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drowninghell · 1 year

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Surviving the apocalypse together

Unedited

Leonardo x fem reader

I’ve been inspired by the last of us okay 😭

Warnings: violence, death , apocalyptic plot, minors dn

“ Leo! Leo! Please we have to go!” Her fingers clawed at her partners thick scaled forearm, trembling , blood and dust already caking her features. He was distressed, desperation clouding his face as he tried to lift the rubble. Unmoving the cement stayed blocking his way to his brothers, his family. The world had gone mad. His teeth grit together , veins popping from his forehead as he put his all into it. Fire casting a warm light across both their features. Close enough that the heat stung.

Everyone was running in different directions, cars crashing into one another. The Nypd was trying to halt the movement of people out of the city. To contain the spread so it would seem.

From the corner of her eye she seen it. The sounds had become ingrained into her head.

The clicks, the shrieky groans. As it took notice of the two of them, lifting its head from its recent meal. “ Leo! Leo! Please darling please we’ll find them. We gotta live! We gotta get out of the city “ Using all her force to pull him, to try drag him from the rubble. The clicker started to approach , getting faster and faster. A strangled cry wracked her throat, she couldn’t leave him and he wouldn’t move. She didn’t want to die, not at their frothing mouths. Both her arms wrapped around his thick bicep as she pulled and hauled.

And just like that he snapped out of it, although her brute force wasn’t enough to move him, her cries were. God, he had to think. Hearing the approaching steps he stood straight and in the blink of an eye had taken the head from the shoulders of the runner , in one foul swoop.

He was back, a sigh of relief from his soulmate as she visibly relaxed. He took her head in his big hands and rested their foreheads together. A thick thumb caressing her bloodied cheek. So much tension and worry strung up in his muscles, tears and anxiety fresh in his eyes. A strong kiss was pressed to her forehead. In that moment the screaming died out, that one simple moment.

The infected were getting louder the closer they got , seeing them around his shoulder(y/n) began to pull him in the opposite direction. Eyes widening in sheer Terror. Taking her hand in his they took off running. Through the streets of new york , the mass of bodies was moving everywhere, some infected , some not. All they knew now was they couldn’t help anyone. No one could be trusted.

(Y/n) struggled to keep up with Leonardo , struggled to dodge the infected , the cops , the living. Side street after side street until finally hitting a Main road. Tilting a head above the planes could be seen dropping from the sky. Her lungs burned and her throat felt like it was coated in blood. She was crying as she ran. Crying as she watched all the people reaching out and begging her for help whilst being feasted upon by the runners. Leonardo had his lips pressed into a thin line. Guilt knawing at him as he tugged her along, he couldn’t help them now, no one could.

The blue clad turtle could feel her struggle, her weight heavy in his hands pulling her behind him like a dead weight. She was struggling to keep up with his great steps.

as he looked over his shoulder to check on Her, his eyes broadening in sickening horror, falling from above, a chopper, hurtling right in their direction. Without a moment of hesitation he grabbed (y/n) , threw her up into his arms and sprinted.

It was the shrapnel that hit first, then the shock wave. The pair hit the ground like a tonne of bricks. Being thrown forward from the force of the crashi into the cement. Luckily they weren’t among the people crushed.

(Y/n) pulled herself from beneath Leonardo and dusted him off, he had shielded her from most of the damage. His shell was cracked in more ways than one, his arm was clearly broken and a massive shard of metal lay embedded in his thigh.

“ no, no, no, no” she whispered, blood poured down her face , Leonardo was pretty banged up, and she didn’t know how far she could carry him.

“ go.” He said. Not a moments hesitation, one look of his injuries and he knew he wasn’t going anywhere. His voice wracked with sadness and what she felt was fear , she had never heard him sound afraid. Not her fearless. “ no.” She answered, just as firm. Trying to lift his non damaged arm to throw over her shoulder.

“Listen to me (y/n)! You can’t carry me! Go!” His voice was cracking but there was clear conviction. “ I’m not leaving you!” She continued to throw his arm, only for Leo to do something he’s never done to her before , with his good arm her gave her a hard shove. “ go! Get out of here!” He hissed, trying to muster as much venom as he could.

She hit the ground from the force he shoved her with, her mouth agape as she pushed herself to her feet once again. “ no, please Leo, please”

“Run! Get out of here!” He spat, Carnage was all around them, frantic she looked and searched , desperately looking for some sort of solution.

Then, something caught her eye and she took one long look at her darling dearest. Sobs wracked her body as she leaned forward , picking his katana from the ground and giving him a kiss on the top of his head.Then turning on her heel and running in the opposite direction.

It was like this was happening to him in slow motion, he wanted to call out, ‘ don’t leave me please’. He wanted to be the one that could be saved, maybe just this once.

The minute her back was turned that fearless, self sacrificing persona fell to nothing and he cried, he cried like a little baby as he watched her retreat into the chaos without a second glance back. Awe how his heart climbed up his throat, how his hand shook as he dragged his barley functioning body to be leaning against a wall, the pain was agonising as he grit his teeth together, a bloodcurdling groan left his lips as he pulled his leg up. Hissing a calming breath between his teeth, It looked bad, god it looked so bad.

Pulling his last katana from the sheath he readied himself to go out fighting. The terrapins mind travelled to his brothers, to his father. To (y/n). He was all alone in the end. No one to tell his story or to sing songs about how he died fighting.

He was glad.

There were no stories told about someone who was so afraid their hands trembled holding the sword they where a master at wielding.

Would his brothers ever wonder about him?

Would (y/n.) god, he wished they got out.

Clambering over the burning wreck the infected narrowed in on him. Inhaling a long sigh he readied himself, flailing towards him with such a anger, such a ferocity. They’re barley functioning bodies hurtling closer, he lifted his katana, a look of defeat all over his countenance.

An inch out from him and a van knocked them all over like a bowling ball to the lane pins. Reversing and then driving back over them for good measure.

The double doors swung open and there stood (y/n) , her brows knitted together in determination and she hopped out, moving as quickly as she could before another one of the living tried to pirate her stolen property.

Upon seeing her , he broke. His arms falling limp by his side, the adrenaline finally washing out of him“ you really think I’d leave you eh darling?” She lightened, her voice quivering, the fresh blood didn’t go unnoticed. he let her help him to his feet , she guided him to the double doors and he crawled in.

She slammed the doors behind him.

Before he knew it they where flying through the crowded streets, (y/n) in full protection mode. In the past hour she had experienced more heartbreak than she had in her entire life, in an hour she had began to harden, harden as she drove past people screaming and waving for help as she flew past, how the van jumped as she ran over infected that hurtled towards her.

Always casting a look over her shoulder to see him. Her darling. She’d never forget the look on his face when she walked away. He genuinely believed she’d left and that look. She’d never forget it.

She could see him begin to pale, she seen him slowly side down from his upright position to be on his back.

“ hi darling, how are you feeling, talk to me.” She spoke up, trying to keep him awake, until she could begin to tend to him. “ I feel okay.” He whispered, barley audible. She still heard it. They were close now, to the edge of the city. “ I need you to stay awake for me okay? Can you do that for me Leo, please?” Her voice was quivering as she tried to ignore the growing pool of blood in the back of the van.

Lenonardo rolled onto his side with a pained groan , hissing at the pain in his shell. in This position he could see out the big front window, the only thing blocking his view was the two front seats. He could see the riots. She sped through it all, quick in her decision making and he had to admit he was so proud of her, if that was the right thing to feel. “ yeah I can do that.” He mumbled. His eyes flickering to her face.

Her usually calm easy features where pinched tight, the amber light of fire casting a gloomy shadow across her skin. “ I’ll get you all patched up, as soon as we get a good bit outside the city” he seen her pitiful attempt at a smile , for him she could gather. His eyes flicked to the front, he watched her pull onto the motor way.

His eye lids felt heavy, his limbs felt as though they where tied down. He felt cold and tired. Sore.

“ I love you y’know.” Blood loss and shock wobbled his words. She inhaled , worrying now “ I love you too, so much okay? That’s why you gotta stay awake for me!” Her voice was wracked with tears. He sounded so fatigued, so weak. Upon hitting a decent stretch of road free of cars she put the boot to the board, ignoring who she had to hit in the process.

Leo couldn’t stay awake anymore as he huddled his good arm around himself. His blinks grew long, the period of darkness growing and growing until he moved off into sleep completely.

Part II

@thelaundrybitch @turtle-babe83 @leosgirl82

#tmnt fanfiction #tmnt #tmnt scenario #teenage mutant ninja turtles #tmnt x reader #tmnt bayverse #bayverse tmnt #tmnt leo

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hyperbali · 3 years

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Agatha Harkness Was Right, And Here’s Why

Alright. Finally had to sit down and write my way out of this quiet, internal temper tantrum, and a few people were interested in seeing what I had to say, so I present to you:

Agatha Harkness Was Right, And Here’s Why

Disclaimer: MASSIVE spoilers for the entirety of WandaVision, and I am not nice about it.

I’ll start off by saying that, for all its foibles, WandaVision was genuinely a good example of a property within the MCU/Disney umbrella that stepped out of the usual ‘good guys fight bad guys action extravaganza’ in a way that pushed the envelope. The pseudo-horror aspect of the first few episodes is something I would really love to see engaged with on a more thoughtful basis in future projects.

I would say that it proved to be more than a vehicle to promote toys, but… well…

Yeah. Anyway.

I’ll assume that you watched WandaVision if you’re reading this, but quick recap: In the aftermath of ‘the Blip,’ Wanda is left broken and alone with no one in her corner. Her biggest mentor willingly abandoned his team to get his own ‘happy’ ending (do not get me started on Steve, that’s a document in and of itself), her other biggest mentor is probably off enjoying his family while ignoring the incredibly racist killing spree he’s been on for the past five years, and her lover is dead. When she goes to claim the body, she’s told nuh-uh, that’s government property, please leave.

So she goes to a plot of land in the middle of some nowhere town in New Jersey, which Vision apparently bought despite the fact they were living a pretty decently comfortable life in Scotland, where she looks at the deed that Vision drew a heart on and wrote ‘To Grow Old In’. Very sweet. Kind of weird, considering nothing of this caliber had ever been suggested for either of their characters and they’d been actively running from specifically the U.S. authorities? But sweet.

She has a breakdown and, in her grief, contains the entire town of Westview and all 3,892 of the people in it in her own personal paradise, where nothing bad ever happens beyond sitcom hijinks, no one dies, and every problem is tied up and neatly dealt with by the end of an ‘episode’. Except we learn that this is only paradise to Wanda, who apparently shares the aspect of having to relate everything to her favourite pop culture with Tony, because everyone else in Westview is more or less being psychologically tortured by the incredible amount of pain she’s in, forced to be puppeted actors to make her happy.

Bear in mind, Westview might have been bigger at some point - we have no idea how many people survived the Blip, or how many have been brought back to life within the past few weeks of the current setting. Either way, this is a town that has already dealt with a lot of trauma being dragged into yet another awful, much more specific kind of emotional damage, thanks to ‘the heroes’. Nice.

Agatha Harkness, a witch who’s been up to who-knows-what in the 340 years since she drained the coven that tried to kill her for getting a little too ambitious into jerky, feels the massive expenditure of magical power and decides to investigate. All the while, she carefully uses her own magic to try and peek into Wanda’s psyche, her motivations, all while keeping up appearances and not letting slip that anything is amiss.

I’ll point out that she’s no saint here, either - she specifically keeps one Westview resident at her mercy, and knows what’s happening to the rest of them, but doesn’t attempt to stop it. I’ll chalk that up to her pragmatism; their ‘sacrifice’ was fine to her as long as she could figure out how Wanda could have done something so unheard of in terms of power.

What we come to learn over the course of the show is that, given everything that happened, Wanda didn’t mean to take over an entire town and tool it into her own personal slice of heaven. She very quickly became aware of it; we know that she knows it’s her own personal bubble as soon as episode three, when she’s confronting Monica about how the latter could possibly know about Ultron. Wanda is made further aware of how much damage this is inflicting on others in episode five, when Vision himself tells her that these people are scared. But still, she has everything handled! It’s okay! The outside world is worse, trust her!

Her handling of the question, ‘where are all the children of Westview,’ is one that bears some thinking - and, y’know, kind of more than a little concern. They’re allowed to walk around as part of the ‘Halloween special,’ but as Vision walks further and further out towards the edges of town where Wanda doesn’t have as much full control, people are just frozen in place, or conducting the same few seconds of action over and over. And fully aware of being trapped.

How are they being sustained? Eating, sleeping? If someone isn’t part of her storyline, is she just locking them down into a coma? What made Wanda decide that keeping the children ‘out of the way’ was somehow kinder than involving them, especially given her later argument that she’s been trying to keep the entire town safe and happy?

The fact of the matter is, she only actually starts to feel remorse for any of this after she’s confronted with the fact that, after weeks of being at her mercy, the townspeople of Westview would rather be dead than endure another moment of having to play nice for her enjoyment. She finally opens the ‘bubble’ to let them out - which leads to the ‘epic’ finale of three different entities trying to take down Wanda and her happy family: the S.W.O.R.D. military led by Hayward, the White Vision, and Agatha.

Winding back to how we got here: after Agatha uses her own trapped resident, Ralph Bohner (who, given his casting and the props in place during the last episode, I’m willing to bet is actually the missing witness protection person Jimmy was looking for) in an attempt to lure out Wanda’s reasoning - and fails - she’s pretty much done pretending. She tricks Wanda into her basement, nullifies her powers, and makes her face her own past to get to the truth of the matter.

Not going to lie, favourite moment of the show. Kathryn Hahn killed Agatha’s slightly-amused-slightly-irritated observations about Wanda’s coping mechanisms, and the whole arrangement was extremely meta. I would have paid real money dollars to see her do the same thing to the likes of Tony, Strange, and Loki. Hell, even just having her meet the rest of the Avengers? Augh. If wishes were fishes.

When Agatha comes to the conclusion that Wanda is the vaunted, nigh-indestructible force of nature that she’s literally spent her entire life reading about is the ultimate source of chaos magic and will likely bring about the end of the world, she’s pretty understandably taken aback. To that matter, the fact that Wanda… has very little control over any of it, and is using what she does understand to play housemaker? After how long Agatha has spent learning control, hiding in plain sight, just to be child’s play compared to what Wanda has at her fingertips? I’d be pretty pissed off, too!

The way that WandaVision handled both of the major ‘fights’ - Vision versus White Vision ending in philosophy, and Wanda ending up beating Agatha at her own game of deception - is excellent. A little grating that they had to go with the beat down angle before they got there, but this is MCU; punches and thrown cars had to get shoved in somewhere. And, given that this series very much played with the idea of grey morality, I was sort of hopeful that Agatha would end up in a not-quite stalemate arrangement with Wanda. She’s not as powerful as the Scarlet Witch, but she has the know-how that Wanda sorely lacks; in recompense for her own deeds, she would be able to teach what she knows while also kind of scheming on her own time.

Y’know, like what they did with rehabilitating Loki?

Except that Wanda, who has just gone through the entire rigamarole of coming to terms with the fact that she trapped thousands of people into a nightmare scenario against their will, rendering them helpless to her mercy… traps Agatha into a nightmare scenario against her will, rendering her helpless to Wanda’s mercy.

That moment actually shook me. Oh, my god. We’re supposed to still look at Wanda as a good guy after this?

This isn’t even covering the incredibly awful confrontation with her and Vision where she tries to gaslight him into believing that everything is A-OK, or the fact that the person she gets most violent with (apart from Agatha) is Monica Rambeau, a black woman who spends most of the show bending over backwards trying to say that what Wanda is doing is understandable, justified, and just needs a gentle touch to be dealt with.

That could be its own document, too - how Monica, much as she’s incredible and definitely looks to be a really exciting addition to the MCU roster, more or less gets used as the Good One to absolve and enable Wanda’s actions. One of her last lines to Wanda, after seeing how the people of Westview (rightfully) look at Wanda like she’s monstrous, is “they’ll never know what you sacrificed.”

Sacrificed what? The fake husband and fake kids she made out of her own compulsion to pretend that everything is okay? None of that would have existed if she’d been given the proper resources to actually cope with how much loss she’s had to deal with. None of that would have existed if she hadn’t caused this problem in the first place.

In the end, Wanda flies off in her fancy new gear before the FBI shows up, avoiding any real consequences to her actions - which has pretty much been the running theme of her character ever since she was introduced to the MCU in Age of Ultron. The worst kind of direct consequence she’s ever gotten was being grounded to her room for a while, then kept in the Raft for, like, maybe a day - and both times, she was broken out post-haste.

Meanwhile, she worsened the issues in Sokovia (which, I will say upfront, was Tony’s fault to begin with), unleashed the Hulk on Johannesburg, got a pretty significant amount of civilians killed as bystanders in Lagos (hey, how come Wanda keeps turning a lot of black people into casualties?), and stood back in Wakanda to let their people try to fight off Thanos from getting to Vision until it was clear that there was no other option than for her to get involved.

Great Power Comes With No Responsibility At All, Actually.

Wanda, in the several years she has maintained her identity as an Avenger, has proven time and time again that she takes on innumerable risks without any full understanding of what they mean, allows others to take on the brunt of the fallout for her, and looks sad until she’s forgiven and moves on to the next problem. She has no business casually throwing around the kind of power that being the Scarlet Witch entails, not until she’s actually made any kind of headway into making reparations for what she’s done and tried, really tried, to get a handle on what she’s capable of.

Which she’s apparently doing in the last post-credits scene, astral reading the literal Book of the Damned on her lonesome in the mountains, but… without anyone to guide her, or give her any kind of boundary?

[I ran out of images I could post, but you know exactly what image I am referring to here]

Agatha Harkness was right. And that should terrify everybody that has to deal with Wanda in the future.

(P.S. Do we know if she actually even killed that dog? We never see her holding anything but a blanket, and characters go in and out of that show all the time. Granted, she wasn’t great with the cicada-turned-bird... hmm.)

Additional Notes:

“Well, you’re a Tony Stan, of course you think Wanda’s a villain”

I like Tony because he’s such an awful mess, and the narrative isn’t exactly kind about telling him what a piece of shit he can be! He reaped a lot of problems, created practically half the villains in the MCU, and ended up dying a martyred hero. Thanks to being the tent pole by which this franchise hoisted itself into a cultural powerhouse, he will always be their golden savior. If you want to read about how he’s the true villain of this entire affair, feel free to look up any number of takedown pieces about him that are out there. He’s a dick. I will never “uwu sad baby who did nothing wrong ever 🥺” him the way people do about Wanda.

“Why are you so pressed about this”

Because something as good in concept as WandaVision could and should have been about anyone other than the whitewashed, antisemitic take on Wanda Maximoff that MCU brought upon us. They put crucifixes on her wall in Civil War, for fuck’s sake!

“Weren’t you mad about them not including Aaron Taylor-Johnson”

At this point, I am almost kind of relieved the real Pietro wasn’t resurrected for this, because god knows they probably would have killed him all over again just to inflict that much more pain on his sister.

“Anything else you’d like to tell us, turbo nerd”

This was literally itching at me all weekend to write, so it’s more or less just to get it off my chest. If you powered your way through it, uh… thanks? Sorry if I yucked your yums, but I tried to be as clear with the disclaimer as I could. 🤷‍♂️

#blah blah #long post #marvel #mcu #wandavision #wandavision spoilers #wandavision critical #anti wanda maximoff

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starr-fall-knight-rise · 4 years

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Humans are Space Orcs, “Crime Scene.”

WARNING: Relatively graphic depictions of a dead alien, and discussion about a horrific crime scene, so read at your own discretion.

This idea was taken from a suggestion by some of the readers and then adapted a little bit, so I hope you all like it.

Rain drummed down in great sheets from above, falling like curtains from the uppermost spires of the city skyscrapers and lofty towers. Rain collected on open wires and came dripping down in trickling runnels of water, only to collect in great puddles on the pavement gurgling away into the gutter to vanish down storm drains.

Massive, colorful, neon signs hung above in the driving rain, casting reflection down onto the sodden pavement giving an eerie sort of light to the darkness. There were few people on the street at this time, though figures could be seen flitting from the shadow of one overhang to another. Despite their efforts, the soaking cold was nearly impossible to avoid.

As unoccupied as the street was, it gave more than enough room for a dark figure hurriedly splashing through puddles as his long leather coat whipped behind him, collar pulled up against the rain.

Massive television screens running with rivulets of water rose up on all sides boasting advertisements ranging from fur care to skin cream to casino resorts. The voices of these advertisements babbled through the rain, impossible to understand with a background of white noise.

The echoes rose upwards, following the trail of advertisement screens as they rose ever higher into the night, taking up every available surface until the very peaks of the skyscrapers high above in the rainy mist.

The darkly clad figure was joined a moment later as two other figures hurried from the shadows, one no more than two feet tall, and another that towered over the first figure by nearly a foot.

Little eruptions of water leapt up from where their feet splashed through the puddles.

A delicate silver halo outlined the figures as rain bounced off their bodies and back into the air.

With a motion of his hand, the first figure motioned his companions sideways, and into a long-dark alley. The stream of water that ran down it’s middle was nearly ankle deep, and the three figures made to avoid the worst of it, walking along the side of the alley, though sometimes they were made to choose between ankle deep water or refuse.

The rain grew harder, drumming down against their backs as they hurried across another cross street, down another alley and towards their final destination.

Foot traffic had picked up now, though it happened to be as a direct result of the bright neon caution holograms blocking off an area of buildings just to the right of their alley.

A dark furred Tesraki, posted out under an umbrella-like energy field waved them through without bothering to check their ID.

The three of them stepped through the cation hologram and towards the shopfront passing under a curtain of water, and into the little shop beyond where they stopped.

They waited there for a few moments, until a figure appeared from the long line of shelves: A Tesraki wearing a large hat, with holes cut in it for the ears.

“Admiral, I’m glad you could make it.”

Admiral Vir shook water from his coat, and undid the belt that held the front together, allowing it to hang open. He then removed his hat, shaking it out beside the door.

To his right, Sunny shook runnels of water from her carapace, while Dr. Krill cleared droplets from his prismatic orange eyes.

Admiral Vir adjusted the collar of his shirt, absent of a tie, “We came as soon as we heard.” He said fitting the hat back onto his head. His face was slick with humidity, though the protruding brim of his hat had kept the worst of the rain from his face.

“We do appreciate it.” The Tesraki lifted a hand, “Follow me, but don’t touch anything.”

Admiral Vir held up his hands to show the mostly-dry leather gloves he wore, “Not a problem.”

The Tesraki nodded it’s head and led them further into the shop past lines and displays of cheap touristy trinkets likely manufactured for a quarter of the price on Noctopolis. Just to their right a refrigeration unit hummed. Peering past the glass Admiral Vir was surprised to see cans of human soda preserved behind the glass.

They passed through the side of the shop, and were stopped outside the opening to the back room, where another Tesraki insisted they put plastic covers over their shoes and feet.

Everyone was supplied with gloves, before they were allowed in.

Sunny flexed her hands against the strange rubber synthetic, though Dr. Krill seemed right at home.

Admiral Vir was the first to step through, passing into the dim back room to immediately be met by the sharp tang of blood. He paused as if he had hit a wall face screwing up in response to the smell. It wasn’t human blood, of course, it was Tesraki blood, a smell that had been all too common during the Drev war.

He blinked hard, allowing his eyes to adjust to the room, which was dark, mostly, except for the flickering holovision on the wall across. A couple of technicians were busy setting up flood lights on the side of the room. His vision was mostly obscured, by a large sofa just to his front, but slowly, and with direction from the Tesraki, he inched around the side until he was finally able to get a good view of the scene before him.

He crushed immediately and turned his head away fighting down a sudden and surprising bout of nausea, though it passed within moments.

He turned his head back inch by inch grimacing slightly as he did.

Rosy blue light from the holovision glittered down on the scene before him glittering lightly off a coagulating green pool that appeared almost black in this lighting. The figure was stiff and still having not been moved since it was found.

The dead Tesraki lay sprawled on its side in a pool of his own blood, an expression of fear and horror frozen on his face. Admiral Vir had to force himself to look closely at the body, which he could see was missing it’s tail, a leg, and one arm. Looking around he could find no sign of where the missing limbs might have gone.

“We’ve never seen anything like it before.” The Tesraki said, walking up to stand beside him.

Admiral Vir grimaced, “Never?”

“No, never, which is why we called you.”

He turned to look at the Tesraki, long leather coat brushing against his pants just above the knees, “Why? I’m no detective.”

The Tesraki nodded, “We know, but you have to understand, we have NEVER seen anything like this… not EVER.” He leaned into his emphasis, turning to look at the Admiral, “Tesraki don’t commit crimes like this. If we want someone dead, there are always traffic accidents and poisoning.”

Admiral Vir raised an eyebrow, “I wasn’t aware Tesraki were even capable of committing murder.”

“Not directly, no.”

He paused staring at the body as the implication set in, “You don’t think a Tesraki did this.”

Off to the side of the room, the technicians had managed to rig up the lights, and the room was suddenly filled by double beams of blinding white light illuminated the scene before them with sharp contrast. The black blood became green, the shadowy mound, which had been the body was suddenly brought into sharp relief, each hair visible in excruciating detail on it’s dismembered body.

“Sweet Jupiter.” He muttered

His oversvation from before had been correct. The Tesraki was missing three of his five limbs. The blood pool in which he lay was a good four foot circle around him. The eyes were open and glassy, staring up into nothing. His face and lips were twisted into an expression of pure horror. Coagulated blood matted the fur along his back and sides. His remaining arm was covered in a line of deep and shallow defensive wounds while the fur about his chest was matted with green icor.

“What do you know so far?”

“Nothing much, we’ve been waiting for them to set up the lights.”

Admiral Vir motioned Dr. krill forward, “Think you can take a look?”

The doctor nodded his head, “I believe I can.”

At his announcement one of the Tesraki walked forward offering up a floating platform for the Dr. to stand on. He looked as if he was about to reject the offer, but took it, using it to keep off the floor around the crime scene as he floated closer to the body.

Admiral Vir rested his hands on his hips as he watched.

“Who is he?”

“His name was Inenor, the owner of the shop you came through on your way in. Admittedly he was no one of great renown, mostly profited in selling high priced and cheaply manufactured trinkets to tourists, a practice that might be frowned upon, but not one that generally gets you killed.”

“Or dismembered.” Admiral Vir added, reaching down a hand to rub absently as the junction where his stump met his prosthetic.

The Tesraki nodded, “Yes, by all rights he was your average shopkeeper in the tourist district. None of his wares are particularly expensive, he had no more enemies than his average shop rivals, no family, and, based on our cursory glance through his online history, no involvement in any other nefarious groups, plots, schemes or otherwise.”

“Shop rivals?”

“The other shopkeepers in the area selling the same thing.”

“And you don’t think it could be one of them.”

The Tesraki shook his head, “No, they may not like each other, but Tesraki business owners rely on competition to keep the economy working in each district. Prices fluctuate between shops creating a constant cycling of where the tourist goes for the least expensive or highest quality goods. It avoids stagnation, and allows for a dynamic environment where money is always trickling in. They may hate each other, but they understand how to work a balanced system between each other.”

Admiral Vir glanced over at Kril, who was busily scrutinizing one of the Tesraki’s stumps

“So you think a human did this.”

The tesraki held up his hands, “I didn’t say that.”

“It’s alright. I can see where you are coming from.” again, he looked away from the body, “A nobody who works a shop in the tourist district on an alien planet is brutally murdered and then dismembered. There is not history of such a crime ever being committed by Tesraki in living memory. The Rundi couldn’t do it as the water content in Tesraki blood could hurt them, not to mention they aren’t known to be tourists. We can rule out the Gromm, Celzex, Bran and Iotins for similar reasons.” He took a few steps forward, “Gibb and Vrul are completely off the table as they aren’t nearly strong enough or vicious enough to do something like that.”

The Tesraki was nodding in agreement.

“So you must have come to the conclusion that there are really only three options. Burg, Drev…. Or humans.” He walked around to the other side of the couch to get a better look at the missing tail. Though the stump was matted with congealing green and black blood, he could still see a small spike of bone protruding from the flesh, “And the Burg have been withdrawn from GA airspace since the burg war, and are only now starting to return, so it couldn't be one of them. That leaves Drev and humans. Drev have a history of dismembering their victims but…..”

Sunny stepped up beside him just then, resting a hand on his shoulder. He felt her squeeze lightly, though to everyone else it wouldn't have been noticeable.

“But generally they do not take the limbs with them.” She added before pointing to the body, “Those cuts are too clean. A drev would rely on power first cutting into the leg, breaking the bone and then ripping through. IT would be a much messier process.”

Admiral Vir nodded, allowing her hand to linger on his shoulder longer than was absolutely necessary before stepping away.

Dr krill leaned back from his work and looked over at them, “I tend to agree with Sunny’s oversaviton. These cuts were very clean, probably cone by a sharp knife or scalpel of some kind. The bone itself has been sawed through. Now whoever did this were no medical professionals as the cuts were half hazzard and mostly center on the middle of the bone.” He turned to look at them more intensely, “Besides, whoever came here came for his limbs specifically.”

There was a shocked pause.

“You mean.”

“I mean the Tesraki was dismembered postmortem. Cause of death was likely strangulation.”

Admiral Vir shook his head in disbelief, “You mean they came here…. Specifically for his limbs.”

Krill nodded, “it would seem so.” He glanced over at the Tesraki, “Nothing else is missing.”

The Tesraki shook his head, “Credits are still there, and the manifest is showing that all his wares are here as well.”

“Why would someone take the limbs?” Sunny asked, incredulity coloring her voice as she stared down at the gory scene before them.

Krill sat up “How about the prodigum, they are known to feast on decaying flesh.”

Admiral vir shook his head, “No, if it was a prodigum they would have taken the whole body, not just the limbs, besides, they have connections with the slave trade and get most of their exotic feeding there. This entire thing doesn't make sense for them.”

“Does that mean, Admiral, that you are suggesting….”

“Suggesting that humans did it?” He finished, and the Tesraki nodded.

Admiral vir paused for a moment before sighing, “It would seem so as much as I hate to admit it. Humans are more than capable of doing something like this, and brutal murder is not somethng we are strangers to.” He walked around to the other side of the body again, holding onto the lapels of his jacket, which were now mostly dry, though he couldn't feel sure past the leather gloves he wore, “We have a brutal human-like murder on the edge of a major human tourist district. No cash or credits are missing, none of his wares (which don't seem worth thieving anyway) and whoever they are they likely went after his limbs for…. Some reason.”

From the corner of her eye, Sunny saw a flash of guilt on the man’s face, and knew he was withholding something.

“How long ago did this happen.” He asked

“Not more than a few hours.”

Admiral Vir tapped his foot on the floor, “Than they couldn’t have left planet just yet. It wasn’t a military installation as I know where all of those are located, and none of the fleet were here during the time of the murder. It would have to be a civilian.” He pulled up his sleeve to check his implant, “i will call in and order all civilian transport grounded. That should give us enough time to investigate if you find anything, don’t send any of your men in, but call me.”

The Tesraki nodded in agreement, “Thank you Admiral.”

“Let me step out to make the call.”

The Tesraki let him go, and he stepped out the door, pulling the now soggy plastic covers off his boots as he made his way to the front of the stoor. Sunny listened patiently as he called a halt to all civilian transports, smiling a little when he ordered the man to stop complaining and do as he was ordered by power of the combined UNSC and GA.

Eventually, he cut the call and turned to look at her.

She could tell by the pained expression on his face, that his original thought had only gotten worse.

“What are you thinking?” She mumbled softly, looking over her shoulder to make sure no one was listening.

He paused before answering, “I think I know why they took his limbs.”

Sunny paused, “What! Why?”

The human grimaced, his face shot through with pain and shame, though that seemed odd as he hadn’t done anything.

“I think…. I…”

A horn blasted from outside making the two of them jump before it faded into the distance.

Admiral Vir hung his head, “I think they are going to….”

She put a hand on his shoulder, “spit it out.”

“Eat him!”

Sunny froze, and the two of the locked eyes, one horrified, the other ashamed.

“No….”

“Yes….”

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grailfinders · 3 years

Text

Fate and Phantasms #86: Mysterious Heroine X

Before we get into America proper, Fate and Phantasms is taking a quick sightseeing tour of the Servant Universe, courtesy of Mysterious Heroine X! With this build, you’ll be able to sneak up on sabers and give them a taste of your Secret Calibur. You’ll also have plenty of technobabble gadgets that do whatever the plot demands, and your very own spaceship! Kinda. You’ll have most of your spaceship. You’ll have spaceship parts.

Check out X’s build breakdown below the cut, or her character sheet over here!

Next up: A gold lancer?! Ooh, I bet it’s Qin Liangyu!

Race and Background

D&D doesn’t really have a Servant race (we’re waiting on that collab, WoTC!), but we’ve made a large majority of servants Humans, and we won’t stop now. Variant Humans get +1 Dexterity and Wisdom, Arcana proficiency to represent your technological prowess, and the Lucky feat. This feature lets you use your very literal plot armor to succeed when you really need to, or counter deadly attacks, three times per long rest by rolling another d20 and optionally using that roll when making a save, attack, or check or when another creature attacks you.

You’re a Far Traveler, because it doesn’t get much further away than another dimension. This gives you Insight and Perception proficiencies. You can always tell when someone’s lying about being a saber. It’s mostly because they all have the same face, but still.

Ability Scores

Put your highest score into Dexterity. You’re totally a saber, but some swords use dex! It’s fine! You also want your dex as high as possible, because a track suit isn’t armor. Second is Charisma: you can lie to paladins for extended periods without getting caught (I know she was a child, shush). Your Wisdom’s also pretty good; your gadgets have to work off something, after all. Your Constitution isn’t amazing, and neither is your Strength, but you’re not here for fair fights. Finally, dump Intelligence. Your gadgets are cool and you know how to use them, but you didn’t make them and you probably don’t really know how they work.

Class Levels

1. Ranger 1: When you become a ranger, you get proficiency in Strength and Dexterity saves, as well as Athletics, Stealth, and Investigation to help you hunt down sabers without being seen.

As a first level ranger, you would normally get Favored Enemy, but Sabers aren’t a type of humanoid, so instead you get Favored Foe. When you hit a creature with an attack, you can mark the creature for up to a minute, concentration permitting. Once per turn (including the turn you mark it), you can deal an extra 1d4 damage to that creature. You can make a number of marks per long rest equal to your proficiency bonus. That’s not a lot of damage right now, but it gets better as we go.

You’d also normally get Natural Explorer, but Space isn’t an option for that either. Instead, you are a Deft Explorer, which at level 1 makes you Canny. This gives you extra languages, plus expertise in Stealth. You’re a master assas-Saber, after all.

Lastly in our list of switchups, most Excaliburs are great-swords, but your lightsaber is a pretty light saber, so we’re instead calling it a Scimitar. Don’t worry, we’ll make it a little stronger later.

2. Ranger 2: At second level, you gain a Fighting Style. The Dueling style adds 2 to single-handed melee damage, to help make up for your smaller sword. You also learn to cast Spells this level, using your Wisdom as the spellcasting modifier. Since we have Hunter’s Mark covered with Favored Foe, we’re instead going to learn Alarm and Snare to better protect the area around our ship. They create an alarm and snare respectively- sometimes it’s nice to have a spell that just does what it says it will.

3. Ranger 3: Normally at level three you’d get Primeval Awareness, and since you don’t talk to animals that’s exactly what you’re getting here. You can spend a spell slot to sense aberrations, celestials, dragons, elementals, fey, fiends, and undead within 1 mile of you, though their number and location aren’t given. The effect lasts for one minute per spell level used. Those lancer sabers aren’t particularly hard to find, but a little extra help never hurt.

Third level rangers also pick a conclave. You’re dedicated to protecting the multiverse from the massive influx of Saberfaces, making you a pretty clear-cut Horizon Walker. You can use your Portal Detector to Detect Portals within a mile of you as an action once per short rest. You’re also a Planar Warrior, letting you spend your bonus action to make your Secret Calibur a higher caliber, turning all its damage into Force Damage for one attack, and dealing an extra 1d8 damage as well. If you wanted to justify what you spent on a new set of dice, this is the build for you: literally the only die you’re not using each turn now is your d12.

You also get another spell this level, and the extended spell list for Horizon Walkers gives you access to Protection from Evil and Good. For up to 10 minutes with concentration, one creature you touch is protected from aberrations, celestials, elementals, fey, fiends, and undead. This imposes disadvantage against those creatures if they try to attack them, they can’t be charmed, frightened, or possessed by them, and they have advantage on saves if they’re already under one of those effects. Most sabers either are or get their power from one of those types of creature, so this should be pretty helpful.

4. Ranger 4: Your track suit is leather armor at best, so use this Ability Score Improvement to strengthen your Dexterity. This improves you AC, sword accuracy and damage, and makes you sneakier too.

5. Ranger 5: Fifth level Horizon Walkers get an Extra Attack, letting you make two attacks per action. It should be noted that Planar Warrior and Favored Foe only work once per turn, but more damage is still more damage.

You also get another care package from the Servant Universe; this one contains your Object Locater, which lets you Locate Objects. As long as the object is within 1,000′ of you and isn’t blocked by lead, you’ll know exactly where it is and where it’s going for up to 10 minutes. If you’ve been close to it before, you can locate specific objects like, say, Excalibur, or you can locate an kind of object, like clothing, a kind of weapon (saber) or tool.

6. Rogue 1: This isn’t really an “above board” move to make, but you’re not one for traditional tactics. That probably why you’re an Assas- Totally a saber. Yup. Anyway, with this level you get one rogue skill -Acrobatics- proficiency, as well as Expertise in two skills. This doubles you proficiency in Acrobatics and Perception. You can make a Sneak Attack, dealing extra damage against creatures when you’re using a finesse weapon (you should be) and you either have advantage against your target or there’s another enemy of the target within 5′ of them. You can also use Thieves’ Cant to communicate with other rogues without being found out.

7. Ranger 6: We’ll get more rogue in a bit, but back in Ranger, your Favored Foe increases to 1d6, and you’re now a Roving Explorer. This gives you an extra 5′ of movement, and you gain a climbing and swimming speed equal to your walking speed.

8. Ranger 7: Since you’re not really from this plane, it can be a bit tricky to stay on it for long. You can weaponize this with your Ethereal Step, letting you cast Etherealness for free and as a bonus action once per short rest. The drawback is it only lasts until the end of your turn, but until then you can move in any direction (at half speed), you’re invisible to creatures who can’t sense the ethereal plane, and can move through objects that aren’t on the ethereal plane. Think of it as a short-range teleporter.

If you want to be even sneakier, turn on your cloaking device to Pass Without Trace, giving you and creatures near you +10 to stealth checks and the inability to be tracked through normal means for up to an hour.

9. Ranger 8: Moving at half speed in the ethereal plane is a bummer. If only there was some way to be even faster. Wait, there is! use this ASI to become Mobile, adding 10′ to your movement and allowing you to slip away from enemies you’ve attacked this turn.

You also get Land’s Stride, so you can ignore most difficult terrain, as well as damage caused by nonmagical plants. You also have advantage on saves caused by magical plants.

10. Ranger 9: I don’t think we’re fast enough yet. Let’s get even faster. As a ninth level ranger you get third level spells, like Haste, which doubles your movement speed, gives you an extra action each turn, adds 2 to your AC, and gives you advantage on dexterity saves. This lasts up to a minute, at which point you’ll have to take a break for a turn. Fun fact: Etherealness is not a concentration spell, so you can speed up and blast through the ethereal plane no problem.

11. Rogue 2: Back in rogue, you learn to make Cunning Actions, letting you Dash, Disengage, or Hide as a bonus action. We didn’t make you Canny in stealth for nothing, use it from time to time.

12. Rogue 3: As much as you like to deny it, you are an Assassin class servant, meaning you Assassinate people. You have advantage on attacks against creatures who haven’t taken a turn yet, and all your attacks that hit automatically deal critical damage on surprised creatures. You also get proficiency in the Disguise and Poisoner’s Kits. That track suit is barely a disguise, and it’s definitely not magical.

Also, your sneak attack increases to 2d6.

13. Ranger 10: Tenth level rangers are Tireless, letting you spend an action to gain 1d8+ your wisdom modifier temporary HP, a number of times per long rest equal to your proficiency modifier. Also, your exhaustion now decreases on short rests as well as long rests. I’m sure this makes anyone who wants to multiclass Berserker/Ranger very happy.

Again, you would normally get Hide in Plain Sight, but instead you get Nature’s Veil. Proficiency bonus times per long rest, you can use a bonus action to turn invisible until the start of your next turn. Unlike normal invisibility, this persists even if you attack someone, so have fun with that.

14. Ranger 11: Eleventh level Horizon Walkers see their Planar Warrior feature grow even stronger, adding 2d8 force damage to an attack. You can also make Distant Strikes now, teleporting 10 feet before each attack you make. If you make your two attacks against different targets, you can even make a third attack against a third target!

With this level’s spell, you can call down some fire support from your ship with Conjure Barrage. You’ll have to keep something to throw on hand, but it will deal 3d8 damage in a 60′ cone, or half on a successful dexterity save (DC 8+proficiency+wisdom modifier).

15. Ranger 12: Use this ASI to improve your Wisdom for stronger air support and better tracking.

16. Ranger 13: Thirteenth level rangers get fourth level spells. Freedom of Movement will help you break out of any restraints you may find yourself in. Sabers aren’t typically one to take prisoners, but perhaps some misguided locals get between you and your mark.

17. Ranger 14: At fourteenth level, your Favored Foe is now as strong as it’s ever going to be, dealing 1d8 damage per turn. You can also Vanish as a bonus action on your turn. This also prevents you from being tracked by nonmagical means unless you want to be followed.

18. Ranger 15: Your plot armor has upgraded from dumb luck to a Spectral Defense, spending your reaction to gain resistance to an attack. You also learn Banishment, letting you kick any errant Sabers back to the servant dimension. Killing them would be preferable, but there are days where you just don’t have the time.

19. Ranger 16: Use your final ASI to max out your Dexterity for more AC, more stabbing, and better stealth.

20. Ranger 17: Your capstone level of ranger nets you the ability to cast 5th level spells like Teleportation Circle. This allows you to instantly travel to any existing spaceport (circle) on the same plane as you that you know the combination to, and even make your own after a year of casting. You also start with the runes needed to travel to two circles chosen by your DM. It’s a shame this doesn’t work between planes, but if your DM wants you planehopping by level 20 it’s going to happen anyway.

Pros:

You’re so fast you clip through walls. With 45′ base speed, the ability to double dash on command, and access to haste, you’re able to get where you need to go when you need to be there. Toss in your etherealness and distant strikes, and you’ll find yourself saving a lot of time. Or you’ll find out all the buildings you enter were mysteriously built on the ethereal plane too. It’s depends on how hard your DM railroads.

You’re also very stealthy, with the ability to turn invisible before you strike and your absurd stealth bonuses you’re going to be hard to find, at least until your sword is already in their neck.

Your sword may not be magical, but you can turn it into Force Damage for an attack each turn. Combine that with your sneak attack and favored foe, and you can still deal plenty of damage, even to tough creatures. Like sabers!

Cons:

Despite being from another plane of existence, this build doesn’t have any planar travel, bar Banishment-ing yourself back home. This isn’t really a weakness, per se: if your DM needs you to be in a different plane they’ll typically help you out. It’s just really frustrating for me specifically.

Your weapon buffs all only last for one attack, making your multi-attack somewhat awkward. On top of that, your Planar Warrior requires you to call your attack ahead of time, so you can’t just wait for a critical hit and dump all your features into it like paladins can.

A lot of your spells require Concentration, and that means not only do you have to pick and choose your spells carefully, but you can easily waste a slot because your constitution isn’t that great.

#fate grand order #fgo #Mysterious Heroine X #D&D 5e #Fate and Phantasms

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gra-sonas · 4 years

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Here a reboot, there a reboot, everywhere a reboot!

In the golden age of Hollywood do-overs, it’s tough to stand out.

When the next reboot hits the screen, viewers are intrigued at first, wanting to see what new ideas have been filtered into an already established world. But many reboots don’t stick (that’s probably a discussion for some other time).

There is one reboot that’s getting it mostly right, though, and would be a delicious addition to your weekly schedule. That show is Roswell, New Mexico.

For starters, this is a re-imaging that gets it right.

It's far from an original reboot in every sense of the word. Liz and Max are there, Michael and Maria are too, but this isn’t just a high school alien story set in the famous small New Mexico town.

The series fits perfectly into the stratosphere of 2020, dealing with storylines that are relevant and relatable.

There’s diversity, and bold topics being discussed nearly every hour. The writers take chances within their storylines and have crafted a show that feels very different from its predecessor and yet familiar at the same time.

Topics like immigration and abortion are not just dropped in as throwaway lines. They are a part of the narrative. The show speaks directly to its present-day audience and is all the better for it.

Another part of the narrative is romance. And let’s be real here people, who doesn’t love a good 'ship these days?

Roswell has two iconic ships that have taken the fanbase as a whole by storm. And the series is only in its sophomore season, with a third one on the horizon, so the sky is the limit in regards to where these relationships can go.

Max and Liz, commonly known as Echo, are the main ship of the show, and their relationship is destiny personified. They belong together, and it’s painstakingly clear from their first moments on screen that they’re each other’s soulmates.

And it never comes across as boring. Their story plays out beautifully throughout Roswell, New Mexico Season 1, and is a treat for fans of a good old-fashioned romance story.

On the flipside, Michael and Alex, affectionately nicknamed Malex, don’t have it nearly as easy as Echo. Their relationship has been hard and fraught with years of conflict, trauma, and regret.

But when the two of them are around each other, the sparks are flying off the screen. You find yourself almost shielding your eyes because you feel like a voyeur sitting in your living room, watching such intimate moments between the two.

Echo may be the big love story the show wants to portray, but Malex gives them a run for their money. You’ll never be able to hear the word “cosmic’ again without thinking about Malex’s love.

Both romances are captivating, though, and the heartbeat of the new series.

While the Malex chemistry is off the charts, the cast as a whole has a tremendous amount of chemistry amongst them.

One major thing that every good ensemble show needs is chemistry, from the A characters to the D characters. There will be a day when two characters who never interact with one another will be thrust into a storyline, and if there’s no chemistry between the actors, a whole plotline can fall apart.

Roswell, New Mexico does not have that problem.

Jeanine Mason is a force as the main protagonist, and she lends a comfortability to everyone she shares a scene with. As the lead of the show, that’s critical, and she pulls it off every hour.

Michael Vlamis is an absolute dream as the misunderstood alien with a chip on his shoulder, and a lot of love bubbling under that greasy exterior. And he literally has chemistry with air.

He makes everyone around him better.

But Tyler Blackburn and Lily Cowles are indeed the unsung heroes. They have an innate ability to connect with whoever is across from them, especially Tyler, who does so much with the material he’s given. Which quite frankly at times doesn’t seem like enough.

Now if only the two shared more scenes with each other.

One area of improvement would be the curious decision not to have all the principal characters interacting regularly. Maria and Kyle have been massively underutilized at times, and unable to break away from the shadows of the larger figures.

Maria is an important character within the series, who has intimate relationships with all the other main characters. Giving her a storyline of her own was a great step in the right direction, but it still feels like she could be used even more.

Perhaps in future seasons, we’ll see more of a group dynamic amongst the core group of characters that has them all interacting on a more regular basis.

Employing flashbacks can be a tricky thing, but here they’re used effectively to detail plot specific events and to provide insight into the emotions of the characters.

The 1947 flashbacks throughout Roswell, New Mexico Season 2 have especially been paramount in not only understanding alien mythology more but also exploring the backgrounds of the characters we’ve come to love.

At its core this is a science-fiction show about aliens living among us. And the show succeeds in giving us that. There’s drama, angst, love, misfortune, and hope. All the things you’re looking for in your next binge appropriate show.

Is this show perfect? Of course not. There are some pacing issues, and as previously mentioned, not all the characters have reached their potential. But as the show continues to find its way, we’ll be along for the otherworldly ride.

Let me know in the comments if you’re enjoying this re-imaging as much as we are!

~ TVFanatic

#malex #alex manes #michael vlamis #roswell new mexico #tyler blackburn #michael guerin #rnm media

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zuzu-firequeen · 4 years

Text

Fire Queen

Fire Queen Masterlist

~Zuko X OC~

~Lake Laogai~

~o0o~

Jet sits in a chair while the rest of Team Avatar, the fighters, and I stare down at him with suspicion. “There is no way you don’t remember me. What you saw me do.” Jet shrugs his shoulders. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Katara stands beside me stating, “The Dai Li must have sent Jet to mislead us, and that janitor was part of their plot too.”

Aang looks up. “I bet they have Appa here in the city. Maybe he's in the same place they took Jet.” I look at Jet narrowing my eyes. “Where did they take you?” Jet sits still on the chair, his head hanging low. “Nowhere. I, I don't know what you're talking about.”

“We need to find a way to jog his real memories.” Sokka jumps up quickly. “Maybe Katara could kiss him. That should bring something back.” “Maybe you should kiss him, Sokka.” “Hey, just an idea.”

Aang huffs looking over at Sokka. “ A bad one.” Aw, how cute! I wonder if Zuko ever got jealous over me?

“Oo, wait. I got it.” Sokka plucks a straw from his mattress, pokes it into Jet's mouth in trademark fashion. “I don't think it's working.” Jet spits the straw to the floor. Toph carries an idea. “Try to think of something from your past that triggers your emotions.”

“The Fire Nation, remember what they did to your family.” I look down in regret. I shouldn’t have used my bending against him in the way I did. No wonder he hates fire nation so strongly. No wonder he hates my father even more.

“Close your eyes. Picture it.”

Jet closes his eyes, and sweat beads on his forehead. His eyes widen with tears brimming the surface. “No! It's too painful.” I bite my lip stepping forward. “Do you care if I try something?” Jet shakes his head allowing me to stand behind him. I place my hands on the sides of his head closing my eyes. I concentrate and maneuver my thoughts through his mind. Everything plays out as a story for the two of us.

A shadow cast on the floor before me by the light of the energies. As my eyes follow the floorboards, gaps appear, revealing blue waters. The far side of the room is replaced by the distant shore of a great lake, and Long Feng can be seen standing in the distance upon its surface. Long Feng regards Jet grimly, and suddenly we plunge into the dark depths of the lake. I emerge inside a vast man-made subterranean chamber. The scene flashes to show Jet being subjected to the hypnotic light of an orbiting lantern by a pair of Dai Li agents. He shuts his eyes against the light. I pull back gasping. “Lake Laogai.” I breathe out leaning onto the wall.

Redirecting and viewing memories. Check. Father would be proud.

Aang stares at me in a mixture of shock and confusion, but pushes it aside. Better to ask questions later.

“So where's this secret headquarters, Truble?” Sokka asks following my steps. “Under the lake.” Toph stops, pointing to her right. “There's a tunnel right there near the shore.” She walks that direction, whistling. Reaching the water's edge Toph jumps up in an earthbending move, and a stone pathway rises to the surface. Everyone peers down into the dark shaft, and Momo flies away chittering nervously. From the depths of the shaft, I see a narrow ladder leading up to the tiny circle of light where the heroes stand, far above. The scene changes to a view of the underground base similar to the one in Jet's memory, a crosshatch of large passages lit by greenish firestone lanterns. A pair of Dai Li walk off into a side tunnel, and we pan back to see the assembled group cautiously descending a dark stairway to the main chamber.

“It's all starting to come back to me.” Jet says lowly as he walks by my side. Jet edges quietly to a partially opened door, then moves on, followed by the rest of us. “I think there might be a cell big enough to hold Appa up ahead.” He stops before a sealed stone door. “I think it's through here.”

-Zuko-

I slide the stone door away. Light spills into a chamber. Inside Appa is chained to the floor, and the light from the doorway casts my shadow on the floor as the bison rises. “Expecting someone else?” I draw a dword while Appa shifts nervously in his chains.

Jet slides a stone door for everyone to enter a massive shadowy cavern, the stone door abruptly slides shut behind them. We spin around in surprise, as the room is plunged into darkness, then green lanterns flare to life, illuminating the vast cave. Only now do they notice the Dai Li high above us, suspended from chains or clinging to the ceiling itself.

“Now that's something different.” I shrug, “I’ve seen better.”

Long Feng stares at us. “You have made yourselves enemies of the state. Take them into custody.”

The Dai Li drop down to the floor, encircling us. Two agents launch a stone fist attack, but Toph disintegrates them in mid-flight. As the dust clears, she launches them across the room with a pair of rock pillars. Behind her, I turn and rush another pair, cutting their stone fist in the air. Sliding along the ground past the first, I tripped the second with my foot, slamming him hard to the ground.

Long Feng watches dispassionately as Aang deals with two more of his Dai Li with air and earthbending. Katara and Sokka manage to destroy two more of the glove projectiles before being seized by two more. Toph intervenes with a stone wall before they can be drug to the waiting Dai Li. They send a rush of stone towards Toph, but she rises high into the cavern on a pillar of rock, forcing them to pursue her the same way.

Two more Dai Li race up the walls to either side of her, to strike out at Toph with horizontal columns of stone. High in the cavern, Toph swats aside the first two agents, then leaps to avoid the two columns as they crash together beneath her. Landing atop them, she bends up a pair of stone blocks from the columns, using them to drive away both of the remaining agents simultaneously. A fist of stone grabs the back of her shirt, and she is hauled through the air toward a waiting Dai Li. Jet intervenes at the last moment. Leaping past the hooks her belt with his sword, pulling her to safety as the agent kicks a stone foot attack after them. Longshot covers them as they land, intercepting the missile with one of his arrows. Joined by two of his brethren, the Dai Li retaliates with three fist attacks at Longshot, but Jet cuts them from the air with a whirlwind of slashes. Meanwhile, Long Feng has seen enough. He flees from the room, sealing a stone door behind him. Back at the battle, Aang lands and blows two Dai Li aside with a burst of air.

“Long Feng is escaping!” Aang yells out as he fights. I ran up taking his place and taking down the agent. “Go!” Aang and Jet break free and run after him.

-Zuko-

Appa is growling and stamping his feet as I walk closer to him, standing just beyond his reach. I smirk under the blue mask. “You're mine now.”

The door behind me and a shadow are seen in the light spilling inward. I turn and readies both my swords to attack. Iroh enters the room, closing the door behind him.

“Uncle?”

He gasps, feigning puzzlement. “So, the Blue Spirit. I wonder who could be behind that mask?” I huff removing the mask. “What are you doing here?” “I was just about to ask you the same thing. What do you plan to do now that you have found the Avatar's bison? Keep it locked in our new apartment? I’m sure Truble will love having a new roomie. Should I go put on a pot of tea for him?”

I look over the huge creature. “First I have to get it out of here.”

“AND THEN WHAT?! You never think these things through! This is exactly what happened when you captured the Avatar at the North Pole! You had him, and then you had nowhere to go!”

“I would have figured something out!”

“No!! If his friends hadn't found you, you would have frozen to death!”

I look at the ground, “I know my own destiny uncle.” “Is it your own destiny? Or is it a destiny someone else has tried to force on you?” I tremble, shaking my head. “Stop it, Uncle. I have to do this.” Uncle Iroh begs with his hands. “I'm begging you, Prince Zuko! It's time for you to look inward, and begin asking yourself the big questions. Who are you? And what do you want?” With a cry of frustration, I hurl both of the swords to the ground, followed by the Blue Spirit mask.

Iroh’s hands clasp on my shoulders as I lower to my knees. “I don’t want to see you throw your happiness away, Zuko. I will not let you reject Truble from your heart.” I hang my head low.

“Truble…”

I stand to turn to Uncle. “We need to find her, Uncle.” He smiles handing my materials to me. “I’m sure she’s close.” I look back at Appa in a frown. What would Truble do? I walk up to him patting his legs. “Hold on, buddy.” I unshackle each leg letting him go and fly away through the ceiling. Iroh grins at me as I walk with him exiting.

“Wait. Did you leave Zori alone?” Iroh nods. “You worry too much about her.” “Have you met her?” Iroh shrugs. “Good point.”

We all rush forward to surround the stricken Jet, wearing sorrowful and shocked expressions. Katara draws forth, bending water kneels beside him, and applies her healing powers to his chest. “How is he?” I ask, biting back my tears.

“This isn't good.”

Smellerbee states, “You guys go find Appa. We'll take care of Jet.” I shake my head looking at her. “We can’t leave you. There are too many.” An unknown voice rips through the air belonging to Longshot. “There's no time. Just go. We'll take care of him. He's our leader.” The five of us look at him with expressions of wonder. Jet smirks at Katara. “Don't worry Katara, I'll be fine.” Jet smiles weakly up at her, and she closes her eyes in grief before rising to her feet. We all file off somberly, leaving the Freedom Fighters behind. Toph, Sokka, and I bring in the back.

“He's lying,” Toph said softly as she lowered her head.

We step into another large room only to see the empty stone walls. Only the six manacles lie empty within the prison. “Appa's gone. Long Feng beat us here.”

“If we keep moving, maybe we can catch up to him.”

Toph earth bends us up from below. A rock bearing a circular stone plug arises at the edge of the lake. Cracks form on the plug, and it shoots off to shatter on the nearby cliff face. The five of us emerge and start racing along the narrow shoreline. Glancing over his shoulder, Aang sees nine Dai Li emerge in pursuit of the hole behind them.

Sokka looks at the agents gulping. “Do you think we can outrun them?” “I don't think it's gonna matter.” Ahead I see six more Dai Li flanking the waiting Long Feng. The six agents bend up a thirty-foot wall of stone beneath Long Feng's feet, sealing the strip of land between the cliffside and the lake. We all draw to a stop, and behind us, the Dai Li raises another wall, boxing everyone in. We are enclosed and surrounded by eighteen Dai Li, who cling to the edges of the walls and the cliffside while Long Feng watches from atop the first wall. Momo sweeps down out of the sky and lands on Aang's shoulder chattering excitedly.

“What is it Momo?”

Momo launches upward, past Long Feng, to disappear into the bright midday sun. Moments later Appa emerges from the dazzling light, hurtling downwards towards them. I gasp looking up. “Wow!”

“Appa!” Aang cries loudly. Appa swoops down and smashes through the first wall, continuing onward through the second. The Dai Li perched on the wall are knocked senseless by the bursting walls and fall to the ground or spill into the water. Aang and Toph bend the cliff that the remaining agents are perched on, flinging them far out into the lake. Appa circles around to land heavily near the shaken Long Feng, as the remaining Dai Li flee. Turning from his fleeing men, Long Feng faces an enraged Appa. He launches a kick at Appa, who catches his leg in his teeth. With a mighty toss of his powerful neck, Appa sends him skipping far out across Lake Laogai, to disappear with a final splash. The sky-bison pauses momentarily before spitting out his shoe. Aang, Sokka, Katara, and Momo throw themselves onto the shaggy bison, while Toph strokes his nose. I stand back stuffing my feet and watching them.

“Truble, come over here!” Aang calls. I walk over in front of the beast. He sniffs me in two large gusts of wind before his tongue strides over my body. “He likes you!” Aang laughs hugging onto his friend. I lay my hand in his head, petting the soft fur. “It’s good to meet you, Appa.”

-Zuko-

Iroh and I emerge from the passage. I look over into the sky seeing the large flying bison whisking through the air. “You did the right thing, nephew.” I pull out the Blue Spirit mask, admiring its demonic visage as Iroh rests a hand on my shoulder. “Leave it behind.” I walk to the edge of the bank and drop the mask into the lake, where it slowly sinks into the depths. “It’s time I told her.” I nod looking at my reflection.

I tiptoe across the floor, opening my door. I kick my shoes off and stretch. I lay down and smile at Zori, pushing a few stray hairs out of her face. She opens her eyes and grumbles, “Where have you been?” She cuddles closer to me and sighs. “Zuko was going nuts. He left looking for you in the middle of the night.” I smile biting back a laugh. If he knew I was helping the Avatar…

Would he do what his father did when the king found out about the talents my father kept?

“I met a sky bison.” She sits up looking at me in shock. “Appa?” I nod smiling. “You’re doing it!” She hugs me close laughing. “I knew you could.”

Soft knocks at the door break the moment. I look up to see Zuko peeking through the crack. “Come in, Lee.” I giggle. He strides through with a long face. “I know what you’re-” Zuko grabs my waist pulling me flush against him. He presses his lips to mine in a rush. The force of his grasp almost makes me tumble, but he holds me in his stance like a statue. He releases my lips resting his head on mine.

“Would you look at the time…” Zori mumbles as she leaves the room, closing the door.

Zuko’s grip tightens and his eyes become stiff. “Where were you?” “I was finding the bison.” His mouth opens then closes. His fingers came to grab the gold coin around my neck, running his padded digits over the emblem. “I know this symbol.” I nod putting my hand over his. “I’m sure you do, Lee.” He looks at my orbs, staring deep into my being. “Don’t call me that.” His lips brim closer. “And what shall I call you?” I raise my hand to his cheek, running over the edges of the scar. “I think you already know, Truble.”

I smile brushing my lips ever so lightly on his before pulling back. “I think you should introduce yourself.” He smiles letting go of a chuckle. “Hi, Truble. I’m Zuko.” I gasp dramatically. “Prince Zuko?” He rolls his eyes and gazes down at the necklace again. “In all my glory.” I laugh bringing my lips to meet his. I rest my head on his chest smiling. “As much as I love this, I am tired.” Zuko nods and kisses my head. “Let’s rest, love.” He guides me to lay down and does the same, holding me close.

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jayxscripta · 3 years

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The Mahaigner - Chapter Six

Aaaand this is where things really start cooking. And by that I mean there are so many characters and unresolved plot points to pick up from the films, and characters I decided to create and add in for some more flavor, because otherwise this would be too easy, and--

Madeline woke with a deep ache resonating throughout her bones, throbbing wrists, and a rhythmic pounding in her head. She had blacked out—she knew that much—but her memory failed to inform her why. It was probably a miracle she had even woken up at all.

She pried open her eyes, trying to blink away the blurriness. She was lying on her side, against something cold and hard and probably metal. She tried to move her hand to push the hair away from her face, but the motion was cut short with a clink. Surprised, she looked down to her wrists. Handcuffs. Protruding blue veins were stark against alabaster skin. These must be the power draining cuffs Stark had threatened her with.

She finally lifted her head, trying to blink away the blurriness, when a familiar voice jolted her from her stupor. “Cozy, isn’t it?”

“Perfect, actually,” she groaned, forcing herself up into a sitting position. The bench was unforgiving and indeed made of metal, as was the rest of the room. Loki sat across from her, the picture of indifference. They were moving. She was in an armored truck. She looked around, panic creeping in when she realized that, for the first time in years, Astrid wasn’t with her. “What happened? Where’s Astrid?”

“I believe they took her as well.” He sounded sympathetic. “Are you alright?”

Madeline’s first instinct was to respond sarcastically, but after the conversation she had overheard between the two brothers, she couldn’t bring herself to. Loki was trying, and her guilt begged that she give him the benefit of the doubt. So instead, she nodded, somewhat numbly. “I’m not dead yet. But never mind that—” she winced, “—how long have we been in here?”

“Several hours. After the incident, one of the officers called the General. The Vision tried to stall for time, but even with his help Stark couldn’t hide hundreds of Asgardians and the Hulk. Or the quinjet that crashed through the hangar roof.”

“He took everyone?” she asked, confused and disbelieving. “Even Strange?”

Where could the General possibly hide all of them? Did he have some sort of massive, secret bunker just to stash arrested super powered people?

“I don’t know where the other Asgardians were taken. Banner is in government custody, and you and I the same, as war criminals. Stark argued for Thor’s immunity. When we were arrested, the doctor was still unconscious.”

She nodded, numb. How had everything spiraled out of control so quickly? She had learned to deal with the guilt after the last incident, but this was different. She could have killed someone—she might have even killed Strange. That was why the cuffs were on her wrists. But at least she was alive. At least someone hadn’t put a bullet in her head.

She buried her head in her hands. “So, I’m a war criminal now?” She doubted her years as a law-abiding American citizen mattered at all to General Ross. Not after what had transpired. Not when he didn’t even extend grace to the Avengers.

“You don’t seem like one.” Unsurprisingly, Loki was rather calm. Probably because he had been in this sort of situation before. She could always hope he could provide some plan, some assurance that they would be fine. But that didn’t seem likely at the moment.

Unsure of how to respond, she settled for, “thank you.”

Angry voices and thumps pierced the wall separating the drivers’ compartment from the security unit. She started, turning towards the wall as if that would somehow provide an answer. Had she imagined it?

Her confirmation came seconds later. “Did you hear that?” Loki asked, and she nodded. As she leaned forward, trying to hear if anything was being said in the driver’s cabin, there was another shout. The truck swerved sharply, braked too hard, and Madeline lost her balance, flying forwards out of her seat. Loki caught her by the shoulders easily, the cool metal of his restraints skimming her arms. He was so close to her face that she could see that his eyes were green. Then she cleared her throat, wondering why that was the first thing her brain had noticed.

She barely had time to apologize before the doors to the truck swung open, and light flooded in, the shadows of a woman and a man cast before them. She recognized both almost instantly, despite their altered appearances.

Ivanoff’s eyebrows furrowed. “This isn’t what I was expecting to find.”

Loki released his grip on her arms, the shocked expression on his betraying that he recognized the rescuers. But somehow, he didn’t seem that enthused with their appearance. She could understand why it was awkward, given the circumstances of their last meeting. And now they were rescuing him from being imprisoned again. A bit ironic, actually.

On a normal day, Madeline would have laughed at the sheer absurdity of the situation. How could she have ever imagined she would be a war criminal, locked in the back of an armored vehicle with a demi-god, and rescued by two superheroes? But she was speechless, largely because Ivanoff was supposed to be dead.

“Are you two getting out?” Ivanoff pressed, raising an eyebrow. “We’re on the clock here.”

“Right.” Madeline turned to the open doors, legs wobbling. There was no real way of knowing how the power cuffs were affecting her body, but they had definitely weakened her. She hopped down and would have pitched forward into the dirt had Ivanoff not steadied her. “How did you find us?” Madeline asked, scanning her surroundings. They were in a desert—one like you see in movies, with cacti, towering red rocks, and the obligatory tumbleweed. There was no way Ivanoff and Captain America had stumbled upon them by accident.

It made sense. If Ross had been sending them to a secure government facility, there was definitely one hidden in some desert somewhere.

“We used a tracker,” Ivanoff answered vaguely. Her eyes flickered to Madeline’s cuffed wrists and she grimaced. “We have to get these off. I know the feeling. The suppressant will last for a few hours but after it wears off your powers should come back.”

Madeline winced as Ivanoff’s hands hovered over the cuffs. She didn’t know what she was doing, but it hurt. “That could be a bad thing.”

Ivanoff raised an eyebrow. “Well, at least you’ll feel better,” she murmured. She was concentrating on the cuffs, the palms of her hands glowing a faint purple. “These shouldn’t be hard to get off, but I don’t want to fry your wrists.” Then suddenly the purple glow grew in magnitude and brightness. There was a snap and a clang as the handcuffs fell to the road.

More shouts sounded from the front of the armored truck, and it was only then that Madeline noticed Captain Rogers had disappeared. “Are you sure you’ve got this under control, Miss Ivanoff?” Loki ventured, making a point to jingle the chains of his cuffs together when she looked up.

“Don’t piss me off,” Ivanoff warned, “Thor sent us here to rescueyou; he never said I had to set you free.” She jerked her hand towards Madeline and hooked the cuffs onto her belt. “I’m sure we have room but I will gladly make up an excuse to give your spot to her.”

“Thor sent you?” Madeline recoiled in surprise. Suddenly it all made sense. That’s why they were here. Except, she didn’t know how Thor had managed to contact the ex-Avengers while under lock and key at the Compound. “How?”

“It was through this.” Ivanoff held up her wrist and showed them a simple metal bracelet, engraved with strange symbols. Probably Asgardian. Madeline followed as she and the Captain stepped off the road and into the barren desert. “I’m sure Loki recognizes it. It gives off a strong distress signal at any point where its match is activated. Thor gave it to me a few years ago before he left. Said if he ever needed us, he would let me know. Of course, his timing was perfect. I was halfway through a stack of blueberry pancakes when it lit up. But we figured it was important, so we followed it.”

Loki looked down at his arms, as if realizing something important, and sighed heavily. “He must have slipped the other beacon onto me when he hugged me.”

“Sounds like Thor’s getting better at being sneaky,” Ivanoff remarked. “You ready, Sam?”

Madeline heard a faint crackling, but nothing else. She cast a quizzical glance towards Loki; based off the knowing look in his eyes, he had some idea of what was happening. She took a few steps further but was stopped when a chain adorned arm reached out to stop her. Before she could ask just what he was doing, he nodded in the direction that she had been going. His lips twitched upwards, like he was withholding a grin. “Might I suggest looking up before you walk?”

Bemused, she did look up. Then, tilting her head to the side in amazement, she watched as a jet silently materialized out of thin air. “Where are you taking us?” she asked, following their rescuers up the jet ramp.

“Not back to New York, if that’s what you were wondering,” Ivanoff answered. She was right, Madeline had been wondering. With good reason.

“Somewhere safe,” Captain Rogers assured. “You’ll be granted asylum there for as long as you need.”

“Are you sure you want me coming too?” Loki asked, almost sounding bored. “Last time I was on Midgard I got the impression you would kill me if I dared to come back.”

“That can be arranged,” Ivanoff offered.

“Tori.” Steve’s voice carried a strain of warning, and a tiredness that only occurs in someone who has been doing this for years. “Thor wants him alive, I’m sure.”

“Fine, I’ll try to play Switzerland. But I don’t have to be friendly.”

“Where are the others?” Rogers asked, ending the argument. “Are they still at the Compound?”

“No. General Ross arrested everybody, including Banner.”

“Bruce? Why?” Ivanoff asked, alarmed.

“Possibly because he’s still the Hulk.”

His answer seemed to take the three former-Avengers by surprise. That, or they were still trying to figure out if Loki was lying or not.

“Still the Hulk?” Rogers’ brows furrowed in confusion.

Wilson turned in his chair to glance back towards the assembled group, disbelief evident on his face. “Hold up, I thought the Hulk always turned back into Bruce once he—you know—de-stressed?”

“Usually.”

“Did Tony even argue to keep Bruce from being incarcerated?” Ivanoff asked, sounding frustrated.

“Not to my knowledge,” Loki said drily. “I was busy being arrested.”

That seemed to be enough of a confirmation for Ivanoff. She sighed and rubbed her temples. “Don’t tell me you’re surprised,” Sam cut in, an edge of disbelief to his voice. “That’s exactly what happened to us.”

“Is it a cop out to say that I’m more disappointed than anything?” she returned with a huff.

“Was there anyone else who Ross could have arrested?” Rogers questioned, shooting a look to his companions that clearly meant drop it.

“My dog.” Madeline faltered, guilt flooding into her stomach. “And Dr. Strange.” If he woke up and was healthy enough to pose a threat, of course Ross would arrest him as well. After all, he had helped her.

“Who?”

“Stephen Strange. He helped me while I was at the compound.”

“Stephen Strange?” Rogers echoed, glancing towards Ivanoff. “We’ve heard that name before.”

“From Sitwell,” Ivanoff confirmed. “Is he working with the Avengers now?”

Madeline pursed her lips in contemplation. “It was more of an ‘out of necessity’ partnership.”

“Then he’s already in too deep,” Wilson said, not turning from his position in the pilot’s seat.

“Never mind that. Personally, I’d worry about your dog,” Ivanoff replied.

Rogers turned his gaze on Ivanoff. “Seriously?”

She shrugged defensively. “It’s a valid concern.”

Madeline cleared her throat and tried to steer the discussion elsewhere. “If we’re not going back to New York, then where are we going?”

The conversation stopped abruptly, like they had flown into a brick wall. “The only place any one of us can be safe,” Ivanoff said, “Wakanda.”

“You’re joking, right? They’d offer us—” she gestured between herself and Loki “—sanctuary?”

“They did for us,” Rogers replied, “and their king said they would for you too. As long as you cooperate.”

“Define cooperate,” Loki joined in, sounding bored.

“Just don’t talk, and you probably won’t have an issue,” Ivanoff told him frostily, and then turned to Madeline calmly. “I think you should get comfortable. We won’t land for a few more hours and your powers might make an appearance before then.”

Madeline nodded her thanks, scanning the room and choosing a seat furthest away from the group. She craved her own personal peace; a few moments in which she didn’t have to worry about being arrested or dying or accidentally killing somebody.

She tucked her legs onto the seat and closed her eyes, thinking about everything that had happened in the last day or so. Where she was going, who she was with. It was like a fever dream.

As she dozed off, she wondered how she had never realized how much safer it felt to have Astrid curled up by her side.

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ngame989 · 5 years

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When it comes to Starco, what was your ideal scenario for S4? Like do you think Tomstar should've ended at Swim Suit or LHF. Then build Starco up with a mix of platonic and romantic until Beach Day where they finally go all in (full romance)?

So I won’t pretend that any specific plans I could theorize would work out perfectly, so I’ll split this in two: generic S4 relationship plan, and one that assumes most of the general structure of the season is preserved as is. I will note that the very broad themes for relationships are still good, needed, and what I hoped for in S4 in the first place, they’re just being done in a specific way that puts “will Star and Marco kiss again” on a massive pedestal and keeps the romance drama dragging.

Generic ideal plan:

Tom and Star actually DO have a conversation about the photo and break up amicably around episode 2-4 (depending on plot), with Star being nudged into realizing her feelings for Marco, and Tom being pushed into realizing he can find himself. As the season goes on, we’d still get similar things for Tom like we did this past week, but in the context of “he’s trying to figure out how to be himself now that he’s single”. Marco and Star have another talk and confirm that they do have feelings for each other somewhere before episode 6 or so, and at this point they’re “canon” but it takes them a few more episodes of getting used to actually enjoying themselves and enjoying a relationship before they’re fully official, and it’s around this point the word “love” is dropped. Topics being handled in S4 should still be handled - blood moon (although I wouldn’t actually have it used as hamfistedly as here, I’d rather have the question of whether it actually forced feelings be solved within the episode it was brought up and have it be more plot-relevant afterwards), tackle the topic of Marco moving back to Earth and the two of them making a healthy commitment that respects each other as individuals, etc. Basically, for those of you familiar with the Tangled TV series, I love what that does. The beginning of the show has both of them know they love each other, and that love has a strong foundation and commitment and desire to improve, but it’s still in its infancy - they don’t know exactly what they want out of a relationship, or what their longterm plans are, or how to really be the best partners for each other, and that’s what their development is: everything after the “honeymoon phase”. I like the idea that “love” is an important word, but it’s not the endpoint - two people can truly be in love but still grow and change and need to work at it. Then the climactic moment and endpoint for Starco would be… not officially marriage or anything, duh, but a very clear “we fully understand why we love each other and we know for a fact that we want this relationship, romantic and more, to last forever” message, perhaps with direct allusion/symbol to Marco becoming a prince/king someday, even if not officially.

Plan using the actual episode titles and specific themes of the season:

Swim Suit: don’t involve Tom, the rest of the segment can go mostly as is, but have Star specifically be sad about not being able to have the Beach Day, and look a bit contemplative on that topic as a lead-in

Ransomgram: …OK this one’s a bit weird here, maybe change it to something else. Or flip it with LHF idk.

LHF: Tomstar breakup, basically the thing they would’ve done if they actually were even SLIGHTLY less spineless about it.

Have normal plot-based Starco episodes, as well as at least one stumbling awkward quasi-romantic Starco moment leading up to Curse.

Kelly’s World: Kelly does confess some stuff for Marco, and he brings up the topic of his feelings for Star, but rather than what happened, he either turns her down, or at the very least, even if he IS at least a tiny bit conflicted in the moment, it pushes him to the brink to figure stuff out with Star for real.

Curse: One way or another the topic of the Blood Moon is brought up, both of them wonder if it could be forcing their feelings, and those feelings are still scary so they do insert plot thing here to stop it. Hell, it could even similar to what we got, but however it ends, it concludes once and for all that it didn’t. Either they learn it wasn’t a curse and it doesn’t break, or it does break but doesn’t change anything, idk, depends on the plot. This is the turning point from “feelings are scary” to “we’ve fully accepted them and are moving forward”. Probably “love” used here, now, but not necessary.

Knight Shift: really doesn’t have to be much different, the same exact topic and theme work wonderfully even if they’re already a couple. But the ending would probably not be so strong in the “together forever” theme, leave it more open-ended

Junkin/Boy - Basically can just be the same, except without Tomstar in the former case. Tom learning to be his own person, etc.

Cornonation: Marco can be alongside Star for a lot of it, give them a cute moment (again, doesn’t need to be over the top - hell, have their kiss get interrupted for a gag too for all I care)

(SPECULATIVE THEME TIME)

Beach Day: Use the idea of the future/determinism/etc from the photo to tackle the idea of free will and whatnot here. They tried to force the photo before, and it didn’t happen, and it spontaneously happens when the time is right without them going out of their way to try for it, so this gets them thinking about what the future really means or something like that.

Sad Teen: An endgame-ish important episode for Tom, one that explores the trio dynamic of Tom + Starco and shows Tom really reaching his potential as a good friend to both of them.

Cleaved: Some big plot thing (involving the Blood Moon maybe?) with Star and Marco, maybe some big imposing force gets in the way and they have to fight tooth and nail to get back to each other (climax of the “free will” idea) and the ending is that they know 100% that they’re ready to be together forever.

In general: more casual Star and Marco episodes and Starco moments. Doesn’t need to be excessive, I’m not asking for nonstop Starco fluff, and I recognize that a lot of the non-Starco episodes have been great! Off the top of my head, I’d have at least one or two additional segments pre-Curse contain actual Starco Moments™ (not just “Star and Marco team up for the plot”, but actually have the emotional core of the episode center on the pair in some way). Give them a cutesy first-steps-into-official-relationship moment in Cornball, Cornonation as mentioned previously, etc. Have a proper first date somewhere in there, even if it’s twisted in some way or “ruined” by the plot but they still enjoy it in the end. Have a Starco babysitting Mariposa episode (although who knows, we may still get that).

Also, introduce themes of comparing Marco and Star to River and Moon as a way to show the whole “love goes hand in hand with commitment and support” thing (since Knight Shift gets a bit absolved of it now), and also as a way to symbolize Marco being King eventually even if the show wouldn’t be allowed to even allude to it directly.

Overall:

Honestly, I can’t even say if this would be a better show in every way for sure. I think it’d be more enjoyable to many of us, at least. I get that some of the themes might be slightly harder to portray as strongly, and respect that despite everything the crew are still professional TV writers and I can’t hope to stack my impromptu Tumblr answer against a fully funded television show outline in every detail. But taking something even moderately along these lines, not putting “will Star and Marco kiss” on such a fucking pedestal, and actually allowing for at least a SOMEWHAT better balance of cute or intimate Star and Marco moments with the rest of the dynamics and cast, even without changing much else would make the show FAAAAAAAAAAAAAR more enjoyable to me and bring a much better balance of the things I love seeing most episode-by-episode while still respecting that the show is about far more than just Starco, and can and should explore a lot of other things.

#answered #jcabrera35

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bucklesomeswashswan · 6 years

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Once Upon a December (1/10)

For @captainswanbigbang challenge 2018

Summary: Emma doesn't remember much of her past, all she knows is she needs to get out of Misthaven. The mysterious group called the Industrialists continues to gain power and control since they overthrew the royal family over a decade ago. Out of options, Emma joins forces with a conman Killian and his partner Ruby in their plot to pass her off as the lost princess of Misthaven. But as they travel together and Killian and Ruby try to teach her how to be a princess, Emma begins to uncover hidden pieces of her past. When threats start closing in around them will she choose to escape to safety or risk everything to find her family and reveal a dangerous secret that could change history forever?

Rating: M

Story content warning: some descriptions of violence, slow burn

A massive thank you and a huge shout out to @prongsie who is an incredibly talented artist and brought this story to life!! You’ll see the artwork soon but go check out her blog, her work is stunning! And also thanks to my wonderful beta @csobsessed-21, from the beginning you were a kindred spirit and a helpful hand getting this story off the ground!!

I can’t believe it’s finally time to post this! This is the longest story I have written and its been a huge challenge and a ton of fun. Hope you all enjoy this as much as I have loved writing it!

also read it on AO3

Chapter 1: Long Ago

~ Misthaven, 13 years ago ~

Emma jumped as another crash sounded, this one louder than the others. It made the ancient walls of the castle tremble around them. She slowed her steps to stare as the flames in the gas lamps flickered and danced. All her life these thick walls and the towering halls had been her sanctuary. She had never imagined anything could change that. Again, screams and shouts echoed down the stone corridors growing closer.

“Hurry, Your Majesty,” the palace guard with them said again gesturing to her mother.

“Emma, come on,” she said pulling her along.

She stumbled over the hem of the long coat she had been hastily shoved into as they hurried down the back corridors of the castle. She wanted to ask her mother to slow down but something stopped her, maybe it was the way her mother was gripping her hand so tightly or the crease between her eyebrows that she had never seen before.

This was different from the time she had smashed the vase the diplomat from Agrabah had brought, now her mother’s expression was more similar to the one Emma had seen after the council meetings that had taken up so much of her time recently. Meetings Emma wasn’t allowed to attend, meetings that caused her parents to have arguments in harsh whispers late at night. Hushed discussions of the Industrial Guild, the new trade agreements, and other things she didn’t understand.

The guard slid to a stop before an unremarkable stretch of stone wall. He ran his hands over the wall looking for something.

“We don’t have time for this,” her father whispered urgently as they watched the guard becoming more and more frantic as he traced the edges of each of the stones.

“With all due respect, Your Majesty, you’ll want to make time for this. There is no way you’re walking out the main gates,” the guard muttered before letting out an exclamation as his fingers hooked an unseen lever in the crack between two stones.

There was the grinding sound of gears from some mechanism behind the wall and slowly a small opening emerged until there was a narrow doorway into a dark passage. Emma baulked taking a small step back.

She had heard of the tunnels under the castle. There were stories the children of the castle would tell to scare each other, of ghosts and monsters that lived deep under the castle, always some creeping evil right under their noses that would slither out and grab them in the night. Those stories had kept her up at night haunting her and she would stayed curled up in bed her eyes glued to the doors and windows waiting for some dark shadow to appear. Eventually her mother had explained that they were just old smuggling tunnels that had been unused for years, but it hadn’t completely eased her fear.

“Mama, I don’t think-” Emma began pleading, she didn’t want to go down into the dark dank tunnels.

“Emma, please,” her father said already a step into the passage. She looked up to see him beckoning her forward. His expression more worried than she’d ever seen it. “We have to go now.”

With a swallow and all the courage she could muster, Emma took a small step after her parents. The moment she crossed into the passage the hidden door was slammed shut plunging them into total darkness. She reached out her hands searching for anything to grab hold of in the emptiness, something to guide her.

A greenish light flared from the luminator the guard pulled from his pocket. It made her blink and turn away squinting. The light cast sickly shadows over the rough hewn walls and made their faces look almost skeletal.

The guard waved them forward moving at a quick pace. Emma’s heeled boots clicked on the hard packed floors. Each corner, each new tunnel that branched off seemed to hold another creeping nightmare in the shadows. Instead of letting her imagination get the best of her she tried to think of where they might be in relation to the castle overhead. The kitchens? The council chamber? She thought again of her bedroom in one of the towers overhead. Suddenly it seemed like such a silly thing to have fought going to bed for so many years, now all she wanted was to curl into her warm bed and wait for this strange night to pass.

She had lost track of the turns they made and all sense of direction by the time they stopped at a worn and rusted door. The guard was speaking quickly to her parents giving instructions on how they would get to the port, what streets to avoid, and the name of the airship, the Legacy, that would take them to safety. Emma fidgeted with her coat, she didn’t know what they were talking about. She wondered at what age you started to understand adults when they talked like that, ten it seemed was still too young.

“Emma,” her mother said turning to her and kneeling down. “My sweet girl,” she placed her hands heavily on her shoulders. She looked up, she had never heard that waver in her mother’s voice before.

“Mama-”

“Listen, Emma, you have to run now, quiet as you can. We have to run to the port. We have to get on a ship and sail away from here.”

Emma shook her head trying to hold back the tears. Go? Go where? This was their home. What would happen to her room, her toys, her friends? When would they be back? was all too much. “But I don’t want to go.”

Her mother smiled sadly. “I know. I don’t want to go either.”

Emma frowned. “Then why, can’t we just-”

“Emma,” her mother said her eyes closing for a moment as she took a deep breath. “Emma, I want to give you something. Something that is very special.”

Another crash sounded, this one right over their heads causing a thin cloud of dust to float down around them. But Emma looked only at her mother, the way she slowly slipped off her ring, the silver band with the bright emerald. The one that never left her mother’s finger.

“This ring was given to me by your father, only after I’d stolen it from him of course,” Emma nodded she’d heard this story before. “But before that this ring belonged to your grandmother, it was given to her by her true love. This ring follows true love, it always brings true love together. Always. And this ring will always lead you back home.”

Then her mother was pressing the ring into her hand. Emma glanced between her parents before opening her hand to look at the ring, the way the green stone flashed in the dim light. She slipped the ring onto her own finger, but it was comically large on her small fingers and it made her feel suddenly very young. It wouldn’t fit properly for many years.

“I don’t know,” Emma said hesitantly wrapping her hand into a fist around the ring. “It’s your ring.”

Her mother shook her head. “But it’s not just my ring. The ring has magic and it’s protected our family. It will protect you too, Emma.”

When Emma didn’t seem convinced she continued, “If it would make you feel better, you can give it back to me when we get on the ship.”

Emma nodded slowly at first, but with her mother’s ring she did feel stronger, braver. She had the magic of her family and their true love with her.

Her mother pressed a small kiss to her forehead before she stood and gave a quick nod to the guard. “Now,” she said her voice commanding. The voice of the queen.

The door was flung open and the guard led the way into the shadowy street. Emma was just glad to be out of the tunnels. These streets were familiar to her, she had wandered them on many occasions. Just last week her father had taken her down to the market to pick out flowers for her mother.

But tonight there was something different about the streets. Tonight they were alive and roiling with an anger she had never seen. The shouting and explosions from within the castle seemed to have overflowed out into the town. There was a red haze across the town from several buildings on fire, flames licking at the sky, the windows bursting with a crash. Emma stayed close to her father as they ran down the curving streets.

At last the tops of the masts and the docking scaffold for the airships started to appear, looming over the roofs around them. But rather than going for the main dock the guard pointed them down an alley. He lead the way as they slunk through the shadows. This close to the ships they could hear the sailors shouting to one another.

“Hurry, just get what’s here loaded. We need to cast off before the riots get to the docks!” one voice called.

Emma shuddered at the panic in the man’s voice. What was happening?

“Our ship is just ahead. Ready?” the guard asked looking between her parents.

Emma watched as her parents eyes met, the way her father reached out to brush back a strand of her mother’s hair, the way he gave her hand a squeeze. He gave her a small smile, a sad smile, one that didn’t reach his eyes. Her mother gave him a small nod.

Her father grabbed Emma’s hand and they moved quickly across the docks hoping not to be noticed. She could read the name Legacy etched in silver lettering across the stern of the massive ship closest to them. Everywhere people pushed past them, most didn’t spare them a glance. It was strange, she was so used to crowds parting reverently for them, people bowing before her mother. Another shoulder slammed into her knocking her off balance, and she fell, the cobblestones scraping her knees. She huffed, brushing the dirt off her skirts when she sensed more than saw her parents freeze beside her.

“Hold,” the guard breathed and they all watched as a group of men dressed in all black picked their way through the dockworkers occasionally stopping people as if they were looking for someone. Everyone on the docks seemed to shrink back in fear as those strange men passed.

“Who are they?” her mother whispered, the words barely audible as Emma stood from the ground. She watched as the men continued to search the crowd, tipping back hats and checking faces, opening bags and traveling chests.

The guard shook his head. “We don’t know. There seems to be some connection to the Industrialist Guild and the inventor, Gold.”

“We should have never allowed-” Her father muttered before one of the mysterious men broke off from the group heading toward them. He was more menacing the closer he got. His large stature was exaggerated by the thick black wool cloak he wore over a thick military jacket with rows of brass buttons. And in the center of his chest a large talisman of interlocking gears hung from around his neck.

“The ship,” the guard said his gaze falling on each of them in turn as though to emphasize his words. “No matter what happens, get to the ship. The ship will get you out of here.”

“Look what we have here,” the man in the dark cloak said. His cold eyes seemed to take in every stitch of the guard’s palace uniform, and slowly slid over her father and fell at last on the queen. A small sneer appearing on his sallow lips.

He moved closer pulling a strange device from beneath his coat and leveling it at them, Emma could hear gears clicking from within it. It wasn’t like the wands of the fairies she seen, filled with light magic, this device seemed to radiate a power darker than magic. It thrummed in the air, sending shivers up her spine, raising the hair on the back of her neck. She pressed herself tightly to her father’s side.

“How dare you,” the palace guard growled pulling out his own small revolver and pointing it at the man. Emma’s heart was hammering in her chest.

“Don’t come any closer,” the guard warned tightening his grip on his gun. But the man made no reply and with a heavy footfall he slowly, deliberately, took another step forward. With deadly slowness the man reached up to lower a dark mask down from his hat over his nose and mouth. It obscured his face, turning him into a monster, his breathing harsh through the thin slits in the front.

The guard fired his gun, the shot echoing loudly around them making others on the dock cry out and scatter in panic. But the masked man simply took another step toward them seeming unharmed by the bullet. He kept his own weapon trained steadily at the Queen’s heart.

“I carry a message,” the man said his words clipped with a mechanical edge through the mask. “Your Majesty, abandon now all hope, your time is over. We are risen.”

Her father moved before Emma even knew what was happening. He shoved her mother quickly to the side just as the gun fired. It wasn’t like the ordinary bullet from the guard’s pistol. Instead it seemed to release a pulse and then a thickness hung in the air like heavy smoke, acidic, burning her eyes and throat. She choked reaching for her father’s hand but he pulled away, his fingers slipping through hers.

And all at once a strange numbness settled over her.

There were screams around her and another explosion. Emma blinked hard trying to clear the fog, from her eyes, from her mind. She moved, not even knowing if it was forward or backward. She only wanted to get away from the noise, the numb feeling spreading through her.

The ship, she remembered distantly. She needed to get on the ship.

“David!” someone screamed near Emma, the sound startling her.

And then there, a few feet away in the confusion, was her mother clinging to her father on the ground. Emma was stunned that for a moment she had forgotten about them. How could she have forgotten her family, even for a minute?

She tried to move toward them but the ground seemed to tilt beneath her with each step and she couldn’t find her balance. The distance between them seemed to stretch, making her parents suddenly far away, unreachable. Her senses rebelled against her, nothing made sense. It was like she was trapped in a nightmare. She gripped her mother’s ring tightly hoping it would protect them.

Emma stumbled another unsteady step forward seeing red blood bloom on her father’s shirt as her mother held him. Emma could only watch helplessly as the palace guard with them was swiftly overpowered by the man in the mask. And then there was nothing standing between her parents, her family, and the masked man . Her mother looked up, meeting his eyes through the mask, staring him down with a fiery gaze.

Emma’s mind seemed only able to focus on the details of the scene before her: her mother’s hands gripped the thick fabric of her father’s coat, the soft thud as her father’s hand dropped limply from her mother’s arm, the long shadows of the masts across the dock in the moonlight, the loud click as that strange gun loaded again, the blue fabric of her mother’s shoes where they peeked out from her skirts, the palace guard’s lifeless stare from the ground, and at last the deafening blast as the gun fired again.

Emma screamed, the sound horrible, tearing from her throat. Everything within her ripped free in a blast of light and heat. She could feel her heart pounding, her skin alight as if it were glowing with some forbidden force. Magic flared from her, turning the shadows to day, bursting out and knocking the masked man back. But she couldn’t control the power and all too soon it faded, leaving her feeling empty. She collapsed, engulfed again in the strange numbness, the world around her going black, her vision fading, every tether cut and she floated within herself, lost.

The last thing she felt was hands trying to pull her up. A voice telling her she needed to run, but it didn’t sound like anyone she knew. The ship. If she could just get to the ship. Maybe everything would be okay.

She was so tired but strong arms pulled her up and dragged her, her shoes slipping on the slick stones. “Stay with me, Princess,” someone said above her.

Princess? The word echoed around in her ears, but it had lost all meaning. Everything felt foreign. She couldn’t find the energy to open her eyes, she just wanted to sleep. If she could just rest everything would be alright. Someone was yelling something that almost sounded like her name, but this was such a strange dream, and nothing was making sense. Her head was pounding and she couldn’t remember why she was trying to wake up from the haze in her mind. She relaxed into the embrace of whatever was holding her, feeling weightless as she drifted.

#csbb #csbb 2018 #cs ff #captain swan #cs ff au #anastasia au #steampunk #my writing

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bigbenalpha · 5 years

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I’ve Ben DMing, Session 25

So due to the size of the party not a lot happened in this session, but really, so much happened. The fighting took a lot of time but doesn’t require a lot of written description, while the crucial plot points at the end were quick to say but take many paragraphs to explain.

So, five of the party were brought back thanks to a mass healing spell and fight with the bandit leaders continued. The enemy bard took a good bit of damage then Glim used his bag of tricks to throw a bear at her. She vanished in a puff of brimstone. Nora got the last hit on the captain and Corvid dropped the warlock. Their spore druid revived and called lightning, taking out Surtur and Ogner, who had suffered a chunk of damage from a wall of fire and was already unconscious. Now he was dead. Again. The winged kobold rogue hit Eimir with a hold person spell. None of the party understands draconic, or they would have heard the dragon call the kobold a traitor, kobold reply, “why serve dragon when can be a dragon? she promised me.”

Their ranger decided now was a good time to duck out as well. The barbarian wasn’t quite done and ripped down a curtain revealing two invunche waiting to attack. A third came through the doorway on the upper ledge, and a fourth arrived from the passage that led back to the giant bee hive. This one was accompanied by Maw-Maw Sugar.

The green hag, using the fragment of an orb of dragonkind, ordered the wounded black dragon to use its breath weapon on the party. The only one in range was Nora, and she went down again. The hag moved on Nora and tried to drag her into one of the arcane ritual glyphs. Eimir dodged an attack from an invunche and got an arrow into the hag. She just smiled and laughed.

While Glim, Valik and Telamon contended with the other invunche, Kainos decided it might be time to duck out as well. Corvid engaged Maw-Maw and with the aid of several enhanced items landed a massive amount of damage on her. Boots of speed and ring of the ram, coupled with his monk skills resulted in a series of devastating blows that knocked her across the room and freed Nora from her clutches. As the hag was about to cast a spell (Bad DM can’t recall who) one of the party pierced her hand with an arrow, pinning it to the cavern wall. Before the next attack could land there was a deafening clap of thunder and the light filtering in the broken ceiling began to shift. The winged kobold and the druid used the new confusion to teleport their fallen comrades away, and the barbarian slipped out the back. The hag looked confused and frantic as she tried to free her hand.

The next sound anyone heard was a pair of well-crafted boots walking down the tunnel from the hive area. Entering the room was a tall, pale man with sharp Elven features. The hair on his head stuck out in every direction and from the neck down he was completely covered in a cloak made of fine, white feathers. He commanded everyone to stop what they were doing. Three of the invunche’s head exploded at his glance. The fourth ran into the swamp. The hag looked genuinely panicked now. Amnon attempted to ask a question but the man shut him down and walked up to the hag, telling her that she had dipped her toes into pools she was forbidden from. He then spoke to her in Sylvan. Telamon was the only party member fluent in that language so he filled in the gaps later. Several others speak Elven so they picked up a few words and phrases to get the gist of it.

He told her that the ritual she was attempting could never work and the individual who gave her the idea had been manipulating her. Even though she had managed to ensnare a piece of an unborn god and house it the body of a dragon (one of the only creatures strong enough to hold it) the thing was not of this plane and could not be contained by anything of it. The source of Maw-Maw Sugar’s information has used her to create an imbalance in reality that is was going to exploit for it’s own purposes. He told her that he wasn’t there to punish her. His bargain was only to collect the godshard and return it home. He finished by saying, “You know who will be coming for you and soon, Jarella. Run now while you can.” Hearing her name spoken aloud enraged the hag and she attempted to claw the man but he dodged easily and backhanded her across the room. She morphed into a small bird a flew away. The man then walked across one of the arcane glyphs, causing it to pop like a bubble. He stepped up to the dragon and asked if it knew that it wouldn’t survive. The godshard would grow and consume the dragon, and removing it would also be fatal since it was bound by the dragon’s life force. The dragon snorted and asked him to make it quick.

The man produced an impossibility of item, a lean, curved blade that was only visible from a certain angle and caused light ripple around it, and he began to cut quickly. As the dragon breathed its last he leaned over and whispered, “He’ll remember you.” From inside the beast he puled out a large egg that glowed with golden white light. In his hand it turned into a sleeping baby- with one eye and hooks instead of hands. It stirred but he calmed it saying that he would be home soon, where he could cause the most fun.

In the shadows of the cavern small faces could be seen, and the man handed the infant god off to them. They produced something resembling a bassinet as the man instructed them to return home immediately with the utmost care. He’d follow shortly, he said, then he turned to the group and asked what he was to do with all of them. The party had all been revived, except Ogner, and Kainos managed to slip back inside the cavern. Be fore he did he saw Titus, badly wounded by bees, atop the cliff lighting a signal fire for reinforcements. As the man walked and surveyed the wounded Nora asked what his name was. He asked hers first and thought for a second. “Hmmm, close, but those first two letters... I do love to hear my name on the lips of others so you’ll have to listen for it.” Glim asked the man if he could bring Ogner back, because Ogner owed his soul to Glim. The man laughed and said Glim would have to get in line, Ogner was under the thumbs of beings who placed zero importance on the deals mortal make between themselves. He said yes, he could revive Ogner but what bargain did the party offer. As they thought quickly the man leaned over and with his impossible blade lifted Ogner’s amulet into the light. “I’ll take this, and your oath that you’ll stay out of my way as I gather the remaining shards and return them to their rightful place.” Eimir asked how they were supposed to know if they were getting in his way. “Your ignorance isn’t my concern. Decide!” Glim quickly agreed. As the man severed the cord of the necklace Ogner came back. He turned, “My business here is done. I apologize about your travel plans. Let’s not meet again.” And he turned into a large, white owl and flew away through one of the holes in the cavern ceiling. As the small faces in the shadows faded they all whispered, “goblin king. goblin king, goblin kiiiiing.”

Corvid, Surtur and Amnon did a quick check of the cavern exits and discovered that the swamp outside had been replaced with thick, temperate rain forest. The sky was twilight. The were in the feywild now. And that’s where we stopped.

And this is where I’m stopping being the DM for a while. Glim’s player is taking over that chair. When he’s done with his story I’ll pick up again for a session or two to add a bit more to my larger story. Then Amnon’s player will DM, then Kainos’s, with me filling in again in between them then coming back full time to wrap it all up. We should be at least level 25 by the time it’s all over. And if you’re wondering how a green hag could take so much damage it’s ‘cause I had to beef her up tremendously. There were eleven level five party members looking to bring the hurt so steps were taken. I won’t say what steps, exactly, in case she has a taste for revenge and manages to elude whoever is coming after her for what she’s done. I’m also done with writing recaps for the time being as well. Nora’s player is going to pick up the pen in my stead. I’ll be copy’pasting them here as she updates. If you’ve read along with any or all of these recaps I hope you enjoyed them.

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ART credit: Jareth the Goblin King by Marker-Mistress on deviantArt

#Dungeons and Dragons #D&D #bandits #green hag #invunche #black dragon #Goblin King #Jareth #feywild #gods #bigbenalpha

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littlebigkaiju · 6 years

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Turns out I had a lot to say about Pacific Rim: Uprising

Opening statement: It’s now VERY clear why Guillermo Del Toro has had nothing at all to say about this movie on Twitter. Has it ruined Pacific Rim for me? Nothing could. Has it destroyed the future of this franchise? Almost certainly. No real spoilers in the list of good points, but BEWARE OF SPOILERS IN THE BAD POINTS.

THE GOOD:

Dr Hermann Gottlieb gets arguably the best deal out of all the returning cast. His position in the PPDC at this point is unclear, (research and development?), but he plays a fun, engaging part with a surprising amount of screen time. It’s great for him to have such an important role in this movie despite his separation from Newt, and I honestly loved him.

Liwen Shao. Definitely a character with more depth than I had expected. I really came to like her and her role in the movie.

The new Kaiju designs are GREAT. They’re suitably different than those of the original movie without being a complete departure (there are definitely some familiar themes in Raijin and Shrikethorn).

The Mega Kaiju is terribly underutilised, but he’s wonderful. He turns the tide of battle very quickly and really feels like an unstoppable force.

I WAS RIGHT ABOUT MOUNT FUJI, and this turned out to be an interesting revelation about the Precursors’ plan of action. Very cool, although by the end of the movie I was wishing their plan had succeeded.

THE BAD (SPOILERS EVERYWHERE):

Let’s get this one out of the way: Uprising is a massive “fuck you” to the character development of its returning cast. Pacific Rim holds the distinction of having had an alternative to the Bechdel Test created after it. (It’s called the Mako Mori test – At least one female character who gets her own narrative arc that is not about supporting a man’s story.) Almost unbelievably, Uprising manages to destroy this. The vision and portrayal of Mako in the original Pacific Rim is fantastic. Her motivation is driven by tragedy, as her family was killed during Onibaba’s attack on Tokyo, but she’s incredibly smart (the head of the MK-3 Jaeger restoration project, in fact) and a talented Jaeger pilot in training with a simulation drop to kill score of 51 to 51, something that makes even veteran pilots turn their heads. Not only was Mako in charge of restoring Gipsy Danger to her full glory and installing the chain sword that would become her trademark weapon, she became instrumental in defeating the most powerful Kaiju ever seen, avenging her family and ultimately saving the world. Despite this, she’s a humble and strongly emotional character; a brilliant example of what a strong female character should be. (Strength doesn’t preclude emotion or empathy, but movies like to tell us it should.) I really can’t emphasise enough how important she to this franchise. In Uprising, Mako has become the secretary general of the PPDC – So far, so good. Unfortunately, that’s where the ‘good’ ends for Mako. She’s briefly in contact with her estranged adoptive brother Jake Pentecost to create the impression that they’re making up after some longstanding disagreement, just enough to indicate to the audience that we should care about their relationship. Because the next time we see Mako, she dies in a helicopter crash purely so Jake can have some angst and a reason to take his position in the PPDC more seriously. This REALLY pisses me off. Mako Mori, arguably the most important character in Pacific Rim, is given a screen time of around 5-10 minutes and reduced to nothing more than the victim of the infamous fridge trope in its sequel. Mako deserved better. If she was going to die in this movie she should have been in a Jaeger, fighting to save the world once more. What a travesty of a decision this was.

Though John Boyega plays a good part, it’s painfully, painfully obvious that the character of Jake Pentecost was invented solely for him to have a larger role in the movie, one with a direct link to some of the most heroic figures in the Pacific Rim universe. Given that John became a producer for Uprising, it’s hard not to feel like his ego is the primary factor driving this decision (and, ultimately, the death of Mako Mori, since she’s the only other relative of Stacker Pentecost and the only original pilot to return in this movie). Jake’s manufactured existence causes the audience to question what we know of Stacker, the strict but doting adoptive father of Mako Mori. Given the appropriate time and care, this could have had the potential to be a plot point that would add more depth to Stacker, Jake, and Mako as a family, but as with all the character development in Uprising, it’s rushed. Jake’s relationship with Mako and their father is barely mentioned at all, such that I only know that Jake was inducted into the Jaeger Academy like Mako, but was kicked out of the program for attempting to pilot a Jaeger alone. Jake was either disowned or simply ran away. There’s no more discussion than that, giving us the impression that Stacker Pentecost couldn’t care less that his son was living rough and stealing Jaeger technology to make ends meet while he continued with his duties as a PPDC marshal. None of this adds anything of value to these characters. It simply conflicts with the way Stacker was portrayed in the original movie, tarnishing the legendary reputation that Uprising is otherwise so fond of bringing up.

The characterisation “fuck you” continues with some very poor handling of a villainous Newt. (Oh Newt, buddy, how they’ve wronged you.) It’s not news to most fans that Guillermo Del Toro was toying around with the idea of taking Newt in a villainous direction for the sequel after his repeated exposure to the Kaiju hivemind in the Drift. Ghost Drifting is a known quantity in the Pacific Rim universe; essentially a residual connection outside of the Drift that results in shared thoughts and behaviours. The idea of this being an opening for the Precursors to hijack Newt and use him for their own gain is REALLY interesting and something I was legitimately excited about, but the execution of it here is just plain bad. The reveal of Alice is appropriately creepy, but is left unexplored beyond a singular, unsavoury scene. The implication of it ends up feeling more like Newt betrays all of humanity for the sake of some virtual reality Kaiju sex, rather than because he is being used as a literal puppet by the Precursors, and that’s a pretty awful thing to do to a fandom-beloved character who had more than a small part in saving the world the first time around. He gets a couple of nice scenes with Dr Gottlieb and a small moment with his monstrous Mega Kaiju creation (which smacks of Leatherback’s curiosity about Striker Eureka, minus the personality), and that’s… it. For the rest, he’s treated like shit.

Uprising is also a massive “fuck you” to the world building of the original movie. In Pacific Rim, it was established that the highly pollutant nature of Kaiju Blue meant that Jaeger pilots had to avoid using weapons like swords that would cause bleeding while fighting Kaiju in populated areas. Apparently, no-one gives a shit about this 10 years into the future, despite the fact that we’ve discovered Kaiju Blue is also incredibly explosive. Nope, we’ve got a mace coated in knives, massive machine guns, and chain swords abound. There’s Kaiju Blue everywhere, but who cares?

On the above note, watch Gipsy Danger carefully during the Battle of Hong Kong in the original movie. Her pilots, Mako and Raleigh, take great care not to damage the buildings around them where possible, even stepping over a bridge instead of simply walking through it. Not so in Uprising – Apparently Tokyo’s shiny new skyscrapers (which are only around 10 years old) are all fair game. Jake Pentecost uses Gipsy Avenger’s gravity sling to intentionally pull down a good four or five skyscrapers onto Raijin, for all the good that does, while the pilots of Saber Athena casually drag the Jaeger’s twin swords through the buildings at either side of her for no particular reason.

Likewise, drifting is important… except when it’s not. This movie pushes the idea that it’s easier to form bonds (and thus be Drift compatible) at a younger age, which is why all the new cadets in training are in their teens. They’re not actually meant to be deployed until they’re older – Fine, I’ll buy that. Amara repeatedly fails to successfully drift with anyone in training, making her a very weak contender in the Jaeger Program, but then magically drifts with a total of three other pilots for the battle in Tokyo because… Well, because the plot required it to happen.

As previously mentioned, the character development in this movie is almost non-existent. This hits the new Jaeger pilots especially hard because we get almost no information about their backstories, their training history, etc. so seeing them in action becomes an unknown quantity with little impact. There is a pilot called Jules and I know nothing about her, because Jules is a character who exists to be nothing more than an object for two men to compete and drool over. This is the sequel to the movie that prompted the creation of the alternative to the Bechdel test, everybody. Good job.

Uprising tries very hard to be its own thing, (much to the detriment of the returning cast and the world building of the original), but it just can’t help but lean on the legacy of its predecessor. References to the original movie appear in the form of bargain basement scene reshoots instead of clever nods. There are many, but here’s the worst: Amara lost her family to a Kaiju known as Insurrector, just like Mako Mori, who lost hers to Onibaba when it made landfall in Tokyo. We see this in a flashback when she attempts to drift with Jake, just like when Mako drifts with Raleigh for the first time. And just like Mako, she gets hold of the memory and can’t let go, so the pair of them are thrown out of neural alignment while Jake appears in her memory and pleads for her to stop. At this point we’re not really referencing the original movie so much as remaking it shot-for-shot.

True to the genre, Pacific Rim’s Kaiju had powerful abilities – Flight, electrical discharges, acid spit; things sometimes a step removed from reality but certainly inspired by real creatures. But the Kaiju in Uprising are magic. They can do some very bizarre things that are never given any kind of explanation, like absorbing energy from attacks to send it right back to their Jaeger aggressors. Even more bizarrely, when succumbing to the influence of the Precursors, the drone Jaegers suddenly sprout Kaiju flesh and appendages like glowing Kudzu on speed. We’ve never seen Precursor tech with any level of regenerative capacity, let alone the ability to flash-grow an entire Kaiju from an old sample of a brain, yet this happens and then it’s never referenced again. None of the other Kaiju exhibit abilities like this, so not only is it out of place but it feels like a missed opportunity because it could have been used to great effect for the false scare with the shattered Mega Kaiju at the end of the movie.

The individual designs of the Kaiju are great, but they’re given frustratingly little time to shine on their own and have absolutely no personality to speak of. Raijin gets some nice screen time, but Hakuja and Shrikethorn are barely visible and never really get to feel like a threat despite being Category IV Kaiju (the same as Leatherback and Otachi, who REALLY fuck shit up in Pacific Rim). This is especially disappointing given that they appear only in the last 20 minutes or so of the movie. Even the Mega Kaiju, who is quite magnificent to behold, only shows up for about 5 minutes and gets nothing in the way of special moves or tricks hidden up his sleeve; certainly nothing we didn’t see in trailers. Seriously, if you’ve seen the trailers for this movie, you’ve seen all the Kaiju action.

Both the Kaiju and the Jaegers are weightless. They move far too quickly and unfortunately so does the camera, meaning that fights quickly descend into a sort of mild chaos in which it can be quite difficult to focus on what’s happening. This is in stark contrast to the original, which took great pains to express the sheer weight and volume of Jaegers and their Kaiju foes, and carefully choreographed and framed the action for maximum impact. When Gipsy Danger prepares to fire the rocket on her elbow, the process takes a good few seconds – The moving of armour plating, the ignition of the rocket, the lowering of air brakes and then the swing of the punch. In Uprising, Avenger does all of this in about half a second. There’s no anticipation; blink and you’ll miss it. Likewise, Uprising misses these beats with its Kaiju. There’s a brilliant moment where Bracer Phoenix launches its mace into the side of the Mega Kaiju’s head, (to hilariously underwhelming effect), only for the Kaiju to whip around and shred the Jaeger in a matter of seconds. Had this been a shot in Pacific Rim, the Mega Kaiju would have taken a moment to shake its head, express its displeasure with a roar, and then clamp its jaws around the offending Jaeger. Sadly, this injection of personality and humour is skipped.

Under the persistent control of the Precursors, Newt designs a swarm of small creatures called Rippers who deconstruct Raijin, Hakuja, and Shrikethorn to recombine them into the unnamed Mega Kaiju. There’s no indication of whether the Kaiju are prepared for this, or, like the abused living weapons they truly are, whether they’re actually distressed by having something happen to them that they don’t understand. All we’d need here is for them to fall weirdly still and assume a formation, or to show signs of distress or aggression, and we could get the idea either way. Unfortunately, what we get is somewhere in the middle, so I suppose we can just assume they don’t care. How blank and characterless.

There are plot holes and lost threads all over the place in this movie. Here’s one of my favourites: Hermann requests help from Kaiju biology specialist Newt as he tries to figure out a way to combine Kaiju blood and rare earth metals to create a propellant more powerful than rocket fuel. Newt declines, Hermann despairs… and then somehow figures it out anyway off screen, just in time for the fuel to be used in a Jaeger launch. What?

Similarly, we find out why Obsidian Fury is a rogue Jaeger, but we never get an explanation for who’s responsible for its existence. The inference is that it’s meant to be Newt, but the idea that he somehow used Shao Industries’ automated factories to construct an entire uncommissioned Jaeger without anyone ever noticing is a stretch, to say the least. The same goes for the Rippers.

Ghost Drifting, Part II? This is very minor, but as much as I enjoyed him there’s something odd about Hermann’s characterisation in this movie. He’s not just a mathematician but a really goddamn passionate one, (“Numbers are as close as we get to the handwriting of god.”), but that job just doesn’t exist for him in Uprising. The closest we get is him talking about using a ‘fractal algorithm’ to decode some damaged data. Instead, Hermann seems to be spending his time messing around with Kaiju biology, having discovered that Kaiju blood reacts violently with rare earth metals. I assume we’re meant to be seeing the residual effects of the Drift, but even despite that, taking up the dissection of Kaiju samples just seems like something Hermann would never do, given his sheer distaste for Kaiju biology. (“No Kaiju entrails on my side of the room,” per the first movie; “…when we drifted with that disgusting Kaiju brain,” per the second.)

Tone. Pacing. Both of these are awful. The movie opens with a vague recap of the original, complete with footage lifted directly from it. This is otherwise known as Really Shitty Exposition.

There’s a terrible and wholly unnecessary montage scene with an equally terrible rendition of the Pacific Rim theme as remixed by Patrick Stump… because of reasons. I threw up in my mouth a little.

The movie contains a whole lot of forced Marvel-style humour. Everywhere. That’s not an inherently bad thing but never once does it feel fitting here. In addition to this, a dead meme is shoehorned in because apparently Steven De Knight is a cheap asshole who’d rather fall back on a meme to try for laughs instead of committing to a serious tone for more than 5 seconds at a time. Out of nowhere, one of the cadets is playing the Russian Trololol song on one of the Jaeger’s internal screens during their deployment. What the ever-loving fuck does that have to do with anything? Except for utterly destroying the moment the movie was trying to build?

I really could go on, but I think I’d rather forget the existence of this movie.

#Pacific Rim Uprising Spoilers #PRU Spoilers #Pacific Rim Uprising #I'm gonna have to go ahead and pretend this movie never existed #Strifespeak

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banjo-gk · 6 years

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Joy. Those who experience. pt 1(1st draft)

Aight, got some writing done. Without going into an hour long lore/biology lecture about the context, here's the short version. This is for Renegade Saga. Valiant in Combat aka 'Val' and Dire have just graduated from the Garuda Empire's version of high school. They're all Avian, which are bird people. Their size variance is roughly that of the bird breeds they are based on but scaled within typical human height ranges*(mid 4 foot to low 7 foot, usually)**(Though that's heel to crown and Avian toe walk so...). Avian culture uses genderless pronouns as the default. Winds are combat focused frontline generals, think WC3 Heroes. Any other questions? Just ask me and I'll answer. Hopefully this all makes sense but I can't look at the screen anymore, it's all blurring together.

“Valiant in Combat Ladeau?” The call echoed throughout the cramped plaza. At its epicenter stood Lieutenant Dread Shriek Mograine, their statuesque form cast a shadow which threatened to envelop the entire clearing. Dread was exceedingly tall and well equipped with an impressively broad wingspan. By any standard Lieutenant Mograine was massive, even considering that they were a Golden, one of the largest Avian breeds. Next to the veteran officer there rested a mountain of scrolls laid out on a table, one for each cadet. “Valiant in Combat?” Again, they read the name off the parchment with a deafening rumble. Dread Shriek was, as their name suggests, quite loud. The mass of new recruits shifted uneasily, yet no one stepped forward. “Valiant in Combat?” The officer repeated with another raspy bellow.

“They’re calling your name…” An Eagle Owl, another sizable breed, murmured from the corner of their mouth as they pointedly nudged the Blyth’s Hawk Eagle who lounged beside to them. The much smaller bird rolled their eyes and let out an exasperated sigh.

“Val-”

“Here!” Val emerged from the congregation with their hand raised. As they sauntered toward the grizzled Eagle, their dark crest swaying in sync with their movements. Dread fixated on the juvenile Avian as they aimed a cold piercing glare in the petite bird’s direction. “You know, just Val is fine. You don’t have to say the whole thing. It’s a bit of a mouth full anyway.” Val pleaded with the veteran, their offer accented by their undulating curves, toothy smile, and a sweet longing look. However, Dread held their gaze, unwavering, unaffected, and unamused. “Besides, that’s a lot of pressure to put on a kid. How would my parents know that I’d be Valiant in Combat?” Val recited their full name as though it were a caricature. A parody of the poise and dignity that the Ladeau flight were known for and they were expected to exercise. “For all any of us know.” Val shrugged. “First time I’m in real combat; I’m just as likely to piss myself or kick them in the slit. That wouldn’t be very… valiant? Would it?” Dread refused to acknowledge Val’s request, they did not want to validate their behavior.

“Valiant in Combat Ladeau?” They held out the scroll. Val’s posture sank and they flailed their arm indignantly as they accepted the orders. “You’ll report to the Temple at Chayot.” Dread spoke in a hushed tone that only Val could hear. Shock, excitement, and joy overwhelmed Val’s disposition and shattered their defenses. “Congratulations, Aspirant.” Incapable of words, the little bird lunged towards the Golden and buried their face deep in Dread’s ruff.

The force nearly knocked Dread off their feet and, despite their best efforts, caused blood to rush into the Lieutenant’s cheeks, forehead, and other… places. This was a strong biological response that Val was well aware of and would typically be quick to exploit. Luckily for Dread’s virtue, however, Val’s intentions were pure and they quickly detached themselves before they darted back towards the grouping of recruits.

“HEEEE! You’re looking at the next West Wind, Dire.” Val declared with a maniacal glee. The Eagle Owl was hardly surprised. Dire had known Val since they were fledglings. They remembered being weak, alone, scared, and together. No one could appreciate how much the little Eagle had developed to the degree that Dire could.

“You? An Aspirant? There has to have been some mistake.” They responded with feigned disinterest.

“Nope! Top of our class in combat and technical skills.” Val interjected. “ Second in flight capabilities. But that’s only cuz some grouchy bird had to go and be a lot bendier than one would have guessed…” Val continued as they absentmindedly ran their talons through Dire’s soft down.

“Dire Goupillon?” Dread’s voice mercifully cut through the chatter.“Yes, sir!” Dire replied immediately and, in equal parts, rushed towards the Lieutenant beckoning and from Val’s advance. A short inaudible exchange occurred between them. Dire saluted their superior and then they returned to their previous position.

“So?” Val inquired.“Officer’s Academy, naturally.” Dire calmly stated, brimming with well earned confidence.

“So…” The little trickster adorned their sultry tone once more. “Looks like I’m on track to win our little… wager, Dire.” Val grinned suggestively. A shivered sprinted up Dire’s spine and through their nerves.

“What? I never agreed to…” Dire feebly protested as they struggled to regain their composure.

“If you want out, all you gotta do is say so.” Val teased. Their eyes met briefly before Dire quickly redirected their vision towards an unoccupied plot of earth.

“Y-you’re perverted.” They muttered to themselves

.“Nu-uh, I just like really… big… birds.” Val’s words clung to the air, practically dripping with intent. But Dire was not defenseless.

“You are impossible, Val!” With great strain they shook themselves free of Val and their own temptation.

“I think you’d find that I’m quite accessible, Dire.” Val fired one last rejoinder, though even they could see they were bested.

“That’s not what I… “ A sudden pause. “Congratulations, Val.” The realization that the two would soon part ways suddenly struck Dire. “I guess I will miss you…” Their lips curled into an earnest smile but their eyes betrayed another emotion. “Despite myself.” They joked with a token chuckle. Val nodded their head as they hoisted themselves onto the tips of their talons. Now they were nearly eye to eye with Dire. As Val raked their knuckles gently across the side of Dire’s face, they reassured their life long acquaintance

.“It won't be so long this time, Dire.” The Owl wrapped his right arm around Val’s slender waist to support his friend’s weight. “I promise.” Val added. Dire could feel the Eagle’s lips move along their feathers as Val whispered.

“Val?” Dire softly questioned.

“Yes, Dire?”

“Why do you always tease me?” Val giggled slightly and then pressed themselves against Dire’s chest.

“Because no never let me do anything else, silly.” Val said plainly with great affection and free of accusation.

“What do you mean?” Dire inquired, not unafraid of what the answer may hold.

“You never say, yes. You never say, no. So I wait.” Val had now completely wrapped themselves up within Dire’s embrace. “I want you, Dire. I want you to tell me what to do.” They draped their head over Dire’s shoulder and smiled. Buzz-saw ivory revealed behind gold painted lips.

“I…” Dire choked. But this was pleasant. It was more than enough.

Several minutes passed as they stood in silence, frozen in time. The two lingered in what should been a passing moment and then, wordlessly, they parted. First for the night and then for much longer. Off they went to different skies, different lives, different fates, and different stories.

#RenSaga #Writing #first draft #fantasy #fiction

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bishreview · 6 years

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Lots of Quickies

Hi, I’ve been real busy lately and have started a heap of reviews that I’ve been unable to finish because of time restraints and stress. University can get on my back quickly but I’m finished now so I’m going to finish the ones I started before getting into a top 10 for films, albums and singles for the mid year (probably released before the end of June).

Avengers: Infinity War

The biggest crossover movie event ever pitted together the 20+ heroes against the big bad villain of the Marvel universe, Thanos. With a giant cast full of big names, a range of genres and a massive story to deal with, there were a lot of risks that the Russo brothers faced to make this movie. Despite it feeling supersaturated with characters and having some pacing issues, they were successful in creating a massive, climatic film, and Infinity War is close to the MCU’s best.

Avengers: Infinity War gets an A-

Breath

Simon Baker’s adaptation of the highly acclaimed Tim Winton novel of the same name had a surprising amount of hype for an Australian film. Although there is some gorgeous cinematography, especially with some of the surfing shots, the movie is bogged down by stale acting, shocking character development, inconsistent pacing, and a directionless plot. With the movie just coming under the 2hr mark, it feels overly long and bland, lacking originality in both the surfing genre and the coming-of-age genre.

Breath gets a D

Deadpool 2

Deadpool was an unbelievable success in 2016, shattering records and expectations as it became one of the most successful R-rated films ever. With the sequel they have expanded the universe, introducing ‘the X Force’ for the future of the franchise. This introduces many new strong characters, including Domino (Zazie Beetz) who steals every scene she’s in, and Firefist/Rusty Collins (Julian Dennison) who is works well with the titular character (Ryan Reynolds). Thankfully they haven’t sacrificed the quality of the film in order to universe build, with the sequel being almost as hilarious as the first, whilst digging into deeper themes of mortality and family.

Deadpool 2 gets an A

Hereditary

I generally split horror films into three categories; the aim to scare, the aim to gross out, and the aim to unsettle. Hereditary falls into the last category. It’s been a long time since a film has me shook by the end of it. This isn’t an enjoyable film at all, instead being a tiresome experience of slowly increasing tension and uncomfortableness. This makes it one of the best horror films I’ve ever seen. Toni Collette and Alex Wolff are both incredible and the cinematography and score are perfect, complimenting the story and giving the tension exactly what it needs to flourish. The use of shadows and wide shots create an atmosphere which is unlike any horror movie I’ve ever seen, giving you enough to be scared but not enough to know why. Hereditary isn’t for anyone, it is slow and there are no payoffs for the tension (like jumpscares), but its a testament to how one can build tension on film and up there with the greats of the genre.

Hereditary gets an A+

Solo: A Star Wars Story

Solo isn’t a complex movie. It doesn’t try to be a massive connection story like Rogue One, nor an epic adventure like The Force Awakens or The Last Jedi. Instead it plays to its strength, a low stakes origin story which gives a few characters some extra screen time. And it works to that extent, Han, Lando and Chewie being introduced well and having a fun adventure. It does have issues with pacing and the overcooked “shock betrayals” towards the climax starts getting cringy more than surprising but the journey is enjoyable fun, becoming a simple popcorn flick with a lot of replay value.

Solo: A Star Wars Story gets a B-

13 Reasons Why

13 Reasons Why has quickly become on the most decisive and controversial TV shows in recent memory. Season One had its issues but still held itself up due to its characters and story development. To put it simple, Season Two didn’t need to be made and it’s very clear that it was forced out. Only three of the characters remain interesting with their story arcs, the script is derivative and banal, and events happen only for the purpose of the plot. This all leads up to terribly cringey moments and a predictable ending (which follows one of the most disturbing and unneeded scenes in TV). I will give the show props though for attempting a realistic court hearing and a beautiful moment in which the main cast come together in memory of their deceased friend, a moment which really should’ve ended the series.

13 Reasons Why gets a D-

Atlanta: Robbin’ Season

Donald Glover’s Atlanta is something else. The debut season explored the African American life, relationships, the Hip Hop scene, poverty and young parenthood in such a unique and fresh way. With Robbin’ Season Glover gets deeper into his characters, exploring their flaws with a realistic lens. It works as well, with each episode making a range of statements, varying from depression and grief, to dating and ‘investments’. By the end of the season the main ensemble has changed so much that season three is a complete unknown. What the show doesn’t pretend to do though is become cliched, with success still an unobtainable goal and their desire to reach it getting more desperate. To summarise, this is honestly one of the best seasons of television ever produced. Also, bonus points for Teddy Perkins being the scariest character ever conceived in a hip hop story.

Atlanta: Robbin’ Season gets an A+

Arctic Monkeys - Tranquillity Base Hotel & Casino

With album number six, Arctic Monkeys attempted to completely re-image themselves. Diverting from their previous, guitar driven, indie rock, TBH&C delves into a smoother, 70s psychedelic inspired direction, with most songs utilising a keyboard to accompany Alex Turner’s almost mindless ramblings (at times successful, other times forced)). Although the band have changed the direction, it seems they’ve changed it to a familiar territory, with a lot of the songs sounds like Alex Turner’s recent The Last Shadow Puppets materiel (and some seeming like the B-sides of them). Although there are stronger moments, there’s a lot of filler and some of the weakest material of the band’s quite consistent career.

Favourite song: ‘The Ultracheese’

Tranquillity Base Hotel & Casino gets a C

A$AP Rocky - Testing

The A$AP mob’s most successful mainstream member, Rocky, has been moving at a rapid rate. His popularity and critical acclaim has been moving up with every release. Testing is both a step in the right direction and the wrong direction. Although it’s is most ambitious record to date, influenced by psychedelic, electronica and ambient music, it’s quite messy and inconsistent. Songs start well to just fall away in their second half and there’s simply too many tracks to keep interest high. A$AP Rocky is doing very different things in hip hop and Testing will hopefully continue to lead him on his path, it’s just disappointing the album couldn’t be stronger.

Favourite track: ‘Purity (feat. Frank Ocean)’

Testing gets a C+

Courtney Barnett - Tell Me How You Really Feel

I’m one of those people that didn’t rate Courtney Barnett’s breakout debut. I found it redundant and pretentious. With her sophomore though she takes a lot of what was strong from her debut and worked with it. Although there’s a clunky and repetitive middle section, the first third of the album is very good music. Barnett has a wonderful way with melodies when she tries to write melodic music and her voice, although not the strongest, can be really emotive. There’s still some rambling tracks but her development is quite noticeable and from someone who couldn’t get through multiple listens of her debut, this was an enjoyable album.

Favourite track: ‘Hopefulessness’

Tell Me How You Really Feel gets a C+

DMAs - For Now

DMAs’ debut was something special in 2016. A 90s Brit-Pop revival album which was better than most 90s Brit-Pop. For Now continues their journey through British music, sharing similarities with bands like The Cure, The Smiths, Boomtown Rats and The Stone Roses. It’s very successful, with a wide range of influences and styles being incorporated in their sound. The album is much more consistent their debut, with each track being different yet based around the general ‘feel’ of the album. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have that big moment that their debut had, with no tracks really standing out as something incredible. That doesn’t weaken the album too much though, being one of the strongest releases of the year.

Favourite track: ‘Tape Deck Sick’

For Now gets an A-

Kanye West - Ye

I love this album cover. It’s very simple but very effective, representing both the minimalist, emotional, and cold album that is to come. Ye isn’t the first Kanye album to be lowkey, or sad, or left of field. It isn’t something special in his career though, an album where it really seems he condenses his talent into a short time (it is only seven songs) and really lets the production of the tracks take over, with some of the best moments being when he’s not on the mic (’Ghost Town’ has an outro which is just brilliant thanks to 070 Shake). That’s not to say Kanye’s voice doesn’t shine, ‘Wouldn’t Leave’ is a testament to his lyrical and rapping strengths, but his production is his best in nearly a decade. Although there are some weaker tracks and some cheesy lyrical moments, Ye reminds us why we continue to love Kanye, because he continues to release some of the best hip hop available.

Favourite track: ‘Ghost Town’

Ye gets a B+

Kids See Ghosts - Kids See Ghosts

If someone gave me a list of all the albums released this year before the year started, a collaboration between Kanye and Kid Cudi would definitely be my most anticipated. An album combining two of the most important voices in hip hop during the late 00s, both of them being instrumental in bringing topics of mental illness into mainstream hip hop. Where I expected Kids See Ghosts to be a darker album though, the album is almost a celebration of overcoming their demons. There are still some darker tracks, like the album closer ‘Cudi Montage’, there’s a lot of fiery tracks (like the conveniently titled ‘Fire’) and uplifting tracks (the album standout ‘Reborn’). There are some brilliant moments on this album, whether it comes from the strangely funny yet creepy sample of Louis Prima’s ‘What Will Santa Claus Say’ in ‘4th Dimension’, the ballsy attempt at scat rap in ‘Feel the Love’, or the gorgeous chorus in ‘Cudi Montage’ which features the beloved noise of Cudi humming (God bless Cudi and his biblical humming). Although the track listing works in its disadvantage some tracks do have some strange choices in direction (the end of ‘Fire’ sounds great but doesn’t fit with the song, nor the album), Kids See Ghosts is a contender for album of the year.

Favourite track: ‘Reborn’

Kids See Ghosts gets an A

Lily Allen - No Shame

Lily Allen will always be one of the most lovable cynics in music. Her career has been largely satirical takes of political and societal issues through upbeat, pop songs. With No Shame she seems to direct her satire on to herself, literally roasting herself, focusing on her recent divorce, motherhood, drug addiction, and balancing her fame and career with family life. This makes for a very deep, and at times dark, listen. Somehow though, through all this, Lily Allen has made her best album, and maybe the best album this year. Lead single ‘Trigger Bang’ is a brilliant pop song, reminding us of her humble beginnings whilst delving into criticisms of the industry and her place in it. Tracks like ‘Lost My Mind’ and ‘Everything to Feel Something’ are some of her saddest, roughly criticising her lifestyle with some beautiful production and instrumentation. And the gorgeous piano-ballad, ‘Three’, is as beautiful as it is rough, the lyrics being from her daughter’s perspective of Allen not being around for her kids. The album does allow a lighter ending, the final few tracks feeling upbeat and optimistic, something rare from albums which explore such dark themes. Although there are a couple of tracks where the dancehall vibe feels slightly too strong considering the lyrical content, No Shame is something special, and a sign of unbelievable growth for an artist over a decade old.

Favourite track: ‘Everything to Feel Something’

No Shame gets an A

Middle Kids - Lost Friends

Middle Kids are slowly becoming the most underappreciated act in Australia. Their critical acclaim and industry cred are both high but their commercial success hasn’t blossomed in Australia. Their debut album looks to be their big push (it reached #10 on the ARIA album charts), and for good reason. It’s a really consistent album, with each song being a good alternative rock song. There are some lyrical moments which are average and some songs go for a little too long but each track fits well on the album and are enjoyable. For a debut, it’s a good one and really builds up anticipation to hear more from the band and see where they go.

Favourite track: ‘Edge of Town’

Lost Friends get a B

Nas - Nasir

Nasir is another good release from the recent G.O.O.D Music output with Kanye West, although it’s probably the weakest so far. The production on it is really good, with the beats driving most of the songs, but Nas seems misguided and confused on a lot of the tracks. He has good messages behind the songs, referencing themes from police brutality to finances, but he doesn’t seem to really push his ideas, mostly feeling like there is a lack of passion or interest. It’s still an enjoyable album but the feeling of going through the motions is littered throughout and thus is quite disappointing.

Favourite track: ‘Everything’

Nasir gets a C+

Parkway Drive - Reverence

Australia’s premier Metalcore band, Parkway Drive, have has a mixed career for me. Their previous album, Ire, was one of their best, with the songs being meatier and relentless, not holding back at all whilst bringing new influences in. With album number six I’m not sure whether they’ve gone backwards or forwards. It’s different from their previous releases, leaning on cleaner singing much more often, and the influences are clearly from the heavy metal genre of the late 70′s to the early 90′s, but it doesn’t have a strong identity. At times it seems like a tribute album and really doesn’t standout or have its own image and sound. There are still some strong songs but a lot of the album feels like filler and for a band which has been leading the way in the genre in Australia for so long, it seems like they are now falling behind.

Favourite track: ‘The Void’

Reverence gets a C-

Post Malone - Beerbongs and Bentley’s

Every now and then Post Malone nails it and he’s definitely ridden off the success of these moments (think the songs ‘Congratulations’ and ‘I Fall Apart’). There is a hidden talent there which is covered up by the cheesy songwriting and cliched style that he presents. On Beerbongs and Bentley’s he hides this talent better than ever. This is a very mediocre album, which is made even worse since it has 18 songs and drags for over an hour. He seems to run out of things to say very quickly and there’s few moments that really standout as interesting or fresh. It’s definitely a step backwards after the far more interesting Stoney.

Favourite track: ‘Stay’

Beerbongs and Bentley’s gets a D-

The Presets - Hi Viz

One of my first introductions to music was Apocalypso, The Presets breakout sophomore album which blew away the Australian dance scene. It’s been about 10 years since that release and other than the left-of-field Pacifica, The Presets have been relatively quiet besides festival appearances. Hi Viz is the album they needed though. There are so many certified bangers on this album, from the lead single ‘Do What You Want’ to the giant album closer ‘Until the Dark’. They also bring in some really strong features, with both Alison Wonderland and DMAs shining on both their feature tracks. Although there are some filler in the album, and it does get repetitive towards the middle, it’s an excellent return to form from the band and establish them back at the top of the Australian dance scene.

Favourite track: ‘Feel Alone’

Hi Viz gets a B+

Pusha T - Daytona

Daytona was the first album from the G.O.O.D Music trail of releases of the past month and it really kicked off the project well. The production is really strong, the instrumentals on each track are solid, Pusha T’s lyrics are great (like usual) and the features fit nicely. I think the major weakness is that at times Pusha T’s voice doesn’t fit nicely with the music, especially with the mixing of his vocals at times. It seems to sit too high in the mix and seems out of place. Other than that though it’s a really solid album and an enjoyable listen.

Favourite track: ‘If You Know You Know

Daytona gets a B

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football-in-tuxedos · 6 years

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Battle Report: Daughters of Khaine vs. Clan Pestilens

I’ve had this finished for a while, but I just kept failing to finish the pre and post battle fluff and now that I finally have, I figured I should post it:

Artemis sat with her feet up on the table, staring out the window. The Spellweaver, D’ana was still talking, about their pride as fellow Aelves, their history of battling alongside each other for the realm of Life against the minions of Nurgle. Artemis’ eyes drifted over to Ai’sha, disguised as a normal Aelf, standing to the side, her Bloodwrack Spear leaning against her shoulder. As she watched, Ai’sha glanced over at an Eternal Guard who had been staring at her and grinned, letting her tongue, her real snake tongue, slip out and the Eternal Guard started and looked away. Artemis had to conclude this before things got odd.

She put her feet on the floor and sat forward, cutting D’ana off. “We will help you kill the ratmen sweetling,” she hissed.

The Wanderer was clearly surprised, but retained her composure. “Oh. Th-thank you Artemis. But…” her eyes narrowed. “What do you want in return?”

“Nothing material,” said Artemis, smiling sweetly. “I want to make our alliance official, I want us to stop merely being two groups of Aelves scrabbling for a plot of land in Ghyran. I want us to be…” she smiled wider, her teeth showing “partners.”

D’ana stared at the Hag Queen for a moment, as if trying to discern malice simply from a look. After a long painful moment, she nodded. “Agreed.”

A half hour later, battle plans were drawn up and the Wanderers had left, with promises to return after the battle. The Daughters of Khaine would come down their mountain and intercept the Skaven flank as it swung towards the western part of the woods where the Wanderer village was hidden. The Skaven had yet to even consider attacking the Khelt Nar Temple embedded in the mountain and certainly didn’t expect them to come to help.

Ai’sha slithered alongside her as they headed down the steps, her real form emerging from beneath the illusion. As they broke off to separate directions, she said “Make sure you bring some Blood Stalkers, I want to be ready to leave within 2 hours.”

Ai’sha nodded. “And where will you be?” she hissed.

Artemis headed down the steps towards her personal Cauldron of Blood, staring down at the massive Avatar atop the chariot. “I think our first battle of our official alliance requires some...panache.”

Armies:

Daughters of Khaine:

Temple: Draichi Ganeth

Hag Queen on Cauldron of Blood

General

Terrifying Beauty, Crone Blade, Catechism of Murder

Bloodwrack Medusae

Mindrazor

5 Blood Sisters

5 Doomfire Warlocks

Doomfire Crossbows, The Withering

5 Khinerai Heartrenders

10 Sisters of Slaughter

Barbed Whips and Bladed Bucklers

10 Witch Aelves

Pair of Sacrificial Knives

Avatar of Khaine

Clan Pestilens

Plague Furnace

General

Master of Rot and Ruin, Vexler’s Shroud

Plague Furnace

40 Plague Monks

Foetid Blades

Plague Scroll, Icon of Pestilence, Doom Gong

40 Plague Monks

Foetid Blades

Plague Scroll, Icon of Pestilence, Doom Gong

10 Plague Censer Bearers

Set Up:

The place where the Daughters of Khaine had chosen to fight the Skaven was mostly bare, a large hill covering the entire right flank, while another pair of smaller hills were on each side of the battlefield, while a small swamp covered the center of the field.

The Skaven, fully aware of the Daughters of Khaine’s aggressive tendencies, deployed their army to check their assaults. The two Plague Furnaces were surrounded by Plague Monks and in front of them was one of the Plague Censer Bearers, spread out to keep the Daughters from charging straight in. The remaining two units of Plague Censer Bearers were out on each flank, ready to punish any direct assaults.

The Daughters of Khaine were no fools however, deploying the massive Cauldron of Blood on the right of the lake surrounded by the Witch Aelves on the right and the Sisters of Slaughter on the left. On the left side of the lake the Avatar of Khaine stood, motionless and radiating menace. Farther to the left flank the Doomfire Warlock rode into place behind the hill, while the Blood Stalkers set up atop the hill on the right, accompanied by the Medusa. The Heartrenders were circling overhead, waiting for the perfect moment to descend.

The Daughters of Khaine got the first turn.

Turn 1:

Daughters of Khaine

With precious little to do with their first turn, the Daughters of Khaine simply advanced toward the Skaven line, the Hag Queen atop the Cauldron praying to awaken the Avatar of Khaine, all the units taking care to stay far enough away to keep out of the Skaven’s charge range. With no easy place to land, the Heartrenders remained high in the sky, waiting for their moment to strike.

On the far right, the Blood Stalkers raised their bows and fired, raining arrows down on the Plague Censer Bearers, killing three of them. The Skaven, who hadn’t expected to be under attack so soon, panicked and two of them fled the field before the Plague Priest atop the nearby Furnace could restore order.

Clan Pestilens

With the Aelves too far away to reach, the Skaven advanced towards the Daughters of Khaine lines, praying for their god’s blessing in case the Daughters of Khaine maintained the initiative and got a chance to attack them. On the far right, the damaged unit of Plague Censer Bearers swarmed in towards the center, not wanting to be caught out of position and away from the rest of their fellows. The Plague Censer Bearers in the center spread out to keep the Sisters of Slaughter from charging the Plague Monks behind her. But, given how far away the Aelves, were, there was nothing else the Skaven could do.

Turn 2:

Daughters of Khaine

The Aelves maintained their initiative and surged forward toward the Skaven lines. On the left, the Doomfire Warlocks summoned the spell that gave them their name and hurled the fire at the Plague Censer Bearers on the flank, 4 of them dying in a blast of flames. While the Medusa failed to cast a spell to protect the Sisters of Slaughter and the Hag Queen’s prayer to awaken the Avatar of Khaine was for naught, the nearby Witch Aelves drank from her Witchbrew and she prayed for the Sisters of Slaughter to feel the frenzy of Khaine, while using the sight of her praying atop the massive cauldron as an inspiring presence for them.

As the army circled toward the Skaven lines, the Blood Stalkers and the Doomfire Warlocks fired their ranged weapons at the Censer Bearers screening the Plague Monk lines, but firing through the haze of of the massive Plague Furnaces meant their attacks were less accurate, and only 2 Plague Censer Bearers fell. On the right, the Medusa locked eyes with a single Plague Censer Bearer and watched with a grin as he collapsed in convulsions.

With little left to accomplish at range, the entire Daughters of Khaine force charged forward, blades and whips flashing. The Witch Aelves charged into the remnants of the Plague Censer Bearers on the far right, while the Cauldron of Blood slammed hard into the Plague Monks on the right. In the center, the Sisters of Slaughter charged into the surviving Plague Censer Bearers while the Doomfire Warlocks drew their blades and ran into the Censer Bearers on the left.

The resulting melee was swift and brutal. The Sisters of Slaughter tore into the Plague Censer Bearers, whips and bladed shields lashing out amidst the chaos of the ratmen lines and before any of them could form up to put up a unified resistance, the Aelves had ripped them to pieces. On the right the Witch Aleves hacked their way through the handful of surviving Plague Censer Bearers, but were caught off guard when the Plague Monks the Cauldron had charged swarmed towards them, stabbing and hacking away at two of the Aelves before they could back out of their reach.

The rest of the Plague Monks from that unit tried to mob over the Cauldron of Blood, hoping to smash the chariot to ribbons or at least cover it with the acid from their blood until it collapsed. Any small gains the Skaven made crawling up the steps of the Cauldron were instantly undone when the Hag Queen and her attendants strode down the steps, hacking away at the ratmen as they went. When they were done, a half dozen of the Skaven’s bodies were scattered around the chariot and almost all the damage they’d done had been healed by the Queen’s Crone Blade.

On the left the Ratmen were still trying to maintain their battle lines, the Plague Censer Bearers managing to kill Warlock and injure another, but two more of the Skaven were still hacked to ribbons by the charging cavalry. Having lost six of their number to the Warlocks already, two more of them tried to bolt, but were trampled to death between their fellow ratmen and Warlocks.

Clan Pestilens

With the Daughters of Khaine already in their lines the Skaven merely moved to defend themselves. Both of the Priests atop their Furnaces raised their hands in prayer, a deep green mist settling on both the Plague Monk units. None of the Aelves were close enough for the Furnace’ fumes to affect them so the Skaven resolved to fix that, swarming forward.

The Plague Furnace on the right smashed into its chariot counterpart on the right, while the Plague Furnace on the left crashed into the Sisters of Slaughter, while the Plague Monks on the left were so filled with inspiration that they managed to not only swarm over the Sisters of Slaughter, but moved swiftly past them towards the still frozen Avatar of Khaine, knowing that if they didn’t destroy it before it awoke, it would annihilate them.

On the right the Furnace crashed hard into the Cauldron of Blood, swinging its censer at the massive chariot, but missed it entirely, only managing to crush a single Witch Aelf. The Plague Priest tried to cause more damage to it, but the chariot’s sturdy construction (and the fear that dug into the Skaven’s mind looking at the Hag Queen) meant that the damage it caused was negligible, and the Plague Monks swarming over the stairs caused little more damage. They faired better against the Witch Aelves however, killing 3 of them.

In retaliation, the Witch Aelves killed 7 of the Plague Monks, and the riders atop the Cauldron of Blood hacked apart 4 more, ignoring the Furnace in favor of hacking apart the swarms of ratmen climbing over their stairs.

On the left, the Sisters of Slaughter were overwhelmed by the combined attacks of the furnace and the massive horde of Plague Monks, and while they tried their hardest to fight them off, killing five Plague Monks with their shields and whips, soon only the Handmaiden was left. The Plague Monks also tried to bring down the silent, still Avatar, but only managed to carve a handful of gashes in its iron hide.

On the far left, before the Skaven could even prepare their weapons to strike back, the Doomfire Warlocks had hacked the Ratmen to ribbons, leaving the Skaven with only the Furnaces and the two large units of Plague Monks.

The Daughters of Khaine got initiative again.

Turn 3:

Daughters of Khaine:

On the right the Medusa reached out and hurled a bolt of arcane energy at the nearby Plague Furnace, burning it badly and leaving the Plague Priest atop it reeling. Atop the Cauldron of Blood, the Hag Queen prayed to try and reach out to burn the Plague Furnace with a touch but the prayer failed, so instead she simply prayed for the frenzy of Khaine to descend on the nearby Witch Aelves as they drank from her Hagbrew. On the far left the Doomfire Warlocks, freed from their melee with the Plague Censer Bearers, cast a spell to wither the Plague Furnace on the left.

But all of this was irrelevant to the fact that the Skaven’s worst fears about the monstrous statues were realized and the Avatars of Khaine atop the Cauldron and on foot awoke, roaring with the fury of the murder god as the ratmen cowered away from them. In the far left corner, as the Doomfire Warlocks circled towards the Plague Monks, there was a shriek from the sky and the Heartrenders finally descended, javelins at the ready.

With both Avatars awake, the Skaven were trying to swarm over them, drag them down before they could do much damage, but the Avatars responded by showering the respective groups of Plague Monks with a torrent of burning blood, driving the Skaven back and slaying several of them. On the right, the Blood Stalkers fired their bows at the nearby Plague Furnace, burning several deep holes in it, while a handful of the Plague Monks surrounding it collapsed on the ground in convulsions as they accidentally locked eyes with the Medusa. On the left, two Plague Monks were killed by the Doomfire Warlock’s crossbows. The Heartrenders hurled their javelins at the Plague Furnace but all the Javelins that struck home ricocheted off the Furnace’s armor.

On the right, even as the Doomfire Warlocks and Medusa charged into combat, the Plague Furnace prepared to swing its massive censer back into the Daughters of Khaine lines. But, before the lead Priest could order it to strike, the Avatar of Khaine atop the Cauldron of Blood leapt from its chariot to land on the Furnace, impaling the Plague Priest with a single thrust of its blade before smashing the furnace, and the priests riding atop it, to pieces. The Plague Monks surrounded it were so shocked they barely registered that the Hag Queen and her attendants were in their lines, butchering five of them were they stood.

Before they could recover, the Medusa swept into their lines, her spear darting back and forth, killing six of the ratmen before they could react. In retaliation the skaven swarmed over the Daughters of Khaine, killing three more of the Witch Aelves and injuring the Medusa, but failing to cause any real damage to the Cauldron of Blood.

On the left, the Plague Monks decided the time was ripe to take their revenge and swarmed over the Avatar of Khaine, but the Cauldron of Blood was rejuvenated from the ratmen it had slaughtered and its Bloodshield protected it from almost all of the damage. The rest of the Plague Monks finished off one of the Doomfire Warlocks, and while the single surviving Sister of Slaughter put up a valiant defense, killing three Skaven with her shield, she was overwhelmed by the horde of Plague Monks. The remaining Plague Furnace swung its massive censer around, killing the remaining Doomfire Warlocks, even as the Avatar of Khaine butchered his way through six Plague Monks.

Clan Pestilens:

With only a single Plague Furnace and a rapidly shrinking number of Plague Monks, the Skaven desperately tried to regain their lost initiative, with the Plague Furnace smashing into the Avatar of Khaine at top speed. But, despite the speed of its impact, the Avatar’s steel body held firm and no damage was done to it.

On the right, the Plague Monks were determined to finally finish off their opponents, causing another painful injury to the Medusa and finally managing to overwhelm the remaining Witch Aelves with weight of numbers. But the Aelven retaliation, between the Cauldron, the Avatar and the Medusa, was brutal, killing over a dozen of the small number of surviving Plague Monks.

On the right, the Plague Furnace smashed its censer down into the Avatar, sending the statue reeling, but even with the Plague Monks assistance, they were unable to bring the totem down. Roaring with fury, the Avatar hacked its massive blade into the Furnace, driving it backwards, but not quite destroying it.

The Skaven got the initiative.

Turn 4:

Clan Pestilens:

The Plague Furnace riders struck the Censer, trying to drown the Avatar in noxious fumes, but as the massive statue didn’t breathe, it was entirely ineffective, so all they could do was swarm him, trying to drown him in bodies. But even as the Plague Monks swarmed over him, trying to hack their blades through his metal form, the Avatar strode through the swarming rats and smashed the Plague Furnace apart, burying the Priests in the rubble.

On the right, abandoned by their leader, the few surviving Plague Monks tried their best to crawl up the Cauldron of Blood’s steps, but their attempts were repelled by the Cauldron’s attendants and between them, the Avatar and the Medusa, the surviving Plague Monks on the right were butchered.

Daughters of Khaine:

With only the surviving Plague Monks on the left surviving, their fate was sealed. Before they could even think of turning and running, they were surrounded on all sides by the Aelves and didn’t even have a chance to retaliate before they were buried under the arrows, javelins and blades of the Daughters of Khaine. The Skaven had been slaughtered, to a rat.

*************************

Artemis stepped down off the steps of her chariot, watching as the Heartrenders wandered amongst the Plague Monks, driving their javelins into any Skaven that was still twitching. Meanwhile Al’sha and her Melusai were slithering around, looking for any injured Aelves. Some temples, particularly the Kraith, felt that any who fell in battle didn’t deserve to be saved, but Artemis’ temple was too small and the Realm of Ghyran too hotly contested for her to hold such ideas. She needed every warrior she could get.

The Avatar of Khaine that had been brought separate from a Cauldron of Blood was still stalking across the field, hacking at the slain bodies of the Skaven, still searching for enemies to slay. A slow grin crossed her face and she drove her blade down into a crawling Plague Monk as she turned to look at the Khinerai Shryke. “You know,” she said, pulling her blade back up and out. “The main force of Skaven is a little ways from here, battling the Wanderers and not expecting an attack from their flank,” she said and in a moment the Shryke was grinning too.

“Al’sha,” she said as she climbed back up the steps of the Cauldron of Blood. “You and your Melusai find any of our injured and get them back up the mountain. We have some more Skaven to kill!”

Days later, Artemis was back in her chambers, sipping wine on her balcony and staring down at her small but growing temple city. She could see the foothills of the Nevergreen Peaks below her. The Wanderers had arrived a few hours earlier, the treaties were signed and they were leaving in the morning. Artemis and the other Daughters of Khaine had sacrificed the Skaven captives and poured their blood into the Cauldrons the day before in a riot of ritual activity.

As she stared down at the celebrating Aelves, she heard the curtain rustle behind her and she smiled. She had been expecting this visit. “No need to skulk in the shadows D’ana,” she said. “Why don’t you come join me?”

The Wanderer stepped forward onto the balcony, her arms crossed in annoyance. “I am perfectly capable of deciding where to stand.”

“Of course you are. Some wine?” D’ana didn’t react. “Well then, what can I do for you?”

D’ana glared up at the taller woman. “I want to know why you asked for an alliance. You could have asked for almost anything, money, building materials, food, the blood of our first born, and you ask for an alliance. Why?”

Artemis smiled, but behind that smile, a decade of grievances was bubbling up. She put down her glass, for fear of shattering it. “Tell me, when those Daemons, servants of She Who Thirsts, came across the plain to attack Hammerhal Ghyra, who came to your aid?”

D’ana cocked her head, confused. “You did.”

“And when those ice bound Ogors tried to smash into your camps, who stood shoulder to shoulder with you?” Her hand gripped the balcony tightly, her hands remembering the feeling of the cold that rode with the Ogors.

“You, and your Aelves.” D’ana still didn’t understand her point.

“And when your relationship with Hammerhal Aqush began to sour, who did you ask to sit next to you at the negotiating table so my presence could be an implied threat?”

D’ana shook her head. “Your presence wasn’t a threat, those negotiations concerned you-”

“Don’t lie to me sweetling,” hissed Artemis through clenched teeth.

D’ana stared at her for a moment and then capitulated. “You. I asked you to sit next to me.”

Artemis inhaled and examined her fingernails. “And yet, every time we meet, you look at me with disdain, or worse pity. You act like I’m some thing you found in the wilderness, temporarily useful but disgusting. I wonder, if the Skaven had decided to crawl up the slopes to besiege this temple, would you have even considered coming to our aid?” Artemis turned back to look at D’ana, before her silence could answer for her. “We are Aelves. You, me, the Sorceresses in Azyrheim, Malerion’s creatures, Tyrion’s angels, even those eyeless freaks from the seas. We are all one people, one race, and we have enough enemies that we shouldn’t be at each other’s throats.”

D’ana took a step back, the force of Artemis’ speech taking her by surprise. Artemis, for her part, seemed surprised by her own intensity and exhaled hard. “And now, we are allies. Friends. Partners.” She swept her hand and bowed. “Perhaps one day we can extend the same hand of friendship to the others of our race, or at least Allerielle and her tree creatures.”

D’ana, her answer gotten stared out at the city and began to walk towards the door. As she reached the curtains she stopped, her respect for Artemis compelling her to speak. “Morathi...Morath is using you, you must know that?” She turned back to look at the dark skinned Aelf. “She doesn’t speak for Khaine, Khaine is gone and she’s just using you and all your sisters to gain power.”

Artemis sat down, staring back out at the balcony and waving her hand to dismissing the Blood Sisters who were gathering to punish the Spellweaver for her words. “Even if you’re right, I don’t care. Isha, the goddess of life, perished in the world that was and now a new goddess of life is out there, battling the Maggotkin right now.” She turned back to look at D’ana. “So you should be careful what you say. Perhaps, in a few years, we shall have a new goddess of murder.”

As the Spellweaver disappeared from her chambers, unaware of how much danger she’d been in before Artemis had dismissed them, Artemis stared out at the mountains, her mind on the city on the far side of them and the Sylvaneth who were out in the deep woods beyond it. She shook her head and took a sip of her wind to clear her mind. The first steps towards her grand Aelven alliance had been taken and she needed to take a moment to enjoy it.

#warhammer #warhammer age of sigmar #age of sigmar #daughters of khaine #dark aelves #clan pestilens #skaven #games workshop #wargaming #battle report

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undertheinfluencerd · 3 years

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Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was originally supposed to launch Phase 4 alongside Black Widow, but things quickly changed when Disney fired James Gunn, only to later rehire him – but by that point, he was already working on The Suicide Squad for WB. Now that The Suicide Squad has released and Gunn has wrapped filming on Peacemaker season 1, he can refocus on Marvel and get going on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 as well as The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, which will release in advance of the sequel on Disney+. Both releases will take place after the events of Thor: Love & Thunder.

Related: James Gunn Should Return To Horror After Guardians Of The Galaxy 3

Although the movie has been on the backburner for quite some time, the story hasn’t changed. Gunn’s script and much of its elements have been retained. Of course, Gunn may approach the film a little differently after his experience working on The Suicide Squad, particularly the realism factor, as he’s previously mentioned. So far, nothing has been revealed about the core story, other than when it takes place in relation to other films. However, cast members of the core Guardians team (all of whom will presumably return in the sequel) have expressed excitement about the script, with some calling it incredible. No matter what happens, though, it will be Gunn’s final Guardians of the Galaxy movie and likely his last Marvel film as well.

Ever since it was announced Disney was looking to acquire 21st Century Fox, MCU fans have been clamoring for Marvel’s take on X-Men and the Fantastic Four, but before the studio gets to the mutants, they will be adapting the First Family. This marks the second Fantastic Four reboot after 20th Century Fox’s two previous attempts, the last of which was in 2015. So far, the only thing confirmed about the Fantastic Four film is that Jon Watts is directing. Watts found great success in helming Sony and Marvel’s Spider-Man trilogy, so there’s already an established working relationship there, not to mention he’s proven that he can turn around a film in two years. Each Spider-Man movie released two years apart, and as long as Watts retains that schedule, there’s no reason to assume Fantastic Four won’t release by the end of 2023 or early 2024. But before things get underway, Fantastic Four will need to cast its titular heroes.

Rebooting the Fantastic Four and diving into the Multiverse all made sense for Marvel Studios, but the surprising thing is the studio also plans to reboot Blade. Up until now, vampires have only been mentioned in passing, but they will become a focus in either Phase 4 or 5. Mahershala Ali apparently contacted Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige with the hopes of portraying Blade, and Feige was quick to jump on board. This will mark Ali’s second Marvel character on-screen, seeing as he originally portrayed the villain Cottonmouth in Netflix’s Luke Cage. Currently, there aren’t any details about which characters will appear in the movie or what the story will be about. However, Stacy Osei-Kuffour is writing the script, Bassam Tariq is directing, and filming is expected to begin in July 2022, thus suggesting that the movie could release in theaters as early as late 2023. It would be a prime candidate for Halloween 2023, given the vampiric and horror vibe.

Currently, the only character to be retained from the Disney-Fox deal is Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool. Since he’s the most popular character from Fox’s X-Men series, aside from Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, it makes sense that Marvel Studios will want to keep Reynolds on board for future installments. Plus, it’s easy to manage story-wise, knowing that Deadpool has the ability to break the fourth wall, and perhaps even crossover between universes. Marvel would be remiss to not plainly acknowledge the situation in the next film.

Related: How Deadpool 3 Can Setup The MCU’s X-Men

Two years after the acquisition was first announced, Reynolds revealed Deadpool 3 was in development. It was later confirmed that the sequel would be rated R (making it the first R-rated movie from Marvel Studios) and set in the main MCU continuity. A director hasn’t been hired yet, but the script is being worked on by Wendy Molyneux and Lizzie Molyneux-Logelin, with filming expected to begin sometime in 2022. If everything goes according to plan, Deadpool 3 could release by the end of 2023 or in early 2024 – perhaps as a Valentine’s Day release like the first film.

Coinciding with The Falcon and the Winter Soldier‘s finale, Captain America 4 was revealed to be in development with the story and script coming from the Disney+ series’ head writer and staff writer, respectively, Malcolm Spellman and Dalan Musson. The fourth Captain America movie will, of course, follow Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson who officially became the new Captain America at the end of his TV series, donning his own Captain America costume and saving the day as the country’s latest hero.

Mackie later signed on to star in the movie, thus suggesting that Marvel is looking to fast-track the project to release either in 2023 or 2024, so long as the studio lands a director by the end of 2021 or early 2022. It’s unclear if Sebastian Stan will return as Bucky Barnes in the sequel, but since he’s been in every previous Captain America film and co-starred in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, it only makes sense for him to return, not to mention for Emily VanCamp’s Sharon Carter to return as well, since she was revealed to be the Power Broker.

At the end of Marvel Studios’ panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2019, studio head Kevin Feige teased plans to introduce the X-Men into the MCU. Disney had only recently closed their acquisition of 21st Century Fox at the time, and so, Marvel couldn’t have had anything concrete in the works given the rules and regulations around mergers and acquisitions in the United States. However, it’s been two years and there must be something on the board. When X-Men will release is unclear, but the fact that it’s been mentioned is great for fans. It means the team isn’t being completely shunned in favor of developing the Fantastic Four reboot, which will happen first.

Next: Complete Movie & TV Guide to The Marvel Cinematic Universe – Phase 1 to Phase 4

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