#also this is order of their team finish rather than preference
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Ok I just got this image in my head of working out at the FBI gym to unwind after a particularly bad case, and Aaron had the same idea and so you're just there getting distracted because you can't help but stare at him and maybe he finally notices and he's amused - I would die (a happy death)
distractions
you and me both <3 cw; gn!, bau!reader, mutual pining, suggestiveness, your basic cm case descriptions, aaron being hot per usual
your first priority after the jet touched down - the bau's gym.
the case had been unsettling; a not-so-happy ending. sure, you had gotten the guy, but not before he had taken out his most recent victim. he had known it was only a matter of time until he was caught, he had known police had shut down the surrounding area, and managed to complete his endgame before being apprehended.
it happened, sucked when it did. and rather than going straight home, a distraction was in order; to move your body instead of laying in the dark internalizing what could have been done differently.
at the late hour, you expected the gym to be empty, and you had been correct, until aaron walked in about ten minutes after you did.
he seemed just as surprised to see you as you did him, silently nodding a hello at you, heading for the treadmills.
you had been on a yoga mat, stretching and warming up your muscles before doing anything strenuous. but at the sight of him, your impending workout plans were far gone.
you were used to seeing aaron in his usual suit, you'd seen him in casual clothes a few times due to team outings, but nothing could have prepared you for the skin-tight black shirt he was sporting. it was clinging in the all right places - his torso, biceps, and yup - you could've sworn he did have the faintest of abs.
you've always been attracted to him, but this. your mouth had immediately gone dry, your body felt warm despite your lack of movement, and no pure thoughts were in your mind in any capacity.
you tried your hardest to not look, but you couldn't tear your eyes away. how could you not? first reason being, it was him. and then the longer he ran, the sweat caused his shirt to stick to his skin more if it were possible, his chest rose up and down the heavier he breathed. as he jogged his calves flexed, and god were his thighs sexy. his shorts were on the longer side, mid-thigh to be exact, leaving more to the imagination than you would have preferred. but the slightly, newly exposed skin was still, well, new.
so you stayed put, choosing to just admire the view before you. but hopefully to not be too obvious, you performed sit ups; lingering upright to grant yourself the visual before laying back down.
well, at least this is one way to forget about the case.
give or take another five minutes, aaron adjusted the treadmill's settings, slowing to a stop.
"that's it?" you teased, a soft laugh leaving you as you straightened your legs out, reaching for your toes.
as if you were the one to speak, barely moving an inch.
"yeah," he took a swig of his water bottle, panting as he caught his breath. "it's a bit hard to focus with you here."
caught.
"oh my god," your face burned with embarrassment, scrambling to your feet. "i didn't mean to- i mean, you just looked so..."
aaron laughed handsomely, approaching you as your words trailed off. "i meant i don't want to trip over my feet. especially not with you here. it wouldn't look very good for me, i don't think."
oh? "oh."
"but go on." aaron teased, his lips pulling into a smirk as his eyes met yours, dropping for a moment. he was studying you this time around - the light sweat coating your skin, and not very subtly staring at your lips. his breath picked up again, his gaze returning to yours. you also realized, he was dangerously close. "i looked...?"
you swallowed, blinking up at him and managing a soft, "what?"
"i saw you staring. now c'mon, don't start something you can't finish, sweetheart."
#aaron hotchner x reader#aaron hotchner#aaron hotchner fluff#aaron hotchner smut#aaron hotchner x you#aaron hotch x reader#aaron hotchner imagine#criminal minds#criminal minds x reader#criminal minds smut#criminal minds drabble#aaron hotchner drabble#criminal minds imagine#criminal minds fanfiction#hotch imagine#criminal minds x you
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Hi yume! I have three questions I would like to ask you...
What do you think about these two photos? do you think Simon is really like that under the mask? (in my opinion it might look more like the first photo, but I don't know. Many say it's the second because it looks more like Samuel, but honestly, the haircut of the first is very similar to the scene where he takes off the mask.)
In your opinion, how would Simon behave in a social context? (for example going out alone, taking a bus or any other public transport.) do you think he would still keep the mask on, or would he cover himself with something else?
How would Simon behave with children (you know, in the comic he had a nephew who was very important to him.) What do you think he would do if maybe a small child, in the park with his/her mother, approached him curiously and touched him? or are there kids throwing the ball in his direction by accident? would he kicks the ball back to them?
Thanks in advance, you are the best!🫶🏻❤️
I love your answers and everything you post! (I'll never stop saying this, sorry...🥲)
Hey Sofia :D Thank you for your ask and sweet words 🥺 It's truly nice to hear you like my answers :D Appreciate your support 🫶
First things first ;p the art on the right is from Wombywoo, if i'm not mistaken.
Alright, let's do this *cracks knuckles and neck, cause i always spend wayy too much time on answering my asks >.<*
1. You know.. headcanon-ing Simon's face is kinda fun cause his face is hidden :D Everyone can put their own thoughts in the mix. I thiink when MWIII is out, imma do a part 2 on Simon's face. Anyway,
I remember that first photo (left) was on reddit, extracted from MWII files somewhere last year. It was already said that the hair was from Graves(?) and put on his head. I also think it's either a placeholder or not finished since they've only used his 3D head for mask placement and the scene where he takes of the mask and we (only) see his fluffy short hair.
It really wouldn't be a surprise if Simon's (face) features are alot of that from his VA, Samuel Roukin. I've seen every frame multiple times by now *edit life* and to me, it really looks like Simon has Roukin's eye shape and nose(for the most part). I loove the fact the devs stayed true to Simon's brown eyes *-* So what else did they stay true to? Or is it completely Roukin's face? We might never know :P But personally for me it's still 50/50. Half Roukin's face/ half comic Simon's face. Ok ok, maybe now more like 70/30. idc, just show me. No, don't! Yes!
2. Ooff, good question. I wonder if he uses public transport since he also can drive. (i'd rather take the car thn the bus ngl :P).
At the end of the campaign with 141 and Laswell sitting in a bar, Simon still has his eye paint and mask on. Though be it another mask thn that he was wearing during the Chicago mission. So that makes me believe he conceals his face in his free time (outside), i'm not exactly sure how tho cause wearing a skull mask like that in public might alarm ppl? idk.
I kinda lean more to the idea he isn't that among people much (being outside). If he already prefers to work alone than in a team (141 is a no brainer for him tho, imo) i don't really see him being out and about and social in his off time Q_Q And with all this online ordering, he gucci. But okok, i do see him do groceries and stuff. You know, basic stuff. He will have alot of hooded clothes, caps and what not. Corona must've been a 'delight' for him. (ok ill stop. sorry)
I think he barely makes eyecontact, or just shortly cause he's friendly. He a good lad.
Srsly don't waste your time on this next hc;
You know.. what if he just lives in a very small village somewhere quiet in England where everyone knows eachother and he don't have to worry about all that outside shii cause everyone in that small village knows how he is. Easy peasy, live and let live. Often people in small villages are old cause many young move to the city. So them golden oldies in his town are just happy they have a soldier in their midst and respect his privacy. Buut.. thn again, the bigger the city.. the easier it is to blend. Oh well. Whatever XD
3. I THINK HE'S REALLY GOOD WITH KIDS! But doesn't show, is scared to show, etc etc all that. I even think if a kid is being bullied in his presence he would intervine. I'm sure of it. But i think he would avoid being around kids. If one's come up to him i think he will be friendly but not interested in a conversation or play ball.
I'll let myself out
#IF YOU READ ALLL OF THAT LEMME GIVE YOU A SMOOCH#and sorry for wasting your time#ask yume#ghost#headcanon#simon ghost riley#call of duty
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I FINALLY FUCKING FINISHED SIDE ORDER
SPOILERS BELOW AS I TALK ABOUT IT
Okay so first and foremost congrats to Nintendo for making a genuinely fun new way of playing the game that felt really inventive and fresh. "Splatoon Roguelite" was not a concept I'd ever imagined seeing, and it certainly wasn't something I was entirely sure I'd enjoy when it was confirmed as a reality.
And yet, I found myself having an absolutely wonderful time with this game! It's not so hard it's impossible, but it's also not so easy that I get bored, striking a really nice balance of keeping me both deeply invested in the gameplay without ripping my hair out in a fit of gamer rage.
I think like many others, I too would have liked maybe a few more bosses in the boss floor rotation, but genuinely I'm more than happy to over look that just by virtue of how fun the game turned out to be. I do think maybe Parallel Canon could have stood to be a bit tougher, it really just feels like an Octoling Onslaught level from past solo modes, but that's about my only real complaint for how the bosses themselves play.
The music kicks ass like usual, and I liked the way they handled the story so that both players who really only committed to the one Big Run and players who, like me, went for all the palettes, had a good chance of leaving the dlc rather satisfied with their answers.
In terms of palettes, I was genuinely surprised with how good most of them felt, and was especially surprised when I found myself sincerely enjoying palettes with weapons I normally would despise! Finding out that Marina's palette was actually genuinely viable, and possibly one of the stronger palettes I the game, was such a rush of joy to me. In no world had I ever considered a brella, paired with a sprinkler and ink storm, would ever be a viable combination in a game like this. And yet it was so genuinely fun to play with and build and very quickly opened my eyes to very creative palette building methods!
Some part of me does wish the order clone weapons you got for beating a run weren't just Skins, because some of those kits were genuinely really good and unique and I would have loved to play with them in a competitive setting, but I do understand why Nintendo, and especially the Splatoon Team, didn't lock An Entire 12 Unique Weapon Kits behind a paid DLC, and I appreciate it deeply. (A new Luna kit would have been nice tho)
Also, holy fuck was 8's palette hell. Don’t get me wrong, it was a very good and enjoyable challenge, but also I reached Overlorder like 6 different times and kept dying on the final phase because I turned off my Damage Reduction Hack in favor of Increased Damage and An Extra Life while still being able to have like. 12 chips. So every enemy shy of the little bastards and the sprinkler bitches would one shot my armor. Not to mention Reef Slider spam. I kind of wish the chip reduction vs. active hacks wasn't as unforgiving as it is, but that's a personal preference and not really a complaint I'd genuinely launch against the game. I was just having a rough time due to the splattershot's low damage compared to the Jelleton's high hp. I felt like I'd been handed an Arospray with a little more range and a slower fire rate, but no added damage, and been launched into a profreshional Salmon Run match Alone. A really good weapon if you want a real challenge from the game.
Overall I loved this, and I'm definitely gonna make a few more runs to try and get the Prlz to buy out Cipher's shop. I already have all the gear and banners, just gotta pick up the stickers and decorations.
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During the trios mission at the end of the animes first season, would megumi still do a domain expansion if he was with somebody?
Megumi would never have unlocked his domain expansion if he were not forced to fight alone. His greatest flaw is he essentially assigns himself the role of supporting character, and always lives for others rather than living for himself. While this may seem noble and selfless, in Megumi's case he's limiting himself and his future development.
He's not just prioritizing others above himself, he's putting himself down in order to do so. It's a good thing to cooperate with people, and help other people, but not if you neglect yourself entirely in the process. Megumi in general is "never lived up to his potential" boy.
The whole point of Origin of Obedience is that it's a deliberate parallel to Megumi's real first fight in the manga. Megumi is in a situation where it's do or die, he has to be strong enough to force Sukuna to switch back with Yuji. However, he falls incredibly short. Not only that, but Sukuna points out that Megumi never should have relied on Yuji turning into Sukuna in the first place. Sukuna sees a ten shadows user and tells Megumi he should have been strong enough to kill that special grade cursed womb no problem.
Implying if Megumi stayed and fought on his own he might have gone through a similar awakening that he did in Origin of Obedience way earlier. Megumi is good at fighting in a team, but at the same team but because he relies on Yuji almost too much that dependence he has on others stunts his growth as a sorcerer.
Mainly because, Megumi doesn't really want to be a sorcerer, nor does he act like one. Sorcerers are all insane, and Megumi is kind of too deep down inside, but sorcerers are all loud, rambunctious individualists, and Megumi for the most part not only prefers to cooperate with others, but also does almost everything he can to help a few certain people in his life to the point of neglecting himself. Megumi doesn't want to be happy, he wants Tsumiki to be happy. Megumi doesn't want to get saved himself, he wants Yuji to be saved.
It's good advice to tell Megumi to be more selfish, because the kind of selflessness he displays actively hurts himself and stunts his growth. Megumi is basically the embodiment of stunted growth. If you look at every opportunity he has so far, he's got the strongest inherited technique of the Zen'in, he's been mentored by Gojo since a young age, he's been doing this longer than anyone else and yet he's stuck at Grade Two and Yuji who became a sorcerer five minutes ago shows him up in less than a month. Because once again, Yuji is motivated to be a sorcerer, he's actively trying to be a main character and Megumi assigns himself to the role as side character.
It's not just Megumi doesn't believe in himself, it's that Megumi genuinely thinks he's incapable. When Gojo suggests the idea that a Zen'in Clan member could beat someone like Gojo who had limitless and six-eyes, his first thing is to assert that he's never going to be stronger than Gojo. He also makes the assumption that the Zen'in Clan shadows user used Mahoraga the same way he does, as a last resort suicide attack. Gojo even points this out he just uses it to suicide bomb when he thinks he's finished in a fight.
The thought that Megumi might even be able to tame Mahoraga never entered Megumi's mind, because he's got such a negative self image. Yuji is strong, Megumi is weak. Tsumiki is kind, and Megumi is unkind. Megumi bunts so Nobara can advance, but in the process Megumi is sacrificed.
Megumi compares himself to everyone around him, and always comes out lesser. Gojo points that out he's not being selfless, he's being down on himself because he can't impossibly imagine a better version of himself. He's choosing to stagnate rather than choosing self improvement and building himself up.
If he were not forced to fight alone, he'd just default to his behavior of always relying on others or always supporting others. His growth is sparked by being practically forced with a gun to his head, to think for himself for once, and fight for himself.
Megumi can only get better, if he can imagine himself as better and start to see the good in himself.
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Compile Hagiography Through Reading the Hyperdimension Neptunia Wiki
12 Days of Aniblogging 2023, Day 4
When I’m really bored on the computer, one of the things I'll occasionally do is explore the Hyperdimension Neptunia wiki. Neptunia is a role-playing series whose main distinction is being centered around moe anthropomorphizations of video game companies and consoles, which fascinates me. These are textbook trashy 6/10 anime RPGs, and release at a pace that suggests both a low budget and a pretty dedicated fanbase. I don’t mean to patronize, though. I’m not above this kind of stuff, I just can’t let a bunch of mid 30-hour JRPGs into my life at this moment in time. Rather, my angle of interest here is the origins of the Neptunia developer, Compile Heart.
listening and learning
You see, back in the late 80s and early 90s, a company called Compile was one of the greats in Japanese home PC gaming. Most of their early output was shmups for the MSX, although they dabbled in a bit of everything, including running a disc magazine to distribute games. Compile’s first hit was Madou Monogatari in 1990, a numberless first-person dungeon crawler with a focus on voice samples. It features a lovable cast, starring young magician Arle Nadja as she attempts to graduate kindergarten, viscerally decapitate an evil sorcerer, and fend off Satan and the girl who’s down bad for Satan. Plenty of remakes and sequels followed, and eventually Compile struck gold with Puyo Puyo, the platonic ideal of competitive falling-block games. To set it apart from the more faceless puzzle games of the era, they reused the Madou Monogatari cast, resulting in a cutesy aesthetic with occasional lingering bits of fucked-up lore.
After porting Puyo Puyo and its sequel to everything imaginable, Compile spent their mid-90s rapidly scaling the company, ultimately biting off more than they could chew. This was an era of serious change as developers moved towards 3D, and consumer preferences moved too fast for Compile to adapt. Some high-profile failures like Madou Monogatari Saturn and Puyo Puyo Dungeon sent the company into a fiscal downward spiral, leading frequent business partner Sega to bail them out by buying the rights to Puyo Puyo. Compile got to finish their in-progress work, including the gorgeous yet frustrating Puyo Puyo 4, but the writing was on the wall. Compile declared bankruptcy in 2003 after throwing all of their hopes and dreams into one last little game, Pochi and Nyaa. It’s a puzzle game with simple yet strategic mechanics that feels like something of a return to infancy for the developers. Also, it was released on the Neo-Geo in 2003! If you know anything about arcade hardware, that’s nuts.
The late 90's pre-rendered backgrounds combined with Sunaho Tobe's character artwork give Puyo Puyo 4 such a special look. Shame it's unplayable unless you're very good at chaining.
So Compile scatters to the winds and a lot of the non-shmup devs regroup at the newly formed Compile Heart, where they eventually hit the jackpot with Hyperdimension Neptunia and crank one of those out per year ad infinitum.
That was a pretty tumultuous history! And Neptunia seems like a way to process this? After all, the protagonist is named after and personifies the Sega Neptune, a cancelled 90’s console. Compile and Sega have intertwined histories and faced a similar trajectory. Rapid success in the early 90s was followed up by bad business decisions later in the decade, leading to a tragic exit from the industry that nobody wanted to see. Hyperdimension Neptunia wants to convey these scars to an audience who weren't necessarily around for it.
The first Neptunia game opens with the anime girl manifestations of Nintendo, Sony, and Xbox deciding that in order to break the sixth-generation console war stalemate, they need to team up against the one who poses the biggest threat. So, they get together and betray Neptunia, casting her out of the heavens. Obviously, this isn’t how it happened in the real world. The Dreamcast may have been awesome, but Sega was operating at a loss trying to support it, and the release of the all-consuming PS2 spelled doom. But this intro is closer to how it felt to Sega fans. It’s a mythical retelling of the fall, one that slots right in with the endless glowing retrospectives of Sega’s glorious but doomed last breath (My favorite is calling the console a “small, square, white plastic JFK”).
I’m no industry expert or historian, but I was around to see the Japanese game industry flounder during the PS3 era, when high definition brought with it new expectations and inflated development cycles. Obviously juggernauts like Capcom and Square Enix got out fine, but a lot of smaller studios went under at some point in the past 15 years. Hudson, T&E Soft, ASCII, Clover Studio, Imageepoch. In another world, beloved FromSoft could have fallen to the wayside just as easily.
That’s why Neptunia is really important, I think. It serves as a way to self-mythologize, to keep fragments of these studios alive no matter what happens to them later. It’s a snapshot of all the B-tier Japanese game companies at any given point, written by one such company. When some of them inevitably fold, the Neptunia series will act as one more eulogy. As a huge fan of Compile-era Puyo Puyo, it’s a strange but relieving afterlife to witness. I may never play these games, but I’m grateful for what they do, and it’s a very entertaining series to rummage through the wiki of, especially as someone with a known appreciation of OS-tans.
The second Hyperdimension Neptunia game appears to introduce the Gamindustri Graveyard, a burial ground for defunct game companies. Resting there alongside all the other fallen studios is 1st-Gen Compa, the spirit of Compile. She’s wearing an outfit adorned with Puyos, with ears resembling those of beloved mascot Carbuncle. What is just a random horny anime girl for one person is a loving tribute for another. It’s a meaningful way to send off the old.
…and so is raising the dead! In October, Compile Heart announced a new Madou Monogatari game, with Sega giving them the rights to use classic Puyo Puyo characters on the project. According to the press release, the development team includes many staff members who were part of the original incarnation of Compile. Hope springs eternal, somehow.
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F1 Driver's Championship winners who switched teams right after they won it
This post was inspired by a question asked by @vro0m the other day. Although they were asking about drivers who left WCC winning teams, i thought drivers champions who ditched their teams would be interesting as well.
Juan Manuel Fangio, 1956->57; Ferrari->Maserati. (was known to drive for a different team after each of his championship wins up yo this point, but its important to note those times had to do with his teams leaving the sport. The only time it was his decision was 1956->57)
Alberto Ascari, 1953->1954; Ferrari->Lancia (Not paid enough, perhaps on the grounds that he was risking his life)
Denny Hulme, 1967->68; Brabham->McLaren (can't find a source on this one but he was extremely close to Bruce McLaren and had driven for him in other race series. To give an idea of why i think their closeness could have been a factor, he was considered a man of fewer words and emotions than Kimi Raikonen, but openly weeped at Bruces death in 1970 during a testing accident)
Jackie Stewart, 1969->70; Matra->Tyrell (this could be semantic. Matra International was a "privateer" team from 1968->69 which was actually a collab between Tyrell the man and the french company Matra. The name of Stewart's team changes from 69-70 because Tyrell the man prefered maintaining a working relationship with Ford whereas Matra was moving on to Chrysler. Wikipedia articles partially seem to think the Tyrell team is basically a continuation of the Matra International team the year prior since Tyrell the man was technically the team owner of each. Matra however enters a works team in 1970 that also ran one race in 1969 so its confusing. )
Jochen Rindt, Honorable mention; he died in the Italian GP practice in 1970. He had such a big lead he still won the championship in spite of his passing.
Nikki Lauda, 1977->78; Ferrari->Brabham (Nikki's huge accident that almost killed him in the 1976 season changed his outlook on racing in exceptionally poor weather conditions. As a result, he refused to race in the 1976 Japanese GP, and lost the championship to James Hunt in the process. Ferarri was pissed about this and it deteriorated his relationship with Ferrari severely for the 1977 season. After being treated so poorly (even in the driver lineup from his point of view) he decided to leave despite winning the championship. Its important to note however that he's believed to have won by consistency despite the car's outright slower pace, so he might have also had technical concerns)
Nelson Piquet, 1987->88; Williams->Lotus (in 86 and 87 Piquet was racing alongside Nigel Mansel in a WCC winning Williams. According to Piquet he had an agreement with team owner Frank Williams that he would be the number one driver for 86, an agreement he felt was neglected after Frank got in a car accident and left the team in the management of Mansel's race engineer. Specifically, he was upset that Mansel was not ordered to let him pass for the race win on two occasions that year, and had he been let through he would have been champion rather than Alain Prost. The relationship never recovered from that, but for some reason Piquet waited to leave. It is worth noting that he signed for Lotus before winning the 87 championship. Additionally Mansel finished first in more races than him that year but lost because of Piquet's podium consistency)
Alain Prost, 1989->1990; McLaren->Ferrari (ho boy. Long story partially short, Prost believed Honda (engine supplier) favored Senna, and therefore so did McLaren for the 1988-89 seasons, to the point of even giving Senna a better engine in the 1989 season. Supposedly for the 1988 season a Honda employee confirmed the suspicion while speaking to Prost in person, but promised he'd do his best to change that for 89. Prost did not believe this had occured, as he felt his car was underperforming Senna's in 89. His biggest piece of evidence was that while running a better straight-line-speed setup than Senna in Mexico, he still was not being able to pass Senna by engine power on the straight. For Honda's part, they had a major press event where they tried to explain technically why Senna's driving style suited the engine better, but the employee giving the interview kept referring to prost by his surname but not Senna, which is a sign of a stronger personal relationship in Japanese culture and was taken as a sign of bias)
Nigel Mansell, 1992->93; Williams->N/A (retired)
Michael Schumacher, 1995->96; Benneton->Ferrari (Schumacher's official statement is that he abandoned his contract with Benneton a year early due to "the teams damaging actions in 1994" to use wikipedias wording. The teams actions include: software shenanigans where the car was found to have the supposedly unused ability to correct bad manual starts, which would give the driver the ability to have perfect starts regardless of their affectiveness with the clutch; ignoring a black flag for a safety car overtake; and having a skidblock that was so worn down it suggested Benneton was ignoring aero regulations)
Damon Hill, 1996->97; Williams->Arrows (this one doesny count because it was outside of Hill's control, but it's really funny. Williams sacked him in favor of Heinz-Harald Frentzen, whom i have never heard of and apparently would only ever win 3 F1 races in his career. Hill chose Arrows not because they were the best team with an offer, but because they wanted to pay him the most. His career sucked after that)
Fernando Alonso, 2006->2007; Renault->McLaren (wikipedia straight up just doesnt explain this. A reddit thread gives a lot of uncited opinions as to why, but a significantly large number of their users cite that McLaren was seen as a consistently top team in this era while Renault was seen as volitale. With Alonso signing for 2007 as early as late 2005, heres some possible factors: Renault's bizzare lack of commitment to staying in the sport; McLaren winning more races in late 2005 than Renault; Renault's success was partially attributed to weird tire rules).
Jenson Button 2009->10; Brawn->McLaren (Brawn was bought out to become mercedes, but was left to its Brawn leadership to still run the team. Jenson won the championship because of dominance at the beginning that was cut short by not developing the car enough. He still won overall, but Jenson asked for a larger focus on in-season developement for the next year as a condition for staying. Ultimately, he was spoked off when he discovered mercedes didnt have enough sponsors for their plan yet)
Nico Rosberg, 2016->17; Mercedes->N/A (retired)
#f1#f1 history#nico rosberg#fernando alonso#michael shumacher#damon hill#alain prost#nelson piquet#niki lauda#jochen rindt#jackie stewart#denny hulme#alberto ascari#juan manuel fangio#motorsport#motorsport history#tw death
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A Lark Among the Wolves and Dragons: Chapter 38
Chapter 37
Masterlist
A/N: I'm not as familiar with Witcher 2 as I am with Witcher 3, but dammit Iorveth really grew on me. Words cannot describe how much I love that messy, problematic SOB.
Also who would win in a fight?
Aemond or Iorveth? I already know the answer to that one.
-------Red Keep: Small Council Chambers-----------
"Aemma has been on the Continent this whole time?" Alicent questions the moment Ivan finished translating the letter.
"It would appear so Your Grace," Ivan confirms.
"Just who are these Scoia'tel?" Otto questions. "Bandits for the most part, my Lord," Ivan explains, "At least...that is what I remembered from my childhood in Aedirn. I remember they would raid and attack convoys coming into the village, they rarely ever left any survivors. They are ruthless. If I may speak plainly, your Grace," he turns to Alicent, "I have reason to believe they do indeed have kept Princess Aemma alive for the reason they have described. This must be important to them if they would go as far as to catch a hostage for this demand to be met."
"...it is clear Prince Daemon's reckless actions on the Continent all those years ago had more far reaching consequences than anticipated," Otto says in a low tone after a moment of silence.
"If I may, Lord Hand," Ivan speaks up, feeling he may be speaking above his station, "what will be done to rescue the princess?" "What rescue?" Otto huffs, giving Ivan a certain look, "who could we spare? Should we send an army out to the Continent? How many lives will it cost to save the princess who forsook everything she's known just to frolic needlessly in lands far away?"
"But...if we don't anything-" "WE shall," Alicent assures the knight, to which Otto gives his daughter a rather paternalistic look, "She is still one of us," Alicent insists, "and I agree. If we were send an army to the Continent, it would unwanted attract attention." "What do you suggest then...Your Grace?" Otto asks.
"We send a small team of trusted knights," Alicent suggests, "men who will be sworn to secrecy to sail to the Continent, find Aemma, and bring her back to King's Landing where she belongs. There would preferably have to be someone who knows that place well, in order to safely navigate those lands..."
The Queen and the Hand look to Ivan, who already knew where this was going. "Your Grace, I am...honored to accept this mission, however I must confess, I have not been to Aedirn in years. I surely would not recognize the place of my childhood, it must've changed, especially after the Northern realms' wars with Nilfgaard." "It is more than what we could hope for," Alicent tells him, "Even if you don't remember the place, I am certain you remember the people, and they would surly be more willing to talk with a native of their lands then with a foreigner."
"...yes, Your Grace." "The Crown counts on you on this, Ser Ivan," Alicent continues, "you must be swift, and you must not let no one else know of this. I will send Ser Criston Cole with you, have him sworn to secrecy as well. Find the princess and do what you must to bring back home alive and unharmed. Do you understand this, Ser Ivan."
"I do, Your Grace," Ivan nods, bowing before he turned and left.
Unknown to anyone in that room, someone had been listening in on this conversation.
------------Forest outside Flotsam: Scoia'tel camp-------------
Aemma groaned as she started to come to. Her vision blurred a bit, and she was certain she heard voices, albeit some rather distorted voices. They sounded deep and distant, but as soon as her vision cleared, those same voices became silent.
Once she was fully conscious, Aemma remembered what happened previously, the castle, the king and his children, the monk- no, not a monk- an assassin.
Aemma tried to move her arms, but realized they were bond. A closer look and Aemma could now see she was tied against a tree with some rather thick ropes. Her legs were even tied together, almost like her captors were anticipating she would be able to escape easy.
Aemma struggled against her bonds, while also trying to look for her sword or her dagger with hopes of cutting the ropes, but it looked like her captors had planned ahead and disarmed her while she was unconscious.
"Well well, look who decided to join the living," Aemma hears a male voice in front of her. She looks up to see who it was; an elf sporting a green gambeson with an assortment of armor acquired from various soldiers by the looks of it. Tall, pointed ears and prominent cheek bones that were characteristic of the elven species as well as green eyes- no wait, one green eye. There was also a bow strapped to his back and a sword strapped to his side. The same elf also sported a red scarf that covered his head and also hid his right eye; a scar was also spotted, part of it hiding under the scarf and the rest of it reaching over his cheek and barely reached his upper lip.
It almost reminded Aemma of the scar her cousin Aemond now bore as a result of that accident back on Driftmark, which also made Aemma realize this elf probably had a similar accident that resulted in the loss of that eye, hence why he had it covered.
There was also a feather attached to the scarf on the elf's right side.
Aemma tried to struggle out of her bonds again. "Fight against those bonds if you can," the elf taunts, "it is pointless." "Where am I?" Aemma asks once she gives up the struggle. "You in Aedirn now, near the Temerian border," the elf explains, "a Scoia'tel encampment, where you will be our prisoner for the time being...Princess Aemma Targaryen."
Aemma looked up to the elf commander with wide eyes, "How do you know me?" The elf knelt over so the two of them could see face to face, "You don't remember, do you, princess? We have met before, more then once in fact."
Aemma had to think about for a bit before it came back to her, "You're...you're the Scoia'tel commander whose trapped I fell into six years ago, the one Cedric saved me from. Wait, I know of you. You're Iorveth, the Woodland Fox."
"And here I thought dh'oine memories were naturally poor compared to the Aen Siedhe," Iorveth deadpans. "You're in league with that witcher, the one who killed that king," Aemma realized, "that's why he brought me here, right? Why? Why bring me here? I never did anything to you or your people."
"Ha, not you, no," Iorveth scoffs, "but you're father, the dragon prince from across the Great Sea, a rogue without mercy if ever there was one." "My father?" "Daemon Targaryen," the elf confirms, "Brother to your king of the Seven Kingdoms, a dragon rider, one of the few remnants left of Valyria of Old...murderer of elven men and women alike, a man who slew my Scoia'tel comrades indiscriminately and burned their corpses with dragon fire. This injustice has gone unanswered for twenty years. No doubt, your Westerosi king had hoped this same injustice would be long forgotten, but we Aen Siedhe live long lives and have just as long memories. Justice shall be met at last."
"...do you mean to kill me to punish my father for his crimes?" Aemma asks in a low tone.
"No...not yet at least," Iorveth shakes his head, "if your father cares for you however, he will show up himself and face justice. If not..." Iorveth looks to Aemma's hands; he takes one and pulls out a knife, bringing it close to one of her fingers. Aemma felt her breath come out in quick huffs as panic started to set over the possibility these elves might actually kill her. "Should he fail to show himself within a reasonable time frame, we will have no choice but to send another message...many if we must, one body part at a time."
Aemma breathed a sigh of relief when Iorveth pulled the knife back; she's heard of this elf before. A ruthless warrior who, like most of the Scoia'tel, would kill any human who crossed his path and was certainly not above killing civilians as well as soldiers. The fact he kept Aemma alive, the fact that he had done so for the purpose of baiting her father to come here also told her that Iorveth in particular hated Daemon, held a grudge against the Rogue Prince all these years for the deaths of the Scoia'tel caused by Caraxes. Aemma couldn't understand it though; if the elves were killed by her father's dragon, there must've been a good reason. Did they try to attack him? Try and kill him and this was simply a case of a dragon defending his rider?
Aemma dare not ask these questions now, not in the position she was in.
When she made brief eye contact with the elven commander once again, she saw flashes of what appeared to be visions. She saw brief flashes of Iorveth fighting alongside another elf, in some kind of brigade, she thinks. They were fighting soldiers. She saw Iorveth in another vision getting his eye gouged out by torturers, then another vision showed him laying under a pile of dead elves with a bloodied eye socket. Then another vision showed the elf stealing a kiss with a woman...a human woman which was followed by one last vision showing Iorveth confronting her father...and another woman Aemma recognized was her mother.
When the visions ended, Aemma blinked rapidly, having not realized Iorveth had been talking to her this whole time, "...you will be watched morning, noon, and night by my men," Iorveth concludes, "for your sake, your father best arrive in haste as I cannot guarantee the rest of the Scoia'tel will want to wait as long, the young ones anyway. But I am patient; I have waited this long, I can wait a little while longer."
With that Iorveth stood up and turned to leave, "wait," Aemma calls out, to which the elf stops in his tracks, "I need to know something," she insists, "you said we've met before more then once. When was the first time?"
Iorveth was silent for a moment, turning around to give the young woman a rather incredulous look. "I was only a baby the first time, was I not?" she points out, "when...when I was with my mother, the Lady of Larks, did you know her?"
"I only met her that one time," Iorveth answers her, frowning as he did so, "were it not for that woman, you and the company you kept that day would've been long dead."
Aemma was a little shocked by this elf's blatant honesty that showed that he clearly wore his disdain for humankind on his sleeve.
Which is why the second to last vision she experienced confused her the most. For someone who hates humans as much as he does, Iorveth was awfully touchy-feely with that particular human woman.
It had been some time since Aemma had experienced visions of the past, but this was first time she experienced someone else's that weren't directly related to her own past in relations to her family; her mother may have been part of it, but it was only for a split second.
She wouldn't concern herself with that for now, as she needed to devise a way to escape this encampment and locate Triss and Geralt once more.
------------King's Landing: docks by the Blackwater Bay------------
Ser Criston and Ser Ivan, donned in their disguises with their swords hidden underneath their cloaks.
Ivan still kept his scarf wrapped around his head, covering the points of his ears, despite the fact he was wearing a hat over it.
During his tutelage under Ser Criston Cole, Ivan had never deigned to reveal his elven heritage to the older knight. As skilled a warrior Criston is, Ivan didn't feel the connection with him that he had the late Ser Laenor, he never felt safe enough around Criston to reveal his ears.
Despite the fact that he was setting foot in a place he had been since he was child when he and his mother fled their village in the midst of a pogrom, Ivan did not feel a sense of homecoming in any of this. The inh'eid recalled the nightmares he had in the aftermath when he and his mother sailed to Westeros, the buildings catching fire, the mob that rioted, the threats of local civilians and soldiers alike to round up the non-humans and see them hang or slaughtered. Only reason Ivan managed to escape was because of a dwarf who helped sneak him and his mother away from the village; Ivan now wondered if that same dwarf survived and was still living in that village, or did he get away to start a new life elsewhere.
Additionally, Ivan never felt like he had a home there to begin with. He was inh'eid after all; his ears were too pointy for humans but not pointy enough for the elves. He'd never really felt like he had a home or a place elsewhere except with his mother, and that was taken away from him from an outbreak of illness that ravaged Flea Bottom all those years ago. The closest he'd ever gotten after that was being taken in by the Royal Family and being inducted into the Kingsguard. He had meant to save a whom he thought was a fellow street urchin like him six years ago, but said urchin had turned out to be a princess who took him in as thanks for saving her life, which in turn allowed Ivan to find a place as a knight.
He knew Aemma had done those things to repay saving his life...now it was his turn to pay her back for his new station by saving her once again.
"Are we ready to board?" Criston asks, pulling Ivan out of his thoughts. "Ready, Ser," Ivan nods as the two board the ship to take them to Novigrad.
The ship disembarked and Ivan took a look out to see King's Landing slowly disappear from view.
"You mentioned you hailed from that fishing village, did you not, Ser Ivan?" Criston asks him, "Flotsam, was that what it was called." "It was," Ivan confirms, "it was the place of my birth before my mother took us to Novigrad and subsequently boarded a ship to King's Landing twelve years ago." "Do you have any memories of that place?" Criston asks. "Very few, I'm afraid," Ivan tells him, "and I cannot say for certain how much Flotsam has changed since I've been there."
"Any advice once we reach port?" Criston asks. "Keep your head down, I suppose," Ivan answers, "I have few memories of Novigrad as well, but their docks were rough, more then the docks of King's Landing. Merchants come and go from the Continent though, we should have little trouble finding a guide to direct us to Aedirn."
Unknown to Ivan or Criston, someone else how boarded this boat and was sitting in the other side of the haul, concealed beneath a cloak to hide his long silver blonde hair, with the intention to help the two knights accomplish their mission.
Chapter 38.5
#hotd#the witcher#geralt of rivia#otto hightower#alicent hightower#criston cole#oc#aemond targaryen#iorveth#letho of gulet
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Cartel Protection
First Next Last Masterlist AO3
A/n
im not gunna lie guys this one took me way longer than i thought it was going too, so im hoping ill be able to post at least weekly on Sundays. hopefully more than once a week
also!! Im not going to embarrass myself or others with attempting to translate Spanish and i think for coherency and comprehension i am just going to stick to italicized typing to indicate Spanish
Thank you!
They found themselves alone on yet another airstrip. The chaos of the last mission washed away in cold base showers, and was forgotten over a basic meal with the remainder of their team. They had gotten orders that just Ghost with Soap and Badger were going off to Mexico to meet up with the Mexican special forces on another tip off that Hassan was there.
It was a relatively smooth ride in a cargo transport to Las Almas, and passed in as much silence as Soap could manage when he hadn't sprawled himself out on several of the wall seats to sleep.
They landed in the early hour of the morning, the sun was barely rising casting a golden hue upon the new airstrip as they walked down the ramp to meet a rather stoic looking man. As they stepped out of the hull of the plane Soap was first to acknowledge the man as the Commander of the Special forces that they are linking up with.
“Alejandro!”
“Sergeant MacTavish” his voice was deep, and gravelly, he seemed less stoic as he was speaking, he reached for Soap's hand in a shake. Soap met it with a mild smile as Ghost and Badger finished getting all the way down the ramp and joined them.
“Call me Soap, That's Badger” he nodded over his shoulder towards Badger who just nodded politely at the Colonel. Alejandro nodded and turned towards Ghost
“Lieutenant, Laswell says they call you Ghost”
“Actually, I believes he prefers to be --” Ghost turned sharply to Soap and interrupted him
“That’ll do.” Badger watched Soap’s face pinch up as he was foiled in his joke, he bumped his shoulder into Soaps as consolation before turning his attention back to Alejandro,
“Welcome to the City of Souls' ' He turned on his heel and started walking to the first truck in a small caravan on the airstrip.
“I've never been to Mexico” Soap took the lead following the colonel,
“This isn't México,” Alejandro raised his arms to gesture around them, highlighting the mountains lit up in gold and the slow moving clouds, a small smile graced his lips when he spoke again “This is Las Almas” it was home to him, that much was obvious to Badger.
“Shepherd's contractors are inbound for reinforcements. They’re bringing hardware, they'll need room.” and there is Ghost, always straight to the point.
“My base is your base.” Alejandro responded simply
“Good. Now, where’s Hassan?” Badger was a straightforward person but seemed to constantly be getting whiplash from the manner that Ghost spoke to people, he understood pleasantry always had their time and place, but maybe meeting an Ally for the first time was the time to use them regardless of how urgent their mission might be.
He was surprised that Alejandro took it in stride though instead of seeming off put by it,
“Cartel Safe-house, ten clicks from here.” they reached the truck, “get in.”
Ghost climbed in as Soap and Badger went to the other side, Soap stood dumbly for a second clearly trying to avoid the middle, Badger rolled his eyes and pushed him forward.
“Get in chatty Cathy, ain't got all day” Soap looked taken a back before another more rougher push got him going,
“Shut yer pus, im goin” He swatted at him as he climbed in and settled down with a huff, once Badger was in Soap seemed to purposely take up as much of his room as possible, Badger supposed it was only fair.
“C’mon, let's move!” Alejandro shouted to the rest of the caravan before climbing into his seat of the truck, he waves a head over to the driver, “This is my second in command, Sergeant Major Rodolfo Parra.”
Rodolfo smiled and leaned over to Alejandro just slightly, a look of false concern crossed his face as he spoke to Alejandro, “I’m afraid of Ghosts” Alejandro snorts and swipes at his shoulder before pointing to the road for him to start moving, he turned over his shoulder and looked at the men piled into the back.
“You know Spanish?” Ghost just looked away, and Soap shook his head lightly and muttered a no, Badger raised his hands and made a so-so gesture and then looked up into the rearview mirror to catch Rodolfos gaze.
“Enough” Alejandro smiles at that before turning to Soap.
“You will”
The sun had fully risen by the time they made it to the colorful city of Las Almas, Badger was enraptured by the colors of the buildings and the vibrancy of the people. The city was bustling for the early hours of the day, the streets were lined with cars and people chatted in door frames and in shops. A white truck passed them in the opposite direction with four men in the back of it.
Badger hadn't realized how much Soap had pushed into his space till he felt rather than heard Soap call it out, and he had to grab his arm to keep him from going for his weapon. He saw Ghost tense as well and tossed him a look before Alejandro turned around looking annoyed.
“Hey- tranquilo. Easy-- that's normal here.” he waved his hands as he spoke “Guns on the street is the jurisdiction of the police.”
“Where are the police?” Ghost spoke up this time
“Well, Las almas has a very serious problem, there are few here to uphold the law. And many of those who resist corruption disappear.”
“What about the military?” the tone that Soap spoke in unsettled Badger, these guys were supposed to be allies, interrogating them seemed like the wrong move.
“Well, because we are well trained, soldiers are recruited by the narcos” he spoke off handley as if he hadn't noticed the change in tone and instead looked at them through the mirror again
"Why not you?” Ghost just barely avoided interrupting Alejandro, Badger tightened the forgotten grip on Soap before looking down at where he had grabbed his arm previously, Soap seemed to not have noticed that his grip lingered, Badger frowned slightly and tucked his hands back to himself and turned to look out the window again, watching the street go past.
He saw Alejandro lean back over towards Rodolfo and shrug his shoulders
“We grew up here, they call us Los Vaqueros” he smiled at Rodolfo again but turned to look back at Badger when he spoke up,
“Cowboys?”
“Si, Cowboys, we love this place. And we will die fighting for it.” That familiar warmth was back in his voice from the airstrip, Rodolfo seemed to share the same sentiment,
They drove past a street vendor at the corner of the street, it was a quaint little cart decorated with colorful cloth banners, Badger couldn't see what was being sold but did see the little family speaking with the vendor. He also saw the two armed men just a few steps away from the family. It was a stark contrast. Badger grunted when he felt almost the full weight of Soap pushing against him yet again as he tried to look out the window, Badger just looked over at Ghost with mild annoyance, he just rolled his eyes at him.
Soap started to lean back as they drove further away from them,
“Kids, guns and balloons. That's a new one.'' Again with the confronting tone, Badger elbowed him back into his place in the middle and swatted away a retaliatory hand and gave Soap a stern look.
“Narcos use generosity to win over the people” Alejandro was watching ahead as the traffic started to slow as it became backed up.
“Even the children?” Soap questioned.
“Especially the children.” It was Rodolfo that spoke this time, a slight glare reaching them from the mirror again, Soap had the decency to look a little sheepish. It was clear he was getting annoyed at the interrogation that Soap was putting up.
The traffic reached a standstill and they were stopped next to a taped off alleyway that had a truck and two bodies on the ground behind it covered by sheets that were covered in scrawling writing. Badger was mildly thankful that it was on the other side of the truck and extra thankful that Soap seemed to have enough common sense to not pull the same shit with Ghost, and instead just sits up more to look out the window without pressing into Ghost.
“What's on those sheets?”
“Nacromantras” Alejandro looked upset from the sight of the scene and it was reflected in his voice.
“Cartel Cloths” Rodolfo clarified for them “Messages from El Sin Nombre. Warning, marking territory.” The caravan started moving again, Alejandro shook his head in disgust
“Our streets are laced with death,” he said it like a curse before pointedly looking away from the scene.
“Who is Sin Nombre?” the misspoken name sounded rough from Ghost
“El Sin Nombre,” Alejandro corrects him, “the Nameless, the leader of the Las Almas Cartel”
“Where can we find him?” Soap spoke but then seemed distracted by a rather large mural that they started to drive by. It was painted on a three story house. It had what was clearly a symbol for the Las Almas Cartel painted directly in the middle surrounded by vibrate roses, motifs of the Madonna and guns, a banner was painted just below the symbol EL SIN NOMBRE filled the banner and just below that was likely more of the naromantras from the sheet but it passed to fast for Badger to be sure.
Alejandro was also caught by the mural, “ You can't, no one knows who he is. But he is everywhere and this a challenge” He turned back to Rodolfo and chuckled “But Los Vaqueros like Challenges” Rodolfo nodded back to Alejandro before he looked back through the mirror again looking back at Ghost specifically.
“With your mask, you'll fit in well here, Ghost” Badger stifled a smile as he watched Ghost slowly turn his attention to Rodolfo in the mirror, his eyes were like ice and he just stared. Rodolfo's smile faltered as he caught Soap making a “don't do that” hand motion
“Hey easy” Alejandro tried to comfort before being distracted by an upcoming checkpoint, “Checkpoint, Its the Army, turn right, we’ll go around”
Soap pursed his lips in confusion before leaning forward to question as the took the turn down a narrower road,
“Why?”
“Some troops are in the pocket of El Sin Nombre, like I told you. He is Everywhere” Alejandro looked frustrated, leaning back to speak to them “cartel is hiding Hassan in the Village across the river, let's hope he's still there”
The road they took turned into something that could barely be called a road, mostly just packed dirt from frequent use. They remained in silence for a while, badger was messing with his comm unit, pinning the ear piece into place and then started to mess with the inputs on the unit. He looked up and started to ask for the right input so their comms would all be linked but Alejandro had caught on to what he was doing and without having to ask to read off the correct codes to join their systems.
Badger fixed Soaps comms to the right settings as well and watched over as Ghost adjusted his.
They parked just outside of the village, Soap Ghost and Alejandro stepped out first and went to grab kits from the back of the truck, Badger was stepping down out of the truck when Rodolfo spoke to him, he was adjusting his comms unit as well.
“I would’ve thought someone with the name Badger would be asking all the questions”
Badger looked back at him a little sheepish, he had noticed how much all of Soap's questions had bothered both of them, and while Rodolfo was better at hiding it than Alejandro it was still evident even if Soap hadn't noticed. Or cared.
“Badger for a different reason,” He looked over at him before he collected is own kit “sorry to disappoint” Rodolfo just patted his shoulder before heading over to Alejandro, who had just called for all the team leaders to circle up on him.
“Where are they holding Hassan?” Soap joined them in the circle with Ghost right behind him.
“White two story building, back of town” Alejandro fist bumps Rodolfo before pointing off towards a gate that seemed to lead into the town, and with a wave of his hand Alejandro leads them off towards the town, as Rodolfo takes his team off a different way.
They gather around the gate, Alejandro has bracketed himself to breach the door and coordinates over the comms with Rodolfo's team.
This town lacked the colors that Las Almas had; the buildings were all browns, whites and oranges, they all seemed beaten down and in disrepair. It also lacked the people that las almas had, there wasn't just less people here there was no people here and it left the town eerily quiet
“Where are the civilians?’ Soap spoke up as he walked past a window that was broken peeping his head inside as they passed
“Gone, Cartel took over people left, it's a hideout now”
“Good place to keep Hassan then”
They approached another black gate and could hear the cartel men clamoring around as they started to notice the breach into the town, this gate was left partially open. Ghost pushed it further open and Alejandro went guns blazing through the gate with Soap and Badger behind on his heels.
There was a brick building to their right as they burst through the gate and a white building down at the end of the slope little more than a hovel. Cartelmen used them for cover trying to avoid the hellstorm that was Alejandro's team. It was easy to clear them, they wore little for protection and seemed to only have rudimentary grasp on their weapons. Alejandro ordered a push forward. The man called Rodriguez moved with them as they pushed further into the town and into an ally.
Badger crossed the ally fast and took cover behind the white building, Soap cleared the final man from inside as they moved. More firing from further up the ally. Three more cartelmen dropped from their fire. He called another push up and made a break for a set of cement stairs and just barely took cover fast enough to be missed by incoming fire that broke up the brick wall behind him into pebbles.
Alejandro was pinned down behind the stairs unable to make anything other than blind return fire, Soap had pushed past Badger and peaked from the corner of the building into the alley way, took aim and downed the final cartelman. He called clear
"Secure this house, then we go for Hassan” Alejandro ordered as he got up from his spot behind the stairs, he pointed to the orange brick house that ended the alley in a dead end.
“Cartel will move him fast.” Ghost protested as he also came out from his cover behind an abandoned cupboard against the wall behind them, he had taken rearguard with Rodriguez,
“Then we move faster” Alejandro moved up to the teal door of the house, crouched low waiting to enter as soon as the door was breached. Badger moved to the door and waited for his signal to break it down.
The door almost shattered as he kicked it down, it was much thinner than he expected so he almost tipped into the room had Ghost not pulled back on his vest roughly settling him back on two solid feet before He Soap and Alejandro burst into the house, clearing it as they went. Badger and Rodriguez held rear guard until Clear was called again.
They joined them in the house, which was low ceilinged, dark and now littered with dead men, a great sight to be in a forgotten child bedroom.
“What happened to the families here?” Badger asked as he entered the kitchen area
“The cartels bring violence, so they leave '' he was short with his answer, gruff it was clear the lack of control he had on the cartels upset him greatly. “Lets go, get ready to move”
Soap takes the lead to the door in the kitchen that goes to the outside, Soap made a show of using the deadbolt to unlock the door, tossing a ”see its simple” look to Badger as he started to open the door, Alejandro’s hand pushed the door shut, and pointed out the window “Stand By. Victor-2 this 1-1, Deploy smoke. We’re moving external”
“Copy, smoke out” Rudy called back over the comms and the plunging of smoke canisters could be heard as they struck the ground and slowly filing the atmosphere with cover
Soap broke the silence that had comfortably fallen as they took the second to prepare for rushing the next house.
“Where’s your Family? Alejandro?” Badger snapped his attention to him, eyes slightly wide and a grimace set in place. The man simply didn't think before he spoke. He flicked his eyes over to Ghost where he stood watch at a window. Ghost didn't seem to care about Soaps dumbassery and just rolled his eyes when Badger looked over.
Alejandro took a deep breath before he spoke.
“I keep that a secret, hermano, to protect them.” it came out stern but not angry much to Badger's surprise. He watched as Soap opened his mouth to speak again, but was thankfully cut off by Ghost.
“We have concealment”
“Let's Move, on me Soap” Alejandro clasped Soap on the shoulder, removing the hand he had blocking the door. The moment it was open Alejandro took off towards the large two story house just across the courtyard.
The door was broken into with ease and the first floor was cleared too easily, there was an unsettling lack of resistance for a house that was supposed to contain Hassan. It set Badger on edge.
“Clear! No Hassan!” Alejandro calls out as he moves towards the stairs,
“Second deck” Ghost orders as he makes his way up towards the loft, the rest of the team in tow. It was also cleared in seconds. Alejandro cursed as it became obvious they missed Hassan.
The house was littered with dead men and weapons, it also was strewn with dolls and other toys, a kids bike was broken on the floor in the kitchen, the bedrooms had been decorated in accordance to those that had previously lived here, those that had clearly left the house in a hurry as boxes that had likely been hastily packed laid turned over just about everywhere you looked.
When Badger made it back up to the loft, Ghost was looking through files on the desk, Alejandro Soap and Rodriguez were discussing Hassan and the intel that they operated on. Badger went to the big bay windows and found a photo of the family that had lived here toppled over, he had bent down to pick it up when movement up on the roads caught his eye.
A Caravan was rolling into the village, and fast. They were tearing up the roads and kicking dirt into the air behind them. Badger sat back up quickly, the speed of the action grabbed the attention of the others, he was about to speak when Rodolfos voice broke over the comms.
“Commander! Army is rolling in!” Fucking hell this was going to be bad.
“Shit”
Ghost looked up from the paperwork on the desk to Badger, “What is it?”
Alejandro answered for him. “The Army”
Soap joined him at the window to look out to the ever closing Mexican Army Transport. He looked confused.
“We’ve got reinforcements”
“Negative.” Alejandro sounded grim. “0-3, fall back, fall back”
“Copy that”
Ghost caught on quick and stepped away from the desk and took up a spot couched in front of one the bay windows. “What’re we doing?”
“Covering my men,” Alejandro waved up to Rodriguez to block the entrance of the loft, dragging a shelf over to the door, and pushing the couch against that. “Once they’re clear, we fall back”
Soap was taken aback “You want us to engage the fucking Mexican Army?!” He had stepped close enough to Badger that he grabbed him and pulled him down so that he wasn't standing dumbly in front of the large windows and nearly growled at him.
“Didn't you hear a single thing he said in the truck Soap? That not the fuckin army thats the cartel payroll.” He roughly pushed him back as he let go and went back to leveling off the trucks in his scope. Soap flushed red, and a dumb ‘oh’ dropped from his lips before he managed to remember himself and join them in targeting the caravan.
“Hold your fire, we dig in until my men are clear”
“Multiple vehicles, troops transport, light armor” Ghost calls out
“Hold fire, let them get close”
One of the trucks launched a large smoke canister, blocking them from seeing when and where the caravan stopped, but they saw troops emerge from the smoke with shields and take aim at the house. They have mere seconds to turn away from the windows before they're rained upon by glass shards as the windows are shot out above them. Alejandro called for weapons free.
The room thundered with fire, and it made moving for any extra cover nearly impossible. The few shots he was able to get in after getting up from his low crouch seemed to do nothing.
“They’re Armoured,” Soap shouted in annoyance.
“Target the helmets, they're weak”
“They’re using shields” Ghost shouted over the clamour as a well, it was clear that they were doing little to minimize the amount of combatants against them, the simply had to pull the fire away from Rodolfos squad and hope they could last long enough. Badger watched as shards of wood ripped away from the walls from the incoming fire, and cursed. It was quite a bind. They started falling back from the windows and just sought cover.
“Commander, we're clear!” oh thank the light, they can start moving from this deathtrap.
“copy ! rally at the safehouse!” Alejandro orders before turning to them “lets get the hell out of here!” He popped up from his spot in the corner and made for a shuttered window, tossed it open and hoped down and slid off the roof onto the ground and took off like a bat out of hell to a path that led down the ridge. Rodriguez followed with the same grace, then Soap. Badger rather fell from the window than slid but still took off the same as Ghost reached the ground and followed.
“Down the hill! We’ll lose them in the mountains!” Alejandro shouted over his shoulder as they raced to catch up with him. “Fan out and stay close”
It was like everyone just had the ability to melt into the forest with how quick he seemed to lose everyone and he hoped that he didn't get lost. Shots fired down from above tossing up small handfuls of dirt as high velocity rounds stuck the earth by their feet rather than them.
The army had caught up. They jumped off a steep boulder and rolled behind cover, turned and returned the fire. Rodriguez went down with a shout. He was nearby. Badger looked around and saw him face down a few paces away, He ran over to him and looked him over.
“You're fine, let's get you up boyo” Badger pulled him up against the boulder they now shared as the rest of the team was trying to clear the army. Rodriguez groaned in protest of moving. “It hit your back plate, it'll bruise” Rodriguez nodded and tried to calm his breathing for a moment. The firing came to a sudden stop and they were hauling ass again, Badger tried to stay with Rodriguez to give him extra cover, he was slowly lagging behind.
“You know these trails?” Soap called out to Alejandro as he took the lead,
“Very well, but do does the army”
“Cant hold off the Army. We need extraction”
“Rodriguez! Call for extraction!” Alejandro ordered, they stayed closer this time as they dropped down the hillside, more than once Badger crashed down off rock faces compared to the grace and Alejandro and Ghost demonstrated.
“Contact!”
Fire rained from above again as they tried to find over, Badger pulled them behind a larger rock again and took up fire as Rodriguez crouched low, tucking himself into the cover between Badger and the rock, fiddling with his coms trying desperately to reach Rodolfo.
“Control, victor 1 request immediate extraction at Soul River Bridge, How to copy?” he was shouting into the comms.
The fire stopped again and badger pulled him up and kept him in front of him as they ran again down the hill, he continued to shout into the comms with no response
“Rodriguez where are we with comms?”
“Mountains blocking out comms!” Rodriguez called back.
“Your man got the call out?” Ghost questioned as they slid down a slope a bit further
“Let's hope so” Alejandro laughed a little,
“What's the plan then?” Soap jumped down a boulder next to where Badger and Rodriguez were moving and he joined them.
“There is a bridge at the river. Extraction will be there.” Alejandro explained to them as he looked for a specific path to lead them down.
They reached a steep drop, Badger threw himself down it and rolled out of his fall in front of a tree when it exploded with an RPG. the force of it shattered the tree throwing shards of wood back at Badger, a shard struck him before he could cover. He was bleeding from the hairline, with a curse he stood back up and continued forward wiping roughly at his forehead.
“Anyone hit?” Alejandro called out from cover as he was firing up the ridgeline, everyone called out a negative from where they stood firing hoping desperately that the onslaught of men would end. Eventually it did.
They seemed to be running out of places to run as the clift side seemed to come nearer, Alejandro stopped abruptly at the edge and looked back towards them,
“We have to jump here” Soap reached the ledge and looked over it down to something unseen by Badger.
“Can we even make that?” Badger paled slightly at the comment of the unseen ledge and looked over to Soap and then back to Alejandro
“Are you serious?” It took a lot to keep the nervousness from his voice, it was one thing to jump from a plane and another to jump from good solid ground. If a parachute failed when jumping it was just a rush that ended quickly, who knows if he misses if the fall will kill him.
“Do or Die hermano” Alejandro tossed over his shoulder as he jumped, Badger made it up to the ledge to watch him fall down and slide across a very far and very thin outcropping from the clift, and watch him pop up and jump to an even further outcropping that rounded around the cliff face.
Soap followed bravely and executed flawlessly, Rodrigues followed with the confidence of someone who's done it a million times. Badger steeled himself and took a step back to give himself momentum for when he jumped down,
He hit solidly and slid down the rough ground of the slope, and just barely managed to get his feet back under him for the second platform, of which he rolled onto and slapped softly into the stone wall. He heard Soap make a small sound of surprise when the other two on the platform let out a small snicker at his less than graceful execution.
Ghost perusal just seemed to appear silently and unbothered as he crouched down, weapon in and and scanned the tree lines for snipers.
“Where to, Alejandro?” Soap asked from his watch position.
“Soap push forwards, Rodriguez keep trying on the comms, the rest of you watch for snipers” Badger settled down in front of Rodriguez’s position and turned outwards towards the tree line mirroring Ghost who was a few paces away from him. “Soap, use that ledge there will be a way up the mountain”
Soap disappeared out of sight with a grunt as he presumably jumped to whatever ledge that Alejandro pointed out. Badger could hear Rodriguez speaking into the comms again as he and Ghost looked for the tell tale gleam of a scope or barrel in the sunlight.
“Got anything?” Badger questioned over to Ghost who just grunted a negative in response.
“They’re out there, believe me”
“control , this is victor-1, do you read me?” Rodriguez sounded desperate as he looked back up to where he knew the Army was, the action made him look incredibly young and it struck something in Badger. He's quickly distracted though as Soap calls that he's found a way up the mountain, as they are just finishing getting up the steep cliff face Ghost spots a Helicopter with a curse.
“Get to a firing position. We’ll take them by surprise” Alejandro confirms the heli sighting and helps direct them back into cover.
“Which way is the bridge?” Ghost asks as he pulls himself up last from the final ledge, following them closely.
“Straight ahead. Past the helo” he paused a moment in thought “they'll try to cut us off”
“Grand” the sarcastic excitement sounded wrong coming from Badger “then I guess we’re goin through them”
It was almost like he called for them to appear with how fast the Army dropped down from an up ahead ridge and immediately took to firing upon them. But they made it easy for them to return fire. The sun was to their advantage, casting their hiding spots into deep shadows and lit the ridge and boulders they took to walking on in bright golden light that simply begged for them to shoot the brains out of anyone who stepped too far forwards.
The inched their way up in the shadows creeping closer and closer to the remaining army troops that had been smart enough to attempt to find cover, even if it wasn't successful. Ghost shot the last man on the ridge and called clear. It was a right mess on the boulders that they had to climb to get to the bridge.
They pushed up the hill and Alejandro called out that the bridge wasn't too far; they entered the top of the hill. It was gorgeous up there, and had they not been running for their lives from the Mexican Army Badger would have stopped to just absorb the landscape. It was towering mountains and the sun hit just right to light up a thin waterfall that casted a shimmer around it.
Alejandro warned them about hidden shooters.
“There's the bridge”
“No visual on extraction” a curse ripped from Rodriguez that Badger didn't know but knew it as colorful from the bits he understood, he watched him take a calming breath though turn towards Ghost.
“Comms didn't get through” Badger clasped him on the shoulders and gave him what he hoped was a comforting look.
“We’ll radio when we get down there” Alejandro waved them forwards and dropped an extremely steep drop off, and while Alejandro took it with grace even Soap had tripped up his landing and Badger downright slammed into the ground yet again. They took off down even more narrow outcroppings than last time, Alejandro taking the lead with Soap following, Badger kept Rodriguez in front of him and per usual Ghost took up rear guard.
They were quite literally shuffling along and outcropping no wider than a boot, when shots started above their heads. Bits of rock broke off from the walls from missed shots
"Sniper! Move!” Ghost shouted as they all tried to go as fast as they could without slipping off the cliff, they had almost made it to a larger outcropping when another round of shots fired.
A shot ripped through Rodriguez's thigh, and he shouted and tipped forwards reaching out behind him, Badger surged forwards to try to grab him, but he slipped as another shot just barely missed him. Just for a moment he had Rodriguez in his grip before he fell too far forwards tumbling into the valley.
“Rodriguez!” Alejandro shouted mournfully, and Badger was gasping as he was pulled further back onto the narrow outcropping, a hand laced into his vest at his shoulder. Ghost hurried him forwards keeping a tight grip on his vest.
Badger didn't hear the return fire from Alejandro but he nearly felt the rumble of Ghost's voice as he praised “Bloody good shot, mate!”
They all looked upwards as they heard the Army catching up to them again, their orders to follow them down the cliff side sent dread through Badger.
“Army's still on our trail” Soap urged them to move, Alejandro looked down the cliff side remorsefully before steeling himself and then turned to take the lead again. Ghost let go of Badger as they looked off again.
They slid to a stop at the end of an outcropping a bit further down the cliff face, it was a deadend.
“You led us to a deadend mate,” Ghost complained, looking pointedly at Alejandro.
“We jump from here, don't lose your weapon” Alejandro basically gave the last order while in the air, there was absolutely no hesitation before jumped off the clift, it was a solid moment before he splashed into the water. Badger took a nervous gulp.
Soap brave as ever followed quickly with a little whoop of excitement, he too splashed safely into the water.
Badger stepped forwards and hesitated a moment before looking backwards towards the ridge that he knew soon would be full of soldiers shooting down at them again. His eyes flicked to Ghost who surprisingly didn't roll them or slide off his gaze.
“Your turn sergeant” it was missing the usual roughness that typically accompanied Ghost. Badger swallowed again before nodding and turning forwards again, pointedly avoiding looking down.
“Fucking hell” He jumped. And he damn near forgot to hold his breath until moments before he crashed into the water. Vaguely he thinks he hears ghost land in the water shortly after him.
When Badger resurfaces he tries his best to minimize the gasping he is doing, he barely manages to call back that he's okay when Alejandro asks.
“Move down river to the bridge, use the rocks for cover” they start down the river drifting from rock to rock and mostly travel under the water in an attempt to remain hidden from the banks. Alejandro attempted to reach Rodolfo on the comms. “All stations, this is victor-1 how to copy?”
Finally a voice crackled over the radio in response to them.
“dow-1! Do you- say again,-o you’tre---?” It was an American voice.
“Radio is picking up something! Soap sounded elated and looked back excitedly to Badger and Ghost. His smile dropped a little when he looked at Badger, eyes flicking towards his forehead.
Ghost made a sound of approval “sounds American” he commented and was promptly cut off again by enemy fire.
Badger couldn't say he had the most experience fighting in water and had to admit it was adversely affecting his ability to be effective in combat. He swam to a rock that was jutting out of the water and clung to it to steady his hand on his weapon, that miraculously wasn't lost when he crashed into the water, and fired upon the right bank noting that more trucks were rolling in behind the current line of soldiers.
“Vehicles on the bridge” Badger called out and continued to swim up river as the bank was cleared,
“They're not ours” another curse spilled from Soap's lips as he checked his ammunition, they're all low.
The river shallows out the closer they get to the bridge and thankfully more boulders were available for cover as they rose from the water.
“We have to hold here and get extraction” Alejandro started firing upon the vehicles on the bridge, it was doing alarmingly little.
“We can't do shite against that armor!” Soap complains as he continues to fire upon the vehicles trying to target helmets again, when the voice that crackled through before returned
“This is Shadow-1! Engaging the bridge north of your position. Danger close!”
“Who the hell is that?” Alejandro shouted the question over his shoulder as he continued his fire.
“Commander Graves, Shadow company, they're with us” Ghost responded as they all took the welcomed reprieve that was watching the Army be blown to bits and at the bridge collapsing with them on it. Ghost jumped onto the comms to confirm the hit with Graves, “Shadow-1, Bravo 0-7! Good shots! Fire for effect!”
“All stations, no enemy movement detected. You're clear” Badger let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, “Good to see you boys''
“Likewise, mate,” Ghost replied and motioned for them to follow Alejandro to the left bank of the river and onto dry land and towards the bridge. Thankfully there was one ruck left behind. “Graves, we located a vehicle for exfil”
“Roger that. Be advised, we got a possible hit on Hassan, two clicks north of your position”
“That's cartel land, they have a compound there”
They reached the truck and dumped some of their wet gear into the bed of the truck, Alejandro hopped into the driver's seat and Ghost filed into the front passenger,
“You boys, good to roll up Hassan with some fire from the sky?”
“Lets wrap this fucker up, Graves” Soap sounded full of confidence for someone whos missed Hassan twice and was chased down a mountain, Badger couldn't say that he shared the confidence,
“Solid copy. We are pushing to the target directly. Shadow-1 out”
Badger pushed himself firmly into the back seat and closed his eyes, trying to ground himself and take account of his body. He was tired from the mad dash down the cliff and his forehead was starting to really hurt as the adrenaline started slipping from him on the drive,
He felt Soap lean closer to him and he turned his head rather roughly to give him a mild glare, really not feeling up to his shenanigans at the moment. He was surprised to see that he had gauze in hand and a small first aid kit sitting between them, he looked startled at Badger not expecting the hostility. Badger looked at him confused before Soap gestured to his forehead, and Badger remembered the tree exploding, and reached his hand to the cut on his forehead, fingers coming away red. What he thought was water dripping from his hair was actually mixed with blood and covered a good portion of his face. He must have looked deadly if the worried look he caught from Soap was anything to go off of.
He looked down at Soap sheepishly and let him take his head in his hands, Soap dabbed at his face carefully, occasionally gripping his chin and moving him about so that he could reach everywhere. Badger felt his face heat up and closed his eyes to avoid looking at Soap as he worked, who had drawn his lip between his teeth unconsciously.
It wasn't long until he cleaned up his face, applied a small amount of antiseptic, he cooed at Badger when he had flinched not expecting the sting, and applied small wound closure strips to the gash across his forehead.
Badger thanked him quietly when his hands left his face, and he leaned back into his seat. He looked into the rearview mirror and caught Ghost staring back at him. He flushed again and closed his eyes trying to catch the little bit of rest before they were tossed back into the frying pan.
He tried not to dwell on the feeling of warm hands now absent on his face.
First Next Last Masterlist AO3
Thank you so much for reading! Please consider leaving a comment also i take suggestions for one shot and drabbles
#mw2 2022#cod mw 2022#soap cod#ghost cod#ghost x male reader#ghost x reader#simon ghost riley#soap x ghost#ghost#john soap mctavish x reader#soapghost#john soap mactavish#soap#john soap mactavish x male reader#polyamourous#reader pov#reader insert
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So i am almost up to 8500 words on Caught somewhere in time. I'm about to tackle the Attack of the clones part of the fic. And with that comes a new set of headcanons I'll be incorperating.
On Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Cal:
Obi-Wan almost left the order on two occasions: his relationship with Satine Kryze, and his choice to have Cal.
Anakin sees Cal as his little brother, though he is also torn on how to handle him, as a part of him sees Cal as competition for Obi-Wan's attention.
Cal's psychometry has gotten him into trouble more than once. But mostly because he either sees things people don't want him to see, or because he sees things that upset him greatly and he has panic attacks.
Cal's gift for chaos and crawling through vents were inherited from Obi-Wan. As is his gift for reading people and their intentions.
Cal has inherited a rather unexpected ability from his sperm donor, namely the ability to sharpshoot with a blaster pistol.
Padmé and Cal team up against Anakin. And although Anakin complains and whines that he is not happy about this, he secretely relishes in the absolute chaos that Padmé and Cal cause.
On Stewjon:
The planet stewjon is like space Florida. It has mangroves, swamps, that eventually roll out into grasslands and even has some forest. There's a lot of water on the planet, though it is inhabited by all sorts of predatory fish and reptiles, and even beaches or lakes are not that safe to swim in.
There's also plenty of farmland on the planet, and some of the larger cities are packed with resorts, hotel chains, and tourist attractions. Though further inland there's a lot of poverty and people barely scraping by.
The mangrove trees are harvested for their valuable Oljohn wood. It is specifically useful for making jewelry and wooden figurines, or detailing work.
Stewjoni are a people that are intersex by nature. As such, their entire concept of gender and sexuality are very different from more traditional planets. (By our earth standards).
A person who carried a baby is referred to as mom, regardless of their gender. A person who sired the baby is referred to as dad.
Their phenotype is determined by chromosomes, XX gives someone a masculine phenotype, XY gives someone a feminine phenotype.
(I deliberately changed this, do not come for me in the comments.)
Stewjoni can breed with humans, like Twy'leks, and their biology is a dominant trait over our human biology.
Many stewjoni come out with their gender around the age of 16, some do this earlier. Until that time, many Stewjoni address their children in a neutral way, or choose to adhere to their phenotype presentation until the child determines otherwise.
Stewjoni sometimes choose to single parent, and like Naboo, there is no taboo on sperm donors or artificial insemination. It's seen as a perfectly acceptable road to take.
There's also no taboo on abortion or birth control. When the entire population is intersex, and resources can be scarce, you also need ways to control the population.
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On Jedi:
There were many Jedi in the order that had some form of attachment to others, though those active in the order also made sure that a. the council didn't find out about those attachments, and b. that the attachments didn't interfere with their duty.
Some Jedi also chose to have children. If the Jedi stayed within the order and agreed to its terms, the children would be brought to the temple on Coruscant and were raised there. The Jedi parents would have visitation rights and could see their children at most once a month, preferably less. If a child was not force sensitive by age 3, they would finish their time in the clan and by age 13 be sent to one of the corps. (Agricorp, medcorp, educorp, exploration corp).
If a child was force sensitive they would stay for training among a clan and by age 9 go to Ilum for the crystal ceremony. By age 13 they would be chosen as a Padawan by a knight or master that was NOT their parent. If they're not chosen, they too would go to the corp.
This caused some form of tension within the order, as quite a few (parental) members found the rules unfair or downright cruel.
Any Jedi that did not agree to the terms of having children within the order would be excommunicated and stripped of their rank. They would however be given supplies and credits to get them on their feet. The Jedi are strict and stifled, but fair and supportive with old members.
Children of Jedi that were Padawan learners or corp members were given ways to contact their Jedi parent once a month to keep in touch. At the age of 18 these children were given a choice to continue service or to cut ties with the order.
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And since it's now 2 am I'll leave it at this.
#star wars headcanons#the clone wars headcanons#cal kestis#obi wan kenobi#anakin skywalker#star wars prequels#star wars fanfiction#star wars#the clone wars
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After finally beating the game...
Big spoilers for Scalet/Violet ending!...
I think I'm echoing a lot of other people's sentiments when I say 'Huh, so that's where half the budget went'. I don't even mean that in a salty way, I'm just kind of baffled that there's such a strong contrast between the effort that went into this final area and the rest of the game. I seriously underestimated how much there was going to be too since the Pokemon tradition is that post Elite-Four content is kinda lacking, and the only hint that Area Zero was not 'postgame' was that credits had not rolled yet. I was really expecting Area Zero to just be an afterthought, similar to the usual optional postgame dungeons. Or like Ultraspace, in which: you go there, leave after having one big fight, and optionally come back later to find more ultrabeasts. And instead we got a fairly expansive dungeon that both contains the really cool paradox pokemon as well as like, the game's entire narrative weight, interesting character interactions, a big fight I was definitely not expecting, and all the actual intriguing plot elements in one ultra-concentrated dose. I actually prefer a fantastic ending to mediocre game rather than the other way around, it's just very surprising to see it happen when the opposite is so common. And yeah some of that perception is filtered by the bar of expectations being set so low by the rest of the game, and of course it was by no means a perfect ending. The jank still allows you to accidentally skip if you jump off certain cliffs, the scripted encounters with paradox Pokemon are just ok, and navigating Area Zero without Ko/Miraidon can be a pain if you take a wrong turn. But the pacing, the dialogue, the way the characters play off each other, the gradual reveals, and the whole final fight was actually incredibly well done. And it makes me feel a little sad to see that the dev team was clearly capable of making great story-driven game segments, but that it was only at the very ending of the game that they really got to flex those creative muscles. I feel like it's also created a weird dichotomy of people who could not abide the jank and put the game down or decided not to buy it in the first place/refunded it and the people who stuck it out to the end and got an unexpectedly quality finish. Good for us I guess? I definitely would have lost interest a lot sooner had friends who finished the game not given clues that they really enjoyed the ending...
More specific ending spoilers and commentary: Having an AI character being aware of having their own will being overridden was equal parts fucked up, heartbreaking, terrifying, and really effective. The way they're clearly fighting against it even as they taunt you, their whole speech about freedom and treasure, that moment when they seem to intentionally succumb to the programmed will in order to sincerely tell Arven that the original professor loved him (oh my FUCKING god)... Now THAT'S how you break the mold in terms of creating a different narrative hook than the usual formula! For me it really did retroactively change the feeling of the entire game, knowing that the 'professor' who started you on your whole journey was actually patiently waiting for you to become strong enough to venture into area zero and do what but their programming did not allow them to do. That they were vicariously enjoying every step of your adventure along the way, because their very nature as an area zero anomaly meant they could never leave themselves. Their final decision to send themselves to the past/future in order to disable the time machine, while kind of cheesy and nonsensical, was something that they willed with their own heart and wholly defied the original professor's wishes. That in their vast intellect they decided to stake the future on a bunch of teenagers is still pretty goofy but hey, it's Pokemon. Like a lot of people I did suspect that there would be some sort twist with the professor, but I did not expect THIS, nor did I expect a Pokemon game to handle a sympathetic AI character in a really emotional and interesting way. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised given that Pokemon as a franchise has had various created/artificial beings who are treated sympathetically? But it does also kind of highlight once again that the game feels kind of hodge-podge in regards to what audience it's catering to, due to the entire game feeling hand-holdy and kid-friendly in its appeal and then... that entire ending happens. I can imagine some kids not even being able to finish the game, not even due to difficulty spike but because of finding the Arven and robo professor story too scary and sad. On the other hand, Pokemon at its roots has always some pretty damn heavy themes, so I guess this could also just be considered a return to form? Pokemon themselves being fully sentient creatures forced to serve their masters no matter what, the entire arc of Mewtwo being created and then destroying its own lab... I remember finding those too sad to contemplate as a kid so I kind of just. Didn't. But those aspects were never really explored to the depth they could have been within the main game's stories (I do know the movies/anime/comics have darker storylines, but those are all 'extended lore' as far as the games are concerned). So this is the first time where elements like the death of a main character and having the villain be a human (in appearance) ally with explicitly programmed loss of will who doesn't want to turn against you are THIS front and center in the story of a main series game. And it was actually done pretty emotionally and effectively, so I do applaud the decision to take a risk and make a more mature storyline happen at all.
And yes, it is not lost on me that both a reluctant final boss and the subtle use of the menu interface in the finale are reminiscent of ah... a certain other game? I might be seeing stronger connections than I should due the killer music contribution by Toby, and I don't really care if it was intentional or not, but I'm just really happy to see any game make use of those tropes to great effect.
#Pokemon#Pokemon spoilers#Pokemon scarlet and violet#Pokemon scarlet and violet ending#Professor Turo#Professor Sada#Area zero#Pokemon review#Lunz plays#I forgot I had this in my drafts oops#It's more me getting hyped about the brief moments my narrative hyperfixations appeared in the final act#than a comprehensive review lol
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When the Bird’s parents met
This is not part 11 of seas 2 from my ongoing story set in the sentient SG/LL au from @cuppajj but rather a special/side story focusing on how Phoenix's parents met and why they broke up.
Considering how I portrayed Thrillchaser in the main story, his behaviour in this story might come as a surprise.
Either way, please enjoy.
Trigger warning: There are some heavy topics in this story.
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The war was over. It has been over for some years now, and while everyone was celebrating the anniversary of the Decepticons win against the Autobots, Tankcrusher found herself sitting alone at the bar counter in the same spot her old teammates left her in.
Maybe she should have told her teammates that she wasn’t feeling up to it, blamed her disinterest in celebrating on her age, she was an old femme after all, older than most her team, they would have understood it. Or not, considering how many old warframes were populating this specific bar… That’s why her friends brought her here. They were trying to set her up with someone, weren’t they? Well, it’s nice that her friends listened to her woes of not finding a mech, but she didn’t need her friends trying to meddle in her love life. Not when everyone her friends introduced said that they didn’t want an old warframe as their partner. And even those who were interested were quick to say that they would prefer a smaller, more petite femme, than a big tank.
It’s why Tankcrusher stopped trying to find a mech. They were all the same, when it came to taste, or they were just looking for something short term, while she herself wanted something long term. Tankcrusher has been through too much already. Her priorities changed, and while she enjoyed the occasional one night stand in her younger years, she now wanted someone to settle down with and build a family. Someone who would become her Conjunx Endura. Someone to have a sparkling with…
But who was she kidding, no-one would take an old femme like herself as their Conjunx. And even if they did, they would probably disapprove of her lifestyle.
While Tankcrusher was musing about her life and staring down at her half finished Engex she didn’t notice the flier sitting down right next to her. Not until he pushed a glass of Energon Wine towards her, while twirling his own slowly.
“What is a lovely femme like yourself doing so alone at the bar? Waiting for a handsome mech to ask you out?” Asked the mech, to which Tankcrusher could only laugh in response. “What? Is there something on my face?”
“No.” Was all she gave as a response before grabbing the glass of Energon Wine, giving it a look over and downing the whole thing in one go. Stunning the mech next to her into silence. “What? Never seen someone who can down a whole glass without getting tipsy? If you were looking for someone to get easily drunk with, the younger mechs and femmes are over there.” Tankcrusher pointed with her thumb over to her old teammates, before going back to staring down at her own drink. But from the winkel of her optic, she could see that the mech wasn’t going away. Instead, he finished his drink just as quickly as her, before ordering two more glasses. One for him and one for her.
“If I wanted one of them, don’t you think I would be trying my luck over there? Also, why should I try my luck with coale, when the most beautiful diamond is hiding over here?” Asked the mech, before flashing Tankcrusher a sultry smirk paired with a wink of his optic. Something that caused Tankcrusher’s cheeks to slightly heat up. How long has it been since someone flirted with her like that? If her memory serves her well, it was way before the war even happened. When she was still a young femme trained to serve as a protector of a high ranking council member. Back then those who flirted with her mostly did it to gain a better spot in society though. So, it took her slightly off guard to have someone be this interested in her.
“O-oh, well, you do know that coal can become a diamond over time, don’t you?” Asked Tankcrusher in return, to which the mech was now the one laughing in response. “I know, but why should I wait for one of those to become a diamond, when I can spend my time with one right now. And may I add…” Said the mech softly, before placing his servo over one of Trankcrusher’s, “you are the most beautiful diamond I have ever seen. May I spend the rest of this celebration with you?”
Trankcrusher was stupid. She knew she was stupid, but this was the first time someone ever showed an interest in her and wasn’t making comments on her age or the fact she was a tall war frame. So, she was allowed to be stupid, wasn’t she? She has served in the war, she has played her part, so, Tankcrusher was allowed to have a little fun and feel like a youngling again, wasn’t she?
“Well…” started the tank, as she carefully took the mech’s servo and moved it up, while she bent down to softly place a kiss on it, “you may spend the evening with me, but first, introductions are needed. I am Tankcrusher, my lovely mech, but you might also know me as Big Bessie.” Now it was the mech’s turn to blush. This femme managed to counter his charme, and, damn she was doing better than he was. Well, he probably shouldn’t have misjudged her as an easy femme, but, if he was honest, this made him like her even more. He always liked the experienced and older femmes over the inexperienced younger ones after all.
“Well, if you’re asking me like that, my diamond, I’m Thrillchaser.” Said the mech, before adding. “And it seems like I just found the right thrill to chase after.”
After this conversation, and a few more Energon Wines, Tankcrusher found herself enjoying the evening more than before. Thrillchaser was a wonderful mech. And while she could see how much of a player he was, she found herself not minding that. Not when he was easily flustered by her mirroring his advances with her own little twist. “I must say, Thrillchaser, I find myself enjoying this evening with you. You know how to treat a femme right.” Chuckled the taller femme, as she dipped her dance partner the way she learned on earth. Low, while their chestplates were touching. “What can I say, you bring out the gentlemech in me.” Retorted Thrillchaser, as he leaned up to press a quick kiss on Tankcrushers lips, which earned him yet another soft chuckle from the femme ontop of him. And that’s how they stayed for a while, before the tank pulled the flier back up to continue dancing with him.
Both of them were gliding over the dance area. With most of the other Cybertronians moving out of the way, as soon as Tankcrusher would come too close to them. Giving her and her dance partner dirty looks, which neither of them paid any attention to. They had too much fun in each other's company. And after they were done with dancing, they returned back to the bar for some more Engex, before Tankcrusher paid for the drinks. Giving Thrillchaser the same sultry look he has given her before, as she lifted him up into her arms. Quickly whispering something in his audials, which earned her a laugh and a nodd, before she made her way out of the bar with her dance partner in her arms. Ready to make some mistakes she swore she wouldn’t do again.
After their night at the bar and, well, what came after that, Tankcrusher was expecting to never hear of the mech named Thrillchaser ever again. But, to her surprise, he came into her bakery the next day, and the day after, and the other day after. Frankly, he has been visiting her day after day in her small bakery. Or, whenever his job allowed him to come. And during his visits, both of them would talk about Primus and the world. It sure enough was something some customers were unhappy about, because Tankcrusher would pay more attention to Thrillchaser than them, but those who have known the femmes bad luck with mechs only looked at the pair and smiled. Some would even giggle at the cuteness, while others tried to give Tankcrusher advice, as soon as the mech was gone.
And this went on for a while, until Thrillchaser officially asked Tankcrusher out for a date, planning to ask her to be his partner, but Tankcrusher beat him to it. Really, they only took one step into the art museum and the femme was already dragging him towards an empty part of the museum. Asking him to be her partner, before pinning him against the wall and giving him a loving kiss. Ending the whole situation with, “Sorry, but I heard that artworks must be pinned against the wall in a museum.” And Thrillchaser couldn’t do anything but blush as he pulled the femme back into a deeper kiss.
After that, they continued with their date as if nothing happened. Holding servos, as they walked down the halls of the museum, while either pointing at things they liked, or making fun of strange looking art.
And for a short time in her life, Tankcrusher felt truly happy.
But some things can’t stay the way they are. She knew that. Life was an ever changing flow of time and, sometimes, happiness was but a small rock being thrown into the stream. For them, their happiness was the fact that they would become creators. At first, both Tankcrusher and Thrillchaser couldn’t believe the medic. It shouldn’t be possible, not with how old Tankcrusher was, but, somehow, the pair was blessed with the miracle of having a sparkling together. A sparkling… This would be Tankcrusher’s first sparkling, and the femme was scared. What if her little spark wouldn’t make it? She was old, and complications aren’t unheard off. What if the small spark wouldn’t make it because of her?
Tankcrusher kept her worries in for a long time, until she couldn’t any longer. And so, she confessed everything to her love. How she felt, how much she was worried and how much he feared for their sparkling’s health. “You shouldn’t worry so much about this, my diamond.” Said Thrillchaser, as they were sitting together in their home. She, on the small couch and him next to her. With Thrillchaser softly patting the small bulge where their sparkling was forming. “If he's anything like you and me, the sparkling will be a fighter.” Said the flier, before adding. “Also, our little flier is already past the phase with the most complications. From here on out, everything should be fine.”
“What makes you think our sparkling will be a flier Thriller? I am pretty sure that he will be a little tank, just like his mama.” Said Tankcrasher, as she watched Thrilllchaser softly place his audial over the bugle. “It’s a flier thing.” Chuckled the flier. Softly cooing at the soon to be sparkling, before adding. “And how do you know that our little flier will be a tank, Bessie? Don’t tell me it’s a carrier thing.”
“Well, I guess I won’t tell you then.” Chuckled the tank, as she carefully wrapped her arms around Thrillchaser for a hug. Pulling the mech onto her lap, while both of them started to make plans for their future.
But that future never came. At least, for one of them it didn’t come as planned.
Phoenix’s birth was a worrisome one, because the little sparkling came one month too early.
Little Phoenix was too small as he came and the medics at the clinic told the two new creators that their sparkling wouldn’t make the first night, but Tankcrusher didn’t believe them. She couldn’t believe them, but if it was true, she wanted to spend the night with her little spark. So, she asked the medics if she was allowed to hold her little spark the whole night through. And while they were against it at first, the desperation in the tanks voice and the pleading look of the flier made them change their mind.
And that's how Tankcrusher and Thrillchaser spent their first night with their little spark. With the flier sleeping in a chair next to the medical berth and the tank watching her sparkling as he was resting on her chest. One servo draped over the way too small frame. Singing soft lullabies throughout the night while she whispered prayers in between songs to Primus and Unicron that heir little light wouldn’t fade from this world so soon.
And as the morning broke, it seemed like Tankcrusher’s prayer was being listened to, because the small sparkling on her chest started to move. At first, the movements were small, nothing a usual sparkling would do, but the little spark soon enough moved more and more. Letting out quiet whimpers, until one loud cry woke his creators up.
Thrillchaser was quick to jump up and rush out of the room in search for a medic, while Tankcrusher held her little sparkling, her little miracle close to her chest. Muttering praises to Primus and Unicron, as she watches the small spark squirm in her servos.
“Phoenix… You’re just like a Phoenix, aren’t you little one?”
The week that came after this day was filled with joy. Both creators loved their new sparkling more than anything on Cybertron, but as the months passed by, Thrillchaser saw more and more how his son didn’t resemble him, but rather a mech who once thought with the Autobots. And while little Phoenix didn’t share the same frame type or color scheme, the resemblance was still there, and it wouldn’t leave the flier's mind.
So, he grew distant from his sparkling, and from his love too. Tankcrusher still treated the sparkling as if nothing was wrong with him. As if he didn’t resemble that cursed prime. And that was something that made Thrillchaser’s energon boil. How could this… this… this cursed child take up so much attention of his love? Wasn’t it enough that Rodimus Prime took so much from him? Had he also to take his happiness? Had the memory of the prime come back in the form of his sparkling?
Those thoughts stirred inside of Thrillchaser for a long time. And so, one day, he made his way over to the sleeping sparkling, picked him up, placed him in a basket and carried him towards the door. Better get rid of this… this thing, before Tankcrusher noticed, but before he could even take one step towards the door, his love was already there. Blocking the entrance, as if she could feel what he was up to.
“Out of my way Bessie.”
But Tankcrusher didn’t move. She only stared down at Thrillchaser. “Where are you going with our sparkling, Thriller?”
“Our sparkling? Our sparkling?! Have you seen this thing?! This isn’t ours!” Thrillchaser didn’t mean to yell, he didn’t, but the suppressed anger of seeing his friends die at the hands of the prime didn’t leave the flier with another choice. The thing in the basket wasn’t his sparkling. No matter what Tankcrusher claimed otherwise.
“It is. You were there when little Phoenix was born. Now, please, stop-”
“Stop what? Getting rid of his cursed thing? Honestly, Bessie, I thought you would have seen it by now. This is the dead prime reborn!” Screeched the flier, which caused the sparkling in the basket to let out his own screams of fear, and Tankcrusher to spring into action.
She was quick to grab the basket from the furious flier. Taking her sparkling out and cradling him to her chest with one servo, as she reached with the other for her knife she carried in her subspace at all times. Pointing the end of it at Thrillchaser. “Do you really think I haven’t noticed it? But even if our sparkling was the prime reborn, I would still love Phoenix with all of my spark. And you know why, Thriller? Because he is ours. He’s our sparkling, and he needs us.”
“This is no sparkling of mine.” Was all Thrillchaser said, before making his way out of the door.
Tankcrusher waited days, weeks, months for Thrillchaser to come back, but after a year of waiting, she finally admitted that he would never come back. The flier had made up his mind, and she would respect that. Even if it brought her to tears just thinking about how her one true love would never return to her.
But then, she would look down at the little sparkling playing on the floor and find herself smiling at the innocent little thing trying to build a tower with his blocks, only to start crying as he accidentally knocked them down.
“Oh sweet spark…” Chuckled the femme, as she carefully picked up little Phoenix and held him close to her chest. Sitting down on the couch, before she started to softly soothe the upset little spark. “Don’t be sad little one. It’s just a tower. We can build a new one. A bigger one.” Cooed Tankcrusher as she carefully started to tickle the upset sparkling’s sides. Earning her some cute little giggles from Phoenix. “See, everything is okay. Mama is here. Mama will always be here.”
“Nothing will ever separate us, my little fire bird, not even the biggest of Cybertronians.”
#sentient sg/lost light au#phoenix#tankcrusher#thrillchaser#transformers ocs#ocs#This special/side story wouldn't leave my mind since yesterday#so#I wrote it#It kind of feels like it was needed#It at least explains some things#I think?#either way#I hope allof you enjoy this special
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Russell expecting Aston Martin to be really strong at Australian GP as he counters recent Hamilton set-up comments
George Russell has tipped Aston Martin to be an even stronger force at the Australian Grand Prix, pointing to the impressive cornering ability the AMR23 has displayed over the first two rounds of the season.
After an eye-catching test period, Aston Martin translated that form into back-to-back podium finishes behind the dominant Red Bulls in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia – both at the hands of new signing and two-time world champion Fernando Alonso.
READ MORE: Russell calls Jeddah drive ‘one of my strongest weekends in F1’ despite losing P3 to Alonso
Amid Aston Martin’s surge up the order, Mercedes have been battling issues with their 2023 challenger, so much so that a concept change is on the cards, while Ferrari are also struggling for performance and reliability.
Asked about his and Mercedes’s potential at this weekend’s event in Melbourne, Russell commented: “If we manage to get another P4, or fight for the podium, that will probably be exceeding the potential of the car.
“I think Aston are going to be really strong here. They seem to be the quickest car in the medium-speed corners, which obviously there’s plenty of them here in Melbourne, so if we can fight with Aston and Ferrari again, that’d be a good weekend.”
Alonso beat the Ferrari and Mercedes machines to the podium at the first two races
Later on in Thursday’s driver press conference, the topic turned to the intra-team dynamic at Mercedes, with Russell asked for his thoughts on comments Lewis Hamilton made after the last race at Jeddah.
“The strategy didn’t really work out for me,” Hamilton told Sky Sports F1 after following Russell home in Saudi Arabia. “The set-up was a bit off – I think if I had the set-up that George had, I would have been in a better position.
READ MORE: ‘So many people told me it was wrong’ – Hamilton reflects on 10 years since his Mercedes debut in Australia
“There was like a 50:50 choice. I chose one way, he chose another. More often than not, the way he went was the wrong one, but it just happened to work, so I could only match his pace rather than be quicker.”
When asked about Hamilton’s comments in Melbourne, Russell was keen to note the work he put in ahead of and during the event, stressing that there was no luck in the outcome.
Russell and Hamilton went wheel-to-wheel in Saudi Arabia, with the younger Briton coming out on top
“I don’t think there’s any luck in it at all, I think it’s down to the preparation you put in before the event,” said Russell, who is contesting his second season with the Silver Arrows.
“The changes we made overnight [after practice], I knew that was going to be the right direction with the work we did with the team, and I believed it was going to be better than the set-up that Lewis opted for.
READ MORE: Wolff shares ‘promising’ signs from Mercedes factory amid W14 development push
“I think everybody’s got different preferences. I was happy with the direction I took and the work I’m doing with the engineers.”
Mercedes sit third in the constructors’ standings heading into round three, level on points with Aston Martin – both teams 49 adrift of championship leaders Red Bull.
via Formula 1 News https://www.formula1.com
#F1#Russell expecting Aston Martin to be ‘really strong’ at Australian GP as he counters recent Hamilton set-up comments#Formula 1
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Enhancements to your home's appearance, comfort, and features
Home Renovations have become rather popular in the ever-evolving fields of interior design and homeownership. Through redesigning your home, you can increase its comfort, usefulness, and aesthetic appeal. Alternatively, you might start over. With the right interior design, a property can be turned into a unique retreat that reflects the interests and tastes of its residents, whether it's a little room makeover or a whole house remodel. About the importance of home upgrades and how they may turn a property into the home of one's dreams, this article goes into great detail.
Enhancing Your House: An Opportunity to Begin Again
The dynamics of ownership have evolved in our fast-paced society. These days, homes serve many purposes than just housing. They are evolving into secure settings where people can unwind, create cherished experiences with their families, and build lasting bonds. It's understandable why people are pleased that house modifications are now a popular trend. Renovations are the ideal method to ensure that your living space fits your lifestyle, as more and more homeowners are realizing.
Personalization and customization: Making a home uniquely one's own is a major motivation behind Home Renovations. You can transform your house into the ideal living area that every person imagines when you make improvements to it. Residents can customize their houses to suit their requirements and preferences with additions, such as adding an opulent spa-like bathroom, an open-concept kitchen, or a comfortable reading nook.
Renovations to the home can significantly increase comfort and utility. This is such that alterations to its structure and functionality can greatly improve its usability and comfort. Transform a tiny, claustrophobic kitchen into a roomy, tranquil space where you can enjoy cooking. It might also be more enjoyable to come together with family and friends in a transformed lively entertainment area that was previously a boring basement. Renovations improve the living area and increase the property's worth.
Remodeling Your Home: The Three Steps
A successful do-it-yourself project needs to be carefully planned, well executed, and consider what to do once the work is finished. Two, it provides a thorough strategy on how to accomplish the objective. There are three steps in the entire process.
For any home renovation to be successful, the most crucial phase is the planning and design stage. In order to communicate their ideas, establish a budget, and create a thorough plan, homeowners collaborate with builders, architects, and interior designers. In this instance, striking a balance between usefulness and attractiveness is crucial. It is important to consider how the design, materials, color schemes, and overall style complement the homeowner's preferences.
Projects proceed to the building and execution phases following the completion of the planning stage. The concepts for implementing adjustments now materialize. This phase may involve building, dismantling, plumbing, electrical work, and other jobs, depending on the scope of the project. For the time being, the project team's ability to communicate with one another will determine whether the refurbishment proceeds according to plan and whether issues are resolved promptly.
What to consider after remodeling: Homeowners can now enjoy their newly remodeled living room as the remodeling is complete and the dust has settled. There are other crucial considerations to make at this time, such as upkeep and care. The improvements will endure longer and continue to raise the house's value with proper maintenance.
Striking a Balance Between the Practical and the Attractive
A well-executed home renovation successfully blends design and utility. Finding this delicate balance is necessary to create living areas that are both functional and aesthetically pleasing.
A remodel's color palette, accent items, furniture selections, and lighting design all contribute to its overall appearance. A person's style can significantly impact the ambiance and tone of a space if they choose it carefully. Select a design that reflects the homeowner's personality and likes, such as a straightforward, modern aesthetic or an earthy, retro aesthetic.
Usability: A renovated space must fulfill its intended function even if it looks fantastic. The way items are arranged, how easy they are to use, and how easily they may be stored are some elements that enhance functionality. While a kitchen makeover should concentrate on keeping things functional, a bedroom makeover should concentrate on establishing a peaceful and soothing ambiance.
Emotions and money go together in hand
In addition to financial costs, home renovations also need time and effort. It could be difficult and exhilarating at the same time, from the moment the makeover is first planned until the completed products are viewed.
Before beginning any remodeling project, homeowners should establish and adhere to a precise budget. In the event that there are unforeseen issues or modifications to the initial plan, costs may rise rapidly. Sellers and contractors can collaborate closely to control costs without compromising quality.
Sensual satisfaction: The psychological advantages of home remodeling are immeasurable. It's amazing to watch a once-boresome area transform into a cozy, fashionable haven that perfectly captures the owner's personality. People may experience greater happiness and well-being in their daily life as a result of the renovations.
Remodeled homes are comparable to the individual pieces that weave together to form a whole. The fabric of housing is this entire thing. The adaptability of modern living allows individuals to customize their living areas to suit their preferences. It's becoming more and more simple for people to make their homes reflect their own personalities and aspirations thanks to the expanding trend of home renovations. All things considered, home renovations, no matter how minor or major, demonstrate people's creativity and desire for a higher quality of life.
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Alinea // 4-24-2023
The story of the most Haute Couture fine dining experience I have yet to have had, in northern-downtown Chicago, IL. Enjoyed with Astrid. 3*.
Arrival:
An unassuming black door, in a residential neighborhood, just north of the “true” Downtown per our Lyft driver on the way. We were slightly late due to an unexpected gigantic dental conference that had taken over the city, and the restaurant publishes no phone number - their email is the only way to let them know you’re late. Nonetheless, when we arrived 20 minutes past seating time, the staff immediately welcomed me, checked my coat, and reported that they knew about my knee and were happy to let us explore the full length of our dinner at “any pace that’s yours” which I thought was thoughtful wording. The entryway was narrow and cold, despite the warm staff; they couldn’t get a photo that wasn’t cut off (not their fault, but was the first of many signs that unlike French Laundry, this restaurant is a high-end choice frequented by regulars, not Special Event-ees). (Of note, we dined on an unassuming Monday, so this may be a consequence of that choice. Big ‘Old Money’ energy in the room).
Seating:
Astrid and I partook in the “Salon at Alinea” experience — the “main” dining room on the second floor, but by far the most formal one — the “Kitchen Table” (one party, in a glass ‘fishbowl’ just within the kitchen) and “Gallery” seatings (on the first floor just beyond it) both felt claustrophobic and informal, with harsh lighting, and more casual energy, despite their additional courses. We were seated in a half-booth with a free edge - an odd choice, as nearly every other seat in the restaurant had a ‘closed edge’ bumper-style half-booth (aka one plush seat on one side, with a booth with ‘walls’/a ‘side’ opposite)— but I soon discovered this was an intentional placement such that my right side was free for a conveniently-always-available usher to appear the moment I set my napkin down, in order to offer assistance standing and escort me to and open the doorway for the ladies room. This was extremely convenient, and at first I thought he was always stationed nearby — but one of our hostesses Rebecca later commented humorously on the number of rises I had during my meal and apparently she would hand signal my movements with subtlety and precision such that someone was always immediately there. Interesting, but Something.
Service:
The welcoming team and coat check girls were all young, effervescent, and sweet, going out of their way to reassure and welcome. Our servers were somewhat more formal. Our main host of the evening was freshly here from Marseille just six months prior, and was formal but polite. You could see his brow furrowing trying to recalculate each time a plate was not wiped clean, as if he had never met anyone with Astrid’s tasting appetite (truly, my grandmother would be proud — a truly lady!) and determined to adjust surgically. Our main hostess, Rebecca, was much more light — armed with bold snaking earrings, she quickly adapted her demeanor from elegant to casual with a measured warmth that seemed genuinely touched by our novelty of experience. Her inquiries of our ‘incomplete’ plates came from a place of determination to find The Thing that would make a meal accessible to Few, accessible to Anyone. This included gentle adaptation of both the demeanor, and the meal. One guy who was not our main host did stare us down determined to re-explain several times that a particular dish was meant to be swallowed whole, to which I had to insist that my friend prefers Tasting rather than Finishing each course for him to go away. Rebecca overheard this and made that joke (with the phrasing, which I stole) herself. Five stars for her.
Ambiance:
Darkness… seriously, this place was dark. Aside from a single tapered candle at each table, there appeared to be little illumination in the windowless Salon floor, and while it was beautiful it also felt moody, like the audience. Our experience while pleasant did feel uncanny valley — everyone seemed like they were in a routine or slightly-off fog, like Halloweentown during that sequel in which things slowly turned black-and-white and less fun due to a curse. It felt clear that we were the only diners there on our first visit. Thankfully the staff seemed to lift at this prospect, offering extra smiles and attention, but it was a bit weird. As part of our journey, an ornamental snuffer (name?) was delivered to put out the candle. No significance was afforded this, and the rest of the meal was enjoyed in relative darkness. Thank god for my iPhone’s night mode.
I cannot overstate how Weird the evening felt. We learned during the kitchen tour (not included, but a special accommodation because we asked) that the restaurant only uses computers for reservation bookings through Tock and communications with guests about special needs - everything else is communicated verbally or handwritten down like little love letters from the upstairs to below. Every single dish has to travel up a steep and somewhat perilous staircase. Every single time I used the bathroom, somebody was informed via paper card downstairs or knowing brow signal upstairs. Like, don’t get me wrong, it’s an impeccable machine—but definitely a Machine. Compared to TFL (my only other true 3* seating, vs. my Jean-Georges finesse with a ‘2-course’ $45 power lunch in 2013), which had similar great service but felt much more organic, and at home. It wasn’t as surgically precise, but it felt more homely, like a dinner from a passionate but laid-back host (a true accomplishment, if the stories about Thomas Keller’s less playful moods are a foil). I think I would have described the night as an air of ‘delicate unease’ — Chris would later accurately pin down the vibe as ‘vaguely threatening.’
Everyone I shared this experience with (including when reporting back later) referenced The Menu (2022) organically, and there was more than one occasion where I felt suspiciously studied. This was not helped by my sudden realization of an orchestral arrangement of “I’m Not Okay” by My Chemical Romance early in our dinner. I did not put it past them to have researched me on Instagram.
Presentation:
My god, r/WeWantPlates wants in on this. Some of the food was straightforward. Some of the food looked violent. Some of the food involved the timely removal of a sharp needle and immediate throwing of said needle-containing dish with urgency in order to ‘experience it right.’ Multiple courses involved actual surgical tools. I had plates with holes in them, hidden courses in my table decor, ritualized candle-killing with seemingly no significance, and an air of expectation as if the staff thought we knew what we had signed up for. They do not publish nor let you preview the evening’s menu—everything accommodates stated no-go’s and from there you are at their mercy. Again, this may have been to the building full of regulars. Details notable in the photos.
I feel like it is important to note going forward that the titles and inspiration for the courses were rarely shared with us, until the conclusion of the experience.
Pairing:
Declined, as neither Astrid nor I are big on drink. I did request a cocktail and was informed that the kitchen only stocks waters of still, sparkling, plus wines and champagne. I asked if a Coke was available and told that could be accommodated. It was served in a wine glass filled to the brim with large ice. Points for giant cup, minuses for poor ice shape without a novelty (it wasn’t pre-boiled to justify a gauche shape). 5/10 as I need a bitter cocktail as a palette cleanser (typically sprite + mint + cranberry), but they did find me a soft drink.
Course 1: Nacre (note: no amuse bouche)
“Ostera, Mussel, Lychee”
To welcome our evening, we were asked to offer our non-dominant hand, in which a large, heavy glass art piece was placed filled to the brim with caviar with a texture meant to “be experienced by your hand at the same time as your mouth.”* Our scooping utensil was pure Mother of Pearl. The tastiest caviar of my life, and the lychee was the perfect fresh burst in an otherwise brulee-worthy creme base. The glass beading at the bottom made music when met by the instrument, announcing the end of this bite with a encouraging melody. 10/10.
*This is not the first time presenting notes would be disarmingly intimate, even if aromantic.
Course 1.5: Secret Course, Unlisted
No official description
‘Hot and Cold,’ or alternatively, ‘Potato, Potahto.’ This course seemed to be an obsession of the Bonus Server mentioned above, and was served on a needle penetrating a small disc levitating a kabob of hot bits (primarily, potato) meant to pulled through to fall into the cold bits (an emulsion of, evidently, potato). I cannot overstate how passionately the gentleman wanted us to pull the pin and eat this at the “urgent moment” in order to experience “the play of temperature,” a phrase he used surely no less than six times. He even brought Astrid an alternate (made of the same thing, it did not include dairy per my taste buds and seemingly confirmed by a confused but politely accommodating Rebecca who seemed more keen to appease the guest server’s fear of coldness than wanting to avoid correcting him publicly) while fretting that the experience would be diminished by the lack of a single gulp. I gently suggested that her peckishness was normal and to be accepted after which our service was more smooth.
Reflecting now, I realize that the release of Hot felt familiar less like pulling out an earring (for the wearer, this motion is backwards) but rather, the pulling of a pin from a grenade. “Vaguely threatening” or “outright violent,” indeed.
8/10 — Lost points for aggression, the real risk of injury, and wartime provocations — otherwise stellar due to somehow maximizing the amount of Potato that could be contained within More Potato. I love potato literally and spiritually, so 8/10.
Course 2: Plume
“Atlantic Black Sea Bass
Crisps, Ashed Onion Dip, Mint”
Ah, “The Ashtray.” Unwitnessed at the table, but captured only due to our proximity to the upstairs host stand: the team had created a cigarette made of a dried and cured onion, which they would light on fire, allow to glow, then tap the “ashes” into a fondue-looking, french-onion-soup tasting emulsion served in a literal vintage ashtray and served at the table side with a basket of individually-packed fried fishy-sliver crisps for us to use as a vehicle for tasting. It smelled like my mother’s hugs from my childhood, without the bronchospasm. The fish appeared raw but tasted fully-cooked. It paired with a dollop of a different-textured but mirrored-tasting liquid on the plate. Excellent leverage of flavor and texture (so much variety from one core ‘taste’), but points lost due to the ick factor and childhood trauma. 6/10.
Course 3: Heads and Tails
“Bun, Coriander, Chili
White Peppercorn, White Sesame, White Miso”
Aka: Oh, the seaweed is actually not meant to be edible. This meal was served with shrimps hidden in some suspiciously-fresh-seeming seaweed (we are thousands of miles from the nearest ocean, and I’m not sure what’s more Alinea of them—shipping in daily, or raising their own? Side note ‘Alinea’ is officially replacing ‘extra’ in my vocabulary for the rest of this meal) that you are meant to hand crust in a pinch pot full of spices that they shared came from Thomas Keller’s personal garden, or something to that effect. They weirdly noted that the shrimp tails were not meant to be eaten, a weird addition if not for later courses demonstrating that ‘typically inedible’ will not always apply to future accompaniments.
On the side was a ‘bun’ that appeared like pretzel bread, had the flavor of Distinctively Seafood, and the mouthfeel of a microwaved dinner roll. I did not like it, but felt the bottom-glaze of spicy mayo did it favors.
This course was when I learned that Astrid has a shellfish allergy, something she had not noted to me before (I knew of her low-dairy, cooked-with-okay), but the team promptly replaced her shrimp with a candied sweet potato that had the texture of a non-sticky turkish delight. The potato was truly routine at elevation, the shrimp was tragically overcooked and gummy. 7/10 potato, 2/10 shrimp ball and weird shrimp bread you will not convince me was Actual bread. Bizarre without payoff.
Course 4*: Hot Potato
“Cold Potato, Black Truffle, Parmesan”
Whoops, this was our secret course *1.5 from above! Likely served to us ‘early’ due to our tardy arrival and clearly obsessive devotion to deliverance of this course at the prompt moment of existence. Well, at least I can confirm some of the ingredients. The parmesan was a garnish on the spear, and had been omitted from Astrid’s.
Course 5: Squeaker
“Potpourri, Pear, Foie Gras, Aigre-Doux”
Picture a thurible swinging in motion up a Catholic mass aisle; the bird scissors iconic for bluebird freedom in Over the Garden Wall; an Easter basket opened with enthusiasm on an April morning; the fine, but aged ornamental metalware seen in grandmother’s china cabinet. This is the aesthetic of this course, which was revealed to be at our table all along with a dramatic removal of the (presumably dead, very on theme) dried flowers from the metal swan on our table.
Our server arrived initially with just an empty bowl with bird legs, and a Faberge egg emitting potpourri smoke. The basket contained a greasy paper bag with delightfully rich biscuit-scones (think the ‘coo-nut’ of the two) and two jars housing a house-made blueberry compote and accompanying foie grois. The hexagonal jars were ceremonially placed in the empty leg bowl but the biscuits left to us to retrieve with doomed-to-be-greasy manicured fingers. I appreciate the social commentary of foie grois served in a metal swan, a grim reminder of the violent means by which medium birds are torture-fed with metal instruments (the dish is outlawed in Los Angeles), but if my year in anatomy lab is any testament my appreciation of the technicality of a presentation stops when it interferes with my mealtimes. The gras was liquidity in texture, but worked miraculously with the compote on the tastiest buttered scone I have every enjoyed — I believe ‘Aigre-Doux’ refers to the sweet and sour contrast of the two flavors.
Truly immaculate triumph of flavor that is so strong the forced soiling of hands without offered wet towel and jarring reminder of the inherent violence of such a flavor can only bring it down to 9/10 (come to think of it, maybe that above was the point, in which case begrudgingly 10/10).
Course 6: Explosion
“Black Truffle, Romaine, Parmesan”
Two items;
First, a dumpling-flavored envelope, shaped like a baby quiche, with the texture of a frozen-potsticker envelope that had heated unevenly in the microwave but housing a perfectly gooey hot-red-bean-bun-textured inward made of, you guessed it, an explosion of molten black truffle. They warned us to “seal your lips tight” before biting, once again aromantically intimate. Astrid did Not care for this one. I usually don’t care for truffle myself but found it the best enjoyed of my limited experiences. It was A Lot. Lifting the spoon revealed our plate was in fact, a ring, and much like this restaurant one that could Lift Up, but not provide rest. Shock because there’s really no excuse for such a terrible outer texture, but great points afforded for nailing a version of truffle I could enjoy; 6/10.
Second, a glass cage, made of three candied leaves of lettuce, carrot, and some other green. It seemed to bleed on the plate, and opened to reveal sturgeon, on a bed of something black with the texture of a spinach-artichoke dip but a flavor much more woodsy and nutty than that. It was the best game I have ever cared to enjoy, both flavor and texture. However, I felt like I had scavenged a murder scene to violate a tomb. Spectacular flavor and presentation but impossible to enjoy on a single forkful, with losses to mouthfeel due to needing to ‘pocket’ individual elements like a patient avoiding meds. For making me feel like a chipmunk, 7.5/10.
Course 7: Jacob’s Ladder
“Pomegranate, White Asparagus, Jameed”
The wagyu course. It was tasty, but they had done so much to overwhelm the steak piece with flavors and infusions that it was impossible to recognize its core component. Paired with an incredible pomegranate and rhubarb reduction, and dusted with the (finally revealed, forebodingly present yet as of yet unacknowledged) large egg that had stared us down for the prior few courses (it turned out to be a semi-solidified dried shelf-stable stone made of sheep’s milk which Hope correctly identified by that description alone as an Arabic staple!). A winner with Astrid, but how could you drown out Wagyu such that it could have been replaced with literally anything? 9/10.
Course 8: Paint
“Flavors of a Banana Split”
There was one allergy I hadn’t listed in my inquiries, as I had noted even raw honey due to the possibility of a wayward encapsulated bee. It didn’t seem relevant, yet I would come to laugh with Astrid as our tablecloth was replaced with rubber and a balloon would come to arrive (thankfully, silicone). A chef performed table side to paint an explosion of cherry, waffle crumb, vanilla, and chocolate sauce. He followed with a smoking ball of white pumice, which turned out to be edible aerogel in the form of weightless, freeze-dried banana ice cream—which was promptly smashed. He finished this with a flourish! (hear this from the Magic Show episode of WandaVision) of cherry glitter, god knows what that’s made of. As we scooped up the fruity-wet memories of dip-n-dots summers, another server arrived…
…bearing two clear balloons on strings extended to us by way of hemostat (thankfully, candy). The balloons were green-apple flavored taffy, made thin and translucent and twisted into a bubble and ’string’ after inflation with helium in-house (as we’d see on the Kitchen Tour we’d later finagle, this by far seemed the most consumptive ask of the evening, requiring the majority of the kitchen to execute safely). We were asked to “kiss” the balloon to trap it and “breathe it in” — which would prove to transform diners into chipmunks in a funny nod to the squirrel comment earlier.
“Did you get enough helium, Astrid?” “Uhm, no~”
This is what broke us. Delighted to have found a course Astrid seemed to love (dessert, relatable), hearing her cynical no in a voice Alvin himself would be envious of made us both burst out laughing in a fit that would be incurable until the conclusion of the dinner. I followed suit, and we both cracked up insatiably at the absurdity and humor of the evening. The tension and irony was multilayered (Jazz is allergic to latex! This should be a non issue at a fine dining dinner. Oh great we made it to dessert! Oh, wait, the table is now rubberized! Oh wait, the staff is now presenting a balloon! But joy! The balloon and rubber both of which are typically made with latex are in fact, Not That! Huzzah!) (Surgical tools such as these are typically used for holding things apart! But they bear a sticky taffy that will bind and superglue everything it comes in contact with, including teeth! Oops, it caught on a wine glass. Oh thank god it caught on a wine glass and not the next lateral destination, Jazz’s hair! Why wouldn’t they warn us so I could tie my hair up beforehand? Are they secretly hoping it would get caught?!) (Wait, don’t we have a helium shortage that is literally non-renewable? We use these for MRIs and spectroscopy right? I bet they use this not just for novelty but also to keep the liquid nitrogen cool, I remember this from OChem NMR labs… wait).
But, in the spirit of rating each step as an in-and-of-itself, one cannot deny dessert a 10/10. It was a mastery of innovation, both in presentation, awe, spectacle (the glitter!), as well as captioning a meal that was markedly uncomfortable yet confident in its cynical reflection on the world and its audience.
Conclusion:
By the end, I felt that I was laughing with, rather than at, by, Alinea. Yes, the world is dying. Yes, this couture meal is built on the back of instrumented fowl, instrumented kitchen staff, instrumented whimsy, and instrumental music. Yes, we have forced you to confront Pollution (cigarette) and Waste, as if Chef saw The Black Parade and decided War and Death needed culinary siblings. Yes, Actual Helium, as twice nightly this finite resource dwindles even further in deliverance of a symbol of childhood joy, purposefully handed with sterile instruments to diners markedly averse to partaking in its silliness, a social commentary on the drainage of resources for those who don’t even use them as a mark of wealth and status. Stab your sad balloon, how grand to allow this invisible priceless gold to evaporate forever, just because you can. Laugh, naive diners, as you realize with horror how routine this has become for those around you as they do not react to the big reveal. Here is a peek behind the curtain, because you have acquiesced to our rules and can play with us, once. Are you sure you want to stay?
This was by far the most innovative meal I have ever had in my life, and the team should triumph in the wake of their precision. The creation, delivery, and accuracy were unmatched. The gimmicks, incredible, their nature notwithstanding. The flavors, incredible.
And yet, //
I never want to experience this again.
- J, 4/25/23
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Ideas on House Building
Most people dream of having their own home, and rather than buying an existing house they prefer building one. People have high hopes and dreams which makes them committed to build their dream home. There are so many valuable points that make building a home more beneficial. The reasons are as follows:
1 After a dense house hunting, people realise that no house offers the features or facilities they are looking for.
2 Their desire to have a custom design, specially curated for their family’s needs and comfort.
3 Their needs differ from the options available. Differences can be in anything, like: location, society, lifestyle etc.
Specifications on Building House
Before starting with your dream house, you must always consider some possibilities and should decide upon certain choices. Some of them can be common like:
1 Area of operation_ The most crucial decision is to decide the area where you want to build your house. The perfect location is a reflection of comfort, a place where you get all the things you need to live happily and peacefully. These may include the common urban living facilities like, school, children park, medical facilities, entertainment zones and shopping areas etc. You can also look for areas with possible future development.
2 Always consider your budget before designing the house. You can relate the cost of lot with your budget as well. Also do not participate in the fashion to rule out buying old homes and tearing them down without keeping a record of your budget pocket.
3 Always remember that beauty lies in the details but not all details fit your pockets. Picture your interiors and exteriors, finishings and color schemes accordingly.
Your own Contractor
In order to build a home, the first step should be to list down your expectations. If you are clear with what you want from your contractor, there will be less problems and a more clear vision for achieving your dream. Therefore, always understand the building process and take patience in your work.
Always be open for suggestions and feedback from your contractor while designing your house. As experts in their field, they may have ideas you might have never thought of, like in terms of designing, finishings, colour schemes and more. Therefore it is necessary to choose a reputed and knowledgeable builder with positive reviews and a good image.
Operating in Cape Town, South Africa; Builders 365 is a construction company with a good crowd of contractors and dedicated builders. The company also deals in the supply of construction and gardening material. We have a team of professionals who look through the slightest details and work to create them in such a way that it becomes an art. The size, location and conditions don’t matter to us. We are reputed enough to deliver the best to our promised clients and leave them satisfied.
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Recommendations on Selecting A Going swimming Pool Construction Group
Selecting a swimming pool construction team is going in order to be a significant decision if a person are thinking regarding possessing a swimming swimming pool built. Your floating around pool is going to be a serious investment to your own Property and Way of life so having the right team is vitally important to the quality of your current finished product.
Below are some hints on selecting some sort of swimming pool building team.
Project Administration:
Most States demand a Permit Application become approved before building commences. A great pool construction group will deal with the entire software process on your behalf. This will likely save you on moment, money and the particular stress involved.
Site Survey:
Your group should give a web site survey of your respective Property and give you advice regarding the benefits and setbacks of your own proposed pool place. They should also advise you of the most effective location, size and design and style that will fit your Property, Neighbourhood plus pool use.
Pleased Clients:
Your group should be suffered and still have a portfolio of completed projects that you may check. That they should are typically in the particular swimming pool design industry for several years with fulfilled clients you could talk with.
Time Frame:
Make sure you are given a time frame intended for the completion of the project. Any time doing your because of diligence with prior clients, you could ask them concerning the reliability with the team and their very own compliance with decided time frames.
Pool Styles and Materials:
Your children's pool construction crew should have a choice of pool patterns you can select from or have got to be able to design the custom pool to suit you.
Right now there are also some sort of wide variety of materials used to be able to build the pool area as well as the finishing. Inquire advice on the very best materials that match your location, property plus budget. You ought to also request typically the benefits of the particular design and supplies recommended by the staff.
Guarantee:
Make sure that you are offered with a strong guarantee and a remedial process inside the event an individual are not satisfied with the finished item or service.
Customer Service:
Very best team's customer service prefer? Are they the particular type of people who you can trust and work along with? Ask a lot of concerns to satisfy on your own their customer service is always to your expectancy.
After Sales Service:
Just what post sales service may your swimming pool construction team provide? Will they provide the pool servicing and even the equipment that you need? Ask all of them what service these people provide after the job has been accomplished.
Budget:
All fees must be disclosed inside of the discussion approach. Make sure Gartenpool can find no hidden charges or surprises. Also make sure an individual discuss the settlement terms through the entire job.
Contract:
The most important record in the damages construction process is usually to have a comprehensive contract. Read typically the contract completely and question whatever you are not really sure of, work out any terms that you are not happy along with. Remember, you are usually the client so you need to always be satisfied with every single clause in the particular contract.
Due Persistence:
Your pool is usually going to become one of typically the most expensive assets you make to improve your Property in addition to Lifestyle. Make confident you do the due diligence and necessary inquiries prior to making a final selection who to work with.
Generally there should not always be any hidden amazed at any point during the construction process.
Just what makes your damages construction team much better than others? What is usually their Unique Selling Idea? Thinking about do enterprise with them rather than any other group? The answers will help choose your last decision.
So take your time within doing your due diligence and acquire just as much information since you can. End up being completely satisfied before selecting who a person will work together with. In such a big project, doing almost all your inquiry job at the starting will save you time, funds and frustration that will may arise in the course of and after the construction process.
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