#i will also say that one piece is not AS thorough a Boat Story as it might look from the premise just on account of the cartoonish qualities | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

thetruearchmagos · 11 days ago

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So-

Disclaimer, I couldn't be further away from a marine engineer than I am, so buy a salt mine before reading this.

It's been a few days, and I can safely say I know a helluva lot more about the ship procurement process now than I did before I started this little odyssey.

Enough, kind of, to say that the premise of the question is a little off the mark. You see, there is a massive difference between a vessel being 'already tested enough to put people in it' and finding out 'basic things like, does it work, how fast can it go, is it going to explode', and the US Navy at least (whose sources I'm mostly drawing from here) has a long and rigorous process to make sure the ships it commissions into service 'work'.

This much stuff, in fact. And if you note that it specifies 'conventional propulsion' in this chart, that's because ever since the 'Father of the Nuclear Navy' Admiral Hyman G. 'GOAT' Rickover first established the obscenely strict nuclear safety protocols of the USN, the service has concocted some obscenely thorough methods to maintain their 100% nuclear accident free reputation. Of course, Jayce doesn't have 'the cumulative decades of institutional knowledge of the largest Navy on earth' at his disposal, so I won't trouble us with those details (also I have no idea where to find them). All of this is to say, that such is the complex nature of shipbuilding that even the tests needed to make sure a ship 'works', 'moves', and 'won't immediately catastrophically explode' need to take place over multiple stages, in multiple places, and with a variety of people.

Anyhow, back to the main point of this.

The story as far as I've cared to look into it starts at the 'launching' stage, which marks the first a vessel's hull touches the water. Here's a video of a nuclear submarine getting 'launched' for an idea of what it looks like.

youtube

There's a few things to note even at this stage, some of which are evident in the video. First of all, even though the hull of the boat is obviously water tight enough to float (something which itself gets tested before this point) and there some people aboard it, the submarine at this stage isn't even moving under its own power. This is because it can't.

In fact, it can't do much. Something I learned during this research was that ships very rarely go from laying down the keel to full operational functionality in the same place. Instead, while the bare hull is constructed in one place, the infrastructure, personnel, and resources needed for the next stage are located elsewhere. A launched ship is then removed from its original construction yard, opening up space for the next one, and towed by tugs to another dock for work to continue.

Already, a vessel at this stage would've already gone through at least one major test, and plenty more await it in its new dock.

At this point (I think), the US Navy breaks down the tests that their builders are to conduct into no less than seven stages, which sequentially assess every single piece of technology that goes into a warship, from power plants to toilets (p.s., if you wanna be really nautical they're called 'heads' on boats, might add some flavour).

The reason it takes this long is that the various 'systems' of a ship are exactly that, each comprised of numerous pieces of distinct equipment working with each other across the length and breadth of the vessel, which itself needs all of those very systems to talk nicely with each other.

To summarise these stages, tests are conducted; 1) on individual components prior to them being put aboard the ship, 2) on these components once they've been mounted but not used, 3) by using them individually, 4) on a whole system independent from others, 5) with multiple independent systems running simultaneously, and 6) in 'special tests' the source fails to really describe in much detail.

The seventh round of tests, and the last one of this stage, are called 'trials test', and covers all equipment tests taking place at sea. Yep, everything else I've just listed before that takes place while the vessel's still in dock.

More or less after some of these tests are done (kind of, I think?), the vessel will begin a series of on shore and at sea trials to put it, its equipment, and its crew through their paces.

(A theme you'll note here is that navies hate doing things at sea unless they've already tried to do something kinda like it on shore; which, like most of their apparently banal safety checks, makes sense when you consider these things cost hundreds of millions of dollars.)

Before a vessel even puts to sea properly, a series of 'dock trials' are carried out, whose primary purpose is to make sure that the physical structure and components of a vessel will be able to go to sea safely. Then, various rehearsals are carried out by both 'trial crews' hired by the shipbuilder and Navy sailors part of the eventual actual crew of the vessel, which try and simulate the actual tasks they'd engage in when they go to sea 'for real'. This last event is apparently called a 'fast cruise'. As my source puts it;

In particular, all required navigational equipment shall be tested. The trial rehearsal should be conducted with personnel who will operate the equipment at sea. The purpose of the trial rehearsal is to validate allowed time and sequencing for the tests and to avoid surprises during sea trials.

Soon after a ship completes its 'fast cruise', it begins its first sea trials, taking it out into open water for the first time. As you can see from the blurb above, in the US, where most Naval shipbuilders are private concerns, the first stage of at sea trials is conducted by the yard itself. This stage of 'builder's trials' seeks to make sure that the physical vessel is in a good enough condition to be handed over to the Navy, which often means demonstrating every single minute system aboard and fixing anything that breaks while they still can.

BT is necessary for the proper demonstration of electronics installations, such as air search radar, fire control tracking, search and listening sonar, and similar equipment that require a land-free area and deep water in which to operate. In short, all tests and demonstrations that cannot be performed dockside are accomplished during BT.

Alongside these efforts by the shipbuilders, Navy inspectors will remain aboard across the whole duration of the Builder's Trials to keep an eye on things, including the Captain-to-be and senior officers in the vessel's future crew.

Still, the Navy, for some reason, doesn't trust the results of a Builder's Trial alone to say whether or not a vessel is in a good enough state. The next step of sea trials is the Acceptance Trials, which as far as I can tell involves activities and tests similar to those of the BT but carried out by actual Navy sailors. Which might seem redundant, but keep in mind that a builder's crews might have a familiarity with a ship that won't be replicated by a Navy crew, which in the maritime world can count for a lot in terms of performance. So, it's important for the Navy to know it's getting its money's worth at this late stage of the shipbuilding process, just as it's important for the builders to trial the ship at sea themselves while they still get to work on it.

[If it looks like I'm skimming through the rest of this stuff no it doesn't you're lying!]

Once the acceptance trials have been satisfactorily concluded and all defects corrected by the builder, the vessel is, finally, formally 'delivered' to the Navy and becomes official Navy property. The ship is first inspected for 'habitability', and is loaded with various supplies and materiel. The Navy crew 'moves in' properly, and a final round of 'shakedown' trials is carried out by the crew solely.

This long, tortuous, thorough journey finally comes to end with the 'commissioning' of the warship. With this, the ship is formally inducted into the active service of its Navy, and my story here comes to a close.

---

In summary, the process of building and evaluating a ship of war is a lot more involved and complex than a binary question of 'does work, doesn't work'. Effectively, there are stark differences between;

1. Being able to float, and being seaworthy, not to mention dive worthy.

2. Having individual equipment work, and their whole systems work.

3. Having individual systems working, and multiple or all systems being able to function, at the same time, at their desired effectiveness.

4. Having everything work well in the hands of engineers or in controlled environments, and in those of the crews or in harsher environments.

5. Everything working effectively enough not to sink out right, and working well enough to be combat effective.

Caveats And Some Notes

Now, here're a few things I decided I should say.

Firstly, I am a very dumb person, such that even this simplification is probably wrong in ways I couldn't even imagine. In my defence, I did do this over the course of, like, two or three days.

Also, on a technical note, but while I describe a lot of tests as sequential the fact is that sometimes you just can't correct something once you've found it. This means a ship's trial schedule might continue with some components 'out of order', as long as that being the case isn't too risky at the next stage. Really, there's a lot of overlap and grey area I've just left out, as well as anything involving anyone signing forms and documents. Thank me.

Finally is the question of relevance. I've decided to front load a tonne of stuff and let you use it however you want, but from a writing and a 'technical' perspective large tracks of this will probably not be useful outside of whatever 'vibes' it might give surrounding the whole maritime way of life. Quite aside from the fact that there's no need to go into this much detail (the writing side), from a worldbuilding perspective the very nature of Noxus (which, uhh, I know nothing about), its military, and its society may make one part or another of this utterly non-applicable. Things like an enduring submarine-construction industrial base may or may not be present, for one, which could affect how they manage to go about building Jayce's revolutionary boat. I don't know how any of this will pan out for you, but it might be worth considering, and a future chat.

With that... god I need breakfast right now

This whole submarine chat's really gotten my engine running, so I hope you don't mind if I pop in here to see if you maybe have any more questions on anything at all that I could help with 👀

So I've been reading up on some submarines like USS Thresher and such and the article kept talking about testing. For the boat they already built. What tests would be going on in a submarine that presumably is already tested enough to put people in it? What would they be testing? After basic things like, does it work, how fast can it go, is it going to explode, what else is there?

#worldbuilding #worldbuilding resource #writeblr

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beps-brainrot · 2 years ago

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Any good fanfics you read recently? Can be just Sun & Moon, or SAMS related. Just braindump about some works so that I can dash and read them plz

Your art is gorgeous btw just thought I’d let u know

Ahh thank you, thank you! That's so nice of you to say, and I really appreciate it<3 Unfortunately, I haven't read many DCA fics, and even more unfortunate than that is I haven't been keeping up with the ones that I'm in the middle of. I'm also wanting to read more fics, so if anyone has any that they want to share about, please feel free to! Still, I'll take the opportunity to ramble a bit.

The most recent fics I've read: Missions Under the Sun by the wonderful and thorough @chaotikanvas. This is a fic based on @lavenoon's Accidentally Undercover AU, and it's such a satisfying read. You get to follow Sun's point of view as he finds himself in the frustrating predicament of being in love with you, his coworker, which he can't breach many boundaries with due to the nature of your jobs. It's such a perfect fic of pining with a capital P that portrays Sun's thoughts and feelings in an indescribably real way. Even if you aren't familiar with Lavenoon's story, this fic is still easy to understand and enjoy. And! As I understand it, Lavenoon has many things to read up on too. If Kanvas' piece is any indication, their stories are captivating and well worth a check out.

Thread Carefully also by Chaotikanvas. This is a red string of fate AU where fate has decided to screw over the poor reader. Basically, the reader has a form of automatonophobia, the fear of animatronics, and is tied to the DCA by the red string of fate. Neither parties can stray too far away from each other without the red string preventing them from leaving. This sets up the exploration of an interesting dynamic between the Attendants and the reader as they have to make do with their new and permanent(?) situation. The way the reader's deep distress and anxiety is portrayed is perfect as Kanvas has an excellent way of detailing a character's introspection. Right now, only one chapter is available, but in my opinion it's enough to hook you and get you invested in what's to come.

Fics I've fallen behind on and am sure you know about: Holler If You Need Us by the incredible @castercassette. It's the wild west, and Sun and Moon are outlaws who run circles around you, the Sheriff. What more could you want? You don't know you need it until you see it, and my love for Caster's work can never be fully expressed.

Solar Lunacy by the imaginative @bamsara. The favorite slow burn with a compelling story! Need I say more about it?

Celestial Omens also by Bamsara. "Get a boat," they said. "It'll be fun," they said.

Twin Animatronics With Too Much Time On Their Hands by the awesome @twinanimatronics. The longest 24 hours you'll ever experience. A very hurty hurt/comfort fic that's eventually greatly rewarding.

Lofi Beats to Capture Children to by the brilliant and meticulous @dana-chan-the-control-brain. Sun and Moon's turbulent relationship in this can be quite upsetting especially if you're like me, someone who only desires fluff and wholesomeness for the boys. However, Dana's characters and intricately woven story are so good that simply reading it is its own reward.

I Can't Handle it also by Dana-chan. A spin off fic about Dana's OC from Lofi and Twin Animatronics, Ted, otherwise known as Dadler. He is my favorite wet sandwich of a person. I can't help but resonate with his deep self-loathing and melancholy. I miss him. I seriously need to catch up on these fics.

#if i got dadler's name wrong i'll scream #i'm terrible i haven't read ANY sams fic waaahh #though my interest is piqued by your sams fic sinistershepherd👀#sorry this is not a super helpful answer fahkjsksaj #beps ask #i think i've overthought all this

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literatehiss · 4 years ago

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Promising Futures

Read on AO3 here

Peter and Simon interact with the children in their lives. It was inevitable really. If you adopted a lot of people of varying ages, eventually one of them was either going to already have children, or would have kids after he had adopted them into the Fairchilds. Which meant that Simon had an awful lot of “grandchildren”.

He sipped on a Sangria as dawn began to break, the sun rising over the mountaintops that surrounded the Fairchild mansion. He hummed in acknowledgement as one of the fine young men he had pulled into the family, stumbled downstairs for a coffee and a half-toasted piece of bread. He was part of their space-faring efforts which meant a lot of long nights that Simon was very glad he had no part of. Clinging to the man’s leg was scrawny looking child whose favourite thing in the world was to be flung around and onto soft surfaces at high speed, a chore Simon was always happy to fulfil. And with their appearance, it signalled the start of the only reason Simon ever came back to the mansion for anything more that to store the things he collected.

A veritable army of children and young teenagers would scarf down their breakfast and leave their parents and their boring conversations to go spend time with “grandpa” Simon. He rarely came home and, between other avatars and his victims, he didn’t often spend time with people who wanted to be around him. The youngest ones in particular, who were still getting the hang of their motor skills and so greatly enjoyed being thrown around, were a particular favourite of his. Children also had a peculiar enjoyment of terrible, terrible stories and half of his antics with the people he terrorised were just so he had a fun story for the kids. With one child hanging off his arm, Simon started telling the children the tale of a young man, his mother, and a journey up a mountain.

Peter woke up to the sound of his wonderful privacy and peace being interrupted by the door of his bedroom being cracked open slightly. He glared at the small form who had decided to bother him, the child squeaking in fear and panic before running away. He groaned and turned back over, intending to sleep a little bit longer.

Knock knock.

Peter swore violently at the door and scowled at his sister’s laugh as it came through the door.

Elias had changed the damn locks, the Tundra was having repairs done and he just couldn’t be doing with Moorland House unless he was summoned there, so the only other option was someone who had come into his life very recently.

Forty years after he had last seen her; his older sister, Lizzie, had tracked him down and invited herself into his life. She had been one of the ones who had left the family and the sounds of happy children was not a natural sound to Peter’s ears. But she was happy to have him stay over for as long as he liked and was understanding enough about his more “introverted nature”, as she had put it.

He rolled out of bed, cracked open the window and packed a pipe, deciding not to leave the room until he had inhaled enough nicotine to make him feel less homicidal.

Simon walked through the mansion, one of the pint sized army on his shoulders as he lead the procession through the halls. He was very nonchalant as he walked passed the swimming pool, before he chucked the child on his shoulders into the water. He was surrounded by laughter and cheering as the child crawled out of the pool, clothes sopping wet. A wide grin on her face.

He couldn’t help but sigh. The adults, the avatars that he actually brought into the family, had a more detailed and thorough understanding of their patron, but they just lost the joy of it all. An adult sensibility causing them to see it as a duty, an enjoyable duty, but not something they sought out for their won enjoyment. They found joy in the screams and fear, which was valid, he admitted, so did he, but they lost the sheer exhilaration of falling. The feeling of the wind rushing through your hair and your breath catching in your throat. The children though, they delighted in their own fear, in the sensation of it all and he couldn’t help but be charmed by it.

Peter accepted the cup of coffee from his sister gratefully, trying to ignore the gaggle of children that were peering at him from the doorway. Their mother had firmly told them to leave their “Uncle Peter” alone. Which obviously did nothing but make them more curious. The oldest waited until their mother left for the bathroom before creeping up to the kitchen counter.

“Hello”

Peter gave her a dead eyed stare.

“Are you mummy’s brother?”

Peter’s glare didn’t subside but he gave an affirmative hum. Better to answer their questions and get rid of them quicker.

“Why have we never met you before then?”

Peter considered his answer more than he would usually think about what he said. The honest answer, that he thought the rest of the family had killed her off secretly, would likely not go down well. Nor would, a second true option, that he had little to no interest in their lives. He grunted, far too tired to bother with his normal false cheer. Peter had never spent time around children and so didn’t realise that answering a child’s questions just invited more questions.

Elias was similar if he thought about it.

“I’m busy.”

“What do you do?”

“Ship Captain.”

A chorus of “oooh’s” from the three children.

“Do you have a ship?”

“Obviously.”

“Is it big?”

“Very”

“Can we see it?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Dangerous. You’re mum will be upset with me. Don’t want to deal with that.”

“Why not?

“I don’t like talking to people.”

“You’re talking to us?”

“I wish I wasn’t.”

That shut them up for a moment and they huddled on the other side of the kitchen. One of them ran off while the others stared at him. Peter wondered if he could sleep in the Lonely until either the Tundra was fixed or Elias calmed down.

It was more likely that he would suddenly reject the Lonely than Elias forgive him quite that quickly. He knew he could expect another three months minimum before the man even considered getting over himself. The child that had run off came back with something behind her back.

One of the brats, the young lad, one of the twins, broke away from his sisters and came back over, Peter didn’t bother restraining his annoyed sigh.

“Do you have any kids?”

“God I hope not.”

“Is that a no?”

“It’s a ‘Probably not’, my husband might have something to say about it if he found out I did.” he suddenly realised he had revealed too much, and he had said it just as his sister entered the room again. He groaned internally at the thought of the second round of questioning he was bound to receive once the brats went to bed. He saw fog start to curl at the kitchen window at his longing for the cold embrace of his domain. His sister refilled his coffee mug before leaving him to his fate as the children approached. The eldest seemed to be at least attempting to restrain her two younger siblings. As soon as their mother passed the threshold of the door, he was peppered with rapid fire questions.

“Husband? What’s his name? Is he nice? Is he also old? Can we meet him? What does he do?” Peter took a moment to work out what they were saying before answering in turn.

“Yes. Elias, sometimes. No. Yes. No. Meddling in other people’s business.”

The eldest opened her mouth to ask another question and Peter growled at her in irritation. He saw her mouth “sometimes?” with obvious confusion. Peter took a long sip of his coffee and sighed, already tired of this and he’d only been there a day.

Simon picked one of his grandchildren up and threw her high into the air, he was scream-laughing as he came back down, to only the briefest glance over from the boy’s father. Most of the children had scattered to the far reaches of the house by now, only a handful staying behind. Just the child clambering over him and a pair reading a book on space. They were looking with targetted interest at the pages that were just made up of huge pictures of the stars. One of them placed their hand on the page and looked up at him with unrestrained excitement.

“Can we go there one day?” they said, tapping the picture of the stars. He laughed and patter them on the head as he stood up.

“Hopefully. If I get my way, definitely.”

He flipped the child clinging to his arm over so he hung from his arm, face going an alarming shade of red. All this time with his family was making him feel nostalgic.

He pulled out his phone and shot off a text to Peter.

Plukas 11:42

How is it going? Did you find somewhere to stay? I’m just hanging around

His sister had dragged the oldest off to some club, he didn’t know, he wasn’t listening, so he finally had some time alone as the younger two were too afraid to come up to him without their oldest sister their to “protect” them. Though the thought was laughable. If he intended them any harm, they would already be fading away in the Lonely. He could hear them crashing and tinkering with something and the sound of liquid going down the drain in the other room and if he was a responsible adult he would know that quiet children are children that are up to something. Luckily for the twins, he didn’t know that and so they were left to their crafting.

He was lying on the couch in quiet bliss when he felt his personal bubble being intruded upon. He pried open an eye and groaned at the sight of them for the second time that day.

“What.” he said flatly. They shuffled nervously before presenting him with something.

It was meant to be a ship in a bottle. And there was a ship. And it was in a bottle.

To be precise it was a plastic boat from some sort of kids play set and the bottle was a very obviously recently emptied bottle of wine. The bottle which he was sure his sister was going to be overjoyed that her kids had probably poured the contents of down the sink. The bottle was also cracked and glued back together, the kids not knowing how to do it properly. Not that they could, he realised, when they were using a solid plastic boat. He held it in his hands. It was, objectively, utter trash and it belonged in the rubbish bin.

He cracked a smile.

“Good job.”

The kids giggled and ran off, leaving him and the bottle alone. He felt his phone buzz, seeing a message from Simon. He typed in his reply, giving a quiet laugh, before returning to his nap, his gift sat on the table next to his head.

simon 11:49

I’m decent, not too much company, there was some good wine

#Peter Lukas #Simon Fairchild #NaNo 2020

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patrickstargang · 5 years ago

Text

To Heal (Shadow of Kyoshi fic)

Chapter 1: The Other Side of Peace

Chapter 2: Master and Student

Chapter 3: A Cause for Celebration

Chapter 4: Taking Off The Mask

Chapter 5: Call to Action

Epilogue

Kirima found herself bending the water coming out of the cracks of the ceiling, trying to add new drops to the shape she was precariously creating. It was a way to pass the time while everyone waited for Hei-ran to show up. Wong tried copying Kirima by collecting floating dust, which was plentiful at the estate’s entrance. It was one of the bigger rooms in the entire complex, which would be more lively with the usual maids doing their work but now appeared like dead space.

Kyoshi was off to the side of the room, her anxiousness stood out among the other bored members of the Flying Opera Company. Out of all of them, she was the one waiting for Hei-ran’s arrival with the most anticipation. Though it didn’t feel like anticipation, more like dread. Dread at having to talk to Hei-ran again but also dread for what Atuat’s diagnosis would be once she finally sat down with Rangi. Kyoshi already took her back to the infirmary since they would be showing up soon, but time kept making the tension of the wait more palpable. The thoughts came running back into her head, so she tried to create a distraction for herself.

Kyoshi saw a puddle created from the rain and tried to bend it. It began to move up in the air for a few moments but limply came back down to the ground. She attempted to move it again but it only yielded the same results. Her fingers began to strain. Something was wrong. She should have easily bent a puddle of this size like it was nothing. Why was it refusing to bend now?

Kirima continued to gather water droplets, oblivious to Kyoshi’s struggle. “So when is the old grouch showing up, we’ve been waiting for hours.”

Wong shrugged, his dust pile along with him. “Maybe they got caught in…..boat traffic?”

Kirima carelessly let the water formation out of the air, splashing into the ground. She pushed her hair back and let out an air of frustration. “Well, I guess its no harm waiting for another few hours,” she spoke sarcastically, more than what was usual for her. “Who knows, maybe she’ll show up busting through those doors right no-”

Before she could finish her sentence, the doors busted open. Everyone in the room flinched in surprise, Wong accidentally flinging his floating dust pile right into his face. At the open doorway stood an ominous silhouette, with a smaller less intimidating silhouette standing behind it. The silhouettes revealed themselves to be Hei-ran and Ataut, both drenched from the rain. Hei-ran looked like she was possessed by the spirit of fear and anger, revealed by her strained stance and a face that could instill terror into the strongest warrior. Atuat smiled and waved at everyone.

Hei-ran looked as though she were about to speak, a very terrifying concept for everyone in the room. Instead, she quickly got out her chalkboard and began writing furiously. After only a few seconds she turned the board around for everyone to see.

“WHERE IS SHE!?”

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

Kyoshi could hear part of the one-way argument outside the infirmary. It was hard to hear what was going on since Hei-ran’s scribbling sometimes got louder than Rangi. She barely heard any of what was said except for one key thing: “It wasn’t her fault.”

Her heart sinks. There could be a lot of implications to that, even with context. Kyoshi slumped down on one of the nearby benches, a feeling of defeat across her face. She knew she was done for. Kyoshi promised to protect her daughter with everything she had, and even then she slipped up. She anticipated the berating, being called a menace to her daughter that only puts her in danger.

As those thoughts began arising, she noticed another nearby puddle. She breathed in, reached her hand out, and tried again. The water wouldn’t even budge this time. It felt like hitting a liquid wall, it was impossible and yet it was happening. Her frustration got the better of her as she slammed her fist into the other side of the wooden bench, leaving a massive hole. It took a moment for her to realize what she did. She grimaced while trying to flatten the fragments of the wooden plank back into place. Then she heard the infirmary door open.

Hei-ran appeared from around the corner. She took a look at Kyoshi, then the other side of the bench. She decided standing was fine. They both sat (or in Hei-ran’s case, stood) in silence for many moments.

Kyoshi tried to speak before Hei-ran sped through an entire piece of chalk.

“Before you say anything, Rangi told me the whole story. Including the part where you saved her.”

Kyoshi slowly glanced down at the bottom of the chalkboard.

“And I’m sorry about Yun, you did the right thing.”

That name still opened up wounds for Kyoshi. Even now it was hard for her to accept everything that had happened, that it was now all in the past. Her friend was gone. He was gone a long time ago.

She felt a pat from Hei-ran on her shoulder. She seemed to understand the pain Kyoshi was feeling now, since Yun was also her student. Hei-ran wasn’t one for emotions so something like this meant she was serious. For the years that Kyoshi has known Rangi’s mother, this felt like the most sincere gesture she’s given to her.

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

Kyoshi decided to go back to her work as Atuat was starting her checkup on Rangi. When she returned to her workspace, she found Jinpa had left her a pile of letters. Most of them were from diplomats across the Four Nations inviting her to visit their towns and villages. Most of them she would have to decline since her main priority was the situation with Fire Lord Zoryu.

But her mind kept drifting back to Rangi. She was reading the notes but not processing them. Her focus was off, her mind was on other worrying things.

Jinpa came into the room, carrying another sack full of letters and invitations. Kyoshi broke her waning attention on her work, only to grimace at the approaching pile. “Where are all these letters coming from?”

“Well, most of these were from the hideout in Ba Sing Se. We’re just finally getting them sent back here. Sorry if it's a bit…..excessive.”

Kyoshi let out a long sigh as she put down the paper she was holding. “It’s probably for the best, I needed to get this all sorted out anyways. How much more is there?”

“Oh, only five.”

“Five more letters?”

“Oh, no…..five more crates of letters.”

Kyoshi gave Jinpa a piercing stare, one that showed little emotion except for slight annoyance. Jinpa awkwardly smiled tip-toeing backward out of the room.

“I-I’ll be back,” Jinpa pointed his thumb down the hall. “With more…..” He finally exited the doorway.

Kyoshi breathed through her nose and looked back down at the table. She noticed that it was covered in a blanket of documents and invitations. And this wasn’t all of what she had to look through today.

She decided to take a break. Kyoshi began walking down the halls of the estate, heading to the infirmary. While Zoryu was her top priority as the Avatar, Rangi’s health became her top personal priority.

Kyoshi passed by Hei-ran, who was sleeping on the bench that she put a hole through. She was sleeping, but in reality, it looked more like a stiffly adjusted power nap. It must have been the equivalent of sleeping for a military official. She quietly snuck her past the terrifying woman, making it to the infirmary doors before Atuat opened them up.

Kyoshi stopped in her tracks, moving out of the way so Atuat could get some space. She quietly closed the doors and wiped a bit of sweat from her brow.

Kyoshi slightly raised her hand. “So how is sh-”

Atuat put a finger against her lips, signaling for Kyoshi to lower her voice. Kyoshi hunched down and grimaced, not realizing how loud she said that.

“Sorry” she whispered.

“It’s alright kiddo. She's sleeping right now but should be back up in about an hour.”

“I’m surprised how quick it was.”

“Well, when ya know what your doing the process is pretty simple.” She grinned with the same kind of arrogant flair that Rangi would give off.

But that only reminded Kyoshi about the most pressing question. She struggled to come up with the words. She lowered her head, she couldn’t stand to see the sympathetic looks if her worst suspicions come true.

“....Sifu Atuat.” Her voice was shaking before she could even ask.

“Yes sweetie?”

“There's just one more question I have. About her injury. When I first healed her, I wasn’t sure if there was any permanent internal damage. Later on, I had a suspicion that it might be more serious than that, because of how deep the spear had gone in and the chance of infection. Sifu Atuat…..is she going to die?”

The brief period of silence made the wait worse. Kyoshi closed her eyes, her hands turning into fists waiting for the dreadful reply. She had to prepare herself for her worst nightmare to become her reality.

“Nope.”

Kyoshi’s eye shot open. She unbowed her head, her face frozen with confusion.

Atuat could read her confusion as clearly as Hei-ran’s chalkboard. “Oh believe me, I was shocked too. Considering how you described the injury, I thought it would be much more serious. But I made a thorough check and there wasn’t a single puncture to any of her vital organs, or any organs really. To be honest, it doesn’t make much sense to me.”

The wind was knocked out of Kyoshi. She had been expecting the worst for quite some time, so she didn’t really know how to react when something went right for once.

Atuat pointed at Kyoshi, her voice was quick and direct. “Did you do the extraction technique every day, like we talked about in training.”

Kyoshi’s face was still frozen, so she replied with a nod. Atuat stroked her chin, trying to assess the possibilities. The seriousness didn’t last long as she jokingly nudged Kyoshi on the side.

“Maybe the spirits blessed you with some kind of special healing powers.”

The tension broke from Kyoshi’s face, letting out a light chuckle. Atuat joined in.

“But seriously, I don’t know what you did, but it worked. She’s in good health now. The only thing she's got from it is a scar on her back.” Her eyes measured Kyoshi up and down, then she chuckled again. “You know, it looks like you’ve made a fine water healer of yourself.”

Kyoshi breathed a sigh of relief, a relief that was impossible to describe. She didn’t know it then, but she was smiling. It wasn’t like the fake smiles that she had to put on before. She bowed, her hand connecting to her fist. “Thank you, Sifu.”

Atuat ruffled Kyoshi’s hair while she was still bowed. “Oh come on, you don’t always have to call me Sifu.”

It was strange to her, having a Sifu who was more of a friend than a teacher. But at the same time, what she did teach Kyoshi became invaluable when the moment needed it.

She unbowed herself, letting her hair stay ruffled. Atuat darted her eyes at the infirmary doors.

“Come now, I know there's someone you want to see.”

#avatar #atla #the rise of kyoshi #the shadow of kyoshi #kyoshi #rangi #hei-ran #kirima #wong #atuat #jinpa #trok #tsok #fan fic #to heal part 2 #to heal chapter 2

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feathers698-blog · 4 years ago

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What a Producer Does, or "How to Herd Cats"

Different individuals are confounded by the verbalization "maker", and by a long shot most don't really have even the remotest sign what it is a maker, you know, does. I've discovered that it is confused such a lot of that it's truly horrible discussion grain at a bar, considering everything. As of now, perhaps in the event that I were an entertainer... be that as it may, I stray. However the term maker is dubious, minuscule, and generally saw as complete, everybody appears to concur that there are various kinds of makers, notwithstanding the way that they contrast concerning how they're part barbara fedida .

Sorts OF PRODUCERS

The business standard line is that making takes in the wake of amassing felines. In the event that you've whenever passed on, in any case, you comprehend that is woefully off base. Making looks like social event broke out, debilitated, crazy felines on a boat in a tropical storm while recuperating from critical sedation.

Regularly a maker is responsible for things like; organizing cast, gathering, and domains; discovering, paying, and regulating bundle; supervising spending plans, copyrights and courses of action; controlling or dealing with the amount of the innovative choices; discovering, raising, or giving assets or financial allies to the creation; coordinating vehicle channels and advancing openings; and dealing with the creation all around. Essentially, a maker needs to make it go, paying little psyche to what it is. They from a certifiable point of view do a type of everything. Inside the universe of making, in any case, are subcategories of makers, and each will in ordinary spotlight in on various bits of the work. It's really like being a competitor; sure, you're a competitor, at any rate what kind? Each maker blends and facilitates with their responsibilities dependent on the necessities of the task. Additionally, once in a while they don't. Hence everybody's tumult. Here a few the ways the verbalization "maker" is unwound:

FILM PRODUCER

The most notable translation of a maker is the celebrated Film Producer. This individual is liable for each piece of the making of a film, film, or TV program. The maker administers everything, and is basically worried about ensuring the absolute of the pieces get together to fund, make, appropriate, and get cash off of a film. In this sense, being a maker is shapeless and non-expressive, at any rate incomprehensibly immense. Such makers aren't by and large committed for the innovative choices (they delegate that to the managers, DPs, and so on), in any case they do have the last say about what winds up in the film, and they fill in as a surprising end round when there are imaginative separations.

CORPORATE/COMMERCIAL PRODUCER

Another typical sort of the enunciation "maker" can best be portrayed as a corporate or business maker. This is somebody who will run the inventive and decided activities of the creation and assurance the customer gets what they need. A maker in this sense passes on the creation from the customer's head and finishes it last suppositions to the customer. This is regular in a creation affiliation that does corporate/present day/customer based work, or for self-administering makers who set forth neighborhood progressions or records for advancing endeavors. Such a maker typically fills in as a contact between inventive longings and the customers' requirements. This position is a more administrative condition, rather than creative. Such a maker may once in a while be straightforwardly attracted with the creative, as well, notwithstanding. In particular, such a maker manages the customer. They should change chicken poo thoughts into chicken serving of mixed greens.

PREDITOR

Somebody who will essentially do everything from intending to shooting to remaining in contact with changing is known as a "preditor", got from "maker/chief/article head". This is standard of people in or from the news world, videographers, and creation affiliations who have more unpretentious creation gatherings. You likewise track down this an inconceivable plan when a customer is searching for somebody to "produce" a video for them: they're considering a preditor. It has gotten extensively more overpowering as a general rule TV, as well, considering the route that there is no substance and lacking money related game plan to pay an entire gathering to do things one individual can do. A maker is expected to shoot all that they can get and a brief timeframe later change the pieces into a fathomable story. Now and again this is a tip top band sort of maker. You realize the individual you see at a neighborhood occasion who has a camera with a mouthpiece and is going close, and you know, you basically know, that he will change his own account later? That is typically a preditor. In the current economy, regardless, areas like YouTube and the commonness and reasonableness of video gear has made the assumption that essentially everybody can be a preditor. Liberally keep a fundamental partition from this assumption, and survey that the music isn't in the certifiable violin. It's in the responsibility for master.

LINE PRODUCER

Somebody who makes and deals with the money related course of action likewise as the social event, plan, and so on for each film in this manner is viewed as a Line Producer. For the most part less inventive, such a maker is more worried about obtaining the cash go where it needs to go and ensuring everything runs as viably and as monetarily as could really be viewed as commonplace. A spending plan is regularly disengaged dependent on "nuances", from now on the name. A line maker runs the normal bits of a creation. In non-Hollywood indications, this stating gets mixed in with the responsibilities of a standard maker and a preditor. For instance, I did an immense heap of such a work in NYC. I was given a set extent of cash by another maker/customer/whoever and urged to "produce" something. I would then make the detail spending design and find, plan and select gathering/assets/regions/grants/sellers dependent on this spending plan.

Manager PRODUCER

Another rendition of a maker that different individuals envision is somebody who goes out and finds financial advocates or different wellsprings of supporting, or is rich and assets the authentic undertaking. This is ordinary in film and record cases, and that individual is permitted either a maker or pioneer maker credit. When in doubt when you track down a self-administering inventive "searching for a maker to assist with my film", this is the thing that they're analyzing. This is for the most part made by a focal maker considering the way that the individual who gives the cash is the individual who has the last say in how things complete. They're the chief. They administer everything, despite the way that they're fundamental center is generally concerning financing or running the film's bookkeeping. It's not difficult to disregard to review that the justification making a film is to sell it. These individuals are there to help you with recalling that.

Free PRODUCER

There's comparably the free maker. This is somebody who is responsible for the entire undertaking, if they have cash. This is run of the mill of short movies and self-administering films, consistently things with no/lo money related game plan. The maker, in this sense, does everything not being finished by the creative/pack/editors. This solidifies paying (or not paying) every single other person. Once in a while from their own pocket, generally from an investor's. A self-administering maker, apparently, is also the standard innovative power behind the endeavor, as well. It's normal for the maker to in addition have made the substance or be arranging the film.

FIELD PRODUCER

There's in like way such a maker who manages creation in the field. This is called, wise enough, a field maker. This individual goes out on the shoot and ensures everything runs successfully, including the distribution of cash. Be that as it may, their commitments by and large circuit shooting, dealing with the get-together and cast, visiting with limit, and in any case, making PA runs if basic. To the degree makers go, the field maker and the "preditor" are ordinarily essentially more boots-on-the-ground coordinated. They're people who purchase the gathering lagers following an inconvenient day, if there's cash left for it.

There are no firm principles with respect to which kind of maker does what (adjacent to, obviously, when there are), and a significant part of the time a maker is some blend of a couple or these various sorts. Moreover, this is in no way, shape or form at all, a thorough once-finished. There are moreover accessory makers, accomplice makers, creation partners, right hand supervisors who are on the makers' track, second aide managers, unit creation directors, seemingly forever. There's in all actuality no certifiable technique to clarify what such a maker does. The best clarification I've whenever heard was that "nobody really fathoms what a maker does. Regardless, nothing occurs without one."

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jokertrap-ran · 4 years ago

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(未定事件簿) EVENT!「消失的黄金」 [Tears of Themis] EVENT: The Lost Gold Translations (Chapter 4-04: Base Camp)

“Ma'at's feather is used to weigh one's heart. I'm guessing that it's used to open the place where the Treasure was buried.“

*Tears of Themis Masterlist *Spoiler free: Translations will remain under cut *The tracking tag for ALL Event Stories will go under: #Tears of an Event *(y/n) is your name when in direct referral; otherwise referred to as MC. *These guys are insufferable when together jdsfhkds

Location: Base Camp's Guest Room

We put together the four pieces of parchment and began to decipher the information given in the riddle.

Xia Yan: These riddles come from the "Book of the Dead", but they're not the original text.

Xia Yan: Many parts of the poems have been changed and those will be the key to solving this puzzle.

Xia Yan: For example, this line. "The color of Sapphire shines fluorescently in the fields where you come".

Xia Yan: The original text in this sentence is…

Zuo Ran: "The color of turquoise jade shines in the field from all directions where you come", not "Sapphire", nor "Fluorescently".

Xia Yan: You're very well-versed in your memorization.

Zuo Ran: I went to learn more about the "Book of the Dead" after receiving the puzzle.

Zuo Ran: It just so happens that my memory and learning ability are actually pretty good.

MC: (I'm suddenly getting a bad feeling from this...they're going to start again, aren't they…)

Xia Yan: The color of Sapphire should be referring to the Nocturnal Algae, which emits blue, fluorescent light upon the surface of the sea at night, that Yang Tiange had mentioned.

Xia Yan: The source of water in the Cave where Dong Hechuan was caught is also connected to the sea, that's why there was also Nocturnal Algae present there. But that place has already been marked out.

Xia Yan: Adding on the fact that there are Nocturnal Algae surrounding Nosta Island, the only other place where a luminous bay could form will be…

Lu Jinghe: There's only the Northernmost Cave Bay left.

Lu Jinghe: I suppose Dong Hechuan didn't think about considering that it might be in the seabed, because he didn't think that Yang Tiange could dive down to the seabed alone by herself.

Lu Jinghe: Therefore, he put all his focus on the water bodies on the Island itself.

Xia Yan: You…

Lu Jinghe: Sorry, but I'm the one who bought the Island. Of course, I've got to understand the Geographical Features of my own property.

Lu Jinghe: Hydrology is a part of that and I have a pretty good memory too.

Xia Yan: …...

Mo Yi: You've explained the last sentence of the poem. What about the first two?

Xia Yan: Although the Stolen Golden Mask of Anubis is an Ancient Egyptian artifact…

Xia Yan: There are no purely Ancient Egyptian Cultural Sites on this Island; they run on a system of their own.

Xia Yan: Therefore, my guess is that the poems that Yang Tiange had picked out are all describing the scene she saw, rather than specifically referring to a Cultural Symbol.

Xia Yan: The first two sentences of this riddle are, "You rest atop the Mountains with great contentment, your body radiates light, the blue sky above your head.

Xia Yan: The way this is written is almost like it's describing a scenery she had seen; something like the Luminous Beach.

MC: So what kind of scenery would this be?

Xia Yan: I have my speculations at this point, but let's put together the other riddles first before I share.

Mo Yi: Then, let's look at the paragraph I have on my side. "He came out of his secret hideout, sailing a boat in the night."

Mo Yi: The original text states that he sails in a boat of the "rising sun".

Mo Yi: This should also support the speculation of the presence of Noctiluca because it's fluorescence cannot be seen during the day.

Mo Yi: Adding on, Noctiluca Luminifera emits a stronger fluorescence when stimulated. This effect is often encountered when a boat touches the Nocturnal Algae.

Mo Yi: And as for the phrase "There, laid the Isis in the reeds of the Nile", it is roughly the same as the original.

Mo Yi: Because one of Isis' famous deeds in Ancient Mythology is helping resurrect Osiris.

Mo Yi: And that also fits the legendary role of how the Golden Mask of Anubis comes into play.

Xia Yan: Your analysis is so thorough. Are you also good at memorizing things?

Mo Yi: It's safe to say that when I got two PhDs, Zuo Ran only got one.

Zuo Ran: ……

Xia Yan: You don't think it boring?

MC: ……

☆⋅⋆…⋅─────────── ⋆⋅✾⋅⋆ ───────────⋅…⋆⋅☆

MC: Let's take a look at the two feather-shaped Stone Sculptures we found. They look like they can be fitted together.

MC: Is this really the item that the riddle refers to when it says "Ma’at raises her feather of fate."?

Xia Yan: Ma'at's feather is used to weigh one's heart.

Xia Yan: I'm guessing that it's used to open the place where the Treasure was buried.

Xia Yan: In fact, people often used to set up such mechanisms back in ancient times which relied on weight-balancing as its driving force.

Xia Yan: Generally speaking, all you have to do is to get the right weight and the door will be opened.

Xia Yan: We still don't know exactly what kind of mechanism Yang Tiange had encountered...

Xia Yan: But coincidentally, these feathers might make up the right weight required for it when combined.

Xia Yan: And as for why one piece of it was near Yang Tiange and the other on a temple that far away…

Xia Yan: We'll have to talk about the scenery that we just mentioned beforehand for that.

☆⋅⋆…⋅─────────── ⋆⋅✾⋅⋆ ───────────⋅…⋆⋅☆

Previous Part: (Chapter 4-03: Base Camp) | Next Part: (Chapter 4-05: Cave-side Beach)

#Tears of Themis #Translations #Otome #Mihoyo #未定事件簿 #陆景和 #Lu Jinghe #左然 #Zuo Ran #夏彦 #Xia Yan #莫弈 #Mo Yi #消失的黄金 #The Lost Gold #Tears of an Event

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let-it-raines · 6 years ago

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Have you heard of that number neighbors thing? I think that would be a really cute CS story!

lol. No, nonnie, I hadn’t heard of it, but then you sent me this and @blowmiakisscolin sent me the picture above and asked for a prompt. So here we are with this short little thing💙

-/-

Captain: I’m currently being forced into spending time with my mates and eating a burned chicken pot pie.

Birdie: Ugh. I’m starving. I’m stuck at work late. I’m supposed to be getting dinner with friends too.

Captain: Hopefully it’s not burned food.

Birdie: With my friend’s cooking, I’d bet that it was. I’ll probably stop and get something on the way and guiltily eat it in my car.

Captain: That’s what I’m going to do when I leave here.

Birdie: This is only making me hungrier.

Emma moves to text back only for her to see Mrs. Moscowitz move from inside of her building to the street, a dark-haired man behind her. They kiss before the man walks away, and she snaps a picture of it, proof that she’s cheating. A pit forms in her stomach that Mr. Moscowitz was right about his wife, but she’s used to this. Being a private investigator means she mostly finds out about a lot of indiscretions and affairs, not really giving her a lot of faith in committed relationships, but then sometimes the person is wrong and their spouse is simply doing some kind of surprise.

Then again, that means one spouse doesn’t trust the other, and that doesn’t instill a lot of confidence either. But she’s not doing this job for some kind of hope in relationships. She’s doing it because she likes having a roof over her head and food in her stomach and flexible enough hours to not have to be at work before eight in the morning.

After tidying things up with the Moscowitz file, texting Mr. Moscowtiz that she’ll meet him tomorrow, she puts her car in drive and runs through a McDonald’s, not at all caring about her arteries as she eats fries and heads to Mary Margaret and David’s apartment for whatever kind of dinner they’re hosting. They have them all the time, nearly every week, but she doesn’t always make them depending on her work.

(And because the cooking is not always great.)

When she pulls into their building’s parking garage, maneuvering into the guest section, she finishes her fries, stuffing them into her mouth and wishing she had something to drink as the salt gets on her tongue. She’s got a few text messages that have popped up since she started driving, and she quickly responds to Ruby and Elsa before opening up her text conversation with the Captain.

That’s still the most stupid name, and she cannot believe that as a grown adult, she is texting someone she doesn’t know under a nickname. Stranger danger and all that jazz is screaming at her, but she’s probably never going to meet him even if she talks to him more than she talks to most people in her life.

He’s her number neighbor.

That is also the most stupid thing in the world, something she had never heard of, but then she got a text seven months ago describing some kind of new trend on Twitter where you text the person with the number next to yours. For some insane reason, she answered the text.

And then answered the next one.

And then kept answering it.

Like a crazy person, right?

It’s basically turned into some kind anonymous pen pal thing, and she most definitely does not have some kind of feelings for the man on the other side of the screen. That would be crazy and stupid and completely and totally ridiculous for a woman who doesn’t even like talking to some of the people that are in front of her.

Then again, maybe that’s perfect for someone who isn’t too fond of people.

The Captain (a name he chose for himself) is in his thirties and also lives here in Boston. He’s got a thing for boats (obviously) and goes out sailing with his brother on the weekends. Several times he’s offered to take her out sailing, but she’s simply not comfortable with that. Maybe one day if they reveal names and she does a thorough background check, but the sailing will have to wait for that day. When he’s not sailing, he spends his days as a professor at Boston College. He didn’t tell her what subject so she couldn’t look him up, and as much as that annoyed her, she also appreciated that he thought that through.

But she really doesn’t care about any of those surface things when she knows that he’s witty as hell and can make her laugh simply by his choice of words and whatever gifs he chooses to send. He’s quick on his feet, always one step ahead of her, and even though he can be far too flirtatious, he’s actually pretty comfortable to have a conversation with, whether it be about how shitty their childhoods were or about how much they both love pizza.

How could anyone not when it’s good pizza?

(He does like pineapple on his pizza, which she thinks is an abomination, but whatever.)

It’s…nice. The way they met is ridiculous, but it’s nice to have someone to talk to and complain about work and her friends and everything else in between without fear of judgment or having her private life spread around.

Captain: I could eat an entire pizza right now.

See? Pizza lovers are the best lovers.

Wait. No. that’s the wrong thought. She doesn’t know this man. She’s not thinking about him as a lover.

Birdie: Wish me luck. Going in to see my friends now. I hope I don’t smell like I was just eating fries.

Captain: I’m sure you smell delicious.

Captain: Because of the fries, I mean.

And sometimes he’s a bit of a dork, and she kind of loves that. In real life, he’s probably all swagger and confidence and flirtatious jokes, and as nice as those things can be, she kind of likes that nerdiness and the odd jokes. It makes everything more…real.

It takes three minutes to get up to the Nolans’ apartment, and she doesn’t bother knocking, simply letting herself in only to come face to face with Killian Jones and his stupid blue eyes and stupid dark jeans and really stupid white smile.

Why can she not think of any other word but stupid?

Probably because he’s an asshole whose mere presence makes her want to burn down whatever building he’s in. That’s arson and murder and all kinds of awful things, but she has hated him for five years and isn’t about to stop now.

That’s what he gets for hitting on her the night that they met only to proceed to go home with another blonde woman who was dressed eerily the same and then not even bring it up the next time that he saw her. He pretended that it never happened when it most definitely did. It’s not that she’s mad he went home with someone else. He can do whatever the hell he wants. She’s mad that he seems to think that there are no consequences to his actions and that he never acknowledged that he was an asshole to her that night and all of the days following.

Is it a little petty to still hate him? Yes.

Does she care? No.

“Swan,” he greats, doing a little bow that has her rolling her eyes. He only does it because he says that she acts like she’s some kind of royalty on her high horse, which is not at all true. “Nice of you to finally join us.”

“I’m sure you were waiting on baited breath for me to show up.”

He dips his head to get in her eyeline because he’s always getting in her space like that, and she scoffs at the way that he flashes her a pearly white grin, his eyes crinkling. “You have no idea. I’m always excited to see you.”

“Well, you do like blondes.”

“Aye, I do.”

Her jaw clenches, but she will not take any more of his bait, so she steps around him so that she can walk into the kitchen where David and Mary Margaret are sitting at the island while Ruby talks on the phone, Graham at her side continuously pointing towards a piece of paper.

“What’s going on here?”

“Mary Margaret burned the chicken pot pie she was making,” David explains as he slides a basket of rolls across the counter. She picks one up and stuffs it in her mouth. Those fries are good, but totally not filling for the amount of calories in them. “So we’re ordering pizza.”

“Oh my God,” she groans, “pizza sounds so much better than that.”

“Hey,” Mary Margaret huffs. “My chicken pot pie is good.”

“Honey,” David soothes, rubbing her back, “you either undercook it or overcook it every single time. Neither of us are good cooks, and I think that’s something we’re just going to have to live with.”

The Nolans: perfect in every way except for their cooking.

“Ruby, order the pineapple.”

“I am not putting pineapple on pizza, Graham. You know my policy on this.”

“It’s what Killian and I want. Just get a small.”

“No, I refuse. It’s the principle of the thing.”

“You’re infuriating.”

“How long until they sleep together, do you think?” she asks David and Mary Margaret, knowing that Ruby and Graham aren’t listening because they’re too caught up in their arguing.

“Probably about the same time that you and I do, love,” Killian adds in.

She’s nearly forgotten about him, but that was probably mostly wishful thinking that he’d just up and disappear from the apartment.

“Fuck off, Jones.”

“That’s what I’m talking about.”

She tosses a roll at him, only for him to catch it, ever the athlete. It’s infuriating that he’s so good at nearly everything.

Ruby finally puts in the pizza order, even though she and Graham are still arguing about it, and Emma opens up a cabinet to get a wine bottle out and pour herself a very healthy glass. If she’s going to make it through tonight, she’s going to need it. Leaving the married couple and the might-as-well-be-married-couple in the kitchen, she steps into the living room and settles down in her preferred armchair before pulling her phone out and scrolling through all of the things she missed while working. There’s not much there, so she opens up her texts again to text the Captain.

Birdie: You should be jealous of me because I’m about to eat pizza.

It takes twenty seconds for her to get a text back.

Captain: Funny, so am I.

Birdie: You caved and ordered some?

Captain: We did, yeah. Though I’m not sure about what type I’m going to be getting. The person who ordered it has a thing against pineapple on pizza.

Birdie: As she should.

Captain: I’ll never understand your prejudice against it. Let me like what I like, love.

Birdie: Never.

Emma looks up to see Killian settle down across from her, his phone in hand with his fingers flying across the screen. She has no interest in his life or who he’s texting, and yet she finds herself curious. Which is, as Killian makes her think whenever she’s around him, stupid.

She keeps texting the Captain for a little while, the two of them arguing back and forth over pizza choices and food choices in general (he’s a much healthier eater than she is), and she finds herself relaxing into it so that she doesn’t really focus on anyone else around her. They’re all wrapped up in their own conversations anyways, so it’s fine that she’s doing this.

Absolutely fine.

Until she feels a heavy presence over her shoulder and there’s a clattering of a phone falling to the ground, the glass probably breaking. He should have bought a case.

“What the hell?”

“What the hell, Jones?”

She turns to see Killian standing above her, his mouth gaping open as he blinks more times than any human being should in such a short time span. What is wrong with him? Why is he standing over her having some kind of weird reaction? Can’t he just mind his own business?

“Jones, what the hell are you doing?”

“Trying to figure out how in the world the woman who hates me is the same woman who I also talk to all day long?”

“I’m sorry…what?”

He’s lost it. Seriously. Whatever screw is loose in his head has completely come undone.

Killian waves his hands at her phone, his mouth still unable to close, and she has never seen him this flustered in her entire life. “You’re Birdie.”

And that’s when her entire world flips on its head and crashes down around her in the most dramatic fall in the history of ever.

She stands up, unable to sit down, and moves around the chair so that they can have a little space in between them as her mind comes to the last conclusion she ever wanted it to come to.

“No,” she starts, putting her phone in her back pocket and holding her hands up. “No, no, no, no, no. You’re the Captain?”

“Aye.”

“What the hell are you two talking about?” Ruby yells from the kitchen.

“Nothing,” they both yell back at the same time.

She is not cluing her friends in on this. No way. She’ll never hear the end of it.

“This cannot be happening.”

“Well it is, love.”

“I don’t believe you. Prove that you’re him.”

He rolls his eyes, completely and totally exasperated with her. “We are both at a dinner tonight where there is a burned chicken pot pie. Our friends are ordering pizza but Ruby won’t order pineapple pizza. What are the odds of that happening to two different people in Boston?”

Oh.

Oh wow.

Oh shit.

Killian Jones lives in Boston.

Killian Jones is a World History professor at Boston College.

Killian Jones likes to sail with his brother on the weekends.

Killian Jones likes pineapple on his pizza.

Holy shit.

Her number neighbor is Killian freaking Jones.

One of her closest friends is also the man she’s hated for half of a decade.

Holy whiplash, Batman.

“So,” he grins, that white smile making an appearance again, “I bet you don’t hate me so much now.”

“Oh no,” she protests as her mind starts to calm down, the hatred and fondness she feels for his two personas somehow mixing together. “I definitely still hate you. I just don’t hate the Captain. That’s a stupid name by the way. So is texting your ‘number neighbor.’”

He smiles, and her heart does not flutter. Not at all.

“You sure do like to use that word a lot to describe me, Birdie.”

“Well, you make me think a lot of incredibly stupid things.”

“Hopefully one day you won’t think I’m so stupid.”

-/-

Three months later she admits that she is stupid in love with Killian Jones.

In person. Not over text. They do that now.

They never do agree on pizza toppings.

#cs prompts #cs fic #cs ff #captain swan fic

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melthemischievous · 7 years ago

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I’ll Be With You From Dusk Till Dawn

A/N: This is my first time ever writing a fanfic, so I hope you guys enjoy it. I had to sort of leave the story in a cliffhanger, since it was getting a bit long, so there might be another part to it. This was written for @cleolemonfanfiction ‘s Marvel Men Writing Challenge

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Black Reader

Word Count: 2201

Warning: Fluff, and mentions of past trauma

Prompt: Dusk Till Dawn by ZAYN & Sia

Summary: The setting takes place somewhat between the ending of Captain America: Civil War and Black Panther. When a telepathic outcast becomes the caretaker of an outcast on the road to redemption, they form an inseparable bond

It has been a few difficult months when it came to working with such a broken mind. Hydra was very thorough with their brainwashing program, especially with their super soldier, James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes, also known to the world as the Winter Soldier. Any normal doctor or psychologist would’ve given up ages ago, since Bucky’s mind was so damaged. But lucky for him, you were willing to step up to the plate. Not only were you T’Challa, who was to become the new king of Wakanda, and Shuri’s cousin, but Hydra had also caused you great pain in the past. Despite all the hardships you’ve endured, you took on being Shuri’s assistant in order to prove to yourself that you can be a great use to your country, and to prove that Hydra can’t win.

Thanks to your telepathic powers and through trial and error, you have made great progress with Bucky. With each passing month, there were many breakthroughs when it came to piecing together the very complexed jigsaw puzzle that was Bucky’s mind. Though very hesitant at first, Bucky had taken quite a liking to you. When he first was unfrozen from his cryogenic chamber, the first thing he saw was you. He saw compassion and intensity in your Y/E/C eyes, but he also noticed that you had scars around your body that looked like stripes.

“Hello, Sergeant Barnes. My name is Y/N,” was the very first thing you’d said to him, and the rest was history. While Bucky was very guarded at first, he slowly was able to bring his walls down when it came to you during your telepathic sessions with him. Little by little, you each were able to open up to each other. He told you about his childhood, his best friend, Steve Rogers; and his time in the army. During the sessions, Bucky learned that you were captured by agents of Hydra at a young age and was tortured relentlessly, resulting in the scars around your body. He also learned that they had experimented on you, which resulted with you receiving telepathic abilities. It took four long years for the Dora Milaje to track down the Hydra base that you were being held prisoner in, but after that incident, you were treated like some sort of outcast. The royal family had kept you under heavy surveillance until you able to fully control your newfound powers. When you were rehabilitated back into society, she were immediately given sympathetic yet scared looks from your fellow Wakandans, even earning yourself the name Omnyama from the small children who couldn’t help but gawk at you . “Even though I’m not self-conscious about my scars anymore, I still feel like if I wasn’t part of the royal family, I would still be tortured and experimented on.” You drifted off, trying to swallow down the sadness that was threating to burst out of you as you recalled those haunting memories. With his right hand, Bucky lightly traced the skin of you cheek with his fingertips, causing you to look at him. Your intense yet sad Y/E/C eyes have captivated him yet again, causing his heart to skip a beat. Still keeping his hand on your cheek and keeping his eyes on you, he said, “I don’t mean to be forward, Y/N, but when I first laid eyes on you, I thought you were beautiful, even with your scars. With everything that Hydra has done to you, I admire the fact that you don’t let it define you. The strength and courage you carry makes you even twice as beautiful, and I’m so thankful that you’re the one helping me. And to be honest, I’m so damn happy that I’m not alone.” With that confession, it caused you to let go of a single tear. A simple, “Thank you,” was all that you could let out. From that day on, a spark grew between the two of you.

Not tryna be indie

Not tryna be cool

Just tryna be in this

Tell me, are you too?

Over time, you were able to convince Shuri and even T’Challa to give Bucky a room in the palace in order to further evaluate him, and to also give him a sense of normalcy. During your time together in the palace, you and Bucky were able to get to know each other on a more personal level, especially since the two of you had the habit of going to each other’s rooms to hang out. The both of shared your interests and your likes and dislikes, even when it came to music. “Music use to be simple back in my day, but the stuff that is out now in this day and age is complete garbage, “ said Bucky, rubbing his temple with his only hand. “Geez, you sound like an old man! Not all music is garbage nowadays,” you retorted, twirling some loose strands of his hair around your fingers. Bucky looked up at you, arching his eyebrows, “Oh yeah? Care to enlighten me? And for the record, I may be over a 100 years old, but as you can see, I don’t look old.” With the way the he was looking at you, you became a blushing mess. “I-I don’t know! There’s lots of music that is good out there. E-Especially the ones that have a deeper meaning to them or story within the lyrics. I can’t name ones of the top of my head right now, but there’s plenty of them.” Bucky let out a slight chuckle, “You’re so cute.” Clearing your throat, you tried to gather your composure. “We just have to find music that suits you. I honestly take you for a Rolling Stones kind of guy.” “Well…,”Bucky sat himself up, facing you directly to give you his full attention, “I’ll definitely check out their music since you have such interesting tastes,” he said giving her a soft smile, one that was filled with adoration, but with a hint of seduction. With that being said, you couldn’t help but to let out a soft giggle, “You won’t be disappointed.”

Can you feel where the wind is?

Can you feel it through

All of the windows

Inside this room?

In that moment, something went through Bucky like a bolt of lightning. With all the time that he has spent with you, he has viewed you like a little sister or a very close friend, but this time is so different. He wasn’t so sure about his feelings at first, but at this very moment, he is certainly positive that he has deeper feelings for you. Just everything about you was so intoxicating to him, and oh God, the way you looked at him with those intense Y/E/C. He just wants to drain in them and never return to the surface.

‘Cause I wanna touch you baby

And I wanna feel you too

I wanna see the sunrise

On your sins just me and you

Bucky leaned into you, gathering up the courage to prepare himself for what he is about to do next. He reach out with his hand and gingerly stroked your cheek. You were slightly taken aback when Bucky softly planted a soft kiss on your lips, but then returned the kiss, coming to the realization that you too had strong feelings for him. Within that moment, you both started to passionately kiss each other, and before you even knew it, you both were getting into a fierce make out session. Bucky desperately wanted his primal male instincts to take control, but his old-fashioned side got the better of him. He broke away from the kiss, but kept you cuddled up against him. From all the excitement you’ve gotten into, you had said something in Wakandan that caused Bucky to laugh. “I take it that what you just said was a good thing?” Through labored breath, all you could mustered up was a simple, “Yeah.” After that excitement, a few hours had passed with the both of you just cuddling up in bed, enjoying each other’s presence.

Light it up, on the run

Let’s make love tonight

Make it up, fall in love, try

The day that T’Challa ascends the throne has finally arrived, and everyone has been ripping and running to make preparations for the coronation. Your main focus was supposed to be on the coronation, but all you could think about was spending the day with Bucky. Even though the two of you enjoy spending time together listening to music and watching movies in each other’s rooms, you have yet to have a proper first date. The amount of time that the two of you had spent time together hasn’t gone unnoticed by your cousins, especially with your aunt, Queen Ramonda. Your cousins were somewhat acceptant of you and Bucky, but it didn’t exempt you from constant teasing. Your aunt on the other hand wasn’t afraid to show her concerns about you spending excessive amount of time with Bucky. She strongly believed that Bucky was supposed to be your ward and nothing more, but she did understand your need to make an outsider feel welcomed. “Now, Y/N, I need you to be on your best behavior today. Don’t forget that your cousin’s ascension to the throne is important to us all. I know that your emotions are running strong for this man, but you cannot afford to be distracted,” the queen said, trying not to sound hard but stern. You lowered your head, wanting to fight back with a retort but knew it would be futile. “Yes, Aunt Ramonda,” was all you could say. “Good…now get ready. We all need to look our best for our future king.” You’ve left the queen’s chambers a bit frustrated, but you have been formulating a plan to spend some quality time with Bucky after the coronation.

It was midday when everyone was preparing to go on the boats to the ceremonial site. You were dressed in a ceremonial gown that represented the royal family’s colors, and your face was adorned with ceremonial markings. You’ve promised your aunt and your cousin that you’ll meet them on the boat, but you couldn’t help but to visit Bucky. When you got close to Bucky’s sleeping chambers, there were two guards keeping watch. You had given them the Wakandan salute, which they had given in return, temporarily relieving them as you’ve entered into the room with the biggest smile on your face. “Wow…,” was all Bucky could say once he caught sight of you, which made you blush. “Stop it,” you said, letting out a small giggle. “What? Can’t help that your beauty amazes me every single time a see you,” he smiled, wrapping you in his embrace. “You and your chivalry,” you said as you lean into him to give him a soft kiss upon his lips, “I’ll be away for a few hours, but I think I have a way for us to have an actual date tonight.” “Isn’t the guy supposed to take a girl out on a date?” Bucky said, tilting his head. “Times are changing, old man,” you said teasingly, giving him a kiss on the cheek. “I have an idea in mind, but I’ll let you in on the details as soon as I get back. I’ll be back before you can say when.” “When,” he gave a playful pout, making it even harder for you to go to the coronation since he looks so damn adorable. “I promise that tonight would absolutely be perfect.” The two of you gave a last embrace before you left for the ceremony.

But you’ll never be alone

I’ll be with you from dusk till dawn

Baby, I am right here

Several hours had passed, and everyone in Wakanda was in full celebration mode. Once T’challa was crowned king, you immediately went back to the palace to meet up with Bucky. When you got into his room, you jokingly expressed to him that the coronation was a completely snore fest, but he knew that you were immensely proud of your cousin. You had then taken his hand into yours and lead him over to the bed. Once you both sat on the bed, you began explaining your romantic rendezvous. “I honestly think that you’re ready to rejoin society,” you blurted out. With that statement, Bucky immediately became hesitant. “I-I don’t think I’m ready, Y/N. I know that I don’t feel Hydra’s influence on me anymore, but I don’t think society would be so acceptant of me, “Bucky huffed, getting up from the bed. “I feel like that there’s so much blood on my hands, that I don’t deserve a second chance like this.” You immediately went in front of him, placing both of your hands on his cheeks, “Hey, everything is going to be alright, and you know that I won’t let anything happen to you.” A sudden calming wave went through Bucky’s body, which he knew was your telepathic abilities taking full effect. Once he had felt calm again, he was eager to find out what you had in store for your date.

A/N: The word Omnyama was the closes translation to the Xhosa language (which was the language used for the people of Wakanda if some of you didn’t know) for the word Black Tiger.

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calacuspr · 4 years ago

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Calacus Weekly Hit & Miss – Sam Davies & Millwall FC

Weekly Hit & Miss

Every Monday we look at the best and worst communicators in the sports world from the previous week.

HIT – SAM DAVIES INITIATIVES-CŒUR

When you compete in sport at the highest level, winning is all that matters.

And if you can’t win, give your best to extract every last drop of ability to give the best account of yourself.

But sailor Sam Davies sees an even bigger picture despite having to quit the Vendée Globe around-the-world race when her boat was seriously damaged last week.

Davies arrived in Cape Town, South Africa, at the weekend, to see if her Initiatives-Cœur boat could be repaired after it suffered serious damage to its keel.

“You really have to inspect everything. I think that is also the magic of the Vendée Globe: the race stops but I hope the adventure does not end here,” said Davies.

“I've always said my mission is to sail around the world on this boat. For me, but also for Initiatives-Cœur, to support cardiac surgery for the kids. If I can fix the boat and go, I'm motivated to do it.

“This is the positive side of the story, I still have a mast, I still have my keel! I have all the pieces, I have a great team. It will probably take time, it's a big job but I'm very positive to give it a go.

“I am also an adventurer, passionate about the sea and the oceans, and I want to save children with Initiatives-Cœur.”

The Initiatives-Cœur team combines sport with humanitarian work, supporting Mécénat Chirurgie Cardiaque, which enables children suffering from heart problems from underprivileged countries to come to France where they are hosted by a family and receive treatment.

Every time someone likes the Initiatives Cœur Facebook or Instagram page, or shares a Facebook post, Initiatives Cœur’s partners donate €1 to the cause, with €12,000 required to save each child.

To support the charity, please, visit their Facebook or Instagram pages.

MISS – MILLWALL FC

The return of football after the initial lockdown in England coincided with the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement in response to the death of George Floyd at the hands of police in the United States.

All matches which took place saw players taking the knee in solidarity against racism in football and throughout society in general.

Taking the knee, you may recall, first came to prominence when NFL and 49ers star Colin Kaepernick refused to stand for the US national anthem in protest of police brutality.

This week saw a change of lockdown regulations and fans finally allowed back into some grounds in limited numbers and unfortunately Millwall fans, who have been accused of racism in the past, booed as both their players and those of opponents Derby County, took the knee before their game at The Den.

A club with Millwall’s reputation must have anticipated that something like this could happen.

Their communications team and directors should have prepared a statement in advance so that they could publicly comment soon after the game, if something like this were to happen.

They had, after all, released a statement from the players BEFORE the game which stated that: “As a squad we are fully supportive of the entire football family’s efforts in ridding the sport, and society generally, of all forms of discrimination. The gesture of ‘taking the knee’ before matches provides an opportunity for us to do exactly that and continues to allow all those playing to publicly showcase their support – on behalf of the whole squad – for the fight against discrimination.”

Yet after the game, for it to take 18 hours or more before a statement was finally posted by the club completely undermines Millwall’s credibility.

It raises questions about how seriously they took the situation; whether they were concerned they may alienate those who booed; or whether they just lacked the foresight and understanding of the potential for booing to occur and did not expect the outrage to be quite so vociferous.

Whatever the reasons, Millwall should have made a statement within minutes of the final whistle – and it is a poor reflection on them that it was left to defender Mahlon Romeo to have to comment on the club’s behalf.

“Today's game, to me now, has become irrelevant,” he said.

“The fans who have been let in today have personally disrespected not just me but the football club. And what the football club and the community stand for. What they've done is booed and condemned a peaceful gesture which was put in place to highlight, combat and stop any discriminatory behaviour and racism. That's it – that's all that gesture is.

“But in society there is a problem - and that problem is racism. And the fans have chosen to boo that, which for the life of me I can't understand. It has offended me and everyone who works for this club - the players and the staff.”

The Football Association and EFL made statements with the FA saying that it “supports all players and staff who wish to take a stand against discrimination in a respectful manner, which includes taking of the knee, and strongly condemns the behaviours of any spectators that actively voice their opposition to such activities.”

Kick It Out, who fight racism and prejudice in football, rapidly issued a statement saying: “What this demonstrates is that players are right to continue standing up to discrimination. We applaud the players for taking a stand and defying the hate shown today.”

The Millwall FC statement, when it was finally published on Sunday lunchtime, was also telling, avoiding the use of the words “racism”, “race” or “black.”

“The club has worked tirelessly in recent months to prepare for the return of supporters and what should have been a positive and exciting occasion was completely overshadowed, much to the immense disappointment and upset of those who have contributed to those efforts.

“The club will not allow their fine work to be in vain. The players are continuing to use the biggest platform they have to support the drive for change, not just in football but in society generally.

“There is much work to be done and at Millwall everyone is committed to doing all that is possible, both individually and collectively, to be a force for good and to ensure that the club remains at the forefront of football’s anti-discrimination efforts.”

The statement should have gone further and been unequivocal in its condemnation of the bad fan behaviour, vowing to undertake a thorough review of CCTV footage and banning any fans seen to have been booing the pre-match ritual and undertaking greater initiatives to eliminate racism from the club.

It speaks volumes that one of its most celebrated fans, Danny Baker, was minded to comment on Twitter that: “Makes your skin crawl. How come this clump of Neanderthals get tickets?”

#racism in sport #Millwall #Kick It Out #Wayne Rooney #FootbalL Association #Football League #sailing #crisis communications #Crisis PR #Colin Kaepernick #taking the knee #Vendée Globe

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alberteamllc · 6 years ago

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‘A’ Prom in Warlock Street Part 4, 7/23/2019

Starring Flinty McClintock Leucosia Dreams Guilotte Crevette Featuring Goloff Silulimesh Albertine Rosenbee Grant Woolf Aramingo Fungo Panther Panchali Jeanne Klops Sanuwa Sawbones Chanchala Chala Helena Merkava Leucosia Dreams Zephyr Kurunthadi Fancy Francis Flisk Ilan Olin Sarmasik Ardin Sarmasik Shilan Sarmasik Gidris Sarmasik Lin Sunny Vejovis Billy Adavispa Berno Halatali False Daedalus Gniece Quoyn Caowulf Cuddy Aloysius Snaxxx Bertolt Breakfist Erasmus Rosenbee Nico Kladenets Maddy McCallister Ramon Silulimesh Greg Hogswain Haurchefant Hogswain Tartuffe Eikhorn Puffin McClintock

Flinty finishes her little meeting with Mungo in a fine frenzy, and, still preoccupied with the ambiguously relevant issue of being spied on, decides to muddle through some of the accumulated sending stones in the place, with the vague intention of rigging up a way to contact... I don’t know, either Albertine or or other members of the party or something. It occurs to her that Mungo Fungo and Ardis had a matched pair and she briefly considers raiding the latter’s room while she sleeps, but decides instead to tinker with the stone given to her by Tavi.

She first attempts to contact her missing friend through it, but is met by the gruff voice of a PF500 member and pretends to be a young Cockney lad who found the stone in the street. The PF500 urges her to come turn it in at the station and ominously warns that the owner of the other half of the set is dead. Flinty becomes consumed by paranoia and destroys her stone, showering herself in a burst of magic energy and disembodied voices.

She confers a bit more and heads out, first being accosted by an equally paranoid Albertine on her way to her favorite armorer. This is all for the best, as I guess she was sort of looking for Albertine anyway. She asks to be put in touch with a wizard but Al is cagey and strange, and tries to get out of the conversation, before acquiescing to at least conferring with one of the allegedly numerous wizards she knows. Still invisible (Albertine’s fault) Flinty decides to take advantage of the opportunity and do some snooping. She lurks outside of the Crystal Cats HQ and sees them leave in three groups-- Jeanne, Helena, and Leucosia heading towards the gates in a cart, Chanchala, Sawbones, and Guilotte sauntering off towards the waterfront, and Panther leaving on her own. She tails Chanchala’s awful crew down to the water and sees them slip across the river in a stowed boat, disembarking at the cliffs below Old Eigreska and beginning to climb up.

She then gets around to popping in on Grant Woolf and orders a new set of fancy duds for the prom, talks to him for a bit, then we stop at a rest stop for like 15 minutes I think. Afterwards, Flinty moves around the city to covertly dispose of the broken pieces of her former sending stone (having consulted, I forgot to mention, with Goloff before leaving about how someone might scry out an object like that). While doing so she’s caught off-guard by Panther, who invites her out to discuss a collaboration over falafel.

The situation is that halfling gangs have been committing nonsense with startlingly powerful new artifacts, speedy machines and impressively hefty suits of armor, and nobody can figure out who the perpetrators are or where they got this stuff. Known halfling crews-- like the Handsome Lads, for example-- claim to know nothing about these crimes and appear incensed about them, and Panther, being an upstanding young lady from honest means, is unable to get a foothold in the underworld. Which is where Flinty (and Panther swears it isn’t a halfling thing) comes in. Their first lead is a shady halfling with a history of moving around different iffy circles, currently in custody at the Gentle Guild HQ (currently taken over by the PF500) for a mysterious charge of public nudity on the outskirts of the city. Flinty’s ears perk up and she begins to scheme how to kill him in his helpless position unbeknownst to Panther.

On their way to the prison they chat a bit about food and their childhoods. Panther has a taste for seafood and some proteins, having grown up in a harsh region not favored by the Valley. She remembers that she has a somewhat too-large pair of mittens that she made for Flinty, monogrammed “F” and “M” and embroidered with little weasels. Flinty puts them on backwards and yells “Mother! Fucker!” while punching, a foolish thing to do. She asks Flinty what a thoughtful gift for Ardis would be and Flinty says math or depression or muesli, I suppose she’s a pretty bad friend.

They arrive at the HQ and Flinty catches up with a haggard and depleted looking Zephyr Kurunthadi, who explains that many of the human Guild members were taken by the plague in its early stages. He sends them down to the cells with a few PF500s and Flinty is shocked to see the cages crammed with halflings of all ages pleading their innocence. Finally they reach Francis Flisk, facing the wall alone in his cell and unresponsive to Panther’s questions. Flinty pushes past everyone to boldly just behead him but he grabs her wrist, turns to reveal a pale, cracked face surmounted by the onyx nubs and ruptures she last saw on Ewer under the influence of his crown, and she passes out overwhelmed by images of carnage and despair.

Waking up in a large, suspiciously comfy bed, she discovers herself covered in bruises and extremely fatigued. Panther is summoned and explains that as soon as Francis touched her, she began to violently assault everyone else but him, and that, sadly, she lost the battle. Flinty is appalled to discover that she even attacked and hurt poor Fiz, who is summoned and cautiously nuzzles up to her. Panther is willing to hear Flinty out, and once she’s appraised of the situation, to Flinty’s surprise, she agrees that Francis is too dangerous to live and must be dealt with. The two hurry back to the HQ, Flinty carried like a baby in Panther’s arms, only to discover that they’re too late. A small fleet of Sarmasik carriages surrounded the base, and inside the entire clan minus Ardis and Ilan is present, having paid Francis’ meager bail. Ardin and Francis make smug comments to Flinty as they leave, flanked by guards and Ardis’ other two uncles, Ilan Olin (Ios) and Shilan. Flinty is still far too drained from her earlier fight to press the attack, but Panther makes an impetuous lunge for Francis, only to be stopped absolutely in her tracks by the icy gaze of Ardin’s grandmother. Panther collapses to the ground in shock and the Sarmasiks file out with their prize.

Zephyr rushes out as the PF500 taunt Flinty, who they still hate for throwing rocks at them, like, a year ago, and expresses confusion at her story. He claims to have been present for a thorough examination of Francis after the first incident and saw no signs of possession or corruption of any sort. He gently suggests that Flinty has been under extreme pressure and could use a break. Flinty works herself up into a true rant and passes out again, having yelled herself to death.

Meanwhile...

Leucosia enjoys a passive aggressive journey with a barely responsive Helena and a tight-lipped Jeanne apparently snitty about not being second in command after returning to the city. They are all on an assignment to survey the condition of Daddsford, which has been seemingly abandoned for months. After some squabbling, Leucosia decides to survey the area from above, while Jeanne sends out a mysterious spectral scout to scope out the grounds. Helena, crazed, is placated by a poultice Jeanne has brought. She ruefully explains that Helena depends on medicine to remain lucid and to dull her pain, but that since Chanchala assumed leadership the budget for it has been nixed, so she has to mix it up and forage the ingredients herself. They all commiserate and Helena, too noisy for a stealth mission, is assigned to keep an eye on the roads. It’s around this time that Abby and I stopped at Taco Bell and ate wet fries, and in any case, I’m too tired to finish this. Sorry Jesse and Molly I suppose you’ll just never know what startling sights met the 24 karat eyes of... the Crystal Cats!

Edit: Both report the village totally abandoned but covered in a thick vibrant of vibrant flowers. The flowers emit a strong, sweet scent that makes the adventurers by turn sleepy and delirious, and Jeanne’s attempt to curb the scent with a little personal whirlwind are only partially successful. The two consider cutting the mission short and reporting what they’ve found but they spot a human darting into a building and after some discussion decide to continue investigating (while deliberating, they share their opinions on other Crystal Cats and sort of become friends. Jeanne tells her about Gnermal and Leucosia reveals that she helped save Maddie and Tantan). A closer look reveals that the human is Dr. Vejovis’ protege, Sunny, now with a column of flowery mushrooms blooming up the side of his body and a florid red one waving like an anemone from his eye socket. Jeanne takes a shot from Leucosia’s talons that goes wide but alerts him and he darts back into yet another house. Jeanne dives in after him through a hole in the roof and Leucosia follows after.

Inside they find more flowers, and Jeanne is horrified to discover them growing from what appear to be fresh human bodies, although the clothes on the body are mildewed and aged. They back out into the street in alarm only to discover that the beds of flowers covering the streets are also planted on human bodies. Jeanne thinks back to Helena’s ominous warning that the town was “alive with death” and wants to try taking the pulse of one of these bodies, but Leucosia grabs her and takes to the skies. They decide to call Helena in to come in loud and just burn everything down. However, it occurs to Jeanne, a veteran party girl, that if these flowers are a drug or poison, burning them all on a windy day upwind from the city might not be great. Leucosia unsuccessfully attempts to call Helena off while Jeanne retreats to try to use some nature magic to control the blaze if necessary.

Helena blazes in and starts fighting, projectiles and divine weapons ablur, putting Sunny on the back foot. He flees but the bodies begin to rise, emitting sickly vapors and swarming Helena, who even in her armor is unable to fend them all off. Leucosia finds her courage and swoops in to assist but is shocked when Sunny’s arm extends in a braid of thorny vines and snatches her from the air-- due to the specifications of her pact, she is supposed to be invulnerable to harm that isn’t reciprocal, and she begins to go into shock. Helena perches over her, shielding her with the armored plates of her chassis, elated to be finally fulfilling her destiny, as she sees it, as an aegis and bulwark. However there are simply too many and Leucosia decides it’s time to run away and get backup. She attempts to fly off with a recalcitrant Helena, and finally succeeds in pulling the maimed young woman from her armored shell, but is knocked out of the sky again by more of Sunny’s thorns. Helena smiles and begins to calmly recite what she believes is her oath, drawing the requisite blood just as Gnermal darts in and ferries Leucosia away. Leucosia is in tears-- she knows that Aramingo, not trusting Helena’s judgement, left her without the failsafe that the other Cats possess, just a dummy oath, and that she’s been left to die.

However, she tries to ring her on the sending stone anyway and hears her voice, calm, collected, and lucid, thanking her for showing that she’d to this point placed her faith in false gods. She mentions heading back towards the city for a reckoning and Leucosia starts to break down a little.

She and Jeanne regroup, and Gnermal is sent back out to make sure Sunny and Helena didn’t escape by way of the sewers, but the entire city is charred. Jeanne is totally drained from sending the blaze from Helena’s last stand out to disperse at sea (a really bad plan???) and Leucosia communes with her astral boyfriend Space Mountains to calm down. They muster up the energy to get back to Lin’s cart only to find it destroyed and overgrown with plague mushrooms. Lin himself is ok but describes being attacked by a walking Helena as well as Sunny. Jeanne stays behind, drained, while Leucosia follows their trail of blossoming footprints back to the city to a warehouse choked, again, with flowering bodies, and an open trapdoor into the kobold tunnels where the trail dies.

Meanwhile again...

Chanchala levitates up the cliffs to the quarantined Old City while Sawbones scales the face with Guilotte clinging to her back. They’re here to investigate the whereabouts of the terrorist and traitor Albertine Rosenbee, but don’t know what to expect on the ground. The only intel they have is that Albertine is difficult to track, but that her twin brother, Erasmus, was stranded there when the bridges went down. They’re soon met with resistance from armed guards claiming to serve the “Bonnie Prince.” Guilotte impetuously uses her sonic boom thing, wounding and annoying Chanchala in the process. The guards have a strange currency in their pockets, marked with cheerful symbols instead of numbers. They proceed further inland and stop at a tavern, where they split up to gather information. Guilotte discovers that the island is split into three zones belonging to the Duchess, the Duke, and the Prince, with the Prince serving as a peace broker and mediator between the more bellicose Duchess and Duke. He’s a friendly ruler who regularly walks the streets to see who needs help, but also received petitioners from his “palace.” Chanchala discovers that the so-called Duke is the former Gentle Guild sergeant Caowulf Cutty, who with a stranded regiment of Guild officers has set up a brutal but secure zone where he distributes meat of unknown and sinister provenance.

With this knowledge in hand, they come up with cover identities-- Woozy Winkums, a seller of pornography, and Barbara, a liason for the Egg Babies. Sawbones is their troubled child, Toffee. Eventually the trio reaches the palace, which is separated from the mainland, the old Adavispa factory compound. A long line is coiling around waiting to take the ferry over, but Chanchala flies away, Sawbones just walks through the water, and Guilotte sweet-talks her way to the front. Within the compound, they see undead humans seemingly peacefully and happily going about their business, helping petitioners from the Old City carry gifts of food and drink and supplies back to the ferries. Despite the overall squalor and doom of Old Eigreska, the factory town is relatively cheery,decorated with motivational posters and paper garlands. They head into the palace where a modest banquet is set, poor-looking people eating bowls of soup and grains while Billy Adavispa at the head of the table sups on scraps, cheerfully pretending to slurp down soup while stretching out his meagre both. He looks happy but thin and weak, and greets them all happily. He and Guilotte walk along the elevated tracks of what was once the company tram-line discussing the situation and what each is working towards. He offers to deputize them as Billy Buddies to give them access to the Duchess’ territory, where Erasmus is located, in exchange for delivering a wagon of produce and sweets to the quarantined people there. The deal is struck and everybody parts ways.

The Duchess’ zone is gaudily decorated with paper lanterns and streamers of red paper flowers, and is located in the neighborhoods which once housed a dynamic mix of immigrant and non-human communities-- even now, orcs, goblins, kobolds, and bugbears mingle wearily but peacefully in the streets with humans, gnomes, halflings, and half-elves. They split up once again as Sawbones peels off and heads away with a strange sense of purpose. Guilotte pursues and finds her locked in a staring contest with a peculiar mirror of Rumble Force’s Daedalus Anuria-- a lithe kroten body topped with a grotesquely oversized crystalline head. The kroten offers Guilotte a bouquet of colorful flowers and places a flower crown of similar make on Sawbones’ head before hopping off. Chanchala meets back up with them and reports an infuriating and annoying meeting with the Duchess, who sounds, to Guilotte, to be a similar personality type to Chanchala herself. The Duchess turns out to be Gniece Quoyn, a gnomish criminal who was once one of Ewer’s Lambs but escaped capture in the hubbub of the previous year. Her trademark golems are her muscle. However, Chanchala did leave the meeting with permission to conduct her business, as violent as it may get. She leads Guilotte to what was once a popular orc bar, the Goblin Marquette, which she says she once frequented in happier times. Inside she’s greeted familiarly by Aloysius and Bertolt, and the Cats are told to make themselves at home. However, Aloysius firmly tells them that they have no authority here, and are not to mess with or intimidate any of his guests or employees. Guilotte terrorizes him with her claw though until he gives in. He directs them to Erasmus’ quarters up the stairs.

He’s sitting there looking worse for the wear practicing for the night’s performance. As he turns, Guilotte notices that he’s already maimed-- two missing fingers, a missing eye, and a missing ear, which he explains were the result of his last interrogation by government thugs, overseen by Inquisitor Harrow after the attack on the Palace. He’s impatient with them and insists that he has no contact with his sister and that in general there’s no love lost between them. However Chanchala produces an ingenious and cruel torture method using the rings of empathy last seen shared by Mungo and Beatrice, and explains that one of such a pair is usually implanted in prisoners as dangerous and unpredictable as Albertine. She forces the other ring on Erasmus’ finger and Sawbones is directed to break his arm, and then Guilotte, showing her true colors, gleefully goes to town.

Skipping forward half an hour, an exhausted and terrified Erasmus finally cracks and reveals that he’d been contacted by Albertine months ago, looking to move some dangerous goods to an ally of hers. She’d heard through the grapevine about Erasmus’ proximity to smugglers and criminals, and how he himself had fenced several trinkets which he stole out of spite from the palace on his way out, including gifts from Prince Ethbart. He insists that he refused her help. Guilotte brandishes her dagger again and he doubles down, sobbing that he doesn’t know where his sister is, but if they promise to stop he’ll give them an even sweet prize-- a halfling traitor, renegage Starry Messenger, and wizard named Tavi Feathers, who had approached him about helping shuttle halflings in danger on the mainland to relative safety here. He’d turned her down gently but left the door open for broaching the subject with Aloysius or the Duchess. He hurriedly contacts her by sending stone and sets up a time and place to meet. Satisfied, Chanchala gives Guilotte an ominous nod and the tiefling advances with her knife a final time...

Erstwhile...

Flinty wakes up in the lavish Crystal Cats infirmary with Panther waking soon after. She’s worked up about Francis and panicking, and Panther attempts to calm her down. They share a smoke and Panther explains her philosophy of providing people respite, and that as adventurers they deserve to be able to enjoy their lives occasionally. She thinks Flinty should still go to prom, but promises that the next day they’ll begin, in earnest, a joint operation between their respective parties to find out what’s up with Francis and the Crown (top priority after curing the plague). Flinty gets her gear back, Fiz is all patched up, and they head down for breakfast with the other Crystal Cats. Well as you can imagine there’s a lot of information flying around but eventually they agree on Panther’s proposal. However, Panther is shaken by some of what she hears-- including Helena’s fate, the deception she was victim to, and the excesses of Chanchala’s leadership (although Chanchala and Guilotte heavily censor their antics).

As the conversation shifts to prom, Flinty takes a moment with Sawbones, who is largely unresponsive but eventually meets Flinty’s sorrowful and kind words with a gentle touch of the cheek. Everybody finds out Flinty is going to prom with the mysterious Carlos Empanadas and loses their shit. In a hideous slurry of emotions Flinty heads out, picks up her fancy new armor from Grant Woolf, and finally returns home.

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some-triangles · 8 years ago

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PART 1

What’s this? A sister and her brother?

What’s this? A woman by herself?

What’s this? The remains of the cock tower, bobbited, stuffed and mounted just beneath a rose, which has been nailed to a wall and is oozing architectural elements?

It can only mean one thing:

I’m a fountain of blood, in the shape of a girl

Yes, we’re doing this!

I should mention that we are doing this through a very specific lens, courtesy of tumblr user @snarp. The idea is: after leaving the academy, a jail with walls made of stories, Anthy would have had to come up with a way of reckoning with her own past which did not rely on those same stories for its structure. The Utena movie is her first attempt at retelling her own narrative in a way which is not completely overshadowed by her older brother. The more one looks for supporting evidence for this interpretation, the more one can find; so instead of focusing on whether this is a correct way of reading (a boring and ultimately fruitless question), let’s instead ask if this reading allows the movie to be good, which, by any number of more conventional metrics, it isn’t.

It makes sense right from the off, though. The first two images we see in this movie (beyond the carillon of school’s-out bells) are Anthy and Akio together and Anthy sans Akio, as if to say: we are removing this guy from the narrative, and good riddance. Then the opening credits consist of a montage of frustratingly tiny paintings:

Paintings which, we learn later, are Anthy’s work. They appear, they confuse, and they disappear in a flash of fire; so we are led to understand that the coming narrative will be obscure, mercurial, and, most importantly, the product of a single perspective, that of our heroine. Who is in this film definitely Anthy, and not Utena.

Speaking of Utena – who is she in this iteration?

Well, she’s wearing a boy’s uniform, finally. It’s a striking one, as well – a kind of monochrome fool’s motley, which is a tough look to pull off by anyone’s standards, but she manages it. The duality of the black and white in her outfit represents her status in re the are you a boy or a girl situation: she is clearly being presented as the Two-Face of gender expression. She’s also immediately very gay.

An immediate priority of the camera here (which we are going to persist in interpreting as Anthy’s camera, even if it kills us) is the demystification of sex. Utena and Wakaba are allowed to be flirty with each other without scandal or misunderstanding or censor roses or anything. Hidden desire and the sublimation thereof were the engine that powered the old academy system. They’re the first things up against the wall, so to speak, now that the revolution’s come.

We still have shadow puppet girls, though. Can’t shift ‘em. They’re like roaches.

The camera angle here suggests that we are watching invisibly from a position just to the left of F-ko’s ear. It’s gonna take a second for Anthy to really get the hang of this artsy framing thing.

Utena and Wakaba stroll among the exploded architecture (a literal deconstruction of the old academy, ha ha ha) and meet the cast. Miki and Juri are largely as before, although Juri’s looking slightly more cheerful about things as she holds court from her throne, framed by busted Mondrians in stained glass.

This may be because she’s absorbed a fair piece of Utena’s archetype, so Utena can be less initially invested in the whole cockamamie prince system. Wakaba suggests that Juri might be Utena’s rival – implicitly, as the other Big Gay On Campus. This is about as important as Wakaba gets. Rivals for Utena’s attention tend to get short shrift in this particular narrative - why would that be, one wonders? Speaking of which:

Sweet mary crackers, it’s Movie Touga.

Utena chases him and catches up at the rose garden (no longer a birdcage, no longer under glass). They’ve apparently known each other for some time. Utena warns him that she didn’t come to the academy to pursue him – she’s not the same person she used to be (i.e., kinda into girls now.)

The camera pans back to reveal another of Anthy’s works, this one depicting a boat sinking while a distant prince looks on in horror. Anthy is manipulating the master narrative that Juri told the student council during the final duel, back in the real world; the one about the boy who drowned trying to save a girl and was forgotten. In the real world, the drowned boy turned out to be Utena. To get our happy ending, we’re going to have to shift things around a little.

Notably, Utena doesn’t recognize the ring he’s wearing. She has a prince thing – she decided, after she and Touga “broke up”, to live her life by higher ideals – but it’s not a Prince Thing. She has no connection to Akio. Nobody gave her a rose seal – until now, that is.

Touga vanishes. The rain stops. The walls retreat in a rush.

Dream logic brings Utena’s attention to a single white rose, which unfurls before her eyes petal by petal and deposits a glowing pearl in her hand, which turns out to be one of these.

Regarding this sequence: it is important to point out that while the TV series liked to dabble in phallic imagery, we are going to have to dust off the word “yonic” for the movie. Funny that my spellchecker recognizes one and not the other.

We’re not done yet. As the ring nestles in her palm, a breeze picks up, carrying with it both the sound of bongos and a thick shower of crimson petals, which are swirling down from a suspended platform above. The platform makes the following shape in the sky:

Yonic.

Utena goes up to investigate. It turns out the highest place in this academy isn’t a tower, it’s a rose garden [YONIC]; the architecturally dubious remains of the entrance gate tell us that it’s also the dueling arena, and thus the perfect place to meet our heroine.

Movie Anthy wears her hair long. Movie Anthy never wore glasses. Movie Anthy makes the first move. Movie Anthy flirts. Also, perhaps most crucially, Movie Anthy does not withhold information.

Movie Anthy is immediately all up in Utena’s business, and summons an anime breeze so that they can flap their hair at each other in a shower of rose petals. Then she sees the ring, and bang, no more breeze. Just like it was raining for the exact duration of Utena's conversation with Touga earlier on. Oh, is Anthy not the central figure of this story, the lens through which all of this is being observed? It’s not like her moods control the weather or anything

Appalled at the idea that this ultra-hot bab might be on the verge of dueling inveiglement, Anthy grabs Utena’s wrist and tries to wrestle the ring away from her. Utena flips the coin on her gender expression and it comes up dudes.

Then a cruel parody of Saionji shows up.

Woof.

The old academy and the new academy pretty much agree about this part of the story, except whatever lingering elements of dignity or relatability Saionji may once have had are now gone. He’s just a maniac with a sword, which makes sense, if Anthy’s telling the story.

Everything proceeds as expected til

Whoops, the bride has agency!

Woah, the bride has…agency

Full transformation ensues. The bride kisses Utena square on the lips, explodes into full regalia and produces her sword. Utena draws it, which tips her gender expression slightly further into true equilibrium, reuniting her with her fabled hot pants and epaulets combo and, most significantly, causing her to bust out in an all-time classic Princely Goop Mullet.

There is no excuse for this.

Saionji gets wrecked, immediately, and we’re out.

(Apologies for the lack of a borgesian dyad for this duel – the files I have don’t sub the chorale lyrics. Folks who have the full release should feel free to send in screenshots of worthy candidates.)

The first duel ends about twenty minutes into the movie’s runtime, which is handy. The rhythms of the old pattern are not so easily shaken. Maybe we’ll get a more thorough departure...

next time

#utena #utena liveblog #heeere we go #the background art and environment design in this thing is unimpeachable imo #so many lovely frames #shame about the character design #what is going on with their hands

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wordcollector · 8 years ago

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February Book Review: Caraval

Caraval (Caraval #1)

By: Stephanie Garber

Release Date: January 31, 2017

*Beware: Spoilers Ahead!*

Official Synopsis:

Scarlett Dragna has never left the tiny island where she and her sister, Tella, live with their powerful, and cruel, father. Now Scarlett’s father has arranged a marriage for her, and Scarlett thinks her dreams of seeing Caraval—the faraway once-a-year performance where the audience participates in the show—are over.

But this year, Scarlett’s long-dreamt-of invitation finally arrives. With the help of a mysterious sailor, Tella whisks Scarlett away to the show. Only, as soon as they arrive, Tella is kidnapped by Caraval’s mastermind organizer, Legend. It turns out that this season’s Caraval revolves around Tella, and whoever finds her first is the winner.

Scarlett has been told that everything that happens during Caraval is only an elaborate performance. Nevertheless she becomes enmeshed in a game of love, heartbreak, and magic. And whether Caraval is real or not, Scarlett must find Tella before the five nights of the game are over or a dangerous domino effect of consequences will be set off, and her beloved sister will disappear forever.

Welcome, welcome to Caraval…

My Synopsis:

Scarlett Dragna has lived her entire life on the tiny isle of Trisda, fighting to protect her sister, Tella, from their father’s wrath. When an arranged marriage offers an opportunity for both of them to escape, Scarlett jumps at the chance, and in doing so, gives up her dreams of ever visiting Caraval, the magical, mysterious show where the audience is invited to join in the game.

So when Scarlett’s long-awaited invitation arrives, it’s up to Tella, with the help of a sailor who isn’t quite what he seems, to get them to the show. Unfortunately, Tella disappears as soon as they arrive, stolen away by Legend, the magical mastermind behind Caraval. Finding Tella is the goal of this year’s game, and the first one to find her will win the ultimate prize—a single wish.

Scarlett’s been told that the events of Caraval are all part of the performance, but she soon finds herself tangled in a web of secrets, romance, and murder that seems all too real. And even if it’s only a game, Scarlett must find her sister before the end of the fifth night, or she may never see Tella again…

My Thoughts:

When people started making comparisons between Caraval and The Night Circus, I knew I was going to love it. I read The Night Circus last fall, and it immediately became one of my all-time favorites. The characters were complex and charming, the idea of the game was intriguing, and the world-building was beyond compare. Le Cirque des Reves was described so vividly, so thoroughly, that I felt like I was there. There are few books that truly transport me to another place like The Night Circus did, and since then, I’ve been looking for good books related to the circus or to carnivals, hoping to capture a bit of the enchantment woven into Erin Morgenstern’s wondrous novel.

Just seeing the cover of Caraval lit that previous spark of magic I’d been hoping to relight. It sparkled, it sang, and it promised an unforgettable adventure. I know you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but I hoped beyond hope that Caraval wouldn’t let me down.

And it certainly didn’t—Caraval was everything I could’ve hoped for. There was a strong and realistic relationship between sisters, the game was high-stakes and required more and more sacrifices from the players, and the world of Caraval was breathtaking in its wonder and its secrets.

Like Le Cirque des Reves, Caraval felt like a character unto itself. It was a cross between the circus in The Night Circus and Wonderland; like the Cirque, there were attractions and performances that defied logic and reason, the players were unique and secretive, and there was a countdown until the end of the show, meaning everyone had a limited time to achieve whatever goal they had set out to accomplish. But at the same time, Caraval felt to me a lot like Wonderland, with its strange rules, constant games, and distorted reality.

To begin with, a visit to Caraval could only be achieved with an invitation. Not just anyone could attend that year’s game, and even those who had been invited wouldn’t be allowed inside if they didn’t make it there before the deadline. Making it there in time was just the first part of the game, giving potential players a taste of what lay ahead. But given the opportunity to experience the magic of Caraval, I could only imagine that those invited would do their darndest to get there in time. Once there, everything was turned upside down. The game was played at night, and anyone who wasn’t safely inside their lodgings at dawn on the first night was immediately disqualified. The rules didn’t say what exactly happened to those who weren’t in their boarding house when dawn broke, but the way the instructions were relayed made me think you wouldn’t have want to find out.

Players were provided with the first clue and a list of instructions for finding the rest of the clues, but how the game was actually played was up to each individual. Trickery, bribery, and thievery were fair game, although the game itself had a way of serving up justice to encourage more honest sportsmanship. However, the honest ways of play could be just as dangerous. Truths were often used as a form of payment, but the secrets confessed could come back to haunt you, so if players preferred to pay with time, that was acceptable, too. Paying with time meant taking days off your life; of course, since no one knows when they’ll die, those days had to be paid instantly, meaning you’d be dead for a few days while the game commenced around you. You’d be revived when your payment had been made, although if something happened to your body while you were indisposed—being buried, being hidden underwater, being damaged in some way—you may wish you hadn’t woken up at all.

Payments aside, the world of Caraval was easy enough to navigate, and there were wonderful things to see. The whole thing was built around a maze of canals, requiring travel by boat if you wished to get anywhere quickly. Or if you were wary of paying to travel on the waterways, you could’ve taken your chances with the bridges and hope they didn’t take you somewhere unexpected. Assuming you could find your way to where you were going, you may have wanted to visit the dress shop, which you could purchase dresses in all colors and styles, or the Carousel of Roses, which you could set to spinning by paying the pipe organist to play you a song. Or perhaps you would’ve preferred to visit the Castillo Maldito, with its assortment of tents and exhibitions where you could examine a menagerie of miniature animals, practice your kissing, or have your fortune told. There was something for everyone at Caraval, but you had to be willing to pay the price for the pleasure.

I found Caraval to be a magical place just this side of insane, and I loved it. I mentioned that I found Caraval a bit similar to Wonderland, and that’s mostly because of the rules. They didn’t make a lot of sense, but they had to be obeyed or there were some pretty harsh consequences. Even though all the players were told—twice—that everything was only a game, that didn’t mean people couldn’t get hurt or even killed. We saw a few instances of people getting too caught up in the game and going mad, and seeing how things played out for the main heroine, Scarlett, it wasn’t hard to see how people could go a bit loopy. And while I think madness or death would be a steep price to pay for visiting Caraval, I’d be willing to risk it.

The descriptions of Caraval, like the descriptions of Le Cirque des Reves, were vivid and thorough. I truly felt as if I had stepped inside this magical place alongside Scarlett, and I loved getting to explore all the nooks and crannies. I loved that even the most seemingly ordinary places were a bit off-kilter, like the rooms in La Serpiente being scattered randomly throughout the floors or the moving bridge, which reminded me of the staircases at Hogwarts. The food and drinks sometimes did more than expected, too, such as the cider that made Scarlett see in black and white, which obviously made me think of Wonderland, although the cider proved to a bit more helpful than a mushroom that lets you change your size. And the shops offered everything from the ordinary to the bizarre, so whether you were looking for a dress or a time-stopping stopwatch, you could find it at Caraval.

Another little piece of magic that I loved were the magical clothes. Scarlett’s dress was a wonder, and I loved that it seemed to have a mind of its own, changing into a skimpy nightgown when it thought she should be flirting. But it also seemed to be attuned to Scarlett’s emotions, making it impossible for her not to face her feelings. It was a nice touch that outwardly manifested Scarlett’s inner turmoil in a unique and beautiful way.

Perhaps my favorite aspect of Caraval and the game, though, was the fact that although everyone was given the same clues, there wasn’t just one way to win. We were told that the clues serve as a map, and that there were many paths to the same destination, so the different clues and how they were interpreted depended on the player. Since we only followed Scarlett through the game, we don’t know how anyone else interpreted the clues, but I like to imagine that other players were successfully making their way through the game by following entirely different sets of clues that only they, with their own unique personality and history, could find. The lesson that there’s more than one way to accomplish the same goal is an important one, but not one that’s often taught in competition stories, so I liked that it was included here.

But of course, the player that we got to tag along with on her way through Caraval was Scarlett Dragna. I loved Scarlett right from the beginning. It was immediately clear that she loved her younger sister, Tella, more than anything, and it would be rather hard to dislike someone who was so willing to sacrifice herself and her happiness to keep her sister safe. Scarlett and Tella couldn’t be more different, but the bond between them was strong, and it hurt to see them fighting with their father to try and save the other from getting beaten. That first chapter was a powerful moment, and it quickly solidified not only how evil their father was, but how far Scarlett and Tella were willing to go to spare the other from his wrath.

At its heart, Caraval was a story about sisters and the love that they share, and I loved that no matter what, Scarlett and Tella fought to protect one another, even if they had different ways of going about it. Scarlett had sworn to keep Tella safe when their mother had left, and Tella refused to let her sister get married to a guy she’d never met just so Tella would be safe from their father. Coming from an older sister, I understood all too well how the situation played out as Tella, the younger sister, came out on top and inevitably got her way. I loved that she arranged to kidnap Scarlett to get her to Caraval, and while Scarlett freaked out as any older sister would when their younger sibling refuses to do the logical thing, she agreed to enter Caraval to find her sister.

Unfortunately, Tella disappeared before Scarlett had a chance to talk to her, and things became even more complicated when Tella became the star of the game, with the first person to find her being granted one wish as their prize. It’s every older sister’s nightmare to have their little sister stuck in some terrible situation, and especially one that she doesn’t know how to solve, but Scarlett refused to let this twist stop her. Although somewhat timidly, she joined the game, more determined than anyone to find Tella and get her home safely.

I loved getting to see Scarlett’s growth as she worked to find her sister. At the beginning of the book, the only thing she wanted out of life was safety for Tella. She was willing to marry a mysterious count that she’d never met simply because he’d promised that he’d bring Tella to live with them and get her away from their father. It didn’t matter to Scarlett that she didn’t truly love the count or that it could be a terrible match because Tella’s protection was worth anything to Scarlett. Being at Caraval didn’t change that, and Scarlett’s initial decisions in the game were made with a disregard for what they may have cost her. That didn’t last long, though, as circumstances forced her to change her strategy, and as Scarlett began to find the answers to the clues, she also became more savvy.

It was great to see Scarlett grow more confident with each passing chapter. Because her sister was the focus of the game, she was able to rely on her knowledge of Tella and use that to her advantage. And as she successfully navigated her way through each clue, her belief in herself became stronger. That didn’t mean she didn’t run into setbacks—there were plenty—but it meant that she was better able to handle them and to avoid making the same mistake twice. Scarlett even eventually became a bit daring, willing to bargain for clues and take chances in a way that she never would’ve done before. Tella was always Scarlett’s top priority, but Scarlett learned that she couldn’t always sacrifice herself for her sister’s sake; sometimes the only way she could take of her sister was by first taking care of herself.

Of course, Scarlett didn’t learn all of that on her own. Her partner, Julian, pushed Scarlett to grow and to want something more than just safety out of life. We first met Julian caught in a fairly compromising scene with Tella, but we soon learned that he had just teamed up with Tella to kidnap Scarlett and take them to Caraval. Initially, I figured Julian was just going to be a flirt and that he’d end up with Tella, but as he and Scarlett began to work together, my opinion of him began to change. Sure, he was still a flirt, and he still lied far too often for my liking, but he was helping rather than hindering Scarlett, and he was gentlemanly enough to keep out when it was Scarlett’s night in their one bed.

However, I found Julian to be far too knowledgeable than I would’ve expected, even if he had been a player before, and I shared Scarlett’s suspicions that he was Legend himself. Luckily, that was wrong, and although he still had a lot of secrets up his sleeve, I found myself really hoping Julian wouldn’t turn out to be a bad guy. He was genuinely concerned for Scarlett’s safety, even trading one day of his life for one of hers, and he was actively helping her solve the clues to win the game. Add that to his annoying yet sweet nickname for her—Crimson—and the romantic tension was undeniable. It wasn’t until Julian said he wasn’t a good guy yet still continued to help Scarlett search for Tella that I connected him to the fortune teller’s prediction of the man Scarlett would marry.

“I am sorry, but the man you will marry is not what you would call good,” the fortune teller told Scarlett. “At one time, perhaps, but he has turned from that path, and it is not yet clear if he will turn back.” If that wasn’t a perfect description of Julian, I don’t know what would’ve been. He had lied and tricked and broken hearts, but there he was, sacrificing his own time and safety to help Scarlett. His feelings for her began to push him back towards the path of goodness, and the changes in him allowed Scarlett herself to open up. She’d been hiding her heart for so long, afraid to fall in love and risk her father’s wrath or losing her heart when the person left, like her mother had done. But as she continued to work alongside Julian, she couldn’t ignore her growing feelings. I was so glad when they finally kissed, and I finally let myself hope that maybe they’d get their happy ending.

And then Scarlett’s father had to show up with her fiancé and turn the search for Tella into an escape for their lives. It wasn’t a very successful escape, and when the two were caught, Scarlett’s father took a knife to Julian’s face. If anyone deserved to be driven mad, it was definitely Governor Dragna, and although he hadn’t changed, his daughter certainly had. Instead of practically throwing herself at his feet to save Julian, Scarlett took a stand, getting the count on her side to save Julian but once again putting herself on the line to save him. But with both Julian and Tella at risk, Scarlett was able to stand up to the count as well, and she left him tied to the bed as she and Julian made their escape. I absolutely loved Scarlett finally showing some backbone, and it could be attributed not only to her love for Julian, but to the growing confidence she’d found in herself as a result of having to deal with all the secrets and chaos of Caraval. It was a defining moment for Scarlett, and certainly made the most of it.

After escaping, Scarlett realized she knew the answer to the final clue, and she and Julian came face to face with Legend. Unfortunately, Legend seemed to have gone a bit mad himself, and he joyfully revealed to Scarlett that Julian had been working for him this whole time. Julian managed to tell Scarlett even though he started out following orders, his feelings for her led him to abandon his task and help her to win. He told her that it wasn’t a game for him, and Scarlett realized that he was telling the truth…right in time for Legend to stab Julian in the chest.

At this point, I was a bit ready to slam the book shut. I read Heartless a week or so ago, and all I could think was, How the heck did I manage to get sucked into another book where (spoiler) the love interest gets murdered? I was not pleased, but then I remembered the wish Scarlett would get if she found Tella, and I had hope again. Until Scarlett found Tella, who—of course—didn’t believe her story about Legend and his revenge against their family. To make things even better, Tella had met Legend; in fact, she was engaged to him, and she thought Scarlett had gone mad when she tried to tell her that her beloved Daniel was the notorious Legend. Then, to make things worse, Scarlett’s father and the count appeared, and Legend revealed his true identity, mocking Tella and her foolish romanticism. The betrayal broke Tella, and before anyone could stop her, she jumped off the balcony to her death.

And once again, I was ready to slam the book shut. Really, Tella? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Now Scarlett’s going to use her wish to bring you back instead of Julian, and she’ll be glad you’re alive, but she’ll be brokenhearted and you’ll be brokenhearted, and no one will be happy, and this is just a terrible way to end. But of course, that’s not quite how things turned out.

Scarlett stood up to her father and the count once again, threatening to reveal all her father’s secrets unless they left. Her father left, seeming afraid of his daughter and the wrath she could bring down on his head, and while the count left with him, the way he lingered ever so slightly was a promise that he’d be back. That was the least of Scarlett’s problems, though, as she demanded her wish, planning to use it to bring Tella back, only to be told that she didn’t get a wish. I totally had Willy Wonka flashbacks here, but just like poor Charlie Bucket, Scarlett didn’t give up. And although she tried to bring Tella back using her own blood, she failed. I was heartbroken for Scarlett at this point and more than a bit angry—how dare you, book, just how dare you—but then Scarlett was given Tella’s letters, and the truth was revealed.

Scarlett hadn’t been the only sister writing to Legend. Tella was cleverer than anyone had given her credit for, and she’d made her own deal with Legend—the real one, not the player that had been pretending to be him, the one Scarlett had been facing off against—to save herself and Scarlett from their father. Tella knew the only way she could escape without their father searching for her was if he thought she was dead, and with her free from her father’s grasp, Scarlett wouldn’t have to sacrifice herself and her happiness to keep Tella safe. Tella told Legend she was willing to die to save herself and her sister, and she knew that someone—Scarlett—loved her enough to bring her back to life in the end. It took a little extra magic from Legend to do the trick, but Scarlett’s love was in fact powerful enough to bring Tella back from the dead. During the game, Scarlett had proven how much she truly loved her sister, and so Tella made the jump, knowing she could count on her sister.

So yay for that, but that still left Julian dead. Except he wasn’t really dead. Well, he was dead until the game was finished, but then he came back. Frankly, it was a bit contrived, but since I wanted Julian to be alive, I didn’t really care. Apparently Legend’s magic kept the players from being truly killed as long as they were part of the performance, so while the player playing Legend had in fact killed Julian, he was fine. As it turned out, though, Julian had well and truly gone AWOL as he helped Scarlett; he had been meant to leave her almost as soon as they got to the island, but he’d been unable to make himself leave her. It was a consolation to Scarlett that Julian was alive, but she immediately began to question their entire relationship.

So when they came face to face, Scarlett couldn’t let herself trust her feelings, not until Julian revealed his final truth: Legend was his brother. He was ready to give up his life as a performer and join the real world once again until his brother asked him to stay for one last game. Scarlett knew all too well what it was like to be willing to do anything for a sibling, and that was enough to put a crack in her guard. But then she saw the scar on Julian’s cheek, the one made by her father’s knife, and she realized that while he may not have been exactly the person he was during the game, the Julian standing in front of her was still brave and selfless and willing to put himself in danger to save her. It was the safety she’d always longed for, and it was accompanied by a true and unwavering love, and Scarlett made her choice. I was so glad that they did in fact end up together, and I loved the joyous feel of the party as they finally, truly gave their hearts to one another.

It was a lovely ending for Scarlett, and after years of having given herself up to protect Tella, it was nice that this time, she could choose happiness for herself. Scarlett’s journey from a young woman afraid to leave her island home to a young woman who’d heard the future, faced down evil, and brought someone back from the dead was full of all the action, mystery, romance, and magic I could’ve wanted. There were a number of twists in the tale, but Scarlett’s path was straightened in the end, leading her to the one man who encouraged her to be herself and who would always face down danger by her side.

Caraval is a story of personal growth, but it’s also a story about the sacrifices we’re willing to make for the ones we love. More importantly, it’s about the love between sisters, and how with a little magic, that love will save the day no matter what. Caraval explores a world that is wonderfully and brilliantly crafted, with characters you’ll fall in love with and a mystery that will keep you guessing right until the final page. While comparisons between Caraval and The Night Circus aren’t entirely wrong, Caraval certainly stands on its own two feet, and readers will certainly love exploring this new world with Scarlett and Julian. So hurry up and get yourself a copy of Caraval! Just remember, it’s only a game, but even games have their surprises.

Stray Thoughts and Observations:

A seven-year time jump in the first chapter—a unique way to start the story.

Oh, the dichotomy of sisters. The dynamic between Scarlett and Tella is ridiculously realistic.

I liked that Scarlett’s emotions were tied to colors. It’s not explained why, but I found that each description was accurate even if I had never thought of an emotion that way until then. An interesting touch.

I loved Caspar-as-Legend playing him as a dramatic psychopath. It reminded me of Moriarty, and I definitely squealed with delight.

The count will be back. What is it with counts and their evil scheming to get what they want? (I’m looking at you, Count Olaf.)

So did anyone actually die in this book?

Sisterly love saves the day—just like Frozen!

I’m assuming Tella’s letter is from the real Legend? And he knows where their mom is; it’ll be interesting to meet her.

What exactly did Tella offer as payment for this version of the game? Seeing how cunning and determined Tella is, it’s likely to be something big.

Will the next book be from Tella’s POV?

I hope the next book explains more about Legend’s magic and how it works. Because if it can stop people from aging a la Neverland as long as they’re performers, I don’t know why people wouldn’t want to be performers.

I also hope we get to see more of Aiko and learn about the history of Caraval. She was an interesting character, and I want a better look at her journal!

Favorite Quotes:

Whatever you’ve heard about Caraval, it doesn’t compare to the reality. It’s more than just a game or a performance. It’s the closest you’ll ever find to magic in the world.

“Dreams that come true can be beautiful, but they can also turn into nightmares when people won’t wake up.”

Wishes were things of wonder that took a certain amount of faith, and Julian seemed the type to trust only what he saw.

In a place where even the air tasted sweet, she tried to imagine the flavor of someone else’s lips pressed to hers.

“Every person has the power to change their fate if they are brave enough to fight for what they desire more than anything.”

“I think I’ve made a mistake.” “Then make it into something better.”

“Do you always focus on what you’re giving up, rather than what you’ll be gaining? Some things are worth the pursuit regardless of the cost.”

Not quite sure how far she’s already fallen, she imagined loving him would feel like falling in love with darkness, frightening and consuming yet utterly beautiful when the stars came out.

She remembered thinking falling for him would be like falling in love with darkness, but now she imagined he was more like a starry night, the constellations were always there, constant, magnificent guides against the ever-present black.

When she’d kissed Julian, it had felt right. Two people choosing to give tiny vulnerable parts of themselves to each other.

“No need to look at me as if I’ll sneak into your house at night and strangle all your kittens.”

Hope it a powerful thing. Some say it’s a different breed of magic altogether. Elusive, difficult to hold on to. But not much is needed.

“I love you, Tella.” “I know you do…I wouldn’t be here if you didn’t.”

Scarlett wasn’t sure who kissed who first. Their lips were almost touching, then Julian’s soft mouth was crushing hers. It tasted like the moment before night gives birth to morning; it was the end of one thing and the beginning of something else all wrapped up together.

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rightsinexile · 6 years ago

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Interdicting refugees not protecting refugees

The following piece was written by Kerry Murphy, a solicitor and specialist in immigration law based in Sydney who has sat on several Boards including the Board of the Immigration Advice and Rights Centre Inc. It appeared on 8 February 2019 in Pearls and Irritations, a blog established by John Menadue, a Patron of the Asylum Seekers’ Centre in Sydney, and has been reprinted here with permission.

In the first Four Corners program of 2019, Sophie McNeil reported on the major hurdles placed in the way of Saudi women getting to Australia to make a refugee claim. McNeil interviewed not just Rahaf Mohammed, who was quickly resettled in Canada, but others who are now in Australia seeking asylum. They told of other Saudi women who had been prevented from getting to Australia by either the Saudi Government or Australian Border Force officers.

The interdiction of asylum seekers coming directly to Australia to make a refugee claim has a long and tortuous history. Much attention has been on those who come by boat, who are nicknamed “boat people” in the media and common parlance. Less attention is given to those who arrive by plane – the ‘’plane people”. I have had the honour of representing not just “boat people” in their cases, but also those who arrive by plane.

The plane arrivals fall into two main categories, those with a visa and those without. This now makes a difference as to what process you get and what visa if you are successful. These days it is much harder for someone to board a flight for Australia without a visa than it used to be. Around twenty years ago, I remember representing a number of asylum seekers who had arrived by plane without a visa. In fact the first Afghan Hazara client I had was a plane arrival, as was the first Iraqi doctor I represented. Over the next twenty years I have represented many other Hazaras and Iraqis, and they both still have good cases when you read the independent reports about what happens in their countries.

Those arriving by plane tend to be individuals or a few people at a time, unlike the boat arrivals. That may be a reason why they get less attention than those asylum seekers on boats receive. After a short time, Australian Immigration started placing immigration officers in known transit centres such as Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and Manilla. These officers had to check passports and visas before people boarded their flight. If they thought there was an irregularity with a visa or passport, the person would not be allowed to continue to Australia.

I remember once boarding a flight in Kuala Lumpur bound for Sydney and seeing an immigration officer I knew checking the passports of those boarding the plane. Luckily I had no problem with my passport, but others could be interdicted in this way. It is also not new that if the Border officers at the airport think a person may make a refugee claim, or if the person says to an officer they want to make a refugee claim, they cancel their visas and the person is sent back on the next flight or to Immigration detention.

McNeil referred to this visa cancellation happening for Saudi women, usually offshore. That person then is unable to continue to Australia. If a person is immigration cleared and then makes a claim for protection some time after that, they will get a bridging visa to keep them lawfully in Australia and not be in detention. These people are the lucky ones, they are entitled to a permanent protection visa if successful. Those whose visas are cancelled at the airport and apply for protection from immigration detention will only get a temporary protection visa at best. Their uncertain future continues.

It is curious that Australian officials go to so much trouble to prevent asylum seekers being able to make a claim for protection, and then penalise those who tell them their intention to seek asylum at the border by cancelling their visa and sending them to detention. In the thirty years of my involvement in working with or for refugees, I have seen at least 40-50 legislative changes just for the onshore applicants, and only one change was positive. The others were mainly reactionary responses to reduce rights or make it easier to refuse, or after a change in Government, there tended to be some amelioration in the harshness and deliberate cruelty in law and policy.

I had a case some years ago where we had to obtain an injunction in the Federal Court preventing Immigration removing a young Tamil who had been “screened out” and not permitted to even make an application. Not only was the injunction granted, but he was granted a protection visa after a full interview by a case officer, not just a “screening interview” which was used to try and return him to the persecution he feared.

I have many clients who have been immigration cleared and made their claim for protection later, and most have been successful in getting protection. Many still contact me years later to tell me about their Australian citizenship, their marriage, children, or even just to send Christmas greetings. I now get more Christmas greetings and cards from Muslims than I do from Christians.

McNeil reported that little is known about the Saudi women who were prevented from getting to Australia through the intervention of the Saudi authorities, or by the cancellation of their visas by Australia. Prima facie, a Saudi woman fleeing family abuse or threats would have a strong case, so why is Australia seeking to interdict them and leave them at risk of being sent home to what is very likely to be persecution?

It cannot be because of “risks of people drowning at sea” which is the refrain trotted out about why we have to be cruel to asylum seekers arriving by boat. The other “Yes Minister” refrain is that it takes the visa away from a “more deserving refugee” chosen by the Government. This queue jumping myth has a long history. If you have a cap on the number of visas issued in a year, then every visa granted, even to those from offshore, means someone else misses out. That is mathematics.

There will always be more people in need than places available. Secondly in my experience of working with and for refugees over thirty years, it is almost impossible to say that refugee A is more deserving than refugee B. People’s lives and stories can vary considerably, and so is it really possible to say that a Hazara woman fleeing the Taliban in Pakistan or Afghanistan is more deserving than a Saudi woman fleeing her family who intend to harm her?

The current approach to deal with this is to have an unofficial cap on the number of visas granted each year to those who arrive onshore and then apply for protection. Then simply delay the processing for those who meet the protection definition but would mean more grants than the Government wishes to make in a year. The effect is to leave people who prima facie meet the criteria for protection in a processing limbo, sometimes for years.

I do not think there is a satisfactory answer to this conundrum. Restating the myth of the queue detracts from the reality of ensuring people who seek asylum have a fair and thorough process. At the same time I do not think it is acceptable to prevent people from making claims for protection by trying to prevent them making applications or cancelling their visas to reduce their chances. Let the case be properly presented and carefully considered, rather than a hasty decision to cancel a visa which may mean a less than thorough assessment that is required if we are to seriously adhere to our international obligations.

#refugees

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ciathyzareposts · 6 years ago

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The Seventh Link: Different Approaches

The land of Elira, as provided recently by the author.

In appearance and mechanics, The Seventh Link owes so much to Ultima III and IV that it takes a while for the divergences in its approach to sink in. When the game began, I felt that I was in such familiar territory–I can no longer keep track of all the Ultima clones that we’ve covered–that I immediately adopted a rote approach to playing the game. I was thus thrown for a loop when my approach didn’t work, and I insisted in forcing it rather than playing in a more organic way.

Specifics: The Ultima titles encourage thorough exploration of towns with attendant taking of notes and creation of task lists. You wouldn’t dream of popping into Yew for the first time, speaking only to one character, and then leaving. That would just limit the amount of intelligence you take on the road to other towns, plus ensure that you’d have to visit each town multiple times. Instead, you wring every bit of content out of each city before moving on to the next. In the meantime, you rely on incidental combats between towns to provide most of your character development and wealth.

Link stymies this approach in several ways. First, it offers rather enormous cities; each is larger than the entirety of Sosaria in Ultima III. The cities are full of locked doors that require special keys, dark forests, twisty mountain passages, and ladders to lower levels. The Ultima games had these, too, but the size of the cities was so much smaller that you never felt lost. In Link, I honestly forget sometimes whether I’m inside or outside.

Because of this approach, I spent the first 10 hours of gameplay stubbornly hanging around the opening city, grinding in combats for enough money to buy keys, because I insisted on fully exploring the city before I moved on. That, I see now, was absurd. Another thing I didn’t realize when I started playing was the importance of treasure rooms. In Link, you don’t get most of your fortune from combat; you get it from huge rooms of treasure chests that most towns feature, somewhere, if you can find them and get past the locked doors.

Just when I thought I was done with the need for keys.

A much better comparison to The Seventh Link in gameplay is the first two Might and Magic titles. (The comparison is particularly apt in the way that each town has a single-level dungeon beneath it.) In those games, you didn’t try to fully explore each new location when you found it. Instead, you explored as far as you could, annotated places where you had to return once you got a key, solved a puzzle, or just got stronger, and then moved on to the next place. You expected to return to both cities and dungeons dozens of times, and you regarded every new explored square as palpable progress.

Unfortunately, recognizing that perhaps the game follows a different paradigm didn’t lead to an immediate shift in my enjoyment of it. There are several problems. First, a game like Might and Magic absolutely requires careful mapping, something I simply can’t countenance with iconographic games. I am willing to map first-person titles. I am not willing to map top-down titles. They’re too large, for one thing: a single 60 x 60 town level in Link is larger than all of the towns and their dungeons in Might and Magic. But beyond that, there’s just some ineffable feeling that I shouldn’t have to map top-down games. It’s not a position I’m prepared to defend in the CRPG Supreme Court, but I hold it nonetheless.

An NPC found at the end of a mountain pass in a dark forest. In a town.

As a result, my notepad for The Seventh Link is full of vague things like, “Return to door in SW corner past mountains on second level with large key” and “find a way to talk to guy on island in south-central part of level,” with about half a dozen such entries per city. There are theoretically Gems of Seeing and a “View Surroundings” spell that should help with indoor mapping, but I haven’t found either yet.

The bigger problem with Link, as I covered in “Breadth, Depth, and Immersion,” is there just isn’t enough to find within all this territory. For the most part, the cities have the same shops and services. Each has maybe a couple of NPCs that offer a single line, none of which seem really necessary the way they do in the Ultima titles. Each class has guilds in different locations, but it’s much easier just to pay 100 gold pieces to level up at another class’s guild than to hunt around for yours. The only real rewards for all the exploration are the few NPCs who will join your party and the occasional treasure vault.

More than combat, these occasional treasure rooms really drive the game’s economy.

The relative emptiness of the cities somewhat ruins the creativity that the author invested in their geography. For instance, there’s a mountainous island in the northwest of the game world whose various approaches look like a maze. A town is found at the end of one of these waterways, and given how much trouble it takes to get there, you might expect something monumental will be found there. Instead, it was one of the more useless towns on the map. I don’t even think I got an NPC companion there.

Wouldn’t you expect to find something important in here?

A similar situation surrounds a pair of towns on the main continent. “Southcure” (a town with a rare explicit name) is unique in having two entrances, one on the north side of the map and one on the south side. The interior is, I think, larger than the standard town, and to get to the south end of the map, you have to pay $1,500 to purchase a flying disk to take you over the water. The disk only lands on grass, and the southern exit has no adjacent grass squares, so to use it, you have to land the disk on some grass in the south-central area, then find a boat, then sail it to the southern exit. Once you leave the city by this exit, you find yourself amidst a circle mountains, an area only accessible from Southcure’s south exit. Nearby is another town. Again, after all this effort, you’d think this “hidden” town would be something extraordinary. But it’s just a generic town without a single joinable NPC.

Crossing water in Southcure with on a flying disk.

Since I last wrote, I’ve finished exploring (I’m pretty sure) all of the towns on Elira. I picked up two additional NPC companions, so my overall current party consists of:

Chester, a giant male magic user

Hagromil, a human male thief

Tharon, an elder male cleric

Diriala, a giant female fighter

Juliano, a dwarf male sage

I can’t quite tell if there’s room for a sixth character or not. If there is, I don’t know where he or she is found. It’s possible I missed someone in a hidden nook or maybe he’s on another planet.

The last character (at least for now) joins the party.

One town in an archipelago in the southwest had a shop that sold more than the standard weapons and armor. There were selections like enchanted armor, “reflect mail,” magic bows, and rods of curing and healing. I had enough for a magic sword for my new fighter companion but nothing else. It’s nice to know I’ll have some place to spend riches in the future, although I suspect only one or two of my characters can wield them.

Expensive enchanted armor and “reflect mail.”

Miscellaneous notes:

One thing that keeps messing me up is the commands for (R)ecord game and (Q)uit and reload. In most Ultima clones, these are reversed as (R)estore and (Q)uit and save.

Healing is so expensive, and hit points regenerate so slowly, that noting the locations of healing wells becomes particularly important.

The party finds a healing fountain in the middle of a town.

In addition to having more traditionally-outdoor features (like mountains) in the middle of towns, the game has some traditionally-indoor features on the main world map. Occasionally, you’ll find locked doors in the midst of mountain ranges, for instance, and chests in the middle of forests. There’s one place in the south-central part of the map where two non-hostile dudes are hanging around a campfire. Neither has anything to say.

What’s the story with these guys?

The lack of names is particularly frustrating. I don’t know if the author intended it. Occasionally, you get a hint of a name. One town has a sign that explicitly says “Welcome to Southcure,” and there are NPC dialogues that refer to “Castle Thoro,” although you don’t find that word anywhere within the castle itself. It’s possible that the author had names for all the towns –perhaps Jeff can comment–and just forgot to program the usual “Welcome to . . .” or “Now entering . . .” message when you choose to enter them.

The only clue that the castle is called “Thoro.”

With Elira’s overland explored, it’s now time to delve into the land’s 8 dungeon entrances (which I think lead to fewer actual dungeons). Somewhere at the bottom of some of these dungeons, I’m going to find transporters to other planets, hopefully smaller. At the bottoms of others (I think), I’m going to find the energy packs capable of maintaining the stasis field of the black hole in the planet’s core.

The party takes on some demons in one of the dungeons.

I hope I also find spells. I’m not sure where I’m supposed to acquire new ones, but none of my spellcasters have more than the first two or three spells in their books. My magic user has “Ring of Fire” (damages everyone a little), “Magic Missile” (damages one enemy a lot), and “Shield.” I particularly want to find “View Surroundings” and both “Descend” and “Climb Dungeon Level.” My cleric only has “Find Traps” and “Malediction”; it would be relaly nice if he could find “Call Light,” “Heal,” and “Cure Poison.” I don’t have a druid, but the sage is capable of casting spells from all three spellcasting classes. From the druid book, he only has “Drain Life” and “Heal Minor Wound.” Presumably, when he has “Create Food,” that’s one less thing I’ll have to worry about.

Sorry for the slow down this last week. I had some big work deadlines. March and April are looking like relaxing months, though, and I hope to make a lot of progress:

Time so far: 18 hours

source http://reposts.ciathyza.com/the-seventh-link-different-approaches/

#retro games #dos games #retro #crpg #adventure #amiga #oldcomputers #8bit #16bit #blog #repost

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saffrongamer · 6 years ago

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Bioshock Remastered Review

*SPOILERS*

Bioshock remastered is a fresh take on the 2007 hit by Take-Two Interactive. The original game received a lot of praise and awards throughout the industry. I completely missed the boat on it at the time since I didn’t own a PS3 or an Xbox 360. I was too busy with Pokemon Diamond and Mario Galaxy. I decided to enjoy the game for the first time through the remake of the original game. The remastered version can run at 1080p vs the original’s 720p. And that’s all I know about the differences. I will be judging it purely on my impressions of remastered.

The story of Bioshock involves your plane crashing over the ocean and you finding a mysterious entry to an aquatic elevator down to the town of Rapture. As your ride takes you down fathoms of water you are treated to a voice recording from Andrew Ryan; the city’s creator. He gives you a dramatic speech of hard work and integrity as we gaze upon the stunning undersea city and the surrounding marine life around it. As we arrive, we see a man named Johnny killed by a mutilated woman with hooks for hands. She tries to break into your safe bubble, but she has no luck and decides to leave. You hear a some static on the radio near you and a voice asks if you would kindly pick it up. He introduces himself as Atlas and promises you that he’ll help you get away if you help him save his family. You come across a strange needle and put it into your arm. Atlas tries to calm you down as your fingers are sparking with electric and you fall over the banister and go unconscious. You lie there as two splicers investigate and then flee as a little girl and a monster come to look at you. Only to pass you up because you’re still alive while mentioning about something called ADAM. When you wake up, you discover your ability to shoot lightning from your fingertips. Which allows you to proceed through the hallway.

As Atlas guides you, you come across a monster rescuing a little girl from splicers. You’re told that they are big daddies and little sisters. They collect ADAM from corpses. A mysterious woman named Brigid Tennenbaum appears and offers you a deal. Save the little sisters and she’ll make it worth your time, while Atlas urges you to kill them for their ADAM. The ADAM functions as a means to upgrade yourself as you explore rapture. In this town it’s seen as a source of power and strength.

You proceed through the next parts of Rapture performing a laundry list of tasks to advance. Kill a mad surgeon, take photos of mutants, and try to save Atlas’ family. As you arrive, Andrew Ryan destroys the bathysphere that his family was hiding in. Enraged, asks you to help him take revenge on Ryan in exchange for his escape.

Now that Ryan is very aware of your interference, he wants you out of his way. As you reach Arcadia he has all the trees killed. Destroying the oxygen supplying Rapture. You must then save the forest by collecting the necessary parts.

When you save yourself and rapture’s few inhabitants, you and Atlas are ready to confront Ryan. You hop in your bathysphere with intentions to take down the big cheese. Unfortunately you are intercepted and taken to Fort Frolic. A mad artist, known as Sander Cohen, offers you escape for helping to realise his artistic vision. His magnum opus. You take photos of his 3 traitors and he’ll grant you your freedom. He lets you go mostly unharmed, but you should be glad you’re not trapped in plaster like his other works of art.

As you’re reunited with Atlas, you’re back in the hunt for Ryan. However in order to enter, you’ll need to shut down the power plant as the entrance won’t let you through otherwise.

Upon your visit to Ryan’s office he has set the core to self destruct. He believes that the city is either his or no one’s. You head forward to Ryan and discover a wall of photos and red letters that read “WOULD YOU KINDLY”. A recording by Dr. Yi Suchong has the doctor instruct a little boy to kill a puppy after saying “would you kindly”.

As you try to understand the circumstances you proceed to confront Ryan. He reveals who you are in a dramatic monologue. He explains that you’re controlled by the phrase “would you kindly” And then ordered you to kill him.

After you kill Ryan you run over and turn off the self destruct. Atlas breaks character introduces himself as Frank Fontaine. He thanks you for your help taking down Ryan and he sends the security after you. You escape with the help of Tennenbaum and the little sisters.

Tennenbaum tells you what you need to do and you start your adventure towards Fontaine. Unfortunately this is where the story begins to feel like it’s already wrapped up. At this point in the plot, in my mind, I felt that you were simply getting beefed up to take on Fontaine. You receive the majority of your weapon upgrades and are even showered with supplies right before the final fight. This was the first time I had maxed out my wallet, and I didn’t even have anything to spend it on. We do get to explore a chapter where we learned about where the big daddys and little sisters came from. But that only leads right into the conclusion of the game.

Frank Fontaine appears and as you defeat him, a swarm of little sisters appear to purge him of the last of his ADAM. Depending on if you saved the little sisters or not, you will receive different endings. If you saved them all, you will get a cutscene where you escape rapture with the little sisters and live out as a father. You receive what none of you ever had; A family. However if you kill any of them or all of them, you view a cutscene where you take the power that you’ve gained and rise up on the surface with the splicers. Implying that you attacked the surface.

The most powerful aspect of Bioshock is it’s presentation. It’s such a stunning experience to see Rapture as you travel from level to level. Everything in this sci-fi horror tells you that you’re at the bottom of the sea. From the leaky halls, dilapidated rooms, and 1940s style architecture. The horror in this story directly comes from the atmosphere of the game. I was definitely creeped out for quite a while. But It dies down very hard after you defeat Sander Cohen. The first chapter is definitely the spookiest. I backtracked for supplies once and found a room that I missed. Then was jumped by a splicer that I immediately once shot on trigger.

Throughout the game, you come across recordings that citizens of Rapture have left behind. This is the main way that you are told the story of its people. The struggles of the lower class. The ideals of Ryan. And the power of Fontaine and his rebels.

My favorite recording is the demise of Dr. Yi Suchong. As we hear him speak of his failures with the big daddies, we hear him overcome and murdered. And we can look directly to a corpse eternally pinned to a table by a dusty drill.

Andrew Ryan was such a thrilling antagonist for the game. His dramatic speeches that he showered on you in your story made every moment more exciting. I quote him to my friends sometimes just for fun. I know Fontaine was the final antagonist, but he just seems to take a backseat to Ryan. But it is thrilling to know that there never was a family for you to find, and Fontaine called for you just to use you to rise up. After all, everyone thought Fontaine was already dead.

Lastly they leave director’s commentary film reels littered throughout the game. As you find them, you unlock the ability to play them from the main menu. I feel they should have been unlocked from the start or after you finish the game. They just kinda get in the way as you explore and take you out of the experience. I don’t want to go hunting for them while I go through the game. I’m usually only thorough in exploring on my first playthrough. But they do offer some cool insight into the development of the game and how some concepts came to be. And if you like giant commercials, Geoff Keighley hosts the interview.

My only other gripe with the presentation is the little quips that you hear from enemies. They’re creepy sometimes, but mostly just annoying. They can be very obnoxious when you are fighting a horde of splicers. Occasionally you can hear them through walls. Which I know is supposed to be atmospheric in some situations, but sometimes it felt like it was a bug that I could hear them

The mechanics of Bioshock are simple. You like magic sci-fi powers and guns? Well here we go. You get an array of guns and weapons at your disposal. I personally like using the shotgun, with occasionally the pistol or crossbow. You also have a chemical thrower, tommy gunn, grenade launcher, and your trusty wrench. All of these function exactly as you would expect. You’re given several upgrades to these weapons that can be quite helpful if you like that weapon. Such as power, ammo count, or knockback decrease.

Your other abilities stem from your plasmids. You can get abilities like electricity, fire, ice, telekinesis, wind, etc. Most of which range from being useful in combat to acting like a key to progress through the chapter. These plasmids are what gave power to the lower class to rise up and start a war within Rapture. And explain why there was such a desire for ADAM.

The game introduces you early on to the idea of hacking. See a security camera? Shock it to open up a hacking minigame. Then you can have security bots summoned to defend you from splicers. You may also hack turrets to shoot splicers for you. I feel that the hacking was used very ineffectively. You see you have to arrange the pipes to cause a flow of green something to get to the end of the course. It’s an easy enough minigame that only presents challenge when the developers increase the amount of traps or the speed of the flow. I think they should have introduced new ways to do hacks or more new pieces as the story went on. Instead you can only get upgrades that reduce flow speed or traps on screen. And tapping all these boxes to see what's inside doesn’t make it more fun to play. Don’t make me do that.

Combat wise it’s fairly basic. You see a mook. You shoot ‘em until they’re dead. Rinse and repeat for the entire game. Occasionally, you’ll come across a big daddy that requires some patience for you to defeat. Which is where the game shines when you have to struggle to take them down.

I noticed that the developers make some mooks easier to kill then others. I know it’s not me and my gun getting stronger. As the splicers in one room are weaker than in another. Sometimes taking just a single shot to kill, vs several shots.

By far the biggest offender is the final boss. Which apparently I’m not the only person to have complains about. Frank Fontaine appears like Jesus Christ from his cross while pumping himself full of ADAM. This final fight looks cool and all, but it’s extremely easy and Fontaine goes down with little issue. I think this boss needs a redesign or something.

Overall I feel that Bioshock is a thrilling adventure with impressive presentation, an interesting story, and a charming cast of characters. The original and the sequels had no impression on my opinions of this game. And I’m absolutely going to give them a fair shake as well.

This has been Saffron, thank you for listening.

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