The Winter Court of the Insane, Philosophical Ladybug

So, no comments for the mask fic on FF.net yet, although people are Favoriting and Following. And giving Kudos on AO3. And someone actually did comment there! Interesting. Not sure how long I'll wait before putting up the other half.

Then I've been playing some computer games to unwind again. My favorite is Capture the Flag. Just one of the Shareware versions, but I love that one map that comes with it so much that it's provided hours of entertainment for years. Someday I'd still like to get the full version, if I can, but I've wondered if it has so many features I won't know what to do with them all. LOL. I think it has 100 different playing field maps! Woooow.

Then I got the urge to once again try to find Last Knight at Camelot. I haven't seen my Shareware disc of that since before we moved, and I've searched and searched. I haven't had any luck finding it online, either. Or at least, I hadn't ... until this morning. And the copy I downloaded is the full version, not the Shareware one! Squeeee. (Long out of print, so it should be okay.) I played for a long time in the morning and I still haven't got through all the levels yet. They're short, of course, since it's a game for young kids, but some of them are pretty challenging anyway. One of the recent ones had an obstacle course with snowballs rolling up and down steps and I haven't been able to figure out how to get all the treasures out of that room yet. I moved on because I wanted to see other levels, but I know I'll be replaying the game. I played the heck out of my Shareware copy with 12 levels, and it's just as fun now years later, or moreso, with all levels intact.

All a Dollar (which Dollar Tree bought out some years ago, and hasn't always improved on it) used to sell Shareware computer games, as I've mentioned before. I bought several of them over that time period. Last Knight at Camelot was the last one I got. I can't remember precisely when I got it, but I definitely remember playing it on Christmas Eve 1998, when I was 12. There was the magical anticipation of Christmas, the fun of a game I loved, and my brother playing Aqua's first album down the hall. (Darn thing had such catchy songs, although I think he stopped playing it when he really thought about what some of the songs were saying....)

Christmas that year was really awesome; it was one of my favorites. Coming down sick over New Year's, on the other hand, was one of my least favorite experiences ever. Ugh. That was a really bad flu that left me nauseous for hours. But, not thinking on that, Christmas was great and I remember that was when I got my Golden Retriever plush, among other awesome things. I think that was also the year I got a Salem the Cat plush, unless that was next year.... And that was when G2 My Little Ponies were out and I got several of those for Christmas and one for New Year's. (We occasionally got New Year's presents back then.) I was so happy!

Playing the game brings back a lot of those happy memories and feelings. I'm so glad I finally found it again!

And speaking of Ponies ... ohmygosh, a company called The Bridge Direct has released, under license from Hasbro, the first six My Little Ponies from the 1980s for the 35th anniversary! Squeeee. Some people are disappointed since they were re-released ten years ago by Hasbro itself, but the prior re-releases weren't very well-made. These are excellently done, according to those lucky enough to get them so far, and I want at least one really badly. I don't have any of those characters, so it's perfect for me! I wanted them years ago and didn't get to have them. I'm guessing if I can only get one, I'd pick Bluebelle, if she really looks blue as some pictures depict. (Sometimes she looks lavender, which is also gorgeous, of course, but with a name like Bluebelle, I want a blue Pony!) But I was also quite taken with Blossom and Butterscotch, and Minty. Snuzzle and Cotton Candy are cute too, but if I get to pick, I'd choose one of the others first. (Of course, if the latter two are the only ones available when I get to go, I wouldn't pass one of them up! I'd probably choose Snuzzle, since she's such a unique color for a My Little Pony.) Unfortunately, they only seem to be at Target and we rarely get to go there. Hopefully soon....

I went to upload the first part of the mask fic and while looking it over in the Document Editor, I finally realized both what else it needed and how to write it, so I started adding stuff again. And I'm still not sure it's ready. It still feels like it needs more. This is one complicated fic.

Yesterday I ended up watching some of an XY episode where Jessie was rescued from drowning by a doctor and accompanied him on his rounds. She ended up thinking he loved her and they might even get married. (Quite a flight of fancy, especially for someone as hardened as Jessie is. But she does preach about positive thinking and has mentioned several times about her dreams of love, and somehow it doesn't seem OOC for her to think the doctor could be interested in her to that extent despite their short time of knowing each other.) She was planning to leave Team Rocket to be there with him. Then she learned he was in love with someone else. Of course, she went back to James and Meowth. She also tried to leave Wobbuffett with the doctor, because he seemed to like the doctor's Wobbuffett. But Wobbuffett came back too, not wanting to leave Jessie and the others.

It was an interesting episode, even with the horrible Pokemon Company voices. Sad too, on multiple levels. Gah, James and Meowth's reactions when they overhear Jessie talking to Ash and company about staying with the doctor and getting married ... ! They were both heartbroken, but James determined they had to leave Jessie there to embark on the life she wanted. And then they leave and get in trouble with a Pokemon Hunter. Meowth is kidnapped and James gets beat up. He staggers back and begs Ash and company to help him save Meowth and the other Team Rocket Pokemon. He doesn't want to bother Jessie about it, knowing she wants to stay there. But Jessie overhears and wonders what to do. Then she tells the doctor about the Pokemon Hunter, apparently planning on both of them going to stop the guy and save the others. And her expression when she sees the doctor with the girl he's in love with....

I love the squee when she goes back to her friends and James and Meowth react to that! And it's nice to see her actually being nice to Wobbuffett. I always hated how she treated him in the early seasons. But on a downside, we don't really get to see the group have a scene together after they defeat the Pokemon Hunter. They're in the balloon going off together, but we only see Jessie thinking on how great her friends are. Which was squeeably awesome, but I would have liked to have seen a little scene of them all together, maybe talking, at the end.

It's also interesting because it definitely indicates there are no romantic feelings between Jessie and James. Each handles the episode's situation as though they are friends and not anything else. (Of course, that's always how the episodes and movies handle things when the subject of romance is approached. Sweet Baby James, the Lucario movie....) I imagine Rocketshippers abhor the episode. Still, even when approaching it as them being friends, I don't like that Jessie apparently isn't even going to tell James and Meowth Goodbye. Of course, she doesn't know where they are. She and Wobbuffett were separated from them. But if worse came to worse, she could have asked Ash and company to give them a message from her, since she'd know they would likely be seeing each other eventually.

Truthfully, I probably wouldn't mind too much if, when the series ever ends, they decide to have Jessie and James realize they do have romantic feelings for each other, if for no other reason than because I'd hate to see boyfriends and girlfriends get in the way of their friendship. (Or heck, I'd probably like it even more if they decided to be platonic life partners, or whatever the term is for a boy and a girl.) But as long as the series is running, I would really rather it not get clogged up with romantic entanglements between main characters. I prefer seeing them as this episode portrayed them, as friends. And seeing that the friendship triumphs in the end.

Still debating what movie-length Pokemon thing to try showing Mom first. I had thought she might really like the third movie, but upon re-watching it again, I think it would be way too confusing to show her as her first real exposure to things other than some clips. She might not get the thing with Entei not really being the father, at least not until it was finally explained later about the Unown tapping into Molly's dreams. And the thing with Delia being kidnapped as the mother might confuse her. Maybe not, but I'm thinking it would be better to save the third movie for after she's seen some other stuff. The third movie also had quite a few Pokemon battles and I don't know how she'd take any of that.

I definitely would like to show her the Lucario movie. I think she would really like it and it would be easy for her to follow.

I'm still really thinking I want to show her the second movie before any others, though. There's something simple about its plot, and yet it's so intense and meaningful. And it's the best thing to show for Team Rocket content. Of course, there's the long and intense battle between the birds and such, but that's different than standard Pokemon battles and it's treated as something very concerning. And the birds are all okay, so that might go over alright.

I'm wondering if she would need to see the first movie before seeing Mewtwo Returns. There is that nice recap at the beginning, so maybe it wouldn't be necessary to show the first movie first. I haven't seen the first movie in years myself. I was fully planning to go to the library and get it, but then this $@*(#&$ illness kept me out of commission. I'm still trying to get over the cough part. That can go on for weeks.

I kind of want to show her The Ghost of Maiden's Peak. It's one of my favorite episodes. All nice and creepy, and it ends with everybody happy, which isn't usual! I really do think that years ago I showed her the part with Jessie exclaiming, "If you're not here, at least come out and tell us!" ROTFLOL. I also want to show her parts of Holy Matrimony! and Meowth Rules!, although I hate to show her the part where Meowth betrays Jessie and James. But things just wouldn't have the proper impact if she didn't see that scene.

I've also been pondering what my top 10 list of favorite episodes would look like. All three of those would be on it, of course, and Pikachu Re-Volts, and Pokemon Shipwreck, and probably Go West, Young Meowth. Maybe Clefairy Tales, because it's just so wonderfully cracky and priceless. LOL. And A Scare in the Air. That is just such a fun episode! Might have to ponder on the others. I thought I had one other chosen, but now I can't recall which one that would have been. Oh, I think it was the Porygon episode, actually. Such a shame that one couldn't have been altered so it could air in America. I just adored it! Ash and company saving Team Rocket, and them being grateful, even Jessie, and running off instead of pulling a betrayal, like Johto probably would have done.... And Ash's visions of a sick computer were hilariously endearing. LOL. And made me think of Z/Vincent, of course.

That makes nine episodes altogether, I think. Still one other slot to figure out. I debated on the inclusion of Pokemon Emergency, as I actually liked that introduction for Team Rocket. Unlike many other early episodes, they were not abusive jerks to each other in it. But I don't think I like it so much it would make the cut above other episodes, especially with that rather extended and glorified electrocution scene. I always have to look away during that. As for which episode holds the actual top position, it's probably The Ghost of Maiden's Peak.

Then the inevitable question is, least favorite episodes. The Sabrina saga, definitely, and the Ponyta race episode. And Beauty and the Beach, whether cut or uncut, would make that list. Oh, and The Bridge Bike Gang. Ugh. Ash and company flying across the bridge and knocking Team Rocket into the water is one of my least favorite scenes ever. They could have drowned! Not sure if I dislike any Orange Islands episodes enough to dump them in the least favorite list. Maybe Bound for Trouble. It had some nice Pikachu and Meowth scenes, but it wasn't very flattering to Meowth's friendship with Jessie and James and was overall a disappointment.

Also pondered on how James is actually pretty snippy/holds his own in the earliest episodes, instead of being submissive for Jessie to push around. I wonder what prompted the personality change, both in real-life and within the show's verse. I've debated on addressing the change in his voice and why he started speaking with an upper-class accent, but then I'd probably also have to address why Meowth didn't have as strong a Brooklyn accent in the early episodes, so it might be better to leave that problem alone.

One thing I love between seasons 1 and 2 is that James has some positive character development from one to the other. In season 2 he seems to be both a kinder person and has started standing up to Jessie again instead of always being pushed around. I don't think he abuses Meowth in season 2. In any case, he looks alarmed/worried when Jessie starts in during A Scare in the Air. And I love when he's angry at Jessie's ingratitude in The Stun Spore Detour. I wonder what happened after he and Meowth ran off with her at the end. I picture them giving her a stern talking to.

And I remembered a vague plunnie that I've forgotten a couple of times. After watching It's a Wonderful Life again, I kind of like the thought of trying a version with James. I don't know if that would really work, though.

So I finally started writing that story I talked of where Jessie is hurt and James is initially blamed. I wrote the entire first draft before I started posting it, because I was stumped at one point and I didn't want to risk stalling on it after it was already going up. I've been adding scenes to some chapters after some of them turned out way shorter than others and I still need to flesh them out more.

It's interesting, because Team Rocket is ending up going through the same sort of thing that happened with the fictional Rockapella in their stories. There are like three different ways to have one's true self taken away: possession, mind-control, and corruption (a la One Ring style), and the different members each went through one of those (with the fourth also undergoing possession). It wasn't even part of the original story plan for this Team Rocket story to involve mind-control, especially since canon already used that one, but everything just started falling into place like that while I was writing it. Which means that each Team Rocket member is also going to have to deal with one of those ways of losing their true self in the fics.

James: Possession
Meowth: Mind-control
Jessie: Corruption

But then there's the sticky problem of both James and Meowth aware to varying extents what's happening to them and struggling to fight it, while Jessie is not aware of what's happening to her. I'm thinking of showing scenes from her POV, with the mask talking to her and other creepy things, to try to explain better why she is unable to fight against this. Or maybe I'll show that at the beginning she does object and fight, but the mask manages to silence her every time. Because I can see her arguing with the mask in her mind, at least at first, and then it gets a stronger hold, silences her will, and its will creeps over her. Very disturbing. There's a fine line between possession by an evil spirit and corruption by a sentient object, and I think this situation will probably blur the line at times.

After doing a role-play version of the storyline, I'm also planning to move the setting to New York City instead of keeping it in the abandoned village. I really liked the idea of Jessie running loose in a big city corrupted by the mask and taking control of Pokemon left and right. So intense! I'll have it, probably, that the staff was dug up in what was New Amsterdam or an even older settlement in New York and that thus, New York City is the boundaries of its power. I'm also considering that Meowth wakes up in time to see the final outcome of the confrontation between Jessie and James, because in the role-play he saw it and it was very chilling and heartbreaking. I don't think it will be one of the Turtles crossover fics, though. I think this one will work better just as a Pokemon fic.

Then I'm also role-playing the human catboy Meowth situation and realized there could be another reason why he stays human for a while: since this mutation is different from any other the characters have seen, Baxter might worry that the retro-mutagen ray gun won't change him back completely. So he wants to run some tests to try to figure out if it will even work right if they use it. So I've edited that into the story and also written some more scenes. If I can figure out how to start dividing it up, maybe I can start posting it. I'm worried about people getting confused over it being a Turtles crossover, though, especially since this will be the first of those posted in the Pokemon category. I already had one reader get flummoxed by a throwaway line in a fic referencing an earlier Pokemon fic, even though it wasn't relevant to the overall plot. What will a sudden crossover do to those readers? I really didn't want to post it in the Crossover category, since less people will see it then. And since Pokemon is really the dominant fandom, with the Turtles characters as guests, instead of both having equal screentime.

Back to the one I'm doing with Jessie hurt, Bonnie and Clyde are back as the antagonists. After I'm able to draw a giftpic for someone for Christmas, I think I might try drawing them, just as a reference to myself. Bonnie has shoulder-length blonde curls and wears a beret instead of the usual newsboy hat. Clyde has brown hair, but I'm having trouble picturing him as more than a recolor of Butch. The truth is that they're both stand-ins for Butch and Cassidy, really, as part of me had wanted to use them in Dead and Alive Redux, but I didn't think they'd spend a whole story trying to kill Jessie, James, and Meowth any more than Giovanni would, so I figured creating OCs was the safest way to go.

I also feel slightly guilty regarding the real Bonnie and Clyde that their fictional namesakes are such screw-ups, LOL. Not that I particularly care for the real people. I never understood how bank robbers and murderers could become folk heroes in the 1930s. Okay, maybe the people were happy that the greedy banks were being shown up, but wasn't their money some of what was being stolen from the banks? Why would they want greedy crooks to have it any more than the greedy banks? And when bodies started dropping, that's a whole other ballgame. Why, why did they still admire the crooks after that?! I guess it's similar in some ways to how people find fictional antagonists fascinating (me included, depending on the character), but it seems so much different when it's real-life.

Also, I am ecstatic that I finally found one of my favorite Christmas songs ever, a rare one that I think is by a local artist that played on a wonderfully eclectic Christmas station we used to have. I miss that station so much. They played many religious songs and some cute secular ones too. Some were more common, but many were rare, both oldies and more recent ones. I also found several other songs by that artist that used to play on that station. I turned them up over a week ago on YouTube, where they were posted by the website CD Baby, apparently, and have been playing the heck out of them.

I finally got around to watching the other Orange Islands episode not included on the DVD set, which was presumably removed for the ridiculous reason of a non-purple Jynx being present for one minute. Seriously? Color her purple in those few frames if it's going to be such a problem! The Prima character was really interesting and I basically liked her, although I thought she was rather rude to Misty and Tracey at the beginning and I did not like how she decided to deal with Team Rocket. Encasing them in ice and then blasting them off like that? At least you saw the ice was melting so they weren't trapped like that, but that seemed pretty brutal. Not that all the electric shocks aren't brutal, but at least I'm more used to that method of getting rid of them and I know they can seem to deal with it pretty well. Encasing them in ice ... ugh.

Of the two episodes absent from the set, Stage Fight! is definitely the better one. It was sweet seeing the Trainer trying and finally succeeding in bonding with her Raichu, and I loved that when one of the Pokemon hurts James, Jessie goes ballistic and gets protective. "How dare you hit my friend?!?!!!"

I also finally got around to watching the Sabrina episodes again. I've put them off since I really wasn't fond of them due to so many tropes I hate. But they were among the last Indigo episodes I hadn't re-watched, so I finally decided to see them. I'd already watched the Tower of Terror one before, but it's sort of the middle part of the Sabrina trilogy even though she's not in it. I'm not crazy about it because Team Rocket seemed to be treated especially bad in it by the writers. It felt like a Warner Brothers cartoon with all the times Ash accidentally hurt them without even realizing they were in there. That doesn't generally happen. If it did, there's no way I'd watch the show.

Sabrina is one disturbing person. On the one hand, I guess I feel a little sad for her being lonely and wanting friends, because I think her bottled-up feelings were mostly sorrow and regret over missed opportunities, and that's always sad. But mostly I think, "Hey, you chose that path yourself, Honey. Deal with it." I mean, she deliberately pushed everyone away because she wanted to hone her psychic powers. She hurt people with her powers over and over. And she freaking turned her mother into a doll. And both her parents are all, "Oh, she's really not a bad girl." **headdesk.** Well, it would have been nice to have seen some indication of that. At least with Team Rocket, we're shown their good sides very often. If we weren't, they wouldn't mean anything to me. With Sabrina, you just don't see it. She's just this cold-hearted brat who apparently has a split personality, but the other personality, who looks maybe ten years younger, isn't very glowing either. It looks like she only helped Ash and company because she wanted to entrap them. Little kid antagonists are just really really creepy. And the older personality finally laughs and that breaks the spells over the people she hurt and that somehow makes everything okay. She should have at least showed regret or sorrow for all the pain she caused to so many people. There was no indication she felt bad at all. Even Team Rocket shows sorrow and regret for some of their plots.

Haunter was quite a jerk too, really. He promised Ash repeatedly that he would help, and then he kept disappearing. When he finally showed up to make Sabrina laugh, I definitely had the feeling that he was doing it for kicks and not to help Ash. It's debatable if he stopped Team Rocket's Pikachu plot to help Ash or if that was also just for kicks. But honestly, he could have just stopped when he foiled their plans. He didn't have to deliberately make them fall, especially when they were all afraid the drop was too much to survive. (And ugh, Jessie wanting James and Meowth to let go so at least she would survive.... I wonder if she says that in the Japanese. Regardless, I doubt she really meant it, since we do see that when they're hurt, she's upset. But it was a nasty thing to say.) Haunter is sadistic. He likes seeing people get hurt. He laughed when Ash and Pikachu got electrocuted and trapped under a chandelier! Ugh.

And then Ash's naivete ... oh gosh. I'd forgotten how stupid he came across in those episodes. I don't get it, either, because while yes, he has small moments of not knowing this or that in other episodes, it's not as bad as the Sabrina episodes make him seem. Just ... ugggh. If he'd been like that in every episode ... oh the horror.

And poor Team Rocket.... I guess they didn't fare too badly in the first of the three episodes, but the other two.... All the enhanced slapstick crud in the second one, and then in addition to the Haunter problem in the third one, some idiot comes to fill up the hole they made by crashing through the sidewalk and doesn't even check to see if anyone's in there first. So they're calling for help and Ash thinks he hears them, but no one else seems to (a running gag, but worse here). Ash doesn't hear them calling for help, but he's sure he hears them. Had he not been influenced to not worry about it, he would have come to investigate, seen the problem, and tried to get them out of the hole before they were cemented. He's shown that when he is aware that there's life-threatening danger, he will help them in spite of their constant stalking of him and trying to get Pikachu. The problem is, he usually isn't aware of it. They do thankfully manage to get out of the hole before the cement sets, and hopefully they find some way to get the cement off of them before it hardens, but seriously, ugggh. They probably could have sued the moron who was filling the obviously person-shaped hole without even looking in it first.

So yeah, I still don't like those episodes and having re-watched them once, I don't think I'm likely to get them out again at all. I like the basic plot idea of "Hey, let's have Ash go up against a psychic." But it could have been handled sooo much better.

(Also, since when does a psychic have the ability to do horrifying magic things like turning people into objects? Makes no sense. For my crossover, since I did not want that kind of thing to be possible, I had Misty say that the anime did that but in real-life, Sabrina could only hypnotize people into thinking things like that had happened to them.)

Then I was fooling around on Google Search looking for a picture of Jessie and James pretending to be Hawaiian girls from the first Sabrina episode and it showed me an XY episode where they pretend to be Ash and Serena. WTH. So I watched some of that. It looks like after the experiment in having them darker and serious in Best Wishes (why did the U.S. version call it Black and White?), XY went back to the old standard formula of silly plans and defeats. Gotta say, though, dressing up as Ash and company and getting everyone mad at them seems like the slimiest trick they've ever pulled. And I think that in past seasons, James wouldn't have liked the idea. Chalk another one up for Classic Era.

Then my book arrived and it seemed like it had been seriously misnamed. Team Rocket, honestly, isn't even in the book that much, which is a total WTH, and they're not able to come to the rescue. They hold their own at first, but then get blasted off by Team Flare, who takes the Pokemon. I may change my mind and return it, but for now my mindset is that I suppose I will keep it for the pretty pictures, and since I didn't have to pay that much for it, but it's one of those cases of "Had I been able to see it first, I probably wouldn't have bought it." But at least I was skeptical from the beginning, although I was definitely expecting more than I got. I was thinking Team Rocket would be the main characters throughout and that they would indeed get to save the day, even if they ended up blasting off at the end.

The shirt also arrived and it looks great! It's sealed in plastic and I don't think I'll open it up until Christmas, but the design is very big and it looks like it's ingrained into the shirt instead of being a lame iron-on that can crack and peel off. Awesome! I can't for the life of me imagine why that lady at the local T-Shirt shop would tell me that their new, more expensive process was so much better. All it was was making a raised design that can peel and crack. In what universe is that better than their old way, which ingrained the design in the shirt so that won't happen?!

I'm rather ecstatic that I finally got my kiddie Team Rocket book, heh. Barnes and Noble sent an email with 25% off an item, plus free shipping. I didn't realize they meant both things were included even with one little item, though, instead of having to pay $25 to get the free shipping. But I looked at the email again, realized it looked like it meant both even for one item, and I tried buying the Team Rocket book and adding the coupon code just to see what would happen. And it really happened. That is one amazing coupon! Must be something that could only happen at Christmastime. Normally Barnes and Noble doesn't have deals that good! Hopefully the book will be worth getting. Anything with Team Rocket getting to come to the rescue sounds promising.

My Meowth figure arrived safely on Wednesday. The bubble was all yellowed and stapled back together at the edges (as I already knew it was), but Meowth was still cozy inside. Seems to be perfectly mint! At first I thought some places had faded, but when I looked at the paper that came with him, it looks like that was just a design of the figure. And adorably, James can hold him! That's how I'm displaying them right now. I like this original Meowth figure better than the one Tomy did more recently, because the recent one is battle stance and expression and the old one is docile and cute. And I chose this particular one because he was the only one still in a package for the lowest price. Would've cost about the same to get the recent one in a store.

I finally got my shirt, too. Mom and I figured out stuff to get for Dad for Christmas, so we had him put some money from his and Mom's account into mine (without saying why, of course, though I'm sure he knows the routine by now) and I bought the stuff for him and added the shirt to the order. I kept waffling on whether to really get it, but after going over and over the options I concluded there really wasn't anything I wanted more than the shirt, despite the raised price. I hope everything will get here in time. The most important part of the order has shipped, but the other half is shipping with my shirt, for some reason, and that part of the order hasn't shipped yet.

Then I got sidetracked with this writing quiz FidgetFidgets did. I recognized some questions but not others, so I decided to take it:

1. How did you come up with your username and what does it mean?

LuckyLadybug is the name of a silly, cute, old song that was covered by Frankie Valli and the 4 Seasons. I was in a Yahoo Group for them and everybody was choosing a song of theirs to be like a signature song to describe them. For some reason, I picked that one and it's stuck ever since.

2. Which fanfic of yours has the most feedback? (bookmarks/subscriptions/hits/kudos).

On AO3, I believe it's one of my West Side Story fics (the one where Schrank is shot, I think). Yeah. The Worth of Souls.

On FF.net, it's Frantic in Frisco (apologies to any San Franciscans who hate that name), an old Yu-Gi-Oh! mystery.

Of course, on AO3 the kind of feedback I get is rarely ever in comments.

3. What is your AO3 profile icon, and why did you choose it?

Carl Kolchak holding a cross. I probably chose it because I was on a Kolchak the Night Stalker kick when I made my account and I wanted an icon with one of my actor darlings. And because it just looks cool seeing him try to ward off evil with a religious object. :)

4. Do you have any regular/favourite commenters?

Heh, anybody who comments (and is nice) is my favorite! I do have some regular commenters, but they only tend to show up when I write for something they like. Understandable, of course. I'm usually the same. I might love someone's writing so much I'd like to read everything of theirs, but I just don't have the time, so I stick with fandoms I love.

5. Is there a fanfic that you keep going back to read again and again?

I can’t think of one specific one. I will re-read multiple oneshot stories by friends, especially if they were gifts to me.

6. How many stories are you subscribed to? How many do you have bookmarked?

Not very many. I don’t think there are any subscriptions and only a handful of Bookmarks. That’s the same on FF.net, basically, except I am actively Following a SYOC (Send Your Own Character) fic, because the author wanted to include a character of mine and I agreed and created one for him to use.

7. Which AU do you find yourself writing the most?

I used to consider it an insult to be told I wrote AU, especially if my stories simply picked up where canon left off! But I can’t deny that what I’ve been writing for over a year is indeed AU. My 87 Ninja Turtles AU breaks off after the second to last episode of season 7 and goes off in a different direction more in keeping with the spirit of the early seasons rather than the dark stuff canon gave us starting in season 8. And now I have my Pokemon AU verse too, which breaks off some time in season 2, incorporates some events of later seasons, but mostly goes off in its own direction too. And for the Pokemon AU, I have an explanation within the stories as to why. LOL. The creator time-traveled to the present day, spoke to the real people, then went 20 years in the past to create the games and anime. He then had to come up with stuff of his own to keep things going once the series took off, so most of the stuff in Johto and beyond to Sun and Moon is his own creation instead of what he learned from the real people. Heh. I’ve only revealed that in the crossover fics, but I may or may not have it in the solo Pokemon stories at some point.

8. How many people are subscribed and bookmarked to you in total? (you can view this on the stats page)

Ehhhh … on AO3? I’m not sure anybody is. But what the heck, I’ll look…. Hey, wow, 28 bookmarks and 5 subscriptions. I don’t think I get emails for those things. There is also 1 user subscription. I guess that’s like Following me instead of a story?

Now, on FF.net, on the other hand, I have … 846 people who list me as a Favorite Author and 391 who have me on Author Alerts. **blushes.** I am … rather established there. Of course, a lot of those stats are probably for now-defunct accounts and such, but still, it’s kind of nice that at least at some point, every one of those people wanted to see what I was writing next.

9. Is there something you’d like to write about but are afraid of people judging you for it? (Feeling brave? If so, share it!)

I don’t think so…. If I want to write something, I probably will. Now whether I’ll post it is another story, but if I like the way it came out, I probably will.

10. Is there anything you would like to be better at? Writing certain scenes or genres, replying to comments, updating better, etc.

Descriptions. I used to be way better at descriptions than I am now. I slipped into an Ernest Hemingway way of writing that’s more dialogue-heavy, and while that usually works fine, sometimes I miss my descriptions. Occasionally I can still do them, depending on the scene, but in general it’s not like it once was.

11. Do you write rarepairs or popular ships more often?

I write … very few pairings of any kind! Man, even this quiz is romance-obsessed, automatically assuming I write romance. I’d rather write friendships. Now with them, I often write established friendships but also a lot of friendships that have somehow developed over the course of the stories, since they’re often connected.

The few times I do dip into romance, I think it’s usually well-loved pairings but not always.

12. How many stories have you posted on AO3 to this day (finished and unfinished)?

135, it says.

582 on FF.net. And then there’s stuff I’ve only posted to Livejournal….

13. How many stories do you have saved in/with your writing program?

Everything! Blurbs, too.

14. Do you write down story ideas, or just keep them in your head?

I try to write them down or I’ll forget them.

15. Have you ever co-authored a story?

Yes, but I don’t think any collaboration attempt ever got finished.

16. How did you discover AO3?

Can’t remember. I think a friend found it and told me? Maybe? I liked the tagging system and felt like, Well, what the heck, I’ll try it out, especially since they have some categories FF.net doesn’t. I’ve submitted some stuff to other fic sites, like Fic Wad and Media Miner, but it looked cooler than those. I found it aggravating when I realized people didn’t like to comment much there. Of course, these days it’s often the same thing at FF.net too.

17. Do you consider yourself to be a popular or famous author in your fandom(s) on AO3?

Heh, nope. Maybe I am in the Ninja Turtles category by now. Who knows.

This version of the quiz sure likes AO3. I’ve seen a lot of these questions before, just not the AO3 ones (and a few others).

18. Do you have a nickname or fandom name for your readers?

No. Although I think I used to jokingly call them my Lovelies. Now that’s a name I gave to my Tumblr account that has pictures of my favorite actors.

19. Was there an author who inspired or encouraged you to write?

Mom and Dad, I suppose. I started writing fanfics at age 3 or 4. Of course, I didn’t know that’s what it was called then, but it seemed perfectly natural to want to tell new stories about characters I loved. It still does.

20. What writing advice would you give to a beginning author?

Write about what you love. Don’t try to force something that’s not coming. People will be able to tell if what you’re writing about is something you truly love. But also try to write about what you know. Put the characters into situations that you'll be able to actually write, instead of stumbling your way through it because you don't know what you're doing.

21. Do you plot out your stories, or do you just figure it out as you go?

Half and half. I try to have a basic outline, but I don’t plot out every detail.

22. Have you ever gotten a bad comment on a story? If so, what did you do?

Oh, the stories I could tell. (And some I have told.) Honestly, what I did depended on what the comment was. Anonymous jerks get deleted. Signed in jerks usually get ignored … unless I’m in a particularly bad mood.

Of course, if there’s genuine criticism that’s valuable, that’s something else again. One of my most valuable comments told me I wrote like a script. I resolved to change that from then on, and I did.

23. Is there a certain type of scene that you have a hard time writing? (action, smut, etc..)

Scenes requiring a lot of descriptions, like fight scenes. Unless I’m really into it and happily detail it out, which is rare for fight scenes. I’d rather write character interaction.

24. What story(s) are you working on now?

Several Pokemon:

- Human Meowth vignettes (which may become a regular oneshot or multi-chapter after all)

- Downfall of Team Rocket as an organization

- Control Freak redo

- Movie 2 missing scene

- Christmas fic for Crystal

- Ash is angry at a Pokemon (follow-up to A Hero Lies in You)

- Wax fic

- Team Rocket watches and comments on the anime (silly crack and might not get posted)

One Turtles:

- Christmas fic

Annnd a bunch of other assorted fics that I stopped work on long ago but may still finish someday (I hope).

25. Do you plan your next project(s) before you finish your current ongoing story(s)?

Sometimes. It all depends on the plunnies! Many times a new idea comes and then it’s torture not being able to start it until I’ve finished what I’m already doing.

26. Do you have a daily writing goal set for yourself?

No, but I hope to write something every day.

27. Do you think you’ve improved as a writer since you first started?

Heck yes.

28. What is your favorite story that you’ve written?

Just one? Gosh, I don’t know. I love Lead Me Through the Fire and Close Your Eyes, Clear Your Heart for YGO. I love A Hero Lies in You and my Dead and Alive Redux for Pokemon. My Turtles series….

29. What is your least favorite story that you’ve written?

Family Ties and Family Secrets, both YGO. Urgh, I’d take them both down if people didn’t like them so much….

30. Where do you see yourself (as a writer) in 5 years?

I’d like to say I’ll have finished my novel, but who knows. I find it so much more fulfilling to write about other people’s characters than my own. That ain’t gonna pay money, but I guess I’m also worried about using fiction writing for work. Maybe it won’t be as fun then. Having a publisher or an editor breathing down my neck for updates would get very stressful.

31. What is the easiest thing about writing?

Telling stories about characters I already love.

32. What is the hardest thing about writing?

When the descriptions don’t work or a scene drags or a fic just doesn’t seem about to let me know what it needs.

33. Why do you write?

It’s my passion. I can’t not write. It would be easier not to breathe.

As much as I love Articuno's design, color, and ice powers, it seems like he and the other Legendary Birds are all really rather jerks. The moment one is taken, the others just want to take over the kidnapped one's territory and have more power. And the way they attack Lugia ... oy. That was brutal. I love when they all harmonize at the end, but I have to wonder if the thing would repeat all over again if one was taken or otherwise disappeared.

(Also, honestly, Articuno is a way cooler name than Freezer, LOL. So unimaginative. And I think I read that Moltres's Japanese name is Fire? Seriously? Boring!)

Then I had the thought of an AU branching off from the movie. Team Rocket is apparently thought dead in the movie, or at least, we don't see anyone acknowledging they're alive except Slowking, and he breaks the fourth wall talking about all the people watching them. ROTFLOL. I know the novelization has Ash and company see them alive, but I don't like how the novelization handled the scene. It downplayed their sacrifice and had Ash saying something about how they'd never change (meaning it negatively). So, I won't accept the novelization version. Anyway, I'm toying with the idea of Team Rocket running with the idea that hey, while they're thought dead, maybe they really will try going into business for themselves like they talked about at the end of the movie. Every time I watch the film, I always hate the thought of things going back to the status quo afterwards. It's just too meaningful to be dismissed that way. Of course, they'd end up drawn into the conflict again anyway, but they'd probably be or end up on Ash's side in it.

I put aside Johto for a while because I was getting frustrated with all the formulaic episodes. I tried one again tonight and got frustrated again. Honestly, the first two seasons had so many episodes breaking away from the formula and having Team Rocket be awesome/show their softer sides/etc. Johto seemed to hardly ever do it. Most episodes were formulaic, with them as the bad guys, and the few times fun things with them did happen, like the Wobbufett Festival one or the one with Articuno saving them (and what's he doing in Johto when the movie says he only lives in the Orange Islands?!), the writers mostly trolled the viewers by having them turn traitor again. Ignorance is Blissey and the flaming Moltres episode are two of the only ones I've really liked so far on this Johto set. They seemed to be pretty rare, breaking away from the usual Johto formula. I have enjoyed some of the others, like the first owl illusion one and the two with the Snubbull, but as far as good Team Rocket content goes, those are about the only season 3 ones I can think of that are good for them. Maybe there's some other nice Team Rocket episodes on the set, but the summaries all sound like the rest are pretty formulaic.

I also watched Training Daze again. It was sweet seeing how they first bonded and how nice James was. I still wish they hadn't changed the dialogue about him running away and such, but I did love the heavy emphasis on teamwork and being loyal to each other. It was cringeworthy that not even Cassidy could say Butch's name right, though. Although it was funny when, after "Hutch" he goes, "That's it. I'm changing my name." ROTFLOL.

The episode really does contradict earlier canon, though. We know from season 1 that Jessie and James knew each other long before Team Rocket. Training Daze heavily implies that they only met in Team Rocket. I like the origin story, so I tried to bridge the plothole by saying that they'd had a falling out after the bike gang and hence, were cool to each other upon meeting again in Team Rocket.

Another plothole not so easily explained, however, is that James clearly doesn't know Butch and Cassidy in The Breeding Center Secret. But in Training Daze, there's no way he wouldn't be aware of them.

One more reason to consider the first two seasons as absolute canon and everything else is nebulous. They were rebooting things as early as Johto!

I hate winter illnesses. I hate sore throats. I hate sore throats that go away and then come back with a vengeance and actually make it hard to sleep. As miserable as they are, I've hardly ever had that problem. But I sure did the last time I tried to sleep. Oh please don't make it come back again and do it some more.... It really feels like it might....

Had a really weird dream during the minuscule time I was sleeping where I went to see a play that Richard and Joseph were both in and then visited with them for a while afterwards. Richard left after a while, but I stayed hanging out with Joseph, and then we went to Joseph's place and found that Richard had gone there (WTH). A really odd dream and I'm leaving out some of the odder details, but overall it was really nice. I love dreams where I get to hang out with favorite celebrities!

I did end up drawing that picture for the Control Freak redo I was musing on. Aside from Pikachu once again looking terrible, it's one of those pictures where everything went right. I love that. http://meromeroyui.deviantart.com Of course, it did go behind a Mature Content warning. That was inevitable. And there are eight characters in it: five human, three Pokemon. I love when I can get many characters into a picture without it somehow looking super crowded. Debating whether I might go back later and add the background of the old temple they're in. That would be a lot of gray, though.

I also want to draw a couple of other pictures from the scene: James collapsing, the mask shattering as Jessie breaks free of the control, and Jessie either trying to remove the staff or just sobbing over James' body. I'm not sure if I can properly illustrate that she's trying to pull the staff out instead of pushing it in, but we'll see what happens.

And my poor YGO art folder is tearing. I had to use some more patches of tape on it tonight. But overall it's really full and I need a new folder. I saw some old Pokemon folders with Team Rocket on eBay a couple weeks ago.... Wonder if they're still there....

It's so strange, but I've hardly seen any character folders in stores this year. I saw notebooks, but most of the folders were generic. WTH? I wanted some Turtles folders for my fics, but I couldn't find any.

Also have the problem that I really want to work on the Control Freak redo fic. I did two scenes in the morning. But it seems like I should put up something lighter before doing something this dark (and with more James hurt/comfort). But I'm still iffy on exactly how my human catboy Meowth vignettes are going to work, so I don't feel ready to put any of that up yet. And then the other thing I've been working on is the downfall of Team Rocket as an organization fic, which ... has hurt/comfort with all three of the trio. I guess at least with the mask fic, Jessie is the center focus until the climax, so that's something different from a mostly James focus. Dunno how popular episode redos are in the fandom, although I've seen some here and there. And lots of random oddball stuff. Seems like everyone pretty much writes whatever they want, which is nice.

... Oh, coming to think of it, I do have one other fic I was working on, but I wasn't sure I was actually going to post it. It's just a little follow-up piece to the one with religious content/Joseph's priest character, where Ash goes back to tell Professor Oak everything that happened at St. Matthew Beach and reveals that he's angry at the Pokemon who attacked and killed James when James was trying to protect Ash and Ash told the Pokemon that they didn't mean any harm. It was interesting to explore the idea of Ash badly shaken by what had happened and going through the psychological effects of being angry at a Pokemon, something he thought would never happen. But I wasn't sure how receptive the fans would be and I hadn't quite finished it.

I also plan to do another story set at St. Matthew Beach and heavily involving the starfish Pokemon, but at the moment my mind is so locked into Team Rocket mode that I don't have a lot of plunnies for that one. (Plus, I'm wondering how to work that story with the one where Ash goes back to talk to Professor Oak, since I think the latter would come first, yet I don't see the characters going all the way back to Pallet and then all the way back to St. Matthew Beach for this fic. Although maybe they would because of seeing how upset Ash was about things.... Or hmm, maybe I could have Misty and Brock call Professor Oak and ask him to come out there because they see how upset Ash is and feel he should talk to his mentor....) Maybe I could try writing a random scene of Misty talking with my character Emma about starfish Pokemon. The fic is mostly them bonding over that and the starfish Pokemon getting to shine. And Team Rocket still puzzling over what to do due to everything that happened in the prior fic.

Then I tried to ponder on where the different regions are for Classic Era, since I go with the dub localization to what is apparently the U.S. I had tentatively set Kanto in the Midwest, but I realized that can't work because it's fairly near the ocean, since they're at the ocean in episodes 15-19. And I have James' estate pegged as in Georgia. So then I picked the Southeastern States for Kanto. Maybe Kanto is around Tennessee or something; haven't quite picked that yet. Orange Islands are the Caribbean area. Johto I'm torn on. I want to say West, because they visit a Beverly Hills-ish area and talk about the stars' homes. Only I thought I remembered it being said that Johto is North of Kanto? I'll have to look at that episode again. But North would make sense with the Whirl Islands and Bluefinland/Newfoundland, LOL.

Last night I finally capped the shot from the season 1 opening with Jessie and James, because I just adore it. I originally wanted to have an icon of that, but Meowth wasn't in the shot and I wanted him in the icon too. I think I love the season 1 shot especially because it turns up during part of the "You're my best friend" line. They didn't time things quite right, as I assume it really should have been a line or two down to show that they're who the world is supposed to be defended from, LOL. But I love the way they did it. Hey, who knows, maybe it even was deliberate to show that the antagonists are best friends too. Not sure what to do with it now that I've capped it, though, unless I do an icon of it after all. Or unless I randomly stick it on my profile page....

Ended up buying the Meowth figure on eBay this past evening. I'm pleased on the one hand that I waited, because the price came down a smidge. On the other, I'm not terribly pleased that my total ended up coming out to $6.66. **headdesk.** I am not superstitious about most things, but that is one number I am honestly not crazy about and try to avoid when I can.... But of course, I'm not so bent out of shape about it that I would refuse to buy the figure because the total came out to that. That would be ridiculous. Hopefully he'll get here soon after Jessie and James. Gotta have the whole team together! Then I'll work on getting Ash and Misty. I can get them from the same seller I got Jessie and James from. Not sure yet how to get Brock....

The Jessie and James figures are guaranteed delivery by Monday. The post office site thought they might be here Friday instead, but that fell through. As of tonight they're not far away, though. If today wasn't Sunday, they'd probably get here today.

So, yesterday morning I did something I wanted to do 15 years ago and didn't do for some reason (probably money-related). I bought the Tomy Jessie and James figures, the ones that came together in the Japanese release. That means I'll have to buy Meowth separately, but I have my eye on a listing for him too. Heh, I was worrying about doing a whole Amazon order right now and then I go and do that. Typical. Although they cost less than an Amazon order, even with shipping. And I will be getting another cash-out soon....

I wish there were movable figures that were affordable. The only movable Team Rocket figures are the Figuarts ones, and those are out of the question. So expensive.... Anyway, I don't like that the Meowth in that set looks so grouchy. And I wasn't wowed by James' expression either, to be honest. I think the cutest figures, expression-wise, are the G.E.M. ones. They are very dynamic! But I prefer figures standing up straight if they don't move, so I decided the old Tomy ones were just fine. I might get the G.E.M. ones too at some point, though.

One nice thing about preferring Classic Era is that just about all the characters I'd want to have in a figure release exist. I wish they'd made Delia too, though, and Giovanni would have been cool. I also discovered that Brock is hard to find. Great. **sarcasm.** I'm somehow not surprised that the set with Nurse Joy is rare, but even by himself, Brock is not easy to get hold of and more expensive than the others, even loose. At least Ash and Misty will be easy to obtain....

I wish I could find another set of stickers like the ones I got at Toys R Us years ago. I used one sheet and they're mostly faded from water on the binder. The other sheet is unused. I love stickers, but I don't have many logical places to stick them. Part of me wants to use that sheet, but when it's the only other one I have, I don't dare.

And I'm feeling sad again that I didn't get to get that gift bag all those years ago. Silly, so many years later and for something like that, but it was so cute.

I do wonder why a lot of the official merchandise back then, like the bag and the stickers, and even the wig for Pokemon Live, depicted James' hair as lavender. It always looked blue to me, and at last the merchandise reflects that too. At least the old Tomy figures are one thing that showed it as blue even back in the day.

We had to get groceries this past day instead of on Monday because of Dad having a dentist appointment on Monday. At Wal-Mart, I found a lovely material to use for James' hair if I make a plush! It's the perfect shade of blue, and it's so soft.... Expensive too, at $5.97 a yard. Eeek. But luckily, I don't need near that much. If I could find the same material in the right color, I'd like it for Jessie's hair too. If not, at least I found some fleece in the right color....

The church Christmas party was also this past evening. This was perhaps my most favorite menu ever. Ham and rolls, ice water, and SEVEN KINDS OF CHEESY POTATOES! Heaven! Also, many, many desserts. I brought back two kinds of brownies and a giant chocolate cookie. Yuuum. Few things make me think Christmas as much as the smell of many varied desserts.

I had a series of strange dreams today. One oddball one involved my YGO board game, although of course the gameplay in the dream was nothing like what it is in real-life. It involved the board looking like a woods backdrop or something. Then I had a bizarre dream about some nutcase who was extremely reluctant to go get help about something and had to literally be dragged to get it. Napoleon Solo was in that one, with someone actually asking him about all the rumors about him basically being James Bond with all the women. He just smiled and gave a very vague answer to keep up the mystery.

The final dream I had before waking up actually involved a local production of Pokemon Live and I was playing Jessie and people actually enjoyed my performance. There was a second performance the next day and I was so involved in the dream that when I started waking up, I was thinking, "Oh no, I missed the performance and the understudy had to go on...."

It was a really nice dream. Usually the last dreams of the day are real bummers, so this was a great change. It was kind of sad to fully wake up and realize that no, there was no performance and I wasn't playing Jessie, though. Heh.

I don't even know if I'd do a good job as Jessie. I'd rather play James, but that wouldn't really work, so Jessie would be the next best thing since I'd get to be with James. I don't know, though; I used to be more random and silly in real-life than I am now, so maybe if I dipped into that part of my personality I could pull it off.

Finally got the Turtles fic done. I hope nothing looks rushed. I wasn't sure how to end it, so the epilogue is short, and then it's more of a humor installment, so I didn't want to get too in-depth with more serious things. People seem to like it, though, so that's good!

... And I finally got a review on the Dead and Alive rewrite on FF.net! Awesome.

Was discussing the Moltres episode with Crystal and wondering exactly what James might dare to do if he had continued on his power trip. We eventually started musing on the thought of a One Ring-type corruption storyline and she suggested writing a version of Control Freak where James has the mask instead of Jessie. I watched the part of that episode where Jessie has the mask, hoping for a plunnie. I got one, but not what I expected. I wouldn't want James to act like Jessie did in that episode, especially since she really did seem to just be on a power trip instead of being corrupted. I would hate to see my favorite character behave that way and I'm also not sure James would be strong enough to take it once he realized what he'd been doing. And I think with James, he's the type of character whom I want to either be a hero or a victim, or both, but not the one causing the problem. (Of course, I did that possession fic, but it was the evil spirit causing the problem there and James was fighting it.) Interestingly, as I recall, when James went on his power trip in the Moltres episode, he wasn't mean to Jessie and Meowth. He just took over as the leader and wanted to lead them all to greatness. Jessie, on the other hand, immediately started treating James and Meowth like dirt. Well, she does that half the time anyway, but even moreso when she got a taste of power.

Of course, the plunnie I got was dark. And I don't know that I'd do anything with it beyond a blurb to satisfy my own curiosity about the scenario. But I found Jessie's treatment of them so off-putting that I got a plunnie where the mask really is corrupting her/taking her over and it gets so bad that when James realizes what's going on and tries to stop her, she responds by ... somehow impaling him with the bottom of the staff. But as he falls, he says he knows this isn't Jessie. That would break the spell over her, but then I'd be left with the problem of how to fix it. One of those rare times where I'd need a magical healing on hand, I guess.... Or reversing time, but that's a cop-out. I thought of an alternate version where she commands James' Pokemon and Meowth to attack him and they beat him up almost to death before she's able to break the spell and order them to stop, but I actually think that would be worse. Then Weezing and Victreebel would be haunted by having hurt him, especially since, judging by Meowth in the episode, they would be completely aware and just unable to stop themselves. I don't think they would be very forgiving to Jessie, even though she was corrupted and not herself, and that would be sad for everyone. Maybe I could make it random wild Pokemon instead of James' Pokemon, but I think part of the point was that the mask had caused her to fall so far that she would really do something so cruel as having James' Pokemon attack him when he opposed her.

Also the problem that someone else already took the Control Freak episode and made it serious with Jessie getting possessed by the mask and I wouldn't want to inadvertently write anything similar to their story. I can't remember their name or the fic's name to check on it. I never read it, both because it looked really long and because it was a romance, but I'm tentatively guessing that anything I'd do would be different from her effort and I wouldn't need to worry.