#origin of the order mp

[blueikeproductions]

Megatronus Prime, the only “other” Prime people care about.

And I think a lot of that is due to his simple concept: he’s the bad Prime. He’s evil, brooding and will blow up the Sun out of spite.

His conceptual history starts with G2 where Simon Furman created the Liege Maximo as the evil “Prime”, a natural counterbalance to the innate good of Primus. This guy was the First Decepticon of which Megatron is descended from biologically (technologically?). A lot of the older material insisted the Autobots and Decepticons were genetically distinct, right down to their moral compass.

During the Dreamwave comics era, Furman revisited the idea of an evil “Prime” once more, instead creating the first version of The Fallen.

Originally intended as a Prime of destruction and rebirth, he became obsessed with destruction and became an Acolyte of Unicron, intending to sabotage Primus, but failed. He resurfaced during the early stages of the Great War, intending to finish what he started, but once again was met with failure and sealed away within Cybertron by Primus.

He would be revisited once again in RotF, taking on his more well known alien Egyptian look.

Interestingly, Dreamwave had established a connection with The Fallen and Jetfire, something that ROTF also used, but not to the same extent. Dreamwave intended for The Fallen to posses Jetfire, but it never came to pass. Prior to that, The Fallen had possessed Sunstorm, a Starscream Clone Shockwave created, so ROTF called back more to its roots than people think, using Jetfire and the Seekers.

Because of the success of the Bay films, this version of The Fallen was what people think of regarding an evil Prime, along with him being pretty cool in general.

In this version, this Fallen betrayed his fellow Primes to claim the Sun of Earth, not caring for the human life on it, finding it beneath him. The Primes didn’t want to claim suns of inhabited worlds, so this was pretty much treason. The Fallen was sealed away after a huge battle, but he resurfaced in the modern era, intent to reclaim Earth’s Sun out of pure pettiness (ROTF explains the Allspark needed recharged with the energy of suns, but with its destruction, it wasn’t necessary to claim the Sun for that anymore).

The movie famously doesn’t fully explain where The Fallen came from, just that he was already onboard the Nemesis, soaking up Energon and giving Megatron his marching orders to kill Optimus, find the Matrix, and recover the Star Harvester buried in Egypt.

The IDW movie comics go more in depth, explaining The Fallen was sealed in a sarcophagus on Cybertron that Optimus’ science team dug up during an archaeological expedition. The relic called to Megatron, influencing the temperamental brute already having issues with Optimus, to become the future tyrant and leader of the Decepticons.

Along with the movie being the prototype for the modern Prime mythology, it also was the first to claim The Fallen was the First Decepticon and that his face influenced the Decepticon logo.

It’s not super clear in the movie itself…

…but the comics make the distinction more obvious.

Early concept art also tried to make the connection clearer.

These concepts would eventually feed into the TFONE Fallen’s design. Having a bulky tank like body of his Dreamwave self, wearing a mask that is clearly the Decepticon logo as was intended in ROTF, along with having the scepter of his ROTF counterpart. The Decepticon mask has led to some confusion among some fans, his mask, cannon and predominantly purple body resemble Tarn from IDW.

It’s not meant to be Tarn, as he didn’t originate the look, the real world version of this is Soundwave’s face inspired the logo, but Tarn is the most well known among fans to rock the look. That said, Tarn probably did influence the look a little.

Unlike his counterparts, the ONE version of MP never became The Fallen, instead the context we’re given is this version valiantly defended Cybertron from the invading Quintessons. Being loaded with weapons and having an imposing size, Megatronus Prime was the most powerful Prime. In the modern era, Megs was also the most popular (probably a reference to his ROTF popularity) with many Bots having merch of him, D-16 being a HUGE fan in particular.

Megatronus sadly was one of the first to fall to Sentinel’s betrayal, being slain and his Cog taken as a trophy that Sentinel installed himself. D-16, learning of his idol’s fate and Sentinel’s role in it, was LIVID. D-16’s evolution to Megatron was complete when he stole back the Cog, and installed it in himself, gaining a form similar to his idol. I feel like Megatronus Prime is just saying “YOU’RE NOT AFFILIATED WITH ME!”

Another deviation was Aligned and IDW.

The Aligned version seems to be where TFONE MP takes his primary look from, but still using Dreamwave and ROTF as mentioned before. Funny enough this is the only design besides ONE that clearly communicates MP’s head influenced the Decepticon logo.

The name Megatronus was coined here, Hasbro’s attempt at creating a more obvious connection to The Fallen and Megatron, though many fans have expressed irritation at the name, feeling it sounds too stupid. Aligned’s intentions were to paint him as more of a brooding antihero, possibly another means to connect him to Megatron, whose more infamous roles in Prime Wars, IDW and EarthSpark paint him as a repenting antihero type.

Aligned saw him accidentally kill his girlfriend Solus Prime following subtle manipulation by Liege Maximo, but an embittered Megatronus got the last laugh by figuring out what had happened and secretly killing Maximo. He then went off into self exile, mirroring something Megatron would later do at the end of Prime, making it feel weirdly pre-ordained.

IDW went a similar direction, but its Megatronus started as a scared, nameless robot who witnessed Shockwave murdering Onyx in prehistoric times. Shockwave recognizing who the robot was according to legend named him Megatronus, and molded the nomad to become the brooding Ow the Edge warrior the legends foretold. This Megatronus started a series of campaigns that saw Cybertron united under his Darklands kingdom, and, notably, recruit Galvatron and his then brother Arcee to his cause. After the formation and fall of the Primes, Shockwave later killed his student off world, his purpose having been served to keep history and his own plans on track.

RiD15 meanwhile opted to make Megatronus its first major big bad, with Optimus training in the Prime Realm to defeat him.

Despite being the same character in the Covenant of Primus, this take on him pushed him closer to the more familiar ROTF version: trapped in another dimension, having psychic powers, a Void Scepter, manipulating the Decepticons to ensure his release, and wanting to take petty revenge against Earth. The last one is odd, because Megatronus never visited Earth before, nor is there any Aligned material that describes a humiliating campaign on Earth he was a part of. I’ve always wondered if it was supposed to be a relapsed MEGATRON, stewing over his life, got frustrated and decided to take out Earth and Cybertron in an “If I can’t have it than nobody can!” moment. Concept art for Megatron DOES exist for RiD’s early development so it’s possible such an idea was entertained.

Anyway Megatronus uses a relic to combine the powers of the Allspark and Unicron’s Anti-Spark to trigger a chain reaction that would destroy both planets but he’s stopped by the Bee Team with the power of friendship and combining their Decepticon Hunters into a giant Dragonball Z energy blast. It would appear The Fallen is super dead here, as he’s never depicted going back to the Prime Realm, nor do the Primes seem that shook up their brother was vaporized.

The final version of the Fallen that appears is in the Prime Wars trilogy, again evoking his more popular ROTF form and abilities. Here he strikes a Mazinger Z like design I kinda dig, too bad it didn’t stick.

His primary goal was to revive his lost love Solus Prime, and he chooses to do so by rigging a device using the Matrix and other relics to steal the Sparks of all Transformers to revive Solus’ Spark. Inevitability this plan fails, and a so over him Solus drags her now ex boyfriend into The Well of Allsparks to undo the damage. It feels like they were trying to imitate the 90’s Mummy films, but it doesn’t work at all here. Not to mention we still don’t have a clear understanding on who Solus is in animation, and the ROTF personality used for Megs doesn’t fit for the tragic love story they tried to tell. Maybe if it was intentionally more like Heathers? PW Solus does have a Veronica Sawyer vibe, and PW Megatronus is basically JD….

While the ROTF personality tends to be the dominant one in most of his appearances, making Megs the most tonally consistent Prime, his more heroic role in ONE is a surprise. As such if he is meant to be a regular hero, there’s a fan theory that Sentinel corrupted Megs’ Cog, and when D-16 got it, it was corrupted further, when D evolved into Megatron, glowing an eerie purple the other Prime Cogs didn’t. It’s possible this was the writers’ way of subtly referencing Megatronus’ usual evil antics, or maybe MP’s Cog was built differently because he was the cool Prime.

One other thing that’s funny, is Megatronus is the only Prime that consistently Transforms. Most of his appearances depict him as a space tank, but a few opt for some sort of space craft. Interestingly, the ROTF comics material states the Primes and Transformers are separate species, as the Primes can’t Transform. (How this is different for Sentinel and Optimus is never properly explained.)

However, toys show The Fallen becoming an alien air craft, with early concepts showing him Scanning and taking on an Earth mode: a bomber plane, contradicting this concept. It’s possible this was the comics taking advantage of The Fallen never Transforming in scripts they had to work with and were just assuming.

What’s still amusing is outside of a gun, The Fallen largely assumes military vehicles like Megatron does, strengthening their connections, albeit somewhat annoyingly. Again that preordained feel.

While we don’t see what TFONE Megs turns into, safe bet he’s probably a space tank, but making him a Triple Changer to incorporate the aircraft would be funny.

[zvaigzdelasas]

Last Sunday’s first round produced a big victory for the party of Marine Le Pen, which - with allies - won around 33% of the vote.

A broad left-wing alliance came second, and President Emmanuel Macron’s centrists third.[...]

The leftwing New Popular Front (NPF) – which comprises everyone from centre-left social democrats to far-left anti-capitalists – issued instructions to all of its third-placed candidates to step down and let a centrist reap the anti-RN vote.

The NPF is thus helping two senior pro-Macron MPs – former prime minister Elisabeth Borne and Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin – to win in their constituencies in Normandy and the north.

Conversely a pro-Macron candidate has stood down in order to help radical leftwinger François Ruffin defeat the RN candidate in the northern city of Amiens.[...]

Instructions to candidates from Macron’s centrist bloc have been more ambiguous than the NPF’s.

Though Macron himself and Prime Minister Gabriel Attal have called for “no vote for the RN”, some in his camp believe its far-left component makes the NPF equally unpalatable.

Senior figures like Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire and former prime minister Edouard Philippe – both originally from the centre-right – are refusing to issue instructions to vote systematically against the RN.

2 Jul 24

[rbrooksdesign]

"tDMT-#8" digital, Sept. 2024, Reginald Brooks

The original DMT (Divisor Matrix Table) reveals ALL natural numbers and their divisors.

The Mp-PNs are the rarest gems of the Primes!

So why think of entanglement: time, temperature and entropy? Here is my take:

BF1 schematic

|||||||||| ||||||||

|||| ||||

|| ||

| |

|

The Butterfly Fractal 1 (BF1) that heads up Row 1 of the DMT or tDMT is: 1--2--4--8--16---...

Starting with 1: zero time, temp and entropy (disorder)

Next, this doubles to 2: the clock starts (time) and the first temp. begins, as does slightly less order -- as we now have 3, the original 1 + 2 = Running Sum (∑).

Double that to give 4: the clock moves even more, a little faster to give more temp and, again, even more disorder than before -- as ∑=1+2+4=7.

Double that to give 8: now we are ticking, heating up, and the entropic disorder is increasing -- as ∑=1+2+4+8=15.

Double that to give 16: faster clock, greater temp. and entropy -- as ∑=1+2+4+8+16=31, and so on.

As the SpaceTime (ST) pulses into-out of--into--out of existence -- with each pulse generated by the BF1 pulse sequence -- a rhythmic beat of formation, dissolution, formation dissolution starts the clock, heat build (reflecting the energy born) and it goes from the perfect order of 1 to lesser 2 to lesser 4 to lesser 8, 16,...

The BF1 is a fractal as it both expands, interconnects and becomes entangled with other pulse-propagating STs forming, and, within itself, it contains the same BF1 fractal pattern and infinite number of times. One can see this in the above BF1 schematic -- the original 1-2-4-8... pattern is repeated twice on the second line up from the bottom with each | now informing the lines above it in the same fractal sequence of 1-2-4-8. On the third line up from the bottom, the fractal is repeated four times. On the fourth, it is repeated 8 times -- one for each |.

Each bit of ST pulse-propagates at a frequency that represents its energy signature and all is within the Conservation Laws of (mass), momentum, charge, energy and, of course, ST.

The entanglement -- the quantum entanglement -- is at the heart of the Conservation Laws.

I believe this jives with Einstein's comment that the perception of a past, present and future is an illusion completely dependent upon one's particular and relative point of observation within the overall pulse-propagation of ST.

Interactive DMT and tDMT for TES (Teachers, Educators and Students) ---here.

[amywritesthings]

silver underground. / chapter 16.

( Read on AO3 )

Pairing: levi ackerman x f!reader (attack on titan / shingeki no kyojin)

Word Count: 5.4K

Summary: flashback six - also known as the day of the heist

Warnings: this chapter heavily explores and discusses themes of peril, thoughts of self harm and self destruction, hopelessness, death, violence, and torture. if you are triggered by these topics, i would suggest skipping this chapter.

Previous Chapter. / Next Chapter. | Masterlist.

CHAPTER 16 - FLASHBACK: SIX

note: the next couple of chapters will be heavily influenced by the ova 'no regrets'. they are my interpretations of the material. please watch those episode first, otherwise you will get spoiled on elements revolving around levi's backstory.

The silence of the Underground City spoke volumes.

At this rate, you’ve gone over the plan — and the potential ways it can go horribly wrong — at least a dozen times. 

Only so many distress signals can be sent from three people outrunning an entire Military Police unit, so you've employed all of them.

First, there’s the stolen flares.

They’re sparingly used, if ever, when it’s the four of you on a job. Two teams of two has easily been your best formation tactic.

A slight change to a single team of three should not cause much difficulty, especially when it involves veterans like Church, Ackerman, and Magnolia.

(You've already waited a half hour. No flare ever ignites.)

Next, if someone loses their grip on a flare canister, then the pursued team resorts to high-altitude flying.

At the height you’re perched upon — the rooftop of a dilapidated apartment complex overlooking the northern half of the Underground — you’d be able to see at least one person flipping and weaving through even the tallest buildings.

(Another half hour passes. No one ever breaches the skyline.)

The last option, should any ODM gear jam and fail, is more human: eyesight. 

With the B-team units ordered to be stationed around the Underground City, your three friends should be covered. If it looks like the Military Police have the upper hand, then you can quickly get the rest of the gang to safety.

You told Levi you wouldn't run after him, that you would keep your promise and stick to the plan, but now that it's been over an hour of radio silence?

You're not so sure.

Because there are no clouds in the Underground, your sightline is clear. Idly your ODM gear sits on either hips, hands occupied by the mechanism's handles that will boost you at a moment’s notice. Below you on the street stand your appointed security, both gang veterans, looking for any stray MPs roaming the area.

Every second waiting for Levi, Isabel, and Furlan to return from their heist route spans to eternity.

Over and over your eyes scan, checking between rooftops — nothing.

Your attention drops to the streets — nothing.

Silence creeps to a ninety-minute drag.

No flares sound.

No bodies fly.

“C’mon, Ackerman,” you mumble under your breath, flexing your left hand to give your body something to do — to avoid pulling the trigger too fast on a rescue operation.

He was explicit about not coming for him.

He was explicit and he was stupid to think you’d never come for him.

He was stupid to think—

“James!”

A panicked, shrill voice, however, sounds from the street.

You whip your attention to the east, taking your eyes off of the skyline for a belated beat.

The rogue voice screeches with urgency a second time.

“James!”

It's young and feminine and terrified.

You shift a boot towards the sound, squeezing the metal handles in your palms with your index fingers at the ready.

“Hey! Where is she? Please, tell me James is here.”

She seems out of breath, like she ran a great distance to get here.

You draw a line with your sight from where her footsteps originated: she came from the south.

Most of your units are pushed towards the north, where Levi stated the job would take place.

One of the seasoned lackeys, a younger man, grunts to her in response. “Who’s askin’?”

“I need to speak with James,” she urges, ignoring his question with a wavering tone. “Please—”

“She’s busy, kid,” the second man replies. “Spit it out if somethin’—”

“They caught Levi!”

Her shriek almost makes your foot slip, causing a roof shingle to dislodge.

Time ceases to exist.

Levi.

Below you hear the young men argue with her and the exchange of pleas that follow, but there is no distinction of sound to you. Their words are muddied as if your head has been dunked underwater.

You can't run to her. Anxiety grabs you by the scruff of your neck to hold you in place.

What's wrong with Levi?

Move.

Did something happen to Levi?

Move.

Without thinking, your hand ignites the ODM switch in your left hand to propel a spear into the stone wall from across the street. 

You swiftly swing down from your perch, finally catching a glimpse of the girl in question:

The girl — you remember her first name being Lucy — is as pale as a ghost. Her entire body trembles like a decaying leaf, as though she’s witnessed something horrific that she can’t scrub from her line of sight.

(What the hell did she see?)

Her shoulders relax once she spies your face, but not enough to quell your concern when tears well into her eyes.

“James! Oh my god, you’re here,” Lucy breathes, taking a step forward like you’re willing to console her with a comforting arm. "I tried to get here as fast as I—"

“Repeat what you just said about Ackerman,” you demand without solace. “Now.”

You take one pace back, ignoring the spike in your heart rate as the scenario snowballs in your mind’s eye.

From your peripheral vision, you see several others from the gang join the fray.

The two other lookouts on Lucy’s team run down the tiny guarded street, equally out of breath and panicked.

“We saw it happen in the southeast corner!” one of the running girls exclaim.

You — and the rest of the gang — turn in that direction. You can feel your throat seize.

He said the job was going to be in the northern half of the city.

How the fuck did they end up in the south quadrant?

"We followed them when the job changed course," Lucy explains as if she can read your mind. "Levi ordered Furlan and Isabel to cut south. Too many MPs were waiting in the north."

"But the job was in the north," you numbly reason.

“It might have been a trap, we don't know!" she desperately chirps. "A bunch of MPs went after them on ODM gear so we followed by foot. They were chasing Furlan through the streets. A few of them fell back and we thought maybe they gave up, but then a bunch of new people came out of nowhere and they all had green cloaks with wings—”

“Wings?” you snap, unable to stop your eyes from widening.

You whip your attention back to the young girl. Lucy cowers at your unyielding gaze.

“...yeah,” she answers, meek and uncertain. “They didn’t have the same jackets as the MPs. They had wings on their backs, on the cloaks and the jackets.”

A cloud of fearful whispers spreads like wildfire through the small crowd, infecting the minds of the reconnaissance team under your command.

It isn’t uncommon anymore for the Military Police patrolling the Underground to show up with ODM gear. It used to be a rarity, but now? They know better than to show up empty-handed.

Years of embarrassment have taught the thick-headed MPs a valuable lesson.

But green cloaks — and wings?

You can’t be mistaken by their meaning:

The Scout Regiment.

The military branch where suckers with death wishes band together to expire. They seek to explore the unknown, taking off on brainless expeditions past the city walls and into whatever Hell awaits on the other side.

(Why the fuck would they send the goddamn suicide squad to the Underground?)

You don’t need to live on the surface to know the stories: a third of Scout recruits barely make it past their first mission. And by the end of their first service year, the death toll rises to half. 

The only dumbasses left standing with the Wings of Freedom on their back are those who desperately want to die but can never find the right titan to eat them.

And, according to the stories, their missions beyond Wall Maria always come up empty-handed.

A thought passes through your mind like a papercut, stinging your blood cells with the very real possibility that they’ve turned their efforts inward — whether at the demand of the king or the disappointment of the people paying their salaries is unclear.

(Is the Underground City their new playground?)

If so, then Levi — this gang — could very well be their first dedicated target.

“Where?” 

The word spills out of your mouth, starting in your mind as a demand but dissolving to a murmur.

Going, running, to wherever the Military Police — or God forbid, the Scout Regiment — have your friends is the only plan of action you can think of. 

You’re supposed to make sure the people here are fine.

The need to run — go, go, go — far outweighs your logic.

“I…” The girl falters.

You hate how your voice erupts in the wake of your fear. “Where, Lucy?!”

“I don’t know! I lost track of them!” she yelps, squeezing her amber eyes shut. The hands at her sides are balled into tight, painful fists. “Isabel and Furlan got taken down by some MPs, but Levi kept going on ODM gear. He outran most of the MPs, but there was a man, a tall blonde guy, who—”

“Was he a Scout?” you press on, gritting your teeth. “Did you see the Wings of Freedom?”

“The fucking Scouts are here?” someone yelps behind you. “Oh, shit, dude. Oh, man…”

“What the hell are they doing down here?” another asks next to him. “They don’t fuck with the Underground!”

“Did the Wall missions fail?” an older girl asks under her breath. “Are they coming to wipe all of the Underground City out now?”

“Quiet,” you order, holding up a hand. It takes tensing your arm to keep the limb from shaking. “Lucy: where did you last see Levi?”

“The blonde man chased him out of the sky and into the streets. No one knows. We couldn’t see where they went, but it… I’m so sorry, James.”

Lucy’s voice is so small that you barely hear her.

All you can focus on is his voice ringing in your head, a whisper against the thin line of white noise filling your body.

Protect them.

You’re ready.

You’re so ready to fire up your ODM gear to chase after him, to fight off every single bastard who thinks about laying a finger on your friends.

We won’t get arrested. We’re too fast on ODM gear.

“What do we do, James?”

The MPs won’t stand a chance.

“Can she hear us? Is she freaking out?”

You want me to be the last person standing.

“James!”

Lucy shrieks in your face, breaking your delusion.

You blink back into your body to see a dozen faces staring back at you in various stages of grief.

Fear.

You focus on the way a tear streams down Lucy’s youthful face. It brings you back to when you picked her up off the streets. A kid, just like you, looking for food scraps and shelter — her mother had passed away at a young age, leaving her to fend for herself.

You knew what that was like, so you promised protection. A roof over her head. Food in her belly.

A chance at life.

Just like he once gave to you.

Now you’re the only leader left standing. The other three are either arrested — or worse.

You’re all that stands between dragging her back to the streets or pushing her to the gallows.

(You’re all anyone in this gang has.) 

I need you to be safe.

Levi’s voice tickles the outer shell of your ear, whispering past despite the dead wind.

You want to hate him. You really do.

But you promised.

Lucy’s lower lip trembles as she takes a step forward. 

This time you stay put, too frozen from the numbness in your body. 

“James… please, tell us: what do we do?”

You don’t know.

You wish you did, but you don’t know.

You want to tell them to run, to run as fast as they can and never look back.

You want to tell them that you don’t know how to do this without Isabel or Furlan.

You want to tell them you’d rather die than know a life without Levi.

But you promised.

I’ll keep them safe.

I know you will. Echoing in your mind like an omen. I trust you.

“If they’re arrested, then the MPs will be storming the apartment at any minute.”

You finally answer without an ounce of emotion. You can’t stomach thinking past protocol.

“We don’t have time to get our stuff. Organize yourselves into teams of three. Find the safe houses and don't come out until you hear from me. Take a single runner out to Roxy’s. They owe me a few favors, so they should give you table scraps until this blows over.”

“Are you getting Ackerman?” An older girl holding onto her brother’s small shoulders pipes up from your right.

“And Church?” Another person asks. “Magnolia?”

Refusing to think further than the present crisis, you shake your head.

“They all knew the risks of this heist. Right now, my priority is keeping everyone here safe. So go — and avoid detection the best you can. Leave the rest to me, alright?"

You pause, making eye contact with those staring at you. In front of you is a gradient of nerves.

(Everyone knows the risks of running with a gang in the Underground, no matter the price.)

"I said go, goddamnit!”

At your shouted order, most don’t hesitate to run.

The crowd forms into smaller clusters of refugees as they run towards the emergency routes you’ve mapped a hundred times before.

You don’t have time to panic.

You don’t have time to mourn about what could have been.

(A house gleaming in the sunlight with its windows open. The scent of a fresh meal being cooked. The soft meow overlapping over pleasant conversation about nothing at all.)

After all, you made a promise — 

And if three of the Underground’s most notorious gang leaders have been caught, then it’s only a matter of time until the manhunt ends with you.

.

.

.

.

  Week after week, your numbers dwindle. 

Day in and day out, houses are raided for anyone associated with Ackerman, Church, and Magnolia.

Bars, brothels, and drug dens are scoured for that missing puzzle piece.

Military Police, emboldened by their victory, are adamant to find anyone involved in their gang.

Most found are arrested.

Some offer information for a chance at immunity.

By the fourth week, the gang dissolves into half of its original number.

However, the rampant pursuit slows after the sixth week, and by the seventh, the Military Police stop searching.

The city becomes boisterous again for an entirely different reason, falling back to its routes of debauchery and strife.

Panic of those still in hiding twists into remorse, remorse into doubt, and soon the doubt creeps into what was once an impenetrable fortress.

And somewhere you failed.

Maybe it was because you kept your promise and never went after Levi, Isabel, and Furlan the day they disappeared.

Maybe it was because no one ever saw them again, creating a shroud of mystery in their disappearances. Most people assumed they were arrested and tortured for information. Others hoped they were able to at least die in a merciful way.

Or maybe, just maybe, it’s because you gave up.

The longer you fought without your three friends, the longer you ran around the Underground City hiding from authority, the harder it became to remember why you were trying so hard to be the last person standing. 

Hiding with nothing to go back to — that was what waited for you at the end of all of this.

To make new headquarters on mere piles of rubble, alone.

People continue to get caught. 

People continue to lose their lives.

You were ready—

Ready to give up.

Ready to join the fate of so many others.

Ready to lose.

(All things considered, you had a good run.)

.

.

.

.

  Eight weeks.

It takes eight whole weeks for someone to finally rat you out.

In exchange for immunity, a scared newcomer snitched to the Military Police about the location of your hideout — and you can’t blame them.

The Underground City has always been a dog-eat-dog pit.

That, however, doesn’t mean you don’t still run.

The crisp, metallic zip of the pulley cuts the air every time you push through the alleyways, leaving the Military Police unit in the dust. Wind frays your hair, whipping pieces of it into your face as you run along brick walls and push for the a momentous swing.

It has been weeks of these chases, all evaded in the dust, but something feels different about this pursuit.

The officers feel confident this time.

Ready.

Another unit of MPs pursue on foot, shouting and taunting for your surrender, but they're no match for your swift escape.

The two officers following with ODM gear cannot match the sharpness of your turns.

You don’t know why you keep running.

Why can’t you just stop running?

In your lingering rage you almost want to turn back, take a knife, and attack.

To earn the heaviness of a murder charge on your shoulders. 

You want to lash out—

To make someone hurt— 

But you just keep running.

In your time of solitude, you've wondered how the end of all things went that day. Did those pigs take turns kicking Furlan with his hands tied behind his back? Did they drag Isabel through the street? Did they cut out Levi's tongue for back talk?

You hope they gave the MPs hell.

The imaginative injustices — the cruelty — fuels your fantasy of revenge.

Through another alleyway and into the streets, you latch onto another building and swing to your left to continue through the streets of— 

Wait.

Skirting around a corner, you see something briefly whip around a corner in a cloud of exhaust.

(Was that emerald?)

Your attention turns to the distinct color that entered your line of sight before it disappears.

Your eyes widen with recognition, but it's too late.

You failed again.

One look to your side is all it takes for a solid, heavy object to slam straight into you from the opposite direction, knocking a spear clean out of the neighboring wall.

The ODM gear jolts, causing you to jerk and drop abruptly to the dirt beneath. Your forearms shield your face from the dirt and debris as your body skids across the dirt path.

Before you even realize what's happening, you're scrambling to your feet. Metal clangs from the jostled handles in your palms as you push yourself up.

Your right arm reels back, fist clenched, and flies in an attempt to connect — and it does.

The punch lands directly in someone's face. The bone crunches under you knuckles.

A person yells in pain and grabs their nose, giving you ample opportunity to attack further. Your leg swings, kicking your boot square into their abdomen. You recognize the way their breath squelches: the wind rips right out of their lungs.

You want them to feel pain, just as you’ve felt pain.

You want them to suffer, just as you've suffered.

It doesn't matter who they are.

When the attacker is incapacitated, you make a choice: you turn the opposite direction, taking off into a sprint.

And you run, if only for a few seconds.

Because that very same emerald flash appears in your peripheral vision.

In just one breath, your feet get tangled up and send you flying to the ground you'd just found yourself lying upon.

A pair of hands suddenly tug at the back of your shirt, pushing you further into the muddied street. A forceful forearm presses down harder, pinning you to the ground. A pebble digs into your cheekbone, its jagged edge slicing into your skin. 

Trapped.

You grit your teeth, fighting the painful hold with everything you have. You shout and yell like a woman possessed, kicking your boots deeper into the Earth to propel forward, but you can't move.

(Give up — why can’t you just give up?)

Then a deep baritone voice pulls you from your erratic defenses, smooth like honey.

“James.”

Your last name on a stranger's tongue makes your stomach churn.

You continue fighting, digging the toe of your boot further for purchase.

Suddenly pain explodes in your scalp. Something pulls your chin high from the crown on your head, forcing your attention to the sky. What greets you is a tall, built figure above.

From the street lamp, you see it’s a man — early thirties, broad shouldered, with piercing blue eyes and neatly-combed blonde hair.

This mysterious man stares down at you, standing at full height. He doesn't acknowledge the person holding you down, knotting your hair in their balled fist.

One after the other, two more emerald cloaks drop down from the sky, their faces obscured by their hoods.

Blinking away from his face, you see it: his tan, cropped jacket, with white and blue wings outstretched against one another, pointing high with dignity.

The Wings of Freedom.

It's the Survey Corps, in the flesh.

“Four whole Scouts for little old me?” you chide.

The person holding you down rips your torso up higher, causing an immense strain in your spine.

You wince at the sensation of nearly being broken in half but refuse to make noise.

They don't get that satisfaction, not yet.

(You've felt worse.)

The blonde man above you does not react. He continues to stare, however, when he addresses another in his squadron.

“Get her up on her knees, Miche.”

The man behind you — presumably Miche — yanks you from the dirt to settle you on your calves. Without your arms to support you, you’re left floundering at his will.

“What?” you ask through clenched teeth. "Are the Scouts so bored of getting eaten alive that they've come to the Underground on a field trip?”

The man makes a noncommittal noise in the back of his throat. His crystal blue eyes slide slowly from the crown of your head, past your face, then rest at your chest.

“Surface made?” he comments in a languid, baritone voice.

When you jostle against Miche's grip on your back, a feather-esque sensation brushes across your sternum.

Then you realize:

He’s staring at your necklace.

“Stolen?” the blonde man asks again, and venom poisons your tongue at his slander. Somehow you manage to hold a response.

You sneer instead, turning your attention to the side of a building.

A painful beat passes.

You hear the man’s boots near, crunching under packed dirt.

“My name is Commander Erwin Smith, of the Survey Corps," he introduces, not fazed by your lack of cooperation. "I was informed that you’re not only the muscle of this operation, but one of its four founding leaders. Is this true?”

He’s met with another stretch of silence.

“Handling operations for seven weeks without the help of your comrades is impressive.”

Another step.

“Or has it been closer to eight?”

“What do you want, surface scum?” you finally murmur, eyes locked on a particular patch of moss growing at the foundation of the building.

He exhales through his nose, contemplating. You continue to look away.

“Your protection is gone, James," Erwin begins. "Your gang, eradicated. Your people have fled — abandoned you, to save themselves.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” you tell him.

Erwin evades your feigned ignorance. “A bounty has been on your head for two months. You’ve done all you can to avoid detection, but from where I stand, I see someone out of options.”

Your nostrils flare, unwilling to betray yourself in the face of the truth.

He isn’t wrong — it’s been the end of the line for weeks now.

You’ve run on borrowed time and a promise you barely believe in anymore.

You’re so tired.

“The Military Police would be glad to round out their gallows with someone responsible for embarrassing them so thoroughly.”

Is that where Levi ended up, in the gallows next to Isabel and Furlan?

(Are they no longer alive, just as everyone suspected?)

When you continue to stare at the adjacent wall, the man behind you tugs at your mangled hair and rips your focus back to the man in front of you.

The toe of the Commander’s boot is in line with your muddied knee.

From this angle, he's practically on top of you.

“However, I believe the finality of a noose is a great waste of potential talent.”

His eyes bore into yours when he slowly, carefully, drops to your height. His ivory-white knee plants gently into the dirt.

You blink up to his face, unable to suppress your confusion.

“Potential talent?” you hiss back, ignoring the searing pain in your scalp. “What is this, a pitch?”

The Commander hums. “I don’t pretend to know how extensive your crimes are, James. What I do know, however, is that you have an out.”

“Yeah?” you ask. “And what’s that, O' Golden One?”

Erwin’s eyes drop to the ground, so you follow suit without moving your head. From the edge of your vision you see it — the ODM gear still hooked around your hips.

“How long did it take you to properly handle ODM gear?” he asks with a genuine intrigue.

“Barely took me a week,” you lie under your breath.

“I wouldn’t doubt it,” he agrees. “Most of our recruits take months, sometimes even years, to masterfully scale the way you can.”

“Sounds shitty to me.”

“In a way.” A beat passes. Commander Erwin’s jaw sets. “Which is why I’m asking you to join the Scout Regiment under my command.”

You can’t help it — the anger disappears in a bark of a laugh.

It’s a request you never see coming, not a million years or a thousand lifetimes.

You’ve avoided the Military Police for weeks, only for a Scout to offer you… what? A twisted version of salvation in his army? 

The words blurt out of your mouth faster than you can help it.

“Join the Scouts?” He nods once to your yelp of a question. “Are you fucking insane?”

“Are you?” Erwin challenges. “Both options lead to your death. The only difference is choosing to make your death matter.”

“A noose or being eaten alive,” you snidely respond. “Gosh, Commander, which sounds less painful?”

“What do you think your friends would have selected, if given a choice?”

The swiftly-timed question is a punch straight to your gut.

Unable to stop your eyes from widening, you hate how your blood chills with panic.

How you can see that glint in the commander’s eyes when he’s finally, finally, caught your weak spot.

Seeing the visceral reaction, he continues. "Before they expired, would they have chosen to die here? Or would they have chosen a new life."

Was he saying…?

Was he saying they were already dead?

Isabel. Furlan.

Le…

Your lower lip trembles as you hold back from thinking about that final name.

You barely recognize your own voice when you speak, low and dangerous.

“How dare you…”

Erwin’s gaze is unwavering. “I’m asking you—”

“Don’t talk about them.”

“—what would they have chosen.”

“I said don’t talk about them!” you shout in his face, losing your cool.

His chin tilts a fraction of an inch, expression stoic.

“Then what about your fellow comrades, the people who laid down their lives for your safety — would they have wanted a chance?”

Despite yourself, you push with your boot to propel towards the blonde. “You disgusting piece of sh— fuck!”  

Miche rips your head back impossibly further, exposing your neck to the Commander. Erwin stands tall, pulling out a long sword from its metal sheath. The cool, sharp end of the blade rests against your throat.

If he wanted to, he could end your life right here in the streets.

If he wanted to, he could make this so much easier on you.

But he won’t.

This isn’t about ease.

It’s about power, control — total submission.

A part of you wants to push against the blade to make it easier.

No noose. No titans.

Just here.

But you promised.

Last one standing.

“...what happened to them?” you ask, unable to stop the crack in your voice.

If this is it, then you might as well know.

Commander Erwin keeps his blade held towards you. “I don’t know.”

“But it was you that day, wasn’t it?” You ease down to your knees again. Miche loosens his hold on your body. “You're the one that went after them two months ago. When there was a heist, it wasn’t just MPs chasing them. There were Scouts—”

“I don’t have all day, James.”

He interrupts the beginning of your emotional spiral with cutthroat apathy. His arm lowers when you do not retaliate. 

“Your hand-to-hand combat expertise is needed within our regiment. Combine that with your unique ODM handling, and I see a formidable redemption in your future—”

He continues to speak, detailing your servitude should you accept his terms.

You can feel the fight, the fire, ebbing to dying ember.

You’re so tired.

You’re so done with running.

(I’m so sorry, Levi.)

“—and you would presume a title under my command, the rank of a Lieutenant—”

“Wait.”

He pauses when you speak up, catching the oddity of his words. Your lifeless vision connects with his.

“Lieutenants don’t exist in your shitty Scout Corps.”

Erwin nods. “That’s correct. Lieutenants do not."

"Then why..."

"A title will deter animosity. Those who look down at you cannot question your authority."

"Because I'm not from the surface," you reason.

"Yes," he says.

"You're willing to give me an edge on the rest of your people. Why?" You watch him, trying to figure him out before he tells you for himself. “Why not just make me regular front-line titan fodder?”

Erwin seems to consider this, if only for a beat.

Then he speaks with an unshakable certainty:

“Because you know what it means to survive. That, in itself, is vital.”

Your shoulders slump as your body shuts down from the eternal fight.

So this is a choice, but it’s no choice at all.

Your life will not matter in the Scouts. The commander is right: you will die, perhaps not today, but at least choosing the Scouts guarantees the sunrise one single time.

Just like you once promised you'd see with the three of your friends.

And in the moment you mourn — the loss of your friends, the loss of your life, what could have been if that job really had worked out.

(What does it matter when you die, so long as it's soon?)

You grip onto a sense of hopelessness like a vice.

Grief.

Then—

Rage.

As swift as a sudden earthquake, you feel it tremble from your shins to your knees, up your torso and through your heart, filling every red hot blood cell in your body.

It was him.

You’re so sure of it.

Commander Erwin would have been the one responsible for turning Levi, Furlan, and Isabel into the Military Police. He was the one who would have sent your friends to their deaths — or did he kill them himself?

And if he was the one to kill them, then why would he offer you a choice to escape?

(Was this the same choice he gave the others?)

Levi would have never agreed to the Scouts. Furlan, Isabel — they would have followed whatever he chose.

They must have died the very day the heist went wrong eight weeks ago.

It’s why Erwin won’t confirm or deny their fates.

Sickness floods your body, but you hold onto the one thing that will keep their spark with you.

That rage.

They really think you’ll comply.

They really think you won’t burn and take the Scout Regiment down with you.

You’ll kill him.

You’ll kill Commander Erwin Smith, then Miche, then every single Scout that steps into your path until someone’s smart enough to take you down themselves.

“Fine, then.”

You speak, knowing your word is as doomed as the fire in your veins.

“I’ll do it."

You meet Erwin's intense gaze, signing your fate with blood on the dotted line.

"I’ll join the Scouts.”

.

author's note: I'm glad we collectively giggled and screamed and kicked our feet in the last few chapters. It was a marvelous time. Now I'm out here ruining everything.

tag list: @lazylizzy3 @notgoodforlife @sad-darksoul @dailydoseof-love @maliakealoha @nube55 @kateastrophies @blinkingsuns @gomigami @voidszoro @tanyeonn @chishiyasan @im-just-a-simp-le-whore @vigilancio @nomi98 @urfavcelestialangel @milkersonmac @blossomedfloweroflove @carries-blenders-and-stuff @hurtcomfortwhore

[is-the-battlemech-cool-or-not]

Atlas Gewitter AS7-K3-Tb2

Gewitter was the custom command 'Mech of Lieutenant General Theodora Marten-Steiner, notable for her role in the early formation of the Third Star League SLDF, Operation TOUCHDOWN, Operation WINDFALL, and the later Lyran War of Reclamation. Famous in her eventual role as commander of the hyper-elite Royal Guards RCT, the Lieutenant General also served as the second commanding officer of the Royal Black Watch regiment, after its second re-founding in 3151.

Gewitter is built on the Atlas chassis, though a great deal of modification has made it truly one-of-a-kind. The original platform upon which the venerable ‘Mech was built was the Atlas AS7-K3, notable for its inclusion of jump jets. They remained a hallmark of Gewitter, carrying through to the final model, introduced on the battlefields of Helios in October 3153, much to the horror of the Word of Blake forces at the Battle of Fort Bayeux.

Gewitter is, at first glance, a fairly standard Atlas mech, originally of Defiance Industries manufacture. However, after two major refits, very little remains of the original K3 as it entered service in 3134.

The first refit was conducted by the MechTechs of Skobel Mechworks at their Yakima Proving Grounds on Terra. There, for a time, Gewitter sat opposite Test Unit Sierra Five - the original Mackie and the first ever BattleMech - while the Atlas was fully rebuilt. The refit focused on integrating mixed Inner Sphere and Clan technology along with additional command gear, armor, and sensors; steps were also taken to shave weight from the original design. This further enhanced its pilot’s dynamic, fluid style with greater maneuverability. An extra additional step added late in the refit process, as ordered by Commanding General Melissa Hazen herself, saw Gewitter's right hand fitted with a half-ton, 24-karat engagement ring, complete with the largest natural diamonds ever cut in human history - the inside band of which was etched in micro-font with the entire Jade Falcon Remembrance. This ring remained upon Gewitter's right arm, even after the wedding of Hazen and Marten-Steiner in the aftermath of Operation TOUCHDOWN.

The second refit, performed on the battlefields of Helios by Star Captain (later Khan) Xerxes Truscott of Clan Star Adder, focused primarily on the integration of two newly designed, powerful, and devastating weapons: the Clan-spec Light Gauss Rifle and the Pile Bunker.

After this second and final refit, Gewitter was equipped as follows:

Atlas 'Gewitter' AS7-K3-Tb2

Mass: 100 tons Chassis: Skobel 100-Lite Variable Composite Biped Power Plant: Defiance Clan-Grade 400 XL Cruising Speed: 43.2 kph Maximum Speed: 64.8 kph Jump Jets: Standard Jump Capacity: 90 meters Armor: Duralex Ferro-Fibrous w/ CASE II Armament: 1 Light Gauss Rifle 1 Streak SRM 4 2 ER Large Laser 1 Pile Bunker Manufacturer: Defiance Industries (original)/Skobel MechWorks (refit #1)/Fursona's Fusiliers (refit #2) Primary Factory: Defiance Manufacturing Annex - Kwangjong-Ni (original)/Yakima Proving Grounds, Terra (refit 1)/Argo Mechbay (refit #2) Communication System: Clan-enhanced Irian E.A.R. w/ Nova CEWS & Studebaker-T19 Battle Computer Targeting & Tracking System: Clan-enhanced Army Corporation Type 29K w/ Advanced Targeting Computer (w/ VRT) Introduction Year: 3153 Tech Rating/Availability: F/X-X-X-X Cost: 34,853,333 C-bills

Type: Atlas 'Gewitter' Technology Base: Mixed (Unofficial) Tonnage: 100 Battle Value: 2,729

Equipment Mass Internal Structure Composite 5 Engine 400 XL 26.5 Walking MP: 4 Running MP: 6 Jumping MP: 3 Double Heat Sink 10 [20] 0 Gyro 4 Small Cockpit (Armored) 3 Armor Factor (Ferro) 297 15.5 Internal Armor Structure Value Head 3 9 Center Torso 31 47 Center Torso (rear) 5 R/L Torso 21 32 R/L Torso (rear) 10 R/L Arm 17 34 R/L Leg 21 42

Right Arm Actuators: Shoulder, Upper Arm, Lower Arm, Hand Left Arm Actuators: Shoulder, Upper Arm, Lower Arm, Hand

Weapons and Ammo Location Critical Heat Tonnage Triple Strength Myomer RT/LT/RA/LA/RL/LL 1/per - 0.0 Jump Jet CT 1 - 2.0 Jump Jet RT 1 - 2.0 CASE II (Clan) RT 1 - 0.5 Light Gauss Rifle Ammo (32) RT 2 - 2.0 Streak SRM 4 Ammo (25) RT 1 - 1.0 Pile Bunker Ammo (5) RT 1 - 1.0 Pile Bunker Ammo (2) RT 1 - 0.5 Targeting Computer LA 4 - 4.0 ER Large Laser (Clan) LA 1 12 4.0 Engagement Ring* LA - - 0.5 Jump Jet LT 1 - 2.0 CASE II LT 1 - 0.5 Streak SRM 4 (Clan) LT 1 3 2.0 Light Gauss Rifle (Clan)** LT 4 1 11.0 Armored Cowl (Armored) HD 1 - 1.5 Nova Combined Electronic Warfare System HD 1 - 1.5 ER Large Laser (Clan) RA 1 12 4.0 Pile Bunker (Clan)*** RA 6 - 6.0 * = gives a -1/-1 morale bonus to pilot and gunnery skills - if (and only if) Theodora Marten-Steiner is piloting. ** = Heat 1, Dmg 12, Min.Rng 2, Short.Rng 1-7, Med.Rng: 8-16, Long.Rng: 17-24, Tons: 11, Crit.Slots: 4, Ammo/Ton: 16 *** = A Pile Bunker inflicts one point of damage for every five tons the 'Mech weighs. When punching with a Pile Bunker, the user can choose to fire the pile, expending one shot of ammunition (5 ammo per ton) and generating 5 heat, scoring a critical on the location hit with a -2 modifier. In addition, if armor remains after an attack where the Pile Bunker has been fired, roll for a second critical hit with a -2 modifier. For each critical dealt, also deal one point of internal damage to that location.

Features the following design quirks: Battle Computer, Battle Fists, Combat Computer, Cowl, Distracting, Easy to Pilot, Extended Torso Twist, Fine Manipulators, Illegal Design (Custom Weapons+Custom Equipment), Improved Communications, Improved Sensors, Multi-Trac, Nimble Jumper, Reinforced Legs, Variable Range Targeting

[petiteprincesses]

Hello, again! Welcome back to Petite Princesses! With Princess Maker 2 Regeneration out (except for the PlayStation), I decided it’d be polite of me to create a basic guide to some of the simple parts! This one will be about everything from the starting menu!

Bear in mind that due to the change in localization (bless the Translators), I’ll refer to each stat by all 3 English names on first mention, but I’ll default to the latest translation from then on. As well, I’ll be using Centimeters and Kilometers for ease of reference. Furthermore, I’ll be using Refine for screenshots.

Here’s our basic screen, of which you can see many different things. I’ve labeled them accordingly, and I’ll speak of each tab in detail!

I☆I

CURRENT DATE: A Box where you can tell the day— the year is on top (1210), with the month (April 4) and the day of the week (Sunday) on the left, with the day of the month (the Fourth) on the right. The game starts on your daughters 10th birthday, and ends on her 18th (in our case, April 4th 1218)

I☆I

STAR: I didn’t label this myself, but the “Star” section on the right side info box is pretty important. Here, our daughter’s sign is Aries (Mars), and her blood type is B. Your star sign determines starting statistics and a +100 bonus from slaying a certain foe that I’ll mention later, while type influences passive stat increases. I’ll explain the exacts in another post someday, but for the impatient, googling Patrons on the Princess Maker Fandom Wiki should do the trick!

I☆I

ARM/WPN: This is her equipment! You can set it in the menu marked ITEM (the box with the sword, shield, and scroll). All equipment can be equipped at any point, and your armor is even visible during (non errantry) battles!

I☆I

STATUS: Here she will have her statuses— there are 3 in the game. Sick (Stress > Constitution/Stamina, represented by a Skull) lowers her HP in combat and can lead to her demise, Degrade (Stress > Morality or Faith, whatever is higher, represented by blue lightning) makes her less likely to work properly and risks being arrested (lowering your reputations) / wasting your money (happens mostly during free time but can occur during working hours), and Love (Triggered by an event when she’s 14 that requires her Charisma/Glamour stat to be the highest, represented by a Pink Heart) that lasts 3 months, makes her less likely to work, and lowers 3 of her hidden stats (Relationship with Father, Cube, and Prince— the last of which could be troublesome for getting the ending).

I☆I

HER MEASUREMENTS: This ones pretty simple— it’s her Height, Weight, and Three Sizes (Bust/Waist/Hips). In modern releases, it uses Centimeter/Kilograms, but in the original DOS en leak, its Inches and Pound. If she’s overweight, then she cannot wear certain clothes (all that aren’t the Siren Robes, Cotton Dress, or seasonal outfits). You can tell her weight by her sprite. As well, you can calculate her threshold by .95[height]-[Age + 87]. To get a rough idea, let’s punch in our daughter from earlier, Alice. At 146 centimeters, .95 x 146 is 138.7. Now, she’s 10, so 10 + 87 is 97. 138.7 - 97 is 41.7. Behold, she’ll turn overweight the second the “weight” bar is “41.70”, but if she’s at “41.69”, it’s fine. Though I am to assume rounding is in play!

(Do mind the different stats of her three sizes��� I don’t have the original file, so I had to make a replacement with the necessary stats!)

I☆I

STATS: Brings up a Menu. For Clarity, below is the side bar from Regeneration. I will list the stats in order, with every name applicable in the order of DOS/Refine/Regen.

Constitution/Stamina: Determines your daughter’s HP. Needs at least 50 to be good at most jobs. Also determines your daughter’s health. Most easily raised by Farming. Likely to be Lowered by Dieting

Strength: A bonus to Attack: 8 points of Strength is equivalent to 1 attack point. Most easily raised by Farming. Likely to be Lowered by Salon.

Intelligence: Essentially, her MP. Needs at least 10 to cast a magic attack. Most easily raised by Science. Likely to be Lowered by Bar work

Refinement/Elegance: Not particularly important unless you’re doing a Ruling Queen run— in which case it needs to be 800. You may need this to get random proposals (which means money!) Most easily raised by Decorum, or if you’re cheap, Lucifon in the Desert. Likely to be Lowered by Farming, so it’ll be zero for a while

Charisma/Glamour: Usually important for special marriage endings. Can cause a few problems such as Attempted Sexual Assault, becoming someone’s Mistress (if it’s her highest stat, indicated by her different facial expression), and generally being asked out. Easily raised by Dance, if you’re cheap (again) Lucifon in the Desert, or the Sleazy/Illegal Bar if you’re willing to tank the stress.

Morality: Need at least 30 for a basic marriage ending. Can also play a part in rejecting the more gross offers she may encounter, as well as being able to stave off delinquency if it’s higher than Faith. If it’s your highest stat, you may encounter a deal that will sell all of it for Equivocal Gold. Easily raised by Church Work, or simply being born with Type A blood. Likely to be Lowered by the aforementioned demonic deals.

Faith: Staves off Delinquency if higher than Morality. It’s definitely a stat that exists. Easily raised by Church, which can also prevent the demon from showing up to eat her morals. Likely to be Lowered by Science.

Sin/Karma: If it’s over 100/250, she will get a Sin ending. If it’s 500 (along with some decent fighter/magic reputation), she will instantly become the Queen of Darkness by the end. You’ll likely get this by killing anything in Errantry, but other “Sinful” acts like the illegal bar and hunting animals will raise it too. Can be sold off for 100g per 10 points, or simply going to Church for work normally.

Sensitivity: It’ll let her see what’s usually “mythical”, such as Fairies and the such if she goes where they hang out. If it’s the highest, she’ll run away, lowering her reputations. Easily raised by Salon work, but can be raised in a multitude of fun ways.

Stress: This is mostly a problem early game. So long as it doesn’t exceed her Morality/Faith or stamina stats, she’s in the clear. It can go to Zero in certain events, such as witnessing Fairies, so if you plan right, Free Time doesn’t have to happen.

Combat Skill: Essentially, your Hit/Dodge rate. Essential for any adventurer, otherwise you’re unable to do ANYTHING! Easily raised by Fighting/Kung-fu classes, but the tempting Restaurant and Inn can lower it.

Attack: Exactly what it says. It determines your daughter’s attack stat. Separate from your strength, but both will result in your “total” attack. Easily raised by Fencing and most Swords. Difficult to lose.

Defense: A difficult stat to raise terribly high. Also exactly what it says on the tin. Can be gained consistently by second level Kung-Fu classes, but not terribly fast. Also, most armor increases it.

All of these skills will be boosted by the spirit Valkyria, first Skill, then Attack, then Defense. When you get to 400 Fighters Reputation, as well as 40 instances of Fencing, Kung-Fu, or Errantry, you’ll receive the Valkyria Sword— which is the second best sword in the game, with 25 attack, 10 defense, and 18 skill.

Magic Skill: Like Combat Skill, but for Magic. Easily raised by Magic Classes. Impossible to lose.

Magic Attack: Much like Attack, but for Magic. Unlike Attack, there isn’t another stat that also functions as an attack bonus, but Magic tends to be what most of the tougher bosses are weak to. Easily raised by Magic Classes.

Magic Defense: It’s like Defense, but easier to raise! In fact, there’s a few ways to raise it! Unfortunately, most things that can do Magic can’t hit you once you’re skilled enough, so this is mainly for Wendy. Can be raised by Theology or working at the Graveyard. Likely to be lowered at Science (but slowly)

All of these skills will be boosted by the sorceress Fay, first Magic Skill, then Magic Attack, then Magic Defense. When you get to 400 Magic Reputation, you’ll receive the Power Ring/Unrivaled Ring, letting you cast Magic without needing 11+ Intelligence. Unfortunately, you’ll have to waste a ton of money as this also requires 32 magic classes- which become Useless very fast. More importantly than that, if you do only Magic classes for a mont, she’ll come raise one of the Magic stats by 5. The stat she raises is of your choosing, so my recommendation Magic Attack.

Decorum: You need decorum to be able to speak to people at the palace. Easily(and for the most part, Only) raised by doing Decorum classes. Impossible to lose.

Art/Art Skill/Artistry: Impacts her Dance Contest score and determines what painting she’ll create in Art Class. For the record, if it’s the highest of the Housework/Social stats, the daughter will be locked into an Art based ending. Easily raised by… Painting Classes. Cannot be Lowered below 100 once you reach 100.

Conversation/Speech/Eloquence: Really only used for two characters at the castle. Only raised by Bar work. Impossible to lose.

All of these skills will be boosted by the demon Paimon, first Decorum, then Artistry, then Eloquence. When you get to 400 Social Reputation, as well as 64 instances of Painting, Dance, or Protocol, you’ll receive Perfume— which… attracts suitors. Which at the point you get it, you’ll already attract anyways.

Cooking: Very important for the Cooking contest. You will need at least 90+ to win, alongside high sensitivity.

Cleaning: An entirely useless stat. It only impacts your Housekeeping reputation.

Temperament/Personal/Temper: Solely important for the Queen. Likely to be lowered by Sinful Work.

All of these skills will be boosted by the spirit Domovoi, first Cooking, then Cleaning, then Temper. When you get to 400 House Reputation, as well as 120 instances of Housework, Bar work, or Restaurant work, you’ll receive the Perfect Flour— it guarantees a Cooking victory, but by the time you get it, you’ll be guaranteed to win anyways.

Fight Repuation: Derives from your “Combat” oriented stats. Can be raised further by winning fights with the sword, or a Dragon Fang. Serves as Morale if higher than Magic. Can be uniquely lowered by selling the “Royal Sword” I allude to.

Magic Repuation: Derives from your “Magic” oriented stats. Can be raised further by winning fights with Magic. Serves as Morale if higher than Fight.

Social Reputation: Derives from your “Social” oriented stats. Can be raised further by winning the Dance/Art contests. Can be uniquely lowered by talking to the Clown.

House Reputation: Derives from your “Housework” oriented stats. Can be raised further by winning the Cooking contest.

All reputations will be lowered by being arrested or running away from home.

But wait! There’s more!! Let’s bring up the Four Hidden stats!

Relationship with Father (called Father_love by Mad Eddy) is rather relevant- you can use it to scold her and dissuade her from things like delinquency and being a mistress. Easily raised by Vacations and just. Talking to her. Most likely to be lowered by Free Time (regardless of pocket money) and resting for the Harvest Festival. Needs to be 100 (along with some stats) to Marry Her.

Relationship with Cube (called Cube_love by Mad Eddy) is rather less relevant. Pretty much is only for the ending, where it needs to be 100. Can be conveniently raised by changing equipment on errantry- you can essentially spam it if you’re really into that.

Relationship with Prince (called Prince_love by Mad Eddy) is mostly just for the Ending, but this time it needs to be 96. Raised by 12 each time you meet him, so every January 31st must be spent with him.

All of them are subject to lower by 6 if she falls In Love.

Maternal Instinct is exactly what it says, Important for some endings (like Princess of Darkness for some reason). Raised by Babysitting and Tutoring. Lowered by Hunting (for. Some reason?)

I☆I

TALK: Lets you talk to your daughter. The Three option are Father-Daughter Chat/Father-Daughter talk, Pocket Money, and Scold/Lecture.

When you click Father-Daughter talk, you get 3 more options. How she is doing/Recent matters will prompt her to speak about, well, whatever she wants. Usually, it is about herself, such as her (in)ability to do art, or how she worries about her childrearing skills. After that is Her studies/About study, which is related to what you’ve been making her study— be it how she appreciates how Art brings people together, or how she’s the best magician ever. As for Other topics/Another topic, it’s known to have some weird conversations, usually relating to her body, sometimes relating to other things. As well, picking any option here will raise your internal “Relationship with Father” stat by 1– this is important for two things down the line.

Pocket Money is a lot less complicated, as it’s pretty straightforward. Essentially, you give your daughter 20 + 10x gold, with “X” being the second digit of her age. So, if your daughter is 10, that’s 20 + (10 x 0), which would just be 20. If she’s 18, that’s 20 + (10 x 8), which would be 100. However, while the price increases, the benefits do not— she will lose 20 stress when used, regardless of age. This option does not raise the internal stat mentioned above. As well, if sick, she will not accept your money, and if “Degrade”, she will take it, and it will not impact her stress.

Scold/Lecture is pretty useless… it doesn’t do anything but make your daughter look a little confused. If she’s sick, she’ll wonder if she’s doing something wrong— which will lower her stress by 5, for whatever reason, at least in the refine version. But what you’d actually want to use this feature for is when she’s being rowdy, indicated by the “DEGRADE” marker— it’ll lower her stress by her relationship with her father, (up to a 100 point stress loss!!), and then raise it by 5. If you’ve been playing up a daddy’s girl, this could be of great use.

I☆I

DIET: Now, this one’s a little interesting. You have the choice of 4 options, which tie to her weight and stamina! By selecting the Normal/Standard diet, you’ll have a daughter that gains roughly .20 kilograms per month. This is the default, and is also standard, costing 30g. By picking the Robust/Hearty diet, you’ll gain a little over .30 kilograms, but you’ll also gain 10 stamina at the end of every month. It costs 80g, but can be good if you’ve been neglecting your stamina intakes— or if you really want to bulk up early game with the right set up. Then there is the Slim down/Refined diet— In addition to lowering your weight gain to around .15 kilograms, it also lowers your Stamina by 5. It costs 10g, so it’s not really recommended, unless you’re about to cross the threshold. Finally is the Slim Down/Intensive diet. Here, you’ll lose a hefty 20 stamina, but in return you’ll lose around .50 kilograms, and it costs 5g. This is only worth it if you have stamina (and kilos!) to burn. It’s worth noting that if your daughter is getting a little too weak (low stamina), then Cube will swap to the Hearty diet, but you can simply change back to whatever diet you’d like.

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INFO: You’ll find personal information here, such as your daughters birth and her star sign. You’ll also find connections (Raised by talking to Palace Staff) and Sick/Delinquency percentages. One percent is equal to one point of stress over the stat mentioned in “Status”— you’ll need 90% Sickness (Critical) to become Bedridden (Which will kill you if it lasts at least 2 months, ending the game), and 90% Delinquency (A hooligan) to become a Gang Member (Which will get you arrested— a harsh penalty to your reputation stats).

I☆I

SHOP: Another doozy, but we’ll simplify, simplify, simplify!

The Armorer/Armoury is ran by Armorer Zeno/Zen, with Anita as a Part Time worker. Here you can buy equipment, which goes in the Armor/Weapon slots. You’re free to buy anything here, but I highly recommend buying a Dagger and Leather armor, especially if you’re not confident in “Rushing” strategies. Don’t worry! I’ll cover adventuring as a whole in a future post, maybe multiple

The Tailor is run by Maura, who sells clothes. The variety isn’t particularly extravagant, but this is where you’ll find the seasonal clothes. As well, the Cotton Dress is only 500g: you’ll always be able to afford it for the harvest festival if you’re not in debt. Otherwise, there’s not many tips I can give here, other than pick the clothes you find cute— though you can wear most of these only when you’re at least 13, sometimes older.

The Restaurant is ran by one Chef Balbon, and sometimes his part timer Marcia/Marthia. Here, you’ll find food that’ll lower your stress (or raise Stamina!) and raise your weight. Here’s a fun fact! The food is free if you don’t have the money— you’ll just have to spend your first month block working at the kitchen for free. Regardless of if you pay or not, you can only eat here once per month.

The Item/Pawn Shop is run by Shalom alongside his part time assistant Wendy. Here you can buy a few so-so items (which also serve as birthday gifts for when the day comes: you’ll have to buy from the first four items on the list), as well as a Healing Pill and Grenade for errantry. Unique to this shop, you’re able to sell items, though I’d be wary on selling anything that’s “Royal”.

The Church may ring some bells to history buffs— Sister Lee will ask you to donate 100g. Accept, and you’ll lose 10 sin! That’s its entire purpose. This can be used should you rack up far too many on a murder spree and not want to dedicate the time to church work, though it does feel rather humorous in its execution.

Lastly, is the Hospital/Clinic, with Doctor Lombardini asking if you’re sick, and if you are, charging a fee for an examination. When you pay the fee, you’ll lose stress up to one less than your stamina— which means if you don’t gain any more stress (ie- resting), you’ll recover by next month. Really unnecessary unless you’re high up on stress.

I☆I

CASTLE: Basically, a way to gain reputation, a lot of it if you know how to work it. First of all, the key stat here is Decorum, raised by Protocol Classes. Let’s get started, rapid fire motion!!

The Palace Guard/Gatekeeper will be your first stop, needing 10 decorum to speak properly (almost every birthday will start you with 10 decorum). His preferred stat is Refinement. Every 5 points in refinement is worth one point for Personal Connections (hereinafter referred to as just “Connections”). You can gain up to 15 points per visit this way, and 40 total.

Next is the Royal Knight/Imperial Guard Knight, who needs 30 decorum. His preferred stat is Refinement. Every 8 points of Refinement is worth one point for your connections. You can get up to 25 points per visit this way, and 50 total. Did you notice the text was identical? This guy isn’t very special. But since you’re raising elegance anyways, it’s worth a visit.

After that comes the General, who needs 50 decorum. His preferred stat is Glamour. And every 5 points of Glamour will be worth a point for your connection stat. You can max out your visit at 50 points for connection, and 120 total for the guy overall. If you’re raising Glamour, which you likely are if you’re raising your decorum, it’s worth checking him out, at least until you max at 50.

Making it to 70 Decorum lets you speak with the Minister of State. His preferred stat is Intelligence. Aside from the usual, that being that every 10 points is worth a connection point, up to 60 a visit for a maximum of 100, your connection to him specifically can net you bonuses at the Dance Party— specifically, a score boost. This is fun if you are a dirty cheater!

If you’re still raising your decorum, at 80 you’ll have the manners to speak to the Archbishop. His preferred stat is Faith. Like the Minister of State, 10 points is one connection point, and a visit will max at 60, but his overall max is 120. You’ll want to raise Faith anyways, so it won’t hurt to visit the old man.

Getting tired? Great! So is our next stop— at 85 decorum, you’ll speak to the King’s favorite #2, the Royal Concubine/Favorite Mistress. Her preferred stat is Conversation/Speech/Eloquence. Yes, that’s right! A stat with three names!! Eloquence is the Regeneration name. Anyways, every 10 points of Eloquence will equate to 1 point for connections, up to a maximum of… 10 per visit. Her total maximum is 120, but considering you only get this stat at the Bar, I wouldn’t bother.

Now to the King’s favorite #1, the Queen! She’d love to invite you for tea if you have 90 decorum. Her preferred stat is Temperament/Personal./Temper. Much like #2, the same rules apply, 10 points = 1 point, 10 maximum per visit. She’ll raise your connections by 160 points total. This one is even more worthless, as it’s gained by doing housework (arguably easier), but there’s no other reason to raise Temper. What a fraud.

At 95 decorum, we’ll have the Bowing Skills to bow our way to the King. You may think otherwise, but his preferred stat is, strangely enough, Fight Rep. Every 10 points will go to your connection stat, but here’s where it gets interesting— the King has no limit per visit! For the crazies who raise it up to a maximum, the King will gladly give 99 points to your connections. His true maximum is 300, but Fighters Reputation is fairly easy to raise, and you’ll definitely be able to make use of his benefits.

So, what do connections do? Why, palace discounts of course! If you raise them high enough, you’ll get marked down prices! These apply even if she’s buying rogue, so it’s nice to have. Personal connections don’t go away, either! Well, unless you happen to sell that “Royal” thing.

Now, the Jester/Clown is unique— he doesn’t really care for decorum, and speaking to him will lower your social reputation by 15. What he does want is someone to talk to, and that Eloquence stat will come in handy. He’ll also raise your sensitivity by 15. If you keep talking to him, you may even be on the path for that 4th Art-based Ending. If you, of course, are feeling whimsical.

And to defy all odds, the Young Military Officer does… well, nothing. He doesn’t have any preference, he doesn’t require decorum, and he doesn’t impact your stats in any way. Well, not any way that you can see. He’s only available on January 31st, and if you keep your promises, he’s the ticket to becoming a Princess.

I☆I

ITEM: A screen where you can see your inventory. Many items in this game are passive, they’ll have their effect when just held in your inventory. Exceptions include clothes (which are to be clicked on to be worn- then granting their bonuses), Equipment (can be clicked to add to weapon/armor slot, then their effects are in, uh, effect), and consumables (like the Ancient Milk and the Breast Pill). Some items are to be traded away, however. Usually, they are to be traded in errantry.

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SYS: The save menu. You save your game. You load your game. You leave your game. That is. Uhm. All.

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SCHEDULE: Leads to the scheduling screen, of which, we’ll talk about… next time!! I’d like you tune in for that, ok?

[mamthew]

Some thoughts on Metaphor: ReFantazio. I avoid spoilers for the most part.

It’s maybe impossible to overstate how much I love Persona 5. It’s my favorite game of all time, and directly started me down the path to being a radical. It’s got some flaws – many of which were fixed in its rerelease, Persona 5: Royal – but it’s such a fantastic package in terms of story, gameplay, art design, music, and thematic resonance that it’s hard to fault it for them. I’ve played and enjoyed subsequent P5 material, but none of them are nearly as devoted to a political message as the original, meaning that even though they’re all good, they ultimately fall short of what I love about the initial game.

Metaphor: ReFantazio is a 2024 RPG by a good number of the folks who made Persona 5, and you can immediately tell. It has a very similar art style, uses many of the same sound effects, has a similar battle system, and is built around the calendar/social links/social stats system that the Persona series is known for. It is essentially a Persona game, but set in a fantasy world rather than contemporary Japan, and without Persona’s emphasis on Jungian psychology and the tarot. It’s also thoughtfully political, but in a way that’s maybe less engrossing and blisteringly relevant than Persona 5. That said, what it does have to say is worth engaging with, as it uses its more traditional fantasy setting to comment on the ideological underpinnings of RPGs as a genre and games more broadly, as both an artistic medium and an industry.

In many ways, Metaphor is “Persona does Final Fantasy.” It’s clearly an homage to Final Fantasy at its core. It may have Persona 5’s battle system, but it’s got FFV’s job system, and it’s reworked the “one more” mechanic to feel more like the Brave/Default system from Bravely Default, or the Conditional Turn-Based system from Final Fantasy X. The job system is especially interesting. There are 14 basic jobs, with each job having 1-3 class change upgrades that unlock at specific Social Link levels with the job’s corresponding character. Every party member can use any job, but have very individualized stat spreads that make certain jobs more viable than others. For example, Strohl starts with the Warrior job, which hits hard and doesn’t do much else. He could use the Mage job, but his physical attack is like double his magic attack, so that would probably be a waste of his massive attack stat. That said, some players might opt to train him through Mage anyway, because at level 20, Mage gets a skill that increases MP by 15%, which they could equip to Warrior so he can use more of his big hits that spend MP. I, on the other hand, trained him in Pugilist, which has powerful physical moves that spend HP instead of MP. It’s a bit more risk/reward, but Strohl has considerably more HP to spend. And that’s one of the seven party members, each of which has their own unique stat spread.

That customizability is fun and rewarding, but limited by the use of a Persona calendar system. I’m less inclined to experiment and try training characters in weird directions when I only have ten in-game days to reach the end of the current dungeon and only have about an in-game year to reach the end of the game. Due to the FOMO brought on by the time constraints, I spent about eight hours just mindlessly bashing enemies in old dungeons in order to unlock all the jobs, which was pretty decidedly unfun, and I ultimately only got to play around with maybe half the fully upgraded jobs in the end. Persona’s time-management (which often translates to some occasionally brutal resource management in dungeons) has always ratcheted up the games’ tension and forced a level of deliberateness in decision-making. That works fine in Persona, but dampens the freedom of choice I associate with job systems. The calendar generally feels like a weird thing to keep. On one hand, the narrative and mechanics have been built around it, but on the other, part of what I enjoy about the calendar in Persona is the mundanity of it. The changing of the seasons, interspersed with real-world holidays, as experienced by a protagonist who is attending high school and therefore at the mercy of the calendar, all help to complement the familiar contemporary setting of a Persona game. In Metaphor, there are no seasons or holidays, the weeks have five days instead of seven, and the one-year cutoff for the action is arbitrarily enforced by a spell rather than by familiar societal norms, so the days tend to blend together. This calendar has all of the anxiety of Persona’s system with none of the novelty, and that’s not a great place to be in.

That said, what Metaphor loses in variety from the calendar it gains from its much larger world and its travel mechanics. Each chapter of Metaphor is set in a different city, and the characters must travel to each city using their gauntlet-runner, a land-based version of the classic Final Fantasy airship complete with a pilot who’s clearly Atlus’s take on a Cid. Each city has several dungeons, landmarks, and surrounding towns that the party can travel to and explore as side-jaunts to juggle as options within the time-management system. Some of these can take several in-game days to reach, but traveling has its own activities that raise social stats, craft items, or even develop social links with party members. In Persona 5, many of the side activities had their own unique content but wasted precious days to do, and travel-time feels like a way to alleviate some of that sense of waste, by limiting you to just “bedroom activities” like reading books, cooking, tending to plants, doing laundry, cleaning the floor, bathing, or inviting party members to hang out. You have to go to the extra dungeon either way, so you’re stuck on the gauntlet-runner either way, so you might as well raid the pantry, use the shower for a small Exp bonus, cook some fermented meat with Hulkenberg, do some laundry with Heismay, and then read a fantasy novel while you’re there. Much of the traveling system feels like an iteration on the central premise of Persona 5: Strikers, allowing the characters to go on a road trip and see a bunch of cities but without the dearth of things to do outside of dungeons from which Strikers suffered.

Metaphor is in most ways an improvement on Persona 5. It’s a much bigger game, with a more strategic battle system and prettier visuals. That said, its dungeons are generally a bit less interesting. They’re more straightforward, without the verticality that made especially Persona 5: Royal’s dungeons shine. They’re also less colorful, less surreal and – I guess a bit ironically – less metaphorical. That makes sense, since all the dungeons are actual locations within the game’s world and must therefore follow the world’s logic, but it’s weird infiltrating a giant fantasy airship and being struck by how much duller it is than Persona 5’s Diet building – a real-world place known for being boring. The music, too, is less interesting than Persona 5’s. It’s still technically solid, and there are certainly some bangers, but because the soundtrack is aping Final Fantasy in genre and instrument choices, it’s much less engaging than the acid-jazz of Persona 5. Metaphor also has less to do than Persona 5 or especially Royal. The game doesn't require that you grind up relationship points with social links, which cuts out a lot of the frustration of the social link system, but also means that there's no reason to take characters on dates or to the movies or to play darts. The world feels less varied because the activities are much more clearly laid out by which social stat they increase.

Both this game and P5 are punching way higher than their weight class in terms of budget and team size. They’re both essentially AA games that have been catapulted into the AAA space, and both are a generation or more behind in terms of actual graphical power. Both games made up for that discrepancy with stylish artistic flair, and while that papering over succeeds in both games, the stylizing of Metaphor feels less relevant to the game than with Persona 5. Persona 5’s intentional use of color and effects make it feel both pulpy and like agitprop material, which are two of its major artistic influences. Metaphor’s stylings, however, mostly make it feel like Persona 5, which clashes a bit with its more classical fantasy setting. I’ve seen a number of people complain about the game’s graphics being outdated, and I think the fact that it retreads so much stylistic ground is why the unimpressive graphics are more noticeable this time around, even though it’s much better graphically than any previous Atlus entry. The game’s reuse of many Persona sound effects aggravate this issue. Those sound effects feel punchy and contemporary, and work great in the context for which they were created: a game that turns rpg genre conventions on their heads by using a contemporary setting. Here, in a game that’s purposely leaning into more classic genre conventions, they instead feel lazy and out of place. The game clearly had great sound designers; there are plenty of new sound effects as well as the old. I wish they’d had those sound designers replace the reused sound effects as well. The game's localization, however, does set it apart from Persona 5. Metaphor is another JRPG to outsource its localization and English voice work to the UK, rather than the states. Most of the characters are voiced by UK voice actors, and they all do an outstanding job. Honestly, the weakest link voice-wise is the protagonist's voice, which was clearly directed to try to be fairly flat and unaffected. Still, I'm just so happy to have a voiced protagonist that I didn't mind all that much.

Metaphor opens by posing a question to the player: does a story have the power to change the world? I figured when I started the game that this question was referring to Persona 5, and the difficulties of creating a story with a specific, clear political message and having to deal with its audience agreeing with the message and longing for that change but not working to bring it about – or even worse, a chunk of its audience refusing to acknowledge it as political at all. While Metaphor was clearly inspired by that initial tension, it addresses a much broader question than that: why do video games – works in a medium that tends toward fairly radical political theming – seem to attract audiences that refuse to engage with their theming? Much of the game’s use of Final Fantasy elements is in service to this question, since Final Fantasy is sorta the seminal RPG. The game’s antagonist, whose name is frustratingly spelled Louis and pronounced Luis, represents in some ways the ideological underpinnings of Final Fantasy and is even designed to look like the FF1 Warrior of light, with long flowing white hair and curved horns. The main plot of the game involves a powerful spell that forces the kingdom to hold a democratic election. When the king is assassinated, his voice thunders down from the sky that the crown will go to whomever the most citizens believe in their hearts should be the next king in about a year’s time. The protagonist enters the race because he opposes the two frontrunners – Louis and the head of the very racist Sanctist church.

The protagonist often reads from a utopian novel and communes with the novel’s imprisoned author, a man named More, probably because he represents the demand that society improve and offer us more. The novel discusses the workings of an idealized version of our contemporary liberal democratic system, and all the party members fight in some way to try to realize that system. The novel itself was banned and all its copies burned, while More was arrested and sentenced to exile for writing it. While both the protagonist and Louis love the book, they had vastly different takeaways from it. The protagonist and his party see the book as calling for a society built around caring for its citizens, protecting and providing for those without the means to protect or provide for themselves. Louis, on the other hand, sees the book as calling for a society built on “true equality,” where all are forced to fend for themselves and only the strong survive. In both cases, the circumstances of one’s birth theoretically don’t matter, and leadership isn’t decided by a bloodline, which makes both visions look preferable to the world of the game: a heavily racially stratified monarchic theocracy. With the crown up for grabs, both characters have the opportunity to try to realize their visions of this utopian system, if they can convince the populace to back them.

This conflict is, deliberately, the conflict at the center of liberal democracy: is our system meant to be more individualistic or more collectivistic? Does the “liberal” mean that individuals must fend for themselves without a societal support structure? Does the “democracy” mean that the strongest must sacrifice the fruits of their advantages to provide for those without the same advantages? That the game takes the side of the whole over the part is unsurprising, given that it was made by the folks who made Persona 5. And hey, that’s the side I agree with more, so no skin off my back. But, using liberal democracy as the basis for its core theming makes Metaphor feel considerably less radical than Persona 5 did. Most of the oppressor/oppressed relationships in Metaphor are ones for which we have answers, which stands in stark contrast to the real-world-inspired conflicts in Persona 5, and when the characters look to the utopia of the novel for a solution, they’re looking to the answers we already have. And as Persona 5 already told us, those answers are insufficient.

That said, what feels backwards about the game’s theming becomes more interesting when we consider it instead as a metacommentary on the politics of RPGs. Louis, the villain who looks like the Ur-FF Protagonist, is an individualist to the extreme. His vision for a perfect world is one where all compete to live and only the strongest survive. That’s barbaric to most folks whose brains haven’t been poisoned by weird sectarian internet communities, but it’s also pretty much how RPGs operate: you keep fighting guys who are weaker than you to make yourself stronger until you’re the strongest, and then your character uses that strength to change the world the way they want. This is – crucially – also how this RPG operates. The protagonist might oppose Louis’s vision, but he still has to do so on Louis’s terms. It turns out that the conflict at the heart of liberal democracy is also the conflict at the heart of many power fantasies: we imagine ourselves being strong enough to make the world fairer, but in doing so, we engage with an individualistic framing. When looking at the metaphor of Metaphor, we can think of the protagonist as the story of a game and Louis as the narrative told through its mechanics; ultimately, what a story says is still constrained by what the game does. So the question of whether a story has the power to change the world is complicated by the introduction of the constraints placed upon a story by its medium. Why didn’t Persona 5 change the world? Metaphor implies it’s because its audience is primed to see its brand of power fantasy as apolitical – not even about the world to begin with.

I think increasingly often about a time I got into an argument with the admin of a Persona 5 Facebook meme page. He’d posted a meme complaining about people’s need to inject politics into Persona 5, an otherwise apolitical game. I found this absurd. The game in which you infiltrate the Japanese Diet building to stop a fascist from stealing an election is apolitical? The game where the personification of humanity’s tendency toward rebellion leads the party into battle to destroy the god of wealth at the center of a panopticon? It was beyond comprehension. But an art form that constrains most of its narratives to center around accruing power through conflict in order to elevate oneself as an individual has maybe inevitably attracted an audience that’s allergic to the idea that fiction can and usually does say something about the real world. And when I say “allergic,” I don’t simply mean “unwilling.” We’ve crossed into a political moment where the arbitrarily-defined level of “woke” in a piece of media determines whether a chunk of people will deign to engage with it at all, but based on my googling, Persona 5 is hilariously considered “not woke” (though Royal is simultaneously both “woke” and “anti-woke,” the remake of Persona 3 is too “woke” to bear, and Metaphor ReFantazio is under scrutiny but they seem to be leaning toward “not woke”). So the line in the sand is whether or not a game comments on the real world, but that line is drawn by people with shockingly low media literacy.

One element of the story that confused me clicked into place once I considered this angle. The game’s world is plagued by huge and brutal monsters called “humans.” In the game's world, the word “human” refers only to these monsters, while the sentient denizens of the game’s world call themselves “people,” or refer to themselves by their fantasy races. It’s bizarre to hear characters talk about “humans” and mean big weird giants that massacre towns and aren’t recognizably human at all. But when we consider this through the lens of a metacommentary on games, this choice comes to make sense. In an RPG, the player is a human roaming through a world of non-humans. They’re infinitely stronger than everyone around them, and in the end, only the human’s decisions matter. Everything exists to placate the human, and if the human refuses to engage with a story on its terms, then that pretty much destroys everything the story is trying to do. Those characters who exist solely to make the human feel something become fodder, to be ground up and discarded by the human. If we look at the relationship between art and audience from the perspective of the art, the audience becomes something like a kaiju, applying its own warped reading to the text, forcing it to submit to that reading. A story only gets to change the world if it first wins that battle with the human, and humans are getting increasingly combative. Obviously, there’s story reasons for the word choice that I won’t spoil here, but they align pretty nicely with my reading.

I really enjoyed Metaphor. It took me 110 hours, and I managed to complete all the social links, beat the extra boss, and unlock every class with the protagonist. A run that doesn't do those things probably could finish it in like 85-90 hours. Either way, it's shorter than Persona 5. I still prefer Persona 5; its politics are much sharper, obviously, but it also has a much bolder and more unique style. But anyone who really enjoys Persona or old-school Final Fantasies should give Metaphor a shot, since it's a pretty fascinating merging of the two, and it uses those associations to comment on the video game medium, the purpose of art in fomenting societal reform, and the shortcomings of liberal democracy. And if you haven't played either, it's a long, complex, standalone RPG in a new ip, which makes for a pretty good jumping-on point to Persona, from which it takes many of its mechanics.

[eaglesnick]

“You know you’re priced right when your customers complain—but buy anyway.” — John Harrison

Dynamic pricing is not new but it has not been widespread up until recently.

We all know about train fares being more expensive during peak times and parents know that holidays cost more during school breaks than at any other time of the year. Airline tickets are subject to dynamic pricing and there was a trend towards off-peak electricity tariffs at one time. This summer we saw tickets for Oasis concerts subject to dynamic pricing, resulting in massive spikes in the cost of a ticket.

Dynamic pricing is when a company changes their pricing to match demand and supply. Hence train journeys are more expensive during the rush hour than in the middle of the day when demand is lower. Holidays are more expensive during school breaks because demand is higher from families with children.

Few of us like this traditional method of dynamic pricing but we have accepted it as part of our way of life. The old fashioned dynamic pricing model was fairly unsophisticated and based on the time of day in the case of rail and airline tickets and specific weeks and months of the year in the case of holidays.

This is no longer the case. Artificial Intelligence allows companies to literally change prices in line with changes in demand every second if they so want. Some of the companies using AI to set prices are Amazon, Uber, Airbnb, Tesco, Ocado and Sky. Amazon is said to reset prices every ten minutes.

The days of “fixed pricing" are fast disappearing. Long gone are the days when a company added up all of its production costs to work out the cost per unit and then added a little bit more in order to make a profit. This was basically what is known as the objective or labour theory of value. This has been supplanted by the "subjective theory of value" (STV).

According to the subjective theory of value a products worth (price) is not determined by how much it costs to produce but by how much people are willing to pay for that good at any given moment. At its worst this means that ALL goods and services should be sold for maximum monetary return regardless of the cost of production. No wonder supporters of neo-liberal economics favour STV.

At one level this doesn’t really matter. Oasis concert tickets may have doubled in original price due to dynamic pricing but not being able to afford a concert ticket is not a matter of life or death. It is however, symptomatic of a growing social problem.

The assumption of neo-liberal economists and their support of STV pricing is that individual choice is paramount in all economic transactions. For the neo-liberal societal values do not exist, there is only individual choice. Mrs Thatcher, the woman who championed neo-liberal economics in the UK, famously said: “There’s no such thing as society”. Many Tory's still believe this to be true but they are demonstratively mistaken.

During Covid we all stood at our doors every Thursday night clapping and banging pots to applaud the bravery of our dedicated health professionals. Yes, we did this as individuals but also as a society. When the England football team were progressing through the stages of the European cup we watched each game as individuals but also as a nation. The same is true of the recent Olympic and Paralympic games.

Ironically, some of our most ardent neo-liberal Tory MP’s have been recently admonishing us for not being proud of our English identity. Robert Jenrick, a contender for the leadership of the Conservative Party said yesterday that English identity had “started to fray” due to mass immigration and public institutions “dismissing our history”.

Sorry, the neo-liberals cannot have it both ways. Either there is an entity called English society, with its own history and set of values, or we are just individuals all acting according to our own individual needs. The fact that latter view is obviously mistaken does not deter the advocates of dynamic pricing. For them the goal is maximisation of profit regardless of social cost.

A thousand reasons why dynamic pricing is good for the consumer will be rolled out as more and more companies adopt this system of pricing, but the bottom line will always be making more profit. And in a system where pricing is determined by what price the individual is willing to pay rather than the actual cost of production, in the end it is only the rich who benefit.

South West Water has recently introduced the cruder form of dynamic pricing to their customers. They will be charging more for water use in summer than in winter. Consumers were given no choice about this and they have yet to be told what the charges will be. This “trial" will last for 2 years.

This is the spin:

“These pioneering trials are designed to make sure that water bills are fairer and more reflective of individual consumption patterns and are part of our wider commitment to making customer-first decisions in everything we do.” (CornwallLive:19/09/24)

Note the emphasis on “individual consumption". To my mind water is a public good, a societal necessity. As such I want to see pricing evened out over the whole community. Under dynamic pricing  the rich can consume as much water as they like because they can afford to pay, while the poorer members of society will have to suddenly become use conscious. While the rich fill their swimming pools and have the lawn sprinklers on day and night, the poor will have to think twice about how often the toilet is flushed, how often the washing machine is used and can they afford to shower everyday. The poor pensioner will be calculating whether or not they have enough money to water their beloved garden.

Ok, my pensioner being unable to afford to water the garden is a hypothetical scenario. The cost of music venue tickets isn’t, neither are the prices you pay for an Uber, a holiday let from Airbnb, the food you buy from Tesco or Ocado. Even the price of a pint is now affected by dynamic pricing.

“A campaign group representing pubgoers has criticised the move by Stonegate, Britain’s largest pub company, to raise the price of pints during its busiest trading hours in some of its venues by 20p..."  Financial Times: 12/09/24)

If the price of a British pint of beer is now subject to dynamic pricing then nothing is sacred!

More seriously, when the market economy becomes the market society, when those in power promote the value of maximising profit for the few at the expense of the happiness and well being of the many, then, as a society, we lose all sense of humanity, morality and common decency.

There has been much theoretical discussion of late about the threat of Artificial Intelligence to humanity. I would argue that maybe we should be more concerned about those  humans using AI to enrich themselves at the expense of the rest of us.

[boinkingbattlemechs]

AS7-K3b2 "Gewitter"

Gewitter was the custom command 'Mech of Lieutenant General Theodora Marten-Steiner, notable for her role in the early formation of the Third Star League SLDF, Operation TOUCHDOWN, Operation WINDFALL, and the later Lyran War of Reclamation. Famous in her eventual role as commander of the hyper-elite Royal Guards RCT, the Lieutenant General also served as the second commanding officer of the Royal Black Watch regiment, after its second re-founding in 3151.

Gewitter is built on the Atlas chassis, though a great deal of modification has made it truly one-of-a-kind. The original platform upon which the venerable ‘Mech was built was the Atlas AS7-K3, notable for its inclusion of jump jets. They remained a hallmark of Gewitter, carrying through to the final model, introduced on the battlefields of Helios in October 3153, much to the horror of the Word of Blake forces at the Battle of Fort Bayeux.

Gewitter is, at first glance, a fairly standard Atlas mech, originally of Defiance Industries manufacture. However, after two major refits, very little remains of the original K3 as it entered service in 3134.

The first refit was conducted by the MechTechs of Skobel Mechworks at their Yakima Proving Grounds on Terra. There, for a time, Gewitter sat opposite Test Unit Sierra Five - the original Mackie and the first ever BattleMech - while the Atlas was fully rebuilt. The refit focused on integrating mixed Inner Sphere and Clan technology along with additional command gear, armor, and sensors; steps were also taken to shave weight from the original design. This further enhanced its pilot’s dynamic, fluid style with greater maneuverability. An extra additional step added late in the refit process, as ordered by Commanding General Melissa Hazen herself, saw Gewitter's right hand fitted with a half-ton, 24-karat engagement ring, complete with the largest natural diamonds ever cut in human history - the inside band of which was etched in micro-font with the entire Jade Falcon Remembrance. This ring remained upon Gewitter's right arm, even after the wedding of Hazen and Marten-Steiner in the aftermath of Operation TOUCHDOWN.

The second refit, performed on the battlefields of Helios by Star Captain (later Khan) Xerxes Truscott of Clan Star Adder, focused primarily on the integration of two newly designed, powerful, and devastating weapons: the Clan-spec Light Gauss Rifle and the Pile Bunker.

After this second and final refit, Gewitter was equipped as follows:

Atlas 'Gewitter' AS7-K3-Tb2

Mass: 100 tons

Chassis: Skobel 100-Lite Variable Composite Biped

Power Plant: Defiance Clan-Grade 400 XL

Cruising Speed: 43.2 kph

Maximum Speed: 64.8 kph

Jump Jets: Standard

Jump Capacity: 90 meters

Armor: Duralex Ferro-Fibrous w/ CASE II

Armament:

1 Light Gauss Rifle (C)

1 Streak SRM 4 (C)

2 ER Large Laser (C)

1 Pile Bunker (C)

Manufacturer: Defiance Industries (original)/Skobel MechWorks (refit #1)/Fursona's Fusiliers (refit #2)

Primary Factory: Defiance Manufacturing Annex - Kwangjong-Ni (original)/Yakima Proving Grounds, Terra (refit #1)/Argo Mechbay (refit #2)

Communication System: Clan-enhanced Irian E.A.R. w/ Nova CEWS & Studebaker-T19 Battle Computer

Targeting & Tracking System: Clan-enhanced Army Corporation Type 29K w/ Advanced Targeting Computer (w/ VRT)

Introduction Year: 3153

Tech Rating/Availability: F/X-X-X-X

Cost: 34,853,333 C-bills

Type: Atlas 'Gewitter'

Technology Base: Mixed (Unofficial)

Tonnage: 100

Battle Value: 2,729

Equipment Mass

Internal Structure Composite 5

Engine 400 XL 26.5

Walking MP: 4

Running MP: 6

Jumping MP: 3

Double Heat Sink 10 [20] 0

Gyro 4

Small Cockpit (Armored) 3

Armor Factor (Ferro) 297 15.5

Internal Armor

Structure Value

Head 3 9

Center Torso 31 47

Center Torso (rear) 5

R/L Torso 21 32

R/L Torso (rear) 10

R/L Arm 17 34

R/L Leg 21 42

Right Arm Actuators: Shoulder, Upper Arm, Lower Arm, Hand

Left Arm Actuators: Shoulder, Upper Arm, Lower Arm, Hand

Weapons

and Ammo Location Critical Heat Tonnage

Triple Strength Myomer RT/LT/RA/LA/RL/LL 1/per - 0.0

Jump Jet CT 1 - 2.0

Jump Jet RT 1 - 2.0

CASE II (Clan) RT 1 - 0.5

Light Gauss Rifle Ammo (32) RT 2 - 2.0

Streak SRM 4 Ammo (25) RT 1 - 1.0

Pile Bunker Ammo (5) RT 1 - 1.0

Pile Bunker Ammo (2) RT 1 - 0.5

Targeting Computer LA 4 - 4.0

ER Large Laser (Clan) LA 1 12 4.0

Jump Jet LT 1 - 2.0

CASE II LT 1 - 0.5

Streak SRM 4 (Clan) LT 1 3 2.0

Light Gauss Rifle (Clan)* LT 4 1 11.0

Armored Cowl (Armored) HD 1 - 1.5

Nova Combined Electronic Warfare System HD 1 - 1.5

ER Large Laser (Clan) RA 1 12 4.0

Pile Bunker (Clan)** RA 6 - 6.0

Engagement Ring*** RA - - 0.5

* = Heat 1, Dmg 12, Min.Rng 2, Short.Rng 1-7, Med.Rng: 8-16, Long.Rng: 17-24, Tons: 11, Crit.Slots: 4, Ammo/Ton: 16

** = A Pile Bunker inflicts one point of damage for every five tons the 'Mech weighs. When punching with a Pile Bunker, the user can choose to fire the pile, expending one shot of ammunition (5 ammo per ton) and generating 5 heat, scoring a critical on the location hit with a -2 modifier. In addition, if armor remains after an attack where the Pile Bunker has been fired, roll for a second critical hit with a -2 modifier. For each critical dealt, also deal one point of internal damage to that location.

*** = gives a -1/-1 morale bonus to pilot and gunnery skills - if (and only if) Theodora Marten-Steiner is piloting.

Features the following design quirks: Battle Computer, Battle Fists (LA), Battle Fists (RA), Combat Computer, Cowl, Distracting, Easy to Pilot, Extended Torso Twist, Fine Manipulators, Illegal Design (Custom Weapons+Custom Equipment), Improved Communications, Improved Sensors, Multi-Trac, Nimble Jumper, Reinforced Legs, Variable Range Targeting

(Our second Fanon Friday 'Mech! Again designed by yours truly for @baldy-wan-kenobi's character Theodora, part of the Operation Touchdown AU RP project. No art on this one, but hopefully there may be some soon!)

[saintmeghanmarkle]

A Bill to amend [ Titles Deprivation 1917 Amendment] to deprive in certain circumstances Princes of their British Dignities and Titles' by u/sythingtackle

A Bill to amend [ Titles Deprivation 1917 Amendment] to deprive in certain circumstances Princes of their British Dignities and Titles' Conservative MP Bob Seely is putting forward a Bill that could deny the couple their Duke and Duchess standing in the Royal Family.The Isle of Wight MP wants to adapt laws originally passed in the First World War to deny enemy German nobles their British titles. His Bill would force the Commons to consider turning Harry and Meghan into plain Mr and Mrs Sussex.He is applying for his Titles Deprivation 1917 Amendment Bill to be listed on the Commons' Order Paper next week. It would resurrect the wartime powers by removing references to 'enemies' and 'present war'. He has cleared the wording with Parliament's Table Office, which oversees draft legislation.If neither the Commons nor the Lords tabled a motion opposing it within 40 days, the report would be presented to the Monarch and the person concerned would lose their title.How’s your prospects for 2024 looking? post link: https://ift.tt/9ogOtSE author: sythingtackle submitted: December 03, 2023 at 09:21AM via SaintMeghanMarkle on Reddit

[thebetadays]

THESE ARE LEAKS. SCROLL IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO SEE THEM.

hey there jammers! recently got some update leaks for the ENTIREITY of october! theyre below the cut, so heres another warning

THESE ARE OFFICIAL LEAKS. PLEASE SCROLL IF YOU WANT TO STAY SPOILER-FREE

THERE IS A CONTINUATION IN THE REBLOGS. TUMBLR DOESNT LIKE POSTS EXCEEDING 30 IMAGES.

still wanna see them? here you go!

this october bundle is all about hyenas and hearts! included in this bundle are a hyena, a pet hyena, a mp token, the epic haunted manor, the spooky heart outfit, and the spooky castle den items!

spooky heart outfit:

spooky castle den items:

now here are the rims! im gonna compress them so its easier to see

rare scary bone tail, rare scary bone claws, rare scary bone wings

rare scary dragon skull, rare fall flower glasses

now onto the contest items! again, im gonna compress them. in fact, ill be compressing all images so the post isnt a million miles long!

rare slime green bone tail, rare slime green book of spells, rare slime green monster claws

rare slime green fang necklace, rare slime green witch hat

heres the epic den item! i personally LOVE it and cant wait to get one!

phantom blinky plushie

this is this years POSSIBLE phantoms! minigame prize! i say possible, bc we dont know if this is the actual one or not! so please, take this with a grain of salt

phantom candy fountain

heres the new den! its the spooky castle den, which was previously an unreleased den! i love this den so so much

spooky castle den

theres a new shop as well! it has the unreleased animal banners and rock statues. original animal banners will be rare-tagged

hall of animals

for the spooky weeks, we dont know in what order theyll be released! but we do know that these are the items being released

scarecrow

[melishade]

What going on with the what if Optimus prime appears in the 1st episode? And does zeek meet anyone else (Clara, arimin or Mikasa)

Previous Episode of the Episode 1 Timeline

Okay let's see what I can do here.

Marleyans barely win the Middle Eastern War and they see that their power is starting to waiver because of it. Meanwhile, these peace talks they were forced into hasn't gone any where. As a result, Marley is really ready to say: screw the alliance, screw what the Tyburs say, we are just going to invade Paradis in order to get our titan powers. It's only through Zeke's persuasion that they don't do that. Zeke says that he can probably try to get the powers out without alerting the Survey Corps. Marley only gives him a limited amount of time to do this, so he needs to do it fast.

Zeke decides to go off on his own and infiltrate the Survey Corps base just to see how things operate and ultimately runs into Bertholdt and Annie, who are just relieved to see him. Zeke gets a run down from them on what's been happening and is stunned to hear that there is an illegitimate child of the royal family that is still alive, and also in the Survey Corps. (There's been a time skip people, and Historia still has some issues and Ymir decided to follow her to keep her safe.)

So the trio come up with a plan: Zeke is going to find a way to inject the Survey Corps with his spinal fluid so that he can control them, cause chaos, and Bertholdt and Annie can escape while also grabbing Eren and Historia (Who is still going by Krista at this time). They agree and Zeke makes his move to escape...and then he hears crying. He hides inside the room and peers inside to see Carla crying with Optimus Prime comforting her in his human form. She's lamenting the fact that Eren's life had been shorten, how she's so angry with Grisha for putting this responsibility on his shoulders. She's upset at the fact that she has now been counting down the years until he's gone. Optimus continues to do his best to comfort her in her grief and anger.

And in that moment, Zeke can't help but feel both pity and anger. Pity for Carla and anger at Grisha. Zeke was already still harboring hatred for Grisha for putting him through hell. And while it sounds like Grisha didn't tell Carla about who he was, he still indoctrinated Eren and made a mother grieve over his absence/death.

Zeke does manage to escape the compound and runs all this information by Marley, who does agree with this plan. However, when leaving the compound, he is still spotted by Megatron, who later notifies Erwin of the infiltration. Megatron thinks it's probably nothing, but he'd rather be safe than sorry.

Note for this timeline, many of the original cast members like Connie, Sasha, Jean, and Marco are not in the Survey Corps. They were mainly inspired to join by Eren's words and the events that happened in Trost, but neither of them existed. They all go to the MPs. Connie, Jean, and Sasha are completely fine with just lazing around and doing nothing all day; however, Marco is the only one that is genuinely dissatisfied. He originally wanted to serve the king, but then the king turned out to be a sham. He thought maybe he could serve the new regime, but it's still not that fulfilling. Not to mention, humanity is not even extinct. What's he supposed to do with that? He's thinking about switching branches of the military to do something more that would serve a grander purpose.

(This is all I have...look its hard thinking of a plot for the Episode 1 timeline but we're getting there!).

[footprintsinthesxnd]

The Good Die Young

Previous Chapter Masterlist Next Chapter

Warnings: mentions of graphic themes, war, injury, weapons, sexual images, language, 18+. Pairings: Jake Seresin x f!reader Disclaimer: This is a series reflecting on the true events of the US Marines in WW2. All of the characters are fictional and not based off are original characters (except for Jake Seresin) and they are not representations of the real, brave men who fought in WW2. I have tried to make all the events in this series as accurate as possible but please bare in mind this is fanfiction and i have added/ changed certain things to fit with this. Special thanks to the lovely Fern @desert-fern for proofreading this chapter for me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Melbourne, January 1943

Jovial music filled the air, dancing over the way of American soldiers as the ship docked in Melbourne. The local band was playing music standing, their big bass drum booming loudly over the noise of the crowd. Women, children and boys too young to fight and men too old to fight lined the streets, cheering, flags waving frantically as the soldiers disembarked. Jake had never seen such a welcome. It was a welcome sight after the horrors of Guadalcanal.

“I couldn’t agree more,” Johnny barked, letting out a loud shout as he joined in, waving to a group of young boys on their bikes following behind the trucks.

The trucks lurched and groaned under the weight of the troops as the convoy pulled to a stop outside the large red cricket stadium. The men were ordered to disembark, collecting the few possessions they had and their kit bags before forming orderly queues and following the Commanding Officer up the steps towards the light. The men bumped and shoved each other, each one vying for first in a race unknown to them all. Jake was slammed into one of the metal railings, hissing as his ribs made contact with the cold, rigid bar, sending sparks through his chest

Jake shielded his eyes from the bright sunshine as he entered the vomitorium, his eyes landing on his fellow Marines, all taking their seats on small beds on the bleachers.

“Welcome to Camp Murphy,” the CO began, talking through the megaphone that he’d somehow acquired. “Stay with your Company, pick a bed and drop your belongings. Chow is in an hour. You are not permitted to leave the stadium without a pass or unless you are instructed to do so by a senior officer.”

Jake found an empty bed and threw down his kit bag, sighing loudly and stretching his aching back. George sat down on the bed next to him while Frank, Johnny and Edward all followed suit. Johnny fell face-first onto his cot with a loud groan, pulling the pillow over his head to block out the wall of noise that surrounded them all. “I could sleep for a year.”

Frank let out a muffled laugh, pulling the cigarette from the corner of his mouth. “So you’re telling me that later when we all disperse into town in the cover of darkness, you won’t come with us.”

Johnny peeked out from behind his pillow. “Will there be alcohol?” He asked, his voice small and filled with a childlike wonder.

“Obviously,” Frank retorted, causing the others to laugh as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Then count me in.” Johnny sat up, rubbing his eyes as if he’d woken from a long sleep.

Once the MPs had cleared out of the main cricket ground, the Marines flooded the streets of Melbourne, most headed to the local bars, some went into shops and a few even went down to the movie theatre. The boys of How Company found the nearest pub and vowed to drink to their heart's content. Jake joined in watching as Johnny and Frank poured every possible alcohol into a glass and downed it in one, their faces contorting comically at the bitter taste. George sat in the corner nursing his beer while Edward was talking to the pretty young barmaid. Jake finished his beer and stood slowly, “I’m going to have a wander around, see what’s about?” The comrades barely acknowledged him, too consumed in their next round of alcohol.

“I’d go with you but I think someone needs to make sure that none of them die.” George joked, motioning to Johnny and Frank as they continued sampling the spirits.

“That’s probably for the best,” Jake agreed, nodding at his friend before turning to make his way outside.

Jake took a deep breath as he stepped out of the stuffy, smokey bar, the clean air filling his lungs and the warm afternoon sun on his face caused a smile to grace his lips. It had been warm in Guadalcanal, hot even with a humid sticky feeling that caused you to sweat buckets, even at night and the incessant buzzing of the mosquitoes ever-present, but here the warmth was different. Somehow it reminded him of home, the sunshine filling his body with vigour and warmth that it hadn’t had since the day he shipped out to the Pacific. He began walking aimlessly down Main Street, his feet carrying him along the line of shops, passing fruit stalls, clothing shops, and the hardware store. Jake almost felt like he was at home, he’d often give his mother a lift to town, helping her carry the groceries back to the car. As Jake rounded the corner, he came face to face with a young woman on a bike, the brakes screeched to a halt and the young woman fell forward off her bike. Jake lunged forward, catching her before she collided with the pavement.

“East there ma’am, you should watch where you're going.” Jake smiled down at her as she glared up at him. Easing herself quickly from his arms, she huffed and straightened her dress. “Get your hands off me, Yank!” She exclaimed, her accent British and her mannerisms causing Jake to laugh at the light blush that formed on her already rosy cheeks.

“You’re very welcome, ma’am, anytime.” Jake gave her a mock salute and his sarcastic tone infuriated her more when she groaned. Jake hadn’t noticed the papers that litter the street until she bent down, scooping them up quickly as the wind began to flutter them away.

“Here let me help you,” Jake bent down helping gather up the loose papers. Looking down at the paper he noticed the familiar layout and fonts.

“You work for a newspaper?” He asked a crooked smile forming on his lips as he handed the papers back to her.

“And what is it to you?” She glared at him again. Jake couldn’t help but notice that despite her aggravation towards him that she was very striking.

“Well I used to work for a newspaper back home before I joined the Marine Corps,” Jake explained, noticing a small flicker of a smile gracing her lips before it disappeared again.

“Well good for you but you’ve made me late. Good day, Soldier.”

“It’s Corporal ma’am, I recently got promoted actually.” She squinted at him, her forehead wrinkling in confusion as if the information was meant to mean something to her. Jake watched helplessly as she climbed back onto her bicycle, securing the papers in the basket before peddling away without a second glance.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The bar was crowded, smoke filling the air as the ambient glow cast shadows over the men in uniform who filled tables and chairs throughout the vicinity. A bartender with rolled-up sleeves moved from one end of the counter to the other, sliding drinks along the wooden top. Some of the men occupied the wooden stools along the counter, while others crowded around the darts board. A cacophony of laughter filled the dark corners of the room. Jake smiled jovially, balancing the beers on the wooden tray as he approached the group.

Several of the men were singing loudly and out of tune to ‘An Angel in Disguise’ while one of them played the piano. Each man had his arm around a pretty girl, all smiling enthusiastically up at the soldiers.

“This rounds on me,” he called out, earning a cheer from his fellow Marines.

“I knew I like this guy,” Johnny spoke up, taking a sip of the golden liquid and wiping the foam moustache away with the back of his hand.

“Alright Short Ass, stop being such an ass kisser,” Johnny called out, puffing up his chest in a desperate attempt to make himself taller. Frank just shook his head, a crooked smile gracing his lips.

“Hey Cowboy, did you see those girls at the bar, they keep looking our way?” George mused, coming to stand beside his friend. Jake turned casually, his eyes raking over the many figures until he made eye contact with her.

“Shit!” Jake hissed under his breath, averting his gaze in a desperate attempt to avoid further conflict.

“What?” George asked, standing on his tiptoes to try and see what Jake had.

“It’s the girl from earlier, the one I bumped into and know she wants to murder me.”

George threw his head back in a fit of laughter. “You’re fuckin’ with me right? You’re scared of her! Jake, you’re a fucking Marine and she’s just a woman.”

“Exactly!” Jake exclaimed, “They are very dangerous if you get on the wrong side of them.”

“Alright, that’s it. I’m not having you being terrified of a girl.” George stood up, abandoning the beautiful woman beside him who looked rather put out and strolled towards the woman at the bar. Jake couldn’t bear to watch, turning away from his friend to try and preserve what little dignity he had left.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(Y/n) grinned through red lips at her friends, Fern and Johanna, who were desperately trying to recount the US Marines arrival from that morning. Fern’s lips moved a million miles an hour while (Y/n) humoured her, sipping her whiskey neat as she kept up with the story. Fern, Johanna, and (Y/n) had been friends since she first moved to Melbourne and couldn’t find her way to the local newspaper. They had been willing to volunteer and the rest was history.

“Have you noticed that group of Marines over there, they keep looking at us,” Fern whispered, trying to point towards the group of soldiers without making it too obvious. “That blond one certainly has eyes for you.”

“I like the dark-haired tall one,” Johanna mused, biting her lip seductively.

(Y/n) turned round to look and let out a small groan, burying her face in her palm as she spotted the blond Marine. “Not him, anyone but him.”

“Come on, stop being so picky. There is a bar full of extremely attractive Marines and you're still being picky.” Fern protested, placing her glass on the bar to grip her friend's shoulders. “Just give them a chance. Please.”

“Fine,” (Y/n) signed, throwing her head back and downing the rest of her drink.

“Good because one of them is coming our way.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It turned out that George was quite charming and although he informed them he was off the market, he did encourage the three girls to join their group for the evening. Everything was going smoothly so Jake took it upon himself to try and talk to the mystery girl that had been occupying his thoughts.

“So… how are you feeling, Sweetheart?” Now even Jake would admit that he was probably coming on a little strong but with the amount of alcohol he’d consumed he honestly wasn’t surprised.

“I was doing just fine until you appeared,” she retorted, glaring at him. Jake nodded slowly letting out an amused chuckle as he watched her friend elbow her and hiss something in her ear.

“I'm doing just fine, thank you,” she corrected herself and sent Jake a pleasant smile.

Jake nodded, “I'm pleased to hear that.”

As the evening progressed, the longing looks and fleeting touches between the pair grew to an unbearable tension. Jake could feel the sweat trickling down his back and began to pull at the collar of his uniform, desperate for the feeling of the soft evening breeze hitting his sweat-drenched flesh. He let out a soft huff as he felt a hand tapping his shoulder, he was pleasantly surprised when he came face to face with his mystery lady.

“Do you play?” She cocked her head to the side, letting her hair fall gracefully from her shoulder as she thrust several darts towards him, cocking her eyebrow as she waited for a response.

“Sure,” Jake replied, puffing up his chest. “As long as you don't mind losing.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“If I win, the next round for the entire bar is on you.”

Jake’s eyebrows furrowed slightly but his poker face remained stoic.

“Alright, but if I win I get to take you on a date,” a mischievous smirk sprung across his lips as he looked down at her. She blushed, averting her gaze to her shoes.

“You want to take me on a date? Why?” (Y/n) couldn’t understand why he of all people wanted her, why did he find her so interesting.

“Well, aren’t you just the most beautiful woman in all of Melbourne.”

She blushed furiously, “Well I don’t know about that,” her voice shook and she struggled to meet his eyes.

“To me you are.”

He was shamelessly flirting with you, all the Marines flirted with the women, you also knew that a lot of them just wanted sex and nothing more but Jake seemed different. Yes, he was charismatic, handsome and charming but he had a sort of edge to him that others didn’t. He was different and there was something behind those blue eyes that she couldn’t quite pinpoint.

She nodded her head slowly, “Okay, you’ve got yourself a deal, Corporal.” He took her hand in his, running his thumb over her knuckles.

“Well then little lady, you got yourself a deal,” Jake stood slightly taller now, eyes shining brightly as he grinned at you as if he’d already won the bet.

Luckily for you, Jake did win. The more you thought about his offer of a date throughout the evening the more you realised you were rooting for him to win, throwing the darts with little force, using your left hand instead of your right, you’d never been one to let others win but Jake had awoken something in you, even when you felt like he was the worst man on earth.

To say Jake was feeling smug that he won would be the understatement of the century, his face erupted into a wide grin, eyes shining brightly. He slung his arm around her shoulder, “Well Little Lady, looks like you owe me a date.”

“It looks like I do,” (Y/n) stood up swiftly, “but I must be going now, I have an early start tomorrow.” (Y/n) found herself hurrying quickly to the door, desperate to get away from Jake before she did something she might regret. She felt him running after her, hearing the odd complaint as he pushed past other Marines to get through the crowd to her. (Y/n) reached the door, hurrying out into the cool, evening air, she let out a breath she didn’t even know she had been holding, feeling her hands begin to shake a little at the restraint she had shown. (Y/n) didn’t know what to do, she had never felt this way about anyone before.

“HEY! HEY!” The all too familiar voice called from behind her, loud footsteps echoing on the quiet street. “Hey wait up.”

(Y/n) stopped abruptly, turning herself round and hurrying towards Jake. She grabbed hold of his shirt, yanking him harshly towards her and cashing their lips together. Jake let out a surprised squeak that caused her to smile into the kiss before he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her impossibly close. (Y/n) had always thought it was ridiculous to think people saw fireworks when they kissed but the fireworks that erupted inside her stomach provided the theory right. Her hand wove its way into Jake’s short hair, tugging it gently.

When they eventually pulled apart Jake’s lips were swollen and smudged with red lipstick, his chest heaving from his effort.

“Goodnight, Corporal,” (Y/n) whispered, her lips brushing against his once more before she pulled away, her legs carrying her quickly down the now-silent Main Street.

“Hey, when can I see you again?” Jake hollered after her, his voice echoing down the dimly lit street. “You promised to go on a date with me.”

She turned sharply on her heels, her red lips creeping into a wicked smirk. “I said I’d go on a date with you, I never said when though.” She laughed as she turned back around, continuing the short walk to her house. Jake groaned in frustration. How could one woman have such an effect on him?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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[amywritesthings]

SILVER UNDERGROUND / deleted scene 05.

gifts are gifts. :: a deleted scene that was originally meant to take place during flashback: seven. james and levi spar and have a verbal argument after reuniting.

this one is such a doozy. i had this one sitting on a page in draft prison because this was my initial plan of their 'reunion'. yes, spoiler alert, the ignoring was going to last three whole chapters. this is so far removed from the deep bond james/levi shared, and much more in the vein of the first 10 chapters. this is also before i decided erwin's recruitment offer extended to james. i read this back and i'm like oh my god?! you can really tell i wrote the story completely out of order with this excerpt! this is unedited. 970 words / explicit language, fighting. :: please remember: this is additional deleted content, not tied to the current canon of the story.

“You need to get rid of that.”

Your head feels fuzzy from the impact of solid ground beneath it. “What?”

Levi grits his teeth, emphasizing every word. “Get. Rid. Of it.”

He reaches for the necklace. You react just in time to forcefully smack his hand away and push up, up until your palm connects with his throat.

“Gifts are gifts, asshole,” you grunt, squeezing his neck.

Levi doesn’t react to the abrupt violence. If anything, he leans into the assault.

“You don’t get to suddenly disappear on me and then make demands.”

“Technically — all that superiors do — is make commands,” he chokes out, finally flinching when you squeeze harder.

“Smith made me a Lieutenant.”

“That doesn’t mean shit in the Scouts,” he spits. “And technically still — under me.”

In more ways than one.

You growl, pushing at his neck one more time before letting go. Levi bows his head, giving you both a moment to catch your breath in the aftermath of the spar. His matted hair hangs over his forehead, hiding his eyes where you lay.

He doesn’t opt to move away. You’re trapped under him.

Then he speaks without an edge.

“Join the MPs.”

You stare up, frowning. “I can’t. You know that.”

“There’s still time to convince Erwin you’re innocent.”

He must sense the shift of the fight, because he lifts his chin just enough to regard you from under his eyelids. Your lips part with an unknown question.

“I didn’t tell them about you. It must have been Isabel.”

Her name hangs like lead off of his tongue.

You pause, nostrils flaring with contempt. “How do you know it wasn’t Furlan?”

“Because Isabel didn’t know how to keep her mouth shut,” he replies. If you’re not careful, then you may project a rueful hint to his tone. “Furlan never left my side.”

(Loyal to the end, and for what?)

“What are you saying, Ackerman?”

“You’ve always wanted to see the surface, right?” You don’t nod, but he continues as if you’ve acknowledged him beyond furrowed brows. “I argue that you only worked for us once because of some naive obsession with the surface. Isabel likely felt the need to drag you under the bus thinking it would buy her some unfounded favor from Erwin. He could believe that.”

Your stomach clenches at the implication of his lie.

“You would do that to her name?”

“She’s dead, James.” Callous, without doubt; Levi shifts his hold on your wrists to your forearms. “You’re not.”

You sink into the ground, deflating against his hold. “So I’d get transferred by the good graces of Commander Erwin and, what? Leave you here?”

Something flashes in his eyes, but he decides this time not to answer on impulse. Here in this proximity, you can hear him taking calculated breaths through his nose — inhale, exhale, controlled and slow.

“It’s your best option to surv—”

“No.”

The soft and certain answer cuts through his next argument. Levi freezes like you’ve confessed to being part-titan this whole time — his short-circuiting bewilderment is loud and screaming in your face when he refuses to speak candidly. 

He looks like a teenager again, the starry night sky your makeshift backdrop of an Underground you both deserted.

His eyes narrow. “No?”

Your growing smile surges that terrible temper back on the sparring grounds. He lets go of your arms — a fatal mistake — to gather the strap of your chest harness into a closed fist. When he drags you up to meet him, you easily follow.

“Furlan is gone. Isabel is gone. What don’t you fucking get about that, you shithead?” he speaks through clenched teeth, fist trembling. “You lived and you’re pissing that away.”

Just when he thinks he has the upper hand, yours shoots out — quickly you grab his own chest harness, bringing him directly down to you.

Nose to nose.

The proximity catches your long-lost friend off guard.

(Levi Ackerman is good at many things. Being comfortable with someone in his face in a non-violent setting was never one of them.)

“Do you think,” you begin in a murmur, “that I really give a shit about living a life on the surface if that means you’re not a part of it?”

His gray pupils grow black.

“I’ve lost you twice now—”

“James.”

“—let me finish, you… arrogant little shit,” you breathe, and for once in Levi Ackerman’s life, he listens. Intently, it seems, because he won’t stop staring at your face. “I’m — we are out of the Underground. Captains, Lieutenants — maybe they’re both arbitrary titles and fucking ridiculous, but they can mean something. I now have a chance to do something.”

“You have a chance to get yourself killed,” he mumbles. “This isn’t the time to become a fucking idealist. This is war.”

“And this is my choice.” Warmth spreads through your system at the tickle of his breath on your face. “Maybe I didn’t choose the Scouts, but I did choose—”

You.

You’ve been brave up until this point, but now you can’t say it. Not when Levi’s still so close. His nose accidentally brushes yours, and he shoves you — hard — back into the ground to break your grip on his harness.

Like a frightened animal, he quickly sits back on his calves to steer clear of your reach. By the time you can see straight, he’s already standing tall.

“Do whatever the fuck you want,” he spits with venom, “but you’re making a mistake for a person that doesn’t exist.” Levi collects himself, straightening his chest harness straps. “Whatever you think you remember — that isn’t me. Not anymore.”

You roll to lean on a bent elbow, propping you against the ground, but it’s too late.

Levi walks away and doesn’t look back.

[mariacallous]

Two top PiS politicians, one of them the former interior minister, are jailed, in what could become a major battleground for the former ruling party as it attempts to force early elections.

On Wednesday morning, the former Polish interior minister Mariusz Kaminski and his ex-deputy, Maciej Wasik, woke up in prison in eastern Warsaw after the police had spent the better part of the previous day trying to arrest the duo to serve sentences for crimes they have already been found guilty of, but for which the opposition claim they should not be imprisoned.

On Tuesday, the police tried to implement a court order to arrest the two Law and Justice (PiS) politicians, who were sentenced in December 2023 to two years in prison for abuse of power committed in 2007 while running the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau (CBA), but the move turned into something out of a political thriller.

With PiS politicians protesting the arrest warrants, and Kaminski and Wasik themselves arguing they are “political prisoners”, the PiS-allied President Andrzej Duda invited the two to a ceremony at the Presidential Palace, taking photos with them as police officers were busy searching their homes in another part of the Polish capital.

Kaminski and Wasik ended up spending the whole day at the Presidential Palace. And it was only in the evening, at around 19:30, that the police decided to enter the palace and arrest the two.

Duda and his supporters point to the fact that the two politicians were pardoned by the president shortly after the populist-conservative PiS came to power in 2015. However, the Supreme Court, the new government that won the October election and legal experts argue that the president’s act has no legal consequences, as the original 2015 court ruling had not yet been made final (only the December 2023 ruling was final).

This is one of several flashpoints many had foreseen when the alliance of three opposition parties won Poland’s October 15 general election and promised to reverse many of what opponents regard as PiS’s anti-democratic policies.

The stakes for the PiS camp and Poland could not be higher. On the one hand, with the new government setting up three separate parliamentary commissions to investigate potential abuses by the previous PiS government – including the use of the Pegasus surveillance software to spy on political opponents – many of its politicians fear going to jail themselves eventually. More immediately, observers are warning that PiS could try to use the arrests of Kaminski and Wasik to force an early election just months after it lost the previous one.

‘Political prisoners’

Kaminski and Wasik were elected to parliament on the PiS list in the October general election, but in December the two politicians were convicted for orchestrating a scheme, including the use of intelligence agents and falsifying of documents, designed to bring down a political opponent. The two argued they were “fighting corruption”; the judge ruled the means used were illegal. The sentence is final.

Szymon Holownia, the marshal of the Sejm, declared their mandates were invalidated by the court ruling and terminated their voting privileges. However, PiS insists the two should remain in parliament and can vote.

A chamber of the Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that Kaminski was indeed no longer an MP after Kaminski had appealed Holownia’s decision.

Kaminski and Wasik themselves had announced their intention to vote during a new parliamentary session that was set to begin on Wednesday, but which Holownia has since postponed to next week.

Crucially, parliament has to vote on a new budget in this coming session, and the new government has only until the end of January to bring the budget to President Duda for approval. Duda, who cannot veto the budget, can nevertheless send it to the Constitutional Tribunal in the event he has legal doubts and thus delay its adoption. Experts say Duda could invoke the exclusion of the two PiS politicians from voting as a reason to send the budget to the Constitutional Tribunal, which the EU regards as an illegitimate and politicised body after PiS appointed its allies to it.

In such a scenario, Duda could eventually claim the deadline for adopting the budget has been breached and call for an early parliamentary election.

While both sides of the political camp await the next developments, PiS has been mobilising to push a narrative in which it is depicting the attempts by the new government to “clean up” after PiS as totalitarian acts, with the former ruling party now a persecuted minority.

There was a similar flashpoint when the new government in December changed the leadership of public media channels, which during PiS’s eight years in power had become government mouthpieces. PiS and its friendly journalists organised occupations of some of these media institutions, while hundreds of supporters protested outside.

On Tuesday night, PiS politicians, including leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski, showed up at the police station and called on their supporters to join them. Hundreds also protested in front of the Presidential Palace. Later that evening, Kaczynski went to the detention centre where Kaminski and Wasik are being held. On Wednesday morning, some Polish media reported Kaminski had gone on hunger strike.

“It is an unprecedented scandal that Mariusz Kaminski and Maciej Wasik are in prison,” Kaczynski told supporters. “They are the first political prisoners in Poland since 1989. Those who are responsible for this will suffer the consequences.”

Jacek Sasin, a former PiS minister, called the arrests a “coup d’etat”, while PiS euro-parliamentarian Zdislaw Krasnodebski described Tuesday night’s events as a “police attack on the Presidential Palace.”

Key politicians in PiS are now calling on supporters to protest in Warsaw on Thursday afternoon, and local structures of the party have been engaged for days in organizing transport from across the country for those willing to attend.

According to a press statement issued on Wednesday morning, PiS representatives say they expect tens of thousands to attend.

[stephensmithuk]

Charles Augustus Milverton

Published in 1904, this forms part of the Return collection.

Most chroniclers put this in 1899.

Milverton is seemingly inspired by Charles Augustus Howell, an art dealer and alleged blackmailer, who died in strange circumstances in 1890: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Augustus_Howell

Hampstead is located four miles NW of Charing Cross. Known for attracting a lot of artistic and intellectual people, it has some very expensive houses and a lot of millionaires. Notable residents past and present are numerous indeed, including Sting, Agatha Christie, Emilia Clarke, Muhammed Ali Jinnah, Florence Nightingale.

The area had began to expand with the arrival of what is now known as the North London line of London Overground, which operated services into Broad Street until that station closed in 1986. The now-Northern Line would reach there in 1907 and Hampstead station, beneath a steep hill has the deepest platforms on the Tube, at 192 feet below street level. The station also is one of those designed by Leslie Green, with the distinctive oxblood red tiles he liked to use on the outside.

The "Evil One" is an archaic term for the Devil.

Débutantes seem to have typically been 17 or 18.

"Lady" is a courtesy title for the daughters of dukes, marquesses and earls.

Mr. Pickwick refers to the titular character of Charles Dickens' The Pickwick Papers, originally serialised in 19 parts between 1836 and 1837. It might be good for a mailing group.

With telephones going through human-operated exchanges and telegrams being rather expensive, letters were the most secure way of sending romantic messages. Unless the servants got hold of them. Notably, all the correspondence from Queen Victoria to her Indian teacher Abdul Karim was burnt after her death on the orders of Edward VII.

£7,000 would be around £740,000 at today's prices.

Astrakhan are the pelts of fetal or newborn Karakul sheep. So, yeah...

Revolvers were the normal handguns at the time. Self-loading semi-automatics had just begun to enter the scene in large numbers, with the Mauser C96 (aka Han Solo's blaster) available by 1899.

Hampstead Heath is a 790-acre park with views over the city centre from Parliament Hill that are legally protected. The "bloofer lady" scene from Dracula takes place there and a number of movies, such as Notting Hill have filmed there.

The Heath also was - and still is - a popular location for gay men to engage in "cruising" i.e. anonymous hookups, or just hang out. The locals know which bits to avoid at night and these days the police are tolerant unless someone complains, although fines were issued for lockdown breaches. (Public sex is legal if no-one not involved sees it or is likely to, unless in a public toilet)

In the past, it was a very different matter and a Tory MP had to resign his seat in 1992 after being caught on the Heath with another man.

"Court dress" was the regulated outfits worn when attending the British royal court at the time for those not entitled to a uniform. This included wearing breeches and stockings for men, along with a cocked hat. For women this included a white or cream evening gown with lace. It fell somewhat out of use after the Second World War with the 1953 Coronation being the last occasion it was worn in large numbers, However, it is still worn by judges, King's Counsel (senior lawyers) and some Lord Mayors - the royals will wear it sometimes as well. A 1921 guide can be found here: https://archive.org/details/dressinsigniawor00greauoft/page/n113/mode/2up