#this probably didn't answer the question but what do people assume journalists like to do in their free time????? who knows certainly not me

[verstappentime]

i posted about this before, but let me (as a journalist irl) elaborate what's likely going on with daniel!!

when no one asked dan about his future during press day last week, we all automatically recognized this was probably the result of an embargo (we have quite a few f1 fans in the newsroom). stranger still that christian horner was in the TP conference and didn't speak on it either. we had expected that combo to make a sort of joint announcement.

so what's an embargo/how does it work?

essentially, it's when a source gives you any information ahead of time, but requests you do not publish anything on it until a certain date and time. this can be done for a lot of reasons. embargoes usually request that you refrain from sharing information from a press release or document.

usually embargoes are put in place so essentially you keep to your time table of when the information becomes "public," but news outlets aren't left scrambling because they have already written their story and have it ready to go live as soon as it's acceptable. in the case of f1 this also applies to instagram posts and things like that. that's why you'll often see the posts go live straight away when an announcement is made; everything's pre-confirmed & pre-written, they're just waiting for the green light.

if you violate an embargo in sports journalism, you'll likely have your credentials to, say, get into the press pen revoked. you/your outlet will no longer receive any privileged information. and you'll likely be asked to take it down. not for any legal reason -- you're just burning a bridge and violating trust. so this info COULD be leaked, but under the honor system, it rarely is. (especially bc if you post embargoed info & ruin your org's reputation with the source, you're probably losing your job.)

so what's going on in DR's case?

most likely, all credible sources have either A) been given the information under an embargo, or B) been told the time they can expect an embargoed press release. (i work with law enforcement, so for me this is usually just something like "you can expect the records to be sent out before dinner time friday night but it will be embargoed till 9 a.m. when they're officially public record.")

either way, everyone has probably been warned off asking those questions, but they also likely already know the answer. whatever they received, even if it doesn't reveal all the cards, most likely said daniel would not answer questions prior to the official release time and essentially, don't bother.

what's up with all the rumors?

essentially, when every credible source has their hands tied, there's no one to counter all the randoms. we see it all the time -- people yapping trading theories when we actually know what happened and can't say. unfortunately in f1 some of the randoms have some sort of name recognition -- and for some reason there are like 500 completely not credible news outlets full of untrue shit. so right now, they are the only people 1) free to bang on with theories and 2) who dont either have the info or know when the info is coming available. so that's allowing them to take up all the space.

conclusion: this isn't necessarily good or bad, but explains why we're hearing so many irrelevant people's opinions on this and not hearing anything from VCARB, daniel or his team. it was most likely done to give preferred sources the jump on announcing the news, but also to allow daniel to focus.

i'm assuming the embargo will be lifted monday morning european time, but we may hear a vague denial this weekend as theres probably some building frustration (like daniel saying yeah you'll see me in COTA or whatever).

[bonesandpoemsandflowers]

are: Rust and EDC, on rewatching, I noticed that 2012 Rust uses Crash’s wallet chain, and possibly the same style of work boots (trying to trace the brand on these rn lol). I always thought the chain was interesting bc it’s the only super recognizable Crash thing that seems to carry over.

Sorry, anon. I forgot about this and then I didn't forget about this and then I read too much about it and then I concluded that I had nothing to add because you got it all in the ask--it is (apparently) the only visual cue Rust retains from Crash, and it is a Crash cue.

And that will be obvious to some of you--but it was not obvious to me, a person who arguably has "special interest: men" and "special interest: masculine accessories" written down on her character sheet somewhere, probably under a headline that says "penalties to charisma." Why was this not obvious to me? Why did I react with derision, when first faced with Rust looking all hot with his wallet chain on?

I refer you to this Vogue article from 2016, which (inaccurately) states that wallet chains are (were) back and also (inaccurately) states:

Blame the resurgence of the wallet chain on Vetements: For Fall 2016, the label gave the accessory a cheeky mall-goth makeover

To me, the wallet chain has always been a mall goth staple. But that is because my toxic trait is that I truly, truly believe that if I had been born in a slightly earlier time, I would have been so good at being an authentic 90s goth at the club.

(It pains me, it pains me to think of how Crash era Rust could so plausibly be at the (goth) club. Like, Rust wouldn't be, is the problem. But he could have been, so easily, and the overlap between biker scene and leather scene and goth has always been significant.)

(Crash era club setting BDSM fic set to Nine Inch Nails WHEN)

But reading anything in Vogue always reminds me that I, personally, might be full of shit, given that my frame of reference is such a thin slice of humanity, so I set out to answer the question of: do bikers actually wear wallet chains?

To do this, I did what anyone concerned with journalistic integrity and not leaving her own house would do: I read old forum posts from the early 2000s. And here I learned that it's not a wallet chain, in the parlance, but a biker wallet, and really the biker wallet is originally a trucker (as in semis) wallet.

The go to joke, on some slightly less old forums, seems to be that these days, the biker wallet / wallet chain is mostly good for scratching up your paint job.

however.

It seems that back in the day, the wallet chain was in fact an essential piece of kit. Why? Wallet in back pocket, bumpy rides, long roads--apparently losing your wallet because it jostled out of your jeans is a real thing that really happened. The difference seems to be that between now and then, suspensions (i think is the term?) got better and in general, rides are smoother, so it's less of a risk.

I assume there's also the issue of--once the look is diluted enough by people the initial core group thinks of as posers, the object that was formerly a reliable marker of in-group, now useless, becomes uncool.

So anyway, that's some general thoughts on wallet chains. But back to Rust, specifically.

he's so busted and hot here. dishabille. where was I.

We can conclude that the wallet chain, in the 90s, is a pragmatic choice, like almost everything is, where Rust is concerned. We never see Crash riding but we assume, right, that he didn't spend four years infiltrating a biker gang to never be on a dang bike. Period accurate suspensions were apparently shit, and presumably losing your state issued fake ID is a pain in the ass while working UC, so the wallet chain is practical.

So why is 2012 Rust, who drives a pick up, wearing it?

For the same reason he's wearing the same watch for the whole series, I think. It works.

Or is it a hint of some attachment to identity? This is only on my mind due to recent discussions in my DMs, but the idea is tantalizing. What if he likes the wallet chain, just a teensy bit? That seems good or healthy, maybe, that he's got some scrap of preference and attachment going on there.

Or maybe he doesn't, and it's just another way 2012 Rust comes across as frozen in time, like most of those ten years are lost time. Not rugged practicality, not if it ain't broke, don't fix it, but a secret third thing: a resigned it is what it is, the smallest unit of self fulfilling prophecy that time is a flat circle or nothing changes and therefore nothing matters.

Or maybe it's that there ain't much of a difference between Crash and Rust at the end of the day, which is my humbly presented thesis in this half finished fan fic I promise I haven't forgotten about.

re: the boots. I think I have a source on the exact boots, once again due to the insane guys over on reddit. I'll comb through my bookmarks and see if I find it and I will report back...eventually. And then I think I might as well post about the knife and the zippo because the knife, at least, is funny to me and very Rust. Also I need to tag these, I guess?

Rust EDC posts so far:

the ledger // the watch

[cookies-sports]

There was a brief kerfuffle on WoSo Twitter a few days ago when someone commented on how many of the Hammarby ultra fans who traveled for the Manchester City vs Hammarby game were men.

The whole thing tied into a topic I think about a lot (more below the cut).

Most of the responses dog-piled the account in the replies and quote tweets, seeming to assume the comment was a criticism of there being so many men. I don't know what the person running the account meant — I've no idea who they are — but I am interested in the related question:

Why were there fewer women than people might expect for a group of traveling women's football ultras?

Because one response that came up more than a few times amidst the backlash was some variation of "it's not men's fault women don't like football!".

Except, we don't really know how many women would like football if there was an even societal playing ground for getting into hobbies and some of that is the fault of some men (especially those who had the power to exclude women) and a lot of it is society at large. Similarly, we don't know how many more men might like netball without the societal biases of certain hobbies. Women and girls have been told for decades that certain sports, like football, are not for them; so it's not always easy to unpick whether more women and girls would like football if there hadn't been that societal push-back and exclusion.

There are also other barriers to traveling to follow your football team, such as:

women being more likely to be responsible for a greater proportion of care duties (children, relatives who are ill or require support),

women on average earn less money so may have less disposable income,

women who play sports themselves often have their own games at times that professional games are played (e.g. most amateur football and rugby matches are on Sundays, when a notable proportion of professional matches are also scheduled)

It's also complicated by the fact that any group of very passionate traveling fans gets called 'ultras' and that single term applies to the entire continuum of ultra fan culture. At one end, you have inclusive groups who just LOVE their team and want to support them through everything and help others to do the same. As far as I can tell, this is the end the Hammarby ultra fans who came to the Manchester City game are on. There have been some incidents involving Hammarby ultras for the men's teams in the past, but they didn't seem to be the same groups.

Then at the other end of the ultra culture continuum, you have the groups of violent fascists who will fight with opposing fans and throw projectiles at the players when they don't play well and whose groups are heavily tied up with with far-right ideology. If you have the misfortune of being at any kind of sports game when that kind of group kicks off... it can get scary, fast.

And everything in between.

So, the reputation and not knowing what you might be facing with a group of ultras might also be a contributing factor. There are definitely ultra groups who are not exactly welcoming to women. The entire culture of football, though, hasn't exactly been a welcoming place for women and that in itself can be off-putting.

I know a number of WoSo fans, big social media accounts, and journalists seem to be focused on how to attract fans of the men's game, and in making the women's game more like the men's game, but that's not the angle I'm most interested in. I'd like to know why there are fewer women involved even in the inclusive ultras groups, because I think the answers would be interesting and perhaps help improve access for more people to women's football.

Dismantling centuries of societal stigma and biases is probably not something that can be resolved by women's football (though, WPLL or whatever you end up calling yourself, you can always aim for the moon and land amongst the stars), but I think it's still worth trying to look beyond "women just don't like football".

[travelingreportersam]

Summary: Sam, Xavier, and Narcissa decide to explore the caves around town to test Sam's theory about underground tunnels. Instead they find a portal that tossed them into a lake. Xavier shows the other 2 the portal leading from the tree to the bar.

@ghostsbrokenbyfairytales @backmaskcd

As he moved closer to the newspaper office, Sam blinked in surprise to see Xavier already there. "You actually came." It was more of a statement than a question

xavier was on his phone looking at whatever was on it that still worked while he waited for sam. he’d gotten there earlier than he needed to be but he wasn’t risking not being able to go. “course i did, told you i was. didn’t want to miss this.” he said putting away his phone in his pocket.

Sam raised a brow at the other. "And you're just doing all this out of curiosity?" What a weird guy. "Anyway," he pulled out the map he'd already marked, showing it to Xavier. "The marked places are potential caves to check out. I took the time to make sure they weren't just shallow inlets. If you weren't lying about knowing the woods well that could come in handy, since we have no clue where any of these tunnels could lead."

“yeah? why else would someone explore if it wasn’t for their own curiosity? and before you say to find an answer, sometimes things don’t have one so.” xavier answered with a shrug and glanced at the map. it was familiar enough and all the x’s were area’s he’d been around at least from what he could recognize. “oh yeah that’ll be easy, over twelves years of not being able to do anything _besides_ exploring when you’re bored makes it easy to navigate around.”

He looked to Xavier and back at the map, brows furrowing in thought. "Do any of these areas particularly familiar to you? Like that you've visited fairly recently?"

xavier looked over the map and pointed to one of the x’s. “that one, never gone in it cause the thought of going in a cave alone always gave me the creeps but i do know where that one’s at.”

Sam nodded, muttering to himself in Korean. Creepy huh? Often people felt the gi of an area without realizing it. That could be the one. "Alright, that'll be the first one we check then. We'll need to be careful on time. Of course there's a real chance of a breakthrough on some of these mysteries and it has to be the middle of winter."

xavier nodded and pulled out his phone once more. “it’s why i got this thing still, alarms still work, already have a couple set for an hour and two hours before sunset usually happens. just in case.” he could set more if he needed to but for now that felt like a good amount of time, depending on where they ended up by then. “so you’re another person trying to solve the mystery of huntsville then? is that how you ended up here or did that happen after you got stuck.”

Good, they were taking this trip seriously enough, something Sam could appreciate. Maybe it wouldn't be a trial in babysitting after all. "Yeah," he admitted as they started walking. "I noticed a large number of missing person cases leading to rural West Virginia and decided it would be my next big story." Sam glanced back over to Xavier. "I'm an investigative journalist. I usually travel as needed."

“must’ve felt shitty finding out you couldn’t leave again then but hey, least you got plenty of time to write your story, ya know, assuming you don’t die and all.” was that morbid to say? probably but xavier learned that it’s easier to be blunt rather than give a false hope. as they walked next to him they glanced to him now too, “so what other stuff have you written about then? anything i’ve missed out on the last twelve years that’s interesting?”

Sam couldn't help the chuckle. At least Xavier didn't beat around the bush. "Well, I'm going to try my best not to die. I at least have to make sure my sister is safe," his expression dropped at that. "Somehow she ended up in this town too. That's the part that feels shitty." Sighing, he shook his head and looked back to the other. "So are you from around here?" He gave a shrug at the questions. "Human trafficking, child soldiers, that sort of thing. Unfortunately nothing new in our world but something that is still important to give voice to."

“completely coincidental or followed you in?” xavier had heard about it a lot that siblings often got stuck here after going to look for the other or even the off chance of it being random. “oh yeah born and raised, never left this town and never got a chance to anyway. i was only fourteen when the storm hit so it’s not like i ever had a chance to leave even if i wanted to.” and that was something he’d come to terms with a long time ago. all his exploration he’d done wasn’t in hopes to find a way out it was mostly to cure his own boredom. “gross to hear things are still the same out there. somehow all those things make the creatures feel human.”

"Coincidental. She'd actually been here for an entire year before it fell on my radar....I...didn't even know she was among the missing." His expression turned solemn, the guilt still eating at him.

A sardonic smile made it across his lips as at Xavier's comment. "You know, I've said something similar before and you may be one of the first people to agree with me. Monsters are everywhere, these ones just don't hide behind a curtain of niceties."

xavier let his own expression soften and put a hand on sams shoulder. “you’d be surprised how many people are here for longer than a year and family _still_ hasn’t noticed they’re missing. it happens. people just assume they’re out living their life it’s not like we can tell them otherwise.” he hoped that would at least ease him a little bit.

they dropped their hand from his shoulder now and looked around them, making sure there wasn’t any hunter traps around since this was the woods. “yeah? surprised more people don’t agree with that considering there’s a murderer too. or murderers, wouldn’t be surprised if there’s more than one with how things have been lately.”

Flashing a sad smile, Sam nodded. He appreciated the attempt, at the very least. At the mention of murder his smile dropped and a sigh escaped him. "I imagine it's easy to get away with murder in a place like this. A friend of mine mentioned that the number of murderers and sociopaths you could run into here is exceptionally high. Can't help wondering if they're drawn to this place somehow."

As the forest came into view, Sam stopped, a thoughtful expression beginning to form. "Hey, do you mind if we take a small detour?" Not really waiting for an answer, he leads Xavier down a road. "I think we should bring my colleague. She would tear me a new one if she found out I didn't include her on the trip." A few minutes later they arrived in front of a residence as Sam knocked on the door.

She hadn't been expecting anyone - so Narcissa naturally assumed it had to be Lonnie or Sam bugging her. All the same, she pulled open the door, trying her best to maintain a stern face. "I'm an extremely busy woman you know - did you pencil this visit in with my secretary?" Spotting Xavier she quickly shook her head. "I'm just teasing Sam - I'm not that important. What's up?"

Sam raised a brow at Narcissa, a small quirk of his lips. "Oh, well if you're too busy then I guess you don't want to come join me, and Xavier" he nods toward the other, "in testing out my tunnel theory." He held up the map to sweeten the deal.

"Well, I do love a premade plan. Just a second - let me grab some stuff." Disappearing for only a couple minutes as she quickly gathered her camera and put on better shoes, she reappeared with a wide grin on her face. "Okay - fill me in."

“oh i can do that!” xavier moved closer with a smile. “xavier by the way, anyway, i was about to go in the crack, he stopped me cause it was just a rope and apparently you guys had gone in it already anyway. bummer. he talked about exploring the caves and i asked to join, he said yes since i know the woods and we’re starting with this one,” they paused to point on the map at one of the x’s, “because i know where this one is. he can fill in the why, i don’t actually know that part or maybe i do i’m in it for the adventure really and my own curiosity!"

As they started walking Sam nodded to Xavier's explanation. There were a couple details he would fill Narcissa on later, but they at least covered the gist of everything. "Considering some of these caves might open back up to some other part of the forest, I figured having someone who's familiar with the woods here would be pretty helpful. As for this particular cave, it was on a list of potential candidates I already scoped out. Xavier mentioned they never get close to that one because of how 'creepy' it is, so that seemed like a good starting point."

Narcissa nodded as they walked, taking in all the information. She was already getting excited; the more people she and Sam had on their side, the better. "Okay - don't love that the cave is creepy, but maybe that means something. I'm glad Sam stumbled upon you, Xavier - sounds like you're well versed in the caves. We're like a Mcgyvered myth busters."

“well i didn’t say the cave was creepy, i said it always gave me the creeps about going in alone. what if it’s got bats? we don’t have anything for bat rabies. cooties? there’s a word for it that i can’t remember.” at least xavier thought that’s what he said, or maybe that meant the cave was creepy he wasn’t sure, he wasn’t great at reading in between lines. “but yeah, guess it was a good thing he did considering i was already feet dangling in a pit. cant dangle in a pit in a cave… most likely.”

He waved a hand at Xavier's clarification. "Eh, semantics. The gi is off and that's all I care about. Also there's no cure for rabies so try not to get bit." Sam sighed at the reminder of how he'd met the other. All he could hope was that during this exhibition Xavier didn't prove to be a liability, even with their useful geographic knowledge.

Narcissa chewed on her lower lip, but nodded a little. "Okay; let's just be careful where we're aiming our flashlights and try not to talk too loud then; I don't want to deal with bats or get one caught in my hair." All the same, the excitement she felt was evident as she all but skipped along. "So you think it'll lead to the crack somewhere?"

xavier shrugged at sam waving him off. “there’s not really a cure for anything here so you’d be shit outta luck anyway but i’m sure there’s none. probably. i make no promises, i can tell you what’s in the woods but that’s about it.” turning to narcissa they pointed at sam, “that’s a him question i’ll zip it now cause i don’t actually know what his whole thought process is.”

Sam frowned, though a small blush coated his cheeks. Narcissa asked for his reasoning so he gave it. So sue him. He shook his head at the question. "I doubt it. We shouldn't be going that deep into the caves today, plus that was mostly just a hypothesis. I could be completely wrong." He glanced back to Narcissa with a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, we'll keep an eye on time. Xavier even set some alarms. Speaking of," looking back to Xavier as they entered the forest. "Do you know about how far we are from that cave?"

"Alarms are a very smart idea," Narcissa felt relieved at this idea, now that they would have time to protect themselves. "I don't know; I guess it's hard to say since they disappear during the day; but I guess anything is possible here, right?"

“why thank you.” xavier said with a proud smile, he definitely didn’t hear that a lot. “you could also be right, we won’t know until we’re there.” he paused now and took a quick look around to see where they’re at to give an answer. “from here i’d say… maybe a twenty minute walk? possibly thirty, just depends on where the hunters laid traps.”

He gave them both a tight smile. "Let's just hope I'm wrong. All I have in my bag is my camera, a little bit of rope, and a flashlight."

"Well, no matter what we encounter, it'll be a productive first day anyway," narcissa insisted, trying to boost Sam's spirits. "That's not a terrible walk."

“i got my fists and a whoooole lotta gusto.” xavier said with a wide smile. it was mostly to try and keep the spirits up for everyone but mostly himself. “nope not bad at all, i know where a couple of the other caves are on the map but they’re farther out. this one felt like the best option especially if we’re in it longer than we intend to be.”

Sam smiled, appreciating the two's attempts at lightening the mood. He could only hope he wasn't leading them to their deaths. The rest of the walk was fairly uneventful as the cave eventually came into view. Pulling out the flashlight from his bag, he offered it to one of his companions as he sized up the dark mouth. "Well, here goes nothing."

The walk was pleasant enough - and honestly the more time the three spent walking, somehow the more sure Narcissa felt about things. As they approached the cave, she pulled a beanie out of her bag, pulling it down over her ears. "Alright - let's see what's waiting for us."

xavier let narcissa take the flashlight and decided if they really needed to they could use the one on their phone, it wouldn't be great but it'd be something. "i'm following you guys so, after you two."

Looking back to the others, Sam took a steadying breath before walking into the darkness of the cave. He glanced around, keeping his eyes peeled for anything as he followed the natural curve of the rock. Rounding the first curve, Sam was about to say something when suddenly he was blinded by a bright light. Stumbling forward, he let out a startled yelp as his next step met with air instead of solid ground and his body came tumbling forward. Before he could comprehend what was happening, ice cold water enveloped his body. Scrambling to reach what he supposed was the surface, Sam gasped for air, looking around himself wildly. As his eyes adjusted to the brightness, he realized with shock that he was back outside in the forest, treading water in some lake. The cave he was just in was nowhere to be found.

Narcissa crept along behind Sam, not meaning to hold her breath, but it was hard - the excitement and anxiety were vibrating through her bones, and since everyone else was quiet, it was taking everything in her to not talk incessently about all the things they might uncover. However, this didn't last for too long - the bright light and cold water caused Narcissa to scream - though since she was underwater, no one could hear her. Quickly swimming to the surface, she let out a loud gasp, whipping her head aroudn to find her companions. "What the fuck??"

xavier was right, the cave really did give him the creeps and he was half tempted to turn back but having other people around did make it a bit easier. he was quite though, mostly afraid and small noise might do something but he felt like it got eerily quiet and couldn’t see where the two had gone so he continued forward anyway. that was until they felt like they couldn’t breathe anymore, looking around frantically until they looked up to see light so they… swam up? xavier got his head above water with a loud gasp and turned to see sam and narcissa there too who seemed just as confused. “did we just…” he looked down to his feet trying to catch a glimpse of anything off but saw nothing. furrowing his brows he swam to shore and hoped they’d follow behind. “i think i know what just happened to us.”

Following Xavier to the shore, Sam pulled himself up and offered a hand to Narcissa before flopping down to the sandy ground with a shiver. They were going to need a change of clothes ASAP. Looking back at Xavier, his eyes narrowed. "The hell did you mean you think you know what just happened?"

Narcissa followed Xavier, teeth already chattering. This venture had been a bust, and hopefully her camera hadn't been taken out of commission. It wasn't waterproof per se, but it had been through a lot. "Is it a paradox thing?" She managed to stammer out between her chattering teeth. She tried to wring out her hair and clothes as best as she could without taking them off, but it wasn't do much good to dispell the cold.

“well,” xavier had a look on their face like they wanted to admit something but wasn’t quite sure yet but eventually sighed, the longer he stood there the colder they were getting and they needed someplace warm. “i think it’s a paradox thing.. not sure though. i um, im pretty sure that was another portal, as in, i may or may not already know where another one is.” he finally admitted a bit sheepishly.

Sam immediately shot up, eyes widening. "Hold up, there's more of those? Does anyone else know about this?"

"A what?" Narcissa didn't care about how cold she was anymore - her entire focus was fixated on Xavier, excitement, terror and something else bright on her face. "Where's the other one? Where does it lead to?"

“no.” xavier said quickly at sam’s question. he wanted to keep odette out of it as much as possible so she didn’t freak out.. hopefully. “as far as i know there’s one more, it’s a tree. when you crawl through it, it leads you into the basement of the bar. that’s.. all i know but that one you can go back through unlike this one.”

Their reply made it obvious that wasn't true, but Sam wouldn't push the matter. There were more important questions, like "why haven't you told others? This is a massive discovery." He was shaking his head, mind going into overdrive on how he would write this. "Can you show us where the tree is?" Glancing down at himself and his shivering companions, he added "after we get changed."

Narcissa barely even noticed that Xavier was potentially lying - all she cared about was the fact that this was an anomaly that occurred in at least two places. "This is huge - holy shit, Xavier, that's incredible." She wanted to protest that they just go to the tree right then and there, but it would be much smarter to at least change before going. "You've done this before? Go back and forth between this other portal?"

“i uh,” shit he didn’t actually have an explanation as to why he didn’t tell someone, “okay fine. a friend of mine had it happen to them, they’re the ones that originally found it but i promised not to tell anyone because they were freaked out and thought they were going crazy and now im freaking out because i don’t want them involved or their name to be out their because they don’t need that stress and,” xavier took a deep breath in after realizing he was rambling and calmed himself down before continuing, “i just don’t want their name out there so i’m not saying who. that’s for them to say when they’re ready but yeah.. i can show you guys where the tree is.” turning towards narcissa they nodded at her, “multiple times. as far as i know i’ve been the only one to do it, i usually just go back through the vent so i’m not randomly coming out of their basement.”

He gave a nod, experession softening. "I won't add their name to the paper, I promise. You can also stay anonymous if you'd prefer." Standing up, Sam held out a hand to help anyone up that wanted it. "First, let's warm up and then we can take a look at this tree. I might want another look at that cave, but that can wait."

Narcissa easily took Sam's hand, letting out an almost relieved sigh. "Well.... At least we aren't as far away as I thought that meant we were." She admitted, turning to Xavier. "It's okay - I care less about your friend's name and more about investigating these portals - no offense to them, of course, but this is.... incredible. Even if now we're all freezing."

xavier got up on his own and brushed off whatever sand he could that was sticking to his clothes and gave an appreciative smile to sam. “thanks.” glancing towards the water they raised an eyebrow, “this one’s an odd one. i wonder if the other side of the portal is at the bottom of the lake and that’s why we can’t see it. i mean it’d be hard to tell anyway, the one in the basement just looks like a vent you’d never be able to tell if you didn’t know.” looking back at the two now their expression turned sheepish again, “sorry. yeah we should go do we can get changed, it’s too cold for this.”

"You'd think any portal would be odd." He mused with a raised brow. "But I will say it felt like we were thrown in instead of being already inside the lake." He turned back to the water, squinting as he tried to see any sort of difference, a shimmer or something. "Anyway, yeah, let's go. Last thing we need is hypothermia on top of everything else."

Back at Narcissa's apartment Sam paced back and forth in the blanket she's supplied, impatient for their clothes to come out of the dryer. "How exactly did your friend find that tree portal?"

The trip to Narcissa's place felt twice as long this time as the trio were shivering, but Narcissa quickly offered the other two towels and the few bigger pairs of sweatpants she had lying around her place before they got together to try to discuss what the fuck just happened.

"Okay so - portals." She had changed into a different set of clothes, already scrawling shorthand across a notebook. "Two of them - one you can go in and out of, now one that is also in a lake. How did you find the other one, and why did you think this cave would be one?"

xavier was sitting on the couch with the towel wrapped around his shoulders trying to warm up anyway he could. "well with what they told me it was like some alice in wonderland shit, there was a rabbit, they followed it, it went through the tree then so did they and next thing you know they're in the bars basement." taking a quick look at narcissa they shrugged, "i didn't. they're the one that technically did they just showed me. as for the cave i'm not sure, it always just gave me a weird vibe when i'd pass it during my explorations to the point i never wanted to go inside. only went this time because i wasn't going to be alone."

Sam continued pacing in thought, running a hand through his damp hair. "Do you get the same feeling from the tree? That weird, creepy vibe? If there's two in that forest that must mean there's more right?" What if...what if one of them led to outside? He wouldn't voice that thought, the hope it would place too potentially soul crushing. But...it was worth considering. He glanced back to Narcissa, stopping in his tracks. "Maybe we can try asking around, see if anyone else has gotten any weird feelings, canvas potential areas."

"Okay.... okay sure, sure," she was half listening and half taking notes, nodding along as they went - however at Sam's comment, her head popped up. "Look, I'd love it as much as the next person if there was a secret portal out of here, but that seems far more unlikely since literally everything about this town seems to be designed by whatever to keep us in - even transporting us to different spaces inside the paradox. Xavier, do you know how far the bar and the tree are? Like, a ballpark guess?"

"well... kind of? like with the tree it's not as intense but i still get an off vibe, even before they'd pointed it out to me, they basically confirmed it." xavier could never figure out why he got those feelings for specific things but never questioned it and just assumed the town in general probably gave people the similar feeling. "i uh, i don't know how far, if i had to take a guess maybe a half mile to a mile apart? i never paid attention to that actually so i guess that'll be something we take note of when i show you guys."

Glancing down at his watch, Sam nodded, muttering to himself. To the others he said, "our clothes should be dry by now. We should have enough time to check out this tree and snap a few pictures before getting home." He glanced more specifically at Narcissa, "unless there was something in particular you wanted to do."

"No - that sounds good for an initial investigation with the time we have left," Narcissa looked sadly at her video camera, which still hadn't been able to turn on since they got back. "I want to try to get this fixed before we go through the portal, anway. To really document it."

“i know someone who can fix that but he wouldn’t be able to do it in a day. my old roommate cyan, he’s a big tech guy. i can see if he has another camera you can use in the meantime?” it was the closest xavier could offer since he was gonna have to find a way to get his own phone fixed, hopefully. “actually, do either of you still have your phones? could use that to record.”

Sam's cheeks heated as he held up a hand. "Oh, um, actually," he glanced to Narcissa. "For your birthday I planned on fixing your camera. I still can...if you'd like. Uh...surprise?" He also shook his head as he riffled through his bag to pull out his camera. "No need. This puppy is completely water proof. It's been across the world and back and been my partner through it all."

"Well, someone needs to fix it - I'm not too bothered as to who," Narcissa playfully waved them off, an appreciatve flush blooming across her cheeks. "Anyway. Um, no, my phone camera got cracked when Sam and I went into the crack - Lonnie stepped on it. But it's fine, Sam can take the wheel on this one,"

“well in that case we seem set, im gonna put my clothes back on because i’m still freezing.” xavier said with a laugh and disappeared to go do just that. when he came back he sat down again and smiled, “fresh out of the dryer is always the best. i’m ready now whenever you guys are.”

He flashed Narcissa a grin. "Well luckily I could have been a professional photographer in another life, so the prints are in good hands." Sam followed Xavier to get dressed, chuckling lightly in agreement as he pulled on his own clothes. "Alright, let's head out."

Keeping an eye on the sky, Sam asked to Xavier, "how much further are we?" He cursed the fact they were still in the dead of winter. Everything would be so much easier if it was summer and they had ample daylight to spare.

Narcissa was almost jogging to keep up the pace - she wasn't concerned about falling behind, she was concerned about the daylight slipping away from them. "I guess worst comes to worst, we just dive into the portal and spend the night in the bar."

xavier was still walking but started looking around to figure out where exactly they were at. he’d done this so many times at this point he knew the route like the back of his hand. “not much farther away, it’s just past those ones up there.” they pointed to the trees in front of them and chuckled. “funny you say that, i’ve yet to see a creature go into the portal and i’ve tested it before.” it was a stupid test, of course because no one knew he was doing it and it could’ve resulted in negative results. “waited in the vent till the bar closed then just waited in the basement, i kept the vent closed just in case so maybe that was why but,” a pause and a shrug, “just went right back through when daytime came, it was like i was never there.”

Sam blinked, stopping in his tracks as he looked at Xavier in abject horror. "What the fuck dude? That...that might actually be one of the stupidest things I'd ever heard. What would you have done if they *did* go through?" Between them dangling over the crack and now this, Sam was genuinely concerned for the other's well being. Knowing they don't have the time to go into a full tirade of how utterly idiotic Xavier's little test was, he shook his head and continued onward, pulling out his camera in preparation. "We should have enough time to get back," he assured Narcissa. "All we need to do is verify the portal, take a couple pictures of someone halfway through it, and dip."

Narcissa wasn't sure why San was reacting the way he was - she would have done the same thing if she were them. "That's really interesting - maybe the animas know something we don't?" Nodding a little at Sam's direction, she perked up. "Can I be the halfway in person?"

xavier ignored the fact that sam stopped and only started walking backwards instead, "i don't know. die i guess? no risk no reward or whatever that saying is." they shrugged and turned back so they wouldn't trip over any roots. "you can if you want, i've been in it plenty of times. since you want to verify it starts becoming a tight squeeze the closer you get to the bars vent so keep that in mind when you wanna turn around."

Narcissa may have a point. Animals usually caught on to things faster than people, especially when it came to energies. He pinched the bridge of his nose at Xavier's reply. God there was a lot he could say to that, but all he settled for was "that was beyond stupid." Letting go of his nose, he looked to Narcissa with an amused smile. "Sure."

As they came across the tree Sam nodded to it. "You two can go in. I actually want to see what it looks like when someone goes through."

"We all do stupid things, Sam, c'mon," Narcissa pointed. "Rapelling into the crack was stupid, we just do stupid stuff with Lonnie as a lookout." She flashed Xavier a playful look. "He forgets what it's like to be impulsive sometimes, I think."

She examined the tree - it just looked like a normal tree, she didn't even feel any odd vibes. "Perfect - you can just film us like alice following the white rabbit."

“yeah sam, c’mon.” xavier couldn’t help but tease with a grin as they got closer. “well if he sticks around me he’ll remember cause impulsive is my middle name.”

he stared into it for a minute, it still was wild to him how a tree of all things led him to a basement but then again a cave just spit them out into a lake so he’s stopped questioning it. “so pretty much what happened to my friend.” he commented with a chuckle. “you sure you don’t want me to snap the pics sam? i’ve been through this thing plenty of times if you wanted to look for yourself.”

He sighed, shaking his head. Sam would like to argue that they were professionals doing a job, that they had experience and at least some form of a safety net while what Xavier did could have easily been a suicide mission, but it felt like the argument wasn't worth the effort. Not now, when their time outside was limited. "I'd rather be the one to take the pictures if that's alright. Plus now that I know this portal is here I can always come back." Assuming he would be able to find it again." Holding up his camera, he adjusted the focus until it was perfect. "Whenever you're ready."

"Someone has to be responsible," Narcissa grinned widely, but quickly circled aroudn the tree, just getting a good look at it, nodding a little to herself. "Well, it's now or never, right?" Her grin was a little more nervous now, but she gestured for Xavier to lead the way. "Narcissa, and Xavier, signing off. For now."

“yeah that’s perfectly fine, i was just making sure in case you wanted to go in farther.” xavier have a smile and waited while narcissa circled the tree once then nodded before finally stepping into the tree and continued walking forward.

Sam nodded in appreciation, snapping a few pictures of the two, keeping his finger over the button for the right moment.

Narcissa shot a nervous look back at Sam - her face was confident, but her eyes betrayed her actual feelings - before she quickly stepped forward to follow Xavier, taking a deep breath and resisting the urge to close her eyes just in case something bad happened.

“you guys good?” xavier asked as he continued, glancing back only for a moment since he knew they were going to get to a point where the space got smaller.

"Yeah," Narcissa cleared her throat a little as she followed them, face determined. She believed them, of course, but had to see for herself. "I hope we looked cool crawling in here."

xavier held back a laugh. “does anyone ever look cool crawling?” the closer they got to the vent they gave out a warning to sam and narcissa to let them know. “see the vent?” he pointed out and tried to move out of the way as much as he could for them to look.

"Well… probably not." Narcissa admitted. "But a girl can dream." She squinted to where Xavier was pointing since the lighting wasn't the best. "Oh - yeah!! And it's just loose for us to push?"

“yeah pretty much, you just gotta use a little force behind it but that’s it.” xavier said with a slight nod. “i’d show you but i don’t know if anyone’s in the basement right now, i cant tell.”

Narcissa was disappointed, but understood. "Right - well. This just means we need to come back another time to FULLY investigate."

[opossumanon]

Here's why you shouldn't meet your heroes. Or just people who seem cool, cuz this douchebag I'm about to vent to yall about wasn't even my hero he just seemed like a cool person to talk to and then proved to be an asshole.

So a couple weeks ago I was at this conference being hosted at a good university, and it was a journalism and media thing where teens from all over the US and its territories come and learn about the field of journalism and practice and meet other journalists. It also yapped on and on about diversity and inclusion, but was actually fucking terrible about inclusion, but that's a whole other can of worms cuz today I just wanna vent about one specific bad moment.

So nearing the end of the conference was an event where we'd split up and be lectured by different journalists or professors of our choosing, and then there would be a "mixer" where we got snacks and then had the opportunity to chat with the speakers that we didn't get to see. I wanted to go with this one guy that I'm calling Guy, but all the tickets for his thing ran out so I went to another guy who had a REALLY good presentation but was also a classist dick (again, another can of worms). During the mixer, I struggled to get the opportunity to talk to Guy cuz I was so nervous and wasn't sure how to ask my questions without being boring or weird. Eventually my friends at the conference bullied me into doing it and so I waited in line to speak to him, watching as he was all energetic and charming and nice to a normal-looking girl talking to him and watched as he gave her his card. This detail is important.

Eventually the girl left and it was my turn to talk to Guy, and I explained how I couldn't see him speak even though I wanted to and I asked about what he was talking about, and he gave this really paraphrased answer that felt kinda bland? Like he threw in a very short summary of a story he told but it still felt rushed and like he was detached while telling it. It ended with me realizing that he probably wouldn't spill any tea to me personally so I went "Hey do you have anything else that I could look at to get more information?? A website, video, etc??? Or could I just get your card?" and he deadass said (I'm paraphrasing here)

"No, I don't think that'd help you."

Like wtf???????

(For anybody confused as to why I'm upset: In any sort of professional setting where a person has a card, asking for it is the most basic polite thing you can do to the point where people don't even have to ask cuz the other person will just go "Hey you want my card" and hand it over. Guy refusing to give me his card, when I knew for certain that he had one, was the professional equivalent of me reaching out to give him a handshake and him recoiling in disgust. I'm pretty sure he did this as blatantly as he did because he assumed that I'd be clueless about this sort of thing like most of my peers were.)

Looking back I can't find a single thing I did wrong. I waited in line patiently, introduced myself and shook his hand, made eye contact, etc etc. I wasn't even chatting with him for longer than 2 minutes before I gave up and went "I should go now cuz the guy behind me wants to talk to you too, have a good night" and left so it wasn't like I had him trapped talking with me for an hour. By the time I went back to my dorm, I was genuinely on the verge of tears and I felt useless and like I wouldn't be able to accomplish anything...Yknow, at the conference where they've been going on and on and on about how we're all special and are on track to be good journalists and stuff like that.

After 10 minutes of being blinded by tears and sniffling to my heart's content I switched to being angry and decided that I wanted to start a podcast starring weird people, being about weird people, and having an audience of weird people. I still wanna do this because the power of spite is absolutely a thing, but there's also a part of me that wants to back away from anything journalism/media related at all because I feel so fucking crushed from how Guy treated me. A lot of the self confidence that I spent YEARS trying to build back up from nothing was basically knocked over thanks to him.

I don't have much of a lesson to teach, I'm just still upset about this weeks later and I needed to get it out is all, but what this event taught me specifically was

I'll never be seen as normal or taken seriously, no matter how good my neurotypical cis white guy cosplay is

Professors of massive universities are pieces of shit and I'm probably gonna avoid going to them for advice in the future

Higher education is a good thing that all people should have access to if they wish, but also the people you find in higher education settings tend to be classist/elitist pricks who look down on people who don't walk, talk, act, or look like the "typical intellectual" (White person who's obviously upper middle class or higher who's neurotypical and cishet and able-bodied) and therefore making higher education available for everyone is and will continue to be a useless fucking endeavor until we flush out the intense biases against people who don't fit the "typical intellectual" within the system.

[purposefully-lost]

"So, what led you to baseball?"

"Well, I've been playing since I was a kid," Andy started, his cheek resting in his hand. His gaze was lingering on the reporter's face, right on the crease between his brows. "I was kinda lucky that way. My folks had me in every little league they could cart me off to from the moment I could walk. I just never stopped." It was a half-assed answer for a half-assed question. The reporter from the local Times wasn't the same man he'd spoken to on the phone; that had been an overly chippy gentleman whose forced sense of amiability rivaled Andy's own. This man- Alex, he'd said- had walked right into Andy's room and sat himself down on the surface of his desk like he belonged there. He hadn't asked a single question with anything more than a bored drawl, and the polite smile he'd flashed Andy's way could only barely be described as such. He looked at him like he hated him, and even though Andy had stopped speaking, he was still idly scratching his pencil against the paper of his notebook. Andy leaned to the side a little, squinting as he tried to peer at what was bring written. "Just out of curiosity, have you written down anything I've said?"

"What?" Alex asked, his gaze finally darting up to fully meet Andy's. He frowned at him. "Sure. Why do you care?"

Andy blinked in surprise, but still laughed. He dropped his hand so he could sit up properly and leaned against the frame of his bed. "Dude, it's my interview. If you're gonna write about me, I wanna know that it's accurate."

"It'll be fine. You're just about what everyone expects you'd be," Alex said, and Andy couldn't quite tell if it was an insult or not. The journalist's eyes dropped back to his page, where his frown deepened just a little. He was more concentrated there than he was on speaking. Andy watched a corner of his lips twitch in thought. Finally, his curiosity won out over decorum. He pushed to his feet and crossed the room to peer down at the page before the man could react or jerk it away, then abruptly burst into a bark of laughter at what he found.

"Hey-!" Alex snarled, but the damage had already been done. Andy grinned up at him. It hadn't been notes at all- well, maybe a couple, he'd seen his hame written out in full and a vague note about his parents- but most of the paper was taken up by.. a bird. A pencil sketch of what Andy would probably assume was some kind of sparrow, one of those basic, every day birds seen in parking lots or on campus grounds. It wasn't half bad, either, but it wasn't what he'd expected.

"That doesn't look like anything I've said." Andy pulled back and crossed his arms, watching as Alex pulled the notebook to his chest with a firm pout. There was something charming about it, sending a tickle through Andy's chest and making him want to grin. "How am I supposed to know you're gonna make me look good for the team?"

He could see the eye-roll coming before it did. Alex dropped the notebook back to his lap, any indignation at having been caught already replaced by a clear annoyance. "I don't need to take notes. I told you, you're.. exactly what I'd expect. All I've gotta say is that your a- I don't know. Good kid with parents who care so much about the local economy, they spat out a brat to make it rich."

Andy found himself raising an eyebrow. He wasn't sure if he could say he was wrong, but people usually didn't put it so bluntly. "Is that really what you'd-"

"Jesus, no. Do I look stupid?" He set the notebook aside and rubbed at his cheek, his eyes on Andy. "It'll be some bullshit about how your parents are locally involved and so are you. You love the sport, you worked hard and excelled in school, outshined your peers. I'll throw in your little womanizer reputation for a few laughs. And that'll be it."

Ugh. That. Well, it wasn't like it was entirely unhelpful. Andy leaned his hip against the desk and watched him. "So it should be an easy assignment, shouldn't it? I don't see why you're all huffy at me."

"It's a boring assignment." And there was that pout again. Cute. Andy couldn't help it, and a smile tugged at the corner of his lips. It was almost a welcome change to be thought of as boring after all the attention he'd been getting with the talk about the drafts.

"Well, maybe there's more to me than all of that," he told him, and stepped just a little bit closer. Alex looked up with a frown.

"I've got better things to write about. And they cut me off!"

"Why would they do that?"

"Too ambitious. Can you believe that shit?" The reporter was really going now- there was a fire to him. He reached up and pulled at something under his shirt, then rolled his shoulder a little afterwards. If it hadn't been for the pins stuck to the bag he'd left at Andy's door, that would've tipped him off minutes ago. Alex had a bra strap that he'd been tugging at and readjusting since he arrived, like he couldn't get it quite in place. It was that stupid pout that made Andy start wondering about taking it off of him. It was unprofessional, sure, but so was Alex. "I had a real story. And instead they want me working on a fucking-"

Andy must've been closer than he'd expected, because Alex cut himself off when he looked up again. Andy broke into a soft laugh. "On a fucking..?" He asked, letting the note trail off and giving Alex the chance to finish his sentence. He didn't. Andy grinned. "Is that what you came here to do?"

The reporter's brows furrowed, his gaze moving over him like he was seeing him in a new light. Or like he was noticing him for the first time at all, really. He leaned back on his palms and chewed at his cheek. "Maybe you are a little surprising," he admitted. And that was all it took.

----

Hot breaths panted against Andy's ear. The reporter was still seated on his desk- but now his legs were wrapped around his waist. Andy was fumbling with trying to get his jeans undone, but Alex was making it hard; he was kissing at his neck and still trying to pull him closer. He finally managed it even with the distractions, and as he slipped his hand down the front of his underwear, Alex let out a needy sound that made him shudder. He teased him, rubbing just gently at the heat underneath the fabric. Alex rocked against his hand. "You're leaving this out of the article, right?"

"You're off-record, Campbell," he breathed back. The arms wrapped around him tightened as he tried against to find friction against Andy's fingers. "Now shut the fuck up and-"

----

He'd been lifted from the desk and deposited onto the bed. Andy still found himself trapped between Alex's thighs, but he didn't mind it one bit. There was a heat and a hunger to the man that had taken him by surprise, but maybe it was all that irritated tension he seemed to carry with him. He didn't mind the thought of trying to work it out of him. He finally got that stupid bra on his floor, and Andy moaned into a kiss as he took his lips and slid inside of him. It was quick and messy and desperate, but it was a good deal more than he'd ever expected from as brief a meeting as they'd had.

------

Alex dressed quietly. He hadn't lingered long after they'd finished. Andy laid on his bed, his chin resting on his arms while he watched Alex pull on a jacket and move to gather his things. His eyes lingered on a spot on his neck where he'd left him a mark to remember him by. "You got somewhere to be?"

Alex spared him a quick glance. "Editor wants my copy by the end of the day. I've gotta go work on it."

Andy hummed. He still watched him, quiet for a moment. There was still a good deal he didn't know about him- but he'd been kind of funny, and there was something.. intriguing about him. He hadn't learned what that other story he'd been working on had been. Chewing on his lip, he finally decided to just ask. "Do you.. want to do this again? You've probably got my number, so just-"

Alex paused in shoving his notebook back into his bag. He gave Andy a quiet look, then continued on. "I don't really.. do stuff like that. I don't really date," he said, pushing himself to his feet. He slung the strap over his shoulder and looked at Andy again. He gave him a shrug. "Sorry."

"That's alright," Andy said, but it did sting a little. He gave him a small smile. "Good luck with that story. The real one, whatever it was."

"Thanks," Alex said shortly. He hesitated, then returned his own, somewhat bitter smile. "Good luck with the league."

"Thanks," Andy replied. Then the door opened, and he was left alone.

[walriding]

@unethicalpractice​ asked: What’s something they’re expected to enjoy based on their hobbies / profession that they actually dislike / hate?

character building questions || accepting

      I honestly don’t know what journalist stereotypes are? Unfortunately a lot of people these days probably think reporter = liar, but he’s honest to a fault which goes against the negative assumption. He’s very nosy, which is probably to be expected. Along the lines of presumed dishonesty, I’m sure some people expect him to have a lot of bias or that he’s always trying to push an agenda, which... is kind of true but not in the expected sense. He’s got an anti-corporate slant rather than some nefarious political agenda he’s shilling for. But he enjoys being opinionated and nosy which just falls in line with stereotypes. And he reads a decent amount, keeps up with current news, enjoys history as a subject -- likely all things you’d expect.

      Wait hold on I found an article with this opening line: “For as long as I’ve been aware of stereotypes, I have known of those that characterize journalists: They are coffee- and liquor-guzzling, foul-mouthed, jaded, liberal, middle-aged folk with prematurely graying hair and are perpetually broke.” It’s just a Miles checklist, I’d like to apologize to journalists everywhere for my characterization of him now 💀

[hazbbyhaz]

sleepless || harry styles

eight

pairing: Harry Styles x OC

synopsis: a night out on the town

disclaimer: cursing, bars

Forever is composed of nows

Avery watched Harry decline the incoming call without a second thought. “We should get going.” He said, already making his way to the door. She quickly grabbed her keys and her coat before following him out of the flat. There was something impatient and troublesome about his presence as he waited for her to lock her front door.

“How are we getting there?”

“We drive.” He must be a damn good photographer if he could afford a car. As if he could read her mind, he soon spoke, “The car’s not mine, It's my uncles.”

The vehicle was small but cute. It seemed to fit him well. During the drive to the club, Harry was rather quiet and closed off. Later saying that his friends were already there, quickly assuming she still remembered them from his birthday

“So, you're a photographer, right? What do you photograph?”

“I like black and white photographs,” He said. He stopped to think about what he was going to say next before he continued. “When I got into photography I used to just take pictures of my friends without them noticing. Then I moved on to public transport, parties, concerts. All those places where you can catch a glimpse of people's souls. I quickly threw out all of my colored films and switched to black and white. There's something so much more vulnerable and secretive about it…”

“I like that.” She imagines Harry with a camera in his hand, spending his days in London looking for the mystery in every person who passed him.

He gave her a small smile, which did not reach all the way up to his eyes. “Me too. However, I can't make my money with that. It's not good enough to stand on its own, so I work for a modeling agency as a photographer. It's not bad, they pay good enough but it also shows me just how much I hate staged photographs. What about you then? What's your passion?”

She shrugged, moving her gaze to the front. “Writing, I guess.” The truth was, she had no idea. In her opinion, it was too hard for her to organize all of her thoughts inside of her head, let alone sit down to put them to paper. She wanted to be a writer. She did. It was one of the only things she really wanted, but she knew she didn't have the talent or skill set for it.

“So you want to be a journalist? Or a writer?” Harry asked. She struggled with finding an answer since nobody had ever shown that much real, genuine interest in her.

“Just a writer, I think… but journalism sounds nice too.” In reality, she'd like to tell him that she didn't know what to do. Tell him that she was lost. Completely and utterly lost. In her childhood, she was never given the chance to find her talents or develop specific abilities. She had never shown her work to anyone, only submitting a handful of short stories to magazines just to receive no reply in return.

“Can you tell me more about your photographs?’’

He grinned and told Avery more. He spoke with so much emotion that Avery found herself wondering if she had sounded the same when she talked about writing. Most likely not. I felt like he knew exactly what he was doing. He knew how to capture an image and turn it into the most wonderful masterpiece.

Soon after, the club came in sight. Harry parked the car at the side of the road, and as they were getting out, a sudden wave of exhaustion overcame her. Just thinking about meeting his friends, for real this time, made her mind so tired, “You ready?”

“Sure.”

Avery had never been much of a club person, always liking the warmer feeling a pub provided. She didn't like the loud music, the overwhelming smell of pure sweat, and just the overall pace of it all. She felt like everything went so much faster. Harry helped her take off her coat as they got inside. Despite her objections, he paid for both entries, emitting a small chuckle when she tried to argue with him.

The entire place was filled with people and the music was being managed by a DJ in the back of the room. Different colored lights flashed and moved through the crowd. Harry soon took her hand into his own, leading her through the crowd, and down a small flight of stairs to a much quieter area.

The brunette girl was the first person Avery spotted. “Emily, How are you? Why are you down here?” Harry greeted her with a hug, letting go of Avery's hand in the process. “Not bad, the DJ is kinda wack.”

“Well, look who's talking. The girl who said we HAD to come here.” A guy standing close by said, mimicking Emily.

“Shut up, George.” Harry greeted the others. Some of them she recognized from the party and some she didn't.

“This is Avery.” He introduced her and all of his friends' eyes stopped on her for a moment, looking her up and down, making her feel like a rat on a doctor’s table.

“Nice to see you again,” Emily said, the others nodded in her direction, but a second later all of their attention was back on Emily. She let out a dramatic sigh, “So, what are we going to do? Stay here, or go somewhere else?”

“I vote that we stay here.” A rather tall man, Harry had introduced as James, said. The brunette rolled her eyes, all of them making their way to the dance floor nonetheless, George making it his responsibility to get drinks for everybody.

It was hard for Avery to enjoy herself. She felt incredibly awkward while dancing, or trying to anyway. All the others had some type of rhythm in their blood, while she was desperately trying her best. Once “Low” by Flo Rida started to pour out of the speakers, she made a mad dash to the bathroom, staying there until the song was finished. Harry didn't drink, as he had to drive them both back afterward, so Avery did the same. Wanting to avoid all possible realms of embarrassment.

He gave her a small backstory of his mates. James has very rich parents, his dad paying his way through law school just so he can tell his colleagues that his son is a successful lawyer. James has a twin brother named Jasper, he ended up leaving home the first chance he got. George is a failed musician who has the entire second verse of Piano Man tattooed on his ass. Emily is into fashion, but she lost per passion for it after she got rejected from a school in Amsterdam. They all seemed to be on some kind of path. Every one of them working their way to the future, attempting to reach some sort of goal.

And Harry had taken photos of all of it. Documenting their entire lives as these individuals. He had taken photos of James passed out on the floor with numerous textbooks open around him, all just to live up to his father's standards. There were pictures of George playing the piano in many different pubs, several pints sitting atop the instrument while his friends listened to him play a tune. A few were taken of Emily hard at work, sat by her sewing machine, or window shopping at nearby second-hand dress shops. And when Jasper was around, there were a couple of him trying to learn how to juggle, the instructions given to him by a homeless man.

Their lives had been documented in a way so utterly beautiful. Photographs were taken in moments that seemed worth freezing. Moments that a curly-headed boy thought deserved to be remembered forever. Knowing all of this made Avery feel so unexplainably lonely, especially while being in their company.

“Did you have fun?” They had made it back to the car at 2 am. Harry took a quick look back, seeing all of his friends laughing, and stumbling while making their way back home.

“Yes, thank you for inviting me.”

“My pleasure. What are you going to do when you get home?” He backed out and drove onto the main road.

“Probably make a couple of cups of coffee.” She still hadn't made it out to the grocery to pick up more tea.

“You don't sleep often, huh?”

“What makes you think that?” The answer was obvious.

“You look tired a lot. Why don't you sleep?” Avery ignores his assumption. She wasn't offended, it was easy to assume without being incorrect.

“I don't like it,” She shrugged, feeling like a child. “I prefer to stay awake.” Avery could tell that he wanted to ask more questions. She would have been fine with this, but at this point, she was beyond exhausted and couldn't handle giving any more answers. “Can I ask you a question?’’

“Shoot.”

She waited a moment before continuing. Not for dramatic effect, just to figure out how she wanted to go about it. “What do you dream of?”

Harry's eyebrows pulled together, and he looked her way. “Uhm… I guess making a living off my-”

“No,” She quickly stopped him. “I mean… When you fall asleep at night. What do you dream of?”

“Oh… I don't know. I forget most of the time when I wake up, but last week I dreamed I had adopted a puppy and he ran away the second day I had him. I oddly enough didn't mind that he had run away. He ended up coming back on the third day. Quite random, but that was that… Why are you asking me this?”

Avery smiled at the description of his dream. So innocent and childlike. He didn't have to worry about what would appear before him when he fell asleep, and she was glad that he didn't have to. “No reason.”

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[kazxraval]

Kaz answered with a soft grunt. Yet another thing saved for later, would he even remember half of this trip? This mix of lows with a few euphoric peaks. These facets of Emre cut and polished in front of him that Kaz wanted to retreat with into a grotto or dorm and hold to the light. Study them all, peer through every geometric pattern, every sparkle. An impossibility and yet Kaz wanted to spend the time trying. His ruby, no wonder he thought to swallow the ones given to him long ago.

It made him forget much of what happened. Beatings, blood. A fear totally unknown, until today. That he might've lost Emre.

He huffed, a little amused. "What you want with my mates?" Kaz's fingers weaved tight with Emre's. "Carmen, Fiona. They probably got out before all this shit went down. You're right, don't want anyone I cared about here." Seattle overrun, what other places were like this? "Fuck, we gotta be better off." They both referred to the island as home. A first for Kaz.

Kaz would prefer to talk about anything else. Not on the boat anyway, not in the middle of a mess. "Punished? Nah. I wasn't. I'm punished now with the worst headache of my life." The heel of his head pressed above gashes and swelling close to a temple. The topography of the worst parts of the trip all over his face and body.

I've only felt things for you, that I'd never felt for anyone else. So unexpected, or was it? The 'cheers' at the end, the settling back into their forced forward momentum made him question the involuntary smile on his face. Thick spears of pain pierced his head, neck, shoulders, chest-- damn near everywhere else. All made it difficult to comprehend much. Perception skewed, maybe Kaz didn't know what to make of anything at the moment.

As long as he was understood. "Georgie was a drop of rain." The steady rainfall had grown heavier, not the usual thin mist. All Kaz had to do was open a hand, and a fat bead of water splattered on his skin, like a little explosion. "Me and you, we're the ocean." Probably sounded cheesy as fuck, but through what he assumed at that point was a concussion he suffered, it needed to be said.

Those words, my humanity, my goals. People kept as memories (Omar, Urmilla, Ajit). All a succinct barbed wire string of moving images cinched around his heart for Emre. Kaz stood quiet for a moment.

His hand unlatched from Emre's to cradle a face he'd not tired of examining, at great distances as well as up close, with eyes shut to dreams or rubbing the sleep away in the morning. Kaz kissed him. Not near as long as he'd like, but he lingered as much as possible in the soft heat, while bobbed around on the waves. When he broke away, Kaz said, "When we were on the water, you asked me if you were the most beautiful." They were interrupted by that fuckwit Feroze. "I said you were a beautiful thing. And you're the most beautiful too."

Kaz felt he'd spilled so much of himself, like the insides of the bodies they needed to dump. Unforgivably obvious, as slippery and bright red across the deck as the blood at their feet. Then, he was smiling again. "Don't think you were an ass. I liked it. You don't sing anymore. Guess you woo'ed me and were done with the songs, yeah?" A tease, of course.

There they were, sucked through some existential bilge pump and spit back out into a very cold and bitter sea. Surreal to hear Georgina, of all people, inform them of the state of the family Raval. The facts (lies? very probably from Georgie to throw at least a few in) were sorted as he might have back in his days as a journalist. All block lettered in sharply drawn columns, hints with sketches to accompany. To place in a dead file, bury, or use when something missing called to him.

Kaz didn't spring to life again until Georgie claimed he was needy. "Are you joking?" A poisonous laugh burst from his throat, despite the knowledge she made every attempt to wind him up. "Holy shit-- you were THE neediest person I'd ever me!" So many examples to choose from. "Was it the 3rd time we fucked that you said you were pregnant? Just to trap me? Stop lying Georgie. All you did was try to run off my friends. If you thought I was meeting up with someone you didn't like, you'd call me back saying someone was stalking you. Or your brother beat you up, remember that one? For five fucking minutes of your life. Stop."

Georgie scoffed, seemingly unable to counter what Kaz threw at her. You know Ali's on this boat? Her eyes flitted over to meet Emre's. A long pause, what Georgie clearly envisioned to be dramatic. A visual check-mate, before she simpered, 'I do believe you know the answer.'

Outside in the cold wind, Emre seemed more serious than before. Not that Kaz wasn't. But he still reeled from Georgie's insanity, and fought the desire to crash in the captain's unmade bed.

"We're a few hours out from Seattle. I say we dump Georgie and head to Victoria, but doubt we'd have the gas for it. Maybe we can make it to the coast at least. Emre, you're thinking about something, I can tell. Is it Georgie? What is it?" We know the rules, luv.

When Ali was confronted by the news-- your brother's dead --he snapped his wrist out of Emre's grip and covered it with his other hand. Big brown eyes went even wider and tears welled, which made Ali seem even more fragile. After a long pause, his mouth knotted up. Tears spilled, first from the right eye and then both.

His anger burned a hole through Emre. 'You're lying.' A pause, then a shout. 'You're LYING!' A swift leg whipped out to kick Emre's shin. Then, small hands gave Emre a shove to the stomach before balled fists lashed out.

'Where is my brother!' Ali whirled around to face Kaz, like an adolescent kitten's attempt to intimidate the two adult alleycats that cornered him. His lower lip began to quiver and his voice rose higher. 'Feroze! I found them, those two DICKS,' said like a proud 12 year old cursing for the first time, which wasn't far from the truth for Ali. Then, blurted as he reached for the first thing he could: an empty bucket on deck, that he threw at Kaz's chest.

Kaz managed to dodge the bucket and held his hands up. "Hey, it's true. You know your brother was involved in some shady shit. But." A quick glance at Emre. "This guy wants to help you, okay. So stop shouting! I know it's not how it's supposed to be. We didn't want this either." As Kaz went on, Ali's eyes landed on a thin trail of blood on the deck, and began to follow it visually as it widened into a pool. As dark as it was out, the moon seemed to highlight the violence. As well as the ghostly unmoving arm on deck, a hint of the Captain's speargunned body around the corner.

Kaz dropped a hand to Ali's shivering shoulder, the truth shaking Ali's whole frame. "Feroze isn't coming! He's gone. You gotta suck it up. You gotta keep going. So, let us help you get the hell out of here in one piece."

Kaz blinked. Thought he did, anyway. When his eyes opened, he was still hunched over little Ali, fingers cupped at the kid's shoulder.

But they weren't on the boat anymore.

Kaz slowly straightened up. They stood under an umbrella of light from a street lamp. Evergreen trees soared and peeks of a snowy mountain popped through the green from far away. They were at the corner of a neighborhood street lined with older single family homes. One car garages and small but fairly neat lawns. Not sprawling or anything fancy, built for practical living rather than to impress.

Ali asked the reasonable question of where are we, and Kaz whispered back equally as stunned that he wasn't certain. Except. It was way too familiar...

Two kids around Ali's age sat on bikes in a nearby driveway. A boy and a girl. Siblings. Maybe even twins. They stared silently at Kaz and Ali. Oddly in observation.

Ali waved, and Kaz grabbed his hand to force down. He called out. "Reyansh? Ani?"

The kids made no sound between them. Their eyes said more, the girl confused and the boy protective. They circled their bikes out of the driveway to pedal away. The girl in particular cast a look over her shoulder as they took off in the opposite direction.

"Oh, fuck. Fuck. Ahhh." He looked around. "Emre! We gotta find Emre. EM! WHERE ARE YOU??"

"He's only a little," Emre sighed, not bothering to hold back his sentimentality. Kaz wouldn't deride him for feeling things, not like Emre's old mates. And Kaz didn't follow up, leaving Emre to believe perhaps Kaz allowed a bit of softening too; if not for his sake, or Ali's sake, but for Emre's. The power of influence, and love. Emre had used love before to manipulate Iyaz, for Iyaz's own good (so Emre convinced himself). With Kaz, though? It felt...so clean, so honest. Emre couldn't help a beaming little smile, incongruous to their surroundings.

Still picking at a carcass. Trust Kaz to point out the hard, dire reality. "Are we the lucky ones? Got my mum, running for her life. Here's your Seattle, caught up in this mad-max survival. I'd wondered if we'd run into your mates here, but maybe...it's better we don't find out what happened to them. Kaz.." Emre wanted to reach out, say he was sorry. But it sounded trite, stupid. He just held Kaz's hand instead, fingers pressing into Kaz's sturdy palm.

Shaking his head, Emre knew he wouldn't figure out the map-word mystery. Maybe it didn't even matter. As Kaz implied: they didn't belong in this world, not anymore. And Kaz caressed and pinched, and looked at Emre like they were the only things that did matter. It wouldn't be the first time everything around them was cut away, leaving only Kaz to fill Emre's entire gaze. All-encompassing - those terms of endearment tumbling so naturally from Kaz's mouth, like little diamonds.

Emre held Kaz's hand in place and murmured, plaintively, "I could lie in your little unmade bed for a million years. I want to go home." Home. The island. A place of relative safety and privilege. A place to not think about anything else but Kaz. Selfish, indulgent, and perhaps even lucky.

In this old fishing boat throughway, Kaz unlocked more recollections of himself and Georgie. Love. It was love, though Kaz wouldn't say it. And Georgina knew it and broke Kaz's heart. "So you knew what it felt like. And you were punished for it anyway."

Emre marveled at this little gem of information, unsure how to parse it just yet. He was exhausted, Kaz even moreso, he imagined. Yet Emre still continued, "I've only felt things for you, that I'd never felt for anyone else. Not even Melz." Emre smiled, guessing Kaz might ask. "Not sure what to make of all this right now, if I'm honest. But. Cheers for telling me, yeah. I mean it."

Emre hummed at Kaz's query. "Loads of things. Seemed only thing I did manage to let go of though, was bits of myself, innit. My humanity. My - my goals and dreams and hopes and that. If I lost anymore people though, who would I have left? I couldn't let go of them, nah. Not even as memories. I replayed memories a million times in my head."

Singing in the rock. New, bright memories flooded in. Emre kissed his teeth, lightly butting his head against Kaz's shoulder. "Fucking hell, of course you'd hold onto my most embarrassing moments. Precious memories is me making an arse of myself, is that it?" A low, amused chuckle, fully adoring and in complete contrast of their dire surroundings. But currently, it truly was just him and Kaz right now, nothing and no one else.

The world couldn't stay dammed-up for long though. It returned in big, forceful chunks around Emre's periphery, and here they were stood, completely knackered and filthy and bloody and stuck in a tin can on the water of a nightmare city.

Back with Georgie, who was looking a bit worse for the wear. Did she feel it? She mocked them, but still gave up the gossip anyway. Something to do, something to manipulate Kaz with, she likely hoped. Dad in prison, brother...somewhere. Mum divorced. That was surprising to Emre. "Priya didn't follow Edward as well. And look what she made of herself, staying in Seattle. Pairing up with you." His lip curled at Georgina.

Georgie's glare remained on Kaz, though. "On a beach. And you paired up too? With him?" She tried a flippant toss of her grey-gold hair. "Kazzy could never stay alone for long. He's soooo needy."

Kaz, the most self-sufficient man that Emre had ever known. The very definition of 'lone wolf'. He actually could imagine a younger Kaz, duped by this woman and the ideals of love, deciding to reject everything to do with love entirely. The Raval's had done a good job scrubbing that concept raw; then Georgina came along and made it worse, an infection for Kaz to rid himself of completely.

Emre did his best not to look directly at Kaz. Because Kaz would read everything in Emre's eyes, he knew; and Georgina would see that. Her childish retort, and Emre silently prompted her with the map. She decided on one port: Fermé. Emre thinned his eyes.

"You know Ali's on this boat?" His tone was ominously quiet. Was Frank the captain supposed to encounter them mid-sail? Did Georgina somehow plan all of - no. That was impossible. Georgina couldn't have masterminded how this all fell out. She hadn't expected Emre to even make it out of that operating table back on Whidbey.

And as if on cue, Ali started up his caterwauling. Fucking hell, Emre hated coincidences.

At Kaz's beckon, Emre followed him back outside. Emre stared hard at the dark water and moonlit islands around them. Not many other lights to guide them. Not even any lighthouses, no blinking buoys to warn them off rocky juts in the water. It was dangerous, sailing like this. They needed land, or they needed teleporting out of there.

"Even if we land there, what then? We just...wait up to five days? Let Georgina go? How far are we from Seattle, now?" Take Ali back to their island? Emre blinked in surprise at Kaz. "We know the rules, luv. We can't risk breaking them with a child..." Could they? Save Ali or get him killed - were those their only two choices?

The little sod had impeccable timing. Emre chastized Kaz with a look for stomping on the hatch - he opened it, and hauled Ali out by his shirt collar. Emre let him stand, but held onto Ali's thin wrist.

"Run if you like but there's no where to go, I'm afraid." And then bluntly, "Your brother's dead. He knew the sort of life he got - got you both into, didn't he. Now he's dead for it. You're all alone, now. You was in this hatch when we found you, reckon Captain Frank would trade you for parts, yeah?" Emre held Ali's tattooed wrist to see. "Feroze every told you what he actually did then? Working for Georgina? She's in there, if you want to go to her."

[found-in-another-me]

BACK IN BLACK - Tony Stark x Reader

Yeah, lol, this is actually pretty bad because English isn't my first language and I wrote this with my phone for... practicing. Basically I just stole a bit of Fifty Shades of Grey and this happened.

Warnings: None, unless my bad writing counts as well.

Chapter 1 – The Interview

It was already late at night, when you sat at your desk, thinking about the latest events that happened. You were about to lose your job as a journalist, when suddenly a billionaire was ready for the interview he didn't want to give at the very beginning. Tony Stark was one of the most famous people around and you had the chance to give him an interview. And so you did and now you couldn’t stop thinking about it. Nervously you chewed on the backside of your pen, trying to write down what he just said. Once again you took the recorder to listen to your cconversation.

You sat on a chair across from him, looking straight into his hazel eyes. Your make-up was decent and you wore your best business outfit. It was the first time you had such an important interview, so you wanted to seem self-confident when you actually weren't. In fact, you never dared to look into the mirror if it wasn't nessecary, but right now he didn't need to know. „Well, Mr. Stark…“ you leaned back in your chair and crossed your legs, your eyes still fixing his „what would you say, what brought you to such an enormous success?“ He didn't answer at first, which caused you to swallow. Nervousness? Definitely and apparently he tried to figure out if you were nervous around him. What a nice try, you thought and wouldn’t try to give in so fast. He was intimidating, indeed, but for that one time you had to pull yourself together. Why did you do that? Because you didn't want to lose your job. Finally he raised his voice to answer. „Success is the result of perfection, hard work, learning from failure, loyalty, and persistence. Focused, hard work is the real key to success.“ Now he leaned back as well, his eyes didn't even dare to look elsewhere.

After some more questions, he seemed to be bored to death. You had to do something, say something interesting. This interview had to be great, the greatest even, but you just didn’t come up with a good and unpredictable question. Nervousness hit you hard and finally the features on the male’s face twitched. You could see a slight smirk spread across his cheeks. Apparently he was just trying to intimidate you. This interview wasn't what you expected it to be and instinctively you started chewing on the back part of your pen, like you always did when you got nervous or stuck.

Suddenly he swallowed and leaned forward, his hands resting on his lap, his elbows on his tights. „Well, Miss (Y/L/N), let me ask you a question… the company you work for isn't big. Unknown, if you ask for my opinion. What do you think, why did I give you the chance for an interview?“ Your eyes blinked in confusion. Why should he? Yeah… just why? „Because you know the big ones and it’s always the same. Big news, but most of the time they're not even the truth.“

„Indeed, people tend to believe what they see, while their minds create some weird story around it. And there you have a good story. I wonder why you were willing to do this boring interview, instead of just speculating about my newest girlfriend or my new big deal?“ he tilted his head to the side, raising one hand to stroke his beard. You cleared your throat and shook your head. „I don't think that's how journalism works, honestly. I think there is more behind Tony Stark. Something no one knows. And people should get to know the real one. Not the one with his billionaire masquerade.“ For once you shut up, because you knew you went too far with this. You could see it on his expression, his eyes widened and his lips were parted as if he gasped silently.

„I'm sorry, Mr. Stark… I didn’t mean to assume anything about your private stuff" but he cut you off with a wave of his hand. „No, it’s okay. Go on. I want to listen to your words.“ He gave you a geniue smile and you could feel your cheeks heating up. By now, you didn’t get affected by his handsomeness, but once you noticed it once again, you couldn’t help but blush.

The rest of the interview was great and you couldn’t help but smile at him. He was still such a distant person but it seemed like he opened up a little more during the interview. Once you were done, he instructed Happy to bring you home.

Once again you felt the corners of your mouth tugging up into a smile. This man surely did something to you and you still had no idea what. But actually it didn’t even matter because the only possible way to see him again, was in the TV. It was kind of saddening, but there was no way for you to change it. Even if you wanted to. And he probably wouldn’t want to be with someone like you, the journalist who lived in a small apartment in New York, trying to hold her life together.

Once you were done, writing down the interview, you headed to your bed, trying not to think about him anymore, which turned out to be pretty difficult. „He's too old…“ you mumbled, a desperate try to make you believe that there wasn't anything. „He's too busy…“ another mumble, before you just throw yourself into the pillows, hugging one of them tightly. His perfume still lingered in your nose and you wished it wouldn’t ever fade away again. For once you were done and tired and you hoped to find sleep soon.

So you closed your eyes and finally find your way into dreamland.

[mummified-game-review]

2064 Read Only Memories: A Review

If you haven't played this game, then are there other point and click, cyberpunk kidnapping, mystery games that came in the Racial justice bundle that you think I should check out? Let me know all about them in the comments.the garden center of my closest hardware store and I’m trying to decide if the start up cost of 15 bucks in in my budget.

Welcome back to another video game review here on Mummified Games. Today were going to be taking a look at the modern Point and Click Mystery game 2064: Read Only Memories. By Midboss.

This game has a lot of charm to it. I Love how this game presents itself. The Music, art, story, and voice work, is all great and do a really great job of pulling me in. I did not want to stop playing. This was the first time where I was like okay maybe i play for 2 hours. And then write the review. But sadly there was no way I could do that if I wanted to make my deadline.

So the game is a future cyberpunk scene where Humans have found a way to cybernetically and biologically augment their bodies. Sort of just like every other Cyberpunk cenario. Just par for the course at this point.

Wouldn't have it any other way.

But what's great about this game is that it's not overly burdened with the constant narrative of life sucks and there's inequality and class disparity.

It's not dystopian cyberpunk, it's more optimistic. People seem to really be jammin with the future that they find themselves in. For the most part.

So it's your standard affair people are making so many augmentations to themselves in so many different ways. That there is a rebel group that is coming up that wants to see humanity return to who they were.

Not like a full blown god's perfect image, it's not a religious thing. But still embracing tradition and what makes humans human.

I don't know if we have the science to make Snake people then I'm all for it.

Ooo la la.

There are Robots that this big company is making that are designed to Walk like the humans, talk like the humans. But it's all just fancy code. And then the game tells you about one scientist that is working on transcending that limitation of just fancy code. And make something new.

Story intro out of the way, The scene opens with your less than standout apartment and you learn that you are a journalist, sort of.

And after you go through a nothing of a tutorial. As in like it's almost not even there cause it's so basic. You write a report and then go to bed.

INCITING ACTION

In the middle of the night a little blue robot hacks your door. And breaks into your apartment. Interfaces with your computer, cleans your apartment and also tries to clean the old computer, bricking it in the process.

You wake up and they tell you that they have selected you out of all known contacts of their master to help them track their master down. He was Captured last night and you need to join the robot to track down their master.

The robot's name is Turing, probably named after the real person Alan Turing the Computer Scientist.

A note about the dialogue and interactions with Turing. ALL THEIR LINES ARE VOICED! This game gives you so much during the process. There is a lot of reading to be doing in this game and luckily it's not all put on you.

I don't want you to think that I don't like Reading. Or that I think reading is hard. But if I'm meant to put multiple hours into a game. Doing nothing but reading for the entirety of it can get tiring

So I'm glad that so much is fully voiced. Gives you the chance to look down and tweet your love of this game for a second.

And that if there is a name or something that comes up you instantly know how it's meant to be pronounced. Instead of having to wait till you say it outloud in a video game review and suddenly everyone thinks “wait Tony, you say its like that? Wow okay”

Look, I have yet to hear anyone talk about Itch in casual conversation so I have no idea if you need to add the Dot I O to the end of it or if I sound like a Boomer who says out loud Dot Com at the end of every website name. “Yeah i just look it up on Google Dot Com”

I'm trying here folks I really am.

So after Turing tells you about what they need you join them on their mission to track down their creator and figure out what's at the bottom of this whole thing.

A note about the profile creation scene, it's quite funny and I thought it was super cool how they include multiple ways of character settings.

There's nothing visual that you can do to change your character so there's that. But Turing asks you for your name, you just type it out and I was excited for maybe a robot voice that was going to try to pronounce Mummified but it didn't go well.

Asks you for your pronouns, Yes! I love it. I would expect nothing less from a developer like Midboss. The people who host the Steam Summer of Pride Sale for the last couple of years Highlighing Queer games.

But the fact that they don't just limit to just He/Her/They but also Zir, and another one that slips my mind. And also an option to input your own preferred pronouns. SO COOL!

And I was ready to maybe answer one more silly question. That's where I was thinking the game would take things, assuming based on its sense of humor and the jokes that would come up in this game.

But no it was a real question about dietary needs and restrictions, to be kept in mind when out and about and talking about food. Holy crap that's so cool.

So the game gives you options like Omnivore, Vegetarian, Vegan, Halal, Gluten Free Dairy fr

What a super cool thing to include in your game. This just adds to the inclusion that is offered to players of all different ways of life.

So I just hunted down the list of food options in the video recording I took of this game and I'm reminded of just how funny this game is.

There are great jokes in this. There are subtle allegories to our own real world things in this game.

Turing says they found a better door that you could use to replace the current door you have due to its sub standard encryption features to prevent people from hacking though. And they recommend a particular model of door and mention it has over 300 reviews on Congo.

Wait... Congo. HA! Okay that got me. Cause you know Congo the river. And the Amazon river. I thought it was funny.

Also there is a joke about the Creator having a list of different things on the TV that they were watching like Ted’s Tech Tips. That one got me, because it might not be a thing but I'd like to think it's a nod to Linus Tech Tips.

This game is filled with great cute jokes. There are a couple of options that the game gives you when you wake up to see a strange robot in your room, some of the reactions are more fearful. And while reading them as an option I thought to myself WHY?

This little friend is Cute as hell. There's no way I would be scared of them. Their cute faces and little arms. I love them so much.

So the story is sound and the writing in it is so well done. The voice acting is great as well. Turing sounds innocent and has a cute childish nature to them, but they’re not dumb to say the least, they’re still the most advanced AI program in the world.

The gameplay is also stellar. Most of the interactions with things in this world are done with 4 different options.

Look: The game will give you a description of what the item, thing, person, whatever is.

Talk: If it's a person you can talk to them. Or sometimes things have voice commands.

Take/Touch, you might be able to pick something up or turn it on. Computers would take you to another window and you could do other things inside it.

Use time on: At the start of the game you're given an ID card and you pick up a pair of headphones in your apartment. The id could be used to get you places or scan for whatever might come up. Or you can connect your headphones to random things to hear stuff. What's funny is that you can use your headphones on almost anything and you can get some description of what you hear.

Real basic stuff. Like it's described. It's a Point And CLick Mystery Game. A lot of the game is being given a scene and you can talk to people in it, or interact with the things on the static screen.

Everything in this game flows so well together. Nothing takes you out of the experience. Its a story that takes you in and doesn't let go.

I think this is a game that I can fully recommend to people no matter what. If you have it. If you were curious about it. If you’ve never heard of it. Any range of feeling and knowledge of this game I highly recommend you go check it out.

If you have this game tell me your thoughts on it. Do you think Jessi was a jerk or if she is justified in her standoff-ness in her attitude?

If you haven't played this game, then are there other point and click, cyberpunk kidnaping, mystery games that came in the Racial justice bundle that you think I should check out? Let me know all about them in the comments.

In the meantime. Ah gee folks i really am thinking hard about that jade Plant. I'd love to get one. But my cable bill is coming and I know I need to take care of that first. Oh well. Maybe next month.

You all do the Youtube Dance, Like, Sub, Bell, Comment, and share this video with someone you know.

And as always hackers, Keep Digging, and we’ll make it out sometime.

See you in the next one.

[noir-renard]

"Can I ask you a serious question?"

Clark looked up from the coffee he was doctoring. Caffeine didn't really do anything for him—Kryptonian DNA had some downsides, after all—but he liked the taste. Even if Bruce always raised a very loud and judgemental eyebrow while he asked Clark if he’d like some coffee with his sugar and cream.

But Bruce and his judgmental eyebrows weren’t here. Dick, on the other hand, was. 

Dick was here, on the Watchtower, which wasn't normal but wasn't uncommon either— especially recently. He seemed to have something of a celebrity crush on Danny Fenton. After the whole Brainiac Debacle, Danny was Dick’s 'new favorite hero'. Understandable, really, considering Danny had saved their collective bacon and barely broken a sweat doing it.

The puns and the quipping probably didn’t hurt Danny’s image in Dick’s book, either.

So. Dick had been hanging around the Watchtower more often—mostly with Danny. It felt like it had been weeks since Clark had had an actual conversation with Dick.

Dick wasn’t talking to Danny right now, though. He was talking to Clark. Sort of.

"I don't know," said Clark, sipping his coffee, "can you ask me a serious question?"

Dick shot him a glare that was all Bruce—annoyed but fond.

"You're worse than Mrs.Higgins."

"Who is Mrs.Hig—"

"Serious question time," Dick interrupted. "Why don't you read employee resumes?"

"Resumes?"

"Personnel files and stuff. For support staff. Of the JL."

Clark stirred another spoonful of sugar into his coffee. He didn’t know what this was about, but a serious question demanded a serious answer.

"Well. I'm not part of the League's HR, I don't interview support staff, and it's not really my purview.” He sipped his coffee. It needed something. More cream, maybe. “Also, most science folks don't like non-science folk meddling in their business, I've found."

Dick didn't look impressed. He was in that stage of being a teenager, apparently.

"Meddling is like, literally your job twice over."

"I'm not sure—"

"Investigative is right in the title."

There was no one else around, and Clark wasn't as anal-retentive about his civilian identity as some he could mention, but Dick would never even hint at private information like that without good reason.

Dick was right about one thing though: Clark was a journalist. He might not be a detective, but he could put context clues together easily enough.

"Is this about Danny?"

"Not specifically," Dick lied. 

Clark sighed and sat down next to Dick. "I don't investigate people without reason. He works here, so that's all I need to know."

"B said you were all butt-hurt that Danny didn't 'share' his whole deal with you,” Dick countered. 

Clark was one hundred percent certain that was not how Bruce had phrased it. Just as certain as he was that Bruce was annoyed about something. Figuring out what Bruce meant by the things he did and didn’t say was something Clark had down to an art form. Filtering what Bruce meant by the things he did and didn’t say through Dick’s own unique way of communication, however, was a work in progress.

So, the facts: Bruce was annoyed about something involving Clark and Danny; Dick was speaking to Clark for the first time in weeks about Said Something; Said Something involved files, and Danny, and information Clark didn’t have—

Ah.

"I didn't read Danny’s files because I didn’t want to pry and it’s frankly none of my business—"

"But you did speculate." 

Dick stared out the window, watching the earth pass by beneath them. 

Rather than interrupt what felt like an important silence, Clark waited for Dick to say what he wanted to say.

"I just think,” Dick began slowly, “that rather than assume he's Mister Freeze's son—which doesn't even make sense by the way—you should do some basic fact-checking. Like, put 'Fenton' in a duck-duck-go search or something."

It was then that Clark was struck with the uncomfortable realization that he'd disappointed Dick.

"I know Danny isn't Dr.Fries' son," Clark explained. "That was Barry's theory."

"Barry's theory that you didn't discourage."

"Sometimes you have to let Barry spitball until he comes around to what he really means to say."

Clark certainly had enough experience with it, as one of the people who could physically keep up with the speed Barry sometimes talked.

Dick crossed his arms, unimpressed. “None of you need to spitball. You’re supposed to be good at communicating.”

Danny walked past them into the Watchtower kitchen then. Well, he walked through the wall, stuck his hand and head through the fridge, pulled out a snack, and left.

He'd been fiddling with the specs for something the whole time and hadn't noticed Clark and Dick sitting there. 

"That was—what was—?"

Dick stood up. "I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”

He followed after Danny, a new spring in his step.

Maybe Clark should indulge the inherent nosiness of his day job, his life's calling, and being from a small town in Kansas—just a smidge—and read some personnel files.

Later, though. He couldn’t just go reading Danny’s personal information right after Dick all but told him to just because Dick told him to. He'd do it in his own time.

.

.

.

Clark still had yet to read Danny’s file when a Boom Tube opened up inside the Watchtower, Darkseid one foot through with just Danny and Clark there to stop him.

There wasn’t even time to panic. Danny just said, "Not today, Satan," and…covered the Boom Tube with some kind of green goo? From his hands?

"Fngh?" Said Clark, not even sure what he was trying to say.

Danny shrugged. "Not in the mood for Apokolips bulls—uh, bologna today."

Clark's brain and mouth caught up with each other then. 

"What did you do?"

"I put a lid on it."

"On…the Boom Tube?"

Danny shrugged again.

"It's an extra-dimensional wormhole," Clark said slowly, "You can't put a lid on it."

"You can if you don’t think too much about why it shouldn't work."

Clark opened his mouth. Closed it. Thought for a second. "Physics isn't a suggestion you can avoid by not thinking about it too much."

Danny smirked and jerked his head at the Green-Capped (lidded?) Boom Tube hovering ominously in the middle of the control room.

"Tell that to the Boom Tube."

There was really no good way to respond to something like that. Best just to move on. 

"They could still make a Boom Tube somewhere else."

"Yeah. But right now they're dealing with a ghost invasion, so I think we're good."

"What?" Said Clark, lost, yet again. "How do you know that?"

Danny looked back and forth between the Boom Tube (Green Capped) and Clark like the answer was obvious.

It was not.

"Anyway," Danny continued, "if those assho—I mean…jerks? Yeah. If those jerks know what's good for them and go home."

"And if they don't?"

"You know what they say: uh…muck around, find out."

So. Danny could, apparently, put a lid on a Boom Tube, but didn't want to curse in front of Clark. Not the thing to focus on here, but it was the least insane thing that had happened to him today.

"You can speak freely, you know. I don’t care."

"Oh, thank fuck."

Like that, the conversation was over. For Danny, anyway. He wandered off, muttering something about making a "Boom Tube Lid Gun for Next Time."

It wasn’t until later, once Clark had calmed down from the adrenaline of nearly having to fight Darkseid single-handedly and then, abruptly, not having to do that, that he was able to gather himself enough to access Danny Fenton's file and figure out what on God's green earth his deal was.

He was left with more questions than answers, but Clark decided to take Danny’s advice and not think about it too much and hope that made it make sense.

It didn't, but at least Clark knew now there was no reason not to worry when Danny only had a heartbeat half the time.

And if, a week later, Clark found a blue and red…device in his locker (it looked like a cross between a net gun and a water gun) labeled "Superman's Not Today Satan Super Soaker", well. Clark would do what his ma taught him and send Danny a thank you card and a casserole and never bring it up again.

But if Barry walked by, muttering about ice villains and why were there so many of them, and if Clark used that opportunity to tell him he'd been closer with his Captain Cold guess, but still wrong, and that Danny's situation was more like Barry's own, well. Hopefully, Barry would take the hint to do some reading.

Unfortunately—

"Danny got his powers from the Cold Force? Huh.” Barry frowned. “I didn't know there was such a thing as a Cold Force. That explains everything."

"…it does?"

"Yeah! Like why there are so many ice villains!"

Clark sighed. He’d planned to let Barry realize on his own that he should read Danny’s file, but maybe it was better just to tell him.

"Listen, Barry, I don't think that's actually—"

"Oh! Maybe that's why you have ice breath! A gift from the Cold Force! I always said that didn't make sense. Why would the sun give you ice powers?"

On second thought. Reading and investigation were important skills. Barry could figure it out on his own.

"Maybe you're right, Barry." He clapped a hand on his shoulder. "I bet there is a Cold Force, just like the Speed Force. I bet there’s a whole bunch of Forces out there."

Bruce caught his eye from across the room. His mouth was set in a particular way Clark recognized, caught between exasperation and amusement. You see what I have to put up with? He seemed to say.

As Barry rambled on about the different kinds of Forces that might be out there, Bruce stood up, melting away from the conversation he hadn’t exactly joined to begin with.

“Where are you going?” asked Barry, proving he could be observant when it suited him.

“I have some pre-emptive adjustments to make to Danny’s PTO.”

“Oh?” said Barry.

“Hm,” said Bruce.

He was probably right. Casserole and a thank you card wasn’t gonna cut it.

a lot of people asked to be tagged if this got updated but there are just. too many to go through. I'm sorry OnO

Short DPXDC Prompts #648

The League gets incredibly concerned that their main tech mechanic, Danny Fenton, has instances of his heart or breathing randomly stopping. His skin is cold as ice and his skin is deathly pale.

Danny didn’t realize that the League doesn’t look at hiring applications. If they did they would have seen that he put being a half ghost on his resume.