#counter depth frig

[danakaterine]

Kitchen Dining in DC Metro Example of a mid-sized transitional l-shaped medium tone wood floor eat-in kitchen design with an undermount sink, shaker cabinets, white cabinets, quartz countertops, gray backsplash, porcelain backsplash, stainless steel appliances, an island and white countertops

[peoplesrazor]

So, the complaints aren't about you having surface level takes, Lily. It's that you only have surface level takes. Even those takes are often wrong or misleading. Your supposed to be a media critic. It's hard to take you seriously in that capacity if you never go into any depth.

Worse, that's you addressing plot, rather than writing; preferring episodic over serialization without providing a convincing argument why it's better; complaining about style, while ignoring the substance. This comes off as an attack against the showrunners and writers and as hating a genre, rather than critical analysis. That's why people get defensive.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to enjoy something on a surface level. Some of the best action movies only exist at that level. It's all fight sequences with cool camera angles, exciting chase scenes, and cool dialogue wrapped up in something loosely resembling a plot. And that's fine.

In fact, a common complaint you see about "bad" action movies is that the plot got overly complicated and killed the momentum. I'm here to see a jewel heist. Why the heck is the safe-cracker explaining economy under capitalism to me? Most of us just showed up to watch the overly-badass good guy beatdown the overly-badass bad guy. We don't need the lecture.

However, watching something at only a surface level and wanting all things to be at that level, are two different things. I'm seeing a lot of that in Arcane discourse right now. The natural response to "why'd that happen? It came out of nowhere." is "Did you not see her eyes widen? Not notice how that character was lit? No understand how important it is that it happened in this setting?" To which the first guy will counter: "I shouldn't have to catch micro-expressions and figure out metaphors and camera angles and whatever to get that stuff."

My first, unfiltered response on seeing this argument is always, "then this was probably not the show for you." Again, that's fine. Also, you can enjoy a great deal about Arcane without paying attention to that stuff. It's pretty, it's got moments of humor, great fight scenes, a mostly decent soundtrack, there's a giant battle involving all the characters at the end.

You're just not going to be in on the more subtle stuff.

Which, again, that's cool. I just don't feel that's on the writers or the show. It can be with shows that makes their references too obscure. I just don't personally think it's on the show this time. That's just me, though.

Actually, Lily, I'll give you some credit here. You did pick two shows that are perfect for explaining this. They are also perfect to drive home my point.

You can absolutely watch Avatar and enjoy it only a surface level understanding of it's themes. Kids do/did. Kids always understand more than people give them credit for; so, I won't say they are only getting that the Fire Nation is bad. They likely get that war and genocide are bad, as well.

Might take them a minute to get to "the media's refusal to call it the genocide in Gaza is very there is no war in Ba Sing Se isn't it?"

This, as has been pointed out, is why media literacy is important. So, you can make those connections. Even your surface reaction should be more along the lines of "Oh, the raven represents grief" and not "Ha, that bird won't leave that dude alone." Eventually, you should get to a point where you start comparing Poe's themes of loss, and the inability to move on to real life situations.

Now with Utena if you are really only getting tournaments=bad out of it, you are missing a lot. There is so much metaphor and symbolism going on there. There is so much that's surreal. There is meaning and nuance to be pulled from so so many places there.

I confess, it's been years, probably decades since I watched Utena all the way through...

but I still remember the frigging cars.

Addendum: Guess I felt like writing an essay this morning.

[adobe-outdesign]

Reviews of All Scrapped Spaceword Betas

Exactly what it says in the title. This is also for my reference, as I might redesign some of these later for funsies. 

I’m only including Pokemon that were 100% scrapped (we’re not here to argue what might have become what) and aren’t evos/pre-evos of existing Pokemon. Also, I’m using the English fan-translations for the names because I don’t speak Japanese.

Flambear/Volbear/Dynabear

Our original fire starter, and yeah, I can see why this was scrapped. For starters (heh), it looks more like a rodent that evolves into a lion than anything resembling a bear. And secondly... it doesn’t really have a clear focus, nor a memorable design. It’s just kind of a rodent-bear thing with flames tacked onto it. 

The best Pokes usually have a "catch” to them, and these guys lack that. For example, this got replaced by Cyndaquil, which has the concept of flaming spikes that form out of its back. That’s memorable. This, well, isn’t.

Possible reason for being scrapped: Lack of focus/interesting design

Pokes to fill the void: Teddiursa and Ursaring are probably the closest in terms of being bears. Something about it also reminds me of Growlithe/Arcanine, probably because it’s a fluffy fire thing that evolves into a bigger fluffy fire thing with a mane and black markings.

Cruz/Aqua/Aquaria

This has the same problem as the Flambear line, just less extreme. It’s okay, being a little plesiosaur that evolves into a bigger plesiosaur, but it also lacks an interesting catch to it. The pearls are maybe something, but they’re not really emphasized, just kind of tacked on. Plus Dragonair kind of has the crystal neck ornaments on lock. And the horn. And the underbelly. And the water theme...

Whoops.

I definitely wouldn’t be opposed to a plesiosaur water starter in the future, but it would probably have to be completely redesigned.

Possible reason for being scrapped: Lack of focus/interesting design; too similar to Dragonair

Pokes to fill the void: Dragonair, as mentioned above. If you want a plesiosaur, Lapras is always a thing.

Putting the rest under the cut for length.

Sunmola1/Anchorage/Grotess

This is one of the most chaotic beta evolutions out there, aside from beta Girafarig. I can see the resemblance between Sunmola1 and Anchorage to some extent--counter-shaded blue fish with two fins and a short body--but the anchor part of the evolution comes out of nowhere. Then it sporadically turns into a gulper eel, which has nothing to do with the previous two evolutions at all.

I’ve heard some people suggest that Sunmola1 basically gets dragged into the depths and turns into a deep-sea creature due to its anchor, which is a fantastic idea. However, if that’s what they were going for here it’s not really clear, and I think it could be executed much better.

Individually, Sumola1 is a little plain. Not terrible, but I think they could do something more interesting with the little head thing. Anchorage is memorable, but there’s something very un-Pokemonish about it. I think it’s just the fact that it’s basically cut in half--I keep expecting the backsprite to show its organs or something. Grotess is also a bit too plain.

It’s also worth noting that at some point, this was the evolutionary line, which is more consistent but much less interesting (save for the middle evo’s eyes, which are pretty great).

Possible reason for being scrapped: Lack of evolutionary consistency; some designs plain or not very fitting for Pokemon

Pokes to fill the void: Alomomola is a sunfish Pokemon. Sharpedo is a shark crossed with an object, and Grotess almost certainly became Huntail and Gorebyss.

Rinring/Bellboyant

These two... are pretty good. They have a simple catch--black cats with bells--and the designs are nicely executed and memorable.

If I had one complaint, it’s that they maybe seems a tad unfocused in the backend of things. They’re dark types, but have a bunch of “cutesy” moves, and it’s not clear why’d they be dark apart from being black cats. They seem to have a magical girl vibe (Bellboyant looks a bit like Luna from Sailor Moon, which is probably not a coincidence), which also has nothing to do with the bells or the dark theme. I do think that the designs themselves are fine though, and that if you just focused on the sound concept a hair more you’d have a pretty great Pokemon.

Possible reason for being scrapped: Not entirely sure, these definitely would’ve been popular. Might’ve just been a balancing thing, or it lost the dev popularity contest. 

Pokes to fill the void: Skitty kind of has the same vibe as Rinring. They also remind me a bit of the Meowth line, being cat Pokemon with metal attached to them. The Purrloin line takes over the “dark-type cat” aspect.

Bomseel

I’m torn on this one. On the one hand, it’s a very plain looking Pokemon. The idea of it balancing a fireball/bomb on its nose instead of a ball is clever and memorable enough... except that it’s dependent on it being on that pose. It can’t balance that 24/7, and once it stops all you’re left with is a plain sea lion with dark points.

However, it’s fire/water. The only fire/water we have right now is a legendary, so it would be sweet to have one that’s just a regular poke. So it’s not that the concept itself is bad, using a water-based animal and adding a fire type; it’s just more that the execution is lackluster. Give this guy a hook not related to the fireball and make the seal itself more interesting and I think you’d have something here.

Possible reason for being scrapped: Lack of interesting design

Pokes to fill the void: Volcanion is our only fire/water Pokemon for now. In terms of seals/sea lions with a circus theme, Popplio is a decent enough match.

Tigrette/Electiger

Someone at Gamefreak hates tigerballs, because this line was planned for Gen 1, scrapped, then planned for Gen 2 and scrapped again. Which is strange, because while it’s not the best design it’s not bad either. It’s very very cute, and could definitely find an audience.

However, I’m not really sure what the premise is here. If it’s based on tiger clay bells, then it doesn’t really play into the bell theme much at all. And if it’s not... why is it so round? It’s not that the roundness is bad, but it would usually form the hook for this Pokemon, like it collects static electricity in its fur that makes it puff out or something. Maybe some dex descriptions would’ve made this clearer, who knows.

Also, Electiger is literally the exact same design as Tigrette, just bigger. It would either need a completely new final evolution or would need to show up as a single evo. 

While that sounds harsh, I do really like this design. Fix the evo, figure out/build on the hook of it being round or bell like, and maybe refine the markings a touch and it would be pretty perfect.

Possible reason for being scrapped: Not sure. Might’ve been too similar to Pikachu (both being yellow round electric type Pokemon with zig-zag tails, and og fat Pikachu was also very round). The need to rework the evolution also might’ve turned GameFreak off of it.

Pokes to fill the void: Spheal and Rowlet are both pleasantly round. Pikachu is cute and electric themed in a similar way. In terms of tigers, Raikou is also electric-type. The exact way the stripes are done here is also very similar to Litten.

Kurstraw/Pangshi

GameFreak. GameFreak, you are telling me that we almost had a voodoo-doll Pokemon based off of Ushi-no-Toki-Mairi that evolves into a fucking jiangshi panda?? You are killing me here.

A few interesting things to note here:

Kurstraw evolves at level 1. How? Why? No idea. It could just be a placeholder, but...

The fact that Kurstraw was set to have Curse as its signature move (then called “nail”) and that it only learned this move at level 100 makes it evolving at level 1 seem intentional.

To make things more confusing, it almost seems like (and this is speculation on my part) GameFreak’s intention was to encourage players to not evolve this thing. Stats are comparable, Kurstraw only gets its signature move if you level it up to where it can’t evolve, and Kurstraw has the better moveset (getting frigging destiny bond at lv. 16, while Pangshi gets... splash (which. makes more sense when you consider it’s called “hop” in Japan but it’s still useless). If that was what they were aiming for, then that’s a really unique mechanic that would really make this poke stand out.

Design wise, Kurstraw is... well, it’s a doll with a nail rammed through it. Nothing wrong with that, but it’s not very Pokemon-ish. Meanwhile, Pangshi is maybe a little too much like a Jianshi rather than being reminiscent of one, right down to the little hat. The pose, fangs, and panda colors (which resemble Jiangshi mandarin robes) are more than enough to get the hook across.

What I really love about these two are the expressions. They are just like, so dissonantly happy. Kurstraw is literally like

and Pangshi has the dead-eyed thousand-yard stare of Espurr, except unlike Espurr it looks completely and utter deranged. It looks like if this Pokemon ended up in Mystery Dungeon, it would respond to every question with “my favorite color is blood”. Amazing.

Possible reason for being scrapped: I think these two might’ve been scrapped just because they were too scary. I mean, it’s a voodoo doll impaled on a giant nail that evolves into a literal actual corpse. The implied violence was probably just a bit much for GameFreak.

The reason I think this is, beside the fact that they have fairly solid designs, good hooks, and all of their stats and moves in place, most beta Pokemon have had their premises revisited at some point. But we’ve really never gotten a voodoo doll Pokemon since this, and we definitely haven’t gotten any jiangshi Pokemon either, which suggests the problem lied in the very concept rather than the execution.

Pokes to fill the void: People say that Kurstraw was reworked into Banette, but if anyone Pokemon resembles it to be, it would actually be Mimikyu. They both have cloth bodies with drawn-on smiley faces that resemble something cuter than them and they both want to curse you for existing.

For Pangshi... well, there’s Pancham if you’re looking for tiny pandas. If you’re after a jiangshi though, you’re out of luck.

Wolfman/Warwolf

This Pokemon has a great hook. I mean, a Pokemon that wears a pelt that transforms it into a werewolf? Hell yeah. Not to mention it might be a reference to an obscure Nordic tale about people donning wolf pelts to turn into wolves for ten days.

Design wise, it... well, Wolfman looks almost exactly like Venonat. I’m not the only one who sees this, right?

That aside, I think the idea could be played up a little more. Wolfman is fine, save for its Venonat-ishness, but Warwolf doesn’t do much for me, basically just being a larger version with claws and fangs. If the idea is that it turns into a werewolf by wearing the pelt, what if its evolution looked somewhat like a wolf? Or better yet, the actually body of the thing changes to fill the wolf skin more, so it looks like its a part of it? That would really elevate this Pokemon to a new level.

Possible reason for being scrapped: I’d guess that it’s the same problem as Kurstraw and Pangshi--too scary. I mean, that is a dead pelt of some kind, which means that it killed and skinned some kind of Pokemon, and that’s not getting into questions of what Pokemon they got that from.

It’s also worth noting that when we did finally get a werewolf Pokemon via Lycanroc, it was minus the pelt concept.

Pokes to fill the void: Lycanroc as our werewolf Pokemon. In terms of design, Venonat is very similar as noted above. And something about it really reminds me of Snorunt, being little critters with glowing eyes that wear a cloak of some kind and live in the cold (this line was ice-type).

[shinobimagpie]

Congrats on 25 followers! 🎉

I would love Kakashi & Gai with the squrares:

Lifelong Friendship & “I can’t believe you talked me into this.”

Only if you’re up for it, of course!

Oh heck yes! Thank you so much for this request anon! I had a great time coming up with who should be talked into what. I hope you enjoy this one! Challenger for the 25 Follower Bingo Event (requests still open!) Characters: Kakashi and Gai, with guest appearances by their teams Prompts: Lifelong Friendship + “I can’t believe you talked me into this” Warnings: None, KakaGai if you squint

“Gai…” Kakashi says slowly. “This looks…questionable.”

An understatement, it looks positively vile, caustic, bordering on inedible except by the most desperate or foolish of men. The dish bubbles in a practically threatening manner.

“You aren’t afraid of the challenge, are you Eternal Rival?!” Gai booms from next to him and Kakashi curses that stubborn little voice deep down inside him that has been yelling back ‘Of course not!’ every single time Gai has done this since they were kids. He stirs the noodles cautiously with his chopsticks and Kakashi gulps at the hot and sour plume of steam that rises from it once the surface is disturbed. Oh god, it makes his uncovered eye water. No. No. This is a matter of his health. He will be paying for this all weekend if he partakes, doubly so if he can’t finish the whole bowl as the challenge calls for. He really shouldn’t...

But Gai’s students, staring him down from over his rival’s shoulder, don’t help his resolve to back down; nor do his OWN students chattering in encouragement from the other side of him.

“You can do it Kakashi-sensei!” Naruto crows, Sakura trying to hold him in his seat. TenTen and Lee are likewise whooping, while Neji and Sasuke stare each other down like dogs on guard.

And Gai is looking at him with that familiar beaming smile, with that spark of determined delight in his dark eyes that Kakashi has never really properly been able to refuse.

Screw it. He can do it, it’s just a bowl of food.

If he eats fast he’ll probably hardly taste it!

“Oh alright then,” he groans, to a chorus of cheers from the genin, pulling his mask down around his throat and limbering up his hand for the chopsticks.

He and Gai bump fists and clap hands, as is tradition, before Gai points his utensils at Teuchi, who is standing ready with a stopwatch on the other side of the counter.

“Alright,” Gai declares, hunkering down. “We’re ready!”

Kakashi lowers his head into a ready position over the bowl, chopsticks poised, sweat beading on his brow as he gets a face full of the pungent spices again. Fuck. He is making a mistake.

He is not going to STOP making the mistake, but he sees it for what it is which is something, right?

“Three… Two… One… GO!”

The first mouthful hits like a punch to the face. Kakashi slaps his free hand on the counter, groaning as his eyes immediately water up so much he can’t see. He blindly scoops another helping onto the chopsticks and keeps shoveling noodles into his mouth, chewing the absolute minimum amount needed to get the ramen past the back of his throat. His lips and mouth and tongue are on fire and the intensity just keeps climbing. What the hell did Teuchi put IN this?!

Gai bites on something that makes him yell through a full mouth and he throws his head back in Kakashi’s peripheral vision, struggling to swallow whatever he’s stumbled into from the sounds of it. Kakashi hits the offending item himself a second later, a whole stewed pepper in the depths of the broth that makes the roof of his mouth water intensely and his tongue go practically numb with tingling pain. He groans in discomfort but keeps going, grabbing up the bowl from the counter and tipping it to his mouth, hoping he can drink down the last of it before Gai makes it through the pepper.

Kakashi slams his empty bowl down a split second before Gai does the same, throwing both arms in the air with a whoop of victory that his genin echo in spades, jumping and high-fiving each other.

“1 minute, 27 seconds!” Teuchi declares, raising a hand over Kakashi’s head. “New record!”

Gai, rivers of tears still pouring down his bright red face, turns to Kakashi and thumps him so hard on the back that the copy ninja almost throws up his whole bowl in what would have been a thoroughly disqualifying manner.

“A fair defeat, rival!” Gai croaks, bent over the counter and coughing hard into his fist. Kakashi nods in agreement, but he thinks he would be enjoying winning a lot more if he could feel his frigging face or stop his eyes from watering. How does this keep happening to him? Why does he have no self control when it comes to this big green idiot?!

“How do I keep letting you talk me into this stuff, Gai?” he groans, fanning his burning mouth with one hand, and his rival gives a booming laugh laced with a spice-induced wheeze.

“All I ever have to do is ask if you’re afraid to take me on, Kakashi!”

“...Well,” Kakashi admits, still panting. “You have me there.”

Teuchi leans on the counter and gestures between the pair of them with a raised brow.

“Soooo, you two want some ice-cream?”

“YES!”

[zenosanalytic]

Missing the Snow for the Storm

The Problem(TM) with Blizzard-style RTSes isn’t just the rock-paper-scissors unit- and faction-balancing, though that IS certainly part of The Problem(tm); it’s also the emphasis on timing-attacks and precise unit-composition, and the inefficiency of defensive structures which those choices necessitate. In general these trends could be generalized as an overemphasis on “Efficiency” and encouraging aggression in design.

Obsvl these aren’t ENTIRELY wrong-headed design decisions. They began as innovations on the old Westwood model, best exemplified by Dune, of just producing the strongest units in the largest quantities possible, at the fastest speed possible, and hurling the resulting death-blobs against your opponents’ armies and heavily fortified bases(which can be absoLUTELY Fun, but isn’t exactly intellectually interesting). Their point was to introduce depth to tactical and strategic decision-making and you can’t deny that they accomplished this. But, Ultimately, They just ended up replacing one version of stultifying sameness with another |:T |:T

For all the apparent variety of Starcraft II or Warcraft III units and structures, and the strategic&tactical variety that appears to create, only a mere handful are actually “efficient” buys, and thus actually viable. Most of the units and special abilities on offer(like Protoss Carriers, Terran Battle-cruisers, or the Zerg Nydus canal) are too fragile, too slow and slow to produce, too expensive to build and build to, too difficult to protect, too late-game to deployed, too limited in their damage&counters and thus too underwhelming in their tactical impact, to be anything other than the equivalent of a noob-check; deadends included by the developer for no apparent reason other than to terminally kneecap the play of those too inexperienced to know not to pursue them. The ironic result of this over-emphasis on “efficiency” is wasted content, wasted development and, thus, a bloated, inefficient, stressful game. That older entries in the Craft series with less emphasis on “balance” and “efficiency” struck a better balance, and that far “simpler” macro-focused RTSes with far simpler and more function-focused unit-design, such as the 8-Bit RTS series, regularly see all of each faction’s units used in campaign, skirmish, and multiplay --while also being less stressful and more satisfying to actually play-- just wraps neon around the deficiencies of these supposedly more “advanced” entries by the “King” of the genre.

Which is all just to say: I really wish the Warlords Battlecry series hadn’t died out, because it had both a really cool take on Heroes and RPG elements in an RTS setting, AND really satisfying macro, horde-based and formation-moderated gameplay that also integrated seamlessly with the Hero system through Charisma Heroes, and included tons of customization to give you precisely just the amount of micro you wanted. And the same for Z; for all it’s GLARING flaws, at least that series --which totally de-emphasizing base-building&mass-production in favor of terrain-awareness, area/resource-control, and unit-micro/preservation/xp-advancement-- was innovating in genuinely interesting, non-obvious directions.

This meandering, left-field meditation on the evolution of RTS games over the last ~30 years brought to you by summer allergies that won’t let me FRIGGING sleep X| X| X|

[percywinchester27]

Stroke of luck (Part-5)

Word count: 3500-ish

Pairing: Dean X Reader

Warnings: None. Fluff mostly.

Series Summary: Dark highway, middle of the night, a bad boy driving an Impala, and a Damsel in distress. Too cliche? Think again.

A/N: There is a hell lot of Sam in this part, but trust me, y’all need to understand this aspect of the story before anything progresses, which will after this chapter. So, hold on tight. Personally, I like this chapter so much! :D  Beta’d by the fantastic @sdavid09. 

Stroke of luck Masterlist

Sam however didn’t know what to make of the situation. As he climbed into the driver’s seat, he couldn’t help but mull over what his brother had told him. Dean said that the witnesses’ name was Sam, and she knew enough to know that it was a witch that had killed the boy. But Sam had talked to the officers and seen through the files. The witnesses’ name there was labeled 'Violet Y/L/N.’ Sam couldn’t get rid of the queasy feeling in his stomach as he drove off towards the morgue, something didn’t quite add up here… Or that it all added up too well.

You didn't drive as fast as you should have. The morgue wasn't far off from the main town square, but you weren't particularly looking forward to it either. Facing a guy you had no interest in going out with ever again, was a distasteful prospect. Ethan was what one would call- in a more civilized tone- a jerk. The one date with him had been all about 'I, me, and myself,' for him. Pretty horrible. You had ranted to Vi all night about it after you'd finally returned home. She’d been sympathetic. She had provided you with Pizza and caffeine while you yelled yourself hoarse about what an arrogant bastard he had been. You never called him again, praying that he never turned up at the shop looking for you.

Vi always maintained that you needed to find yourself someone and over the years, she'd had her favorites. You on the other hand, had never really wanted to. You'd liked a couple of guys, but it all boiled down to the same thing- they weren't Dean. They never could be. After a couple of dates, you'd start looking for all the Dean things in them. For green eyes, and tousled blonde hair, those freckles and pink lips. They were never there, and so it would never last.

If one of them ever had a feature remotely resembling to Dean's, you'd back off, because none of them would have his heart. No one would be that brave. No one could be. So over the years, you'd made a reputation out of yourself, the serial-dater as they called it. A lot often than not, men looked at you with that judgmental smirk, pegging you as a promiscuous woman. Having a single daughter, obviously conceived at a young age only fueled the image. It helped their case that you owned a flower shop. Nothing is more cliché than buying a bunch of expensive, deep-meaning flowers from a florist, and handing it right back to her with a cheesy pick-up line. After they went away, you just put the flowers back on the rack for sale. There was only one flower that could ever woe your heart.

Ethan had been one of those. He had been courteous enough while asking you out. Then you saw him for the person he was. The prospect of having to flirt your way past him into the morgue was downright puke inducing.

"You can do this Y/N," you told yourself, "for your daughter." You had to keep both of you safe and out of this mess. Parking your car, you jerked your chin up, and walked into the facility. At the counter, you asked for the manager. Ethan wasn't a coroner, or even the mortician, he had a managerial job there, so he had to be present most days.

"Y/N!" Ethan exclaimed, pulling you into a hug even before you could turn around. "You just couldn't stay away from me now, could you?" he smirked. You groaned internally. What a douche!

He wasn't bad looking, but he his obvious arrogance was a big turn off. You pulled back, giving him a big fake grin. "I was just driving by. Thought I'd drop in and see how you're doing."

"Aw, come on Y/N, you don't have to be so coy. I know why you're really here." You wanted to smack all smugness out of his face, but you balled your fists and continued to smile.

"Actually, I wasn't really feeling okay today. I heard about Aaron Fletcher and I just-"

"Didn't want to be alone?" he prompted.

"Aaah… yeah. That's what." You rolled with the tide.

"Well, baby, I got you," he said, with an overconfident, self-assured air. "About half an hour to go before my shift ends, then we can get out of here. I can't really ignore the work for you now, can I?"

"Of course not," you gave him another cheesy smile. "I was thinking maybe I could see the boy, you know."

"Why?" His face expressionless. For a second you were scared whether he was suspicious.

"I'm just so sorry for them all, especially Aaron, he was only a kid after all. I want to pay my last respects." It was true for most parts. As a mother, your heart reached for the boy's parents. God knew you'd lose all will to live if something ever happened to Vi.

"Oh yeah... Come, I'll take you," he nodded importantly, then he placed a hand on your lower back and guided you towards the morgue. "I have to warn you, babe, it's pretty gruesome inside. I don't think someone as delicate as you can handle it. I'll be right next to you, if you feel faint or anything."

Delicate my ass.

You’d love to see how he fared before the things you had seen.

The cold of the morgue surprised you as much as it felt familiar. It seemed like yesterday when you broke into morgues with your dad. Ethan led you to the bodies one by one and you somehow sweet talked him into showing you the belongings. You figured out the key to getting him to talk. As long as you stroked his ego, Ethan would sell his soul too. Classic narcissistic jerk.

You quickly scanned the clinical plastic boxes with the belongings, spotting the small pouch in two out of three. Violet was spot on. Frigging witches! For a minute you wanted to snatch them up and take them with you, remove all the evidence for the hunter who was bound to check out the bodies. But there was always a chance of them being smart and figuring out that someone meddled with the belongings. That would only mean more trouble for you. You didn't want that. It was better to take care of this whole deal as soon as possible. Most peculiarly, all of their clothes had reddish powder on it. If you didn't know the area better, you'd have concluded it was red soil. However, the town predominantly had black sandy soil. It wasn't much, but still something to go with.

You thanked Ethan hurriedly, wanting to get out of there, but he insisted that you waited till his shift was done, so you could get the quality time with him which you’d come seeking.

"I can't, Ethan, really," you told him, making an effort to control your tone. "Violet is waiting for me at home, she's had a tough day."

"Violet, who?" Crass, dumbass.

"My daughter." It surprised you how cold your voice sounded, when you were actually seething inside. All this guy wanted was to get in your pants, what you wanted be damned. You couldn't believe you ever agreed to go out on a date with him.

"Oh yeah," he said dismissively. "You have a daughter, I completely forgot. It's an easy mistake. You don't look like you'd have a grown kid," he wriggled his eyebrows, shamelessly checking you out. You wanted to kick him in the nuts.

"Sweet kid, that one," he commented.

She would have your balls for breakfast, you wanted to tell him.

You were saved from making a retort, when the receptionist walked in. "Mr. Riggs? There's someone here to see you. You might wanna come out."

Ethan gave an annoyed huff, told you how important and life-altering his work was and rushed out. You breathed a sigh of relief and quickly collected some of the red duct in a small plastic bag. Just when you were plotting an exit, you heard the footsteps. Two people were walking towards the hall you were in. You identified one as Ethan's weak stroll. The other seemed to be a powerful stride, judging from the taps the shoe-clad footsteps made on the linoleum floor. You rushed towards the edge of the room which housed a couple of metallic containers. They were huge and cylindrical, and the service exit was right behind them.

"C'mon, c'mon, Y/N…" you muttered to yourself as you fled towards them. This was your one chance of getting away from Ethan, and the sooner you figured out who was behind the killings, the better it would be.

The minute you reached behind the containers, a deep voice reverberated through the room. "… no visible signs of trauma?"

You halted. That voice made you stop dead in your tracks. Your breath caught in your throat, and your stomach dropped to the ground. Why? Why were you having the strangest attack of nostalgia? Of homesickness.

You froze behind the containers, straining your ears to listen, while wildly attempting to keep your uncalled for emotions under check.

"I already told you Agent!" Ethan's voice was annoyed. "I don't appreciate you coming over like this when we specifically asked you to check in tomorrow. My girlfriend is waiting for me somewhere here."

"It won't take long," the other man said, as the sound of plastic boxes being reopened filled the room. You wanted him to speak again, to say something so you could hear the oddly sweet voice once more. Even in its depth, it was soft and husky. All you wanted was to turn and take a look, but it was too risky. You were concentrating too hard on where you'd heard it to really pay attention to what they were talking.

When the silence stretched on, you couldn't control yourself. Leaning around the container you peeked, hoping Ethan wasn’t looking your way.

He wasn't, neither was the other man. But in the fraction of a second, that you took to process the scene in front, you had seen enough. He stood over 6 feet tall, 6'4" inches exact, you recalled, dressed in a sharp navy suit. His posture was firm and effortlessly respectful. His broad shoulders were squared away from you. A mane of silky chestnut hair fell to the collar of his shirt, curling there as he inspected what was ahead of him. You turned, clutching your heart. You had seen enough.

Drawing a shaky breath, you ran out of the back entrance, not noticing where the hell you were running off to, until you found yourself somehow hunched over in your car.

"Sam? Sam?" you called out, rounding around the corner and stepping onto pastor Jim's back porch. The place was starting to feel like home to you.

"Looks like you finally found time for your best friend," Sam commented, without gazing up from the fat book in his lap. To anyone else, there would be nothing offbeat about his voice, but you knew better. Your best friend was sulking.

Sitting down next to him, you wrapped your arms around his shoulders. "I missed you too, Sammy!" Immediately his shoulders slackened, and he melted into your hold.

"Why weren't you angry at me for not turning up for your birthday? I wanted you to be angry," he pouted. Boy, did he look adorable.

"Well, I knew one of you had to stay back, and Dean told me you were gallant enough to offer," you told him lightly.

"That's not what he said," he muttered,

"Did too!"

"Did you miss me at all?" You saw through him then. It wasn't like Sam to pout over things, or be possessive really. It was him being subconsciously insecure about his friendship. Sam had known forever that you wanted to jump his brother’s bones, and he teased you relentlessly about it, but only recently things had started to change. Sam could see that. You were spending more time with Dean and he was missing his best friend.

"Why else do you think I lied to dad and drove three hours to see you, you idiot?" you admonished him. Sam finally looked up, a smile stretching across his lips.

"What's up with the hair?" you asked. It looked like he was growing it out or something. His hair was choppy and uneven, falling in messy bangs over his forehead. For the first time you realized just how shiny it was.

"I haven't had the time to go get a haircut," he frowned, catching a lock of the bangs and frowning at it. "It's starting to grow out weirdly."

"Nah, I like it!" you gave his hair a once over. "Tell you what? Just grow it out. You never know who might fall for it," you winked.

Sam laughed. "If you like it, that's enough of a reason to grow it."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah," he smirked. "So when you get together with my brother, and completely forget about me, maybe you'll see my mop of hair in a crowd and recognize me after all." 

Sam smiled sadly.

He was right, you had been so wrapped up in dancing along the edges with Dean, you hadn't talked to Sam in ages. You had no idea what he was up to lately or how much he was missing you up till now.

"I'm so sorry, Sam," you sighed, leaning against him, so that your back was resting against the side of his arm. "I've been a terrible friend."

"You're not, Y/N," Sam said slowly, as if he was carefully considering his words. "I just wanted to talk to you. I didn't know who else to go to."

"What happened to Dean?"

"I-I'm not quite sure he'll understand."

You turned to face him. "Spill."

"I- I've been thinking…" Sam started, but stopped, hesitating. He said the rest of it in one go. "I want to go to college."

"College?" 

"Yeah," he looked down. "Next year I'm gonna apply to colleges, even the IVY league ones. I know… I know I can do it, get a full ride even. In spite of all the moving around, I've managed to get perfect grades. I really want to do this."

"You do realize this means leaving your family, right? John would be furious," you stated the obvious. You knew Sam wasn't expecting false words of sympathy from you, he was expecting harsh reality. If he couldn't pass this by you, he had no chance of passing this by his family.

"I know," he sighed. "And you know I don't agree with him on all occasions…"

You knew that, too. Sam was always butting heads with John. A lot of times it drove Dean insane, but mostly it only made him feel helpless. Times like those, both brothers sought their comfort with you.

"But It's not dad I'm worried about."

"It's Dean…" you completed.

"Yeah."

Again, Sam didn't need to say it out loud. You simply understood. He hadn't expressly put it into words, but Sam definitely loved his brother more than he loved his dad. In a lot of ways, Dean had been the one to raise him. You also knew exactly how Dean would take it. To him, it would be the ultimate whiplash, nothing short of a betrayal.

"Am I being selfish?" Sam questioned, his eyes begging you to understand. And you did. Sam had always been different… different from his brother, but so much more like his father than either of them realized. Both of them were too stubborn for their own good. Maybe Sam didn't see it yet, but you saw the bigger picture. Sam had always had the luxury of even choosing a future, because Dean had been the sacrificing one. He had let Sam have the upper hand, let him have anything Dean was capable of bringing to him. Was he being selfish? Maybe yeah. But one thing was certain, if Sam didn't leave now, there would be one hell of fight waiting later. Besides, there was nothing in this for him. He didn't even know his mother, he’d never known one. Sam craved normalcy like a drug, so did Dean, and so did you. But he was the only one who had it in him to rebel and fight for it.

The other thing was, Sam would have escaped years ago. He even had, but it was only for the sake of his brother that he returned… He had somehow always returned when Dean needed him.

So you answered him truthfully. "Maybe. Maybe you are selfish, Sam. But you need to do what you want to do. Sometimes you need to do what's right for you," you told him honestly.

God forbid if there came a day when you had to run away from the people you loved, you would want Sam to offer the same courtesy to you. To understand you.

"Really? So you don't think I should stay?" Hope lit up his sharp face.

"Not if you don't want to. You'll just keep building up all that anger inside of you and one day explode in all our faces, you ass! Do what you want to. Follow your heart." You placed your hand on his chest.

He exhaled, like a weight had been lifted of his shoulders. "It's a long shot, but I'm gonna apply for pre-law at Stanford," he muttered quietly. "It's a really, really long shot."

"I think you can do it," you thumped his back. Sam could do anything he set his mind to.

"Really?" 

"Hells yeah!" you laughed. "You're the smartest nerd to ever nerd. Tell you what, if I ever have a kid, I'm gonna name the kid Sam for good luck, so they'll be as smart as you."

Sam snorted. "You're not serious."

"As a heart attack," you dead-panned.

"We'll see," he smiled smugly, before it melted down. "Hey, Y/N?"

"I won't tell Dean about this Sam…" you said before he could ask.

"And…" he started.

"I'll always be there for him. It'll be fine. Go do what you gotta -" the rest of your sentence drowned, as his bear hug engulfed you, his familiar scent invaded your senses, the smell of home. "I don't know what I'll ever do without you, Y/N," he breathed against your neck. His voice broke on your name.

"Whine like the snot-nosed kid that you are." Suddenly you felt tears pressing your eyes. Sam had trusted you with his ambition, his dream. He had trusted you with him. You loved this boy like your own blood.

"C'mon now, Sammy," you clapped him on the back. "Time to get inside."

Sam cleared his throat, wiped his face before breaking apart and standing up.

"Whoa!" you exclaimed. "What the fuck happened to you?"

He grinned, extending his hand towards you.

"I leave you alone for a couple of months and you grow up into this giant? How tall are you?" You grabbed his hand and hoisted yourself up.

"6'4" now, taller than Dean. He's so mad about it," Sam chuckled. That laugh was golden.

"Hey," he called out as you started towards the house, making you turn back to him. "That Sam is going to be one lucky kid to have a mom like you. This Sam right here, is lucky, too."

"Shut up," you said hoarsely trying to control the tears. "And cut the damn hair, they won't take you in at Stanford with a mop like that." You reached up on the tips of your toes to mess it for him.

"Oh, I'm growing it out for you. How else will you know it's me when I'm a hot shot lawyer in a suit?" he winked, as he led you around the corner of the house.

The breathing turned to shorts bursts, head beginning to ache from the effort of controlling the tears. You couldn't afford to break down now. It was in the past, all of it. As much as you wanted to go back running inside, it had been eight years since you last saw him, and if all those years on your own had taught you anything, it was to not trust anyone. People change, just like you had. Even if it was someone you would have once willingly died for, you couldn’t trust him blindly. Now you had a daughter to think of, and you had to do everything in your power to protect her. When you had first realized that a hunter was chasing the case, you’d been scared of exposure. It was nothing compared to what you felt now, because this wasn't some lame ass hunter, he was the very best. You pulled yourself together and rammed your foot on the accelerator, revving out of the parking lot. You had to hurry this quickly and carefully, because if you slackened even one bit, you'd have Sam Winchester on your ass.

Please let me know how you liked this chapter?? Pretty please? *Sam Winchester level puppy-dog eyes*

If you want to add yourself to the taglist for the series, there’s a link to my taglists in the bio of the blog. Can be accessed only via a computer! ;)

Stroke of luck taglist:

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[miloscat]

[Review] Metroid: Samus Returns (3DS)

Samus Returns… I don’t like that it had to be a remake, but as a remake and a Metroid game, it’s a good one, capturing the feeling well of exploring a hostile alien planet while gradually becoming stronger. It makes a few tweaks to the Metroid formula but they mostly make the game better or more interesting. So, a few quick points.

Using 3D graphics in this 2D game works well, because they use depth in the backgrounds to create vast spaces that look amazing.

On top of the expected addition of the usual Metroid abilities that weren’t in the original Game Boy game, the new Aeion abilities are integrated fairly well into the game. Some aren’t worth bothering with until they’re (infrequently) required, but the Scan Pulse to reveal the map feels the best to use in a game about exploration. On the whole they’re a tad fiddly to use but a useful crutch when needed.

The new 360 degree aiming feels natural, uses the hardware’s controls well, and is incredibly useful. The tradeoff of being rooted to the spot makes it not overpowered. The new melee counter move is also fun and engaging.

Another new addition is the ability to bring the baby Metroid with you at the end, to fully traverse the map and get more items. This turns it into almost a buddy duo platformer, or at least echoes the familiar system from Symphony of the Night, and I love it.

Despite being a Sakamoto-produced project, the game doesn’t continue the Other M trend. It feels like a proper Metroid game, has a detailed game world, and even goes some way to reconciling the Prime and non-Prime games. I think MercurySteam is to be praised for this game; as Zero Mission did before, it’s brought Metroid 2 up to a modern standard and expanded on it in fun ways. My biggest gripe is that they gave Samus’s suit heels; it doesn’t need frigging heels just because she’s a woman! Infuriating! But yes, good game, and a bittersweet last hurrah for dual-screen gaming. I'll miss you, bottom-screen map.

[iqvts]

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Contact: Lori Fuller (517) 881-1340 lorifuller@cb-hb.com

[graphicpolicy]

This is a column that focuses on something or some things from the comic book sphere of influence that may not get the credit and recognition it deserves. Whether that’s a list of comic book movies, ongoing comics, or a set of stories featuring a certain character. The columns may take the form of a bullet pointed list, or a slightly longer thinkpiece – there’s really no formula for this other than whether the things being covered are Underrated in some way. This week: Comics not in Diamond’s top 100 sellers for November

This week we’re going to be looking at a list of comics that are all pretty good, but don’t get the attention that they deserve. Now I’m not even going to pretend to have a definitively exhaustive list of underrated comics here, because we’re hoping  that you decide to check at least one of these series out next time you’re looking for something new either online or at your LCS, and giving you a huge list to check out would be counter productive to that. Instead, you’ll find four to six comics that are worth your attention that failed to crack the top 100 in sales. The only hard stipulation for this week: not one of the comics made it into the top 100 for July’s comic sales, according to Comichron, which is why they’re Underrated.

    Catalyst Prime: Accell #10 (Lion Forge) October Sales Rank/Units Sold: 370/1,631 Why You Should Read It: A satirical take on superheroes and serialized stories, this series has a lot more depth than you would first think. With the ending of the first arc in this issue, you’ve only got four to catch up on before the fifth issue hits this month.

Low Road West  #3 (Image) October Sales Rank/Units Sold: 463/1,609 Why You Should Read It:  A nuclear war that destroyed part of the US is only the beginning for this series, which is effectively a series of familiar tropes done so very well in every way possible. A very engaging and enjoyable read.

Shuri #1 (Marvel) October Sales Rank/Units Sold:336/1,982 Why You Should Read It: I really hope that this comic has landed at this place on the sales chart because of its release late in the month and not because people ignored it. Shuri #1 is worth checking out – if nothing else at least read the first issue.

Quantum And Woody #12 (Valiant) October Sales Rank/Units Sold: 262/3,960 Why You Should Read It: Perhaps one of the best comics  to illustrate what it means to be a superhero, and the effect that even one’s presence can have on the neighborhoods under a hero’s protection. THe final issue of the series, but a great candidate for my comic of the year.

Ducktales #14 (IDW) October Sales Rank/Units Sold: 238/5,191 Why You Should Read It: Because it’s frigging Ducktales.

.

Unless the comics industry ceases any and all publication look for a future installment of Underrated to cover more comics that aren’t cracking the top 100.

Underrated: Comics Not In Diamond’s Top 100 For November ’18 This is a column that focuses on something or some things from the comic book sphere of influence that may not get the credit and recognition it deserves.

[hogwartslessons-blog]

CHARMS | September 28th | Lesson #8 | Spell Creation

Every spell that we use needs to come from somewhere. No magical spell simply popped into everyone’s memory at once. While we have learned about many different spell origin stories in this class, there are hundreds more spell inventors that have contributed to our magical society that we haven’t learned about. The creation of every spell starts with a problem that needs solving. Someone needs to light their fire without matches and the Fire-Making Charm is created. Someone needs to fix a priceless heirloom, and the Mending Charm is born!

While the spells we will be ‘creating’ in class today are purely theoretical, they will be the groundwork for when we create true spells later in your time at Hogwarts. The first step of spell creation is figuring out what your spell will do. Once you know what you want your spell to do, you need to figure out how to make it happen! Now not to worry, this is not as hard as it sounds. This, actually, is the easy part. Based on what you know about the spell components we learned about this year, figure out what the components of your spell should be. We will go into more depth in the future about the creation of each component but for now, we will just give a brief summary. You do not need to go too in depth at this stage when describing your creations other than simply describing what the components should be. I personally like to sort out my incantation during this part of the creation, but some people may find this easier to do before or after figuring out the rest of the components. When you create your incantation is up to you, but just remember that Latin is the easiest language to work with when it comes to incantations. In addition to your incantation, you need to sort out what the willpower and concentration components of your spell will be. Remember that willpower is similar to mental strength and concentration is a focus on a target. Basically, willpower makes your spell happen, and concentration makes it happen in the correct place and the correct way.

Your assignment for today will put these ideas to work and create a spell for yourself! You will earn 5o points for that. I am very excited to see what you will all create today, but, we do have a little bit more practical work to get to first. Please do not attempt to cast any of the spells you are ‘creating’ for class today. Experimental charms go through rigorous testing by professional wizards before they are approved for use. Attempting to practice a charm without these tests can result in death.

Today’s Spells

Wands out everyone, time for some practical work. Today we will be learning two new charms! These charms are quite safe but should still only be practiced here in class. I have placed a bowl of grey liquid on each of your desks. Now please don’t drink it, not even on a dare, because it is quite the hassle to make.

Now both of these charms were created by magical theorist Arameus Szareko. He put the finishing touches on these spells fairly recently and they were created to help students like yourselves refine their concentration. They do have many practical applications but are first and foremostwonderful tools to help your overall spellcasting abilities.

Incantation: Focillo (foh-SILL-oh) Wand Movement: Slow clockwise circles that continue while you concentrate. Willpower: Moderate Concentration: Moderate; concentration should be maintained on the target and warmth.

The first of these spells is the Warming Charm. This spell provides a gentle warming sensation that goes from the tip of the wand outwards in a cone shape. You must concentrate upon the object you want to warm as you are casting as well as the feeling of hot air. The distance from you to the object determines the size of the cone. More willpower means warmer temperatures, though this spell will never get hot enough to cause any harm. This is a dynamic spell, which means that as  long as you continue to concentrate, the spell will continue to work!

Incantation: Infrigido (in-FRIG-ee-doh) Wand Movement: Slow counter-clockwise circles that continue while you concentrate. Willpower: Moderate Concentration: Moderate; concentration should be maintained on the target and cold.

As you may have guessed, this spell does the opposite of the Warming Charm. It produces a chill that radiates outward similar to the Warming Charm, which gives it its name: the Chilling Charm. Like with the Warming Charm, you must concentrate upon the object you want to chill as well as the feeling of cold air. More willpower will bring the temperature of the spell down.

These spells are wonderful to help with your concentration! As you may have noticed, continued concentration works on a continued spell. The longer you can hold the spell, the better your concentration! I challenge all of you to try and hold the spell as long as you can and work on building up your concentration until you can hold this spell for over five minutes.