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For future reference, people, please be very careful with this sort of wording. I nearly had a frigging heart attack thinking this was going to be something extremely awful.

Not that it isn't important to deal with lesser stuff, too, but gah.

I'll come back to this in a bit.

~Neshomeh

Dearest PPC! Ladies, gentlemen, those who are yet to make up your mind and those who do not wish to do so!

I hate being the bearer of bad news. So before I say anything, I ask all of you to be calm and professional about this. Last thing we need on this last day of the year is another drama to divide us. Once again, I would like all of us to discuss and take appropriate measures in this case, and leave the matter with no negative future consequences.

I, Matt Cipher, would like to file a complaint about the behavior of another member, known as Nord Ronnoc. I am well-aware that a pit between the Board and Discord is vast and treacherous, but let us all gather here, to take care of our members.

Today, that is December 31st, 2017, at 1:24 PM (my time), Nord Ronnoc posted a message in the channel #generic_salt, used to vent mostly about video games and other media. He said as follows:

"People always say 'OMG CARTOONS ARE DYING1!1' or some other form."

During the course of discussion, it was revealed that this was his impression of another member - OpionedAngel - which was ultimately followed by a conclusion of mockery and accusations of stupidity. Without any sort of further comments from the defendant.

Additional comments and messages were delivered, asking Nord Ronnoc to explain his point of view, including one from Moderator Maslab, yet were only met with silence and blissful ignorance, as Nord later on continued participating in the regular chat discussions, pretending nothing has happened.

In absence of any testimony from the defendant, and being given a plenty of time to do so, I wish to make this case public and ask for a case and eventual solution of it. Mockery without explanation is not a major offence, but one that shouldn't be swept under a rug.

Additional Attachments and Evidence:

https://imgur.com/DL201wN

Exhibit A: Initial discussion, Iximaz's plea for explanation.
Exhibit B: Nord's appearance and ignoring the issue despite further pleads.
Exhibit C: Matt Cipher's personal message to Nord, advising him to explain himself. Ignored.

As of this moment, 10:51 PM (my time), not one response was made from Nord.

Thank you for your attention.

Totally enthusiastically without duress. The mail was sent, tell me if there are any problems.

The compromise was tripping my grammaticality detector, which is why I pointed it out.

I remember that thread! That was a cool thread.

Huh. That is way different from the style I'm used to on ellipses. Good to know it's not a mistake.

On top of giving a good impression of New Cal, y'all did a good job of describing people's mental states without spelling it out, which, on re-think, is what I was trying to get at.

The situation isn't particularly confusing, it's just that, as written, there's a possibility for the characters' confusion/denial/naivety to tank the relationship.

- Tomash

Because the last time I tried setting this up, everyone (including me) ended up being way too busy. ^^; Anyway, let's try this again and hope people have more time for it! I'm going to set up the same rules as with my previous attempt, so if anyone wants in, just shoot me an e-mail!

ADMISSION AND SETUP:
1. You need to have Permission and at least two agents to enter this event. You don't have to have the teams participate in their entirety, either - any one of your agents can opt out based on whatever's most convenient for you.
2. All Boarders and agents will be going in basically blind - meaning that nobody will know who sent what until all the gifts have been opened! Hence, in order to enter, send me an e-mail (my address is clickable) with your attending agents and which gift each will bring. This may be either a "souvenir" from a mission you've published previously, or just something they happen to have that they want to give away. As soon as you've sent the e-mail, reply to this post with the word "Sent" and no message content, so everyone will know who's participating.
3. I will take six or seven other Boarders for this year's event, so the first seven Boarders to submit applications will be the ones attending.
4. Anyone with Permission can host this event. One of their agents must serve as an in-universe host for this event, but all agents are required to participate as players, including the host. I will confirm who the host will be if and when anyone steps forward - otherwise, Falchion will be the host this year. (My other participating agents will be my DIC and DMS-VG teams, but no other agents of mine will be participating, for some very spoilery reasons.)

EVENT RULES:
5. Once everything's been set up, preferably on New Year's Day, the Boarder volunteering the event host will set up an introductory post on the T-Board for this event. The most important rule: NOBODY MUST KNOW WHAT THE GIFTS ARE UNTIL THEY'VE OPENED THEM. All of the gifts will be wrapped and put in a big pile at the start of the game.
6. Once I've tallied the full list, I'll provide a list of the players, and a list of the gifts, but not a list of who sent what. The starting player will then be selected at random. Then when that player opens a gift, the agent who submitted it must speak up and confirm that they were the one who did so. Then that agent is the next to play! Thus, in general, the person who will play during each turn is the one who volunteered the gift revealed during the previous turn.
7. For each turn, the agent currently in play can either choose a gift from the pile (I'll provide the full list of gifts on the Posting Board) or, if others before them have already chosen gifts, they can "steal" a gift from the previous owner. A gift can be stolen up to twice; after that, it is locked to the agent it's ended up with, and cannot be stolen again. Note also that if a gift is stolen from any agent, THEY CANNOT STEAL IT BACK.
8. The game ends once everyone has received a gift. Since the first agent cannot steal, he/she will be given the choice to steal after everyone else has played.

And there you have it - hopefully this year we'll actually HAVE a Gift Exchange. Again, if anyone wishes to participate, just send me an e-mail with the agents planned to be involved and the gifts they'll be bringing. Good luck! :)

The hill is just referred to uncapitalized as "the cemetery hill" in its earliest appearances. I guess I'm torn between just continuing to refer to it that way and making it a proper name.

HQ totally has an economy! Mostly trade-based, also with some sort of system for exchanging all the many canonical currencies that people get their appendages on. (May vary per establishment/writer discretion.) There was a really fun thread about this a couple years ago.

All the ellipses are spaced like that. It's a Chicago-style thing.

There is a Monster Book of Monsters loose in the halls of HQ. Have fun with it! {= D

Re. imagery, I really wanted to give a better impression of New Caledonia than we've had before. I'm glad it works!

And I wouldn't say we're ship-teasing, nor trying to make the situation particularly confusing... but the characters themselves are confused and/or painfully naïve and/or in denial, so there is that. {= )

~Neshomeh

This was adorable! I loved all the imagery, especially the Flamel Fountain, and the dialogue at the end was A+. This was so heartwarming! :D

My thoughts as I was doing this: Hey, what could go wrong, hmm? The answer: Everything! XD Much thanks to Iximaz for beta-ing. As this is five pages long, I shall post in Google Doc form. Hope y'all enjoy!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1j6m06xLaikiDOoxdI81g6_Ps1LYOXgnZpli8BslVPG4/edit?usp=sharing

The lack of comma was to show how fast Daichi was saying it, I believe they're usually used for slight pauses.

Thank you! I aim to torture my readers, apparently.

So I like the stylistic choices you were making in the end. Those really brought to life the desperation and the emotion Kara was feeling. You have some syntax I frown upon- in particular, the "don't worry Mum!" in the 4th line looks to me like it should be "don't worry, Mum!" Other than that, I really like it! It starts of pretty typical PPC, then it's got some foreshadowing, and it ends with a pretty big punch. I like it :D

• I'm liking how the opening two paragraphs characterize Ilraen and Farilan's attitudes towards each other
  - Or do they? That summary was oddly insistent
  - As is that next bit, where Farilan is concerned about the scar
  - Ok, Ilraen needing to explain Christmas presents is cute
  - Well, handing over the Monster Book of Monsters could've gone worse
  - "If she'd had eyebrows at that moment, she would have raised one." is good
  - The thing with Ilraen cutting off the string of names was a nice touch
  - That was a good discussion of clothes
  - Farilan's got a point about the balance
  - Minor wording nit: Is it "the Cemetery Hill" or just "Cemetery Hill"? I'd've used the latter.
  - Ilraen has good taste in introductory food, and I'm liking the vague nod to the fact that HQ probably has an economy of some sort
  - "Ilraen, did you take me out here to teach me, or to romance me?"
  - Nice save, Ilraen. And, hey friends is good
  - (on reread) "doing her best to look dismissive" is a good way to show what Farilan thinks about this
  - Human stuff for Homeworld stuff is a good conversation thing
  - (on reread) Y'll've got a four-dot ellipsis after "scoops". Unless that's meant to be "... .", in which case you've got extra spaces in your ellipsis.
  - Museums of lost writing do sound like a thing Farilan would like
  - IIRC, hands to the face were an intimate gesture for Andalites, so the vague hint of one ... Are you two ship-teasing?
  - Hi, Monster Book of Monsters. Wasn't expecting to see you there at the end.
  - gets to Ix's author's note They're going to start dating. I'm calling it now.
  
  Review-y bit:
  
  So, first impressions. One thing that stood out for me was the vivid imagery throughout the piece. Like, it wasn't verbose, but y'all did a good job of putting together good (and sometimes funny) descriptions of things.
  
  I like how the whole situation played out.
  
  I personally really enjoy reading non-human perspectives on humans (and vice versa), so I have to say I liked those bits and that I wouldn't've objected to more (but I am an outlier here I suspect).
  
  Hm. Crit. Aside from the minor typos in the list above, the only other bone I could see myself picking (and I'm debating with myself about whether this is an issue) is that "The time passed far too quickly. Soon Ilraen's two hours were almost up" leaves "and then for a while, more of what we just saw" a bit implicit. I inferred that from context, but it maybe could've used a few more words to specify. Maybe? It's nearing midnight, I'm not sure.
  
  - Tomash

I meant to include the Gdocs link, too, but forgot, because I am derp. Here it is:

Also "Third Kind."

~Neshomeh

"Third Kind"
In which there are close alien encounters.

Timeline: Early 2016.
Rating: PG/K+ - Just a platonic study date and absolutely nothing more. Nope.
Beta: Delta Juliette.

... We're only like a year and a half behind the actual events. Shush. >.>

~Neshomeh

I mean, I am hooked. I am interested, and it's good to see a main character whose parents are still alive...
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Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no. No! Ixi, do NOT get any ideas from what I've just said!

((Thank you, Calliope mah dahling, for betawork!))





The End-of-Year Feast at Beauxbatons was something else. Mason couldn't help but smile, seeing the tables slowly filling with solid gold bowls, dishwares, and plates the size of police shields, all containing one delicious food after another. He could see various types of roasted meat, grilled vegetables, boards of cheese and baskets of bread, big pots of aromatic stews... Despite the last night's celebration at the Hogwarts' quarters, everybody seemed to have room for more food. After all, it was the last day, all the important guests had already gathered, and the 2014 Triwizard Tournament was about to officially end.

Looking over at the Hogwarts guest section, Mason saw his friends in their usual environment. Paul and Oscar were too busy stuffing their faces and quite animatedly discussing something. Next to them was Lydia, who met Mason's gaze and gave him an excited two-thumbs-up! He wasn't exactly sure why, seeing as their school came out of the competition tying with the host for the exact number of points, so could it really be considered a second place?

Over at the Champions' table discussions also kept on going. Mason noticed on his left Gentry de Saint-Germain speaking vigorously to Headmaster Colbert. The man was seemingly letting his students talk out all of his problems and issues (at least that's how Mason saw it), but it seemed like he was dozing off a little bit, almost dumping his elbow into a bowl of stew. On his right, Mason saw Alva Krieger calmly eating her breakfast. She and Headmistress Borisova weren't talking much, subtly ignoring other guests by answering their questions with one or two short words.

Mason smiled. Both Gentry and Alva were fierce competitors, and he couldn't have picked better people to give him a run for his Galleons. Then, by the end, if it wasn't for them, he would certainly be in a worse condition than a broken arm. He looked at Headmistress McGonagall but found her chatting with the French Minister for Magic, and therefore decided it wouldn't be the smartest idea to interrupt them.

After the Feast has finally ended, and the official and unofficial goodbyes were exchanged, the students from the visiting schools started gathering by their designed modes of transportation. The Durmstrang ship was ready to sail, and the Hogwarts Express’s whistle rang once again. While exiting the gates of the school, the guests were led by a water salute that sprouted out of the Flamel Fountain. The statues of both Nicolas and Perenelle shot out water from their wands, which turned into a breeze that fell onto both groups of students, who were now laughing and squealing as they rushed towards their vehicles.

'Hey, Branwen!' Mason turned around and saw Alva and Gentry standing behind him. Some of the students from others schools were giving them passing looks, or whispering to each other. Alva was holding the Triwizard Cup above her head, and Gentry had the same smug smile the first time the three of them were gathered together. He was repelling the water droplets with a sort of invisible umbrella.

'Leaving? Vithout zaying au-revoir?' Gentry asked. 'Oh, 'onestly, Mason, vere are your manners?'

'Well, I was considering ditching you two at breakfast, but the vision of food was too tempting,' Mason replied, giving them a sly grin.

'Truly, an English gentleman to the core.' Alva rolled her eyes and both of them stepped closer. Almost at the same time they'd extended their fists.

'So?' she continued. 'When are we seeing you again?'

'You're not gezing rid of us zat easily, mon ami,' Gentry added.

Mason stared at their gesture. He then sighed and bumped their fists with his only available arm. 'I'll be there, whenever either of you gets into trouble.'

'You rock, Branwen.' Alva moved closer and kissed him on the cheek. 'But don't get cocky,' she whispered into his ear before adjusting her fur coat and leaving the boys behind.

Gentry was first to regain his speech. And his smug smile. 'Vell, vell, vell...'

'Say one more word, Frenchie… One more word, I dare you!'

The Sue could be one of 'em summoner types. Summoning swords and all. Or she had multiple swords, take your pick.

*cackles*

Everything about Lilianna gave me the worst creepy-crawly feeling down my spine... which I suppose means you accomplished what you meant to do. My heart goes out to Agamemnon. Poor kid. :(

There is one thing I will note, though—why did the Sue leave her sword in Daichi's body rather than taking it with her?

The ending was definitely this piece's strongest point. Kudos for that. :)

Unfortunately, I haven't have the time to write those previous stories that led to their relationship becoming the way it is now, but the lead-in to and the aftermath of that critical event I've been teasing the Board about for some time now will probably explore said relationship in more detail, including its origin and the way these two have gotten to understand each other up until now. We'll see how my PPC writing turns out in 2018!

Thank you for the kind words, and I'm glad you liked it! Unfortunately, since I haven't been able to write pretty much ANYTHING noteworthy PPC-wise this year aside from a couple of interludes and ficlets, mostly related to Falchion and his team, I haven't been able to showcase WHEN Whitney and Backslash's relationship began - but let's just say that it'll start happening after some very critical events I'm still planning which, in-universe, happened on Christmas of 2016, which was actually hinted at in the interlude proper. Their relationship upgrade has been in the works for a while and I've pretty much now spoiled the fact that it's led up to this proposal, but I still have to figure out HOW it began and it has some connections with said critical events, along with Falchion's team. We'll see how my writing muse fares next year if Real Life doesn't obstruct it! ^^;

As for your two nitpicks, "avert" DOES mean "avoid", as in "avert your eyes" being used to mean "don't look". And as for "Whitey", that was a slip of the tongue on Backslash's part during the events of "Good Knight and Good Luck", and he's been using it as an affectionate nickname for her since then.

Thanks for the concrit! (Also, that Sun is creepy.)

I will admit that I could've done better description wise - 6AM copout can be used here. Thanks for givin' me a few pointers, will be sure to take that into account next time. ^-^

Okay, this is not a bad piece. Despite several initials grammar things (or it might just be me being an ESL again), I do like it. Short and creative, especially the jabs taken at the descriptions (I did geniuenly chuckled at the winking Sun... Ughh... creepy). Maybe a little too short, but it always has room for more.

There could've been a little more to Kara's feelings themselves, instead of just stating the obvious. Especially the "Shocked didn't even come close to describing her" part made me think 'Actually, there is some things you could describe her'. Maybe she felt cold, seeing the gruesome scene. Maybe her hands started trembling. Maybe she felt a sour taste in her mouth, holding down a retch. Maybe tears were already rolling down her eyes, as if she knew what was going to happen, despite telling herself otherwise.

Overall, as much as I don't like sad scenes, I don't mind this. You have your idea and you have your established characters. Nothing stops you from doing it! Just like the great Jedi Master Shia said: JUST! DO IT!

Instead of thinking about what you magic can actually do, try thinking about how it actually occurs. So, let us conduct a bit of a case study here. I will use the systems from Fullmetal Alchemist and Eragon. (Say what you will about inheritance cycle, but I do like the magic system for having simple rules, yet allows for some complexity in usage.) Read the last 2 paragraphs if you don't want spoilers.

So first, Fullmetal Alchemist. Alchemy is essentially transmuting one material into another. That answers "what", pretty basic, but not very detailed. But, its the rules and workings of alchemy that gives it detail. Here are a few:
- Alchemy is done via a transmutation circle.
- The transmutation circle can be pre-drawn such as the case of Roy Mustangs gloves.
- Different circles must be drawn for different processes.
- One does not need a circle if they have seen the gate of truth.
- There must be an equivalent exchange, one cannot "create too much from too little"
- A philosopher's stone does not circumvent equivalent exchange, but rather is a source of "cost" that can be used to increase what is created, once it is used up, one can no longer "break" equivalent exchange unless a new one is acquired.
- Philosopher's stones are created from human souls, how long one lasts depends on how many souls it has. The souls get used as a substitute cost.
- A Philosopher's stone can be split into many portions so long as each portion contains at least 1 soul.
- The cost of alchemy is payed through the gate of truth which exists in every person
- One can no longer perform alchemy if they lose their gate.
- And so on and so forth...

As for Eragon, magic is a real physical effect invoked by a spell. And like a detailed magic system, it has rules:
- Spells are spoken in the ancient language.
- What is said in the language is what happens.
- Spells can be as long as need be for precision.
- Spells cost as much energy as it would have required if the effect was done manually.
- Overexerting oneself results in death.
- One can outsource energy cost to other living things.
- One can store energy in precious stones.
- Grammar is important.

So, as you can see, what gives magic detail isn't what the magic can do, but how the magic works. A good analogy is physics. What makes physics complicated isn't what it is, but is the absurd number of rules and concepts that it has, laws of physics such as Newton's laws of motion, Maxwell's equations, particle-wave duality etc. Similarly, to add detail to your magic, you could create a set of rules, the laws of magic, if you will. Once you do have a set of laws, you can then extrapolate some gimmicks the magic might have. For example, in Eragon, instead of saying "die" a magic user could say "sever his carotid artery" instead to save energy. The end result is the same, but the cost is different.

As for the races, spicing it up isn't really necessary since this is urban fantasy. One trait of the genre is that creatures that appear in myths have been living along side us all this time. But, there is a way to differentiate from high fantasy and that is to diversify your races, essentially make it less homogenized. How might orcs from different areas of the world have developed differently? This also happens to solve the region problem in my previous post, just make regional variants of existing races that somewhat match mythical descriptions. For example, you could say that Rakshasas are simply a variant of Oni. Just an idea.

I just put a couple minutes into working on it, and looking at other people's, I sorta realized I could've made it longer. I was struggling to find some content at the end, but next time I bet I'll be able to close it off right.