Description Force!

[Kakaru_of_DOOM]

Nice one, Tabs. Now we'll never know if OcBRB really was researching chocolate hearts or chocolate hears. Well, unless somebody does a research project on his paper to figure out what he was writing about... Would that be in the Impractical department, the Unanswerable department, or the Oddly Specific department?

DOt.85

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DOt.85 likes to "fix" and "improve" others' artworks. As the self-declared "bestest artest EVARRR!!!" (she petitioned the administrative committee in the Madder Jungle to make it official and was thoroughly denied) she shares her skills liberally. He amendments have led many otherwise-fine works to be condemned to O'Zezl's collection of awful works. Her ability to displease everyone in the Madder Jungle, including Anti Madder, is legendary. She has even irritated the other dot fans, DotWr and dOtYU, by barging into their polka-dotting rituals and adding stripes. Ribix Lux and XXadI are the only ones who appreciate DOt.85; the former because she loves stealing awful art and the latter because she has found ways to make money off of the arcana's wanton destruction.

Accept: Denied!? Come on, how many dragons are vying for the title bestest artest EVARRR!!! ?

 

I guess I need to explain the Madder Jungle's administrative committee. The committee is all-volunteer, run by whoever shows up at an official meeting (scheduling information in this description). Zinso's description doesn't really explain her role so I threw together a description (just written, may not be visible) that mentions how she will advertise an event by running around with a sign she has been given until a) she gets bored, b) someone gives her another sign, c) she finds a sign she previously discarded and picks it up, or d) someone steals/destroys her sign. Then, I need to write the description explaining that for most titles, a title is proposed and then everyone at the committee meeting votes on who deserves the title (citations [1] [2]). What DOt.85 did was to nominate herself for a title, which the committee meeting would consider, but she would have to provide some documentation explaining why she deserves the title, which she failed to do (and I need to write a description to explain the possibility of this avenue to attaining a title). I've snagged two more bananas from the AP to try and complete the project, but may need more. This project is spiralling out of control as fast as stealing a banana...

 

That was longer than I expected. Anyways. I'm still throwing together these writing prompts. Inspired by the above mess:

 - A dragon with information that explains (or confounds) another dragon's description.

 

--- Edit so as to not double-post ---

Here's another prompt:

- A dragon on a diet.

 

Edited April 26, 2020 by Kakaru_of_DOOM
Added another prompt

[Lagie]

On 4/18/2020 at 10:11 PM, Kakaru_of_DOOM said:

How about this for a writing prompt:

- A dragon with a misleading title

https://dragcave.net/view/ZKSuT

KSuT-ekh the Destroyer was born during that time worldwide when all the humans in all the caves had to spend a protracted amount of time at home alone in order to prevent the spread of a highly infectious virus. She's not too happy with her misleading name, firstly since she's not a destroyer, she's a nurturer, and secondly since she's female and the legendary Sutekh was male. But things being what they are, KSuT-ekh tries not not let it bother her too much, and asks everyone to please call her Sue. During the time of the virus, many of the humans decided to try at-home gardening, to raise their own fruits and vegetables. Sue turned out to have a very green thumb and spent her days going from cave to assisting assisting the humans with their gardens. Sue hums lightly under her breath to all the plants in her care, and she's sure that helps them grow. Some of the humans have followed her example, singing to their seedlings.

[Mirhana]

On 4/22/2020 at 5:04 AM, Kakaru_of_DOOM said:

Here's another prompt:

- A dragon on a diet.

Gave it a try, thank you! (Though technically I wrote about an eating disorder and not a diet.)
Reminds me of an old thread we used to have in Forum Games, I think it was called Describe-A-Dragon, where you could nominate a dragon on someone scroll and offer a writing prompt for it. Can't find it though, seems it died a long time ago.

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Most Waverunners will eat whatever the sea has to offer them. Whether it is seaweed, weird fish, or barbed crustaceans, they will gobble it up whole, and happily so. Buail, however, cannot even bear the sight of someone devouring a crab with exoskeleton and all. The mere thought of the spiky exterior gliding down someone's throat is sheer horror to him. The same with raw fish - slimy buggers, still wriggling around while you swallow them alive... Never.
Buail is a picky eater, to say the least. He will only eat freshly caught lobsters, carefully cooked, and will only taste the interior meat. Worried family has tried to make him eat something else - anything else, really - but all other food makes him choke. Whether this is a psychological effect, as Aibhist claims, or a genuine physical reaction, as Buail experiences it, is hard to tell. His restricted diet has had its effect though, with Buail being significantly smaller and slimmer than most of his species.

 

Edited April 26, 2020 by Mirhana

[Lagie]

1 hour ago, Mirhana said:

Gave it a try, thank you! (Though technically I wrote about an eating disorder and not a diet.)
Reminds me of an old thread we used to have in Forum Games, I think it was called Describe-A-Dragon, where you could nominate a dragon on someone scroll and offer a writing prompt for it. Can't find it though, seems it died a long time ago.

 

Nice description!

I remember that game. It has probably been archived due to lack of use.

[Dirtytabs]

I remember the Describe-a-Dragon thread. I participated at least once, and someone caused me to produce this description, after which I decided describing dragons chosen by others is too difficult. But I like that description.

 

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Accept: Dirtytabs, idk if you'll see this but your descriptions are hilarious

I seeeee this! (Gotta check descriptions once in a while to correct errors... and sometimes I forget to describe a dragon)

 

 

On 4/21/2020 at 8:04 PM, Kakaru_of_DOOM said:

 - A dragon with information that explains (or confounds) another dragon's description.

 

Over his long life, Minuend has met many individuals with titles: "Lord of Saxborough", "Second Civic Officer", "12th Tree-Felling Champion", "Esquire", "Gold Medalist of the Wintertide Ball and Games", "Orator Chief"... Though he doesn't see his siblings often, he's heard them addressed as "Great Grey Protector", "Dune Defender", and others. Minuend didn't have a title, and he was envious and wanted one. He heard from a jungle that mattered that one can obtain a title by committee vote, so he called the other zyumorphs to form a committee of six with him. They were busy elsewhere, so the only attendee was Minuend. Majority vote by the committee officially granted Minuend the title "bestest artest EVARRR!!!" He's a pretty great artist if he could say so himself, and he says so himself. When helping others with their problems, he proudly introduces himself by name and title. It's too bad not many instances of wrongdoing or danger can be thwarted by painting.

 

A comment! KoD, I see you are reviewing descriptions right now!

[Kakaru_of_DOOM]

Ah! You caught me!

 

My question still stands: may I use stickwaterball as a prompt? I think it would be fun to have a multi-scroll international stickwaterball league with several teams and athletes, and... how many players are on a stickwaterball team? Do players have to be aquatic No, of course not, at worst they would need a water-breathing spell/potion. Does knowing/defining the rules make it easier or harder to write descriptions for stickwaterball players? Is a waterballstick part of the playing field, or a tool used by players (like polo sticks or hokey sticks)?

 

I have so many sports questions!

[Dirtytabs]

Woops, I must'a missed the stickwaterball memo somewhere.

Um. I haven't thought so far into stickwaterball to come up with rules! The most I needed was that it is a team sport that involves stick, ball, and water. I haven't considered what players do with the stick and ball and how many there are, though I have decided that the water is for swimming in (since there's a tercorn stickwaterball player).

I don't write with the same setting/topic very often, but the Tabs method is to build upon it whenever I want to, and, whoops-a-daisy, I've written about a kingdom that is at once in the middle of a desert and possibly on a mountain. Ooh, what would be fun is if we described dragons playing a sport without laying down the rules, and no matter what's written, the descriptions all correctly describe the rules.

Edited April 27, 2020 by Dirtytabs

[Kakaru_of_DOOM]

Alright, then! It's a prompt!

- a stickwaterball player! 

 

And now I see the discussion of the Describe-A-Dragon game. The link on the first post of this thread still takes you there, and the post option still exists, if anyone wants to re-invigorate it. I dabbled in there a bit some time ago, when there were only two other people even remotely active on it at that time. One of them I managed to get to write a quartina and a few other poems, though, so I count that as a success.

I'll just slip this prompt in for anyone who's up for a little challenge:

- Describe a dragon with a quatrina!

The quatrina is a shorter version of the more famous sestina, which is impossible to write in less than 1,000 characters (trust me, I tried). The form consists of four stanzas of four lines and a two-line envoi. The last words of each line are repeated ABCD DABC CDAB BCDA, and then all four words are jammed into the envoi in pretty much any order. No need to rhyme. Umber and Esp are an example of the form on my scroll.

 

 

[Mirhana]

7 hours ago, Dirtytabs said:

Ooh, what would be fun is if we described dragons playing a sport without laying down the rules, and no matter what's written, the descriptions all correctly describe the rules.

May I hop on the stickwaterball-bandwagon?

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"TEAM ALBA ENTERS THE QUARTER FINALS OF INTERNATIONAL STICKWATERBALL LEAGUE"
Commortas angrily tosses his newspaper in the bin. It's ridiculous how popular this game is becoming, and they're not even playing it right! He is the sole authority on this subject and they didn't even request his expert advise when they re-launched the sport. 

A true scholar, Commortas of course has a pet project that he pours all of his free time in, spending countless hours sifting through ancient texts for any mention of the word "stickwaterball". All from the comfort of his armchair, a glass of scotch by his side. And boy, did those doozies from the Stickwaterball League get it wrong. It's stick-waterball. No, the water is not for swimming in. You play the game with a ball of water. You have to hit the ball with just enough force that it breaks over your opponents' head, not yours. At least, that's how he imagines it was played based on his linguistic analysis.

 

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Cosnam happily lights a cigar while reading his morning paper. His team is doing well in the International Stickwaterball League, and he played a vital part in popularizing the sport among Alba's youth, though he says so himself. He is after all the number 1 stickwaterball scholar in Alba. 

There are some fools, who shall remain unnamed, who have proposed an entirely different way - frankly, a ludicrous way - of how stickwaterball should be played. This is based on an entirely mistaken linguistic analysis of the term 'stickwaterball' itself, on a few almost illegible tattered manuscripts describing events that happened centuries before. One should not look at the words used to describe an activity, but at the activity itself. And Cosnam has studied cave paintings of the sport in action, even as far as the Caucuses Mountains. Yes, the water is definitely for swimming in.

 

Edited April 27, 2020 by Mirhana

[Dirtytabs]

Oh! Until I have a description ready to go, I'm going to avert my eyes.

[subwoofer]

I went through a bunch today, as I had some spare time.

If I truly don't have much work, I'll continue to try to review more this week. It's actually pretty fun!

 

And, of course, I noticed all the stickwaterball ones. (Or should I say, stick-waterball?)

[FennecFyre]

Heyo. I've started putting descriptions on my dragons, and for one of them someone had left this comment. Unsure if they're in this group or not but I just wanted to try and reply somehow:

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Abstain: Seems good, but you could easily find who the parents are by going on to her profile, clicking view lineage, and clicking the owner.

 

For context, this is the description in question:

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Like many of the dragons in Fennec's care, Osefka was abandoned as an egg by unknown parents, but out of all the dragons in the clan she seems to harbor the most lingering resentment over the fact. Osefka is a blunt, standoffish female who makes little attempt at pleasantries and prefers to spend most of her time by herself, stirring clouds into thunderstorms with great flaps of her electrified wings. These storms are almost always too high in altitude to cause any ill effects on the surrounding land worse than heavy rain, but they are formidable spectacles nonetheless. She offers no explanation on why she spins these storms, though a shrewd observer might theorize they are a way of releasing her bitterness and frustration over her "unwanted" origins. The only dragon who has managed to get past her thorny exterior is her mate, Fenxarr. From an outside perspective, they are an odd couple, but seem to share a mutual understanding and acceptance of each other that has kept them together.

 

I can see where the comment comes from, but I just wanted to say I know the lineage can be looked up, "unknown parents" in this case is meant to be taken as an "in-character" perspective. An abandoned egg found in a pile or other eggs would be hard to trace the lineage of. 

 

I've also tried to do a few reviews myself when I have the time!

[Peachycupcake525]

I really liked the idea of stickwaterball, so I wrote a description for it, too!

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Quinlan is a particularly beautiful Aqualis dragon, which results in her having an unusually high number of suitors. Despite this, she has never chosen a mate from the nearby Aqualis population, for the simple reason that none of them have met her standards. As a fan of stickwaterball, she insists that her mate be an expert on the sport. Her way of testing this is to challenge suitors to games of stickwaterball. Unfortunately, only a few of the dragons that have pursued her had even heard of the sport. There are rarely enough suitors at a time to play a game of stickwaterball, and every game ended with a heated argument about the rules of the game. Many have taken to calling her Quinlan the Fanatic in response. This has discouraged most Aqualises from pursuing her, but several others are willing to look past her eccentricities. As a result of her fanaticism, stickwaterball has become more popular in the area. Still, Quinlan hasn't found anyone who she considers good enough at the game.

I had some trouble writing this one, so I hope it makes sense.

[subwoofer]

I've decided to write one too! If anyone has feedback, let me know.

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Raizoh, being an energetic young fellow, gets bored with helping around with the cave. As such, to fill his free time, he decided to join the local stickwaterball team. Of course, he is only permitted to play in the junior league with other frozen hatchlings. This idea bothers him deeply. He cares little for his size, and is so confident in his skills that he wishes he could play against full-sized dragons. There's much debate about an Aeria Gloris being on a stickwaterball team anyhow, as they have been known to hate water. Raizoh, again, pays no mind to this. He has since started a petition to make it so that he can compete against the other adults to prove himself.

I always thought Raizoh should have a description involving water somehow...

 

And yep, it makes sense to me, Peachy!

[Lagie]

I am loving the stickwaterball descriptions! I saw a bunch as I was reviewing today. 

*waves at @Kaini*

We need to collate them somewhere!

[Kakaru_of_DOOM]

Am I the odd one out in assuming the dragons know the rules of the game, even if none of us do? I just made a stickewaterball group because I've been writing several players of the sport. I hope my ember's code isn't imposing too definitive of a rule on the game, but this seemed like a great opportunity to take advantage of that particular sequence of characters. I'm going with the idea that the sticks used in stickwaterball are called "waterballsticks", the balls are called "waterstickballs", and the area of play is "stickballwater". But then, I tend to be unduly amused by confusing word-repetition-and-order-inversion.

 

I'm going to let this percolate a bit longer to see what happens before I put out my next writing prompt.

Edited April 28, 2020 by Kakaru_of_DOOM

[Lagie]

Here's my 'group' - https://dragcave.net/group/122528

I'll add them all in a post in Approved Descriptions, if everyone's okay with that?

I'm seeing descriptions from me, you, peachycupcake525 and savingalotofdata so far.

And Mirhana's above ones.

 

Post done - 

 

Edited April 28, 2020 by Lagie
to add link!

[Mirhana]

On 4/28/2020 at 4:15 AM, Kakaru_of_DOOM said:

Am I the odd one out in assuming the dragons know the rules of the game, even if none of us do?

No, I just liked the idea of two armchair historians bickering over "the water is definitely for swimming in" haha! When I get round to describing an actual player the rules will be just clear.

Also,  good catch, it feels weird to me to describe the Papers and Cheeses as it and I tend to switch back to a gender unnoticed. I think its also pretty mixed in the descriptions I've written so far, I should just make a choice and stick with it.
 

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• Abstain: In the first paragraph, you refer to Paipear as 'it' and in the second, as 'he'. Which is Paipear? Otherwise, looks good. - KoD
• Accept:
• Accept:
• Accept:

 I think I got all of them now.

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The pen wasn't worth stealing. The expression on Leabharlann's face was worth it, though. One of the unrulier specimens of the many Paper dragons flittering and chittering around Mirhana's study, Paipear just loves causing a ruckus. It's unknown whether that's because it seems to be folded out of a comic book and the nature of the paper has been magically reflected in its character, or because it simply wants to live up to colourful expectations. Particularly the serious Leabharlann, the chronicler, has to suffer for it. 
When Paipear's not distracting the Papers with an actual job to do, it loves stealing random writing equipment and doodling away on any scrap of paper he can find - sometimes another Paper dragon. This has on occasion incurred the fury of his owner, as Paipear has been drawing vulgar stick figures on ancient texts such as the Lebor na hUidre. Paipear doesn't quite seem to grasp what's so important about an 800 year old manuscript with vague myths in it.

 

And thanks for another reviewer for reminding me about the difference between laying and lying! Not a native speaker so these difference are often lost on me until someone else points them out.

Edited April 29, 2020 by Mirhana

[Lagie]

11 minutes ago, Mirhana said:

And thanks for another reviewer for reminding me about the difference between laying and lying! Not a native speaker so these difference are often lost on me until someone else points them out.

You're welcome! Even native speakers have trouble with that one so you're in good company.

[subwoofer]

Any dragons from savingalotofdata are mine! I think I only have one stickwaterball character left to do, but we'll see.

[Lagie]

My latest stickwaterball pair:

https://dragcave.net/view/M0DH and https://dragcave.net/view/clMU

 

The misfit pygmy couple Traeth Mister and Miss Fit have been the latest converts to the allure of stickwaterball. They're too small to play but that hasn't stopped them from buying season tickets and going to every single game, no matter where it's held. The Traeths, of course, are misfit pygmies and can't resist pulling pranks during the games. Their favourite is one that drives Jessa crazy. Jessa, the white dragon who has proclaimed herself head cheerleader, has a fairly simple cheer: "Give me a stick." "Give me a water." "Give me a ball." "Go, team!" After each line, the audience is supposed to holler stick or water or ball. The Traeths holler as they're expected to, but they also lob first a stick, then some water, and finally a ball at Jessa, causing her to have to duck mid-cheer or be pelted by sticks and water and balls. Since the Traeths haven't actually injured anyone with this prank, Jessa's been unsuccessful in getting security to send them away.

[Feathers]

Thanks to KoD, and others who helped point out discrepancies in my descriptions, like plot hole inconsistencies and structural stuff (apparently in TWO different descriptions, I managed to slap in two sentences with very noticeably repetitive language. Oy).

 

I recently discovered that I made an error in my longest breeding project, my Moonstones. Narratively for my scroll's purposes, they're in a cult, which is why their offspring are regulated so closely. Now that I've discovered this error, my new 9th gen, PB baby (which I thought wasn't inbred but IS) must be figured out in the logic of this world. The problem was that I accidentally had one of my CB dragons in two pairs, with two mates -- seven generations in, the inbreeding struck. So, narratively, I've decided all dragons from the second branch of that one CB's line have been 'banished' from their cult. They'll probably each get a description about their banishment and whatnot -- it's only nine dragons overall, and logistically I should be able to get my project back on track soon. Just an annoying thing to realize when I bred my first 9th-gen dragon and decided to check it on Allure of NDs' inbred checker on a lark!

[Dirtytabs]

Ooh, a lineage branch of mistake-based descriptions? Hm, I have an accidentally inbred vampire and failed undead fodder's wife. Can't think of any others, but most of them were released instead of kept and described.

 

There! On https://dragcave.net/view/F3Ran:

 

Dispossess isn't the smartest aranoa in his group, but he's sly enough to know how to do less work while making himself look productive to the others, occasionally impressing them with his shortcuts. He is an avid stickwaterball viewer and even owns a stickwaterballstick whose loop is signed by three members of his favorite team, the Sierra Sea Bees. Dispossess isn't interested in playing himself because he doesn't like attending meetings, so his energies go to recording plays and explaining newsworthy events to his friends. His favorite players are those who recognize the prime ball isn't worth chasing during the multi period and instead plan their plays around the pockets. That isn't to say he always values efficiency; sometimes, he loves watching players pull amusing or surprising, but probably not very strategically sound, stunts to catch opponents off-guard. Whenever there's a match in the lagoon, Dispossess is among the first there to get a good spot around the oval.

Edited April 30, 2020 by Dirtytabs

[Kakaru_of_DOOM]

5 hours ago, Feathers said:

Thanks to KoD, and others who helped point out discrepancies in my descriptions, like plot hole inconsistencies and structural stuff (apparently in TWO different descriptions, I managed to slap in two sentences with very noticeably repetitive language. Oy).

You're welcome. I make a lot of typos too, so it's always nice to have someone to spot them. Recently, I've been consistently typing 'me' instead of 'be'. Every time I read 'the Moon' in those descriptions I jump, but I assume you started that project before Valkemare and its two moons were introduced.

 

(Juntu the tetra)

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Juntu has a little magical orb he carries around with him that displays how many steps he has taken that day. It automatically resets at midnight. He wears it everywhere he goes, and because (as a nomadic tetra) he goes everywhere, he always reaches impressive numbers of steps. Some of his younger packmates keep trying to shake the orb to boost its step count even further, which drives him crazy. He wants his count to be accurate and keeps a journal tracking how many steps he has made. Jekea got a hold of Juntu's journal once and shared with the pack that he also keeps track of the number of roads he has gone down. He said the road count had something to do with people calling him something...

Accept: This probably references something I'm missing (got the fitbit part, but the roads?) - L

Yep. That's a reference to the Bob Dylan song Blowin' In the Wind: "How many roads must a man walk down before they call him a man? / The answer my friend, is blowin' in the wind, the answer is blowin' in the wind..."

 

I don't know about mistake descriptions from lineages, since I only rarely breed anything, but I did reread the tetra description today and realise that it has nothing to do with how I remembered it. For some reason, I got the idea that tetras live in huge packs and are constantly travelling around so as not to overburden an area, kind of gypsy-like. That's not the real tetra description at all. Nevertheless, all my tetras are described as part of this gypsy-wanderer sort of group and I even went out of the way to get a tetra for a specific description based on this alternate breed description.

(Ugh JJ the fever) 

JJ read that the disease in his tail is supposed to "quickly render victims helpless". He takes issue with this claim: perhaps the plague is fast-acting compared to other kinds of disease, but most still take days for symptoms to surface. He has always admired the astrapi-aligned dragons, who can simply send out a jolt of electricity to leave their target twitching on the ground right away. JJ's disease causes stomach cramps and nausea. When he first started out as a professional thumb wrestler, he was introduced to the organisers by somebody he had infected already, and the registrar listed his name as "ugh JJ" for the tournament. For professional appearances, he continues to use the nickname to this day.

Accept: I need to know how Wyvern's thumb wrestle. This is a mystery that cannot be left unsolved! A+

For some reason I remembered reading an encyclopaedia entry on fever wyverns saying "They have incredible dexterity with their wing thumbs and can use them like hands." I must have been dreaming at the time or something; fevers have no encyclopaedia notes. Anyways, Ugh JJ uses his wing-thumbs to thumb-wrestle.

 

I did come up with a prompt kind of along these lines a bit ago, but didn't post it at the time because I thought it was silly:

- A description inspired by a typo.

I'll add this one, too:

- A description inspired by (or involving) misreading.

Edited May 1, 2020 by Kakaru_of_DOOM
Formatting error

[subwoofer]

20 hours ago, Kakaru_of_DOOM said:

I'll add this one, too:

- A description inspired by (or involving) misreading.

Chicken Friend Rice's description: https://dragcave.net/view/VKbQm

Chicken Friend Rice is a fairly typical dragon for her breed. She is usually reserved, living in a town with other dragons but usually staying to herself. As such, she knows a lot about the area's residents, and she decided that she knew enough that she would apply to join the town's council.
Unfortunately, the supervisor misread her name as "Chicken Fried Rice", causing her application to be discarded immediately. The supervisor was not going to give the time of day to someone who would pull a foolish prank like pretending to be a dish.
Upset about her rejection, she applied to be a writer for the local newspaper. Another misreading of her name occurred, but this time, it was actually what got her an interview, and eventually resulted in her now being the main writer of the Hallowed Times. She now spends her days happily documenting Raizoh's stickwaterball team (the Maridian Skultera), writing about any of the latest gossip, and taking light jabs at the town council.

 

It's a tad condensed as I was running out of characters. I also threw in a reference to Super Metroid, because I love that game.

Edited May 1, 2020 by subwoofer