Well ...

I watched several Team Rocket episodes I especially liked and that made me feel a little better. I've settled into tired resignation for the see-saw characterization, shall we say. I've accepted that the writers didn't care enough to make the good characterization stick from one episode to the next, even though I'm still not pleased about it.

I did go over my story and add a few things, which I think makes it a little better. And I'll keep pondering on the big story. In addition to the waffling over the sacrifice problem, I need to figure out how to make the conflict different than in the second movie. The original blurb drew from it for inspiration, but I'll need to change some of those elements more for an actual story.

I finally got the Halloween Turtles fic done, too. I turned the haunted house/cemetery fic into the Halloween fic after all. I really like how it came out!

I had some weird dreams this past day. One involved Snakes and I think I can make at least a blurb out of it. Now that the Turtles story is up, I plan to tinker with the blurb.

Build-a-Bear already released a new Pokemon plush. I am surprised about that, so soon after Vulpix! It's Bulbasaur, and he looks amazing. For all that detail, I figured he'd cost more, and he does. Sigh. I doubt I'd ever be able to afford him. Of course, maybe when I see him in person, if I really like him so much, I'll decide to splurge. I really shouldn't do that, though. It's expensive enough to get one of the regular priced Pokemon, even with my $5 coupon. The regular ones are $28, and Bulbasaur is $35. Gah. But Bulbasaur is so pretty and blue, and there's so much accurate detail.... I was entranced as soon as I saw him in the email. I guess I'll just have to wait and decide when I see him in person. Somehow I have to get to Build-a-Bear in the next few days.

Wal-Mart has little 8 and 9 inch Pokemon plushies. They're $11.99 and $12.99. Ugggh. Waaay too much for small plushies. I guess that's about the standard price for anime plushies of those sizes, though. There's a Togepi that's really cute that I've considered buying, but I hate paying that much for such a small plushie. Also, there's a long hair on it and I'm not sure if I got it there or if it belongs to someone else. Somehow it just seems a little creepy if it's some stranger's hair. But it is my approximate color and length, so it could be mine.... Build-a-Bear might make a Togepi, but I don't know if they're going to and in any case, that would be a long wait. And with their prices, I'll be lucky just to get one or two of their Pokemon plushies.

Yes!

I think I'm obsessed with the starfish Pokemon. I always seem to get intrigued by something not many people do anything with, and I assume not many do anything with those two. I have a vague plunnie that might become a oneshot, but meanwhile, much more pleasing news is that I think I've worked out all the bugs with the big fic, including how to make it different from the second movie, what kind of Pokemon are guarding the object, what the object is, and how Tyson or whoever learns about things to go and cause trouble. The only hang-up now is the sacrifice angle, but maybe I can work that out too. Maybe Father Joe tells James he has the potential to be a hero and James is able to help with things in the plot along the way, with Jessie and Meowth too, of course. And then the sacrifice is, as planned, only after everything else has been tried and it's the last option left to get the object back into place. If James has successfully helped with things earlier in the plot, maybe it won't have a "you're only helpful if you die for something" feel. Of course, I'll also have to be careful not to bend over backwards making him helpful at too many things. I'll need to spread the helpfulness around.

I find it interesting that with most fandoms, someone will probably die for real somewhere in the stories (but be brought back). But with the Turtles, for some reason, I seem to have a block with doing that. I don't want it to happen to Baxter, at least. The only times he's been thought dead, he really wasn't at all. Then Barney's heart stopped very briefly once, but he doesn't seem to have left his body and I don't seem to want to have him really die either. Vincent may or may not have really died in the Rare Magnet fic. Still not sure on that.

Now, I'm generally always uncomfortable when I do the "someone dies for real" idea in a fic, no matter what fic, but then I calm down and feel alright later. But for some unknown reason, I don't want to do it with Baxter, even if he'd be brought back. I'm really not sure why he's an exception. Maybe it's one of those "he's been through too much for that" lines that I don't want to cross, same as how, after the emotional anguish Duke goes through after Lead Me Through the Fire, I don't think I'd ever do David hurt/comfort scenes and probably not Duke hurt/comfort scenes either (unless it's emotional hurt/comfort). There's definitely a block against it with them because they've already gone through so much in the Lead Me timeline. In Baxter's case, though, I'm perfectly willing to do certain types of hurt/comfort with him, just not other types. Some kinds of hurt/comfort I don't seem to be in a mood to do anymore with any characters, but when it's one specific thing I don't want to do to one or two specific characters, I find that puzzling.