#AND THE THING IS ITS SO FUN TO NAVIGATE AND THE TUNNELS ARE ALL GLASS SO I GET TO LOOK AT COOL STUFF | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

bombsonboard · 1 year

Text

the day after yesterday: chapter one

Summary: Time travel is volatile, dangerous, playing god. And then sometimes it drops you in just the right place at the perfect time. It’s a matter of perspective. You decide.

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader (no Y/N)

Word Count: 3k

series masterlist || masterlist

Warnings: Nausea, fainting, 40s Bucky

A/N: So this is the fic i’ve been meaning to give you for a while now and I can’t wait to see what you all think. Thank you all so much for waiting much longer than I expected (And let me know if you want to be added to a taglist)

“I should’ve asked you if this was safe, huh?”

“Listen, just keep communications open and I’ll guide you through it, it's a piece of cake, really.” The glass wall between yourself and a smiling Scott Lang did little to reinforce his encouragement.

“I heard you turned into a baby-”

“That- that was a test run.” His voice nervously crackles through the speaker.

“You turned into a baby?” Hope Van Dyne returns with coffees for the pair.

“I will not tell you about that later.”

Failing to shake out the tension in your muscles, you conclude that it's not tension at all but just stupid fear trying to freeze your body into place. Fear was never really a warning to you, though, more of an inconvenience to actually living an exciting life. All of the research you had done to get here, the words that flooded through your brain, underlined in red, were thrown out of the window, torn to shreds and blown up with an atom bomb.

This was diving in at the deep end, to the fullest extent. Who needed particle physics now?

Scott presses down the button for the microphone one last time “Ready?”

“Piece of cake.” You give him the least confident thumbs-up known to man.

“Launching in 3, 2, 1-”

Time travel isn’t as fun as it looks in the movies, turns out. It’s nausea-fueled, jumping out of a plane and falling upwards, sideways and inside out. Having time to process you were actually small enough to pass through atoms is out of the question, you need to focus. What were the directions he gave you again? Was it two lefts then a right, or three?

“Scott?” You speak into your wrist. “Which way am I going?”

“It’s uh- hang on, Hope-” Something is starting to go wrong, his voice begins to fizzle and snap in your ear, only able to catch “fifty” and “cake!”

“I didn’t get that, Scott?”

Only a distant crackle replies.

“Scott! This isn’t funny!”

Silence.

“Lang!”

The twisted vortex is blasting past you at a million miles a second and zero sense of navigation is precisely what you don’t need.

“Shit, shit, shit.”

Plan A wasn’t happening and plans B through Z didn’t exist, a consequence of combined idiocy and confidence. So, it’s time for plan ‘I don't know what the shit I’m going to do.’ You screw your eyes shut, throw yourself into the next tunnel, and pray to anyone that could possibly hear you that the fabric of space and time could handle a singular little tear.

Well, that’s the hope.

No one tells you how much a crash landing actually sucks, one minute you’re upside down and weightless and the next, you’re face down in someone's discarded trash and aching all over, feeling like you've just been flung off the empire state. As your suit disappears in favour of casual clothes, the groan that emerges from the depths of your throat sounds like some mangled stray because as soon as you make a sound:

“Hey, is there a cat in there?”

You go still, not only did you not want to be seen so time could resume its uninterrupted passing but to be found in a dumpster? That’s just embarrassing.

“Here kitty, kitty…” The sound of a grown man making ‘pspsps’ noises makes you cringe a little, being mistaken for a scavenging cat is as demeaning as you might imagine and half of you wants to burst out and give the man the fright of his life and stern talking to. But sense kept you still.

After a bout of silence, you assume the stranger has passed on with better things to worry about than a ‘cat’ in a dumpster. Crouching in your mess, you fish out the useless earpiece and glare, as if the sheer force of irritation might magically make it work properly.

“Stupid little government issued-”

“Hey-Who’s in there?”

You freeze again, bracing your hands against the sides of the dumpster for balance.

“I’m not going to hurt you, c’mon… I’m in the forces you can trust me.”

“Convincing.” You scoff before clapping your hand over your mouth a bit too violently and losing the footing you had before.

You yelp as you land on your back, staring helplessly at the sky from the dumpster, the sun beaming in your eyes. Miraculously, shade appears over you in the form of a smiling face.

“You’re not a cat.” He pulls himself up a little further “You alright?”

The sudden concern makes you want to laugh, but a wave of time travel related nausea stops you.

“I’m fantastic, thanks.” You groan sarcastically.

“What are you doing in-”

“What year is this?” You ask quickly, rubbing your eyes as the dizziness starts to fade.

“What year?” He asks, baffled, after a pause, he answers “...It’s 1943. Must’ve hit your head real hard to forget that.”

“What.” That had woken you up. Fumbling, you grabbed onto the side of the dumpster and pulled yourself up “No, that can't be right I didn’t-”

Then you saw his face.

“I fucked up.”

Inches from your face, staring back at you was The Winter Soldier.

Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes. Right there in front of you. But, different, younger, you could’ve sworn there was a literal fucking twinkle in his eye. After a short pause, he draws his face back from your stunned expression in amused confusion and lands back down on the ground.

“You gonna get out now?”

It was a strange sensation, meeting someone you knew in the future, in the past. Well, you didn't really know him, more like you once stood in the same room. All the same, it was disorientating and your re-emerging headache wasn't helping.

Stuck, you search your brain for a way out, but you were cornered, literally “I’m gonna…”

“Look, just get out so you can sort out whatever crisis I assume you’re having” He offers up his hand and you can do nothing but stare at his flesh that wasn’t metal yet. A thousand possibilities ran through your head of what could happen if you took his hand, most of them ending with the space-time continuum collapsing. But, something was telling you it was just a hand, what harm could it do?

Tapping against the metal, he startles you into sliding your hand into his and you climb over the side, almost falling over again if it wasn't for the hesitant hand on your waist that disappears as quickly as it touched you.

The pre-war-hero looks at you, up and down. “Ma said it was gonna be a strange day.” He mumbles under his breath and sighs “Always right.”

“I’m gonna go-” You don't want to screw up any more events of the timeline so you go to make a break for it but he's a quick hand, grabbing you by the forearm.

You winced out of instinct, he was still a super soldier to you, with ninety years of breaking skulls behind him. You hated thinking about it but it was hard to see him as something else. Something before.

His brows furrow at your reaction. “M’am, do you need a hospital?”

“No!” You exclaim that would lead to even more consequences, records where there shouldn't be “No. No hospitals” You shook your head, “I’m fine anyway!”

You forced a smile and he doesn't look impressed.

“You didn't know what year it was.”

“A momentary lapse!”

“Look, I won't take you to a hospital, okay? But for my own peace of mind let me take you to my ma and she’ll check you over, and then you can call someone”

“Oh no, no I can’t,” He’s still not letting you go. “Really it’s, I’m-” The dizziness comes back like a tidal wave, you hope the ground isn’t as hard as it looks.

“I’m not taking no for an answer, sweetheart, just- ”

"Don't call me sweetheart-" Your eyes roll back and everything goes black.

The Barnes you knew of, in the present day, wouldn’t call you sweetheart, he wouldn’t call you anything. You were just the new girl, the scholar in the crowd of avengers and agents, severely under qualified to be there, your ‘my name is’ sticker might as well say ‘sore thumb’.

Scott Lang was the reason you were even allowed here, one email from him about putting the words from your papers into practice for the greater good and you were on your way. It was all a part of this new initiative in the post-blip world, ventures into time travel and what it could do for a planet that was desperately trying to piece itself back together.

It turns out, Scott had made a pretty strong case for you to be here in this room, something about giving ordinary people chances to help out. ‘Ordinary’ felt a little insulting, you had published papers on quantum mechanics, on particle theory, and Tony Stark once listened to you at a party for a good thirty seconds. But you weren’t genetically enhanced or a super spy,

and therefore classified as ‘ordinary’.

And a sudden altruistic reference from one Captain Steve Rogers meant they basically had no choice but to choose you.

Scott was busy prepping you on his ‘Very Important Rules of Time Travel’ when you saw Sergeant Barnes for the first time. You looked up, past the blackboard Scott had insisted on having and saw him there, across the military-owned aeroplane hangar that had been loaned for ‘avenger activities’. He was carrying a duffel, dressed in dark jeans and a leather jacket, hands in his pockets, despite everyone in the room already knowing about his arm.

You had sworn he hadn’t seen you there but then you recall noticing his steps slightly stuttering as he glanced in your direction, Sam tugging him away before he could inspect further. It was a meaningless moment, so why was your brain nagging at you to think again?

“-Bringing home strays and you expect me to pick up after you!”

“She fainted! In my arms! I couldn’t just leave her there, she said no hospitals!”

“James Buchanan-”

“Ma, not the full name, please.”

There's a heavy sigh and the room shifts.

“You did the right thing.”

“Thank y-”

“But I’m not happy about it. You said you were going to the recruitment station.”

“I will, I just got sidetracked.”

“James-”

“I promise. This afternoon.”

“You better.”

You opened your eyes cautiously to find yourself lying on somebody's couch, the smell of home cooking greeting you kindly, your guard was reluctantly falling down as the blanket covering you slipped. Shifting and sitting up slowly, your senses whisper softly that there was no need for alarm, but then you remember who’s home this is.

If Scott ever finds out you managed to wind up in The Winter Soldier’s family home, he was probably going to strangle you, well, Scott wouldn’t but Hope definitely would. All you had to do was slip out of the back door and not touch anything-

“You’re awake.”

Bucky Barnes stands there in the doorway, a glass of water in his hands. You froze, watching as he placed it on the coffee table.

It’s a standoff, he’s scared you’ll bolt like a skittish horse if he makes the wrong move and you’re practically terrified of the implications of all of this. He speaks first.

“How’s your head?”

You hesitate, debating whether you could slip past him and make this all a funny anecdote.

“Really gave me a scare, y’know? I can make a dame swoon but that was…”

The lightness in his voice as he eases the tension down to a simmer makes you think twice for a second. If you could just lie your way out of this maybe it wouldn’t be quite so universe-ending.

“...Sorry I shouldn’t be joking. Are you feeling better?”

“Yeah I am, thanks”

“You’re welcome, how’d you end up in a dumpster anyways?”

“Oh, I was…” Okay, first lie “...looking for something”

That wasn't that bad. Maybe a couple more details “...my necklace”

“Why’d you hide then, sure I coulda helped-”

“-You said you were in the forces.”

He’s caught off guard. “I, uh, will be. Was on my way to enlist when I heard you.”

“So, you’re not?”

He shakes his head “Not yet, but-”

Shit. Bucky Barnes was supposed to be in the army, he was Sergeant James Barnes. If there was any chance you had stopped him from becoming who he was supposed to be then-

“-you didn’t tell me your name actually, what is it?”

“Can I use your bathroom…please?”

“Sure, it's down the hall, on the left.”

You stood slowly, time-hurtling nausea had now been replaced by a sick sense of impending doom, and you weren’t sure which one felt worse. This day was really shaping up to be…something.

The lock slides and you have to stop yourself from screaming, reasoning with a heavy sigh that leaves you feeling no better. God, you look a mess, your reflection staring back at you in resentment and dumpster chic. Splashing your face with water and rubbing at the dirt staining your cheek, the next move forming in your head.

Number one, get out of here so you don’t cause any more disturbances, number two use your spare Pym particles to find a way home-

And, once again, shit. You tapped your back pocket, where you had kept them safe and they weren’t there. You frantically checked all of your pockets, in your shoes, had it rolled under the sink? Nope. That meant they had fallen out somewhere, probably when you landed in that dumpster.

If some raccoon had found them by now you were royally screwed. You looked to the skylight pouring light into the bathroom and debated how easy it would be to get up there. It was worth a shot. Perching yourself on the top of the toilet you reached up and flicked the latch open. It was a bit harder to open than you had expected, evidently, it wasn't used as an escape route much, but you eventually pushed it wide with a louder-than-intended groan.

The knock at the door startled you.

“You alright in there?”

It was Bucky.

“Yeah, I’m fine!”

“You sure?”

Pulling yourself up was proving a challenge, your safe footing was dwindling as you grasped at the edge of the window. With another heave, you got your elbows resting on the ledge but your feet were dangling in the air, one slip and you would-

The yelp you let out ends in Bucky bursting through the door to find you halfway through the window and clinging on for precious life. He had to hold back his laughter as you pedal in the air to get your footing back.

“You know we do have a front door you are more than welcome to use.”

“I thought I locked the door. ” You grumble.

“You think I can’t jimmy my own locks? Here-”

Bucky grabs onto your hips, swerving to miss your feet kicking him in the face. He tugs you down and you let him in your disgruntled defeat. With your feet back on solid ground and a frown on your face, he couldn’t help but smile.

“You’re weird” He states “Ma’s made you soup, would be rude to leave without tasting it, c’mon” He holds the door open and watches you shuffle out of the bathroom, a little embarrassed.

The kitchen is small and cluttered, recipes littered about as well as people, a younger girl, no older than 12, and one older woman, wiping her hands down her front.

“Took this from Ma’s closet, Jimmy said you needed new clothes” The young girl placed a folded dress in your hands.

“No, I didn’t say that-”

“What's wrong with my clothes?”

“-I said her clothes were a bit…unkempt”

“Unkempt?”

“Unkempt? You said dirty. You’ve never said unkempt in your whole life”

“Becca. Shut up. And stop calling me Jimmy in front of people” Bucky drifts past his sister, leaving a kiss on the top of her head.

The Barnes household was far more chaotic than you had anticipated, to know that a man like Bucky Barnes comes from a place of such care and comfort, his hands for holding and helping before they were bound to kill.

You stare a little too long, the dress hanging from your hands, forgotten at that moment.

“You gonna sit or?”

He’s looking at you curiously, unaware of the conflict behind your eyes.

So you sit. The bowl in front of you is steaming, the smell too gorgeous to resist and the hopeful look in his mother’s eyes is a real heart twister. It tastes delicious, it's like nothing you’ve had before.

“What is this?”

“It’s soup.” Bucky shrugs next to you.

“Ciorbă rădăuțeană” His mother corrects him “It’ll make you feel better.”

And she’s right, of course. The warmth of the soup heats your very soul, settling and giving you a sense of reassurance, maybe you weren’t going to end the universe by simply being here. It was a lot for one soup to do, you suppose time travel makes you really hungry.

“It tastes amazing.” You compliment in between spoonfuls.

Bucky’s mother must’ve given him a look because he shakes his head when she smiles.

“I like her.” She shrugs.

There’s not much talking as you eat, neither of you knows where to really start, and you were grateful for it. It was a headache to even try and lie right now.

Afterwards, you slip into the bathroom, with a silent promise not to try and escape again as he watches you disappear with a hint of a smirk.

It’s a nice dress. Clearly worn many times and loved, the deep emerald color now faded to a dustier green and the skirt was a little frayed at the edges, a dark mark from where it had caught fire momentarily years ago, it was a dress that had lived. At least it would help you fit in.

Emerging after a final check, you faintly hear a new voice in the kitchen. You hesitate, the fewer people you interact with the better. Sure, it was nice to pretend you were safe for a couple of moments but now you just wanted to get back home as unscathed as possible.

“You’re not escaping again are you?” Bucky calls out.

“...No”

Okay, deep breaths, just make it a polite hello and a swift exit-

“Holy fucking shit.”

next chapter

#Bucky Barnes #bucky fanfic #bucky x you #bucky x reader #bucky barnes x reader #steve rogers #bucky x y/n #bucky x Female Reader #marvel imagine #bucky barnes imagine #Clara writes

213 notes · View notes

beyondthetemples-ooc · 3 years

Text

OC-tober Day 2: Glass

OC-tober prompts put together by @oc-growth-and-development! I have to ramble in meta instead of write, because my brain is Mush lately. (I know I’m behind but I have a lot pre-written, I just need to put it into coherent words!)

This one especially can be rambled about at length, because the most important “glass” object in my stories is one I greatly enjoy exploring: Dove’s mindscape mirror!

^ I drew it forever ago; here’s the deviantArt link if you’d like to see the big version!

https://www.deviantart.com/ravenshiddensoul/art/Dove-s-Keepsakes-Mirror-and-Box-284227087

It’s largely modeled after a bird stretching its wings upwards, with a handle like a tail and certain details are inlaid with Azarathean gold to better channel its magics.

Now, this is where the rambling begins: The mirror’s backstory, and I’ll be exploring one of my favorite things to develop in all of my stories: Dove’s mindscape!

Dove's mirror isn't one of her most prized possessions, nor super incredibly sentimental, but it IS an object touched with her mother's magic, it has flourishes of Azarathean gold (some of the last pieces to exist), and it's useful for introspection and self-soothing, so it does have some value and importance.

Dove struggled with meditating quite a lot as a child, and there was only so much her mother could do to help. Meditation was pretty important to them as both a means of helping Dove control her powers, and as a staple of Azarathean spirituality. As she so often did, Alerina poked around and asked enough questions around the temple that she was told about Raven's mirror, and she decided to replicate it for Dove. She custom ordered a gold-lined wooden hand mirror, and then cast the spells to connect it to Dove's inner world herself. It took a few tries (it's much harder to connect something to someone else's mind than your own, after all), but she was nothing if not determined to help her daughter, and eventually figured it out.

As for its main purpose: Self-reflection! (If you'll pardon the pun.) Dove uses it to meditate, but where Raven uses hers for centering and compartmentalization, Dove uses it more as a blend of escapism and a focusing aid.

Much like Raven's, Dove's mirror acts as a portal to the depths of her mind, and this is where it gets fun!

The vortex that transports the users is usually white and gold, imbued with the same energies that give Dove her powers, at least on her mother's side. It's noticeably touched with black and red in DDD. (Dove's evil side starts taking over her mind, and thus its energies manifest through the mindscape, and Dove's portal into it, hence: black and red energies instead.) It tends to open up like a light tunnel and almost opens the mental world around the user, rather than dragging them in.

Once inside, one can't expect to navigate the same way as Beast Boy and Cyborg did in "Nevermore". Every mind is different, after all! We saw Raven's mindscape divided nearly into emotional sections with a neutral space between them, and the way through each area was preset and linear. While different parts of Dove's internal world manifest in different "areas", they're not so totally divided and separate, and there's no real "neutral" zone except at the very "center". The scenery changes, but it's more of a gradual transition, and though Dove employs thresholds to mark key areas, they're very much just visual aids.

Dove's mindscape is laid out more like a series of rooms and courtyards in a very (very, very, very) large mansion. The ground is generally of crystal, spires and columns decorate the scenery, and the thresholds are modeled after birds with their wings outspread. (While this seems like a play on Dove's namesake, it's actually based on Azarath's architecture, particularly that of George Perez's Azarath in the 1980's New Teen Titans comics.)

Dove's sky shows various stars and often casts moonlight from an uncertain source, particularly when she's introspecting. The ambient temperature varies amongst the locations, chilly in the regions ruled by fear and sadness, uncomfortably warm near her demon's domain, and comfortable and breezy where her peace and contentment reside.

One could easily get lost in her mindscape if they don't know where they're going. The place can shift and change on a whim.

Where Dove spends her time building that peace and contentment, it's very closely modeled after her mother's memories of Azarath (which is where she learned how to find peace, after all): there's marble and gold everywhere, and the stars twinkle with dozens of colors in the sky.

Where Dove retreats when there are feelings of timidity, her excruciating shyness, her grief and doubt, the world becomes shrouded in thick fog. Broken buildings and pale light litter the grounds.

Where she built her love for reading, for history, for creativity and study and learning, it's arranged as rooms with dark marbled tile and a carpeted path, the floor for dozens of feet on either side littered with piles of books.

Dove's inner happy place is an open field on gently rolling hills, where thoughts take the form of birds and somehow the sky holds both the stars and suns. One might find trees, flowers, abstract forms of cottages, and forts loaded with mugs and cozy cushions. If you wander far enough you'll find very tall stone walls surrounding it, because Dove's mind is such that her happiness is one of the few things she really truly believes she needs to protect from the rest of herself.

And then there are the aspects of herself that she shoves the deepest down, secreted far away from the surface: the anger, the hunger for power, the mean streak. (Yes, believe it or not, Dove does have a mean streak! You just have to work especially hard to bring it out. Or trigger her in just the right ways around sadism, violence, war, or death. It's very much Not Recommended; bringing too much of that mean streak out could mean Dove loses control of her powers, or worse: her demonic aspects.)

Those secret forces aren't so much located in one particular space of her mind as they're hidden in every dark corner, coursing through the underside of all the ground, a tantalizing power running through every part of her, only ever set free enough to use the dangerous powers to her own ends.

Her places for Fear and Curiosity in particular will be explored in the upcoming Missing: Raven rewrite. (As they're the strongest things Dove is feeling in that story, that's going to be what Beast Boy and Cyborg encounter.) I also explored the way these things manifest in DDD, and in that same story Dove will focus on rebuilding Peace in the final chapter.

I can't talk about Dove's mindscape without mentioning the "emoticlones". These fun little guys are called by the fanon term given to Raven's "emotion clones", the separate parts of her that express a specific set of traits based on particular aspects of her personality. I had so much fun playing with their voices and thoughts in Dove's head during DDD, you have no freaking idea! I also copied the concept of them having Colored Cloaks from Teen Titans canon, because honestly it's a quick and easy way to identify them, and the fandom's familiar with this system through Raven.

Which colors mean what was more inspired by details from a really old, now-defunct website called Cartoon Orbit that had separate "online trading cards" for each of Raven's emoticlones! On that site, Raven's were labeled as such, and this is what I based Dove's system on, loosely: - Pink: "Raven Happy" - Red: "Raven Rage" - Orange: "Raven Rude" - Yellow: "Raven Smart" - Green: "Raven Brave" - Brown: "Raven Fear" (I'm pretty sure there was a purple one, but I don't recall what it was called. "Love" maybe? That might be from fanon; this site was running like 15 years ago, and I was like 10 years old, so I hardly thought to pay Super Special Attention to it...)

But I digress. The point is, I adapted that system for the key aspects of Dove's unique personality, and came to understand them as follows:

- Pink: Joy, relief, coziness - Red: Cruelty, impulsivity, anger - Orange: Apathy, indifference, disregard - Yellow: Curiosity, study, intrigue - Green: Courage, determination, activity - Blue: Contentedness, pacifism, spirituality - Purple: Compassion, friendship, romanticism - Gray: Sadness, grief, longing. - Brown: Fear, fear, fear!

But for Dove's mind in particular, it's not only HER experiences and personality that form the world! She's a telepath, and though she holds others' privacy in very, very high regard and tries never to read someone's mind without their permission, her sense of receptive telepathy is ever-present. Echoes, lights, shadows, reflections of others' memories and thoughts might affect the very edges of her mind. It's a constant sense, but it only ever causes very ephemeral changes unless something deeply affects her.

Her mindscape also grows and changes as Dove grows and changes, experiences life, learns to cope, and changes how she handles her own emotions.

Most notably, the internal struggle in DDD tore her mind apart. Initially it was due to a breakdown of certainty and confidence, hastened by guilt and grief, but it soon became a deliberate tactic to wage war on the parts of Dove's mind that were trying to resist the evil; eventually her inner demon began intentionally breaking/corrupting everything it could touch.

By chapter 20, that evil is the only strong and stable thing in Dove's mind. Raven's attack to remove the evil in her took away that stability, and strength, and thus took away what was essentially the last support holding Dove's mind together. As it says in the story: "everything collapsed". Dove's mindscape was utterly destroyed, and only the most basic aspects of her remained.

For awhile, that left Dove unable to remember things clearly, or feel emotions without great pain. Rebuilding it to the point where she was able to talk and feel Mostly Normally again took months of meditation.

When Dove is kidnapped and Leyla has distressing dreams about her mother, she, Srentha, and Raven use the mirror to check on Dove by accessing her mindscape. With her powers stripped away, surrounded by people who mock her, and certain Fauni rituals sickening Dove to her soul, naturally her mind is very different: shadowy forms flitted at the edges of vision, the ground wavered, her discomfort was thick in the air and the constant fear made everything so, so cold. "Shadows" of others' thoughts flashed in and out of existence, and Dove's desperation manifests as fleeting voices on the wind. It's uncomfortable to be in her mind while she's so distressed.

It's also worth mentioning that her mindscape changes again, essentially "growing" the part of her that belongs to Love when she finally lets herself love Srentha, and it expands again when Leyla's born and Dove once more finds depths of love she didn't know she could carry.

#oc tober #oc tober 2021 #rhs has ocs and this is the tag about them #iala yona #ddd #rhs oc tober

11 notes · View notes

daydream-believin · 3 years

Text

A Nice Rock For You, My Love (Please Accept)

Summary: Douxie would like to give the reader a special present.

Warnings: Swearing, stabbing, blood, swords and a knife.

Word Count: 3092 -ten pages 12 point times new roman, baby!

A/N: even i couldn’t predict where the hell this was headed. have fun with this. i sure did ;)

Douxie placed his newest rock onto the window ceil in his bedroom. He’d display it for a while, but add it to the collection jar with the others once it was replaced. Every morning he’s wake up, see the shiny stone on his window ceil, and think of his wonderful significant other.

Y/n was an odd duck, but an endearing one at that. They spent most of their time out in the local forest. Douxie wasn’t sure what they did out there for so long each day, but that didn’t matter as long as they’d come back to see him in the evenings. They’d return to civilization every night scruffy, smelly, and with twigs stuck in their hair, but he thought they looked lovely. Enchanting even. A little dirt never did hurt anyone.

He was going to have to get a new jar soon. Every week or so, Y/n would present him with a new one. A token of their affection for the wizard. He kept every single one. He kept one in the pocket of his favourite jacket. Y/n had found that particular one in the flat of a creek bed. They were drawn in by the bright blue color, reminding them of their beloved wizard’s most recent dye job. After fishing it out, it turned out to be a piece of beach glass, but it was very smooth and rounded. Douxie was using it as a worry stone.

Of course, rocks weren’t the only thing Y/n had brought him. Any small thing not tied down the forest could offer was up for grabs to the local cryptid. Sometimes they’d leave him feathers from a bird they swore they got permission from to take. Sometimes they’d give him sticks they carved intricate designs into. Sometimes bones. A lot of times bones. Not enough bones for visitors in his home to question though. They just assumed he was really goth. One time, Y/n even straight up gifted him a jar of mud. Well, it supposed to be soil from the picnicking spot they often spent their dates, some water from the nearby stream, with a few hand-plucked flower heads added to the top. Romantic, right? Unfortunately, it was accidentally shaken up between the time Y/N made it and the time they presented it to Doux. Still, it was proudly displayed on his shelf.

As tokens of affection began to collect, Doux decided he should return the favor. He’d find the perfect gift for his dear Y/n. One to show them just how much he cared, just how far his affection for them reached. Something to make that toothy smile light up their pretty face. Something to seal a promise to them, that he’d be by their side until the end of time.

So here he was, in this jewelry store, trying to find that perfect shiny rock for his significant other. It wasn’t going too well, to be honest. Everything was too fancy, and quite frankly, too expensive. It was like the whole store was polished and perfect. All those rings were beautiful, yes, but they looked like they belonged on the finger of a middle-class suburban spouse, not his wonderfully scruffy partner. His darling sasquatch. Too impersonal for his taste.

He’d decided that the only way to match Y/n’s energy was to find the stone himself. Luckily, he did live in Arcadia. Right below his feet were a system of caves that spanned at least a hundred miles. Surely the local trolls wouldn’t mind. Okay, so they did, but that wasn’t going to stop him.

After some exploring some of the tunnels for a while and getting a wee bit lost in the maze, he eventually came across a patch of purpley clusters growing from the cave wall. Amethysts, he guessed? Maybe fluorite. Either way, it was marvelous. The color was even close to that of Y/n’s magic. They put off a nice good energy too. This would be perfect. He just needed to find a small enough piece, or chip off a bit, and his quest would be complete. He magicked himself up a knife and set to work. It took him several tries, but eventually he wound up with a nice rock. It wasn’t perfect, even kind of lopsided for a ring, but it was a really good purple rock. Raw too. Uncut and unpolished, like them.

He brought it over to his work buddy Annie’s place. She had been really into jewelry making this year. Douxie had seen some of her work. It was top notch. She’d make him a nice personalized ring and set the stone into it. And he’d have the peace of mind knowing that this gift would be an excellent piece of craftsmanship. Hopefully Y/n wouldn’t lose it in the river. Thankfully, he had measured their ring size during their nap yesterday. So it would be nice and snug. Not drop-in-the-riverable at all… He’d enchant it.

Now all there was to do was wait. He had to give it to them at just the right moment for maximum romantic impact here. He’d watched a thousand proposal videos on youtube to get some semblance of an idea of what he was supposed to be doing. To be honest, a lot of them seemed kind of over the top and forced. While Doux was a showman, he didn’t want to go that route. This moment was going to be special. Intimate. Full of love.

He’d set up a lovely date for the occasion. A moonlight picnic in their favourite spot. Romantic, with candles. And roses. And champagne. He’d bring his acoustic too, to play for them. A classic serenade for his love. He also dressed up the trees around with some twinkly magical lights. He was thinking of making them a little show with magic lights too, to narrate their love story. After it was all over, they’d head over to the clearing to go star gazing. And they’d fall asleep under the stars in each other’s arms as a betrothed couple. Okay, so maybe he was going over the top after all. Just a tad. He couldn’t help it.

Once he got it all set up, he asked Archie to watch over it while he went to go get his darling. He even acquired a blindfold so he could get that maximum surprise effect. But he didn’t take into account the fact that nature isn’t exactly flat, and he had to help them carefully navigate the forest floor. At a certain point, he just decided to just pick Y/n up bridal style and carry them, eliciting a giggle from them. It was faster and easier for both parties. Also more romantic. A win-win. Y/n noticed his heart was beating pretty fast as they leaned against his chest. He was getting antsy as the spot came into view.

He was pleased and relieved to see that nothing had gone amiss so far. Everything was intact. Archie was just lazily snoozing on the blanket. Douxie cleared his throat to catch Arch’s attention and silently shooed him away with a head jerk. The dragon-cat nodded and took off towards town. Douxie placed Y/n down onto the blanket, oh so gently, taking their blindfold off to reveal everything. Y/n was, to Douxie’s dismay, immediately aware that something was up. This was quite the set up before them. They reacted nervously, which disheartened him slightly, but he couldn’t back out now. He wouldn’t back out now. He won’t.

He handed Y/n the bouquet of roses, and they flushed. That wonderful pink color of their cheeks somehow gave him enough courage to help him make it through his entire prepared speech without stuttering. What a feat. Despite their earlier wariness, Y/n was captivated. They hung off his every word. Douxie came to the conclusion that he must be using every drop of luck he had right now. Now for the best part, or the part that could embarrass him the most, depending on whether or not his luck continued. Time to woo his beloved with a special song he wrote just for them. Time to bear his soul. His fingers danced over the strings with practiced skill. The most beautiful melody Y/n had ever heard. They had stars in their eyes. He was halfway through his serenade when the heavens opened up.

Douxie almost instantly cast a magic shield over them. It was beautiful, in a way. The raindrops bucketing down, hitting the transparent glowing shield. It made a private percussion symphony just for them. Rain. Douxie saving the day. It was so cliché, they laughed together. Those freckles on his face danced adorably as he shook with laughter. So, in the spirit of clichés, Y/n decided to repay him for all his chivalry with a kiss. It caught him off guard at first, eyes wide, but he quickly melted into it.

As the kiss deepened, he pulled his fingers through their hair. They let out a moan into his mouth. He couldn’t help the lovesick grin that spread across his face. He turned his attention towards their neck. They tipped their head to give him better access, letting their hands travel down his back. He smelled smokey, he must have had some spell backfire on him today. How endearing. As Doux kissed right under their jaw, they opened their eyes just a half-lid. And then promptly snapped them open all the way. They briskly pulled back, eliciting a whine from Douxie.

“Uhhh, Doux,” He turned around to see what had frightened them.

“Oh fuzzbuckets,” he blinked at the sight, “is that a wolf?” Douxie exclaimed in disbelief.

“No, no, not a wolf. It can’t be a wolf. There’s exactly one singular wolf pack in Cali and its definitely not in fucking Arcadia Oaks.”

The wolf stepped forward. It was smaller than a normal wolf. A wolf-dog maybe. It snarled at them, spit dripping from its sharp teeth. They dared not move, and risk provoking it. Still as statues, Y/n and Douxie watched as it howled a warning to them. Or at least they thought it was a warning.

Suddenly, a very tall figure appeared through the trees. Black cloak billowing in the dark storm, it was if cooked up from some horror novel. Well, a children’s horror novel. It probably could have been much, much scarier. Especially to a couple of wizards that also frequently wore black and walked through the dark with their own less-than-domestic pets. But nevertheless, the sight raised the hackles on the backs of their necks. The wolf-dog ran to its master’s side. The figure patted his familiar’s scruffy head, then strode towards the picnic.

Douxie and Y/n swiftly sprang to their feet. Doux stepped in front of Y/n, to their annoyance. They could hold their own and Douxie knew it, but he couldn’t help those protective instincts. As the figure came closer, he dramatically tossed back his hood. Lightning struck at the very moment his bearded face was revealed to them. Completely by coincidence, honest.

“Eoin?” Douxie exclaimed in surprise. That expression of surprise then twisted into one of disgust. “Oh bleeding balroths, it’s fucking Eoin.” He half-shouted, half-grumbled.

“Aye, Hisirdoux! My old pal! How’ve you been, bruv?” Eoin flourished his cloak and smirked at the two. He eyed up Y/n. “And what a lovely partner you’ve got here, might I add.” Y/n shifted to be a bit more behind Doux.

“What do you want, my friend?” Douxie frustratedly asked. Y/n was getting the impression that, despite the terms of endearment here, these two were not friends.

“Why, don’t you already know, little Douxie? I’m here to settle something I should have long ago.” He said in a now less-than-friendly tone of voice.

“Don’t you have anything better to do?” Douxie was exasperated. Eoin just started coming closer. “Alright, mate,” Douxie raised his hands, flicking through his cuff, getting ready for what he knew was about to transpire without any more delay. His adversary shot up his hands to stop him.

“Oh! No, no, no! Friend, we’ll settle this like men. The old-fashioned way.”

Eoin summoned two rapiers out of thin air. Both some sort of gleaming black metal and glowing jewels. He kept the one with the red gems in his right hand, and tossed Douxie the one with the blue gems with his left. Color coordination, one supposes. Douxie tested the blade with a few swings and parries. His eyes looked down at the rapier and then to Eoin. They sort of bowed to each other.

They fenced back and forth deftly. It was like a dance. A tango. Y/n was impressed at how light footed Douxie actually was. Maybe he planned this? Was this a part of the show or something? It would be an excellent way to prove how capable he was of defending them from evil or whatever. But they got the feeling that this was undeniably real and not planned by, if not for the rancid aura hanging in the air, the absolutely murderous looks in the two men’s eyes.

The wolf-dog came towards Y/n. They readied a spell for defense, but the dog just, sort of sat next to them? It looked like it was also watching the fight intently. It would woof at the two whenever its master got the upper hand, almost as if cheering him on. Strange. A good boy, Y/n supposed. They’d reach down to pet it but they didn’t fancy losing their hand.

Eventually, Douxie came out on top. The duel had been nasty, but it now looked as if it was all but through. Douxie had Eoin knocked onto his back in the mud at the base of one of the massive old oak trees Arcadia was known for. He held his blade to Eoin’s throat, and they locked eyes. Douxie was huffing for air. But to Eoin’s surprise, He started apologizing. An entire speech. Confusion flashed on Eoin’s face. Hisirdoux had always felt guilty about his transgressions as a lad, about the people he trampled in order to survive before Merlin gave him a home. So he’d spare his old enemy. He was terribly sorry he’d begun this feud in the first place.

“And what say you, old buddy,” Douxie grinned hopefully with a glimmer in his hazel eyes. Douxie held out his hand in an offer of actual friendship. He stared into Eoin’s eyes. Eoin stared into his. Eoin’s shaky hand began to reach up to take Douxie’s. They clasped their hands together. Brothers. And for a moment, Douxie had really thought they had made up this time, looking into Eoin’s feeble smile. That is, until Eoin yanked Douxie down towards himself on the ground. Right into his ready, hungry blade.

To the soundtrack of Y/n’s screams, Eoin stood up, casually tossing Douxie’s limp body off his sword. The wind whipped his cloak as he stormed off, into the storm. The wolf-dog followed his master, howling in victory. Y/n was crossing the woods to cling to Doux in an instant.

He coughed up some blood, and intensely stared into Y/n’s eyes. He weakly took their hand, and caressed their cheek. Then remembered to reach into his pocket and pull out that special ring. He slipped it onto their slick, wet finger. Oh, it appeared that their hands were covered in blood. His blood. Neat.

“I- I wanted to a-” he coughed up some more blood, “to ask you if-”

“Yes! Yes, of course,” they sounded panicked, “please, save your breath, my love.” They pleaded. He feebly leaned in to kiss them, but then his world went black. His body fell like a ragdoll into Y/n’s arms.

Try as they might, they weren’t a healer. Purple light shone like a beacon in the black stormy night. They performed as many healing, even vaguely healing-ish fixit spells as they knew. Unfortunately, this was a stab wound from a magic blade. They couldn’t take him to the hospital, even if they had any trust in modern medicine. Hot tears streamed down their face. But the word hopeless is not devoid of hope. Hope sparked in their heart as they remembered something, somewhere, important.

They had to get him out of here, and fast. He was bleeding out. There was so, so much blood. It had positively soaked through Y/n’s already wet clothes before they were even half way to their destination. The smell of the rain mixing with all the blood was sickening. It was hard to find their way in this darkness. They slipped on the mud and tripped over rocks. Y/n was starting to slip into a panic attack. They couldn’t even go very fast, he was so heavy in their arms. And Y/n was frightened of hurting him even more by accident. Y/n was very, very frightened in general.

Time moved like molasses. In what could have been years for Y/n, the cave they were carrying Douxie to finally came within sight. Their heart was threatening to pound right out of their chest. They mustered up the last of their strength and broke out into a sprint. Bolting through the curtain doors of the cave and knocking around the strings of bones that hung with them, Y/n dropped to their knees.

“Please! Save him! I beg of thee.” They pleaded to the three old women sitting around the hearth.

***

Douxie was awoke to the sound of shuffling and unintelligible whispers. He could smell a strong mix of herbs in the air. He felt the soft back of a cold hand rest on his forehead, so he slowly opened his eyes. He was met with the red tear-streaked face of his beloved. Y/n gasped. they excitedly called to whoever else was in the room with them that he was now awake. He did not recognize these women. He did not recognize where he was. He supposed that didn’t matter.

Y/n pulled him into a gentle hug, as if he were made of glass. A handsome glass sculpture that would shatter if they let go of him. They just lied there, holding onto each other for dear life, for what must have been an hour. Breathing in each other’s scents, they had still refused to let go, but Douxie started to cough again. They reluctantly pulled apart, and y/n started their interrogation about any pain he might be experiencing. He was alright, a little sore, but fine. Nothing time won’t fix. And time he was glad to still have with them.

***

bonus A/N: i swear this was supposed to be normal, just a sappy proposal fic. but once i set everything up i was overcome with the urge to stab him. so i created a character specifically to stab him. idk im not sorry. at first i had eoin like, cheat the duel with magic, but i figured doux would be his own downfall with that bleeding heart of his we all love so much. happy november y’all.

#douxie x reader #hisirdoux casperan x reader #hisirdoux x reader #douxie imagine #tales of arcadia x reader #hisirdoux casperan imagine #hisirdoux casperan #douxie #toa douxie #my writing

138 notes · View notes

ladybell9095 · 3 years

Text

Hello there!

This is an idea I came up with for Darksiders Week Day 1. This is also my first time doing this kind of thing, so I hope this is expectable for Day 1. This involves Strife and Fury going on a mission given to them by the Council. In no way are they being shipped together. This is basically how I interpret how a mission would go for them or at least this is one of the ways. Anyhow...

In the frozen barren tundra, we join our two riders. It was an odd pair, very rare pair as a matter of fact. There was no hate between these two. An overwhelming amount of annoyance, but no hate. Sent by The Council to destroy an artifact used by one of Lucifer’s generals, Strife and Fury prepare themselves for a long mission.

“Climbing the side of a mountain on horseback while during a snowstorm was a great idea brother! I can’t imagine how much time were saving!” Fury shouted sarcastically over her shoulder. Taking on the challenge that was this aggravating snowstorm wasn’t a problem. Putting Rampage through literal frozen Hell was a problem for the female rider. Besides her own voice she constantly heard Rampages heavy breathing. “Come on Rampage. We’ve been through worse. This storm won’t slow you down.” Rampage neighed in response to his rider’s encouragement. He took the storm head on and pushed through the thick blanket of snow.

“This is a way better plan than yours!” Strife yelled back as loud as he could through the icy wind. “Besides your just mad because all you decided to wear was that flimsy cloak!”

“I thought we were going to Hell! Not a desolate frozen wasteland of a realm!”

“I guess it’s just one of those cold days in Hell!” Strife laughed at his humor but was silenced by the red unamused glare casted at him. “Just a little further and we’ll reach the mountains peak! You want to borrow my scarf?!”

“Only if I get to strangle you with it.”, Fury growled.

Two hours had passed before the mountains peak was in sight. The snowy path the two horsemen trailed opened up to an everlasting night sky. There were the decrepit remains of a building lost to the realm’s icy wrath. Mayhem and Rampage were rewarded with a well-deserved rest and took shelter under an old wooden canopy. On foot Fury and Strife explored the mountain top for any unwanted attention.

When everything was cleared the two made their way to the old building. Upon entering Fury identified the structure as an abandon barrack. There were rusted blades and broken axes that laid in some weapon racks that were still intact. With what few racks remained Fury went in search for a weapon for her to use for fun while being on this undetailed mission. Strife went around checking for any signs of life that would call these barracks its home. Giving the building a thorough run through, the barracks were deemed to be the riders base of operations.

The horsemen took some time to rest themselves before traversing back down the mountain to start their job. Fury went outside and went to go check on Rampage. Time with Rampage was possibly the only way to wind down her anger. Rampage lifted his head to his approaching rider and stared at her with tired eyes. Fury apologized to her friend and fed him some apples that she keeps hidden in one of the saddle pouches. Mayhem had smelled the delicious treat and moved closer to the two. While Rampage at his treat Fury pulled out another apple and fed it to Mayhem. When the apples were gone Fury went back to her brother, leaving the horses with a fire to keep them warm.

Fury found her brother lying against a wooden chair with his feet resting on top of a questionable creaky wooden table. She took the stool on the other side of the table and waited for her brother to tell her exactly what it is that they were searching for. At the time she failed to give any attention during the Councils briefing after hearing the word armies. Fury waited and waited, wondering if her brother would ever say a word. Once she heard him give a quick snore, she flipped the table along with Strife.

“Is it me,” Strife spoke with a finger pointed in the air. “or do you hate sleeping? Because I was having the nicest dream.”

“You can sleep when we’ve done our job. Which I still have no idea about.”

“Didn’t you listen to anything the Council said? Oh, wait no you didn’t because someone always jumps the gun at the mentions of any sort of physical confrontation.”

“Shut up and explain already.”

Strife gave a sigh and sat upright. “We’re here to destroy an artifact, that’s it. Council said we’ll know it when we see it.”

“That’s all?”

“And kill a whole bunch of enemies on the way.”

“Perfect. When do we leave?”

“Right now.”

Strife was to lead them on this mission seeing how he was the one who bothered to listen to the pile of rocks. He looked down to the stronghold to try and get a good layout of the area. The stronghold covered a massive area which was walled off by tall stone walls. On the outside of these walls were small groups of enemies acting as guards. On the inside there were several stone iron structures. In the center was the tallest building with heavy security. There was no doubt to that being where the artifact was being held. With the need to know information the two left the horses behind and traversed down the mountain.

At the base of the mountain the two snuck around to find entry into the massive stronghold. Near the back was a hole left by invaders prior to them. Strife was thankful that Fury understood the means of an ambush unlike War who would charge in headfirst. On the way to the obvious holding place of their objective everything went smoothly. Luck seemed to be on their side, but that luck vanished the closer they got to the main building.

There were way more guards there than Strife saw earlier and there were probably twice as more inside. Both horsemen had to up their game now that they were deep inside enemy territory. Sneaking became more of a challenge now that they were closer. There were to many close calls of their location being found out. All they needed was to find a way inside, but there was no entry for them to sneak in undetected.

“Damn they have this placed locked up good.”, Strife whispered keeping his wits about him.

“Sneaking around like rats has been proven useless now. The only way in is through those doors.”

“We can’t go rushing in without us being surrounded by demons. We play it safe and find another way in.”

“The guards. Surely one of those idiots must know another way in.”

“Already looking for the sucker.” Strife navigated his eyes some more and spotted his target. “There. You see the one lounging about and stuffing his face with creator knows what? That’s our target.”

“Good let us go get him.”

“Whoa. Whoa. Whoa.” Strife stopped Fury with his arm, but she quickly swatted it away. “This is a delicate matter. Best to let me handle this.”

“Who other than you to handle the delicate work around here.”, Fury smiled to herself.

“Very funny. Alright once I grab him, you create a distraction. Got it?”

“And how can I do that without revealing my location?”

“You’ll figure something out.”

With no help from her brother Fury started looking around for anything to draw the enemy’s attention. She looked around and found some bottles carelessly lying about. She popped open the cork and smelled its contents. The bottles were filled with oil. Fury knew exactly what to do with them. She uncorked a few more bottles and placed them to the side of her.

While Fury was preparing for her part Strife was working on his. He moved through the shadows, unseen and ever silent. When the shadows were no longer an option, he took the high ground, taking out any guards that would cause him trouble. He was now above his target. Before he made another move, he used on of his sabers to signal Fury.

Fury saw a gleam of light and made her move. Without warning Fury chucked one of the bottles of oil to the campfire the demons ate around. The glass shattered and the oil in the bottle covered the ground. Again, Fury threw another bottle of oil, but this time she aimed it at the fire. The bottle exploded once the flames reached the oil. Soon the whole campsite was set a flame.

Strife taking the opportunity, jumped the demon, and beat him until he was unconscious. He slung the demon over his shoulder and headed for the exit. As a good added measure more bottles of oil were thrown and spread to the opposite side of the camp. Fury took a moment to admire her work and enjoy the panic shouts coming from the demons before heading to the exit herself.

Once Fury caught up with her brother, they went back to the old barracks to interrogate their captive. Finding some old but durable chains they chained up the demon tightly. They hung his bound arms over a support beam and proceeded to wake him.

“How is this demon still asleep?”

“Don’t know, but the guy is going to have one rude awakening.” Strife went to one of the torches that gave the room its light, grabbed it, and held it against the demon’s unconscious body. The demon registered its pain with an agonizing cry. “There we go.”

“Nicely done brother.”

The demon focused on the new voices and focused on the sound of his restraints. “Horsemen!”, the demon shouted.

“Demon.”, Strife spoke back. “Now that we know who we all are let’s get down to brass tacks.”

“You’re here for the artifact that powers one of Lord Lucifer’s weapons, aren’t you?”, the demon blurted.

“Good we don’t have to explain ourselves. Now you will tell us how to get into the building that holds this artifact!”, Fury threatened while holding the dimwitted demon by the collar.

“Of course you would ask about the secret tunnel hidden under the crates on the west side of the building.”

Fury let go of the demon and stood with her brother. “He’s not a very bright is he?”, Strife loudly whispered.

“Rather the demon is that stupid or we got unlucky with your pick.”

“Well now we know where a secret tunnel is, we don’t need this guy anymore.”

“Do your worst horseman!”

Fury cracked her knuckles. “With pleasure.”

“Hold up.” Fury stopped.

“You got to hit him now it is my turn.”, Fury complained with her fist held high.

“No one is hitting anyone. We’re letting him go.”

Fury turned with her tightly held fist towards her brother. “What?!”

“When does a horseman grant mercy?”, the demon asked.

“Yes, when do the horsemen grant mercy?”

“Hey, the guy told us what we needed to know and made this job a hundred times easier.” Strife took out his sabers and cut through the chains like butter. “Now go on, get out of here before tall mean and scary chops your head off.”

The demon was cautious as he made his way to the door. Both horsemen kept an eye on him and followed him out the door. They watched him walk to the snow-covered path.

“Strife what the hell has gotten into you?! Are you really going to let that creature live?!”

Strife quickly unholstered Mercy. Two bullets left Mercy’s chamber. The demon had collapsed dead on the snow with a bullet hole through the head and the chest and blood surrounding the fresh corpse. “Nope.”

Fury punched her brother. “Always having to have the last killing with you.”

“This is probably the only demon I’ll get to kill with you around. Had to get some action in.”

“You’re an idiot.”

“Well it’s this idiot who chose the right idiot to tell us some information.”

“False information.”

“It may have been false, but now we know our only way in is through the front doors.”

“And you’re sure this is the correct course of action?”

“This is me we’re talking about. When has your brother ever been wrong?” Fury was about to comment on the question. “Don’t answer that. I’m willing to bet all my gold that there is a trap waiting for us.”

“Trap or not there will finally be some excitement to this mission. We leave when the stronghold isn’t on fire anymore. It may be a while. There were a lot of bottles of oil.”

Having no day or night cycle gave the two a hard time of wondering how much time has passed. While waiting for the distraction to calm down the two kept watch on the stronghold. As useless as demons seemed to be their flailing about finally put out Fury’s fires. Now was the time to move out again and to do what they came here for.

As to be expected there was added security at the hole where the two first made their entry. At this point the two were all out of patience and ran headfirst into the horde. Alarms and various roars rang from the sound of battle. Instinctively the two stuck together and rained hell on their oncoming enemies. In the midst of battle Fury and Strife make a moment of eye contact. Fury was reminded of the times back during her time as a Nephilim. She was pretty sure Strife was too by how familiar his fighting style was becoming. His sabers even made more of an appearance.

Strife shouted, “31!” Fury was confused by the number but caught on when Strife shouted, “40!”

“Are you challenging me?!”

“Not much of a challenge with the points I got! Oh!” A demon fell dead at Strife’s feet. “Make that 41!”

“Better bring your all brother because I started counting once we arrived! I’m up to 54!”

“Only 54?! Your slacking Fury!”

“Taunt all you want, but I will prevail!”

The fighting continued as waves of enemies kept coming. If they stay here playing this competition any longer, they would not succeed in their mission. When there was some breathing room the two entered the building. Once the doors slammed shut behind them more demons came at them once more.

“As much as I loved to kill all these creatures, we need to find that artifact!”

“No doubt reinforcements will be coming through that door. You go and destroy the artifact. I’ve got your back.”

“Right.”

“And Fury!” Fury slain another poor soul before turning to her brother. “Be careful!”

“When am I not?!”, Fury jested before heading deeper into the building.

She explored every room and found only more to add to her score. When she came across a grand giant door, she kicked it open. On the other side she was immediately greeted by annoying demons. Her whip sliced through the chest of her last foe and fell with its innards lying on the floor. Stepping over the corpse Fury found the artifact, but before she could reach it a giant axe stood in her way.

She dodged the swing of the brute wielding axe demon and readied Scorn. The demon towered above her and bathed Fury in his foul breath. He wore more armor than the rest and brandish the seal of his master in his leathery skin. “You and your brother have caused quite a bit of damage in my stronghold.”

“If it weren’t for my brother this place would’ve been reduced to a pile of ash.”

The demon roared with anger. “My defenses are not easy to take down.”

Fury laughed. “I didn’t see any defenses when we first infiltrated or when I set fire to your pitiful camp.”

The sharpened axe came hurdling towards Fury once again. Fury evaded the slow attack and readied for her own. She whipped Scorn at the demon, but he had caught her attack with his axe. “How fitting it is to give the weakest horseman the useless weapon.”

Fury snarled and tugged Scorn with all her might. The demon grasped the axe no more as it laid on the ground. Fury lunged at the demon and left a long-jagged gash across the demons left eye. “You will learn of my strength and you will learn how I can make any weapon lethal!”

Unlike his weapons strife was running out of juice. Reinforcements kept coming. If this kept going it would put the final nail in his coffin. He put his brain to work and looked around for anything to help out. The answer he found couldn’t have been more obvious. Strife took out some bombs and lines them above the doors entrance and the pillars that were next to it. He shot them setting off a chain reaction that covered the only entrance with rubble.

Time was finally on his side and he used it to go search for the artifact and Fury. To his luck he heard the echoes of a battle cry he knew all too well. As he got closer to the noise it started to lessen and then there was silence. Crazy angry at himself for worrying about his sister to death, Strife ran into the room and found that he worried for nothing. There stood Fury covered in blood, Scorn firmly in her hand, and the massive demon at her feet.

Strife came in with a low whistle. He looked to the demon’s eyes, with both being lashed into from the work of Fury’s whip. “Ouch. Went for the eyes I see.” Fury didn’t respond for she was catching her breath. “Where’s the artifact?”

Fury held out the shattered remains of a crystal. “Destroyed.”

“Well I’d say this was a job well done, but we still need to get out of here. Problem is that I may have blocked the only exit.”

“Then we shall make our own.”

“I’m with you there.” Strife reciprocated the same process with the front entrance and blew a hold in the side of the building. Unfortunately for the horseman, with more noise came more attention. “This is getting ridiculous. How many demons can there be in hell for us to kill? Must’ve gone through half of Hell by now.”

“As much as I would like to continue our competition, I suggest we retreat.”

“Getting tired already sis?”

“After beating that giant oaf, I wouldn’t mind a break. Plus, it will save you the humiliation of me obviously winning the challenge.”

“Bullshit. Whats your score?” Several arrows falling towards the two silenced the horsemen before the reveal. They high tailed it through the strongholds front gates and summoned their horses. Strife gave them some cover fire as they got farther away from the stronghold. When they were far away enough Strife asked once more. “So, what was your score?”

“187.”

“Hate to break it to you sis, but I’ve won. I got 200.”

“That may be so, but I didn’t count the big one yet. With adding the large demon that puts me to about 207.”

“No. no. no. no. no. That’s against the rules.”

“I don’t remember any rules. I only remember a challenge. A challenge I rightly won.” Strife was left speechless and threw a fit while mumbling to himself. “Better luck next time brother.” Fury whipped the reins on Rampage and rode towards her next mission.

#DarksiderWeek2020 #Darksiders #Strife #Fury #Day 1 #Hell #Nephilim #took about an hour of contemplating to post this or not #fear gets the best of me whenever i decide to post #but i did it #im also drained because of it #Horsemen #Rampage #Mayhem

17 notes · View notes

peace-coast-island · 3 years

Text

Diary of a Junebug

Off on a nautical adventure!

We're sailing the Stone Glass Seas, exploring uncharted territory and enjoying the breeze. Rocky and Chrissie are here with some friends to go on a sailing adventure where they happened to run into Gulliver. So they made a stop at the camp and invited us campers to tag along because the more, the merrier!

It feels like forever since Rocky went sailing, which seems surprising since that's his thing. But with him and Lex busy with Talia and now Kessa, sailing has taken kind of a backseat. Of course, Rocky showed us pics of baby Kessa - who is adorable - and Talia, who's walking and talking now. As for Rocky and Lex's wedding, they're aiming for next year - preferably before baby number three comes along, they joke.

Now that Rocky and Lex are out of the newborn stage and have fully adjusted to two babies, they finally have some time to themselves. Chrissie's been helping out a lot as well as serving as sort of a peacemaker between Rocky and their uncle. It's not that they don't get along, it's just that McMann's the old fashioned type so the fact that his bisexual nephew's in a relationship with an enby and they have two kids while unmarried is kinda hard for him to wrap his head around. He does like Lex though and is actively making an effort not to misgender them and such, so at least there's that.

Joining them is Emma with her nieces and nephew. Emma just made the move to Cityburg about a month ago to move in with her brother and his kids. Despite working her ass off for six years in college, Emma was down on her luck, forced to live off her parents. When they told her that they were gonna kick her out, Danny stepped in, which they weren't too happy about. The kids are all for it as Emma's the favorite (and only) aunt and Danny could really use the help.

Margie, Rusty, and Linda like having Emma around and she likes being with them. Danny's a nightclub entertainer at the Cocktail Cabana who occasionally travels so he's not home all the time. Things haven't been easy since his husband and eldest daughter passed away last year, forcing Margie to take over as caretaker as well as housekeeper. While Emma and Margie have always gotten along like sisters, there has been some undercurrents as to who runs things around the house.

When the twins invited Emma to go sailing, she suggested bringing the kids along since Danny will be traveling that week and the kids are off from school. Emma also hopes to work things out with Margie, who she thinks has forgotten how to be a teenager. Now that we've been out on the sea for a couple days, I can see what she means. We all feel bad for Margie as she was forced to grow up quickly and as a result, she also became protective of her family.

Rusty and Linda are up to their own mischievous ways as usual, always keeping Emma and Margie on their toes. Sherry's presence is sorely missed - she was more than just Margie's partner in crime, she was also the ringleader of the Amos-Thomas siblings. A part of me had hoped that Sherry would make a miraculous recovery, but as time went on, all hopes of that diminished.

On a side note, Sherry would've turned sixteen last week - and the month before would've been Terry's birthday. So that's another reason why Emma decided to take the kids along - to give them a distraction so they won't be at each other's throats. And it's definitely been helping, especially for Rusty and Linda, who are having a great time right now. I think it's working for Emma and Margie too - or at least Emma can talk to her without feeling like she's walking on eggshells. I hope things work out for them.

While on our way to Wavy Shores, we ran into Gulliver, making his round trips as usual. Along with the usual treats he brings back, he also has some passengers tagging along. Through his travels, Gulliver often runs into villagers - most who I've never met before - and sometimes they join him on his voyage, later joining us at the camp. I'm pretty sure Gulliver talks up about the camp but I'm not complaining - the more, the merrier! So not only we got treats and maps, but also new friends to look forward to when we get back.

Wavy Shores definitely lives up to its name. Dixie first came across this place by accident and became mesmerized by the landscape. Given her stories about the shores, Rocky had to see it for himself. In fact, a good number of the places on the itinerary - aside from uncharted territory we plan on exploring - were places Dixie have been to. Rocky's been living the dream spending a lot of time with Dixie as she's basically a role model for him, the one who taught him how to sail. It's cute seeing his eyes light up whenever he talks about Dixie!

Everything in Wavy Shores is, well, wavy. Even the sky looks like a blend of wavy colors, contrasting with the sand dunes, the rocks, and the deep blue sea. It's so fascinating to look at - nature is amazing!

To the southwest is Polka Dot Leaf, a floating island known for its coral castle ruins. The exact location is a bit tricky to pinpoint because the island tends to shift due to the rough waters. We lucked out as around this time of year the seas are much calmer so it's all smooth sailing from there - I'd hate to get stuck in the middle of a storm.

The reason why it's called Polka Dot Leaf is because from above that's what the island looks like. It's one of those places that nature is slowly reclaiming, overgrown with seaweed brambles and seabloom blossoms. Walking into a coral castle ruin feels surreal, like I'm expecting the room to transform into another world.

What happened to the island's inhabitants remain a mystery, which adds to the appeal and mystique. Bedrooms with unmade beds, a kitchen sink full of chipped dishes, a desk full of yellowed papers covered in scribbles, a basket of laundry waiting to be folded - all of that, frozen in time. So many untold stories left behind.

To the east lies Summer Grove, a rainforest that is home to many rare butterflies. I've never seen so many colorful butterflies at once! All those colors and shapes - it's amazing to witness! Not to mention how majestic the butterflies are, fluttering about against a sea of green. We also enjoyed the tropical fruits and swimming at the lagoon. The weather was incredibly warm, but not overly humid or hot - which I'm grateful for or else I wouldn't have been able to appreciate the scenery as much and that would be a huge shame.

Then north we went through the Pearl Breeze Current to the idyllic mountains of Quill. Sailing through the Pearl Breeze is no easy feat as the current can be quite tricky to navigate, especially if you're not an experienced sailor. We were on the edge of our seats in our life jackets, holding our breaths while Rocky braved the waters. It was rough, but we made it!

A couple hours later we made it to the mountains and checked into a hotel for a well deserved rest. It's a good thing we weren't too far from land because I wasn't sure how much longer I could handle being at sea after the ordeal with the Pearl Breeze. Aside from a bad headache, an early rest did the trick along with some aspirin and a cool wet cloth.

The next day we went hiking in the mountains, where we came across a cave full of paintings and little iridescent crystals. Exploring the cave was a lot of fun, especially for the kids. Margie and Chrissie put their Chickadee Scout skills to use by guiding us through the tunnels, leading us to an old fountain covered in gothic roses. At first we thought the fountain was broken, until Rusty noticed that the overgrown foliage had blocked something. After a lot of tugging and pulling, a huge burst of water came out, soaking all of us. It was like the fountain came to life, showering us with crystal clear water and gothic rose petals.

On the way back to the hotel we stopped by a shop to change into some dry clothes. Everything looked so nice that it was hard to choose what to wear! Lately I've been into muted neutrals and florals and the store just happened to cater to my interests. Eventually I settled on a dusky pink floral dress with a maroon cardigan and then splurged on a lacy white blouse paired with a brown floral skirt. And then after that we browsed some other shops before grabbing dinner and heading back to the hotel.

Westward bound we headed to Greenaway, an archipelago known for its rare and unusual gems. At the center of the island is the famous volcano, a marvelous sight to see according to many adventurers. Rocky and Chrissie's uncle visited there about thirty years ago, witnessing an eruption when the village he was staying at was forced to evacuate. Since then that part of the island has been abandoned, though as of last year part of the outskirts is no longer restricted to the public.

Chrissie was hoping to find the house McMann rented along with some stuff he had to leave behind. It was long shot, especially since most of the area's buried in volcanic ash, but we figured that it wouldn't hurt to take a look - as long as it's safe. So we did, and as expected, we couldn't get too far because the entire village's pretty much gone. But we were able to figure out the area where McMann stayed based on the lamppost that served as a landmark - one of the few things that wasn't entirely buried in ash or destroyed in the eruption. It's eerie, looking at the remains of what was once a busy place.

Now we're sailing north, to Sunstone Caves. According to Dixie, the island's a floating desert in the middle of nowhere. It's a long ride - at least three days - so we have to be prepared for anything. While out on sea, especially with no landmarks to spot or keep us on track, time can stretch and bend in unpredictable ways. Luckily we're well stocked with supplies and good company so that'll make the time go by smoothly.

Being out here surrounded by sea and sky, it makes me feel so small. Compared to the sea, I'm a tiny little speck floating about. There's so much of the world around me, so much that I don't know about - it's something that keeps me going. The fact that there's so much to see, to explore, to experience - sometimes you get lucky and suddenly all these far off places you've never dreamed of seeing are within your grasp.

#animal crossing #animal crossing pocket camp #Diary of a Junebug #headcanon ramble

2 notes · View notes

baconsoupforthesoul · 5 years

Text

The Ink Demonth- Day 2- Growth

Forced Growth

A/N: Have I ever mentioned that I love the BATIM Bioshock au? Cause I do, a whole heck of a lot. Alpha Henry belongs to @inkspottie. I don’t know everything that’s planned for this au so I hope this one-shot is alright. I had way too much fun writing it. Anyway, I hope you enjoy~

Norman stared at the operating table as his fellow scientists bustled around him. He felt disconnected, as if he was observing from the outside as he filled a new syringe with another dose of their newly-patented age accelerating drug. How did he end up working in a place like this? When did his haven, the only place that would offer him legitimate scientific work, become his own living hell? Everyday he felt his own humanity slowly drain away as he committed atrocity after atrocity for Mr. Joey Drew. It was days like this that Norman was almost glad that Henry wasn’t alive to see the things he had done. He would be too ashamed to look his old friend in the eye. However, while Henry might be dead, murdered at the hands of his ‘best friend’, his gaze still haunted Norman, in the form of a child, strapped down on the table as his colleagues pumped him full of drugs and chemicals.

Norman’s eyes drifted to the boy in question, seeing him wince as another needle pierced his skin. Despite sporting blue eyes instead of the original Henry’s green, the clone’s gaze was still unsettlingly similar to Henry’s. His stare seemed to go right through him, leaving Norman feeling hollow and exposed. Mr. Drew had named the kid Alpha, which only caused Norman’s dread to grow, knowing that he would most definitely not be the last clone to be made from Norman’s long dead friend.

And if being haunted by the visage of Henry wasn’t bad enough, there was what Mr. Drew had ordered him to do with the boy. The head of Rapture Studios was furious when his first attempt to clone Henry had emerged from the INK as a child. However, he decided to use this ‘failure’ to test their new method of age acceleration, as well as other new and potentially dangerous drugs. Mr. Drew took one look at this boy, this child, and saw only a lab rat, something to be used for his own gain. It made Norman sick to his stomach, especially as he watched poor Alpha struggle against the straps securing him to the table and cry out from the tremendous pain of having one’s body forced to grow faster then it was ever intended. As Norman approached the operating table, syringe in hand, Alpha’s gaze returned to him, eyes wide and glistening with tears. The boy let out a soft whimper, no doubt anticipating more pain to come, and Norman’s hand tightened around the syringe.

“Enough.” Norman’s voice was strained as he dropped the syringe on a side table. “That’s… enough for today.”

“What are you talking about Norman?” One of the other scientists asked. “Mr. Drew gave us specific instructions to…”

“I know what Mr. Drew said.” Norman seethed. “But I say we’re done.”

“But we’ve only managed to age him up to about an eight year old. What are we gonna tell Drew if we fall behind schedule?” Another scientists piped up.

“Don’t you worry about it. Just… go take a lunch break or something.” Norman sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “If Mr. Drew has any questions just send em my way, got it?”

The other scientists all agreed, especially after the mention of lunch, and quickly filed out of the room. None of them even spared a glance at poor Alpha, not even bothering to remove the straps that confined him. Norman let out another exhausted sigh. “Good to know I work with such compassionate folks.” He grumbled quietly before turning back to Alpha. “Now, let’s get these here straps off you, alright?”

The boy stayed quiet as Norman unbuckled and released the straps that held his wrists, chest, legs and ankles. Alpha slowly sat up and rubbed at his wrists. His shoulders were still tensed and a few stray tears fell down his checks. “Alpha? Are you still hurting?” Norman asked and the kid nodded. Norman had hardly ever heard the boy utter a word since he first emerged from the INK, but he knew the boy was a keen listener and understood what was going on around him.

“Okay, sit tight, I might have something that’ll help.” Norman walked over to a different table and filled up another syringe with a painkiller to help ease the child’s discomfort. As he approached Alpha with the syringe though, the boy flinched, scooting away from Norman his eyes wide with fear.

“No nonono, hey, easy there Alpha.” Norman stopped in his tracks and held up his hands as he tried to soothe the boy. “This here’s a different drug. It’s medicine, it’ll make you feel better.” Alpha still seemed unsure, eyeing the syringe nervously. “You don’t have to take it if you don’t want it.” Alpha looked up at Norman, his mouth wide with shock. The poor kid had probably never been given a choice before in his life, everything decided for him by either Drew or the other scientists.

After a moment’s hesitation, Alpha nodded and held out his arm. Norman smiled as he gently took Alpha’s arm, swapping the injection site with an alcohol swab. "This'll only take a second Alpha. I promise, it'll help you feel better." Alpha closed his eyes and took a deep breath as the syringe pierced his skin, his face pinched in discomfort as he felt the liquid enter his arm.

"There. All done." Norman removed the needle and swiftly placed a piece of gauze over the injection spot and secured it with medical tape. “Heh, it’s just too bad that I don’t have a sucker to give you.” Norman chuckled, remembering his own kids getting lollipops from the doctor when they got their shots. Alpha just gave him a confused look. That’s right, this poor kid had probably never even had proper candy before. The only things Alpha would remember from his tragically brief childhood would be labs, injections and pain. Unless… Norman rubbed his chin as an idea started forming in his mind.

“Hey Alpha,” The boy’s head perked up as Norman addressed him. “I got somethin’ I wanna show you. It ain’t too far from here. Did you wanna come with me?” Norman asked, determined to give this child as much choice in his life as he could. Alpha still looked a little nervous but gave a small nod before letting himself down off the operating table. “Alright then, stay close to me.” Alpha took Norman’s outstretched hand as the scientist led him out of the room. The two of them navigated the hallways swiftly but quietly, Norman occasionally pulling Alpha behind a corner to avoid the other scientists and researchers. While he wasn’t violating any rules per say, Norman was pretty sure that Drew would not approve of what he was doing. He didn't like to be bothered by the likes of these researchers anyway. They’d only ask questions that Norman didn't have the time or the patience to answer. Alpha remained silent the whole trip, his eyes darting back and forth nervously as he clutched Norman’s hand tight. The pair of them finally made it to an elevator which Norman ushered Alpha into before hitting the button for the top floor. The scientists gently pushed Alpha behind him to hide him from view as the elevator ascended but thankfully it didn't make any stops until they reached their destination.

As the elevator doors slide open, Norman was relieved to see that the floor was completely deserted. It was a rare sight, as the top floor of the laboratory was a popular spot for people on break. Smooth jazz emanated from a nearby radio as Norman stepped out of the elevator. “This here’s the viewing deck Alpha.” Norman explained, gesturing to the large windows in front of them. It took up most of the room, allowing them to look out into the sea and across the entirety of Rapture Studios. “Mr. Drew had this built to be a sort-of place of inspiration I guess. Let folks look out at the entire city as they dreamed up new ideas and inventions or something like that. Either way it’s a dang beautiful spot.” Norman turned around to see Alpha stare wide-eyed all around him. “Come on Alpha,” Norman took the boy’s hand and lead him right next to the window. “Why not get a closer look?”

Alpha looked out at the studio, his hands pressed to the cold glass. It didn't even look like a studio anymore, more like a city, with neon lights from various shops and business lighting up the dark ocean floor. Glass tunnels stretched from building to building and bathysphere's shuttled the studio's inhabitants from place to place. A dark shape suddenly appeared out of Alpha’s peripheral vision, causing Alpha to let out a yelp as he backed up from the window.

“No need to be scared Alpha.” Norman assured him. “Look, it’s just a squid. He can’t get to us in here anyway.” Alpha cautiously approached the glass again and stared in wonder as a giant squid slowly drifted by, it’s tentacles trailing lazily behind it. Alpha’s face broke out into a rare genuine smile as he watched schools of fish swim by and luminescent jellyfish float up through the ocean depths. Starfish clung to the window and seaweed and aquatic plants seemed to grow all around, hugging the windows and sides of buildings. Alpha gasped as he saw a whale gracefully swim over one of the glass tunnels before flicking its tail to ascend higher towards the top of the studio’s buildings. Alpha’s face lit up with wonder as the massive creature went right overhead as it moved higher towards the distant surface. The boy had never seen anything like this before, spending most of his days cooped up in a lab. He pressed his face right up against the glass, squishing his nose and no doubt leaving hand prints all over the clean glass but Alpha wanted to take in everything that was out there in this strange yet beautiful place.

Norman looked down at the child and smiled as he saw his genuine happiness. “What do you think Alpha? Real pretty out there, isn’t it?” Alpha nodded his head frantically, before turning to Norman with the biggest smile he had ever seen on the kid’s face.

“Thank you.” Alpha finally spoke, in a soft voice, barely louder than a whisper. Norman suddenly felt like his heart was caught in his throat as memories flooded over him. Going out for drinks with Henry, having the poor man rant about Drew for hours on end, showing the man his latest invention, Henry inviting him to the premiere of his latest cartoon shorts, letting the man sleep in his office as he often worked himself to the bone, confiding in Henry all his ideas, and his worries for the future of Rapture Studios, introducing his friend to his wife and kids…

Norman took a deep breath as he tried to suppress the memories of his old friend, the man whose face this child shared. “Don’t you mention it, Henry.” Norman’s voice quivered with repressed emotion but his words were genuine. If he could bring any joy or comfort into this boy’s life, it was the least he could do for all that was left of his dead friend. Even if he hadn’t been Henry’s clone, Norman would do everything in his power to make sure this kid could experience life beyond being just a mere test subject. It suddenly occurred to Norman that he had slipped up and called the child Henry rather then Alpha. His gazed down at the boy but he didn't seem to notice that he had called him by a different name, still too enraptured by the view. Norman smiled and placed a hand on the kid’s shoulder. Alpha glanced up at him briefly, offering him another smile before turning back to the sight before them. The two of them stood there in peaceful silence, before it was rudely interrupted.

“Now where the hell did that sorry excuse for a-” None other then Joey Drew himself stepped out of the elevator, grumbling to himself before he spotted Norman and Alpha by the window. “What the hell are you doing all the way up here, Polk? You’re supposed to be working, not lollygagging and enjoying the sights!” Drew’s gaze drifted downwards and he finally spotted young Alpha, who was now clinging to Norman’s leg and shaking like a leaf. “Why. The Hell. Is he all the way up here!” Drew yelled, gesturing angrily at Alpha who hid his face in Norman’s leg, whimpering quietly.

“Would you lower your voice? He’s just a child!” Norman hissed angrily, holding a protective hand in front of Alpha.

“That doesn’t answer my question.” Drew seethed, glaring at Norman.

“I was just taking him to have a look around the place. That won’t interfere with all the goshdarn experiments you want to put him through.” Norman glared right back at his boss, his temper slowly rising.“He needs to get out sometimes. How are you expecting him to grow up properly if he stays in a lab all day? He can’t stay cooped up forever!”

“Why can’t he?” Drew asked. “I told you before this one is a failure. His only use to us now is as a lab rat. While he may be a botched attempt at cloning, he’s the perfect tool to further our research here.”

“He’s a human being, Mr. Drew!” Norman shot back, his eyes ablaze with fury.

“WELL I DON’T GIVE A DAMN!” Drew yelled, causing Alpha to yelp and squeeze tightly at Norman’s leg. “I told you when you came to Rapture, Norman, that Rapture wasn’t held down by petty morality. You can’t say you weren’t warned.” Drew sighed as he straightened his jacket before glaring down at the crying child clinging to Norman. “Now enough of this. Alpha, would you kindly return to the lab? I believe Mr. Polk has some experiments he hasn’t quite finished.” Alpha stiffened at the words, before his whole body relaxed. He let go of Norman’s leg and slowly walked towards the elevator as if in a daze.

“No, Alpha wait-” Norman reached out to the boy but Drew stepped in his way.

“Uh, uh, uh.” Drew wagged a condescending finger at him as Alpha stepped into the elevator. “We’re not done talking. You can return to your work in just a moment.”

“Mr. Drew, you know as well as I do how screwed up this whole thing is.” Norman seethed. “I don’t give a damn what you told me when I came here. This is wrong, and you can’t expect me to-”

“Do you remember what your life was like before Rapture?" Drew suddenly cut him off, walking around Norman like a predator circling its prey. “I believe you had trouble finding work, and you were stuck fixing projectors. I know it was so hard supporting your family with such meager funds, was it not?”

“Just what are you hinting at, Mr. Drew.” Norman growled, keeping an eye on his boss as he stepped idly past him.

“I’m just pointing out that you owe Rapture quite a lot. It would be a shame if you were to lose what you gained here? How is your family by the way? Happy and healthy I assume?”

Norman’s blood ran cold. Drew didn't have to say anything out right. His sugar-coated tone could not mask the underlying threat to his words. Norman was already in too deep and there was no going back now. Not if he wanted to keep his family safe.

“I-I understand what you mean, Mr. Drew.” Norman’s shoulder’s fell, as Drew’s smile grew, sharp and pointed.

“Good, good. I hate to be misunderstood. And you are a valuable asset here at Rapture, we would hate to lose you.” Joey crooned. “Now, I believe you have some work you should be getting back to, hmmm?”

“Yes Mr. Drew.” Norman replied, moving past his boss to the elevator. Drew let out a quiet chuckle as he turned to look out at his studio. Norman stepped into the elevator, and as the doors closed he rubbed a tired hand over his face.

“Oh Henry. Please forgive me.” Norman sighed, not even sure if he was talking about his dead friend or the poor boy waiting downstairs.

#the ink demonth #bendy and the ink machine #batim #henry stein #norman polk #joey drew #bioshock au #spacy writes #inkspottie #injection //

63 notes · View notes

alphakid-soup · 5 years

Text

Sly level idea: theme park

Is it bad to kinda come up with an idea for a Sly level? If anyone’s already done this then just let me know but like I got this idea for a theme park episode, these are just a few things that just came to mind and are a bit of fun.

Imma put it below because it’s a lot and I don’t wanna annoy people with it but at the same time, this just hit me and I really like it. Also apologies in advance for my bad writing or any spelling mistakes. Ya boi be dyslexic and while I’ve tried reading through it to check I’ve probably missed a few.

‘Who the villain of the episode is’ or ‘what the entire plan for the episode is’ I got no idea, thought I’d think about it like design first then figure out the story interaction later down the line? I’m also not sure when this level would take place or if it’s just Sly, Bentley or Murray, or if it’s the full Cooper Gang.

But I like the idea that it’s a hub world with smaller parts in it, similar to in some theme parks there’s split off themed sections.

You could have to safe house at the once side of the level and you get to each section via a path and there’s a big statue to help you navigate to that meeting point. Or maybe there’s a rollercoaster that runs through the whole park and sections which is a nice quick route back? Maybe it’s got some loops in it or something and you gotta railslide on it? Or for Bentley and Murray there’s like some old carts you can use to go on it?

Maybe there’s a haunted house themed section? The place is meant to be all spooky but had the same feel of most haunted houses where its so over the top and stupid that you can’t really get spooked by it at all. Like you’ll be walking around and maybe some bad cutout pictures of ghosts or witches or vampires jump out but it’s predictable. Maybe there’s a mission (a turret mission even though I hate them) where you get in a rollercoaster cart and have to shoot a set amount of targets or enemies as possible while the cart moves from room to room?

Maybe there’s a circus section? Not hugely sure about this one but I really like the idea of a costume Sly has being a clown one? Or when playing as him you can swing around on those acrobatic swings and get to points in a circus tent?

Maybe there’s a space section? Tried to badly replicate a typical space setting and there’s planets hung around with badly painted planets? Maybe there’s like those spaceship rides you find at like supermarkets or in shopping centres and they’re dotted around where if you give it 2 or 3 coins, the character will sit in it for, idk, 30 seconds and it just sways back and forth (a pointless aspect but shushies I know)?

Maybe one section is an aquarium part and (if it is a level involving the full gang) you cause use Dimitri to swim through the tanks while another character goes through some tunnels and does things outside the tanks and you switch between characters? And you can see that character through the glass?

Maybe there’s an abandoned section somewhere? Like it isn’t shown until later in when taking some pictures. Maybe you have to sneak in and retrieve some one mechanical parts to use later in the heist? Or when you’re in this section it’s very dark and quiet and there isn’t really and guard but certain platforms can’t be stood on because they’ll break or you have to avoid falling building parts?

#sly cooper #text #long post #theme park #this probably makes no sense #I'm sorry everyone this is kinda just me writing

27 notes · View notes

thawingthoughts · 5 years

Text

To All The Boys I’m Tired of Loving...

Does this shit get any easier?

Dear Tumblr, it’s me, Becca.

It’s been a while.

I’ve been hand journaling lately, but I feel like I have too many thoughts and emotions to be limited to the speed of my carpal tunnel.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I broke up with the person I thought was supposed to be the love of my life in July last year. It fucking sucked, but it was the best decision I’ve ever made without question. The life I lived in those months after was more life than I had lived in my 23 years prior. I went to a foreign country, I moved, I made better friends, lost bad ones, made moves in my career and, well, fell in love again?

Which brings me to today, another fucking shitty day.

Love doesn’t suck, but navigating relationships in your 20s does.

Today I’ve spent the day crying my eyes out over a guy who technically was never my boyfriend. I genuinely never thought that would be me. Who the fuck am I right now?

Anyway, let’s continue.

In August 2018 I met a boy (because let’s face it if they’re under 30 they’re not a man) who wrecked my heart. Which, like I said who the fuck am I to let that happen?

He was too good to be true, and sure enough, he was.

In our Pete Davidson / Ariana Grande pace of a relationship, we shared a lot of life, a lot of sex, and I think more love than either of us care to admit. Much like the famous duo though, I think we were both in a lovesick rebound. Saying that doesn’t discount the validity in the emotions of the relationship, but it does give justification for its exhilarating but devasting end.

Like a deadly car crash from street racing, things went from 100 to zero, quick.

I think at the end of it though, I put him on an unwarranted pedestal because of the trauma he experienced in his life. And that’s not fair to me.

Yes, in that relationship I had a lot of guards up. I pursued something much bigger than I had ever anticipated. I fell harder than I thought I could fall, and I was so afraid of those emotions and if they were real.

I let a man say all the things I wanted and needed to hear. Treated me like a fucking queen in a way I had never experienced before. Listened like no one I had ever met. stupidly handsome, passionate, funny, incredible in bed...the list can go on.

But also, let’s call the bullshit where we can now. Rose-colored glasses off.

He’s got demons I can’t help, especially if he has no desire to help himself. His personality tends to bleed politician in order to skate around truly expressing himself. He scapegoat’s bad communication with vague statements. He’s extremely intentional in the moment but has poor follow through. Literally runs away from a confrontational situation.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I remember after that first date though, that I thought I had met my match. And I was fucking terrified. Never in my life had I been on such an incredible first date. And no, that’s not to say that it was like a rom-com with these insane bells and whistles, but there was a chemistry between us like I had never felt before.

We met like any millennial in 2018, on a dating app. I had zero expectations. His profile had no info and he was roughly my age, so the fact that I had swiped right...surprised I did honestly.

I remember I half-ass dressed up for this date, almost canceling last minute until I realized the restaurant was right around the corner from my office.

I enter the restaurant, late, huffing and puffing and hot in the August heat (lol it’s Portland so it’s probably only 80 something degrees). I see him there and he’s in this wonderful suit and I feel like a hot mess, quite literally. We were probably there for three hours? We hit every topic that makes me wet: feminism, how Portland is so white, our shared Latinx experiences, liberal politics, I don’t even remember what else. I just remember calling my mom on my way home saying I’m fucked. Saying why the hell did God put this person in my life at this moment when I made such a fucking loud declaration to the universe that I was not ready.

He’s the only person I ever asked out on a second date. And that date was just as great as the first. We got dessert at my favorite place in town late at night after an extremely tough day at work.

Next his ass helped me move apartments.

Then the following week we ended up at the movies watching such a heavy movie, both needing a drink afterward. Next thing I know it’s four in the morning and we’re parked in his car outside of the movie theater. We’ve already made a seven-eleven run for gum and water.

I, being the confrontational person I am, asked him what’s his deal. In my head how does a guy pursue a woman like this without wanting to seriously date? Because, per my mantra earlier, I was not trying to date.

He told me his story, and it eerily mirrored mine. He and his partner of three years broke up that summer because of cheating. He was trying to get back in the game. He wasn’t looking for anything serious, but having a hard time navigating the app scene. He said a lot of girls said they felt like he wanted something serious because he was so nice, but that wasn’t the case.

I, of course, felt instant relief and also that there was a storm destined for our future.

We were in the same boat, hurray, but knowing the person I was and who I was actively trying so hard not to be, I was going to fall. Fucking hard.

And fucking hard I fell.

We kissed that night. It was hands down one of the, if not the, best kiss of my life. I don’t know if it was the build-up at the time, my constant experience with men who suck at kissing, or my current raw emotions, but as of right now he can keep that title.

The following night I ask him out to dinner and took him home. We hooked up and I was blown away. So of course, like any person who has been deprived of good sex for a long time, had him over for too many late nights during the work week.

Were either of us getting quality sleep? No. Was it the most fun I had in a long time? Absolutely.

Then all of a sudden we were spending a lot of time together. More than just late nights, more than just evening dates. We were sharing our work days and our work lives with one another. We’d sometimes get lunch together. He was taking me to events. I met his friends. He slept over 3-4 nights a week. We shared deep stuff going on in our lives.

That shit scared me. A lot.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I’d been a serial monogamous. Been in three three-year relationships. All so different from one another, but all-in-all, bad. None of them ended well. I was cheated on in every single one.

The first one I was so god damn young that I can’t fault either of us at that time anymore. We’ve learned and grown and after probably more years than I’m proud of, I forgave him.

The second was a rebound from the first; it just happened to last three whole years. We were co-dependent in a way that was toxic for both of us, but we were just college kids who hadn’t ever been in truly healthy relationships before then. I don’t know if forgiveness is the right word in this one, but I’ve learned to let go of my baggage from it.

The third one...was a nightmare. It wasn’t at first and we had two beautiful years, but that last year was brutal. He lied to me. He cheated on me. He called me a cunt. He gaslit me. He harmed my growth when I became a more independent person...the list can go on.

The point is, I hadn’t been lucky in love yet. I had a pattern of loving hard and not receiving that equal love back. Additionally, I hadn’t truly ever been my own person yet. Moving to Portland was my first big step into becoming my own person, and breaking up with ex #3 was my second. So unfolding myself to this new person, and potentially building a life with him in this city that I had built a life for myself, fucking terrified me.

Because of all that, I was selfish. Selfish that was not in any way fair to him. I loved the way he made me feel, the way he treated me, the sex, etc., that I refused to address the relationship that was building between us. I didn’t want to lose what we had, but I was also too afraid to let him into a bigger part of my life and my plans.

Where I was at in my process at that time was too focused on what if it doesn’t go according to plan? What if he breaks my heart? What happens when I get a job outside of Portland?

I set that stage of what our relationship was because I wanted to control as much as I could of what was going to happen to me. I wanted to be as calculated as possible in order to not fall victim to my past mistakes.

By the time I had decided to fully open up though, to be as vulnerable as he’d been with me, it was too late.

Things had changed and I was too busy worrying about me to fully see that.

I will take ownership of my selfishness in the situation. I will take ownership in my over communication but not the clearest communication. I will take ownership of the fact that I was not in the right place for something that could’ve been so beautiful.

BUT - all that being said, there’s some ownership I wish he’d take. Like for letting me walk all over him like that. For not being more clear on his wants and needs. For not following through on his words and apologies. For not acknowledging that maybe he was just as not ready for this as I was. And lastly, for not letting me go when he should’ve.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For almost two whole months we played games. And I don’t play games.

He gave me “what, do we go back to being strangers?” and “You’re such an important part of my life and I’m not ready to lose you.”

At first, yes I said maybe we shouldn’t talk. A week later I changed my mind on that, and the second I did I let him know. After that, I tried to be as accommodating to his state of mind, his career, and his bandwidth. I was honestly fine because at that point I had accepted where he was and where I was, and I was willing to see what our next check-in would bring.

When I was no longer fine was when that check-in came up and he blew me off. For the first time if felt like his actions and his words didn’t align, and that hurt. We were supposed to get coffee, and I stupidly was too excited for such a mundane hang out. It had been so long since I’d seen him, and at that point, I was just happy to hear about his life. To catch up. This person had been a part of my daily life for four months and then all of a sudden dropped off the face of the planet.

When he never reached back out about coffee that day though, I felt such a change. This amazingly incredible person I had built up in my head - shattered.

I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. Give him a full day to respond. That night I did happen to go out with some friends I’d never really spent time with before. While I was out I ran into one of his friends, who seemed to know more about my relationship than I did at that moment.

It felt like salt being poured on an open wound.

The next day I confronted him via text, my least favorite platform. I expressed how upset I was with him, which was hard for me to do since this was my first time being truly angry / upset / disappointed in him. He sent me a very politically correct response but did offer to meet up that night to chat.

So we did. We drove around in his car for an hour because that’s about all the time he had. And I did appreciate every moment of that hour.

He apologized in the way every person in a fight with someone they care about should apologize. He validated my feelings, told me I didn’t have to forgive him at that moment, took full ownership of the situation, and promised to do better.

The thing is though, he didn’t do better. a pattern formed before my eyes.

After the conversation, I sent him a long text. All of me hated sending a text like that, but I knew I had thoughts I needed to get off my chest and there was no other way to do it given our circumstances.

No response. Which I expected at that moment because I sent the message so late.

But then a day went by, and two days, and then a week, and then two weeks.

Wow.

How am I supposed to believe any of these sentiments - “what, do we go back to being strangers?” “You’re such an important part of my life and I’m not ready to lose you” - ring any truth when this is the way I keep being treated?

So we come up on week two of no response, and I end up at an event put on by his work. My office sponsored a couple tables at the event, which I went on behalf of the office but also because I wanted to get the closure I felt I deserved at that point.

I took a big risk praying that A: he’d want to talk to me, and B: offer me a ride home so that we can actually talk. My phone was dead, I hadn’t driven there, and all my coworkers left before the end of the event.

A buzzed me took a giant sip of wine and walked over to his table at the end of the event boldly saying “are you gonna act like you didn’t see me tonight?”

He flashed that god damn smile of his that gets me every time and gave me some runaround. I still don’t believe he didn’t see me. I digress.

I make the rounds I need to with him in order to get to my end goal, to actually having the sit-down conversation I needed. That was hard for me since the last time I did that with him we were “together,” and I’m sure all of those people know no different.

Shots were fired, jabs were made, but we made it that conversation I’d been desperately seeking. It wasn’t the conversation I wanted, but the one I needed.

That shit hit cold; not only because it was the official ending of an era of my life, but also I felt I didn’t articulate myself the way I wish I had. Which I guess is why I’ve spent three hours in the middle of the night writing all this out.

Afterthoughts of that night:

I am done apologizing for my faults in the situation because I’ve done that more than deserved.

I am tired of him using the excuse that he’s made it clear where he’s at mentally as a dismissal for his mishandling of me and my emotions in this situation.

I don't know if we’ll ever see eye-to-eye on the above statement because of our communication styles and our defensive levels for ourselves.

I tried so hard to actively avoid getting hurt in this “situationship,” yet this just as painful and torturous as all my other serious breakups.

I don’t think I’ve ever been so angry at but so concerned for someone at the same time.

From a third-party viewpoint, it’s easy to objectively list out all the reasons this relationship would never work (there’s A LOT). Somehow those rationalizations don’t make this hurt any less, and that fucking sucks.

I will never be able to listen to Miguel the same way.

I do truly hope there is a point in our lives that we can be friends again.

I’m done putting him on a pedestal, but he is the best person I’ve ever dated. I do genuinely hope the best for him because despite how fucked up this situation was/is, he’s a wonderful person at his core with his own demons to face.

WHAT DID I LEARN THOUGH??

This has been hard to tap into, but I know it’s vital to think through in order to get over this situation.

God’s timing is funny, but there’s a reason for everything.

Do not use the apps unless you’re ready to pursue a relationship; they cause more emotional labor / drama than you want or need

That organic personality / sexual chemistry is essential. There’s a lot to work on in relationships, but that shouldn’t be one of them.

You can’t start a relationship / situationship when you’re emotionally unavailable.

Work on the balance of being there for someone and being selfless to the point of self-sabotage.

The date bar has been set - don’t settle for a man who can’t afford to treat you like you deserve to be treated (as a feminist I’m torn by this statement, but as a woman who loves to be romanced...whoops).

Continue to take your time with relationships. This one may have failed, but that wasn’t because of taking it slow.

Being with someone who inherently understands your background and values in invaluable.

The second you recognize a pattern, address it and move forward / get out.

FINAL THOUGHTS

This was fucking rough. So fucking rough.

I went through such a roller coaster of emotions today. For the first time in my life, I am the single friend of my core friend group. I’m also alone here in Portland and breaching a point where I’m about to outgrow my core friends in their life stages.

Fuck, my baby girl is getting married soon. My brother is moving in with his girlfriend. And I’m over here wondering if the rest of my life is going to consist of a bad work/life balance, too much booze, bad dates, and worse sex?

Also, if anything I’m so god damn afraid to open up to someone ever again. Because what if that person says their willing to wait because “I’m worth it” and then this happens, all over again. How many times do I have to go through this until I find the one?

Agh. Clearly, there’s still a lot to work through. And at least I’ve learned that despite this absolutely awful sex drought, the drought is better than giving a piece of yourself away to every shitty guy who wants to get in your pants on every dating app.

Dating in Portland though? Slim pickings. Which make finding that spark with someone again feel almost like an impossible feat.

Hopefully when I go to bed, this’ll all get a little easier. Day by day. Because time heals all wounds right?

One of the worst expressions to an impatient person though.

Alright, goodnight Internet.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

P.S.

Who knows if I’ll ever be bold enough to send this to the man himself, but if I do, this is a raw emotional rendition of me and I hope you take that into consideration as you read it.

Bye Rico, what we had was so special, but such a fucking mess. I’ll miss you quite terribly.

1 note · View note

alexiss-fic-archive · 6 years

Text

The Phantom thieves of hearts

Summary:

As Beach city falls into the grasp of a large net of corruption, A small group of outcasts, headed by Connie Maheswaran, a girl condemned by a crime she tried to foil, will change society for the better.

Join our heroine as she fulfills her "rehabilitation" while changing the world, one heart at a time.

Notes:

Here’s a small AU serial I’ve been working on for a while, in which The crystal Gems take on the role of the Phantom Thieves to save their home from the rotten authorities who relish in abusing them.

ALSO ON THE AO3

“Beach city, Delmarva. It is a budding metropolis that slowly but surely grew up to rival Empire city and even places like Tokyo and Kansas.

On the surface, the place is a vast collection of individuals, all of them lost in a sea of people as they try to live their daily lives in relative tranquility.

However, unbeknownst to the public, a shadow, unseen by all who decide to ignore it, crept into the foundations of the city.

People never noticed it, the dark made its way into the populace's hearts making them mindless, faceless copies of one another. Its influence made them grew comfortable with atrocities happening to the others next to them as long as it didn't affect them personally.

At one time, the populace would just pretend like everything was supposed to be like that, and were abused whilst being blissfully ignorant of the strings manipulating their hearts.

However, just before the shadow completely devoured everyone on Beach city, a group of outcasts took it upon themselves to save their home, even if it meant to steal the hearts away from the Shadow's grasp.

These heroes were known as the Phantom Thieves of Hearts. Masked vigilantes whose sworn duty was to lift the shadow of conformity and fear from the hearts of the people, and strike down the ones with twisted desires, who casted the shadow on the first place.

And now, you're about to know how they saved the world from its own.”

★★★★★

A robbery and a heist are different things.

“LOOK ALL AROUND THE PLACE!” A security guard shouted at his men. “THEY CANNOT LEAVE THE PALACE WITH THE CASE!”

A robbery is just taking something that isn't yours and appropriating it.

“Look! On the lights!” Another guard said, pointing at the huge lamps on the ceiling where a shadowy figure moved on top of it.

A heist however, is pretty much the same...

“Come on! To the last floor!” Another one said as the figure did a graceful jump to another light.

...Except that it is far more stylish.

“Woo! Mah girl Phantom sure got some sick moves!” a rough, high pitched voice said to the jumping shadow via communicator.

The woman stopped for a moment above the illuminated plates of metal, revealing what was hidden in the shadows as she traced her new route forward.

She wore a black two tailed longcoat that made her look imposing to the ones who managed to see her through the veil of darkness that covered her (the greatsword strapped on her back also helps with the intimidation factor). Her hands clad in red held a small, silver suitcase containing a precious item. Her brown face was framed by short hair that reached to her shoulders and was partially concealed by a white mask that covered her eyes.

“Quiet Puma! You'll distract her!” Another voice said, this time, it from another woman.

“Geez.” Puma said. “You’re no fun at all, Heron.”

“Guys, please just calm down.” A boy's voice said. “We’ll have fun after we get to the Café!”

“Yeah guys, Cosmos is right.” Phantom said as she reached a small, indoor balcony. “Once we take this baby out, We'll make pizza for everyone!”

The moment the girl’s feet touched the rugged floor of the balcony, a door on one of its sides opened violently. Several guards teeming behind the threshold of the door.

“For now, I just need to get out of here.” She said with a smirk on her face.

So, without losing her stride, Phantom sprinted towards the service stairs for the lamps. Leaving the angry security staff in her dust.

“Yeah, Casinos are stupid.” Another, dull sounding voice said through Phantom's line. “Especially if they are as rigged as this one.”

“You just say that cause you're poor, Siren.” A voice belonging to a teenager said.

“AND SO ARE YOU, DONUT-FACE!” The now angry siren said just as a pair of guards appeared in front of Phantom.

“Guys, I know that you live to piss off each other.” She said as she gracefully dodged the guards who tried to apprehend her. “But i kinda need Dot to tell me where these jerks are.”

“Fine….” The two of them relented in their aggressive banter.

“Great.” Phantom said as she reached the end of the stairs. “Now, please tell me there's someone to catch this for me.”

“Of course.” A nasal voice said. “There's an open air vent a few aisles in front of you, next to the ladies bathroom.”

“Thanks Dot.” She said smirking as she ran down the aisle. “You’re the best.”

“Of course I am!” The overseer of the group gloated proudly. “After all, I AM the leader of the Crystal Gems.”

“Who appointed you as leader?!” An annoyed Heron said as Phantom dashed through the aisles filled with guards.

“The internet.” Dot simply explained to the older woman, who was about to start an argument as Phantom made it to the vent.

“Here goes!” She said as she threw the suitcase into the small metallic tunnel while running away from her chasers.

“Oh, right.” Dot said. “Skull, the suitcase will reach you in exactly three seconds.

“What do you- AAH!” The young man was interrupted by the suitcase, which apparently hit him in the head with enough force to knock him out of his balance.

This humored Siren a lot, given that her laughter flooded the shared audio channel, covering Puma’s giggles and Heron's ‘You’re an utter disappointment’ sigh.

“I can't believe you're so pathetic, Skull!” Siren said, in between laughs.

“S-SHUT IT!” He said as he recovered his footing and the case.

“Guys, save picking on Skull after we get out of here.” Phantom told her crew as she ran through a door leading to another flight of stairs. “Where do I go next, Dot?”

“Upstairs.” The navigator said. “There’s a lot of guards waiting for you on the lower floors.”

The thief dashed through the spiraling staircase as she ascended, following Dot’s instructions while the increasingly angry guards kept their futile pursuit.

Eventually, She reached the summit of the staircase which led to a catwalk of some sorts far above the ground where the slot machines were.

“Umm… Dot, there's no exit up here…” She said as she ran away from her pursuers.

“I know.” The smug woman said through her device. “At least not one that they could use.”

Phantom stood dumbfounded for a little moment as she scouted her surroundings to see what her friend was talking about. And at the moment she saw how close a Stained glass window was from the catwalk she was on, a devilish grin painted itself on her lips.

“Wait, Phantom! You can't be serious!?” Cosmos said worriedly.

“Don’t worry.” She said as she let the army of guards surrounded her, giving them the slightest Idea that they could lay a hand on her. “We’ve been out of worse, Remember?”

As the guards prepared to lunge at her to catch her, Phantom leaped into the large stained glass window behind her. She formed a cross with her arms in front of her face to protect it from the shards of broken glass as she left the building in the most dramatic way imaginable.

She twirled around the air in order to control her fall from the seven story casino. Fortunately, When she touched the pavement she not only managed to survive a fall that would've kill a normal human being, but also manage to land squarely on her feet in what could only be described as a superhero landing.

“Okay guys, I'm out.” She said as she shook off the dust on her dark coat. “Where are you?”

Silence was the only thing she heard as she looked around the dark alley she landed in.

“Guys?” She asked just as a giant spotlight shrouded her in its blinding light.

She heard a lot of static coming from her earphone. “...nie!. . . Ca.. ..o … Hear m..?..” She could barely listen to Dot. “Get o…. ere…. ..hey ..nter...ring ou…”

The static suddenly fell silent as more light was shed upon Phantom, revealing a small army of policemen hiding behind them.

Immediately, The thief's expression changed from worried to angry. She had fell directly into a trap.

She began to run away from the armor wearing officers, back into a emergency staircase that hung nearby the wall of the casino she just left.

She thought that if she could gain enough altitude, she would be able to jump into the a nearby building to avoid capture.

However as she finished her ascend the ladder that led to the ground, she met face to face with a still pissed off member of the casino's security agents, who kicked her on the face,throwing her into the policemen below as his vengeance for being humiliated moments ago.

Before she could even get back on her feet, the violent policemen had surrounded her and was immediately apprehended before she could take another step away from them.

The only thought that passed through her mind as the cops put cuffs on her wrist was a single and very annoyed ‘Shit..’

#persona 5 #Persona AU #connie maheswaran #steven universe #robbery #heist #PTOH: chapter 1

14 notes · View notes

thebestintoronto · 4 years

Text

10 Things To Do In Toronto Making For A Super-Awesome Canada Trip

North America is known for its never-ending stretch of national forests, stunning locales, lofty hills, sub-zero problems. Meanwhile, Canada is blessed to consist of the very best of The United States and Canada. It's well acknowledged by its attractive communities, small cities, and also beautiful villages tempting every tourist into a journey there. In the northwestern financial institutions of Lake Ontario, Toronto is a desire place for many. A variety of engaging points to do in Toronto would leave you absolutely delighted!

Beyond the boundaries of the excellent Ontario Lake, there lies this drool-worthy Toronto city basking in the majesty of soaring buildings, ancient towers, and numerous attractions. Stand near the deafening holler of the Niagara drops, stroll the edge of CN Tower, or go shopping to an upscale shopping mall, Toronto will genuinely indulge the keen traveler in you.

Navigate Toronto and also these tasks would definitely contribute to your experiences!

1. Stroll the side of the CN Tower & savor the breathtaking views

Hit the unmatched high beginning your impressive journey on an awesome note. CN Tower, at 553.33 meters, is one of the most remarkable structure in Toronto as well as one of the highest frameworks on the planet. The tower, with its dominating presence in the Toronto sky line, needs to be atop your listing of remarkable things to do in Toronto. Go there for the awesome spectacle that it creates.

And one of the most suggested thing to do right here is walking the precipice of the tower at 342 meters (122 feet). Whoa!! Vertigo at this elevation will leave you vibrating, while the sight from glass floor will leave you delighted. It's nearly just as good as walking in the air. There is additionally a Search Level at 346 meters (1136 feet). Additionally up there is a skypod at 447 meters (1465 feet). It is here that you are in fact at the top of the globe.

Timings: 9 am to 10:30 pm Popular destinations of CN Tower: Search Factor, Glass Flooring, Skywalk, Skypod, and also high speed lifts

2. Hop-on the watercraft to Toronto Islands

Toronto Islands is an additional popular attraction located at Toronto city. Additionally referred to as Toronto Island Park, this fun place is a plain 13-minute ferry trip from Midtown Toronto. The ferry to the island leaves from Jack Layton Ferryboat Incurable located at the foot Queen's Quay. Toronto Island is a team of 15 islands interconnected by bridges and roadways and also stretches for nearly 5 km from Ward's Island to Hanlan's Point, which is actually walkable.

Speak about the tasks and also recreational areas around and also you won't fall short of suggestions for things to do in Toronto. From ferry ride to picnic area to vantage points, the listing is limitless.

Popular destinations of Toronto Islands: Hanlan's Point, Ward's Island, Centre Island, as well as Centreville Amusement Park

3. Take a trip to the Royal Ontario Gallery

The cave structured world-class museum is the best visitor destination as well as a must-visit on a trip to Toronto. The special architecture and fossil continues to be at the museum make it a distinctive elegance. Be it the world popular bat cave or the remains of cultural value from the past, the bat cave is a best location to plan a day-tour of the museum. Make it a point to visit this location, no other gallery shows the Canadian background so appropriately!

Timings: 10 am-- 5:30 pm

Popular tourist attractions at Royal Ontario Museum: Emblem posts, dinosaur bones, and also blue whale event (at added cost).

4. Walk around the Black Creek Leader Village & enjoy a go to back in time.

Black Creek Pioneer Village has existed since the 1800s as well as wonderfully showcases period buildings, artefacts, and magnificent costumed overviews. The town exhibits the brilliantly recreated Ontario nation village from the 1860s. It largely includes 40 restored residences, shops, and also farm buildings. One can additionally identify plenty of artisans, and entertainers dressed up in the attractive routine dress.

The historic Black Creek Brewery allows you to taste the made beer exactly the method it used to occur in the 1860s. No reward for guessing that this is amongst the leading points to do in Toronto.

Popular attractions at Black Creek Pioneer Town: Black Creek Historic Brewery, special purchasing as well as dining area from ancient times, wagon flight, maple syrup, and haunted walk.

5. Live the genuine adventure at Canada's Heaven.

The substantial amusement park located in the heart of Ontario, some 40 km north of the Downtown is a perfect area for a family members getaway. You call one recreational task under the sun and also this place has it! From enjoyable park to thrilling activities, there's a whole lot to make the best of a day out with friends and family right here. Hence making Canada's Heaven among the leading things to do in Toronto.

Completely there are 70 flights below, that includes 16 roller rollercoasters, 2 children areas, a 20-acre theme park.

Toll: INR 2600 onwards. Popular tourist attractions at Canada's Wonderland: Water Park, roller rollercoaster ride, wave swimming pool, amusement park, funnel cake, and Cedar Factor.

Additional info: Do not miss Halloween Haunt's creepy destinations as well as Camp Spooky during autumn.

6. Explore the Ripley's Aquarium of Canada.

Ripley's Museum in Canada is among the lesser-heard water wonders in the world. Packed with unique marine types, this place is simply best for a day out in Toronto. As you plan to go there, see to it that you go to the place morning by 9 am. This way you would get away the long lines, as well as enjoy the session. This place always creates a good discovering experience for kids. Do not miss it! CN Tower lies in its area.

Timings: 9 am-- 11 pm. Popular destinations of Fish tank of Canada: Shark Container, Gas Tunnel, as well as Lagoon.

7. Live the trendy night life of Toronto in & around Enjoyment District.

The night life of Toronto is exemplified by the stretching bars and also coffee shops as well as these are plenty in number to give you among the best experiences in Canada. From Queen Road West on the northern edge to the Lakeshore in the south, Home entertainment District Toronto in Midtown area is splendidly lit and also tempting.

Spadina Method in the west as well as University Method in the direction of the eastern frontier are similarly warm as well as taking place. As it blackens, the upscale shops, bars, nightclubs, become a swarming place for all the celebration fans. As well as there are charming things to do in Toronto for every single lovebird crowding below.

As gorgeous as well as interesting this place is throughout the day, it becomes similarly tempting at night. And also if you assumed that these locations are especially suggested for the young group after that you are mistaken, you can quickly detect individuals of different age group delighted and tickled.

Leading bars in Toronto: Bar244, Bar Hop, Genuine Sports Bar, Penny Game, The Rex Resort Jazz, as well as Blues Bar.

Top bars in Toronto: Cube, Nest, Coda, Lost & Found, Uniun, and Estate Mercer.

8. Discover the best of shopping hotspots in Toronto.

Toronto delights with vacationers of every kind. Consequently, if you are a shopaholic, there are lots of points to do in Toronto Canada that would keep you fascinated. We have discovered a few of the purchasing hotspots in Toronto that must be checked out for all the treasures they have. Beginning with Toronto Eaton Centre that makes for the city's most famous purchasing hubs to Bloor-Yorkville, the area understood for upscale buying, there's a whole lot for every single traveler whose puppy love is buying.

Proceeding, we have Vaughan Mills shopping center by Canada's Paradise, which once more adds to the variety of bigger brands in one location. The Adventure of the Find, Gadabout, Dime Arcade, and 3 Fates Store are the places to go for vintage shopping. Cover these places as well as your buying spree in Toronto is achieved!

Ideal of buying spots in Toronto: St. Lawrence Market-- road food, seafood, bakeshop, syrup, lot of food and also buying, Fresh start-- largest mall in Ontario, with over 360 stores as well as spread over 1.6 million square feet room, Sherway Gardens, Dixie Electrical outlet Shopping mall for designer garments, and also Toronto Costs Electrical Outlets-- in the direction of the external end of the community.

9. Get mesmerized by the old charm of Distillery Area.

From shopping, eating to all kind of social experiences, the Distillery Area trip is an additional of the top things to do in Toronto Canada. Found in the direction of the east of Downtown, this whole negotiation has been curated to offer you the rustic structures from the 1800 era. A national heritage, this whole negotiation makes a popular traveler destination.

Victorian buildings, incredibly done-up storehouses, high-ceiling lofts, and brick-paved alleys will get your attention instantaneously. The looks and vibes of the Distillery District are merely astonishing. You can in fact walk around, store, dine as well as spend a taking in session there.

Popular attractions at Distillery Area: Reconditioned Gooderham as well as Worts Distillery, when the world's biggest whiskey manufacturer, go to a walking or a beer scenic tour.

Timings:. Mon-Wed: 10 am-- 7 pm. Thurs-Sat: 10 am-- 8 pm. Sunlight: 11 am-- 6 pm. Right here is the web link to locate all the relevant info regarding the Distillery District.

10. See the cascading delight at Niagara Falls.

Stroll the path leading to the precipice of the splendid waterfalls in the Ontario district of Canada. Niagara Falls is 51 meters of cascading delight situated 130 kilometres much from Toronto, which means 90 mins of a drive will certainly take you to this one of the most essential destinations in The United States and Canada resting on the boundary of the U.S.A. as well as Canada.

Rainbow Bridge connects the waterfalls to the U.S.A., making it obtainable for individuals of both the nations to visit this creation of nature. No surprise why this is another of the prominent points to do in Toronto Canada. House maid of the Mist cruise takes you right amidst the falls, so do not miss that enjoyable!

Popular tourist attractions at Niagara Falls: Niagara Parks Botanical Gardens & Butterfly Conservatory, Old Ft Niagara, Cave of the Winds, Wild Water Walk, Inniskillin Vineyard, and Skylon Tower.

The post “ 10 Things To Do In Toronto Making For A Super-Awesome Canada Trip “ was originally seen on Travel Triangle

Intravenous Hydration Clinic Toronto Ontario - Dr. Amauri Wellness Centre - Dr. Amauri Caversan, ND

0 notes

bombsonboard · 2 years

Text

the day after yesterday (teaser)

summary: Time travel is volatile and destructive. And then sometimes it lands you in just the right place at the perfect time. Usually it’s both. You decide.

pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader

word count: 1.3k

tags: nausea, passing out, time travel is tricky, 40s Bucky is his own warning

A/N: Hey Guys! It’s been a hot second lol. Planning on this being a full fic and this isn't even all of chapter one, but it won’t be fully out for a while as I plan to write it all and then release weekly, so hold on tight cos it’s gonna be a while. (This also is probably not the final version but u guys deserve it)

“I should’ve asked you if this was safe, huh?”

“I heard you turned into a baby-”

“That- that was a test run.” His voice nervously crackles through the speaker.

“You turned into a baby?” Hope Van Dyne returns with coffees for the pair.

“I will not tell you about that later.”

Failing to shake out the tension in your muscles, you conclude that it's not tension at all but just fear trying to freeze your body in place. Fear was never really a warning to you, though, more of an inconvenience to actually living an interesting life, at least that is what you told yourself.

All of the research you had done to get here, the words that flooded through your brain, underlined in red, were thrown out of the window, torn up and gone up with a nuclear bomb. This was diving in at the deep end, to the fullest extent. Who needed particle physics now?

Scott presses down the button for the microphone one last time “Ready?”

“Piece of cake.” You show him the least confident thumbs up known to man.

“Launching in 3, 2, 1-”

Time travel isn’t as fun as it looks in the movies, turns out. It’s nausea-fueled, jumping out of a plane and falling upwards, sideways and inside out. Having time to process you were small enough to pass through atoms was out of the question, you needed to focus. What were the directions he gave you again? Was it two lefts then a right, or three?

“Scott?” You speak into your wrist. “Which way am I going?”

“It’s uh- hang on, Hope-” Something started to go wrong, his voice began to fizzle and snap in your ear, only able to catch “fifty” and “cake!”

“I didn’t get that, Scott?”

Only a distant crackle replied.

“Scott! This isn’t funny!”

Silence

“Lang!”

The twisted vortex was blasting past you at a million miles a second and zero sense of navigation was precisely what you didn't need.

“Shit, shit, shit.”

Plan A wasn’t happening and plans B through Z didn’t exist, a clear oversight on your part, so it was time for plan ‘I don't know what the shit I’m going to do.’ So, you closed your eyes, threw yourself into the next tunnel, and prayed to anyone that could possibly hear you that the fabric of space and time could handle a little mishap.

No one tells you how much crash landing actually sucks, one minute you’re upside down and weightless and the next, you’re face down in someones discarded trash and aching all over, feeling like you've just been flung off the empire state. As your suit disappears in favour of casual clothes, the groan that emerges from the depths of your throat must sound like some mangled stray because as soon as you make a sound:

“Hey, is there a cat in there?”

You go still, not only did you not want to be seen so time could resume its uninterrupted passing but to be found in a dumpster? That’s just a bit embarrassing.

“Here kitty, kitty…” The sound of a grown man making ‘pspsps’ noises makes you cringe a little, being mistaken for a cat was as demeaning as you might imagine and half of you wanted to burst out and give the man the fright of his life and stern talking to. But sense kept you still.

After a bout of silence, you assume the stranger has passed on with better things to worry about then a ‘cat’ in a dumpster. Crouching in your mess, you fish out the useless earpiece and glare, as if your irritation would force it to suddenly start working.

“Stupid little government issued-”

“Hey-Who’s in there?”

You freeze again, bracing your hands against the sides of the dumpster.

“I’m not going to hurt you, c’mon”

“Convincing” You scoff before clapping your hand over your mouth a bit too violently and losing any footing you had before.

You yelp as you land on your back, staring helplessly at the sky from the dumpster, the sun beaming in your eyes. Miraculously, shade appears over you in the form of a smiling face.

“You’re not a cat.” He pulls himself up a little further “You alright?”

The sudden concern makes you want to laugh, but a wave of nausea stops you.

“I’m fantastic, thanks” You groan.

“What are you doing in-”

“What year is this?” You ask quickly, rubbing your eyes as the dizziness starts to fade.

“What year?” He asks, baffled, after a pause, he answers “It’s 1943. You sure you’re okay?”

“What.” That had woken you up. Fumbling, you grabbed onto the side of the dumpster and pulled yourself up “No, that can't be right I didn’t-”

Then you saw his face.

“I fucked up.”

Inches from your face, staring back at you was The Winter Soldier. Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes. Right there in front of you. But, different, younger, you could’ve sworn there was a literal fucking twinkle in his eye. After a short pause, he draws his face back from your stunned expression in amused confusion and lands back down on the ground.

“You gonna get out now?”

Stuck, you search your brain for a way out, but you were cornered, literally “I’m gonna…”

“Ma said it was gonna be a strange day.” He mumbles under his breath and sighs “Always right.”

“I’m gonna go-” You don't want to screw up any more events of the timeline so you go to make a break for it but he's a quick hand, grabbing you by the forearm.

You winced out of instinct, he was still a super soldier to you, with ninety years of breaking skulls behind him. You hated thinking it but it was hard to see him as something else. Something before.

His brows furrow at your reaction. “M’am, do you need a hospital?”

“No!” You exclaim that would lead to even more consequences, records where there shouldn't be “No. No hospitals” You shook your head, “I’m fine anyway!”

You forced a smile and he doesn't look impressed.

“You didn't know what year it was.”

“A momentary lapse!”

“Look, I won't take you to a hospital, okay? But for my own peace of mind let me take you to my ma and she’ll check you over, and then you can call someone”

“Oh no, no I can’t” He’s still not letting you go. “Really its, I’m-” The dizziness comes back like a tidal wave, you hope the ground isn’t as hard as it looks.

“I’m not taking no for an answer, sweetheart, just- ”

"Don't call me sweetheart-" Your eyes roll back and everything goes black.

#Bucky Barnes #bucky x you #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes imagine #bucky fanfic #bucky x y/n #marvel imagine #bucky x reader #Clara writes

159 notes · View notes

hendrikwaehner-blog · 5 years

Photo

Jess, aged 15, writes: We have just returned from a break in Toronto, Canada, where we spent four days discovering the city. We did everything from bus tours to cycling, and really loved our time in the city. There was a lot to see and do, the people were friendly, it was unusually clean for such a big city, and the attractions were very well done. Here are our highlights of the trip and what we’d recommend:

What to do

Jess writes: My favourite part of our trip to Toronto had to be the island cycling tour. We met our friendly and knowledgeable guide Mina early in the morning and were quickly armed with bikes and helmets. Soon, we found ourselves cycling downtown to the port, where we took a ferry to the Toronto Islands. We spent the morning cycling around the islands, and learning about their history. I particularly enjoyed visiting the beach, listening to ghost stories, and seeing the lighthouse. This was especially interesting as it was only built six metres away from the seafront, but sediment deposition means that it is now inland. We all had an excellent time – the islands were gorgeous, the stories were fascinating, and the cycling wasn’t too strenuous. Despite not being used to cycling on roads, we all felt very safe. It was a wonderfully tranquil morning.

Casa Loma was spectacular

Brian says: One of the highlights of our trip was visiting Casa Loma, a huge medieval looking mansion surrounded by beautiful gardens and a fountain. The gothic exterior with its two towers in completely different styles makes it look a bit like a fairy tale castle. We began our visit with the very interesting 20 minute newsreel type film about the life of Sir Henry Pellatt, the financier who spent millions building Casa Loma then was forced to leave in 1923 after going bankrupt. We really enjoyed looking at the film posters on the walls downstairs showing the many movies shot there, and there was also a TV screen showing some clips (e.g. X-men, Chicago, Cocktail etc) with captions letting you know which room had been used for that scene. We then took an excellent audio guide of the nearly hundred rooms, the most beautiful ones for me being the Round Room and the Conservatory. We then climbed up the narrow steps to the Norman tower, which gave stunning views of the city in the distance. We were there for about two and a half hours, and hadn’t seen everything we would have liked to (especially the secret tunnels) as we just ran out of time. It might be a tourist trap, but Casa Loma is definitely a must-see when you come to Toronto.

Read more about Casa Loma here, in a full blog post by Sarah.

Ripleys Aquarium was a must-visit!

Robert, aged 12, writes: Ripley’s Aquarium is one of the most popular, if not the most popular, tourist attraction in Toronto with so much to see and do for both kids and adults. There are loads of different creatures to look at including jellyfish, sharks, turtles and an octopus. Throughout the aquarium were loads of interactive things to play or touch. There was a section when you could feel how cold the water is for the fish, customise your own jellyfish or even feel some baby sharks. Some of the creatures were incredible to look at especially the ones in the tunnel – I loved watching the sharks swim over my head. Over all I had a really fun time and there was really something for everyone. There’s even a play area for younger kids.

If you like shopping, you need to visit the Eaton Centre!

Jess says: The Eaton Centre is the busiest shopping centre in North America, so we knew we had to give it a try. The Centre contains a range of shops (varying from high end to ones you may see on the high street) and we enjoyed walking around and finding chains which we don’t have in the UK. We exited the complex with books, t-shirts, and trousers, and generally had a nice, relaxing time traipsing the stores.

Robert writes: One of the tallest, most symbolic buildings in Canada is the CN tower which can be seen from nearly all the city and even further away.

View from the CN Tower

Classified as one of the modern wonders of the world, the tower stands at 1,815 feet so the views are amazing. We went up the first viewing point which was great, you could see the whole city. You could pay extra to go up a few extra floors but it seemed pointless to me as it is the same view. One floor down were two glass walkways on which you could sit, jump or even lie on while looking down at the roads directly under your feet.

Robert on the glass floor at the CN Tower

I found the whole experience very enjoyable, but it was just another view which I’ve seen a lot of – and there were so many great things to do in Toronto that it wasn’t my favourite.

The spectacular Horseshoe Falls

Sarah writes: It’s hard to tell you how wonderful our visit to Niagara Falls was without referring you to our full post on it (which you can see here!). It was, honestly, the most fantastic day and we cannot recommend it enough – it’s unlike anything else we’ve ever done.

The Falls are majestic and beautiful, a real wonder of the world. And it doesn’t mater that Niagara is really busy, because all the people who are there simply want to enjoy what you do – extraordinary waterfalls! I have never seen The Falls from the US side, but my husband assures me that the Canadian side, with the Horseshoe Falls, is far better. I can believe it. We experienced our trip from different angles – a helicopter above, a boat riding on and going down to see the Falls at the level at which they gush past. All were well worth doing. We hired a car to get to Niagara and it took around two hours. We left early in the morning and would recommend that. It really was a wonderful day.

What to see

The views from the islands were amazing!

Jess writes: Aside from Niagara, the best views on this holiday had to be on the ferry from Downtown Toronto to the Toronto Islands. During our cycling tour, we took a ferry from the port to Hanlan’s Point, and the view was simply stunning. We had a clear, close up view of the Toronto skyline, the water shone in the sun, and there was a small breeze in our hair. It was truly lovely; very serene and tranquil. It made our visit to the islands even more special.

The City Sightseeing Toronto bus tour is another way to see the sights. The two hour journey takes you all around the sights of Toronto, giving lots of information. There was also a real guide, as opposed to listening through headphones and hearing the same annoying music again and again! The only negative of this was it could be difficult to hear the guide due to the microphone static. The trip was very pleasant, though traffic meant we moved quite slowly.

Where to eat

The food at Eva’s was so delicious!

Brian says: We ate some delicious food on our Canadian holiday, but Eva’s Original was one of the standouts. My sweet toothed daughter had found out about this before our visit, and it took us about 20 minutes to get there from our hotel downtown, but it was really worth it. Eva’s bake traditional Hungarian chimney cakes fresh on the premises. They look delicious enough all by themselves, but we added some extra calories by each having chimney cones which are filled with delicious vanilla soft serve ice-cream. I chose a cone that had been baked with coconut flakes, and a chocolate sauce topping. It was huge, but delicious, so I managed to finish it. We then saw that a couple at the table next to us were sharing one. Eva’s Original was a real treat, and I would love to go back again one day.

Jess writes: Kensington Market is very different to the rest of Toronto, as it is filled with vintage clothes stores and hipster places to eat. I would have loved to explore had we had more time, as there was lots to see and do. We had lunch at a waffle shop which was a bit of a let down, but I know that there were many other places to go to which looked nicer.

The Beavers Tails were so delicious!

Sarah says: We found the BeaverTails stall down by the waterfront in Toronto. Quite honestly they were utterly delicious and it is lucky they don’t seem possible to get in London, as I would galumph my way through them and become far too vast! Put it this way, we got one each and the couple sitting opposite us, shared theirs… They are basically pastries with toppings on, but that doesn’t sell them well enough! They are huge, the pastry (fried!) is delicious and the toppings – whether chocolate hazelnut or nutella are utterly decadent. A real holiday food!

Jess writes: In conclusion, we all had a lovely time in Toronto. Paired with an excursion to Niagara, it was a holiday with something for all the family. The atmosphere was friendly, it was easy to navigate, and there was lots to do. I definitely recommend a visit.

Disclosure: We were fortunate enough to be given a CityPass to try out when we were in Toronto. This meant we got free entry into a number of attractions and, as importantly, that we skipped the queue – particularly brilliant for the CN Tower and Aquarium! We genuinely thought the CityPass was fantastic as it gave you freedom to do what you wanted, when you wanted – but the company had no input into our decisions of what to do, or what we wrote in this post. The CityPASS costs around £55 per adult and £37 per child. We were also very fortunate that Toronto Bicycle Tours provided us with the bicycle tour of the Islands, including bike hire and ferry crossing, on a complimentary basis. This usually costs around CAD 90 per person (around £54). However, they also had no input into this post and all our thoughts, as usual, are our own.

The post Four days in Toronto with kids appeared first on Family Travel Times.

0 notes

ciathyzareposts · 4 years

Text

Infocom Marathon: Leather Goddesses of Phobos – Part Two

Written by Joe Pranevich

My six-year old has recently become very interested in space. In the way that six-year olds can pick odd topics to be obsessed with (er… that apple didn’t fall far from the tree), he’s talked so much about Phobos and Deimos lately that I could probably lecture a course on it. Phobos is the larger of Mars’s two moons with a diameter only of around 14 miles. Gravity on Phobos is incredibly weak and a human could take a flying leap of nearly a half mile without difficulty, although with that comes a low escape velocity. Athletic individuals could potentially jump into space! There’s also a good chance that Phobos could break apart in a few hundred years to give Mars a tiny ring of its own. I have learned so much! And yet, my son has never once mentioned the legendary Leather Goddesses of Phobos. This is probably for the best given that he is just six, but still a disappointment. I have half a mind to start a petition to name one of the many Phobos craters after Steve Meretzky, but I doubt that would go very far.

Where we left off last time, I narrated four of the game’s puzzles and collected four of the game’s eight key objects. We have four left and a ton of great puzzles so let’s get to it.

Puzzle #5 – The Mysterious Message

There is one more puzzle in the “main” area of Mars where we started, a frog prince, but since we don’t have all that we need to solve that I’ll skip it for now. The next area to explore is the Martian canal system and we start by using the barge that we found just north of King Mitre’s castle. There are two tricks with the canal boat:

We have nearly no control over the barge. While riding in it, we will be slowly taken downriver. There is a button in the ship to turn on an engine to speed it up, but even with that we have to type “wait” a lot and read about the scenery.

It has a magnetic mooring system that we can activate when you approach a dock. This is the only way to stop.

By being careful and watching the descriptions, we can locate a number of docks along the way that lead off to tiny corners of the world. The first of these will be called “Baby Dock” (after the then-recently-overthrown President of Haiti) and leads into a desert where we find a dead messenger holding onto a very strange message… and some lip balm. Fortunately, we have a clue in the manual as to how to deal with coded messages:

I have the 3-D glasses from the original box. They don’t help much.

I didn’t remember the manual hint at first. I tried and failed to solve the cipher by hand since many of the letter combinations didn’t work. Once I remembered the hint in the manual, I knew that I was on the right track. I ended up with something like this:

It did not take me long to realize that the message was simply written backwards:

YOUR MISSION IS TO CONTACT WIFE NUMBER 107 OF THE SULTAN AND GET THE YECRET MAP — IDENTIFY YOURSELF TO HER BY ASKING HER TO KISS YOUR KNEECAPS

I’m not sure whether the typo is something deliberate in the game or whether I copied the code wrong, but either way we have an interesting message and something to do if we ever meet the 107th wife of the Sultan. When playing as a woman, the genders are reversed and we will be looking for the husband of a Sultaness, but it is otherwise the same.

All in all, this was an easier puzzle in part because it’s one piece of a bigger whole. Back to the canals!

So many question marks, he could have been a late 80s Doctor Who!

Puzzle #6 – Riddle Me This

As we proceed along the canal, we’ll find a dilapidated shopping mall with a store selling “exits” but which will not make change. There’s no solution to that puzzle yet, but we will come back to it once we get exact change and a way to revisit sections of the canal. The mall is interesting not only that there are two docks that lead there, but also because the second comes right after a bend in the canal and there is another dock directly across the way. This leads to a small puzzle, but one that I solved by accident. If you travel slowly on the canal, your boat will hug the inside of the turn and arrive at the mall. If you travel quickly, the barge will ride the outer edge of the curve and arrive at the other dock. Failing to notice the dock on the other side or working out how to get there makes the game unwinnable. It’s not a great puzzle, but at least it’s not difficult. Welcome to the Sultan’s palace!

The Palace is a multi-stage puzzle and the decoded message and canal bends are the first two pieces. Once here, we can find a black circle that takes us back to the Leather Goddesses’s ship, but also unlocks a new black circle on the other end so we can return. That will be useful later. Another circle lands us back in the barge and more on that later too. Elsewhere in the palace, we can pick up a clothes pin in the laundry room. It’s not huge and we’ll shortly end up stumbling on the throne room. Once you do, you are trapped and have to answer the Sultan’s (or Sultaness’s) riddle to survive. If we answer correctly, we live and get to meet one of his wives (or her husbands), but fail and we die. Here is the riddle:

Some say I’m pointless / but many are obsessed by me. I have caused heroic gambles / and sown endless frustration. Uncounted deaths have I caused. / What am I?

Tiffany immediately guesses “a grapefruit” and she’s led off to her apparent demise. I suppose we’ll be seeing her again shortly.

This one was tough for me. I don’t believe the answer is hinted at anywhere in the documentation or in the game. I guessed “love”, “hope”, and “sex” but none of them were the solution. It took me at least six tries to get it right: the answer is the riddle itself. I am then given the chance to select which husband or wife I want to visit and select the one from the coded message. The number changes each time so you have to have discovered the message to know which one.

Once in the spouse’s bedchamber, we can ask him or her to kiss our kneecaps to trigger the next event. He is thrilled that we are members of the resistance and hands us a secret map (more copy protection) and a lantern before leading us to a secret passage into the catacombs. I can also pause and have sex with him before I head down, but that doesn’t change anything. Once in the catacombs, we learn that Tiffany survived thanks to circus space midgets and a black circle stashed inside of their tiger cage.

I’d like this puzzle more if it had been hinted at in the game. As it stands, if you aren’t good at this style of wordplay you would not find this puzzle very entertaining.

Puzzle #7 – The Catacombs

So many puzzles and we haven’t even snagged a new key item yet! Fortunately, our dry spell will end soon as we navigate another one of Infocom’s “non-traditional” mazes. The catacombs aren’t like any of the other mazes that we’ve seen so far in this marathon. For one thing, we are given a map! Sure, it’s not labeled and we have no idea where to go, but the distribution of square and circular rooms must hint at something. However, if we use the map we quickly learn two things: first, it’s not up to date. There have been several cave-ins that have blocked off certain paths. We will still need to keep track of where we can go. The second problem is that we are frequently attacked by beetles, crabs, and alligators. Sometimes they kill you, but other times you just get moved into a random location. When that happens, we have to restore because finding out where we are is pretty much impossible at that point.

As for the animals, the Lane Mastodon comic comes to the rescue again:

More copy-protection! How much does this game need?

Not only must we identify the broken tunnels, we also have to “clap” every five turns, “hop” every nine turns, and “kweepa” every eleven turns to keep us safe from the wildlife. To add insult to injury, our light source will expire quickly and we cannot afford to take many wrong turns. This forces us to build a turn-by-turn “map” of our path, marking when we need to clap or whatever. I made mine using a spreadsheet. It is complicated when you have to do two things at once (throwing off the “math”), but it’s not too difficult. It’s likely that I have not found the most efficient path through the maze, but it works.

My goal is to find the exit, but the square shaped rooms call out to be explored so I build my map to take us to them:

Clap if you love X mod 5 = 1.

Using this method, we find a Cleveland phone book in one of the square rooms (our fifth item!) and a plastic inflatable raft in another. We also locate a ladder up and out of the maze. The exit takes us to the palace’s laundry room where we can snag the clothespin if we neglected to earlier, but otherwise we are done with the Sultan and it’s time to move on.

This is a fun variation on a maze, made all the better by all of the other puzzles that we had to solve to get this far. The fact that we find the Cleveland phone book here rather than in Cleveland is another one of the game’s meta-jokes, I am sure.

Puzzle #8 – The Frog Prince Needs a Breath Mint

The next stop on our canal tour takes us just about to where we started, the “Wattz-Up Dock” which made the eastern boundary of our earlier exploration of Mars. There’s a warning buoy here suggesting that we shouldn’t go any farther, but we’ll just heed that for a moment while we knock out another puzzle: the frog prince.

While we were exploring last time, we stumbled on this frog with a crown out in the Martian desert. If we tried to kiss him, as you would naturally be inclined to do, we balk because the frog is revolting. This takes us into a puzzle which feels like one part Hitchhiker’s Guide and one part Scott Adams. With only rare exceptions, Infocom puzzles never have you act on yourself. You nearly never “hold breath” or “close eyes” to solve a puzzle, instead the solutions always come from the objects that you manipulate around you. (My impression of Scott Adams puzzles may be shaped in part by the first one of his that I played for TAG: Questprobe Featuring the Hulk (1984). That game had several such puzzles, including the first puzzle of the game which required you to bite yourself.) All that gets thrown out this window for this one.

If we want to kiss the frog, we fail because we are offended by his warts. If we close our eyes first, we notice the frog’s rancid breath. We can hold our nose, but then we are disturbed by the frog’s ribbiting whenever we get close. At that point, we are out of hands and have to solve this another way. Now that we have the clothespin from the Sultan’s palace, we can place it on our nose and then hold our ears. That gets us even farther, but now we’re finally freaked out about touching a frog with our lips. If we use the lip balm that we discovered (being held by the dead alien with the coded message), we can slather that on our lips and finally (finally!) kiss the frog. He turns into a prince(ss), we have a quick lovemaking session, and then he drops off a blender on his way out. The sixth special item!

Like this but in space.

Puzzle #9 – The Last Puzzle With the Boat, Seriously

Where we last left the barge, we had it parked by a warning buoy. If we continue down the canal, the current will lead us further and further south. It’s a boring trip because there are no more docks to explore. Eventually, we will reach a tower:

The barge is now passing the metal structure that has been looming closer for the last hour. Its size and power are overwhelming; a relic of Martian technology at its height. Vacuum tubes the size of telephone booths produce power that was once beamed all over Mars. But now, in the twilight of the planet’s civilization, the machine’s base has rusted away. The massive tower now shoots its ion power beam uselessly across the canal, into the sand of the opposite bank.

There’s no way out to explore, but our body will be charged by the ancient Martian technology if we pass through the beam. And by “charged”, I mean “dead in a few turns”. We’ll shortly arrive at the Martian South Pole and can disembark to explore, but it doesn’t matter until we work out a way around the beam. Otherwise…

Your anatomy, in absorbing a dose of super-ionized energy in trans-lethal levels, has ultimately equalized this submolecular environmental imbalance by fulminating a cataclysmic exothermic reaction. Or to put it in lay terms, you’ve just blown up.

There is no way to hide in the boat and no obvious way to avoid the ion blast. We need to find another solution.

Fortunately, we already found the solution even if we didn’t notice: one of the black circles at the Sultan’s palace took us back to the barge. At the time, we may have thought that it took us to the dock or perhaps to the water (such that if we went through it without the barge parked where it was, we would have fallen in), but in fact we can experiment to determine that it will always go to wherever the barge is. All we have to do is turn off the magnetic moorings while we are standing outside the barge and watch it slowly drift away downstream. If we wait long enough before entering the circle, we find that it has crashed into the southern end of the canal and just where we need it for the next set of puzzles.

Yes, there are penguins on Mars.

Puzzle #10 – The South Pole

The final set of puzzles on Mars are not difficult. Once we arrive at the South Pole, Trent slips on the ice and falls to his death into the canal water. I’m not going to worry much about him at this point. Nearby, we discover penguins blocking the road. They want me to contribute to their retirement fund and I hand over the coin that I found in the phone booth on Venus. They pass back a one marsmid coin as change; now I’ll have something that I can use to buy an exit at the store in the mall.

Further south, we trigger a scene with robot gypsies who treat us well but then immediately die and leave a crying baby in their tent. The puzzle is to stop it crying, but wrapping it in a blanket works well enough. A turn or so later, we reach a robotic orphanage where we notice a pair of cotton balls in the window. The door is locked, but if we are clever and leave the baby in a wicker basket (like the one that we found on the ship at the beginning of the game) and then hide, a robotic caretaker comes out and picks up the baby. In her rush, she leaves the orphanage unlocked so I can swoop in and take the cotton balls. We have object seven! I was stymied by this one for longer than I care to admit because it’s not clear that the robot lady left the door unlocked. I had tried lots of combinations of hiding to try to sneak in or open the window before just trying the door again.

The only other thing near the Pole is an exit back to the main part of Mars, so I take it. A few turns later, Trent emerges from the fountain in the desert, revealing that he held his breath for a long time and was carried along by the current. Sure.

Like this, but even less plausible.

Puzzle #11: Chivalry in Space

This puzzle could have been done much (much) earlier, but I skipped it the first time (because of a Trent death before I realized to just ignore them) and only realized when I hit the end of the game that I was one special object down from a complete set. The portal on Venus behind the Fly Trap leads to a spaceship and a tightly time-based puzzle. From the first moment that we arrive, we have only a few turns to discover that there is a passenger spaceship parked outside that is getting ready to leave and make our way to it before it does. The first times I went through this, I didn’t expect a limit and just thought that I was missing something when there didn’t appear to be anything to do. There is a small hint (a rumble message when the other ship leaves), but not really a sure sign that you are about to make the game unwinnable.

Getting to the other ship isn’t exactly difficult either. The main challenge is that the ship is large and there is a long (long!) hallway between our end and the end with an airlock. Fortunately, we discover a stable (!!) on the ship and can ride a horse (!!) down the corridor to arrive at the other end faster.

Once we arrive, we find a spacesuit and an airlock. If we are lucky, there is still a ship parked outside. If we head out, we discover the evil kidnapper Thorbala (or her male counterpart) and have to engage with a sword fight. Did I mention that there’s a sword to pick up in the hold as well? This trapped me for a while because I could not work out how to win the sword fight. When you fight, you will usually get a message that you manage to block her attack or she blocks yours. A small portion of the time, you will succeed in knocking her sword out of her hands. If you take the sword, as I did, you can never win. Instead, you have to take the sword and immediately give it back to her. This gesture makes her realize that you are a “good guy” and destined to win, so she kills herself. Some commenters said that this is a B-movie trope, but if so I missed it completely; I had to take a hint.

With that out of the way, we learn that she was kidnapping a rich man (or woman) and we can rescue him easily from a cowardly monster. He rewards us with fabulous cash and prizes if we just go to his address; he writes it on the back of a photo and zooms off. Of course, the photo that he was scribbling on happens to be a picture of Douglas Fairbanks and we have all that we need to end the game! There’s another black circle to leave the ship hidden in the long hallway and Trent will reappear after being saved by a time traveler, but none of that should be a problem for seasoned adventurers like ourselves.

This mall has seen better days.

Puzzle #12 – The End

After navigating the maze of black circles and weird puzzles, I can hardly call the end of the game a “puzzle”. The most difficult thing is to find the black circle that will take you to the Leather Goddesses and the final confrontation. I found it a bit earlier than I needed to, but the “trick” is the change that we were given by the penguins at the South Pole. We can use that to buy an exit at the abandoned mall. That exit, for reasons never explained, happens to take you to exactly where you need to go. We never found a way back to the mall before, but we can use the rubber raft (from the catacombs) on the canals to explore them all again if we desire. Once we buy the circle, we’re good to go!

We enter the circle to realize that we are in the bedroom of one of the Leather Goddesses of Phobos. If we desire, we can make sweet love to our nemesis before moving onto the endgame– in fact, we can even do this as a woman for the game’s sole scene that is not heteronormative:

> f*ck goddess

Your couchmate seems only too happy to oblige. You flush with passion as your two bodies draw closer on the divan. You discover, much to your surprise, that you are making love to a woman. Even more surprising, your misgivings are swept away by the heady pleasure of the soft, full breasts pressing against your own. Suddenly…

We are quickly discovered and swept down into a Plaza. The Goddesses assemble a comically large army to attack Tiffany and I. Meanwhile, Tiffany begins building her device. We have to hand her each of the eight special objects in turn. Assuming that we have them all, she creates what she needs for the final confrontation:

The guards have finished activating the death ray and have begun the activation sequence. The ground quakes as the berserko robotoids plow through the rubble towards you; the wind from their whirling swords knocks over a few trees. The tanks loom above you, their gun turrets blocking out the sun. Beyond them, the Main Attack Fleet is sweeping in for a final attack. Tiffany, hammering and twiddling madly at the growing machine, yells, “Okay, things are going neato peachy keen! There! I think it’s all done. Cross your fingers, kiddo!” She switches on the device. Amidst showers of sparks, a powerful electric arc bridges two electrodes. The machine shudders, and you smell something yellow shoot from the machine. […] Through the smoke of battle, you see a banana peel squirt from the Super-Duper Anti-Leather Goddess of Phobos Attack Machine. The peel lands a few feet away, as the Super-Duper Anti-Leather Goddess of Phobos Attack Machine gives one final shudder and self-destructs in an orgy of flames and shrapnel. The attacking forces continue to close, and certain death is only seconds away when one of the Chompers, loping towards you at nearly Mach One, steps on the banana peel, and slips a few inches to one side before righting itself. This is enough, however, to nudge a tank into a crater, tripping one of the samurai robots! More and more of the attacking forces plow into the mess in the crater, like some improbably fantastical football tackle. A stray grenade lands right in its midst, and the resulting plume of debris sheers the fins off the leading warship. Your heart leaps as the entire Main Attack Fleet of the Leather Goddesses of Phobos plummets towards the ground. The mass of metal strikes the ground, and a tremendous explosion knocks you senseless!

We awakened a short time later at a gas station. The game is over, but our adventure is just beginning. Up next for our unwitting space adventurer will be Leather Goddesses of Phobos II: Gas Pump Girls Meet the Pulsating Inconvenience of Planet X. But that game, sadly, will never be made as an Infocom text adventure. I am currently scheduled to play it twenty-six games from now, near the end of my marathon. I hope I get there.

Total time played: 8 hr 50 min, not including my alternate gender replay.

But this “sequel” is only eleven games away!

Not Really the Final Score

I hope you enjoyed this “bonus” look at Leather Goddesses; it has taken me a lot longer to finish than I had hoped thanks to the world’s situation(s). So much for my idea of just doing a quick 3,000 word recap and moving on to Moonmist! I am glad that I had the experience of playing Steve Meretzky’s final “hit” for Infocom and sharing it with you.

Having played through this game multiple times and thought about it off and on for months, my opinion is still mixed. My notes say that I opened this game for the first time on February 17, almost four months ago, and I did much of my playing through the early stages of the pandemic. My initial impression was quite poor. I did not like the random nature of the circles, the difficulty mapping, or even the crazy humor-logic that underlies most of the puzzles. I was ready to write it off as a commercial success but a failure of a game. It’s still not perfect and nowhere near the top of my Infocom enjoyment chart, but I appreciate it for what it is and what it tried to be. I had more fun with it the second time around than I did my first.

It is my practice to always write down the score within a day of beating a game. While my own impression of the game may have softened in the intervening months, this is the score that I gave it the night that I finished:

Puzzles & Solvability: 4

Interface & Inventory: 4

Story & Setting: 5

Graphics & Sound: 0

Environment & Atmosphere: 4

Dialog & Acting: 5

That worked out to a final score of 37. That is lower than TBD’s score of 40 and around the same as Starcross and Enchanter. It would have been the lowest-scoring Meretzky game, if it had been up to me to rate it. I suspect that I was being too harsh and should have popped an extra point into Environment or Dialog, but no sense dwelling on it too much. I enjoyed this game more than A Mind Forever Voyaging and that has to count for something.

Up next for me will be Moonmist. My play time is still heavily curtailed, but the good news for you is that I’ve beaten it already (but only once) and just need to type it up from my notes. I’ll try to win each of the other variations before I’m through. I’m aiming for three posts, but you know how these things go.

See you soon!

source http://reposts.ciathyza.com/infocom-marathon-leather-goddesses-of-phobos-part-two/

#retro games #dos games #retro #crpg #adventure #amiga #oldcomputers #8bit #16bit #blog #repost

0 notes

travelsewhere · 5 years

Text

When it comes to the types of destinations you come across in Europe, I think the port cities there are some of the continent’s most curious. Rather than being loaded with history or grand beauty, these places always seem to ooze character. I rarely know what to expect going in and usually leave still processing what I’ve seen. That’s how I feel after visiting Hamburg this March.

There was never any doubt that Hamburg would be on my Germany itinerary. People who had been told me how much they enjoyed the city, but never in ways that made it clear what was so special about the city. I needed to see this city for myself. Having spent 3 days in Hamburg sightseeing around this city in northern Germany, I can clearly see just how complex and unique Hamburg is. Only looking back on it now can I see the similarities between it and other port cities I’ve been to in Europe.

Anyway, to help you along with your trip, here are my tips for visiting Hamburg based on my recent thought-provoking visit.

Don’t Just See Speicherstadt

When I was planning my Hamburg visit, there was one particular part of the city that I was really excited to see. Called Speicherstadt, this warehouse district had firmly settled in my brain thanks to all the photos I’ve seen of it on Instagram. In my head the image of red brick warehouses looming over narrow waterways was what I expected from Hamburg. While exploring Speicherstadt definitely delivered on that front, standing out as a place unlike any other I’ve seen in Europe, don’t let that be all you see of Hamburg.

What I naively didn’t realise before my first time in Hamburg was that this massive city has loads to see and do. I had no problem filling three days with sightseeing here, bouncing around from one part of the city to the next. What’s great is that these attractions come in many forms. Take for instance the Old Elbe Tunnel which you can descend down into to walk or cycle across under the river. Built in 1911, it’s the oldest river tunnel in Europe and the old lifts that take you down are something else!

Another sight that blew me away was the interior of the St Michael’s Church. I’ve seen loads of European churches at this point, and yet this church still showed me something new. With a lavish baroque design and rings of balconies, it felt more like a theatre than church. I didn’t even climb up its 132-meter-high tower to see the city views and I still left impressed. I’ll get to some of the other major sights in a bit, but that should definitely give you some ideas to start with.

Start Your Visit with Rathausmarkt

Rather than just heading straight for Speicherstadt, instead begin your Hamburg trip with the Rathausmarkt. This square at the very heart of Hamburg sits wedged between a number of the city’s compelling sights, not least the Hamburg City Hall. There’s a lot to like about the neo-Renaissance look of the City Hall, especially with its central towering spire. You can also duck inside to take a look at its grand halls and continue through to its ornate courtyard.

A short distance from the square lies the Binnenalster, a scenic lake that boasts a great view of the Hamburg cityscape. To get there, I recommend crossing the Kleine Alster canal and walking through the charming Alster Arcade. Circling out further from the main square, you’ll come across several churches like the St. Peter’s Church. You’ll also see one of my favourite historic buildings of Hamburg, the Hulbe Haus. With its patterned brickwork and bay windows, its design seems like a rare sight in Hamburg.

By starting with Rathausmarkt, you quickly get to see several Hamburg attractions straight away. You’re then in a prime position to easily move through the city to wherever your next stop may be.

Don’t Stress, Stay at Superbude

A daunting part of visiting Hamburg is understanding where you should stay in the city. As soon as a map of hotels and hostels shows up in front of you, confusion is bound to follow. Because of Hamburg’s layout, your accommodation options can be spread out in all directions. The only place there doesn’t seem to be much is right in the city centre. This might all be disheartening at first but don’t fret, it’s perfectly normal.

Because of Hamburg’s decentralised nature and excellent public transport, chances are you won’t be staying right in the middle of the city. This means you need to prioritise other things in your search like cost, quality and public transport access. That’s where the Superbude Hotel Hostel St Georg comes in.

Actually located just beyond the edge of the St Georg district, this hotel hostel has a fantastic energy as soon as you walk in the door. Colourful and fun, every effort is made to make you feel welcome and a stay here feel a joy. Seeing families with kids, young couples and older couples all in the same space immediately told me all I needed to know.

Passing the internet station smothered in stickers and the photo-booth outside you have access to the hotel rooms. Upstairs in my room, the wall shelves are skateboards, a drink crate has been converted into a nice stool and there’s a singing fish in my bathroom! Throw in warm heating in winter, blackout curtains and good Wi-Fi and I couldn’t have asked for more.

To help with your Hamburg stay, Superbude are offering Travelsewhere readers 5€ off their stay per room and per night with the promo code “superstay“. There’s also another Superbude located in St Pauli if that side of the city seems more your speed. Accommodation in Germany isn’t the cheapest so don’t miss this opportunity to save money on somewhere that’s worth it!

Enjoy Free Views from the Elbphilharmonie

Only opened in 2017, the Elbphilharmonie has quickly become a star attraction in Hamburg. That’s because this concert hall down by the waterfront of HafenCity is mesmerizing to look at. The lower half of the hall is simply a restored warehouse building typical of the area, but the upper glass section is something else entirely. While to me it looked somewhat like an iceberg, others have said it mirrors the shape of waves or sails on a ship. Whatever it reminds you of, it sure is beautiful.

Even if you’re content with just staring up at this beautiful piece of architecture, there’s more to see. You’ll need a concert ticket to actually go inside the main hall, but that’s not the only way to see inside. The venue actually offers free tickets to the plaza level, where you can see the inside of the building and walk around its observation deck. Plaza tickets have set time slots so may have to wait a little if it’s busy, but it’s worth it. Doing a lap of the deck, one side shows you the waterfront along the Norderelbe, another across the river to the industrial districts, the next nearby HafenCity and the last shows you the city skyline. Couldn’t ask more from a free viewpoint in my opinion!

Make the Most of Public Transport

Hamburg isn’t the kind of city where every sight, attraction and thing to do is found in single district. As you go about sightseeing in Hamburg, you have to move from one district to the next and that’s plain exhausting on foot. You can walk everywhere if you feel like it, but a better use of your time is to make use of the city’s public transport. To help you cover the sprawling footprint of Hamburg, you have the U-Bahn metro, S-Bahn metro, buses and even ferries at your disposal. Between the two metro networks you can reach most places in Hamburg, but buses are another option. The HVV harbour ferries are also nice as they let you mix things up and see the city from the water.

With the Hamburg Card you get free use of the city’s public transport for its duration. You also get discounts on attractions and museums which is handy. These kinds of cards take the stress out of navigating public transport and used right can save you money too.

Explore Hamburg’s Neighbourhoods

There are some cities in Europe where you have no need to leave the city centre or old town. Hamburg is not one of those cities. The layout of the city means that to see the sights you need to move around. But the major sights aren’t the only reason to explore the different districts of Hamburg. The look and feel of each district can be quite different from the last, making each neighbourhood fresh and interesting.

You only need to compare the warehouse district of Speicherstadt with the outer parts of Hamburg-Neustadt to see this. While both are centred on waterways, Hamburg-Neustadt feels like a trendy inner city neighbourhood and not a maze of brick. Venture into Hamburg’s Portuguese Quarter down by the riverfront and you find something new altogether. Full of mediterranean restaurants, tiled buildings and luxury cars, it feels like a totally different city.

Sometimes that change happens within a single neighbourhood, as it does in St Pauli. Some streets there feel rough and tumble, covered in graffiti, while others feel gentrified and quite pleasant or benign. It’s only by feeling your way around the city that you come to understand just how dissonant Hamburg is.

Understand the Red Light Districts

For some travellers, especially stag parties, the reason why they travel to Hamburg is the city’s infamous nightlife. If that’s what you’re after with your Hamburg visit, then the Reeperbahn Red Light District is where you want to go. Found along the Reeperbahn is a seemingly endless run of bars, restaurants and clubs, and yes, strip clubs and brothels. Rather than a seedy back corner of the city, the Reeperbahn is quite an open area. It even feels kind of tame if you pass through during the day. To some this nightlife district is just another part of Hamburg’s culture, similar in a sense to Amsterdam’s Red Light District.

The important thing to understand is that this is one of two red light district’s in Hamburg. The Reeperbahn is thoroughly policed with an active presence of patrolling police officers. Much like any area with drunk people and sex tourism, it still pays to be careful if you visit, but the Reeperbahn is safe for the most part. The same can’t be said for the city’s other red light district in the heart of the St George District.

With warnings from locals about the problems and dangers of the area, the streets around Steindamm and Hansaplatz are best avoided altogether. The areas along Kirchenallee, Lange Reihe and south of Beim Strohhause seemed mostly fine, so maybe use those as boundaries when navigating St George.

But Seriously, Go Visit Speicherstadt

I could say that I glossed over Speicherstadt and wanted to tell you more about it. The truth though is that I simply wanted to share more photos from the area. It’s strange to think that a warehouse district could be considered beautiful but Speicherstadt certainly is. With block after block of red brick buildings, it can get quite repetitive, but looking along the harbour canals it somehow becomes quite transfixing. No wonder it’s exceptionally popular with tourists.

Don’t Forget!

Use the promo code “superstay” to get 5€ off your stay per room and per night with Superbude Hotel Hostel St Georg.

Have you ever visited this curiously complex German city? What else do you think travellers need to know about visiting Hamburg? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you click on one and make a purchase, I may make a small commission. Of course, this will come at no extra cost to you.

*Disclosure: My stay at the Superbude Hotel Hostel St. Georg was as a complimentary guest. I also received a complimentary Hamburg Card from Hamburg Tourism to help me with my sightseeing. As always, opinions are completely and genuinely my own.

Now, if you’re looking for a guide to this part of Germany, then you should really look at this Lonely Planet guide. I’ve often travelled with Lonely Planet guides and they can really make life easier.

Why Not Pin It for Later

8 Super Useful Tips for Visiting Hamburg, Germany When it comes to the types of destinations you come across in Europe, I think the port cities there are some of the continent's most curious.

#Europe #Germany #Sponsored

0 notes