#bioshock ruined my life Explore tagged Tumblr posts

[jamisonwritestf2trash]

I finished bioshock again for like the eight time, not complaining about that I love the game it's great.

What I will complain about, however, is the fact I can't find any other games like it. All games are ruined for me. (It probably doesn't help that I'm only using my switch right now, but yk whatever.)

Please send games suggestions 🙏🏼

[raptureshots]

HOLYSHIT ITS BIOSHOCK DAY!!!!!!! 17 YEARS OF BIOSHOCKING BABY!!!!!!!!

Based off Butcher Vanity which is a very good song that YOU!!!! should listen to

[jinxitaj]

Any Way the Water Thrashes

JinxItYouKnowIt - Words: 3,175 - 2/3 Chapters Posted

A lonely father searches the ruins of an underwater paradise for his lost son. Or he would be, if not for a road block demanding a detour. Still, anything is worth it if it means Martyn will be ok.

Or: the Bioshock AU that no one asked for but me. Because I cannot stop myself from becoming obsessed with older media

Hi !! I went just a liiiiiittle crazy. Oops. This au has been a while coming, at least since last December. I just needed a way to process my Bioshock insanities. It's a REALLY good game, and I highly recommend you play it!! That being said, knowledge of the game is NOT necessary to read this !! I don't give a whole lore dump, but I do my best to be kind to those unfamiliar with Bioshock related things. Especially since this is a Life Series/Hermitcraft centric fic.

I hope you enjoy my silly thoughts, and please feel free to send me an ask if you have any questions <3

[wander-over-the-words]

A Train Car Fit for Two (Chapter 3)

Summary: The journey between stations is ample time for communication and upkeep, and a train car beneath the ocean is somehow the ideal place for it - at least, Subject Delta and Augustus Sinclair make it work.

Characters: Augustus Sinclair, Subject Delta, Grace Holloway, Sofia Lamb, Father Simon Wales; mentions of Little Sisters, Big Sisters, Eleanor Lamb, Splicers, Big Daddies, Mark Meltzer, Andrew Ryan, Elliot Nelson, Brigid Tenenbaum, Gloria Parson, Stanley Poole, cured Little Sisters, Prentice Mill, Julie Langford.

Warnings: tobacco usage, use of explosive, bodily harm; mentions of murder, death, money scamming, stealing, coma, gambling, blood, suffocation.

Notes: Basically a little series of scenes that could take place between each level of the game. I absolutely refuse to believe they never interacted in some kind of way on the train cause there is no fucking way Augustus Sinclair managed to stay quiet for a whole damn train ride (love you, Augustus).

Chapter notes: Get rekt, Sinclair.

All material belongs to Irrational Games.

Part 2 of 3 of my BioShock 2 fic series, Wherever Life Takes You.

Link to fic on AO3.

Chapter 3 of 5: Pauper’s Drop to Siren Alley.

…

So the big guy has spared Grace Holloway. 

On the prospect of Delta’s eventual encounter with Grace, Sinclair had felt rather neutral in how Delta would retrieve the override key. He’d presented to Delta the option of mercy, giving him every reason he could think of to deter Delta from killing her - she’s old, this grudge against Delta had been based on a misunderstanding, she’s unarmed - but Delta had never had to take his word on it, and Sinclair can’t say he’d be particularly broken up if Delta had killed Grace; he would have backed Delta’s survival instinct all the way. In Rapture, a bleeding heart tends to bring in the sharks, after all.

If anything, Sinclair had been testing Delta, poking his brain with a stick, sitting back and watching to see if Delta is a man of mercy or if he holds his own grudges. 

Sure, Delta’s been pretty nice to him thus far - which, he recognises, could just be that Delta is a polite man anyway, their partnership notwithstanding - and has spared the lives of the Little Sisters he’s come across. But encountering someone that had actively tried to kill him is a different story, and Sinclair had certainly never noticed Delta trying to show any such mercy to the Big Sisters.

By all means, Sinclair doesn’t really have a relationship with Grace - perhaps a small grudge of his own, for taking his hotel and humiliating him as she had - but even he had been brought to the edge of his seat (literally) while watching Delta enter Grace’s room and stare at her before taking the key. 

When Grace had tried to coax him into doing as he was ‘supposed’ to do, Delta had turned to her, and Sinclair had been gifted the view of the camera swerving back and forth.

It’d taken him a hot minute before he’d realised Delta had been shaking his head at her, to tell her no, no violence, no threat, no murder. And then Delta had turned and walked out, never laid a finger on her, never even got into her personal space. Just turned and left the room, even while Grace had cursed him out.

“You’re a bigger man than I am, chief,” Sinclair had said, and he’d meant it. Here he’d been, treating Grace’s fate like an experiment of Delta’s character, while Delta had only shown mercy to the woman who had done nothing but call him a monster and accuse him of ruining little Eleanor Lamb. He’s a man who sticks to his beliefs, and Sinclair honestly admires him for it.

And if he’s going to be even more honest, a part of him is rather relieved to see Delta has chosen mercy. It speaks volumes, after all, about who exactly Sinclair has agreed to lead through Rapture. 

Of course, he also spares a thought for his own situation: he’s well aware there’s the possibility of Delta discovering the truth about Sinclair’s own involvement in his making, especially if they’re to eventually get to Fontaine Futuristics, and knowing Delta chooses mercy when faced with a person who wanted him dead is a vote of confidence. Delta hardly knows Grace, after all, beyond her role as Lamb’s right-hand woman, while he and Sinclair have had the chance to get to know each other, if even a little. So that means he’s likely to be spared, if things go...wrong.

...Right? 

His imagination is in motion before he can stop it, crafting an image of Delta standing over him, having discovered what Sinclair had done, and Sinclair’s gut twists painfully even trying to think of what he might say to Delta then, never mind what Delta might do. 

The whole situation makes him feel itchy just thinking about it, so he chooses not to. 

After Delta had safely left The Sinclair Deluxe, thanks to help from Grace, Sinclair had sat back and watched as Delta had explored the rest of Pauper’s Drop, the curious Big Daddy he is, gathering supplies and finding tapes, including one from that Meltzer fellow, who’s apparently been on the same path as Delta. Way out of his league in Rapture, that one; Sinclair only briefly wonders if Delta will ever run into him - alive or dead.

Delta had, of course, spared some time to make sure the place was free of Little Sisters, too, and of course he’d cured them, even stood guard until they had safely disappeared into their vents. When he’d collected the final Little Sister in Pauper’s Drop, she had led him back to The Sinclair Deluxe to drain the ADAM from the corpse in the Atrium, and Grace had treated Delta to a song - Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out, the very same she’d once sang in protest against Ryan - which had admittedly sent goosebumps over Sinclair’s skin. 

He’ll never claim Grace hasn’t earned her reputation as a great singer.

“Well, sir - I don’t know what to call you now,” Grace says as Delta returns to the train station after slaying a Big Sister and a Brute Splicer. “You’ve done more than just spare my life, you’ve opened my eyes. I need to put a few questions to Doctor Lamb.”

Sinclair hopes Delta is getting the same satisfaction he is in knowing Lamb’s right-hand woman is showing doubt. Call him petty, but he can’t help the little tug at the edge of his lips, a smug smirk threatening to show itself. 

Maybe they haven’t exactly recruited Grace for their cause, and she is still one of Lamb’s followers, but even the smallest crack in a mirror ruins the reflection, and Sinclair will take what he can get.

It feels even better, honestly, when Lamb contacts Delta straight afterwards and lets it be known that she too has noticed Grace’s change in opinion.

“By sparing Grace, do you seek to gain my trust? A feeble ruse. Your crocodile tears may poison her with doubt, but I am not so easy a mark.”

Sinclair’s smirk turns a little cruel as he gives a small scoff, shaking his head. Of course she thinks Delta’s sparing Grace had been all about her in the end.

“Just take that override key,” Sinclair says, taking away Delta’s attention from Lamb, which somehow feels like something of a take that, “an’ slot it into the control box in the ticket booth there. That’ll open the gates.”

His gaze flicks up to look out the window to watch Delta in person as Delta walks up the small steps to go into the booth and put the override key to use. When he doesn’t immediately come out, Sinclair looks over at the screen to see what’s up and finds Delta to be staring at the television screen in there, at his own image on one of Lamb’s security cameras.

BE VIGILANT is the warning on this one, and it’s merely an overhead shot of Delta’s back as he walks away from wherever the camera had been set up. Sinclair’s not quite sure what Delta is getting out of staring at it - maybe he’s just curious, maybe he’s thinking some thoughts - but Sinclair’s almost tempted to ask the big fella if they captured his good side.

He doesn’t, in the end, but he does switch on their connection to snap Delta out of his daze.

“Hop on, kid - and start the train!” He puts on a faux-pout, his tone warm, almost an amused coo. “Don’t make me pull the whistle, now!” 

Whether or not Delta finds this funny, Sinclair doesn’t know, but he does pop out of the ticket booth seconds later, so either way Sinclair’s encouragement has worked. 

He disappears into the conductor’s cabin, the train starts to move with a shaky rumble, and they’re on their way out of Pauper’s Drop at last.

When Delta steps into his cabin, Sinclair smiles at him and waves his hand casually to welcome him back to their temporary home.

Before he can say a word, however, there’s a jolt in Delta’s shoulders, and he stomps quickly to the window of the train, watching the station disappear in the murky water behind them. He presses his hands to the glass, then lets out a short rumble and turns and runs back into the conductor’s cabin.

Confused, Sinclair watches him go, then looks to the screen on the wall to check what Delta is doing: the footage is swerving back and forth as Delta turns at the waist so he can look around, taking in the sight of the console, all the buttons and levers and switches. 

Another short rumble comes from under Delta’s helmet, and Delta turns and comes speeding back into the passenger cabin. He stops short by the doorway with something of a wheeze, one hand going to his chest, making Sinclair’s brow furrow worriedly, before he forces himself forward and rushes over to Sinclair, stopping before him, sudden enough that Sinclair flinches backwards in his seat, as if he thinks Delta will ram into him.

Delta points at the floor, then to the back of the train compartment.

Sinclair looks over in that direction, then up at Delta, bewildered. “What’s that, son?”

Delta points at the floor again, more frantically this time, then toward the back of the train.

Sinclair looks back over at it, ponders, then realises that Delta isn’t referring to the train itself, but rather, he’s pointing toward Pauper’s Drop. 

Delta spins and goes back to the window, trying to see the station again.

“What is it, kid?” Sinclair calls. “Did you forget somethin’ in the Drop?”

Delta grunts in the affirmative.

“Well, what is it? You got all your tools, don’tcha?”

Delta gives another grunt, then turns and repeats his message through pointing with his left hand, his right still pressed to the glass of the window.

Sinclair shakes his head as he understands. “As far as I’m aware, son, these trains aren’t built to go backwards until they finish their routes an’ gotta retrace their steps, so whatever it is you’ve left behind, there’s no goin’ back for it, I’m afraid.”

Delta stares, then lets out a soft, whale-like noise that sounds suspiciously...mournful as his shoulders slump and his helmet tilts forward, like he’s looking at the floor. His left hand squeezes into a fist while his right stays resting against the glass. 

From his seat, Sinclair watches him, brow furrowing in confusion and concern. He hadn’t noticed Delta drop anything on the camera - granted, he’d been distracted once or twice by his own deep thinking, so it’s plausible he missed something - and Delta had practically picked the Drop apart in his exploration. What Delta is panicking so much over, he has no idea.

“I don’t mean to alarm you, chief,” Sinclair says, “but considerin’ the state of the Drop nowadays, I imagine anythin’ you’ve left behind’s been picked up already. Probably gettin’ sold off as we speak.” He gestures vaguely back at the Drop with his cigarette holder. “I guess a desperate man’ll buy most anythin’.”

Delta looks up; he stares into space for a moment before a puff of air is shot under his helmet, almost sounding like an exasperated huff. Turning away from the window, Delta makes his hulking way over to Sinclair.

Delta stops before him, towering over his person, and stares in silence, no hand gesture or noise out of him. Obviously, he has no face to show, what with that headgear on, and so there’s really no difference from any other time Delta has stared at Sinclair, but something about his gaze this time feels...accusatory. 

Sinclair stares back, feeling uncomfortable in the silence.

Delta is...just...staring. He isn’t making a hand gesture to communicate a message or making a noise to indicate his mood, he’s...just standing there, staring. His shoulders aren’t up, his arms are at his sides, he’s standing at full height before him, and he’s just...staring. 

Sinclair glances away, then back up at Delta.

He clears his throat to break the tension and says, “I do hope you aren’t wantin’ a starin’ contest, chief, cause I reckon you’ll win out on one, no problem - ‘less, o’ course, you’re willin’ to remove your headgear, there.”

He nods at Delta’s helmet as he motions to it with his cigarette holder.

Delta doesn’t respond. He just keeps staring, and Sinclair is no stranger to being stared at by Delta, but this is definitely the longest he’s gone without trying to communicate something to him.

As someone who has avoided being looked at too closely in all his years of business, Sinclair starts to feel a little annoyed. Delta’s got him like a bug under a microscope, and Sinclair can’t claim it’s a position he enjoys being in. Delta better have a reason to be staring like that; he hopes that maybe Delta’s attempts at communication have just gotten clogged in his mind and he’s trying to figure out how to say what he’s got to say.

Well, Sinclair respects that Delta’s lack of actual speech is something to work around - for the both of them - but that doesn’t mean he’s got to like it.

“Now, chief,” Sinclair says, shaking his head gravely, “I can’t understand you when you try an’ chat with yer eyes. If you wanna talk, you’d best start usin’ your words - however you might get ‘em across.”

When Delta doesn’t move from there, Sinclair shrugs a shoulder and goes for his cigarette case.

“Well, if you don’t feel like playin’ fair, then I don’t either, sport. You’ll have to excuse me as I treat myself to a cigarette while I wait for you to make up your mind.” He slides the case from his pocket, alongside his matchbox. “I’d offer you one, but I have a feelin’ I won’t get a response.”

As he goes about retrieving a match and a cigarette, he hears rattling as Delta fiddles with something, but Sinclair stays focused on his task. It’s when he’s about to light the match, a cigarette prepped in his holder and the holder held between his lips, that there’s a click and a whirr of something coming to life.

“Now, I’m a modest man. But my piecemeal needle scam’s an outright masterpiece.”

Heart leaping in his chest in surprise, Sinclair’s head shoots up and he stares wide-eyed in surprise at Delta, who’s clicked Play on one of the tapes he’d found in the Drop, Sinclair’s own voice emitting from somewhere on Delta’s person, wherever it is that he keeps that tape player.

“Some slob shacked up here buys a box of syringe parts from me for twice what it’s worth. He assembles ‘em in his rathole, and I buy back the finished product...for a dime against the dollar that I’ll get from Ryan. Profit comin’, profit goin’. Ol’ Andy rambles on about the Great Chain...I got people shellin’ out to pull it for me!”

The tape whines to a stop and there’s silence between them for a few beats, then Sinclair hums around his cigarette holder and slides it from his lips.

“...So, uh,” he says, then points at Delta with his holder, slapping a smile onto his face, a laugh shaking his words, “that’s what happened to that old thing! Always wondered what became of it, figured I musta dropped it somewhere...in the Drop.” He gives an awkward chuckle at his own wordplay, feeling himself sweat when he doesn’t hear Delta’s warbling laughter. “Yeah - I heard you listenin’ to that back at the hotel, on your way to Gracie. Brought back some memories, hearin’ about that ol’ gimmick of mine.”

It had been a little embarrassing, having Delta pick up those old tapes. Delta has proved himself a nice fellow thus far, and everybody’s got their morals and their boundaries; what does Delta think of that old trick?

He doesn’t get a vocalisation, but he does get his answer: he’s treated to the sight of Delta folding his arms over his chest, an air of disapproval about him.

Ah. So Delta is a nice fellow, and not just to business partners, old ladies and small children, but now apparently to poor people. Right.

(Trust Sinclair to end up with a saint on his trip out of Rapture. The heavens have both blessed and cursed him with Delta’s presence.)

Now, he recognises that hadn’t been a very nice thing to do (had recognised it back then, too, just hadn’t given a damn), but he can’t help but still feel a little proud of that trick. It’d been utterly too easy to present the deal to any poor soul in the Drop; Elliot Nelson had just happened to be the one to forfeit over the dosh, take the parts, and unknowingly get less cash than he should have for the labour. Profit coming, profit going and all that.

Feeling a little hot under the collar, Sinclair clears his throat and sits up a bit straighter, putting his cigarette holder down in his lap with the case and the matchbox.

“Now, ah, chief - I recognise that it might not have been the, ah, kindest thing to do to a fella in that kind of...situation, but,” he holds up a finger, “it was the smartest thing to do as a fella in my situation.”

Delta’s shoulders give a jerk of surprise, then he pointedly takes a step back, away from Sinclair, and the knot his arms have formed over his chest tightens.

Wrong thing to say.

“Uh - Now, uh - W-What I mean is,” Sinclair says, waving a hand to tell Delta to wait before he jumps to further judgement, his other hand adjusting his tie even though he doesn’t need to, “is that...that was just how it was back in the day, kid: the fella with the fattest wallet in Rapture was the one on top - and I liked bein’ that man, even if competition was scarce. Who wouldn’t enjoy bein’ that man? It’s precisely why I came to Rapture, kid: to get rich. An’ that’s what I did. Sure, it, ah, mighta been at the expense of others sometimes, but, well,” he shrugs and offers a smile, “money doesn’t come from nowhere, now, does it?”

Delta remains unamused. He’s still staring, arms folded unhappily.

“Now, if the, ah, fella in question were still around, I’d be able to extend my apologies to ‘im,” he places a humble hand upon his own chest, “but unfortunately for everybody involved, I imagine he’s either pushin’ daisies for Lamb or spliced beyond recognition - certainly beyond hearin’ anythin’ I might have to say to him. So, I’m afraid that an apology is out of my reach, chief. But might I just add that it...wasn’t like I was stealin’ from the fella. He got some profit out of it, and I -”

His bullshit speech is cut off when Delta lets out a growl from somewhere deep in his chest, making Sinclair’s face fall, and Delta takes one arm out of the knot and waves his hand to tell Sinclair never mind that, stop talking now. 

Sinclair’s shoulders grow tense, confused; God knows, he’s been told to shut up before, but never before has it actually made him a mite nervous. Delta’s always seemed fine with how much he talks. 

Delta jabs himself in the chest with his hand, then points at Sinclair.

Sinclair ponders his meaning, looking him up and down, then his expression relaxes as he understands why Delta had wanted him to stop going on about Elliot Nelson and why Delta had actually brought up the tape in the first place, and he casts him a saddened look.

“Ohhh...chief,” Sinclair gives him a pout, “now, don’t tell me this whole needle mess has got you questionin’ our partnership.”

Delta’s shoulders go stiff, noticeably locking up, then he tightens the knot of his arms again, like he’s trying to put on an act, like Sinclair’s gotten him all embarrassed. 

Even still, he stands by his point: he’s now had three people unknowingly tell him nasty things about Sinclair - Tenenbaum, Nelson, and that Gloria Parson woman who had called him awful - and one who had made Sinclair sound suspicious - that Stanley Poole whose tapes he’d found in Ryan Amusements and Pauper’s Drop - and while Sinclair has been perfectly nice to him thus far, he wants to know if he’s really placing his trust somewhere he doesn’t want it to be.

Sinclair shakes his head sadly. “We haven’t been together for very long, sport, but I like you, and I consider you an equal in the business - as I should hope you see me.” He points at Delta. “You’re the kinda man who knows what he wants, and that’s always been the kinda man I wanna be partners with.” He waves a hand then puts it to his chest. “I certainly have no intention of turnin’ my back on ya. Heck, I even gave you my word, didn’t I? And my word is my bond, kid. You’re stuck with me, I’m afraid.” He dares to offer an amused little grin, then switches for a knowing smile. “Now, ah...I was sorta hopin’ you were givin’ me your word, too…?”

He leans his head forward, staring up at Delta pointedly from under his eyelashes, eyebrows raised as he waits for a reply.

Delta stares in silence, then his arms loosen. He turns slightly at the waist to look away from Sinclair thoughtfully, then he turns back to him properly and lowers his arms to his sides. 

Delta grunts in the affirmative, which has Sinclair sitting up straight in his seat, his smile perkier now and his mood lifted. Delta slowly holds out his right hand in offering, and Sinclair’s smile picks up at one side. 

Feeling as though the situation has been dealt with, he happily reaches out to take Delta up on his handshake.

“That’s right, kid,” Sinclair says, “partners - now until we get outta Rapture. I’m glad you see it my way.” He chuckles and draws a tick in the air in a gesture at Delta. “You might have a foot or more over me when we’re standin’ on flat ground, but I reckon we’re seein’ eye-to-eye just fine, aren’t we?”

Delta doesn’t vocalise, just gently shakes Sinclair’s hand in his loose grip, then breaks the handshake. 

As Sinclair goes about lighting his cigarette for himself, offering one to Delta and getting another rejection with a wave of the hand, Delta begins to walk over to the dented seat beside Sinclair, but before he can reach it, Delta repeats that wheezing noise from earlier and slows to a stop. His hand comes up to place itself over his heart again.

Sinclair raises his head from where he’s snuffing out the match by waving it in the air, his face falling and eyes widening. He takes the cigarette holder from his mouth, distracted entirely from his smoking.

“Kid?...Kid, are you alright? Are ya hurt?” He leans forward and points toward the back of the train with his cigarette. “There’s a first aid kit, son, on the wall over there - for emergencies durin’ travels - if ya need it -”

There comes a light sucking sound from Delta’s back, and Sinclair catches sight of how the container there that provides health is emptied a little, some of the red liquid going into Delta. Despite that, however, Delta doesn’t look any better, still droopy and holding his heart; his attempt hadn’t worked, it’s something his provided health can’t help with. 

Delta puffs out some air, like a sigh, then taps himself over his chest with one finger.

“Ah,” Sinclair says, relaxing back in his chair, “that’ll be your bond with young Eleanor tryin’ to shut you down. You’ve been goin’ too long without her, your conditioning’s tellin’ ya to pack it in.”

Delta lets out another affirmative sound. 

Eleanor had contacted him earlier, when he’d found the Hypnotize Plasmid she’d left him; her presence in Rapture will keep him alive, but his heart is still weakening. They’re getting closer to her, but not close enough to keep Delta healthy.

“I’m...afraid there’s...not a lot I can do to help with that, sport,” Sinclair says with a wince. “Would if I could, trust you me, but...only Eleanor can help ya now.”

Delta gives a grunt, the hand not holding his heart waving idly at Sinclair to assure him it’s okay. He resumes his journey to his seat, only this time, he carefully settles himself onto the chair, lest he damage it any more than he already has. Fortunately for him, no more damage is done, the seat is now suited perfectly for him, despite it creaking slightly.

Sinclair’s brow stays furrowed as he watches Delta, who slumps in his chair miserably, hand still held over his chest. He glances away, thinks about it, then leans over to bin his dead match. He pockets his cigarette case and matchbox, takes a puff of his cigarette, then looks back to Delta and nudges him gently with his elbow, getting his attention.

“Suppose the only help I can provide is keepin’ your mind off of it, huh? Help ya to shake it off. Folks back in the day always said I jabber too much - ‘could talk for Rapture’, they said - but my skills in gum-flappin’ might just come in handy here.”

Delta gives a dismissive grunt, the hand he’d waved now coming up to lightly pat Sinclair’s bicep. How much Sinclair talks doesn’t bother him in the slightest; he’d go as far as to say he likes it.

Sinclair glances at that hand, then looks back up at Delta’s helmet with a slightly wider smile. 

Sitting back to get comfortable, Sinclair starts off his distraction by mentioning what’s just happened, easily stepping back into the role of the friendly voice in Delta’s ear: “Seems like you opened Gracie’s eyes a little back there, chief. Hopefully, this means we won’t be seein’ much o’ her in the future. Call me bitter, but,” he shrugs, “she did steal my hotel out from under me.”

Without looking at him, Delta reaches over and pats Sinclair’s knee - once, twice, three times.

Sinclair falters, taking his cigarette holder from his mouth before he can take another puff, looking bewilderedly at Delta’s hand as it very gently touches his leg. 

Is Delta trying to…comfort him? Does he think Sinclair is that broken up about his hotel being taken away from him? 

Oh, how precious - preciously naïve. 

Sure, losing The Sinclair Deluxe had sucked when he was still using the thing, but what could he do with it even if he got it back? Nobody’s around now but Lamb’s Splicers; Sinclair would be killed the second the Deluxe’s ownership was put back into his hands, never mind actually getting to rent any of the rooms out anymore. Not to mention the state of the place...What would Sinclair want with a rundown slum of a hotel that can no longer bring in a profit?  

Maybe he’d been a bit miffed when that Brute had dropped half the damn building in Delta’s way, but now he has a train, a way out of Rapture, and a Big Daddy to pound the faces of anybody trying to give him lip.

Fuck The Sinclair Deluxe - Holloway can have it.

Still, the fact that Delta is trying to make him feel better is rather endearing, and so Sinclair turns his head away as he uses his left hand to pat Delta’s bicep, a silent way of telling him it’s okay, he’s fine, but thank you anyway.

Thusly, Delta removes his hand from Sinclair’s person.

Sinclair takes that drag from his cigarette, blowing out the smoke idly as he goes on. 

“But I do hope ol’ Pauper’s Drop wasn’t too rough on your spirit, kid. I know how it can bring down somebody’s mood - it’s why I never spent too long there whenever I had ta pay a visit, if only for the sake o’ my businesses.” He shrugs. “Maybe I’m alone in the notion, chief, but I prefer spendin’ my time somewhere I can breathe without feelin’ as though I’m inhalin’ somebody’s dinner from the day before, if you catch my drift.” 

Delta grunts noncommittedly, then sighs again.

Sinclair glances at him. 

This isn’t working, the topic isn’t one Delta seems to be interested in - perhaps it is an ill-thought-out plan, talking about the area in which Sinclair had committed actions Delta has just made clear he disapproves of. ‘Too soon’, one might say. 

Sinclair purses his lips as he thinks, sucking at his cigarette holder. What else could he say or do to provide a distraction? What had he ever done to distract himself, back in his bunker? Maybe that’d give him some ideas.

Reading - he’d read that engineering manual he’d found when he arrived. But he can’t imagine Delta would find anything in there particularly fascinating, not enough to keep his mind off of his weakening heart. 

Talking to Tenenbaum and the girls is out, he wouldn’t be able to contact them even if he’d wanted to. He highly doubts Tenenbaum would want to be used as a distraction like that, anyway; she’s got things to do, people to see. Busy woman, that one, busy, busy, busy.

Playing cards - aha.

Sinclair’s head comes up, eyes briefly widening in realisation before he goes to the pouch at his waist that he’d put the deck of cards in.

Back in his bunker, he’d either treat himself to some Solitaire or he’d contact Tenenbaum and the girls and attempt to play a game with them. Sometimes they’d attempt actual card games that Sinclair had once played at Pharaoh's Fortune over in Fort Frolic when invited to by business partners or they’d play a simple little game of Higher or Lower, when Sinclair would pick their cards for them and they’d have to guess if it was a greater or smaller number than the one before it. 

It’d killed a few minutes - hadn’t been the most exhilarating thing to ever happen in that bunker, but it’d been something to make the clock feel quicker. The girls had enjoyed the game and Tenenbaum had probably enjoyed having both them and Sinclair out of her hair for a time, since all the girls were too busy grouping around the radio to disturb any work or rest Tenenbaum had been doing.

Sinclair slides the pack of cards from his pouch, then elbows Delta to get his attention. When he sees Delta’s helmet do that limited tilt his way, Sinclair waves the deck at him.

“You a gamblin’ man, chief?” he asks with a grin.

Delta sits a little straighter, his porthole pointed at the cards. He’s less droopy like that, almost like he’s relieved Sinclair has found a worthy distraction. 

Sinclair’s brow furrows as he smiles sheepishly. “Well - I say that, but...I don’t think I actually have anythin’ worth bettin’ over. I musta...gone an’ left my poker chips in my other pants.”

Delta gives his trilling chuckle, at which Sinclair perks up, his smile turning relieved. 

Delta is laughing again - they’re getting somewhere with this.

“Ran outta snacks back in my hideyhole, too,” Sinclair adds, “so, kid, unless you want an old manual about pipes or...some cigarettes or ammo, I’m afraid I’m fresh out of ideas.”

Delta suddenly jolts, straightening in his seat and going stiff, and it looks like the motion one does when they’ve remembered something important, but considering Delta’s health issues right now, Sinclair’s not about to take that at face value. 

“Uh - somethin’ wrong?” Sinclair asks, unnerved by the quick movement, the hand holding the deck lowering.

He sincerely hopes this isn’t the moment Delta collapses and goes into a coma thanks to Eleanor’s absence. Sinclair’s not certain there will be much he could do for him in that case; he doesn’t hold the power to Delta’s existence, and it’s not like he can drag Delta all the way through Fontaine Futuristics and down to Persephone, no doubt where Eleanor’s being held.

Apparently having remembered something after all (luckily), Delta turns at the waist away from Sinclair, retrieving something from somewhere on his person; Sinclair tries tilting himself to peek, but he has no such luck and so sits back and waits for Delta to finish doing whatever he’s doing. 

There’s a rustle of crisp paper, then Delta’s left hand comes up and hovers before Sinclair’s chest, open with its palm facing upwards. Upon it is a trio of crème-filled cakes, still within their packaging.

“Aw,” Sinclair says, looking from them to Delta, smiling appreciatively. “Why, are they for me, chief?”

Delta gives an affirmative grunt and goes about gently pinching the cakes one at a time to deposit them on Sinclair’s lap.

“Well - that’s perfect, then!” Sinclair throws his hands up, then takes one of the cakes and waves it at Delta. “We’ll gamble with the -”

He’s interrupted when Delta grunts in disapproval, making Sinclair’s face fall, and uses one hand to push the cake back toward Sinclair. 

He makes his message quite clear: Those are for you. None for me.

For a moment, Sinclair is quite genuinely at a loss for words. Sure, he’s been given gifts before and most were a tad more impressive than some cakes wrapped in paper packaging, but if there’s ever a time Sinclair is reminded of the phrase ‘it’s the thought that counts’ then it’s now. The cakes aren’t what matter here, it’s the fact that Delta collected them at all and how adamant Delta is that they’re for Sinclair and only for him - Delta is taking care of him, providing him with food even though he hasn’t been asked to.

In his chest, the cracks Delta’s already made in the stone casing trapping Sinclair’s heart from the outer world widen until they’re gaps, allowing the tiniest peek at the pulsing muscle inside.

Sinclair looks at Delta with a genuine smile. “Well...bless you, kid.” 

He turns each cake over to inspect them. Don’t seem off at all, and Delta’s managed to keep from squashing them, so it gives the impression that they could be brand new, even though Sinclair’s quite sure it has been literal years since they were put in the Circus of Values or wherever Delta had collected them from.

Trust the bloody children’s snacks to survive the Civil War.

For kids or not; truthfully, Sinclair’s never been crazy about them - they’re alright on occasion, just not really his thing, he prefers a little more punch to his desserts - but he won’t mention that to Delta. It’d be rude and he’d look ungrateful, when the truth is: he’s flattered that Delta had thought to bring him food. It’s sweet, endearing, even.

Turns out, he’s found the one Big Daddy who is a gentleman.

“It’ll be a li’l one-on-one between friends, then,” Sinclair says, looking back at Delta. “You got a game in mind you wanna play?”

Delta stares, pondering, then looks out the window as a purple-tinted fish swims by. He points at it.

Sinclair laughs and leans over to put out his cigarette, no longer interested in smoking. That’s one way to communicate, he supposes.

And so that’s how he finds himself in the impossible situation of playing Go Fish with a Big Daddy. The bench is wide enough to act as a table for a card game and so the two of them are turned to face each other, with Sinclair shuffling back as much as he can to provide space for the deck and offered cards between them, and even then there’s a slight dip in their playing field thanks to the dent Delta sits in. 

After the second game they play, Delta is no longer holding his heart, and Sinclair’s eyes shine in the overhead light when he notices how Delta has perked up.

What proves to, somehow, be an even more impossible scenario is that Delta is beating him - soundly. Of the six games of Go Fish they play, Delta wins four of them, three of which are in a row, and it gets to the point where Sinclair puts his free hand on his hip and gives Delta an overexaggerated frown.

“Well! Far be it from me to question your no doubt immeasurable skills, chief, but I could swear you’ve been cheating!” he exclaims, all play and no bite, and Delta gives his shuttered laughter. “You’ve been hidin’ cards somewhere on your person, haven’t you? Under those gloves, mayhaps?” He gestures with a hand. “C’mon, now, give ‘em up.”

Delta waves a dismissive hand at him. 

How can he hide cards when Sinclair has to shuffle the deck, since his hands are much better suited than Delta’s? After all, the cards are tiny in his grasp; the sight of Delta holding the little playing cards in his huge hands, using two fingers and the thumb on each to clutch them together, somehow makes Delta look childish and highlight how big he is compared to Sinclair all at once. 

Even when they move onto Crazy Eights, Delta seems to keep a steady score, even though Sinclair has to teach him how to play that one, standing by his side and giving a slow demonstration of a game before retaking his place opposite him to play for real. 

Perhaps Lady Luck really is just on Delta’s side these days; Christ knows, she hasn’t visited Sinclair in a while.

What’s similarly funny - to Sinclair, in the very least - is that he thoroughly enjoys the entire experience of playing cards with Delta; what had started as a distraction for Delta proves to be beneficial for the both of them because, if he’s being honest, it’s the most fun Sinclair’s had in ages. Delta makes him genuinely laugh and smile with his noises and gestures - when Sinclair complains about Delta being successful, Delta’s patting his knee, then holding his shoulders up to show he’s not sympathetic in the slightest, and when Sinclair wins, Delta’s endearingly clapping for him - and any silence between them that isn’t filled with careful thinking about their next move is covered up by Sinclair telling Delta stories about when he’d been invited for poker nights at Pharaoh’s Fortune with his business associates.

“Used to pride myself in bein’ able to clean out a wallet or two,” Sinclair says during one of their games, “but I reckon you woulda cleared a whole bank account with your skills, chief. Together, we coulda rained hell upon that poor casino.”

Delta’s shoulders perk up even higher and he gives a crooning noise that, to Sinclair’s ears, sounds like one of delight.

Sinclair grins at him and tries to imagine the scenario: him and Delta, seated at separate poker tables, giving each other a sly grin or a wink to let each other know how their respective games are going, but then the daydream is cut short when he realises he can’t imagine Delta as a man, just his metal-suited self, as he is now. He’s sure the sight of a Big Daddy slaying people at poker would’ve been hilarious back in the day, something for the record books, but it’s not quite what Sinclair wants to have in mind. 

What had Delta...looked like before that suit? He doesn’t know who he’d been before it, who in Persephone had been branded Subject Delta and gotten the symbol tattooed on the back of their hand. He wishes he could remember…

Sinclair’s grin slowly falls and he looks away from the game.

He can’t build a man in his imagination, not one to replace Delta’s suit with; any attempt on his part is generic, with no face and a random assortment of masculine clothing that, after some thought, is really just taken from Sinclair’s own closet, from back when he owned a home over in the Mercury Suites. 

The more he reflects on Delta’s person without his suit, the more there seems to be some sort of twisting feeling in his gut, in his heart, and when a sick feeling rises to his throat, he forces himself to stop thinking about it at all. 

A good way of distracting himself, he thinks, is by eating, and so their third game of Crazy Eights comes to a halt when Sinclair sets his deal of cards face-down on his thigh and picks up one of the cakes, thumbing at the packaging to find the tab where he can pull it open. When he finds it, he rips it, slides the baked good out, then leans back and deposits the wrapper in the available bin for train passengers, next to the ashtray.

Delta straightens up, watching Sinclair intently. It gives off the notion that he’s anxious over whether Sinclair will like it or not - which, again, is just plain endearing. 

Sinclair glances at him, smiles, then bites the small cake in half.

It’s definitely been years since the thing was put in the Circus of Values as the sponge feels a bit dryer on his tongue than he remembers it should, but the taste has been mostly upheld, so it isn’t too bad.

“Didn’t realise it’d been so long since I put anythin’ in my stomach,” Sinclair says after he swallows the bite, keeping with his manners. He gestures to Delta with the half of the cake he still has. “You’ve done me a real favour here, sport. Thank you for thinkin’ of me.”

Delta croons softly, which sounds…happy? He supposes? Maybe Delta’s just telling him he’s glad; either way, it doesn’t seem like something he needs to reply to.

Sinclair goes to finish the cake when he pauses, then looks to Delta curiously. 

“Come to think of it…” He sets the cake down on his knee with its packaged brethren and points at Delta via finger gun. “When was the last time you ate somethin’, kid?”

Delta gives a little jolt, like he’s surprised at the questioning. Perhaps he is; when was the last time anybody asked him if he was hungry?

“Now, you don’t really need ta eat, o’ course,” Sinclair continues, rubbing his chin in thought with the hand he’d used to point at Delta. “Woulda been a bit of an inconvenience back in the day, if we’d had Big Daddies stoppin’ by all the diners an’ restaurants to wine an’ dine before headin’ out with their Li’l Sisters. Woulda been quite a sight, too, I imagine…” 

He stops to chuckle, then drops his hand from his chin and uses it to deliver two, friendly pats to Delta’s knee. 

“But you know what that’s called, son? One of life’s luxuries. And I reckon you’ve been denied those long enough.”

Sinclair picks up one of the unopened crème-filled cakes, holding it out to Delta.

“Here, son. Why don’t you go ahead an’ get this down your gullet?” Sinclair says, feeling Delta’s hesitation from where he’s sat. 

Delta had gotten it for Sinclair, not himself, and so he doesn’t feel he’s entitled to the cake. He isn’t even hungry - Delta doesn’t think he can feel hunger since, like Sinclair had said, it would be an inconvenience if Big Daddies needed to eat like a regular person. 

“Go on,” Sinclair says, wiggling it in the air to entice him.

Delta grunts and pushes the cake back toward Sinclair in a repeat of his earlier message: Those are for you. None for me.

Sinclair shakes his head. “No, no, come on, now. I want you to take it.” He smiles slyly. “I don’t usually give things out for free, son, so you’d better take advantage of it while you can.” He shrugs a shoulder and holds out the cake again. “Humour me.”

It takes a moment before anything happens, then Delta slowly takes the cake from him, clutching it delicately between two fingers and his thumb. If Sinclair’s hand had looked comically small compared to Delta’s during their handshake, then the cake is infinitely more so, a little yellowish blob in Delta’s massive, dark glove. He’s being extremely careful not to squash it, lest he ruin it. 

The sight of a Big Daddy with a crème-filled cake in one hand and a deal of cards in the other, statuesque as he holds them both before himself, is not something Sinclair had ever thought he’d see, and it’s honestly a struggle not to at least chuckle at it. He manages, though, if only because he doesn’t want to make Delta the butt of some joke.

Sinclair smiles at him and puts the third cake into one of his pouches, intending to save it for later. He lifts his half-eaten cake to his mouth, preparing to take a bite, then double-takes at Delta when he sees Delta is still frozen in place, simply holding his gifted snack in his hand.

Sinclair chuckles. “Now, I hate to state the obvious, but you’re gonna wanna remove your helmet before you can eat that, chief, ‘less you wanna smear it all over your window there.” 

He places his own cake on his knee, rubs his fingers together to remove any crumbs sticking to them, then reaches across their game for Delta’s helmet. 

“Here - I can offer a hand, if you’d like.”

His fingers touch a clasp.

In Sinclair’s experience, Big Daddies have always been big, hulking creatures that move relatively slowly, unless they’re charging at threats to their Little Sisters. Most of Delta’s movements in their interactions have been much the same; he moves carefully, like he thinks about every motion before he makes it, like a century-old statue learning to move, precise and keeping to his personal bubble when he can help it.

Despite their slowness, though, Big Daddies have always been loud. Their footsteps, their ‘voices’, their beatdowns of Splicers. They seem to make noise for the sake of it, since - besides their reprimanding shouts to those who go near their Little Sisters - Sinclair’s never known what their sounds mean. He gets lucky with Delta whenever he chooses to make noise because Delta’s actually attempting conversation, and Sinclair can conjure a meaning from the topic they’re discussing - but besides that, Delta is rather quiet for a Big Daddy. 

Sure, Sinclair can hear him coming from a mile away, but the fact he’s so big and heavy is really out of his control. When it comes to using his voice, Delta controls his volume - so it’s double the surprise when Delta’s hand suddenly shoots up out of nowhere and slams itself as a fist into the train’s wall as Delta veers toward him and lets out a loud, short burst of a roar. 

For once, it’s a sound Sinclair immediately knows the meaning behind. He’d have to be stupid not to understand it: it’s a warning noise, to let him know he’s stepping onto thin ice if he continues with what he’s doing. 

Delta’s reaction is so sudden that Sinclair gasps and scrambles backwards, away from him, and goes tumbling off of the bench, landing painfully on his arse on the floor. In his rush, his half-eaten cake had fallen from his knee and onto the bench seat, but his deal of cards go with him, raining down upon the floor and his right foot.

The sound hadn’t quite been the same as the regular warning howl of a Big Daddy, but it still makes Sinclair’s body go rigid, one arm up in a defensive position. His instincts tell him to run for his life, he’s got an angry Big Daddy in his midst, but the logical side of his brain wins out and he stays where he is.

They’re both frozen, silence between them, then Delta himself gives a short jolt of surprise, like even he hadn’t expected his own response. His shoulders fall and he looks at the fist he’d slammed into the train’s wall, pulling it out of the fresh dent he’s made there and holding it up to observe as he notices he’s crushed his deal of cards, their bent tops jutting out from between his index finger and thumb.

He looks from them to Sinclair, a tiny whale-like moan escaping him, sounding almost surprised, even upset at seeing Sinclair on the floor. However, he doesn’t move to help him, just looks between Sinclair and his crushed cards, back and forth, then he goes stiff in the shoulders and turns himself away, showing Sinclair his back the best he can. His hands rise up to his helmet; he pushes his wrist against his porthole, like he’s trying to hide his face, and the other hand - the one he still holds the cards in - extends its thumb so he can rub it against the side of his headgear, where his temple would be underneath.

For a few moments, Sinclair is too nervous to speak. He almost expects Delta’s porthole to begin glowing red (and, considering they’re stuck together in a little train car at the bottom of the ocean and Sinclair is far from capable of taking down a Big Daddy with the one revolver he’s brought along, that would be a problem).

He concedes, however, that he had deserved to get shouted at like that: he’d grabbed the clasp of Delta’s helmet without even asking for permission. He’s getting far too comfortable in this situation, he thinks; the card games have softened him up, made him forget his relationship with Delta is supposed to be professional, above all else. He might care for the big guy now, call him a friend, but they’re still business associates first and foremost.

Sinclair looks Delta up and down, assessing him. 

The way he covers his face like that radiates shame, while the rubbing of his helmet...well, Sinclair’s not certain why he’s doing that, but it still manages to add to Delta’s overall miserable look. 

Sinclair’s brow furrows, feeling a short stab of actual guilt in his heart for distressing Delta so much, and puts one hand to his seat, using it to help himself to his feet. Once he’s standing, he doubles over to pluck his cards from the floor.

“I, ah…I can see I...crossed a line there...” Sinclair says slowly as he sorts his cards into a neat pile, depositing them on the bench.

Apologising has never been a forte of his, mainly because he’s rarely apologised for anything in his life, but he finds himself actually wanting to make amends here, and not just because a pissed off Delta might be an uncooperative Delta. 

He stands behind Delta’s right shoulder, tilting his head to try and see his porthole. 

“Forgive me, son - I...I hadn’t meant to offend…”

Delta doesn’t make a noise or a gesture, just stays where he is, one hand holding his gifted snack while the other is still stroking over where his temple should be, and Sinclair worries that he’s done some actual damage to their professional relationship here. It’s hard to tell if Delta is staying silent because he doesn’t want to reply or because he can’t.

God, he wishes they had a better form of communication…

Sinclair watches him, waiting for a reaction, and gets one when Delta cautiously drops his wrist from his porthole, turns slightly in his seat so he can look at Sinclair, and slowly points at him, uncurling his index finger from around the squashed playing cards to do so.

Sinclair blinks. “Hm? Ohh - I’m alright, chief. I ain’t hurt, I’m fine.” He waves his hands, ignoring the numb pain in his tailbone. “You just had me...jumpin’ outta my skin, is all - and my seat.”

He offers a smile, trying to make Delta laugh again, but Delta just looks away. When Sinclair holds out a hand, intending to pat Delta’s shoulder or something, Delta shuffles away from him, and Sinclair gets the message: he’s not out of the woods yet.

Sinclair turns and sits down back in his chair, observing Delta out of the corner of his eye, watching him even though Delta isn’t moving - because Delta isn’t moving. There’s an awkward silence in the train car now, and he itches to get rid of it, but Delta has no face for him to check the expression of, so he’s not sure what mood he’s just left Delta in with that dumb manoeuvre.

He searches for a topic, finds it when he looks at how Delta is still just idly holding that crème-filled cake, and he clears his throat uncomfortably and takes the chance.

“If you’re, ah,” he says slowly, turning his head to look at Delta properly, to invite him back into conversation, “still intendin’ to eat that, chief, then you can go ahead and afford yourself some privacy.”

He gestures at the driver’s car with one hand.

Either Delta catches the gesture out of his peripheral (does he even have a peripheral with that dome on his head?) or he’s curious about what Sinclair means because, after a moment of silence, his headgear tilts to let Sinclair know Delta is looking over at him.

“I won’t try an’ sneak a peek, if that’s what you’re thinkin’,” Sinclair says, trying to remedy the situation further, shaking his head and holding up his hands in surrender. “I ain’t no peepin’ tom.”

To prove his point, Sinclair reaches over and cuts the connection to Delta’s camera, the screen on the wall blinking off in response. When he’s done with that, he sits back in his chair, gestures to the screen lamely, then folds his hands in his lap and watches for Delta’s next move.

Delta stares, then lifts his fist from his lap and opens it to drop the crumpled cards on the spot between the two of them.

Sinclair looks down at them, then watches as Delta rises from his dented seat and starts to walk over to the doors to the driver’s cabin.

However, before he can reach them, he stops, looks down at Sinclair, and stares at him in silence.

Sinclair stares in return, feeling a prickling sensation on his skin as he wonders if he’s done something wrong again; Delta seems to enjoy standing over him and staring when Sinclair has done something he doesn’t like. He’d try to claim Delta enjoys intimidating him, but his reaction to frightening Sinclair and making him fall on the floor proves that wrong. 

Perhaps he just likes being taller than him.

Delta stares for several, tense moments, then turns on his heel so he is facing Sinclair properly. His free hand lifts, moving toward Sinclair, and he doesn’t know if it’s how unexpected the move is or if it’s because he’s aware he’s dampened Delta’s mood, but Sinclair flinches when the hand comes toward him - specifically, it moves toward his head. 

He doesn’t think Delta is going to kill him, no, but considering his past experiences with dealing with people he’s upset, Sinclair can’t picture the gesture as anything but an intention of doing harm or, in the very least, bothering him. He has, after all, just crossed a major line with Delta, there has to be some consequence, he thinks, beside the initial ‘falling out of his chair’ thing.

Delta’s large hand rises up, above Sinclair, his huge palm blocking the light of the train above him, looking especially inhumane in the dark shadow it casts…and gently pats the top of Sinclair’s head.

Sinclair’s mind goes blank, if even for a moment. 

The hand is massive against his hair, the glove heavy, and it brings to light how easily Delta could grab his skull with how big those fingers are, but Delta’s touch is nothing but gentle, careful and warm as the hand bobs up and down, delivering seven light pats to Sinclair’s head before it’s taken away, returning to Delta’s own side.

Sinclair stares into space. The only sound that escapes his lips is a very undignified, “Uh.”

Delta is staring at him again, and his gaze feels expectant this time; it’s Sinclair’s turn to do something, but he has no idea what.

What had that even meant? Sinclair has seen Big Daddies pet the heads of their Little Sisters before - when the girls would throw tantrums about not wanting to collect ADAM because they’re tired or cold and the Big Daddies would convince them to keep going with the silent promise that they could nap and get warm when they were done - but if Delta thinks he can treat Sinclair like a Little Sister, then he’s dead wrong. 

Nothing short of Sinclair losing one of his legs would convince him to allow Delta to lift him onto his shoulders like one of those kids, never mind having his head patted like he’s a little girl throwing a tantrum.

Delta’s done well to treat Sinclair like an equal partner thus far, however, so Sinclair is inclined to believe that the similarity to a Big Daddy’s treatment of their respective Sister had been accidental, or at least unintended. So it had meant something unique, but what exactly?

Sinclair looks up at Delta again, slowly, unsure of how to feel about that gesture. 

Delta continues to stare at him. There comes a tilt to him that happens at the waist, just a slight topple to one side, and Sinclair realises he’s trying to cock his head, but the helmet won’t allow for neck movement. It does the job of making Delta look curious, though, so Sinclair is clearly supposed to be doing something by now, and the fact that he hasn’t yet perturbs Delta.

Whatever the gesture meant, it had obviously been done with no ill intention, so Sinclair reckons Delta is showing friendliness again, regardless of the actual words he may have been trying to convey.

With that in mind, Sinclair nods. “…And, ah, the same to you, son.”

That seems to have accomplished the task; Delta rights himself and gives a hum, pats Sinclair’s head again, then turns and continues his journey into the driver’s cabin. The doors shut behind him with a sort of finality, and Sinclair is left staring after him.

Bewildered once again by Delta’s behaviour, Sinclair sits back and stares out the window opposite himself, frowning confusedly. He catches sight of the vague reflection he has in the glass, sees something off, then turns to view a better one in the window behind him, and finds that even with how gently he’d petted him, Delta has tousled his hair.

Sinclair gives a small huff and pats his hair down, grumbling about how Delta’s “gone an’ mussed up my hair…” then he pauses as he hears the hiss of pneumatic seals and realises that, behind those doors, Delta is opening his helmet.

So Delta doesn’t like removing his helmet in front of people, actually gets distressed when someone tries to do it for him. Sinclair can’t imagine any Big Daddy would like to, but he’ll keep it in mind moving forward: Delta doesn’t mind being touched, but don’t try to open his helmet. In the very least, Sinclair will remember to ask first, and he won’t even touch the clasps unless Delta has said he can.

Look at them: learning so much about each other. Isn’t that just grand?

Sinclair thinks on it again: he’d upset Delta and Delta had gone quiet, then he’d patted Sinclair’s head and made a vocalisation, so clearly there are now no hard feelings between them, so why had he - Ohhh.

Sinclair gets it now: with that gesture, Delta had been both accepting Sinclair’s apology and apologising to Sinclair for frightening him. He’d been staring at him because Sinclair hadn’t accepted his apology yet, and then he had - even unknowingly - so all was right with the world.

A Big Daddy...has apologised to him.

Sinclair grins, ever-so amused at his life as it is now, and hears the crinkle of paper behind the doors. He wonders if Delta is struggling to open the cake’s wrapper with those big fingers of his and thinks about calling out to offer help, but then he realises if Delta can eat, then that must mean he still has teeth, so Delta can bite the packaging open.

Sure enough, the crinkling comes to a stop, and for a short while there is no sound from the cart, but Sinclair supposes eating a soft crème-filled cake wouldn’t make much noise. He thinks of asking if Delta is enjoying the treat, but he doesn’t want him to think he’s spying. Wouldn’t want to take a step back and upset Delta again, now, would we?

So he waits until there comes another hiss of air before he goes to check on the camera in Delta’s helmet - sure enough, the helmet has been slid into place, and Delta is staring out the front window, probably basking in the feeling of something in his stomach. Must’ve been a long time since that’s happened.

Sinclair grins and opens his mouth to ask how it was, but the radio in Delta’s helmet whirrs to life, and it hadn’t been Sinclair to click the button.

“Hear me, O ye who would murder the Lamb of God! Ye shall never reach her garden!”

“What?” comes out of Sinclair’s mouth automatically, and he watches Delta’s point of view as -

…There’s something in the water, something dark and long and it isn’t a fish because it’s blinking red and it hums as it travels and it’s coming toward Delta and JESUS CHRIST IT’S A TOR -

“KID!!” 

Sinclair throws himself off of his chair, arm extended out toward the driver’s cabin, but his shout is overshadowed by the explosion of metal outside and the train car shakes violently and topples from side to side, and Sinclair is thrown off his feet, the back of his head smacks against the raised corner of the crater Delta had made in the bench, and the world instantly blinks into blackness.

…

The side of his face and the front of his body are cold when the world slowly returns to him - cold and wet, and that’s enlightening enough to bring Sinclair back from the brink of unconsciousness.

His eyelids feel heavy, but they peel back, and his first view is his own right hand, laying palm-down in front of his face. He opens his mouth to groan, only for water to dribble in, salty and grimy and disgusting, and he’s quick to lift his head so he can spit it out and wipe his mouth with the back of his hand.

Sinclair uses both hands to push himself up off of the floor, water dripping from his chin as he rises, and he allows himself to groan then.

“My damn head…” he mutters, one hand going to the back to rub where the pain is the worst. He checks his fingers for blood, sees a light smear of something that might be red, he can’t tell in the limited light, and he groans again.

On his hands and knees, Sinclair gives himself a moment, willing the world to stop spinning, and nothing sobers him so quickly as realising there is water beneath him - water, when he’s supposed to be high and dry in this train car at the bottom of the ocean. 

There isn’t much of it - not even his hands are submerged - but there is water where water shouldn’t be, and suddenly the events of earlier return to him: the man speaking to Delta, the torpedo travelling through the water, the explosion, being tossed off his feet -

Sinclair lifts himself onto his knees and looks over his shoulder, toward the driver’s cabin.

The doors there have done well to shield Sinclair from the blast; they’re still standing, his cabin appears intact compared to the view of warped shapes Sinclair can just barely make out through the doors’s windows. However, they’re still doors, and doors tend to have gaps, even the most secure ones, and so water has managed to get through the miniscule spaces between the pair, allowing the ocean to peek into Sinclair’s cabin. Fortunately, it seems to have stopped, for reasons Sinclair has yet to discover.

How on earth the doors are in such good condition, Sinclair’s not sure of. Perhaps the driver’s compartment had swallowed most of the blast, perhaps the train’s just made of good stuff.

Either way, God bless Prentice Mill.

“Oh, hell…” he mutters, then raises his voice to call out, “Kid?! Are - Are ya out there?! Kid?!”

There’s no reply, no whale-like noise to let Sinclair know Delta is present, and Sinclair curses quietly and huffs with the effort of getting to his feet, put off by how the floor doesn’t feel stable. He stumbles lightly, forces himself to keep walking over to the driver’s doors, and he falls against them, palms pressed to steady himself, as he looks out the barely-translucent windows, squinting hard.

The good news is: the train isn’t submerged anymore. The train car’s stuck in front of one of the gates for a station, but then it finally registers that he can’t quite detect the usual sight of all the buttons and levers on the console in there, only twisted scrap and open air, and he realises the front of the conductor’s car has been all but wrecked, and Delta is nowhere to be seen.

Oh, no...No, no...

It occurs to him then: the radio. Fuck - where is it?

Sinclair spins around, gaze immediately going for the bench, where he’d tossed the radio down as he’d gotten up, but it isn’t there. He hisses, annoyed, and quickly scans the rest of the car: his cigarette holder is tucked against the wall opposite where he’d sat, probably full of water now; their deck of cards had gotten thrown and the individual cards are now scattered over the floor, soaked through; his supplies have been tossed all over the cabin, and the uneaten half of his crème-filled cake lays nearby, waterlogged and rendered inedible, as far as Sinclair is concerned.

Sinclair gets to his knees, checks under the bench and finds the radio there. He grabs it, wipes it off with the side of his sleeve that hadn’t been laying in the water, then clicks the button to connect to Delta.

“Kid?” he says. “Kid, are ya there? Can ya hear me?”

Sinclair sets up the connection to Delta’s camera; when it blinks to life, he sees that Delta is laying on his side somewhere out in the ocean, seaweed and other ocean plant life swaying before him in the water.

“Kid!” Sinclair exclaims. “Kid, can ya hear me? Kid? If ya can - gimme some sort o’ sign!”

Nothing. Delta doesn’t move, he’s completely still.

“No…” Sinclair whispers, shaking his head. “No, no, no, no, no, no, no - Come on, kid!”

He slaps the screen over and over rapidly, as if that will help awaken Delta.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no - Delta can’t be dead. He can’t be. The prospect is making Sinclair’s gut twist with a dread he hasn’t felt since he was young, since he was sitting opposite a doctor and being told his mother - 

His heart begins to pound in his chest. He’d love to go out and try to find Delta and wake him up, but the ocean would either drown him or crush him with its pressure. Besides, he’s stuck here, in this train car, in...in...

…Where is he?

Sinclair lifts his head, looking up above the train car’s windows, at the map that’s been put up there for the sake of the passengers, for them to check the progress of their journey. 

The light that’s used to indicate a station is blinking faintly, responding to the damage the train car’s taken, but it gives Sinclair his answer, in capital letters: DIONYSUS PARK.

Sinclair gives a soft, exasperated groan. Judging by the fact he sees the station’s gate outside, he can only conclude the train’s gotten stuck in the tunnel leading into the park itself, so, yes, he’s technically in Dionysus Park, just that he isn’t...in Dionysus Park.

Of course, he’d continue on and end up in Lamb’s territory after being separated from Delta. Figures.

He turns his head back around to look out the window and finds the tunnel’s wall to greet him, lit dimly by the flickering lights of the cabin. There’s a Pneumo tube nearby, built into the wall, its green light still on, so that means it works, which is...a good sign, he supposes.

Why has the train gotten stuck here, though? Why isn’t it going into the park’s station itself? Why aren’t the gates opening? 

Sinclair goes back over to the doors and looks through the window, squinting up at the gate. The gap in the door where the rail fits through is blocked, he can see, but he can’t make out what by, he can only see a dark shape where he’s supposed to be able to peek at the station’s ceiling. Even still, that shouldn’t stop the gate from opening, the doors slide downwards, so why is it…?

There is a reason, he’s sure of it... 

Sinclair rubs his forehead as he tries to remember the events that had happened here; it takes a moment, but then he recalls reading about how the place had flooded. The Rapture Tribune had given some story about the incident being the work of a cult, which Sinclair hadn’t much cared for any which way, this hadn’t been his property. It’s remained that way, it seems, just left to drown, sealed up tight and not allowing anybody or anything to come in, even his train.

Sinclair hums, steps back from the window and something hits him as he sees the cracks in the glass and the gap in the doors. 

If Dionysus Park has been left to rot, locked away from the rest of Rapture, then that means nobody’s been through here, on a train or not, and the gate hasn’t opened in however long the place has been flooded. That means that this pocket of air his train car is stuck in has been sitting here between the ocean and a flood, water on either side, and no human interaction with the park means little - if any - oxygen has been provided to this part of Rapture in ages.

Now, that wouldn’t be so bad, given the shield his train car provides, but the driver’s cabin is damaged, and linked to that are crucial parts of the train’s ability to run: the device embedded in the floor, which lets oxygen into the train, and the CO2 Scrubber that had kept everybody from dying of carbon dioxide poisoning.

After all, people were expected to ride the rails for up to two hours at a time, all sharing the same air, taking in oxygen and letting out carbon dioxide. Eventually, one would outweigh the other, so not only was oxygen supplied - taken into tanks through some deal made with a lady Sinclair can’t currently remember the name of down in Arcadia - but the CO2 Scrubber would make sure nobody dropped dead on the trip over, just like in the bathyspheres.

Both of those things are now out there, possibly damaged, in the pocket of dead air, and there’s a gap - however small - in his cabin.

Which means his oxygen is leaking out, and there is no proper supply to bring some back in.

“Oh…double hell,” Sinclair murmurs, eyes wide. He looks back to his view through Delta’s camera, finds him to be still. “Try an’ hold on, son! Don’t you walk toward that light, now, ya hear?!”

There’s got to be something to do here, he’s got to have a method of dealing with this. He could try to run out and grab the tank and the Scrubber, but that’s not a permanent solution, he would still be at risk of dying. He needs a proper supply of air, which would mean connecting Dionysus Park back up to the rest of Rapture. To open Dionysus Park, he’d need to drain it, but how does one drain an area of that scale, with that bad a flood? Think, think, think.

Desperate, Sinclair perches his radio on the bench to keep it from getting wet, then reaches for one of the pouches at his waist. He unbuttons it, then pulls free the pocket-sized engineering manual he’d taken from Ryan Amusements. It’s wet from where he’d laid in the water and he curses and waves it in the air to try and dry it off.

It’s a little book, but it’s jam-packed full of information about Rapture’s workings, and Sinclair reaches for his reading glasses, picks them up and goes to put them on, but stops short when his sight goes funny. He moves them away from his eyes, frowning.

“What…?” he mutters, examining them.

His glasses have broken at one of the hinges; the cord keeps the two pieces together, but now one of the temples dangles uselessly on its own by Sinclair’s collarbone. One of the lenses has cracked too, explaining the difference in comfort this time around.

Evidently, the glasses had gotten crushed between himself and the train’s floor when he’d fallen; he’s lucky the lenses hadn’t broken more, he would’ve awoken to glass shards stabbing him in the chest.

Sinclair huffs. 

Today really isn’t his day.

Nevertheless, he holds the glasses up to his eyes, having to make do for now, and sits down on the bench, crossing his leg over the other’s knee and resting the little manual on it. He scans the pages, adjusting the glasses so he can avoid the crack in the lens, and tries to find something he can use to get out of this. 

At one point in his skimming of the pages, he catches sight of something: pumping station.

A lightbulb flicks on in his head; Sinclair sits up, staring into space as the inner cogs of his mind begin to turn. He knows of a pumping station, he’s seen one before, he’d frequented a place with one, where had that been…?

He sets his glasses aside, pinches the bridge of his nose and shuts his eyes, trying to envision himself there. 

The bar...The gambling up top...The backroom with the security gate...The Mermaid Lounge, yes, that’d been its name, right...and that had been in a plaza, the Little Eden Plaza, and he’d walked through the plaza to get to the bulkhead that led to the rest of the district, and that had been in -

Sinclair’s eyes flick open.

Siren Alley.

A brief flash of an image appears in his mind’s eye: of signs on the wall, all fuzzy save for the one for the Plaza Hedone, of people walking by him as he goes through a junction, of a muscular gentleman catching his eye, of stepping out onto a small bridge that leads to a staircase and a balcony, and of there being a large number five down the way for the pumping station.

Heart jumping into his throat at this chance for a lead, Sinclair grabs for his glasses and holds them up again, his other hand frantically flipping the pages of his manual.

“Pumpin’ station...Pumpin’ station…” he murmurs thoughtfully, whisking the pages back to the beginning of the book to check the contents page. He’s directed to page thirty-six, which shows him a list of the available pumping stations in Rapture.

There it is, the book confirms it for him: Pumping Station #5, back in Siren Alley. Contains a lever that connects to Dionysus Park, will transfer the suction if pulled.

Sinclair breathes a sigh of relief, jolts and looks over at the doors as he reminds himself why that might be a bad idea, then allows himself a smile when he realises there is a chance of getting out of this, granted Delta’s survival.

Delta…Delta!

One look at the screen shows him to still be laying out there on the sand, somewhere. Sinclair can only hope that the torpedo had just whacked him on the head, put him to sleep, rather than finish the poor guy off. 

Heart pounding as anxiety sets in, Sinclair grabs for his radio again and switches on the connection between them, almost losing his voice to trepidation.

“Kid? Come on, wake up, now…”

A wave of elation blooms in his chest when Delta begins to stir, then pushes himself up from his place laying on the seafloor.

“There you are - I thought you rode that torpedo into the great hereafter!” Sinclair says, a relieved chuckle making his voice wobble, then his smile drops as he goes onto the deliver the more serious news: “I’m in Dionysus Park now…train car’s a shambles, leakin’ air. Whole damn place is flooded and sealed.” He checks his book as he adds, “But there’s a pumpin’ station back there in Siren Alley - an’ I believe you could jerry-rig it to drain the park out. That’d letcha stroll right inside. Get to those pumps…and hurry.”

Sinclair packs the book back into the pouch he’d taken it from, gives a mournful grimace to the state of his glasses and sets them aside, choosing to keep hold of them in case he needs them again, then double-takes when he catches sight of Delta’s point of view.

Delta is approaching the airlock for Dionysus Park, and Sinclair gives a confused smile. 

That torpedo must’ve knocked Delta on the head harder than the bench had done to Sinclair; he reckons the poor thing must be confused in his break from unconsciousness. Can’t blame him for that; Sinclair hadn’t exactly felt sober when he’d woken up either.

He connects to Delta’s radio again, and helpfully supplies a reminder.

“The park is sealed, chief - you aren’t gettin’ in there just yet. But if ya get down to that pumpin’ station in Siren Alley and drain the place out, this airlock’ll letcha in.”

Delta’s frazzled mind takes his advice, thank goodness, and the big guy turns his back on the airlock, making his way toward Siren Alley’s.

Sinclair puffs out a small chuckle, shakes his head fondly, and settles into the comforting familiarity of watching Delta’s point of view. It’s just about the only thing that does bring him comfort; now that he isn’t distracted by his situation, he’s reminded of the biting chill to the air, and he grits his teeth and hugs himself, rubbing his arms to try and warm up.

A part of him lets himself think on what Delta’s just done, and it theorises that Delta - in his journey back to reality - had only caught the part about Sinclair losing air and being trapped in Dionysus Park, and that had been Delta’s attempt at getting to him. Or maybe the big guy had just been trying to see if there was some way he could bust into the airlock by himself.

Either way, his actions make Sinclair smile warmly, and he lets himself admit that, yes, he is thrilled, on a much more personal level, to see Delta is alright.

[terramythos]

I beat Prey yesterday! here are the general thoughts i scribbled down. 

i thought the opening was super strong. When you break the glass on the apartment window? *chef's kiss*

i’ve never played system shock 2 but understand this is heavily influenced by it. I've played Bioshock though so I did pick up on some of the similarities by proxy.

generally I liked combat. In the first half it's pretty tense and survival horror-y and there's certainly a difficulty curve. I liked using limited resources and thinking up creative solutions to problems. 

However, most stuff became trivial halfway through. The shotgun is just busted after a couple upgrades. Once you know a surefire way to deal with each enemy type, the game gets pretty easy. from what I understand the difficulty settings do not affect this much (I played on normal). You can make the game more tedious, but not necessarily harder.

i wish there were more horror elements in the mid to late game. There are some genuinely great jump scares early on but they're basically gone past a certain point.

main quest in general was a treadmill of “go to point a, do x thing, oh no something stopped you from doing x thing, you need to go to point y and do b thing so you can go back and do x thing”. kind of disappointing; it mostly served as a way to get around and find more interesting stuff (with a few exceptions). i liked the side quests more. 

the voice acting was great. In particular, Benedict Wong's performance as Alex stuck out to me.

the visual and world design was fantastic, too. I think its impressive that Talos I had a unifying design but each area still felt distinct.

visually the Looking Glass stuff was super cool. I think that Arkane developed this with the time travel Dishonored 2 mission and it was cool there too.

there's an impressive amount of extra flavor. All of the art, audio logs, emails, books, and even the ability to explore a bit in space. Just cool details that helped make it all feel real and believable. It adds a lot.

i wanted neuromods to be more like the plasmids in bioshock. While they are the same thing story-wise, in game they function as a talent tree. And some just don’t make sense. Like... how would jamming 4 neuromods in my eye make me physically better at lifting stuff? Why is it an incremental skill I have to invest in 3 times? This makes a little more sense with the Typhon powers since those are basically magic, but not the Human ones.

the ending and some of the mid story is clearly rushed, although I'm glad there's more stuff after the credits.

despite the underwhelming endings (pre credits) I do think the developers put an impressive amount of thought into the circumstances various playthroughs would have surrounding them. I looked it up and there's a boggling number of variations on what's basically two endings.

startlingly few bugs! Just some clipping stuff for me, mostly.

there were some cool small details. I like that if you go someplace before the main story officially tells you to, January will act surprised that you knew ahead of time to go there for the next step. This only happened to me once (on accident), but I imagine it's fun for replays.  

SPOILER THOUGHTS BELOW THE CUT 

LOVE the meta commentary on identity and autonomy in video games. Morgan is a little different between each reset in the early simulation, even though theoretically that shouldn't be possible. Characters constantly compare you to the Morgan they knew, whatever that means to them. Morgan the player character is a silent protagonist. Morgan the narrative character has several audio and video logs from their past and multiple robots with their voice. More broadly, each player will play a video game differently, even if they make similar choices. So is any playable character the same person between playthroughs? Is the player character narratively that person, or are they simply a vehicle that reflects what the player wants? It's no "would you kindly" but it's still interesting. 

in theory i like the Nightmare. kind of a pyramid head type thing but more random. however there’s little incentive to defeat it and it’s easy to avoid, so it turned into a “wait for a 3 min timer to count down” simulator. also, if you accidentally spawn it in certain areas it can WRECK your ending (though it’s easy to reload). 

so the Big Twist hints were pretty heavy handed. I figured it out early. It occurred to me after the first level that if the tutorial was a simulation, anything could be, and that was basically the big twisterino. Stuff like January saying "well good thing you're not an alien" in a super ironic tone of voice made me laugh out loud. Also, I did the Obvious Bad Ending for shits and giggles and it spoiled the whole thing. Really wish it had just cut to black since you can access it early. This potentially ruins any shock value for a lot of people.

on some level I like that the ending explains away certain "plot holes". Probably the most obvious is Morgan not remembering any of their past, which is... not how the neuromod memory loss works. But of course they wouldn't remember it, because the player is a Typhon going through a simulation, not the real Morgan.

you can also view the ending from the perspective of humans desperately trying to convince an alien they're worth saving, despite some "bad actors" (read: war crimes in space). Hence the sometimes on-the-nose moral choices and optional side quests. Even the fact that Morgan and Alex are characterized as total assholes in the past-- yet Alex in game and post credits is gentle and compassionate. Perhaps Alex in real life is trying to atone for his mistakes?

i kept expecting mirrors to be relevant? The Phantoms whisper about "what you see in the mirror", promo material shows Morgan looking at themself in the mirror, the Looking Glass tech, and the fact that mirrors are all over the place and DO NOT actually reflect Morgan. Which isn't a technical limitation since the Looking Glass is a whole thing. There's the whole mirror neuron thing but that's such a tiny line of dialogue I'm not sure it matters. Have to wonder if this was a story concept that got cut. 

in a similar vein to "crap Phantoms say", there's a minor human character who just... says a bunch of Phantom lines in a row once you complete a quest. He’s seemingly unaware that he's echoing them. What was the purpose of this? Was this an abandoned plot thread? 

why wasn't Dahl a bigger part of the story? or Alex and Morgan's parents? I assume it's due to a time crunch, but it just feels like a missed opportunity.

small detail: I love that one of the main story quests has you fake someone's voice using audio logs, and someone MUCH later uses the same trick against you.

another small detail which I missed: flying out to the space billboard to get an early horror twist about the fucking escape pods. there are lots of little things like that all over the place. 

[geekgemsspooksandtoons]

Bioshock Rebirth Playlist

I made this edit 4 days ago(That I recall. I tried to make it as professional or fitting as possible.) and it’s in a different draft. Being inspired by seeing some people make playlists. While I don’t have Spotify and I don’t know how to link songs showcasing the songs and titles. The only person I’ve told about this idea is @feckinatlas​ who I am grateful to discuss a lot of Bioshock with and other things. 

While I do think this playlist may be a bit too serious. Yet you will get the feel for this AU or you ever wanna check it out. Hopefully you don’t mind some of these choices. Including I listen to a lot of stuff .But I wanna chose the ones I feel that are fitting here. Including some ones I looked for while making this.

I took a break from this once and it’s 5:29 am....a bit nervous to post this. I’m gonna add the keep reading thing. Be warned it’s long. I even looked to see how long Feckinatlas’s Atlas playlist was before then. Hope you folks enjoy this if you wanna check this out.

1. Beyond The Sea by Bobby Darlin. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8OlDPqYBLw

2. Something In The Way by Nirvana. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXFiaJr9los

3. I Am by Digital Sons. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5SF4mt-xmU

4. I Am Machine by Three Days Grace. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flq30E6LI9E

5. The Dark Of You by Breaking Benjamin. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fc_S9jqXb5Q

6. Papercut by Linkin Park. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Y-RmfB4hY4  Archie’s theme for part 2 in this AU.

7. Tourniquet by Breaking Benjamin. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wahmfx54lhU

8. Torn In Two by Breaking Benjamin. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyTIT0Bt-0Q 

9. Gravity Lies by Red. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJ6nUKNpJfg

10. Wasting Time by Red. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_rE2Z1gw64

11. Who We Are by Red. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxPX3dOEHo4 Delta and Archie’s theme for part 2 in this AU.

12. Not Alone by Red. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXwTCG6zAqI Delta and Eleanor’s theme for part 2 in this AU.

13. I’m Alive by Disturbed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqlbDMLBArs Johnny Topside/Subject Delta’s theme.

14. Animal I Have Become by Three Days Grace. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysho2xTWUYo Despite whatever my plans are for Booker. Let’s just make this his theme.

15. And Your World Will Burn by Cliff Lin. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyF2XTAgqos

16. Bong Squad by Blues Saraceno. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLVyTR6ckQU

Instrumental songs. 

17. The Ocean On His Shoulders by Garry Schyman. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp6QpMWaKpE

18. Welcome To Rapture by Garry Schyman. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEFIZh_Zscc

19. Elizabeth by Garry Schyman. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JO8MqT4cCE

20. The Songbird by Garry Schyman. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wojIYpwUpmM The theme of Bluto, the Proto-Daddy.

21.  Big Daddy Level 3 Super from PlayStation All Stars Battle Royale. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koMyj3TX9ZU

22. Lost Soul by Garry Schyman. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJ0-aIt_DrM A Man Chooses. A Slave Obeys. A broken slave has no purpose.

23. Coup De Grace by Lorne Balfe. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_5-Y2B7E-Y Atla’s betrayal and true identity.

24. Revelations by Sean Murray. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TkgNEYtwVU Nearly dying because of the Code Yellow command. Archie’s life flashes before his eyes, hallucinating and seeing things. While Tenenbaum, Elizabeth, and others try to save his life. Archie starts remembering EVERYTHING and EVERYONE that changed the course of his life forever. Along with remembering certain characters he met along the way. But also remembering the man who was responsible for him being what Ryan called him, “A broken slave.” That man was Johnny Topside.

Bonus. “I Need To Know” by Hans Zimmer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8CNAc8GW-4 And, “Beautiful Lie” by Hans Zimmer and Junkie XL. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9BL59uiAz8 I feel these tracks are better to capture the emotion of Archie discovering the truth of what happened to him. Especially finding out who Johnny Topside was and how he changed his  Jack’s fate.

25. Sandman Confesses by Christopher Young. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwp1SYeghs8 Enraged by Tenenbaum lying to him and taking part in ruining his life. Finding out he’s Jack Ryan. He wants to kill the woman. With Elizabeth desperately trying to stop him. Despite Brigid telling him his gun was empty because she thought this would happen. Brigid tells the truth about Johnny Topside. That all he wanted was for Jack to live a normal life. Because he saw Jack as a human being. Including Brigid admitting she was involved in Jack’s rebirth. Despite not asking for forgiveness, Archie forgives Brigid. Because throughout his life, she was the closest thing he had for as a mother. Afterwards with Brigid and Elizabeth embracing him as he breaks down. Because they see him as a human being as well.

Bonus. “The Rest Of My Life” by Hans Zimmer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdEoP7swYdU Another fitting yet emotional track to highlight the feeling of Johnny risking his life for Jack to some how have normal life. And that Jack had lost the one person that was basically a REAL father to him. Especially since some of Johnny’s personality traits passed on to Jack during his, “rebirth”. With the two women comforting him. This shit makes me tear up.

26. Retreat And Reveille by Lorne Balfe. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKZRl32PAJk On a mission to kill Frank Fontaine AKA Atlas and save Elizabeth. End the Rapture Civil War. Showcase to Fontaine his greatest mistake was his, “Ace In The Hole” going against him.

27. Protocol by Lorne Balfe. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMNov4oWNHs Archie vs Fontaine. The Ace In The Hole vs Rapture’s Boogeyman. The brutal fight between a super soldier and a con man who is half transformed by injecting himself with lots of ADAM. Granting Frank powers to stand a chance against Archie. Fontaine fights and tries to kill the one man that was the closest he can get to having a son. But also hating him because Archie represents everything he despises. The fact Jack had become similar to Johnny Topside. Including Archie admitting that Johnny was more of a father than Frank of Ryan ever were which angers Fontaine. The fate of Rapture and it’s citizens is decided by whoever wins.

28. End Fight by Lorne Balfe. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDM5WnHxcMU The death of Frank Fontaine. The end of the Rapture Civil War.

29. Pairbond by Garry Schyman. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DV9kg-M1RJw The theme of Delta and Eleanor. But also the overall theme of Johnny/Delta himself. The sadness and outcome of Johnny’s life in Rapture.

30. Two Worlds from King Kong the 2005 video game. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjEMedxfvUQ The tragedy of Johnny Topside. Leading into his eventual transformation into Subject Delta.

31. Eleanor’s Lullaby by Garry Schyman. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8rmU0PDS2o The end of the conflict between The Rapture Family and the Vox. With Eleanor freed and Delta saved. But also Sofia being allowed to live, and Archie winning over his internal battle with the Atlas hallucination with the help of his family.

32. Victory Big Daddy A from PlayStation All Stars Battle Royale. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYYtC1yJqCw

Bonus Tracks.

33. Afterlife by Magnum Opus. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6Iytor-qbk

34. Rise Of A Hero by Sonic Symphony. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWlwRiDTbOE

35. Rapture Rising Reimagined by JT Music. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvI9JmC7TkU

36. Daddy’s Home by JT Music. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gq5PMJ-pn48

[farrukh-schumann]

💕 get to know your mutuals!! when you get this, it means someone wants to know more about you, so list 5 things about yourself you want your followers to know. they can be as simple as your age or as complex as your deepest fear, as long as it’s something you’re comfortable with sharing. when you’re done, send this to 10 people you want to get to know better!! 🥺🌼💕

Hehe it's funny that I'm being the person who is chosen in these games, this is so sweet 🥰🥰

Okay 5 things, hmm

1. I'm very anxious. Like, really. I want to speak a lot with people and try to find friends, but every time I have a thought like "what if they don't like me? What if I was too talkative, too disturbing, too much?" That ruins me to pieces and I close in myself suddenly, until I'm sure people don't wanna stop talking with me lmao

2. I have a very strange music taste, if you look at people around me, there are not much people who can understand my taste. My best friend is the only one who can listen it with me 24/7. I listen to metal and rock, to jazz and blues, vintage radio. People around me don't usually listen to it xd. And yeah, if anybody likes my music I die. Music has much more influence on my life than maybe anything there.

3. I'm a gamer. Like playing Far Cry, or Dishonored, or Witcher, of Bioshock and etc. But RIGHT NOW I'm playing the game that shows me as a really true 100% gamer: Sims 3 *laughs*

4. I have a funny laughing. If you make me laugh really hard, I tell you, everybody around will laugh with me just because I make ridiculous sounds lmao.

5. I'm lazy. Like, a lot. Sometimes I'm that lazy that I don't do anything at all. I just don't want to. Or don't see why should I. Maybe that laziness is something more serious than I think, something deeper than I or people around can see, but I'm too lazy to do anything about it, lol.

Thank you for giving me an opportunity to participate in that thing! 🥰💕❤️💕💕🔥❤️🔥💕🥰

Love ya

[magmahurricane]

A decade of friends - in no order, here’s to all the amazing people in my life old and new!

@shinkumancer : I remember following your work waaay back in the Archie Comic days. I had always been too shy to approach you, but I loved your work. I still remember so much of your Egg Boss art and it’s insane how far you’ve come. You’re still one of the sweetest, kindest people I know and I always enjoy the little drawpile sessions we have! 

@zlatis-art : We haven’t been friends for very long - it’s roughly been a year, now, but it feels like we’ve been friends longer. Something just... clicked when we met, and god I came on strong looking back! I don’t regret it tho - taking the plunge and letting you into my life was such a good call. You’re super patient and you strive so hard to treat everyone fairly and give people so much love. You’ve come such a long way with both your OCs and your art, and our calls are always so much fun! 

@sege-h : Would you believe I actually don’t remember exactly how we met...? I know it had something to do with the Sonic RPC iirc. But you’ve always been such a wonderful source of optimism and joy, and I love our talks! You’ve always been so supportive of me and I don’t know how to thank you for it?? I need to draw Storm and Carey doing more shenannigans when I get better!

@rainingautumn : I also don’t recall how, other than vague recollections of the Sonic RPC I think. I feel like I learned so much from you - you’ve provided me with different perspectives, which really helped me open my eyes to a lot of things. You’ve always been such a warm, positive presence while still standing firm and speaking up for yourself, which is so hard to do. I love your little messages, even if I don’t always know how to respond to them!

@boy-of-silence : You’re legit one of my oldest friends around and looking back on where we started it’s honestly kind of insane? We met on dA and we were practically babies like??? It’s insane, I remember so much and it all blurs together like mad, but we’ve always just sorta stuck by each other and I’m always so happy to see you on my dash. You got me into Homestuck, and you made me curious about Bioshock (I still need to finish Infinite), and I still remember the little art collabs we used to do...! I got nothing but good memories!

@kismeti : We don’t talk much, but I’m hoping to change that soon! I love your work, and you’ve put so much into your OCs. Seeing you tweet about petsites makes me think about Neopets and I age 500 years every time,, You honestly seem so sweet and kind and I can’t wait to see what more you’re gonna share with us in the new year!

@fini-mun : I don’t talk with you as much as I should (purely because I’m shy as all get out) but you’ve honestly been such an inspiration to me. You’re so incredibly kind and patient -- I still have that doodle you sent me while I had been down in the dumps. I remember I found you so intimidating when I first met you on dA, when I first tried to commission you -- and watching you grow as an artist and getting to know you has been so great! You don’t know how much I smiled that night when I expressed how I knew nothing about BatIM and you up and streamed the entire game live. I know we were both excited to play FO76 together and that was a let down for like, the entire fandom. But we should definately hang sometime and do stuff! Give your ratties my love!!

@oddpastrys : JAAADE,,, I vaguely remember meeting you in one of Kaden’s streams,, and then in Joan’s weird campaign. You’ve always been such a fun, energetic person and you always bring the best jokes. Deadass, watching RWBY with you both ruined it and enhanced it. You’re so much fun to be around and you always work so hard to cheer everyone up and please everyone, and we don’t say thank you often enough - I don’t thank you often enough. You’re so sweet and fun to be around and I’m 100% not sorry about all the horrible, horrible things I’ve made you see. 

@calderscauldron : Kaden!!! You’re another one of my oldest friends, and it’ll never be wild to me how insanely lucky it was that I happened to move to the same state as you. I remember when we were dumb kids on dA, and how you used to joke about kidnapping me -- and how my first thought when getting to Texas was “I should see where this guy lives and meet up!” sjkfdjkfs It’s been a helluva ride and I don’t regret it. We had our bumps and fallouts but we’ve always worked through it all -- and your art has come such a long way. You’re always so sweet and so much fun to be around.  You deserve so many nice things and I can’t thank you enough for sticking by my dumb ass for so long!

@haunted-pixel : Yet another decade-old friendship! Bronwyn it’s been such a fucking wild ride. I still remember your old OCs from back in the day; I remember our gryphon friend group, and our lizard group and screaming about digimon, I remember getting really into Kimba/Jungle Emperor Leo cos of you and your OCs, I remember all the drawings of Z and Miki. I remember Nuki and the others. It’s been such a long time and so much has changed around us both. We don’t talk as much anymore but I’m always thrilled when we do hit eachother up on twitter!! I seriously gotta draw more Carey x Zanity sometime. You’ve also just, improved so much as an artist and branched out so much?? Your plushies and your fursuits are absolutely amazing and I can’t believe how far you’ve come! I also still have the sketches you and your sister did for me when I was technically homeless and stuck in the hospital and I’ll always treasure them - and the Nack you made for me is still sitting cozy on my shelf, along with the yeen and Sonic you sent!

@nuttyrabbit : My absolute best friend!!! And probably most unexpected friend! I remember seeing your posts in the Archie Sonic tag way back when, and how my asshole ex used to rant about how she hated you for w/e reason. I used to be so intimidated by you because you told it how it is, and I respected your opinion so I was always lowkey afraid you thought I was stupid and hated my ideas/OCs. But even before we got close, you stuck your neck out for me when things got bad between my ex and me. And in 2018, we finally just started to click with our OC stuff.  Lady Luck became a huge comfort dynamic for the both of us. You always argue against it but I still say you’re one of the kindest people I know. You always try to look out for me and find ways to lend a hand when things get tough, you’re always trying to help me when I’m down and you go out of your way to cheer me up and I can’t thank you enough. Meeting you at RTX this year was incredible.  Thank you so much for being you. <3 

@finitevus : We don’t talk much but I can’t not add you!!! You’ve been so kind and supportive to me, and artistically you’ve always been such a big inspiration. I love your character designs and your writing is so so good, and you always strive to be so positive and warm to others and I promise I’m not ignoring you when you reach out; I’m just very shy and dumb ankjdjkfs I need to,,, say hello on discord sometime. And draw you many things!

@lightdax : You’re always a whole lot of fun and I refuse to apologize for your eyes with half the shit you’ve been exposed to by proxy. You’ve always been really sweet and you’ve really been pushing to improve this past year and it shows! Take time off your mayoral duties for the town of Cuckoldia and put up your OC bios tho! @nvllspace : I,, gotta tag ur RP blog cos IDK ur personal but JACKKIIEE. You’re so sweet and fun and your art is always such a treat. You came through with helping me realize just how toxic a certain person I needed to cut out of my life was, and you’ve always been so kind and supportive. You’re always a blast in our calls and I love your AUs so much! Also you need to stop having so many gorgeous characters cos holy shit,,,

@frecklefacefromouterspace : Nixe!  You’re usually busy these days but whenever we do catch you it’s always fun. If it wasn’t for your old server, the current server wouldn’t have even existed and you brought us all together! You’re always so sweet and bubbly and you have one of the cutest, most distinct styles I know.

And to all my other mutuals - thank you all so much for sticking by me!  I’m having difficulty typing now so I’m sorry I couldn’t get to everyone but sincerely: thank you, all of you, for making these past years such an amazing ride. I’ve learned so much from each of you and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for 2020!

[vipers-hat]

video game ask: 3, 9, 23, 45, 49?

3. Who did you play with as a kid? I watched my brother play a lot, which kind of counts as playing because I’d suggest certain things for him to do/how to attack/where to go. After that, my ex best friend got me started on the Sonic franchise, then BioShock, and what I realized years later was Mass Effect. 

9. Most regrettable purchase?  Far Cry New Dawn. Also, even if it was two of the Games With Gold, Ryse was predictable garbage and I called the plot twist within the first big story plot point, and Murdered: Soul Suspect wasn’t as much garbage as it was just kinda “eh” - and as @autumnharbinger can attest to, I also called that big plot twist after playing for about ten minutes- and my calling it was mostly a joke so the fact that I turned out to be right ruined it for me. Also the avoiding demons mechanic was a nightmare. Even if they were free it was ‘too much money.’

23.  The game that you’ve logged the most hours into? Far Cry 5 and Skyrim. I wish I could find how many hours I have in Skyrim between platforms to actually compare.

45. How are you at Mario Kart? I’ve only ever played it once and I was awful. I’m always awful with racing games, even racing mini games in bigger games. 

49.  In games where you can pick your class, do you always tend to go for the same type of character? Rogue life best life

[demansiabites]

So, the 2010′s are over, what the fuck is up with that one? I spent more time in video games during the 2010′s than I probably spent in school, so I’ve naturally been trying to rank 10 games as my favorites of the decade. Of course, I’m a dumb bitch so I couldn’t think of anything past four or so games that I loved during the decade. So under the cut, here are my top 10 games that I played during the decade ranked in idunno an order I guess:

Number 10: Far Cry 3 (November 29th, 2012), aka the worst fucking game I’ve ever enjoyed. Far Cry 3 is a video game, that’s one of the few things I’m certain of, so naturally it has video game elements. Story, gameplay, characters, some vague semblance of doing something. If someone asked me to describe how well it did any of those things, it’d probably go something like this: “The story was fucking garbage, there was one good character that they killed halfway through, there was like one good mission in the entire game, and the gameplay was passable for a first person shooter”.  So then what the fuck, why is it this high up? I don’t know, but for some reason I kept playing this god damn game at least once every year for the past few years. Even though I had to use uPlay, even though the characters are unlikable as fuck, even though the story feels like it was written in one night long bender including some combination of Vodka and Red Bull that probably resulted with at least one person in the hospital, I kept playing this fucking game. And I think I might have figured out why, it’s just fucking stupid. There are very few games I would consider a “survival” game where it doesn’t actually have survival elements, and Far Cry 3 is one of them. The entire map itself wants you dead honestly. Including a cast of tigers, giant birds, pirates, bears, giant cliffs, and sharks, there’s no safe place on the map. Getting from one end of the map to the other will include at least one fight, no matter what you do. The game gives you the stupidest tools I can think of to get you across the map. There’s literally no reason for them to give you a flare gun, but they do because why not. A wingsuit? You get that shit like, 60% of the way through the game, and that last 40% is mostly me fucking around with the added mobility they should’ve given me from the start.  I fucking hate this game so much, purely because I enjoy it more than this game has the right to make someone enjoy. I give it a 4/10. If someone asked me of any good survival games, I would recommend something else then remember Far Cry 3 a couple hours later when taking a shower. Then I would probably play it myself, because it’s the guiltiest of pleasures.

Number 9: BioShock (August 21st, 2007), aka I never said all the games came out this decade, I just said I played them. BioShock is one of those games people consider a “masterpiece”. It’s got an amazing story, revolutionary gameplay, fantastic characters. I may agree with that, but that’s not why it’s here. I bought this game and for the following three days I stayed up playing it from 8 PM to 7 AM because I kept getting so fixed into the game that I lost my passage of time. If that’s not top 10 material I don’t know what the fuck is. BioShock is a 9/10 game, play it if you know you’re not doing anything for the next 3 days because you probably won’t realize how long you’ve been playing it. Also it’s actually pretty scary sometimes, so be warned.

Number 8: Mount and Blade: Warband (March 30, 2010), aka the game where I said I was going to take over the entire map then spent 60 hours getting 33% of the way through that goal. Mount and Blade: Warband is a perfectly accurate simulation of the days under the feudal system, because everything takes 8 years to fucking happen. Travelling across the map takes minutes at a time, battles take minutes, starting a castle’s siege takes 3 in-game days, then the siege itself takes anywhere from 10 real life minutes to an hour based on how mean the game is feeling. Do I dislike this? No, not at all, I love how large scale this game. As a matter of fact, it’s one of the largest scale games I’ve played ever. Battles can have hundreds of troops at a time, the world is dominated by kingdoms with actual politics, there are hundreds of named NPCs in the game almost every single one of which you can fight or ally with. It’s fucking insane. Mount and Blade: Warband gets an 8/10 from me, it’s not at all for everyone but it’s certainly for me.

Number 7: Resident Evil 4 (January 11, 2005), aka “wait the same person that played Leon Scott Kennedy also voiced the Merchant?” I don’t think I have anything new to say about Resident Evil 4, so I’m not really going to bother trying to critique this game. I will say I beat it at least 4 or 5 times throughout the decade, having only owned it for a few years, and that I also played it with my significant other during that time and after that they bought it to play it themselves. The only other thing I feel worth mentioning is god damn did they make Leon Scott Kennedy fucking THICC. You may think the artillery are the guns you’re carrying around anymore, but nah, them cheeks could fucking fracture a skull. Resident Evil 4 gets an 8/10 from me, I would buy it at a high price. Also I love Ada Wong.

Number 6: Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls (September 25th, 2014), aka the reason I would never recommend somebody to follow me on this fucking website. Danganronpa is by far, the best series I’ve ever seen have so many crippling flaws in it. Thankfully, Ultra Despair Girls manages to avoid those flaws by being just straight up a different game entirely. Most of Danganronpa’s flaws comes from how many characters they have. Ultra Despair Girls manages to fix that by not having as many characters, but expanding heavily on the characters that it does have. The motherfuckers literally made the hyperactive serial killer my favorite character in fiction, I don’t know what y’all expect of me at this point. Also, the game manages to have gameplay that is actually suited for someone such as myself. I absolutely adore the class trials in Danganronpa, but visual novels aren’t my thing most of the time. Danganronpa is certainly an exception, but Ultra Despair Girls’s third person shooter gameplay holds my attention like a vice, that shit was made for me. Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls gets a 7/10 from me, it’s certainly not the best game but god damn if it didn’t ruin me.

NOW ENTERING, THE LARGE LADS, WHERE RANKING MATTERS

Number 5: Plants vs. Zombies (May 5, 2009), aka the sentiment from the memories I have playing it is enough to put it on here. I played Plants vs. Zombies one time in the past decade, and that was just last year. But, I played it with my significant other while I was in England visiting them. We bought it for 1 pound from a game store, and played it almost every. single. day. after we bought it. We beat the main story at least three times, and one of those times I played. Honestly, it’s still a really fucking fun game, and I wouldn’t go back and change a second of the time I played it. Plants vs. Zombies gets a 9/10 from me, it’s an incredibly polished game and the memories I have of it means it’ll hold a special place in my heart for a long time to come.

Number 4: Fallout: New Vegas (October 19, 2010), aka 234 hours of my life I will never get back. Fallout: New Vegas is a special experience that I’m certain will never have a replacement. It’s reached a place in my mind where if I ever want to experience a game like it again, there is no “other game” to go to, I just go back to New Vegas and play through it all again. I give Fallout: New Vegas an 8/10, it’s incredibly buggy, but I’ll never be able to escape its grasp.

Number 3: The Outer Worlds (October 25th, 2019), aka wait there’s another Fallout: New Vegas, damn that’s rad The Outer Worlds was introduced to me through this trailer, upon which everyone was hyping it up. The game was made by the developers of Fallout: New Vegas, it looked like it had way more polish, and it was a space adventure. So naturally, with all of these positives, I was fucking horrified at what we were going to get. I was so unbelievably afraid that Obsidian was going to release the game and it was going to be bad. Well, I bought it a couple weeks after release, and let me tell you what the days after were like: BioShock, it was fucking BioShock again, god DAMMIT. The Outer Worlds is a fun, amazingly written, anti-corporation, fuck you Bethesda, space adventuring, really fucking fun game. I’m pretty sure I did almost every side quest, only missing on a couple companion quests, and I did everything I could to get the ending I sought after the most. I wanted nothing more than to topple the Capitalist Assholes, so I did. Not only did the game let me do that, but it has LGBTQ+ characters, and holy shit are some of them comparable to the UV Rays the sun is trying to fucking end me with.  The Outer Worlds receives a 9/10 from me, and I should play it again.

Number 2: Fallout 2 (September 30th, 1998), aka wow this game is the most dated piece of media, can I play it forever? I honestly have no fucking clue why I fell so in love with Fallout 2. It’s got some real problematic elements, homophobic NPCs, some of the worst parts of society, literal slavers? Literal slavers? But for some reason, I’m happy playing a game with them, because there is almost no consequence to just wiping them the fuck out. Every time I play through this game, it’s just routine for me to kill the slavers, the drug producers, the Scientologists. It’s like, the most selective experience ever, I could probably do quests for these people, but nah, I wipe them out and the game just stands there with its hands in its pockets not saying a word. It doesn’t try to stop me, it doesn’t give me some stupid negative trait for what I did. So long as I survive the encounter, I’m free to just move on with my day. On top of that, it’s also got amazing characters, and an amazing story. You can tell the story’s amazing, because in Fallout 3 Bethesda tried to do it again, and failed miserably. Fallout 2 gets an 8/10 from me, it’s a buggy piece of shit, but with a mod that fixes it it’s a way for me to spend another 90 hours.

Number 1: OneShot (December 8th, 2016), aka the best video game experience. OneShot is one of those special game experiences where I have nothing that I dislike about it. The main character is one of my favorite characters ever, they are an absolute baby. Every other character in the game is likable, as well. I have honest to god tried to come up with something I dislike about OneShot and I just can’t think of it. I may not replay it multiple times, but I don’t need to. I’m so in love with OneShot, I don’t need to play it multiple times. As a matter of fact, I don’t need to play it. I don’t own OneShot, my significant other does, they bought it at my recommendation. OneShot will never stop being one of the most special experiences to me.  OneShot is a 10/10 game, and I genuinely, with all my heart, recommend anyone who has even slightly similar tastes to me to play it. It’s one of the most lovable games in gaming, has exclusively likable characters, and I will always adore Niko from it.

[meeresnaechte]

Get To Know Me Questions (Very long)

1. What is your first name? Justine

2. What is your nickname? Jess

3. What is your zodiac sign? Gemini

4. What is your favorite book series? I do not really have a favorite book series since I actually do prefer shows or video games to get lost in. However, I once read a "self published" ebook by an unknown author called "Human" which is actually a fanfiction but it was SO well written and it made me more emotional than any other book ever could.

5. Do you believe in aliens or ghosts? Yes I do believe in such things. I often experience sleep paralysis and get visited by someone- or something. I can see a person who's not actually there and I do believe it's a lost soul or the ghost of the person which committed suicide in my apartment before I moved in. I believe in demons and posessed things, I am really scared of dolls but I think not believing in such things would make life more boring.

6. Who is your favorite author? I do not have one.

7. What is your favorite radio station? I don't listen to the radio.

8. What is your favorite flavor of anything? I like any flavor except sweet flavors like vanilla or else.

9. What word would you use often to describe something great or wonderful? Pure. It's one of my favorite words. I often like to refer to my best friends as pure.

10. What is your current favorite song? Anarchist by Yungblud is a really good song at the moment.

11. What is your favorite word? Pure in english or Bettgeflüster in German, I'm sorry but the sound of that word is just so beautiful ahhah

12. What was the last song you listened to? I write sins not tragedies by panic at the disco. Definitely one of the best song ever made (Also Brendon is especially hot in this one)

13. What TV show would you recommend for everybody to watch? How I met your mother (very life changing) & Stranger Things

14. What is your favorite movie to watch when you’re feeling down? The perks of being a wallflower. It changed me and my perspective on life completely.

15. Do you play video games? Yes. I love them, especially Fable 2 and Bioshock Infinite.

16. What is your biggest fear? The ocean. I love the beach but I am really scared of deep water because my father and I had to save a man from drowning when I was maybe 7 years old. He experienced a stroke and only his little daughter was with him.

17. What is your best quality, in your opinion? I can be very interesting to talk to because I love getting into depth about everything.

18. What is your worst quality, in your opinion? My self confidence and my mental illness. It ruined and continues to ruin many things for me. It took my youth away.

19. Do you like cats or dogs better? I cherish dogs so much, they make me so happy.

20. What is your favorite season? Summer or winter. (Fall is quite awesome too, it's kind of spooky)

21. Are you in a relationship? No.

22. What is something you miss from your childhood? Not being afraid of anything. Being free, not being judged for what I do and who I am.

23. Who is your best friend? I have more than one. Someone I met through the internet in 2013. Someone I've known since kindergarten and suddenly met again 15 years later. Someone I've been deeply in love with for 5 years & Someone who's always been there but never really got the courage to be around until last year.

24. What is your eye color? Green.

25. What is your hair color? Blonde.

26. Who is someone you love? My best friends & my lovely grandma.

27. Who is someone you trust? My best friends.

28. Who is someone you think about often? I often think about someone I haven't met yet. Someone who will change my life forever.

29. Are you currently excited about/for something? I am truly trying to live in the moment. I'm not excited for something, but scared of the future because I have to move abroad next year and leave everything behind.

30. What is your biggest obsession? Fable 2, Dan and Phil and Stranger Things.

31. What was your favorite TV show as a child? Spongebob or Max & Ruby

32. Who of the opposite gender can you tell anything to, if anyone? All except one person of my best friends are my opposite gender and I can tell them anything.

33. Are you superstitious? Yes

34. Do you have any unusual phobias? I don't know if they are unusual but the ocean, dolls, funfairs, bugs and speaking in front of people (except acting)

35. Do you prefer to be in front of the camera or behind it? In front of it. My greatest passion is acting and I've always wanted to become an actress.

36. What is your favorite hobby? Acting.

37. What was the last book you read? It's been a long long time. I have no clue.

38. What was the last movie you watched? Annabelle 3. Yesterday at a drive-in cinema with my best friends. One of the most special moments I've made so far.

39. What musical instruments do you play, if any? I can play the piano. I would love to play any instrument.

40. What is your favorite animal? Dogs, wolves and red pandas.

41. What are your top 5 favorite Tumblr blogs that you follow? I don't have a favorite.

42. What superpower do you wish you had? Time travelling, being able to read people's minds and heart.

43. When and where do you feel most at peace? At the beach, listening to the sound of the waves. I tend to forget everything during those moments.

44. What makes you smile? When people aren't afraid to show me that I mean something to them. Not only words.

45. What sports do you play, if any? Football, Basketball, Badminton.. did I forget anything? I like all sports except gymnastics.

46. What is your favorite drink? Water or Iced Coffee (it's so bad for my skin)

47. When was the last time you wrote a hand-written letter or note to somebody? This month, I believe. It was a letter.

48. Are you afraid of heights? Yes, but I still manage to push myself to do things that involves heights. I just recently climbed up a 80 metre high building with my friends at night to get a nice view of the skyline. Almosy shit my pants but I am still alive. Little did we know someone killed themselves by jumping off that exact building at the exact night.

49. What is your biggest pet peeve? Screaming. I hate it. I love chill people.

50. Have you ever been to a concert? Do little concerts count? If not, no.

51. Are you vegan/vegetarian? No.

52. When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up? I've always wanted to become an actress or a police officer.

53. What fictional world would you like to live in? Albion from Fable the video game.

54. What is something you worry about? My future.

55. Are you scared of the dark? I love the night and being outside during the night but I can't sleep without keeping my little light on because I tend to get sleep paralysis when my room is all dark.

56. Do you like to sing? I wish I could sing

57. Have you ever skipped school? Yes

58. What is your favorite place on the planet? Wherever I feel happy and where I can connect with the people I love the most.

59. Where would you like to live? California.

60. Do you have any pets? No.

61. Are you more of an early bird or a night owl? Night owl.

62. Do you like sunrises or sunsets better? Both. Sunsets are like a beautiful ending, they make me believe that no matter how hard things are at the moment, they will pass, but the bittersweet feeling of the ending of my best memories comes after. Sunrises feel like a new beginning after the dark.

63. Do you know how to drive? No, I'm currently doing my car and motorcycle driving license though.

64. Do you prefer earbuds or headphones? Earbuds for music, headphones for gaming.

65. Have you ever had braces? Yes, I want them again, I'm not satisfied with my teeth.

66. What is your favorite genre of music? Rock

67. Who is your hero? Daniel Howell. I've never met him, but I saw myself in him. He saved my life. I feel like I've known him before.. in a different life.

68. Do you read comic books? No

69. What makes you the most angry? Negative people who always complain and never see the beauty in certain things or moments.

70. Do you prefer to read on an electronic device or with a real book? A real book.

71. What is your favorite subject in school? Sports.

72. Do you have any siblings? No

73. What was the last thing you bought? Film for my polaroid camera.

74. How tall are you? 5'4ft

75. Can you cook? Not really. I can make pancakes, that's about it.

76. What are three things that you love? Dogs, nature, video games

77. What are three things that you hate? Negativity, hatred, self-centered people

78. Do you have more female friends or more male friends? More male friends.

79. What is your sexual orientation? I don't care who I fall in love with, but I don't know how to label myself. I'm in love with the feeling of love.

80. Where do you currently live? Germany but I'm moving to London next summer.

81. Who was the last person you texted? One of my best friends.

82. When was the last time you cried? This week

83. Who is your favorite YouTuber? Dan and Phil.

84. Do you like to take selfies? I take like 2 selfies each year so, no.

85. What is your favorite app? Twitter or Tumblr

86. What is your relationship with your parent(s) like? Not very good. I feel pressured most of the time and can't connect to them on an emotional level. It's even harder now since they got a divorce. I love my grandma so much.

87. What is your favorite foreign accent? American.

88. What is a place that you’ve never been to, but you want to visit? New Zealand, Norway and Canada

89. What is your favorite number? 24

90. Can you juggle? No

91. Are you religious? No

92. Do you find outer space or the deep ocean to be more interesting? Outer space. I'm scared of the deep ocean and I don't even know what's down there.

93. Do you consider yourself to be a daredevil? Not at all

94. Are you allergic to anything? Wasps, dust

95. Can you curl your tongue? Yes

96. Can you wiggle your ears? No

97. How often do you admit that you were wrong about something? 50/50

98. Do you prefer the forest or the beach? Both.

99. What is your favorite piece of advice that anyone has ever given you? "Cut the seed before it grows"

100. Are you a good liar? I hate lying and being lied to.

101. What is your Hogwarts House? Slytherin

102. Do you talk to yourself? A lot

103. Are you an introvert or an extrovert? Introvert.

104. Do you keep a journal/diary? I use my Tumblr as my diary since 2013

105. Do you believe in second chances? Yes

106. If you found a wallet full of money on the ground, what would you do? Search for an ID and try to reach out to the person who lost it.

107. Do you believe that people are capable of change? Not really..

108. Are you ticklish? Yes

109. Have you ever been on a plane? Yes

110. Do you have any piercings? Yes

111. What fictional character do you wish was real? Reaver from Fable, I'd like to marry him

112. Do you have any tattoos? No but I'm planning to get three.

113. What is the best decision that you’ve made in your life so far? To keep going.

114. Do you believe in karma? Yes.

115. Do you wear glasses or contacts? Either I wear glasses or go through life blind lmao

116. Do you want children? I'm not sure, but I prefer to adopt.

117. Who is the smartest person you know? Daniel Howell

118. What is your most embarrassing memory? I reject them lmao

119. Have you ever pulled an all-nighter? When haven't I?

120. What color are most of you clothes? Black

121. Do you like adventures? I love them.

122. Have you ever been on TV? Yes.

123. How old are you? 18

124. What is your favorite quote? So many. I really like "Irgendjemand liebt dich immer" a lot these days, it means "someone will always love you"

125. Do you prefer sweet or savory foods? Savory. I hate sweet.

I tag @ludicrousperson

[theultimateegghead-blog]

100 FOLLOWERS MEGA SPECIAL AWESOME 10 PART EVENT TOP 100 ENEMIES         THE GRAND FINALE

THE GRAND FINALE!

Here we are, part 10, the final part. 10 more enemies to go. These 10 foes are the cream of the crop in my opinion, so let me share em with ya!

10 - Shy Guys - Mario Series

Enemy Status – Mysterious Masked Entity.

Shy guys are among the oddest foes in the Mario universe. Originally seen in a dream world and then all over Yoshi’s island. They are never seen without their iconic mask and they come in many forms. What is about them that I like? I am not sure, but I find their design simple yet timeless. They may be simple enemies, but I have always found them to be among the best the mushroom kingdom has to offer. These little guys win a spot on the list and secure the rank of number 10! Way to go shy-guy!

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

9 - Ring Knight - Dark Souls 3

Enemy status – Protectors of the Ringed City.

The ringed city’s guardians are menacing foes. Large powerful knights with the dark soul insignia burned onto their armor and wielding large blades of fire. These are some of the deadliest foes the souls series has to offer and they are, in my opinion, some of the best designed. They appear throughout the entire city and are a thrill to fight, especially the one guarding the cathedral or the one randomly found in the far ruined future. These guys are also interesting from a lore perspective, and thus they win the 9th place on this list.

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

8 – Bouncer - Bioshock

Enemy Status – Large Father.

The world of rapture is not a pleasant place. It is full of dangers and lethal traps that can end your life very quickly. This is seen in spades with the Bouncer. The Bouncer is one of the big daddies who protect the little sisters. They are usually neutral but can be hostile if antagonized. Thing is though, if you want to progress in the game YOU have to engage them. Be ready for a difficult fight. The bouncer charges without mercy with their drill arm and will attack relentlessly. They offer little breathing room and can be very dangerous at the beginning of the game. The bouncer is the “face” of Bioshock, and thus readily deserves a spot in the top ten! 8th place is good.

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

7 - Hell Knight - Doom 3

Enemy Status – High Ranking Demon.

The beast of hell are no simple cretins, some of them are exceptionally dangerous. This is made very clear with the Hell Knight, high ranking and powerful monsters that often appear in groups of two. They lumber around and throw large fireballs. They also give a rather means punch as well. These guys are among some of the most menacing foes in the DOOM series and while they are not as powerful in the 2016 reboot, they are still a worthy opponent. The Hell Knight wins lucky number 7 on this list.

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

6 - Helghast - Killzone series

Enemy Status – Soldiers from Helghan.

Of all the pure human enemies, evil armies and what have you, we decide to go the sci-fi route. Say hello to the Helghast. These foes are armed to the teeth and proudly represent their glorious empire. What makes them different from the generic terrorist, thugs and nazis we have all fought in war games? Nothing much, but what makes them iconic is their design. The iconic gas mask and black and white armor set them apart from all others and that is why they make it up here. Because I love their design quite a bit. Do not need much more of a reason that that, welcome to 6th place.

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

5 - Lynels - Zelda Breath of the Wild

Enemy Status – Lion-man Centaur

Hyrule is home to many dangerous beasts, but none match the pure ferocity of the Lynel. The mighty Lynel is a fierce monster that has the lower body of a horse, the upper body of a man and the head of a lion. These beasts wield mighty weapons such as swords, clubs or bows and are capable of breathing fire. Nothing is scarier than one of these charging you at full speed! It takes skill and might to take one down and revel in the spoils of battle. Just be careful, because they can take a long time to best in combat. These monsters win the 5th place award.

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

4 - Deathclaws - Fallout Series

Enemy Status – Mutated Jackson Chameleon.

The deathclaw is the apex predator of the wasteland and is among one of the most feared enemies of the wasteland. Many inexperienced adventurers met their end at the clawed hands of one of these walking death machines. They come in many different colors and sizes, but one thing is consistent, they are big, and they are aggressive. If you cross one early on your journey, be ready for a wicked fight. These iconic post-apocalyptic foes win 4th place!

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

3 - Darknuts - Zelda Series

Enemy Status – Heavily Armored Dark Knight.

And the Zelda series finds a its place on this spot once again. The Lynel is the apex monster, but the darknut is the pinnacle of the humanoid enemy. These are among the original dark knight enemies in the history of video games. Regardless, the Darknut is an imposing figure that is a skilled fighter and a sturdy tank. They can dish out punishment and take a lot of damage. The closer they get to defeat, the more desperate and fast they get in retaliation. It is always a blast to fight one, and it can be a challenge to take multiples at once. Congrats on your 3rd place! Can you tell that I like knights?

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

2 - Tonberry - Final Fantasy series

Enemy status – The embodiment of vengeance.

The tonberry is a dangerous foe. They are small unassuming enemies, they creep towards you slowly and raise a small knife. They stab and it does massive damage. These guys are among the most dangerous foes in the final fantasy and its great. Why is it great? Because they look so cute and unassuming, it can slay behemoths and other great monsters with ease despite its tiny stature. They get stronger with the more enemies you have slain.  So, they win a spot for their cute looks and lethal abilities in combat. Welcome to 2nd place, Tonberry!

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

1 - Elites - Halo series

Enemy Status – The covenants finest (until the Brutes showed up.)

The covenant is among the most feared empires in sci-fi history. Encompassing several races attempting to carry out a religion fueled genocide across the entire galaxy. The pinnacle of their militant forces are the elites. These aliens are mighty foes that rarely ever retreat or back down, they will fight tooth and nail to the bitter end. Even the lowest ranking elite is a dangerous opponent. They lead the lesser races into combat and should be taken out quickly to demoralize the other lesser enemies. Once Halo 3 rolled around they sided with the humans and have become allies. So, the elites are my favorite enemies in video games. They have amazing designs, are fun to fight and are intimidating foes to take down. They are a shining example of what makes a good enemy. Congrats, you wont the 1st place!

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

And finnaly, after all this time it is completed, thank you all. We are actually already near 200 followers! Holy Cheese puffs! That’s a lot of people! I will be primarily doing video game reviews for a while, as I am running out of obscure characters to write about! But you can expect more list later down the line as well! Once we hit 200 followers Ill have a Q&A set aside for people who wanna ask me stuff! Ill answer the first 20 ask, then ill try to work on any others if I have the time. Take care!

[triumphorce]

under umbras of bundles  of stars,

canopies of leaves & branches that shatter-scatter sky image held indirect

as a gleam in eyes

as conscious lay in fabricated gardens watching memories, & desires in dream form

from across highway covered by

blue-white, 

yellow,

& orange lights

sound of tires, mufflers, sirens, 

amidst a higher sense 

attuned to

muffled far cries muffled while crossing empty lands

filled with chilling wind howls, stealing hope, 

which

kickstarts the power on survival mode..

ups& downs 

drown the cries further,

that

war, warn, or cheer..

or just sing..

maybe

a hymn made by souls for souls under same umbra to set free to lead to wonder & beauty beyond the surface of senses directly to free to seek love loss between me and me

buried beneath  road of longest journey to reach

turn feet all around

all about a world I have no idea about

just mad ideas about Kept in journals i turn over

to all but from in front of views not yet exploited by value of which is, views are power,  & are the will in word- to-page transaction

self diminished to substantiate

entries from entrails, not shown to be conquered

win or lose is how I never saw things.

win or win, only optionss, only progress..

yet..,always over complicating;

marathon sprints from start to finish

as I choose, If i choose, to continue to choose to overlook slopes in existence, where hides I, in ruins, digging for recognition

contribute to a mind overloading with what I know I owe society, &me,

burden of see-through beast, I see illusions of future thru,mistaken as truth, play victim, get stressed or believe I'm down on luck ,in dumps of depression and slum of beliefs,

 in a slump with headphones on temple and music up, reminisce about the golden olden, me and broseph, SSB, PSO, kanto, johto, cartoon cartoons, many one saturday morning’s, plenty cinnamon toast, fruity pebbles, so many card games at Books-a-million

but when I open eyes from trance

I'm forever face to face with today is today

not then not later...

just

 changes who changed how I changed regret and anger to compensate for blaming everybody but me

now I stare afraid at dilemmas mass effect decisions

 daily in-and-out-terventions

to keep from falling back into resentment.. spite blinding shelves of subconscious-self- disappointed perpetuating judgment of others binding progression, tying tongue, boiling blood because old habits die hard and I continue fucking up, up raging rapids w/o a paddle,   almost 3 decades of failing infinite (according to projections) feel I missed and am missing out on so much, so much world, so many words coiled inside, waiting to explode,

all the time, just like everybody.. everything mind sets sights on turns to target issue     how unfortunate for aforementioned coordinates, for anyone close enough for me to put in poems' , important enough to torment conscious over, used to be everybody, used to be nobody, used to be just some people, now its just me and i dont know him

   attempts to speak, to learn again, to teach me about me       to learn to teach                     myself, to set example for ambition directed toward a better version, better verses, better reimbursement of time given tryna be an extrovert, free from bitter, free from bitch asses, set internal standards to never  get fucked with again, fuck you, fuck him, fuck her, i only fucks with a journal & question  everyone,  everything, every word, every whisper, shit ima tell my children every day, breakfast lunch dinner,  do your best and fuck the rest, get it, get lit off enlightenment, fuck rest, save roosting for death, dont look at me, looknat the sky, seize the day in everyway brain permits, dont reach for others' and if anyone tries to take yours, that means they dont fundamentally respect life, so always permeate passion, ignore distractions keeping you from creating, test limits, test intentions, challenge imperfections with wisdom, know that perfect is just cosmetics, but i remain quiet.. remain tied up being alone, wondering..           whether I'm right to do any god damn thing        'cause if I don't do it right..       was I right to think I could, wrong to think I understood

am i wrong not to try?

what of what's sacrificed ?

how do i keep count

how did I end up here       in standby...

standing squeamish & deer eyed in light of opportunities rising in horizon of night skies, to step in to obtain warmth, maintain from days before, to do something, do the one thing, but when will I be ready will eyes be ready to comprehend right or wrong

only me, here. only us, on planet.

only who's responsible? how is who is affected by, afflicted by? when is too late? when is just right, always too soon to tell and.. if I don't do it now, then why expect change..

why, why, why

'cause I expect anything at all

anger toward unmanned vehicles imminent to collide with mine

driven mad up eighty-five degree angled walls during rush hour, sun beaming heat into ride, where i travel on path, thru battlefield of past where fallen intentions decompose to ignorance and wisdom sprouts in the mean time.. I'm in between times, feelin down, down down down down by the way

a trail thru fears past dead ends, rotting trees, looks like fallout hit

a past I try an' forget..

but remember out of reluctance 

to accidentally revisit regret,

stand next to biggest fears,  see if facing them uproots soul

rolls ideas in head, non-stop

like trolls troll under bridges 

to which billy goat gruff temper charges like crono's katana on zenan crossing,

lodes of odes to oaths, lightning loaded, aimed at negative minded sapiens bioshocks via rhythm and syntax, cryo cascades of ideas, locked away in moleskine or computer files to put to rest the rest of an inside in arrest to judgment, in side quest of public playthrough, i feel im on public display, static complaining in front of pretty much strangers   modes of awareness to mental problems i exploit to people who might not think im crazy, who might like what i write, might like to write about the same thing, might see giants in those same nodes i stand near, i hear crisp crackles filling an awkward air as i stare at words on sheets that i might tear, might let collect dust, or share prolly might be quiet, only sound is poetic drafts that fill in under open windows, I open slowly, cool rush, goosebumps, awake aware always, even when mind is a crinkled, crumbled candy wrapper still just construct wrinkles in time via           hairs stand, ovation, and encores to

     helping to cross over doubts, screams of slander, stop it all, right now, shed truth in another light, fed through veins like pen's ink to go over and correct vision of pinheads vane turnin art, free thought to cash and competition, trade purpose blow for blow with obstacles in the name of the next step, over opponents, trade nervous for nerves robust to withstand standing up to stretch and spread chest to stand up for work where time invested is braided circulation    goin in circles,        time wasted pet peeve number 1

    a nowhere never felt before        but something seems familiar.. overlooked,   under yards, under pressure of bone leverage, give life a lift thru cracks of a collapsing effort stretched behind chest and ribs

a heart glows in

hot coal hues hearth warmth under carbon sheets

till blood boils till steam coils from pores to kill the cold along roads

sun or none

no light above, isn't lack of.. 

(look inside)

----

harsh heat of reality hot enough to feel cold

make me go ghost in dark times..

friction strong enough to spark moist..

continue until i sear nerves disembody fromm pain till im felt by meta-form of others

heartfelt arcs between soul and soul-mind 2 mind

light releases thru iris folds spectacle in spectacles----

spectrum wheel of emotions spins &spins to  understand self an urge that intensifies the more  i live life as well as I can Improve every day, no excuse, don't ignore the corners, get behind my ears,every nook and cranny in creative muse-um, uhm, duh, raised on books, nintendo, animation,& wishbone, outside, only myself as playdate, use every square inch as play-scape under every hair in head, a mind uses face and body as way to create 4 fourever& vice versa to escape who ever & know I can do whenever, wherever

wherever i go, a voice in mind goes

that keeps on talkin , keeps me talkin tellin me I've talk--, wrote enough hoped enough to last a lifetime, but that's not enough

and I still got a lifetime

to either solidify or fuck it up

gradually let go of 

to concentrate on life's finest moments i build to build form in appreciation, saying get up, enjoy the sun rays breaching clouds just before dawn; gett off yo butt and do what you know what you taught you to do when you were at multiple low points and you promised you, you'd never fall to end, even if you fall again, again, and again, never stall in the middle of  takeoff stop in middle of road, cant press play if you lost remote, might as well get up and do it, crawl, run or walk away when the times calls to brawl dark-inner energy only honorable mentions defend health during dishonorable discharge of nega, into rivers, into blue sky.. bordered by white clouds and linear silver

a safe place, work space, desk clerk sifting day to day thru file cabinets memories in memos in notebook; written relativity explaining how I see, what I think say what i want like im eight, glad i spent so much time with words and space-bars,   to escape judgment, hatred,

anxious surrounded by bad vibes

above an Earth, below expectations; over a self under surveillance by approval from inside, crazy dimensions, On the fence between people and myself I close eyes, ride waves of nostalgia once more..

see plenty light to traverse pathways, walk fer hours, walk like back in younger days, playin, runnin, completely captivated immersed in games played, tv, roller blades, monopoly, scary stories, trampolines

&10thousand songs later, 10million thoughts later, here I am doing what I made me to.

can't wait for the next chance

supplied energy through lines to hidden gracelands.

[geekgemsspooksandtoons]

The Journals Of Derek Grady Part 1

This is a story set within my Bioshock Rebirth AU. A reimaging/reboot of the Bioshock franchise. https://geekgemsspookyblog.tumblr.com/post/626141727587270656/bioshock-rebirth-timeline-this-is-a-timeline-of-an Just as a heads up if anyone is wondering about the context. I’ve had some stories in my drafts for a long time now and I’m finally publicly sharing them.

I made a post talking about this. There is this character named Derek that was in one of my pilot stories for this AU. But I felt strangely ashamed of how I wrote him. But I’d feel it’s best to use him in better context. In something very intriguing. Mainly the point of view of the Rapture Civil War from someone who fought in it. 

There is this silly theme of certain characters being named Derek in some AU’s of mine. Usual they are men that seem well intentioned, but their mind isn’t always in the best place. I’m just gonna make this because this is something I wanna make.

This was first started/made on December 23rd 2020. I’m not gonna have this beta read. It’s time I just upload this shit. I got the two tags done with. But I would like to mention I was heavily or so inspired by the Star Wars Battlefront 2 Classic story. Especially with the first journal from this character being inspired by the, “Knightfall” level. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lgG2ENW5Ac Spoilers ahead.

12/31/2001. The attack on the Kashmir restuarant.

I was a young kid when I first arrived in Rapture. I was naïve like many others. Many of used to believe in Andrew Ryan’s so called, “Great Chain”, until things started to fall apart. Especially after the death of scumbag Frank Fontaine. I find it funny he tried to put on a nice guy act whenever he met someone new or when he was in public, but I’ve heard the stories. The stories of the type of man he was.

But after Ryan nationalized Fontaine Futuristics in January 1999, a lot of people weren’t happy. It was surprising how long it took something to happen. So much dividing of social classes, so much shit that had happened during those years. What was gonna happen tonight would change everything forever...

I’ve been on Atlas’s crew of bandits since July. I felt joining Atlas was the best decision I made in my entire life. Because I felt I fighting for the right thing, a good cause. But what Atlas had planned sounded to me almost like terrorism. 

Yet when I thought about it, I really thought hard to myself. After everything we’ve suffered, how Ryan started to push everyone away, how he tried keep himself in power. Even though Rapture was supposed to be the perfect paradise...Andrew Ryan, Brigid Tenenbaum, Augustus Sinclair, Sander Cohen, Yi Suchong, Sofia Lamb, and so many others...how they treated us.

First it was just riots, but now it was time for Ryan and everyone who supported him knew what we were. What we stood for. They were gonna find out we weren’t some bandits who kidnapped some rich assholes to get payback or robin hood archetypes helping poor folks. 

There was no more talk for peace. Because Ryan never gave a damn...he never did.

1/31/2002. The Civil War starting. Apollo Square. Atlas and crew.

It’s been a month since we launched an attack on Kashmir. Things started to really change because the war for this city finally had truly begun. I have never been in war, but with the skills I’ve learned from Atlas and Daisy. I’d felt I was ready, because I needed to be. Not many of us were actual soldiers. But that didn’t matter to us. We knew what had to be done.

But we didn’t knew that Ryan would try to make Apollo Square a prison camp. Yet that didn’t matter, when those so called security officers first started to set people ablaze when they tried escaping. We shot any who would tried to do such things again. When they were hanging people, we fought back because we got tired of their bullshit. We didn’t fuck around. I felt proud when I shot one of those damn officers in the head. 

Apollo Square was practically our paradise. Sure Ryan’s army kept trying to get in, yet we always defended it. Yet even without Ryan, we still had others to worry about.

I feel pretty damn grateful a lot of our weapons were smuggled from the surface. We kept some of the weapons Ryan’s men had as well. 

But I think what I felt more grateful was our leaders. Daisy Fitzroy was practically Atlas’s 2nd in command. She was a tough woman, she didn’t take shit. Considering she worked for that weird kinky lady known as Ava Tate, I can’t blame her becoming that. She’s one of the bravest and smartest women I’ve fought with. I’m surprised she didn’t form our rebellion first.

Bill was lucky enough to be convinced by Atlas to join us after he resigned from the council. But Bill was like us. Even though he believed in Rapture, he was just an old man who wanted the best for people. I found that admirable of him. I also think he’s grateful we hid his ass after he left Ryan. Considering how Ryan gets upset with whoever betrays him, he’d rather want them dead...yet that might of been different considering he was best friends with Ryan himself. 

Diane was new, she was a hostage once with Julie Langford. But when Ryan never paid her ransom and practically didn’t care for her. But I do think she noticed those Jasmine Jolene posters throughout the city, making Ryan’s betrayal seemingly more worse. She originally came to Apollo Square to yell at us of how we possibly ruined her life. But when she saw the shit we were going through, she soon understood even more of the situation. Especially when we heard it wasn’t made better when hearing Ryan’s thoughts on people like us.

She joined us rather quickly, she was like Bill in a way. Diane was honestly a kind woman, it always felt nice to have more supporters. I do find it surprising from what I’ve seen that her and Daisy seemed to have developed a thing. Yet I found it surprisingly adorable...mainly because it was so strange to see Daisy seem soft to another person. But I think it gave the ladies more of a reason to keep fighting on.

But Atlas...he was something else. There was a reason people followed him. I followed him for plenty of good reasons. He seemed like a action hero you see out of those films from Hollywood. But I have never met a man so kind, yet so humble. He was the best of us...or that’s what I thought. You can have a good laugh with him too while having a drink. The man had a family, but he didn’t spoke of them much to keep them safe. I also remember hearing he was a captain in the Irish army. Which gave us an advantage in some ways over Ryan’s men.

He was the perfect anti-thesis to Andrew Ryan. Atlas was someone many genuinely respected and loved. Men wanted to be him, women loved him. To me and others. He wasn’t just a friend. Atlas was sometimes like a brother, or even a father.

Sure he wasn’t perfect and did some questionable things. But we knew it was for the best. Atlas is our best shot at winning this war. And I’m proud to fighting side by side with him, no matter what. 

2/1/2002. Johnny Topside.

I never met the man, but Atlas knew him only for a year. The way he talked about Johnny. I’ve heard stories of him, well that’s because Atlas didn’t want his memory to die. Atlas said Johnny Topside was a diver who had discovered Rapture years ago and for sometime was forced to live in Rapture until he finally had enough. 

Johnny Topside was the start of our rebellion. He was the one that planted the seeds. Johnny was the first to stand up to Ryan, but it resulted in tragedy. No one knows fully what happened to him. But Atlas said Ryan had tried to erase Johnny’s memory from history, and that it was very likely he may of been turned into...a Big Daddy...the idea of that horrifies me.

When Atlas spoke of him, he spoke of him so highly. Saying that Johnny was like a younger brother to him. You could of even seen at times Atlas nearly choked up when talking about him. I can’t blame him, losing someone that was like a brother to him. I’ve would of been nearly tearing up.

The story of Johnny Topside was something that kept us going, it inspired us. Hell, it even inspired me. Atlas didn’t want his memory to die, because what he was doing wasn’t just for everyone. But it was also justice for Johnny...justice for everyone that had enough of Ryan.

My only disappointment is that I never got to meet Johnny...because when Atlas says he’d would rather had him lead us...that says a helluva lot about Topside.

2/3/2002. Booker Dewitt and Ryan’s personal guard.

I’ve heard the stories of Dewitt...he merely sounded like a ghost. But he wasn’t. This was the man that shot down Fontaine, and most likely helped captured Johnny Topside.

Captain Dewitt was known to the citizens as, “The Grim Reaper Of Rapture” and he damn well earned it. But he was also Ryan’s new best friend after Bill left. Dewitt kept Ryan’s enemies in check. Whether by killing them when no one was looking, or capturing them. 

Security was fine, but Ryan’s personal guard and when Dewitt was leading them...that was scary. I think what scared us rebels was whenever he showed up. He always wore that mask...which gave him more of a reason to call him a grim reaper...because he damn sure was.

Ryan’s personal guard weren’t just police officers enforcing Ryan’s rule, they were literal soldiers. They were formed when Johnny Topside had discovered Rapture. The guard was basically a better version of security.

They were made up of men who either genuinely believed in the, “Great Chain” or just were looking to be paid by Ryan. Some of them were ex soldiers, mercenaries, and they were all just horrible people. 

The guard weren’t pushovers, they had years of experience or training by Dewitt. They were merciless, brutal, and effective. The fact Ryan had now decided to use them even more now showcased he truly wasn’t fucking around anymore. He wanted to win this war. But we weren’t gonna let that happen.

I think we were just thankful they didn’t really use Plasmids...if they did...then I felt this war may be over already. But it also gives us a easier chance to kill them all.

2/15/2002. Splicers.

Over the years since ADAM was discovered. Splicers became thing. Poor folks who used too spliced too much...they were once people...but they were sadly monsters now. I think what surprised us is how some of them were on our side...but not many. Unless they controlled themselves.

The Splicers of many types were a pain in the ass for Ryan and Atlas. Killing the rebels or Ryan’s personal guard. They had no allegiance...all they wanted was ADAM...they were basically drug addicts. I remember seeing one time a woman shanking a man for his ADAM, we had to put her down.

I didn’t really use Plasmids much, or some of the others like Atlas, Daisy, Diane, and Bill. It seemed good for Atlas that some of the rebels didn’t try to splice up. Which meant we can deal with less people turning into those...things.

There was one time I had to put down one of them. The man was just 21, but he had spliced up so much that he had gone insane. He tried attacking Daisy and Diane, but me and Daisy took him down shot him in the chest. But he was still breathing.

...I shot him in the head...I hesitated at first for about five seconds...he was younger than me. I wanted to make his death as quick and painless...it gave me a haunting reminder of why we were still fighting. All this pain and suffering...it started with the discover of that damn thing called ADAM...

I’m surprised I haven’t spoken about Tenenbaum yet...I feel like she was 2nd in place for me to kill after Ryan.

3/15/2002. Big Daddies, Little Sisters, and Brigid Tenenbaum.

I think the other thing that haunts me a lot and so many others is these two...I’ve seen them countless times and I have fought them when I joined Atlas.

Big Daddies are practically these...monsters that used to be people...slaves to protect what were once literal children...

These monsters looked like literal giant diving suits at times...some had drills, some had guns. They were tough sons of bitches. These things could kill a man easily, or even a group of a men if you weren’t careful. 

But it’s the Little Sisters that horrify me and other rebels...not because they are dangerous or that they are killers. It’s the fact of what they are. They were children...or possibly still are...forced to collect ADAM because they were implanted with some...damn sea slug Tenenbaum discovered...

There is no known cure for them. I think many of us want a cure. But the only way to help these girls is something horrific...harvesting them. Atlas said it was to put them out of their misery. They had ADAM in them.

From what I’ve seen, some rebels harvested them, some didn’t. Daisy didn’t do it. Neither did Diane or Bill. I remember seeing Atlas making the most sickened face after harvesting one, he didn’t enjoy it at all.

I think it may of bothered Atlas some didn’t harvest them...but it’s understandable why some wouldn’t. Because I remember seeing one 37 year old man, after he had harvested just one Little Sister. The man about 5 minutes later literally put a pistol under his jaw and killed himself.

We all understood why he even did that. Because after you witness a child being horrified by you about to harvest them...it’s a sight you’re never going to forget.

I can still hear those girls screaming. Daisy and Diane do too...it’s in our nightmares. For some reason...the harvesting of a Little Sister scars me than seeing a Splicer or whatever else...I don’t know why...I think it’s because all that innocence was lost...or actually taken. Because there was no other way to help them.

It was all because of one woman, Brigid Tenenbaum. I heard she worked with Frank Fontaine to help make those girls into what they are. I’ve heard she’s had a hard life, but that doesn’t excuse what I find one of the most horrific crimes I’ve ever seen. She’s been in hiding for 4 years after being exposed for what she did.

If we ever find Tenenbaum...I want to put my foot on her throat...whatever what we want to do to her. To be honest, I think I want to kill her more than Ryan...because I don’t know how you can be forgiven for doing that to a child.

God forgives, and whenever I have to put down a fellow rebel because they spliced up too much, I make it quick and painless as possible...but Tenenbaum...quick and painless is not gonna mean anything if we ever find her. 

6/3/2002. SOS and Archie Wynand.

After six months of war with Ryan’s personal guard and the Splicers. Whether some were controlled or not...things were going south for us. We fought hard, we planned as best as we could. But nothing was working, because Ryan was nearly winning.

There was panic among us, we were fearing that all of this could be for nothing. But Atlas revealed something, which he said was a risk in case. He somehow gave an SOS message to the surface to whoever would get it. Because he knew we weren’t gonna win this on our own anymore. We needed help, we needed the surface to discover Rapture. But also, we needed someone to help us take down Ryan. It was on Sunday Atlas gave out the message for help. We prayed someone would answer it. Luckily for us, someone did answer it.

Despite his aircraft was shot down by Ryan, and being the only survivor of his squad. Someone had arrived. That someone was a young man named Sergeant Archie Wynand. An Army Ranger sent by the US Government to discover where the SOS came from. 

To be honest, I was worried by the fact only one man had survived. I’d feared we still didn’t stand a chance. But after I saw that man enter combat and killed so many Splicers, I have never seen a man fought hard like that. He was still young like me, but he was like a commando in his way. It was as if someone like Atlas again had come to save us. 

Me and him never really talked, but from what I’ve seen. That man is the bravest soul I’ve ever seen. He’s loyal to a fault and unbreakable, it was like seeing a warrior unlike any other. I will admit, I felt a bit jealous when Atlas has giving him a lot more attention than me. 

But Archie was important. Atlas sent him commands and he followed through. But I think what confused me the most was something Atlas had revealed earlier. Which resulted in ordering Archie to go to a certain building, a tower in the middle of Rapture. 

6/4/2002. Elizabeth.

A day before Archie had arrived. There was this strange new information Atlas had discovered. That there was some girl in this tower in Rapture. Her name was Elizabeth. Atlas had discovered it when raiding a building near that tower. 

We were so confused on why Ryan had a girl in this tower. In fact? Why was she there? Who was she really? Even Atlas was confused, but she seemed important.

But I feel our questions were answered when Archie saved her. I didn’t get to talk to her personally, but I have seen her in action with my own eyes. Along with some footage. 

Somehow, this young girl had some powers of an unknown source. She was able to summon old sentries, and other things. It felt unnatural. Sure the Plasmids and other discoveries in Rapture were very special...but what this girl could do...it made us question even more who the hell she was and why Ryan had her locked away.

Gonna admit though, she was honestly adorable.

6/5/2002. Elizabeth’s purpose, and what the Hell is Archie? What the Hell is going on?

I think it horrified me and the rebels of what Elizabeth was supposed to be. Why she was kept secret from Rapture. What Atlas had discovered more is that she was secretly a weapon Ryan would use in case against someone like us. A sleeper agent that would of slipped through our ranks or anyone else...almost like a female fatale Ryan wanted to make personally...it confused me because from what I’ve seen, she’s nothing like that.

But I think we surprised us more is that she had been in Rapture since 1983. For about 19 years, Ryan had her in there, with hardly anyone knowing. I think it sickened me a bit more hearing Ryan was gonna use a young woman as a secret weapon in case someone like Atlas came along. It was almost like what happened with the Little Sisters.

Yet the other thing that’s been on my mind is Archie. I’ve talked about how much of a warrior he was. Ever since he rescued Elizabeth, she’s been by his side ever since. I haven’t seen such a effective team. It was like they were perfect for each other.

But again, it’s Archie that has me thinking. Sure he’s a soldier...but compared to any of us...and even compared to Ryan’s personal guard. I have never seen a man be so efficient in what he does. This was a young man, yet he fought like he was like some sort of super soldier. Hell, I don’t even think Atlas and Daisy are that efficient. He’s fast and strong.

He was also using so many Plasmids without mutating. I couldn’t get it? He wasn’t becoming spliced up. I couldn’t believe it? I had lost count of how many times he injected a Eve Hypo into his wrists.

I think the scary part is how many Big Daddies he’s killed...how can one man kill so many. I didn’t understand it? But from what I’ve seen from footage is...him curing the Little Sisters...I couldn’t believe it.

Where were he and Elizabeth staying at? I heard Atlas yesterday say they were at Tenenbaum’s...I couldn’t understand...I’m confused...

6/5/2002 A bigger Big Daddy.

I didn’t understand nor could I comprehend what I had witnessed. Ever since Archie arrived...things were changing. What made me think this way was when I saw...something I didn’t think was possible.

Out of all the Big Daddies we’ve killed. I had never seen one so big. He was about 12 feet tell...he looked older than any of the Big Daddies. He looked similar to the Alpha series Big Daddies...I couldn’t understand. I was lucky to have lived, but I witness it killed so many rebels, Splicers, and Ryan’s army. This Big Daddy was vicious. It seemed like he was on a mission. As if he was tracking down Elizabeth.

I’m just in disbelief...I don’t understand.

I was a witness also to see Elizabeth teleport it somewhere...I think it’s dead...I’m not sure.

6/6/2002. The war soon coming to an end.

To be honest, I was fearing we may never win. But somehow we made it. Captain Dewitt was beaten yesterday, and now Ryan is soon to be dealt with. 

I’ve learned from Atlas that Tenenbaum had created a cure for the Little Sisters...I couldn’t believe it when I heard it. I asked him again if he was telling the truth, and he was. That’s why Archie and Elizabeth were staying with Tenenbaum somewhere. 

It still sounded so crazy. But the next piece of news is that these three would be coming to Atlas’s headquarters, our base of operations. I couldn’t believe I was seeing Tenenbaum...I had...weird feelings.

The plans were while Archie and others went to Ryan’s office to finally take him down. There was hardly anyone left to defend him. While Elizabeth and Dr. Tenenbaum stayed at Atlas’s headquarters. It...an experience meeting this young girl...even after everything she’d been through, but so kind. 

But I wasn’t gonna be staying for long either like Archie. Atlas sent me and some men to take over Fort Folic considering Archie and Elizabeth’s recent visit there. As if the freak that was Sander Cohen had finally left somewhere. It was no longer locked up.

I felt genuine hope for the first time. As if this whole nightmare will finally end. But I will admit, I wanted to kill Ryan as much as anybody else. I had my orders, and I listened. Besides, taking back Fort Folic was a huge win

I do recall Ryan playing golf at times. Hopefully when Archie gets to his office, he’ll beat the Walt Disney lookalike of a fuckhead with his own golf club. It’s what Ryan deserved...it’s what many of us wanted.

6/7/2002. Atlas...and the end...

...I don’t even know what to say...the war is over...it’s actually over...

But it didn’t end with Ryan dying or getting captured...

Atlas...our leader...my hero...my best friend...the anti-thesis to Ryan...was Frank Fontaine.

He’s dead...he was brutally hung...by Archie...his corpse is hanging for everyone to see...he...looks like half of a monster.

Everything we’ve done...everything we stood for...I feel betrayed, but I feel relived. I think others are feeling a similar way...I need no I want answers...

6/8/2002. The birth of the Vox Populi. Tenenbaum discovering these journals.

I think what happened on Thursday and Friday...changed so many of us...even myself...I thank Daisy and Diane for explaining it to me.

There was a huge meeting with the remaining rebels. Archie, Elizabeth, and Dr. Tenenbaum joined in as well. So many discussions were had. Rapture was finally ours...

While Splicers were still a thing, and some rich assholes were still around. Considering half of the city was still going, but we came together to formulate a plan. 

There won’t be another Andrew Ryan, or even another Frank Fontaine. The end of the Rapture Civil War was only the beginning of something much better. 

We weren’t just called rebels anymore, we were officially given a name now. The Vox Populi. It was Daisy’s idea for the name. We were basically the reformed version of Atlas’s rebellion. But now, we had genuine people who actually gave a damn. Who wouldn’t use us as puppets. That we will strive for a better tomorrow. 

For peace, a better community. So we can help out every Little Sister we can find out there, and help whoever else is in Rapture. We’re gonna make this shithole of a city a better living place. No more tyrants, no more conmen, no more rulers, just people wanting to make this place a better place for everyone.

Justice, peace, and all that...I think many of us are still getting over what happened with Atlas...I’m still getting used to it...I’m just grateful it’s over.

But before this the huge meeting, Dr. Tenenbaum discovered my journals...she read what I wrote about her...our struggles. I apologized to her, but she said it’s okay. She said she doesn’t blame me for being angry. I think what surprised me more was the one person that her the most was herself...

For some odd reason, I forgave her...she just stared at me with surprise. She gave me a small smile...and then I said I think I could forgive her after everything she’s tried doing to fix her mistakes. Because I told her trying to fix your mistakes is better than doing nothing.

[thewolfisawake]

If I Had to Pick 7 Games that Define Me, What Would They Be?

I’ve been on this binge of watching various videos as I slowly cleaned my room and get through my Sunday and this was one I thought of doing. Rather than putting it in the hellscape that was the YouTube comments section, I’ll put it somewhere that a) I’d actually remember where it is and b) may be a little more fun and interesting if any one else does something like it. So here goes, this is my list and for the most part, they are not any particular order so much as what I remember.

7) Sid Meier’s Pirates!

Oh way to kick off this list and probably sets the tone for the rest of this list. I didn’t really play this game alone as I was just not adept with keyboard controls at the time. It was a big game for me because it solidified that I did like games and while it wasn’t realized at the time, RPGs would rule my life. I spent hours with my stepdad playing this game. Of just planning who we’d attack and who we’d let go. I actually picked up on patterns to the port minigames while my stepdad could navigate the naval battles. Once we’d been playing so long, we ended up staying up until 11 or so at night...well past my bed time and us hopping off and promising we not tell my mom how late we played. My relationship with him has deteriorated since then but I do have these memories of these late nights of gaming and him to thank for both my love for gaming and animation. As such, I have a lot of love for this game and did want to pick it back up on Steam whenever I convince myself I have time for games.

6) Assassin’s Creed 2

So it was hard to not keep up with games when you had a parent in the house that also played games. As such, I was aware of games like Bioshock and of course, Assassin’s Creed. I...was not interest in the first game, finding playing as an assassin to not be appealing. This was way before my more...intense books and series. I did watch my stepdad play the first game and became interested because of history (because I’m a fucking nerd like that) and when I heard of a sequel and my stepdad bought it, I decided to give it a chance. My poor mother, because this the game that I was obsessed with. I actually completed the game faster than my stepdad because I got frustrated he wasn’t keeping up. And following Assassin’s Creed games were preordered because of me and my brother. It was, actually, really great to go through within a year of me taking European history in high school because ‘Oh my god, this is the sort of place this was going on.’

5) Kingdom Hearts

If it isn’t obvious, I’m not an ‘old school’ gamer. I actually didn’t really know much of video games outside of the sports games my cousins played and games on the cartoon channels I watched for a while. The first gaming system I played was a gameboy color and my first console was the 360 (yes, I got the gamecube AFTER the release of the 360). That was how long it took for me get into the gaming scene. And I fought HARD to get into gaming because of this fucking game. I remember seeing trailers for it and all I could think is how much I wanted to play with Disney characters with this kid. I had begged and even saved up the little money I did get so I can try to get a PS2 so I could play the game. It didn’t shake out like this so the first kingdom hearts game I did actually play was actually Chain of Memories on the Gameboy Advanced SP. It broke me. I got so frustrated playing because of the infamous card system and I was upset because I wanted to get through this story! I wanted to know what happened with Sora, dammit! It actually took me over a year because I got mad, hid the cartridge and forgot where the fuck it was. It was this game that made me realize the terrible ‘oh shit, you have to play this game too’ symptom of Kingdom Hearts really early and led me to my first forays into fanfiction. It is such an important series to me because of all the starts I had as a writer and an appreciation for the JRPG genre before I even knew what they were can all be contributed to this game.

4) Donkey Kong 64/Onimusha 2

This one is cheating because I technically didn’t play these. Or rather if I did, I got scolded a lot. Why? Because it was my aunt’s and I was a fucking kid, attracted to all the bright colors and sure as fuck gonna ruin the run. My aunt, I realized posthumously, was an avid gamer. I used to love going over her house even if it was in a terrifying neighborhood because I loved watching her play games. I even helped her find items she didn’t see and in the latter case, helped her beat a boss because I was paying attention to the item descriptions. She was something of a completionist too so it was amazing to watch these go on. I still remember the run throughs as each Kong member and the name of the protagonist and side character (it’s how I actually figured out what game she was playing). 

3) Halo 3

If you can’t tell a lot of these games have to do with who I played with or around. Because it used to be so much about the interaction that was important and will always be my counter that video games make you antisocial. Halo was no exception. It was one of the first video games I played the ever lonving hell out of. It was me, my cousin, my brother, and sometimes my sister all playing against each other in a round of slayer. My brother dominating despite being the youngest of us all. My sister who is very much not into gaming, became the assassin with the energy sword in her hands. My cousin as the cleaner in all our brawls. And me becoming a menace with dual wielding. We memorized maps and layouts for our favorite weapons, which actually usually never the same. Our favorite game was called Gotcha! Where we went through the game with the only kills counting were those from the rocket launcher and exclaims of “Gotcha!” as our people ragdolled across the screen. This became perilous team ups of capture the flag when it was switched to Reach. All throughout the summer, we didn’t sleep because of these late pow wows of Halo. It was amazing.

2) Tales of

I’m cheating again since this is a series, not a game but screw you, it’s my list! I got into the Tales series late. Like several years after most of the western releases. I heard of Tales of Vesperia first. I don’t remember how, I don’t remember about what but I remember seeing Yuri in action and was like “I have to play this.” And by my luck it was the 360, the only system I owned. And so yeah, I did play it. I sucked at it but I did finish it and had my standards of men ruined by Yuri Lowell. Thanks, you asshole. But what was real important was what came of this. I have a friend that loathed how much loved Yuri and wanted to dislodge him as my golden boy by sitting me down to play Tales of the Abyss. Oh. Fuck me. It was an emotionally rollercoaster that culminated in me bawling about this game as my friends were watching me play while drinking on New Years. Yep. And it became a slow decent from there. I think of them having some of the most interesting characters I’ve seen and a lot of them leading to terribly wonderful times I’ve had from the games. The latest being me and my best friend, who graduated and moved states away, came to visit me during my winter vacation and we played Tales of Xillia. We stayed up the entire night and literally less than an hour before she needed to be at the train station to leave that we completely the final boss of the game. Yes. We were that dedicated. I don’t think I’m as dedicated as some fans I’ve interacted with but I do love the passion for this series because it just is bursting with life and creativity and joy about this series I can’t explain. 

1) DragonFable

Yep, start with an odd entry, end with an odd entry. I don’t care what any one says, it’s a fucking video game. You can fucking fight me. Anyway, yes, I mention this game and get ‘oh I think I played that in ___.’ It was campy, it was cheesy, but it was great. I remember this game because it was one of the first games that wasn’t linked to some toy brand or cartoon on the computer that I can play. I also remember how I infected my school with it because it was a game not blocked by my school’s firewall. And bored children will do what they must. But I came back to it years later finding this immense story behind it and I made a brand new account, bought the amulet that let me in on the cool stuff, and played the entire thing from the beginning. Good lord, there was a lot. It was a game that wanted to grow up with its audience and I’d say it did. It did a lot. But it holds such an importance because it, essentially, is why I’m on here. I actually was set on giving up tumblr because I didn’t see much fun on the niche things I was into at the time. I, out of boredom, decided to see if DragonFable had a tag. It did and I stumbled upon an RP blog and while I had been doing RPing for years now, I didn’t think tumblr was a platform to do it on. It led me to making my own blog with the player character from DragonFable, just split between two people rather than one. I actually befriended this RP blogger and they were my first bout into this platform. I learned a lot since then and I made a lot of friends from just that fandom. Many of them I still miss dearly. It was probably my biggest dip into me learning as a writer with world-building, character development, and just experiencing them grow and change with their interactions. The one thing I consider myself more than anything is a writer so video games that have given me the link or chance to help me flourish there was pretty damn important to ones that define me. 

[josejr22]

This is a comic of pics based on my ducktales fanfic “The gray game” here’s the story, how you enjoy it!

(Webby was always a……special kind of girl, as she’s like the girl from Bioshock infinite, as both lived indoors for most of their life while they trained with their relatives, but this caused webby to worry if this makes her dangerous or different then other girls, well she actually didn’t thought much of it, untill when she was looking for her tennis ball that she kicked too hard and it flew through a row of trees into a prison, where the begal boys and their begal mother were currently are, luckily, no prisoners were outside yet so she was lucky that the ball made it unscathed or stolen…….untill Ma Beagle grabbed the ball before webby retrieved it.)

Webby: Hey!

Ma Beagle: oooohhhhh look! It’s a non twin!

Webby: give me back my ball!

Ma beagle: oh please! You think your “Part of the family”? Your not a mcduck! Your a nobody! 

Webby: wha? Wha?

Ma beagle: seriously, how are you a mcduck if your different?

(What Ma beagle asked to webby caused her to become enraged as she didn’t felt offended as how gamers reacted when a danakitana ad that said that John Romero was gonna make players his @@@@@, she didn’t anything extreme though, she just yank the ball of ma beagle and walked home, covering her tears as she walks,)

(Later, the mcduck family was having dinner. While the others were eating, webby was just silently feuming in rage, worring the family)

Scrooge: is something wrong Webby?

Webby: it’s just, earlier, when I tried to get my ball back from ma beagle, she said I wasn’t part of the mcduck family, because she says that I’m……different.  

Mrs beakly: oh webagail, (She hugs her granddaughter) it doesn’t matter what she says, your not a nobody, your a SOMEbody, you’ll always be one.

Webby; (hugs her back) thanks granny.

(While this did cheered webby up enough to eat dinner, this isn’t the end, no, what happens next is a series of unfortanute luck for not just webby, but for DUCKBERG, and this would let to webby and the triplets almost getting KILLED in a angry mob! But before I tell you that, I’m gonna tell you this, as of now, I’m gonna talk about a news that confuses me or surprises me, and it starts with: Warner bros putting loot boxes in their single player game, “Middle Earth, Shadow Of War” shadow of war is a sequel to shadow of mordor, a lord of the rings prequel game I’m not gonna spoil anything important in the 2 game’s plot but long story short, in the first game, a dude named Talion works with a ghost named Celebrimbor to kill a bad guy named the black hand after he killed Talion’s family, the 2nd game is where after making a corruption repelling ring, a ghost lady named Shelob takes Celebrimbor hostage, and she says she’ll let him go if talion gives her the ring and he does and Shelob let’s Celebrimbor go, she then says that a common enemy in Sauron needs to die and she sends the 2 to build an army of orcs and raid the enemy’s stronghold. Both games got great reviews but gamers were mad that loot boxes were in the game….but for me, it’s kinda dumb, like loot boxes appear on multiplayer games, so why in a single player game? That’s not quite how it works, when worse, as it turns out, the last mission is suprisenly hard to beat, causing players to realize that the game is forcing you to buy loot boxes to get more orcs and powerful orcs and upgrades, this led to the ESRB company to investigate to see if this is considers gambling, and unfortunately, they declared it isn’t. Thus igniting the rage it ensured. So yeah, those are my thoughts on the news, feel free to comment below if your opinion on the news.)

(Webby couldn’t sleep, she still thinks that Ma beagle should be punished she imagines how the punishment will look like, then she felt what felt like a book under her feet on the side of the bed, which was a book (of course) she opend it and it had all these crazy drawings of ducks being big, small, buff, fat, and the one that got her attention was a antro cube, the words bellow say, “this spell casts a where (untill the one who wished this wish, ends the wish by saying, "I wish this would stop”) “everyone in the city of the wishers location, would be nothing more then a cube and the colors around would be nothing more then a white cube and their memories being alterd to think that this is what their species always looked like except for the wishers friends”)

(Webby was now overwhelmed with both joy and vengeance, she didn’t hesitated, she just lay the book down and said ((unaware that the book has a warning sign in it)) 

Webby: I wish everyone was the same!

(Within seconds the book started to glow white and a non lethal explosion similar to that of a flashbang grenade flashed webby, the room, the house and then the city of Duckberg,  knocking everyone out cold)

(When Webby awoken, she found that she wasn’t wearing her pajamas, and she didn’t saw her casual outfit, she looked down and saw she was missing a neck,ears,hair, and her upper and lower body, she went to a mirror and finds that she had turned into a cube, making her overjoyed)

Webby: it worked! Now Ma beagle will have to understand how it’s like being different!

(Just then, she heard a girlish shriek in the boy’s room, barging in she found that it really worked……as She has 0 idea who shrieked like a woman.)

Huey; what happend?!

Dewey: were cubes!!

Louie: IT WASNT ME WHK SHRIEKED GIRLISHLY!

(Nevermind the huey Dewey and webby know who shrieked, embarrising louie)

Louie: I mean, why is the room black and white?!

Huey: why is DUCKBERG black and white?!

(The 4 look outside to see their home town is painted in black and white)

Webby; i…..may have wished a spell that caused all this to happend….

(The boys glared at webby with pure rage in their eyes)

Webby: I only did it to get back at ma beagle! Now she knows how it felt. I’ll just march over there and make her get a taste of her own medicine!

(She walks all the way down stairs, saying hi and by to scrooge, Donald, and her grandma, and the boy’s follow her telling the 3 adults that they’ll be back…..unaware that the 3 doors were open and there was no one there.)

(At the prison)

Webby: watch this and hide behind that tree please!

(The 3 hid behind a nearby tree and webby marches to ma beagle’ s cage, and prepares to get back at her)

Webby; now do you see Ma beagle? Your experiencing how being the same is? It isn’t fun, nor makes the world creative, it just makes things generic, while people do have opinions on things, people like you blame people who are different for things that people like they and you did like a crime, child abusement and other horrid things a person could do, I just don’t want you being……well racist. That’s all. You understand?

Ma beagle: while that does make sense, A: what are you talking about? And B; who’s ma beagle? Im Bigtime beagle!

(He turns around to see A cube you big time beagle’s face, startling her)

Webby: what?

(Meanwhile, scrooge woke up in his red outfit in the middle of a white void where he finds Donald, beakly and other adults in duckberg, who are all dazed and confused.)

Scrooge: what the?

Donald: where are we?

Beakly: weren’t we at duckberg? 

Man 1: are we dead?

Woman 1: is this purgatory?

Man 2: wheres my son?

Woman 2: wheres my baby?!

(Soon the confusing turned to worry as they all realized that their kids are missing, then a ghost duck with a outfit that looks like a magician appears in the middle of the panic site)

Ghost: oh no, I thought I got rid of the book.

Scrooge: who are you?

Ghost: oh my name! Right, I’m Quacky Houdini

Donald: say, aren’t you the best magician in duckberg from the 1920s?

Houdini: why yes it is, I was the best magician in all of Duckberg….untill I let a man punched me in the stomach after I told him I don’t feel pain which burst a hole in my small intestine, giving me peritonitis and dying in Halloween of 1926, bad idea there but some of my acts where real magic tricks!

Beakly: what? Aren’t magician’s acts just illusions.

Houdini: they were and mines were of course…..though some were more then illusions, long ago, in 1891, the first stage of my magic career wasn’t very successful as all my illusions there were really obvious, i was gonna quit magic for good…untill I found a odd little book called, “how to make actually magic for dummies” at first I thought it was a joke like wishing for a rabbit to come out of my hat. When i did, a rabbit appears on my hat, it was real! And I was enjoyed by this! It helped me in my magic career and I became the best magician in duckberg history! My famous acts were turning a lady from skinny to fat to skinny again, and making hundreds of hats to an audience! And both are successful!…..for a time, 

Donald; wait, wasn’t your famous acts had you climbing to the surface after being buried 6 feet under and escaping a whales belly?

Houdini: yeah, because I wiped the actual 2 acts from everyone’s memories, 4 years later, my acts started to get more hostile and harmful, as my acts seemed to be permanent ranging from me cutting a lady and her not dieing to me turning a rich family’s life savings into birds, people thought I was using my fame to steal from them and ruin their lives as some form of a sick joke, I tried to look for a spell that reverses this but it wouldn’t, it turns out the book was forged by unholy witches and was only stopped when a witches sacrificed himself to end their horror. But I have awaken their power to the world, so I looked and looked and found a hidden message by the witcher, a wish that resets everything to normal ending the wish. I had to act, I wished for none of the horror that came in my 4 year career and do illusions as a magic act, and the horror was……gone, I still had a magic career but it’s without the book and my 2 acts are me being buried alive and being eaten by a whale, I noticed though that the magic book was still there, I threw the book out and buried it, hoping no one unleashes the horror it ensure ever again. Untill now.

Ma beagle: so how do we get outta here?!

Houdini: I need a couple of volunteers to come with me to earth to get to the wishers and unwish the wish and fast, since the wish has a side effect,

Ma beagle: what effect?

(She soon felt a little puffy) 

Houdini: that effect.

(Ma beagle soon began to puff up and continued to do so and got bigger, bigger untill, BOOM! She exploded and it rained gray glitter with Ma beagle’s face in it)

Houdini: that’s gonna be all of the people here if we don’t unwish the wish soon! 

(Scrooge, Donald and beakly grabbed Houdini’s hand as the other adults began to puff and explode into glitter at a alarming rate.)

(Meanwhile at earth,)

Webby: what’s happend? 

Dewey: I’ll tell you what happend: you just gave kids adult jobs!

(He was right, as babies are are old men, kids have adult jobs and teens are teachers)

Webby: I can reverse this!

(The kids go home to get the book for a reverse spell, but webby ended up discovering a warning in the wish she casted that said “this wish can’t be finished by the wisher who wished it nor the wisher’s friends, only the ones unaffected by the wish could unwish it.)

The boys: well?

Webby: this is gonna be harder then i thought.

(Meanwhile the adults were looking for the kids but to no avail as it simply went like this)

Donald: Huey? 

Random cube: David.

Beakly: Webby?

David: David!

Scrooge: Dewey?

David: DAVID!

houdini: are you….(whispers to Donald on the green sweaterd kid) Lewis?

(Donald facepalms himself as David leaves in frustration. Then…..)

Donald: (as he puffs up) oh no! Gonna explode!

Houdini: look out!

(The 3 duck before Donald etoniated into black powder)

Donald: aaaaaand it’s raining me.

(Scrooge gets a bag and scoops his nephew up)

Houndi: we must hurry before you 2 are next!  

(Meanwhile)

Webby: ok. Great so how do we get their attention?

Dewey: we color ourselves in the color of our outfits!

(Huey immediately grabs a piece of paper and a crayon and draws a gray line)

Huey: everything here is a black and white painting that’s dull as a pillow box.

Louie:  hey guys I made some Soufflé in case we get hungry!

(He presents the kids his souffle……which immediately deflated into a red color.)

Louie: Must’ve overheated it

(This spark an idea in webby’s head)

Webby: make more please! And overheat it cause I think i got it!

(30 minutes passed and the kids got 4 souffles colored in red,blue,green, and light purple)

Webby: now we just rub it in our body’s to make it obvious and well be normal in no time!

(The kids rubbed the multi colored souffles on themselves to give their outfit colors in. They head outside to call their relatives)

Dewey: uncle scrooge? it’s me Dewey! I’m right here and my body is blue. 

Louie: Donald? It’s Louie and Huey! We are nearby hopefully and are colored red and green!

Webby; and I’m light purple granny! We’re right here!

(The cubes adult kids noticed this and were immediately peeved. By the sight of it.)

Person: Hey! Those people are colored differently……ITS NOT NORMAL!

woman: KILL THEM!!!

(the crowd begins to corner the kids for murder and as lucky as they can get, the adults heard them)

Scrooge: I hear them! 

Beakly: I see a mob!

Houdini: hurry! I’ll bet the book!

(The 2 ran as they could to get to their kids as Houdini teleported to get the book just as the 2 began to puff and stretch)

Scrooge: not now! Why now?!

Beakly: we made it at least!

(Webby notices scrooge and beakly puffing and stretching about) 

Webby: i see them! 

Huey: hope they can be quick! 

(Houdini comes in with the book gives it the scrooge and beakly who are about to pop simultaneously say)

Both: WE WISH THIS NEVER HAPPENED!!

(and a flash of light envelopes the whole city and when it disappeared, not only is Houdini gone, but the city’s kids are back to their original species with their parents again, but A: almost everyone has no memories of the events that just now happend and B: Donald is no longer black powder anymore)

Webby: phew! 

Dewey: agree to never do that again Webby?

Webby: agreed!

The boys: good!

(Donald sees the magic book and throws it at a garbage truck before it closed its garbage door)

Donald: are you all ok?!

The kids: yes we are!

(They prompley hug Donald, then they hear a cough and see that both scrooge and beakly weren’t so luckey)

Donald: how did-

Scrooge; good timing.

Beakly: inevitable explosion. 

(The end)

Artwork by: tanasweet123 Story by: josejr22