#tracer-london calling

[mythawolf]

SPOILERS FOR TRACER: LONDON CALLING

Just read London calling. Absolutely love it! The art style, the plot, the Tracelily (if that's the ship name can someone tell me lol). The tie-in with teh "Alive" cinematic. Lena at a rock concert with longer but no less wilder hair. It's amazing. Also, I've noticed something - Ramratta is the kind of revolutionary who genuinely believes in his cause but goes too far. Kace is the kind of revolutionary that uses the cause to get power (kind of like Napoleon, when you think about it).

[mythawolf]

It's been confirmed somewhere that she's able to take it off so long as she stays near it.

did everyone at blizzard just forget that she can’t do this

[thetriumphantpanda]

LOST IN OUR VICES | ONE

Chapter Summary | A chance encounter with a handsome stranger sets off a chain of events that could all end in disaster. It's hard to say no when it feels so good though.

Pairing | Professor!Marcus Pike x Student F!Reader

Chapter Warnings | Dubious ethical relationship between a professor & student, Marcus tells a lie, mentions of food and alcohol, mentions of academia, academic failure and strained parental relationships, gratuitous descriptions of London because I live here and I love it, some heavy making out and some heavy petting, no use of y/n.

Authors Note | WELL HERE SHE IS. I have no idea how to tell you how much I am loving this so far. Professor Pike has well and truly rotted my brain so y'all have to suffer with me okay? It's gonna be fun, I promise. I would LOVE to know what you all think about this so feel free to scream at me incumbents, reblogs and asks! As always, a huge thank you to @undercoverpena for reading this over and making sure it isn't utter tripe. ILY. And to @saradika for the beautiful divider.

Please follow @thetriumphantpandanotifs for writing updates.

Series Masterlist | Main Masterlist | Ko-Fi

He’s seen her there every day he’s visited the past month. Sitting on the bench, looking up at the same sculpture - a woman carved from marble - sketching into a notepad. He stands this time and watches as her finger tucks some hair behind her ear, brushing it out of her face. She looks up and tilts her head a little, eraser end of her pencil sitting between her teeth as she thinks, tracers a portion of the statue before her head is back down, looking at the page as she continues to draw.

She’s beautiful, there’s no denying it, she’s been beautiful every time he’s seen her. There’s something lonely about her too, the way she sits there on her own, artefacts and artworks for company. She’s just like him really, uprooted from a life he was no longer satisfied with, four years of a PhD and now the letters of Dr before his name. Moved to London, a new city, a fresh start as he’d coined it to his family, but he’s been here three years now, and not one thing that he wanted from his move have materialised. He knows the therapy was good for him, he knows that his haste to find someone was probably what was making him scare people off, but he doesn’t much like the other side of the coin either - a modest flat in London to himself, a small group of friends who sit around and drink beer and droll on about their academic passions, but no-one he can really call his own right now.

Dr. M Pike. Professor of Art History. That’s what his doorplate says, one of many in the small corridor at UCL. Three years and he’s still not quite sure how he made it here, or if it’s really what he wants, but it beats whatever he was doing back in D.C. that’s for sure. It had seemed like the best thing to do at the time, but when Lisbon had told him she wasn’t coming, everything about it seemed wrong, soiled somehow, by the life he’d built in his mind being torn up by someone who, looking back, had never really wanted him in the first place.

He thought about talking to her the first day he’d seen her, but then realised he was actually here to prepare for one of his teaching seminars, so squirrelled himself away to another room instead. The second time he’d seen her, she’d looked too engrossed on whatever she was working on, and then every other time, he’s convinced himself she’s here for peace, not to be bothered by some random man. But there’s something about the way she is today that makes the pull harder to resist, so he says fuck it, shoves his hands into his trouser pockets and walks over.

“You come here often?”

It’s an American accent that pulls you from your work. His voice jolts your hand, makes you press your pencil into paper too hard and at the wrong angle. You suck in a deep breath, try not to think about the hours of work he’s just ruined by startling you. You’re about to turn around and complain when he comes into your vision.

He’s tall, broad shoulders covered in a light dress shirt, two buttons undone so you can see a flash of tanned skin and a smattering of hair. It’s tucked into dark jeans, a belt keeping them tight to his trim waist. And then there’s his face - a beard, but only just and friendly brown eyes, a full mouth too. He’s handsome, there’s no way around it.

“Sorry, that was awful,” The mystery man scratches the back of his neck, “I just come here a lot and I think I’ve seen you here every time for the past month.”

You smile at that, that you’re someone he’s been picking out amongst the crowd of tourists who always come here, someone familiar to him, even if he’s not the same to you.

“I’m just working on something.” You shrug, letting your palm slyly cover the sketch you’ve been making.

The man walks in front of you slightly, takes a seat on the vacant spot on the bench and looks up at the woman carved from marble, “She’s beautiful.” He muses.

“She is.” You agree, looking over the curves of her hips, the way the marble has been carved to make it look like her clothes are wet, sticking to her breasts like she’s just climbed out of the Aegean Sea.

“You like sculpture then?”

“I do,” You nod, turning your body a little towards him, “It’s not my first artistic passion, but I’m studying for my PhD at the moment and it’s all about the female form in marble.”

“Brains as well as beauty,” He smirks a little at you, “Sounds interest though, where are you studying?”

“UCL,” You beam, because you’re proud, it wasn’t easy, you’d been rejected for your first choice research project the first time around, encouraged to choose something else from the feedback, but you were there now, and that’s what mattered, “What about you?” You ask, “What do you do that means you have to be here as much as me?”

He shrugs a little, “I teach.”

It’s vague but you don’t press, he owes you nothing, so you let it lie. You turn back to the sculpture in front of you, when your stomach grumbles. You look down at your watch. It’s 2pm and you’ve not eaten anything yet.

“Hungry?”

“Starving.” You reply meekly.

“Want to grab something to eat?” He asks, “I know a great Italian place in Soho if you fancy it?”

You look at him, eyes tightening a little. It’s been so long since anyone has shown you an ounce of interest, and now the beautiful man in a shirt and dress pants wants to take you for lunch, it all seems a bit too good to be true. But, you can hear the voice of your therapist tell you to say yes to more things, take more risks in life because not all of them are going to turn out to be bad, so you flip the front of your notepad over to cover your drawing and reach down to pick up your backpack.

“Lead the way.”

He doesn’t disappoint. Over the course of a glass of wine and a bowl of olives, you coax out his name. It’s Marcus. He’s got a PhD in Art History and moved to London from D.C. three years ago. He lives alone, near Notting Hill, he likes it because he can go searching for antiques on the weekend. He wants a dog, but he spends too much time out of the house to justify one. He likes to read and he can cook, but prefer eating out or ordering in because he’s not mastered the art of cooking for one.

When a waiter sets down your second glass of wine and your food - gnocchi with pesto and bacon for you and carbonara from Marcus, he turns the conversation back to you, sipping wine as he ask you where you live - Willesden Green, so not far from you - who you live with - myself, my dad was so proud I got into my course he pays for my rent, it’s the only way he can show he loves me - what you like to do with your free time - free time? When I have it, I read, or I walk, or I sit and draw sculptures in museums.

You don’t know whether it’s the wine or not, but the dark winter sinks in, outside cloaked in black, lights dimmed inside, and it makes him even more handsome than he was before. He makes you laugh, with his stories of his own PhD stress, how he would walk the streets of D.C. at 3am to get coffee and pancakes on his way back from the library and then collapse into bed and sleep for two hours until his alarm would wake him up and he would go all the way back to the library to do it again.

“If I ever get to that point,” You muse, stabbing a piece of gnocchi onto your fork, “I don’t think I’ll have the will to make it through.”

“You seem far too organised to me to fall into the bad habits I had.” He shrugs, looking at you over his own glass of wine as you take a bite of your food, too busy watching him to really notice the angle of your fork, green sauce smearing on the corner of your mouth as you fight it into your mouth.

Before you have a chance to reach down and grab the napkin from your lap, Marcus is reaching over the table, using the pad of his thumb to wipe the stray sauce away. It’s something that under any other circumstance would make you feel uncomfortable, but all it really makes you want to do is kiss him, especially when he apologises profusely for being so forward.

He pays for dinner, insists on it really, hidden behind the excuse that he knows how hard it is to live whilst studying. He takes you for cocktails at a bar on the end of Old Compton Street - orders himself an old fashioned whilst you opt for an amaretto sour. The bar is dark and busy, the only seats are in a corner, sat so close together your knees are touching and your shoulder is slightly leaned into his side.

“So, you said you got rejected from your first choice course?” He muses, taking a short sip of his drink.

You shrug with a nod, “I wanted to research the impressionist movement,” You start to explain, “I love Monet and Renoir but I think my research application was too broad,” Sipping your own drink you carry on talking, “There’s a great academic at UCL, Professor Pike, I was desperate to have him as my supervisor, but it wasn’t meant to be.”

You turn your head a little, watching as Marcus swallows on nothing, quickly taking another sip of his drink.

“It’s okay,” You hasten to add, “I guess if I’m not writing thousands of words about it, it won’t make me hate what I love most.”

“Smart,” Is what he says with a smirk, “You would have given him a run for his money anyway.”

“Do you know him?” You ask, “I know all of you academic types are familiar with each other.”

He swallows on nothing again, “I’ve heard of him but I don’t think we’ve ever met.”

You both order another drink, sit around talking about nothing much at all, slowly moving closer as the bar gets busier, you tell yourself it’s just so you can hear him better, but he smells good, some kind of musky cologne that suits him really well, so you don’t complain about soaking it up.

When it gets late, he offers to take you home, keep you company on the tube. You know it’s not really necessary, you’ve never felt particularly unsafe walking home from the station, but if it means spending more time with him, then you don’t really mind. He lets you take the only free seat on the tube, standing in the aisle just in front of your knees so he can keep talking to you, and when you reach the other side, he walks close to you, puts a hand on your lower back which you can feel through your jacket when a group of people walk past you a little too close. He even insists on walking you to your door.

It’s quiet in the building, like it usually is. It’s only recently been built and you think you’re one of only a few people who are currently living there. You pluck your keys from your coat pocket when you reach your door, leaning your back against it.

“This is me.”

“Nice place.”

“Yeah, although I usually prefer places with more character.”

He’s stood right in front of you, rocking on his heels, that same nervous hand on the back of his neck as this afternoon, “I know this might seem weird, but would you like to go on a date sometime?”

You can help but snort a laugh, shaking your head a little, before you meet his eyes, “This wasn’t a date?” You ask coyly.

He smirks a little, cheeks flushing a little, “Did you want it to be a date?”

“I wouldn’t have let you take me for lunch if I didn’t,” You say, “But there is one thing missing.”

“Oh yeah?” He hums, “What’s that?”

Instead of speaking, you take a step forward, hands gripping the lapels of his jacket as you press up onto your toes and plant your lips on his. It’s clumsy and it’s impulsive, but you’ve wanted to do it all day. You can feel his arms wrapping around your back, dragging your body flush to his as he opens his mouth against yours right as you do the same. He tastes like mint from the gum he’s been chewing and the whisky from his drinks - it’s all you can think about as he walks you back, presses you against the door as his tongue meets with yours.

You’re thankful no-one is around. Your arms move from his jacket to wrap around the back of his neck, fingers tangling in the curls there as you tilt your head to one side, a slight smacking sound from your lips as the disconnect, only to come back together seconds later. He’s good at this, you think, as his hands drop from your back to rest in the pockets on the back of your jeans, palms warm through the material. You can feel him squeeze you there a little, and you’re so close to saying fuck it and inviting him in, because if his lips are this good against yours, you can’t imagine what they’d be like in other places.

Marcus is the one that pulls away from you, resting his forehead gently to yours. You’re both breathless and you’re itching to press your mouth back to his.

“I should go.” He breathes against your mouth, pressing his lips to your in a chaste kiss.

“Yeah,” You agree, “You should.”

He steps back, takes the warmth of his palms with him, but reaches in to his pocket and hands his phone to you, “Put your number in here and I’ll call you.”

So you do, press the eleven digits into his phone along with your name and then kiss him once more before he’s turning on his heel and walking away, leaving you with a dull ache between your thighs that you’re working on relieving within five minutes of getting inside. You’re fucked.

Marcus curses himself as he settles into the seat on the bus. It’s late enough that it’s not too busy, no-one sitting next to him as he leans his head back and runs his hand over his face. He already knows he’s fucked up. The words Professor Pike and rejected from my first choice spinning around in his brain as he watches parts of North London flash past the window on his ride home.

Why hadn’t he stopped it then? He knows the rules, knows that even though he doesn’t teach her, any kind of relationships with students, no matter how mature, are off limits. And how is he supposed to keep the facade up now? It’s only a matter of time before she puts two and two together and figures out who he really is.

You’re sweet and you’re smart and you’re fucking beautiful and the best kisser he thinks he’s ever met. You have so much in common with him that it actually hurts him a little and one stupid choice to keep lying to you and the fucking ethics policy are going to keep him from something he thinks would actually be fucking good for him.

He thinks for a second, pulling out his phone and looking at your contact card that he should probably just delete your number. It’s for the best for everyone. He could avoid the museum for a while, keep his head low on campus, he knows he can avoid you. But with his finger hovering over the delete confirmation, he finds he doesn’t have the strength to do it. Stuffs his phone back in his pocket and tries to will his mind to forget the way you’d gasped into his mouth when his hands had squeezed at the swell of your ass, or the way your lips had been soft against his when he’d kissed you.

Then, led in bed, frustrations sorted by his own hand, he picks up his phone and damns himself to hell with a single text.

How about a walk around the National Gallery and dinner this weekend?

[lenaperseveranceoxton]

I've really been unhappy with how Blizzard is treating Tracer lately, especially after seeing the unnamed skin from the press release (They would not wear that!!! They also wouldn't wear Antifragile Traysi, Formalwear, Operative Oxton, and Evening Wear. PLEASE just give me their fit from the London Calling comic already. The last skin we got that I could actually see them wearing in canon is Polar, the last skin to even fit them as a character was Adventurer, and I'm starting to feel like we're never gonna get a "cute" skin like Constable or Street Urchin ever again...) and the Neon Streets skin for OWCS (A recolor of an OW1 skin that's already gotten a recolor? I get it's one of the most popular skins of theirs, but come ON!), but this picture in the Numbani rework?

My skin is clear. My crops are flourishing. My vision has been corrected. I’m hydrated and well-nourished. The Sun is shining. My long-lost brother whom I thought had died when he floated down the river back in 2005 came back home, and it’s all thanks to this picture.

Look at Lena and Lúcio being front and center! My beloved speedy pals! Also, Juno is in the back with Mei, and Efi and Orisa are finally with Overwatch. That's cool, too, I guess...

It's also funny, speaking of the aforementioned London Calling fit, that Lena apparently seems to be wearing it here. They're wearing a choker, you can see a white shirt (albeit with no black stripes) beneath their jacket, and the Overwatch 1 chronal accelerator makes a return. Lúcio's also got their Overwatch 1 design, though, so I don't know what's going on there.

(I am not tagging all the aforementioned Tracer skins or every character in that picture)

[gaycer-as-tracer]

Would you mind sharing Tracer and Emily headcanons?

omg you have no idea, I can, I will and I do talk about them.for hours for anyone who's willing to listen.

Usually I have more AU based headcanons but here are some general ones!

They first met during uprising when Tracer saved Emily's life, but got to talk months later when Tracer visited a coffeeshop in the rebuild London, Emily recognized her as the girl that saved her life and offers to buy her a coffee.

Emily's mom/family absolutely LOVE Lena, she's like another daughter to them

She has a sister with two kids and they love it when its babysitting session with their aunt and her gf

Emily is always cold. She's always freezing, Lena is a human heater and that makes her the perfect cuddle partner

Because of Em being cold, they spend vacations in warmer climates (referring to the stormrising voiceline Tracer has)

Lena likes to wake up early and go for a jog and Em loves to sleep in

Sometimes when Lena wakes up early and is already done with her run she makes her girlfriend breakfast

Em has caught her more than once doing a kitchen concert while making breakfast

The other Overwatch members have bets on who proposes and when

Lena gets down and the ring out first, but Em also pulls out a ring

Emily's nicknames from Lena include love, Em, Emmy, princess (especially after questwatch)

Em sometimes calls Lena darling when she wants to annoy her

Winston is ofc best man at the wedding

(The kids are a headcanon I took from the creative @nic990sstuff, if you wanna hear more maybe ask them c: shoutout to you, Hades of Lemon Tea)

They get two kids, the first one is just a baby Emily found during the Omnic crisis, his name is Dion. He's more focused on her

After a few years they have a "biological" one, he's named Noah and more Lena's kid

[nic990sstuff]

Hello

This may be completely different from what I'm used to posting, but I couldn't keep these thoughts to myself. Therefore, I'm about to go on my first Overwatch rant-

If you hadn't noticed already, I'm very much a huge fan of Tracer and quite literally everything that involves her. I'm always happy seeing new skins and content for her, including her girlfriend Emily. Unfortunately, not everything is perfect. Despite loving the London's Calling comics, I do have many issues with it. I could rant about every single one, but we'd be here for hours. So I'll just focus on the one thing that bothers me the most, and that is the one and only Emily.

I did say just 5 seconds ago that I loved her, and I do! But the way she was portrayed in the comics has always been something that I feel they could've done so much better. When the comics were announced and they stated that it was going to be about Tracer's life after Overwatch was disbanded, I felt excited to see how her day-to-day life was and how they'd include Emily in it. I, of course, knew the comics wouldn't be "Tracer and Emily" centered, but I expected to have probably a couple of pages to show their relationship and dynamic.

By part 3 of the comics, I noticed a pattern that doesn't seem to only bother me: Emily was literally glued to that COUCH, or just inside the house in general. I'm here for them to chill in the comfort of their home, but the only times we saw Emily anywhere outside was when she found Lizzy and Tracer (probably outside the flat) as Tracer's Chronal Accelerator malfunctioned and in the HOSPITAL accompanying Tracer, both in which were only one or two panels. There was never a change of scenery when they were together. They'd only interact with each other for that one page inside their home. While it may not be that big of an issue, it almost feels like Emily's trapped inside her flat and doesn't have other places to go or be, you know, have a life of her own!

However, this is not my biggest issue with Emily and I could've let it slide if it wasn't for the following.

I truly love Emily, but unfortunately, she seems to barely have a personality. So far, we've seen how supportive and loving she is towards Lena, and that's great! I loved how Emily still worried for Lena's happiness by not being in Overwatch as well as how panicked she was when Lena's Chronal Accelerator malfunctioned. But her being Tracer's emotional support is truly everything we've ever seen, even since Reflections. We got a glimpse of a piece of her mind while she and Lena were searching for parts or when she was panicked as she told Lena about the protest that omnics were doing in that ONE panel, but that was it. I'm not saying Emily being Lena's emotional support is wrong, but using that as Emily's whole personality and purpose seems like...

It would've been nice to see Emily's opinions on the matter as well as how it may affect some of Lena's decisions or even foreshadow things that would happen eventually. For example, I'd personally would leave part 1 of the comics as it is because it's a great introduction to what is happening and what will come, ending with Tracer being on her way to meet Em at the pub only to get cornered by omnics that straight up attack her.

In part 2, however, I would've changed it, so it had one more page where we see Tracer and Emily in that pub date and have Tracer tell her the events that just happened, maybe by starting with Emily's obvious worried reaction when someone you love tells you they were jumped by 10 or so omnics to gunpoint. Here's where I'd give Emily some personality by maybe having her express how bad she feels about the omnics and the deplorable condition the Underworld is in, perhaps even make her take the initiative by telling Lena they can later sit and search for parts for them or something of that thought. Lastly, ending the page by having her be a somewhat voice of reason, warning Lena that those 10+ omnics most likely aren't the only ones with that unwelcoming attitude; encouraging Lena to help but to be cautious since some don't really seem to care that Tracer has good intentions. After that, the comic part can continue as it is. This whole page would not only give Emily a change of scenery but also give more insight into her opinion about omnics.

And as a final touch, I would've loved if they would've showed Emily perhaps encouraging Winston to come back Lena up after she goes to save Iggy (which is a headcanon that lives rent-free in my mind) or something similar in a couple of panels. While we don't have Emily actively participate with Lena in the fights or in the protests, we would've seen Emily's way of helping and how it can also make a significant impact without having her take the spotlight.

While I would change something in part 3 where Emily reassured Lena that it was not her fault about the death of Mondatta, it doesn't fall under this rant, so I will probably leave it for another 2 a.m. rant.

Despite all this, I'm still very happy Emily was featured into this story in some way. While it wasn't the greatest, it still gave Emily some content and a lot of cute and different outfits that I love, as well as very adorable moments between her and Lena which is something I was looking for. I was very Lemon Tea starved back then (still kind of am AHAHAHA I need more Lemon Tea content pls).

[shadowkira]

Widowtracer Fic Recs:

AUs:

The Huntress by Mizu7 (E) (32) (vampire!Widow) (AO3)

Action / Mission Related:

Like A Dangerous Woman by doribuki (E) (1) (hard light dildo) (violence + sex) (AO3)

London Calling by SectoBoss (T) (16) (AO3)

Angst:

Fly on the Wall by Mizu7 (E) (6) (AO3)

Comedy:

Faux Pas by bzarcher (E) (3) (AO3)

PWP:

By the Skin of Your Teeth by doribuki (E) (1) (AO3)

Heat Signature by mylordshesacactus (M) (1) (AO3)

In Ruin, in Rapture by doribuki (E) (1) (AO3)

Quickshot by Blackrising (E) (1) (trans!Tracer) (AO3)

[nitewrighter]

at this point your lore is what I'm going with when talking abt overwatch

God, I remember when two years ago I would be like, "Oh but the actual lore is so important! If you haven't read the comics then you blah blah blah" but even then I think I was starting to pull away from it. I think the Reaper "Code of Violence" short story was the first warning shots for me--I mean there was also the handling of like... cop violence against marginalized people in Tracer's "London Calling" comic. And like even then I was like, "Okay I can't get too attached to my own ideas about The Lore, I don't want to turn into one of *those* fans who feels every lore drop where Hanzo isn't blowing Cassidy is a personal slight against me." and now here I am where like, it's a combination of burnout and coming to terms with just how little of a shit Overwatch gives about what drew people to the game and the characters to begin with. I mean, I know it's also on me--I liked the attention being The Content Faucet gave me while everyone was waiting for actual official lore drops, and for what it's worth I'm honestly still proud of all the fics I put out. But it's also like... I'm at the point where I'll be thinking about working on one of my old Overwatch WIPS but then there will be an absolute horseshit lore drop and I'm just like, "Eh I think I'll keep working on my DC fics, actually, because thinking about that is actively repulsing me."

I think it's also the fact that DC is a much bigger fandom and it's easier to... disappear into it. I don't really feel the same scrutiny that I kind of brought on myself with Overwatch.

[wildissylupus]

You know what I've been thinking about? How certain Overwatch media would translate to Mirrorwatch.

Like with Zarya getting a Talon skin we can assume New Blood still happened but with Cassidy recruiting characters to Talon instead of Overwatch.

But what about other pieces of Media? What about the other comics or short stories?

Would London Calling be about Amelie dealing with the fallout of Rammatra's death or would it still be about Tracer? Would it be about this version of Lena causing more damage and chaos in London, more harm to the Omnics there?

Would the Searching comic be about Sombra tracking Talon movements and realizing that they are hiring more people, not just foot soldiers but heavy hitters?

Was Doomfist still arrested in Singapore this universe or was it another character? If Akande was still arrested in this timeline was Reyes breaking him out the moment he officially deviated from Talon?

I really hope I get some answers, please give us a comic, a short story or cinematic for this universe.

[lovingoverwatchguys]

Soldier 76 and Tracer [warning: long post]

A lot of this boils down to headcanon, because this storyline is clearly incomplete (and will probably be expanded upon later...hopefully) and also is often implied rather than said aloud, but I really do think Soldier and Tracer have the kind of father-daughter dynamic in canon, the same way people give him and Dva one in fanon.

At this point, I think it’s pretty well-established that Jack wants to look out for Lena’s safety. Consider what he says when you select her in the Uprising event:

(This line truly touches my cold, dead heart.)

And when he sees her get killed in-game: (I believe the ‘seeing teammate get killed’ voicelines were taken out of the game because there’s already so much audio clutter. Which is understandable, but a bummer, because there was so much relationship insight in them)

Plus the iconic:

A lot of the time, people have the idea of the new generation of Overwatch being the ‘kids’. The thing is, while someone like Cassidy might have been Overwatch’s kid, I’d say Lena was Jack’s kid in particular. He quickly takes a liking to her, and she admires him a lot. I think she even still would defend him. In the London Calling comic, despite her polite smile, she doesn’t seem to like the public perception of other Overwatch members:

When you look at someone like Angela, who clearly holds resentment or at least regret towards Overwatch’s fall, versus Lena, who seems to remember it fondly and hate how people perceive it...it’s clear to me that she still believes in it. And not just in the abstract sense of ‘likes its original ideas’; she believes in how it was, including the leadership.

Including the Strike Commander. 

As of right now, we haven’t gotten a ton of canon material regarding the relationships between the characters between the time of Retribution and the Zurich explosion. We have the Ana comic where she ‘dies’, but that doesn’t really go very deeply into anyone’s mindset other than Ana herself. The scraps we have at least seem to imply that Lena fit right into the Overwatch ‘family’. 

With that thought in mind, I wouldn’t be surprised if she formed a bond with the Strike Commander, even with the bubble he put himself in. She was certainly at least in touch with the people closer to him. She also seems to be quite familiar with Ana. 

I think Jack cares about Lena and has a specific protectiveness of her, moreso than the other ‘next generation’. Like some kind of father, if you will. (Also, the gay and lesbian thing might be a coincidence, but it’s still worth considering...)

Now, let’s talk about parallels. (Thank you to @lenaperseveranceoxton for inspiring parts of this post, echoing a lot of how I already felt, but giving a couple new details I hadn’t thought of, in this post )

There are a lot of things about Soldier 76 and Tracer that are similar, and I don’t think this was an accident or excessively basic characterization. And I think Jack picks up on this. (I’m unsure about if Lena does)

Now, I could talk about how he refers to her ‘potential’, but I think the biggest piece of direct evidence here is this part of the Uprising comic. Lena comes to try and convince Jack to put troops in London, despite the fact that many governments are very deadset on not doing that. (When you think about it, that probably does mean he put his surrogate daughter over the law...be gay do crimes moment.)

The thing that informs Jack to make the decision to send troops into London is this after his conversation with her: 

The implication I got was that Tracer, with all of her spirit and belief in doing what was right, reminded Jack of himself when he was younger and more idealistic. It reminded him what he originally created all of this for.

And while this is hopeful and all, Jack does eventually lose that type of idealism (well, to some extent, but I already went off about that elsewhere). Meanwhile, Lena is left with it.

Now, there’s also Vincent and Emily. Lena is still with Emily, and her decisions are often influenced by her caring for her girlfriend. Lena will do things to protect her and retain their happy relationship.

Meanwhile, Jack split with Vincent over his job. Unlike some people, I don’t think Jack is still in love with Vincent as a person; Vincent represents the life he gave up for the Commander position, and how sad he is about that. It’s not even about who Vincent is now. Who knows if they’d even still be together? What it’s about is living a life with a family and not constant stress. Something simpler.

So, Lena is someone who hasn’t given up that life yet. But she’s still young enough that she someday could.

But all of that just leads me to the speculation that Jack doesn’t want Lena to go into this, because he fears that she’ll end up the same way he did. The idealistic person getting their dreams crushed by the cruel world of politics. He wouldn’t want her to be part of new Overwatch, because he thinks she’s putting herself in danger.

You know what I think would be cool? If ultimately, that was what pulled him back into this whole fight once and for all. Obviously he has plenty of reasons to want to go back, but I’d love if what pushed him over the edge was protecting Lena and feeling responsible for keeping her from what he went through. It’d be a nice parallel, and a moment where he could show how much he genuinely does care. And most importantly, it would show that he still has something to learn from the younger people. I think that’d be a good growth moment for him, and could even be a nice theme for the audience.

Okay, maybe I also just want them to have cute moments together. Maybe I want him to try and take her fishing or some other lame old man thing. Is that so wrong?

In conclusion: sometimes a family is a gay old man, his lesbian daughter, and her cute girlfriend.

[diverbots]

Who is Iggy??? 😭

She was the omnic Tracer met in the London Calling series!

[max1u3]

The Archives events Part 1 - Uprising

Uprising was the first achieves event introduced into Overwatch and was released in 2017. It was also a huge hit. It was introduced some four or five months before I started playing, but just reading through the comments and from my personal memories surrounding the event. I can say for certainty it was a hit.

I'll start it off small. they introduced a series of banger skins for this event, and until this day some of them are still my favourites.

Obviously, on top of the skins and the cosmetics, the mission was released.

This was the introduction video. Unlike the following two events, it didn't have an outro cutscene, just this short one at the start.

The uprising mission story itself, is simply stop a war before it begins. There's an null sector invasion in London that needs tackling before it progresses into something more, and Jack Morrison sends in a small strike team.

Their goal is to gain control of the large artillery guns scattered across kings row and take down their defences so Overwatch can move in and save some prisoners stuck in the factory, aka the final payload location.

There's also a lovely little pre-lude to the mission in the form of a comic. Said comic is also called Uprising and details the finer complications of Overwatch's actions in London.

It shows the complicated nature of the relations between Jack Morrison and Gabriel Reyes, and the strain Blackwatch was having.

It discusses the politics of Overwatch and highlights how much Overwatch was under fire at that point. It also gives us a look into Tracer and how she handled the start of her first mission as well.

Because, yes, this was Tracer's first ever field mission.

It also just gives us a nice little jewel, and shows us where Tracer got her "the cavalry's here" line.

All in all, the Uprising event was delivered with Grace, lore, cosmetics, and interactive and fun gameplay.

Overwatch 2 could never.

[thosesixyears]

Hiatus - Parklands review

Parklands was released in 2013 by British-Iranian producer Cyrus Shahrad, aka Hiatus. Seven tracks were co-written by British-Russian producer Alexandra Lilah Denton, aka Shura, who also performed vocals for the tracks in question. The title track “Parklands” was a collaboration with the Indian group Kirtaniyas.

Parklands was released after Shura and Hiatus had collaborated prior as “Hiatus & Shura”, releasing the tracks “River” and “Fortune’s Fool”, which were later included on this album.

From my very first listen to Parklands, I was immediately captivated by it. I listened to the whole album and was hit with an intense wave of emotions as each track played through to completion. Then I listened to it again, and again, and it quickly became my top listened-to album in October leading me to order a signed CD and eventually write this review. 

The album opens with "We Can Be Ghosts Now", where warm and welcoming instrumentation is juxtaposed by lyrics describing war making its way to London. 

“Bury everything you own On a hill in Peckham Rye Say a prayer for those you've known As tracer fire scars the sky”

The destruction is framed through the protagonist's desire to be with their lover in death, "Meet me in the dust cloud" "As the towers topple all around", so that they can "be ghosts now", finally being free in death.

With the public consciousness over these past months being so focused on the destruction in Gaza, I can't help but feel sad when I listen to this. The story it tells, despite describing a fictional war coming to London, feels relevant and frighteningly real.

"Cloud City" poignantly describes the protagonist losing a loved one "somewhere overseas". "As I held on to the sleeve of your coat" makes me think the protagonist was only a child when this happened, being forced to leave their parent or guardian behind as they then travelled overseas to their new home, possibly as a refugee.

Furthermore, “Something moved when I moved and you…” seems to describe the separation, as the protagonist’s grip on their guardian’s coat was lost, trailing off into the other repeating lines of the song.

“How did I ever lose you?” can also be heard throughout, speaking to the regret of the events.

As with “We Can Be Ghosts Now”, “Cloud City” follows the trend of songs with warm and comforting arrangements, beautifully blending organic and inorganic sounds, combined with melancholy lyrics.

"A Silver Exit" in comparison, being instrumental, is a welcome relief from the rawness of the previous two tracks' lyrics. Warm synth pads, slow percussion and reversed piano notes feel delicate and soothing. Before fading away and leaving the listener refreshed and primed for the next track.

"River", shares the same warm instrumentation as the rest of the album so far, but the lyrics are cryptic. Shura sings "Still you were so" over and over through the first half of the track. Sometimes the vocals include harmony and sometimes they are sung delicately solo. Occasionally "You took me down" and "to the river" are heard.

However, near the end of the track, the tone changes as Shura sings "You took me down, and drowned me" before staying silent. At the end, as the song fades, she can be heard again singing "You took me down" but the song ends before the rest of the verse can be finished. The mystery of "River" is intriguing. It sounds as if it could be the testimony of a murder victim, calling out the actions of their murderer from beyond the grave. Or, given she continues to sing as the song ends, it could be metaphorical. 

A YouTube user commented another possible interpretation, stating:

“Once again Hiatus and Shura teach us something about love, life, death, and peace.  After all he's done to her, she still loves him. Her 'soul' belongs to him.  The River may not be as literal or as metaphorical as one may think. It speaks of her becoming lost in him - 'drowned' as it were, in the swift currents of the river that is him.  And in the embrace of the river that she's been drowned in, she's found peace.” (Clauser)

This is possibly backed up by the original iteration of this song, written by Shura before “Parklands”. In Shura’s version, there is a line, “Come with me there I’ll marry you, darling, I’ll take you and make you my wife” (Denton), which does not appear in the later version that appears on “Parklands”. Shura’s version also does not include the line “You took me down and drowned me”, which implies the intent may not have been my own darker interpretation of the song.

Either way, Hiatus and Shura have not said what their intent was, and in my opinion, not knowing makes me feel uneasy. That said, the mystery only improves the song in my opinion. Alastair James Dickie’s review of “Parklands” closes on a similar note, stating that “The album treats me like a grown up capable of coming to my own conclusions. I really love that.” (Dickie)

"Fortune's Fool" is exemplary of the bittersweet feeling “Parklands” has as an album. It seems to imply, through its title “Fortune’s Fool”; a reference to Romeo and Juliet, and through its lyrics, the foolishness brought on by love. To me, it seems to be sung reflectively, looking back at the events that lead up to the present of the song.

There is a lot to unpack here, from the reference to Romeo and Juliet to the line “And I Am Kissing You”, likely a reference to Des'ree’s “Kissing You”, a song written for the 1996 film adaptation of Romeo and Juliet.

The music video is also interesting, showing a couple played by Hiatus and Shura, cutting their bed in half with a chainsaw, then taking the pieces, using them to build a raft with a white flag and setting out to sea on it (“Hiatus - Fortune’s Fool”). It speaks to the possible failures of their relationship and their eventual surrender to each other, literally setting off towards new horizons.

It’s a song that I think deserves further analysis, one which I would like to return to examine more here. For now, I’ll say that I appreciate all the symbolism, and the combination of the lyrics and beautiful instrumental backing track makes me feel a particular sadness, much like the rest of the album.

The title track "Parklands" has a beautiful, slow and deliberate build, before leading into the midsection with performances and vocals from the Indian group Kirtaniyas (credited here as Kirtanayas). The best translation I could find is that they are singing "Glory to Ram(a) and Sita" in Hindi. I do not speak Hindi but Google Translate does give me a transliteration that contains the words of what is sung (albeit perhaps in the incorrect order).

"Parklands" appears to be a remix of "Sita Rama" by Kirtaniyas, presented on the album "Parklands" as a collaboration. What Hiatus does with it is utterly transformative, retaining the original atmosphere but changing the genre completely.

"Parklands", like the album, is beautiful, and despite not being Hindu or speaking Hindi, I find the vocals and their backing soundscape mesmerising and comforting. The simplicity of it is refreshing, especially after the lyrically and symbolically dense tracks preceding it.

"Iran Air", one of my favourites on the album, opens with an LFO-filtered synth lead playing darker notes, which are then underscored by a deep reece bass. Shimmering pads and delicate piano notes then lead into the vocals. 

“Iran Air” is a fictionalised retelling of what people like Hiatus’ own father went through as refugees fleeing Iran, as he described in an interview.

“Obviously, it’s ultimately a tribute to my father. I wanted it to express the feeling of living in a country that isn’t your home. You can become acclimatised to living somewhere like London but you’ll never completely let go of that other life that you lived.” (King)

He goes on to describe his familial and personal connection to Iran, saying, 

“I’m half Iranian, my Mum’s English. I spent my first year and a half there, then the revolution happened and my family moved to the UK. We went back once in ’82 and then while we were there the war with Iraq kicked off. Saddam Hussein started bombing Tehran. After that my Dad washed his hands of it, assuming that we’d never go back. But when I reached my twenties I felt like there was this whole part of my life that I knew nothing about, and I wanted so desperately to reconnect with it. So in 2005 I went back to work as a journalist, covering the elections for The Sunday Times. That was the most seminal, formative experience of my life. I started obsessing over Iranian music and sampling loads of my Dad’s old records which were still in the house I was staying in. Lots of those samples appear on Ghost Notes.” (King)

This personal connection can absolutely be felt in “Iran Air”, which beautifully describes the trauma of leaving one’s home behind to start a new life, while never forgetting your origins.

As an Ojibwe person living on Turtle Island, I may not have any personal experience to draw on in comparison to living as a refugee, but I fully understand the connection we as individuals have to the lands we are Indigenous to, and “Iran Air” speaks to me in this way on a personal level.

“Iran Air” closes with the verse,

“Living for a secret sign Living for a secret sign and Dreaming Iran Air Looking up at every passing flight Every one a prayer”.

The verse describes the protagonist's desire to eventually return home to Iran on a returning flight. It is poignant and heartfelt, and the way “Iran Air” beautifully connects “Parklands” to Hiatus’ own past and heritage is really what makes the album stand out to me, more than it already did for the quality of its production and vocals. 

"Returning", along with the rest of the tracks on the album, is mostly instrumental aside from a few sampled vocals and non-lexical vocals sung by Shura on the final track.

“Returning” is a more upbeat and optimistic-sounding arrangement. It contains many of the same elements as “Iran Air” as well as the occasional vocal sample in a language I don’t recognize (perhaps Farsi vocals sampled from Hiatus’ father’s records?). The name “Returning” leads me to believe the track is an impression of Hiatus’ own experiences returning to Iran in his twenties. It is a beautiful track and a heartwarming follow-up to “Iran Air”, especially if my interpretation is correct.

"As Close to Me as You Are Now", opens with the distinctive sound of an orchestra tuning, which is then looped and backed by a steady four on the floor beat. Delayed and reversed notes play with a soothing bassline and gentle piano notes interspersed. A vocal sample saying something resembling “then we shall” is played occasionally before a mid-section with classical-sounding choral samples. 

Like many others on the album, the track is warm and soothing. Through the delicate and masterful arrangement of digitally manipulated audio and subtle synth and beats, “As Close to Me as You Are Now” is a track that beautifully fades into the background, lulling the listener into a pleasant trance.

"Call off Your Storm" is another beautiful instrumental. This time making use of a lot of what sounded like reversed guitar notes and a delicate solo performance on what I’m assuming is violin. It has more samples that I again assume are from Hiatus’ father’s record collection, including some vocals and a wind instrument I do not recognize. There are many small crescendos along with the reversed guitar notes which makes it sound like the composition is breathing before it eventually ends and leads to the final track.

"Tiny Doors”, the album’s closer, forgoes beats, large arrangements or lyrics, opting for a piano arrangement performed by Hiatus with the sounds of people muttering on a public street in the background. Shura’s vocals are distorted and manipulated into sounding like a wind instrument of some form, creating a beautiful, unique and emotional texture. It calmly ends with no grand fanfare or statement. The album ends before you even realise it was going to, simultaneously leaving you yearning for more and satisfied at the same time. If there was a more perfect way to close such a beautiful album, I don’t know what it is.

Overall the “Parklands” sounds very warm and laid back, putting the listener's guard down so the contrast with the comparably dark lyrics leaves them with an intense sense of melancholy and sadness. Music rarely provokes such an intense emotional reaction from me, so Parklands was an immediate standout and will likely remain one of my favourite albums going forward. I wish I’d heard it earlier, but I’m happy I discovered it nonetheless.

Parklands can be listened to on most major streaming platforms and purchased on Hiatus’ Bandcamp, where he also sells signed CDs.

Works Cited

Clauser, Ian, [@Darkhunter190able]. “Once Again Hiatus and Shura Teach Us Something About Love, Life, Death, and Peace...” Hiatus - River, 12 July 2013. Youtube, youtube.com/watch?v=Wlz-F5O27Gc&lc=Ugw-U5yTU4aPMYad_hp4AaABAg.

Denton, Alexandra Lilah, (Shura). “Shura ‘River.’” YouTube, uploaded by Villette2011, 15 Sept. 2011, youtube.com/watch?v=EiFm54h-vu8.

Dickie, Alastair James. “Album Review: ‘Parklands’ by Hiatus.” Soft Concrete, 24 May 2013, softconcrete.net/2013/05/08/album-review-parklands-by-hiatus.

“Hiatus - Fortune’s Fool.” YouTube, directed by Dan Susman, uploaded by Cyrus Shahrad [djhiatus], 15 Aug. 2011, youtube.com/watch?v=vMYvICifzCk. King, Alex. “Hiatus Interview - Cyrus Shahrad Talks Iran Air and Parklands.” Huck, 7 Dec. 2023, huckmag.com/article/hiatus.

[lenaperseveranceoxton]

Listen, I know I said in this post from June 15th that Emily is perfect as a civilian, and I was vindicated when the Invasion story missions dropped and showed that Emily is holed up in some bunker in King's Row with omnics and bigots alike.

but Blizzard, PLEASE, I need more Emily content. I am starving. She deserves to be given a canon voice like Iggy in the Underworld mission. She deserves to have a canon last name. She deserves the world.

It's so infuriating that the Lena and Emily spray even gets censored in Play of the Games and highlights. I mean, I get why (and you can ask the winners of the 2023 Overwatch World Cup if you don't) but damn it!

I am SO sick and tired of seeing people ship Lena with men, whether it be self-ships, generic nude models in Blender, or male playable characters. (If you fall into one of those categories, please let me know so I can block your disgusting ass.)

I need the cishets to know- to have it absolutely drilled into their skulls- that Lena is dating Emily Overwatch. Give me a voice line about her in the Hero Gallery. Give me a weapon charm version of the Lena and Emily spray, or at least a weapon charm of an orange heart that says "Emily" in the center. Give me a victory pose where Lena is bridal-carrying Emily. Anything.

Also, this is going to sound very weird, but the "Caught you staring!" voice line still makes me uncomfortable every time I hear it in game. I get that Lena is a playful person, but did we learn nothing from the Over the Shoulder controversy in 2016? (Even the current Over the Shoulder victory pose makes me uncomfortable. It's one of the few victory poses I don't have favorited in the Hero Gallery. Why would Lena be striking a pose from a WW2 pinup poster?) I remember hearing complaints that it's unfair that Lifeweaver, Baptiste, and Mauga get to flirt with each other while our lesbian characters don't get to flirt with women, but Lena is in a loving relationship. I think she should be able to express an aesthetic attraction towards female characters (like Sombra saying "You're cuter up close" to any gender like the bisexual icon she is when getting a melee kill), but she should not be alluding to her butt whenever you use all three Blinks. The internet is so quick to objectify Overwatch characters, and it's disappointing to see Blizzard fueling those flames.

Rant aside, I also want to point out that Lena tells Emily to let the omnics in the bunker know about Null Sector.

I remember joking in a Discord server with friends who don't go here but know Lena "Tracer" Oxton is my lifeblood about the idea of Lena having paparazzi that write articles such as "The Rumour Come Out: Does Tracer from Overwatch is Gay?" after seeing them casually plan to meet Emily at the pub in London Calling Issue 1. Does everyone in the bunker just know Emily is Lena's girlfriend? Either way, I love to imagine the conversation that would ensue.

"So, omnics, I've gathered you here today to discuss some important matters. As you may or may not know, Tracer from Overwatch is my girlfriend, and uh... A majority of the omnic population in Toronto has been abducted and possibly even had their minds wiped. Overwatch was late, so they couldn't do anything about it. Sure, Null Sector could very well be breaking into this bunker in no time at all, but Overwatch is prepared now! We're going to be okay... I think."

I'll finish this off by saying that, if she can't come to Watchpoint: Gibraltar, Emily should at least be added to the Miscellaneous section of the Intel Database.

Thank you for listening to my TEDTalk.

[nic990sstuff]

random assortment of silly/random tracer headcanons? i’d love to see what you come up with!

OOOHHH ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY TO SAY MY TRACER HEADCANONS HEHEHE While I can't think of many like my first Tracer hc ramble, I will keep it silly and random this time-

- Lena is actually great at drawing. I love to think she was a graffiti artist so she'd sketch out really good designs on some sketchbook that she'd later spray somewhere. She also sometimes sketches people and omnics (*cough cough* Emily *cough cough* )

- She loves to annoy the hell out of the people she loves sometimes: copying their accent (like that 'Reviving Cass' line), teasing, small harmless pranks, showing off, etc.

- Some nights, she gets those existential random questions when she has a lot of energy to spare.

-She stims by shaking her hands and stomping her feet

-We've already seen this in the London's Callings comics but she cannot sit still if she's not hugging Emily by the shoulders. Sitting cross-legged, legs on a table, laying back, upside down, you name it

-Besides the Akira slide, she knows a lot more tricks with the bike, but as skilled as she is with the hoverbike, it's not a mission accomplished if she didn't wreck it somehow (Stormrising flashbacks)

[lu-vas]

ahhhhh the tracer comic was actually so cute and i fucking LOVE the art style so much, so much better than the older comic art styles. im just like...ugh. did the comics HAVE to be about tracer she has so many fuckin comics i wish other characters would get a chance. i guess they did it cuz they’re setting up plot for overwatch 2 but still.