Tag: about the author

Re, the last post:

I wish I knew for certain, dear follower.

Upon inspection the next day, I was unable to find any traces of blood or tissue, and the pokémon was able to escape into the fog nimbly enough to indicate that it did not sustain serious injuries. I just have to reassure myself that a pokémon of that size tends to be highly resilient, and if it is indeed a dragonite (and not, for example, a rather large ditto masquerading as one—or, for another example, a lesser legendary pokémon doing the same), then I have no doubt it would be powerful enough to withstand a blast of that caliber.

Should anyone be at all surprised that I am not alarmed by the fact that there is footage of this incident, it’s largely because I am fully aware that there are … people who spend quite a bit of time loitering on the neighboring beach and sea for rather specific reasons. What I’m more concerned about is the fact that many of these people film my lighthouse, yet none of them have been able to figure out what caused the blast.

[Editorial Notes]

anonabsolxwolf:

bills-pokedex:

I leave you two alone with my blog for five minutes, and this is what happens. Why did I give you my password anyway? —Bill

Because if you didn’t, all of your posts would be incomprehensible labyrinths of run-on sentences and typos. —LH

Fine, but I do not have a furret face! —Bill

That’s what you take offense to in all of this? —LH

So does this mean you admit you’d make a good maid?

— Bebe

Speaking from experience, yes, he does. —LH

What?! How on Earth would you know, Lanette?! —Bill

It seems like Machop-line Maid Cafes are gaining some traction in Kanto, Bill. Ever been to one?

No, but I’m intrigued by the concept. On the one hand, I very much approve of the philosophy behind it. That is, what many people don’t know is that machop-line maid cafes are very much akin to meowth cafes: they are spaces in which humans may interact with pokémon who are up for adoption. Pokémon who participate in such cafes have had better luck at getting adopted than pokémon who are simply held at a shelter, at least in urban areas, so it’s difficult not to like machop-line maid cafes for that at the very least.

On the other hand, why do the machop need to dress up as maids and serve humans like wait staff?

Wait, I thought Cassius lived in Kalos. Did he move from Unova to Kalos to be an administrator? Also, what do you guys mean by Bill had a “reputation back then”? Just unapproachable or something else?

It’s true that Cassius spent most of his life in Kalos and once had ties to gang activity in Lumiose specifically. (He’s very open about both facts, although for obvious reasons, he’s prouder of the former.) However, he also spent some time traveling the world and working for shadier organizations before either of us found him.

Thankfully, this is all in the past, and Cassius has expressed no desire to return to that lifestyle. I’m also rather proud of him because he’s had a clean record for the past few years. He hasn’t even gotten a parking ticket since his time as my protege, that’s how dedicated he is.

Concerning your other question, meanwhile … it may be easier to let Lanette explain.

Bill’s reputation was nothing insidious, really. He just had a tendency to “creep people out,” as the saying goes. You see, Bill spoke up enough in class, but he kept to himself for his first year of college otherwise. That is to say, you only really heard him speak in discussions within a classroom setting—with students, with the professor, that sort of thing. Otherwise, he was known to lurk just about anywhere: computer labs, libraries, popular student spots, class halls—all over campus. He’d rarely speak in those places (largely because he would rarely be seen with anyone to speak to), and he would often be working too hard to make his presence known. So you would be working hard late at night, browsing through the library, and all of a sudden, you’d stumble across a bedraggled little kid with his hair in his eyes like a horror movie cliché, just huddled in a corner at the very edge of your field of vision. Or you’d be walking along late at night from the computer lab across campus, and you’d turn around and find a kid wandering behind you who, up until that point, had been completely silent. People used to call him the “ghost kid” because of things like this.

Those who weren’t unsettled by Bill’s talent of popping up out of nowhere were unsettled by the fact that he was a little kid taking advanced physics. Granted, so was I, but Bill always looked younger than he actually was, especially back then. To make matters worse, he really was rather unapproachable in that he rarely expressed any interest in human interaction and was uncomfortably business-like when spoken to.

In all, before I met him, Bill had been a very difficult case. That is why I wanted to befriend him so badly, actually. He was a challenge. Getting him to be more personable towards humans for the sake of our investors and employers … even more so. —LH

A challenge? I’m not sure whether or not I should be flattered. —Bill

Mm, remember, Bill, I’ve known you for almost a decade. —LH

Ah, true. Well, in that case, I thank you kindly for the compliment. —Bill

How did you meet/hire the various other region administrators?

Editor’s Note: Bill and I felt it was appropriate to respond to this question together, and in order to present our response, we thought it would be easiest to give you the transcript of our conversation, rather than simply have Bill speak with my comments interjected now and then. —LH

BILL
Well, if we count everyone, Brigette was fairly easy to recruit. As Lanette’s sister, one of us already knew her and what she could do. The tricky part was convincing her that the storage system was a viable idea, as she was one of the few individuals privy to its development.

LH
She was also not very fond of you.

BILL
Yes, true. To explain, I had … a reputation back then.

LH
Most of our fellow students at Celadon University thought he was rather … difficult to approach. He didn’t bother me, but Brigette was a different matter. It took my active involvement and several attempts at forming a study group to get the two to meet properly.

BILL
[laughs] Yes, I remember that.

LH
And then there was Bebe.

BILL
Oh yes. Bebe. We didn’t so much meet her as she met us.

LH
After the establishment of the system, we started a message board as a means of connecting with people interested in working with our software. It seemed logical, as we both wanted the system to be as open-source as possible. Bebe joined fairly early on with other users from Johto.

BILL
We first noticed her not only because she was an active user but also because she would frequently reach out to new members and help us answer their questions.

LH
Of course, the fact that she was from Goldenrod City might have helped her case in Bill’s eyes too.

BILL
Well, it certainly didn’t hurt! In any case, when we were establishing a new branch of the storage system in Sinnoh, we knew we wouldn’t be able to handle it ourselves, so instead, we decided to collect applications from the most helpful users on our board. Bebe and the Sunyshore City gym leader, Volkner, were among the topmost promising candidates, but in the end, we felt Bebe was the stronger of the two in terms of system knowledge and interpersonal communication.

LH
Also, you had that disagreement with Volkner that led to—

BILL
Amanita. Her story was similar to Brigette’s, actually. We met Dr. Fennel through college, so when we decided to extend the system into Unova, she was naturally our first choice to run it. Unfortunately, she had just started on her own research into the Dream World and thus wanted to devote her energies to that instead of establishing the system. Perfectly understandable, if you ask me.

LH
Of course. So, Bill and I went to Unova to choose another candidate from a list of Fennel’s personal recommendations. But then, Bill noticed little Amanita working alongside Fennel, and the aforementioned list was thrown right out the window.

BILL
When a then-five-year-old is calibrating a pokémon EEG device by herself, you simply must stop to talk to her.

LH
I can’t blame you for that. I believe we nearly forgot about Celio, by the way?

BILL
Ah yes. Well, technically, I met Celio right around the same time as Bebe. He had joined the same board, but he was always more of a quiet member. His posts were valuable, of course, but he preferred as quiet an existence as possible. It wasn’t until I’d met him when giving a talk at Celadon University years later that he introduced himself and showed me a sample of his work. I had shared the sample with Lanette, and right away, the both of us were impressed.

LH
So naturally, we set him up with an online apprenticeship. We both taught him everything we knew, although I do believe Bill always spent more time with him.

BILL
He’s certainly a promising candidate. Perhaps if the Sevii Islands ever establishes a proper league or if we ever find a suitable place for him, we can make his inclusion among us more official.

LH
Until then, I certainly appreciate his work connecting our systems.

BILL
Oh yes. So I suppose that leaves us with Cassius.

LH
Cassius hacked into the system, and rather than pressing charges, Bill thought it would be a great idea to have him do some community service, if by “community service,” one means “work for the system he was hacking into on behalf of a mysterious benefactor in Unova who almost certainly was Team Plasma.”

BILL
To be fair, it worked. Cassius turned into a completely trustworthy member of our team … although his work ethic may leave something to be desired.

LH
Bill, everyone’s work ethic leaves something to be desired compared to yours. Also, how did you even do that, anyway?

BILL
What, get Cassius to reform? Charisma, my dear Lanette. Charisma.

LH
Right. Anyway, I think that’s everyone, except for Hayley, but Hayley is Bebe’s friend and also not technically an administrator, so—

BILL
Hold on, Lanette. We haven’t talked about how we met.

LH
Ah, but don’t you think we’ve gone on long enough?

BILL
[laughs] True. It would be nice to spare some mystery in all of this, wouldn’t it?

LH
Exactly.

Bill what is it about the Eevee line that made you so interested in them? Cuteness? The branched evolutions? And Lanette is the answer that he gives an honest one as far as you can tell?

Well, I must confess that part of it is personal. My mother was a kimono girl, and she had kept her espeon from her days as such. So in truth, I have grown up alongside one of eevee’s evolutions, and many of my fondest memories (as well as those that are … not-so-fond, admittedly) involve that very espeon or the eevee kits she mothered.

Additionally, yes, part of it is for scientific curiosity, as while the general idea of how eevee can have so many alternative evolutions is known, there is still a vast body of questions concerning its genetic code and how many evolutions it actually has. For example, scientists are discovering new evolutions every few years, and we are still not certain as to whether or not eevee can possess an evolution that boasts more than one type.

Not only that, but also, the fact that it accepts evolution so readily makes it an ideal subject for evolutionary scientists in much the same way as the fruit fly has been the subject of much genetic research. Eevee alone has unlocked or may unlock many of the secrets to pokémon evolution that had plagued researchers for centuries.

And finally, how can anyone resist such a cute button nose or those fuzzy ears and tail? Honestly.

All of this is true, although I still question my partner’s opinions. I, for one, can resist eevee’s “cute button nose” and “fuzzy ears and tail” quite easily. Skitty and clefairy are far, far more charming. —LH

I’m sure they are if you enjoy having all your wires chewed up or covered with clefairy’s crystalline spit. —Bill

I was looking through the Archive and was wondering, Lanette, could you tell us more about the incident in Lavender Town that began with Bebe and a bottle of whiskey and ended with an exorcism?

During that research expedition, we learned that possession by ghost pokémon only happens if the subject is weak-willed or if the subject invites a ghost-type to possess them. Of course, all three of us have naturally strong wills due to the rigors of our studies, and among us, Bill is the only one who has undergone additional meditative training specifically designed to build resistance to psychic and spiritual influences, thanks to his prolonged exposure to a kadabra.

Unfortunately, all the training and rigorous study habits in the world mean absolutely nothing when you lack your Scottish ancestors’ legendary alcohol tolerance but possess, in its stead, an insatiable curiosity as well as the belief that the best way to interact with a pokémon is directly, usually by way of inviting it to do—and I quote—“whatever it would do naturally.”
—LH

On the positive side, we gained a lot of valuable data from that. —Bill

Bill, we were forced to chain you to the floor. —LH

So, Bill and Lanette… what’s that thing at the bottom right hand corner of this blog? And the three icon things next to the Internet Explorer icon at the bottom left hand corner? I feel like I should know this (I’m pretty sure I’ve used a computer with these icons), but I totally don’t.

From left to right, ignoring the start menu, the Internet Explorer icon, and the clock (all three of which you know), the other icons are as follows:

  1. Outlook
  2. Minimize all windows (i.e., display the desktop)
  3. View channels (This is a bit difficult to explain, but way back before everyone was constantly online thanks to the concept of not having your internet connection go through your phone line, the demand for content that could be viewed offline was high. To meet this, certain content providers—including notable television networks such as CeladonTV—created frequently updating web content that could be synced to a user’s computer and viewed at any time. These were called “channels” or “Active Channels,” and needless to say, they do not exist anymore.)
  4. Productivity tools

It should be noted that all of these are merely aesthetic. My actual desktop does not look like this. I just happen to like this operating system’s retro chic.
—Bill

Bill’s horrifying taste in design. That’s what those are. —LH