#based on that one message left behind by a player in that arena | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

justletmeplayminecraft · 4 years ago

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xisuma doesn’t smooth over a server glitch fast enough. the others have to save him from the consequences.

in this fic, i play loosely with minecraft mechanics to create angst. very loosely. don’t think too much about ‘em. you can also date how long i��ve spent on this by the projects they’re working on.

featuring: being an admin gives you a connection to the server, xisuma has a less than stellar day, angst/comfort, zed is an ender hybrid, false & tango are minor admins, getting stuck in blocks is not a fun experience, the hermits care a lot about each other.

warnings: sensory deprivation, starvation, suffocation, its a death loop babyyy, a fair amount of panic, fighting code, glitches, helplessness, it’s pretty whumpy before the comfort. let me know if something’s missing here.

also on ao3. link in replies.

Xisuma sighs as the sun beats down on him. It's barely let up, even on the outskirts of the jungle. He enjoys the brief stints in the shadow of the giant quartz walls. Even then, waves of heat come off them. All of the structures in his base are a heat trap. Clearing out several layers of dirt and stone is a necessity he should've left for another day. With a click, he tugs his helmet off his head. The humidity outside is worse than his filtered air. He tucks the helmet under his arm, pushing sweat slicked hair from his face.

He's made good progress levelling this arena space. He leaves his helmet on his bed and heads to the temporary storage chests. They're filling up quickly, he notices, as he starts emptying his inventory into them. Except, something's broken. The stacks of blocks aren't all moving. He tries a few times before sighing, ruffling his hair. When he turns to the area he's been mining, it's still empty. It's been a long time since they've had desync this bad. He's not even sure when it started.

Stepping gently across the stone, he can feel the heat rising from them. He'll rollback the world and then he'll relax by Keralis's river. The farm is delightfully cool. Anything will be better than this oppressive heat.

He's almost reached his bed when something takes hold in his chest and pulls.

He stumbles forward with a gasp. Of course, the server decides to fix itself this time. He forces his feet forward, trying to reach his helmet so he can smooth things over. He only makes it two steps until his eyes are forced shut as the server reloads. For a split second, all he feels is the chill of the void as chunks reload around him.

He opens his eyes to darkness. It feels like he's suspended in space, unable to move. There's a suffocating pressure around him. Though it's with shallow breaths, he can still breathe. Did something go wrong? He blinks hard. All of his limbs are accounted for, he's certainly present. Even when he's working in the void there are still particles around him. His attempt to raise his arm fails, finding it impossible to open his back up admin panel. His helmet is- where even is his helmet?

His breath hitches, a feeling of panic escaping his controlled calm. He feels like he can't breathe. He can't move. He's trapped in his own body.

What's happening?

[MumboJumbo] anybody else just experience some major desync?

[Keralis1] Oh, is that what that was?

[Zedaph] I had nearly finished my redstone! All of that work, gone!

[FalseSymmetry] didn't you notice you weren't actually... losing anything from your inventory?

[Tango] he was probably too caught up in his supposed mastery

[FalseSymmetry] everybody okay though?

[Grian] all good here!

[Zedaph] Only my pride's wounded.

False looks down at the bedrock layer at her base. Like half an hour spent placing glass, all gone to waste. She groans, closing her chat as it pings away. Sure, she can rib Zedaph, but that doesn't change the fact she just did the exact same thing. She kicks off the sidewalk, gliding to the bedrock layer. She can feel the cold of the void float up with specks of grey.

"Good going, False," she murmurs. Some patches of glass survived. It's almost worse, that's going to be so much less satisfying to fill in. She takes her goggles off, tugging her hair loose to tie it in a low ponytail. Usually Xisuma gives them a warning before the server resets like that. It always messes up her hair, leaves it floaty and static.

She adjusts her goggles on her head, opening the player menu. Xisuma's currently online. She checks chat. He hasn't said anything. She considers it strange, but it's not unusual. Maybe he's been at a farm and isn't AFKing. She types out a private message, sending it across to him.

[FalseSymmetry to Xisuma] hey x, server blipped, might need to check it when you get back.

She'll see if he returns her message. She's got glass to place.

Iskall looks through his in-progress sorting system with a frown. It's broken somewhere. The stupid server reload has glitched it out and he can't find how. He's checked the redstone, he's checked the hoppers and he's checked the chests! Which means it's glitched. Either Xisuma reloads the chunk for him, or he's going to have to tear it down.

Actually, he'll probably have to tear it down anyway. Reloading the chunk will only roll it back.

At least he's not the only person who's redstone has been ruined. The thought brings some comfort. If he has to be miserable, somebody else should be too. He opens his communicator, checking who's around at the moment. That might take his mind off it.

He notices that Xisuma's online. Their admin has been quiet in chat since the reload. Maybe there's something going on behind the scenes he's having to sort out. He'll reach out to Mumbo and Grian, but first, he sends a message X's way.

[iskall85 to Xisuma] hey is everything alright? nothing broke?

[iskall85 to Xisuma] don't forget you can reach out to us if you need help.

He has no idea how much time has passed. Usually he's connected intrinsically to the server. It helps him keep track of the world, dig out any errors or mishaps - sometimes before his suit alerts him. It's essential for his job in order to keep things running smoothly. The server is always there, at the edges of his consciousness.

In this nothing, he can't even keep track of his internal clock. Perhaps it's his own panic, but the code he tries to reach out to feels fuzzy. It feels like it's glitching, sending shooting pains through his head if he focuses too hard. He couldn't take a guess how long he's been trapped. His breathing still comes too fast and shallow, ignoring his attempts to calm down.

He's completely helpless here. And he doesn't even know where here is.

Tango stares up at the stars on his ceiling. He checks his inventory again, counting aloud. He flicks it off with a frown. Yeah, he's definitely missing some. It's not a massive deal, Impulse will be happy to help out. But if he's having problems then some of the other hermits might be. Perhaps they fell and despawned in the reload. Either way.

"Tangoooooo!" The cry is accompanied by several rockets, something hitting the ground and the sound of damage. He chuckles, stepping away as Zed soars over the edge, stumbling forward with a flutter of his elytra. Tango straightens him up with his free hand.

"No, I'm not doing your redstone for you." Zedaph gasps, dusting off his jeans. He bounces up with a grin.

"You really think I'd come all this way for that?" Zed questions.

"So why have you come all the way here?"

"I'm bored," Zed replies. "And it still stings too much to do my redstone again." Tango laughs, opening up his chat. Xisuma's online, though Tango doesn't expect an immediate response.

"How do you feel about some wither grinding?" He types a message to Xisuma, Zedaph attempting to peer over his shoulder.

"Mmm, I don't see why not."

[Tango to Xisuma] Hey, seem to have lost some stars when the server reset

[Tango to Xisuma] might wanna check nothing important got eaten.

"Right, let's go."

Keralis hums, staring at the plot he was about to start building on. The area has been a bit... Funny. He'll break and replace a block, only to have it switch again. He might have to work on another area until it sorts itself out. His attempts at working here started after the reload, so he doesn't know if that caused it. He's not been able to spot Xisuma nearby either. He's been online, but Keralis hasn't spotted him in chat for a while.

He sighs as he watches the last blocks he placed switch back as if nothing happened. Crossing his arms, he examines the area. He wonders how big this is. Definitely more than one chunk. His new house is going to have to wait. He was excited to show Xisuma around, too.

With a glance at the sky, he realises it's late afternoon. He yawns, stretching his back out. Perhaps it'll be best to settle in his office and work on some future designs. He'll drop a message in chat first, in case this is affecting anyone else. It might give him an excuse to hunt down Shishwamy. He always feels guilty bothering him about things. Their admin takes far too much responsibility on his shoulders. They’re all adults. Keralis wishes he’d ask for help sometimes.

[Keralis1] Has anyone else been having glitchy blocks?

[iskall85] some of my redstone is broken but it's no biggie

[Tango] lost some of my nether stars with the reload but it's been fine since.

[FalseSymmetry] been placing glass without any problems since the reset

[MumboJumbo] I haven't had any problems either.

[Keralis1] A bunch of chunks around our bases are glitching

[Keralis1] but it seems like Shishwamy is busy :(

[Grian] well it looks like he just went afk

[iskall85] that answers that lol

His mind is becoming blurry. It's hard to focus on... Anything. He can't tell if it's because he's struggling to breathe, or something further, tugging him down and away. He tries to fight against it but there's nothing he can do to stay present. He can't hear anything, barely even his shallow breaths. He can only feel the consistent pressure on every inch of his body, the wet tears on his cheeks. He tries pulling on every one of his senses, but nothing comes up.

He slips under.

False empties the last of this glass stack, stepping back at a job well done. She smiles, rubbing her aching hands. It's nice to finally work on this part of her base. Even better now it's not going to pick itself up. At least she hopes so. She'll be right annoyed if it happens again. Something's been tingling at the back of her head, though. She wonders if it's because of the reset.

She looks up at the late afternoon sky. That's enough work for today. As she stretches, she can feel each and every ache in her body. She brushes away her hair, already falling loose. Maybe she'll have something nice for dinner. Some steak, potatoes and pumpkin pie. If she has pumpkin, of course. Xisuma was planning to build a pumpkin farm, wasn't he? His traditional pumpkin and melon combination. She chuckles to herself as she pulls out her rockets.

No matter how things change from season to season, there will always be things that don't. Hermits might come and go, but they'll always be her family.

She launches up, shooting through the water barrier. It's fast enough it doesn't stick. She lands gracefully, making her way to the kitchen. She hopes this nudging in her head doesn't get worse. She just wants to enjoy a nice meal. That's all.

"Well, I think we have a plan," Grian declares, grinning from his perch. His legs are crossed, hands resting in his lap.

"I mean, we didn't exactly need a plan to fix our redstone," Mumbo replies, slouched in his chair the way he only ever does in front of them. Iskall chuckles, resting his hands behind his head. They've really helped take his mind off the broken redstone. Mumbo had a similar problem, so tomorrow they'll meet up again and attempt some fixes.

"Always helps," Iskall says, shrugging. "Especially when one of us spends so much time in the Nether depths, now." Grian laughs, his legs kicking.

"Hey, I'm doing good work out there!" Mumbo yawns, looking between them.

"Well I don't know about you two, but I'm exhausted."

"Food then sleep?" Grian suggests. Iskall nods. It's been a long day.

It's dark as Zedaph and Tango return from The End. Zedaph yawns, running a hand through his hair, messing it up. Tango rubs the side of his own hair. Something's been bothering him, but he can't tell what. Like there's something just not... Right. Zedaph is chatting beside him, a bounce in his step. It's like he doesn't feel it at all.

"Do you want to have dinner together?" Zed asks, twirling his sword by his side. They've repaired their tools, done everything properly. It's been a hard day's work, but they've achieved a lot, even with the setback.

"Yeah, dinner sounds good." He looks at the night sky, squinting his eyes. Zedaph tilts his head at him. The purple eyes are concerned, particles floating up in his worry.

"Tango, are you okay? You seem... Off." Tango sighs, waving Zedaph's worry away.

"Something's nagging me. It's not a big deal." Zedaph's still frowning, but the particles die down.

"Let's just get you something to eat, yeah?" Tango nods, leaning into Zedaph when he squeezes his shoulder.

"Sounds good to me."

Keralis watches the night sky overhead. He's sat in the doorway to his office, a blanket around his shoulders. The stars are always a beautiful sight. It's the perfect way to relax after such a, hm, busy day. Not busy in a conventional sense, no, but still busy. His specially commissioned noteblock song plays in the background, a perfect accompaniment in the peaceful night. He thinks it's strange how the stars always seem the same no matter what world they're in. Maybe he should ask Xisuma about it in the future.

He pops up his screens open. Xisuma is still afk. He misses seeing his neighbour out and about. Xisuma often spends time at his farms, it's nothing new. But Keralis enjoys saying hello to him! Especially after missing well... Years of his life. He tries not to think about that.

With a sigh, he lies against the doorway. Time for bed soon. He laughs at the sound of Bubbles' voice in his head. His communicator beeps and he glances over to it.

Huh. That's interesting.

Xisuma is thrown into full consciousness. His stomach is still cramping with phantom hunger. He opens his eyes and finds...

Black.

No, no, he died. He died. Why has he respawned here? He chokes on his sob, realising no air is entering his lungs. His cheeks are still wet with tears, more leaking out as he gasps at nothing. His lungs burn, unable to take the shallow breaths he needs to. Would it even help? He wants to curl up, clutch at the growing pain in his chest. But he can't move an inch. Heaviness sinks into his limbs and head.

He wakes again in the same place. He doesn't know if he wants to scream or cry. There's not enough air for him to scream, anyway.

[Xisuma starved to death]

[MumboJumbo] X?? mate?

[Tango] X?

[FalseSymmetry] do we need to get your stuff?

[Keralis1] I'm by his base.

[Tango] he's not afk anymore

[Grian] x???????

[iskall85] maybe he's getting his stuff rn

[Keralis1] Shishwammmmyyyyyyy

[MumboJumbo] starving isn't a nice way to go

[Zedaph] It really isn't.

[Xisuma suffocated]

[iskall85] oh no

[FalseSymmetry] x???? im going over

[Keralis1] so am i

[Tango] this isn't right, this really isn't right

[Xisuma suffocated]

[Grian] what's going on???

False shimmies back into her elytra, reaching for the one jacket potato that finished cooking. So much for having a sit-down meal. She rubs her head, pushing away the fear that has something to do with this. Her communicator continues beeping as she grabs her rockets. She runs to the entrance, kicking off and launching into the air.

"We should go and help," Iskall decides, already picking up his armour.

"Thought you'd never say." Mumbo straps his elytra on, grabbing a spare shulker box and an ender chest. Grian nods with a seriousness that doesn't fit on his face.

"Let's go."

"We're going?" Zed asks. He's already stuffing food into his mouth. Tango rubs his temples, nodding. He takes the elytra that's thrusted into his hand.

"Yeah. We're definitely going." He watches the particles floating off Zed in waves, glowing the same purple as his pupils. Tango presses his eyes shut against another spike of pain as their communicators beep. "C'mon."

Keralis scrabbles until he balances on the tower roof. He's searched each one and not found X anywhere. Tapping his foot, he meddles with his communicator to turn some settings on. He has no minor admin powers - that he has to leave to False and Tango - but he can at least try this.

"Ah-hah!" He grins as hitboxes light up beneath him, hopefully a better clue where his currently red coloured friend may be. He scans the towers closely, trying to spot anything out of the ordinary. There are a few mobs, especially as night sets in. Then he sees Xisuma's new build.

He has to take a step back at the sight. The chunks look- a mess. The outline of the blocks are overlapped or flickering. It hurts to look at. Blocks aren't meant to highlight like that. He glides across the treetops. It not only covers the area he was trying to work earlier but spreads into Xisuma's current build. Yeah that's- that's bad. That's not good. His communicator has continued to beep with messages as he searched. He goes to read it, and spots different colours in the mess. The red of an eyeline. He stands on his toes, leaning off the leaves. The outline flickers in and out, accompanied by a beep.

He thinks he's found X.

[Xisuma suffocated]

[Keralis1] he's in his new build!

[Keralis1] I think I can see him in the ground

[Keralis1] it is very very broken

[FalseSymmetry] tango? you on your way?

[Tango] as we speak

[Tango] been a long time since we've had to use these powers

[FalseSymmetry] not long enough

Tango and Zedaph are the first to land by Keralis's side. They kick up loose powder from the road, taking in the massive structure in front of them. Tango's shoulders raise, cringing at the sight.

"That's definitely broken," he agrees, his eyes twisting as they focus.

"And Xisuma's in the middle of it?" Zedaph looks at Keralis. He nods, usually big eyes sharply focused. He points beyond the walls.

"You can just see his name tag. I think the glitched blocks have got him stuck. I tried to build there earlier but nothing would stay." Tango presses his lips together in thought as False lands. They nod to each other in acknowledgement.

"How long does it take until the blocks pop back?"

Keralis hums, tapping his chin before answering, "About ten seconds, I think."

"That's not going to be enough time to reach him," Zed says. "Can't you just teleport him?" He looks at Tango and False. Tango opens his console menu, typing something in. Zed can tell the answer before Tango says it.

"What ideas do we have?" Keralis asks. "We can't just leave him there!"

"Of course not!" Tango replies, sounding shocked at the suggestion. "We just- need a plan." False nods.

"We're not as powerful as X," she explains, "Together we should be able to roll back these chunks but- I have no idea what that would mean for Xisuma. We don't really work with player code." She brushes her hair back. The conversation is paused as the trio of Grian, Iskall and Mumbo land beside them. The three slot in, listening as they're caught up.

"There has to be something that's making him spawn there." Iskall points out, his hand held towards the structure. False searches through the control panel, whilst Keralis and Tango simply examine the messed up blocks.

"He has a bed in there," Tango answers. False taps where Xisuma's spawn is tied to on her screen.

"Since the blocks are glitched, it must mean the bed isn't like... Registering them. Since they don't fully exist." She thinks about it carefully, putting the pieces together as she explains.

"So if we break the bed, he'll respawn at the world spawn?" Grian suggests.

"But how do we get down there?" Mumbo turns to look. It's pretty far down in the ground. They'd have to move quick to get near where Xisuma is.

"There's a few of us." Iskall waves at the gathered group. "I say with enough TNT and manpower, we could do it."

"Wait-" Zedaph holds his hand up, "-Get me close enough and I can teleport in there, get the bed. Less blocks to destroy."

"Zed." Tango turns to him, glaring at the blond. "That's a stupid idea, don't you get how dangerous that is-"

"Xisuma is stuck in a death loop, Tango!" Zed cuts in, raising his voice. The others fall silent, not sure how to handle this exchange. "Sure, I might die a bit! That's nothing compared to what Xisuma's currently experiencing."

"TNT will destroy a fair amount, but it already puts us on a time limit," Grian adds, a sideways agreement.

"I'm willing to do it. Either we reach the bed, or I teleport in." Zed says it with finality. The others don't argue. False checks his spawn point. Zedaph will respawn back in his cave, safe and sound. Even if it goes wrong, it'll be recoverable.

"We need to be ready to roll back the chunks," False says, focusing on Tango. "If I have this headache for much longer I'm going to go insane." Tango smiles tiredly.

"Fine. Let's try this." He shrugs. "I don't think we have a better idea."

"Well, come on! Let's go!" Keralis claps, placing an ender chest. Tango sighs, typing in a command.

"I think I'm allowed this time," he says, a stack of TNT appearing in his hand.

"And other times?" Grian asks. Even through the teasing, they can hear the fear in his voice.

"Don't push it."

There's noises. He blinks his eyes open into the unending darkness. He tries to focus past his burning chest and the weight of his body. There's... Definitely noises up above him. It sounds like explosions. The space he's stuck in shakes slightly. After another lapse, he gasps back to life in the same position. He wants to scream, tell somebody he's down here. This opportunity might not come again.

Then he feels a sharp stab of pain. Something is there, near him. Everything hurts and he still can't breathe. For a moment, he thinks he hears the trill of an Enderman. His tired mind can't figure out how as he runs out of air.

He wakes up to a chill. He slightly opens his eyes, spotting yellow sand as he falls, blacking out.

[Xisuma suffocated]

[Zedaph suffocated]

[Grian] have we done it?

[Keralis1] he's at worldspawn! got him!

[iskall85] YES!!!

[Zedaph] Oh thank goodness I don't want to do that again

[World reloaded]

[Tango] Z, you okay?

[Zedaph] I'm good. Bring my stuff? I'm going to worldspawn

[FalseSymmetry] will do

"Keralis!" Zedaph's elytra beats as he lands, feet digging into the sand. "Is he okay?" Keralis nods. Xisuma's head is resting in his lap. The admin's eyes are closed as he breathes slowly. His expression is relaxed. It's a good sight to see. The spawn island is lit up well, but Keralis keeps his eye on the surrounding oceans.

"He's sleeping," Keralis says, messing with strands of brown hair. "I don't think I'm strong enough to move him on my own." Zedaph drops onto the sand next to them, crossing his legs. There are still bright particles floating off him, his eyes fully purple. "What about you, Zee?" Zedaph seems to notice Keralis's focus, ducking away to hide his eyes.

"Um, not the best. That kind of sucked. But, it worked, and that's what matters!"

"Make sure you look after yourself, too," Keralis tells him. "Fighting the server's code isn't easy." Zedaph laughs, resting on his hands.

"Can say that again. Forgot we have anti-enderman griefing." Keralis cringes, realising why Zed looks so much like he might collapse. It'll pass, but it's never fun to go against programming like that. The architech trio arrives next. All of them look relieved to see the three on the island.

"Oh, Zedaph, I have your stuff." Mumbo starts emptying it out, the few things Zedaph couldn't fit in an ender chest. Zedaph smiles, tugging his helmet on and feeling a lot more comfortable. He tries not to meet anybody's eyes.

"Tango and False will be on their way. They're just checking everything's good," Grian tells them, hands moving quickly as he talks.

"Should we try moving X somewhere safer?" Iskall suggests. "The shopping district isn't that far."

"If you're willing to boat him." Keralis is firm. "I don't want him dropped in the ocean."

"I swear nothing will happen to him under our watch." Grian puts his hand on his heart. Iskall and Mumbo nod in agreement.

"It'll be the safest boat journey on the server." Iskall's hands are on his hips. Keralis tilts his head up.

"Look into my eyes and nothing but my eyes, if anything happens to my Shishwamy, I will not hold back." The architechs look suitably threatened.

"Can I boat with someone?" Zedaph asks. "I nearly crashed so many times flying over here."

"Hop in the back of mine!" Iskall calls, placing one in the water. Grian plucks Xisuma into his arms, carrying him to the edge of the water. He sets the admin in the boat before climbing in himself. Keralis checks him over before nodding and allowing Grian to keep him.

"I've told the others to meet us there," Mumbo says. "I'm going to fly across and see where's best to bunker down. I think we could all use some sleep."

Zedaph looks at the moon hanging overhead, "Yeah, I think we could."

[MumboJumbo] we're heading to the shopping district.

[FalseSymmetry] thats a good plan

[MumboJumbo] any idea who's shop we could stay in?

[FalseSymmetry] my dimension shop is pretty empty

[FalseSymmetry] plenty of room for some beds. pretty warm.

[Tango] we'll get it set up for you

[MumboJumbo] ok. ill protect the others

[Keralis1] so will I.

The first thing Xisuma picks up on is the talking. He stays still, trying to tell if his brain is playing tricks on him after so long in the nothing. His body is like a rock. He's barely able to move. His lungs still ache and it takes some conscious effort to continue breathing. He blinks his eyes open, wincing at bright lights. Light. There's light. He rolls forward, a sob leaving his lips before he can catch it.

"Xisuma, hey, hey." The voice is soft, casting a shadow over him. Xisuma forces his eyes open now the worst of the brightness is blocked out. Keralis is crouching in front of the bed. His fingers gently brush across Xisuma's cheek. For once, Xisuma doesn't feel the dried tears that had become his constant. "You're okay, you're safe. We got you." Xisuma takes a shaking breath in, squeezing his arms to feel the pressure of his own touch.

"Do you want your helmet?" He flits to look at False. The mere sight of his helmet is overwhelming. He reaches out and wraps it close to his chest. Keralis laughs gently, scratching through Xisuma's hair. The admin sighs, his eyes slipping closed once more.

"There you go." He can hear the smile in Keralis's voice. "We've got you, right here." The sound of movement. Cracking his eyes open reveals False sitting in front of the bed, weaving her hand into Xisuma's. He squeezes it gently.

"You're in my shop, in the shopping district," she tells him. "It's past midnight. You're completely safe here. We've got things sorted, there's nothing you need to worry about." A tear slips from his eye. Keralis wipes it away.

"What happened?" He can't make his voice louder than a whisper, and even that hurts.

"Something went wrong with the world reload," False tells him. He can trust her not to sugarcoat things. "We all had a few bugs, but the chunks around you glitched out badly. Created a bunch of like... Invisible blocks, but they were visible, if you get what I mean? They weren't fully there. Ugh, Tango's better at all this technical stuff." Xisuma tries to peer around for him, but the light still hurts if he looks for too long.

"You were stuck in a bunch of them," Keralis finishes. "We didn't realise until you starved and got stuck in a death loop. I'm really sorry, Xisuma."

"We broke your bed to get you out. Well, Zedaph did. The others got him close enough then Tango and I fixed the area. It's all sorted." Xisuma forces his sluggish brain to put the pieces together. He didn't dream up that enderman sound. That was-

"He's over there, sleeping. Tango's with him." Keralis points at a bed nearby. Tango's back blocks any sight of their part Ender friend, but Xisuma can see purple particles floating into the air. A concerning amount of them.

"What did Zed do?" He asks, the vice around his lungs tightening in concern.

"Um," Keralis answers, False looking at him. "He mentioned fighting the anti-enderman griefing code? So I think he picked the bed up." Xisuma's stomach drops. He tries to push himself up but collapses onto his back again.

"Hey, X, careful," False warns. Her voice is stern but Xisuma shakes his head.

"No- I-" He shuts his eyes, fighting off disorientation. "The server's going to keep fighting him. I've got to reset it." False helps him sit up, but she still watches him with concern. He picks up his helmet, pulling it on and relaxing slightly as all the displays flicker to life. Now when he looks at Zedaph he can see the extent of the damage. His very code seems to be fighting itself. "Help me up?"

False gets an arm around his chest. He ends up leaning his weight against her to stand, his legs shaking. She's firm, grip only tightening to accommodate his need. Keralis hovers nearby, ready to jump in if he has to. They take slow steps across the room. Xisuma strains to see under the light, but the tint of his helmet helps. He can see the architechs sat nearby, watching without any attempt at discretion.

Tango looks up as they approach. Xisuma can see the resignation on his face.

"This isn't going to fix itself, is it?" He asks. His hand in clasped tightly in Zedaph's, whose usually bright expression is twisted in pain. His skin is all too pale, black freckles spreading into larger patches across his face. He doesn't open his eyes, not even as Tango moves so Xisuma can sit down. The grip on each other's hand remains tight.

"I need to reset the code that's attacking him," Xisuma explains. His words have a tired slur he can't quite hide. "I'm gonna write an exception, I can't believe I haven't already just- not right now. Don't wanna do it wrong."

"Xisuma, it's okay." Tango smiles, pinched but genuine. "I'm sorry you need to do this." Xisuma shakes his head.

"It's nobody's fault," False says, "Do what you need to do, X. Then you're going back to bed." Keralis hums in agreement. Xisuma laughs softly as the command screens in his helmet boot up.

He zones out the others around him, leaning on Keralis's shoulder when his friend perches beside him. He scrolls through information as he brings up Zedaph's data on one screen. With one eye on it, he unlocks the data packs, searching through them. He gives voice instructions with his microphone muted to the outside world. Finding the pack he needs, he disables it and checks Zedaph's data. It looks like his code is straightening out again. Thank goodness. He makes sure all activity is deactivated before he turns the pack back on.

"That should do it," he mumbles, before realising his microphone is still off. He reactivates it before repeating himself.

"Maybe you should teach us a bit more sometime," False squeezes his shoulder, helping him up. Xisuma slings his arm over False with a nod. That would be good.

"Thank you, X." Tango smiles. He rubs his thumb across Zedaph's hand. The ender hybrid has relaxed, face slack. It looks like he's properly sleeping now. Xisuma can finally rest.

"Come on. Don't you fall asleep here, I don't want to carry you across." Xisuma hums, too tired to commit to any words. Before he knows it, he's sitting down on the comfortable bed again.

"Shishwam, lemme get your helmet." Xisuma nods, tilting his head up so Keralis can unlatch it and bring it off. His head rolls onto his shoulder the moment it's gone. Keralis giggles, ruffling his hair. "Come on, sleepy time." False lies him down, his helmet tucked safely in his arms. Keralis's hand slips into his. Xisuma shuts his eyes, before blinking them open again.

"Stay?" He asks, too tired to worry about being needy. He doesn't want to be alone in that darkness again.

"Of course," False replies.

"We're not going anywhere," Keralis adds. Xisuma smiles at them both, eyes slipping closed. The darkness is manageable with his friends by his side.

"Don't you dare wake them up," False hisses, watching as Grian and Iskall play with redstone. The morning sun is beginning to shine through the cracks in the windows. She's exhausted, having only caught a quick nap. Keralis is asleep next to Xisuma, sitting on the floor with his head resting on the bed. Tango's slid into bed beside Zedaph, holding him close to his chest. Mumbo's dead to the world across the room.

"We won't!" Grian calls, trying to figure out the game he could make out of this mechanic. Iskall has a Statues book open, an armour stand sat in front of a piston.

"You know, this would be a lot easier if the two people who have done this with armour stands were helping," Iskall points out, flicking through the pages.

"We're fine, it's part of the adventure!" Grian watches as the piston shoots the armour stand across the room. False smiles, leaning back against the bed. Some of the other hermits have been coming online with the early morning. Thankfully, they don't seem to know about everything that went down yesterday. It's best things are quiet for Xisuma whilst he rests. She's sure he’ll tell them about it. She'll make sure he does.

As the sun grows higher with the dawn, she dozes off again. Grian is yawning, him and Iskall only catching a few hours of sleep. He's still buzzing with activity. He'll crash later, easy enough.

It's to this quiet atmosphere that Xisuma wakes up. Iskall and Grian are still experimenting. Grian’s laughter rings out as the armour stand bounces in the air. The beat of the piston is monotonous, but they're nearly falling over each other at the sight. Xisuma watches with a soft smile, eyes barely opened.

"It we got one on top, do you think it would-" Grian holds his hand up, demonstrating an armour stand shaking up and down aggressively. Iskall chuckles, shaking his head.

"It's only the morning, we don't need to break physics yet."

"It's for science," Grian protests. He sounds breathless, half-delirious with his need for sleep.

"Please don't make me do work," Xisuma whispers, all too aware of the sleeping hermits around him. Grian perks up, Iskall turning to him with a grin.

"'Suma!" Iskall calls. Xisuma smiles at both of them, making no attempt to move. He's comfortable here and he doesn't want to wake his friends.

"Exy-Suma!" Grian slides across, leaving a gap from the sleeping hermits. Iskall stands by his side, resting his hand on Grian's shoulder. "How are you feeling?" Xisuma wraps his arm tighter around his helmet.

"Not the best, my friend," he answers honestly. "But I'm certainly better than before."

"Well, we'll just have to make that even better then." Grian is committed to the cause now. He's going to make Xisuma's day.

"You don't have to rush back into things," Iskall says, offering a smile. "I'm sure we can handle ourselves today."

"I don't think I'm getting out of this bed anytime soon." Xisuma looks down at Keralis, dark hair brushing Xisuma's chest plate. False is asleep slouched in the chair beside him. Even without being able to see the other occupants of the room, he can still tell they're sleeping. "Feels a bit weird not going for a jog at this time, though."

"I'm sure your legs won't wither away after one morning, X," Iskall jokes. "Be lazy like the rest of us." Grian grins.

"We could always play some mini-games later, too!" Xisuma laughs, stretching as much as he can without shifting Keralis. He's beginning to regret sleeping in his armour, but it's too late now.

The three chat with each other, Xisuma offering advice now he's awake. They're gradually building up a system to launch the armour stand across the room. Sure, they'll have to clean it all up later, but it passes the time and it makes them laugh. Hearing Xisuma laughing is good for all three of them, despite the roughness reminding them of last night's ordeal. It's safe to say that nobody envies Xisuma's experience.

The three jump at a strange, shrill noise, until the realisation kicks in. Zed is sitting up, rubbing his eyes and yawning. Hair is falling into his face, ruffled from sleep. Tango remains slumped against him. He even rolls into the warmth Zedaph leaves behind. It takes a few seconds until the hybrid notices his audience. Zedaph jumps, smiling sheepishly.

"Oh, hi, sorry! Forgot I wasn't alone." His eyes are glowing brightly in the morning light. He looks down at the arm lazily clinging to his waist. "This oaf is used to it."

"No, no, you're okay," Xisuma tells him. False is stirring beside him, blinking to life, but Keralis remains out. "How are you feeling?" Zedaph taps his chin, resting his finger on his lip.

"Pretty well-rested, actually." Then his attention turns to Xisuma. "What about you? I should be asking you that question!" Xisuma laughs, flexing his fingers against his helmet.

"I'm okay. Taking it easy." He tilts his head towards Grian and Iskall. "Whether I like it or not, it seems."

"Too right," False agrees, yawning. "T'others can handle admin duties for today. You're ours."

"Is that a threat?"

"We can make it one!" Iskall tells him, his voice a lot more cheerful than the implication of his words. "We just need a good leash-"

"Oh absolutely not! Don't you dare!" Keralis pokes his head up next to him, trying to tune into the conversation. Zedaph laughs from across the room. He's tugging a bleary Tango to rest on his shoulder so he can wrap the blanket around them both.

"Oh come on, X, it'll be fun!" Grian wraps his arms around Iskall's shoulders. Xisuma shakes his head.

"You two are terrible. Absolutely terrible. Goodness me."

"I'm sure X will agree to take a day off willingly," False says, sounding far too threatening as she rubs sleep from her eyes.

"I already agreed. No leash required!"

"Why are we talking about leashes?" Keralis finally asks, looking more confused than anything. They break down into laughter.

[Grian] hello everyone

[iskall85] HALLO!

[iskall85] we are stealing your admin for the day!

[Grian] yeah he's ours.

[falsesymmetry] x had a rough night so he's having a day off

[falsesymmetry] so if any admins besides tango, x and i could step up please?

[cubfan135] yeah I'm on it.

[joehillssays] of course, and send our well wishes to our dear admin!

[Xisuma] your dear admin thanks you :-)

[Xisuma] please try not to break anything

[Etho] have a fun day lol

[joehillssays] don't make us lock you out of your screens, x!

[Keralis1] Nothing will get past us.

[iskall85] he's been suitably threatened.

[Renthedog] Should uh... We be concerned?

[Grian] about x-i-sooma finally getting a break?

[falsesymmetry] he's in safe hands. promise.

"Should we get this day started?" Tango asks. Grian is about to answer, only to yawn. He covers his mouth, face turning red.

"Another hour of sleep first?" False suggests. They look around the room, everyone in varying states of awareness.

"It never hurt anyone." Iskall shoves Mumbo over, fitting into bed beside him. "See y'all in an hour." Keralis smiles at Xisuma. He bumps their heads together.

"You deserve a break without being traumatised first, you know that Shishwamy?" He checks. Xisuma laughs, pressing their foreheads together.

"Yeah, I know." He leans back. "And I think I've got some good friends to remind me." False pats his back, getting comfortable enough to doze off again.

"And don't you forget it." Xisuma looks around the room. The architechs are fighting over the bed, Tango and Zedaph curled back up on theirs. He smiles, the fear from last night already on its way to being a distant memory.

"Don't think I can."

#hermitcraft #xisuma #falsesymmetry #keralis #grian #iskall85 #tangotek #zedaph #feel like mumbo's role is too minor to tag him lmao #my writing #this fic took so loooong #but i wanted to get it done #more brain space for my other projects

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jobrosupdates · 6 years ago

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‘Sucker’ Punch: The Behind-the-Scenes Players to Launch Jonas Brothers’ First No. 1 | Variety

The trio's manager, A&R and label chief explain how an authentic thaw in sibling relations led to a strategy of silence, then shock and awe.

March 11, 2019 by Chris Willman

America is collectively a sucker for the Jonas Brothers again — or at least that’s the strong indication from first-week results for their comeback, a full decade after the trio last had a top 30 single. “Sucker” just became their first song ever to top the Billboard Hot 100, and the first by any band to debut at the top of the chart in more than 20 years. According to Buzz Angle Music, the first seven days for “Sucker” racked up a combination of 30 million audio streams, 16 million video streams and 88,000 digital sales, on top of a fast radio start that found nearly every pop station adding the tune.

How’s it possible one of the biggest phenomena of the late 2000s never had a No. 1? Back in their original heyday, radio and older fans were both mutually suspicious of any act coming out of the Disney camp, no matter how massive the ticket sellouts or record sales (they had four straight platinum or double-platinum albums, if you count the “Camp Rock” soundtrack). Ten years later, pent-up fan energy is meeting no such gatekeeper resistance.

“As big as they were previously, they’ve never seen this kind of chart action, which is pretty wild at this point of their career,” Monte Lipman, the chairman/CEO of Republic Records, tells Variety. “They were an arena act, but in terms of the traditional record flying up and down the charts, they never had that. From the outside looking in, I was always intrigued by their success and thinking about what would happen if they had a record that stormed the charts on top of all of that, like they do now. So we’ve been having a blast.”

Crucial parts of the campaign: “Having Nick’s and Kevin’s wives and Joe’s fiancée be a part of the video was really powerful, and that visual provided a lot of fuel at launch that was beneficial to the whole campaign,” says Phil McIntyre, founder/CEO of Philymack, their management company. “And the platform of James (Corden, whose show featured the Jonas Brothers for an entire week) was phenomenal and made for great, fun content that travels.” The “Carpool Karaoke” was even revealing enough about the brothers’ personal story to make up for a lot of interviews they could have done and didn’t. But prior to the video and Corden, the perhaps even more critical component in the plan was… silence. “It was definitely part of our strategy, to try to keep it under the radar, and it was helpful that it stayed there,” says McIntyre, “because we were totally expecting that it wouldn’t.”

“As hard as it is to keep a secret in 2019, especially when you’re three of the most followed guys online,” says Republic’s EVP of A&R, Wendy Goldstein, “they did a great job at keeping it quiet. And the Jonas Brothers as a band may have been dormant, but their individual development and success probably contributed to amplifying excitement. They’ve been out there for six years in the public eye, but not as Jonas Brothers,” she says. “It was the perfect tease.”

Adds Lipman, “Because when you think about the marketplace, nearly 150,000 new songs are made available every single week, and the greatest competition we’ve got right now is that sheer volume — the static, the noise. So in this case the best thing to do was almost the opposite, something without any messaging, and literally just drop it out of the sky — and ka-boom, it’s the loudest bang you can create.” But everyone was concerned the secrecy could be blown at any moment. “Any time the guys were ever seen in the same room together, the rumors started flying. So there was a lot of denial, absolutely.”

Plausible deniability, though, because the Jonases really did have another reason to be in one another’s company — a documentary — and the recording was an outgrowth of the unofficial on-camera therapy sessions undertaken for that.

“A year ago, we started making a documentary with just the intention of telling what an incredible story these brothers have of taking this journey together and growing up in the public eye together as a family, and the ups and downs of it,” says McIntyre. “And it was not to necessarily make new music or anything like that. So it unfolded in the most authentic way possible, and I think that’s part of why there was an element of surprise, because for the most part when they were seen together, most people thought it was for the documentary.”

When did a documentary shoot turn into a resumption of the Jonas Brothers as a commercial and artistic enterprise? “I would say it was toward the end of the summer last year,” McIntyre says. “Because we probably did four or five different trips with the brothers: They went to Australia where Joe was shooting ‘The Voice.’ They went to Jersey and to a couple other locations, and probably after the fourth or fifth location, they had sort of processed through so much of the things that tore ‘em apart earlier in their career, and just started to get honest with each other. And there’s a magic to when they’re together, and as much success as anyone’s had on their own solo journey, it doesn’t necessarily compare to what they’ve experienced as brothers. So it was toward the end of summer that they started to have the conversations around it, and it was at that point that I said, ‘I’ve got to get with Monte and talk through this.’ Because in my mind, there was only one place to do this, and that was with Republic. I just knew that they would they would be able to nail it.”

Finding a new label home for the Jonas Brothers, many years after their departure from Disney’s Hollywood Records, wasn’t a stretch. Republic had had Joe’s interim project, the group DNCE, and been jointly involved with Island Records on Nick’s solo career.

Lipman says he didn’t offer any preferences for which stylistic direction the Jonas Brothers should take their new music, once he was brought in. “Monte Lipman? No,” he chuckles, as if the idea that he’d get personally involved in their A&R is a laugh. “I learned a long time ago just let them let them do their thing. The cool thing about working with the Philymack camp in particular and the Jonas Brothers as their partners is that when they come to the table, so much of it is been vetted, and ‘Hey, this is the way we’d like to present the music. This is the aesthetic.’”

But Goldstein did get highly involved as recording continued — and had a strong preference when it came time to pick a single out of the supposed two albums’ worth of material the trio has recorded. “There are some really powerful bangers ready to go,” she says. “But ‘Sucker’ just had a vibe. It felt like a great way to come out. I think everybody agreed on that.” After her persuasiveness, anyway. “There definitely was a debate as far as what the first look would be,” says McIntyre, “and to Wendy’s credit, she was the one who said, ‘I feel strongly that “Sucker” is the right first sound and first song.’”

“Sucker” is much more akin to the dance-oriented material Nick and Joe have done in the interim years than the guitar-based, power-pop sound the brothers played in the 2000s. At recent “secret” shows in New York and L.A., the group sounded like they did in the first part of their career — that is, like a straight-up, heavy-on-the-hooks rock band — and they rearranged the one new song they played, “Sucker,” just enough that it fit in with the guitars-and-live-drums ethos of their old sound. But that may not be an indication of where the eventual album will be headed.

“Creatively, they’ve evolved, as any artists would after a decade,” says Goldstein, not quite willing to commit them to a genre. “I don’t think it’s tied to any era in particular. They were adamant about making an honest, real and somewhat raw comeback. They draw on their history together, but it’s an exciting new chapter.” McIntyre is a little more committal about how fans shouldn’t expect the new material to exactly revive the 2000s: “I would say that you will be able to see and hear the influences of what Joe did in his solo career and what Nick did in his solo career come together in a very natural way.”

It was a good time for the brothers to reunite, personal reasons aside, because although their solo endeavors had kept them somewhat in the limelight — Nick as a solo artist and Joe with DNCE had both made the top 10, and had ongoing success on the dance charts — neither had had such an ongoing run of hits that a resumption of the brother act would seem like a step backward. Nothing was guaranteed: The last time the Jonas Brothers tried coming back after a layoff, in 2012-13, on an indie label, the media and radio weren’t much interested, and their personal disagreements took such a toll that a planned album and tour were canceled as they officially broke up. But clearly a few years of their absence as a collective made the public heart grow fonder.

“They were part of a lot of people’s most influential years, of their childhoods or beyond,” says McIntyre, “and so I think that the timing of them bringing those positive, good times has resonated, and people appreciate them now for being the soundtrack to their lives.” Plus, there’s the small matter of the song being good, “so we do get the opportunity to get a whole new audience that isn’t there for nostalgic reasons. It’s very much a two-pronged strategy.”

As for an album, “We’re working through the timeline now,” McIntyre says. “I think everybody would like to get it out as quick as possible, so I would look to the first half of this year.” As for a live return, the brothers had 35 minutes of material very solidly rehearsed for their secret El Rey show last week, but the nature of a tour is still under discussion. Picking up where they left off at the height of their careers, in arenas, has been part of the conversation, but so have more modest venues. Nick leaves this week to shoot a “Jumanji” sequel, which may put a slight speed bump in those discussions.

Will the documentary, done in partnership with Amazon, come out simultaneously with the album? “As of right now they’re separate things,” McIntyre says, “but we’re looking at it. Because as you tell this story, you realize that so much of the story revealed itself through the process that then led to the music. So we’re playing with just how to kind of roll out the two bodies of work.”

McIntyre says some healing had gone on before work on the documentary started, but the filming process caught any sense of alienation further breaking down. “I think that they are like most families out there — that they had touched on the issues enough to be able to move forward, but they didn’t really get into it,” says the manager. “They didn’t go into the depth of where the hurt was each one of them really felt in those moments, and being able to articulate it and explain it to each other. That was a discovery along the way of making this. It wasn’t something that we knew was there, necessarily; it was once we got into it, we sort of all looked at each other and were like, ‘Wow, there’s a lot of layers to this that need to be discussed.’”

Lipman also says the documentary will further reveal that the reunion “is not a marketing ploy. It’s not anything that was calculated. It wasn’t a money grab.” But if they’re able to mint some out of the finally refreshed brotherly love, that will be a significant Jonas bonus.

Source: Variety

#jonas brothers #phil mcintyre #monte lipman #text #article #2019

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league-of-legends-skin-chg5 · 2 years ago

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R3nzSkin | Skin changer for League of Legends (LOL)

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These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience. Necessary Necessary. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information. Non-necessary Non-necessary. Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.

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aion-rsa · 3 years ago

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Squid Game Questions Season 2 Could Answer

https://ift.tt/3ogAXLK

Squid Game came into our lives as a strange and complicated mystery, one we’re enjoying obsessively poring over for every last detail. Even as Netflix’s South Korean contemporary social horror series revealed secrets in the final episodes, they only brought about bigger questions surrounding the game’s origin, Il-nam’s relationship to the game, how the game continues to operate with impunity, and what might happen next. While there’s no indication there will be a second season of the show, here are some of the biggest questions Squid Game left hanging after nine episodes.

How does Squid Game work globally?

The fact that the in-show audience for Squid Game is international, much like the real world one has ended up being, is an interesting quirk that begs a few questions. Why use such country-specific games that would be foreign to the very VIPs that Squid Game was created to cater to? During the last few rounds they came to South Korea and had the Front Man and his staff on hand to explain the rules and answer any questions, but the show indicates that didn’t happen for previous games. Did the VIPs have questions about what everyone was doing during the dalgona round, and why it was set at a playground?

Culture

Squid Game Competitions, As Played By BTS

By Kayti Burt

Squid Game: What Could Season 2 Look Like?

By Kayti Burt

The VIP audience is surprisingly small, with only a handful of men. At one point while drinking and joking, one asks who brought somebody in, meaning each VIP is vouched for personally by someone who was already in the inner circle. While they’re all high rollers, it seems like an incredible expense to have so few people attending, and seemingly no one betting remotely. Heck, they don’t even seem to pay for concessions! Although maybe if everyone is as painfully rich as Oh Il-nam told Seong Gi-hun, they truly don’t care about the expense. Are these the kind of unknown millionaires and billionaires who exist away from the eye of the general public, who literally couldn’t give their money away fast enough if they tried (not that they have, in this case)?

How many other countries have Squid Games? Setting the game on a private island seems ideal, in that no one can escape and the game can be kept out of sight from local law enforcement. Sourcing disposable personnel and players (a deeply dystopian phrase if ever there was one) is a bigger hurdle. When hundreds of people disappear and never return, someone, somewhere, should kick up a fuss. It helps that the people behind the Squid Game seem to know who to target – during the first round, Gi-hun’s family assumed he was off on a gambling bender, and Sang-woo was assumed to be running from the law. Considering that, it’s surprising there weren’t more people from the typical profiles that criminals (because make no mistake, the people behind Squid Game are just that) like to target, because they know they won’t be missed or their friends and family can’t afford to make a fuss, such as sex workers and runaways.

How are the Squid Game staff recruited?

If you’ve heard a theory about Squid Game, it’s probably this one: the color paper that people choose when playing ddakji with Gong Yoo determines whether they become workers (red) or players (blue). It’s a cool theory, but when video footage of players is shown, a few pick red. So then where are the workers coming from?

Squid Game’s Scathing Critique of Capitalism

By Delia Harrington

Why is Squid Game’s English-Language Acting So Bad?

By Kayti Burt

The man who tried to take on the Squid Game soldiers asked a question that was never answered by the series: what did they do to you to make you do this? From the staff members that we saw, it seems that they’re young men from South Korea. The fact that the Front Man killed them without hesitation means that he knows they won’t be missed – or that the powerful people backing him can make any problems related to their deaths disappear. There are easily fifty or more staff people. When the game is over, what happens to them? It’s hard to imagine that they will be allowed to simply go home. While they might sound as foolish as Gi-hun did when he went to the police, it seems like an unnecessary risk. Does the Front Man kill everyone below him when he’s done?

How did In-ho become the Front Man?

The Front Man was a mysterious figure throughout the season, in part because he wore a mask, but revealing his face and his identity as Hwang In-ho, brother to Hwang Jun-ho, only left us with even more questions. It’s clear that the front man is just that – not the creator or owner of Squid Game, but the front-facing person who deals with the VIPs, the staff, and other issues, allowing the Host and whoever else might be behind the game to keep their hands clean. But how did he come to have this job at all? Jun-ho learned from the meticulous records that his brother actually won Squid Game years ago, yet somehow he became the Front Man. When we first met Jun-Ho, he said his brother was only missing for a few weeks, which means he had been keeping up a double life quite successfully up until recently. How did he explain his annual Squid Game absences? Why was he living in such a spartan apartment? Did In-ho burn through the cash, or was he, like Gi-hun, unable to spend it? It almost seems like he isolated himself from his family because of who Squid Game had made him, and perhaps he became the Front Man because once he had done what he needed to do to win Squid Game, he saw no path to redemption.

Did Jun-ho survive?

Throughout the series, people are shot frequently, their deaths shown unflinchingly. When the Front Man kills people himself, he goes with a kill shot, often in the head. Deaths on Squid Game in general are shown in detail, with clarity and blood spurts. In contrast, when pursuing his brother, Jun-ho, the Front Man, In-ho, shot him in the shoulder and he went over the cliff into the water. Far from definitive. The only other death that wasn’t clear and explicit was Player 001’s – and he turned out to not only be alive, but running the whole game. All that is to say, if Squid Game returns, we’re banking on Wi Ja-hoon, the incredibly popular actor who plays Jun-ho the cop, to paddle his way to safety and season 2.

The mystery of Player 001/The Host, Il-nam

At the end of the season, Il-nam revealed himself as one of the founders and the Host. However, there are still questions surrounding him. He references the idea that others in his circle might have also helped to found the game – who are they? Are they still alive? Il-nam doesn’t attend the finals with the other VIPs, with the Front Man passing on his apologies and the message that he has something personal to attend to. After Il-nam dies in episode 9, there’s a flashback to when he told the Front Man he wouldn’t attend, saying, “There’s no way watching it could be more fun than playing it yourself.” Narratively, this was likely to preserve the Il-nam reveal for the very end of the episode, but it still leaves something of an open question. Where did Il-nam go and what did he do with his remaining time, while he was still well enough?

Squid Game Ending Explained

By Kayti Burt

Squid Game’s Most Heartbreaking Hour is Also Its Best

By Kayti Burt

Perhaps he went in search of his son, whom he referenced throughout the show. Some hypothesized Gi-hun could be Il-nam’s son, since Gi-hun’s father is never shown and the thread of Il-nam’s family is never resolved. Gi-hun reminds Il-nam of his son when he asks for chocolate milk, and the neighborhood from the game of marbles was based on Il-nam’s home, and also reminds Gi-hun of his childhood.

Whatever the case, the two clearly look out for each other. Is it possible that Il-nam gave Gi-hun something of an in-game shield, like an extra life or a golden ticket? After Gi-hun gives his jacket to the older man to hide his incontinence and preserve his dignity, Il-nam offers his jacket, with 001 on it. He says it’s for protection, so that others in the arena won’t think less of him, perhaps he means it at face value, the way Sang-woo told Ali to hide the fact that he has missing fingers. But throughout the game of marbles, there were a couple of times when Il-nam could have been shot for losing. Other players were shot more quickly by the soldiers nearby. Instead that soldier waited for Gi-hun to be out of sight and presumably shot wide. It would make sense for all of the staff in red jumpsuits to know not to kill Player 001 (it really feels like they could have picked a less obvious number), so that they wouldn’t accidentally act rashly when breaking up a fight. If that’s the case, then perhaps in handing over his jacket, Il-nam was hoping he could give Gi-hun a small amount of extra insurance, even if it only helped him outside of the officially announced games.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

Squid Game is a wild ride, and if it remains a one-season wonder with an open ending, so be it. But there are still quite a few mysteries lingering and big, unanswered questions that could be explored, whether in spin-offs or follow-up seasons.

The post Squid Game Questions Season 2 Could Answer appeared first on Den of Geek.

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#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

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ssportsnews · 3 years ago

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Mourinho, who excels endlessly, training behind the scenes "Winning is fun"먹튀검증

먹튀검증먹튀사이트먹튀검증사이트먹튀 검증 먹튀 사이트 먹튀 검증 사이트

AS Roma manager Jose Mourinho, who returned to the Italian stage, ran for six consecutive wins after taking office.

Roma defeated CSKA Sofia 5-1 in the first leg of Group C of the 2021/2022 Europa Conference League group stage held on the 17th. Roma, who allowed the opening goal, showed off their overwhelming offensive power and showed the power to reverse by a large score difference.

Rome is on the verge of winning. Mourinho took the helm and never lost. They are also at the top of the league with three consecutive wins, thanks to their firepower of scoring nine goals. 6 consecutive victories based on official matches. Roma players and fans are already singing hymns to Mourinho.

Mourinho was not excited. "It was not a match that would result in a 5-1 score. It was a harsh result for Sofia. We didn't show what we've been training for for a few days. We have to get better."

In the 6th consecutive win, "5 wins doesn't mean 50 wins and 6 wins doesn't mean 60 wins. We are a team with limitations. Not long ago, he said with the staff, 'We have to go to St. Peter's Cathedral every day to pray so that there are no injuries'. I joked. The season is a marathon and we need to be more calm."

Although Mourinho's performance had been regressing for a while, his unique fighting spirit was still there. Looking to transplant the habit of winning to Roma, he told the training behind the scenes.

He said, "One day during a practice match, I saw a winning player go out of the arena to receive the ball with one minute left before the end. I shouted, 'What are you doing?' and I got the answer, 'I want to have fun. "The thing is to win. Don't be an idiot.' This message should be heard by everyone. I may be weird, but the fun football for me is winning."

#먹튀검증 #먹튀검증사이트 #먹튀사이트

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quell-tea-salon · 7 years ago

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Yumeiro Cast Dream Show 2017 event report!

In my short time in Japan I’ve attended quite a few concerts and seiyuu events, and this concert is honestly one of the best that I’ve experienced. I know this blog is mostly for QUELL, but I don’t have anywhere else to share this from... Feel free to scroll past if this isn’t for you.

I’ll also be rambling a lot about Hatanaka Tasuku and Hayashi Yuu ;w;

I recall regretting applying for tickets at some point, because having to travel from Kyoto to Tokyo (or rather, Chiba, since the venue was Makuhari Messe) just for the concert was a huge pain, and very expensive. Boy, am I glad I did though. To begin with, getting tickets to ANY popular event is a tough process. You have to enter a draw to have a shot at getting a ticket, and if you miss out on that, you’ll have to buy the tickets when they go on sale later, and they usually sell out in under ten seconds. I’m not kidding. I’ve experienced this pain. On multiple occasions. Anyway, the first draw was opened to players only (the URL link was a banner in the game’s home screen), which is a really nice gesture. I managed to get a ticket in this draw :)

I arrived at the venue about 30 minutes before the show and bypassed the merchandise corner, as the queue looked scary and I didn’t have much time. Jumped in the queue to take a photograph of the standees (pictured above; and yes, there was a queue for this too), which took about 15 minutes, and then rushed over to join a queue for one of the bathrooms (all of them had long queues /pukes blood). I started chatting with a lady in a cute dress in line behind me and found out that we both have Kaito as our fav (plus Subaru for me). She was happy to find another Kaito fan and whipped out a couple of beautifully packaged small prints from her bag and handed them to me *_* Turns out she’s an artists and draws a lot of Kaito!! I was so surprised but flattered and felt bad about not having anything on hand to give her in return... I just gave her the kiwi bird badge from my backpack that I picked up while traveling in New Zealand, sweats...

Minutes till starting time and we were still caught in the queue, though getting very close to the bathroom. We debated giving up and leaving to find our seats so we wouldn’t miss the opening act, but decided to stay since having to leave halfway through the show for the bathroom would be worse. A few minutes later we heard screams coming from the arena and thought that the show had started, but the girl behind us assured us that they were just playing some promotional videos on the big screen and that nothing was happening on stage. We passed the message on to the group of girls in front of us as we heard them fretting about the same thing. Community spirit!

I parted ways with my new friend after leaving the bathroom and went to find my seat; inside the arena the lights had already been dimmed and clearly something was about to start. I was still stumbling around in the dark when all seven members of Yumeiro Company burst onto stage to the tune of CALL HEAVEN!! and by the time I found my spot they were probably halfway through the song;;;;

My seat was on the third floor, but quite close to the left side of the stage, so in a way it was a good spot as I could just barely make out the faces of the performers standing on my side of the stage. Their formation, from right to left: Subaru, Kaito, Sousei, Kyouya, Hinata, Iori, and Jin. I was still shaky from scrambling to find my seat and honestly don’t remember much, but I know that they were all dressed sharply in formal suits, and that the chorus had a dance routine that was fun and cheerful, fitting of a musical show. As we all know, the cast of YumeCast has a lot of strong singers, so I could relax and appreciate the vocals. I managed to find my pen light too and was ready to finally join the party :3

After the opening act I thought they would break for an introductory talk, but they launched straight into the next song. Everyone except Kyoya left the stage as the intro for Kyoya’s solo, Kimi ni Chikatta Monogatari started playing, and we all scrambled to change our pen lights to pink. Tbh I think Ohsaka Ryota’s one of the less experienced singers in the group, but I was pleasantly surprised by his solid performance. He definitely leveled up a lot since the start of YumeCast, and each of his graceful, princely gestures was very much Kyoya.

Hinata jumped onto stage next to perform Glass no Shoes ha Niawanai (I should mention that these solos were game-sized length and played back to back like a medley). We all melted at how cute he was, and he even slipped in a few lines directed at “oneesan! ;)” *Audience screams and dies* Uemura Yuuto’s usually a good singer but he went off-pitch a few times, probably due to nerves...

Iori was next with Tsumetai Yozora wo Terasu no ha. This is the third time I’ve seen Hanae Natsuki live, and you can tell he’s a seasoned performer by how comfortable he is on stage, and how his vocals are always clear and steady. His lines as Iori made a lot of people in the audience scream, but honestly whenever I see Hanae his joker character is all I register and I couldn’t really appreciate Iori LOL.

Kaito appeared on stage, rocking along to PASSION LASER BEAM, and this is where I died. Hayashi Yuu is phenomenal to watch live, he’s arguably one of the best singers of the group and is amazing at working the crowd, which isn’t surprising considering he’s the vocalist of Screen Mode. Hayashu brought a living, breathing Kaito onto stage in all his haughty glory T_____T It’s my dream to one day catch Screen Mode live as well...

Jin’s Kokoro no (ry was up next. I have to admit that I’m not a fan of Jin’s singing, I think it forces Ono Yuuki to fake a lower register which stifles his singing and it sounds unnatural, which is a shame when Onoyuu has such a lovely smooth voice. Onoyuu kept his fooling around to a minimum at this point, but he couldn’t stop his sunny trademark grin ww

SUBARU! WITH BACKDANCERS!!! Performing You & Me... de, Wave!!! If I had to pick a fav moment in the show, this would be it. Hatanaka Tasuku is SUCH a skilled singer, there’s so much energy in his voice, and his solo even included an intense dance routine which was amazing to watch. This is my fav solo charasong from YumeCast and Subaru completely smashed it... I’m buying the DVD later so I can watch it again ;____; I was so blown-away by the performance that I didn’t even notice what he was wearing >< I also noticed that one of the security staff near my block, who, up till then, was doing a good job of checking on the audience, couldn’t help but look at the stage once Subaru started singing. He watched up till the 2nd chorus lol before turning back to his job.

[OOT: This is my second time meeting Tasuku and each time I see him I feel like a proud mother watching her son grow by leaps and bounds >< The first time I met him was at the 5th fan meeting for Nariyuki Night, hosted by Tasuku and Yonaga Tsubasa. It was a small, cosy event of maybe 200 people, and it blew my mind that we got to see them at such a close distance. The coolest part was that they implemented a bunch of interactive activities to get the audience involved, one of which was a game where they had to guess an item based on clues shown on screen and borrow it from the audience.... Which meant that they had to run up and down the aisles of the seats, and at one point Yonaga grabbed a girl’s hand and escorted her down to the stage *_* Tasuku came by my seat and stopped to think about clues, so I literally had him standing next to me for like half a minute ahjghadllkjad. Also they were dressed in school uniform as one of the many suggestions for the “summer theme”; Yonaga in a beige vest, short sleeves, and colourful hairclips in his hair (he really looked like Nagisa from Free!), and Tasuku with a loose red tie and long shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbows. Cute af. Prior to that I’d only seen Tasuku on livestreams and heard him on radio, and I’m glad to report that he’s every bit as earnest and clumsy in person as he is on air, like an awkward oversized puppy still learning how to walk but excited for someone to throw him a ball ;w;]

The last solo was Sousei’s Dare mo ga Ashi(ry. I was looking forward to this as I’ve been a fan of Toyonaga Toshiyuki since his Tenimyu days, and I love his singing voice. He wasn’t as smooth as in the recorded version, but still a delight to hear live.

Without giving us time to catch our breath, the show moved on to the next song. Hinata appeared on stage in a dark suit and a cape, accompanied by dancers dressed in ghoulish outfits. It was Mysterious Mission! This was a super fun song with a cute zombie dance, and at one point Hinata was hoisted up onto the shoulders of the backdancers in a sort of ALL HAIL YOUR CUTE MONSTER LORD routine. An oh, all the songs from this point on were performed in full :3

Next, Subaru and Jin appeared in santa outfits for Holy Melody Night. This is probably one of my least favourite songs in YumeCast, imo it’s the wrong key for both singers and doesn’t really showcase their voices. They were both so cute on stage though! Running from one end of the stage to the other and waving at us with huge smiles. The concert hall was enveloped in a warm, sparkly atmosphere ;w;

Next was the moment I had been waiting for - Kaito’s Kamigami no Senen (still not sure about the reading for the last 2 kanji tbh). I was hoping that this song would be included in the set list T_______T Kaito caused a stir when he appeared on the stage at the back of the arena, which I wasn’t even aware of. Dressed in graceful white robes and enveloped in mist, he was so beautiful to watch, I forgot to breathe... This song is a Big Deal for me because it’s an unseen side of both Kaito and Hayashu; before Kamigami neither have ever performed with such delicate vocals afaik. Even Screen Mode’s ballads have a completely different feel. When the song ended, the audience quietly broke into applause, instead of the cheering or screaming that happened with other songs...

Kyoya appeared back on the main stage with Sand Mirage, dressed in an Arabian Nights-esque costume and matching dancers. I’m very fond of this song, it’s so catchy and seems to fit Kyoya’s vocal range the most! And it definitely showed off his singing skills. Beautiful vibrato on the notes at the end of the chorus ;3;

Sousei and Iori gracefully descended upon the second stage in butler outfits. The yandere Tapestry song! They started off with a short skit, probably lines from the musical, and when Hanae fumbled one of his lines Tosshi teased him about it ww This is one of my favourite duets but sadly the vocals were rather shaky, with both singing off-key at many instances. A+ for the skit, the bedroom lines directed at “ojousama”, and Sousei’s psychotic laugh at the end.

I should love Final Approach since it features my two favs Subaru and Kaito, but unfortunately it’s one of the most boring songs for me... It didn’t stop me from appreciating the singing though. And the beautiful harmonies in the chorus. And the two boys in pilot outfits. And the high-five halfway through the song!! This was also the moment I understood the reason why some people bring two or more pen lights as I couldn’t decide whose colour to use...

Jin and Kyoya rose up from platforms under the stage in shinsengumi robes for Hi ha Noboru(ry. The katanas holstered on their hips were drawn for a fight scene vs the back dancers! The stage was bathed in violet and blue to match the moody atmosphere.

Then Iori and Kaito hopped onto stage and we all bobbed along to Sekai ha Koi to SWEETS! AND! KISS! *waves pen light frantically* This is such a cute song and both Iori and Kaito were super cute, throwing saccharine lines at the audience and getting everyone to join in the fun ;w; Iirc both of them even threw us some flying kisses....

Next, Stronger Than Medicine with Hina and Sousei. In white doctor’s coats and supported by a big group of dancers, Hina played the experienced head doctor while Sousei tagged along like a clueless junior lol. Parts of the dance were very cute and funny for comedic effect, and though for the most part it wasn’t an intense dance routine Tosshi still managed to show off his dancer background >< I kinda wished that we got to see him dance in a more high-tempo song, but Sousei gets all the ballads...

Around this time I noticed that a group of staff were busy setting up some sort of elevated platform-trolley thing at the end of the corridor between the 2nd and 3rd floor; I’d seen something similar happen at the Yuri on Stage event and my heartbeat jumped as I guessed what would happen next...

When the lights turned back on, the rest of the crew had joined Hina and Sousei on stage, and everyone was in their blue and white sailor outifts for Sunshine World Tour! This was the FIRST break in the show, can you believe it? The cast FINALLY introduced themselves (still in-character), and then Sousei announced that the show was about to come to and end, which came as a surprise because it honestly didn’t feel like the show started that long ago, even though we had actually sat through a LOT of songs. The audience began to whine “Ehhhhhhh?” Then the music for Sunshine World Tour started and the cast split into 2 groups, making the audience scream when they headed into the crowd, climbed up the stairs to the 3rd floor, and boarded one of the two trolleys on either end of the corridor. The audience went crazy when they realised what was happening! On the trolley that started from my end of the hall were Kyoya, Jin-san, and Hina, singing and waving enthusiastically at the audience as they traveled around the U-shaped concert hall. I couldn’t believe my eyes when they passed right in front of me... From my seat in the 2nd row they were SO CLOSE, and even at eye level! I honestly could’ve hi-fived them if I stretched out my arm. When the 2nd trolley came by I had my pen light set to orange and hoped Kaito would wave at me, but he was busy engaging the upper floors. Iori met my eyes though and gave me the sweetest smile ;w; They were meant to sing Sunshine World Tour, but very little singing was done as everyone was busy greeting and waving at the audience wwwwwwww It was a real treat for everyone on the 2nd and 3rd floors...

After the trolleys reached the opposite ends of the hall, the cast made their way back to the main stage and we were asked to sing along to the the chorus for a while as lyrics popped up on the screen :D After the song ended, the cast said their thanks and waved goodbye before disappearing backstage. The lights dimmed again and the audience began to chant “Encore~! Encore~!”

We were probably in the dark for about 5 minutes before the cast came back onto stage, dressed in Dream Show 2017 t-shirts. The cast could finally introduce themselves lol. “We can finally speak! As ourselves!!” “It is okay? Can I really start talking? OKAY I’M DOING IT :DDD” Onoyu let loose and chaos descended upon the stage wwwwww There was no outline for this talk segment so they pretty much did whatever they wanted www

What I can recall, in dot points:

Thanked us for all the love and support which allowed YumeCast to reach it’s 2nd anniversary

Ohsaka was super nervous as it’s his first concert, and Tosshi said that he kept muttering “I’m so nervous” up till the moment before their first appearance on stage, yet once he stepped onto stage he slipped right into character and looked so calm and confident

Tosshi and Onoyu admitted that they sing with their faces (their facial expressions are “noisy”)

Tosshi praised Ohsaka for bringing the rowdy team together like a real Kyoya, and Ohsaka lamented the fact that nobody listens to him while the rest of the team surrounded him and danced and hooted like gorillas www

Tosshi thanked the crew and staff for all their hard work behind the scenes, from dance choreography to costumes. Staff were always on standby backstage, ready to help them change into their next outfits, and as he watched the staff work frantically to keep the show running he truly felt like he was part of a real life Yumeiro Company troupe.

Up till the last rehearsal, Hayashu got one of the hand gestures for CALL HEAVEN!! wrong (he made a fox shape instead of a “W” for “welcome”)

Tasuku and Yuuto put in a lot of practice for their dances. Yuuto practiced his zombie shuffle even while out walking in public and got stared at. “My favourite part of the dance is when they lift me up! :D”

Hanae said it was unfair that Hinata could capture everyone’s hearts just with his “Onee~san♥”, so someone suggested everyone do their own version of “oneesan“ and put them to a vote.

Tasuku was up first... and promptly tripped over his first line, in typical Tasuku fashion wwwww I love him, he’s so clumsy and uncoordinated ;3; They gave him a second chance and this time he said something along the lines of “Thank you for your support this past two years!” and ended on a very cute and energetic “oneesan!!!!” Ughhh PUPPYYYYY

Kaito’s embarrassed tsundere “O.. onee...san...”

Sousei’s calm, somewhat sly “Oneesan :)”

The audience cracked up at Kyoya’s “Oneesan, jiken desu.” (Oneesan, there’s been an accident.) I had to look this up but it’s apparently a famous line from an old TV drama called HOTEL, lol

Kyoya’s take 2. A heartfelt message to all the scriptwriters in the audience, followed by the sweetest “...oneesan”.

Hanae did a skit where Iori was surprised but ecstatic about receiving a present from the MC in the form of a limited edition shoebill merch. “Thank you, oneesan!!”

Zun-san..... was Zun-san. “How about we spend the night together? My one and only oneesan♥”

Finally, the last boss. Hinata started to speak in that saccharine-sweet voice, “Boku,” and already half of the audience were screaming from that first word... “I’ll keep on working hard, so keep your eyes on me, okay? Oneesan♥“ *dying whale sounds from audience*

“Why did we even have this competition, we already knew who the winner would be.”

“You had them at “Boku”...”

Tosshi pointed out that they shouldn’t leave out the handful of guys in the audience, so everyone banded together and yelled “Thank you, oniisan!” and the guys responded with “Yeaaaaaaah!!!” haha

Farewell messages, final thoughts, and thank you’s

Ohsaka admitted that in his first year of playing Kyoya he had regrets about accepting the role, but after some time he found ways to connect with Kyoya and he’s very happy to be part of YumeCast. (I had a feeling that he wasn’t enjoying himself when I watched him on YumeCast livestream... turns out my hunch was correct :0 I’m glad that he’s found his place now!)

Next they showed a video announcing upcoming projects (live action musicals, new CD’s, drama CD’s) and the release of the DVD/BD of Dream Show 2017. Everyone else perched on the staircase to watch the video but Tasuku made himself small and sat on the floor with his knees folded primly. Smol puppy....

Lastly, the crew performed NEVER END STORIES as confetti cannons shot glitter over the arena. Then the dancers joined the cast on stage for the final farewell. Everyone took their turn bowing and saying thanks. Kyoya was last to leave the stage, and he lingered for a few moments to thank the audience. Sousei, who was near Kyoya, came up to him and said “Kyoya, let’s go :)” and Kyoya nodded before retreating from the stage. *Audience dies again*

After the show, I remember feeling so happy and satisfied. Of course, every event I’ve attended has been fun, but none of them made me feel as loved and appreciated as YumeCast Dream Show 2017. They knew what we wanted, and they delivered. I rate it 10/10 for being jam-packed with content (honestly, nobody expected them to perform this many songs), and it was very impressive that every song had its own set of costumes and choreography. It really felt like watching a musical show. The concert felt like it ended too soon because everything moved so quickly, but it had actually run for just over 2 hours. I do wish that they had given the cast more talk time, but i guess that was sacrificed to make space for more songs. I can live with that.

I’ve been playing YumeCast for almost a year now and have considered quitting several times since the gameplay gets pretty repetitive after a while (plus new games coming into my life), but after this concert I have fallen in love all over again and will continue to support YumeCast ;3; Honestly, just from watching the monthly livestreams you can tell how hard they try to keep us happy.

#yumeiro cast #hatanaka tasuku #hanae natsuki #ohsaka ryota #ono yuuki #toyonaga toshiyuki #uemura yuuto #hayashi yuu #yumecast #event report

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tyson-berry-blog · 8 years ago

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Zach Werenski #1 - Skate Date

Anon asked: Hey! Could you write a zach werenski imagine where you guys go on a skate date and you play hockey too?

This is officially my first answered request. Anon I hope I did your prompt justice! I kind of flip flopped the prompt so that the date came last, I hope that is okay. I also took the liberty of picking OSU because of its closeness to the Nationwide Arena and because Zach went to the University of Michigan. Cute couple rivals? Maybe...

Being from the north, hockey had always been a huge part of your life. You were four years old the first time a stick touched your hands and you never looked back. For girls though, you understood the serious lack of ability to pursue the sport as a career but when The Ohio State University offered you a full ride to play for their team you readily accepted. You were unfamiliar with Ohio seeing as how you weren’t originally from there but it quickly became home.

A certain tradition existed with your team you soon found out, when after a particularly grueling practice the captain called everyone into a huddle. As a way to get to know the team better and still keep it hockey related, the university had a program set up with the local NHL team; the Columbus Blue Jackets. They sent both the male and female hockey teams tickets to a game and potentially provided the opportunity to meet a select few players. This was all part of their plan to get good press and persuade the local student population to attend their games.

You of course were beyond excited to attend. As a student your budget is pretty limited and while you loved hockey, you couldn’t find it in you to spend your small savings on a ticket. This small stroke of luck, as you fondly remembered it was how you were introduced to your boyfriend; Zach Werenski, a defenseman for the Columbus Blue Jackets.

The game against the Wild had been too close for any of you to relax properly but in the end the Blue Jackets squeaked out a 1-0 win. While the other fans filed out you and your team sat firmly in your seats as instructed and waited for security to find you and escort you to a more private location. No information on who you’d be meeting was revealed and on the walk down you listened to your team discuss who they hoped it’d be. You tuned out of the conversation because if asked you didn’t know if you’d be able to stop yourself from revealing your horrible crush on a certain defenseman. Only your roommate knew of your infatuation and that was because you two practically lived in each other’s pockets with how small the dorms are.

Your team spread themselves into a half circle across the room and waited for the unknown player to make their appearance. When the door opened and Nick Foligno stepped out you nearly breathed a sigh of relief. Your captain on the other hand looked ready to explode with excitement. She claimed her obsession with him was more out of respect because “game recognizes game” but the entire team could see right through her lie. Nick was polite and signed any sort of merchandise thrown his way. He offered to take a photo with anyone who wanted one and insisted on at least a group one. As everyone was finishing up you snuck away to use the restroom before the walk back to campus. You hadn’t realized how little you paid attention as you wound up not back in the media room but down near the equipment room at least several hallways over. There was no reception this far underneath the stadium so you chose to pick a direction and hope for the best. As you rounded the corner you ran straight into another person and promptly dropped everything. A flurry of apologies and trying to gather your things left you oblivious as to who you had quite literally run into.

“Would you like some help with that?” a familiar voice asked.

Fear washed over you as you looked up to meet Zach Werenski’s eyes. You didn’t know it was possible to be this embarrassed. He took your silence as a no and began issuing apologizes of his own.

You shook your head, “no, no it’s my fault. I should have watched where I was going. I just got separated from my group and somehow ended up in the one place in this whole arena with no service.”

“Your group?” he looked down at your OSU Women’s Hockey shirt and a small smile crept onto his face, “I was going to offer to show you back but since we’re sworn enemies,” he pointed to his own University of Michigan shirt, “it looks like I’ll just have to leave you here.”

He made as if to leave and you grabbed his arm in what was an incredibly bold move for you.

“Zach Werenski if you leave me alone in this probably spooky hallway I promise I will come back as a ghost and haunt you.”

He threw his head back and laughed, “I see. Well in that case let’s see if I can be of some assistance.”

You made a motion for him to lead the way and followed closely behind. Your team was gathered outside of the media room with your captain speaking frantically on the phone. You caught the tail end of the conversation and knew instantly that it was a voicemail to you. Your roommate saw you approach and as she went to tap your captain’s shoulder saw who was standing next to you. Her eyes got impossibly wide and a smirk you didn’t like the look of spread across her face.

“Shit,” you swore under your breath.

Zach turned to you, “something wrong?”

You shook your head, “no not yet.”

“Not yet?”

“Well I’m going to have to kill my roommate but that is if I don’t get killed by my captain first. Don’t leave! Maybe it’ll soften the blow.”

“Yeah okay. Anything to keep a pretty girl like you from getting hurt.”

You didn’t have time to process his words before the rest of your team noticed your return. Your captain’s shoulders dropped in relief but that was short lived before she began yelling, “You wandered off without telling any of us where you were going! How could you be so irresponsible? You will be skating suicides until you throw up! I am actually sticking to that this time, no getting off easy.”

She hadn’t noticed you companion yet and when she did she turned on him, “and you, who do you think you … are Zach Werenski,” she gave a weak smile, “great game tonight. I am sorry for whatever antics she dragged you into. Please don’t report us, we will make this up to you in any way I promise.”

“Hey,” you objected, “I didn’t do anything.”

Your captain gave you a glare that instantly shut you up, “not now.”

Zach came to your defense, “no really she didn’t do anything. She was lost and I volunteered to bring her back.”

Your captain narrowed her eyes, “let us still make it up to you somehow. Tickets to a game? A restraining order against us and a promise to never return? Anything.”

Zach considered this for a minute, “alright how about this. This one,” he pointed to you, “agrees to join me on a date.”

Your heart seemed to stop. He couldn’t have actually said that, but based on the various reactions from your teammates it seemed that those words did come out of his mouth. They looked at you expectantly and you found yourself nodding before you could stop yourself. You handed your phone over to Zach to exchange numbers and numbly waved goodbye with a promise to set a time for your date. It was your roommate’s arm around your waist that kept your legs from giving out.

After that encounter when you finally came to your senses, you and Zach planned for that following Friday for your date. It was only a mere four days away and you were in no way ready. While yes he was easy to talk to, and yes he made you laugh, you were afraid that wouldn’t carry over once you were in person. As a way to make you more comfortable you suggested that the two of you go to the local public rink and take it from there. No matter the situation your skates kept you at ease.

After your final class of the day you hurried back to your room to get changed and mentally prepare yourself for what was ahead. You had remembered to grab you skates from your equipment bag after practice that morning and decided simple jeans and a comfy sweatshirt would be enough. You made your way to the bus stop that would take you into town when your phone buzzed several times in your pocket. There were several messages from your team all with the general “Get to the rink now. Team meeting.”

You panicked. You were supposed to meet Zach in twenty minutes but you couldn’t not go to a team meeting. They were the reason you were going to college for free. You typed out a quick “Hey something came up. Can we push the time back?” to Zach and prayed the meeting wouldn’t take too long. When you jogged to a stop in front of the rink only one unfamiliar car sat in the parking lot. You assumed the team would already be there but maybe not. You shouldered through the doors and were met with silence. No obnoxious singing to pop songs or just general talking could be heard. You continued on into the actual rink and saw a lone figure lounging in the stands. The bright blue and yellow of the hoodie were nearly forbidden on this campus so it could only be one person.

Zach climbed down the stands at your approach, leaving his gear at his seat and met you next to the ice entrance.

“What are you doing here?” you asked, very confused.

“Our date,” he said nonchalantly.

“Okay, no. We were supposed to meet at The Igloo in town.”

“Well,” he dragged out the word, “I figured a more private, quiet place would be a better location for a first date.”

“How the hell did you pull this off Werenski?”

“Last name huh? I pulled a few strings and maybe bribed your captain with several signed Nick Foligno things. A personal ringtone might have been thrown in there as well.”

You nodded, “yeah she is surprisingly easy to bribe, I speak from experience.”

“Now that is a story I need to hear. See, we are already learning so much about each other. I doubt this would have happened at The Igloo.”

He jogged back up into the stands and grabbed his stick, “see because we’re here you can grab yours and we can have a little one-on-one.”

You rolled your eyes but went to grab your equipment nonetheless. By the time you came back out, Zach was already taking shots into the empty net. Where he had produced the pucks from you were unsure. You glided easily on the ice and swiftly stole the puck from underneath him. This started your unofficial but highly competitive game of keep away. He chased after you unsuccessfully as you always managed to stay just out of reach. Eventually you both grew tired and switched to taking lazy laps around the rink. You learned a lot about him: his favorite food, the name of his childhood dog, and what he planned to do it being a hockey player didn’t work out. In turn you shared with him your favorite movies, best hockey moment and an outrageous story about your mom and your first day of college. Despite you meeting under interesting and frankly unflattering circumstances you found yourself at ease with Zach and were glad for the encounter you once thought would just be a bad memory.

#nhl imagines #nhl imagine #columbus blue jackets imagine #hockey imagines #zach werenski imagine #zach werenski #columbus blue jackets

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mrtuckerlane · 8 years ago

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2017 Denver Open: Let’s Play Some Chess

As I walked into the ballroom of the Ramada Englewood, I wondered what the other players thought of me. Was I really that guy, the guy that people saw walk through the door and immediately say to themselves, “Man, I hope I play him first round?” I had to look awkward with my chess board. It had been years since I last carried it in public and any swagger I once possessed was sure to have dissipated under time’s corrosive force. And my attire? Well, I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to be wearing, so I tried to look classy in my favorite black button-down (see my profile pic). As I approached the registration table, any doubt that I was a complete mark was completely erased.

“I’m here for the chess tournament,” I stammered, unsure if I was in the right place, doing the right thing.

“Okay, what’s your name?” the lady at the computer asked.

“Tucker Lane,” I responded. Having given my first and last thousands of times at the scorer’s table of wrestling tournaments, I sounded like an impostor, an identity thief using my name in a foreign arena. I haven’t checked my statement yet, but my credit card may have gotten flagged for suspicious activity, even though I never swiped it at the venue.

“Hmm, you’re not in the system,” the lady answered in confusion.

“Yeah, I’ve never played in a chess tournament before,” I rejoined immediately, “but my chess teacher from long ago convinced me to come play, so I thought I would check it out.”

“Who was your teacher?” she asked, genuinely interested from behind her dark-rimmed glasses. I think she was excited that chess was being extolled to people outside of the small circle that comprised the community.

“Damian Nash.”

“Oh, that’s great!” she said enthusiastically. “Damian is actually already here.”

“Yeah, I know. That’s part of the reason I came down. It will be good to see him again. It’s been 15 years since he was my chess teacher.”

“Well, let’s get you registered,” she said, turning her attention back to the computer. “You’re going to need a U.S. Chess Federation membership, which is $40; a Colorado association membership, which is 15; and the entry fee, which is $65 for non-Denver Chess Club members. Which division do you want to enter?”

I missed her question as I did the math in my head. One-hundred twenty dollars?! The figure was disarming to a guy who had been teetering back-and-forth on whether or not to play. I thought about turning and cutting out, but the registrar’s persistence kept me on the hook.

“Sir, which division do you want to enter?” she repeated.

“I don’t know,” I answered, still slightly dazed by the steep cost of the entry fee, “but for $120, put me in the division that gives me a chance to get a win.”

“What’s your rating?” she asked, trying to garner some information as to where I might best fit.

“I don’t have a rating, but I’m sure that if I did, it would not be very high.”

“Okay,” she added pensively, “so you’re entering as an unrated player. I’m going to go ahead and put you in the Under 1400 division.” As I soon discovered, there were three different divisions within the tournament. There was the Open division, which was comprised of the studs. This is where the Grandmasters, the Masters, the Experts–and the few eccentric people who wanted to be beaten by these royalty of chess–met to compete. There was the Under 1800 division, which consisted of really good chess players who weren’t quite ready to play with the big boys and girls. Then there was the Under 1400 division, which was full of little kids, has-been’s, and never-will-be’s. This was where I found myself. I handed the lady a crisp Benjamin, a crumpled Andrew, and went into the lobby to wait for the first round.

I found a sofa in the corner and sat down by myself. I hadn’t seen Damian anywhere, and I literally knew nobody else. With no one to talk to, I whiled away the minutes observing the bustle of the hotel. There were kids sitting on the carpet, playing games of quick chess. Every table in every conference room was occupied by checkered boards as players recapitulated and re-imagined what had transpired in their favorite games. Old men paced hallways, engrossed in chess literature, trying desperately to find that one clue that might give them the edge in their upcoming games.

As the round approached, the officials posted the pairings on the wall. I stood up and went to look at the U1400 sheet. There were 50 tables set up in the ballroom and from what I could tell, the highest-rated players sat at table one, a beautiful marble surface flanked by two thrones of velvet, located at the front of the room. To give you an idea of where I stood in the hierarchy, in my first-round match, I was placed at table 50, a teetering plastic counter-top accompanied by two fold-up chairs, tucked away in the back corner of the ballroom.

My first round opponent was a lady named Kathy. She appeared to be between 60 and 70 years of age, and her countenance reminded me of the weird sisters from Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Her mouth was crooked, her left eye was squinted, and she had a long, gray braid that hung down the middle of her back. Her rating was 1016, which suggested that while she was not very good, she was at least experienced enough to get a tournament rating. She hobbled up to table 50 and gave me the stare-down.

“You Tucker?”

“Yeah,” I answered affirmatively. “You must be Kathy.”

“We’re using your board,” she directed, cutting past any pleasantries. “Do you have a clock?”

“No,” I said. “I thought clocks would be provided. I apologize–this is my first tournament.”

She dug into her chess bag and produced her clock, setting it next to my board. It had been 15 years since I had last played a timed game, and I tried my hardest to remember how it functioned without having to ask and draw further attention to my novice status.

“Be gentle with it,” Kathy commanded. “I’ve gone through dozens of clocks over the years and don’t want to buy another one.” Just as she was explaining her chess-clock woes, a young kid approached us, in need of a clock for his game.

“Excuse me,” he said. “Do either of you have a clock we could borrow?”

“No,” Kathy snapped back,” and even if I did, I wouldn’t let you use it.” The kid moved on down the line, unabashed by Kathy’s stern denial, and Kathy turned her attention back to me.

“Never let anybody borrow your clock,” she coached me. “People don’t respect other people’s stuff. And move the board closer to the middle of the table. It’s not fair that it’s closer to your side than mine.”

With the tournament director explaining the rules of the first round to the crowd of roughly 100 players, I stood up and situated the board closer to Kathy’s side. Even though I had slept soundly the night before, had not been at all nervous about the outcome of the tournament, there was something in Kathy’s brusque, abrasive manner that made me want to beat her. An old familiar feeling of butterflies in my stomach, heart fluttering in my chest returned to me as the director signaled the beginning of the first round.

As the white player, I had the built-in advantage of getting to move first. Damian always said that in high-level chess, white wins 50 percent, black wins 25 percent, and 25 percent end in a draw. With the odds in my favor, there was no way I would let Kathy put me in a 0-1 hole to begin my chess career.

I started strong, calculating my moves based on the numerous chess principles I had committed to rote memory over the years. Control the center. Develop all pieces. Castle the king to safety. As we moved into the middle game, I had a convincing lead, all of my pieces well-aligned to attack, ready to unleash chaos on Kathy’s cramped, backward defense. Tournament chess was not so hard, and I envisioned texting my mom in a few minutes to let her know that I had won my first official chess game.

And then my plans of that celebratory message were crushed by a single blunder.

Over-anxious to bring the death knell upon Kathy, I moved my rook into her back rank one move too soon, putting her king in check, but leaving my powerful piece vulnerable to attack by her hidden knight. The exchange of my rook for her knight was too significant a disparity for me to overcome, and Kathy systematically used her advantage in material to decimate me. My most far-fetched tricks exhausted, all hopes of Kathy making a blunder of her own vanquished, and my defeat was sealed in checkmate.

I breathed slowly, calmly in an attempt to subdue the rage that was heavy in my chest. How could I have lost a game I was so clearly winning? Why did I always make such stupid mistakes? If I couldn’t beat Kathy, who was I going to beat? AHHHH! Blunders! Blunders! Blunders!

Kathy extended her arm across the table, the fat from the back of her elbow hanging low, and offered me her hand in acknowledgment of a game completed. She also gave me some words of advice. “Make sure you count all of your pieces. It’s easy to get them confused with the player sitting next to you. I would hate for you to be down a piece before your next game.” I gave my pieces a cursory one-over. At this point, I was too frustrated with my performance to care about losing a piece, and I forcefully stuffed them all into my bag.

“Can you please sign my scorecard?” Kathy asked, pushing the small piece of paper toward me.

“Where do I sign?” I asked lugubriously.

“Down there at the bottom.” She pointed with her stubby little sausage finger. “You sign mine, I sign yours, then we take them over to the head table so they can enter the results. Here, let me show you.” She picked up our scorecards, took me by the hand, and led me where I was supposed to go. We dropped the cards in a little basket and then walked across the room and recorded the result on the wall chart. My loss was official.

As I stood nearly a foot taller than Kathy, she had to tilt her head back and look up to make eye contact with me (well, with her one good eye). “Tucker, that was a good game for your first time. You are a handsome, polite gentleman, and I hope you win the rest of your games.” We shook hands once more, and she shuffled out of the ballroom. Her magnanimity made me feel bad for the less-than-flattering opinions I had initially formed of her, made me feel petulant for the string of obscenities that littered my mind in the aftermath of my defeat. Still, I wondered if she would have found me so handsome had the final result turned out the other way.

Chess has an interesting custom in which the players get together immediately following their games to go over what the other player was thinking, how he or she would have moved in a certain scenario. While I was seething, looking for furniture to move, searching for the proverbial wall to punch, the Masters of the game were learning from each other, taking the opportunity to improve their craft. It’s pretty impressive to watch, as they are able to remember exactly what they played 20 moves prior and all of the different scenarios that would have arisen had they chosen a different alternative. It was in this exercise that I reunited with Damian.

He didn’t recognize me immediately. After all, it had been 15 years. A few seconds later, however, a knowing smile emerged on his face, and he stood up to shake my hand.

“Tucker Lane,” he exclaimed. “How excellent to see you. Are you here playing? Here watching?”

“I’m here playing,” I answered. “I saw what you posted on Facebook, and I made up my mind, after 15 years, that I was finally going to enter a tournament. Unfortunately, I lost my first game, a game I was well-positioned to win. Knights continue to give me trouble, and I ended up dropping a rook as a result. It was all downhill from there.”

“That’s okay!” he said, beckoning me to follow him. “Let’s go over some knight concepts I think you will find useful.” He led me to a meeting room in the back of the hotel, where he had a chess board setup, and proceeded to instruct me on the various strengths, weaknesses, and tactics of knight play. He was such a good teacher, and I readily absorbed everything with which he presented me. After a few minutes, our study was interrupted by a swashbuckling youth who entered the room to say hello to Damian.

“UTAH IN THE HOUSE!” the boisterous young man cheered, opening his arms in offer of a hug. Damian chatted with him briefly before introducing me to his acquaintance.

“Alexander, this is one of my old students, Tucker Lane. Tucker is playing in his first-ever chess tournament.” Alexander turned his attention to me.

“TUCK!” he exclaimed, placing a hand on my shoulder. “You look like you workout, Tuck! Can I see a little flex, Tuck?” he flashed his skinny biceps in imitation of what he wanted to see from me before moving behind me and squeezing my traps and shoulders. “Oh yeah: Tuck’s a strong one!”

“Tucker was a world-class wrestler in his prime, having won many state and national championships before advancing on as an Olympic alternate,” Damian explained to the exuberant youth. I didn’t interject to correct Damian as he embellished my career accomplishments, and Alexander offered me a high-five in congratulations of all I had accomplished.

“That’s what I’m talking about, Tuck! Nobody around here wants to mess with Tuck! Well, I’d mess with Tuck on the chess board, but you know what I’m talking about,” he chided before turning and bidding us adieu.

“Who was that?” I asked in amusement.

“That’s Alexander. Alexander is undoubtedly one of the top two or three best players in the state of Utah, but he has a reputation as being a very cocky young man. In fact, he’s offered a $500 reward to anyone in Utah who can beat him. He thinks he’s the next Bobby Fischer, but he’s getting ahead of himself.”

I understood what Damian meant about Alexander being a very cocky young man. As if our first exchange weren’t enough of an indicator, for the rest of the weekend, whenever I would pass Alexander in the hallway, he would run up to me, give me a playful right-left, right-left to the midsection, and exclaim, “Tuck-Tuck-Tuckety-Tuck! Ouch! Are those abs made of steel?”

My next game pitted me against a young man named Braden. He was afflicted with some sort of palsy and although it seemed like he was only 10 or 11 years old, I was probably underestimating because of his condition and diminutive stature. His rating of 687 suggested that if I were to have any hope of winning a game, it would be against this young man. A much more inviting target for conversation than Kathy, Braden asked me numerous questions about my background in chess as we waited for the second round to commence.

“I always wanted to play physical sports,” he explained, “but my disability never allowed for it. I decided to start playing chess as a way to be competitive in something. I’ve been going to tournaments for several years now. I know my rating suggests that I’m not very good, but the only reason it’s so low is because I’ve played in so many kids’ tournaments. In reality, my rating should probably be somewhere between 900 and 1000.”

Great. I thought I was getting a guaranteed win, but my hopes appeared to be prematurely wrought. I was in for yet another battle. No win would come easily for me on my maiden voyage in competitive chess.

In stark contrast to my previous game, I played exceptionally poor chess from the beginning. Despite starting out as white yet again, I quickly found myself in a material and positional hole to my young adversary. Just when I resigned myself to the inevitably that a win would not be possible from my current position and turned my attention to coming up with a strategy to coax a draw, Braden was the one to make a blunder. He left his rook unprotected from the attack of my stealthy knight (how ironic!), a mistake he recognized the instant he removed his fingers, leaving his piece in harm’s way. The grimace on his face when he realized the magnitude of his error would have stirred the most granite of hearts, but I was in no position to feel sympathy for other people’s colossal mistakes–I still felt the stab of my own too deeply. I quickly scooped up the hapless rook, regaining a lead I would never relinquish. I had won my first game as a real chess player.

“Oh, man, I had you,” Braden lamented as he shook my hand in conclusion. “I had you, and I blew it. I absolutely blew it.” I could not disagree with him–he was right. Had it not been for his mistake, there is little doubt he would have won the game. But the mistake he made, and I was happy to take any win I could get.

The third round saw me paired against a young girl named Lauren, rating 1075. On paper, my strongest opponent thus far. For the sake of this story, and my ego, let’s just say she was in middle school. A cute little blonde, she had the disposition of a pit bull. I approached our table and asked if she was Lauren.

“Yes,” she shot back curtly.

The forceful nature of her affirmation gave me pause, and I asked, gently, if she would like to use my board.

“That’s fine.”

Conversation over.

Unlike my first two contests, there was no clear advantage gained in the early and middle portions of the game. We jockeyed for position, back-and-forth, each of us deftly thwarting the other’s attempts to gain control. Lauren had an odd habit of turning her head and looking at the wall, ignoring the board in front of her, as she considered her next move. As we entered the end game, Lauren forked my two rooks with her bishop, a potentially debilitating attack, and for the first time in our battle of more than two hours, she made eye contact with me and smiled faintly.

I’m not a chess Master who can think 10 moves ahead, but I do have the ability to think two. Seeing that Lauren was likely to jump on the opportunity to fork my rooks with her inferior piece, I had myself in position to neuter her attack by putting her king in check with my queen. What’s more, in doing so, I connected my queen with my rook stationed on the seventh rank, confining her king to the back of the board, a prison from which he would never be able to escape. The game lasted several more moves as Lauren tried to trade pieces and wait for me to make a blunder, but I avoided one of my customary pitfalls and eventually checkmated my young adversary. Turning her head away from me, Lauren tried to squeeze my fingers off in the post-match handshake, rose, and exited the building.

I ended the first day of my first chess tournament with two points. In tournament play, a win counts as one, a loss counts as zero, and a draw is worth half a point. My two points put me in 8th place in my pool of 22 competitors. Nothing to brag about, but I was happy to have gotten a couple of wins and have myself within striking distance of the top spot with two games remaining. When Kathy saw that I had ended the day with two points, she congratulated me and drew attention to the fact that I had surpassed her, as she would be going into day two with only a point and a half.

My first game the next morning came against a Turkish gentleman named Sulleiman. Although he was probably my age or younger, his thick black beard, heavily receding hairline, and hairy chest and back gave him the appearance of a man in his 40′s. While his rating coming into the tournament was only 967, he sat in 6th place in our pool, having beaten a pair of competitors with ratings over 1200. I knew I was in for a tough game but if I were to win, I would have three points and be a strong candidate for the U1400 title.

We battled evenly through the first dozen moves of the game, each of us knowing how important this contest was for our final standing. Sulleiman eventually got my black bishop into some trouble, and he started chasing it with a couple of measly pawns. After several moves, he decisively threatened my piece and appeared to have it trapped with no means of escape. However, I saw that my queen had his defending pawn pinned to his own black bishop, and I could feel the oxygen sucked from his chest as I took his lead pawn with my bishop. Thoroughly exasperated at not seeing the pin he created on himself, he rose from his seat and went outside to smoke a Marlboro Red while he considered his next move, his clock running all the while. After a lapse of nearly 10 minutes, Sulleiman came back into the ballroom. He took my bishop with his defending pawn, giving my queen an open lane to take his black bishop and leaving me a pawn up for the game.

When reviewing the game later in the day, Damian lauded me for the daring attack I launched. “Tucker, that is absolutely sweet. That is just a sweet, sweet move. That’s where chess becomes an art form and why I always thought you had such promise as a player. It’s not conventional, but the execution is nonetheless effective. You’ve given yourself the lead and find yourself in strong position to win the game against an outstanding opponent.”

Alas, I was not able to convert my material advantage into a win. As per usual, I found myself haunted by a pesky knight and in my knee-jerk reaction to extricate myself from the pestilence, I foolishly traded off more powerful pieces and squandered the lead I had so creatively built. Sulleiman eventually sentenced me to checkmate, my hopes of winning the tournament officially over. Still, I had been within an eyelash of the top in my very-first competition and if I could find a way to win my final contest, I could leave Denver with a winning record, feeling good about my prospects as a chess competitor.

My fifth-round match-up was against a guy named Kirk. Kirk was one of the highest-rated players in the U1400 division, coming into the tournament with a mark of 1267, but, somehow, he had lost to a couple of players rated significantly below him, leaving him tied with me at two points apiece. It wasn’t the most ideal of match-ups for me on paper, but it appeared that Kirk was not playing his best chess and if I performed at the top of my game, perhaps I could hand him yet another loss.

However, when the round started, Kirk was nowhere to be seen. As players all around me built their fortresses and smacked their clocks, I stared around the room in perplexity, wondering where on Earth Kirk could be. After several minutes, I got up, went to the tournament director, and asked him what I was supposed to do in the given situation.

“You start his clock,” the man instructed. “If he’s not here within an hour, you win the game by forfeit.” I went over, did as I was instructed, and found a sofa as I waited for the hour to elapse. Although I wanted to play, a win is still a win, even if it comes via forfeit, and finishing with three points would leave me within the top-ten of my pool–not bad for a first-timer.

About 45 minutes into my wait, the tournament director came out into the hallway and beckoned me. “I think your opponent is here.” I went back into the room and saw a man sitting on the opposite side of my table and steeled myself for the reality that my third point would have to be earned the hard way.

Instead of playing chess, he looked like he should have been working behind the counter of Joe’s Garage. His short-sleeved, baby blue button-down was tucked into his Wranglers, his protuberant belly creating quite the strain at the midsection. Beads of sweat trickled down his forehead from beneath his grease-stained Ford baseball cap, and his neatly-trimmed gray mustache was getting perilously close to Hitler territory.

He made his moves quickly and decisively in order to make up for time lost. I tried my best to match his pace, not letting him use any of my clock to consider his next move. I wanted to keep my advantage in time. I did some good things throughout the game. I made him move his king early, eliminating any opportunity he had to castle to safety. While he had his entire queen side confined to his back rank, I got all of my pieces active and into play in the opening.

But for all the good I did, my weakness against the knight was once again my undoing. Kirk found a hole deep in my position. methodically worked his knight across the board, and put me in check, creating a fork on my king and queen. Deflated by the loss of my queen and livid at my inability to foresee knight attacks, I elbowed the top of my king’s head, tipping him over and ending the game in resignation. I angrily scribbled my name across Kirk’s scorecard, thrust my chess set back in its case, and stormed out of the hotel.

I stewed the entire drive home. I absolutely hated losing at chess. It was probably some kind of narcissistic, deep-rooted machismo in which I liked to think I was smarter than everyone, and losing at chess dispelled this lofty opinion I held of my own intelligence. I could write off the loss to Kathy as the first-time jitters, the loss to Sulleiman as a game well-played against the eventual runner-up. But the loss to Kirk in which I had a 45-minute head start? That one stung. After starting the day in 8th place in my pool, I finished in 17th, leaving me as essentially the sixth-worst player in a tournament of over 100 people.

By the time my fury subsided, I reflected on the weekend and came to some more rational conclusions from the experience:

Knights, knights, knights! I’ve got to practice more with knights, and any time I have the chance to get my opponent’s knights off the board in a fair exchange, I need to gladly accept

Don’t get flustered after making a blunder! Rather than feel like all is lost after making a critical error, I’ve got to rebound, think rationally, and try to find a way to play through the game rather than resign

Improved sportsmanship! It’s okay to be upset at defeat, but I’ve got to be more cordial with my opponents and be willing to review my games with my adversaries like the Masters do

Despite the disappointing end to the competition, it really was an enjoyable experience. It was really cool to be a part of such a diverse group of people competing for a common goal. I’ve never been part of a competition in which such equality existed among participants, as old and young, male and female, black and white, decrepit and virile, English-speaking and foreign-tongued, all entered on an even playing field. Chess is truly a universal language, one that I clearly don’t speak as well as many.

The next tournament is in Colorado Springs in mid-August. Will I be back for Round 2, or will I do like Iron Mike and fade into bolivion?

Only time will tell.

#chess #chess tournament #competition #first time #denver

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quietzzzone-blog · 8 years ago

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Dark Souls 3: The Ringed City Review *SPOILERS*

Having been a late adopter of the Souls’ series, I hadn’t been around to experience the original Dark Souls and Demons Souls in their heyday. However, I did jump in just as my personal favorite, Bloodborne was released. I’ll have to admit, at first I hated the series. I thought the controls were stupid, I thought it was too hard, and the pre-patch loading screens for Bloodborne were unbearable. However, after hacking and slashing my way to the first boss, The Cleric Beast, and managing to defeat him on my third try, I was immediately hooked to the unique adrenaline rush I’d never before gotten from playing games before.

Within a few months, I had snapped up every game that From Software, the developers of Bloodborne, had released in the past 6 or so years. For nearly 2 years, the Souls games were the only games I ever played. As a gamer, after I graduate next year, the thing I will remember most about college is falling in love with the series and spending weekends and summers with friends playing through the games multiple times, creating new builds with each new run and fighting my friends with them, and doing challenge runs where I did not allow myself to level up my character.

In those 2 short years, I had fallen in love with the worlds of the games, specifically the world of Dark Souls. It was this massive world with lore that now spans 3 games, and 6 expansions, but now, after 8 years, the Souls series has come to a bittersweet end.

The DLC is accessed by the bonfire (the games version of checkpoints and fast-travel) in the Kiln of the First flame, where the final battle of the base game takes place. It can only be accessed after completing the first DLC as well as the base game, which tells us that the events that take place all occur after the conclusion of the game. In other words, the DLC is the series finale.

Upon sitting at the bonfire, you are teleported to a crumbling citadel with church-like buildings collapsing and falling off the cliff into a seemingly bottomless abyss. You are soon greeted by an angel that immediately begins to fire at you, and you must quickly run for cover. As you make your way through the rest of the area, the buildings become less and less common, fading into burned down buildings and dunes made of ash. You are greeted with two more demons, both of which can be killed and never respawn, implying that they are the last of their kind. This area made me worried about the quality of the DLC. This first area had fairly lazy and confusing level design that left me wandering with no sense of direction, all the while being shot at by angles that could kill you within a single round of firing their bows.Eventually, with the help of my friend with his tablet, I managed to find the *VERY DIFFICULT* jump I had to make from the cliff onto a tree branch below that is competely obscured until you get to the ledge. I probably spent two hours in that area, completely enraged. I complained the entire time about how FromSoft had completely flushed away everything they had built a reputation for in terms of level design with their final DLC. However, after making it to the next bonfire and jumping off the cliff, I plunged into an enormous cavern where I immediately was thrown into battle with the first boss of the game. It starts with you fighting 2 demons that switch between toxic and fire based damage, and you have to stay aware of the location of the other demon while attacking the one of your choice. After dispatching the first, you can then focus on the second. After killing both, the bosses’ health bars disappear, but you don’t get the familiar “Heir to the Fire Slain” message. Instead, you hear a scream and the last demon you killed stands up, except this time much larger than before and brandishing a new name: The Demon Prince. The entire fight is reminiscent of the infamous Ornstein and Smough fight, and I immediately fell in love with it. After a few tries I managed to slay him, and once again, I felt the same rush that I had felt the first time I killed a boss in the series. By this time, I was feeling better about the sendoff to the series, but I wasn’t convinced yet.

However, no more demons or angels ever showed up again, most likely meaning that both races are now extinct. Knowing that the gods have all been dead for over a hundred years, the last one being killed by Aldritch, the Devourer of Gods, the player truly is alone. There are no longer any supernatural forces, either good or evil at work anymore.

The next area has the player ducking behind cover similarly to fleeing the angels, except this time, it’s an entire wall of archers firing at you with arrows that you can *actually* dodge. Seeing the ethereal forms of the ghost archers appearing all at once to kill you was one of the most awe inspiring,as well as dread inspiring, moments in the series.

Passing this, you get into the the collapsing remnants of the last city of humanity, which has slowly devolved into a swamp. Getting through here, you find the boss Halflight, This boss has you fighting both the main boss as well as another player that the boss summons in to fight alongside him.

After killing him, you find a temple with a woman holding a broken orb. Touching the orb causes the player to go into a hypnotic state and the world around you crumbling. When the cutscene ends, you step out of the now destroyed temple onto a gigantic desert of ash. It’s very clear that you’ve gone into the future, but it is a future almost completely barren of life. As far as the eye can see, there is nothing but ash.

Stepping out into the ash, you’ll see a king that has been severed in two, crawling towards you trying to escape the “red hood”. After progressing a bit further, the final cutscene of the series begins, the final boss fight commences. The arena is by far the largest in the series, and the jagged terrain of the dunes makes for a very fun boss fight. He fights a lot like the Knight Artorias from the orginal game’s DLC at first but getting him to lower health lets him attack with his cape, a machine gun like crossbow, and if that weren’t enough, a storm begins brewing, eventually meaning you have to avoid being struck by lightning as you’re fighting him. It was an extremely intense fight, and choosing to go for a more subdued aesthetic for the final boss reflects the more somber tone of the DLC. Killing him rewards you with the blood of the Dark Soul, not the Dark Soul itself, as he had absorbed it.

There is also an optional boss where you fight a dragon, who has the biggest health pool of any boss in the series, and also has some of the most difficult to avoid attacks in the series. To get to him, you have to knock him off the bridge you cross to fight Halflight, and then follow a series of secret tunnels to get to his arena. You jump down into a cave filled with water, and the limp body of the dragon is lying on the far side of the cavern. Walking towards him brings him to his senses and the fight beings.

As I started playing last night, I have not yet killed this boss.

Now for a bit of lore:

The base game’s canon ending is where you extinguish the flame, ushering in the age of darkness. Up until now, it was believed that doing so would end the Age of Fire (also known as the Age of Gods), and usher in the new age, the Age of Dark (or the Age of Man). With the fire burning, humanity, which had been created by the Dark Soul could not thrive, so it would make sense that extinguishing the flame would allow them to do so. However, because we flash forward in time in the DLC, we can see that this is not the case. In fact, the world began to rot and die because it no longer had the flame. And with the player going through and killing everything, you are extinguishing all hope of anything ever being rebuilt.

Flash forward to the final boss, Slave Knight Gael. He was fetching the furtive pigmy (or the Dark Soul) to bring back to his mistress who needed it to paint (I don’t understand it either). However, after coming into contact with it, he was driven mad and killed the royal pigmy family (the ones chosen by the Dark Soul). And he absorbs the Dark Soul into himself. However, when you kill him, you don’t get the Dark Soul itself, you get its blood, meaning that you killed the Dark Soul. With no Dark Soul, humanity has no chance of being restored. You have literally ended the last life in the world.

That seems to be about as depressing as you can get, but it gets worse. Because you killed Nito, the keeper of the Death Soul in Dark Souls 1, there is no God of Death anymore, and no more afterlife. And the last two being left to live, yourself and the painting lady, are not only immortal but infertile.

You are the villain in Dark Souls.

Final Words:

I was extremely nervous after the first DS3 DLC that the sendoff to the series was going to be a let down, and I was kind of disappointed that there was no cutscene after killing the final boss, but after thinking about it and creating my own interpretation of the lore, the momentous weight of this ending is going to be something that sticks with me for a long time. The 4 fresh bosses that are all difficult but fair, and the stunning visuals of the levels reminded me of why I fell in love with the series in the first place.

Sure, I’ll replay the games over and over again just like always, but knowing that I will be responsible for the apocalypse of the world that I have grown to love over the past few years will haunt me forever, and that, I think is the most beautiful ending I could have asked for.

Final Score: 9/10

#dark souls #dark souls 3 #the ringed city #gaming #dlc

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bestfriendforhire · 5 years ago

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Children of BFFH, Entry 33

“Four! Help us!” exclaimed Doc in a panicked voice.

“What’s wrong!?” I questioned, not accustomed to Doc sounding scared.

“Some of Dani’s vampires have gone very evil. Being chased! Help!” she exclaimed.

“I’ll gather the troops and find you.” I promised, relieved that only her character was in trouble. I hadn’t initially noticed that Mila was relaying telepathy from Ancient Tribes of Earth. Knowing my big sister’s penchant for trouble in the game, I could understand why Doc would be feeling overwhelmed. Dani probably led her faction of vampires into the city, got bored when no one noticed, and left them to their own devices. The game was designed to automatically generate quests based off where players had guided the story, so Doc and…

She had said ‘us’, but was she playing with Aspy or someone else? Didn’t matter. I sent out a message to the other kids, checking if they were available while I logged in from my desk. If Doc was panicking, her team was in immediate danger. Aid, Luce, Messy, and Crazy responded immediately. Aid and Luce were free, but Messy and Crazy were out with Auntie Aaliyah, leaving me feeling sorry for whomever was dealing with those three. Auntie Aaliyah might have invented trouble, though she’d never confirm or deny it.

My character, Peredur Ashenwake, was short for a human but tall for a pixie, a hybrid of both. I didn’t find out there was a chance he wouldn’t be able to fly until after I had made him. Luckily, he could.

“I’m in. Where are we meeting?” asked Aid using the in-game telepathy. His Kyduan Ashenwake was named for an uncle among the dragons, son of Arthur. Kyduan inherited more magical skills from our parents than Peredur, but Peredur had a few weapon skills and many of the racial benefits of a pixie.

“Doc, send me coordinates.” I ordered. A vision of her area appeared on my screen with Aspy’s Seraph Wood being chased at the edge of the vision. I quickly cast my Pixie Wayfinding spell to hone in on the location. Then I switched my telepathy channel to Kyduan and said, “Head West of Ashengarde and look for my flare over the forest.”

The brief order was repeated several times as Luce, the quadruplets, and Stormcrow joined us. The others had to be too busy. Gathering took much longer than I would have hoped, but Doc reported that Holly and Seraph were currently holed up behind a barricaded door.

��“The vampires haven’t taken mist form, so they’re obviously not terribly old, meaning Dwynwen might be able to command them. Let’s try that first and fight if it fails.” I explained as we hurried to save Holly and Seraph.

Luce’s Dweynwen Ashenwake was a Pixie who was turned into a vampire the very day she was made due to Dani’s sweetalking. Luckily, Luce never regretted it.

“On guard!” called Aid.

I saw what he had a moment later as I turned. Something streaked through the sky, looping back toward us and stopping just in front of Peredur. “Dreamdust?” I asked in surprise.

“Hey, guys! Didn’t know Doc called you too. Want some help?” she offered.

“Yes, please!” I replied along with several of the others.

Auntie Kayla’s Dreamdust was transformed many years ago at the same time as Dani and Auntie Iris’ characters. Unlike my sister’s chaotic band of vampires, Auntie Kayla’s Legion of Blood was a very organized force that occasionally aided The Garde.

“Madeleine’s coming too.” added Auntie Kayla, as she repeatedly used the cheer emote on Dreamdust.

“The more, the merrier.” I replied, suddenly feeling that we wouldn’t be needed.

Auntie Cosette was co-founder of the Legion of Blood and a real-life vampire of exceptional power for her relatively young age. She had been trained from birth in Slayer arts which had been perfected over a couple hundred years by her father, King Louis XVI. Then she was trained by the eldest vampires to further enhance her vampiric abilities as well as mundane skills. Her character, Madeleine, was considered a one woman army by many players after dominating the annual arena competitions for ten years straight. Sure, my parents and Auntie Raine didn’t compete, but that was still very impressive.

We continued on our way with Dreamdust waiting up for us. Massive iron doors blocked our way shortly after heading through a large cave entrance.

“Want to…” started Auntie Kayla, interrupted by a loud screech as something flew through the doors. “Hey, Cosette. Glad you could make it.”

An adorable, blonde halfling with scarlet eyes appeared in the new opening to look at us. “Hi, guys! Come join the fun!” she replied before wrenching the doors apart with the terrible squeal of rent metal. Pointing behind her at a large group of startled vampires, she said, “Sick ‘em.”

No one argued, charging into battle with unbridled fervor. With two Aunties here, there was no danger for our group. We could get as crazy as we wanted. I tried out a new maneuver I had been practicing, using Peredur’s wings for a quick dodge back while pulling and hurling a dagger as a surprise attack. The best timing was the tricky part. The game was built around humans playing with greatly enhanced framerate helping the game be enjoyable to those more like myself, but the timing of some moves continually changed due to characters growing faster and faster. The combo system allowed you to string moves together and trust the server to calculate optimal strikes, but interrupting the combo once initiated could be difficult. Being able to string moves together on the fly was immensely more versatile and decreased the chance that Peredur would be struck due to a combo that was too long for the situation.

The vampires here were tough, very tough as we proceeded deeper into the stronghold, so I could easily understand why Doc and Aspy needed our help. Auntie Kayla broke off to retrieve them after our progress was slowed, and Auntie Cosette took off to crush the leaders, assuring us we could handle this much on our own.

Luce, Maiko, and I took to the front with our characters as Aid started casting an overly elaborate offensive spell. Aika, Aiko, Maimo, and Stormcrow focused on smaller ranged attacks to help keep us from getting overwhelmed while Aid finished his spell, a massive burst of fire that incinerated the vampires caught in it. The rest were easy to mop up. We had numerous other small skirmishes as we headed through the halls before Auntie Kayla caught up with Doc and Aspy in tow.

When we arrived at the main hall, undulating waves of blood flowed from the corpses into Madeleine as the room started to cave. Thick stone pillars had been completely smashed, and the remaining ones were cracked. Auntie Cosette had obviously gone a bit wild in her enthusiasm. Though everyone loved my sister, her antics occasionally gave vampires in the game a bad reputation, something Auntie Cosette ardently fought.

Noticing us, she called “Better run! I think I broke the cave.”

I didn’t need to be told twice, though I stopped when Doc called out.

“Wait! We need an amulet off the leader for our quest!” exclaimed Doc anxiously.

“I’ll get it.” replied Auntie Cosette, seeming to suck a body into her character.

If not for Auntie Kayla, some of us would have been crushed before escaping, but Dreamdust was incredibly strong, holding up a ceiling while flying. When Madeleine seeped out of the rubble as a current of blood, she brought out piles of loot that somehow squeezed through the cracks with her form. For our brief and unnecessary endeavor, we were very well rewarded. The adults barely claimed a thing.

#Children of BFFH #Children #of #BFFH #Jovial Times #Jovial #Times #Fantasy #Fiction #Story

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torentialtribute · 5 years ago

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Ashes: Edgbaston staff leave cheeky message for Australia during their training session

& # 39; Interesting decision to uphold this scoreboard & # 39 ;: Edgbaston employees leave brutal message for Australia during their Ashes training session as they remind players of their semi-final defeat by England

The Australian squad prepares for the Ashes starting on Thursday

They have been left behind to remind England of their defeat in the World Cup

Former Australian star Jason Gillespie saw the scoreboard with the text 226-2

That was the total that England scored for their fierce rivals to report earlier this month

By Jack Kinnersley For Mailonline

Published: 13:48 BST, July 29, 2019 Updated: 13:48 BST, July 29, 2019

Edgbaston employees left a cheeky message while Australian players were training on Monday.

The Aussies are preparing for the Ashes starting on Thursday and they have been left in memory of their defeat to England in the World Cup semi-final earlier this month.

Former Australian cricketer Jason Gillespie saw the scoreboard 226-2, as that was the total that England scored to beat their fierce rivals on their way to winning the World Cup.

Former Australian c Rickley Jason Gillespie saw the scoreboard with the text 226-2

Gillespie said: & # 39; Interesting decision by Edgbaston to keep this Aussie team scoreboard for training today … & # 39;

One of the players in training on the Birmingham-based ground was Australia pacemaker Josh Hazlewood, who stepped up pressure on Jason Roy for the Ashes, and reminded the English batsman about the dangers of transferring his one-day thinking to the test arena

Roy & # 39; s references in white-ball cricket are undisputed, with his fearless, aggressive style crucial in his triumphant World Cup campaign by his side, but his ability to achieve that success in repeating the five-day format is not yet certain.

England's selectors were clearly cautious, and the 29-year-old opted for 84 ODIs before sending him in white against Ireland for the first time last week.

Edgbaston staff trained a brutal message on the scoreboard while Australia was training

& # 39; We & # 39; I'll see how Roy is doing in Test cricket. He has only played one test match and opening the batting in a test is very different from a one-day game, that is for sure, &, said Hazlewood.

& # 39; In England, opening is probably the most difficult place, making the record of Alastair Cook probably even better. It is difficult to play offensive cricket in those circumstances. & # 39;

& # 39; Aaron Finch found it hard last summer against a high-quality Indian attack on wickets that didn't do much to be honest. I think he thought it was a big step forward to be honest. He found the swinging ball and sewed around and the wickets were very different from a one-day wicket.

& # 39; He had played much of his four-day cricket at five or six and I think Roy was the same with Surrey. It's hard to hit five at a lower level and then open in Test cricket. We will see. & # 39;

The Aussies are preparing the Ashes starting on Thursday where they will encounter England

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terryblount · 6 years ago

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Fortnite Season 9 Update is available for download, full patch release notes revealed

Epic Games has released a brand new update for Fortnite. According to the release notes, the Season 9 patch comes with some weapon and item changes (for example it adds Combat Shotgun and adjusts Tactical Shotgun damage), as well as some gameplay tweaks and enhancements.

Moreover, it resolves some cases of invisible characters after skydiving, optimizes the eye adaption rendering effect and the animation performance for ControlRig (Werewolf, Krampus), and adds a setting for the display of voice chat indicators.

Furthermore, this latest update (also known as patch 2.20) fixes cases of jittery movement under certain conditions, adjusts turbo building to be more forgiving under poor network conditions, resolves an issue with the UI showing health gains incorrectly if the player canceled the consumable close to completion time, and resolves the misplacement of Launch Pads in mid-air.

As always, this update will be auto-downloaded from the Epic Games Store launcher and you can find its complete changelog below.

Fortnite Season 9 Patch Release Notes

WEAPONS + ITEMS

Added Combat Shotgun

Semi-Automatic

Holds 10 Shells.

Fires 9 pellets per shot for 73 / 77 / 81 base damage.

Tight spread and fast fire rate.

Headshot multiplier of 1.70x.

Reloads 2 shells at a time.

Available in Rare, Epic, and Legendary variants.

Available from Floor, Chests, Supply Drops, and Vending Machines

Adjusted Tactical Shotgun damage

Base damage increased from 66/70/74 to 71/75/79

Reduced Drum Gun availability from 16.732% to 7.155%

Reduced Boom Bow availability from 1.292% to .755%

Unvaulted Grenades

Vaulted Clingers

Vaulted Buried Treasure

Vaulted Pump Shotgun

Vaulted Poison Dart Trap

Vaulted Scoped Revolver

Vaulted Suppressed Assault Rifle

Vaulted Thermal Assault Rifle

Vaulted Balloons

Bug Fixes & Improvements

Turbo building after gliding now works correctly.

The stink bomb damage audio and effects were not playing if you damaged yourself.

Fixed the Shadow bomb occasionally not making the player invisible on the Xbox One the first time it’s used.

Misplacement of Launch Pads in mid-air has been resolved.

Pirate Cannon camera issues due to network latency have been resolved.

The Reboot Card deposit sound effects no longer play in replay mode while the Van is on Cooldown.

The Reboot Van card sound effects will no longer be heard when a squadmate disconnects.

GAMEPLAY

Slipstreams

These tunnels of wind passively carry players down the stream.

Players can move faster and change direction when actively trying to move down the Stream.

Use directional input to gain extra velocity. Experiment with bobbing up and down for higher speeds.

Players are launched when exiting the tube based on their movement speed and exit angle.

Projectiles and Vehicles can also enter the Slipstream.

Air Vents

The powerful gusts of air from these environmental items can launch players short distances and grant immunity to fall damage.

Fortbytes

Fortbytes are a series of 100 collectible computer chips available to Battle Pass owners. As you collect Fortbytes, you’ll decrypt a mysterious image. Collect them all to unlock rewards and uncover the secrets of Season 9.

On the first day of Season 9, there are 18 Fortbytes available to find. At least 1 new Fortbyte will be unlocked each day. Check the Challenges Tab for detailed information on which Fortbytes are currently available and when the others unlock.

Fortbytes cannot be collected after Season 9 ends.

Disconnected players will stay in the world for 60 seconds. They still take damage and count for elimination points.

Bug Fixes & Improvements

Resolved an issue with the UI showing health gains incorrectly if the player canceled the consumable close to completion time.

PS4 controller lighting not always matching your pin color when in Squads.

Players not able to use Hold to Swap if they previously picked an item up normally

Adjusted turbo building to be more forgiving under poor network conditions

Fixed cases of jittery movement under certain conditions.

LIMITED TIME MODE ROTATION:

TRIOS

Classic Battle Royale with Three-Person Squads.

SOLID GOLD

Fight to the finish using Legendary weapons!

ONE SHOT

Low Gravity. Every player has 50 health. Sniper weapons are the only weapon, Bandages are the only healing item. Jump high and aim well!

EVENTS

Players who have already qualified to be in the World Cup will be marked with a World Cup badge on the event leaderboards

Leaderboards now have a button to sort games by the number of top leaderboard players in them. This will help identify the most critical active games from a leaderboard standing view.

The in-game HUD now has different icons for points for Arena matches and weekend tournament matches.

PERFORMANCE

Improved frame rate on Nintendo Switch, particularly when large numbers of characters are onscreen.

Addressed some cases of invisible characters after skydiving.

AUDIO

Better tactical audio when inside player-built structures:

Enemy Pickaxe impact within ~one building tile radius has new, louder sound.

Wallbreak by enemy close/behind player much clearer/louder.

Explosion audio improvements- shorter, higher dynamic range sounds that will make explosion audio clearer and punchier.

Bug Fixes & Improvements

“Swap” text appearing in the pickup UI will no longer appear when picking up more resources than the player can carry.

The initial storm warning timer was incorrectly showing as 0.

Spectators and replay watchers can now report users.

Fixed party invites not showing up in the UI if the user logged out and back in again.

SPECTATING

Spectating a player’s match will now automatically follow that player.

MOBILE

Auto fire will now trigger on vehicles.

Added option for increasing elimination feed line count in the HUD Layout Tool.

Dragging/Dropping from the quickbar is now allowed while jumping.

The location of the boost button on Android for the X-Stormwing has been moved to avoid triggering the Home button.

Squad formation is now accessible.

Bug Fixes & Improvements

The delay with interacting when using the quickbar slots has been resolved.

Weapon icons now correctly display icons on the quickbar.

Fixed sliders that were broken in the Dead Zone tab of the Controller Options.

Auto fire adjustments:

Semi-automatic weapons now fire correctly.

Increased acquisition delay for shotguns.

Dynamite trajectory indicator is now correctly displayed during use.

Ziplines can no longer be ridden past their endpoints.

Autorun no longer takes more than two taps to initiate after jumping from Battle Bus.

Cooldown Timer visual for boost buttons on vehicles is now displayed correctly.

The camera no longer shakes when entering the X-Stormwing.

Left virtual thumbstick no longer becomes invisible when holding left or right and pressing the fire button.

The Harvest Tool UI button in HUD layout is no longer invisible.

The stair railing in Pleasant Park no longer clips through the door.

Variant numbers partially hidden in the preview screen by the “X” button.

The Dream cosmetic is now correctly displaying:

The butterfly

Eye glow effect

Widow’s Bite pickaxe visual effect issue has been resolved.

The Cooldown ring timer showing briefly when switching seats in Cannon.

Interact Icon is no longer missing with certain consumables.

Input Blocked text will no longer appear when opening the inventory.

The Item Shop arrows now display correctly on iPhone XS Max.

GENERAL

Reworked default button layout to be consistent across vehicles (Enter, Exit, Switch Seat and Boost)

Sub-game select screen has been refreshed.

Bug Fixes & Improvements

Improved visibility of squad icons on lobby player pads in large parties

Squad icons in large parties can no longer show an empty slot as ready

Selecting a highlighted team member in the lobby with a controller can no longer show options for a different member

Players will now appear correctly as a hologram, when joining a player currently in match

Reworded Squad formation messaging to be more clear

Fixed invisible character parts of players who are still loading into the match.

SOCIAL

Players now remain in the Party voice channel by default when entering a match. The Game channel is still available, but the switch is no longer automatic.

Added a setting for the display of voice chat indicators.

Bug Fixes & Improvements

Suggested friends in the social panel match the suggestions in the launcher

The “Sit Out/Jump In” button in Squad Formation is now displayed correctly

Sending a friend invite to a suggested friend no longer fails

Can now still send party invites after joining and leaving a party while set to “Friend” party privacy

Fixed potentially incorrect notification message when joining a channel

Voice indicators are no longer stuck on screen when leaving a party while members are speaking

Fixed duplicate voice indicators appearing for the same speaker

PERFORMANCE

Optimized the eye adaption rendering effect

Optimized animation performance for ControlRig (Werewolf, Krampus).

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Fortnite Season 9 Update is available for download, full patch release notes revealed published first on https://touchgen.tumblr.com/

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fmservers · 6 years ago

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No, Tencent isn’t about to burn Reddit down

Ahoy, it’s doom and gloom for Reddit after the company welcomed investment from Chinese censorship overlord Tencent.

Well, not quite.

The reality is, in fact, it’s quite the opposite. In recruiting the company behind one of the internet’s largest and vibrant social networks — chat app WeChat — and countless blockbuster games, Reddit has pulled off a major coup and banked a huge amount of cash, both of which can help it grow to the next level.

But, right now, reports in the U.S. are suggesting otherwise. You might have seen a range of negative stories surface in the past week following Reddit’s latest round of investment — first reported by TechCrunch — which is led by Tencent and values the company at $3 billion.

Triggered by a Gizmodo story last week, fear is being stoked that a deal with the “Chinese censorship powerhouse” could lead Reddit awry and bankrupt its morality, well, whatever of that it has left. Reddit users, not ones to be slow on humor, have already plastered the site with content that would be forbidden in China, including Winnie the Pooh, the cartoon character often used to represent Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Gizmodo referred to Tencent as “one of the most important architects of the Great Firewall,” and that’s a refrain that has been repeated in countless other reports.

I get it, it‘s a delicious irony; one of the lawless parts of the internet combining forces with a company that aggressively monitors and censors its users. Plus, Reddit is already blocked in China.

But, unfortunately for Gizmodo, the fears are overblown and its descriptions of Tencent are at best naive and at worst deliberately misguided.

China’s censorship system

Tencent is no “architect” of China’s Great Firewall internet censorship program. It’s one of a number of companies which, from its success, finds itself a prominent target for the government with little room to wiggle out.

Tencent sits in an awkward position, for sure. It is the largest internet company in China — it became the first $500 billion firm in Asia last year — and that makes it a core part of the government’s ongoing campaign to control Chinese internet space.

After an unprecedented crackdown on the Twitter-like service Weibo in 2012, when the government closed down comments for three days, China’s censorship became more proactive rather than reactive. That approach leaves fewer traces, for one thing, and it allows Beijing to shift responsibility to the platforms themselves, which fear the repercussions of angering authorities.

That’s to say that today’s dynamic sees China’s top internet companies, including Tencent, instructed to monitor the content produced by their users and, where necessary, remove it.

Reddit CEO Steve Huffman delivers remarks on “Redesigning Reddit” during the third day of Web Summit in Altice Arena on November 08, 2017 in Lisbon, Portugal. Web Summit.

Censoring social networks is one thing, but censoring WeChat — Tencent’s prized asset and China’s top messaging app with more than a billion monthly users — is another thing altogether. Tencent has been roundly (and rightly) criticized for implementing a range of “silent” blocks that, for some terms, prevent messages from being sent or picked up by the receiver.

Likewise, it has also purged millions of accounts from WeChat following numerous rounds of government-led initiatives that crack down on media, pornography and unsubstantiated rumors.

Those crackdowns and censorship moves are not false, but Gizmodo is painting a picture that suggests Tencent is complicit in cleaning its slate.

The truth is that the company, even a company of its size, has no choice in the matter when the Chinese government comes knocking with demands. To ignore the summons, or fail to act, would cause Tencent — a publicly listed company — serious problems that would not reflect well for shareholders. Adhering to these demands is expensive and resource-intensive, as it requires a new “content checking” division with specialist employees hired and trained. In short, it is certainly not something companies willingly opt-in to.

Reddit confirms $300M Series D led by China’s Tencent at $3B value

A rite of passage

Tencent is definitely not in control of the agenda, as anyone with an eye on tech in China can tell you. The company suffered a poor end to 2018, in part because the Chinese government decided to freeze new game licenses.

That left Tencent unable to monetize its new roster of games, a situation that saw it lose countless hundreds of millions in revenue and saw its share price drop by nearly 50 percent between March and October. The freeze has only just thawed, with a handful of licenses tentatively distributed this year.

So much for the Chinese government looking after their own.

These issues affect every tech company in China with a meaningful presence. Getting hit by government demands and censorship requests is a rite of passage for tech startups in China, like a dreaded badge of honor that shows your service has grown suitably influential to be considered a threat.

That happened to ByteDance, the company behind TikTok, the current social darling for many U.S. media. Last year, its CEO was forced to issue a groveling apology after it had “overemphasized growth and scale over quality and responsibility.”

The company resolved to increase its content checkers (read, censorship police) from 6,000 to 10,000 people, a move likely made to appease the government. Still, it was made an example of, with a number of TikTok apps removed from app stores and shuttered on the word of authorities.

Welcome to the club!

But it isn’t just Chinese companies.

Tencent became Asia’s first $500 billion company thanks to a stock rally — today it is worth around $425 billion [Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images]

Choices

Apple, the self-proclaimed protector of freedom, removed every unlicensed VPN from its China-based App Store at the behest of the government in 2017. While, in a rare move that runs counter to its core privacy focus, it relented to state rules and agreed to store Chinese iCloud user data on Chinese soil, through a government-backed cloud service provider, no less.

The difference between Apple and the likes of Tencent and ByteDance is that the U.S. company has a choice. It entered China voluntarily and it has complied with free speech-quashing demands to keep its revenue flowing.

Tencent and ByteDance, as the biggest internet players, would have a tough time moving outside of their native China and remaining in business. Maybe, in today’s censorship-heavy era, some Chinese companies wish they had started out in Hong Kong or another domain, but few markets have the opportunity that comes with 800 million internet users.

The point is that they have no control over censorship demands and no leverage to push back. To blame them — and paint them as co-conspirators, even “architects” — is misleading.

Tencent, in fact, has a reputation as a skillful investor that can be an asset for non-Chinese companies.

Its capital and guidance helped Fortnite creator Epic Games completely revamp its business into the smash hit success that it is today. Elsewhere, Tencent is the largest single investor in Snap — CEO Evan Spiegel has said he often seeks its guidance — and its other deals include Tesla, Discord, Kik and more, none of which have resulted in the introduction of censorship.

Yes, Reddit and Tencent are strange bedfellows, but that’s exactly the point of venture capital. The best founders surround themselves with different opinions, perspectives and experiences to ensure that they are evaluating all possible strategies. Tencent can give Reddit unique insight which, for those who use it, can only be a net positive for the future health of Reddit’s business and continued service.

Via Jon Russell https://techcrunch.com

#TechCrunch

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toomanysinks · 6 years ago

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No, Tencent isn’t about to burn Reddit down

Ahoy, it’s doom and gloom for Reddit after the company welcomed investment from Chinese censorship overlord Tencent.

Well, not quite.

Gizmodo referred to Tencent as “one of the most important architects of the Great Firewall,” and that’s a refrain that has been repeated in countless other reports.

But, unfortunately for Gizmodo, the fears are overblown and its descriptions of Tencent are at best naive and at worst deliberately misguided.

China’s censorship system

That’s to say that today’s dynamic sees China’s top internet companies, including Tencent, instructed to monitor the content produced by their users and, where necessary, remove it.

Reddit CEO Steve Huffman delivers remarks on “Redesigning Reddit” during the third day of Web Summit in Altice Arena on November 08, 2017 in Lisbon, Portugal. Web Summit.

Likewise, it has also purged millions of accounts from WeChat following numerous rounds of government-led initiatives that crack down on media, pornography and unsubstantiated rumors.

Those crackdowns and censorship moves are not false, but Gizmodo is painting a picture that suggests Tencent is complicit in cleaning its slate.

Reddit confirms $300M Series D led by China’s Tencent at $3B value

A rite of passage

So much for the Chinese government looking after their own.

Welcome to the club!

But it isn’t just Chinese companies.

Tencent became Asia’s first $500 billion company thanks to a stock rally — today it is worth around $425 billion [Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images]

Choices

The point is that they have no control over censorship demands and no leverage to push back. To blame them — and paint them as co-conspirators, even “architects” — is misleading.

Tencent, in fact, has a reputation as a skillful investor that can be an asset for non-Chinese companies.

source https://techcrunch.com/2019/02/12/tencent-reddit-nononono/

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rickhorrow · 6 years ago

Text

10 TO WATCH/5 SPORTS TECH/POWER OF SPORTS 5: RICK HORROW’S TOP SPORTS/BIZ/TECH/PHILANTHROPY ISSUES FOR THE WEEK OF SEPT. 17: Mayors Edition

with Tanner Simkins

Florence is not a sports fan. While the destruction and loss of life caused by Tropical Storm Florence has thankfully not reached the level of Hurricanes Harvey and Katrina, sports entities in the Carolinas and beyond have felt Flo’s impact. The chaos caused by Florence saw a half-dozen college football games in Mid-Atlantic seaboard sStates canceled or moved, with many decisions made by bottom line implications. Clemson’s 38-7 home win over Georgia Southern came in the face of a reported $2 million loss by canceling the contest, and Virginia chose to move its home game against Ohio 500 miles northwest to Nashville rather than forfeiting a “home game” opportunity. On the NFL front, the Panthers, playing out of harm’s way in Atlanta, are taking a "multi-pronged approach to relief efforts that includes first making contacts with nonprofits," many of whom owner David Tepper and the team have "worked with in the past,” according to the Charlotte Observer. Meanwhile, NBA Hornets owner and North Carolina native Michael Jordan is "urging the team's fans to donate to relief funds in response to the impact of Hurricane Florence." As always, sports teams, leagues, and athletes are there to help in the wake of disaster, providing much needed morale boosters and dollars.

Major League Soccer All-Star Game heads to Orlando. MLS has formally announced that its 2019 All-Star Game "will be hosted at Orlando City Stadium," though an "opponent and exact date for the match are still to be determined,” according to the league. This will be the "second time in MLS history" Orlando will be the event site after it previously hosted in 1998 at "what was then known as the Citrus Bowl" (now Camping World Stadium). The 2018 game at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium drew a record crowd of 72,317. The 2019 edition "won’t draw anywhere near that large of a crowd because soccer-specific Orlando City Stadium has a maximum capacity of 25,500." MLS Commissioner Don Garber told Pro Soccer USA and assembled media that Camping World Stadium was "never" in consideration. The All-Star Game venue decision mimics the widespread trend of MLS clubs playing in “proper” soccer-sized stadia. Bigger isn’t always better.

Set to play its first season in 2020, Nashville’s expansion MLS franchise still lacks an official name. According to the Nashville Tennessean, bringing a new MLS team to fruition takes a significant amount of leg work and takes years in the making, but time is ticking for Tennessee’s first top-tier soccer franchise to finalize business. “We’re trying to be uniquely Nashville, be ourselves and build something that is right for the city and this league,” said Nashville MLS CEO Ian Ayre. The club is hoping to use the downtown Nissan Stadium, home of the NFL’s Titans, in its inaugural season while its soccer-specific stadium is being built. Many expect the club to be named Nashville SC, the current name of the city’s USL club, but that has not yet been confirmed. Entering the league in two years will also be an expensive venture for the ownership group, having to pay a $150 million expansion fee while also funding part of the new $275 million stadium.

Building a new stadium from scratch is not a cheap venture these days, but it is costing Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur significantly more than it ever expected. According to The Sun, Tottenham’s new $1.11 billion White Hart Lane is still behind schedule and the team is being forced to play games at Wembley Stadium until construction is complete. In order to expedite the already-delayed building process, Tottenham is paying construction workers as much as $5 million per week — “50% more than the club pays it players.” Just last month, at the peak of the building process, as many as 3,800 workers were at the site around the clock. Industry publication Construction Enquirer calculated that on average, workers at White Hart Lane were being paid $1,305 per week over a period in August. The construction of this facility also impacts the NFL, which has a long-term contract to play at least one game at the stadium going forward; just like Tottenham, the NFL will play those games at Wembley.

The Milwaukee Bucks’ new arena is finally open to the public. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the $524 million Fiserv Forum highlights a complete transformation of the downtown Milwaukee arena and will hopefully act as a centerpiece for the city going forward. The grand concourses and “soaring spaces” give the stadium a unique and special feel, while a “21st-century digital aesthetic” shows off the future-oriented approach that architects took when designing the arena. The entire seating bowl is darkly colored, which makes it stand out like Madison Square Garden. The stadium was designed to be multi-purpose, as the $250 million in public funding is expected to be returned through the diverse set of shows, performances, and events that it attracts. This is the NBA’s newest arena and the only one that will open its doors in 2018, coming a year after Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena and two years after Sacramento’s Golden 1 Center came online.

The Milwaukee Brewers are already looking toward October as they continue their quest for the playoffs. According to the Milwaukee Business Journal, the Brewers’ unexpectedly-good season thus far has left team executives anticipating a “banner year for merchandise sales, season-ticket renewals and keeping fans engaged.” The team’s attendance at Miller Park is set to exceed 2.8 million this season, up 200,000 from last year and the best figure since the club’s 2011 playoff appearance. Despite not having clinched a playoff spot yet, the Brewers have begun selling playoff tickets to “existing season ticket holders who renew for 2019 and to fans who sign up as new season ticket holders.” This year’s performance is that much more impressive when you take into account how strong the NL Central has been all season; the division is likely going to snag both of the NL’s Wild Card spots.

As Seattle inches closer to being awarded an NHL expansion franchise, city officials have stated that they will not allow the demolition of KeyArena to begin until they are guaranteed a team. According to the Seattle Times, the $700 million renovation of the iconic arena is expected to make the venue a “top-third” revenue producer for both the NHL and NBA, though the city wants to delay any construction at the site until the league’s executive committee signs off on the new team. December is currently being eyed as the start date for KeyArena’s total demolition, which is speculated to be the latest date possible to allow the renovation to be finished on time by October, 2020. “We are focused on and expect to be ready for the 2020-2021 season should approval be given,” said Oak View Group CEO Tim Leiweke. “Should that direction from the NHL change, we are prepared to move to 2021-2022.” Just like the American midterm elections, all should be known by early November.

MGM Resorts International and new professional football league, the Alliance of American Football, strike a massive transaction. According to Cynopsis Sports, MGM now has a stake in The Alliance and a three-year sponsorship that solidifies MGM Resorts as the league’s official sports betting sponsor and exclusive gaming partner. Since a federal ruling lifted the ban on U.S. sports betting in May, savvy businesspeople have been hungry to capitalize on the money to be made in sports gambling, which is exactly what this league is now doing. “We are excited to team with The Alliance on this unprecedented partnership, which allows us to fully engage with fans and revolutionize the fan experience,” said MGM Resorts Chairman and CEO Jim Murren. “We look forward to expanding our customer base into this exciting new league and sports betting opportunity.” As NFL ratings continue to decline, an Alliance season that begins directly after the Super Bowl is sure to cause a further ruckus in the football business.

The Sacramento Kings are now using RCS texting to send tickets and schedules to fans.2 texting allows the Kings to send tickets, schedules, and other rich info without using outside media such as email or using a specialized app. The club’s feature is available now through the Kings' toll-free number, but there's just one problem: since RCS is still a growing field, there's a good chance you may not be able to use the newly implemented technology. Unless you have an Android phone on a Sprint network, you won't get to see the power of RCS just yet. Nonetheless, this might be a peek at how sports teams operate in the future if RCS overtakes SMS messaging. Don’t panic, the Kings aren't about to give up on email or apps. The RCS messaging will act as an aid to transmit information for fans who'd rather not split their attention across multiple platform..

Irch Beach Resort and Golf Links hosted professional athletes like NBA All-Star Klay Thompson, Football Hall of Famer Andre Reed, and actor Cris Judd along with members of Linkin Park, Green Day, Of Mice and Men, and Avenged Sevenfold. This year’s record-breaking gala surpassed last year’s fundraising total as it raised $380,000 to benefit the Sheckler Foundation “Be the Change” initiative. The excitement kicked off Sunday with a Mardi Gras-fueled evening with music performed by New Orleans natives Kings of Brass and continued into Monday where celebrities, athletes, and loyal supporters of “Be the Change” arrived at the Fat Tuesday-themed golf tournament. Sheckler highlighted the intersection of sports, politics, and philanthropy and created waves of opportunity for other athletes to rise to the occasion and chair events as a means to give back to the communities around them.

#10 #10towatch

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