A Mammon Analysis Written By A Mammon Kinnie! :8D

It's time to make y'all love this magnificent bastard even more than you already do so we can finally have something just happen in this fandom!

First off, the analysis.

A lot of people seem to think of Mammon as "dumb" or "oblivious", when he's far from either. Mammon is actually a very intelligent and attentive person, but just like most subtle things about him, it can be hard to notice because of his eccentricities.

As far as I see it, Mammon views everything he does as an investment to some extent, whether it be a literal monetary one or one of time, effort and/or attention. This is also one of the big things that make him so relatable to me. It's also worth noting that as a flipside to this, he also sees any option he's presented with in terms of physical or emotional value and trying to maximize said value as much as possible.

Mam doesn't interrupt "Two Minutes Notice" not because he's stupid, but because insults don't truly detract from the value of him or anything he has, not to mention the fact that he could tell that a lot of people would be willing to buy the song, just look how many are hanging of Fizz's every word when he describes having a crappy boss.

Likewise, criticizing Fizz's weight is something Mam solely does because it helps profits and has no genuine personal issue with Fizz potentially getting chunkier.

This shows something else interesting about Mammon, he doesn't really want to do destructive things, people just keep giving him every reason to do so, he's not dangerous on his own.

Every action Mam takes that makes Fizz uncomfortable is a direct result of him catering to what the consumers want, whether it be religiously watching his spokesman's weight for the sake of keeping the skinny sex-bots accurate, or forcing a mentally unstable person to spend a lot of time socializing to get people to pay admission for a meet-&-greet.

There's also the fact that he runs Greed in such a way that benefits Hell as a whole way more than Ozzie and Bee do. Admittedly, he over charges for his products, but said products are up to snuff, you'd expect him to peddle cheap junk that falls apart almost instantly, but no, he makes quality products and just charges extra. He really is a shrewd businessman when you get down to it, and that's something a lot of people have sadly overlooked when discussing our favorite spider.

Which brings me to my next point, Mammon being a spider is actually really clever, assuming what I'm about to describe was intended and not just me reading too much into a cheap Australia joke. Spiders are often shown as eerie and a way of reminding the viewer of a piece of media that nature can be scary, and though they do some really weird and freaky stuff, that's also the beauty of spiders. They have some of the most innovative and distinct hunting patterns in nature, they're more of a neutral presence, just like greed itself.

I've seen many people claim in their analysis of Mammon that "greed can't be good" which is just demonstrably untrue, greed is really just any action that prioritizes bettering oneself, it's only destructive if you are willing to be destructive, but even then it can lead to innovation and broad positive change, even if someone is worse off because of it.

Lastly, I want to discuss Mammon's obvious need for personal affection, the big guy is blatantly touch starved and craves a close connection, I have a rather headcanon-y idea about the origin of this behavior and I plan to link to it once I post about it in detail, but that can wait. However, this does reflect that idea of value and investment, Mam has yet to find someone who is both pleasant for him to be around and whose company has a reasonable "price". I see many possibilities for exploring this facet of his characterization and look forward to seeing the discussion about it grow.

Stay tuned for my HCs and theories about his Stinginess! ALL HAIL MAMMON!

Thoughts On New Ep (Mostly The Flashback Scenes) + Screenshots (Spoilers!!!)

First things first- he slayed.

Honestly, I absolutely ADORED this episode!!! I loved how amazing and sweet Fizz and Ozzie were to each other, I loved the overall plot and how funny the lawyer stuff was (Stolas' excitement over reading got me xDD) and I love the backstory stuff we got. Overall, it was a 10/10 episode for me, and it was a well needed break amidst all the personal and all the drama related to some of my fandoms I've been experiencing. Onto teeny tiny thoughts!

I honestly just, ADORED Fizz' antics throughout the entire episode. He's shot right up to being one of my favourite characters in the entire series as a result! I mean come onnn, look how cute he looked!

However, the backstory scenes honestly might've been my favourite, purely cuz of how haunting they were.

Honestly, Blitz' bitterness is understandable in the birthday scene, but it's sad knowing he unintentionally caused the fire all because of (I suspect) his father's bullshit. I mean, just LOOK at this card!

This episode made me HATE Cash Buckzo more than I already did-

It was interesting to see the actual effects of hellfire, particularly how imp horns seem to be built, but ngl I also felt so nauseous during that little part-

Also, the subtle things in this scene you'd only notice if you lip-read what he was saying- I think it was, "Fizz!" or "Help!" and then, "Mom" when he looked at the other tent that was burning down (a medical tent? Her personal tent?) And this episode sadly did confirm she died in the fire that maimed Fizz.

On a lighter note, the song was unbelievably hilarious, amazing and a perfect song to show off Alex Brightman (the voice of Fizzarolli)! You can listen to the song here!

I have more thoughts on the episode I'll probably dive into later or some other time, but this might just be one of their best episodes yet!

4 (All thrre + blitzo) , 8 , 30

                                                           I actually forgot it was Monday.

4. What made you choose this muse?

I initially didn’t really care for Hazbin or Helluva until Episode 2 came out and Robo Fizz appeared. I instantly fell in love with him just for the mere fact he was a robot. I love robots in any context and have been writing them for YEARS. So when he came up, I was drawn to him immediately, so really it’s only thanks to him that I even started to like the series. Then of course after starting to write him, naturally Mammon fell in afterwards and I wrote that at first my friend was suppose to write him but changed their mind, so I ended up picking him up instead and because I wanted to explore their relationship and dynamics more-- I started to write Mammon. Then Fizzarolli of course came in afterwards because you can’t have Robo without the Jester he’s based off of, right? As for Blitzo, well... After rewatching the series, I started to like him a little more and more each time especially when I learned of his past with Fizzarolli. Everyone always assumes he’s this bigmouthed asshole which I mean... He is-- but there’s reasons for it and it’s mostly just an act which is things I wanted to explore! Like he became that way because of various factors which sadly enough, I can more than relate to having been in his shoes... so of course I had to pick him up as well. He’s my scrungly king after all.

8. Did you have a muse you tried to play, but didn’t feel connected to?

Hmmm... I don’t think there’s ever been a muse I’ve written I didn’t feel connected to akegjne I know that sounds very off to say but there’s like.. numerous voices in my head and sometimes when I write muses or take up a muse, it just adds to the voices?? so I mean, it’s like I don’t know. They stay. They go. I don’t know how to explain this weird thing that goes on. Ah ajkegnae.

30. What are your favorite RP tropes to play? (angst, hurt-comfort, etc…)

I don’t think I really have a favorite one per say, but I write angst and porn (when I’m in the mood for it mind you) pretty well. I just like to write hahahah!

EXO Reactions

~ Live it Out ~

Minseok (Xiumin)

When Minseok had announced about your relationship with him last week, he had mentally prepared himself for the worst. Expecting nothing less than a series of possible insults and questions, he starts his V Live with a some what forced smile and a pounding heart.

Though mid sentence, his eyes flicker down to the comments, and sure enough, each one had your name imprinted on it. Minseok lets out the breath he unconsciously held, his face warm with nerves. Honestly, he couldn’t build the guts to actually read the comments, he had no intention of talking about your relationship... but seeing your name repetitively worried him. Did they hate you?

Minseok sucks in a breath, and allows himself to read one comment, “Y/N unnie is so pretty wahhh.” A smile curls at his lips, his thudding heart calms at the sound of your name. “Congratulations Minseok and Y/N.” He squirms in his seat, a blush replacing his previously fear struck features, perhaps, he shouldn’t need to worry about you. It’s evident that you are well loved by the fans.

Junmyeon (Suho)

“And as I was saying, everyone, the members dearly miss performing for you all too. We promise to be back soon, our comeback is just around the corner!” While ending his sentence, Junmyeon glances down to the comments section. However, instead of being hit with a flood of questions asking for spoilers, he was alternately catching your name in each little white box.

His eyebrows draw together in slight confusion, ‘do they care about my girlfriend more than our comeback?’ Awkwardly, he clears his throat and decides to read a random comment out, “Y/N and Suho would make beautiful babies.” Junmyeon rubs the back of his neck where a blush was creeping up, a small laugh escapes his lips.

He attempts to quickly change subjects by talking about the comeback, “Hey, would you guys like a spoiler?”, though the fans seem not to budge from using your name to draw his attention. Junmyeon lets his lips curl, he wouldn’t have cared if the fans disapproved of you. However it did warm his heart to know they have whole heartedly accepted you.

Yixing (Lay)

It was a lazy Wednesday night when Yixing decided to do a Live stream. A smile brushes onto his face automatically whenever he interacts with his fans, there was always something so magical to know that he could speak his heart to approximately thousands of ears who sat patiently just listening to him.

“Guys lets have a rapid question round okay? I’ll close my eyes and read the first comment I see when I open them? Cool? Okay, let’s do it.” Yixing lets his eyes fall shut, letting himself fall into a few seconds worth of trace where he could practically hear the furious types of thousands of hands. He lets his eyes open, and does as he said he would, “How is Y/N?”

He notices a trend, nearly every comment was only about you. “Everyone, I see you are all curious about my girlfriend more than me...” Yixing jokingly pouts, as if he’s jealous for attention, though he couldn’t quite ignore the warm smile that resurfaced his features each time someone complimented you, “She’s perfect.”

Baekhyun

Baekhyun loved going on V Live, it was one of the few ways he could gain real interactions with his international fans. A smile tugs at his lips when he sees the viewer count rising, it reassured him to know that his fans were willing enough to pause their day to watch this goofy singer talk to them about his. Usually, he would be asked to do aigyo or sing a melody.

However it didn’t take him by much surprise to see your name appear so frequently in the comments section, “Everyone, you keep asking about Y/N. Don’t you want to see my cuteness?” Baekhyun tries to lure his fans by jutting out his bottom lip and quivering it to give that extra pouty effect. Normally it would take the comments section by a storm, but today, the fans were only intrigued to know more about you, “Alright, fine. I’ll tell you what she’s doing.”

Playfully he rolls his eyes and turns over on the bed, “She’s working, even though she should be here in my arms.” For a brief moment, he could feel your warm hand cup his cheek. But that warm feeling suddenly felt like a slap when he realised what he actually just said... “Guys, please pretend you didn’t hear that, or I won’t hear the end of it from both my manager and girlfriend!”

Jongdae (Chen)

Jongdae isn’t the type to seek attention, nor is he the type to ask for approval. When he announced about your relationship with him to his fans, he was looking for neither of those things. All he wanted, was a safe relationship with you. Though before Jongdae began his V Live, a part of him felt slightly intimidated, would they like you?

He honestly didn’t bother about anyone’s opinions about you, but it irked him to know that some people could potentially hurt you with their words, or perhaps even actions if it escalated. Jongdae was used to anti’s hate comments, his fans usually defended him. But how would he react if even his fans disliked you?

His stomach swirled with a bundle of nerves, all kicking in at once when he pressed the ‘Live’ button. Though before Jongdae could even let a word slip his tongue, the comments wildly began to load. He allowed a nervous smile on his lips, but his nervousness turned into fluttering butterflies when he actually read what the fans had been saying, “We love Y/N, she’s so pretty!”

Chanyeol

“EXO-L’s, what shall we do today? Hmm? Should we react to some videos?” Chanyeol always treated his V Lives as if he was just face timing one of the guys, he wanted to feel closer to his fans and what better way than to just be himself? He grabs a drink and twists it open, the fizz slightly trickles onto his hand and he laugh outrageously as if it was the most hilarious thing ever.

Thinking he would find a bunch of laughing emojis, he glances down to the comments section, but was pleasantly surprised to find your name printed with every little bubble. “You’re all wondering about Y/N, right?” A minute later he checks the comments to find a series of questions about you, his eyesbrows slightly raising at just how much the wanted to know.

“Well I’m not gonna tell you!” Opting to be childish, Chanyeol sticks out his tongue and playfully pulls some faces at the screen. After cackling about his actions, he lets a serene smile calm his features and lets out a long dreamy sigh, “Truthfully, she’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me...”

Kyungsoo (D.O)

It’s not that Kyungsoo is shy when it comes to interacting with his fans, not at all, he just wants to make sure that everyone has a nice time. This is one of the reasons that Kyungsoo and V Live are rarely ever mentioned in the same sentence. However, he decided to take his fans by surprise by starting a live stream of him cooking a recipe that his mother texted him earlier that morning.

“I know you all might be a little surprised at this unannounced V Live, but I thought I’d share a recipe my mum gave me with you, it’s quite healthy and delicious.” Kyungsoo licks his lips, albeit he is a strong performer, the man does become slightly nervous when it comes to just being himself. Before he begins, he checks the comments section and finds himself grinning at the mentionings of your name.

Somehow, Kyungsoo wasn’t worried upon seeing your name so frequently, he was positive the fans had already taken a liking to you. “Will Y/N be cooking too?” Kyungsoo pushes the frame of his glaces back with his index finger, a small blush covers his ears and he unintentionally lets out a chuckle, “Sadly, no. She’s at work right now. But I will surprise her with this meal. Good idea, right?”

Jongin (Kai)

“Guys, you have got to read this. It’s the best!” Jongin waves around a book in his left hand, right hand holding his phone at an angle to capture his face and book in the camera. It was a drizzling Friday night, originally, Jongin had decided to make this V Live a ‘day out’ sort of stream. However the resentful rain had drained that idea and now he sat in his pyjamas, recommending his favourite night time stories.

He places down the book and takes a sip of his hot chocolate, “You know, Minseok Hyung taught me how to make hot chocolate. He told me to use 1/4 of coconut milk and top it with whip cream.” Jongin checks his comments to see what his fans had to say, expecting to see something relating to Minseok, though the warmth of seeing your name was hotter than his drink.

But he almost spits out his drink upon reading one of the comments. After managing not to choke, he begins laughing so loudly that his ears burnt red. Jongin makes a blow fish, trying to force his muscles to relax from laughing so much, “I shouldn’t be answering this, but yes, my girlfriend does taste sweeter than hot chocolate!”

Sehun

“Aeries, I’m pulling a prank on Chanyeol Hyung. I glued the toilet seat down, and he’s desperate to go. Hahaha, lets see what happens!” The sudden notification had taken the fandom by a storm, but the fact that Sehun was actually showing his prank was hilarious. Sehun puts his finger on his lips, signing to tell the fans to stay quiet.

“Sehun-ah! What did you do?!” Sehun bursts out laughing after hearing Chanyeol’s agitated yelling and runs to hide in a studio room, he then glances down at the comments to find many laughing emojis and even memes with Chanyeol’s face, causing him to stir even more with laughter. But after his chuckling dies down, his eyes drift to find your name floating in some comments.

Sehun finds himself unintentionally reading one out loud, “Who is more important, ViVi or Y/N?” He lets the question soak in for a moment, both were very important to him, there’s no way he could actually choose. “ViVi is like my child, and Y/N is the love of my life. I’d pick them both over myself, but I can’t pick one over the other.”

A/N: Thanks for reading and I hope you guys liked this! Lately, I’ve been busy. I’ll try to post more quickly but I can’t make promises! I love you guys tho. Thank you for being patient with me ♥️

alright time to get writing because it’s past 1 am now. today was kinda wild, especially for a day when I didn’t actually leave my apartment or really interact with anybody (except my roommate for a few minutes when she came home, but she pretty much just showered and went to bed). So I’d had my alarm set for noon but ended up waking up way early and not being able to fall back asleep (like 8:15 or some bs like that) but I tried to until like 9 before giving up and getting up. I made some nice breakfast at least and ate that while chilling out and getting some stuff done. I did another face mask thing because for some reason I have like, out of control acne only on my forehead???? it’s really bizarre, I have like 4 pimples elsewhere but like 20 (not exaggerating) on my forehead???? like this is really bizarre and I haven’t really started using any new products or anything that you would think could trigger something like this. weird. to make the mask though they recommend using apple cider vinegar to mix with the powder (it’s like a clay thing, it has super good reviews on amazon) but you can also use water, and I’d been using water up till this point but I got some ACV at the store yesterday so I used that for the first time and it was way different. the consistency was a lot better and made it much easier to apply, and it was like fizzing when I added it and I felt like worked better so hopefully that will help. but yeah I was going around doing stuff until 1:15 which was the time scheduled for the conference call! Okay so context- we all know Time’s Up, the organization born out of the #MeToo movement, but what you might not know is one of their projects is a legal defense fund where lawyers sign up and they will get sent cases regarding sexual harassment/assault/etc. to do pro bono/reduced fee. So I signed up maybe like, 2 weeks ago, and ended up getting an email about a case like a week later, but with another attorney on the email as well, and we agreed to do a conference call today. I obviously can’t talk about the details of the case because that’s all attorney-client privileged info but we discussed the case and going forward with a case (it’s somewhat related to the same general issues in the Title IX case I worked so I have *some* idea what’s going on) and set a time to meet in person. I talked to the other attorney for a bit afterwards about my involvement and basically I have to decide if I want to just kind of help on the case and such (because I don’t know what I’m doing here and was very open about that fact, luckily he seems much more experienced) or if I want to actually be an attorney of record, meaning I’d have the client sign my own retainer agreement and such. So I have to decide what I want to do with that. I’m tempted to go for attorney of record, but there’s a solid chance I’m going to get a job at some point soon (god willing) at which point my ability to work on the case would be reduced, so if I was more just helping that would be a lot more feasible. Idk, I’m gonna think about it. But after getting off the call I spent a while making a letterhead online that I can use for any potential retainer agreements I may need to make. But yeah, this is kind of my first official case??? I was expecting it to be straight up pro bono (which I was fine with) but the type of suit it is means we might recover attorney’s fees from the other side if it goes in our favor, which means I would actually get a cut of the money, which would be awesome being that my income is pretty much $0 at this point. So that’s all very exciting! Once I was satisfied with the letterhead I watched the last few episodes of Marvelous Mrs. Maisel which I am so sad I’m done with, and I chatted with my dad about the case and plan going forward, and a bit about the NY abortion bill that’s been blowing up my facebook feed all fucking day (I mean a solid chunk of my facebook friends are both from New York and Christian so just about all of them were posting about it) and of course the vast majority of them were missing the actual facts about the circumstances under which it allows “late-term” abortion....and the whole thing is just a great example of why I’m very much done with the pro-life movement after spending quite a while entrenched in it (I attended 3 “March For Life”’s, y’all) and while I no longer identify with that label I wouldn’t exactly call myself pro-choice either, I think a world without a need for abortion is a better world for everyone, so we should be working to eliminate the things that create a need for abortion (i.e. effective and affordable birth control accessible to everyone, and support for working mothers who need assistance in affording a child) rather then fighting restrictions for access, and I believe that’s a cause people on all sides of the issue should be behind. But the whole thing blowing up on facebook has been....exhausting to say the least. but anyway, I digress. At 8 I watched Brooklyn 99 and The Good Place, both of which sadly had rather sad endings, I won’t spoil anything more than that but they were still quality episodes. Once I finished MMM I switched over to The Americans which I ended up watching the season 1 finale of, and it’s been somewhat less than thrilling up to this point but oh man that finale had me on the edge of my seat so I guess I’m sticking with it for now. Once I was done with that I was gonna go to bed shortly and was mostly just waiting for my roommate to get out of the shower so I just went to netflix to turn on something as background noise and ended up finding the new Netflix original cartoon series “Carmen Sandiego” so I turned that on and I only watched the first episode but Y’ALL. THIS SHOW IS SO FUCKING GREAT. It was seriously very enjoyable to watch, and now I’m gonna have the theme song from the Carmen Sandiego show that aired when I was a kid stuck in my head for the rest of my life. but I very much liked that. Once that was over I got in the shower and started getting ready for bed and now I am here, it’s currently 1:34 am so I think that’s just cause to get to sleep now. Goodnight dears. Happy Friday.

Kind of darker “evil wins” au drabble thingy with Pop and Wolfgang. Slight season 2 spoiler but nothing really outright spoiler.

The fall of Skylanders Academy was an event that Pop Fizz would never forget. How could he? The last twenty years of his life had been there. And the connections he made there were valuable to him. He had friends. Some he no longer knew the fate of currently.

And his freedom was taken fairly soon after the academy’s fall. Some may call him foolish for it, but as an professor he did everything he could to make sure cadets were able to escape first before he even worried about himself.

Pop might had stood more of a chance in a fight with Wolfgang if he hadn’t had some back up with some of the other Doomraiders too.

In the end he was taken down and the true nightmare began for him.

Even before Wolfgang spoke out, claiming Pop for himself, Pop knew what was going to happen to him. None of the Doomraiders seemed shocked by it either. Made Pop wonder just what Wolfgang said to the other Doomraiders about him.

That had to be at least months ago. At least Pop hoped it was merely months and not years. The thought that such a long time could had passed in this nightmare was depressing. But then, a lot of things were depressing to him these days.

He wore a set of metal cuffs with small, dull spikes decorating them. The collar he wore was in the same style of his cuffs.

Decorative and functional.

All were tight and locked on. Pop had no idea where the key to them was kept. Hardly his highest concern though. There were other things on his mind.

His cage was located in Wolfgang’s own room. A fact that worried Pop a lot more then he let on. It also wasn’t the most fun of locations given Wolfgang was one to snore loudly when he slept.

Pop tried not to sleep when he was around anyways. He was afraid to.

Attempts at trying to bribe Pop into some form of acceptance of this situation were strewn about the room. Mostly music related objects though there was the occasional parts for more inventing pursuits.

Pop ignored it all. He was not about to take part in these attempts to tame him to this life. And he was not going to make anything easier for Wolfgang.

It was another depressing day, Pop sitting in the corner of his cage when Wolfgang entered the room. Pop did not look up. Not acknowledging his captor pissed Wolfgang off. And Pop knew that. He also didn’t care.

The werewolf frowned, noting there was no signs of Pop having touched any of the items given to him. Nor had he seemed to have touched his food.

“Still not cooperating are you?” Wolfgang asked.

Pop almost glared at Wolfgang as a response. But he managed to keep his head down.

Wolfgang sighed, as if he was being some sort of patient benefactor dealing with someone who was being unreasonably stubborn.

“Your quiet treatment isn’t going to help you either you know.” Wolfgang said.

Pop still did not reply. He still refused to meet Wolfgang’s gaze. Even when Wolfgang unlocked and opened his cage door. He did cringe just a bit.

“Get out of there.”

Pop refused to move. An small defiance that he knew would get him nowhere.

The werewolf growled slightly before his patience ran out.

Wolfgang’s hand reached into the cage. Pop scrambled as far back as he could further back into the cage and away from Wolfgang’s hand. His back hit the back of the cage and he could go no further.

Nowhere else to go, It was not hard for Wolfgang to grab ahold of Pop by the ears and drag him out of the cage. Pop yelped at the assault on his sensitive ears.

“Stop, stop stop! You’re hurting me!” Pop cried, unable to hold back from saying anything this time.

Wolfgang sat down on the bed, and placed Pop onto his lap. That just made Pop struggle more.

“Maybe this will make you feel better.” Wolfgang said.

He started to scratch behind Pop’s ears then. Wolfgang started at a slow and steady pace

Of course Wolfgang would remember that his ears were a sensitive area to both pain and pleasure. He had hoped that information that was learned a in another time when they were friends, almost something else, would be forgotten. Clearly it had not been.

The scratching sensation felt so good. And Pop couldn’t resist leaning into the touch. He hated how easily this feeling had its sway on him. Making it hard to even think of struggling free.

“Good pet.” Wolfgang said

The praise broke through Pop’s near bliss and he narrowed his eyes.

“Not your pet!” Pop managed to snarl.

He attempted to pull away from Wolfgang’s touch. Wolfgang did not let him. He pulled Pop Fizz back close

“Where do you think you’re going? I’m not done with you yet.” Wolfgang said sternly.

Pop tried to bite Wolfgang then. His teeth sunk into fur and skin in a satisfying way.

Wolfgang howled in pain and jerked back from Pop. Pop jumped off of Wolfgang’s lap and headed towards the door.

Sadly Wolfgang recovered from the bite quickly in a fluid wolf movement he was in front of Pop, blocking the door. Pop backed away a bit, expecting a swipe or grab. Instead Wolfgang yelled at him.

“Why are you fighting me? I saved you!” Wolfgang cried.

Pop laughed then, a tint of bitterness to it. He stop when he saw the pained expression on Wolfgang’s face.

“Oh wow. You actually believe what you said there, don’t you? You actually think that all this is better than whatever else was going to happen?” Pop said.

“Yes I do! You either would have been dead or had your light eaten in the end.” Wolfgang cried.

“And why didn’t you just let that happen then?” Pop asked.

Pop knew why. And Wolfgang must have known he knew because he didn’t answer the question. Instead he carefully approached Pop.

“You’re safer here than with anyone else. And i’m going to take good care of you, okay? So just calm down and-”

Pop considered doing something rash. Either attacking Wolfgang though he had no chance of winning, or trying to make a break for the door though it was probably locked. Anything to undo this tension knot in his stomach.

Then he thought of something better.

“Tell me what happened to all my friends.” Pop said.

Wolfgang paused a moment in puzzlement.

“Why? It’s not like you can help any of them.” Wolfgang said.

“I know that. Just… I need to know.” Pop said, a hint of a quiver to his voice.

Wolfgang thought about it a moment.

“Okay. But only after you eat something.”

Pop nodded. It was an acceptable payment for information that he might need someday. Escape was probably not going to happen anytime soon. But he would try.  And keep trying until he made it.

He was just hoped he could do it before he could get use to this set up.

Before it became all he would ever know again.

The Septic Case: Transcript #3

Starting transcript. I feel like it's an okay time to record because although Striker and Fire invited me out to go clubbing, I'm not really that kind of person. Plus I had a splitting headache earlier and the Advil's just started working. Now back to where Transcript #2 left off.

April 20th, 2015. Three days after my night of research. I'd given everything I'd found to Fire after he'd finally woken up. And now, finally, we were going out on the mission. Fire had briefed us on the final plan. We'd head in, and split into groups. Pewds, Iplier, and Peebles were group one, or as we affectionately called them "The Brawn." Fire and Kicker were group two, or "The Brains." And Striker and I were, sadly, "The Hot Stuff." I relate more to the Stuff part than the Hot part. We were supposed to scout out for people and explain what was going on. Well, what was our idea of what was going on. We were, "shooting an action movie" and Striker and I were the lead parts. We were basically the guards in this mission. I sighed. I wanted to voice my complaints, but I knew that Kicker had a point. We really didn't want the public knowing what was going on.

We arrived at Marvin Labs, a huge white building, with a logo that I'd seen on their website, a cat's face with red whiskers and green ears, and on its forehead, a red heart over a red diamond, and a black spade and club. The logo unsettled me for some reason, perhaps, because the eyes of the cat were completely blackened in, with no pupils. Kicker turned to me before heading in with Fire and told me how the place creeped him out. Guess I wasn't the only one. The five of them headed inside, while me and Striker stood outside, talking about everything from Fire to this mission. I told him how much I wished I could go in there, how I felt like I wasn't doing anything out here. He told me that he was used to feeling like he was just a pretty face, and how he hated it sometimes. We discussed not feeling like a real part of the team. Our walkie-talkies went off every so often, the first two teams talking about how the place had just been left behind, like everyone who'd worked there had just quit, leaving behind their things. It was dark out, probably nine pm, when I radioed back to "The Brains" and asked if we could come in and look around. Fire took a minute to think, but finally said that since this place was so big, and had so many branches, that it would be okay. Besides, the place was on a big hill on the outskirts of town, and who would just drive up and check it out, especially after dark.

Striker and I exchanged excited grins that we were going in and doing what we called "Secret Agent Stuff." We grabbed two flashlights from our van since Fire had told us that the power in the building had been cut. We were almost giddy as we headed inside, and were instructed to go down the left hallway, because the other two groups were down the middle and right halls, and they didn't need anyone. We were told that no one was in the building, and it was completely safe, that all we were looking for was incriminating paperwork and stuff like that. The secret lab from the transcript was probably just some teenager making up stuff for whatever reason teens do that. Maybe he was high or something, because according to both groups, the only rooms, locked or open, were just offices and normal labs, with microscopes instead of cages.

The first few rooms we passed through after the hallway ended were just unlocked offices. We looked through the paperwork left behind, and none of it seemed useful. The computers in the rooms wouldn't turn on, and we figured they were dead. We were smiling, even though it was a bit creepy, we were doing important spy stuff! We got to a room that had a numbered passcode, and we radioed over, before Kicker told us that all of the rooms had the same passcode: 1980. That was a pretty obvious passcode. We tried it, and the door swung open to reveal... a completely normal lab. All that was here was a few microscopes and some computers that wouldn't turn on. We went through a few more labs and offices that seemed identical, only finding data that was for various experiments, the closest thing we found to a mysterious experiment on a captive human was a few neurological experiments on lab rats.

We radioed in with the groups and shared our findings or lack thereof, and they agreed that this place seemed like it was just a normal place. But then why would they have known, and killed Triple 7, the spy from another team that the higher ups sent in a month ago, now? Why would they have abandoned everything if there was nothing to hide? We traveled through identical offices and labs, before ending up at a dead end, a lab that was larger than the rest but still only held more microscopes, and notebooks full of science stuff, logs on something that looked like lab rat growth.

Striker and I collectively sighed, and we leaned against the wall, to radio in that we'd reached a dead end until we heard gears creaking in the wall. We jumped back from it, and upon closer inspection, there was a small piece of the wall that Striker had been leaning on that was now moving back to reveal a panel with a number pad. Above the pad, on the wall, was a small, hard to see, white button that we would've missed if Striker hadn't been leaning on it. I gasped, "Striker, you're a genius!" He looked back at me with a confused smile, and said, "I had no idea that it would do that." We quickly radioed in, telling the other groups about our find. We input the passcode we'd been given, 1980, but it just beeped at us, telling us that we had two more passcode attempts before the alarm was set off.

There had to be a hint around here somewhere. We poured through the notebooks, as Kicker talked to us through the walkie-talkies giving us advice, and Fire spluttered that the group that wasn't supposed to go in, had accidentally found a secret room. We wondered aloud what it would go to, figuring that whatever was behind the door was what scared everyone off. After what seemed like forever, we found that in one of the notebooks, someone had written, "The code for the door is the date that the experiment started." THE experiment? There was one large experiment? We looked through other notebooks, until we found the earliest entry, on the earliest one. It dated February 7th, 2000. So the code was either 0207, 0702, or 2000. We tried to logic it through with the team. Kicker said that it would probably be 2000 because the other code was 1980. Fire disagreed, and said that since it was a date, it would probably be 0207 or 0702. And since we were in America, California specifically, it would most likely be 0702. We tried Kicker's idea first. BLEEP. One try remaining. We really hoped that Fire would be right. 0 7 0 2. Suddenly, we heard a hiss, and a piece of the wall, from floor to ceiling, near the panel, slid open to reveal a metal door.

The groups wished they were there with us, and Peebles even suggested we wait to open the door until groups one and two had joined us, but she was shot down by Pewds, saying, "Let them have some fun. It's not like there's going to be anyone they need to fight in there anyway." As we neared the door, our walkie-talkies started fizzing. "An electromagnetic pulse! It's a brilliant way to prevent anyone from sneaking in and taking pictures with any kind of device and reporting them. Something big must be beyond this door, but it looks like you two are going to have to leave us here for it."

Striker and I looked at each other with apprehension. If it had been Peebles, Iplier, and Pewds who'd found the door, they'd already be inside. If it had been Fire and Kicker who'd found it, they would've weighed all of the pros and cons to waiting for the rest of the team to come back, but ultimately go in. With us? We needed to do this together. I nodded at Striker. "Let's get ourselves in there." He smiled, and together we pushed the door open.

We were standing on a platform, with a few stairs down to the rest of the room. We scanned the room, and I spotted a control panel, and then, in the farthest corner of the room... no. It couldn't be. "Wh-what is that?" Striker obviously hadn't gotten the same briefings that I had. "It was all true. That's the cage from the briefing. Where they kept the subject." He looked at me with slight fear in his eyes. "C'mon. Let's investigate." I said, although part of me just wanted to turn tail and run out of the room. We shined our flashlights on the ground as we walked towards the shadowy structure, as to not trip on any of the cables snaking across the floor, from the control panel to a vent in the wall. I barely realized Striker had stopped moving and we were only a few inches away from the bars. I lifted my head from the ground, and my eyes were immediately fixed to where Striker had shined his flashlight.

Because inside the cage, was a body. It had to be dead. No one could survive... how long had it been since Fire had gotten the case? It must have been at least five days. Striker looked on, horrified. And then, "He's breathing." I turned to face the agent, whose face was pale, but resolute. "It's faint, but he's breathing. God, Wiishu, we need to get him out of here." I turned back to the body, no, person, in the cage. He looked a few years older than me, at twenty. Maybe twenty-four or twenty-five? I turned to Striker. We needed to focus on getting him out. I reached out and touched the bar. It was metal, Iron maybe? It sizzled slightly giving me a shock like I'd been walking across the carpet and touched a light switch. It must have been electrified when the power was on. But even if we had a weapon, it would be hard to saw through the bars. There had to have been a way to deliver food and water, or maybe drugs to the boy. Maybe I could wake him up. I turned to Striker and asked him if was a good idea, and he said it was as good as any. He walked over to the control panel, to see if he could get anything there to work.

I took a deep breath. "Hello?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper. Nothing. I repeated it slightly louder. The boy, even though he was older than me, it seemed strange to call him a man, stirred slightly. "Are you awake?" He was now. He nearly jumped, sitting up quickly. His eyes were pure blue, and I couldn't believe I hadn't noticed it before, but his hair was light green. It suited him somehow. He looked terrified. "Hello there. It's nice to see you're awake." He didn't respond, just backed away from me so that his back was against the wall. "It's alright. I understand you're scared, but I'm not going to hurt you, I promise. I'm actually trying to get you out of here." He scooted a little closer now, his curiosity peaked. Striker walked over to me, sitting next to me, scaring the boy and causing him to back away again. I looked to Striker. "Guess you can finally say that you've actually intimidated someone," I said to lighten the mood. He glared at me, but I could tell he was amused.

"Nothing in the control panel is working. It all shut off when this place was abandoned. I see you've woken him up." He then turned to the boy in the cage. "Hello, my name is Striker. What is yours?" The boy shook his head. "It's okay, he won't hurt you either." He shook his head again. "It's not that? Can you talk?" The boy looked down at his lap at my words and shrugged his shoulders. "Will you please try? We'd really like to help you get out of here, but we need you to help us find out how." He raised his head and opened his mouth. "I-I don't have a na-na-name." He replied to Striker, his voice hoarse and shaky. "They call me Septic. But I don't like that name. It reminds me of him." His voice was stronger now that he'd started talking again. "What do you mean, him? Are you talking about one of the people who worked here?" The boy shook his head. "No. It reminds me of the person inside of me, well, at least one of them. They keep me here because there's more than one person inside of me. I'm usually the one in control, but they can make him be in control. I don't like him. When they make him come out, they say he changes me. I don't have control of my own body, and I don't like that. They call him Anti. It feels like he's a demon that wants to hurt me, but they say that he's just my imagination. I hate him. If he was a part of me, then I should be able to get rid of him, but I can't. But the others aren't so bad!"

He stopped after that. Striker was watching him in fascination, and so was I. "I want to tell you everything, but weren't you guys supposed to get me out of here? I know how they do it, but I've never been able to do it myself because I'm on this side of the bars." He tapped a bar near us. "There's a button on your side of the bar. You need to press it seven times, then pause, then twice. After that, some of the bars will open, and I can come out!" He smiled, and my heart fluttered a little. He had a really nice smile. Okay, that was an understatement. He had the prettiest smile I'd ever seen. While I was lost in space for a minute, Striker pressed the button and the bars started to lift. We stood up as the boy walked towards us. "Since you don't have a real name, what can I call you?" I asked, a smile playing on my face. "I don't know. Maybe you can give me a name?" The boy looked around the room, he must have been so happy to finally be out. I studied him for a minute, thinking. Then it hit me, the perfect name for a person like him. He fit it perfectly. "I'm going to call you Jack." He smiled again, and I felt like I was melting. "Okay, let's get out of here and get back to the others. I feel like we have a lot of explaining to do." Striker said with a smile, and we lead the weak, from not eating since who knows when, boy up the stairs and out of the room he'd been imprisoned in since he was a kid, to show him the real world.

I feel like that's a good place to stop this transcript. I feel like I've been recording for hours, and I should probably eat something. So until the next transcript, Wiishu's signing off. Over and out.

Cutie Reviews: Tokyo Treat Sept 18

Hi everyone, this review is a bit later than I had hoped it would be. I wanted to get it done days ago/last week, but it was a fairly rough week after Easter passed...

Anyway, here I am now! Let’s not linger on things like that x3

We hope you all have had a great summer and made great memories that will last for a lifetime. Speaking of great summer memories, one common activity that people of all ages enjoy doing in the summer is going out to an evening movie! We know we love strolling around in the summer night and ending up seeing an awesome flick at the local theater. We took inspiration from this idea to curate a box that would be great to snack on while watching your favorite Drama, Film, or Animation! So, get ready to chow down on some awesome movie-perfect bite-sized snacks, candies, and other savory sweets found inside September’s Movie Night box!

The booklet for this month features a cute Kimono template to color, a variety of Splatoon and Pokemon-themed contest and Lucky Treat items, an article of Japanese tea and honorifics when addressing others, and an article about 2 good television programs on Netflix to practice Japanese with: Terrace House, and Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories.

This is September’s DIY and like usual, I will be covering this in a separate review/post.

On a side note... I’m not really sure how this relates to the movie theme. It would be kind of distracting trying to make these- but it’s not nearly as complex as most of them are so on the other hand, it kind of makes sense.

Mango Pokemon Soda

The drink for this month is this adorable themed mango soda, available in 4 different designs to feature each of the Eeveelutions (Vaporean, Jolteon, and Flareon on yellow, this one, Eevee and Sylveon on pink (I really wanted this one), and Glaceon and Leafeon on green). Besides the design on the bottle, there is also a small picture of all the Eeveelutions, and a profile on the featured ones.

I love all of them so I would have been happy getting any of them :3 but I really loved Umbreon and Espeon first in comparison to the previous forms, so in a way I’m pretty happy with this one. It kind of gave me a nostalgic feeling.

Each bottle is 34kcal, and the drink is by Ito En. I do recall seeing this brand logo before on a drink, but I don’t remember which one.

Rating: ♥ ♥

I really like these types of bottle lids. It opens very smooth and easily and doesn’t seem to fizz very much. At first scent it was light and sweet, but the more I smelled, the more typical mango it got; but it never smelled like feet.

The taste is very refreshing and light, but it actually doesn’t taste like mango to me. I get a faint mango after-taste, but I taste coconut pudding over it. It’s not bad, but sadly it doesn’t appeal to me either...

Pretty Cure Popcorn

We’ve been over this before, but I love Pretty Cure! So I always get really excited whenever they include products from the series in these boxes. Which oddly enough, they have been doing. Not very often, but sometimes.

Anyway this is by Tohato, and if I remember right for a long time now, each time there’s a new pretty cure season/series, they come out with new “waves” of these. Each include a sticker, and as much as I liked all of the Hug Precure, I really liked the three on mine so I was very happy~

Each bag consists of popcorn mixed with these cute, pink heart strawberry puffs. Each bag is 68 kcal.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

This is the perfect snack you’d want in a movie-themed box :D the popcorn is basic salted popcorn, while the heart puffs are sweet and crispy. Together they make the perfect combination~

Kinako no Yama Chocolate Banana & Hokkaido Matcha Milk Candy

Figured I’d get the 2 items I was the least-excited to see out of the way now; if you’re new to this blog, I say this because I hate green tea, and bananas. 

First up we’ll start with the Kinako no Yama snack by Meiji. If I recall right, I believe we were supposed to have these in a prior box, but due to some issue they were unable to provide it. I really like how they decided to bring it back when they could to make it up to anyone who might have been disappointed by that.

Kinoko no Yama are small biscuits topped with chocolate to give them the appearance of a mushroom/Kinoko. These ones are specifically topped in chocolate, half of which is banana flavored.

Each box is 378 kcal.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥

I usually like Kinoko no yama, but I detest artificial banana and these smell overwhelmingly like it. However, I was pleasantly surprise because the flavor, while there, only lasts a short while and kind of fades into the biscuit and chocolate. In my case that’s a huge relief!

Also, the booklet points out that these were included to remind one of the chocolate bananas one can often find during summer festivals. Cute concept but isn’t this box movie themed...?

The next item, I was dreading even more but gets back into the movie theme; apparently some people like eating hard candy for movies. Anyway, these are made from milk straight from Hokkaido and combine it with matcha to create a sweetened, creamy hard candy. 

Each bag is 330 kcal. 

Rating: ♥ ♥

It’s creamy in taste, I’ll give it that. But I didn’t actually think it was very sweet, nor did it surprise me, I knew I’d hate it and I couldn’t even finish the piece I tried. But if you do like green tea I think you would really like it; my mom loves green tea so she enjoyed them. I’ll probably give them to her or set them out in a dish for others to have.

Marshmallow Twist & Stretchy Grape Gummies

Our next two items are these fun, pinkish-themed sweets :D If you’ve been a long-time reader then the marshmallow probably looks very familiar. We’ve gotten these, I think two other times prior to this, and each time I think I had a different color. But don’t quote me on that.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

I don’t have much to say, it’s you’re average marshmallow. I’m not crazy over the fact we got a repeat a handful of times now, but I’m super-obsessed with marshmallows and they do spread them out in the very least.

The other item I have seen before but never tried, so I was pretty curious. This is the Kinosei snack for this month, which features Faecalis to refresh the body. Each gummy (or maybe the whole bag but doubtful) is 18 kcal. They are individually wrapped as you can see above, and each wrapper features a drawing or cute little ideas you can try to do with these.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

What makes them so much fun is that the candy is completely lined, which means you can peel it! The texture is a bit different than most gummies, but I really like them- the grape flavor is also very delicious :P I’m not very sure if they make me feel refreshed eating them, but I don’t feel bad.

Okinawa Pineapple Hi-Chew

Our next item is the very popular Hi-Chew by Morinaga. Hi-Chew is a very chewy candy that comes in a large variety of fruity and drink inspired flavors. This one takes a spin at Pineapple from Okinawa; perfect for summer!

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

I love Hi-Chew, and I also really like pineapple. Together they taste pretty good, you could definitely guess this was pineapple if you tried to eat it without looking at it and the packaging. The taste lingers for a few minutes after eating it too.

I can’t say it’s my most favorite Hi-Chew though, that would have to be the cola and strawberry ones. But if you never tried these I would highly recommend it. They can be found online at several locations, and they even sell mixed bags outside of Japan. If you have a Walmart, check the foreign/Asian food isle.

Brown Sugar Traditional Wheat Puff & Kinako Crackers

These items are perfect for that Crispy snap you might need in between all the chewy sweetness (or if you want to wake up your movie buddy ;3). The first is a very traditional wheat puff that is coated in brown sugar. As expected, it has a lot of calories; a total of 380 kcal.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ 

It’s very sweet and tastes like brown sugar (or you could even say maple), and it has a soft-crisp texture and dissolves in the mouth. It tastes good, but the texture is kinda strange; and that’s coming from me, who likes different textures.  

The next item is a large bag of rice crackers coated in kinako (roasted soybean) powder. Each one is 17 kcal, and the whole bag is 506 kcal.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

I’ve had these before or snacks a lot like them in both this flavoring, or savory. I really like rice-based snacks, but you actually don’t taste anything besides the soybean powder coating. They’re lightly crisp and the powder dissolves in the mouth.

Also, side-note, but if you read the blog then you might recall my mentioning how some squishy smell like soybeans to me. It was snacks like these that inspired that notion, and every time I smell squishies with this scent I think about them.

Kishu Plum Chips & Anpanman Fluffy Corn Puffs

You know, a few of these items didn’t really scream movie to me, but I feel like the further I get into this the more I start seeing it.

First up are these uniquely flavored chips by Calbee. They combine the saltiness of a potato chip with Kishu plums to create a chip with a sour tang.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

If you like the taste of pickled plum, unique chips, or sourness you will enjoy these :3 not only are the chips decently sized and looking delicious, but they also taste really good. The flavor is strong, but not on like a... salt and vinegar level, so it’s not overwhelming.

Our other item are these simple, cute Anpanman corn puffs by Tohato. This was the share snack (which for once I think is worth including because if you watch a movie with multiple people then this would be a good thing to have), so we get 4 bags of these. Each bag features Anpanman on the front, and a cute little puzzle on the back.

These are described as being a slightly sweet, light corn puff.

Each bag is 40.7 kcal.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

They are extremely light and airy and provide a soft crisp, but I actually get no sweetness at all. It has a flavor, but it’s not a corn either, nor does it remind me of cereal. I’m not actually sure what it is, but I do like it.  

Shrimp Mayonnaise Umaibo & Spicy Pepper Pea Corn Puff Rings

These are our final snacks for this month, our monthly Umaibo in Shrimp Mayonnaise flavor, and look- it’s actually whole this time :D lately they keep winding up crushed into a million pieces for me.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

I love Umaibo x3 I don’t really have much to say on them because we get them all the time, and I’ve had this flavor a couple of times. But it’s one of my favorites~ it reminds me of sushi.

Our final item is this small bag of spicy pepper pea corn puffs. We’ve had this brands snacks before, but I can’t remember if I tried these before. I feel like I have because the taste is very familiar to me...

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

Whatever it is, this tastes very good to me. There is some spice there and it lingers on the tongue for a short bit after eating them, but it’s fairly light so if you’re not big on spicy things it isn’t painful or anything.

♥ Cutie Ranking ♥

Content - 4 out of 5. I really liked mostly everything, but there was 1 item I was disappointed in,1 that delightfully surprised me, and 1 that I hated- but compared to other ratio of previous boxes I’m pretty happy with this one.

Theme - 4 out of 5. For most part I felt like these were pretty good choices for movie snacks. They reminded me of things I would see at the theater or drive-in, and ironically enough I ended up watching the lifetime movie channel while I was eating these and working on this review.

Total Rank: 9 out of 10 Cuties! In my opinion this would have been a great box to start the subscription with. There was a little bit of everything in it and a lot of yummy tastes~ I admit, there are a couple of things that some people might not like, but I think it would be a fun experience to try anyway. I really enjoyed this one.

♥ Cutie’s Scale of Yummy ♥

1. Grape Gummies - I love the flavor and texture, it’s as fun to play with as it is to eat~

2. Spicy Pepper Pea Corn Puff Rings - I’m not sure what it is about these but I really, really like these!

3. Kinako Crackers - I think I prefer the savory ones to these sweet ones, but they are still delicious!

4. Shrimp Mayonnaise Umaibo - I really, REALLY like this but I’ve had it before so it’s nothing new to me.

5. Pretty Cure Popcorn - This was very cute and I love the packaging and included sticker, and the cute pink heart puffs~

6. Kishu Plum Chips - I’m pretty sure I’ve had these before, now that I think about it. But anyway, they’re really good :3 so I’m not complaining.  

7. Anpanman Corn Puff Rings - The flavoring is light but it’s there, and the simple, colorful packaging is adorable. A cute little snack for any Anpanman fans~

8. Pineapple Hi-Chew - As much as I like pineapple, I’m not very big on pineapple candy. I’m not sure why. It was pretty goo though. 

9. Brown Sugar Wheat Puff - it was sweet and unique, but not my favorite.

10. Marshmallow Twist - As much as I love marshmallows, there’s nothing special about it. It was just an average marshmallow.

11. Mango Soda - It wasn’t what I had hoped it would be...

12. Banana Chocolate Kinoko - I didn’t hate them, but they aren’t my favorite things either.

13. Matcha Milk Candy - I mean... it’s pretty obvious right? I thought the bag design was cute though.

Pune-based Learning company, eNyota Learning, recently achieved a significant milestone – 10 years of successful operations and growth. Founded in 2007 by Instructional Designer, Keya Thomas, with co-Founders Anand Timothy and Karl Monteiro, eNyota is one of the new breed of Pune-based eLearning companies founded by professionals who are not entrepreneurs by education or legacy, but former employees who had strong ideas of how things ought to work and how they could be improved.

Has eNyota been successful in making a difference? In creating an engaging work-culture? In creating great solutions for clients? While employees, customers, and market forces are better equipped to answer such perception-based matters, this article focuses on the fact that the company has established itself as a learning services provider, and has navigated its way through choppy and calm waters for a decade.

I have known Keya and Andy as colleagues since 2003, and then as industry-peers post 2008. An innovative Instructional Designer, Keya, has always been an outspoken learning professional, fearless with her convictions and understanding of what learners need. Andy, soft-spoken and imaginative, is one of the best relationship managers in the business, adroitly handling teams, clients, management, and risks with equal aplomb, effortlessly. Karl Monteiro added business management acumen to eNyota with two decades of financial and business administration experience in different industries.

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Keya Thomas

Anand Timothy

Karl Monteiro

It was a great curiosity for me when Keya launched her company and Andy joined a while later. One of my initial questions to them in the early years was “how challenging is it for a husband-wife couple to work together in business?”.

As the years went by, I often found myself taking opinions, exchanging notes, and then, suddenly, it was a decade. I figured it was time to take stock since every startup doesn’t make it, every company that does make it through the initial years, doesn’t necessarily last a decade, and while every company in this age claims innovation, a company that sustains deserves to stand out.

Excerpts from an interview with Anand Timothy, co-Founder and Director Business Development, eNyota Learning, on what has been achieved, thoughts on the journey, trends in the industry, and what lies ahead.

  1. Why did you start a learning company of your own?

We started eNyota Learning in January 2007 after working in the custom eLearning space for a few years. Keya started the company on her own really and I joined her a little later when we felt that this could go someplace.

We both had the entrepreneur bug and shared a passion for the learning and training space. So starting our entrepreneurship journey in a space that we both loved was a great opportunity. We learned a lot from our experience working in the various eLearning companies between us. On the positive side we felt we could do a few things differently to stand out and of course, we had some very strong ideas around what not to do as well. We started off small – just the three founders – Keya, Karl Monteiro (my childhood friend), and I, with each bringing something to the table. We really did not know how big eNyota Learning would get.

To be perfectly honest, Keya and I looked at the world through some rose-tinted glasses based on our experience in the early 2000s. Nothing in our experience could have prepared us for the economic upheavals of the 2008 financial crisis and of course, the disruption post the emergence of the first real smartphone which is the iPhone. I think it was not just us. The whole world was impacted but it really was a crazy time for us because we were just starting our entrepreneurship journey. So all our ideas about the positive change and the negative change was left to ideas and theories. Our first realistic goal was to survive the initial few years and learn what it meant to do business. Having a partner like Karl who had run multiple businesses helped Keya and me (this was our first venture).

2. How does it feel to complete a decade as entrepreneurs?

The most basic feeling is a sense of accomplishment and relief that we have been able to stay the journey for 10 years. At times we do wonder if we did the right things over these 10 years. But we have realised you cannot second guess yourself. As long as you have learned from the ups and downs, you are ahead of most others. We went through two distinct rough patches during these 10 years and to keep our wits and spirits during those phases, made us wiser and more resilient. We have all learned a hell of a lot. For me, that is the key. And we are not jaded. We still look at the future with optimism. I am glad we have been able to keep our energy levels and optimism. I know many entrepreneurs who have run out of steam just because of the burden of expectations. Be X number of people or X million dollars by X number of years etc. We are still enjoying the journey.

3. Why did you choose to start your business in Pune?

We choose Pune because it was home for all three of the founders! Karl and I were born and brought up here. And Keya has been in Pune since 1990. I think most entrepreneurs choose home turf to start a business. Plus, the talent in Pune is something we’re very happy with, being a university city and all that comes with it.

4. Where do you see Pune heading as a business destination, talent base, innovation centre?

There are a great number of start-ups in Pune. Not just in eLearning but in the tech space in general. And all of that is because of the great talent that is in Pune. Pune is also a great tech hub in India with great educational institutions and that’s why the supply of talent is still good. But the job creation is simply not keeping pace with the number of people coming out of these educational institutions. There are fewer jobs vied for by a lot of candidates.

  I think you will see a lot more product companies in Pune. That is a definite trend I see. Pune has more knowledge-centric service companies and only traditional IT-related services. So that is a good thing. Hopefully Pune can stay ahead of the curve. But sadly, more has to be done to help Pune create an entrepreneurial ecosystem like Bangalore.

  I also think that given this situation, educational institutions have to up the quality of the programs to make talent ready not just for the jobs of today but also for the careers of tomorrow. Automation in general across all industries is growing rapidly. Mobile technology is here to stay and disrupting entire industries, the Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence is changing the possible versions of the future faster than most people can imagine. How do you help students choose which career path they choose – based on their expectations of the job situation in 4-5 years when they graduate?

5. What is eNyota’s differentiator for clients, employees?

For our clients:

Client-centric Thought Process – Focusing on what is the best outcome for the client

Design Thinking – combining the disciplines of Instructional Design, User Experience and User Interface to come up with a solution

Full Service Provider – Most number of options when it comes to tools and technology for designing that solution – from low tech solutions like rapid authoring tools to complex solutions involving custom mobile apps, custom software, and web-analytics to track usage patterns and measure outcomes

For our employees:

Opportunity to work for a company which is growing and where a team member can grow and learn

Opportunity to work with a company that is focussed on research and innovation and not just good project execution

Opportunity to work for a company where you can be yourself as long as you are aligned to our customer centric approach

6. What are the three trends/directions you feel will drive the learning industry in the next 5 years?

MicroLearning vs the 1-Learning Hour unit size for eLearning courses so far. This is not just breaking a 60-minute course into 4 modules but really focussing on ‘Relevancy’, separating the need-to-know from the nice to know. Looking at content from a pull strategy via learners taking control of their own learning needs vs a push via LMS strategy. That’s why ‘Relevancy’ to the users is going to be important. And making it available when they need it and in the easiest way possible.

Mobile-centric course design meant for consumption on mobile devices. The tablet has lost its fizz and phones are getting to a size that makes them realistic consumption devices. Combined with MicroLearning, a lot more course content is going to have to be built for mobile phones than ever before.

Further Automation in course design and development. The days of custom coding are numbered. Authoring tools are going to get more and more powerful. It’s going to the dominance of Authoring Tools vs Custom Design and that includes video creation. Video-based learning is going to be much more than ever before.

These are the top three as far as we think. There are a few others that are going to disrupt the industry slowly but surely but it will be centred around making these three things happen anyway. Any company, product or solution that does not help in these three goals may have a hard time in the coming years.

“Our First Realistic Goal Was to Survive, and Learn What It Meant To Do Business.” – Learnings From A Decade of eNyota Learning Pune-based Learning company, eNyota Learning, recently achieved a significant milestone - 10 years of successful operations and growth.

No one said being a Dad was easy| Chapter 2 (2seok)

They took their short walk towards the car, Eunji greeting some of the older people towards the entrance before they hopped inside.

“Seat-Belt on Eunji?” He heard a click soon after before a cheerful ‘On!’ answered him back before he glanced back at a second to look, just to be on the safe side. Once his brief parental worries were extinguished, he started to drive towards the elementary school.

As usual, nothing would be a morning going to school without turning the radio on since Hoseok and Eunji were infamous for their in car jamming sessions. Or at least, Eunji would often rant about it to Uncle Joonie and Uncle Gigi, much to them not being very surprised. Hoseok took a second to switch to their usual station, one of their favorite songs had been playing.

“It’s the song!” Eunji exclaimed as she clapped her hands a bit, watching as Hoseok shimmed his shoulders before he started to sing along with the voice.

Pretty girl, pretty girl, pretty girl you should be smiling

A girl like you should never look so blue

He danced in his seat, his finger trapping on the steering wheel as he went through the lyrics. He moved his hand to turn up the music up a little louder.

You’re everything I see in my dreams

I wouldn’t say that to you if it wasn’t true

He continued, his daughter bouncing in her seat as she joined, clapping a bit off beat. Honestly, he could very well imagine all the weird stares he got from every time they were singing in the car and some poor bystander or driver next to him would probably have some pretty intense secondhand embarrassment. However, he soon learned it was those weird parent thing that people thought they would never do and suddenly when they have a child, it is something almost second nature. It was something that they both had fun doing because they could as weird and funny as they wanted without worrying about it.

Besides, Hoseok could not imagine anyone who would look any kid in the face and make them feel bad for having fun while they still could.

He smiled to himself as he saw the elementary up ahead, listening to his daughter still singing in the back without much of a care in the world. He could feel his heart swell up with all those warm fizzing feeling. It almost made him want to turn the car around and go back home to just hold Eunji close and stop her from growing up ever so she would just remain his tiny sunshine forever. Though, he knew he would never just be that lucky and that Eunji needed to go to school and learn, and that soon enough she would come right back home to tell him everything that happened.

_____________________________________________

Soon enough, they arrived at the school with him glancing at the front door. He parked the car before he decided that he should at least go inside to drop her off since she was early for once.

He heard the seat-belt click before he looked through the rear-view mirror, seeing Eunji scoot out of her seat and grabbed her tiny backpack. She looked up after she strapped it on. “Ready to go inside kiddo?” She nodded before he climbed out the car to let her out.

He watched her slide out before he held out his hand for her to hold onto. He closed it behind her before they started to head towards the school.

“I am really excited for today! Ms. Fran was telling us about how we were going to visit playground for science today! We are doing an expir- exipir-” She seemed a little tongue tied at the moment as she tried to say the word to herself. “Experiment?” He said before she looked up at him. “Uh-huh! Ex-per-i-ment!” She yelled, flailing her hand a bit.

He felt a little bad but he couldn’t help laughing a little. He was just so amused to see her enthusiasm at the smaller things. “That sounds really cool! I bet you will find some rocks, maybe even snails or worms, right?” He saw the small twist in his face in her expression before she smiled it off.

“Yeah or maybe other things too-” She went on to stay as they entered inside the doors. The inside seemed a little empty, the alternating tan and cream tiles leading them into the same pattern that decorated the main hallway.

Each classroom alternated, the left side with the odds numbers and the right side had all the even numbers. He seemed to drag along as he looked to see some of the chalkboards and decorates inside through the small window in the doors. Every classroom seemed like a bit unique in their own room, even one of the rooms mirroring that of a Chemistry lab a bit. At this point, Hoseok seemed a little bit too engrossed so Eunji tugged on his arm.

“My class is just up there-” She said, seeing the light coming through from where a door was open. Hoseok picked up on some of the little murmurs and laughter that started to slip through. He picked up the pace as a few more tugs, stopping right at the entrance.

It had been awhile since he had seen the inside of the classroom and could not help but feel like he felt a little too big for this place. There were tiny colorful plastic chair around round tables that had little sheet laid out with pencil in the center. He looked up to marvel at the little drawings that hung around the classroom, seeing a couple of dinosaurs and other imaginative things kids drew. It was certainly a sight, he could say that much.

“Eunji! Eunji!” He turned his head to see a couple of the other kids were waving over. “Woah! Hi, Mr. Jung!” A little boy said before he waved back a bit. Well, he guessed it was time for the hardest part of his day.

He crouched down to Eunji’s height before he placed his hand on her small shoulder. He took a breath. “Alright, have a good day sweetheart.” He said, that bittersweet smile on his face. “I will! Best behavior-” Eunji promised before going in for a hug, squeezing as tight as she could. Hugging her back, he placed a kiss on her cheek before letting go.

“Love you.”

“Love you too!” She said before she went to go join the rest of her classmates that were here.

Hoseok stood himself up before he walked to the door, he still had work ahead of him that he needed to finish and send an email to his boss quickly.

He started the way he came, stealing glancing at the other classroom again just out of curiosity. He remembers a little of the classrooms from when he was here but not enough to tell you much about them. He caught a little interest in one of the other rooms, seeing a little display on a windowsill.

“Andrew! Andrew stop running!” Hoseok look confused before he saw a small child run past him, dodging as to avoid accidentally tripping him. He heard a couple of quick steps then a sigh right after. He stopped for a second to turn towards the voice.

The poor man looked a little exhausted as he crossed his arms. Hard morning he supposed. His broad shoulders hung up before he shook his head, his dark tossing around slightly at the motion. Hoseok looked frozen for a second, almost like he was interrupting something.

Said man looked at him apologetically before he opened his mouth. “I am really sorry. I hope he didn’t bump into you-” He said before Hoseok himself eased his worries. “No no no-It’s fine honestly! He’s a kid and he didn’t even graze me-” He said a bit nervously, chuckling an bit before he saw the relief overtook the taller man’s face.

“Andrew, can be a bit of a handful but he is a good kid..” He said fondly, a small smile taking over his lips that Hoseok was absolutely not looking at of course. Hoseok shook his head before the other went on. “I just wished that he would turn down the energy a bit.”

Shaking his head in agreement, Hoseok could honestly relate. There are days he could only watch Eunji run around the place before she decided she had tired herself out enough. It was definitely stressful if he didn’t have the energy. “Yeah, kids can be a bit of a handful..” He trailed off before he went quiet.

After a minute, the other man looked a bit confused for a second before saying something. “ I haven’t seen you at any of the school parent meetings-” He mentioned before Hoseok looked a little guilty.

“Ah! Yeah…I get really busy. I work nearby so it conflicts with my schedule usually-” He said but it was sort of half true, sometimes he genuinely could not be there for reasons of talking to his boss or having meeting about the illustrations he had made. The other half, sadly, was due to some laziness on his part but he did make an effort to contact the school to keep updated about Eunji.

“Oh. That makes sense-” He said before it went back into an awkward silence. They looked at each other before he tried to break the silence. “ Yeah…I’m Hoseok by the way! I’m Eunji’s parent-” He thought, hopefully introducing himself would make this more bearable.

“Seokjin…My kid is the one who bolted towards the classroom up ahead.” He joked, looking more at ease before he continued on. “You should join the PTA here- There are always looking for more and more parents getting involved around here. They have meeting every Wednesday night if you can go-” Hoseok nodded before he made a mental note, at least he had a day to think about it.

“I’ll definitely keep that in mind.” He said before he decided it was a good time to start heading out. “I’ll see you around then-” He gave a curt smile to Jin before he excusing himself.

“Alright. See you Wednesday if you go-” Jin mentioned as Hoseok started to walk away.

“See you Wednesday-” Hoseok repeated to himself as he walked out of the building to his car.

Maybe he should go Wednesday.

(So there you go! Chapter 2! Enjoy)

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