I'm exaggerating a bit when I say it's the only story I want to write, but it's my strongest idea at the moment.

That story with my gnomish agent meeting Barid when she first came to HQ, I'm not really happy with the way I told it. I was thinking about asking Phobos if Barid and Tocly could be frienemies, but that one feels really premature in contrast to wanting to write a blackout story. (Especially when I'm wondering if Tocly will ever work.)

I did hear about a Purim party when I was lurking. I do have an idea where there is a question about the tastefulness of wearing Mageweave Robes when they include a stole.

I also have other ideas... but how do you add interest to a story where it's about a character complaining that the whites of her eggs are so overcooked that she can't cut them, but yet the yolks are still runny. (I cooked eggs that did that the other day, so it's somehow possible.)

I wouldn't be too surprised if the console designs varied from RC to RC, and I also wouldn't be surprised if some poor agent pair somewhere got stuck with, and have to somehow make do with, a bunch of stone abacuses tied together.

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Maybe you'd take some interest in the IBM System/360, in that case?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bundesarchiv_B_145_Bild-F038812-0014,_Wolfsburg,_VW_Autowerk.jpg

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Nice and properly console-ey.

[[Tom: But it needs a mouse! I can't play games on this...]]

...But Tom, there aren't any games on the console.

[[Tom: That is a lie and you know it.]]

I have not read Roseveare's stories, and fluff usually sickens me. I'll check her out! Where can I find her fics?

I am not always able to read an entire novel these days, but I do read all the time. I finish 3-4 good magazines a month, and read news articles daily. Maybe expanded reading questions for next year?

A good starting point seems to be to list out some of what might be the important differences between the Board and the Discord, and then see if we can figure out how this leads to the different ways people interact with them and why there might be a split.

1. You have to poll the Board, chat notifies you. To find out if people are talking on the Board, you have to open the page or hit refresh and then look. For the Discord, as long as you have the client open, when people are talking, you (unless you've muted the channel) hear a [boop]. There is therefore a lot less friction to becoming aware of activity on the chat. (In other words, compared to the Discord, being on the Board is a lot of work. That will likely keep people from checking the Board too often, slowing things down.)

(In the interests of "technical solutions to social problems", some coding that would allow people to be actively notified when someone posts on the Board would take a few programmer-days or weeks, I suspect.)

2. The Board is significantly more asynchronous. A thread on the Board usually has a maximum response times measured in days, a message in the Discord usually gets all its responses in minutes or hours (depending on what it is and how busy the chat is).

3. Messages to the Discord have a smaller intended audience. The intended readers of a Board post are all PPC members and assorted lurkers, the intended readers of a Discord message are whoever happens to be looking at or near that moment, plus in some cases folks who scroll back later.

4. To me, subjectively, posting on the Board feels like sending an email to a mailing list, while chatting in the Discord feels much more like a bunch of friends sitting around a table talking about whatever.

Now that I've got a bunch of general principles out of the way, let's look at a few of the things people in the PPC do and where they do them.

Publishing writing: Board. There are basically no exceptions. Publishing your work is a situation where you want a whole lot of people to read it ... eventually. You want your concrit with detail and a lot of pondering on the concriters's part. This type of post fits very well on the Board.

Personal rants/celebrations/... (significant things aside): Discord. Again, almost no exceptions. If you want to, to pick an example of mine, complain about how your GRE paper has disappeared into a black hole, leaving you without scores or celebrate doing well on an exam, you'd like reactions near-immediately, not several hours/days later. That sort of thing also isn't historically/doesn't feel like a matter for the attention of the entire PPC.

RP: Depends, in significant ways.

An RP thread on the Board is basically an open invitation for a whole lot of people to start a bunch of RPs that are somewhat asynchronous and last several days. It's expected for people to slowly wander in and slowly wander out a good few days later. If you want that, you post an RP on the Board.

RP is the Discord is smaller and more immediate. The typical sequence of events is that someone pokes #rudis for RP (often with something along the lines of "((waves))" or "((pokes))"). Then, if there's anyone around within the next minutes/hour or two (if you're still around), they respond to your request. There are usually one or two respondents. A few details of scene/characters are often quickly worked out, and the RP starts, and then continues until people run out of ideas or someone has to leave for a longer period of time. Sometimes, a particularly good scene (or one where everyone was in the middle of something and got interrupted) will be restarted later, usually the next day, usually only once.

Sharing news, cute pictures, and the like: Happens on the Board, but leans Discord because the general interaction pattern with that sort of thing is to give a quick general indication of approval/appreciation, and the Board is much less amenable to that.

Heck, just about anywhere people are, posting a "Orange Party wins election in Randomland" article would typically get either crickets or a few "That's good"-type messages and maybe some "That's bad" ones. You don't typically get discussions of that sort of thing. (Similar if "article" above is replaced with "picture of a cute animal" or the like). When you share that sort of thing, you often are looking for social reactions or just to inform (and maybe to spark a discussion, but that's not the entire goal).

Badfic posting: Again, it works differently on the Board and on the Discord. On the Board, you basically post a link to announce the existence of the fic. It's very rarely responded to. Badfic is usually posted to the Discord in the form of a few quoted phrases/sentences/paragraphs, and it is often responded to ("Wait, what?", "Geema why", and the like can often be seen after a block of bold).

All the above is mostly a rambling blob of things that are probably facts. It does, however, now that I've written it, lead me to a hypothesis: our underlying operating system might generally like the chat more than the Board. It gives you more of a social-interaction fix for less effort.

The existence of the dynamic is non-ideal in that people who aren't in chat miss out on a lot of the community's goings-on. But what, if anything, can/should be done is not something I have too many thoughts on (technical solution to a social problem from above aside).

- Tomash

It's not so much a deliberate thing...

Speaking for myself, It's just hard to sort what SHOULD be posted to the board, a place where space is at a premium and we're encouraged to think hard before starting a new thread. Because starting new threads isn't encouraged, there's rarely new content, and because there's rarely new stuff to talk about and while occasionally a cool thread pops up, it frequently dies before a new thread that grabs my attention is posted, leaving me with long stretches where I'm not posting at all.

Every single one of them has this expression of "Oh god what is my life right now" and it's awesome.

I think my favourites are the Ron Shirt and the Pig of Hufflepuff, though Harry bouncing down the stairs comes in close behind. ^_^

hS

And the sentences it forms aren't the most coherent (like yours except worse), so do you have length suggestions?

-Twistey

Oh man. I gotta try this when I have time. It reminds me of what happens when you run something through Google Translate a bunch of times. ^_^

~Neshomeh

(Ah, your guide explains a lot, hS. }:P
Here’s mine.)

How to Be More Twistey (not recommended at all):

PPC:
-Post on the Board as frequently as possible! Maybe even reply to stuff that you don't need to reply to!
-Try to hide your PPC activity from your local powers that be and delete your history of the Board and Wiki. Act all paranoid whenever they get suspicious.
-Be one of only a small number of people who edits the Plort Wiki outside of Plort "season". Add a ton of new stuff to it that nobody agreed to but you're doing it anyway and just letting them refine it because you trust them.
-Make lots of PPC memes using Walfas and Makemegoogly.com (because you don't have an Imgur account or anything and hS loves the googly eyes.)
-Spend the time between Badfic Games “seasons” planning out what you're going to write next year and overthink the new fake alter-ego.
-Realize that that nightmarish thing you thought up probably shouldn't be in the Badfic Games and is in fact worse than C-brian.
-Be unconventional: censor things with hyphens. Like C-brian.
-Mock-argue/duel/etc with hS whenever possible because the two of you had a slight scuffle in the past and reconciled and you're using it as an opportunity to create a running joke.
-Have way too many agent ideas for the fact that you don’t have Permission yet. (Gerb derbit!)
-Only thoroughly double check your username to make sure you don't have a mini. Double check the rest, but more skimming-like.
-When you have a question answered, say "Okay, thanks" or something like that in the subject and then ask another question in the post so that nobody reads it and answers. (Sigh.)
-Try to recruit your friends. Fail.
-Wonder too much about how you'd look as a Mary Sue. Worry that you'd be blonde.

Writing/etc:
-Have a long list of personal tropes. Use them in the beginning but then start cutting them out as you revise.
-Write too many stories that are either about a hopefully-no-longer-a-self-insert defeating her personal demons or are angry subversions of your fantasy-obsessed, romance-obsessed, blonde-obsessed (but not in a bad way) childhood friend's writing tropes. (Sigh)
-When reviewing, review nicely. When mocking, mock so aggressively that you probably need to take a step back because you’re pushing the boundaries of PPC protocol.
-When creating games, have an addiction to making boss fights.
-Have an addiction to making secrets.
-Have an addiction to making secret boss fights.
-Value function over form, but design your characters before you write them.
-Have too many unfinished Sibelius scores.
-Have too many unfinished stories.
-Have too many unfinished anything that actually takes a considerable amount of time and effort!
-Harp on the seriousness of copyright and the importance of royalty-free content.
-Have too many ideas of things to put on your Newgrounds account and your YouTube channel before you even have either one of them.
-Still be happy that you're closer to having both than you've ever been. :)

Internet:
-Visit RationalWiki as much as possible and use it as the ultimate resource for weird beliefs on both the left and right sides of the political spectrum.
-When you're bored, go to Google Images and surf! After all, that's how you found the PPC! What could go wrong?! (Dun dun dun!)
-Curiosity has blown up in your face many times. Make it happen again.
-Have too many bookmarks (until you switched to Chrome and your bookmarks from Firefox all got deleted).
-Go to Incompetech and listen to royalty-free music more than you go to any other music site.
-Have a hobby of mentally MSTing dress-up games meant for young girls that gradually developed into an addiction and a need to tell some of your friends to stop implying that Barbie's Aura of Smooth is turning you lesbian/bisexual/queer.

Gaming (mostly Wolf 3D):
-Don't strategize. Just run up to the boss and shoot at it until it's dead.
-In the case you can't, try to get your dad's help and stop trying to beat the boss when he can't figure out the controls. (True story.)
-Game out loud, like Markiplier except less over-the-top.
-Run from a scary enemy that you’re actually going to win against if you use the above “strategy”, because it’s scary. (Also a true story.)
-Talk to the paintings and comment on every Suspiciously Shaped Room you walk into.
-Be really good at Fruit Ninja because you played it so much earlier in life, but then wonder why you aren’t still good at pinball by the same logic.

Music Is Life:
-Practice your instrument whenever possible. Feel guilty when you can’t.
-Mentally squee whenever you hear your instrument in a song (because mine is bassoon and that doesn’t show up audibly all that often.)
-Complain about people who don’t care enough about band to actually practice and behave in class.
-When your family is watching a football game, only care about the marching band and the cheese dip.
-Be glad that band jokes are one of the few things you can search up on Google Images that doesn't put you in danger of Seeing An Old Familiar Face. (Dun dun dun again!)

Life:
-React in a negative way to making any sort of mistake, ranging from cringing and dwelling on it for months to completely freaking out and dwelling on it for decades.
-Exaggerate your nope/ahh moments by running from the person/hiding under the table/looking like you've been completely shell-shocked (and you have.)
-Be confused when people still like you a lot even after you did something stupid. Write it off as charisma. Suddenly realize that charisma =/= good person, with A Particular Example in mind. (Dun dun dun again again!) Freak out in your head and literally get an itchy upper lip.
-On a similar note, make as many references/comparisons/invocations of said example without calling him by name. If necessary, use euphemisms. (Sigh)
-Have the following reactions to said example and his followers: anger, fear, morbid fascination, WTFork, and more fear. More fear/fascination and less anger the higher up you go on the chain of command from those Neo idiots all the way up to the example himself. More WTFork the more occult it gets.
-Make jokes about people who talk about the example too much or too favorably in the company of hS being destined to be hit with a frying pan.
-Realize that you yourself fall under that category at this moment. Duck even though hS is nowhere near you IRL.
-Be proud of your brunetteness, flat-chested-ness, and lack of interest in getting contacts. Because your appearance is the one thing you don't ever worry about.
-Realize that this post is probably too long. Do nothing about it, in fact, make it longer over the course of your edits to it.

-Sign your posts with "-[name here]." In my case, that's "-Twistey".

1) Lurk
2) Randomly appear and make semi-useful comments/puns.
3) Disappear for a random amount of time no one can guess.
4) Repeat.
Optionals
5) Use numbers. Maths is important and so is reminding people.
6) Constantly worry if you're talking about yourself too much and shut up in case you're alienating people.
7) Promise you'll write something in the next year and never get around to it.
8) Play video games, recommend video games then get sad when no one plays the same video games as you.
10) Occasionally miss things. Even more occasionally realise you missed things before you post and correct it.
11) When in chat SPaG comes second to getting your point across. You can always edit things, but if you lose your place in the conversation it means you'll have to go back to point 1).
12) Swear you'll get better and then forget an hour later what you were getting better at.
13) Always listen to music. It helps.

Nova

• Double-check everything. The time you don't double-check is the time you will be utterly, laughably wrong. In fact, triple-check.
  
  - Fear failure, but fear success even more. Consequently, get nothing done.
  
  - Want to do all the things, suffer decision paralysis. Consequently, get nothing done.
  
  - Be baffled when people still think you're a level-headed, with-it, confident person.
  
  - If all else fails, edit the wiki.
  
  - Spend inordinate amounts of time on wiki articles and projects meant to elucidate the masses. Inevitably suffer frustration and disappointment when nobody notices. Keep doing it anyway.
  
  - Use a smiley that no one understands anymore. {= )
  
  - Crackers don't matter, and there is never a bad time for a Farscape reference. {= D
  
  - There is no problem that can't be solved with more and better words.
  
  - Everyone needs your advice whether they want it or not, no exceptions.
  
  - Re-read your own work. This is to a) actually remember what happened, and b) because you are secretly self-centered and enjoy it.
  
  - Pretend really hard not to be so self-centered. Maybe pull it off?
  
  - Write extremely slowly. Publish a mission maybe once a year or so.
  
  - If you get into a new thing, get really into it. Pursue it until you are in danger of burning out. Then drop it and move on to the next thing. Come back later.
  
  - Once you commit to something, never let it go ever. Even when it's long past time most people would have moved on and not felt bad about it. Torture yourself with every incomplete project and swear you'll finish it eventually, really.
  
  - Honestly believe that most people are good and pretty much just want to live their lives in peace, despite evidence to the contrary.
  
  - Embody the Unitarian Jihad name of Sister Boot Knife of Looking at Both Sides of the Question. Never outright disagree with anyone when you can temporize instead.
  
  - Waste ridiculous amounts of time trying to find that one word you know exists but can't quite remember. (Temporize. Which I'm still not sure is quite the word I wanted.)
  
  - Occasionally withdraw and don't talk to anyone for a week or so with no explanation. Apologize later.
  
  - When editing, obsess over typography. Hyphens and dashes are the best and nobody else appreciates them like you do.
  
  - Real life is the annoying but necessary distraction from the important stuff in your own head.
  
  ... Yeah, that's a good start. {= )
  
  ~Neshomeh

-*Puffs up chest*. If you could use an emote, use an emote. Even if it's a bad idea or unnecessary.

-Technical references nobody gets should be as common as SIGSEGVs from dereferencing pointers with random values.

-References to ancient computer history nobody knows are a good thing. Don't think of it as confusing people, think of it as showing the Ignorant Masses the Good Word of Symbolics.

-References to ancient videogames are worth 20 zorkmids each.

-Use exclaimation points a lot!

-...use ellipses even more.

-Give out excessive numbers of hugs.

-Say you'll write things and then never actually do.

-Say you won't write things and then do.

-Constantly get shipped with your friends.

-Pretend to be annoyed about this.

-Make Tomash very angry about some Horrifying Horror you just found in programming.

-...Or just tell him about PHP again.

-Don't get involved on the board very often.

-If you're involved in a discussion and you don't have at least one comment nobody's replied to on each response, you're not trying hard enough.

-Never preview your posts. Never check to se if your HTML works. Post corrections. Never check if the corrections work, correct the corrections.

-The more time you put into a post, the less likely it is to get attention.

-Constantly try to get people to play Quake 3 deathmatch with you. You will never succeed.

-Why finish your programming project when you can... not?

-Why work when you can... not?

-Why not be on Discord when you can... not not.

-Possess a burning, fundamental hatred of ABO deep in the depths of your soul.

-There is never a bad time to reference TTS. For you see, I... am Rogal Dorn. And I am Adorable. (You read it in his voice, didn't you Nesh? =D)

-Never miss an opportunity to do something silly. Even while doing something serious.

• =] is your only face


• Angery react only


• Is mostly asleep?


• Iximaz is Bes Frend


• Beta everything
  • Correct v little
  • Mostly just tell jokes



• Rule Discord w. an iron fist
  • May not include ruling, the Discord, ironing, or f-movingonveryfast


• Flag?


• FLAG!

I feel like 16-19 could be one rule on the subject of what we find desirable/acceptable for the tone of Board posts.

Actually, setting what we want as RULES makes me feel like the document may have hit the point of becoming bloated. Like... maybe all these details are better covered by the supporting document FAQ: The Board?

(Should I/we go help you work on revising that?)

~Neshomeh

I approve!

Since I can't post anything profane here, I'll just put down a link to a film I did on the matter:

https://psychodemonfox.deviantart.com/art/FCC-Song-for-2017-716708139

It's NSFW, so just be aware of that... I was very angry when I wrote it.

Enjoy!

While the literature many of us produce CAN feature quite a bit of swearing - there are M-rated fics sporked every so often, after all - the Board is expected to be family-friendly, so IIRC, explicit language is strictly prohibited.

From what I've read, there are already lawsuits in the works challenging the decision. While agencies do have the authority to revoke previously-established rules, they cannot be "arbitrary and capricious" about it. Hopefully, the courts will put a preliminary injunction in place so that the repeal doesn't take effect until it gets argued in the courts. If they were quick enough to put a preliminary injunction on Trump's travel bans, they should definitely issue one here.

Though a Congressional fix would render any litigation moot, I wouldn't hold my breath that our divided Congress would move any more quickly than usual. If anything, they'll move at a turtle's pace instead of their usual glacial pace.

What else should we expect when an ex-Verizon employee is appointed as chair of the FCC? Fox in the henhouse, anyone?

(BTW: EPL, have you gotten my e-mails lately?)

They're a lot easier. The first year, I think I only got... ten days in? Less? And the problems vary in difficulty, so...

The TXR hackery continues! (seriously, TXR is pretty freaking nice and I've been having a lot of fun with it).

This isn't the shortest or cleanest code I've ever written, but it seems to work reasonably well. And it's gotten cleaner then it was initially. It's also only two screens of code. Which is... pretty decent for me. https://pastebin.com/xUJSbEsf

For this puzzle, I used TXR Lisp. TXR is a scripting tool developed by Kaz Kylheku, aka kazinator, aka that guy who never shuts up about TXR on HN.

Credit to him, TXR is a really awesome tool. The associated Lisp dialect is basically CL with a lot of built-in functions and shortcuts and a few semantic changes to make it more convenient for scripting. It also has wrappers for all the POSIX stuff you could ever want. So I solved this with `fork(2)` and `pipe(2)` as the process and IPC mechanisms.
https://pastebin.com/imTJR4t7

because a circular linked list in Rust was being annoying.

Solution at at this Pastebin

Oh, look at us, all clever and modular-like. :P. Seriously, your code looks quite good.

I wrote in C. So.. not as cool and shiny and modular. But I did get to use function pointers. https://pastebin.com/UcnibFee

is pretty similar.

Jr obgu raqrq hc oehgr-sbepvat gur tebhcf, gubhtu lbhef jnf vacynpr naq zvar jnfa'g

Tvira ubj lbh jrer unaqyvat gur erphefvir pnyyf va `pbybe`, jevgvat n `pynzc` shapgvba zvtug'ir orra n tbbq zbir.

rirelguvat jnf cerggl ernqnoyr, V guvax, nsgre V erserfurq zl zrzbel ba ubj Yvfc tbrf n ovg.

- Tomash

The monsoon hit especially hard this year. Simon's eyes are staring into the sky, populated with racing water droplets agitated beyond it's airbone size limit by the dusts and crystals high up in the atmosphere.

The rains hit the zinc roofs with thunderous clatter. Young children are scared and cling to Simon for heat and comfort, but Simon can only feel a calming drowsiness.

"Abang! Abang!" Simon is jolted.

"What, budak?"

"Abang, I'm bored."

Forming his right hand into a claw, Simon clasps his brother's head lightly and rock it back and forth slightly. "Can't you see I am daydreaming, Damian?"

The boy chuckles as his head bobbed around. "Abang, I want to play computer."

"Father says not to, if lightning hits electronics, it will ruin them."

"Can I play your handphone please? Please, please, please?"

Simon sighs. The phone is at 80%. "Alright, wait." He moves his thumb, swiping the screen windows one way and other. After deleting his browsing history, he hands the phone over.

"Tonight, do homework you understand. Don't make Mom take away my handphone. If she does, I am going to eat all your cakes."

Damian shrieks in 'horror', then runs away to play Angry Birds.

After a few hours, the rain slows down to a drizzle. It is afternoon, and Simon grunts as he rises from the sofa. Damian is already asleep, the phone placed safely on his study table. Damian opens Whatsapp. His fingers taps the phone screen lightly, measuring his words.

"Celestine, what you doing?"

"Why? Wanna dating, issit?"

"No, just checking bah!"

"Bah, don't just check only, visitlah some time!"

"Your bapa' so scary, looks like eating people."

"Your fault, you don't bring him durian!"

"Where got durian this year? Next year then durian season."

"Ahahahahah, durian cheesecake also OK mah."

"Oh bah. Later this week no rain, I come yah."

"Arright, later I come, wear nice-nice."

"Ok. Eh, I wanna work now. My brother sick, can't wash plates."

"Babai."

"Babai."

Damian smiles as he opens the app for Maybank. He looks at the amount in his bank. RM 30 000. Hopefully Celestine's father isn't the type to do grand weddings and hosts a thousand relatives, friends, and clients.

This is it. He will propose this week.

Mollie and Ollie grinned at each other. Mollie said, "Now, we play Constance Sims!"

"On Isengard, of course," added Ollie.

"On Isengard! On Isengard!" Mollie said, mimicking a very old song from the World One internet.

Wilma glared from the other side of the table. "No. Singing." She wore her usual t-shirt showing a music note with a line crossed through it, centered inside a sniper reticle.

"Dang it," said Wilma's team mate, Riso. "We almost had Dafydd down!" He scooted a few inches further from Wilma, who was in a plenty bad mood even while she still had her sense of humor. No sense risking touching her, even as covered in clothing as he was.

"Why yes, we will be using Constance's heal ability to restore Dafydd's health. Of course, you can block with—oh, you can't, because you couldn't get anyone to follow Dafydd to Isengard last turn!"

"Not like we didn't try!" Wilma complained. "Oscar Henson kept blocking it, despite his low speed stat."

With a sagely lilt, Ollie said, "Ah, the joys of uniting a married couple on the table."

"Figures you two would go there," Riso muttered.

Mollie and Ollie had gone back to looking at the cards in their collective hand, but after a moment they frowned. They looked at each other, then up at Riso. "What do you mean by that?" asked Mollie.

"Well. Like. You two." Riso pointed between his two opponents.

"It's pretty obvious," Wilma explained.

Mollie and Ollie looked at each other again, brows furrowed. "Not to us, apparently," Ollie said.

Wilma huffed. "Your names rhyme. You're always together. You're from the same story. You speak in unison. You're getting married when you're older."

"Your story was in a Disney fandom, too," added Riso. "That pretty much guarantees it!"

"Childhood sweethearts getting married. It's such a cliched plot, there's pretty much no way out of it for you."

Mollie and Ollie stared across the coffee table, open-mouthed. "Dude!" they said in unison.

"There it is again," said Wilma.

"No way," protested Mollie. "We can't get married. That is so gross!"

"Yeah, that's a totally weird thing to say!" said Ollie. "We're like, you know . . ." He trailed off.

"Augh!" Wilma put her hand over her mouth and looked off to the side with a dramatic motion. "I am so sorry, guys. It didn't even occur to me!"

"Wait, what?" asked Riso.

"We should have known," said Wilma. "It's pretty obvious now. They're siblings!"

Mollie and Ollie stared across the table, dumbfounded.

"What?"

"Nooo."

"She's not my sister. Jeeze!"

Now Wilma furrowed her brow. "You're not? Oh. Well then, you're totally getting married."

"Are not!" Mollie yelled, though it was easily drowned out by the cacophony of the Nursery around them.

"Not a chance," Ollie said. "Like I was saying, we're like, you know . . . friends!"

"Yeah, we couldn't fall in love. That would be weird!"

Wilma and Riso glanced at each other, then began snickering.

"Okay then, weirdos," Wilma said, "is it our turn now?"

"Not a chance!" Mollie and Ollie said in unison. "We still have two actions left this turn!"

Wilma and Riso smirked.

doctorlit's note: Yeah, I didn't actually use the line from the prompt, but I couldn't come up with a situation where any of my adult characters would say it. I figured this discussion at least sticks to the theme of misunderstandings and confused feelings, eh?

Incidentally, I'm flummoxed for a title, so suggests for that in addition to regular concrit are welcome.

"I can't."

---

"I, I just... I mean, we've been together so long-"

"Only a few months."

"It feels longer. A lot longer. Like living in a dream."

"I know. It's been a dream for me too. But dreams end, honey."

"Not for you."

---

"What do you want me to do, cob, beg? Because your scrawny arse knows I'll beg."

"Yes, it does. So does the rest of me."

"Then why-"

"Because I can't do that to you."

"... Not following."

"My people, we've got this, this thing. We can go anywhere, at any time, to see and to feel and to be. But we can't leave too great of a mark in case it makes things worse."

".. Still not following."

"I mean-"

"I get it, you know? I get it. The way you are... it doesn't lend itself to settling down. But, but what you're missing is that it doesn't matter to me. I don't want to settle down! I'm twenty-four, for God's sake! I've got my whole life ahead of me!"

"Don't I know it."

---

"Will you at least think about it?"

"I've done all the thinking about it I can, honey. Trust me, affairs of the hearts are something I know a bit about."

"You keep saying that."

"... I'm hearing a quotative like at the end of that sentence."

"Ugh, fine. You keep saying that like I'm not... your first."

"Well, you aren't."

"I, I know that. Sorry. That wasn't what I-"

"I know what you meant. You think that if I won't wrap a bit of metal around your finger or bind our wrists with silk or consume one of our specially bred clone-young at a feast in your honour - bee tee dubs, Sontar is weird as heck - that means I don't think you're special."

"Well? Do you think I'm special? Or do you rate me as just another notch that just happened to stick around-"

"I'm over five hundred years old."

"... Damn."

"Yeah."

"I... I don't know what to say to that."

"Most people ask about who supplies me with my moisturizer."

"Damn it, why do you have a crap joke for every occasion?"

"Practice."

"Over five centuries?"

"You learn to weed out the bad ones."

"No you don't."

"No, I do. I just choose not to."

---

"Won't you? Please? Even now?"

"No, Lola..."

---

The shaking figure of the Time Lord didn't look imperious, or severe, or indeed like much of anything. She just looked beaten. She shook in her partner's arms, the sweat on her brow staining the clown's dungarees.

"Wanna talk about it?"

"I can't."

((Thanks to Delta for letting me borrow Grace.))

Charlotte tilted her head back, feeling snowflakes settle on her cheeks before melting into tiny droplets. "It's still strange," she commented, looking at Ix, who was hunched in her many layers of coats and sweatshirts. "I'm not used to the cold affecting me."

Ix's teeth could only chatter in reply. Snow clung to her hat and dripped down the front of her shirt; she'd taken a snowball right to the face during their earlier snowball fight and it was starting to take its toll on her.

Charlotte grinned. "Alright, we've seen enough of the courtyard; want to go get cocoa?" She checked her watch surreptitiously; the timing couldn't have been better.

Ix grinned and nodded, and Charlotte looped her arm through Ix's. They shuffled through the snow and back to the door; once inside, they stomped their feet to remove the last clinging flakes before setting off in a random direction. Despite their frozen hands, they pulled their gloves off, intertwining their fingers as they walked.

When they entered Rudi's, the pub was strangely empty. The only person inside was the bartender, Grace, who already had two steaming mugs of cocoa ready on the bar. She gave the agents a knowing smile before disappearing into the kitchen.

Ix looked around, at the dim lighting, the candles flickering on the tables, and Charlotte's face. Though Charlotte's pale cheeks were already flushed from the cold, a hint of embarrassment was beginning to creep up to her ears.

"Lottie," she said slowly, "what's going on?"

Charlotte picked up the two steaming mugs and carried them over to a table draped with a dark red cloth. She set them down before hurrying to pull a chair out for Ix.

"Lottie—"

"Here, sit," Charlotte said, gesturing to the chair. Ix sat, looking up at Charlotte curiously.

Charlotte took one of Ix's hands between her own. "Faolan Saibhir," she said slowly, careful to get the pronunciation right. "I have something very important I'd like to ask you."

Ix's heart was in her mouth as Charlotte slowly sank to one knee, reaching into her pocket. Her eyes went wide and she let go of Ix's hand. "Oh god." She began patting herself down frantically, tearing her coat off and shaking it, turning pockets inside-out. "I lost the ring!"

With shaking hands, Ix pulled her wand from her belt and flicked it. "Accio ring."

She and Charlotte looked at each other, equal looks of sheepish, nervous excitement on their faces as they waited. After a very, very long minute, the box came zooming into Ix's hand and she passed it over to Charlotte, who laughed and opened it to reveal a wide tungsten band engraved with a lover's knot.

"Faolan Saibhir," Charlotte said again, "will you marry me?"

Ix slid down to the floor so she was level with Charlotte, and cupped her face in her hands. They kissed, the box slipping out of Charlotte's hands as she wrapped her arms around Ix's neck.

"Yes," Ix whispered, finally pulling away.

((Beta'd by Iximaz. Thunks!)

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AI2Hs52mU2a0kKu-mk0oVNomajzKF8Z74ZaJaBI_XeQ/edit?usp=sharing

((This is unbeta'd and possibly slightly sadder than the other prompts. I'm sorry.))

"You OK?" Cinnabar asked as she entered her RC. Theo was sitting on the edge of his bed, staring at a holoprojector that Cinnabar had never seen in the room before.

Not looking away from the scene playing on the holoprojector Theo shook his head. "You know how I said my left eye records just about everything I see?"

"Yeah." Cinnabar replied as she moved around both Theo and the holoprojector to sit next to her partner, as she did so she noticed Theo had been crying, a rare thing for the Mandalorian Cyborg.

"Well, there are special times that I'm able to keep. When I was still in my 'verse some of my crew used to edit the recordings so that it was more like a third person video than just a first person view from my eye." Theo explained, still watching the scene. "And of all of those scenes, this one..." He broke down crying again, unable to finish his sentence.

Cinnabar looked at the holoprojector, the scene showed two figures, one obviously Theo and another, from what Cinnabar could remember a Zabrak Force user, staring out across a beautiful world, rolling green fields and hills gave way to snow-capped mountains in the background. Turning her attention back to the two figures Cinnabar saw, and heard, Theo kneeling down, a ring appearing from one of the compartments in his gauntlet as he said "Pariya, will you marry me?"

The force user, Pariya, looked down and smiled. "You are aware it is highly unusual for a Jedi to marry, especially to someone who works for the Empire?"

Theo, in the video, chuckled. "Since when have you been a usual Jedi?"

Pariya laughed. "That is very much true."

"Well?"

Cinnabar almost jumped as the line was said twice, almost in perfect sync. Once was by the slightly worried, but still happy Theo in the video and the other was from a much sadder voice in real life. Turning from her thoughts to the video she realised she'd missed part of this Pariya's response.

"-course you dolt. Stuff those uppity Jedi Masters back on Tython. I'll happily marry you."

The video cut back to the beginning, just two figures standing at the edge of a grand complex of buildings admiring the view. Cinnabar looked at Theo. "You really were married?" She asked, despite already knowing the answer.

Theo's vision broke away from the video and he stared at Cinnabar. "Yes. Today would have been our tenth anniversary."

((Fin.))

Events like this are one of the things I love about the PPC.

I’m afraid I’ll sit out on this, because I probably can’t fit a proposal into the story arc intended for Androia and Hieronymus, and since I have family over here for the weekend, reading and commenting will have to wait.

HG

I may not get a chance to comment on these individually, but I am reading and enjoying them all. Keep it up!

~Neshomeh

...fussing over details, doing, undoing, and redoing her work until she was satisfied. Sonia put down her hairbrush and examined her reflection. Her long brown hair, normally tied up in a messy bun, was braided to perfection and fell over her left shoulder. Her riding tunic was impeccably clean and her armour had been polished to a mirror shine. Her riding boots were also waxed to perfection— polished to the point where she could almost see her reflection in them. She then applied a tiny bit of perfume to her neck and sat up straighter.

She looked as if she had just stepped out of a royal family portrait. Perfect.

The Pegasus Knight then grabbed the little velvet case resting on her vanity and gently opened it. A beautiful silver ring glinted back at her in the soft light of her bedroom. She and Harris had been seeing each other for years, now. They had grown closer with every passing day despite being somewhat hostile to each other the first time they had met. She grew to know him... like him... and love him. Oh, she could go on and on about him: enthusiastic, charming, gentle, well-spoken, polite— if spectacularly maladroit at times. He had opened up to her and she to him; Sonia could not imagine a day without seeing him now.

She stood up, pocketed the case, and took a deep breath. Gods, this was difficult. She knew his answer already— so why was this so nerve-wracking...?

Sonia had barely stepped into the RC’s living room when Harris burst through the door and skid to a halt when he saw her.

“Harris?”

“I, uh.” He did a very poor job at concealing the wooden box he was holding. “S-Sonia! I didn’t expect to see you, uh. Here. Now.”

“In our RC?”

“Uh...” He swallowed nervously. “Y-you look beautiful, Sonia... um... are we planning something tonight?”

It was the Pegasus Knight’s turn to gulp nervously. “I... wanted to discuss something extremely important.” She noticed his hands tighten around the box he was carrying. Could it be...? Regardless. She had practiced for this moment. Sonia approached Harris and took out the velvet case. “Harris Frost,” she said slowly as to keep the shaking out of her voice, “I have been at your side for well over six years now... and you, at mine. We’re already close— and I would like to make us closer.” She slowly bent down to one knee and presented the case to Harris, fighting back the sudden urge to run away. “Will you marry me?”

There. It was done.

“I— I was...” Harris also got to his knees and brusquely opened his box. A gold ring slipped out and clattered to the floor. “I was going to propose too...” he said hastily, quickly snatching up the ring before it could roll away. He held up the ring, offering it to her. “Sonia, yes. With all my heart, yes. I— I made you this ring... like, all by myself... Will you...?”

“Harris, I...” Sonia stared at the ring, then at Harris’ earnest face. “Yes.”

She threw her arms around him and pulled him close.

---

(Just de-lurking for a moment to post a response. I couldn't resist.

Laters!)

Dawn woke up slowly. She was warm, at first, but then the aches set in: her head, her shoulder, both her knees, even one of her hands--she wasn't sure how it had happened, but she wanted the warmth back. Groaning, she curled up--ouch, no, why--and tried to fall back asleep.

"You're awake," observed a familiar voice. Dawn groaned again and pulled the covers over her head--which left her calves exposed to the chill in the air. What? "Good. We should leave soon."

"Why're my blankets short?" Dawn asked. She didn't care that it came out slurred; she wasn't about to put more effort into moving her jaw than was absolutely necessary. No way. "M'cold."

"They are shock blankets from the USS Enterprise," T'Zar replied. Her voice went just the tiniest bit dry as she continued, "You cut them in half last month to make a poncho."

Dawn remembered that. It was the warmest poncho she'd ever had. Completely worth it, apart from how cold her feet were getting.

There was no way she was getting back to sleep now. Dawn turned onto her back, redistributing the (very, very orange) blanket and trying to convince herself to sit up.

Mission. They were on a mission. It wasn't even on an ice planet, despite the chill, but Dawn could remember falling the day before, rolling--

She grimaced and sat up, tucking the blanket around her. "You did pretty much everything to set us up yesterday, didn't you? Camp, and that? The blanket?"

"Yes," replied T'Zar, and Dawn remembered T'Zar supporting her down the hills, setting up a makeshift camp without complaint, convincing Dawn (pretty easily) to lie down in the middle of it, even wrapping the blanket around her and--to Dawn's great amusement--using a phaser to heat up rocks for further warmth. Nothing like an actual TOS Vulcan mimicking Sulu's TOS moves to bring back Dawn's thoughts of how awesome this partnership was, even five months in.

Now T'Zar held out a cup. "Hot tea," she explained, and waited patiently for Dawn to untangle a hand so she could take it. "There is also oatmeal and pancakes, and I succeeded in finding the honey jar you believed lost."

Dawn rested the camping mug against her knee and stared at T'Zar, only looking away to spot the pancakes--apparently reheated from the stock Dawn had made...was it only two days ago? Was it even two days ago?--and the oatmeal, still dry in the jar.

"Marry me," she said fervently. Well, she thought it was going to be fervently, inasmuch as she'd thought about it at all before she'd said it; in practice, she sounded tired and a little plaintive. Also a bit hoarse--well, she'd talked a lot yesterday.

The Vulcan froze, more obviously startled than Dawn had seen before, and then one of her eyebrows ticked up. "I...had not thought you interested. Moreover, you are not a Vulcan; while Vulcan-alien marriages have occurred, they remain extremely rare--"

"Whoa, hey, whoa." Dawn reluctantly freed her other hand to rub at her eyes. "Slow down. A lot."

T'Zar closed her mouth, but her gaze remained intense.

"I'm, I'm not, I mean--" Dawn took a breath, inhaling steam from her tea--hm, rosehip--and let it out slowly, trying to gather her thoughts. "It's...it's an expression. The way I used it. I don't actually say it much, but--it really is an expression."

"Explain."

"Uh--" Dawn frowned, cupping her hands around the mug in an attempt to keep them warm. "It's...like, when someone's really grateful, or they've been surprised with something good? So they say 'marry me' as kind of...kind of like saying 'I think you're really, really amazing right now'? Something like that. I don't normally say it, but I've been seeing it around, so...And, I mean, you're really awesome right now. So. But I'm not actually looking to get married right now, and I'd definitely want some dating first. A lot of dating. Serious dating." Dawn caught up to her words and made a face. "I'm just going to...stop talking about this now, okay? Except to add that I'm actually only sixteen, which for my time period and culture is way too young to get married. Really."

"...ah." T'Zar considered it, then nodded. "I...appreciate your presence as well. Drink your tea," she added when the human only gaped at her. "We must leave within the next thirty-four minutes."

"Uh-huh," Dawn said intelligently, and began convincing her arms to lift.

*

Six years later, T'Zar redirected her obnoxiously energetic current partner out the door of the RC with the reminder of some task to be done, and turned back in time to see her former partner sit down heavily with a sigh of relief.

"Marry me," the human said once she had let her head loll back against the couch.

T'Zar raised an eyebrow, mostly for effect. "I appreciate the sentiment, Dawn, as I did the other four times you asked, but I am disinclined to acquiesce to your request at this juncture."

Dawn raised her head again, startled delight spreading across her face; then, she burst into laughter that didn't stop until she was out of breath.

"Never change," she told T'Zar once she could speak again. "You're amazing."

It was probably illogical to feel so pleased over causing such a large outburst of emotion; even so, T'Zar didn't prevent the slight uptick of the corners of her mouth.

Life among humans was rife with illogic, but after a decade in the PPC, T'Zar had almost grown accustomed. Visible hints of emotion seemed a small price to pay to ease relationships and prevent large displays of negative emotions.

It was only logical.




---
(Unedited, unbetaed, finished very late in the day, but hopefully a fun read! ~Z)

((So I took some liberties with this. Sue me, it's what popped into my head. Concrit is appreciated!))

The Aviator paced in circles around his TARDIS' controls, goggles dangling from his left hand. In his right, he held a piece of paper covered in sprawling Circular Gallifreyan, scrawled hastily and crossed out many times.

"I've known you for ten years now," he muttered, running his fingers through his hair. "And I know that's not very long, but we've been through a lot together and I think it's time we... Urk." He balled the paper up and threw it across the room, where it landed in a pile among other crumpled sheets.

"Mum?" Elanor poked her head around the corner. "Everything alright?"

The Aviator looked up and gave his daughter a tired smile. "Everything's fine, kiddo," he said, leaning against the navigation panel.

The TARDIS hummed, and the Aviator's ears reddened. "That's perfectly fine!" he snapped.

Elanor laughed and came over to slip her hand into his. "Doesn't sound fine to me," she said. "But, um, why're you so worried about planning a surprise for the Detective? I thought you two were..." She trailed off and gestured vaguely.

"It's not just any surprise, Elanor." The Aviator reached into his pocket and produced a small box.

Elanor's mouth fell open and she looked up at the Aviator, eyes wide. "YOU'RE GONNA ASK HIM TO—"

"Shh!" the Aviator hissed, looking around frantically for signs of Zeb. The last thing he wanted was for his partner to overhear and spoil everything.

"I'm gonna get a dad?!" Elanor whispered, beginning to bounce in place.

"Maybe, Ellie, maybe," the Aviator said. "The Detective is... well. You know what he's like."

"But he loves you," Elanor said, folding her arms. "And you love him. Right?"

The Aviator looked up at the ceiling, as if searching for the right words written among the tangle of cables. "I mean—"

"Right?" Elanor repeated.

"Right," the Aviator said, "but it's not that simple. Life's not a fairy tale where as long as you're in love, everything will be okay. Both people have to be compatible, both have to want the same things out of life, and... while Dee's talked about the possibility of us making it official, he's been hurt in the past. We both have."

Elanor pulled away to sit on the chair facing the navigation panel, putting her feet up on the Aviator's knees. "Well, why not just ask him?" she said. "Not like you haven't talked about it before, right?"

The Aviator crossed his arms uncomfortably. "Elanor, I appreciate you trying to help, but this is something I have to figure out for myself, alright?"

Elanor's face fell, but she nodded. "Alright," she said, getting up and trudging to the door. She looked back before she left. "Promise I won't tell Uncle Zeb," she said with a faint smile.

"Thanks, kiddo," the Aviator said, blowing her a kiss. Once she'd shut the door, he let out a long string of swears, collapsing in her recently-vacated seat.

He pulled the box out of his pocket and opened it, staring glumly at the simple gold band.

The TARDIS hummed again.

"I know he does, baby," the Aviator sighed, lightly touching the ring. "I just gotta work up the courage first."

One character asks another to marry them, in any context possible (meaning in whatever context you want, though someone asking someone else to marry them anytime they get a chance is also an option...)

~Z

I'd say one would be good for indecisive folk like me, y'know?

They could definitely be themed! That'd help out a ton. Maybe a Christmas theme for now.

I'm thinking for the Prompters though, they could be anyone in the PPC who thinks they got a good prompt going on. What do you think?

I was thinking someone (more creative than I am) could announce a prompt every other week or so. I haven't quite planned who that person'll be (could be random), wanted to see if people would agree with the idea first, y'know? It'd be a post on the board every two weeks.

Though, if you've got a prompt on mind, shoot me.

And yeah! I'm a recent newbie, thunks for the croissants!

(I know the rambling struggle. One can never talk enough)

1) Can't argue with that. I use the card art straight from Wizards for the images. I'm not sure I would feel right using high-res images off an artist's website. Usually you have to pay for that stuff, and I am just not there at this point.

2) I tried to make that happen. I drove myself crazy for a full weekend once trying to get the site to look how I wanted it to. I failed. Wordpress is pretty terrible for customizing formatting.

3) Much of what I put into the Baron Von Count deck is just there to trigger the ability, that is true. However, most of it doubles as a fair defense for a low cost, while not presenting much of a threat to other players (meaning they might leave me alone to set up). That said, Dismember and Breath of Darigaaz would be excellent additions. Bloodgift Demon is more expensive than I am willing to put into the deck, but what you might do can be completely different than what I've proposed.

Anyway, thanks for taking the time to comment. It means a lot.

-Phobos

(Well, it's better than none... ^^)

<img src="http://www.yourimage.link/here"/>

You'll need to upload your image somewhere first (Imgur works; Photobucket doesn't), then find the direct link option.

Or... stick it up on Google Drive and just link to it. ^~

hS

1/3: 'eeeey, it's a nipple! Doesn't that feel better? ;) Oddly, the thing that's really drawing my eye here is the lightly-sketched log Derik is sitting on; I really like the design of it, even though I can barely see it.

#5: Henry is adorable; I want to ruffle his hair. I love the way his t-shirt is riding up as he raises his hand - it's a nice little detail. I feel like the top itself is slightly wrong, though - the straight line up to his arm suggests it's being pulled tight, but then it's all rumpled at the sleeve? He ends up looking like he has a giant shoulder blade pushing it out, which I'm assuming isn't the case. ^_^

Old Henry for some reason looks alarmingly like Dobby? Dunno what's with that.

#6: Woof! I founna woof! :D I think you're right about the head - if she pointed it in a straight line from her neck, it would be 'narrower' than the neck. The tail is lovely, though, and (weird detail time again) the 'flame' lines are perfectly simple and perfectly placed.

hS

Ok, here is the screenshot, the moment of betrayal. Well, not betrayal. It's actually more of a case of a really, really bad misunderstanding and lack of communication.



I could have definitely done the blood a bit better, and the tears could use work.

Finally, finals are over, and I actually managed to finish this monster of a piece. I really bit off more than I could chew here. Anyways here is a group shot of the Threat Countermeasures Team 6 a.k.a. "Death Seekers" (I need a better squad nickname). Short profiles are below.



The International Human Security Federation Special Operations Unit, Advanced Engagement Force, Threat Countermeasures Team 6
Specialization: Advanced Combat, Direct Action, Combat Support
Other Duties: HVT, Counter terrorism, Counter invasion

From the top left counterclockwise:
Name: Faye Linwood
Effective Rank: Lieutenant Colonel
Overall Magic Rating: A2-
Tell: Glowing eyes

Name: Shinonome Azusa/ Aria Blackwind
Effective Rank: Captain
Overall Magic Rating: B1+
Tell: Glowing Mark on her arm

Name: Saros Dawnblade (I changed his name from the previous drawing)
Effective Rank: Colonel
Overall Magic Rating: A1+
Tell: Flaring right eye

Name: Zhao Baiying/ Lyra Hawthorne
Effective Rank: Captain
Overall Magic Rating: B1
Tell: Glowing crosshairs in left eye

Name: Shinonome Tsubaki/ Aster Blackwind
Effective Rank: Lieutenant
Overall Magic Rating: B2+
Tell: Glowing eyes

Name: Shinonome Kaede/ Aspen Blackwind
Effective Rank: Lieutenant
Overall Magic Rating: B1
Tell: none

Name: Ye Heiwu/ Skyler Stormhall
Effective Rank: Lieutenant
Overall Magic Rating: A3-
Tell: Glowing eyes

I put two names for some of them because I couldn't decide if i should homogenize the names or not. I would greatly appreciate some opinions on the matter.

This is just an AU of Kaede. This world's Kaede is just some random kid.

I've equivocated for a while on what to say about this, because the first thing that jumps out at me is a bit weird: the 'after' picture comes over as distinctly more feminine than the 'before'.

I think the reason for that is that 'after' is far, far more curved: the hair in front of the face contrasts with the cuts/cheekbones on 'before'. I'm also looking at the right (my right) ear, which is curved to match the left on 'after'. Also the... eyelids, I guess? The way they curve down along the nose gives a distinctly feminine impression, while 'before' implies a flat brow-ridge. (The neck, too...)

The other thing that's reaching out and grabbing me is the nose on 'before'; it's almost exactly the same shape as the one on 'after', but the slightest variation in the thickness of the lines makes it clear that it's differently angled. I'm impressed.

hS

No prompt. No character. Nothing like the rest. Not even in focus. But here you go:



Merry Christmas.

hS

Agent Kaitlyn's dreams come true, in a piece I like to call:

Shrooms for the Shroom Throne!

I've tried to apply everything I've learnt over the course of Drawcember - particularly blending, shading, and hands - into an image which is spliced together from about five different photos. Obviously she's in hobbit disguise, which lets me shake off any minor issues in proportion (I actually had to redraw her head to be 'too large'...!). And... yeah, I knew from the very start that this was the only option for the last picture. ^_^

hS

Duchess Baron Kaitlyn of Plort. On the left we have her battlefield medic outfit; in the middle Baron Me clearly forced her to go to a ball; on the right we have her nurse's uniform from Bodldops Hospital.

I started out trying to make three identical images, then varied them from there. It... didn't exactly work out, particularly when it comes to the faces. But it'll do, it'll do...

hS

... Flatland!

Oh, um, sorry: this image obviously should have an 'EXTREMELY NSFW' warning. It's an image of Shipverse!Kaitlyn, and some of her... many... friends. (Shipverse!hS is the septagon, of course.) In addition to the... goings-on... S!Kaitlyn is also extremely taboo, because she is coloured. That's, like, hugely forbidden in Flatland, but S!Kaitlyn heeds no rules.

Off to the right, we have a Flatlander's eye-view of the... goings-on... as seen by someone coming in through the women's door on the east side. As you can see, I put rather too much thought into this...

(Now, what I can't decide... is it against the DeviantArt T&Cs to upload this without a Mature Content warning, or to upload it with one...?)

hS

Running the Official Fanfiction University of the Underground isn't an easy task. With fractious goblins, their arrogant King, and a female lead who's strongly averse to being told what to do... sometimes, Miss Kaye needs to slip away with a good book and hang out in the garden with the only people who don't keep starting fights.

Drawn from a screenshot of the film, a photo of Kaitlyn, and images of both the Worm and the Hat. I realise that the perspective is off on the urn, and that the angle of the image really means you should see more of the labyrinth over the hedge; other than that, I'm fairly pleased with this one.

(Oh - and don't worry about her clothes. Miss Kaye thinks corset-print t-shirts are the best thing ever.)

hS

NES Areatha isn't a terribly polite houseguest; she's seen here storming CLS Exeter St. David's isolation chamber and taking over his ship. Well... for a given value of 'storm'.

This is the end of the prologue from last year's NaNo; the shot is entitled 'She sauntered towards me, wearing nothing but a smile.'

My assumption is that the movie adaptation of Gravity's Embrace would keep Areatha's habitual nudity, but - to maintain its PG rating - would consistently cover it up with increasingly contrived foreground objects. This is the first such shot, and it just gets worse from here on out.

hS

The Four Pathologists (plus Fifth Alchemist)

Time Lords! Specifically, PPC-insert Time Lords; these stories springing out of a thread in 2013 were the origin of the Librarian, and also of these characters. The Fifth Alchemist is the only female version of my own stand-in - she's a redheaded mad scientist, who the Pathologist... well... yeah. You get it. ^_^

Bonus points for recognising what the kiss is based on.

Overall I'm fairly pleased with this, but it's far from perfect. I may update and digitally colour it later. We'll see.

hS

Alfa has stated that the best is yet to come. And since this is the prelude for Karamazov and Russ breaking through the gates, the XIIIth Black Crusade is heating up for the fall of Cadia, Kitten and Magnus are returning to the Palace, and Corax, Vulkan and Russ are all heading there as well, AND given that Alfa's stated that he's definitely got a firm story in mind and aready planned out, and the continually-increasing quality of TTS thus far, as the writers do more fact-checking and the whole thing just gets straight-up funnier, I have no problem believing him.

*Looks up.* Holy run-on sentence, Batman! Yeah... I think I'll leave that as it is.

. . . thanks to wildlife protection laws and editing difficulties!

—doctorlit, ultimately pretty happy the Galaxy Far, Far Away contains porgs now

"They hate that spoiler." "They hate that spoiler." "They hate that spoiler." "They hate that spoiler." "They hate that spoiler." "They hate that spoiler." "They hate that spoiler." "They hate that spoiler."

Yeah, they did a good job with that message. I also liked that, like the question of grey morality among the Jedi, they didn't try to paint heroics as black-and-white either. Poe got rightly condemned for losing so many lives to take out a scary ship, delaying an evacuation in the process. But Vice Admiral Holdo actually uses a suicide tactic later on, this time for the sake of saving lives and giving an evacuation more time to continue. It's a movie that asks you to weigh your options before acting.

—doctorlit, amused by "the perfect Jedi is a droid"

I admit I didn't really notice before you pointed it out, but you're right about the entire mission Finn and Rose went on: it's a fetch quest. I've been trying to come up with a way to "fix" it the way I would if I were editing a story, but . . . I really can't find anything. (Other than your suggestion of having Finn and Rose use their technical skills and experience to solve the problem. But that would have been a much shorter movie . . .

I really don't think there was any intentional emotional manipulation on the filmmakers' parts. As far as I understood it, filming was already completed when we lost Carrie Fisher, so I think the scene with the bridge attack was already planned and shot by then. A little uncomfortable in hindsight, to be sure, but I don't blame them for wanting to leave as much of her acting work in as possible.

—doctorlit, too distracted by the feels and the spectacle to notice the holes in the plot

***SPOILER TAG***








So my thoughts, are kind of in opposition to both of yours. This was one of my least favorite of the series. One of the biggest reasons my opinion is low is this was the first of the three Disney Star Wars that felt like a Disney film.

There was way too much humor that did not really serve a purpose to me. The first scene with Rey and Luke for instance. And the porgs. I hated those things. I understand they were in it for the specific reason that the island that served as Luke's refuge was a puffin preserve and it was easier to CG over the puffins than to remove them. But the Porg in the Falcon irritated me to no end, and the Puppy-Dog Eyes one. They would have been fine in the background if they were kept there. But to me they seem like an obvious marketing ploy to sell plush toys.

I also did not like Super-Leia. The Force being able to reverse death by vacuum and save yourself. That seemed a bit ridiculous. Which brings me to another thing I was not a fan of. New Force Powers, the bond Snoke created and more importantly the Astral Projection nonsense. That's a gamebreaker, and if such a thing existed, why did someone like Yoda or Obi-wan never use it in the previous films? I think the scene would have had way more impact with Luke's physical presence.

Which brings me to my final critic. Luke's characterization. I'm going into exile, but let me create this map so you can find me if you need me. You found me and need my help? Buzz off. I mean this was a man who was willing to surrender himself to Vader to be brought to the Emperor because he thought Vader had good in him and he did not want to put other at risk. Who undertook a risky mission to confront Vader to save his friends. I could understand a personality change or alteration (especially if they gave us more of Kylo Ren's fall to the darkside), but to me this felt more like a very OOC Luke.

On the plus side, I did like the development Rey had, and I like the way here character is progressing. I also liked Kylo Ren in this movie far more than I did in Force Awakens. He now feels like the villain he was supposed to be. And it does make him a much more interesting character than Vader-wannabe.

I do plan on watching it again, after I have rewatched the entire Saga to better contextualize it to see if I like it better.

But they are boring and blatant CGI, so that makes them boring.

—doctorlit is the movie effects equivalent of a genwunner