BATTS

this one has random tables

by John Thomas Battle

Post-Mecha
Growing up I’ve always been interested in the ideas they never show us. What happens after
the grand gesture of a rom-com? How does the survivor cope after the horror movie? After the
action-adventure, how does the hero return to a normal life? I was disappointed. None of this
stuff was real and it was like they weren’t even trying. If they *were* trying, if they really cared,
they’d show us the “real” stuff. The stuff that happens after.

Now, as an adult, I still agree. Maybe for different reasons, but I agree. Showing someone do
something is only one side of the story. How they react to the aftermath is where the meat is. It’s
why Mad Men struck a chord; they held on long reaction shots where most of modern television
was buzzing back and forth in a frenzy. It’s why Game of Thrones appealed to me; it was a post-
war world and everyone was still dealing with decisions they had made years and years ago.
It’s why I was floored by Rocky II, a movie that picks up right after Rocky’s victory and shows the
repercussions of that. Because yes, even winning isn’t easy.

The Legend of Korra got a lot of flak for skimping on the development that went into Avatar: the
Last Airbender. Entire seasons wrapping up arcs that shoulda taken three. Villains being intro-
duced and defeated in the next several episodes. Character development that went too fast or
never moved at all. But I lauded the show, and still do, for its major theme, the theme that no
one talks about; Repercussions. The entire show is a reaction to its predecessor. Many saw it as
a weakness that didn’t let Korra, the character shine, but that wasn’t the focus.

Recently I watched a youtube video from Gigguk titled, “The Fall of Mecha”, which primarily
focused around reviewing the 2010’s Mecha anime, ultimately coming to the conclusion that
nothing spectacular happened and moving forward they (Gigguk) have no idea where the genre
will go, or if it will go everywhere. Maybe it’s dying?

My answer to that is...what if it did?

What comes after?

What happens to a world so aggrandized with mecha after the mecha stop working? Or aren’t
needed? A world made small by the mecha in some spaces, but made large and empty in oth-
ers. Entire skills and specialties trying to find roots in a world that doesn’t need them. Warriors
dealing with their brutal aftermath, no longer having the barrier of the mech to protect them.

Sword fighting on the ruins and the wreckage.

Traveling the mythic underbelly of a mech graveyard.

Feeling so tiny…
Fill the Tank
Evangelion (the films)
I’ll be the only one to tell you that the Evangelion films are good. Better than the original series.
And this comes from someone who, when first viewing them, thought they were garbage. I mean
come on! A fucking piano! What a toss. But after rewatching the show and bitching about my
6 year old memories of the films, I watched them again. Since then I’ve watched them several
more times. They are, to keep it simple, some of the most beautiful films I’ve ever seen. Never
have I wanted to screencap scenes and piece together a new world from a film, more than I do
now. Go watch them again. With a serious eye. Be stunned into silence.

Hell’s Kitchen, Season 1

Yeah, I like Gordon Ramsay. Kitchen Nightmares is like junk food for my brain. But I recently
went digging for Boiling Point to give it a watch and was disappointed to find that Hulu only had
Hell’s Kitchen. Season 1 and Season 10-whatever. So I put it on expecting some background
noise to write alongside. 6 episodes later and I hadn’t taken my eyes off the screen. It’s full of
the typical tripe and bullshit that all reality shows are full of, but the intensity of character from
everyone present is electrifying. Not to mention the sense of weight held with each night that the
kitchen is open for service. Trial by fire. I’m curious how a campaign structured like that would
turn out. If you opened hard and just kept on the gas, pushing your players further and further,
would they come out the other side feeling accomplished? I don’t know. But the show is exciting.

Negative Space
For this post-mecha world I want space. Negative space is a term used in art, like the “typical”
arts of drawing and illustration, to put a name to all the space that isn’t filled with *stuff*. The
blank parts of a canvas. The emptiness. Ambient music occupies the negative space of the brain
where it exists but is empty, and that emptiness is the vibe it aims to give you. Omar Days has
a great playlist on Spotify that he updates weekly called Jupi/ter Playlist (insert galaxy emoji).
Check it out. Put that on and figure out what a mecha world that bleeds from the negative space
looks like.
Random Tables
Random Items on my Work Desk (d20)
1. Pikachu doll
2. Mostly-used tissue box
3. Dirty glass for stale water
4. Stained coffee mug
5. No-longer-sticky sticky note with direct phone number
6. Old fortune from a fortune cookie
7. Cow squishy
8. Stress ball
9. Dice-shaped stress ball
10. Phone stand w/ cracked phone
11. Wallet w/ picture of kid
12. Note-scribbled legal pad
13. Gnawed pen
14. Key chain w/ assorted keys
15. Monitor
16. Small box for a computer
17. Old phone
18. Calculator
19. Name tag that doesn’t have your name on it
20. Keyboard
Random People I Got Emails From Today (d12)
1. Luciana
2. Corinna
3. Droog
4. Michael (Mike)
5. D. Thomas
6. Adam
7. Sut (Stuart)
8. Crowell
9. Survey Team
10. Margaret
11. Garve
12. Ballinger
Complications from this morning (1/10/2020)(d8)
1. Passive aggressive colleague with a history
2. Negotiating for more money than you *should* get
3. Badgering someone for something you’re owed
4. Doing the same thing for two different people
5. Needing coffee to function any longer
6. Talking down an angered person
7. Getting that crick out of your neck
8. Being bored
Random Table of Things on my Floor (d12)
1. Nintendo Switch Joycons
2. Twin TV remotes
3. Empty cheeto back
4. Empty water bottle
5. Cute mug with dog on it
6. Half-empty lighter
7. Classes cleaning rag
8. Dirty socks
9. Large change jar
10. Nail clippers
11. Candle jar
12. Tweezers

Random Table of Things on My Table (d8)

Bluetooth speaker .1
Cup of lukewarm coffee .2
Opened bills .3
Fat sketch book, half filled .4
Assorted painting supplies .5
Yugioh cards (not mine) .6
Loafin’ kitty girl .7
Crown royal dice holder .8
 Random Table of My Cat’s Purrs (d6)
1. Prrrrrrrrrrrr
2. Reaaaaaah
3. Grrrn
4. Meeuh
5. Row!
6. mrr
Random Table of Names I Call My Cat (d8)
1. Blue
2. Blue-tiful
3. Kitty girl
4. Kitty GORL
5. Chonkers
6. Chubbers
7. Cutie
8. K I T T Y
 Random Table of Things I Can’t Say, but Can Type in White Ink (d20)
1. I like guys
2. Like, I’m bi
3. I was in love with a boy in 7th grade but I didn’t say anything
4. Actually I told an ex at the time
5. She told all of my friends I was bi
6. They embarrassed me
7. Humiliated me
8. I yelled at her. “Why would you do it?”
9. And all she said was. “who cares?”
10. I don’t know if I’m supposed to be a man
11. I don’t know if I’m a woman either
12. I want to be nothing
13. I feel detached from my name, like when people call it, it hardly sounds like they’re talking to
me, more like they’re talking to some other person who I happen to be pretending as
14. I actually really like my own music
15. I haven’t been suicidal in two years
16. Even if my work makes me want to die
17. I don’t think I love my dad
18. I miss my old therapist and wish I could return
19. I like getting older but fear what might happen to my mind
20. I’ve only started having panic attacks in the last few years and they terrify me
Random Table to Determine How Many Times I’ll Almost
Close My Eyes While Driving to Work (d8)
1. None cause I’m awake and had enough sleep
2. Too many times to count
3. 7
4. 13
5. 4
6. I actually feel refreshed today
7. GOD, I should have had coffee before moving
8. None cause I keep thinking about that nightmare

Random Table to Determine if this is Just a Cough or the Flu (coin toss)
1. It is.
2. It isn’t.

Random Table of Work-Day Breakfast (d10) Random Table of Music I Listen

1. Nothing to in the Mornings at Work While
2. Dunkin Donuts, greasy sammich Drinking My Coffee (d100)
3. Desk poptart 1-97. The Pillows
4. Vending machine poptart 98-00. Some poppy nonsense
5. Hard Boiled eggs from home
6. Today’s lunch brought from home
7. Burger King, traffic willing
8. Sometime left on the “community table” Random Table of Websites I Browse
9. Work provided breakfast (rare) While Pretending to Take a Poop at
10. McD’s Work (d10)
1. Twitter
Random Table of Thoughts 2. Discord
(d8) 3. Instagram
1. Am I doing enough? 4. Twitter
2. Why can’t I save more 5. Discord
money? 6. Twitter
3. Why did I get Arby’s last 7. Discord
night? 8. Twitter
4. Why do my knees hurt? 9. Reddit
5. Would it be okay if I died 10. Twitter
a little early?
6. That time on the play-
Random Table of Work-Day Breakfast (d10)
ground when Chris
1. Nothing
pushed me to the ground
2. Dunkin Donuts, greasy sammich
and jumped (feet first) on
3. Desk poptart
my back and I assaulted
4. Vending machine poptart
him, screamed at him,
5. Hard Boiled eggs from home
told him that no one
6. Today’s lunch brought from home
loved him and looked
7. Burger King, traffic willing
around for anyone to say
8. Sometime left on the “community table”
anything else but they all
9. Work provided breakfast (rare)
just stared on. So I left.
10. McD’s
And when they came af-
ter me I yelled at them
too.
7. I really gotta poop.
Thanks, coffee.
8. Am I wasting my life?
Random Table of Tables in My Life (d6)
1. My work desk
2. The dresser with my pc on it
3. The round wooden table I sometimes sit at in the morning to not wake Emily while I drink
my coffee and watch youtube
4. The lap desk i use for my laptop
5. The conference table at work, for social gatherings
6. The bar at the restaurant across the street, for social gatherings

Random Table of Tables that *Will* be in My Life (d6)

1. Standing desk for home to replace the dresser
2. The one I sit at for my first interview
3. Operating table they cut me open on
4. Not for this list, but the last one, the desk from my college
dorm that I sat at for most of my time there
5. Maybe I’ll have a dining table someday
6. I can’t think of another
 That’s it.

Twitter @thebestpupper

This one’s for me.