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kentochronicles · 4 years ago

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***SPOILERS FOR WANDAVISION EPISODE 6***

So I’m still processing everything but holy shite that ep was wild...

FIRST THINGS FIRST - WANDA, VISION, BILLY AND PIETRO ALL IN COMIC ACCURATE-ISH COSTUMES AND TOMMY IN A MINI QUICKSILVER COSTUME

PIETRO CALLING BILLY AND TOMMY DEMON SPAWN - GOD DAMMIT, IT’S MEPHISTO ISN’T IT? HOUSE OF M HERE WE COME

HERB ASKING WANDA IF SHE WANTED SOMETHING CHANGED

AGNES ASKING VISION ABOUT THE AVENGERS AND STUFF AND AT FIRST SHE SEEMED GENUINELY FREAKED OUT BUT THEN STARTED LAUGHING MANIACALLY AND I STILL DON’T TRUST HER AND AGNES BEING DRESSED AS A WITCH? AGATHA HARKNESS WAS A WITCH - COINCIDENCE? I THINK NOT!

DARCY LOOKING OVER MONICA’S MED SCANS AND TELLING HER HOW THE HEX AFFECTS HER EACH TIME SHE GOES IN - IS SHE DEVELOPING HER POWERS?

PIETRO’S CORPSE - SCARED ME JUST AS MUCH AS VISION’S

MOVIES SHOWING IN THE THEATRE IN THE BACKGROUND - THE INCREDIBLES: A MOVIE BASED AROUND A SUPERHERO FAMILY AND THE PARENT TRAP: A MOVIE ABOUT TWINS WHO MEET AT CAMP AND TRY AND SET THEIR PARENTS UP

DON’T GO PAST ELLIS AVENUE - NOW I DON’T KNOW IF THIS IS A CONNECTION OR JUST A COINCIDENCE BUT ELLIS IS THE LAST NAME OF THE PRESIDENT DURING IRON MAN 3

TOMMY HAVING HIS SPEED POWERS AND BILLY HAVING HIS REALITY WARPING/TELEKINETIC POWERS - WELCOME SPEED AND WICCAN

A CALL BACK TO INFINITY WAR WHEN VISION EXITED THE HEX? SLIGHTLY DUSTING AND HE PROBABLY WON’T SURVIVE BEING OUTSIDE OF THE HEX - HE’LL JUST DIE AGAIN 🥲

I STILL DON’T TRUST HAYWARD - HE’S VERY SUS

DARCY BEING TAKEN INTO THE HEX WITH THE OTHER S.W.O.R.D AGENTS - HOPEFULLY WE CAN SEE THE OUTFITS THAT KAT DENNING’S WAS EXCITED ABOUT

I SWEAR THEY BETTER NOT STRAIGHTWASH BILLY AND TOMMY OR I WILL RIOT 😤

***FURTHER UPDATES***

So sit-com wise, it seems they were referencing Malcolm in the Middle as the twins broke the fourth wall and talked to the audience, like Malcolm did

However, the theme song has told the viewer to stop questioning the reality of Westview - which could be a little reference to Mystery Science Theatre 3000? - When Pietro first shows up in the title sequence, along with his name title card, the lyrics say “Though there may be no way of knowing who’s come to play” - Istg, I do not trust Pietro

Vision says to Wanda that he had to wear his Halloween costume because there were no other clothes in his closet, Wanda is trying to move the plot along and forcing Vision to play along

Evan Peters’ ‘Mom’ tattoo is shown, which is a tattoo he actually has in real life ! But could this stand for ‘Multiverse of Madness’ or some other red herring?

Pietro mentions to Wanda that if he had found ‘Shangri-La’ he wouldn’t want to leave either - Shangri-La is a real place on Earth-616 that was founded by a version of Vision

Tommy refers to Pietro’s speed as ‘kickass’ and then Wanda repeats that, saying ‘kickass’ again - Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Evan Peters (both versions of QuickSilver) were in Kick-Ass together

The ad for this episode was freaky af - the character on the beach who starved and decomposed could be a little nod to Indiana Jones, where a Nazi’s face melts in - and it could also be reference to Wanda being all alone and struggling to process her grief. The shark in the ad could also be Nightmare or Mephisto or just someone more powerful than Wanda offering her a new beginning with Vision or trapped her in some way - and is feeding off her magic? The flavour of the yoghurt is strawberry flavoured and strawberry’s are red on the outside and pink-ish on the inside - much like Wanda’s og costume and her magic being red 👀

Pietro and Wanda talk about their Sokovian accents at a point in the episode and how neither have them anymore. Wanda’s, as we know, has disappeared over the course of the MCU movies and Pietro’s just doesn’t exist - another nice little nod to Peter Maximoff from the fox X-Men films? Also, Pietro states that “I’m just trying to do my part, okay? Come to town unexpectedly, create tension with the brother-in-law, stir up trouble with the Rugrats (a 90’s cartoon 👀) and ultimately give you grief.” - in reference to the grief part, could Pietro be killed off again? Stir up trouble with the rugrats, being possible shards of the demon Mephisto’s soul, could this be Mephisto trying to influence them on a deeper level? It’s also many many common sitcom clichès

Pietro talks about how “I got shot like a chump on the street for no reason at all” - nice little nod to how Pietro was killed off unnecessarily and how we as a fandom still talk about how regular bullets shouldn’t have killed him

Herb is dressed as Frankenstein’s monster - Dr. Frankenstein created his monster and soon lost control over him, and he was created using electricity or lightning - much like Vision was created and brought to life by Thor using Mjolnïr to bring lightning down to his incubator thingy majig. Could this also be a reference to either Wanda slowly losing control over Westview or someone else controlling Wanda/controlling the citizens of Westview - we saw in episode 3 that Agnes told Herb to be quiet as it seemed he was about to spill the beans 👀

Vision goes towards Ellis avenue and is at a ‘crossroads’ of sorts - in folklore, crossroads are often used to speak to or summon the devil and are also used when an important character is making a decision that could change everything. He spots some citizens repeating certain actions and/or just standing completely still, could these be npc’s (non playable characters)? And now that the barrier of the Hex has spread, will those citizens now start to move? 👀 Also I know that all stop signs look like it, but the stop sign is also a red hexagon 🛑

Darcy scrolls through Hayward’s computer files and goes past a file called “Project C4-113” - it could reference Avengers Issue #113 in which Wanda and Vision both appear on the cover and she says she’s going to make the world pay for Vision’s death. There’s also another file called “Project M5-247” which could be a nod to Avengers Issue #247, which shows the origin of the Eternals and in the same vein, Scarlet Witch and Vision trying to help Captain Marvel. And when Darcy emails Hayward’s cataract plans, you can see the names of “James Alexander and James Gadd” - James Alexander is a visual effects producer on Wandavision and James Gadd works on post production at Marvel

Also: Agnes pulls as Mrs Hart and repeats the same phrase over and over again

After Wanda blasts Pietro, you can see on a fake grave stone the name of “Janell Sammelman”, Janell is a first assistant director on Wandavision

When Wanda moves Westview to save Vision, she turns S.W.O.R.D and it’s agents into clowns + a circus - I just love that the agents turned into clowns 😂 but there is a nice little plot line in the comics where Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver and Hawkeye join the circus - and this COULD be stretch, but earlier in the episode there is the number #22 which could be Avengers Issue #22, which is the Issue that they join the circus

As soon as Vision was brought back into Westview, he was healed - which means if he was to exit again, he probably wouldn’t survive 😭

The episode title is ‘All-New Halloween Spooktackular!” - which “All-New” is a designation that is often used on covers for comic books. And the first issue of the second The Vision and the Scarlet Witch series takes place on Halloween night - but the events in this comics didn’t influence this episode’s plot

Pietro points out that he has the “XY chromosome” - X for X-Men? Plus there’s the X gene 😂

He mentions “Uncle Peter to the rescue” - Peter is the name of Quicksilver from the Fox X-Men Franchise

Pietro and Tommy quote the movie Top Gun (1986) by saying “I fell the need, the need for speed”

Wanda almost seems hesitant to trust this version of Pietro (rightfully so, in my opinion) and is wary of him being around Tommy and Billy

Pietro says some very Mephisto/Nightmare-like things this episode - “Unleash hell, demon spawn!”, “The kids need a father figure”, “Damnit, if Westview isn’t charming as Hell...” - And if Pietro isn’t Mephisto/Nightmare, it HAS to be Agnes or her other half Ralph and Pietro is probably Ralph tbh...or could Pietro just be a scapegoat and Hayward is Ralph? 👀

The theatre in town, which is playing the Incredibles and The Parent Trap, is called the Coronet. There’s a classic poem called “The Coronet” written by Andrew MARVELL (Marvell, is also the true name of the first incarnation of Captain Marvel in the comics) and is about a guy who knows that the sins of mankind led to the death of Christ. He attempts to create a new crown for Christ’s head in an attempt to atone, but finds that there is sin in the crown as well, as the devil is within the crown and therefore he may achieve glory and success with his new creation 👀

Hayward’s confidential project “Cataract” included experimenting on Vision’s body, as was revealed by Darcy (my wife 💙 and Monica is also my wife 💚 and so is Wanda 💛, I just love women, you know? 😂). A cataract is a cloudy area in the lens of the eye that leads to a decrease in vision - is Hayward trying to weaponise Vision? Or maybe even trying to bring Ultron back? Or do what Tony wanted to do in the first place, and make a suit of armour that’s around the world? Either way, it’s for nefarious purposes

Who is Monica’s guy? Jimmy and Monica are off to meet him - could it be Reed Richards (Mr Fantastic)? Or could it be Victor Von Doom (Dr Doom)? Could it be Hank McCoy (Beast)? Or even Adam Brashear (Blue Marvel)? Or if it is a woman, could it be the Skrull daughter of Talos that Monica befriended at the end of Captain Marvel? Could it be Abigail Brand (A major character in recent S.W.O.R.D comics and an Alpha Flight Member)? Or even Toni Ho (Iron Patriot, and could she be introduced to help lay the ground work for my other queen, Riri Williams/Iron Heart?)? Or could it even be Sue Storm (Invisible Woman)?

In the background of the episode we see a number of children and adults dressed up as many different characters, which includes: Sub-Zero from Mortal Kombat, Jason Voorhees, with a sweater striped like Freddy Krueger’s and even a kid that looks dressed in an off-brand Charizard costume 😂 Pokèmon has always been popular, but saw an increase during the 90’s

Pietro and the kids are drinking “Kane Cola” which could be a reference to the 90’s drinks “Jolt Cola” or even “Surge” - it could also, with all the X-Men Easter eggs, be a reference to Garrison Kane, who was a member of Cable’s mercenary team “Six Pack” and is sometimes also known as ‘Weapon X’

The kid that Wanda mentions having a “skin thing” in the orphanage - could that be a reference to her Brotherhood of Evil Mutants co-worker Toad? Or maybe even Mystique? Maybe Kurt Wagner (Nightcrawler)?

One of the houses has a sign up that says ‘Macabre Mansion’ - another possible reference to House of M?

During a flashback, it’s shown that the twins are playing Dance Dance Revolution, which came out in 1999. Also this might be a stretch, but the boys have a dog plushie in their room the right - which is coloured red and black - could this be a reference to Dogpool? 😂

I love this show 🤣💙

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9worldstales · 4 years ago

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INTERESTING POINTS TO PONDER FROM INTERVIEWS 13

Interviews might not remain forever available or not be easy to find so I’ve decided to link them and transcribe the points I find of some interest so as to preserve them should the interview had to end up removed.

It’s not complete transcriptions, just the bits I think can be relevant but I wholeheartedly recommend reading the whole thing.

And of course I also comment all this because God forbid I’ll keep silent… :P

Title: Kenneth Branagh on 'Thor': 'Commercial Gods Will Have to Decide Whether It's a Success'

Author: Stephen Galloway

Published: Apr 13, 2011

BEST BITS FROM THE INTERVIEW

ABOUT THE SCRIPT

The movie had gone through multiple incarnations since the character first appeared in the Marvel comic Journey Into Mystery #83 in 1962. At one point, it was developed at Artisan Entertainment (later bought by Lionsgate), among 10 comic properties the mini-major had obtained, before reverting to Marvel.

"There've been scripts that we don't even know about anymore," says Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, an 11-year veteran of the company who also produced Thor.

Under Feige, Thor went through further drafts. One, written by Mark Protosevich and admired by almost everyone, had its earthly portions set entirely in the Viking era, but Marvel decided this was the wrong way to go. "In that version, Thor is banished from a very foreign world to another very foreign world, which didn't work," Feige notes.

In October 2009, he (Branagh) returned to Los Angeles full time, and now everything proceeded at warp speed. He kept working on a script that combined the efforts of Ashley Miller & Zack Stentz, J.Michael Sraczynski and Don Payne, with Protosevich brought back for a final polish.

ABOUT THE THEME AND PLOT

"He pitched an opening that started on a gigantic cosmic scale, which is what this movie is -- it's the first that takes place among the stars and on the cosmic side of the Marvel universe," Feige says. "But that very quickly funneled down to a father and his two sons and encompassed what we wanted: a movie set against this incredibly regal canvas and alternative world yet never lost sight of this family drama."

Branagh clarifies: "What I was interested in was the family saga. I think everybody was having trouble arriving at the right way to tell the story, and I was fairly clear about wanting to have a significant proportion of it on contemporary Earth."

ABOUT BRANAGH’S APPROACH TO “THOR”

"He'd seen all the films we had made at that point," Feige says. "But now we sent him every issue of Thor ever written and story lines that could serve as inspiration."

Rather than being intimidated, Branagh says he was "excited."

ABOUT THE POSTPONING OF “THOR”

Following the success of Iron Man, Marvel decided to postpone Thor's release, creating a gap of six months before Branagh would be able to shoot the film.

"Initially, Iron Man 2 and Thor were to be released in summer 2010 and Captain America and The Avengers in summer 2011," Feige notes. "But when the first Iron Man was so big, we had the luxury of knowing that the sequel could sustain us in 2010."

That's when Thor was bumped to 2011 and The Avengers to 2012, which Feige says "was beneficial because this is the most complicated film we have ever made, from the costumes to the set."

Beneficial for Marvel but not necessarily for Branagh, who was reluctant to be away from home so long. "I seriously considered leaving," he admits.

ABOUT THE CASTING OF CHRIS HEMSWORTH

In early 2009, accompanied by his casting directors and Marvel executives, Branagh had taken the unusual step of visiting the major agencies to talk about what he was looking for, then watched as hundreds of tapes flooded in. "We started in January and went into April 2009," he says of the casting phase.

After months of searching, Branagh had narrowed his list to four, with each candidate invited to do a screen test. They included Australian Liam Hemsworth -- but not his brother Chris, who would eventually get the role.

Today, Chris laughs about it, recognizing that he wasn't in top form when he first met Branagh and noting that his younger brother gave him tips based on everything he'd gleaned through the auditions. "We're competitive, but in the best way," he says.

When Branagh felt uncertain about the final four and wanted to revisit some earlier contenders, Hemsworth was helped by a supportive phone call from his Cabin in the Woods producer Joss Whedon and by a video the actor made with his mother. "I was on the 17th floor of a hotel in Vancouver with my mom reading the lines to me," he recalls, "and something great must have happened. It got me back in the room."

This time, Branagh knew he'd found his man.

"We did two or three interview sessions before we tested him," he says. "We pretty much knew as we were shooting the test that he was the guy. It seemed, across these meetings, he had grown into it. He understood it better. And crucially, he was at ease."

MY TWO CENTS

It’s not quite your traditional interview with questions and asnwers but it’s still interesting.

I love to hear about the previous scripts and which was the author’s intent in creating the movie, which themes they wanted to develop. Again, I’ll kill to get to read the previous “Thor” scripts as they seem so interesting. I really wonder how things would have developed if Thor had been banished into Viking era.

On an interesting note the birth of “Thor” was clearly a long and elaborated one.

#thor #thor odinson #kevin feige #kenneth branagh #mark protosevich #ashley miller #don payne #j michael straczynski #chris hemsworth #zack stentz #interview #mcu thor #9 worlds interview study

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pollyestergivens · 4 years ago

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Cruise Most Deadly: A Miss Clue Adventure Game

Initially, Cruise Most Deadly gave me some Nancy Drew vibes--like, maybe if Ransom of the Seven Ships and Danger on Deception Island had a baby, this would be it--but as the game went on, I found CMD to be a solid adventure game in its own right.

Some of the issues I mentioned in my review of Peril in Pemberley were happily rectified in this installment, but CMD may still not be your cup of tea. If you prefer a more straightforward mystery or whodunit, Cruise Most Deadly will likely disappoint. However, if you’re a fan of more traditional adventure games, I believe CMD is worth your time (and money).

Wall of text (and pictures!) below:

Another Beautiful, Believable Game World

Cruise Most Deadly will have you thoroughly exploring a deserted island (plus a cozy yacht), and like the outdoor environments in Peril in Pemberley, these locations feel cohesive and believable. You might not be getting the latest and greatest 3D graphics, but I highly doubt you’ll find that distracting. The sound of rushing water, the hum of jungle critters, and a lively soundtrack accentuate this little slice of paradise, completing the immersive experience.

With only a handful of bizarre exceptions (and only one mini-game), the vast majority of Jane’s tasks are logical and realistic. Like some of my favorite ND games, CMB teaches you a few practical survival tips (like tying a climbing knot or deciphering Morse code), and you even have the opportunity to feed yourself the Waverly special. Little touches like that made me feel right at home in Jane Darcy’s shoes.

Hilariously Awful Dialogue & Cut Scenes

While I found the voice actress for Jane to be somewhat improved since her performance in PIP, the other characters were still...not the best. The same is true for the robotic character animations, which are reminiscent of the early ND games. These awkward bits of interaction made some serious scenes extremely comical, but I honestly found this kind of charming.

Without a doubt, your mileage is going to vary on this sort of thing. Does it break immersion to see strange animation and lackluster line delivery? Sure, but having grown up on the classic ND games, these sort of things are par for the course and can add to the wholesome charm of the experience.

At the end of the day, I never played ND games for their graphic excellence or impressive animation. I played for the unique experience that only HER was offering. In a lot ways, Miss Clue is offering something very much like it, placing you in the shoes of another fearless heroine who will stop at nothing to do what needs to be done.

No Sense of Urgency, But No Frustration Either

Jane seems about as concerned as Nancy when it comes to being stranded on a remote island, and the same goes for Jane’s missing friends. Just as Nancy sailed aimlessly and played mini-games with monkeys while Bess languished, Jane does her fair share of leisurely wandering and friendly animal hijinx despite her predicament.

Though the stakes are seemingly high, a sense of danger or urgency never really materialized until the end (and even then, it wasn’t very pronounced). Overall, I found the plot to be squarely in “Meh” territory--not bad, but not particularly memorable either. Personally, I prefer a “real” mystery like Peril in Pemberley, but Cruise Most Deadly was a *much* smoother experience.

Unlike in PIP, Jane will generally tell you what’s next on the agenda, which I deeply appreciated. There is no in-game checklist or diary, so Jane’s comments and your own observations are your only roadmap. I rarely found myself so stuck that I needed to exit the game, yet the game wasn’t childishly easy either. You might consider Jane’s directions to be hand-holding, but I never felt that it took away from the challenge or made the game boring.

Another major improvement over PIP was the speed in which you could navigate between key locations on the island. I felt like I could click around much faster (I always used “Warp mode”), and there was no tedious transportation method--like ringing for Jane’s horse 1000 times--though the game developers clearly wanted you to *thoroughly* enjoy their mine cart cut scenes.

An Adventure Game In Its Own Right

This game is definitely not the shameless ND ripoff/hybrid I thought it was going to be. Instead, Cruise Most Deadly brings to mind old adventure games like Myst or Return to Mysterious Island, though emphasis is more on exploration than puzzles. If you can dig games like that and don’t mind the caveats outlined above, CMD just might be the next game for you.

#miss clue #cruise most deadly #not quite nd #cluecrew #gamereviews #walloftext

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disappearinginq · 5 years ago

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I have started rewatching Warehouse 13 for the n'th time and can we start a petition for Lenkov to hire the writers from this? If we can get Magnum and Higgins acting like Pete and Myka I would be in heaven (Vix)

I’d be happy if he hired writers from his own damn shows - or at least had them watch their own series before writing anything for third. My consolation prize on this is that I have actually stumbled upon Higgins fans who did a double take at the ending going “Dude....the fuck did we just watch?” and fair chunk of them have the same problem I did: it was a waste of time to have the fake wedding and visa crap if they were just literally going to slap a fix on it in the last 30 seconds of the episode.

(you’re getting a mini rant, and I apologize in advance). Continuity (or lack thereof) on Magnum is going to kill it. It’s getting to the point that every time a character opens their mouths, they’re contradicting something from earlier that was a major plot point.

Ex: Magnum saying out loud that he doesn’t know if he would be trying to help Icepick, when, God love this man but he’s an idiot some times, literally almost died defending the woman who threw him and his besties to the Taliban for a year an a half. And he somehow can’t understand the loyalty that Rick would have to the guy who helped raise him?

Higgins and her honest to god warp speed fluctuation between breaking the law and then condemning anyone else who does it. Her character isn’t just hot and cold, she’s coming off as badly written borderline personality disorder. For every moment that we have of her humanity, we have three that make her into an ass. In the same episode, like, within minutes of each other - have a scene where she point blank says she doesn’t want a handout from Robin because he’s done so much to taking his fucking house and all the employees of it just so she can avoid a plane ride. I won’t even go into the legal “ha ha, nice try” that would be the fall out from that (you think INS is bad? Try the IRS. Robin and Higgins would be going to prison for tax evasion at best, or trying to bypass the legal immigration laws that Higgins has such a hard on for in earlier episodes. Or even just earlier in these episodes. None of it makes sense for her character - a character who staunchly 1) believes in no favors 2) believes in obeying the letter of the law 3) hates taking or giving charity.

Oof. But. Anyway. I have never seen Warehouse 13 - tell me more.

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hellaciousdecimation · 5 years ago

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Chapter 1 Part 4

The walk home was quiet, and for the first time in a long time Khivol blew through several cigarettes trying to calm his nerves. He didn’t even realize he was home, until the elevator dinged as it reached his floor. Dhy’Yhvn on the other hand, had let Raf know that Khivol was back, and the seadweller was leaning up on the wall, just outside of Khivol’s apartment’s door, waiting anxiously for him to approach. Once Khivol turned the corner, Raf pushed off the wall meeting him half way down the hall, only to stop when Khivol looked up from the floor at him, his heart dropping.

“ Khiv?... What happened?” Rafkyl watched Khivol walk past him, growing more concerned as his friend opened the door and entered without a word. Following quickly after him, closing and locking the door behind him, Raf entered the living room to see Khivol standing, hands placed on either side of Dhy’Yhvn’s altar, his pendant floating in front of him. “ Khivol?” Hearing Khivol’s breathing shake, Raf rushed over, placing a hand on Khivol’s back, just in time to catch Khivol as his legs gave out under him. “ woah- hey! Khivol… What happened?” Not letting him fall, Raf carefully scooped up Khivol into his arms, bringing him over and setting him down on the couch, quickly grabbing Dhy’Yhvn’s pendant before sitting with him.

Taking the pendant as raf handed it to him, Khivol stared at it in silence, attempting to find the words he wanted to say, eventually breaking down, sobbing into his hand, holding the pendant close to his chest with the other. Raf frowned, pulling Khivol up into his lap, wrapping his arms around him and rubbing his back.

“ Shhh… It’s okay…, I’m here man.., it’s okay…” Trying his best to soothe Khivol, Raf waited until his sobs started to fade, before gently prying Khivol’s hand from his face, placing a hand on his cheek, trying to get him to look at him. It was then he noticed the strange marks on Khivol’s cheeks, and the bruising forming on his neck, and for the first time in a long time, Raf felt a bubbling anger rise up in his chest. “ Khivol, What happened?” This time he asked more sternly, more worried for his friend than anything, and ready to punch whoever the fuck hurt him. Khivol sighed, his breath shaky as he managed to get some words out.

“ The.. Goddess.. I saw her..” The room went quiet, Not even the faint hum of the immortal entity could be felt. Finally, Raf found his voice once more, however it wavered as he swallowed his fear.

“ What do you mean you saw her?... you didn’t confront her…” Raf trailed off, seeing the pained look in khivol’s eyes as he glanced away. “ Oh… Khiv.. no.. I told you not to- Fuck.., she did this to you?!” Seeing Khivol nod ,Rafkyl only felt fear, anxiously looking his wounds over and noticing more bruising on his wrists as well.

“... If you didn’t text Lys her name.., I don’t know what.. Would have happened..” Khivol muttered, not fully aware that he was speaking out loud until raf gave him a confused look. “ ...What?”

“ I didn’t text her…” Raf looks at the table where he had last set his phone, not seeing it anywhere. Before Khivol or Raf could continue, the sound of the bathroom door opens, and the Mortal-imprisoned Ahw’A comes out, holding up the phone before tossing it at Raf.

“ I did..,” Khivol glanced at the stranger before looking back at Raf, raising a brow at him. Ahw’A walked over to the arm of the couch, shoving his hands into the sweater’s pockets. “ So you’re Khivol..,, Yeah.., Most mortals look as exhausted as you do when they meet her… damn, she really did a number on you, huh?”

“ Ahw’A I assume? Thanks..,” Smiling, Khivol sunk down into Raf’s lap, resting his head on his shoulder and closing his eyes.

“ Hey, I’m just glad you’re alive.., “ Ahw’A smiled, glancing at an empty space in the apartment.

“So… What happened?” Khivol’s voice was quiet, Raf and Ahw’A both startled by the declining energy in his words. Raf looked over at Ahw’A, gently running a hand through Khivol’s hair while Ahw’A caught them up to speed.

Long before the eternal ended up around Alternia, countless who had emerged from infinity for the first time had ended up on a planet where they would learn their effects on mortals. The “Goddess” had run into countless problems trying to gain the worship of mortals, until she had the idea to cannibalize eternal who had the strengths she lacked. One of the eternal she wished to consume was Dhy’Yhvn, as he was able to gain the trust of mortals like no other. However before she could, Dhy’Yhvn fled the planet, leaving no trace of where he had gone, and every time she got close, he would flee once more before she could find him. This led to the Goddess to seek help, where she approached Ahw’A who she knew wanted Dhy’Yhvn’s territory, and had a reason to be in the same place and Dhy/Yhvn.

In Ahw’A’s hunt, he crossed paths with other eternal, who had caught wind of his alliance with the Goddess, and did not support her consuming others of their species, so they had teamed up to stop Ahw’A, their battle causing a wound on a world, where Ahw’A would have ended up on to heal, this planet was Alternia. Needing to regain his strength, Ahw’A plotted to create his own people, who would worship him as he had done on past planets, where he had met the woman who would be the mother of this new subspecies, and her people who she would convince to join her. The Depth dwellers were made, and over time, Ahw’A would regain enough power for the Goddess to find him. It was during this meeting that the goddess had plotted to seal away Ahw’A in a mortal prison, and she stole the younger brother of Rafkyl, using Ahw’A’s sigil against him, sealing his avatar to the boy, and imprisoning them in one of her many temples hidden under the planet’s surface. Rafkyl tried to find his brother, when he found the ruins tucked in the corner of the depths, where Ahw’A’s sigil was hidden. Upon touching the sigil, Ahw’A corrupted part of Rafky’s body, in turn, marking him as his chosen, however little did Ahw’A know, the goddess had trapped the sigil, causing Raf to lose all memory of Ahw’A’s name, and instilled him with a fear of the corruption, which led to him leaving the Depths, not to return until 22 years later, where he would learn Ahw’A’s name from Dhy’Yhvn, and hear the eternal call for him, and tell him how to find him, with the help of Dhy’Yhvn.

After Ahw’A finished, Rafkyl furrowed his brow, “ Why go through the effort to seal you if she wanted your help?” Before Ahw’A could respond, Dhy’Yhvn’s voice rumbled through the apartment.

“ Because she found me, and I had not seen her coming.., nor did I have the power to escape her.. I had gone without making a devoted for so long.., and she has.., made it harder for me to reach those who worship me. She didn’t need your help any more, and she was keeping you as a back up, if she lost me again.. She was prepared.” Hearing Dhy’Yhvn call him the goddess’s back up plan caused Ahw’A’s face to twist in disgust, despite how much he knew it was true.

“ What about Rhiloh?” Raf asked, breaking the silence that had followed the words of the disembodied entity. Ahw’A shifted with a sigh, sitting on the couch with a frown.

“ The only one who can reverse this seal is her, and as long as she doesn’t get what she wants, or she’s still around.., I’m stuck in his body.. We need to find a way to get rid of her.., send her back to infinity or something, but…”

“ But?” Raf raised a brow at him, glancing at the altar as Dhy’Yhvn speaks the words Ahw’A is too prideful to admit.

“ She overpowers us, Ahw’A can only do what his avatar has the power to do and.., she has the power of two other eternal at her side.., we’re outnumbered.” Raf sighed at this, looking down at Khivol who had fallen asleep near the end of Ahw’A’s mini history lesson. Ahw’A looks over at Khivol, keeping his concerns burried in his mind.

“ We’ll figure things out later.., You both could do with some rest, you did get warped through space twice.., “

Before Raf could deny, a yawn catches him off guard and he smiles, getting up from the couch, keeping Khivol scooped up in his arms. He tells the two eternal goodnight in passing as he heads to Khivol’s bedroom, leaving them to share their concern in silence.

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dgcatanisiri · 6 years ago

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So... Let’s see how this works. We’ll adjust the format as needed if this doesn’t work, but hey, here we go.

Welcome to DG’s Listing of Wish These DLC Existed, where I theorize, speculate, and just kinda generally throw ideas at the wall about DLCs for games I love that never happened and never will happen, but damn, I’d like to see them anyway.

Because I have ideas, I can’t get them made as mods, I don’t have time to make them into fic, and they’re never going to happen anyway, so why not put them up in a public place? After all, they’re tie ins to games I have no control over anyway, so it’s not like I’ll ever make money off of them anyway.

Our first installment takes a look at Star Wars - Knights of the Old Republic. Obviously, as this game predates the modern DLC model (there was the Yavin market, but that was maybe a grand total of ten minutes tops of content, if we’re generous), so there are some awkwardnesses involved in making DLC for this - if nothing else, when the game ends, it ends, to keep playing, you have to start a new character. On another, there’s the level cap, stopping our leveling up after hitting Level 20. As the game presently exists, that should happen after being locked into the endgame combo of the Unknown World/Star Forge, but adding more content means that cap gets hit sooner.

So understand that we’re assuming that there is the ability to play post-game and a higher level cap, as well as other quality of life style additions (in this case, probably among them are various additions from KOTOR 2, but that’s a subject for another day). I’m also willing to assume that there is content for characters (even if the respective voice actors have passed, retired, or just wouldn’t return), in the same style as modern games. The assumption here is that these DLC ideas would have been written, produced, and published during the active production cycle of the respective games.

As this is the inaugural edition, let me explain the format. There will be a name for the DLC, a brief synopsis, a reference to when this hypothetical DLC would become available/if and when it becomes unavailable (unless it’s part of a hardwired point, like the above mentioned point of no return of travelling to the Unknown World, as an example), and then an expansion/write up of the ideas going in to them. Some ideas will have more expansion than others, because I’ve just plainly put more thought into them - in a lot of cases, I wrote them down just on the basis of ‘this idea seems pretty cool,’ and then gave them more context later on.

And a further note - I reserve the right to come up with more ideas for any given game that I have already written up, naturally. I haven’t decided how I’ll handle that yet, but it’s entirely possible there will later be more ideas.

Okay, housekeeping matters out of the way, let’s get down to business!

The Yavin Excursion

Yavin 4 was the site of Sith Lord Exar Kun’s power base. In understanding more about him and his fall, the Jedi Council believe it may be able to shed light on the fall of Revan and Malak. But the secrets of the Massassi temples hold more than just the ghosts of the past, but a threat for the present...

(Available after Dantooine)

Tack this on to the existing content of the market in orbit of Yavin, I suppose. But the connection to the Tales of the Jedi comic seems like a good starting point here – investigate one Sith Lord to examine the motivations of another, find out why the first guy fell to the dark side, which will hopefully explain why the other guys did.

I see this as both a lore exercise – to offer the players more exploration of this era, considering that the Tales of the Jedi comics have been harder to come by as time as gone on, so allowing some more in depth portrayals of the time – and a chance to kind of approach the question of what drives someone to the dark side. Exar Kun fell by an overwhelming curiosity, Ulic Qel-Droma, his apprentice, fell by a desire for revenge, and later lost his connection to the Force (put a pin in that fact – we’ll be back to that come the DLC for KOTOR 2). Millennia later, Anakin Skywalker falls because of his fear of the loss of those he loves. Two of these people were redeemed, one refused to give up his power.

If anything, this would be a good chance for some foreshadowing of Bastila’s eventual fall (so perhaps this would be locked to before the Leviathan catches the Ebon Hawk), on top of asking the question that later drives KOTOR 2 – what were Revan’s motivations in turning to the dark side? Obviously, this is up in the air from a character perspective (and, honestly, so far as I care, from the player’s too, because I despise the whole “the Sith Emperor warped their minds” BS, and I’m ready and willing to disregard it, even in acknowledging The Old Republic). The first KOTOR never really focuses on the why of Revan’s fall, since Malak is the game’s big bad, and the Revan reveal is a plot twist – since this is DLC, the player would probably be expected to know it going in, so why not explore that, right?

As for what this threat is... I’m a little shakier on this. I’m thinking a Massassi warrior/beast of some kind, the same kind of Sith alchemical abomination we see in the terantatek or hssiss, only a much more powerful end boss kind of thing, a living relic of Exar Kun’s evil (given that, canonically, Exar Kun’s spirit survived to the Jedi Academy novel trilogy, he certainly can’t be the final boss), perhaps fed and kept alive by the powers of the remaining Massassi who worshipped Exar Kun as a god – in this case, looking to take advantage of the Ebon Hawk’s arrival to spread their master’s will across the galaxy and speed his return. Sith alchemy played a part in a lot of the Sith portrayals from this timeframe, and it’s kind of disappointing that KOTOR never really utilized these mutants, just had them as mindless high level bosses.

Vector

The rakghoul plague infested the lower levels of the planet of Taris. When the planet was bombed by the Sith, it managed to escape among the many refugees as well. With their experiences on Taris, facing the rakghouls, the Jedi Council sends the crew of the Ebon Hawk to investigate its spread to the planet Ralltiir – and stop the Sith from obtaining it as a weapon!

(Available after Dantooine)

The rakghouls were just kind of dropped into KOTOR with no explanation – they were a threat as a creature and as a plague in the Undercity of Taris, but no one ever spoke about what the plague’s origins were or where the rakghouls came from. And then along came the Vector mini-series of comics (hence the name for this) that put the creation of the rakghouls down to a Sith Lord, Karness Murr. Sith alchemy, the gift that keeps on giving.

But either way, considering that the rakghoul plague is something that even the Upper City of Taris was concerned about, that clearly says that it could easily have gotten off planet, especially in the panic of the evacuation. And really, with the added knowledge that this was originally Sith alchemy, it’s almost certain that some aspiring Sith would discover this and try to twist it to their advantage.

I pretty much pulled Ralltiir’s name out of a hat, primarily because it’s a fairly common named planet, but with little actually associated with it. It also makes a great place where the Republic would demand an immediate concern, because it’s a Core World and an economic hub. It’s a great place to have a plague that Republic heads would say would draw in the Ebon Hawk, whose crew had familiarity with the rakghoul plague, despite the threat of Malak and the search for the Star Maps.

I also see this as a way to give Mission and Juhani more content – Mission is a hard character for me to really justify remaining with the crew after Taris, given that she’s a teenager, I feel VERY uncomfortable taking her around on what is effectively a commando mission, while Juhani was very nearly hacked out of the game. Both of them grew up on Taris, in the lower levels of the planetary city, where the rakghouls aren’t just a distant threat. So give them this additional portrayal and focus because they’re familiar with the plague, maybe even knew some people who were infected and transformed by it.

The villain would be a Jedi-turned-Sith, someone who had turned to the Sith at some point after being a Jedi historian. A part of me wants to draw on one of the Jedi who would later show up in the Exile’s vision on Korriban, mostly because those were the Jedi we see recruited by Malak, and so less aware of Revan’s face, though that seems a touch much. Regardless, they’d previously acted as a historian, and is driven by the potential power of the rakghoul plague – Muur’s talisman is lost by this point (again, see the comics), but the rakghouls themselves remain, and, while I’m ignoring the whole “the Sith Emperor did it” thing with Revan, I also like the concept of the rakghouls evolving into the nekghouls, gaining sentience.

This is also a way to add a little bit more of a question to the results – do these evolved rakghouls deserve the consideration of being considered more than mindless beasts? Are they at all a continuation of the person they once were? Or are they just violent creatures that need to be put down? Is the guy trying to control them being corrupted by the dark side, or was he always evil?

So the central question here would be asking “what makes a monster?” Is it the mindless savagery of beasts, or the knowing cruelty of intelligent beings, and where is that line?

Sleheyron

The volcanic world of Sleheyron holds a Star Map. The Ebon Hawk and her crew set out to discover the secrets hidden there, but must be cautious, for the planet also holds a group of Darth Malak’s most powerful apprentices, who have, in their isolation from their leader, created their own plan for the fall of the Republic...

(Available after Dantooine)

Sleheyron was planned to be part of the hunt for the Star Maps – six environments are described in the Rakatan ruin on Dantooine, the life-giving worlds (oceanic – Manaan, grassland – Dantooine, arboreal – Kashyyyk) and death-giving worlds (desert – Tatooine, volcanic, barren – Korriban). Sleheyron was the volcanic world, but got cut for time, early enough that there really wasn’t a lot of material that made it out, with the planet just becoming part of Yuthura Ban’s back story. So, hey, free reign to develop something here.

Honestly, one of my big questions is, if Malak was with Revan as they travelled the worlds to find the Star Maps, why doesn’t he do something about the fact that these locations led to the big secret weapon that gives the Sith Empire its power and forces? Wouldn’t he have thought that maybe some form of guard or another would be a good idea? Sure, the Korriban one was guarded by virtue of being in the tomb of Naga Sadow, but the others? Here, we get a chance to have a group of Sith having taken control of this planet where there is a Star Map that can add to what our heroes have assembled (but, being DLC, this isn’t required to take on). They’re specifically there to guard the Map.

This becomes a bit of a game of cat and mouse – how to act before the Sith apprentices (probably former Jedi themselves) can find them, capture or kill them, hand them off to Malak. (Probably also means that this should be a later stage planet to visit, but hey, player choice of direction, right?) How do these Jedi move around a planet while the people in charge are out to get them? Draw on the mechanic from KOTOR 2, where the people on Dantooine recognize if the Exile goes there while a lightsaber is equipped, maybe.

Actually, I’d like to see some mechanic that tracks how much the player uses the Force while wandering around – the more they use the Force, or the more powerful the Force effects they use, the more likely they are to summon Sith execution squads or something. Sort of like KOTOR 2 and Nar Shaddaa, where the Exile’s actions drew the attention of the Exchange and Visquis, only in reverse – the player and company need to avoid catching the attention of the Sith until they’ve raised a rebellion against the Sith overlords, or at least gained enough public goodwill that the Sith can’t just openly take them away and execute them, something like that.

I like this idea because it allows an opportunity to play more with non-violent approaches, alternatives that aren’t “murder everyone because combat gives more experience!” Here, the idea is that you WANT to fly under the radar, avoid combat. And, if combat happens, you also have incentive to not use the lightsaber for a stretch – gives players a reason to put points into blasters or non-lightsaber melee combat, because I don’t know about anyone else, but the second I get a lightsaber in these games, I don’t ever use a different weapon. Here, the player is in the position of HAVING to switch up their play style, or, if they don’t, have to be that much more cautious in their actions here. This is a story piece that hinges on what you do with your words.

The ultimate confrontation with the Sith and the Star Map, in my mind, takes place in a cavern of an active volcano (or maybe one that has been dormant, but, because what’s the Sith without random acts of evilly evil, they’re managing to coax back to life). Here’s where there’s a pretty big question in the construction of this DLC – are we working in the confines of the game engine of the time or with newer, more modern systems? Cuz I’d kinda like something that took place within the volcanic areas of the planet, given that’s what the planet is described as. But I don’t think that KOTOR’s original engine would really be able to explore that to its fullest, given the limitations on it. My big idea would be to have the climax of the planet’s arc have the threat of a volcanic eruption, potentially with the base of operations for these Sith being flooded by lava.

If that is an engine limit... I really have no idea what the alternative would be, but, hey, since this is pie in the sky as it is, why not call for the engine advancement that lets it be a thing, where we have to outrun a lava flow or something.

Echoes of the Past

The strike team that fought Revan is being targeted by Malak’s assassins. The crew of the Ebon Hawk take a journey to the graveyard of the attack on Revan’s ship, the battle that led to the defeat of the dark lord. But the dead don’t rest easy, especially amongst the ruins of the Sith Lord’s vessel...

(Available after the Leviathan)

The strike team that captured Revan is kinda the forgotten element of the game as is. This is a team, and yet we only hear about Bastila’s involvement. Which, sure, she is the member on our squad, she does have the Force Bond with Revan, but... Who were the others? Where have they been during the war?

And it seems like Malak would think of them as a threat period – they were the Jedi who were there to face off against Revan, the Jedi thought they’d have a chance against this great Sith Lord, the leader of the Sith forces of the time. But Bastila is the only one the game ever concerns itself with, and doesn’t even mention if the others lived, who they were, why they were chosen... None of that.

So here we get to explore them. The added bonus is that I see this as a post-Leviathan mission, one that we play with full awareness of our player character’s identity. How much of that awareness we pass on is one thing, and it really allows us to explore the idea “who was Revan before, who is Revan now?” Because that’s going to come into play when dealing with the people who were at one point sent in to kill Revan – sent to kill us, the player character.

I also like the set piece idea of a graveyard of ships, where the characters are walking through the husks of dead vessels – the Harbinger sequence in KOTOR 2 is still a favorite of mine. Granted, this would probably be a bit of a conceptual retread of that part of that game, but hey, why not get some variation of the same old gameplay, right? Plus, it’s different here for the fact that this will have some personal connection to Revan – this was their ship. Did they consider it a home? Just a place?

That leads to the bigger plot element, though. These Jedi know Revan as a threat. They’re going to be suspicious of Revan the whole way through – “are you the Jedi the Council thought you to have become, or are you the Sith we were once sent to kill?” Like I’m sorta thinking this is a case where we’d get these teammates as companions proper now that I’m considering this in detail, and this all builds to the main confrontation. Like we wouldn’t take our Ebon Hawk buddies on this one, but two of these guys.

That confrontation would involve the assassins being revealed to be loyalists to Darth Revan, with their mission having begun with attempting to avenge their fallen Lord, but now, with Revan returned to them, having tested their skill over the course of their luring Revan back to them, they are willing to take up their banner once more, leading to the choice – be Revan, the Sith Lord, or Revan, the Prodigal Knight.

And yes, I know, this is the same thing we see with Bastila later. In some ways, that’s the point. Choosing the light or the dark is not one you make once and are one that path forever. It is a constant, repeated choice, one that must be made, again and again. It’s something that has to been affirmed and reaffirmed, because it will always come up again. Here, it’s just “we offer you power and loyal servants,” while Bastila has the offer of their Force bond – hell, if this were real DLC, I’d say patch in some element to the endgame of Bastila trying to use their bond to lure Revan over to her side on top of things.

What Remains

Darth Malak’s assault on Dantooine was meant to destroy the Jedi. The Ebon Hawk is the one ship that might be able to break the Sith blockade and rescue the people trapped behind their lines, as well as recover irreplaceable Jedi artifacts hidden away at the enclave. And Revan has a need to confront the Jedi Council...

(Available after Leviathan)

This one has always been in my mind as something that, in many ways, we needed to see happen. I look at this as being the necessary confrontation with the Jedi Masters that we need, because they’re using Revan. Revan was reprogrammed to be their weapon against the Sith, and what exactly were they going to do if and when the war was over and they’d no longer had need of Revan?

A mission to Dantooine, done by the ship that could escape the blockade of Taris, to attempt to rescue and recover the Jedi, break the people there out of the iron grip of the Sith, at first does seem somewhat at odds with the portrayal of Dantooine in KOTOR 2, but it still makes sense if you think of the first priority being to evacuate the Jedi and the relics they were saving – the Jedi become the reason that any rescue comes, not the people stuck there. The Jedi and their artifacts are prioritized over the people now under the thumb of the Sith.

Especially if the only real encounter we have is with the Jedi themselves, seeing them in the midst of their exodus, dealing with the Sith occupiers and executioners, all of whom would have once had friends here – I see this also including a Republic military outpost to Dantooine prior to the attack there, because there honestly should have been one anyway (this I chalk up as much to the more limited engine of the game as anything else), and that providing some extra characters to events, which makes it all the more devastating having their former comrades in arms now there to kill them.

As much as this is about confronting the Jedi for the way that they intended to use Revan, this is also an exploration of the divide of Republic and Sith, that those now calling themselves Sith were once the best and brightest of the Republic. Yes, the Jedi failed to come to the aid of the Republic in the midst of the war, but that doesn’t explain the violence these former soldiers engage in against their own people. What made the rank and file Sith soldier agree to this?

That examination of motivation would, I feel, be a part of why the resulting confrontation with the Jedi would matter so much – what drove Revan? What drove the Sith? What drove the Jedi? Because they mindwiped Revan and implanted them with a personality to use them as a weapon. They didn’t “turn an enemy to their cause.” They violated Revan in an effort to use them. When the war was over, what did they really think would happen?

Specifically, we need to confront Zhar, who, given Kreia’s utter disdain for him in KOTOR 2, I get the impression that he was the major proponent of this idea. His actions may have been justified as “for the greater good,” but it always seems like the greatest of morally questionable actions are justified with those words. Do we confront him with rage, forgiveness, or... something else? Because this is a case where I can see both condemning him to death and condemning him to live as a punishment. I could even see this being a case of him bowing to Revan’s judgment, and no option having a light side/dark side shift, because this isn’t about the Force. This is about justice.

Whether or not the Jedi admit it, a life was taken the day they implanted a personality into Revan’s body. The Jedi need to be called out and recognize that they do not have clean hands after what they’ve done.

Revan’s Shadow

Although Revan’s legacy, the Star Forge and the Sith army, have been defeated, there are still questions of Revan’s journey. There was more to it than Star Maps. The crew of the Ebon Hawk reunite on the planet Belkadan to find out more of the Rakatan Empire, and its ties to the dark side of the Force. And along the way, Revan will find more of their lost past...

(Post-Game)

The fact is, we get very little of Revan in the game proper, little about who they were as a person before the fall. This is conceptually to hide the fact that the player IS Revan, of course, but... It creates a lot of little issues for me – I mean, like half of these prospective DLCs are about expanding something of Revan’s motives and past. Obviously, this is a blank slate for the player, because they wanted to leave this open for us to decide, but they DID make a few definitions of who Revan was with the existing content, with the case of the Star Map on Kashyyyk.

And for me, personal identity is a big lingering question for this character – again, I’m choosing to ignore the handling of Revan as a character in The Old Republic, and I’m gonna include the tie-in novel in that, so no one is allowed to say “the novel said [x]!”

This is someone whose entire concept of who they are is in question once they learn that they are a constructed self, created by the Jedi Council as a weapon. Who ARE they? Who have they chosen to be, and, if they could reclaim the parts of themselves that they lost with the Jedi’s mind wipe, would they? Obviously, there’s no time in the main plot to focus on these questions, but I feel like this would eat at them afterwards, leading them to having to find answers. And what kind of friends would the others be if they let Revan do this alone?

I picked Belkadan pretty much because it’s an out of the way planet that has been identified as part of the Rakata’s Infinite Empire, so it made as much sense as any planet to be the site of this. I mean, the involvement of the Infinite Empire is certainly a good option for a place that questions who Revan is.

This would be a place where Revan had gone, after the Mandalorian Wars, a place where they were trying to connect to the Force, to understand the questions – why did the Jedi Council believe they shouldn’t be involved in an existential threat? Why is Revan drawn to these Star Maps and the destination they point to? What awaits them if they go, and what will change about them? What answers are to be found in asking an energy field that can offer no direct response?

Obviously, I’m thinking in terms of finding recordings of Revan, so requiring a voice for Revan – Rino Romano did the little soundbites when male Revan interacts with things, while I don’t know who did the voice bites for female Revan, so they’d be options, or new VA’s altogether. While part of me does want to go forward and make Revan a fully voiced protagonist (because I’m just used to that nowadays), I could accept this as being something only for old!Revan, not present!Revan.

The idea is simply to explore the driving motivations of Revan and decide plainly who Revan wants to be now. I kinda see the ending reach a point of ‘hey, you can reclaim your old memories, you can decide what personality is dominant, what do you want?’ and Revan being able to choose who they will be from here on out.

This is also a good place to require at least Bastila and Carth. Obviously I’m kinda leaning more into the light side ending for this, but... Well, the dark side endings tend to be untenable for future content anyway – Revan as the reclaimed Sith Lord, leading the army against the Republic was never really a viable future, because the Republic had to survive. So yeah, we’re gonna take the easy route and assume light side here. So Bastila and Carth, as Revan romances, would also have a contribution to make, building on the questions of “I’m in love with the person who was Darth Revan, can I accept this?” Like I said, a lot of questions that the game sidestepped, and this one matters for the sake of the relationship being able to continue after the ending of the game.

The Rakatan Prize

The Unknown World – Rakata Prime, Lehon – has become a subject of a great many conversations. Now that the Star Forge is gone, the planet is accessible, and many are eager to investigate its mysteries and forgotten technology. Having had firsthand experience, the Republic has asked the crew of the Ebon Hawk to return...

(Post-Game)

And then, there’s the Rakata. Not that Star Wars isn’t full of ancient empires that rose and fell millennia ago, but this was KOTOR’s contribution. And really, they’re almost superfluous – hell, if the Unknown World were rewritten so that the Rakata had gone extinct, the only thing that really would be necessary would be finding a way into the temple. I kinda think that would even tighten things up a little, especially given how often I’ve hit the level cap before meeting the Council of Elders.

The Rakata are a mystery, and the idea here is to investigate that. Build up the whole element of the Rakata having lost their connection to the Force, and the fact that they’re trying to explore this (because we’re assuming light side against here and that the Elders survived, including the scientists investigating this).

Because this is one of those things that stands out in Star Wars lore, when beings are stripped of their Force connections. Ulic Qel-Droma, the Exile, this is something that is traditionally a case of an individual, not a species.

We also have the remains of a galactic empire to examine here. If a species once ruled the galaxy, it’s inevitable that there are those who would see that empire be reborn. The threat of this DLC becomes this group who aspire to reconquer the galaxy using the mind transfer technology that puts the Rakatan prisoner in that white space box that would allow them to trap the minds of Jedi and other Force users to take their bodies and use them to go forth and conquer the galaxy.

Ultimately, the question’s going to be whether or not to restore their connection to the Force – do the Rakata, a race of dominators of the galaxy, whose humbling by the forces of nature has not managed to truly change them, deserve a second chance, or should they have their attempt to restore their own connections to the Force wiped out, leaving them vulnerable to an inevitable extinction?

Because this is one of the big things with Revan, the idea of redemption, change, second chances. Does Revan extend this chance to these people, people who clearly have more than a few members who have no interest in peaceful coexistence? But if not, do they deserve to be condemned to extinction?

And, as a bonus...

Romance Content – Bisexual Carth, Bisexual Bastila, Gay Canderous, extended Juhani romance

Because Carth and Bastila should be bisexual, and Juhani’s romance deserves to be more proper. Meanwhile, Canderous should totally be an option as well, and yeah, I’m gonna be selfish here and say that he should be gay, rather than bi (because, again, I’m ignoring the novel, there is no wife). Because this means that there’s a favoring for same-sex romances, and that never happens. My list, my way. Star Wars is gay culture.

#dg rambles #dg talks video games #dg's hypothetical dlc #knights of the old republic #kotor

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animebw · 6 years ago

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Binge-Watching: Gintama, Episodes 237-240

In which I gush over how this show has mastered its own sensibilities, the Shogun is quickly rising among my favorite characters, and we get legitimately the best harem comedy I’ve ever seen.

Fucking Clockwork

It’s worth taking stock every once in a while and realizing just what a monumental achievement Gintama has become. At the 240 mark, we’re now just around 2/3 of the way through the currently released anime episodes (oh, would that it never end), which is also over twice as long as Yu Yu Hakusho, the previous longest show I watched for this blog. That’s a metric assload of show however you slice it, and it’s easy to just sink into a daze watching it, letting the seemingly endless tide of good vibes serve as a substitute for truly engaging with the material as might be easier with a shorter show, especially considering how the loose plot “progression” isn’t necessarily conducive to a more active watching experience. So it’s good to let yourself surface once in a while and truly appreciate the magnitude of what this show has been able to accomplish. 240 episodes, and we haven’t once suffered a major drop in quality or a truly failed storyline. We’re still finding new stories to tell, new ideas to explore, new paths to travel down. Even after all this time, Gintama has never once lost the excitement of those first few episodes, beckoning you down increasingly fascinating avenues and delighting in pulling you into its world. And it’s only gotten better as it goes, patching up miniscule cracks and shoring up its foundations with increasing aplomb. I’d describe it as clockwork, but that feels like a disservice: clockwork, as tightly constructed as it may be, could never be this exhilarating to watch unfold.

I bring this all up to say that among the many (many, many) joys to be gleaned from this pair of two-episode mini arcs, it really is apparent just how flawlessly Gintama’s entire damn mechanism is running at this point. I can’t think of a single moment where something of interest wasn’t happening, no moment that wasn’t either setting up or paying off a series of incredible jokes that twisted and warped back on each other in a web almost too complex to untangle. This show pretty much has an entire encyclopedia of established running gags at this point, which gives it a shorthand language all its own, able to rapid-fire jokes at the speed of light with an efficiency of time that, honestly, kind of leaves me in awe. Kagura and Okita just have to show up on the same screen as a Neo Armstrong Cycle Jet Armstrong Cannon for their endlessly giddy animosity to explode into the sickest snowball fight ever, which then escalates into them barreling down the mountainside trapped in the same massive snowball (which Katsura was hiding underneath all along in preparation for his next grand entrance, natch) before casually transitioning into literal backstabbing and climaxing when their mutual tendency towards cruelty leads them in an alliance against the Shogon’s smelly briefs, because as has been well established, they are remarkably on the same page for a couple of people who spend most of their time together trading verbal and literal blows. And this can all happen as an incidental, maybe third-funniest plotline running in the background of the Shogun’s glorious fourth appearance. That’s how fucking perfect Gintama has nailed its storytelling by this point; not a single moment is wasted, and as a result, every moment soars. That’s the majesty of Gintama.

The Hero We Deserve

And speaking of the Shogun, sweet merciful Bhudda is he becoming one of my favorite side characters. In a lot of ways, he’s the epitome of why this show’s comedy works so well: it’s often mean and often mean-spirited, but it’s never cruel. The Shogun is a one-man walking Murphy’s law: everything that could go wrong for him, from being used as a snowboard steered by the crack of his underwear to getting his dick snapped in half from the pressure to becoming the subject of ridicule of the entire extended Odd Jobs crew, always goes wrong for him, despite Hijikata’s best futile efforts to save him. But the comedy is never at his expense; no matter what degradation he’s subjected to, he never truly suffers, aside from perhaps some slight humiliation. Why? Because he’s a genuinely sincere person who just wants to have fun and can take pretty much anything in stride. He gets lost in a mountain snowstorm with a cavalcade of urban myths hiding behind every corner? He manages himself just fine, to the point where he has to save his so-called rescuers from their own stupidity. Being subjected to undue scrutiny thanks to his BO? He’ll shrug the jibes off and casually sniff his armpits while stretching to identify the source of the problem so as to not alienate his friends. And should things get completely out of hand, he’ll just nope out by spinning away like a goddamn top, casually face-plant into the snow, and continue his hot streak as the human snowboard down the mountain. I mean, he even monograms his goddamn board. That’s how eager to just be “one of the cool kids” he is. And as long as he keeps getting the last laugh, I will have no trouble enjoying all the misfortune yet to be inflicted upon him.

The Only Acceptable Harem

I am not the biggest fan of harem comedies. Having recently finished slogging through a binge-watch of Zero no Tsukaima, most of you are probably aware of the issues I have with the genre. The framework of a gaggle of girls fighting over the same guy just lends itself far too easily to cheap indulgence and insulting levels of pandering, and watching it play out is the quickest way to drive me either to exasperated boredom or impassioned rage. So it should tell you all you need to know about Gintama that when a New Years binge-drinking session ends with Gintoki naked in Otose’s bed, and it slowly becomes apparent that he has apparently “passed the critical point of a JUMP show” with a grand total of five of the show’s kickass female characters (and Hasegawa), my reaction was one of stunned, almost bewildered excitement. Gintama doing a harem arc? This I had to see.

There’s an innate strength to a show like Gintama going in this direction after so many episodes of expectation-setting: even as wild as it’s gotten at points, we know this is a show that isn’t going to take the easy way out. Otae, Otose, Kyubei, Tsukuyo, and Sachan are all too well-rounded and unconventional of characters at this point to fit into the mold of harem bait. These are people we know, who we’ve spent countless episodes getting to know, and there’s once certainty that can be gleamed from that familiarity: there’s no way the show would treat them like cheap fetish fuel after so much time building them up, often in explicit terms, as exactly the opposite. So even if you don’t guess the killer sucker punch that it’s all a collective long con that all the girls are in on, there’s a freedom of expectations that doesn’t usually come with the harem genre. We know the show isn’t going to insult us or take any cheap shots, so we’re tacitly given permission to just sit back and watch the whole thing unfold without sweating over the details. We know it’s gonna turn out alright, so there’s no danger in enjoying the ride while it lasts.

And what a goddamn ride it is. One Gintama heroine is a powerhouse typhoon by herself, but five of them shacked up in the same immediate vicinity, Gintoki caught between all of their equally strong personalities? It’s a recipe for some of the most deliciously painful shenanigans this show’s ever pulled. Our protagonist gets put through the wringer, beaten and bruised and kicked through too many walls to count (”Um, the door’s over there.” “Oops, I screwed up.”), and by the time we’ve reached the horse-faced blow up dolls that accidentally end up voring Otae I was completely down for the count. How do I even deal with this poor fuck getting steaming hot curry shoved up his ass by an eager Kyubei (”Look, he’s dancing with joy!”)? Heck, there’s even a kind of cathartic glee in watching Gintoki get the living snot knocked out of him after his supposed crime: our silver-haired samurai has always been a bit of a bastard, and in the inverse of the Shogun situation, watching his actually suffer all the indignities the universe can heap upon him carries a deliciously karmic sting with it. But what really brings it all together is Gintoki’s acceptance of his punishment at the end; if he really did this awful thing to all these women he truly cares about, he owes it to them to be a better person. That’s the mark of a true gentleman, and we know Gintoki well enough at this point to know that he would absolutely follow through on that promise. How often does that happen with harem shows? That the feelings of the girls are taken into account over the boners of the male audience members? Once again, Gintama is able to curb-stomp these tired tropes with such voracity it’s almost kind of terrifying. Why can’t more actual harem shows have this level of respect and tact? This show proves that it’s entirely possible, so you guys are officially out of excuses.

Of course, it’s then that the final stinger kicks in with the reveal of what was really going on, and any possible lingering bad taste is washed away by the triumphant cackles of the ladies of Edo returned to their former glory, basking in the majesty of Gintoki’s face as he realizes just how completely he was duped. These are the characters we’ve come to love so completely, in all their crude, unapologetic, stereotype-defying, and utterly transcendent glory. There was no way that Gintama was ever not going to do right by them.

Odds and Ends

-OH SURE JUST SET THE ODD JOBS HOUSE ON FIRE WHY DON’T YOU

-”What happened to two and three?” “Never heard of them.” ffs Matsuraida

-Snowman Katsura. That is all.

-”Oh, Kondo. You’re so forgetful.” Beneath that smile lies the face of a killer.

-Okay, but Hijikata just fell off a goddamn cliff and everybody immediately forgets about him. Jesus, that’s cold.

-”You hear that, Kagura? He’s using snow to take shelter from the snow.” their fucking faces oh my GOD they’re such little shits

-”Like I’m back in my mother’s womb!” skjdhaskdjhas sure

-HOW IS EVERYBODY JUST FINE AFTER FALLING OFF CLIFFS I SWEAR TO GOD

-”Who put a thumbtack here?!” Congratulations, you played yourself.

-Okay, using the cartoon Shogun face to censor his little Shogun has me cackling like nobody’s business.

-See, now I’m getting nostalgic flashbacks to that time Gintoki comforted a puking Tama after she mixed diesel and regular. This show has the weirdest history.

-”I wouldn’t mind falling to the bottom of society with you.” Hasegawa best girl

-Did Gintoki seriously just make the “ora ora” noise while patching the wall up Jesus wept

-”Have fun with Pixelmon.” “Stop lowering the quality!” askldjasldkja

-”She’s more Unit 01 than my unit 01!” Oh hey, did you hear Netflix got the Evangelion streaming rights for 2019? Cause they did. Finally, everyone can stream it legally! HUZZAH!

-”You’re the one... who bent me over.” This is the best possible ending holy fucking Christ

Two more cours to go this season. Can’t wait to see what they have in store!

#gintama #sakata gintoki #gintoki sakata #shimura shinpachi #shinpachi shimura #kagura #anime #the anime binge-watcher #tabw

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weekendshowcase · 7 years ago

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Third Game’s the Charm

by Antonio Garland

Like before, this game was nonexistent to me until I was in my teens and played it at a friend’s house. This, too, was played on Super Mario All-Stars on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. I found it similar to the original game, though with a few additions. At the time, I also found it extremely difficult. However, I did have fun with it. I have bought and beaten it several times since, though this is still one of the more difficult games in the series. It’s Super Mario Bros. 3, originally released on the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1988 in Japan and 1990 in America.

(image source: Moby Games) The plot is one that should be familiar. Bowser kidnaps Peach again and it’s Mario’s job to rescue her. This time, however, Bowser brought backup in the form of his seven children, the Koopalings. Bowser has also taken over the seven sections of the Mushroom Kingdom, stealing magic wands from the seven Kings and turning them into animals. In addition to rescuing Peach, Mario must also get back the wands and turn the Kings back to normal. The gameplay should be recognizable by now. Hold right until you reach the end of the level, while jumping over obstacles and defeating enemies. Koopas and Goombas are back as the default enemies. Certain variations of Goombas now have wings and drop smaller Goombas on the player for an additional hazard. Buzzy Beetles also return, though they can now climb walls and ceilings. They drop on top of Mario and attempt to spin into him when he’s near. This game also introduces the Boos, ghost-like enemies in castle levels who are still when Mario is facing them but come for him when his back is turned. Another new enemy is the Thwomp, sentient stone spike-covered blocks with faces that attempt to drop on top of Mario when he’s underneath them.

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Returning from the American Super Mario Bros. 2 is the ability to pick up and throw enemies and items. Certain blocks can be picked up and tossed as projectiles. Koopa shells can now be picked up; however, if the shell is held for too long the Koopa will reemerge and harm the player. A new move Mario can perform is the slide maneuver. While going down a slope, pressing down on the control pad will allow Mario to slide down for both faster travel and to attack enemies along the way. He can also swim and climb vines. There’s also now a speed bar. The longer Mario runs, the faster the bar will fill until it reaches the P at the end indicating Mario’s max speed.

Speaking of new moves, Mario gains quite a variety of power-ups. The mushroom, fire flower, and starman return with the same mechanics. Some new power-ups include the frog suit, which allows better control in the water and a higher jump. The leaf which gives Mario raccoon ears and a tail. It allows him to spin when pressing B. When the speed bar is full, the leaf allows Mario to fly for a few seconds by rapidly pressing A. The Tanooki suit is the same as the leaf, though pressing down and B turns Mario into an invulnerable statue that can harm spiked enemies and fire.

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A special item only available in one level is the Goomba Shoe (a.k.a. “Kuribo’s Shoe”), a green boot-like item that Mario rides inside of, and allows for attacking spiked enemies. Another usable but rare item is the hammer suit. This item dresses Mario like a Hammer bro. and its function is like the fire flower, only it can defeat normally invincible enemies such as Boos. It also protects Mario against fire attacks when crouched. There’s also a P leaf, which allows Mario to fly infinitely during a single level, afterwards functioning like a normal leaf suit. Extra items can be stored in the inventory on the world map screen. They can be selected before the next level for use.

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This is the first Mario game to feature the world map system. Instead of automatically being taken from one level to the next, the player has the option of going to various levels from an overworld map. Outside of levels are a variety of other places to visit on the world map. There are toad houses which allow for playing matching minigames for bonus items and extra lives. Sometimes Toad will give Mario a choice to choose an item from three different chests. Castle stages are done at the halfway point on a world map. At the end is a mini-boss called Boom Boom, a rather large Koopa who races back and forth attempting to hit Mario. He sometimes jumps and grows spikes on his back when attacked.

The world map also features enemies, specifically the Hammer Bros. They are fought the same way as before, only they come in pairs. After beating a level, they move around randomly on the world map until they encounter Mario. There’s an item called the music box which puts them to sleep to make bypassing them easier. Defeating a Hammer Bros. duo will yield an item, including the rare hammer which breaks blocks on the world map for alternate routes. Returning from Super Mario Bros. 2 is the world variation. There’s a desert world, an ice world and a pipe world, among others. There’s actually a world that changes in size depending on which pipe you go down. Just as before, there are eight worlds in increasing difficulty. At the end of each world is a castle where Mario meets the resident Toad and transformed King. He then boards an airship which is home to the game’s boss, one of the Koopalings. The airship levels are done similarly as the castle levels of earlier games. The airships move automatically and sway up and down for difficulty variation. At the end are pipes where Mario goes down to fight the boss. Each Koopaling is different visually and in how they attack. They can shoot projectiles at Mario and attempt to hop on top of him. If Mario looses on an airship, he’ll be kicked off the ship, which will go to a different location on the overworld map. After defeating the Koopalings, they each drop a wand and Mario returns it to the world’s King, causing him to change back to normal.

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Just as before, there are warps that can instantly take the player to later parts of the game. They come in the form of Whistles, a rare item hidden in some of the earlier levels. When used, a tornado appears that scoops up Mario and takes him to a world select screen similar to the overworld screen. The Whistles only take Mario a few worlds ahead, so another whistle is needed to reach the final world. Also, they only allow transport to the beginning of a world and can’t skip levels.

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The final world is the Dark World, where Bowser resides. There are a lot of airship-like levels with tanks and water ships, along with occasional mini-boss battles. This world also doubles as the fire world as it does have an underworld feeling. Once Bowser has been dealt with and the Princess is saved, the player is treated to a new game where all their inventory slots are stocked with P leaves. Other than that, there isn’t a variation with the enemies or other bonus features.

Upon its release, Super Mario Bros. 3 received widespread universal acclaim and is hailed as one of the best Mario games to date. It featured innovative new features that new Mario games today use, such as the world map and varied power-ups. The Koopalings would also go on to become reoccurring enemies. On your first playthrough, there will be so many things to experience as you never know just what will appear. Lots of levels feature secret areas and bonuses that reward you for thinking outside of the box. If there was one Mario game to play, this would definitely be it. The game was so popular that it spawned a cartoon series, The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3. The game has been re-released several times. It’s been featured in Super Mario All-Stars for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and for various systems that support Virtual Console.

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ruffsficstuffplace · 7 years ago

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And The AWRD Goes To... (Part 33)

Note: Ooops. I just learned that Kuchinashi is actually SOUTH of Mistral, not North, where Hoshiko is meant to be. I already corrected it to Wind Path, sorry for any sort of geographic confusion. The irony is that they’re actually learning geography for this chapter.

Oh well.

I also apologize for the excess of exposition that apparently wasn’t delivered very elegantly. I have plans for action and the return of the plot, and the villain next chapter. You’ll also finally get to see Snowie, Nick, and Freya in action.

With Akko’s guidance, Ruby’s super-speed, and the many, many, many mechanisms Nick had installed in the obstacle course to move materials and people around easily, they were done in little less than fifteen minutes. Granted, it was a very simple, small topic—a very general overview of the geography of Mistral, fit for a student just entering grade school—but it boded well for their future experimenting if the preparations were this simple and speedy.

All they really needed to do now was see how it actually worked.

The three of them stood at the top of a tower just a little higher up and to the right of the center of the obstacle course, a printed tarpaulin of the city of Mistral behind them, with a painted sign of a compass nearby.

Akko looked at Ruby and Diana in turn, smiling. “You guys ready to take a trip all throughout Mini-Mistral…?” she asked.

“Yes,” Diana replied. “Where to first?”

“Where else?” Akko said. “To Hoshiko!” she cried, doing the familiar pose, before she ran up a bridge nearby. “Thanks to the fact that we pass through a lot of mountain ridges and vallyes, what do we have to use to get there…?”

“An airship,” Diana replied as she and Ruby followed, looking at the models of Mistralian airships set up on the railings, their rotors and wings gently flapping with the breeze.

“And to where, exactly…?” Akko said, smiling as she walked backwards to the next tarpaulin.

“Wind Path!” Ruby cried cheerfully.

“And what three things is Wind Path famously known for...?” Akko said as she picked up a box, flipped open the lid and pulled items out.

“Being the biggest shipping and trading center here in Mistral!” Akko said as she pulled out a PLUCKO block in the shape of a cargo container.

“The biggest and best equipped shipyards in all of the kingdom, beating even the capital city!” she continued with a fully-constructed PLUCKO block set depicting just that.

“And of course: airship tourism!” she finished with a fully-constructed PLUCKO block of a cruise airship, complete with little PLUCKO People riding at the top, raising their arms up as if cheering, smiles on their panted plastic faces.

Akko tossed them all back into the box, you could hear the little PLUCKO people on tour meeting their tragic end at a disastrous crash involving an airship yard, and a wayward shipping container. She put the box back down, and went up a climbing net. “Now, what do you have to cross on your way to Northern Anima?” she called out as she started turning a crank at the top, powering the fans sitting on the sides.

“Vast mountain ranges, difficult to settle for the constant, powerful, and chilling snowstorms!” Diana cried out as she and Ruby climbed after her, shivering for the cold air blowing.

“Also the Yuki-Onna hiding in those storms!” Ruby added.

“And what mountain town managed to do just that, even if it’s tiny?” Akko asked as she stopped cranking, scrambled up after them.

“Hoshiko!” Ruby cheered as they made it to the top, pointing at the little tiny wooden model of a village on the edge of the platform.

“Yes!” Akko said. “Now, we’ve hit the snowy, cold north of Anima!” she said, pointing at the patches of cotton “snow” and cardboard “mountains” they’d hung from or nailed on the trees, the branches, and the platforms. “Now, what’s the one major settlement that’s survived all these decades?

“Hestia.” Diana replied.

“Which is built…?” Akko asked, waggling her eyebrows as she crawled into a cardboard box “tunnel.”

“Underground and into the mountain range it’s in, just like the Bunker!” Ruby said as she cheerfully followed after her.

Diana hesitated for a moment, before she sighed, and crawled in after them.

“And what is Hestia also called, unofficially…?” Akko said as she held up a lapel pin of Atlas’ insignia.

“Little Mantle, because of its large immigrant population from Solitas, and also because it was the forefront of the Anima-Solitas trade route,” Diana replied. “The first step for imports into this continent, and the last step for exports out of it, also.”

“And what three things is the city best known for…?” Akko said as she picked up a new box.

“Technology!” Ruby cried as she pulled out a little model of a Hestian drilling machine. “Oh, man, I know the very best comes from Atlas, but Hestia just can’t be beat for creativity!”

“Traditional metalworking, also,” Diana said as she picked up a tiny, tin pot with a lid. “Weapons and tools, mostly, but their cooking tools are prized today still.”

“Which is all powered by…?” Akko held out the box to them, let them see what was taped to the inside of it.

“Hot springs and geothermal plants, alongside their ample dust deposits,” Diana said as she looked at the laminated poster of one of Hestia’s largest and most popular spas.

They put the items back in the box, Akko set it down, and started walking around the platform. “Now, name three things the settlements outside of Hestia are known for!” she said, gesturing around them and at the laminated pictures hanging off the trees, or props resting by their feet.

“Temples and religious sites, some of which are still worshiping and practicing today...” Diana said as she looked up at a branch, found a wooden model of one such location nestled in it.

“Yaks, sheep, and goats!” Ruby cried, picking up and hugging plushies of them. “Oh my gosh, all their milk is so good, and their cheeses are so different and delicious from regular cow’s, too!”

“Some of the finest textile work and clothes to have ever come out of Mistral, too,” Diana said, rubbing a cut-out square of a rug between her fingers. Her eyes widened. “Oh… damn, is this 100% authentic wool…?”

“These are so soft, oh my gosh!” Ruby cried as she nuzzled the plushies.

“All of Winter’s plushies and the rug, yeah!” Akko said. “But anyway, we need to go down to North-West Anima from the snowy mountain peaks! And how do we do that…?” she asked, slapping a laminated picture at the top of tube slide.

“Sleds.” Diana replied.

“Bingo!” Akko said, shooting her finger guns, before she entered the slide and held onto the sides. “All aboard, everyone!”

Ruby eagerly got behind her, Diana shook her head before she brought up the rear. Down they went, making a few turns before they hit a cushion at the bottom. Diana winced at the squishy, wet, disgusting sound it made as they stepped on it.

“Welcome to North-West Anima, everyone!” Akko said as they trudged through the simulated sludge, squishy bags of goop inside tires laid on their sides. “Now, what the hell are we stepping on right now?”

“Ugh, I’m guessing the uninhabitable bogs full of industrial run-off, just at the foot of the mountains...” Diana groaned. “Goodness, did you REALLY have to make the sound this awful?”

“The worse it is, the better I remembered it, sorry!” Akko said as they finally climbed off, found themselves in a “mangrove swamp” mostly made out of cardboard, rope “vines” and plastic “insects” dangling from the branches above them. “So, quick question: are there any major cities here? yes or no.” she asked as she came to a wooden sign that had the question printed on it.

“No.” Diana replied.

Akko whipped out the bar that had been hiding the answer: “No.” She read out the question just underneath it: “What are the three major reasons why?”

“High humidity,” Ruby replied as looked around and found a picture of a breeze full of water droplets. “Wood, leather, machines especially—they’d all warp or rust super fast because of all the moisture in the air. Not to mention you’d feel all gross and sticky on really hot days.”

“The very geography of the location, too,” Diana said as she weaved her way around the treacherous ground, avoiding stepping on more of the simulated-bog. “It was hard to get anywhere by vehicle, necessitating long, dangerous treks on foot...”

She looked up, yelped as she saw the gaping maws of an alligator.

“The animals, too!” Ruby said, giggling as she worked the hinge of the wooden alligator head, making its jaws snap noisily a few times. “Just as, if not more dangerous than the Grimm there!”

Diana glared at her, Akko hopped and skipped her way across the swamp with the calm, practiced motions of someone who’d done it hundreds of times before. She picked up another box of goodies, and opened it up. “Why do people keep living here still, though?” she asked. “You know, aside from getting away from the major cities?”

“Botany,” Diana said, picking up a dried sample of a swamp flower in a case. “So many exotic, and valuable herbs you really won’t find anywhere else...” she said with a wistful look.

“Animals again!” Ruby said as she picked up a bone knife wrapped in an alligator skin sheath. “Dead and skinned for armour, weapons, accessories, though.”

“And finally, alchemy,” Diana said as she picked up a doll with a lab coat and wild, gray hair. “No better place for such a laboratory, especially with experiments you’d rather the Council doesn’t know.”

“Great! Now, let’s go, WAY further down, to South-West Anima!” Akko said, fighting her way through a curtain of “vines” and more of those simulated bogs, to a platform with sandbags, cardboard “tropical trees,” with three tarpaulins smaller scattered about than the one large one.

“Where are we now…?” Akko asked excitedly.

“The South-West Isles!” Ruby cheered.

“And what are the three most important settlements here…?” Akko said, pointing in three different directions.

“Mayari, Varuna, and Amil,” Diana replied.

“And what do all three of them export to the rest of Mistral…?” Akko said, holding up another box.

“Fruits and fish!” Ruby said, picking some strawberries up. “Aww, plastic…”

“Yeah, we used to put real ones in, but then it got too expensive and sometimes I’d forget about them and they’d go bad,” Akko said. “Anyway…?” more shaking the box.

“Spices,” Diana said, picking up an empty box of curry powder.

“And finally…?”

“Medicine,” Diana replied, picking up one of their famous pouches for herbs and cures. “My family had great use of them, for research and daily work both.”

“And Remnant’s all the better because of them,” Akko said as she climbed onto a boat hanging in the air. “Now let’s set sail, sail across the sea to South Anima!”

Ruby and Diana climbed aboard, Akko cranked the wheel, powering a fan that blew their sail, and more importantly, the gears that’d send the boat to the platform on the other side. “Whoo!” Akko gasped as they hit “land” again. “Now where are we…?”

“Elysium, where else?” Diana said as they began to step out, she looked at the mountain ranges, vast seas and harbours, even a Hoplite’s helmet hanging off one of the branches.

“Exactly!” Akko said, taking in a few breaths before she continued. “And what is Elysium famous for…?” she said, pulling up another box and opening it.

“I got this: weapons, warfare, and martial prowess!” Ruby cried. “They were the most militaristic and the most advanced in the kingdom, with some of the best, most famous, and intricate designs for traditional methods, even today!” she squealed as she pulled out a toy replica of an Elysian spear. “Sorry, I just REALLY love Elysium weapon designs!”

As Ruby fawned over that, Diana picked up a plastic cornucopia. “Agriculture also—they couldn’t have fielded their massive armies and their constant campaigns if they couldn’t feed them.”

“And finally…?”

“Architecture, like the original campus of Sanctum, before they moved it closer to Mistral, the city!” Ruby said as she put the spear down, picked up a wooden model of one of Elysium’s famous fighting pits.

“Bonus round!” Akko said as she came up to a shrouded picture on a tree. “Who’s the four-time champion of Mistral’s annual regional tournaments, also known as the girl on the cover of Pumpkin Pete’s...?”

“Pyrrha Nikos!” Ruby cheered.

“Correct!” Akko said, pulling the cloth away to reveal a framed and signed picture of Pyrrha, one of the mass-produced copies. “Now, let’s move!” she cried as she went up a rope. “Up the mountain ranges, down them again, through the inhospitable deserts of South-East Mistral until finally we’re at...”

“Caldera,” Diana said, squinting as the canopy above them broke, the bright mid-morning sun shining down gleefully on them.

Akko handed her and Ruby sunglasses, she made do with putting her hand over her eyes. “And what do you find that’s worth trekking into this land of constant volcanic activity, earthquakes, and scorching heat by day, freezing cold by night…?” she said as she picked up that section’s box.

“Gemstones and minerals!” Ruby said, picking up a handful of plastic gems. “Great for focuses for industrial cutting lasers, lenses for scopes, and really durable metals for armour and weapons.”

“Exotic delicacies,” Diana said, smiling as she picked up an empty, partially rusting tin for sugar skulls. “The ‘scorched earth’ is surprisingly friendly to plants and native animals.”

“Oh, hey, Tezca!” Ruby said, pulling up a long-empty bottle of Tezcatzontecati. “Uncle Qrow loves this stuff! Well, he loves all alcohol in general, but this is one of his favourite brands.”

Akko took the items back, before she wiped the sweat off her brow. “Let’s get out of here, it’s getting really hot out here!”

They headed back to the shade, and into a hollow carved out of a tree, a storage area that had one of the large tarpaulins hung on its wall.

“Kuchinashi, of course,” Diana said as they started looking around. “I suppose it’s not all conveniently inside a box this time, to keep in line with the city’s reputation for secrecy…?”

“Mhmm!” Akko said. “So, what is it known for…?”

“Kage!” Ruby cried as she pulled out a cloth roll of fake weapons. “Graceful. Discreet. Deadly. Lethal poisons; designs made for precise, killing blows delivered onto unsuspecting targets; trickery and deceit, all the essential tools for any super-secret, super-awesome SHADOW-ASSASSIN!” she made a sound that Diana supposed was her imitating the noises the supposedly silent warriors made in action movies.

“The birthplace of the Shadow Council, the secret cabal of criminals, smugglers, and slaves that sought to undermine the Emperor during the Great War...” Diana said as she pulled out an imitation of one of their infamous “Seikyo” scrolls, a courtesy they extended to those they assassinated or overthrew shortly after. “Currently running Mistral’s criminal underworld, if the rumours are to be believed.”

She noticed another scroll nearby. “And finally… the lyrics to Senbonzakura?” she asked as she rolled it out.

“To represent the songs they used for secret messages, signals, and getting people angry at Mantle, yeah,” Akko said.

“I got that, but why this, and not one of the more popular songs?”

“Weiss sang it her first time entering the Tsukimi Festival, I helped her write out the lyrics in Tenjin, help her pronounce it,” Akko replied.

“Well...” Diana muttered. “That certainly explains the quality of the calligraphy...” she said as she carefully rolled it up, and returned it where she found it.

“Try not to mention that song, or ask if she’s joining this year, by the way,” Akko said. “The Tsukimi Festival is where Aqua and her met, and, well, you already know what happened...”

“Noted,” Diana said.

“Any other topics we should avoid?” Ruby asked.

“Nothing that I haven’t already taught you,” Akko replied. “Now come on, let’s head back to Mistral!”

They came back to the platform they started in, sweating and a little winded. “And that concludes our tour of Mini-Mistral!” Akko said, before she sat down, reached for the box of snacks and water they had left there earlier. “So, how do you guys like my study method?”

“Well...” Diana said as she cracked open a bottle of water. “I can certainly see why it was effective for someone as active and energetic, and ah, constantly craving for variety as you, though I’m afraid we might need to find a different method—this is just too much work, space, and materials...” she muttered before she drank some water.

“Not exactly!” Ruby said as she pulled out her scroll, wrote down some new notes. “This is basically just the Mind Palace, except you construct it in real life, right?”

Diana’s eyebrows rose, she put her bottle down and looked around them. “… Huh. Now that you mention it, it is that.” She frowned. “How did I miss that…?”

“We’ll think about it later!” Ruby said, still scribbling. “What’s important is that I know how we’re probably going to miniaturize, and reduce the costs of this!”

“I’m all ears!” Akko said.

“Akko: you memorize all these facts and names by remembering the order you came across them, right?” Ruby asked. “You know that Hestia is up north because it’s after Wind Path and Hoshiko, and where all the other places are depending on what passed by first?”

“Mhmm!” Akko said. “It’s like how you know you’re close or far from home or a store—you haven’t or have crossed a street, or see one of the landmarks.”

“You know, usually, most people just construct mind palaces with their imaginations, not a simulation of it in real life...” Diana muttered.

“Ah, sorry, I was just always more the hands-on kind of learner…” Akko replied. “It’s why I really don’t like lectures and reading assignments: there’s not much for me to do!”

They spent the next few minutes in silence, either resting and catching their breaths from all the running and activity earlier, or helping Ruby brainstorm and refine her ideas.

“… And, done!” Ruby said as she slipped her quill back into her scroll. “Good news, everyone: I know how we can start experimenting with smaller versions of this now!”

“That quickly?” Diana asked. “I’m impressed.”

“Eh, mind palaces are kind of similar to the internal systems of a weapon,” Ruby said as she got up. “Just gotta figure out in which order things should happen, what goes where, and when the parts should be doing their respective jobs.

“Anyway, it’s best if we start doing our homework, so we can experiment with the material Akko will actually need to study, so team AWRD to the books...?” Ruby asked.

“To the books!” Diana and Akko said, the latter with much less enthusiasm.

Note: Do you guys think my expanding the number of settlements, cultures, and details in Mistral was too egregious? Was this too much of an info dump, and I used too little of the “advance the plot and/or show character” of the Two Main Rules of Writing?

#little witch academia #rwby #white rose #dianakko #au #and the awrd goes to

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seenashwrite · 8 years ago

Text

SNIPED (Part One)

Status: Complete (Part 1 of 5) Word Count: 8.4K Rating: 18+/Mature/Explicit for Adult Themes including - Graphic sexual situations; Mild-to-moderate violence; Coarse language Categories: Drama; Action; Romance; Porn-with-Plot; Smut; On-the-hunt Character(s): Dean; Sam; Reader/O.C. Female; Jody; Crowley [briefly]; Alex & Claire [mentioned]; Castiel [mentioned] Pairings: Dean x Reader/OC Female [Pts. 2 & 5]; Sam x Reader/OC Female [Pt. 3] Warning(s): See “Rating” section above Author’s Note(s): Post-story Overall Summary: The Winchesters receive assistance on their case from a sniper.

|| SNIPED Master Post ||

Dean's face warped through a variety of expressions, then ended on a frown.

"WHAT?!" he mouthed at me.

I felt my eyes narrow into a glare as I mouthed the first string of curses that came to my mind in reply, then turned back to getting lined up, prepping for the target, not bothering to gauge his reaction.

I needed to focus.

He'd bumped me, again. Which had made me jostle the rifle. Again.

Focus.

Shutting one eye, I peered through the scope, stiffening up a bit as I locked into the mindset that made me so damn good. The wind had picked up a little more, so I mentally adjusted my earlier calculations. The target had already passed nearby once, but I didn't fire; it had been too agitated, too twitchy. I needed it casual. Perhaps even distracted. So I didn't begrudge the wind - it was probably stirring up the smell of the bait that had been tossed out after its earlier pass. Which is exactly what happened. I spotted movement just barely off to the right of what I could fully visualize through the scope.

Nice little beastie. Come on over. Get lazy and complacent.

Dean was close enough for me to hear when his stomach rumbled. I didn't move a muscle. I'd had more than that distracting me in the past, god knows.

It was beginning to pass through the crosshairs. The target may have changed, but the routine remained old hat. Just another notch on the proverbial belt. And I still repeated my first instructor's mantra in my mind every time.

At the ready.

Finger on trigger.

Breathe in.

Let out.

Now squeeze.

ZIP

Right through the cricoid. It stumbled backwards, hands reaching up to grab its throat. It didn't fall, stopped only by a thick bur oak. I'd loaned Sam my other earpiece. He was on the ground, amongst the trees. His voice came through to me sharply, just a single word:

"Wait."

I held up my hand to Dean, who was poised to run from our cover to meet up with him. I met his eye and subtly shook my head. Then I chambered another round, got back on the scope.

It had steadied itself, still gripping the wound with one hand, pushing away from the tree trunk with the other, but then it fell in a heap. Dean and Sam rushed it, arriving at almost the same time. I'd kept aim while they were en route, just in case. Soon I could hear in my ear that Sam was chanting something. Then Dean was impaling it with something.

And I was pulling my earpiece out. I let it hang on my shoulder as I slid my case closer. Sooner I broke the rifle down, sooner they could take me home. When they got back over to me, they were clearly filled with relief and pride.

"Man, I thought we'd never nail it!" Dean said.

I paused, looked up and over at him slowly, raising an eyebrow.

He bothered to look a touch chagrined. "Well, I mean, you, you technically--"

"Gotcha," I replied, popping the unused round and catching it, then tossing it to Sam. There was no risk of a detonation. They weren't my normal ammo.

"Thanks," he said, sticking it in his pocket. Then he said - "I mean, for all of it. Really. We couldn't have done this without you."

"You're welcome," I told him, now rushing through the breakdown, putting the parts back in my case carefully, but at lightning speed. "Not that tough of a shot."

"Uh, well, and I'm, um," Dean was trying to get out.

I kept packing.

"You know, earlier, I'm sorry about when I--"

I looked up again. "When you winged it after I specifically asked you not to bring your gun, and then we had to track it for five miles and I had to find a different little hidey-hole, even though that other one was damn near perfect, causing me to have to use a suppressor because we were so friggin' close?" I gave him a bright smile and batted my eyelashes, then let the smile - and the attention I was giving him - pointedly melt away before I looked back down, resuming my task.

"I'm gonna go pull the car closer," Dean muttered to Sam.

I knew how hateful I'd sounded, and I didn't care. He'd pissed me off. Jody had hooked us up for a reason: they needed a sniper. And Dean's attitude had not been subtle. It was clear how he felt about needing help from an outsider, especially from one who gave them direction on the best strategy to take out something that had stumped them for months. And maybe it was also because I didn't have a dick. Wouldn't be the first time, wouldn't be the last.

"No joke, I'm seriously sorry about all that," Sam said after Dean walked away.

I was seriously sorry I'd agreed to do it on the house, as a favor for Jody. I was also seriously sorry I hadn't brought my own car. Nice as Sam was, Dean was a real pill.

Sam handed me the earpiece he'd used and I stuck it in one of the zippered pockets on the side of my pants. I followed suit, removing mine the rest of the way and stowing it as well.

"Eh, don't sweat it," I told him. "Good job going ahead and making the subsonic versions of... whatever the hell was in those."

Sam nodded, and he seemed to appreciate my praise; at least one of them was capable of accepting my expertise and following instructions. I fastened the case closed, grabbed the handle and stood, bringing it up with me.

"Mmmm," I involuntarily muttered, raising my free hand to rub the back of my neck, frowning. I hated being reminded of how old I was getting.

Sam raised his eyebrows at me in a questioning manner and reached out. I nodded and let him take the case from me. We began to walk out of the woods. One pro that came out of the new vantage point - it was a shorter hike back to the main road.

"Not used to staying in the same position like that anymore," I volunteered after we'd gone a little ways in silence. I'd gotten so bad at making conversation. Jody kept encouraging me to practice. Just like I kept my skills sharp at the range, I had to keep the people skills sharp, too, she'd told me.

I hated her sometimes, with her absolutely accurate advice.

"I can imagine," Sam replied with a little chuckle. "I know it's not the same, but these legs don't exactly fold up in tight spaces."

I nodded. I was on the tall side for a woman, but goddamn. He was a mountain. A lifetime ago, I'd have daydreamed about scaling it.

I was still doing mini-stretches, rolling my shoulders backwards and forwards, when we arrived at the Impala. Dean, to his credit, had the trunk open and ready to stow the rifle case. And he'd gotten out bottles of water, set them on the hood. Sam was putting the case away and Dean was sipping his own bottle of water when I reached up, pulled out the two ponytail holders it had taken to wind all my hair up into a tight bun, helping it loosen and separate with my other hand as it fell.

"Ppppfffft!"

Sam looked around the trunk lid and I jerked my head, both in the direction of the front of the car.

Dean had executed a movie-quality spit-take, now wiping residual moisture from his chin. He looked to me sheepishly. I felt myself just staring.

Yeah, the old shirt with patched elbows and holes at virtually all the seams, and the bulky cargo pants worn thin at the knees, all in camo, and the bonus of scuffed black combat boots to top it all off was suuuuper hot, I thought. I turned my head away, shaking it a little in annoyance, putting the ponytail holders on my wrist. Then I looked to my other wrist, flipped it, and saw the time. I cursed under my breath for what had to have been the eight-hundredth time since this never-ending godforsaken road trip had started.

By the time they got me back to Jody's to get my car, there was no way I'd be getting home anywhere near when I'd planned to. The mission was supposed to take us about a third of the way between Jody's place and theirs. Then we'd apparently missed that... thing... somewhere outside of Omaha, and now we'd ended up closer to Kansas than South Dakota. I had been with them going on two full days, tried to sleep as we drove through the night, listened to every syllable of every classic rock song that had ever been recorded, and I was done. Done. DONE. When I looked back up, Sam had clearly read me like a book, and he extended the only olive branch he had to offer.

"I'm getting in back this time," he told me, and since I could tell he really meant it, I nodded. He then moved to open the passenger side door for me, in the same attentive manner he'd had when taking the rifle. I have no idea what look crossed my face but he apparently read it accurately as well, because he slowly backed off, instead opening his own door and climbing in.

I went closer to the car, glancing quickly to the woods around us, up and down the road, checking our perimeter.

"Go ahead, hop in," Dean said, and I blinked a few times, coming out of my daze.

I looked across the roof at him and his faintly puzzled expression. "Habit," I said, then pulled on the handle and got into the car.

When we'd reached civilization, they stopped for food. In the drive-thru, Dean asked what I wanted.

"I'm good," I said.

"I mean it. Our treat."

"No thanks." I had been staring out the window and kept on doing so, opting to ignore Jody's advice. I wasn't in the mood to try and be charming and practice being a people person. Teamwork could suck it.

Dean kept quiet til reaching the speaker. Sam said his order, then Dean said his, and then the cashier said, "Will there be anything else?"

Dean reached over, gave the side of my thigh a tap with the back of his hand, and I looked over with an involuntary crease of my forehead at the touch.

"You're sure you don't--"

Before he'd even gotten the question out, I'd unsnapped one of my pants' bigger pockets, pulling out one of those chalky, disgusting, protein-and-carbo-packed bars coated in fake chocolate. Then I reached down and picked up my nearly empty water bottle. I shook both gently with raised eyebrows and a fake, closed-lip smile on my face.

Dean Winchester had a listening problem.

Now he was almost glaring when he informed me, "That's the last of the water."

We stared at each other.

"Large of whatever's first on the list," I told him, then tossed the bar onto the dash and returned the water bottle to where it had been on the floorboard, clamped between my boots. And as I was leaning back up, I heard him say:

"Please."

I sat up poker straight and turned my head to face Dean. We stared at each other again. If he thought I'd blink first, he was sorely mistaken.

The scratchy speaker came alive. "I'm sorry sir, I didn't catch that?"

Another moment passed. Sam leaned up and craned his head out the window again, telling them what I wanted. The total was given, followed by the standard request to pull around.

We were statue-still.

"Um, Dean," Sam began.

Dean kept locked onto my eyes, steady as a rock. He was good at this. Not 1200 meter kill shot good, but good.

"We can pull up now," Sam tried again.

Take your little victory, I thought, breaking the stare, sitting back and gazing out the window once more. "Please."

Only then did Dean pull around to the window.

They were munching as we drove down the road. I hated the smell of the onions. I loved the smell of the french fries. I hated being such a stubborn mule.

"So, we have a decision to make," Dean said through a partially chewed bite of his burger.

Was he actively trying to be gross?

He thankfully swallowed before continuing. "I'm not in the mood to drive all the way back to Jody's, then have to share a bed with Sam in her guest room," Dean began.

Okay. He was talking to me.

"I think the best thing to do is head to the bunker--"

I looked to him, aghast.

"--and we've got plenty of room, we can pick up a toothbrush for you when we stop to fill up--"

Did he not notice the big black bulky thing I'd thrown in the back floorboard when they picked me up? I was never not prepared. There was already a toothbrush in my backpack. And a change of clothes.

And a Glock.

"--then we'll all be fresh daisies, get you home tomorrow. Whaddya say, Snipes?"

Oh god. He'd nicknamed me. Had my letting him win a staring contest actually infused him with enough bravado to try and make friends? Convince me to stay in what Jody had described as essentially a really large basement? I felt my lower back start to lock up from the internalized stress.

"I need to get out," I abruptly announced, trying to lean at different angles to adjust my position.

"Do you need to pee?" Dean asked.

"Do I wha... what?!" I was practically crawling up the side of the door now, planting a hand on the back of the seat, trying to lift myself, get rid of the pressure.

"I mean, you drank all that water, and I haven't seen you pee all day, and--"

My eyebrows shot up. "You're tracking my bladder?" He looked at me like I was crazy.

"Are you crazy?" Dean asked in a gruff voice, confirming my thought. But he did seem to be obeying my request - well, my edict - as he was slowing, getting into the other lane. There were several gas stations up ahead.

The Impala had barely made it into the parking space when I threw open the door and started making my way down the side of the gas station. I wanted to get close to the wall so I could brace against it. Just in case.

But damn it to hell. Ten steps in, and I knew I'd screwed myself. I'd let the stress of the trip get to me, and it had balled up right in my weak spot. Prodded to life by what was totally my fault, and now the nerve pain had already started shooting down one of my legs.

"Walk it off, walk it off," I starting chanting to myself, before I started grinding my teeth; a particularly sharp stab and boom - my left knee wobbled, and I was still nowhere near the wall. My left forearm was suddenly gripped firmly, a similar grip now snaking around my waist, keeping me upright. "Shit," I breathed out, the pain distracting me out of pushing whoever it was away.

"What is it?"

Dean.

"Pinched nerve," I answered tersely. "Old injury." I leaned forward a little, trying to encourage him to move with me. He did.

"Does this not make it--"

"No," I cut him off. "Staying in one position too long does it. I need to move."

Dean let go of my forearm, only to grab my hand and pull it up and over his head, across his shoulders. He kept a tight hold on my waist, kept moving, even hoisting me a bit so I straightened up. He was just enough taller than me that it was uncomfortable; I moved my hand to the shoulder next to me, clenching onto it like it was salvation. I was fighting hard not to yelp, but little sounds were coming from my tightly pursed lips anyway.

"If I hadn't botched things up..." Dean said, then sighed.

I was concentrating too hard to ask if he wanted me to make him feel better about my feeling awful. For fuck's sake. I tilted my head away briefly as I rolled my eyes.

Sam came up beside us at a little jog, then slowed, matching our turtle pace. "Do I need to run in and get you aspirin or something?"

"Yes," Dean said, at the same time I said, "No."

"O... okay," Sam replied in an unsure tone.

"I have something in my backpack," I managed to say to him. Then, to Dean: "Pick up the pace a little?"

Dean nodded, and did so.

"I'll go ahead and get gas," Sam said after trailing us for a minute or so. Dean handed him the keys and Sam left us to our slow journey around the building.

I could not stop wincing, but the pain was - thankfully - scaling back from a 12 on a scale of 1-to-10, to somewhere around a really angry 9.5; Dean must've noticed.

"It letting up a little?"

I nodded. We were around the back now, passing a dumpster when I spotted a door that caught my interest. I sighed. Then I slowed, and Dean did as well, til we came to a stop. I cut my eyes over to the door.

Dean followed my look, then a slow sort-of victorious grin came over his face as he read the lettering.

BATHROOM

"Congratulations," I said flatly.

He turned that grin on me, shrugged a little, saying, "It's not that I like being right, it's that I love being right."

"I know it's a pain in the ass, but if you could lean me somewhere and go grab the key--" I began, but he cut me off as he ushered me closer to the door.

"Not a problem," Dean said, propping me against the wall, then crouching, pulling something from his inside jacket pocket. Selecting two tiny tools, maybe forty-five seconds later and he was twisting the knob, opening the door. Dean looked up at me, now practically glowing with victory.

I felt the corners of my mouth twitch upwards before I could stop them. "Well damn, MacGyver," I said.

"You should see what I can do with chewed gum, an empty toilet paper roll, a coathanger and some kerosene," he replied as he straightened up.

I allowed myself a close-lipped chuckle, which was stupid, because it rattled my body and made me grimace. Dean's face went back to concern and he reached out for me, but I waved him off, forcing myself to get off the wall, grabbing onto the doorframe to keep steady.

Turned away from him now, I heard him say - "Will you be all right... I mean, do you not need help in there?"

"Why, you looking for an excuse to get my pants off?" I shot back without thinking, and immediately squeezed my eyes closed and cringed.

"No!" Dean answered, almost at a shout.

And for whatever reason, it offended me.

I grabbed onto the sink and turned as quickly as I could, causing a minor shock of pain, but it was worth it to let a scathing glare land on his pretty, arrogant face. "Shut the fucking door."

Dean looked a little annoyed now, but he complied; I saw his shadow.

"And go AWAY," I told him, lurching forward, planting a hand on the door for balance, clicking the lock as an added punctuation.

For the guy with the lockpicks.

"FINE!" he hollered through the door, and I listened to his boots clomp as he walked away.

I managed to get my pants and underwear down without too much trouble, and sat, still sore but more than that, relieved to be alone. Leaning forward, I let my elbows rest on my knees. The stretch felt heavenly. But I just didn't know how much longer I could tolerate being around Dean.

Looking at the crinkles at the edges of his eyes.

Hearing his voice.

The haircut. The mannerisms. The sound of his laugh.

It wasn't exactly the same, not at all really, but something about the overall effect... it was throwing me for a loop. Lots of loops. Consecutive lines of loops. I pulled my phone from my pocket, turned it on. A text was waiting from Jody: Let me know when it's done, I don't care what time, I want to hear you're safe. It only rang twice before I heard her voice.

Which is what made my eyes fill.

"Hey girlie, what's shaking?"

"Hey."

"Oh god, what did they do?"

One word. She knew me well, and she clearly knew them well. I snickered at Jody's dry tone. But the tears began to spill over on their own.

I wasn't crying really, they were just... an automatic bodily response, part of the package that came with the memories. Which is why I made it a point not to remember. Unless it was shoved in my face for days on end in a cramped car, then for hours in a makeshift sniper perch. I was tough, sure. But the universe was boning me. Hard. When I didn't reply right away, the silence followed by a sniffle, Jody spoke again.

"I wondered if I had imagined it, but I didn't, did I?" she asked me gently.

"Ah, no," I said with a little laugh, ripping off some toilet paper and blotting my wet cheeks. "No ma'am, you most certainly did not."

Jody sighed. "Oh, crap. What I'd give to be able to zap down there and zap you back home with me. Bundle you up with me and the girls, have a good old fashioned slumber party."

I smiled. That sounded like a real special level of hell. But I loved her for the sentiment. Then I looked down at my left hand. "It's still so weird. That groove being gone," I told her.

And of course, being Jody, she knew exactly what I was talking about. Just like she'd known, unlike my former co-workers or friends of my mother's, that trying to set me up on blind dates was the wrong move. Just like she'd known stupid platitudes like Time heals all wounds and It is better to have loved and lost, blah-blah-bullshit were lost on me. How she'd rescued me from countless, pointless interviews where I'd just be asked about my previous employment - she'd just hired me, plain and simple. Which allowed me to get the next job, which allowed me to have my current job, freelancing, mostly as an instructor for baby-faced private security recruits. Mostly.

I kept staring down at where the missing line would've been. It had started a retreat within a few weeks of taking off the ring. I'd thought that divot would be there til the grave. It only took four months for me to kill the sentimentality. That's what I did, killing efficiently. I had to get busy. Everything else went quicker - all his possessions, save the guns and associated tactical sundry, which were for need, not want. But seeing my wedding band constantly would stop me. Stop my progress. Removing it had still been the last step.

I tuned back in.

"Five years'll do that," Jody was saying to me softly. "Time just makes things fade. They don't really ever go away."

I knew. And I knew she knew, too. We'd been in the trench together, miles and years apart, but we were with each other on those days, hers and mine.

I sighed, shook myself out of it, brushed the last of the tears from under my eyes. Grabbing a wad of toilet paper, I wiped myself quickly, then leaned over, clutching my underwear with my free hand and ever-so-slowly eased up from the toilet, bringing them with me. No way was I going to stand up before I did it. I'd be damned if I let any part of my bare ass hit a roadside gas station's bathroom wall.

"Next time I see you, I want a little cheese to go with my whine," I told her, hoping she'd take the hint and let the mood change.

Of course she did. "So where are you now, Annie Oakley? What's the plan?"

I glanced down my body. "Currently my pants are around my ankles in a random bathroom just south of East Bumfuck, Nebraska."

A pause. "Copy that."

"And I'm formulating what maneuvers to employ to get them on before I get stuck in that loud-ass car again, heading in the direction of not you."

I could practically hear Jody roll her eyes. "They want you to just stay the night, don't they? Get back on the road tomorrow?"

"Yup."

Another pause. "What are you going to do?"

I thought this over, but only for a moment. I set my jaw. I squatted through another jolt of pain, then shot back up, yanking my pants all the way back to my waist. "Well, I figure since I just got my big girl panties back on, I'm headed to a Kansas bunker."

"Call me first thing tomorrow," Jody ordered, no room for discussion.

"Ten-four." Then, in a very un-me moment: "I love you, Jo."

"Love you back."

We hung up, and after I took a moment to button and zip, wash my hands and wipe my face with a damp paper towel, I was ready. The paper towel ball sailed over, going cleanly into the trash can. Nothing but net. If I believed in signs, then weak as that would've been, I'd have taken it. Most of the major kinks in my back seemed to be out, thanks in large part to Jody taking some of the weight off of it, but I still wanted to be sure, so I was moving very carefully and deliberately.

Dean was outside waiting, far down the wall, standing almost at the next corner of the building. He was leaning with his shoulder against the bricks, hands in pockets, toeing at gravel with the tip of a boot.

Stop it, I told myself. Lots of guys lean like that. It's not the same. It's not like him. Dean is not like him. He looked up when he heard the door, and I made myself stay neutral. No looking away, no friendly looks, no bitchy looks. Just keep it simple. Keep it simple. Keep it----

At my side now, Dean reached over, taking my hand and repeating the earlier routine, putting my arm back and up to grab his shoulder, wrapping his around my waist. We'd been in the woods for how long? And he still smelled good. The bastard.

Dean didn't speak, and neither did I, but I noticed him noticing my necklace; it had apparently slipped out from the collar of my shirt when I had leaned over as I talked to Jody. I knew I shouldn't have worn it into the woods, I knew it, I knew it.

I reached up and quickly stuffed the chain - and what hung from it - back into my shirt.

Dean looked straight ahead again, walking beside me without a word. It was... nice. The quiet. That he didn't feel the need to fill the space with stupid conversation, in spite of what I'd assessed to be a loud-mouthed nature. Maybe I'd figured him all wrong.

The car seemed miles away, now pulled up to the farthest pump from us, Sam standing beside it, filling it with gas.

"I, uh... I talked to Jody," I offered.

Dean didn't respond.

"I'm cool with staying at... coming back to..."

I saw him look over at me out of the corner of my eye.

"I just... probably a good idea for me to stretch out in the back seat," I finished. I glanced over at him briefly. "You know, for the rest of the drive."

Dean stayed silent; so I finally looked over at him, and found he was still looking at me.

"You're really hurting, aren't you?"

It took me aback. Something about the way he said it... I couldn't put my finger on it. But something was behind the question. I wasn't imagining it. I looked back at him for a moment, holding the gaze. "Yeah," I answered quietly.

A curt nod, then he returned to looking straight ahead, and I did the same. Neither of us spoke til we got to the car, where Sam was just finishing up.

"Feel better?" he asked me.

I shot him a little smile. "Nope." His hopeful face fell. I smiled a little wider at that reaction. Bless his long-legged heart. "I'm kidding. Yes, much. And, bonus - you get the front seat again."

Sam smiled back.

"Hang on," Dean told me as he released my waist, guiding me to a lean against the side of the back end of the car. He dropped into a squat, reaching out, moving the cuff of one of my pant legs up, tucking a little in the boot below it. Then he started untying the laces, loosening them all the way down before moving on to the other one. "Okay," he said when he finished, standing and opening the back door. He extended his arms in my direction, made a Come on motion with his hands.

I took them. They were so strong. Rough, calloused palms with soft, thick fingers.

I planned to drug myself to sleep. I wasn't going to make it. But no, uuuuggghh, I couldn't - the good stuff was at home. I'd only packed anti-inflammatories. That wouldn't do jack.

It's not Dean's fault, I kept telling myself. I was trying to be logical - he knew nothing about my life, I'd been such a bitch he had no reason to give a shit about my life... I needed to get hold of myself. I was a grown woman acting like a child. He was looking out for me despite how I'd behaved, and he didn't deserve to be treated poorly.

Period.

After easing into a lying position, I let out a moan of relief. Dean had taken a knee beside the open door while he'd removed my boots and helped me lift my legs up, so I could have my knees bent, socked feet planted by my ass, flattening my back into what I had to admit to myself was a seat padded to just the exact firmness I'd needed. Dean chuckled when he heard me. He placed my boots side-by-side in the floorboard. I watched as one after the other, he brought the long laces together, tied them in a quick slipknot so they wouldn't tangle, then dropped them behind the tongues, letting them dangle inside.

Fuck him for being thoughtful.

"Nice," he commented when he was done, grinning a bit, still on his knee and leaning in, now pointing to my socks.

I couldn't remember which I'd chosen. I had amassed a pretty decent collection in a short amount of time. Chalk it up to years of standard issue thick wickable boring ones. "Ah... let's see... I remember the colors were bright... neon stripes? Or polka dots?" I asked him, tilting my head a bit to see around my knees so I could look at him.

"Cookie Monster," he replied, glancing from them to me.

"Darn it," I said with a quick snap of my fingers and a bit of a grin of my own. "Not even close."

I was trying, dammit. And I wish I hadn't, as his grin faded, keeping his eyes locked on mine for just a beat too long. I felt my curved lips fall back to normal, too. I was telling myself to turn my head away, look down, something, but my body wasn't listening. Could be I wasn't telling it loudly enough anymore. But I didn't have time to decide, because just then Sam had returned from paying and Dean stood, closing the door near my feet.

"Here," I heard Sam say, then saw through the window that he was holding out the keys to Dean.

"Nah, I'm sick of driving for now, you take over." And with that, Dean opened the passenger door on the same side, climbing in.

I turned my head to face the back of the seat. He had a clear line of sight to me, now that he wasn't at the wheel and my head was behind the driver's side. I heard crunching and crinkling and shuffling. Sam opened the door.

"Throw this crap out," Dean told him, and I heard the front seat squeak as he leaned across to the driver's side door, apparently handing him the bunched-up food bag based on Sam's response.

"You don't want the rest of the fries?" Sam asked from outside.

Dean didn't respond right away. He was looking at me. I knew he was looking at me. I'd have bet my life... okay, not my life, maybe Jody's kids' lives. But I was very, very sure. I closed my eyes.

"Dean?" Sam prompted.

Another squeak of the seat.

"No," Dean said in a low, almost pouty, tone.

It could've been my imagination, but Sam's driving seemed less... well, less everything. Less bumps, less screeching up to stops, and his music choices weren't my taste - really weren't my taste - yet he seemed so considerate of my presence in the back seat, not blasting it through the speakers or cranking the bass.

Dean hadn't looked at me or spoken to me in hours. The two of them had hardly spoken in at least one. I had been absently fingering my necklace and looking out the back window at the smattering of stars flying by when I got that feeling again. That I was being watched.

I turned my head.

Dean was facing backwards, one arm slung across the back of the front seat. He caught my eye, then stared at my fingers, at the gold bands I kept running them around, then through, then out, then starting over. It was a habit I'd developed, triggered by late nights. When I'd startle myself awake.

Upshot of sleep deprivation: apathy. And so I let my eyes bore holes through him til he looked up from studying the necklace. Dean tilted his chin towards it, giving it another glance before meeting my eyes again. I raised an eyebrow, because tough shit. Grow up. Verbalize.

He blinked, but after a brief glance downwards, looked back to me and spoke softly. "You were married."

I kept staring, kept my thumb inside the largest band, kept running my index finger over it, pressing it into my skin. "Indeed," I replied. Dean didn't say anything to that; so I did. "Why?"

"Why?" he repeated, then shrugged. "I just saw the rings and--"

"Could've been my parents' rings. Maybe they're dead and I'm super sentimental."

Now a series of blinks, a couple of facial expressions, opening and closing his mouth a few times, debating how to respond. I sighed. Then I sat myself up. And then I let him off the hook.

"Jody told me you asked her for a background check," I informed him. "I told her she could go ahead, I didn't mind. So... I ask again: Why?"

"What do you mean?" Dean asked, and it was genuine; he didn't know what I was driving at.

"I assume her word was good enough as far as my skills went. And she told you I was aware of the bumps in the night. That's the why - why a formal background check?"

Dean and Sam glanced at each other, the brothers sharing a look that, even though I couldn't see it clearly, just made me more determined to press.

"We, um... I mean, we did a basic one on your name, um... there were these sealed records," Sam began, not seeming to know how to construct an actual sentence.

Dean fessed up. "We thought maybe Jody would be able to tell us more."

"Uh-huh," I replied in a slightly sing-song voice. Please. They were not the first near-strangers to bring this up to me. They could get in line. Several moments of silence. I had glanced in the rear view mirror to look at Sam when he'd spoken, and he'd immediately looked away after catching my eye. "Okay, I'll go now," I announced, and felt that snot-faced brat inside me push the grown woman out of the way and step up to the plate. "Astute as you are, I bet you noticed that around the dates on those sealed records, I got to bury my husband."

Pin-drop silence in the car.

"Those records are the investigation into his death - see, it happened on the job. And FBI-SWAT doesn't like word getting around of head cases within their ranks."

Dean's brow creased ever-so-slightly as he processed.

"Me," I clarified, pointing to myself. "I'm talking about me."

"I didn't mean to--" Dean began quietly, but I cut him off in my self-protective, snarky, overly chipper tone.

"No, no! This is good practice. I've only told this story to two people: the investigatory psychiatrist and Jody. The former labelled me with lots of multi-syllable words which ended up getting me off the hook for homicide."

Dean's sharp intake of air was audible.

There ya go Sherlock, I thought. Make them connections.

"And Jody, well, Jody and I have known each other since the academy. She knew something crazy happened - not, you know, crazy-crazy," I specified, spinning a finger near my head. "She knew this was way outside my norm. So one night after drinking roughly her entire liquor cabinet, I told her what I'm about to tell you!"

Dean was rapidly growing more tense by the second, so many lines in his creased forehead, jaw clamped, posture stiff. But I've never met a tense situation I didn't like meeting head-on.

"It was one of our last missions together, me and hubby. Not cool to have married people on the same unit, so he was transferring to a nice, safe desk job the next week.

"We - that is, my team and I, which included my partner on the op, who had recently become my husband - breached into what we understood to be a hostile situation. He and I went to our pre-planned area to sweep and clear.

"I got to go first into this big, wide-open, warehouse-type area, because I was the one with the shield. Lots of boxes and crates for scary people to hide behind. Not. Terribly. Ideal."

I had leaned up a bit, tapped a finger against Dean's forearm to emphasize those last three words.

Tap.

I flopped back against my seat again. "Then I saw smoke - I thought maybe a hidden creeper had tossed out a smoke grenade to blind us. But it was this thin, snake-like thing that wove its way through the air, shot right over my head, and what do you think happened next, Dean?"

A nervous half-smile washed over his face. "Hey, uh, look, Snipes, we really don't have to--"

I plowed on. "Well! I got kicked in the back so hard, it crushed bone - coulda severed my spinal cord, they said. The hospital chaplain called me blessed."

"Just--"

"And I flipped end over end, which, I tell ya, never did gymnastics as a kid, and it did not inspire me to take it up."

"Why don't you--"

"But I was a finely tuned machine back then, Dean, I mean, that shit today? Whatever. You could've handicapped me by a rainstorm, a hundred more yards and two of that thing's buddies."

Dean swallowed, and points for effort, kept opening his mouth to try to interrupt me.

"It was just second nature for me to get the shield back up. It didn't register for me that it was him - the love of my life - who'd kicked me so hard I was starting to lose feeling in the lower half of my body. It didn't register til he was coming towards me with this sick smile on his face - cause he'd thrown off his tactical helmet by that point, you know, so he could see me suffer up close."

I was sitting up as I spoke, slowly edging forward with each word. Now Dean shut his mouth completely, almost looking like he was going to reach for me - what, to comfort me? Because this could be comforted? Fuck that.

"And he proceeded to unload every round he had into that shield, and the closer he got, well, let's just say those shields don't hold up like you want 'em to when it gets personal," I continued, and though I kept my tone as facetious as possible, those goddamn tears started welling up again. "I heard boots pounding above us, knew at least part of our team was headed towards the gunfire. He heard it, too; I know, because he stopped before he put the next mag into his gun to get out an actual smoke grenade - you know, what that other thing wasn't, but I bet you've guessed by now where this is going."

Dean kept his eyes locked on mine.

"He started chucking smokes and flash-bangs one after the other, back at the door, into the hallway, and I thought that was so weird - til it occurred to me it wasn't to buy him time, to keep them from saving me, I was going to be dead in a second; it was so he could get the drop on them."

I leaned in close to Dean, and when he started to back away slightly, I shot my arm forward, grasped him with my left hand by the nape of his neck, came in real, real close.

"And when he turned back, I'd already tossed the shield away, raised my gun, saw him looking right through me with those fucked up shark eyes--" I raised my right hand, just my index and middle finger extended "--and didn't flinch when I put a bullet right between 'em." I pressed the fingers firmly above Dean's nose, directly onto the exact point where I'd fired five years ago, into the man he reminded me of every second of every minute of every hour I'd been in his presence. "Found out later that was pretty goddamn smart: hard for a demon to use a host, alive or dead, that's had chunks of brain matter blown out. Body just won't do right, you know?" I let go of his neck and pulled my fingers away, but he didn't move.

I heard Sam gulp audibly.

Then I heard my voice go all soft, though I didn't mean for it to. "It was in slow-motion. Watching him die. I thought I could actually see the bullet spinning forward. I know I saw, right as it pierced his skin, I know I saw that snake of smoke start coming out of his mouth, pretty easily seeing as how his jaw had gone slack by the time the smoke left completely. And I know when his eyes went back to puppy-dog brown because it was right as the bullet came out the back of his skull."

Two lone tears, one from each eye, rolled out and down my cheeks.

"You would find in that report that the evidence showed he apparently snapped and came after me. It would also show that my hallucinations and possible break from reality caused by the aforementioned husband snap was likely all due to a faulty smoke bomb canister that had some chemical mix-up. The report ends with them jerking each other off, congratulating themselves for bringing it to the attention of the manufacturer, so they could do a mass recall. But I'm still that once-promising elite who shot a fellow officer at point-blank range in the line of duty. And after I used up all my bereavement leave and vacation time and sick time, and just somehow couldn't manage to suck it up and go back to being a robot, they fired me."

Dean moved a hand, beginning to reach up like he was going to wipe my tears away.

No.

I made my voice cold again. Jody was drunk that night, too. She'd explained to me I wasn't crazy. Explained the world within our world. Told me enough about these hunter friends of hers, a pair of brothers, for me to put two-and-two together as I heard more stories over time. I knew just how much my husband and Dean really had in common.

"You ever looked into the eyes of evil, Dean? Knew it was gonna eat you alive? Coming from someone you thought you knew inside and out?"

Dean froze, and as I watched his face morph into something hard, I felt my eyes narrow in viciousness, the corners of my mouth tweak up in wickedness.

"Yeah you do," I whispered, answering for him.

I stayed frozen, too. We were playing emotional chicken. He broke first, turning completely away, staring out the front window into the night. Sam was gripping the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles had gone white.

I sat back. "We getting close?" I asked him, my voice back to normal.

"About ten more minutes," Sam answered quietly.

"Good. I need a shower," I commented, back to absently fiddling with the rings.

And I did. I felt disgusting.

Those next ten minutes passed quickly, and Sam helped me out of the car, as Dean had practically bolted as soon as the keys were out of the ignition. Sam reached back in, slung my backpack over one of his shoulders, then picked up my boots.

"I can--" I started, but he looked at me with such kindness and sympathy, it broke my heart a little.

"It's okay," he said softly, and I knew he didn't just mean playing bellhop for me. And I believed him. For tonight, it was going to be okay.

"Sweet lord," I muttered when we entered the bunker proper.

Sam chuckled. "I'll give you the nickel tour in the morning." He chose a room from what seemed like a hundred options along a rounded hallway, turning on the light, dropping my bag onto the bed and setting my boots by the door.

"Sink," I noted. "That's... convenient."

"You're close to the bathroom and the showers," Sam said, and I followed him a little ways down the hall. And shit, I was getting stiff again. My word vomit in the car had only relieved it for a little while. A hot shower was now a definite, not a maybe.

I stopped cold at the threshold. Sam had walked in, telling me I could help myself to any of the soap and shampoo I saw, when he noticed I hadn't followed. It was like a locker room - no door at the entry, no curtains or individual stalls.

"Uh..." I began, trailing off with a little grin as I gestured around to all the open space.

Sam actually blushed a bit, reached up, ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah. I didn't think of that. We don't exactly have guests. I mean, not-"

"Of the boob variety, yeah, I figured that," I finished for him. But I wasn't annoyed or irritated. Sam was a good guy. Probably why I looked on him like a kid brother. He treated me nice, and it made me edgy. "Well," I said with a sigh, "I suppose I'll just have to be quick."

"I could hang a sheet over the doorway," he offered.

I shrugged. I knew Sam wouldn't dare disturb me, and it seemed Dean was hell and gone from anywhere near me, so it was really irrelevant.

"Okay, well, let me at least let you borrow one of my shirts. I'll grab a pair of pajama pants, too."

"That'd be great, an old t-shirt is my usual lingerie anyway," I told him honestly.

Sam nodded. "I'll rustle up some towels."

I went back into the bedroom while he went on his mission. It was retro from top to bottom. I kind've loved it. Standing at the mirror above the tiny sink, I gathered my long hair up again, but this time into a messy top knot. It had been cropped short for so long, out of necessity, so I'd let it grow over the past several years, and I didn't really know why. Some kind of spite? Flipping a bird at the past? Wanting to look like a completely different person? Because that's how I felt inside, anytime I'd look in the mirror?

I unzipped the backpack, tossing items to the side as I rooted through everything. It was my go-bag, so all the contents were needs only, a low-caliber version of my typical fare from home. When missions were spur of the moment, it was handy to have - our gear and outerwear was already at our home base, so all we needed to have was a spare set of the basics.

Toothbrush and toothpaste: check. Through the plastic of a ziplock - lipbalm, tiny bottle of lotion, tiny deodorant, disposable razor, small bar of soap: check. Two plain white v-neck t-shirts: check. Two pair white tube socks: check. Two pair plain white cotton briefs: check. Plain white cotton bra... plain white cotton bra... plain white- aaarrrgh.

I was muttering a few of my favorite blasphemous vocabulary words, continuing to dig, then re-checking what I'd already pulled out, like it would materialize. I knew exactly what had happened. I'd tossed out the bra that had traditionally lived in the go-bag, as well as all the others I'd owned at the time. 'The time' being when I had to stop working out and lifting weights like a maniac - thank you, broken back - and the cups on all my bras rapidly became too small. I'd put on about fifteen more pounds overnight, and it felt like they'd split the difference between my chest and my hips and my ass. The only reason the cargo pants I was wearing fit at all was because they used to belong to... they used to be...

I shook it off. If I had to go braless, I didn't want my skin to be directly against one of their shirts. Even that felt too close right then.

A soft rap against the open door behind me.

"Hey I don't need that t-shirt after all, just the pants," I was saying as I turned around.

There stood Dean.

Feedback makes my ❤️ go boom

See Nash Write : Master | See Nash Write : Mobile

🏷️🏷️Wanna be tagged? Hit me up! 🏷️🏷️

Author’s Note: This was written due to a loss of a bet, the terms of which involved “serious Dean smuttage” but evolved [read: devolved]. I can’t write anything (a) short or (b) without plot. Do with that info what you will.

Anyway, so I lost the bet and wrote the thing and published it, and The Commissioner’s feedback was that it had too much plot and no boning and was too canon-y and WTF.

And I said - Well who raised me?

I was met with silence [and I cannot EMPHASIZE the clear-and-present-danger this represents when it comes to the Commish] but was ultimately told I could keep my plot as long as I (a) smutted it up more [hence your verbiage no one actually uses to describe anything in reality] and (b) understand that if I got >20 compliments on this installment I’d owe a second installment with (a) Sam and (b) absolute filth.

I, very stupidly, then took that bet. Upcoming mattress-dancin’ with Sam “I Take An Investigatory Approach To Things, And By ‘Things’ I Mean Your Hoo-Hah” Winchester, stay tuned.

#Supernatural Fanfiction #SPN Fanfic #Dean x Reader #Sam x Reader #as Chuck as my witness #unless I get a hella good crossroads deal #I shall never go smuttin' again!#Nash Writes

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onychaos · 7 years ago

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Sonic Mania review (Steam)

Sonic Mania. I want to say that Sonic mania is a great-

Damn it Sega. You had one job. Well, let's ignore the DRM till we get to the end of this post. Going to share my thoughts in this mini like review.

I will say this. If you are "That" person who takes or treats opinions serious. I think you need to go elsewhere. :3 These are my own experience I had with the game.

Sonik the edge-lord, here with this post to share opinion and thoughts :o

Sonic Mania is the new Classic 2D Sonic that was made for 2D fans who been asking for a new Sonic game in 2D

Sonic Mania is a great game classic game that goes back to its roots and finds what made Sonic great.

The Story

After Sonic and Tails leave angel island, They get a strange reading from the island which causes them to return to find 5 Egg robos on the spot while Eggman pulls out an odd gemstone that has the power to warp the space around them.

It's up to Sonic and Tails and Knuckles. Knuckles was forced into this game to help save the day.

Knuckles can't get a break.

Now that you understand the plot. Let's go.

my own experience

Sonic Mania. Waiting 2 whole weeks to play this game and being left in dark. I was thinking "2 weeks, ok, they can fix this bug and make it a fun experience. This will be great"

2 weeks passed. I have never installed a game so fast.

BOOM, it opens. I have a reason to smile again for a Sonic game and the title screen plays

The young sonic fan sees hope in the blue blur

I hit start to see what changes were made to the menu screen, maybe a secret or a-

They added an "Exit" I can close the game by clicking the red "X" But that is fine. I loaded up a new save file and man. 60 FPS S3K intro cutscene (Sonic 3 & Knuckles), Sonic and tails flying back to angel island with a serious look. Sonic ready to KILL.

Seeing the egg robo get upgraded into the hard boiled heavies was great and then we get to play Green hill zone cause that has never been done before.

Green Hill.

Green Hill is just 60 FPS and feels great. There is a great sense of speed. The levels are fast and quick and I mean it's green hill but it's fun. And boy was I happy. Then I got to play "Get Blue spheres"

First stage was fine but the next BS (Blue Spheres) was laggy. It would jump from 60 fps to 15 or go to a slide show. >.> Blue spheres was ruined in the later stages.

I did a livestream with hypersonic7701 and my experience was ruined by the game dropping in fps at random or slowing down to a point where my controls were affected by the slowdown. Hyper did keep me in high spirits when the game was being a laggy mess. If you see this Hyper. thanks. :3

In that first playthrough, my smile and happiness faded away to nothing. But then, when all hope was lost and forgotten. A light was at the end of the tunnel.

A second playthrough, surely, this won't change anything. BUT I was wrong Sonic Mania was a blast. playing it in 60 - 30 FPS and damn, it is great, going at break neck speed brings back joy.

Sonic Mania has 13 zones. 4 new zones and 8 old zones and A true final zone that been remastered. As great as Sonic Mania is, I am let down by the fact that Mania is more like Sonic Generations, in a sense, that old levels come back with a new coat of paint.

Yeah, there are new zones, but they are undermined by the old zones. Mania could have been great if they didn't use old zones as a base. Sonic mania has some nods and references. I don't mind those at all. What bugs me is that Mania is a new game but it feels like an old game.

I just wish mania would have focused on making new levels then bring back old levels over all. If I wanted to play old zones, I would boot and play the old Sonic classics.

Blue spheres have no point, other than to unlock a few things but if you get all gold or silver, you unlock nothing special. I feel like if you want a challenge, Blue Spheres will, for the most part, give you a challenge... Assuming you have not played Sonic 3 to death.

The Special stages are, for the most part, fun to play. they're a mix of Sonic R models and Sonic CD like stages. And they can get crazy and pretty fast. It's not too hard. It is fair. You gain speed by getting spheres which will upgrade your Mach speed. When you get to Mach 3, you are giving up control for speed, which is fair. If you had Speed and control, they would be way too easy.

Sonic Mania has these cute cutscenes where Sonic and Tails has some way of getting to the next zone. By getting warped there or jumping in a pipe or jumping on the flying battery zone. After a few zones. Sonic and Tails just go there. There is no reason of how they got there but they just go to the next zone and it feels odd.

I know about Knuckles and Tails. I don't care for them yet. They don't have what my boy Sonic has. A mid air drop dash. I may do another livestream in the near future when I can run the game without it going 15 FPS.

My final thoughts unless I have more then come back to edit in a few more stuff.

Is Sonic Mania Good? Yes it's a new experience that has a nod to past games and new levels.

Is Sonic Mania worth getting? Get it for PS4, Xbox one, Switch. You can get it for pc BUT I would wait till they fixed a few more bugs and the DRM issue.

Is the Sonic Mania OST good? There is a lot of hits than miss. So, yes, it is good.

Overall, I like Sonic Mania but my first experience was ruined but the Second playthrough saved it, though, it was reading mastaKirby's fanfic made it better.

I feel that Sonic mania uses old games as a base for it. For someone who played the old classics, Mania was a let down for me but it may please you. And most the new levels were ok but 1 stood out and I loved that zone.

About Denuvo DRM. It has some nasty effects on people's PC and hardware and even affecting the game or controls. As I am writing this post, they are trying to fix these issues with a new patch.

But This was Sonik the Edge lord with my thoughts on mania, Sonic Mania. Thanks for reading and stay cool. :3

For more about DRM related stuff or go google why DRM is bad. Go do some research.

See here: https://tommyrefenes.tumblr.com/post/45684087997/apathy-and-refunds-are-more-dangerous-than-piracy

#sonic the hedgehog #sonic mania #review #Sega #christian whitehead #my posts #onychaos

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thevoidwriting · 4 years ago

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I swear Karen.

So this is a doozy of a write, few key points, gargoyle named Kael Ó Tíghearnaigh, I'm store he's ST, stands for stolen treasure, when he talks to Moonlit the first time he will introduce himself as Kael Tierney to be nice to the poor woman who works way to long at a call Center. Only really one day off but if called in she will go. Story should cover when she gets him to him yelling sassily at the head of the HOA. He should by the end of this be the new head cause one voice swoon and two he knows so much and babé knows how blackmail works he was one a church for untold years. Good good let's go.

As he look around the dingy shop he thinks why steal me I'm worn, chipped and warped by time and weather but he know, he was the easiest to move since the last storm had ruined his church and now hes somewhere in the states in a second hand shop staring out the front door with a not for sale sign on him. Kael honestly wanted out but the damn sign.

He saw a short brunette, normal face, blueish eyes, wearing a deep blue button up mini dress, knee length legings and black mid calf boots with a flat sole. 'what kind of lass, dressed like that would want in a store like this?' he thought to himself. As he watched her walk in.

Moonlit saw the shady ass store, knowing she was only going in to inquire about the pretty fairy figurines she saw though the window. As she walked in to the darkish interior, flickering lights and she didn't feel safe but they had the ruby shine fairy figurine.

As she passed the check out counter she pet the gargoyle see as it superstition that if you don't you get a weeks worth of bad luck. She wasn't willing to risk it. What she didn't know is that she nicked her palm and now she was going to have a bad week, once she talked to the owner he said that someone else had bought it and he was holding for her. So she left with the feeling of eyes on her.

Kael could feel the warm life's flow feed him, tonight he would leave the shop and find her cause she started a while thing and now he had to finish it, or just let her know she now has a guardian. Priest of old would do this in order to keep their churches as well as themselves safe should a fire start. Its been a long time since he had a owner or a lard.

As night fell he broke the chain they kept on him and left, it kinda hard to move without his wing but that's fine he still has his speed and strength. Bless the Lord.

As he came into the more suburban area, god it was so pink and pastel, with a single minded forcus he found the odd house out, it was crimson and midnight, as he neared the front door the sun started to rise so he turned back to stone and now he had to wait.

What he found out though the last three weeks is that she was never home and when she is she's sleeping or staying away cause the head of the HOA was a Karen and was named as such. Well shit and Karen had seen him setting on the porch swing, just pushing back and forth waiting in the house owner, which he found out the brunette was called Moonlit.

Might have laughed a little to long and said he was there to deliver a message.

She had been a basic bitch then he laid on the charm and called her lass and she melted and told him every two weeks Moonlit takes a day off.

As he saw her in the window ignoring his knocking so he snuck in the back door, got to the kitchen and saw half made brownies. He may or may not ate half. 'thats what you get for ignoring me lass.' he thought as he washed his hands of the melted dark chocolate. Then he heard it yelling, well more of a screech and then he got a vase thrown at him.

As Moonlit walked down the stairs, into the kitchen she saw a tall ginger, with green eyes and freckles washing his hands like he owned the place she started to scream like any normal person and he just calmly walks over puts a hand on her mouth and just takes a deep breath.

"Lass calm down I'm not intruder, I'm a new friend." He says to sway her once she stops screaming and he removed his hand she replied with. "Says every kidnapper ever, and who breaks in and eats someone's hard work man." His laughter was melodic and light for a person (?) Who just broke into her house. "If your not here to hurt or kidnap me what do you want?" She asks hesitantly. "Well let me explain." He took three hours to explain and do his little show in tell. Once the second bout of screeming and yelling stoped. "So I live with you now. Sorry to bother you to be honest. You seem like you work hard and dont need this. Also Karen says you need to join the HOA meeting next time." He stated rather bored.

"with what time she knows my work schedule, and I didn't choose the colour of my house." She breathed. "Well I could go for you, she made comments about my 'fat untextured stone body' sorry I'm not up to your standards Karen, that the storms I've seen have roughed away years of hard work." His mini rand didnt bother me what bothered me was the fact that he said he was the guardian of my house now that I bleed on him.

"so you want to fight Karen of the HOA cause she called you fat." I mused, this creature is going to do what ever. I can't stop him, he smiles and his teeth are gray. Almost stone like. With that he started to plan and plot. My kitchen by morning was a mess and I didn't have time to clean it up.

Kael honestly decided weeks ago that this was his plan and he now had a house key to get in as soon as sun down hit so he could clean up. Then set the plan rolling.

End part one. Will continue Soon.

#dragon musings #new oc #gargoyle ST #irish bitch #he seen some shit #pta king #Hoh king as well #dear god why did he have to go though all this #Karen tamer

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operationrainfall · 4 years ago

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By all rights, I’m the last person at oprainfall that should be covering Code Shifter. Not cause of any existing bias against the game or team behind it, but because I am woefully inexperienced with the library of Arc System Works and Technos. I know who they are, but don’t have much experience actually playing their titles myself. I haven’t played any BlazBlue titles, nor Guilty Gear, and haven’t touched a River City game. Hell, the only games in the vast roster I have firsthand familiarity with are Double Dragon and RADIO HAMMER STATION. So you may be asking – why am I writing up Code Shifter? The reason for that is the same reason this piece is so late. I tried in vain to find another taker at the oprainfall site, and had no luck. So it ended up in my hands. Thankfully, though I’m not experienced with Arc System Works, I am an old hand at platformers. So let’s see if this plucky platformer made a convert out of me.

The first thing about Code Shifter that stuck out to me was the candy colored aesthetic style. It’s an attractive game that almost has a Pixar vibe to everything. You play Stella, a programmer that made the titular program, Code Shifter, in order to debug viruses. When you’re trashing viruses, your avatar is a powerful hero named Sera. She’s able to double jump, slash and generally bounce around each stage with impunity. At first I really liked how quickly Sera could get around, but I soon discovered her fatal flaw – Sera is about as physically intimidating as a bag of kittens. That’s not to say she can’t deal with foes, but rather that it takes plenty of rapid fire combos to deal with most serious threats. Thankfully, there’s another option to combating foes – transforming into hero codes you find in stages. These are pixelated representatives from many games from the Arc System Works library, and I recognized a few of them. They’re delightfully old school, and most of them pack a much more powerful punch than Sera. So letting her utilize them does help with her general weakness somewhat. Hero codes also can manipulate the environment a few ways. Some can trigger electrical devices and others can break boxes. This is actually indicated by the icon next to their name, a handy feature I discovered about an hour into my experience.

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Other than using the power of hero codes, Sera can also equip skills before taking on a stage. You get these by beating any given stage with an S rank, which is a lot harder than I expected. You essentially have to beat a stage as quickly as possible while taking very little damage. If you lose one life, the best score you can get is an A. I actually found myself wishing that a score of A could provide one Skill, and a score of S could get another. But unfortunately that’s not how this system works. You can get more skill parts by beating stages on higher difficulties, but frankly Code Shifter is plenty challenging on Normal. What frustrated me most about skills is that most make a very slight difference to your stats. Many of them do things like increase attack power or jump range, but to a minuscule degree. They’ll boost you, but only by like 5%. And honestly, it’s hard to comprehend how much of a difference these boosts actually make. The skills that helped me the most were ones that enhanced my loadout of available hero codes, since initially you can only hold one at a time.

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Another factor that can help you a bit are hero assists. These are ones you summon to the field for a variety of effects, from dealing damage to boosting Sera’s stats to healing you. This is cool, but the cooldown to use them again made them a feature I typically ignored, especially during boss fights. Overall the combat in Code Shifter is fine, but it lacks finesse. Sera has no dodge or block move, which makes most battles a frenetic scramble with enemies trying their best to stampede you. This is problematic when you’re transformed into a larger hero code, which makes you a perfect damage sponge. Another issue is that when you lose a life, you’ll lose all your hero codes with it, other than assist summons. And though I appreciate how the game displays Sera’s moveset from the pause menu, along with assist abilities, I found it odd hero codes you directly control don’t display their movesets anywhere. It’s really too bad, cause there’s a lot of speed and flexibility to the combat in the game. It just lacks the tightness and balance of a truly great example of the genre.

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Besides the basic combat, there’s a mini game in Code Shifter. It’s called Colorful Fighters, and it features tons of pixelated reps from Arc System Works games. You start out with a handful, and can unlock more by beating EX stages. I like that in theory, but to do so you have to defeat demonic versions of the characters first, and they’re frankly more difficult than the regular bosses in the game. I managed to beat one, but since that stage featured a couple and required me to beat both to unlock either, I’m still working on making serious progress. Thankfully you can play with just the default characters, and Colorful Fighters is a chaotic scramble. It is 4 v 4 insanity, and it’s like a manic Smash Bros. I can’t say there’s much strategy to it, but it’s a fun diversion.

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Now, despite my issues with the combat, I did find Code Shifter a moderately fun experience. There’s actually even a halfway decent plot here that might go someplace interesting. It’s all about a company getting a new game ready to launch when suspicious viruses start delaying progress. I’m not sure if this indicates an industrial espionage angle or what, but it’s fun watching things progress with Stella and her coworkers. The only downside is how they all speak. They sound like horny metal squirrels copulating. Normally I don’t mind gibberish talk in games, and have enjoyed it in Banjo-Kazooie and the SteamWorld games. But here it’s super irritating. Also annoying is moving about the office. It’s really easy to bump into invisible geometry and get stuck. Luckily you can pause to select a location you want Stella to move, and thus have her go there instantly.

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Despite issues with combat, the platforming is actually pretty fun in Code Shifter. It’s basic, but there’s some tricky maps to navigate as you hunt for viruses to slay. The game makes use of disappearing platforms, warps, air vents and more to keep things interesting. And most areas don’t overstay their welcome, only featuring a handful of story stages and optional EX ones. Again, the big issue I ran into was how unbalanced and loose combat felt. Especially since the game inexplicably forces you to use the joystick to move around, instead of allowing that and D-Pad. Which is odd, since you can use the D-Pad to navigate sub menus. Altogether this made challenging parts of the game a real slog. I almost gave up entirely at one miniboss, who kept spamming a revolving shield. Eventually I got past it with a summon assist, but the lack of clear strategic options in the game doesn’t help matters. It’s never clear which heroes you should keep and which you should toss aside, other than ones you need for getting to the stage exit. And while I wish I could say I loved the bosses I’ve faced, they were just as awkward as the rest of the combat. On the plus side, the visual flair of the game is nice and the music is better. Each hero code you play as has an accompanying soundtrack, and that really livens things up.

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Sadly Code Shifter didn’t quite pass muster with me, though it did make me curious about exploring more Arc System Works titles. There was a lot of potential here, but the ideas didn’t quite mesh enough for it to make a deeper impact. But if you’re a fan of platformers and want something different, Code Shifter might be for you. Especially since it’s available on many consoles. For everyone else, this one might not be worth your time.

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IMPRESSIONS: Code Shifter By all rights, I'm the last person at oprainfall that should be covering Code Shifter. Not cause of any existing bias against the game or team behind it, but because I am woefully inexperienced with the library of Arc System Works and Technos.

#Arc System Works #CODE SHIFTER #oprainfall #PC #Pixar #platformer #PS4 #Switch #Technos #Xbox One

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eddycurrents · 6 years ago

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For the week of 10 December 2018

Quick Bits:

Astonisher #13 adds Ryan O’Sullivan to the writer’s chair alongside Priest as this arc takes an interesting turn. The idea of the red parasite that’s been haranguing the planet since the first issue being fractured and confused pretty much turns the first twelve issues upside down if it’s indeed true. Great art from Al Barrionuevo, Rodney Ramos, Matt Banning, and Jamie Grant.

| Published by Lion Forge / Catalyst Prime

Avengers #11 takes a very different approach than the first ten issues or so as Jason Aaron throws more plot developments at us than Ursus Major hurls insults. It’s interesting as it works through the building problems with the US government, attempts at building a coalition of nations assisting the Avengers, Thor and Jennifer Walters’ date, and the surprise heel turn of a once deceased SHIELD agent. All with wonderful art from Ed McGuinness, Cory Smith, Mark Morales, Scott Hanna, Karl Kesel, and Erick Arciniega.

| Published by Marvel

Batman Annual #3 features a very sweet story from Tom Taylor, Otto Schmidt, and Troy Peteri that focuses on Alfred and all that he sacrifices and takes on himself in order to ensure Bruce can continue in his chosen vocation. The art from Schmidt is perfect and the heart and soul, complete with some very nice humour, that Taylor instills in the dialogue and narration are a very welcome change of pace from some of the grim and gritty takes on Batman. I think we need more Batman stories like this.

| Published by DC Comics

The Batman Who Laughs #1 is an interesting counterpoint to the Batman Annual, with a tale of body trafficking, alternate Batmen, and death from Scott Snyder, Jock, David Baron, and Sal Cipriano. It’s dour, bleak, and even more violent, even with corny insurance jokes. I can’t say it’s bad, though, the mystery is interesting, the art is wonderful, and there’s one hell of a cliffhanger, but it is dark.

| Published by DC Comics

Bitter Root #2 features some amazing artwork from Sanford Greene and Rico Renzi. The designs for the monsters, Jinoo or otherwise, are amazing and the feel of the colours, purples and greens, just bathe the story in an otherworldly glow.

| Published by Image

Black Panther #7 begins Book 2, “The Gathering of My Name”, with Kev Walker and Stéphane Paitreau joining Ta-Nehisi Coates and Joe Sabino to provide the art for this story. It’s a little more focused than the first arc, delivering a solid plan for the rebels to reclaim their identities.

| Published by Marvel

Captain Ginger #2 keeps things purring along as the Captain and Ramscoop leave off to follow a signal that they hope will bring them to another ship of cats. Then everything goes to hell aboard the mothership. Love the artwork from June Brigham, Roy Richardson, and Veronica Gandini. There’s also the usual prose pieces and a Hashtag: Danger back-up comic to round out the issue. “Company Policy Regarding Eel” from Mark Russell with a spot illustration from Ryan Kelly is particularly humorous.

| Published by Ahoy

Champions #27 concludes the Weirdworld arc and this volume of the series with the power of friendship. It’s actually a pretty good character arc for the former Nova and some neat stuff you wouldn’t necessarily have expected from Viv. Amazing art and designs from Max Dunbar and Nolan Woodard.

| Published by Marvel

Daughters of the Dragon #2 continues this digital original with a slightly different approach from the others, presenting an overarching story, but within that Jed MacKay is breaking it down into discrete two-part arcs. It works fairly well, giving some very entertaining action stories. The art for these two parts is handled by Joey Vasquez, Craig Yeung, Rain Beredo, and Jordan Gibson and it looks pretty good. There’s some really nice composition in the final confrontation.

| Published by Marvel

Dead Kings #2 is not quite as immediately bleak as Crude was, but it’s pretty close, with Steve Orlando revisiting some similar themes of regret and responsibility in Russia here. This is obviously more fantastical, blending fable and technology in a post-apocalyptic Thrice-Nine, with wonderfully dark art from Matthew Dow Smith and Lauren Affe to bring life to this slowly dying world.

| Published by AfterShock

Detective Comics #994 begins “Mythology” from the new creative team of Peter J. Tomasi, Doug Mahnke, Jaime Mendoza, David Baron, and Rob Leigh and it’s pretty damn good. It feels great to actually see some detective work in Detective Comics and the mystery of why someone would go to the lengths to stage a pair of murder victims to look like Bruce’s parents is intriguing. The art from Mahnke, Mendoza, and Baron is also wonderful. Mahnke’s style is actually fairly restrained here compared to what I’ve been used to, which when combined with this particular blue from Baron, reminds me more of the Batman of yesteryear and the works of Neal Adams, Jim Aparo, Norm Breyfogle, Marshall Rogers.

| Published by DC Comics

Doctor Strange: The Best Defense #1 continues this very interesting crossover event. Gerry Duggan, Greg Smallwood, and Cory Petit deliver a wonderful “Old Sorcerer Stephen” or “Doctor Strange: The End” type tale with Strange being almost the sole wanderer in a world where Dormammu and his spawn have conquered the Earth. It’s bleak, horrifying, and beautifully illustrated by Smallwood. It’s also interesting in how it ultimately dovetails the rest of the event. Although it definitely can be enjoyed on its own, this one gives a couple answers to the broader picture of what’s going on.

| Published by Marvel

Dragon Age: Deception #3 concludes with everyone hating everyone else, more or less, and an interesting revelation about the Magister everyone was so incensed about meeting, killing, and/or stealing from. Interesting new developments regarding the Qunari incursion of Tevinter as well. Great art from Fernando Heinz Furukawa and Michael Atiyeh.

| Published by Dark Horse

Electric Warriors #2 gets into the battles between warriors and the mechanics of those battles, what transfers to whom depending on challenge, as an alternate to war. It’s interesting enough on the surface, but Steve Orlando definitely seems to be building something bigger. Great art again from Travel Foreman and Hi-Fi. The designs for the characters are truly amazing.

| Published by DC Comics

The Empty Man #2 pushes the insanity caused by the disease even further. I’m not sure what’s more horrifying, the actions caused by the effects of the disease or the cult popping up around it. Cullen Bunn, Jesús Hervás, Niko Guardia, and Ed Dukeshire are delivering a fairly visceral, thoroughly brutal, horror tale here.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Fearscape #3 endeavours to make you hate the series protagonist, Henry Henry, even more than you already probably do with heinous act after heinous act. It is incredible as to how thoroughly unlikable Ryan O’Sullivan has managed to make him that at this point you kind of just want to see him torn apart by pedantic, pretentious literary critics literally.

| Published by Vault

The Flash #60 gives us more details on Fuerza, the new Strength Force user, and her plight against a corrupt police force in Corto Maltese. Joshua Williamson is definitely making these new characters interestingly complicated while Flash tries to understand the new forces. Great art from Rafa Sandoval, Jordi Tarragona, Tomeu Morey, and Hi-Fi.

| Published by DC Comics

Hawkman #7 brings Hawkman a new origin, and a new reason for being, from Robert Venditti, Bryan Hitch, Andrew Currie, Jeremiah Skipper, and Richard Starkings & Comicraft. This new origin nicely builds on Hawkman’s complicated legacy, not invalidating anything, but enhancing why he keeps being reborn in different places, different eras, and gives him a purpose that’s often been lacking in some of his reboots. Great work.

| Published by DC Comics

Hellboy Winter Special 2018 has a trio of tales, each of them spotlighting a different era. The first is a wonderful traditional Hellboy short from Mike Mignola, Ben Stenbeck, and Dave Stewart of a seance gone horribly wrong as they also seem to. The second builds on the vampire mythology from the BPRD: 1946-1948 series amidst superstitious villagers fearing for their crops from Gabriel Bá, Fábio Moon, and Dave Stewart. And finally a Lobster Johnson tale from Tonči Zonjić of criminals trying to pass off their handiwork as the Claw of Justice. All three stories are very well done, gorgeous art all throughout.

| Published by Dark Horse

Infinite Dark #3 reveals the plans, more or less, that Alvin and Kirin put in place to destroy the station. It’s terrifying, and its source possibly more so. It does kind of make me wonder why people are being driven mad at its reality, though.

| Published by Image / Top Cow

Infinity Wars: Ghost Panther #2 concludes this mini, the last of the Infinity Warps. Absolutely stunning artwork from Jefte Palo and Jim Campbell.

| Published by Marvel

Justice League Dark #6 concludes the Myrra arc as James Tynion IV waxes philosophically through Bobo and Diana about guilt and responsibility, even as the nightmares at the gate get even closer elsewhere. The art from Daniel Sampere, Juan Albarran, and Adriano Lucas is really damn good.

| Published by DC Comics

Magic: The Gathering - Chandra #1 features some very impressive art from Harvey Tolibao, Joana Lafuente, and Tristan Jurolan. Nice detail, character designs, and beautiful colours.

| Published by IDW

The Magic Order #5 delivers one hell of a twist in this penultimate chapter. Also, very inventive methods of torture. Drop dead gorgeous artwork from Olivier Coipel and Dave Stewart.

| Published by Image

Miles Morales: Spider-Man #1 is a great debut from Saladin Ahmed, Javier Garrón, David Curiel, and Cory Petit. This first issue mainly gets us back up to speed on Miles’ life and supporting cast, introducing and reintroducing the characters and his connections, largely giving narration through his journal, integrating an exercise from his classes to convey the narrative. We get a robbery and a confrontation with the Rhino that sets up the hook for a larger plot and mystery. The art from Garrón and Curiel is gorgeous.

| Published by Marvel

Oblivion Song #10 is insane. Another bit of Philadelphia has been popped off into Oblivion by the less stable of the Cole brothers and this issue is the resulting chaos. I’m still very impressed with how Robert Kirkman, Lorenzo De Felici, Annalisa Leoni, and Rus Wooton are constantly throwing this book into upheaval, with practically every issue giving a new revelation or upending the status quo. This is just great.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Outer Darkness #2 follows up an entertaining first issue with an outstanding second issue, introducing us to much of the crew and more explicitly the types of horrors that they’re going to encounter in space. John Layman, Afu Chan, and Pat Brosseau have something fairly unique here, with the humour just putting it over the top.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man #313 brings this battle with Morlun to an end and with it this series. It’s been a decent tie-in to Spider-Geddon from Sean Ryan, Juan Frigeri, Jason Keith, and Travis Lanham, but it is basically a three issue fight scene designed to keep Peter away from the main plot of the event.

| Published by Marvel

Red Sonja Holiday Special has a fairly entertaining lead story of Sonja learning about Christmas and then becoming embroiled in some weird witness shakedown from Amy Chu, Erik Burnham, Ricardo Jamie, Omi Remalante Jr., and Taylor Esposito. There’s also a classic reprint story from Roy Thomas, Frank Thorne, and Mike Kelleher.

| Published by Dynamite

Redlands #9 continues this arc’s structure of beginning with a flashback, this time giving us a hint of what Casper did before he was indentured to the sisters. This one’s a little light on pushing the narrative ahead very far, but very high on building more atmosphere, and developing a potential new problem for Laurent.

| Published by Image

Shadowman #10 has some really great art from Renato Guedes, Eric Battle, and Ulises Arreola. The trade off of sequences for Jack’s confrontation with Sandria Darque and then the flashbacks between Guedes and Battle is very nice, giving a unique feel to both.

| Published by Valiant

Silver Surfer: The Best Defense #1 has some oblique ties to the rest of “The Best Defense” crossover, mentioning whatever this “train” is, but like the others of these first four parts features a largely independent character study. Jason Latour and Clayton Cowles present a twist on a traditional Silver Surfer morality tale by making it a game between the Surfer and Galactus. Beautifully illustrated, tapping into some of the weirdness of Marvel’s cosmic.

| Published by Marvel

Spider-Gwen: Ghost Spider #3 has Gwen and MJ work out where the Green Goblin’s hideout is with the assistance of this world’s Glory and Betty. This has been an interesting first arc and tie-in to Spider-Geddon from Seanan McGuire, Rosi Kämpe, Ian Herring, and Clayton Cowles.

| Published by Marvel

Star Trek: Waypoint Special #1 is more than worth it just for “My Human is Not” by Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly, Sonny Liew, and Neil Uyetake. It’s an adorable story from the point of view of Spot, beautifully illustrated by Liew. The other three stories in this special also aren’t too shabby, but you’ll want to buy this one for the tabby.

| Published by IDW

Star Wars: Age of Republic - Darth Maul #1 continues this series of one-shots with a spotlight on everyone’s favourite horny Sith Lord from Jody Houser, Luke Ross, Java Tartaglia, and Travis Lanham. The art from Ross and Tartaglia is wonderful. The layouts for many of the action sequences are particularly impressive, knocking things off-kilter to evoke the kind of chaotic fighting style of Maul.

| Published by Marvel

Supergirl #25 goes home to Krypton in the lead story from Marc Andreyko, Emanuela Lupacchino, Ray McCarthy, Lan Medina, Sean Parsons, FCO Plascencia, and Tom Napolitano. It takes Kara’s quest into another different direction, adding another possible impediment in finding everyone and everything that aided in the destruction of Krypton. There are also a couple of back-ups, one fleshing out Dr. Z’ndr Kol and the other a sweet Christmas story.

| Published by DC Comics

Superman #6 has some absolutely stunning spreads from Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, Oclair Albert, and Alex Sinclair. The battle between Rogol Zaar and Superman & Zod is incredible, probably some of the best pages I’ve ever seen from Reis. The narration by Superman from Brian Michael Bendis is also interesting as he waxes philosophical about his speed and fighting side by side with Zod. What is less magical is the ending. Superman leaving Zod, even with pressing concerns elsewhere, feels wrong. I don’t know if it’s intentionally a bad decision on Superman’s part that will be addressed, or if it’s just a bad decision from Bendis. It just doesn’t feel like what Superman would do. Otherwise, this is a pretty great issue.

| Published by DC Comics

Titans #31 adds Kyle Rayner to the team as Donna Troy officially takes the lead and a number of the simmering sub-plots converge to kick off a new adventure. Great art from Clayton Henry, Brent Peeples, Dexter Vines, and Marcelo Maiolo.

| Published by DC Comics

Vampirella vs. Reanimator #1 is a damn good start to this mini from Cullen Bunn, Blacky Shepherd, and Taylor Esposito. The art from Shepherd is very impressive. I love the choice to present the story almost entirely in grey tones with spot colours for red and a little bit of sickly yellow, it really makes the art stand out.

| Published by Dynamite

William Gibson’s Alien 3 #2 continues this excellent adaptation of Gibson’s unproduced screenplay by Johnnie Christmas, Tamra Bonvillain, and Nate Piekos. The political aspect and veritable cold war are very interesting additions to the Alien lore.

| Published by Dark Horse

Wonder Woman #60 turns the screw a bit with some unexpected developments for Ares. I’m really liking the art from Cary Nord, Mick Gray, and Romulo Fajardo Jr. While definitely partially the influence of Gray’s inking, Nord’s presenting a somewhat looser, more angular style that reminds me a bit of Frank Miller and Phil Hester which really works for the chaotic and bellicose story.

| Published by DC Comics

Other Highlights: Accell #16, Amazing Spider-Man #11, Animosity: Evolution #9, Asgardians of the Galaxy #4, Auntie Agatha’s Home for Wayward Rabbits #2, Battlestar Galactica Classic #2, Birthright #34, Black Hammer: Cthu-Louise, The Black Order #2, By Night #6, Cemetery Beach #4, DuckTales #14, Elephantmen 2261 Holiday Special, Fantastic Four Wedding Special #1, From Hell Master Edition #2, Giant Days #45, Go Go Power Rangers #15, God of War #2, Goddess Mode #1, Head Lopper #10, Hit-Girl #11, House of Whispers #4, James Bond: Origin #4, Jim Henson’s Beneath the Dark Crystal #5, Joe Golem: The Drowning City #4, The Lone Ranger #3, Mage: The Hero Denied #14, Murder Falcon #3, New Talent Showcase 2018 #1, Patience! Conviction! Revenge! #4, Planet of the Apes: The Simian Age #1, The Quantum Age #5, Red Sonja/Tarzan #6, Rose #15, Sasquatch Detective #1, Sleepless #10, Smooth Criminals #2, Spider-Force #3, Spider-Girls #3, Star Wars: Doctor Aphra #27, Star Wars: Han Solo - Imperial Cadet #1, TMNT: Macro-Series #4: Raphael, Typhoid Fever: Iron Fist #1, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #39, The Unstoppable Wasp #3, Vampironica #5, War Bears #3, The Wasted Space Holiday Special #1

Recommended Collections: Amazing Spider-Man - Volume 9, Black Crown Omnibus - Volume 1, Blackwood, Britannia - Volume 3: Lost Eagles of Rome, Cloak and Dagger: Shades of Grey, Curse of Brimstone - Volume 1: Inferno, Fear Agent: Final Edition - Volume 4, Giant Days: Early Registration, Go Go Power Rangers - Volume 2, Hillbilly - Volume 3, Ice Cream Man - Volume 2: Strange Neapolitan, Judge Dredd: Under Siege, Scarlet - Book 2, Star Wars - Volume 9: Hope Dies

d. emerson eddy would like to take a moment to finally admit...”I’m Batman”.

#This Week in Comics

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