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90shaladriel · 1 year ago

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writer asks

thanks so much @pursuitseternal and @myfavouritelunatic for tagging me!

I am not sure I really qualify as a writer 😂 , this is something I started within the last 12 months as a response to diving into Rings of Power / Haladriel shipping and fanfiction.

How many works do you have on AO3? 3

What's your total AO3 words count? 61,841 !

What fandoms do you write for? The Rings of Power, Silmarillion. I have some wip drafts for something from the Halo universe (my ao3 account name “NobleOne_Carter” was one of the Spartans from the game Halo: Reach)

What are your top five fics by kudos? - I only have 3 😭… 1) A Lord and his Builder 2) First Fire in the Void 3) Strays at Sea

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? Absolutely, it drives me to keep writing almost more than anything else and I sometimes like expanding on the backstory or my approach when people ask good questions about my fics.

What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? I haven’t finished it yet but I am pretty sure First Fire in the Void will be the one 😉

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Again it hasn’t been written yet but I think A Lord and his Builder will have an upbeat but open ending.

Do you get hate on fics? Not any really

Do you write smut? If so, what kind? I have mostly been afraid to because I feel my writing is so inadequate for it, and or I kind of embarrassed about what cringe I imagine a sexy scene to be. I am trying to get over this anxiety and get out of my comfort zone. In my last chapter of First Fire in the Void I wrote a detailed make-out kind of scene between Melkor and Mairon. Which was a challenging one in many ways for me. I am thinking of going full smut later in that fic (I think that is obligatory for Angbang? 🍆)

Do you write crossovers? If so, what's the craziest one you've written? I haven’t. However I always have an overactive imagination. One crossover I would love to write is Darth Vader (Star Wars) on a space freighter full of Xenomorphs (Aliens) 🤣

Have you ever had a fic stolen? No I don’t think so. I have actually come across similar scenes to mine in a few fics which has given me of deja vu once or twice. I mostly think it’s because we all are working from the same set of tropes and plot lines from the media we all consume.

Have you ever had a fic translated? Not yet!

Have you ever co-written a fic before? No, that could be fun

What's your all time favourite ship? Haladriel. I can’t even think of another ship that comes close. Honestly, the other onscreen relationship I spent a lot of time thinking about was Inuyasha x Kagome from the Inuyasha anime which came out when I was in university 20 years ago. I downloaded and watched over a hundred subbed episodes of that show and I don’t think they ever once kissed? Talk about slow burn!

What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? I have two main WIPs that I hope I can finish. I am basically able to write 1 chapter per month with work and life stuff, I hope I can finish these and then I might take a break or focus on one-shots rather than long multi chapter fics.

What are your writing strengths? I’m not sure, I think I do a pretty good job describing how characters subjectively experience a situation or thought. I dunno if that’s what others think though. My writing style is heavily influenced by imagining the words as if Frank Herbert (Dune) had written it. I like to think my plot ideas are pretty creative, I am always trying to find a way to be different or unconventional in terms of plot.

What are your writing weaknesses? Run on sentences, trying to write banter, trying to write something romantic 💀

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? It’s probably more work than I would want to do. There were times I wanted to use some Black Speech for the Orcs or Sauron in A Lord and his Builder, but actually Tolkien never really completely described this language so there’s not like a Google translate for English to Black Speech unfortunately.

First fandom you wrote for? Rings of Power / Haladriel!

Favourite fic you've ever written? I only have 3 but I guess I would say the one that started it all was A Lord and his Builder. My first ever fic that I wrote and published anywhere, and the fact that people seemed so positive in the comments. I was really excited to bring this different sort of story to the Haladriel / RoP fandom which was heavy on the Sauron x Galadriel romance that I love, but I felt the Orc stuff was a niche that could be explored in an interesting way. Since I started writing this fic I have read a lot of other great fanfics which incorporate the Orc culture into this fandom and I love it, though maybe my ideas are not niche anymore? Everyone’s take on the Orc culture is a bit different because again Tolkien left a lot of blank spaces on the canvas when it came to the lives of the Orcs.

#the rings of power #haladriel #fanfic #writing #writer asks

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tellerluna-stories · 4 years ago

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ii. rex lapis

The sands of time shifted once more, and now Rex Lapis ruled over Liyue. His land overflowed with wealth, and all who passed through Liyue saw their businesses prosper. The people who now walked the paved streets of Liyue had happily never known the tragedies of war, and they lived out their lives in blissful ignorance.

Within the Golden House, Rex Lapis paced around restlessly. His horns and claws were nowhere to be seen, as Liyue had no need for such instruments of war. The simple white robes he had donned for battle had been replaced with layers of multicoloured ceremonial robes and intricate headdresses that only the finest artisans could craft.

With these robes came great honour and responsibility, a reminder that the fate of Liyue rested solely upon the shoulders of Rex Lapis. Though they were made of mere fabric, at times Rex Lapis felt that they weighed heavier than chains of pure gold.

He sighed and fiddled with his sleeves— though he was, in fact, the reason mora existed in the very first place, he had to admit he was tired of seeing the same golden shimmer that surrounded him everywhere he looked.

“My lord.”

Without even turning around, he replied, “I told you not to be so formal with me.”

“Alright, alright.” You smiled and spread your hands disarmingly. “Thousands of years, but you’re still as legalistic as ever.”

Unlike Rex Lapis, you had not chosen to change too much about yourself in the years following the Archon War, whether in appearance or personality. It somewhat brought him comfort knowing that in a world that was constantly changing too fast for him to keep up, there was still one person who could keep him anchored; no matter what era you were in, you could always quickly adjust to the practices and customs around you without forcing yourself to mold to them.

“Thousands of years, and I still need to remind you that titles are unnecessary, my friend.”

“Ah, but the question is: am I genuinely forgetting to drop them, or do I keep using them just to irk you?”

He turned around, face carefully devoid of any emotion. “My friend, do you happen to fear the wrath of the Rock?”

He watched in satisfaction as the smug look on your face quickly morphed into one of fearful respect. “As a matter of fact I do, so let’s change the topic. Your robes are simply majestic, my— I mean, Rex Lapis!”

“Do you not have one just like this?” Rex Lapis looked down at his embellished sleeves— the people of Liyue had gifted both of you with ceremonial robes, but he had yet to see you wear them. “If I recall, yours had the phoenix embroidered on the front.”

“Oh yes, I still have it with me.” You bent over and inspected the nearest pile of mora, brushing the golden coins with your fingertips. “I don’t wear it much since it restricts my movements, but maybe I will if there’s a special occasion.”

“I would like to see you wear it someday, if you choose to. You’d look absolutely stunning.”

He waited for some witty comeback, the usual jokes you’d make in response to his compliments— but you remained oddly silent, hunched over the little pile of mora like a bird guarding its nest.

“My friend...?”

Gently, he placed a hand on your shoulder, unknowingly sending an electric current running through your veins.

“Ah, yes, yes! I was just, uh—“ Hurriedly, you jumped to your feet and dusted your hands off on your clothes. “I was just trying to remember where my robe was, that’s all. I stored it away but I don’t exactly remember where— you know how it is, right?”

Yes, you had just forgotten where you had last put that phoenix robe, as though you still didn’t clean it and carefully air it out at least once a month. That robe was one of the few things you treasured dearly, as it was a gift from the people you watched over... and perhaps also because it was a gift that matched with his.

The heat rushing to your face and the quickening of your heartbeat upon hearing him say you’d look stunning— that was out of pure embarrassment, nothing more. He only meant it out of kindness, now, don’t misinterpret his words.

Clearing your throat hastily, you tried to change the subject. “Did you know that there’s a full moon tonight?”

“Is there, now?” He tilted his head to the side; a somewhat endearing habit of his, left over from when he had horns. “I have not left this place in quite some time; the people of Liyue are a little too concerned for my safety to let me venture outside often.”

“They haven’t....?”

But Rex Lapis merely smiled in reply, dismissing the matter with a wave of his hand. “It’s only natural for young people to be overprotective of the ones who take care of them. I’m sure they would do the same for you if you just let them, my friend.”

“You sounded very old when you said that, my lord.”

“Pardon?”

“I said your words shone like gold when you said that, my lord.”

He narrowed his eyes skeptically, but you only returned his gaze with a look of pure, angelic innocence. There was no way he could say anything against you, especially not with that look on your face.

“My lord,” You said, with that innocent look still plastered on your face. “Given that you haven’t gone outside in a while, what say you to accompanying one such as myself on an outing this fine evening?”

“An outing, you say?” He put a hand to his chin and pretended to contemplate the idea, silently observing as your eyes lit up with poorly-hidden anticipation. “Where would one go at this hour? It would cause quite a stir if Rex Lapis were to suddenly disappear from his position, with no reasonable explanation.”

To that you raised a finger upwards in reply, pointing to the cavernous roof of the Golden House.

“Technically, you wouldn’t be leaving.” Holding out your hand to him, you smiled and said, “Shall we watch the stars together, then?”

———

“This is incredibly reckless.”

“It’s also incredibly exciting, don’t you think?”

Barely-suppressed laughter bubbled up into your throat as you looked at the great Rex Lapis, who had awkwardly bunched up his robes around his knees. There was no way he could climb to the top of the roof without either damaging his (very costly, one-of-a-kind) robe, or getting him tangled into a mummy wrapping of fine silk.

“Your laughter does not go unnoticed, by the way.” He said, glowing amber eyes trained on the vast ascent of roof tiles before him. “Since this was your idea, how about you think of a solution to this problem?”

The cool night breeze whistled in your ears like a distant flute, and he shivered slightly; it was best to think of a solution quickly, lest Liyue be in uproar over the dignified Rex Lapis catching a mere cold.

You squinted at the rooftop, trying to analyse the best way to scale it with as little collateral damage to your superior as possible. It was certainly possible, especially with your talents as an adeptus (and also because your position did not require such cumbersome clothing), but there would have to be some rather... unusual measures taken.

“Do you trust me?”

He blinked in confusion. “What strange sort of question is—“

Before he could finish, you lifted him off the ground as though you were carrying a princess.

“Hold on tight, my lord.” You whispered, your lips only a few breaths away from his ear. “It may be a little bit unstable.”

He barely had time to wrap his arms around your neck as you leapt into the air, nimbly bounding off the golden tiles like a deer.

What exactly was this situation he was in? Moreover, what was this odd sensation swelling in his heart?

“Mind your sleeves, Rex- I mean, my lord!” You huffed. “I can’t see where I’m stepping if you decide to obscure my sight, which isn’t exactly the best choice for you right now.”

With one final jump, you landed safely on the topmost roof of the Golden House. He could only stare at you blankly as he tried to process what had just happened in the past few minutes— however, you caught onto his stare too easily.

“What, are you surprised that I was able to pull that off?” Shaking your head vigorously to remove the flyaway hair from your eyes, you frowned at him in a jesting manner. “Don’t tell me you’ve been underestimating my abilities this whole time, my lord.”

“No.” He replied immediately. “I would never.”

“That’s what I thought.” With a nod of satisfaction, you gently set him down onto the roof. “Here is the moon and stars for you, as promised.”

Rex Lapis raised his eyes to the sky that he had not seen in some time, and the heavens did not disappoint.

Overhead, the galaxy stretched out in a rich tapestry of hues, stars interwoven in between the threads like beads of precious stones. A full moon hung in the sky, a pearl of great price that took all the beauty that surrounded it and unified it into a beautiful symphony of colours.

For the first time in a while, he felt free— up here with you by his side, there were no such things as duty and responsibility. There were only the two of you in this quiet, peaceful place, with the heavens above as your only witness.

“A lovely night, don’t you think?” You grinned and put your hands on your hips, the wind toying with your hair ever so slightly. “The minute I saw this, I knew you simply couldn’t miss it; not in a thousand years.”

His gaze lingered on the picture of you bathed in a soft halo of moonlight, smiling dreamily at the stars above. “...Very lovely, indeed.”

“Oh, I almost forgot!” Jolting suddenly, you fumbled as you brought out a brass bottle and a pair of teacups from seemingly thin air. “I figured it would be cold out, so I prepared something, just in case.” You gestured for him to sit. “Have a seat while you’re waiting— can’t have the ruler of Liyue standing around waiting for me to serve him, can I?”

“Your judgement is as impeccable as ever, my friend. Whatever would I do without you?”

You rolled your eyes as you began to unscrew the cap of the bottle. “Such flattery is unnecessary. We both know that you could manage Liyue just as well if you were on your own.”

“That doesn’t mean I would want to.” He hesitated, unsure if what he would say next would make you uneasy. “You have done more for me and for Liyue than you could possibly imagine, and I... I sincerely wish for you to know that. You have just as an important role in Liyue as I do, and this place would not be what it is today without you.”

Pausing in what you were doing, you slowly raised your eyes to meet his— there was nothing but pure sincerity in his eyes and words. He truly meant what he was saying, and the way he worded it made your heart- no, no, this wasn’t the time for that.

“...Thank you, Rex Lapis. Those words mean a lot to me, especially coming from you.”

“Do my ears deceive me?” He put a hand to his mouth in mock disbelief. “Say that once more, my friend, I do not think I heard you well the first time.”

“No, I don’t think I will.” You glared at him. “It seems that your age is showing, my lord. Perhaps I should carry you back inside, if your age has really advanced so rapidly.“

“You called me Rex Lapis, for once. This is a day that this aged man shall remember for the rest of his life, and shall be inscribed into the history of Liyue as a momentous occasion—“

“The tea will grow cold long before your long-winded speech finishes, my lord. How about you drink first and talk later?”

Rex Lapis gave you an unimpressed stare. “Perhaps if you cease calling me ‘my lord’, I will think the matter over. When did you learn to brew tea, by the way?”

You returned his stare with one equally matched in unimpressed energy. “Over the years, I’ve found that the art of tea-brewing helped greatly in calming myself, and so I’ve been practicing ever since. Your cup, please— my lord.”

He rolled his eyes at your smug face and held out his cup.

A faint wisp of steam curled from the bottle as the dark liquid trickled into his teacup, along with some unknown plant matter. His thoughts must’ve shown clearly upon his face, for you burst out laughing upon seeing it. “It’s not poison, for Celestia’s sake! If I were planning to assassinate you, I would’ve done it eons ago.”

“And how is that meant to bring me any reassurance?”

“Oh, it wasn’t intended to.” You poured a cup for yourself and downed a sip of your concoction. “But no assassin would be fool enough to drink the poison intended for their target... except for me, possibly. Drink up!”

Rex Lapis still eyed the teacup in his hands suspiciously— but then again, you had never given any reason for him to doubt you, so why should he start now?

“So, is it good?”

He closed his eyes for a moment, savoring the unique flavours on his tongue. “If I could, I would drink the tea you make everyday for the rest of eternity.”

Your heart skipped a beat at his words; you choked, nearly sending the bottle of tea tumbling off of the roof. “Ah- er, well—“

“What, is that too humble of praise for it? I mean it from the bottom of my heart.”

“No, it’s just- well, it sounds like a phrase I’ve heard among the merchants of Inazuma— oh, never mind. I’m glad you like it.”

“What did you put in it to make it taste so exquisite?”

Leaning closer to him, you whispered, “Petals of peach blossom and glaze lily flowers. Along with some other choice ingredients, but what truly gives it that taste and aroma is the flowers.”

Your face was close, closer than he ever even dreamed to approach in a million years; in the pale moonlight, your eyes glittered brighter than any jewel the earth could give. Any dragon would covet such a treasure and guard it with their very life.

How had he not noticed how mesmerizing your eyes were till tonight?

“Absolutely fascinating,” He murmured, before belatedly realizing he said it aloud.

“Isn’t it?” You hummed in agreement. “It’s my special brew. I experimented on it until I could perfectly balance the flavours to my liking.” Your gaze swiveled to the elaborate water gardens sprawled in front of the Golden House. “Do you want me to plant a peach tree and some glaze lilies by the front of the gate? I could do that, if you really do enjoy my tea that much.”

A mix of relief and disappointment washed over him; you hadn’t realised he wasn’t talking about the flowers.

He mused over the idea— it didn’t seem so bad, after all, but...

“I’d like to plant them somewhere more.... permanent. Somewhere we can watch them grow together.”

“Say the word, and your wish is my command.” You beamed at him. “Just tell me when and where, and I’ll have them in full bloom for you in no time, no matter the season.”

A warm, fluttering feeling filled his chest, and Rex Lapis suddenly found it harder to breathe than before. His face felt oddly warm, while his hands were cold— was it a result of the night air? He wasn’t that old yet.

Anxious to change the topic before you cracked another joke about his age, he quickly asked, “How are the affairs of Liyue doing, my friend?”

You shrugged nonchalantly. “The trade routes are thriving splendidly. Many merchants from the other regions come to seek permission to transport goods to and from their lands, so I’ve been handling most of their affairs. Even picked up some of their languages while at it.” A mischievous smile spread across your face as you said, “Tu ne me comprends pas, non? Je t’aimerai pour toujours et à jamais, mon amour.”

“Impressive.” He hadn’t understood a word of what you had said, but he was almost dead certain that you were poking fun at him. “It is good to see that Liyue is in such capable hands. What about the—“

“—the adepti? Oh, they’re all doing quite well, I believe. They don’t really leave their abodes anymore, save for Madame Ping and young Ganyu.”

“How about—“

“Xiao? I visit him every now and then, to make sure he eats well and is doing alright. And yes, I bring him the painkillers you have specially made for him.” You paused. “He sends his greetings, and it is very obvious that that boy misses you, even if he won’t admit it himself.”

Rex Lapis breathed a sigh of relief and smiled. “You really do know what I’m going to say, even before I say it.”

“What can I say? Even before you need to ask, you can consider it already done.” A chuckle escaped your lips as you scuffed the sole of your shoe against the roof tiles. “That’s why I’m here, after all. Who better than I to carry out the word of Rex Lapis?”

“You had best watch yourself there, my friend, lest your head grows too big for your shoulders.”

“Oh, but my lord, who was the one who gave me this position?” Propping your chin on your steepled fingers, you give him a smug look. “I seem to recall a certain someone appointing me as his right-hand, after all.”

“What has been given can just as swiftly be taken away.”

“You’re no fun.” You stuck your tongue out at him and turned away, pointedly staring at the moon.

“So, what is the real reason you brought me up here?”

In an instant your head whipped back to meet his gaze, eyes wide and mouth agape. “How did you—“

The corner of his mouth quirked up in a lopsided grin, and now it was his turn to look smug. “You’re not the only one who can practically read minds, my friend. The facade you put up is better crafted than mine, but I can still see right through you.”

“Well...” You fell silent for a moment, fingers tracing along the sides of the brass bottle and etching invisible patterns into the metal with your fingernails. “I wanted to ask how you were doing.”

Rex Lapis tilted his head slightly, confusion and curiosity melding into one feeling. “How I was doing?”

“I struggle sometimes... with the memories of those who have passed on. Sometimes, in the heat of the moment I forget; I get distracted or actually feel happy, but then I suddenly think of them, and I wonder if I actually have the right to enjoy myself.”

Shifting slightly, your expression was unreadable in the pale moonlight. “But lately, their faces have become blurry, and I get scared when I can’t remember what they look like. It’s the least I can do for my comrades, since I’m the only one left.” You pursed your lips. “Do you have the same problem?”

The somber look on your face stirred up the remorse that still gnawed at his heart, even after all these centuries. You had been suffering alone because of his mistakes, and it pained Rex Lapis even more knowing that no contract he wrote could remedy the empty gap in your heart. All he could do was sit with you and be something you could anchor yourself to, just the way you had been a steadfast rock to him.

He shifted to sit closer to you, no longer caring whether his robes would be dirtied or not. “Not quite the same problem.”

“...Oh.”

“Like you, even after so many years I still cannot help but think of them. Every detail of their lives, their voices and faces— I remember it all.” Rex Lapis looked up to the stars, where perhaps the constellations of your friends lay, and laughed dryly. “Mortal men have been blessed with forgetfulness, but it seems that I have been cursed to remember.”

Tentatively, he raised a hand to gently pat you on the head, just the way his caregiver used to when he was feeling out of sorts or upset. “But worry not, my friend. If what you worry about is forgetting, then I will be the one to remember everything for you.”

“You needn’t worry about me forgetting you, by the way.” You said quietly. “Even if I forget everything else in this world, I know that I’ll always remember you, no matter what form you take.”

The strange, fluttering feeling in his chest returned, coursing through his veins and flowing through his fingertips— subconsciously he pulled his hand away, fearing that those feelings would somehow reach you.

It’s merely the chill of the night air, he told himself.

You said nothing as he pulled away, but Rex Lapis found himself wishing you would say something, anything; complain, or make a joke out of it, or perhaps even ask him to do it again— no, he couldn’t dare dream of that.

Not for your sake.

“The moon is beautiful, isn’t it?” You said suddenly, breaking the silence and the maze of thoughts his mind was trapped in.

Rex Lapis looked to the moon over Liyue Harbor, admiring the way it bathed the city in silver light. Though Liyue in the daytime was loud, filled with many colours and sounds that overwhelmed the senses, this version of Liyue was also beautiful to behold.

Perhaps... perhaps this is what she meant by living treasure, he thought to himself.

Caring for this city of people, nurturing them and building a better future for them and the future generations— that was certainly something close to his heart. It didn’t feel exactly like the living treasure he had expected, but as long as you were there to watch over Liyue with him, then perhaps... perhaps it would grow on him as time passed.

“Yes,” he agreed. “It truly is.”

But that evening, he failed to notice that you weren’t looking at the moon.

#genshin impact #genshin impact imagines #genshin impact fluff #genshin impact headcanons #genshin impact zhongli #genshin impact x reader #zhongli x reader #zhongli fluff #zhongli angst #slow burn #friends to lovers #best friends to lovers #this chapter was basically ‘how many times can i make them confess without actually confessing’#these idiots #tellerluna.tales #tellerluna.tales: living treasure #pining #mutual pining

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stillbandofbrothersthirsty · 4 years ago

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Girl Crush

Chuck Grant x OC (not exactly a happy ending, Floyd Talbert & Luz fluff tho)

She was absolutely beautiful. She drew the attention of everyone in the room, and rightfully so. She was radiant with confidence and charm. Her long, blonde hair quite literally looked like a halo and those perfect cupid bow lips were painted a sumptuous red. She was even wearing real, silky stockings. Where in the hell did she get those, Virginia thought. And of out of all the guys in the room why was she sitting with Chuck?

Sure, Chuck was handsome in that sturdy all-American way. But Virginia had a realistic view of her best friend; he wasn’t the most charming, nor the most outgoing or flirtatious. He was quiet, polite, and thoughtful. Those were some of the many wonderful things about him and reasons why Virginia knew she was falling in love with him. However, they weren’t traits that she thought a bombshell like Adrienne would have picked out of a crowd of dashing young soldiers.

Adrienne was the type of girl that George Luz or Skinny Sisk drooled over, the type of girl Floyd Talbert would sneak away to a corner of the bar.

Of course any guy would have love to have her on his arm, she was perfect. But Chuck was not the obvious choice.

Adrienne was like all the girls Virginia and Chuck had grown up around; California beauties that had never seemed to tempt Chuck before. Chuck wasn’t one to ogle girls on the beach or take them out in his car every weekend. Whenever he had had free time between school or work, he just hung out with Virginia and their other friends.

Their friend Mary got engaged the same month Chuck and the other guys enlisted. There was nothing in California for Virginia once all her friends left so she decided to join the Women’s Army Corp. as a switchboard operator.

Chuck had been so proud of her when she finally qualified. She had walked over to his house only days before he was due to ship out to show him her letter of certification. Right there in his yard, he had picked her up and spun her around.

“I’m so proud of you, Ginny! And now you’ll be able to come with me!”

Butterflies fluttered around her stomach, he wanted her to be with him. “We don’t know where I’ll be stationed or where you’ll be!”

“They have to put us together, I just know they will. I have a feeling.”

He had been wrong, then he had been right. Virginia worked her way up the eastern seaboard while Chuck trained in Georgia. Their letters were constant exchanges between good friends sharing the stresses and challenges of their burgeoning military careers.

Where do you think they’ll send you next?

North Carolina.

I’ve been in New York for a while now.

Big city girl.

Definitely not California.

Where will you go after the war?

California.

Me too.

What will you do after the war?

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a house by the beach?

Very.

We could get houses by each other.

Maybe.

I’ll get a good job, a nice wife, and you’ll find a nice guy.

I’ve already met lots of nice guys.

Not a husband though.

Virginia and Chuck had always been especially close, but Virginia had fallen in love with him through those letters. He was her home and her adventure all in one.

Eventually, he had been right. They were reunited on a troopship destined for England. They had been on the ship for a week before they realized.

I’m on a boat destined for England.

So am I!

The moment she received the letter with his shipment details she had run into the soldiers bunk room to whoops and hollers and shouts of “nurse!”.

“Charles Grant? Officer Grant?” she asked as she forced her way past men throwing baseballs and stretching. They all pointed her in the same direction until she reached his bunk.

“Ginny?” he dropped his cards in shock as she threw herself on his bunk.

“I can’t believe we’re on the same ship!” she squealed. He wrapped his arms around her in a warm hug.

A voice cleared above where they lay unceremoniously embracing, “who’s your friend there Grant?”

A handsome young man with dark brown eyes propped his arm against the steel pole of the bunk.

Virginia quickly got up from Chuck’s cot, smoothing her skirt. Chuck swung his legs around so he sat to face the new arrival.

“Floyd Talbert, meet Virginia Wilson.”

Floyd offered his hand, “nice to meet you.”

Floyd Talbert was a flirt and everyone knew it. But Virginia liked him a lot, they clicked from the very start, which made sense since he was a good friend of Chuck’s. Just like Chuck, Floyd was very polite, and always made a point of introducing his girlfriends to Virginia - at least the girls he would see more than once.

He would sneak down to the switchboard room to say hi or to the officers building where they would rendezvous for a cup of coffee. So would Chuck, and Virginia always looked forward to those surprise chats. Occasionally, Chuck and Virginia would find themselves on breaks at the same time and would go for walks around the base. The rolling English hills made them both homesick and it was nice to have each other to reminisce with.

Adrienne worked as an officers secretary and they would pass her every time they left the officers building. It didn’t occur to Virginia until later that every time Chuck came to see her, he would have passed Adrienne too.

On one autumn evening out, Chuck invited Virginia out to get drinks with him and some of his friends. She knew it wasn’t a date but she let herself get more excited than she should have. She gave herself extra time to bathe, to pin up her hair, and even took the time to apply red lipstick and to draw thin brown lines down the back of her legs. She had the army regulation stockings but the dark line down the back of her calves gave them a more alluring look.

“So who you dressing up for?” Floyd asked over his beer. He and Virginia were the only ones remaining at their table after Chuck got pulled into a game of darts.

Virginia flushed, “who say’s I’m dressing up for anyone?”

Floyd just looked at her, waiting for her to cave.

“I just wanted to look nice, I haven’t been out in a while.”

Floyd just nodded, his eyes searching hers before she broke eye contact.

“Ya know,” Floyd cleared his throat, “he’s been seeing Adrienne.”

The blood ran cold in Virginia’s veins. She knew exactly who he was talking about, but technically he hadn’t said who so maybe it wasn’t Chuck. She did her best to sound nonchalant, “who’s seeing Adrienne?”

“Your boy,” Floyd nodded his head at Chuck, “Chuckie.”

Virginia swallowed hard to keep the lump from growing in her throat, “that’s exciting!” and she did her best to sound excited.

Floyd shrugged, “sure.” He paused, “exciting for him I guess,” Floyd sighed.

If Virginia said anything else she would’ve broke, so she stayed silent. She took a sip of her beer to keep her eyes from welling up with tears.

Suddenly, Adrienne was thrust into her life. Adrienne was sweet and said hi to her every time they passed at work. She was out with them every time that Virginia joined the soldiers for drinks. All the guys loved her because there was nothing not to love! Adrienne was like their own personal movie star; a kind and busty blonde always dressed in a neat suit working for the officers.

At the bars it took all of Virginia’s power not to stare at Adrienne. Her fingers were long and thin, like a porcelain dolls. Somehow, her finger nails were always perfectly manicured with cherry red paint. Was that even regulation? Maybe the secretaries didn’t have to follow WAC standards. Virginia hadn’t painted her nails any color since she left California. The red looked so beautiful curled around the olive drab of Chuck’s arm. Every now and then Virginia would catch Chuck and Adrienne leaving the bar alone together. It was a punch to the stomach just imaging what they might be doing or where they might be going alone like that.

“I don’t know how I got so lucky,” Chuck confessed to her once on one of their walks. He wasn’t one to talk about his feelings too much, he was always so mellow. Virginia knew that this confession was the rawest, most surface level expression of what he may actually be feeling.

“How long have you known her though, Chuck?” she asked gently.

“I know, not very long, I’m not rushing into anything,” he smiled his little half smile at her, “trust me.”

For the first time ever she didn’t trust him, not regarding Adrienne.

“Hey, drink,” Floyd placed a full beer in front of Virginia, breaking her out of her trance. He took a long drink of his own beer, surveying the room. He had yet to date any of the women in the bar at the moment, which was huge for him. This was his night to find someone new without breaking any hearts.

“Where’s Lucy?” Floyd asked.

“She’s up at the bar.” Virginia gestured to where her friend and co-worker was chatting with Buck Compton.

“Will you be good on your own here? If I socialize?” Floyd asked right as George Luz sat down.   “All good with George here!” Virginia reassured him.

“Good, ol’ dependable George,” George slurred slightly. However, things were not all good with George Luz, depending on who you asked, because the night quickly took another turn. While the company was divided between the dart board and flocking around Adrienne, George Luz bought Virginia shots of gin.

“Fuckin’ disgusting,” George shuddered as he threw down his third shot.

“I don’t know how they drink it,” Virginia added, recovering from her second.

“Okay, something to wash it down,” George gestured to the bartender.

They drank their beers at the bar and Virginia felt the warm, creeping feeling of the liquor start to take hold on her body.

George finished his beer, leaving only the froth at the bottom, “another?” he asked, his eyes only slightly crossed. Virginia nodded solemnly.

“No more of that gin shit. Two whiskeys neat barkeep!” The bartender raised a suspicious eyebrow at Luz but served them anyways.

“Much better,” Luz smacked his lips. Virginia’s head was spinning now.

“How we feelin’?” Luz asked her. Virginia allowed a wide grin to spread across her face.   “Feelin’ good, George.”  

She linked arms with George and they traipsed around the bar sloppily greeting friends. They interrupted a game of darts before slumping into a corner booth with Joe Liebgott, Popeye, and Lucy. But George and Virginia were in their own world. They sat cozied up chatting, dumb to the jovial world around them. That’s when Virginia found herself revealing everything to a very sympathetic George.

“I gotta girl like that too,” George sighed.

“Like what? Like Adrienne?”

“I wish,” George slumped in the booth, resting his cheek on Virginia’s shoulder, “nah I gotta girl who doesn’t notice me.”

“Chuck notices me,” Virginia pouted.

“Does he know you like him? Like love him like him?” George slurred.

Virginia considered this, “I don’t think I told him.”  “Ever?”  Virginia shook her head. That was a mistake, the world began to spin slightly. She sat up abruptly, trying to steady herself, and consequentially knocked George off her shoulder. Joe and Lucy eyed them cautiously.

The world settled again and Virginia leaned back into the worn leather of the booth. George shifted so that his legs were up on her lap and his head knocked against the corner of the booth.

“I think you should tell him.”

“I don’t know…”

“Just in case,” George encouraged her.

Virginia glanced over to where Adrienne sat next to Chuck, her hand on his thigh. The alcohol had made her weak. Virginia felt the tears begin to prick at her eyes.

“No, no no,” George caught her face in his hands, “no crying! Don’t cry, not unless you’re alone with the guy!”

Virginia sniffed and blinked her eyes rapidly, “okay, yeah, maybe I will say something to him.”

“Okay, yeah, I’ll come with you.” George swung his legs off of her lap and they scooted out of the booth.

“Where are you guys goin’?” Joe called after them. George just waived his hand dismissively as he followed Virginia into the crowd towards Chuck.

Virginia reached Chuck with her heart thumping in her ears, this was it. She was going to tell him. But maybe she should do it in private? Would he come with her if she asked him for a private word? Or would he leave her standing there? Panic rose up in her just as Chuck noticed her presence.

“Hey, Ginny,” he smiled sweetly up at her. Virginia tried to focus on him but she was distracted by the redness of Adrienne’s full lips. The woman’s face swam in perfect lines of red and black and blonde in Virginia’s intoxicated vision.

“Chuck - I, could I -“ she stammered. She lost all focus at the sight of Adrienne.

“Are you drunk, Ginny?” Chuck chuckled good naturedly.

“No, kinda, maybe- but actually I wanted-“

“Hey Virginia, I need ya over here.” Virginia hadn’t even noticed Floyd arrive at her side until suddenly he had an arm wrapped around her waist. “Sorry Chuck, just gonna steal her real quick.” Floyd whisked her away, and Chuck didn’t even seem to notice that anything was off. He turned right back to talking to Adrienne.

“Hey sweetheart,” Floyd murmured, “come over here with me.” Floyd sat her down at the back of the bar next to a disgruntled looking young woman. He reappeared in seconds with a large glass of water which he made Virginia drink.

“Let’s get you home,” Floyd said. He helped Virginia into her coat and led her outdoors. The cool air and water helped to sober her up.

“Shouldn’t have left ya alone with Luz should I?” Floyd teased half-heartedly.

Virginia smiled, but the tears were coming again, “I’m sorry for ruining your night, Floyd.”

“Hey, don’t apologize,” he put a comforting arm around her shoulders, “you don’t need to be sorry.”

“I just- with Chuck -“

“I know.”

“I don’t know what to do.”

Floyd was quiet, the sound of gravel crunching beneath their feet filled their silence.

“I think you’re going to have to get over him, Virginia.”

Virginia let one tear drop down her cheek. It ran all the way down her face to the edge of her jaw, where it hung for a moment, before she wiped it away with a gloved hand. She nodded.

“You’re right.”

“I know it won’t be easy, but you’re tough. And you’ve got friends, including Chuck. He’ll always be your friend, and so will I. You’ve got me here until, and when, things are normal between you and Chuck again.”

Virginia smiled and the tears flowed hot down her cheeks. The tears were no longer sad, they were bittersweet. She slung her arm around Floyd’s waist and they continued down the quiet, dark English road back to base.

#hbowar #band of brothers #hbo band of brothers #fanfiction #charles grant #chuck grant x oc #getting drunk with george luz #george luz #floyd talbert #not just a man ho but a good friend too #one shot

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justlightlysedated · 4 years ago

Note

For the WIP ask meme: Can I ask about all of them? It’s just I am very curious and bad at choosing between things so I can’t pick one. If that is too much then talk about the one you want to talk about most. Or any you pick at random. I am literally interested in any and all of f them. I really love your writing ❤️

thank you very much!! i enjoy writing so much, esp for malex, and i wanted to talk about all of them tbh, so here you go, some plot plus a few sneak peeks!!

1. i knew from the start, you'd be the one to set me free:

--this one a teen malex fic where jesse doesn't catch them in the toolshed, and they're just smitten as hell and alex makes plans to follow michael to unm

--this one i wanted to write because i miss teen malex and they were so cute and so in love and i just wanted more of that

--here's a small sneak peek:

“See you tomorrow?” Michael asks, and Alex nods his head rapidly.

“Yeah,” he says. “I’ll call you later?”

“Definitely,” Michael says nodding, making a note to go put minutes on his phone before he goes to see Max.

Alex smiles, and Michael smiles back at him, and Michael isn’t entirely sure how long they stand there, just staring at each other, smiling, but they don’t move until another car passes by, this one quieter, but almost as loud.

“Alright,” Alex says, and takes a step backwards, towards the path that will lead him to his front door. “Bye.”

“Bye,” Michael replies and waves his hand, and Alex lifts his own hand to wave back, and then he just shakes his head and turns around, walking rapidly.

Michael watches him as he goes, and he can’t stop himself from leaning back against his truck and smiling, especially when Alex turns back, not once, or twice, but three times.

The last one right before he rounds the corner of the house that hides him from view.

Michael looks up at the sky, his smile getting wider, and he laughs a little, shaking his head, feeling like this is the beginning of something amazing, and he’s going to do everything in his power to keep it for as long as he can.

2. #nickyandjoepiningintheforest

--this one is for my 2kcelebrationfics, just yusuf and nicolo staring at each other and thinking sappy thoughts, in the forest by a campfire, as you do

--kayla asked me for anything to do with their sun and moon imagery, and two scenes popped into my head, the first one was yusuf looking at nicolo and the moon is perfectly positioned to look like he’s wearing a halo and just feeling too much, and then nicolo staring at yusuf as the rays of the sun start to caress his skin and pining quietly

--tiny sneak peek:

Their swords he can see are on the ground right by his feet, and Nicolo is concentrating on tying the feather fletching to his arrow with a thin leather cord.

His bow and quiver are lying down right by Yusuf’s outstretched hand, close enough that he’d be able to grab an arrow easily.

But he doesn’t, Yusuf relaxes even more in Nicolo’s presence, and turns a little, pressing his back harder against the tree as he leans his head fully on his arm and just stares.

It’s not often that he gets to look his fill of Nicolo, moments like these were often stolen and brief and few and far between, so he takes what he can, watching the way the fire throws shadows across his face, how he furrows his brow and purses his mouth in concentration.

He finishes fixing the arrow and sets it aside, eyes darting up to Yusuf.

Nicolo inhales sharply, seemingly surprised to find him awake, eyes widening just slightly, but he smiles immediately after, small and private and reaches out with one hand, before he stops himself, fingers clenching into a fist as he pulls his hand back.

“Go back to sleep,” he says voice low. “You’re safe now.”

3. may nothing but death do us part

--i’ve been dying to talk about this one tbh

--i just thought, what if michael and alex decided to get married right before the end of the world, and then to be even MORE dramatic, what IF they were dating other people and just break up with them and get married that same day

--basically, there is an imminent alien invasion coming, and the world is on the verge of intergalactic war, and michael realizes that he doesn’t want to die without ever having been alex’s husband, and he decides that he’s going to marry him, he just has to break up with his girlfriend first, and propose to alex, and then convince him to break up with his boyfriend, which he should do in that order, but he doesn’t exactly

4. feeling like a villain, got a hunger inside

--vampire au where michael is a vampire

--i have no excuse, i just thought, michael is a vampire who is trying to be good, but alex manes exists

--here’s a small sneak peek of this one:

Michael had been trying to be good, trying to pretend that he was satisfied with the vile, but tolerable mixture of whiskey and bagged blood, trying to be as normal as possible when he couldn’t exactly go out into the sunlight.

But it was hard to pretend when Alex was around, giving him still and thoughtful looks, like he knew there was something off about Michael, but he couldn't figure out what.

And it was only because Alex knew and Alex was willing or had been willing, once upon a time. There was nothing better in Michael’s opinion than to drink blood from someone who knew exactly what you were, and willingly put their life in your hands.

Alex figures it out when Maria puts the thick silver mug in front of Michael, pushing it over to him with a slight frown on her face. Michael swallows hard and smiles in thanks, but she’s already walking away.

They still haven’t talked since she found out the truth, but Michael can feel that she’s sort of warming up to him.

Michael looks at his mug of unappetizing blood, and slides it closer, making a face, wrinkling his nose when he feels how cold the mug is.

Michael picks it up and inhales deeply and then drinks.

He almost gags at the feel of the blood in his mouth, too thin, but at the same time too thick, almost stale tasting, only made palatable by the bite coming from the whiskey.

The whiskey makes him feel warm and tricks his mind into thinking that he’s had fresh blood, at least usually it does.

Tonight for some reason it seems like his stomach is rebelling.

Michael sets the mug down only having gotten through half of it, and he wipes his mouth before anyone can notice anything, the blood staining the back of his hand a bit red.

He swallows thickly and looks around the room to make sure that no one had noticed anything when his eyes catch Alex’s and he goes still.

Alex is looking at him like he not only knows exactly what his problem is, but also knows exactly how to fix it.

6. #theghostofchristmaspast

--the one where michael turns thirty and his twenty year old self, and forty year old self appear during a lab accident, and the one thing they both seem to have in common is the way they stare at alex manes

--three michaels and one alex sounds like the beginning of a pwp tbh

--here’s a small sneak peek:

Michael opens his eyes and his head feels like it's about to split open.

He groans as he sits up, and only knows that he's in the lab because the chair that he tries to use to help him stand up, rolls.

He manages to get to his feet eventually, and he looks around the dark room, and he vaguely remembers the lights exploding.

He groans, rubbing a hand through his hair.

Alex was going to kill him.

"What the fuck?" He hears a familiar, and yet completely unexpected voice that has him whirling around in shock.

He sees the speaker standing on the other side of the room, and there is just enough light that he can recognize the enormous brown hoodie he barely took off during the coldest nights when he was twenty.

Michael scoffs and rolls his eyes at him, “So that definitely wasn’t a drug induced nightmare then.”

“Nope,” another voice says from behind him, and Michael doesn’t have to turn around to know that there’s going to be another version of himself standing behind him, with a fuller beard and grey streaks in his hair.

“But you may want to lay off the acetone consumption, just a little.”

7. #shadowhuntersau

--where alex is a warlock and michael is a shadowhunter, and the year is 1885

--i’m actually also planning a second part to this where michael finds himself in 2018 after a portal accident, and alex is still in love with him

--i was actually working on this one for the remix fest, but then stuff and things happened, and i put it away, and then i reread it and was like, who wrote this????

--small sneak peek:

Michael stumbles back into the night table rattling the candle holder and making the flame flicker, and sputter out, plunging the room into darkness, the only light coming through the open window not doing much to brighten up the room.

But Alex doesn’t really pay attention to that as he stares at Michael letting the glamour fall from his eyes which allows him to see much better in the dark, and he can see the way that Michael's chest expands in his surprise.

Alex's eyes shine and unearthly blue, almost white, and he takes a step closer, and isn't really surprised when Michael flinches backwards, almost climbing up on the small night table.

Alex closes his eyes, pushing down the part of himself that is slightly disappointed, and he makes to move backwards, but before he can actually move however there are hands arresting his movements.

Alex’s eyes flutter open, and Michael is staring right at him, from too close to be considered anything short of intimate, eyes boring into Alex’s as he leans in closer.

He stops just shy of brushing Alex’s nose with his own, breaths hitching, eyes boring into Alex’s, something that seems to be childlike in wonder swirling in his eyes as he keeps looking at him.

Alex swallows hard, feeling like he’s frozen, and Michael moves his hands, fingers sliding across Alex’s cheeks, to brush lightly beneath his eyes.

Michael smiles, one corner of his mouth lifting higher than the other, and he breathes out, “Beautiful.”

8. the one where alex is a dreamer

--basically the only thing from trc that i took was the idea of dreamers

--an au where alex dreams up things that michael needs

--this one is for christi and christi only

--here’s a small sneak peek:

By the time the first semester is almost over, Michael Guerin is always lacking on school supplies. It's something that's become a constant to hear his voice hissing in the back of Calculus, asking to borrow a pencil.

Alex isn't very much surprised when he wakes up one morning and there is a shimmering pencil case sticking out from beneath his pillow.

Alex pushes it fully beneath the pillow and ignores it until he's getting his bag out of his closet to leave and debates whether or not to take it with him, but he already knows if he doesn't tomorrow night his subconscious won't be as subtle.

9. #projectfreelife

--this one is an au where alex gets hurt during his first tour, but instead of going to roswell, he’s recruited into project free life, a group whose main purpose is to integrate aliens into human society, he’s been working with them for a few years with his own team made up of, charlie, forrest, arizona, and steph, when they’re sent to roswell to deal with a black out they’re sure is alien in origin, since it’s the first time something that serious has happened since project shepherd was disbanded, their target, max evans

--small bonus: nora is most definitely integrated since caulfied was part of project shepherd and when it was disbanded it became a part of project free life, much to jesse’s chargrin

--small sneak peek:

"Okay," Charlie says, turning the laptop so that they both can look at it. "How do you want to do this?"

"Isobel is fully integrated, even married, and involved in various events in town," Alex starts. "So I think we should focus on Max and Michael."

Charlie nods her head along in agreement, so Alex continues hoping she agrees with that as well.

"You can take Michael and I'll-"

Charlie holds her hand up shaking her head, "No, I think I should take Max."

Her tone is serious, like she's thought this all out, and Alex frowns.

"Are you sure?" He asks, trying not to actually whine in protest.

She nods her head, "I know you went to highschool with them both, but I have a less conspicuous way to monitor him."

Alex raises an eyebrow in question.

"His partner," she says, voice tight with tension. "Jenna Cameron."

Alex gives her a look, "As in the sister you've been avoiding?"

Charlie just gives him a matching look back, "Yes. I think it's time for a little reunion, for both of us."

She presses a button, and the screen flashes to a picture that Alex has no idea how they got, of him and Michael, both holding guitars in their hands, Michael staring at Alex with a besotted expression.

"Fine," Alex says, pushing away from the bed. "We start first thing in the morning."

"Is he the reason why you haven't come back home?" Charlie asks, voice burning with curiosity, ignoring his obvious dismissal.

Alex just ignores her as he heads into the bathroom.

10. part one: the calm before the storm

--okay, i haven’t written anything but a few plot points for this one, but it’s an au where liz, kyle and alex all work for jesse (he blackmails liz by paying for her education after her scholarship falls through) as monitors integrated in the life of three suspected aliens, meaning that alex and michael are together, but they’re not living together, max and liz do live together and are engaged, and kyle and isobel are married

--think of an orphan black like situation, but with aliens instead of clones

11. #kinginwaitingmichael

--where michael is the king in waiting, but goes into a witness protection program after an assassination attempt, and he ends up falling in love with alex, who doesn’t realize that he is the king to be, until he foils another assassination attempt

--small sneak peek:

Isobel knows that they’re in trouble the first time that she sees Michael smiling at Alex.

Ever since they'd turn twelve and started their lessons on etiquette and how to act in public and with their subjects in a way that doesn't show preferences, Michael's smiles, while not unkind or fake, have always been brief or heavily sarcastic.

Michael smiles at Alex with his whole body, swaying towards him like he can't help himself, lips stretched too wide, showing all of his teeth, eyes sparkling and light..

And the most terrifying part for Isobel is that Alex doesn't act surprised or like the smile is something new.

He just blushes, a pink flush that works its way across his cheeks and down to his neck, and he smiles back at Michael, something sweet and vibrant, and places his hand over Michael's resting across the back of the booth they're sharing.

They keep talking, but mostly just stare at each other, almost like they're caught in their own little bubble, not paying attention to their surroundings or even the fact that they aren't alone.

Isobel tries to catch Michael's attention, but fails, so she reaches out with one hand, and tips over the half empty milkshake they'd been sharing.

The liquid spreads across the table and drips down the edge, landing on Alex's lap.

Alex jumps, and turns to look at her, raising an eyebrow.

"Sorry," Isobel says without much sincerity, munching on the fry that she'd stolen from Michael's plate.

Alex just rolls his eyes and leans in to press a kiss to Michael's cheek.

Michael, who had been glaring at Isobel, turns a totally besotted look to Alex, all big lovesick eyes and wide grin.

"Be right back," Alex says as he slips out of the bench and away from Michael's grabby hands.

Isobel waits exactly five seconds, staring at Michael watching Alex walk away, and then she kicks him hard in the shin.

12. runaway until the last time, we're gonna lose forever

--well everyone knows this one is my sort of doctor who au that i’m writing for tove

--i just love space and time travel and malex, and just put all of that into a blender and this is what came out

--here’s a small sneak peek:

Maria takes a second to calculate in all of the ways that this Alex looks different than the one she had last seen on a cruise spaceship, and she sways, feeling lightheaded.

Alex steps forward immediately, and helps her sit back down.

“Hey, are you okay?” he starts asking. “What happened? Are you here by yourself-?”

He stops speaking as the ship’s alarm sounds, the soft purple light filling the room again.

“Emergency Protocol One, Revision Eighteen has been activated.”

Maria sees how the words affect Alex. His concerned and open expression closing down immediately, as he turns towards the console, pressing a few buttons and turning the alarm off, before he pulls up the ships video log, which Maria didn’t know existed, and she sees in reverse everything that happened.

Alex freezes the frame on Michael’s face right before he’s teleported away.

He frowns a little, and turns to Maria, “How long has it been for you? Since the Atlantis Cruise, I mean.”

Maria can see that he means the time that she’s marked in her calendar, which surprises her enough that she actually answers.

“Almost five months.”

Alex nods his head once, and then he turns back towards the console.

“Okay,” he says. “So I can trace back the signal that they used to get him, which could always lead to a dead end, but it’s early enough that they wouldn’t have moved him far. If these people are smart, they would create some type of temporal rift so that the COSMIC won’t be able to actually land at the same time that they took him. And if they know anything about him, about me, well, I’m sure they’re prepared to face an army. You know what that means?”

He says, turning to Maria who has been staring at him unblinkingly the entire time that he spoke.

“That it’s time that you meet your replacements,” he’s grinning as he says it, which takes the sting out of the words, and there is something about his eyes, that Maria can’t quite put her finger on. Something about the way that he looks at her, like to him she’s been gone for a really long time, something fond and nostalgic.

Which is kind of scary given the fact that he doesn’t look any older than thirty-five.

“You mean, the other traveling assistants?”

Alex's smile turns soft and fond, “Exactly.”

13. of guitars and hauntings

--this one is an au where michael moves into the old manes manor, that is ridiculously cheap because of rumors that it’s haunted, which turn out to be true when he gets woken up during the middle of the night by the sounds of a guitar being played in the attic, and that’s how he meets alex, who turns out to be perfect for him in every single way, except for the fact that he’s been dead for over fifty years

14. late dawns and early sunsets

--a zombie apocalypse au set to the song, early sunsets over monroeville by mcr, so v v angsty, without a happy ending, but that is par the course for zombie aus tbh

#malexsneakpeeks #this turned out into almost a full fic length #i have more written to some of these than i originally thought tbh

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thisbitchinthecorner · 5 years ago

Text

1976- Day 17 Ornament

This piece is important and will tie into a few other projects I have going right now. I wasn’t planning on revealing this yet, but the way the writing took felt right. I’ve been upset over the Star Wars leaks all day, so this sort of made up for it. For @drawlight

Ornament prompt!

In an antiquated bookshop in London Soho, an angel finishes decorating a massive Christmas tree; it is trimmed with garland of gold and lights of white, with many shiny ornaments depicting glorious angels all heralding the birth of Christ.

“So many pretty angels, looking all perfect with their wings and halos.” Crowley grumbled as he patted an ornament that looked remarkably like Michael.

“Angels are festive!” Aziraphale sputtered back.

“Needs more demonic influence, if you ask me.” Crowley quipped as he debated snapping the head off an ornament that strongly resembled Gabriel.

“It’s not like humans celebrate demons, Crowley.”

“Of course, who would want to put a creature of Hell on their Christmas tree?” Crowley said coolly.

“You cannot fault the humans, I mean, your kind is fallen and not something humans want to associate with.”

“Yes, angel. I’m aware. Fallen angel, not worthy of any respect what so ever.”

“Honestly, I don’t know what you expect. Humans believe they demons are evil, and no one wants anything evil...”

“No one wants anything evil what? Go on, finish what you were going to say.” Crowley snapped angrily.

“They don’t want anything evil around them.”

“I see. Who would want evil around when they can surround themselves with statues of angels that don’t give a shit about them.”

“Crowley, that’s not what I meant.”

“No no! I understand completely. Angels are good, demons are bad. Was that what you were trying to say?”

“Please don’t be upset.” Aziraphale tried his best to soothe.

“Why would I be upset? You’re just speaking the truth, aren’t you?” Crowley said bitterly.

“Don’t go! I didn’t mean you!”

“Well, I am a demon and I am fallen. Don’t worry, angel, I won’t pollute your home with my evil ways any longer.” Crowley yelled as he slammed the door, leaving Aziraphale completely alone.

He considered closing the bookshop, shutting down for the day, when the door opened and an elderly woman walked into the shop.

“I’m afraid I was preparing to close for the afternoon, if you could come back another time.” The angel, still clearly flustered, began.

“Please, if you don’t mind, I would very much so like to sell this book. You see, it’s been in my family a very long time, and none of my grandchildren are interested in it, so I thought before I throw it away, I would see if there were any takers.”

“An old book?” Aziraphale’s interest peeked.

“I can see that you’re getting ready to close, so I’ll just be off then.”

“Wait!” Aziraphale called. “I suppose I could take a look.”

“A look is going to cost you! No one outside of my family has laid a hand on this book, so if you’re interested.” The old woman wiggled the book a bit in front of Aziraphale.

“Very well, name your price.”

“Such a priceless heirloom cannot be summed up so easily...Oh! I see you have an antique silver tea set! You wouldn’t happen to have a milk pot with the cover would you? Mine went missing quite some time ago, and I haven’t been able to locate a suitable replacement.”

“I do have the milk pot, but I’m not certain I’d be willing to trade it for an unknown book. If I could perhaps...” Aziraphale said as he attempted to garner a glimpse.

“No. The milk pot for the book. One time offer.”

Aziraphale winced as he looked at his silver tea set, he would hate to part with such an ornate piece, but the book did appear to be quite old. “Alright, you have a deal.”

“Lovely!” The old woman grinned as she plunked the book into Aziraphale’s hands before plundering his silver service.

He looked down at the cover, the writing was scarcely legible; there were well-worn symbols embossed into the leather. Strange. He thought as he lifted the cover.

The writing was indeed ancient- no language ever spoken by humans, the language of the Seraphim, the language of angels.

“Where did you say you got this...” Aziraphale glanced up to see that he was once again, utterly alone in his shop.

He sat down at his desk and carefully opened the book; there were a great many pages loose that someone had seemingly shoved them inside haphazardly. It appears to be a recollection of the creation of angels. He scoured the pages with great interest, atop each page, a name, a rank and a description of the angel and their blessings.

Gabriel, Archangel

A mighty winged creature with eyes of violet, bands of gold flows through his throat, for he is the Word of God.

A stunning painting of a furious and righteous Gabriel holding a sword lit up the page, sending a shudder down his spine.

Let’s see Michael...Uriel...Raziel...Jophiel...Raphael... Camael... He muttered to himself as he flipped their pages, quietly admiring their Heavenly attributes and stunning images.

A torn slip of paper fell upon the floor, garnering his attention:

Jedbriel, Archangel

Most fair of all Heavenly creations....

eyes of gold and hair of flame. All ....

rejoices over his creations...

of stars that rain through the cosmos and ...

“Jedbriel? I haven’t heard this name before.” Aziraphale pondered as he held the slip of paper in his hand. “Archangel? That can’t be right.”

He continued to search the book, eventually coming to his own name; he blushed at the flattering drawing of him holding his flaming sword. He turned the page and what he saw caused his heart to skip a beat.

Crowley?

His rendering was unmistakable; auburn hair that fell past his waist, flowing down in a fiery wave. His golden eyes, warm and filled with light, seemed to look straight through to his soul. Wings of white illuminated by the radiance of starlight that surrounded him.

“Oh Crowley!” He sighed with adoration. He glanced up at the top of the page, looking for his name- the name that God herself had given to him, but the page was torn, many words were missing, but a few remained...

...with...

...Heaven...

...galaxies...

...beloved child of God.

Curious. He pulled the slip of torn paper and placed it over where the piece was missing; to his surprise, the piece fit seamlessly.

Crowley? It cannot be. Even if it were, that would make 8 archangels, and that’s not possible. We were told there are 7, always 7. This doesn’t make sense. His given name is Jedbriel? I don’t understand.

He poured over the book all that night, searching for clues, searching for anything that might give him a better understanding of who this mysterious named archangel was and why there was no other information to be found anywhere.

Nothing. How can he not exist at all in any other text? None of this makes sense. He poured himself another cup of hot chocolate as he continued to reason. But Crowley would have told me, it would have come up by now.

He paused and looked up at his brilliantly adorned Christmas tree, stunning angles heralding the arrival of Christ; trumpets and harps, halos and magnificent wings of white. His breath caught- these beautiful ornaments created by mankind to depict the glory of Heaven. If the information in the book was to be believed, then Heaven erased one of their own from existence- erased Crowley. Creator of stars and fairest of all Her creations. How painful it must be for the demon to look upon these ornaments and see nothing but pain, rejection and erasure.

Oh Crowley, I am so sorry.

Days pass, and another Christmas Eve arrives with little fanfare. Aziraphale continued to pour through his scrolls, texts, first edition unrevised Bibles and any religious works he has at his disposal. He finds nothing.

Night brings the moon and the soft glow of distant stars. The cold winter wind snaps him from his focus, and he turns to see a demon has, in fact, returned to his shop.

“Picked you up a little something for your tree.” Crowley announces as he sauntered in, finely wrapped box in hand.

“Crowley!” Aziraphale cooed with delight. “Listen, about the other day, I’m...”

“It’s nothing, angel. Water under the bridge.” Crowley dismissed. “Doing a little light reading?” He asked as he glanced around, noting that nearly every surface was covered with literature.

“Oh, just a bit of research.” Aziraphale said as he hid the book under a stack of papers.

“Anything important?” The demon asked as he made his way towards where the angel was standing.

“Important? Just something that peeks my curiosity.” Aziraphale glanced up, trying to erase the image of Crowley in his true angelic form from his mind.

“Just stopped in to give you this, then I’m off to a party. Big temptation to accomplish and then I’m leaving London for a bit. Meant to go to Italy.” Crowley stopped before him, gift in hand. “Go on, open it.”

Aziraphale accepted the package, and removed the wrapping; inside was a monstrous little figure with two great horns and bright red eyes. A look of confusion fell over his face.

“It’s Krampus! He’s a demon that comes for naughty children at Christmas Time. Anyway, he’s better than all your “holier than thou” angels and I thought this place could use a little more...”

“Crowley, I love it.” He held the glass ornament in his hands. “I know exactly where to put him.” He walked over to the tree and placed him on a branch at the top.

“Anyway, Happy Christmas angel.” Crowley shrugged as he turned to leave.

“Wait!” Aziraphale yelled a bit too loudly. “I have something for you too. He grabbed a gold trimmed package from his desk drawer.

“Tartan? Really?” Crowley moaned as he produced a printed scarf. “I mean, you don’t expect me to actually wear this, do you?”

“It’s stylish and besides, it will keep you warm. I know how you hate this weather.” Aziraphale teased.

“Goodnight angel.” Crowley waved as he sauntered towards the door. Aziraphale watched him leave, watched as his hair, much shorter, yet still long enough to flutter in the wind. Gone were his wings of white, his golden markings and his Heavenly name, yet in Aziraphale’s eyes, he was still the fairest of all Her creations.

#31 days of ineffables #good omens #aziraphale #ineffable husbands #crowley #justenoughofabastardtobeworthknowing

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tanadrin · 5 years ago

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Reordberend

(part 23 of 30; first; previous; next)

Katherine didn’t see Leofe at all for the next three days, but at this point it didn’t matter. They were going to get all the alone time they could stand on the trip to Ross Island. Instead, she spent the time reading, looking over the maps the People had of the coast, trying to work out for herself what the best route to take might be. It was about fifty kilometers as the penguin waddles (or something), which, in any other part of the world, over good terrain and in warm weather you could walk in a day, if you really had to. You could do it in two, if you took a leisurely pace. But it would be dark the whole way, the second half of the trip would be over open ice, and the last leg would be up the side of an enormous volcano; in short, not good terrain. Not at all. It might take them four or five each way, provided they had no major mishaps.

Fine. Katherine did want to see the Fane that Aelfric had told her about. But as the departure date grew closer, she was getting more and more uneasy, and not about the journey with Leofe. She wanted to talk to Wulf before she left, about the noises in the hills.

Wulf wasn’t an easy man to get alone, though; he was, in fact, probably one of the busiest people in the village, despite his age. There were always people at his house, asking him his opinion on this or that, and when he wasn’t there, he was in the village hall making small-talk with the other elders, or looking after his grandchildren while their parents were occupied. Finally, the morning before they were due to leave, Katherine managed to buttonhole him on his way to the village hall.

“Wulf, can I talk to you for a second?”

He seemed not at all surprised by the request, and ushered Katherine into his small, one-room house, motioning for her to sit near the fire.

“If this is about the journey to the Fane, I still think you’re the only one to go with Leofe.”

“No, actually. You’re right about that. This is about something else.”

“Oh? What’s that?”

“It’s about, hmm. Well. I’m not sure how to explain. You were saying the other night, people have been hearing noises from in the hills? Seeing lights?”

“The lights were out beyond the shore. Perhaps just passing vessels, in the sea or air.”

“Yes, but those have gotten more and more frequent over the years, haven’t they?”

Wulf thought about this for a moment, and nodded. “I suppose so. Of late, they are a little more frequent. And they were rare indeed in my father and grandfather’s day.”

“That’s what I want to talk to you about. About the outsiders getting closer every year.”

“We have avoided outsiders well enough in our valleys. Most outsiders,” he said, raising an eyebrow. “We will continue to do so. We value our separation.”

“I understand that. But I am worried… I am afraid that you will not be able to remain apart forever.”

“Explain.”

“I have been thinking long and hard lately, about many things. About the history of your people, which Aelfric has taught me. About the things you value, as he has does his best to explain to me. I have been thinking about what I know of the history of my own people, which is perhaps less than it should be. And what I know about the history of this continent, of Antarctica. Wulf, I am afraid for you. For all of you. I am afraid that one day the outsiders will come to the Stone Valleys, and they will not leave even when you show them they are not wanted. I am afraid they will come here, not seeking to understand you, as I an others have done in the past, but only because they wish to take the things in the land and in the hills.”

A dark look began to grow on Wulf’s face. “Our people are not without their hardness, Katherine. If someone were to make war on us, we would defend ourselves.”

“I believe you,” she said. “I just don’t believe it would matter. You are few, and you are strong, but the world outside is huge. If it decides it wants the Valleys more than the People, I don’t think you will be able to stop them.”

“What! Do you doubt our commitment to our land?”

“No! I don’t meant that.”

“”Do you doubt we would die to defend what we have built here, since our ancestors first came to these valleys?”

“No! Of course not!”

“Then how can you--how can you come into my house, and speak of such thing?” Wulf seemed really angry now, and Katherine knew she had put her foot in it. She tried desperately to calm him down.

“Wulf, I don’t mean that your people would deserve such a fate! I don’t want that to happen. I just want--I just want you to understand that there may come a day when you can’t remain apart any longer. That you may have to choose between preserving your customs just as they are, and preserving any of your customs at all. And I would rather see that happen on your terms, in a way you control, than on the terms of people who do not understand you, and who do not have your interests at heart.”

“Katherine, Katherine!” Wulf paced the room, deeply agitated. “I thought he was wrong about you. I thought Aelfric was wrong about you! I still hope he is. He said to me, she will warn us of terrible things, she will do her best to bring alien influences among us! She does not understand us! Were we wrong to let you stay among us? Were we wrong to save your life?”

Katherine was really frustrated now, and tears were starting to form in her eyes. Jesus. Why wouldn’t Wulf listen?

“No!” Katherine said, springing up from her seat. “I don’t want these things to happen!”

“Then why speak of them? Why bring them up at all?”

Clearly, there was some gulf of understanding here that she could not bridge.

“Listen, child,” Wulf said, drawing close to her. “You do not understand us. You do not understand our ways. You are not one of us, and you could not possibly be. Our laws of hospitality are sacrosanct, and it is fortunate for you, but if I hear of you spreading such dangerous talk among our villages, there will be terrible consequences for you. Do you understand me?”

Not knowing what else to do, Katherine nodded.

Wulf shut his eyes tightly, inhaled deeply, and slowly exhaled.

“Good,” he said. “Then consider the matter settled. We won’t speak of it again. Good day, Katherine.”

“Y-you too,” Katherine stammered, and left Wulf’s house. She slunk back to the village hall, and to her room, buried her face in her pillow and let out a long, quiet scream of frustration.

* * *

If Wulf didn’t want to hear her warnings, she couldn’t imagine who else did. Well, she was just lucky she hadn’t tried to talk to Aelfric or somebody about this. She had thought that Wulf was on Team Katherine, but she supposed her mistake there was assuming there was a Team Katherine. There was only Team Us, and Team Them, and when push came to shove, Katherine was always going to be on Team Them.

Ugh. And starting tomorrow she was going to spend the next week and a half with somebody who was really annoyed with her. That was just great. A wave of homesickness washed over Katherine stronger than any she’d felt in months. She would jump naked into the polar ocean right now for a hot cup of coffee, her own bed, her own cat, and a conversation in the modern English language. Heck, she would kill to be able to take a real hot shower, and go outside for five minutes without having to worry about frostbite. Why the fuck had she come here? Why why why why why--

“Katherine?”

She pulled her head out of her pillow and looked up. Hraefn was standing at the door.

“Oh. Hey, Hraefn. How are you?”

“I heard you were leaving tomorrow for a few days. Going to the Fane?”

“Yes. The one on Ross Island.”

“Ross Island? Oh, yes, the island of giants. I wanted to show you something before you left. Come on.”

Katherine got up and followed Hraefn out into the hall. She picked something up off a bench, and showed it to Katherine. It was a shining, round piece of metal that had been polished to a mirror finish.

“Your shield!”

“Yes. It turned out well, don’t you think?”

“It’s… it’s gorgeous.”

The shield was half again as broad as Katherine’s forearm, its edge engraved with a fine serpentine design that was so regular it looked like it had been done by machine. In the center was the raised image of a stag’s head, a pretty faithful copy of a design Katherine had seen in some of the People’s books. Hraefn was a skilled artist; you wouldn’t know it had been done by somebody who had never seen a stag in their life.

“Here, hold it.”

Hraefn gave it to Katherine. There was a strap for her to slip her arm into, and a grip to hold on to; the whole thing was astonishingly light.

“It hardly weighs anything.”

“It’s strong, too. Stronger than steel, maybe. I don’t know where you outlanders find your metals, but it’s good material.”

Katherine imagined herself for a moment a medieval shieldmaiden, charging into battle. She laughed. “I could almost see myself fighting with it.”

Hraefn laughed, too. “I don’t think you’re much of a warrior, Katherine, sorry.”

“You’re right.” She gave Hraefn the shield back. “Better keep it then. What will you do with it?”

“Hang it up somewhere. It’ll give me something to brag about when people from other villages come for a visit. Maybe over the door?”

Katherine nodded. “It would look good there. It’ll catch the light from the fire.”

“That’s just what I was thinking. Speaking of light, I also finished this.”

Hraefn took a small object from her pocket, and handed it over to Katherine. Katherine held it up for a moment, then gasped in shock.

It was her jewel--but Hraefn had completely transformed it. The shining glasslike part in the middle had been shaped like a sea-bird in flight. But it dazzled with light, catching even the slightest flicker from the fires and breaking it into a thousand fragments. The silver piece around the outside had been turned into a kind of halo, like rays of sunlight.

“When I heated it, the center part could be worked almost like clay, and the fire filled it with many colors as the filaments inside broke down. If you look closely, there’s a flaw in the center I couldn’t eliminate, not without breaking it open, and I didn’t want to do that. It really is a remarkable piece of material. If you ever find anything else like it, don’t hesitate to bring it to me.”

“It’s beautiful, Hraefn. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“Thank you. I hope you find a good place for it.”

Katherine smiled. “I have a couple of thoughts.”

* * *

Katherine felt a little better after that, but only a little. That evening, she saw Leofe in the village, but she was still scrupulously avoiding her, even though they were going to be stuck together for the next ten days at least. Oh well. Nothing for it at the moment, she thought to herself. After dinner, she turned in early. But anxious thoughts crowded out sleep, and when she finally did drop off, she had strange dreams of Lucy Spencer coming down from the hills to tell Katherine what she really thought of her. She woke early, bleary-eyed and anxious. When she came out of her room, Leofe was already standing in the hall, gnawing on a piece of whale jerky. She tossed a lantern-staff to Katherine.

“Come on,” she said curtly. “It’s time to go.”

#tanadrin's fiction

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eldritchsurveys · 5 years ago

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740.

How many walls are in your bedroom? >> Six, because the closet juts out from one of the corners. What do you think about Fall Out Boy? >> I enjoy their music quite a bit, especially Save Rock and Roll and Mania. Do you know where Guatemala is? >> Generally, yes. Specifically, nope. Do you find musicians attractive? >> I think being skilled in an art form -- but especially music -- is attractive, but not, like, “I want to sleep with you”-attractive, which is what I think people mean by this question. Just... I like art, I especially like music, by extension I’m interested by people who make art and especially music. Do you like hard boiled eggs? >> Yeah.

Do you know anyone named Hector? >> I used to, but we didn’t really call him that, we called him Luis. Would you move to another country for the one you love? >> I’ve moved across country for someone, but emigration is a lot harder than that, so I don’t know. I think what’s more important is whether I could even emigrate in the first place, seeing as the process is difficult even for people with money and marketable skills... Do you own an instrument? >> No. What do you usually have for lunch? >> I don’t usually eat a lunch, per se. I kind of graze for most of the day. The most organised thing I might make is a sandwich or some microwave thing. Ever had a pregnancy scare? >> Yes. What do you think about the Purple People Eater? >> I don’t really know what it is, if I’m honest. I’ve heard the song and I’ve heard references to it, but that’s it. Are you pale or tan? >> Dark-skinned. I’ve seen complaints about the America-centric lines of questioning in surveys, but can we talk about the whiteness lmao... What’s the weather like right now? >> Cloudy and chilly. I don’t know where Lady Spring is, but someone please tell her that I am dying. Do you like cats? >> Not especially. I can live with one if I must, obviously, since I do; but I’m not really interested in his existence or anything. I’m kind of turned off by people going apeshit about cats all the time, if I’m honest, but it’s hard to be honest about that without people taking offense. It’s not you, it’s me, etc etc. (It’s probably because I’m a spider and everyone hates spiders.) What’s the best part about Wal*Mart? >> I don’t know, I’m not terribly fond of Wal*Mart myself. Do you think Akon is amazing or annoying? >> I haven’t heard his name in years, lmao. Also, I have no opinion. Do you like the buzz cigarettes give you? >> Yeah, which is the reason I pick up a clove every now and then. Sometimes I just want to get into that headspace. Are you a practical joker? >> No. Do you like pop? >> Not the Pepsi and Coke kinds. I like “weird” sodas, I guess. And ginger beer, which is sort of like a soda. What are you looking forward to? >> Hmm. Oh, Sparrow is going back to work on Monday, apparently! Out of context it sounds like I hate her or something, probably, but it’s not that at all. She’s the only person I can bear being quarantined with. But like, I just like being in the apartment alone for a while. I feel... constricted when someone else is around all the time, and while that’s lessened with her it isn’t nonexistent lmao. I just need time where I’m left to my own devices without being observed by other people, any other people, it’s a weird need but it’s mine and I’ll be glad to have that need met again. Have you ever laughed so hard you couldn’t breathe? >> Yeah. What’s your favorite band? >> The Receiving End of Sirens is one. Do you feel stupid when you spill things on yourself? >> Yeah. Are you excited for summer? >> I would be, under normal circumstances! Now I just dread having to be stuck inside for the whole thing. I’m going to try walking trails and stuff, just to... be the fuck outside, but still. Have you ever snuck out? >> No. When’s the last time you were kissed? >> Oh, I don’t know. Would you ever eat popcorn & salsa? >> No, thanks. Do you sleep with the television on? >> Nope. I require silence. The only exception is, say, I’m in a motel room and other guests are being rowdy. Then I’ll put on something to, like, have a controlled and constant sound going as a counter to their chaos. Would you ever want to be able to be invisible? >> I mean, sure, there are situations where I could see that being advantageous. What does your favorite shirt look like? >> I don’t have one. What’s your favorite scent? >> ^ Skype, Msn, Aim, or Yahoo? >> Discord. What’s your favorite time of the day? >> I like dawn. I also like dusk, but only in the summer. Summer dusk is a beautiful thing. Do you hate the phrase “love ya” when coming from a boyfriend/girlfriend? >> No...? What do you do when someone in the room has b.o.? >> Distance myself as much as possible, as discreetly as possible. I don’t want to embarrass them, I just don’t want to deal with sensory overload. What movie would you like to see right now? >> Oh, stuff. How many times a day do you shower? >> It depends on the day. Some days, zero. Some days, once. What do you think of the name Chloe? >> It’s all right. I wouldn’t give it to a character, but it’s all right. Do you like Hollister? >> I’ve never even been inside one. (I’m pretty sure that’s one of the stores that they spray fragrance throughout, like Abercrombie, so that’s all the reason I need to never go inside.) What’s your favorite alcoholic drink? >> Absinthe. Do you like 80’s music? >> Sure, some of the music I like was made in the eighties. Do you have to wear glasses or have contacts? >> No. Do you play Halo or Gears of War? >> I played Gears with a friend years ago. I don’t play it now, though. That kind of game is pretty much only enjoyable for me with a friend, so. How do you feel about cleaning? >> I hate it, but I love the results. What do you think of emo kids? >> I appreciate them. Do you like the movie Grease? >> I haven’t seen it since I was a teenager, probably, so I don’t really remember it. I just have a vague recollection of a couple of the songs, and I remember what the main characters looked like. I’d probably like it if I watched it again; my thing for greasers is still alive and kickin, after all. Do you like singing? >> Sure do.

What’s your favorite Jim Carrey movie? >> The Number 23! I love that movie so much. Now I want to rewatch it.... I’m going to rewatch it. I’m going to spend four dollars to rent it on YouTube as soon as I’m finished with this smh, I can’t resist. It just hits me right where I live, something about it is so intensely relatable for me, I don’t know. Probably because I’m haunted by a number, too. Runner-up for fave Carrey flick is Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. There’s a knock at your door at 4 in the morning; what do you do? >> Nothing. Whoever it is, we have no business with them. Do you like peaches? >> Sure. Ever lost a best friend? >> No.

Ever heard of a town called Wadena? >> No. Have you ever been to a funeral? >> Yes. What’s your favorite sport? >> Figure skating. What do you think about homeschooling? >> I’m interested in it, and the ways in which it can be implemented. I’m also pretty against a lot of things about public schooling in America, so, you know. What do you think about French people? >> I don’t have any opinions about French people. Do you like your parents? >> They don’t like me, which I think settles the issue right there. What do you think about Minnesota? >> I don’t have any thoughts about Minnesota. Do/did you like high school? >> I did not. Do you have any Asian friends? >> I’m acquainted with a few Asian people. Is it cold where you live? >> Yes, still. I fucking hate it. Do you find accents attractive? >> I mean, not as a rule. I find the mechanics of language interesting, so that attracts me, I guess. Do you hate it when people make spelling mistakes? >> No. Would you ever let your boyfriend/girlfriend do your makeup? >> Sure. She knows more about it than I do. Do you like to shop? >> No. How long are you on the computer during a 24 hour period? >> For just about the entire time I’m awake, nowadays. When I’m not in quarantine, then it depends on what else is happening that day. Is money really that important? >> I mean, sure it’s important. I can’t believe that would ever be in question. Wars are fought over it, people suffer and die because they don’t have enough of it, and people lose their whole sense of compassion and empathy when they have too much of it. It’s important, all right. Have you ever broken a bone? >> Nope. Who is your favorite family member? >> --- What size bed do you have? >> Twin, because it’s the only size that would fit in this room without making it utterly claustrophobic. I bark my elbow on the wall and accidentally knock shit off my nightstand all the time, but at least it’s a real bed that belongs to me, for once. What age do you want to be married? >> Well, I was 32, so.

What’s the last thing your wrote? >> Like, longhand? I have no idea. What do you think of your town? >> I don’t care for it. When’s the last time you played hide & go seek? >> Thanksgiving or some holiday like that. I played with Edward, who is a toddler. I always play with him when we see his parents on holidays, even when it makes me tired (where do kids get all that energy???), because I like him.

#surveys #survey #random survey

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periodicreviews · 5 years ago

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Uncharted 1-3

With the release of the Uncharted trilogy for free, I decided to finally make my way through them. When I bought my PS4 in 2017, it came with a copy of Uncharted 4 that I’ve left untouched until now. I go into specifics for Uncharted 1-3, then talk a little about the series as a whole.

Uncharted 1

My biggest complaint with this game was the platforming. It was not only tough to figure out which ledges were “grabbable” but even after my 9 hours in the game, I couldn’t accurately judge distances.

Some ledges appear to be close enough, but there’s actually a different side path the developers want you to take. Drake as a character seems to have a variable jump distance depending on if the game detects you are trying to land on a grabbable ledge.

If you jump too soon or at the wrong angle, you’ll execute a short “hop” and fall to your death. I haven’t done any digging on whether such a system exists, that’s just what it appears like.

I died over and over on one of the later levels where there is a series of platforms in the rafters of a church. I just kept misjudging distances and jumping too early.

My primary cause of death had to have been just been falling as opposed to any enemy NPC.

As I say that, I’m reminded of one particular shootout in a courtyard. At the time I remember being really frustrated that being in cover didn’t mean that you were safe from bullets. There was so much gunfire that I couldn’t get anywhere near the people who were shooting at me especially with the number of grenades they were shooting at me. It was tough to have to unlearn everything I know about cover from Gears of War, where you are safe if you don’t peek out from people shooting towards you.

Uncharted 2

Uncharted 2 in some ways felt like a step back and a step forward.

The remastering team on U1 maybe did too good of a job because I felt the eyes of the characters in U2 felt a lot more lifeless.

The step forward was obviously in the improved platforming. I had less and less trouble judging distances. I can’t tell if that’s just because I had 9 hours of practice from the previous game, but I feel like the system judging character movement was also greatly improved.

I died 10 or more times in a single sequence when a helicopter is firing missiles at a building. The building begins to tip over and collapse and you are supposed to jump through a window on a neighboring building to escape.

Fail to jump and you die. Jump at the wrong angle, and you fall between the collapsing building and are crushed. Before I realized I was supposed to go through the window, I thought I was supposed to grab onto the ledge of the neighboring building.

Right after you jump at the exact spot, Drake says “Jump”. But for me, this audio cue always came after I was supposed to jump. I’m not sure if they intended that audio cue to be the cue for the user or not.

This particular scene is a symptom of the root problem in my opinion of the game trying to be too cinematic. I say that, even as a fan of Quantic Dream games. I know there’s a very fine line between cinematic and game. Go too far and you can confuse the player on when they are required to interact and/or make it feel like their actions have no impact. Uncharted 2 had a few such sequences for me. I never wanted to see another train by the end of it.

Uncharted 3

The beginning of the game had me a little worried about the collision detection. It might have just been a side effect of playing with a smaller character model and the collision requirements being slightly different than the regular sized character. There were a few moments when I would get stuck in the chase sequence on corners or edges of geometry.

U3 also put a lot more importance on the melee combat system. I personally prefer to stick with the gunplay but for certain enemies like the shotgun/bulletproof vest guy and the giant brawler types, it felt like a requirement to engage them melee combat. The ability to return grenades and dropdown on enemies in silent takedowns was a welcome addition though.

I really hated the “drug trip” levels. It was very uncomfortable to look at the screen as it distorts and I started to panic during the first level because I was worried I was going in circles and causing this level to last longer than it should. Though to the developers’ credit, that’s really the point of these sequences.

There was one segment I was intent on getting through on all stealth as you infiltrate the airport to stowaway on the cargo plane to the desert. Two enemies at the end guard a door and you can’t shoot either without triggering the “alert”. You had to catch their attention, one at a time, to lure them away from the door and take them out. I really wished I could use the rock mechanic from Horizon Zero Dawn to even get them to spread out on a patrol as they searched for the noise. Ultimately, I was able to remain in the shadows enough to grab their attention but not to fully alert them.

General

I think story-wise, I enjoyed the first game the most, despite it being a little cliché that the Nazis appeared. But gameplay-wise, I probably prefer U2. I enjoyed Elena being presented as someone who didn’t have to rely on Drake to save her. The scene where Elena breaks Drake out of jail in particular was well executed and it was fun to watch these actors perform it.

In U2, although realistic that there would be some animosity between Chloe and Elena, I wished the two could be there as part of a team, not just as two sides of the love triangle. Thankfully they do warm up to each other.

In U2 and U3, characters ask Drake “what’s the point?” and I felt like Drake never successfully answered that. In U1, the driving motivation is rescuing Sully and Elena, then later on it’s in preventing the destructive power from leaving the island. In U2, despite Elena being on death’s doorstep, Drake still decides to face Lazarevic. In U3, especially after getting the warning that Francis Drake himself is alleged to have written. Drake wants to continue on. I guess that just speaks to who he is as a character but the 2nd and 3rd games lost me in that regard as to knowing when to quit. To be fair, he did want to quit in U2 until Schafer convinced him otherwise with the power of the Cintamani stone.

Music

Given Uncharted’s inclusion on stuff like Video Games Live, I expected there to be more to the soundtrack. The main theme is notable but unfortunately that’s the only track that stands out. There are no bad tracks so to speak, but nothing that made me want to listen to it again.

Hints

The hint system was hit and miss at times. I imagine they did a lot of testing to figure out what’s the average time it takes for someone to figure out a particular puzzle and then use that time for how long it takes for the hint to appear. Frequently, the hint would appear when I was already well on my way to finishing the puzzle or when I had just figured it out.

Sometimes the hints would take the form of pressing up on the D-pad and that’s great because I have the option to not press it. It was frustrating when character dialog would tell me what to do instead of letting me figure it out. I know I could’ve turned off the hints in the menu, but I think that would have only worked for the D-pad. It would’ve been nice if that extra character dialog wouldn’t give it all away or could be triggered optionally by the D-pad.

Take a break

It’s probably my fault for trying to rush through these games. But I couldn’t help but notice how high the body count is as you kill non-descript enemy after non-descript enemy. In the first game, they’re just trying to find El Dorado and yet these people are throwing their lives away. In U2, it’s maybe a little more believable because Lazarevic is a warlord basically. And in U3, I guess it’s also believable that this secret society has vast sums of money and influence. Everyone has a price as they say.

At times, I just felt fatigued at having to mow through a whole other squadron of enemies. I know that sounds strange from someone who has played his fair share of Halo, Call of Duty, and Gears of War, where there are no puzzles or exploration, it’s just killing.

In two of those, you’re fighting aliens or “monsters”. I wonder if I played through the 3 Call of Duty Modern Warfare games back to back, would I feel the same way about them? Or maybe it’s merely because Uncharted is not sold to me as being a soldier on a battlefield, you’re just a treasure hunter against mercenaries hired by some rich guy who are just looking for a paycheck (though to be fair, that’s many soldiers as well). Maybe it’s just my personal tastes changing over the years.

This endless warzone type combat also made me yearn for one or two scene where Drake takes it easy. Even just like stopping to eat or sleep would’ve been good. The puzzle and vehicle sections are there to break up the standard run and gun action but I just feel like as a person, it would feel more realistic to see Drake take a nap some time.

Granted, Uncharted is not necessarily aiming for realism. Chances are very low that any person would be able to climb up a train car as it teeters on the edge of a cliff in Tibet. Or escape from a collapsing building that has been shot with rockets from a helicopter gunship. Or survive days walking through the Rub' al Khali with no water and still have the stamina to survive waves of troops in a gun battle. And keep doing it all over and over again.

He does take 1 nap in Uncharted 3 for like 3 hours and I welcomed every second of it. Uncharted 2 opens at a bar where he takes several sips of a drink and of course he takes several sips of the poisoned water in Uncharted 3. But in excluding all of these normal human activities, Drake feels less and less like a human and more like a god.

I feel like maybe I’m missing something that all of these 10/10 and 9/10 reviewers saw. Part of that is probably the time that has passed. I started with The Last of Us and moved on to other games, like Death Stranding, that have built upon the motion capture acting format. Part of it is probably due to me trying to beat these games too quickly, especially when it comes to 2 and 3. I feel like as a whole they are more an 8/10.

I’ve since moved on to Uncharted 4 and so far it feels like a very different game, which I’m not sure if that is a good or a bad thing yet.

#uncharted

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douxreviews · 6 years ago

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American Gods - ‘Treasure of the Sun’ Review

"That’s what the world does. It changes."

I wasn't ready for that.

Should have been. But wasn't.

Let's not dance around the issue in any way and get the sort-of-spoiler out in the open right up front. Last chance to turn away.

So, Mad Sweeney appears to die at the end of this week's episode.

This shouldn't really count as a spoiler, as the episode itself did everything it could possibly do to make us all aware that it was going to happen. They laid the funeral atmosphere on this one with a trowel. The presence of banshees that only Sweeney could hear was just the cherry on top of the great big farewell sundae.

Last season they devoted the entire penultimate episode to telling us the story of Essie MacGowan, which tangentially also told us the story of Mad Sweeney. As a mystical being, Sweeney's background was left very much vague there, and he was really only seen through the frame of reference that Essie saw him through. And it was one of the best episodes of anything, ever, so if you haven't watched it lately you should totally go do that as soon as you finish reading this review. This approach worked very well for Sweeney, since being unsure about his backstory and all the contradictory possible pasts that he possesses are kind of the point of the character.

He's a very quantum god, only being able to be seen through a vague mist of probabilities and attitude.

This week promised in advance to finally fill in the backstory of Mad Sweeney, and I confess that I was a little disappointed that they were going there, since any concrete backstory that we get will never be as good as the possible stories we have in our heads. Imagine, then, my surprise when they doubled down on the whole 'contradictory pasts' thing and made that the whole point of the character.

We've had unreliable narrators before. Here we get what might be described as an unreliable protagonist. Any of the stories we're told about him may or may not be true. Even he, we're told many times over the course of the episode, doesn't really remember.

So we're told about a Sweeney that had sex with a girl who predicted that Laura Moon would one day be his downfall. And of a Sweeney who was a king, and abandoned his allies on the battlefield after being cursed by a bishop and was destined to die from a spear. And a Sweeney from even earlier who was a god king, destined to kill his grandfather in one of those 'you brought about the future you were trying to prevent from happening' kind of stories. Except the grandfather might have been Wednesday. Possibly.

Sweeney is full to the brim of contradictory pasts, and they're all presented to us as true. The little narrative games of inserting the wrong character's voice in the flashback voiceover, or having the wrong voice come from the wrong mouth as the story is being told just underscore this fluidity. What we do seem to know for sure is that he's in Mr. Wednesday's debt for some reason, possibly connected with having fled that battlefield. Odin is a war god. Did fleeing the battlefield cause the debt directly, or was there more to it than that? Somehow tied up with this, Wednesday owes Sweeney a battle, which would make sense if the initial sin was skipping out on the other battle. How that squares with the earlier god king or the later prophesy and boobies story I couldn't begin to say.

It's a rare trick, appearing to devote an entire episode to a character's backstory, only to leave the viewer feeling like they know less afterwards than they did before.

The season's recurring theme of how gods change and evolve to survive over time continues this week. Bilquis is now apparently an evangelical preacher, focusing primarily on the erotic poetry portions of the Bible, of which there are a surprising number, actually. I still can't figure out what she needs from Ruby Goodchild, but I don't think they intend us to understand that part yet. I think it's deliberate that the episode shows all of the changes that Sweeney goes through being done to him by outside forces, such as Mother Church rebranding him as small.

The cleverest move of the week, however, goes to the choice to begin the episode with Sweeney's body under the bridge. That, if you haven't read it, is how Sweeney dies in the book, and it's much less dramatic than what we get here. Changing the narrative so that Shadow is an active participant in Sweeney's death is a much richer story. In the book he basically dies from a tragic case of the plot not requiring him anymore. By starting the episode with the fakeout of him not being dead under the bridge, they're preparing the viewer for his eventual death at the end. Hell, they might as well have put a 'Sweeney Death Countdown Clock' in the bottom corner of the screen.

Farewell, Mad Sweeney. You were arguably the character that benefited most from the book-to-screen translation. I don't expect that we've really seen the last of you. For one thing, it would be just perverse if there was never some sort of resolution with your relationship with Laura after the way things ended last week. For another, even in the book you stopped back by to attend your own wake. I didn't entirely understand what was going on in that section of the book, to be honest.

Wednesday made a point of telling us that every death brought about by the spear was a tribute to him, which means Shadow just made a tribute to Odin of Sweeney's death. That has to be important, right?

Quotes:

Sweeney: "Oh, I can smell the whiskey on your breathe already, Ben Franklin."

Laura: "You know that I can literally rip peoples' limbs off, right?"

Kali: "Goddamn Voudon. Always so dramatic."

Wednesday: "Oh, I know that smell. That smells like a hot bottle of whiskey and sex in an alleyway. With a top note of failure. Eau du F**kup."

Eorann: "Remember, the boundaries of your father’s mind have grown thin since he left us."

Sweeney: "You’ve got 80 years on your dial, You’re going to give 'em up for somebody who’s gonna live forever?" Salim: "That’s how love works."

Wednesday: "F**k the fairies." Sweeney: (To Salim) "You gonna let him talk about us like that?"

Been meaning to mention - I really love Wednesday's vest

Bits and Pieces:

-- Do people really bring food to funeral parlors? I know that they do to the grieving, but I've never heard of them bringing it directly to the funeral home. Maybe it's a southern thing.

-- Ibis mentions that Jaquel will come when Wednesday calls him to war. Does that mean that Chris Obi has just been busy with Star Trek: Discovery and we'll have him back later when he has the time? I hope so.

-- The discussion of Sweeney being a troll or a leprechaun nicely set up the theme of incompatible but equally valid pasts.

-- How has it not come up at all for Shadow that Sweeney caused the car accident that killed Laura? Laura found out about that in last season's finale.

-- Sweeney's final act, other than flipping the bird, was to send Wednesday's spear to 'the hoard,' the realm where all the treasure is that he and Laura took a shortcut through a few episodes back. That was clever. Can't wait to see how Wednesday responds to that one.

-- I feel like it's still OK to 'ship Sweeney and Laura, since she's also dead. Just let me have this one.

-- Pablo Schreiber had a lot of scenes to film in the woods while wearing very little clothing. That just had to be unbearably uncomfortable. I mean, just the bug bites alone...

-- Speaking of Pablo, it was announced shortly before this episode that he'd been cast as the Master Chief in the Halo series. That wasn't a good omen for Sweeney, no Neil Gaiman pun intended.

-- The Jinn mentioned other Ifrits in Chicago, answering my longstanding question about whether Ifrit was his name or his species. I guess we're back to calling him the Jinn. They should really give him a name.

-- Sweeney, despite his best efforts to resist the urge, was really going out of his way to be kind to Salim.

-- I've never considered the erotic subtext of the eucharist before, but what with Bilquis deep diving into the whole 'take my flesh deep into your mouth' aspect of it I'll probably never be able to look at the pope without blushing again.

-- The treasure of the sun was both the coins in the hoard and the love Sweeney and his wife shared, as highlighted by her yellow wedding dress. She'd lost that dress by the time Sweeney had gone mad.

It's hard to make Ricky Whittle look small...

This episode had a lot to really dig into, but it felt a little incomplete to me in a way that "Prayer for Mad Sweeney" didn't. On the tiniest level it feels like an exercise in setting pieces up for the finale rather than a story in its own.

Three out of four tubs of potato salad.

Mikey Heinrich is, among other things, a freelance writer, volunteer firefighter, and roughly 78% water.

#American Gods #Shadow Moon #Mr Wednesday #Laura Moon #Mad Sweeney #American Gods Reviews #Doux Reviews #TV Reviews

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sorcererinthestars · 6 years ago

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A very happy belated birthday to my darling @shadeofazmeinya. My apologies for not being around much this weekend, but to make up for it, here is a birthday ficlet! I hope you enjoy!

unedited, so sorry if it makes no sense!

Loosely inspired by this beauty by the one and only @fahchaus

---

A wedding was not seen often in the lands of the Gods. Particularly a union between so powerful gods as the Solar Queen and the Wild One. The humans below had even felt a Stirring - something was happening as the sun and the shadows seemed to shift on themselves. It was a feeling of mystery, similar to the one that gripped hearts in the center of an unknowing wood. Not bad. Just ... unsettling. Like a higher power was now changing and the way the world works would be forever changed. For the Pantheon, well, they were just thrilled that such a happy union was able to be created right under their noses. They turned their small world into a utopia, a beautiful place for a wedding. Their Tree - the giant Tree, the One Tree - was decked out in floating lights. Flowers and garlands were strewn everywhere. Michael watched the whole affair from the throne in the sky. He wasn’t hiding, per se. Not really. Hiding meant he didn’t want to see the others and that wasn’t true at all. He wanted to see them. Especially Gavin. But he felt kind of ill. Binding a human union was broken by death. A godly union couldn’t be broken by anything at all. They could throw away the rings, sure, but they’d still be Bound by blood and magic. It was a strong Oath. Jack - it was always Jack - landed next to him after about an hour of sulking. His feet hung off the edge of the platform and he gave Michael a bit of a smile, flowers braided into his beard for the festivities. “Nervous?” “No!” Michael snaps. He shifts, hoping not to muss his ceremonial clothing. His pink armor was gone for now, but his pink sword stayed. Instead, he was shirtless, his clothing simple but somehow made magnificent by the swirls of magic glyphs painted on his skin like war paint. Binding Runes, given to him by the Creator - Ryan. “Yes,” Jack just chuckled. “It’s okay to be nervous, Michael. I haven’t said I’ve ever wed before, but the humans pray to me sometimes when they do it, and it seems like they all have marvelous times.” “They’re humans...,” Michael murmurs. “It’s different.” “Maybe,” Jack shrugs, squeezing his leg a bit in solidarity. “But the Solar Queen has always been there for you. You love him. This is just binding the Wild Places with the Sun. It’s helping the world Below. And it’s helping you. I don’t think its something to be frightened of.” Michael frowns and looks below, catching sight of a small retinue by the machines. The flash of light too powerful to be anything that wasn’t his Lover. His Gavin. He frowns but can’t help the flash of longing in his throat. Jack chuckles. “Look at you. Pining when he’s just down below. You’re smitten. Just give it a few more hours and you’ll be together. I promise.”

*** Jeremy had to wear special glasses to get Gavin ready for his big day. The man was positively glowing in excitement. No nerves here, just enthusiasm. He was the one who proposed, after all, and the Sun never really dimmed on his love. He was a man who had dark moods, dreadful moods, but not today. Shimmering, he seemed to wear cloth spun from the very rays of sunlight he controlled. White and shining, they draped over his body, gold bands around both arms. A halo of sunlight wrapped around his head. Jeremy finished the last of the draping and stepped back to admire his work. “Hell,” he huffs. “I’d hate to get blood on this.” Gavin shot him a look. “I’ll incinerate you, you knob.” Snorting, Jeremy shook his head. “I’m clean, I promise. And hey, this marriage thing doesn’t mean you can get out of helping me with the blood .. you know that, right?” The other chuckled and his grin was positively menacing. “No, of course it won’t,” he purrs. “I want to see what happens when we finally active the minging thing anyways.” “You two seem to be almost done,” a third voice pitched in. It was warm and dark and the man who carried it seemed to have an aura of night around him, sparking like the spots of stars reflected in the warm pools of shadows that condensed in every footstep. They didn’t often show off like this. But this was a special occasion and they all felt the need to act their best. The Dark God brushed his fingers over his Solar Queen’s face, just gently. “Seems like you finally found the perfect fit for your energy,” he smiles. “I’m happy for you.” Gavin seemed to shine a bit brighter and he laughs. “I’m not dying, you mong, I’m just moving into Michael’s cabin. Works on as usual tomorrow.” Ryan smiles back, chuckling too. “I suppose, but I won’t be surprised to see your mantles both change a bit because this. The Solar Queen and the God of the Wild Ones may be forever changed.” Gavin frowns a bit, his heart skipping a beat, but he swallows back the fear. “We’re ready for this.” Ryan bowed his head a bit. “I’m sure you are.” ** The wedding was a small affair, in the end. They didn’t have any other followers except them on the island anyways. They even dressed Geoff up and got him to leave his chickens for the party. The man had hugged both Gavin and Michael and gave them his best. He said he’d name chickens after them... which was a big step, seeing who had killed the most of his beloveds. When Gavin came through the gates and into the farm where they all waited by the tree, Michael thought his heart was going to stop in joy. The Creator, Ryan, officiated the ceremony. It was soft and sweet, but the binding magic felt firm around them both. When they kissed, the small crowd erupted in joy. Michael almost couldn’t let go, his head dizzy from the warmth and power of his lovely boy. The rings seemed to echo that power... they were One now, for better or for worse. The sky seemed brighter to Michael, but maybe that was just excitement. But he could have sworn he saw a tree extend a few leaves Gavin’s way... a True sign of the Lord of the Wilds. ** It was quiet when they finally got back to their small cabin after the ceremonies were complete. They closed the doors and were finally alone together, staring at each other across the pool of light from their small torches. Gavin was still glowing slightly, but looked tired. It didn’t dampen the smile across his face. Michael stepped forward, putting his sword to the side. “Hello,” he purrs, pulling Gavin closer to him a bit. His boy laughed. “Hi.” They kissed then, soft but demanding, passionate in the way that the kiss at the wedding could not be. Michael twisted his hands in the fabric and yanked him close, pulling his Solar Queen against his body as Gavin’s arms wrapped around his waist. They kissed as if the other was air, was life, was warmth. When they pulled apart, foreheads pressed together, Michael laughed and Gavin did too, until they were both cackling, unable to understand the magic that now tied them together. Michael looked down at his ring, shaking his head in disbelief. “I can’t believe we went through with it,” he whispers. “Second thoughts?” Gavin asks, a bit of anxiety in his tone. “Jack was saying...” “Jack needs to learn to keep a fucking secret,” Michael retorts, pulling him in for another soft kiss. “I’m not having second thoughts. Anything but. I’m just... it’s a lot.” “It is,” Gavin said, kissing at his neck while Michael spoke, before pulling back a bit. “But for now, it’s our wedding night, and I want to see how many of those war paint sigils I can break before morning.” Michael’s smile is bright. “Come on, then, you.” The sun may be setting down on their little island, but the start of a new life was just beginning. Down a bit on their Island, the other Gods smiled, knowing that they had started a new life, a new generation of happiness in their world. And down below, humans celebrated without knowing why, without fully grasping the triumph of the heavens. For now the Wilds, once dark and full of terror, were tamed by the Solar Queen. And the brightness of the sun now brought new life where there wasn’t one before. All hail the Union and let it burn bright.

#me #my writing #ah king au #ah sky factory au #happy birthday dearest!!#shadeofazmeinya

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117--087 · 6 years ago

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‘Halo: Silent Storm’ Speedy Review - Pros, Cons, Etc.

To preface: After the ‘Halo 5′ debacle, I made the decision to no longer purchase Halo media in an effort to “put my money where my mouth is” in terms of my disapproval of 343 Industries’ actions - in regards to their questionable public statements, lies, and mishandling of the mainline story & my favorite characters. This also led to me to stop using the moderate platform I have established with this blog to actively announce/promote new media as well.

That said, I decided to break my streak in order to read the new book ‘Silent Storm’ by Troy Denning. As it would be the first fiction we have gotten in a while to actually have Blue Team whole, plus in a prominent role in the story. And after all that’s happened I simply had to see what came of that.

So here are some of my initial thoughts after reading the book extremely quickly. I was mostly focused on the Spartans and their characterizations, so I know I missed a lot of details about other things. When I have time to go through it more thoroughly I may make another post. But for now, the following is what I gathered...

Pros:

John is perfectly in-character throughout the book - particularly as a young man who is still a bit of a hothead. At no point during my reading did I come across a part where I thought “well he definitely wouldn’t say/do that”. He's reserved but not humorless, and genuinely cares about his Spartans. Plus there’s some very good exploration of his burgeoning experiences as leader/commander in the field.

There’s strong emphasis on the general importance of teamwork to the S-IIs. As well as how their particular dynamic truly sets them apart from other elite units. A good balance is struck between them acting in accordance with their combat training, and acting like a big family. All the Spartans pretty much talk with all their fellows freely, and there is good banter between them from start to finish.

There are a few decent glimpses at some other Spartans we haven't seen as much; such as Daisy, Anton, and Joshua.

Lots of different perspectives are shown throughout the story - from Insurrectionists, to the UNSC, and the Covenant. The cast of secondary characters/OCs are generally well done and interesting (I think this is one of Denning's primary strengths as a writer).

LOTS of technical details. Really, there’s a lot. Which I know fans of the more military-side of Halo will certainly appreciate. This goes hand-in-hand with the battles that take place both in the air and on the ground, with both ships and soldiers.

All-in-all it is a rather straightforward action story that I think anyone who likes Halo could enjoy and get into. With some decent, but not overly complex, intrigue concerning the Insurrection and UNSC navigating their ongoing feud on top of a new war with hostile aliens. And again the Covenant’s side of things is not left out either, which adds variety.

Cons:

Sgt. Johnson being such a major character in this book is a pretty huge retcon that I'm not sure I'm okay with. As it really messes with a lot of the tone of 'The Fall of Reach’ & ‘First Strike’ where the Master Chief and Johnson are very clearly framed as not having met each other before then. Their "getting to know/trust you" vibe is a pretty strong undercurrent of their previous interactions - which is hammered in even more when the Chief chooses not to sacrifice Johnson for the data-crystal info after all in the end - meant to set the stage for ‘Halo 2′. And there's really no way to get around that because I seriously doubt that John of all people would just forget the very next “mentor” figure he had in his life after Chief Mendez (especially one as distinct as Johnson). I can see why some people have said using any other ORION subject wouldn't have as much impact; but using Johnson ultimately smacks of simply wanting to have "moar fanservice" at the cost of continuity. Which isn't worth it in this case, in my opinion, because of how defined Johnson's role is in 'First Strike'.**

Kelly and Linda are generally indistinguishable from each other in personality and mannerisms. This is a trend that has gone on in a lot of recent fiction (including Denning’s previous books where they have minor roles), so seeing it again here was rather disheartening. Especially considering how fundamentally different they are supposed to be. Instead here they're largely relegated to playing the part of "token girls that snark on occasion" with different combat specs. Though Kelly's speed is woefully underutilized/under-portrayed in action sequences, in spite of the text mentioning this skill when she is first introduced. Similarly Linda is said to be "quiet and reserved" at the very start, but for the rest of the book she's essentially as chatty and expressive as everyone else. Now I’m not saying Linda can't talk or banter with her peers of course, far from it. But there are ways to portray her interactions with others that don't take away from her toned down and straightforward sort of intensity.

Denning is pretty much sticking with his notion of Fred being the "witty/funny person" on Blue Team (which is also what he did in his previous books). Admittedly this is something that didn’t sit very well with me in ‘Last Light’, and it still doesn’t now. It somewhat clashes with his personality as established in Nylund’s books and, to me, comes off as more-or-less an attempt to morph Fred into diet-Buck - when Fred had plenty going for him already to make him a likable and engaging character. This also bothers me on Kelly's behalf; as I don’t like seeing a distinct trait that was ascribed to a female character for the last 15-ish years suddenly be passed off to a male character for seemingly no reason.

While the Spartans’ team/family interactions are very well done overall (as I noted in the ‘Pro’ section), nothing and no one in particular truly stands out either. Meaning I feel like no one reading this book (especially people not already very familiar with the Spartans as characters) would know the difference between John and Kelly's dynamic, his and Joshua's, his and Daisy's, etc. And there are differences thanks to the particular histories going on here between the various teammates - such as John and Kelly being mutual best friends with Sam, John’s sort-of leadership rivalry with Kurt, etc. Granted John and Fred’s interactions do stand out a little bit, because this book does firmly establish him as the "next in line" Blue Team leader. But Fred also has the second most amount of "screentime" of the S-IIs on top of being given his humorous personality - so that makes him stand out more on principle.

I would've really liked to have seen the other Spartans actually do more. For example, Grace is present for this op; but she's only name-dropped once or twice, and never uses her best known skill (explosives ordinance) in a way that we can "see" in the text. Same goes for Anton and his ability as a scout, and so on. Maybe if the “main 3″ of Blue Team had been better defined in their roles it wouldn't matter. But as it stands there are several points where the others could've played more prominent parts. Again as an example, there is a moment in the story where Linda is tasked with setting a bomb to go off - but why was this not Grace instead? At least that would've lent itself to what we already knew about her.

...So with all that in mind, I would like to emphasize that the negatives don’t necessarily outweigh the positives. I’m just taking this time to explain my particular grievances in detail. Whereas the positives I think are best experienced first hand, and also require more overt plot-spoilers to explain. In the end the book was better than I thought it would be (granted I was prepared for the worst). And while not a great story for getting a deep understanding of Blue Team specifically, it is certainly great for getting a firm grasp on John himself and how S-IIs operate as a whole.

Though I find myself almost more puzzled than ever about something. Because while the author proved to be able to really dial-in to John’s established characterization and expand on it in ways that made sense even though this is Denning’s first time writing for him, on the other hand Kelly, Fred, and Linda were still all over the place compared to what we’ve seen of them in the past - in spite of this being his 3rd outing with them now. And not just in a “oh well they are teenagers in this book so there will be differences between this and how they act as adults” sort of way. However I have hope this issue can be cleaned up in future works, if Denning writes them. So I will forward my thoughts through established avenues for constructive criticism and keep my fingers crossed that they might help.

So while I can’t say I recommend this book wholeheartedly, it’s definitely the first Halo media in a while I can say I do recommend in general as being worth the time & money investment. 👍

(**This can be reconciled with some good headcanon/fanfiction that add just a few sparks of recognition between Chief and Johnson during the events of TFOR/FS. Though for obvious reasons I still prefer that continuity issues simply be avoided in the first place.)

#Halo #Silent Storm #S2BlueTeam #Master Chief #John 117 #spoilers #opinion post #books

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gamerzcourt · 6 years ago

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Doom Eternal Wants You To Feel More Powerful As The Doom SlayerDoom Eternal Wants You To Feel More Powerful As The Doom Slayervideo games

New Post has been published on https://www.gamerzcourt.com/doom-eternal-wants-you-to-feel-more-powerful-as-the-doom-slayerdoom-eternal-wants-you-to-feel-more-powerful-as-the-doom-slayervideo-games/

Doom Eternal Wants You To Feel More Powerful As The Doom SlayerDoom Eternal Wants You To Feel More Powerful As The Doom Slayervideo games

Doom Eternal’s gameplay debut at QuakeCon 2018 managed to hit all the right notes while highlighting the carnage of a one-man war against the forces of Hell. The follow-up to Doom (2016) manages to make its predecessor look tame by comparison, with a set of new abilities and weapons, along with an expanded traversal system through a grappling hook attached to a shotgun. With the return of the Doom Slayer–a reimagined take on the enigmatic yet equally dull DoomGuy of the original games–the developers want players to feel even more immersed in the role of the silent and imposing protagonist.

One of the biggest surprises is the new Invasion mode to complement another robust campaign, bringing enemy players into a traditional single-player experience. To go with greater focus on unique content, Doom Eternal will drop its predecessor’s SnapMap mode, in favor of new DLC focusing on the exploits of the Doom Slayer. In our talk with creative director Hugo Martin and executive producer Marty Stratton, they spoke about how much the game has changed since its 2016 predecessor, and why its new features will make it more exciting than ever.

Since its unveiling at E3 2018, the reception for Doom Eternal has been very positive. Do you have any reactions to the overall response from E3 and from QuakeCon as well?

Hugo Martin: It’s been amazing. We’re really excited to be able to give them something to look forward to. We’ve been working on it really hard and we’re just very excited to share it with the fans and to see their reaction; it’s very validating.

Marty Stratton: Yeah, we basically started on the game from a pre-production perspective right after we finished Doom that released in 2016. As a team we’ve been working on it for a couple years now so both the tease at E3, the CG teaser at E3, and then certainly [Friday] with the fans here has been amazing. They give us so much passion and energy and enthusiasm, and we had our entire team in the audience so they got to feel it as well. We did it in 2014 at QuakeCon kind of revealed the game to a crowd there, and doing it again like that this year at this QuakeCon was tremendous, it was awesome.

Looking back, were you surprised to see just how much people enjoyed Doom 2016?

Martin: I mean we believed in it. Internally, we all loved it and we knew it was fun to play, so I wasn’t surprised. I was just relieved to see that it had caught on with people. I was surprised to see just how far and how much some of the stuff caught on, to what degree it caught on, whether it’s lore or just subtle mechanic things or just the tone, just a lot of things you spend time on and you see more and more people recognize it. That was really satisfying.

Despite the protagonist being silent, and the groundwork laid by the original games being somewhat bare, the last game had a lot of personality to it. Can you talk about how you plan to not only expand the lore of the Doom Slayer, but also the world itself?

Martin: It’s definitely a continuation of what we started in 2016. We laid the groundwork for a lot of this stuff and we hope to answer a lot of the questions that we put in players’ minds in 2016, and then maybe leave them with some new ones so we have somewhere to go. We want to take fans to some really interesting locations beyond just Hell and Mars. So we’re going to Earth this time and there are a few other places that we haven’t revealed yet, but we showed some concept art that I think hints heavily towards some really epic locations. But at the end of the day, it’s about killing really cool demons with awesome guns in fantastic locations. We want to make sure that that universe is full of that stuff.

Stratton: I feel like our team has really started to hit a stride with this [game]. When you get better at something you’re able to expose more to people through the experience and I think that’s what’s kind of hitting the mark now with this stuff. And honestly we’re just [at the] tip of the iceberg and I hope we just continue to plow forward for years getting better and better and being able to give the fans more and more of what they want.

One thing that was unexpected was the new Invasion mode. It’s got vibes similar to Dark Souls, where other players will encroach upon your solo space at surprising moments. Can you talk about the initial ideas for that and how it fits into the ideal Doom experience?

Martin: For the invasions, as we showed in the gameplay video, it seemed like the best way to do it and stay within ourselves as a Doom game. It’s really fun. We’re only teasing it because obviously there’s a bunch of other stuff related to it, but we can say that it will take incidental combat areas, take all you know about them, and make it really interesting. If your game hasn’t been invaded and you walk down a hall, it’s no big deal, it’s just a hall with a couple zombies, whatever. But if you walk down that hall and you know you have invaders in your game it’s gonna make that experience really thrilling ’cause you don’t know where they are, you don’t know what they’re gonna do, or when they’re gonna attack. It sort of makes the ‘Doom dance’ social. Overall, it’s good for the game and it’s fun for the invader and the person being invaded.

There’s clearly a lot more focus on mobility in Doom Eternal. With the grappling hook and new dashing mechanic, it seems like you’re going all in with the new movement style. What was the motivation for that?

Martin: I think we wanted to make sure that the incidental combat areas, which are the spaces in between the large combat arenas, would be more interesting in Doom Eternal. But when you take those abilities into combat, you start to take those moves and combine them together into what we call traversal combos, and you’re gonna do some really cool things. You can cover a lot of ground with a monkey bar swing, a double jump, two dashes, and a grapple hook–and then you add wall climbing to that and I think it’s going to make for some really interesting traversals. It has an impact on the way the levels are designed; they’re designed maybe not so two-dimensional and flat, and now we can do a lot more different things that we couldn’t do before. We’ve provided ourselves with the tools to be able to make some really compelling spaces.

Staying on the move and in the air seems a lot more challenging and engaging this time around. But at the same, it ties into player expression during combat.

Stratton: That’s the game. It feels good to stay in the air as long as you can. We give you a bunch of these things to allow you to do that. It happens. It’s just intuitive, you feel like you want to do it, so we provide you with the chance to do it.

Martin: Yeah, in fact that second gameplay video we put out has a player on mouse and keyboard, and he’s one of our better players in the office. He plays so well. He’ll leave a Pain Elemental flying around so that he can use it, ’cause you can only grapple [or] meat hook to demons. The grappling hook is not a world grapple, like you can’t grapple onto the side of a building. You have to grapple to a demon, so he leaves a demon flying around so that he can use it as a grapple point to get wherever he wants in the space. It creates more opportunities, more things to think about as you’re playing the game. More opportunities to kind of improv your way through the fight choreography.

Usually when you make sequels, you gotta go bigger. So when you look at Doom Eternal, did you face any challenges to not only not over do it as a sequel, but also to keep things consistent with what people expect from Doom?

Martin: I think as long as you have the right filters in place, everything was built around the simple question: how do we make the player feel aggressive or encourage them to become more aggressive? Anything that falls under that category will be successful, it will feel like Doom. It begins with the questions you ask yourself as a creative, if you’re getting the wrong answers then you’re probably asking yourself the wrong questions. If it was like, how do we make the Slayer feel more stealthy? Or how do we avoid enemy contact more easily? Those are the wrong questions to ask. It’s just basically like the whole thing about Doom 2016, and why it felt refreshing. Nothing was holding you back, so combat is just about an expression of aggression.

Stratton: It’s not even just about asking yourself those questions as a creative, it’s about asking yourself those as a player. We spend a lot of time playing this game, and spent a lot of time playing Doom (2016). It’s all about that playable experience, first and foremost. I think that’s the first filter, from a gameplay perspective, from a player’s perspective– you ask yourself, “what do I want to do?”

Can you talk a little about that bridge scene in the second gameplay video? The Doom Slayer is walking in, and the people in the area are clearly afraid of him. It almost felt like an inverse of a scene from Halo with Master Chief, who’s a largely stoic and noble space marine.

Martin: Yeah, it’s just mostly to make the player feel strong. Definitely not Master Chief. I love Master Chief, absolutely. We’re Halo fans, we love those games. Not to say anything negative about their game but we actually looked to scenes in films, like when RoboCop enters the police station for the first time or when The Terminator enters the area. We likened it to a tiger entering the room, like how would a bunch of scientists act if a huge tiger entered the room? You know what I mean? They’d all back up, and especially when he slowly comes up on that guard and kind of stares at him for a beat, you hope the tiger just keeps on walking and for everybody else he does, but then we’ve all seen that movie where the tiger stops at the one guy and kind of sniffs him and he’s just terrified. That was kind of the touch stone there, to just make the player feels powerful and to tell that story.

You could see that there’s an internal struggle going on within the UAC, not everybody’s on board with this. Clearly Top Brass at the UAC is trying to bring about the demon apocalypse and not everybody is aware of this ’cause they’re actually fighting against the demons. They know who The Slayer is based on their reactions, or at least they’ve heard of the legend of The Slayer. It’s fun. We’re glad that people liked it, it seems to have resonated with people. I think the best part is the story and the tone of that, and the way it makes the player feel is very consistent with the way they feel when they play the game. There’s no disconnect between the story and gameplay moments. It’s funny to call it our cinematic story moment. It is a walk down a hall but that’s good, we’re proud of that. It’s very lean, but it resonated with people and mainly it’s consistent with how you feel when you play.

Stratton: The fact that it’s done in a video game medium, you’re telling the story as only video games can–in a good way. Which is: you’re in the helmet, it’s not third person, it’s not some fancy camera shot that you’re seeing, you’re not observing the Doom Slayer walk through that space, you are the Doom Slayer walking through that space and you see it through his eyes. You get the sense of power represented in you. It’s why I’m such a fan of it too. You couldn’t do that scene that way in a film and have it pulled off the same with that kind of first-person perspective. The fact that it’s truly made for a video game, where a cinematic scene for a video game is told in a very consistent way is just the cool part of it. Definitely.

For more info from QuakeCon 2018, be sure to check out our coverage below on the latest from Fallout 76, Rage 2, and Doom Eternal.

QuakeCon 2018

Full QuakeCon 2018 Schedule: Fallout 76, Doom Eternal, Quake Champions, And More

Doom Eternal’s First Brutal Gameplay Trailer And New Details Revealed At QuakeCon 2018

Doom Eternal Ditches SnapMap To Focus On Campaign DLC, New PvP Mode

New Rage 2 Gameplay Footage And Story Details Revealed At QuakeCon 2018

QuakeCon 2018: Quake Champions Is Permanently Free-To-Play Now

QuakeCon 2018: Doom And Rage Join Xbox Game Pass

QuakeCon 2018: Watch The Keynote Here

QuakeCon 2018: Rewatch The Fallout 76 Panel, Q&A Here

Fallout 76’s Solution To Dealing With Griefers Is Brutal; More PvP Details Revealed

Fallout 76 Has Randomized Card Packs, And They Come With Gum

This Is How Fallout 76’s Nukes Work, And What They Do

GameSpot – All News

#Doom #Eternal #feel #Games #More #Powerful #SlayerDoom #Slayervideo #Wants

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daniloqp · 3 years ago

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The best games (and trailers) from E3

https://theministerofcapitalism.com/blog/the-best-games-and-trailers-from-e3/

E3 is back, we bring it live for streaming, offering free admission for everyone to make up for one more year without the show’s wild cosplay. If there was one primary theme of this show, it was a pandemic-related delay: many of the games we’ve been fighting for this reason are further away than expected or didn’t make any appearances. If you haven’t been able to gather all the conferences from the comfort of your desk chair, don’t worry; sit back in relative comfort and check out this summary of the best E3 I could offer.

This story originally appeared on WIRED UK.

Breath of the Wild 2

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Undoubtedly, at the time of the show, Nintendo finally (finally) aired some gameplay footage from the sequel to its 2017 masterpiece. Link was shown falling into cloud-covered islands, as Nintendo confirmed that much of the game will take place in the sky, as in Skyward Sword, which, related, is also getting a remake in HD. We hope this sequel continues Breath of the Wildit surrounds green plains and does not change them Skyward Sword’s rather delayed linearity. The release date was a slight disappointment, a vague 2022, which extinguishes any hope of players wanting to get it for Christmas. Still, it’s a novelty Zelda“It will be impressive.”

Halo Infinite

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An early one Halo Infinite he mocked the trailer for presenting an alien now named Craig, whose sad, misinterpreted face the community pointed to as an example that the last of this long series of first-person shots had state-of-the-art graphics. The new trailers have calmed those fears a bit. A high-octane story trailer showed Master Chief reuniting with Cortana to give it a bit of an ass, while a deep dive into the game’s multiplayer game seems to take advantage of the best of previous titles. 343 Studios has promised an Academy training mode, to encourage new players to join Hello without fear of being destroyed by the game’s oldest community. Classic games like the 4v4 Arena and the great 12v12 battle team are also back. There is no release date yet, as even Master Chief has shown that it does not match the Covid locks.

The outer worlds 2

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The outer worlds it was a success to sleep, a kind of Fallout New Vegas in a space that sold more than 3 million copies. Now there’s a sequel going on, as this fun trailer reveals, which mocks the conventions of many of the trailers we’ve seen at E3. As the developers admit, they haven’t finished any games or anything really “except the title”. A sequel will be a great opportunity to fulfill the massive potential of the first game: basically, to polish and expand your animated universe.

Metroid Dread

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Metroid Dread he came with apologies; Nintendo regrets waiting so long Metroid Prime 4, and sorry, it still can’t show you any game. The latter has undergone a problematic development: Nintendo launched the Bandai Namco game in 2019 and asked Retro Studios, responsible for the original series, to start it from scratch. Instead, we will get the first 2D Metroid in 19 years. In the trailer, Samus flees a red-eyed robot: like Glados de Portal, lizard-like legs sprouted. Metroid has a rich history of survival horror chases: older players will remember the pound sterling Metroid Fusion a Gameboy Advance. Dread will be released on October 8, 2021.

Advance Wars 1 + 2: Re-Boot Camp

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Advance Wars 1 and 2 they were two of the best Game Boy Advance games ever made: a kind of cartoon chess, where you would go back with your opponent to capture cities and make armies to crush their opposing forces. Now these two games are back with remasters for Switch, “built from scratch” in the cartoony style of Link awakening. Many questions remain: will enough be added to attract players who put plausibly hundreds of hours into the original Game Boy Advance? Will it be nerf Kanbei? Only time will tell. Expect it in December.

Starfield

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This was a disappointing trailer, to be honest: it is included here because we were really hungry for any news from Bethesda, either this or The old documents. It’s hard to know what Starfield it is: The trailer showed a generic-looking rocky alien planet mixed with some lunar landing images and a space pilot preparing for takeoff. The November 2022 release date means that fans of The old documents it will have plausibly clean by the time the next game in the series comes out.

Replaced

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An awesome looking game that isn’t a sequel or another entry into a long-running franchise? Replaced It looks beautiful: a mix of high-resolution humor and pixel art on the line Super-brothers: Sword & Sworcery. The trailer shows the protagonist climbing on neon signs, strolling through dark and dystopian cities and generally kicking ass. There’s still not much more to say about the game: its developers describe it as a “retro-futuristic science fiction action platformer” where players control artificial intelligence trapped in a human body. It is an Xbox exclusive and will arrive in 2022.

WarioWare Get It Together

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He WarioWare The series has always provided some of the best games for parties: quick and fun mini-games that you can jump in and out of. This new game, which includes more than 200 mini-games, will also allow you to play locally with a friend. That, along with Mario Party Superstars, which includes classic boards from the series’ past, such as Mario Party 2The classic Space World – should be a must for those post-pandemic reunion parties. WarioWare opens on September 10, 2021.

Guardians of the Marvel Galaxy

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The recent one Avengers The game attempted to resume the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, albeit without the actors ’resemblance rights, resulting in a strange and sophisticated experience that was further hampered by the release of DLC and microtransactions. Superhero game Guardians of the galaxy has the first problem, but not the second, made by Eidos Montreal and published by Square Enix (which was also behind the Avengers game), is a totally individual experience. You play exclusively as Star-Lord, the leader of the gang of mischievous heroes that also includes the green-skinned alien Gamora, the blowing blue wizard Drax, the sensitive cyber raccoon Rocket and Groot, a walking tree that can only say the words “I’m Groot.” It will be released on October 26, 2021.

Far Cry 6

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Far Cry 5, which featured a murderous and religiously fanatical American family, was decidedly not a political statement, according to Ubisoft. The new game has changed its mind, saying it is political “as all games about revolution should be.” It seems unlikely Far Cry 6 will provide a nuanced view of the armed class struggle: the trailer promises players that they will, really Far Cry spirit, still be able to “explode shit.” The most amazing thing is that the game will feature the fantastic Giancarlo Esposito Breaking Bad, with full voice work and motion capture.

Avatar: Borders of Pandora

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Avatar occupies a somewhat strange place in popular culture. James Cameron’s 2009 film was a huge success (it’s the second highest-grossing title of all time when it adjusts to inflation), but when was the last time he heard anyone did you mention It was the largest in the world for about six months, and then disappeared from the earth’s surface. That could change in 2022 with the release of Pandora’s Borders, a game set in the Avatar universe developed by Ubisoft and Massive, which ran on similar Far Cry 3 i The division; and the time must coincide with the release of Avatar 2 in December next year. The trailer certainly looks important, but there are few clues on how to play; all we really know is that you’ll play as Na’vi and “take a journey” into a new part of Pandora.

This story originally appeared on WIRED UK.

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no-white-knights-blog · 7 years ago

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Halo - An Etrian Odyssey Novel (Chapter 37/50)

Notes: I can probably finish posting all the chapters today if I try, I don’t have much else to do :/

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Sage felt even more disoriented than he had been earlier, gaining consciousness and groaning as he turned his cheek against the cold, smooth surface he was lying on, coughing hard and reaching up to hold his throat as he rolled onto his stomach and struggled to push himself onto his knees, lifting his head dizzily when he heard clapping.

"Welcome!" a man in the garb of a hexer greeted Sage, standing on a section of the floor that was raised a little higher than the rest of the ground, with steps leading up to it, "It took my pawn quite a while to locate you, but I'm so happy you could finally join us!"

Sage tensed up substantially from the ominous words, eyeing the strange man critically and noting the dark hair and equally dark eyes that didn't seem to fit with his sickly pale skin. The survivalist tore his eyes away from the strange man to instead glance around the room he was in, mildly stunned at how beautiful it was.

The floors were marble, and there were carved pillars along the walls, tapestries hanging beside framed paintings and windows that were wide open, showing the perfect view of High Lagaard. Sage was a little surprised to find he wasn't too far from the inn, swallowing the knot in his throat and stowing the way his heart was racing at the thought that he could easily escape.

Dyria was probably so worried...

"Oh now, boy, don't get any silly ideas," the hexer chided, and Sage tore his eyes away from the window, "If you try to escape, I'll just kill your friends."

Sage sucked in through his teeth, fingers curling into the knees of his pants. His attention was drawn away from the hexer and to the left, where Flandr was standing between the steps that lead to the strange man and where Sage was kneeling. His head was bowed and he was holding his left forearm with his right hand. Sage vaguely recalled the landsknecht stabbing himself in order to keep himself from hurting Sage any more than he had, but...

He frowned and sat back on his heels, reaching up to touch the scar on his head, a scar that Flandr had caused. Sage wasn't sure how it had happened, what prompted it, but his memories had returned. He remembered everything, from the simple request Eliath had taken to how desperately Lesai was rejecting it, even Naylin getting so excited after meeting Hamza.

Sage almost laughed. Who knew he would end up meeting that man again?

He lifted his eyes again, "Flandr?" the landsknecht tensed up, "It wasn't your fault. You were being controlled, but listen. Those marks, I know someone who has a similar curse. It can be healed!"

Flandr looked over at Sage in disbelief, and the hexer laughed, "What a desperate attempt at swaying him! It's too late, sweetheart, I have him firmly in my grasp."

"That's not true though, is it?" Sage asked defiantly, glaring at the hexer, "He kept himself from hurting me by stabbing himself. What will you do if he just cuts off his arm, huh?"

The hexer laughed again as Flandr gave Sage a disbelieving look, "The curse is in his blood, child. He can cut off as many limbs as he likes, I can still control him. I could stop his heart if I chose it."

"Why?" Sage asked, shaking his head, "Why are you doing this? What's the point? What are you trying to accomplish?"

The hexer beamed, as if he'd been waiting for that question, and set a hand on his chest, "Forgive my manners, I haven't even introduced myself. My name is Aerlorn, and for the past sixty years I've been searching for something legend calls the Lapis Galəksē."

Sage frowned and squinted, "I've never heard of that. What is it?"

The hexer threw a hand up and sighed, "Of course you haven't, no one has. The academies have buried all the history surrounding that stone, burned it all until all that was left were ashes and ruins and a bedtime story," he stepped back and dropped into a chair behind him, folding his arms.

Sage looked over at Flandr as if the landsknecht would have an explanation, but he just shook his head a little to show he didn't really understand it either, so Sage turned his attention back to Aerlorn, "What is it, then? And what does Historia have to do with it?"

"See, boy, that's what I want to know too," Aerlorn held a hand out, "That stone has a very distinct energy, and from what I've discovered, your guild radiates with that energy. You, your landsknecht, the war magus and the hexer, all of you have come in contact with the stone at some point. The only reason it could be so strong was if one of you had it in your possession, but I've looked through all of the belongings that Historia carried with them, stripped down the war magus and the hexer, and interrogated them, but neither of them have the stone, and the landsknecht doesn't have it," he smiled a little, "I haven't checked you yet, though."

Sage opened and closed his mouth before whispering, "Naylin and Lesai... they're alive?"

"Indeed," Aerlorn said cheerfully, "Although alive may not be the best word to use. They're not dead yet, but they aren't exactly living. Now," the curls of his robes slithered along the marble floor towards Sage, who scrambled backwards on his hands and knees, "How about you? Do you have the stone in your possession?"

Sage yelped when the ends of the hexer's robes wrapped around both his wrists, similar to what happened with Flandr's bandages, dragging him across the floor until he was kneeling in front of the stairs, "Stop! I don't have it!" he insisted, "I don't even know what it is! I've never heard of it before!" he lifted himself onto his knees and pulled at his wrists, "What's so important about it, anyway?"

Aerlorn leaned forward in his seat, simultaneously dragging Sage closer and reaching out to take hold of his chin, "Legend tells it that the stone was mined from the very roots of the first Yggdrasil tree. Naturally that part could be a myth, but the power it's said to possess certainly isn't. You've heard that certain gems and stones can hold special properties, the ability to aid in healing or strength?"

Sage was scowling, cringing at the touch of Aerlorn's cold hand squeezing his cheeks, "I've heard a few things like that," he answered, and the hexer smiled, his thumb rubbing over Sage's bottom lip.

"Lapis Galəksē has power like that, according to the legends. Power to heal, power to kill, power to create and destroy, but it comes at a price. It isn't possible for any one person to control that much power, it was too dangerous, so it was hidden away hundreds of years ago, in a grotto tucked securely and safely in a quaint little village that was home to hexers and dark hunters predominately.

"Of course, I don't know the full story of what happened, but around eighty years ago, the gem disappeared. I don't think anyone knows the full story, maybe it was stolen, but the village that had protected it for hundreds of years was destroyed, burned to the ground with only ruins left in its place. For my entire life as a hexer I have searched for this stone, and until Historia came to Lagaard, I was at a dead end," he smiled brightly, "I can't thank you enough for bringing me another clue to aid me in my ambitions."

Sage shook his head, attempted to with the way Aerlorn was holding him in place, "If you don't find it with Historia's guild members, what will you do?"

The hexer seemed to think about it before humming, "Move on I suppose."

"Will you kill us?" Sage asked, and Aerlorn grinned.

"Are you scared?" he whispered, pulling Sage closer, "I like it when you're scared."

Sage scowled, "You can try killing me if you want," the scowl turned into a smirk, "Just know if you do, you'll never be able to live peacefully, because my guild leader will hunt you down until the end of time."

Aerlorn barked a laugh, "Your guild leader. You mean that dark green haired survivalist? He went missing in the Labyrinth the same time I captured those other two."

Sage fought the pain those words brought him and just shook his head, "No, not Eliath. I'm not a member of Historia any longer. I'm from a guild called Halo, and my leader...," he smiled, "He has experience annihilating people who hurt those he cares about."

The hexer didn't look the least bit intimidated, and simply smirked, "How exciting," he thrilled, his thumb pressing against Sage's bottom lip, "Before I'm annihilated then, I should have some fun with you. I've spent the last three months playing around with your war magus and hexer, but I've gotten bored with them. You, on the other hand," he licked his lips, and Sage's eyes grew wide, "I may never get bored with you."

He tried to jerk away from the man, just as Flandr stalked forward, but the hexer lifted a hand and the landsknecht stopped as if he'd walked into a wall, gritting his teeth and cringing as something dark red and black dripped from his nose.

"Don't interrupt me, puppet, you've played your part," Aerlorn chided, waving a hand that had Flandr flying back and hitting one of the pillars before collapsing to his hands and knees, "Now, Seara was it?" he turned back to Sage and the curl of robes wrapped tighter around the survivalist's wrists pulled him closer, "I'm going to do something very generous," the hexer took Sage's chin in his hand, "I'm going to let you see those two from Historia. How does that sound?"

Sage's eyes widened in surprise, "Naylin and Lesai? I can see them?"

"You'll be staying with them until I come to get you," Aerlorn decided, rubbing Sage's bottom lip again, "I'll interrogate you, and just so I know you're not lying, to prove you aren't hiding the Lapis Galəksē, I'll have to strip you of your clothes," Sage paled in fear as the hexer smiled brightly, "I think I'll enjoy that part."

He released Sage, finally, and snapped his fingers, prompting several men who Sage assumed were guards to enter through a door, as if they'd been waiting for orders, "Bring him to the back with the other two, but don't chain him up. I doubt he could do much damage."

"You shouldn't underestimate me," Sage warned, not fighting the hands that grabbed his arms and pulled him to his feet, "You don't know what I'm capable of."

"True, but I cannot wait to find out."

He snapped his fingers again, and the guards began to drag Sage back towards the door they'd entered from. Flandr stood up as Sage was pulled back, wiping his hand under his nose to wipe the blood away and meeting Sage's eyes. The survivalist just smiled at the landsknecht.

"It's okay," he assured, "I don't blame you, and I forgive you for everything that happened."

Flandr seemed to clench his teeth, lips in a tight line, and bowed his head low, hands clenched into tight fists. Sage continued to smile until the door had closed, only then did he let his fear overtake him and choked a little, biting his lip and willingly following the guards who lead him down the halls.

It didn't make much sense, how could that crazy man have so many people following him without question? One look towards their hands and their necks answered that question, because there were black marks marring their skin; curse marks. That hexer didn't have loyal followers, he had minions he controlled, and Flandr... he was one of them. That just made Sage feel sicker. He knew Flandr had been the one to attack them in the Labyrinth, he went so far as to scar him, but Sage didn't blame him, and he wasn't mad. He was horribly sad, because someone he cared about was in pain, forced to turn on his family. Sage was angry at Aerlorn, but Flandr... he just wanted him safe again.

Sage's thoughts were drawn away from the landsknecht when the men stopped at a door that seemed to be made of iron, locked several times from the outside, and held his breath as they pulled it open. The light inside was dim, with nothing but candles lining the wall lit with bright flames. One of the guards pushed Sage through the door and into the room, and he fell to his knees before looking over his shoulder and watching as the door was closed behind him.

He let out a huff of breath and pushed his hair behind his shoulder before touching his neck, which was tender and sore, there was likely a dark bruise there from Flandr strangling him. Well, it seems that the real attacker had been Aerlorn, manipulating Flandr through the curse on his arm, but regardless, it hurt badly. Not that Sage had long to think about it, as the sound of chains clanging together drew his attention to the far wall in front of him, where two silhouettes were hanging.

Their arms were stretched above their heads, wrists tightly locked in cuffs and hanging. Their feet were touching the ground, but they appeared to be too exhausted to hold themselves up, and just let themselves hang.

"I really have gone crazy," the man on the left laughed and lifted his head, "I could swear you look just like Seara."

"Naylin!" Sage gasped and scrambled to his feet, darting forward and wrapping his arms around him in a hug that he winced at, cursing.

"Easy, I'm wounded," the war magus hissed, "There's a pretty bad gash in my shoulder and you're kind of rubbing against it."

"Oh!" Sage leaned back, pulling his hands against his chest before reaching out to the wound in Naylin's left shoulder, wincing, "This is really bad."

"It's been getting worse and worse for the past three months," Naylin sighed, leaning his head forward and setting it against Sage's shoulder, "It's really you then, I'm not hallucinating."

"It's really me," Sage laughed, reaching up and petting back Naylin's hair, "You've got a fever."

"My shoulder is kind of infected and making me sick," Naylin laughed weakly, "The worst part is I am one hundred percent certain Lesai could've busted us out of here, but he's still waiting for a sign of some sort."

Sage pulled away, and Naylin leaned back against the wall, watching the survivalist as he hurried over to the other man hanging from the wall, "Lesai?" Sage reached out to hold the hexer's cheek, urging him to lift his head, "God, you look terrible. You're both burning up from fever."

"Their interrogation," Naylin stated, "It was basically just torture. Three months... I can't remember the last time they brought us food. My back is shredded, I don't know what they did to Lesai."

Sage looked back at the hexer, who had his silver eyes half open, staring down like he couldn't comprehend what was happening, "Can I do something? These chains..."

"There's a latch," Naylin nodded towards the wall between himself and Lesai, "Flip it, it'll give the chains more slack and we can rest our arms."

"Okay," Sage side stepped and yanked on the latch Naylin had motioned to, lunging back to catch Lesai when the chains went slack and the hexer fell forward, wincing as Naylin hit the ground hard, "I-I'm sorry, there's only one of me-."

"No, all good," Naylin grunted, struggling to his hands and knees, holding his left arm against his stomach and grabbing his upper arm, squeezing it and groaning, "How's Lesai?"

Sage lowered himself to his knees, holding Lesai against his chest, "I can't tell. He's breathing, but he's not responding to me," he sat back, inching over to Naylin, and letting Lesai lie with his head on the survivalist's lap.

Naylin struggled to sit up, slumping against Sage and sighing heavily, "Better, thanks," he laughed weakly, "I'm glad you're alive, Seara."

Sage set his head on top of Naylin's, "I'm glad you're alive too," he whispered, "I'm sorry. My head... because of that hit, I lost my memories for a while. Until recently I'd forgotten your names, I'd forgotten Historia, and until a while ago I didn't remember what happened at all. I swear if I'd remembered I would've come sooner."

"Nah," Naylin hummed, "It's okay. I'm just seriously happy you're here now. Well, no, not really. I would've preferred it if you'd lost your memory forever if it meant you wouldn't have to deal with this."

"Don't worry about that," Sage laughed breathlessly, "No, we won't be here much longer. I'll get us out somehow. There's a medic, he can help you both, okay? Just... stay strong and don't die."

He went to close his eyes, but tensed up when Lesai pushed himself to his knees, hands on the ground and head bowed, his red hair a mess on his head and the hood of his cloak torn off. Sage leaned forward and reached out to him, sensing his distress, but his hand barely touched his shoulder when Lesai murmured.

"El..."

Sage blinked, pulling his hand back with a gasp as the cuffs around Lesai's wrists shattered without any pressure or attack. The cuffs around Naylin's wrists broke off as well, and he lifted his arms to look at his hands, narrowing his eyes.

"You could've done that this whole time?" he asked, and Lesai stood up, swaying on his feet and propping himself against the wall with one hand, "Guess they didn't make the room hexer-proof."

"What?" Sage scrambled to his feet, "Lesai, please lie down, you have a fever-."

He was cut off when cracks began to form along the wall, and grabbed Naylin's arm, hauling him to his feet and letting the war magus lean heavily against him as the wall began to crumble beneath Lesai's hand.

"How are you doing that?" Sage breathed, lifting his arm as dust filled the room, light cutting through it as the wall crumbled completely with a deafening boom.

"Okay, cool, an escape route you could've made three months ago," Naylin said, "A really loud escape route."

Sage turned with Naylin still leaning heavily against him, his eyes widening when the door opened to reveal Flandr. The landsknecht's eyes met Sage's and he frowned, but he didn't make a move to stop them, just stood there.

"Go," he said finally, and Sage's eyes widened a fraction more, "I'll hold them off, but I won't be able to for long, so run."

"Come with us," Sage said quickly, and Flandr's lips twisted into a painful smile.

"I can't," he stated simply, reaching over to his left arm, "Hurry."

Loud yells echoed from the hall, and Flandr stepped back, slamming the door shut. Sage pinched his eyes closed and turned, dragging Naylin along beside him as he started for the hole in the wall, grabbing Lesai as he passed. He wanted to help Flandr, he wanted to fight beside him and take him back to the inn, to the hospital, surely Lynus and Emery could figure out a way to break the curse on him when working together, but he couldn't, not yet at least. He had to focus on getting Naylin and Lesai to safety first, then he could go back for Flandr.

"Where are we going?" Naylin asked weakly, and Sage looked up at the sun that was setting.

"Flaus Inn. My guild is there, they'll help us."

"Your guild?" Naylin repeated in question, and Sage laughed a little.

"It's a really long story."

#EO #Etrian Odyssey #guild halo #look theyre alive and free #except for flandr #i'm sure he'll be fine

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