#as someone who survived the great ship wars in the trenches

[very-hairy-wizard]

everyone say thank you Dana for not making us suffer through ship wars, contrived love triangles and unnecessary misunderstanding that lead to stupid relationship dramas.

[starrymused]

Maevandor is a planet where it is permanently night-time. It also rains constantly, so the main city of Hollow’s Vale has been structured around the weather so that the city doesn’t flood. It is a city built on large, strong stilts and platforms made from a special ore only available in that region of planets. Everything in the city is made from this special ore, meaning there are many bandits and scavengers who wish to steal it to either use on their ships or sell it for a hefty amount. This ore is called Somnum and it is a dark inky color that glitters with silver if held under a light.

There is a strong government presence who have trained city guards to vigilantly watch the airspace and a forcefield around the city perimeter that keeps out trespassers. If anyone approaches, they will call out to them using a large, electronic device that will cut through to the communications of whichever aircraft they’re on. If the guards deem the visitors fit to pass, they will give the command for the Operator to disengage a small portion of the forcefield to allow entry. The Operator is a stoic middle-aged man who takes his job very seriously. He has never made a mistake and only the President and the Commander are permitted to enter the tower where he works and lives. If the outsiders are not given the clear, the comms will cut and a siren will ring out across the area. Turrets and mounted rockets outside of the forcefield will take aim at the ship and blast until there’s nothing left.

The city of Hollow’s Vale has a hierarchy system. Those who are rich are given the highest platform and the finest structures. This highest point is called Zenith and is where the government and President Whitlock reside. Those who aren’t as well off are contained to the middle levels. This middle level is called Medulla. Then, those who have been cast out survive in The Trench – a terrifying area on the very bottom platform of the city that isn’t protected by the forcefield. Down there, the citizens who were deemed unworthy enough to take residence within Hollow’s Vale are left to fend for themselves among their own kind and any unsavoury people and creatures that come to visit. The Trench is cut off from the rest of the planet by security doors made of Somnum, which is impossible to break through. The only time these doors open is when armed guards arrive to take from the residents of The Trench; President Whitlock makes them work for their keep, otherwise they will be exiled completely (e.g cast off into space with no protection.) The Trench residents make a lot of the equipment that keep Maevandor running — the entire sub platform is made up of blacksmiths, carpenters, construction workers, and mechanics. They get paid very little for the work they do, only given materials in return so that the cycle of creating for the upper levels can continue.

The President is someone who doesn’t fit the environment. Against the bleak atmosphere that constantly surrounds the city, President Whitlock wears colorful plaid suits no matter the occasion. He speaks in a soft voice, but always sounds like he’s seconds away from losing it – there is a hint of danger and madness lurking beneath the surface. President Whitlock likes to keep everything in order. He is a rather paranoid individual, even though he does his best to hide it. He thinks himself a fair man and, for the most part, he is. Apart from the fact that the people in The Trench are left to fend for themselves. He knows how rare and in demand Somnum is – the desire for this special ore once caused a great war between Maevandor and the neigbouring planet of Aerdonia. This is one of the reasons Maevandor has such strict rules about who enters and leaves. The citizens also don’t want any outsiders entering because they don’t want “foreign species” (yes, read that in as much of a racist tone as you can imagine) invading their planet.

The Trench is where Ajaz Ashwin lives. He is a nineteen-year-old mechanic / tinkerer. He and his uncle, Beats (he was named Beatrice by his parents and he despises it) run a workshop / garage situated on the edge of the platform. They don’t care if someone has a stolen vehicle or spacecraft – as long as they have the cash for their services and don’t bring trouble their way, they’ll fix it up no questions asked. Beats is a little on the shorter side but is stocky — nobody with a brain would want to mess with. He is a simple man who likes to focus on work and then head home. He cares deeply for his nephew, taking him in after his parents met their end in an electrical explosion at the power station they both worked at.

Ajaz is a bit of a spitfire. He is passionate about his job (and doesn’t even really see it as a job) and wants to learn new things. He has a sunny personality that makes it easy for people to be drawn to him; he’s kind and empathetic, often keeping an eye on the vulnerable citizens in The Trench such as children, elderly, and single mothers. He gets a lot of attention from young women because of his positive demeanor and hunky good looks. Ajaz laughs it off, flattered.  Ajaz is pansexual, not really minding if someone is a woman, man, or alien from off planet. He hasn’t really been in a relationship beyond the girlfriend he had for two years when he was seventeen — they broke up because she was mad he couldn’t buy her pretty things and he told her that there’s hardly anything pretty in The Trench and she took this as an insult, thinking he was calling her ugly. 

Ajaz hasn’t been with a man or alien before, even though he’s open to it. However, he is very much the dominant one in any pair-up he might find himself in. There is a high chance that he won’t pick up on anyone coming onto him, figuring they’re just being friendly. He might even get flustered at times, taken aback by how forward some people can be. He isn’t shy by any means; he has a lot of confidence and high self-esteem, but if someone is really direct about their attraction to him, he’ll be like woah???

Ajaz has himbo and golden retriever energy but that shouldn’t be mistaken for someone who will let people walk all over him; he will knock someone flat on their backs if they try to mess with him or any of his loved ones. His mouth often gets him into situations in The Trench, but an Ashwin knows how to scrap! He is 6’2”, so he can be quite the opponent. His brawling has gotten him into trouble with law enforcement more than once, but the guards who are unlucky enough to be stationed in The Trench barely care anymore. To them, a fight among the “scumbags” is a form of entertainment that helps break up their shift.

One day, an out-of-control aircraft crashed close to the Ashwin workshop. Ajaz went to explore and found that the people inside were dead on impact. However, before he could properly investigate, guards arrived to take possession of it. Due to his quick thinking, Ajaz hid in the hull tucked into a corner and out of view. The guards tried to get it working again, but to no avail. Overhearing them arguing about what to do, Ajaz revealed his presence. He said that he knows he shouldn’t be sneaking about, but he can fix this ship up just as long as they don’t arrest him. The guards, frustrated that they couldn’t figure it out themselves, agree — they knew he’s talented with things like that.

Ajaz fixed the ship in a few hours and then gave them the go-ahead to fly it. However, the guards didn’t allow him to leave. Instead, they took him to President Whitlock. They informed  him about what happened and how “the mechanic” was able to fix the unknown ship in an impressive amount of time. This intrigued the President who then asked if Ajaz would like to work in Medulla; they could use a skilled mechanic like him. He gave Ajaz time to think it over and, after discussing it with his uncle, he took the offer; they needed  the money. So, for the next six years, Ajaz lived in Medulla, making a name for himself while also sending money back to his uncle. Throughout these years, he was sometimes called to Zenith to work on special projects for the President; fixing up their military crafts and developing new ways for their weapons to be installed into machinery.

Pleased with Ajaz’s progress and ambition to grow and succeed, President Whitlock granted him permission to tag along with the city’s primary merchant airship. This ship makes journeys between various planets to bring back resources and intel regarding bandit activity in the region. Ajaz jumped at the opportunity because he was eager to see other planets in the universe. So, he boarded the ship – called the Obsidian – and settled in as their second mechanic after an older man called Garrick who’s a bit of a grouch, clearly stuck in the past with his old ideals and traditions. After a few successful voyages, Ajaz was given his own personal, smaller ship (that he fondly calls The Trailblazer) that he can use to go on independent adventures.

President Whitlock struck up a deal with Ajaz: he can have all the freedom to explore that he wants just as long as he gathers a list of materials that Maevandor needs. President Whitlock also requires “special items” for his own personal use. These requests are sent to Ajaz’s ship through a special comm system that means President Whitlock can track him wherever he goes. He plans on using Ajaz to strengthen Maevandor while stripping other planets of materials. In return, Ajaz is told that if he continues to work as expected, his uncle and his friends will be granted access to Medulla where they will have a better quality of life. However, that will only be granted once he meets certain quotas within his work.

The default verse for threads will be when Ajaz is exploring different worlds at age twenty-five.

Some more Ajaz facts:

:- Ajaz prefers to learn practical skills rather than sit down and learn from a book. He just can't stand reading. He finds it so boring. He was always that kid in school who would zone out or would never stop talking to his peers. He'd always get sent out the class.

:- He is a foodie and anyone who wants to score points with him should give him food. Seriously, he'll be your pal for it. He likes to try the different cuisines on any planet he goes to, even up for trying some of the delicacies that even the locals aren't all that fond of. He takes an interest in cooking when he has spare time and has been learning various dishes using cookbooks he's purchased with Credits — the universal currency that can be transferred between U-Navs which are devices everyone uses. These can be used for a variety of purposes such as looking up information, contacting people in a contact list, and so much more.

:- He's a really sociable, easy-going guy and can approach people easily. This means that he's up for some social drinking and when he's drunk, he will probably end up singing karaoke somewhere. He doesn't sing well but he has fun all the same.

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

Re: Star Wars prequel novelizations - the Revenge of the Sith book is genuinely one of the best things I have ever read and changed my life.

THANK YOU, anon, for reminding me about the Revenge of the Sith novelization.  I just reread it, and my crops are watered, my skin is clear, and — I cannot overstate this — I actually remember why I love Star Wars.  That love has been for too long stolen by The Fandom Menace sucking the life out of those movies to invent a new definition of suffering while digesting them slowly over a thousand years.

Revenge of the Sith by Matthew Stover is one of the greatest works of adventure fiction I have ever read, and it continues to inspire the way I write action sequences and character conflicts.  It does so damn much to transform a movie that is, to be honest, just okay.  There are a couple of big additions from the novel that make the whole Skywalker saga richer, and there are about five hundred little tweaks that deepen the lore in a way that shows that Stover loves Star Wars to the core.

First big addition: having Obi-Wan tell Padmé that he’s in love with Anakin. This is great because yay, queer representation!  But within the specific context of RotS, it also sets up the super-important contrast between Obi-Wan and Anakin.  Obi-Wan, Stover’s novel makes clear, is the quiet and unassuming embodiment of everything a Jedi is supposed to be: he’s selfless, loving, hard-working, and incredibly skilled with the Force.  Obi-Wan falls in love with Anakin, realizes that Anakin doesn’t love him back in that way, and... lives with it.  He spends time with Anakin, supports Anakin, enjoys Anakin’s company, and doesn’t act like the world will end if Anakin isn’t his.

Anakin loves Obi-Wan, in a siblinglike way, and he loves Padmé.  But he’s got a nasty habit of expressing that love through possession and control, through going behind Padmé’s back to “fix” her life without her permission.  Anakin falls in love with Padmé and immediately concludes that he cannot possibly live like this: they must begin a secret relationship, and he must both marry her and remain a Jedi.  Later he destroys the Jedi and eventually Padmé herself because he sees himself as having no way out of that dilemma.

And all the while, Obi-Wan is there in the background.  Also in love with someone with whom he cannot have a relationship, and just… dealing with it like an adult.  Because millions of people are in love with people who don’t love them back, and that’s just how it is sometimes.  It’s selfish to obsess over “having” their love at all costs.  For Anakin, that obsession with saving Obi-Wan and Padmé eventually leads to him killing them both.

When Yoda tells Anakin that he must deal with his fear of losing Padmé through letting go, Anakin takes this to mean “let her die.”  But what Yoda means is not “let her die,” but rather “love her the way Obi-Wan loves you: quietly, selflessly, and with a willingness to do what’s best for her, whether or not that means you get to have her.”  And Anakin never understands that, because Anakin’s view of the world is so intensely egocentric.

Second big addition: updating the Force to explain the Dark Side. Revenge of the Sith, even more so than any other Star Wars, is all about the contrast between the Dark Side and the Light Side.  Here, Stover’s contribution is brilliant; he makes the Dark Side egocentric and the Light allocentric.

Terminology! “Egocentric” in psych refers to the perspective that focuses on how the world affects you and how you affect the world.  At the extreme, egocentric thinking can be believing that a baby is crying in a deliberate effort to annoy you, or that every person in a crowded cafeteria will remember what shirt you wore when you ate there a week ago.  “Allocentric” refers to the perspective that the self is one of several disparate elements buffered around by the world.  At the extreme, allocentric thinking can be failing to realize that others are reacting to your presence, or viewing your own life as one thing you can give to help others.

Stover doesn’t use those terms, but he does describe how Dooku “drew power into his innermost being until the Force itself existed only to serve his will” (p. 64).  Later, Obi-Wan “gave himself to the living Force… the Force moved him, let him collapse as though he’d suddenly fainted, then it brought his lightsaber from his belt to his hand” (p. 285).  Dooku ultimately loses his fight against Anakin because he focuses on how everyone is responding to him, and misses that Anakin and Palpatine are beginning to build an alternate alliance right under his nose.  Obi-Wan ultimately wins his fight against Anakin because he allows the Force to shove him around, and sets aside his concern with both his own life and that of his best friend while fighting for the greater goal of peace.

Not only that, but Obi-Wan’s understanding of the Force moves beyond that of most Jedi.  He compares “the will of the Force” to “the will of gravity,” in essence stating that simply because it is beyond human comprehension doesn’t mean it doesn’t have its own rules.  One can be a Jedi without needing to understand the Force in the same way one can be a pilot without needing to be a physicist.  In RotS, we see that his refrain of “search your feelings” is a way of calling on a Force user to be mindful enough to accept realities that are already evident, if one can only allow oneself to have that knowledge.

Stover also uses these competing perspectives — allocentric and egocentric — to explain why the Jedi Order falls.  The tight control the Order exerts over the Jedi moves them away from the will of the Force and toward the will of the Council.  Its insularity creates a sense of superiority, which is the reason so many Jedi fail to see their clone troopers as threats until it’s too late. Stover tweaks the Jedi Purge scene to emphasize that the only reason Obi-Wan and Yoda survive is because of their selflessness.  Obi-Wan takes the time to befriend his alien mount, repeatedly confirming her well-being, and then she shields him with her body when his troopers open fire.  Yoda respects the Wookie command and puts himself in a position to assist rather than lead the resistance movement on Kashyyyk, meaning that when a fight breaks out between him and his troopers the Wookies don’t hesitate to side with him.  Yoda and Obi-Wan are the only two Jedi who truly give themselves to the service of others, and thus they are the only two to survive the Purge.

...and the million little favors this book does for the movie.

During the opening battle, having Obi-Wan tell Anakin to “use the Force” to fly a narrow trench and having Anakin roll his eyes at such an obvious suggestion.  It’s a callback to A New Hope, but one that drives home how much more the Force is integrated in the lives of Old Republic Jedi than it is in the lives of Imperial kids like Luke.

Fixing the minor continuity error from Episode III to Episode IV — why would Admiral Motti dismiss Vader as following outdated superstitions if there were millions of Jedi within his lifetime? — by explicitly stating that the Sith are considered a dead culture.  Ergo, Vader’s “ancient religion” isn’t the Force in general; it’s specifically the Sith creed.

Making Palpatine scarier and more seductive than he is in the movie.  Stover’s rhetoric about killing even the Jedi children is frighteningly rational and coherent, and he uses it to give Palpatine some stomach-churning speeches while corrupting Anakin.

Using the novel format for all it’s worth.  Stover skims over the physical-comedy elevator sequence in favor of having Dooku and Palpatine discussing their plans for the war.  He only tells us about Anakin’s conversation with Yoda after the fact, in scattered flashes as a panicking Anakin runs through the halls of the Jedi temple.  He gives us intense focus on Anakin’s mindset while trying to land the broken halves of Invisible Hand, less on what the ship itself is doing.  He cuts away from Anakin and Obi-Wan’s final battle, toward R2D2 and C3PO as they struggle to drag a dying Padmé into her ship out of a desperation to find some small way to help her.

Revealing that Palpatine spends the entire story trying to kill Obi-Wan.  This gets hinted at in the movie, but Stover includes several moments throughout Palpatine’s “rescue” from Dooku when Palpatine sets Obi-Wan up to die, and mentions like eight other attempts on Obi-Wan’s life as orchestrated by Palpatine.  It’s a great character addition, that Palpatine assumes he cannot get Anakin to fall unless he first eliminates Obi-Wan.

Expanding Padmé’s role in the movie (set dressing, and later refrigerator filling) by having her secretly organize and launch the Rebel Alliance right under Vader and Palpatine’s noses.

Those are just examples of how Stover clearly knows the Force, gets the Force, and strives to make the Force more internally coherent.  How he sometimes translates, sometimes preserves, and always improves the pacing and tone of the film.

I haven’t even touched on the FUCKING AMAZEBALLS imagery or introspection in the book yet, but this post is getting wicked long, so I’ll go ahead and leave it here for now.  Point is, all y’all should go out immediately and get a copy from your library and/or used bookstore, because Nonny is right and it’ll change your life.

[yamaoni]

The Second Great War of Remnant has begun. Once more, Vale and Mantle are embroiled in a massive conflict, only this time, they are on the same side against Atlas.

I don't think it was a coincidence that so many people drew parallels with the last episode and WWI. We've never seen people fight that way in RWBY. Grimm don't use projectile weapons the way humans do, so the benefits of the trench are diminished; especially if you compare it to the drawbacks.

Now, I understand not everyone in the Atlas military has their aura unlocked and the squishy soldiers need some cover, but if The Long Memory didn't nuke every grimm on Atlas, the lines would have been overrun and then there would have been nowhere for them to retreat to.

You think the very real hand to hand struggles in the trenches of WWI were bad, imagine being trapped in a narrow trench with a bear. Or having this thing explode out of the ground under you.

I refuse to believe no-one in Atlas ever thought, "if we put the dirt from the trench in a box, no only can we give our soldiers cover, we can also give them an elevated position to fire from."

The top of a wall has been the primary defensive position for the people of Remnant for a long time. You can see them in the establishing shots of most settled places the team has visited. So why are we seeing a trench now?

Simple.

Show, don't tell.

RWBY has done a pretty great job, especially in the last few seasons, of showing the audience what it is trying to convey without explicitly telling them. They especially like drawing from well known folk lore to give insight into the future of the show.

Only difference here, instead of drawing the parallel between characters, they're drawing parallels between worlds.

Remnant's first Great War started with Mantle suppressing freedom of expression, the destruction of Art and Color. Ironwood always has little in the way of color, but in his first broadcast since everything started hitting the fan, he has none.

That broadcast also included evacuation ships being blown up by fighter-bombers, Dunkirk. It threatend to level a city if they didn't surrender, Battle of Brittan. All delivered by a dictator trying to scare his opponents into submission through careful use of film.

Theories

If the rest of the season is WWII, I have several theories on plot direction. Considering how well they did keeping up with both ends of the battlefield it wouldn't surprise me if they followed all of them at the same time.

Operation Dunkirk

Or, the evacuation of Mantle.

Players: Penny, Nora, Ren, Happy Huntresses

The Happy Huntresses involvement is a given. Not only has saving Mantle been their goal the whole time, they're also stuck in the middle of it right now.

Penny is the Protector of Mantle. It would be a shining moment for her character to fully throw off the virus Watts implanted and overcome Ironwood's threats to do so. Just crossing my fingers that it doesn't end like the Iron Giant.

Nora is currently Penny's tether to sanity, so she has to go with, and I doubt they would separate Ren from her for the next arc so he's going too.

Surprise twist for this plot I'm betting will be the Starwars "they aren't warships, just people" scene everyone loves to rag on. After all, the broadcast went out that they needed help and, at least at Dunkirk, it was fishing boats and pleasure crafts that retrieved the 338,000 surrounded on all sides.

Why We Fight

Or, countering Ironwoods propaganda.

Players: Robyn and Qrow

For one, these two are unaccounted for and in the heart of Atlas' military machine. If anyone has means to do so, it's them.

The film, Why We Fight, also countered the dramatic cinematography of Goebbels propaganda by painting it as ridiculous and making a folksy call to action much like Robyn has done in the past.

Operation Fortitude

Or, the deception of Ironwood.

Players: Emerald, Jaune, Oscar

This is the mission to make Ironwood think the team is going after the relic. This theory is why I actually thought of and wrote out this whole thing. Thanks @maxiemumdamage, I had things I was supposed to do tonight.

https://maxiemumdamage.tumblr.com/post/644291955872890880/willing-to-bet-my-own-soul-that-emerald-uses-her

Only difference in my theory and their's, is Jaune is going to be playing the part of Penny.

I say this for two reasons. One, Joan of Arc pretended to be a man. While we've gotten both Jaune pretending to be something he's not and him in a dress, this would pose the first time in the story he could do both. Two, it would put him on a direct collision path with Cinder. It needs to happen at some point to bring his arc to a conclusion, but man I hope we're not about to watch him burn.

With Ozpin active again, Oscar has to go along to direct them to the vault. He's also one of two backing the idea of Emerald joining the team and Jaune wouldn't be willing to work with her without him.

Operation Overlord

Or, busting down the doors of Atlas Acadamy.

Players: Ruby, Blake, Weiss, Yang

Where Operation Fortitude was the faint, Operation Overlord was the real deal. For those that aren't history buffs, this is D-Day.

I think this is the reason we've only seen the main team fighting together once since their split from Beacon. And even then, that fight was at most pairs of fighters and not all four of them supporting one another.

RWBY tricked us into thinking season 4 was the post-timeskip level up we come to expect from anime when really we ended up watching the training flashbacks as they happened instead.

We've seen hints of it with the various team ups and combinations, but are we really ready for how much ass kicking they are about to do?

I'm hoping for a One Piece level of badass entrance that can give me shivers whenever I go to watch it again like the walk to Arlong Park still does to this day.

(Aside: if you try telling me RWBY isn't anime, I'm just going to ignore you. Anime is an art movement. If you don't understand what that means, watch this video. https://youtu.be/uFtfDK39ZhI)

Now last and certainly not least

Operation Valkyrie

Or, the death of Ironwood.

Players: Winter and Marrow

The long awaited defection. Plenty of speculation has already floated around about if and when these two where going to cave to their morals and jump ship. I don't know how many of us were expecting the straw to break the camel's back to be a nuke held over Mantle, but I certainly wasn't.

What worries me, is Operation Valkyrie failed and all its conspirators were executed. As if there weren't enough death flags for Winter before.

Even if it's not Winter that kills him. I don't see Ironwood surviving this season. Even if it means he goes out like another hated dictator. It's not like it would be the first time RT had a fallen hero chose to use his own sword.

Wildcards

Or, Murphy will have his due.

Players: Cinder, Watts, Neo, Tyrian, Mercury, Clover

These players can go any which way. Three we know for sure are going to be active in the coming episodes and I wouldn't be surprised if the other three play a part as well.

Oscar made a hell of a light show for Tyrian and Mercury to see behind them. Not to mention, Salem will still need a ride home when she pulls herself back together.

Clover keeps getting mentioned even though he's hospitalized. If he was truly out of commission for the rest of the season, they would have made us think he's dead before bringing him back like they did with Penny.

Up to now, what we've seen is a three way conflict. But one of the hallmarks of Remnant's First Great War, was making temporary alliances to fight off grimm.

The grimm might be gone, but the wild cards can't complete their own objectives if they are dead. The question is who's goals better align with their own.

Two surprise twists I can see here. One, Mercury stabbing Tyrian on his way to defection. He was raised by an assassin and has not going to get a better chance than that. Two, Clover joining Operation Valkyrie. He might have accepted that sacrifice is a necessary evil to ensure Atlas' survival, but might go Schindler's List on us and find horror in what Ironwood plans to do.

TLDR

I spent way too long writing this out. All the WWI imagery means we're getting a WWII movie with RWBY characters. Major death flags for Penny, Jaune, and Winter.

Also I finally figured out how to do a readmore. Apparently it's just been a long time since I updated.

Note: kept seeing things talking about clovers death and I kind of went ???? Isn't he barely alive in medical? Went back and watched that scene and though I am 90% sure he is dead still kind of weird that they have him in his own room instead of a morgue and the initial framing made my mind instantly think he was propped up on a hospital bed. I mean, I guess we needed to have all the ACEOPs there for their reaction to Ironwood... but it definitely made me think he was alive. That and they have a bandage on his chest wound... when he's supposedly dead. Also have a phantom memory of Harriet saying something about him being in critical but I think that's my memory playing tricks on me.

Having his face exposed instead of covered by the sheet and seeing him in the same frame as Winter being treated also didn't help my gut reaction of "Oh Shit! He's alive? How?!" If I'd followed up more on the "how" might not have made the blunder of writing his return as the final twist in my theory. Oops

[schrijverr]

Can’t help it

How Blake befriended Scho through sheer stubborness and touching.

On AO3.

Ships: Blankefield (could be read as platonic)

Warnings:  WW1, PTSD. Tell me if I missed anything or if you want me to tag something!!

~~~~~~~~~~

William Schofield didn’t know what to think about Thomas Blake. The man, more a boy, was soft, cheerful, full of life, all the things you wouldn’t expect or want in a war-zone, but it made Blake, Blake and Schofield couldn’t find it in him to want to change the other man.

Another unexpected thing that came with the blaze that was Blake, was his love for touching people, in particular Schofield.

It had started the moment they had met, really. Schofield had been lying in a field looking at the clouds go by and telling himself that he should get up, do something useful at least, but still he didn’t. He just lay there and watched the clouds.

Then a shadow fell over his face and before he could react there was a pain in his side and a yell above him.

Within seconds Schofield was on guard, ready to fight this new threat, but it turned out not to be a threat at all. In the grass opposite to him was a soldier, English uniform, cursing a bit while rubbing his head.

When the man turned back to see what he had hit, his eyes widened and he quickly said: “I’m so sorry. I kicked you, I totally kicked you. I’m sorry, I didn’t see you there, I was looking at this map and I wasn’t paying attention at all and I should have been paying attention, but I didn’t and I’m so sorry. Oh and you’re a Lance Corporal, I’m so sorry, sir.”

As he was spewing words, he had pulled himself up to his feet and Schofield as well. He also had put his hands on Schofields shoulders and checked him over while he rambled apologies. Although he did let go of Schofield shoulders when he noticed the rank of the man he had hit and did a quick salute with his last words.

For a second Schofield just stood there, quietly and unblinking as he tried to process what had just happened.

The longer he said nothing, the more anxious the other became, he noticed how the smooth forehead got wrinkles and how the soft jaw clenched with stress. He then realized that he should probably say something, so he settled on: “It’s okay, I probably deserved that for lazing around. You can stand down.”

With his words the other relaxed as he let go of the salute. Then he smiled and he seemed even younger then before, he held out his hand and said: “I’m Private Blake, Thomas Blake. I came in new with the others to supplement the forces after the Somme.”

Schofield tensed a bit at the mention of the Somme, but he couldn't find it within himself to blame Private Blake when he smiled at him like that. So he grabbed the extended hand and said: “I’m Schofield, William Schofield.” then he went on and asked, “What were you trying to do with the map?”

“Oh,” Blake looked surprised at the sudden question, and frankly so did Schofield, he hadn’t been talking much since the Somme and most of his left over comrades had learned to leave him be, so the fact that he was offering up conversation at all was noteworthy, not that Blake knew that of course.

He just went on to explain: “I’m trying to figure out where we are, but all the fighting has deformed the land so much that it’s kind of hard to pinpoint, but I guess I’m mostly trying to look busy so they won’t send me out to do something. Is that bad?”

Schofield smiled a bit at the innocent question before saying: “That isn’t bad at all, mind if I join you?”

Blake shook his head and allowed Schofield to walk next to him, unconsciously bumping their shoulders together as they did.

After that Blake just kept showing up everywhere. He was there when Schofield was assigned to dig the trenches, he showed up at the mess when Schofield was getting dinner and he sat down next to him when they had time off.

Always with a story that needed great gestures, always nudging Schofield with his shoulder, elbow or hands, always pulling him along to something he absolutely needed to see and always with that smile.

Schofield didn’t understand why the boy kept coming back and he was desperate not to figure it out, because he would have to grow close to the other in order to do that and the last thing he wanted was forming an attachment to someone out here.

He used to have a few friends, before the Somme, but everyone he was close with had died, so he had vowed to not grow close to someone again. Everyone here was a person on borrowed time, just waiting till the final day when the war would become too much.

So, no attachment to Blake, not if he could help it.

He couldn’t help it. The boy would just show up and start talking to him, nudging him and Schofield couldn’t help it, he laughed, he smiled, he acknowledged the person next to him. Everything he had decided to do was thrown out of the window the moment the other pushed him away while giggling after a bad joke.

Schofield was finally getting a bit over the apprehension of forming a friendship, when the Germans attacked. As soon as the first bomb landed a cold hand gripped Schofields heart as he silently prayed for Blake to survive.

It surprised him that he prayed, he didn’t believe in God, not anymore, and not only that, he had also prayed for another life instead of his own.

After the attempted siege of the Germans, Schofield walked through ruined trenches along the bodies of fallen men, in search of his friend. His insides felt hollow as he tried to remember where the other was supposed to be before the attack.

He knew he shouldn’t have tolerated the endless chatter or the small touches that made him feel human, he knew that befriending Blake was a bad idea, because he was sure that the other hadn’t made it and he was alone again. He wouldn’t have been alone again if he hadn’t befriended the other, but here he was.

Hollow and alone.

He slumped down on the ground, it would be pointless to find Blakes body. He didn’t need another ghost to haunt him in his sleep, to accuse him off surviving while they couldn’t. Blake was always pure and seemingly uncaring of the violence around them that needed to be preserved in Schofields memory.

He later learned that Blake survived the attack and was promoted to Lance Corporal, same rank as Schofield. He didn’t go looking for him. No, keeping his distance was a safer route, a route which could hurt him least when the inevitable came.

Blake didn’t agree.

It was only three days after the attack that Schofield is awoken on an early morning by a foot nudging his side. Once he had grudgingly opened his eyes he was met by Blake, arms crossed and determined look on his face. Blake stated: “You’ve been avoiding me.”

Schofield closed his eyes again and ignored the younger soldier. He was nudged again, but he didn’t react.

That didn’t sit well with Blake, who had gotten used to Schofields company, his surprisingly dry and funny comments or his silent acknowledgments that Blakes story was being listened to as well as the way his face would loose a bit of the lines when he would slightly lean into Blakes touches. It was strange, how a person could crave both touch and isolation.

Set out to fix whatever happened to his friend, Blake crouched down in front of him and placed a hand on Schofields shoulder, the other on his chin, forcing  Schofield to look at him. The stubborn man kept his eyes close. Blake pouted and said: “You’re gonna have to open your eyes at some point, Scho, and I’m not leaving until you do.”

Schofield was determined not to give in, but not reacting also felt wrong, so he said: “Piss off, Blake.”

“Why?” Blake asked, “Just a few days ago you smiled when you saw me, you know how long it has taken me to get there? You’re always frowning, you’re gonna look eighty soon if you keep doing that.”

Schofield ignored the ribbing, but cracked open one eye to suspiciously glare at Blake. It didn’t work, because Blake smiled when he did so, completely ruining the attempted effect and lowering  Schofields defenses.

He quickly closed his eyes again and stated: “It’s unwise to form attachments, I don’t need to worry about your life when I should be worrying about my own. Now, piss off, please.”

Blake put the puzzle pieces together. The lives lost at the Somme, the detachment to reality  Schofield had when Blake first met him, the unwillingness to socialize, the recent attack.

It all clicked.

He sighed softly and let go of Schofields jaw, when the hand left Schofield unconsciously leaned forward a bit, chasing the contact, Blakes sigh deepened.

When nothing happened for a few more moments Schofield opened his eyes to shoot Blake a questioning look. Blake said: “I missed you, Scho. You can’t just laugh at my jokes and then go. I got a letter this morning that Myrtle was expecting, but no one who I told cared.”

“Really?” Schofield asked, he couldn’t help it.

He had to listen to Blake ramble on about his dog every day and through the stories he had gotten quite attached to the dog. Blake brightened immediately and said: “See, you care. Come on, my presence can’t be that bad.”

Schofield rolled his eyes, then he looked down and quietly asked: “But what if you die?”

Blake let go of Schofields shoulder and knelt down in the grass, knees bumping Schofields thigh in the process. He hardened his jaw and stated: “I’m not going to die.”

Schofield raised an eyebrow at him, but the knot that his heart had been tied in loosened at the factual manner it was said in. The odds of surviving were low, but Blake was convinced that he was going to survive and Schofield couldn’t help, but believe him.

Then he smiled and said: “Okay, but only because I will be saving your dumb ass.”

“Will not, I can protect myself, thank you very much, Lance Corporal Schofield.” Blake pouted.

Schofield rolled his eyes and said: “If that helps you sleep at night, Lance Corporal Blake.”

Blake smiled: “You noticed! I was gonna wait to tell you until you addressed me as Private, just to throw it in your face, but you are one observant little bugger.”

“I’m taller than you.” Schofield shot back.

Blake waved it away: “Yeah, yeah, whatever. Come on, we are digging more trenches today, to help fix the ones destroyed in the attack.”

“What? Why?” Schofield said as he grabbed the hand Blake was offering him to get him up to his feet.

“Cause I volunteered us.” Blake said with a grin.

Schofield blinked a few times then he said: “Why would you do that?”

“Well, it gave me an excuse to talk to you without you running away and if you were a dick it would be a punishment for you.” Blake said like it was the most natural thing ever.

“I hate you.” Schofield told him.

Blake pushed him and said: “No, you don’t.”

Schofield was quiet, but didn’t deny it. He just walked next to Blake with his little touches here and there and listened to the other mans chatter. It was just how it was, Schofield couldn't help, but follow Blake wherever he went.

It was good and he hoped it would last forever.

[bonjour-rainycity]

Heyyy, so for the vampire origin story, based on my blog? I’ll also add a couple of details. I really love history, specifically us ww1 and 2 history, I really like marvel movies, not the comics as much, I’m not good at cooking. I know this is so random, but I don’t know what else to put. Ummm, I’d say I’m caring but I can be a bit selfish. OK ALSO HAVE YOU WATCHED LOKI YET IT IS SUCH A GOOD SHOW. ok yeah, let me know if you need anymore 💜

Hii!!! YES thanks for requesting! AND NO I HAVEN'T WATCHED LOKI YET *SOBS* I NEED TO MAKE TIME TO DO THAT!

I honestly think you had a pretty similar human life to Esme's (not her tragic ending, thank goodness). What I mean is -- you grew up in the late 1890s in a small town in the US Midwest. Your town was sleepy, and small, and you really just wanted a life of adventure. You were always trying to swim in the creek and climb trees and sneak into places you weren't allowed to be.

By the time you learned how to read, you read every book you could get your hands on. The owner of the small local library knew you well and would always send word to your house if he got a new book in. This led you to become a teacher and, though you still found your life quiet and sleepy and a little boring, you were content to spend the rest of your life in your small town, teaching others your love of history and knowledge.

Then the War hit.

Your life was turned upside down as all the able-bodied men from your town were shipped overseas to fight in the Great War. Life still went on, but it was different from before. You felt your heart tugging you somewhere, longing for a place, a feeling, something you never had.

It clicked one day when you visited the nearby town. A worn, sun-damaged flyer hammered to the wooden door of a hardware shop long ago abandoned:

HOLD UP YOUR END! NURSES NEEDED, TRAINING PROVIDED. JOIN YOUR FELLAS AT THE FRONT AND SAVE AMERICAN LIVES!

Though you hadn't an ounce of experience, you trusted in your ability to pick up skills and knowledge quickly, and despite your friends and students begging you not to, you signed up immediately. Your training took you to the East Coast, somewhere you've never been before, and you were delighted! Finally, a bit of adventure!

The dangers increased though, when your cohort was called to France to aid those injured or sick while fighting in the trenches. Still, you stuck to your grounds, helping heal soldiers and civilians impacted by the horrific war. You couldn’t not care for them -- they were in need. 

You were alone one night, cleaning up your nurse's tent. You'd just had to amputate a leg, and, though the soldier survived, the blood was everywhere.

A passing nomadic vampire, a woman who had been changed a handful of years ago in Portugal, had been making her way up North when the War started. Like the other vampires in the area, she decided to stick around, knowing that death was rampant and no one would notice the bodies of countless drained soldiers.

The woman crossed by your tent -- the overwhelming scent of the blood led her to believe someone was dying there. Much to her disappointment, she did not find a bleeding soldier, but a healthy nurse covered in someone else's blood.

'No matter,' she thought. 'No one would miss just one nurse. They'll think she ran off.'

So before you could react, she lunged, intending to suck all the blood from your body and bury you nearby. She dragged you deep into the countryside where no one would find you. But another vampire, a newer, less controlled one, happened to be running nearby. He smelled the blood and couldn't resist. He attacked the female vampire, hoping to kill her and take your blood for himself. The two fought over your body, ripping each other to shreds.

While the two vampires painstakingly worked to put themselves back together, three days passed. By the time the vampire who had unwittingly become your creator was able to stand and reattach her head, it was too late -- you were nearly done with the transformation.

Knowing the Volturi would kill her if she didn't take responsibility for her newborn, she reluctantly instructed you in the ways of your kind. After the first few weeks, you realized that you couldn't stay in the war zone -- you couldn't kill those you had, weeks earlier, worked so hard to save. So you and your creator changed plans, intending to run on land to Southern Africa and then swim to Australia. But while in Egypt, you met the Egyptian coven, and became quite fond of their company. You and your creator parted ways, and you stayed with Amun, Kebi, Tia, and Benjamin for a while. They were cold to you at first -- not very trusting of outsiders -- but your caring demeanor soon won them over, Amun's eyes sparkling as he said you reminded him of an old, blond friend of his.

He promised to introduce you one day, and you're very much looking forward to it.

Ask me about your Twilight origin story!

[evabellasworld]

Storm of the Republic

Chapter 9

AO3 Link | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9

——————————————————————————————

Summary:  When Tup murdered General Tiplar during a battle, Anakin Skywalker and Captain Rex dispatched Ahsoka, Fives, and Yara to solve the mystery that was plaguing the Clone Army. Meanwhile, Senator Padme Amidala contacted Commander Fox, Commander Tori, Riyo Chuchi, and Dipper to help her continue investigating the death of Palpatine, suspecting that Dooku was behind the evil plot. But when Dooku send an ISB agent to stop them, the team had to race against time to search for the truth, which could alter the course of the galaxy.

————————————————————————————

Jumping out of hyperspace, the 212th Attack Battalion and Coruscant Guards have arrived at the planet Horuca. Led by General Obi-Wan Kenobi and Commander Thire, respectively, both the battalions were armed to the teeth, prepared to take down their enemies.

Horuca was a planet which was surrounded with colourful plants and mountains on the surface. Similar to a tropical jungle, the rainforest was thick and was surrounded with fog, showing that it was raining cats and dogs.

The ocean surrounding the planet was pastel pink, but thanks to the dark purple clouds in the sky, the water looked rough to swim or catch some fishes in the sea. But Marshal Commander Cody doesn’t let it stop them from fighting.

To him, the heavy rain gave an advantage for them to hide themselves from the Imperial battle droids, which weren’t equipped for this kind of weather. Still, that doesn’t mean the Empire wouldn’t send aqua droids after them.

“Alright men,” he spoke, catching the attention of his troops. “In a few minutes, we will land in the shallow part of the beach. Make sure you get into position. We don’t want to leave anyone behind.”

“Yes, sir,” the 212th answered in unison. Faven put on her helmet as she took a deep breath, hoping she would die in this battle.

“You seemed down,” Boil pointed out, making her face him with her unimpressed stare. “Is everything alright?”

“Who wouldn’t be down, Boil? For all we know, this could be my last mission in the war.”

“Hey, come on. Aren’t you supposed to be cheerful right now?”

“How can I, when Amala is not here anymore?”

Boil was speechless. He knows who Faven was referring to. Both of them were close since the Second Battle of Geonosis. They didn’t know each other on Kamino, but it didn’t matter to her.

Faven blamed herself when she watched Amala killed in the trenches. It happened so fast. One moment, she was firing against the battle droids. The next thing she knew, her best friend was lying on the ground, blood spilling from her helmet.

I miss her so much; she thought about her. I wish I could see her again.

“I’m really sorry, Fav,” Boil sympathised with her. “It’s difficult coping with someone’s death, especially when they’re close to you.”

She bobbed her head and turned to her brother. “I’m sorry about Waxer too. He was a great guy.”

“Yeah, Waxer,” his voice quivered, before clearing his throat. “Well, at least he’s in a better place now. Somewhere peaceful, where there are flowers everywhere.”

Faven smiled. “Waxer always loved flowers, especially the yellow ones. And I’m sure Amala is there with him too, carrying a bunch of rabbits in her arms.”

Boil chuckled as he put on his helmet, agreeing with every word she said. “We should get moving. We don’t want to be left behind.”

“Right beside you,” she gave a small salute, as she stood in front of Obi-Wan, who gave her a warm smile.

“Good luck, all of you,” he wished them. “May the Force be with all of us.”

The trap door opened below them, with the icy wind blowing towards them. Taking a deep breath, Faven and Boil exchanged a look of determination with each other and jumped towards the pink ocean.

Holding her breath, she quickly swam towards the surface and exhaled, wiping the surface of her helmet. Glancing at the rings in the rainy lavender sky, Faven stared at the beauty above her. Amala would have loved this place.

Commander Cody and Obi-Wan were the last ones to join them, along with the Corrie Guards, with Commander Thire and Commander Stone leading them. “Is everyone accounted for?” Cody asked, counting all of his troops present.

“We’re all here, Commander,” Crys reported.

“Thire, Stone, are all your troops present?”

“They’re all here, Cody,” Thire informed him. “Though I wish Fox and Thorn were here with us right now.”

“We can’t all have everything. Now come on, Team B is counting on us.”

“Yes, sir,” Hyewon saluted respectfully, marching beside her brothers and sisters.

Since she survived the Battle of Coruscant, the Corrie Guard is determined to prove her worth on the battlefield, where she had no experiences at all. Hyewon may have trained in a simulation, but when she was shipped off to Coruscant, she didn’t get the chance to fight battle droids like the rest of them.

Instead, she had to deal with prisoners who caused nothing but stress. There are prisoners who were decent with her, and there are prisoners who made a mess for her to clean up.

Hyewon pitied the ones who were in jail for something they’ve never done, and she also felt sorry for prisoners who were only there for self-defence. She thought they deserved better, and the Republic had failed them. I hope they’re okay.

As they approached closer to the island, Obi-Wan sensed something unusual in his surroundings, prompting the troops to stop in their tracks. “Be on guard,” he advised them, gesturing towards the rocks. “We may be watched.”

“You heard the general,” Cody barked. “Stay hidden behind those rocks. Our enemy might be closer than you think.”

Hyewon nodded as she hid beside Boil and Faven, who she never interacted with till today. “I hope you don’t mind me joining you both. All my friends died on Coruscant.”

“Don’t mind at all,” Faven offered her hand. “I’m Faven, by the way. This is Boil. We went all the way back to Kamino.”

“Pleasure to meet you,” she shook her hands. “I’m Hyewon, from the Coruscant Guard. I was discharged from a coma a few days ago, so this is my first time on the battlefield.”

“I have faith that you’ll survive this,” Boil encouraged her. “Trust me, you’ll do great out there.”

Thire saw the three of them having an animated conversation with each other and tossed her a binoculars, making her attentive. “I understand you want to catch up with what you’ve missed, but please pay attention. We’re at war right now.”

“Sorry, sir,” apologised Hyewon, as she scanned the entire area, which was suspiciously empty. “But where are our enemies, anyway? I don’t see anybody in my scope. Not even a single soul, Commander.”

“It’s strange for the Empire to sneak around, but we’ll have to be patient,” Stone said. “It’s one of our best options right now.”

“That sounds boring,” Harley expressed her opinion, expecting more fun for her. “I came here for some action, not to wait the entire day long.”

Cody couldn’t agree more with his subordinates. The wait made him more anxious, aware that this wasn’t what the Empire was like. Out of countless battles he fought against them, the droids aren’t like this. Something is up. I can feel it in my gut.

“General, what do we do?” he asked the Jedi Master. “We can’t go on like this. Team B is waiting for us.”

“I have an idea.”

Stroking his beard, Obi-Wan stood up and climbed on the rock, crossing his legs in meditation. As he closed his eyes, he reached through the Force and levitated the rock towards the mangrove, causing the battle droids to pop out from their hiding spot.

“There they are,” Obi-Wan pointed out, activating his lightsaber. “Everyone, get into position.”

“Sir, yes, sir,” Thire responded, turning towards his troops. “Come on, blast those clankers.”

”I’m happy to do that,” Stone laughed as he opened fire. “Eat that, you fucking clankers.”

Hyewon’s eyes widened as she saw Boil and Faven blasting the droids with their blasters, listening to the sound of blasters firing against each other for the first time. She wasn’t used to all of this, but luckily, she can adapt to a new environment. Well, this seems more fun than babysitting a bunch of prisoners.

Gripping on her weapon, she shot down a SBD in front of her, making her pulse run. She had training in shooting, but she hardly had the chance to utilise her skills, until today. Shooting another droid, Hyewon couldn’t contain her excitement as she repeated her actions again and again. “Okay, is anyone going to tell me that this feels good, or am I the only one?”

“You’re not the only one,” Boil shared his feeling. “Wait until you have to deal with the bigger droids. That one is an immense challenge, even for me.”

“I can’t wait for that.”

If only she knew the genuine horror that comes with it, Faven sighed.

Stone stepped forwards and gunned down the B1 units with his twin pistols, not missing a single aim at all. Jek continuously fired with his favourite weapon, the rotary blaster, destroying every droid single handedly. He never had this much fun since accompanying Master Yoda on the moon of Rugosa.

As the B1 were cleared from the field, Cody spotted the Super Battle Droids heading towards their position, making him signal towards Boil, Faven, and Hyewon. “You three, get over here.”

Hyewon let out a soft gasp. “Are we in trouble?”

“No, we’re not,” Boil calmed her down, dragging her towards her commanding officer. “What do you need, commander?”

“Take these to the other side of the line,” Cody passed them a box full of ammunition and supplies. “These are important for all of us here. Understood?”

“Yes, sir,” Faven acknowledged. “We won’t let you down.”

“Good luck out there. You’re gonna need it.”

Together, the trio took a deep breath together and counted to three, lifting the long box with their bare hands. They had their armour on, but Hyewon wasn’t sure whether they were going to last this long. She didn’t think it would be this intense.

Watching her comrades getting shot to the ground, she was horrified at the sight of blood soaked on the soft sand beneath her. Some of their helmets were separated from their heads, revealing a horrifying face that stood out. Hyewon noticed one of her sisters was coughing out blood, desperately fighting for the will to breathe.

Is this what war is like? Hyewon questioned herself, realizing the truth. I don’t want to die like this.

Thire shifted his attention to Harley, who was killing the droids with her sniper. Trained as an assassin clone, she could kill without hesitation, which was hardly utilised until they fled to Raxus. She was stuck as a call operator for three years, dealing with obnoxious citizens that abused their services. Harley’s grateful she doesn’t have to do that anymore.

“Harley, I need your help,” the commander requested for her assistance, much to her satisfaction.

“What is it, boss?” she jumped in excitement.

“I need you to go rogue right now. It’s what you’re good at.”

“Easy-peasy lemon greasy,” Harley squealed loudly as she grabbed a couple of explosives and sprinted towards the excitement, releasing a war cry. The rest of the troopers who observed her crazy act did the same as well by joining her antics.

Cody could only blink in confusion as one of the Corrie Guards bombed the barbed wires that shielded the Imperial army without getting shot. The rest of them followed suit by infiltrating through the trench, ambushing the droid army. “I have a bad feeling about this.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Thire assured him. “We’re doing what we can to divert their attention towards our scouts. They’re the ones carrying our supplies.”

“Speaking of Team B,” Obi-Wan joined in their conversations, deflecting the blasts. “Once we’re through, we need to let them know when they can land.”

“I hope they’re doing much better than us,” Stone maintained his positivity despite hearing one of his brothers screaming in pure agony. “We’ve lost a lot of lives today.”

[andretheterrible]

Picasso Told Me To Tell You

^^^A fine piece by yours truly. You see, I still draw. This is a manifestation of my love of airliners and architecture.

How To Systemically Expunge Creativity from a Child’s Personality

   You will need many years, try 18. Or 22 if you like. Or even better, 26. But 18 is a good start. Don’t worry, it takes time to rid them of their imagination. Just be patient. Start off with giving them time to develop some social skills for their first few years. Make them into regimented soldiers, maybe introduce some numbers & words. Teach them what the bell means. Teach them discipline, by stick or by word. It doesn’t really matter. Their imagination will gasp and struggle for the surface after year 8 of this process. It will certainly be silenced and dead by year 9.

   They will have no time to think about the wonders of the arts and they will be unable to envision the histories of their ancestors. Year 10, 11, and 12 will be much the same. By now they have all assimilated, but 3 or 4 more years will ensure nobody slips through. Once they are finished with these 18 years, they will not argue when the boss tells them to keep working. Because let’s face it, imagination doesn’t bring prosperity. 

How I escaped 

   I am a multipotentialite; someone who likes many different subjects that aren’t necessarily connected. My most consistent passion in school was drawing. Tanks, airplanes, ships and maps are all fun subjects for me. I also love history. I combine the two by sketching fanciful images of the trenches from the Great War, among other historical events. Despite my interest in these matters, “there is no room for someone like [me] in this framework”. [Wapnick] I had time to draw in class while the lectures were easy but when the going got tough, my drawing was marginalized. Sir Ken Robinson agrees; “All kids have tremendous talents, and we squander them, pretty ruthlessly” I had to shove the notebook off to the mountains where I would spend my weekends. There, my talent lived on like a refugee. The notebook was not to be touched on those busy weekdays.

   But the skill has survived, so far at least. This manifestation of art, history & geography is never accepted on any official document except for maybe one so far. When I was applying to college, my mom was appalled to hear that I hadn’t submitted any of my drawings as part of my application. After submitting some of my sketches my odds seemed to go up. I don’t know if that pushed them over the edge. I don’t even know if these additions were even considered but I did get in. SAT’s and essays bounded by walls isn’t my style. 

   Over the years, the “design” element of my drawings took hold over all other subjects. Over perspective drawings of ships - over trees and landscapes. I would spend my late nights on the weekend drawing up designs for aircraft and I imagined them roaring overhead. I would draw side views, top views and orthogonal sketches of the planes from my dreams. I still love putting pencil to paper and sketching these machines; however, my drawing has most definitely taken a back seat with the onset of stifling academics. As Picasso said, children are born artists, the challenge is to stay an artist. I am preserving & honing this skill of mine so that once I am let go into the world, my imagination can run wild. On the other side of college lies a world where all my dimensions can flourish. I may work at an engineering firm, but I will draw on the arts & humanities to stand out in the workplace. 

References:

Emilie Wapnick, “Why Some of Us Don’t Have A True Calling” https://www.ted.com/talks/emilie_wapnick_why_some_of_us_don_t_have_one_true_calling?language=en Robinson, Ken. “Do Schools Kill Creativity?”  https://youtu.be/iG9CE55wbtY

[rockislandadultreads]

Not Just for Teens: Fiction Recs for Adult Readers

Lovely War by Julie Berry

It's 1917, and World War I is at its zenith when Hazel and James first catch sight of each other at a London party. She's a shy and talented pianist; he's a newly minted soldier with dreams of becoming an architect. When they fall in love, it's immediate and deep--and cut short when James is shipped off to the killing fields. Aubrey Edwards is also headed toward the trenches. A gifted musician who's played Carnegie Hall, he's a member of the 15th New York Infantry, an all-African-American regiment being sent to Europe to help end the Great War. Love is the last thing on his mind. But that's before he meets Colette Fournier, a Belgian chanteuse who's already survived unspeakable tragedy at the hands of the Germans. Thirty years after these four lovers' fates collide, the Greek goddess Aphrodite tells their stories to her husband, Hephaestus, and her lover, Ares, in a luxe Manhattan hotel room at the height of World War II. She seeks to answer the age-old question: Why are Love and War eternally drawn to one another? But her quest for a conclusion that will satisfy her jealous husband uncovers a multi-threaded tale of prejudice, trauma, and music and reveals that War is no match for the power of Love. A sweeping, multi-layered romance with a divine twist, by the Printz Honor-winning author of The Passion of Dolssa, set in the perilous days of World Wars I and II.

We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal

People lived because she killed. People died because he lived. Zafira is the Hunter, disguising herself as a man when she braves the cursed forest of the Arz to feed her people. Nasir is the Prince of Death, assassinating those foolish enough to defy his autocratic father, the sultan. If Zafira was exposed as a girl, all of her achievements would be rejected; if Nasir displayed his compassion, his father would punish him in the most brutal of ways. Both Zafira and Nasir are legends in the kingdom of Arawiya--but neither wants to be. War is brewing, and the Arz sweeps closer with each passing day, engulfing the land in shadow. When Zafira embarks on a quest to uncover a lost artifact that can restore magic to her suffering world and stop the Arz, Nasir is sent by the sultan on a similar mission: retrieve the artifact and kill the Hunter. But an ancient evil stirs as their journey unfolds--and the prize they seek may pose a threat greater than either can imagine.

Tyler Johnson Was Here by Jay Coles

When Marvin Johnson's twin, Tyler, goes to a party, Marvin decides to tag along to keep an eye on his brother. But what starts as harmless fun turns into a shooting, followed by a police raid. The next day, Tyler has gone missing, and it's up to Marvin to find him. But when Tyler is found dead, a video leaked online tells an even more chilling story: Tyler has been shot and killed by a police officer. Terrified as his mother unravels and mourning a brother who is now a hashtag, Marvin must learn what justice and freedom really mean.

My So-Called Bollywood Life by Nisha Sharma

Winnie Mehta was never really convinced that Raj was her soulmate, but their love was written in the stars. Literally, a pundit predicted Winnie would find the love of her life before her 18th birthday, and Raj meets all of the qualifications. Which is why Winnie is shocked to return from her summer at film camp to find her boyfriend of three years hooking up with Jenny Dickens. Worse, Raj is crowned chair of the student film festival, a spot Winnie was counting on for her film school applications. As a self-proclaimed Bollywood expert, Winnie knows this is not how her perfect ending is scripted. Then there’s Dev, a fellow film geek, and one of the few people Winnie can count on to help her reclaim control of her story. Dev is smart, charming, and challenges Winnie to look beyond her horoscope to find someone she’d pick for herself. But does falling for Dev mean giving up on her prophecy, and her chance to live happily ever after? To get her Bollywood-like life on track, Winnie will need a little bit of help from fate, family, and of course, a Bollywood movie star.

[onelungmcclung]

im sorry if you've answered this before im relatively new to the ship hehe but-- how'd mcclung fall for toye? was it in bastogne? before bastogne? in holland? in aldbourne? after the war? what were the circumstances? when did he realize it? and after he'd overcome that high of finding out he's in love, how did he deal with the aftermath once it started to settle in? hehe, i hope this week isnt as rough on you as you're anticipating. sending you much love and strength and calm vibes.

💜💜💜 

ok, firstly, I have not been asked this before; secondly, even if I had no earthly power would stop me from answering it again; and thirdly, obviously no pressure but pls consider coming off anon and being my tumblr friend  

probably everyone is new to this ship lmao

so, I started writing a (probably long) mctoye fic starting in fort bragg or aldbourne and continuing to postwar (enablers always welcome). but for the purposes of this ask, I’m mostly going off character insights revealed to me developed over the course of writing the ask him to dance universe. 

(counterpart to this ask: toye noticing/falling for mcclung)

essentially: mcclung is/would be kind of theoretically ok with the idea of falling for a guy, if it had occurred to him he might fall for anyone right now, but falling for anyone is — for the time being — a concept he has strategically compartmentalised out of his entire thought process. (please clap.)

maybe he’s relatively ok with the possibility falling for a guy because he did not really grow up with white conservatism the way most of the easy co guys did; he’s always been aware of it, and his worldview is not informed by it in the same way. his family is arrow lakes/settler and he has friends & acquaintances among the other confederated tribes. and though he doesn’t take a strong interest in domestic/international politics, he has a more critical attitude towards the us govt and its laws (he’s still quietly angry about the grand coulee dam, constructed during his childhood). he’s never really considered that he might be into men; he likes women and he’s always assumed, without thinking much about it, that he’ll get married at some point; but he’s not particularly homophobic, outwardly or inwardly.

he’s not thinking much about these things when the war comes. he gets drafted into the army, thinks “not with these fucking clowns” and besides the airborne pay is better, and volunteers as a paratrooper. he joins up with easy after he’s completed his jump training.

he is excellent at training, naturally; he’s spent days at a time alone, fishing and hunting, since he was a child. he’s an exceptional sniper and scout. he’s confident in his own abilities. some of the toccoa guys initially assume he won’t be as skilled as them because he didn’t have their training, but in fact he has a headstart on most of them; and he knows it. (if he knew it any better it would probably come off as arrogance, but he’s just very clear on what he’s good at. and if he wasn’t beforehand, the airborne has proved it, to him & everyone else.)

he recognises, of course, that toye is an excellent soldier too (not as good a shot as himself or shifty, but overall one of the best paratroopers in the company), and they’re in the same platoon, so that helps. he never really gets afraid, not while training and not in combat; he just keeps his focus and gets on with it. for the most part, he doesn’t form close friendships until they get into combat.

he has some instinct towards helping and protecting others, but once they’re in a combat zone he realises that’s going to hurt him a lot. while they’re training, he helps some of the guys make their shots by shooting the targets for them; but after they jump into normandy, he avoids befriending the replacements because so many of them are killed early on. it’s — a little — easier that way.

he and toye don’t become close friends before bastogne, but they get familiar with each other’s combat style, and they’re comfortable working together. they trust each other; they’re both good soldiers, and toye is a good nco.

and then of course in bastogne they share a foxhole, and that is (I think for all the other characters as well) an incredibly vital, pivotal relationship. he and toye rely on each other entirely; without that, they’d probably die. they learn each other backwards; there’s no possibility of pretence. he knows what toye’s flaws are (stubbornness, prickliness, a reluctance to accept help), but there’s a lot more about him that mcclung likes, trusts and admires (not that he’d say so), and he knows those things are genuine.

he does his level best to stop toye from developing trench foot when he loses his boots. sure, he pretty much calls toye an idiot for getting into this situation and for refusing to tell the medics, but he does everything he can think of. it hasn’t occurred to him that he cares deeply about toye; it just seems inevitable.

(and he tells smokey to let the medics know. he doesn’t tell toye he’s told smokey, because it’s funnier this way. like everyone else, he’s starved for entertainment.)

but toye gets hit, and they’ve spent months beside each other — sleeping in shifts, keeping each other safe, trying to keep each other warm, kvetching, arguing with each other; he’s put up with toye’s singing and toye’s put up with mcclung talking to himself. a synchronicity and interdependence has developed between them, throughout the war but particularly in bastogne, to the point where it’s almost telepathic. he doesn’t consider what a powerful kind of intimacy this is, both physical and psychological, until it’s gone.

toye gets hit, and mcclung loses him. toye gets hit, and mcclung is blindsided by the enormity of it. you can’t take anyone’s survival for granted, he’s always tried to be careful of that, but losing toye is like losing part of himself.

he’s pretty determinedly unsentimental about everything: he’s not going to fall in love with anyone while he’s fighting a war, and he’s not going to dwell on situations beyond his control, and he’s not going to let himself be distracted by worrying about someone who isn’t here anymore. or at least that’s the attitude he’s internalised, and he takes it so much for granted that he never even considers that he could have fallen for anyone: right here, right now.

but he can’t forget anything that’s happened, even if he’d like to, and there’s no other friendship that can quite replace what had developed between toye and himself. bastogne was when things were at their worst, and toye is the one with whom he survived the worst. without toye, he feels an inescapable sense of wrongness, unevenness.

he’s half aware that he misses joe. he tries not to acknowledge that to himself, because that would mean acknowledging that he may not have any chance to see joe again, that one or both of them may not survive. that’s a line of thought he keeps away from altogether; it’s there, but he won’t look at it.

he knows it’s not his fault toye was injured. sometimes it has nothing to do with being a good soldier; sometimes it’s just luck and timing; he’s nearly been hit himself. he knows that, but deep down inside he wonders if he could have saved joe, by making sure he was in their foxhole before the shelling started. he heard toye and second-guessed himself. he stayed where he was. he thinks he probably did the sensible thing. he still feels guilty about it.

(sidenote: the glaring exception to his “don’t befriend the replacements” rule ends up being babe. after toye, guarnere & compton are taken off the line, he and babe start sharing a foxhole. possibly he could have found someone else, but his protective instinct resurfaces and maybe it helps to take his mind off missing toye. it’s a friendship that comes out of grief and loss.)

he gets through foy, and haguenau, and he focuses on the situation at hand and he doesn’t think about toye.

when they reach austria, mcclung is ordered to hunt animals to feed landsberg’s prisoners, and so he sets up camp alone in the woods. it’s beautiful; it’s peaceful; it’s the first time he’s been truly alone in two years. it’s the first time his mind is able to relax, and the memories come back — prewar life, everything he’s been through since, bastogne, toye — and the thoughts of the future, what he might do after the war.

he’d like to see toye again.

he still hasn’t thought that maybe he has feelings for joe.

and then the war ends, and he has the freedom to decide what to do next. he returns to england, and then ships back to the us. the memory/loss of toye is still a weight on him, and so he tracks toye down and goes to see him. that’s the obvious, logical course of action.

it’s also making him much more nervous than it has any right to.

(for the past year and a half, he’s been compartmentalising very hard because he intuitively understood that as the best way to survive the war. he learnt it early on, and it’s hard to let go of it. he’s convinced he’s handling everything great, very matter of fact and pragmatic, getting the job done, no emotional baggage here, etc etc. this is... not 100% true, but a coping mechanism is a coping mechanism is a coping mechanism. he is doing pretty well; nobody thinks he’s not; so obviously that counts as a roaring success.

but once the war is over, the psychological walls he’s maintained throughout combat — between survival and emotion — begin gradually to disintegrate. he has to let himself become whole again, learn to navigate who he is now, accept that the war has scarred him. he still feels himself to be one of the lucky ones. some of the things he’s been avoiding hit harder than others, and he can’t control that anymore.

insofar as he’s aware of these developments, he considers it extremely unfair.)

but, ensuing stupid panic or no ensuing stupid panic, he commits to meeting up with toye. he figures they’ll catch up, maybe keep in contact, that now he’ll be able to stop wondering how toye’s doing, stop this strange off-balance feeling he’s had since toye got hit.

seeing toye again is actually a lot more than he’d ever anticipated, and he’s forced to acknowledge that maybe there’s more going on here than he’d figured.

he realises he’s attracted to this guy, and he doesn’t know when that started: probably in bastogne, but maybe earlier. it feels new but not new; if he hadn’t pointedly avoided thinking about joe after foy, maybe he’d have figured it out sooner. if they’d made it through the war together, maybe something would have happened between them in europe, but they lost each other too soon for him to know. he’s a little discomfited by these feelings suddenly creeping up on him, but he’s trying hard not to let any of it show: not the attraction, not the unease.

he reasons that his feelings are only a problem if toye doesn’t share them. he thinks he could deal with that, but he is afraid they may not have a friendship anymore, that it was left behind in wartime.

he tells himself he’s not afraid of rejection. but he is. he doesn’t like feeling vulnerable, and suddenly he is.

when he thinks there’s a chance the attraction is mutual, he takes it. it works out for him. they stay together. he accepts that he’s falling in love and he lets it happen.

he falls in love with joe’s courage and honesty and selflessness, and he finds it incredibly hard to actually say that. (this is someone who considers “hanging out with you voluntarily” to be a love language.) he’s moved just by the fact joe wants to be with him, that he’s able to acknowledge that attraction and act on it despite his provincial catholic upbringing lol. he knows that joe’s recovery has been difficult, and he sees how joe is dealing with it, and, like in bastogne, he tries to support him as quietly and simply as possible.

he finds it hard to tell joe he loves him, but he pays attention to what joe does and says, and does whatever he can to make his life better. he never thinks joe needs him there, and he wouldn’t want it that way. he helps joe to adapt their old calisthenics training; they take roadtrips together. they’re still deeply protective of each other, and they still express it via touch, practical acts, and snark. they don’t struggle with physical affection as much as either of them might have worried; they’re a little hesitant at first, but it falls into place.

they’re fumbling their way a little, but they respect each other completely and unconditionally, and they’re kind and careful, and their relationship gets stronger as it goes on. 

and they dance together.

[newstfionline]

Thursday, October 15, 2020

Teen well-being (The Atlantic) Teens who participated in a 1,523 respondent survey between May and July this year were assessed for various mental well-being measures including life satisfaction, happiness, depression symptoms and loneliness. Their responses were then compared to the results of the same survey in 2018, and much to the surprise of the researchers, the teens were pretty much on par, and the percentage of teens depressed or lonely was lower in 2020 than in 2018. This is not to say that teens escaped the malaise that gripped the nation, far from it: 63 percent were concerned about catching the virus, 27 percent said a parent lost their job, 29 percent knew someone who caught the virus. No, the reason for the shift is that those considerable sources of anxiety were compensated for by the fact that teens were finally sleeping the correct amount of time: in 2018, just 55 percent of teens slept seven or more hours a night, and this year 84 percent slept seven or more hours a night while school was in session.

Cruise ship dismantling booms after pandemic (Reuters) Business is booming at a sea dock in western Turkey, where five hulking cruise ships are being dismantled for scrap metal sales after the COVID-19 pandemic all but destroyed the industry, the head of a ship recyclers’ group said on Friday. Cruise ships were home to the some of the earliest clusters of COVID-19 as the pandemic spread globally early this year. In March, U.S. authorities issued a no-sail order for all cruise ships that remains in place. On Friday, dozens of workers stripped walls, windows, floors and railings from several vessels in the dock in Aliaga, a town 45 km north of Izmir on Turkey’s west coast. Three more ships are set to join those already being dismantled. Before the pandemic, Turkey’s ship-breaking yards typically handled cargo and container ships, Kamil Onal, chairman of a ship recycling industrialists’ association, told Reuters. “But after the pandemic, cruise ships changed course towards Aliaga in a very significant way,” he said of the town.

Europe tightens rules as virus surges (AP) Governments across Europe are ratcheting up restrictions to try to beat back a resurgence of the coronavirus that has sent new confirmed infections on the continent to their highest weekly level since the start of the pandemic. The World Health Organization said Tuesday there were more than 700,000 new COVID-19 cases reported in Europe last week, a jump of 34% from the previous week. Britain, France, Russia and Spain accounted for more than half of the new infections. Italy and France are restricting parties and putting limits on restaurants and bars. The Netherlands went further and ordered the closing of all bars and restaurants, And to discourage partying at home, it banned the sale of alcohol after 8 p.m. The Czech Republic is closing all schools until Nov. 2, while Latvia is ordering teenagers to switch to distance learning for a week. And Britain unveiled a three-tiered system for deciding what restrictions to impose, based on how severe the outbreak is in certain areas. Those moves reflect a new approach to containing the virus among governments wary of hurting already fragile economies. Officials are eager to avoid the total lockdowns they imposed in the spring that resulted in heavy job losses. Instead, they are relying on a patchwork of regional or targeted restrictions that have sometimes caused confusion and frustration by those affected. The U.N. health agency appeared to support the new approach, with WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic saying lockdowns should be a “last resort.”

With winter on the way and windows open, Europe’s students prepare for the cold (Washington Post) With winter on its way and coronavirus guidelines advising teachers to keep classroom windows open, students across Northern Europe are preparing for the chill by packing blankets in their school bags and layering up in warm clothing. There is increasingly a consensus among experts that good ventilation is one of the best ways to prevent the virus from spreading. Anthony Costello, a former director at the World Health Organization, said last month that children “can survive a bit of cold, and they’re going to have to, because ventilation is so important.” With temperatures in Germany frequently dropping to freezing, children in the city of Bochum are bracing for a crisp learning environment as officials advise teachers to open the windows for fresh air every 20 minutes. Children have been told to bring blankets and wrap up. Although some schools struggle with the advice that the cold air needs to be brought in, schools in Denmark and other Nordic education systems are taking lessons—and young students—outside. More than half of about 200 Norwegian schools surveyed in a poll by researchers Ulrich Dettweiler and Gabriele Lauterbach last month said they were holding more classes outdoors—a move some already had planned on that was further propelled by the pandemic.

Belarusian crisis escalates (Foreign Policy) Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya has demanded that President Aleksandr Lukashenko resign by Oct. 25 or face nationwide strikes. “[On] Oct. 26, all enterprises will begin a strike,” she said in a statement, “all roads will be blocked, state-owned stores will no longer have any sales.” Tikhanovskaya is hugely popular among protesters but fled to Lithuania in the aftermath of the controversial Aug. 9 election, which saw Lukashenko win by a landslide amid allegations of electoral fraud. Tikhanovskaya’s ultimatum is part of a wider escalation of tensions between Lukashenko and anti-government protesters. On Monday, the government authorized police to use lethal force against protesters after the ninth consecutive Sunday of massive protests in the capital of Minsk.

For Nagorno-Karabakh’s Dueling Sides, Living Together Is ‘Impossible’ (NYT) Armenians and Azerbaijanis lived side by side in the Soviet days, until conflict over the disputed mountain territory called Nagorno-Karabakh exploded in the late 1980s into riots, expulsions and a yearslong war. The violence left personal wounds festering for decades, as stubborn as the tan and gray stone ruins of Azerbaijani villages still scattered in the Armenian countryside. In the last two weeks, those unhealed scars have erupted into a modern-day conflagration of trench warfare, drone strikes and artillery bombardments. More than 500 Armenian soldiers have died, along with scores of civilians and an unknown number of Azerbaijanis. A cease-fire brokered in Moscow over the weekend has failed to hold, and President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan has threatened a further escalation of his offensive. For the region’s populace, the war is a continuation of on-off strife over both territory and history, with roots going back more than a century. The days when the Soviet Union kept a lid on such conflicts, and Azerbaijanis and Armenians mostly lived together in peace, feel like an irrevocably lost world. “Each wants to say that he is the master of this land,” said one refugee who left Azerbaijan in 1989. “To live together is, put simply, impossible.”

China’s Xi lays out plan to build Shenzhen into global rival to troubled Hong Kong (Washington Post) Chinese leader Xi Jinping announced plans to make Shenzhen an international trade hub and talent center, setting up the mainland metropolis as a business alternative to its politically troubled neighbor, Hong Kong. In a speech on Wednesday, Xi called for Shenzhen to take the lead in developing high-value innovative industries and drawing international talent. He said Shenzhen will develop its finance sector and international trade capabilities—which are Hong Kong’s economic strengths. The top-level support for Shenzhen was a clear message for Hong Kong, which lies just across a river from Shenzhen, said Victor Gao, a chair professor at China’s Soochow University and a former Foreign Ministry official. “If you do not have stability, if you are caught up in revolution, or great turmoil, or anarchy, then you will lose out on whatever advantages and resources you may have previously had,” Gao said. “Then your economic development will reverse course.” Hong Kong, which was supposed to enjoy self-governance in most of its affairs until 2047, has become a thorn in Beijing’s side because of large-scale public protests against China’s tightening control.

Japan’s navy adapts to the digital generation (Times of London) Japan’s navy is to launch a new, scaled down warship to compensate for a drop in recruitment among young people who cannot tolerate long periods at sea without access to their smartphones. The 30FFM frigate is designed for a crew of about 90 sailors, half that of the older vessels. The smaller crews reflect the crisis in recruitment faced by the Maritime Self-Defense Forces. The navy is struggling to fulfill its recruitment quotas, and in 2018 reached only 60 per cent of its target. In that year, it raised the upper age limit for recruits from 26 to 32. It has also taken steps to overcome the principal disincentive to would-be sailors—enforced isolation from the outside world. Sailors can now send emails from their mobile phones and have limited wireless internet access.

Thailand declares emergency after unprecedented protest (AP) Thai authorities declared a strict new state of emergency for the capital on Thursday, a day after a student-led protest against the country’s traditional establishment saw an extraordinary moment in which demonstrators heckled a royal motorcade. After the pre-dawn declaration, riot police moved in to clear out demonstrators who after a day of rallies and confrontation had gathered outside Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha’s office to push their demands, which include the former general’s stepping down, constitutional changes and reform of the monarchy. The protest Wednesday in Bangkok’s historic district, not far from glittering temples and royal palaces, was the third major gathering by student-led activists who have been pushing the boundaries of what is considered acceptable—and legal—language by publicly questioning the role of Thailand’s monarchy in the nation’s power structure.

Southeast Asia flood deaths near 40 as new storm approaches (Reuters) Nearly 40 people have died in Vietnam and Cambodia and scores more were missing, including rescuers, due to prolonged heavy rain and flash flooding as tropical storm Nangka edged towards the Vietnamese coast on Tuesday. Heavy rains since early October have caused deadly floods and landslides in several provinces in central Vietnam and displaced thousands of people in western Cambodia, officials and state media said. The floods are expected to worsen over the coming days, with tropical storm Nangka forecast to dump more rain as it makes landfall in Vietnam on Wednesday.

Coronavirus lockdown 2.0 deepens divisions in Israel (AP) When Israel went into lockdown last spring, Jerusalem pub owner Leon Shvartz moved quickly to save his business—shifting to a delivery and takeaway model that kept him afloat throughout the summer. Then came the second lockdown. With restaurants and shops shuttered again, Shvartz’s business is struggling to survive. He has laid off 16 of his 17 employees. By contrast, Israeli software maker Bizzabo, which operates in the hard-hit conference-management sector, quickly reinvented itself last spring by offering “virtual events.” It has more than doubled its sales and is expanding its workforce. Such tales of boom and bust reflect Israel’s growing “digital divide.” Even before the pandemic, Israel had one of the largest income gaps and poverty rates among developed economies, with a few high earners, mostly in the lucrative high-tech sector, while many Israelis barely get by as civil servants, in service industries or as small business owners. Those gaps have widened as the second nationwide lockdown, imposed last month, dealt a new blow to an economy already hit hard by the first round of restrictions. The fallout from the pandemic has also deepened long-simmering divisions among Israeli Jews, pitting a largely secular majority against a powerful ultra-Orthodox minority.

[queenofcats17]

If you may recall, I once asked what a BATIM-Cuphead genre swap would be like. You did have an idea for a BATIM version of Cuphead, but what about the other way around? (Assume there are no BATIM characters in the latter)

Hmm...Let’s see...

I wouldn’t want it to take place in an animation studio since that’s so integral to BATIM’s plot. So I think Cuphead in the style of BATIM would take place in an abandoned casino.

I think it would follow a similar structure of defeating bosses, but it would have the BATIM thing of delving deeper and deeper into the place they’re trapped. Instead of venturing deeper into an animation studio, it’s going deeper into an impossibly massive casino.

Like BATIM, this is gonna be pretty heavy on the body horror. I understand that you don’t really like that, but I think it would fit here.

The casino was once owned by King Dice (not his real name), and there are rumors that he made a deal with the Devil to ensure the success of his casino. It went out business years ago, although no one knows why. Cuphead and Mugman sneak in to satisfy their own curiosity and, in Cuphead’s case, get a thrill. Obviously, their names wouldn’t actually be Cuphead and Mugman, but...Well, they’ll be referred to that way.

So, Cuphead and Mugman sneak in and find the main lobby of the casino empty. It’s covered in dust and it doesn’t look like anyone’s been there for years. Cuphead immediately heads for Dice’s office, with Mugman trailing behind him. When they get to the office, they find it’s not empty. A man they recognize as Dice is seated at the desk, while another stands behind him, one hand on Dice’s chair. Dice greets the brothers warmly, asking what brings them to his humble casino. Both brothers find themselves unable to speak as Dice continues.

He tells them that he’s had a bit of trouble as of late with some of the casino patrons. They’ve been causing a ruckus and he needs someone to set them straight. He can’t do it himself because he has other things he needs to do.

“How’d you boys like a job?” The man behind Dice asks, and his voice sends shivers down Cuphead and Mugman’s spines. He pulls out two contracts from his huge fur coat, holding them out. Cuphead speaks for the two of them, trying to cover his fear with bravado by saying they’d be happy to do the job.

Mugman tries to stop his brother, but it’s too late. Cuphead is already signing the contract and Mugman’s hand is moving on its own, signing the contract too. Once the contracts are signed, they began to glow, and the man in the fur coat reveals himself to be the Devil. And since the brothers signed the contracts, their souls now belong to him.

With a snap of his fingers, the Devil transforms them into something resembling their Cuphead selves, (They’d previously been human) and it’s revealed that Dice looks like his Cuphead counterpart as well. Dice says that if the brothers don’t collect the boss’ souls, they’ll be stuck like this forever and added to the collection of souls trapped in the casino. The brothers are then booted out to take care of the bosses.

I think the bosses would still be grouped similarly to how they are in the original game. Like, each floor would have a collection of bosses that Cuphead and Mugman would need to defeat. To add to the survival horror element, perhaps certain bosses require certain items to defeat them and the brothers have to find the items on the floor before they can take down the boss. I figure each boss would be confined to their own room.

Each boss is someone who has sold their soul to the Devil at some point or another.

Here’s what I envision for each of the bosses.

Floor 1

The Root Pack: The three of them still look mostly human, but vegetables are growing out of their bodies like tumors. It looks as though their respective vegetables are trying to take them over. They’re dressed like farmers, although their clothes are ripped and torn by the vegetables. Like in the original Cuphead, their attacks involve sending vegetables after the brothers. The vegetables crawl after the brothers, screaming in pain as they do. The Root Pack can be defeated by burning them, using kerosene and matches found in the hallway. Their room is filled with dirt and vegetables.

Goopy Le Grande: He’s humanoid, but made entirely of blue goo. His body is constantly dripping, revealing the skeleton underneath. He’s not wearing any clothes, but it’s not like he has genitals or anything. He attacks by stretching parts of his goo body and trying to smash the brothers. I can’t think of how he’d be defeated, but I’d think it would involve removing his bones from the goo and destroying them. His room resembles a large boxing ring.

Ribby and Croaks: They look like some horrifying mix of human and frog. They wear their boxing gear from the original game. They fight like boxers, punching at the brothers and chasing them around the room. Their movements are just a little too frog-like to look natural. Their room resembles a bar, like the area you fight them in in the original game.

Hilda Berg: She resembles a broken automaton, clockwork visible through the broken skin. Her room is larger than the others on the floor and much darker, illuminated by simulated stars on the ceiling. She does fly around and the brothers have to shoot her down and attack her from there. The more she’s attacked, the more her body breaks apart and the less human she appears.

Cagney Carnation: Similar to the Root Pack, he still looks mostly human, although instead of vegetables growing out of his body he had flowers and vines. Like the Root Pack, he too can be dispatched by burning. His room is a lot like the Root Pack’s in that it’s filled with dirt. But his has giant creeping roots and vines all over.

Floor 2

Baroness Von Bon Bon: She looks pretty much like she does in the original game with the exception that she holds her head in her hand. Her stump of a neck is constantly bleeding and she cries blood. Her area is similar to the original game in the sense that there’s candy everywhere. But here, the candy is broken and dirty. The way to defeat her is the destroy her head. She attacks with a shotgun or by sending rotting and broken candies after the brothers.

Djimmi the Great: His area looks like the inside of a pyramid and is literally covered in sand. Djimmi himself looks like a red cloud of smoke wrapped in rags and is rather hard to hit. He summons a lot of other enemies like in the original game. I think to defeat him you’d have to suck him into his lamp or something.

Beppi the Clown: It probably wouldn’t be that hard to make Beppi scary. I’d still want him to be made out of balloons, though, because it would be cool if he was defeated by popping him. His room looks like a run-down carnival or circus big top. He attacks by sending balloon animals and sentient amusement park rides after the brothers.

Wally Warbles: I’m honestly not sure how to make Wally terrifying. Maybe a huge sickly bird still halfway stuck in a birdhouse? Maybe he’s still trying to protect his son. His room would probably look like a nest. He’d attack by pecking at the brothers and swiping at them with his wings.

Grim Matchstick: He’s just a huge dragon. Because I love dragons and imagine how terrifying it would be to have to face a dragon when you’re like 12 and have been through everything the brothers have. To make this even sadder, the whole time they’re fighting, Grim is begging for mercy. He just wants to be left alone. But the brothers need to collect his soul to be freed.

Floor 3

Rumor Honeybottoms: Her room looks like a hive, covered in honey and swarming with giant bees. Giant realistic-looking bees. Rumor herself is a mix of bee and human features. Meaning parts of her are human and parts of her are bee. It’s not blended at all. Makes me shudder just thinking about it. The honey everywhere makes it hard for the brothers to move, which makes it easier for the huge bees to attack them.

Captain Brineybeard: I think it would be cool if he looked like the zombie pirates from Pirates Of The Carribean. His room looks a lot like the deck of a ship and is a good deal smaller than other rooms. Not a lot of room to run and/or hide. The brothers get swords to attack him with.

Cala Maria: Her room looks like a beach. When the brothers enter, she has her back to them as she cries on the sand. She looks normal from the back, but when they get closer, she turns around to reveal that she basically looks like a mix of Medusa and a very scary mermaid. Lots of sharp needle teeth, snakes for hair, slimy skin, and way too big eyes that look more suited to seeing in the darkness of the deep sea. The brothers have to avoid looking at her because she’ll turn them to stone. It would be cool if the brothers reflected her petrifying gaze back on her and broke her apart when she turned to stone.

Floor 4

Dr. Kahl’s Robot: A horrifying mix of machine and flesh so integrated it’s unclear whether he was first a machine or a man. He begs for death while the brothers are fighting him, his voice a mix of a mechanical voice box and a human voice. His area is a junkyard like in the original game, filled with trash and machine parts. He shoots lasers and stuff out of one of his arms as his body moves against his will to kill them.

Werner Werman: His room looks like a WWI trench and he looks like a WWI soldier. The brothers have to dodge constant gunfire from all directions as they attempt to make their way to Werner. Werner acts like there’s a war going on, thinking the brothers are enemy soldiers. He thanks them when they finally kill him.

Sally Stageplay: She looks like her game counterpart, except that she’s noticeably more bloody and disheveled, and she’s on strings. She’s puppeted around by some unseen force in the ceiling. I imagine her fight would be similar in that she’s performing a play in a theater. The brothers need to cut her strings to defeat her.

The Phantom Express isn’t a boss. They arrive to take the brothers to the bottom floor of the casino. They all look like living corpses who don’t talk much to the brothers.

(Sidenote, every time the brothers ��die’, it gets harder for them to remember their human lives and more of their bodies turns into porcelain.)

Final floor

After beating all the bosses, Cuphead and Mugman reach the bottom of the casino, where Dice and the Devil are waiting for them. Dice commends them on a job well done and the brothers demand to be returned to normal. The Devil first demands the souls. The brothers refuse to hand over the souls until they’re returned to normal.

The Devil is frustrated by this and tells Dice to take care of it before vanishing. Which leads to the brothers fighting him and his casino mini-bosses. Some of the bosses would be scarier if they were humanized a bit. Like Pip and Dot could be sewn together. Mangosteen alone is nightmare fuel. Leave him how he is.

Upon defeating Dice, the brothers then have to go up against the Devil. I don’t think you’d have to do much work to make that boss fight scary. It’s already scary.

The brothers do eventually defeat him, forcing him to burn their contracts and release them. They then release the souls of those trapped in the casino and leave, vowing to never try something like this ever again.

It’s getting late and I ran out of steam near the end, but I hope you like it! :D

[scralettlfox-blog]

Chapter One 

Read on Wattpad

Terror Nova

Chapter Two: The Dream

She woke in the Black Valley, jolting awake with a hammering heart. The black sand beneath her feet was warm enough to feel through her combat boots. The Clochian forces were firing from the other end of the valley. Odd that she was on the ground. Valia had been a pilot in her military days. Her missions focused on sabotage and hit-and-run tactics carried out in a small, nearly undetectable one person craft. That also meant that when she went down she was alone and in enemy territory.

A bomb exploded in front of her. After years of these nightmares, she barely flinched as her ears rang and smoke filled her throat. The world flew by and she was in a trench. Screams echoed around her, the cries of agony from her fellow soldiers chief among them. Mech suit pilots stuck in crumpled exo suits, foot soldiers shot with homing bullets, and those cut with laser weapons frantically trying to save themselves.

Valia looked around her. The smoke and blood crowded her vision. Her ears rang from weapons and screams alike. This is the environment she had met T’Shan and Kylie in. T’Shan had downed her during a supply run, but not before his own ship became too damaged to fly. They’d nearly killed each other on the ground. Then, they realized the war was pointless and they didn’t want to die for it. So they had worked together to survive. They were rescued together, though T’Shan was taken prisoner. Kylie had been the one to treat her. Even defended her treatment of the enemy.

Kylie had never approved of the war. Only agreed to serve if she could treat both sides. She thought the war for Volantis One was pointless. She even turned out to be right, as Volantis 2 had been discovered after a couple years of fighting. By then, the casualties were great enough that the two peoples had to come to a treaty. All that death, for farmland that could be shared.

Valia took a step forward, perhaps to storm off. Then she was falling. She landed next to T’Shan at the ceremony where they were presented their commendations for honor during wartime. They were seen as the first to have “found peace.”

They had bonded over how much they hated those awards. T’Shan had no choice in attending, the Generals who lead the Clochian people had invited him. The first thing everyone learned about Clochian culture upon landing on Chrysalis was to never disobey the Generals. Valia could have avoided the ceremony, she had already put in her resignation by the time the Peace Accords were announced. Kylie had convinced her to go. Besides, she hadn’t wanted to let T’Shan suffer alone.

Kylie attended the Volcanis Peace Accords, which ended the war, and the Joint Planetary Agricultural Initiative ceremonies by her side. The only support she had left, once she was no longer a soldier. Kylie had also put in her resignation. They had tried to hold onto her more than Valia, though. Doctors were much more valuable than soldiers.

It was on Chrysalis that they’d had their first date. As she reminisced, the scene in front of her changed from stuffy officials giving speeches to Kylie singing offbeat in a Clochian dive bar. After a few cocktails, they had decided to stay in space. Kylie teased her about asking to go steady on the first date. She’d teased back that no one calls it “going steady” anymore.

She’d drunkenly called T’Shan about their plan to stay among the stars. He agreed almost immediately.

They hadn’t meant for it to turn into a smuggling operation. But, someone offers you enough money to sneak passed a government you don’t like in the first place…

Well, you take it.

Valia remembered the annoyed look T’Shan had on his face through the entire ceremony. His violet eyes had looked like they were trying to burn a hole in General Sh’massa’s back. Maybe he had been planning a way to get back at them the entire time.

Kylie moving towards her drew Valia out of her thoughts and back to the dream. She smiled. Kylie was stumbling, holding a glass of Clochian yasha, and moving toward her with intent. She remembered, surprisingly considering her own intoxication, that this was their first kiss.

“I don’t know how you drink that fermented…” Valia tried to remember what yasha was made out of. It flew out of her mind.

“Milk from a mountain something or other.” Kylie finished for her. She downed her drink. “I’ve had worse.”

“Not a glowing endorsement.” Valia teased.

“No, no it’s not.” Kylie agreed, a smile on her face. She leaned towards Valia. “You know what is a glowing endorsement?”

Her voice was a whisper. Valia was happy to experience a good memory for now, and let the scene play out. They both leaned in for a kiss.

Then an alarm sounded. Dream Kylie jumped away from her in alarm. It took Valia a moment to remember she was, in fact, asleep. The alarm likely meant dinner. She woke up to a very real Kylie toying with the alarm on her gauntlet and grumbling in irish. She was still pressed into Valia’s side, though a bit more twisted than she likely would have been while asleep.

“I thought you had work to do?” Valia rolled completely to her side to hug the doctor to her. Kylie let out a contented sigh that warmed her heart.

“I finished an hour ago.” Kylie kissed her shoulder before sitting up. “You looked upset, darling. Want to talk about it?”

Kylie could always tell when something was bothering Valia, no matter how much she tried to hide it. Valia loved that about her. Did make it hard to hold everything in until she exploded, which was her normal way to handle emotions.

“I was dreaming about the war, again.” Valia entwined their fingers, distracting herself by drawing patterns on Kylie’s skin.

“I’m surprised you still get those dreams.” Kylie rubbed her forehead. “I’ve gotten to the point where I don’t remember my dreams.”

“I would say I wished it never happened, but some good things did come from it.” Valia nudged her before letting go of her hand and standing.

“Like T’Shan?” Kylie teased, following her out of bed.

“Exactly.” Valia rolled her eyes. “You know, I try to be sweet.”

“I know.” Kylie assured her. “But you’re easy to tease, love.”

Luna’s voice over the intercom drew their attention.

“Captain, Jack wishes to inform you that dinner will be served in ten minutes.”

“Thank you, Luna.” Valia fixed her hair. “Tell him we’ll be right there.” “He also wanted me to tell you that the ‘new kid’ might need a hero.”

“I knew he would be trouble.” Valia mumbled. Kylie took her hand and lead her towards the mess hall.

“Let’s go save the wee lad before Amara eats him.”

Valia let herself be led on the short walk to the mess hall. Most of the crew hadn’t arrived yet. Only the officer’s tended to arrive early to meals, which was fine by Valia. She liked the crew but too many people and she felt suffocated.

T’Shan and Allen were at the furthest table from them. Kylie weaved her way through tables and crew members. When they reached the table, she let go of Valia’s hand. Jack waved as he ran by, curly hair bouncing with each step. Helper bots, a gift from Valia the last time they’d finished a big job, tried to keep up. Their frantic beeping almost sounded worried for their master.

“Captain, hope you’re feeling well enough to eat.” Jack ran past them again, beeping bots in tow. Before Valia could answer, he was gone again.

“I’m starting to think he takes the helper bots presence as a challenge.” Kylie watched as he ran by, shaking her head. “He needs to slow down.”

“Good luck getting him to.” T’Shan commented through a mouth full of toasted nuts. “I don’t think he’s taken a break since he was a little kid.”

Valia took a seat to T’Shan’s left and Kylie sat next to her. T’Shan acknowledged them both with a smile and passed a small bowl of nuts towards them. Valia took a handful before observing Allen. He still looked uncomfortable, though much less so. Perhaps Amara had calmed down. Or T’Shan had stuck to the poor boy’s side this entire time.

“So, you’re the unfortunate wee suit who is with our crew a bit, yeah?” Kylie asked. Though he was confused, Allen nodded. “Great to meet you. I’m Kylie McBride, crew calls me Cure, though. I’m the ship’s doctor.”

“Best in the galaxy.” Valia added.

“She’s biased.” T’Shan commented.

“Why wee?” Allen asked. He looked to T’Shan for help, but the Clochian simply shrugged.

“Apparently, everything is ‘wee’ in Ireland. That’s where she’s from.” Jack answered as he approached the table. He gave out utensils and cups for the officers that would be showing up.

“I think she called you a ‘wee suit’ because you’re an apprentice, though.”

“Mhm.” Kylie affirmed through a mouthful. “Not a full suit, yet.”

“That’s...odd.” It seemed like Allen struggled to find the right word. “It’s like I’m some kind of baby animal.”

“Wee lamb.” Kylie agreed, smiling at the poor boy. She was going to torture him.

“Or, like a turtle coming out of it’s shell.” Valia suggested. She should help him a little.

“Don’t turtles stay in their shells? It’s part of their body.” T’Shan asked. He promptly turned to a helper bot to order a drink. “

“Then where does the phrase ‘coming out of your shell’ come from?” Valia countered. The helper bot came for her order next and she placed both her own and Kylie’s.

“Hermit crabs? They leave their shells and find a new one as they grow.” Kylie suggested. She patted the helper bot on the head as it passed her. It let out a happy beep before moving on to Allen.

“I think it is about turtles. When they’re scared they hide in their shells. They still come out in a way, though.” Allen added, a thoughtful expression on his face. An insistent beep got him to turn and place his order.

“Don’t we all.” Valia quipped. Kylie elbowed her in response.

“Not funny.

“Yes, I am.” Valia countered. Kylie just rolled her eyes.

Allen smiled and nearly let out a laugh at their exchange. Valia thought he seemed like a nice kid. Despite his relations.

The rest of the crew and the officers filed in as they continued talking. Amara glared at Allen as she walked past, but otherwise he wasn’t paid any mind. When all the officers were gathered Valia decided that introductions were in order. She clapped her hands to get everyones attention. The table went silent.

“Alright, Allen. Now that everyone’s here we can get some introductions out of the way.” Valia started by gesturing to Skull, who had taken a seat next to Kylie. “You’ve met Skullcrusher, or Skull. He’s Novarrian, four-armed and dangerous.”

“Very dangerous.” The red hulk of muscle agreed.

“Almost as dangerous as me.” Valia joked, nearly elbowing T’Shan who spit out his drink in laughter.

“Agreed.” Skull conceded, before turning back to his mill and chugging half a pint.

“He’s our security officer, for obvious reasons.” Valia gestured even further down her row, where she could see a spotted tail next to Skull. “Next to him is Amara Lost, our resident Armaxian.”

“We’ve met.” Amara leaned forward. Valia could see her spotted fur, red eyes, and the collar that became fashionable among Armaxians following their introduction to humans.

“Engineering officer, right?” Allen asked. After Amara nodded he looked between the two very different felines. “Novarrians and Armaxians share a common ancestor, right? Do you get along?”

Skull answered “No” at the same time Amara answered “When we need to.”

“Armaxians like to say that it was the Novarrian ancestor who led to the downfall of their shared, original civilization. And vice versa.” T’Shan explained to a confused Allen. Valia had to clap her hands again when it looked like Amara and Skull were about to fight it out.

“Anyway, at the end of the row is Squid. They are Varmaxi and no, Squid is not their real name. Varmaxi don’t have names so much as feelings attached to them as a being. They serve as the Morale Officer.”

“What is a Morale Officer?” Allen asked, turning to Squid.

Squid answered in sign language as well as telepathy, as he did not have Allen’s permission to connect their minds yet someone else would likely need to translate.

I monitor crew emotions and well being. Normally, the First Mate does that but my talents are a bit more suited. The Captain created the position for me.

Squid’s various tentacles were frantically signing the symbols in Intergalatic Sign Language as he projected the information. Their signs were a little rusty. Valia was preparing to translate when, to her shock, Allen started to sign back. He spoke along with it, though he had to know it wasn’t necessary.

“I wish we had officers like that on our company ships.” Allen responded. “Maybe I could create the position if I get high enough in the company.”

“You know ISL?” T’Shan asked, clearly as surprised as Valia. Squid’s bioluminescent patches were glowing happily, so he clearly enjoyed the surprise.

“I dated a Leorian who was deaf.” Allen explained, continuing to sign along. “He taught me so I wouldn’t need to wear those translator contacts.”

“You don’t have to sign everything, they can hear you.” Valia explained. “Though, I’m sure Squid appreciates the gesture.”

“They aren’t used to people outside our crew being so suggesting.” Shoto spoke up from his seat across from T’Shan and next to Allen. Then he offered his hand to Allen. “Shoto Arakawa. Equipment Officer. Fancy way of saying I make sure everything is in stock.”

“And that it gets where it needs to go when the time comes. Like a pirate attack.” T’Shan added.

“Pleasure to meet you.” Allen shook his hand.

“Kids got manners.” Shoto cracked his knuckles, a nervous habit he had in social situations apparently. “Business world is going to eat him up.”

Allen looked like he wanted to respond, if the frown was any indication. Landon beat him to it by lightly smacking Shoto upside the head.

“Don’t listen to this jerk.” Landon leaned forward and waved at Allen. “I’m Landon, by the way. Operations Officer. I keep everything running, despite other peoples best efforts.”

“He also makes sure everyone gets paid, is up to date on all their paperwork, and a bunch of other paperwork.” Valia added.

“He and Kylie are basically the parents of the ship, making sure the rest of us don’t die.” Jack finally arrived, distributed food, and took his seat next to Landon.

Kylie and Landon both took offense to that. It lead to a quick argument between half the table about who was and wasn’t responsible. Valia focused on her dinner.

“You lot sure are lively tonight.” Jack smiled after the noise calmed down. He reached his hand in front of Landon and Shoto for Allen to shake. “Jack Grimes, Nutrition Officer. I keep everyone from starving. If any of these goons get on your nerves, you can hang out with me in the kitchen.”

“I may have to take you up on that.” Allen answered as he shook Jack’s hand. “I really would, the only other sanctuary is with Luna up on the bridge. She’s not great at communication.” Kylie suggested. She turned to Amara. “Can you do something about that, like upgrade her? Maybe add a humor module?”

“She’s an android not a gossip.” Amara growled. “You shouldn’t be such a - what do you call it? - whinker.”

“It’s whinger.” Kylie corrected. “And how dare you.”

Amara and Kylie continued their rather ridiculous debate as the helper bots began serving dessert. Kylie took a break from arguing to order herself a cup of tea. A look from Valia had her requesting decaf. When the helper bot came around to her she ordered a cup of green tea and some cookies. They were going to go bad soon, if they weren’t already stale. Once the bot happily ran away, Valia opened comms up on her gauntlet and contacted Luna.

“ETA to Omega Prime?” She asked, not bothering with the pleasantries Amara hadn’t programmed in anyway.

“We are 5 hours out, if speed stays consistent, Captain.” Luna responded quickly. Valia thanked her and closed the comms. Allen was looking like he wanted to ask a question.

“Staring isn’t polite, kid.” Valia ran her fingers through her hair. Allen opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by the helper bots delivering their orders.

“He’s probably wondering about Omega Prime.” Kylie suggested, before stealing one of Valia’s cookies. She playfully batted her hand away, though it only earned her a grin.

“Never heard of it or never been?” Valia asked, before sipping her tea.

“Everyone’s heard of Omega Prime.” Allen shifted in his seat. “But I was told it would be unseemly for an officer in the corporation to be seen there.”

T’Shan snorted at the last comment and shot a look towards Valia and Kylie. They all knew that the people who loved Omega Prime the most were suits.

“Well, Omega Prime is everyones paradise. Stay out of the shady bits and you’ll be fine.” Kylie sent Allen a reassuring smile, before continuing to pilfer Valia’s cookies.

“I thought it was a giant den of crime?” Allen commented.

“That too.” Valia nodded. “But, it also has some of the best restaurants and entertainment in the galaxy. Criminals enjoy the finer things in life, too, ya know.”

“There are also a lot of unpleasant things. Just stay in the right districts, you’ll be fine.” Kylie waved her hand dismissively. “Not like T’Shan will let you get into trouble. He’s practically adopted you at this point.”

“Not by choice.” T’Shan commented, then turned to Allen. “No offense.”

“None taken.” Allen said, offended.

“Shoto and I can take the kid off your hands.” Landon offered. He clapped his friend on the shoulder. “We’ll show him all the safe and fun spots. Like the Virtual Arcade.”

“Did you just volunteer me?” Shoto asked, narrowing his eyes.

“Do you not want to go to the arcade with me?” Landon asked, looking a bit like a kicked puppy.

“You should definitely do that, if for nothing else then to watch Landon tear it up on a rhythm game.” Kylie suggested. “It’s brilliant.”

“Yeah, but Shoto and I have to continue our Blood Warrior V challenge first.” Landon lightly smacked Allen on the shoulder. “It’s this awesome fighting game. We play each other every chance we can get. It’s 65-64 right now, and I’m in the lead.”

“What?” Shoto interrupted. “No, I’m at 65 and you’re at 64.”

“You losing your memory in your old age?” Landon suggested. “I was winning.”

“I think you’re the one getting old.” Shoto grumbled.

“So, what were you planning to do T’Shan?” Allen turned to the Clochian, likely unsure of how to react to Landon and Shoto.

“Probably hitting up the shooting range.” Jack suggested. He had been reading a book on his gauntlet through most of the arguing, but never missed a chance to tease the First Mate.

“Actually, I was thinking of going to the Opera.” T’Shan countered. He turned to Allen. “You’re welcome to join me. It’s a galaxy renowned production of the Lonely Soldier.”

“I think I’ll stick with the arcade.” Allen decided. Landon gave him a hug from the side and assured him he wouldn’t regret it.

“Are you willing seeing an opera that’s set in a war you fought in?” Valia asked, shaking her head.

“It’s supposed to be very well written.” T’Shan defended his decision. “Besides, it’s probably based on someone we knew.”

“Yeah, that’s why I wouldn’t want to see it.” Valia mumbled into her tea.

“Why?” Allen asked. “I remember watching you both receive your commendations, you’re war heroes.”

Valia couldn’t stop herself from glaring, at least until she felt bad for making Allen sink down in his seat.

“That opera’s main character is a ghost of a fallen soldier trying to get his comrades to stop the fighting.” Kylie explained, much more kindly than Valia was capable of. She had a tight grip on her tea cup and was staring into the liquid as if it held the secrets to the universe. “It hits a tad too close to home.”

“Sorry.” Allen looked both apologetic and extremely uncomfortable. “I had no idea.”

“It’s not your fault.” T’Shan assured him. He put a hand on the boys shoulder and squeezed. “I suppose we are still fighting demons, just in our own ways.”

“On that note, I think I’m going to go sleep some more.” Valia smiled apologetically at Allen. She drained her cup, stood, and held a hand out to help Kylie up. “Care to join me?”

“I suppose.” Kylie teased.

The pair waved goodbye to the rest of the officers. They passed by some of the crew on their way out and made sure to exchange pleasantries. A quick walk and a quicker elevator ride had them up in the officer’s quarters. The Captain’s quarters were a few stairs away.

Valia enjoyed her quarters. It had it’s own starshield where she could watch the galaxy pass her by. It was also spacious enough that she didn’t feel cramped. Her room here was much better than the one she’d had on their previous ship, the Vega. That one had been destroyed by the pirates they’d taken this ship from. A win, depending on your definition.

“You aren’t actually going to sleep are you?” Kylie asked, making herself comfortable on the large round bed Valia had obtained from a client who had gone back on a deal. He’d unwillingly provided most of the nicer things on the ship.

“Too awake now.” Valia responded. She took a seat in an armchair by the starshield. “You go ahead, liebchen.”

“Don’t mind if I do.” Kylie promptly spread out across the bed and wrapped the blankets tightly around herself. Within minutes her breath had evened out, indicating she was asleep.

It seems Valia wasn’t the only one overworking herself.

She smiled at Kylie before pulling up a search on her gauntlet. It may be last minute, but she could still plan a nice anniversary with their small advance.

The stars and planets and endless black void sped by as she planned, barely paying attention to the galaxy.

To be continued...

[riderofthewind]

So I just finished reading Mortal Engines

And I needed to rant a bit about differences between the book and movie and why they were poor choices. I’m going to try and avoid generic ‘It’s different so it’s bad’ arguments because those suck, good movie adaptations of books that don’t massively diverge from the book itself are rare, it’s an essential part of making something great in most cases but in this case...oh god maybe they should have just done a shot for shot copy of the book.

This is gonna be a long one, but please join me on this nitpicky angry journey (and let me know the shit you liked/hated about the movie.)

OH GOD THIS MOVIE WAS SO TERRIBLE BUT THIS BOOK IS RATHER GOOD.

Warning: This will be nitpicky but I just...need to.

I'm a firm believer that a movie adaptation does not need to be faithful to the book it is based on to be a great movie. I love The Shining (I actually like the movie a lot more than the book but that's a rant for another day) however Mortal Engines manages to fail both at being a good movie and a good adaptation.

THE BEGINNING

The first like 30 minutes of the movie are almost shot for shot from the intro of the book and it's genuinely very good in both instances. London eats a small town, Hester boards, she tries to stab Valentine (in the movie she succeeds but he's fine. It's a change that I don't really understand because it doesn't actually change anything) and is chased off of London by Tom who is booted off by Valentine to cover his tracks. Tom and Hester group up because Hester is injured, they get picked up by another town who pretend to be nice and then are going to be sold as slaves.

I'm not going to go shot for shot through the changes the movie makes from the book because that'd be pointless. But I specifically wanted to recap this intro section because it's so close to the book and because where it diverges is mostly meaningless (and awful product placement.) However the part where it splits from the book is not just signposted, the script writer literally wrote into the script criticism of the book at this point in the movie. In the book, Hester and Tom remove a floor plating from their room and jump out, escaping before being sold as slaves. In the movie, they attempt this but Hester is too injured to make the jump out of the room and instead they are rescued by Anna Fang moments later. This makes sense and is a change that on the face of it I kinda like because yeah, it makes sense. Hester could barely walk at that point how did she make that jump? But the script in the film is so fucking bad that Hester may as well at this point go "I can't make the jump, i'm too injured" then turn to the camera and wink.

After this point the movie diverges in a lot of ways from the book, although it still follows mostly the same plot it just cuts out a bunch of stuff and ruins every single character then turns into Star Wars at the end because reasons.

SO

WHY THE MOVIE SUCKS

Okay, i'm going to get really nitpicky about specific changes that were for the worse that helped ruin this movie but to start with let me just summary and say. The movie sucks primarily because it's written terribly. Almost every character is reduced to shitty one liners after the intro, worst of all being Anna Fang, Valentine is reduced into generic villain, but even the characters who are similar to their book versions are just written so poorly that what worked in the book doesn't work on screen. Also Shrike's name sound so much like "Shrek" when being said out loud that it's hilarious. But overall it does stay surprisingly close to the book in plot up until the end, redacting a lot of stuff but rarely adding additional fluff. The way I'd break it down would be First act: Most similar to the book, overall very good. If the whole movie as this good it'd be a great movie.

Second act: Starts to diverge from the book to shorten it down for the length of a film. The writing is generally very very bad here, primarily because this section focusses on Shrike and Anna Fang. The former of which is reduced to saying "Kill Hester" over and over and the latter of whom is reduced to saying shitty one liners.

Third act: It's Star Wars but bad and has almost nothing to do with the book other than the location.

Also, I'm going to focus on story and characters here but keep in your mind that after the first act the cinematography gets terrible. Like genuinely it feels like a different movie also in terms of how poorly shot and edited the whole movie was after Act 1.

THADDEUS VALENTINE

Portrayed by Hugo Weaving in the film (doing his best Sean Bean impression) and uh yeah, the changes to him are central to the changes to the whole plot and basically what makes the movie so bad.

To begin with, Valentine is somewhat mysterious to start with. We know he's the Mayor's right hand man, he boots Tom off London after he hears Hester claim Valentine killed her parents but otherwise is charismatic and generally comes off as a very affable and likeable person. He is outspoken about the class divides in London having risen up from being a scavenger to the upper echelons of society himself. Both the movie and the book do this, it's great, he's a great character.

Valentine murdered Hester Shaw's parents long before the start of the book to take a piece of a weapon called MEDUSA back to London, which is used to rebuild the weapon which they intend to use to murder lots of people and basically make London an unstoppable monster. The big change the movie makes to Valentine's character is that this is his plan. Valentine does this in secret somehow, murders the mayor, stages a coup and takes London off course towards Asia to start firing off Medusa willy nilly and kill everyone and "save London" because they'll have so much to consume.

In the book this is the Mayor's plan and Valentine is being blackmailed into doing it because he wants his daughter to grow up in high society and have a better life. This is much better for a variety of reasons but the main one being that book doesn't reveal this until much later (in fact Valentine isn't even in most of the book) and it is foreshadowed by an earlier encounter with a bunch of pirates which didn't make it into the movie (which is fine because it's rather superfluous other than this foreshadowing.)

These changes aren't inherently bad but the way they are handled in the movie it basically just results in Valentine being an incredibly charismatic but evil villain the whole way through with absolutely no depth to his character outside of that. In the book what he did to get where he is puts strain on him and his daughter's relationship in a way that builds and results in his eventual suicide by refusing to escape with Hester and Tom, despite Hester's somewhat forgiveness of him seeing how hard he is trying to save his innocent daughter.

LUKE, I AM YOUR FATHER

It's heavily implied in the book that Valentine is Hester's father and not her mother's husband. But this only comes up like once in a conversation between Valentine and his daughter, Hester never learns about it and it's kind of a non-thing. It's only really there to show that Valentine was willing to kill someone who might be his daughter in order to build this life for his definite daughter.

In the movie, this revelation is made during the climactic battle between Hester and Valentine on the back of a ship during a fucking dogfight and oh god everything about it is the worst. He literally picks her up and dangles her over the edge of the ship and almost line for line repeats the Darth Vader father revelation from Star Wars. It's insane and goddamn I hate it.

SPEAKING OF STAR WARS

The movie changes the whole final sequence so that instead of it being a struggle for survival for each of the characters and the big climactic defeat of the villain being caused by the fact he was literally meddling with powers he didn't understand (in this case, old tech than they haphazardly rebuilt and didn't know how to fix when it broke) to being a generic big budget action sequence that copies more and more stuff from Star Wars. There's literally a sequence where a bunch of fighters are taking out guns so that someone can do a trench run. The action cumulates in Tom flying into the heart of London and blowing up the engines. It's just bad and generic and literally just Star Wars. It's boring as hell. As mentioned earlier, it's also just not shot well at all and it's a mess. They do these weird awful zoom ins every time a scene takes place inside MEDUSA and it's hideous and I have no idea why it's the way it is.

Other stuff:

ANNA FANG

I've mentioned a few times in this rant that Anna Fang only speaks in one liners in the movie but I can't get across exactly how shitty it is. She's damn cool in the book and the way they translated that to the movie was basically "she has a snarky one liner for every situation."

She does look cool though.

VALENTINE'S DAUGHTER

Katherine I think is her name? I literally just finished this book an hour ago and I don't remember. One of my complaints about the movie at the time was that she is a nothing character who does basically nothing. In the book she is a nothing character who does basically nothing but she also has a pet wolf. She exists solely to give Valentine a reason for being blackmailed, which in the movie isn't even a thing so she may as well have been cut out of it entirely. She sucks in both though so whatever.

HESTER SHAW

She is constantly described as ugly and deformed after what Valentine did to her. In the movie she has a kinda cute scar but that's it. This sucks but again, whatever. It's a movie, that's how this shit rolls unfortunately. It's hard to market your movie when the protagonist looks like Two Face in TDK.

All in all, I'm glad I went on this journey of reading the book after seeing and hating the movie. It was fun in its own weird way. I definitely enjoyed it more than being excited for an adaptation of a book I liked only for it to suck at least. That movie was bad but it led me to reading a good book so it did something of worth.

[razieltwelve]

Alone (Final Effect)

There is no worse feeling than to look up at the stars, to behold the vast, endless expanse of space, and to know that you are completely alone.

X     X     X

Archaeus looked at his family. There weren’t many of them left. The clan wars had seen to that. Instead, of his fifteen siblings, now only four remained. They all looked at him, their snouts drooping in sorrow as he climbed into his makeshift craft.

“Do you have to go?” Melea asked. His youngest sister was still barely more than a child. “Brother, do you have to go?”

“Yes.” He took a deep breath, and his gaze drifted to the horizon. Where once there had been a limitless vista of towering trees, there was now only smouldering rubble. It was yet another reminder of the mistakes his people had made. “I… I do not know if it will work, but there has to be something beyond… beyond this.” He gestured vaguely at the blasted ruins of their homeland. “And there have to be other people out there… just… other people who can help us. There have to be.”

“And if there aren’t?” Jedeus asked. He was the oldest of the siblings, the most pragmatic and down to earth. “If your craft fails or if it succeeds and you find only the emptiness of space, what then?”

“Then there is no hope… and I am no worse off than before.” Archaeus shook his head and scratched at the place where a laser blast had singed his fur only a week ago. “We are dying, brother. Our world is dying. We’ve tried to save it, and we’ve failed. If there is no one out there that can help us… maybe… maybe it’s our destiny to die.”

“Then go,” Jedeus asked. “And may the spirits of our ancestors be with you. I doubt you’ll succeed, but I will pray that you do.”

“Thank you.”

Archaeus climbed into his craft. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

X     X     X

The craft that Archaeus had built was the first of its kind in his people’s history. They had sought the stars once, but internecine strife and greed had robbed them of that destiny. Instead, his people had revived ancient grudges, and the glorious dreams of exploration had dwindled and died in the fires of vengeance.

With painstaking care, Archaeus had researched the long lost science of rocketry and extended the fledgling science of hyperspace physics until he had, at long last, developed a functional hyperdrive. Well, he hoped it was functional. If it wasn’t, he wouldn’t live long enough to regret his mistakes.

As his craft blasted into the air, the force of the acceleration threw Archaeus back into his chair. His fur stood on end, and his fingers and toes clutched at the chair in a combination of excitement and panic. As the craft broke free of his planet’s gravity, he leaned forward. His fingers flew over the keys of the console, and he braced himself as the craft’s hyperdrive began to activate.

There was a great whirring sound, and the boundless blackness of space gave way to a radiant corridor of light and thunder.

X     X     X

When Archaeus regained consciousness, his craft was floating in an empty void. He peered outside the windows and checked the instruments, but there was nothing around him. With a heavy heart, he slumped into his chair. The hyperdrive had worked. It must have. But something had to have gone wrong with the navigation systems. It should have brought him to the closest start, not dropped him in this… this void.

Worse, his checks had revealed that the hyperdrive had suffered catastrophic failure. There was no going back. And now, a series of flashing lights revealed the true extent of his predicament. His supplies of air had been damaged, and the power unit of the craft had been overloaded. He had, if he was lucky, perhaps another three or four days of air and power, maybe less.

A grim smile crossed his lips. He was going to die out here, alone, with nothing but empty space for company. It was almost poetic, really. Still, he would do his best to survive. He couldn’t see any way he could make it through, but he had to try. 

X     X     X

Three days passed. Three days of failure. One by one, he shut down the ship’s non-essential functions to preserve what little power remained. He moved only when he had to, and he did his best to slip into the meditative state his people used to sleep away the long, bitter winter months.

He sat down in his chair, and he closed his eyes for the last time. Hopefully, he would pass peacefully, not wake gasping for air that wouldn’t come. 

X     X     X

Archaeus was jolted back to wakefulness as his whole craft shook. He stumbled to his feet, and his eyes widened as something cut through the hull not far away. Was… was this a dream? This was no asteroid striking his hull, no meteorite thumping into him. It sounded like a cutting tool of some kind, and that meant that somebody else must be here -

A section of the hull fell away, and he found himself staring at massive armoured figures. They had two arms and two legs, but they were far, far taller than him, and they walked completely upright as well, instead of scampering on all fours.

Light filled the craft, along with fresh, clean air, and Archaeus fell to his knees as the realisation swept through him. Someone had found him. He wasn’t alone. His people weren’t alone. Tears prickled at the corner of his eyes as he glimpsed a ship through the window, a ship so vast it could not possibly be real, and yet, there it was.

Without thinking, he crawled toward the closest of the figures and threw himself at their feet.

“Please!” he begged. “Please, help me!”

X     X     X

Paprika Dia-Farron stared at the possum-like creature clinging onto the boots of her power armour like its life depended on it. This was not what she’d expected. “Do any of you know what it’s saying?”

“Negative,” Arezia murmured. The Asari was fresh out of university, so it had taken some finagling to get her assigned to this exploratory expedition. However, she was one of Paprika’s favourite students, and the Dia-Farron had a lot of pull in the Grand Empire Alliance. “The sounds don’t correlate to anything on file, and I’m not sensing any telepathy, at least nothing my species can interact with.”

“Well, that kind of sucks.” Paprika glanced at Avalanche. “You getting anything?”

The Nabaat shook his head. “It’s not telepathic. I can try to read its mind if you like.”

“Hmmm…” Paprika rubbed her chin. “We’re in a bit of a hurry. Arezia, would you be alright handling things?”

Arezia nodded. “Leave it to me.”

A few minutes later, and Arezia was sharing her newfound understanding of the creature’s language with the rest of the team via Avalanche’s telepathy.

“So…” Paprika said, her translator speaking for her as she gently picked the creature up. “Your name is Archaeus?”

The creature’s eyes widened. “You speak my language!”

“Sort of. It’s a long story.” Paprika grinned, her faceplate turning transparent so Archaeus could see her face. Honestly, the data coming through the gauntlets of her power armour indicated that he would be exceedingly cuddly if she were to handle him with her bare hands, but safety first. “You mind explaining a few things for us?”

“I… yes.” Archaeus looked about furtively. “But, please, you must help my people!”

X     X     X

Jedeus gaped at the massive… thing floating in the air over the battlefield.

“Cease combat immediately!” a voice boomed. “Or we will fire upon you!”

When nobody made any attempt stop fighting, there was a blinding flash of light, and a beam of pure heat raced across the battlefield. When the beam receded, it had melted a trench roughly ten yards across, one mile deep, and several miles long across the battlefield.

“Don’t make me ask again.”

People started throwing down their weapons.

[kindabraveandlittlestupid]

Fantasy Vacations

I took some time to think about the fictional places I love to visit; either to go to school, drink, dance, party, read books, swing a sword or simply just explore the local culture. Below you will find 47 of the best must-visit fictional locations (according to me) and some reasons why I would love to go there. Don’t take this to serious it's all written for shits and giggles. Let me know if I made any mistakes or if you have any late additions and thanks for reading.

Regards, Michael California

Alpha The City of a Thousand Planets

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets did not do well in the theaters, to say the least, it was poor casting choices that sunk it. However, the opening of the movie with ‘Alpha’ growing in mass starting off as the original International Space Station and adding alien visitors over time before becoming a massive city in space was a pretty cool concept and scene to watch to the music of David Bowie. With 3,236 unique species on board, there is a real chance you could live there your whole life and still not meet every kind of alien life form. Who wouldn't want to live in a hub of alien cross-cultural?

Arrakis

The “Spice Must Flow” and “Fear Is The Mind Killer”. Arrakis and the book Dune, which is celebrated in Scifi much the same way Tolkien is celebrated in Fantasy, is a sand world with giant worms, a scarcity in water and a world in the center of political conflict all in the name of Spice, a mind/body-altering drug that extends life and allows space travel. Arakis is hardly a place you would want to go on holiday but you go to a place like this for cultural depth of the Fremen people and if you’re lucky, ride on the back of a Sandworm. Which frankly is good enough for me. Please note consumption of spice may turn your eyes blue.

Asgard

A city of gold floating in the heavens and home to literal gods? Asgard has a lot to offer in the way Norse Culture and would be my kind of place to visit. It’s one of a few vacation spots on this list that might be considered a utopia even if you're under a Mythical Monarchy; a balance between a combat culture, art, music, literature, rowdy partying and it also happens to be the center of the Nine Realms giving you access to the other worlds to explore. I suppose the greatest feature (despite the golden architecture) is the flat slab that holds itself in space and defying science and reason. This is about the only place Flat-Earthers would be correct (save the Disc World which is another flat earth on the backs of elephants on the back of a planet-sized turtle which makes about as much sense as Flat-Earth Science). 

Atlantis

I had to make a tough choice between the DC Atlantis and the Stargate Atlantis. Considering I can't breathe underwater and I already have the Themyscira from Wonder Woman and Rapture from Bioshock I opted for Atlantis from Stargate. This vacation spot is at best a weekend trip with mostly the same alien architecture to see but with the Stargate being in the middle of the facility it perhaps opens THE most options for day trips to various alien worlds across the universe, even more so then Asgard with the nine realms. So it makes it onto my list.

Bay City

Only once I started writing this list did I find that there is a lot of sci-fi love for New York City and San Francisco (I imagine Tokyo would also make the top 5). The show Altered Carbon takes place in a city called Bay City which is San Francisco unless someone else built another Golden Gate Bridge and covered it with shipping container apartments (cool concept). This city is all about vice and digital pleasures much the same way Future LA is in Blade Runner. Despite having its gritty side this place no doubt has a lot to offer in regards to a nightlife and what I hope is a great selection of food. Just let me pull on my long black leather trench coat with neon trim.

Canto Bight

A clever ‘twist’ the Tattooine trope from Star Wars is Canto Bight. Basically suggesting crime doesn't always start from the bottom up but sometimes the top down. While this whole part of the story was literally pointless to plot and outcome of the Last Jedi, I can appreciate another location being added to the vast universe (had it not been cut back by the idiots at Disney). Point is it’s a lavish location with gambling and ritzy living so long as you don't peel back the finish and realize it is basically built on slave labor. Oh, Capitalism.

Castle Black

While Castle Black is basically filled with bastards, volunteers, and criminals it makes a pretty good metaphor for aimless people joining the military. Only your enlistment is forever, you're stationed next to an ice wall and on the other side of that wall is ice hillbillies and nightmares. I do actually like some seclusion for some holidays and this works well if I take a bunch of books and mead and spend 3 months reading by a fire while doing some sword practice in the yard with the Crows. Sounds kind of peaceful and I might get to pee off the wall.

Citadel

Yet another superstructure in space shared by multiple species. The Citadel caught many gamers imagination both being a massive space city but also the seat of power between the various sentient species in Mass Effect. The Citadel (like most future cities) has its extreme highs (wealth and luxury) and deep lows (poverty and criminal underworlds). Granted its criminal world is nowhere near Omega’s level of corruption but if Canto Bight showed us anything is corruption can start from the top. The real reason to go here is to party the nights away and drink a bunch, kind of like Singapore and like Singapore, after a week you pretty much hit all the hot spots and ready to move on.

Cloud City

Cloud City for me isn't THAT exciting to go by myself but with my significant other for either honeymoon or weekend getaway? It perhaps can a nice place to relax, stay in a comfortable room, go on long walks, enjoy nice meals and take cloud tours flying around the gas giant and seeing the massive vapor plumes. That doesn't sound so bad, does it?

Columbia

Columbia is a proper steampunk sky city which is nothing short of elegant, beautiful and a marvel in itself. I always wondered how people breathed so high up but that's far from the only concern if you visit a city like this. Behind the vale of beauty is a hyper-religious society, fascism, and racism all hanging in the heavens like some sort of GOP paradise where anyone non-white is kinda screwed. If we managed to cut out the lingering problems of Conservatism in Columbia, this place would be a paradise! Just watch your step its a long way down and railings are only hip high.

Coruscant Jedi Temple

The Jedi Temple, Hogwarts, Highland Mountain, and Kamar Taj all represent a kind of school/academy. An I might make another list of fictional educational institutes we all wish we could sign up for later but as of right now we are on vacation and the Coruscant Jedi Temple has much the same appeal as Castle Black with books to read and swordplay in the afternoon and peeing off one of the spires (preferably off the middle one where the Jedi Council convenes). Naturally, I have also the whole planet to explore but spending time with mystical philosophical laser sword wielding space mages sounds like a pretty unforgettable encounter.

Diagon Alley

Presently the shortest visit on the list, Diagon Alley is pretty much a long street of shops for people to get their magic on. I do enjoy some window shopping and strange old things but really we are here to get spells and wands no? I can't imagine being here more than a few hours but I can see Diagon needing multiple visits because you are bound to miss something and need to make a second trip to fucking find it. 

Diamond City

I was split between Diamond City and Megaton as two fallout locations to add to my list. Ultimately living next to a nuclear bomb drove me away from Megaton and living in a baseball field turned fortress appealed to me. I love the care put into the creation of this city by Bethesda, I know I give them a hard time for their multiplayer and money grabbing for mods but the effort put into Diamond City makes it seem like a viable and logical settlement in the Fallout Universe... hell I am thinking about playing that game now after writing this. Oh, what is there to do here? Not much save eat and drink and pee off one of the front walls on some Super Mutants.

L.A. 2049

Where Bay City was full of sexy holograms, L.A. 2049 is full of sexy synthetics. Really though this setting really established the idea of Cyberpunk for a lot of people and have one of the early images of vast American cities being pushed closer together and then reaching towards the sky. Like so many other settings it's overcrowded and has its dark side but dark sided cities tend to have some interesting nightlife and like Bay City you can probably do a lot with your time and money assuming you have a lot of both.

Gotham City

You can probably get more out of Future LA or Bay City then you could from Gotham which is why I won't be trying to sell you on the city. I hear they have a big crime problem and lots of people dressing up as bats. Don’t get me started on this Police zeppelins humming around and shining a spotlight through your window at 2 AM. No, you went to go to the Ice Berg Lounge for some late night Jazz, catch Haly’s Circus when it comes through town, and visit the various museums across the city. Just don’t take any shortcuts and if at all possible pay for a driver to take you around the city, the locals know which areas are safe.

Highland Mountain

I imagine many of you are thinking “What is Highland Mountain?” and I am glad you asked inquisitive Tumblrs. Highland Mountian is the secret location for the Spartan-II program on the Planet Reach. In other words, this is where Master Chief had his survival training and general training to become a Spartan. If you’re still not with me it's from the video game Halo. Like the Jedi Temple it is more fun to be trained here but as a vacation option, I like camping with some Spartans and roughing it on the frosty mountains in some power armor playing war games. It’s like paintball with soldiers if the soldiers were 7 feet tall and flip over a tank with their bare hands.

Hogsmeade

A cozy little-frozen town in Britain called Hogsmeade is basically the main settlement of non-muggles beyond Hogwarts or so Wikipedia tells me. It’s a magical town and has lots to offer in the way of shopping much like Diagon Alley. The benefit of this community is that it is a community; bars, library, shops, restaurants, and more can be found here. Good for a romantic getaway or even raising your kids and making Snowmen during the winter. What else is there to say?

Hogwarts

Say what you will but I imagine Hogwarts might take one of the top 5 places people would love to see. It’s magical, hidden, filled with secrets and a rich history to get emerged into. Despite being just the right age when these books first came out (I was like 12 or 13), I still have not read them (I know... I deserve your ire). Truth is we all kinda wish we could go to school there, personally, I can see myself just reading all the time and experimenting with magic 24/7. I can only imagine how much trouble I might get in with spells/potions going wrong.

Jurassic Park

Not exactly a good track record for Jurassic Park but quite honestly the people overseeing this parks (in regards to the movies) despite being the most brilliant minds in their fields appear to be inept over and over again, as bad as the Sticky Bandits from Home Alone. Beyond that point, a day vacation with the family to Jurassic Park would be amazing and perhaps something we would indulge in every couple of years. Easy to imagine the kids losing their fucking mind over Dinosaurs but then again so would I.

Kaer Morhen

Hard stretch to call Kaer Morhen a school mostly because the students are all old men already trained to kill monsters. This is less about vacationing at this castle and more about living there and fixing up the place. Really, I feel like its the perfect little slice of Scandinavian land to build a long-term residence at. If I was to stay here as vacation spot pretty much reach Castle Black again and repeat without the wall and white walkers.

Kamar Taj

Another school of magic where Dr. Strange learned his abilities along with many other students of magic. I appreciate the seclusion of it. Kind of a Castle Black feels with a pinch of Hogwarts. Like the Jedi Academy, the ‘students’ here are very much adults and there is an appeal to that considering I am 32 now.

King’s Landing

Really though King’s Landing pretty much only works as a vacation spot if you are A) staying at the Red Keep and B) having a bachelor party to enjoy the brothels. Not that any of us would do that sort of thing...

Labyrinth

You can either assume this trip will take a few days or a few months. I like the Labyrinth for the same reasons I love Myst and Wonderland. A strange world and I love a good puzzle. Not sure how I feel about the Goblin King and his junk in spandex... I mean I don’t want to rain on his parade but I think I might do the maze in reverse instead of seeing him do his “Dance Magic Dance” in his castle with his junk in my face. No issues here if you’re a gay guy or straight girl that would love King Bowie to do that to you.

Mother’s Cradle

In a world where machines have taken over and humanity had been regressed to primitive tribes, Mother’s Cradle is a secluded valley of protection and nature. If you ever played Horizon Zero Dawn, you can see how peaceful that place is and could easily imagine building a home there and living off the land. I enjoy city living the most but even I can't resist Mother’s Cradle and the community that lives there.

Myst

Who doesn't love a good puzzle? Like the Labyrinth, this place is all about sharpening your wits and solving the puzzles in the world of Myst. I would suggest above all other things take a notebook with you because some things need to be written down. Did I mention it has multiple words you teleport too by opening a book.

New New York

I always wondered why the waterline in New New York in the Fifth Element is so low, really wish someone would explain that to me. Anyways it's better than Waterworld and its good to see the big apple become so large that it absorbed New Jersey. Like most big cities the nightlife would be awesome but why I really want to go here is for the fast food and flights to other planets. I won't lie the uniforms in the future are all about dressing to impress the customers and that's kinda hot. Looking at you McDonalds Girls from 2263AD

New Vegas

It’s like the Wild West with gambling, mutants, robots, and atomic weapons. You already know Fallout from Diamond city but New Vegas brings its own charm with the gambling scene. I imagine the Sin City is still very sinful and perhaps more violent. You can get into a lot of fun trouble here and who wouldn't want too. It’s Vegas!

Omega

If you were to combine the Citadel with New Vegas then Omega would be the outcome. This mining colony/way station is where crime comes to make a name for itself. The various Mass Effect species can be found within and most of them fight for territories inside its walls. It’s the sins you come from for like gambling, drinking, dancing, fucking, and fighting that make Omega so great. Don’t worry do you don't need to indulge in them all.

Pandora

Camping may not be an option in Pandora for humans but with some extra suspension of belief that you can either breath the air without it being toxic or perhaps have a Na’vi body waiting for you. The wildness of Pandora appeals to the hiker in me. I would want to climb the trees and the floating mountains, fly a wild beast or ride a wild horse in this world. The bioluminescence of the world draws me to explore it at night even with the predators lurking about.

Rapture

From my understanding, Rapture throws a hell of a New Years party. Such a crazy party that it turned into a revolution but that's a different issue altogether. The city under the sea makes my list as a more desirable alternative to that of Atlantis with me lacking gill and all that. Like Tomorrowland, this city is driven by progress and is a libertarians wet dream that is until you realize there are always people looking to take power and that being a Libertarian Society is a fantasy.

Risa

This might be the #1 vacation spot on this list because the whole damn world is about fulfilling desires and vacationing. Want to hide away and read a book? Go for it. Massages all day? No problem. Walk out into the ocean and find a boat serving sushi? Apparently, that's a thing from a Star Trek episode. It’s paradise and with their weather controls, there is never a cloudy day at their beaches. Doesn't hurt Risa women are all basically supermodels.

Rivendell

Rivendell, yet another peaceful refuge away from the harsh world. I can imagine this place having comfortable rooms and library somewhere to read. Granted I can't read elvish so I hope they have some proper English books among their shelves. If I do get bored I imagine hiking/climbing the surrounding cliffs and forest might be an option. I am sure I will piss of some elves exploring their hideaway.

San Fransokyo

Not the first movie to combine cities into something new. I admit I do love the like the new look of San Francisco and how it makes the world of big hero six feel. I think what makes me want to see this city so much is their altered architecture and more importantly the food that comes with this deep blend of Western/Asian culture. The sushi, the Kobe burgers, and literally everything else is gonna be leaps and bounds better then either city did on their own.

Skellige

There is no party like Skellige Party! Not true Asgard might throw down hard with this Nordic Pirate/Fishing community of the northern islands. Basically, the number one reason to go here is to drink or go to a royal party where you feast, fight, fuck, and drink some more. Don’t think that men have a run at the place, Skellige woman can fuck you up if you don't treat them right. Consider this a helpful PSA.

Skyrim

Truth be told if Skyrim (was to scale) of the real world, it's not a very big province or even plot of land. Think about how fast you can run from one side of the map to the other? What 15? 20 minutes at the most? That's why I kept this location as a broad vacation spot because the keeps aren't THAT big but each one has enough charm that it justifies you visiting them all and get a taste for each unique area. Like Kaer Morhen this place is all about settling down and making a life for yourself. Hell, you could pick flowers all day and sell that to shop and make that your living. Not saying you should make that your career but you could.

Starfleet

The third and final nod to San Francisco on this list (told you they got a lot of love). I always found it interesting that Gene Roddenberry would establish the federation in San Francisco. I might look that up but with the options of London, New York, Washington, and other locations making just as much since he still settled on SF as the home base for Star Fleet. Anyways I wanna go to school here because you know... space travel, alien babes, seeing new worlds and all that jazz.

Stark Tower

There is no doubt the Stark Tower has a stocked fridge, great food, killer view of the city, and a fully automated AI to improve your day (even if she is watching you shower). The fun of Stark Tower requires one thing and that is for you to invite people to come to a killer party on these top floors. I think we can all agree once you have the party rolling that it will likely go to the break of dawn.

Stormwind

I have no strong Allegiance Alliance or Horde one way or the other. Truth be told I play Warcraft 3 and then stopped never getting into WoW. I suppose the draw of fantasy species pulls me here much the same way it pulls me towards Lord of the Rings. I imagine if you find the might pub you can have a good time but the places of magic will have good books. I suppose I could wander into the forest and bath in a Moonwell and hope for a chance encounter with the Night Elves.

The Shire

It doesn't take much to imagine that food-based holidays are a big hit with hobbits. So if I was to vacation here Thanksgiving (assuming they celebrated it) or something like it would be the time to visit. Eating, dancing, drinking, and fireworks. Yes, I realize I would be a giant among them and hit my head but I am ok all the same staying in their small community.

Themyscira

Clearly, a theme in some of these hypothetical visits is to meet hot girls. On one hand, I should know better than to post such things because admitting anything like that on Tumblr is slightly sacrilege but you know what fuck that I want to go to an island full of beautiful strong independent women dammit. I don’t mind strong woman, I don't mind a matriarchy society and I don't mind admitting that I like looking at a beautiful woman and I wouldn't mind making love to Amazonian beauties on their beaches. So sue me! I fucking love women.

Thessia

Read the Themyscira post above. Same thing. Only they are a blue alien woman named Asari and apparently they can do something like a “Vulcan Mind Meld” in the bedroom. Sexy.

Tomorrowland

As someone who’s always wondered what society MIGHT be like without religion and uninhibited society focused on knowledge over profit and power, Tomorrowland is an expression of that or at least what I hope it would be like. This is the sort of place you to be impressed by the technology and the marvels of invention. I can imagine flying around a jetpack, experiencing new depths to virtual reality, zero gravity chambers, teleportation and pretty much every other sci-fi invention you can dream up will likely be found here. Hell, I don’t want to visit the world of Tomorrow I want to live there.

New Tristram

Probably the worst place to visit on my list with all the undead and demons and all that. I can't help but find Tristram a little enchanting with the Gothic Ruins and struggle that is found there. Diablo (the game) has a habit of having building look small on the outside big on the inside which is fine. I personally would like to wander into the layers below and crawl through those dungeons and collect loot. I am not sure if this is still a vacation or some sort of video game fantasy I like to live out.

Tron City

Tron City pretty much feels like nighttime 24/7 but with the arena combat, the races, and the high rise clubs. Its hard not admit there is something exciting about being on the grid. I personally love to derezz myself and spend a few weeks in the world of Tron and maybe bring back Siren or two.

Wakanda

Birnin Zana is the capital of Wakanda and that is what you see in the picture just in case you didn't know that fun fact. The city itself draws me with lots of things; food, music, culture, technology, and architecture. I medium of all things I imagine my stay could be a week or two before I seen everything I care to see. I can imagine (while not really suggested in the movie) that there is a great nightlife here and very engaged community.

Winterfell

Yet another getaway to swing swords, practice archery, read books and ride horses. Winterfell (despite being apparently the middle of nowhere) is the kind of keep I would love to live in. Not by myself mind you but with a community of people upkeeping the keep. Its a good balance of community and seclusion to read my books. Sansa Stark can keep me company under the animal skins. 

Wonderland

Wonderland, you go for the Tea Parties and you stay for the Mushrooms. Pretty much a long acid trip, Wonderland gives you the excuse to bend your mind and alter your perception on reality while encountering a variety of strange and wonderful... um... people. I wouldn't mind making this trip with Alice herself (or the White Queen) but I can make do with going with my friends and ‘feed’ our heads.