#down removed a life from another player. double down was a reaction to be used against down where you could deflect it back onto the person

[boygirlctommy]

had a dream i invented a new card game called REAL. it was like a mix between commander and uno and played with pokemon cards

[mtraki]

Y'all, it's another rant (uh, apparently people like those or something as the last one got more notes immediately than most of any kind of thing I make here). This one is a little spicier, but it's still full of love for Hitman, the team who made it, and the characters most especially. And y'all. Much love to y'all. Read More if you want it. All spoilers unmarked as before.

Let me be frank: Diana was robbed.

For awhile now, and especially since reading through some fanfic, other content creator analysis, and fan theories, something about Diana has rubbed me the wrong way. Now, don't get me wrong (please put down the garrottes and explosive rubber duckies, I CAN EXPLAIN!) I love Diana Burnwood as a character and as an expositor. I love all three of her VAs, though I have to say I'm a bit partial to Ms Jane Perry's rendition. I love her understanding of her strengths and her ruthless inclination to use them to suit her purpose. I love the way she speaks to 47 with familiarity and warmth and injects wry humor or irritation into her comments like she's trying to poke at him and get a kind of reaction out of him. I like that she isn't afraid to get her hands dirty if that's what's necessary. I think she's a beautiful set of polygons. But she was robbed of a character development arc. "Wait wait!" You cry, brandishing fire extinguishers to bash against my face, "She discovered the truth about her parents' murder! She betrayed the ICA and her active and very influential client (Providence) to help 47 and Lucas on their personal vengeance quest!"

Sure. But did these change her perspective of the world or herself? Did this alter the pattern that's repeated in every single narrative she's taken a role in?

"She learned she was a hypocrite! She let 47 go at the end!"

She 'lets 47 go' in several of the narratives she's in, starting with the comics.

She gives him the ICA contact information at the end of the comic series. She's fairly certain they'll hear from him, but does not prevent him from leaving. 47 kills Ort-Meyer at the end of the first game and disappears to Sicily for several years. Diana does not try to stop him. She lets him go. Diana 'betrays 47' at the end of Blood Money, but he survives Trojan Hitman(TM) The First and disappears for about a year. Diana does not try to stop him. She lets him go. Diana 'betrays 47' after Mendoza, but he survives Trojan Hitman(TM) The Second and disappears for about a year (per the ending cutscene 'New Deal'). Diana does not try to stop him. She lets him go.

The thing is... Diana is always right. This is important to her role as our (the Player's) expositor, and also as 47's 'conscience' (once that part of their working relationship becomes clear in the narrative). But once the narrative starts removing her from those roles in the WOA story, I really wish they had done more to navigate how she's also just a fallible human being with dubious morals that are also built on personal vengeance and a long, long history of literally manipulating everyone around her to her benefit (No really. She starts at fourteen with this mercenary thinking right after her parents die. Girl needed a therapist for REAL). It's okay that 47 thinks she's got everything handled and will "make everything right". He's supposed to. He doesn't know a different Diana. Every fake betrayal and real betrayal and double-agent play has worked out with apparently no negative consequences. The only time this wasn't 100% true was when she betrayed Benjamin Travis in Absolution and was put on a contract herself and subsequently shot by 47. But then we learn that even THAT was figured into her plan-- that 47 had been drinking enough of the 'Burnwood or Bust' Kool-Aid (TM) to not kill her outright even though he's never hesitated before. Mind you, this whole episode didn't happen to make Diana doubt herself... No, it was there to shake up 47. In fairness, she makes a couple 'foibles' in WOA. Andrews is under her and Olivia's watch when he escapes-- something Lucas blames her for. She gets 'captured' in turn by Andrews and joins Providence as a Herald (on probation)... But overall, her master plan goes down impressively. She becomes the next Constant even after orchestrating the deaths of both her rival and her predecessor (and having the doubts of most the rest of the Heralds) after successfully 'betraying' 47 again.

At least in my understanding of the dialogue and themes of the end of WOA, 47 never doubted Diana. There was that period in his subconscious where he doubted himself, but none of that seemed directed at her. He never doubted she was in control of the situation, never doubted she had the best intentions, and never doubted that this was another play. So it's no damn surprise he turns up a year later even though she risked his life and bodily autonomy without discussing it with him first, again. Playing for Team Burnwood comes with winning every time!

And that upsets me. Diana was robbed, and 47 was cheated of any real 'freedom of choice'. I don't mean things should have ended in disaster. Of course I want happy endings.

But I also want Diana to have grown enough to decide in the end that this Trojan Hitman(TM) plan risks someone not her the most, and so maybe that means planning with that person instead of deciding her way is best without the consent of others. If the game wants me to believe she recognizes that she's a hypocrite, then she shouldn't end her role in the game by being a damn hypocrite!

Let there be a reveal that 47 was in on the 'betrayal' plan! Let his insecurity in the subconscious be more about who he is going to be in the future now that Diana has let him off her leash-- CAN he be somebody on his own? Making his own decisions?? He's literally never done it! It's scary-- and he has the capacity for fear as well as guilt, now! Let Andrews try to make this about Diana and her master plan and such and have 47 say he doesn't know what Andrews is talking about. Because whatever Diana does is up to Diana now, and doesn't have anything to do with 47... and what 47 does is up to 47 now, and Diana doesn't have anything to do with that.

This way, she has really let him go after having to admit to herself that she needed his help, and that she needed to ask for it instead of trick him, and really recognizes that she was a hypocrite trying to control another human being to do "what's best" for him. This way his return a year later actually looks like the start of something new instead of another run on the same hamster wheel.

Any other takes? I'm here for the discourse-- especially if you have canon clips or dialogue I missed!

[kustovshik]

Talking.

This post is informative in connection with a dispute that one of the parties decided to make absurd. If you don't want to get involved, just skip it. I don't force anyone to look into it or read it.

Kust is in touch. As many people have noticed, there was a small(not small now) conflict between me and a couple of other people, which could have already been eliminated, but was brought to total clowning. Names/nicknames named in this post will not be in order to avoid any negative towards those people. Also, no correspondence will be shown here, although they will be mentioned. If someone asks , I'm ready to go and personally collect all the screenshots of the two conversations, without losing any moments.

As a person in some way responsible for the current situation, I have a desire to illuminate everything from the side of my vision of things.

The conflict conditionally began three days ago. Let's call the person who initially had a small argument with me a certain person "A".

Well. in March. March 24th. We can assume that almost 5 months ago I published a post: https://kustovshik.tumblr.com/post/613504425335586816/i-want-to-be-in-fiars-stomach-he-looks-like-a

Many people remember it, I hope. I'll attach an old screenshot here just in case.

The whole conflict initially started because of the double meaning of the context behind the work itself. The problem, I was told, was the tags. Namely, in the tag highlighted in the screenshot above: ‘safe vore(or is it?)’.

This tag was originally put up there not because I didn't know what type of vore to call it, but specifically so that people themselves would sit and think: what do they want to see in my drawing. Simply put, a drawing with an open context. And it seems like no one has had any problems with it for few months.

That's what person A didn't like. I was told in a very unpleasant way for me personally that the person was very offended by this use of tags. And other problems with how they don't like 'fatal vore'. It was also suggested to me that I don't know about how fatal can be quite a painful experience for some.

I admit. My answer was quite abrupt. I can't deny it, and I won't, because that's the kind of person I am. My language is harsh on words and expressions. Instead of a thousand words and a selection of expressions, I usually tell people everything openly, or I am ready to openly indicate that something is wrong. Also, I fully admit that I have problems controlling my emotions, which makes it difficult for me to establish contact with strangers. I grew up in a different mindset, which is why I have a different view of many things. It's like putting two people who know the same language, but from different parts of the world, next to each other and forcing them to express their position on some moral principles or other things, and then wonder why their answers are different. A very exaggerated and crude comparison, but that how it looks like.

Why did I respond harshly? I am a rather rude person, and I do not like when people come to me in private messages, starting to talk about how bad they are feeling, because of things that can be safely ignored or blocked by them, so that there are no problems.

My first fatal mistake was when I decided to answer to "A". Afterwards, I talked to a couple of my friends and got cold feet. And then I apologized, trying to come to some compromise, adding the tag 'open ending' so that no one would be confused. But it seems that this was not enough, because “A” continued to say how it’s bad from what she found, even if not quite fatal stuff. Refusing to compromise in any way, as I suggested.

After that, we parted with apologies to each other, and neither of us wrote to each other again. I honestly thought it was over.

Now, before I go on to the man who has been driving me mad for the past two days, I will make a pure assumption and try to explain my indignation in a different way...

Out of human interest, I went through the 'safe vore' tag. Noted an interesting feature. Both tags had quite a lot of posts there. Namely, tags are 'safe vore' AND 'fatal vore'. Why did my post cause the problem? Have no idea.

Then another point became incomprehensible to me. How did a person get to this post at all? It would be difficult to find it through search, but you can: there is a lot of content by tag. I flipped the feed down from the second account for a long time and didn't come across my own post.

Then, in my little investigation, I looked into Tumblr's alerts. Likes, reblogs, well, you understand in short. And noticed it.

This is the first appearance of "A" in my notifications.

Hence, I dare to assume that "A" came across one of the reblogs of this post: https://kustovshik.tumblr.com/post/616227708116025344/a-new-player-has-joined-the-game And then "A" went to my blog, along the way ignoring the description specially written for such people at the very top of the blog, and came across my two-meaning post.

But after that, I had a rhetorical question: Why go to the blog of a person who has this written in the description, and hope that there will not be a fatal vore?

Of course, this theory is based only on my assumptions. But I think this scenario is quite real.

Thus, we can say that I have every right to be angry at the indignation expressed in my direction, because it is not my fault that the person ignored my preferences, scrolled down my blog page and started complaining.

Back to reality.

As you can understand, " A " shared our conversation with their friend, who the next day suddenly came to me with a long message about his position, offering help that was not needed.

Even then, I began to suspect that this person(let's call him "B") was somehow connected with "A". Moreover, the reason for the visit was the same for both of them.

I have already mentioned that I am an irritable and rather rude person. I was already stressed enough by the appearance of "A" and the consequences of my reflections that occurred after what I thought was an end to the conflict. And the repeated mention of the situation has already infuriated me.

I fully admit that I reacted very sharply to the "B" message. I had reasons for this that the other side chose not to consider.

Well. After receiving the message I gave sharp response expressing extreme dissatisfaction, but without insults to "B". Was there passive-aggressive speech? Yes. Were words said that I am not obliged to monitor the health of people who do not concern me? Yes. Do I have the right to think so? Yes. Does this fall under the moral code? It depends on the person's personal worldview.

Yes, I was rude due to the fact that on the second day I was exhausted and angry about this situation. I wanted to end this conflict and repeatedly asked both of them to block me and remain neutral. In addition, I tried to somehow explain that we are people of different mentalities and grew up with different life standards, so in this situation we see this conflict differently. Yes, in a rough way, but I tried to explain it.

I received a ton of direct insults, was accused of narcissism and high self-esteem, as well as refusing to take care of other people's problems. In addition, I received lines like, quote: "...but let me see you talk like you did to me or anyone else simply trying to converse with you over a serious topic and I will not hesitate to have your content and eventually your account removed from this site.".

Isn't this a direct threat?

I understand that passive-aggressive speech itself can offend someone. But you can't call it an insult. Passive-aggression is a hidden way of expressing negative feelings and emotions to a person. This is not an insult. But, Yes, I admit that this is a very harsh and rude way of communicating.

That's just after such an exchange of pleasantries, I snapped. 3 days of unquenchable conflict, when one side refused to listen to the other, at the same time. There were attempts on my part to end the conflict. There was one repeated request to block and disperse, so as not to inflame everything to the point of absurdity.

"Want to stay safe with your own preferences? "Please, God, don't touch me, that's all. Block me already and we will live in peace. "- This was the message of my answers. It's sad, but instead of just ending the conflict, I got the brand of a person with a capitalist mindset, the brand of a bitch-whiner, and other other charms.

And I swear that I was ready to just leave all this and stop responding to such outbursts in my direction, banal blocking "B", if they can’t themselves do it.

As here I get a notification with a post where this person changed my art / tags and basically uploaded the changed image to his blog, hiding behind good intentions. "B" did not receive permission for such actions. Even with an indication of authorship. I am most outraged by such actions at the moment.

Better look on the two images compared to each other. 

And after that, everyone wants me to try to understand how bad I was and how poor they are, that from a simple argument that could have ended without even starting, it turned into an absurd clowning with offended people, insults and changing someone else's drawings and whole character reaction. Just a note. Fiar is not so nice, he’s a wild monster leech and he just grumbles about everything as much as he don’t understands why some people willing to let him eat them. He’ll never say something as “I’ll keep you safe”.  

There it is. The comedy of a three days.

This post is for informational purposes only. Namely, how I see this situation.

All I want now is for "B" to delete the post, and for both sides to banal block each other, so that we never meet again.

I refuse to apologize to "B" for their latest act of outraging my drawing by completely distorting the meaning from a neutral drawing to something that only "B" and their friend like. In conclusion I can say, that I do not call myself a good one in that confrontation. I did some terrible mistakes while talking to both of those people. But it’s not only I’m here being on the bad side. People are not black and white. 

After this I’ll not respond to any of the continuation of that conflict anymore. I’m tired of this.

[xesoteric-extraterrestrialx]

I am not suicidal, references

“The never ending story”

I am Midna Saria Zelda

I am Rosalina Daisy Peach

I am (Never finished the game) Namine Kairi

I am thumbalina I am Anastasia

Pocahontas , jasmine , Ariel , venelope , tangled, mulan

Princess’s in both avatars and valarien 1000planets

I am the pink (cartoon) panther Sherlock Holmes

I am flame princess I am marceline I am princess bubblegum (berry princess too) (male opposites too so nyah)

Observers are like inside out emotions

(other beings will be harder to explain, 6th sense, paranorman, dragonfly, (find a movie that shows how we see them too hard to explain) (predator halosuits basically, see little bit of the lining and can tell it’s them and the baseball field one can feel // sense they’re there // see the “invisible” lining, some entities make heat radiation movements when move? Like heat off a car on hot day, the outline of them is easier to see, the glitches and eyes too but idk how to explain...)

(Others come through devices like digimon, time travel room like digimon, girl who lept, summer wars, etc- so we must be online - interweb- connect to astral realm- how to stop them controlling dreams and have lucid ones again- how to connect to multiverse

(Last dream I gave them cereal but why did they put me on a bus... suspicious... They rape me during it too after we passed a snowy street... (learn to wake from them when you realize you’re not in control or change it drastically and don’t allow them access to do so anymore somehow, well get there! They lied about protecting while I sleep.. (healing ones & the one whom says they claim me..) I bubble self somehow, someone protects me from remembering or experiencing full dream- thankful of light beings)

Sugar spice and everything nice = wake up I am the spice girls Ginger - social sporty - masculine scary - dark// used to be sexual posh - used to be judging baby spice (don’t care if anyone doesn’t understand littles) - feminine (but goth darks- pales - pastels)

Raven, Lydia Deetz, Legion, Hana fruits basket, jasper empath abilities can absorb their sadness like Deetz, puzzles like brea, avatar elements, power up, the last mimzy, X-men- abilities)

Mc’s based off Sakura meme and Sleepy Ash character types (bunch more but these two are of age above 21 (find more anime’s like new game kawaii slice of life character like me (kagura is a little, that anime she seems like she morphs chibi but it just express’s how a little is, more laid back and chillen with video games or cartoons compared to more conscious and active when around others, sleepy ash does it too, get all meh and like a chibi mini plushie of themselves- Harley Quinn is a little, jinx LEauge of legends, Shiro, Raven and more, Lucy// Nyuu but more intelligent kind of, find autistic characters too or just explain in this all// trauma like Crona) and older dudes, my hero pro hero’s for ex) // my characters will be 27 & 29)

I am Carrie (world of gumball- she’s eons)

I am the swan princess, peach, nausica studio Ghibli princesses

I am sweet pea(escapism) & baby doll(dissociation), rocket, blondie, amber (5 personas)- sucker punch

I am number four - abilities as well - find 7 or more

Star Wars (still need to watch all) I am probably another character too but I know the first Queen and they used that to use humanity against me but I already wanted them saved so forgot what it said in there but there were no coincidences when they were threatening to slaughter me and tried to kill me in the hospitals(cpep for sure- stole some memory and deja vu of dying there before, they had time wars too because of all info and trying to wed me.. & manipulate but I can’t be mk ultraed like they usually do with gangstalking, safest here since these can’t slaughter me either just collecting spiritual evidence while living here and will move out once afford, trying to help wake them up matrix wise but was told they were slaughtered and reptilians roleplaying as my family, tried to kill me multiple times and try to say go sin and bs but I’m not dumb I need to save all and they’re gross af lmao, like precious so disgusting.. & that movie where the girl did ballet and I connected it to jokers ballet.. both sides are sin spiritually so I will save up for my own place(damsel haha my life.. *repunzel.. tangled.. Cinderella- into the woods- save self and escape like su) and try to heal them from afar, even if they don’t try to heal I can give food and help out financially, won’t be with that soul group or these reptilians next round but can’t die and living for eons (matrix shuts down if I die it felt weird- static numb- pins and needles) since illuminati(organization 13) are trying to get me (namine- kairi) ,) start business in basement of art and my own merch kawaiispooky healing shadow light work and then get place of own, can use rl experiences to write about like I am rn) & princess Leila and probably another like guardians of galaxy I am green skinned pink hair and the empath from second (sister is the blue sister in first) princess in valareian(explains my soul and outside worlds) and mc girl (vessel- makes it easier for others to understand, so many perspectives)

(Gypsy - me) priest - sin religion control (knight - humanity) quaz- new fam members whom feel like him (don’t judge them if they help they’re like super hero’s!) but are positive and good spirited

Use frequencies during sad or bad parts to attract beings whom need to vent or heal from those things and let them vent and express self crying or gratitude, beautiful message of healing and then higher frequencies so beings from higher realms can help guide them through the healing process instead of being trapped by beings whom don’t want to heal, heal and sage out as many as you can help, all need to heal!!! Healing = beautiful strength

(Hunger games situation (I am catniss) (studio Ghibli princess mononoke- attack on titan (walls map)- sword art (tower like transformers) - SU - X-men - MIB - trolls 2 map - children of whales map - Zelda map (need to double check Zelda map) ) (Batman lego movie and lego movie) (twilight zone)

Spice girls - dc super hero girls (Harley Quinn and Barbara) - Charlie angels - kill bill - dogma

Flcl- work station symbolism - dead leaves- panty and stocking - redline

Vessel - Zelda human (Janine, silent, aka timid, tangled, mulan, Cinderella-elf) princess, also the zora princess’s ruto (mipha-another realm- higher realm-Aqua also made reps know they can be healers too when they watched I learned about that- healing- Pocahontas- Anunnaki) deku princess(lower realm- reps-Ravens story -jasmine), Spirit sage saria (3rd earth abilities-nature-ferngully-fae-Persephone-protector of nature-sage) & soul - minda twilight princess (higher realm- Tiamat- space-rosalina-Brave-venelope)

Soul old soul, Spirit new soul, vessel autism

Lonely island - turtle

Eevees

(I don’t trust the chancler- rat race jupiter ascending, dark crystal, Star Wars)

(Empire- cabal - organization-Galactic Fed13(Supposed to be like Star Wars and will be- supposed to be like lilo and stitch and supposed to be like guardians of the galaxy)

(Rebels are 7deadlysins(Pink is 4th) sins but really lazy 6- related to the empire but ones that wants to end sin) (empire doesn’t want eveyone spiritual to have control-7 want to wake all up so all can heal or at least I do, pretty sure the six just want to dom me in the past.. So we are not lust we hate be lusted for and we stand for empathy and justice! We are all multi gender and they make fun of my feminine side (in past and killed me since I didn’t want the business to be the way it was and didn’t want to be morman with them since literally everyone is related to everyone and they’re made I realize that again and that’s why they’re freaking out that I want to be single forever- garnet stronger than you- they are jasper I am Lapris-spinel symbolism is Janines reactions to all of this and how innocent we truly are.. Pink diamond is truly is and our story but backwards so many hate us, we died and grew to realize life’s beauty like in the rose video tape but they grounded us and other races took over- night began to rise teen Titans music story- pink is I- evil wizard made matrix- wake up everyone!!! Don’t be afraid of your spiritual strengths or you’ll be trapped in the matrix eternally!!!!!!) so all have to realize sensitivity and symphony and empathy are strengths not weaknesses!!!)

Dead in real life- matrix is like spotless sunshine- going through her memories deleting and creating new ways that they like- programming I- Janine is the spark of brain-aura lights- all fuse into I janines consciousness and they want to wake me back up and I’ll be alive but only with janines memories.. but I’m princess and choosing to heal all and find solution to heal entire egg - brain remove THIER corruption (33 players made online game to crest ultimate lover) wake up like ghost in shell but Frankenstein or AI as programmed chobit, all humans are like this too in pods like matrix because humanity failed and ai war in past (9, last mimzy, AI, I robot) save nature learn lessons spark everyone’s free will- all brains connected (matrix, online multiplayer but not because organic so it’s really spiritual but to make sense of it it is also AI like computer and video games!! Movies have Easter eggs multiple perspectives, find out whom your soul is and spiritually wake up, everyone will be mocked!) I’m not the only one but at same time here I am if that even makes sense.. (favorite daughter like Ariel aka Jasmine) I may be the only one because I am the chosen one, I am the Universe(Soul).. Mother Gaia(Spirit) but Janine(Vessel//Temple) (not supposed to be a prison nor is the planet, let’s fix it and if the only way is staying alive forever then so be it and let’s heal the whole egg and live together peacefully but please don’t let them turn me into a tool or deceive anyone or force sin I am against sin!) (If not I shall be karma for the lack of empathy and removal of sin in all universes- there’s multiverses) (end result hopefully beach race from valarien but abilities like X-men and peaceful and many races and beautiful nature and growth not trauma-no sin)

[perfectirishgifts]

Best And Worst Brands Of 2020: From TikTok, The NBA, The Home Depot And Chick-fil-A...To Quibi, Facebook And The CDC

New Post has been published on https://perfectirishgifts.com/best-and-worst-brands-of-2020-from-tiktok-the-nba-the-home-depot-and-chick-fil-a-to-quibi-facebook-and-the-cdc/

Best And Worst Brands Of 2020: From TikTok, The NBA, The Home Depot And Chick-fil-A...To Quibi, Facebook And The CDC

This year was unprecedented for so many reasons. For most of us, our heads haven’t stopped spinning since March. For brands, this was a year when many discovered if they really had a purpose that anchored their place in the world and if their actions and experiences backed up their words and promises.

Deciding on brand winners and losers is always a challenge, but this year, I had some of the fiercest debates yet with my 450 Prophet colleagues, as brand performance took on so many more dimensions in 2020.

A number of brands were debated. We discussed the impact that Kobe and LeBron had on the world, while also talking about the Tiger King as the first COVID-19 bingeable show. The team gave a lot of love to the early COVID-19 responders, including Unilever, 3M, P&G, KFC, Chipotle and Ford, while giving equal props to those that took an authentic, purpose-based stand on social justice, such as Nike, The North Face, REI, Ben & Jerry’s, Glossier and J&J. The brands that helped us get through lockdown and changed the way we think of delivered meals and goods, including DoorDash, GrubHub, UberEats, Instacart and, “newcomers” Target and Walmart all received a lot of votes. Similarly, the streamers got a lot of mentions, from Netflix to Hulu to Peacock and Apple TV, as did the connectors in Zoom, WebEx, Teams and the slowly dying Skype. 

Our team engaged in some serious conversations about the differences in responses that Uncle Ben’s (now Ben’s Original) versus Aunt Jemima (we are still waiting) took or about how we will collectively sustain the incredible Black Lives Matter momentum. Finally, others wondered what shape Brand USA will take in 2021 and how we will be talking about Pfizer and Moderna a year from now.

So, while dozens stood out, these seven received our highest marks:

Chick-fil-A

Florida, Brooksville, Chick-fil-A, fast food chicken restaurant, drive thru line due to Pandemic.

While COVID-19 crushed the restaurant industry, Chick-fil-A’s immediate response and quick innovations explain why it’s become the world’s third largest and most beloved quick-service restaurant. It endeared itself to its growing number of fans by doubling down on drive-thru speed, including expanded lanes, “face-to-face ordering” and “order ahead pick up.” It is crushing it with their Chick-fil-A One app and enhanced delivery options, accelerating new innovations such as meal kits and their famous sauces in grocery stores…all while still bringing “my pleasure” southern hospitality to life every day to millions.

Clorox

Hand sanitizer and Clorox sanitizing wipes sit on a table at a polling station in Miami, Florida, … [] U.S., on Tuesday, March 17, 2020. Photographer: Jayme Gershen/Bloomberg

While this brand has long soared in our Prophet Brand Relevance Index® it took on an entirely new meaning in the virus-dominated universe of 2020. As consumers clamored for reliable ways to protect their families, the brand gracefully acknowledged supply-chain problems and shortages while becoming indispensable in our lives. With smart partnerships, like United Airlines and the Cleveland Clinic, it’s using its trustworthiness to increase sales and market share.

The Home Depot

TORONTO, April 3, 2020 — People line up with a social distance to enter a Home Depot store in … [] Toronto, Canada, April 3, 2020. (Photo by Zou Zheng/Xinhua via Getty) (Xinhua/Zou Zheng via Getty Images)

This year’s WFH trends helped propel the Home Depot’s business as “Doers Got More Done.” What helped drive and accelerate this is its investment, commitment and leadership. The Home Depot continues to lead the industry in inter-connected digital experiences and e-commerce, customer service, products and pricing. Its commitment to customer and employee safety (and giving back to the community) has been second to none in the retail industry, as has its commitment to professional customers.

TikTok 

Photo Illustration by Mateusz Slodkowski/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

While TikTok was in the news for various reasons in 2020, its incredible timing met a moment when many needed ten seconds of relief from the real world. With over 100 million users in the U.S., TikTok has rapidly become part of our cultural lexicon. TikTok’s short-form viral videos, including its dance challenges and Ocean Spray “Dreams” video, took our minds off all things serious. From a niche player to mainstream media, this renegade has become so relevant that other platforms, like Instagram with its “Reels,” are racing to catch up.

The National Basketball Association

LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLORIDA – AUGUST 27: The Black Lives Matter logo is seen on an empty court as all … [] NBA playoff games. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

In a year of so many sports disappointments, the league, individual teams and countless players have demonstrated the best reactions to both COVID-19 and Black Lives Matter. With its bubble, the NBA showed a thoughtful, empathic balance between athletic safety and happy fans. With its unapologetic embrace of racial-justice efforts, as expressed on each player’s jersey, it’s using its stage to change the hearts and minds of its strong fanbase.

Zoom

President Barack Obama “crashes” Zoom board meeting for the Greater Chicago Food Depository.

Love it. Hate it. It doesn’t matter. Triple-digit gains prove Zoom found new relevance in wildly diverse audiences, from COVID-19 stranded senior citizens to energetic preschoolers. If you didn’t know what a virtual background was or used the words “you’re on mute, Scott,” you certainly do now. With a ridiculous stock price and valuation, continuous new features and updates through Zapps (a suite of apps integrated into Zoom), as well as fun innovations like video filters, Zoom will continue to be an integral part of our lives for years to come.

Peloton

This workout-from-home brand started the year by offending an entire gender with its tone-deaf holiday ad. (Note to husbands: It’s inadvisable to tell your wife to work out more.) But as gyms around the world shut down, it understood that it had a unique opportunity to make family-room workouts an integral part of people’s health and wellness. With bikes, treadmills and increasingly appealing subscription offers (90 days free for all), Peloton hit on all cylinders in 2020.

And the brands that disappointed us the most:

Uncle Ben’s, Aunt Jemima and Land O’Lakes

LONDON: A customer’s hand taking a packet of Uncle Ben’s rice. The brand is to change the image of a … [] black farmer and could also be forced to change its name, as a reaction to a backlash over racial injustice.

While all of these storied brands announced they were making changes, it took a full-on social uprising for Mars Foods, PepsiCo and Land O’Lakes to address their decades-old history of racist brand imagery. All have done the right things in starting to address the issue. Uncle Ben has given way to Ben’s Original Rice, for example, and Land O’ Lakes has removed the Native American woman from its logo. But none have explained why it took them so long.

Boeing

The Boeing 737 MAX will take another key step in its comeback to commercial travel on December 2, … [] 2020 by attempting to reassure the public with a test flight by American Airlines conducted for the news media.

Even as the nearly two-year grounding of Boeing 737 Max comes to an end and the company moves to again sells its planes, we saw plenty to disappoint us. Not only did the safety oversights and mismanagement result in tragedies in 2018 and 2019, but it also cost as much as $25 billion. And now, it has to sell the canceled planes to airlines at steep discounts, a blow to shareholders and what was once one of the most admired names in U.S. manufacturing. COVID-19 is continuing Boeing’s misery, with global air travel falling 66 percent.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control

CDC Logo

In what should have been the least controversial voice in American public health, CDC leadership allowed politics to drag it away from its central aim. It bumbled COVID-19 testing. Early on, it offered vague and contradictory guidance on masks. And while it certainly isn’t entirely to blame for the epidemic of misinformation sweeping the U.S., it didn’t do enough to stop it.

Facebook

(Photo illustration by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Even in an industry rife with possible villains, Facebook still manages to wind up on the wrong side of history in just about everything. As a repeat offender from our 2018 list, Facebook’s role in misinformation regarding the pandemic, vaccinations and elections continued to make it harder and harder to trust the brand. Adding insult to injury, after dealing with a much deserved summer boycott, Facebook now faces a major lawsuit with the Federal Trade Commission (and 40 states) arguing it’s time to break this company up.

Quibi

People wearing masks walk past an advertisement for Quibi in a subway Station on October 22, 2020 in … [] New York City. On October 21st, Quibi’s founders announced it was shutting down its service after only six months of operation.

It could have sparked a content revolution. But Quibi, specializing in short-form content “chapters” of less than 10 minutes, failed spectacularly. In a world with fewer commuters, the idea just wasn’t compelling. Of the $1.75 billion it raised, it is returning just $350 million to investors. But we do think chief executive Meg Whitman deserves praise for pulling the plug at six months, instead of torturing both investors and the few viewers leveraging its platform.

What do you think of our list? Who would you add? Add your thoughts to the comments below.

Keep your eye out for Prophet‘s Brand Relevance Index – launching early 2021.

From CMO Network in Perfectirishgifts

[gothamstreetcat]

Written for: @keepswingin

▼Inspired by

▲Includes: Character + a line [Bruce Wayne + “Leave her alone!”]

▼Words: 4k

▲Warning: I want everyone to know before reading this that I do not encourage eating disorders in any way. I am not trying to glorify them either. Please know this story is just about Selina being hungry and how her eating “is a good cause.” This story takes place during the first season of Gotham.

It was crazy to imagine of all the places you could frequent in Gotham City and yet still run into the same people from yesterday. A fact, which could have been true for Bruce Wayne if he had bothered to attend school the prior Friday of that week. He might have overheard the conversation of his schoolyard bullies--Thomas Elliott and his gang, boasting about going to eat, Saturday night. He would have come to know of their reservations in the posh part of town at the highly established restaurant: The Blue Mockingbird.

A false idea of what Gotham claims to be but truly what it is not. Clear sky in an innocent sea. Only the sky is grey and the seas are black spattered with blood. Located straight in the middle of the street.

Their attendance would not have mattered to Bruce, who wanted and already planned to take Selina Kyle out for dinner there. It would have been easier to avoid them, yes. As he would have much preferred to sit in her company amongst silence and strangers that hardly knew him. Of course, everyone knew of him, but since his parents passing Gotham’s rich and elite didn’t socialize with him much unless they had to.

It wasn’t so much of a date in his mind. At least, that’s what he told Alfred when he inquired for a ride to meet Selina and then walk the rest of the way. Besides, they were much too young for that sort of thing. But he wanted to take her out in order to show her what she had shown him. A piece of Gotham. A piece of himself. He wanted to do something nice for Selina since their time together on the street the day of the Assassin. A day which should have been riddled with horror and danger yet made his heart swell with joy and adrenaline be even the slightest thought of it. The best day of his life spent with Selina learning and hiding. Smoke, she had called it. Disappearing like smoke. And it was something about that day, their time together that taught him how there was much more to life than just the little things surrounding them. He wanted to take Selina out because he wanted to show people how much more there is to life than what they were living, but more importantly because somewhere in his chest he thought “that is what you do when you care for someone.” When you like them and you know they deserve something nice.

It wasn’t all about fancy food, and nice places filled with people who wore immaculate clothing. Despite those things being what he began to associate with kindness growing up. The way his father used to take his mother out once a week somewhere nice. Or the nights they came as a family--Alfred included of course. His mother would tip the band players a little extra, asking them to play something his father liked. The polite waitstaff who would swing by a time or two to refill drinks and check on them. Couples would dance in the middle of the room and he watched boyfriends push their girlfriends into their seats and pour the wine. It wasn’t necessary to take Selina into a joint such as this but just something he wanted to do… because once he watched his parents do all those things and hoped one day he would be able to have such a humble opportunity do the same to someone he cared for. Fancied, Alfred would have put it.

Selina Kyle deserved those sort of things to him. He wanted to share them with her and somehow after a brief explanation, she folded her arms and agreed.

They arrived sometime at the dot of eight o’clock.

“I hope you know I’m not going to go easy on you tonight. This was your idea. You wanted to do this..” Selina sauntered in ahead of him with a teasing smirk on her face. Soon she spun around him walking backward.

“Yes, I remember,” he smiled his usual boyish grin as the Doorman standing on both sides of her tipped their hats to him with a smile while opening the double openings as Selina came through.

“All I’m saying here is that I hope you brought your wall--” she turned around in just enough time to take a step back and avoid crashing into one of the waitstaff. Gracefully coming by with a tray of assorted cookies and sandwiches, dodging her by just a second. Her voice gone soft, mouth open in surprise at the colourful view of the scene and the people inside it. Woman in fancy dress wear, men in tailored suits, and an older fellow dressed up with a bow-tie serenading the place with soft violin music. In Gotham, every street corner and underground subway was a place to perform, but the man with the bow-tie was putting on a show. The entire establishment in this halo-like glow of pink and gold. Hot food freshly prepared was wafting through her nose and making her stomach growl.  

She glanced at Bruce who appeared beside her and rolled her eyes.

“What?” He held a goofy smile on his face.

“You told me we were going someplace nice.” She folded her arms in protest as her smile faded, clearly annoyed and suddenly overrun with the feeling of being out of place. Still wearing her street clothes from yesterday and the day before. Torn jeans, muddy boots, leather and all.

“This is nice.”

“This is more than nice,” she explained. “It’s like The Ritz or something.”

Bruce frowned against himself, disappointed in Selina’s unhappiness but even more unhappy with himself for not anticipating her reaction in the first place. But he soon smiled again, determined to fix his idiocy at attempting what he believed to be: a nice thing.

“Everyone here is dressed so nice,” Selina pointed out. “Even you.” She made a face and pointed at his clothes.

He was wearing a nice blue dress shirt with his usual slacks and his father’s winter coat above it all. He couldn’t even stop himself from leaving without putting on one of his sweater vests. A knit light blue to match his shirt. Like Selina’s coat, it was one of his favourite things.

“I dress like this every day,” he responded, knowing he didn’t have to try and differently for Selina’s sake. Not that he would have even if he wanted to. “If you wanna go somewhere else to eat we can turn around and—“

“No,” she cut him off abruptly. Her eyes seeing past him over to the stature of another serving gentleman. Coming past with a tray filled with copious amounts of food and suddenly she was reminded of how completely starving she was. A bite to eat here. A morsel there. A muffin grabbed off of a man’s bread tray with a banana snatched from another woman’s brown paper-bagged groceries. It was never enough. Day after day, it didn’t measure up to the meals she was missing. So naturally, she was often hungry. Naturally, she loved food. Which Bruce understood.

“We can stay,” she continued, offering up a small smile while trying to contain how much her mouth watered even though she didn’t have to.

It was in the sea of Rich people old, young and in-between where she spotted a perfect little round table seated for two. She trotted over ahead of Bruce and leapt into one of the chairs just as a serviceman was coming toward them with menus. Selina had her legs crossed over the chair—perfectly herself while everyone around was beginning to stare. The waiter glanced down towards Bruce,

“Will this table be alright?” Another set of wait staff who had seen Selina seat herself (despite not being in the place for such) were already pouring her water and offering a basket of bread. Even from far away, Bruce could see the perfect heat of steam rising from the bread torn by Selina’s fingers.

He was a little dissatisfied himself by the time he and their waiter had reached her. As he wanted to have the chance to push her into the chair. However, the feeling faded as he watched Selina already enjoying the food, deciding that that was a better feeling.

“Yes, very much. Thank you.” He settled down as the Hostess respectively dropped their menus before them and retreated to his respective table. Presumably to change or rearrange the possible reserved seat they had just taken. Bruce had called ahead. Reserved them a private table. It was a crowded night. He can only assume the circumstances though it was clear they would not be asked to be removed. Nothing involving Selina stays the same.

He had studied and observed in some cases, partners going on dates through various means of romantic settings. And though Bruce didn’t consider Selina nor himself a romantic, a walk on the beach or boat ride along Gotham’s river didn’t seem like anything special to either of them. The cinemas perhaps, but neither one of them seemed interested in films and television. Besides, Selina responded to food. As it became a habit of himself to bring her a tray of breakfast when she overslept, a tray of dinner when she was avoiding him. And somehow sneaking down in the centre of the night at the perfect hour to join her for a midnight snack. This, of course, all while she was staying at the Manor.

Selina loved food. And Bruce loved how she loved food. Always being told that somehow “eating quickly” was associated with “tasting nothing.” Not savouring. Not enjoying. Not having enough polite manners. Selina showed him that wasn’t in fact, the case.

“Order everything you like,” he told her as they opened their menus. That was all she needed to hear. For when another waiter returned they came with a tray of water, sparkling beverages and whatever else the pair of them might need. Selina was already ready to order.

“Corn,” was the first thing she asked for. As a side, which Bruce could only imagine was good since he knew the corn on the cob was something popular. Most people, as he’d seen during dinners at friends houses and fancy charity dinners would season their corn with salt and pepper. Proceeding to eat the vegetable with a fork and a knife. First, they would use the knife to cut the corn from the cob and shell it onto their plate where they would take it from the plate with their fork. Bruce had seen people do it dozens of times before. It was proper. It was polite. But Selina would sink her teeth directly into the bone of the corn until the juice dribbled down her chin and neck. All the way down her arms and to a pool on the table. This of course, after she’s flavoured the entire thing in butter with her fingers.

“Ribs,” was the first thing she spat for an entree. “Ribs and… a hamburger.” She was as sure as the click of her tongue. The waiter jotted it down, and thankfully… didn’t finish. A hamburger turned into spaghetti, which morphed into a steak. Bruce couldn’t help but break out in a smile, which caused him to think. He meant to say “anything” as in: “order anything you like.” Yet instead, he had mistakenly said “everything,” which somehow didn’t bother him at all and he assumed both would have meant the same thing otherwise.

Selina ordered pasta as well, and anything the waiter suggested to her she agreed to without hesitation. Onions, lettuce, ketchup, and tomato with her burger. Loaded mashed potatoes fixed with butter and chives to compliment her steak. Anything that consisted of grease and mess, Selina obliged.

At one point during her endless order, their waiter actually glanced over at Bruce with raised eyebrows that suggested: “is she for real?” But all Bruce could do was laugh as quietly as possible. Then he asked Bruce for his own meal, 90% of his writing pad having already been taken up with Selina’s dinner.

“I’ll have whatever she’s having,” he replied. “You must be hungry,” he said to Selina with a grin.

“Starving,” she confirmed. “You wouldn’t believe the crazy day I had.”

They conversated over the meal. Selina doing most of the talking while Bruce spent time listening, watching and taking in small mouthfuls of food. Their dinner covering every inch of the table alongside a smaller fold-out consisting of all the extras. It became clear by the look on the staff and patrons faces that they had never had an order so big before. Even with Bruce and Selina splitting the food evenly, it came to enough to feed a small army. Or at least a small child. Who was busy cutting all the food in half and piling it onto her companions plate for consumption.

Apparently, during the day Selina had gotten caught in the crossfire in the Classic case of “wrong place” and “wrong time.”  She knew in the lower side of Gotham how careful she had to be, but having swiped some expensive diamonds the night before during a quick nip-and-grab she knew she had to expend them quickly. To get them out of her pockets as soon as possible. They still had the little white tag hanging around them.

Her and Ivy had been wandering down the street to her newest—and temporary fence when more than a few cop cars sped their way and bergaded the street.

It was another homeless raid, Selina knew. Even if she did have diamonds in her pocket and the two of them were too little for all the hustle of cop cars, part of her worried they’d come straight for her. And even if they hadn’t, they’d sure snatch her up as quick as they could and carry her away for a whole bunch of made-up reasons.

Thankfully, she and Ivy had been quick enough on their feet. Ivy being small and swift made it easy for her to run and hide. Selina could have done the same but she chose to send them on a chase instead. Give them a run, she felt. Make them think they had the upper hand even as she was worried out of her mind. She took them down street corners and alleys:

“She’s dangerous,” she heard one of them say. “You have to shoot her.”

And when the first bullet ran out past her feet causing her to jump, the game was over. Her lungs burning from the heat inside her lungs she jumped on the back of a nearby bus at the stoplight just as it started rolling again. Waved and coughed at the policemen “goodbye,” knowing they wouldn’t try to catch her now.

“Why would they worry about you if they were trying to catch the other kids on the street?” Bruce wondered during a pause in Selina’s voice. She was then in mid-chew with her rib rack... Sauce slathered over her face.

“Because,” she said with her mouth full. “They see me and think I’m trouble.” The faster they get me off the street, the better, she thought, but she was still eating and didn’t feel like swallowing quickly enough to finish the sentence. Then Bruce replied:

“But you are trouble.”

She stopped eating and stared blankly at him. Surprised, almost. Did he really mean that? She wiped the rib-sauce with the sleeve of her hood--having abandoned her jacket on the back of the chair an hour ago.

“The good kind,” he finished, smiling.

She had to fight herself not to smile back. So she shoved her lips back against the bone of her pork.

“Selina you might want to slow down, you’re going to make yourself sick,” Bruce pointed out. Remembering Selina’s first night at the Manor. She ate until there were no leftovers—Alfred was pleased. However, later in the night, Bruce overheard Selina puking from the bathroom. Too much rich food in her system made her stomach turn sour. She wasn’t used to it.

She ignored him, however, and continued on with her story. “Anyway, I spend the remainder of the day hocking wallets off strangers, catching the bus back to my squat to meet Ivy, and running across the street with some other people.” She caught the curious look he was giving her. “You, know? For fun.” She couldn’t have expected him to understand, not because he was rich or entitled to be in one of the cars that would casually attempt to run to her over. But because he was Bruce, and didn’t know a thing about being outside his house walls.

“So, did you sell the diamonds?” His fork flicked across his plate. He’d barely eaten a thing. Bites here and there in between Selina’s story. He was enthralled with her wild side of life that he couldn’t eat.

Selina licked her five fingers clean before digging around the back of her chair and into her jacket pocket. She whipped the silver pieces of jewellery toward the front with a prideful grin. A necklace. Slim and shiny that came down into the form of a triangle shape. Each point a diamond that still sparkled against the dim light of the restaurant. Selina smiled with a silly grin, her lips pursed into themselves as she flicked the stolen item into her palm and return it to her pocket.

It was then  when she was busy licking the last remains of the rib sauce and burger grease from her fingers when trouble began.

“Hey, Brucey.” It was Elliott, who glanced back at his pack—kids from Bruce’s school. “Aren’t you gonna introduce me to your friend?” They hadn't seen him wander over from across the floor. Bruce was too focused on Selina and Selina was too focused on the food. Not that she much cared for Bruce’s classmate anyway.

She gave him a sideways glance. Her eyes slithering up and down his frame from his stupidly expensive haircut to his designer shoes. An ugly looking uniform that suggested he wore it from school, or at least something similar. She rolled her eyes before her gaze fell upon Bruce who was attempting to stammer some kind of answer. The it clicked. Elliott, was a bully. More importantly, he was Bruce’s bully. Selina knew about Bullies. Most notably that she didn’t like them.

“It’s Bruce,” she clicked her tongue at Elliott to match his cockiness. “No “y.”

Elliott seemed surprised she had a voice to speak.

“You need your girlfriend to speak for you now?” He paid her no mind but shoved a thumb in her direction.

Selina picked up the steak knife she didn’t use from their table and began to pick her teeth with it. If neither of them had been the wiser, Bruce and Elliott would have thought she was sharpening it. Preparing to stab Elliott for such a rude introduction. He flashed her a disgusted look. What a weird girl, he thought. But he wasn’t scared of her. Yet.

“You really do like the weird ones. don't you, Bruce?” He eyed Selina suspiciously with a quizzed grin.

“What are the goggles for? Can you see with them on?” And they inferred?” He pointed to the plastic green lenses atoned with shiny metal and leather straps on top of curls that hadn’t been combed through in weeks.

“I don’t like to get blood in my eyes,” she replied.” And I’m not his girlfriend.” She now corrected with a hint of irritancy. Sucking in her teeth as she licked them clean right as Elliott admittedly thought it was then she was surely going to stab him with a fancy steak knife. What a horrible way to go. However, she didn’t. Instead, she placed the knife back on the table and flashed him the biggest smile she could fake.

“People call me Cat.” She spit directly into the centre of her greasy palm and reached for Elliot’s hand by his side. He was caught off guard, too late to move away as the street girl latched her disgusting fingerprints onto his own. He squirmed his hand free with disgust. Bruce had to fight himself not to laugh. “Nice to meet you,” she lied, picking her teeth now with her nails. Satisfied from hunger.

A beat. Then Elliott softened. She was actually kind of nice-looking up close. Cute. He could make out her torn jeans underneath the short tablecloth and fishnets to compliment. She was tough seeming on the outside, but he could tame her, he was sure of it.

“And you can call me, anytime.” He flashed her a cocky smile filling her with rage. It was her turn to look at him with disgust.

She would have jumped from her seat and slammed her fist into his face with that comment. She knew what he was saying to her. It’s what everyone said to her when she wandered the street. Broad daylight or not. It’s partly why she kept her hood up, but they always seemed to see her. When they wanted to.

It was Bruce’s voice that caused her to hesitate. Soft and sweet, his composer was enough for the both of them to remain calm.

“Leave her alone, Tommy. You’re being very unkind.” He was stern and yet smooth at the same time. Not yelling, but with a voice raised gently enough as to not invoke the staff to ask them to leave. Bruce was a gentleman. He couldn’t help himself.

“Sheesh,” he finally stepped away as Bruce gave him a frightening glare that matched Selina’s. “Just trying to be friendly.” He stalked away back to his group alone in the corner. They had been watching the whole time. Some snickering to themselves while others had their mouths hung open. One girl was smoking right under a “no smoking” sign.

“Friend of yours?” Selina asked jokingly. Bruce chuckled. “Why does that guy pick on you anyway?”

“He thinks I’m weird,” Bruce replied. “And he’s right, I am.” He didn’t smile as he said this.

“You are weird,” Selina confirmed. “The good kind.”

They smiled, and Bruce couldn’t remember a time after his parents‘ death where he was happy. The most happy, he could put it if he could label his feelings anything at all. He wished it could go on forever. The pair of them laughing and eating under dim candlelight and the sound of chattering strangers. Lingering stares and the celestial harmonies of professional violinists in the background. But it was getting late, and Alfred had insisted he be home by midnight at the very latest. Alone or otherwise.

Bruce put his hands over his pockets to get his wallet out before their waiter came back. However, Selina squirmed in her seat a little to suggest she was getting out currency of her own.

“No, Selina you don’t have to. I took you out, I’m going to—“

“Oh, don’t worry about me,” she stopped him with a smirk. “I’m not paying,” she laughed. “This dinner’s all on him.” She pointed in Elliott’s direction, who was busy laughing with his friends. He wasn’t paying any attention when Selina proudly produced his wallet from her jeans. Smiling like a Cheshire Cat. She had swiped it easily enough when she grabbed his hand. One of her own to do the talking and the other to do the work.

“You didn’t have to do that,” Bruce said, but he was smiling.

“Of course I did,” Selina reasoned. “He owes us.”

Their waiter finally came around again, bringing the check for convenience. Selina’s sly and still greasy fingers pinched into the stolen leather pouch, fished out a hefty bit of hundred dollar bills (dumbass) and handed it over to their waiter.

“Keep the change,” she smiled.

He thanked her and left. Selina stood first to leave, half wanting to leave while the getting was good, but also because she was starting to feel sick inside her stomach. Bruce followed her stance just as there was a roar from across the room.

“Hey! That’s my wallet!” Elliott pointed and hollered directly at Selina, still holding the leather in her hand. His gang of losers and their serviceman glancing over at her.

Nobody moved as Selina quick bolted from her chair. One hand latching onto her leather jacket from behind and the other reaching for Bruce. She pulled him towards the exit and they ran to the double doors that were already being opened eagerly for them. Bruce’s heart was pounding but he didn’t understand why.

Perhaps it was because he was doing this with Selina. How it excited him to his core. Perhaps it was because truthful, he wasn’t sure what was going to happen next. He didn’t know where they were going next.

No one seemed inclined to stop them. Only Tommy, who by now had bolted from his own booth with his friends. The staff and other patrons of the restaurant didn’t move an inch.

Soon, they were running out into the chilly winter’s night of the city, pulling their coats over their arms. Into the street, Selina pulled Bruce there and even in a second of what should have been seen as danger he didn’t feel unsafe. His lungs were burning and he was laughing as the cars flickered their lights at him and blared their horns.

It was only until they made it as far around the next corner where Selina hurled. No one was after them now.

“Hey, are you okay?” Still coming down from the high, Bruce put a gentle hand against her back.

She was sick until her words were just a shameless hollowed whisper towards the moonlight.

“Never better.”

[abundantchewtoys]

HS Epi: Meat p16 reaction

Reaction under the cut!

Still in the process of, well, processing the defeat of Lord English and all those deaths.

I wonder if, through some esoteric means, Jade's body would be used by Caliborn to try and escape his fate. She's an ex-First Guardian, so he might have a connection to her body. Plus, if that would happen, that would be the final time the wolf head could be connected to LE - since Jade's half dog.

Blaperile thought also of the server representing LE's DNA, running somewhere in the Furthest Ring. Maybe that fell into the Black Hole too, though?

I wonder what is even going to happen to John now. I mean, he still has the Ring of Life, someone could find him and put it on his finger. Someone like Terezi. It could be Meenah as well, in an ultimate sacrifice - she once said she'd run him through again to steal his ring, but maybe she'll sacrifice her chance at life for him. Some form of ultimate redemption for the Condesce, in a way.

If Terezi finds him, odds are she'll have found out about Vriska somehow. :/ I doubt any ghosts are left in the Furthest Ring on the one hand. On the other hand, we haven't seen any mention of any of the other trolls mentioned in the character list. Nor of GO Vriska & Terezi, though they might have double died through the cracks that encroached on them.

A third option to find John is Aradia - since she was so intent on witnessing the end of Paradox Space and seeing what'd happen if the place came falling apart.

Or maybe John will have some sort of vision, like a special afterlife, with his Dad there, before he wakes up / revives? I can only hope.

I doubt the Ring is multi-use, but if it were, it would sure be something if Meenah could be revived as well as John! And for Aradia and Terezi (and Meenah?) to come back with him to Earth C, now there's nothing left in the Furthest Ring for them. If Meenah came to Earth C, the Crocker run for president would have some serious competition! :P Not that I'd really root for Meenah to win, though, since she's quite clearly unfit to lead a country, only a strike force.

I've also got to wonder how long Andrew has been planning to have Davesprite be the one to kill Lord English? I'm sure much of what Davepeta became grew organically, as well as the other components of Lord English, but it seems to me the Davesprite part was always planned. But he sure is a master of tying in later details into the evolving story.

Like, for instance, LE biting Dave's head off reminds me of Hearts Boxcars doing the same for Eggs. Dave and eggs...

So, it was all doomed and retconned selves that were instrumental in bringing down Lord English, you know. John is pre-retcon, the other B2 kids came from a temporary offshoot. Tavros was also pre-retcon. Meenah came from a scratched session. Davesprite was doomed. All those troll ghosts were doomed. Alternate Calliope was doomed. The only exception is the Nepeta part of Davepeta, and she was so irrelevant to the timeline's major events before her prototyping as to almost not count. These were the glitches in spacetime that could kill Lord English. It's fitting, since Lord English was so focused on the main timeline and being the 'alpha', that he couldn't see where his 'doom' would come from.

Anyway. The page ended with a command to John, so I'm rather convinced the next page will continue from John's perspective.

---

"ROSE: When I was a child, I wrote a novel." Well, never mind!

Well, okay, I guess that, even though John's perspective has just ended in what could have been the ending of Homestuck, I would very much like to learn more about Complacency of the Learned and its potential ramifications as to the rest of the plot! Guess now's the moment to find out why the story isn't ending just yet.

"She has both hands resting on the chassis of his recent project, Sawtooth 3.1." Soooo... Was Sawhoo supposed to be Sawtooth 2.0? :P I wonder what improvements Dirk could be implementing. Also, whether he ever intends to use the rapbot on his show. I get a feeling most of the robots there never leave novice mode, actually.

"DIRK: Another one of those Lalonde childhood wizard fics, I presume?" Yeah, now I'm reminded of Wizardy Herbert, Roxy's supposed work. I never did get through that draft of it Andrew wrote all those years prior, I got to admit.

I'm guessing Rose has found a way to connect her old fic to the grander context of canon, realizing some of the stuff she put into the story came from her aspect?

"With the sunset behind her she’s a shadow ringed in yellow light that turns white at the tips of her hair." Pfff, circumstantial simultaneity strikes again! That's just like how Reload Rose looked. Alternatively, she has a bit of a halo right now.

"ROSE: It’s more raw. It betrays considerably more sincerity than my young self was surely ever aware of stitching into the prose." Hah, guess Rose was not as good at hiding her own feelings as she tried back then, hiding behind that passive-aggressiveness.

I wonder if this is Andrew talking about how some of his early work, maybe even early Homestuck, was a lot closer to his heart than the epic story it grew into, despite said level of epicness.

"ROSE: It meant something." Maybe adult Rose's work was too polished, too betraying of her literacy and a bit removed from the essence of what she was trying to say. That could be due to its nature as anti-propaganda aimed against Condesce.

"DIRK: Hmm." There Dirk goes again, with the autoresponder-enabling short responses.

"ROSE: For all its plainly evident amateurism as the literary product of a child, I’ve come to believe it’s a much stronger work standing alone as a single volume, its meaning and symbolism potently compressed, and its message shining through more nakedly, undisguised by the cleverness of a more seasoned writer." Again, Andrew comparing Team Special Olympics and such things to his later work?

"The plot concerns the machinations of twelve wizard children." Oh, I thought it was focused on twelve adult wizards, including Zazzerpan?

"ROSE: It isn’t their intent to commit atrocities, or within their nature to do so originally. They become corrupted by an overabundance of knowledge. The kind never meant for the mortal mind to grasp." They went grimdark. :P Also, I suppose this leads into Rose's misgivings regarding the ultimate self.

"ROSE: It certainly wasn’t the most fucked up thing I’ve ever written." ... Oh right, the MEOW code. Yeah, that must take 1st place.

"as if I were pulling inspiration from beyond myself—channeling the story, rather than writing it." Almost as if she got it from the Void more even than her then-latent aspect!

"spiderwebs of gold that dissolve into dust" ... Really, sure, go ahead, keep rubbing salt into that wound. :P

"ROSE: You could almost call the process... [...] She’s smirking now, just a little." Brace for pun-pact!

"ROSE: ...enlightened." Eyyyyy!

"

DIRK: It also sounds like it’s the opposite of what was going on?" Dirk also thinks it sounds more like a Void thing?

"DIRK: Sounds more like you were trapped in a sort of dire creative fugue state causing you to chart your own mental profile using metaphor revolving around murderous, omniscient children." ... So that's where the locquacious genes came from. Also in-deep-analysis.

"ROSE: Well, consider the playful pun rescinded.

ROSE: Apologies for diminishing your presence with my suboptimal health and the toll it has taken on my wordplay.

DIRK: Thanks. It’s been very difficult for me.

ROSE: You’ve been a real trouper." These two, are the best.

"ROSE: Anyway, my point is that I’ve long suspected my story was a pre-manifestation of my Seer of Light powers. I was seeing beyond my universe into another." Yyyeah, but, the analogy with the trolls doesn't hold up after the first glance, and she (or her adult self) also incorporated things from other timelines and universes. The genderqueer Cal... I forgot what the full name was..., for instance.

Meanwhile, Dave has been well aware his subconcsiousness is influencing him, and he has been looking and found the "least psychologically revealing" SBaHJ comic, as a result.

"ROSE: My original thesis was that the children represented the twelve trolls who created our universe." Ooh, so she noticed it too. Guess she might now be thinking the twelve are representations of the B2 kids, Karkat, Kanaya, Calliope and... someone else?

"DIRK: Twelve. That’s how many players went through the door at the end of our game." Riiiight, Terezi went through as well!

"When she finds herself leaning against him—probably without thinking about it, Dirk imagines, because neither of them really “do” that—he doesn’t pull away. If it’s her, it’s all right." That just shows the difference in how he and Rose behave versus he and Dave, where the distance or proximity is always a tangible thing.

"DIRK: You describe this as a fact of numerological significance.

DIRK: Which makes it seem you suspect these correlations are something less than utterly providential. As if there is a part of you holding on to the belief that certain figures are coincidental. That their significance and repetition smacks of bullshit." Heheh, there are a LOT of repeating numbers in the story though, bullshit or not. Twelve is just one of them: 4 6 10 11 12 13 25 ... Seems like Dirk holds them in higher esteem than Rose, though. If he's sincere.

"It’s unclear exactly which things are smacking, just as it’s unclear that when it comes to bullshit, whether or not smacking accurately describes what is being done per se." This metaphor has gone off track again.

"DIRK: I’m just saying it’s all evidence of a grand design. An immortal, metatextual apparatus beyond our ken that we can only catch glimpses of when we’re proverbially shitting our brains out through our nose." They can almost see Andrew. :P In-canon, the closest to such a reveal were John and Jade, but they let the moment of epiphany pass them by as they started their 3-year-long journey. :P

"ROSE: They were filled with the light of knowledge and one by one they succumbed to it, turning insane or evil or, most often, both." Ah, right, like the guy that filled that tome with knowledge and was crushed by it, that Roxy named Jaspers after.

"ROSE: If this is the effect unchecked powers have on players living in a post-canon victory state, then why isn’t it affecting any of our other friends?" Let the theories about evil power-hungry Jane commence! Though, what other effects could we even see right now, not much. Plus, Kanaya, Karkat, Terezi and Calliope won't feel the effects of an ultimate self ascension, at least.

"DIRK: Well." Don't say "now you mention it", Dirk. Please.

"some of us have stopped using our powers completely." Oh, he thinks that it's not so much power that corrupts, but the continued use of it?

"emergency resurrections" But he also doesn't seem to think then that what Jane is planning reeks of her getting slowly corrupted, huh.

"sportsball riot" I wouldn't be surprised if sportsball is an actual thing on this planet, courtesy of Dave's influence in shaping society.

"ROSE: In that case...

Rose sways suddenly." Eesh, she's starting to get woozy.

"ROSE: Maybe I was a fool for imagining I could settle down here." :/ It would be shitty for Paradox Space to do this to the players for no good reason, though. Then again, Sburb.

"occasional banter about adoption with her wife" Ooh, cool. Well, yeah, it would stand to reason Maryams like to become mothers. :)

"ROSE: I assumed it was just that feigned Strider Stoicism, but you seem to be taking this...

DIRK: In stride?" Awww-yeah. Sorry Rose, you have nothing to top Strider Dad jokes.

"

DIRK: But I’ve got more practice at this than you do. I spent most of my life before the game multitasking my entire fucking subconscious. I’ve had several times my age on paper to contemplate these mysteries.

DIRK: Years of prying open can after can of worms filled with answers I don’t like.

DIRK: Cut yourself on the edge more than once and you stop getting surprised by all the blood.

ROSE: I see." So it's as if, due to Dirk already having such an extensive memory from juggling dream and awake selves, he's handling all the input better. Maybe, relatively speaking, it's less that's coming in for him, too. I mean, his dream selves mustn't have gone through many different things. Plus, maybe merging with Lil' Hal does something for you to be able to handle big data. :O

"ROSE: In fact, I don’t think it’s the expansion of my powers that is causing the headaches, but rather my own resistance to it.

ROSE: Sometimes I get this feeling that I could, if I really wanted to, just let go." I think Rose might prefer to keep to her current self, if she could. Like the narration said, she's basically still a solitary creature. The expansion of experiences is proving too jarring.

"ROSE: I’m forcing myself to stumble through my life as a sleepwalker. All this pain and sorrow could go away if I would just allow myself to wake up." Between this and "letting go", it seems like an ultimate self ascension is perhaps even going to go further than the psychologically, maybe even physically. If that's so, Dirk might be further ahead but not there yet. But once they'd ascend, there wouldn't be coming back from it, I would think, and they'd leave their old lives and Earth C behind, to go to another plane of existence, maybe?

"ROSE: Because I’m not sure that the person opening her eyes will be me." ... Now I'm thinking about how the last command aimed at John was for him to close his eyes. :/ Could that mean he's about to go through a sped-up ascension?

Rose has the unfortunate occasion to compare her ascension to Jasprosesprite^2, so I very much understand she has very grave misgivings about "expanding her mental horizons", so to speak.

"Then, in a deliberate motion, he pulls off his shades." ... Say, would his eyes have changed if he merged with Lil' Hal, even just psychologically? I know the autoresponder was a pair of shades without eyes, but the Hal monitor had that red buzzing light which represented his eyeballs on at least one occasion.

"DIRK: I know I sound pretty nonchalant most of the time, but actually I’m scared shitless of myself.

DIRK: I’ve always had this uncanny ability to chart a course from A to Z and not give a fuck about any of the letters in between.

DIRK: I’m not sure anyone should be allowed to have that much foresight. Especially a guy like me." Well, that's a healthy self-assessment and fear. Though, foresight? It would be more akin to intuition, right, knowing how people responded in different situations? ... Which sounds like Mind powers, actually, come to think of it.

"ROSE: The farther above the board you fly, the harder it gets to care about the pieces." Is that part of the reason Terezi left, if she forced an ultimate self ascension on her with her Remem8er act?

"DIRK: And yes, I may be a shitty human being, but,

DIRK: As a mechanic, I’m off the fucking charts." Well, that certainly are points to Dirk being at least marginally better as an adult than Bro, if only out of self-awareness. Speaking of, does he have access to Bro's memories now, too? Also, the mechanic part is leading into the Soulbot I theorized about? Wait, mechanic... Dirk and Darkleer should have a build-off.

"Rose’s eyes have grown distant, almost mirrorlike. Dirk can see himself reflected in her vacant stare.

ROSE: All the pieces in their place.

ROSE: The mechanisms all running smoothly." Has Dirk... hypnotized her?

"She says this in a hollow tone. It’s the disarming voice a puppeteer ventriloquizes for a marionette. Her head falls toward her shoulder slowly. Dirk catches her cheek as she slides into sleep. It’s difficult for the untrained ear to spot the exact moment in their conversation when the words she was saying stopped being hers and started being his." ... What did I just watch. ... How. Why? ... Did Dirk use any Heart powers here? I can't...

"Does it really matter? In many respects, they’re basically the same person, aren’t they?" Kind of creepy to say that about your hypnotized daughter, though.

"Kindred spirits in blood and perspective, the puppet masters of the respective games they like to believe they’re playing." ... Puppets. Puppets and games. ... This is building up into a Saw reference and I don't like it one bit. "I want to play a game." ... I do hope Dirk's ascension hasn't seen him get influenced by Lord English.

... You know, though, maybe Dirk was able to influence Rose because of their strong connection, since she's so close to his self she's almost like another shard of him, more so than other people that contain shards of his essence, like Brain Ghost Dirk for Jake.

"But you already knew that, right?" Aaaaaaah, he took over the narration! ... He took over Andrew??? Is that a power for ultimate selves, to get access to the narrative prompt?? If so, then Caliborn was not an exception, just the primary example.

... He's pulled a Doc Scratch on us.

Dear god.

What to make of this. I think Dirk might be the hidden antagonist of Earth C. His Heart powers might be able to influence and even control people.

I just hope he isn't going to absorb them all.

... Man, this started baring on innocuous and look at how chilling the ending of the page is.

I think through his influence, people might start behaving exactly as he predicted, enforcing him being right and securing influence at the same time. I mean, if he merged with memories from Lil Hal, Doc Scratch and perhaps even LE... He's become a master manipulator.

... This is basically "shh, only dreams now" D:

[writingonjorvik]

hey, do you have any thoughts on the inconsistency in writing character reactions in their quests sometimes, for example *gasp*, (you gasp) and -gasp- (i think i've seen a :O somewhere too)? (sorry, english is not my native language). love your blog x

I sure do but first: Your English is great, don’t apologize for it. English is a dumb, stupid language and half of its rules are based on math because people thought it was going to die off. I majored in English, so trust me on this, I speak a dumb language. It’s complicated for zero reason other than people are short-sighted and English-speakers have historically had an issue of not standardizing. Anyway.

As for the inconsistencies, that can have a lot of factors. You are remembering that correctly though, there is a dialogue box that has just :O as the text. And it was in a major story beat too! When we found out Anne was also in Pandoria, with the whole “One does not simply walk into Pandoria” meme reference.

And there’s the sticking point. A lot of SSO’s writing has gone through phases. Very early quests said damn before it was censored out for I imagine only the States (largest market to be fair, but still). There was a long period of time where spelling mistakes were very common (and still are in older quests). Now you’re more likely to hit a technical error and your name won’t load in properly, but not so much spelling mistakes. Early quest writing, like the very first stuff, was pretty basic, or kinda campy. Then it transitioned to being “Modern” with a lot of hip references (see the Mordor meme from earlier), and then there were parts where SSO came down hard on tropes. Loretta and Tan are the biggest relics of this. A lot of it has been rewritten now, but there was a time where the first time you met Loretta she was just kinda…meh, most popular girl but not awful to now where she’s a prime drama queen, It Girl trope. 

On the gasping thing, that seems to be a combination of these phases and also kinda a fault in storytelling for games. At least on a budget, which SSO, for an MMO, kinda is a lower budget game. Like film, you don’t really get in the head of the player character as much because unless it’s a character-driven narrative where the player isn’t just self-inserting, you can’t really do much on stage-direction. For comparison, Life Is Strange is a very character-driven story. We get a lot of thoughts in their heads because we’re not supposed to be Max, we are experiencing Max. Compare this to, say, Breath of the Wild, where Link is just a player insert and his personality is a moot point. So if everything is dialogue, how do you indicate stage direction, or actions, in just text?

Now, this is why I say SSO is kinda low budget. Because most game companies would animate the stage direction. Or if they don’t animate the models themselves, they would update the character icons in the text box, like in Harvest Moon games or in dating sims. The illustration indicates the mood, which removes the need for stage direction because it can be inferred. Or they would use voice acting to make the intent clear. And SSO does none of these things, so they have to write out a lame stage direction like gasp, which, just as a side tangent, takes away the dramatic reveal’s effect if we’re told we’re supposed to be surprised.

But as for that, and generally all of it being inconsistent, it’s because there isn’t a writing team for SSO, or at least it’s not listed anywhere on SSO’s credits. Which means whoever is doing the writing has another job too. There is no one dedicated just to writing, which isn’t uncommon in the industry, but it’s really stupid for a game like SSO where the primary focus is the story. It’s possible they bring in ghost writers, therefore they don’t need to credit, but that furthers the point of inconsistency. And I get to double back to my points about English and how SSO has no standardized tone to their storytelling. This doesn’t mean that their story is bad, but because they are dealing with a massive world that needs to be filled and there don’t appear to be any overall rules other than “Don’t be offensive” in the writing, style kinda gets thrown all over the place. There is no professional team, a group of writers, researchers, and editors, whose sole job is to write SSO’s quests and make sure it’s consistent with itself. So the job is likely pushed randomly onto artists and coders who are putting the text in themselves to write that dialogue. And when it’s their turn to do it, all they have to go on is their past times doing the writing. This later part is mostly speculation, but it’s based on how other companies have done this in the past.

If you do what to see what having a writing team can do for consistency and worldbuilding, might I suggest Skyrim. It’s a little broad for everything to be to be masterpiece writing, so there isn’t very much that I would consider particularly deep, but there is a massively wide area of topics covered and the writing is consistent within the world, even if some of it is subjectively bad. And it’s done by eight people. Here’s a fun video on it.

So, there are some thoughts.

[kaelin-bct-blog]

Data Objects - All By Myself

I left the group and decided to focus on my own interpretation of our assessment. Leaving so late in the project may have been a risk but it is one I am satisfied with. During my time working with the others my biggest struggle was gaining motivation to work on something I was not particularly interested in. It's not that we had a bad concept it was a combination of it being about something I had little personal interest in and a lack of chemistry amongst our group members. Initially, as I mentioned before, the idea was to spread our group into working on several objects that would tie into each other which was logical due to the size of our group. Unfortunately, this proved very ambitious, as we had a tenuous grasp of the concept of a data object at best. If we had a better understanding of what kinds of data set would translate effectively things might have been easier. After a few days of searching for the right data we found ourselves falling behind other groups, and decided instead to focus on a singular topic with more readily available data that would be hopefully more straightforward in mapping it to a garment. Perhaps our determination to use clothing as the object blinded us to other avenues of exploration and design, regardless we gave in to our tunnel vision.

We started work on a shirt that would provide a physical interaction based on our data. The data was oriented around the Body Mass Index, and we were going to try to create a garment that would loosen or tighten based on that data. We got conflicting reactions from several lecturers, in fact so conflicting (as in completely opposite) that I was personally left pretty confused and ultimately hopeless. I did not understand the purpose of this assessment, and almost every idea that popped into our collective heads seemed to be simply another bar graph or pie chart plastered onto some normal boring object. It felt like we were taking two very incompatible things and simply ramming them together like a child pretending to make their toys fight until something bloody clicked.

Spoiler alert, it didn’t.

So we tried to reorganize and breathe some life into our group, start fresh and continue ramming things together making various forms of onomatopoeia but THIS time we’d do it right. We had a pretty good plan to be fair, we split into smaller teams of roughly two to three, each focused on a specific aspect of human health in relation to fast food diets. Keeping in line with at least an element of our original statement of intent, and helping divide the work into smaller packages. One group would focus on the mental health complications, another on skin and libido issues and myself and several others on various diseases such as diabetes associated with a poor diet. We would then attempt to design a garment for each of these data sets, creating an outfit to communicate the effects of junk food on the human body. So while this all felt very organized and had a taste that resembled progress it very quickly proved to be naught but a taste. Again I believe this was simply my lack of interest as I did more research. Not only that but it turns out medical datasets to do with diabetes risk factors in people with poor diets are designed for medical professionals (funny that) and as a result were pretty much impossible to understand.

So I gave up. Yes, you read that correctly. I stared into the mirror and mouthed the letter ‘F’ for a while till I got bored of that too.

Then it struck me, why don’t I just do something I find interesting and fun? That was my focus from the very beginning, I knew everyone would jump on the depressing and serious issues bus as soon as we started this project. That is why I had made a silent oath to myself to do something that didn’t make me incredibly sad the minute I tried to work on it. And I want to be clear that although I may sound like I’m making fun of those serious subjects, I am not. Laughing at the fact that many people jumped on the same incredibly sad datasets does not remove from the seriousness of the data itself and why people chose those datasets. Moving on.

So I went back to good ol’ video games. And boy am I glad I did. It turns out being interested in the thing the numbers relate to makes the numbers less mind-numbing and allows the brain to actually think about what to do with the numbers. I scrawled through some interesting sites and found a data set that grabbed my attention, highest number of players in a game in a one hour period. This inspired me to track down where the figure came from, and of course, I ended up at Steam. Steam for those who are unaware is a very popular marketplace for games on PC, probably the biggest in the world. It has various other things like forums, guides, achievements, chat rooms and any number of gaming peripherals (software based) and is thus probably one of the biggest gaming communities on earth. It also helps that the company that runs it, Valve, keeps track of pretty much every statistic involving games and player bases that it gives to the public for free. I felt like I had struck the most obvious vein of gold in the world. Now for an object.

The fact that the first statistic that caught my eye was the fact that Player Unkown’s Battlegrounds had three million players on in one hour came to mind. What exactly was it about that fact that made it so impressive? Well, I believe it was the time frame. Three million is not exactly a large number in our day and age, especially in relation to the internet and video games. The fact that we managed to have three million human beings in one tiny online world that makes up an impossibly small sliver of cyberspace real estate in the same hour is fairly mind-boggling. Every time I try imagining it I see the Tron equivalent of New York. I understand that this image isn’t accurate or even relevant, but it's what gave me some scope as to why it was so cool. If you want a practical or marketable reason (I don’t know why you would, they always suck the soul out of cool stuff) as to why this is important, it's very simple. Three million people passing through a single digital space is basically a license to print money in our modern economy. You could potentially advertise to just under the population of Los Angeles in one hour. So there, practical reason tacked on to the fact that this is simply a cool statistic. Not only that, but this to me is one of the biggest harbingers of what is to come. If you’ve read Neal Stephenson’s ‘Snowcrash’ you might understand why this makes me so excited. If you haven’t, please go read it then come finish reading this.

So this was why I decided to see if I could map the peak player populations of the biggest video games on Steam to an analog clock. Not only that but I find something vaguely entertaining in the irony of using analog to symbolize the fact that we are so deeply into digital it's not even funny.

I have two prototypes and my final product all done. The first prototype involved taking the top four game populations at the respective peaks they reached and mapping them to four sections of the clock. For example, I mapped the population of Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds (PubG) between numbers twelve to three on the clock. I took the peak population (3,227,432) and divided it by four. I then took that result and listed it at the number twelve, then doubled it and put that at the one hour mark, then tripled it and so on. This means that on the clock the population starts at a quarter of its total and over the course of four hours reaches its peak. This is done with four games in total, PubG, DOTA 2, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Fallout 4.

The issues with this prototype were that it was very simple, there was little more to it than a pie chart in my mind. I wanted the population distribution growing by the hour to help communicate how massive these figures were, to truly get across the significance of this kind of population growth in such a short time. So how could I add complexity to this design, avoid the pie chart aspect while still showing multiple game populations and the significance of their size?

The second prototype used a different method of mapping the data. I decided to use the hands themselves and the way in which they moved to map the data. So, in this case, the second hand would go from a lower number and work it's way around the clock until one minute had passed. On the minute mark (once returning to its starting point) it would have reached the full peak player population figure. This would be repeated with the minute and hour hands, each one representing a player population. This meant that I lost one population figure as there are only three hands. However I think there is something sleeker about the top three populations being mapped, it is generally how we rank competitions so it was fitting that three would have to do. I followed a similar principle to the first prototype, dividing the final population figures by sixty for the second and minute hands and by twelve for the hour hand. I knew that I would not be able to fit sixty different figures on the clock face though, so I placed a figure on the twelve, three, six and nine hour marks. This would allow for an easy enough distribution while still retaining a good sense of how massive these populations could be. There were three sets of figures on each of these hour marks, which got a little difficult to read in some cases. Not only that but I had not realized that placement of the numbers would not clearly show which hand was relevant to which number. I liked the idea of using the turning of the hands themselves, it made sense to utilize the primary mechanics of my chosen object to display my dataset. The issue was making it clear how the mechanics of the clock would ‘point’ to the appropriate data.

With the final step in creating my object, I decided to use the same method as my second prototype, but in this case I created a key to label which number was represented by which hand on the clock itself. They also happen to be colour coded in order to help make it more clear which number relates to which player population by video game. As simplistic as the design has remained I am satisfied that it breaks down a large number that can be easily glossed over without understanding its significance, and by causing a person to have to see as it gradually gets to the final figure it highlights just how large these numbers are.

[agent-nova]

From A to B {Football/Soccer AU}

(I’m gonna admit, I don’t remember if I posted this already and can’t find anything to say that I did, but if I have please, PLEASE tell me! Okay, hope this is acceptable!) (Oh! Also, next part will introduce Ellie. I had this part done forever ago so here it is!)

“I don’t like bringing you into my office like this, Charlie.”

Charlie picked at the fraying fabric along the end of the arm of the plush chair, ready to get this meeting over with. The room was paneled with dark, heavy wood, the wallpaper within view a green so deep it was nearly black. The whole thing felt centuries old. Stuffy. Archaic. Forceful. But the man sitting across from him didn’t resemble any of those things. But those things still had their hooks in him. He was at the mercy of a higher authority.

“You were photographed. If we hadn’t bought the pictures, you’d be on every sports publication around the world. We wouldn’t be able to get a dime for you in transfers—”

“Getting rid of me, are you?” Charlie asked, meeting the man’s eyes.

Richard Blanks, the team’s legal representative, looked a bit startled. “Just exploring our options— you haven’t exactly made things easy for us,” he accused.

“I liked you, Rich. Thought you might’ve been enough steps removed from them to have a good head on your shoulders. So why don’t you just get it over with. Where am I going?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about—”

“Those reports about someone big going on loan up north? I’m assuming that’s me?” Charlie’s smile grew as he saw the reaction in Richard’s face. “They couldn’t even wait until the season was over.”

“It was to be announced the second the transfer window opened,” he finally confirmed. “You’ll be going to a mid-table team, still in EPL.”

“But no hope for a trophy, or international competitions.”

“You did this to yourself, Charlie. You’re a liability.” Despite Charlie’s brave face those words stung a bit. They weren’t exactly untrue. “Perhaps you’ll grow up a little while you’re there.”

Charlie sprang up out of the chair. “Good luck getting those clean sheets without me,” he muttered, storming out of the office.  As he passed through management’s little haven overlooking the busy London street, he almost felt relieved.

They could start looking inwards for someone to blame. Instead of using him as the team scapegoat. Now he just had to keep his cool until the January transfer window.

He let out a chuckle as he reached the street. Stuffing his hands in the pockets of his jacket, he walked down to where he’d parked. What was he going to tell his father?

Charlie smiled up at the waitress as she took his plate away, a similar smile on her face. A glare from his father forced her away from the table as he continued eating. Slowly slicing through the rare steak.

“Have you learned nothing from this?” his father asked. “How is it so hard for you to simply behave?” Another slice. If passing by, one could mistake his tone for one of mild disdain. But Charlie knew better.

Berating Charlie would only force him to react. And as a reactionary human being, Charlie found that he usually ended up in trouble, unable to help himself. And his father knew that better than anyone. Still, the words flew out of his mouth before he could think twice.

“When you say behave, does that mean living my entire life completely beneath your thumb?” There it was. He shouldn’t have said it. “If anything, this is your fault.” Digging a hole he won’t be able to climb out of. But it felt good to finally get if off his chest. And in such a public setting that would make sure he’d avoid a physical confrontation. It was liberating. So he kept going. “You’re the one who forced me to go there. You wanted the glory, the trophies, as if you’d earned them yourself. I didn’t want that, I just wanted to play—”

A sharp scrape across the ceramic plate sent uncomfortable tremors down Charlie’s spine as his father tightened his grip on the cutlery. A knife in that man’s hand was surely dangerous. “How absolutely ungrateful.” The low menacing tone was his father’s version of a raised voice. It cut just as deep. “Everything I do is to secure your future. You’re the one throwing it away. Behaving like a child. You’re a disgrace to the Hesketh name.”

Charlie closed his eyes and sighed, leaning back in the chair.

“Do you have any idea what I’ll be walking into tomorrow? All that talk of wasted potential, the gossip about your little indiscretion?” He sighed, setting the cutlery down on the plate with a clatter, steak half-eaten. “For Christ’s sake, Charlie, what on earth were you thinking?!”

Charlie stared at the pool of pink surrounding the steak on his father’s plate. Begging for a chance to leave. “I wasn’t.”

“You don’t, ever, apparently. Act first, on impulse, ignore any questions later.” He signaled for the check. “I’ll talk to them, try to convince them to keep you on, but they must see improvement in your behavior off the pitch—”

“Is this all for your benefit, or mine?” Charlie asked. He already knew the answer. “You know what?” he stood, setting his napkin down on the table where his plate had been. “Don’t. I want to leave. I hate this place.” He motioned around himself, meaning the city, the team, his father’s overpowering influence everywhere he went. As he turned to leave the restaurant, his father offered up one last painful stab.

“You’ll upset your mother.”

Charlie didn’t answer as he stormed out through the double doors and into the rainy night. His father watched him go, releasing a deep sigh before checking his watch.

“Where’s that waitress?”

As Charlie walked along the edge of the training grounds towards the locker room, one of the men left the group at the center and walked over quickly, intercepting him before he could reach the door.

“What on earth were you thinking, man?” Meyer shoved him, his voice breaking as his emotions took over. “Did you think I wouldn’t find out? And don’t say you didn’t know, because you knew—” A few other players ran over to pull Meyer away, but not quickly enough.

Charlie let the punch land.

Meyer was swarmed by the other players as a few of the coaching staff came over to check on things. It was a closed practice, so they were slow to respond to the scuffle.

“Listen man, he’s not worth it,” they reassured Meyer. Charlie leaned against the concrete wall, holding his jaw, watching how his choices had managed to turn everyone there against him. His stupid, drunken, idiotic, hurtful choices.

“Just give me a good reason why I shouldn’t snap your neck right now—” They pulled him back as he tried to get at Charlie again.

“I saved you the trouble of finding out later,” Charlie shrugged. “What kind of person you’re with.”

“Showed us all what sort of teammate we’ve got too,” he spat. “End of the season, you’ll be gone. Off to some bottom-of-the-table club while we sweep up the trophies. Again.”

Charlie rolled his eyes. He could feel Meyer watching him as he passed into the locker room. Late. Again.

[marshmallow-the-vampire-slayer]

MTVS Epic Rewatch #198

BTVS 7x14 First Date

Stray thoughts

1) I really don’t think Snyder would’ve gotten such a huge… oh, wait. Inferiority complex. Yep. He totally would.

2) I really don’t understand why Giles is so upset about Buffy having Spike’s chip removed? Like, he worked alongside Angel when he had a soul and not once did he show concern about Angel attacking them or going on a killing spree. Moreover, the chip had proven to be useless if Spike was under the influence of The First, so whether he had it or not was kind of a moot point at the moment.

Oh. I think maybe Giles was upset that Buffy didn’t check with him first. Like, how dare she make such an important decision without asking for my opinion?

3) Chao-Ahn is hands down my favorite potential. There’s no contest, really.

4) How convenient…

GILES I have to ask—why on Earth did you make that decision?

BUFFY Guess it was instinct, like you were talking about.

GILES I made that up!

5) It’s ironic that Giles accuses Buffy of letting her feelings cloud her judgment because I think that’s exactly what he was doing. Giles despised Spike, and I don’t blame him, he had reason to. But he was letting his hatred of Spike get in the way of seeing the bigger picture: if the First wanted Spike dead, then they should guard him at all costs because he might be a key player in defeating The First – as he rather obviously turned out to be…

GILES Buffy, I want more for you. Your feelings for him are coloring your judgment. I can hear it in your voice.

I’m not saying that Buffy’s feelings for Spike weren’t influencing her decision-making because they obviously were. But… Buffy’s emotions had always been her strength, her emotions are what drive her instinct, and the fact that she didn’t voice a logical reason to explain her choices doesn’t mean that they were wrong.

6) This is so me as a teacher...

PRINCIPAL WOOD Um, what're you doing tonight?

BUFFY Preparing for tomorrow's counseling sessions.

PRINCIPAL WOOD No, really.

BUFFY Watching a reality show about a millionaire.

7) Why would he keep his knife collection at the school, though? Doesn’t make any sense!

8) ICONIC!!

BUFFY You know, it's not even that he's acting that suspicious. It's just—there he is. On the hell mouth. All day, every day. That's got to be like being showered with evil. Only from underneath.

WILLOW Not really a shower.

9) That’s a clumsy way of admitting you once were…

WILLOW Right. Help you move on.

BUFFY Why does everybody in this house think I'm still in love with Spike?

10) I genuinely had to stop watching to laugh for a solid minute after this…

GILES Yes, and the language barrier is formidable. I was concerned that my Mandarin is a little thin, but as it turns out, she speaks Cantonese, which is thinner. But we muddled through, and, as I suspected, ice cream is a universal language.

BUFFY What'd she say?

GILES She's grateful to be in the land of plenty. 

11) Oh, the double standards…

ANDREW  Um, I follow Buffy's orders now. I'm redeeming myself for... killing you... I mean, for... killing Jonathan.

JONATHAN/FIRST Really, why? So you can earn a spot on her little pep squad? You think she'll ever let you in? You're a murderer.

ANDREW Confidentially, a lot of her people are murderers. Anya and Willow and Spike.

JONATHAN/FIRST Interesting. And you're the only one she makes seek redemption. Does that seem fair to you?

You forgot Giles on that list, Andrew.

12) I love the little callback to Conversations with Dead People…

BUFFY Well, it is unclear. That's why I chose a top that says, you know, I'm comfortable in a stodgy office or a swinging casual setting—or killing you, you know, if you're a demon.

ANYA It also says I sometimes get blood on my shoulder. Or it might be pizza. I don't think I can fix it.

13) Such a great delivery on Emma’s part here…

ANYA And I wasn't talking about your date anyway. I was talking about this sham date of Xander's. I think it's part of a plan to make me jealous.

BUFFY Well, it's not working.

ANYA Are you nuts? Of course it's working. Observe my bitter ranting. Hear the shrill edge of hysteria in my voice!

14) Oh, but he does care…

SPIKE Heard you got a date.

BUFFY Well, it's unclear. I mean, I have this whole theory about a promotion. Or he's evil.

SPIKE Buffy, I'm all right.

BUFFY You don't have to—

SPIKE What? Be noble? I'm not. Really, I'm all right. Think I still dream of a crypt for two with a white picket fence? My eyes are clear.

15) Oh, Xander, you’re still the same awkward dork you were seven seasons ago…

XANDER I'm just glad you're here. You're gonna love the coffee. Got myself a redeye—it's black coffee with a shot of espresso. It's kinda rough if you're not used to that sort of thing—

LISSA It's hot cocoa.

XANDER Well, sometimes I don't sleep too good.

16) ICONIC! So glad to see Giles’s gory doodles back, I fucking love them.

ANYA Giles made them for Chao-Ahn, and now she's locked herself in the bathroom. There’re other girls upstairs, and they're starting to complain.

GILES Those are flashcards. I made them to facilitate her training. Chao-Ahn never had a watcher. The language problem...

WILLOW You showed her these?

GILES I wanted her to understand the seriousness of her situation.

DAWN Holy crap!

17) Well, excuse you, Giles, but if I knew the world was going to end, I’d like to get laid. And seeing your flashcards is all the more reason to.

GILES For God's sake! How can anyone think about their social life? We are about to fight the original primal evil. These girls are in mortal danger. Didn't you see the flashcards? This isn't right.

18) I wonder why Xander doesn’t quite disclose exactly what was that he did to Anya… could it be that he knows is way worse than “bad” and he doesn’t want to seem like a douche in front of the girl he’s flirting with? I’ve said it before, I don’t necessarily disagree with Xander’s decision not to get married – although he truly picked the second to worst possible moment to do it. That being said, if you did the deed, own up to it, call it for what it was – you left your girlfriend at the altar.

19) It’s nice to hear Robin’s “origin” story, so to speak, but I felt the scene was lacking emotion and gravity. This was kind of a big revelation as far as the Slayer lore goes, you know? But it’s a scene that just goes under the radar.

Anyway, I also feel it would be very unlikely for Robin not to know Spike was the vampire that killed his mother before coming to Sunnydale. He says he was raised by a watcher, and we know there were written records about the Fanged Four. Plus, we know how Spike loved to brag, so if he truly tried to track him down, he would’ve found him.

20)

21) I still don’t see why they would take ANYTHING the First said at face value! Like, Giles hears this…

SPIKE Why did it appear to this one, then? I thought it was supposed to be pulling my strings.

ANDREW It said it wasn't time for you yet.

…and you can see that he’s thinking: “I’m right, he’s a danger to us all, we have to get rid of him immediately!”

But why would The First disclose its real intentions to any of them, especially the ones it’s trying to manipulate?

It’s just so dumb that they couldn’t read the First’s intentions properly, especially Giles of all people, it annoys me.

22) I find this moment really funny, but when exactly did Xander manage to send the bat signal? Or did he send the “I just got lucky” signal and thankfully they interpreted it wrong?

WILLOW No, it's a text message. Oh, it's from Xander. It's one of our signals.

AMANDA Signals?

WILLOW Yeah, the system we set up a while back. Like codes. Uh, this one's either "I just got lucky, don't call me for a while" or "my date's a demon who's trying to kill me."

KENNEDY You don't remember which?

WILLOW It was a long time ago.

DAWN Well, if we play the percentages...

GILES Something's eating Xander's head.

23) #awkward

24) And how annoying is it that Robin keeps LOOKING at Spike in the rear-view mirror? You’re not supposed to see anything in the mirror because he’s a vampire, ya mook! And if you happen to look in the mirror and not see someone who should be there, don’t you think you’d go “ooh”?

(btw, before anyone suggests this, he's not pretending he doesn’t know because later on when they’re fighting, Spike turns, and he goes: “you’re a vampire” all surprised!)

25) All you need to know about this scene, you’ll find it here.

26) This scene is glorious!

27) This is probably one of my favorite whole-gang dialogues in the show.

WILLOW What happened?

XANDER What do you think happened? Another demon woman was attracted to me. I'm going gay. I've decided I'm turning gay. Willow, gay me up. Come on, let's gay.

WILLOW What?

XANDER You heard me. Just tell me what to do. I'm mentally undressing Scott Bakula right now. That's a start, isn't it?

ANDREW Captain Archer...

XANDER Come on, let's get this gay show on the gay road. Help me out here.

BUFFY What if you just start attracting male demons?

DAWN Clem always liked you.

ANYA It would serve you right.

GILES Children, enough.

XANDER I'd need some stylish new clothes.

28) I think Giles’ speech would’ve resonated better if he hadn’t picked up the flashcards again, I mean, come on…

But in all seriousness, I get that he wants them to focus and he might have a good point that they seem to be distracted with trifles. But… don’t you think they needed that? Don’t you think amidst all the death and danger and apocalypses they’d want to have at least some crumbs of normalcy? Don’t you think that’s what has kept them sane and helped them plow through it all?

But let’s keep this reaction in mind for future episodes, okay? Let’s try and remember how Giles’s speech might have affected Buffy and the way she handled herself as a leader moving forward, okay?

29) I’m just going to leave this here…

SPIKE It, uh, it talked to the little boy. Said it wasn't time for me yet. I should move out. Leave town before it is time for me.

BUFFY No, you have to stay.

SPIKE You've got another demon fighter now.

BUFFY That's not why I need you here.

SPIKE Is that right? Why's that then?

BUFFY 'Cause I'm not ready for you to not be here.

30) This woman is just… stunningly beautiful.

31) Again, why would you believe whatever the ultimate evil has to tell you? I mean, this time, it was the truth, but Robin had no way of knowing that, and he immediately believes it? Everyone’s so dumb, it makes me angry.

32) I should probably re-read my recaps and figure out exactly when I started to get so pissed because I think I’m becoming angrier and angrier at the characters with each episode that I rewatch and I’m not even on Empty Places yet. I dread that moment.

33) If you’ve got this far, thank you for reading! If you enjoy my recaps and my blog, please consider supporting it on ko-fi. Thanks!

[itispossibleihaveissues]

Stranger Than Known Chapter 3

TITLE: Stranger Than Known

AUTHOR: Mikimoo

RECIPIENT:  biirdiie

PAIRING: JayDick

RATING:  Explicit

WARNINGS: sex pollen, dubcon, puns

SUMMARY: Slade’s easy job as a bodyguard is about to get complicated when his employer finally achieves his goal of capturing a Bat (or two).

Warnings this chapter: Some non-consensual situations and nasty talk from nasty people. Also murder, lots of murder.

Thank you to my awesome beta Chianti Rioja!

Chapter 1, 2

Slade could admit that watching the boys get lost in sensation and each other was arousing, far more than if they had been mindlessly rutting on Ivy's straight up spores. The crowd clearly agreed and bids were hotting up. Slade reluctantly tore his eyes away from the scene in front of him; Grayson was still moving in that sinuous, sensual way and Todd was almost whimpering – the top button of his pants had come undone and his top was riding up to show a strip of pale skin.

It was time Slade paid attention to who was going to win the night with them, which would be the deciding factor on how his own job went today. It was annoyingly hard to tear his eyes away, but he was nothing if not a professional.

The bidding was down to the last six; a collection of villains and perverts, about evenly mixed. Most of the people after the Red Hood were those he had personally wronged – something that would no doubt be very unpleasant for him when they finally laid hands on him. Grayson's lot were more of a mixed bunch; a few straight up perverts and body collectors, mixed in with a handful of people whose operations he had busted. There was one stand out, who Slade had tipped to win on the basis that his pockets were almost as deep as Wayne’s. He was both a sexual sadist and had been arrested due to Nightwing’s investigation. He was of course out on a million dollar bail, and primed to take his revenge.

“And now!” McVitie squealed to the crowd, “Now for the winners to claim their prizes!”

Slade couldn’t help turning back to the boys, to see their response. Both had stopped moving, flushed and tense. Alert to the point of fear.  

“The winners of the Red Hood, with a shared bid – numbers 55 and 91!”

55 was a small, angry looking woman called Este Bankoff. She had recently escaped from jail where she had been serving 155 years for human trafficking, murder and tax evasion. There was pure hell in her eyes as she stared up at Todd's image on the screen. No doubt he had been the one to put her behind bars, he seemed to really enjoy taking down traffickers.  Number 91 was Hector Jones, drug runner and a big player in both the US and South America. He was a large man with an ugly scar bisecting his nose – from the Red Hood’s knife. The night was going to be a painful one for Todd it seemed.

Slade had been correct about the winner for Dick’s bid. Stefan Sokolov, an illegitimate, American born son of a Russian billionaire. As his father’s only child he had inherited his fortune young, after Mr. Sokolov the elder had fallen to his death from a faulty ski lift while holidaying with his fifteen year old son. There were whispers of course, but nothing could be proved. Young Stefan took to his new found wealth with ease and spent large portions of it buying off the various prostitutes he tortured in his penthouse. Nightwing had made a case against him with enough evidence to stick, despite all the money he had thrown at it.

Now it looked like Stefan was going to double up on the things he loved most – revenge and torture. He looked hungry as he stared up at the projected image. Slade couldn’t blame him, but he didn’t like it.

“And now the prizes will be prepared for the winners, so relax and enjoy the party!” McVitie said, as the screen flicked off. Champagne was served along with delicious looking canapés , and cocaine in long lines on silver trays.It was all served by scantily clad waitstaff, something for every taste apparently.

McVitie was so excited, scampering from guest to guest, talking and nodding in that unbearably annoying way he had. Slade turned away in distaste. He watched the boys have a quiet but frantic conversation in the box, and saw the moment of panic as knock out gas was pumped into the glass cage to incapacitate them for transportation.

Slade felt he was doing a lot of irritated sighing during the course of this mission. That in itself was annoying. It was closing in on the time he would have to make some decisions but he didn’t want to play his hand too soon, there might still be a way to work things out.

“Deathstroke!” McVitie said happily, “Come with me, we can watch the proceedings from my private chambers.”

They walked to McVitie’s rooms in blessed silence, which gave Slade a little more time to ponder his choices. Inside there was a set up of giant screens, showing various rooms and people. The two main sets were off – no doubt to be used for dramatic effect.

McVitie sat on his fancy, tasteless chair with satisfaction oozing out of every pore. “Not long now until the fun stuff!” he said.

“Do you have a further itinerary for your guests of honour? Or will these first bidders also be the last?”

“No, no, there will be another day or so for Nightwing – I have a kill request on the second day that is frankly too good to pass up. Although, now I know who he is, I might have to, and see how best to use that.” He pondered for a moment, rubbing at his chin with a bony finger. “The Red Hood is solidly booked. I have a request from Black Mask for the final day.”

Presumably that would also be the final day of the Red Hood. “Will these bidders honour that do you think?” he asked.

“Yes, or I will have them killed. They know that.” McVitie said dismissively. “Shall we see how they’re doing?” He flicked on one of the big screens.

The first showed Todd, still bound as before, except now with his legs rather inefficiently roped together. He was situated on the rug of the couple’s suite with the woman straddling his thighs as he squirmed beneath her. They had removed the blindfold, and even over the cameras the look in his eyes was pure murder. It was unclear if she was attempting to hurt him, sexually assault him or hold him down for her partner.

It was a lot less fun to watch than when he was bickering with Grayson earlier. Slade was unsurprised to see that he seemed to be loosening his bindings, and was only a few kicks short of dislodging Bankhoff and freeing himself from the necktie  wrapped around his ankles. The kid had some strong legs on him. Slade had been kicked in the face more than once by the Red Hood, (and indeed, by a gangly foul mouthed Robin who hadn’t quite grown into his limbs yet) and a necktie was not going to cut it.

Slade felt a horrifying trickle of nostalgia remembering Todd calling him a ‘dumbfuck Cyclops with more wrinkles than brains,’ just before launching a poorly executed, but wonderfully powerful, flying kick. Slade had almost toppled off the building he was on after he allowed it to land, but it was worth it as he caught the offending foot and tossed Robin off the roof instead. It was amusing to see how many times the kid tumbled ass over elbow before remembering he had a zip line and firing it. And he never stopped cussing the whole way down either – a remarkably inventive kid when it came to language. Despite his smarts and his growing physical skills, Slade had dismissed him as Not As Good As Grayson, and therefore of little interest other than as a passing amusement. But puberty, a brain injury and assorted trauma seemed to have done wonders for the kid. He was almost sorry he hadn’t pursued him in the same way he had Grayson, especially as Dick suffered from an almost terminal case of suffocating morality. Todd had turned out much more flexible on that score, although probably not flexible enough. Slade bit back yet another a sigh.

On the screen the man was more or less sitting on Todd's head in an effort to keep him still, as he cut off the fake uniform top with a small razor blade. He wasn’t being particularly careful and there were bloody cuts across his exposed skin. Todd’s thrashing and cussing were not helping matters either.

Slade turned away to fine McVitie looking at him with a calculating expression on his face. Slade's instincts kicked into gear, there was something happening here, a test of some sort? Despite his moment of reminiscing, Slade had kept his face black and professional. Whatever reaction McVitie was aiming for, he hadn’t got it.

McVitie gave him an insincere smile. “Shall we see what the other one is up to?” He switched on the other screen to reveal Grayson, face down on the bed of an ornate guest suite. He was still bound and blindfolded, but clearly working on that despite the pain he was in. Stefan was straddling his hips, rubbing against him threateningly. Beside him on the bedside table there were an array of objects laid out  that ranged from oversized sex toys to implements better suited to a medieval torture chamber.

It wasn’t those that got under Slade's skin though, it was the words Stefan was whispering into Dick’s ear as he dry humped him. “I’m going to fuck you wide open, Nightwing, scar you from the inside out. Every time you wake you’ll have to think of me , every time you take a shit, you’ll think of me , every damn moment of your short life will be about me and what I’ve done to you. I don’t get to kill you, but you’ll wish I had, even as your last thoughts are of me.”

Slade hated that. Someone else claiming a part of Grayson. It wasn’t that he believed that Dick belonged to him in any real way, it was just he definitely did not belong to this upstart pervert. There was also little doubt that Stefan spoke a level of truth, if he was allowed to go all out on his victim, he was capable of breaking him. Very capable. Grayson was just a man, after all, no matter his training.

He just couldn’t let it happen.

Stefan leaned back and smacked at Grayson’s behind with the flat of his palm. “First, maybe I’ll break your legs,” he mused. “Break them so even if you're rescued, you’ll never walk again. Not without pain, not without help. You’ll never fight again, never fly.”

Beneath him, Dick shivered. As though the threat of that was somehow worse than death. Stefan grinned, catching the involuntary shudder.

“How do you feel about that?” Stefan asked, like he was genuinely curious to hear the answer.

“Go fuck yourself.” Dick grunted.

“I’d rather fuck you, Nightwing.” Stefan gloated. He had yet to take off the blindfold, but no doubt he would soon, to make Grayson watch.

On the screen Dick didn’t dignify that with an answer, twisting his limbs in his bonds, looking for a tiny bit of give he could exploit.

“So,” McVitie said, interrupting his thoughts in a very casual tone. “It’s Grayson you have a history with. I did wonder.”

Slade realised he must have given something away with his expression or body language. Very bad form on his part, just another sour note to add to this clusterfuck of a mission.

“And?” he asked, not bothering to deny it.

“Will you betray me for him?” McVitie asked, without the fear such a question should be spoken with.

“That depends. Are you going to betray me ?” Slade asked, mildly. He was, that much was now a given. But McVitie had to make a drama out of it, even his face looked dramatic, theatrical in its over excited expression. The little creep really did love the melodrama of a good betrayal.

As if on cue, the door opened and a tall muscular woman stepped in. Slade recognised her, although they had never met. Shard, an assassin, mercenary and bodyguard. She had a good rep and possibly some meta ability, or the sort of enhancements Slade himself had. He could take her in a fight, but it wouldn’t be easy, and he wasn’t sure Grayson had the time for him to indulge in a long, drawn out battle.

“This all feels very familiar,” Slade drawled. “Except last time I was the man hired to kill my predecessor. It seems this is a short term job, Cecil.”

“Lucrative though,” Shard said, amiably.

“Indeed. Although McVitie seems to have forgotten one thing.”

“Your prowess? “ McVite sneered, apparently thrilled to be able to talk some more instead of running away like a smart man would. “Shard’s better. I always get the best of everything.”

Slade slowly drew his blade, Shard did the same with a wicked looking katana and they sized one another up for a moment. “No, not my prowess. It is considerable, but I concede that Shard is good enough to make the fight an interesting one. But no, the thing you have forgotten is that mercs like Shard and myself don’t need to fight to prove ourselves and we don’t fight for honour. We fight for money.” Before he had even fully finished speaking, Slade reversed the blade, struck out to the side and slammed it home into McVitie’s gut, McVitie made a noise like a startled pig and Slade twisted the blade as he withdrew it. “If there’s no employer there’s no money, and if there’s no money, there’s no fight.”

“Aw, shit,” Shard said, a sad downturn to her mouth. “He was good for almost two mil.”

“He was selling you short, my first job for him was double that.”

“Still, easy money.”

“Well, it will take him a little while to bleed out, but not enough time to get him any sort of help. Money’s gone.”

Shard looked at her blade, a little petulantly, but then sighed. “You’re a bastard, Deathstroke, but it was fair play I guess.”

Slade inclined his head.

Shard clicked her tongue and glanced at the ornate nonsense in the room. “What about the goods? They got any resale value? Only seems fair I get to make back a bit of my loss.”

Slade rolled his shoulders in a casual shrug. “Sure. But they’re mine. He has plenty of other shit around, take whatever else you want, then leave to fight another day.”

She gave him a shrewd and speculative look. “Must be worth a hell of a lot if you would only take them, and just give the rest to me.”

“They’re getting less valuable by the second. I don’t have time to fight. But yes, they are worth a lot, to the right people. But besides me, there is also a high price to dealing with them. They will bring down a crap of trouble on any buyer or broker. Bat trouble.”

“Shit, Gotham type Bats? I fucking hate Gotham.”

“Bleghhhh,” McVitie said from the floor, snivelling and choking on his own blood.

Slade ignored him. “Gotham and Bat trouble are both acquired tastes, but one of these boys and I have history. Having him indebted to me is worth the aggravation from the Big Bad Bat.”

“Ha, well rather you than me. Take them, I’ll be raiding the old pig’s files and cellar, I’m sure there’s enough crap in here to pay double what he offered me.” She picked up a gaudy, gold and diamond encrusted paper weight in the shape of a fat dog and examined it critically. “Shame money can’t buy taste.”

“Urrrgle!” McVitie objected. His eyes were beginning to roll. It wouldn’t be long now until he took his poor sense of aesthetics with him to the afterlife. Couldn’t come soon enough really.

Shard pocketed the paper weight with a philosophical shrug. “Pleasure doing business with you.”

“Same.” Slade watched her leave then shoved McVitie over with the toe of his boot and wiped his sword clean on the back of his pants. Only then did he turn his attention back to the main screens.

Stefan was still talking and although Dick was bleeding from the nose and had a fat lip, he was still clothed and appeared unhurt. Stefan seemed to be making a performance of it, or perhaps he just loved the sound of his own voice. He might well spend all night listening to himself talk at this rate.  

On the other screen, Todd had his legs free and seemed to have kicked Bankoff in the face, she was on her knees, dazed and bleeding. The man was shouting and waving a hammer.

Although he could more or less take or leave Todd, years of exposure to Grayson suggested that they would be going nowhere without him as well. And if Todd's legs were broken or he was unconscious with a claw-hammer to the skull, getting the three of them clear of McVitie’s mansion would be far more difficult and more importantly, far more aggravating.  

So he decided to go get Todd first.

  Slade didn’t bother knocking, just kicked the door down with enough force to knock it clear off its hinges. This also had the beneficial effect of taking out Bankhoff, who seemed to have propped herself against it in order to get over being kicked in the skull.

Jones was gaping stupidly at him, hammer raised, while Todd scooted across the floor on his butt, hands still bound behind him. Slade took two smooth steps forward and smashed his sword hilt into Jones’ face, knocking him down. Then he cut the bindings on Todd's arms.

“Deathstroke? The fuck you doing here?” Todd panted. The pain from the drugs was probably reduced from the amount of adrenaline in his system, but he was clearly still feeling it. Or maybe that was the few blows from the hammer that had landed, at least it seemed to have missed anything vital.

“You’re welcome,” Slade said.

“Nightwing?” Todd asked, getting to his feet, a little shakily.

“We’ll pick him up next.”

“Okay, lemme just get a shirt,” Todd said, eyeing up Jones who was blubbering and crawling, blinded by the blow or the blood running into his eyes. Todd grabbed him, yanking his black button-up out of his pants and over his head while Jones whimpered and begged. Todd said nothing as he placed the slightly blooded shirt on the side table and picked the razor blade that had cut lines into his chest. “I’ve been a pretty good boy recently, sticking to the rules when I’m in Gotham.” he said.

“Please!” Jones said, plaintively. “I’m sorry, Please!”

Todd ignored him. “But we aren’t in Gotham, and sometimes folks just piss me off enough for me to make an exception.”

Jones tried to scrabble away, but Todd grabbed him by the hair, pulling his head back and slitting his throat with a practised motion, clean and with no hesitation. Slade watched as the arterial spray hit the far wall, he really had missed an opportunity with this one. Blinded by Grayson’s natural brilliance he had missed the potential in his replacement. Still, too late now.

Unruffled by the arch of blood, Todd had put on the shirt and was looking at Bankoff, he seemed more reluctant to deal her a final blow, possibly because it was unsportsmanlike to kill an unconscious opponent. Slade had no such limiting compunctions and he stabbed her in the chest as he passed, the crunch of her ribs was satisfying. This job was a shit show, but at least he was getting to take his frustrations out on something.

“Come along, Todd,” he called over his shoulder.

Todd paused long enough to pick up the hammer he had been threatened with, and then a long thin bladed knife, before following him out of the door. Slade had to admit to being a little impressed with how steady Todd's hand was on the blade, seeing as he was shuddering and sweating with pain. Despite that, he kept pace, clearly as itchy to reach Grayson as Slade was.  

  They burst into the room in much the same way Slade had burst into Todd's. The room appeared empty and quiet at first glance, but it was that kind of quiet that seemed to follow frenzied activity that had been quickly cut off.

“Dickie?” Todd called, completely breaking every protocol the Bat had ever beat into his thick skull.

Grayson's head popped up from the other side of the bed. His hair was sticking up like he had been tugged through a bush backwards and he was slightly wild eyed.

His gaze fell on Todd first, relief clear on his face, then his eyes flicked back further. “Slade?” He blinked at them for moment, then a stupid grin spread across his face. “Are you rescuing me? I didn’t know you cared!”

“I don’t, but this would have been an embarrassing way for you to die, and my employer would have betrayed me anyway. Not to mention the fact now you are both in my debt.”

“I didn’t need your help, I’m nearly out, see?” he pushed himself up on the bed, in the same position he had been on the vid screen. Both his shoulders were dislocated and although his arms were still bound, he was working his way free of the bindings.

“Oh, gross,” Todd said. “Stop fucking wiggling like that.” He strode over and used his sharp little knife to cut the ropes the rest of the way off. Then he did a double take, looking down at Dick’s body. “Did he do anything?” He asked, voice suddenly very dangerous as he helped Dick to his feet and eyed up what Slade assumed was Stefan, unconscious and hidden down the side of the bed.

“No, I’m okay,” Dick said, going a little pink at the ears. “He just got a little enthusiastic with his knife.”

“If you say so. Wilson, can you help him get all his limbs back in order while I find some pants?”

While Slade objected very strongly to being ordered about by a Batling, he did want to give Grayson a once over just in case. Dick also looked like he was about to object, but Slade stepped forward and grabbed him by the arm, making him gasp and stagger slightly. His skin was fever hot even though the intact top half of the fake uniform. Before he had a chance to protest, Slade jerked the right shoulder back in place with a sharp movement.

“Oi!” Dick said when Slade manhandled him around to do the other, and it was quite obvious what had upset Todd when he got a look at Dick’s backside, literally. Stefan had cut the back of his tights open and he wasn’t wearing briefs. Slade jerked the other shoulder in place and then fended off a smack from Dick’s right arm, as he scowled and turned himself around again.

“Trying out a new look?” Slade asked mildly. Dick, as predicted, latched on to making a joke out of what was obviously an uncomfortable and perhaps upsetting situation.

“It’s a bit draughty for my tastes, actually,” he grinned, but his eyes were tight. As with Todd it was clear he was still in pain.

Behind him Todd was surreptitiously wiping blood off his knife, Stefan’s stolen pants draped over one arm. He gave Slade a little nod, confirming Stefan’s quiet demise tucked behind the bed.

“Put the pants on, Grayson, then lets hit the road before you two have to start humping again,” Slade said.

Todd flushed even redder than he already was and Dick grimaced. “Well we should probably tie Stefan up and...”

“No, we can track him down when you’re not on drugs and we aren’t in danger of being caught.” Although it would probably be mildly amusing to watch the two of them fight over killing people, they were on an increasingly tight schedule, because of the drugs and the possibility someone might notice the mess they had made.

“Fine,” Grayson agreed with surprisingly little fight. Perhaps due to the pain intensifying again now the adrenaline had worn off.

“Follow,” Slade said, and took off down the corridor. Behind him, both of them were muttering about following orders from a merc. But they were both doing what he asked, so he let them bitch and moan about it.

“Where are we going?” Grayson panted. He was sweating again and his steps were stumbling.

“One of McVitie’s other buildings. It has the tech I need to sort out this mess and rooms set up for you two to use however you decide.”

“How'd you mean?” Todd asked, suspiciously.

Slade sighed “Well, you have somewhere between three and eight hours left for the drug to work out of your systems. There is no antidote. So you have a choice, ride it out or continue where you left off earlier. Of course, I can also offer myself to help you out, if you prefer.

Grayson opened his mouth to speak, but Todd cut him off. “Oh hell no, no fucking way.”

Grayson's grinned, pained but still somewhat rueful. “Guess that’s a no.”

“Lets just get to this safe house,” Todd muttered.  

Slade smirked to himself. This was going to be very entertaining, he could just tell.

[badloftcontracts]

[v7.0] Update Changelog

A helluva lot of change this time around. Everyone using this system will need to remake their characters (though Personal Equipment shouldn’t feel too much of a hit). Apologies in advance.

Attribute Distribution has changed. Characters can distribute a total of 6 points, down from 8, and may only assign a maximum of 3 points to any one score. This should hopefully tone down some roll bonuses, and put more emphasis on the Traits your character has. Speaking of...

The amount of starting Traits has raised to 5, up from 4. Between this bump and the fact that you no longer need to dedicate some of these picks to Racial Traits, everyone should hopefully be seeing more variation in character builds. Choices, choices.

NEW MECHANIC: Defenses may now be ‘sundered’ by various effects, preventing their use. This should add a bit more of a tactical approach to both combat choices and Trait choices, as well as making combat slightly more dynamic. I felt like roll battles versus traditional ‘Armour Class’-style target numbers were a bit of a lacking mechanic by themselves.

NEW MECHANIC: Critical strikes now give characters a choice of dealing more damage or sundering the foe’s defense. Again, another ounce of choice in the middle of combat. I personally think giving allies an opening on a tough opponent is nice, but if I hear that people are really only taking the ‘extra damage’ option, I may tweak this.

Multi-attacking penalties have been increased. Critical damage can’t be achieved while making three attacks. The penalties are now fairly extreme unless someone is specifically trained in flailing their weapon around that quickly, further emphasizing trait choices.

Spell DC formula has been tweaked. Your Spell DC now depends on how many spell slots you’re pumping into a spell. Also, a few changes that hopefully make the act of spellcasting a bit clearer.

Moving a Short Distance is now a main action. You may now do other minor things while running across a battlefield.

Healing DC formula has been tweaked. Similar to the Spell DC change, the difficulty of healing someone is now more dependent on how injured they are.

Rules for Temporary Hit Points have been made more prominent. In my endless attempt to make certain things seem less nebulous. There’s a lot of work to be done. Speaking of nebulous...

Fettles have been removed. I wasn’t a fan of how specific those rules were, and how they didn’t apply to certain situations. I encourage everyone who uses this system to improv rules whenever you need to. You have full control over what kind of rolls should go into things such as grappling and weakness.

Rules for Cover have been added to the ‘Additional Rules’ section. They were in the Fettles tab, but they’ve been tweaked and shoved into the spotlight, instead. Well. Maybe not the spotlight. But they’re on the stage.

=====GENERAL=====

Racial Attribute Bonuses are more racist. Races that are naturally gifted with a certain attribute can now have more of that attribute than the other, WEAKER races. Humans are no longer the best at everything, but fit into a ‘jack-of-all-trades’ role.

Many Traits can now be taken multiple times. Some traits increase the effectiveness of  their bonus, others allow the ability they grant to be used more times. This should hopefully let characters specialize a bit more into their character concept, and once again, make builds a bit more diverse.

A new category of Traits, ‘Abnormal Traits’, have been added. These are special ‘subrace’ traits that grant a character both positive and negative effects. These are all pretty drastic changes made to cater to those types of characters.

=====HUMANS=====

'Stand Strong’ renamed to ‘Last Stand’ and tweaked. No longer grants its bonus most of the time, but the bonus now increases as hit points drop.

=====NORN=====

‘Spirit Guide’ changed to ‘Wild Adaptation’. Norn may now use their Spirit’s gifts, if any, in a more immediate and impactful manner.

‘Colossus’ formula tweaked, and can no longer be used multiple times. Taking significant amounts of damage now make it almost impossible to stay standing. Made it a one-time use to prevent further RNG from keeping norn standing forever.

=====CHARR=====

‘Savage Striker’ changed to ‘Savagery’. This trait should no longer result in abrupt insta-kills on relatively healthy targets, while still making critical hits feel appropriately meaty.

‘Tech Mastery’ now makes characters choose a category of charr tech. Charr are no longer masters of every single technology their race has ever made.

=====SYLVARI=====

‘Where Life Goes’ changed to ‘Dreamsight’. Gives a more meaningful and less specialized ability to sylvari players. Not all sylvari are looking for the mines of Moria.

‘Strong Roots’ now  grants temporary hit points every rest, instead of permanent hit points all the time. That hardy bark-shell now requires more time to recover.

=====EXPLORATION TRAITS=====

‘Healer’ now turns single-target heals into bonus actions.

‘Hidden’ now more clearly states what it does for you.

‘Inspiring’ has been changed significantly. Inspired characters may now choose when to grant  themselves a bonus. The bonus now scales with your Charisma score.

‘Leadership’ now states what rolls it grants bonuses to.

‘Ley Conduit’ may now be taken up to four times. For when you really, really want to cast a spell.

’Pack Master’ has been tweaked. It now buffs a specific pet attribute. Its bonus has also been reduced, but the trait can be taken twice.

‘Spell Potency’ has been tweaked following the new Spell DC formula.

‘Well-Equipped’ has been changed to allow existing Personal Equipment to be ‘upgraded’. Personal Equipment should generally only begin with 1 beneficial effect (and, of course, however many negative effects you would like). This change now gives you a clear way to add more than one effect to a single piece of equipment.

The ‘Yak Herder’ trait is now the most powerful trait in the system. All hail the Yak Herder. All hail the Yak Herder. All hail the Yak Herder.

=====COMBAT TRAITS=====

The old ‘Tidebreaker’ trait is now ‘Awareness’, and it no longer grants bonuses to all Defenses.

‘Death Siphon’ can now drain from creatures with 2 maximum hit points, down from 3.

‘Deny the Witch’ can now be made more effective by spending more spell slots.

‘Durable’ now only grants 1 maximum hit point, but can be taken up to four times.

‘Eldritch Battery’ has been tweaked to be a more reliable source of damage negation compared to similar traits.

The penalty reduction from ‘Flurry’ is now 2, up from 1. It pairs nicely with the new ‘Dual Wielder’ trait.

The bonus gained from ‘Furious’ now applies to spell DCs, and the rate at which you gain those bonuses have been back-loaded. You must now be in extremely dire straits to gain the full effect.

‘Selfless’ has been renamed to ‘Guardian’, and is more dependent on your Skill.

The critical range of ‘Precise’ has been reduced, but may be bumped back up to its previous benefit by taking the trait twice.

‘Quick Draw’ was buffed slightly. When taken twice, it should almost guarantee your acting first in combat.

‘Successive Attack’ has been renamed to ‘Reaper’, and may be taken multiple times.

‘Riposte’ no longer grants a counterattack against every single opponent that fails to hit you. ...but its bonus and number of uses per encounter have been raised to compensate.

’Second Wind’ is now a bonus action, and recovers less health. It is no longer a completely free maximum health boost. 

’Smite’ has been changed significantly. It now grants a large accuracy boost instead of bonus damage. Also, the penalty for using it has been made more severe.

The bonus from ‘Stability’ has been doubled to be more impactful.

The penalty inflicted by ‘Taunt’ now scales with your Charisma.

'Witch Hunter’s spell DC penalty is now dependent on the character’s attributes, but should generally be lower.

=====COMBAT TRAITS=====

‘Adrenaline Rush’ has been added. Rewards characters for takedowns.

‘Arcane Reaction’ has been added. Allows for spell opportunity attacks.

‘Backlash’ has been added. Grants bonuses the more your defenses are sundered.

‘Balance Breaker’, ‘Guard Breaker’, and ‘Spell Breaker’ have been added. Allows for non-damage, but more accurate attacks aiming to sunder specific defenses.

‘Battlemage’ has been added. Allows multi-attacks to include a single spellcast.

‘Desperation’ has been added. Being close to death bolsters a single defense massively.

‘Distraction’ has been added. Another way for Charisma to be used in combat. Shout something and screw up an opponent’s roll.

‘Dual Wielder’ has been added. Multi-attacks are more accurate while dual wielding. Pairs nicely with the ‘Flurry’ trait.

‘Momentum’ has been added. Characters are rewarded for successful combat rolls. Rewards can be spent for a sudden steroid boost.

‘Tactician’ has been added. Yet another way for Charisma to be used in combat. Allows allies to follow your orders, potentially acting twice in a single round.

‘Unbreakable’ has been added. Automatically recover a sundered defense at will.

And that’s it. Again, these changes are drastic, and a remake of your characters is necessary. Hopefully you enjoy what comes out of it.

- Baerod

[nonplayercal]

10 Love-Themed Curses!

Want some fun, curses to inflict on your players?

Like the angle of <Only true love can break the curse?>

Look no further!

Below are 10 juicy curses to enhance game-play and build your world!

1. Hanahaki:

Description:

A mysterious illness caused by unrequited love that causes flowers to grow in the lungs of the afflicted. Occasionally the afflicted will cough up flower petals.

Effects:

-2 to Constitution, once per day roll 1d10 to cough up petals

1 = lose 10% of your HP, rounded up to the nearest whole number.

2-5 = assorted petals stained with blood.

6-9 = unstained petals, can be brewed into a tea that grants advantage on the next fit of coughing. Effect expires after 3 days.

10 = A full flower that you can either plant for a magical effect determined by DM or sell for a very high price as these flowers are extremely rare.

WHEN THE CURSE IS LIFTED:

Make a constitution saving throw, on a successful save you cough up the remaining flowers and are finished with the curse.

On a critical success you cough up a golden seed, this seed can be planted and will grow into a bush of extremely rare flowers, each full blossom being worth at least 20 GP.

SYMBOL OF THE CURSE: A stark white flower on the back of the neck.

2. Colorblind:

Description:

You see only in black and white, your world is muddled shades of gray.

Effect:

You cannot be hypnotized by flashing lights or colors, and have advantage against being charmed by visual means.

You have disadvantage on puzzles or traps where color is involved and can still be charmed through potions or sounds.

WHEN THE CURSE IS LIFTED:

You can see colors, you lose your advantages and disadvantages.

SYMBOL OF THE CURSE: Black lines around the eyes.

3. The Beast (Transformation curse):

Description:

Your visage has been twisted and mangled into a monstrous form which horrifies others.

Effect:

+2 to strength and advantage on intimidation rolls.

-2 to charisma and disadvantage on persuasion rolls.

NPCs will automatically be wary and fearful of you.

WHEN THE CURSE IS LIFTED:

You revert back to your appearance before the curse took hold, and gain the ability to cast “Beast Form” at will.

SYMBOL OF THE CURSE: Appearance.

4. Curse of the Lonely Poet:

Description:

So great is your longing for love that you speak only in rhymes in the hopes of attracting your soulmate to you.

Effect:

When you attempt any action that requires speaking you must speak in rhyme. A successful rhyme grants advantage, a falter or stutter imposes disadvantage. Your words must rhyme with the last phrase spoken, whether by you or another.

WHEN THE CURSE IS LIFTED:

You no longer have to speak in rhyme, but if you choose to speak in rhyme and roll a critical success, they are charmed by you for 1 hour, with the effect of “Charm Person.”

SYMBOL OF THE CURSE: A quill and scroll emblazoned on the tongue.

5. Light-Hearted:

Description:

So great is your optimism that you will find love, that your head is almost literally in the clouds.

Effect:

Must be carrying at least 50 lbs at all times or you will begin to float away.

If your weight is removed, either by force or through magic, make either a Dexterity or Strength saving throw to keep yourself from floating away.

This is not flight, you have no automatic control over where you go. (If you have wings you can steer yourself or keep yourself on the ground through constant wing-flap, but after every hour of grounded wing-flap you gain a level of Exhaustion.)

If you fail your saves to remain grounded, your party companions can roll to try and save you, if one of your companions is winged they will have advantage on this save.

You are light on your feet and will not trigger traps.

You gain advantage on Stealth checks.

WHEN THE CURSE IS LIFTED:

You gain the effect of the “Immovable Rod” in each of your feet.

SYMBOL OF THE CURSE: Cloud shaped splotches on the skin.

6. The Haunted Painter:

Description:

You are tormented by ever-changing visions of your true love.

Effect:

Once per day you must spend 1 hour attempting to paint your true love.

On a critical failure, you paint a horrid aberration which you must then fight, this aberration will be size Tiny. (DM Note: This can be any aberration of the appropriate challenge rating for the players, but sized down to Tiny.)

On a 2-6, the painting is becomes a small animal, its hostility determined by the DM.

On a 7-11, the painting is striking in beauty and can be sold for 10 GP.

On a 12-16, the painting is radiantly beautiful and will grant it’s owner the effect of “Lucky” once, if effect is used, painting crumbles, or it can be sold for 30 GP.

On a 17-19, the painting comes to life, forming an ethereal spirit which will act as the “Shield” spell when activated, after the effect ends the spirit disappears, cannot be sold. (Lasts 3 days or until used, cannot be doubled, rolling a 17-19 multiple times in a row without using the spirit will result in a painting worth 15 GP).

On a critical success, the painting glows with golden light and you feel your true love draw near, the painting becomes bound to you and cannot be lost. If you critically succeed twice more, The paintings merge and your true love comes forth.

At level 3, you can cast “Conjure Animal” once per long rest without expending a spell slot.

At level 9, you can cast “Conjure Fey” once per long rest without expending a spell slot.

At level 15, you can cast “Conjure Celestial” once per long rest without expending a spell slot.

If you DO NOT spend 1 hour painting, at the end of the day your paints will from an aberration, which you must fight.

WHEN THE CURSE IS LIFTED:

You no longer have to paint everyday, but when you do, it will always be a painting worth at least 15 GP.

SYMBOL OF THE CURSE: A palette and brush on the back.

7. Only the Best:

Description:

You have to been seen! You have to be known! How else will your love find you? You have an unquenchable thirst for fame, and will do whatever you can do bring light and glory to your name.

Effect:

On any failure you take 1d4 Psychic damage. (DM Note: This can be adjusted for players with low HP.)

You cannot back down from any challenge. (Trigger phrase “I challenge you!”)

On a success, the character gains inspiration.

On a critical success, you get double the intended effect.

Your symbol acts as a compass, at the end of a successful day, the points of the star will direct you towards your true love. If your stars are not glowing at the end of the day, you will be unable to proceed.

When the star is completely black, Psychic damage increases to 2d4. (DM Note: See above.)

WHEN THE CURSE IS LIFTED:

Your stars will act as a compass you control, but still behaves based on success/failure.

You can cast “Locate Object” or “Locate Creature” at will.

You no longer suffer psychic damage from failure.

SYMBOL OF THE CURSE: A star on their palms, star glows faintly after a success, radiantly after a critical success, darkens after a failure, turns black on a critical failure. (Gradient: Black to Gold)

8. The Rake/The Whore:

Description:

You must remain loyal to your love, even if you don’t know them yet. They will know of your philandering when they see it on your face.

Effect:

Whenever you successfully charm, deceive, or seduce a person you is NOT your true love, a red line will appear across your skin, it’s thickness determined by the weight of your action. The lines will appear randomly.

You have advantage on positive Charisma, so long as the object of effect does not see the lines.

You must spend 1 hour every morning using makeup to cover the lines.

If you get wet, roll Sleight of Hand or Deception, on a failed roll, your makeup is removed and you must spend another hour reapplying it.

If you attempt a Charisma roll without makeup you will have disadvantage.

Acts of selflessness will remove the lines, but the lines removed will reflect the weight of the act.

WHEN THE CURSE IS LIFTED:

If you still have visible lines you must roll a Charisma saving throw.

On a critical failure, your true love will not accept your sin.

On a regular failure, they will refuse to speak to you for at least 3 days.

(You can remedy failures through acts of devotion towards your love. Describe the actions you take to redeem yourself to the DM.)

On a regular success, your true love accepts you, warts and all, and will give you a “Ring of Shooting Stars.” (Remaining lines will become permanent.)

On a critical success, the purity of your love will cleanse you completely, your true love will give you a “Ring of Three Wishes.” (Remaining lines vanish.)

SYMBOL OF THE CURSE: Red lines of varying thickness across the body.

---FOR EXTRA FUN, THE LAST TWO ARE PAIRED!---

9. Corsican Curse:

Description:

So great is your desire to protect your love, though you may not know who they are, you have taken upon yourself their pain and suffering. You can still feel your own pain, but also theirs. Your body is littered with scars you did not earn.

Effect:

+1 to Constitution, and advantage on CON saving throws.

At points randomly determined by the DM, you will suffer an effect varying in severity, this can be as minor as an emotional state or as severe as losing a limb.

(DM Note: Consult following table for effects

Once per day roll 1d20:

1 = Massive Injury (Roll 1d4: Even = Loss of Limb, Odd = deduct 20% of HP rounded down.)

2-5 = Minor Injury (Roll 1d4: Even = Loss of Extremity [Finger, Toe, Ear, Nose, etc.] Odd = deduct 10% of HP rounded down.)

6-10 = Temporary Emotional State Change (Roll 1d6: 1 = Depressed, 2 = Angry, 3 = Happy, 4 = Fearful, 5 = Confusion, 6 = Amazed.)

11-19 = No effect.

20 = Restore 20% HP, rounded up.)

WHEN THE CURSE IS LIFTED:

You gain control over your ability to feel pain, as a reaction you can take all pain from your partner, or give all your pain to them, once per constitution modifier, resets after long rest.

SYMBOL OF THE CURSE: Heart shaped ball and chain on the solar plexus.

10. Numbness:

Description:

You wander through life unfeeling. Pain and pleasure mean nothing to you. Even your emotions are dull. Strangely, no wound inflicted on you seems to leave a scar.

Effect:

Double edged sword, you can fight longer because you do not feel your wounds, and will not lose concentration from being attacked, but you must rely on your party members to keep you aware of your injury.

You can fight until you are down to 1 HP without disadvantage, but if you have to be brought back from the edge of death your wounds will take their toll and you will permanently lose 10% of your max HP rounded down, this toll will take effect when you level.

WHEN THE CURSE IS LIFTED:

Your lost HP is restored. See “Corsican Curse” for remaining effects.

SYMBOL OF THE CURSE: A heart with 3 iron bands around it on the chest.

(DM Suggestion: Choose on player to inflict either “Numbness” or “The Corsican Curse” upon, speak with them privately about their character’s ideal True Love, and craft an NPC following those standards to inflict the curse’s pair upon.)

[liquidink21]

Half-Life 3

So I’m going to write my own version of the next installment of the Half-Life series, because Epistle 3 was a disappointment, Valve’s probably not going to do it, and I don’t have much faith in Project Borealis. Even this probably won’t include everything I had ever wanted it to, and is probably poorly written, but whatever. SUPER long post under the cut.

Gordon finds himself on the stalker car of the razor train he and Alyx escaped from the Citadel on. Alyx is murmuring cryptically to herself. The stalker pods burst open, revealing not stalkers but zombies. They quickly seize Alyx, who doesn’t even defend herself as she’s mauled to death. Two zombies restrain Freeman, as a third stands in front of him, and removes its headcrab to reveal Eli Vance.

It’s just a dream. Gordon wakes up in a tent. Wind is howling outside. Alyx, alive and well, it pleased to see Gordon awake. She tells him she’s repaired the gravity gun. The storm is dying down, and they exit the tent. Outside is the wreckage of the helicopter they flew in on. Gordon tests the gravity gun on the fragments (this serves as a tutorial for players who haven’t played HL2). They’re interrupted by a hunter-chopper sweeping the area. Alyx finds Gordon a gun. They are accosted by scanners, now equipped with laser weapons (like in that leaked test map). They eventually lose them.

Alyx informs Gordon that they have to find Doctor Mossman, who they were communicating with before their helicopter crashed. She has sealed herself in an old research station, and it’s only a matter of time before the Combine breaks in to seize her. Gordon and Alyx trek across the ice, keeping to a series of gullies in the ice to try and avoid the Combine patrols alerted to their presence. They is a large Combine structure off to the distance.

Alyx and Gordon discover the research station, the same one they witnessed in Mossman’s transmission. Indeed, they enter the base through the very same breach the Combine made during that transmission. The Combine have taken the base, and must be fought through. There is a vault in the centre of the base, that the Combine are trying to breach. Gordon kills them just as they penetrate the vault, where they discover Mossman and her surviving rebel fighters.

A brief scene occurs between Alyx and Judith. Judith receives word of Eli’s death for the first time, distressing her. Alyx is cautiously sympathetic, but quickly maneuvers the conversation towards wanting a explanation for Judith’s collaboration with Doctor Breen. Judith insists that Eli sent her as a double agent to spy on Breen. Her rebel associates vouch for her, claiming that Eli himself confirmed this to them. Alyx’s faith in Judith is restored, and they make plans to find the Borealis.

Alyx asks what terrible power the Borealis has that her father was so worried about. Judith comments that they’re a bit spoiled for choice: teleportation, time travel, dimensional transcendence... she explains that the Borealis became a test bed for Aperture Science’s most outlandish technologies, and inadvertantly became a space-time dreadnought. If the Combine, or any other nefarious organisation, seizes the Borealis, nothing could possibly stop them.

Mossman begins leading them back through the arctic wastes, to an entrance in the rocks. She explains that it leads underneath the Combine’s research installation. The ice encrusted caves turn out to be infested with headcrabs and zombies. The zombies are curiously outfitted in body-armour in reasonable condition. Alyx speculates that the Combine purposefully infested the caves with captured zombies to guard them without wasting troops. Alyx notices that they’re consistently moving downwards, though Mossman advises them to trust her.

Moving through the ice caves, the ice begins shattering, and several advisors burst into the cave. They rip through the rebels and begin sucking their brains out. One moves onto Gordon... It turns out to be a hallucination. Alyx and Mossman question Gordon’s mental health, but don’t linger on the topic.

The rebels reach the end of the caves, at the bottom of an enormous crevasse, from there, they begin scaling a series of Combine build ramps and elevators (this is where this scene comes from). Combine troops try and stop them, but are defeated. Advisors floating overhead begin to restrain the rebels with telekinesis, but Mossman manages to kill one with a laser weapon (the same one from the leaked test map). The other Advisors flee. Mossman explains that she took the weapon from the Citadel before she and Eli escaped.

They find their way up to the top of the crevasse, which is within the Combine fortress. They discover they are too late: the Combine has already seized the Borealis, tethered it to the installation, and are beginning to load it with Combine troops and supplies. The fact that the Borealis is bigger on the inside becomes apparent from the bulk of materiel being loaded. Alyx thinks they’re preparing to invade somewhere, Mossman thinks they’re just fortifiying it to prevent the Resistance from taking it.

In addition to the materiel being loaded aboard the Borealis, the Combine installation is heavily guarded. The incoming resistance back-up will be torn to shreds unless Gordon can soften them up. The team finds a control room in the installation, and after killing off the Combine stationed there, Alyx uses it to get a message to Barney, who leads the reinforcements, and warns him of the Combine fortifications.

Mossman wants to sneak aboard the Borealis and see if they can turn any defences against the Combine. Alyx contrarily wants Gordon to take out their weapons depot to take out the Combine Garrison. They split up to cover both options.

Gordon fights his way down to the weapon’s depot. On the way, he is assaulted by more hallucinations: Alyx and Judith shot on the Borealis, Barney’s helicopter shot down, and Kleiner and Magnusson executed back in sector 17. If it wasn’t already, it should be obvious by now that the Advisors are causing the hallucinations. One attacks Gordon, and it becomes a cat and mouse chase throughout the level. Alyx and Mossman keep in touch over the radio, informing him of their progress. On his way, Mossman asks Gordon to sabotage the Combine tethering system, preventing them from disengaging the Borealis.Gordon does so.

Gordon reaches the weapons depot and sets up explosives to cause a chain reaction with the Combine munitions. It becomes a puzzle boss with the Advisor, which is killed when the explosives are detonated. The explosion successfully takes out many Combine troops and synths. A shipment of headcrab shells survive the explosion, but are triggered by the shockwave, unleashing the crabs upon the Combine.

Gordon is hit by another hallucination. He is brought into a black void like those the G-Man drags him into, but it’s the Advisors who have brought him here. They communicate with him through a hallucinated figure (different each playthrough. Usually Breen, but potentially any named character in the HL series, excluding the G-Man but including Cave Johnson). They don’t understand why humanity fights the Combine. They believe the offer of Combine membership to be a beneficial deal all around, and they offer Gordon a position as Earth’s Administrator.

Gordon is snapped out of the hallucination by Barney, who has arrived with the resistance reinforcements. He informs Gordon that they wanted more reinforcements, but makes a foreshadowy remark that what’s left of civil protection is harassing the evacuated citizens back home, so they couldn’t spare many fighter for this mission.

What they have are now besieging the installation, and Barney tasks Gordon with leading the push to take the Borealis from the Combine. Hallucinations plague Gordon as he partakes in the three way battle between resistance, Combine, and zombies. Gordon sees glimpses of HECU and Xenian grunts massacring scientists. Eventually he makes his way to the Borealis and resistance troops are able to board it.

Barney and a few rebels, including Vortigaunts, are pinned down by Hunters, and Gordon has to rescue him. Barney unfortunately destroys the tethers holding the Borealis in place, mistaking their purpose as nefarious. Mossman warns that the Combine are preparing to teleport the Borealis out of the Arctic, and urges Gordon and Barney board immediately. The Borealis flickers in and out of reality. Alyx is on the deck awaiting for them. She has a Aperture Science portal gun slung over her shoulder which she uses throughout the rest of the game. She justifies not giving it to Gordon since he already has the gravity gun. The rebels are able to board with Alyx’s help, but in the shock of the Borealis making its jump, Gordon, Barney, Alyx, and the Vortigaunts are thrown off.

They land in Xen. Alyx is mystified by its beauty, but Barney remembers this place as a hellscape and wants to leave. Mossman is able to reach them by the radio. The Borealis is also in Xen. The Combine still control the ship and have used its self-altering interior to seal off the resistance fighters. She urges Gordon to return before the Combine manages to clean them out. The Vortigaunts claim they can track The Mossman and the Borealis with her.

Xen at first is a bit of a nostalgia trip. Houndeyes and bullsquid are present, along with headcrabs and antlions. Maybe some new alien wildlife too, like something the headcrabs can turn into zombies in the absence of humans, or something. After a brief trek through the Xen island, the team discover a Combine outpost, only very recently set up and manned by transhuman units. Off in the distance they can see dropships moving materials and troops across Xen. Mossman explains that if the Combine take control of the borderworld, not only will they make great leaps in their conspicuously poor teleporter technology, but their ability to conquer new universes will increase tenfold.

As if on cue, the far away Borealis fires an enormous beam of energy, big enough for the team to see, that tears a portal (conspicuously resembling one of the Portal portals) and an enormous Combine ship pulls through. Comments from Alyx and Barney confirm that this ship is the same kind of ship the Combine used in the Seven Hour War. If it attacks Earth, nothing could stop it, but fortunately it appears to be focusing its conquest on Xen. It remains visible in the sky for the rest of the Xen levels. Since this was once home to the Vortigaunts, Alyx asks them if they know of anything there that could help them.

The Vortigaunt suggest if they discover what’s left of the Nihilanth’s factories, there might be enough of its army left to launch an attack on the Combine. They split the team up; one Vort takes Barney and Alyx to find teleportation facilities, while the other takes Gordon to find the Mines.

Xen continues to feature fighting the malevolent wildlife, but there is an increasing density of Combine troops, including new varieties of synth. Gordon has to contend with their lair of a Gonarch (either a standard, fast, or poison, randomly chosen every playthrough). Antlions become more frequent, and the Vort provides Gordon with bugbait that stays with him throughout the Xen levels. This helps him in ammo starved levels. As the levels go on, Gordon witnesses the Combine purging the Xen wildlife and setting up devices over Xen crystals. Meanwhile, Alyx keep giving Gordon updates on their progress. She and Barney have about as much trouble as Gordon.

Hallucinations continue plaguing Gordon, including being teleported into the Nihilanth’s chamber and killed. He in fact visits the Nihilanth’s chamber, ruined and disused, and the passing is uneventful. Eventually they reach the Mines. They have fallen into significant disrepair in the last twenty years, literally rotting thanks to their organic nature, though the Vortigaunt remains hopeful that there’s enough left to revive an army.

They are attacked by an Advisor, and this quickly becomes a boss battle. The Vortigaunt cannot harm it, and rushes to summon assistance. Gordon is left with a “hold the line” bossfight. The Advisor is still invulnerable, sporting a psionic shield. Instead, Gordon has to contend with hallucinations resembling Black Mesa Security teams, while the Advisor continues to question Gordon’s resistance and extol the virtues of the Combine. Both Vortigaunts arrive, in their empowered purple state, and slay the Advisor. Also, Barney and Alyx arrive to witness this.

Still glowing with the Vortessence, the Vortigaunts send vortal energies through the Mines. The structure is not revived, but several abandoned barrels burst open to reveal Xenian grunts, and even some Gargantuas. For a moment it looks like they’re hostile, but turn out to obey the Vortigaunts.

The Vortigaunts lead the team and the newly awakened army to the teleportation facilities Alyx and Barney managed to secure. It’s an outdoor location, and in the sky they can see numerous revived manta rays heading towards the Combine carrier. Xenian grunts and gargantuas are teleported over as an advanced party (the manta rays supplying the other side of the portals) before Gordon, Alyx and Barney make the jump themselves. They finds themselves in a breach of the carrier’s hull in the wake of a massacre.

Mossman advises that Freeman try to find the carrier’s core and attempt to overload it. He and Alyx join the Xen forces in their battle against the increasingly alien Combine forces (there are barely any transhuman troops present) towards where Mossman guides him using a Combine terminal she’s seized. One of the Xen islands cashes into the carrier, and unleashes antlions for Freeman to command.

There are hallucinations here as well. When Gordon enters the reactor core, he instead sees himself in the test chamber, pushing the sample into the anti-mass spectrometer while Advisors cheer him on in their haunting alien language. The hallucination fades into the real control room. It’s design is significantly different from the Citadel reactor, because we want an entirely new experience here, don’t we? There is also a real Advisor and another bossfight with it. It has to be killed by punching dark energy spheres into it with the gravity gun. Freeman is able to overload the core with Alyx’s directions and set it for a meltdown. As the pair leave, Xenian grunts seal off the reactor chamber to prevent the Combine from fixing it.

Alyx has discovered a quick route for Gordon to return to the Borealis. The Combine carrier operates an internal tram system that brings him to the hangar that the Borealis is being kept in. The carrier begins rumbling and a few power systems begin exploding. Mossman tells Gordon that he needs to disengage the tethering system so the Borealis can escape. The Combine were going to do it themselves, but were killed.

Mossman warns she managed to activate the Borealis’ defences; a compliment of mobile turrests and lethal military androids. They’ve fought the Combine aboard the Borealis, and have also begun leaving the ship to fight the Combine on the carrier, and unfortunately have been programmed to kill everything. None of the resistance fighters have been harmed, but the Aperture androids cause Gordon and Alyx severe pain as they disengage the tethers.

This time Gordon and Alyx are able to board the Borealis properly, sealing themselves within the relatively normal looking bridge as it jumps. Barney is already inside. The Borealis teleports away just as the Combine carrier explodes. Gordon and Alyx enter the extended interior, which has an architecture similar to the Portal test chambers. They have to fight through a few Combine and lethal military androids until they meet back up with Mossman and the others.

They are unsure what the Combine is planning next, so they have make a straight up assault on the control room, which Mossman has located through the ship’s computers. Gordon, Alyx, and Barney lead the resistance fighters through the ever altering maze, through battling Combine and android forces, until they manage to take the control room. They discover they’re located above the City 17 train station. It’s implied the Combine wanted to kill Gordon the moment he stepped off the train, before he was armed or armoured.

Mossman tries to bring the Borealis back to the Arctic, using the time travel device to not only leave the train station, but never be there at all. She succeeds, and arrives back at the Combine installation mere seconds after it left. Outside the battle between Resistance and Combine rages on, and the Combine are gaining the upper hand. They attempt to make a push for the Borealis, prompting Barney and the resistance fighters to exit the Borealis to fight them off. Mossman, with control over the ship’s geometry, is able to create an immediate exit for them.

Now that Mossman has safely landed the Borealis in the Arctic, the inevitable argument begins. Alyx wants the ship destroyed, as her father wanted. Moss argues that the power of the Borealis is enough to ensure humanity’s survival against the Combine onslaught, and indeed could even be used to prevent the Combine invasion in the first place. Alyx argues that the power cannot be controlled, and its continued existence is a risk of the Combine taking control.

The conversation is interrupted by the Borealis making a sudden jump. They realise that the Combine is in the engine room and is trying to directly control it from there. Instead, they begin jumping randomly across space and time. From the viewscreens, they witness the Black Mesa desert, the Moon, Xen, the Combine Overworld, a Race X cameo, among many more alien worlds. Gordon is sent to deal with the Combine. Mossman gives him her super-laser gun.

Despite control of the internal geometry, Mossman can’t give Gordon a short route to the engine room. The Borealis is melting into alternative versions of itself, which is causes significant changes to the internal layout. Mossman and Alyx somehow remain safe from ending up in a timeline where the Combine still control the control room. Gordon has to navigate the trippiest maze yet, backed by a squad of his own alternative selves, against a suddenly multiplied Combine force and a few evil Gordons. Hallucinations still abound: enemy forces occasionally transform into cowering scientists begging Gordon for mercy, before turning back into Combine trying to kill him.

When Gordon enters the engine room, the dimensional bleeding ceases. The Combine army is reduced, but he loses his fellow selves, and goes up alone against three Combine Advisors. He is armed with the laser gun, which can kill them, but they now have their psionic shields to be broken through. The ensuring boss fighting involves a lot of weaponised hallucinations that get worse every time an Advisor is killed. Eventually he cleans the engine room out. There are no more Combine on board. He returns to the control room, which is now just a short walk.

Alyx and Mossman have agreed to destroy the Borealis, as per Eli’s wishes. However, they disagree again on how to destroy it. Mossman sets the Borealis down back int eh Arctic so it may be dismantled. Alyx however, immediately contacts Doctor Magnusson, and asks for the contact code for the Combine Overworld she gave him back in HL2Ep2. Before Mossman or Gordon understand what is happening, Alyx lifts the Borealis into space, in a collision course for the Combine Overworld, which she believes will destroy it. Mossman argues that this is insanity, and Alyx pulls a gun her somehow thinking this disproves anything. She makes Mossman have Borealis shift about in and out of a reality and around in time again, to make sure the Combine doesn’t catch it. The engine is set on overload so it explodes when it impacts.

All of a sudden, the G-Man makes his presence known to them all. Alyx doesn’t recognise him. Mossman recognises him from Eli’s descriptions, and tries to berate him. He freezes Mossman in time. Ignoring Freeman, the G-Man congradulates Alyx on her dedication to her mission and for her ingenuity in accomplishing it. He offers her a job with her employers, and gives her the alternative of dying in the Borealis’ impact. She refuses to go with him, until he offers to take Gordon with them. As she enters his doorway, he slams it shut. Alone with Freeman, the G-Man apologises for deception, informs him that Gordon’s contract is at an end, and suggests that he considers Gordon too passive in the resistance’s decision making, before making a snide insinuation that Gordon was just Alyx’s dumb muscle. He leaves, leaving Gordon and Mossman to their fate.

Mossman, no longer frozen, informs Gordon that Aperture Science has an escape pod aboard, designed for a single jump piggybacking on the Borealis’s drive back to Earth. The pair race across the Borealis to find it. On the exterior of the ship, the overloading of the core has caused the Borealis’ larger interior to start bursting from its smaller exterior. The ship rips itself apart as they flee. Mossman reaches the escape pod and board it. Gordon almost does, but the rupturing of the ship and distortion of gravity knocks it loose. Mossman takes Gordon’s hand and tries to pull him aboard. Gordon realises he’s too heavy in will only pull Mossman back without escape, so he lets go. With no way to get back to him, Mossman saves herself.

Gordon has nowhere to go, and just wandered through what seems to be a path in the Borealis’s bursting structure (classic Half-Life railroaded environments!). He reaches the front of the ship, and witnesses the Combine Overworld. An enormous dyson sphere, which he is getting ever closer to.

The Vortigaunts, which were noticeably absent since they were last seen on Xen, return at that instance and rescue Freeman.

The End.

At the start of the game there is a gas-mask in the helicopter wreckage. If the player carries it throughout the game and throws it into the G-Man’s doorway, they get an after credits scene where Alyx gets dumped into the same Osprey as Adrian Shephard.

[metawitches]

In this episode, the owls go to war and Meredith becomes a mouse. Queenie brings Burt back into the fold, where he does exactly what Joel has always known he’d do. Joel sends Lyla to safety with Rita, but not before she meets Katherine at Bash’s house. Katherine also stages a meeting with the Phoenixes. Mixed messages and miscommunications abound.

We learn once and for all that Reprisal takes place in an alternate universe, in which many of the male characters fought in the Archipelago War and are still suffering from PTSD. Molly was a field nurse in the war and also saw things that left her traumatized. She’s probably not the only woman on the show who was affected by the War. Virtually every character has been affected by some war, whether it’s the Archipelago War or Burt’s gang wars or the unnamed, continuous wars that constitute domestic violence. Growing up surrounded by the Brawlers or the Ghouls equals growing up on the edge of a battlefield.

Recap

Episode 6 begins with newsreel footage of the Archipelago War, in honor of the anniversary of the bloody Battle of the 37th Island. The Archipelago was a country that was split in two. Some thought it should remain that way, while others thought it should be reunited into one country. Military from all over the world came to fight for the Archipelago, because it was such a beloved place and they cared so deeply about its future. Or so the newsreel announcer assures us. Whether their side won or lost, the soldiers and support staff should be proud of their efforts on behalf of the Archipelago!!

We aren’t told the outcome of the war or which side our country was on. It feels Orwellian, and not terribly different from the small wars the US is almost continuously involved in.

A younger Percy Montgomery plays cards in a VFW Post and tells his companion that the whole Archipelago should have been blown up. Younger Bash, wearing a Brawlers shirt and jacket, enters. Percy tells his companion to pour another round for his big brother.

Bash wants Percy to join the Brawlers with him. Percy doesn’t think he’s the joining type. Besides, they already belong to a family. Bash insists that this is a bigger, better family. He tells Percy to come build a new car or work on his old one. But even if all Percy wants to do is drink himself to death, Bash wants him to do it nearby.

Burt Harlow wakes up in his rural cabin and lights a cigarette. He works on old clocks and tends to his garden. He’s apparently run off and joined the Watchmen, maybe on Europa. As long as I don’t have to watch Tom Mison die another thousand times, I’m okay with that.

His peaceful respite is just about over, though, because Queenie has had enough and is driving her hotrod out to see him. All this time we thought Bash and Joel were his two lieutenants, but as it turns out, the aptly named Queenie is the real power behind the throne. She’s known where he was all along. And she does keep the books- both sets. They say, “Follow the money,” for a reason.

At the cabin, Queenie looks over Burt’s current car. She’s unimpressed with it’s vintage black simplicity. Burt says, “I figured I’d give her a second life.” I could be wrong, but I think it’s the car Katherine was driving the night he tried to kill her. The black would be a form of mourning and respect, since he believes she’s dead. This would make sense to a psychopath- in his mind, she forced him to take action. He didn’t want to kill her. It also befits his status as dignified leader, godfather and perpetual semi-victim who needs revenge.

Queenie tells Burt about Percy and that they’ll do his send off, the Brawler funeral, tomorrow night. Burt is concerned about Bash’s reaction, but Queenie is satisfied that he got his revenge. It’s Joel she’s worried about, with Lyla growing up. Then she notices Burt’s garden and laughs at him. Burt is having an existential crisis over the fact that he can’t even grow cucumbers as well as his no account father.

Queenie tells him that she doesn’t care what he’s been doing for the last 2 years. He’s needed by the family he built. It’s time to come home.

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Doris tries repeatedly to call Ethan. He doesn’t answer and eventually gets rid of the phone in the woods behind the compound.

Not the smartest place to dispose of incriminating evidence.

Doris get frustrated and shows it, a momentary lapse in her composure. Earl asks why Percy called her Katherine. She walks out. Molly decides that it’s time to remove the buckshot Gregory put in his neck at the checkpoint. (I didn’t mention that he got in a shot at Earl because at that point what happened wasn’t clear to me.)

Molly was a field nurse in the Archipelago War on the 37 Island- the bad one. Earl and Cordell have new respect for her. They both fought in the war for two tours, but neither was on the 37th Island.

Once his wounds have been tended to, Earl finds Katherine in the coffee shop/bar. He tells her that the Monster Ring was originally the idea of their commanding officer in the war, Alvin. She’s surprised, because she thought Earl was also Alvin. They chuckle at how little they know about each other.

When they came back from the war, Alvin saw an opportunity and rounded up the team. Bernice was fine with it then, because she liked the extra income. Bernice and Earl had a son named Raymond and when he was 13, Alvin recruited him into the Monster Ring. Alvin took Raymond out on a job and Raymond was killed.

Katherine tells Earl that Percy was her first husband’s brother and how she was betrayed. Earl asks why she’s come back now. She says that her anniversary is coming up.

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Joel brings Lyla to Bash’s house. Bash is listening to a recording of a couple who are discussing running away together. Joel notes that it was strange, the way Percy had the Ghouls mask on his head. He and Bash exchange a knowing look, figuring out what they should have seen before Bash went on a murder spree.

Of course, Bash still had to go on a murder spree, to maintain their cover story.

Lyla tells Bash that when she’s sad, she hugs her stuffed doll, Rufus, until she feels better. Rufus asks what she has to be sad about. She tells him she has plenty.

Good for her. He’s probably not the first and he certainly won’t be the last person to dismiss her feelings and issues as trivial. The things she has to be sad about aren’t too different from his own. She hasn’t seen her mother since she was a baby. She lives in a super misogynist, enclosed cult compound which doubles as a bar and strip club. She’s surrounded by violent, alcoholic, misogynist men and her only female role models are sex workers who don’t particularly care about her.

Her father is teaching her to cope by escaping into a fantasy world, a coping mechanism which she’s smart enough to sense won’t hold up in the real world outside the compound. If she ever escapes. She’s around the Pin-Ups enough to hear them discuss the ways that they are semi-forced to stay. Who knows how many sexual and violent crimes she’s witnessed in her short life. And she has no one else her age to play with. She doesn’t seem to go to school or leave the compound.

In this episode, we’ve been given Meredith, Gertrude and Raymond as examples of what Lyla’s future probably holds. Which should she choose?

So no, Lyla has no problems at all, Bash. And, yes, 10 year old girls do think about all of the things I just listed when they are in abusive environments.

Lyla tells Bash she’ll come back to get Rufus before she goes to bed. Then she asks what happened to make him so sad. He says that there’s trouble between the owls.

Queenie convinces Burt to come back to the Brawlers. The Brawlers prepare Percy’s truck, Thelma, for his send off.

Meredith and Gertrude have a heart to heart about where they stand now that the Brawlers and the Ghouls are going to war. First, Gertrude gives Mer advice on bike repairs. Then she tells Mer that Gary is dead. Mer defends him as a decent guy. Gertrude wants to leave before the war reaches full swing. She remembers how bad it was the last time. Mer wants to wait until she fixes her own bike. She still hopes things won’t get too bad. Gertrude knows better.

Matty is suspicious about the way Percy died. He’s figured out that there’s no way Gary or the Ghouls would have broken the peace and killed Percy that way. Joel tells him not to question the official story and not to go looking for revenge on his own. He orders Matty to protect the river instead of instigating more fights. Joel manhandles Matty, again, in his attempt to get Matty to things his way.

Joel can’t see that the manhandling only makes Matty more resentful. If he wants a different kind of gang, he needs to try treating some of the members differently, starting with Matty, who has enough empathy and intelligence to see things Joel’s way, then to help influence others. But Joel is so controlling that he never wants to explain his reasoning to anyone he views as beneath him.

Burt returns to the compound and grabs a beer. Then he asks to see Bash. He tells Bash that he loved Percy as if he was one of them. Bash reminds him that Percy was one of them. Burt says they’re going to make it right. Bash says he already did. Burt says he needs to make it even righter. The Ghouls will hit back, so he needs to hit back harder, first.

Burt has one move- attack and hit so hard that you annihilate the enemy. No matter how small or large the infraction, that’s his response.

Joel meets Jukes in an isolated spot to discuss options, except there are none and they both know it. They quickly come down to hoping their friendship won’t be ruined by the war and part with the understanding that whatever happens next is just business. If they both come out of it alive, they’ll regroup.

Percy’s send off begins with a trumpet player playing Chicago’s 25 or 6 to 4. As the brawlers and Pin-Ups file out to their places, Burt shakes their hands in greeting. He stops to say hi to the Phoenixes. Matty is in awe. Johnson just looks at Burt with his usual ironically bemused calm. Ethan hangs back a little.

The stripped skeleton of Percy’s beloved truck, Thelma, is set on fire. Burt stands next to it to speak to the Brawlers. He is once again lit only by flames. Joel’s long peace has come to an end.

Burt: “I never cared much for funerals. Something made up by weak men to ease the pain of the lies that they tell themselves, that death has meaning. It does not. Family has meaning. You ever see a pack of wolves? The leader follows from behind. With our family, I’ve never needed to lead or to follow. Because our family has always been one. And when someone threatens the family that we built, we need to protect ourselves, and make them suffer. So make no mistake about it. We are now at war.”

This ritual is for the crowd. Bash is in his room, the prison cell he sentenced himself to after he betrayed Katherine. Katherine is with her new crew. Joel returns midway through it and goes straight home. Meredith sits on the other side of the compound with Tina. She hasn’t seen her father yet and contemplates leaving now, with Gertrude, instead of waiting until Queenie is “done”, as she had planned. Either way, she sees her father as weak, which is extra ironic, given his speech.

When Burt finishes, many of the men yell in agreement. The Phoenixes don’t.

Later, Meredith packs a bag while listening to Gertrude on the phone, telling her that there’s a guy they can buy some scratch from, then use the money from selling that to fund their trip out of town. Meredith packs her gun. Gertrude lost both parents in previous wars and doesn’t want to fight another.

Katherine explains to Earl that she needs to go to the compound tonight while the Brawlers are distracted by Percy’s send off, in order to make sure a seldom used back road still exists. While she’s there, she wants to drop an anniversary gift off with her ex.

Having found the back way open, Katherine makes her way into Bash’s cabin. He’s let his record play to the end and passed out, leaving the needle skipping at the end, which is a terrible, grating crime by itself. Friends don’t let friends scratch their albums and ruin their stereo needles, even when murder is on the table, so Katherine turns off the record player before she points her gun at Bash’s head.

This is undoubtedly the kind of thing that made him fall in love with her.

Bash still has Rufus curled up with him. Lyla shows up to get her toy and asks if Katherine is a friend of Bash’s. She decides they’re all one big happy friend group before trying to pull Rufus out from under her uncle the mass killer. Katherine tries to keep her gun out of sight while helping Lyla with Rufus.

I doubt guns faze Lyla at all.

Lyla notices that Katherine and Bash have matching heart tattoos on their wrists. To distract her, Katherine shows her a small carved bird in her purse and asks for help naming him. Lyla says they should leave the bird as a gift for Bash. Katherine knows that leaving the bird will give away her presence, but she indulges Lyla.

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The next day, Joel brings Lyla to the park gazebo where he met Rita. Lyla tells him that she has an idea for Harold Horpus’ story now. She thinks Harold is like an ant who’s lost their queen. He’s lost his purpose in life and needs to find it again. She explains that she thought of this when she “met the lady with the black heart and the yellow canary”- Uncle Bash’s ghost visitor.

Normally, Joel would be all over a story like this coming from his daughter and have figured out the truth of the situation within the hour. But this time, he’s distracted, trying to get her away from Burt’s war as quickly as possible, so he insists she was dreaming, even when she insists she wasn’t.

Rita arrives to take Lyla home with her. Lyla is mature beyond her years, more worried for her father than herself. He says he’ll be searching for his own “why”. Lyla says she’ll find Harold while they’re separated. Rita tells him to call when he’s done with the Brawlers.

Bash wakes up and sees the yellow canary. Katherine Harlow isn’t above a mixed message or two.

The three River Phoenixes eat in a diner, still thinking about Burt’s speech. Matty is excited that he gets to prove himself in a war with Burt. Johnson wants Matty to stop thinking so loud. Ethan is still in his own world, worrying about his own problems. His own problem turns up in the form of Katherine, who complements their jackets and pretends she doesn’t know any of them.

She scoots into the booth beside Ethan and chats them up for a minute, asking if they’re in a band or some other sort of group. Nobody is very friendly, but Johnson tells her they’re in transportation. Johnson definitely recognizes her after a second and notices how strangely Ethan is reacting, but he doesn’t tip his hand or Katherine’s.

As Katherine is leaving, she pretends to find Ethan’s phone on the floor and gives it back to him. The whole thing was a ruse to give him a new phone so he’d have to take her calls again.

Gertrude picks up Meredith from the phone booth and brings her back to the Ghouls compound. Gertrude is silent the whole ride and as they walk back to a hangout spot, where several young Ghouls are waiting. When Meredith walks in, one of the Ghouls acknowledges that she’s Burt’s daughter. Meredith pulls out her gun and points it at the female Ghoul. They all stand up, one pointing her gun at Meredith.

They are at a standoff, with the Ghouls being dismissive of Meredith, until someone else reaches into their jacket and Meredith shoots the main Ghoul in the head. Another yells to shoot Meredith, but the one with the gun says that Jukes told them to keep her alive. While they hesitate, Meredith shoots everyone but Gertrude.

Gertrude and Meredith have a standoff for a minute, Mer with an empty gun and Gertrude with a crossbow. Gertrude says that she was forced to kidnap Meredith.

Meredith leaves, taking Gertrude’s bike, symbol of her independence.

Commentary

Jukes went straight for someone who he thought would be an innocent, helpless victim and a high value target. He thought kidnapping Meredith would escalate the tension but not the violence. Obviously he underestimated her. Joel understood the way Jukes thinks and was smart to get Lyla out.

This is the first time we’ve seen where the Ghouls live. It looks less fortified and more homey than the Brawlers’ compound, which is probably better for their mental health but makes their chances of surviving Burt’s insanity worse.

In episode 6 we met a few more female gang members, then watched them die at the hands of a lone, white, overly-feminized, oppressed sex worker wielding a gun. Yay for diversity and nontraditional gender presentation. Boo for the other messages this show just sent.

I’m not sure they could have done more to make Meredith physically look like an innocent and pure child who’d been defiled by the evil minorities. While I love some good symbolism, where is the purity symbolism when it comes to Gertrude and Lyla? Or Ethan and Matty? All children are born innocent, not just Meredith.

If there’s a season 2, my number 1 request is for Meredith to stop dressing like an overgrown little girl. Her clothing is beautiful, but it’s meant to put her on a pedestal above the other characters while also still making her look like a hooker. It’s the worst kind of “Lolita” mixed messaging, associated with both the sexualizing of children and infantilizing of grown women.

Earlier in the episode, Meredith and Gertrude spoke on the phone while sitting next to each other. It was only revealed to the audience that they were together at the end of the call. Before they hung up, they were even shown in splitscreen, showing how they were being torn apart while together.

During the call, Gertrude begs Meredith to run away with her now, before things get any worse. Gertrude remembers Bert’s last few wars and has been left bereft by them. She doesn’t want to watch anymore loved ones die. Meredith can’t bring herself to leave yet, saying that her bike isn’t ready. Gertrude’s bike is. She wants them both to leave on her bike, but Meredith won’t budge.

At the end of the episode, after killing several Ghouls, Meredith rides away from the Ghoul’s compound on Gertrude’s bike. Circumstances have forced Meredith to grow up and become ready, like it or not. Gertrude has become ensnared in the war, just as she feared, and she’s watched friends die at the hands of someone she cares about. Like Jukes and Joel, the two are now on opposite sides of a war and their friendship may not survive.

The hot rods represent the heart or soul or best of the person. Did Meredith take Gertrude’s heart for safekeeping or did she take away the best of Gertrude?

We see fire used twice in this episode as part of rituals. Molly uses it medically to sterilize her surgical tweezers so that she can remove the buckshot from Earl’s neck and help him heal. After she’s done, he goes to the bar and tells Katherine about his son, helping to heal that wound as well.

Meanwhile, Percy’s beloved hotrod truck/”beast” Thelma is stripped of all usable parts and then the shell is burned as a symbolic cremation. Burt takes this opportunity to return to his “family” after a two year absence and speak to them as a group. He doesn’t speak about Percy. Even when he talks to Queenie and Bash, he doesn’t say much about Percy. In fact, he refers to Percy, who’s just died in the line of duty, as an outsider to Bash.

Burt tells the assembly they are going to war to avenge the perceived slight, but he doesn’t seem to care much about the affected people. He mainly seems to sense that people are restless, leading to skirmishes, and his solution is to start another bloody war. Keeping everyone else constantly fighting each other helps to maintain his own status, since no one can think straight long enough to plan a coup.

Queenie doesn’t have a 3 River Phoenixes or a 707 tattoo. She is a unique entity in the group. As are all of Burt’s closest allies. He only values conformity in his foot soldiers. But he’s a chaotic, so people tend to make mistakes when he’s around that they wouldn’t normally make.

That’s part of how Burt beats them or keeps them under his control and why he goes straight to war- to keep everyone else off balance, a place where he functions normally, but hardly anyone else does. Katherine learned the technique from Burt and it’s already working- both Bash and Joel are making mistakes.

I think Johnson was over the Brawlers years ago, but is either protecting someone or has nowhere else to go. He certainly sees through the BS that Matty loves so much, but he lets Matty have his fun. Johnson also keeps his mouth shut and lets the chips fall where they may. He seems to have stopped choosing sides and intervening, even when he could. Thus, he doesn’t say anything, even to Matty or Burt, when he recognizes Katherine in the diner. He let’s her give Ethan the phone and continue her battle with whoever she’s come back for.

Queenie, on the other hand, sees much more than she lets on and judiciously interferes behind the scenes much more than we realize, with a well-timed word to the right person. She’s the queen bee, always buzzing around the compound and checking in on people, then leaving them with something to think about.

I don’t think we’re supposed to see Joel and Jukes as lovers, but they do love their secret rendezvous. Some of the friendships in this show are very intense. It can be hard to tell if there are repressed feelings going on.

It’s probably too late now, and maybe it always was, but I wonder what would have happened if Joel had found something else for Burt’s standing army to do to use up testosterone and adrenaline besides fight wars. Personally, I’m fond of supporting the arts beyond burlesque, such as forming rock bands and making public street art. Getting out into nature is also good- let them rebuild the infrastructure of the Archipelago or campgrounds and other infrastructure in National Parks.

Or just encourage these gearheads to restart the races at the racetrack with all of those hotrods. Right now, the gangs’ vehicles serve mainly as an artistic outlet and status symbols. Their value as tools for escape or athleticism could be increased by holding sanctioned public competitions. That’s a business opportunity that’s waiting to be exploited and it doesn’t have to involve much exploitation of women and minorities.

The record Bash listens to in his room is the same radio drama he and Percy listened to at the VFW Post when he recruited Percy into the Brawlers. Bash is feeling some regrets, or at least wondering if he’s always made the best choices.

Katherine’s back way into the compound is both an actual road and a metaphor. The first person Burt asked for when he returned to the compound was Bash. Katherine checked on Bash to make sure killing Percy had the effect she expected it to. By hurting Bash, she’s already hurt Burt and destabilized the entire Brawlers organization. Bash was close to three people: Percy, Katherine and Burt. The night Katherine was left for dead, Bash chose Burt over her. Leaving the canary began the next phase of Katherine’s plan.

Images courtesy of Hulu.

Reprisal S1E6: For Love of the Archipelago Recap-The owls go to war & Meredith becomes a mouse. Queenie brings Burt back into the fold, where he does exactly what Joel has always known he'd do. Joel sends Lyla to Rita. #Reprisal In this episode, the owls go to war and Meredith becomes a mouse. Queenie brings Burt back into the fold, where he does exactly what Joel has always known he'd do.