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#also i tried my hand out at adding alt text to the pictures in this post so let me know if there’s anything i need to adjust there :DD
soup--champ · 1 year
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Old habits die hard
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honorary-fool · 6 months
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Nameless Bard Cosplay Breakdown
Why? Why not (I want to share my creation especially with seeing so many tiktok cosplays of them, but never any guides/posts about how people. did stuff for them /lh)
I..don't know how well screen-readers will handle such a long post. I hope it works out okay.
Note: final image does not have alt image text at the time of posting, but I intend to add it later on
add alt text to images (all minus final since that would be a picture from the morning of)
Cloak
This thing is LONG. I'm about 5'1/155 cm, and this thing goes down to my KNEES (& big hood too!)
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The inside fabric is from old off-white/beige bedsheets, and the outside fabric was from joann's (link).
I used a pattern from Aliceincosplayland on Etsy (link) (note: you don't need to buy a pattern to make a cloak- I bought it because of the different options between the lengths & hood sizes) ; for mine, I used the knee-length pattern & the larger hood size.
The large covered hook & eye also from joann's (link).
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POCKETS! There's 2 small pockets close to the edges, & a bigger one I added this year to fit things like my PDM, testing kit, battery pack, etc. The smaller pockets have wooden buttons & button holes, the bigger one has a snap w/ a wooden button hot-glued on top because I didn't wanna tinker with the button hole foot.
Windblume Flower
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I forgot what I traced but I made patterns for the leaves and petals & used a tutorial to make the tassels with red embroidery thread.
It's made of felt, hot glue, and I hand-sewed some bits like the button in the middle. It's also removable & fastens via safety pin sewed into the back.
Shirt
I gotta be honest, I forgot to work on it and tried to finish it about a week before the con. It looked like it was going well, but little errors made it look not up to the standard I was holding myself to and I hated it. I didn't even add the finishing touches with the shirt's collar's closure, or the ruffles on the cuffs of the sleeves. Instead, I'm using the original shirt I got off amazon last year (link), which I'm glad I kept intact when trying t make the second version's pattern.
I wanted to make another variation that was closer to his canonical outfit and was not made out of that plasticky fabric material (not that it was uncomfy, I just thought it'd be better for a convention center with a lotta people). The arm holes were a bit too big, the neck hole was a bit snug, and I botched the collar almost entirely. Lesson learned, make mockups and do not procrastinate on your projects until the week before the event.
I have the picture of it in this post.
If it counts, last year I made a slight alteration to the original shirt in which I sewed part of the slit in the top so it didn't go as deep. That's about it, honestly.
Shorts
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Honestly, these weren't too bad overall. I cut the triangle panels out of white fabric, used embroidery thread for the criss-cross bits, and hand-sewed said panels onto the shorts.
It's great 'cus it has pockets and it's adjustable with the drawstring on the inside.
Wig
This fucker (part 2)
I combined a wig off Amazon (link) with wefts from hair extensions (link; though it comes with two I used just under one weft for both briads) to get the general shape
I went into detail on how I redid it here (also where the pictures are) but to sum it up: washed out hairspray/gel from last year, trimmed & rebraided the longer strands, used hairspray to do the bangs & gel to fix the ends.
Belt
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I had this old brown fabric from an old sewing class project that I used. I measured the length by putting the rest of the costume on and using a measuring tape, overlapping a little so there was room to add the snaps for a closure. I think I used the trim from an old bedsheet and put it on either of the longer ends, then painted it yellow to match the bard's. Semi-reliable snap closure sewn in later, then boom, belt!
Lyre Prop
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I forgot what I traced to make this pattern too, but I made it out of felt, essentially a stuffed toy. The little bar bit at the top is a separate pattern piece, as I tried making it all into one and was unable to turn it inside out. I forgot what kind of cord/string I used for the lyre strings, I just remember using mod podge to stiffen it as a finishing touch.
I used it last year as a prop, but I ended up just carrying it around so it might be best to leave home unless you plan to take a lotta pictures.
Miscellaneous Parts
Corset Belt: bought off amazon (link) ; It's comfy for the most part. liked the idea of a faux corset as opposed to the vest
Boots: last year I used a different set of boots that I've had for years, this year I'm using slightly newer boots that I got off my brother since they're small on him. They're timberlands I think? A li'l bit of height, lace-up, slight heel, feels 3% more badass /j
Makeup: I... know very little about makeup. I highly doubt the bard used makeup back then (/j). With that in mind, I really just use black eyeshadow & an eyebrow brush to fill my brows in and that's it. I use an old eyeshadow palette, but I also have an eyeshadow stick from the dollar store that works if you wet it slightly (mostly because it's a year old and is dried out by now..probably).
Wisp Prop: Touched on in this post, I like to take along one of my wisp dolls- the second one I've ever made, specifically. Made with my own personal pattern, he's easy to tuck away into a smaller pocket with just his head sticking out. I'll never forget the excitement of the Bennett and Fischl cosplayers I ran into last year when I took the wisp out to show them. 100/10, easily my favorite prop. The only real change made to him is that he has glow in the dark paint on his eyes, which probably won't do much in a convention setting but I still think it's cool.
Sword Prop: Very unnecessary & impromptu, but also very fun. At last year's con there was a vendor selling foam game/anime weapons and I got a foam Freedom Sworn. At the time of writing this out, I'm unsure if I will be taking it with me this year or not, since I can't exactly store it under my cloak when I'm not holding it.
Final Reveal!
(like I said at the top, this image is the only one w/out alt image text; I'll add it later)
(face scribbled over for comfort reasons)
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talenlee · 2 months
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Alt Text and Habituation
I’ve been trying to consistently put alt text on images here on my blog.
I don’t, if you’re curious. I mean I didn’t. I have, for basically two months now, been trying to comprehensively add alt text to things. If you go back to just November last year, I think you might find images just don’t have alt text.
A part of this was bad advice, from the actual system for adding alt text. If you check the media library for wordpress, it includes a note about alt text that says something to the effect of ‘if this image is not necessary for the article, don’t put alt text.’ And I thought that yeah, actually, largely, my images aren’t. That doesn’t excuse the times I show cards, or make the image the subject of the paragraph, and certainly not the times I just dump a graph in there, but the bad advice made me think by default I didn’t need to do it, so I wouldn’t do it.
The other thing was I just didn’t think of it. It was a habit I didn’t have. And honestly, there are a lot of habits that add a few seconds to things that you can think maybe are easy to do, but you had to build those habits. Using Mastodon regularly on kind.social and posting on cohost. My daily magic cards became part of it – I think it might have been a whole year of typing out alt text every day that got me in that habit. But I was only doing that because I had an image I wanted to post every day in the form of my custom magic posts, and those I could determine an alt text for them very easily.
That meant the habit got built a little at a time and a lot of the alt text I use now is stuff like ‘an icon of a thing.’ Sometimes I take to giving the vibe of an image. Sometimes I’ve tried making a joke.
Understand that with this habit came a lot of discouragement. The way people talk about alt text on mastodon makes me not post pictures there aside from the once-a-day custom magic card. The kind of people who get very mad about alt text and accessibility features enough to yell at me, a stranger, about it, are the kind of people I read once, then mute because I can’t address structural concerns while they yell at me about them and all I can do is my best. Haranguing strangers doesn’t help me build the habit. The environment is volatile, and honestly, kind of cruel about alt text. It’s not enough to post it, you have to do it right, and you can’t discuss its limitations or difficulties without being attacked.
Consider: If the only way to do alt text would be to go back through my blog of ten years and have to alt text everything as the first thing I did, it’d never happen. It just wouldn’t! There’s an enormous archive that doesn’t necessarily load reliably, it’s a huge pain in the ass and probably a full time job’s worth of work for some time to go do that, and with no practice at alt text, it’d probably look bad and be unhelpful. Taking the current (bad) situation and making it overwhelmingly hard to make it not much better is not helpful.
I want to build better habits, I want to do a better job of the things I do. I don’t avoid alt text because I want the internet to be a worse experience for people who use screen readers.
You build good habits a day at a time but part of that means that there’s got to be a version of the habit you can do every day.
It’s now been a month or two of dedicatedly doing it, and I’m writing about it now because one of the biggest hurdles in the whole process was alt-texting all 380+ cards for my daily Magic: The Gathering custom cards. This was a single huge task, but it was also a new task. It presented to me a puzzle, and I had to find a way to solve it that worked. I’m just going to list what I did, roughly, and show you what it took to get that project set up, and then what that led to.
That was not a small task! I’m glad I did it, I feel good about having done it, but wew lord it was not easy! And now, bonus, to complicate it further? If I want to edit a card – or worse a handful of cards – I have to delete that file, upload a new version, then go through and replace all the times that card gets referenced!
This is a big task, but doing it made all smaller permutations feel easier. Alt text feels easier to remember because hey: I don’t have to do that again.
Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!
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nastyatticman · 3 years
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If Slashers had horny Tumblrs...
What it says on the tin! HC post for if Jason, Bubba, Brahms, & Billy (Lenz) had their own tumblrs for horny content. (18+ only)
If you like these, feel free to send a request for other characters if you want :D
Contains : adult content, discussions of kink & brief mention of sexual harassment
Jason Voorhees
Very barebones bio that gives some basic info - his age, his gender/pronouns, and a warning this blog contains adult content. 
Doesn’t get updated often, and it’s usually all at night. Mostly consists of content he reblogs from different creators (artists/sex workers, etc)
Don’t expect a fancy theme or anything - he only uses his phone for horny content since he shares a computer with his sweet old boomer mom.
A good mix - largely pictures people post of themselves or art he likes. Sometimes he’s in a Mood and reblogs a bunch of very specific kinky posts - text posts with affirmations from doms, risqué art, gif sets of people in gear.
He doesn’t have a huge following or anything, just a handful of mutuals and spam bots he doesn’t clear out frequently. But when he posts anything he thinks could be too intense he makes sure to tag it with warnings, just in case.
Sometimes leaves little compliments for people - he’s usually too shy to message people directly but he’ll reblog their posts and say nice things in the tags. Nothing too forward, usually things like “you look so handsome here!” 
Bubba Sawyer
Makes sure not to put any identifying info but he usually puts his age/vague age range (“in my 30s”) because people ask for that.
A collection of stuff he likes, mostly pictures or gifs or the odd video or audio post. 
A lot of mostly vanilla content - again, what turns him on, what he can jerk it to easily. Stuff he can focus on when he’s really trying to get off. I feel like he’s more likely to reblog a gif set of people just going at it or pictures of a hot person in lingerie or cute undies than anything with too much of a kink/fetish focus. But not always.
I’m not sure if our Bubba can read/write very well so I can’t see him reblogging or writing long text posts, but there will be a few short ones here and there. 
He’s a little too nervous to post intimate pics publicly but I can see him on a very very confident day posting pics of just his hands after seeing people talk abt how they like strong hands.
Again, doesn’t write a lot, so he doesn’t add comments to reblogs or anything
He may leave nice things in tags tho! Like Jason he sometimes leaves little compliments for people whose content he reblogs (ur dress is so pretty!). Sometimes he tags things with certain emojis that seem to have some kind of meaning… a mood he’s in… or maybe they remind him of someone he likes?
Brahms Heelshire
VERY detailed very organized pinned post with info about him including a list of his kinks, and what interactions he wants/doesn’t want. Also, places to send him tribute. Not that he needs the money, of course, but he wouldn’t mind if you got him something off his wishlist. (Wink wink nudge nudge.)
I see him as a switch who leans heavily towards submissive with a bratty streak. However people tend to assume he’s more dominant since he reblogs more dom centered text posts (he’s usually imagining he’s the sub in those scenarios).
Has a decent following since he will periodically produce a lot of original content - mostly text posts, or audio, and the occasional picture where his face is obscured and no naughty bits are showing directly. He errs on the side of caution since he doesn’t want to get struck down by the tumblr nipple police, and also because are you kidding me his family has a reputation to uphold, he can’t afford to get caught 
Tumblr is his main horny platform of choice because he finds it easier to organize content he likes into an archive, and there’s more privacy. He tried making an nsfw account on other platforms before, but because of linked accounts and email fuckery he got recommended to follow a family friend and nearly shat himself. (He has a good handle on privacy and he knows that person couldn’t find him - he double checked his privacy settings after that - but it still scared him off that website, at least for that purpose.)
Because he has a decent following he also has a few mutuals he’s messaged periodically. He’s varying degrees of close - some only know him from his posts, some know his main tumblr, some may even be following him on other platforms as “long distance friends”
Every once in a while debates about having his own server for his simps followers, but he’s not sure about using his discord where he keeps in touch with friends/family for it or making a new one. You’re welcome to message him if you’re mutuals or you send him some cash first ❤️
Billy Lenz
What do you mean, “horny on main”? What, like you have an alt?
His blog is like, 98% porn but every once in a while he’ll reblog a non porn post to get into an argument.
“You sure have a lot of opinions on Canadian politics for a hentai blog 🤔”
Mostly an archive of stuff he finds hot at the time, without rhyme or reason - reblogs, links to other websites, etc. mostly chaos, but it seems like every once in a while he tries to have some kind of tagging system.
He sometimes posts original content - sometimes rambling text posts about the kind of sex he wants to have, very rarely pictures of himself. that he deletes immediately after in fear of getting flagged.
When it comes to audio posts… the Moaner lives up to his name. Although he’s not skilled with recording - clearly doing it on his phone - His audios aren’t half bad if you can find them. Usually captioned with something about how he made them or what he was thinking about when he made them.
Let’s be real, canon Billy had like no concept of consent. Or just didn’t care, because he wanted to scare and intimidate people. He’s definitely been blocked by people for sending creepy messages/asks or adding unwanted captions to their posts. When he wants to hit on someone in a way that means they may reciprocate, he’s nicer, but people are still (understandably) put off by him.
At his most polite though, he’d be the type to send an ask to someone saying he hopes they come to Toronto so that he can eat their hot pink cunt and make them cum on his thick tongue and fat, juicy cock. (This is regardless of factors like their actual location, whether or not they have a cunt, or travel guidelines due to the pandemic.)
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fly-pow-bye · 5 years
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Powerpuff Girls 2016 - “Small World: Heart to Heartstone Part 4”
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Written by: Jake Goldman, Haley Mancini
Written & Storyboarded by: Kyle Neswald, Jaydeep Hasrajani
Directed by: Nick Jennings, Bob Boyle
...but after 100 episodes of this, it mostly turned into a world of fears. Mostly.
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So all of the Triforces have just been collected from their various dungeons, and now it’s time to face off against Ganon. Okay, maybe I should make a better synopsis than that.
Having collected all of the Heartstones, they go back to the crater where Townsville used to be. Buttercup then gets flung off-screen as the Professor shows up to congratulate them. Already, the tone is going to be rather jokey, but not jokey enough to where it's going to suffer from what I would call "The Trouble With Bubbles syndrome." The Powerpuff Girls then fly off to Lester Van Luster's lair, but the Professor wants to come, too!
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They decide to carry the Professor around, not only because he wanted to come, but because he happens to know the lair's coordinates. Instead of actually showing them these coordinates are like he did with the Heartstones, the Powerpuff Girls just carry him around while he goes "wheeeeee!" They don't really make a good in-universe excuse for this, though there is a good plot reason for it.
Buttercup: [We're going to] pummel Mojo and Lester Van Loser into oblivion!
Even Buttercup is getting into the act of giving this guy inflammatory nicknames, though I think she could have been more creative. Where’s Bubbles?
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She's still with the geese. This time, she offers an origami goose to be the leader. The geese then eat it, and fly away. Joke over. Adding to the theory that any intent to show that she can speak animal in these scenes was probably unintentional is that in none of these geese scenes does Bubbles honk at them, she just talks to them like if they were people.
The subtitles in the last episode imply they do understand her, which makes me wonder if they're really going to go with The Wild Thornberrys route. Now that this special is almost over, I should say one good thing about these scenes: at least I can say they use subtitles and not just have the geese talk this time. Non-talking animals is a rare sight, and after Donny, Pug-Faced Paulie, Eddie, and that one zebra, it's a breath of fresh air that I didn't even know was possible.
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They reach the lair of Funfetti Spaghetti, and move across the tons of shrunken landmarks in his “trophy room”. Apparently, this guy was really busy, shrinking the Taj Mahal, Big Ben and a bunch of other buildings that surrounded Big Ben, and worst of all, the largest ball of yarn! Nobody told them Lester was going Carmen Sandiego across the entire world while they were gone; I guess it wasn’t that important.
They reach Lester's room, where he's just sleeping on his throne. The Professor apparently decided he was the leader now, but Blossom doesn't matter. She seems to like her dad now that he's doing the planning for her. I wouldn't blame her.
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They slowly sneak around Lester, with sneaky music playing in the background. The Professor decides this was a great time to shout "Girls! Way to go!" as soon as the Powerpuff Girls reach the wand. It doesn't actually affect anything; the scene may as well not exist. There's no consequences!
He may be smarter than he is usually, but he's still that Sitcom Dad, right? Well, maybe not quite, as we're about to get to a twist that I didn't see coming at all. If you don't want to be spoiled on what happens in this special, you probably should have stopped reading a few parts ago.
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As soon as they touch the wand, three heart shaped slots appear. The holes, they were made for them, so they slowly float away from the Puff’s hands right into them. The green one apparently is the clumsy one, as it knocks into the wand a few times. Well, I guess having its previous form sliced in half really affected its accuracy. We hear some evil music play during this, which honestly shouldn’t be appropriate if these girls were going to use it to save Townsville.
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Turns out, the music was jumping the wand a bit, as when Blossom tries to grab the wand, the wand floats away, landing right into the Professor’s hands. I mean, him actually being helpful tends to be out of character for him, too. It's here where we get this episode's biggest twist.
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It was Sweety Gumdrops this whole time! Wait, how did he manage to be the Professor and still be Lester when he's hanging out in his lair, getting his Marble Sofa moved by his adoring ape?
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Discount Jojo: MAGIC!
Oh, hus...actually, that would be a good explanation here, but there's a little more logic than that. We never see the Professor and Stars McShiny at the same time, and he seemed to know a lot about the Heartstones for someone who is supposed to be a scientist. I would also mention the whole "he's not anything like the Sitcom Dad I've grown to hate", but I think I bashed that into the ground.
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As for the Lester that was sleeping on his chair, that was actually Discount Jojo, playing his best role: sleeping guy! He certainly plays that role a lot better than he plays Mojo Jojo, that’s for sure. The Powerpuff Girls try to rush in to do what they do the worst in this reboot.
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Alas, the Magic Man Who Rips Off The Incredibles' Syndrome More Than Just His Hair’s cane is just way too powerful. Honestly, he probably didn’t even need the Heartstones to do that. He does explain to them that the Professor actually didn't make it out of Townsville; he's stuck in the snowglobe along with everyone else.
Professor: Hi, girls! I made a new friends! (points towards snowman)
Ah, there's the Sitcom Dad, confusing snowmen for actual people and being completely oblivious to everything going around him. They do a similar joke with The Mayor in a previous episode, but at least that one is more believable. I mean, it's the Mayor.
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Using his newly gained omnipotence from the Heartstones, he decides to change into his Super Saiyan God form. With all of his might, I.M. Meen finally does his ultimate plan against those goodie-goodies that make his stomach churn. Oh no, he’s not going to shrink them, that’s the old magic hat!
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Instead, he’s going to shrink-wrap them and also turn them into the very merchandise they were probably imagining would fly right off the shelves! They even use "tada" music on this; not nearly as blatant as the "cool toys" scene from Total Eclipse of the Kart, but the effect is still there. I wonder if this was some sort of meta-joke about the blatant commercialization of the Powerpuff Girls, which would be incredibly hypocritical for this reboot.
This toyset seems to have a lot of problems, though. How come Buttercup and Bubbles have their Snuggle Buddies, but Blossom just has two books? Why does Bubbles have the Kung Fu Grip when it's well established only Buttercup can throw a punch most of the time? One thing that doesn’t surprise me is that this toyset only gives Buttercup the ability to talk; considering how much Heartstone time she got in this special, she’s clearly the favorite. What does she say, anyway?
Buttercup: (badly acted) Mojo is a ugly green doofus!
I don't want to call him Doofus Jojo, because I don't want to give Buttercup any credit. Sadly, they're not sentient toys, so they're essentially dead. Best case scenario, of course, this could also be a "I Have No Mouth, And I Must Scream" situation, too.
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Of course, Discount Jojo is absolutely ecstatic that they managed to defeat the Powerpuff Girls together, and he decides to make some suggestions on what these Beat-Alls can do next. One of his suggestions is blowing up Citiesville. I'm sure a lot of people would think that would not be evil, but he could have meant the "Honey, I Blew Up The Kid" meaning of blow up. Making all of those jerks that live in Citiesville giants would be delightfully evil, too. Flamehair Poofydress doesn't agree.
Lester Van Luster: Well, how do I put this gently...you're a pathetic excuse for a supervillain...
Eh, he's better in this season than he ever was in Season 1, especially in the first part of this very special, so it's not entirely justified. When he's fighting the Powerpuff Girls, not because of his fangirl tendencies, of course.
Lester Van Luster: ...and I've been using you to take over Townsville and get the Heartstones for myself.
Oh, okay, he's not going to justify anything, he's just trying to make sure someone will be angry at him so this plot can have a satisfying conclusion. But that can't be it, right?
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So, for almost no reason whatsoever, he decides to kick Discount Jojo out of his castle, literally having him fly out of the castle to drop down, after all he did for him. Thankfully, anyone's ability to survive 15+ foot falls continues with this episode, as Jojo not only survives, but Lester even drops his marble couch on him to no real effect other than, "haha, he mentioned it". Hey, some continuity between the parts! Power of Four wasn't that good at that.
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Sure enough, Jojo is quite upset by this predicament, and decides he should actually be against this guy. Being evil is the only thing he was good at, at least according to him. He's the most diabolical, evil, dangerous villain! Clearly, he only has one path to go...
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...the path of a cobbler! See, it’s funny, because one would think he’d be mad enough to take on Hi Hi Puffy Shirt himself. However, he accidently hammering himself, reminding me of one of the better shorts this reboot managed to create. I guess I could say that's a plus. He decides to do a Plan B.
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Discount Jojo: MAGIC!
Oh, hush, Discount! Oh wait, that was the episode doing a decent book-end, not my running gag. Silly mistake. The King of the Lollipop Guild did make one major mistake: Jojo still has all of his magic training, including all of his equipment! He shows this off by blowing some magic dust, which gets in his eyes. This may be the time he's getting serious, but he still has to do "a funny".
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After a far too long gag where he tries to use a grappling hook, Discount the Jojo shows himself to his former idol. Macaron McMuffin asks how Jojo managed to get up here before saying he doesn’t care. These two gags don’t really go well together, because he clearly used a grappling hook for the last 20 seconds. The joke could be that he is that he’s really bad at figuring out other people’s magic tricks, but that never becomes apparent.
Before he blasts him for daring to bring light to his lair, Jojo decides to apologize and do a magic act to appease him. For he is Mojo The Jojo! Well, he’s already at least giving himself a name, something he didn’t do before. He then pulls off his Magic Hat, revealing his usual brain hat. It may be a hint that he decided to wear this hat above his usual one instead of switching his costume entirely.
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He pulls out a Lester poster and a Lester party balloon, all possibly from his own collection of Lester memorabilia we just never saw until now. Yeah, that's it. Being as egocentric as his cheeks are red, he ends up being impressed by this. Discount The Jojo, eh, it doesn't really work, sees one more thing in his hat that will knock Lester's socks off! Of course, Lester doesn't think that this could be literal, as he leans in and Jojo does his most evil act yet...
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...plagarizing Bubbles' trick from the first part! Jokes asie, it's good to know he can learn from previous mistakes and use them to his advantage. Most importantly, this punch was powerful enough to make Fruit Stripe Hair lose his magic cane, and having it land right in Jojo's hands.
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In a rare moment of kindness to who could be arguably be his sisters if his origin story is still canon, he decides to turn the Powerpuff Girls from the marketed brand to the superheroes they should be. Even Jojo feels that this is way too anti-climactic, and the show agrees.
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Lester The Not So Friendly Ghost-Like Man poofs right next to him, makes the magic stick float to him again, and turns him into a goose! He then kicks him out in the same way he did when he was an ape, making me question why couldn’t he just fly back into that window. Instead, that’s the last we see of him for the rest of the final fight. Congratulations, Discount Jojo, you contributed.
Candy Cane Man decides not to turn the barely waking up Powerpuff Girls back into toys, because he knows that no matter what, the Powerpuff Girls will eventually defeat him in the end of the story. Instead, he tries his hardest to punch them into many pieces with a Heartstone-fueled punch. The Reboot Puffs decide to go with their patented Reboot Puff strategy of just staying in one place and just take it. Blossom does add another part to this usual strategy: tell the big hand that’s coming at them to stop.
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...and it does, much to both their and Lester's confusion. He shakes around his stick for a bit, yeah, maybe I should word that better, and tries to hit them with a spiked ball instead. The Deliciously Sugary Mage tries again, and the Powerpuff Girls do a slightly better strategy of commanding themselves to duck!
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Sure enough, the Heartstone aura then turns into a duck, who merely just quacks at them impolitely. The Master of Quacks wonders how he can't control these heartstones.
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The Puffs figure out that they didn’t just get the Heartstones, they earned them by doing the tasks they had to do. Bubbles earned it by getting over her fears and coming up with her own strategy. Blossom earned it by realizing what “leave its equal” means. Buttercup just had to beat up a monster, something she tends to do more often than her sisters.
Because of this, the Heartstones are under their complete control, even though they were pretty happy to follow Lester’s command’s before. Maybe it was one of their many tests! They fly out of the magic wand, turning Lester back to his ordinary Cupcake Shrinky Boy self, and they become their new jewel-encrusted headbands! Yay, more accessories for the potential toylines. Bubbles had to use the most effort and actually learn something to get her Heartstone, and she gets rewarded by getting hit in the face with it. Because she’s the silly blonde!
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Lester The Future Snake Jellyfish Or Cerberus Food can only run away screaming as the already powerful girls get even more powerful with the Heartstone Monster Aura Shells! Blossom gets the Jellyfish, with fancy electrocution action! Bubbles gets the Snake, with the ability to suffocate anyone within a one mile radius! Buttercup gets the Cerberus, with surprisingly excellent barber expertise!
Tell your parents to collect all three of them, or they can go to hell, where Him is still wondering if he was meant to be the villain of this before they decided Jojo idolizing Satan wouldn’t fly on a kids network.
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They probably could have just cut to the scene where he gets defeated, but we do get to see sort of a fight scene. At least it’s a one-sided defeat I should expect from the Powerpuff Girls, with the Powerpuff Girls dishing out the pain. Blossom electrocutes him, Buttercup swipes off his poofy hair, which apparently instantly grows back, and, in the move with the most visible contact, Bubbles squeezes poor-if-he-didn't-deserve-it Lester in the same way she was squeezed in her episode.
The Powerpuff Girls decide that jail would be too easy of an escape for him. Actually, they never seem to consider that if the police aren't around to throw them into a police car.
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Instead, they decide to join in on his interest of shrinking people, though Lester apparently isn’t as fond of being shrunken himself, and shrinks him down to tiny size! Blossom exclaims that now that Townsville is back to its normal size, everything is back to normal. Well, except for the landmarks. Or the fact that the Powerpuff Girls now have these ultra-powerful heartstones they could use on far more powerful villains like Him and Gemoire.
Well, we do get one loose end tied up.
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Jojo the Goose ended up being the new leader of the geese. Apparently, he’s doing this a lot better at this than being a villain, and far better than that silly blonde! The end!
Does the title fit?
Heart-to-heart, Heartstone, yeah, I could say it fits.
Since it’s over, I could say Small World isn’t exactly the best title for this special. Sure, the villain likes to shrink things down, but it’s never the focus. Honestly, Heart to Heartstone would have been a better name for this entire special.
How does it, and the whole special, stack up?
It's a satisfying conclusion, even if anyone could predict that the Powerpuff Girls would win in the end. I mean, why would they not? I like the idea of the Heartstone monsters coming back, and how everything connected in the end, which is something I wish the reboot would do even in non-specials. This episode ends up being part of a special that only managed to have one episode that didn't have this rating.
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Really, with the entire special, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself actually getting some enjoyment out of it. Even the lesser of the four, Stone Cold Spider, had some okay moments. One could argue that they played it safe. Outside of the use of smartphones, this could have straight up have been an episode of the original.
This is not to say this is the absolute best episode of the entire reboot, and that it was mostly flawless. As promised, there are some general problems with this plot that I'll touch upon before giving it my final judgment.
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For an episode about the Powerpuff Girls travelling through the world, the locations are disappointing. Even the Buttercup Job at least gave us Atlantis with its walking fish and Greek gods. Buttercup goes to a cave full of monsters, something that should be normal even in Townsville. Blossom goes to a sunken ship with nobody around. Bubbles gets to go to a labyrinth with a very anachronistic security guard at best. There’s no personality to any of these locations; it may as well be anywhere.
Then again, I probably should have known, considering the only place that was even on land was some random place in what appears to be Brazil judging by that map. They could have went to various countries, learning about different cultures, really giving that worldwide appeal. The best we get is all those landmarks that were shrunken, but they don’t even treat it as a big deal.
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Discount Jojo’s role in the plot isn’t that bad looking back at it, but his actions in this are kind of odd for his character. Again, would he really be fangirling over someone else, especially after episodes like Mojo The Great and Not So Secret Service? This is especially true when one considers that Lester Van Luster wasn’t a well established villain.
Speaking of that Cupcake Shrinky Boy’s actions, the special never really makes you feel like the stakes are that high. Sure, they seem to care about Townsville, but once that city is saved, they don’t seem to care about anything else. People around the world are missing their monuments, but the only hint we get towards this is a scene near the end, and it’s mostly just used for a ball of yarn joke.
But, despite all of that, this is still a surprisingly decent special for the reboot. It’s a special that actually feels like an adventure to save Townsville, and not just the Powerpuff Girls having to save themselves from their own mistakes. I wouldn’t say these parts are the absolute least worst this reboot has to offer, but it is still watchable, which, compared to most of the reboot, is a huge accomplishment.
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The special may be over, but PPG 2016 sure isn’t! Next, we get yet another Halloween special! They're really compensating for the original's lack of one. Either that, or they wanted more costumes for the toyline. Definitely the former, I would think!
← Small World: Maze Daze (Part 3) ☆ Witch’s Crew →
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ponyregrets · 7 years
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Clarke POV for Exiles Among Us?
fun fact whenever I get alt pov requests I try to alternate between doing bellamy and clarke (actually I always try to alternate between bellamy and clarke pov) but I get like five bellamy requests for every one clarke request so sometimes I dig to find clarke ones
well also I remembered I wanted to do this but it is kind of hilarious how unbalanced it is, rock on, bellamy povs
Original series here, and alt pov on AO3!
One of Clarke's dad's favorite stories about her childhood comes from when she was in kindergarten, and the teacher had everyone in the class write and illustrate short books called In the Future. As with most kindergarten activities, it was mostly just a lot of messy writing and incomprehensible drawings, but the teacher had at some point started prompting her because she wasn't coming up with ideas of her own and was just drawing pictures of dogs.
Her father hadn't been there, but the way he tells it, based on Clarke's and the teacher's accounts, was that the teacher first asked Clarke if she thought she'd be married.
"Yes," said Clarke. "I'm going to marry Ariel from The Little Mermaid."
To her credit, the teacher took this in strike. "And will you live on a ship? In a house? On the beach."
Clarke scribbled a lot of blue on the page. "Under the sea. We're going to live with Flounder."
"And how many children will you have?"
It didn't rankle her back then, not yet, but it started to around high school, when her father told her about it. The casual assumption that children were a given.
But in kindergarten, it just seemed straightforward. "We won't have any. Just dolphins."
"No children?" the teacher asked.
"Nope. Dolphins. And fish. Dolphins aren't fish," she'd apparently added. "They're mammals."
"Yes, they are," said the teacher. "But wouldn't it be nice to have a baby?"
Even now, Clarke doesn't understand this impulse people have. She doesn't get why anyone would start a fight with a thirty-year-old about how many children they want, let alone a kindergartner. But apparently that was what bothered her teacher. Not that she was going to marry a fictional character and live under the ocean with dolphins, just that she wouldn't have a human baby with her when she did it.
"No," she said.
"All girls want babies," said a boy sitting next to her, which had been the real trouble. The teacher would have, she assumes, moved on at some point. But other students could be fought.
Which was what ended up happening, Clarke and the boy in a tangle of limbs, Clarke insisting she was never, ever going to have a baby. Ever. Which she continued to do the next day too, as her parents talked to the principal about how violence was not an acceptable way to solve her problems.
She doesn't think she really committed to not having children just because of one kindergarten experience, but it is proof that she's never quite gotten the appeal. And the more people assumed children would just be a natural part of her future, the more obstinate she became about it. If her partner wanted them, she was open to the idea. Ready to negotiate.
But left to her own devices, she's never been interested in children, for their own sake. They don't inherently do anything for her.
And then she falls in love with Bellamy Blake.
*
Even before he gets Octavia, it's obvious that Bellamy loves kids. It's something Clarke assumed would be basically standard, when she started teaching high school, an actual source of stress for her. She likes teaching without having changed her general opinion on motherhood, and she didn't want to feel isolated because of it.
As it turned out, maternal instincts weren't any more of an expectation with teachers than they were with anyone else. So, as usual, her eventual motherhood is taken for granted, and when she protests, she's told she'll change her mind. The only real difference is that when people say she seems so good with children, they have actual grounding beyond the fact that she's female. But Clarke knows how different it is, being a teacher than being a parent, and just because she's good at the first, it doesn't mean she has any interest in the second.
Bellamy's there, once, when Dr. Peters asks her about it, and when Clarke says she's not planning to have any, he says, "Yeah, it's not for everyone," and changes the subject before Dr. Peters can push.
Which isn't, of course, why she falls in love with him, but it is one of the thousand things. Another in the long line of reasons he's her favorite person.
It's a few months after that when he texts and asks if he can come get drunk, and that's when she finds out about his sister.
"I just don't know what to do," he says, sounding lost. "I've tried--fuck, Clarke. I've tried everything. And nothing works, and I just--" He cuts himself off with harsh noise that sounds a lot like a sob. It's alarming for a lot of reasons, not least because she has absolutely no idea what's happening. So she shifts closer, pressing her leg against his, bumping his shoulder.
"If you told me what you were talking about, I might be able to offer some advice."
"My sister," he says. "My responsibility."
Clarke had heard about Octavia before this, of course. She knows that she liked to draw when she was a kid, that Bellamy had to trick her into eating broccoli by telling her that eating something that looked like a tree would make it easier to climb them. She knows he loves his sister with a fierceness that sometimes makes her feel small and alone.
And she knows that she makes him sad, but she doesn't know why.
"What happened?" she asks. "You're drunk, so I can ask now, right? If you come over to get drunk on my couch, I get to ask you uncomfortable questions about your family."
"I left her." His voice is desolate, and he's staring down at his hands as if they're unfamiliar, as if he doesn't recognize or control them. "I didn't want to, but--my father wanted custody of me, and my mother didn't want to fight for it, so I left with him, and I never saw her again. I don't--fuck. I don't know how to find her. My mom won't talk to me, I don't even know what school she's in now, they might not even be in Baltimore anymore." He scrubs his hand over his face, wiping away tears, and Clarke wraps her arms around him and tries to understand, even though it's unfathomable to her.
"How long has it been?" she asks, and that makes him smile.
"That's what you care about?"
His voice is teasing, so she smiles. "I can't help unless I have a full grasp of the situation, Bellamy."
"I was fourteen," he says. "She was six."
"You didn't leave her." He huffs out a bitter laugh, and she squeezes him again, moving closer. "You didn't. You were taken away, okay? You were a kid, and you had to leave. You don't have to blame yourself for that. You couldn't help it."
"It's been eight years, and I haven't found her. I haven't even talked to her." He rubs his face. "What if I never see her again?"
"You will," says Clarke, and his laugh is only a little strained.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. Her name is Octavia Blake, come on. You only have so long to wait before you just hit her on a google search."
He laughs again, rests his cheek on her hair. "You're the weirdest kind of comforting, you know that?"
"You're the one who called me," she retorts. "So clearly weird comforting was what you were looking for."
"It was." She can feel his breathing slowing, calming, and she matches her own to it, the two of them just resting on each other for a long minute. "I emailed my mom," he finally says. "I just--I laid everything out. Wells moved out, so I have a nice place with an empty room, a job that pays enough to support me and someone else, some savings in the bank, so--I asked if she'd give me O. I thought--fuck, she just gave me up without a fight, why wouldn't she get rid of another teenager when she got the chance?"
"Bellamy--"
"I know, that's unfair."
"That's not what I was gonna say."
"No?"
"I was going to say I'm sorry." She rubs her hand up and down his side, slow, easy comfort. "What did she say?"
"Nothing. I've emailed her every break I've had since I started college, and she's never fucking replied. I don't know why I thought this time would be different. I don't even know if that email still works, or if she forgot the password, or--"
It's almost too big for Clarke to really think about. She and Bellamy are about the same age, twenty-four, and while it's in some ways easier to think about having a teenager than having a baby, because she deals with teenagers all the time, she still can't really wrap her brain around adopting one. Not only adopting one, but fighting for one, spending years trying to reconnect, to get in touch, to reclaim this one girl.
His sister.
"I promise, you are going to be able to google her," she says, and he laughs.
"Yeah, I probably am." He lets out a long breath. "You want to put on Netflix?"
"Whatever you want, yeah."
"Not quite whatever I want," he says, and she rubs her hand through his hair, gentle.
"Whatever I can do," she corrects, and means it.
"This is good," he he says, settling in closer.
She fumbles a little getting the remote, a little overwhelmed just hearing what it's like for him. She can't imagine feeling how Bellamy does about his sister. But at the same time, she understands some parallel version of it, because she can't imagine feeling the way she does about him and being anywhere but by his side, no matter what.
It's a staggering thought, to feel like you belong with someone. But Clarke has never been more certain.
*
"I thought if I asked if you had pads in front of him, he might actually di--" Clarke cuts herself off, glancing down at the girl next to her and swallowing hard.
It never occurred to her how often she casually references death in conversation, not until she was absolutely terrified of fucking up with Octavia Blake.
So far, she thinks the whole thing is going as well as can be expected. Bellamy seems trapped somewhere between joy and terror, which she saw coming, and Octavia is quiet and wary, but it's impossible for Clarke to believe it's not going to work out for them. Bellamy loves his sister so much, and if Octavia doesn't understand that yet, Clarke is sure she will. It's just so obvious. Now that they're together, it's going to work out. It has to.
So she clears her throat, corrects to, "Pass out," and offers Octavia a somewhat sheepish smile.
Octavia looks like she's trying not to smile herself. She's a lovely girl, her skin paler than her brother's, her face less freckled, eyes lighter. Clarke's brains settles on those differences, can't help it, and wonders how, with all of those, she still manages to look so much like Bellamy.
"Yeah, probably," she agrees, worrying her lip. "Do you think if we brought some back, he'd still pass out?"
"Fifty-fifty," she says, although she's doesn't really think it's true. He's going to be fine.
But making fun of Bellamy is the easy part of this for her. If all she ever had to do with Octavia was tease Bellamy, she'd be in great shape. It's what Raven will probably do, and Bellamy will be happy with that.
It's not enough, though. Octavia is the most important person in Bellamy's world, and he wants her to be happy. Which means Clarke wants her to be happy too. She doesn't want to be a mother, but--she doesn't have to be a mother. She just needs to be there.
There are other ways to be a family.
"Look, I know you don't know me," she says, awkward, as she and Octavia stare at the bright rows of shampoo together. Even when she speaks, Octavia doesn't look up, which is appreciated. It's easier to talk to her without eye contact. "But--if you need anything, you can ask. Anything you can't talk to Bellamy about, or--just absolutely anything at all. I'll give you my number. You can call any time."
Clarke doesn't know her well enough to read her tone when she asks, "Really?"
"He loves you, and he's my best friend. So yeah. Any time."
"Your best friend?"
The dubiousness in that question is unmistakable, but Clarke makes her reply light. "Sad but true."
Octavia worries her lip, letting her fingers skate over a bottle of Pert Plus. Clarke knows what's coming before she says it, and Octavia doesn't disappoint. "I thought you guys were, um. I thought you were his girlfriend."
It's far from the first time someone's assumed that, but Clarke would have assumed that whatever explanation Bellamy gave of her would have included the term best friend. On the other hand, he's been basically a mess since his mother died and he found out he was getting his sister, so it might have slipped his mind to clarify. He might have just called her Clarke with absolutely no qualifiers.
It's easy slack to pick up. "Oh, no," she says, smiling. "Not his girlfriend." Octavia looks dubious, and she feels a flush climbing up her neck. It's tempting to add something else, to try to explain, but protestations will just seem even more suspicious, so she forces herself move on. "Seriously, pads? Tampons? Awkward stuff that Bellamy won't be able to look at?"
Octavia's smiling a little, faint and slightly vague, and Clarke has to stop herself from reaching out, like she would if it were Bellamy. "Not right now. But I might ask you to take me later. Just so Bellamy doesn't have to deal with it," she adds quickly.
"Like I said, any time."
She nods once, decisive. "If we don't bring anything back, he's going to worry," she says. "I should get something."
"But not pads," says Clarke. "Or he'll probably faint. What kind of shampoo do you use? We can pick up some of that, and he'll feel better. He just wants to make sure you're comfortable," she can't help adding.
"I know." Her voice is harsh, but this part Clarke does understand. It's easy for her to think about all the time Bellamy lost; since that drunken night, he's told her a good deal about what it was like for him, these last eight years, what he went through. And through that, she got some ideas about what it would have been like for Octavia too, what it would have been like growing up without someone there for her.
"Yeah, it sounds kind of fake to me too," she tells Octavia. "But you can never have too much shampoo."
Bellamy's still in line when they get back, leaning against the cart, looking like he is putting every single ounce of focus and concentration he has into looking relaxed. Which is, of course, completely ineffective, but also incredibly endearing.
Someday soon, having his sister around is just going to be good for him, and Clarke can't wait. Even with all his odd tension, he looks better, more sure of himself. Happier. Like he's regained something she didn't realize he was missing.
Or maybe she's just romanticizing it. That's a possibility too.
"Shampoo," she tells him, bumping her hip against his. "And conditioner."
"Oh right, girls want both of those," he says. "I still don't know the difference. Why does your hair need conditioning?"
"Because beauty standards are a thing. Don't judge, Bellamy."
"If I'm not judging, I don't have anything else to do. You sure you're good, Octavia?" he adds, turning his attention to his sister. "We probably have time before we get to the checkout."
Octavia rolls her eyes, looking exactly like a petulant teenager for the first time since Clarke has met her. It feels like a good sign, that she's already comfortable enough with him to fall into those unconscious patterns. "Are we never going to get to go to the store again?" she asks. "Do we have to get everything I'm ever going to need right now?"
"Everything you want for the next twenty-four hours," he says, but back of almost immediately. "I mean, we're going to the grocery store tomorrow, so--"
"I want a candy bar," says Clarke, reaching over to grab some peanut butter cups. "Octavia, do you want a candy bar?"
Octavia's mouth tugs up a little. "Can I get M&Ms?"
"Not a bar, but I think I can allow it. Bellamy?"
His own smile is soft, grateful. "Get me a Butterfingers, thanks."
She puts the candy on the conveyor belt, and Bellamy pays for everything without any apparent worry about the total. She's already got a reminder in her phone to ask him about money next week, so she doesn't mention it either. It's not a conversation to have in front of Octavia, anyway.
Clarke helps him with the bags, and Octavia lags behind a little. It's understandable, but so is Bellamy's tension, so she says, "So, dinner. What are we having? You're taking us somewhere nice, right?"
"I don't have to," he says, and seems to only realize how it sounds when she raises her eyebrows. "I mean, uh--you can just go home."
"I still like hanging out with you," she reminds him. "Really, Bellamy. I'm having fun. I want to come."
He clears his throat. "Thanks, though. Really."
"Always," she says, and means it. "But seriously, I want a nice dinner."
"I already got you a candy bar." There's less strain around his eyes already, so she must be doing something right. "Don't be greedy, Clarke."
*
The thing about being an actual parent is that there's usually some kind of preparation period, from what Clarke understands. Even if whatever kid you end up with isn't the result of a planned pregnancy, there's usually some sort of thought or discussion: the decision not to terminate, the decision to foster, the decision to accept some kid into your life.
Clarke knew that Bellamy's mind was always made up, but she hadn't ever thought about his mother dying and his sister coming to him, so she hadn't put much thought into what actual effect Octavia would have on her.
Which, obviously, it's not about her, and she'd feel bad if she'd been obsessing about it. But her focus has always been on supporting Bellamy, and it hadn't occurred to her that she might need support too. That she might have to figure out how she fits into all this.
"I don't see how this is a surprise," Raven says, because support isn't really her thing. "Bellamy got a kid, of course she's your kid too. You knew it was coming."
"I did," Clarke says, with a sigh. "But--not like this."
"Like what?"
"It's hard to explain. You help out, but--"
"But I'm not in love with him."
She inclines her head, granting the point. "Not just that. I don't know what I am, you know? I want to be around all the time, helping him take care of her, but I'm not--" She huffs. "My students all think we're having a secret affair, you're convinced we're going to start dating any day, but I don't even know if I'm supposed to tell him when I think he's fucking up, or how to--"
"Whoa," says Raven. "Okay, yeah. Take a deep breath. What happened? Did you guys have a fight?"
"No, nothing happened. But it's going to."
"What is?"
"She's got a crush," Clarke admits. "On a kid who hangs out in my art room. And I know Bellamy's going to freak out about it, and I want to tell him not to." She rubs her face. "Actually, I don't. I don't want him to find out about it, because it's not a big deal. But it seems like it might be beyond my pay grade."
Raven puts her arm around Clarke's shoulders, squeezes. "You want to tell me about it from the beginning?"
"Seriously, nothing bad has happened. I know Bellamy's--" She smiles a little. "I know how grateful he is that I'm helping him out. But--I'm helping. Every time I do anything, he acts like I'm doing him a huge favor. And I get why, but--I don't want it to be like that. He doesn't expect to get thanked for just--she's been his responsibility his whole life. I get it. But I don't want him to feel like he's alone with all this."
"He knows he's not, Clarke," says Raven. "Trust me."
"Not like he should."
There's a pause, Raven watching her with an expression that makes her slightly nervous. "Look. I know you're gone for him, okay? Wells knows. His sister knows. We all fucking know, except for him. And I get that it's scary, but--"
"I think I need to convince him I'm in this," Clarke admits. "I think that comes first."
Raven looks dubious. "How do you do that?"
"No idea."
"You could just sit him down and tell him you're in love with him and you want to help him raise his sister. I'm pretty sure he thinks about you saying that when he jerks off."
Clarke has to smile. "I'd prefer he just thought about my breasts."
"Okay, you saying that topless," Raven corrects. "You know what I mean."
"I do know what you mean," Clarke agrees. "I'm going to tell him. I really am. But--I don't think it's time."
Raven nods. "But you're good, right? You're happy? This is one of those problems you're happy to have, like how Wells and I are fighting about how big of a wedding we want."
She smiles. "Yeah. It's a great problem to have."
*
As much as Clarke looked forward to breaks as a student, it's nothing compared to how much she loves them as a teacher. Vacations, as a teacher, are the fucking best, and she's even more excited for Thanksgiving, because it's going to be so much time with Bellamy and Octavia, family time.
Honestly, she might crash at their place for the entire break. It's tempting. They probably won't stop her.
She thinks about texting Bellamy before she goes over, but she told him on Friday that she'd see him tomorrow, so she assumes that he's at least theoretically expecting her. And if he and Octavia aren't awake yet, she does know where the spare key is. She can absolutely let herself in and fool around on the Wii until the Blakes drag themselves out of bed.
But, to her surprise, Octavia opens the door promptly, and not only are they awake, but they have company.
Bellamy is the most distracting, of course, because he's in early-morning mode, shirtless in his pajamas, glasses slightly crooked on his face. In an ideal world, she'd just be able to stare at him non-stop, but there are other people around, including students, and she turns her attention to Monty, Jasper, and Harper, who are all gaping at her from the couch. She is, definitely, dressed for leisure, and completely unprofessional.
And showing up at her coworker's door when he's half naked. The coworker everyone thinks she's dating, even. Just because it's vacation doesn't mean it's not awkward.
"You guys are giving me a lot to process here," she finally says, settling her attention on Octavia.
Octavia huffs. "I told him I had friends coming over. I think his brain stops working once vacation starts."
Clarke considers her response, weighing her options carefully. There is, of course, the option of pretending she was coming for legitimate reasons, like because her car broke down and she needs a jump, or he has some paperwork for her, or something.
Or she could just lean into it. This is something she wants to be a regular occurrence in her life, and she has to learn to deal with it sooner or later.
"Yeah, well," she says, giving Octavia a smile, "his brain is always pretty questionable. What are we playing? I want in."
Jasper opens and closes his mouth a couple times before he manages to speak. "Smash Brothers. You can sub in for me, I don't mind."
"Appreciated." She settles on the floor, glances back over her shoulder at Bellamy, who doesn't look much less slackjawed than Jasper, honestly. "And put a shirt on, Bellamy. There are kids here."
"Happy Thanksgiving to you too," he says, but it's enough to get him moving. And, to Clarke's unspeakable relief, when he comes back into the living room, he's still wearing his pajama pants and glasses, so he's decided he can take the day to relax too.
Or relax relative to being Bellamy, which means he takes about thirty seconds to watch the end of the match and then asks, "Did you guys have a plan for lunch?"
"Pizza, probably," says Octavia.
He makes a face. "Pizza?"
"You like pizza. Don't act like you're too good for pizza now."
"I'm not too good for pizza, it's just too early for it."
"It's 12:15, Bellamy," says Clarke. "Just because you slept in doesn't mean it's actually early."
"Fine, I don't want pizza, so if you guys play your cards right, I'll make waffles."
"Is playing our cards right just telling you that we want waffles?" she asks. "Because I'm not willing to put any more effort into it than that."
"I'll say please," says Monty. "And beg, if necessary. I love waffles."
"Yeah, same," says Jasper. "Basically whatever I need to do. We're shameless."
"You're lucky everyone else is picking up your slack," he tells Clarke, pushing himself off the floor and heading into the kitchen. "None of you are allowed to have coffee, though. You're all hyperactive enough already."
Clarke waits until she loses, which doesn't take long, and then hands her controller back to Jasper and goes to check on Bellamy in the kitchen. There's a clear line of sight from the living room, so none of the kids will actually be able to wonder if they're doing anything inappropriate, but she can talk to him in a fairly private way.
"I can take off, if you want," she murmurs.
He frowns. "Take off?"
"If we want to keep the gossip down."
"I think it's a little late for that," he says, apparently without thinking, and the winces. "Not that, uh--I don't care," he settles on. "Octavia lives here now, she's going to have friends over, so am I. I'm not going to try to arrange my life around them not realizing I have personal relationships. And everyone already knows I have one with you."
"Cool. You need help with the waffles?"
He snorts. "Not from you." But then his expression softens a little. "You should have fun with the video games. I'm set in here."
"Division of labor," she agrees. "You do the cooking, I beat teenagers at video games."
"The two most important responsibilities in any household. You should take some coffee too. Just to rub it in their faces."
"And so I don't die of caffeine withdrawal?"
"I wasn't going to say it."
She heads back into the living room and flops back down, listening with half an ear to the comforting sound of Bellamy in the kitchen. Even when he's not doing much, just making coffee or cereal, there's something about his presence there that makes the room feel alive, that makes the house feel like a home.
That might just be him, though.
Once they've eaten, he does come back to socialize too, and he even gets out of his own head, doesn't worry about being the right person for once. Which is always Clarke's favorite, because he is the right person, always. And, even better, he doesn't worry about being her friend, about nudging her shoulder to mess her up and teasing her and smiling at her, and it does feel like the perfect test run for the life she wants.
It even feels like something she can have.
The kids leave at around six, when Jasper's mom comes to give rides home, and Clarke lets herself snuggle into Bellamy's side on the couch. His only response is to raise his arm so she can get closer and then wraps it around her, so that's great too. He smells like detergent and sunshine, and he might actually be perfect.
"Worn out?" he teases.
"Just thinking about all the other things we've done and trying to compare it." Octavia sits down on the floor next to them, and she directs the question to both of them. "So, how bad is this one going to be?"
Bellamy considers. "I was the one who walked into a bunch of students shirtless."
"I was the one who came over to your house while you were shirtless," she shoots back, and he grins.
"You handled it like a champ, though."
She pokes him in the side. "Yeah, I really reined in my incredible lust. It's so hard not jumping you in front of your sister and her three over-invested friends. I deserve a gold star for restraint."
"I was looking really hot," he says, but in a sort of faux-contemplative way that makes her think he doesn't realize how true it is.
"I'm the one who has to witness this, you know," says Octavia, which is a good reminder that they're not alone and she should not be thinking about climbing into Bellamy's lap and tugging off his shirt to demonstrate exactly how hot she finds him. Not that those thoughts are ever that far from her mind, but still. They can wait for her to be alone in the shower. "Why are you even here, Clarke?"
As distractions go, it's not much, but she'll take it. "It's vacation, I'm bored. Hanging out with my favorite siblings."
"Yeah, she basically lives here when we're on break," Bellamy says. "I should have warned you."
"I'm a perk." She pokes him again. "You should order pizza."
He groans, but at least doesn't object to pizza this time. She's honestly been craving it since they brought it up earlier. "Octavia should order pizza, I don't want to move."
"You're the worst adults ever," says Octavia, and Bellamy fumbles his phone out of his pocket and gives it to her.
"We definitely are," Clarke agrees. "But you're stuck with us."
She can feel Bellamy tensing next to her, just slightly, and she snuggles closer. Every day isn't going to be this good. They're going to fight and disagree and Octavia is going to be a handful, once she gets used to them.
But Clarke wants it all. Clarke wants to be a part of it.
"And you're suck with the toppings I want on this pizza," says Octavia, oblivious. "Suck on that."
Bellamy relaxes by degrees, leans into Clarke more heavily, and Clarke lets her eyes drift closed.
"Yeah, yeah," he says. "I'm sucking on it."
*
"We finally had that fight," Clarke tells Raven, flopping down onto her couch and closing her eyes.
"I assume this is about Bellamy because everything in your life is about Bellamy. You're like a walking Bechdel test failure."
"Just around you. I talk to my students about things that aren't Bellamy all the time." She pauses. "But, yeah, this is about Bellamy."
"You seem pretty upbeat for having a fight with him."
"A good fight, I think. It was just kind of us glaring at each other for a minute and then Octavia pointed out it was none of our business. But he told me to butt out and I didn't, so--I think that's good."
"Honestly, I can't believe it took this long for that to happen. If that's all you had to do to get in a fight--"
"He's usually good at this," Clarke says. "I don't disagree with him that often."
"But it's good, right? That you guys disagreed."
"Yeah, I think so. He needed to someone to argue with him, and he needed to know I would."
"So does that mean you're going to tell him you want to marry him now? Or do you have another excuse?"
"No, I'm going to. I just need to psych myself up. So--probably by Christmas."
Raven rolls her eyes. "This is why I bet Wells he was going to make the first move."
"You and Wells bet on my love life and you're making fun of me for not passing the Bechdel test?"
"Come on, when's the last time you saw a black guy and a latina talk about anything in a movie? We're already beating the odds."
Clarke smiles. "Okay, fine. You want to hear dumb student stories? Will that make you feel better?"
"Only if we're done with Bellamy."
"We're never done with Bellamy," she admits. "But we can take a break. I think we're good."
She means it, but she still can't quite relax until she talks to him. His offer of hanging out made it fairly clear he wasn't pissed at her, but she still feels a little at loose ends until she opens the door the next morning and finds him at the door, looking sheepish and a little cold.
Her smile is unavoidable. "Hey. What's up?"
He holds up a bag from the bakery down the street. "I'm an asshole, so I got you cupcakes."
"If you got me cupcakes every time you were an asshole, I'd never be able to eat them all," she points out, stepping out of the way so he can come in. He's untying his shoes, which is a good sign. That means he's probably staying. "Where's Octavia?"
"Library. She's texting me when she's done, so I was just going to hang out here. It's closer than going home," he adds, sounding slightly defensive.
"Yeah, you really want to avoid that extra five minutes in car. You want coffee? Are these breakfast cupcakes?"
"All cupcakes are breakfast cupcakes," he says, which is one of those things he'll only ever say to her, because he wants everyone else to think he's a real adult who believes in the food groups. That's nice too. She's special. "And coffee would be great."
She leads him into the kitchen and doesn't sit yet, just hovers by the table, drumming his fingers on the edge as she gets the coffee going. It's a pretty classic tell of his, and she stays quiet, letting him decide what direction the conversation is taking.
To her relief, it's the one she wants. "I'm sorry about yesterday. I was being stupid, and I shouldn't have taken it out on you."
"I was baiting you," she says, unapologetic. "I pretty sure you'd rather take it out on me than Octavia. Or, god forbid, Lincoln." Fairness compels her to add, "And you weren't even that bad."
"Yeah, but I'm not allowed to thank you for distracting me. So these are officially apology cupcakes, not gratitude cupcakes."
It is honestly kind of adorable, how dedicated he is to her don't thank me rule, which wasn't even supposed to be a rule, really. It was mostly her first attempt to explain to him how she thought she should fit into this, and it obviously didn't work.
But his twisting himself around to figure out ways to thank her without thanking her is great, so she's never going to tell him that. "Don't exploit the loophole, Bellamy."
"Seriously," he says, sobering again. "I really wasn't ready for that."
"Did you guys talk about it?"
"Yeah, some. Just--I don't know. I assumed she wouldn't be thinking about that stuff yet. Not because she's too young. But I figured she'd still be--Mom only just died."
"Yeah. But that can help, too. It's nice to have a distraction. And as distractions go, Lincoln's a good one. He's a good guy. Which I know you know. I'm just going to keep reminding you."
"Yeah, that can't hurt." He lets himself lean against the counter next to her, which is at least getting close to relaxing. "If it makes her happy, I'll drive her to every fucking date, honestly."
She grins. "He has a car, so you don't even have to drive her."
"Let me be a little bit of a control freak, okay?"
The coffee machine switches itself off, and Clarke pours them two mugs and grabs the cupcakes, gently pushing Bellamy to the table to actually sit down before she asks, "Are you going to make him let you pick him up too? And then they sit in the back, but with the middle seat between them?"
"This is the stuff I missed out on growing up in cities. I just took the bus to dates."
"I know all the tricks," she agrees.
"That's, uh--" He looks down at his coffee, worrying his lip. "That's the other thing."
"Do you need me to teach you how to date?" she teases. "Do you not know?"
"Shut up, I'm being serious," he says, like she doesn't know. But--it's a little intimidating. It's a lot of serious for Saturday morning. "Look, I said--I told you I don't need your commentary, and you said I did, and you're right. If you think I'm being an idiot, I want to know. If you think I'm fucking up, tell me. If you've got commentary, I always want to hear it. I don't promise to always remember that I want to hear it, but--I do. And if I forget that again, I'll buy you more cupcakes."
She's going to marry this boy. There's no question. She doesn't care how many strings he has or how many kids he wants. As long as she gets him, she'll be happy. More than happy. "That was probably the nicest speech anyone's ever given me." She nudges his foot under the table. "But the cupcakes don't hurt either."
His laugh sounds more like a release of tension than amusement, and Clarke gets that too. She thinks, finally, that they might actually be completely on the same page. "Well," he says, "I wanted to cover all my bases."
"Yeah," she agrees. "I think we're all set."
*
Christmas still seems like a good time to talk to him, if for no other reason than it's far enough away, she has plenty of time to plan. And it's the kind of time when big gestures are both expected but also kind of safe. She could give him a romantic present and play it off as a joke if he didn't respond well, and while he'd still know, it would give them both the out they need to pretend it's not a thing.
She's already brainstorming ideas when he completely ruins the plan by kissing her.
As ways to ruin her plans go, it's pretty great, even if it takes her a second to figure out what's happening. It's obvious he's stressed and more than a little frazzled, but Clarke's seen him like that a thousand times, and he's never reached up, tangled his hand in her hair, and pressed his mouth against hers before.
For all she's thought about it, she never thought it would happen. Not without warning.
That's about when she realizes it is happening and starts to kiss back, nipping his bottom lip, settling her hand against his jaw, feeling the slight rasp of stubble under her fingers. He smiles, but only for a second, because she's deepening the kiss, getting the rhythm of it down, and all she can think about is how good it feels, how much she loves him, and how he probably feels the exact same way.
Raven was right; he did make the first move.
When he pulls back, she can't help gaping for a second, but then she sees him, gazing up at her, all adoration, and she feels her own smile taking over her face.
Christmas suddenly seems so far away. She doesn't know how she thought she could wait. She doesn't know how she waited this long in the first place.
"Thanks," he says, voice rough and deliberate. "I appreciate--I appreciate you."
She has to wet her lips to get her voice back, and she sees him track the movement. "Yeah. I'll bring her home after dinner, okay?"
"Cool."
"Good luck with your grades, that really sucks," she says, and he's still watching her, and she can't help leaning in to kiss him herself, just a quick goodbye, assurance that they're good.
Or that's what it's supposed to be. In practice, she hasn't kissed anyone for two years, and she's wanted to kiss Bellamy almost that whole time, so she can't bring herself to pull back.
He's the one who finally manages it, looking a little dazed, like he somehow wasn't expecting her to keep wanting to kiss him. Which is ridiculous, because she's currently biting the corner of the mouth just to keep herself from doing it again.
"Yeah, uh--" he manages, only somewhat regaining his composure. And he still has to clear his throat again. "See you tonight. Raven can work wonders, probably." She can see his throat bob as he swallows. "Eat vegetables, Octavia."
Octavia sounds as smug as anything, so everyone really did see this coming. "Thanks for the tip, Bell." But she's at least nice enough to wait until they're in the car to say, "So, I was going to ask you for advice, but you're probably useless now, right?"
"No, it's fine," she says, bright. "I can carry on normal conversations when I'm thinking about making out with your brother. I do it all the time. Go ahead."
Octavia laughs."Was that him asking you out, by the way?"
"It better be." Honestly, if anyone can overthink this one, it's Bellamy. But--it was his idea. There's no way he doesn't want to. "If he doesn't want to date me after that, I'm going to murder him. And then I'll get you out of foster care, obviously. Don't worry. Me and Raven and Wells will adopt you."
Octavia rolls down the window a little, even though it's freezing out. Clarke's found she always likes a little air to start a car trip, and it's the kind of quirk she likes knowing. These are her people. She gets them. "I wasn't worried. He totally wants to marry you."
It's possible she'll never get tired of people telling her how much Bellamy likes her. "Good."
*
It's four years before he actually asks her, which doesn't bother her in the least. It takes roughly ten minutes after she drops Octavia off that night for them to get their relationship squared away to her satisfaction, and she thinks they both know exactly how serious they are, right from the start. There are bad days, of course, serious disagreements, growing pains with the relationship and with Octavia. But she never doubts them, somehow, snd by the time he proposes, she's sure that there's nothing they can't survive together.
Which is why she says, "One question."
"You're responding to my proposal with a question?" he asks, sounding amused. "I proposed first, you can't do it now and get credit. I got dibs. You missed it."
"Not that," she says. And then she leans in and kisses him, just to get that out of the way before she makes it awkward. "I just--we haven't actually talked about kids."
He frowns, looking confused. "What about kids?"
"I know that's weird, we basically already have a kid. And it's not like--I just thought we should talk about it. Before we--"
He looks completely baffled. "You want to talk about kids." And then, to her shock, he laughs. "Jesus, Clarke, I don't fucking care. Kids, no kids, whatever. I love you, I want to spend the rest of my life with you. That's it. That's all." He bumps his nose against hers. "Honestly, if I'm done with fatherhood after this, I'm fine. We can just get a bunch of cats or something. We already raised a teenager."
Clarke laughs, leans up for another kiss. "Okay then, yeah. I'll marry you. Absolutely."
"Cool." He gives her a crooked smile. "You weren't actually worrying I was going to dump you because you didn't want kids for four years, were you? We really could have covered that sooner. Like, the first day."
"Not worrying. Just--it always seemed like you'd be a good dad. Like you should be one. But I figured it wouldn't really be an issue until after Octavia left."
"I guess," he says, sounding dubious. "And, yeah, I'd probably be a good dad. You'd be a good mom too, but who cares? We can be whatever we want. And I want to be with you."
"Sap."
"It's a proposal, I'm supposed to be sappy. Not that your a belated freak out about whether or not we're reproducing wasn't--"
She elbows him, snatching the ring out of his hand to slide onto her finger while she's at it. It fits perfectly, and she's probably not going to wear it regularly until summer, but--she can wear it until Monday, for sure. It looks really nice on her finger.
"Just wanted to make sure we're on the same page," she says.
"I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Does that sound good?"
"Yeah," she says, pressing a kiss to his jaw. "That sounds exactly right."
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foodtrails25-blog · 4 years
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Makkajona Garelu recipe or Corn Vada Recipe from Telangana Cuisine | Learn how to make Makka/Makkajona Garelu or Corn Vada Telangana style
Corn Vada, deep fried snack from Telangana Cuisine, are corn fritters  mixed with Chana Dal,rice flour, herbs and spices. In local language these are known as Makka Garelu or Makkajonna Vada.
It tastes best when fresh but you can make it a few hrs(1-2 hrs) ahead of your get togethers or party, and keep in preheated oven till the time of serving. A great party starter that is served with chutneys and tastes great even with ketchup.
Corn Vadas are quite popular in many parts of India, but these are one of the staple snacks in Telangana region.
The State of Telangana
Telangana is a one of the newly formed states in India. It was formed in 2019. The cuisine of Telangana is influenced by neighboring sates  of Maharashtra,Andhra Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Karnataka. Millet are the main grains used in food preparations. Millet based rotis/breads have a special place in Telangana cuisine, which are served with spicy curries. Tamarind and Asafeotida are widely used in food preparation.
To know more about Telangana Cuisine..read here..
The Challange
The theme for October month in my facebook  group, was Telangana Cuisine. My family loves the Pessaratu(Whole Moong Dal Chilla) from Andhra Cuisine.  Medu Vada are also popular in the region and my family loves to have it with chutneys. I decided to make Corn Vada as per the ingredients given to me by my partner for this month Poonam Bachhav .
I met Poonam in blogosphere in one of the blogger’s food group. She blogs at Annapurna where she has lot of healthy bakes and traditional Maharastrian recipes. I like how she writes and explains the recipe, adds pictorial details and takes the picture in a very simple but stunning way.
She gave me two ingredients that I had to include in my dish .. corn and coriander leaves and in turn I too gave her 2 ingredients for her dish.. rice flour and peanuts. Poonam made Sarva Pindi a very popular breakfast recipe from Telangana Cuisine. Do checkout her dish and the blog.
How to make Corn Vada or Makka/Mokkajonna Garelu
Corn Vada recipe has lot of variations. Along with Chana Dal, many people use rice flour or besan for binding.I used rice flour for binding. Curry leaves, onions, ginger and garlic and green chillies are also used as per one’s preference.
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I make Chana Dal Vadas but make with besan. But never added curry leaves. Adding curry leaves gave a nice flavour of to the vada. I also got to know the local name of these vadas in Telangana Cuisine.. Mokkajonna Garelu
To make Corn Vada, fresh seasonal corn is used in India. but you can always used frozen corn. I have used frozen sweet corn that we get in stores here in US.
Method..
Soak Chana Dal/Split Bengal gram lentil, for at least 3-4 hrs.
If using frozen corn, thaw it and soak in water for few minutes.
Drain water from chana dal, add all the ingredients in  grinder and grind to a coarse paste.
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Transfer the paste in a bowl and add rice flour to it.
Give shape like vada , flatten with a hand a little. You can shape it like doughnut with a hole in center. Refer pics below.
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Fry in medium hot oil, till light brown. Do not fry in very hot oil, as vadas with be cooked from outside but will remain raw from inside.
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Serve with chutneys or ketchup of your choice.
Notes.. 
If making ahead for party, make only 1-2 hrs ahead. Heat in oven on preheating mode. Do not heat u microwave as these will turn soggy.
Makka Vada
Corn Garelu recipe or Corn Chana Dal Vada Recipe from Telangana Cuisine | Learn how to make corn Garelu or Corn Vada Telangana style
1 Cup Fresh/Frozen Corn
1/2 Cup Chana Dal/Split Bengal Gram Lentil
1/4 Cup Rice Flour
1/2 Onion(roughly chopped)
1" Fresh Ginger piece
2-3 Garlic Cloves
1-2 Green Chillies (or as per choice)
4-5 Curry Leaves
Fresh Coriander leaves (optional)
1 tsp Cumin Seeds
Salt as per Taste
Soak Chana Dal/Split Bengal gram lentil, for at least 3-4 hrs.
If using frozen corn, thaw it and soak in water for few minutes. 
Drain water from chana dal, add all the ingredients in  grinder and grind to a coarse paste. 
Transfer the paste in a bowl and add rice flour to it. 
Give shape like vada , flatten with a hand a little. You can shape it like doughnut with a hole in center.  
Fry in medium hot oil, till light brown. Do not fry in very hot oil, as vadas with be cooked from outside but will remain raw from inside.
Serve with chutneys or ketchup of your choice
If you haven’t tried yet these delicious corn vadas do give these a try. Perfect for breakfast or evening chai or get togethers.
Other Dal/Lentil based snacks and starters recipes that you will like to checkout out.. Chana Dal and Yam Kebabs, Dal Ke Pakore, Instant Khaman Dhokla.
Do make these easy peasy corn vadas/makka garelu and enjoy with your tea or coffee. Kids to like these and you can serve to them as after school snack or weekend breakfast.
Say Hello!!and  visit my social media accounts.. FB, Pinterest and Instagram. Whenever you make this, do post on my FB page or tag me on Instagram.  Pin the recipes for later use.
If you like my work, then do hit the follow button and subscribe to the blog to get notifications on new posts and share the blog with your loved ones. I promise won’t spam your mailbox 🙂.
Thanks for stopping by and keep coming back!!
      Makkajona Garelu/Corn Vada Makkajona Garelu recipe or Corn Vada Recipe from Telangana Cuisine | Learn how to make Makka/Makkajona Garelu or Corn Vada Telangana style…
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torentialtribute · 5 years
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Moment Roger Federer gives starstruck Coco Gauff a pep talk
American schoolgirl Coco Gauff has become an overnight sensation at Wimbledon this year after winning her way through to the third round aged just 15.
And eight-time champion Roger Federer looked as excited to see her before the second round match as any supporter would, saying "Hey, there she is!", Before clasping hands with the youngster.
Coco, who is signed up to Federer's management company Team8, could not hide the smile as the Swiss player gift a quick pep talk and told the 'play well'.
After the straight sets win over 30-year-old Slovak Magdalena Rybarikova – a former Wimbledon semi-finalist – Coco tweeted about the meeting and said she was 'so nervous' to see him before posting the clip on Instagram with the caption 'The kid meets the goat [Greatest of All Time]'.
It comes as thousands of people around the globe have got be hind her quest to win the tournament following the first-round win over Venus Williams while the supportive parents have been on the stands.
The teenager, who was born in Atlanta, Georgia, but moved to Florida aged seven to train at better tennis facilities, is in line for at least £ 111,000 in prize money even if she loses in the third round, and will likely make more than $ 1million (£ 790,000) this year including sponsorship deals.
Scroll down for video.
Coco Gauff is in the third round of Wimbledon and is winning more fans by the day, including tennis legend Roger Federer
After meeting Federer, Gauff puts the clip on Instagram, pictured, with the caption 'The kid meets the goat [Greatest of All Time]
Cori Gauff, 15, won 6-3 6-3 against 30-year-old Slovak Magdalena Rybarikova, who reached the Wimbledon semifinals in 2017
Gauff's mother, Candi, her daughter's second spectacular Wimbledon victory
Gauff now faces Slovenian Polona Hercog and becomes the youngest player to reach the last 32 at Wimbledon since fellow American Jennifer Capriati, who reached the semi- finals in 1991, also aged 15.
Speaking after the win, she said: "I think I played well, especially on the high-pressure points. Over the last few days there's been so much going on, I'm still shocked I'm still here. "
"I think I can beat anyone on the other side of the court, if I didn't think I would just bother stepping out," she said.
Fans seem to share the view, with many using the hashtag #GoGoCoCo to support her on social media.
Others were touched by her meeting with Federer, remarking how it may have been two generations
One fan wrote on Twitter: "Current legend meets future legend."
Another added: "So cute. Keep going Coco and always have that fearless attitude. '
The last night match was the first time a championship game that has been played under the stage's new roof.
Born in Atlanta, Georgia, in 2004, Cori 'Coco' Gauff comes from a rich sporting heritage, with father Corey, a former basketball player for Georgia State University, while her mother Candi excelled at both gymnastics and athletics while at Florida State University.
Fans on social media predicted big things for Gauff after the meeting with Roger Federer
Others were touched by how the eight-time champion was towards the toe
Coco's fans are growing around the globe with the hashtag #GoGoCoCo launched to back her
She played in front of a Court One crowd expecting another upset after Gauff stunned the world by beating the seven-times grand slam winner 6-4 6-4 on Monday. She is shaking Rybarikova's hand after the victory
Candi Gauff celebrates next to her husband – Corey – (left) who is also Coco's coach
She took up tennis aged seven and the family moved from their home at Atlanta to Delray Beach in Florida for its elite tennis facilities previously used by both Venus and Serena Williams whom Coco grew up idolizing.
The father has had a huge impact on her life, traveling the world with her as her coach and inspiring her to use the developing 'voice' for change, while her mother gave up teaching to home school her daughter to al
And all the hard work Coco and her parents have put in training is beginning to pay off, with the teenager expected to rake in around £ 800,000 ($ 1million) in 2019 through prize money and lucrative sponsorship deals with New Balance and Head.
The family still live in Florida with Coco and the younger brothers Codey, 11, and Cameron, five.
Gauff, 15, stunned the world by beating Venus Williams on Monday, who she described as her idol
Coco has also spoken of how she tries to stay humble and keep herself to herself, revealing some of her former teachers didn't even know she was playing at Wimbledon until days before the tournament.
Speaking after her win on Monday, the schoolgirl said her friends and family were ecstatic – including her coach and father Corey.
She said: "I know [my parents] are super happy, my dad was just jumping up every time I won a point. I'm just so happy and blessed that they really just spent all their time on me and my brothers and making sure that we're successful. "
She went on to joke that she would be staying up all night responding to calls from her brother and grandma and texts from friends.
Gauff (pictured today) said her parents were "super happy" after her dramatic win on Monday. Rybarikova is pictured on the left
Gauff coming out onto Court One today in the first Championship match played under Court One's new robbery
Gauff was not even born when Williams claimed the first Wimbledon title in 2000. She had a world ranking of 301 at the start of this year's championships, and was given a wild card entry for the first Grand Slam tournament.
Speaking or post-match conversation with her hero, Gauff revealed: 'Venus told me congratulations and keep going, she said good luck and I told her thanks for everything she did.
"I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for her – I told her she was so inspiring and I've always wanted to tell her that but I've never had the guts to before."
Ahead of the match, she revealed she listened to music by Jaden, Kendrick Lamar and Miss Mulatto when stepping on court to help keep her calm.
After winning, Gauff broke down into tears – the first time she had cried since Ironman died in Avengers End Game.
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Look at the above image. On the left, of course, is Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, at the Senate Judiciary Committee for his confirmation hearings. Behind him is his former clerk, longtime Republican legal operative Zina Bash. But what is Bash doing with her hand? Is she resting it normally? Is she making an “okay” sign? Or could it be that she’s making a … WHITE POWER HAND SIGNAL?
This is 2018, and so naturally, some prominent #resistance Twitter personalities jumped on the latter allegation, seeing Bash’s hand movements as proof of Republican complicity with white supremacist movements:
Kavanaugh’s former law clerk Zina Bash is flashing a white power sign behind him during his Senate confirmation hearing. They literally want to bring white supremacy to the Supreme Court. What a national outrage and a disgrace to the rule of law. pic.twitter.com/uQGOpNa6xg
— Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) September 4, 2018
Eugene Gu, a prominent anti-Trump doctor who recently made news when he was accused of sexual assault, racked up more than 13,000 retweets and 17,500 likes for his tweet accusing Bash.
Keith Rubin, an Army veteran whose Twitter bio states he “love[s] everything except racism,” got even more engagement on his version of the post:
In a since-deleted tweet, Amy Siskind, the prominent Twitter personality who writes a weekly list of #NotNormal things the Trump administration has done, stated that the hand signal should disqualify Kavanaugh from the Supreme Court.
Before we go any further: Bash was not making a “white power hand signal.” You can, if you want, trust the word of her husband, John Bash, who is currently US attorney for the Western District of Texas:
Zina is Mexican on her mother’s side and Jewish on her father’s side. She was born in Mexico. Her grandparents were Holocaust survivors. We of course have nothing to do with hate groups, which aim to terrorize and demean other people — never have and never would. 2/3
— US Attorney John Bash (@USAttyBash) September 4, 2018
But if his word isn’t enough, you can listen to real experts on white supremacist movements.
“No one should assume anything about the use of such a gesture unless there are other unmistakable white supremacist signifiers in that context as well,” Mark Pitcavage, an expert on right-wing extremism at the Anti-Defamation League, tweeted, adding:
Out of all the things you should be legitimately concerned about regarding the Senate confirmation hearings in Washington, DC, today for Judge Kavanaugh & SCOTUS, handshakes and handsigns ought not be among them.
Actual serious constitutional issues are at stake.
— Mark Pitcavage (@egavactip) September 4, 2018
Jared Holt, a research associate at the left-leaning watchdog group Right Wing Watch, agrees. “It could have just been her resting her hand in a way that looked like that,” he said. “I haven’t seen anything that would lead me to believe this was intentionally a troll.”
That’s the gist of it. But there’s a backstory to why the okay gesture is perceived as a hate sign, and the eagerness of some liberals to embrace fake news on the subject is itself revealing. We have, at this point, gotten plenty of signs through actual policy decisions, and concrete connections between Trump staffers and white nationalist activists, that the Trump White House is pursuing a racist agenda. So why do people still want a secret hand signal to prove that the Trump administration is sympathetic to white supremacist goals?
As the ADL’s Pitcavage explained last year, this whole story was fueled, like so much internet nonsense before it, with a 4chan trolling effort.
Back in February 2017, Pitcavage writes, a 4chan user proposed an effort called “Operation O-KKK” in which he and allies would, in the anonymous user’s words, “flood Twitter and other social media websites … claiming that the OK hand sign is a symbol of white supremacy.” Here’s the original 4chan post, as shared by KnowYourMeme:
KnowYourMeme
The choice of the okay symbol for the prank, as KnowYourMeme editor-in-chief Brad Kim explains, was not totally arbitrary; “Sometime during the 2016 United States presidential election,” Kim writes, “Pizza Party Ben and Milo Yiannopoulos began making the gesture together at various events supporting the candidacy of Donald Trump.”
On February 13, 2017, a few weeks before the 4chan post, Jim Hoft and Lucian Wintrich of the alt-right outlet Gateway Pundit made the okay symbol in the White House Press Room. The left-leaning media watchdog Media Matters denounced it as a “hate symbol,” noting that images of alt-right mascot Pepe the Frog sometimes showed the character doing the “okay” sign:
A far bigger blow-up occurred the following April when journalist Emma Roller, then of Splinter, tweeted a photo of alt-right celebrities Cassandra Fairbanks and Mike Cernovich making the okay sign in the White House press room:
Screengrab by Know Your Meme
To Channers and alt-right loyalists, this was the ultimate proof that the prank had worked: A left-leaning journalist had been fooled into thinking an innocuous hand gesture was a secret sign of deep, racist evil. Especially funny to them was when Roller explained her tweet by referencing a diagram … originating in the 4chan post that launched “Operation O-KKK”:
Screengrab via KnowYourMeme
At first Fairbanks and Cernovich seemed to be having a laugh over the whole situation. Fairbanks told BuzzFeed News’s Joe Bernstein, “There was a troll meme going around saying that it meant white power. But it was a joke because Trump supporters are always being called Nazis even when it isn’t true.” Cernovich told Bernstein that he borrowed the hand gesture from Jay-Z, and from a conspiracy theory alleging that Jay-Z used the gesture as a sign he’s in the Illuminati.
Fairbanks would later purport to take the accusation a bit more seriously, and sued Roller for defamation in federal court. Judge Trevor McFadden of the DC District Court, a Trump appointee, dismissed the lawsuit in an opinion memorably beginning, “Plaintiff Cassandra Fairbanks trolled the web through Twitter …”
Holt at Right Wing Watch said that meanwhile, “people at the ADL and people like me who follow this stuff full-time tried to explain that this is not actually a symbol tied to white supremacy in any way.”
Another iteration of the controversy exploded in December 2017, when the Daily Mail reported that White House intern Jack Breuer had flashed a “known ‘white power’ sign during a photo-op with President Donald Trump.” Here’s the photo in question, from then-Mail reporter Jessica Chasmar:
Breuer strenuously denied the suggestion on Twitter:
In some of our intern pictures, I emulated the OK sign the President sometimes makes. That was foolish. I should have listened more closely to the Commander-in-Chief and given the thumbs up. (1/2)
— Jack Breuer (@jjbreue) December 29, 2017
I’m proud of my Jewish heritage and strongly reject the hateful views associated with racist white power organizations. I would never make common cause with them. (2/2)
— Jack Breuer (@jjbreue) December 29, 2017
Snopes, the fact-checking website, called the accusation against Breuer “unproven,” noting that the only evidence the Mail produced for the suggestion that Breuer intentionally made the sign as a show of alt-right solidarity was an anonymous quote from a fellow White House intern. Even that source conceded, “Jack’s a good kid and is probably doing it as a joke.”
Holt, at Right Wing Watch, said that while it began as a hoax, the symbol’s success as a troll has given it some new meaning in right-wing circles it didn’t have originally. He says intentional use of it falls into two camps. “One is white supremacists making a tongue-in-cheek inside joke to each other,” he said. “Then the larger contingent of people are people who do it in the photos to get a reaction and troll the libs.”
In the former camp, he includes people like Charlottesville rally organizer Jason Kessler; in the latter, folks like Cernovich, an alt-right troll who, while certainly a racist, is “probably more concerned with just trying to make liberals and the #resistance look as bad as humanly possible.”
Zina Bash, the latest conservative ensnared in an okay sign controversy, has a more intellectual pedigree than her predecessors Breuer, Fairbanks, and Cernovich. According to her LinkedIn page, she holds degrees from Harvard College, Harvard Law School, and Penn’s Wharton business school, and she clerked for both Brett Kavanaugh on the DC Circuit (hence her presence at the hearings) and for Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito.
Until recently, she worked in the Trump White House as a special Assistant to the President for regulatory reform, legal and immigration policy. In July, she joined Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office as a senior counsel.
It seems clear that Fairbanks and Cernovich were using the hand signal to troll the libs, and at least plausible that Breuer, Holt, and Wintrich were as well (the latter two are pretty prominent alt-right racists, but their incident was also before the 4chan hoax began). But was Bash? It’s certainly possible she was exposed to the idea of the troll.
That said, it’s equally if not more plausible that she was replying to a text message. (Some Twitter hand signal detectives argued she can be seen getting an alert on her phone before the hand signal appears.) Or maybe she was signaling to someone watching the livestream; sending an okay signal to a senator or staffer sitting opposite her and Kavanaugh; or just fidgeting with her fingers.
There’s simply no reason, other than an epistemological commitment to assuming the absolute worst of absolutely everyone ever associated with the Trump administration, to believe she did a small hand movement to prove her commitment to white supremacy.
It’s, of course, natural for fake news about the president and his aides to proliferate among their political critics. When I was 14, I really sincerely believed that George W. Bush had snuck in an earpiece so he could be fed answers during his debates with John Kerry, and that the “bulge” in the back of his suit jacket proved this.
This was, of course, nonsense. But Bush really was awful, and really was prosecuting a horrific war killing hundreds of thousands of people and torturing many more. That made ridiculous suggestions, like that Bush had to cheat at televised debates, seem plausible to me (that, plus I was 14 and my brain was small and unformed).
And, of course, fake news about Barack Obama (he’s secretly Kenyan!) and Bill Clinton (he’s a cocaine trafficker!) spread wildly among conservatives during their presidencies.
But in a way, the Zina Bash fake news is stranger, because it seems to confirm something we all already know: the Trump administration contains racists who want to use policy to harm nonwhite people. You don’t need a hand signal to know that.
Take, say, Rosie Gray’s exposé in the Atlantic of Homeland Security staffer Ian M. Smith, who was close with numerous white nationalists and went to a house party advertised as judenfrei (or “free of Jews”). Or take Stephen Miller, the White House domestic policy adviser responsible for the partial implementation of Trump’s promise to ban Muslims from the US and for the policy of separating immigrant families, and who alt-right leader Richard Spencer has described as a friend and ally when they were at Duke together.
Or take, I don’t know, the president: a man who as a candidate promised to ban all Muslims from the US, who calls Elizabeth Warren “Pocahontas,” who said that a Mexican-American judge is unfit to preside over cases involving him, who called Mexican immigrants “rapists,” claimed Muslim-Americans celebrated the 9/11 attacks. And then, after all that, a man who came into office and set about implementing the most anti-immigrant policies in years, slowing housing discrimination law enforcement to a halt, and reorienting the Justice Department away from fighting racial discrimination against black Americans. Oh, and who empathized with neo-Nazis after Charlottesville, and described Haiti and African nations as “shithole” countries, for good measure.
We don’t need to interpret hand signals to know where this administration stands on racism and white supremacy. We know very well where it stands.
Original Source -> No, a former Kavanaugh clerk didn’t flash a “white power sign.” Here’s what really happened.
via The Conservative Brief
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toptecharena · 6 years
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Professor Avital Ronell
A New York University (NYU) professor of German and Comparative Literature Avital Ronell, 66 has been found responsible of sexually harassing her former graduate student Nimrod Reitman, 34 who is male.
According to New York Times, an 11-month Title IX investigation found Ronell responsible for physical and verbal sexual harassment, saying that her behaviour was “sufficiently pervasive to alter the terms and conditions of Mr. Reitman’s learning environment.”
The university subsequently suspended Ronell for the coming academic year.
Reitman said the harassment went on for three years. He also shared text messages where Ronell referred to him as “my most adored one,” “Sweet cuddly Baby,” “cock-er spaniel,” and “my astounding and beautiful Nimrod,” the New York Times report said.
According to New York Times, Reitman said Professor Ronell kissed and touched him repeatedly, slept in his bed with him, required him to lie in her bed, held his hand, texted, emailed and called him constantly, and refused to work with him if he did not reciprocate.
In a statement to New York Times, Professor Ronell said:
Our communications — which Reitman now claims constituted sexual harassment — were between two adults, a gay man and a queer woman, who share an Israeli heritage, as well as a penchant for florid and campy communications arising from our common academic backgrounds and sensibilities. These communications were repeatedly invited, responded to and encouraged by him over a period of three years.
Reitman and his lawyers have drafted a lawsuit against the university and Professor Ronell following the university’s decision.
Reitman said that he only went along with Professor Ronell’s behaviour because of the power she wielded over him even though he felt violated.
Professor Ronell said that Reitman “desperately sought her attention and guidance,” New York Times quoted her as saying in interviews she submitted to the Title IX office at N.Y.U.
According to Reitman, the harassment started in 2012 before he started school, when Professor Ronell invited him to stay with her in Paris for a few days.
He said that the day he arrived, she asked him to read her poetry in her bedroom while she takes a nap.
“That was already a red flag to me. But I also thought, O.K., you’re here. Better not make a scene,” Reitman said, adding that she later pulled him into her bed.
“She put my hands onto her breasts, and was pressing herself — her buttocks — onto my crotch. She was kissing me, kissing my hands, kissing my torso,” Reitman said, adding that a similar incident took place that evening.
He said he confronted her the next morning about the incident and said he wasn’t comfortable with it.
He said that the behaviour continued when he got to New York and one time, after Hurricane Sandy in October 2012, Professor Ronell came to his apartment because her power had gone out.
He said she convinced him that they could sleep on his bed together, despite his objections, adding that she groped and kissed him each night for nearly a week.
Reitman shared emails where Professor Ronell wrote in June 2012:
“I woke up with a slight fever and sore throat. I will try very hard not to kiss you — until the throat situation receives security clearance. This is not an easy deferral!”
Another email, dated July, 2012 read: “time for your midday kiss. my image during meditation: we’re on the sofa, your head on my lap, stroking you [sic] forehead, playing softly with yr hair, soothing you, headache gone. Yes?”
Reitman Nimrod
Professor Ronell’s lawyer Mary Dorman said she (Ronell) “denies all allegations of sexual contact in their entirety” in a submission to the Title IX office.
Professor Ronell added that she stayed just two nights in Reitman’s house on his invitation after the hurricane.
Professor Ronell told the Title IX office that she didn’t know Reitman was uncomfortable until she read the investigators’ report.
New York Times reports that Professor Ronell “and some who are backing her have tried to discredit her accuser in familiar ways, asking why he took so long to report, and why he seemed so intimate with Professor Ronell if he was, in fact, miserable.”
Professor Ronell, in March 2018, said that Reitman had a penchant for “comparing me to the most egregious examples of predatory behaviours ascribable to Hollywood moguls who habitually go after starlets.”
Reitman however said that he complained about being uncomfortable but she resisted. He accused her of sending pro forma recommendations on his behalf, making him difficult for him to get jobs.
Title IX investigations later found out that her recommendation letters “were comparable to those for other former students”. Reitman also got two postgraduate fellowships.
An NYU spokesperson in a statement to New York Times said that the university was “sympathetic” to what Reitman has been through adding that “given the promptness, seriousness and thoroughness with which we responded to his charges, we do not believe that his filing a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the university would be warranted or just.”
Following the university’s decision, friends and colleagues of Ronell, including “prominent feminists,” according to New York Times, wrote a letter to the university in her defence.
The draft letter was published on a philosophy blog in June, and it had the signature of Judith Butler, described as “one of the most influential feminist scholars today”
Although we have no access to the confidential dossier, we have all worked for many years in close proximity to Professor Ronell and accumulated collectively years of experience to support our view of her capacity as teacher and a scholar, but also as someone who has served as Chair of both the Departments of German and Comparative Literature at New York University. We have all seen her relationship with students, and some of us know the individual who has waged this malicious campaign against her.
We wish to communicate first in the clearest terms our profound an enduring admiration for Professor Ronell whose mentorship of students has been no less than remarkable over many years. We deplore the damage that this legal proceeding causes her, and seek to register in clear terms our objection to any judgment against her.
We hold that the allegations against her do not constitute actual evidence, but rather support the view that malicious intention has animated and sustained this legal nightmare.
We testify to the grace, the keen wit, and the intellectual commitment of Professor Ronell and ask that she be accorded the dignity rightly deserved by someone of her international standing and reputation.  If she were to be terminated or relieved of her duties, the injustice would be widely recognized and opposed.
Photo Credits: European Graduate School | Caitlin Ochs for The New York Times
The post NYU finds Professor responsible of Sexual Harassment on her Male ex Student appeared first on BellaNaija – Nigeria breaking & top news to the World 24/7. Read Today.
Go to Source Author: BellaNaija.com NYU finds Professor responsible of Sexual Harassment on her Male ex Student Professor Avital Ronell A New York University (NYU) professor of German and Comparative Literature Avital Ronell…
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symbianosgames · 7 years
Link
The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra’s community. The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.
This post is co-authored by Pietro Polsinelli and Daniele Giardini.
In this post we discuss two themes:   How to facilitate writing for games? Given that writing say partially generative in-game dialogue is a specific process, how can one minimize the impact on writing of values from state and output variations technicalities?   and   How to design an in-game dialogue user interface? Designing in-game dialogues doesn’t seem to generally get much attention with respect to other kinds of game assets. We look at existing usages and we point out features to be  considered when designing dialogues’ user interface.
A note on the use of the author’s point-of-view. We sometime write as “we”, in the outlining sections, and sometime use “I” as a part may be one of the authors writing his direct experience, be it Daniele or Pietro. Bare with us - him - me :-)
Stories are remarkably useful tools for creating good games, Bogost aside. But writing for games is hard for several different reasons.   In The future of dialogue in games Adam Hines is quoted:
Writing for games and writing for anything else is a totally different job. It’s more like trying to solve a very complex mathematical problem than it is a pure writing exercise.
Most media have a predetermined, linear, progress. Even when the writer tries to hide this under a complex narrative, there's only one way to go from beginning to end. Under this aspect, games are a completely different medium: writing a game means dealing with mutations, branching narratives, and is a sort of chaos theory applied to storytelling.   Hence the writing style for games needs to be quite specific - this is from Writing for Animation, Comics, and Games:  
Animation, comics, and games fall into the category I think of as “shorthand” writing. This is in contrast to prose writing, where a writer can write plot, description, and dialogue to any length, and can cover all of the senses—sight, sound, touch, taste, smell—using both external storytelling (description, dialogue) and internal storytelling (thought processes, emotional description).   This specialized form of “shorthand” writing requires the discipline to write within a structured format; to pare description down to an absolute minimum; to boil dialogue down to a pithy essence; and to tell concise, tightly plotted stories.
In the following we consider how shorthand writing merged with state and variations handling can be smoothened for writers using specific tools. Methodological advances in how writing can be prototyped and tested can make a crucial difference in the quality of results (see How We Design Games Now and Why for an historical perspective) and so adding practical writing applications to your toolset can be useful.   Another feature of writing for games is that it has specific properties in the testing process: when you write say a short novel, you can do testing by printing drafts on paper, or reading it out loud, but in all cases you are working on a unique draft. In the case of in game state you need a way to do quick testing and changes while testing multiple possible results. For example this allows testing of the logic of what your characters end up saying in different situations. Narrative in games can solve problems - but it must be capable to relate and change in connection with dynamic state.   Here is a problem described by Daniele that having a dynamic flow tool that supports interactive writing and testing can probably help to solve:  
As a short out-of-theme anecdote, Pietro wanted me to write about one thing I mentioned in our talks, a thing that always kinda annoys me, and which represents a good example of bad flow. It's what I call the "wall of NPCs" effect, which is typical of RPGs but also of some adventure games.
It's when, for a few hours, you went around exploring and met no more than a couple people to talk to, then suddenly you reach a city. And kaboom, tons of people appear and, if you're a completionist / narrative - explorer like me, you HAVE to talk to each and every one of them. If the group of people was small, let's say four people, it would be a welcome change in pace. When the group is city-sized though, the flow completely breaks and you simply enter the "wall of NPCs" section of the game, which I find to be both interesting and stressful, mostly because all these people are not introduced gradually, but as a sudden presence, a feat, you have to overcome.
One solution to this problem is already used by less dialogue-centric games, where most NPCs are idiots with nothing to say. This removes depth from the characters, but keeps the flow, uh, flowing, since the player doesn't see them as a weight anymore. Still, I'm sure there's better solutions for more dialogue-centric games. Just something to ponder about.
  So let’s have a look at the existing writing tools for games.
Inkle’s Ink
A remarkable tool that allows all above is Inkle’s Ink, presented generally by Jon Ingold here and in more technical detail in this GDC’s talk by Joseph Humfrey.
  Ink is free and open source, just download it, install and there you go. Writing is linear (top down), the syntax is a markup language of sorts, and you control everything directly from text.   This is how Ink’s author sums it up:
Possible problems with this (wonderful) tool is that it seems really hard for anyone to get what is happening in anybody else’ writing, and possibly the writer herself could get lost when the text gets longer.
Dialogue as flow graph
A different approach is to write by creating nodes of a connected graph on a plane, as in the pictures below.
Night School Studio’s Oxenfree dialogue editor - image from The future of dialogue in games.
Daniele’s Outspoken (see below).   In a recent podcast by Keith Burgun interviewing Raph Koster, the latter made a wonderful casual observation about IDEs (Interactive Development Environment, Unity's in particular) embodying in their evolution some principles of game design. In the case of Unity, some of this learning by the IDE structure is built-in, and sometimes it is provided by third-party extensions. For the case of writing tools for games, let’s see an example from one of the author’s: Daniele Unity’s plugin Outspoken.
Outspoken
A while ago I (Daniele) found myself in need of a dialogue editor to use in Unity. I'm sure there's some marvellous in-house editors out there, but for what concerns publicly available stuff, I couldn't find anything that suited my tastes, most of all because all editors were pretty writer-unfriendly (except Ink, which is great but is missing a quick visual/organizational side which for me is—totally subjectively—fundamental). So I started the taxing feat of making my own internal dialogue editor, Outspoken. Please note that this is not advertising for Outspoken, especially because it is internal/for-friends-only. It's just a good example of the philosophy behind an in-house dialogue editor which I obviously know extremely well. So. The philosophy I decided to follow for the editor:
1. It must be, first and foremost, writer-centric. As a writer, I will write directly inside it, so I want its flow to be fast, easy to read/use, and pleasant. If my focus is lost and I'm distracted by the usage/complexity of the editor, the coherence and verve of my writing will resent it.
2. It must be fun to use, almost giving the writer the feeling of a comic. Because this editor is very personal to me and I'm a comic writer too, so that mindset works perfectly for me.
3. Nice to the eye, no cluttering UI. A dialogue node shouldn't be cluttered with encumbering UI, and should be as small as possible. In the end, I decided to hide all UI that is not always necessary (which means a lot of it) unless ALT is pressed.
4. Keyboard shortcuts for the win. They allow to write without moving your hands back and forth between mouse and keyboard, which is a focus-breaker.
5. It must obviously have all necessary features, and be expandable. "Necessary" as in "what I personally deem necessary" :P Which means actors, audio clip references, a custom in-dialogue scripting language, in-dialogue text blocks either randomized or chosen from variables/gender/etc, localization, global and local variables, etc.
It was a lot of work, but I used it for a few games and I can say I'm pretty happy with it (and the few friends that used it, Pietro first among them, seem happy too). Clearly, I'm also constantly evolving it.
How to design beautiful dialogues in games? Here we begin by presenting some example of existing in-game dialogues and then describing what we learned from developing several projects with such dialogues.
Learn from comics
I (Daniele) come from a strong comic culture. I loved, studied, cherished, all forms of comics — and also made tons of them. Thus when I made my first mini-adventure, Faith No More, it felt natural to me to look in that direction and start experimenting.
There's one thing comics understand very well, out of necessity. Lettering/written-dialogues are, or should be, an art. They can be used to convey emotions, mystery, fascination, as much — sometimes even more — as the text they display. Videogames instead, either consider text as mere subtitles, even when there's no audio, or as a beautifully printed paragraph from a book, sometimes surrounded by a multitude of decorations (there's just few recent exceptions I can think of, like Night in the Woods and Oxenfree, both inspired from comics). In short, every dialogue is, if not a wall, a brick of text. And that's bad: lettering can be so infinitely better. Both in how it displays text and in how it composes its elements, pulling them apart, shrinking and distorting them, giving a director's touch to their flow. Just look at these wonderful works — please enlarge those images to watch them in full glory.
Cerebus: Dave Sim and Gerhard Snapchat: Chris Ware Arkham Asylum:  Grant Morrison, Dave McKean, lettering by Gaspar Saladino Giallo Scolastico: Andrea Pazienza Elektra Assassin: Frank Miller, Bill Sienkiewicz, lettering by Jim Novak   Obviously, comics have it easy. Everything is—kind of—created altogether in there, with perfect knowledge of each, utterly static, element. Videogames instead live in a dynamic state, with lots of variables messing things up. They're much more complicated. So I'm not saying, "Look at them comics! Let's just make dialogues like they do!" I'm just saying it's a pretty cool visual culture to start from, in order to find one's own way.
Learn from games
Let’s start with a negative example, or “how not to do it” / the standard way / the obvious way: I (Pietro) chose The Banner Saga, because it’s a wonderful game and also its narrative flow is a marvel but its dialogue user interface may be its less curated feature, as you can see from the screenshots:
  The great quality of the graphic design of the game is a bit in contrast with the dialogue and ensuing choices UI. It looks like the designers have a cinematographic sensitivity, that does not consider “user interface” as deserving design attention beyond the basics.   A (very) positive example of user interface for in game dialogue is Night In The Woods (best comic-based example in our opinion - it's just beautiful):
As Night in the Woods dialogues are explored best when seen in animation (and that already tells something), check out this: 24 Minutes of Gorgeous Night in the Woods Gameplay.   For each of the examples we’ll list a recap of the design choices is expresses.   Choices for the user interface: text all caps, fixed font size, animated background, left aligned.   In 80 Days, there are two kinds of dialogues. The most used is a flow of pure text in a graphic context:
And a second less used style is with characters on the side:
Choices  for the user interface: sentence case, no balloon, left aligned on left and right aligned on right.   Now let’s see three examples of user interface for in game dialogue we (the authors) developed.
Faith No More + Nothing Can Stop Us - link
  Notes on the user interface: (Daniele) apart from the comic-based approach, the interesting thing here is the choice of leaving previous balloons present in the background. In my opinion, this helps readability, since the player can see a partial history of the dialogue (still, in a new game I'm working on, I'm scrapping this "history" concept to have single animated balloons, so it all depends on the context—see work-in-progress example of a "thought balloon" below).
In hindsight, I have to say I find the dialogue user interface of the two pictures above as nothing more than interesting experiments, still lacking a lot of the depth and charm they should strive to achieve. The one on the bottom is already going in a better direction. Whew, did I write too much here? Pietro never scolds me and then this is what happens!
  Football Voodoom - link
Choices: centered balloon text, fixed font size, standard “sharp” pointer, slight bounce of talking character.
The above dialogue design examples draw ideas and techniques from comics and game feel (see An Incomplete Game Feel Reader to learn about the latter). What is the conclusion?   The conclusion is that there is no conclusion. What are you, crazy, in thinking the creative work of crafting a dialogue user interface can be concluded anyhow? It's a constant never ending work in progress, and being inspired from comics is just a suggestion, mostly to point out a different creative direction than the "widely accepted and standardized" one :-) But games are games, not comics nor books nor movies, so it's an open ground for experimentation and for bringing your own personality in play. Cheers!   You can follow Daniele and Pietro on Twitter.
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kiyote23 · 7 years
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Evernote - Oh, How I Want to Love You
I’ve been using Evernote for years now. At one point, I was all in on it, using it for almost everything I could think of. Any project I was working on had an Evernote notebook. And once I got my iPad, my use really exploded, as suddenly I had a notebook that automatically synced between my desktop and my tablet. I have the Evernote Moleskine notebook, and at one point, the Evernote Adonit stylus.
But Evernote has it’s problems, and eventually, I started looking elsewhere for my note needs. It really started when Apple Notes matured beyond a weird add-on to Mail.app. After a while of playing with it, I switched to using it full-time. And then Bear came along, and I tried just using Bear. And now things have swung full-circle, and I’m back to using good old Evernote. Evernote has some tricks that the others just haven’t learned yet.
Evernote is one place to stash everything. Any piece of information that I think I might want to look at later, I send it to Evernote. Little bits of information from work, like how to handle a certain problem, get chucked into a work folder. I’ve clipped a ton of articles about different games that I’m playing, tips and tricks, and tossed those into Evernote. And with a robust search feature, it’s pretty easy to get things back out.
And it’s really easy to get things into it. There’s a Safari extension on macOS, and Chrome extension, though I’ve had trouble with both of them hanging and locking up, and I’m not sure why. There’s a share sheet extension in iOS, and the feature that I love, an email address that I can forward emails to that causes them to get added to Evernote. This was great when I was getting a lot of different correspondence from different teachers and administrators regarding my sons school—I could send them to Evernote and be sure I could reference them at any point, even during a meeting.
Evernote also automatically OCRs any image that it gets handed. I’ve been doing a lot of handwritten notes on my iPad using GoodNotes, and I can toss those into Evernote as images, yet still be able to search my own handwriting because of the built in OCR. I routinely take pictures of different signs and notices I see, knowing that I can send them into Evernote and be able to search for them later.
Evernote has a pretty decent tagging system, allowing you to put any tag you want on any note. You can then filter your view to just see notes with certain tags, allowing you to create some pretty creative perspectives. I was just reading about someone who uses tags of dates to create a custom calendar within Evernote:
He organizes Evernote differently than some of the other ECCs, and his ingenious system creates a running agenda for him. “I organize by year, month, date, and time,” he said. “If I sort this way, then I don’t have to do anything to set my schedule for the day. I just look at Evernote, and it’s already there. There was a point when I stopped using calendars altogether. Just let Evernote tags automatically generate a calendar for you.” — 7 Tips From Experts: Watch Business Productivity Soar in Evernote
You can also organize notes into notebooks, and you can even group the notebooks into stacks, to really compartmentalize things. You can make the notebooks private, or you can make them public, allowing you to share their contents with other people. My wife and I share a notebook for our son’s school correspondence, so we can both access the information easily.
You can add a reminder to a note, allowing you to use Evernote as a task manager as well. You could use notebooks as projects, and tags as contexts, and create a useable GTD system. The reminder system is pretty basic, allowing you to set a date and a time, but there’s no allowance for creating recurring, repeating events.
There’s a built in chat system in Evernote. Like the reminder system, it’s a little rudimentary and not very robust. Like a lot of things in Evernote, it feels a little like a cool idea tacked on at some point without anyone following through to make it an integrated part of the Evernote process. This really sums up the Evernote problem: a lot of good ideas, some well implemented, and others not so.
You can share notes with other people, but they have to create a free Evernote account to see the note that you shared. There’s no option to share outside of Evernote, but the free account is pretty simple to set up. The sharing feature is nice if you’re working on a team alts using Evernote, or if you just need to work with one other person. The ability to let other people add to a notebook or edit a note is pretty cool, and might be one of the most under-leveraged functions within Evernote.
Evernote is robustly cross-platform, with clients available on macOS, Windows, iOS, and Android. There’s also a pretty good web interface, so you can get to Evernote even if you’re not at any one of your many devices. I played with Evernote’s cross-platform capabilities a lot when I was trying to figure out a way to work with Android devices. Evernote was able to easily sync between two devices, and gave me a viable way to write on one device and be able to pick it up on another.
Evernote is a cloud-based system, so putting your notes on a new device is as easy as installing the client and signing in. Changes made on one device sync onto another, and everything is accessible through a web interface. Having your notes in the cloud means that they’re always backed up, always accessible.
It all sounds good, but even as I’m writing about its good points, I’m reminded of the problems. Evernote uses an RTF system to provide rich text notes on the screen. Even weirder, this RTF system is HTML-based, so it’s prone to same problems of formatting that a lot of rich HTML editors run into—problems with bulleting and nesting lists; spacing issues; spaces between paragraphs. If you don’t care about these things, then writing in Evernote can be fine, if sometimes a little weird.
Sometimes there are syncing issues. For a while, the version of Evernote on my iPhone was behind all my other devices. It would hang while syncing, and then just give up. I’ve had both the desktop and the iPad give me errors with syncing as well. Eventually with my iPhone I just deleted the whole app and reinstalled, and it started syncing up again just fine. The syncing issues aren’t major, but they do detract from what feels like it wants to be a seamless experience.
And I don’t know if it’s related to the syncing issues or not, but I’ve had image issues as well. One set of hand-written notes that I imported wouldn’t display on my iPad. There were just empty blank frames. When I opened the note on my iPhone, the images were there. Even weirder, when I did a text search on my iPad, it highlighted the words on the missing images, so something was there.
A common complaint about Evernote is the cost. You can have a free account, but you’re limited in how much you can store, and maybe even what you can do. You’ll have to set up a yearly subscription to get more space and features, and there are different tiers. There was a lot of backlash when the subscription was implemented, and more when the prices were raised. I’m actually fine with the cost, because I use the app and the service, and I’d rather they focus on using the app to make money instead of selling notebooks, pens, or even socks.
Like I said, the main problem I have with Evernote is that it’s trying to do too many things, and as a result, it’s not doing some of them very well. The work chat feature is a little silly, particularly since so many people use the app on devices that already have communications apps on them, apps people use. I’d rather have an easier way to share a note over something like Slack than this rather transparent effort to get people to use Evernote.
And the HTML-based RTF WYSIWYG editor really shows Evernote’s age. Six or seven years ago, that was the easy portable way to do RTF. Now there’s Markdown, and there are even people who prefer to write and work in plain text, and it would be nice if there was an option to use those. I’d love it if when I imported something that had Markdown if the RTF editor would recognize it.
But for all of it’s flaws, I came back to Evernote. I tried Apple Notes, but found that there were a few features I really relied on in Evernote that weren’t in Apple Notes. And I tried Bear, mostly to use the Markdown support, and while Bear is nice, it’s not as powerful as Evernote.
Like I said, I use Evernote to collect things: Recipes; articles; pdf manuals for household appliances. These are things that you could put in Bear or Apple Notes, but they’re harder to get out. Evernote’s OCR and capturing and importing the text of a web page really make it a lot easier to search for what you’re looking for.
I’m also using Evernote as a, well, notebook. I’ve been taking notes of different things that I’ve read over the past couple of years, and I’m collecting them in Evernote. It’s a habit left over from years of being an English major, to collect a quote that really sums up a work, or something that’s really interesting. I can pull stuff from the web, from iBooks or Kindle, even from Pocket, and put it in my notebook. I have no idea what I’m ever going to do with them, but at least they’re there.
Ironically, the thing that I really want to use Evernote for, the thing that it seems to really want me to use it for, is project management. I’ve created notebooks for projects, collected materials, set reminders. You can even, pretty easily, create a table of contents note for a notebook, that helps you organize things. I guess what it would really function effectively as would be a project organizer, a project binder. That’s something I’m going to keep working at, I guess.
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