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kavinsps · 2 years ago

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ETH 2.0, NFT, regulation, metaverse and more perspectives for 2023

The year 2022 was one of the most turbulent for all financial markets. In addition to the continued hikes in interest rates by the US Federal Reserve, central banks around the world began to follow the example of what was happening in the US, raising their own rates to try to slow down inflation and reduce economic volatility.

ETH 2.0 The ‘The Merge’ upgrade is the long-awaited migration of Ethereum from its current “Proof-of-work” mechanism to a “Proof-of-stake” system. The merger actually occurs through a two-step process, which has been dubbed ‘the Bellatrix & Paris updates’.

NFTs. NFTs have become an integral part of the crypto world, and now NFT has evolved from a pure PFP project to a much more advanced one, combining gaming and meta-universe, all to form a new NFT+ decentralized funding model.

Regulations :

NFT development services Faced with the plummeting prices of digital assets that the bankruptcy of FTX is causing, the sector itself is trying to find solutions, even acknowledging the need for regulatory formulas. Regulations are going to be the name of the game in 2023. With this context, I believe that it will no longer even be optional whether or not the regulator should take intervention measures in the industry.

From the very beginning, we have prioritized the security of our clients’ assets, as all user funds stored in Trubit & Trubit Pro are held 1:1 and are available for withdrawal at any time. We have never refused nor will we refuse on that point. As the crypto ecosystem emerges from infancy to adolescence, we are more confident that it will continue to be the central pillar of how we run our exchange business.

In the year 2022, the industry exposed many problems with Centralized Finance (CeFi). This will set the cryptocurrency industry back for some time. We will definitely expect more regulations in the crypto market and we believe that this is not a bad thing as it will bring a healthier environment for users in the long run.

Layer2 . The biggest event in Layer2 in 2022 was the issuance of OP by the main Optimistic Rollup protocol, Optimism, driving growth along with the Layer2 segment against general market conditions. The total number of Optimism addresses increased by 7%, from 327,000 to 350,000.

GameFi . With 1 million active users and 4.72 million registered users with up to $122.5 million in earnings in a quarter, STEPN was one of the most notable projects of GameFi and Play To Earn. But STEPN eventually bottlenecked, and fell into a death spiral, burying the Play to Earn boom in 2022.

The advantages of a multi-chain network are:

Cross-Chain security, fast confirmation and greater composability; Each sub chain performs specialized execution and application, forming a Dapp-specific chain that provides unbiased performance. Therefore, Multi Chain is an open source blockchain platform that allows users to build and deploy private blockchain applications that work within or between companies.

Metaverse :The Internet is currently an oligopoly. Most of the social media giants make huge profits by monopolizing user data. They can also change the rules of the game at any time, which denies the original spirit of the Internet, where transparency and sharing were the main principles. When it comes to building Web 3.0 and developing a large-scale creator economy in the Metaverse, we need a new social infrastructure that incorporates the original elements of the Internet.

Outlook 2023 — Where are we going? For the next 2023, where are we going? We listed a few things we should pay attention to in the coming year.

Crypto-native neobanks: Most banks do not seamlessly bridge the worlds of traditional banking and cryptocurrencies. In particular, many people living in LATAM find it difficult to even have their own bank accounts. Crypto-native banks should be able to allow users to manage their money seamlessly with the union of the traditional and the crypto world.

Cryptocurrency payments: Cryptocurrency payments naturally solve certain difficult scenarios in the global economy. Today, users still do not expect transparency and timely payment flows. We expect that in the next few years some new crypto-based creator monetization tools will break out, so we will see more cases of crypto-enabled payments.

Zero-Knowledge: We will see significant cases of adoption and use of Zero-Knowledge technology, which essentially uses testers, verifiers, and mathematical algorithms. NFT development company Since blockchains are inherently transparent, ZK (Zero-Knowledge) technology can be very useful for blockchains, allowing for more on-chain interaction in a private way. It would be great to see more zk tests that fill in the gaps in the multidimensional space of these tradeoffs.

Real-World Assets: Cryptocurrencies symbolically represent Real World Assets (RWA) and will allow for a great deal of liquidity and utility. Stablecoins are by far the most popular application of RWA in crypto markets such as USDC and DAI, remaining blue-chip stablecoins with low volatility throughout the bear market. Therefore, 2023 will bring growth in Real World Assets applications such as loans and real estate transactions.

#NFT development services #NFT development company #NFT development solutions

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aisla229 · 4 years ago

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Finished the first arc of the tabletop rpg game I’m GMing, I can finally post all the art! More about the worldbuilding under the cut:

Sauris is a white moon who’s visible surface is mostly composed of clouds. It orbeting around a gas giant, Caelophy. Millenias ago one of the pieces of the crust rolled over in the sea, exposing its side to the sunlight above, past the violent chemically active (and colorful) clouds inbetween. Life boomed on the continent, giving birth to complexe lifeforms such as plants and animals. Currently, civilisation is on the verge of an industrialisation, with a wide and diverse range of trades, for the first time spanning the massive and entire continent.

The active Inner Cloud layer, in an event called the Cloud’s Shift, can burst outwards. When it touches the continent it is believed to be the cause of creation of magic, causing all kinds of odds events as well, like making felines walk on two legs, plants change color, or give mysterious abilities to hidden creatures.

Any magic needs to be cast with a magic circle, each categorised by naturally occuring sigils at the centers. There is 13 known sigils, each named and tide to the planets and moons of Sauro. However tides are about to move, with a few wary travellers coming across a 14th unknown sigil, with the only proof of it being a reserved kid and a suspicious necklace.

Dinosaurs are the prominent life form on Sauris, with only a few mammals (mostly rodents and our beloved humanoids), fish in the rivers, and giant insects in the bogs. Here is a world where dinosaurs are found as locomotion, pets, food, and terrifying predators. It being very cold on Sauris, all year round, they also all rock some fluffy feather/proto-feathers coats.

The seasons no Sauris, are divided into two summers and two winters, spending a large portion of the year partially obscured of Sauro by Caelophy. The highest temperature is around 10°C , and the lowest -30°C

Here on the continent:

- The Tower of Almonious: A distant land discovered by a great sorcerer who has constructed a massive tower on top. Not much is known to the common people of Sauris, and stays inaccessible even today.

- Pol Malleo: An Active volcano, that unlike the ones on Earth does not eject lava, but a hot water-like liquid. Said liquid, named Azura, has a bright blue-turquoise color that glows a powerful green when it comes in contact with certain gases. The jets can go as high as 50 km high in the sky, forming a long colorful trail as it floats away.When an eruption occurs during Altieme, the droplets of liquid tend to freeze instantly in contact with the cold air, forming icicles that drop on the land below, often causing great problems as they bullet the surface.

- Tiacus Mire: It is currently the land in which resides the biggest city of Sauris; Aegyp. It also has the biggest lake: Great Ophora. During Primaestas, the majority of its land gets flooded, creating humid bogs, prospice to massive creatures, such as insects, Spinosaurus, and water dwellers like the massive mosasaurus.

- The Isles of Breviq: It probably has the most unique land shapes of the entire Continent. Long, relatively thin pillars of land have slowly come apart from the main land mass over many centuries, resulting in its numerous islands appearing to float between the clouds. The people of Breviq are known for having tamed the difficult beasts of the sky; riding pterosaurs.

- Pol Incus: The tallest mountain of Sauris, and so the tallest point of the entire moon. Its difficult climb has challenged many minds to reach its freezing top where the air grows thin. Temples and even old artefacts lie across the peaks or hidden under it’s rocks, proving the curiosity this mountain has always inspired.

- Thyreophor: The biggest land of Sauris. Thyreophor is most defined by its lush forests with massive trees and year-long colorful plants capable of holding under massive amounts of snow. It still holds the title of largest population in total.

- The Sdomorphia Wild Plains: Long stretches of grass and brush-like plants extend for as far as the eye can see. Sdomorphia is the land of nomads and the biggest of the animal kingdom: the Sauropods. It might not contain many streams or lakes, but it’s vast stretches borrow perfectly for herd hunting.

- The Austro Tundra: Unlike the other more South lands of Sauris, the Austro Tundra’s soil never melts away. Its rock-solid earth and ice makes it difficult to build houses on, but it has not stopped villages from sprouting even on the coldest land.The Austro Tundra is the land of Theropods, having the biggest number of raptors alike, many of which have prized feather coats.

- The Coelorus Coast: It has some of the biggest rate of precipitation of Sauris, standing on the right side of Pol Malleo against the strong air currents brushing the clouds below. Perhaps from the warmth created by Pol Malleo, the snow in Coelorus tends to melt a lot quicker than the other lands, and with the high amount of rivers and streams lining the soils, it also is one of the most fertile places. The steep sides of the volcano create perfect ranges for step agriculture, and primarily corn and rice.

- Cephalia: It currently has the title of the land with the biggest number of farm-land. Cephalia is often defined as the most friendly populace. With its loudest voices being farmers and workers, it has a particular streak of freedom and carelessness attached to its name.

- The Shantung Sway: A land carrying its own ecosphere, the people of Shantung have remained centuries without connection to the rest of Sauris. The current path to its land is extremely recent and trades have yet to be initiated. Apart from a very few explorers that have left Shantung to see the lands, and all described as fairly eccentric, interactions have been minimal so far.Shantung has been described as odd and fairy tale-like. With plants that glow in the dark, upside-down trees that prevent snow from reaching the ground, and weird spiky structured rocks. With bizarre animals, dinosaurs naked without feathers, small floating octopus creatures, and long leg-less organisms that slithered like tree branches.

- The Tenonto Canyon: The great divider between Malleo and Incus, the canyon expands down as far as can see, battered with wild winds and dangerous looking tornadoes beneath the clouds. A single bridge has been built on the closest edges, where the trade route quickly bustled with life, and ultimately created Mer, an unique city split in two across each side, one in the Tiacus Mire and the other in Thyreophor.

I’d like to say a big thank you to the players for being so patient and being so invested in this world i created, I love you guys. And thanks to anyone who actually read this!

#long post #doodles #dinosaur #austroraptor #protoceratops #avaceratops #worldbuilding #fantasy world #fantasy #DnD #dungeons and dragons #tabletop rpg #my art #I'm trying to make a summary of this 35+ pages doc OH BOI

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pocketseizure · 3 years ago

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A Noble Pursuit

None of the lessons from the Gerudo Classroom have prepared Rhondson for married life with Hudson, who has grown restless and disappeared from Tarrey Town a year after its founding. She travels to the Akkala Citadel Ruins to hunt for her husband while reflecting on the bridges that will need to be rebuilt in order for Hyrule to embrace a peaceful future.

This story about archaeology, castles, ruins, cultural differences, giant monster friends, and what it means “to live happily ever after” was written for @memorabiliazine, and it’s also on AO3 (here). The accompanying illustrations are by the stylish scholar @pocketwei.

. . . . . . . . . .

This wasn’t the first time Rhondson had set off on a husband hunt.

It was late summer, almost a year after the ghost of the Great Calamity vanished from the castle. Most of Hyrule was still green, but the first touches of red and gold had already begun to appear on the trees of Akkala. It was chilly when Rhondson left Tarrey Town, but the morning fog had lifted and the sky was crystal clear.

Rhondson had always enjoyed mornings. Most people woke up early in the desert and took a nap during the worst heat of the afternoon so that they could stay up late into the evening. Rhondson kept the same schedule in Tarrey Town, a practice that Hudson found inexplicably upsetting. He complained, almost every day now, that she never went to bed with him. He insisted that a man and his wife should fall asleep together. Rhondson explained that she enjoyed sewing by lamplight at night, when the world is quiet and even the plainest thread shines like gold, but he refused to understand.

Hudson had recently grown restless. Perhaps it was because of the tension in their relationship, or perhaps it was only the change of season, but he left Tarrey Town one afternoon and never returned. Ashai’s classes hadn’t prepared Rhondson for this. They’d talked so much about how to catch a man, but never about how to keep him. She wondered if other vai had the same problem. All of the romances she read when she was younger ended with a “happily ever after,” but what was supposed to happen the next day? And the day after that?

All things considered, Rhondson was content with her life in Tarrey Town. Her feelings about the settlement had been ambiguous at first. The location was out-of-the-way, to say the least, but the town received more visitors than she’d expected. The son of the two Sheikah researchers who lived in an old lighthouse up on the northern cliffs made his living as a traveling merchant of fine clothing, and he saw to it that Rhondson always had work. Tarrey Town was unique in its appeal as a marketplace for goods from all over Hyrule, and Hudson’s brightly painted modular houses had become something of a tourist attraction. He’d been flooded with orders for summer rental homes, and a satellite community had sprung up on the other side of the bridge to satisfy the demand.

Hudson managed to keep himself busy, but he seemed to harbor doubts about establishing Tarrey Town on such a small island. To make matters worse, many of the people who’d come to town for the summer were starting to drift away as the days became shorter. Perhaps they were worried about Akkala’s infamous autumn thunderstorms. Rhondson happened to enjoy the heavy rains, whose gale winds and lightning crashes reminded her of the sandstorms back home, but she understood how the violent weather and sudden drop in temperature might put off people who weren’t accustomed to the climate. She’d camped at more than a few oasis waystations during her travels, and she knew it was perfectly natural for the population of a place like Tarrey Town to wax and wane with the season.

Rhondson tried to explain to Hudson how it was normal for people to come and go. Many of the town residents were nomadic by nature, she said, and they had no excuse not to indulge their wanderlust now that it was safe to travel. Hudson adamantly refused to listen. He insisted that a man’s home was his castle. But why not have two castles, Rhondson objected. And people would come back next summer, she reasoned. They’d had to hire new workers to perform upkeep on the vacation homes during the winter, after all, so it wasn’t as though the population was shrinking. If he was feeling ambitious, she added with a wink, they might be able to add their own contribution to the town’s population.

“I’m just not sure how long this town will last,” Hudson replied, ending the conversation with a sigh.

His admission put Rhondson ill at ease, and she couldn’t help recalling Hudson’s anxiety when she realized that he hadn’t come home during the night. “Sometimes you have to treat voe like children,” Ashai had once explained. “There will be times when they take action without thinking about how it will affect you, but it’s likely that their behavior comes from simple thoughtlessness, not spite.” Rhondson didn’t know about that. She’d met enough silly and immature vai in her life to understand that voe didn’t have a monopoly on being pigheaded. Still, if Hudson had gone out and gotten himself lost, purposefully or otherwise, she might as well go find him.

Rhondson set out from Tarrey Town and walked due south, pacing herself as she made her way up the gentle slope of the hills leading to Upland Zorana. Once the mountains began in earnest, she turned west at the road leading to the old stone quarry and kept going until she could see the waterfalls at the source of Lake Akkala.

She’d crossed the Sokkala Bridges when she first came to Tarrey Town instead of taking the longer road to the north, and she was just as impressed by them now as she was then. The log bridges were simple structures, really, not much more than planks laid over support pillars embedded in the banks of the rivulets flowing from the waterfall basin, but they were sturdy and well-constructed. A traveler could cross them with ease, secure enough in their footing to look up and appreciate the rainbows that danced in the misty spray of the waterfalls.

Not every bridge needed to be the Bridge of Hylia, Rhondson thought. Perhaps it was better if most bridges weren’t, in fact. The Bridge of Hylia was a magnificent piece of work, to be sure, but it seemed as though it was already in a state of disrepair even before the Great Calamity. Judging from the conversations between Hudson and his former boss Bolson, no living stonemason had any idea how to repair its gargantuan supports. Meanwhile, more modest structures like the Sokkala Bridges could be maintained whenever the need arose. In their own way, the Sokkala Bridges were just as important at the Bridge of Hylia, even if they never became monuments.

As she crossed the final bridge, Rhondson could see the hazy outline of Akkala Citadel rising in the west. Its massive size was impressive, but she couldn’t imagine it being particularly beneficial to anyone. Truth be told, the ruins weren’t much more than a glorified pile of old stone bricks that could almost certainly be put to better use elsewhere. Speaking of which, Rhondson was starting to get an inkling of where Hudson might have gotten himself off to. “A man’s home is his castle,” he liked to say, and how intriguing it must have been to have an actual castle so close to home, especially if its materials could be repurposed.

Rhondson headed north when the road forked and made her way across the old high bridge over the river, carefully navigating the deep fissures in the stone. Once she was safely on the other side, she began climbing the winding path up the mountain.

The leaves of the trees on the upper slopes of the hill had already turned a bold shade of crimson, and the weathered steel of the Sheikah Tower gleamed in the sun. Rumor had it that the citadel used to be patrolled by Guardians, but nothing confronted Rhondson save for a few moss-covered remnants of ceramic casing. Parts of the road had been washed away in a landslide, probably after the Malice swamp dried up, but the majority of the paving stones were still intact.

Rhondson entered the gatehouse at the foot of the outer wall surrounding the citadel. The inside was littered with rubble from a century-old battle, and the remains of more recent Bokoblin campfires were scattered across the floor. A partially overturned Guardian occupied a corner of the room, its segmented legs folded neatly underneath its casing like the paws of a sleeping cat. When she first set out from the desert, Rhondson had been terrified of encountering a Guardian, but she’d grown fond of the broken bits and pieces of their chassis that had been left beside Hyrule’s roads to remind travelers to remain vigilant. Their round faces and decoratively textured bodies were actually a bit cute, like oversized toys.

Rhondson passed through the gatehouse and entered a small courtyard. The walls of the citadel rose on every side of the open space, but the gaps between turrets were wide enough for the sun to shine through and warm the paving stones. One side of the courtyard was dominated by a large alcove that was probably used to shelter horses. The bare soil under the dilapidated wooden awning was covered in pale green scrub bush and dotted with bright yellow wildflowers.

A covered walkway ran along the opposite wall, connecting the gatehouse to the larger body of the citadel. As Rhondson followed the shaded path, she imagined how heavily the snowfall would accumulate at this altitude. She didn’t envy the soldiers tasked with shoveling duty. She glanced at the enormous wooden door that marked the entrance to the main hall, but its iron fittings were orange with rust. Thankfully, the smaller door at the end of the walkway was barely hanging by its hinges, and Rhondson had no trouble pushing it open.

She called Hudson’s name into the shadows of the citadel. Aside from the echo of her own voice, there was no answer. It probably wasn’t safe to go inside, but she had already come so far. Rhondson figured that she may as well make sure that Hudson wasn’t here before she left.

The interior of the fortress wasn’t nearly as impressive as its silhouette. The entryway was much smaller than she expected, and the floor was made of packed earth. As Rhondson’s eyes adjusted to the gloom, she could see that the wooden beams of the ceiling were exposed. They were dark with ash. The smoke had probably come from the tall braziers secured to the pillars set into the stone walls.

Rhondson walked across the hall, glancing around her with interest. A few piles of old leaves moldered just inside the open service door, but the room was remarkably clean. The tapestries displayed in the bays between pillars still retained some of their color, and wooden weapons racks still clung to the stone walls next to the main gate. Rhondson realized that the earth floor must absorb the humidity of summer and the chill of winter, keeping the wood and cloth relatively preserved. The layer of ash coating the wooden beams of the ceiling probably helped protect them from the elements as well.

Large passageways ringed with shallow arches connected the central hall to the east and west wings, but Rhondson was more interested in a spiral staircase carved into the back wall. Although she had to bend her head to enter, the stairs bore her weight. Each step dipped slightly toward the middle from centuries of use. As she climbed to the next floor, Rhondson was amused by the thought of walking in the footsteps of people who had lived so long ago.

The room above was much smaller than the citadel’s entrance, but its ceiling was almost as high. The walls were constructed of the same unpainted white limestone as the fortress exterior. Their rough surfaces were irregularly broken by small rectangular windows positioned slightly above eye level. Some of the glass panes were missing, allowing a cool breeze to enter the bright and sun-warmed space, but the floorboards were level and seemed solid enough

Rhondson began to make her way from room to room. Her first thought was that the haphazard layout was due to poor planning, but she gradually realized that different parts of the Akkala Citadel must have been built at different times, more than likely after various battles. Very few furnishings remained in the deserted fortress, but the architecture differed so drastically between rooms that it was clear she was walking through different periods of history. Rhondson was amazed by the evolution of the windows, which became larger and more ornate as she walked. She imagined that this was what Hyrule Castle must look like, an amalgamation of architectural styles that had grown and transformed along with the kingdom itself.

Rhondson enjoyed her stroll through the ruins, but Hudson was nowhere to be found. The sun was already low in the sky, so she made her way outside and began her descent. From her vantage point at the top of the path, she could see a flat patch of land at the base of the hill. The soldiers stationed here must have used it as a parade ground for exercise and training. It would be as good a place as any to make camp.

Dusk had begun to gather by the time she arrived on the field, and the shadows lay long across the tall grass. Rhondson didn’t see the Hinox immediately, but she could smell it. The odor wasn’t unpleasant, but it was unmistakable. As soon as she realized that she wasn’t alone, Rhondson turned to leave. Most Hinoxes tended to ignore the travelers that wandered into their vicinity, but she didn’t want to take any chances.

Without warning, the Hinox bellowed. Its scream sent startled birds up from the nearby trees in a rush of beating wings and angry squawking. Rhondson prepared herself to make a run for her life, but she was stopped in her tracks by a voice she would recognize anywhere.

“Don’t cry, you big baby. It only stings at first. You’ll feel better in two shakes of a blupee’s tail.”

Rhondson shook her head with amusement as she walked across the field toward the source of the voice. The Hinox pouted at her, giant tears spilling from its eye.

“Hudson?”

The broad-shouldered man crouching beside the Hinox jerked his head up. “Rhondson? What are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same thing. I came looking for you. Is this where you’ve been this whole time?”

“I meant to come back last night,” Hudson replied, averting his eyes. “But this oaf hurt his foot while helping me clear away the rubble on the path up the mountain, and I couldn’t just leave him like this. The wound would have suppurated, and he’s all alone out here.”

Rhondson gave the Hinox a closer look and saw that it – he – had a deep gash on his heel. Hudson was cleaning it with a balled-up wad of fabric. If she wasn’t mistaken, it was the first workshirt she’d sewn for him. She’d made it just as they were starting to get to know one another, before she knew his measurements, and it fit him poorly. She asked him to throw it away and bury it with the compost months ago, but he’d apparently kept it. Hudson was surprisingly sentimental for a man who insisted on utility over decoration. It was one of the things she liked about him.

Rhondson smiled as she shrugged her pack onto the ground and dug out a jar of safflina salve. As Hudson helped her dress the Hinox’s wound, he explained that he had indeed come here to assess the state of the stonework. He assumed the citadel would be in ruins, but the structure was still sound. It would be a shame to dismantle it. With a few minor renovations, it would be almost as good as new. Still, making it more habitable would mean reducing its efficacy as a fortress.

“But what does that matter?” Rhondson asked. “Who’s going to attack it?”

“There are monsters roaming about, and…”

“Does this ‘monster’ look like he’s going to attack anyone?”

The Hinox had fallen asleep as they talked and was snoring lightly.

“He’s not a monster,” Hudson replied with a frown.

“Exactly. It seems to me that you’re already thinking about hiring him to work for you.”

“I’m not… Well, I guess I am. Having a Hinox around would be useful, especially if I decide to fix up this place, but we’d have to knock down some of the interior walls to make more room for him.”

Rhondson winced as she remembered all the times she’d banged her forehead on Hylian doorways. Now that she thought about it, there was no reason for those doors to be so low in the first place, especially not when her husband could so easily make them more accommodating. “Weren’t you planning to knock down the walls anyway?” she pointed out. “You could use the materials to repair the bridge.”

“But it’s disrespectful not to honor the past,” Hudson objected. “Shouldn’t the history of the Akkala Citadel be preserved?”

“It’s in ruins.” Rhondson put a hand on his shoulder. “One day you’ll have to come with me to visit my family. Everything in Gerudo Town is built on top of history. Nothing gets done if you worry about preserving the past as it once was. Living things change, and that includes old castles like this.”

“Maybe it includes towns too,” Hudson replied. “I guess it won’t be so bad if Tarrey Town grows. We could have a sister city maybe, right here on this hill. It would be a convenient waystation for travelers.” He thought for a moment. “And a good place for Hinoxes, too. It’s built on their scale, at least, and they’re all over Akkala. It’s a shame they always have to sleep in the open. Besides, Mason looks like he could use a friend. He’ll be lonely without me.”

Mason? Rhondson grinned at the name her husband had assigned to the Hinox. “Are you going to bring him home, then?” she asked.

“Home is wherever you are, Rhondson. We’ll go wherever you like. I missed you.”

“I missed you too, but we can spend a night or two away from Tarrey Town. I’d like to go back to the citadel tomorrow morning. I don’t think anyone has been inside this place for at least a hundred years.”

The sun had finally set, and stars were beginning to shine in the deepening indigo of the twilight sky. Rhondson smiled as she pictured the castle on the hill once again filled with lights. There was a certain charm to speculating on what the past might have been like, but the future held much more potential for imagination.

#Legend of Zelda #Breath of the Wild #Rhondson #Gerudo culture #Memorabilia zine #pocketwei #architecture #ruins #Zelda zines #Zelda art #Zelda fic #my fic

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thelordofdarkreunion · 3 years ago

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The Misty Planet

Here we go. By request, a story (or, in this case, story line) where the Scoundrels meet Deus from the Empyrean Iris stories by starr-fall-knight-rise. Things play out a little differently here, because this time, the Great Game has begun, and there are now more players...

“The game is afoot.” -Sherlock Holmes

The view from the starship’s bridge was quite the sight to behold. A massive red star, glowing with power, shone from outside. The windows were tinted, of course, to allow the individuals inside to see without damaging their vision. But, mighty as the star was, it was another structure that the individuals were examining. The second star. Smaller, but no less beautiful than the first. This one, though, had strange, alien structures orbiting it. Which was why the group was here.

“So. We’re the bloody universe’s problem solvers, I suppose,” muttered Thomas Drake, itching his nose with the edge of a black-gloved finger.

“Well, we were the first to make contact with each other and the other galaxies after the… time-screwy thing. We also prevented the attack on the Citadel, and found out who was behind it,” replied Shepard. “Still working on finding the Shadow Broker and why he… or she, possibly, would want to kill the members of almost every government in the universe.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. We’ll figure that one out later. One problem at a time,” sighed Krirk.

“I’m good with that,” said Drake. “Now. On to business. Admiral Vir. Why the hell are we here?” Vir walked up to the viewing glass and let out a low sigh.

“Well, basically, here’s the deal. My crew and I came to the Polaris star, which most of you ought to recognize as it exists in all of your galaxies except one, and saw this weird, unknown structure on Polaris Ab, the smaller star of the two main ones. We have also discovered a planet nearby.” Vir went to a console and pulled up an image, taken from the ground of a strange looking alien wasteland. He let out a deep breath before going on. “This was a picture taken on a very similar planet that my crew found in the past. The two seem to be related.”

“I have a bad feeling about this,” muttered Solo. Cooper gave him a blank stare.

“Do you ever not?”

“Occasionally,” huffed Solo. “When we aren’t going to mysterious planets covered with red mist and big black pillars.”

“I agree. The whole thing is rather… ominous,” said Shepard.

“Well, if in doubt, we nuke the whole thing and be done with it,” said Drake. Vir gave him a long-suffering side glance.

“No. We are not going to nuke it,” he said. “There is too much information at stake.” He sighed again. “On that planet, we, or some of my crew and I, received visions of an entity called ‘Deus.’ What Deus is or what it wants we do not know. However, we believe that these planets are somehow aligned.” The holographic image changed, showing the Polaris system interlinked with the other strange, red planet, the Drev homeoworld, the Celzex homeworld, and Earth. “What this place is, who created the massive structure on Polaris Ab, and why these systems are all interlinked is what we are here to find out,” finished Vir.

“Visions?” asked Cain. Not good. Most definitely not good.

“Yes,” replied Vir. “Not harmful or long lasting, though.” The group was silent for a moment, as they decided on how to approach this. Throughout his career as a ship’s captain, and later, admiral, Vir usually operated on his best judgement. While occasionally shaky at times, it usually won the day. However, when wasn’t sure what to do, he usually asked himself one question: what would Captain Kirk do? Well, Kirk was now here, in the same room, and apparently he didn’t have any clue either. Might as well find out what he thinks, I suppose. “Captain Kirk? You seem to be in these sorts of situations a lot. What do you think we should do?” Kirk looked over with a frown.

“We should investigate,” he said finally. “I don’t particularly like it, never have, never will, but we have to see what’s going on all the same.” The group nodded to each other.

“Cooper and Solo, you stay up here in case anything… funny goes on,” ordered Vir. The two nodded their consent. “The rest of us… prepare. Meet you on these coordinates on planet in 45 minutes.”

Aboard the Apocalypse

“Right you sorry lot! We are going planetside to investigate a bunch of alien architecture. There may or may not be hostiles, but this place gives me the creeps,” announced Drake. The Third Squad of armsmen looked over to him. Lucky them. They drew duty rotation when we’re above disturbing planet central. “I’ve been around long enough, seen enough, heard enough stories, and watched enough horror movies to know what’s probably going to happen.” As he said this, a pair of robotic arms locked his armor in place. The armsmen were gearing up and checking their weapons, but still listening intently. “You are going to bring full combat gear, full weapons, the works! The whole works! Everyone is going to be wearing fully sealed armor, and carry an extra respirator on hand, just in case. You are also bringing provisions, again, just in case.” Drake grabbed his plasma rifle and double, then triple checked it. He then keyed his comms. “Richter. Ordelphine. If for some reason we do not make it back, you are not to send any more soldiers down. You have full authorizations for Genesis 19 protocols. Use your best judgement. I trust you two more than anyone else in this fleet, so do not allow them to override you. Hopefully it doesn’t come to that.” On the other side of the comms line, Richter and Ordelphine winced. Genesis 19 was code for the complete nuclear annihilation of anything on a planet deemed to be a threat. Drake wasn’t taking any chances here, it seemed.

Aboard the Normandy

Shepard took up a heavy machine gun and checked the ammunition. This place reminded him too much of old Prothean planets, and the beacons located on them. The massive black pillars and the visions Vir and his crew got from being near them were too much like the beacon he had touched on Eden Prime… He still had nightmares about that mission. This time, he was taking no chances. Instead of taking a full team with him, he decided to go with what he normally did, and take three ground crew members. All were carefully selected. Garrus, because he wouldn’t trust anyone else to have his back as well as the Turian sniper. Samara. An ancient Asari biotic. None more powerful or calm in a crisis. Lastly, Mordin. A Salarian scientist. The only expert he had at the moment who might be able to figure out what these ruins were. He hoped it would be enough.

Aboard the Enterprise

Kirk, Spock and Master Chief stood next to the cylindrical grey transporters of the Enterprise. The two Starfleet officers stood, checking their phasers and respirator masks, making sure nothing would go wrong once they got planetside. Alongside them were a group of low ranking redshirts (hopefully they wouldn’t die this time, though Kirk was less than hopeful) and the massive, green-clad figure of the Chief. Said figure was currently looking over all of his weapons, making sure they were all there and battle ready. Out of all the Scoundrels, it went without saying that he was the most physically powerful. It would be his duty to eradicate anything particularly big or nasty they found on the planet. If, of course, there was actually anything there. The fleet’s scanners had picked up no life signs, but everyone was still on edge. Kirk nodded and the group stepped into the transporter.

“Beam us up, Scotty.”

Aboard the Omen

Commissar Cain leaned against a shuttle in the Omen’s massive hangar bay. Of course, as the regiment’s champion of all things strange and alien, he had been chosen to lead the surface party. He couldn’t say no. How would it look to refuse to partake in a mission of this calibre in front of not only the Valhallans, but the Omen’s crew as well? He would lose his status if he did. So, it was with a very heavy heart that he warily donned his tattered set of carapace armor, strapped on his weapons, and made his way to the hangar. Sargent Grifen was already there, along with her squad. At least it was Grifen. Cain had gone through a necron tomb with her squad and lived. If he trusted anyone in the regiment with this mission, it was her. And, of course, Jurgen. Cain’s aide stood by his side, his ever present smell lingering in the air. In his hands he held his melta gun, a weapon that had saved both their lives on numerous occasions. Cain was sure Jurgen had other trinkets hidden in his pouches, in addition to the las rifle slung across his back. Jurgen was ever prepared for anything.

Cain looked up and over to where Admiral Vir entered the hangar. He was backed up by a full contingent of marines and members of the Drev clan, followed by a few of the ship’s scientists. Vir was wearing his suit of Iron Eye armor, fully insulated against the outside atmosphere. Inside it, he was one of the group’s resident super soldiers, able to perform feats no ordinary person could ever aspire to. Vir nodded as the Drev came to ease, resting their spears on the floor, and the marines checked their rifles one last time.

“Let’s get going then, shall we?”

On the Planet

The Omen’s shuttle had landed in some sort of marshland, brackish water reaching up to the group’s shins. Red mist stretched as far as the eye could see. Black plants and a few totally black, dead trees littered the ground. The Milano was parked nearby, on a larger solid stretch of ground, and Quill lounged outside it while his crew looked merely bored at the lack of action on this strange planet. The Valhallans filed out of the shuttle, looking apprehensive in contrast to the Quill’s boredom and Vir’s excitement over exploring new planets. A tiled black road led to some sort of black mass in the distance. A city, if Vir had to guess. How exciting!

A high whining sound rang out, and Kirk, Spock, and Master Chief teleported in alongside a contingent of Starfleet red-shirts. The Chief stood statue still, weapons ready, as the Starfleet operatives joined the crew of the Omen in examining the black plant life that dotted the ground and the spaces in between the road tiles.

The roar of shuttle engineers pierced the air, and the Normandy’s sleek shuttle made its descent alongside the Apocalypse’s heavy gunship transport. Shepard, Garrus, and two aliens Vir and Cain didn’t recognize stepped out of the first, while Drake and a full contingent of armsmen.

One of Shepard’s crew, a Salarian, by the looks of him, made a b-line to the scientists examining the plants, while Shepard and the other two greeted Quill. The Apocalypse’s armsmen disembarked quickly, weapons at the ready as if they were on an active battlefield. Drake made a circular motion to the shuttle pilot, who gave a thumbs up and immediately took off. Drake approached Cain and gave a curt nodd.

“This is your galaxy, Vir, so you’re in charge, but I don’t like the looks of this place. I don’t want to spend a second longer here than I need to.” Cain nodded.

“I agree. This reminds me too much of some of the… stranger things I’ve seen.” Vir pointed to the buildings on the horizon.

“I understand,” he said reassuringly. “Plus, we need to investigate that way anyway. Let's move on.” Vir made a motion to the scientists still crouched along the beginning of the pathway. Dr. Wilson, one of the Omen’s scientists, looked up and held out a vial of the black plant.

“These are all dead. But they’re remarkably well preserved…”

“Wilson is right. Planet is dead. Was once alive, but now everything here is lifeless. Strangely well preserved, though,” rattled off the Salarian, almost without any breaths.

“I’m liking this less and less,” muttered Cain.

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The group had walked the long titled road in silence, the red mist swirling around them. At one point, there was a rain storm, and Vir had ordered everyone inside one of the decayed buildings they had finally reached. Everyone had taken it differently. Shepard and his crew looked apprehensive. The crews of the Omen and Enterprise were looking over everything with curiosity. Master Chief, Drake, Cain, the Valhallans, and the Apocalypse’s armsmen were fanned out, weapons raised, clearing corners and rooms as if they were expecting something to pop out of the dark any minute. Quill and his Guardians merely looked bored. Again.

They had moved on further since then, into the city itself. Huge black buildings, in varying states of decay, loomed ominously through the fog. The scientists were all muttering to each other as the took readings, while the soldiers had all unconsciously moved into wedge formations. Drake’s gunship whined overhead, ready to provide close air support at his request. Some might have called it overkill and over-caution, but Drake hadn’t lived this long by not taking such measures.

At this point, Vir was starting to get creeped out. Everything here was… wrong, somehow. It was like a faint childhood memory that one knew they remembered, but couldn’t actually remember. The place was… familiar. Sacred, somehow. In addition, it was a decayed city with no signs of life, and no signs of what had happened to it.

“Anyone know what might have happened here?” he whispered to the rest of the group. Somehow, it felt wrong to raise his voice.

“No. Not the Borg’s style,” replied Kirk.

“Reapers would have been more thorough,” whispered back Shepard.

“I have no idea…” trailed off Cain. In actuality, he had a few ideas. None of them good. None of them he could say, either.

They came to a central spot, the roads all branching into what looked to be a main square. A large building rose up in front of them, looking distinctly human in style.

“Should we investigate?” asked Shepard.

“Yes, and no,” replied Drake. “I think some of us should stay here, outside, to make sure no one attacks our rear, while others go inside to investigate.”

“That makes… tactical sense,” replied Vir with a nodd. “Alright. Quill and Chief, along with some of the Enterprise’s crew and Valhallans, stay here. The rest of you, follow me.”

The building, as it turned out, was some sort of massive laboratory. There were test tubes of strange, glowing liquid, some form of massive, incomplete mech hanging on calves, and endless rows of filing cabinets. There were huge factory floors, complete with conveyor belts, all decayed and rusted into ignominy, and rooms filled with rows upon rows of vats of sludge. With every passing room, the entering group got more and more apprehensive. What the hell is this place? What were they doing? Vir wanted to yell. It was all so very strange. So very… creepy.

This went on for some time, the invaders of this strange sanctum touching nothing, until they got to a central room. The heavy blast doors that should have protected it were open. Not a good sign. In the center of the room was a pedestal, and upon the pedestal, a glowing white ball.

“Safeties off,” hissed Drake. “If there’s an ambush coming, now’s as good a time as any.” Vir, Wilson, Kirk, and Shepard walked up to the ball.

“What the hell is this?” asked Shepard warily.

“I don’t know,” replied Vir. “Maybe… some sort of artifact? Communication device? No clue.” Wilson reached out.

“Don’t touch it!” screamed Cain and Shepard as one. It was too late. As soon as Wilson’s skin made contact with the glowing ball, a blast of pure white energy rang throughout the room, knocking everyone off their feet. Soldiers flew in tangles of weapons, and scientists stumbled and knocked into walls.

Cain slid on the floor, and shook his head a moment to clear it of the force the ball had unleashed. He looked around. The Valhallans stood up, checking their weapons to make sure they were still working. Shepard’s team stood up, Garrus bringing his rifle around and Samara glowing with blue energy. Kril and the Salarian scientist stood up. Rigaldis, leader of the Apocalypse armsmen, pushed himself to his feet. All of the aliens were fine. All of the Imperial humans were fine. But the rest, the other humans… Cain checked Shepard’s neck for a pulse. It was there. They were all alive, but completely unconscious.

“What the hell was that?” asked one of the Valhallans.

“Don’t know,” murmured Cain as he studied the unconscious humans. With a suddenness that caused the medic checking him to recoil, Vir’s one organic eye snapped open. It looked straight ahead, completely unseeing, and seemed to have an incandescent white glow about it. The medic waved his hand in front of Vir. He didn’t blink.

“Deus…” he murmured, before falling once more into unconsciousness. Everyone looked around uneasily.

“What do we do?” asked one of the red shirts.

“Don’t touch that,” Cain pointed at the white orb, “But bring them outside. We can’t leave them here.”

Outside was calm, or, as calm as a planet filled with roiling red fog could be. Quill and Master Chief walked up to the group, noticing the bodies flung across many of the soldiers’ backs.

“What the hell happened?” asked the Chief.

“One of the scientists touched some sort of strange white orb,” replied Cain. “It knocked them all unconscious.”

“We noticed some sort of burst of white energy,” said Quill. “Didn’t know what it was. Now we do, I guess,” he added with a shrug.

“What do we do now?” asked the Chief once more.

“It’s a strange, alien artifact, and they seem to be… possessed,” replied Cain. He didn’t want to say it, but there was no avoiding it. All of the unconscious humans had a white glow around their eyes.

“Hmm,” muttered Quill. “Possessed… I think I know someone who might be able to help us here,” he announced after a moment’s deliberation. “I’ll send a message to him.”

“I need to send a message too,” said Cain. “We need to call in the experts.”

Stay tuned, because next time, the experts will arrive, and things are about to get pretty cool...

As per usual, none of these characters except Drake and his crew belong to me. If you have any questions, comments, criticisms, requests, or concerns, please, feel free to ask!

#stories #story #writing #my writing #magnificent scoundrels #humans are weird #earth is space australia #mcu #warhammer 40k #empyrean iris #crossover #crossover story #star trek

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captainkirbypunch · 4 years ago

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My love has left tumblr once again.

As many of you may know, the account under the name MDZADR, has left tumblr. They felt unsafe in their fandom, and as such have deleted their tumblr and AO3 account due to the bad memories linked to them.

As a part of their departure, they have asked me to post something in their name, as follows.

If you want more details about how I came to this realization, continue to read. If not, here is your summary:

TL;DR: For the safety and health of this fandom, I wanted to spread the word that Mooping-10 is filled with people who absolutely cannot be trusted, creating a very hazardous environment for the zadr community, and MelodyoftheVoid is connected to all of those people, living a double life amongst those of us that don’t “ship zadr correctly.” She has plenty of friends her inner circle knows nothing about, and nobody on either side knows who she really is.

Full story below.

I’m sorry I didn’t say goodbye. Nobody did anything to me today, but this just wasn’t worth it.

My AO3 and tumblr are both gone. I didn’t say goodbye because I didn’t want to look like an attention seeker.

Here’s the thing. I wasn’t going to name drop, but you guys need to know the truth. I’m instructing my boyfriend (hi y’all) to turn asks off for his own safety after this because this is going to be a nightmare, but... allow me to tell you the full story. I’ll try to break up the text so it’s less difficult to read, but this is important. I’m sorry to air discourse so publicly, but please... I need you to listen to me.

I’ll start from the beginning, without being vague anymore about who “she” is. I request that you please read the whole thing and not skip parts of it. The whole story matters.

I finally returned to the fandom about two months or so ago. As I’ve mentioned, I don’t do well in my thoughts while left alone too long, so I posted saying I would stop messaging people I knew because I didn’t want to bother them. There were only two people I was talking to at the time, but one of them is famous so I didn’t want to message her directly saying that. Doing so would have put her in a position of feeling obligated to say “you’re not bothering me” rather than just simply being able to sigh with relief from no longer being contacted.

But the first person to contact me was the famous person, and she asked if I was okay, and told me she liked talking to me.

God, I actually cried.

But, that’s just her. Melodyofthevoid is the type of person to talk to people in the fandom, totally unaware of her demigod status. She comments on stories, interacts on posts, messages first... a pillar of kindness, so it seemed.

But let the story continue.

Over time, we were talking more often.

Mostly sending memes (cause everyone I knew, myself included, aren’t exactly great at holding conversations. No shade. Memes are a love language). I was still in the hero worship stage of our relationship, so my view of her was that that was perfect.

Now, let me bridge a connection with a new story idea I got around December 28th or so, and my thinking she was perfect.

I had recently finished watching Madoka and questioned “If I had magical powers, what would they be?” It then turned into its own story idea, basing creators’ powers around the strengths and weaknesses in creations. I actually realized “oh fuck. My stuff is incoherent. My friends’ works aren’t too different...”

Thus spawned the name “Incoherent” for the project.

What does that have to do with this? Well, here’s the thing that really fucked everything up quickly.

This was not on purpose, because originally the project (which I had told nobody of yet at the time) was all about improving your works, making platonic friends, dressing our personas in cute outfits, and writing fun magic.

While listening to music and thinking of the story one day, my brain accidentally shipped my persona with hers, and I couldn’t unsee it. And I’m lousy at keeping my own secrets (other’s are different) so she found out on probably day one or two about my weird crush because of an ask meme of all things.

She didn’t try to put me off any, which was another problem for future things to come, and so I decided that since Incoherent was finally making me feel alive again and feeling the euphoric feelings of love wouldn’t hurt anything (I figured they’d mellow out on their own eventually because that’s how infatuation works) since they helped fuel my inspiration, and then we would just continue from friends to better friends one day and this part of our lives would be over.

Besides, the forbidden is attractive somehow, and makes stories more entertaining. She’s aro/ace, so I had no chance anyway. Someone safe to crush on, in her own way.

This isn’t a story of a love betrayal however. There was no such thing. But it’s important to the story because Incoherent is where my mistakes were made, and hers brought to light.

By this time, I had a handful of people I was talking to, and I created a discord server for the project. Only my boyfriend (hi!) and I were in it at the time. I was not-so-subtly asking my friends what they’d look like if they were a magical person, what their names would be... I thought I would have had to lure Melody in to make her want to join us, but I managed to get her in very easily. Everyone was happy and excited! It was a no obligation, no time limit thing for us to enjoy, a little sandbox to play around in.

Sure there were plans to make it bigger and I was working on art to the best of my ability, but it was gonna be a fun thing mostly. No pressure on anyone.

And how things started becoming a problem was that the rest of us posted publicly about the project and interacted with each other’s posts relating to the story, but she had started to interact publicly less and less with our things, and everyone noticed it.

It wasn’t because we were greedy and wanted the popular girl to reblog our things. It’s because we had a feeling she was ashamed of being seen publicly with us. The reason we were worried before then and started making that connection was because I mentioned I was going to ask another user if they were interested in joining Incoherent. Melody was the only one that seemed uncomfortable, and I messaged her asking about it. We agreed I wouldn’t invite that person but I knew things were off about it.

That person is like me. How long until Melody didn’t want to talk to me anymore? A few days ago, the other shoe finally dropped. A member of our little group and I were talking and (let’s call them Friend for simplicity. They asked to not be name dropped here) Friend was worried they had made Melody upset by tagging her in a meme picture they drew of her persona, and the two had agreed that Friend remove the tag. This spawned an anxiety-filled conversation where Friend and I expressed our concerns about Melody not interacting with the project, or us.

So since I wanted reassurance that that wasn’t the case, I messaged Melody with my concerns. I told her I had the feeling she was ashamed of being seen in public with us because of her friends, and she didn’t refute me. She simply told me to go get some rest. I messaged back with “I’m right.”

I deleted Discord off my phone for hours and nearly deleted my Tumblr, AO3, and the server after my boyfriend helped pass messages between us. Melody confessed that was the case because her friends expressed discomfort with my works, and she was playing both sides.

Her words, not mine.

Melody told me she would be withdrawing from the Incoherent project because it wasn’t fair to us if her heart wasn’t in it.

She didn’t stand up on my behalf when they said things about me. Her friends are the type who talk behind creators’ backs for shipping zadr “incorrectly.” Worse than antis because they actually participate in the “pro-shipping” side of the fandom. I broke that day and messaged her at 3 am.

We finally spoke at 3pm. We both missed each other. I tried to understand more. I wanted it to be more like a conversation rather than an interrogation. It was only one-sided however, and she never opened up further. And I made some mistakes and poor choices of words, and we ended up parting ways permanently right there.

I nearly deleted everything, but much like a coma patient attached to many machines on a hospital bed, my blog was kept alive a little longer by people sending kind words in droves. I was briefly fuelled by spite, wishing to watch the world burn by making everyone on the "correct" side of the fandom upset by posting the worst, most vile content this fandom has ever seen.

I was also welcomed with open arms by a very kind server with fellow degenerates, all of them screaming and crying and partying when they managed to get me in their server. It was so heartwarming...

But as I spoke to others about my situation, I realized something. A disturbing pattern.

People telling me horror stories about how Mooping-10 was cult-like. How the people running it were antis. I was even told once that they have a secondary server where they go to have their talks and do their work, likely the place where the real bashing is held.

The server itself has rules against such behavior, but I suppose it's different when they do it.

One person (and this is the most unnerving part for me, personally) told me Melody actually set off alarm bells in their head without having even done anything yet, and the most disturbing part of the story was that one of the moderators was afraid and upset because they got Covid, and received basically no moral support at all. Only getting told "spoiler that. Sorry you got Covid".

I was horrified. That server has 100 people in it. How many of them are the same? They act like popular kids in school who picked up an unpopular main character and then bash others, and the main character joined in because they don't want to be left behind by their new "friends".

To put it short, back to my point:

TL;DR: I simply only wanted to spread the word that: Mooping-10 is filled with people who absolutely cannot be trusted, creating a very hazardous environment for the zadr community, and Melodyofthevoid is connected to all of those people, living a double life amongst those of us that don't "ship zadr correctly". She has plenty of friends her inner circle knows nothing about, and nobody on either side knows who she really is.

#Invader Zim #zadr #tagr #rapr #zagr #mdzadr #MelodyoftheVoid

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hecallsmehischild · 3 years ago

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Recent Media Consumed

Books

The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien. About ten or fifteen years ago, I tried to read this and was totally overwhelmed by it. I kept it around, hoping maybe someday I might be able to read it. I finally have, and here are my impressions: WHY SO MANY NAMES. WHY YOU HAVE TO NAME EVERYBODY, AND EVERY TRIBE OF PEOPLES, AND EVERY INANIMATE OBJECT, AND EVERY LANDSCAPE FEATURE. WHY. *ahem* So. I have a general comprehension of the events of The Silmarillion, but I dealt with it by doing what you do for an impressionist painting. I (mentally) stepped way back and let all the names flow by me, and if there were names that were repeated a lot, then I mentally attached appropriate plot points and character details to those names so I could track with who they were and what they were doing. And, actually, I found myself able to hang on and enjoy the book for the most part. This is going to lead into a re-reading of the Lord of the Rings books, since I haven’t read those in about as long…

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. I haven’t read some of these books since pre-teen years, with one required re-read of The Two Towers in high school (i.e. it’s been many an age since I’ve read these and my memory of the stories has been far more heavily influenced by the movies). In re-reading the first book, I was struck by the extreme tone shift for the Elves and Dwarves. Elves seem much closer to happy, mischievous fairies than these ethereal, solemn pillars of elegance and grace the movies show them to be. And Dwarves are far more bumbling and craftsmanlike than the movies show. Aside from that, The Hobbit was a pretty solid adaptation from the book, and the book also reminded me that this story was the first time I experienced “NO, MAIN CHARACTERS DON’T DIE, HOW DARE YOU,” and probably was the first book to make me cry. I must have been 8 or 10 years old. I FORGOT HOW MUCH THIS STORY INFLUENCED ME.

A Conflict of Visions by Thomas Sowell. I have a longer-than-usual list of things to say about this book. First is that it was just that level of difficult that I was struggling to understand while reading it (on Audible), but I think I got it. Sowell has several base concepts that I see repeated throughout his books, though he does like to dedicate whole books to specific aspects of the same topic. He is pretty damn thorough that way. So, for example, I would put this book in the middle of a three-book spectrum of similar concepts: Intellectuals and Society (most concrete and easiest to read), A Conflict of Visions (next-level abstraction, a little difficult to read), Knowledge and Decisions (root abstract concept, very difficult, I have not been able to get past chapter 2). The second thing I have to say is about a couple interesting concepts it proposes. Its whole point is to help readers understand the roots of two ways of seeing the world that come into severe conflict politically, and he calls them by their root titles: the constrained and the unconstrained visions. He traces the path of each back through the intellectuals that most spoke of them (tending to contrast Adam Smith with William Godwin and Condorcet). Though he leans heavily toward the constrained vision (based on reading his other works) he does his best to make this book an academic study of both, with both of the visions' strengths and flaws and reasoning and internal consistencies fairly laid out. In doing so, he helped me understand a few things that make this situation really difficult for people on opposing sides to communicate. One of them is that root words and concepts literally mean different things to different people. I had some vague notion of this before, but he laid out three examples in detail: Equality, Power, and Justice. It was kind of astounding to see just how differently these three words can be defined. It makes me think that arguing about any specific issues rooted in these concepts is fruitless until first an understanding has been reached on terms, because otherwise two parties are endlessly talking past each other. Another really interesting idea he brought up is the existence of “hybrid visions” and he named both Marxism and Fascism as hybrid visions. This was especially fascinating to me because I have seen the accusation of “Nazi” flung around ad nauseam and I wondered how it was that both sides were able to fling it at each other so readily. Well, it’s because Fascism is actually a hybrid vision, so both sides have a grain of truth but miss the whole on that particular point. In any case, this was a little difficult to read but had some fascinating information. For people who are wondering what on earth this gap is between political visions, how on earth to bridge the gap, or why the gap even exists in the first place, this is a really informative piece.

Movies

The Hobbit & Fellowship trilogies (movies). I mean, it’s definitely not my first watch, not even my second. But I went through it with Sergey this time and that means the run-time is double because we pause to talk and discuss details. This watch came about partly due to Sergey’s contention that Gandalf’s reputation far outstrips his actual powers, so we ended up noting down every instance of Gandalf’s power to see if that was true. Conclusion: Gandalf is actually a decently powerful wizard, but tends to use the truly kickass powers in less-than-dire circumstances. That aside, this movie series was always a favorite for me. I rated The Hobbit trilogy lower the first time I saw it but, frankly, all together the six movies are fantastic and a great way to sink deep into lore-heavy fantasy for a while. And I’m catching way more easter-egg type details after having read the Silmarillion so it’s even more enjoyable. (finally, after about a week of binge-watching) I forgot how much this story impacted me. I forgot how wrenchingly bittersweet the ending is. I forgot how much of a mark that reading and watching this story left on my writing.

Upside-Down Magic. Effects were good. Actors were clearly having fun and enjoying everything. Story didn’t make enough sense for my taste, but it was a decent way to kill flight time.

Wish Dragon. So, yes, it’s basically an Aladdin rewrite, but it’s genuinely a cheesy good fluff fest that made me grin a whole lot.

Plays

Esther (Sight and Sound Theatres). < background info > This is my third time to this theatre. There are only two of these in existence and they only run productions of stories out of the Bible. The first time I went I saw a production of Noah, the second time I saw a production of Jesus. My middle sister has moved all the way out to Lancaster, PA in hopes of working at this theatre. My husband and I came out to visit her. < /background info > So. Esther. They really pulled out all the stops on the costumes and set. I mean, REALLY pulled out all the stops. And the three-quarters wrap-around stage is used to great effect. I tend to have a general problem of not understanding all the words in the songs, but I understood enough. I highly recommend sitting close to the front for immersive experiences. This theatre puts on incredible productions and if you ever, ever, EVER have the opportunity to go, take it. Even if you think it's nothing but a bunch of fairy tales, STILL GO. I doubt you'll ever see a fairy tale produced on another stage with equal dedication to immersion.

Shows

The Mandalorian (first two seasons). Well. This was pretty thoroughly enjoyable. It felt very Star-Wars, and I’d kind of given up after recent movies. Felt like it slipped into some preaching toward the end? Not sure, I could be overly sensitive about it, but I enjoyed this a lot (though I did need to turn to my housemate and ask where the flip in the timeline we were because I did NOT realize that the little green kid IS NOT ACTUALLY Yoda).

Games

Portal & Portal 2. Portal is probably the first video game I ever tried to play, back when I had no idea what I was doing. Back then, I attempted to play it on my not-for-gaming Mac laptop. Using my trackpad. Once the jumping-for-extra-velocity mechanic came into play, I just about lost my mind trying to do this with a trackpad and gave up. Later I returned to the game and played it with my then-boyfriend on a proper gaming computer. Now, after having played several games and gotten better at "reading the language" of video games, I decided I wanted to see if I could beat the Portal games by myself. Guess what. I BEAT 'EM. Yes, I remembered most of the puzzles in Portal so that's a little bit of a cheat, but I'd say a good 2/3 of Portal 2 was new puzzles to me. It is crazy how proud I feel of myself that I could beat Portal 2, especially. Learning how to play video games at this age has really knocked down the lie, "You can't learn anything." Though I still suck at platformers and games that require precision. Since I find those types frustrating, I probably won't be playing many. Games are about enjoyment, so I'll push myself a little, but not to the point where I can't stand what I'm playing.

The Observer. I like the concept and the art but I don't think I could keep trying to play this game. It's really depressing. My in-game family members all died of illness or accident or committed suicide. I also kept getting executed by the state. In order to keep us all alive I'd have to do pretty terrible things that I have a hard enough time contemplating even in a fictional setting.

Baba Is You. Fun and interesting concept, but I got stuck pretty early on. Don't think I want to push as hard on this one.

#recent media consumed #n00b gamer child #child loves books #child loves movies #child loves shows

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btswishes · 4 years ago

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Love me for who I am now

Bucky x Reader ( Chapter 2 )

Previous / Next

Summary: You apply for the Stark internship and end up getting it, so now you have 5 months to make a good impression to continue working with the Avengers.

A/N: Continuing my little experiment here with chapter2, a bit more filler for the story. Sorry for any mistakes made, hope you enjoy it even a tiny bit.

Word count: 2,903

Warmings: fights, harsh language, not part of the original MCU

Y/N- Your name

Y/L/N- Your Last Name

----------------------------

The suitcase made a slight thumping sound, when you laid it down on the floor next to your desk. Wasting no time books found their new home on the empty shelves, notebooks fell asleep in the dark drawers. Pens, pencils, markers and all your stationary soon followed suit and found their own little space to rest.

“F.R.I.D.A.Y.” the silence in the room finally got overthrown by the voice of its new owner, asking for some help in the matters unfolding

Yes Miss Y/N

“Would you put a timer for 5min from now please?” still focused onto your stuff, finding them a visible but safe from damage storage. Nothing could destroy as well as time and dust did.

Timer set for 5 minutes from now.

“Thank you.” The only thing left to do now was to get the clothes in the closet and move the tech to the lab. Hopefully Dr. Banner wouldn’t mind waiting a bit more, not like he seemed to but who knows, Hulk lived inside him after all. You didn’t want to take a chance and play with his limits. The closet was hidden inside the wall, stealthy I must say. Toothpaste and toothbrush, essentials and cosmetics. All was done, now.

Ding Ding Ding.

Timer is going off Miss. Shall I turn it off or restart it?

“Thank you F.R.I.D.A.Y. You can turn it off. “

Your laptop and small bag were safely nestled under your arm, making your way outside the room. For a moment you thought you got lost, but the orange tint of the sun’s rays soon pulled your attention in the right direction. Around the corner your nose caught the smell of caramel. Your head hesitantly protruded behind the pillar, as you called out to the man holding 2 cups in his hands firmly.

“Oh.” He jumped a bit, reaching out offering one of the mugs “ I hope you like it, we don’t have much selection when it comes to tea here. Coffee addicts you know.” he laughed out

“It is ok. Thank you very much.” Your leg levered and you swung onto the bar chair like it was nothing, taking a sip from the hot drink. You felt it warm you up slowly as it went down, melting away a bit of your anxiety. Once again your sight was captivated by the view. No one knows how much time passed since you got lost in the sunset, but it was nice. You could barely hear the bustling city from the 134th floor. It was only you, the sun and the room. Quiet almost like a safe serene space.

“Beautiful isn’t it.” Bruce shook you out of your little mind palace

“Mm? Ah, yes. Very much so. “ you puffed out some air with your smile, eyes forming little crescent moons “I feel like a cat, my attention keeps drifting to the glass unintentionally.”

“I understand you. I keep doing that myself and I have lived in the compound for quite some time now. “ the conversation was lighthearted, easily drifting over the main reason for your arrival “One would think I would be used to it by now.”

“Mr Stark made this place so calm. Big yet homey.” Your head scanned the area, words intriguing the doctor “ In a way it contrasts the inner state of most of the Avengers.” realized what just came out of your lips, your body stiffened. Oh man, way to ruin it - you thought to yourself “I am so sorry.” The mug clanked under the table, sending a vibration to his palm, as you bowed “I spoke out of place.”

“I think you might be on to something.” Your neck pulled your head up, a few strands of hair falling down next to your soft cheek. Bruce was still looking at the setting sun with a soft smile, his jaw exposing the beard to the light, coloring it a deep fiery yellow hue. There was something nostalgic in his dark eyes. “Most of us here have some sort of troubled past- lets sugar coat it a bit. This whole building, on the levels we use., is like a constant Zen state. It calms us down unintentionally. How do I say this...” He turned towards his coffee, laughing out almost silently.

“Maybe it offers you the peace you couldn’t have on the inside, masking the pain from past trauma. A way to indirectly cope with all that had happened, offering a haven to heal the past.” Bruce was listening to you, taking in your way of thinking and how right you were about something that had always been in front of his eyes ,but he had never noticed it before. Such a young girl, so much pain in her manner. He couldn’t bring himself to ask you about the weight inside your voice. It felt too close for him to do so. He had just met you after all, it is not like he could just straight up ask you about all your deepest and darkest secrets, that you might be hiding underneath your mature façade.

“Well, enough about our depressing past.” He pushed off the table “Lets get you situated in your new place.”Dr. Banner began walking in the direction of the lab, turning towards you from time to time. He was make sure you were close by and not lost somewhere in this maze of halls, corridors and who knows what else Tony could have hidden in these walls, for some unsuspecting person to stumble upon.

“I am sadly not familiar with your work like Tony is. He told me about you literally a few hours before you arrived, so you would have to excuse me for that.” You nodded with a smile, accepting the apology he didn’t even need to speak of

“The lab is pretty big.” He unlocked the door and turned the lights on. It was exactly as he said and nothing like you had expected. The color pattern was the same tints, maybe a bit of blue mixed in as well, a dash of red. The tables and tech inside were state-of-the-art, high-quality and very well kept. Some weren’t even yet released or known to the public. Talking year 3054 up in here.

“This will be your desk, right next to me.”Bruce plopped onto his chair and waved at you “Hi, Hi.”

He gestured for you to get yourself as comfortable as possible, which you almost couldn’t wait to do. Your fingers gently ran over the material getting familiar with it. Just with one look you already knew where everything was going to go, like it knew it’s own home. You had a tech bay, where you could check how systems worked, if they didn’t and building anything. It was amazing, just an arm’s length distance was possibility and creation itself. Excitement boiled inside you, eyes wide. Reaching inside the bag, you pulled out your work computer, your project tablet and made sure they were all connected to the internet and matched the Stark system interface. As soon as you saw the company logo you were all set up.

“F.R.I.D.A.Y.” the silence danced hand in hand with your voice

Yes Miss. Would you like a run down on the desk functions?

“Yes please.” In a matter of minutes you realized that this wasn’t just some random fancy desk ,but a whole machine of its own. Interactive hologram functions, building station and program 3D design. It had it all. Bruce was shocked how easy you worked with F.R.I.D.A.Y. , naturally taking a lead and informing yourself at 100% capacity about what you will be working with. For a second Tony flashed before his eyes.

“What made you apply here?” he cut your investigation “I don’t mean to be rude but I saw some of your pre-university work.”

“No problem. I was mostly out of the country for a very long time, maybe most of my life. When I came back the Avengers were something I loved watching on the news.” The praise went over Bruce’s head unnoticed “ There was something nostalgic when I looked at you guys. Mr. Stark’s tech, the way everyone fought with ease, I don’t know how to explain it. I craved that in my life, almost like a forgotten world I was striving to immerse myself back into. “ a gentle crook of the neck and a smile eased Bruce from the question

“Well you made it here, so congratulations.” loud joyous clapping followed his words” I think I am talking for all of us, we will love having you around. So-” His face became serious, glasses finding the bridge of his nose onto his face, eyes sharp “Would you like to start with your job here miss intern?” he winked playfully waiting to see your reaction. Like a mirror ,you pulled your hair away from your face, rolled up your sleeves and flashed back the same look of determination. “Introduce me to your train of thought and your projects.”

“I work mainly with the structure and characteristics of vibranium. At first, I was focused on making prosthetics that pack a punch the same way the Iron Man suits worked and Sergeant Barnes’s arm- of course on a smaller scale. But then my mind started drifting towards the process before amputation, which was for a certain percent of people the healing factor. Maybe inside strength as well. ”

“As in incorporating it into medical technology?” this sounded too simple of an idea coming for someone Tony chose, yet Bruce kept listening. He was judging the book by its cover way too soon.

“Not exactly. Vibranium has a metal crystal structure that possesses ‘memory’ the same way other metals remember being indented even after getting fixed or straightened eventually. My theory has a few parts before I reach the main plan. Going on an atomic level, even deeper to its base structure, I change the connections between the atoms. They have the same functions as in keeping the shape, but missing that molding memory.”

“You are saying you can mold the bonds, selecting freely what function to remove?” Bruce pushed back off his chair, letting the idea enter his ear and stay there, feeding the interest on his face.

“I am not saying I can.” he was listening more and more with each passing minute “I am saying I did it. I am in the final stages of my project.” Your hands pulled out a flat disk of vibranium “F.R.I.D.A.Y. would you do a double scan before and after I bend this?”

Affirmatively Miss. Scan done. Shall I offer a hologram?

“Please do.” Right between your two bodies you could now see the basics of the metal “ See how the bonds are thicker? I noticed, metal bonds just have to keep the shape of the crystal structure. Not only did I make vibranium stronger than it originally was, but now if I bend-it.” Your voice strained in pair with your muscles, as you folded and unfolded the sheet. The second scan showed no memory intake not even deformed the shapes “I call this metal healing.”

“That...that is amazing, not even a crease to be noticed! But where are you going with this?” Bruce rubbed his face, still shook from what you just showed him

“It might sound stupid, but this isn’t even my main idea. You see, if we look at matter as one and the same, things start to add up. Everything on a molecular level has no difference. Bonds, and atom-placement dictate what the object will be, look like and how it works- properties if you wish. I looked at vibranium and human flesh as different parts of one thing, which lead me to believe enhancing people could be done without super soldier serums.”

“That is… truly amazing, but won’t the testing period be a sadistic thing. We are not HYDRA thankfully.” As great as this was Bruce had a point here “Human experiments are not a politic the Avengers will ever lean upon. As fellow humans nonetheless.”

“I am not planning to make another Winter Soldier. I already have control over vibranium on levels outside and inside hyperspace.” You pulled out a bottle of metallic looking dust. The top unscrewed easy and you spilled the contents like heavy silvery snow all over the floor. “If I take quarks from the human body and use them to make 1 proton from the atomic nucleus, I can theoretically program it to answer to the human body using the unbroken rule of our system.”

Bruce blinked a few times understanding exactly where you were reaching “All work in favor of the body.” He said out loud, glasses sliding off his skin

“Exactly. If they get programmed correctly the metal will work for the body, under the command of the main system- the nerves and brain. Post that success I would be able to inject them with a liquid medium directly into the bloodstream. As they make their way to all parts of the body, they will get acquainted with the cells. I want to change them so they will be susceptible to hormones as well. Basically I want to make a metal compound that reacts like organic matter. It would be able, upon will, to pile around bones, create fibers, strengthening muscles ecc. Some could even carry other substances with them, or isolate toxic ones. Now their size and ability for diapedesis is still questionable. So far I can move them at a certain extend.” You swung your hand and the dust lifted off the floor cleanly in one swoop

“That is amazing!” Bruce pitched his voice after seeing the floating cloud “Are you using some kind of device ?”

“No, this dust was modeled after me, I am the only guinea pig so no one was harmed in the making. I have to say though, it was quite painful till I got it right.” You laughed out uneasy, scratching your arm

“ I could only imagine, taking your own tissue for this. What else could it do?”

“Well. I know that Mr. Stark isn’t into weapons anymore, so I pitched him the enhancing technique only. The dust’s only function right now sadly is shaping.” Your fingers danced as the vibranium cloud formed Captain America’s shield, before turning into a sword. “As long as I have enough information of structure, function and the way the object works I can make it.” Your footsteps were confidant and strong.

“F.R.I.D.A.Y. the window if you please.”

Certainly Miss

The clicking sound of the metal around the glass flung the object open. Your hand reached outside and pointed towards the sky. “My uncle had a deep interest in weapons so naturally I learned as well by listening to him.” The dust wrapped around your hand and formed a Heckler Koch pistols. With the pull of the trigger you shot into the air, making Bruce jump from the sound.

“I am sorry about that, I should have warned you.” You giggled stepping in

“That is a completely functional firearm. His breath normalized as his body took him right up to you, running his hands over the gun “ This is, something I can’t even imagine.” Eyes scanning every inch of it looking like a perfect mold “How does it look so solid? Smooth, no trace of it even being made from any smaller particle. ”

“Oh that, intra-atomic pressure. Kind of like gravity times 100 or more. If I pitched this to Mr.Stark I think the selling point would have been…”your fingers gently pulled the weapon out of Dr.Banner’s hand as the vibranium flew from the outside to the magazine “ It doesn’t run out of ammo since I call it back at anytime AND once in the body I can infest it.”

“It could travel through the blood stream and form clumps in certain organs!” he gasped

“I could have gone a bit more sadistic with this one, but I will stop talking now.” You laughed out sending your project back to its jar, securely tightened up.

“How far is your limit? I mean is there a distance at which you can’t sense the partials, any mental fatigue or physical? You are amazing! This is something out of this world truly, no wonder Tony accepted your application. I wouldn’t be able to come up with anything closely resembling…wow.” He kept praising you each time his mouth opened

“Banner.” Light and confident footsteps accompanied the familiar playboy voice inside the lab

Welcome back Sir

“F.R.I.D.A.Y. medical bay on standby please.”

As you wish Sir

“I would appreciate it if you stepped back from my new intern and helped out a bit. We have injured coming in stat.” Tony waved his hand and Bruce pulled away from you, cleaning the couch on his side “You too miss intern. No slacking off just because it’s your first day. Treat it as orientation.”

“Yes Mr. Stark.” Panic rose up inside you again as you tried to follow what Dr. Banner was doing. Injured? Were the rest of the Avengers on a mission this whole time? It didn’t matter, you were mobilized as well and for a second it felt kind of cool, like you were also an agent fighting crime. The grunts and groans pulled you back to Earth as Captain America’s large frame stepped inside.

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warrioreowynofrohan · 4 years ago

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Rhythm of War Review

PART 1

It feels a little separate from the rest of the book to me at the moment because I read it pre-release, but I think it did a good job setting up the rest of the plot. I greatly enjoyed Navani’s perspective and ideas throughout the book, and the first section established her much more firmly as a character than any of the previous books; her couple of chapters in Oathbringer were more focused on politics and her relationship with Dalinar, so it was great yo see much more of her scientific side.

When I first read Part 1 it felt very Kaladin-heavy, but after completing the book I see how it was necessary to establish his burnout in order to set up the rest of the plot. And Chapter 12 (A Way to Help), in addition to being our only chance in the book to see our trio together, did a great job setting up Kaladin’s later work with mentally ill people, both by establishing the need and showing what kind of help was needed. I was nonetheless quite frustrated by Kaladin reacting to Shallan’s DID with “that would be nice...”. She’s having serious problems, Kal! She’s your friend and could use support, not you regarding her issues as a neat way to take a holiday from one’s own brain! Kaladin’s very kind and caring with those he chooses to protect, as we see with Bridge 4 in TWOK and the mentally ill people in Chapter 25, but sometimes I think he’s not a very good friend. I know he was not in a good place, but in Oathbringer when they were in Shadesmar Shallan had just had a complete breakdown and she still went out of her way to emotionally support Kal, so it would be nice to see his friendships become a bit more two-way. (For similar reasons, I liked seeing the moments of Shallan-to-Adolin emotional support in Shadesmar in ROW, because a lot of their relationship in OB was her relying on him; it felt balanced in ROW as both supported each other.)

PART 2

I loved the Shadesmar arc! The emotional arcs for both main characters were very strong - I had been looking forward to seeing Adolin’s reaction to (in-universe) Oathbringer, and it did not disappoint; the conflict between genuinely loving Dalinar and being unable to forgive what he’d done was well-drawn. I was so pissed off at Dalinar in that last conversation! You burned his mom to death, you do not get to take the moral high ground and lecture him. And I do see a difference between killing innocents, as Taravangian does, and killing someone who’s effectively declared war on you and has a history of treason.

I also liked Adolin’s sense of being generally at sea with his purpose in the world. He’s been trained primarily as a warrior and general, and his combat skills have been made virtually obsolete by the Radiants. And at the same time, the reader can see what makes Adolin special, and it’s not combat skills - though those do give him a big heroic moment in a pinch - it’s his care and compassion for others. The way he interacts with Maya and slowly brings her life is absolutely beautiful. Chapter 35 was such a wonderful Shadolin moment (and starspren are amazing!); he really gets her and understands what she needs. Chapter 24 was sweet too, though super cheesy.

I spent the entire Shadesmar arc side-eying Veil and Radiant, especially with Veil’s takeover stunt at the start, but in the end they genuinely were supporting and helping Shallan. So in retrospect I do like scenes like the one with Veil trying to draw Shallan out by drawing Adolin badly.

Spoeking of drawing, I love the spren art, it’s some of the best art so far, and fascianting to see how they all look!

Kaladin finding non-violent ways to protect, culminating in pioneering Rosharan therapy - and Teft insisting on staying to support him - was everything I wanted for him. His arc could have just been that, and I’d have been perfectly happy. Chapter 25 (Devotary of Mercy) is still my favourite in the entire book.

Unfortunately, then Odium’s forces had to show up and SPOIL EVERYTHING. I’m rather appalled by how quickly Urithiru fell - the enemy forces were literally in the pillar room by the time anyone noticed them.

PART 3

Part 3 was a real slog for me, partly because it is a slog and partly because I hit it at the height of my sleep deptivation. (It’s really...not a good thing to be reading on zero sleep at the literal darkest-hour-before-dawn.) Kaladin’s arc in Urithiru is just so exhausting; he’s so clearly worn to the boneand everything feels so hopeless. Kaladin’s had bad times before - Bridge 4 in TWOK, for example - but then the reader could see progress even if Kaladin couldn’t. (Kaladin: I’m getting nowhere and failing at everything! Everyone else: Kaladin, you were literally just miraculously resurrected.) Here, though - well, I genuinely spent the whole book from Part 3 through to the climax thinking that they would lose Urithiru.

Navani’s arc, and Venli’s, I did enjoy.

The other section of Part 3, in Emul, just felt rather disjointed. It had some interesting moments, but it didn’t have a sense of cohesion or of where it was going. I was entertained by Dalinar’s musings on the merits of despositism and the need to free Queen Fen from having - horrors! - a parliament. (I wonder if the Fourth Ideal will be something like “I will recognize that it can sometimes be beneficial to have people oppose my decisions.”)

PART 4

Again, adored the Shadesmar arc. Really strong character arcs for both Adolin and Shallan, combined with excellent plots and a strong sense of momentum. I was pretty sure Maya would be crucial in the trial, but that didn’t make the moment any less powerful (though Sanders probably shouldn’t have tried quite as hard to replicate his “You. Cannot. Have. My. Pain.” moment from Oathbringer). I need to put together a proper post on the theme of choice in Oathbringer, because that moment - combined with Kaladin’s fourth ideal and the conflict with Lirin over the way he’s inspiring the resistance - really crystallized it for me. To treat a person’s choice and sacrifices as something done to them is to devalue their volition, their agency. Maya is put in the horrifying situation of being used as a prop and treated as evidence of a point that she is diametrically opposed to and turned into a weapon against someone she loves, and it’s enough to drive her to regain her voice and speak for herself. I am very curious to know what specifically led the spren to agree to the Recreance!

I did not remotely guess what Shallan’s secret was, even though in retrospect the Cryptic deadeye should have made it incredibly obvious. I think her fear that she’d lose Adolin if it came out was overblown - he already knows she killed both her parents, he’s not going to be fazed by “I was so distraught over having to kill my own mother in self-defence at age ten that I broke my Radiant oaths”. But obviously it’s not something Shalkan would be able to consider duspassionately. Her arc was rather terrifying once I realized that Formless was, well, basically her, but more specifically, Shallan’s idea of the monster that she was, and her breakdown was driving her to “accept who she was” as being that monster. I like Shallan and was never that into Veil - though she was fairly good in this book and went out well - so I’m not sad to see the back of her.

I haven’t managed to work through all the espionage/mole elements. Yes, Pattern used the box to talk to Wit, and Radiant killed Ialai so Shallan wouldn’t, but who’s Mraize’s spy close to Dalinar?

This arc ended too abruptly. I think Sanderson could easily have traded a Kaladin chapter in Part 3 for an extra chapter wrapping up events in Shadesmar; maybe one where Shallan first goes to see Testament.

I enjoyed the Urithiru arc in Part 4 as well. Switching to Bridge 4 points of view other than Kaladin was a good move - we already know he’s worn to ribbons, so we don’t need to be inside his head to see it. “The Dog and the Dragon” was amazing, and the most appropriate story ever for Kaladin. (I get how Wit’s schtick of telling incredibly topical stories and then saying “no, I don’t have a point, what point?” would be really aggravating in person.) It was nice to see him be gentle with Kaladin for a change, the way he is with Shallan - his two previous encounters with Kaladin read as rather baiting, which annoyed me.

Dabbid was - I don’t know quite how to say this, but his inclusion struck an amazing balance in this book. Navani’s arc is all about two amazingly smart people doing science and making incredible breakthroughs, and that is sincerely valued and given importance by the narrative, and then you get chapters like Dabbid’s and one of Taravangian’s emphasizing that a person’s value and ability to contribute is not determined by their intelligence.

Navani’s arc continued to be excellent. All of her research, and the way the story took you through the process, and her complex relationship with Raboniel, was great.

I loved Venli’s character development, and growing willingness to take risks for the sake of others. To me, her arc parallels Dalinar’s in the last book in some ways. If we can love the story of a bloodthirsty conqueror growing to become a good person, why can’t we equally love the story of a coward coming to become a good person? There seems to be a tendency to be more drawn to strength, even in its most terrible forms, than to weakness. To me, Venli’s confession to Rlain and acceptance of his disgust at her was one of the book’s great moments. (And I can’t understand people saying her arc took up two much space. She had 5 chapters in Part 3, and 4 in Part 4. That’s not very many! I’ll grant that the flasbacks packed less punch than some earlier flashback sequences because we already knew the main events - Brandon acknowledged that even before the book came out - but I still liked them well enough, and Venli’s present-day arc was excellent.)

Anyway, the amount of space I’ve spent on this section relative to Part 3 is another strong inducation of the differences in how I feel about them!

PART 5

I should probably start this section with a discussion of Moash. I’ll try to keep it summarized. here - I could, and may, write a short essay on his development through The Stormlight Archive. The first thing that jumps out about Moash’s arc in this book is his reaction to Renarin’s vision in Part 1. I think that vision is showing Moash who he could still be, in a similar way to Shallan’s inspirational drawings of people - both use the Surge of Illumination. So it’s not that Moash is irredeemable; Renarin is specifucally holding out to him the possibility of redemption.

And Moash’s reaction is to run away in terror. Because he desperately wants his decision to be irrevocable. He desperately wants there to only be one possible path forward for him. Because if there are alternative paths, it means he can choose them, and that would mean facing guilt, facing the fact that his past choices were wrong, and his current choices are wrong. And that is exactly what Moash sought to avoid by giving up his pain and sense of guilt to Odium.

Moash is, nonetheless, very much Moash and not Vyre, as evidenced by his continuing obsession with Kaladin. As with his above need to not be wrong, here he needs to feel that he’s right, and the only way he can feel that he’s right is if Kaladin - whom he still deeply admires - makes the same decision as him, and if Moash can convince himself that he’s doing Kaladin a favour in driving him to that point. It’s ironic that he’s given up almost all feeling abd become almost enturely detached, but his worst actions are driven by his attitude towards the one person in the world who he still does have very strong feelings about. By the end of the book, he’s comprehensively broken, to the point that even when his ability to feel is restored he’s unable to even feel genuine remose over the cold-blooded murder of a friend. I don’t know where he’ll go from here - it would be ironic if he was only ever really appealing to Rayse-Odium, and Taravangian-Odium found Moash too much of a flat villain for his purposes and cast him off.

As the plot climaxes go, I thought the ones for Navani and Venli were excellent and very satisfying. I enjoyed Kaladin’s as well and found it cathartic, but it a was moment we all knew had to come, so it didn’t have quite the kick of some of Kaladin’s other big moments. I did love his reconciliation with Lirin. One of the themes of the book was finding common ground despite deeply felt disagreements - with Navani and Raboniel, with Navani and the Sibling, and with humans and singers/Fused more generally - and Kaladin and Lirin’s reconciliation fit well with that. I am far more favourable to Lirin than most people - if you’ve lived as a pacifist in storming Alethkar, which values the lives of its people slightly more than it does crem, you’re going to have been right a solid 95% of the time, where everyone else was wrong. I can make allowances for the other five percent, especially when Lirin’s life lesson from the last five or so years has been “resisting oppression and standing up for what you believe in will destroy everyone you love”.

And on the topic of finding common ground, Leshwi’s reaction to the revelation that Venli was a Radiant was one of the single most beautiful moments of the book, and one of my absolute favourites. It’s gorgeous and moving, and at the same time rather tragic, because - what might have bern different if Venli had revealed herself to Leshwi at the start of the book? How much of the conflict could have been avoided. Singers don’t appear to attract spren as strongly as humans do, which makes Leshwi drawing joyspren particularly powerful. And then the bittersweet note from “My soul is too long owned by someone else”. (Come to think of it, this is another inverted paralell to Moash. This is someone realizing “I was wrong about everything and I’m so glad about that because it means I have a chance to be someone better than I was.”) Oh my goodness, I would love a Leshwi chapter in a later book, just to check in on her and see how she’s doing in her new life with the Singers.

I also loved the climax of Navani’s arc, and was so relieved, because up until that very moment I wasn’t sure if the Sibling would survuve uncorrupted. I know that some people weren’t pleased because the Sibling didn’t even like her, but to me that became a core part of the story, like I said above - people who deeply disagree finding common ground and common cause. That is a key element of being a Bondsmith - the process of bringing people together in spite of their differences - and something that fits Navani so well given the rapport she found with Raboniel. (Though I was conflicted about the latter. On the one hand, she made amazing discoveries that enabled her to save Urithiru. One the other hand, she...kind of collaborated with the enemy and gave them terrible weapons out of intellectual curiosity and a desire to prove herself?) I will grant that it makes the series, and the characters with the most crucial importance to Roshar, rather Kholin-heavy.

For Taravodium, all I can say is - YIPES. I have no idea how to process the implications of that, but I feel like it will be bad. Really really bad. (Taravangian is probably my least favourite character in the entire Stormlight Archive. The attitude of “I am so brave and selfless for doing evil things and look at how wonderful I am for sacrificing my own morality for the benefit of all, you petty selfish people wanting to be good could never make such a grand sacrifice” drives me absolutely nuts. It’s a complete inversion and twisting of morality, and intensely arrogant.)

Dalinar’s encounter with Ishar was fascinating, and I’m very curious to see where this goes. The spren experiments were deeply creepy! And the way Radiant Oaths can temporarily restore a Herald’s sanity was fascinating - I’m very eager to see where this goes in the next book. I suspect that Dalinar may have made a very serious mistake with regards to this trial my combat, and I have no idea how/if they’re going to fit Szeth’s whole arc into the ten days before the duel. I’ve been eagerly anticipating Szeth’s arc ever since The Way of Kings!

#brandon sanderson #the stormlight archive #rhythm of war #row spoilers #kaladin #shallan #adolin #dalinar kholin #navani kholin #leshwi #moash

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go-dark-turtle · 4 years ago

Text

(Sorry for the delay but here it is! A one chapter Joseph x fem reader Saucy n Spicy edition fan fiction. Don't worry I have a Saucy N Spicy warning so you if you don't like NSFW stuff you don't have to read those parts. Please enjoy and please let me know what you think 😊)

Hamon Daze

(A Joseph x female reader fanfiction

Saucy N Spicy edition)

You raised your hand and stepped forward "Lisa Lisa pick me!"

Caesar huffed at your request and bowed before his teacher "No! I'm more experienced, please pick me!"

"Pfft, you just want a moment to flirt with Suzy and other other girls in town!" You shrugged at the young blonde

"How dare you accuse me Y/N!" He folded his arms and rolled his eyes at you.

While the both of you were arguing, Joseph sat on the bench behind you all enjoying the sparks, finally a girl that didn't fall head over heels when he flirts.

Lisa Lisa held the bridge of her nose from the bickering from you both "Honestly Y/N show some respect for Caesar, he is training you after all! Ceaser I thought you would be mature about this." She sighed "It's not my choice, it's up to Suzy Q, who she wants to accompany her on the shopping trip."

Suzy Q walked in and saw you and Ceaser huff at each other with Joseph waving behind everyone. Lisa Lisa placed her hands on the young woman's shoulders and looked her in the eyes.

"Suzy Q please for the love of hamon please pick one of them to go with you." Lisa Lisa took a deep breath and did her best from snapping at you both.

"Ah I pick Y/N! It's been a long time since I've had a girly day." Suzy smiled and gave you a small peace sign.

"YES! In your face Ceaser!" You giggled with glee and poked his cheek as you walked past him. You walked with Suzy Q and went straight to the docks. Caesar wasn't impressed.

"Oh Caesar chan, looks like she wrung you out to dry didn't she?" Joseph smirked

"Oh pack it in JoJo." He glared at him. "Shouldn't you be training?" Caesar raised his eyebrow

"Oh about that...." He quickly backed out the room and bumped into his trainer, Loggins.

He wasn't happy that the trickster pulled a decoy on him during their intense training session. The tall man dragged him out of the room as he pleaded to stay, Caesar shook his head and followed behind.

***Meanwhile***

"Ah Suzy thank you for picking me over Ceaser, you know what he'd do. 'Oh mamma mia, you look ravishing, my darling, ooohhh~' I swear he says the same thing to all the ladies right?" You sat beside her on the boat ride to Venice.

"Don't pay any attention to him when he acts like that. I learned the hard way." She giggled.

You certainly had gained more confidence from the last 10 days. You smiled at how quickly you've picked up the basics, at least it's one thing Caesar is good at, training the basics of hamon. It was thanks to a friend who knew Messina that you got invited to Air Supplena Island to help the boys and Lisa Lisa defeat the pillar men, they were due in less than 2 weeks. You had to be ready for everything.

It wasn't much longer you both arrived and Messina helped you off the boat, "Remember ladies I leave in 2 hours and if you miss this boat you'll have to find your own way back."

You both nodded and headed for the market stalls. You both had a list of food and supplies needed for that week and one more item, a new dress for Lisa Lisa. After much debate you both agreed on a navy blue dress and with that you decided to treat yourselves to a light but late lunch.

"I know you don't think much of Caesar but you got to admit he is really cute." Suzy blushed holding her cheeks while waiting on her red velvet cake slice to arrive.

"Alright I wont admit to his face but I guess he is." You sipped your tea and bit into your biscuit in a slight annoyance. You couldn't believe you just admitted Caesar was attractive.

"I knew it Y/N. Hee hee. What do you think of JoJo?" Suzy teased you

"JoJo? Hmmm I honestly couldn't say. I don't see him very often to have an opinion..." You tilted your head.

That was a lie, you of course liked him, like a lot, any chance you had you would have a quick glance at his abs or his buttocks. But it wasn't very often you got to see him due to most of your training being with Caesar or Lisa Lisa.

"Oh what time is it Y/N?" Suzy Q asked out of the blue.

You looked at the clock tower behind her and noticed you had 10 minutes to get back to the dock.

"AHH SUZY WE ARE GOING TO BE LATE!" You grabbed her arm and the bags of shopping.

You both ran as fast as you could and Messina folded his arms and waggled his finger. Suzy sat down, you passed her the bags and that's when you realised the dress was missing.

"Messina, please just wait another 5 minutes. I need to pick up the dress from the cafe." You pleaded him. He nodded and you headed back.

"Sorry Y/N I forgot to pick it up!" Suzy called out to you.

You dashed the streets and you made it back to the cafe, thankfully the owner was closing and handed you the dress, the owner was thankful that you came with Suzy Q and had a quick chat about how amazing Lisa Lisa is. You smiled patiently before you had to make it clear you had to leave.

The docks were just in sight and you ran straight for them but time was up. Messina pushed the boat out and headed straight back, you dropped to your knees in disbelief.

"Great... Ceaser won't let me hear the end of this..." You sighed

You pulled up your trousers and held the dress high over your shoulders. You charged Hamon through your legs and made a slow and long way back to the island via river.

****Three Hours later****

"Well, well, well, look who finally shows up. Honestly anything could have happened to you. I was so worried about you! Look at you! You are a complete mess! Though I am impressed you used your hamon to walk across that whole river" Caesar was perched on the fence by the docks and watched you struggle on the boardwalk.

You lay on the boardwalk and caught your breath your lower half soaked "Oh shut it Ceaser! It wasn't my fault I missed the boat. I had to get Lisa Lisa's dress."

Caesar smirked and took the dress from you "Tell you what, if I can steal a kiss from you I won't tell anyone you are this late" His face was so close to yours.

"Ceaser! I'd rather do push ups than kiss you." You pouted and shoved him back

"Oh is that so Y/N? Well then as your trainer and for punishment you need to run 20 laps around Fight Island." He smirked at you

You stared at him in disbelief and before you had your say he dragged your tired body over the long walkway.

***One hour later***

It was early evening and you had made it back to the main part of the island, your legs were aching from all the running and walking, you were finally done for the day but you knew you really needed food. You yawned and pressed your hand against the door to the main hall way and realised it was locked. You rolled your eyes and sighed, of course Ceaser was making a point about this, but he wasn't going to make you walk around the whole island to go in the back door. You looked above and saw an opened window, from your memory you knew it led to the hallway above the kitchen. You smirked and stretched your body and walked to the bottom of the wall.

"Heh Caesar thinks he can outsmart me well looks like I've won this time, Caesar chan" You chuckle to yourself.

You use the hamon in your hands and feet to stick to the wall and start your climb. It reminded you of the pillar climb in your first few days on the island. You knew compared to the pillar climb that the wall climb would be over soon and you could sneak in the kitchen,finally get something to eat and sneak to your room. You saw the windowsill in sight and you sat on it to catch your breath.

"Phew! Man what a climb." You looked to the moon that lit up the whole island and enjoyed the view. You sighed happily at the moon's beauty and that's when you felt yourself falling backwards.

You landed on something soft and you paused for a moment and thought to yourself "Wait a second this isn't the hallway I was thinking about, is this JoJo's....?" You turned slowly and realised you fell not only on Joseph's bed but on his lap also.

Your eyes widen and you almost let out a shriek and he scrambled forward and held your mouth.

"Oi Oi Oi Oi! I've already got into trouble once today, I don't need you to get me into more. So shhhh." He whispered as he slowly moved his hand away from your mouth.

You quickly shifted yourself to the floor and knelt on the floor looking down, with a bright and embarrassed red face. "Oh my god I'm so sorry JoJo" You whispered "I thought this was the window to the hallway. Bloody Caesar..."

He smirked and knelt beside you "Hey I saw how mean Ceaser chan was with you, 20 laps around Fight Island is harsh. Hmmm how about we play a prank on him. What are you thinking Y/N?"

You nodded with him, you wanted to get him back in any way possible. You both headed to the door. Only there was one problem, Messina and Loggins were on guard duty with how late it was and patrolled the hallways. Joseph opened the door ajar and saw them at either end of the long corridor, he pulled your hand and dashed across from his room to Caesar's bedroom door.

"Judging by the time, Ceaser chan should be asleep by now" Joseph smirked

He opened the door gently and just like he said he was asleep, you both walked in quietly and Joseph closed the door behind you.

"Here take this Y/N and go to town" He handed you a small eye shadow pallet

"Um why do you have this...?" You asked looking down at the small compact case.

"Ah well" He twisted the bright pink lipstick and brought it to Caesar's lips "I'll explain later."

After a few minutes you both made a beautiful masterpiece on Caesar's face, his lips were bright pink, he had a gorgeous shade of purple on his eyelids, red rosy cheeks and the biggest and the most fabulous eyelashes. He looked beautiful, Joseph stood back to admire both your work and he bumped into the table behind him and broke a vase.

"Shit!" Joseph panicked

He pushed you into Caesar's wardrobe and he quickly climbed in after you. You both crouched and hid under Caesar's various jackets. You peeked out the crack of the door. The whole room was quiet with Caesar's light snoring. You both looked at each other and wondered how long it was going to be until Messina and Loggins arrived. You were both calm but you both sat there listening.

BAM! The door was swung open and both the tall trainers entered. They saw the broken vase and they grew suspicious, they wondered the room to see if anything looked out of place. They both looked at the still sleeping Caesar and raised their eyebrows and shrugged and carried on like they hadn't even noticed. Just then you saw Messina heading straight for the wardrobe. Your eyes widened, your heart felt it was going to pop out your chest and your body began to shake. You were going to get caught and you didn't want to think about what punishment awaited you. Joseph had to do something and quickly otherwise you both would be in deep trouble.

Messina was getting closer and you panicked more almost letting out a gasp, it was now or never, Joseph held your face and swiftly brought his face to yours and kissed you deeply, his tongue forced its way and lightly brushed against yours. He gripped but gently held your arms in place. At first you were frozen on the spot but you melted into the kiss. You held onto his shoulders, your face blushing so much you could feel the heat on your cheeks. He got the message you were enjoying this as much as he was, even though danger was on the other side of the door and approaching fast, that didn't matter right now he was in pure bliss and you were too. The kissing was so deep and very intense.

"Ah that's better" Messina walked to the window by the wardrobe and closed it. "I've told the boys a million times to close the windows at night, the high winds around this time of the year can be troublesome."

"You said it, we should address this to Lisa Lisa straight away." Loggins stood by the door and waited for Messina.

They both left the room and you both gasped for air and looked at each other breathing heavily. You both felt a rush of emotions. You held Joseph's hands in yours and you inched closer again, he smiled and encouraged you. Your lips gently brushed against his pecking him gently your hands began to wander all over his abs he softly moaned into the touch he ran his hand up and down your back and you felt the warmth of his hand you gasped at his touch.

He broke out of the kiss "I doubt Caesar chan would be too thrilled to find us making out in his wardrobe."

You giggled "No. He wouldn't"

He opened the door and helped you out the wardrobe. You saw the light blush on his cheeks as he smiled softly down to you. You held his hand and you both dashed across the hallway straight for Joseph's room.

Once in there he closed the door and smirked at you.

[SAUCY N SPICY WARNING!]

"Shall we continue?" He asked as he slowly approached you

"Please Joseph." You begged for him

He loved the tone in your voice and he pinned you to the back of the door, his hands locked into yours. You both looked each other up and down breathing heavily. He leaned in and kissed your lips softly before deepening it. His tounge forced it's way again but this time you were prepared and pressed your tounge against his. You both breathed heavily moaned into the deep kiss. He broke out the kiss and admired you, breathless and exhausted from his kiss.

He freed one of his hands and slowly brought it down your side you softly moaned at his touch, he reached your abs and traced his finger on them down to the belt buckle. He looked up at your lustful state and smirked, licking his lips, he crouched down and unbuckled your belt and gently pulled down your trousers and underwear. You gasped at the cool air hitting against your lower body.

"Relax I know it's cold but don't worry I'll warm you up" He gave a cheeky wink

He brought his other hand down and gently rubbed both his index fingers along the outside folds. You moaned softly at his touch and held his head. He could see how excited you had got and the wetness dripped on the floor. He gently poked and rubbed your nub and he brought his tongue to your opening and lapped up the excited juices. You bucked your hips into his face.

"Ah JoJo you are so incredible!" You moaned more and more with each touch.

He pulled away and a string of wetness was on his lips, he gently entered two fingers into you and slowly plunged deep. He loved hearing the soft moans you made from his actions, he picked up the pace and softly kissed up your thigh, you felt your whole body shake, you gripped his hair as your legs bucked into him one more time before you unleashed a wave of juices all over his fingers.

"Oh you were very excited weren't you." He licked his lips.

He slowly slid his fingers across his tounge. You grew more excited by his cheeky and lustful stare. He kissed down your neck and then gently lifted you up and carried you to his bed and laid you down.

You looked up at him as he kneeled in front of you and pulled down his zipper and his long member sprung out. You couldn't believe this moment was happening, you swallowed hard admiring his length in all its glory. He smiled down at you and gently held your mouth open. You had no objections and he gently inserted himself into your mouth, you gently sucked the tip and licked the sides every time he reached the opening. He threw his head back in bliss and moaned softly and bucked gently into your mouth. You held onto his buttocks and deep throated him the tip of his member poking the back of the throat, the saliva built up and it dripped down your chin and onto your chest. He groaned more and more as he thrusted into you, he slowed down his pace and gently entered the tip for you to lick on.

Joseph pulled out and looked down at you panting hard you looked up at him your mouth was drenched. He lustful grinned and gently hosited your hips to his lap, placed your left leg and ankle on his shoulder.

"Next you'll say 'JoJo please I'm all yours' " Joseph pointed at you

You gasped "Jojo please I'm all- wait how did you know?"

He grinned and at that moment he plunged into you, gasping softly you grabbed his pillow to hold onto something and to muffle your moans. He grunted softly while gripping your leg and ankle bucking harder and faster. He pulled the pillow away from your face and leaned in and deeply kissed into you, you moaned into the kiss, wrapping your legs around his waist you bucked back into him and this caused him to pin your arms into the bed and he thrusted faster, harder and moaned loudly.

"Ah Y/N I'm about to..." He moaned

"I am too JoJo please don't stop...." You moaned

You both closed your eyes and you held onto his shoulders having that one last final deep plunge. You moaned loudly at the wave that he had unleashed inside of you. He collapsed on top of you and hugged you tightly, you wrapped his arms around his, you were both exhausted. He kissed your cheek and snuggled against you, you shifted your body against his and rested your head on his chest.

"That was incredible JoJo thank you for a great experience" You smiled as you were about to drift off to sleep.

Snuggling his head into your hair Joseph mumbled "It was my pleasure Y/N, and don't think this is just a one off event. I want more of this in the future."

***********

The next morning you both woke up in each other's arms smiling, you couldn't believe how far you both had come from the night of lust. You leaned in close and kissed him softly.

"MAMMA MIA! WHAT THE HELL IS THIS CRAP ON MY FACE!" Caesar screamed as he looked at himself in the mirror.

You both giggled in bed knowing your prank was a success.

"Sounds like Caesar Chan is a fan of our masterpiece eh?" Joseph giggled

"Oh most definitely" You smirked knowing you had revenge on Ceaser.

(<----To be Continued-----)

Chapter 2

#jojo bizarre adventure #joseph joestar #jojo part 2 #battle tendency #joseph x reader #saucy n spicy #fan fic #fan fiction

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warsofasoiaf · 5 years ago

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Uh. I checked the character count, and this is going to end up long. My friend sent me something, and while I'm sure it's wrong, I don't know enough about medieval battles to dispute it. Can you help? Part one of many

He held storms end against a siege. From what information there is he seems to have done this well. I don’t know if he employed a scorched earth strategy before the siege began (if he didn’t then a rescind my compliment). The siege showed little in terms of tactical or strategic prowess on the part of Stannis but his will power was commendable and eating last was (part 1)

The siege showed little in terms of tactical or strategic prowess on the part of Stannis but his will power was commendable and eating last was a good morale booster (though he likely didn’t do this for the moral). Still, if the Tyrells had decided to storm the castle he would have lost. The battle shows more incompetence on the part of Mace than prowess on the part of Stannis (part 2)

He captured Dragonstone. There is very little mentioned about the specifics of the engagement. It is highly unlikely that there was a contested landing as the defenders lacked the numbers and morale for such a move and there is very little precedent for a contested landing in the historical time period that ASoIaF is based on. He likely arrived at the castle to find an open gate. Part 3

The best mark on Stannis’s record, and the only truly impressive thing he’s done was his destruction of the Ironborn fleet. He managed to split his fleet in two and flank the Ironborn without them knowing. Though this is still impressive it must be mentioned that Stannis likely had a great advantage due to technological superior ships (the ships described in the books are absurdly large and in an age where gaming and boarding was the main instrument of naval warfare that is a great advantage).

During the war of the five kings Stannis refuses to ally himself to anyone. This is a great black mark agains his record. And shows either an abysmal understanding of basic strategy or an incredibly diluted ego. Stannis’s choice to march on Storms end similarly shows either incompetence or delusion, only saved by an entirely unpredictable magical trump card on the part of Melisandre. Combined with the luck of the Stormlander lords agreeing to side with Stannis.

His attack of Kings Landing similarly shows a lack of understanding of basic strategy. This time he seemingly fails to scout ahead before initiating a contested river crossing. Failure to do this is an incredible oversight that cost him the battle. Part five sorry forgot the last one

After Stannis’s previous blunders lead to the annihilation of most of his army he gambles and sails north to try and win over the Northern lords. This is probably his first truly good idea in the war of the five kings. With Robb dead and the Lannister involvement in what seems to be one of the greatest war crimes in Westerosi history the Northern lords are ripe for realignment. Part 6

He crushes a numerical superior Wildling army though his force is made up of mounted knights and the Wildlings too don’t seem to utilize scouts. I would chalk this up to apparent wildling incompetence. Stannis then determines to march on the dread fort. Which is rightly pointed out by Jon Snow to be a stupid idea. Stannis then receives advice that determines his next moves. Part eight

Sorry, had to wait to submit more. Stannis then determines to march on the dread fort. Which is rightly pointed out by Jon Snow to be a stupid idea. Stannis then receives advice that determines his next moves. Stannis also seemingly wins the battle on the ice. His strategy seems to be fairly sound though he likely will receive no small amount of help from the Manderlys. Part nine

Part 10: Ultimately Stannis does not deserve his reputation. He isn’t completely incompetent. But He does not stand up the the likes of Tywin Lannister, Randyl Tarly, or Robb Stark In skill. Most of his victories are largely attributable to events that he had no control over and could not have forseen, from Melisandre’s magic to Jon’s council.

I wouldn’t worry. Whoever wrote that doesn’t really understand warfare either.

Defending against the Siege of Storm’s End was a remarkable feat of leadership. Stannis is young, and this is likely his first real test of major leadership. That he is able to handle it with only one instance of defection is no small accomplishment. A general needs to have this sense of leadership, in order to inspire his men and to get them to follow his orders. This is something we see time and again with Stannis; his troops truly do feel inspired by him, and are not simply fearing punishment for non-compliance. His men cross the burning bridge of ships during the Battle of the Blackwater, they follow him to the very edge of the world (bit of dramatic hyperbole here, but the Wall is remote and he would need to unite his men after the disastrous defeat).

Capturing Dragonstone. I fail to see your friend’s point. Naval landings are difficult in premodern times. Stannis had to organize a fleet and land, and he had built ships to take on the Targaryen fleet. Again, that’s another part of leadership, particularly since medieval naval combat frequently had ships that would be commissioned for a purpose and then mothballed.

What we see of the Battle of Fair Isle shows instead Stannis using the terrain features and the advantages of his equipment to his full advantage. This is something I often see with amateur military analysts is this idea that good equipment is used as an excuse to dismiss battlefield accomplishment in favor of a preferred conclusion. In real battle, this isn’t the case, it’s a chaotic mess and tools and techniques still have to be used appropriately.

Now I agree that the early moves that Stannis makes in the War of the Five Kings does show that he needs his character development to grow into a better king. The need to secure alliances, and the way his poor interpersonal skills don’t make much headway with Catelyn despite her being tailor-made to support Stannis (save for that pesky Northern independence thing) do show that his problems front and center.

I’ll be frank, your friend’s interpretation of Storm’s End suggests that he or she did no analysis the battle. I’ve seen a bunch of folks argue that on the r/asoiaf subreddit before. The facts of the matter are that Stannis forces Renly to move and nearly exhaust himself. He prepares his position and ground, he takes key advantage of Renly’s mistakes, and overall shows himself capable of winning the fight. Melisandre is often dismissed by people in our own world, but we have to remember that Planetos is a world where magic actually does stuff. I’d agree that a general in our own time who prepares for a magic bolt of lightning or something to strike down an enemy general is an idiot, but Planetos operates by different rules, and we have to make at least some sort of concession to that.

Now, we do see Stannis making a lot of mistakes in the battle, but we also see Imry Florent making most of the mistakes against tactical sense. Part of that is on Stannis, he is the senior commander, but part of that is also the problems of incompetent feudal leaders. Imry is an idiot, and he only got that position by nepotism.

Dismissing the wildlings losses as failure to employ scouts simply doesn’t match the text. We don’t hear about the wildlings not employing scouts, what we hear instead is that Stannis joined with the Eastwatch rangers and set out. We also see that the wildlings do employ some of their forces well, particularly their mammoths, which requires Stannis to secure a breakthrough against one of the other wildling contingents to flank the mammoths and bring them down, which is good tactical maneuver to eliminate an enemy advantage.

Stannis relying on Jon for counsel being marked as a disadvantage is a completely foolish argument. Securing local intelligence to better plan and execute a military campaign is one of intelligence’s primary purposes! That’s one of the most prevalent reasons to secure friendly local sources, so that you can adequately plan with better knowledge. Stannis makes a plan, finds local sourcing which gives him better intelligence, so he changes it. That being held against him is just a bad argument, start to finish.

I noticed your friend completely omitted the capture of Deepwood Motte, and I’m guessing because it really tears a hole in their arguments. Stannis using classic military deception techniques, camouflage to hide his troops, and captures Asha as she’s trying to evacuate, all of which showcase Stannis’s intelligence and effectiveness within the military sphere.

The Battle of the Ice we see Stannis again making preparations to take advantage of local conditions. While we don’t see what it is, because we’re still waiting on the book, all of the chapters that we see of him in the fifth novel regarding this show him preparing, show him leading his men.

Holding up Tywin Lannister as an example of a military genius is laughable, since Tywin gets beaten pillar to post by Robb Stark. His efforts to win the War of the Five Kings completely doom his house, since he violates every social taboo and engenders significant resentment to his family while doing so. I think it is possible to criticize Stannis’s mistakes in the Blackwater, without needing to minimize the actual accomplishments.

Thanks for the question, Anon. Here’s hoping you can correct your friend’s bad arguments.

SomethingLikeALawyer, Hand of the King

#stannis baratheon

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zuffer-weird-girl · 5 years ago

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What about an scenario about Kai thinking on proposing and struggling with how to do it, cuz he wants it be perfect

Of course!

"No. Horrific." He shook his head at his mind daring to think on such a terrible idea as he threw the paper on the nearby trash can on his office.

If he knew that preparing to proposing to someone was that hard, he would've had started to think about the issue right when he started to date you, because hole hell. It was harder then he thought.

And he was struggling with this shit for at least three weeks.

For something, or better yet, someone to get his attention and respect was extremely rare. And only one case in his all twenty something years of life was the special kind, the one who he had allowed to open up about his past and didn't judged him, the one who could atture and even came to love him for exactly what he was, despite having all his radical thoughts and issues like his mysophobia and... mental problems if you could even call it like that?

An angel that came from above to give his life some light and what he never thought he would have wanted neither need it at some point. Love and care.

You, a quirkless person who he always insisted that you were pure. An example for this sick society to follow, not to exclude like you were the wrong here.

He despised those type of people. How could they not see it that you were the original and right type of human? The one that wasn't sick like the others?

Ignoring all of that. After some years of knowing eachother, passing through good and bad, he had came to an thought some months ago that it wasn't leaving his head, no matter how hard he tried... until one day he simply gave up, and accepted it.

"I want (Y/n) to be mine. For life."

He remember those words he said to himself clear as the bright day outside. The realization took some time, but it hitted him like a train would. He truly loved you, only having you as a partner wasn't "enough", no. He felt the urge to have something, to prove to you and the world that you were his...

And for the first time in his life, he would say without a problem that he belonged to someone as well, even having his possessive habbits.

You were just like the moon and the clear night sky filled with stars for him. Despite the darkest and the most cold that the night can bring, they were always there to lead the human kind to safety directions.

... see? He thought on all of that. But he couldn't say it out loud. And that shit sounded way too cliche to propose to someone.

"Night sky? Fucking pathetic." He burried his face in his hands to growl freely on them before sighing and laying back on his chair.

Worst. The worst were the hardest, yes. But how the fuck should he do it in the first place? Just kneel on some dirty ground and say shit? On where? When?

He felt like he was going insane. He was always so serious and intelligent, always quick to make decisions. But this time? He felt for once pathetic.

He cant even think on where or how to propose to his loved one, what the actual hell?

"Sorry for the news boss. But those papers are from the other... you good?" He heard Kurono and Irinaka's voices and he grunted before standing up.

"Those are from rivals or allies?" He asked nonchantly as he grabbed the papers and read them cautiously with eyes full of disinterest and boredom.

"Allies." Kurono answered back before looking at the trash can filled with what was once papers "You were working on something?"

"None of your interest." He sighed and gave the papers back to Mimic "Return them to their owners, this doesn't have my interest and I have no time to waste on filth garbage like those."

Mimic nodded and left... but Kurono remained on the room. Catching a glimpse of what the messy papers were written and catching immediately what was going on.

And he felt nostalgia. Back to those days where he teased Kai freely. He could die that he wouldn't care, this was gold.

Chisaki looked at him with a arched eyebrow as he took of his mask and showed a smirk to him, the young head of the Shie Hassaikai already not liking one bit that face that smug bastard was doing it.

"Never took you to be the type of wanting to get married."

"... you son of a-"

"Relax! Relax!" Kurono dodged one attack of Kai and sighed in relief at not being killed by that spike Chisaki had just created. Bit still was chuckling "Is just surprinsing to see a guy who always claimed taht love didn't existed and DESPISE even the concept of touch wanting to get married."

"This has nothing of your interest, get out of my sign before I-"

"And you seem troublesome with that, judging by the amount of discarded papers, which by the way are not-" in one second he was overhauled and came back to look at a very infuriated Kai right in front of him.

"One more word that I will kill you for real and dont return back." He growled as Kurono smirked.

"Right, I will stop." Chisaki scoffed and went back to sitting on his desk with a huff but only burried his head on his gloved hands again as he stared at the blank paper in front of him.

"... If this is about (Y/n) accepting or not, they are crazy for you Kai. The least they could say is to wait a bit, but surely will accept." He tried to say something as Kai only sighed and pointed at no where while pinching the bridge of his nose.

"I have no idea why I am talking with out of all people this, but this is one of many of my issues about this."

"So there is more?"

"Much. First is that I have no fucking idea how to do it."

It was silence for a bit until Chisaki noticed how Kurono's eyes were wide open in shock, he arched an eyebrow as a silent question for him to explain his reaction.

"You? The most rational and strategist around here? Doesn't have a plan to propose?" He send a dark glare at Kurono as the man winced and rubbed the back of his head "Man, than the situation is critical."

"I apreciate the words Chronostasis. Really." He said in venom sarcasm before sighing again.

"You really dont have any ideas? Like, at all?" He shook his head and Kurono brought his hand to his chin in thought before snapping his fingers "Thought about asking advice to Pops?"

"You're kidding?" He glared at Kurono "The old man won't never leave down this one, and probably will be sappy shit."

"... doesn't you and (Y/n) do 'sappy shit' all the time?" He lifted his hand sup in surrender at Kai's death glare "No offense, but ever heard of 'the thought that it counts'? (Y/n) is not a person that is difficult to impress and enjoy the simple things. You know that better than anyone else in here dude."

"Of course I do, who do you take me for?" He asked in anger before sighing and looking down with a frown at the blank paper "... but they are not simple. (Y/n) made a drastic change in my life... so no one can't blame me for wanting and craving a unforgettable and memorable moment. I... I simply want to give (Y/n)-" Kurono widen his eyes at the way his cold childhood friend softened his usual murderous golden eyes at the mention of your name "The best. The best proposal, the best life, the best memories... I want this to be flawless, something that they can't look back and say 'it could have been-'. I want that neither os us have any regrets on this decision. Like the nowadays, where I dont have any regrets o entering on a relationship for the first time."

He lifted his head and found Hari looking at him with a smirk and he immediately scowled at it.

"Then I guess asking for some advice from the old man, despite hearing the no endless teasing would be worth it?" He tilted his head as Chisaki seemed in deep in thought "You got the help and service of all the yakusa, so you just need a plan. If you may allow, we will offer assistance and follow your orders."

He hated to admit that the blockhead was right. Absolutely despised it.

"... I guess."

Soon the door opened and the said so old man arched an eyebrow at the boys he raised in the same room and looking so serious but yet... like it wasn't a meeting neither business issue?

"Mind the both telling me what is going on?"

"Chisaki is thinking on proposing to (Y/n)." Kurono said nonchantly and dodged another attack of Kai.

"You disgusting piece of fucking-!"

"You are?" The elder asked in a certain serious tone, looking straight at Chisaki soul, catching him completely out of guard by his look.

"Is it a issue?" He remained his composture and uncaring look, but his nerves were starting to grow a bit at the thought that his mentor didn't approve it.

The man looked up and down at Chisaki before speaking in the same serious tone.

"Marriage is not only about claiming someone as yours Chisaki. Is about to care and vow even yourself for your partner. Protection, trust, respect are always the main pillars of having on a relationship and marriage." He turned hsi whole body to be in front of Chisaki as he spoke eyes to eye with him "Cases of the person who had their firts relationship and marriages are rare, but not impossible. Those are the ones we have to be extremely careful with. Now... knowing you in the way I do, answer me with pure bold honesty like you always did-"

The room went silent and even Kurono seemed uncomfortable at Pops seriousness, really considering on tip toeing out of the room.

"Do you really want this? What exactly brought you to this decision?"

Chisaki stared nonchantly at his mentor before sighing.

"What brought me for this decision was how and only (Y/n) makes me feel. The only thoughts I have before them were merely focused on rage towards my disgusting past, my hatred towards the heroes and how should I pay you for such kindness for taking me in.... with (Y/n) although I did not felt like a empty shell, I felt... I feel alive."

The elder hummed and asked one more last question.

"And you love (Y/n)? Enough to spend the rest of your life with them?"

"... I would crawl to hell and get back to earth if it meant I can see that smile and joy on my angel's face."

The elder chuckled lowly before patting Chisaki's shoulder, surprising the said man.

"Then you have my back Chisaki. And my blessing." He patted his head harshly out of sudden, causing Chisaki to growl and scoot away "And I heard you are struggling, I will give you some advice."

"I didn't ask for any of-"

"Bullshit." Chisaki deadpanned at the old man's vulgar vocabulary "If you're going to propose them you're doing it right."

He was in hell... why couldn't he had avoided all of this by merely thinking of something? Curse him and his brain.

"Am I interrupting something?" That voice right now was the last one he needed to hear.

"Angel, is actually-"

"(Y/N) my dear. Mind accompanying Kurono to grab some groceries?" Pops said suddenly and uncaringly "We are out of those. And I need to have a word with Chisaki."

"We are? Oh." Kurono muttered before going to the door frame "Yeah we are."

"But-"

"I will own you one my dear, dont be late."

"Pops I swear to god-" Chisaaki started to growl but the sound of Chrono closing the door caused his eye to twitch in irritation.

"So. Any ideas that crossed your mind?" The order spoke and chisaki only deadpanned at him "Cleary not apparently."

Someone, any divine creature... free him from his hell hole. Please.

#overhaul x reader #overhaul scenario #fanfic overhaul #overhaul #chisaki kai imagine scenario #kai chisaki x reader #chisaki kai x reader #chisaki kai #kai chisaki #bnha chisaki #bnha imagine #bnha x reader #bnha characters #bnha villains #bnha #bnha imagines #my writing #zuffer writings

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outerloop · 4 years ago

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Falcon Age 1.2 Big Bird Update on Switch, Steam, and Epic Store out now!

Switch and Steam Launch Trailer

We’ve added new content and modified a lot of the gameplay systems

STAT BUCKET SYSTEM

Complete overhaul of bird’s stat system

New “Stat Bucket System” based on combat usage not timers

Buffs feed into individual stat’s resource bucket that only drains with combat actions

Allows players to engage with hunting, cooking, and combat prep at their pace without ‘wasting’ resources

New clean UI to help convey amount of resources available, and showcase how much equipment is boosting it’s specific stats

To make this overhaul work we converted the timer based system into what we called the Stat Bucket system. Under this system all of the bird’s possible stats had its own “bucket”, that buff items like food would fill. As the player engaged in a specific combat mechanic, the associated Stat Bucket would use that resource. This had an immediate effect on combat encounters as the player could witness changes to the UI based on combat actions.

With this change the player could prepare food before an encounter and know they could flesh out a bird build without wasting resources, like in cases where enemies aren’t immediately in the entrance of an Outpost or Refinery. The second aspect of the Stat Bucket system is the ability to move the bottom of the bucket or “floor”, with bird equipment. This meant that through the game the player could accrue an assortment of equipment that would keep a specific Stat Bucket full to a certain level as long as the item was equipped. There are now a multitude of different endgame Bird Builds achievable that weren’t previously.

COMBAT ENCOUNTER REDESIGNS

Outposts updated to extend the exploration and combat period

Redesigns to better integrate the outposts into the games environmental storytelling

Combat flow reworked with new barriers, pathways, and enemy placement to add further tension to encounters

Through playtesting we found there were a few areas that were missing a little something, and had the opportunity to build out really dynamic and fun encounters. One of my main focuses at the time was looking at pre-existing assets and finding ways to rework them in these new encounters. Lets go over my favorite example, the Desert Outpost.

Looking through the assets used for the Desert Outpost, we found the scene used a larger concentration of steel boxes. This stood out and made the scene have a sense of being a storage encampment. The fact that this Outpost is on an isolated island with bridges for access meant we could lean heavily into this being a fortified cache. We moved the deactivator goal further from the initial walk area and erected massive walls. The first time you see them jutting out of the natural landscape you get the impulse to figure out what the Bots are hiding back there. The pathway to the Deactivator we built brings the player up in elevation to give the player a clear view of the storage crate combat maze ahead. This resulted in a new but familiar encounter that gives the player all the knowledge they need to quickly contain the problem.

The final results are combat encounters that feel familiar but refreshing and exhilarating.

Cooking Recipe & Food Redistribution

Redistribution of food items and treasures

Adjustment of status effect % for cooked foods

Recipe card redistributed through the world

Simplified food “tier” system for new bird stat system

Working with the narrative flow, combat flow and various systems wouldn’t be complete without a rework of the hunting and cooking systems. Cooking is one of the first systems the player is introduced to and is one of the pillars of the combat system. As we reworked combat encounters and world flow we found that the cooking system wasn’t matching the flow.

Ingredients and recipe cards needed to be more evenly distributed across the environment. How did we get in this pickle in the first place? Initial designs were that we wanted to have key vegetation locked behind completing each Refinery, that way there was direct content unlock after major progress. This helped the Refinery shutdowns have more impact on the systems, but meant that the world was empty of vegetation, due to the content gating. We had to weigh narrative impact against improving the overall world design, and found that integrating the vegetation across the world made it feel much more lived in.

Now that we had a more vibrant world that the player could more freely engage with and experiment with, we had to ensure that the player was being more evenly drip fed recipe cards. Recipe cards are actually optional and not needed for cooking, as the player can stumble into recipes through experimentation. Still we needed to make sure recipes that had impact for the player in that moment were accessible. Another aspect of redistributing vegetation and recipe cards properly was how it would feed into the new stat system.

Food items have been completely redesigned for this update. After redistributing and trimming the recipes and ingredients in the world we studied how players would use the food items, which ones were most likely to be made and how well the buffs were conveyed. We found that food items as a whole were not engaged with on the level we were hoping for, as players found the timed effects to be quickly wasted. It was easier for some players to just ignore the system entirely, due to lack of clarity and quick buff drains.

Now that we had a cooking system which was easier to engage with, we wanted to ensure the player could more easily parse the How, When & Why of the buff items that resulted as well. Food items originally used a short timer and a multitude of different “levels” for the percentage amount of stat buff the bird got from the item. We wanted to simplify the Stat Buff system and have player decisions have a greater effect for longer stretches of combat, instead of bursts of stat improvement in small sections.

Quest Additions and Changes

Additional NPC dialog across the board focusing on furthering the lore of the game, detailing more about the characters’ history and perspectives on current events

New quest with The Painter that explores new bespoke areas known as Landmarks

Further integration of fauna hunting with player progress and bird growth through a whole new quest NPC, The Hunter

For this update we wanted to take the time to further explore how the individual elements of the world fit together. The world is full of fun and charming NPCs with their own perspectives and interests. One of our favorites is the climber character who challenges the player and their bird to a timed challenge. We love how the environment, the player and the characters are all connected into a bespoke experience.

In this update we expanded on a handful of NPC quests to make them more bespoke and further integrated into the world around them. Often this is in direct response to additions and changes we made to the world. The best example of this is the new NPC, The Hunter. They’re very interested in your bird and see an opportunity to help hone her skills through challenges. The player can gain very powerful training gear and lots of fauna materials by defeating The Hunter’s many dangerous challenges.

Steam:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1075080/Falcon_Age/

Switch:

https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/falcon-age-switch/

#falconage #switch #steam

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froggy-fics · 4 years ago

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Long Past Dawn Ch.1

[Aaaah, okay so this is the first chapter of what I hope to be many! The ending is a little rushed but I hope its still enjoyable! Any comments, feedback, and/or advice is greatly welcomed. Also note the oc is nonbinary. This has been proofread by me but I may have missed things!]

WC: 3,054

The downpour outside lulled us into a quiet meditative conversation.Two Americans and two Canadians, a count of four in total, all of us students in search of degrees in education.

Daniel spoke first, breaking the silence, a talent of his. "So," he started, "why did the rest of you get into teaching? Personally, I just want to work until I get tenure and then wild out, just absolutely go off" he guffawed, turning to another member of our party, Angel.

I hated to look at her as she smiled at the rest of us, her teeth just looked too perfect and I hated them. They were in my uncanny Valley, along with her. "I just, I don't know ya know. Kids are our future and I feel as if it's my calling to nurture that" her too perfect teeth suddenly curtained by her lips as a tight smile made an appearance on her face.

It's my turn, a panic and sweat washing me in discomfort. "Um, well, I actually don't know. I think I'm just trying to make up for the shitty teachers I had early on in my learning" Clearing my throat I continued on, "I just feel as a mentally ill child I didn't get the care or attention I needed so I want to make up for that" I finished and gave a smile to fake a sense of calm.

Dante, our last compatriot suddenly hitting my knee, "No I feel the same! I feel as though the education system we have as of currently constantly fails those it should be helping and I want to end the cycle of educational neglect!" The words raced from him in a flurry, only to be met with my excited agreement, noise and discomfort from Angel and Daniel. Turning to me he spoke more, "Fabel, you and I, are the only two people here with any pure intent" in a shaming tone that made me chuckle.

Peeking over to a clock in the hostel room we shared the clock read 3:30 am. Our professor for the trip wanted us to stay up and go on a hike sleep deprived for some arbitrary lesson to learn how to cope under stress. Hitting my head off the wall I groaned, I didn't want to be in a foreign country sleep deprived. A shared glance and emotion feel upon us, frustration. We signed up for this, yes, but we felt as if the man who was supposed to teach us meant to belittle us. We all just needed a foreign language credit and all had picked Romanian at our respective schools, thus the event that led to our meeting. Breathing in before I rose to guzzle down another cup of coffee and grabbing the cup Daniel had suddenly flung out. The sound of rain and the smell of coffee was a perfect sleep mixture, unfortunately nothing can be perfect I found as I rubbed my eyes with my hands.

The room we resided in was average I suppose, this being my first hostel experience, plenty of room for the professor but he refused. The bunks were comfortable and the amenities worked so that's all we needed. The carpet was the best part, resembling a movie theater carpet which kept popping up in conversations. Everyone was staring into the center of the room suddenly, thoughts and movement ceased, our moving chests the only sign of life. Breaking my trance I my eyes moved to peer outside the window all of us neglected to close, instead leaving it to people watch and be generally nosey. The town we stayed in was large and seemingly filled with life. The fact that we could stay here and learn more lessons than driving hundreds of miles for a silly hike to stroke some guy's ego suddenly got to me. My chest tightened as I then remembered Daniel and his lack of coffee.

Hours had passed and the dawn was coming in just some hours as we had begun packing for the day. Angel had been seemingly the most affected, refusing to consume caffeine she began to whine to herself as she stumbled about. Daniel and Dante were throwing themselves into each other to aid in waking up even slightly. Embarrassingly, I stood and did theater exercises to help myself wake a bit. Down the hall through the door we could hear a throat clearing and coming towards us, we freezed in anticipation.

“Good to see you kids awake! I never thought you would’ve been and hoped for a teaching moment” Our professor seemingly lamented, teaching moments his name for public humiliation and being treated like a child. I refused to learn his name, if he wouldn't show respect towards us I wouldn't show any towards him. He starts to move his body like a swiveling fan observing our room. His eyes attempting to find any mistakes, none would be found. We stood, ready for our day with bags filled as he stood like he was the embodiment of the law or something of equal importance. Finally deciding we were of his approval he clasped his hands together he began to speak in his yell-talk style.

"As you may remember me saying all week, today we will be driving to a remote part of the country for a hike. This will teach you leadership, team work, and how to rely on others. Now, this hike won't be easy nor for the faint of heart, but I know you kids should be fine" he finally spit out, his face showing a smile but his eyes betrayed him. His chest rose as he breathed and began to turn, a blessing to us as a group a few moments of reprieve needed. You could almost feel the tension in the room leaving with him.

Realizing I had been picking at my thumbs the entire time I breathed in and shifted my weight on to my other foot.

"I don't understand people like that. They go into teaching and act superior off some perceived amount of knowledge" I spoke with a grouchy tone. "You're not fulfilling your duty as a teacher, you're just being a dick" I spat forward as a follow-up.

"And he doesn't even offer constructive criticism, it's just straight public humiliation" Angel grumbled in agreement. Her eyes focused on the floor, brows furrowing as she continued, "he's also just plain rude. Literally has said nothing nice. I can only imagine what people say behind his back about him" she said, finally looking up and shaking her head.

Both Dante and Daniel stood like pillars, hands gripped on the straps on their backpacks. Daniel finally breaks their silence.

"He has off vibes, like something about him isn't settling with me" the sentence sends a chill in the room. "He's just - he's rancid. That's all I can say" he finished looking up at the ceiling suddenly.

Dante said nothing and just began to march from the room like a man possessed, we filled behind him reluctantly. The sentence "Fabel Zając faces the music" kept running through my mind. Feeling a tugging sensation I turned to look at Angel who gave a sheepish look, only asked, "Fabel, can I hold your hand? I'm nervous" thankful to have a way to stave off the panic in me rising and the ringing taking over my ears, I quickly agreed and both of us gripped hands. She wasn't a bad girl at all, I just hated her smile. She grew up in a religious home which gave her her constitution, truly you could see she was just a sweet girl. Just awkward with those outside her church. I looked forward again to see Dante's back, I reached up and tapped his shoulder and he turned to look at me as I smiled up at him and gave a wave. He laughed and waved back. Turning back again to look at Daniel, he was looking up at the ceiling of the hallway we walked through, I started to make faces at him until he gave me attention. Angel's giggles quickly gave it and he returned the faces. It brought all of us up as we giggled and leaned on one another in fits. Finally we made it to the main door, we stood and spotted our professor, he stood by a jeep and was messing around in the back. We all took a final breath and stepped out of the hostel into the cold hazy morning.

Shivering as we shuffled towards him, hopeful he would ignore us as we loaded ourselves into the vehicle, Daniel taking the front passenger seat, Dante sitting behind him, I in the middle, and Angel behind the professor. Thankfully, he did ignore us as we all began to text our respective families about our safety and the day ahead of us ensuring them we'd be okay. I shut off my phone and closed my eyes, letting my head back as I heard a grunt and the starting of our engine.

Hours had passed as the sun began to break more, it felt like purgatory. Nothing but static could be heard over the radio which caused an uproar from all members, the one moment all of us truly agreed. The urge to cry hit me, I wanted to be back in the hostel in town amongst people. I had a sinking feeling all morning and it only worsened. Suddenly a pop broke my thoughts as we began to swerve on the road.

"I don't have a spare" The professor mumbled.

"Excuse me! What do you mean you don't have one!" I snarled out.

"How could you not!?" Dante continued the line of questioning.

"I mean I don't have one, I had to make room for other bodies!" The professor spat.

"Dude, what's your problem? You've been a dick since we got here and now you endanger us?" Daniel then shouted over us all.

Angel in a moment of complete stress shreaked, almost destroying our eardrums.

We then sat in silence for a moment, all of us thinking.

"We're hours from anywhere aren't we?" Dante finally spoke.

"Yes, Dante, we are" The professor huffed out, pinching the bridge of his nose. "We'll just have to walk to find help, I'm sure it shouldn't be long" he followed by unbuckling his seat belt.

Angel, following his lead, swung her legs over the ground and hopped from the jeep. Daniel rolled his eyes, popped his knuckles and followed. Dante looked at me in the rear view, he put his head back, shook it and also followed them. I sat and finally before they were too far my resolve diminished and I jumped out and ran after them.

Hours had passed, all of us had blisters, and we had multiple arguments until we stumbled upon the outside of a village. Huffing for air I silently thanked the universe as I bent to put my hands on my knees, my chest burning. The buildings and fencing looked old, as if the people were stuck in time; appearing abandoned and void of residents, our professor began to march in yelling for help. The pit in my stomach grew as we all shared a glance and followed despite our better judgment.

Panic began to rise in my chest as I turned to my group mates after finding myself in the front. The looks I turned to see were full of fear, as I assumed mine was a match. I held my hand out to Dante as I had found myself closer to him, "let's hold hands, I'm scared" he nodded and grasped my hand quickly. Every structure was made of wood and pathways would seemingly lead to dead ends and blocks. After a never ending amount of complications and no one our professor let out a roar of frustration.

This is where the trouble truly began, the roar back we never expected or saw in our future. They sounded animalistic and primal, nothing a human could ever produce. All our eyes locked in that moment, the calm before a storm. My legs took over me and I began to run praying that my speed came to be like Hermis. Barreling into an empty home I looked for any place I could hide, whimpers and whines escaping my throat as I heard noises only comparable to dogs, but much larger and monstrous. Cramming myself under a bed and snuggling to the wall I waited, hand over mouth shaking with ragged breathing. Closing my eyes I let go of the tears I had been holding in allowing myself to let my mind wander to the worst possibilities about my friends, how my pets wouldn't understand, how painful my end would be all causing my body to assault me with tears. Finally, the noises subsided slowly as I could hear the beasts running further into the village. Breathing in huffes of air I steel myself with resolve and crawl agonizingly slow from my spot. I crouch and make for the door, creeping to it and cracking it open like a cold one with the boys, I peer and think of my options, deciding on finding my way back to the gate at the opening of the village. I dashed out and scramble to my right, realizing quickly I'm lost, I just keep running.

Luck wasn't on my side as I found out, finding myself at the edge of the village, during my run a few of the creatures circled back causing me to scramble for cover. The attempt was unsuccessful and one had dug a claw in my leg, slicing the meat. Still I kept running and hiding, at one point I dove for another house, barricading the door and breaking through the floor to run out from below the house as they were on top. I had only made it to the center of the village before my body gave up leaving me on the ground, my blood pooling around me as I fought for consciousness. As the world faded a shadow formed in my vision accompanied with boot steps, a cold hard object lifted my chin and moved my head back and forth as a hum met my ears.

"You're tough, you'll be useful" followed by a chuckle caught my attention. Useful, for what? The question didn't stay long as my head finally became cloudy and I left reality.

The stick of a factory caused me to stur in a groggy state. It was a soft hum, the machinery reminding you of its presence. My head hurt and the smell of oil and metal not helping in the thumping. The mattress I felt under my hands was thin enough to bring my attention to the springs of the frame. I grunted as I forced myself to sit up, finding my wounds covered and as I'd hoped stitched. I let my body fall back and slightly bounce as I began to cry and rock. I rolled to be on my side and hug myself as I try to choke back my noises not knowing what other danger I could be in. Suddenly the sound of footsteps broke my thoughts and caused my heart to leap. Pulling the covers over my head like a child I burrowed underneath hoping to feign sleep. Wiping my eyes and nose I try to control my breathing, I lay as still as I can and wait, the steps getting closer causing the beating in my ears to grow as my chest restricted and panic set in causing goosebumps to cover my body.

"You're not asleep" I heard followed by a chuckle as tears sprang to my eyes again, I was going to be sick. "C'mon and quit your hiding" despite sounding like a request I could tell it was an order as I snaked my arm to the top of the blanket as quickly as my shaking body could manage. It wouldn't be that difficult of a task as I'd learn, the blanket being ripped from me. I threw my arm over my face and withdraw into a ball, similar to how I learned as a child during tornado drills, just on my side. It must've been funny to my capture as he burst with a chuckle.

"I won't hurt you, after all look at you, you already look half dead."

"Promise?" I sound like a child, I could only assume the lycans he mentioned were what attacked earlier, and as for the bitch I hadn't a clue nor a care.

After a snort a reply was given, "I won't make promises for later, but for now we'll see." It wasn't promising, but it was all I had.

I unfurled myself with a whimper, not realizing just how much it would hurt after my sudden movements. Slowly I rolled over to observe my savior and capture. He was tall or at least from this angle he was, salt and pepper beard and hair with what looked like a leather cowboy hat adorning his head, a trench coat and combat boots. My first thought was he must be a military larper of some sort, part of me fighting a laugh as I managed to rub my eyes and groan. The thing stopping me in my tracks was the giant metal hammer, no regular person could use such a thing causing my fear to spike once again. The grin he gave was full of malice and looked predatory, the inability to see his eyes only added to his aura. The full realization of the situation hit me as I freely began to cry as he studied me. I could die here or worse with this wolf left to lick up what I leave, what proof did I have that he wasn't already planning on it. Shaking my head as I tried to get out anything but sobs I found him laughing at me again, seeming to enjoy my response of overwhelmed fear to him.

"You'll be perfect!" He declares, "finally I can get rid of that bitch." He says voice shaking with rage as he bares his teeth like a dog. My fate seemingly sealed as all I could do was let myself freely weep and a stranger laughed at me.

#heisenberg x oc #oc fic #karl heisenberg #karl heisenberg x oc #resident evil #resident evil village #re 8 #re 8 fanfic #fanfic #canon x oc

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stylishanachronism · 5 years ago

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So it is in fact Watcher Wednesday, I have a headache, the neighbors are still firing off fireworks and setting off all the car alarms on that side of the street, here’s a sliver of an essay about Pillars of Eternity and sheep.

So if you’ve been following along at all, you’ll know I have a dearly held headcanon that Edér, outside of seasonal agricultural work, supports himself by knitting elaborate ring lace shawls (no seriously what the fuck is he supposed to be doing all year Obsidian answer me who is making his socks), because canonically most of the Dyrwood’s production is tied up in fancy wool and fancy timber. More specifically, per the guidebook, “Wyr (“wire” - Aedyran) wool, gal glas (“green thorn” - Glanfathan) timber, Glanfathan deer hide, tin, lead, iron, copper.” (PGB1, pg 48), and it’s telling that the particular types of wool and timber are specified, as they aren’t for any other country(1). This is surprisingly well supported in game, between the set dressing in the Gift, the shipwreck scavengers beneath the bridge, and Dyrford’s main industry, namely tanning and dyework, as well as the lack of either crop industry on a wide scale, or food prepared for shipment in the Gift. (It does raise the question of ‘where are all the sheep’, but considering Obsidian knows nothing about textiles and the fact adding Yet Another model probably wasn’t the best use of their time, I’m cross about it but I’ll excuse it)

Fun fact: shipping roving is a waste of everybody’s time. Shipping thread on a scale that would enable somebody else to turn it into cloth is less so, but it’s significantly more expensive. Cloth takes up a lot less space than either option (especially roving), and is a lot harder to damage/a lot easier to protect during the process, especially since there’s a smidge more evidence(2) that wyr wool is a fine, light, long fiber wool, and therefore prone to matting in its base state.

This is not in the game at all, and barely barely barely in the guidebooks, but that set of facts means the Dyrwood is probably known for its weavers and knitters, and they probably import a lot more dye than even Aedyr, who are implicated to buy dyed in the wool textiles(3), which leads to the idea that the Dyrwood and Readceras have very strong economic reasons to get over their differences, (which is openly canon, but without explanation) and in the meantime Stalwart’s smuggling business? Almost entirely dye into the Dyrwood. The same economic pressure would explain why Aedyr was so eager to go back to trading with them, instead of being deeply pissy about dealing with a ‘failed’ colony, as they are with Readceras.(4)

On another tack, this takes everything about the Pearl Bluffs and makes it actually relevant to Defiance Bay as a city, because shelling out municipal funds on adventurers because one of your priestesses is having bad symbolic dreams is... a little sketchy, considering the state of the city, but if hiring those adventurers also gets rid of a major predator in the closest accessible good grazing land? Sheep are much more valuable than dreams, and that’s a reasonable expense. (It also explains why there’s absolutely nothing there, because local grazing land > mildly inaccessible but well placed military infastructure, because if I was worried about invasions by sea (which Defiance Bay canonically is), having some sort of lookout on the cliffs above the port would be a good idea, but not if it would hurt the city’s main industry.)(5)

Circling back around to the lack of crop industry, I know mechanically nobody wanted to animate Yet Another field of wheat (or what have you. There’s a lot of options there but they didn’t put it in so We Just Don’t Know(6)), and so it’s not that they don’t exist it’s that they aren’t pictured, just like the dozens and dozens of little towns that ought to be peppered across the place, which must exist but aren’t pictured (or named), but like... I desperately want to know what Obsidian thought everybody was doing all year, and where they were supposed to be living. (Let’s face it, I want a real map, with county lines and everything.) I am, obviously, proposing that in addition to the many many necessary industries (coopers! more blacksmiths! every single citizen from the age of being able to hold a pair of needles knits and spins so they don’t go naked! glaizers! lumberjacks! carpenters! butchers! I could go on!), that pretty much everybody is involved in some sort of fiber production, mostly wool but linen as well (preparing flax is No Joke), or otherwise dye preparation in some form or other, but like... what did Obsidian think. Where are the sheep?

Footnotes:

1: Per the guidebook: Readceras produces “Vorlas (purple dye), corn, corn flour, wool, cotton (minimal), lumber“ (pg 50), the Republics “Iron, copper, silver, glassworks, ships, spices, clocks, and astronomical equipment” (pg 52), Aedyr “Iron, fine steel, cotton, dyes, lumber (a major export of many varieties), spices” (pg 54), and Eir Glanfath “Gal glas (“green thorn” - Glanfathan) timber, Glanfathan deer hide, gold, adra shell (the odd shell material found in Engwithan ruins), rare fungi“ (pg 57) even though their exporting adra makes zero goddamned sense. No other countries/cultures have listed products, though Deadfire made a good effort at showing the exports of individual cities in the Deadfire. I’m not citing it because I’m too lazy to go copy all that shit down by hand, though.

2: The evidence on wyr wool is, very basically, it’s either a long fiber wool (wire like, able to be drawn very fine), or a short fiber wool (wiry, coarse). Long fiber wool is more desirable, and more likely to be specified out on a consumer level, versus a more ordinary short fiber wool, where knowing the provenance really wouldn’t change much. Long fiber is also a much lighter wool, the sheep more delicate (not by much, but still), and the Dyrwood’s climate as shown doesn’t particularly require a hardier sheep. Without actual sheep to look at, or somebody on staff with enough textile knowledge to incorporate said knowledge literally anywhere, there’s not a ton of evidence either way, but I have my biases, and finer wool suits them so that’s the argument I’m making.

3: “Aedyran clothing is known for being relatively simple in construction and often using large, colorful striped or checkered patterns for accents.” (pg 54) Trying to dye stripes is a misery. Trying to dye checks is worse. Weaving stripes or checks, on the other hand, is very, very easy, but requires you to dye the thread before it’s processed.

4: I would cite the guidebooks here, but since they never actually come out and say ‘there was five years of famine and it was not great’, I can’t, but uh, there was (at least) five years of famine and it was not great. A fraction of the population wandered off to make candles in sufficient quantities that they’re a minor Dyrwodian import (”Many a Dyrwoodan lord who illuminated their keep (and cursed all Readcerans) unknowingly did so by the light of Eothasian candles.” (PGB2, pg 81), in reference to The Bright Shephards, said fraction with the candles), and another went to the Deadfire, where they were delighted to finally be successful farmers (”To the delight of these wayward pilgrims, their crops took to Deadfire soil better than they had in Readceras,” (pg 80), in reference to the Children of the Dawnstars), even though they... don’t actually grow anything in common with Readceras, and meanwhile Aedyr continued to be dicks about the whole mess, even as Readceras proper finally got their feet under themselves, and managed to get the Vorlas properly established to the point where it’s their main export. (Look, Vorlas is fantasy indigo, and indigo takes a couple of years to like, not die at the first hint of literally anything going wrong. It’s more finicky than roses, especially since they’re not growing it in a region it’s built for, there’s a reason everything went to shit.)

5: It also explains some of the bounties, because ‘dangerous thing that only bothers *really* stupid travelers’ is a much smaller problem than ‘dangerous thing that bothers fairly defenseless essential livelihoods’. Also mechanically you’re paid for the Caed Nua bounties but like... Caed Nua is setting the bounty? so you aren’t being paid you’re just saving the house a lot of money to get somebody else to do it. You need to defend your sheep as well as your roads, I guess is what I’m saying?

6: Look, someday I will dig through every recipe I can get my hands on, in game or in the cookbook, and come up with a list of things the Dyrwood probably grows for food, but today is not that day, so right now your guess is as good as mine, as long as your guess is ‘not corn’.

#pillars of eternity #hey look it's time for another Terrible Essay #I'm going to be honest this is mostly not about sheep #some of the quotations were lightly edited for punctuation because whoever did the actual editing did a bad job at that part #there is more to this about why Aedyr's dye-focused colonies failed but like that gets into growing regions and shit #the map *still* confuses the shit out of me Obsidian show me your goddamned atlas #we are trying Yet Another method of footnotes let me know if it's working #one of the things I am most cross about in deadfire is that how economic relations shaped up between the dyrwood and readceras #is literally never once mentioned much less expanded on #like tell me about how that developed you spent so much time talking about it in pillars #let me tell you I have never been more vindicated than the fact I looked at the Dyrwood's fashion in Pillars and said NO THANKS #and then Deadfire turned around and went the same general direction I did when they retconned it #gal glas lumber is either some sort of citrus wood or Literally Green #I haven't decided which one I think is more likely/funnier #further agricultural thoughts include: are they raising chickens or doves or both #and where are the orchards and can I reasonably argue about citrus being a thing (the answer is probably no)#WAIT HOLD ON I JUST THOUGHT OF A THING #do you think people in the know refer to ethosians as beekeepers #like the bright shephards are all about bees because candles #so like do you think 'oh don't bother him he keeps bees'#or like 'go tell the bees those fuckers are coming'#is a way of keeping your neighbors safe from the dozens or particularly militant magranites or what have you #it's a good thing I never post fiction because I will call eder a beekeeper and I will confuse everyone including myself later #I'm sorry I have a headache I don't think I'm making much sense #also i think the neighbors are currently playing streetfighter on the giant projector screen right now and I Want to Die it is Very Loud

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