#the online equivalent of laying in a field and talking up at the moon

[truetgirl]

Hmmmmm it is apparently a good night for feeling weird about wanting to explore different religious and spiritual beliefs bc I feel like I have no right to do that as a white former/lapsed catholic and yet also cannot stomach the idea of calling myself any kind of Christian ever again.

[dottiechan]

ICEBREAKER Pt. 1

Read on AO3 (link in bio)

Part 1 | Part 2&3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7

Pairing: Crosshair x Reader x Hunter; Tech x Reader (platonic)

Wordcount: 2389

Summary: Tech watches on helplessly as his brothers' affection for you threaten to ruin the squad.

Warnings: cursing, yearning

You’re just as cold on the inside as the ice is under your boots. It crunches with every step you take, and your heart seems to beat along with the fall of your boots, aching. You feel unsteady, almost enough to miss the tracks running in the snow right in front of you. You pause and crutch down, gloved fingers dipping into the indentations as you grumble to yourself. It’s not even your turn to scope out the area where you’re setting up camp, and besides, there is a literal tracking genius in your squad - it really shouldn’t be you who’s out here in the snow and ice, eyes straining against the blinding white of the planet, fingers freezing off as you set up perimeter alarms. And yet you just volunteered for the less than ideal task without explanation, not understanding your own decision either.

At least Tech offered to tag along, but you suspect he’s simply had enough of his brothers for a while. Not that you can blame him.

“Fascinating.”

You sigh, internally begging him to stop talking as you stand, abandoning the tracks after deciding they most likely belong to a lone whitefang. You have enough on your plate right now, with Hunter still being pissy and Crosshair avoiding you like the plague, and silence would be much more preferable right now to listening to one of Tech’s rambles.

“Did you know that this moon’s surface is almost entirely composed of water?”

“No.”

“Despite the subzero surface temperature, there are subsurface oceans underneath the ice that are warmed by the moon’s internal heat.”

“Uh-huh.”

“I wish we could stay long enough for me to study the subsurface flora and fauna. There might be plants underneath the ice that-”

“Tech.”

“-that use chemosynthesis-”

“Tech!”

“What?”

He has the decency to look flustered, one hand gripping the datapad tightly, the other flying up to adjust his goggles as he peers up at you. You didn’t mean to sound so harsh, but sometimes you just can’t help it. Sometimes, the confinement of the Marauder is enough to turn you into a ticking time bomb, irritated by the slightest seemingly innocent things. And you’ve had more than just mere sparks to flare your temper as of late.

...

His rifle is spotless, and yet he’s still scrubbing it as if his life depended on it.

Maybe it does, because if he jumps up and lowers his guard for a second, he’s out the ship and off to find you and Tech. Maybe you’re a fool sometimes, a god damn nuisance, a person he still couldn’t grow used to, but you belong with them now, you’re theirs, you’re his, and that means something to him. You frustrate him beyond reason, and he often grows callous and agitated because he refuses to allow himself to feel the emotions you elicit from him whenever you’re near him.

Even now, on an ice planet, the mere thought of you infects him with a sweet, sweet jungle fever that knocks him off his feet.

And he’s supposed to be angry now, Crosshair reminds himself. After all, you almost gotten yourself killed on Bracca, and almost broke him in the process.

“They’ve been gone for too long,” Hunter grumbles as he paces up and down like a caged nexu craving to run free. But lately Crosshair began to suspect that he craves something else, someone else, and the thought has his throat tightening in jealousy. He’s been watching, and he convinced himself that he’d misread the signs until he saw the same agitation reflect in his brother’s eyes that he himself has to wrestle with every day.

If it ever came down to your choice, he knows he wouldn’t be it, and he hates living with this knowledge.

Hunter has all the things you seem to like - unlimited kindness, longing looks, smirks that turn a little too soft when directed at you, broad shoulders he caught you staring at more times than he can count. Deep down, he’s still hoping it will never come to you having to choose, but it’s impossible not to wish to be in the centre of your attention. You drive him insane, but you also make him want to commit and stop fighting and lay down his weapons for once in his god damn life.

“Relax. They’re probably fine.”

The screen to their left lights up, and Hunter rushes across the ship in long strides before exhaling in relief. “The proximity alarms are online. They should be heading back soon.”

Crosshair sucks in a breath, worried about seeing his own emotions sitting behind Hunter’s eyes as well.

...

You were assigned to assist the Bad Batch for an unspecified period of time some months ago. You’re a versatile field agent, specialising in both stealth and combat casualty care, one of the few volunteers who were qualified enough to join the GAR. Oh, and you’re also clearly mistrusted by your new squad as they flip out the very moment you risk yourself in the line of duty. You’re not stupid, you weighed the risks carefully, and you trusted your abilities to see you through the job unharmed.

But ever since the incident on Bracca, you’re given the cold shoulder by most on the squad, and for once, the scenery matches your mood.

And yet Tech deserves better than to be cut off like that. He deserves to be listened to, and appreciated as the good man he is. You’re friends, but in moments like these, you think you don’t deserve his friendship.

“Look, I’m... I’m sorry, okay? But right now, I have too much on my mind to think about, umm, chemo...”

“Chemosynthesis?”

“Yeah, that.”

“I think I understand,” he nods, satisfied with your half-assed apology for the time being as he goes back to scanning the vast icy desert stretching as far as the eye can see. The Marauder’s lights blink in the background, orange against the dark blue of the growing darkness that surrounds you. It’s like a beacon, a sign that promises warmth, and you gaze at it longingly until you remember that you’ll have to go back to Crosshair’s scowl and Hunter’s disapproving frown and Wrecker’s awkward little smiles. Somehow, the ice is preferable once more, and the snow that just began to fall in soft flakes is little more than a mild annoyance.

“Well, aside from a few distant life forms-”

“Whitefangs.”

“Yes, most likely whitefangs - aside from those, we should be quite safe inside the ship for tonight.”

“Yeah,” you sigh. “You might be. I’m not the most popular with the squad right now, remember?”

“You are a valued addition,” Tech declares, and the certainty in his voice releases inside you the emotional equivalent of a sucker punch. All you can do is stand, and fight the sting of tears in your eyes. You’re confident, but you never in your wildest dreams imagined how difficult it would be to live up to the expectations of a special unit. You also know your worth, but it’s hard to keep on believing in yourself steadfastly when the rest of your squad doubts your every move. “Which is why the prospect of losing you elicits a rather severe emotional reaction in us. It is rare for regs to warm up to us as well as you have, let alone volunteers. Aside from the obvious tactical disadvantage losing you would mean, I believe it is a little more personal than that.”

...

Hunter knows something is off even before one of the alarms is triggered - whatever it is, it is within five clicks of the ship, making you and Tech plenty exposed before he could do anything. He was straining his ear simply to keep you all safe - so what if he accidentally heard your muffled voice, or the soft crunch of snow underneath your boots?

But now is not the time to be idle, and he knows it. He would never forgive himself if something happened to his squad. And to you, he corrects himself almost softly as he grabs his helmet and checks his weapons quickly. Despite the fact that he’s still angry about your previous carelessness, he cannot deny the forbidden yearning coiling in his stomach whenever you’re on his mind, making him just as nervous as hopeful. And to be fair, it happens more and more often as of late, which is both alarming and exciting as he never thought he’d ever have the luxury to feel this way about someone else. Sure, he knows love, he loves his brothers with all his heart even if he isn’t very vocal about it, but this is different. New, scary, exciting different, an effervescent and persevering tingling blinding all his senses.

Crosshair is beside him in less than a second, rifle in hand, silent, and they share a nod before lowering the ramp and rushing out into the freezing dusk.

When he picks up on your muffled voice, he seems to ignore everything as he breaks into a sprint towards you, hoping to reach you in time before you’re in danger. He almost misses the way Crosshair’s heartbeat picks up, the usually stoic man reeking with genuine worry as he looks through the scope of his rifle.

He can deal with this later, Hunter promises himself as he pushes down this uncomfortable feeling. But then he sees you and Tech, and he seems to forget about anything and everything - you have that unfortunate and awfully distracting effect on him.

...

“But Hunter yelled at me for being reckless for a solid hour. And Crosshair said he didn’t care if I wanted to get myself killed, but I should do it in a way that didn’t interfere with the mission. Seriously, what an asshole.”

“Nevermind what they actually say,” Tech waves his hand in mild annoyance. “Hunter was worried sick. Crosshair almost went after you. And they’re both too pigheaded to admit the real reason why they’re so worked up.”

“Which is?”

“Obviously they both view you as a potential romantic partner.”

There’s a moment of pause as you two stare back at one another before you snort and chuckle, shaking your head and crossing your arms over your chest as a futile attempt at staying warm. “Tech, you need to work on your sense of humour.”

“And you need to work on your observational skills and situational awareness.”

“My observational skills are exceptional,” you defend yourself, a finger held up in the air defiantly. “And my situational awareness is-”

“Lacking, as you didn’t seem to notice the whitefang return. I suggest we head back to the safety of the Marauder.”

Sure enough, the wild cat is there lurking amongst the ice dunes, its eyes glowing in the dark as they reflect the light of the ship. It shouldn’t pose a threat to you as it is alone, and relatively small, but you still consider wrestling with it instead of returning to the ship and facing the rest of the squad - somehow, even that feels like a fight more fair than the ones that await you upon your return. So you hold its gaze as it curiously inspects you, wishing to swap bodies and run away and avoid any more conflict. Before you can even think of returning to the ship, you hear quiet footsteps catching up to you.

“I thought I heard something.”

“It’s probably more curious than anything.”

Hunter unsheaths his vibroblade and twirls it in his hand so theatrically it makes you roll your eyes. He glances at you, shoulders all tense, ready to pounce at the slightest sign of danger, and even though his face is obscured by his helmet, you can almost see the disappointed frown sitting on his features. “You want to test that theory?”

“My money would be on the whitefang winning.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence, Tech.”

“Any time.”

“Relax.” The distorted rasp of your commlink is not enough to drown out the smugness of the sniper. The stand-off ends when a single well-placed shot right before the big cat sends it sprinting away into the darkness. You all turn to find Crosshair standing by the ship, his rifle still aimed at the retreating form of the whitefang.

“Well, there goes my opportunity to finally have an interesting patrol,” you mutter to yourself as you all make it back to the Marauder.

“Do all of your patrols end in you staring down carnivores?” Crosshair snorts, clearly unamused.

“Only the good ones,” you fire back, deciding not to wait for any of them as you head inside. Crosshair is hot on your heels, another string of mockery sitting on the tip of his tongue, because fuck, you’re stubborn, but he’s not going to cave in and tell you how it makes him feel to see you in danger. He can’t, however, put up with being away from you either.

Hunter lingers a little outside. He has to set himself straight, to contain all the things he wants to say you that have nothing to do with scolding you about Bracca, to kill all the feelings that suddenly demand to be felt so desperately. He clenches and unclenches his fists by his side, pretending to survey the surroundings of the Marauder. Tech moves in the periphery of his vision, but instead of following you and Crosshair, he steps closer to Hunter.

“I believe the threat’s been averted.”

“Yeah. Good job on setting up those alarms, Tech.”

“No problem. Is there anything else you need?”

“No. You should head back inside. The last thing I want is for you to keel over with hypothermia.”

“That’s not how hypothermia works,” Tech mutters, his voice trailing off, eyes uncertain behind his goggles. He suddenly places a gentle hand on Hunter’s shoulder, making the sergeant glance at him.

“Hunter, I’m only asking this because I care about you all, but... how long do you think this can go on before one of you gets hurt?”

Tech’s words echo in his mind long after he’s rejoined the squad on the ship. And Hunter just stands outside in the snowfall, watching the last rays of light disappear on the horizon, wondering which one of you he’ll have to hurt when the push comes to shove.

[aion-rsa]

Pokémon, Magic: The Gathering, and Secrets of the Pro Trading Card Games World

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When it comes to versatile gaming, nothing quite compares to a good trading card game. Anywhere, any time, as long as you each have decks and somewhere flat to lay them down, you can play. Of the many available, Magic: The Gathering and Pokémon Trading Card Game are easily among the best for beginners. One of the pillars of table-top gaming, Magic is a multi-colored blowout of intrepid sorcery and ferocious monsters, all wrapped up in nearly three decades of fantasy lore. Pokémon needs no introduction, and just as the video games have gone from strength to strength since the days of Red and Blue, so too has the spinoff card game.

Giving either of these games a go has never been easier, between the wide circulation of the packs themselves, and the digital versions one can play for free. Indeed, Magic: The Gathering Arena and Pokémon Trading Card Game Online provide a fully digital replication of the intense tit-for-tat the TCGs are known for, allowing you to build and test combinations wherever you can find good WiFi. We caught up with Autumn Burchett, a Magic: The Gathering pro, and Azul Garcia Griego, a Pokémon TCG expert, to discuss their careers in card gaming, why they love these communities so much, and what decks and cards you should be looking for if you want to be among the elite.

Meet Autumn Burchett | Magic: The Gathering

Autumn Burchett is a professional Magic: The Gathering player who, in February 2019, became the inaugural Mythic Champion. Making their Pro Tour debut in 2015, Burchett had previously achieved first place in the UK Nationals in both 2017 and 2018 before making the jump to global gold. In that time, it wasn’t just the best of the best they were up against, but revolving systems, too, as Magic restructured its competitive layout from the Pro Tour to the Mythic Championship, from which it’s changed again to this year’s Players Tour. Finding and competing against the best players in the world is an enjoyable challenge, says Burchett, but the added spotlight wasn’t easy to get used to. 

“I felt a lot of pressure at first as I really didn’t want to let down the fans I gained from that victory,” they tell us. “It’s taken a lot of time to adjust to that, and to refocus myself again.”

In a typical year, Burchett would travel a dozen or more times around the world to attend Magic: The Gathering events. Around a third of their life is spent on the road in fact, between the crucial tournaments needed to be in world championship contention and other invitationals. Naturally, playing against Magic‘s top-tier is always a thrill, but getting to see and meet the people who make up the local scenes is the real reward of being a touring player. 

“I love competing at the highest level events with players from so many different places attending,” they say. “That said, my favorite part of events will always be spending time with friends, and going out for food after the games are done, whether catching up with local friends who I’ve known for many years or getting to see international friends again.”

Unfortunately, for much of 2020, flying internationally has been a no-go, with even local gatherings being improbable until towards the end of the year. Thankfully, online game Magic: The Gathering Arena means pro players can still practice and compete at a high level. Since its release in 2019, the free-to-play version of the TCG has made it much easier for anyone — veterans or those just curious — to get a deck and start playing. “It has definitely widened the audience,” Burchett says. “I know a few people who have been able to have success in part due to digital Magic just inherently being more accessible.”

Burchett has been using online tournaments to stay sharp, like the Star City Games Tour Online, an Arena-centric version of the Star City Games Open Series that normally occurs throughout the year. It’s expected that Arena will be a cornerstone of pro Magic from here on out, meaning digital competitions will still be integral even when players can roam freely again. Between those and Twitch, Burchett has been able to maintain some semblance of a routine, while still interacting with their fanbase and giving the Magic audience somewhere to hang out. It’s a learning experience on both sides, all coming together for a love of these five-colored spells.

“[Arena] encourages me to try out different decks that I might not otherwise,” Burchett says. “I’ve definitely had people say that they started playing again because they enjoy my content or seeing me succeed which is always flattering and makes me happy to hear.”

For anyone looking to make their first steps into Magic: The Gathering, Burchett recommends going Mono-Red Aggro, a recurring deck type that’s all about blowing your opponent up as swiftly as possible. “Your role in any given match-up is generally pretty clear: try to kill your opponent as fast as possible,” they explain. “It can also have a lot of depth to it too though, which makes it easy to learn and hard to master.”

Although playing against random opponents in Arena is good for developing skills, and streams and YouTube videos can provide a semblance of real-life communal play, nothing compares to sitting down with a friend and going a few rounds to see what’s what. 

“Find someone else who plays the game and play with or against them,” Burchett says. “The game is a lot more fun when you’re sharing the experience with a friend, or battling against them, and it’s a lot easier to learn that way too.”

Autumn’s Deck

Burchett’s favorite deck at the moment is Temur Reclamation, a Blue, Green, and Red build centered on Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath, a 6/6 mythic rare from Theros Beyond Death. Uro’s a blue-green elder giant that gives you three life, lets you draw a card, and play a land card from your hand when it enters the battlefield or attacks. Getting it out involves exiling cards from your graveyard in addition to its mana cost, but once it’s in play, it’s tough for any opponent. At around $45 on eBay, Uro can be expensive, but it’s easily the largest investment in the deck.

Green and Blue land Breeding Pool is the next highest price-point, coming in at about $30 per card, with Blue and Red equivalent Steam Vent costing $12 or so. 

Guilds of Ravnica rare Expansion/Explosion is one of the more costly instants, a Blue and Red split card that lets you either copy a spell and select new targets, or deal X damage to any target. 

Brazen Borrower, a Throne of Eldraine mythic rare, is often an accompanying creature for Uro, a flash, flying 3/1 that has an instant power of returning a non-land permanent to an opponent’s hand that’ll run about $15. 

Two other enchantments, Shark Typhoon, a Blue spell that makes shark tokens from the converted mana cost of noncreature spells you play, and Wilderness Reclamation, which untaps your lands during the end phase, come in just under $5 to round out the major buys.

“I love Temur Reclamation, it has a lot of flexible play patterns and game-plans,” Burchett says. “Figuring out what role to take in any given game or match-up is a lot of fun as a result.”

Art by Aaron Miller appears in Den of Geek x eBay’s special edition trading card magazine.

Meet Azul Garcia Griego | Pokémon

Azul Garcia Griego began playing the Pokémon Trading Card Game the way many kids did—by just making up the rules so the game was more like the popular anime and video games. But after being invited to a local Pokémon League to learn how to play properly and compete, Griego became obsessed with becoming the very best, like no one ever was. Now he’s a regular international competitor, as well as a streamer and coach, showing new players the ropes as the Pokémon TCG global scene continues to expand.

“When I first started playing, you could go to one regional per season, all the regionals happened on the same weekend, so we went to one weekend,” Griego says. “Now, I’m in America, but if I wanted to go to the ones in Europe and stuff, I could go to 20-plus regionals in a year.” 

The last two years, Griego’s been doing laps of this circuit, leaving his home state of Massachusetts around two dozen times, traveling as far as Berlin, London, São Paulo, and Melbourne to compete. Obviously, the playing itself is a major attraction, getting to go against the best from every country and see their approach, but it’s the friendly atmosphere that makes being a career player worthwhile.

“At this point, there are so many people to say ‘hi’ to and just to catch up with, even if just to talk about the games that we’re having today at the regional or whatever it might be,” he says. “Then, doing other stuff like playing other kinds of board games and stuff that people bring to the event to just kill time in between rounds. We’re all just hanging out until the event’s over anyway, so it’s just always a great time.”

Mirroring the Pokémon games, the current sets in standard format for the trading card game are based on 2016’s Sun and Moon and 2019’s Sword and Shield, or generations seven and eight, respectively. So far, two expansions have been released for Sword and Shield, the base set, and Rebel Clash, with a third, Darkness Ablaze, set to drop this August. 

Griego doesn’t worry too much about the balancing in standard, always willing to adapt to whatever the prevailing strategies and decks are, but he does think that right now, the playing field is in a decent spot. “It’s pretty good right now, there’s around five or six decks that are contenders to win any tournament,” he explains. “Last meta there was one deck that was by far the best, nothing else was close to its power level, so the meta got played out very quickly.”

Given that traveling and socializing is limited for 2020, Pokémon Trading Card Game Online has been the backbone of competitive Pokémon. He’s been taking part in tournaments there, where he’s encountered a number of players who only play digital, inspiring him to arrange his own for his Twitch and YouTube subscribers. 

“I’ve had quite a few people, through just streaming or talking to them, who are only playing in these events because they only play Pokémon TCG Online,” he says. “They don’t play with real life cards, so it gives them a way to play into the game, which is really nice.” 

That’s not to say Pokémon Trading Card Game Online isn’t a gateway, but going from playing in the comfort of home, to facing your opponent eye-to-eye, can be daunting. Some of Griego’s Pokémon students actually came to him for coaching so they could build their confidence in making the leap from online to real life. “When the new season comes around, they want to attend events and be a little more refined in their skills going into that.”

While the number of fans for Pokémon TCG related content is relatively small, it’s growing, and Griego reckons that if the online version got a contemporary overhaul, it could see a real boom in interest. 

“Twitch would be a great place to grow, and I’m always hopeful that one day a new, clean, fresh client comes out because Pokémon Trading Card Game Online is really old,” he says. “I think it could definitely blow up to the point, you know, of something like Magic: The Gathering Arena or Hearthstone.”

Azul’s Deck

Griego’s deck of choice is the Combo Zacian, a build that surprised him with its versatility when he sat down to play with it. The main mechanic involves cycling through Prize cards on your bench. The namesake, Zacian V from the Sword and Shield collection demands a high price, since the deck is commonly taking players to the top eight, at $74 on eBay. For that money, though, you get a strong attacker – Zacian can do 230 damage for three metal energy – and during your turn you can draw three cards, attach any metal energy to Zacian and keep the rest in your hand. 

Metal Frying Pan FLI 144 is the usual companion here, a trainer that reduces the damage a metal pokémon takes by 30, and removes all weakness, for $10 or so.

Griego uses a specific variant that involves Jirachi TEU 99, who lets you search the top five cards of your deck for trainer cards, and generally costs around $14. 

The Detective Pikachu version of Mr. Mime who can put your face-down Prize cards on top of your deck is also included, at a cheap $4 average price. Marnie SSH 200 is among the trainer cards, making both players put their hand to the bottom of their decks, then allowing you to draw five cards while your opponent draws four, and has a price of around $32 for a single. 

Another piece of the arsenal is Boss’s Orders RCL 189, that lets you switch your opponent’s active Pokémon with a benched one, a trainer card valued at $41.

“You always put the pressure on your opponent to have to deal with you, and I would prefer to be the person in the driver’s seat as opposed to the person always trying to make the comeback,” Griego explains. “I felt like it was very hard to come back against. Once I got ahead with Combo Zacian, I was just ahead.”

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