#It's only been 3 games so far but sadly also 3 losses | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

deadcactuswalking · 1 year ago

Text

REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 14/10/2023 (Drake's 'For All the Dogs', Nines' 'Crop Circle 3', Lovejoy)

Content warning: mentions of sex, violence, anxiety and SO. MUCH. DRAKE.

Kenya Grace’s first chart hit is also her first chart-topper as “Strangers” hits #1! It’s a pretty big week, with or without Drake, and this is REVIEWING THE CHARTS!

Rundown

As always, we start the episode off with our notable dropouts, which as I always explain are always the songs exiting the UK Top 75 - which is always what I cover - after spending five weeks in the region or peaking in the top 40. “Always” by Bon Jovi is not included, but we do see the loss of some 2023 hits like “TRIPLE THREAT” by Headie One, K-Trap and Clavish, “Slime You Out” by Drake featuring SZA (thanks to the three-song rule - though it’s a toss-up whether this one will actually come back), “Tension” by Kylie Minogue, “Feel It” by Jazzy, “TELEKINESIS” by Travis Scott featuring SZA and Future, “Speed Drive” by Charli XCX and “Little Things” by Jorja Smith, as well as some old songs that won’t go away temporarily going away, those being “Dog Days are Over” by Florence + the Machine and “Someone You Loved” by Lewis Capaldi.

What’s always infinitely more interesting are the gains, of which there aren’t all too many this week. We do see the biweekly return of a Fleetwood Mac song with “Dreams” at #73, and then for our notable gains, we see boosts for “Escapism.” by RAYE featuring 070 Shake getting what must be a third or fourth wind at #54, “Back on 74” by Jungle at #30, “I Remember Everything” by Zach Bryan featuring Kacey Musgraves at #29, “Stick Season” by Noah Kahan at #28 and “ecstacy” by SUICIDAL-IDOL at #26. I’m not really complaining either, most of these are great songs. Finally, in the top 10, Sonny Fodera and Clementine Douglas grab their first ever top 10 hit with “Asking” at #10, also granting MK’s his second as a credited artist - it did surprise me how he’d only grabbed one before.

This week’s top five on the UK Singles Chart consists of two Drake songs at the tail: “IDGAF” featuring Yeat at #5 - yes, seriously, Yeat is in the top five - and “First Person Shooter” featuring J. Cole at #4. Otherwise, we have “greedy” by Tate McRae at #3, “Prada” by casso, RAYE and D-Block Europe at #2 and of course, “Strangers” at #1. Now to run through the new songs, of course finishing with Drake but starting far from it.

NEW ARRIVALS

#75 - “Lil Boo Thang” - Paul Russell

Produced by Sean Cook

I am getting older. Not too quickly, and I’m still young but I am aging gradually like everyone does. I also feel like I’m getting a tad more sociable, a bit more willing to put myself out there. This song samples “Best of My Love” by the Emotions, a classic disco track that is used extensively and liberally in this new song. It peaked at #4 in 1977, and I’m not THAT old, not that being old enough to remember the hits of 1977 would make my criticism less valid or anything. Hell, this song does have some new things about it - it’s not two minutes thanks to TikTok attention spans, and he makes references to the NBA 2K games - though even those are 24 years old now. Yet despite that… I think I want to hug this guy at a wedding we’re mutual invitees of, ask him about how his life has been since I last saw him a couple years ago, and make 15-year-old in-jokes we’ve had since we went to school. Everyone has an inner middle-aged person in them, I think this song takes it out of me. It’s been bubbling up for a while and it is pure joy. The guy can barely sing but it doesn’t matter because of the fast, rap-like melodies and the delightful jazzy soundbed, as well as that undeniable groove that may be very plastic, but still gets me excited. If I heard this at an outdoor party full of those 35 and over (and sadly, their kids), I’d have to go to the back and to the front. The bridge with him interpolating the Emotions sample and the computer-esque vocoder just to tick of all the boxes is adorable too. This song is cute, it’s a jam, you young whipper-snappers just wouldn’t get it.

#60 - “TLC” - Digga D

Produced by P YouGotThat

Now we have a streak of four songs somewhere in the middle of the chart which I honestly don’t think I’ll have a lot to say about, not because they’re bad but because these are chart regular appearances just doing business as usual, and isn’t the album entries from Nines and Drake we have coming up, or a newcomer like Paul Russell, or a general oddity like a heavy rock song charting, which we will see later. It’s just business as usual, and this is especially true for Digga D. He is still on his whole late 90s-early 2000s US rap throwback style, this time directly sampling “Bumpy’s Lament” by Soul Mann & the Brothers, probably better known as the loop Dr. Dre used in “Xplosive” featuring Hittman, Six-Two, Nate Dogg and Kurupt, which appears on the iconic 2002. Whilst never released as a single, it’s a pretty iconic beat, and is still certified silver in the UK. Is it a good song? Well, not really in my opinion, at least outside of Nate Dogg, who improves every track he’s on tenfold, so maybe Digga D’s more subtle use of the sample under extra layers of horns and a particularly gross-sounding drill beat can do something more interesting with it? Yeah, not really, the hi-hats sound like fruits sticking to each other in the fridge, and Digga D is usually at least a bit more energetic than this. God, he’s actually one of the more lively UK drillers, but he says in the chorus how tired he is of fame, and it shows. This is a pretty depressing song if you consider that… well, it would be if he did anything interesting outside of that chorus which adds less potency to his flexing, sex bars and mockery of dead teenagers than I think he wants it to. This is just sad in a pathetic kind of way. At least the sample’s cool.

#59 - “Hey DJ” - Joel Corry

Produced by Joel Corry, Neave Applebaum and Punctual

Hey, Joel, I think you missed a feature credit somewhere. You may have dropped it on your way to Spotify, I believe you mean to credit Roc Star on the vocals? No? Okay, well, she’s about as faceless as she is nameless in her performance anyway, in a pretty typical Euro-trance throwback that at least has the cheesy synth builds and a pulsing Cascada-esque feel to it all, even if the washes of white noise and ambiance get a bit much since they’re not very aptly blended into the song, it just feels like the synth pads are full of flat air. In fact, flat would be a pretty apt way of describing this entire song. It’s a shame because I have a fondness for this kind of sound, yet this feels a bit too tight to work in that context, and way too unabashedly cheesy to work in any other.

#41 - “Me & U” - Tems

Produced by Guilty Beatz

Those of you who read my 2006 episode will know I am a big fan of the Cassie song of the same name, which of course isn’t sampled here, it’s just a coincidence. This is a much more chill Afrobeats single from Tems, and one thing that stands out to me at first is the opening line to the first verse: “For me to come out, it must mean I am at the door”. The continued sense of agency surrounding her relationship in the first verse and intro seems to erode in the second verse, as she makes herself a blank canvas for her lover. The sliding guitars and fluttering percussion, feeling almost manic in rhythm, really accentuates that something is deteriorating… but not necessarily in a bad way. Tems’ agency and self-consciousness dissolves not as a result of manipulation but simple comfort over hours and hours of being together with them, inferred by the constant chanting backing vocals intertwined into the beat and the really perhaps-too-repetitious lyrics. He still needs to prove himself though - she needs faith and he needs to show her some substance before she can fully be part of his “matter”. It’s a hypnotisingly cute mutual love song and of course, whilst I’d prefer a more climactic bridge or a chorus that consists of more than four words repeated ad nauseam, I completely get why the song is that way, and it kind of works for me. Not fully, but it’s close - this is good.

#39 - “You & Me” - JENNIE

Produced by Teddy Park

Oh, how I wish these two songs weren’t separated by “Calm Down” on the chart. Regardless, JENNIE may not seem like a chart regular but she is from the group BLACKPINK, of which we’ve heard solo efforts from before, with LISA, ROSÉ and JISOO all charting solo songs, and I actually liked all of them, some more than others, so I was excited to hear JENNIE’s addition to the BLACKPINK solo canon. Well, again, it’s not close to another song of this title I much prefer - this time by Disclosure - but it’s still okay. Perhaps stuck in 2019 given the vocaloid sample that provides much of the backing melody alongside the charmingly dated synths, snap percussion and JENNIE doing a bit of a Selena Gomez impression, but that’s not my least favourite era of pop, and the shimmering slide into the pre-chorus is a smooth, inspired transition that… oh, my God, they did it again. This is just like when I heard ROSÉ’s “On the Ground” - it starts off as an above-serviceable pop song before dropping into chaotic, almost industrial synths that have no reason to be there but elevate the song to really interesting territory, especially given the screech of those synths, factorial percussion and glass smashing that transforms this chorus from sounding completely sincere to either being a falsehood - kind of implied by the lyrics about not wanting to fall in love - or just grimy and sexy, and given the rap bridge about not blocking his “shots” and promising that she’ll be his last love that just looks better on her, yeah, I’m guessing it’s the second, and the bass-heavy devolution into a swinging screech not dissimilar to a bad squeak really sells it. This is a pretty damn great song, definitely not what I was expecting and whilst it won’t last, I think at least I’ll keep listening to this one.

#37 - “Toxic” - Nines featuring Bad Boy Chiller Crew

Produced by ProdByDizzy, I Don’t Rap I Dress and Babycashy1

Those have got to be some of the worst producer names I’ve seen in recent times. Anyway, UK rapper Nines released his second album of the year with Crop Circle 3 - it reached #2 on the albums chart and we have two consecutive songs from it year. This one… well, it has the Bad Boy Chiller Crew on it for some reason. This does mean that they bring their style of blissful bassline production, with that wispy pitch-shifted vocal and twinkling keys shifting over the 2-step production. It’s a jumpy, bouncing beat with some cute sound effects and popping intricacies I can appreciate. The BBCC guys are just as they always are, but they fit the beat and ride it well, with their typical laddish delivery. Nines, however, still has a single flow and takes himself too seriously, so he is completely out of place despite carrying the hook! Every time the song gains momentum leading into the chorus, you get this sloppy rendition from Nines instead of any of the BBCC fun translating from the verses. That’s not to mention his droning, off-beat verse either. “I went jail and got bigger, like when Mario jumps on the flower”. Really? You make words sound good for a living, how is that what you come up with?

#35 - “I Do” - Nines featuring Tunde and Mugzz

Produced by Show N Prove, Jacob Manson and RJ Cherry

The amount of features on this album should be telling of what purpose Nines serves in UK rap. This is also much more typical Nines fare, with the whispery ad-libs, quick trap skitter, bad vocal mixing and dull deliveries from everyone involved, especially Mugzz who has nowhere near enough character to handle a basic chorus like that. To be fair to the producers, the wiry G-funk synths are pretty unique, and to be fair to Tunde, his flow is a bit better and more energetic than the others, but I’m picking at straws. There are no surprises to be heard here.

#27 - “Normal People Things” - Lovejoy

Produced by Psylla

Indie rock band Lovejoy are back with their newest single, and it’s probably their most concise, heavy claustrophobic jam yet. The song starts with the words “panic attack” and continues to sound just like you’d expect a British panic attack to sound like, with that tedious riff rinsing its anticipation over frustrated drumming, as Mr. Wilbur Soot delivers one of his least kept-together performances so far, with anxious lyrics, odd sampling and a lower-register moan that digs him well below the ground. The chorus propells the song further into anxiety, as despite the initially cathartic riff, Soot ends up gravelly whining the “hold your breath” mantra before a rapid screeching acceleration that brings us to the… kind of cringeworthy bridge. There’s one thing I don’t like about this song and it is the distracting nature of the lyrics, which is to be expected with Lovejoy but still doesn’t work nearly as well as it did in their EP from earlier this year, not because of a lack of subtlety but because there’s less to the song’s progression here. It’s difficult to swallow when it’s further contained in a two-minute single, but it’s still not far enough to make this song not click. It’s still good, still give it a chance, but I feel they have better stuff coming soon.

#6 - “Virginia Beach” - Drake

Produced by 40 and Harley Arsenault

Drake’s latest #1 album For All the Dogs is a bloated feature chock full of corny, misogynistic lyrics, depressively murky production and song ideas so frail they have to be confined to obsessive beat switches. It’s also my favourite Drake album. Outside of being comically pathetic and largely an embrace of that gross side of Drake he’s always at least tried to put up a guise for in the past, it’s also a damn good pop-rap album with unexpected turns, infectious hooks, smooth feature performances and hard beats as well as some genuinely touching lyrical moments, at least when he wants to bring them in. I won’t talk about the album at length here because this isn’t an album review show and we don’t know what else may be coming to chart in the coming weeks from it. So I’ll keep it pretty brief for these tracks, especially since they’re all good but not particular favourites off of the record. This is the opening track, generating much of its buzz from the fizzy Frank Ocean sample off of the filtered guitars and strings that coalesce into one melodious murk quickly snapped into place by a weirdly-mixed trap skitter and Drake’s loose, desperate complaining about this girl probably half his age who he, for whatever reason, is not with anymore. He’s off the lean and refusing to treat her better, despite the fact that she already has a boyfriend at the point she’s seeing Drake. He’s a complete douchebag in full nasal whining mode until the second verse which actually does a pretty cool switch-up by filtering the Frank sample further and introducing a looming synth as Drake continues to rap some of his corniest relationship bars yet. It’s “on sight like WWW, on site like dot com”? Sure, Aubrey.

#5 - “IDGAF” - Drake featuring Yeat

Produced by BNYX and Sebastian Shah

This is barely a Drake song. Most accurately, this is a Yeat song with a lengthy intro using warping progressive electronics wired behind a sample of trinkling pianos, beautiful sax and mystifying vocals provided by jazz band Azimuth, that has little purpose other than to be subverted as soon as Yeat comes in talking about having sex over a completely alien rage beat. Yeat’s vocals are modified beyond coherency at some points, he’s showered in ad-libs, and most importantly, he’s not Drake, who delivers a completely serviceable, one-take verse that quickly gets overshadowed by Yeat… kind of going off, in a uniquely Young Thug way, where you’re not impressed by any lyrics or flows but you are impressed by just the continued violent refusal to stop rapping. Nothing is said of any interest - of course not - but it goes hard enough, it has that extraterrestrial tone to it, and the completely incoherency of Yeat is actually quite a fascinating refresher from the track that precedes it, that being…

#4 - “First Person Shooter” - Drake featuring J. Cole

Produced by Coleman, Vinylz, Tay Keith, Boi-1da, FNZ and OZ

The two heavy-weights team up for the first time in over 10 years and of course, Cole runs away with the fantastic feature verse you always expect, rarely actually get but is never a surprise to hear. I’m far from a J. Cole fan but the man can rap, and rap he will, especially when he has something to prove, rapping about how he, Drake and Kendrick are the undisputed GOATs of their respective generation. Cole doesn’t even wait for the beat to come in, delivering some deadpan wordplay over the soul sample from Joe Washington as soon as the song starts. Drake then gives a respectful warm-up, essentially acting as Cole’s hypeman, though with an odd focus on child-related wordplay, and then over the explosive trap beat, Cole just chugs on in what feels both endless and effortless, making good use of silent moments to switch between flows, delivering punchlines honestly not that far away from Drake’s and with the increased energy the beat deserves. Of course, we then got what is now a typical Drake beat switch into an even harder Memphis rattle, as if Drake knew he got bodied and added an extra verse from himself so he’s not completely embarrassed. He holds his own pretty well though, with one of his more technically proficient and aggressive verses on the whole album, as well as stepping up his punchlines and flexes a bit thanks to Cole’s presence. It’s a rapid fire rappity-rap track so I have no expectations of it actually staying, but it is still a killer track.

Conclusion

With all that said, JENNIE gets Best of the Week for “You & Me”. Yeah, it’s not what I expected but it’s a fantastic track that really digs at what I like about K-pop whilst also just being a brilliantly constructed love song. And despite me loving that Drake album, not even “First Person Shooter” can get the Honourable Mention. Nope, that’s going to Paul Russell for “Lil Boo Thang”. Seriously. As for the worst, I mean this was a pretty good week - not even the Nines songs were that bad - so Digga D gets it handedly for “TLC” but Joel Corry grabs the Dishonourable Mention for “Hey DJ” mostly on just being lazy. Next time, we’ll see if any of this actually sticks the landing for a second. I have doubts about nearly all of it doing so but for now, thank you for reading, rest in peace to Rudolph Isley, and I’ll see you next week!

#pop music #song review #uk singles chart #drake #for all the dogs #yeat #j cole #lovejoy #nines #crop circle 3 #tunde #mugzz #bad boy chiller crew #blackpink jennie #tems #joel corry #digga d #paul russell

4 notes · View notes

cyrzzxd · 3 months ago

Text

Double Dribble!

DOUBLE DRIBBLE BLOG

3X3 Basketball League 2024

The current 3X3 basketball format originated in the urban areas of the United States of America. It is a condensed for of the popular traditional full-court basketball. Its popularity propelled it into a professional sports with official rules and it is even sanctioned by the international basketball federation or FIBA.

How 3x3 basketball is different from traditional basketball?

As a condensed form of the full court basketball, the 3X3 shares a lot with the original format. The basics of ball handling and violation rules are the same. However, unlike the 5x5 game which is played on a full (28 meters x 15 meters) basketball court with two rings on both ends, the 3x3 game is played in a half court measuring 11 meters in length and 15 meters in width. It is also played with just one hoop at one end and the end line on another.

In 3x3 basketball, only one substitute is allowed on the bench. Also the ball in 3x3 is slightly smaller than the regulation ball in 5X5. Though both are 620 grams in weight, 3x3 ball is 72.39 centimeters in diameter compared to a size 7 ball of 5x5 with 73.93 centimeters in diameter. Th smaller ball allows better ball handling for the faster pace of a 3x3 game.

3x3 basketball in the Philippines!

The 3x3 basketball game popularity have reached our country. Since basketball is the most popular sports here, it is expected that this 3x3 format will also appeal basketball aficionado from appari to jolo! Both sanctioned and non-sanctioned are now being played from the dirt court of far flung towns to the modern arena of the metropolis.

And I am joining the craze!

Recently, I joined a 3x3 Basketball League sponsored by ARIZ Motor parts and UNCUT apparel.

The tournament follows the six (6) team round-robin format. The two (2) bottom teams in the team standing will be eliminated. In case of a tie, the quotient system will apply. The first two (2) teams with the most win will have a twice to beat advantage.

The semi-finals will follow a best of 3 games format.

Semi-finals Format Best of Three Games

1st in standing vs 4th in standing

2nd in standing vs 3rd in standing

And after the semi-final the finals will be played in a best of 3 games format between the top two teams emerging from the semifinals!

The six teams playing for the trophy are:

MAKAVELI (Team Green) MABALACAT CITY BALLERS (Team Blue) BLACK WARRIORS (Team Black) ONE VULCANAZING (Team Brown) TEAM BURGIS (Team Violet) NYAMAN MABIE (Team Red)

The games are scheduled every Sunday afternoon and played at the Green Meadows Subdivision Phase 1 basketball court.

I am part of the BLACK WARRIORS and I wear the number 5 Jersey in our team. So far I have made two points for our team!

The elimination games have already been played and our team made it to the semi-finals with a record of 4 wins and 1 loss. We lost only to TEAM BURGIS who topped the eliminations with a 5 wins, no loss record.

The top four teams remaining the semi-finals are 1st place TEAM BURGIS playing against 4th place MABALACAT CITY BALLERS and 2nd place BLACK WARRIORS playing against 3rd place ONE VULCANIZING.

Sadly, MAKAVELI and NYAMAN MABIE are already eliminated and will be watching on the sideline.

The semi-finals games starts this Sunday, August 11! And BLACK WARRIOR is all set to win the best of three! And I am thrilled to be in the semi-finals! Go BLACK WARRIORS!!!

Watch out for my next blog for updates of the semi-finals!

Double Dribble!!!

1 note · View note

punkscowardschampions · 1 year ago

Text

Java Pt.3

James: Please

Ava: There is no alternative, this lesson, this day, this school

Ava: all of it is out the window for now

James: I don’t dare to speculate on what, if anything, wouldn’t fade into utter insignificance in comparison

Ava: A dangerous game sounds about right

James: But order me to focus and I will

Ava: I do care, however hilariously and unbelievably hypocritical that sounds given

Ava: I don’t plan to distract you permanently, sadly

James: That is sad

Ava: But tell me I can and I will never leave you alone

James: I plan to keep telling you

Ava: Talking to you is one of my new favourite things to do

James: I’m glad to hear your present will be well received

Ava: I feel thoroughly spoiled, I think I’ll swing by when you have to go back to work, thwart the neighbours

James: I’d appreciate that, I can’t vouch for them needing to be indulged as wholly as you deserve

Ava: As long as we’ve lived here, I should know more about them than what time they usually put their bins out and their takeaway habits, but I do not

Ava: That’s [ze postcode], right?

James: What were your career aspirations when you moved in? I’ll have to stop picturing you reporting on said neighbours throughout childhood in light of those revelations

Ava: 🤭

Ava: I am sorry to have let you down though, I had too many flights of fancy to stick to any one career

Ava: What about you, were you always a budding author?

James: I’ve definitely let you down myself because I was determined to play rugby for years

Ava: What position did you favour?

James: [idk about that AT ALL sis but tell her because you 1000% played until you left school]

Ava: I am thankful your face has seen no permanent damage, that would also be very sad

Ava: You didn’t want to join the Uni team?

James: The adult compliments spurring me on to childhood glory had long since dried up

Ava: Ah, I see

James: And it would be unfair to pledge my time to something else knowing how many obligations are shoehorned into my days and nights as is

Ava: Totally

Ava: not to mention there really is a whole culture around it as a Uni commitment, a culture that’s not exactly suited to who you are now, in most ways

James: Yes, I was avoiding mentioning that facet for obvious reasons

Ava: Nance’s last, God, at least three boyfriends have ALL been the cliche rugby boys

Ava: I really can’t imagine you having to socialise with any of them sober, if they ever are

James: It isn’t who I am anymore

Ava: Yes, I know

Ava: it’s their loss, my gain

James: Mine too, you’re a much better conversationalist than anyone I’ve ever met on a pitch

Ava: I will happily take that compliment

James: I take pleasure in giving them to you

Ava: I’m quite fond of returning the favour

James: I’d be enamoured by you even if you did so infrequently

Ava: I can tell you’re only used to one very specific type of compliment, yes

James: I haven’t always been famed for my conversational skill either

Ava: I get it, too

Ava: Skin deep is easier, that’s as far as some people want to take things

James: And it is true that sobriety makes opening up notoriously challenging, but as far as I was concerned, the alternative wasn’t straightforward, be it the setting, the substance, or my urge to combine both adversely, behind the added complications

Ava: If being inebriated started to feel like you couldn’t ever close the book, that’s a much worse feeling and predicament, I think that’s a given, should be

James: It should be, and yet

Ava: No need to expand, people don’t like the potential of having to examine their own relationship to any given substance, heaven forbid

James: By no means exclusive to this postcode, lest I forget, because the persistence of my social circles to remain ignorant and claim it bliss is especially emphatic

Ava: It is almost certainly an epidemic

James: I’ll look out for your first piece about it

Ava: Really have my parents despairing over my choice in course

James: I’m no stranger to parental anguish should you require a shoulder to cry on

Ava: Thanks, appreciate it

Ava: My sister COULD get herself together in those two years and stop being the primary/only concern but it’s looking unlikely

James: It would be extraordinarily hypocritical of me to pass comment on your sister

Ava: It’s cool, it must be weird, it is

Ava: that you’re Teddy’s brother

James: Yes

Ava: Not that weird though, unavoidable, really

James: It may be jarring to see you in your school uniform as well, it doesn’t mean I’d prefer to stay away from you during those hours

Ava: I’ll have to see if I can fit a change of clothes into my bag perhaps

James: I’m asking you to make bigger allowances for me

Ava: If I wanted easier, I could find it but I don’t

James: Ditto

Ava: I’m glad it’s you

James: I can’t wait to see you

Ava: If you want to take my clothes off really quickly, to avoid the conflicted feelings, I understand that too

James: I’m in no conflict about why I’d want that

Ava: I can’t wait either

James: Thank you for keeping me company, it’s lonely here

Ava: You must be decades younger than nearly everyone who works there

Ava: What’s it like?

James: I expected the beginning to be daunting, no-one informed me however that the feeling wouldn’t abate and I’d be increasingly out of my depth

Ava: Nepotism doesn’t also come with you gaining your father’s years of experience through osmosis or something

Ava: A better job is nice and all but I don’t know how you’d not feel that, because it’s true, how are you meant to catch up with a snap of his fingers?

James: I can’t ascertain whether or not the gauntlet he’s designed for me to run is supposed to be an exercise in humiliation, acting as an elaborate I told you so, or if he honestly believes every demoralising task will serve to break and rebuild me, and thus is an I told you so, in that, totally contradictory sense

Ava: I’m sure he thinks it will all serve you well, in the long run

Ava: If the ends justify the means will remain hotly debated

James: He’d proclaim the ends always justify the means, shunning any sort of debate

James: [compare him to an author how y’all have before, but in a v shady way lol]

Ava: I know a lot of people that sound just like him

Ava: Nothing is black and white though, as anyone who plans to make their money in print will let you know

James: Except the tasteful decor of this office, naturally

James: fantasy notwithstanding, I can’t imagine you here

Ava: I won’t insist, if for the myriad of perfectly valid reasons, you don’t ever want me there

James: Demand I’m where you are, I’d rather be

Ava: Would if I could

Ava: Your presence in [whatever class you’re in] would cause quite the stir, I selfishly want to keep that excitement for myself

James: It often did, but I’d sooner uphold my earlier statement about not existing before you and I found each other

Ava: Happily

Ava: it feels true, like my parents should be able to tell how different everything is since they left

James: I’m equally, selfishly, thrilled that secret is being kept for the moment

Ava: You don’t need to worry, my poker face is as strong as my feelings, they won’t have a clue, no one will

James: I’ve yet to witness your poker face, it’s mysteriously absent when you’re with me

Ava: I feel that subtle shade, boy

Ava: I’ll have to show you how ice cool I can be now

James: It isn’t an insult, far from it

James: coincidentally, like the way you’re going to be far from cold

Ava: You wanted me to expose myself, that’s what I want too, with you

James: No masks, it would be a real affront to your appearance

Ava: I want you to look at me more than I’ve ever wanted anyone else to

James: The flashbacks of every second I’ve been able to are the single reason I’m managing to get through the instances where it isn’t possible

Ava: You start to feel like a dream, a very beautiful one but a mirage nonetheless

James: Typically I’d say perhaps I am, because my life has been an imitation, but now you make me feel too undeniably substantial for that to be something I’d accept as true

Ava: You’re very real and very alive, I can attest heartily to both

Ava: My heart just demands I be dramatic about our forced separation, clearly

James: I’m happy to be alive, in any case

Ava: I’m glad you are too, and at the same time and place as I am

James: I’ll admit, it’s surreal everything has come together this perfectly

Ava: I feel so lucky

James: We are

Ava: And as no one knows, we can’t even be accused of being insufferable about it

James: You’re aware of my stance with regards to suffering you, Ava

Ava: I am 🥰

Ava: I’ve reread so many of the things you’ve written or said

James: I’ve rewritten and rewritten, I don’t know if I’ll ever do justice to all you are in print

Ava: Your attempts are worth much more than a thousand words themselves

James: Tell me what time it is, please

Ava: [do, and thus how long you have, which is hopefully not long by this point]

Ava: I’ve not been shirking my responsibilities

James: Reread what a good girl you are

Ava: God, I love it when you call me that

James: I love how much your behaviour warrants it being said

Ava: You’re very easy to behave for, you might call it a privilege to

James: Mine to have you, yes, I would

Ava: No, mine

James: I’ll willingly fight with you whenever this is what they consist of

Ava: I can’t promise an entirely convincing performance if I have to pretend I don’t enjoy letting you win

James: No performances, we agreed

Ava: Right, and I can’t fake anything here, there’s no room for it

James: I’d find some room to dutifully sit or stand at the back if you’re doing a play or concert at school, but that’s the sole exception

Ava: Really

James: I care to support both you and the arts

Ava: You are so

Ava: I couldn’t possibly subject you to it but the fact you would

James: I insist you subject me to it

Ava: James

James: There are things I’d like to get to know about you which happen outside the confines of your bedroom, or lunch breaks spent in cars

Ava: You can get to know me any way you want, I would like that very much

James: Good

James: so you’ll audition for the end of summer term play?

Ava: Yes, I will

James: Has it been announced?

Ava: Not yet

Ava: Probably after half term, here’s hoping it’s not something terribly dreary

James: I’d almost forgotten half term

Ava: You’ll be busy in a different way then, occupying a toddler must be a task and a half

James: I’m worried I’m raising a hater of the arts, she loathes her ballet lessons

Ava: Oh no

Ava: there are a lot of other classes and clubs for her to cycle through, there will be something that suits

James: She’s fond of football, I haven’t the slightest idea where the passion has come from, thankfully I wasn’t eager to show my face on the rugby pitch or I’d have saving of it to do with the entire team

Ava: That’s cute, and plenty of people would argue that football is art, so there’s still hope

James: Or you’re my last hope, which is fitting

Ava: Making me blush again

James: You need a spotlight on you, truly

Ava: I hope I get a part now

James: I’ll have to buy the film rights to my own book otherwise

Ava: I don’t want anyone but you to be you though

James: Nepotism coming to my rescue once more, because I absolutely wouldn’t be given the part without it

Ava: No one could do you justice, pale imitation springs to mind

James: I’ll be wearing an imitation blush if you don’t cease your flattery of me

Ava: I’m sorry, I simply feel very passionate about how uniquely wonderful you are

James: Oh Ava

Ava: [updated countdown moment]

James: You intoxicate me, I shouldn’t be working

Ava: I wish I could write you a sick note, with words more or less to that effect

James: I wish you would, I’d love to read it

Ava: Okay, hang on

Ava: [write him up a needlessly detailed sick note listing all the reasons he can’t possibly work in the sauciest manner obvs]

James: I’m inspired to call in sick, despite having no symptoms left to cite because I’ll be keeping all of those to myself

Ava: A sudden fever is a possibility

James: You’d tend to me, wouldn’t you?

Ava: Dutifully

James: Your capable hands are the best place for me

Ava: I am determined to do everything in my power to make you feel yourself again

James: No less than everything will do

Ava: Is that right?

James: Absolutely, I think what I’m afflicted by may be incurable

Ava: This won’t stop me from trying, everything, just as you said

James: You’re very driven, I know

Ava: Yes, and I can’t lose you

James: I’d fight to stay with you

Ava: I know it, you can be steadfast yourself when pursuing what you want, at least in my experience

James: And you’re all I want

Ava: I’m yours, whether we’re fortunate enough to be together or being kept apart, always

James: It will hold me together

James: it is

Ava: Because I need you

James: I’ve never had something this reciprocal, everything you need from me I need from you

Ava: I haven’t either

Ava: Your appetite matches mine, exactly

James: More shared tastes than we’ve had a chance to even realise yet

Ava: But we’re going to discover everything

James: We must

Ava: This no longer feels in any way optional

Ava: the disservice to myself and to you by us not being together is unthinkable right now

James: I’m not sure it ever was

Ava: I’m giving my poker face a little too much credit there, true

James: I’m recalling how immediately drawn to you I was

Ava: You kissed me

James: The impulse was too strong to suppress

Ava: How immediate never wanting you to stop was didn’t even shock me somehow

Ava: it felt too right

James: It didn’t occur to me that perhaps I shouldn’t return to your house

Ava: It was reckless of us, I think we can admit that now

James: I was overcome by the longing to

Ava: I know I would have said anything to bring you back, near enough did

Ava: Reckless doesn’t equate to regret, far from it

James: No, I’d be as indiscrete again under the same set of circumstances

Ava: We had to both risk what we did

Ava: to get here, to have this

James: Not doing it would have posed a bigger danger to me

Ava: Saying it wasn’t an option makes me sound a little dangerous myself

Ava: but you would have had to give me a much clearer no, and I could tell you needed it too

James: I shouldn’t say I don’t and haven’t needed a drink, because it’s pressure and manipulation, but it’s still a fact in addition to being both of those things

Ava: I’m proud of you, if that’s an appropriate thing to say? I’m not well-versed but you should be proud of yourself, if it isn’t

James: My lines are blurred, but appropriate or not, it’s appreciated

Ava: I know how much you wanted to, when you came over

James: I was going to, but at the last minute I had the car turn around

Ava: I’m really glad you did

James: It wouldn’t be right to tell you why, I am mindful of that much, the existence of that line

Ava: You don’t have to

James: If we discuss it I’ll have to do something about it and I don’t know what there is to be done

Ava: If you knew what to do, drinking wouldn’t be the go-to solution, so, that makes sense

Ava: Even if it takes time, I don’t doubt you’ll work it out

James: I suppose it’s become dreamlike too, how bad things are

Ava: I’m sorry, James

James: But that doesn’t protect me, not really

Ava: Things can’t and don’t stay one way forever

Ava: it will change, I can guarantee that

James: So can I

Ava: Being at the point that’s comforting, not frightening is a good sign

James: Nevertheless, our countdown is the better one

Ava: [update]

Ava: You can kiss me again

James: Perhaps your watch will stop

Ava: Less dramatic than my heart, which feels more plausible at this point

James: Actresses are allowed to be dramatic

Ava: Will I be allowed to sit in your lap instead of my own seat?

James: I’ll protect you if the driver opts to make his own reckless decisions

Ava: I know it, you’re too capable it’s horrifically attractive

James: You’re too dear to me to be risked

Ava: You do make me want to be a little reckless but

James: You have some freedom to, I’m sincere about keeping you safe from harm and the source wasn’t specified

Ava: I don’t think the driver would be that offended

Ava: I just can’t wait

James: I’m leaving in [however long]

Ava: Then you’ll be all mine

Ava: Until what time?

James: [tell her, I assume it’s an hour, maybe an hour and a half because you’re posh and your dad’s the boss]

Ava: Best to set an alarm, I won’t be counting those seconds

James: I’ll set you as my alarm sound telling me you’re proud of me again

Ava: I don’t even want to point out that that isn’t going to make you want to leave

James: It would be impossible to encourage that

Ava: You can only have a goodbye kiss if you leave, the most encouragement I have when I don’t want you to

James: Oh, I think that could work, perhaps

James: now I’m proud of you

Ava: That does feel good

James: Hence my suggestion, you will be of me for going back

Ava: Very, it’s going to be so hard

James: Torturous

Ava: You’re going to have to encourage me to focus on my work or I don’t think I’ll be able to think of anything but you ever again

James: I’m looking forward to helping you with your homework, I’m being hyperbolic here, hopefully, but I swear I can’t recall handing a single piece of my own in

Ava: You’re planning to redeem your bad boy image via my own academic record, are you

James: In conjunction with helping you run lines until you’re off script, obviously

Ava: You would be an incredible teacher

James: I’d homeschool my daughter if not for the giant spanner that would throw into being available to drive around London with you

Ava: Socialising is important, is what I will say to avoid feeling any sort of guilt about commandeering your tutelage

James: She’d counter that I should’ve got her a puppy for her birthday like she demanded, I don’t doubt

Ava: I only just got one for mine, she has some years to wait

James: I’m waiting for a garden, personally, we’re lacking in any grass at all

Ava: It’s a lot if you’re the only one that will be looking after it

James: Unfortunately I have many years before she comprehends my reasoning, for the foreseeable future, I’m just being mean

Ava: A thankless task, I have heard

James: You’ll be grateful for my efforts, at least

Ava: And I happen to know you’re very nice, I won’t hesitate to remind you

James: I’ll try to resist setting you a ridiculous amount of extra reading assignments

Ava: Don’t

James: Okay, I’ll compromise by reading half of them to you

Ava: I would love that so much

James: I’m going to enjoy it too

James: [write her a little scene setting of that adorable one cos we know y’all would be so snuggled and cute while that’s occurring IRL and then there’s the reading it to her from a distance and making coffee for her as though she’s there etc from the OG and both are valid and thus being included, not soz]

Ava: Fuck

Ava: I want that every day of my life

James: A chapter every night without fail, it doesn’t matter how busy either of us are or where we’re spending said evening, I promise that as a minimum

Ava: Storytime over everything, it’s so important

James: I’ll start recording one for you straightaway, once I’ve finished it’ll be time to go

Ava: I shouldn’t have even doubted you’d have a book ready, I know exactly how prepared you are

James: I’m similarly convinced of your readiness for me, always

Ava: You know me inside out

James: Yes

James: [but shh and go read aloud sir so you can actually record another slay book rec for her]

Ava: [send him a photo of you impatiently waiting because dying about it]

James: [sending her a pic back of his broken watch dial but it’s when he’s clearly in the car on the way to her school so it’s an omw]

Ava: I cannot wait to run to you

James: [tell her where to meet you cos it was your school too so you know where it makes sense to pull up nearby so you’re not getting every kid there gawking at you]

Ava: I will be waiting there, however impatient you know it is

James: I’ll be there as soon as I can, however out of my control traffic is

Ava: I won’t leave class until [a point in his journey that makes sense]

James: Because you’re a good girl

Ava: I have never behaved so well, you are entirely to credit because I want your praise so desperately

James: I’m as stubborn when it comes to my resolve to give you everything you want

Ava: And that’s why I have to ensure I deserve it, I can’t let you reward me unduly, it wouldn’t be right

James: I’m so relieved at this opportunity to reward you relentlessly

Ava: No one wants to be the bad guy, I couldn’t do that to either of us

James: It’s the role our driver was born to play

Ava: I trust him to be off book yet word perfect

Ava: I’ll only resent him a perfectly normal amount for stopping us, I promise 🙃

James: I have established trust in your conduct, no matter his, or indeed my own

Ava: I approve wholeheartedly of yours

James: Thank you

Ava: Thank you more, for everything you are

James: [me like however impractical it is because london traffic would cockblock y’all harder than this, I gotta have him turn up because he’ll say something too extra rn otherwise, soz but it’s the ily curse]

Ava: [run towards this car like you said you would because you’ve both made sure that you’re not being perceived as much as you can so you gotta]

James: [excuse us to this driver because he has every intention of letting this man take them somewhere he can leave them to be feral in the car and have the actual lunch break java aren’t but we all know James isn’t gonna have chill until they get to that destination, however near or far, thank god for the privacy partition honestly because yeah, he’ll immediately be taking off the blazer I imagine her wearing because picturing get even uniform vibes not even because of said uniform and any potential ick but purely because he’s gotta run his hands over her body as if he hasn’t touched her in a million years as he helps her into this car (and into a makeout sesh) and it’s in the way]

Ava: [I’m sure you have a blazer, is typically the vibe these days and it isn’t necessarily hot enough you’d be without it, help him take it off purely to put your hands over his because you need to SQUEEZE his hands right now because no amount of words could begin to convey how !! you are here today]

James: [obvs he’s gotta direct her hands to where his missing shirt button is that he’s been rocking all day in the office like a scruff alongside his broken watch lol because he’s likewise !! and what better way to express that than by poking her finger through said button hole to feel how his skin has been not at all casually peeping there, while also switching up his kisses so they’re on her neck and the lovebite he did where his shirt collar fell when she was wearing it because all the reminders are necessary]

Ava: [we love everything about this missing button moment, thinking about how it could have happened, picturing him in his office how he looks now, the tiniest exposed skin being somehow even hotter than anything more blatant, making a small noise about it all, burying your own face into his hair, not at all casually smelling his shampoo, nuzzling your face into him, as if it might be an attempt to keep quiet but you just want to as much as all that, not soz driver]

James: [catch this boy whispering in her ear about how earlier when they were being extra and he wasn’t touching himself in his office he was touching this shirt in all the ways to feel even closer to her, much like how she did when she was wearing it, encouraging her to again now ofc, but he can’t just be talking, oh no he’s gotta do the absolute most while he’s there so shamelessly all up on her ear, treating her earring like a nip with how he’s running his tongue over it etc, which is all the more ridiculously !! because she was at school so it isn’t a statement piece like the bday necklace was, it’s probably such a chill stud or something that he’s doing all these antics to]

Ava: [mirroring the things he is telling you unconsciously here, so sincerely replicating as if this is all brand new and just what you want to do because how he describes it makes you feel it, very gently and slowly undoing some of these other buttons, like you can’t possibly risk another coming off, guiding his hand to your thigh and his name because have to remind yourself that happened as much as you want to him, because obviously one of the many things you were doing whilst also trying not to touch yourself at that time]

James: [we do love some unconscious mirroring hence I can fully imagine him either untucking her shirt if she’s wearing it baggy to be tucked in or if it’s more fitted and thus not just going under it and thoroughly running his hands over her body the way he did when she was getting in but with her bare skin this time and as gently and slowly as she was undoing those other buttons, until his hand is guided to her thigh and then he’s GRIPPING said thigh almost hard enough to leave finger bruises next to his name because can’t forget that happened and we’re not over it, doing a GASP as he stops kissing her for a sec so he can properly STARE down at it]

Ava: [leaving his shirt on, just undone, because as blatant as you are being, you’re not trying to make this boy get fully naked in this car, you just had to, thus you’re touching his body too, like it has been a thousand years always, LOOKING up at him when he’s looking at his name because you have to read his face and know how he feels about it really because first showed him over messages]

James: [the lack of chill being displayed here but y’all managing to be subtly feral is too real, the driver is welcome that you’re not ruster levels of extra or tancy levels of rude and not giving a fuck, case in point though, he is still being very !! because we all know that while maintaining that EYE CONTACT his hand is going further with touching her thigh, first to feel how turned on she is rn and we all know she has been this entire time and convo, and then to fully take her underwear off because as an unspoken I need to keep these more than you to get through the rest of my day and everything she said about how much she loves to share, the LOOK this is being communicated via as he puts her underwear into his trouser pocket BYE]

Ava: [we’re being very reserved in comparison to how we want to be behaving because you’re so right, at the point of turned on where you feel beyond it because you have been all day and not been able to do anything about it, hence your bottom lip is literally trembling because you’re shaking about this thigh grab before he’s even got your underwear off, at which point you will be actually dying, crawling into his lap with the urgency of needing to like you’re gonna hit the deck if you don’t cling onto him the way you blatantly are]

James: [the girls are really holding back rn sir and that’s entirely for your benefit mr driver man, you don’t even know how lucky you are, he could be being so much more dramatic than the way he’s rubbing his cheek against her bottom lip like he simply can’t bear to look at it without being able to do more about it, or the way he’s BITING his own to shh himself when she’s crawling into his lap because he was visualising it for ages when he was at his desk and now she really is there and he’s dying about it, going from his lip to BITING the collar of her shirt once she’s there because need all that fabric to muffle the noise he does]

Ava: [like, are we still making out with the sauciest of energies back here? Absolutely, but you mind your business with any judgment when we wanna be being SO feral right about now; kissing his cheek with such fervour when it is against our lips, covering his whole face in this flurry of kisses that you can’t hold back ‘I missed you so, so much’ blurted out as unavoidably, your voice sounding almost hoarse from the restraint that all this has taken]

James: [‘I’m going to miss you’ meaning when he goes back to work but also we know after that because you can’t come home to her and you’ve also been reminded half term looms which you’ll be busy af during, hence kissing her like his life depends on it for a minute for the more he hasn’t said before he issues this driver with instructions of where to piss off basically which is blatantly somewhere closer than he originally told him because cannot wait that long soz you gotta go take a lunchbreak ASAP hun, his voice having such a similar energy, that’s a given]

Ava: [the verbal equivalent of 🥺 because obviously that’s the craic but you can’t think about it so you have to really make sure you both get lost in a makeout once this driver knows where y’all are going]

James: [hopefully where you’ve decided to send him is close by because this makeout is going to be getting more and more !! with every second, doing the most with it because it’s all you’re letting yourself do rn, including all the cliches like unhooking her bra and touching her up while her shirt stays on and taking her hair down from whatever updo she was rocking for this school day purely by how dramatically they are making out and his hands are in it]

Ava: [it’s gonna have to be because there’s no getting ‘round the lack of underwear we have on now, you’re both thinking about it in the most obsessive way and there’s only so long you can ignore this, hence you are moving in a way that really doesn’t allow him to, not fully]

James: [mhmm, it’s giving when they had that hookup against the door before he left that was essentially a dry hump but so much more than that rn, it’d be a hookup if not for the clothes he’s wearing, this driver has gotta bail for everybody’s sake because the second he does there will be no stopping them, he’s already ramping it up atm by touching her indecently under that skirt, first his name again, but then he’s going from again travelling up her thigh for another how turned on check to just shamelessly going for it and testing the poker face she mentioned]

Ava: [leave get out, driver, we need to hook up, you really shouldn’t have said about that poker face because you’re in no condition to show you weren’t bullshitting right now, doing such a grumpy face at him like BUT HOW DARE YOU]

James: [we’ve gotta be mean and say that she’s here having an orgasm before this driver leaves just because of how loud she’d wanna be and cannot and how much they’ll both be !! about this, so he’ll be here doing the most to make that happen like it’s his job unlike the 9-5 he’s done nothing for today haha, including giving her such a daddy LOOK about her grumping and shhing her in the hottest way as if she’s said something too in protest, vocally and with his finger on that pouty lip, 1000% a finger that has been inside of her because obvs]

Ava: [OBVIOUSLY, because you’re being SO well behaved, you can only tease sucking on his finger by licking up the length of it and kissing the tip as you LOOK back at him, leaning in like you’re going to kiss him again but you are getting up in his ear because if all you can do is heavy breathe through this then he has to hear it, even if this driver mustn’t]

James: [we love this for you, this driver is fully able to go about his business unbothered despite how dramatic y’all feel and are subtly acting, some characters could and would never, he will be kissing her again but only the most indecent cheek kisses of all time OFC, no notes, but then we’ll be nice and finally let y’all be alone and actually hook up in this car because you’ve earned it huns]

Ava: [the way you are gonna be ripping this boy’s clothes off the second you are alone is so feral, thank god you already unbuttoned his shirt because you don’t need to be wrecking all his clothes and it is entirely necessary to hook up the moment you can]

James: [so titanic coded of y’all again, immediately steam this car up because frantic is the word, I guarantee he has never located or put a condom on quicker in his life, speaking of, I would like everybody to know that because they used them all up he has replaced them with even fancier ones because they are the first he has bought specifically with her in mind and therefore they’ve gotta be the best in terms of giving her pleasure and feeling like he isn’t wearing one as possible, just an unspoken but very important gesture for how unlike other hookups from his POV this is and you’ll both feel the difference ASAP so I’m sure that combined with how restrained you’ve had to be up to now will mean this is the first official java feral quickie]

Ava: [my boo says I have an announcement and she is so real and right for that, such a small, adorable detail and that is exactly the sort of bear he is and that’s why we love him, me here like y’all are not gonna need a minute never mind an hour lmao, hence we have got to laugh when we’ve got enough recovery in us to be able to because the way we died SO hard and SO fast there is so real it’s like oh okay]

James: [me like oh but they will doing my own evil laugh because the sort of bear he is, once he’s joined in with her laugh and has taken a minute look around this car in disbelief at the carnage of their clothes strewn everywhere and how steamed up and titanic-esque it do be he’s gonna see her underwear hanging a lil way out of his pocket because of the way his clothes were pulled off and he brought his wallet out at the speed of light and that iconic visual is gonna make him turned on again and ready for round 2, so this time, wanting to take his time compared to that !! feralness, not instigating the 2nd hookup yet but lying her across the length of this seat (we all know he requested a boujee and bigger car for this precise reason unlike Teddy who uses cars like that always for the flex and because money is irrelevant) and really appreciating her nakedness in the way he couldn’t before, once again memorising every detail and kissing all over her body rn, no doubt also slowly and lovingly taking off an item or items of clothing he missed taking off her when they were going at it]

Ava: [ah the memories of the chaise and the bar just FLOODING back right now, hence we’re here with our hands ALL up in his hair, thank god a boy’s hair is an easier fix than a girl’s because it is getting messed up right now, doing the shakiest sigh ‘so, how has your morning been?’ like lol because have barely said a word in this car and y’all aren’t planning to say much, we all know it]

James: [mhmm, he is 100% this bitch always, it cannot be overstated how he’d now be spending what felt like 50 years to just softly kiss her on every piece of exposed skin her body has to offer him, stopping to look up at her to smile so genuinely though because she’s adorable for asking it and caring and also this has been one of his better mornings for all the reasons and they both know that ‘productive in the manner I wish all of them could be’ because he didn’t get any work done but he got to stay in touch with her]

Ava: [nodding and smiling back because hard same ‘what I don’t know by now, it’s too late to find out’ because you’re doing your exams at this point, your actual lessons are basically over and you’ll just be studying and coming in for exams as and when, just putting it out there how lowkey available you can be whenever he can]

James: [it’s true tea and in that sense we’ve timed this java reboot really well and y’all are welcome, pushing her hair out of her face how he do like he’s gotta see this smile even better but he’s here holding her face after so we see you sir ‘you haven’t had me to help you with your revision’ said like now he is he’d teach her everything she doesn’t know but it’s a flirty way not an actual thinking he could way, we all know he doesn’t have that ego]

Ava: [smiling at him even harder before you’re nuzzling your face into his hand and just gazing at him adoringly nbd ‘you did promise’ like I have not stopped thinking about all the things you said you want to be involved in, don’t you worry]

James: [a nod with heart eyes before he’s manoeuvring himself from where I imagine he was literally on the floor of this car basically in order to dramatically gaze at her lying on these seats when he wasn’t leaning to kiss her everywhere and be extra, to be with her, closer, lying with and more or less on top of her, thinking of a revision question and asking her it like a big nerd because we all know he’s gonna kiss her if she gets it right]

Ava: [lucky you’re clever because what an embarrassing cockblock if you kept getting them wrong lol, you won’t, we know it, it’s okay, just having such a marvellous time being horny lil nerds; tracing his lips almost as if you’re tracing where yours just were on them ‘how am I going to help you though, can’t exactly get an internship’ tapping now like you’re pondering because you’d love to be able to make his work less shit for real but you know you probably cannot]

James: [my boo says awkward if you flopped haha, but thankfully that’s not happening, far from it ‘That’s a trick question’ said like those aren’t allowed but he’s looking at her like omg girl you’ve already helped me more than I can ever express because true, so true in fact he’s blushing a lil about it but we can pretend he’s just flushed because of the makeout and the fact he’s gonna keep asking her questions that she’s gonna keep getting right for a sec until he can’t help but give her so many compliments about how intelligent she is so poetically, in her ear whispered again even though the driver is gone and they are alone now because need to go back over the lovebite on her neck and make it bigger and more seen when she’s wearing her school shirt instead of his, half term does clearly loom but we’re intent of making the most of however many school days she has left to show that off]

Ava: [saying ‘more’ without even meaning to say anything at all, hence you’re blushing now too but you’re not stopping him nor is it stopping you from pushing the same spot on his neck because you’re not allowed to but you certainly are THINKING about it]

James: [when she says that and it’s clearly involuntarily as is her blush, both of which we love to see and hear, this boy moving as involuntarily about it and that meaning by pure chance and positioning that his 🍆 brushes against her thigh where his name is written, doing a lil moan when he realises, but it spurs him on to a new fun game of being even more restrained than earlier because then he’s gotta start rubbing and grinding against her on purpose, doing everything he can without ending up inside her, loving the fact he can pant the way she did in his ear before openly against her skin as he does this cos the driver isn’t here now, not to mention holding her face and guiding it to his pulse point cos giving the gal her own challenge of how hard she can go without fully giving him a lovebite which btw me and Win think she accidentally should as not only is he blatantly egging her on with his antics and definitely at one point saying ‘it’s okay, darling’ and even ‘please’ we all also know he doesn’t care if she gets carried away when he’s made up his mind to never go near Chlo again and therefore thinks she’ll never see it or be bothered BUT obvs jemily and Win are aware of this evil timing of the family holiday and him potentially having to take Jay swimming or to the beach etc so we simply must let it happen soz not soz]

Ava: [we’ve let you live hardcore thus far, jemily and winola gay have simply gotta start causing drama effective immediately I’m afraid lol, Win said they should be going to a Soho House type vibe of place and maybe it was a whole fam jaunt ‘cos clearly Sunday lunch did not happen because James did not go home and everything was in shambles so it gives that Chlo is trying SO hard with everything… that way she gotta decide if she’s gonna freak at this lovebite or just pretend it was her when we all know it wasn’t lmao]

James: [agreed, it just fit too well with the timeline of things and how extra java have been from the off to not do, but now I’ve put that out there we can leave them and skip if you want because we know what the vibe is for the rest of this lunch break etc, they will just be hooking up until he has to go back to work and actually do some]

Ava: [sounds good baby, go us]

1 note · View note

crystalelemental · 1 year ago

Text

Unit Teambuilding - Sygna Suit Red

Alright, the BP Pairs are done, and I finished the Red alt discussion. Finally I am done.

........fuck, I forgot about the grid expansions.

General Overview Not content to ruin my day once, Sygna Suit Red also gets something, in the form of his grid expansion. Thankfully, this is far, far less annoying, as DeNA seems to categorize original Kantrio more as "Free pair" than as "PokeFair," so they limited the possibilities. Unfortunately, this is my first time talking about him as a sync pair.

SS Red was the original powercreep unit. Brought about at the half-anniversary well before I was playing, he was miles ahead of everyone else. While SST Red and the new NC Red are certainly bullshit, absolutely nothing compares to the gap in power from those early days. Red was the unit, so significantly that people would prefer off-typing with him and Kantrio instead of using on-type damage for many types, for over two years with the game. The reason for his power was two-fold. One was Blast Burn. Other options had access to four-bar moves, but the lower accuracy combined with Piercing Gaze meant a power boost without the downside. Second, Red's self-setup is immaculate. Two turns of trainer move, Dire Hit+, sync gives him +1 crit, and you're at maximum offensive ability, with maxed out speed. There was very little that compared, so much so that even the first Master Fair in Leon was considered less potent due to his poor self-setup.

Over time, this stopped being as significant. Stronger moves than Blast Burn exist, and better self-setup certainly exists among limited pairs. Red didn't strictly need this help, but it's not entirely unwarranted. He fell off a bit. So to keep him relevant...they gave him some cosmetic tools.

Soften Up, Sharp Entry, Solar Flare 2, Sync Thinker, Standfast 9, and TM: Propulsion. All of these are solidly mid. At no point has Red ever thought to himself gee, I sure wish I could Flare Blitz right now. Sharp Entry is nice for easier setup on that first sync, but Soften Up isn't worth the price of getting to it. Sync Thinker is funny for the kaboom after sync, but it's one use per rotation so it's not the same as, I dunno, a multiplier. That's really the big loss; Red still has no natural multipliers for move damage, which is his big draw. Meanwhile Lance and Alder are out here getting fat 30% free boosts on goddamn Hyper Beam. The tradeoff is Propulsion, which means Red can now fast ramp with any other source of -1 cooldown. Which is great, except that one of Red's defining features is his 3-turn self-setup. So if you go for a fast-ramp, he's support reliant now.

Again, the grid is not the worst there's ever been, but it's very noticeably limited compared to what contemporaries have received. Like, not even Burn effects off Heat Wave for Gauntlet purposes. Just very small, almost superficial upgrades that don't seriously change how he was playing in the first place. Which I love. He'll never be bad, sadly for me, but at least this form will never see the light of top tier performance again.

EX and Move Level? There are people that don't have him 3/5 EX? Weird, man. Anyway, mine's now 3/5 for sad reasons involving banner sharing, but I don't EX him and he can do alright.

Team 1: SS Red, SS Morty, Eevee Lucas/NC Leaf This is the more or less defining set. SS Morty is Red's best partner by miles, while Eevee Lucas supplies special defense debuffing and even eases Red's setup if you're going for Propulsion sets. NC Leaf is a solid alternative, packing even more immunities for the team and extra Sun setting. But also she has Kanto Pride and Potion. Which means that this is like the only time Flare Blitz SS Red makes any kind of sense. That said, his trainer move only gives attack if he's already mega evolved, so I don't really think it's optimal.

Team 2: SS Red, Lodge Dawn/BP Janine, Blaine If you're going for F2P, this is the set. SS Red hits like a truck even at 1/5 thanks to Blast Burn, and a little Sun application will power that up quite well. Blaine has a ton of matched theme skills and that coveted Sun. Lodge Dawn and BP Janine are really nice partners, thanks to Team Sharp Entry, but each has their own utility. Janine can easily buff his offense to max, so after one Dire Hit+ he gets blasting. Dawn offsets the defense drop on his trainer move, and can run Mind Games 2 as a lucky skill to debuff defenses. Up to preference.

Final Thoughts Again, I've been a this a while today, so I'm cutting it a little short. Red has very little utility under his belt, and exists to sync under Sun and spam Blast Burn. Thanks to effective self-setup, he is able to do this with minimal consideration to partners. I could talk about the Propulsion set, but I am very opposed to 5/5ing Red. I don't think it's actually worth it. Besides, the only adjustment is "bring someone who also buffs crit," and Morty can do that fine.

#unit teambuilding #sygna suit red

0 notes

biolizardboils · 3 years ago

Text

head’s still full of Mother EarthBound Thoughts so im gonna spill some here. (warning this’ll be super messy and also contain big honkin’ spoilers for all three games)

for context i played and beat EarthBound after it came out on Wii U, then Mother 3 in 2015. i tried Mother 1/Beginnings at some point, but sadly my immunity to Old Game Jank doesn’t extend past the mid-90's. im a relatively young Mom Fan is what im trying to say here

i havent seen anyone here talk about the vid they put out for the Switch ports?? pls watch it its so cute and in-line with the games’ humor! lets all get to know Ness!!

im still watching Curiomatic’s Mother 3 vid daily and im still noticing new details and shit. and their website's so good too?? felt!Boney has my whole heart

my brain's been on fire imagining how the other two games would look in the same style. and like. it feels criminal to ask so soon after 1 and 2 got Switch ports, but a full 3-games-in-1 remake would be so good for the series for two big reasons:

1. it could fix 1/Beginnings' Jank and tighten its translation, bringing it in line with the other two, and

2. its the one situation i can think of that would force Nintendo to localize 3. like can you imagine if they remade the whole series and then left it in Japan?? people would have their heads!

not to mention a game with a modern 3D engine would be leagues easier to edit than the sprite-based original. cus while im scared of NoA over-censoring the game as much as the next guy, there are a few things in it that could’ve been done more sensitively, and that altering wouldn’t harm the plot if done right. i doubt i need to name specifics

also on the selfish side, i just wanna know what would change in terms of visual design. i wanna see all the enemies move in battle and Pippi with beady eyes like everyone else and how they’d officially differentiate Ninten’s design from Ness’s, and most of all i REALLY wanna see official art of Beginnings!Giygas. i wish to grasp his true form so bad it makes me look stupid

not that i dont like the fandom’s agreed-on designs!! far from it, i love them!! like Giygas having red-and-black eyes as foreshadowing is genius and whoever first came up with it deserves an award

i made a party playlist in case 3 ever got localized back when i was more hopeful about it. how far back, you may ask? i included this unironically. that far lmao

one of my fave things about the series is how, despite being made in Japan, it pays homage to so many distinctly Western pop-cultural concepts that it’s instantly nostalgic to the average English-speaker. the Spielbergian coming-of-age film, the dot-eyed yet contemplative comic strip, the kitschy B-movie monsters, the King-esque entities conveying the loss of innocence, the pairing of psychedelia with an insistence on peace over war. for a funny parody of America, it’s fascinating how right it feels at the emotional level.

speaking of psychedelia, i wanna plug this amazing prog rock cover album that deserves more love. like holy shit, youd think this is how some of these songs were always meant to be played. ive never had a drug trip cus im terrified of messing up set and setting, but to have my first while hearing this played live would probably feel beautiful

speaking of more psychedelia, last month i thought Polka Dot Tail by Ween sounded super familiar, and i just realized why: it sounds like Magicant (the second one). i might try to make a mashup later idk

ive been meaning to watch a vlog of Camp Fangamer’s EarthBound Bash 2015 for years and this week i finally did it! shit looked like so much fun, and i cant think of another game series that’d make for such an immersive event. i could only find one extended video of the Mother 3 bash they did a year later, but it seems like an equally transformative event, if not more despite Lucas being a mannequin

listen....i know people have done the math and ruled it out as a possibility....but i still really like the idea of Ninten and Ana being Ness’s parents. i just think its cute and neat and also opens up some opportunities for angst (something something the fear of your kids inheriting your personal battles)

bonus points for Lloyd being Dr. Andonuts cus i think itd be funny if he was the only character to appear in all three games

while im here confessing my fan sins, lemme add that i treat Smash Bros as canon cus it gave the world such gems as Ness’s eyes being purple and Boney having leg warmer fur

man i remember first seeing Porky in Subspace and thinking he was trapped in the spider-mech thing and i had to free him.... ah, the innocence of youth

removing Lucas from Sm4sh was a bitch move but the trailer when they put him back was honestly SO worth it. like him returning Ness’s favor from Subspace?? everyone noticing he smiled more and being so proud of him?? that was the best day of my life

speaking of bitch moves im still confused by how u get Claus, Hinawa and the Masked Man’s spirits in World of Light. like what the fuck did Nintendo mean by that shit. their placement and the fights themselves are such a specific gut-punch that its hilarious. killing two gods wont bring Claus back

but also its...nice to think that Lucas got a chance to see them again. like maybe one of the other fighters who knew his deal freed them and brought them to him, and everyone let them have a moment before they fought Galeem and Dharkon. imagine Claus being all “told ya we’d meet again someday :’) let’s go beat up that angel thing together!”

also cus Smash made me so used to it, i refer to all PSI moves as PK. even the ones that are PSI in both languages, like Magnet. PK Sue me

so like... im a twin. my sister and i love each other more than anything. we played 3 together, and quickly agreed that i was the Lucas to her Claus. what happens between them in the game is my absolute worst fear. ive had nightmares since childhood with the same basic theme -- losing her to a decision i can't sway her from -- so the final boss and the "hasty brother" line after gutted us. when youre literally linked from birth, it's hard to imagine life without, and even harder to prepare for the possibility. this game forced us to do so, and it hurt like hell, but it strengthened our bond in the process.

theres already a hundred essays about it but i love how 3′s ending manages to reflect every player’s wishes. everyone’s got their own idea of what Lucas wished for, so here’s mine:

the entire planet was purified and made habitable again

all the Chimeras were split into their original animals (but some of them chose to be friends still, so there’s at least one kangaroo and one shark that hang out often)

everyone that Porky abducted from other time periods were sent back with their memories intact (so Dr. Andonuts gets to be with Jeff again and is also less likely to be employed by another asshat)

im one of those people who thinks Lucas didn’t revive anyone who died, because it doesn’t feel right after the characters spent three years coping with it. (all the power to people who disagree tho, it’s all cool!) instead, i think he wished for a new place to honor everyone they lost, resulting in a beautiful new cemetery hidden in the sunflower field outside Tazmily. strangely, it contains lots of gravestones that no one recognizes; one with a haiku written on it, ten crosses lined up in two rows of five, even one the size of a bug; and at the very back, a swirling metal statue engraved in an alien language, lying between two stones marked “XX”.

and finally, i think Lucas wished to meet whatever force was looking after his world all this time, so he could thank them personally... and thats how you, the player, ended up in the game :)

im still utterly charmed by the image of the player, struck blind from being pulled into another world, being lead by the hand (and pokes in the back) to meet Lucas,,, like its okay sweetie you can say goodbye as many times as you need, im so goddamn proud of you!!! ill see you in Smash okay???

i think thats everything i wanna say? uhhh heres a fanmix i made six years ago

20 notes · View notes

mybg3notebook · 3 years ago

Text

Gale Summarised Analysis

Disclaimer Game Version: All these analyses were written up to the game version v4.1.104.3536 (Early access). As long as new content is added, and as long as I have free time for that, I will try to keep updating this information. Written in May 2021.

The majority of sources used for this article are in the game itself (this includes my Gale-solo playthroughs as well as a combination of the videos by munmomuu and selphie1999), and the few dev’s notes provided by pjenn. Gale as origin is not taken into account since it’s not finished and has little to none Gale-related content. There will be little datamining content as well since pjenn said the game contained almost no gale-related notes (only in the Weave and in the Revelation scene).

Additional disclaimers about meta-knowledge and interpretations in (post)

The number between brackets [] represents the topic-block related to (this post), which gathers as much evidence as I could get.

We can infer about Gale by analysing what he approves and disapproves of. Sometimes, we can even lightly infer some information from his neutral reactions, but let’s be honest: this way of analysing a char is pretty poor since it leaves everything to speculation. Neutral reactions can only be analysed, in very rare instances, by contrasting the same situation in other contexts, and seeing what other options Gale approves or disapproves of. With these considerations in mind, we can proceed to describe this character.

Disclaimer: this is a meta with my personal interpretation of the character, sticking as much as possible to the facts and leaving little to “desires” or “projections” of what I want him to be. If I do so, I will state it explicitly in the text for the sake of analysis honesty. I want to be clear about what is canon (facts shown in bg3 EA), from what’s personal interpretation with little proof.

Understanding Gale (integrated text)

We are none of us monsters. We are merely hatcheries for monstrous things. So we fight them

---Gale

Collecting most of the information provided in-game, we know he has a cat, a Library, and writes poetry sometimes. One of the first things that Gale will reveal is that he is a private person. He easily and clearly sets boundaries from the first moment, showing Tav where they stand. The second aspect he makes us aware of is his pragmatic thinking and his preference for diplomatic approaches. A third aspect that stands out on its own: he is a very verbose person, maybe as a result of his academia background in combination with his poetry hobby. He also has a bad posture when talking, but I’m not sure if this is intentional or a bug.

We can assure that Gale certainly is a man of the city [13], and may have a decent social status. It's impossible to say for sure if it's noble or rich or both, or it is just a natural consequence of being a wizard scholar: he is frustrated by the harshness of the camping life, he misses the civilisation of the city which offers well cooked meals, soft beds, and scented baths. Not by chance he is the only companion in the group who would approve of giving Oskar 200 gold to fight “the discomforts of the road” [13]. However, he adapts. Despite the lack of luxuries, he managed to survive in the wilderness.

Gale and his link with magic is unquestionable. Magic is life for Gale, metaphorically and literally speaking since it's magic what allows him to stay alive despite the "orb" in his chest. If we talk about Magic, we have to talk about Mystra and the Weave. The Weave is not only the embodiment of Mystra, it's an extension of Mystra herself. It extends across many planes of existence and is in almost all parts of Faerûn. By dragging power from it, Magic can be performed.

Mystra, for lore reasons and conjectures that I will discuss in the post "Mystra and her Chosen ones", turned teenager/young adult Gale into one of her Chosen, making their relationship more intimate and granting Gale a deeper access to the Weave. This put Gale into the category of an archwizard. It's clear that Gale was and still is a devotee of Mystra, which could give us a hint of his alignment since she is a neutral good goddess and she expects for her Chosen to align around it.

Gale likes confidence, in others and in himself. He is confident in his looks (he has described himself as a “handsome devil” and answered during the romance/Revelation scene that he knew he was beautiful under the light as well as Tav). But beyond these two lines, qualifying him as a narcissist seems extreme. He is surely very confident about his knowledge, and we see he is not just mere words: his Mind Flayer knowledge is at the the same level of what githyankis know. If we compare how Astarion/Tav struggled with the book of Thay, and then we see how Gale manages it (sadly the scene is not complete yet in EA, and there is almost no datamining info of Gale), we can conclude once more that his knowledge and power of the mind are real (he is, so far, the main companion who allows us to explore the lore of the game in a deeper way during his conversations). We also know it's a bit more complicated to intrude into his mind using the tadpole because he has knowledge and mental tools to protect himself (check the post about the Tadpole inside Gale). He is certainly a very verbose and confident scholar, who knows his limits, and in occasions he seems to dabble into an ego-teasing play as an attempt of levity, displaying his “insufferable side”, as he has described himself (his self-awareness of these traits is remarkable, and it is the reason why I avoid qualifying him as arrogant. Arrogant chars are hardly self-aware of their own bad manners or insufferable traits). But we can see it's usually done as a joke or, with an evil Tav, as an aggressive reaction. For a deep analysis of this aspect, check the post about "Gale Hypotheses- Part 2", section: "Narcissism".

Based on his approvals and disapprovals, we can see that Gale has a strong preference in avoiding fights, violence, and bloodshed [1]. He will always prefer diplomatic and persuasive approaches [2]. Reasoning is his best weapon, but if the individual we are dealing with can hardly be persuaded, he would approve of a deception or an intimidation as long blood is not spilt. Here is where we see his pragmatism in action, all the time. His primary goal at every moment is to avoid bloodshed. His philosophy could be summed up in the line “the means [as long as they don’t kill gratuitously] hardly matter if the end is worthy”. And for Gale, nothing is more worthy than life [3]. This doesn't cover only the life of innocents he cares about, it includes the life of the most dubious characters as well, such as Rugan or Crusher. Gratuitous death is meaningless for him. During the scene of Nettie we can have a glimpse of his philosophy towards life: he viscerally hates treating life as if it were nothing:

Gale: How dare she snuff out life with as much thought as snuffing out a bloody candle? […] It's not right to feel the cold breath of death in your neck, then move on as if it was nothing but a soothing breeze. One respects life by fighting for it, and one respects death by fearing it.

Gale: One should never be afraid to live life to the fullest.

Probably the limited amount of life he has due to the "orb" increased his sense of respect for life and its celebration. I personally understand Gale as a character who embodies the perspectives of a seriously ill person, knowing that their life may be short, but they will try to make the best out of it.

He doesn't only respect life per se, he also cares about its dignity. This can be seen in his explicit rejection to undead existences such as Connor (he explains that it would be merciful to put an end to his undead nightmare), or in his disapprovals of humiliation and torture [9]

We could suspect that this emphasis in protecting any life comes from the fact that only people who are alive can (sometimes) be forgiven or/and change. This is not explicit, but since he is a character who talks about being better and wiser than his previous self, about acknowledging mistakes, about forgiveness, this interpretation seems reasonable.

These concepts of kindness and compassion combined with “the mistakes of the youth” are repetitive in his interactions and approvals [5,12]. Of course, they echo in his soul since they are reflections and desires of his own experience. This pattern covers forgiving children in particular [5], and disapproving hard judgements [16], especially on matters whose story is not fully understood by Tav. This means he doesn't like quick judgements when he doesn't know the whole story first. This scenario can be easily seen during Karlach's quest, he reserves his judgment until knowing Karlach's side: There are always two sides to each story.

Gale: I have to say I don't know if agreeing to this hunt was such a wise idea. Who's to say who's the real villain in this tale of devils and masquerades? [...]When we track Karlach down, let's chat before we chop.

Similar concept appears during his Revelation scene, when he encourages and keeps asking Tav to listen to him first before judging. This is also the reason why in his Loss scene he would disapprove if Tav quickly assumes that his loss of Mystra was due to arrogance. Tav judged him without knowing the whole story. However, once Tav knows the whole story, Gale will accept any judgement from them without approval penalties during the Revelation scene.

He approves all actions that imply helping others in hard times and disapproves of them if they were done out of greed [4]. He is an animal lover [6,7]. Being kind to animals and treating them good will increase his approval, while animal cruelty will earn his disapproval. Same goes for humanoids: any display of gratuitous violence that could have been prevented with a trick or a diplomatic approach, any humiliation forced upon others, any torture or situation of slavery, is disapproved [8, 9, 11].

In particular, Gale seems to advocate the philosophy of “give others their own medicine”[18] or in other words: poetic justice. We can see this during the Myconid colony; he approves of helping the Myconid to avenge the young killed by the Duergar, adding the comment: “Wicked killers deserve wicked ends”. He is implying to give them a similar, wicked medicine to the Duergars. Another less deadly situation of this kind is shown during the foot situation with Crusher: Gale is the one suggesting “pungent poetic justice” and telling Tav that they should force Crusher to kiss their feet.

The most iconic scene, however, is during Nettie's, if Tav lies during her interrogation. As a hot-headed reaction, Gale states that he would have poisoned Nettie if this situation would have happened to him. Although, after calming down, he approves of and confirms Tav's actions [if Tav managed to persuade Nettie to give them the antidote]

Gale: A taste of her own medicine is what she deserves! […] But you handled it, and you handled it well.

In this scene we also see a pattern: Gale is shown as a fallible human; his most visceral reaction during the first moment is anger and indignation, giving us a hint that he is not so rational when it comes to emotional states. An extremely obvious, human concept.

The scene of Nettie trying to kill a potential menace (the victim of a MF) reverberated in his consciousness, projecting immediately a fact in his mind: if he ever dares to reveal his "orb" problem, and anyone knows what a danger he represents—no matter how stable it looks—people will want to remove the menace by killing him.

This is the reason behind his words “It's just that, had it been me... had it been...” Gale knows that this simplistic and common thinking in removing what's dangerous would end up turning into a more destructive tragedy in his case than in any infected victim of the tadpoles. So this combination makes us see, for the first time, an emotional Gale. After some seconds, he cools down and returns to his more rational, diplomatic, and moderate self. What we can read here is that Gale would be very prone to rush decisions or to make mistakes under emotional circumstances. We will learn later that the other mistake he made under emotional stress ended up with the "orb" stuck in his chest. A third mistake was done during the party, once more under the emotional stress of a potential abandonment by Tav due to the true nature of the orb.

Everything related to the “orb”—which is his most traumatic experience—naturally makes him more emotional and prone to mistakes. To see how truly traumatic the "orb" is in his life we can notice the following patterns during the meeting scene: he speaks about the tadpole in a relaxed, rational way, despite the traumatising experience. He first asks for an archwizard instead of for a cleric, because his priority is the orb. Gale's main fear is not the tadpole, but the orb. If we remember his words after the consumption of the artefacts, we realise he lives in a permanent state of anxiety and raw fear, and probably pain too, given his facial gesticulation when anything interacts with the "orb" (whether artefacts or Tav's hand). His banter with Shadowheart reinforces the concept that he always has a knot in the stomach. When he accepts the deal with Raphael, it seems to be related to the orb, not to the tadpole. The effect of the "orb" has ceased, but the tadpole is still in Gale's head since we still need to roll against a high DC and not only against a 1DC during this scene, so we can assume he still has the tadpole despite Raphael's deal. See the post about "The Tadpole" in Gale for more details.

Gale is a character that represents human experiences deeply related to growing up: mistakes done in the past, and the acceptance of not being forgiven despite the desire of wanting to. This can be easily seen during the conversation of the second tadpole dream, where Gale's mood is foul and we learn that his deepest desire is for Mystra to forgive him, but he also knows it's impossible for that to happen. He detects the lie in this dream because he has accepted that Mystra will never forgive him. Gale is the story of mistakes done during youth with grave consequences, of acknowledging them and trying to make them right, of surviving those mistakes, and depending on the interpretation, he is also the story of an ill dying man, with a gentle vision and deep care for life.

The great majority of his approvals are based on actions that show kindness and compassion, both reiterative concepts that are so important in his character that they come from his lips when we see the goblin party:

Gale: The shadow within is spreading like poison, corrupting kindness and compassion. [Only after a tough DC of 15]

In combination with: Gale: I don't know myself anymore. All this... It's not who I am. Around you, I'm not who I want to be. I should leave.

These lines show how, in a sudden change to an evil path, Gale would start doubting his own morality, explaining that the cause of it is the "orb" itself, corrupting the most core aspects of his personality. This corruption may or may not be lore-related. It's not completely clear what Gale's "orb" truly is. For more details, check the post of the "Orb".

His constant critical thinking comes from his advocacy to non-conventionality [15]: a true scholar will always explore all the options and hypotheses before reaching a conclusion. Therefore, Gale would approve of any non-conventional way to fix a problem [15] as long as it doesn't potentially cause harm or bloodshed [1,2,3,8,9]. Due to his own background, Gale will always advise to be very careful of the consequences of one’s actions. This can be easily seen when, after encountering the caged goblin Sazza, Gale would advocate to explore the possibility of reaching Gut Priestess to cure the tadpole. However, when Tav helps Sazza to escape, Gale will comment briefly against this action.

Gale: I know I said it's not inconceivable a goblin priestess could help us. And yet... was it really wise to set another goblin free so she can arrange introductions? […] consider the consequences. What if she leads her entire tribe to the grove? Tav: I don't care, I owe this grove no allegiance. Gale: No allegiance, no. Though we don't need to sign its death warrant

Once more we see that Gale is up to using any (unharming) means to get a goal, but not at any cost. He has a clear line he doesn't like to cross: life [3]. Avoiding putting other people's lives in danger is very important for him. We see this concept over and over in most scenes.

He doesn't likerushed decisions, and in that same train of thoughts, he will disapprove any use of unknown magic or tricks when nobody in the group can truly understand how they work [17], for example the tadpoles or Raphael's deal (he is against accepting it quickly, but he will approve of having a more cautious attitude and carefully thinking about it).

Since the moment we meet him, we can infer he is obsessed with the artefacts. It's obviously understandable: he doesn't want to die, but also, he doesn't want to kill all those that will be caught in the eruption of the orb. For this reason he will insist on the loot in the Temple Ruins despite knowing that grave robbery is not correct.

Gale: Bad form, isn't it? Grave robbing? […] Let's have a look at the loot. It isn't for your pockets only.

He keeps pondering life over death: although he respects the dead, he will always value more the living creatures in the present. This is also what pushes Gale to suggest Tav to open Rugan's chest. Stealing from the evil Zhentarins is not something that will weigh on his consciousness too much. Besides, he knows it belongs to a wizard: meaning that the chance for it to contain a powerful artefact is really high. Similar suggestions will be said about the Idol of Silvanus, but talking with him in the camp will show us that he won't approve of taking it, only as a last resort. He keeps pondering the living over a sacred piece of stone, since he knows the druids won't take the stealing very peacefully. Once more we see Gale's respect and care for life, trying to minimise damage as much as the circumstances allow him.

Gale is also a survivalist. He doesn't want to die, he loves celebrating life in its more mundane and small details. He is an emotional character for a wizard, a bit strange since they are usually portrayed as more rational and cold, losing their lives among dusty books. However, Gale has shown in many scenes that he prefers to survive without killing, but if he has to, he will do it, dealing with the weight of it in his consciousness because killing unprovoked affects him (scene in the camp after killing the druids, or the goblin party scene).

His moral in preventing gratuitous death sometimes will conflict with his own survival, especially if he is by an evil Tav's side. He couldn't accept bloodshed when other peaceful options were available and possible to reach. This is clearly shown during the goblin party, where Gale's consciousness suffers and feels the corruption of the "orb" killing the kindness and the compassion inside him. He accepts that wanting to live is a powerful drive, but he doesn't support this massacre, questioning if all that blood was necessary. A Tav killing the tieflings seems to lose the possibility of pursuing Gale romantically, at least in EA so far. For Gale, survival is important, but the means to do it (when they can cause death) matter too. Life is worth preserving.

The usual archetype of survivalist tends to be an individualist one who would survive at any cost without remorse because that's the “law of the jungle”, the strongest must survive. However, Gale seems to embody a different concept of survivalist that it's hard to put in words: a sort of communal survivalist, trying to survive in coexistence with his community: he wants his survival to imprint the least harm possible (even though sometimes it would not be possible), trying to help those around him as long as his condition allows it; for example, despite wanting Gut's potential cure for the tadpole, he would disagree in helping Sazza escape because she will lead the goblins to the Grove, no matter the fact that doing this will grant them their introduction to the priestess.

His list of approval shows that his sense of survival is always pondered with the consequences that it can cause on others (check the post with the "Extensive list of Gale's approvals"). The whole concept of the "orb" has this motivation as well: he wants to live and survive, but he also can't give up because his body would kill many, so he needs to do as much as his moral allows him to keep it in check. If he cannot do it any longer, he promises to minimise the disaster as much as possible by erupting in the deep Underdark or in a desolated corner of Faerûn (and considering his ridiculous list of approvals and disapprovals, we know he is honest in not wanting to kill gratuitously). Gale acknowledges his own mistakes, trying—to the best of his ability—to deal with them without catching others in them. Although all his speeches keep emphasising that he is a mere human, and plans may fail.

At some point, if he wants to survive “not at any cost”, he will be forced to ask Tav for help during the scene of the stew (available only for medium approval or higher). As a gesture of honesty, Gale will set a boundary before making this request, acknowledging its unfairness but giving Tav the decision to proceed or not. He is not denying to explain the details later, but at the moment he can't speak the “why” of his condition no matter how curious Tav is. Tav will decide whether they can keep their curiosity on the matter.

We will understand later that this impediment comes as a precaution as well as consequence of his personal trauma with Mystra and the "orb" (See post about "Gale: Manipulation, Lies, and Trust"). So, he is very clear about setting the conditions in which this conversation will happen from the beginning. The easiest way for Gale to avoid this whole situation would have been by simply lying, but he opted for an honest approach with clear out-loud reservations, knowing he was asking for more trust than he was allowed to, but the intention behind is more than important. There is a clear, huge contextual detail that we can't miss: this scene doesn't happen because of Gale's whims, he is forced to ask for help since his condition “is not a patient one” and will endanger everyone if not kept at bay.

This detail where Gale explicitly asks for an exchange of trust is not present if Gale's approval is neutral or lower. In this case, Gale would not care about giving a context to his strange request: he doesn't trust Tav and he doesn't expect to be trusted either, he only wants the artefacts to keep his condition in check for his sake and the sake of others. We can understand this change of attitude depending on the approval as he doesn't want to give any extra explanation to someone he is not interested in building a relationship with. For more details, check the post about "Gale: Manipulation, Lies, and Trust".

I personally support the idea that nobody in canon Faerûn is free of racial prejudices since Forgotten Realms lore has been created based strongly on fantasy racism. I've read that WotC wants to move forward and improve this aspect in 5e, but so far what they allowed Larian to do with the Tieflings in BG3 seems to show the contrary. So, since apparently we are going to face fantasy racism anyways, I will try to analyse racial prejudices from all chars. When it comes to Gale, it's a bit far-stretched to point out unjustified racial biases. He has a vague comment about Rashemi that some people may consider a faerunian saying. Personally, I think that line is a bias forced into him to have a particular dynamic with Minsc (the Rashemi “silly” companion -we all can see where Larian seems to go with this). Gale clearly sees tieflings, gnomes, and even goblins as people, and has a cautious attitude towards some githyanki (at least that's what we can infer with Lae'zel when we find her in the cage), but given the githyanki lore it's pretty reasonable to see them as dangerous creature that could kill people on the spot. So far, he seems to have no racial preference either [10].

As it was said before, he prefers to avoid killing people, but that doesn't mean he won't do it if his life depends on it. He will prefer persuasive and defusing approaches, but if he needs to kill to defend innocents or his own life, he won't hesitate. So therefore, stories about characters making mistakes or having violent excess in an effort to protect themselves or what they hold dear will be understood by him but hardly approved [19]. He tends more to approve a call out of that excess than approving an excuse for it.

Gale has deep abandonment issues that can be easily seen when he defends Astarion from being handed over to Gandrel. We need to put this in context before going on: for Gale, Astarion represents a danger as a vampire who attacked one of them during their sleep. By the display of meta-knowledge, we know with certainty that their approvals and disapprovals are mostly opposite: What one approves, the other will disapprove and vice versa. Getting rid of Astarion should be something that Gale would approve, however, he doesn't. If we explore his comments we will realise that what Gale disapproves from this situation is Tav's abandonment. After Mystra's abandonment, he knows very well that “Loyalty is such a very rare commodity”, and the few situations in EA in which Tav can display abandonment, resound strongly in Gale.

Gale is a scholar with a strong balanced rational side. But unlike the trope, he also embraces an emotional side that, so far the info we received in EA, it's the side that makes him prone to mistakes.

As an amateur poet, Gale loves words. We can obviously notice this in his verbose attitude, but also in the way he carefully uses words. One of his characteristic words is “spectacle”. He has also shown a reiterative—although not always—uneasy use of the word “fun”. Using “fun” as a way to describe the night spent with Gale gives him a slight uneasiness. “That’s a word for it.” He disapproves of using the word “Fun” after the Mayrina/Connor situation, in which scene Gale alludes that “your new company may be a proof of how depraved and twisted you are to see that tragedy as “fun”. Personally I think this is a direct allusion to Astarion, who considers Mayrina's situation as “entertainment”, in the same way he considered as “fun” the show of Arabella's death (two of several instances where he used that word). Gale also doesn’t use the word sex during EA, instead he uses romantic ones such as love-making, intimacy, art of the night/body. In the most technical case: coitus (used only when he is talking about “goblinoid intimacy” in the expression “post-coital snack”). These details are showing not only his poet/romantic side, but also his interpretation of sex from his perspective: sex can only be possible through a connection. We know he doesn’t engage in casual sex with Lae’zel if he is not romanced, and his romance can only potentially start if Tav shares that deep connection with him through the Weave.

Another detail related to words is that Gale has always used an infection/disease-related vocabulary to explain the “orb” stuck in his chest: infested, taint, shadow spreading

[…] I failed to control [this chaotic magic]. Instead it infested me. […] This Netherese taint... this orb, for lack of a better word [..] […] the shadow within is spreading like poison, corrupting kindness and compassion. [...]

Gale apparently has a particular way to sense magic. I have no way to check this in-game, but it seems very strange how he immediately identifies magical artifacts without casting Detect Magic. There are some extra scenes as well where he says to taste or smell the magic in some objects. Even his encounter with Shadowheart, besides being considered a flirt, could be also interpreted as him detecting the magic that we saw later in her hand or maybe the dark magic that blocks her memories, since Gale pointed out about a curtain covering her soul: “if the eyes are the mirror to the soul, yours have dark curtains across the mirror” (a very ominous flirting if it’s only a flirt)

This makes me suspect that, if the "orb" is not giving him this skill, it may be a consequence of having been Chosen of Mystra (for more details read the post about "Mystra and her Chosen ones"). If this is the case, he may have hindered remains of theirs powers when it comes to detect magic at will.

Gale has a perception of magic with all the senses: he sniffs and tastes magic. During the mirror scene you have an option related to [Arcana] tag where he “Sniff the mirror, trying to understand the nature of its magic”. A wizard Tav will just “Inspect the mirror”. He also said that he could “taste” the magic in the necromancy book and in the runes of teleportation.

What we know of his family is little: when he was a kid there was a housekeeper in his life (mentioned only once during the scene of the harpies) and his mother that seemed to have personally raised and cared for him (mentioned twice: in the ruin temple scene, and in his banter with Wyll)

Tav: Why care about decorum in a long-abandoned tomb? Gale: Because my mother raised a gentleman. Then again, to be alive is to be curious.

Wyll: Between the orb and the bug you've got more than your fair share of unwelcome passengers. Gale: What can I say. Mother always taught me to be a gracious host.

This post was written in May 2021. → For more Gale: Analysis Series Index

#bg3 meta #gale #gale of waterdeep #bg3 gale #bg3 early access #bg3

54 notes · View notes

prettywordsyouleft · 4 years ago

Text

To Be Continued - Part 8

Summary: As an author, you had created Brian Kang for your current trilogy series to represent the ultimate man that everyone would love, along with Charli Evers - your female protagonist. What you hadn’t expected was for him to find a way out of the story and begin shaping up your world instead

Pairing: Brian Kang x female writer (ft. Park Sungjin)

Genre: writer au / romance / fantasy

Warnings: fictional characters coming to life / a bit of angst here and there / Sungjin as a cop (or does that only affect me?) >_>

The angst has made it’s way into the station, everyone. Buckle up for the pain that’s going to come.

A/N: this story idea was created from receiving two prompts for Brian in the YouxIdol drabble game I was completing this year. In this part, you can find prompt #194, “I don’t want to live in a world where I’m not with you.”

Word count: 2397

Preview | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Epilogue

You were anxious whilst waiting for Lily’s arrival. At first, she laughed hysterically after your announcement. However, she stopped suddenly, peering at Brian, who waved gently in response. You worried she might collapse from the reactions that seemed to rock her back and forth when in a calm voice, she told you she was on her way over and then ended the call.

You had been pacing in the hallway in front of your door ever since.

“It’s going to be fine,” Brian assured, and you nodded distantly.

“Fine. Yes. Of course.”

“I mean, I convinced you of my existence. It won’t be much for me to do the same to Lily.”

“Except part of that was you came out of the laptop in front of me.” Glancing up at him, you shoved Brian down the hallway to your office and over to the laptop. “Do it again.”

He rolled his eyes. “I’m not a circus monkey.”

“No, but you did come in and out of the story multiple times,” you reminded, and Brian folded his arms across his chest.

“Only because you called me out.”

“So go back in and I’ll call you out when she’s here.”

Brian snorted. “And send your editor into a mess or make her faint as you did?!”

“Well, that way she won’t be able to say we’re making this up!”

“Except we’re not making this up and we’ll get through it without any stunts, okay?” he told you, rubbing your shoulders and attempting to loosen the tension within them. You slumped, hoping Brian was right.

There was a frantic knock at the door then, and Brian nodded gently before going to answer it. Peering around the corner of your living area, you watched as he greeted Lily. The woman stepped inside, circled around him and then shook her head. “Well, I’ll be damned.”

“I know it seems a little implausible but-”

“Brian Kang truly exists,” Lily cut off your attempt to start the conversation, and you shared a surprised glance with Brian before stepping closer to your friend. She stared up at Brian. “Any chance Park Jinyoung exists too?”

“I’ve tried,” you mentioned in a small voice when Brian’s face grew moody and let out a little laugh. “I think we’re best off just having one literary character in our existence, right?”

You were surprised by how easily Lily accepted all this. Of course, Brian gave her a similar speech as he had to you when you came around after meeting him the first time, and answered any of her questions. But unlike you, Lily didn’t have many. Instead, she marvelled his existence up close – and rather a little too personally – before you cleared your throat and gestured for some tea.

Taking your editor into your office and shutting the door, you then sat down on the small couch across the room together.

“I cannot believe you didn’t tell me right away!”

“If it makes you any happier, you are the first person I’ve explained his actual existence to.”

“Brian mentioned he had met your doctor and that handsome cop you told me about,” Lily replied, and you cringed.

“Both of them don’t know the full story. In fact, I made things worse with Brian’s existence in front of Sungjin.” Lily perked at this, and you waved her off. “It’s a long story.”

“You know what isn’t, though? Eternity.” Placing down her mug of tea, Lily turned in her seat and shook your forearm gently. “You’re sitting on a gold mine here!”

“Hardly. I can write, Lily. Just not about Brian.”

“Why not?”

“It’s as you said, it’s as if I’ve sucked the life out of Brian in my story now. Because he’s out here and not in there.”

Lily grew thoughtful. “Have you asked Brian to help you write the story?”

“Well, no. I’m the writer, and he’s the character.”

“Perhaps he can assist you by making his role more organic again. After all, he knows himself best, doesn’t he?”

She had a point. “Maybe it could work.”

“I don’t blame you for being distracted lately, though. After seeing him, I don’t know how effective I’d be in person either,” she gushed, and you bit your lip as your mouth curved into a delighted smile.

“He’s magical.”

“He’s divine!” Lily enthused with you, and you both giggled.

“And he can hear you,” a voice called out from the other side of the door, and you both gripped onto the other in fright before busting out into laughter once more.

It was good having someone you could talk to fully about the man now in your life.

Lily, after calming down and draining off the rest of her tea, stood from the couch and smiled. “I trust you’ll both get the story started the way it’s meant to go, Y/N.”

“I hope so. I don’t want to be like this with my work. This series has meant a lot to me.”

“Do you need me to stay or will I get in the way of your rendezvous?” she teased, and you swatted a hand out at her. “What?! If I had a chance with someone like Brian, I’d not be able to hold back!”

“I’m decently approaching him, and that’s all there is to it!”

“Maybe you need to get more intimate then. It might help with this final part of the story.”

“Lily!” you cried as she smirked at you. “That’s not what’s in the plans for this world, and you know it!”

“Well, I didn’t expect to meet a character come to life in this world of ours, but it’s happened. Things can easily be adapted, Y/N.”

“Okay! Out with you now!” you demanded with a laugh, pushing your friend to the door of your office.

She hesitated, shooting a wicked look over your shoulder. “You’re sure you’ve done everything when it comes to seeing if Jinyoung-”

“Out!” you repeated, shoving the now laughing woman out of the room. She turned to hug you and then winked at Brian before heading for the front door.

“I expect a proper submission by next week. That’s all the extra time I’m giving you. Have fun in love, the pair of you.”

Once the door shut, Brian smiled warmly at you, capturing your cheek in the palm of his hand. “I quite like her.”

“She’s trouble,” you mentioned with a grin, nuzzling into his hand and pecking it with your lips briefly. “But she’s the right kind of trouble.”

“Sounds just how I would describe you right now,” Brian mentioned, his eyes swirling with a growing need. You knew that look all too well. It had been what had you pinned against a wall first thing this morning.

Maybe Lily was right. Your kissing sessions were only growing longer, more laboured and filling you with a desire you wanted to keep exploring.

Tugging on Brian’s hand, you made your way down to your bedroom with what you hoped to be an alluring smile.

He stopped, but only to scoop you up in his arms. “Oh, you’re definitely the right kind of trouble to have, Miss Writer.”

Despite all your efforts, the story still sat at a standpoint. You had encouraged Brian for input, and once again, you were both seated at your desk, pouring over options for the start of the story.

“It’s not working,” you complained, dropping your head to your tabletop in despair.

“We’ll find a way,” Brian said, though he looked concerned. With your realisation of this, he cleared his throat and ruffled your hair. “Honestly, how hard can this be? I’m the character, so I should know what I want to do next.”

“Do you?”

Brian slumped in his chair and shook his head. “Not a clue.”

“You, much like everyone else in this world, rely on me to write the script,” you stated, sadly and Brian rubbed at his face.

“You’re right. It’s what gave me direction, and it was the words you had started to write that helped me change the scene towards my benefit here and there.”

“So I need to write it. And you need to somehow appear whole again within the world.”

You each fell silent then, neither wanting to speak of what you had thought.

Over the past few days, you had fallen further for Brian. The love you felt for him was never-ending, and it worried you with how attached you had become to him so far. The idea of Brian ever returning to the world he came from made you sick to your stomach.

However, logic also made you realise that was where he needed to go for you to write Eternity. If he was missing from his leading role, how would you be able to pen the world in the way it was meant to be? Being at your side only delighted you, fulfilling your every need and desire.

But it wouldn’t make the story that he’d originally come from work.

You knew he was aware of this too.

Stepping out of the office without more than one line written, you both retired to the couch, sighing at separate intervals.

And then Brian turned to you. “Y/N, can we talk?”

“Always.”

“It’s not working, is it?” he murmured, and you nodded, feeling the rise of your emotions behind the backs of your eyes. You blinked, and he reached out to catch the first tear as it fell. “We’re working too well together here.”

“But the story isn’t at all,” you whispered, and Brian sighed again. “With you here, Charli and everyone else is suspended in air, waiting for your return. You exist in that world just as much as you exist here.”

“And I can’t be in both at the same time,” Brian admitted, and you dropped your head, tears spilling into your lap. “I have to go back, don’t I?”

“Maybe I don’t need to write this story. I have plenty of other ideas, and breaking out of the contract isn’t so bad, right? I mean, I’ll take a loss but I can afford to pay the publishing house-”

“Y/N,” he said, and you shook your head adamantly.

“I don’t want you to go.”

“Do you think I want to either? I’m happier here than there. I want to be with you, not Charli, not in a world where I have a past that haunts me and people who want me dead. Here I can be just me. The guy who loves you.”

“You love me?” you asked, and stared up into Brian’s now glossy eyes. He smiled weakly. “Do you really love me, Brian Kang?”

“I love you,” he told you earnestly, and you leaned in to kiss him, desperation rolling between you both. It was rushed and messy, yet your hearts collided together in the middle, confirming the feelings you both had for one another. It made you want more, yearn for every part of the man you had come to love so easily in the flesh. You had loved him a whole lot longer than this, but now you could truly confirm that love came from his actions, and not how you wrote them.

Shifting back, as the tears somehow managed to still fall, your bottom lip wobbled. “I love you too.”

“Which is why you plan to send me away again, right?” Brian asked, choking on his own emotions. “I have to go so you can finish this world.”

“Can’t we just leave it?” you pleaded, and Brian shook his head. You mirrored the action, knowing you wouldn’t be satisfied either. This was a world you had created, and you couldn’t just leave it without answers to the questions you had raised so far.

“Will you come back to me?”

“As soon as you’ve written the very last word,” Brian promised, kissing your temples as you both began to cry.

Clinging onto him, Brian attempted to soothe your wild sobs, rubbing at your back whilst burying into you himself. It was heartbreaking, like any typical angst scene. You knew it had to happen for character growth, and yet this was a pinnacle moment for sheer pain. Your whole body ached at the mere concept of parting from him.

“It’s not as if I’ll leave you for good, Y/N,” Brian mentioned, as if he read your thoughts. “I’ll always be right here with you. Through the screen. You’ll see me, during moments where I go along with your story plans, and at the times I test them. You’ll know I’ll be there supporting you, and your choices in writing Eternity to the very end.”

“I know, but you won’t be here, holding me like this anymore either,” you told him, and Brian grew silent, knowing whatever he could think of to calm you now, wouldn’t. “We don’t know what will happen if you go back. Will you be able to leave me notes like last time? Or will the story suck you back in and keep you there, at Charli’s side and not mine?”

“I’ll find my way back to you, Y/N. You know I will,” Brian urged, and you held onto that hope, leaning in to kiss him once more. “I don’t want to live in a world where I’m not with you.”

“I know,” you agreed, nodding into him. Words seemed pointless now, both of you overwhelmed by the decision.

Eventually, Brian helped you up, taking you down the hallway to your bedroom, and laying with you as he had started to do recently. Somehow, you fell into dreams, of you and Brian together, married, with children and living out your domestically and homely life together. He was right. You didn’t aspire to be in the front limelight of anything apart from your simple goals in life.

With him at your side.

Yet, when the morning shone through, and you opened your eyes, you were alone in bed.

And there laid a note on the pillow Brian had once rested his head upon.

I love you, Y/N. I will come back to you as soon as I can.

As the tears formed in your eyes, you got up from your bed and went into the office, staring at the open screen of your laptop. Waking it up, there was the document for Eternity waiting for you to continue.

The words finally came.

_________________

Part 9

[DAY6 Masterlist] | [Main Masterlist] | [Request Guidelines]

70 notes · View notes

therappundit · 4 years ago

Text

Top 10 Rappers of 2020

The finish line of this long, surreal year is finally upon us...which means that it’s time for me to throw down the gauntlet in the ‘Best of 2020’ frivolous list race! 🙌

*Just to be clear*: this is a list of MCs who I believe turned in the best overall performances in 2020. ***This is NOT a list of the my top 10 favorite MCs***, or even who I believe to be the best MCs in the world at the moment...these are simply dope artists that put forth the strongest, most consistently interesting and important (to the genre) high-quality work in the perilous year that was 2020.

If you think your favorite MC was slighted....well, Michael Jordan is the greatest to ever play the game of basketball but even he didn’t win MVP every year, right? I encourage you to write your own list - it’s a cool way to dap artists that are too often overlooked by industry websites, and share the music you enjoy with others that may not have given the record a spin otherwise.

Even if 2020 didn’t bring you the “instant classic” you had been hoping for, I think it’s hard to deny that this year really had impressive depth when it came to showcasing some of the most diverse music that the genre has to offer. I can’t speak for music in general - sadly I’m just The Rap Pundit, not The Music Pundit - but I can say that it has been an impossible task to keep a playlist less than 500 songs deep at a time, because for every truly great release in 2020 there seemed to be 30 very good releases. 👌

So how did I come about these 10 MCs (and Honorable Mentions)? Before you get huffy about who I snubbed (and that is pointed directly at my jury of older head peers that consider themselves tastemakers, but also haven’t opened their minds up to any new takes on rap styles since the year 2000)...here are the five chief pieces of criteria that I put into finalizing my list:

- quality (whatever lane you’re in, how often did you ‘own it’?)

- quantity (at least 10 very good-to-great songs released, and 3-4 verses that stand out as a ‘must-hear’ for any rap music fan)

- consistency (not just 4-5 great features and a few forgettable solo tracks, will I want to keep at least 7 or 8 of your own new songs released in 2020 in my rotation for 2021?)

- impact (are you so vital to the type of rap music you make that if you stopped rapping tomorrow, there’s no one else in the game that could fill that void?)

- “it” factor (are you carried by a co-sign or an elite production team, or did you bring a style/talent to the table that could carry a record in and of itself?)

Got it? Then here we go...

1. Conway the Machine

I hope 2020 was the type of year that Conway the Machine had been hoping for since he first began his journey with rap music. After years of scraping and hustling towards music industry recognition (and not just cult figure status), at year’s end we see Griselda’s top Lieutenant holding down a rare balancing act: champion of underground hip-hop, and most requested feature by any mainstream rap star looking to add some tough-talking muscle to their album.

While much of Conway’s content has always been driven by surviving an attempt on his life in 2012, much like 50 Cent, Conway’s way with words and perspective manage to elevate the quality of his material to a higher tier than most. And where - at least in his heyday - 50 Cent benefited from an indestructible super-villain persona, Conway’s success can be greatly attributed to a larger-than-life heart. With every braggadocious act of gunplay, there are moments of gratefulness to still being alive to share success with his brethren, as well as a painful longing to be with close allies that are no longer with him (at least not in the physical form).

Above all else, in 2020 Conway the Machine did what he has always done throughout his career: delivered well written, passionate bars about coming up in an impossibly challenging environment and coping with loss...only now his craftsmanship and understanding of how to channel all of those feelings into a more polished final product have yielded the most well-rounded solo project of his career in From King to a God. Progress is a slow process, but the long and winding road has finally taken Conway a step closer to that G.O.A.T. status he will hopefully continue to reach for...

Best Evidence: FKTG, and a countless number of scene-stealing verses alongside rap acts ranging from deep underground to household names

2. Freddie Gibbs

I don't use the word "sauce" all too often (this may actually be the first time), but if there was any MC guaranteed to bring sauce to any rap record right now, it's Freddie Gibbs.

Forever existing somewhere between gritty gangsta and syrupy old soul, the flavor that Freddie brings to every verse is malleable enough to work on virtually any type of record, which was certainly proven in 2020. Anyone foresee a Gibbs & Alchemist Grammy nomination heading into 2020? It’s a testament to how high quality work, through consistent reliability and dues paid, can elevate a project from underground niche following to critical acclaim. While his work with Alchemist may not reach the lofty levels of his heralded collaborations with Madlib, Alfredo represents the best that “quarantine music” can offer...two talented friends saying one day, “hey we should finally drop a full tape together, why not?” - and then BOOM, it happens.

Too many fail to remember that Gibbs already has a long accomplished body of work behind him...so the fact that he may just be entering his prime now, is scary.

Best Evidence: Alfredo, Machinedrum’s “Kane Train”

3. Boldy James

Comeback MC of the year, and no it is not close (but big shout-out to Grafh, another dope MC who had an amazing year).

I'm old enough to remember when folks like Roc Marciano and Ka were seen as sleepy, monotone rappers with little hope of reaching permanent rap icon status (flash-forward to today, and they are widely consider geniuses). For some, the quieter, less hook-dependent approach to making rap songs, was....well, not great rap music. They were wrong then and they’re wrong now, but similar to how the coolest, smartest cat in the room is rarely the loudest, it can take some time and patience before everyone learns what’s what. Time is what is required to appreciate Detroit’s Boldy James, a veteran that has been through it - both in terms of the ups and downs of the music business, as well as the streets through which he draws his stories and inspiration.

Boldy makes it seem all too easy, rapping his verses with the cool, casual tone of telling old stories to a close friend over drinks. Dropping multiple projects (with one still to come) in one year can often lead to over-saturation. Even the most dedicated fans/stans can begin to feel less enthusiastic about new releases when they have already received a healthy portion of more of the same...but most rap fans are not necessarily Boldy James fans. Boldy fans (much like Roc Marciano and Ka fans) are already aware that knowing what type of material to expect from your favorite MC can be a blessing if that MC takes pride in the execution of the final product, rather than the noise leading up to it.

The beauty of his collaboration with The Alchemist (big year for that guy, huh?), The Price of Tea in China, is that it celebrates the more subtle nuances of boom-bap, proving that great MC and producer chemistry can trump the “shock & awe” of more uptempo rap music. The shock in Boldy James’ lyrics sits within the detailed descriptions of the cold world he grew up in...so monotone or not, how can any music could be more gripping than that?

Best Evidence: TPOTIC, Manger On McNichols, a long list of consistently perfect feature verses

4. 42 Dugg

I would say this is more of a longterm investment rather than the celebration of a rapper already within rap’s inner circle, but 42 Dugg didn’t just steal the show on every feature this year, he also displayed maturity in his ability to craft well-rounded, high quality rap singles. I’m talking joints that work just as well on the street tape level as they would at the radio level. That is especially rare to see from a rapper that is still relatively new to national conversations.

So much more than just a co-sign of Lil Baby and Yo Gotti, the Detroit eastsider has already proven that he can craft a full solo album with the swagger of a far more seasoned MC. 42 Dugg combines a Boosie-esque, "oh you think you’re better than me??” chip on his shoulder with the unpredictable bombast of Lil Wayne. What he may lack in punchlines he makes up for in musicianship, his voice bringing one of the most nimble touches to trap music that I have heard in a long time. 42 Dugg music is hard and soulful, with the natural hunger of a rapper that knows me might be one smash away from superstardom. By this time next year, I’m betting he will be.

Best Evidence: Young & Turnt 2 (Deluxe), features on high profile records like Lil Baby’s “Grace” and “We Paid”, and a growing stream of attention grabbing solo loosies

5. Rome Streetz

In 2020 it was almost impossible to be an underground MC with a great project unless you landed a Rome Streetz verse.

Rome has been bubbling for a while now, but in 2020 he unleashed an onslaught on the game. At times he seemed like the hardest working MC in underground circles, busting his ass to not only make as many appearances as possible, but also to own any song he guested on. He raps like every verse might be “the one” that gets him a huge contract, and that’s a level of hunger and consistency that will likely land him more than one huge contract someday. In spite of that laundry list of strong features, the young Brooklyn MC still managed to release multiple dope solo projects, all flashing a rap style that feels at once a throwback and the fresh voice NYC rap needs.

Rome is clearly from the same school as many of the New York City greats, because he has the capacity to deliver dark, potent bars with the sharp intellect of a Harvard lecture (think AZ before “Sugar Hill”). While he sounds most at home when he’s rhyming over instrumentals that run more coldblooded than a horror flick, it’s easy to picture him popping up in more places in 2021...if that’s even possible.

Best Evidence: Noise Kandy 4, Kontraband, The Residue, and at least 50 incredible features with a who’s-who of the underground’s finest

6. Stove God Cook$

No one saw this coming....well, maybe Roc Marciano, Lord Jamar, Busta Rhymes and a few more NYC heads in the know - but I guarantee you, no one else saw the Stove God coming!

Bar for bar, no MC owned more rewind-worthy rap quotables in 2020 than Stove God Cook$. Dropping a solo debut with VERY little fanfare and zero features (apart from the steady, reliable guidance of Roc Marciano - low key one of hip-hop’s most reliable producers), a slow bubbling word of mouth campaign on social media eventually got Stove God verses exposed to more and more high profile ears. Such a grass roots campaign is rarely seen...I mean, a rap album slowly becoming a critical darling simply off the strength of more and more random folks discovering the music and Tweeting about it, as opposed to the buzz being calculated before the product??? It feels almost too good to be true these days, as early reviews of Reasonable Drought typically lead with something along the lines of, “hey, have you heard of this album? I have no idea who this is, but it is 🔥🔥🔥”

It has often been said that Roc Marciano has a lot of “sons” in the game, implying that Roc Marci gave birth to a style that a whole generation of underground MCs run with today. So it’s ironic (or perhaps highly appropriate?) that the next level of progression for Roc might be to have a protege, a young Jedi to carry on the tradition on Roc’s own terms, and become the next new star to be embraced by the old heads. But Stove God isn’t a clone of Roc, or anyone else, he’s simply one of the most exciting artists to hit the NYC underground in a generation. Everything from his word choice, to his fresh references and sense of humor, to his delivery and the way he structures his verses, feels like a collection of “firsts”, there’s simply no one sounding like him. And if his work in 2020 is any indication, he will continue to be in a league of his own for years to come.

Best Evidence: Reasonable Drought, spotlight snatching features alongside Roc Marciano and Griselda’s finest

7. Lil Baby

Once viewed by some as just another “Lil”, Lil Baby had been rollin’ coming into 2020, but by the end of 2020 it’s clear that he has arrived at the forefront of rap music’s most reliable hitmakers right now.

A must-have feature on any rap album reaching for max exposure, Lil Baby’s dexterous flow, charisma, and pen that is significantly sharper than early reports indicated, made him one of the few shining stars in 2020 to consistently deliver good rap music to what in any other year would have been considered smash hits in any club.

What makes Lil Baby’s music standout is that he could easily be a “cookie cutter” MC, phoning in verse after verse just to get another check, but instead he continues to bring it - trying to squeeze in an extra catchy lyric, maybe flow in a way that breaks up a verse to make it stand out from the pack a little more - and even when he is featured over cookie cutter beats that sound like every other trap inspired beats that came before it, Baby seems eager to prove something. I think that’s what I like about him - he’s on a short list of mainstream-bred Young Thug disciples that seem to really want to put the work in to becoming one of the greats.

Best Evidence: I mean...did any rap star have more songs in circulation this year? Dude was everywhere, but “The Bigger Picture” got his name officially into the lyricist conversation (even though personally I don’t even think it’s one of his more impressive records - at least not stylistically)

8. Westside Gunn

No one denies that the Griselda Records team had a banner year, yet somehow the vocal leader of the group managed to drop a handful of dope projects without receiving credit for being a great MC in his own right. Great artist, great album curator, great business man - sure, but great MC?? That credit is rarely given to the FLYGOD. He might not even understand how natural he is as a solo MC, waxing unpredictable flows and half-bars that stick in your mind in place of catchy hooks or predictable song structure. He might call himself an artist first, but I still call him one of the most prolific rappers today (regardless of whether he retires after the ball drops).

I can’t believe I have to tell rap fans this in the year 2020...but......you all know that message and punchlines are just part of the art of rapping, right...and not the only thing that defines who is a dope MC and who isn’t?? Play any solo cut from Westside Gunn and filter out the “doot-doot-doots” and stream of conscious hooks and what you are left with is one of the most distinctive voices in rap music, attempting off-kilter flows and phrases over some of the most impressive production in rap music today, and to me that sounds like my kind of rap music. What the Buffalo floor general lacks in diversity of subject matter he makes up for with a relentless imagination.

That’s why it’s not all that surprising to me that Westside Gunn enjoyed more mainstream attention in 2020 than he ever has before. All he needed was a window of exposure and he certainly capitalized on it, pitching his sound and his vision in all the right places, without compromising his style or vacating his lane. So strictly as a MC, I would consider him the Young Thug of the east coast underground scene, and if 2020 does turn out to be his final year of recording solo projects, I am thankful that he already has a long list of quality projects with high replay value to revisit again and again. But don’t wait - give this man his flowers now.

Best Evidence: “Euro Step”, “Rebirth”, “327″, “Shawn vs. Flair”, “Michael Irvin”, and YES he even had a more than worthy verse on “$500 Ounces” alongside Freddie Gibbs and Roc Marciano

9. Benny the Butcher

Who else is more reliable to deliver a dope feature verse than Benny?

By now you must be muttering at least a few things about me, so let me just make two points: YES, I am a big fan of Griselda records, but NO I do not consider that an unreasonable bias because even on paper according to a large variety of sources, it’s clear that Conway, Boldy James, Westside Gunn and Benny are true specialists when it comes to the quality of the work they distribute. Its not a fluke or a trend, they’re just that good at what they do...I have been saying this for almost 5 years now, but in 2020 the rest of you sleepy heads finally just stopped hitting snooze.

Benny the Butcher already possesses the writing capacity, attention to detail, and skills of observation/personal reflection to put himself within special company as one of the nicest pens in the business today. But in 2020, he dialed things up even higher...or perhaps word of mouth just finally caught up with the rest of his peers? The tribute to the classic Roc-A-Fella era that was his Burden of Proof project with Hit-Boy helped expose Benny to a much larger audience, and it has been beautiful to see so many more folks quoting and sharing his lyrics on Twitter, because I recall when he had about the same amount of Followers that I do, because it wasn’t all that long ago (I just hope they go back to experience all of his prior work - I’m still partial to his incredible verses on “Shower Shoe Lords” and “Pissy Work”)!

In my not so humble opinion, I do think some of the more dramatic pomp and circumstance on the BOP album was more suited to a Rick Ross or Meek Mill than Benny, so I’m actually more excited to hear what Benny has in store for 2021. He truly sounds at his best over more minimalistic production that lets his lyrics fill the spotlight...but still, tracks like “Timeless” and “Legend” do remind me of some of my favorite moments from old JAY-Z albums...blasphemous, maybe, but true.

A shot to the leg last month seems to have done nothing to slow his momentum, so if you didn’t board the bandwagon by now, you are inexcusably late.

Best Evidence: Burden of Proof, mercilessly slaughtering every verse on every Griselda projects, and a ton of show-stealing features

10. Drakeo the Ruler

What a journey it's been for the L.A. rising star.

Flexing a penchant for placing local slang into his music and delivering dark verses with a clear sense of humor, it's easy to see the appeal of Drakeo's style. If Thank You For Using GTL was an inspiring attempt to do anything possible to keep his buzz going (in that case, recording his verses over a prison phone), the quick release of We Know The Truth shortly after he regained his freedom seems to have given him a 50 Cent-esque teflon aura at the moment.

But this is about more than just Drakeo himself, it’s about what he represented before incarceration, and what he represents now. As one of the more visible forces in a new generation of west coast hip-hop, Drakeo was a few key features away from exploding onto the national scene. Now after surviving his ordeal, likely with a great deal more to write about, his ceiling has only been raised - and along with his growth potential, so rises the potential for the current rap scene out in L.A. right now. Mark my words: by this time next year Drakeo’s flow will be one of the most flagrantly jacked flows in rap music coast to coast.

A sincere welcome home from the rap world, Drakeo the Ruler. Hopefully the worst is now behind you. 🙏

Best Evidence: We Know The Truth, Free Drakeo, Thank You For Using GTL

*Honorable Mentions*:

Che Noir, Ka, Ransom, Billy Woods, Royce Da 5′9″, Jay Electronica, Fly Anakin, Curren$y, Lil Uzi Vert, Roc Marciano, Skyzoo, Black Thought, Tee Grizzley, Your Old Droog, Flee Lord, Lil Wayne

50 notes · View notes

sokkadora · 4 years ago

Text

tattooed heart; an ellie williams x fem!reader

chapter 3: a cold morning

masterlist here.

part summary: a tad bit of backstory on how joel, ellie, amelia and you met, seth being annoying, y/n and dina escapades, ellie apologizing for the kiss.

trigger warning: none .... i think

a/n: enjoy! and please check out my book safety net on wattpad! my account is @/CATRAMITYS <3333

- ☽ iii ༓ iii ☾ -

life in jackson could be described as fairly easy - slow and consistent. the people who were living there never actually left and there weren't many people that would move into the city. most people you've known since they were the ones living inside the walls ever since you had come there.

some of the children were born there, yet most of the people came to the settlement as the time passed, seeking protection from the fireflies, infected or bandits. and so far, so good. the settlement was started by maria, tommy's wife, and her father a long time ago. when tommy left the fireflies in search of a normal, peaceful life, he ran into wyoming, finding this place. before their hard work, it was quite hard to manage - they needed to protect the settlement, build walls around it and make sure the people in there were safe, yet the young married couple was way more ambitious.

they wanted to make the old hydroelectric power station work again and that was one of the settlement's biggest projects to date. and to the wonder of everyone, they made it work again, so jackson had a stable supply of electricity almost every day. except for huge storms, which you all were waiting for to end sitting in the dinner, telling each other stories in the light of candles and so. these occasions were fun.

the city was independent - you had your cattle, horses, hens, and pigs, you had women who could sew clothes and make fabrics, you had a few men who were capable of making a gun. also, your mechanics were capable of making a few old cars work if the things would get really bad. in spring and summer, you always made sure to harvest vegetables and fruits, hunting throughout the winter mostly. you had a school and a kind-of-a-cinema when you were bored. for existing in a post-apocalyptic world, jackson was fairly normal.

and though you never got to know your parents, you had amelia. this lady was pretty old in the time she found you — she wasn't that kind of a brutal survivor who would bash someone's skull, twist her knife inside someone's body, or shoot them dead. she was the quiet traveler who was purposely avoiding big cities, who was traveling through woods and walked among rivers to see where her road will lead her. from the moment you bumped into each other, you became friends. family even. but once you got bit, she almost shot you. until she found out you were immune.

you and amelia didn't know what to do, but once amelia caught word of an old man and a 14-year-old immune girl traveling to the fireflies in salt lake city, you two went to find them. it took a few months to find them, the two of you almost giving up after taking shelter in what you thought was an abandoned apartment in pittsburgh.

SUMMER OF 2033:

"y/n, in here." amelia called for you quietly, gesturing to the apartment inside. you nodded, glancing behind you before quickly moving inside and locking the door.

you let out a sigh of relief, readjusting your ponytail and checking out the apartment. amelia jumped in front of you, pulling out her handgun, "get behind me, sugar." she whispered, softly moving towards the bedroom where she heard noises.

once she opened the door, the two of you aimed your guns at the people inside, two dark skinned boys, one around your age at the time and an older man with a red haired girl also around your age.

"amelia, they're not bad." you say, lowering your gun slowly to look at them better. the older woman glances at you before putting her gun down too.

the young man steps forward with his hand outstretched towards you, "i'm henry, who are you?" he asks nervously, glancing

you look up at him, then glance at amelia. she nods, signaling that it's okay, "i'm y/n." you respond with a small smile.

henry grins a bit, gesturing to the others, "we all just met but, this is joel," he starts, gesturing to the older man in the flannel, "this is ellie, and this is my little brother sam." henry finishes, gesturing to the girl and the boy.

"amelia and y/n." amelia introduces, gesturing to her then you. "sorry for the, uh, abrupt entrance. we thought this apartment was empty." she laughs nervously, fidgeting with the hem of her shirt.

"no worries. we were about to head out anyway." henry starts, beginning to walk out. "wait, would you two like to come with us?" we're planning on getting out of this city tonight."

you and amelia look at each other before she turns her head towards the henry again, "i don't thi—"

"amelia, c'mon! safety in numbers, remember." you remind her, crossing your arms over your chest and looking at her knowingly.

the woman scoffs and shakes her head, looking at her lap for a moment, "fine, okay, we'll join you guys."

upon leaving the apartment, you, sam, and ellie began to talk to each other. once you found out she was 14, like the immune girl, you went up to amelia while you were waiting in henry's "office".

"amelia, can i talk to you for a second?" you whisper to her, gesturing to a quieter spot. amelia's eyebrows furrow in confusion as she looks away from the outside to you, nodding.

once in a quieter spot, you tell amelia your hypothesis about ellie and joel, them being the two you’ve been searching the country for, "no, no way. they're probably just father and daughter."

"don't daughters usually call their fathers dad instead of their actual names?" you ask her, irritated while your arms fold over your chest. amelia stares at you blankly, hands resting on her knees. "this is the man and the immune girl we're searching for, amelia. we have to tell—"

"guys?" a voice calls into the room, making yours and amelia's head shoot towards the sound. it's sam. "henry says it's time to go." sam tells you two awkwardly.

amelia sighs heavily, rising from her place on the desk and looking at you, "you and i will finish this conversation later."

that conversation never went as well as you hoped, you and ellie finding out that you both are immune in the radio station during a slow game of truth or dare. neither of you knew what it was, but henry gave you the basic gist of it.

ellie was thrilled to know she wasn't the only immune person, and she wasn't alone in that area. after losing henry and sam the morning after, you four headed off to find joel's brother, tommy in wyoming after finding a car.

after finding tommy and heading to the university of eastern colorado, things only got more rough from there. joel and amelia both got impaled, barely making it out of the science building alive before getting on their horses and passing out. resulting in you and ellie panicking before getting yourselves together and finding a nearby town to stay at for the winter.

during that winter, you encountered david, and his friend carl. you and ellie almost lost your lives after getting captured by them, then joel and amelia swooped in saving you and ellie from becoming the monsters you both fear.

the rest of the journey carried into the spring, you, joel, ellie, and amelia becoming much closer during the time from winter to spring. once you all got to the firefly hospital and joel and amelia found out what the cost for the vaccine was, they saved you and ellie.

you both had become to loved and valuable to them, neither wanting to bear the loss of another child. and they lied to you both to keep you safe. so after they took out most of the fireflies in the hospital, including their leader, marlene, you all headed back to tommy's, to jackson.

you and ellie both stopped the elders before entering jackson, "hey, wait." ellie called, looking to you for a bit of comfort.

amelia and joel turned around, looking at the two of you. you bit your lip as ellie started talking, "back in boston — back when i was bitten... i wasn't alone." she reveals, glancing between joel and amelia.

"my best friend, riley, was there and she got bit too." ellie tells everyone.

"and i was with my best friend, carly." you tell the group, fidgeting with your fingers. "we didn't know what to do. so, she says 'let's just wait it out. y'know we can be all poetic and lose our minds together. we're still waiting for our turn."

"then it was tess." ellie states, fidgeting with her fingers anxiously.

"then henry and sam—" you continue the statement for her.

"none of that is on you." amelia states, stepping a bit closer to you and ellie.

"no, you don't understand." ellie says sadly, rubbing her face.

joel suddenly steps forward, "i struggled for a long time with survivin', and you-" he briefly clutches his watch. "no matter what, you keep finding something to fight for. now, i know that's not what you want to hear right now but it's—"

you shake your head, looking away before turning back at joel, "swear to us." you interrupt, looking between the two adults seriously. "swear to us that everything that you said about the fireflies is true."

joel and amelia look between you and ellie with a hesitant look, "we swear." she says to you two, placing a hand on joel's shoulder.

you and ellie take a pause, processing everything before looking back at amelia and joel, nodding, "okay." you say together.

MARCH 2ND, 2038:

that was how you got into jackson. the first months there were pretty weird to you - the city had rules, schedule and they gave you food every morning, midday and evening, calling it breakfast, lunch, and dinner. the first week, you spent with vomiting since your food wasn't used to eat regularly. it was also pretty hard trying to trust strangers before you realized they don't mean you any harm. amelia was immediately capable of working at their farm with their animals, while you were getting the jobs like cleaning up mess or help in the kitchen - which meant that you didn't see each other that much.

- ☽ ♡ ༓ ♡ ☾ -

but after last night you and ellie went your ways after the talk with joel and amelia. there were many exchanged glances as she walked you home although you insisted you were fine. when you stood in the doorway of your house, ellie kissed your cheek before waving goodbye shyly.

a knock wakes you out of your sleep, groaning as you sit up and walk to the door, "just a minute! geez." you call out, walking to the door while scratching the back of your neck tiredly.

once you open it, you see dina. your other best friend, "hey dina." you yawn, squeezing the door handle as you look at your friend who's already dressed. "oh shit-"

"yep. hurry up and get ready, stupid." dina grins, stepping inside and sitting on your couch as you head into the bathroom with a new set of clothes. "maria also wants to talk to you."

stepping out of the bathroom, you reload your pistol and grab your switchblade that joel made you, "alright, dina, let's go."

she nods, opening the door as both of you step out into the cold air, "are joel and amelia up yet? or ellie?" you ask curiously.

"tommy and amelia went out early for patrol. something about a herd or infected up north, i don't know where joel is, and ellie, is still asleep. like ellie." dina tells you as you nod in understanding, chuckling at the last part of her sentence. "are you four... good?"

you glance up at her, sighing, "yeah, i guess so." you shrug, looking away and itching your nose.

once you and dina get downtown, she leads you into a restaurant, "this way." she says, motioning towards the nearly empty restaurant.

once you two enter, dina walks away to socialize with the others. you glance at her anxiously as she just smirks, shooing you in maria's direction.

"hey, y/n! over here!" maria calls from across the bar, making you groan and walk over unenthusiastically.

you walk to maria, "yes?" you ask, rubbing your face with your gloved hands.

"seth has something he wants to say to you." maria tells you, glancing towards the kitchen.

you glare at maria, irritated, "i don't wanna hear what that bigot has to say."

maria looks at you with an unreadable expression, "do it for me, please?" she asks gently.

you scan her face over, and sigh, resting your foot on a small crate, "fine."

"seth! seth, come here." maria calls towards the kitchen.

"fuck me." you mutter under your breath, as you look up.

seth walks out of the kitchen sheepishly, with something in his hands, "hey. look last night, i was drinking too much." seth starts, making you scoff quietly.

"sure." you say in disbelief, crossing your arms as you rest your right leg on the stool next to you.

"i'm trying to say i'm sorry!" seth exclaims, getting more irritated with you. "maria tells me that you and dina are heading out." he tells you, making you glance back at dina. "i made you two some sandwiches." he reveals.

seth places the sandwiches on the bar counter, giving them a pat before scooching them towards you.

"okay." you mumble, staring at him awkwardly.

"they're steak." seth informs you, gesturing towards the sandwiches you haven't taken yet.

maria gets tired of the awkward silence as she takes the sandwiches as she shoves them into your chest, "thank you, seth." she says assertively, scaring seth back into the kitchen.

turning around with the sandwiches, you bump into dina, "what've you got there?" she asks curiously as you shove the sandwiches into her hands.

"some... surprisingly decent looking bigot sandwiches." you scoff, dusting off your pants while looking around the outside room.

dina lifts them to her nose, taking a whiff, "they smell absolutely scrumptious." she says in a fake posh accent, making you laugh as she secretly throws them away.

"come on you two, time to go." maria calls from the doorway of the restaurant, gesturing to the outside. "y/n, i need to talk to you for a minute before i head back inside."

you stop next to maria, gesturing for dina to go ahead without you as she closes the door, "are you amelia and joel good?" maria asks quietly, making you roll your eyes. "they seemed to be in a better mood this morn—"

"we're fine maria." you interrupt her, your eyes closing in annoyance as you're getting tired of this question.

the blonde woman puts her hands up, "just wanted to make sure. i worry y'know." she chuckles, bringing you into a short embrace. you nods, pulling away, "go find dina." she tells you heading into the restaurant as you head on your way.

you find dina and overhear how she's about to start a snowball fight with a bunch of the kids. you sneak up behind the kids, snowball in hand. dina glances up and spots you, making you put a finger over your mouth to shush her. she looks back at the kids, egging them on as you come up and headshot a girl named, isabella.

this made the kids go feral, sending them to one side of the playground as you and dina hid on the other side, laughing your asses off.

you and dina played with the kids for around fifteen minutes before you heard ellie's voice. you turned around and saw jesse, waving politely at him before returning to the game.

"dina! come on! you and i are paired for patrol today." jesse calls out to his ex, making her roll her eyes before heading out of the playground, following jesse.

"hey, y/n! can i talk to you?" a familiar voice called, you turn your head to see ellie. you smile and wave at her before putting the snowball fight on a pause so you could talk to her.

"hey." you say breathlessly, tucking a strand of hair behind your ear.

"hey." ellie responds awkwardly, tapping on the wooden fence.

"i just wanna say sorry for ditching you after the... thing last night." ellie apologizes, making you tilt your head in confusion.

"oh, no, it's okay. i totally get it. i- i just- i felt bad." you tell her, looking at her apologetically while fidgeting with your fingers.

ellie shakes her head lightly, "why?"

"because, i started the whole thing and i... i just shouldn't have kissed you in front all those people and—"

"no! it's okay, you were drunk." ellie says, laughing off the light embarrassment.

"well, still i don't want you to think—" you start before ellie interrupts your once more, making you chuckle lightly.

"no, i'm not reading into it or anything." ellie tells you, making you shake your head.

you look up at ellie, smiling softly, "you know what i love about you?" you start, making ellie blush a little. "how you let me finish my sentences."

ellie chuckles, shaking her head, "alright. well, we should probably get going." you nod, before a snowball nails ellie right in the shoulder. "ow!"

you turn around angrily, glaring at the kids, "what the fuck?!" you exclaims at them, making them giggle.

"i'm not even playing!" ellie yells at them.

"cause you're a chicken?" one of the kids yells out, making the rest taunt ellie playfully.

"i hate those kids so much." ellie mutters to you irritated, making you look at her mischievously.

"you wanna fuck 'em up?" you ask evilly, giving ellie a side glance.

ellie looks to see if anyone's coming before nodding, "yeah, i do." ellie leaps over the fence as you both start playfully shouting at them.

"you asked for it!" you yell at them.

"you better run you little shits!" ellie exclaims, you and her taking cover behind a structure.

the game was the first to ten hits wins, it took you and ellie a minute, but you beat to little shits 10/3.

"no fair!" isabella whines, wiping the snow off her coat.

you spread your arms out victoriously, "eat it shrimps! how's it feel?" you brag to them, making them all run up and tackle you. "you'll never get away with this!" you yell happily as they dog pile on you before ellie comes and rips one off.

"get off of her you little monsters!" the red haired girl exclaims, making them scurry away before helping you up.

"i guess i asked for that huh?" you ask your friend, heading towards the gate.

"yep." she deadpans at you, making you smile. you both exit the playground, heading to the stables. "so, jesse wants us to do the creek trails. he's gonna relieve amelia and tommy."

"oh, okay. that's nice he assigned us together." you tell ellie, greeting the lady at the front of the stables. "you're gonna like this one."

someone yells to you and ellie they'll take your horses in so you can grab them. yelling out a quick thanks, you head over to grab your horse, moon. walking to the east gate, you pet his neck, greeting him.

"look who decided to join us." jesse tease you and ellie, making you roll your eyes.

"ha ha, you're so funny." you tease back, elbowing him gently in the side and taking your rifle from him.

"open it up!" he yells up at the gate keepers. "settle down. alright. you all know the drill." he assumes, looking to all the patrol groups. "run your routes, mark your logbooks, clear any infected you see. you run into anything you can't handle, you come back." jesse tells everyone. "be smart about it. alright, get going."

you and ellie glance at each other with a small nod, getting on your horses and riding off towards the creek trails.

#the last of us #ellie williams #the last of us part 2 #joel miller #tlou2 #gamingedit #the last of us 2 #tlou #tlouedit #elliexreader #oc #joel x reader #dina x reader

32 notes · View notes

wazafam · 4 years ago

Link

While he claims to not be a serial killer, Saw villain Jigsaw is one of the most effective murderers in horror, though there have been a few victims that have escaped his grasp. Of course, were one to ask John Kramer himself, back when he was alive, anyway, he would've insisted that what he did wasn't murder. Instead, John used the Jigsaw identity to help wayward and damaged people reform, learning to have a new appreciation for life by making a sacrifice of blood and flesh to survive.

In reality, Jigsaw's twisted methods are impossible to condone. His games are nothing more than a sick vigilante taking punishment into his own hands. John may have been a decent man once upon a time, but the loss of his unborn son and the dissolution of his marriage, coupled with the terminal cancer eating away at him, eventually sapped every last bit of true humanity from his heart. No decent person could do what he does to people and not go mad.

Related: Is Jigsaw In Spiral? Saw Villain Future Explained

For the Saw fans, though, there's no reason to hate John, as in fiction, the normal bounds of morality don't necessarily apply. Many of the people Jigsaw targets are far from sympathetic characters, and watching them get theirs can be a form of catharsis. Sometimes though, the players of Jigsaw's games have survived to tell the tale. Here are all of the survivors of Jigsaw's games.

Amanda Young (Shawnee Smith) was the first known survivor of a Jigsaw trap, in her case the infamous reverse bear trap. To free herself, she had to kill a man and retrieve the key to the device on her face from inside his stomach. As traumatic as it was, Amanda then kicked her drug addiction and ended up joining John as his first confirmed apprentice, designed to help Jigsaw's work continue despite John's failing health. Sadly, she lost her way and began designing inescapable traps. John tested her again, and she failed, dying in the process.

Not everyone who gets mixed up in Jigsaw's games is a particular target of his wrath. In some cases, they're just those close to the main test subject, such as the wife and daughter of Dr. Lawrence Gordon (Cary Elwes). Dr. Gordon, of course, famously survived his test in the first Saw movie by sawing off his own foot. Meanwhile, his wife Alison and daughter Diana survived their own captivity at the hands of Zep, a man forced into working for Jigsaw. Lawrence would go on to survive and become another Jigsaw apprentice, as revealed in Saw 7.

Jeff Ridenhour is a very minor character in Saw lore, but still a memorable one. In Jeff's case, he didn't necessarily deserve to survive his Jigsaw test, but was saved by Detectives David Tapp (Danny Glover) and Steven Sing (Ken Leung). Doing so led to dire consequences for the cops, though – so perhaps the tradeoff wasn't exactly fair.

Related: Saw 2's Venus Fly Trap Mask Was The First Hint At Dr. Gordon Twist

Daniel Matthews was tested much less due to his own petty crimes, and more because he was the son of Eric Matthews (Donnie Wahlberg), an explosively violent cop who was Saw 2's primary Jigsaw target. Eric survived being placed in a group of people who had been wrongly convicted of crimes thanks to his father, but was then placed inside a safe to be used as leverage for Eric's test. Daniel survived, but Eric didn't come out intact.

Corbett Denlon and Judge Halden are two minor Saw 3 characters who were pulled into Jigsaw's games with Jeff Denlon in Saw 3. Halden was the man who gave the drunk driver that killed Jeff's son a light sentence. To save Halden, Jeff had to burn cherished mementos connected to his son. Halden later died trying to help Jeff save his son's killer from a trap. Corbett, Jeff's young daughter, was "saved" by Jigsaw apprentice Mark Hoffman after Jeff failed his test.

Easily the most dangerous and sadistic of Jigsaw's apprentices, Detective Mark Hoffman (Costas Mandylor) ended up working for John Kramer after faking a Jigsaw murder in order to kill the man who had taken his sister's life. Seeing Hoffman's potential, but not appreciating being ripped off, John offered him a chance to join the cause. Hoffman continued the games long after John's death but got tested for the first time himself via his own reverse bear trap thanks to John's widow, Jill. Hoffman survived and killed Jill, but later lost for good against Dr. Gordon.

FBI Agent Peter Strahm (Scott Patterson), along with his partner Lindsey Perez, investigated the Jigsaw case, and both ultimately died as a result, but not before escaping at least one of Jigsaw's traps. Strahm instantly suspected Hoffman was in on things, and that didn't change following his own escape from a Jigsaw trap that involved an improvised pen tracheotomy to avoid drowning in a box locked on his head. Still, his dogged pursuit of the truth cost him dearly, as he was later crushed to death by the encroaching walls of a room, while Hoffman smugly escaped the area.

Related: Why Saw Has The Greatest Horror Movie Twist Ending Of All Time

Strahm's partner Agent Perez survived a nasty Jigsaw trap involving an exploding puppet sending shrapnel into her face thanks to the efforts of Strahm himself. The FBI faked her death in order to try and get one over on John's still unidentified Jigsaw accomplice, although Perez eventually resurfaced, only to get stabbed to death by Hoffman when his crimes were revealed.

Art Blank (Justin Louis) was one of the featured Jigsaw test subjects in Saw 4, and was chosen due to his profession. Art was a lawyer, and one with a habit of defending clients who were guilty as sin and helping them escape justice. Art had been John's friend and business partner, but after a falling out, was forced to kill another man in order to survive a trap. He was then forced to help Jigsaw set up another game, only to later be shot by cop Daniel Rigg. Morgan was a related survivor, the wife of an abusive husband and father that Art had gotten off. She had to kill her husband to live and to set herself free in more ways than one.

Brit Stevenson (Julie Benz) was one of the main test subjects in Saw 5, a corrupt corporate executive who hired an arsonist to burn down an apartment building so that she could buy the property it sat on, not realizing people were inside at the time. None of the victims in Saw 5 were without sin, but Brit and Mallick Scott, the arsonist, managed to survive multiple traps on their way to victory and rescue by the FBI.

Tara and Brent Abbott were a quite innocent mother and son who got roped into Jigsaw's Saw 6 game, which revolved around heartless insurance executive William Easton. Easton denied their husband/father live-saving care, and after Easton survived his own tests, his fate was left up to them. Tara couldn't bring herself to kill Easton, but Brent did it, instead, in a rage over his father's death.

Related: Why The Most Disturbing Saw Trap Isn't Actually The Needle Pit

The corrupt exec William Easton (Peter Outerbridge) survived his own tests, although not without having to make agonizing decisions along the way, including which of his also mostly corrupt employees he would save. Easton's company had also denied John Kramer potentially life-saving treatment, thus his posthumous vendetta. William opted to save his secretary, Addy, as well as other subordinates, Shelby and Emily. He was also able to save his sister Pamela by completing his game, but couldn't survive the vengeful Abbots.

Bobby Dagen (Sean Patrick Flanery) became a successful self-help guru on the back of surviving a Jigsaw trap and then writing a book about it, or at least that's his claim. None of it is true, leading him to become the main test subject of Saw 7. Bobby has to watch his wife get roasted alive in a giant oven, although he does manage to escape with his own life. Joan is a very brief character in the franchise, a Jigsaw survivor whose story Bobby uses as inspiration for his lies.

In Saw 7, Bobby Dagen chaired a support group of Jigsaw survivors, although unlike him, their stories were real. Mallick Scott survived alongside Brit Stevenson in Saw 5, losing most of his blood in the process. Simone chopped off her own arm to survive a "pound of flesh" trap in Saw 6. Brad and Ryan had to choose between killing each other, or the girlfriend who had been cheating on them both, and they chose her. Sidney had to send her abusive boyfriend into lawnmower blades. Addy and Emily from Easton's company, were also group members, as were Dr. Lawrence Gordon, and Tara Abbott.

Logan Nelson (Matt Passmore) was an Army veteran and battlefield medic who was tested after his return to civilian life saw him mess up an X-ray and accidentally delay the diagnosis of John's cancer. Logan's trap went wrong, though, and since it was John's fault, he took pity on Logan and freed him. Grateful, Logan became an apprentice and conducted the games seen in 2017's Jigsaw.

Spiral: From the Book of Saw recently continued Jigsaw's legacy, albeit with a new killer and 100 percent less John Kramer. The only test survivor in Spiral is lead protagonist Zeke Banks (Chris Rock), seemingly the one honest cop in a corrupt department full of liars and killers. Granted, he clearly wasn't intended to die, as new killer William Schenk wanted them to join forces and clean up the city. Zeke is able to free himself from a handcuff trap similar to the one in the first Saw movie and ends up getting cut up by glass trying to save his old corrupt partner. Zeke lives, but his former police chief father isn't so lucky.

More: Spiral 2: What To Expect

Saw: Every Character Who Survived A Jigsaw Trap (And What Came Next) from https://ift.tt/3tUCVkh

#Blogger

2 notes · View notes