#it's a double Gab feature today

[aliatori]

Leap of Faith

The Forsaken and the Forsworn | Post-Fate | Gabriel Berthelot/Hugo Melançon | 3k words | Mature | T4T

Gabriel’s not entirely keen on the idea of leaving the Enclave.

Sure, it ain't the Umbra with the cool comfort of its misty shores, and Watcher knows there’s much and more to do back at The Storm’s Eye, but Gabriel's well and truly charmed by the unique delights of the Sungold. With so few days left before the Squall and Tide are set to get underway on their respective courses, he’s determined to enjoy them.

A waterfall twice as wide as Gabriel is tall roars behind him. Its waters whip to a frothy white as they descend over the crest. The noise fills his head with a pleasant blankness like the rush of blood in his ears in the heat of battle, or the pressure of Xeheia’s holy waters in his ears as he submerges to pray.

There's also more green than his eyes rightly know what to do with all around: moss and lichen draped over every inch of rock jutting up from the clear blue waters, vibrant hues of jungle decorating the sloping peaks of other Trinoran isles on the horizon, and bell-shaped petals the pale hue of fresh sweetmelon draped on flexible branches overhead.

One shade in particular snags his attention at present: the sea-glass green of Hugo’s eyes, sharpened to a fine pique.

“What?” Gabriel spreads his arms wide. Since he’s already divested himself of everything but his focus, the gesture affords Hugo an unimpeded view of his nakedness. “You act like a doddering old man preparing for your own burial at sea, I’m gonna call it like I see it. There was a time you’d’ve beaten me and been down in the water already. Now you’re sittin’ there like a sour headwind.”

A gratifying flush blooms from the vee of Hugo’s lavender vest to the underside of his jaw. Anger, lust, or general vexation—the source of his consternation hasn’t ever mattered to Gabriel, and sure as all seven hells it doesn’t matter now. He just likes that he’s ruffled Hugo’s feathers.

“Let’s say I’ve developed a certain distaste for sailing close to the wind.”

“Let’s say you’re full of shit.” Gabriel ticks points off on his fingers as he lists them. “Fisting a god, stealing ships out from under the noses of merchants, bringing me and the fold to the Enclave in the first place, hells, burning down a whole godsdamned Imperial port—yeah, I know that one was you, don’t look so surprised. Play at even keel all you like, but don’t pass it off as anything but an offering for your secret-eater.”

Hugo puts his hands behind his back. The new definition in his scarred biceps means he must be clenching his fists. Another point in Gabriel’s favour.

“That’s a creative way of calling me a liar. For you, anyway.”

“If I wanted to call you a liar, I’d say it plain. I’m saying it ain’t the whole truth, and you know it, and I’m sick of settling for subterfuge and signal flags from you. We’re past all that.” At Hugo’s flat expression of disbelief, Gabriel laughs without mirth and adds, “As past it as the two of us are ever gonna get.”

Hugo rocks back on his booted heel. A raw wound flashes across his face. There’s a stretch where Gabriel thinks Hugo will find some forthcomingness. But then he looks off into the distance, treating Gabriel to a familiar stoic profile, so whatever notion he’s grappling with only bloodies the waters of this particular argument.

He’s long past the days of chasing after his former captain, and lucky for him, there’s a quick and diverting exit from this conversation he no longer wants to have. He’s three strides from the edge of the waterfall when a coil of familiar metal captures his forearm.

Alright, so maybe he doesn’t chase after Hugo.

But there’s still the fucking riptide of his presence to contend with, drowning any urge to break free. There’s a fissure in Hugo’s expression, a crack in the hull in want of sealing.

“This…” Hugo begins, trailing off, gesturing with his other hand to encompass himself, Gabriel, the cliffs, the seas beyond. “Brings back memories that are difficult. Unpleasant to recall.”

The tempest of Gabriel’s temper builds and breaks on his indignant exhale. “Yeah, you don’t have to remind me of how bleedin’ unpleasant you find the fold. You’ve made it pretty godsdamned clear. So piss off and—”

The rest of his swears vanish in the warmth of Hugo’s lips on his, urgent, insistent, tongue all velvet heat as he delves into Gabriel’s mouth. He kisses like it’s the only apology he knows how to give, or like he’s gasping for air, or like a prayer in a language they still share, and by the time they break apart, Gabriel’s heart rivals the waterfall as it pounds in his ears.

“Not every part of those memories is unpleasant,” Hugo says in a low rasp, grazing his teeth along the stubbled skin fluttering in time with Gabriel’s pulse. He pulls back to fix him with a stare of breathtaking intensity, lips pursed in thought. “Everything worth remembering includes you.”

A mutiny erupts out behind Gabriel’s ribs. It’s as close as Hugo’s gotten to the words he, for whatever gods bedamned reason, talks circles around, the ones involving ‘I’ and ‘love’ and ‘you’ next to each other.

He’ll take it. For now.

Gabriel cradles the back of Hugo’s head in his palm and draws him close until their foreheads touch. “’Course it does. I’m unforgettable, by your own lengthy and colourful admissions. And spectacular. The best captain to sail the Fourfold and veritable holy terror.”

“Second best.”

“I’ll remember that when I’m heaving half the fucking ocean up to save you from getting pincered by a bunch of navy dogs.”

“Perhaps you’d do better to remember why you’re permitted on Enclave shores at all.”

“Well, Jihane and me have taken a shine to each other, so I reckon I’ll be invited back. Especially since it’s the Squall she asked to sail aboard and not the Tide.”

“And I wish you luck in accommodating Jihane and her… exacting standards.”

“Nothing the best captain in the Fourfold can’t handle.”

There—a rebellious twitch of Hugo’s lips, buried beneath the overwrought consternation he strangles it with.

With a snort, Gabriel shoves Hugo’s bare shoulder. “Even second-best captains aren’t afraid of such a tiny risk like some cliff jumping. Besides, I ain’t hearing any alternative propositions for the evening’s entertainment.”

“I have a few.” Hugo looks Gabriel over from head to toe with filthy intent, and while tempting, the beck and call of the sea below raises a different kind of tide in Gabriel.

“Would it kill you to relax for a godsdamned turn and follow my lead?”

One bold eyebrow wings up. “Kill me? Hardly. But it would certainly be a leap of faith.”

Gabriel turns away from Hugo to look over the cliffs and the basin below. It’s a glittering, dizzying drop, enough to make his head spin, but he’s no stranger to a plummet. His blood heats in anticipation.

“Everything’s a leap of faith these days, Captain Melançon, in case it’s escaped your fine weather eye. Comes with being at the beck and call of forces beyond our ken. So why not start here?”

Without waiting for an answer, Gabriel pivots, swallows the ground in two long strides, and launches himself off the cliff's edge, his joyful bellow echoing through the oasis. The freefall snatches his stomach and pins it to the base of his throat. He flips through the air, ass over end, clutching his knees to his chest in the last moments, and then—

He plunges into the sea like a shout, saltwater rushing over the ink of his bondmark and bringing him to a second kind of life. Gabriel exhales as momentum drives him further downward. Xeheia’s presence fills him as he inhales blessed water, a thunderous euphoria joining the mortal delight of a leap off the edge.

For a moment, he’s tempted to drift further down, to commune, to pray. To find where aquamarine becomes sapphire becomes deepest black.

But for now, there are other matters to tend to.

With the orange and pink sunset to guide him, Gabriel orients himself skyward. A series of powerful kicks gets him most of the way to the surface. He breathes out Xeheia’s sustenance, breaches, and inhales the soil-after-rain scent of Enclave air, grinning wide and laughing loudly. The power and majesty of the waterfall impress even more from this angle as he treads the waters disturbed by its arcing flow.

Squinting, Gabriel glances up and sees Hugo leaning over the edge before vanishing beyond it. Figures. It’ll be a decent climb back up the cliff, so he may as well enjoy a swim before he heads back to the uptight son of a bitch.

Instead, he finds himself in a meditative trance as he treads water, lulled into a prayer-like state of calm by the nearby waterfall. Gabriel’s never been this close to one or seen one this large. It’s not the Depths, or the enchanted veins of water laced through the Storm’s Eye, but there’s a holy might to it all the same.

Then a motion from above draws his eye.

There’s no mistaking Hugo’s form—not the ass-naked state of it, nor the elegant twist of his lean limbs as he dives off the cliff into the waters below. Gabriel holds his breath as he watches Hugo soar through the air in a graceful arc, then expels it in jubilation a moment later, whooping and hollering. A blink later, Hugo slips beneath the surface, cutting through the water clean as a knife, vanishing without a sound.

Each passing moment turns Gabriel’s excitement acrid. The bubbling sensation toes the line of fear. His own difficult memory flashes behind his eyelids unbidden: Hugo floating, lifeless and prone, bleeding and blackened.

Before true terror can take hold, Hugo takes hold instead, using the element of surprise to drag him beneath the churning surface of the lake.

The world vanishes in an expanse of crystal blue threaded with green. Gabriel aims a vicious kick in Hugo’s direction, aiming to dislodge his hands from his ankles. Maybe bloody his nose up a bit for the trouble, too. He manages the first goal if not the second. Hugo treads water beside him; orange-gold sunlight from above dapples across his skin, his silver-streaked hair floating in an aura around his head, grin no less fierce for being toothless. He rotates in the water and propels himself upward.

Bold of him to show his scarred back to Gabriel.

He does Hugo a kindness by letting him get a couple good gulps of air in. After all, Gabriel’s rarely interested in an unfair fight, no matter his reputation past and present. Then he glides over, grabs Hugo on either side of his waist, and drags him right back under.

Were it not for the blood-warm waters of the Enclave flooding the spaces between their limbs as they wrestle, it could be a time ten Risings passed. He could be a first mate again, lust-sick, half ready to put a knife to his palm already, insubordinating his way to a dunk in the sea for the joy of Hugo’s attention in Xeheia’s waters.

The present makes itself known in other ways. Hugo, the slippery bastard that he is, lands a punch on Gabriel’s tit with his artifice hand as he shoves away. The pain forces a bubbly stream of Watcher-blessed air from his lips. But the throb of the impending bruise matches the interested one in his dick, which hasn’t changed much at all.

Gabriel gives chase. They collide in slow motion, the powerful currents from the waterfall making the lake harder to move through. He wraps one arm around Hugo’s thighs from below, blocking Hugo’s slow-motion swat with his other elbow. The angle gives him a great view even with all the thrashing: the dark curls between his legs, the scarred muscle of his chest, and the ferocious set of his jaw. He looks away from Gabriel, towards the surface, throat bobbing. His lungs must be burning by now.

Here, another marker of change. Once, there was a time Gabriel would have held him under and watched him drown. (Would have tried, anyway.) Instead, he releases Hugo, content to gloat about his victory when they’re both above water again.

Hugo swims towards him instead.

Strong hands, one metal and one flesh, grip Gabriel’s shoulders, Hugo using him like an anchor to situate himself. Fathoms-deep emotion lurks in the vivid green of his eyes, and there’s Gabriel’s heart again, twisting like a fish out of water. Heat builds low in his belly and coils outward as Hugo weaves himself into Gabriel’s bulk—chest to tits, thigh wedged between his legs against his stirring dick, and of godsdamned course, a hand in his hair, to get him right where he wants him.

Gabriel doesn’t mind. Much.

Not when Hugo places his mouth to Gabriel’s, demanding even as he yields, a moan vibrating through his chest as Gabriel breathes sacred air into his lungs. Hugo drinks him down. His calloused palm charts a course along Gabriel’s neck and collarbone, coming to rest in the valley of his chest, right next to his thundering heart.

It fills Gabriel with uncanny rapture.

His bondmark fills with magic, skin thrilling as his power seeks, quests—

And finds nothing.

It’s gotten easier, these spiritual stumbles, but not easy. Xeheia’s gift proves a storm wind howl, searching for a port, or maybe a shore to destroy.

Gabriel gives it both.

His limbs burst with power, merging and uncoiling into four, six, then eight tentacles. There’s a pain like a good, deep stretch, then a sickening lurch of his stomach, and then finally bliss, Xeheia’s magic coursing through him as rapidly as the nearby waterfall. Hugo pauses their breath sharing to draw back, eyes widening in surprise, then narrowing as Gabriel wraps slick, powerful limbs around each of Hugo’s. His pupils are wide as the dark moon, his teeth digging into his lower lip, and that’s when Gabriel kisses him.

It’s like this they breach the surface, a tangle of arms and legs and tentacles, Hugo held fast in his embrace whether he likes it or not. They’ve drifted to a distant curve of the cliffs around the brackish lake, the roaring waterfall behind them.

Gabriel won’t ever feel Hugo bond-to-bond again, but this—his Xeheia-blessed arms tracing the ghostly scars of his butchered bondmark, coiled against the wet heat of his folds, squeezing the taut muscles in his thighs and calves—is as good a substitute as he’s getting. If he focuses hard enough, Gabriel can almost sense the faint echo of magic, the last shred of Xeheia left in Hugo’s spirit.

He's got other things to focus on, though.

“Quit while you’re ahead and release me, Berthelot,” Hugo says, pitching his voice in that too-familiar way to be heard over the thunderous susurrus.

“Your mouth says one thing, but your cunt says another.” To illustrate his point, Gabriel slides the muscular tentacle between Hugo’s legs back and forth. The slickness there ain’t all him, that’s for godsdamned sure, and Hugo’s strangled gasp only proves his point further. “You know what a white flag looks like. So go on and wave it, then, if you wanna go so bad.”

Consideration weighs down Hugo’s expression. While he’s thinking about whatever vagaries are in the offing, he pinches Gabriel’s nipple hard, rolling it between his fingers afterward.

“You ain’t exactly helping your case, doing that.”

Hugo, being Hugo, does it again, just harder this time. A final limb, barbed and sensitive, begins to unfurl from the slit tucked between Gabriel’s tentacles, swelling along with the heat in his blood.

“And what,” Hugo begins, dipping his head and sinking his teeth into the corded muscle of Gabriel’s shoulder, eliciting a string of curses from him. “What case am I trying to make, exactly?”

“Oh, the usual.” Gabriel’s airy tone belies the strength he uses to grip Hugo’s jaw, heart pounding as he admires the black tips of his limbs curled against Hugo’s neck. “I best you, you refuse to admit I bested you and act the sore loser, we fire some shots across the bow and maybe punch a few earnest holes in the hull, then we both get what we want anyway.”

“Is that right?” Hugo tries to pry Gabriel’s arm away, fingers splayed across the sacred ink spilled there. He’s still got a tentacle or three free, so he lifts one from the water and wraps one coil of sucker-covered muscle around Hugo’s forearms, lacing them tight as his own precious boots. “Seems you’re getting ahead of yourself without a plan. As usual.”

Unbothered, buoyed by pleasantly warm currents, bitten by sharp teeth of lust, Gabriel admires the picture before him: Hugo, arms bound above his head, muscles tense against the restraint of Gabriel’s Xeheia-blessed body, glaring daggers even as his hips grind and roll against limb between his legs.

Gabriel trails his barbed cock along the outside of Hugo’s thigh and curls it around his backside, a quiet moan rumbling in his throat at the resulting shiver of pleasure. Fury darkens Hugo’s features, but the circles along the undersides of new limbs can sense—can taste—the fresh arousal pulsing from his cunt.

“You know me—I learn by doing. So I reckon we’re about to find out together.”

[raeynbowboi]

The Character Forge: Building an Embodiment of Insanity

I’m going to diverge from my usual routine a bit today. Normally, I pick a pop culture character and make a build for them. But today, I want to do something different. I’m going to build a character around a theme, motif, or focus area. I’ll be covering a character focused on insanity. My goal for this build is to create a character who is explicitly crafted to instill and feed paranoia, delusions, and psychological trauma in as many facets as possible, including racial traits, feats, and spells where applicable. 

Building on Insanity:

it’s easy to simply say I want to drive people crazy, but it’s another thing to actually map out the effects you want to have on people. So before we can address individual spells and features, we need to discuss what impacts we want our abilities to have.

Alter Senses: Spells such as Unearthly Chorus, Blindness/Deafness or Blur that distort what a person sees and hears is a great way to instill a dread of insanity. Spells that buff your abilities or debuff the target are great ways to effect people’s perceptions.

Hallucinations: Similar to alter senses, Hallucinations cause people to see things that aren’t really there, playing a trick on their mind. A focus on illusion magic will help with this.

Fear: While insanity is not intrinsically linked to horror, the ravings of writers like Lovecraft and Poe often feature protagonists who have lost their minds or interact with people who have, usually accompanied by horrible nightmare imagery. Frightening people is a good way to warp their mind.

Mind Control: There’s nothing scarier than realizing you don’t have full control of yourself. Through Charmed effects like Compulsion, Command, and Dominate Person, you take away free will and make their mind your plaything.

Mental Anguish: a focus on attacking the mind itself, psychic damage is the best way to actively attack the minds of your victims.

Mind Alterations: Permanent changes to someone’s mind like Modify Memory can be truly horrifying, especially when the stolen or altered memories make it so that a person’s mind no longer makes sense.

Powers, Features, and Abilities

Altered Senses Blindness Deafness (Bard, Cleric, Sorcerer, Wizard, Spore Druid, Fiend Warlock, Undying Warlock) Blur (Artificer, Sorcerer, Wizard, Desert Land Druid, Hexblade Warlock) Maddening Darkness (Warlock, Wizard) Mental Prison (Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard) Pass Without Trace (Druid, Ranger, Trickery Cleric) Power Word Pain (Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard) Unearthly Chorus (Bard)

Illusions, Delusions, and Hallucinations Alter Self (Artificer, Sorcerer, Wizard, Warlock: Master of Myriad Forms*) Disguise Self (Artificer, Bard, Sorcerer, Wizard, Trickery Cleric, Warlock: Mask of Many Faces) Dissonant Whispers (Bard, Aberrant Mind Sorcerer, Great Old One Warlock) Distort Value (Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard) Hallucinatory Terrain (Bard, Druid, Warlock, Wizard) Illusory Dragon (Wizard) Major Image (Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard) Minor Illusion (Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard) Mirage Arcane (Bard, Druid, Wizard) Mirror Image (Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard, Trickery Cleric, Coast Land Druid) Mislead (Bard, Wizard) Project Image (Bard, Wizard) Silent Image (Bard, Sorcerer, Wizard) Simulacrum (Wizard) Weird (Wizard)

Psychic Barrage Mind Sliver (Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard) Mind Spike (Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard) Phantasmal Force (Bard, Sorcerer, Wizard) Phantasmal Killer (Wizard, Hexblade Warlock) Psychic Scream (Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard) Shadow Blade (Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard) Synaptic Static (Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard)

Fear and Paranoia Cause Fear (Warlock, Wizard) Enemies Abound (Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard) Eyebite (Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard) Fear (Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard, Oath of Conquest) Hallow* (Cleric, Fiend Warlock, Divine Soul Sorcerer, Theurgy Wizard)

Brainwashing Command (Cleric, Paladin, Fiend Warlock, Divine Soul Sorcerer, Theurgy Wizard) Compulsion (Bard, Order Cleric, Heroism Paladin, Aberrant Mind Sorcerer Warlock: Bewitching Whispers) Dominate Person (Bard, Sorcerer, Wizard, Order, Trickery Cleric, Conquest, Oathbreaker, Treachery Paladin, Archfey, Great Old One Warlock) Enthrall (Bard, Sorcerer, Heroism Paladin) Incite Greed (Cleric, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard) Mass Suggestion (Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard) Otto’s Irresistible Dancing (Bard, Wizard) Suggestion (Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard) Tasha’s Hideous Laughter (Bard, Wizard, Great Old One Warlock)

Mind Altering Crown of Madness (Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard, Oathbreaker Paladin) Confusion (Bard, Druid, Sorcerer, Wizard, Knowledge Cleric, Oathbreaker, Treachery Paladin, Warlock: Dreadful Word) Feeblemind (Bard, Druid, Warlock, Wizard) Gift of Gab (Bard, Wizard) Glibness (Bard, Warlock) Mind Blank (Bard, Wizard) Modify Memory (Bard, Wizard, Trickery Cleric, Aberrant Mind Sorcerer)

Eldritch Horrors (Fear of the Unknown) Arms of Hadar (Warlock, Aberrant Mind Sorcerer) Create Homunculus (Wizard) Enervation (Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard) Evard’s Black Tentacles (Warlock, Aberrant Mind Sorcerer) Hunger of Hadar (Warlock, Aberrant Mind Sorcerer)

Oh How the Mind Races

When setting up a race for this build, like with the spell list, we need a race whose features exacerbate the insanity features.

Changeling: Being able to shapeshift so easily is a great way to make someone feel crazy.

Eladrin Elf - Winter: Their Fey Teleportation can Frighten those they appear next to.

Gith: They have psionic features.

Kalashtar: Split between two minds, Kalashtar is a race with psychic powers.

Simic Hybrid: While not inherently mental or insane, their existence as gene spliced humans with animal features, it’s an easy way to invoke Lovecraftian Horror.

A Class in Judgement

Bard     Whispers: This subclass is hellbent on attacking the mind, unearthing people’s fears, and preying on them.

Sorcerer     Aberrant Mind: This subclass gets their power from a mental aberration, and is a Sorcerer variation on the Great Old One Warlock, and invokes Lovecraftian Horror.

Warlock     Great Old One: Invoking the twisted mind of H.P. Lovecraft, who himself was paranoid, the Old Gods similarly prey upon the minds of mortals.

Wizard     Divination: Not really a mental subclass, but you could flavor Portent as messing with perceptions, and making people misjudge their aim.     Illusion: This school of wizardry is focused on making people believe things that aren’t there.

Stats and Proficiencies

As the main classes suggested cast with Charisma, that is our main stat. You need to convince people to believe your mad ravings are true. Dexterity will make you hard to hit, all the better to convince people you aren’t real, are a figment of their imagination, or otherwise paranormal. A good Constitution ensures that even if you are hit, you can act like it’s no big deal, or like you’re supernaturally immune to pain or injury. Having high Wisdom reinforces your own perceptions and makes sure you can’t be fooled. Strength will follow, it’s not a super important stat for this build, but if you want to deal at least decent damage with your physical attacks, it’s a little important. And Intelligence gets dumped. Book Smarts won’t help you much in deceiving people or driving them insane.

Race: Changeling Background: Charlatan Alignment: Chaotic Neutral Class: College of Whispers Bard (14)             Aberrant Mind Sorcerer (6) Base Stats:    Strength: 10 (0)    Dexterity: 19 (+4)    Constitution: 14 (+2)    Intelligence: 8 (-1)    Wisdom: 12 (+1)    Charisma: 20 (+5) Saving Throws:    Strength: 0    Dexterity: +10    Constitution: +2    Intelligence: -1    Wisdom: +1    Charisma: +11 Combat Stats:     HP: 137     AC: 17     Speed: 30     Initiative: +7     Proficiency Bonus: +6     Passive Perception: 17     Dark Vision: 0 feet Proficiencies:     Deception (Charlatan)     Insight (Changeling)     Intimidation (Changeling)     Perception (Bard)     Persuasion (Bard)     Slight of Hand (Changeling)     Stealth (Bard) Skills: Acrobatics: +7                Medicine: +4 Animal Handling: +4       Nature: +2 Arcana: +2                      Perception: +7 Athletics: +3                    Performance: +8 Deception: +17               Persuasion: +17 History: +2                      Religion: +2 Insight: +13                     Sleight of Hand: +10 Intimidation: +17             Stealth: +10 Investigation: +2             Survival: +4 Damage Resistances:   Psychic Sorcerer Feature: Sorcery Points   6 Sorcery Points Sorcerer Feature: Metamagic   Extended Spell   Subtle Spell Bard Feature: Magical Secrets    Evard’s Black Tentacles    Immolation    Pass Without Trace    Phantsmal Killer

Spell Slots    1st (4)    2nd (3)    3rd (3)    4th (3)    5th (3)    6th (2)    7th (2)    8th (1)    9th (1)

Spellbook of Madness

Cantrips                                2nd Level                        4th Level    Chill Touch                             Blindness/Deafness         Compulsion    Dancing Lights                       Blur                                  Confusion    Friends                                  Calm Emotions                 Evard’s Black Tentacles    Mending                                Crown of Madness            Phantasmal Killer    Message                                Darkness                       5th Level    Mind Sliver                             Detect Thoughts               Dominate Person    Minor Illusion                          Mind Spike                       Immolation    Prestidigitation                       Mirror Image                     Mislead    Unearthly Chorus                   Pass Without Trace          Modify Memory 1st Level                                  Phantasmal Force             Synaptic Static    Arms of Hadar                       Shadow Blade                6th Level    Dissonant Whispers            3rd Level                             Eyebite    False Life                               Enemies Abound            7th Level    Tasha’s Hideous Laughter     Fear                                   Project Image                                                  Hunger of Hadar                                                  Major Image                                                  Sending 

Actions:    Countercharm: Using a Performance action grants friendly creatures within 30 feet radius advantage against charmed and frightened conditions. Bonus Actions:     Bardic Inspiration: Add 1d10 to 5 allies’ rolls per long rest.     Flexible Casting: Convert your Sorcery Points into spell slots. Features:     Change Appearance: Shapeshift as an action. You have advantage on Deception checks to cover your tracks.     Divergent Persona: You have proficiency with a tool. Create a false identity for this proficiency. While using this identity, you have doubled proficiency with the tool of your choice.     False Identity: You have created a fake identity, and can forge documents if you have seen their handwriting.     Font of Inspiration: Regain a Bardic Inspiration after a rest.     Invasive Thoughts: Create a telepathic link with a creature 30 feet away as a bonus action.     Mantle of Whispers: When someone dies, steal their shadow and wear their shadow as a disguise for an hour. You gain access to the dead person’s general information.     Psionic Defense: You resist Psychic damage.     Psionic Sorcery: You cast Aberrant Mind spells without components.     Psionic Spells: You gain additional Aberrant Mind spells     Psychic Blades: Add 5d6 Psychic damage to your melee weapon attacks.     Shadow Lore: Those who fail a Wisdom check become Charmed to believe that you know and will expose the deepest darkest secrets, and obey your commands out of fear of being found out.     Song of Rest: With a song, add 1d10 to healing effects from a rest.     Unsettling Visage: Once per rest, impose disadvantage on a creature trying to hurt you.     Warped Being: your AC is 13 + your DEX mod while without armor     Words of Terror: Your words instill fear for 1 hour.

This build was a bit unorthodox, but it was also a lot of fun to put together. Can you think of a better way to embody madness and insanity in DnD 5e? Do you think you’ll use this in a campaign? Do you have any ideas for something else I can do with DnD 5e? Thanks for joining me, and I’ll see you guys next time in the Character Forge, where heroes are made.

[purplesurveys]

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survey by shanynx73

Do you have a dry erase board? We probably do somewhere here at home. We don’t throw school supplies like that away just in case we’d all of a sudden need them.

What do you remember most from last summer? Thinking if I’ll ever get a graduation ceremony (which I didn’t); lots of pressure about applying for grown-up stuff like a bank account and social security; and being naive about my relationship that I had no clue was already quickly going down the drain.

Where is the last place that you shopped? If online spaces count, I was just at Lazada around an hour ago trying to see if there’d be a local shop somewhere selling Good Dye Young.

What kind of shoes did you wear today? Didn’t go out today so no shoes were worn.

Have you painted lately? No but it would be nice to, now that you’ve mentioned it.

Which season has the best clothes? We don’t get 4 seasons, soooooo can’t relate.

Do you know about the many uses of coconut oil? Not too familiar.

Do you watch Dr. Oz? Back when we still bothered to have cable I remember occasionally catching his show on TV as I’d flip the channels, but it never looked all that interesting to me.

When was the last time you got balloons? My dad’s birthday, three months ago.

What color is your favorite purse? I don’t have a favorite.

What are your plans for tomorrow? Take more surveys, try not to spend money, and maybe do a couple of daily reports I usually have to do at work so that I don’t have to skim through 4 days’ worth of data by the time I get back to work on Monday.

How was your past Christmas? It was amazing; it was the time I put my foot down and finally firmly decided to start moving on from Gab, so there was a lot of self-love and self-acceptance going on. It was a very personally enlightening time for me. It also helped that I got to spend time with my extended family (in the most socially distancingy way possible) to keep me distracted and remind me of what I do have.

Do you prefer the game Sorry or Trouble? I’ve never tried playing either and I can’t remember each of their main concepts off the top of my head.

What color are the sheets on your bed? They are blue.

Do you prefer pull-over sweatshirts or zip-ups? Zip-ups, so at least I have the option to open or close it.

Have you ever had quiche? Sure.

Have you ever had a conversation with a priest (etc.) outside of church? I might have. It wouldn’t be a kind of memory I’d save in my head, but a part of me thinks there is definitely a chance this has already happened before.

What do you order when you go to McDonald's? I feel like I’ve answered this recently lol but I usually get a Burger McDo. But now that I can afford to get pricier meals, I’m looking forward to the time I’ll finally be in the mood to get a 20-piece box of McNuggets all to myself hahaha.

What do you like to put in your coffee? I don’t really make my own coffee...I prefer mine made for me already, which is why 3-in-1 sachets work perfectly for me lmao.

What is a political issue you feel strongly about? Locally speaking? All of them. Being apolitical is just privilege at work. I do take breaks from reading the news once in a while for the sake of my mental health, but I’ve never stopped giving a shit.

How often do you have to charge your phone? The battery’s health has started to slowly dwindle down; and let’s be real, it was thanks to the time I had YouTube videos on 24/7 as a coping mechanism after my break-up. So for that reason I have to charge it 2–3 times a day; it now gets drained a little faster than it used to when it was still at 100% health, but overall I’d say it’s also still holding up well.

Do you have a song stuck in your head? Sugar on the Rim - Hayley Williams. I swear I listen to other artists too.

What makes a good movie to you? Screenplay. Lines can so very easily make or break a movie.

Do you have any yellow shirts? Yes, and other kinds of tops as well.

When was the last time you wrapped a present? 2015. That was the first and only time I attempted to, and when I saw that I proved to be terrible at it, I’ve since either 1) just bought paper bags, or 2) paid my sister to wrap the gifts I’ve bought.

Do you normally win or lose at rock, paper, scissors? I typically win, actually. No idea why.

Do you like Fruity Pebbles? No. This is honestly not a Filipino/Asian thing and I had absolutely never heard of it until The Rock started calling John Cena a big bowl of Fruity Pebbles like a decade ago on WWE TV. My tween ass felt like I had to fit in so I had my mom buy me a box of Fruity Pebbles the very next day even though it cost like a bitch, and it wasn’t even that delicious.

Do you have any stuffed animals from when you were younger? Nah, I wasn’t big into stuffed toys even as a kid.

What is the craziest thing you've heard or seen on TV lately? A guy getting arrested for picking up his own McDonald’s order outside of his own house. That is the clownery of the country I have to live in.

Have you ever hyperventilated? Yes.

What was your favorite book to read in English class? Without Seeing the Dawn.

Do you wear scarves? Nope.

Are your nails painted? They are not.

Do you like to dress up? Sure.

Are you looking forward to anything in the next week? Eh, not really. I was looking forward to this week because of the Holy Week break, so I’m actually dreading next week because there won’t be any other work break as long as this anymore until Christmas.

Do you buy lottery tickets? I’ve never done so.

What is your favorite flavor of Gatorade? I’m traumatized by Gatorade lol. My mom made me chug that shit down endlessly when I was 4 when I had multiple doubts of diarrhea or whatever it was, and I never got over it. To this day I refuse to even smell it.

Do you think most people wear masks? LOL I had already typed out a full-blown answer for this talking about Covid until I double-checked and saw that this survey was made in 2013, so it must’ve been talking about masks in the metaphorical sense...that’s my  “ohhhhh” moment of the day for sure lmao. Anyway, yeah sure.

What feature do you get complimented on most? Skin.

What are you planning to do next? Look for another survey to take, and maybe some nice instrumental music to listen to.

[deadontheinsidebut]

✨Birthday Wishes✨

This is a Birthday Fic dedicated to my one and only @kenmakodzu !! You have become so important to me in such a period of time and I hope this fic shows even a tiny fraction of that. Happy Birthday Gab!! To a better year with great health and successes mwah 💕✨(○’ω’○)✨💕

Pairing: Gabma x Angelshima

Word Count: 1.6k

Gab awoke to the sound of the neighbourhood crows squawking and pushed two pillows to her ears to block out the noise, but after staying up until 3am to talk to Angel about which mazesoba place is the best, the pillows did nothing for her sour mood. She groaned into her bed before a gentle hand caressed her hair. 

She turned to see Kenma’s soft features looking at her until the meekest whisper of “happy birthday” escaped his lips. Gab couldn’t help but smile at her boyfriend. She knew he had been up just as late as she had, hearing her and Angel bickering about the stupidest of things and appreciated how much he put up with. 

It was time to start the day with neither of them able to fall back to sleep. Kenma’s hair was never messy like Kuroo’s but he always managed to have a tuft of hair out of place that Gab loved to brush out for him. To be honest, mornings are slow at the Gabma house with each of the introverted lovers preferring their alone time until the morning grogg is gone. 

Kenma offered to make Gab her breakfast and she was pleased as she watched her boyfriend prance around the kitchen with eggs in one hand and spatula in the other. Gab drummed her fingers on the table patiently before hearing the familiar ring of her phone. The caller ID read Angel and she answered it to hear a very loud “HAPPY BIRTHDAY” blare through the phone. Gab’s ears were practically bleeding as she answered Angel. 

“Could you save the noise for… you know… not the morning?” Gab joked.

“What else are sisters for if not to ruin their sister’s mornings?” Angel countered, adding a devious giggle for emphasis. 

Gab sighed into the phone before starting a back and forth banter with Angel. Kenma brought over the eggs and toast, seating across from Gab, munching on his own breakfast as he listened in on his girlfriend’s conversation. 

After a couple minutes, Kenma outstretched his hand, motioning for her to hand over the phone and mouthing Tsukki’s name. Gab asks Angel if Tsukki was there and after some passing of the phones, the boys were now able to start a conversation of their own. 

Kenma scuttled away and Gab eyed him suspiciously but continued to eat her meal, simply content with just having food. Ah yes, we love ignorant Gab. 

When Kenma returned, the phone no longer displayed Angel’s name and Gab pouted because she had not yet finished her conversation with her stupid sister. As Kenma cleared the plates, he brought up some activities the couple could do today and Gab was mildly surprised at his sudden urge to want to go out. 

They decided on a mini shopping spree. The two of them deserved it after spending the previous months of quarantine in nothing but kitty onesies. The stores were pretty much empty and the sales were high. Discounts were basically Gab’s last name and when Kenma urged her to buy the pretty lavender dress that was 60% off, she was on it. 

She slipped into the dress and it was a perfect fit. The dress attenuated every one of her curves but flared at the bottom to give off a classier look. The final thing that made her realize that this was the dress were Kenma’s cat-like eyes trailing every part of her, taking in the beauty that Gab radiated by just being her. He was truly looking at her like she was a video game that had just been released. 

She decided to stay in the dress with a little encouragement from Kenma and pecked his cheek for his efforts today. This honestly would’ve been enough, but Kenma slipped his hand into hers and began to guide her to their next destination. 

As simple as it was, she had always wanted to just explore the city as the sun explodes into a million different shades of red. What more can you ask for than seeing the sunset with the love of your life… is what you thought until you were led to one and only mazesoba shop you were talking about yesterday on the phone. 

Gab gasped because of how beautiful the restaurant was. The light from the sunset shone in through the huge glass windows and created the most romantic of all atmospheres. But what was inside surprised her most of all. 

As Angel leapt into Gab’s arms, squishing her cheek to Gab’s, she knew her birthday was complete. 

“You look absolutely beautiful,” Angel exclaimed, “lavender is your colour!” 

Angel adorned a baby blue dress and Tsukki in a dress shirt of his own. All that was left was Kenma and he excused himself to go change, admitting that he also bought himself something while shopping. 

“So this is what my boyfriend and yours were discussing over the phone this morning?” Gab inquired, raising an eyebrow at both Angel and Tsukishima. 

Tsukki shrugged slyly before guiding the both of the girls to their table. Kenma came back in a matching lavender dress shirt and Angel shrieked as she suggested the group take pictures to commemorate the occasion. 

The waitress volunteered to take the pictures for the four of you and to be honest, they were the most instagram-worthy photos the four of them had ever seen with the sunset shining in as the background and the four of them wearing their fancy-wear. It was definitely going on Angel’s instagram at least. 

After they seated themselves at the table and the waitress took their orders, conversation sparked with everyone practically bouncing in their seats. 

“We’ve been planning your birthday for months,” Angel started, beaming at herself for being so responsible. 

“It wasn’t easy getting a booking for this place, you know,” Tsukki added, wrapping an arm around Angel, “you have expensive taste, Gab.”

Gab chuckled at Tsukki’s comment, realizing the bickering from last night was simply a ploy to find out what her favourite mazesoba place was. She looked to her boyfriend who had remained quiet all this time. 

“Thank you for everything!” Gab said to Kenma. 

“No, thank you for coming into my life and being what I needed,” Kenma blurted, “thank you for being a million blessings in one.” 

The deep blush on Gab’s face was priceless and she moved her hands to cover her face. Tears pricked her eyes, the few words her boyfriend offered having a bigger impact than anything she’s ever heard. 

“I second that!” Angel agreed with Kenma. 

“Me too I guess,” Tsukki finished, turning away. 

At this point, Gab was no longer holding her emotions in and the tears rushed out. 

“GROUP HUG!!!” Angel screamed out before pulling everyone into a pile over the table. 

“I don’t think I can handle any more love, guys!” Gab whined through the tears, giggling in the process.

“We’re not done yet!” The other three chorused. 

It was now time for the gifts and they lined up to present Gab her gifts. Tsukki was first and handed her an aromatherapy gift set. It contained a bunch of essential oils with lavender being one because Gab loves it of course, a diffuser, therapeutic body washes, and more!

“This is for you and Kenma but mostly Kenma because only God knows how he’s able to handle your chaotic ass,” Tsukki explained, “I can barely handle my own,” he adds while resting an elbow on an irritated Angel’s head. 

Gab had to cover her mouth as she tried to process the gift. It was both funny and generous considering how expensive these setes go for and she thanked him while stifling a laugh.  

Angel was next and she was giddy as she watched Gab unwrap her gift. The first one was a scrapbook that held little mementos from fun times they’ve had in the past. There was even a picture of them piled on each other at the ice rink (refer to the double date drabble I wrote MWAHAH) which Gab stared longingly at until moving onto the next gift. 

When she unwrapped it, she gasped deeply. It was a body pillow of Kenma and Angel was bent-over laughing. 

“OH MY FREAKING-- WHAT THE HELL IS THIS??” Gab shrieked and even Tsukki was snickering despite knowing Angel’s special little gift. 

Kenma was blushing madly and scratched the back of his head before commenting “why use the pillow when you have the real thing?”

This whole day was a serotonin booster and Gab hugged the pillow to her chest. The mazesoba had finally arrived and Angel and Tsukishima were sharing their food with each when Kenma dragged Gab to the corner to present her with his own gift. 

It was a small little box and he opened it to reveal a beautiful golden necklace with a heart charm. It was clearly intricately made with Gab’s initials ingrained onto the necklace with diamonds. 

“Open it.”

And she opened the heart locket to see a picture of the four of them inside, looking at the camera with the most genuine smiles. This was the most wonderful gift anyone has ever given her. And Gab will cherish it, just like the promise she’s made to cherish her friends until the end of time. 

BONUS: They went to the Gabma house for a sleepover afterwards  and after everyone changed into their onesies, they started making mochi donuts. Unfortunately, the house burned down The End.

Happy Birthday Gab! I hope you have an amazing day. And I promise I won’t burn your house down when we meet irl hehe

[19mrs-barnes17]

As Long As I Can Get - Chapter Three: Welcome to Brightbarrow

Summary: Welcome to the town of Brightbarrow, its small and quaint aesthetic draws in many to settle into the comfort it provides. Home to a select group of kind souls.

Part: 3/5

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x reader (AU)

Warnings: mentions of abandonment, some sad themes, a little drinking

Word count: 3,198

A/N: Thanks again to @wxntersoldiers​ for beta reading! Hope you all enjoy the new chapter!

~

The first place to open in the mornings is the Diner, the Barnes family waking before most of the town to set up and ready for the early rising crowd. A few shop owners, medical staff, and construction crew filter in gradually as the town begins to wake.

Slowly but surely shops begin flipping their signs, a yawn escaping as they stretch out their sluggish and sleepy limbs. Hours pass by and the town comes alive with a steady flow of people off to work or wandering about the shops, the occasional tourist stopping in for directions or a trinket. Everyone had a routine.

It was late afternoon when Y/N finally got time to begin looking into a project for her apartment, stopping by the shop where Steve worked after her shift let off early. 

She couldn’t help but laugh at the sight before her, Denise and Hilda sat on the wooden bench outside the tool and craft shop gazing in the big display window and gabbing about the men inside. She shook her head at the women before approaching.

“What are you two mischief makers up to?” Both women stayed exactly as they were, unaffected by being caught by an onlooker.

“Come sit with us Y/N dear, there are two very fine gentlemen waltzing about the shop.” Y/N reluctantly accepted the invitation, eyes drifted inside the building where Steve and Bucky stood comparing items and having a passive discussion. Neither seemed aware of the three women watching their every move through the front window.

“How often are you two out here?”

“Oh every day love.” Hilda smiled softly at her before sending a wink and returning her attention back to the guys. “Lately we’ve been getting double the beef and muscle.”

“That Barnes boy has grown into such a handsome young gentleman, very blessed in the genetics department.” Denise giggled, Hilda swatting her playfully as they turned their gazes to Y/N and arched a brow expectantly.

“What?” 

“Please tell me you’re making the most of his being back home? You two always have been the cutest thing.” If Y/N had been taking a drink this moment would be the perfect moment for a spit take.

“We’re not a couple.”

“And what a terrible shame that has always been. He’s a lovely specimen.” Denise winked at her before glancing back inside and smiling. 

“I don’t know, I’d say that poor Steven is quite the eye candy. Though it is nice to see a new, but familiar, face around here.”

“You two are shameless.” Hilda and Denis burst out laughing, clutching one another as their smiles stretched across their faces.

“Best way to be sweetheart.” Hilda paused for a moment, glancing over Y/N before getting that mischievous sparkle in her eyes once more. “”Give it a go.”

Y/N shook her head but the two women kept insisting. Gazing through the glass her mind fumbled for something to say that wouldn’t be too much.

“He does have nice eyes.”

“Which one dear?”

“James. I mean Bucky.” Her heart skipped a beat as those very crystal blue irises turned her way, eyes locking onto hers. 

“Ah, that he does. And they’re looking right at you dear, in a very flirtatious manner.” Hilda and Denise sent little waves at Bucky before nudging her.

Y/N mumbled in response her mind elsewhere as she watched Bucky through the window, a smile tugging at his lips. He sent a small wave, which she slowly reciprocated, before turning back to Steve. She stood from the bench and tore her gaze away from the window.

“Oh, god I still need to go inside.”

“Ooh, how unfortunate. Let us know how that goes.” 

“You two are pure chaos.”

“Guilty.” In sync they speak and smirk up at her before turning back to the window.

Entering the store she did her best to keep her gaze away from the two men, focusing on finding the paint color she wanted. Her eyes scanned the swatches for a light purple for her bedroom, eventually a project she wanted to get to when she had an open weekend. Her mind was unable to focus as she overheard the discussion an aisle or two over.

Shaking her head she pulled her focus to the colors in front of her, forcing herself to make a decision. In line she was behind Bucky who leaned against the counter waiting for Steve to return from the back, his arms crossed and eyes closed.

“Long day?” She couldn’t stand there silently waiting for Steve to return, his eyes would have opened and been startled by her lurking form. He was startled nonetheless, but she felt compelled to be polite and not ignore him. Even despite his past mistakes.

“Always is.” 

“Tell me about it. What are you building?” She pointed to the drill set on the counter as his eyes took note of the paint swatches in her hand.

“Bed frame.” Her brow furrowed and he chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. “Haven’t gotten around to actually setting it up yet, easier to move when we are painting. Speaking of which…”

“My room. Paint is chipping and my landlord gave me the greenlight to paint over it.” 

“Purple.” She simply nodded in response, eyes trailing to locate Steve in the back. “Well, if you need any help you know where to find me.”

“Thanks, but I have no idea when I’m going to actually have time to get to it.” He nods solemnly and she feels a prick of guilt in her heart.  “But I’ll give you a call when I know.”

“We can order Toni’s like we used to.” His sweet smile had her nodding along in agreement and entirely missing Steve’s emergence from the back office. “Guess I’ll see you around Fairfield.”

“Keep out of trouble Barnes.” He chuckled and shook his head muttering something about no promises before walking out the door. 

“I swear if you two waltz around the topic you will forever be in the obnoxiously polite conversation stage.” Steve shook his head, marking down her order and writing up a receipt. “And I’m not sure how much of that I can take.”

~

Bucky lay upon his stomach, arms buried beneath the pillow he smushed to his face as he slept. His body sore from the previous week's worth of labor, taking advantage of his day off by sleeping in past breakfast time. Somehow he had actually gotten a decent night’s rest, whether that was from the exhaustion or his reconciliation with Y/N was anybody’s guess. 

He had missed how close they used to be, hating how he had listened to the fear and completely cut her from his life. She was his raft and without her he had been sinking, deeper and deeper until he hit the bottom. He knew full well they could never be anything more, but he hated himself for not allowing a friendship at least. It would have helped him through so much.

In the past few weeks he continuously ran into her at the diner, sharing more meals with her than he ever had before and getting to know her again. The reconnection quelled some of the worries that usually kept his mind awake. His mind was more at ease.

Unfortunately, a knock at his door disturbed his late morning rest and had him shuffling to the door in only sweats. As he opened the door he was hit by a yawn, the chuckle from the otherside of the threshold snapping him out of his daze. Y/N stood awkwardly shifted weight on the balls of her feet, eyes refusing to meet his which made him take notice of her flushed cheeks. He smiled softly down at her.

“Good morning.” She cleared her throat and shook her head as if his voice had shaken her from her discomfort and held an envelope out to him. “What’s this?”

“Your pay, I think. Becca said Thomas dropped it off at the Diner cause he had a busy day out of town and didn’t have time to stop by. She’s working a double today and asked if I could deliver it. So, there you go. Sorry to wake you on your day off.” She spoke fast and he was barely awake enough to keep up, running a hand through his hair and nodding along.

“Thank you. But Becca could have given it to me at dinner tonight.” Her eyes snapped up to meet his, her features painted with shock. 

“Oh.” Her voice was small as she remained frozen in place, unsure how to make a polite exit without just walking away. “Well, um, you’re welcome I guess. I’m gonna go now… see you around…” 

Bucky didn’t even formulate a response before she had already made her way down the sidewalk with one final glance back at him from over her shoulder. Something about their relationship was different, and not just because he had cut her out of his life. It was more about the way she tiptoed around looking at him, and how she avoided eye contact if he was in a tank or less. This hadn’t been the first time she had blushed at the sight of him.

A few days ago Becca had brought Y/N, on her day off, to bring the workers some lunch that his mother had made. When she approached he wasn’t paying much attention and had gone to wipe some of the sweat from his face onto his tank top, exposing his midriff which resulted in a blushing Y/N holding out his portion of the food at a distance. 

Ever since Y/N had been awkward during the first couple of minutes of conversation they had whenever they ran into one another in town. He was baffled, Steve was not.

“Oh, come on you cannot seriously be that thick.” 

“How kind of you to notice. Mind explaining what I’m missing?” Steve sighed heavily, rubbing his hand over his face.

“Listen, you are not an ugly guy alright?”

“Gee thanks buddy, care to elaborate?” Steve was beginning to look as though he wanted to smack Bucky upside the head and be done with it all. 

“She all flustered because you’re an attractive guy constantly showing off your body in front of her.”

“It’s not like I’m doing it on purpose.” Bucky sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “And we both know why that can’t happen.”

“Buck, I don’t want to have that old argument again so can we slow the roll on the girl problems and get to what you need for the house?”

“Alright, alright.”

He paced the floor of his bedroom deep in thought, adrenaline jump starting his anxiety and sending him into panic. The few nights of dreamless sleep had ended in an intense nightmare in which he relived the death of his best friend. They had served together for so long, becoming brothers somewhere in the process. Both moving to New York and sharing an apartment for a while before he was killed in a hit and run. 

Will had pushed him out of the way before the car struck, he was killed on impact. Bucky could still see his lifeless body lying on the asphalt. 

The images flashed in his mind even after waking in a cold sweat, his heart still pounding as he struggled to calm himself. He was panicking and losing all rationality. His fingers dialed the number before his mind could stop him and he saw her racing across the street at a record speed. 

After opening the door he pulled her in and shoved the door shut, his arms wrapping around her torso tightly as he buried his face in the crook of her neck. She was in shock for a few moments before she lowered her arms to rest on his bare shoulders and ran a hand up into his hair. Her fingers gently ran through his hair as she whispered comfort in his ear. 

“Hey.” She pulled away from him, hands on the sides of his face and eyes gazing into his fearlessly. “Let’s get you to the couch, yeah?”

Slowly she moved him to where his head lay in her lap, her finger still running through his hair and putting him at ease. When his breathing began to regulate she had him drink a glass of water and watched him nervously. He could tell she was on edge about this, scared for him. And he already regretted bringing her into it.

But she had been the one to comfort his nightmares the first month after his dad died, staying at his house every night. She had been his greatest comfort, and he had repaid her kindness with a knife in the back. It was his greatest regret.

“Do you wanna talk about it?” She spoke softly, tone hesitant as she scooted closer to him on the couch. “I think it will help.”

He desperately wanted to avoid the conversation, but he knew it would come up later whether she meant to bring it up or not. Because it was the very reason that New York had lost its charm and he had packed for home. And he wanted her to trust him, to feel like she could call him should she ever need comfort or help. If he didn’t show her that rebuilding was possible she would never trust that they could.

“When I was overseas…” Once he started he couldn’t stop, it had been months of silence and pushing down his pain. Bucky had been hiding his loss from any who didn’t know about Will, even Steve didn’t know the exact context of why he returned.

Though he only spoke one of the secrets he had been keeping, the release of the words felt cathartic. She pulled him into a hug and he immediately knew he had made the right decision. It had been so long since they had talked about anything deeper than small talk or light catch up, he hadn’t realized how much he had missed it. Missed her.

“I’m sorry. I never should have pushed you away.”

“Buck-”

“I know I said it before, but I need you to know I meant it. I have missed you so much, almost gone to call you a billion times before realizing I didn’t have your number.” A tear slid down her cheek and she was quick to wipe it away, sniffling.

“I always thought you just left me behind because I wasn’t good enough.” His chest tightened, heart hurting at the thought of her believing that.

“No.” He shook his head, eyes tearing away from her because if he kept looking he would tell the full truth and she would never want to see him again. “I let the fear and pain I was drowning in sweep me away. I never should have closed off from you, the one person who could have helped me.”

“I’m here now.” She placed a hand over his heart, sincerity in her eyes before she recoiled with crimson in her cheeks. “Now would you please put on a shirt before answering the door you heathen.” 

He smiled before picking her up and throwing her over his shoulder and spinning around. She squealed, hand smacking his back lightly as she began to laugh like a mad woman. 

“Who’s a heathen now?”

“Still you, ya brute.” He dropped her onto the couch and the two fell into a fit of laughter, eyes sharing a look of nostalgia. “But a brute I will invite to my birthday party.”

“Party, eh? They still throwing you big parties in that old barn?” She nodded, rolling her eyes with a small shrug.

“I’m turning 27, I don’t think I need a big party full of people. Not really my scene.” 

“How ‘bout this then. We go to that party, say hello to everyone, do at least one dance after cake, and afterwards we can do something just the two of us. Something more laid back.” She held out her hand and they shook on it, smiles bright.

“Wanna go paint my room?” Y/N stood with her hands on her hips and a brow arched, smiling mischievously. 

Bucky stood and began to make his way to the door when Y/N stopped him in his tracks and gestured to his bare chest.

“Right, shirt. Give me a second.” She shook her head, waiting at the front step for him to catch up. He crossed the street in a few swift steps and followed her up to her apartment.

“You’re gonna want your hair out the way, sit.” He complied, rolling his eyes as she pulled strands of his hair back into a small feather duster of a ponytail. A few shorter strands fell down and framed his face. She shrugged and muttered a good enough.

They moved her mattress and bed frame from the room, emptying all the contents into the small living room. Covering the floor, taping over the trim, and getting the paint and brushes out they were ready to begin.

Hours later they had paint splatters on their jeans and Bucky’s white tank top now had a purple print painted on. Purple covered the walls and a few drops made their way onto their faces, a stripe across the bridge of her nose and a smudge along his cheek. Y/N refused to let him wash up before getting a photo on her camera. The two looked like a hot mess, her piggy backing and resting her cheek against his. 

“Why does this look so familiar?” She held the camera in her hands and her brow furrowed. “Oh my god.”

Y/N ran into the living room without another word and Bucky followed, perplexed by her behavior. She began searching through her things until finally producing a shoe box with his name on it. 

“Um. What’s that.” She pulled him over to her breakfast bar and sat on one of the stools before opening up the box. His eyes scanned the photos inside, saddened that there were so few but comforted by the fact that she still had the pictures at all.

“This is our box, Becca and I have one. And that other one is for our trio.” He chuckled softly as she began to sift through the  pictures until she found what she was looking for. The very photo that he had seen in his mother’s house, the one hanging amongst the photos of his family. “We did an accidental recreation.”

The two photos side by side were uncanny, apart from the ridiculous amount of purple paint in one of them. The same pose, and he was looking at her instead of the camera again. 

“I gotta get this printed, for here and your mom’s.” Bucky stood behind her, eyes flickering between the two photos.

“She’d like that.” Y/N glanced over her shoulder at him and he was suddenly acutely aware of how close their faces were and how fast his heart was racing. 

And he was terrified.

~

Tags: @qtmeryr​ @broken-hearted-barnes​ @asphalt-cocktail​ @cantnkrusshedevil​ @gstran18​ @just-trying-to-survive-marvel

[duckbeater]

Courtship, pt. 1

We interrupt the fantasy series Odd Frock to bring you the dystopian series Courtship, a reflection on life in the time of coronavirus (truly unprecedented, groundbreaking, up-to-the-minute content). Odd Frock will resume with its third installment, “No Oaths,” sometime next week! —The Editors

—

The Times recently ran an essay-review about the prevalence of “deception” as a theme in newish queer novels. A spate of gay writers have taken up the cause of lies again—lies for love, lies for survival, that sort of thing. I remember reading this description way too close to bedtime, becoming furious, posting a screengrab of the headline to my Instagram story, and then flinging myself to sleep.

Those nights, sleep was less a sheer cliff than a steep embankment, ending in a kind of gray-water ravine. The kind you sometimes find behind subdivisions, full of detergent bottles and half-crushed cans of Michelob Ultra. A lot of my friends—I mean, my coworkers—were describing this sensation: lying in bed awake, confused about the day (unremitting sameness) and confused about the prospect of waking up in a day exactly the same. “I have no reason to sleep,” said my friend Vadim, in his theatrically Russian accent, “and yet I have no better reason to wake up.” This from a man expecting his first child, a baby girl named Marta, in August.

When I tried to go to bed at night and couldn’t sleep, sometimes I punched pillows and blankets into a human-shaped substitute, and pretended to hold this cool lump’s hand. I missed holding a hand while I slept.

I was trying to be honest but not dire with my therapist. Our weekly, forty-five-minute phone sessions had devolved into weak-sauce temperature checks on my declining optimism, and whether my anxiety and boredom were putting me at an increased risk for “acting out.” I think by “acting out,” he meant drinking myself into a rage and dealing in criminal property damage, something I’d done back in October when I had, plausibly, fewer reasons for “acting out.” I’d been arrested and everything. It was a bad time.  

Dave kept offering platitudes taken from his decade working as a chaplain for a clinic in Chicago, during a different plague. I didn’t exactly rebuff his analogizing the wan present with his indelible past, but I didn’t accept these comparisons uncritically, either. “You have to make a lot more choices, more intimate choices, to contract HIV,” I said, after another riff about “needing touches” and “harm reduction” and “risk.” “But the choices I’m making right now are like, Should I Clorox wipe my mail? Should I pet my neighbor’s dog?”

“Evan, what I’m trying to tell you is, you’ll get lonely and start making decisions out of loneliness, desperate loneliness. And whether those decisions include an intimate encounter or a neighborhood walk or maybe a small dinner with friends, you’ll need to entertain the idea of exposure and infection.”

Despite the obviousness of his remarks, I felt pierced by their retrospective application. Pierced and humbled, etc. My life, the one I was leading by myself in my studio apartment, seemed entirely the product of decisions made out of desperate loneliness. The night before our session, I’d watched four hours of Bon Appétit content on YouTube, despite a very on-the-record hatred for cooking, and the night before that, I’d spent six hours spider searching a tiny desk lamp with a cement base. I needed a light feature in my bookshelf—a light feature that could double as a heavy, practical book-stopper. Its discovery engendered a sort of mania. My attention had become a hostage to material comforts. A fantasy I kept coming back to was of a tall blond, maybe from the professional-managerial class, walking into my confinement and being so taken with the objets d’arte and expensive candle glow, he’d shuck his pants off without my needing witty banter or, heaven forfend, making dinner to seduce him.      

What I wasn’t telling Dave wasn’t lying. I wasn’t contorting the truth per se, only under-reporting the meager life events taking place in quarantine, so that most of my hours were spent, it seemed to him, sitting on my couch trying to read. We’d already discussed how reading was impossible. I was too horny. I missed my ex a lot, who also seemed to miss me a lot—he called nearly every day. On one such phone call, I asked for sex by name. I said, “Let me into your bubble, and let’s just fuck it out, please.” I didn’t tell Dave about this. I wanted him to think the two years of hard work we’d put into the breakup was unshakable. That the work was in fact extraordinarily fragile demoralized me endlessly and was, frankly, too embarrassing to report. Besides, my ex didn’t so much decline as leave my request unanswered. Much the kindest thing to do.  

I didn’t tell Dave that I wasn’t eating. Or that I was eating, but like a varmint. A handful of blueberries in the morning, some Cheez-Its for lunch, coffee all day long. Every few days I’d get a hankering for potatoes and put a hurting on pound after pound of frozen microwavables, folding in expensive cheeses. What else. I had developed a compulsive mail habit—checking my mailbox up to five times a day. I ran during the afternoon, and every run, I loathed and cursed dog-walkers, who never broke rank and whose dogs kept them cheerful, glowing, vital, loved. I’ve never hated dogs more. I’ve never hated strangers more. I rarely wore a mask.

Wait. This is what I wanted to explain. It’s facile but that doesn’t mean I didn’t feel it strongly—that I don’t still feel it strongly. The whole of life, operating along its axis of normal, acceptable behavior, had become a massive con. Maybe what I mean is, the massive con, long evident but carefully ignored, was now fully exposed, or fully loosed, and terrorizing people. It was impossible to pretend that our political system, our economic system, our public health system, our way of organizing culture and society, hadn’t brought us catastrophic failure. And lying about this, deceiving ourselves to go on, was all we had left.

Lying was sanity’s saving grace. Deception, I did not tell my therapist, was become fortitude’s handmaiden. Maybe this entry should be called “What I Wasn’t Telling Dave,” but then it couldn’t have the title I’ve already pinned to the top of the page, “Courtship,” which to me is what this pandemic has really been about. Making overtures to beautiful, intelligent gentlemen, with scant certainty of any attentions panning out, to distract myself from the strange days and lonely nights. (I’m aware that for others this pandemic must be about “joblessness,” “stillness,” “conspiracy” or “annihilation.”) Anyway. I’m writing this in the past tense, I guess to occupy the narrative position of someone who successfully avoided death, the death of loved ones, and ended up, firmly, finally, not sleeping with his ex. It’s so sunny in the city today, it almost looks like the future.

When I broke quarantine, it was to give a beautiful, silly twenty-five-year old a haircut. Scotty brought over Cheez-Its and played over two hours of Mario Kart with me; we necked for two hours more and then fell asleep, entwined; in the morning he showered again, and I gave him a cup of coffee while he stood under the running hot water. “My hot water’s been out for a couple weeks,” he explained, after my asking if he’d passed out in there. Cutting Scotty’s hair was the romantic highlight of my spring. He sat on the toilet in my underwear and gabbed about going to med school in the fall, on some Caribbean island. He left hair everywhere, in every crevice of the bathroom, in the bar soap and spare toothbrush. In the weeks when I continued to isolate alone, I’d find more of him under the sink, under the rug, under the conditioner. Obviously, I didn’t tell Dave about this. I cherished it and didn’t want a lecture.

[sosthemortalcoil]

KoFi Queue Update (July 1st, 2019)

So today I was able to share a few completed kofi requests. I’m still chugging away at the rest. Here’s the current queue, and a reminder that I’m not taking new requests until I finish the backlog. After this backlog is completed, request will be opened again but at 500 words/coffee. The Ko-fi page now shows a goal tracker; funds will be going towards commissions of the ROs. Thank you all for your support and patience.

1. Family dinner where f!Gabriel and Michael announce that they’re expecting (~5k) Done. Find it here.

2. Alexandra’s f!Gabriel’s romantic date with Tadea, Tadea’s PoV (~5k) Done. Find it here.

3. “Anon’s” NSFW first time with Leo (but not first in general). Leo’s POV, mercy Grace scent, nb!Gab, teasing Gab. (~4k) Done. Find it here.

4. @diamndwitch‘s NSFW Leo fic, f!Gabriel (~5k) Done. Find it here.

5. @lychee-days Gabriel has a nightmare about Michael leaving/hating her. Ends in NSFW comfort, f!Gab x Michael (~4k) Done. Find it here.

6. @lychee-days Family holiday trip to Venice, f!Gab with Daniel, Israfel, and Lucifer(~2k) Done. Find it here.

7. Anon’s f!Gabriel with gauntlets sparring/flirting aggressively with Michael (~2k) Done. Find it here.

8. @grimaugur‘s Family dinner turned disaster; unrequited love for Israfel featured poly romance, Charleston, Lucifer, Daniel, and a whole lot of awkward and angst (~10k) (In-Progress)

9. Anon’s m!Gabriel trying to learn ASL from Zaria. SFW floof.(~2k)

10. Angsty drama between Tadea and f!Gabriel, from first time Tadea sees her to a resolution (~10k)

11. silent15′s Gabriel, by hook or by crook, ropes the major crimes unit (plus any other characters you’d like to include) into playing D&D. (~6k)

12. @lychee-days‘s Double spy angst. (~10k)

13. Supernova’s Marie crush on f!Gab (~3k)

14. @lychee-days‘s NSFW fic, f!Gab x Michael, Rielle distracts Michael at work. It was supposed to be innocents kisses, honest. (~5k)

15. Catie29′s f!Gabriel’s first time with Aelius, nsfw and his point of view. (~4k)

16. Miranda’s nsfw f!Gab surprises Leo at his dorm in a long coat and lingerie. (~1k)

17. Alicia’s f!Gabriel healer taking Ramiel’s hand and placing it on her cheek, telling him that this is what makes her feel safe. Ramiel’s PoV. (~3k)

18. Morphine requested some m!Gabriel x Michael nsfw. (~1k)

19. Dutch requested some more content with Ramiel and nestmates. Hijinks ahoy. (~4k)

[too-loud-but-not-enough]

Of street gangs and coffee (Robbie Reyes x Male Reader)

Hey everyone! Sorry its been a while but I finally got around to finishing this fic. Been busy with Uni work but I am also working on more to post. Hope you like it.

Plot Summary: You find Gabe Reyes being harassed by thugs and try to help. Afterwards you meet his brother Robbie

Today hadn’t been like you had planned. After spending the morning studying and listening to the teacher drone on through classes, you were happy to be on your way to work. Knowing the type of neighbourhood you lived in, you weren’t too surprised to see a group of men on the street trying to dismantle car parts so they could sell. Being somewhat of a house cat and not getting out much, you didn’t do anything to stop them in fear they’d see you as a punching bag though as you walked by, you were quick to do a double take. The men had stopped trying to steal the wheels from a wagon and had now set their sights on a boy in a wheelchair. 

Shit.

You’d seen that boy around college. You didn’t know his name exactly, something like Gabe, he was younger than you yet seemed brighter than most in your class. Getting back to the present. You saw as he tried to ignore the men looking at him and push himself away. You saw the men were mainly eyeing his wheelchair yet some some were laughing at his look of fear. Before they could completely back him to the wall, something in you made you rush to stand between the boy and the group. You stood yourself firm “Please back off”. You didn’t let your voice waver nor did you come off aggressive yet you said while looking what looked to be the leader dead in the eye. You heard a *ting* sound and realised it must have been the back of Gabe’s wheelchair hitting the brick wall behind him. All the man did was laugh at your futile attempt to protect him “Yo man fuck off ok? You can’t do shit”. Before you could even try to think of a way to get Gabe out safely, a roaring could be heard, causing everyone to turn their attention away from you. Before you knew it, a slick black ZxB charger came literally charging at the group. The men jumped back in time for the car to stop right where they had been, blocking them from you and Gabe. The doors burst open and a man and woman jumped out to face the group. Gabe gasped “Robbie?!”. You turned to him, tilting your head in the direction of the man “You know him?”. Gabs looked back to you and nodded “brother”. That made sense, not a lot of people in this neighbourhood would usually come to someone else rescue, especially if their car looked that slick. The man, Robbie, had been  glaring down the group leading as he tried running his hand across the hood of the charger. Honestly, if looks could kill, this man would never have walked the earth. The leader suddenly screamed bloody murder. Wiping his hand back in pain with the smell of burnt flesh running through the air. This caused the whole gang to charge forward at the two. The woman sent a look in Gabe’s direction, neither her or the man seeming to notice you in front of him, before turning to punch one of the gang members square in the face. 

As the fight began, you looked to Gabe and saw his scared expression. Not really thinking about anything else, you got behind him and grabbed ahold of his wheelchair and steered him in the direction you were originally headed. “Wait!” He cried out, turning to make sure he could keep his eyes on his brother “what about Robbie!?”. As much as you wanted to stay and help, you doubted either Robbie or that woman, possibly his girlfriend?, wanted Game anywhere near that fight. “He looks like he can handle himself, I’m gonna get you to safety” he didn’t argue with you, not when you were basically running him across the street.

When you both arrived at the cafe you worked at, your boss came to see why you were so out of breath and were pushing a kid in a wheelchair. You informed them of the fight and what they tried to do to Gabs to which your boss let you serve counter so you could keep an eye on Gabe. There weren’t really any customers today, just a passerby or two so you were able to keep Gabs company and made sure he was all right, letting him use your phone to call his brother while waiting for him to come back. You spent that time to get to know him. He remembered you from the college as well and had actually wanted to say hi before yet never got the chance. Occasionally you’d check outside the window to see if Robbie or that woman were on their way, not that you’d be able to recognise them since you only got to see their faces once but the car and uniforms were a little harder to forget.

You and Gabe both spent to the front door when you heard a car engine, you being in front of him incase it were another gang. Speak of the devil, you saw that it was the charger that had stopped right out front your cafe, probably because they saw you through the tinted windows. Both of them got out and stalked to the front door looking pissed. “Gabe get back!” which he did obediently, not knowing why but seeing your worried expression and the look on the newcomers faces. 

The door bell rang loudly as Robbie pushed through. As soon as his eyes landed on you and Gabe who you had kept behind you, he stalked towards you most likely thinking you were a threat to his brother “get away from him!”. 

You really didn’t want to start a brawl you were pretty sure you’d lose in the small cafe but you stood your ground and glared Robbie dead in the eyes “calm down first asshole!”. Your order gave him pause, he just stared at you as his breathing gradually slowed down. His eyes were dark, nearly black yet you could still see the brown hue within them, there was something else as well. You were both so focused on each other that neither of you noticed Gabe rolling to your side.

“Robbie?”. 

That snapped you both out of it and you resumed your stature “you calm?”. 

He nodded “yeah” he said letting out a breath he didn’t realise he was holding you supposed. He then turned his full attention to Gabe, kneeling down to check if he was hurt to which Gabe took his hands in his and assured him he was fine. 

This caused a chuckle from the woman who you now got to face without there being an impending fight about to happen. She turned to you and smiled, her dark eyeliner giving her eyes stand out more in the smile. “Hi I’m Daisy, a friend of Robbie’s”. 

You smiled and stuck out your hand to shake “(Y/N), nice to meet you”. 

She took your hand and shook it “You a friend of Gabe’s”. 

You tilted your head in a ‘sorta kinda’ fashion “Sorta, I recognised him from college when those men went for him”. 

She raised an eyebrow at you “and you helped?”. 

The question made something you go off yet you tried to keep your voice steady “yeah, why not?”. 

“Just wouldn’t have picked many types like that around here” was all she said, smiling again. 

“You have to be careful around here!”. You both heard Robbie say after making sure Gabs was alright. You turned to see him still crouching near Gabe’s wheelchair thinking now might be a good time to interject. 

“It wasn’t his fault, those guys were trying to take his wheels”. 

Robbie’s head snapped in your direction before standing up, some of the tension still there from before “and you just ran off with him”. 

“Trying to get him to safety” you defended. Something in his eyes seemed to flash at you, you didn’t know whether to be cautious or defiant. 

“Robbie he was just trying get me out of there” Game pulled on his brother’s sleeve to ease the tension. Robbie’s gruff demeaneor shifted slightly. 

“Sorry” he said under breath which you no doubt heard before he let his gaze fall on you again “and thanks… for looking after Gabe”. 

You smiled, glad to see he wasn’t about to smash your face against a wall “No sweat, I’m just glad you two showed up when you did, sweet ride by the way”. 

He chuckled at that. “Heh thanks, glad you got them to back off just in time”. The four of you stayed at the cafe for a little bit, that was until the sun started to set. 

Your shift had ended and your manager let you go with the trio. As you made your way onto the street, you felt a pair of eyes on the back of your head “Hey!”. 

You turned to see Robbie who was setting Gabe in his car with Daisy trying to fold the wheelchair with no success “how about we give you a ride home?”. 

You didn’t know why but something about the way he said it seemed a tad hopeful yet worried. You didn’t want to intrude yet you did live in one of the more gritty parts of town. “Uh, sure” you said to which Robbie and Gave both smiled at your response. You took the wheelchair from Daisy and folded it up in less than a minute. 

“Damn, you really know your way round that contraption” Daisy remarked at your speed after closing the door. You’d sat next to Gabe where as she sat in the front next to Robbie.

The drive went smoothly in terms of driving. Not one run in with a group of gangsters or anything. Everyone kept clear of the charger coming through. Robbie introduced you and Gabe to Daisy who Gabe conversed about mechanics and travel for the majority of the ride while you mainly kept silent but still listening intently to the subject. 

While you heard everything they were saying, you kept your eyes out the windows checking to see if there were any obstacles Robbie wasn’t seeing. Occasionally you’d look over to the rear mirror and see him returning the gaze before looking back to the road. 

This gave you a bit of time to assess his features. His appearance was like Gabe’s due to genetics, smooth caramel complexion yet his were suited more to your age with his jaw being a bit longer and sporting a stubble and moustache surrounding a pair of smooth yet thin lips. His eyes looked back to the mirror and to you again causing you to avert your gaze quickly. You ten realised that could be considered rude so you looked back to see if he was still looking at you. 

He was.

He smirked a bit and winked at you before turning back to the road again. You were grateful no one was looking at you so they wouldn’t see you blushing.

Soon you arrived at Robbie’s house. 

Everyone got out except for Gabe as he needed his wheelchair so you retrieved it from the back and assembled it for him. 

Robbie gave you a grateful look as he lowered his brother into the seat. He then looked to Daisy, “are you able to watch him?” He asked gesturing to his brother.  

Gabe gave an indignant pout “Hey! I don’t get in that much trouble”. To that you gave a loud cough to remind of why you were here. 

“Oi not funny (Y/N)!” the look of fake betrayal he directed at you sent you into a laughing fit. 

The others chuckled at your reactions and Daisy agreed to watch Gabe. You said your goodbyes and agreed to meet him again at College before Robbie got back in the car to take you to your apartment. You slid into the front seat as he started the car. 

As the two of you drove to your apartment which only seemed like a distance because of all the twists and turns, you couldn’t help but look at Robbie’s features again. He seemed a bit tense still yet also sorta happy. His brows weren’t set in a frown which made you realise how soft his eyes were, soft dark brown that seemed to take in all surroundings. That included you looking at him. 

“See something you like?”.

Oh Shit!

“S-sorry!” what left your lips was a stammer when you meant for it to be a bit more stable. Damn you.

Robbie let a little smirk form, he noticed you staring at him on the drive with Gabe and Daisy and tried looking you over without being noticed. Not that it worked for either of you. 

“Its all good” he said as smoothly as he could. It was a bit awkward for him on the inside. He didn’t usually find anyone this cute since he felt he needed to keep a tough persona for his and Gabe’s sake plus the added stress it could put on his family if he was openly hitting on a guy. It didn’t matter though, he was always going to have the stress of the ghost rider on him and ever since he met Daisy, SHIELD was included.

It wasn’t just because you were cute that attracted him though. Sure he had seen you around the College on the occasions he gave his brother a lift home and nearly enquired about who you were but wasn’t sure what type of person you’d be. It was only when he saw you running his brother to safety that he realised you were the same person, grateful Gabe was with a random passerby. 

“Thanks for saving Gabe before”.

You looked over to him again, having been trying to figure if you should start a conversation before he spoke. You smiled at him, not sure if he could see it out of his peripheral vision but nevertheless.

“Anytime, I’m just glad he didn’t get hurt though I don’t know if I could have really done anything besides being a wall”.

That spark something in Robbie.

“You did great, also surprised you were able to get away so quickly”.

It was true, first he was furious that Gave had been taken without his permission yet given the circumstances, it only made him want to finish the fight faster. Then when he stormed into your cafe, he admired how you stood your ground against him for Gabe’s safety.

You blushed at the remark, “I thought it might put him in more danger if he were close to the fight, also sorry I stopped you from seeing him straight away” you felt you needed to apologise even when you felt it was necessary. 

Robbie chuckled at your apology “no worries, I’m glad you did though, my friend Daisy’s always saying I’m a bit of a hothead when it comes to Gabe”. 

His comment on Daisy made you question. Were they just friends or on the way to being something more? You thought Robbie was straight down handsome yet thought it’d be less likely for him to like guys and maybe Daisy and him might have been a thing. “So she’s just a friend? I almost mistook her for a girlfriend”.

Robbie’s brow quirked at your question. Did you think he was off limits? He wouldn’t be surprised but that idea. “Yeah Daisy’s just a friend, why you jealous?”.

At that he wriggled his brows at you causing you to trying but failing to suppress a laugh.

That laugh was so cute, it gave Robbie even more incentive to make a move. 

As he pulled his charger up to your apartment block, he set the car into park and turned to you. “So this is where you live?” He looked at the building, it was pretty nice considering the neighbourhood yet seemed like it could use some renovations.

“Yeah” you replied sheepishly, “the neighbours are pretty nice so theres not much trouble the happens on this block”. It wasn’t the best you could do but you wanted to save more money during College so you could move somewhere else once you got the job you wanted but for now you didn’t feel the need to move out. “Thanks for driving me home, I’ll see you and Gabe around College?” You asked turning your face away from the window and back to Robbie to find him staring at you. His gaze was warm and it felt like you were being engolved by the hazel irises. Keeping you there with no sense of danger. “Well I was gonna ask, you wanna catch up for coffee? Just us two”. 

You were a tad surprised, was he asking you out? “You mean like a date?”.

His brows furrowed a tiny bit. Crap had he made a mistake? The vibes he got from you weren’t straight but he could be wrong. He chose to stay confident, if you said no then surely you two could be friends or at least you and Gabe could still talk. “Um.. yeah if thats ok with you?”.

You smiled to reassure him, seeing as he was looking a little worried. “I would love too, how does tomorrow sound?”.

Just like that, Robbie’s face lit up like a sudden combustion of flame, his eyes squinted from the smile stretching across his cheeks. “Its a date then!” He said still smiling. 

You giggled at his reaction before you leaned forward and kissed his cheek, narrowly missing the lips but close enough to get an idea. He did his best to kiss back but you could both tell it was a little awkward, not that either of you minded that. “Goodnight Robbie” you said as you climbed out of your seat and closed the door.

“Night (Y/N)” he called as he watched you walk into the building. He waited until he could see you from the window waving down at him before driving off. The wobbling feels of butterflies swirling in his chest and belly. For  the first time in a while, the drive back was normal. No gangs trying to blow him up, no ghost rider taking over to reap the evil and now a cute date that he could look forward to who his brother already seemed to approve of. 

Now what the hell was he gonna wear to the date?

[lindsvendsen66-blog]

Dungeon Link Testimonial.

From the designer of Quad Labyrinth, listed below comes another arcade video game that looks stealthily very easy! Real capability in the interface is relatively limited, given that there's apparently an application for every little thing - even fundamental body functionalities including the environments, audio CD and Blu-ray playback are actually all dealt with off through applications, aside from even more amazing components like the Game DVR, Web Traveler and Skype. Offer Macintosh Nerd Gab 509 a listen to find out more about beamforming, the future from Wi-Fi, how your modem makes a decision what country this's in (and also exactly what networks it could utilize!), the future from iStumbler (as well as other items from Alf). and much more! The attributes and also source of the strike is under investigation, however this was a sophisticated strike across several assault angles as well as web locations. 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Along with RPGs long being actually the genre from option one of Japanese players, it didn't take long for a company to blend the idea from a social game along with certain facets from RPGs. Definitely, the country competitors North Korea in the magnitude to which this has closed on its own of the Net. This adheres to a boosting from political rhetoric from social platforms in current months in the UK, observing a horror assault in Greater london in March-- after which Home Secretary Golden Rudd called for technician firms to carry out even more in order to help block the spread of terrorist information online. If, however, the Internet is powered through renewable energy, then it can easily aid introduce the clean-energy reformation we thus seriously have to steer clear of disastrous environment improvement. DirecTV Currently initially released in November 2016, as well as notably featured a very early promo for a totally free fourth-gen Apple TV for those pre-paying for three months from company. Joypad controls should be actually thrown off over to the server, where activity processing occurs, observed through online video encoding, gear box online and client-side decoding. When you are actually surfing the web, sitting alone at your computer system or with your cell phone gripped in your palm, that experiences private and also unenduring. http://fitnesswelt-de.com/rockerect-funktioniert-es-bewertungen-meinungen-preis-ist-es-teuer-oder-billig-wo-kann-man-es-kaufen/ : Yeah, Andrew may speak about the middleware aspect yet a few of these traits are actually just set aside for the device to do things like Kinect processing. An extensive catalog of applications are readily available in its own Activity Author, featuring a tab that neatly marks the ones put in on your unit, as well as many of all of them have actually bundled actions to earn things also easier. Connect the iphone device that has the app put in in to your personal computer as well as load iTunes. In my point of view, if I must activate my computer anyhow, I may also merely imprint off there certainly, as well as there will be actually no need to publish from my iPhone. LZ compression commonly obtains in the order of a halving of documents sizes, successfully doubling the broadband relationship speed to still unimportant rates. The elector rolls consist of names, deals with, special days, partial Social Safety and security varieties, and also sometimes even chauffeur's license varieties, among other info. Some also deal with external hard disk drives you've obtained hooked up to your primary computer. This expanding community supports Net Nonpartisanship, stresses over infractions of their privacy through authorities spies and also enterprises too, and thinks the World wide web is a crucial platform that every person need to manage to access at budget-friendly rates. The stress and anxiety around modern technology as well as Net has produced rigorous controversy on its own results on the biology of the mind.

[lovehaswonangelnumbers]

New Post has been published on https://lovehaswonangelnumbers.org/daily-astrology-may-12th-2019-double-yod/

Daily Astrology, May 12th, 2019 ~ Double Yod

Daily Astrology, May 12th, 2019 ~ Double Yod

By Nadia Gilchrist 

Mercury in Taurus inconjunct Ceres Rx in Sagittarius (10 deg)

Mercury in Taurus inconjunct Pallas Rx in Libra (11 deg)

Mercury in Taurus sextile Juno in Cancer (10 deg)

Juno in Cancer inconjunct Ceres Rx in Sagittarius (10 deg)

A double Yod happening today, featuring Mercury in Taurus. The tension between growth and safety in a relationship agreement will be featured, and discussions are liable to be slow and awkward.

Yod #1

Mercury makes an inconjunct to Ceres Rx and Pallas Rx, so Mercury is the focal point. Mercury receives two tense aspects – solid, predictable words and ideas are incompatible with the nurturing of new, expansive areas (Ceres in Sag) and relationship strategies that involve compromise (Pallas in Libra).

Stubborn, uncompromising words may block relationship growth and flexibility. Perhaps there’s a refusal to accept change. But Mercury is also the goal, so relationship flexibility must be balanced with set ideas. Find some changes that both people can agree on and commit to those changes. Stick with the plan and make it solid (Taurus).

Yod #2

Mercury and Juno make inconjuncts to Ceres. Juno in Cancer is the agreement to nurture and stay safe. Ceres in Sag is new, expansive forms of nurturing. This time, Ceres is the focal point so that drive for change will disrupt the cozy agreement (that’s supported by fixed ideas). Ceres is also the goal – keep growing together, but find a way to do it safely and slowly. Zero growth in a relationship equals stagnation, but you can do it in such a way that both parties feel secure.

The key with handling Yods is to view the inconjuncts as aspects of adjustment- adjust both sides so they can work together (this can usually be accomplished by moderating the energy at each end of the inconjunct). The focal point of the Yod is pressure point, the block and the goal – the energy of the Yod should be focused through this point.

Ceres and Pallas as both retrograde, so you’re returning to this issue. It hasn’t become any easier, but you can still work with it.

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[purplesurveys]

1051

Are you between the ages of 30 & 40? I still have to get through nearly another decade to get to that decade.

What was your favorite Saturday morning cartoon growing up? My favorites were The Wild Thornberrys and Little Bill, both on Nickelodeon. My sister and I also enjoyed this wacky show called The Upside Down Show but it wasn’t a cartoon.

What was your favorite toy as a child? I liked any toy that had a lot of buttons or features within it - dollhouses, kitchen sets, cash registers, toy phones, anything that could make me test how much it could do.

In High School did you wear acid washed jeans? No. It’s not a style I would be drawn to, then and now.

How much was a gallon of gasoline when you first started driving? I don’t know; I never paid much attention to gas prices, honestly.

What was your first car? It’s a 2014 (or 2015?) Mitsubishi Mirage I’m still using today, though it was my dad who paid for it and he’s the one who takes it out for oil changes and stuff.

Who taught you how to drive? My dad taught me a few times around the neighborhood, but he also enrolled me for like three classes in a driving school so that I got to learn how to drive in a highway.

What was your high school mascot? Both of my schools didn’t have any. My university does have a nickname for our varsity teams, but we’re simply just ‘Maroons’ and not an animal like what I usually see.

Did you go to your Senior Prom? We had a junior prom, nothing for senior year. I was invited to go to the senior ball in another school by Mike, though. That feels like ages ago; everything is so different now.

What did you do after graduation? After my high school graduation I went straight to college like most kids here. After graduating college, I immediately started looking for jobs; I landed an internship after a month and got absorbed into the company two months after.

What was your first job? I’m currently working as an associate at a public relations agency. This is my first job and for now, I’m content in staying in this career. This is where I set out to be when I was in college and I don’t feel the need to change paths any time soon.

What did you want to be when you grew up? I wanted to be an astronaut more than anything else, but I remember also wanting to be a firefighter or a vet.

Any posters on your bedroom walls growing up? I had a handful of wrestling posters that my mom was never a fan of. It was never her business since it’s my room, but she always made it the case.

Do you remember the first time you drank a beer? It may have been at Marielle’s debut, five Julys ago. She served beer at the afterparty of her 18th birthday party, and I think I had taken my first sip then.

Did you ever try cigarettes? Yeah, I started this year actually. I’m about to reach my first anniversary of trying my first cigarette :/ I don’t have a lot of them though and I haven’t smoked since like February or March, I think.

How did you spend your summers growing up? At home. My parents were always busy with work, so I had no choice but to myself occupied at home. Luckily I had siblings and cousins, so we were always playing with each other. My summers were never productive until I was in college, when I started making the effort to go out more.

If you could change anything from your teenage years, would you? Ahh idk man I wish I wouldn’t have spent as much time by the computer as I did, and maybe hang out with friends or something instead. < Yeah this hits the bullseye pretty much. I was a very introverted teenager. Not to mention the internet and social media started to blow up during my tween/early teenage years, so I was hooked to my laptop and kept people away as a result. I didn’t start feeling like a teenager until I was 16, when I gained friends and got invited to more stuff.

Do you remember your first time? Yeah, it was during one of my 18th birthday celebrations and she was around.

Ever look back and wish some things were still the same? I do it a lot these days. I do try to stop, because I don’t know what I can gain out of doing so anymore, and because there’s always the danger of being left behind from looking back too much; but most days I can’t help it.

After high school - straight to college or straight to work? University, because you kinda need that credential where I live. It’s unfair, but it’s our reality.

How much did you make per hour at your first job? We don’t really calculate that here...I’ll try to do math for y’all lmao aka Google it, which says I make $2.34 an hour. Wow when you put it that way, it really does not sound high :/ I’m honestly okay with my pay though. I live with my parents so I contribute to the bills and stuff now, but even then there’s more than enough left for me. Favorite home-cooked meal growing up? My grandma’s kare-kare. It was/is always reserved for special occasions; and out of all her grandchildren I was also the one who got attached to the dish especially as I got older, so eventually kare-kare also became the family’s ‘Robyn is coming over so we better prepare this’ dish. I think I’m her only grandchild that she has an allotted dish for, so that makes me feel special :)

Favorite place to eat out growing up? The local Burger King, back when it had a play place for kids. 

Did your parents live in a different country before you were born?: No, they have always lived in the Philippines. My mom has always wanted to migrate but my dad shoots it down every time.

Do you have a preferred coffee brand?: When it comes to coffee, no. I wanna try out everything. But when it comes to coffee shop ambience, Starbucks all the way.

Have you ever dated someone who was terrible with money?: No. I remember Gab as always being very cautious, responsible, and conscious about money. Her parents sustained her debit card and I’m pretty sure they always gave her a little bit extra, but she never took more than her weekly allowance from the ATM.

If so, how did it affect the relationship?: Money was never an issue, mostly because the money we received during the course of our relationship wasn’t even ours lol; we both received set allowances from our parents. If one of us was running out of cash, we never hesitated to cover for each other first, and we never pressured one another to pay back immediately.

How often do you paint your nails?: Never. 

Do you know anyone who's related to a current or former world leader?: Yeah, I went to high school with a relative of Duterte. She’s super secretive about it, which is pretty understandable. I’m friends with/went to classes with people who are grandchildren of senators and other politicians as well.

Do you do your own taxes, or do you hire a professional?: ...I have no idea how to do that...I always just assumed it’s already taken care of when a part of my salary is deducted lol. I may have to ask my parents about this, whoops.

What is something you don't have any natural talent for?: Anything to do with music. Reading it, playing it, singing, writing songs, etc. Also art and anything to do with creativity.

Did you watch this year's Eurovision?: Ah, my favorite time of the year to mute all my overseas mutuals on Twitter at one point lmao. No, I never caugtht up with it.

Have there been any periods in your life that could be described as being chaotic?: Senior year was a big chaotic war zone. The death of my grandpa and my first breakup coincided with all the crucial college entrance exams. Speaking of college, it was also a period of a lot of heavy decision-making due to me having to make choices of what course I wanted to take in every school I applied to. I barely cried during those few months and it still shocks me to this day how I did it. That was the most I’ve been on autopilot.

What is something you frequently forget?: Where I place my car keys and/or glasses last.

If I looked in your fridge right now, what would I find?: Bread, eggs, a bunch of condiments, butter cheese, vegetables, leftovers, and the grazing box I received from my workplace yesterday. I’m sure there’s more, but I haven’t really stopped and stared at our fridge for a while now.

How do you feel about your body?: I used to feel fairly confident about it; like it was never an issue with me. But truthfully, after being dumped, I’ve started to feel insecure over everything about me.

Who is someone you would like to get to know better?: My teammates at work, Bea and Ysa. They both seem like cool and funny people both in and out of work, and I’d love to get to hang out with them.

If you had to move to a new city, where would you move?: Idk, just somewhere with a lot of opportunities to try new things and meet new people.

Have you ever traveled on a double-decker train?: Nope. I’ve never been on anything double-decker, if I remember correctly.

What's your opinion on assisted suicide?: [trigger warning] I’ve looked into it, but it’s a dead end where I live. That’s all I’ll say, as I don’t want to give others ideas.

At what point do you consider a relationship to be 'long-term?': Fuck if I know anymore. We reached six years and it was a point where I was comfortable and didn’t feel the need to doubt anymore; everything turned out to be a lie in the end. I don’t know anymore. I don’t think about these things anymore.

What jobs did your parents have when you were growing up?: My dad has always been a chef, so he went through all the ranks throughout my childhood until he finally got an executive position when I was in high school. I remember my mom being a receptionist.

Do they still have these jobs? Or different jobs? Or have they retired?: My dad is still in that career path but he doesn’t cook in the kitchen anymore, or at least as much as he used to. He does all the menu planning, evaluating, etc. My mom has shifted to becoming an executive secretary, but she’s still in the hotel industry.

Do you own any winter sports equipment?: I don’t. There’s no reason for me to have any.

Do you have a cell contract plan, or are you on a pre-paid plan?: Prepaid.

Would your parents be okay with you dating someone of another race? I can definitely see my mom reacting, but I know she knows I won’t let her get away with saying anything mildly offensive. My dad would just go on with his life and will care more about the fact that I’m seeing someone, lol.

Do you like when friends stop by unexpectedly? No. Schedule it ahead and let me know. I’m not always mentally okay and them showing up as a surprise might just make me more stressed than grateful.

Where are the following people and what are they doing: mom, dad, sibling(s), best friend, significant other, ex, and last person you kissed? My entire family is under the same roof in their bedrooms, either sleeping or having just woken up. Angela is in Parañaque, probably at a cousin’s place; no significant other; I have no idea where my ex, and also the last person I kissed, is. She doesn’t really have anything to do with me anymore.

How strong are your feelings for the last person you kissed? They’re there. I’d still take a bullet for them if it comes down to it, the usual shit. Let’s move on.

What was the last thing someone else bought for you? My workplace gave me a grazing box as the company Christmas gift.

If your parents looked in your purse/book bag would they find anything you don’t want them to see? What about your bedroom? Do you have anything hidden in there? My vape pens. I came home from Starbucks last weekend and my mom thought my breath smelled like cigarettes and she almost got super pissed until I was able to convince her the only thing I put in my mouth was coffee, so I know my 22 year old, employed, self-earning ass would for sure still get in trouble if I was discovered to be vaping.

How close are you to the last person you hung out with? Can you be your complete self around them? It was the first time I met them and they are also my bosses, so I can’t exactly be my complete self around them yet. I had to act super reserved and to essentially make a good impression first before I start whipping out my jokes or whatever.

If you decided to call your ex right now, do you think he/she would answer? How would the conversation go? No, she’d reject it and tell me to text instead. If she was feeling snappy she would also tell me I’m no longer in the place to contact her that way. Sigh. Who is she anymore and why is she so different from the person I was with?

Are you attracted to the last person you exchanged numbers with? No.

Is music a daily part of your life? It’s not. Videos, more like.

Yellow nail polish: yes or no? Bright or neon yellow is a no, but I suppose more muted shades like mustard yellow can work for me.

What do you think of country music? Eh, not a fan. I would skip it in a second, and I never think about it.

Have you ever ended a relationship but wish you could’ve kept it a little longer? I’ve never ended a relationship.

Did you go to your high school’s graduation? Yes...that’s not an event I would’ve wanted to miss out on lol. That was a nice day. My grandparents came to watch me, and we had dinner at a revolving restaurant after.

If you could live the last three months over again, is there anything you’d change? Everything went to shit exactly three months ago, so this hits home very hard for me. Yes, I would change a lot of things for life not to have gone the way it has.

Who was the last person to message you on Facebook? What would you do if that person told you they have feelings for you? My mom. I would be creeped out and tell my dad immediately.

How did you feel when you woke up today? Melancholic.

Who was the first person you talked to today? What did you talk about? I haven’t talked to anyone yet today. I was thinking of replying to Aliyah’s comment on my Facebook post, but in the end I didn’t think a response was necessary.

When you apply your make-up, do you do it in a specific order? I don’t wear makeup.

Did you do anything sexual last night? No.

Do you think the last person you Facebook messaged is a virgin? She has three children, me included.

Did any of your friends lose their virginity before they were 16? If so, did you feel pressured to do the same? I don’t think my friends did, but I probably know other people who did. My baby asexual ass definitely didn’t feel the pressure. I was even scared shitless for my first kiss when it came time for it and I had kept putting it off that night.

Has someone of the opposite sex made you smile today? No.

Does it matter to you if your significant other smokes? With my previous relationship, it did in the beginning; eventually I just stopped caring.

Who was the last person you had a deep conversation with? I think it may have been Andrew.

Do you like where you are in life right now? No. I don’t know if a new year would make it better, or if it would help give me a healthier mindset. I just have to wait and see.

Do you hate it when there is a fly around you? Very much.

Is your mom overbearing? She can be.

Is there snow where you live? Never.

[bowsetter]

The Daily: Nasdaq Eyes Security Tokens, Blockstack Tackles Social Media

Today’s installment of The Daily is about building more than bickering, though we’ll squeeze in a little of the latter before we sign off. First though, let’s start by considering the latest projects being proposed within the crypto space: a tokenized security platform and a social media network that doesn’t leak data.

Also read: South Korea’s Largest Crypto Exchange Sold to Singapore-Based Consortium

Nasdaq Plots Tokenized Security Platform

It’s being reported that Nasdaq, the giant U.S. exchange operator, is plotting a new platform dedicated to tokenized securities. The move would enable projects to offer STOs in a regulated environment so as to accord to U.S. law. As popularity for ICOs has waned, exacerbated by fears that so-called utility tokens may in fact be unregistered securities, U.S. projects eyeing tokenization have been left with no choice but to go down the STO route. It’s believed that Nasdaq is in talks with blockchain firm Symbiont to create its own platform that would enable tokenized securities to be listed and traded.

Social Media Backlash Intensifies

There’s been a storm brewing all year on social media, with wave after wave of censorship and data leaks hastening the exodus from Facebook and its ilk. Users intent on jumping ship have been left with a quandary though: where to go? We’ve reported on some of the Bitcoin Cash-based initiatives, as well as Twitter alternatives such as Gab and Mastodon. Blockstack has now launched a $1 million challenge to build decentralized social networks, writing: “Your data and privacy are being exploited and monetized by today’s social networks. It’s time for a change. We deserve the right to control our data.” They add:

It’s time for a new breed of social networks – where power is taken back from a single authority and control is returned to you, to me, to all of us. It’s time to decentralize social networks.

10 teams will be encouraged to devise social networks that don’t leak data. A similar venture was also launched recently by web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee. While these initiatives aren’t going to topple the social media giants any time soon, greater choice for pro-privacy consumers can only be a good thing.

Vitalik Buterin Sets the Record Straight

Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin generally avoids wading into Twitter spats, but felt obliged to correct several of the inaccurate claims Nouriel Roubini made in the week of his similarly inaccurate U.S. Senate testimony. “Vitalik Buterin was the ringleader – together with Joe Lubin – of the criminal pre-mining sale/scam that created ether. They stole 75% of the ether supply and became instant ‘billionaires’ of fake wealth,” tweeted Roubini, whose timeline has become increasingly manic as the week’s progressed.

“I never personally held more than ~0.9% of all ETH, and my net worth never came close to $1b,” responded Buterin. “Also, I’m pretty sure there are no criminal laws against pre-mining.” Then, on Friday, as Roubini doubled down on his bug-eyed crypto rambling, Buterin again stepped in to dispel the notion that bitcoin and ethereum maximalists are at war, while giving a shout out to bitcoin cash proponents.

Have you learned about BCH yet?

The space is actually great fun once you get to know it.

— Vitalik Non-giver of Ether (@VitalikButerin) October 13, 2018

What are your thoughts on today’s news tidbits as featured in The Daily? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock.

Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section.

The post The Daily: Nasdaq Eyes Security Tokens, Blockstack Tackles Social Media appeared first on Bitcoin News.

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[linabrigette]

Ripple CTO Claims XRP Eliminates PoW Risks Seen in Ethereum Classic’s 51% Attack

Ripple Labs has long been a polarizing startup in the cryptosphere. Case in point, the San Francisco-headquartered company, started by Stellar Development Foundation Mt.Gox co-founder Jed McCaleb, is often bashed for being in bed with centralized financial entities — what Bitcoin was created to destroy. Moreover, many believe that the XRP digital asset is centralized, controlled by puppet masters at the fintech firm.

However, David Schwartz, the chief technology officer at Ripple, has claimed that his firm’s protocols actually have their benefits. Schwartz’s controversial comments come after the Ethereum Classic blockchain was attacked by an unnamed group/user.

Related Reading: Ripple Exec: Crypto Technology Needs Improvement Before Adoption

Ripple CTO Bashes Ethereum Classic’s PoW, Praises XRP Ledger

The crypto industry en bloc was shocked on Monday, as a damning Coinbase blog post surfaced. Per previous NewsBTC reports, Mark Nesbitt, a security engineer at the world-renowned startup, divulged that Coinbase detected a number of deep chain reorganizations (reorgs) on the Ethereum Classic network. Upon further analysis of the reorgs, Coinbase determined that an unnamed malicious user was leveraging rented hashpower to double spend ETC. And as such, the firm was mandated to shut down trading operations for the asset.

After a deep-dive of this industry event, which went under the radar for over 24 hours, Coinbase’s engineers discovered that upwards of 88,500 ETC, which amounts to a fiat sum of ~$450,000, were falsely deposited on the OkEX exchange.

As this news broke, reaching the eyes and ears of cryptocurrency commentators across the globe, Twitter quickly erupted in a frenzied clamor. Tim Swanson, a leading American technology guru with vested interests in crypto-related firms, took the time to state that by design, Proof of Work (PoW) chains “cannot guarantee settlement finality.”

Litecoin creator Charlie Lee took the time to caution his followers, stating that coins that aren’t dominant in their respective consensus mechanisms (Ethash for Ethereum Classic) are susceptible to attack. Lee then drew attention to NiceHash, a mining marketplace, to prove his point, noting that it would cost a mere $5,000 to attack the ETC for an hour.

While the aforementioned comments were expected, what was unexpected was the response that the so-called “XRP Army” had to this industry occurrence. Not only did Ripple’s biggest fans claim that the multiple reorgs of the ETC chain were a win for XRP, but so did David Schwartz, the aforementioned member of Ripple’s top brass.

Citing the Coinbase exposé piece, Schwartz noted that the XRP Ledger isn’t susceptible to double spend attacks, as its “distributed agreement protocol” eliminates that risk. For those who missed the memo, XRP’s consensus mechanism is vastly different from the PoW schemes that networks like Bitcoin utilize, as validators and tracking servers maintain the ledger without mining.

Another PoW blockchain suffers a double spend attack, this time ETC. XRP Ledger’s distributed agreement protocol eliminates this risk.https://t.co/RQBEWAXmRD

— David Schwartz (@JoelKatz) January 7, 2019

This pro-Ripple statement should come as no surprise, especially considering that Schwartz is an obvious advocate for the network he builds on.

Schwartz’s brief statement on the matter quickly became a rallying cry for Ripple’s most fervent fans, with Twitter accounts bearing “XRP” in their names quickly lauding their favorite asset, while bashing PoW networks. While there were hundreds backing the third most valuable cryptocurrency by market capitalization, skeptics were quick to debunk this newfound love for Ripple.

Skepticism Ensues

Rob “Crypto Bobby” Paone, a skeptic of XRP’s status in this industry, touched on the discussion that XRP is better than its PoW counterparts in a recent Youtube video. Addressing the topic with skepticism and hilarity, Paone, a growth advisor at Mike Novogratz-backed Airswap, noted:

“If you’re an XRP fan, you can certainly say ‘hey Coinbase, you listed Ethereum Classic that got 51% attacked, so it has proven [itself] to be not secure.’ But, on the other end [of the spectrum], maybe [the Ripple ledger] is very vulnerable to government, regulators, and things of that nature, due to the potential centralized nature of it.”

The seasoned industry commentator wasn’t alone in his cynicism. Far from, in fact. Gab.com, a pro-crypto social media platform built around the premise of free speech, quipped that if Ripple Labs can freeze funds, whenever and for whatever reason, there’s a chance you might have a “scamcoin on your hands that isn’t decentralized.”

Pro tip: if Ripple Labs can freeze your funds at anytime for any reason you might have a scamcoin on your hands that isn’t decentralized.

Might as well just open a normal bank account lol.

— Gab.com (@getongab) January 7, 2019

Gab, which is no stranger to financial censorship, added that considering Ripple’s purported control over its go-to ledger, you might as well open up a traditional bank account. Via the medium of another inflammatory tweet, the American startup, known for its enamorment with Bitcoin, later noted that XRP is only great if you trust Ripple Labs.

One Twitter user commented that the XRP can be 51% attacked when a “few board members agree on something,” accentuating the centralized nature of the company behind the shadowed ledger.

However, in a recent questionnaire, Ripple’s CEO, Brad Garlinghouse, has claimed that this critique is fundamentally false. Speaking with Monica Long, one of Ripple’s Senior Vice Presidents, Garlinghouse noted that “people are going to spread their FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt),” adding that there is much misinformation regarding XRP’s status and underlying nature.

The chief quipped that due to the presence of misinformation, those misaligned may continue to “engage in whatever zealotry [they want].” Yet, in quick succession, Ripple’s c-suite head noted that “by many measures, the XRP Ledger is more decentralized than Bitcoin.” He went on to elaborate:

“Ripple runs seven validators, [which is] about four percent of [all] public validators… On the Bitcoin ledger or Ethereum ledger, you have a very small number of miners controlling, you know, well past 50% of [the] mining power.”

This, of course, came straight out of the mouth of Ripple’s very own head. Regardless, a number of XRP diehards have incessantly used comments from Garlinghouse and Schwartz to bash traditional cryptocurrencies over the head.

Featured Image from Shutterstock

source: http://bit.ly/2VBmut9

The post Ripple CTO Claims XRP Eliminates PoW Risks Seen in Ethereum Classic’s 51% Attack appeared first on BTC News Today.

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[mrmichaelchadler]

New York Asian Film Festival 2018: Highlights and Memories

The New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF) turned 17 this year, a not-insignificant age if you, like me, have been attending the festival with regularity (like, say, the last 15 years). I've seen this film series grow over time, and would like to think my taste and sensitivities have grown with it. NYAFF used to be run by a group of white guys—Grady Hendrix, Paul Kazee, Brian Naas, Nat Olson, and Goron Topalovic—who had the necessary chutzpah and dedication to start a pop culture phenomenon.��I know these guys: they paid for the festival with their personal credit cards and only really broke even during their first few years. 

Still, they persisted, for which I'm very grateful. Back when the festival began in 2002, NYAFF's programming was a big deal for New York cult film fans like me. NYAFF's organizers regularly highlighted moving dramas and crowd-pleasing comedies that spoke to a spectrum of audiences and experiences from around Asia. 

Like Uncle Boonmee, I vividly remember the festival screenings of my teenage years. Lines of ticket-holders coiled around 1st Street and towards Houston. A smaller slate of films and a different group of programmers, whose preferences and budgets necessarily limited what they showed. But those founding programmers and the current NYAFF selection committee—David Wilentz, Claire Marty, Karen Severns, and Koichi Mori, all led by Deputy Director Stephen Cremin and former Japan Society film programmer Samuel Jamier—remain some of the most influential among American film festival organizers.

The New York Asian Film Festival of today doesn't feel like the one from my already-calcifying memories. In 2010, they moved on up to the Film Society at Lincoln Center and now split their yearly program—a robust 48 films this year!—between the Walter Reade Theater and Chelsea's School of Visual Arts (SVA) auditorium. The festival's programming has become more diverse, which is something of a necessity when your international slate is co-assembled by various state-sponsored cultural institutions, particularly the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office of New York and the Confucius Institute Headquarters and China Institute. NYAFF's programmers also now give out several awards—more than just their original Audience Award—including a prize for the best action film, an honor that's dedicated to the memory of the late and much missed former NYAFF programmer Daniel Craft.

Still, the most important aspect of NYAFF remains a constant: the festival's consistently hearty and diverse crowds are great proof that American film distributors are wrong to think that only native language speakers want to watch new Asian film. Every NYAFF is like a party, and it's a party that everyone is invited to (and many seem to feel welcomed at). 

With this in mind: I tried to find movies at this year's festival that gave me the same feeling of discovery and excitement that I got back when I first started attending in 2004. Not the easiest task when you can't take off work for a day or five just to watch movies and feel connected with a typically energized NYAFF crowd. NYAFF screenings have a definite vibe, one that many film festival programmers envy and try to copy. You can see it in the way that attendees respond to Hendrix's high-energy, high-content carnival barker spiel. This crowd is EXCITED.

Still, I didn't want readers to think I'm some kind of stuffy ivory tower aesthete (my greatest fear), so I began this year's festival with some Serious Arthouse Cinema: Korean historical drama "1987: When the Day Comes," a great place to start given that the festival organizers previously showed director Joon-hawn Jang's hilariously weird comedic short film "Hair" back in 2006. Jang used to be known among Korean film devotees as the weirdo who helmed the unsettling 2003 sci-fi black comedy "Save the Green Planet." Now he is rightfully known for making "1987: When the Day Comes," a rousing, if doughy dramatization of the events surrounding the murder of several Seoul-based student protesters, particularly the journalistic and police cover-up of their deaths. "1987: When the Day Comes" has Jang's characteristically queasy mix of moods and tones—in this case, sentimentality for a bygone era and punk rock anger for rights-suppressing authority figures—and a lot of charming period detail, particularly its costumes and sets. Still, this is basically a prestige drama that, in any other country, would be as big of a to-do as "The Post" or "Spotlight." It's solid, if a little stiff.

Next came "The Bold, The Corrupt, and The Beautiful," a soapy Taiwanese political drama about three generations of women, two of whom act as power-brokers, facilitating various below-the-table deals between local politicians and businessmen. This movie won three of Taiwan's prestigious Golden Horse Awards (their country's equivalent of the Oscars) for Best Feature Film and Best Actress (Kara Hui, as imperious matriarch Madame Tang) and Best Supporting Actress (Vicky Chen, playing Tang's daughter). Its plot is convoluted and jumps between the memories of its three anti-heroines, particularly the young daughter of Chen's character. There's also a lot of melodramatic twists involving illicit trysts, political double-dealing, and drunken speechifying. So a fun time is guaranteed for everyone who meets the film at its sudsy level. Or maybe just anyone who wishes "All the King's Men" were more like "The Days of Our Lives."

Following that: "Crossroads: One Two Jaga," another ensemble drama, though this time concerned with Filipino immigrants living in Malaysia. This was a must-see for me because I still fondly remember when the festival's organizers screened their first Malaysian film: "Gangster," a mostly kinda bad crime drama that screened back in 2006. The Malaysian film industry is still in its nascency and that shows in the many technical rough edges that hold back "Crossroads: One Two Jaga"—a repetitive, and unpolished social issues drama—back from greatness. Still, the film is ambitious—switching between three or four main sub-plots about police corruption and systemic brutality that's passed on like a birthright from father to son—and smart enough to bring to get under your skin. "Crossroads: One Two Jaga" is a major step up after "Gangster," and is, I'm told, part of a new wave of Malaysian cinema. I'm eager to see what comes next.

The first film that I loved at this year's festival would, however, fit right in at any country's arthouse cinema: "Hit the Night," a funny, dialogue-heavy South Korean sex comedy that feels like a pointed reaction to the prolific (and now unbearably self-pitying) Korean auteur Sang-soo Hong. Like many of Hong's films, "Hit the Night" centers on a series of booze-fueled conversations—about adultery, philosophy, art, and personal freedom—between a filmmaker and their potential romantic conquest. The main difference between Hong's films and "Hit the Night" is that this film is directed in real-life by a woman (Ga-Young Jeong, whose previous credits, including "Bitch on the Beach" and "Cinema With You," also sound like direct rebukes/responses to Hong's films) and is told from a female protagonist's perspective. The conversations that drive "Hit the Night" are consequently a little more involving sine Jeong considers her two main protagonists' inherent loaded assumptions about sex and gender in dialogue exchanges that are sometimes scathingly blunt and sometimes slyly nuanced. Like Hong, Jeong doesn't know if there's a solution to the questions that her stand-in poses. But oftentimes, it's a pleasure just to listen to Jeong's characters circuitously gab about their respective talking points and not-so-secret agendas.

I also really dug the Chinese revenge drama "Wrath of Silence," a macho, but often moving action film that, like "No Country for Old Men" and "In the Valley of Elah," is a pulpy narrative from the Whatever Happened to My Country sub-genre of crime fiction. "Wrath of Silence" follows a mute coal miner (played by martial artist Yang Song) who searches for his missing son by actively pummeling his way through an exploitative, nouveau riche bussinessman's empire. Director Yukun Xin effectively translate Song's characters' mixed feelings—of loss, confusion, and awe—through gorgeous, desolate panoramas of desert hills and valleys. There's a lot of on-the-nose symbolism here too, so anyone who dislikes blunt metaphors should steer clear. Everyone else will probably find something to like about this effectively punishing revenge tragedy. 

Also, be sure to check out the rousing Filipino rap battle drama "Respeto," a corny, but satisfying story about a trio of teenagers who get schooled in the art of street poetry by a depressed used book salesman. "Respeto" is a NYAFF specialty: here's a film that breathes new life into tired coming-of-age tropes about growing up on skid row without real parents (imagine if "8 Mile" and "Finding "Forrester" eloped and had a child after moving to the Philippines). There's a real sense of loss and dynamism in every scene where our heroes attend and compete in local rap battles. And the filmmakers' unique brand of heart-felt, but sensational didacticism—Rap battle fame is fleeting! Teenage prostitution isn't glamorous! PTSD and rape are no joke!—is also pretty irresistible. I bet this movie takes home the festival's Audience Award.

"Respeto" screens right before this year's surprise screening, a can't-miss event for festival attendants both old and new. Last year, Hendrix programmed the delightfully bonkers 1992 sexploitation spy thriller "Naked Killer." And the year before that, Hendrix selected the John Woo-esque 1998 Hong Kong action-drama "A Hero Never Dies," a winningly nutty action bromance featuring the only wheelchair shoot-out you'll ever need. I'm not really sure if the typical NYAFF audience member attends these secret screenings, nor do I know if my reservations about the festival's steady growth matters much in the long run. I do, however, know that I'll be at this year's surprise screening at the SVA Theater. I hope to see you there.

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[republicstandard]

9 Top Tips For Surviving Twitter As A Right Wing Thought Criminal

Should you decide to enlist in the culture war hosted on the Twitter-dot-com hellscape (where every day is Hamburger Hill), there are some things that you need to learn and apply in order to survive to tweet another day. Welcome to boot camp, you scrubs and noobs.

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1. Choose Your Fighter

You, dear-never-ever-before-user of Twitter should take the time to read the Terms of Service. There are a plethora of words and behaviors that can get you booted from the platform and all of them are vaguely explained with the broadest interpretation possible. Once you've read Twitters soul sucking list of obligatory rules that severely limit your speech while protecting it for the people you cross intellectual swords with in the idea war, you are ready to build your player.

As Twitter is becoming pretty censorious, I'm also on: Gab: https://t.co/TrQ2JW4sAI YouTube: https://t.co/1NfMOYwkbF FB: https://t.co/zeAtcHTDcf WT: https://t.co/xs18l5Tpkc pic.twitter.com/EkVtklMN10

— Orwell & Goode 🇨🇱 (@OrwellNGoode) May 14, 2018

The limits are on the far end of infinity. You may choose to be a cute doggo, or perhaps an ms-paint frog or toad, an oft overlooked historical figure, a painting, or a parody of a living or dead celebrity with a morbidly hilarious twist. Your creativity in creating your avatar and name has a moment to really shine here but whatever you do, don't choose your own face and name because some of the people you talk to want to kill you. Or, at least completely ruin your life so that you will do it yourself. This is not an exaggeration. Rest in peace, Andrew.

2. Your first tweet

Oh good. You decided to stick around.

For the love all that is holy do not tweet using the hashtag #MyFirstTweet. It's very tempting, I know, but as it's your very first tweet, everyone you run across will already know it's your very first ever tweet on account of there being no previous tweets preceding it. The new friends that you make today will use this tweet to let their friends know that you have taken the monumental step of becoming a brand new Twitter user; so do make it snappy and full of wit, let your personality shine. For goodness sake understand that the monsters that want you dead use the search feature and the hashtag #MyFirstTweet to hunt down brand new baby right wing accounts to have them aborted. Much like they screech about needing the "freedom" to do to actual humans in the streets, wearing nothing but pink knit double peak hats and their own undercoat of rapist-repellent blubber.

Yeah. I went there. Bring it.

3. Follow carefully

Despite the disgusting urchins that lurk about bandying their rotund degeneracy on #findom, the mountain of actual pedophiles that will try to convince you they are the good guys, and the entirety of #blacktwitter, Twitter is actually a very friendly place and you are bound to make lots of wholesome friends fast; especially if you have never ever been on the platform before, not even once.

Exercise restraint in your tender first few days and resist following back your new friends too quickly as this will result in a “shadowban" or will prompt Big Brother to underhandedly investigate your phone number under the guise of checking to see if you're human, as if robots can't be programmed to use a phone. I suggest just a few follows per hour- keeping it under 100 for the first day. Apparently, according to Ze Bluebird Gestapo, having like minded friends is the same thing as terrorism and you will be gulaged for it. Yes, I'm mixing up Nazi and Communist metaphors in the same sentence. Don't @ me.

4. Personal Security

You need to download and use a VPN. The animals you will run across will pull cute little stunts, like e-drag you into an argument by calling you completely true things as if they are an insult, and acting as if per capita is a flavor of snow cone only people who hate communism can taste. and then drop a link as if they are proving a point, but in reality is an IP address snatcher which is used to find out who and where you are, instead of just answering the question about why 13% of the population commits over 54% of all violent crime.

Next you will want to turn on the double authentication feature, because as soon as you say something true, some cyber-SJW is going to start jaw-jacking from the monumental sugar rush from powdered donuts and 17 cases of orange flavored Mountain Dew and try to hack your account. In the same vein, make certain your email address is hidden and that you aren't using @YourRealEmailAddress as your handle. For your password, use a ridiculous combination of letters and numbers that have no connection to your actual life- which the hideous banshees and their he-minions are trying to end. Am I hammering that point home enough?

Remember to self care today. And be kind. And always punch Nazis.

— Emma Evans (@TrancewithMe) June 28, 2018

Finally, delete the phone number you used to set up your account. You may need it later and it would be sad if it were already occupied.

5. Get a Thesaurus

I've said it before but it bears repeating; get a thesaurus. Contrary to popular belief, you are in fact allowed to talk about objective biological realities, religion, the various systems of government in the world, criticize certain groups of rootless manipulative cabals of wandering tribal people without getting suspended if you follow three simple rules.

Frame and maintain the conversation.

Use uncommon synonyms.

Subtlety can be volatile.

It goes without saying that a debate isn't won until it changes someone's mind. Minds can't be won if the conversation gets deleted. Since mein feind maintains control of the flow of information via control of the media, what you say on twitter could be the final straw that bends the balance of someone's mind to the right. We want that, we need that, especially as the left gets more unhinged.

Understand that the globo-tech complex is happy to assist in the restriction of speech through the creation of algorithms and databases in which words are input and some alert dings off in some rainbow diversity cheeto cheese powder crusted dungeon sticky with sips drips where some slack eyed Gollum pushes the ban button; and you're suddenly on the other side of a suspension. One such word is “retard” and there are many more. Aside from minority reporting, there are particular words and phrases searched just to report wrong-thinking accounts. A small price to pay to cleanse the universe of criticism that may mean people have to self-reflect and experience personal growth and take responsibility for their lives, the horror.

Take what you want to say, leave off the slurs, play around with synonyms and you can take a blatant violation of ToS and turn it into poetic philosophy. If you're intent on low brow trolling, I don't blame you, but I'll miss you when you're gone.

6. Engaging the Enemy

Never engage a hostile. There I said it, my legal obligations have been met. You cannot blame me for what you do with the following entirely hypothetical thought experiment. This article is satire and not for use by anyone, ever. I warned you.

If have attracted a swarm of busy-body detractors through the use of hashtags, do yourself a solid and check their bio and follower count. If their bio contains and reference to #resist just block them, they are there for one purpose and it's to bait you into a violation of ToS. Similarly, if they have 0 or 1 followers it is a sock account of a #resist account. If they have less than 50 followers they have nothing to say, no one likes them anyway, and they just want your attention.

Doxxxing is officially endorsed by Twitter dot comhttps://t.co/aPr8KZAO65

— These tweets are endorsed by this site. (@EndorsedTweets) June 21, 2018

To engage a hostile blue check mark I recommend to avoid placing your extra-spicy tweet on the thread under their tweet. Instead, drop a teaser; then quote tweet the azure-ticked parasite and drop your main show, curtain call, and encore onto your own wall. Most of the people who sit around deriving sexual pleasure from the fantasy of Nazi scalp-hunting haunt the timelines of these verified whine bags, just waiting for you to show up to report your ‘spouts of hate’. Or, as I like to call them, incontrovertible but inconvenient truths.

7. Types of bans and what to do

You are going to get banned at some point. Deal with it.

Shadowban: this is triggered by following too fast, liking too much, retweeting too often, being too active when new, using too many hashtags, using popular hashtags in multiple tweets, and just for the random inconvenience because you're found to be guilty by association. Your options are to take a break, or power through it. There is some theory that these shadowbans are on timers of 1, 3, 5, 12, and 24 hours and that tweeting resets the timer and extends the discomfort. If you have triggered one you will experience a sudden drop in interaction and may think that your friends are ignoring you. They likely just aren't getting your notifications. If you want to check, DM a friend and ask them to tell you if your notifications are coming through. DO NOT use a shadowban checker website, it's believed that these are run by la resistance, and may put your account at risk; or at least in a database to be watched closely. In any case, shadowbans are usually temporary and you'll be back to normal before you know it. It's worth noting that more shadowbanning occurs during certain news cycles like mass casualty events, terror attacks, and when the President does something noteworthy.

Permanent Shadowban: On rare occasions the shadowban never goes away. I don't know what to do about it but if you have some verifiable information regarding this, please contact me or Republic Standard.

12 hour, 24 hour, and 7 day temporary restrictions: Oooh you bad bad boy! Looks like you broke ToS and had to delete some tweets. You should have followed my advice. Tsk tsk. You can DM your mutual followers, participate in DM groups and you can share tweets from the timeline to the DMs, and block accounts. You cannot like, retweet, or share pictures nor can you follow anyone. There's nothing you can do about this; you're stuck like Chuck, whoever he is. There's no use getting your panties in a twist over it though, it's a good time to get to know your friends a little better one on one and perhaps even explore the possibility of meeting in person. It's an isolating online experience but you do have a little time to reflect on what you can do to refine your technique.

Suspension: Sadly, anything after 7 days and you're gone. Finished. Never to be seen from ever again. No coming back from this, George. It's over. Finito. Buh bye. Later gator. Basically dead. Sayonara. Ciao.

Aren't you glad you remembered to delete your phone number?

8. Opsec

I wish I didn't have to go there, but I have to go there. Even if you have a pure, hate-free, friendly account that never runs the risk of crossing ToS, you still aren't out of the frying pan.

Being right wing has painted a big old target on your back and some of the people aiming arrows at you are going to look a lot like friends, and potential lovers.

Infiltration isn't a new tactic. On anonymous Twitter it's not even particularly hard. Despite the fact that most people who try are hilariously bad at it, some aren't. Despite all the accurate memes about the left being dumb and useless, when it comes to operational security the left is a decade ahead of the right. Whether you agree with the ideas of real-world rallies or not, we have to come to the understanding that social media platforms are not secure places to organize such things. Unite the Right organizers just managed to doxx themselves because they could not get this very simple idea into their skulls. If it isn't on a website you control from the code up and you are operating military grade hardware, it's not even remotely close to secret. Stop thinking that it is.

Hey hey hey time to get doxxed by antifa from using discord YEEEEAAAA BOIIIII https://t.co/zZ3kO54Wmg

— Pikawubz (@pikawubz) May 8, 2018

Don't share your photos, too much detail about your location, or too much detail about your life. If you choose to trust someone, make sure it's mutual. As difficult as it is to imagine loyalties do change. Ideological commitment under certain conditions like bribery, threats of doxxing, or a broken heart, can be overcome. Don't forget that this is an ideological war and the stakes are high.

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9. You are not alone

You've made it this far, and this following section truly is the most important part. You have found a warm community of the brightest minds, kindest hearts and most determined people I have ever known to exist. Yeah, we have our in-fights and squabbles; what family doesn't? Helping one another to discover truths that have been hidden from us, fight for a future we want and need, through tough times, and sharing laughter, anger, fears and frustrations bonds us together. If you are ever in a situation where you feel isolated, reach out. If you feel despondent, reach out. If you are being threatened, reach out. We are here for each other. You never have to be alone again.

Happy tweeting. See you in the trenches.

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[swipestream]

Avengers: Infinity War Absolutely Kills It!

Marvel’s been carving a vast swathe through cinema history. With 19 movies released over the last 10 years, all of them inhabiting the same shared universe, they’ve built one of the most impressive (even their flops are better than, say, most of DC’s offerings) and lucrative film empires in cinema history.

According to the best sources I have available, Avengers: Infinity War—Marvel’s magnum opus—knocked back a cool $630 million gross worldwide its first weekend, making it the highest dollar value opening weekend in cinema history, handily beating out the previous record holder, The Fate of the Furious by almost $100 mil. 2/3rds of a billion dollars, give or take, is a whole lot of dough.

What surprised me most about Infinity War was just how good it was. Barely minutes into the movie, and we’re already in a couple of dust-ups featuring Thanos and the Hulk, then (halfway across the galaxy) Iron Man, Dr. Strange and henchman, and Spider Man vs two of “Thanos’ Children”. And fights come at a regular pace after that. Seriously, this movie MOVES.

And yet it has enough time to linger on emotional or relationship beats, like Star-Lord trying to make his voice deeper, to compete with Thor, Star-Lord and Gamorra’s sputtering relationship, Peter Parker’s drive to prove himself as a hero, and so on and so forth. Each character is given enough time to develop just a little bit more, and in many cases the movie pays off on character arcs that have been building across multiple movies, such as Vision and the Scarlet Witch’s romance. It’s impressive that—for me, at least—each of these subplots had enough time to register, none of them feeling overwhelmed by the movie’s more kinetic offerings.

Speaking of the fights, they were spectacular. -Ish. Most of the time. Shaky-cam rears its ugly head, and I curse it as I have always done: damn you Hollywood, for turning to this cheap and ineffective storytelling technique that only ruins action scenes, never adding anything. Shaky-cam aside, the fights are plentiful, varied, and do double-duty, both thrilling the audience and developing the characters. I thoroughly enjoyed them.

Then again, with a few exceptions, I’ve enjoyed the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies (Iron Man 2 and 3 and Incredible Hulk being the worst, which is pretty impressive). People who don’t enjoy, or haven’t seen, the prior films in the MCU probably aren’t going to get as much out of the experience as I did. (Then again, the Red Letter Media mavens usually dislike Marvel movies, yet they thoroughly enjoyed this one, so…)

As for the spoilers: what with the time limit on the Spoiler Statute of Limitations being down to approximately five nanoseconds after the script leaks to a geek blogger, you should know that this is a movie you absolutely DON’T want spoiled, and it’s a movie that absolutely WILL be spoiled by today, at the latest (I caught my first spoiler while writing this post. No foolin’.) If you have any interest in it, go see it ASAP. It’s worth it.

If I have any doubts about the movie, it’s because this is probably the high water mark for the MCU. After this movie, critical actors, and hence characters, will start bowing out, meaning the MCU will be depending on characters whose longevity and popularity are unproven. It’s likely we’ll never see another gathering of actors and characters like this ever again.

If this is the peak, it’s a mighty impressive peak. So go out and enjoy it while it lasts.

Random thoughts:

Thanos’ CGI isn’t cheesy or fake. Actually, it’s pretty impressive.

His motivations were kind of vague and nonsensical, though. Whatever, I went with it. I’d still have liked something more comprehensible.

A lot of humor in this one. It all works.

The Guardians of the Galaxy are introduced in a way absolutely APT. Applause to the Russo bros.

Rocket Raccoon is an absolute blast. Again. The scene with the thing that he gives to the other guy is a great callback to the first Guardians movie, and is a hoot.

Rebellious Teen Groot was also A++.

Yeah, a lot of the best moments revolve around the Guardians of the Galaxy, as individuals or a collective. Make of that what you will.

Robert Downey Jr, arguably the biggest driving force behind the MCU’s success, knocks it out of the park. Tony Stark is his career defining role, and he is spectacular in it.

All the ladies love Chris Evans. Make your peace with that.

Yes, there is a hidden spoiler in this review.

Yes, this is an uncharacteristically positive review. That should tell you something.

Jasyn Jones, better known as Daddy Warpig, is a host on the Geek Gab podcast, a regular on the Superversive SF livestreams, and blogs at Daddy Warpig’s House of Geekery. Check him out on Twitter.

Avengers: Infinity War Absolutely Kills It! published first on https://medium.com/@ReloadedPCGames