#we got a huge beat of lore about the world that brought into question our relationship to the gods

[sunstar121]

vibes after today's dnd session

[impalas-r-important]

Love of my Life - (1) All's fair in love and snowball fights.

Pairing: Dean x reader(ish)

Warnings: N/A

Summary: You and Dean were inseparable from the moment you met; a true match made in heaven. You were killed in the big showdown with Lucifer and Michael (S5), but were brought back to life along side Sam. Heartbreak quickly took over your life after finding out that Dean had already moved on with Lisa so soon after your death.

Series Masterlist

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You sighed as you looked over at Sam and Dean. You and Sam had been doing research for 5 straight days trying to help Bobby out with a case. Dean would come over and help when he could. Sam was in the living room, his nose buried in a book and Dean was sitting with his feet up on the kitchen table, pretending to look studious as he fought off his heavy eye lids. You stood up to stretch your legs and wandered over to the window. It had snowed all night and all morning, leaving the outside world blanketed with pillowy, inviting flakes. The corners of your mouth crept up in a slight smile as an idea came to your mind. You quickly grabbed your jacket that had been slung across the back of your chair which startled Dean enough to wake him up. He sloppily wiped a bit of drool from his mouth and looked over to find an irritated Sam glaring at him. You jogged a few steps to the back door and pulled your boots on.

“Where are you going?” You could hear Sam ask from the other room.

“I’ll be right back!”

You stepped outside and the chilly wind instantly burned the back of your throat, but you didn’t care. You were just happy to not be looking at the worn pages of another lore book. You bent down and scooped the snow together in your hands creating 2 perfect snowballs. A mischievous grin spread on your face as you stomped back into the living room of Bobby’s house. Sam was your first target; he was so unaware of what was about to hit him. Literally. You pulled back your arm, took your aim, and launched the snowball, nailing him square in the face. The shocked look on his face was priceless.

“Hah!” Dean looked up and tauntingly laughed from the table on the other side of the room. His laugh quickly turned into a frown as you threw the second snowball at him. He paused and blinked a few times before wiping the snow from his face. He turned to look at you, and you couldn’t tell if he was angry or not. The three of you exchanged glances, a few seconds of silence passing while you all gauged the situation before Dean stood up giving you a perfect, playful smile.

“Oh, sweetheart, you don’t know what you just started.” He ran at you and you turned to run away, giving a squeal as you did. You were fast, but Dean was faster. You had a few good steps on him, but as you reached the staircase, he grabbed you by your waist, throwing you over his shoulder and marching out the door with you.

“Let me go!” You laughed as he tickled your sides.

“If you say so.” He ran across the yard and gently tossed you into a big snowbank, giving your system a shock. You shot up and tried to shake the snow out from your clothes.

“This means war, Winchester!” You shouted as you ran full speed at Dean, rugby tackling him into the few feet of snow piled up behind him.

Sam popped out from behind an icy car with an armful of huge snowballs. “Gotcha both!” He exclaimed as he pelted the two of you. Dean pulled you underneath him and turned his back to Sam, protecting you. You got lost in his green eyes for a moment as he pulled his face close to yours. “One, two, three!” Dean counted down and you knew exactly what his plan was, without needing to discuss it. The two of you had always been on the same wavelength, making you the perfect hunting (and snowball fight) partners. You both turned and ran at Sam, Dean grabbed your hand tight and extended his arm as the two of you clotheslined the taller brother, knocking him backwards. You stole the few snowballs Sam had dropped and threw them at the two boys.

“I thought we were on a team now?!” Dean grinned at you as he crouched down and began to form the snow in his hands. He cocked his arm back and launched it at you as you ducked behind a car. It just missed you. You sat with your back to the car door, catching your breath and looking on either side of you, waiting for one of the boys to jump out at you.

Dean had climbed on top of the car and jumped down in front of you. “Ha ha! I’ve got you right where I want you!” You laughed and slipped as you tried to get up, causing you to laugh even harder. Dean pulled you backwards by your feet. Kneeling on either side of you, he pinned you down with a snowball in hand. “Do you surrender?!” He demanded.

“Yes, yes fine!” Your stomach hurt from all the laughing. Dean dropped the snowball and huffed. He flopped down in the snow next to you, catching his breath and letting out a little laugh.

“That was the most fun I’ve had in a long time. I mean, the look on Sam’s face when you threw that first snowball at him. Priceless!” He turned to look at you, pulling you close to him. “Thanks, Y/N/N.” It had been so long since you had seen Dean smile a genuine smile like the one he was giving to you now. Your heart fluttered and memories of your relationship came flooding back the minute you looked into his eyes. He looked back at you and for a moment, nothing and no one else existed. This felt so right and so natural, like it had always felt with him when you were together. This was a joy that you rarely felt anymore, and you knew that the only thing bringing it to you was Dean. He brushed a stray hair behind your ear as his eyes wandered down to your lips.

“Dean?” A distant voice called. It was Lisa. You both sat up quickly. Overwhelming happiness quickly turned to heart break.

“Crap!” Dean said under his breath as he checked his watch. “We’re supposed to go to a neighbor’s house for dinner tonight. I should have been home 40 minutes ago. I just lost track of time.” He stood up and brushed the snow from his clothes.

“I’m sorry, this is my fault. I shouldn’t have started that stupid snowball fight.” You apologized.

“No, no I haven’t laughed like that in…” Dean paused, “hell, I don’t know how long. Don’t you dare apologize for that.” He reached out a hand to help you up, but you waved him off.

“I’m okay, you go. It’s probably better if Lisa doesn’t see me. I’ll stay hidden behind this old hunk a’ junk until you guys leave.” You patted the car behind you and tried to muster up a fake smile. Dean didn’t buy it. Lisa hated when your relationship with Dean was brought up, and she equally disliked you being around him.

“Listen, Y/N/N, I- “

“Dean?!” Lisa’s voice interrupted him. She was clearly getting angrier and closer.

Dean opened his mouth as if to say something to you, but instead just exhaled and looked at you with longing eyes. You broke the eye contact after a few seconds and moved your gaze to the ground.

“Bye, Y/N.” Dean muttered. You could hear his footsteps crunch in the snow as he walked away.

“Where the hell were you?!” You could hear Lisa demand in the background.

“Sam and I were just having a snowball fight.” Dean tried to explain himself. You noticed he had left your name out on purpose.

“I swear you two are children when you are around each other.”

You hated the way she talked down to him. Like he was some disobedient puppy on a leash. You heard another set of crunching footsteps approach you. Sam walked around the car and sat down next to you; you leaned your head on his shoulder. Your heavy heart had returned, and you felt empty again.

A few moments passed as you both waited to make sure Dean and Lisa had left. Sam broke the silence once he heard the back door close. “You know, you can talk to me, right Y/N?”

“Yeah, Sammy, thank you.” You looked up and gave him a halfhearted smile.

“No, not like this beat around the bush kind of talking. Like, really telling me how you feel. About Dean, about Lisa, about life. Anything and everything. You can trust me to keep your secrets. I feel like you and I are in the same boat right now. Neither of us expected to die, never mind come back, and it’s hard to see how life, Dean especially, changed while we were gone. I can tell this is all weighing on you. You’re not the same as you used to be.” He arched his neck to look down at you as much as he could. “If it makes you feel any better, I don’t like Lisa. Not at all. I don’t get what Dean sees in her. She has changed him into someone that I barely recognize, and I know you see it too.” Sam let out a small sigh of relief. “Man, I’ve been wanting to get that off my chest for a while.” His demeanor became more serious. “You know, I thought you and Dean would be together forever.”

His words helped you a little. “I thought we would be too. I guess I was just making our relationship out to be more than it really was.” You shrugged.

“What do you mean?” He questioned.

“I hadn’t even been dead for that long and he had already moved in with another woman. I’ve had a lot of time to think about this, and if the situations were reversed, then I would rather live the rest of my life alone than be with someone else if I lost Dean.”

“I don’t have an explanation for that, but I do know that you weren’t making it out to be more than it was. Dean was head over heels in love with you. I knew it from, literally, the moment we met you. And honestly, I think he still is. He just does a good job of hiding it.”

“Everyday hurts, Sam. Every time I have to see him with her.” You whispered. “Lately I’ve been asking myself why I’m still here. I mean, Dean asked us to stick around here and make a home base, but I don’t know if I can do that anymore.”

“You’re thinking about leaving?” He frowned.

“Yeah, maybe... I don’t know.” You traced circles in the snow beneath you. “What good am I doing here? Why do I keep putting myself through this pain? If I left, I could try and move on with my life.”

Sam nodded and waited a few moments before saying, “Well, I can’t stop you from leaving, or tell you how to live your life, but I’m going to miss you like hell if you do go. You’re literally my sister. But I understand where you’re coming from. I miss being out on the road and just living case to case. Domestic life isn’t for me, not right now anyway. But I could never leave Dean here by himself, so I’ll figure out a hybrid of the two.”

You didn’t say anything because you didn’t want to break down in tears. Sam could tell. “Let’s get back inside and change. It’s been a nice to take a break from research. We’ll go grab some hot chocolate and dinner before we dive back into the books. Deal?”

You smiled and nodded at him. Sam helped you up and put his arm around you as you walked back inside. “Sorry I hit you in the face with a snowball… multiple times.” You joked and elbowed his side a little.

“Oh, I’ll get you back for that at some point, don’t you worry. It was just good to see a glimpse of the old you again.” Sam smiled and held the door open for you. It felt good to vent to Sam, and it felt even better knowing that he was on the same page as you about Lisa. You didn’t want to hate her; you weren’t that kind of a person. But you just couldn’t help it.

Chapter 2

[shy-magpie]

RQG 157

these things get long and are by definition one spoiler after another, so live blog under the cut

pre episode nonsense:

My hopes for this episode are mostly just the obvious: For Zolf to pull out of his spiral; for Azu to talk to someone about how she's doing; for Hamid to find his footing with the Kobolds (loving that they are devoting a proper arc to using unearned privilege/power rather than pretending it doesn't exist); more Cel lore; a Wug; and for someone to shake answers out of the Brorb. Not sure Alex is going to let us get to know the kids individually which makes sense as juggling 7 new NPCs would seriously cut into everyone else's screen time. I think we will get more of Skraak & Hamid working through their issues, and Skraak's helping the kids through recovery. If we are very lucky maybe Zolf & Skraak will talk rather than just have Zolf resent the Kobolds for putting Hamid in a place to fall into old habits. Okay lets hit play!

Episode live blogging:

Intros are quick: Zolf sounds low, Ben sounds higher energy than he was.

Oh the Brorb drawings come better when the other half is distracted but not thinking about the real topic.

Krakens are through out the globe, unknown numbers, not true instances of Shoin, network is down.

Cel and I both react to having Shoin be the one to come closest to a truly non physical form.*

Krakens are cloned brains in robot bodies. Specifically said Daleks not Jurassic Park.

Shoin thinks he sent a ransom note using the Kraken as a threat against the world.

Does not handle it well when Zolf hones in on that no one knows who he is, much less trembles at his name.**

Hamid follows Zolf's lead and twists it towards boasting about beating the Infection. The talking half doesn't seem to know how he did it as clearly as the drawing bit. Unfortunately its strictly surgical which would be hard to reproduce at scale even before you consider the side effects.

Quick huddle with the rest of the team:

Cel always wanted to go to London?

Zolf wants to ask more about how the infection works so they could prevent infection. Wilde thinks he is suggesting using Shoin's solution, I get Alex has to catch people up but I don't like Wilde being a paragraph behind me or underestimating Zolf.

Bryn wants to review the diary. Alex confirms the diary says he had a possible  way to "end it" as a whole.

They go back and Cel feigns being extremely impressed that Shoin might have a way to stop the infection. I think having time to regroup cut him off from his memory of the infection again. Alex spells out Shoin loses coherence whenever they bring up the infection/the time period around when he was infected.

Heal check time. Zolf crit fails. Azu got a 29 and can see where his theory was better than his surgery. It may be an aphasia (issues to with communication. can't get to certain words, some can't be spoken even if he understands the concept; others he can't understand if he hears them even if he uses the word/concept himself. Brain trauma, memory problems more severe the more recent you get, sounds like unable to store short term memory properly so anything longer ago than a week but after surgery likely lost.)

Cel switches to the simulacrum. He verbally dismisses it as a waste of time. His hand keeps drawing based on the previous question re:stopping the infection.

Alex calls for a sense motive. Zolf & Azu see the latest drawing is a landscape using technical notation. Its a barren mine. Yes! it's the entrance to Svalbard. Cel can see its a circuit. Alex makes us/Lydia wait until after he's done with the simulacrum stuff.

Shoin thinks using humans as your base design to improve from is the wrong approach, gives some credit to Francois Henri for taking a different approach.

The circuit maybe to transmit something, it needs an organic component. Cel couldn't roll much better then that so they probably need to kick it towards the Harlequins to set a team on.

Shoin is moaning about paying the bills. Took on the contract to provide Simulacrum fluidics to Damascus for the money.

Drawings change shape get less technical and focus on the cavern entrance. Ben catches it sounds yonic, Alex was trying to not go there but did he really think you could go from cave imagery to seed imagry without stopping there?

Hamid tries to get more on how he caught the infection.

Bryn and Alex spell out that to get answers you ask a real question he won't answer verbally but will answer with his hand, with a decoy to keep the talking him distracted while the hand answers.

Decoy question is about Harrison Campell.

Concept drawing of a person, overwhelmed by an image of a huge figure with lines going from the small to the large? Is he suggesting they plant someone they prepare to be infected, and have them infect it back?

Proofs? Minor changes between the proofs and published version of early Campbell books.

Another review session upstairs. Hamid's red string wall got cited as being useful! Cult of Hades/Wellington may have been the one to hire Shoin to make parts for Damascus. Zolf and Hamid talk briefly, about work and as dry "stick to the subject" as possible but they are talking productively.

Oh Ben finally gets in that the interrogation is hard on Zolf's knees because he has to keep his legs out of the cell. He snaps a little at Cel when they comment on cell vs Cel. Carter suggests "naughty box" which nicely derails that point of tension. Cel refers to Shoin as being more pleasant to talk to than Carter. Not sure if that undermines the tiny Cel/Carter ship or fuels it with tension.

Cel asks who hired Shoin to make Sim parts. He can answer directly. Well directly for him, it seems to be mostly justifying stealing Tesla's work on the basis that Tesla wasn't going to implement his theory. Hamid snipes him with a shot praising Edison to get him back on topic. Shoin says Edison was being backed by a big investor. Is it to much to hope this is Alex finally consolidating the factions? If Hades is Edison's investor (leaving Edison & co as effectively their minions, rather than a faction of their own) and the factory owners we can cut down on sides considerably.

He goes on about how he spied on Henri, religion as money maker. Shoin was directly approached by Hades lot. Shoin made sure his bits won't work since he didn't want competition. Wellington was his contact with Hades. Wellington always had a pair of cloaked figures.  Vinegar + squizard = funny? Could be useful.

Do not follow what is going on with the hand.

Shoin is still unstuck in time and thinks he is going to connect them. Cel unplugs the speaker on his villain speech. Cel induces a dream state by powering him down

~break~

Cel suggests  painlessly killing him. Zolf seconds the idea because its immoral to keep him like that.   Hamid points out the longer the keep him around the more likely it is for someone to be infected. Wilde rules they should kill and seal it off.

Cel & Zolf have an argument about having the Kobolds handle the remains. Cel calls Zolf out on his inconstant stance on whether the Kobolds can be infected because if he doesn't believe that then he is risking them.

Wilde is moving on? Cel suggests letting the Brorb die, putting it in a bag of holding, keeping the bag in the anti magic field.

They can't just call Einstein because using unofficial channels is bad when irregular behavior is a sign of infection(?)

Alex's unhealthy attitudes about productivity are called out when he refers to the time Wilde spends thinking/planning before getting their transport arranged as "working" (with the inverted commas) rather than considering it part of the work.

They work out possible paths if teleporting is off the table.

And the boys are snapping at each other again. Zolf, you can't flip out every time you are reminded that Hamid doesn't have the experience or expertise of a seasoned sailor. Yeah you did leave the team without your skills and maybe the kid was a bit green for a field promotion; but you know what? He did a fine job, and the other choices were Sasha, who wouldn't lead, and Bertie, who shouldn't. Just because stepping down was the right thing to do, doesn't mean you get to lose it when you are confronted with the mere allusion to the idea it had consequences.

Barnes tells Hamid why going over the pole is a really bad idea. That Azu's suggestion is carrying Hamid has troubling symbolism.

Zolf actually comes more or less to Hamid's defense by pointing out that all their options are bad options, so having a go at Hamid's idea in particular is unwarranted.

I'm not going to bother listing out options. They will pick one or won't need to pick one. If we have been a very good fandom Alex may reward us with Earhart coming back as their preferred transport.

There we go, Hamid suggests her, Zolf seizes on the idea compliments Hamid on it, and immediately takes it to Wilde. Thank God he isn't so far down he can't do that. If he isn't compulsively shooting down any hope (especially from Hamid) then he really is on the upswing from the low brought on by quarantine stress.

Lydia isn't happy that there isn't going to be an American chapter. Then again we wrote off Svalbard, so don't give up!

Its the Northwest Passage and its so weird realizing that not everyone has it as a cultural reference. Wonder if it's an Oregon thing or a US thing.

Yes it would have been cool, but I think Alex is not going to let us have cool new story arcs when we haven't played with the ones we have at home.

Einstein and Earhart are our two best transport options. I am a happy fan. Especially if Zolf has to use his family and Earhart’s reaching out to him near the end of the journey to appeal to her. I mean we did get more on Zolf's relationship with his family than I expected after Paris, so I'm not going to sulk if they don't pursue this, but it would be nice.

Conflicted as a fan, its hard to remember that this taking months extra is a bad thing when the end of the series is feeling too close for comfort.

Zolf, look at you leveraging your experience with moving even when things feel hopeless!

Cel I love you, kraken as submarine is brilliant. Air kraken is suggested by Carter.

Hamid plays with the ideas while Alex goes "why?". Because you are going to have to work a hell of a lot harder than that if you want Hamid to see it as a no win situation rather than proof he needs to redouble on cheerful creativity. Feeling like he had no options led to the worst parts of Hamid's life, the things he is truly ashamed of; having few losses outside of those, he is going to make Kirk's Kobayashi Maru hang ups look amateur.

Zolf is heading to the beach.

Cel is checking on their village.

Hamid wants to contact Einstein himself, Zolf says he should talk to Wilde about that. Hamid wants Zolf with him for that meeting. Zolf either doesn't want to be a safety blanket, wants Hamid to get used to dealing with Wilde directly, or completely missed Hamid offering a chance to work together because he is incapable of seeing Wilde as an opponent. He does say some nice things about being a team.

Hamid tells Cel to say hi to Jasper for them. He is good at the people side of leadership. Remembering names and relationships, knowing how to show he cares because it's important to Cel without overstepping. If Zolf can learn to let go of the rank stuff, they could be an unbeatable team of co leaders.

Zolf nods at Azu. Azu smiles proudly back. Alex jokes about not liking giving them time to heal because they coordinate.

Hamid offers hugs to both Cel and Zolf. Because this entire character is a "fuck you" to toxic masculinity and he is not afraid to openly show affection to his friends.

Cel gives him a great hug.

Zolf hesitates but gives him a pat on the shoulder. Hamid's has high enough charisma to make that not awkward. Good kid, accepting that Zolf is reaching out as far as he can.

Hamid talks to Skraak. Hamid is worried about taking the kids. Maybe Skraak can convince them to stay & help Jasper with science. Because RQG loves us and wants us to be happy, they are considering a fantasy some of us harbored since "science" as a serious possibility. Could solve the issue with Alex not wanting the kids to take up too much screen time too. Skraak is the perfect character for Hamid to have as his second. He believes in Hamid, and can be confided in, but isn't going to take an ounce of self pity or bullshit.

Alex that village better be okay. Smoke? Controlled burn. Ben lightens the mood. The tank is still guarding the village. The barricade is up but they are guarding about as well as a village of level 0(1?) characters can be expected to.

They are having a party and there is a bon fire. Because Alex knows we wouldn't have trusted him if there wasn't a little scare with the smoke. !puns

The village is visibly healing since the weather is fixed. They thank Cel but know better than to ask.

Jasper! Jasper is looking good. He stepped in as a leader of the village. Cel and I could burst with pride. Jasper thinks Cel is coming to stay, Cel tries to explain they are going to help save the other villages around the world and mentions that Jasper would like the Kobolds.

!puns

* One day I need to hunt down the right corner of SF because there has got to be a decent amount of trans humanist fiction for trans humans out there somewhere.

**Not sure if I should feel bad for hoping this gives him a safe target for his destructive tendencies. Ideally Zolf would get past that point without indulging his dark side lest he reinforce bad coping mechanisms. Ideally Zolf would have weekly therapy without the fate of the world on his shoulders too. Its the more personal version of looking forward to a fight after Hamid's been stressed because he seems to find cooking baddies cathartic.

[2bstudioblog]

Konami’s wheels are turning... slowly

Lot’s of interesting news heading to our heads this Monday from what I heard from Yong Yea’s video about Konami wanting to outsource their IP’s to 3rd parties.

Obviously, Akira Yamaoka has kinda given away a strong hint that he’s working on a project with Bloober which in this case would be the long awaited SH remake or the direction they had with PT before it got cancelled. Akira Yamaoka also decided that (too late) he wanted to amend the article from his interview and release it later down the line. It’s very unusual that these news happen, but we all know Yamaoka is most famous for his music in Silent Hill.

Which brings me to a funny story about my own involvement of a Silent Hill game. I mentioned this on a podcast that I was part of 2 Konami-owned IP’s that went into another direction and killing off their franchises which have been like dead bodies in a morgue for the last 7 years.

I got the request to write industrial-metal music for a Silent Hill (of course at this time I only knew the IP and their most famous version of the game has been Silent Hill 2.) game. First I was of course very excited to be part of the series, but I jumped to early until I found out it was a Pachinko-machine (A japanese style pinball-game mixed with a touch-screen and a one-armed bandit and a slot-machine in one.), and my heart sank a little. I think I produced 4-5 cues for the machine, but I’m glad that nobody will be able to hear my “mediocre” masterpieces because all you would hear are metal-balls falling into a tray. But the thing about this machine, it had taken cut-scenes from Silent Hill 2, upscaled or even re-mastered/remade the graphics which would have looked great if it was its own game. But it was the same thing they’ve done with all their other IPs when those transfer over to this kind of entertainment. All what was left of it, Jim Sterling turned the game into a Meme and all I can hear is the -”HIT THE LEVER!” and the effects overpowering the music behind it. But I’m glad it didn’t go further then that. Technically here, Silent Hill(s) died with the arrival of the pachinko-slot machine and the series have tried to re-establish itself ever since.

Another game I was a part of was a Castlevania (Dracula in Japan) themed Pachinko-slot machine, with the revolutionary phrase “Erotic Violence” in it’s PR material and video-commercial. I mean, they took the music production part of this machine very seriously because I wasn’t aware of the “EV” part. I just thought it would be a machine praising the history of Castlevania. I was assigned to re-write and re-orchestrate a few songs from Neo-classical Metal music into more Progressive Metal style, and I was super-proud of this one because they had the sheet-music already available for me. All I had to do was re-arrange some parts for a string-quartet (1 cello, 2 violins and 1 viola) and I believe it was engineered and recorded by famed engineer Kenji Nakai who was under and working with famed engineer Mr Bruce Swedien (Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones).

From that moment me and Mr. Nakai stroke a friendship because he has a passion for Progressive Metal and he asked me if I could send more songs his way. From this we both have been incredibly busy on both of our ends, but I hope we can be able to work on something in the future. I have a feeling that might be soon.

So a long story short, Konami spent a lot of money for recording, they approved everything and we were done. But when it turned out to be a pachinko-machine and not a world-wide videogame release, I just had to facepalm myself, asking the question why they keep doing so many poor decisions. Why leaving all those fans out in the cold and really start making Castlevania mean something. This void of “lots of fancy things, but no substance” started right here...

Konami are turning their wheels a little bit too late and too slow until now. After they got rid of Hideo Kojima (Who I believe was thinking of the international-market rather than the domestic one), Konami had only one thing on their minds: Making money quick and domestically. No more wasted time on translations, straight for the gambling crowd. No need to write interesting stories. No need to introduce kids to this adult material. They wanted to earn it back as fast as possible. But we all see their decisions put them on the map as a “black-company”, who mistreat their staff, shaming them out in the office for overstaying their lunch-breaks. Moving staff from one business to another, from a programmer to a Konami-fitness Center-staff, or as a toilet-cleaner at a Konami-owned pachinko-slot gambling hall. The management of the company has been horrendous for the full-time employee. I’m glad I was not part of these later projects and only wrote stuff for them for Pro Evolution Soccer series from 2009-2012. (My work on 2010-2012 was unfortunately un-credited work. :(

Metal Gear Solid V - The Phantom Pain In My Ass

When the playable teaser called Metal Gear Solid - Ground Zeroes, came out on the PS3 and later on the PS4, it was an introduction for the new graphics engine designed by Hideo Kojima’s team, simply called The FOX-Engine. Basically this “game” was more of a demo rather than a full-product. But it looked great and with a fantastic score by Akihiro Honda, Ludvig Forssell and Harry Gregson-Williams, it had everything going for it to become something really awesome. It became a standard approach from Hideo Kojima now to produce “Playable Teasers” to show a great concept while offering a 3-4 hour short campaign, showing off the engine’s graphical capabilities.

Still, the story was under progress and I knew early on that Hideo Kojima really didn’t want to do it after he always felt that Metal Gear Solid 4 was final. But here is the curse of the die-hard fans, and I’m sorry to say it. No matter how many Iron Man movies Marvel crams out, at the 3rd movie, I started to feel “This does not feel like Iron Man anymore”. But that’s what the fans wanted and is a standard in the movie industry. Always produce a trilogy. Indiana Jones has always been the 3 movies from 1981-1989. The 4th one doesn’t really need to be called Indiana Jones at all. It was there I felt, just like with Metal Gear Solid V, they were beating a DEAD RACE HORSE.

I can’t deny the talents on display for Metal Gear Solid - Ground Zeroes. It laid down some really cool foundations for the gameplay, but I still believe the better game-series for stealth was beaten by the likes of Splinter Cell and most recently Thief. Stealth in MGS has always felt a little bit childish and I only really enjoyed MGS 1, MGS 2, tried to play MGS 3 (still have it one my Vita!) and will try to finish it. MGS 3 has felt like the TRUE Zeroes experience, with the inception of the story and lore behind the cloning of Big Boss. MGS 4 finally brought it all to a great finale and I felt, there is NOTHING more to tell. MGS 1, 2 and 4 is the Trilogy, MGS 3 serves as the Prequel and I see nothing wrong with that.

Mission - Erase Kojima’s Legacy

The making of MGS V - The Phantom Pain is kinda true to it’s title. Can you feel the nostalgia? Or are we just imagining the sensation of a Metal Gear Solid game past it’s prime? The missing link? The missing limb? And with the worlds biggest cop-out  of everything that had to do with story was completely missing.

Each mission is playing out every time the same, with an intro to a TV-show, giving away massive spoilers to who would appear in the mission, you do your thing (not so much of story, just a “go-here, do that approach, sneak back out, head to pick-up) rinse and repeat. I wonder how much of this was Kojima’s fault? I don’t think he was up to it. I’m sure he fought for more story but the big heads didn’t want to listen to what makes a MGS game a MGS game. The new management had now already played the hand to disown the man who put Konami on the map for games since the mid 80s.

The game is no longer marketed like before. The tagline “A Hideo Kojima Game” no longer exists and will never be part of Konami’s mission of erasing the person who gave them their fame and the recognition that a game carrying the name Konami was a brand of quality for any gamer out there. Me myself, personally only played PES because of the stellar animations, but its recently since 2012, I stopped playing the series. FIFA had already cheapened itself, PES likewise. Updating the graphics, but the same old animations have been recycled back to the PES3 days. Maybe there’s been an update in the collision engine, but otherwise everything stayed the same, with the huge amount of data collected from previous years of motion-capture, why do it all over when its all about the brand recognition? Saving money on processes wherever possible. Simple Math. And here it is. MGS V is not a MGS game.

We already knew it was going to be a massive budget behind the game of MGS V. But what can Konami do to save money on MGS V? They already have the Fox Engine running from Ground Zeroes. The assets for “Snake” (I’ll let you know why I put quotation-marks around it) and standard models will extend somewhat. Oh, yes, let’s save money on a character that doesn’t speak (Quiet), over-sexualize the character to start a fan-base of people who just dig character design, animated a sexy “shower” routine for the character for boys to go nuts over. What about voice? Let’s not really try to sync the voices to the mouths. Let’s have the guy from “24″ record his performances onto tape-logs. Kiefer Sutherland would have been a good “Snake”, but I understand now that you are not “SNAKE”. The game explains pretty soon at the end that you are just a Medic and all the tapes you’ve been listening to is the original Big Boss. You never where the character of Snake. Even though this all could have been handled better, Konami wanted to save money wherever possible. We also knew David Hayter was not asked or put forward to return as “The Voice of Snake”. But in this case I start to wonder myself, David Hayter might have dodged the biggest bullet in the most expensive, commercial and very controversial game of all time once Konami decided to kill everything that built up their reputation.

Even during production Kojima managed to start working on PT. The game Konami “silenced” after it was released on the PS-store. Guillermo Del Toro and his friendship with Hideo Kojima’s dream-game was put on ice. All because Kojima was about to get frozen out of the company that was according to Konami “Wasting too much bloody money”. I might get blacklisted for saying this, but once the new management started to mess with the other IPs for just domestic/gambling market, that’s where everything went sideways. Konami wasn’t treating their heritage with respect.

It took them 7 years to realize their mistake! And now, for those who wants to be part of 3rd party developers who would get a crack at a new Castlevania, a new Metal Gear Solid (remake I hope), Konami has realized that the only way they will survive (Yeah, Metal Gear Solid Survive killed them HARD) is to let other’s take over. Maybe my dream of scoring a Metal Gear Solid game would be somewhat more possible now rather than working in the confined space of limitations posed by the higher ups at Konami. Let 3rd party developers breathe life into the IPs because I know there are smarter ways to tell a story and I would gladly like to see the return of David Hayter in the seat, without having to deal with the blank-face approach that he was faced with every time he had to audition for Snake in MGS 2, 3 and 4! David Hayter is a fantastic writer, actor and voice-actor. He has the chops and I think we are all ready for either a re-make or a better follow up to MGS 2 and the time between that one and MGS 4.

[arks-self-ship]

I’ve mentioned before I cannot stop thinking about Nighty cause my brain is like “holy fuck we’ve been together roughly 6 years” so here’s a rough timeline of us

Please note this is our world life, and is very different from my real life and my experiences have been different. Some pieces have changed over the years to fit who I am (especially with my transition). Some details will vary on occasion but Nighty is the only one who I have an actual guideline for us

(Huge lore dump below)

2014- first meet, I was new to the institute and wasn’t really good at fighting and had trouble making friends with everyone. Kurt asked for my help setting up a prank on Jean cause I happened to be walking by and we started talking and found out we shared an interest in games and listened to a lot of the same music. Ended up being good friends and I started hanging out with him and kitty quite a bit, but wasn’t real close with the rest of the team because of how shy I was. Already knew I was a guy and had hormone blockers and a binder, my uniform had a compressor which was a lot safer and ended up wearing that under my clothes sometimes instead. Wasn’t yet ready to cut my hair to short yet. Depression had started before I even joined the team and was dealing with a  lot of personal stuff. The professor had helped me change my name legally before even joining which was nice

2015- Starting opening up to the team and getting closer with everyone and made some friends at school who were Kurt’s friends but didn’t really have any friends of my own yet. Was getting a lot better at fighting and getting a handle on my powers, and discovered I could use emotional energy to create real bursts later in the year. Started getting really into my art around this time too. Kurt was apparently starting to question his sexuality too but tried not to think about it. Came out to Kurt that I was trans at this point, later in the year told Kitty too. 

Around the middle of the year Kurt kissed me for the first time, we had just been hanging out in my room laying on my bed talking honestly about ourselves and having a nice conversation about our lives. I was caught off guard and didn’t kiss back and he panicked and teleported away. It was a couple days before we really had a chance to be alone and I kissed him back finally, and we ended up talking for a long time about what this meant for us. We ended up being like “We’re still best friends, but now there’s some new stuff to that”, and Kurt wasn’t ready to come out yet so we dated secretly and only Kitty knew. Kurt identified as Bi for a time while he sorted out his feelings but ended up realizing he was just gay late in the year. I was still ace but knew i was bi-romantic

2016- The Professor was really helpful and said he would help pay for any transitioning I wanted to do, as long as I did my best on the team and in school. Ended up telling the rest of the team one by one that I was trans, not everyone really got it but they were supportive and nice about it. Really started to get better at my powers and finally cut my hair real short and had a mohawk for a bit until I settled for an undercut later in the year. Made some friend’s of my own who tended to be the “scary kids” but were actually super chill and played a lot of video games. Ended up getting top surgery as soon as I could.

Same year mutantkind got exposed to the world and I had trouble going back to school with that going on and my depression hit hard, but Kurt was there to help. My new friends thought it was super cool I had powers tho and were a nice support system

Early in the year we had accidentally gotten caught kissing by Toad, who I ended up making him swear to secrecy under the threat of beating the shit out of him. Turns out, he was gay too! So as long as he didn’t tell anyone about us we wouldn’t tell anyone about him, but we ended up on pretty decent terms with him later on. Later though R/ogue borrowed Kurt’s powers in a fight and learned we were dating, but she also promised not to tell anyone. We were also pretty sure Logan, the professor and Jean all knew but weren’t sure (they did)

2017- Pretty chill year, until towards the end where me and Kurt got caught kissing at school by a kid we didn’t know and the news spread through the school really fast. It was really rough on him, but I ended up bringing him into my new non-mutant friend group cause they were mostly queer too. The team learning about it was… awkward to say the least but they we’re pretty chill about it. Because of this Kurt ended up coming out to his parents when he went home for Christmas that year right before he came back. It was rough at first and they didn’t really get it but were the awkward kind of supportive. I mean their kid was already blue and teleported, being gay wasn’t that shocking.

Me and Kurt had gotten really serious around this time, and were talking about our future together, but we were avoiding talking about college because we were scared we’d want to go separate places and long distance was really scary

2018- Senior year was rough for both of us, my grades were doing terribly and the depression didn’t help and everyone knowing about us being together and being mutants was really not helping. If we didn’t have each other I don’t think we could have made it through it, and I probably would have dropped out. I barely graduated but only because Jean helped tutor me and secretly some of my friends did some of the work for me so I could focus on things that were more of a priority. Graduating was so nice, but I suffered severe burnout that summer, and did nothing almost the entire time. Kurt also got an upgraded holowatch at this time that didn’t constantly break on him and was way more durable. I also figured out how to make the emotional energy take shape, easiest things are simple objects and its usually weapons (Swords, bats, bow, ect)

A couple things with our relationship did happen though, that Christmas I went to go meet Kurt’s family. They were super nice, but really awkward and it was nice to get away for a bit. While we were there we ended up finally talking about college and our plans. I knew I wanted to learn psychology and Kurt still wasn’t sure of his plans, but we ended up deciding to do the community college to get our general classes done first and that would buy us more time to figure things out.

2019- Took a gap year together and ended up traveling together across the country in a van. It was a great way to de-stress from everything and finally get a break from being superheroes too. The whole thing brought us a lot closer and Kurt tried to propose at one point while we were traveling, I ended up saying no but in a more of a “Not yet” kind of way, because of how young we are. We talked about it, and agreed we would get engaged when we were a bit older but we kept the rings as promise rings for that one day when we would try that again. We also ended up getting our hair streaks not long before we went back to the institute as a surprise for everyone, plus we thought it was cute.

Please note that the continuity of if there is a virus in this AU shifts based on what I’m feeling for the day cause sometimes I wanna daydream about going out 😔

2020- oh my god this year has been crazy, we started college together and finally being able to be out has been so nice. Or it was until ya know… we got hit with a plague (yup we have that here too) and have mostly been doing classes online which is a shame. We were both looking forward to campus life and being locked in the institute all the time is a nightmare, especially with all the new students that we’ve been roped into helping teach… But hey, hopefully things will be getting better soon!

2020 revised- This year has been wild, there’s so many new kids at the institute now! The professor keeps roping us in to help teach. Being back on the team though is super nice! Although we do have a new member, Laura, who Logan just apparently brought out of nowhere even tho she was the girl who attacked us a couple years back? She’s kinda odd but she’s trying her best (I think…). College has been interesting, some of my friends ended up moving away but some stayed in town which it’s been nice having classes with them.

Some things have stayed the same in both versions tho!

Kurt’s birth mom (M//ystique) has finally been working to turn over a new leaf. She’s definitely not a good guy but she’s not working with the bad guys anymore? Which i guess is progress?? She’s been trying to reconnect with Kurt and R/ogue, it’s been slow cause R/ogue doesn’t want anything to do with her really but Kurt’s talked to her a few times and they’ve gotten lunch a couple times. I guess after the apocalypse thing it kinda made her think about things, and then Kurt and me being gone for so long kinda made her really reconsider things.

It seems most of the brotherhood is still in town tho, which has caused some problems and they have a couple new members too which has been… a problem. M//agneto has been laying low though, which has been nice so the brotherhood hasn’t done anything to bad.

Being back at the school is kinda nice though, I missed being around my friends and luckily the school has had renovations and expansions so there’s more rooms and the senior/core team rooms have their own bathrooms! Which, holy shit is so nice…

Who knows what the future holds for us, but as long as we’re together I know we’ll be fine

[deascheck]

A Day in the Life of Sam and Dean Winchester

Summary: Sam and Dean end up in a parallel universe; the Trickster is back at it again. The reader is the key to the brothers getting home.

Word Count: 3964

Triggers: none…?? let me know if there’s a trigger I should have included! I’ll change it!

A/N: Any and all feedback is always appreciated!! Comments, likes, or reblogs welcomed! Thank you thank you to the amazing @that-one-gay-girl for beta'ing!!

Chapter Two

The three of you stood in the Men of Letters office staring around in awe. There was so much there, and it was such a big room.

“Why don’t we each take a wall?” suggested Sam. You and Dean nodded resolutely and the three of you split up, Dean going to the left, you going to the back wall, and Sam going to the right.

You slowly scanned the files and books looking for anything that looked even remotely related to inter-dimensional travel spells. The seconds turned into minutes, which turned into hours. Finally, you stood when you were about halfway done and stretched your neck, which had a kink in it. You cracked it loudly and sighed in relief.

“What do you boys say we order dinner? Or go get some?” you asked. “It’s pretty late, I think it’s around nine o’clock.”

“I think delivery is a great idea,” interjected Sam, over Dean’s vigorous nod at going out. “Don’t forget, people here will think we are Jared and Jensen, and we don’t want to draw attention to ourselves.”

Dean sighed dejectedly. “You’re right. Delivery it is. How about pizza?”

You smiled. “Pizza okay with you Sam?” At his nod, you said, “It’s settled then. Pizza it is. Let’s do Papa Johns - keep it simple?”

Again, the boys agreed so you got your phone out and dialed Papa John’s number. You requested two large pepperoni pizzas. You didn’t particularly care for pepperoni, but you would pick them off and give them to the brothers. “Ok, it’ll be about 45 minutes,” you announced as you got off the phone. “Have you guys had any luck yet?”

Sam answered first, “Not yet, but I’ll tell you what. This is fascinating stuff. Some of this, the lore, I’ve never seen before! And we live in the freaking Men of Letters bunker!”

Dean also responded, “I’ve got nada. But we’ll keep looking.”

You looked between the brothers and said, “Well, I’m going to go upstairs and take a break until the pizza gets here. You’re welcome to join me. I’m just going to turn some tunes on and relax. My neck and back are killing me from bending over for so long.” Sam and Dean looked at each other and decided to follow you up the stairs, Sam was careful to close the door behind him and pocket the key in his chest pocket.

Once upstairs, you turned on your CD player, which held 100 CDs, and checked which CDs were in it. Dozens of classic rock CDs and CDs with even older tunes, were nestled in each holder. You clicked it to start with the first CD and turned the volume up. There were four massive speakers in the room, so the sound was blaring by the time you stopped turning the volume button.

Sam and Dean joined you in the living room and flopped onto the large couch fitted against one of the walls. Each of them was bopping to the music in their own way, Sam’s knee following the rhythm and Dean’s head nodding to the beat. You smiled. Feeling brave, you plopped between them and sighed contentedly. You could get used to this. The three of you stayed like that, sitting in silence, enjoying the music. After about 30 minutes had gone by, you reluctantly stood up and turned the music down. “We’ve gotta be able to hear the door when the pizza gets here,” you joked with a grin.

Not five minutes later, you heard a rap on the door. Excusing yourself from the room, you met the delivery driver at the front. Giving him the cash and tip, you thanked him and shut the door, locking it behind you.

You returned to the living room and found what was quickly turning into your favorite brothers sitting in silence, each sitting with their arm extended on the back of the sofa, reaching for the middle, their heads resting back on the cushions. You almost didn’t have the heart to rouse them, but you announced, “Eat up, my friends! Chow time!”

The boys instantly shot their heads up and Dean got a huge smile on his face when he saw the pizza boxes in your hands. You chuckled and set the boxes down on the coffee table in front of them. Turning away, you headed for the kitchen to grab some paper towels to use as napkins. You didn’t want to use the cloth ones, since your housekeeper wouldn’t have any other laundry to do. Ripping the towels from the holder, you didn’t hear Sam come up behind you, his tall frame towering above you.

“Thank you for the pizza, Y/N,” Sam said. You jolted, surprised by his voice being so close behind you. “A-and t-thank you for believing us about being trapped in this parallel world. I know it’s a big bite to swallow, but you’re literally saving our lives as we know them.” He gave you a big dimpled smile, his eyes soft and grateful.

You returned his smile with a genuine one of your own. “If there’s anything I can do to help, I’m going to do it. I’m going to get you boys home.” You said it with so much determination, you surprised even yourself. The two of you stared at each other, sharing a moment, before you shook your head to bring yourself back to reality and started walking back.

The two of you returned to the living room to find Dean chowing down on his second piece of pizza. Smirking, you handed him a paper towel to wipe his face with. He muttered what sounded like a “thank you” from around the massive bite of pizza and wiped his mouth.

As the three of you ate, you picking off the pieces of pepperoni and handing them over to Dean, you reflected on your day. If someone had told you yesterday that you would be brought into a day in the life of Sam and Dean Winchester, you would have laughed in their face. But now? You wondered how much about the world of monsters and men that you didn’t know. You knew it was a lot, since your parents had hidden the Men of Letters office from you, but you’d seen the show, Supernatural. You were sure you weren’t an amateur when it came to monster knowledge.

It didn’t take long for the pizzas to be devoured, primarily by the two large, hungry men and when they were gone, you picked up the boxes and put them in the trash can in the kitchen. When you came back, you saw Sam wiping crumbs off the coffee table into his hand. What a thoughtful gesture, you thought. He put the offending crumbs in the trash can that was next to the couch and said, “Shall we head back down and knock out the rest of the files and books?”

You looked at Dean, who sighed, but nodded. “I hate research,” he complained.

You smirked at him again and answered, “C’mon! Let’s do it! Let’s find a way to get you fellas home.”

The three of you tramped back down the stairs, and Sam opened the secret door back up. Stepping into the room again, you inhaled deeply and practically smelled the history that went with the room.

You headed for the back wall, bending down towards the shelf you’d left off with. Making your way down the bookshelf, you found yourself engrossed in some of the lore you were reading. The last shelf you got to held lore about witches, which you thought maybe would be on the right track, since witches cast spells. Pulling out a file that looked promising, you scanned its contents quickly, a small piece of paper catching your eye. It was a spell of some sort, but you weren’t sure what it was for. It was paperclipped to another page, so you lifted the spell to read the page’s contents. It was headlined, “A way to another world?”

“GUYS!!” you yelled. “I think I’ve got it!!” You couldn’t contain your excitement as you met Sam and Dean at the table. You put the open file down and triumphantly said, “How’s that for some damn research?”

Sam and Dean were bent intently over the documents, scanning through them eagerly. Sam absentmindedly put his hand out for a high five at your exclamation.

You rolled your eyes at the fact that he really wasn’t paying attention, but you smacked his hand anyway.

Sam spoke first, his eyes speeding through the text. “It says here that with this sigil we can get through to another dimension. The question is, how do we control what dimension it is?”

You spoke up at this point, holding another file in your hands. “I think this spell combines with the sigil. I guess it calls for something from your dimension and blood from mine, so maybe a piece of your clothing, or a hair or two from one of you.”

Dean grimaced at the mention of pulling a hair out, and it made you chuckle, thinking about the big badass he was, wincing at the thought of hair being pulled out.

Your thoughts were racing. You already couldn’t imagine life going back to what it was. Your job was insignificant compared to what Sam and Dean had uncovered about your life and history. You didn’t fit in here anyway. Maybe, just maybe, there was a way you could go with them. No one would miss you here. Even the housekeeper would find another job to supplement this one once you disappeared. You felt a deep longing to go with them, and you weren’t sure how to put it into words before the brothers prepared the sigil.

You cleared your throat. “Ahem. Umm Sam? Dean? I have a proposal. So, I was, uh, thinking that um, maybe I could go with you.” Your voice was barely above a whisper, but you knew that they’d heard you.

You saw the brothers exchange a wordless glance, clearly communicating without the need to talk. Sam had almost a pleading look on his face if you didn’t know better, while Dean’s was more of a stern facial expression. You could tell Sam was asking Dean if you could come with them.

Seeing the debate on their faces, you tried to further your argument. “I could bring as much Men of Letters stuff with me as I could. It could go to your bunker to keep safe and for you to use. And I’m a Legacy. I’d be more useful in your world than in mine- being able to research lore and look up cases. I can’t do that here, I mean, you said it yourself. The monsters in my world have been eradicated.”

You saw Dean’s eyebrows twitch, as if you had a point. Your heart soared with hope. The boys decided at that moment to allow you to go. You could see it on their faces. Then Sam spoke and said, “Of course Y/N. You’re welcome to come with us.” He graced you with a quick smile. “But know that our world is much more dangerous than yours. There are monsters behind every corner, and they will not hesitate to hurt you.”

That didn’t matter to you. If you knew the brothers based on the series at all, you knew that they’d work to prevent you from hunting for as long as possible. “I know you’ll keep me safe,” you said softly. You were talking about both brothers, but you were looking at Sam when you said it.

He held your gaze for a moment, a peculiar look in his eyes. The moment was over almost as soon as it started.

“It’s decided then,” said Dean. “Let’s do this.”

You went upstairs to your room where there were tons of boxes, waiting for you to pack up your room. You never had, which you were grateful for, because you needed three boxes, one for each of your little group to take back to Sam and Dean’s world.

Returning, you handed each of them a box and said, “Choose carefully. Try to get stuff you don’t have back at your bunker.” The boys nodded and started browsing through the files and books once again, occasionally reaching and pulling one out to place in the box.

Once the boxes were full, you looked around. It felt like barely a dent had been made in the room, and you wished you could take more with you. Suddenly, you had a thought. “Guys, we need to do the sigil outside of the room. I don’t want to leave the bookshelf away from the wall and this door open for anyone to walk in on.”

Sam agreed, and said, “Maybe we can do it on the wall by the pool table. It’s a nice open wall, and then we can put everything back in place before we leave.” You could see the excitement building in both his and Dean’s eyes as the time drew nearer to draw the sigil.

You let Sam and Dean lead the way out of the room, wishing you’d discovered it a long time ago, so you’d been able to read everything in the room. But it wasn’t meant to be, you decided. Oh well. Maybe someday someone would discover the room in your house, but you doubted it, since you were taking the key with you. It was a reminder of your roots, what your family had as its legacy.

“Now, the spell says that the blood needs to come from something from this world,” Sam explained, once everyone was set. He and Dean looked at you.

“Well, I’ve got a knife Y/N can use,” stated Dean. You stared at him. You’d never intentionally cut yourself so deep as to allow blood to flow. You’d had your share of mental health issues, but had done nothing that would substantially hurt you.

Gulping, you grabbed the knife out of Dean’s extended hand and stared at your hand.

Sam brought you out of your reverie saying, “This is what the sigil looks like, Y/N. Once you cut your hand, use your other hand to start drawing this.” He brought out the piece of paper with a relatively simple looking sigil on it.

You nodded resolutely and braced yourself for the inevitable pain. Hesitating, you took one last long look around the room and realized you’d never see your house again. You sighed, but you knew deep down that you were making the right choice.

Without any more thought, you sliced your hand with the blade hard. Instantly blood started streaming out of the laceration. You took a step toward the wall and started using your fingertips to draw the sigil. It grossed you out at the amount of blood there was; there was more than enough for the sigil, and the blood was dripping on the floor. Sam wrapped a handkerchief around your hand gently, his fingers lingering on your hand a little longer than necessary. “The sigil looks really good,” he said. “I couldn’t have done it better myself.” You grinned proudly despite the sharp pain in your hand.

“Now we need a piece of hair from one of you to place on the sigil. Don’t forget we need a piece of your dimension too,” you reminded them.

Sam pulled a hair out of his head, rolling his eyes at Dean’s reluctance. He smeared it into the blood and stood there, looking at it. He then looked at you and Dean, his eyes lit with excitement.

Sam and Dean looked at each other. “Well, this is it,” said Dean. “Time to go home. Everyone got their box?”

Taking his cue, you and Sam picked up your boxes and nodded back to Dean. Dean nodded back.

Sam put the spell paper in one hand and balanced his large box on his other arm. He took a deep breath, recited the spell, put the paper in his jacket, and slammed his hand on the sigil.

Immediately, there was a bright light that started to ripple through the sigil. It spread away from the wall and began to encompass the three of you, engulfing you in its rays. There was a shockwave that felt like a blast and then you were standing in a large room with a lit table in the middle. Sam and Dean laughed incredulously.

“It worked. I can’t believe it worked! And it landed us back in the bunker! I don’t know how the hell it did that, but whatever, I’ll take it!” Dean rejoiced.

You smiled, your face lit up with joy. I can’t believe I’m here. I’m in another world with Sam and Dean Winchester. I must be dreaming! Your eyes took in everything they could around the room. The bookshelves, the table, the stairway that led to the entrance of the bunker, the lower room, the chairs, everything was just as you imagined it.

“Welcome back, boys!” you exclaimed. “I can’t believe I’m actually here!”

Sam set his box down on the table, and took yours from your arms. You were grateful, because it was getting heavy and you hadn’t been sure where to put it.

“Welcome to the bunker, Y/N,” Dean said. “Make yourself right at home.”

“Thank you! Oh my god, thank you for letting me come with you guys,” you gushed.

Sam grinned. “C’mon. I’ll give you a tour and let you pick a room.” You realized it was close to midnight- you hadn’t done the sigil work in your world until eleven forty-five pm and apparently it was the same here as it was there. You had no pajamas, no toothbrush, nothing. But you couldn’t be bothered with that in that moment.

“You mean… I can stay here?? With you two?” Your eyes were wide with excitement.

Sam and Dean exchanged a look and Dean imperceptibly nodded. Sam continued, “Of course Y/N. You’re a Legacy, after all.”

You could barely contain your glee as Sam walked you around the bunker, explaining what each room was, and what was in it. You picked a room in between Sam and Dean’s, wanting to be close to them without looking clingy. Suddenly, your excitement faded again as you thought about your lack of belongings.

“Sam… I have nothing. I have no clothes, no toiletries, no pictures.. nothing.”

“Don’t worry, Y/N,” Sam chided gently. “We’ll get you squared away. I’m sure Dean or I can take you out shopping for the things you need.”

You couldn’t help but hope it was Sam who took you, but you were excited to get to know both of them. “Ok,” you said simply, trying not to sound like you were fangirling. “Sounds good to me.”

Once you and Sam had found living places for all the files and books the three of you had brought back, since you two were the most into lore and research, you all sat down at the table in the main area of the bunker. You were too wound up to sleep. Dean was nursing a beer and had his feet up on the table, leaning back in his seat contentedly with his eyes shut.

You had found a book on shapeshifters that you thought looked fascinating, and was eagerly taking in every word. Sam was looking through a few of the new files, clearly determined to learn more about what monsters were out in the world.

The three of you stayed there for hours, with Dean occasionally getting up to get a new beer. Once it hit seven thirty, you suggested breakfast, your stomach rumbling at the thought. The boys agreed, and decided to go to their favorite diner.

You followed them to the garage, where you saw Baby. The beautiful black Chevy Impala. You couldn’t believe you were seeing her in real life. In awe, you ran your hand along her hood, reveling in the glory that was Baby. Dean grinned proudly and opened the backseat door for you. You eagerly slid in and Dean closed the door behind you. He and Sam got in the car and Baby roared to life.

As Dean drove, you put the window down and stuck your head right at the window’s opening. The breeze went through your hair like a massage. You were in heaven. Suddenly, you realized something. The boys had been sent to your world by someone. They hadn’t done it themselves. You mulled this over as the drive drew to a finish, with Dean pulling into a parking space in front of the diner.

The three of you sat down at a booth, but only you looked at a menu- the boys knew what they wanted. Once you’d ordered, you looked across the table at them and posed the question that had been in your mind since the start of the drive. “I want to know something. How did you boys end up in my world? Who sent you?”

Sam and Dean looked at each other and shrugged. “I don’t know, but I intend to find out. I don’t know what the point of our little excursion was,” said Sam.

Dean agreed. “Yeah, whatever dick sent us flying through time and space is in for it when we figure out who or what it is.”

“Where were y’all sent from?” you asked. “Like, where did you disappear from?”

“The bunker,” replied Sam. “Maybe that’s why we returned there.”

“Then maybe the best thing to do is- thank you,” you interrupted yourself as the waitress set down your food. “Maybe the best thing to do is to check around for signs of foul play, or clues left by whoever it was that sent you. Maybe they left a calling card, so to speak.”

Sam nodded, thinking hard. “If they left a clue, we can find a way to summon them, or track them, and then we can interrogate them about why they sent us away.”

The three of you ate in silence, devouring your food as you thought about what kind of person or being would have sent Sam and Dean to your world and why. When you had finished, Dean threw a small wad of cash on the table and stood up to leave.

You took out your wallet, to contribute, when Sam stopped you. “We’ve got it, Y/N,” he said with a smile. “Don’t worry about it. You’ll have plenty of time to be the one to pay,” he joked.

You smirked. “Alright then,” you said. “Let’s go home and get to work.”

Once you were back at the bunker, the three of you split up. You were checking the floor, the walls, cabinets, drawers, files, tables, all for clues. As you checked the kitchen, you heard Dean yell, “I got it! In the dungeon!”

Quickly, you made your way down to the dungeon, almost running full force into Sam who was right in front of you on the stairs. His arms reached behind him to steady you, making you blush as you found your chest right up against his back. The two of you managed to make your way down the stairs safely without any further incident. Dean was standing next to a wire bookshelf, holding something in his hand.

His face was grim as he extended his hand and opened it slowly. In his hand were three candy wrappers. Sam inhaled sharply, and said, “No… it can’t be.”

You knew from the show exactly what the wrappers meant. “The Trickster,” you said quietly.

Sam and Dean nodded.

“I think it’s time we summon our old friend and see what this little trip was all about,” said Dean.

[frankswildyears-blog]

BEAUTIFUL CASTLE IN SCOTLAND

This is a photo taken by Linden Hudson in Scotland not too far from Aberdeen.

Who is Linden Hudson?

CLASSICBANDS DOT COM said: “According to former roadie David Blayney in his book SHARP DRESSED MEN: sound engineer Linden Hudson co-wrote much of the material on the ZZ Top ELIMINATOR album.” (end quote)

(ZZ Top never opted to give Linden credit, which would have been THE decent thing to do. It would have helped Linden’s career as well. The band and management worked ruthlessly to take FULL credit for the hugely successful album which Linden had spent a good deal of time working on. Linden works daily to tell this story. Also, the band did not opt to pay Linden, they worked to keep all the money and they treated Linden like dirt. It was abuse. Linden launched a limited lawsuit, brought about using his limited resources which brought limited results and took years. No one should treat the co-writer of their most successful album like this. It’s just deeply fucked up.) +++ Hear the original ZZ Top ELIMINATOR writing/rehearsal tapes made by Linden Hudson and Billy Gibbons at: youtu.be/2QZ8WUTaS18 +++ Read Linden’s story of the making of the super-famous ZZ Top ELIMINATOR album at: www.flickr.com/people/152350852@N02/ +++ Follow this Wikipedia link and find Linden’s name throughout the article & read the album songwriter credits about halfway down at: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eliminator_%28album%29 +++ LICKLIBRARY DOT COM (2013 Billy Gibbons interview) ZZ TOP’S BILLY GIBBONS FINALLY ADMITTED: “the Eliminator sessions in 1983 were guided largely by another one of our associates, Linden Hudson, a gifted engineer, during the development of those compositions.” (end quote) (Gibbons admits this after 30 years, but offers Linden no apology or reparations for lack of credit/royalties) +++ MUSICRADAR DOT COM (2013 interview with ZZ Top’s guitarist Billy Gibbons broke 30 years of silence about Linden Hudson introducing synthesizers into ZZ Top’s sound.) Gibbons said: “This was a really interesting turning point. We had befriended somebody who would become an influential associate, a guy named Linden Hudson. He was a gifted songwriter and had production skills that were leading the pack at times. He brought some elements to the forefront that helped reshape what ZZ Top were doing, starting in the studio and eventually to the live stage. Linden had no fear and was eager to experiment in ways that would frighten most bands. But we followed suit, and the synthesizers started to show up on record.” (once again, there was no apology from ZZ Top or Billy Gibbons after this revelation). +++ TEXAS MONTHLY MAGAZINE (Dec 1996, By Joe Nick Patoski): "Linden Hudson floated the notion that the ideal dance music had 124 beats per minute; then he and Gibbons conceived, wrote, and recorded what amounted to a rough draft of an album before the band had set foot inside Ardent Studios." +++ FROM THE BOOK: SHARP DRESSED MEN – ZZ TOP (By David Blayney) : "Probably the most dramatic development in ZZ Top recording approaches came about as Eliminator was constructed. What had gone on before evolutionary; this change was revolutionary. ZZ Top got what amounted to a new bandsman (Linden) for the album, unknown to the world at large and at first even to Dusty and Frank." +++ CNET DOT COM: (question posed to ZZ Top): Sound engineer Linden Hudson was described as a high-tech music teacher on your highly successful "Eliminator" album. How much did the band experiment with electronic instruments prior to that album? +++ THE HOUSTON CHRONICLE, MARCH 2018: "Eliminator" had a tremendous impact on us and the people who listen to us," says ZZ Top’s bass player. Common band lore points to production engineer Linden Hudson suggesting that 120 beats per minute was the perfect rock tempo, or "the people’s tempo" as it came to be known. +++ FROM THE BOOK: SHARP DRESSED MEN – ZZ TOP by David Blayney: (page 227): "…the song LEGS Linden Hudson introduced the pumping synthesizer effect." +++ (Search Linden Hudson in the various ZZ Top Wikipedia pages which are related to the ELIMINATOR album and you will find bits about Linden. Also the main ZZ Top Wikipedia page mentions Linden. He’s mentioned in at least 7 ZZ Top related Wikipedia pages.) +++ FROM THE BOOK: SHARP DRESSED MEN – ZZ TOP By David Blayney: "Linden found himself in the position of being Billy’s (Billy Gibbons, ZZ Top guitarist) closest collaborator on Eliminator. In fact, he wound up spending more time on the album than anybody except Billy. While the two of them spent day after day in the studio, they were mostly alone with the equipment and the ideas." +++ FROM THE BOOK: BEER DRINKERS & HELL RAISERS: A ZZ TOP GUIDE (By Neil Daniels, released 2014): "Hudson reportedly had a significant role to play during the planning stages of the release (ELIMINATOR)." +++ FROM THE BOOK: ZZ TOP – BAD AND WORLDWIDE (ROLLING STONE PRESS, WRITTEN BY DEBORAH FROST): "Linden was always doing computer studies. It was something that fascinated him, like studio technology. He thought he might understand the components of popular songs better if he fed certain data into his computer. It might help him understand what hits (song releases) of any given period share. He first found out about speed; all the songs he studied deviated no more than one beat from 120 beats per minute. Billy immediately started to write some songs with 120 beats per minute. Linden helped out with a couple, like UNDER PRESSURE and SHARP DRESSED MAN. Someone had to help Billy out. Dusty and Frank didn’t even like to rehearse much. Their studio absence wasn’t really a problem though. The bass and drum parts were easily played with a synthesizer or Linn drum machine." (end quote) +++ FROM THE BOOK: "SHARP DRESSED MEN – ZZ TOP" BY DAVID BLAYNEY: "After his quantitative revelations, Linden informally but instantly became ZZ Top’s rehearsal hall theoretician, producer, and engineer." (end quote) +++ FROM THE BOOK: "ZZ TOP – BAD AND WORLDWIDE" (ROLLING STONE PRESS, BY DEBORAH FROST): "With the release of their ninth album, ELIMINATOR, in 1983, these hairy, unlikely rock heroes had become a pop phenomenon. This had something to do with the discoveries of a young preproduction engineer (Linden Hudson) whose contributions, like those of many associated with the band over the years, were never acknowledged." +++ FROM THE BOOK: ​SHARP DRESSED MEN – ZZ TOP (By DAVID BLAYNEY) : "The integral position Linden occupied in the process of building El​iminator was demonstrated eloquently in the case of song Under Pressure. Billy and Linden, the studio wizards, did the whole song all in one afternoon without either the bass player or drummer even knowing it had been written and recorded on a demo tape. Linden synthesized the bass and drums and helped write the lyrics; Billy did the guitars and vocals." +++ FROM THE BOOK: "TRES HOMBRES – THE STORY OF ZZ TOP" BY DAVID SINCLAIR (Writer for the Times Of London): "Linden Hudson, the engineer/producer who lived at Beard’s house (ZZ’s drummer) had drawn their attention to the possibilities of the new recording technology and specifically to the charms of the straight drumming pattern, as used on a programmed drum machine. On ELIMINATOR ZZ Top unveiled a simple new musical combination that cracked open a vast worldwide market. +++ FROM THE BOOK: "SHARP DRESS MEN – ZZ TOP" BY DAVID BLAYNEY: "ELIMINATOR went on to become a multi-platinum album, just as Linden had predicted when he and Billy were setting up the 124-beat tempos and arranging all the material. Rolling Stone eventually picked the album as number 39 out of the top 100 of the 80’s. Linden Hudson in a fair world shoud have had his name all over ELIMINATOR and gotten the just compensation he deserved. Instead he got ostracized." +++ FROM THE BOOK: ​SHARP DRESSED MEN – ZZ TOP by DAVID BLAYNEY: "He (Linden) went back with the boys to 1970 when he was working as a radio disc jocky aliased Jack Smack. He was emcee for a show ZZ did around that time, and even sang an encore tune with the band, perhaps the only person ever to have that honor." (side note: this was ZZ Top’s very first show). +++ FROM THE BOOK: "SHARP DRESSED MEN – ZZ TOP" BY DAVID BLAYNEY: "Linden remained at Frank’s (ZZ Top drummer) place as ZZ’s live-in engineer throughout the whole period of ELIMINATOR rehearsals, and was like one of the family… as he (Linden) worked at the controls day after day, watching the album (ELIMINATOR) take shape, his hopes for a big step forward in his production career undoubtably soared. ELIMINATOR marked the first time that ZZ Top was able to rehearse an entire album with the recording studio gadgetry that Billy so loved. With Linden Hudson around all the time, it also was the first time the band could write, rehearse, and record with someone who knew the men and the machines. ZZ Top was free to go musically crazy, but also musically crazy like a fox. Linden made that possible too." +++ FROM THE BOOK "ZZ TOP – BAD AND WORLDWIDE" (ROLLING STONE PRESS, BY DEBORAH FROST, WRITER FOR ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE): "… SHARP DRESSED MAN which employed Hudson’s 120 beat-per-minute theory. The feel, the enthusiasm, the snappy beat and crisp clean sound propelled ELIMINATOR into the ears and hearts of 5 million people who previously could have cared less about the boogie band of RIO GRANDE MUD." +++ THE GREATEST ROCK REBRAND OF ALL TIME (by Jason Miller): "Sound engineer Linden Hudson researched the tempos at which the most popular rock tracks in the charts had been recorded. His data showed that there was something very special about 120 beats to a minute. Gibbons decided to record pretty much the whole of ZZ Top’s new album at that tempo. The result? 1983’s Eliminator. It was named after Gibbons’ Ford Coupé; it had been created through a unique combination of creative collaboration and data mining. And it was about to take the world by storm." +++ ULTIMATECLASSICROCK DOT COM: "This new melding of styles was encouraged by Hudson, who served as a kind of pre-producer for ​EL LOCO … … Hudson helped construct ZZ Top drummer Frank Beard’s home studio, and had lived with him for a time. That led to these initial sessions, and then a closer collaboration on 1983’s ​ELIMINATOR. +++ FIREDOGLAKE DOT COM: "I like Billy Gibbons’ guitar tone quite a lot, but I lost all respect for them after reading how badly they fucked over Linden Hudson (the guy who was the brains behind their move to include synthesizers and co-wrote most of their career-defining Eliminator record)." +++ EMAIL FROM A ZZ TOP FAN TO LINDEN (One Of Many): "I write you today about broken hearts, one is mine and one is for you. I have been a ZZ Top fan since I was 6 years old. I purchased ELIMINATOR vinyl from Caldors in Connecticut with the $20 my grandma gave me for my birthday. I will spare the #1 fan epic saga of tee shirts, harassing Noreen at the fan club via phone weekly for years, over 40 shows attended. Posters, non stop conversation about the time I have spent idolizing this band, but more Billy G, as he has seemed to break free of the Lone Wolf shackles and it became more clear this was his baby. In baseball I was Don Mattingly’s #1 fan, Hershel Walker in football, Billy Gibbons in music. What do these individuals have in common? They were role models. Not a DUI, not a spousal abuse, not a drug overdose, not a cheater. Until I read your web page. I read Blayney’s book around 1992 or so, I was in middle school and I was familiar with your name for a long time. I didn’t realize you suffered so greatly or that your involvement was so significant. It pains me to learn my idol not only cheated but did something so wrong to another being. I now know this is where tall tales and fun loving bullshit and poor morals and ethics are distinguished and where I would no longer consider myself to look up to Billy. I love to joke and I love credit but I have always prided myself on ethics and principles… I hold them dear. I wanted to say, the snippet of UNDER PRESSURE you played sounded very new wave and I may like it more than the finished product. Well that’s all. You have reached ZZ Top’s biggest fan and I can let others know. Bummer. Cheers and good luck. James."​ +++ VINYLSTYLUS DOT COM: Much of Eliminator was recorded at 124bpm, the tempo that’s considered perfect for dance music by the band’s associate Linden Hudson. An aspiring songwriter, former DJ and – at the time – drummer Frank Beard’s house-sitter, Hudson’s involvement in the recording of the album would come back to haunt them. Despite assisting Gibbons with the pre-production and developing of the material that would end up on both El Loco and Eliminator, his contribution wasn’t credited when either record was released. +++ INFOMORY DOT COM: ‘Eliminator’ is a studio album of the American rock band ZZ Top. It was released on March 23, 1983 and topped the charts worldwide. Its lyrics were co-written by the band’s sound engineer Linden Hudson while the band denied it. +++ MUSICMISCELLANEOUS DOT COM: (ELIMINATOR ALBUM): However, despite the album credits bass-player Dusty Hill and drummer Frank Beard were replaced during the recording process by synthesizers and a drum machine programmed by engineer Linden Hudson, who allegedly co-wrote much of the music with Gibbons despite receiving no credit at the time. Gibbons would later say of Hudson that “he was a gifted songwriter and had production skills that were leading the pack at times. He brought some elements to the forefront that helped reshape what ZZ Top were doing”. Hudson did no less than show the band how to stay relevant in an age where three guys from Texas with long beards (except famously for Frank Beard) and blues licks were one of the last things the contemporary market was demanding.

Posted by lindenhud1 on 2018-01-19 03:34:44

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