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[sarcophagid]

look at my teammate dawg...

[aspiringtrashpanda]

Myself and @4laurus thought it would be fun to put together some One Piece Valentine's cards and matching drabbles! So, without further ado...

4Pandas presents 4/6:

“You steal a kiss, I steal your wallet."

Nami liked the chase.

She lived for the cat and mouse, the back and forth, the cloak and dagger. She could be anybody. She could be nobody. She didn’t have to be herself.

The tattoo on her arm didn’t exist. The horde of cash under the tangerine grove was but a joke. The bullet in her mother’s head had flown wide, just skimming her scalp.

That wasn’t to say that she didn’t like herself, that she was hiding from the trauma she had faced for the first eighteen years of her life. No, in fact she loved who she had become, for she could be anyone, but anyone was not her.

Anyone had not gone through all she had gone through to erase her existence, and by extension, her pain. Her pain was cruel, and it was mean, and it was ugly, though that didn’t mean that she wasn’t beautiful, scars and all.

Anyone did not navigate the Knock Up stream to Skypeia. Anyone did not manipulate a talking tree with a vivre card. Anyone did not stand up to an Emperor and one of their fleets.

In her expert opinion, her scars were pretty damn sexy.

The truth was simple: There was no point letting them in. She was always gone by morning.

It had started as it had a handful of islands ago; A fancy cocktail, a word of praise, a familiar smile. Nami had been expecting the invitation to dance, the request to join you for dinner the following evening, and she had not been disappointed. She had, however, been charmed by your stubborn insistence to walk her home, despite her refusing to give away the Sunny’s current location. She could never be too sure. You could have been a marine in disguise. Why else would you reappear on another island?

“This reminds me of when I would play hide and seek with my friends,” You had laughed, cloth serviette from the bar tied over your eyes.

Your hand had felt so warm, squeezing Nami’s fingers, seeking a response.

“My brothers used to find me in the apple orchard, every time,” She had fabricated the lie with ease, a mental image of herself in worn overalls and pigtails shimmering behind her eyelids, “I never learned.”

The sea, having calmed from its previously choppy waves to a confident push and pull of the tide, had sung her to sleep with an encouraging roar.

“Apples are suited for mild climate,” You brought up the next night, silver fork flashing as you picked at your grilled sea bass. Nami was certain it paled in comparison to Sanji’s.

“Good thing Goldenhorn is an autumn island,” She grinned, fluttering her eyelids provocatively to distract from the terrible name she had procured. Making a mental note to revisit some maps of the North, South, and West Blue (and maybe pester Usopp for some pointers on lying), she bounced her leg, crossed over the other. The tip of her stylish heels brushed against your calf.

Thankfully, you didn’t seem to be an expert on geography, at least, outside of the Grand Line.

“What’s a girl like you doing on the seas?” You slid a few bills onto the check before sliding your wallet into your back pocket.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Nami winked, smoothing out her satin dress as she stood.

There were many things you did discover about Nami. You found out exactly how her supple skin felt beneath your fingers, how her freckles dotted the entirety of her body like fireworks across her flesh. You found out how she moaned your name, how she fisted the bedsheets when she was particularly pleased. You found out that her hair smelt like vanilla and citrus, that her lips tasted as sweet as honey.

“Tell me, Vanessa, can I see you again?” You asked as you neared the blissfully ignorant embrace of sleep, sweat dotting your hairline as you reached out from the other side of the bed, craving the touch of her skin once more.

There was a rustle, the mattress shifting as Nami made for the balcony fixed to the side of the inn. Her manicured nails clicked against the bedside table on her way, the French doors creaking with effort as she let the cool midnight breeze flutter the chiffon curtains.

You squinted one eye open.

Her silhouette glowing silver against the moonlit sky, she straddled the balcony, pointing her toes as she lifted her leg in a sultry pose. Dress shifting, her milky thigh visible as she ran her hand suggestively over the curve of her hip, she giggled, “My name is Nami – navigator of the Straw Hat pirates.”

She heard your gasp of surprise, reveled in the soft choke as your breath caught in your throat.

“Thanks for dinner, and the tip,” She winked, flashing your worn leather wallet dangling between her fingers. She swiveled on the banister, plunging into the ink-like shadows of the street, heels clicking against the brick pathways as she ran for the pier. A familiar Jolly Roger waved in the light of the moon, upon a sea full of reflected stars.

When she looked over her shoulder, Nami caught sight of you, partially clothed and standing on the dock. Your jaw on the wooden slates, you looked to be equal parts impressed and infuriated.

“Catch me if you can!” She laughed as she paddled away on the Mini Merry, counting her berries and blowing you a kiss.

Maybe one day, she would stay.

Today was not that day.

If you liked this, please consider checking out our Ko-Fis here and here! ❤

[defectivenancydrew]

MID Review (finally)

Now that I’ve had a while to reflect on MID, I feel like I can give an honest, spoiler-free review. This turned out to be a much more in-depth review than I had planned on doing, but you can just read the italics at the end of each section if you just want the gist.

Controls: Okay, so for like the first fifteen minutes (or however long it takes you to adjust), the controls are frustrating. Once you get used to how to move (and it is still point-and-click), you’ll be fine. The only thing that I still didn’t have a solid grasp of by the end of the game was moving Nancy’s head around with the right mouse button--it might have helped to slow the mouse down for this function. That being said, the controls offer a lot to the game. The environments and navigation feel more realistic, and instead of jumping from scene to scene, Nancy slides through the space. It’s weird at first, but it’s ultimately superior. (Just for kicks, I went back and played a bit of LIE as a comparison, and the jumpy movement felt so weird after the smoothness of MID). Controls get a 8/10 for the steep learning curve and the more realistic movement.

Graphics: They’re not that bad, okay? On high render, the environments actually look really good and the characters are decent (low render is an understandably different story). Given the technical reasons behind the graphics looking as the do (full 3D render here versus painstakingly painted video files before), I don’t think that they’re really that bad. Puzzle renders and zoomed-in items/POIs really shine, appearing arguably better than previous games. It’s also important to consider what SCK/STFD look like compared to SEA--MID obviously looks better than SCK/STFD, but it has room for improvement. Just like the development team refined the graphics on their proprietary engine, they will refine the graphics on Unity over time. Again, looking back to the first three games, there is a huge jump in graphics quality between each game, indicating their ability to improve quickly. I’m willing to best that the next game (yes, I believe there will be a ‘next game’) will look much better than MID, and so on from there. Character renders are not as great, but this, too, is likely to improve and is probably also due to the fact that it’s 3D and not a painted video file. Their movements may be awkward, but the fact that they are mo-cap means that they may improve in future games. The only real gripe I have about the characters is the lack of facial expressions. Graphics get a 7/10 for up-close realism and room for improvement.

Performance: If you have a gaming PC or a relatively new device, you should be golden. The game runs smoothly at high render on my 2018/i7/SSD PC, but has some lagging issues at high render on my 2014/i5/HDD PC (issues that all but disappear by adjusting to low render). For those with older PCs or PCs with less processing-power, you may have to deal with way-off lip-syncs and choppy cut scenes if you also want to see the best possible graphics. The game only crashed once on my older PC (and it was more likely due to unrelated background processes I was running), but the autosave feature prevents crashes from being anything more than a brief annoyance. Performance gets a 6/10 for high requirements and the Sophie’s Choice of graphics or speed.

UI: I love the sleek, full-screen appearance and minimalist inventory/phone bar. If I had to ask for any improvements here, I might suggest that the inventory collapse into a bag icon when it’s not in use. UI gets 10/10 for maximizing space and minimizing distractions.

Environment (independent of graphics): HeR definitely stepped up their game (heh) on this front. While there are arguably no more locations to explore than in SEA, the environment is far more expansive and cohesive. You feel like you are in a small town (Salem), and you have the freedom to explore all the relevant places without jumping around or magically transporting. There’s only one location that is distant from the town center, and Nancy travels via car to get back and forth, which adds a dose of realism. We have our usual forest navigation (though it is mercifully straight-forward, unlike DOG or CAP), with the added bonus of looking around and using it to get from one place to another. The game makes good use of each space, though it’d be nice if there was more to do in certain lesser-used locations. Some of the locations really only seemed to be present to flesh out the whole environment--which is fine--but it’d be nice to utilize those locations a bit more. And when graphics are set high, the environments are quite stunning. The lighting and weather also do a good job of reinforcing the current atmosphere in-game. Environment gets a 9/10 for cohesion and light usage.

Characters (independent of graphics, story): This is probably one of the spots where MID won me over. Not only do we have eleven (11!) official characters, we have background characters that make the setting real! I didn’t count, but there were probably 10+ background characters that were present for minor commentary and realistic liveliness. For the first time in a Nancy Drew game, I wasn’t questioning where the rest of the world was. Yes, their movements were awkward and if your computer couldn’t handle the graphics, then their lips were flapping in mysterious ways, but they moved around and interacted with each other in semi-human ways. It is absolutely baffling to me that there are people who think there were too many characters. For one thing, we as fans asked HeR for more characters and that’s what they gave us. For another, the game never felt crowded. There were seven characters that were considered “main” that you interacted with often, three side characters that you interacted with occasionally, and one character that you only interacted with once. If they hadn’t been fully-formed characters with solid backstories, I might be persuaded that the number was an issue, but almost all of the characters were fully- or mostly-developed. Characters gets a 10/10 for quantity and quality.

Puzzles: This is probably the one facet of the game where it is most clear that HeR listened to fans’ requests. We asked for more realistic puzzles that were integrated into the game play and not totally irrelevant. That’s what we got. For some people, I think this made it seem like there were fewer puzzles, but I think there were just as many as before, it just wasn’t always super obvious that you were solving a puzzle (and they all but eliminated chore-type puzzles). The cooking mini game and serving mini game were both fun, nostalgic time-wasters in the best of ways. Another nice thing about the puzzles was that they weren’t super difficult as long as you were paying attention, so there wasn’t any need to google solutions or get frustrated. Puzzles get a 9/10 for fan service and perception (after all, perception is reality).

Story: MID really shines when it comes to the story line. The game delves into the full history of Salem, rightfully choosing to discuss topics that were always skirted in earlier games (prejudice, discrimination, slavery, torture, etc.). My only issue regarding the presentation of history is that a lot of the learning is optional, and can be easily ignored or missed. The actual story line of the game is well-established and doesn’t have any gaping plot holes (at least that I noticed on my first play through). There are multiple crimes to solve, multiple items to recover, and thus multiple endings/outcomes to achieve. I can’t go into too much more detail without spoiling parts of the game, but suffice it to say that the story has depth and gravity that might even place it ahead of previous games. Story gets a 10/10 for more mature themes and multiple, successfully interweaving story lines.

Dialogue: While the content of the dialogue is great and forms the foundation for much of the story, it loses me in presentation. First, the line-by-line captioning system is awkward at best, and a monologue behind at worst. I see no reason not to present the player with sentences or paragraphs at a time as before. Second, dialogue options are not so much options as dialogue tasks. You have questions you can ask, but there is no choice of how to ask them or how to respond to an answer. For the most part, you are just choosing the order in which to ask things. This, in my opinion, is a step backward from the previous games, where Nancy could be optimistic, pessimistic, direct, or passive-aggressive. Lastly, there is a strange lack of subject in Nancy’s sentence structure at times. She says “should do xyz” instead of “I should do xyz,” or “wanted to ask about abc” instead of “I wanted to ask you about abc.” While this isn’t really too weird in the context of modern speech patterns, it is still a little awkward. There are examples of this in previous games when Nancy speaks to herself, but never in dialogue with other characters. Again, this isn’t a big deal, but it crops up enough to make it noticeably strange. Dialogue gets a 6/10 for solid content and poor presentation.

Music: At first, the music seems to be nothing special; the main theme is quiet, unassuming, and a bit repetitive at times. But much like the rest of the game, it gets better as you progress. The music in Luminous Infusions and at the end of the game really stick out as great pieces, although the rest of the tracks are also very well-composed. There is thematic continuity between tracks and the tracks also reflect the game’s current atmosphere well. The music, while from a new composer, is still reminiscent of the old games, particularly the mystical tracks in CUR. I’m hoping HeR releases a soundtrack for MID in the future, but I do know there are no current plans for an official soundtrack (though you can find unofficial ones on YouTube pretty easily). Music gets a 10/10 for quality and cohesion.

Nancy: Nancy finally sounds like the late teen that she is meant to be! Nancy is witty and assertive, no longer speaking with the voice of a thirty-year-old and expressing the thoughts of a thirteen-year-old. The new voice actress is just what Nancy’s voice needed, in my opinion, though I have admittedly been a supporter of replacing Lani since about DED/GTH (don’t get me wrong, I love Lani and she will always be the classic voice of Nancy in my head, but I could also admit that her voice was losing its spark and pep). It takes a little while to get used to the new voice, but once it stops sounding different, it’s easy to fall in love with. Another great aspect of Nancy 2.0 is that she’s willing to get into it with other characters, even if they are in a position of authority. Nancy has always been an assertive character who stands up for what is right, even if it’s not easy to do. We see the return of this kind of Nancy in MID, and I hope we don’t lose her in future games. The only thing that I found a tad bit odd was how sugar-sweet Nancy was toward Deirdre. I like how their relationship was updated in order to model more appropriate/healthy female friendships, but it is a little weird considering the canon interaction model set forth by ASH and DED. Nancy’s other relationships have also matured and improved. Nancy gets a 10/10 for assertiveness and expressiveness.

Physical Copy: Well, almost two weeks after the release date, I finally got my physical copy of MID. This is unprecedented, as I always received physical pre-orders the day of or even the day before release. The long wait drove me to buy the digital download, which I didn’t mind doing, but this could be very frustrating for those not willing to pay for the game twice. I was disappointed to find that the disc art is just a copy of the cover art (which is minimalist at best), and not a characteristic color like the other games. The box art seems like it was put together at the last minute, not unlike the cover art. If it weren’t for my compulsive need to own all of the physical copies, I probably would have skipped it. Physical copy gets a 1/10 for slow delivery and lackluster appearance.

Weird Things to Complain About: Yes, there is one background character whose voice sounds like it was recorded on a Motorola Razr, but she says one sentence that you don’t even have to listen to. Yes, some of the background characters are overt clones, but we’ve never even had background characters to complain about before. Should there have been more to do in the Hathorne House or other one-off locations? Yeah, probably, but we were given a ton of locales to visit. The characters were always bobbing around and breathing, but--surprise!--this is something that real humans do. Did their feet/hands occasionally meld with other objects or the environment? Sure, but why were you looking at their feet during a conversation? Admittedly, Teegan sometimes looked like she was trying to scare off a bear or prepare for flight, even I can’t argue that that wasn’t odd. But for the most part, these are minor, petty issues. There weren’t gaping plot holes, there was actually a mystery to solve (looking at you, MED), and we got a lot of the things that we asked for over the years. There is always room for improvement, and this game is certainly no exception. I expect that the next game will make refinements based on our feedback and be even better. HeR completely changed the Nancy Drew game formula, but they used our input as a guide. They’ll take what we say about MID into consideration with the next game, and hopefully over time we will see the same level of improvement we saw from SCK to SEA. They started from scratch, and even though they had five years to work on it, the first time you try something new is almost always the worst. I don’t condone the way they treated us over the hiatus or how they treated their own staff, but I don’t think it’s time to abandon ship yet. If you play this game with nostalgia goggles on and a closed mind, you’re going to hate it, you’re going to ask for a refund. If you go into it with an open mind and excitement for something new, you might just find that you like MID more than you’d care to admit. Weird things to complain about gets an 8/10 for minor oddities that should be expected in a pilot endeavor.

Conclusion: Change is inevitable. If you were around when TMB came out, you might remember the absolute uproar that came with the UI change. People threatened to walk away from the series because of the new menu screen and bulkier interface. If you’ve played the original SCK and STFD, then you know how drastically the games improved over the span of a single year. And compare those games to SEA and it’s clear that the games are always improving. But you have to start (or in this case, restart) somewhere, and MID is our new starting point. The games will get better, and we’ll still find things to complain about (like we always do), because there is always room for improvement. There’s no point in lamenting about how good the game would have looked on the old engine, because that misses the point. The old engine could not deliver what we as fans desired. It could not handle more than six characters or more than eight hours (this is being generous) of game play. It couldn’t give us more expansive environments or smoother navigation. The new engine gave us all of these things, but sacrificed a bit of graphics. Big whoop. I’m willing to bet that none of us got into the games for their graphics, especially those of use who became fans early on in the games’ history. Bottom line? HeR gave us a good game. Not their best game, maybe not even one of their better games, but it’s certainly better than MED or SCKR. And hey, at least we finally got the game. Midnight in Salem gets an 80%, an admirable B-, because the effort and progress is there, but there are definitely things that they could have done better.

[psychoticgirl]

Cinnamon and Gunpowder

Talented chef Loki has been kidnapped by the pirate queen Lady Sif, but she offers to spare his life in exchange for a meal.

Sifki Week Day 4: alternate universe

Also posted on AO3

Loki barked out orders to the maids and servants in his kitchen, not allowing a single plate to leave the room without his inspection and final flourish of sauce. He smiled to himself, he really was quite talented. He had traveled with his employer, Jonathan Laufey, a wealthy businessman and naval commander to his beach home, planning to cook meals in the spacious kitchen all summer long. But Loki had hardly been there a week and was serving one of his favorite dishes, a flavorful chicken and sausage jambalaya when the chaos began.

He had been in the kitchen, sprinkling powdered sugar atop fresh beignets when the loud bang came from the foyer. Unable to resist, he had stuck his head out of the kitchen door to peer into the dining room, just in time to notice the hole in the front door where the lock had previously been. A moment later the door was kicked in, and a great hulking beast of a man I would later know as Volstagg entered the room. He was quickly followed by a man with dark hair, who quietly and smoothly dropped Mr. Sturluson, the butler, to the ground with a blow over his head.

The man who entered next matched every definition and rendering of a swashbuckling pirate Loki had ever come across, from the ruffled shirt to the wide smile under his upturned mustache. He wasted no time striding across the room with a branded sword to order Mrs. Laufey and her maid to the ground. Loki assumed this stereotype of a buccaneer was their leader.

Until his gaze was drawn by the sound of clopping boots over the screams of the servants towards the door. She was a pillar of menace, the woman who now entered the dining room. She was tall and wore a maroon long-coat, her raven colored hair hung loose over her shoulder and was adorned with a large stylish hat.

Loki was frozen at the site of her, terror rushing through his veins. Loki knew at once who he was seeing; the infamous pirate queen Lady Sif. There were multiple accounts of her death, credible witnesses had seen her perish by gunshot and drowning across the Caribbean. Yet here she was not 10 paces from him. The scoundrel sauntered to a chair, using it as a stepping stool to step upon the dining room table. She opened her coat and pulled two rose quartz-handled pistols from her hip.

Mr. Laufey sat frozen, staring up at this devilish woman. His voice was low, but Loki could hear the tremor. “What do you want, Lady?”

“Heard you were in the neighborhood, so figured I’d pay you a visit.”

Laufey looked down at his wife and children. “If it’s money you want, take it. Just please don’t hurt them.”

The pirate laughed, “Oh now you care about the welfare of others? How rich.” Lady Sif lifted his chin with the heel of her boot, leveling both pistols at him. “I’ll see you in hell, Laufey.”

She then fired, point blank, into Loki’s employer’s chest, send his chair tumbling over. Loki saw the dreadful woman drop from the table and seat herself at an open chair, pulling Laufey’s plate towards her, before reason took over Loki’s mind and he turned to flee.

He’d barely made it three paces before he was struck over the head with his own frying pan. Dazed, he was dragged out to the dining area by the silent man. The swashbuckling blonde was pulling servants out of every nook and cranny, instructing everyone to remain on the floor around the table.

The room was full of commotion, women and men alike sobbing and wailing and pleading with their captors. Until the pirate queen raised a pistol and fired it nonchalantly into the ceiling, bringing an immediate quiet to the room.

She stood slowly, sliding the now empty tray away while pushing back from the table and wiping her mouth with a linen napkin. Loki tried not to look at the blood splatter that had soaked into the cloth.

“I have no grudge against you lot, so cooperate and I will show mercy. Now tell me, who’s the chef of this house?”

Loki’s heart stopped dead at her question, and he remained frozen on the floor. Several maids and even one of the children all pointed their finger at him without hesitations. The unforgivable double-crossers.

The woman looked directly at him, the mad pleasure in her gaze made him flinch. “Alright, cookie. You’re coming with us.” She flicked the barrel of her gun from the direction of the behemoth towards Loki.  

Before he even had time to fully register her words, Loki’s wrists were bound with rope and he had been thrown over the shoulder of the bear-sized man. Despite his vocal lashings and physical attempts at escape, Loki had been brought aboard the ship and thrown into a dark room. Loki sat on the floor of his quarters, hardly bigger than the broom closet of his former home and tried not to wretch with seasickness and overwhelming dread at the current state of his affairs. Everything had gone so terribly, horribly wrong so quickly.

“Welcome aboard the Bifrost, cook. There’s no better way to travel than this ship.” Lady Sif had visited him later that night, not long after he felt the boat rock and sway as it cut across choppy waters, spiriting him away from land and his life. After a formal introduction as the captain of the pirate ship Bifrost, Sif had also identified herself as the sole keeper of Loki’s fate.

“If you’d like to stay above water and in my good graces, you must abide by my terms. The only thing I ask is that you are to prepare a meal for me each Sunday night. Something as delicious as was presented to that scourge Laufey. If the meal is to my satisfaction, you keep your life for another week. Do we have an accord?”

“Are you insane?” Loki asked in disbelief. She seemed to consider his words before shrugging.

“Likely. But today is already Friday so it might be best to spend your time pondering the forthcoming menu, yes?”

Despite his protests that there were not the supplies needed aboard a ship in the middle of a sea for such a task, she left the room with a smile and a wave. Later, the grim, silent man, whom the captain referred to as Hogun escorted him to the kitchen. The man was like Loki’s shadow, never more than a yard away and always with a suspicious look in his eye. The kitchen was small, and despite being provided with pilfered wares and food stuff from the summer home, the task before him still felt momentous.

He’d had to improvise, given his limited resources. Nearly all of Saturday was devoted to inventorying his supplies. There was sugar and flour, spices and salted meats. And rum of course.  With the help of his considerable charm, Loki was able to talk this Hogun fellow into lending him a line and hook for fishing. The task of actually catching something edible was less easy, and Loki tried not to mind the guffaws of the Lady’s crew as he slid and struggled to land a fish.

But successful he eventually was. And driven by the will to survive and spite over the Lady’s absurd challenge Loki managed to find inspiration in the small kitchen. She had looked in on him only once, standing in the doorway and twirling a dagger in her hand. Loki had felt like a mouse being watched by a hungry cat.

+

When the sun was setting over the sea, drawing Sunday and perhaps his time on Earth to a close, Loki loaded a board with his finished plates and covered them with overturned pots. With Hogun leading the way, Loki walked carefully above deck and towards the cabin. He was glad for his silent companion for once, for it seemed all of the captain’s considerable crew, save the stoic man who spent all his time in the crow’s nest with a telescope to his eye, had gathered outside the kitchen, sniffing the air like wild dogs.

Hogun pushed through the crowd and crossed the ship, knocked and then opened the door to the captain’s chambers. The quarters were larger than Loki had expected and lavishly decorated. He was momentarily stunned to see the abundance of pillows, rugs, and furs spread out across the floor and the large bed. But what truly stopped him in his tracks was the enormous bookshelf lining a far wall.  Sif was seated in a chair near the bed, a book open on her lap upon their entrance.

She thanked and dismissed Hogun and cleared her throat, pulling Loki out of his hypnosis. “You can set it down over there.” She gestured to the small table to his left. It was set with two plates, a 3-pronged candle holder blazing softly in the middle. Loki silently followed her directions, trying to ignore the way his legs threatened to give way. This was it. He could be made to walk the plank at any moment now if she was not pleased with his offerings. He made to leave, turning towards the door, desperate to spend his final moments alone possibly writing a letter to his beloved mother.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Her voice was threatening, freezing his hand on her doorknob. “Sit down, Loki.”

“I will not,” he shook his head. Hadn’t she asked enough of him? Lady Sif approached, her boots making slow, deliberate clops, until she was standing quite close to him. He noticed that she smelled of lilac.

“A meal can be quite bland and unsavory without good company and stimulating conversation, don’t you agree?” Her voice was low, sending a shiver up his spine. That gave her a wide smile.      

“I’m pleased you regard my life-and-death scenario as an amusing game!” He shouted, suddenly furious.

“It is quite fun,” she said and then laughed. “Now take your seat, please.”

Loki obliged and sat at the table. Instead of sitting opposite, the captain chose to sit next to him, lifting the lids off the plates before them.

All day Sunday, he worked to bone and smoke the fish he’d caught over the small fire and simmered it in rum and spices, making a flavorful broth. He’d mashed potatoes with sprigs of thyme and for dessert he even managed rum-poached figs drizzled with honey. Carefully, Lady Sif dished a plate with a sample of each and then slid it across the swaying table to him, then filled another for herself.

She raised a fork in expectation, looking at him.

“This is for you,” he objected. “And I must confess I don’t have much of an appetite given your investigation.”

“Have you poisoned it, then?” She eyed him suspiciously.

Loki sighed and dug his fork into the meat, making a show of eating without keeling over. The captain grinned at his embellishment and followed suit. Her face melted into placidity at the first taste. She closed her eyes, savoring the bite and letting out a low moan. She continued on, indulging time into each meticulous bite, and Loki found her hungry reaction to his food almost...beautiful.

He had to admit too, after the first bite had reached his stomach that he was actually quite ravenous, not having more than sea biscuits and a small chunk of bacon since his capture.

“Oh, this is wonderful.” Sif managed between bites. “I must say this is my best idea yet.”

Loki nearly choked on his broth at her words. “Your idea?”

She grinned. “Well yes. Taking you aboard. I’m all for equality and hard work with my crew but I do need to remind them who is in charge on this ship. So I sleep on silk sheets, drink wine, and get the largest shares of treasures. But this, a break from brine water and gruel to exult in a proper meal? That’s brilliant leadership. Now speaking of wine...”

She hopped up, opening a cabinet and pulling out a bottle. She splashed a large amount of red wine into her cup and filled his nearly to the brim as well.

“Now tell me Loki, how does a man as pretty as yourself end up hiding away in kitchens?”

Loki glared at her, expected a mocking, teasing look but Sif was leaned forward over her plate. She actually seemed interested.

“Spite, mainly,” he said with a shrug. For all he knew, she could throw him overboard any second so why not be honest. She let out an explosive laugh.

“Please,” she circled a finger, “Elaborate.”

“My family is actually quite well to do,” Loki confessed. “And they always expected my brother and me to follow in the family legacy of becoming an army general or a lawyer or some boring, moneyed nonsense. Once I found out,” Loki paused, thinking back to the most painful night in his life. “Once I discovered some unsavory family secrets, I decided I’d follow my passion instead.”

“And have you been vindicated in your choice?” Sif asked, eyeing him while licking a drizzle of honey from her fork. Loki paused to drink from his cup, the alcohol was making his skin feel warm.

“I’ve enjoyed my work very much,” he scraped his spoon around his empty plate, “Up until it lead to my capture and imminent death.” She laughed again, and for some reason Loki found himself smiling too. It was all very absurd.

“Fear not, chef,” she raised the wine bottle in salute, “consider your weekly rent paid. It was a very fine meal deserving of a queen and you have earned your keep aboard the Bifrost .”

Loki’s relief was immediate and all consuming. He’d done it!  His life had been spared, at least temporarily. He allowed himself a small chuckle while Lady Sif refilled their glasses in toast.

“What about you?” he asked, feeling emboldened by drink and her favor of his food. “How did a b-, a-a, uh, woman end up a pirate?” He stumbled, stopping short of calling her beautiful. Although it wouldn’t have been a lie. Growing up and hearing tales of pirates, he’d always imagined buccaneers as dirty, smelly people with missing teeth and skin marred by scabies. But Sif had spoiled that image; her face was hardened from sun and sea, yes, but also youthful and striking.  

“I once was a legitimate privateer,” she sat back in her seat and eyed him. “I fought to bring peace to the seas and the entire Caribbean. I worked for many commanders, some more noble than others. But it was your friend Laufey that turned my tides.

“See Mr. Laufey, instead of helping the locals of these islands as a commander should, he’s killing them. Buying and stealing land out from under the poor and then leaving their earth barren or full of his beloved, profitable sugarcane. When I tried to bring his crimes to light, he instead named me a traitor, a pirate. It was his word against mine, so I decided to make an honest man out of him.” She took a long pull from her cup, and Loki did the same. “See, we’re not so different you and me. Both driven by spite and vengeance..” She winked at him.

Loki’s head swam with this new information. She killed and sailed in search of... atonement?

“So you’re a vigilante?”  

“Oh I do like the sound of that,” she laughed. “Pirate, vigilante, war bringer, whatever suits you best, aye.”

Loki tipped back his cup, drinking until it was empty. Was it possible for pirates to have morals? He hadn’t even known it was possible for pirates to be fetching until recently, what else had he mistaken in his life. At this moment though, he couldn’t focus on much more besides his happiness at knowing he would live another week. The captain had spared him. Loki looked over and found her leaned forward again, dragging her finger across his empty plate to catch the last traces of honey from the edge. She looked at him, her finger in her mouth. Loki swallowed hard.

“Now, I know this isn’t part of the bargain, but I would ask one more thing of you.” She jumped up and walked to her library, pulling a small book from her shelf handing it to him. “Most of my crew is illiterate but you’ve proven to be quite clever. If you’d be so kind...”

Loki turned the book over and was surprised to find it was a collection of poetry. She sat back down, her face eager as she emptied the last of the wine bottle between their cups. Usually he did not drink more than one serving of any alcohol, as he prefered to keep in control of himself but he had no protests tonight. His happiness seemed reflected in the pirate queen’s smile. If he was honest, which apparently he was being tonight, she really was quite lovely. Her wine stained lips were red against unexpectedly white teeth, and her skin had an attractive pale flush. The scent of lilacs hit his nose again when she leaned over, putting a hand on his arm.

He blinked rapidly and then turned to the book in his hand. He cleared his throat and opened it to a random page and read aloud in slow, confidential voice:

“She walks in beauty, like the night

Of cloudless climes and starry skies;

And all that’s best of dark and bright

Meet in her aspect and her eyes;

Thus mellowed to that tender light

Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

"One shade the more, one ray the less,

Had half impaired the nameless grace

Which waves in every raven tress,

Or softly lightens o’er her face;

Where thoughts serenely sweet express,

How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.

"And on that cheek, and o’er that brow,

So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,

The smiles that win, the tints that glow,

But tell of days in goodness spent,

A mind at peace with all below,

A heart whose love is innocent!”

Loki softly closed the book in his lap and looked up into the open, burning gaze of Lady Sif. She seemed so near, leaned close to hear every enunciated sound. The sweet, heady words, her allure, made him feel dizzy. Perhaps it was the wine in his veins mixed with the thrill of his life extended, unable to look away from her red lips Loki swayed with the rhythm of the ship and brushed his mouth against hers. She tasted like honey and cinnamon of his dessert and pushed her lips firmer against his. His heart raced and then suddenly stopped at the feel of cold metal under his chin. The click of the pistol’s hammer cocking into place broke through his haze. The pirate withdrew her lips infinitesimally away, but pushed the barrel of her gun deeper into his flesh.

“Brazen scoundrel,” she smiled, her warm breath ghosting across his lips. “Perhaps you’re more at home here than one would think..”

Loki opened his mouth to protest, to apologize, put she lifted her gun-free hand up to cover his lips. “Save that silver tongue for our next mealtime.”

“I look forward to it,” Loki smiled, and found himself being honest once again.

[djmjukebox]

Impressed by the Mixxx, DJ?

by Sagar Mody (DJM)

REVIEW BOTTOM LINE: Mixxx 2.00- A FREE, open source DJ software that is not just for beginners and radio shows anymore, it is good for DJs on a budget and even good enough for many professional DJs.

RATING: 4/5

COMPATIBLE: Windows, Linux, Mac OS

PRICE: FREE

The minute we think DJ today, we think digital and that's right because one way or the other, there is something digital involved in most setups. All the logistics and hardwork required in the days gone by seems alien to most younger DJs and producers today. Powerful DJ and music production software has become the choice of the trade, where most of the hardware is simulated and in recent years it has been perfected furthermore, making it a replacement for carrying bulky gear, vinyls or CDs. Although, the cost of the old ways was very high and moving to digital greatly reduces it, professional software and hardware still costs  a decent amount. The most popular DJ softwares out there demand no less than £80 for being nearly fully functional and usually to be featured further, the licenses can cost upto £200 or more. Then there is the dilemma of buying hardware that comes with a software license but that software may have its limitations for you and vice versa. What if someone told you, there is a fully featured software, you can install and use for FREE without limitations? Unbelievable? Not quite... welcome to Mixxx DJ! It is an open source music software available for Windows, Mac OS and Linux! (no joke!). Mixxx has been around in beta (1.110) for a long while but recently they released 2.00 and boy is it good! Whilst Mixxx 1.110 was just fine for basic mixing, load tracks, beat mix and looping, 2.00 takes it to level par with the big boys.

Compatibility and Cost

The monopoly in DJ software is held by a few, namely the top 3 : Traktor by Native Instruments, Serato DJ and Virtual DJ. At least these are the ones you'll have heard of if you aren't a DJ but the list does not end there. There is great software choice like, DJAY by Agoriddim (admittedly for Mac and tablets only), Rekordbox DJ by Pioneer (recently released with an aim to take over the software market), Mixvibes Cross DJ (brilliant and underrated) and Deckadance DJ.They each are set apart slightly by the performance oriented features and packages they offer.

All the above have their pros and cons and it would be a matter of a whole other article to discuss them. What is of importance is that they all cost money or come included when you buy hardware built for them. Whilst Traktor can be mapped to just about any MIDI controller, Serato DJ can't (you need Serato certified hardware). Virtual DJ and Cross boast the widest 'plug and play' compatibility to most hardware you're likely to come across. What Mixxx has in its bag is, a community which contributes to its progress and also to making more maps available for popular hardware. It isn't quite 'plug and play' but it isn't very difficult to get a controller from the list of those supported (apparently over 85) working in minutes. For something that costs £0, that is really good. What's more? Mixxx supports DVS with timecode with your existing Serato or Traktor DVS soundboxes.

That answers the question of compatibility but surely a FREE software, designed by a community can't come close to the 'paid-for' big boys, can it? I would say, with 2.00 Mixxx has come very close to the big boys. There are still some things that aren't just that bit perfect, for instance effects just don't sound right (to my ears at least) but for most other things you can think of, in my opinion Mixxx is on par or in some cases better!

Features

1. Skins and UI: Let's get this out of the way shall we? Skins is a love or hate thing! Virtual DJ lovers look at being able to customize and skin the DJ software as an essential function whilst those who play Serato or Traktor couldn't care less. However, skinning isn't just for making something look beautiful (the way you think it is, after all beauty is in the eye of the beholder or so they say). Skinning is extremely useful for different use cases, for example somebody using a mixdeck for radio won't need the same items displayed as a DJ would. Mixxx supports xml and css based skinning and comes with 3 very clean and useable skins which render beautifully on medium power hardware as well. Just like anything else in Mixxx, the UI and the resources used for drawing the waveforms is customizable in the preferences.

2. Waveforms: They weren't nearly good in 1.110 but in 2.00 the waveforms are brilliant. You can choose your framerate, RGB, filtered or monotone waves. Depending on the skin you can have them on each deck or you can stack them! They render cleanly, look sharp and scroll intuitively. There is great detail in them too and you can see the differences in the frequencies of the sound you are playing. I can compare them to all three, Traktor, Serato and Virtual DJ and say that I like these alot, the best for me being Traktor so far closely followed by Virtual DJ. Infact for those who have given Cross DJ (Mixvibes) a spin, these will remind you of those. (Why not Serato? Someday I'll write an article about that too- the programmers at Serato simply ignore Windows as a platform which is why the software is mostly ported from Mac OS to Windows. This has left a glaring error in waveform rendering and even in 2017 you have to deal with choppy and laggy waves even on premium hardware. There is plenty of discussion about this on the Serato forum and most folk even have trouble with this on certain Mac Books.)

3. Transport, Loops, Cues and Mixer: Mixxx has everything you have come to expect from a useful DJ software: Loops upto 64 beats, 8 hot cues, quantize, keylock, independent pitch control, slip mode, per channel filters, vinyl view and control and beat grid with full editing possibility. The best thing is, most of the functionality and emulation is customizable in the preferences. For example, you can select your transport behaviour to be like Pioneer hardware or Numark hardware etc. Options are also available for mixer behaviour and Vinyl (pitchbend) behaviour. Mixxx boasts one of the best Vinyl emulation engines to make your controller gigs sound just right. The EQs are great and you can customize just how much of suppression or kill you want, and also exactly where. Let's not forget, if you run short of options, you can contribute to the software yourself and build options (assuming you know your way around coding).

4. Track decks, Sample decks and Effects: Mixxx has upto 8 sample decks available, which can be triggered as normal. You can have upto 4 normal track decks in addition to the samples. The software comes with a handful built-in effects and 4 effect decks which gives you either superficial or more in depth control for each effect. The effects and the way they work, leaves a lot to be desired but this is only the one place I have found Mixxx to fall short.

5. Library functions: This, in my opinion is the clincher. Whilst Virtual DJ has a very hassle free system of directly accessing your PC folders for the library and it used to be my favorite, I have come to like the Traktor library management system. Once the inital pain of adding and analysis is over with, Traktor does it all automatically from then on when you add to the collection. As for search, Traktor is extremely powerful there too! Serato on the other hand has the worst library management system, in that it doesn't have one- if you organise your music in iTunes, Serato uses that but otherwise if you want to organise independantly within Serato, it is a bit of a pain.

Once again, not going into too much detail and coming back to Mixxx- Mixxx is as good as Traktor. In version 2.00 Mixxx can pull your Traktor playlists, iTunes playlists and Rhythmbox (Linux users) playlists as is and they will appear in your browser already. As for adding and making a collection in Mixxx, it is extremely simple- just select watch folders and it will automatically add from there everytime you start up Mixxx. The track analysis engine is fantastic and if you're coming from Traktor, it can use most of the Traktor analysis already. Search is strong- you can search for tracks with a humanly understandable command line. For example, location: 'folder-name' will display all songs in that folder! This works for most of the tags like artist, track, album etc. Mixxx allows full editing of your music tags and will also pull relevant information from the MusicBrainz dastabase if you want it to. Also worth mentioning, that ALL of the functions in Mixxx including browsing (mainly jumping between browse and search) can be achieved using just the keyboard without ever having to touch the mouse. Between your keyboard and your controller, all of Mixxx can be navigated.

In Use

In the mix, Mixxx is intuitive and powerful- coming from Traktor to use this for a test, I've had no learning curve or needed time investment for getting music analysed and onto Mixxx. It took me 10 minutes from activating the Pioneer DDJ-SB2 with Mixxx, getting my music from Traktor and selecting my UI settings to start mixing. As the DDJ-SB2 is one of the supported controllers, all I had to do was select it from the drop down list in preferances and go. It is good to know that there is a mapping software within Mixxx that will allow you to create new maps or customise the current one (like Virtual DJ and Traktor). Once on the roll, I found myself getting carried away mixing without problems and I hardly noticed the change of software (unless when trying to use effects!). It is easy to mix and perform with Mixxx including the use of samples and things like loop roll. The mixes are easily recordable as well, in the format of your choice. The options to select multiple soundcards is easy if you aren't using a controller or hardware but simply trying to use a splitter cable or a secondary USB soundcard for cueing. This will make it super easy for beginner and hobby DJs to start mixing without having to buy or get involved in expensive hardware.

Conclusion

All in all, Mixxx is a pleasant experience and the fact that it is FREE, enforces one of my personal motto's- 'All you need to mix well is basic controls and ears'- add to that a free software with waveforms and perfomance functions and you're a lucky DJ. The team at Mixxx has done a fantastic job with 2.00 and the community of Mixxx as well, in having provided so much compatibility to popular hardware already, including the most popular CDJs for MIDI/HID control. The bottom line on Mixxx- A FREE, open source DJ software that is not just for beginners and radio shows anymore, it is good for DJs on a budget and even good enough for many professional DJs.