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kchuarts · 3 years

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Flowers in Blood

A/N: A new fanfic that I couldn't wait to jump on!! This one is very much different from the ones I normally write. I am also introducing a new OC. This takes place in 2018 going into 2019

Summary: Angela Burr takes on a case that had been cold since the 70's as there is a sudden spark in activity relevant to the case. She calls a friend from across the pond and gets a hold of Katie O'Connor, a 24 soon to be 25 year old American woman for the job. The case is assigned to Katie and Jonathan for them to solve and bring down the leader of an unnamed group that was involved in the crimes back then. Unfortunately for Jonathan, Katie is connected to a friend of his time while in Iraq that did not end well.

Warnings: Cursing and mentions of assault

Taglist: @lucywrites02 *(Let me know if you’d like to be on the tag list!!)*

Chapter 1: Poppy

A loud rapping at the door of Angela Burr’s special agency causes the Director to jump from her seat. “For fuck sake, can’t a mum have one minute of peace to ‘erself?” Angela huffed, getting up quickly and noticing Rob wasn’t at all around which irked the tired woman further. “Better have a good excuse for why he isn’t here.” She muttered under her breath before opening the door being met with a shorter, pale skinned woman. Angela’s brows knit together in confusion as she studied the young woman, “Green eyes, short brown hair, looks 157 centimeters in height-” She stopped as she noticed the woman give her an odd look. “What? I’m just trying to get a better look at ya. I dunno if you are who we sent for, you’re so short! Wait, wait. I got it, you’re American is that it? Your unit of measurements are-” She sighed and smacked her own forehead as her thoughts finally caught up to her. “Right! Dear, I am so terribly sorry. Come in, come in. You are exactly who we called for over from across the pond. I swear I must still have a pregnancy brain even after three bloody years. Katelyn O’Connor is it?” She waved her hand over to a seat. The American brunette woman grimaced at her full name and nodded, “I uh, sorry, I prefer Katie.” She cleared her throat and held her hand out, shaking Angela’s hand. “No, no! That was my mistake, dear. Oh for fuck sake Rob! It’s about damn time you got in here!! What’s your excuse for your lack of being here?” Her large brown eyes watched as her assistant, Rob Singhal walked in. The Indian man froze and looked from Angela to Katie in confusion then down at the tray of coffees he held. “Shite! Ang, you coulda said we were gonna have company!! Apologies, miss. Next time I’ll get you tea or coffee.” He practically slammed the hot beverage in front of Angela and sighed with great irritation. Katie waved her hand as a gesture of thanks and then looked down into her lap as she fiddled with her fingers.

Angela looked up at Rob, raising her brows at his attitude. “There’s extra cream in it?”

The assistant’s hands dropped to his sides and he let out a groan, “Not even a thank you or are you ok?! I stood in line for twenty god damn minutes for your bitter rubbish and some prick hit my new chaps with his fucking bicycle!” He pointed to his pants aggressively, a large stain apparent on the light khakis. Angela rolled her eyes, taking a test sip and nodding “Alright good, there’s cream. Last time the bastards didn’t. Sorry about your pants, sweetheart but you wasted twenty minutes of preparation for our new agent!” She turned to the younger woman seated in front of her. Katie looked up and gave a warm smile, smoothing her pencil skirt out. “It’s alright Mrs. Burr-”,

“Angela, please. I had my first and last kid three years ago, I already feel old as is when I get the “Mrs.” added. Now, back to business.” Angela shuffled through documents and licked her finger to sift through properly. This was Katie’s first time out of America and she would definitely be lying if she said she hadn’t gotten a major culture shock. London was somewhat similar to New York in a manner of ways; for one thing, the people were always very loud and blunt. While London did feel more tame, it still had that familiar city smell and livelihood to it. This was certainly a new experience for a girl from a small village in Michigan, USA. “Sorry ‘bout that, Miss O’Connor. By the way, you got any relatives over in Ireland? Your last name is extremely Irish- Oh there I go again, getting off track. Sorry it’s nearly getting time for me to be checking in on the babysitter to see how my little one is doing.” Angela cleared her throat and handed Katie the files on a peculiar case that had gone cold. Katie frowned as she skimmed over the pages and gathered information on ten very high scale murders of wealthy families. Each page had a familiar theme of illegal trade, fraud, weapons, drugs, and prostitution. She noticed that there was a mysterious yet oddly recognizable symbol carved into the skin of the inner forearm of the husbands. Katie placed the photo evidence down and tapped on the sigils, “I’ve seen this before in my lessons. Mrs- Angela, why are you showing me such an old case? No one has been able to figure anything out about these crimes since the Seventies…” She leaned back and raised a brow. The older woman nodded and grabbed a stack of papers, plopping them in front of the young American. “Not until now.”

As Katie skimmed over the pages, she noticed that the activity of this particular group had risen up again and even had a public support group. The sigil was much more clear now and shaped into something more recent. It was of a Poppy flower and now that Katie thought about it, she remembered that a single poppy flower was always left behind at the crime scene. A chill ran down her spine as awful memories of her ex boyfriend Travis resurfaced. She knew there was no correlation between the two, but Travis always seemed to love giving her that type of flower and he even had a tattoo on his neck of one. To make matters worse, during her older brother Cameron’s funeral, there were poppies in some of the bouquets before he was laid to rest. It was a closed casket ceremony as he had died courageously while serving.

-flash-

“TRAVIS STOP!! GET AWAY FROM ME!” Katie screamed, kicking her legs as hard as she could to get the man off of her. Exhaustion was coming over the 20 year old girl as she had been struggling for an hour to get away from her abuser.

-flash-

A gag was shoved into Katie’s mouth with her hands and legs bound. The sounds of a blade ripping her clothes off filled the room along with the sound of her whimpers. “No one is ever gonna want you, baby girl. Not after I’m done with you. There’s no one for you to turn to, not even your dead big brother.”

“Katie?”

The green eyed woman gasped, coming out of her trance and quickly wiping a stray tear away from her cheek. “I-I’m ok, Angela. I just… I really hate poppies.” She smiled sadly, handing the paper back to her boss and taking a deep breath. “I can tell… I know we’ve just met, but if you need to talk about it you can. I see that you’ve some past trouble of sorts, I do apologize for requiring your services specifically, but I don’t think anyone else here can speak Japanese, Korean or” Angela looked down at her papers and scratched her head “Russian. Dear god and you’re only twenty four.” She whistled and nodded at the woman, impressed by her choice of studying harder languages. Thankful that the woman chose to not press further into her trauma, Katie sniffled and smiled at Angela. “I’m still learning Russian, but I think I can manage making my way through.” She nodded and sighed, that memory now seared into her brain after she had tried to bury it for good 5 years ago. “Well good because you’re going to be taking a little trip to Russia and eventually, Japan.” Angela noticed the sudden excitement in the young woman’s eyes and chuckled a little “Don’t get too excited, this is not any vacation. I understand that you are a rookie and this being your first true traveling experience, but don’t get cocky.” The chair she sat in scraped across the floor and she hoisted her purse onto her shoulder. “We will be discussing travel arrangements and the like tomorrow, but I’d like you to meet your partner today first. You two will be spending quite a bit of time together so it’s better to get used to each other now. Come along.” Angela hustled over to the door, checking her watch and noticing the time. She looked back up and eyed Rob, “Thank you for the coffee and sorry about your trousers. Have a nice night, sweetheart.” She waved with Katie following shortly behind, also waving goodbye to the assistant.

“Oh for the love of-” Angela huffed, scrambling to get her umbrella out of her purse and cursing under her breath as rain poured down on the two. “No one ever likes the rain here, it’s bloody awful.” She offered Katie to get under it. The green eyed woman obliged and rubbed her arms, the air hitting her with a bite. “I think I am used to it at least to some degree considering I grew up in Michigan. The weather there never knows what it wants to be!” Katie grimaced, continuing to rub her arms. Clearly, she had underestimated her choice in attire and was now suffering from it. She heard Angela give a little chortle and shake her head as they continued their journey to an apartment complex. The two women idly chatted on their walk to this strange building about Katie’s life as Angela wanted to get to know her better and genuinely seemed interested in her well being. “I cannot stand the thought of living in a country with a deranged clown for a leader. I mean, the mission at hand is not a pleasant one but at least you’re not having to deal with his bullshit. I reckon he’s more dangerous than this group we’re about to send you and Mr. Pine into.” The Director noticed her agent flinch and stumble for a moment. She placed a tender hand on her arm and stopped their walk, “Is something the matter dear?” Her voice softened. Katie nodded and sighed through her nose, “I wasn’t expecting to work with someone else let alone a man. I have issues with men, personal reasons I’d rather not get into.” She smiled wryly and felt the urge to cry build in her throat. “Oh. I’m sorry. Well, remember what I told you earlier, if you need to talk about it I will be more than happy to listen. Men are garbage.” She laughed, trying to lighten the mood and wrapping a comforting arm around the young woman’s shoulders. “However, Mr. Pine is not a part of the garbage I am referring to. I am hopeful that you will be comfortable around him. He is my pride and joy… And my kid too. Honestly, they’re both my kids even if one of them is 38 years old.”

Katie hoped that Angela was right and wanted to trust the woman. Those two years she had spent with Travis practically ruined her and how she viewed men. Hopefully, this Mr. Pine would help her heal and reshape her opinion.

Both women sighed as glorious heat hit their numb faces upon entering the building. “Your flat is going to be on the floor below Mr. Pine.” Angela looked at her watch and smiled with some hope, “I would perhaps suggest maybe grabbing a pint together seeing as it’s supper time. If you’re comfortable enough.” She added quickly, grabbing Katie’s arm as she noticed the slight shift of her body. Katie nodded and smiled back, shuddering the last remnants of the cold from outside. “I’m not a big drinker, but that does sound nice. I’d like to see a few of the older pubs before we go. I’ve always wanted to see the Tower of London and “haunted” locations.” She smiled more and chuckled at Angela’s unimpressed face. “Really? Oh you’re one of those spooky chasers or whatever they’re called. Well, I can assure you that London has plenty of that but for now we need to focus on the task at hand.” Angela pressed a button up to the 14th floor and walked in, holding the elevator door for Katie. The ride up had the American woman’s stomach in knots as each floor made a ding noise each time they advanced a level. “Uh, you said that Mr. Pine is 38 years old? H-How long has he been working for you?” Katie swallowed, trying to calm her nerves. “You know who Roper is? Richard Roper?” She raised her eyebrows at the girl. “I’ve heard about him and of his dealings, but other than that not much else.” Katie replied, shrugging. "Well Pine is the one who took him down. That case gave me the nerves it did. I'm just glad Pine got out and decided to stay with us instead of going back to being a night manager at hotels. Charming and handsome fellow he is. He even managed to snag Roper's girl for a while but it didn't last too long. Enough about him now, you're about to find out more on him soon." The elevator made the noise signaling they had reached their destination. Katie once again had to calm herself and shake any nerves off. She had to tell herself that things were going to be ok and that she had to act professional.

The sound of their footsteps padding along the wooden floor mingled in with the raindrops hitting the window at the end of the hall. “Here we are-” Angela said under her breath and knocked on the door, “Oi! Pine, you in there?” She waited for a moment before knocking on the door again before finally hearing footsteps. Several latches were undone before the man known as “Pine” finally opened the door. Katie’s heart stopped for a moment as this man was absolutely drop dead gorgeous. Her green eyes were wide as she took his appearance in from his lithe form, piercing blue eyes, dark blonde hair, chiseled jawline, and prominent forehead. Angela was right when she said he was handsome, but handsome was not a strong enough word for him. “Angela? Is there something wrong?” His deep voice caused chills to run through Katie’s body. Dear lord, not only was he stunning but his voice was enough to make a woman’s panties vanish. “No, no. Not at all. I’ve just come to introduce you to your partner for the mission ahead.” Angela stepped back, holding her arm out and slightly nudging Katie forward. Jonathan’s attention turned to the shorter woman in front of him and his expression softened a little. Shyly, Katie extended her hand out and gave a small smile “I’m Katie O’Connor uh, I have an extremely Irish name. It’s a pleasure to meet you Mr. Pine.” She blushed and chuckled nervously at her dumb joke. Katie felt like she was in high school all over again with how awkward she felt. The American woman flinched a little as Jonathan took her hand to shake it, her eyes quickly darting away before looking back at him. This man’s hand was incredibly warm and oddly comforting, which made Katie feel a little bad that she flinched. Pine noticed her flinch, but decided against questioning her on it as it was probably just a nervous tick. He flashed a smile and returned the chuckle at her dumb joke. “The pleasure is mine and yes it is extremely Irish.” He released her hand before turning to Angela, waiting for anything else for her to tell them so he could get back to packing.

“Now that we are all settled with introductions, I will be taking Katie to show her to the flat and then making my way to pick up my little one. I expect the both of you to be at my office at 6 AM sharp with your belongings packed and ready to go. I’m just praying for the love of anything living that the train to Moscow isn’t stalled. I’ll see you tomorrow, Pine. Come on then love! Let’s get you tucked in.” Angela turned, waving to Katie. The short brunette gave a smile to Jonathan and waved shyly before hastily heading back to Angela. The man watched as the two women walked down to the elevator and was puzzled by his boss’s choice in a partner. It wasn’t that he had anything against her pick, he was more than happy to have an attractive young lady on his team. He had to wonder why Katelyn O’Connor of all people though. Pine was very much aware of who this girl was and he slid back inside of his flat, closing the door and covering his face. Flashbacks of his time serving in Iraq surge forth and the screams of his squad echoed in his brain. Tears stung his eyes as guilt crawled up into his throat from the memory of leaving Katie’s older brother behind, as he begged for help while a bomb strapped to his chest ticked away. Pine would forever blame himself for his friend’s death and wished that he had been the one to die instead of Cameron.

Once Angela had bid her farewells after showing Katie to her new home, the young woman began to set up. She had not the faintest idea that she would be sharing a flat building with her partner let alone have it be someone intimidatingly handsome. Yet, there was something odd about Jonathan Pine that she couldn’t quite put her finger on. “Hey Cam.” She sighed, pulling a picture of her late brother out, placing it at her bedside. “I’m here in London, can you believe it? I’m out of that house and traveling the world!” She sat on her bed and smiled to the frame. “I know you wouldn’t be too happy with me sort of following you in your footsteps, but I wanted to be just like you. Mom and Dad were really hesitant at first at letting me go but I convinced them this is a chance for me to explore the world.” She picked the picture up and licked her finger, smudging some dirt from the glass off. Katie smiled sadly as she set the picture down and felt her chest and throat warm up from the oncoming tears. “I wish you were still here to see how far I’ve come. Shit, I-I even managed to escape Travis, even if you were long gone before him. I know you still watch over me and I know you would have probably been locked up if you got a hold of him.” She chuckled through the beginning of a sob before sniffling and wiping her eyes. “I gotta get going now. I’m going to Moscow tomorrow for the beginning of my mission. I’m pretty much all set but, my boss Angela told me I should probably try to get to know my partner… H-He seems nice.” Her hands clenched together as fear now made its course through her small frame. “I don’t think h-he’ll hurt me. He’s not Travis or those nasty old men from my retail days. No he’s not.” Katie gasped suddenly, noticing that her anxiety was getting the better of her and causing her to hold her breath. She shook her head and let out a quiet sob, sitting on the bed completely before pulling her knees in on herself. Who was she kidding? She was absolutely terrified to be alone with a man taller and stronger than her. Ever since she had left her abuser, not once did Katie even consider to look for another chance at romance. This only made her fear of men worse and she even lost a few friends because of how terrified she was to go out. It was only a year ago in 2018 that she finally decided to grow a backbone and shake off whatever fear she had. She would not let the past repeat itself and uncurled herself, smacking her face with her hands and taking a deep breath in. “You’re gonna be fine little fox.” She muttered to herself, using the endearing term her brother used to call her. Katie hopped off the bed and took one last look at herself in the mirror, grimacing at her puffy eyes. She would wait before going up to ask Pine if he wanted to grab something to eat.

After about 15 minutes later, Katie calmed down and fished her worry stone from her suitcase. Naturally, it was a Petoskey stone from a camping trip back home. She shoved it into her pocket before grabbing her jacket as she had underestimated London’s weather earlier. “Keys, phone, wallet, knife, spray, money, lock pick, ok I think I’m good.” She huffed, looking down at her attire she changed into as the skirt from earlier had proven to be a poor choice. Instead, she opted for a large hoodie, skinny jeans, sneakers, socks, jacket, and a tee shirt under her hoodie. She was cozy and felt that this was appropriate for the weather. Locking her door, she headed to the elevator and reached Pine’s floor. She felt less anxious than the first time she had walked down with Angela. Nervously, she raised her hand as she arrived at Pine’s flat and knocked on the wood door. “Uh, Pine?” her voice cracked and she shoved her hands into her pockets. Once again, several locks were unlatched before the door opened with Jonathan looking surprised to see her. “Oh, hey! Er, Katie yeah?” He gave a fake smile, trying to not think about her brother and his guilt over his death. “Y-Yeah! Uh you don’t have to but uh, Angela suggested that maybe uh… We go grab a pint? Maybe get to know each other a little before we buckle down? I-If not that’s totally cool, I get it.” The brunette held her hands up and gave an awkward grin. She low key hoped he would say no and save her the trouble of being a nervous wreck.

“Yeah, that’s a good idea actually.” He replied.

“What? Wait, you will? Great! Great… Do you need a sec?” She leaned back and forth on her heels, her stomach growling and also in knots from his answer.

Jonathan shook his head and opened his door, offering her to come in. It would sincerely be rude and weird of her to decline his offer so she obliged. When she brushed past him, Katie almost froze as he smelled faintly of cigarettes and a delicious cologne. The scent made her cheeks turn a bright pink and her head spin slightly. “So what state are you from?” He already knew the answer, he just had to play it low as he searched for his keys. “Michigan. I’m from Metamora which issss… Here.” She held her right hand up and pointed to the spot. Sometimes Katie was rather lucky she lived in the mitten shaped state as it was easy to point out where she lived. Pine gave a smile and chuckled a little at her literal handy map, “You can also use your left hand for the Upper Peninsula, yeah?” He raised his brows at her and chuckled again as she immediately held her left hand over her right. A smile cracked across her face at his amusement. “It’s really pretty in the fall where I’m from. My folks actually own a place up in Tawas which is here,” She pointed it out “And my grandparents own a place in Caseville here.” She moved her finger down. Finally, Pine found his keys and looked at Katie, nodding his head to the door. "So I assume you spent summers on the lake then? Which one is that, lake huron?" It was hard for Pine not to just tell her he already knew everything about where she grew up. Cameron always talked about Katie during their down time and how he loved his little sister. In fact, she was the reason he joined the army in the first place so he could protect her. Jonathan had seen many pictures of Katie as a child and seeing her now was almost surreal as she looked nothing like the pictures anymore; aside from the brown hair and large green eyes. She had grown up beautifully and Jonathan couldn't deny that she was quite a catch. He shook his head thinking if Cameron were still here he would kick his ass for even thinking about Katie like that.

"Yeah all the time. I was practically a fish and would come out a lobster from how burned I was." She laughed at a pleasant memory. "Anyways, I'll let you pick where to go since this is my first time outside of America." The shared feeling of discomfort eased out with the change of subject. After a few more minutes of walking, the pair finally made a decision and headed inside a cozy pub.

The ambience of an English pub was unlike anything that an American pub ever hoped to compare to. Katie looked around in awe as they were given a table to sit at. "You were certainly right about it being your first time out of the country. You look like a Deer in headlights." Pine snorted, nodding at the younger woman. The brunette shook her head and blushed a little at her companion's jeer. "Don't be making fun of me the minute we just met!" She smiled at Jonathan and laughed a little, feeling at ease with the weirdly relaxing atmosphere. "Sorry, my mistake. I should have said you look like a tiny deer in headlights." Pine grinned and flipped the menu open, amused at the pout he was given as a reaction. "Oh now you're going after my height? I totally didn't ask to get the shit end of the stick when it came to how tall I would be." Katie rolled her eyes and snorted. The two thanked their waiter as waters were brought over and placed their orders. Jonathan leaned forward a little, smirking "You could have asked whoever was giving you the "shit end of the stick" to perhaps lower it a bit-" he gave a chuckle as Katie scoffed and playfully hit his shoulder. He didn't feel bad about his jokes at all as he had her giggling and amused. Much like Cameron, she fired back with insults of her own and seemed to even pick up on a bit of English humor despite never having been here. She must have been exposed to it when Cameron came home from duty. Pine took a swig of his beer and licked his lips, truly examining his soon to be partner. While she was short in height, she had a nice hour glass shaped body with curves to compliment her in the right areas. Naturally, his eyes lingered upon the ample bust of her chest causing a slight arousal to stir within him. Katie took a bite of her food before washing it down with her water. She decided against drinking that night as her excuse was "Moscow better serve if we get the chance to dip into the motherlands true Vodka" and she said it with a perfect accent. "So what did you do before all of this?" She bit into a pub fry and raised her brows, finding herself at ease with him. This was the first time in a long time she had felt truly comfortable with a man and she had to give herself an inward cheer for it. "I am going to assume that Angela told you I managed hotels?" He mimicked her expression and leaned back, taking another swig of his beer. Katie nodded and took another fry into her mouth, waiting for him to continue. Pine was a bit hesitant to tell her that he served as they were having a great night and started an understanding of each other. He certainly didn't want to ruin the evening with his own guilt and trying to come up with the excuse of not being able to help her brother and that it was his fault he died. "I… I served. Two tours in Iraq." He tested the waters and immediately should have known not to say anything as he noticed Katie's expression change.

"Oh. Uh, I-I had a brother who served too. His name was Cameron." Her green eyes darted away and fingers tapped on the glass of her water. The brunette's heart sank as pieces began to fall together. She had seen Jonathan Pine before in pictures that her brother sent home. Albeit, he was younger and still very much handsome. Any chemistry that had built between the two was now gone and panic struck Jonathan. "Kate, I'm so sorry I didn't tell you before." He noticed her shift uncomfortably and start to pack her belongings. She froze at the name he called her as only Cameron referred to her by that. "Do NOT call me Kate." Tears welled up in her eyes and she stood abruptly, pulling her money out and nervously shuffling over to where she had to pay. This was the friend who told her brother all of the jokes that he gave unto her. This was one of Cameron's best friends… And the very person who watched him die. She felt around her pockets and noticed her phone was gone. Quickly she head back over and gave Pine one last look, "See you tomorrow." She muttered before rushing out as fast as she could. The pub was relatively close to their flat so she didn't need any sort of guidance. Jonathan grit his teeth together and ran a hand through his short curly locks. Brilliant. Some spy he was. How in the world was he supposed to work with the little sister of the friend he killed while on duty? Only time would tell and Pine certainly hoped like hell that it would heal the wound too.

#the night manager #flowers in blood #the night manager canon divergence #fanfic #jonathan pine x ofc #my writing #writing #angela burr #jonathan pine #rob singhal #ofc #spies in love

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metasnkpotato · 5 years

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Mikasa's rib injuries healed so fast that she was up in about no time but the scar on her face still hasn't healed.It has been 6 ? 7?years (she is an ackerman so it should have healed) and it's still thr which makes me think it has a deeper meaning.The chap was titled"the wound" for a reason. Also, it was the first and only time eren had no control over his titan. Why??Was it a foreshadowing that a titan shifter can lose himself ? yams wouldn't keep drawing that scar for 119 chap for no reason?

Hello !

The reason for this scar is probably more symbolic than script.

I’m not sure that the Ackermans, even if they’re supposed to be products of science, have a greater ability to regenerate than most humans as you seems to imply. Maybe, after all Levi and Mikasa were both healed in much less time than the depth of such their injury would have required as you said… but I think it has more to deal with their willingness to fight and their desire to avoid being sidelined.

Anyway, to go back on the scar, it’s true that it does not make sense for Mikasa to have such a scar (still quite invasive) when it was just caused by a volatile shine. So the fact that it stays is especially important because it’s Eren who’s at its origin.

Mikasa permanently bears on her two traces of Eren which concentrates the duality of her feelings towards him (well, there is her hair too but symbolically the following two are the most important): her scarf and her scar.

Her scarf represents for her the beauty that there is in the world, the warmth of a family and love, and the goodness of Eren.

He scar, on the contrary, embodies his cruelty and Eren’s ability to easily crush her heart.

This duplicity is a principle quite true in love: the love given to the beloved can be as beneficial as destructive when it becomes when one instrumentalizes this love so as to make the other vulnerable. It’s kind a double-edged knife, and eremika is the relationship in snk that embodies that the most (and the maxims that summarizes the heart of the themes touched in snk : “This is a cruel world, yet so beautiful”). That’s why after Eren’s harmful words that killed everything Mikasa has believed so far, she stops wearing her scarf, but her scar remains.

It’s therefore interesting to note that since chapter 112, until chapter 118 at least, all the plans of Mikasa are made so as to highlight the scar.

The fact that Eren’s first reflex as titan, the one where his unconscious monstrosity is the most visible, was to attack Mikasa (and only her, because there were other people around but it’s really her that he was aiming at) shows this hidden / unconscious part of Eren can, physically in chapter 13, emotionnally 112, demolish the most important person in his life.

I also think that it was also put in place screenplay speaking to give a more concrete proof, so as to cast doubt on the sincerity of his statement : “I’ve always hated you”.

It is also interesting to see that in the anime they have decided to parallel on that with Levi and Kenny. Kenny represents for Levi the person who allowed him to survive in the world by making him strong, and the one who lavished on him the warmth of humanity by saving him out of his sympathy.

But he abandoned him, and in doing so, he inflicted a wound that he never recovered of and that he could never understand before he had been able to talk to him properly during their last moments together. In this respect, the dynamic Kenny-Levi ; Eren-Mikasa, “I abandon you for your sake” is similar, and so the result, grief feeling of rejection without understanding it.

*I was re-reading chapter 13 doing this ask, and I found several interesting things to analyze paralleled chapter 112 so I would probably do another post at once to talk about it.

Thanks for the ask, and for giving the opportunity to treat this subject!

#shingeki no kyojin #snk #attack on titan #AoT #shingeki no kyojin meta #snk meta #attack on titan meta #aot meta #shingeki no kyojin analysis #SNK analysis #attack on titan analysis #AoT Analysis #Mikasa #Mikasa Ackerman #levi #Kenny #kenny ackerman #ackerman

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fantroll-purgatory · 6 years

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@time-is-still-a-waste

(This is gonna be fun! I’m sorry if she seems boring though!)

She’s definitely not boring! Themeatically a tiny bit of a mess, but this blog’s got a broom and a dustpan, so we’ll sweep her right into line. From reading through the profile, different things I noticed you mention were optimism, fire/fireworks/explosives, baking, painting, carnivals, phoenixes and therefore implicitly rebirth, a soothing nature and desire to help others…

When you list them all out like that and realize you don’t have a connecting force, it can quickly get a little cluttered-seeming, right?

Well, I have a connecting force. One that’s going to seem like goofily obvious. She should be An Actual Circus Clown. Like not just a fun juggalo ex-cult member but someone who truly believes in the humanesque Principle Of Clownery.

It jives with her optimism and desire to help others because she just wants to make ‘em see the sunny side, she just wants to make ‘em see the funny side! She wants to make ‘em laugh until they cry with- okay I’m done making this carebears joke no one will understand.

Fire easily works for a circus performer, paintings and carnivals obviously work, and rebirth? Well, just take one look at Pennywise.

So now that we’ve got that idea locked in here, we can begin!

Universe: Alternia!

Name: Raizna Ashraz.

“Raizna” was made to sound similar to the word “Raising”, which always seemed to fit her, due to her baking themes (Raising agents), and her optimistic personality (Raising spirits)! Ashraz, simply means “A bundle of torches”, which fits with the fire theme she shares with her Moirail.

I liked the Ra sound and the justification behind the first name, so I wanted to keep it, but I want to do you one better, themeatically. How about Ramkin Ashraz?

Ramkin comes from Ramekin, a small ceramic bowl often used to bake souffles, which, as anyone knows, tend to Rise in the oven. But sometimes they can get too hot and deflate. So, y’know. A fun fact is that etymologically it can be read to mean “little battering ram.”

Age: 8 sweeps, close to 9

Story!: Raizna never really had much luck, with things that happened to her. Being quite unusual for her caste, she (due to no fault of her own, might I add), ended up living with a rustblood, who would later become her moirail. These two, often team up, to set things on fire, but mostly just like fireworks. Preferring to be passive, she tries to hide her own nature, to try and keep her friends safe, to various degrees of success, often baking, and painting to keep up this appearance. When things just started to seem good for the troll, the meteors began falling. This time? She is refusing to think of them as the end. If it would take fighting to survive, then fighting she would do.

I don’t know what the circumstances are, but maybe I can make some recommendations based on the circus clown suggestion I made? She could’ve been a performer for a higher-ranking purple. Then she ditched the church and is here to party with a pal and try to reform himself into someone happier and more pleasant to be around. Getting her anger under control is hard when it was something so accepted as part of a wider cultural persona, but… Baking helps!

Strife Specibus: Bakingkind. (Formerly, Clubkind)

Raizna’s whole theme, was based around baking, and art. So, with a little bit of help, she worked out ways to weaponize her own baked treats.. if only mostly for the aesthetic. She has a set of various pies, filled with explosives, weights and sharp shards of glass, so whoever gets hit with them, gets a nasty (and hopefully explosive) surprise. However, if those aren’t available, she will use a rolling pin, and quite gladly bash people around the face with it.

She could still have a clubkind specibus, since she uses rolling pins as a bludgeon. I think it’s nice for her to keep it on hand. Then she can also utilize, like, juggling torches to whack with.

Fetch Modus: Painting.

Raizna, always finds painting relaxing and loves doing it whenever she can! So, whenever she goes to take something out her modus, she has to paint an image of whatever she wants to get out. The worse she paints it, the worse the condition the item comes out in.

Blood colour: Purple

Raizna, is somewhat of a classic Purpleblood, although she tries her hardest to hide it… to a degree. She still wears her self designed paint with pride. She’s ambitious, stubborn, and a bit emotionally messed up, often hiding her own disappointment with dry and self depreciating humour. However, she is still quite.. volatile, becoming extremely violent when people she cares about are threatened.

Symbol and meaning: Being both Rage, Prospit and Purple, she’s-

TRUE CAPRICORN- THE CAPRICOUS

Honestly I think she might be better off as

CAPRINIUS- THE CREDULOUS.

But we’ll talk about that in a minute.

Trolltag: candiedCarnival [CC]

Candied, is used to reflect her sweet themes, and also to tie in with her sweet personality. It could also reflect her tendency to sugar coat things, that are going on in the world. Carnival, reflects the truth of herself, but also occasionally the fun of them, being places of joy and laughter, things she strives on making people feel.

how about conffectionateCarny, conffectionate is a portmanteau of confection and affectionate, which is a clever way to combine the idea of carnivalous cakes with the idea of her being a sweet person. Carny’s fairly straightforward, but it puts a singular person identifier on it instead of implying she’s the Whole carnival.

Quirk: Raizna isz szuper cheerful! Szo szhe talks with a ton of exclamation marks! Szhe likes adding letters when szhe talks to fit with her name! It’s not like szhe’s bragging or anything! Szhe just likes how it szounds! :}

I gotta be honest, I can’t tell where the sz comes from. She had z’s in her original names I guess? But certainly no sz’s.

What if instead, she replaces her o’s with °‘s? It’s a good reference to her baking interest as well as the theme of fire and heat. Maybe replace P with п? It’s derived from the greek letter Pi, which is a sly reference to Pie! And the letter name means ‘peaceful state’, which implies her interest in making things nice.

Ex: Cheer uп, buttercuп! °r I’ll have t° thr°w a пie in y°ur face!

Special Abilities (if any): Raizna, if perhaps only by sheer nature, is ridiculously resilient . It’s incredibly hard to hurt her properly, or at least. Keep her down. But, if that isn’t counted, she’s just really good at calming people down. It’s like her words have something soothing about them. She does, however have a tendency to get increasing annoyed when doing this, almost like she’s taking their pain, or anger and keeping it for herself.

Now, this isn’t… Purpleblood abilities manifest as a way to keep the lowbloods down. That’s what it’s supposed to be. So maybe you could alter this to be something she really hates having? Something like hideous laughter, maybe? She can use her abilities to make people absolutely lose it with uncontrollable laughter. Maybe she’s trying to work on blunting the effect, somehow? Like making it so that she can make people giggle a little but, but having to suppress the power like that has a negative effect that makes her irritable and headachey?

Ancestor: The Vandal [Aleyna Ashraz, Witch of Rage]

Caught in a war and several rebellions, Aleyna was right at home. Rebelling against her own kind, She’d paint messages of rebellion along the walls of the nobles, with blood that she could find, her own, if necessary.

Quickly gaining fame as a rebel, she kept this image up, stirring up rebellions with her works, and sending messages of danger to those who ruled. This did however, end up with assassins, coming to find for her, only to be led on a wild goose chase. Any of those, that did find her returned back home, scared, although they couldn’t quite describe why.

When the law eventually caught up, she didn’t surrender, and was taken away. What happened to her, was unknown.

Raizna was always interested in her Ancestor, respecting her for speaking up about what she thought was right, in a non-violent way. She often hopes that she had survived, and one day, Raizna hopes that she could do something just as cool.

Ancestors need 8 letter titles! How about The Graphein instead? It’s a Greek word that means To Write and is an etymological root for Graffiti. It still implies the same writing on the walls that you desired, but fits the lettering rules.

Lusus: Her lusus, is a weird combination, of a phoenix and a cat, that she affectionately calls her Birdmum and loves dearly. Raizna often takes food both caught and made to her lusus, as an attempt to return the favour of being brought up by her. Often being very defensive of Raizna, Birdmum often has to guard their hive, meaning she isn’t around very much. They have a mutually caring relationship, and if anything happened to her lusus, Raizna doesn’t know what she’d do.

Purple lusii need to be creatures that cross the land-sea barrier, so Bird Cat doesn’t really satisfy that requirement. Hmm… How about a phoenix turtle instead? Half phoenix, half turtle. It could have feathers on its wings, long tail feathers instead of the short turtle tail. This is because turtles are known to be long-living, so it fits the immortal theme alright. It’s also a sly reference to The Phoenix and the Turtle, which is about a lot of things but The Death Of An Ideal is one of the core themes and it fits well with the hope switch I’ve given to her.

Personality: Raizna is obnoxiously cheerful. Or at least, that’s what most people think. She often goes out of her way, to make people happy, either by feeding away their woes, listening to them, or calming them down with soft words. Often doing things out of her own kindness, many people are drawn to her for aid. She does, have a fondness for helping people, and will often go out of her way to do tasks for people, even if that means beating the hell out of somebody who hurt one of her friends, or stealing. Normally quite calm, she’s often cheerful, always fighting with her own dark urges. When she’s angry, or if her own nature takes over, she can be brutal, murderous and cunning, all the things she often hates about herself. With a deep hatred of lies, and lying, she’s incredibly honest, to the point of being brutally honest sometimes. However, at the top of everything, she puts others first, with very little care for herself.

I really like this base for her personality, like a LOT. I think you should pull some of the clowniness I’ve suggested, though. Maybe have her crack jokes for her friends, or do little performances. Maybe she’s willing to sacrifice her dignity to make her pals laugh. Maybe she’s always willing to throw a pie in her own face to get a giggle. She wants to be a good friend, and she tries to keep up under wraps with these jokes, maybe sometimes with pranks? Just trying to vent it out in any way possible.

The rest of the stuff is really good. Give her a STRONG conviction for honesty, helping people, and doing what’s right. Because convictions are very important with hope-aligned players.

Interests: Baking, Painting, Writing, FLARP (to a degree. She doesn’t play much anymore), Sociology, Fire and “Magic” .

Maybe she plays FLARP but she likes to change the F to mean Funny. Funny Live Action Role Play. You know those people in MMOs who are like high level and terrifying and you’re so scared they’re going to kill your weak little level 1 character? and then they roll up and hand you like 4000 silver for literally no reason and tell you to go buy a horse? That could be her.

You should add a general clowniness here. If she used to use clubs, she probably knows how to juggle! Maybe she could like fire spitting as well. And some pranks! Harmless fun! Fire crackers and noise makers and confetti poppers!

Appearence: Raizna, has never been one to draw attention to herself. She keeps her long curly hair, that’s practically impossible to brush loose. You could probably find a plushie or two in there, if you tried hard enough. Often wearing a plain black shirt, and fluffy black pyjama trousers, she often seems like a mess, to the annoyance of a few of her friends. Quite.. disturbingly, she’s often covered in bright colours, from her painting. However, some lowbloods mistake the paint, for being the blood of people she’s killed, causing uneeded fear.

At all times, she wears her makeup, flame like patterns coating her eyes, and brim of her nose. Streaking down from her lips, are swirls of white and red that stand out against her skin. She virtually never takes off the makeup, and just puts more on each day, without washing the previous day’s makeup off. To keep with her messy theme, she wears soft slippers everywhere. I mean. Literally everywhere. Even when dressed up formally.

She seems cute! I’ll see how I can communicate this in sprite form.

Title: Thief Of Rage.

I’ve always had her, as quite a soothing character, so I figured somebody who stole peoples negative emotions, could be quite a good idea, which is why I originally started with a thief. I couldn’t decide on if I should make her a heart, or rage player.

I eventually decided on rage, and although I don’t think the go to version of the aspect particularly fits her. She can be selfish in a way, so I suppose it still fits!

I think that she’s in a kind of good place, theoretically, as a person. So I think maybe Rogue of Hope might be a good title for her.

She’s someone who cares a lot about others, who has a strong sense of justice and what is right and what needs to be done, and she’s not afraid to do it for others. AND she moves the anger around via her powers. She passively moves hope and positivity and potential onto others, lightening their moods, while actively taking on rage, which she turns into a weapon.

Land: The Land of Fire and Fear.

Raizna’s hive was just destined to be something fiery. I mean, with a phoenix for a lusus that was just fate wasn’t it. She just wasn’t quite expecting it to be on an active volcano. So when she eventually left her hive, and got hit by the freezing cold winds, she decided immediately. Nope. Don’t like cold. Cold things are bad.

So she ran inside again. Like a coward. That was, until said volcano erupted, lava burning away and melting the ice that covered her land. Just her luck. Right?

However, despite all that destruction.. there was something beautiful about the whole ideal. As fire and lava ran across the land that was home, she soon decided one thing.

Maybe destruction can be pretty.

I see what you’re going for here, fire that’s pretty, but… I want to try to push that idea further than just lava flowing over the ground. How about…

Land of Glass and Paraffin, a land where leaping balls of flaming accelerant jump across the land, melting down the glassed surface, creating beautiful swirls, an ever-shifting pattern, molten-hot and deadly, but so wonderfully beautiful you can’t look away. There is always potential for something new, something beautiful, in the mutating surface. But she also has to find hope for the consorts, who live on a molten nightmare planet.

Dream Planet: Prospit.

Raizna, is a Prospit dreamer to a point. She’s optimistic, bubbly and cheerful! However, she does hold some of Derse’s dissatisfaction towards the world, simply due to just how wrong she finds everything. Following what some people do.. would just be lying to herself. Fate, however she does believe in. Fate, and Miracles.

Design:

Horns: I wanted to make them look like the new symbol I gave her. So very curly, fun, and huge.

Hair: I made it a big curly mess just like you suggested. I tried to make the curls come off a lot of larger round shapes, mostly because I wanted to summon the image of a clown wig at least tangentially.

Eyes: Because I liked my own joke too much, I wanted to base her eyes just slightly off of Funshine bear from Journey to Joke-a-lot. And to make her just a little goofy looking, because that was kind of my goal for the whole design, I made her almost cross-eyed.

Mouth: I wanted her to have big scary teeth to hint at her more dangerous nature.

Makeup: I utilized red for some flamey eye makeup, some lines down the face, and the outer part of some cheek dots. I used yellow for her lips and the inner part of the cheek dots to try to bring a bright cheeriness, to hit on some more fire-themed colors, and to make her look goofy, once again.

Shirt: I made the shirt slipping off one shoulder, to aid her messy image. I also like how it bunched the collar of the shirt, because now it’s vaguely reminiscent of a clown frill. I only added a few splotches of blood because her design was already busy color-wise and I didn’t want to overwhelm it.

Pants: I made some loose pajama pants from Karkat’s pants and edited them to be purple. I wanted to carry the yellow down here, too, so she gets stripey pants!

Slippers: They’re just edited from a fan-troll spritesheet to be in her purple color-family.

She’s a really cute character! Thank you for sharing!

-CD

#time is still a waste #raizna ashraz #ramkin ashraz #raizna #ramkin #ashraz #purpleblood #review #redesign #cd review #submission

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symbianosgames · 7 years

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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.

Over the course of my senior year in college, I've been hard at work on a visual novel dubbed Streams of Nurture (hence the conspicuous gap between published articles since August 2016). As both a passion project and academic piece, Streams of Nurture represents an interesting case study for transforming one of my most ancient interests, food production, into an interactive affair that combines the dramatic qualities of an entertainment title with a real-world topic characteristic of serious games. In other words, I wanted to leverage the concept of "learning through play" to create a title that felt both purposeful and engrossing.

With my project officially submitted to the Worcester Polytechnic Institute database, I can now share with you the report detailing the development cycle for the visual novel. Throughout the coming weeks, I shall be publishing a subsection of the report penned for Streams of Nurture. Each part will focus on a particular design and production aspect of the game, from the way the narrative was conceived to the iterative art process that governed the title's presentation.

This first post in a series of game development articles explains the conceptual and research phases that preceded the actual development of Streams of Nurture.

NOTE: I didn't single-handedly develop the game myself. Although I handled the narrative design, coding and writing for Streams of Nurture, my partners Liam Miller and Dave Allen were wholly responsible for the art and audio respectively. As such, the pronoun "we" will be used to acknowledge their invaluable contribution to this project.

Streams of Nurture is a kinetic visual novel that tackles the topic of salmon aquaculture (fish farming), as well as the socioeconomics and cultural factors surrounding the species and the communities who depend on it as both a food source and a symbol of their historical roots.

The game relates the fictional tale of a New Englander who relocates to Washington State to attend Labrador Institute and continue the work of their father, who mysteriously vanished when the protagonist was a toddler. One day, a salmon crisis breaks out, and the plucky Northeasterner and their new friends set out to make things right by adopting sustainable rearing practices that will preserve the wild fish stocks. Along the way, they encounter the quandaries associated with pursuing innovative but potentially beneficial ventures.

At a certain point in the game, players must choose between three different branches that correspond to the farming methods proposed by their in-game allies. Following that decision, the player proceeds through the various stages of the salmon’s life cycle in a controlled environment, learning how to take proper care of the fish with regards to feeding them and monitoring the conditions in which they are being kept.

The goal of this project was to present an important topic seldom explored by the video game medium, while weaving a dramatic and personal narrative that touches on the flaws and relationships of the game’s characters.

Conceptual origins

The idea of creating this project came about when we were contacted by Professors Brian Moriarty and Ralph Sutter in early August 2016 about designing a visual novel for our Major Qualifying Project (MQP), the possibility of which they had pitched the previous academic year (2015-16).

Around that time, we were pondering the idea of creating an educational entertainment (“edutainment”) title that covered topics which had occupied our attention for several years: food production and nutrition. As children, we had developed an interest in pursuing a healthy and varied diet, leading us to visit the supermarket as well as food processing factories in our spare time (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. Salmon curing plant (H. Forman & Son).

http://ift.tt/2p7SPcK

We had also become conscious of the wider cultural, economic, political and economic processes surrounding our dietary choices, and had begun practicing “green consumerism” by researching the food items we purchased on a daily basis, paying particular attention to the way their ingredients were harvested (see Figure 2).

Figure 2. Farm-raised Norwegian salmon for sale.

http://ift.tt/2p7VtQ0

By the time we were invited by Moriarty and Sutter to partake in their proposed project, we felt confident in our ability to do justice to our chosen topic by building a game that would inform players of the methods and practices by which our sources of sustenance are obtained.

Brainstorming

Following conversations with our Professors, we proceeded to generate potential concepts for a visual novel based on our interests in the food industry and healthy eating.

Over the course of a week, we came up with several potential premises for the project. These ranged from a jet-set adventure that would see players learn more about the various food groups anthropomorphized as eclectic deities (akin to Sheogorath from the Elder Scrolls video game series, and his obsession with cheese), to an experience that would revolve around consumers pressuring companies to seek deforestation-free sources of palm oil.

After much deliberation, however, we settled on a topic that we felt would be unique enough to stand out from similar edutainment titles. That topic was aquaculture (fish farming), more specifically the type that deals with the year-round rearing of salmon (see Figure 3), especially given that the global production of seafood has more than doubled over the past few decades.

Figure 3. Norwegian aquaculturist holding an Atlantic salmon.

http://ift.tt/2p84Vmf

There were several reasons we chose this topic from the others we brainstormed. First, the team grew up eating all kinds of seafood, and salmon happened to be one of our favorites for its beneficial omega-3 content that provide potent antioxidation, and the broad range of species that span the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.

Second, the industry around that specific fish was the subject of much interest and criticism surrounding its practices and geographical reach, with main producing regions such as Norway, Scotland, Chile, Australia and Canada harboring farming operations dedicated solely to salmon.

Finally, salmon possess an extensive commercial and cultural history that can be traced back to numerous fishing communities around the globe. We particularly looked at native populations in the Arctic and North America, whose heavy consumption of seafood led to increased awareness of their health benefits, as well as their impact and influence on the cultures, intertribal interactions, fishing technologies, and very religions of the tribes.

Research

After deciding the topic for the project, we dedicated the latter half of August 2016 to researching the methods, socioeconomics, ethics and history of aquaculture. These ran the gamut of hatchery programs in coastal basins, salmon species, real-life fishing towns, and the various corporations that specialized in raising salmon such as Marine Harvest, Cermaq, and Greig.

For the setting, we gathered of information on coastal regions that emphasize the value of seafood to their communities such as New England, Alaska, and the Canadian Maritimes. Ultimately, though, we focused on the Pacific Northwest (see Figure 4) for its wide variety of fish stocks and farming sites, with countless rivers, creeks, and streams offering spawning beds to five salmon species.

Figure 4. Picturesque view of the Pacific Northwest.

http://ift.tt/2p7XUSo

The Pacific Coast is also the homeland of Native American populaces whose history and culture are defined by their environment and the fauna that inhabit it. These include salmon, a species prized by tribes such as the Coast Salish peoples of Puget Sound and the Strait of Georgia who once depended on the fish as a source of food, wealth, trade and identity (see Figure 5) and came to identify themselves as the ‘salmon people’. Their traditional fishing practices were deeply shaped by their reverence for salmon, which were seen as gift-bearing relatives, and were treated with great respect, since all living things were once people according to traditional Coast Salish beliefs.

Figure 5. Salmon on a stick, a time-honored Native American cooking method.

http://ift.tt/2p7Yvnl

In addition to collecting research notes, we frequented local grocery stores and restaurants, including Price Chopper and the Sole Proprietor, to purchase and assess the taste profiles of different kinds of commercially available salmon such as Atlantic and Pacific king salmon (see Figure 6). Given the impact different farming practices have on the juiciness and flavor of the fish, we believed this hands-on experience would allow us to better understand and communicate the multifaceted nature of salmon from both a commercial and gastronomical standpoint.

Figure 6. Ora King Salmon, as served by the Sole Proprietor, Worcester MA.

Original photo by Michel Sabbagh.

Design document

By the time we returned to campus to begin the 2016-17 academic year, we had completed our research on salmon aquaculture, presented our findings to Professors Sutter and Moriarty and began working on the project’s game design document (GDD). This served as an outline of the game’s storytelling aspects (synopsis, characters, themes, etc.) as well as the technical elements that would shape the project’s overall design and structure. Our experience goal, which distills the narrative and educational intent of the visual novel, was summarized as follows:

“Inform the player on the economic, environmental and sociocultural value of salmon so that they can experience, through virtual decision-making and option-weighing, the methods for harvesting the fish in a sustainable manner that will best benefit both the people that depend on it as well as nature in the long term. The emotional arc of the story will include feelings of shock/conscientiousness, perseverance/ingenuity, and pride/redemption. The player should feel as if they are on a moral and personal journey, coming to terms with both regional and personal crises in an attempt to replenish endangered salmon stocks. By the end of the experience, the player should have the knowledge needed to choose sustainable seafood, and also gain an appreciation for sustainability as an indispensable aspect of nature and the human/animal life it harbors.”

Reference items

Along with the documentation the team gathered in August 2016, we decided to get our hands on various items and publications pertaining to seafood sustainability, hoping to further educate ourselves on the details of salmon farming and sourcing.

Figure 7. Sustainably farmed and fished salmon.

Original photo by Michel Sabbagh

The first products we purchased were smoked Atlantic and canned Pacific salmon at Price Chopper (see Figure 7), with the former serving as a major inspiration for one of the routes the player may take in the final game. In fact, the Norwegian farms of Kvarøy and Selsøyvik from which Blue Circle salmon originate are at the forefront of sustainable aquaculture. Their innovative use of lumpfish allows them to keep their farming sites clean and remove deadly parasites such as sea lice without resorting to pesticides or chemicals. Their use of In the Blue fish feed, which reduces pressure on marine resources and minimizes environmental contaminants, inspired us to get our hands on a few samples of actual salmon farming equipment. We acquired a bag of feed pellets from Skretting (see Figure 8), a firm which specializes in the manufacture of high energy pelleted fish feed for commercial fish farms.

Figure 8. Fish feed pellets.

http://ift.tt/2p7XY4A

We also obtained other publications and objects pertaining to seafood to bolster the realism of our visual novel. Plush toys representing three of the most popular commercial salmon proved genuinely helpful (and cuddly) in assessing the general anatomy and physique of the different species (see Figure 9). A variety of books detailed the history, habitat and preparation of the fish, with the taste profiles and nutritional facts for each of the salmon species being explicitly described in one of the seafood handbooks. Information and inspiration from these reference items found their way into the story and dialog of our game, adding to the authenticity and “flavor” of the player experience.

Figure 9. Sockeye/Atlantic/King salmon plush toys

Original photo by Michel Sabbagh

Priority list

As our research notes became broader and more elaborate, we realized that we would have trouble fitting all of the aquacultural information we had scavenged into a single game. Both the potential scope of the project and various routes the player could take to learn more about the farming methods had to be taken into account to understand the implications of fitting all of our findings into the game. It became clear that we needed to prioritize some facts over others to get across the essential facts about salmon farming, or risk the story becoming obtuse or hollow.

As a result, the team decided to create a priority list with Excel to sort and color-code our research according to its relevance and importance in the game’s prologue and branching paths (see Figure 10).

Figure 10. Priority list with color-coded facts.

Original image by Michel Sabbagh

Many facts were general enough to be applied to the story regardless of which route the player took in their play-through (e.g. handling and management of Atlantic salmon brood stocks). Other details were either restricted to particular branches, or deemed too esoteric (e.g. average water temperature maintained at 15-16°C).

We eventually divided our research into primary, secondary and tertiary categories. All primary and (when possible) secondary elements were prioritized for incorporation into the story to ensure that players would understand the basic processes of raising salmon. Tertiary information was assigned to optional dialog trees or in-game reference sources. This priority list helped us manage the scope of the project, which might otherwise have become bloated with unnecessary detail that would hamper both the development and pacing of the story.

Ren’Py

Of all the design choices made before development of the project began in earnest, the choice of game engine was the most straightforward. Because we wanted Streams of Nurture to be a simple-to-navigate title that would lucidly depict its subject matter, we agreed that the Ren’Py visual novel engine would effectively suit the technical and narrative needs of the project (see Figure 11).

Figure 11. Sample Ren’Py tutorial screen.

http://ift.tt/2p7YT57

There are two reasons Ren’Py was selected as the engine for our project. Based on prior classroom experience, we knew it was one of the most forgiving and malleable game engines available for the development of visual novels. Its screenplay-like scripting syntax, combined with ample documentation and tutorials available both online and in the engine itself, would greatly ease the creation and editing of content.

The other reason we chose Ren’Py was that one of our team members, Michel Sabbagh, had gained substantial familiarity with the engine by using it to single-handedly develop an original visual novel, Make Love, Not Politics (see Figure 12) during the summer of 2015.

Figure 12. Screen shot from Make Love, Not Politics (2015).

Original image by Michel Sabbagh

Preparation

From the outset, we knew that our project was ambitious. Its complex, wide-ranging subject matter, combined with a dramatic, multi-branching storyline exploring the intimate traits and relationships of several characters, would be impossible to implement without careful planning.

Our decision to begin the brainstorming, research and documentation processes before the start of the 2016-17 academic year proved essential in solidifying a manageable structure for the project. Without this preparatory period, the project would have suffered from a lack of visionary focus that would undoubtedly have compromised the efficiency of the production phase and quality of the final delivery.

And that's all she wrote (for Part I, at least)! As I mentioned before, more parts will be posted on a weekly basis.

Let me know what you think of my article in the comments section, and feel free to ask me questions! I’ll do my best to get back to you as promptly as possible.

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