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I think that you don't need the extra reach of a katana to assassinate someone, and it would be less practical to carry a longer sword. PPC agents seem to do a lot of waiting, hiding, and other such activities unfriendly to bearers of large objects.

I've got the halloween Eevee, with cape and top hat, so a tropical Murkrow is a lovely counterpart.

Not much else to say. I liked it, just wanted you to know. :)

I myself am a newbie, so ignore that!

Keep the plushie though. It's very cute.

"Welcome back?"

She's kind of been here for a while now. :P

...I'm kidding, this place is actually pretty okay.

Welcome back! Your introductory gift is this limited edition Hawaiian Vacation Murkrow beanie baby. Only 200 were made, and I own 199 of them. You own the 200th!

Here's to many more years!

It was AMAZING. The character development was excellent. I daresay you’ve outdone the Orignal Series itself.

And the cat may well have been the best part, though that may just be my liking of cats talking.

Thank you for writing, and your betas for beta-ing! ;)

In August 2003 (as far as I've been able to recall), a newbie by the name of Techno-Dann joined the PPC. He had a lot of enthusiasm and not that much experience- the PPC, then as now, was a welcoming enough space that this wasn't a problem.

That was fifteen years ago, now, and a lot has changed with me- and I can track a reasonable amount of it back to this community. Where did I start to understand transness? Here. Where did I learn about peoples' experiences? Here. Where did I get sucked into the chaos of NaNoWriMo? Here.

Here's to fifteen more years of chaos, writing, and discovery!

*hands out red pens and PPC bumper stickers to all*

*hands you some white chocolate bark... or you can have dark chocolate, if you like that better!*

Though, I feel like I should ask - how old are you? ^^; Or, a better question - where did you find out about the PPC?

... sort of.

Shipverse: Inhibitions is a Javascript kludge wherein you are tasked with initiating romance between a whole range of agents. Admittedly, they may not want to have romance initiated at them - but what difference does that make*?

And yes, if you play long enough, it does have unlockable features. Some of which even work!

hS

*Quite a lot, in real life. But this is gaming!

I can't guarantee it'll run, but the files are still there.

I actually got halfway through making a sequel to that; it was much better. And also much more complicated. Which is why it was abandoned.

You met Leonard of Quirm, it was a whole thing.

hS

Name: Skater (pseudonym)
Age: ~15 or 16. He's not telling.
Home continuum: World One
Appearance: White teen with messy blonde hair who perpetually wears sunglasses because they look cool. He also has dog ears attached to his head that match his hair (see History).
Personality: Skater is quite absent-minded. Paying attention to something important that he isn't interested in is difficult, and he is easily distracted and prefers to busy his mind with some daydream. Skater also often forgets himself and many things that he needs to do, ranging from reporting a broken Disguise Generator to forgetting to pack Bleeprin. Skater likes to absorb himself in something he really likes to do and is annoyed when he is interrupted while doing that thing. He can get worked up and begin to stress out over small things if given a chance and a lack of sleep. He tends to monologue to anyone who is willing to listen. He does not have social skills and can say things that would be misinterpreted by others, or misinterpret others' words. He is somewhat literal-minded, feeling the need to explain every joke away, and has a hard time judging the intentions of others. He tries too hard to solve a problem himself and avoids asking for help. While he is kind with a very strong sense of justice, striking up a conversation with him will eventually lead to him saying something that sounds rude or judgmental without even meaning it. He comes down hard on himself all too easily, which can lead to some pretty angsty scenes, and it's up to his partner to show him that it's not the end of the world. He has a low tolerance for teasing and a lower tolerance for being called a furry.
History: Skater arrived at the PPC through plothole, like many others. During his training, he volunteered for an experiment devised by the Department of Analytical Science to be infused with energy harvested from plotholes, thinking that he would get superpowers. This turned out to be an unfortunate case of Wrong Genre Savvy as his body could not contain the energy and it leaked out a lot, wreaking utter havoc on his psyche and transforming him into an alter ego known as the Phoenix. During his Phoenix phase, he was vulnerable to ego explosions, being a hot-blooded anime protagonist, and completely breaking down because something reminded him of his time as a Suethor. He was partnered with Kuro in the DMS, but after two successful missions and a failed third one, it was clear his state had gotten worse and he was unfit to be an agent anymore. After a long time in FicPsych and then an insane asylum, his condition had mostly improved and he returned to the PPC, where he joined the Department of Floaters. However, when he returned, he was in for a very big surprise.
Abilities: He likes wielding a battle axe, but can function with other weapons. Also, what little power he retained from the experiment allows him to kill non-canons that shouldn't be able to die, basically bypassing immortality.
IMPORTANT: Don't get Skater started on fictional deities. Please don't.

It’s called “desperately trying to defend yourself against someone with fire powers”.

You’re definitely right about Avada Kedavra. Trivialising the Unforgivable Curses is a bit of a bad habit of mine.

As for the characterisation... I usually write the characters and develop them as I go along. Obviously I can’t do that here, so I’ll have to try a different way.

Thanks for your help!

We have the same fandoms! Yippee! Have some hydrogen-helium atom fusion bunny ears, on the condition that you don’t ask what they are...

Oh, all right! I once played a game where you went round in a circle, the first two people said a thing, and the third had to define the first two words.
That was one of the things that I had to define.

Definition at the time: “Each hydrogen atom has a bunny ear, so that when they fuse together the helium atom has two bunny ears.”

Sorry, Twistey, for my second chemistry-mangling newbie gift in a row!

Because, who are we kidding, we all knew that was coming from someone. :-P

Okay, to be fair I was talking to Nesh as this was being written. But I still saw it coming before that. :-)

...On an only vaguely related subject, why don't I have any flannel right now? It's warm and cozy and nice to wear during the cold New England winters.

*Goes off to find flannel while not kissing men.*

*...Well, not WHILE finding the flannel, anyways.*

In which Shift Twentieth of the Janitorial Division are assigned a bit of Mound Duty, the poor gits.
They probably deserve it. Don't feel pity or remorse, but point, and laugh, and fling peanuts, for they are mere circus animals for your amusement!

Endless thanks to my betas who were all great and who all did a fantastic job translating my dirty Larfscribblings into legible English!

The whole "wakizashi are stealthier weapons" thing is a bit of a false premise. The wakizashi was also used primarily as a direct combat weapon, usually as a backup for the katana or in smaller spaces where a katana would be more unwieldy.

I personally think having a katana as a weapon is fine, agents have used larger weapons and knowing kenjutsu isn't exactly a suvian trait.

. . . I don't know who to say "by," actually. It's an Isaac Asimov novel, but I never realized the novel is an adaptation from an earlier screen play. So this is a weird example of the film coming before the book—which technically means I've broken my "consume the original first" rule, but eh. Film isn't really my medium of choice for fiction consumption.

Spoilers follow for Fantastic Voyage. There is one major spoilery plot point, so if you're at all interested in reading it, don't read any further.

About a year ago, I went on a completely unnecessary and wasted Jules Verne kick. (Wasted because apparently the English translations of his stuff are terrible translations, so I may not even have gotten the stories and Verne intended anyway.) Having a vague idea of the plot of FV due to the many 90s cartoons that ripped off its plot, I was expecting a very whimsical and light-hearted shrinking journey in the name of science! Boy, was I wrong. FV actually takes place in a war setting, and opens with the tail end of a rescue mission, followed by an assassination attempt. Plus, the reason for the shrunken surgery is to get even more shrinking technology from the victim's head, which would basically have allowed for all-out shrunken warfare. Having just seen Ant-Man and the Wasp, I couldn't help but picture an entire battlefield of Ant-Man suits . . . and of course, there's the espionage aspect, too.

The novel is showing its age. The dialogue gets very awkwardly formal is some spots, especially since it must yet take place in our future. But the biggest sore thumb in that regard is the one female member among the main cast, and how much attention is focused on that. I'm used to casts that are way more diverse than that without it being commented on . . . yeah, just really dated-feeling.

All the little details about the human body, and experiencing them on such a small scale, were really cool, despite being in very technical language for the most part. Especially interesting was the detail of how vision would be distorted when looking with light passing through normal-sized air molecules, but with eyes shrunk down much smaller than usual. It must have taken the original screenwriters and/or Asimov quite a bit of research!

I was very pleased at the reveal of who the "traitor" was. Going by in-text clues, I actually wouldn't have said there was a traitor on board, but I thought for sure it was Doctor Duval. The narrative was clearly trying to set up Grant and Peterson as the designated requisite couple, and it would have been sooooo convenient of Duval to turn out to be a bad guy in the end, so Peterson could stop her professional dedication to him. I was legitimately surprised when it turned out to be Michaels instead. I also liked that he actually wasn't a turncoat working for the enemy country, but actually just a pure scientist through-and-through who didn't want a medical discovery to be weaponized.

I feel like this was short review, but I need to get to sleep soon. Tune in next time when I probably read another decades-old novel with no active fandom that only one or two others in this entire community have read anyway. And everyone, feel free to add reviews of your own recent media-feedings onto this thread as well!

—doctorlit, late for bed for sure this time

"They've passed through an arterio-venous spoiler, sir." "They've passed through an arterio-venous spoiler, sir." "They've passed through an arterio-venous spoiler, sir."

With the exception of the palms and soles of the feet and possibly the scalp.

Some people are more floofable than others, of course.

And then some people are bears. Or would be if they particularly enjoyed wearing flannel and kissing other men. ^_^

~Neshomeh

Thankfully, Ren'py (https://www.renpy.org) and similar engines can do a lot of the work for you.

Mind, I'm a lazy talentless hack who can't draw, so it'd still be hard for me.