#flight 401

[cinemaquiles]

FILMES DISPONÍVEIS DE GRAÇA NO YOUTUBE DE DIVERSOS GÊNEROS PARA VOCÊ CONFERIR ESSA SEMANA!

[bladehorror]

FINALLY GOT THE SECOND CHEST. That was nauseating. lord

[felassan]

Edge – The Future of Interactive Entertainment magazine, issue #401 (October 2024 issue) – Dragon Age: The Veilguard story

The rest of this post is under a cut for length.

Update: this issue of this magazine is now available to buy from UK retailers today. it can be purchased online at [this link]. [Tweet from Edge Online] also, Kala found that a digital version of the magazine can be read at [this link].

This post is a word-for-word transcription of the full article on DA:TV in this issue of this magazine. DA:TV is the cover story of this issue. When transcribing, I tried to preserve as much of the formatting from the magazine as possible. Edge talked to BioWare devs for the creation of this article, so the article contains new quotes from the devs. the article is written by Jeremy Peel. There were no new screenshots or images from the game in the article. I also think that it contains a few lil bits of information that are new, like the bits on companions' availability and stumbling across the companions out and about on their own in the world e.g. finding Neve investigating an abduction case in Docktown.

tysm to @simpforsolas and their friend for kindly telling me about the article!!

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[image source]

Article introduction segment:

"[anecdote about Edge] We were reminded of this minuscule episode in Edge's history during the creation of this issue's cover story, in which we discuss the inspiration behind Dragon Age: The Veilguard with its creators at BioWare. Notably, director John Epler remembers the studio experimenting with a number of approaches during the early phase of development before eventually locking in to what the game was supposed to be all along, above all else: 'a single-player, story-focused RPG'. As you'd expect from BioWare, though, that was really just a starting point, as we discovered on p54." BioWare draws back the Veil and ushers us into a new Dragon Age

"BEHIND THE CURTAIN BioWare's first true RPG in age age is as streamlined and pacey as a dragon in flight. By Jeremy Peel Game Dragon Age: The Veilguard Developer BioWare Publisher EA Format PC, PS5, Xbox Series Origin Canada Release Autumn

The Dragon Age universe wasn't born from a big bang or the palm of an ancient god. Instead, it was created to solve a problem. BioWare was tired of battling Hasbro during the making of Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights, and wanted a Dungeons & Dragons-like setting of its own. A small team was instructed to invent a new fantasy world in which the studio could continue its groundbreaking work in the field of western RPGs, free of constraints.

Well, almost free. BioWare's leaders mandated that the makers of this new world stick to Eurocentric fantasy, and include a fireball spell - since studio co-founder Ray Muzyka had a weakness for offensive magic.

Beyond that, BioWare’s storytellers were empowered to infuse Dragon Age with their own voices and influences, leaning away from D&D’s alignment chart and towards a moral grayness that left fans of A Song Of Ice And Fire feeling warm and cozy.

In the two decades since, the world of Thedas – rather infamously and amusingly, a shortening of ‘the Dragon Age setting’ that stuck – has taken on a distinct flavor. It’s something director John Epler believes is rooted in characters.

“There’s definitely some standard fantasy stuff in Dragon Age, but everything in the world, every force, is because of someone,” he says. “The idea is that every group and faction needs to be represented by a person – someone you can relate to. Big political forces are fine as background, but they don’t provide you with those interesting story moments.”

Dragon Age: The Veilguard bears out that philosophy. The long-awaited sequel was first announced with the subtitle Dreadwolf, in reference to its antagonist, Solas – an ancient elf who once stripped his people of immortality as punishment for betraying one of their own. In doing so, Solas created the Veil, the thin barrier through which wizards pull spirits and demons invade the waking world. In other words, many of Dragon Age’s defining features, from its downtrodden elves to the uneasy relationship between mages and a fearful church, can be traced right back to one character’s decision.

“The world exists as it does because of Solas,” Epler says. “He shaped the world because of the kind of character he was. That’s, to me, what makes Dragon Age so interesting. Everything can tie back to a person who to some degree thought they were doing the right thing.”

Perhaps BioWare’s greatest achievement in slowburn character development, Solas is a former companion, an unexploded bomb who sat in the starting party of Dragon Age: Inquisition, introverted and useful enough to get by without suspicion. Yet by the time credits rolled around on the Trespasser DLC, players were left in no doubt as to the threat he presented.

Determined to reverse the damage he once caused, the Dreadwolf intends to pull down the Veil, destroying Thedas as we know it in the process. The next Dragon Age game was always intended to be his story.

“We set that up at the end of Trespasser,” Epler says. “There was no world where we were ever going to say, ‘And now let’s go to something completely different.’ We wanted to pay off that promise.”

Yet almost everything else about the fourth Dragon Age appears to have been in flux at one time. In 2019, reporter Jason Schreier revealed that an early version, starring a group of spies pulling off heists in the Tevinter Imperium, had been cancelled two years prior. Most of its staff were apparently moved onto BioWare’s struggling Anthem, while a tiny team rebooted Dragon Age from scratch. That new game was said to experiment with live-service components.

“We tried a bunch of different ideas early on,” Epler says. “But the form The Veilguard has taken is, in a lot of ways, the form that we were always pushing towards. We were just trying different ways to get there. There was that moment where we really settled on, ‘This is a singleplayer, story-focused RPG – and that’s all it needs to be’”.

Epler imagines a block of marble, from which BioWare was attempting to carve an elephant – a character- and story-driven game. “We were chipping away, and sometimes it looked more like an elephant and sometimes it didn’t”, he says. “And then we eventually realized: ‘Just make an elephant’. When we got to that, it almost just took shape by itself.”

2014’s Dragon Age: Inquisition was an open-world game commonly criticized for a slow-paced starting area which distracted players from the thrust of the plot. The Veilguard, in contrast, is mission-based, constructed with tighter, bespoke environments designed around its main story and cast. “We wanted to build a crafted, curated experience for the player,” Epler says. “Pacing is important to us, and making sure that the story stays front and center.”

Epler is very proud of Inquisition, the game on which he graduated from cinematic designer to a lead role (for its DLC). “But one of the things that we ran into on that project was an absentee antagonist,” he says. “Corypheus showed up and then disappeared. You spent ten hours in the Hinterland doing sidequests, and there wasn’t that sense of urgency.”

This time, The Veilguard team wants you to constantly feel the sword of Damocles dangling above your head as you play – a sense that the end of the world is coming if you don’t act. “There’s still exploration – there’s still the ability to go into some of these larger spaces and go off the beaten path to do sidequests,” Epler says. “But there’s always something in the story propelling you and the action forward, and allowing you to make decisions with these characters where the stakes feel a lot more immediate and present. And also, honestly, more real.”

No sooner have you finished character creation than Dragon Age: The Veilguard thrusts you into a choice. As your protagonist, Rook, steps into focus on the doorstep of the seediest bar in town, you decide whether to threaten the owner for information or make a deal. Brawl or no, you’ll walk out minutes later with a lead: the location of a private investigator named Neve Gallus, who can help you track down Solas.

You proceed into Minrathous, the largest city in Thedas and capital of the Tevinter Imperium – a region only alluded to in other Dragon Age games. It’s a place built on the backs of slaves and great mages, resulting in tiered palaces and floating spires – a kind of architecture unimaginable to those in the southern nations.

“When your Dragon Age: Inquisition companion Dorian joins you in Orlais, in one of the biggest cities in Thedas, he mentions that it’s quaint and cute compared to Minrathous,” Corinne Busche, game director on The Veilguard, says. “That one bit of dialogue was our guiding principle on how to realize this city. It is sprawling. It is lived-in. Sometimes it’s grimy, sometimes it’s bougie. But it is expansive.”

Immediately, you can see the impact of BioWare’s decision to tighten its focus. Around every other corner in Minrathous is an exquisitely framed view, a level of spectacle you would never see in Inquisition, where resources were spread much more thinly. “When you know that you’re gonna be heading down a canyon or into this plaza where the buildings open up, you have those perfect spots to put a nice big temple of Andraste or a mage tower,” art director Matthew Rhodes says. “You get those opportunities to really hit that hard.”

BioWare’s intention is to make strong visual statements that deliver on decades of worldbuilding. “People who have a history with Dragon Age have thought about what Minrathous might be like,” Rhodes says. “We can never compete with their imagination, but we can aim for it like we’re shooting for the Moon.”

The people of Tevinter use magic as it if were electricity, as evidenced by the glowing sigils that adorn the dark buildings – street signs evoking Osaka’s riverfront or the LA of Blade Runner. They’re just one of the tricks BioWare’s art team uses to invite you to stop and take in the scene. “A lot of what you start to notice when you’re the artist who’s been working on these big, beautiful vistas and neat murals on the walls is how few players look up,” Rhodes says. “We design props and architecture that help lead the eyes.”

For the really dedicated shoegazers, BioWare has invested in ray-traced reflections, so that the neon signage can be appreciated in the puddles. There are also metal grates through which you can see the storm drains below. “The idea behind that is purely just to remind the player often of how stacked the city is,” Rhodes says. “Wherever you’re standing, there’s guaranteed to be more below you and above you.”

One of BioWare’s core creative principles for The Veilguard is to create a world that’s actually worth saving – somewhere you can imagine wanting to stick around in, once the crises of the main quest are over. To that end, the team has looked to ground its outlandish environments with elements of mundanity.

“A guy’s normal everyday life walking down the streets of this city is more spectacular than what the queen of Orlais is seeing, at least in terms of sheer scale," Rhodes says. “One of the things we’ve tried to strike a balance with is that this is actually still a place where people have to go to the market and buy bread, raise their kids, and try to make it. It’s a grand and magical city, but how do you get your horses from one place to the next? Where do you load the barrels for the tavern? It’s really fun to think of those things simultaneously.”

Normal life in Minrathous is not yours to behold for long, however. Within a couple of minutes of your arrival, the very air is ripped open like cheap drapes, and flaming demons clatter through the merchant carts that line the city streets. A terrible magical ritual, through which Solas intends to stitch together a new reality, has begun.

“We wanted the prologue to feel like the finale of any other game we’ve done,” Busche explains. “Where it puts you right into this media-res attack on a city and gets you really invested in the action and the story right away. When I think back to Inquisition, how the sky was literally tearing open – the impact of this ritual really makes that look like a minor inconvenience.”

Our hero is confronted by a Pride demon, imposing and armored as in previous games, yet accented by exposed, bright lines that seem to burst from its ribcage. “They are a creature of raw negative emotion,” Busche says. “So we wanted to actually incorporate that into their visual design with this glowing nervous system.”

When a pack of smaller demons blocks Rook’s route to the plaza where Neve was last seen, battle breaks out, and The Veilguard’s greatest divergence from previous Dragon Age games becomes apparent. Our rogue protagonist flits between targets up close and evades individual sword swings with precision. In the chaos, he swaps back and forth between blades and a bow. He blends light and heavy attacks, and takes advantage of any gap in the melee to charge up even bigger blows.

“Responsiveness was our first-and-foremost goal with this baseline layer of the combat system,” Busche says. Unless you’re activating a high-risk, high-reward ability such as a charged attack, any action can be animation-cancelled, allowing you to abort a sword swing and dive away if an enemy lunges too close. “We very much wanted you to feel like you exist in this space, as you’re going through these really crafted, hand-touched worlds,” Busche says. “That you’re on the ground in control of every action, every block, every dodge.” Anyone who’s ever bounced off a Soulslike needn’t worry: The Veilguard’s highly customizable difficulty settings enable you to loosen up parry windows if they prove too demanding.

Gone is the overhead tactical camera which, for some players, was a crucial point of connection between Dragon Age and the Baldur’s Gate games that came before, tapping into a lineage of thoughtful, tabletop-inspired combat. Epler points out that the camera’s prior inclusion had an enormous impact on where the game’s battles took place. “We actually had a mandate on Inquisition, which was, ‘Don’t fight inside,’” he says. “The amount of extra work on getting that tactical camera to work in a lot of those internal environments, it was very challenging.”

Gone, too, is the ability to steer your comrades directly. “On the experiential side, we wanted you to feel like you are Rook – you’re in this world, you’re really focused on your actions,” Busche says. “We very much wanted the companions to feel like they, as fully realized characters, are in control of their own actions. They make their own decisions. You, as the leader of this crew, can influence and direct and command them, but they are their own people.”

It's an idea with merit, albeit one that could be read as spin. “It’s not lost on me,” Busche says. “I will admit that, on paper, if you just read that you have no ability to control your companions, it might feel like something was taken away. But in our testing and validating with players, what we find is they’re more engaged than ever.”

There may be a couple of reasons for that. One is that Dragon Age’s newly dynamic action leaves little room for seconds spent swapping between perspectives. “This is a much higher actions-per-minute game,” Busche says. “It is more technically demanding on the player. So when we tried allowing you full control of your companions as well, what we’ve found is it wasn’t actually adding to the experience. In fact, in some ways it was detrimental, given the demanding nature of just controlling your own character.”

Then there’s The Veilguard’s own tactical layer, as described by BioWare. Though the fighting might be faster and lower, like a mana-fuelled sports scar, the studio is keen to stress that the pause button remains as important to the action as ever. This is, according to Busche, where the RPG depth shines through, as you evaluate the targets you’re facing and take their buffs into account: “Matching elemental types against weaknesses and resistances is a big key to success in this game.”

You pick between rogue, warrior and mage – each role later splitting again into deeper specialisms – and draw from a class-specific resource during fights. A rogue relies on Momentum, which is built up by avoiding damage and being highly aggressive, whereas a warrior is rewarded for blocking, parrying, and mitigating damage.

Those resources are then used on the ability wheel, which pauses the game and allows you to consider your options. The bottom quadrant of the wheel belongs to your character, and is where three primary abilities will be housed. “Rook will also have access to runes, which function as an ability, and a special ultimate ability,” Busche says. “So you’re bringing five distinct abilities with you into combat.”

The sections to the left and right of the wheel, meanwhile, are dedicated to your companions. Busche points to Lace Harding, the returning rogue from Inquisition, who is currently frozen mid-jump. “She is her own realized individual in this game. She’s got her own behaviors: how she prioritizes targets, whether she gets up close and draws aggro or stays farther back at range. But you’ll be able to direct her in combat by activating her abilities from the wheel.”

These abilities are complemented by positional options at the top of the wheel, where you can instruct your companions to focus their efforts on specific targets, either together or individually. Doing so will activate the various buffs, debuffs and damage enhancements inherent in their weapons and gear. “So,” Busche explains, “as you progress through the first two hours of the game, this full ability wheel is completely populated with a variety of options and different tactics that you can then string together.”

BioWare has leaned into combos. You might tell one companion to unleash a gravity-well effect that gathers enemies together, then have another slow time. Finally, you could drop an AOE attack on your clustered and slowed opponents, dealing maximum damage. The interface will let you know when an opportunity to blend two companion abilities emerges – moments BioWare has dubbed ‘combo detonations’.

“I like to think about this strategic layer to combat as a huddle,” Busche says, “where you’re figuring out how you want to handle the situation, based on the information you have on the encounter, and how you and your companions synergize together.”

Deeper into the game, as encounters get more challenging, Epler says we’ll be spending a lot of time making “very specific and very focused tactical decisions”. The proof will be in eating the Fereldan fluffy mackerel pudding, of course, but Busche insists this shift to fast action isn’t a simplification. “What really makes the combat system and indeed the extension into the progression system work is that pause-and-play tactical element that we know our players expect.”

The autonomy of The Veilguard’s companions doesn’t end with combat. BioWare’s data shows that in previous games players tended to stick with the same two or three beloved comrades during a playthrough. This time, however, you’ll be forced to mix your squad up at regular intervals.

“We do expect that players will have favorites they typically want to adventure with,” Busche says, “but sometimes certain companions will be mandatory.” Others may not always be available – part of the studio’s effort to convince with three-dimensional characters. “They do have a life outside of Rook, the main character,” Busche says.

"They'll fall in love with people in this world. They’ve had past experiences they’ll share with you if you allow them in and get close to them.”

Being separated from your companions, rather than collecting them all in a kind of stasis at camp, allows you to stumble across them unexpectedly. Busche describes an instance in which, while exploring the Docktown section of Minrathous, you might bump into Neve as she investigates an abduction case. “If I go and interact with her, I can actually stop what I’m doing, pick up her arc and adventure with her throughout her part of the story,” Busche says. “What’s interesting is that all of the companion arcs do ultimately tie back to the themes of the main critical path, but they also have their own unique challenges and villains, and take place over the course of many different intimate moments.”

Some parts of a companion’s quest arc involve combat, while others don’t. Some are made up of large and meaningful missions – as lavish and involved as those along the critical path. “While they are optional, I would be hesitant to call them side content in this game,” Busche says. If you choose not to engage with some of these companion-centered events, they’ll resolve on their own. “And it might have interesting implications.”

The Veilguard promises plenty of change, then, even as it picks up the threads of fan-favorite characters and deepens them, honoring the decades of worldbuilding that came before it. This is perhaps the enduring and alluring paradox of Dragon Age: a beloved series which has never had a direct and immediate sequel, nor a recurring protagonist. Instead, it’s been reinvented with each new entry.

“It’s a mixed blessing to some degree,” Epler says. “The upside is always that it gives us more room to experiment and to try new things. There are parts of the series that are common to every game: it’s always an RPG, it’s always about characters, and we always want to have that strategic tactical combat where you’re forced to make challenging decisions. But at the end of the day, I think what makes Dragon Age Dragon Age is that each one feels a little bit different.”"

Q&A Matthew Rhodes Art director

Q. Early BioWare RPGs were literary, with the emotions and detail mostly happening in dialogue boxes. How have you seen the studio's approach to visual storytelling evolve? A. This has been my entire career. When I first showed up at BioWare, it was at the tail end of Jade Empire, and then I was working on Dragon Age: Origins and early Mass Effect. The games had taken that next step out of sprites and 2D models, and it was like: 'How do we say more? How do we communicate more clearly?' During those early days, a lot of games depended on words to fix everything for you. As long as your character was talking bombastically, you could lend them everything that they needed. But as time went on it also became a visual medium, and it's been this long journey of trying to establish art's seat at the table. I've worked with some great writers over the years, and art is also an essential part of the storytelling. From Dragon Age: Inquisition on, I've been trying to stress with my teams that we are a story department.

Q. Is part of that also letting writers know that your storytelling assistance is available, to help them show rather than tell? A. On The Veilguard, that principle has been operating the best I've seen it. Where you would need a paragraph of dialogue in one of those exposition moments where a character just talks to you, we could sell that with a broken statue or a skeleton overgrown with vines. We've had more opportunities to do that on The Veilguard than most of the projects I've ever worked on combined.

To a hammer, every problem looks like a nail, and so in every department, writing will try to solve it with more words, and art will try to solve it with more art. I've bumped up against moments where it's like, 'As much as we could keep hammering on this design, I think this is actually an audio solution.' And then you take it to audio, and you don't get that overcooked feeling where each team is just trying to solve it in their silo. It's a really creatively charged kind of environment.

[main body of article ends here]

Additional from throughout the article --

Image caption: “Spotlights shine down from the city guards’ base as they pursue you through the streets of Minrathous.”

Image caption: “While most of your companions can be sorted into comfortingly familiar RPG classes, The Veilguard introduces two new varieties: a Veil Jumper and a private investigator.”"

Image caption [on this Solas ritual concept art specifically]: “The name previously given to the game – Dreadwolf – was a direct reference to Solas. Your former companion, now on his own destructive mission, still features, despite the name change.”

Text in a side box:

"RATIONAL ANTHEM The hard lesson BioWare drew from Anthem was to play to its strengths. “We’re a studio that has always been built around digging deep on storytelling and roleplaying,” Epler says. “I’m proud of a lot of things on Anthem – I was on that project for a year and a half. But at the end of the day we were building a game focused on something we were not necessarily as proficient at. For me and for the team, the biggest lesson was to know what you’re good at and then double down on it. Don’t spread yourselves too thin. Don’t try to do a bunch of different things you don’t have the expertise to do. A lot of the people on this team came here to build a story-focused, singleplayer RPG."

Image caption: “In combat you no longer control your companions directly – this is a faster-paced form of fighting – but you are able to direct them in combat, and can even blend their abilities in ‘combo detonations’.”

Image caption: “You’ll be exploring new regions across Tevinter and beyond – Rivain is a certainty, and that’s only accessible via Antiva travelling overland.”

Image caption: “There are three specializations per character class; on the way to unlocking them you’ll acquire a range of abilities.”

Text in a side box:

"MEET YOUR MAKER “Full disclosure: Dragon Age has traditionally not done skin tones well, especially for people of color,” Busche says. “We wanted to do a make-good here.” In The Veilguard’s character creator, you can adjust the amount of melanin that comes through in the skin, as well as test various lighting scenarios to ensure your protagonist looks exactly as you intend in cutscenes. “Speaking of our first creative principle – be who you want to be – we really feel these are the kinds of features that unlock that for our players,” Busche says. “We want everyone to be able to see themselves in this game.” For the first time in the series, your body type is fully customizable too, with animations, armor and even romantic scenes reflecting your choices."

Image caption: “Your companions are a mix of old and new – Lace Harding is a familiar face. Veil Jumper Bellara is new, with a new occupation, while Davrin is a new face with a familiar profession – he’s a Warden.”

Image caption: "Arlathan Forest is home to the ruined city of the elves, now a place of wild magic, Veil Jumpers and (allegedly) spirits".

Image caption: "Bellara is driven by a desire to learn more about the elves, rediscovering the shattered history and magic of her people."

[source: Edge – The Future of Interactive Entertainment magazine, issue #401 (October 2024 issue) - it can be purchased online at [this link].]

[raudart]

contemplating unexplained imprinting phenomena such as that of donor organs being imprinted with the traits and habits of their previous owners showing up in recipients post-surgery, and the case of eastern air lines flight 401, from which salvaged parts were used in other planes and the deceased crew members were reported to have been seen by the crew of these new planes up until the parts were replaced

imagine this in the context of cybertronian medics salvaging parts from cadavers and using them to repair soldiers, who then go on experiencing personality shifts, changes in habits, tastes and preferences reminiscent of their deceased donors, perhaps even culminating in unexplainable voices heard in their audials and familiar-but-not visages greeting them in their reflections...

[salemahn]

Alexia Putellas

Part 1

Favourite Place ~ @kyra-cooneyx

401 / Fluff

The Sun's In My Heart and I'm Ready For Love ~ @onsomenewsht

1.4K / Fluff, Minimal Angst

Plant-napping ~ @ladygagas-striped-socks

1.1K / Fluff

Cold Tiled Floor ~ @wileys-russo

1.9K / Fluff

Call Me From A Better Place ~ @p0orbaby

3.3K / Fluff, Angst

Hidden ~ @ladygagas-striped-socks

1.5K / Fluff

Headache & Heartache ~ @ladygagas-striped-socks

2.6K / Fluff, Angst

Take Care ~ @ladygagas-striped-socks

3.2K / Fluff, Suggestive

Marshmallow Keychains ~ @mead-iocre

1K / Fluff

Embracing New Intimacy ~ @hiitsm

1.6K / SMUT

Happy Birthday ~ @barcaatthemoon

1K / Fluff

Intertwining Legs ~ @prettyforwoso

1.8K / SMUT

Rather Be Anyone Else ~ @girlgenius1111

1.8K / Fluff, Angst

Prison For Life ~ @pixiesfz

1K / Fluff

Too Hot ~ @desperate-gay

3.5K / SMUT

Revelations ~ @girlgenius1111

4.4K / Fluff, Angst

Beach ~ @muffinpink02

862 / SMUT

Early Birds ~ @p0orbaby

447 / SMUT

Dog Person ~ @ktgoodmorning

1.5K / Fluff

Sick ~ @mysunshinetemptress

1.3K / Fluff, Angst

Familia Supra Omnia ~ @p0orbaby

933 / Fluff

The Sweetest Symphony ~ @httpswritings

626 / SMUT

Nail Polish ~ @p0orbaby

385 / Fluff

I'm a Star, How Could I Not Shine? ~ @ceesimz

1.6K / Fluff, Angst

That's Good Enough For Me ~ @p0orbaby

194 / Fluff

So Proud ~ @p0orbaby

159 / Fluff

Paying Attention ~ @barcaatthemoon

299 / Fluff

Fingers ~ @p0orbaby

249 / Fluff

Mami v Mama ~ @girlgenius1111

2.2K / Fluff, Angst

Mess of A Mind ~ @totaly-obsessed

1.7K / Fluff, Angst

Antisocial ~ @kyra-cooneyx

942 / Fluff

Most Likely To ~ @mapiforpresident

729 / Fluff

Strawberry Kisses ~ @mytearsricochvtt

1.2K / Fluff, Suggestive

Spider ~ @skipper1331

1.4K / Fluff

We Fell In Love In October ~ @bellawoso

1K / Fluff

Cross The Line ~ @wileys-russo

1.2K / Fluff, Suggestive

I'll Never Leave. Never Mind ~ @girlgenius1111

6.2k / Fluff, Heavy Angst

I Like It In The City When Two Worlds Collide ~ @onsomenewsht

1.5K / Fluff

Different ~ @barcaatthemoon

451 / Fluff

A Girl Consumed By Fire ~ @p0orbaby

3.3K / Fluff, Suggestive

Alexia's Favourite Girls (series) ~ @ellatoone7

Fluff

Sixth Sense ~ @wileys-russo

1.3K / Fluff

Rain ~ @mrchiipchrome

3K / Fluff

For England ~ @mysunshinetemptress

1.1K / Fluff

Oops ~ @fanfics-posts

2.5K / SMUT

Hips, Your Lips, You're Mine ~ @httpswritings

1.3K / SMUT

Bar-Ca ~ @samkerrworshipper

1.4K / Fluff

Goal Scorer ~ @wileys-russo

1.9K / Fluff, Suggestive

Instincts ~ @girlgenius1111

3.1K / Fluff

Sweet & Sour ~ @reystenius-01

2.1K / Fluff, Angst

Familia ~ @barcaatthemoon

1.8K / Fluff

Closing The Distance ~ @barcaatthemoon

731 / Fluff, Suggestive

In Flight Entertainment ~ @wileys-russo

1.8K / Fluff

Prior Engagements | Headcannons ~ @reminiscingtonight

1.2K & 438 / Fluff

Dating Alexia Putellas Would Include (HCs) ~ @gunnerfc

307 / Fluff, SMUT

Arrival ~ @girlgenius1111

3.4K / Fluff, Angst

Might Just Love You 'Til The End ~ @girlgenius1111

3K / Fluff, Angst

New World ~ @girlgenius1111

2.6K / Fluff, Angst

That Awkward Smile | Stares of Admiration | "I'm Scared" ~ @ktgoodmorning

2.5K & 1.9K & 3.6K / Fluff

Secret | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Extra ~ @skipper1331

1.9K & 2.3K & 1.7K & 3.8K & 522 / Fluff, Angst, Suggestive

She Loves Control ~ @httpswritings

342 / SMUT

Kiss Me, Please? ~ @iinsertblognamee

1.8K / Fluff

Hands ~ @muffinpink02

2.8K / SMUT

Head In The Game ~ @mapiforpresident

1.6K / Fluff

Take My Hand ~ @mytearsricochvtt

490 / Fluff, Suggestive

Didn't Mean To Forget You ~ @girlgenius1111

1.6K / Fluff, Angst

I Always Know What You Need ~ @girlgenius1111

3.5K / SMUT

You Came Back With Gravity ~ @girlgenius1111

2.7K / Fluff, Angst

Too Hot To Handle ~ @p0orbaby

828 / Fluff

Lazy Day ~ @barcaatthemoon

1.6K / Fluff, Minimal Angst

Overworked ~ @httpswritings

246 / Fluff

Dirty Cheat ~ @wileys-russo

1.4K / Fluff

Oversensitive ~ @httpswritings

193 / Fluff, Suggestive

I'm There Regardless of The Pain ~ @pers1st

1.2K / Fluff, Angst

Sunny ~ @barcaatthemoon

1K / Fluff

(Extremely Talented, Creative) Stalker ~ @randombush3

1.9K / Fluff

Little Lilo ~ @reystenius-01

1K / Fluff, Suggestive

Embarrassing ~ @ktgoodmorning

1.2K / Fluff

Stressed ~ @ktgoodmorning

2.1K / Fluff

You Know I Love You ~ @ktgoodmorning

3.2K / Fluff

Close Your Eyes ~ @ktgoodmorning

1.7K / Fluff

Superstar ~ @ktgoodmorning

2.7K / Fluff

In Safe Arms ~ @hiitsm

1.6K / Fluff, Angst

Soft Touches ~ @hiitsm

2.9K / SMUT

No Time For Losers ~ @girlgenius1111

4.1K / SMUT

The Sun, It Rises Slowly ~ @p0orbaby

556 / Fluff, Angst

Spoiled Rotten | Part 2 ~ @wileys-russo

4.5K & 4.7K / Fluff

Locked Up ~ @wileys-russo

1.9K / Fluff, Suggestive

Distraction ~ @wileys-russo

1.6K / Fluff, Suggestive

[goblincow]

401% FUNDED | ONLY 5 DAYS TO GO!!

Field Agent Handbooks: Observancy Dept. 1924–28

Sharpen your ESP skills and seek out suspicious activity as a pendulum-dowsing Field Agent

This set of four Field Agent Handbooks are an always-on solo RPG/LARP to play with when out and about. They’re created as in-world artefacts from the 1920s, made for you to note your observations about the world around you through a lens of suspicion. 

1924 – Revolution

We suspect the animal kingdom of plotting a revolution and you are here to help us understand their devices.

Our mission in the Observancy Department is to spot any such behaviour or signs of suspicious activity, note them down, and draw our conclusions.

Additional pages include:

Blank map with grid references

Table of potential signs of revolutionary activity

List of weather types and symbols for notation

1925 – Leviathan

The age of flight may still be in its infancy but we have heard worrying reports from our aeroplane and dirigible pilots of glimpses of giant beasts roaming the aether, just out of sight.

Our fresh mission is to observe the clouds, look for unusual shadows & formations, and attempt to discern the activity and anatomy of these sky-bound leviathan.

Additional pages include:

Common anatomy of leviathan (hypothesised)

Illustrated chart with types of clouds and symbols for notation

Illustrated chart for estimating distance to horizon

Table to identify the Beaufort Number for the wind

List of weather types and symbols for notation

1926 – Communication

While we looked upward, we didn't think to concern ourselves with the growing cacophony in our very own gardens, forests, and fields.

Our mission turns to our leafy neighbours to see if we can understand their speech and intuit their meaning throughout each season.

Additional pages include: 

Signs and shapes to look out for

Size estimation chart

List of weather types and symbols for notation

1928 – Giants

From the landscape sprung the flowers, but who formed the landscape? Newly uncovered texts indicate the folklore might be true and giants may have indeed roamed and shaped the earth.

Our mission is to lower our gaze to the ground to identify oddly shaped mounds, mimetoliths (rocks resembling faces), gouged earth, and suspicious urban planning decisions. Under the hills there may be sleeping colossus.

Additional pages include:

Signs to look out for

Common rock types

How to draw landforms & rocks in an isometric fashion

I wanted to shine a light on this project because I met Luke at Dragonmeet in December '23 and fell in love with the way he thinks about RPGs, graphic design and play/ritual/thinking-the-world in his games!

I can't recommend this project enough and I've been waiting excitedly to support it and see it succeed! It really represents everything I think is special about RPGs and the things I also want to explore in this design space *and art movement* and if you have any interest in TTRPGs beyond the scope of dungeon games, Luke is making some of the freshest and most evocative design you can find in the entire medium.

Everything you see here is directly from the kickstarter. Go back it! I promise you'll be glad you did, there are few more unique and inspiring things you could spend your money on in TTRPGs right now!

[whencyclopedia]

Bayan I

Bayan I (reigned 562/565-602 CE) was a king of the Avars, a confederation of heterogeneous people who migrated from the region of Mongolia, north of China, in 552 CE and came in contact with the Eastern Roman Empire c. 557 CE. Bayan I is considered the greatest king of the Avars for his military and political skills. He not only protected his people from the Gokturks, who pursued them from Mongolia after the fall of the Rouran Empire (known as the Rouran Khaganate) in the east, but he led them in a series of successful campaigns to defeat the Gepids of Pannonia, outwitted the Lombard king, Alboin, for control of the land, and challenged the supremacy of the Eastern Roman Empire. He founded the Avar Empire in the region of Pannonia, establishing his capital at the same spot that Attila the Hun had claimed as his own, and expanded that empire to encompass territory far beyond the original borders of the Pannonia they had first arrived in. After Bayan I's death in 602 CE, the Avar Empire began to decline until it was finally conquered by the Franks in 796 CE, and the Avars ceased to exist as a distinct cultural and political entity.

Bayan I & the Eastern Empire

Bayan I first enters history with the migration of the Avars to the region of the Pontic Grass Steppe (an area corresponding to modern-day Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan) from Central Asia after the fall of the Rouran Empire. They were pursued by their enemies the Gokturks, who had toppled the supremacy of the Rourans in Mongolia and, as refugees, they were seeking a secure homeland they could settle and then defend. The historian Erik Hildinger describes Bayan's initial rise to power following the Avar's migration: "Shortly thereafter, in 565, Bayan ascended the Avar throne as Kaghan, or Great Khan. The Avars were the first to use this term, which would persist thereafter among the steppe peoples. Bayan was the greatest of their leaders" (76).

The historian H.H. Howorth states how "The Avars were at this time led by a chief whom, if we knew more of, we should probably compare with Attila and Genghis Khan. His name was Bayan" (732). Bayan I is the first recorded king of the Avars and, like Attila, was the leader who unified and empowered his people. He raised the Avars from a band of refugees fleeing their oppressor to the dominant people of the region of Pannonia.

Regarding the origin of the Avars and their flight to the west, historian Peter Heather writes:

, and arrived on the outskirts of Europe as political refugees, announcing themselves with an embassy that appeared at Justinian's court in 558. (401)

Although, as Heather claims, "we know more about than about the Huns", we know considerably less about Bayan I than Attila. After leading his people to the west, he almost immediately made contact with the emperor of the Byzantine Empire. Justinian I (482-565 CE) agreed to hire them to fight against other tribes in the region as mercenaries and sent them on their way. The Avars ruthlessly massacred the enemies of Justinian I and expected that their relationship with the empire would continue but, should it not, tried to find a region they could settle in.

Although they were now employed by the powerful Byzantine Empire, they still needed their own homeland where they could feel secure from the pursuing Turks. Bayan I tried to lead his people south of the Danube River but was prevented by the Romans. He then led the Avars north but encountered resistance from the Franks under their king Sigebert I. They continued as nomads in the service of Rome until the death of Justinian in 565 CE. His successor, Justin II (c. 520-578 CE), canceled their contract and, when the Avar embassy asked for permission to cross the southern Danube, it was denied. They again sought to break through to the north but were repelled by Sigebert's army. Bayan I then turned his attention to Pannonia or, according to other sources, was invited to go there by Justin II to displace the Gepids.

Continue reading...

[usafphantom2]

2 June 1958. First flight of the Vought XF8U-3 Crusader III (V-401), serial number 146340. US aircraft developed by Chance Vought as a successor to the successful F-8 Crusader program and as a competitor to the F-4 Phantom II.

@ron_eisele via X

[bugmomwrites]

Strangeness and Charm

(A Leorio x Fem!Autistic!Reader College AU)

Leorio is thrilled to be returning to college in the fall after a trip with his friends to York New, and pleasantly surprised to meet a new pretty face in his classes. Unfortunately for him, you also exist.

Or, it's a wonderful day on the campus, and you are a horrible student.

A/N: This is how I'm coping with chemistry class guys. A neat little story by an autistic girlie for the autistic girlies. It's pretty bare bones and it started as a joke with @bwabys-scenarios. Worth noting I was zooted out of my mind when I began composing the earliest draft, so if you were hoping for the next Odyessy, look elsewhere because I'm writing solely for my own enjoyment and nothing is sacred. If you want to be added to the tag list please let me know, it will give me an extra dopamine molecule to survive the day.

That said, enjoy the ride.

Chapter I: Water & Oil

‘401, 402, 403- Here it is. Why am I just finding out this morning they moved the class to the fourth floor?’

Leorio sighed, glancing at his schedule one last time to confirm that he was, in fact, in the correct place before carefully pushing the door open and marching into his Advanced Chemistry class. It was bad enough showing up about ten minutes late after having missed syllabus week due to a trip, but now it was going to be even more difficult to find a seat. He groaned internally at this, realizing that with the new fall semester the place would be fuller than usual, especially with fresh high school graduates.

‘Of course the place is crawling with freshmen’, he thought to himself. Giving a polite wave to the professor who nodded stiffly before returning to introductions, he turned his attention back to the lecture hall seating, his eyes desperately roving over the sea of people on the risers. There were a few empty ones in front, but when he went to set his books down he was met with a few stinkeyes and a passive aggressive “pack it up Buddy the elf!” Putting his hands up in surrender, Leorio picked up his briefcase again and resumed his search. 

Trying to make one’s way up a flight of bleachers at a game is hard enough, but add in being well over six feet tall, noisy, horrendously awkward, and the last one to show up, of course hundreds of eyes would be burning into you. Leorio wasn’t a stranger to attracting attention when he went out, but damn it can’t a guy just exist in peace?!

Not wanting to be any more disruptive than he already had been, Leorio made his way up, gingerly stepping over limbs and muttering apologies as he found two seats close to the back, opting for the one with more legroom. Finally able to sit after nearly missing his bus, arriving at the wrong building, and sprinting over here only to cause a scene, he felt his blood pressure drop back to normal. Sure, he could feel sweat on his back, but his suit jacket was dark enough to hide what could have been an embarrassing patch.

He must not have been as composed as he tried to convince himself he was, because he was still in a daze when one of the many freshman dug into her bag and held up a metal water bottle as big as his head. He had always heard that eye contact was good when meeting a new person, but was it possible for a person to maintain too much of it? Baggy eyes with thick lashes and circles to match stared into him, as if studying him under a microscope, and he felt himself shrinking into himself despite towering over her. Another moment of loaded silence fell over them before she shook the bottle, the subdued clattering of ice inside bringing him back to earth. He hesitantly thanks her, carefully lifting the heavy object with both hands before unscrewing the top to take a grateful swig.

‘Maybe they’re not all bad. Sure, they’re a little arrogant, but they haven’t been adults for very long either. Besides, I’m only 19, it’s not like I’m much b-’

His eyes shot wide open when he finally registered the familiar burn of a stiff drink on his tongue. And not just some flimsy cocktail either- this was some prohibition-level strength in that bottle! 

Trying frantically to spit it back into the strawless mouth of the lid, he coughed up as much as he possibly could. The girl looked up from the chicken scratch on her binder when he set the bottle back down on the table between them with a dull thud. She had the audacity to raise an eyebrow at him, seemingly indifferent to his plight before shrugging and chugging an alarming amount of booze and backwash at 9am.

Leorio looked on, horrified and making a mental note to avoid her like the plague this coming semester. He had already made enough of a scene today, so he sat uncomfortably in her proximity as the professor droned on about the syllabus, covering the last page of information that was missed on Friday due to time constraints. Nothing seemed to change from last year except for the location, and a few other topics that he had already grown familiar with in the standard level class last semester. As the talking faded into white noise he found himself thinking of how to give this girl a piece of his mind as soon as the bell rung.

“And I hope you’re all comfortable where you are now, because the people at your table will be your lab partner for this week’s assignment! Now that everyone knows what’s to be expected in this class, let’s take some time now to get to know our seatmates better.”

His head swivled around like a deer in the headlights, eyes darting to the professor, to Moonshine Girl, to just behind Moonshine Girl where another woman sat eating some fruit from a tupperware bowl. She appeared to be a little bit older, taller, and much more composed than her slovenly counterpart. Manicured nails pushed a lock of platinum blonde hair out of her face as she gave Leorio a blinding smile, and everything about her screamed perfection. To her left, in between the two of them, Moonshine Girl was currently squeezing a ziploc baggie of soggy fruity pebbles out of a snipped corner and into her gaping maw.

“Sooo my name is Emily, I’m looking forward to working with y”-

“What the hell did you just give me?! I know it wasn’t water in that bottle! You have a lot of explaining to do missy. I don’t know what possessed you to think bringing that was o”-

“Hey, HEY dude calm down. It was an honest mistake.” Moonshine Girl sat up in her chair after leaning back on the legs a little. She shamefully took the bottle out, unscrewing the entire lid and showing them the contents. It was moonshine, all right- and there were little plastic stars filled with water. Reusable ice cubes.

“It was a Labor Day weekend project, I have a few of these giant bottles. I probably should have labeled them better instead of just throwing everything on my countertop.” Well, if Leorio was angry before, he was furious now. He opened his mouth, about to go on a tirade when Emily quietly asked to hold it. Moonshine Girl obliged, passing the container over. Hoping Emily would take it and dump it on the way out of class, Leorio leaned back into his seat when Emily took a sip herself, setting it down with a thumbs up.

“Oh yeah, no that’s definitely not water. It’s not too bad though, maybe you can show me how to make it at some point?”

Leorio watches the exchange, flabbergasted. Moonshine Girl nods excitedly, twisting the lid back on and tucking it back in her bag. “That sounds fun! Oh, right, my name is (name).”

Leorio files the information in his brain away for later, deciding to play nice until the end of class when he could quietly report the incident.

---

“Alright, if we’re going to be seeing a lot more of each other this semester, maybe we should exchange contact info?”, (name) suggested, opening up the contacts app on her phone. Emily's face lit up, popping her phone number in, and then asked (name) to follow up with a quick text to make sure it worked. Sure enough, her phone pinged and Emily sent a little message back.

‘Hey! It’s Emily from chem <3’

Satisfied with the result, Emily goes to put her phone away when Leorio stops her. “Hey wait a minute why can’t I get a pretty girl’s number?!” 

Emily’s smile fades a little, cringing at the blatant flirting attempt before reluctantly punching in her digits. “Don’t forget (name)”, she reminds him, and he sighs. A few taps later, he hits the create contact button and slides the phone across the table when (name) pipes up.

“Wait hang on, I need to test it.” Fuck.

(Name) composes a little message, and almost immediately is greeted with an automated text message reading ‘Thank you for signing up for dinosaur facts! To hear our fact of the day, send YES. To unsubscribe, send STOP.’

Emily looks up at the man, disappointed. It was a good thing (name) made a habit of testing numbers before labeling the contacts, or she might not have caught it. “Come on man, really?” (Name) grimaced a little awkwardly, trying to lighten things up.

“Hey, it’s not so bad, I happen to like dinosaurs thank you very much.”

“That’s not the point- oh my god. Leorio, give her your real number. (name), I have it if he gives you another fake.” And with that, Emily pulls the contact screen up, the numbers mocking Leorio. He can’t lie his way out of it either- not with the blurry peace sign selfie he set as his photo ID. He grumbles, popping it in and sending a text from there before pulling out his own phone with a new message notification on the home screen.

“There you go. Happy? And quit daydrinking, college is no place for people who aren’t serious about their education.”

He walks out, (name) fuming a little as he picks up his jacket off the chair- the heat from running must have gotten too unbearable- and swinging it over his shoulder with one hand, briefcase in the other. The sweat stain that he thought disappeared was very much still there as he padded towards the door unceremoniously. Emily snapped a quick pic, and texted it to (name).

“There's a fitting contact photo”, (name) glanced at the screen hearing Emily’s words, and chuckled. The massive dark patch on his white shirt was blurry, but still visible to the naked eye. Typing into the first name section of her contacts and adding the photo, she flipped the screen around to show Emily her handiwork.

‘PANGEA’

“Ha! Yeah it does kind of look like the supercontinent.” Emily chuckled to herself, smiling as the two of them left the class. “And he looks to be as old as it too.” While (name) was thrilled to have finally made a friend in college, she prayed to every deity that there was more to this Leorio guy beneath the surface, otherwise, it would be a very long year.

---

Taglist:

@bwabys-scenarios

[lonestarflight]

Vehicle comparisons of Saturn I (Block II variant), Saturn V Lunar Logistic Vehicle, RIFT (Reactor In-flight Test), Saturn V Apollo and Saturn V with the S-N Nuclear powered stage.

NASA USAF PHOTO LOC 63C-401

Date: February 27, 1963

NARA: 201774731

[howtowhumpyourhiccup]

Another Kind of Prison

Summary: Written for AI-less Whumptober 2023 Day 3. Set during Httyd 1. When Hiccup isn’t around. The cove is just another prison.

Warning: /

Rating: General

Characters: Toothless, Hiccup (mentioned)

Pairing: /

Words: 401

Fandom: How to Train Your Dragon

Prompt: Isolation

Whumpee: Toothless

Author’s Notes: Some Toothless whump for this AI-less Whumptober! (◡‿◡✿)

Enjoy!

@ailesswhumptober

XOXOX

All Toothless wants is for Hiccup to stay for a little while longer when he visits. The boy came into his life, turned it upside down, and now he won’t even do him the joy of staying.

He always comes back either with the rising sun or when the sun is at its peak. He’ll have improved the tailfin or the saddle by then and they’ll practice flying together. They’ll play, explore the island together and Toothless knows this. Yet… He feels so lonely whenever Hiccup leaves.

By now, the yellow glow of another dawn has already turned into shades of blue. There is barely a cloud today, perfect for flying and so he can’t wait for Hiccup to finally arrive. This just happens to be one of those days when he’s late and the dragon never knows why.

He lies by the pond, waiting for his friend to come. He watches the fish swim, he can’t catch them as efficiently without full control of his flight. It’s a dragon’s ability to dive into the water that gets them the fish they need. He watches birds fly overhead, aching that he can’t be in the sky that’s rightfully his when even tiny creatures like them can call it their own. Do they even know the kingdom they inhabit? There are also barely any dragons that fly over this island.

After years of being stuck in that volcano, forced to serve a cruel queen, he thought he would be sick of other dragons. Until a little human fledgling took him down, he would either be in some kind of cramped corner afraid to make the queen angry or he would be flying in a cramped pack afraid of making the queen angry on the way home. There was never any space, no rest, no way to breathe, just constant fear.

Then Hiccup came and suddenly there was freedom. No more cruel queen, but no more dragons either.

But it has become clear to Toothless that Hiccup isn’t free. He’s stuck with that stupid village of his, a friend of dragons stuck amongst dragon killers. He can’t stay with Toothless and keep him from getting lonely at night, when a Night Fury is supposed to be awake.

Toothless can’t fly, he has no dragons around, Hiccup can’t be with him. And so he’s forced to be alone, stuck inside another kind of prison.

[imeverywoman420]

when you ask the eastern airlines captain sitting in the left aisle if hes on the manifest and he just gives you that flight 401 stare

[theurbanologist]

Walt Whitman And His Window

It is 10:50AM on a recent Friday morning and I'm standing in front of the wooden-frame house at 330 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard in Camden, New Jersey.

It's not as hot as you might think it'd be on a late August day in this part of the United States, but it's hot enough for me.

This generally undistinguished home was Walt Whitman's last residence and the only home he owned outright. When Whitman moved in during the spring of 1884, he wrote his friend Anne Gilchrist and informed her "I have moved into a little old shanty of my own." He would live here until he passed away in the upstairs bedroom on March 26, 1892.

As I learn on my tour, Whitman was not exactly in the best of health in his later years. Whitman suffered a serious stroke in 1873 and was largely confined to his bed during most of his time living at this residence. He was fortunate enough to have several tenants assist him during these years, along with the almost constant companionship of Mary Davis, a nearby widow who moved in to assist him, bringing a veritable menagerie of pets with her.

Making our way through the home, the guide, a retired National Park Service Ranger, informs our tiny tour group that Whitman had to be brought up and down the stairs multiple times a day by Mary for different medical treatments. His one constant request was that he be brought downstairs so he could look out the parlor window to see the "constant cacophony of people going about their business"

As you probably know, there were no mobile apps during the 1880s.

If you wanted something, you had to physically go out and get it---a strenuous requirement, indeed.

For someone so closely associated with what I like to call "sensual pastoralism", I found it a bit unusual that Whitman in his later years ended up being a city mouse. Sure, he had lived in Brooklyn for years (the first proto-hipster?) but that was before the muscular era of exponential industrial urbanism had made Brooklyn look and feel the way it did when it was annexed to the rest of Zoo York City in 1898.

What Whitman experienced from his window is one of the joys that most people experience from the urban condition: the ability to see what people do in close proximity to each other with great frequency, dare I say WITH A MILLION DIFFERENT PERMUTATIONS.

His window onto what is now Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard was in fact, his literal window into this world.

To use a contemporary phrase to describe a past condition or state of being, Whitman was truly able to "age in place".

We should all be so lucky.

Some related odds and ends:

I've always loved the Caedmon Records poetry albums. This one features Ed Begley reading some of Whitman's works, including "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry"

Camden, like most older American cities, has been mightily transformed by a host of processes over the past 75 plus years (residential red-lining, middle class flight, racism, etc). This feature from the folks at Segregation by Design visualizes some of those changes.

A team of scholars continues to work on the Black Camden Oral History project which brings together some compelling interviews and other materials detailing the Black Power Movement at the Rutgers University-Camden campus and in the broader community.

I took the 401 bus from the Water Rand Transportation Center to try one of the (cheese) steaks at Donkey's Place about a mile and a half from the Whitman home. Hot shredded beef with American cheese never tasted so good, let me tell you. Sitting at the bar was the place to be as people drank Donkey shots (don't ask) and talked about heading to the (Jersey) shore later in the day.

[zee-man-chatter]

To put this in context, Sikh extremist bombed an Air Canada 182 passenger jet bound for India. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/air-india-flight-182-bombing

During Covid, Sikh's raised money here in Canada to send over to India for their farmer's strike against Modi during the harshest lockdowns. Indian Police officers died during the farmers protests over in India, but Trudeau did nothing to stop the fundraisers here or the money going to India, but he did lock up the peaceful Trucker's protest participants in Ottawa.

For all his tough talk to Russia, Canada has starved it's military into the ground, if he's talking tough on the world stage, he doesn't have a leg to stand on.

Sikhs regularly fly banners on the 401 to raise awareness for their homeland, as they want to secede from India. If they're that involved in Indian politics, can anyone seriously think these people are invested emotionally to be Canadians first or assimilate? So Trudeau has blown his own credibility and Canada's too with India. Probably time for him to go on the magical, pompous un-reality tour with Prince Harry, as neither of them seem to be listening to others or living in reality.

[autoneurotic]

Apollo Control, Houston, 2 minutes 50 seconds from time of L.O.S. Now our distance away from the Moon 460 nautical miles, velocity 7417 feet per second. Here in Mission Control, we're standing by, there's uh certainly a great deal of anxiety at this moment. We acquire at 36 minutes, so at 68 hours 55 minutes, continuing to monitor, this is Apollo Control. So at this time we're gonna stand by and continue to monitor the loops here in Mission Control for our 'go'/'no-go' decision.

1 minute 30 seconds away now from Loss Of Signal. Our distance away from the Moon now 401 nautical miles, velocity reading 7535, as we continue with this flight of Apollo 8

Apollo 8, Houston, 1 minute to L.O.S., all systems go—

Our flight control team in Mission Control here has examined the data and it looks good, so we have a combined crew-ground decision, we are 'go', repeat 'go', for lunar orbit insertion 1

Apollo 8, 10 seconds to go, you're 'go' all the way

Roger

Thanks a lot, troops, we'll see you on the other side….

We've had, uh, Loss Of Signal with Apollo 8, at 68 hours 58 minutes 45 seconds, we will watch with continuing interest the A.O.S. Clock here in Mission Control.

They're travelling over the back side of the Moon now, our velocity reading here 7777 feet per second…now we are in our period of the longest wait…

Continuing to monitor, this is Apollo Control, Houston.

Apollo Control, Houston, we've acquired signal but no voice contact yet, we're standing by…we're looking at engine data and it looks good; tank pressure's looking good.

Apollo 8, Apollo 8, this is Houston, Houston over?

Roger, Houston, we read you loud and clear. How do you read us?

Right, we've got it, we've got it…Apollo 8 now in lunar orbit; there's a cheer in this room. This is Apollo Control, Houston, switching now to the voice of Jim Lovell, by 60.5. Good to hear your voice…The unmanned Lunar Orbiter spacecraft traversed the moon perhaps over 10, 000 times, but this is the first that a man aboard reported to his compatriots here on Earth…

[cloudybrain-fr]

here's a list of all the things I have so far discovered for Flight Rising's April Fool's event!

Starting with: the gravel needed for the Polar Bear Ice Castle "scene". You need 401, rather than a nice round number, because it references the date using the US format: 401 = 4/01, being the date of April Fool's Day!

Continuing from that, the error code you receive when trying to trade a discontinued item for gravel is Error 4-01, further hammering that home :3

The event itself ends on 4/04... scene not found?

The Deep Space "scene" has a faint sad face on it :(

The banner used in the forum announcement has the file name of "the alliteration got out of control". This is probably an old one if it's been used for past announcements. idk, I'm new!

feel free to add anything I've missed, I love finding out funky little details. and happy april fools day 🤡🎉