#Charles’ medium brown still throws some light off

[leclercskiesahead]

Thank you admin for this never seen before view of their hair

[verai-marcel]

The Light That You Shine (RDR2 Fanfic, John Marston x F!Reader, Chapter 1 of 6, 18+)

Summary: John Marston was proud to be part of the VDL Riders, a biker gang led by Dutch van der Linde, and had been with them since he had run from home at the age of 15. He and his makeshift family lived by three principles: live free, help those who need it, and punish those who deserve it. For five years, his gang was all he cared about and nothing else mattered. But then John meets you, and his priorities start to change.

Author’s Notes: Go check out @veradia’s biker AU RDR2 art for what inspired me to write this. This is a prequel to Before This Dance Is Through, so everyone is 6 years younger; John is about 20 in this story and so are you, my dear reader. 

Tags: prequel fic, eventual smut, romance, drama, violence, cheesy 80s vibe even though it's 2012, modern AU, switching POVs

AO3 Link is here, sweetheart.

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Chapter 1 - Start at the End

Word count:  2032

“Dammit Morgan, you could’ve warned me!”

Arthur grinned as he slapped John’s back. “Well, that wouldn’t be any fun, now would it?”

The others laughed while John rubbed the back of his head, leaning down to pick up the can of beer. It looked too shaken up to open at this point, so he set it on the table and glared at his brothers. Stalking past them towards the mini-fridge, he pulled out another beer, popped it open and took a long gulp. Dressed in his favorite black leather jacket over a plain white shirt, ripped black jeans, a chain on his belt to keep his wallet from being stolen, and scuffed biker boots, John looked like he bought all of his clothes in the late 80s and never changed.

“So, what’re we doing tonight?” Javier asked, leaning against the mezzanine railing. He had his medium length hair tied up, strands of it falling from the hair tie to frame his angled face. His leather vest and his blue jeans were impeccably clean, and not a single misplaced thread was on his V-neck shirt, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He carried his favorite combat knife in a holster on his hip, hidden under the vest, and he wore black fingerless leather gloves.

Lenny sat on the couch, his freshly polished black boots propped up on the coffee table. He looked like he didn’t quite belong in a motorcycle club, in his black pants and black T-shirt. His white cowboy hat was clean, his white blazer crisp. He had his own knife holster, concealed under his jacket. 

Sean was standing behind the couch, leaning against the back of it. He wore a green headband around his shoulder length hair, fancying himself an Irish Rambo, choosing to wear a blue athletic cut T-shirt and olive green khakis. He wore his brown Timberland boots, the same ones he had since he joined the gang. They looked dirty and scuffed to hell, but they still did their job, so he had no reason to buy new ones. His green & red striped flannel was tied around his waist, hiding a knife holster.

Charles was sitting back in one of the arm chairs catty-corner to the couch. He had his long hair braided tight, the sides of his head shaved. His dark blue peacoat was open to show his black turtleneck and blue jeans. Both of his black biker boots had knife holsters with a few throwing knives.

They all looked towards Arthur, who shrugged as he looked at all of them. He had his worn cowboy hat on with his old bomber jacket over a grey shirt, faded blue jeans, and cowboy boots. He pulled a cigarette out and lit it with his silver zippo lighter, breathing in and letting out a puff of smoke before he responded. 

“Dutch wants us to go run security at some rich feller’s house party.”

“And how are we supposed to manage t’at? I don’t have any fine clothin’ for the occasion,” Sean groused.

“No amount of clothing can save you,” Javier joked.

Sean glared as the others laughed.

“Dutch said we just wear black polos and black jeans so we look like a security company,” Arthur said once the laughter died down.

“So. Is there an alternative motive for this job?” Charles asked.

“Of course there is,” Lenny said confidently. “There’s no way Dutch would deal with those kind of folks without a reason.”

Arthur nodded. “Word is that the rich feller has quite the car collection. We sneak in after the party while everyone’s wasted and drive a few of them outta there. Swap out the plates, get a paint job over at Hosea’s, done deal.”

“And if they have alarms or kill switches?” John asked.

“You know how to hot wire,” Arthur sniped. “You, Javier, and Lenny can deal with it.” He walked past all of them and headed down the stairs. "Meet you all back here by 6pm."

John shrugged. As they split up to prepare for the job, he looked around the small warehouse they called their biker club. Walking down the stairs, he went past their bike shop area underneath the mezzanine and paused for a moment. They had slowly built this place up from scratch, bringing in old furniture for their hang out space and tools to take care of their bikes.

And on the other side of the warehouse were two offices that had been converted into bedrooms. While the others had their own places to live, John and Arthur lived at the club, having both been orphans and taken in by Dutch. Their rooms weren’t anything fancy, just a little bit of room to sleep and store their worldly possessions. John headed to his room to take a nap.

Instead, he lay on his old mattress, staring at the ceiling. He had been with the gang for five years, since he ran away from his foster home. His mother had died six years ago from a drug overdose. When she was lucid, which wasn’t very often, she was kind, even as her eyes bled sadness at the edges; those were the memories he held onto the tightest. He didn’t even know who his father was, or if he was even still alive, but he knew that if he ever met him in person, he'd knock his lights out for leaving his mother such a wreck. 

After he had been sent to foster care, his foster parents didn’t try to understand him, they only tried to mold him into what they thought a proper young man should be. So he ran away. When Dutch found him, scrounging for food in a trash can behind the warehouse, he took him in. Gave him shelter.

Then there was Arthur. He was like a big brother, taught him how to fend for himself, taught him what it meant to give more than you received, even if it came with insults and punches to the face at times.

As more outcasts joined the gang, they also became his family, his brothers. Javier, Sean, Lenny, and Charles, one by one, they all joined and quickly became an intrinsic part of his life. He’d never want for more than this.

But lately, Dutch seemed off. For the past year, John had noticed him taking bigger risks, sending them on more violent jobs, and slowly stepping away from the hands-on work, leaving it to “the younger, faster men,” as he called them. There was a tinge of blind desperation in how Dutch led them now, almost as if he wanted to push them towards something greater, but wasn’t sure what that something was.

Rolling over, he stared at the wall covered in Led Zeppelin, Eagles, and other classic rock posters. He looked at the one Metallica poster he had and smiled wryly as he remembered Arthur throwing it at him, snarling “happy fucking birthday”, and slamming his door. He later found out that Arthur had snuck into the concert, stolen a poster, and ran half a mile to get away. And all because John had whined about not being able to go that night because he was sick.

He sighed and got up. He wasn’t going to get any sleep now. Leaving his room, he tinkered with his Honda Shadow Aero, his pride and joy, until it was time to go.

***

“We certainly look dangerous,” Charles said with a hint of humor in his voice as he calmly got out of the gang’s Sprinter van. 

“That’s because we are,” Javier said matter-of-factly as he hopped out next. 

Everyone bounded out of the van, with John the last out. He pulled the sliding door shut and followed the others into the house, hanging back as he listened to Arthur talk with the party host about the job. He trailed behind them as they were led around the house and made mental notes about where the party goers were allowed to go and where they were forbidden.

Once they were left to their own devices, Arthur turned around. “Alright men, let’s get to work.”

***

The party was wild, the party-goers were disgusting, and at the end, half of them were drunk, and the other half were passed out. 

It was almost far too easy to sneak into the garage, pick a couple cars that were not too flashy, and drive them off the premises. 

As they took off down some quiet back roads to lose any would-be followers, John sat and stared out the window into the pitch black night as Arthur drove with the window rolled down, his arm hanging out the window. Lenny and Sean had taken a car while Charles and Javier had left the party earlier, driving the van to Hosea’s shop.

“Hey.”

“What.”

John scratched his beard. “Do ya think—”

“I think more than you,” Arthur interrupted.

“Dammit Arthur, I’m tryin’ to be serious here!”

“Calm your balls,” Arthur said gruffly. “Yer so easy to rile up, I can’t help it.”

John let out an exasperated sigh. “Do you think Dutch is… do you think he’s tired of this? Of the club?”

Arthur was silent for a few moments. “Why do you say that?”

“He hasn’t been around much lately. He tells us to go do these jobs that are more and more dangerous. We haven’t done a charity drive or anythin’ nice for the community in the past two years.”

“Yeah, I noticed too. I don’t know, I’m sure somethin’ will come around. Maybe he’s been busy just tryin’ to get us steady work.”

“We used to just get jobs that were just jobs. Now we always have some double crossin’ or thievin’ or some shit that could get us in serious trouble!”

Arthur was silent for a little too long.

“Arthur?”

His sigh was long and tired. “I know. I know.”

The rest of the drive was silent as they drove the two hours back to the city.

***

After they had dropped the cars off at Hosea’s car shop, Charles drove them all back to the club in the van. It was 4AM by the time they all got back, and collectively they decided to call it a night and get back together the next night. As the others took their bikes and headed to their own homes, Arthur glanced over at John, who was still silent, still thinking.

“Yer goin’ to think yerself into the ground there,” Arthur commented.

John shrugged. “I can’t ignore it anymore.”

Arthur nodded. “Yeah. Let’s talk to Dutch tomorrow.”

As Arthur headed back to his room, John stepped outside and leaned against the brick wall. He pulled out a cigarette, lit it with his disposable lighter, and slowly took a drag as he stared up at the twilight sky, the stars barely visible in the city. He had an itch to be out in the open again, to sleep under the river of stars like he did in the desert. Or even to be out of a city, just for a while.

John finished his cigarette and slunk back into the warehouse, crawling into bed and staring at the ceiling until the sun came up before finally passing out when even his churning thoughts could no longer keep him awake.

***

“I swear, if we have to hear one more lecture about not having enough faith…”

Arthur just shook his head as he followed John out of the convenience store, quietly drinking his soda. 

“We just asked one damn thing, and he blows up at us like we’re questioning his entire existence!”

“You know how he is,” Arthur mumbled.

“I know how he was. How he is now… he ain’t the same.”

John’s statement was met with silence.

“You know I’m right,” John insisted.

Arthur let out a long sigh. “Well, what am I supposed to do?”

“I don’t know!” John looked away. "All I know is that things ain't the same anymore," he mumbled as he stuffed his hands into his jacket pockets and went silent as they walked back to the warehouse.

"Well," Arthur said after a while, "It weren't us that changed, that's for sure."

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Chapter 2 coming soon!

[fanfictionisliteraturetoo]

A Supernatural Christmas Carol (Chapter 3)

Chapter 2

Series Summary: After a rough year, the reader is having a hard time doing anything besides work. When Dean encourages the reader to celebrate Christmas with Sam and him, the reader declines. After their disagreement, the reader retreats to her room. Throughout the night the reader is visited by four unexpected visitors. Will these visitors be able to help her have a change of heart before it’s too late?

Chapter Three Summary: The reader is visited by the Ghost of Christmas Present. What he shows the reader causes conflicting feelings in their heart.

Pairings: Dean x Reader

Warnings: Mild Angst

Word Count: 2,050+

A/N: Clearly I’m a little behind. I got sick yesterday, and while I was trying to finish this part I was falling asleep sitting up. I still need to post two chapters after this one before the end of Christmas Day. So be prepared for a lot of fanfiction for Christmas! Anyway, this is loosely based on A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. I will be writing five chapters to follow the format of the book. Wish me luck. Merry Christmas and Enjoy!

Remarkably my deep sleep got interrupted somehow. I sat up straight unsure as to why I was suddenly awake. Between my sister and the glowing ghost, my mind was reeling. Just as I sat up my phone began to go off once again. This felt like the final straw. I had turned the phone off. In no way should it be able to make sound or light up my bedroom. I turned it off once again and waited for the next messenger my sister spoke of. Where they would come from, I had no idea, but I wasn’t going to lay down and wait for them to arrive. This time I was ready.

Almost an entire hour passed waiting for the next visitor, but no one showed up. This unnerved me. I was just starting to feel like I understood how this worked. Had they decided to leave me alone? I couldn’t be sure. I reached over to my bedside table and opened the drawer. I started fumbling around searching for my watch. Once I grabbed hold of it I noticed a light begin to peak out from my closet door. It was different from the previous spirit’s light. This light appeared more like a warm and crackling fire. It danced quietly beneath the door as if it was beckoning me closer. I got up quietly, and tiptoed to the door. The moment I placed my hand on the doorknob, I heard a voice call out to me.

“Come in (Y/N),” the voice invited. I complied and opened the door.

When I looked inside it was no longer my closet. It opened up into a mirror copy of my bedroom. I looked behind me to find black nothingness, and quickly ran inside the room in front of me. I found that my room was greatly transformed from how I left it. Christmas lights were strung about the entire room, giving it a cheery glow. My desk and bedside table were covered in beautiful poinsettias, and a single mistletoe was hung just inside my door. Yet the thing that shocked me the most, was the comforting smell of pie and cookies that filled my room.

At my desk sat a joyful looking man in an evergreen bathrobe. Luckily, it was a nice bathrobe so nothing unseemly was exposed. He also wore a holly wreath on his head of dark brown curls. “Come in!” he exclaimed. “Come in and let’s have a chat!” I took a few steps towards him but wasn’t willing to go any closer. I didn’t want to travel anywhere else. My trip with the Ghost of Christmas Past was enough for me. The ghost in front of me seemed jovial, but looks can be deceiving so I kept my guard up. “I am the Ghost of Christmas Present, he said. “Come closer!” He waved me to approach him. Just like when my sister appeared to me, I went and sat on my bed across from my desk.

“So where are you going to take me? I’ve already visited enough memories. I learned that I haven’t been allowing myself to have any fun lately, let alone feel any happiness. Have you always been this joyful?” The spirit looked at me and stood up.

“Most certainly not. We all go through ups and downs in life. It took me many years of practice to discover how to be happy, even during the hard times. The most important thing I learned is to take care of your loved ones.” He answered my question about his demeanor, but ignored everything else. “Now come with me, we are not traveling far.” He stuck out his elbow and I linked my arm with his.

I followed him through my bedroom door, down the bunker hallway and into our main living space. We found Sam and Dean trying to set up a Christmas tree. I wasn’t sure where they got it but they had brought it in impressively quiet. Lights were already wrapped around the branches, and the Winchester’s were now placing ornaments on the tree. There was Christmas stuff spread all across the room. There was no way they planned this last minute. They must have been preparing this Christmas staycation for months.

“I’m going to grab us both a drink,” Sam huffed after placing a giant gold star on top of the tree.

“Alright” Dean replied, still focused on his work decorating the tree. The spirit lead me to the couch to sit down and watch.

Dean quickly went through the motions of decorating the tree. I knew Dean well enough to know that he should be enjoying this moment much more than he was. He seemed deeply troubled, probably thanks to our argument earlier. Sam came in a few minutes later with two glasses of eggnog.

“I made it extra strong for you.” Sam mentioned as he handed Dean his cup.

“Thanks” Dean replied, tapping Sam's glass with his before taking a sip. Sam got back to work, and began hanging garland around the room.

“Dean we need to talk about what happened today with (Y/N).” Sam suggested, looking over his shoulder at his brother.

“Sam I don’t even know anymore. We’ve been trying all year to find a way to help her, but nothing is working. It seems like every time we try, the more closed off she becomes.” With that Dean began to put the tree skirt down around the tree.

“True, but both you and I know that some of the burdens we carry take a long time to overcome. In the end family is what helped us through all of that. There’s got to be something we can do for her to at least help her start to feel better.” Sam was like a brother to me, but he didn’t know my mind like Dean did. He knew if anyone could tell what I was thinking it would be his older brother.

Dean sat down on the floor and meticulously placed presents around the tree. One in particular stood out to him. He picked up a thin, medium-length box off the table and weighed it in his hands. I watched as a single tear fell from his face. Once that happened Dean quickly set the present under the tree, wiped his face, and grabbed for his eggnog. I wasn’t the only one who noticed. Sam had been watching Dean from the corner of his eye.

“Dean…” Sam started, before Dean sharply cut him off.

“Sammy I don’t think she thinks of us at family anymore. The whole reason we planned this big Christmas is because years ago (Y/N) mentioned she wanted to stay home for Christmas one year. We haven’t been able to do that until now. It feels like it’s too late. I failed her.” Sam hung the last piece of garland and then joined Dean on the floor. Dean continued, “I am so scared of losing her….her leg is almost healed up enough that she can go hunting again. The look in her eyes lately scares me. I know she is going to throw herself into it too hard and get hurt again, or worse, killed.”

“Yeah you two are similar in that way.” Sam said raising his eyebrows before taking a sip of his eggnog. Dean looked at him annoyed.

“Very funny Sam.” Dean grunted.

“Listen Dean you and (Y/N) are more alike than you want to admit.” Dean rolled his eyes at this. “That’s exactly what I’m talking about,” Sam laughed. “But on a serious note, if anyone can pull her out of a funk, it’s you.”

“I hope so,” Dean placed the last gift under the tree. “I don’t know what I would do without her…” Dean mentioned before standing up and chugging the rest of his eggnog. Sam stood up, but he left his eggnog on the table. Sam grabbed Dean into a bear hug, surprising Dean at first, but eventually Dean joined in.

“She’ll come around Dean.” Sam reassured, patting Dean’s back. The embrace was short but sweet. Sam let go first and started to clean up.

“Will you be alright if I head to bed?” Dean asked.

“Sure thing, I’ve still got to finish my eggnog. Rest up. We’ll hatch up a new game plan tomorrow.”

“Merry Christmas Sammy”

“Merry Christmas Dean.”

I watched Dean for as long as I could before he disappeared down the hallway. Then I turned and watched Sam slowly sip his eggnog as he inspected all the decorating they did. The ghost got up off the couch and offered me his arm again.

“It’s time to go” He instructed. Once I took hold of arm we traveled even faster than I had with the Ghost of Christmas Past. We first landed in a familiar town, Sioux Falls.

Not only were we in Sioux Falls, but we landed in front of Jody’s house. The ghost led me inside to find Jody sitting in her living room, staring at her Christmas tree. She picked up her phone and dialed a number. The phone rang twice before someone picked it up.

“Hey Donna….Yes I’m ready for Christmas….supposedly they’re all in bed….are you still coming over tomorrow?” I couldn’t hear Donna’s replies but from what Jody was saying I had a pretty good idea of what they were discussing. Then they caught me off guard when Jody said, “Did you get a call from Dean today?” I didn’t know Dean called Jody and possibly Donna. “Yeah we definitely need to have her out her for a girls’ day. She’s been working herself way too hard.” The conversation lasted a few minutes more before Jody wished Donna a Merry Christmas and ended the call.

The ghost then led me outside away from Jody’s house. I felt strange. My heart was being exposed to all sorts of pain this evening. However, the strangest part of the evening wasn’t the pain. For the first time in a year, I was feeling something lighter and brighter. Hope. Even though I felt bad for causing my loved ones heartache, listening to them with the assistance of these spirits, was somehow helping my shoulders feel less heavy. I realized that I had some important people in my life who truly cared for me. It was time for me to start spending more time with them so that I could support them in the way they support me.

The spirit continued to take me to familiar and unfamiliar places. He showed me all kinds of families preparing for the holidays. Many of them were putting their insecurities, disappointments, and sadness aside so that they could make memories with their loved ones. These visits filled my heart continually with joy and sorrow. The more we saw, the more I thought about how I spent my year, and what I could do to improve upon it.

We finally arrived back at the bunker, if you could call it that. We were technically in the woods next to the bunker. The spirit looked at me with his jolly eyes. “Balance is the key to everything. Don’t allow work and pain to overcome your life. You have plenty to give and plenty to receive. Listen to your heart, for it will tell you what is right.”

“How can I make sure I do this?” I inquired.

“The answer can be found with you. This whole time you’ve been hiding from who and what you are. Embrace that and you will find the answer.” He finished speaking as a large gust of wind came blowing through. I closed my eyes and shivered. When I opened my eyes again the Ghost of Christmas Present was gone. I was now alone in the chill and fog of the woods. The words of my sister echoed again in my mind.

“If you do not listen to them, you will never be able to overcome the challenges that lie ahead.” Once that line ran through my head I felt a chill on the back of my neck. I turned slowly to see a large figure in a black cloak. I could not tell what or who it was, due to the dense shadows of the forest. It glided across the ground until it was standing across from me, face to face.

TAGS: @spnfamily-j2​

[marv-s-orginal-stories]

The Resistance Chapter 4

Chapter 4: The Residents of 327

In this little town beneath Georgetown there was a brownstone. It was a charming classic with old red bricks, noble off white concrete stairs and a white door. Over the white door, there was a small light that was almost always on because everyone forgot to turn it off in the morning before going out. Besides the door three gold numbers, 327, were mounted also receiving the light from the porch. The building had six tenants and three floors There were two basement apartments B1 and B2.

In B1 there lived a collection of biochemistry students, there were three of them. Lara, Sweeney, and Marguerite. The three girls were quiet and went to bed very late every night. They were good neighbors, all three of them would wave to you and smile when you passed in the hall. Sweeney was a tiny thing at 5’2 and 120lbs. She had short red hair that looked as if she had cut it herself that always was pinned back from her face and large green eyes. Her voice was soft and when it raised in volumes it was raised in little squeaks. Her nature was quiet and shy. Jared often said she reminded him of a mouse.

Sweeney would have turned pink at this comment. She found her intoxicated neighbor extremely handsome though, the plain little Sweeney did not dare approach Jared or his sister. Either way, the two siblings intimidated her.

Marguerite was the pretty one. She stood at 5’7 and seemed to have a grace about her. She had bright warm almond eyes that sat against flawless tan skin and were framed by her long perfectly straight raven hair. She often had an ease about her that Sweeney did not at all. Marguerite was like a canary and Sweeney a little Finch. She had a rich voice that was calm and relaxed. Her voice was sweet, warm and careful like a canary song. Rite, as she was referred to also admired the Boivins. She more admired Mat to Jared. Sometimes the building owner would throw small parties and Mat would pop by and when Rite spoke with Mat she found her very interesting.

The final roommate was a Lara, who to Sweeney’s Finch and Marguerite's canary was a lark. Lara was actually, Larabelle, She was blonde and pretty with large black glasses that covered her beautiful blue eyes. Lara was bouncy, bubbly and kind. Her hair was always up in some way most the time in a ponytail that swung like a pendulum. She was from Virginia her mother and father lived only two hours away. Her comfort made her roommates and the neighbors feel happy to see Larabelle the lark. She had a sweet southern voice that unlike Rite’s flowy relaxing voice and Sweeney’s nervous squeals was almost always loud and almost always bright. Mathilde knew Larabelle better than the others because Lara would sing around the building while helping out the landlord with small tasks. That was apartment 1B.

Across in apartment 2B, lived a man named Gustav Daudier. Gustav was an eccentric person and would sometimes get over excited and play his music too loud. This caused, usually Lara, to go and gently tell him the entire building could hear his classic rock.

Gustav was African American. He was about 5’11 of a medium build. His hair was worn short but he was not the kind of person to care about his appearance. Gustav worked in government though he would not tell anyone where or what he did. He was very private but he and Sweeney got on very well. He like Rite and Lara too but Sweeney was the one whom he could truly nerd out around.  He did find Marguerite fabulously beautiful and she found him attractive as well but it only resulted in some light hearted flirting from across the hall.

The ground floor also held two apartments. When you first opened the nice white door you saw a bamboo wood floor and in the center was a large staircase. There were three doors one on either side of the staircase and one in the corner. The one in the corner had a plaque that read BASEMENT. If you opened it you would find your way to 1B, 2B, and the laundry room.

The door on the left of the staircase had the lettering 1A. That was the home of the landlord and his family. The landlord’s name was Luke and his wife’s name was Rochelle. They had two children a boy and a girl. Clara and Jack. They were kind enough and the children were impeccably mannered. Luke Thomas had curly black hair and kind blue eyes. He was about 5’10 and had broad shoulders with a fairly muscular build he owed that to his high school and college sporting career that he maintained with a gym membership.  His wife Rochelle was 5’6 she was African American. Her black hair always looked perfect, she dressed similarly to Mrs. Saint Louis but Rochelle was a doctor and went to work every day which Mrs. Saint Louis never had to do. The children were twins at the age of five. Both were charming and smart. They were too young to really gain their true footing in the building.

On the opposite side of the staircase with the bronze lettering 2A on the door lived Catherine Marquise.  Catherine worked in Egyptology at the Smithsonian. She was a quiet woman who never really talked to the other neighbors so much so only a few people had ever seen her. Lara, Rochelle, Luke, and Mathilde had but only for brief seconds. Catherine was thirty-five with long brown hair. She had spent time in Egypt while getting her Ph.D. because of that she had gained a warm kind of tan and premature wrinkles. She had crow's feet at the corners of her intellectual brown eyes, wrinkles from where her brow had furrowed and lines from where she had smiled. Catherine had a daughter named Amber whom she had adopted from Egypt but their little family was quiet. Amber was twelve, she was well behaved and kind. Everyone knew Amber. Amber had long black hair and big brown eyes. She was elegant or would be. Amber was lanky with long limbs giving a slightly odd appearance that would go away when she grew into them. Catherine had been married to a woman named Loretta Snow but it had ended badly.

After the separation, Amber and Catherine moved away from their old home that was in England and to DC where Catherine had gotten her job as head of Egyptology department. Loretta Snow was a professor at Cambridge but she was not suited to be a mother or a life partner of someone. She had commitment issues that drove Catherine back to America with their daughter.

Amber liked to sing as she would do the laundry or anything really. It was often pretty loud and could be heard when she made her way from her house to the laundry room and out to schools.

The Marquise family was very fond of cats. Amber loved to adopt stray cats most of all. Many would predict that because she was an orphan and had been adopted she felt for the cats and wanted to adopt them. That was something the twelve-year-old had not figured out; for her, the reason was that she loved cats. There were her four cats. There was a large pale orange tabby who liked to romp across the building. His name was Napoleon. He was oversized and liked to treat the building like his own. Then there was Basest who was a slender black cat. She was a quiet house cat who always laid on Amber’s bed. Napoleon did not confine himself to one single bed. There was Marie who was a pure white cat with a pink nose. She was far from a dainty thing she had a habit of finding ways out of the house.  The final cat that belonged to her was a gray tabby named Raoul. Raoul was the newest addition and had caused a litter of kittens from Basest. Those were promptly adopted.

However, Amber never ever stopped trying to save the stray cats she found. Her good natured but overworked mother finally put her foot down. Four cats were enough to even though Napoleon was more like the building’s cat and not the personal cat. Still, four cats are too much. Amber had then turned to the neighbors. Gustav had a Siamese cat named Holly, The 1B girls had birds so they did not want a cat. The Thomas family adopted a brown and white tabby named Mittens. The newlyweds in apartment 1C had a Calico named Duchess. The two in apartment 2C had adopted three cats because the woman who lived in that apartment had grown quite fond of Amber and Amber had grown quite fond of her. The woman in apartment 2C was Mathilde.

But first the newlyweds in apartment 1C.

If you were to climb the staircase you would find two more doors. The one on the left over the Thomas’s apartment was apartment 1C. It was home to Leslie and Charles Morgan. They had been married in the previous August, spent a few months studying abroad. Not much was known about the Morgans because they had moved in only a few months earlier. They knew that the two were kind and pretty. They knew that the two could speak Arabic because they spoke it with Amber. They could also speak Russian because they spoke it with Mathilde. They spoke Korean with Marguerite, French with Jared and Lara, With Sweeney they spoke Chinese. Sweeney had learned Mandarin as a child.

In fact the Morgans were linguists. They both worked for the FBI currently but they didn’t feel like sharing that with everyone. The couple were pinnacles of what it meant to be American.

They were often found making out in the laundry room. Amber would simply start singing a bit louder whereas Sweeney would squeak and run to Rite or Lara and beg them to do the wash instead.

Jared often did the laundry before he left for work. He liked his sister to not worry about clean clothing on top of everything else. Also, he was sober and clean in the mornings, he could focus.

Sweeney tried to do her laundry at that time too. She thought Jared extremely dashing and would say of him “There is such a grace about him that he could have been a knight in medieval times.” Jared found the Finch pleasant. He loved Sweeney’s hair. He liked the way it looked like she cut it herself.  She did, to save money she used a special pair of office scissors. Jared would talk to her of all sorts of things. He had given Sweeney the nickname of Finch, Mathilde had given Lara lark, and both agreed on Canary for Rite.

Now many may be asking if Sweeney is a first or last name to the petit girl who bore it. Sweeney, was, in fact, her first name. Her mother had named her that because she adored the name and her father did too. She was Sweeney Rose Crowlon. Her mother called her Sweeney Rose to make it sound more feminine but she preferred Sweeney.

Jared suspected the quiet girl might have been hitting on him but did not dare suggest it to her for fear of frightening the jumpy creature. Lara, often found herself peering in on their laundry conversations. She giggled about how animated and glowy Sweeney got around Jared.

Sometimes though Sweeney would miss Jared or she would find Mat.

Amber often saw Mat down in the laundry room as well. She went down there to do her more delicate laundry, her undergarments mostly. Jared did not know how to properly wash a nice bra. She also would be mortified if he found her bloody underwear or some stupid sexy garment. She also washed the bedding once a week. That was where she often found Amber. Amber actually loved the laundry room because one, Napoleon, her cat, like to sleep by the warm vents of the dryer and because her mother worked long hours she was often alone. When she was in the laundry room she could people watch and even talk to people passing. She would get home from school via a carpool and then she would do her homework in the laundry room while people said hi. Then an hour before her mother got home she would return to her house cook her practically pre-made dinner and eat it before slinking back to her bed to finish her homework.

She had a phone, but her friends didn’t. She often sat in silence despite the knocks from the apartment above, apartment 2C.

That was Amber Marquise’s lonely life. She loved her mother and she did not miss her other mother who was not the one who had adopted her. Catherine had not Loretta.

Back to the laundry room, that has been spoken about so much that it would do some good to understand what it looked like. This sacred public space had a white bordered door with a large panel of thick slightly blue rough looking glass in the center. On that glass, the word LAUNDRY was placed in gold lettering. The room was across from apartments 1 and 2B. Inside there were dark wood floors that had been damaged in a lot of places; there were two washers and two dryers in the room. The room was narrow and rectangular with a large padded wooden bench that ran down the center. The sun often filtered through the thick glass door from the window that faced it.  Against one wall was one set of a washer and dryer the other side mirrored the first. In the corner, there was a hand wash and prepare for wash station and against the back wall was an old Mrs. Pacman game a mini fridge with beverages and a table with a single book that changed monthly and a thick stack of trashy magazines. Mat always left out a copy of the Student Sentinel. Amber had read Great Expectations, Frankenstein, The Three Musketeers, Animal farm, 1984, and a large portion of Les Miserables in her time in the laundry room. This place was essential for the building. It was where the neighbors chatted with each other and caught up. They gossiped about the people that surrounded them and they connected.

It was the public gathering place.  Amber had started to leave the laundry room. That was when Mat slid into the room grabbing her wallet she left it on a machine.  

Amber perked up at the sight of Mat in the room.

“Mat!” She said in happiness.

“Hello Am, Napoleon.” Mathilde addressed the lonely girl and her fat tabby cat.

“Hello,” Amber smiled.

“You are in here late it is nearly ten o’clock,” Mat commented looking at the girl who was thumbing through her math homework. Mat sat down beside Amber carefully.

“Yeah, my Mum is working late tonight she won't be home till midnight.” Amber shrugged. “I prefer it down here. I can feel less alone and I never get to see Napoleon unless I see him here.” The cat let out a large meow causing Mathilde to chuckle.

“Well, I will walk you back to your apartment. Jared and I actually got some ice cream I will drop some off and help you cook your food.” Mat offered.

“Okay!” Amber cheered. She had failed to notice Mathilde had a grocery bag slung over her arm.

“Alright come on.” Mat gestured for Amber to follow her and Amber did. She followed Mat up. When they got to the door Amber unlocked it and let Mat in. Mat had become an older sister to Amber.

Mat went straight to meal and began to cook it. It was something like a Dream Dinners meal with all the ingredients packaged and thawed with only combining them left to do. Mathilde did just that while Amber chattered on about her day.

“So then I explained to my teacher that I didn't like the book choice. She wants me to read this stupid book about a stupid pearl. I told her I much rather just skip to To Kill a Mockingbird.” Amber explained.

“Hmm...I do love To Kill a Mockingbird. How many classics have you finished from the laundry room collection?” Asked Mat.

“Hmm...five, I think, although I did start Les Miserables when it was down there I didn't have time to finish it.” Amber shrugged sweetly.

“Yes, they usually put pretty good books down there.” Mathilde nodded as the dinner was finishing up. She plated Amber’s food and put the ice cream in the freezer.

“Alright Am, I have to go but I will see you around.  Knock if you need anything at all.” Mat smiled at little Amber before heading up the stairs to apartment 2C.

[ciathyzareposts]

Rex Nebular – Won!

Written by TBD.

Rex Nebular’s Log: Stardate – Ides of March, 44 BC: I was just sitting down in the Senate before work when all the senators came in. After my good friend Brutus hugged me I felt a sharp pain in my bac… … Sorry, wrong log… … I won. I’ve completed my mission and escaped the evil women with help from an inexplicably homeless person. Let me tell you how I did it…

Well, I left off last time having gotten a bad ending and being stuck and asking for help. I received help from gboukensha, Charles and Leo Velles. Thank you all.

I looked at gboukensha’s hints first.

1. You need to distract the dog

Well, I already knew that and if I wasn’t somewhat impatient I would have tried a few more things before looking at the second clue. But that clue could easily mean I needed an item I didn’t yet have and I was already impatient, so…

2. You should use the bones to do that

Okay. I had the bones and I’d tried throwing the bones to the dog one at a time and he just ate them up until I ran out.

So I go back to the auto shop and start throwing bones around willy-nilly. After a few aborted attempts to throw (There’s really no need to throw the bones at the manhole…) the action line changes from Throw bones at item to…

Aha. When I point at the fence AT gets replaced with OVER

I throw the bones over the fence and the dog jumps over the fence, which leads to a sheer drop to the level below.

Pleased that I can now explore a new area, I enter the garage through the side door. When I arrive, something jumps through the broken window.

Note: really fast dogs look kind of like brown trains.

As for how the dog got back here from jumping off a cliff, I’m going with the same cartoon logic that allows Wile E Coyote to live through the first minute of every cartoon he’s in.

Avoiding walking to the area the dog’s barking in, I look around, and apart from other things in the area, I can press a down button or up button to raise or lower the car. The area below the car is named…

You can be my wingman any time, Maverick!

Hmmm. Would this be the kind of game that makes me murder a dog? Let’s find out.

Rex is pleased that he did this. Rex is a bastard.

I tried this puzzle again after switching to NICE mode, thinking the dog might just run away instead of get crushed or the whole section might be covered with a CENSORED sign but no, he gets crushed just as bloodily and we see it all – weird.

Now that I can explore the area fully without danger, I do so and take some POLYCEMENT and a REARVIEW MIRROR.

I know immediately what to use those items on, so I start with the REARVIEW MIRROR and go back to Bruce’s house in the Residential area.

Aha. So my idea of reflecting the beam to blast open the safe was correct!

With a hole in the safe, I open it and take the key to the video store that I got last time when I tried MEDIUM difficulty. I found it interesting that the safe combination wasn’t available at all in HARD, and presumably using the first mirror on the laser beam in MEDIUM serves no purpose at all.

Using my newfound key on the video store door and looking around shows me a bit of a difference of opinion between Rex and the narrator.

Well, yes, Rex. There are. Let’s take some.

Gee narrator. No need to get snippy.

Looking at the items in the video store gives me lots of jokes, but the only item I seem able to interact with is a cordless phone. I can take it, and remove the batteries. I can also put the batteries I took from the penlight into the phone and put it on the charging station which lights up red. Thinking that perhaps the reason the penlight didn’t do anything whenever I’d used it previously was because the batteries were dead, I leave the batteries to charge and leave the store.

Now, I became stuck again here. I had my polycement, rearview mirror and phone batteries, but still didn’t have any idea what I should do next.

Do you think I went back to the clues the helpful readers had left me after a small amount of time of trying other things? You bet I did…

Charles had said…

Now, if I’m not mistaken, you have missed something else. Just in case the dog puzzle isn’t enough to get you unstuck:

Well, the dog puzzle wasn’t enough to get me unstuck and Leo Velles had also confirmed that Charles’ hints could help, so let’s look at Charles’ first hint.

You may want to check the 9 locations again, but not for items

This clue made me think I’d missed a location somewhere. Most likely a door or exit I didn’t realise I could use. I went back to the 9 locations and found it… after doing an entire lap of the area and ending up exactly where I started – back ouside the video store…

See that “GO” sign. That’s an alley.

I can see why I missed this alley because it looks like the road just curls around to the left here instead of also having something branch off to the right. In my defense I’ll add that each screen in Machopolis has similar GO cursors that just tell me I can’t use them once I watch Rex attempt to walk there. This very screen has two of those GO cursors at the obvious roads to the south and west. Here’s a compilation of useless GO cursors.

Yes, I made this GIF purely as an attempt to validate my ability to miss the alley!

Anyway, I enter this well hidden alley, and find a hermit. His name is Herman.

For some reason I had to fight an overwhelming urge to cry over him.

Herman tells me that the vase I’m after is likely housed in the tallest building in the city, which was owned by the governor who was also the local art collector. He also tells me about the war, and that he was a teenager when it ended.

Now, after talking to Herman I note that he seems to live in a cardboard box in this alley, but he also has access to a nearby teleporter and has explored the city as thoroughly as he can without my particular set of skills and items. Why doesn’t he live in someone’s abandoned home? Bruce’s house is close enough that he could get there on foot. There’s probably somewhere even closer if he needs it. Anyway, ignoring his residential choices, I keep asking him questions.

Most usefully, Herman mentions that he’s upset that he can’t listen to his squalkman (walkman (iPod  to younger readers) ) any more because he’s out of batteries. Well, I happen to have some freshly charged phone batteries with me now.

Of course, his squalkman needs four batteries and I only have two, so I have to go back to the video store and get my batteries back from the phone charger.

I give him all four batteries and he gives me the Fake id he’s been using to get around town. Then he moonwalks away.

Now that I have a fake ID, I should be able to enter the two doors that need security cards. Let’s take a look.

This ID made me laugh. Well done, Herman. Well done!

I use my fake ID on the elevator and it works! It takes me to a high ledge, where I find a non-working teleporter, a skeleton containing some more bones, and a proper ID. I also find some cement pylons, one of which contains a hook. I attach my fishing line to the hook.

I go back to the other security card-barred entrance, and even though I have a better ID, I use Herman’s first to see what happens.

I like to imagine Herman getting crushed by a giant boxing glove here too.

I use the professional ID card instead, and enter the security room. I take some detonators and find some useful-looking weapons.

Unfortunately I never get to use any of these weapons.

I try attaching the detonators to my charge cases.

Turning my charge cases into bombs explains why I couldn’t blow anything up yet. And I’ve tried to blow up a lot of things, including the display cases the weapons are behind in this very room!

Well, now I go back to my idea I had a few posts ago of blowing up the viewport to the ocean. On prompting from the narrator, I put the timer module on the bombs to create a timebomb, put in on the viewport and set it.

Then I go to where the boat is on the ground and attach the dangling end of the fishing line that I’d previously attached to a hook on the upper ledge.

I don’t think this boat is big enough for me to take two of every animal.

I was hoping to sit in the boat and ride the wave as the place flooded, but I still can’t get in the boat. And the car also won’t go back to the place with the teleporter in it. Before I have time to come up with a plan C, the bomb goes off.

Well, after reloading, I decide to try getting higher before the flood. This time I go to the upper ledge after securing the boat, and I remain safe after the area floods. I pull the fishing line and get on the boat.

Now, the one place I can see in the distance must be the governor’s tower where the vase is. I’m sure I’m close to the end of the game now! I go towards the tower.

Unfortunately the game won’t let me just drive around the monster.

I throw food and bones at the sea monster, but after a small time he sticks me with his tongue and eats me.

I try a lot of things here and was actually stuck for quite a while. I can drive back to the ledge, but each time I try to go toward the tower the monster pops up again. On the ledge, I can use my binoculars to look at the tower and see the vase glinting temptingly. Remembering how I eventually got rid of the dog, I tried throwing the bones at various parts of the water but the monster didn’t budge. After a surprisingly long time I tried putting my bomb in the chicken.

With the sea monster dead, I continue along towards the tower, picking up a floating bottle on the way. After entering the penthouse window I find the vase. I suspect a trap but try to take it anyway.

Should’ve put the rearview mirror on my rear.

With Raiders of the Lost Ark being one of my favourite movies, I’d already guessed the likely solution. Going back to the window, I partly fill my empty bottle with sea water. I can ½ fill it, ¼ fill it, ¾ fill it, or completely fill it. You can guess what happens when I fill the bottle too much or not enough, but when it’s exactly half full, I Indiana Jones it with the vase.

So, now that I have the vase, I use the governor’s personal teleporter to go back to the launchpad I’d used last time when I got the bad ending.

Just for fun, I try to make Rex’s dangerous trip totally pointless.

Aw.

I apply my polycement to the crack in my cockpit window and take off, hoping that the cement will let my cockpit survive the vacuum of space. It does, and I get in a short battle with the ship that shot mine down at the beginning of the game.

Alright! I’ve blown up those evil women and escaped. Now time to get my reward

We now return to the opening scene of the game, after Rex started to tell Colonel Stone what he went through to get the vase. I’ll admit I’d kind of forgotten that this entire game was a flashback.

That ending was… extremely abrupt.

And I’ve won! After all that effort, Rex carelessly knocking the vase over and breaking it is very in character for the incompetent hero he (along with a lot of comedy adventure game protagonists) seems to be. And going straight to the credits rather than show me the aftermath of the breakage is a valid comedic choice, though it did take me by surprise and I generally prefer to sit back and watch a detailed ending after finishing a game.

All in all – I had fun. It had enough funny moments to keep me interested, and I overall found this game good enough, but not excellent. We’ll see next week how it fares with the PISSED rating system but I’m expecting a middling score. See you then!

Session time: 1 hour 50 minutes Total time: 8 hours 40 minutes

source http://reposts.ciathyza.com/rex-nebular-won/