NoYu's pockets" as Yuno interacted with the body. They were both sweet and insulting in the best of ways. Burn then typed up that Yuno found an MP3 player with his name on it, so Yuno claimed he pressed play, and Burn voiced a "recording" NoYu had left Yuno. Go check out this awesome roleplay. </p><p style="text-align: center;">(Warning: Contains foul language)</p>
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<p>The female that is with Yuno is called 4T, just, FYI.</p>
<p>So... yeah. That was my Friday night. Snuggled up next to the hubby and watching about four or five hours of chaos unfold. Like I said, the nopixel server is way more entertaining and engrossing than any show out there right now, especially since you have so many streamers to cut to for their perspective of what's going on. Also, if there's a storytelling lull with the streamer you're following, just switch to another to keep the action going.</p>
<p>Saturday was a slow work day. I was with my manager, so no training needed. The new sale tags weren't ready yet for me to start, so that's one fewer things on my plate. I had the SaV book. Do you think I spent the downtime doing more prep-work for the campaign?</p>
<p>Nope!</p>
<p>I just couldn't focus on reading or writing that day, so instead I was back on <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="http://picrew.me" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">picrew.me</a>. Who's ready to see more OC pics?</p>
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<p>Honestly, I'm not a fan of Willow's hair at all, but it was as close as I could get to something she'd actually wear as a hairstyle. Plus, I was able to get the blue streaks in, however awkwardly. So.... meh? I also didn't notice at the time that I gave all three X-Future girls the same bang set. The hair options and clothing options were a bit limited, but, for the most part, it worked. Shawn looks sooooo young though. Oh well.</p>
<p>After work, Roz and I went for a walk, then it was anime night with Goob and Hubby. Wolfhearted also made an appearance, glad that Hubby and I are now officially fully vaccinated (past the 2-week mark after our final shot). We gave each other hugs. It was great.</p>
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<p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>During our micro-party, we watched the anime <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://sk8theinfinity.fandom.com/wiki/SK8_the_Infinity_Wiki" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">SK8 the Infinity</a></i> on FUNimation. It's a short - 12 episodes - anime about racers in an underground extreme skateboard league. The animation is GORGEOUS and the story is fun. I've been gushing about it almost daily to <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://meganmaherstoryart.tumblr.com/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">ChibiSunnie</a>, who only encourages this endless fangirling by sending me stuff she's seen on her Tumblr and Twitter feeds. A lot of the people in the same Sports Anime fandoms she's in have migrated to <i>SK8</i>, so she's been seeing fanart and other such content for a couple of months now. And she's passing most of it over to me.</p>
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<p>Anyway, if you're on my Facebook or Tumblr pages, <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://lycorogue.tumblr.com/post/653214152861548544/all-things-circle-back-to-nopixel" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">you already know this story</a>. For everyone else, though. As Hubby, Goob, and I are watching <i>SK8</i>, we're introduced to the character Tadashi Kikuchi. The more we heard this character talk, especially since it was the day after Yuno's birthday party, the more Hubby and I commented that the guy sounds so much like NoYu. The voice just sounded so familiar, and it bugged me that I couldn't pinpoint it. So I looked up the credits, and someone named Brandon Johnson is Tadashi's voice actor. The actor only has the one credit though; this is his first major voice acting role. So how do we recognize it? Hubby just kept pointing out that the character sounds like NoYu, the VA only had this one credited role, and there wasn't a headshot, which is typically another sign that they're relatively new to the business. So I asked Hubby if he happened to know Burn's real name.</p>
<p>He didn't, but did point out that Burn's main nopixel character is Sasuke Johnson, so.... did Burn give his character his actual last name???? I tried looking up Burn's real name, much like how Hubby and I were able to find Sykkuno's, <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWxlUwW9BgGISaakjGM37aw" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Valkyrae's</a>, and <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUT8RoNBTJvwW1iErP6-b-A" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Disguised Toast's</a>. For a lot of streamers, even when they use a streaming/gaming handle, they still have their real names as public knowledge. I didn't find a wikipedia page revealing his name, like I could for the three I just listed. So I went to Burn's Twitter to see if he had his real name posted there somewhere. The answer to that is a big old 'nope', but he does have himself listed as a streamer AND voice actor! So I scrolled down a bit, and right at the top of his page was this pinned Tweet:</p>
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You can find the actual Tweet <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://twitter.com/Burnenater/status/1357781001557204999" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">here</a></td>
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<p>My mind was mildly blown by how tiny the world was for a moment there. We started watching <i>SK8</i> because Goob really enjoyed it and thought we would too. He knows nothing about nopixel aside from what Hubby's been gushing about lately, and even then, Hubby didn't start following Burn until this past week's NoYu shenanigans. We don't follow Burn's socials, so we clearly had no clue he was somehow connected to this anime. We didn't watch <i>SK8</i> because we knew it was Burn's first major role. Nor did we start watching nopixel or Burn because we enjoyed his performance. It was pure coincidence that we stumbled upon this connection, and I just find that so cool. Especially because, with him being a streamer first and foremost, his audience can spend WAY more time with him, so to speak, than most voice actor fans could. He seems so much more "everyman" than most VAs that you only can interact with via convention panels, meet-and-greets, and watching/reading interviews.</p>
<p>So, yeah, bravo to Burn! That's quite an exciting step into his career as a voice actor, and I did really enjoy his performance. Also, the character Sasuke - which he plays as if it were <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://naruto.fandom.com/wiki/Sasuke_Uchiha" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Sasuke Uchiha from <i>Naruto</i></a> - makes more sense now considering it showcases how much he enjoys anime, as well as a possible way for him to build up his voice acting highlight reel.</p>
<p>Sunday was another training day.... kinda-sorta. I was working with the newbie again, it was a painfully slow day, and I'm sure there's loads of things to still train her. However, we both were a bit mentally burnt out for various reasons, and the sale tags still weren't ready, so I couldn't really teach her how to do the new tags yet. We chatted for a little while, and I went over some small things; answered her questions. But for the most part, we just each did our own things. I couldn't focus, though, so still no work on the SaV campaign. I thought I could maybe re-focus better at home, but that didn't work out either.</p><p>Roz and I took another walk; something we're trying to make a routine out of now that the weather is nice(r) and it's safe to hang out again. I think we overdid it in the heat, though, because once we said our goodbyes - and Roz again borrowed the SaV book to photocopy pages - I was dead. I ended up nursing stomach issues while catching up with <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.animal-crossing.com/new-horizons/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Animal Crossing: New Horizons</a></i> instead of attempting any sort of writing. I didn't have the book again anyway.</p>
<p>Yesterday I finally had some focus. It was a bit fleeting, but it was there. I was also at work with my manager again, with little for me to do since the tags STILL weren't ready to put up. So I figured I'd keep going with campaign prep. Roz had the SaV book, so I couldn't finish reading that or work on my cheat sheet for the factions. I DID have access to the PDF of the <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://gravity.rip/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Gravity RIP</a></i> rulebook though, so I started reading through that again.</p>
<p>Each RIP race includes 20 racers. If all four or five (one's still on the fence) SaV players decide to participate in the RIP races, that leaves 15 or 16 slots to fill with non-player characters (NPCs). Normally, they're just nameless NPCs aside from the "rivals": NPCs significant to the overall story of the game. Rivals could be literal rivals for the player characters (PCs), they could be allies, or they could be targets the PCs are focused on for that particular race's objective. I want to make my life easier during play itself though, so I'm making it harder in the prep-work by actually coming up with racers. I'll then reveal them as needed, but at least they're already made up and I won't have to pause the game so I could scramble to come up with something. I can also easily switch out my pre-made characters with whichever characters the PCs meet during the main SaV roleplay. I already have some of the notable faction NPCs set up as racers or main gamblers on the RIP races. I could build off of that.</p><p>The thing that's super holding me up, however, is.... naming. Of COURSE it's naming.</p>
<p>I don't Sci-fi enough to really know where to go with these names to make them seem futuristic and/or alien. I have enough of an ear for it to know if a name I come up with sounds like it would fit, but it's such a long road to get there. On top of that, each racer has their own custom rig - their Machine - that they race in, so I get to design those as well. Thankfully, they don't need a lot of description, just a broad stroke describing if the Machine is more bulk and weight, or lighter and more aerodynamic. Then, of course, some distinguishing feature to signal that this Machine is this specific racer's rig. Although, if we do our character creation session on the 21st, like I'm planning, I'll be visiting my mom and sister for the first time in, like, 16 months the Monday after (which is the main reason I don't want to start actually playing until July). If we start officially playing on Monday, July 5th, that still gives me almost two full weeks to look at how the players built their RIP Machines and design the NPC ones accordingly.</p>
<p>I've also been trying to get myself in the right mindset with a playlist. While searching for "space opera" songs to get me - and my players - into the right mood to play SaV, I stumbled upon this amazing video. I've been kind of obsessing over it for nearly 2 weeks now, I just neglected to share it last week since my post was already kinda long. This is also a long post, but... meh.</p>
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<p>The song is amazing, and really talks about hope in such a cool way. I live for the 80s music aesthetic. Likewise, I adore the classic anime art styling. The actual STORY of the video is compelling. The main character - dubbed Strive by the production team - is adorable and engaging to watch. Plus, seeing the <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://twrp.fandom.com/wiki/TWRP" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">interpretation of the costumes the band TWRP (pronounced 'twerp') wears on-stage</a> is fantastic.</p>
<p>Along with loving the video for all of the above, I also like watching it to get ideas for character and space ship designs. Fun factoid, Strive was designed off of a bird - hence the fluffy, feather-like hair, pointed face, and wing-like ears - and his spaceship reflects that bird aesthetic.</p>
<p>I also started re-watching the Netflix/Dreamworks revival of <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voltron:_Legendary_Defender" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank" title="Voltron: Legendary Defender">Voltron</a></i>. I had gotten as far as season 3 (out of 8) a few years back, but it's been so long, I figured I'd start over to refresh my memory. Ended up a good plan, because I can also study the character and ship designs in that show to help me with preparing for SaV/Gravity RIP.</p>
<p>There's still so much I have to sort out. I'm a bit overwhelmed, but also so excited to do this. I'm even figuring out how to bring <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://theroguesscribe.blogspot.com/2021/05/new-addiction-nopixel.html" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Maggie the Info Broker</a> into SaV. I mean, one of the "factions" already set up in the SaV book is "the galaxy's most renowned info broker and hacker" so, much like if I ever got the chance to bring her into nopixel, Maggie is just AN info broker, not THE info broker, but still. Could be fun to try to flesh her out and at least get a chance to play her. Plus, the likelihood the PCs will INSTANTLY get in touch with THE info broker is pretty slim, so having a more humble option to work with at first should be good.</p>
<p>I just need to get my head to focus again so I can finish reading and prepping. Two weeks to go. Let's do this!</p>
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</table>LycoRoguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01064253326464685398noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6675584297301734651.post-42058540608421617582021-06-01T11:28:00.003-04:002021-06-05T11:59:54.467-04:00Where Did Last Week Go???<p>Well, um... oops. Seems I missed last week. And I had things to talk about too. How did I manage that one?</p>
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<p>Honestly, Hubby and I had a lot going on last week, so I was barely home last Tuesday. Not much time to write when I'm not even in the same building as my computer. Then the rest of the week kind of ran away from me, so I didn't bother trying to play catch-up. I had other writing to focus on, which I'll discuss in a moment.</p>
<p>First of all, the coworker I tended to butt heads with is officially gone. She had put in her two-weeks earlier this month (er, I guess that's technically last month now... Happy June, everybody!), and Thursday was my last day with her. We also already have a replacement. The newbie is about my age, and seems real open to learn, which is already such a breath of fresh air. I'm hoping the personnel switch will be a major load off, and that ease of stress can help me get back to some semblance of writing normalcy (as well as just general mental health wellness). That said, part of the craziness of this week was that transition of the one coworker leaving and starting to train the new one. Yesterday was also Memorial Day in the States, which means "big weekend specials." Ignore that we've had the same sale on for about 3 weeks now, and it's still going for one more week; everyone decided to hit up the store this weekend. So.... that was hectic! Not terribly overwhelming though, so there's that.</p>
<p>What I've been doing the rest of the week, however, has been a combo between watching more NoPixel with Hubby, catching up on our watch list of Netflix shows, TV shows, and YouTube videos, and me continuing to world build - er, galaxy build? - for the upcoming <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.evilhat.com/home/scum-and-villainy/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Scum and Villainy</a></i> campaign Hubby and I want to run. Well, rather, that I'll be running so Hubby can play a character, but I'm also running a lot of the set-up by him first to make sure it makes sense. With any luck, we'll be able to kick off our campaign by mid-June/early-July. Everyone involved should be well past their two-weeks post-final-shot of their vaccines, so we'll be good to go on the COVID front as well. Weeeeee!</p>
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<p>The opening of last week, and pretty much the entirety of the week before that, was spent just reading through the SaV handbook to get the rules down, and see how they might differ from <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.evilhat.com/home/blades-in-the-dark/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Blades in the Dark</a></i>. There are some changes that Hubby and I discussed, to see if we wanted to stick with the changes SaV did or revert back to how Blades does the same mechanic. More often than not, we decided to split the difference, as it were.</p>
<p>I have post-it tabs all over the handbook, and I've been slowly photocopying pages so I can highlight the bits I want to make sure to remember, as well as help cut down on the book tabs. This quickly turned into me photocopying about a 1/5 of the book, though. Shhhh, don't let my work know I've used so much paper and ink!</p>
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<p>Full disclosure: I STILL haven't finished reading through the handbook. Some of the more key things unique to this game - such as how to play an alien race - known as a xeno - or what happens when interacting with an ancient artifact, or what information is known about the ancient but now deceased race known only as the Precursors, or how to build things using the advanced technology typical of a space opera theme, etc - are towards the back of the book, but I've just plain skipped over them for the time being. Instead, I wanted to flesh out the actual life going on in this game.</p><p>In Blades, the closed-in city of Doskvol is already overrun with an assortment of criminal syndicates, corrupted political parties, and a dirty police force. Part of the game play involves your up-and-coming criminal crew siding with some of these factions while surviving the wrath of those the crew managed to piss off. For SaV, it's very much the same way.</p>
<p>The game takes place in a corner of the galaxy known as the Procyon Sector, consisting of four different solar systems: Rin, Holt, Iota, and Brekk. The whole known and developed galaxy is run by a Hegemony, but the Procyon Sector is on the edge of this governing power; all but forgotten by the Hegemony. This is where the players can either decide to go full Space Cowboy/Space Pirate, or they can do odd-jobs to just try and carve out a life for themselves on one of the inhabitable planets/moons in the sector, or they can fully rebel against the Hegemony, or anything in between, honestly. Think of the <i>Star Wars </i>franchise, especially <i>The Mandalorian</i> and its setting of nearly forgotten planets by the New Republic. Or think of <i>Cowboy Bebop</i>, or <i>Space Dandy</i>, or <i>Trigun</i>, or <i>Outlaw Star</i>, or just about any other space opera themed anime. Or <i>Firefly</i> or its movie <i>Serenity</i>. Or you could even go with Marvel and think of either <i>Guardians of the Galaxy</i> (both movie and comic versions) or the Starjammers from the X-Men comics/90s cartoon. In truth, one of the alien races introduced in SaV is called the Sah'iir, and it kept me SO LONG to not read it as the <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Shi%27ar_(Race)" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Shi'ar</a>, which is a prominent alien race within the X-Men comics. I STILL occasionally read it as Shi'ar, frankly.</p>
<p>Sorry, got a bit off-topic for a moment there. My point is, much like Blades, SaV has a thriving population of Non-Playable Characters (NPCs) and factions that help make the world (well, galactic sector) feel more alive. There are 12 established docking stations (3 per system), and pages explaining how to create more. There are also 36 established factions the players could either ally with or compete against. These factions are broken down both by main allegiances - between the Hegemony, criminal activities, and just "general weirdness" (usually cults) - and by power tier, ranging from Tier I (the weakest) to Tier V (the strongest).</p>
<p>Since Hubby wanted to also include elements - mostly the RIP racing - from the game <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://gravity.rip/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Gravity RIP</a></i> in our campaign, I was already planning on pre-creating various racing teams and racers the players could interact with and start alliances/rivalries with. This helps prevent me from having to come up with something on the fly; I'm trash at improv. Well, since I was creating these racing teams and RIP racers - and their rigs - ahead of time anyway, why not also get a better feel for the factions of the sector, right? I figured I could have fun creating cheat sheets for the players on what would be considered common knowledge for their characters. Based on that, I figured I'd write up mini bios, as it were, on the top-tier factions. I figured they're so prominent throughout the sector that most people would know SOMETHING about them, so I could play with that.</p>
<p>In the books - both Blades and SaV - the factions are given a simple sentence or two intro, and then slightly more depth a couple pages later. For SaV, this more detailed breakdown of the factions includes the location of their HQ, as well as any other turf they might hold. It also lists notable assets that the factions own; assets the players might want to steal or protect, depending on allegiances. There's also a list of quirks about the faction, the main motivation/goal of the faction, the current situation the faction is trying to handle (usually heading towards that main goal), and a list of 3 or 4 notable NPCs the players could interact with when dealing with each faction.</p>
<p>It's great information, but there's also a lot there that the players probably shouldn't know right out of the gate. Easy peasy. As I mentioned, I can just take the top-tiered factions - the ones everyone would know something about - and create my own bio. It would contain "common knowledge" about the faction, some "notable rumors" about the faction, and "notable members" of the faction, along with a couple-sentence bio about each of them.</p>
<p>It was tricky to read through each faction's official bio and try to organize it into "yup, most people should know this about the faction" vs "the players should still know this info, but maybe it's not confirmed facts, so this would be a 'rumor'" vs "the players' characters probably wouldn't know this, so I'll have to remember it in my back pocket." For instance, the only Tier V faction is called the Guild of Engineers. Their turf is listed as "mining concerns in every system" and "advanced research facilities in Rin, Iota, and Brekk" with the space station SB-176 as their headquarters. This all feels like common knowledge anyone who had spent significant time in the Procyon Sector would know (especially since the location of the research facilities is unknown; just that they exist in nearly every system). Meanwhile, in the Situation area, it's listed that the Guild is "beyond the ability of the Governor to police. The Guild is exploiting this, using this remote sector to perform experiments banned by the Cults and the Hegemon." This all feels like rumor to me; something the players should suspect to be true, but something they realize is only spoken in hushed tones and denied by the Guild themselves. Finally, the conclusion of the Situation paragraph says, "Their current project involves converting Way energy into a highly unstable but physical compound." Now, Way energy is this game's version of The Force from <i>Star Wars</i>. This feels like something virtually no one outside the Guild would know, along with the Notable Asset "Technology even the Hegemon is unaware of..." Both of those tidbits were completely left off the bio for the players since their characters probably wouldn't know any of that.</p>
<p>Now, once the info was sorted out, I then tried building mini-bios of the NPCs listed. This is where the majority of my writing energy went this week. To save space in an already large game rulebook, the creators only gave names, possibly a title within the faction, and a few descriptive words for each NPC. More often than not, the characters aren't even given a gender, allowing the GM just about free-rein to build these character suggestions into whatever the game needed.</p>
<p>Here are the examples from the Guild of Engineers:</p>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><b>Avalon Riat</b>, Chief Executive (cybernetic spider legs, megalomaniac)</li>
<li><b>Thiel Kharrat</b>, Operations Head (brutal, connected, influential)</li>
<li><b>Oevers Star</b>, Head Researcher (genius, reclusive, overworked)</li>
<li><b>Yast Jor</b> (commanding, shrewd, bold)</li>
</ul>
<p>It's enough to get you started, but not much there to pull out on the fly. So, instead, I spent the week trying to think of who these characters are, and what the general population of Procyon might know about them.</p>
<p>Since the Guild of Engineers is the most powerful faction in the Sector, I also felt like the notable members will be too far removed from society for people to really know much about them. Also, these were the first bios I had written, so I hadn't found my groove yet. In the end, the above bios from the official rulebook became these extended bios:</p>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><b>Avalon Riat</b>, the chief executive. Not much is known about him beyond the fact that he's clearly a megalomaniac and has cybernetic spider legs replacing his biological ones.</li>
<li><b>Thiel Kharrat</b> is the head of operations. He has made a few news appearances, and everyone knows he is not someone to be trifled with. Not much else is known.</li>
<li><b>Oevers Star</b>, the head researcher. All anyone knows of Oevers is their name.</li>
<li><b>Yast Jor</b>. No one truly knows what her job is among the guild, but people certainly know her name. Many assume she's some sort of enforcer for the Guild.</li>
</ul>
<p>Some NPCs have context clues within the faction bios that reveal their gender, such as Tallon from the 51st Legion. In the Legion's situation section it's stated, "Tallon earned many commendations on the battlefield, but swore to cleanse the Hegemonic military of nepotism when his command was sacrificed to a Noble's daughter." Obviously Tallon is meant to be male. Cool. However, most NPCs weren't given such context clues. As I mentioned above, this was probably purposefully done so the players can give these NPCs whichever gender (or no gender) they feel best fits their narrative.</p>
<p>So, for our game, I basically rolled the names around on my tongue to try to see how they sound, and then try to guess what gender would typically use that sound. Honestly, I debated for quite some time if Avalon should be a female, but in the end the cybernetic spider legs just reminded me too much of Dr. Loveless from <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120891/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Wild Wild West</a></i>, so that's kind of how I picture Avalon now.</p>
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<p>As I shook some of the writing rust off, however, the bios got significantly longer and more detailed. Perhaps a bit TOO detailed for my players; I might have to rewrite some of it, and then have one version for the players and one for myself with the more detailed info.</p>
<p>The funniest part for me is that the lengthier bios I've written usually started with me going "this list of adjectives is too vague; what am I going to do with this?" and then this whole story just kind of popped up.</p>
<p>A prime example would be the Lost Legion. Here's the list of NPCs I got from the book:</p>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><b>Commander Eterin</b> (disciplined, veteran, inspiring)</li>
<li><b>Captain Rowan</b> (tough, stoic, unhesitating)</li>
<li><b>Lt. Yon</b>, ace pilot (bitter, just)</li>
<li><b>Haya</b>, a royal guard (potent, unstoppable)</li>
<li><b>Her Excellency, the One True Hegemon</b> (elite, royal, resplendent)</li>
</ul>
<p>Again, I stared at that list and was just kind of like, "ooooh-kaaaaay????" Reading the faction's situation did help though:</p>
<blockquote>
<div style="background-color: #f6f6f6; border: 1px dotted navy; padding: 10px;">
<span font-size="x-small" style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">
<i>"The 1st Legion - the Hegemon's private guard - rebelled when the current Hegemon ascended. They protect a young girl, heir to the last Hegemon, whom they hope to reinstate. They plan to capture the head of the Church of Stellar Flame and convince her to bless the girl as required."</i>
</span>
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</blockquote>
<p>Rolling that around in my head while re-reading the list of NPCs ended up ballooning into these bios:</p>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><b>Commander Eterin</b>, the Legion's leader. He has developed a weird dynamic with the Legion's young ward: part devout protector, part father figure, part teacher, and part loyal servant. He's massive for a human, both tall and broad, and distinguished with a square jaw, facial scar, and salt-and-pepper hair.</li>
<li><b>Captain Rowan</b>, Eterin's second. He is a much more calculated man, caring little for the wishes of the Legion's ward; instead protecting her solely out of duty to what he believes to be the true Hegemony. He fears Eterin has grown too much of a soft spot for the girl. He's clean-shaven, voluntarily bald, and more lithe than bulk in his muscles. He has the precision of an assassin.</li>
<li><b>Lt. Yon</b>, an ace pilot that rivals just about any other pilot within the sector, maybe even within the whole Hegemony. She's also cold towards the girl; making sure there is a distinct line in the sand about their vastly different class statuses and the girl doesn't mistake Yon for her friend. Yon is still loyal to the former Hegemon, but also feels it is partially his fault the current Hegemon was even able to raise to power; he had grown too soft and complacent.</li>
<li><b>Haya</b>, a royal guard. She is always by the girl's side; head on a swivel. She's of a broad build; specializing in upper body strength to handle the recoil from her blasters as well as to-the-death hand-to-hand combat. She does have a soft spot for her ward and may show some playfulness if she believes the girl perfectly safe. Otherwise, watch out for this wolf of a guard dog.</li>
<li><b>Her Excellency, the One True Hegemon</b>, the girl (of about 9) that the Lost Legion will defend to their dying breaths. No one ever refers to her by name; only title. Most of the public couldn't even begin to guess what her name actually is (then again, most couldn't tell you what any of the Hegemons' names were). Some question if the girl truly is the heir to the previous Hegemon. If she's a fake, they found a great actress, because the girl has an elitist air about her and is the most resplendent child anyone has ever seen.</li>
</ul>
<p>A touch longer than the bios I had for the Guild of Engineers, huh? And I don't know if details such as "[Haya has] a soft spot for her ward and may show some playfulness if she believes the girl is perfectly safe" should be so common knowledge that my players would need to know that factoid. Instead, it should probably be something to keep in my back pocket. Something to know about the character in case the players ever interact with her or spot her "in the wild". Along those lines, I have a few other characters where I'm mentally picturing them as androids, but I also know that's a tidbit I don't want to be considered common knowledge, so I left it off the bios.</p>
<p>So.... yeah.... looks like I'm making one of these cheat sheets for me and another for my players.</p><p>Or... maybe not? Considering I'm not done yet and my "cheat sheet" is already 12 pages long!</p>
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<p>In the SaV handbook, there's a small section that talks about how to set up your own NPC factions to add to the game. One of the things you need to figure out is what Tier they would fall into, and the book gives examples of what each Tier's power level roughly means:</p>
<blockquote>
<div style="background-color: #f6f6f6; border: 1px dotted navy; padding: 10px;">
<span font-size="x-small" style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>"Strong locally or weak on a few planets? Tier I. Strong in one system or weak in a few? Tier II. Strong in a few systems or weak throughout Procyon? Tier III. Tier IV is strong in multiple systems, and Tier V has reach and dominance beyond that in some way."</i></span>
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<p>Based on that information, I knew that the PCs would know all of the Tier V and IV factions, and possibly the Tier III ones as well. However, I didn't bother checking to see how many factions that would actually be before undertaking this task. The answer is 20 out of the 36 factions listed in the book. Whoops. I mean, that list drops down to only 9 factions if I just stick with the Tier IV factions and the lone Tier V: Guild of Engineers. But what about "strong in a few systems or weak throughout Procyon"?</p>
<p>I'm still working on the Tier III factions, so I might have to pause and research if they're supposed to be just strong in a few systems, or if they're known throughout Procyon, and pare down those final 11 factions. Or, maybe I'll just keep going, add in the final 16 Tier II and Tier I factions, make that my master log - going back to include details I thought of but aren't necessarily "common knowledge" for the PCs - and then thin that master log down for the players.</p>
<p>In other words, I've still got a LOT of work ahead of me. Especially since I haven't even touched the <i>Gravity RIP</i> side of these NPC builds.</p>
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<p>It's beginning to look like maybe we won't start playing until July after all....</p>
<p>I'm having so much fun trying to flesh out these NPCs though, and I'm already mentally plotting out how these factions will interact with each other during player downtime or between gaming sessions, in order to help make the universe feel more "real". The NPCs are all still doing their own things on the side; they aren't all there just to help push the players forward in their story. It helps make the players feel like their characters are part of this living and breathing thing.</p>
<p>I'm so hyped for this!</p>
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<p>Oh! That Bitmoji reminds me, I haven't talked about what I wanted to say last week. So, the reminder comes from the fact that one of the streamers Hubby almost religiously follows now - <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.twitch.tv/ray__c" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Ray_C</a> - says "Let's Gooooooo!" all the time. It's basically his catchphrase (along with "I've got a plan" and "I need an akuma"... just... check out this <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://soundcloud.com/cryosphere/akuma-raymond-romanov-tribute" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Soundcloud song someone wrote for his character to get the idea</a>).</p>
<p>Anyway, the reminder of Ray_C brings me back to nopixel. While talking to <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://meganmaherstoryart.tumblr.com/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">ChibiSunnie</a> a couple of weeks ago, I kind of spit-balled an idea of making a <i>Miraculous Ladybug</i> non-magic, streamers AU. I even came up with how the Love Square shenanigans can still show up in this AU.</p>
<p>This post is already so long, so I won't get into the details this week, but if you want to see what I've come up with so far, you can check out my Tumblr post about it: <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://lycorogue.tumblr.com/post/651679025679532032/yet-another-plot-bunny-joins-the-masses" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Yet Another Plot Bunny Joins the Masses</a></p><p>For this week, though? I think you've listened to me ramble long enough. Take care, peeps, and a very happy Pride to my LGBTQIA+ friends, family, and random readers.</p>
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</table>LycoRoguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01064253326464685398noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6675584297301734651.post-29121518014653527242021-05-18T16:37:00.002-04:002021-05-19T13:57:04.434-04:00New Addiction: NoPixel<p>Welp, I think Hubby and I are officially addicted to <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://dotesports.com/streaming/news/what-are-nopixel-servers-how-to-apply-to-play-gta-roleplay" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">NoPixel</a>. It started by following streamer <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.twitch.tv/sykkuno" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Sykkuno</a>, and then <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWxlUwW9BgGISaakjGM37aw" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Valkyrae</a>, and from there <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.twitch.tv/ray__c" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Ray_C</a>. Now Hubby is following about a dozen streamers all because of the various characters we routinely see on NoPixel. </p>
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<p>I talked a bit about it last week, but for ease of reference, how about a quick refresher on what NP is?</p>
<p>I'm sure just about all of you are familiar with the Rockstar game franchise <i>Grand Theft Auto, </i>but for those who are not, <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Theft_Auto" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">the games mostly follow characters as they climb their way to the top of the criminal underworld of various cities</a>. The most recent game - <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Theft_Auto_V" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank"><i>Grand Theft Auto V</i></a> - takes place within the fictional city of Los Santos; based on Los Angeles. GTA V was released all the way back in 2013! Later that year, GTA Online was launched; a way to run around GTA V's Los Santos outside of story mode, and while interacting with other players online. </p>
<p>I'm not sure if it's exclusive for people who play GTA Online on their computers, but people can set up private game servers. That way the players can better curate their gaming experience. Most MMORPGs do this. I can't find info of when exactly it was created, but the server NoPixel started to at least get some real viewership and traction back in 2019. While a lot of servers are for things like player vs player (pvp) gameplay, NoPixel was one of many servers created specifically for roleplaying. You could be a criminal, or work a normal 9-5 job, or both. You could be a cop or EMT or doctor or mechanic or reporter, etc. The world these players created is so vast and immersive. </p>
<p>Addictively immersive.</p>
<p>NoPixel became the #1 GTA RP server to watch via <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="http://twitch.tv" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Twitch</a>. It's now extremely exclusive to get onto this server. I'll get into that more in a little bit.</p>
<p>So, anyway, I talked last week about how Sykkuno's character Yuno is renowned throughout Los Santos as one of - if not THE - top hackers. Not too shabby a feat when Sykkuno only joined the server and created Yuno back in, like, February, and only successfully hacked his first bank in April or something! Beyond the hacking prowess, however, the shenanigans Yuno gets into are hilarious. That alone is enough to get Hubby and I checking in on his multi-hour-long Twitch streams. Especially when those shenanigans include things like this daredevil stunt:</p>
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<p>I think the best part is that the other three bikers ended up wiping out on the mountain. The girl with the purple hair Oki Doki, and the girl in the pink hair Leyla, both fell off the downed tower before actually jumping, and the other guy, Sasuke, ended up crash landing right about where Oki did. Yuno was the only one who managed to safely make it down the mountain and back into town. Hubby and I didn't bring up Sasuke's player's stream, but Oki's and Leyla's chats, as well as Sykkuno's, were all screaming that Yuno is clearly NoPixel's main character/protagonist, because of the apparent <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PlotArmor" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">plot armor</a> the character has. Especially since this isn't the first time Yuno has been in a seemingly life-or-death situation and got out more-or-less unscathed. Granted, the character did get beaten up enough to have to go to the hospital before; many times, actually, but when it's crucial that he stays safe or completes a task, he somehow miraculously gets away clean. Especially if he's the ONLY one who does. Please see his freakout about getting "the last chance" at both hacking and blowing up thermite during his Vault solo-hacking run last Monday for further proof of his "plot armor".</p>
<p>Now, to be clear, there is no actual protagonist or main character of this server. There are big names that just about everyone knows, sure, but that doesn't mean the lesser known characters are any less important or entertaining to watch. I think too many players and their audience members get too cranky when their character isn't considered a "main" character, but the fact that just about every streamer you watch has compelling content is amazing. The developers aren't trying to set anything up so everyone focuses on just one character; it is entirely up to that player's roleplaying to make compelling and enticing content. And, boy, do so many deliver!</p>
<p>I mean, again, Hubby started watching so many new streamers specifically because their characters interacted with Yuno, and we loved how the character was being played. We wanted to know more about them, so Hubby went over to their player's stream to see things from their perspective. That's the beauty of this complex game!</p>
<p>Anyway, the long and short is that there are, I think, over 3000 players that all have characters on this server! It's a living environment. You can watch one streamer's gameplay, then switch to someone else's for a different perspective. Some of the streamers Hubby has started watching are players who have cop characters, just so Hubby can see their reactions to all the crime going on in Los Santos.</p>
<p>Mostly, this whole practice started on Thursday, when Yuno and three of his friends achieved a milestone not before seen on the server; what Yuno dubbed the Rainbow Road. I'm not sure if it's part of GTA Online, or specifically the NoPixel server, but there are three branches of banks: Fleeca, Paleto, and The Vault. I mentioned last week that The Vault is like the Fort Knox of the city: the largest and most protected bank. The main goalpost for bank robbers. Fleeca is the most simple to rob; Paleto the middle ground. Along with the difficulty ratings of these banks, they are each given a color designation. Fleeca are green banks, Paleto are blue, and Vault is red. You have to get specific gear in order to hack into each bank; you can't use the same equipment to hack into Fleeca as you do the Vault, for instance. I won't get into the nitty-gritty here, but suffice to say it takes a lot of planning to hit up even one bank.</p>
<p>Well, the crew called Team Rocket - a revival of an alliance the players had in the game <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rust_(video_game)" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Rust</a> </i>- plus their <i>Rust - </i>and now GTA - ally Yuno, decided to attempt to rob one of each bank color back-to-back-to-back. Normally, people don't hit up more than one type of bank per day, or, if they do, they at least take a beat to get clean from the cops and hide the loot before trying again. Prior to this Rainbow Road Heist - so named because of hitting up the various colored banks - Yuno was excited about hitting a bank, dropping off the loot at his apartment, and then INSTANTLY hitting another bank. So, going straight from a Fleeca heist to a Paleto one to The Vault without first ditching the cops or dropping off their loot was a feat no one seemingly attempted before.</p>
<p>Guys, this whole thing - from planning to execution - took HOURS; DAYS! But I was sooooooo invested. Then, after the insane getaway that Yuno pulled off post-Vault, Hubby had to see the other three streamers to see how the Team Rocket members - Jean Paul "X", Mickey S, and Lang Buddha - made out with their own getaways. Then Hubby tracked down a couple of cops' streams to see their point of view of everything; how they reacted when they realized the same four guys were hitting up bank after bank after bank. As well as watching the cops trying to figure out the getaway plan. Then jumping over to the main reporter in Los Santos: Ron Otterman. His coverage of the high speed chases and plane getaway was amazing, and it was hilarious to watch him fixate on how the cops missed the robbers "obviously" meeting up in a black helicopter at a fishing dock. He even followed said helicopter MILES from where Yuno actually was. Ron was convinced the robbers were in there and they had managed to ditch him when he had to refuel his helicopter. That helicopter was just being flown by an NPC (called "local" on the server to keep the RPG immersive), and just coincidentally took off shortly after Yuno's crash landing. (Again; because Yuno has Plot Armor, apparently)</p>
<p>Hubby and I must have gone through about a dozen streamers' videos to try to get as many angles on this heist as we could. Like I said, we were invested!</p>
<p>This was such good content! It's violent content with a lot of cursing, so there's that, but it's still such ENGAGING content. We're definitely addicted. Especially when you add in the actual roleplay and character interactions.</p>
<p>For instance, Sykkuno seems to be the type of person who wants to befriend everyone, and that transitioned into his character. So Yuno is friends with just about everyone he meets; criminals, cops, and hostages alike. It's nearly to the point where Yuno is essentially untouchable since there are so many characters that would kill for this man. Case and point, he had to actually hold back a load of characters the other day.</p>
<p>Yuno finished robbing The Vault again, had his cut on him - about $106,000 - and had gotten away from the cops. He switched to a car the cops didn't see him in. All he had to do was change out of the clothes he wore during the robbery and he'd be home free. He works just about everywhere in Los Santos, which means he could access just about any employee locker room to change. Usually this is so characters can change into and out of their work uniforms, but a lot of people also use this feature to just change in general. Yuno goes to one of his jobs - the casino - gets changed, and is instantly jumped by the leader of a major gang (gang family?) on the server: The Block Gang. The gang had kidnapped the news team and had followed the bank robbers via news chopper. One of the gang members - Yuno's contact within the Blocks, no less - saw Yuno switch cars and where he went, and alerted his boss Mike, who then jumped Yuno for the cash.</p>
<p>Good Guy Yuno offered a deal with Mike Block. The guy never bothers with banks because none of the crew are particularly good with the crucial task of hacking the bank. Yuno offered to be his bank hacker on retainer if the guy returned Yuno's loot. "This is just a cut from the bank. If I hit it with you I won't even ask for a cut, which means you get more money than what you just got off of me." Mike is supposed to let Yuno know tomorrow if he'll accept the offer and give Yuno his money back. He did return some of Yuno's stuff as a show of good faith, so there's that. </p>
<p>In the meantime, though, Yuno had to talk down a BUNCH of people who wanted to just kill Mike. Or, at least, rough him up for daring to mess with Yuno. "Guys, shooting him won't do anything but spiral violence. No one wins. I won't get my money back, and the Blocks will just want blood too. If I offer to be his hacker, I get my money back, I get to do a job with the Blocks, and I might have inspired more bank robbers. Plus, they get even MORE money. Everyone wins!" Yuno stated to both the other characters as well as Sykkuno's chat.</p>
<p>Remember at the top of this post when I commented that one of the streamers Hubby now follows is Ray_C? Well, his character Raymond Romanov already has beef with the Blocks. They had kidnapped Raymond's in-game girlfriend Kitty, robbed her, then left her for dead in the desert. Raymond had told Yuno countless times how he plans on burning every member of the Blocks to the ground. Now that they also messed with Yuno, he was ready to put that plan in motion. Yuno really had to talk him down, but Raymond assured him that he WILL take down the Blocks if they dare to hurt Yuno at this meet-up/possible exchange.</p><p>**UPDATE: As of his stream the evening of 5/18, Raymond was still plotting ways to kill Mike Block, and had a few of Yuno's many allies in on the plot, despite Yuno's insistence that no one needs to harm Mike for the hold-up.**</p>
<p>And that's just ONE TEENY TINY SCRAP of all the in-character drama going on in this game!</p>
<p>How does all of this relate to my writing though? I know, I know, lately I tend to go on these long rants and take forever to get to the point.</p>
<p>The point is how bonding with Hubby over this new form of entertainment has also got us daydreaming about what our NoPixel characters would be.</p>
<p>It's kind of a moot point, honestly, because the likelihood of either of us actually GETTING NP characters is so slim.</p>
<p>First of all, I've never played even a minute of any <i>Grand Theft Auto</i> games, to my recollection. So I'd be going in completely cold on how to even play. Hubby is the same way, but at least he splurged on GTA V when it was on a Steam sale last week. So he's at least started playing the storyline game to get a feel for it. Granted, a lot of the mechanics are specific to the NoPixel server, but because of that, the server-exclusive minigames are available online for people to try out and improve their skills. So there's that. Point, being, though, I've never even played the game and I'm still daydreaming about running a character on this exclusive server.</p>
<p>Which brings me to point two. So many people wanted to join this server. In part, because it's just a fun place to roleplay, but mostly because it's where you can get the most exposure as a streamer. Once more I'll point out how many streamers Hubby discovered simply because they were on the same server as Sykkuno's roleplay. The streamer Whippy, who runs the character Dundee, even noted this. Dundee was literally the first player to significantly interact with Yuno, and the two became fast-friends as Dundee took Yuno under his wing and taught him how to live a life of crime. Because of these interactions, so many of Sykkuno's fans sought out Dundee's player to watch his streams. That's what Hubby and I did. Whippy is just a masterful improv actor and roleplayer. We enjoyed every moment he interacted with Yuno, and wanted to see the non-Yuno moments as well. Of his own volition, Whippy stated that he had a decent amount of followers before, but after teaming up with Sykkuno - and add in Sykkuno's kindness to really promote Whippy - his follower count skyrocketed. He started making enough off of streaming that he could finally put a down payment on a house. On a stream, Whippy literally credited Sykkuno for his ability to have the new home he was playing from.</p>
<p>The popularity of the NoPixel server was so massive the developers had to start requesting applications from potential players. After screening the applicants, some of them get whitelisted and they can join the server. The process is long, and you have to wait FOREEEEEVER for a slot to open up so the devs will take a new request. It seems like MONTHS before they open their free-to-apply queue. More often than not, it seems you have to pay to apply. By that, I mean you have to join one of their donation tiers, starting at $15/month. Considering the amount of time and money that must be put in to this server, I get the charge, and I'm tempted to just jump aboard with that $15/month charge. No different than paying it to Netflix, right? I mean, aside from NoPixel at least giving the opportunity to ADD TO THE CONTENT at some point for that amount. Anyway, if you're in one of their donation tiers, you are allowed to apply to join the server more frequently, and your application is reviewed faster. You also get priority over non-donors when free-to-apply queues open.</p>
<p>All well and good, but it still requires $15/month just to APPLY to join, and hope for the best. So, that adds a layer of "not very likely" on my end.</p>
<p>The next hiccup is the fact that this is a popular server for STREAMERS. There doesn't seem to be a rule that you HAVE to stream your gameplay somewhere, but it also seems like a waste to not stream? And neither Hubby nor I have ANY of the equipment needed to stream. Heck, I don't even have a computer that likes to use Zoom properly! We also don't really have the space to stream semi-professionally, so there's also that. We both have been dreaming about starting up our own gaming streams for the past year or so though, so.... maybe one day????</p>
<p>On top of all of that, there IS that long queue to get onto the server. Without any sort of platform and clout, even if we were donors and applied, who knows how quickly we would actually get approval, or if we even would? You're only allowed to apply up to five times with the donor applications, and five times with the non-donor applications. Ten times, tops, and half of those are with the epic wait times. If you can't get in then, you're not getting in.</p>
<p>The whole thing of joining NoPixel is achievable, but it also feels a bit like a pipedream. Still, dream Hubby and I do.</p>
<p>I instantly thought that Los Santos would be an excellent spot to let Trish loose. Let her wreak havoc all over the city; killing, cursing, and burning everything in sight. She'd be perfect. That is, until I remember it's an RP where people have to have an active mic on to interact with everyone. And I cannot control Trish's mouth. I have a hard enough time letting lose and letting myself TYPE her foul language, but to actually SAY it? Almost nonstop? I- I don't know if that's really the first image of myself I really want to put out in the world via streaming. Especially when so many viewers can't separate the characters from the players.</p>
<p>Okay, so Trish is out. Lia is too sweet and naïve to fit, so she's out. Maybe Willow? She could be fun, but she's also too much of a "good guy" I think. Maybe though... in X-Future Hubby and I did have Chayse learn thievery from his father, join the Thieves Guild, and had Willow join as well as Chayse started teaching her. They could be bank robbers and cat burglars that avoid hurting people if they can; much like how Sykkuno plays Yuno. I've even seen Willow's signature asymmetrical bob, silver hair, and blue dyed hair tips (not streaks, but close enough) all on NoPixel characters, so I know I could do a great job at actually building the Willow I see in my head.</p>
<p>So that's a possibility. I was also thinking Jolene could work: sex worker by day and cat burglar by night. I could do the same plan I had for Willow, more-or-less. I don't know how comfortable I'd be with pretending to be a prostitute with a bunch of random other players though. If it was exclusively my friends, that would be one thing, but strangers? Eeeeeeeeeeeh. I could scratch the self-employed prostitution off of Jolene's resume for NoPixel, but I'd have to figure out how to tweak that.</p>
<p>Next up would be Amara as a bounty hunter maybe? She's pretty standoffish though, and I don't know if I could be that cold. She also has a lot of traumas, and I don't know if I know enough to properly roleplay surviving what she did. She's also on the back burner.</p>
<p>Mara is from <i>Blades in the Dark, </i>a game about being a fledgling criminal in a crime-ridden city. Hubby might revive his character Ashlyn if he ever made it onto NoPixel, so... maybe? Her backstory is that she was a cop that saw how much more lucrative a life of crime could be, jumped ship, and became muscle that used her connections with the local PD to help keep heat off of her and her crew. Plus, she's a sharpshooter. I've never played the game, so I don't know how good of a marksman I'd actually be, and I don't know how I could roleplay a former-cop-turned-criminal... so she's probably also a no-go.</p>
<p>That's when I started building a new character. I keep trying to shake it and come up with something else, but the name Maggie keeps popping into my head whenever I think of this character, so I guess she's just Maggie.</p>
<p>Maggie would, yet again, play very similarly to Yuno. She'd purposefully befriend EVERYONE to the point that no one dares touch her because she has so many friends that would defend her with their lives. She'd befriend criminals and cops alike. She may even work everywhere she can in order to get a decent amount of legal funds and build a network. The key with Maggie, though, is that she'd be a criminal organizer and information broker. She's like the mafia's lawyer: she doesn't exactly take part in the crime, but she knows everything to help it go off without anyone staying in jail too long.</p>
<p>She could coordinate when banks are hit so someone isn't trying to hit a bank that someone else just robbed; wasting time and resources for nothing, along with chancing jail time for no money. She could help set up "baby criminal" training: apprenticeships, as it were, for people that want to learn how to become bank robbers or street racers. She could also broker information between the criminals and PD, as well as be a neutral party between warring criminal factions - such as the situation with Yuno and the Block Gang. She'd be a stash house while keeping herself clean so there's no reason for the PD to raid her home.</p>
<p>Again, Yuno already kind of fills this role unintentionally, but it would be fun to make a character who is doing so purposefully. Sweetness and sunshine so everyone will love her, but then dead seriousness when it's time to get to business. I even thought about always keeping extra food and water on her so that if she gets kidnapped as a hostage for bank robberies she can leave some previsions for the robbers to make sure they're well taken care of before their getaway, and therefore will take good care of her as well, should she need it.</p>
<p>She'd be the Mom of the server, protectively watching over her allies. Much like Pops from the Luke Cage Netflix series/comic books, she could be an untouchable Switzerland that everyone parleys through.</p>
<p>The more I think of Maggie, the more I like her and wish I could make her happen. Maybe I'll have to try her out as an NPC over on <i>Scum and Villainy</i> in the meantime. Really playtest her personality while scratching that itch since who knows if she'll ever see the light of day otherwise. Especially because, who am *I* to create a character that has so much pull and weight in a game with so many big-name streamers??????</p>
<p>Okay, so this blog is again long, and my laptop is dying. I was going to talk a bit about my progress in combining <i>Scum and Villainy</i> with <i>Gravity RIP</i>, but that will have to wait.</p>
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</table>LycoRoguehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01064253326464685398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6675584297301734651.post-73850832823189805482021-05-11T21:41:00.000-04:002021-05-11T21:41:16.774-04:00Creating My Own Game Mechanic<p>Whoo-boy! Hello again! I'm trying to get back onto my Tuesday updates, even though not much has happened since my super-late posting on Saturday. Also, ignore how late this update was posted today....</p>
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<p>As predicted, I didn't really have time to read or write anything new since Saturday. However, what I DID manage I'm soooooo excited about! Like, I know I said last time that I'd show off my <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="http://picrew.me" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">picrew images</a> that I made of myself, and talk about the game <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://chorusworldwide.com/when-the-past-was-around/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">When the Past was Around</a></i>, but... I already have a full blog post just talking about my prep work for <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.evilhat.com/home/scum-and-villainy/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Scum and Villainy</a>, </i>so... raincheck?</p>
<p>On Sunday, while I was reading through the rulebook to see what differences there are between <i><a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.evilhat.com/home/blades-in-the-dark/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Blades in the Dark</a></i> and <i>Scum and Villainy</i>, I actually thought of a potentially fun House Rule mechanic for the game, especially since we're trying to merge the game with another RPG anyway.</p>
<p>To better understand the mechanic I came up with, I think I need to first explain what got me to think of it, as well as a little bit of the Forged in the Dark game mechanics. Forged in the Dark is the name of the game mechanics first introduced in the game <i>Blades in the Dark.</i> However, the creator John Harper welcomes people to make their own RPGs using the same mechanics, and thus <i>Scum and Villainy</i> - along with many others - was born. So, for ease, since I'll be inspired by Blades but prepping for S&V, I'll just talk about the established game mechanics as simply Forged in the Dark.</p><p>Good? Okay.</p><p>So, part of the Forged in the Dark character creation includes picking one NPC to be your friend - "a close relationship (a good friend, a lover, a family relation, or similar)." - and one NPC to be your rival or enemy. Well, I SAY "pick" but you basically design your friend and rival as well. See, each character architype a player can choose from has its own list of five NPCs, and the player chooses one to be the Friend, and one to be the Rival. However, the game just gives the broadest of strokes: a character name and their position in society, be it their main job or their social standing. From there, the player creates who this NPC is and their connection to the player's character.</p>
<p>For instance, Hubby's Blades character Ashlyn was a Lurk architype; they specialize in stealthy infiltration and burglary. The different NPCs Hubby could choose from included a beggar, a bluecoat (cop), a locksmith, a noble, and a city clerk. Hubby decided to befriend the noble. More specifically, he created the backstory that Ashlyn was in a relationship with the noble's daughter, and the noble continued to keep close ties with him even after the daughter passed. As for his rival, Hubby chose the locksmith because he liked the flavor of someone who constantly breaks into places and things having a rivalry with a locksmith.</p>
<p>Coincidentally enough, when the <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoid6oOAGqMfUBhX62lurFKfEMBTpRFZB" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Oxboxtra crew started posting their game sessions of <i>Blades in the Dark</i></a> back in January, <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://twitter.com/Farrantula" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Andy Farrant</a> had chosen the Leech archetype - saboteur and technician - but somehow stumbled his way into kinda-sorta having a locksmith as his rival as well. Instead of choosing one of the five NPC options - apothecary, psychonaut, corpse thief, blood dealer, and priestess - he created his own rival. Basically, he modeled his character Edvard Lumière off of Nikola Tesla, and created Edvard's own Thomas Edison: a man named Amadeus Astor. According to Edvard, Astor is a hack inventor who just steals other people's invention ideas and markets them as his own. He further claimed that Astor did this exact thing to Edvard multiple times, most notably when Edvard created the incandescent lightbulb. Astor, much like Edison, is a great salesperson and master of PR, so his brand is all over the city, and his highest seller is his line of locks and safes. So Edvard has made it his life's mission to prove Astor a hack by breaking every last Astor brand item he could find, such as cracking every supposedly impenetrable safe.</p>
<p>So, both Ashlyn and Edvard have this rivalry with lock manufacturers, and make it part of their life goals to master cracking every last one of this rival's locks to prove they aren't as good as everyone believes.</p>
<p>How does this relate to the mechanic I came up with?</p>
<p>In one of the <i>Oxventure Presents: Blades in the Dark</i> episodes, Edvard goes to pick a lock, and Luke, who is their Game Master this time instead of a player, does what's known as a Fortune Roll. Basically, if there is something that involves some sort of luck, but isn't directly affected by the players - and therefore would make no sense for them to roll an action for it - the GM can opt to roll to see how good their fortune is. In this occasion, Luke ended up rolling that the lock was an Astor brand, which ended up enraging Edvard. As I was reading through the <i>Scum and Villainy</i> rulebook and reread about the three main positions the players could be in at any given point of a job - Controlled, Risky, or Desperate - I thought back to Luke rolling to determine the lock's brand.</p>
<p>That's when I came up with the mechanic of a permanent Devil's Bargin. See, the Forged in the Dark games use standard six-sided dice for their action rolls. If a player wishes their character to do anything, they describe their intent to the GM, and the GM decides if it's simple enough to just happen or if the player should roll to see if they're successful. If the GM determines that a roll is needed because the results of the action aren't definite, the player then chooses which of their abilities best suits what they're trying to do, and roll. If a player rolls a 6, the action is a complete success. If a player rolls a 4 or a 5, it's a partial success. The action still succeeds, but with a complication. If the player rolls 3 or under, the action fails.</p>
<p>The players get a pool of dice in order to increase their chance of success, because only the highest dice roll is used. The points they put towards different action abilities on their character sheet give them a die per point for said ability. For instance, if they have two points in Stealth, they get two dice to roll. If they have three points in Sway, they get three dice to use that ability. If they only have one point in Tinker, they only get the one die. If they have no points, they can still attempt to use that ability, but now they roll two dice and take the LOWER number rolled.</p><p>The player can also choose to push themselves to add another die to their pool. This adds 2 stress to a counter on their character sheet. Their character gets a permanent trauma (hinderance) if their stress meter gets too high, and if they get enough traumas their character retires from the life of crime. Another player could also opt to add 1 stress to their counter in order to "assist" the rolling player, adding a die to the pool. So there are lots of ways for players to try to increase their chances of rolling a 4, 5, or 6.</p>
<p>The Devil's Bargain is just one more option. In the Forged in the Dark games, a Devil's Bargain is something the GM could offer the player for any given action. The player can accept the bargain and add a die to their pool without any added stress. However, as a Devil's Bargain, there's always another price. Regardless of how successful the player's roll, if they accept the bargain, this price will be paid. It could be that the crew gets more heat on them, and they are more likely to be arrested. It could be that there is unintentional collateral damage. It could be that their relationship with someone suffers greatly or their social standing plummets. It could be that they leave behind more evidence. The list goes on. The player, of course, could always decline the bargain, or negotiate the terms to something they're more willing to accept. The other players are even encouraged to offer Devil's Bargains or help negotiate terms. It's a fun mechanic that doesn't seem to be used nearly enough either when Hubby and I played or when the Oxboxtra crew plays.</p>
<p>Okay! To FINALLY get to my mechanic, now that you know the broad strokes of how the game works. I thought about the Controlled, Risky, and Desperate positions a character could be in. If the character is in a controlled position, even failing their rolls won't be of great consequence. If a character is in a desperate position, failing their rolls could create grave consequences. Risky is more-or-less the default position most of these heists take place in. I also thought about Ashlyn and Edvard and their rivalries with locksmiths. I then thought about a D&D mechanic called "<a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Favored_Enemy_(5e_Class_Feature)" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Favored Enemy</a>."</p><p>The long and short of this Ranger class feature is that the character has one thing in particular that they have studied obsessively. The rulebook has a list of options the player can choose from with such things as 'fiends' or 'giants' or 'undead' or 'orcs', etc, but a DM might allow the player to specify if the player requests something reasonable, such as a specific dragon that razed the character's village. Because of the intense study to master ways to take down this specific enemy, the character gets bonuses when confronting or tracking said enemy.</p><p>Side note, in the last D&D campaign I played in - that sadly died when the pandemic hit - Wolfhearted's character bashed down so many wooden doors that Hubby thought his character became properly experienced. Although it's not what the feat is intended for, and Wolfhearted's character wasn't a Ranger, Hubby still gave him Favored Enemy: Wooden Doors. He now had a bonus to attack rolls against wooden doors, this was to showcase that the character became skilled enough to masterfully find the weak points in any given wooden door, and therefore was capable of easily smashing through them. Plus, it was hilarious to us that a party member had inanimate objects as their 'favored enemy'.</p>
<p>So, anyway... I thought... what if I found a way to bring Favored Enemy into the Forged in the Dark games? Have it function kind of like what Hubby did for Wolfhearted and the wooden doors? What if there's a specific Devil's Bargain set up for each player, and it comes into play whenever that character's chosen rival is involved? Or, if they struggle with something consistently at first - such as locked wooden doors - and have purposefully roleplayed their character doing whatever they can to overcome that? What I came up with ended up as a multi-faceted Devil's Bargain, because it's technically a Devil's Bargain to accept a specific Fortune Roll agreed upon ahead of time.</p>
<p>My example that I sent Hubby revolved around Ashlyn's and Edvard's rivalries with locksmiths.</p>
<p>Specifically, every time that character comes up against a lock, they can opt for their Favored Enemy Devil's Bargain. If they accept, they get their extra die, but then the GM rolls the pre-established Devil's Bargain Fortune Roll.</p>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>On a roll of a 6, the lock was designed by the rival. The character has spent so much time studying this design that they have mastered cracking it. There's still skill needed, and the character can still be distracted, but they are also in a controlled position.</li>
<li>On a roll of a 4 or 5, the lock is indeed designed by the rival, but it's a new model the character isn't particularly familiar with. The character is in a risky position, and if they fail their attempt, they will gain a stress as they fixate on mastering this new lock.</li>
<li>On a roll of 1, 2, or 3, the character doesn't recognize the lock maker. The character's expertise is specifically for their rival's locks, and so they are now in a desperate position. If the character's attempt fails, they will fill in 2 ticks on the Alarm is Raised clock. If no such clock is already started, start one and fill in the first two ticks.</li>
</ul>
<p>Okay, quick aside. So "clocks" is another way of creating tension in the Forged in the Dark games, or a way of showing progress in general. The GM, with potential input from the players, creates these clocks to showcase how the world around the players is still moving. Most clocks either take 4 ticks, 6 ticks, or 8 ticks to fill, and once filled, the event the clock is for happens. These can be such things as: an alarm is raised, a guard finishes their patrol loop, a war breaks out between factions, a project a character is working on is completed, or an overheated engine explodes, etc. Actions players do could advance a clock, such as failing a sneaking action could add a tick to the Alarm is Raised clock, or assassinating one faction member and claiming it was in the name of another could advance the Factions at War clock, or pushing a car to go faster could add to the Overheated Engine clock. Alternatively, players could untick the clocks, slowing down the inevitable outcome. Things such as making it look like a stray cat made all the noise could lower the Alarm is Raised clock, or saving a faction member and claiming it was another faction's plan could lower or even erase the Warring Factions clock, or slowing the car or pouring some water on the engine could lower the Overheated Engine clock.</p>
<p>Going back to my house rule, though. The way I see it, the Rivals angle doesn't seem to get nearly enough gameplay, nor does the Devil's Bargain mechanic, as I mentioned. It is also fairly infrequent, for the most part, for a player character to come up against this "favored enemy," as it were. So why not amp it up on occasion? It shouldn't happen often enough to break the game by making it either too hard or unfairly easy for one player or too easy for all of the players for the game to no longer be fun anymore. Even if it does get that bad, it's easy enough for the playgroup to agree to retire this mechanic. </p><p>However, including it also allows the player to really feel like their character is a badass if they choose the Devil's Bargain and get a 6 on the Fortune Roll. And even then, there's no guarantee they'll succeed, it just makes it easier for them to do so, and harder for them to irreparably screw up something their characterization says they should be an expert at (something that frequently happens to my D&D characters because dice hate me). I mean, I might even go so far as to let the player get an extra die if the Fortune Roll is a 6, just to make them even more excited about the outcomes. So, that would be their initial dice pool, plus one for accepting the bargain, plus a second one for that 6 on the Fortune Roll.</p>
<p>Let the characters be a bit overpowered for this ONE instance. Let this ONE specific type of Devil's Bargain have the potential of NOT including something bad happening to them (kind of defeats the title of DEVIL'S bargain, but ignore that). If allowing that little imbalance and inconsistency in game play means the players get enough dice to roll a six every time they come across their rival's locks, then that just adds to their legend and to the rivalry. Let them feel like a badass as their character basically looks at the lock and it comes undone.</p>
<p>Look, over lockdown, Hubby has really gotten into watching the streamer <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.twitch.tv/sykkuno" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Sykkuno</a>. Most recently, Hubby has gone back to watch Sykkuno's highlight reels of his gameplay on Grand Theft Auto V online. Specifically, the <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://www.dexerto.com/entertainment/xqc-making-new-gta-rp-character-after-controversy-over-x-roleplay-1567270/" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">NoPixel GTA roleplay server</a>. Sykkuno is almost ungodly good at the hacking, lock picking/hot wiring, and thermite detonation minigames in GTA. His character <a 85="85" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-variant:="" font-weight:="" href="https://nopixel.fandom.com/wiki/Yuno_Sykk" line-height:="" normal="normal" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%;" target="_blank">Yuno</a> is fairly well known on the server as Los Santos' best hacker. Well, last night, Hubby and I went over to Sykkuno's Twitch stream, where Yuno and some friends decided to hit up the most secure bank in-game: The Vault. This is Top Tier if you're a GTA bank robber.</p>
<p>The whole stream was cursed with constant server crashes, and it kept FOREVER to get to the actual heist because of it, and even the epic getaway was ruined by a server crash. It was painful to watch because I felt the players' frustration about everything.</p>
<p>Point being, Sykkuno routinely told his chat over the course of about three hours, that it's insane that he was the sole hacker for this job. Most crews would have at least two hackers, that way if one got too nervous the other could tag in. There was something like 5 locks to hack through, and each lock has something like 5 puzzles to correctly answer in the hacking minigame. I'm always dumbfounded when I watch Sykkuno, because there is no way my brain could process the information fast enough, and yet he makes it look like it's no big deal. He's suuuuuuper humble about it too, which is adorable and so endearing.</p>
<p>Anyway, his friends just have him as their sole hacker because they know he's good. They all told him they trusted he could do this job. On top of that, they didn't really have the time to come up with back-up plans because of all of the server crashes. So, if Yuno couldn't crack into the safe, they were out roughly $100k that they had put into planning the bank heist, and they'd all be in jail. The poor guy was so nervous, he did indeed screw up three times, but, as luck would have it, they brought exactly enough supplies for him to still get all the way through and get away with the money. He's there on his stream sweating, a nervous wreck as he kept telling everyone, "This is it. This is the last shot. If I screw this up we don't have another option. Why do I keep being handed the last shot? What if I screw up?"</p>
<p>It was SOOOOOOOO tense, and both Hubby and I were holding our breaths as we watched him go through each hacking level. In the end, he just kind of wandered around going, "that was the worst I've ever done! I've never had to go to my third attempt of hacking anything!" Meanwhile, his friends are all cheering him on about how unbelievable he is at hacking; he's a hacking god! Sykkuno is panicked about nearly screwing it up, but all his friends see is "he got most of those on the first try, and QUICKLY too! It's like he looked at the door and it opened!"</p>
<p>I think my new Favored Enemy Devil's Bargain house rule might add that same type of tension and excitement. If the player gets that extra die for the 6 on the Fortune Roll, they just seem even more epic as they get through the lock with virtually no problem. If the player STILL fails, it will be all the more devastating and investing. Also, if the GM fails the Fortune Roll, and the character is now in a desperate situation because they don't recognize the lock, can you imagine the cheers if the player still manages to roll some form of success?</p>
<p>I really like this mechanic, guys. I think it can really add to the overall storytelling and engagement in the games. I'll want to come up with something like this for every player's rival so they all get that opportunity to be a badass on the table. If they wish to pick it up, cool; if not, no big.</p>
<p>I'm so excited about this!!!</p>
<p>I might also change the 4/5 roll on the Fortune Roll table slightly. I'm debating if I want to keep the one stress side effect. I want there to be a consequence, but it doesn't feel right. In Forged in the Dark games, after completing a job, the players have two downtime slots. They can use them to have their characters do a variety of things from healing to destressing to working on a project to helping take some heat off of their crew to improving the efficiency of their crew. I might change "add one stress" to "remove one downtime slot" because one of those slots is automatically filled with the character obsessively studying that new lock design.</p>
<p>Yeah. I think I like that better, but I also don't want the consequence be TOO severe, especially since there will still be a normal consequence to the failed roll, AND Forged in the Dark already has a mechanic called "entanglements." Basically, it shows the aftereffects of taking on the job in the first place. Some of these entanglements already have the potential to remove a downtime slot, and what if the player goes up against more than two locks? Granted, that's to the GM's discretion, but things I might have to think about and playtest a bit. Talk it over with Hubby some more.</p>
<p>I do like the flavor of losing some downtime to studying the lock, but I also like the flavor of the character getting stressed about more new locks they have to learn to master....</p>
<p>Either way, I'm just having so much fun with this! I can't wait to see what other bits of inspiration I'll get while continuing to prepare for our playgroup to start up this campaign! I mean, I know it's not writing per se, but it's still getting my mind thinking creatively again, and for the betterment of the overall story the campaign will tell.</p>
<p>Hubby and I were also talking about somehow recording our sessions this go, either via old-school tape recorder so I could better transcribe everything, or actually taking video of the session. Again, probably just so I could transcribe, but if we can get a set-up good enough, maybe Hubby and I will have a reason to use our Twitch accounts for more than watching and following streamers.</p>
<p>We'll see where we go with all of this.</p>
<p>In the meantime, I'm back to the grind. I'm excited to see what else I'll have to talk to you fine folks about next week!</p>
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