#edgwater | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

pandemicperipatetics · 3 years ago

Text

Two Weeks in Denver

The Verdict:

We spent 13 nights in Denver (well actually, just south of Denver in Greenwood Village). With the beautiful outdoors, friendly people, and the best/chillest drivers of anywhere we've driven in the U.S., it was our favorite stop so far! It seems like a wonderful place to live. Denver is large and seems to have lots of stuff to do in the city and surrounding areas, so this post covers just a fraction of the options.

Things to Do:

Hiking (Ranked in order of our most to least recommended)

Rocky Mountain National Park (~2 hrs drive): Check out our RMNP blog post!

Boulder (45 min drive): We didn't have a chance to hike in Boulder, but we hear it's awesome. We had hoped to stop by Chautauqua Park to check out the trails (we read that Enchanted Mesa Trail was a good 4-miler) or El Dorado Canyon State Park. We did enjoy walking along Pearl Street, where there are plenty of tasty treats (we enjoyed smoothie bowls) and appreciated the free parking in the city's covered parking garages (we parked at 1500 Pearl, which was a perfect location). Logistics: Waze told us there was a toll on the Interstate to Boulder, but Google Maps thought it was a toll-free drive. The answer? There is an optional toll lane on the highway, but you can make the trip in the toll-free lanes.

Red Rocks (30-40 min drive): This is a naturally occurring amphitheatre that is best known for evening concerts against an incredibly scenic vista. While we weren't looking for a crowded concert during the pandemic, we visited in the morning and were blown away by how beautiful the amphitheatre was (and how many stairs there were to get to the top!). We also walked the beautiful 1.4 mile Red Rocks Trading Post Trail loop, which also had a moderate amount of uphill/downhill. It was VERY hot and sunny when we got there around 10:30 a.m.; though the weather app said it was below 80 degrees, the sun was really beating down. Next time, we'd go earlier in the day (later can be tricker due to concerts in the evenings) for better weather and hopefully smaller crowds. Logistics: We just entered Red Rocks into Google Maps and it took us to a parking lot near the amphitheatre. The trail was just a couple minutes' walk from the parking area, near the Trading Post building. Parking was free and not too hard to find.

Vail/Breckenridge area (~90 mins drive): We didn't have a chance to visit, but it sounds like there's very nice hiking around here in the summer.

Garden of the Gods and Pike's Peak in Colorado Springs (~1 hr drive): When we got a nail in our tire and had to get the tire replaced, the nice guy at Firestone highly recommended we visit these areas for beautiful scenery. While we didn't make it, we read that Garden of the Gods can get very crowded, especially with Instagram-focused tourists more so than a hiking acrowd. We also read that it's not quite as nice as the Utah National Parks or Sedona. Pike's Peak also sounds touristy; there is a coveted tram that takes you to the top, at 14K feet of elevation -- after moderate altitude sickness at RMNP, we decided to sit this one out.

Denver Neighborhoods & Sights (Ranked in order of our most to least-recommended)

Denver Botanic Gardens (free with American Horticultural Society membership): This is one of the most beautiful botanic gardens we've ever seen, anywhere. It was also excruciatingly crowded on a Saturday morning and a very un-fun experience to find parking. Despite how stunning the gardens are, we preferred the much less crowded walk through Cheesman Park and the cute surrounding neighborhood. Logistics: If the Botanic Gardens parking garage and parking lot are full, park for free at nearby Congress Park, Cheesman Park, or on a random side street a 5+ min walk from the gardens. Be observant of street signs to make sure you haven’t parked in a residential area that requires a parking permit.

RiNo (River North Arts District): About a 10 minute drive from downtown, RiNo is a hip area full of breweries, street art, and run-down looking houses. On a Saturday around 2pm, street parking was sparse (but free) and the breweries seemed packed with people. We read that the street murals are at their best on 26th-31st streets between Larimer & Walnut, and we weren't blown away in comparison to Plaza Walls in Oklahoma City or The Mission in San Francisco. Due to the extreme heat we didn't stick around, but we were interested in checking out Finns Manor (cocktails + food trucks), Denver Central Market (High Point Creamery apparently offers an ice cream flight?!), and a few breweries. Maybe next time! Logistics: Street parking is free.

Washington Park: This is very nice park for a stroll. When we went on a Saturday evening around sunset, it wasn’t very crowded. The surrounding neighborhood looks very nice, and there seem to be good places to eat nearby (our friend suggested Sushi Den, though we didn’t have a chance to try it out). We saw someone paddleboarding on the water, which looked picturesque! Logistics: There are parking lots and ample street parking around the park.

Sloan’s Lake (near Highland neighborhood): The park has a beautiful lake with a sizeable trail going around it. It reminded us of Lake Merritt in Oakland. When we went on a Sunday evening, it was somewhat busy with people running, walking, biking, and on scooters/skateboards/roller blades, and there was lots of goose poo everywhere. The surrounding area wasn’t quite as nice as that around Cheesman Park or Washington Park, but we still liked the lake. Note there were no water activities allowed -- signs indicated the water sometimes gets too unclean to enter. Edgwater Market is a few minutes away (we recommend driving as the walk isn’t very nice) and has a cute outdoor patio and lots of different types of ethnic food to try out (we especially liked the veggie pesto crepe at the crepe stand). Logistics: There are parking lots at the lake and the market.

LoDo (Lower Downtown): The downtown area is meh, you can skip it if you're short on time. If you go, you can walk through Larimer Square, a small, cute block of shops and eateries with outdoor seating that is roped off from cars; check out Union Station, where the Amtrak goes and there are a bunch of places to eat/get coffee (including the overrated Snooze AM eatery - reserve your spot in line 1-2 hrs in advance if going and be sure to get the sweet potato pancake); walk the 16th Street Mall, a very touristy street of more shops and eateries (not as cute as Larimer Square, but a pro is there is a free bus that takes you up and down this long street); and walk by Coors Field if you're a baseball fan. Logistics: Parking lots are very expensive, but we didn't find it too difficult to find 2-hour street parking ($1/hour, you can pay by card at the meter or with the PayByPhone app; free on Sundays and holidays).

Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge (free, 20-30 mins from city center): This is a beautiful area in northeast Denver that you can drive through, listen to their excellent guided podcast, and spot some neat wildlife. The area is known for bison, deer, prairie dogs, and birds; we saw some of these animals. This was a great option to stay in our air-conditioned car on a very hot day, rather than being out for a hike. Logistics: There is a Visitor Center that you can stop by if you’d like (we didn’t), otherwise just download the Rocky Mountain Arsenal podcast on your phone and start the drive!

What to Eat (Vegetarian Edition)

We did not take advantage of Denver’s food options, so what we are sharing here are mostly recommendations from our friends / places we would love to try if we had more time here.

Safta (Mediterranean) - Upscale; close to downtown. Appears to have outdoor seating and advance reservations are recommended

Uchi (Japanese) - Upscale; close to downtown. Has a separate vegetarian menu including a multi-course tasting. Reservations can be hard to come by if you don’t book well in advance. They also accept walk-ins, and they do have outdoor seating if you’re COVID-conscious (or just like eating outside!)

Brunch places with hype: Snooze AM Eatery (multiple locations, get on the Yelp waitlist at least an hour in advance, known for excellent pancakes), Sassafrass (we didn’t try it), and Root Down (we also didn’t try it)

Markets: Denver Central Market (in RiNo), Edgewater Public Market (by Sloan Lake / Highlands neighborhood; we loved the crepes and thought the Ethiopian food was mediocre), Stanley Marketplace (Aurora)

Other places that were recommended to us were Ash Kara (Mediterranean), El Five (Mediterranean, good views), Sushi Den (Japanese), and Vital Root (which is apparently by a lot of good vegetarian-friendly restaurants + breweries near Berkeley/Tennyson Street), Sputnik

Dessert: I very much wanted to try High Point Creamery (multiple locations) as it seems to have many vegan options and an ice cream flight! Little Man Ice Cream also came recommended

Where to Stay

We're definitely not experts on this, but here are a few thoughts based on our trip!

Near Cheesman Park and Washington Park seem like a lovely areas to stay -- the parks are really nice and the surrounding neighborhoods seem pretty safe and upscale. We didn't come across any available airbnbs in this neighborhoods.

Greenwood Village (~20 mins drive south of Denver, close to Centennial, CO). We stayed in the Marriott Residence Inn Tech Center (the 2 bed/2 ba is good for two people working from home during the week) and loved the area. Within a 5 minute drive there are cute parks for a morning jog, plenty of fast casual eateries (we were partial to the Torchy's and Schlotzsky's nearby), and even the excellent Peak View Brewing Company (okay so it’s a brewery in a suburban strip mall, but the outdoor patio is great and the jalapeno pretzel and the peanut butter porter were a hit!). Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, and Safeway are within a ~10 minute drive.

#denver

4 notes · View notes

mediocre-life-span · 4 years ago

Note

14, 10, 9 ❤️

9)What do they think of the factions? Are they liked or disliked by any?

Alex likes all the factions (excluding the Board obvs) so long as they don't start shooting at her. The same goes for the factions towards her. As a wise himbo once said, she gets along well with anyone who isn't of the jackass persuasion.

10)What’s their favourite place in Halcyon? Least favourite?

Favourite- Edgwater. It reminds her of Earth.

Least favourite- the Human Inquiry and Auditing.

14)What do they think of the companions? Friendships, crushes, dislikes, etc.

Alex is great friends with all of the crew, and if someone makes one of them slightly sad then they will most likely end up dead in a sulfur pit :) . She especially Felix, since they fall head over heels for eachother.

#alex hawthorne #tow #captain of the unreliable #the outer worlds #alex hawthorne x felix #felix millstone

5 notes · View notes

rivias · 4 years ago

Text

tagged by: @rxkuyo thank you for tagging me ❤

rules: bold what you prefer and tag 10 people

1. go apple picking vs go on a hay ride 2. scary vs. sweet 3. sweaters vs. boots 4. socks vs. mittens 5. bonfires vs. football 6. trick-or-treating vs. watch scary movies 9. bake pie vs. bake cookies 10. rain vs. fog 11. black cats vs. owls 12. ghosts vs. wizards 13. harry potter vs. halloweentown 14. go hiking vs. sleep in 15. cinnamon vs. nutmeg 16. reading vs. writing 17. hot chocolate vs. tea 18. live in a cabin in a forest vs. have it be fall 24/7 19. candy apples vs. caramel apples 20. blankets vs. pillows 21. roasted marshmallows vs. roasted chestnuts 22. coffee vs. apple cider 24. braids vs. bows 25. scented candles vs. the smell of fresh baked goods 26. carve pumpkins vs. make pumpkin pie 27. pumpkin spice lattes vs. chai tea lattes 28. coats vs. oversized sweaters 29. beanies vs. berets 30. candy corn vs. peanut butter cups 31. s'mores vs. apple crisp 32. jump in a pile of leaves vs. swing on a tire 33. corn maze vs. haunted house 34. bob for apples vs. visit a pumpkin patch 35. whipped cream on hot chocolate vs. marshmallows on hot chocolate.

tagging: @eri-223 @shadowhrts @shaxxs @skorri @ac3 @www-warlock @edgwater @jillvalantine @golddendeer (no pressure tho)

#personal #dash games

4 notes · View notes

thebittervampire · 5 years ago

Text

I was tagged by @elluvians, thank you!!

rules: tag nine people you want to get to know better

Top three ships: nowadays, mostly Batjokes (Batman x Joker), Yenralt (Geralt x Yennefer) and Foxxay (Misty Day and Cordelia Foxx)

Last movie: The Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), I watch the whole saga every summer, it’s a ritual.

Currently reading: La Faute de l'abbé Mouret by Zola and IT by Stephen King

Food I’m craving: nothing, I ate good tonight, I even drank my evening tea, plus I’ve just brushed my teeth so I'm fine!

I’m tagging, if you want to do it of course, @sapphicmadameumbralis, @yverocher, @clvireredfield, @silurisanguine, @nathanprescutt, @raccoonsrookie, @ambrprice, @edgwater and @avellyn

#tagged #elluvians #Thank you ♥#sapphicmadameumbralis #yverocher #clvireredfield #silurisanguine #nathanprescutt #raccoonsrookie #ambrprice #edgwater #avellyn

4 notes · View notes

lockhvrts · 5 years ago

Note

e, j, v, w

give me a letter and i’ll tell you my 5 favourite blogs starting with that letter

E - @elvesofnoldor ; @elliewilliams ; @elenafisher ; @ewyy ; @edgwater

J - done

V - @venjpetra ; @vakariaan ; @v-jolt ; @vetranyx ; @vindicia ; @villainii ; @vokulin ; @vault21 ;

W - done

thank u anon! i wish u a lovely day/night 💗

#asks #ty again!#im adding ppl i forgot to the asks from b4 #anyway #im finally done !!!!#istg this is the last one

6 notes · View notes

funkypoacher · 5 years ago

Text

Trivia Tuesday!

I just saw this thanks to @skyholdherbalist on my dash, and fell in love with the idea. I’m tagging @impalaanddemons @damejudyhench @kourumi @lilythefae @d4zed-dre4mer @tabsris @spinningmouse @yesjejunus and anyone else from the Halcyon discord with whom I haven’t had the chance to chat in a while, and whom I misssssss and hope to catch up with soon.

original post from @ao3commentoftheday

Creators: give a “behind the scenes” look at one of your works. This could be things that got removed or changed, the origins of ideas/details, whatever you like!

Fans: share bits of trivia from canon and challenge others to create something based on that trivia - fic, art, or something else!

Me Blabbing: Soooooo uhhhhhh I haven’t been writing a whole hell of a lot in this last week of work issues and personal nonsense, but what I’m dedicated to getting done right now is the next two chapters of Practice and Practicality so I can get to posting (although I really want to get a commission done as a ‘book cover’, as it were, and am suddenly broke, so I might wait a while). Practice and Practicality is my Jane Austen/Elizabeth Gaskell inspired monstrosity set in The Outer Worlds (half pre-game, half post-game). So far what I’ve loved is (basically) having full reign in writing Reed Tobson, as he’s a character who has gotten little attention. Plotting his inevitable crisis of faith and imagining Edgwater as that boom-town he talks so fondly of has been super fun. It’s also been liberating because my default way of writing is diction similar to Gaskell/Austen, and writing my Archie/Max series, “L’habit ne fait pas le moine”, is done in a way that’s far different, and rather tiring for my poor, lazy brain.

Margaret (Madge as she was known in Byzantium), the female protagonist, has changed quite a bit. As I started plotting, I kind of forgot/realized/remembered that you need like........ conflict? to make things interesting? Margaret was originally far more docile, and far more willing to fall in line. As she stands now, Margaret is a lot feistier, a lot more invested in her fellow man, and a lot more self-reliant, although she’s still equally hopeless when it comes to a lot of domestic skills. Writing her emotional dance with Reed as they navigate decorum, company policy, and ridiculously heavy longing has been the most fun I’ve had in like... ever (sorry, Archie/Max)(and my billions of Dragon Age ships).

#the outer worlds #my writing #trivia tuesday

6 notes · View notes

choicessa · 6 years ago

Text

The Secret (Mr Sinclaire x MC)

Pairing: Mr Sinclaire x MC (Catherine)

Words: ~ 3700

Summary: After losing in the duel, Mr Sinclaire and MC were supposed to never meet each other again. But what if they both will break the promises they made?

Note: I can’t even tell you how I got this idea, I just did and had to write this down soooo... I have to thank my dear friend @meeraaverywalker for listening to all my ramblings and for helping me out with this fic, thank you my dear! <3

Permatag: @the-everlasting-dream @drakewalkerwhipped @meeraaverywalker @tmarie82

Sinclaire tag: @3pawandme @innerpostmentality @flowerpowell

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters here, just borrowing them. All rights go to Pixelberry Studios.

It was time.

Catherine carefully closed the door behind her back, holding her breath for a moment when she heard the silent 'click' they made. In the middle of the night like this, every sound, every whisper, even an innocent crack of a wooden floor under her feet, was a noise, interrupting the silence and serenity of Edgwater. And that was something she definitely didn't want. Not tonight.

Taking a deep breath, she started to move, step after step, carefully making her way through the hallway, until she was finally standing in front of the staircase. She took a short break, slowly looking around, as if to check if there was any unwanted person around, capable of noticing her here.

But the mansion was silent, the only sound she could hear was the distant snoring of one of the servants, deep in his sleep. Catherine wrapped her coat closer around her body and took a first step, putting all of her weight on the wooden staircase. It didn't make a single sound and on her tiptoes she slowly started to move downstairs, her hand clenched around the railing, just in case. The fabric of her dress and her silent breathing were the only sounds, when with her every step she was closer and closer to the door and closer and closer to her freedom.

Until one of the steps betrayed her.

The wood bent under her feet and cracked loudly, making her heart stop in her chest. No, no, no, it couldn't be happening... Catherine held her breath, listening carefully to any sounds, any indication that someone heard her and may caught her red-handed.

Frankly, there weren't many people she could be so afraid of... Most of the servants hated the new lord of the house and served her with devotion, loving their friendly and caring lady. Some of them even knew about her secret affair, about the arrangement she had made but she trusted them with her whole heart, knowing, that those people would never betray her.

But there were others... Faithful to her repulsive husband, who would compromise her, without blinking, doing anything to please their lord and make this house even bigger prison for her... And because of those people Catherine froze in place, blood draining from her face and body, a hand pressed to her chest, her heart stopping for a moment.

Seconds have passed, minutes and finally she let out the air stored in her lungs, mentally cursing the traitorous step. But only when she got to the back door, only when the key in the lock made no sound at all, only when she finally went out, door closing behind her back, only then she let out a breath of relief, knowing that she did it and she was finally free...

Catherine took a deep breath, breathing in the cold, humid air of the night, seeing the cloud of steam leaving her mouth. The coldness creeped under the thin layers of only her sleeping gown and a coat, causing an unpleasant shiver, going down her spine. But that was just a small, unimportant inconvenience, meaning nothing in the face of what was going to happen tonight... She took a moment to look around, bright moon shining over her head, stars accompanying him, almost like with their light they wanted to show her the proper path through the gardens. For the last time Catherine took a deep breath, her lips twitching, tempted to smile and finally she started to walk.

~ ~ ~

It was time.

Ernest Sinclaire gently patted the neck of his horse who neighed quietly, contented by his owners gesture. The man tied him to the nearest tree, carefully looking around, looking for unwanted guests. But the night was silent and he finally left his horse's side, moving towards the edge of Edgwater's gardens. It was one of the nights he cherished most in his life now, one of the rare nights when for a moment he could forget about the outer, cruel world, about the reality he was living in; one of the nights when he could finally see her.

Not so long time ago Ernest Sinclaire was proudly calling himself a gentlemen, polite, with proper manners, educated in many fields, and the one with a set of rules he would never break. His promise was binding forever and there wasn't a single earthly of heavenly power that would force him to break one. He was a gentleman once. But not anymore. Not since he broke one of the most important promises he made in his life.

When he set the rules for the unforgettable duel with Duke Richard, he was not only full of anger, but full of pride, blinding him, making him unable to think straight. All he wanted to hurt the Duke, maybe even kill him and finally have a chance for a true happiness, with a lady by his side, the one he loved more than anything and anyone else. Ohh, what a fool he was, thinking that it will be a fair, honest duel. What a fool of him, that he didn't predict that Duke Richards might be cheating, jeopardizing his chances for winning... When he said that the loser will never lay an eye on lady Catherine ever again, he didn't think of his pistol being replaced, he didn't think of it not firing and most definitely he didn't think of him being shot and losing...

He tried to keep his promise, oh he did his best, averting his eyes whenever he saw her in the city, Briar by her side, the perfect example of a happy married woman and an accomplished lady. But only on the surface... He knew that deep down she was hurting just as he was, tricked into a marriage with a man she hated and ridden of the chance for true happiness... He did try his best, avoiding her, looking away whenever he got a glimpse of her dark, silky hair somewhere nearby, biting his lip not to look.

But he wasn't strong enough...

The promise of a gentleman was the most important thing for him, the unbreakable, the most honorable, but... This time it meant nothing to him. He wasn't a gentleman, he was just a weak fool, not capable of moving on... So one time, from the far distance, he did look at her, it was supposed to be just the one time glimpse but once he started, he couldn't stop. The view of her was filling his heart with such a tenderness, such love, that for a few sacred moments he could forget about the pain of not being capable of having her, ever. And that's how it all started, shy looks from the distance, quick glances when no one was looking, his eyes finding her face with adoration, when she appeared somewhere in the crowd in the city. And then the letters, the ones he started to send, telling himself that he never made a promise of not writing to her... So in one moment of weakness he sent her a letter, full of foolish declarations of love and devotion, full of hopes of a naive fool, hoping for something he would never have...

And then she replied, her letter full of joy, full of the same love put into each word as in sentences he wrote to her... And that's how it started, letters, small gifts, confessions of love and finally the agreement they made, the arrangement of a secret place, just for them, away from the prying eyes, where they could pretend they are the only people in the whole world...

His once nervous heart was almost singing in his chest, when he was making his way through Edgwater gardens, according to her careful instructions, the bright silver moonlight showing him path. He smiled to himself at the sight of a roses bush on his left, being exactly where she told him it will be. He took a turn right, seeing a big arch of hedge in front of him, the one being his destination.

And that's when he saw her.

~ ~ ~

Finally she saw him.

Even in a darkness of the night, once she saw the slender and tall silhouette in front of her, she simply knew it was him and him only. For a moment she felt nervous, not truly knowing what to do and how to behave. Their letters were always full of passion, full of love to each other, being only the confirmation of what was really hiding deep in their hearts. But when after long months of longing, after the eternity of not being able of looking at him... Will it be the same as it once was? Was he the same person she once knew and recognized in the letters? Will he take her back, with the same ardor as always? Catherine gulped, starting to see features on his face when he moved a few steps closer and when their eyes met, she knew that she wasn't capable of waiting any longer.

She started to run towards him, her feet moving effortlessly through the blades of grass and in a few steps she was in front of him, hands reaching out towards him, her arms circling around his neck when she practically jumped into his arms, chests colliding together, bodies wrapping around each other when they both wanted nothing more but to finally feel each other's presence, warmth, closeness... She pressed her face into his shoulders, breathing in the familiar scent, her hands almost desperately holding onto him, around his neck, fingers dipping into his hair, clenching around his curls, needing to feel he was here, for real. Sinclaire’s arms wrapped around her figure, pressing her body closer to his and he rested his cheek on the top of her head, nose delving into her curls, the so familiar scent of her sweet perfume filling his nostrils, making him feel like coming back home again.

None of them was sure for how long they were standing there, arms around each other, bodies closed in an embrace, hands clinging onto each other, never wanting to let go. Maybe there were minutes, maybe long hours, until finally Ernest heard a silent whisper, words spoken right into his shoulder.

"You came..." Catherine said.

He smiled, even though her eyes couldn’t see that and after a moment he pressed a tender kiss to the top of her head.

"Of course I came..." He murmured into her hair.

"I wasn't sure... I thought... That maybe..." She never finished her thought, instead she just snuggled deeper into his arms, almost like he was the last anchor keeping her sane, holding her in this world.

“Maybe…?” He asked, waiting for her to finish her sentence.

She visibly tensed in his arms, her once relaxed body going rigid once again, before she let out a deep sigh.

“I wasn’t sure if you’d come…” Catherine confessed, almost ashamed by her words, pressing her head even closer to his body, just to avoid his eyes, just to avoid looking into them and showing how much she was worried, afraid that he might never come…

He was silent for a moment, his hand absentmindedly drawing gentle circles on her back and the longer was his silence, the more worried Catherine was, afraid of the effect her reckless words might have caused.

“Why?” Mr Sinclaire asked finally, after what felt like eternity. “Why wasn’t you sure?”

“I simply know how much you value promises and keeping them. And I would never want to be the reason behind your decision of breaking them…”

“I am deeply sorry for telling you this lady Catherine, but… It’s already too late… I made my decision and I stand by it. If my promise, made hastily in anger, meant never seeing you again, then this promise had no value for me. I would rather lose my gentleman reputation then never lay an eye on you ever again…”

Before she could respond, he already took a step back, his eyes finding hers, a small smile appearing on his face and lifting corners of his lips. Catherine felt almost mesmerized, under his careful gaze, moving across her face, almost like in that moment he was trying to memorize every single detail of her. His blue eyes, so soft when they kept on looking at her, were hypnotizing, making it unable to look back, to avert her eyes even if for just a moment.

“Mr Sinclaire…” She whispered, her throat unable to form any more advanced sentence.

He didn’t answer. With no words he reached out to her, his palm resting on her cheek, when he slowly moved his thumb across her skin, gently caressing it.

"You're even more beautiful then I allowed myself to remember..." He whispered, tracing the outline of her jaw with his fingertip.

Catherine felt her cheeks go red and she looked down, both embarrassed and flustered by his words. She was always the witty one, already having a fitting retort prepared for anything he was saying, always teasing and embarrassing him. But right now? His one compliment was enough to make her blush like a foolish young girl, unaccustomed to hearing such a words from the mouth of a gentlemen.

"My, my... Did I for once manage to render you speechless, my lady?" He smirked to her, smiling even more when he noticed her rolling eyes at him.

“On the contrary! I’m just waiting to hear more of the compliments you have prepared…” She cocked her head to the side, her eyebrow raising, challenging him.

He let out a silent chuckle, stepping closer to her once again, his fingers brushing away a few lost strands of hair from her face and tucking them behind her ear.

“How about telling you how shiny your eyes are, reflecting the light of the moon?”

“Mhhmm…”

“Or how pretty are your cheeks, with that blush you got…” His thumb moved across her skin once again. “Or how tempting are your lips, just asking to be kissed…” The last sentence was almost a whisper, when his eyes dropped down, absentmindedly landing on her mouth, almost drawn to them, simply by the mere sight of them.

“Mr Sinclaire…” His name died on her lips, when she let out a deep breath, almost out of air in her lungs at his confession.

He was never so bold in their conversations, never admitting so clearly to the cravings of his heart, never the one to show his feelings so openly. So hearing him, hearing this, how much he craved for her, almost made her heart stopped in her chest, the feeling bursting out in her heart almost impossible to describe.

“Yes, my darling?” He asked.

And then her heart stopped, blood feeling almost like ice in her veins.

He couldn’t possibly knew, he had no idea…

But yet he spoke those words, those she hated so much, those she heard way too often in her own house and the words she learned to despise, filling her with nothing but hatred.

“Those words… Mr Sinclaire, I beg you, never call me that…” She asked, her voice trembling dangerously. She saw lack of understanding in his eyes, when confused he took his hand back, startled by what he might have done wrong.

“My lady…?”

“The Duke… He always calls me that…” She confessed.

Catherine could see the change on his face as well, when just the mention of their enemy, of his enemy, was enough to notice his jaw clenching, his gaze suddenly being made of steel and a deep, ragged breath escaping his mouth.

“I am deeply sorry, lady Catherine, I had no idea. If only I knew, I’d…”

“There’s no need to apologize, Mr Sinclaire. You couldn’t possibly know…”

But it was almost like the simple mention of him, the reason behind their misfortune, the person responsible for the situation they were in, was enough to throw a shadow over them, over this secret meeting, reminding them that there was existing world outside, the cruel, unfair world, waiting for them with the real lives, the ones they wanted so much to escape from.

“I won’t let the thought of this man stop me from enjoying this evening.” He said suddenly, Catherine raising her eyes at the firmness of his voice. “I don't want to spend those few fleeting moments we have, speaking or thinking of him... Let us enjoy this, lady Catherine, don’t let the memory of this man destroy your mood. Not tonight." Almost desperately he grabbed her palms, closing them in his own hands, his eyes looking for hers, looking for the confirmation, the assurance that the mere thought of Duke won’t destroy their evening.

Catherine took a deep breath and slowly nodded, letting her thoughts avert from the Duke, her mind focusing on the man standing right in front of her, her lips lifting in a half smile yet again.

"Oh, Ernest, I missed you so, so much..." She confessed, once again throwing arms around his neck, clinging onto him like onto a dearest life.

“And I missed you, my Catherine…” He whispered into her ear, her heart stopping for a moment, before filling with joy, hearing him calling her his.

And in that very moment, the outer world stopped existing, no more thoughts of Duke, no more sad and haunting her regrets, no more disturbances. Just her, him and the serenity of the night, the one meant to be theirs. They were locked in their embrace for a longer moment, the grip of his arms around her stronger than ever before, almost like simply holding her wasn’t enough, like it was too little, when he needed to feel every part of her body pressed to his, when he needed to know she was his and his only.

There was something intimate in the way they were holding onto each other, something intimate in the way his hands started to move across her body, touching, brushing, caressing, examining, his every gentle touch causing another wave of warmness spreading across Catherine’s body. From her waist, across her back, barely brushing the skin on the back of her neck, Ernest moved his hands higher and higher, his fingers hesitantly brushing across her cleavage, her exposed skin covering with goosebumps under his feather touches. Catherine didn’t even realize what her own hands were doing, moving across his arms, his shoulders, dipping into his soft curls, the touch of her fingers brushing skin behind his ears drawing a contented murmur from his mouth.

Catherine held her breath when he moved away from her, yet still holding her in his arms, his eyes meeting hers, full of love, full of adoration, full of longing, full of something else, something the words would never be able to express, until finally Ernest leaned down and captured her lips in a kiss.

At the beginning his mouth barely brushed hers, sweetly, innocently, almost like it was their first kiss, almost like he was learning the touch, the taste of her lips for the very first time. His hands grabbed her face into a gentle hold, thumbs caressing her cheeks when he kissed her again and again, every each of them more urgent, more passionate, trying to make up for all the time they have lost, for every kiss they missed. Catherine ran her fingers down his spine, pulling him closer until there was no space left between them and she could feel the beating of his heart against her chest, only now realizing just how much she missed him… How much she missed his kisses, his touch, that incomparable feeling of his soft mouth moving against hers, the way his hand dipped into her loose hair, holding onto her almost desperately, the way their lips, their bodies fitted together, almost like two halves made for each other. How could she survived weeks, months without him, without his closeness? The single thought of her life without him made her cling to him even stronger, arms wrapping around his neck, fingers closing around his curls and her lips eagerly answering his kisses, giving in to him, never wanting him to stop… Until the lack of air was too much and their parted, breathing heavily, lips swollen, shining eyes locked onto each other yet again, never wanting to look away.

And when Catherine was looking into his eyes, shining in the darkness, looking at her so full of love, suddenly she could see it all… The life they could have, together, as husband and wife… Long strolls in the gardens, their house full of laughter and joy, the perfect picture of them, sitting arm to arm in front of the fireplace with their friends, enjoying each other’s presence, carefree and just being together. But as soon as the vision came to her, almost immediately it was gone, replaced by the cruel reality, creeping into her world of dreams and reminding her that it was just wishful thinking, a dream never meant to come true…

Mr Sinclaire must have seen chance on her face and his brows furrowed, his worried gaze desperately searching for her eyes.

“Catherine?” He asked, his hand slipping under her chin, to gently lift her face. “What happened, my love?”

“Nothing, I… I just realized… We have only this night and… I just wish we’d have more time…” Catherine sighed, not capable of hiding her trembling voice, but Ernest interrupted her, shaking his head violently.

“No… Don’t say that…” He whispered, lifting her hands to his mouth and slowly kissing the top of them, his lips gently brushing each finger, each knuckle, worshipping this small part of her body with his kisses. “Maybe it is just this night… Maybe it’s all we have right now...” He whispered, turning her palm upside down, his thumb caressing the inside of it, before finally leaning down, gently kissing her skin there. “But even if I had just a few minutes to spend with you, I’d cherish each one, making the most of them...”

Catherine smiled, before slowl taking his hand in his, leading him to the more secluded part of the garden, the one with gazebo, the one only she knew about, hidden from the outer world, the one meant just for them...

Even if for just one night… They had all the time in the world...

118 notes · View notes

breakingarrows · 5 years ago

Text

The Outer Worlds Doesn’t Want a Revolution

Partnering with publisher Private Division, Obsidian had the freedom to make whatever they wanted. Best known for licensed properties established by other developers (Bioware with Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords and Bethesda with Fallout: New Vegas), Obsidian had the chance to do something completely new. With The Outer Worlds they successfully created another Bethesda game. This is an iteration rather than a revolution. While that is not bad in and of itself, it is the lackluster execution that makes it a disappointment, specifically to their previous work on iterating upon existing games.

Obsidian had proved themselves superior to Bethesda back in 2010 with Fallout: New Vegas. This was a follow up to Fallout 3 utilizing the same graphics engine but transplanted back to the western territory of the original two Fallout games. It improved upon Fallout 3 greatly with its humanizing of formerly mindless enemy types and allowing the player to pick and choose what factions to support with a reflexive loss of reputation with their enemy. You couldn't please everyone. If you have played any of the Bethesda Fallout games, and even to an extent The Elder Scrolls, you have essentially played The Outer Worlds. Character creation, skill allotment upon leveling up, perks, weight encumbrance, a slow-motion replacement for V.A.T.S., factions with reputations and oppositions, and mowing down enemies that exist soley to be killed by the player, all of this can easily be seen as a 2019 update of Fallout 3, a now 11 year old game. It is clear Obsidian was not interested in revolutionizing the Bethesda format, and instead made slight alterations and updates.

All these years later and I am essentially playing the same fundamental game with a change in aesthetic from alternative history post-apocalypse to corporate owned space colonies. There is a possibility here for that aesthetic to breathe new life into the now rote gameplay style, but this is where the deeper disappointment stems: the writing.

Role-playing games frequently employ the separation of main quest and side quests as a tiered to-do list for the player to check off in order to accrue experience, gear, and see all that the game has to offer. After over thirty years of these kinds of games, the fundamentals have been established: Fetch quests. Killing special named enemies with higher stats than your average bullet magnet. A succession of conversations with a split choice at the end. The best games hide these simplistic tasks underneath flavor text: a way to get the player invested in the goings on by expanding on the fiction of the world or the introduction of unique and likeable characters (or love-to-hate ones). Here is one of The Outer Worlds greater failings.

Edgewater, in the region of Emerald Vale, is the first major town you come across and the source of a good amount of side quests to engage with. As far as introductions go, Edgewater leaves a terrible taste of what is to come. As mentioned before, the standard goals appear, and their flavor text fail to disguise the monotonous nature of these tasks. Retrieve a book. Find some medicine. Find three books in separate locations. Kill three named enemies. Kill a robot. Collect gravesite fees. Find a missing person. These descriptions are overly simplified but the game does not do a great job at disguising their simplicity.

Retrieving a book is done for a vicar, a religious counselor who views his flock with contempt and laments that the book is in a different language. Finding medicine serves as an example of the cruelty of Spacer’s Choice, the corporation behind Edgewater’s existence. Finding three books is for an up and coming engineer who deserted Edgewater due to its cruelty. Killing three named enemies is not even worth further explanation as there is none. These names exist to be crossed off and nothing else. Much like the Marauders and animals you come across on every planet: they exist to be killed. Killing a robot is their stab at comedy, with the quest giver being paranoid about a lone robot outside the town walls and stashes his prized weapon in a bathroom. I promise the actual text is no more comical than my dry description. Collecting gravesite fees is another example of the cruelty of Spacer’s Choice and Edgewater. Finding a missing person is the only worthwhile side quest and even then that is not saying much. Zoe, another deserter, has gone missing. You find out she wanted to join a marauder gang to become their queen, and surprisingly, was successful. You find this out after murdering everyone to make her appear so you can convince her to return to watch some new serials she loves.

As far as being a template for what is to come in the rest of the game, Emerald Vale is a terrible introduction and future regions only marginally improves upon it.

My main disappointment in Emerald Vale is within its main questline. Your ship needs power, and in order to obtain that power you need to decide whether to direct a Geothermal plant’s supply away from Edgewater, or away from the deserters. Some of the side quests before served as examples of the inhumanity of working under Spacer’s Choice in Edgewater. The town is experiencing a plague, where the sick are sentenced to death in a “sick house” full of corpses, while Reed, the town mayor, hoards all the medicine for the hardest workers. Sick time is nonexistent and has to be worked back. Employees must pay their burial fees upfront and suicides are punished collectively. It is an irredeemable monument to the brutalism of capitalism, or at the very least corporate greed (though there is little difference between the two). This is further reinforced by the Geothermal plant, the source of power.

Upon entering the building you begin to discover through text logs that the plant was once under human supervision before Spacer’s Choice took out a life insurance policy on all of them, installed new robot helpers, and then programmed those helpers to kill all the employees. One worker survives, though in a strange oversight you cannot release him from his basement life even after clearing out the plant and reprogramming the robot’s directive. You get to the point of no return but before you can stamp out Edgewater your companion for the past few hours, Parvati speaks up. She tells you the deserter leader, Adelaide, only wants to see Edgewater destroyed, but that the workers are just living the only life they know how and do not deserve to be stripped of that life.

Curious about how this decision would play out I made a hard save and shut down the power going to Edgewater. Doing so dooms Edgewater and its remaining workers to slowly die out. Adelaide refuses to take those in who will not recant their loyalty to Spacer’s Choice, and presumably even then does not help others as the ending slides explains she died soon after having never shared her fertilizer formula to grow natural food with anyone. She is a bitter old woman who delights in the suffering of Edgwater and Spacer’s Choice’s workers. Her reason? Her son got the plague and knowing medicine was available but denied by Reed, left after her son died despite it being a preventable death. The game treats this legitimate source of rage towards the established order as petty.

The opposing choice, providing power to Edgewater, means the deserters must return to be grinded to dust or die in the wilderness. However, if you talk to the right people a third way will open up after this decision. You can convince Reed to step down and Adelaide to take control. Doing so results in the cannery, the town’s main reason for existence and source of sustenance, to flourish in the aftermath. There was no need for such drastic change, all Edgewater needed was the correct person in charge, a kinder boss than that asshole Reed. This is an observation shared by others, though unlike them I never compromised when real change was possible.

This ethos of “reform from the inside” is made more explicit within the region of Monarch, and the second major decision point of the game. Here a company called Monarch Stellar Industries, and its leader, Sanjar, used to have membership on the Board, the group in charge of the entire colony. Sanjar wants back in, with the idea that he can promote a kinder, more ethical ruling from the top. You see, he is part of upper class/management, but the ethical kind who do good without having to revolutionize the status quo. His opposition lies within the Iconoclasts, those who fully reject the Board and their rule and live in a form of collectivist society. Their flaw is that their leader Graham is more concerned with spreading his ideology than with taking care of his people. This fault is even more manufactured than Adelaide’s justified hatred towards Reed and Spacer’s Choice. Within New Vegas, the NCR, the closest to a “good” faction, have a major flaw in the form of their bureaucracy. This is much more believable than an irresponsible leader whose second in command is too lax to depose him until you step in. You can either lead the Iconoclasts to violently overthrow MSI, force the Iconoclasts to break up and integrate with MSI, or you can kill Graham and have his second in command Zora work with Sanjar to provide workers with an alternative to the Board. Another potential status quo change comes with a recommendation to reach a middle ground.

At the very least The Outer Worlds does not fuck up its final major decision, between the Board’s Lifetime Employment Program and Phineas’ revival of Hope colonists. The former has the lower class put on ice for potential future use, freeing up even more resources to be hoarded by those at the top, and the latter has you overthrowing the Board and bringing in new blood to work towards producing a sustainable colony of cooperation. There is no third way here, and the choice is obvious.

Throughout The Outer Worlds the absurdity of the corporation’s power over people is routinely on display, whether in text conversations or the aesthetic of loading screen images and various NPC barks while running around the towns. All of it is screaming that the way things are is actively killing people and dooming the colony, but when it comes time for revolution the game would prefer you compromise until the finale. There, compromise with the Board, the highest source of everything wrong, would be incapable to stomach by even a sycophant.

Fallout 3 endures in our memories for its revolution to RPGs, while New Vegas endures due to its improvements within that new standard. The Outer Worlds does neither. As Eurogamer states, this is comfort food. That sentiment is not a condemnation, though with the games never stopping, a lesser entry in the Bethesda style is an easy pass. The Capital Wasteland with its hyper violence beckoned the player to go ham with slow motion close ups of splashes of blood and cleanly amputated limbs due to your gunfire or pummelling. New Vegas reoriented that mindset by largely removing the mindless raiders, super mutants, and ghouls, with their residences filled with hooked limbs and hives of bloody organs, and replaced them with humanized factions. The Outer Worlds regresses back to the former with a smaller scale overall, though sans the overdone gore. Exiting town means everything that moves now becomes something to kill, loot, and accrue experience from. It makes movement between quest markers mindlessly mechanical, which bleeds over into everything else about the game and what it is trying to accomplish.

I last played The Outer Worlds on November 9th and it has only been viewed less favorably the more I think about it. The combat is complete filler, there is nothing motivating behind the generic and tired numbers-go-up leveling process, gear you earn via quests may as well just be money or gear parts, entering a room means walking along the walls pressing X to gather everything you can carry to be sold/broken down later, skill checks are just numerical goals, you can rarely press X to talk to someone without your gun being pulled out, and a majority of the writing is just the essence of tweets like this extended through 15+ hours. The game consistently observes, “Man, shits fucked huh?” In spite of this, when it comes time to redistribute power, it backs away. And all of this comes from Obsidian, a developer who once outdid Bethesda at their own game is now stumbling through a poor imitation. Walking around Monarch’s wilderness, the ambient music frequently made me mistake what I was playing for Fallout: New Vegas. And I really wish I was.

#The Outer Worlds #Video game criticism #Obsidian Entertainment #Xbox One #Criticism #writing

3 notes · View notes