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Does that mean "I mean" is the latest symptom of the braindeath of the world's youth?

Because, you know, er, that's like, a thing, right?

^_~

~Neshomeh

To be fair, it wasn't awful before—there were references, courtesy of HG (and thank you!), but they needed proper formatting. Otherwise it was kinda disorganized and sketched in, like a lot of these pages, and there was a pretty obvious editorial disagreement about the existence of "Agent" Murphy. Like, okay, I don't think THAT Murphy probably works for Legal either, really, probably, even if Agent Meg thinks so... but the place to fight about it is the Board or a Talk page, yeah?

Anyway, having now studied the matter, I'm pretty sure the Antigravity Apple and the Fern are BOTH heads of Legal. They're both on the flash patch, after all. *g* They probably just switch off who takes the credit/blame sometimes, and the Apple handles DIAU on the side because it's a small department and it probably just felt like it. Chaos!

~Neshomeh

...a filler phrase. Like "like" or "um". Except, like, it sort of bleeds into writing as well—my guess is because it's longer and feels less like an actual filler to us.

I mean, that's how I sort of interpret it, anyway. :P

Phobos and I are nearly finished with the second season, so while I have to say season two is not as good as season one, it's still full of a lot of the same elements that make season one really great. The perspective is fresh and interesting, the characters are likeable and engaging, and the mystery of what happened and why gets a bit more attention.

Also there's a whole character arc with the young bard, Isuzu, and how the world only has 42 songs, and it kinda drags its heels a bit, but music literally makes the world a better place! That's my jam. ^_^

~Neshomeh

So, like, what does "I mean" mean? This is only bugging me because both you and Twistey used the phrase in near proximity to each other. I use it myself.

But why? What does it signify? It's not literal, because declaring that you literally mean what you're about to say is redundant in most instances.

Is it ironic? Does it signify that you're about to say something you don't mean literally, or that the statement will require interpretation beyond the literal?

That seems to fit the two examples I'm looking at. What Twistey actually means (I think) is that the Star Wars prequels are not considered very good, so looking for a sensible character motivation in them is, perhaps, a waste of time.

And what you actually mean (I think) is that if hS or anyone else really wanted to know what this thing is, it's possible to find that information rather than being silly and poking fun at it/you.

Did y'all forget this is the PPC Posting Board? Trying to find logic in the absurd and taking serious things silly is what we do here. {; P

~Neshomeh

But you were talking about this one like it was just an idea, like you hadn't started it yet, which now feels like a deception in hindsight. Since we already know you got ahead of yourself with writing, don't pretend you haven't done things you've already done, okay? Just be honest. We're way more likely to forgive honest enthusiasm than we are to forgive lies and cover-ups. {= )

~Neshomeh

Agreed, it's not that he wanted to fall to the dark side. He saw it as unavoidable if he were to save his love. He realized, perhaps, that the Jedi had been utterly blind when Palpatine revealed himself. He realized that he couldn't trust them anymore if they couldn't find a Sith lord right under their noses. And then he tried to rationalize everything, to stick to doctrine, by reporting his findings to Windu. And then he realized (with telepathic help from Sidious in the movie) that while he could be (relatively) certain of saving Amidala with the knowledge offered by Palpatine, according to the Chancellor himself at least, he feared that the Jedi would give him only condemnation and exile, because they'd been so stubborn on attachment beforehand.
See, if I were Anakin I would've fired up my lightsaber and lopped off Palpatine's head once he admitted he had lost the knowledge I so desperately needed. It seems a more logical solution than sticking with him when he admits he can't deliver on his offer. And then I would get the attention and validation from the council that I so desperately craved, by virtue of being the one to take down the Sith Lord. Hell, maybe I could use my confirmed status as the Chosen One to bring about reforms that would let me stay with my wife, but that would probably be wishful thinking. But with the immediate crisis over, who knows? Maybe the foundation of the Order could be revisited...
Of course, then the original trilogy would be reduced to an AU....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larklight

Or at least, betrayed first.

I don't doubt for a second that the love between Anakin and Padmé was real. I think Anakin knew, in his heart, that their relationship was good for both of them . . .

. . . And yet, his fellow Jedi are always talking about how love is bad, feelings are bad, getting attached to people is bad . . .

And when Padmé's life was threatened, at least in Anakin's dream-visions, and he feared for her safety, what help did he get from his Jedi teammates? None. Let that person go. Focus on upholding social and political order. The system that Anakin had lived within since the age of ten gave him no help, no way to protect the one person he cared for the most.

It's not that Palpatine was so very charming or persuasive to Anakin. It's that Palpatine was throwing Anakin literally the only rope, the only possible way out. The Jedi betrayed Anakin first.

(At least in his mind.)

As for attacking the younglings, and later Padmé herself? I'll admit, neither of those really follow from my reading. It may be that the intense guilt Anakin felt from helping to kill Mace allowed Palpatine to further influence his mind in a way he hadn't been able to before. Or maybe, even more darkly, finally throwing off the rigid tenets of the Jedi code from his moral being led Anakin to finally succumb to the desire for power he had already been entertaining before that point (and a desire that was already tied to his love for Padmé, wanting to be strong enough to protect her). But due to the nature of the Force in that universe, the obsession with power finally corrupted his heart to the point that it eclipsed even the love that had originally fueled it.

—doctorlit, rather fond of the prequels

Nor am I going to until I get Permission. :)

And probably grumbled a little at the extra work, but it'd have been my fault for not asking first. :"D First I saw Luxury's Wiki page that said they could both be used, which is why I'd picked Sean and started writing without asking, but I realized halfway through that things are a little different.
I've written two, plus an interlude. I'm not planning on writing anything else until I get Permission - maybe another interlude at most, if I feel like it, but no missions from now on. I just needed to get these two out of my system.

What were you going to do if we'd said Sean shouldn't be used?

How many missions have you already written, by the way?

~Neshomeh

If it's any consolation, it caused a great deal of pain to me, too. And yeah, no, Sean's not particularly helpful in the mission I wrote, he's mostly there as an extra hand (and has a comedic moment or two). I figured that untangling this mess would take more than just two rookies.

Obvious troll is obvious, and it takes a lot to make me want to spork my own eyes out these days, but damn, that did it. Ooo-ee. o.o You sure you want to start THERE? You wanna bring poor Sean back and subject him to THAT?

Not necessarily saying it shouldn't be done. I'm just sayin' that if Sean's been lost in a plothole or something all this time, he may not have any more intestinal fortitude than the raw rookies, and remember, he's almost as much of a flake as Lux. If the plan is for him to be helpful, I'd rethink the plan. He's more likely to be comically UNhelpful—which would be good for distracting the rookies and the audience from the terrible things happening in the fic, which could work.

Naturally, these are not questions that need immediate answers, as Permission comes first, but that's my two cents anyway.

~Neshomeh is going to steal some of Nume's Bleepka now.

I have two agent characters already with written missions (although of course I won't publish those yet), plus another one I'm still working on.

... are you sure you weren't asleep and dreamed the whole thing?

I mean, are you positive?

^_~

hS

(Actually to be honest it sounds like something out of Space Captain Smith, which interestingly enough if you say that name three times it automatically summons a Scapegrace to the thread.)

Yeah, maybe chalk the abrupt transition up to having to cram things into a single movie? Can't really make an episode 3.5 to flesh things out more...
I mean, this isn't technically the first time he's killed kids, either. RIP Sand People in episode 2. Maybe the red mist just descended again with the help of the dark side of the Force, and he went berserk? Or he felt he had no choice; I never really got the impression he enjoyed it...

Except we know that's not true, even though Yoda thinks it is.

"If you leave now, help them you could; but you would destroy all for which they have fought, and suffered."

Except, um... he didn't. Luke's interference (in distracting Vader) saved everyone except Han, and definitely didn't destroy the Rebellion. Unless Yoda was looking into the deep future, with a 'if you find out Vader's your father, then one day your nephew will turn into a Vader cosplayer', Yoda was just wrong.

I mean, look at this:

"Death is a natural part of life. Rejoice for those around you who transform into the Force. Mourn them, do not. Miss them, do not. Attachment leads to jealousy. The shadow of greed, that is."

The Republic is at war. The Jedi Order's whole thing right then is keeping people from dying. Plus, if a Republic Senator is in danger, that tells you something's seriously wrong - they should be safe on Coruscant! You don't have to dive headlong into paradox mode to take heed of the warnings from the Force.

I like your 'selfishness' interpretation more than the 'destiny' one. Anakin refused to tell anyone any details of his visions; he refused to accept that maybe he wasn't the best person to help; and he got so wrapped up in himself that he stopped noticing her at all.

Still doesn't explain how he went from 'I need him' to 'wooo, kiddy murder!' in about a minute and a half, though.

hS

I believe the real message is the danger of trying to defy destiny. He ended up killing her himself and fulfilling his nightmares of her dying. The novelization (which is excellent) implies that he thought she was in an affair with Obi-wan. And also that he was so wrapped up in thinjing about himself that he didn't stop to think about her. Which, quoth the epilogue, is the real revenge of the Sith, for now himself is all he will ever have as he wakes up as Darth Vader.

https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Hyperborea

...and they cited the Wikipedia article for Thule:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thule

Oddly enough, RW combines the two fictional places, whereas Wikipedia does not. Hmm.

-Twistey
P.S. (Y'know what RationalWiki also does? Cite our Wiki's page on Twilight goodfic in their article on Stephenie Meyer. :D)
P.P.S. Before you get on me about using RationalWiki, I'd like to say that I don't always agree with them (especially given that they're largely antitheist), but mainly use it for taking inspiration from pseudoscience or for entertainment.

I found Larklight on a bookshelf in my classroom in... oh, say fourth grade? fifth? Probably round about then.

I don't remember much about it, but I distinctly remember it being... weird. Really distinctly weird.

-It's about two twins that live in a house that orbits the moon.

-They get a visit from "Mr. Webster" of the "Royal Xenological Society," who is a giant white spider who's trying to kill them and take the house.

-The rest of the book features them attacking the giant spiders from beyond the solar system.

-There are moon moths that grab them when they escape the house.

-And alien pirates.

-Did I mention that this is all set in some weird steampunk 1700s-esque era where the British empire is a spacegoing power that travels through the Aether?

-Colonists to Venus got turned into trees by pollination, through some kind of disease.

It is trippy as all heck. Like, almost as much as Sharkboy and Lavagirl, but it feels a hell of a lot more well-developed. And it's so bizarrely memorable that I still remember it despite having probably not read or even seen it in almost a decade.

That's one of the things you need in your Permission attempt, your own agent bios. It shows that you know how to create a PPC character that's not going to be overpowered, etc.

-Twistey

Okay, this is possibly (probably?) a stupid question, but: why did Anakin Skywalker fall to the Dark Side? My memory of Revenge of the Sith is that he told Mace Windu that Palpatine was a Sith Lord, which is the act of a Jedi. He then walked in on Mace and Palpy fighting, with Palpatine claiming that his Force Lightning was a self-defence move, rather than the blatantly obvious attack it was. And then Palpy told him he could save Padme, and Anakin went 'welp, time to murder a Jedi Master and then go massacre some kiddies!'.

What... what happened in there? Does this mean the stuffy ol' Jedi Order was 100% correct about insisting that Jedi shouldn't be allowed to fall in love? The Light Side of the Force can't actually save people's lives from vaguely-defined Death, so even if Yoda and Obi-Wan had run Anakin's bachelor party, we would still have hit 'the Dark Side says it can save her when I can't'.

But I can't believe George Lucas' final message was 'love is terrible and leads to killing kids'. So why does Anakin fall - and what path would have led to him not doing so?

hS