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bowieandqueen11 · 3 years

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The Feeling of Being in Love / Dustfinger Imagine

Request: Hiii! Ok omg I just found out you also write for Inkheart and this idea popped up in my head because I love my firedancing boi Dustfinger so much.

May I request something where the reader takes Dustfinger out for ice-cream for the first time?

I love your writing so much, you inspired me to actually post some of my reader imagines on Tumblr and I just wanna say thank you for that. 💖

I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR SOMEONE TO SEND IN A DUSTFINGER REQUEST THANK YOUU @holymultiplefandomsbatman!!! I’m sorry this is terrible, it’s been a while since I read the books! Also real talk, genuinely ily you so much every time I see you in my feed it makes me smile so much you the real one b <3

Even Dustfinger was finding the day uncomfortably warm.

He stands uncomfortably by the fountain, fingers digging - scratching and scrambling at the loose frays of his faded and worn jumper. His fingers itched for you with every second that ticked by in this quaint European town, still so unused to the ways of this world. His eyes flicked around his surroundings, wind blowing the wisps of his blonde fringe lightly over his eyes as if trying to hide him from danger. He was still so suspicious, so mistrustful of everyone, that he wished more than anything that you weren’t taking your sweet time leaving him here. He cowered into himself as a couple of screaming kids ran past, chasing each other.

Despite their constant scrambling against his skin, digging into himself, his fingers itched for you more than anything.

The water is harsh and merciless in the way it dropped down from the fountain’s cupid head and rained down on the pool below, flecking the poor man’s unsuspecting back with its drops. The cobbled stone he currently perched on at the edge of the village square was a mosaic of tangled moss and verglas despite the heat, so different to the constant, intense heat of Argenta.

He shivered a little, beginning to try and take his mind off home and back to his new one. Back to you. Despite his distaste of this world, despite his fear, he found a fond smile had somehow managed to clamber up the edges of his face in an uncomfortably familiar way. He began to click his fingers, fumbling them together and gazing into the flickering flames that arise without really seeing them. He was too busy reminiscing on how he had first met you, that damned Silvertongue’s sister. The way your eyes had lit up during that snowy night outside the Italian bookstore.

Your brother had told you stories of course. But Dustfinger, the famed fire eater, had remained a blurred shadow, a fable, a dream in the back of your mind.

Yet, every puzzle piece seemed to fall into place in your mind when you had spotted him. You were not afraid of the hunched, desperate, ragged man standing as a begging stranger in the glowing lamplight. Not angry at the way he held out his hand for the book, standing there, intrigued, as Mortimer shoved Meggy behind his back. The way you hadn’t run away, but instead gave Dustfinger the biggest surprise of his grief-stricken life by, instead, placing your own hand in his and pulling him forward.

Tumbling, you had caught this crumbling, heartbroken stranger in your arms. Despite his protests, the way his breath raced as you held him against his chest, you still gave him the tenderness he had so desperately needed in all these years of being alone. He had melted into you almost straight away, and since then, he still wasn’t sure how his body didn’t fall to pieces when he was apart from you.

He was still so lost in his heart’s dreams, that he hadn’t realised you had returned from the blue chimneyed parlour on the corner, until he felt your hip sitting down to rest against his. He had given you his fern coloured trench coat, fancying it some sort of good luck charm while you were away from him. You had taken it off, tying it around your waist until the sleeves bunched around the front.

This, coupled with the sound of your sweet, mellifluous laughter as you held out an ice cream cone towards his raised eyebrow, was enough to send a flaming blush racing across his usually tautly pale cheeks.

His fingers tingled as they brushed against yours. He was still so unused to this feeling - this knowledge that somehow, in some other world he could never even have fantasized, he had a love so overshadowing, so powerful, that it could send chills to every nerve of his body with only the most miniscule of touches. He almost jumped away as he clumsily grabbed the strawberry ice cream, eyes flitting back to the ground, as if that would stop you from noticing how flustered he had become without you even saying a word his way.

It terrified him. You terrified him. But, by his maker, if it didn’t make his heart feel that strange mix of elation and wretchedness that only love could inflict.

‘Don’t worry Dusty, I won’t bite.’

You hit his shoulder with your own, biting your lip to stop yourself from giggling as you braced yourself for the sigh you knew was coming. It had taken a while to break down walls, despite their fragility. He was still Dustfinger, still so stubborn, still so careful and protective of his heart that making your way in was slow progress. Yet you had made some strides. You knew how much he hated the nickname you had chosen for him.

He rolled his eyes, sighing as he closed them.

‘How many times do I have to tell you-’

‘...not to call you Dusty’, you finish, having been over this charade a hundred times already since he came to live with you. You grinned, taking a lick from your cone, content with the way his lips twitched from the corner of your vision.

‘It’s not my fault you have no sense of humour.’

‘And it’s not my fault that your world makes no sense’, Dustinger retorted, but there was no sense of malice in his words. There never would be, never could be, if they were directed at you.

‘This, especially. What is this sloppy mess, princess?’

You felt your heart rate quicken slightly, unaware Dustfinger would call your bluff and come up with his own nickname for you. You pretend not to notice, choosing instead to go back to your sweet treat before it began running down the side of the cone and making a dripping mess on your fingers.

He takes one cautious bite himself, humming slightly as the cold bites his teeth.

‘It’s called ice cream, Dustfinger. It’s like a sort of sweet, flavoured ice, but a thousand times better tasting than any way I could describe it.’

When you stop talking, you find that he is looking at you expectantly, eyes squinting slightly in the sun’s blaze, yet still shimmering with some feeling you couldn’t quite understand the magnitude of. His head is tilted slightly to the side, hair wild and free as he just gazes at you, not saying anything, not even thinking. He’s just noticing, taking you all in while he still has the chance.

‘I just thought, you were so warm all the time, it might be nice to feel something else for a change.’

The intensity of the look suddenly has you feeling a little self-conscious, noticing in the water’s reflection the little drops of chocolate that stain the corner of your mouth. Stammering slightly, you reach up to wipe it off, but are stopped by Dustfinger’s own large thumb gently reaching towards your face. You freeze, his skin brushing against your own like a thousand hot pricks as he carefully guides his burnt fingers across the edge of your bottom lip.

For a moment he doesn’t draw away. You drop your cone, splashing ice down onto the cobblestone below your feet in surprise. His hand just stays there, gently tracing the outline of your lip. His eyes dip slightly in concentration, breath ragged as you reach your own hand up to cup his.

‘I am... definitely... feeling something’, he manages to whisper out into this strange world. In this confusing, lost, unfamiliar world, it was the only truth left he had left to give.

His body trembles with the effort of trying to restrain himself, but his body pushes it’s way forwards despite him. Soon, you can feel his chest against yours, breath warm and long as he sighs against your chin, his frame leaning over you slightly.

The sight of his widened, terrified eyes are the last thing you remember seeing, before he reaches down and presses his sugar coated lips against your own.

#dustfinger #dustfinger imagine #paul bettany #inkheart #dustfinger x reader #dustfinger fluff #paul bettany imagine #inkheart imagine #dustfunger inkheart #inkheart fanfic #inkheart fanfiction

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savior-of-humanity · 3 years

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OKAY here are my Thoughts(tm) about The Ancient Gods part II

ALSO: MASSIVE FUCKING SPOILER WARNING FOR THE ANCIENT GODS PART 1 + 2. BE WARNED THIS IS LONG AS FUCK. TL;DR AT BOTTOM.

In terms of the gameplay: I really liked how it played! The combat encounters weren’t downright vicious like in the first DLC, but they still go out of their way to mix things up (i.e a hallway filled with explosive barrels + blood punch pick-ups + Pinkies, or the double-Marauder encounter that you could ACCIDENTALLY FUCKING BUFF JESUS CHRIST) so it was still fun all around.

The new enemies added - the Cyber-Baron/Armored Baron, Riot Zombie/Chaingunner, Screecher Zombie, Stone Imp, and Cursed Prowler - are...okay. I like the idea of new enemy variants based off pre-existing ones but they felt either really fucking frustrating to fight (particularly the Cursed Prowler and Chaingunner) or were very “simple”, I guess. The Stone Imps, in particular, are a variant of Imp that are very resistant to damage unless you use the full-auto mod for the shotgun, in which they drop even more shotgun ammo if they’re killed by that. Other than that they do a Sonic-style spin-dash and slam into you, which can actually knock you off a ledge. Screecher Zombies are basically just mobile hazards that if you accidentally hit, will act like temporary Buff Totems. Cursed Prowler is fucking awful: basically, if it hits you with a projectile, you’ll be cursed with a debuff that keeps you from double-jumping and dashing that also drains your health over time, and you HAVE to kill it with a blood punch in order to remove the curse. Chaingunners are basically just the Shield Zombie Soldiers, but they shoot faster and have an indestructable shield. And finally, the Cyber-Baron: It’s basically a Baron of Hell, but with indestructable armor that can only be destroyed by shooting it’s mace when it flashes green, or by shooting it with plasma. After the armor is gone you have to kill it as fast as you can before the armor is regenerated, repeat until it dies.

Summoner Ghosts and Blood Maykrs also make a return, which is cool.

The Hammer is cool to say the least. I was hoping to see some glory kills with it but considering that it’s primary use is to either clear out groups of small enemies or to stun larger ones like Barons, it makes sense that they’d omit glory kills from it. On top of that, Marauders now have a mechanic (for the entire game, not just the DLC) where when you shoot them as they flash green, they’ll become stunned (though the sound effects are rather corny and cartoonish, even for the game). Using the Hammer on a stunned Marauder will GREATLY extend that stun, which allows you to just fucking shit on them.

I also really liked the grapple-Hookshot points that you had to use to progress in a level. I’m still not really used to how you’re supposed to move in the opposite direction of the point to swing yourself, but the idea is intuitive, fun, and makes me wish it was in the base game and the previous DLC.

My biggest grievances with this DLC, however, is how it handled some of it’s characters, the story, and the new lore that was implemented in the codexes.

So first off: I want to say that while I still appreciate the DLC, that’s honestly only with the gameplay. The story, much less the lore, is fucking stupid to say the least.

To TL;DR the story: It is, quite honestly, bare-bones as fuck. We continue from where we directly left off from the Ancient Gods Part 1: Davoth/The Dark Lord is being summoned into existence and into his physical form, which for some reason looks exactly like Doomguy except with sick tats, glowing red eyes, and a weird implant in his chest. Doomguy, naturally, tries to spawncamp him and shoots him with his super-shotgun, but nothing happens as “no blood can be spilled in this holy place”. Davoth leaves, telling Doomguy that he’ll be waiting for him in the city of Immora, the capitol city at the very center of Hell.

Doomguy goes to Argent D’Nur. He murder-death-kills shit, as per usual. He goes into this big castle where a hologram of Valen is waiting for him. He tells him that he atones for his sins and gives him the Hammer since Doomguy lifted the curse from his son’s soul. He goes to the Torch of Kings and lights it, marking his journey to the giant crystalline spear that impales Argent D’Nur known as the World Spear. Cue cutscene of a bunch of different Argenta people/Night Sentinel seeing the light of the Torch of Kings from all over Argent D’Nur. Internguy tells him that it’s a day’s walk still from the World Spear, and conveniently a very fucking awesome looking Argenta dragon shows up and gives him a ride to the World Spear.

Doomguy gets to a lake that separates him from the World Spear. The Father says “He is worthy” and then a bridge rises out of the water. Doomguy crosses past some big ass Sentinel ghosts/guardians and into the World Spear. Turns out the inside of the World Spear is like some giant, fucked up ship made out of crystal, with weird figures lining the wall and all that: Internguy even says “This isn’t a crystal at all, this is a ship!” This does not get expanded upon whatsoever in neither dialogue or codexes. Doomguy grabs Convenient Power Crystal and leaves.

Doomguy arrives on Earth through a portal, which is looking substantially better than since its invasion. Internguy tells him that a Convenient Ancient Portal close by is the only way to Immora. Doomguy kills shit, arrives at portal, activates it with Convenient Power Crystal, and leaves.

Doomguy arrives in front of a giant wall surrounding Immora. Davoth walks out, wearing a big ass power suit that looks like something straight out of Warhammer 40k. He’s surrounded by guards in cool red armor with cool spears that look very humanoid. He says some shit and a bunch of Hell-ships and demons and titans start showing up. But then surprise! A bunch of portals open up on Doomguy’s side like it’s fucking Infinity War/Endgame all over again and a fuckload of Sentinels start coming out, with mechs and dragons and spaceships. Valen is there. Doomguy and Valen stare at each other for like 5 seconds before Valen says “Let Hell tremble before our might!” or some shit like that. Doomguy fights, gets past the wall, fights some more inside the city. Again, the usual.

I also want to briefly point out that Immora is basically just a Maykr city but red, and that it’s apparently “Hell’s own technology.” Also, the red dudes in armor are actual enemies but the guns they have (the hell-razor from 2016) do piss-poor damage and they die if you so much as breathe on them.

Doomguy finally catches up to Davoth. Davoth monologues about how he’s going to get his revenge and that it’s inevitable, bla bla bla. Fight begins. It’s basically Marauder 2.0 but if he hits you and/or you shoot him at the wrong time he heals a fuckload of health. And also 5 different health bars. After you knock down 2 or 3 of his bars he stops the fight to monologue for some fucking reason? And then shits out a plot twist that surprise, he’s actually the real God, and that the Father betrayed/usurped his power, and that he will “unmake everything by his hand.” Fight resumes. Doomguy eventually beats him. Davoth asks him if he has anything to say before he strikes down his creator. Doomguy takes off his helmet, stabs Davoth in the heart, and says no in his stupid sexy voice. Davoth dies, his life-sphere emerges and then explodes. Doomguy suddenly becomes weak and falls over. The Father says “He created everything in his image, even you.” Doomguy passes out and wakes up to see 3 Seraphim seal him in a sarcophagus like the one from 2016. Fade to black, with the quote “May the blood on your sword never dry, and may we never need you again.” End game, roll credits.

If you hadn’t read any of the codexes while playing the DLC, the story probably makes little to no sense to you whatsoever. But honestly the codexes don’t expand upon things much and, if anything, just fucking make some aspects of the story even more stupid.

The World Spear is implied in the codex that it contains live Wraiths (“A live Wraith has not been seen in centuries, but rumors persist that some yet remain inside the World Spear itself.”), and while the figures in the World Spear could be Wraiths, absolutely nothing is said about them out of three Codexes related to the level, which honestly just makes me wonder the point of adding this stuff if you don’t even give a single sentence of why the interior of the World Spear is Like That.

The codex entries related to Earth are basically uninteresting as they’re pretty much just “humanity is rebuilding and views doomguy as a hero”. There is one about the Convenient Ancient Portal (Gate of Divum) but all it really says is that it was built and used by the Father to access Immora. Nothing about why it’s on Earth, or anything interesting like that.

However, the real bullshit comes in when we start to look at the codex entries related to Immora and Davoth.

So, Immora is the central - and oldest - city in Hell. It’s described as such: “Once a paradise at the dawn of creation, Immora now survives as a stronghold where the Dark Lord resides. Sustained now by the essence of Hell's victims, the people of Immora experience life eternal. Regular infusions of Hell energy have prevented them from transforming into the demons found outside the boundaries of the city. Ancient technology defends Immora from invaders, the high walls impenetrable to those who would bring harm to the last people of the first world.“

Yeah. So not only did Hell have high-tech technology all this time, but also the red guys in armor? Those are Immorans. Which is weird to me, because if Hell had this super advanced technology that’s also ancient, and thus around for a long time, why the hell are we only seeing it now?

Also, surprise! Turns out the Book of Seraphs is a complete fucking lie according to the very first codex entry related to Davoth! (”Our research shows that Maykr history and lore holds truths that are not consistent with passages found in the Hell Priest texts, revealing the true origins of Hell and all surrounding dimensions. This revelation would explain why Hell is the single dimension that connects to all others, and why it is the oldest in existence - the first world.”)

The real truth is that Davoth is the real Creator/God, and that Jekkad was the very first realm, not Urdak. He still sought immortality for his people, so he created the Maykrs to figure it out for him. They did, but decided it would be too dangerous to give Davoth that information, so they basically said “fuck you” and sealed Jekkad/Davoth while re-writing their own records to hide the truth. Obviously, this pissed off Davoth. So much so that he basically became super angry and emo and became the Dark Lord from all the vengeance and hatred (which also turned Jekkad into Hell.)

Another surprise! Turns out that Davoth had a hand in the creation of the fucking Doom Slayer! Because he wanted to get revenge against the Maykrs, he started to manipulate a bunch of people while he was trapped as a life sphere I guess. He started with the Khan Maykr, convincing her that there was a “chosen one” who would threaten her rule and thus making her paranoid as fuck. He then guided her into creating the Divinity Machine using a fragment of himself that had been sealed in Urdak. Then he manipulated Samur, by convincing him that “the Khan Maykr will lead us all to ruin.” He was then controlled and compelled to release a stranger from his prison (Doomguy) and empower him using the Divinity Machine.

As you can probably guess, he got his revenge since Doomguy would go on to utterly fuck Urdak/the Khan Maykr (as well as Samur), and ever since he knew that his “Beast” would come for him.

Listen. I don’t really mind the idea of Doomguy being used or even manipulated by different godly powers. Or even Davoth being the real God or whatever. But this new lore and story just feels... really sloppy and poorly executed, especially since it directly conflicts with the fucking base game. If he manipulated the Khan Maykr and wanted revenge against her, then why did he scream “NOOOOOO!” when Doomguy killed her?

And, if anything: Why the fuck does Davoth even look like Doomguy in the first place? Is it some form of mockery? Or did id just decide to fucking retcon the Doom Slayer being the same person as the Doomguy from Doom 1/2 with the Father’s line of “He created everything in his image -- even you.”

And, on top of that, the DLC just left more open questions than answers: what the fuck happened to Samur, since he isn’t even so much as mentioned beyond the codexes? Who is the Wretch, the being who had supposedly forged Doomguy’s armor back in 2016? What is the fate of Earth/Hell/Urdak/Argent D’Nur after the Slayer’s victory? What the fuck happened to the Demonic Crucible, the one from 2016? What about the ARC Carrier and the Fortress of Doom?

Finally, Valen, Internguy and the Father should’ve been far more involved in the story beyond just being either convenient voices telling you convenient stuff or (in the case of Valen) being a convenient guy to give you convenient weapon that also conveniently shows up with a giant army that doesn’t actually do anything but look cool in the skybox.

TL;DR The new lore and story of the DLC is basically garbage, and since I highly doubt id will change it I’m going to completely disregard it, write my own, and also take up Davoth as a muse because it seriously pissed me off that much.

#doom spoilers #doom eternal spoilers #the ancient gods spoilers #the ancient gods part 2 #tag part 2 #ooc #wow. um. this got long #doomguy #doom guy #doomslayer #doom slayer #the dark lord #davoth #doom eternal

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toothpastecanyon · 3 years

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Noie’s Friends, Chapter 1

A collection of oneshots about Noie's years at college.

See most updated version on Archive of Our Own.

______________________________________________________________

Finding out your brother’s a demon was both more and less surprising than Noie expected. She didn’t anticipate how quickly everything would settle back into a routine; before she knew it, she was finding herself going to the tea shop with her friends, and hanging out with Dipper in her dorm whenever Val wasn’t home - or outside if she was. It felt just like before, only with Dipper right there with her instead of chatting through a screen.

Just like before. Just like before.

She never saw his eyes flicker. She never saw his wings. Sometimes he’d excuse himself to the bathroom for an hour, or disappear when Val burst through the door, but any hint that he was something more than Dipper Argenta was always tucked away behind a door, behind a nervous laugh and a change of the subject, out of sight, out of mind. It was surprising, how much he still hid from her.

Noie… didn’t know how to tell him it was okay. Part of her was a little relieved he was still keeping it under wraps; with remembering came old memories, old nightmares of a shadowy figure bursting from her brother and lunging for her, reaching in and ripping out… she’d never tell Dipper how many times she woke up sweating from those.

And then, to have that same shadow in her room, putting his wing around her, being her brother?

Look. Noie so badly wanted to say she’d be okay with it. She wanted more than anything in the world to tell Dipper he didn’t have to pretend to go to the bathroom to answer a summons. And maybe if Dipper hadn’t started pretending again, she’d have gotten used to it by now and it wouldn’t be a problem.

But she didn’t want to be wrong. She didn’t want to say it was okay and then see Alcor and not be okay and… hurt him. She didn’t want to hurt him, okay?

So maybe it was better, like this.

No surprises.

______________________________________________________________

“Boo. Hey, Silver.”

Things were winding down. Gus and Mina had already left the tea shop a while back, Jess had gone to the bathroom, and Mako was on his phone in the corner. The fading sun outside lent a warm, sleepy air to the whole scene; until Bea bumped her shoulder, Noie was feeling about ready to nod off.

“Silver.”

“Yeah?” She rubbed her eyes. “What’s, uh, up?”

“Just got a text from my roommate. AC’s busted.”

“What? Oh…” She looked outside. “Well, at least the sun’s gone down.”

“Nah, he just got home, he says it’s a million degrees in there.” With an enterprising grin, Bea slung an arm around her shoulder. “Lucky I got a friend to take me in for the night, eh?”

“Huh? Me?”

“That would be correct!”

“Wait, I just have one bed-”

“I’ll sleep on the floor. Trust me, I spent my childhood sleeping on elven barkrests, I’ll be fine.”

“Barkrests?”

“Have I never told you about those things?” She chuckled. “That’s a story for tonight. When I’m sleeping at your place. It’s happening, right?”

“Uh… I’ve never had someone stay overnight before.” Noie made a face. “I guess it’d be fine? Yeah… yeah, it’d be fun!”

“That’s the spirit! Now c’mon, let’s get it on!”

They walked out of the tea shop together. Noie nervously pointed the way, and flashed a smile at Bea as she followed along. Bea raised an eyebrow.

“What’s up with you, Silver?”

“Wh-what?”

“You look like I’ve put a gun to your head.” She slowed. “You know I can find somewhere else to stay, ri-”

“No! No, it’s okay! It’s good!”

“Are you sure about that?”

“Yeah, no, I’m excited!” Noie barked a laugh. “I just - I don’t know how this works.”

“What’s ‘this’? Walking? Breathing? Existing?” Bea gave a crooked smile. “Sorry, couldn’t help myself.”

She laughed again at that… and then trailed off. They walked in silence for a little bit, and at some point the streetlamps turned on. Noie wondered if she wanted to say something more, wanted to mention that this was the first time she’d ever had a sleepover - ever had a friend who’d want to sleep over, actually, and wow, that was kind of sad. That’d bring down the mood.

She thought of that, and then cleared her throat. Opened her mouth.

“Jeez, there’s so many crickets out,” Noie said. “I’ve never actually seen a cricket. I’ve only heard them. They’re like ghosts, heh.”

“Man, you’re not missing out. They’re ugly fuckers - one jumped on my face once.”

“Haha, what?”

“Yeah. Let me tell you, everyone thinks it’s so awesome to be an elf and to be all ‘living with nature’ and shit, but this is what they don’t think about: all animals wanna be around you. All animals.”

“Oh. That sucks.”

“You don’t know the half of it, Silver.”

They walked on for a while, chatting as the sun strayed down. Only a dull glow remained as they made their way to the front door; Noie swiped her keycard, and motioned her inside.

“Thank-ye kindly.” Bea glanced around at the stairs branching off from the entrance hall. “Where do we go now? Up, down?”

“Down this one.”

“Ah, they shoved you in the basement.”

Noie snorted. “It’s not too bad. There’s still a little window. My roommate says- Oh shit, Val!”

“Strange thing she says.”

“I should- I hope she’s okay with this, I should’ve asked her, or…”

“Ah, don’t worry too much about it.” Bea slung an arm around her, kept her walking down the halls. “Best lesson you’ll ever learn, Silver: don’t ask permission, ask forgiveness.”

“That’s not- I don’t like that. I don’t think that’s a great lesson, actually.”

“Well sure, you gotta know to use it in the right context. Isn’t your roomie the one who doesn’t clean up her shit and makes you do it?”

Noie was fumbling for her keys. “Yeah, that’s her.”

“Then she’s been asking for a looot of forgivenesses. Let’s say she owes you this one.”

They were approaching Noie’s room. She fished her key out of her bag, and shot Bea a look as she unlocked it.

“Okay… I’m still gonna text her, though.”

“Good, I wasn’t sayin’ you shouldn’t.” Bea strode through the open door as Noie got out her phone. “Aww, look at this place! I didn’t know they made apartments smaller than mine - oh, hey Val. It’s Val, right?”

Val? Noie glanced up from her phone. She was never home this early - was she here? She hurried into the room after Bea, and came across…

Oh.

Dipper was sitting at her computer, an expression of pure shock on his face at the sight of someone other than her. He was going to be a little harder to explain.

“Or, uh, some other name?” Bea asked, and chuckled awkwardly at the ensuing silence. “Any other name?”

“This is Dipper,” Noie cut in. “He’s my brother.”

“Oh, he’s visiting again? Sweet, it’s great to meet you, man. She’s told me a lot about you.”

Bea gave Dipper an easy smile, but Noie noticed how he didn’t return it at all. It wasn’t shock anymore; a different expression had shadowed his features, one that sent a shiver down her spine.

After just a split second too long, he smiled widely, too widely, and rose from his chair. Stuck out his hand.

“Hello,” he said, and narrowed his eyes when she took his hand. “Went right in for the handshake, huh?”

“Yeah? You offered it to me-”

“Beatrice, right?” He kept shaking. “Beatrice Delion. Nice name you’ve got this time round.”

“Do you know me from somewhere?”

“You could say that.”

“I could say that, I could say anything.” Bea bared her smile. “I asked you a question, though.”

“A question you already knew the answer to.”

“A question you could’ve really just answered like a normal fucking pers- augh!”

“Dipper!” Noie yanked Bea’s hand out of his grip. “What was that for?”

He didn’t respond. He didn’t look at her; he stared past her, to Bea cradling her fingers, with a strange gleam in his eyes Noie could only describe as… predatory. Her heart caught in her throat, and she tried to shove him towards the bathroom.

“Hey, why don’t you, uh, take a breather, bro?” She nudged, then elbowed, then pushed, but he wouldn’t move. “Seems like you two got off on the wrong foot.”

“He got off on the wrong foot, you mean.” Bea chuckled; there was an edge to it. “And here I was thinking you’d be a cool guy.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?!”

“Means that you’re acting like an asshole, man! Take notes, that’s how you answer a question!”

“How-”

“Dipper.” Noie grabbed his arm, and finally he looked at her. “Go to the bathroom.”

“Fine. Come with me, I have to-”

“No. You go to the bathroom, okay?”

“Naomi-”

“Go.”

Dipper glared at her, and for one terrifying moment, Noie thought he wasn’t going to leave. Finally, he turned around, and with a low but rumbling growl, he stalked out of the room.

A growl. The sound turned her blood to ice, and she stood there frozen until Bea put a hand on her shoulder.

“Hey, not to push an issue or anything, but he’s not staying here tonight, right?”

“What? Oh…” Noie hesitated. “No, he, uh… he has a hotel room.”

“Sweet, ‘cause I wasn’t gonna stay a night with him. Prick.”

She cringed. “Bea, I, I’m so sorry. That wasn’t okay of him at all, I-I don’t even know what-”

“Don’t even stress it, Silver. Trust me, I don’t care. I know how to handle his type.”

Noie felt something at that. It came down on her like a dark cloud, a watchful eye… a presence. Bea gave her a squeeze, and grinned.

“Now, let’s do something fun together, eh? What does the great Silver like to do on her time off?”

“O-on my time off?”

“I assume you don’t stand there waiting for the sun to rise, but that’s not for me to judge.”

“Oh, heh, no…” Noie glanced behind her, and then cleared her throat. “I mean, I don’t do too much, I’m usually on my computer… I dunno, I read, I guess. What about you?”

“Whaddya read?” Bea sifted through the titles on her shelf. “Heh, ‘Rainbow Adventures of Mr McStabberson’? Where’ve I heard that one before?”

“You’ve probably seen the TV show. Did you know it actually started from a book?”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah, I actually only read the source material pretty recently.” She sat down in her chair. “It’s interesting, actually. I think they’re both kinda good in different ways? Like there’s definitely more about some of the side characters in the book, like Alexy and-” She blinked. “Oh, sorry, I’m rambling. Have you seen the show?”

“Nope.” Bea leaned against the wall, grinning. “I wanna hear about it, though.”

“Really?”

“Hell yeah. Keep going, Silver.”

Noie smiled at that, and launched back into her explanation. For a little while as she talked, the thought of Dipper’s odd behaviour and the presence had entirely slipped her mind.

“-so it was really cool how they expanded on her character in the book. Obviously books aren’t really strapped for time like TV shows are so I get why they dropped some of the smaller character moments, but I think it’s cool to watch the show again with those in mind.” Noie laughed a little. “If you ever wanted to watch it.”

“Hey, seems like some cool new human shit. Wanna watch it right now?”

“Wh- really? I don’t think I can stream it anymore-”

“It’ll be pirated somewhere.” Bea sat down at her computer. “Seriously, I can’t believe you guys’d pay to watch it when there’s a free version floating out there.”

“I dunno, viruses?” She raised an eyebrow at Bea. “You know where to go, right?”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“Cool. Well, I guess, if I really wanted something, I’d ask…”

Dipper. Noie made a face at that; it must have been pretty obvious, because Bea looked over at her and gave a wry smile.

“Your brother’s the tech savvy one, eh?”

“Tech savvy? Uh, sure… you could say that.”

“I see you’re a fan of that phrase too.”

“Wha- oh! Oh, sorry-”

“Ah, don’t you worry about it. I’m teasing you! I’m teasing.” Bea sat back in her chair, chuckling a little as her smile faded. Her eyes, fixed on the computer screen, suddenly flitted up to meet hers. “You said he’s got classes up at SASU, right.”

“Dipper?”

“No, a squirrel. Of course I meant Dipper.”

“Oh, heh, sorry.” Noie fiddled with the front of her shirt; this was getting into some dicey territory. “Yeah, he, uh, takes online courses, mostly?”

“I see, I see.”

“Yeah… so he can come up and visit a lot. That’s why. That’s why he can do that, I mean.”

Bea was nodding. “I see. So he’s here a lot of the time with you, huh.”

There was a strange tension to the air, building the more she spoke. Noie found herself shivering a little, though she wasn’t cold.

“Yeah! Yeah, he is.” She leaned forwards with her widest smile. “So, how are we-”

“Does he act like that a lot?”

A sudden spike. The walls felt closer, and the lights felt starker. Bea’s carefully blank expression suddenly had an air of menace, of danger to it, and Noie leaned back.

“L-like what?”

“You know what.” Bea said, and sighed. “Look, I’m not trying to corner you in anything. I’m just wondering how happy you are with a brother who comes around and acts like that around your friends, y’know?”

Noie felt a pit in her stomach. “Wh- oh, oh no, Bea… you have the wrong idea, okay?”

“Okay.”

“He’s not usually like that, I swear. Like, genuinely, he’s not, I’m gonna talk to him about that later, I…”

“Okay. Seriously, it’s okay. You know your brother better than me.” Bea stretched, slowly, deliberately. “Just wanted to say, you better talk to him about this weird eavesdropping enchantment he’s got going on, too.��

Eavesdropping enchantment. It was like the air froze in place, and Bea gave a wry smile at her wince.

“That’s the one. Bet you barkskin he’ll come through that door any moment-”

The door burst open like an explosion; it made her flinch. She hardly recognised the figure who stormed into the room, pointing fingers, yelling, “I am ņot̶ eavesdropping!”

(and was that the hint of an echo to his voice?)

“I mean, I’d love to agree, but you’re really just proving yourself wrong by barging in-”

“I did not!” He planted himself between Bea and Noie, and stabbed a finger in her face. “I’m here to protect my sister. What are you doing here? What are your intentions?”

Bea raised her eyebrows. “My intentions? Getting somewhere to sleep. Sorry if you were expecting me to say murder, I guess I’m not in the mood.”

“You watch what you’re saying. You have no idea what you’re up against.”

“Oh-hoh, is that a threat?” She chuckled. “Look, human, I get you were top of your magic class in highschool or whatever, but you and your - eh, half -decent - eavesdropping charm aren’t gonna do squat against me.”

Noie could practically see the fury emanating off of her brother. She tried to tug at his sleeve, but it was like he’d stopped paying attention. He was wound up tight, and stone cold to the touch.

“Just walk away, man. Your sister doesn’t want your stupid fucking ‘protection’ bullshit.”

Noie shook her head at her. “Bea-”

“Why don’t you try listening to what she wants?” Bea leaned back in her chair. “You know, if you care about her or whatever.”

That was the wrong thing to say. Noie felt it like a physical pain; she recoiled as Dipper stepped forwards.

“I car͜e ab̛o̵u͝t my̢ si̡şt̷er.”

“Oh, yeah? Then why don’t you prove i-”

And in the blink of an eye, Alcor the Dreambender had her by the throat. Noie watched in horror as his shadowy form snarled and slammed her against the wall so hard it cracked; in a millisecond Bea’s face went from shock to anger to eyes-bugged-out terror.

“M̞͈I̛͕̤̟̹̞Z͎̠A̳̭̪͙͖Ŗ̸̩̮̤͈̭͈ ҉҉̼̺͙̰I̞͔͍͚͕͕͢S̸̞̤͙̜̖͝ ̺̗̘M̥̥͈̬͓͟I͏̤̮N̪͈̺̥̗̘͘͟ͅͅE. M̶̸̦̹͖̜̣̳̤͘ͅI̧̛̼̟͉̞N̴̜͢E. ” He pressed harder, and she struggled for air. “Ḭ̸̺̺̫̟̦̲͇͉ ̥͇̯̣͕S͝͏͓̼E̻̺̲̼E̢̻ ҉̨͚̞̖W̖̘͝Ḩ̢̭̙̰̼̺̮̜A̩͚͓͉͔̤ͅͅT͖͖̩ ̞̗̭̰͓̫̰͍͠Y̳̙͝O̧̨͕͙͕͇͝ͅU̮̺̰͟ͅ'̥̪̣͙R̘̙͇̼ͅE̛͇ ̲͖D͇̖Ǫ͇̮̳̭̫̖͔̼̕I̦͙̫̭̭̯N̶̥̳̖̤̬̱͈͝G̳̳̩̝͠, ̴͇͉͇͖̼͍̰̠̕B̸I̢L̺̰͟Ļ͇͔̺͔̘̝ͅ Ç̬̗̤͕̜I̶̛͖̗̝͙P̸̛̭͔̖͓͎͍͎̦̤͡H̛͚̦̻͉̦͇͝E̲̤̹͓͠R̤̺̬̳̭. I҉̶̲̼ͅ ̝̖͠Ṣ̴̩̩̲͜͞ͅE͏͏̸͓̥͙̲̟̮̤̙͓E̝͠ ҉͈̱Y̧̫̳͖͙͔O̵̩̤̲U͉̬̣̺'̜̼̹͘͟R̘̠̻͡͠E̵̖͇̣̠̦̩̹̹̻̠̫̥͝ͅͅ T͕R͖̩͓̘̪̙͞͞ͅY̡͉̳͖̙͔̺̬̫͟I̴̘̞̮͜͠N̶͓G͙͉̼͎̰͕͘͟ ͞͝͏̖T̷̛͕̞̰̟̥̥͖͍O͚̙̰̞̟̙͡ ̙̫͍̜͓ T̛̻̲̭U̧͇̣̻̭̠ͅR̟̖͠ͅN̞͚̠̝͙͚̠̼ ̵̛̫̗̗͕͜H̴̷̛̱̖̥̤̼̲̤E̩̰͉̪̠͟ͅŖ̻̗̻͔͡ͅ ̱̖A̵̫̻̘̭͕̘̩͢G̤A҉̳͈I̧̤͍̹̰̖̩̩͙͠N̼S̨̘̩̪̜͎̖̭T͙͚ ̷͠͏̩̱̖̳M̸̡̞̻̥͎͓͙E̶̫͕̘!̘̹̘͢”

Noie could barely comprehend what she was seeing. Bea shot her a terrified look and she tried to speak up… but nothing came out. She tried again.

“Di… Dipper…”

Bea was going red in the face. Noie picked up something from the desk - her phone.

“Dipper, stop. Dipper.” She clenched it with a shaking fist, “Dipper, STOP!”

And threw it as hard as she could at the back of his head. It shattered off of his shoulder, and he looked to her with the glowing eyes she saw in her nightmares - oh, stars, oh stars, oh stars…

“Y-you’re killing her, Dipper. You’re killing her!” Noie struggled to look him in the eye. “She didn’t do anything wrong, I-I don’t know why you’re acting this way! Just let her go!”

“Mi̶̛͜za̴r-”

“Please! Please, j-just let her go.”

Alcor the Dreambender stood there for one moment longer, one awful moment longer with the sound of Bea kicking against the wall as she struggled for air. Then he blinked, and stepped back. He let her crumple to the ground, and Noie could feel his eyes on her as she dove to her friend’s side.

“Bea, I-I’m so sorry, are you okay!?”

She tried to rasp out some answer, but it was lost in a coughing fit.

“Oh, my stars. Oh my stars.” Noie felt for her phone. “I’m gonna- I’m gonna call for someone-”

“No…” Bea put her hand out. “I…” she managed, and coughed as she sat up. “I’ll be…”

“No, lie down-”

“Like hell I’m ly-y-ing here.” She pushed Noie aside and staggered to her feet. “Not with…”

She pointed at Alcor as she made for the door. Noie could hardly look at him; he stood still as she followed Bea out of the room.

“Hey, wait! Bea!”

Bea glanced over at her. “You tryin’ to wake up the whole wing, or what?”

“Wh- I…”

“Look, Si- Silv-” She coughed and rubbed her neck. “I don’t know what kinda shit you’re mixed up in, but… we’ll talk later, okay? I gotta find somewhere else to stay tonight.”

“I-”

“I’m not gonna tell anyone, if that’s what you’re worried about. I’m not dumb enough to piss off Alcor the Dreambender… more than I already have, apparently. Fuuck.”

“That’s not what I was…” She stepped forwards. “I’m sorry, Bea, I-I didn’t… I… I can explain-”

“We’ll talk later. Just-” Bea held her hands out. “We’ll talk later, okay? Bye.”

And then she turned a corner and was gone, her footsteps thudding in Noie’s mind like the beat of her heart. She stood there for a moment, eyes staring, mind buzzing, every fiber of her being wishing for this to have all been a dream, for this to have turned out any other way.

Her first night over, with her first real friend, and this happened.

She clenched her fists.

Dipper.

His presence was still there, still watching. She wanted to scream right then and there; it took all her effort to take a deep breath, walk back down the hall, and enter her dorm room.

It was empty. And dark - darker than plain darkness. She jabbed the light switch.

“Dipper.” Noie walked forwards. “We have to talk. Now.”

Nothing, for a moment. She opened her mouth to say something else, but-

“I-I’m here,” Dipper came in through the front door. He looked entirely human again - human, and nervous. “So, uh-”

“What the fuck was that.”

“Yeah… That wasn’t, um, great of me-.”

“‘Wasn’t great of you’, that’s all you’re gonna say for that? Jeez, I don’t wanna hear what a bad day is for you if that is just ‘not great.’” She laughed angrily. “I mean, what the fuck, Dipper! You strangled her!”

“I know.”

“I don’t want to hear about how you know, I wanna know what on earth possessed you to do that! Is that just a thing you do? Are you gonna kill all my friends, or is Bea just lucky?”

“It’s- I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking.” Dipper avoided his eyes. “I just… got surprised.”

“Got sup-?!”

“No! No, that’s- that’s a bad way of explaining it! Sorry. Sorry, it’s just…” His voice lowered. “a demon thing, I’m sorry, I know you don’t want to, want to hear about, uh, that kinda stuff…”

Noie felt a cold pit in her stomach as he trailed off. A demon thing… her mind flashed back to all the other times that part of her brother had come into play, had hurt people… had killed . Maybe it wasn’t like she was thinking.

“Just tell me why, Dipper.”

“It… it is your friend. You’re right, she’s special, kinda.” He gave a tense chuckle. “Look, um, it’s hard to explain, but her soul, she came in the door and I recognised it.” His fists clenched. “It… belonged to a bad person, a long time ago.”

She frowned. “Dipper, Bea’s been nothing but nice to me since we met. She’s not a bad person-”

“You’re right, she’s probably not! I overreacted, I just- I wasn’t expecting to come across that soul! Usually I can… prepare, to meet that one.” He stared into the middle distance. “An elf, this time around. Strong control of magic, clearly trained in shielding… no wonder I didn’t notice her.” A grimace. “I really hope she’s a good person this time around, that’s… formidable. Have to keep my eye on her.”

Noie made a face. “Dipper…”

“Sorry. I’m sorry, I’m doing it again.” He sighed. “Look, I really am sorry for what I… what I did to your friend. I swear, though, that was a very, very unexpected event. You’re not gonna see me like that again.”

That was a little reassuring… but a sentence jumped out at Noie. She raised an eyebrow.

“What do you mean, see you like that?”

“Well… you know.” He mimed something coming out of his back. ‘Like that, you know. My, uh, business attire.”

“Your demon form?” She watched him cringe at that. “You think that’s what bothered me about what happened?”

“Well, not the main thing, but I know… I know it does.”

Noie blinked. “It doesn’t.”

“It’s okay if it does-”

“It doesn’t!” She snapped. “We’ve been over this, I get you’re a demon! What kind of sister would I be if I decided that made me uncomfortable?”

He just looked at her.

“Dipper, it doesn’t! It…” Noie swallowed. “I don’t want you to be scared of sharing stuff like this with me! I don’t want you to hide it, I… I think it makes it scarier. When I don’t know things about you.”

He just looked at her, with that ancient expression. A million alarm bells went off at the being who stood before her; she tried to talk past them, tried to talk to Dipper.

“Because there’s so much I don’t know about you. There’s so much you don’t tell me about you, and I get that it’s probably hard, that you think I don’t want to hear it, but then…” She gestured. “Stuff like this happens, and I don’t know how to react! I don’t know why you’re doing it, I don’t know how to help you… I-I don’t know you, all of a sudden! You’re just a demon, doing demon stuff, a-and that’s scary!”

Noie’s shoulders hurt; she forced them down, forced herself to close her eyes, and take a deep breath. She looked at the floor.

“I don’t… I don’t want to be scared of you, Dipper. I’m sorry that I still… kinda am.” She hugged herself. “I just… I don’t know. I don’t know.”

Dipper didn’t say anything, for a long moment. She stood there, staring down, down at the carpet.

“Noie.”

She didn’t meet his eyes, could hardly bring herself to look higher than his shoes.

Dress shoes, she noticed. Black ones, and black pants. She drew in a breath.

“Noie,” Alcor said. “Do you want a hug?”

She hesitated, and then nodded. The shoes moved, and a second later, a pair of arms wrapped around her. They were longer than Dipper’s usually were, attached to a body taller than Dipper usually was… but they were just as gentle, squeezed just as hard.

She pressed her face into his suit, and mumbled, “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“I mean it.” She gave him a squeeze. “I wanna be better about this demon stuff. I don’t want you to feel like you gotta hide stuff from me, I wanna know my bro. Even if it gets weird at times.”

“I’m not so sure you want to know everything, Noie.”

“Well… I wanna know important stuff. I wanna know if you have any more souls you randomly hate, for one.” She tried for a chuckle. “I guess… I wanna know what you’d tell any other Mizar. I don’t wanna get the kid gloves, you know?”

Dipper didn’t answer that. For a moment, Noie thought he wasn’t going to, but then she felt a pair of something that wasn’t hands wrap around her midsection. It felt like two weirdly warm blankets, it was… wings?

Oh, yeah. His wings. The feeling of them still made her a little jittery, but she gave a little laugh.

“Yeah,” she said. ��Stuff like that.”

“Heh, alright.”

“Are you laughing at me?”

Dipper chuckled. “No.”

“You big jerk!” She snorted and smacked his arm. “You did that to make me jump, didn’t you!”

“Maybe a little.”

“Ohhh, my stars.” Noie grinned up at his toothy smile, his twinkling gold-on-black eyes. It was different, but it was Dipper. “I’ll get you back for this. I’m gonna dump glitter on your wings.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah, I’ll catch you when we’re studying, or - no, I’m not gonna tell you when I do it. You just wait.”

“Hah, I will. I’d like to see you try.” Dipper said, and then: “Hmm, not sure if I can even start having my wings out while we study. I mean, you still have your roommate coming in at random, and-”

“Yo No-ster, I’m home!” Val burst through the door with a pizza box. “Do you know math? I have this stupid thing due at 11:59 and-”

She noticed the demon standing in the centre of the room, and stopped dead. Noie tried for a wave.

“Oh, hi, Val! You’re back, uh, early… have you met Dipper? He’s a, uh, cosplayer. Twin Souls.”

“No, I am not. Noie-”

“Sorry, I couldn’t think of anything else- Uh, haha, anyway, he’s…” She kept grinning at Val’s horrified expression. “It’s, uh… so, what pizza did you get? Pepperoni? Mmm, smells great!”

______________________________________________________________

“So they just let you move in, huh?”

Dipper was hanging suits in what used to be Val’s side of the closet. “Yeah, basically. It was even easier than usual, since Dipper Argenta already exists - only had to forge a few things.”

“Only a few things, huh.” Noie snorted at him from atop her bed. “As you do.”

“What?”

“Nothing, nothing.” She grinned at him. “Good to share a room with you again, bro. I missed it… or maybe I just missed not living with Val, hah!”

Dipper chuckled at that, and turned back to folding his clothes. His wings swayed a little as he worked, and she found herself staring at them. They were strange things; every time she saw them, they were a little different, and today they were wide and sloping things that framed his head when they were folded up against his back. There was always a tinge of unreality to them - a voidlike, blacker-than-black colour to them that made it impossible to pick out any detail, made looking at them… a little mesmerising.

“Need something?”

Noie blinked. “Uh, no,” she said, and tore her gaze away. “No, you’re good.”

“Alright, then.” Dipper snuck her a grin. “This is kinda, kinda fun, hanging up clothes! I should do this more often!”

Her phone buzzed. She looked down.

“Well, you can do my closet, uh, any time, bro…” She unlocked it. “Oh.”

“What?”

“Bea got back to me!”

“Oh, cool! She’s outside, then?”

“Yeah!” Noie looked at the text. “It says… ‘I’m here, can’t wait to hear how the fuck you got a demon for a brother. PS…”

“P.S. what?”

“She’s saying not to tell you this joke.”

Dipper frowned. “What does it say?”

“Uh… ‘P.S. - make sure your brother clips his nails before he gets down here, would feel much nicer on the neck. P.P.S - That was a joke, please don’t actually tell him that, I don’t want to die.’”

She looked up after that, and sniggered when her brother rolled his eyes.

“I’m not gonna kill her over a bad joke.”

“It’s not a bad joke, she just got you.”

“She did not! She-” He huffed and fluttered his wings. “Whatever, let’s go.”

“Yeah, she got you, bro! Look, you’re blushing!”

“I’m not!”

“iiiiii’m nooooot!”

“I’m not!” He shook his head at her. “Are you ready? She’s waiting outside.”

“I just gotta get my shoes on.” Noie hopped off the bed and… tried to poke his wing; she ended up just gesturing at it. “I dunno why you’re, uh, getting on my case, you’re way less ready.”

“It takes five seconds to put on a human suit. Look,” There was a snap as Noie put on her shoes. “Noie, look. Noie.”

“I’m looking, I’m looking.” She shoved her feet into sneakers and looked over. “You missed a spot.”

“Where?”

“Riiiight abouuuut…” She jabbed his side. “Here!”

“Aaah! St-stop tickling me, hah! Noie!”

“Alright, alright…” She stopped, and took a moment to straighten his suit. He was looking at her with those familiar brown eyes she was seeing less of these days; after a moment, she remembered to smile back. “Alright. You ready to do a lot of explaining?”

“Readier than I usually am with stuff like this.” He snorted to himself. “You, uh, want me to tesser you down there? I can do that, it’ll be faster than taking the stairs.”

Noie hesitated at that. He noticed; quickly, he added:

“We don’t have to. Just, uh, offering.”

“No, that’s good, that’s… my phone’s buzzing.” Noie pulled it out. “Bea says, um, ‘I’m summoning your brother myself if you make me wait. Maybe I’ll die, but I wanna hear the storyyyyy-’, and a lot of y’s.” She looked back at Dipper, and gave a smile. “Maybe we should go the fast way.”

“Alright.” He offered a hand, and she took it, watched as his eyes flickered to that gold-on-black. “Hold on tight.”

And she did. She closed her eyes, squeezed her brother’s hand, and let him work his magic.

#transcendence au #Noie's Brother #naomi argenta #alcor the dreambender #dipper #oneshot #toothwrites

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evak-fic-rec-turtleanon · 3 years

Text

Evak Fics - Kid Fics

*** Isak and Even have a child together *** They are parents but to different children *** Only one of them is a parent

***** THEY HAVE A CHILD TOGETHER *****

Nas by OrTheNightEverythingChanged (571 words) - Isak and Even take their daughter to the skatepark.

Sugar Coat This Love For Me by i_once_wrote_a_dream (1k words) - A little argument over candy during Halloween.

life with our little prince by glbertblythes (SERIES. 3 Fics) - Isak and Even adopt a little boy with prince curls and blue eyes.

All in the Eyes of a Boy by MacksDramaticShenanigans (1.3k words) - the first time Isak and Even meet their son.

all i want for christmas is you by stringsinmelody (1.3k words) - Isak and Even enjoy their first Christmas together with their baby.

sugar and spice and everything nice by chasingflower (1.6k words) - Eskild and Noora finds Evak’s kid from the future. It’s adorable as heck.

småfolk by stringsinmelody (SERIES. 5 fics) - a/b/o undertones.

the room's hush hush and now's our moment by ahana (2.2k words) - A night in the life of Isak and Even, sixteen years later.

Stjerner Lyser Skinnende by MacksDramaticShenanigans (2.4k words) - Isak and Even attend their daughter’s music concert. She has a surprise for them.

The Beginning of Believing by MacksDramaticShenanigans (2.5k words) - Their children argue about Santa.

I'll be there by Wolle19 (SERIES. 3 fics) - All Isak want is for his husband to be home for the holidays. Mpreg.

I'll give you the brightest sunshine by goldenkisses (3k words) - It was something that they new would always happen, a life being brought into their lives that would make all the gloomy days into something so bright. Adoption.

everything that happens is from now on. by Skamtrash (6.7k words) - Adoption. At the end so not a lot of the kid is involved here. This is part of a series. The next part, wrap your arms around my heart just like you always do. has more of the kid.

Isn't He Lovely by MacksDramaticShenanigans (4.4k words) - the first time Evak’s kid meets his uncles.

don't be wasting your time (on your own) by orphan_account (4.6k words) - Five things Even reminds himself not to forget, and the one thing he does. NOTE: The fic says this is a sequel and the first fic is a must read. But there’s no link so if you know which the main fic is, let me know. P.S. This could go under the different children category but they are already a family here so..

The Fools Who Dream by Janey_E (6k words) - A collection of moments from Isak and Even's family life, important and not-so-important. Kids, friends, mornings, evenings, weddings, birthdays, bad days, good days.

Our Steady True North by verlore_poplap (orphan_account) (9k words) - Five times Isak and Even were amicable; plus one time they just weren't. Co-parenting. Post break-up.

i ain't no hercules by grinsekaetzchen (12k words) - Post-apocalypse world. This is a sequel. So SPOILERS. They kinda adopt this boy. The first part is if you must live, darling one, just live and it’s amazing.

my entire world fits perfectly in my arms by theyellowcurtains (12.8k words) - A bunch of cuddle prompts. Not all of these are kid fics.

(WIP) Everyday Evak: The Realistic Stories of Isak & Even by NeonViolet (14k words) - A realistic looks into Even and Isak's life. It's not always glamorous.

you told me we were forever by Skamtrash (19k words) - Isak finds out he's having a baby soon after Even breaks up with him so he makes the decision not to tell him. Except Even finds out on his own 3 years later.

The Fiction of Reality by Midlifecrisis (24k words) - Isak and Even have a daughter, but life is not plain sailing.

Soup is for the Soul by unfancyandy (26k words) - This is a sequel. So SPOILERS. set 5 years after "Sleep Is For Dreamers," Even and Isak are starting a new adventure.

Evak Family by orphan_account (SERIES. 7 fics) 80k- Isak is nineteen, Even is twenty-one, and they had a plan. A plan that they've very, very carefully stuck to. Until, that is, Isak gets sick and can't seem to figure out what's wrong with him. Spoiler: he's not sick. Mpreg.

You Are Everything I Have Never Been by staylucky (78k words) - Isak Valtersen is an unpresented, soon-to-present omega who is convinced his best friend Jonas Vasquez is his alpha mate until he meets a very charming and persuasive new alpha, Tall Stranger aka Even Bech Naesheim, making him question everything. The kid part comes later on in the fic.

Calm After by desp3ration (270k words) - This is a sequel to Tidal Waves . So SPOILERS. The tags say Evak becoming parents but I have not yet read this and I don't want to fo through it to figure it out because I want to read this later. So if it shouldn't be in here, let me know.

***** THEY EACH HAVE DIFFERENT CHILDREN *****

shred by tusktooth (22k words) - Has a twist but nor really a twist. I’m just gonna put this in this category. There were two versions of Isak Valtersen. He was cool, smart snowboarder guy. The real Isak, was also trans, gay, and a father. Keeping the two Isaks separate wasn’t that difficult. At least, not until he saw Even again.

***** ONLY ONE OF THEM IS A PARENT *****

Even the Illustrator by eavk (SERIES. 3 fics) - An AU where Even’s an illustrator who draws what kids describe to him for YouTube, and Isak is the smitten father of a six year old with a wild imagination.

a lullaby for you by noirophelia (2.2k words) - Isak has a wonderful little daughter. Even is her wonderful teacher.

Better With You by iriswests (5.8k words) - Isak and Even don't know what they'd do without the other. Eventually, they realize they don't really need to find out.. Single dad Even. Vet Isak.

(WIP) carrying our dreams and all that they mean (trying to make it all worthwhile) byodair_goes_my_sanity (8.4k words) - We’ve been hooking up for the past few weeks and holy shit it turned out you’re my kids teacher oh god this embarrassing!

Universe At Its Finest by Skamtrash (8.6k words) - The universe brings Even into Isaks life, he just didn't know Even came with a full package. A kid fic with 90% pure fluff.

The Little Flower Named Dahlia by Bellakitse (18k words) - Single!Dad Isak + Preschool teacher Even and the little girl that brings them together. Adorable fic.

(WIP) Draw a Family by Isakprettykitty (21k words) - Isak, a single parent, takes his 5 year old son to preschool for the first time. Before Isak adopted Magne, his biologic parents weren't treating Magne as they should and some of the scars still haven't healed. Magne's teacher is no other than Even bech næsheim, who makes it his goal to help Magne out with his social anxiety. As time passes, Even and Isak grow closer and the younger one finally learns that it is okay to depend on other people.

Lovesick by Sabeley (SERIES. 2 fics) - Even is absolutely not making up excuses to take his daughter to see the hot new pediatrician. 5 times Even's daughter wasn't actually sick and 1 time she was.

take me as i am-universe by argentae (SERIES. 3 fics) - He isn’t crushing, and nevertheless this guy has become a Problem, because whenever he’s on shift he’s made it increasingly difficult for Isak to really spend his time productively. Sure, he could just find another place to study but he likes the access to coffee here even though he actually kind of hates the bitterness of it and he’s just not going to let himself get swept aside because of this guy. Parent!Even.

We are our Choices by recklesslee (40k words) - Even is informed that one decision he made on a lonely night months ago has led to a new bump in the road. Now Even has another choice to make, and that just might change his life for the better. Doctor!Isak.

Emmy by NeonViolet (48k words) - Isak is 25 and working in marine biology. Sana is his best friend. He has a 7 year old. And her new school principal looks familiar. Adorable!

waiting outside ('til you're ready to go) by mellowellom (52k words) - An AU where Isak's daughter is an actual little devil that he can't control for the life of him, and his neighbour Even offers a helping hand.

we've made it this far, kid by everythingislove (straykid) (SERIES. 2 fics) - Technically, Isak is an uncle. The one where Isak is just trying to raise his nephew as best he can with the help of his best friends. He doesn't expect to fall for Felix's gorgeous football coach along the way.

(WIP) The Daughter by Laika_the_husband (10k words) - A sequel. So spoilers. Even’s daughter appear in the previous fics but not as much. Continues from the series, A Dove, a Snake, a Ghost and a Madman. And what an excellent series this is.

Quitting You by Laika_the_husband (65k words) - A sequel. So spoilers. From the series, Because of You I'm Nothing, I'm Nowhere. Isak Valtersen is a happy stay-at-home dad of his baby girl, taking care of his new home in Belgium. His peaceful life as a domestic god gets turned upside down, when his deeply buried desires are suddenly forced to resurface. It is simple enough to find someone on Grindr, but when that someone is painfully familiar, things can get complicated. Another excellent series.

I Can Hardly Breathe by Flatfootmonster (82k words) - This fic, man. Isak gets hired to be the nanny? for Even and Sonja’s kids. This fic is just absolutely amazing.

#evak fic rec #skam fic rec #kid fic #i think i'm missing a bunch #i will update if i know of more #shout out to the anon who asked about kid fics #that's why i made this list #i need to empty my queue tag

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fydn · 4 years

Note

I haven't played Dragon Nest in a while but remembered the entire Jasmine and Academic storylines, however I'm still confused about Jasmine's motives and actions in the game and couldn't make sense of it all. She took Daisy's jewel and split them up into fragments to use them "to save the past" - but she gave up saving the past that she's just indiscriminately sending clones to die? While telling Commelina not to interfere much with events in the past? From the start to RDN, can you elaborate?

My memory is foggy but iirc her goal was to save the people and she took it so literally that she made her purpose to save HER own people everyone else be damned. Realizing it was impossible to correct the timeline she lives on by changing the events of the past (because that simply creates a divergence) or use Rose powers to create an enterely new timeline to relocate her people, she started to develop a plan to instead hijack another and find a way to move everyone, but kept sending clones anyways as a test and for recon mission without telling them. Her despair over continuous failure and tunnel vision for her mission just sends her into complete insanity until she just decides that fuck this let’s destroy everything once for all so no one gets to suffer. And then she ended up at Red Dragon Nest after her army and her being completely obliterated by the Adventurers and I’m not sure how but I’m gonna guess the idea of rebelling against their creator to make a new world sounded very attractive to her.

Judging by how she behaves after Commelina finds out what the original plan is and how quickly ditches her, it seems like she gave up on her original plan long before Commelina gets to time travel. Even while you play she makes some remarks that come accross as vitriolic like saying that Dragons (Argenta and Geraint) don’t actually care about what happens to the people, and in the prologue story posted on the site that takes place at some unknown time before Commelina travels her way of speaking is completely different, at least in the translation she came across as very mean-spirited and cynical. She only sightly trust more Velskud because he’s human first dragon second but she was willing to fuck him over too.

Recontextualizing what she says about Argenta and Geraint after learning Jasmine is a Dragon is interesting because Argenta’s mission is to protect the world’s balance, Geraint is the “DrAgOn BoRn FoR dEsTrUcTiOn”. Argenta finds not just humans but any mortal extremely annoying but grows to care for their well being too. Geraint didn’t like conflict and didn’t understand why he had to kill Iona for being a Chaos if he wasn’t doing anything bad, and wanted to learn more about others. Ultimately they sympathized more with the people and cared about saving as many lives as possible much more than Jasmine who claimed her mission was to protect them.

#Dragon Nest #lore #Jasmine #Commelina #Anonymous

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avid-author-activist · 5 years

Text

Steel and Shadow Pt. 1

You are a daughter of fangs and steel. What are you meant for, if not to rule? Twin serpents hiss around my legs, drawing closer and closer. They’ve whispered to me in my dreams and from Mother’s arm before, but never like this. Never in the nursery, with only me and Nurse. Nurse is watching from a distance, trying to stay away from the snakes.

If she is afraid of them, then I should be, too. I scramble backwards, but they keep coming. One of them brushes against me, cold green scales against bare skin. I whimper. The snake winds itself around my legs. Fangs and steel, it hisses. Rule. I try to back away, but the serpent trips me and I tumble to the ground with a scream.

A glinting shred of metal peels away from the wall and slices the first snake right through the eye. It slumps to the floor. I shriek and run to Nurse, barely missing the second snake with my flailing feet. Nurse holds me as I tremble into her arms.

Tolly comes thundering into the room, his knife in his hand. “Evie!” He stops in the door, wiping sweat from his forehead. “Are you okay?” He notices the snakes on the ground and suddenly stiffens.

“What is the meaning of this?” Mother’s voice is barely raised above a whisper as she stands behind Tolly in the doorway. She sounds like the snakes. Tolly jumps to attention, and Mother rounds on him. “Get back to your Training,” she snaps, and he backs out of the room. Mother sweeps into the room, ignoring me and Nurse. She stands over her snakes, crooning over the dead one. It makes me shiver.

“Well,” she says. “Nurse!”

My Nurse gets to her feet. “My- my lady?”

“Were your orders not to explain to Evangeline that my creatures will not harm her?”

“Yes, my lady.” Nurse doesn’t meet my mother’s eyes. I look between them. Mother seems enraged.

I jump in front of Nurse. “It’s not her fault!”

My mother barely spares me a glance. “Don’t be foolish, Evangeline.” She looks at Nurse. “You are dismissed, effective immediately. Pack your things and move out of this house.” Mother sweeps out of the nursery, emerald cloak billowing behind her.

<>-<>-<>

That night at dinner, Father invites me to sit by his side. “I am told you displayed your ability today,” he rumbles. I sip from my glass of water.

“Ability?”

“You controlled metal, and a few months before Ptolemus managed it, too.”

I puff out my chest, proud.

Suddenly, all the pride leaks away as I remember what else happened today, too. “Will Nurse be okay?”

Father begins slicing his steak. “She is not worth your worrying,” is all he says.

Near the end of dinner, Mother and Father stand. “A toast to our daughter,” Father rumbles. “Future heiress to House Samos!” I don’t know what heiress means, but I manage to smile and nod at the Samos cousins that raise their glasses to me.

Father sits back down. “Tomorrow,” he says to Tolly, “I want you to take Evangeline to Training with you.”

My brother chokes on his food. “Training? She’s only six!”

Father’s brows knit together. Tolly drops his gaze. “Of course, Father.”

<>-<>-<>

The next day, I wake to Tolly pounding on the door of my room. I squint out the window. “The sun’s not even up yet,” I whine.

He opens the door. “Yes, it is,” he says, pointing out the window. “Last I checked, that little half circle on the horizon is called The Sun.”

Tolly shows me how to put on special black and silver clothing he calls a Training suit. It feels tight against my skin. A servant ties my hair back, and he leads me down the hallway. My room is connected to the main part of the Ridge House, while he has larger rooms facing east, separated from us by a set of metal walkways. Tolly takes me down, past the receiving chambers, until we arrive at a set of metal doors set underneath the earth. He furrows his brow and wills the doors to open. I gasp.

We’re looking into a huge underground room. An arena stands in the very middle, lined with lots of machines. “Welcome to the Samos Training rooms.” Tolly grins. He leads me over to a man in military dress, black and silver. With a start, I recognize Uncle Nikon. He looks like Father, except slightly heavier, with a more open expression.

He turns and squats down to look at me. “If it isn’t Evangeline Samos. Your father tells me your ability recently manifested itself.”

“Yes, sir.” I don’t know what else to say.

He gives me a small smile. “Please, call me Uncle. We are family, after all.” He turns to Ptolemus. “Laps,” he barks. Tolly races off, and I start after him. Uncle calls me back.

“Not you, Evangeline.”

“Yes, sir,” I say again.

He claps his hands together. “Very good. Now, surely your parents have impressed upon you the importance of two things in Silver life.” He pauses. Waiting for a response, I realize.

“Strength,” I answer. “Power.”

Uncle gives me another small smile. “Excellent. In Training, you will begin on your path to both of those things.” He leads me into a small room. There are targets mounted to the far wall. On the table in front of me are dozens upon dozens of bullet rounds, but I see no guns. Several other Samos kids, all of who I recognize, sit in chairs at the table. I take the only open seat. Uncle takes a place at the front of the table.

“We have a new daughter of House Samos joining us today. Surely all of you recognize Lady Evangeline?” Lady Evangeline. The title sounds formal. I am a lady.

To my shock, he gestures to me first. “We’ll start with you today. Levitate a bullet, please.”

I realize that this is why there aren’t any guns. Why use a weapon when your ability is weapon enough? I stare at the bullet closest to me and will it to do something, anything. Nothing happens. Uncle doesn’t look mad.

“Focus. Extend your mind.”

I clear my head and gaze at the bullet again. I order it to rise. It is metal, and I am a magnetron. I control it.

The bullet rises a few inches off the table. I flush, happy with myself, and it drops again.

Uncle beams. “Very good! Pollux, you next.” The boy to my right stares at a bullet. He has a much easier time of it than I did, and it rises far into the air. I realize that I’m younger than anyone else here by at least a few years. They’ve all been training for longer than I have.

“Another,” Uncle orders. The boy complies.

“Another.”

Pollux finally wavers at sixteen bullets. My mouth opens a little bit. Wow.

“Can anyone tell me what Pollux did wrong?” Uncle prompts. Hands go up immediately, but I have no idea. “Go ahead, Argenta.”

“The bullets were of different heights,” one of the oldest girls says. “His focus wasn’t even enough.”

Everyone at the table takes a turn. They all manage ten or more bullets. Cousin Atticus sends the contents of the whole table spinning into the air in shards of glinting copper. I gape openly at what our ability can do. Strength. Power.

Someone enters the room. Uncle jumps to his feet. “Lord Volo! I was expecting you.” I whip around, wanting to meet my father’s gaze, but he doesn’t look in our direction.

“My daughter is in this class, and I expect her to have the best Training possible.” Uncle nods along with him.

“May I?” Father asks. It sounds more like a demand and less like a question.

“Of course,” Uncle says. “Take all the time you need.” He leaves the room. A thrill runs down my spine. Father will be teaching me.

“These rounds,” Father says quietly, “could mean the difference between life and death for every one of you someday.” His eyes land on me, and I sit straighter in my chair. “House Samos is a house of warriors, and each of you will see combat during your lifetime.”

He holds up a small bullet. “This bullet is the most common in Norta. It is not used by the military, but many civilians will use them. Likely, you will encounter this round when training with a firearm, but not in active combat.”

He reaches for another bullet, of about the same size. “The King’s snipers utilize this bullet, slightly larger than the previous one. I would certainly hope that none of you will find yourselves on the receiving end of the snipers in question, but it is best to be prepared.”

Father goes on and on. I soak it all up. “Most bullets are coated in a hard metal. Nortan bullets generally have copper jackets, with cores of tin, tungsten, or lead. Copper isn’t particularly strong, of course, but it is very common.”

When Father stands up to leave, he hands me a bullet. “Wear this around your neck,” he orders. “Never forget what it feels like.”

I nod solemnly. “Yes, sir.”

<>-<>-<>

I honestly don’t know how long this is going to be but here’s the first part of my Evangeline/Elane slowburn fic! Evangeline’s inner monologue is clearly not that of a six year old’s, but it’s slightly less advanced than her storytelling at 16 or 19. I did take pains to have her act more or less like a six year old, though.

I’ll probably post this to my wattpad sometime (you can find me on wattpad at @/soph_lin) and potentially also on ao3!

#red queen #evangeline samos #volo samos #ptolemus samos #elane haven #evane #victoria aveyard #fanfiction #steel and shadow

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heyyy-thats-my-chips · 5 years

Text

Tales of The Wicked

Chapter 1

Goddess surely have a malicious taste of humor.

I can’t take a guess of what jokes she will make in the future, but surely it’ll makes me laugh when it’s time.

Like one time she decided to shows us a new dragon created from broken fragment of chaos dragon named Black Dragon that destroyed almost every villages it accidentally found and wiped out half of our population. I’m laughing even in my sleep. Watching us living in harmony must be boring for God.

Speaking of population, there are 7 races in this world, The Sorceress, The Warriors, The Clerics, The Kalis, The Archers, The Lancers and the last one, Assassins. I was born as an assassin.

The Kali race is the only race that have only women in the tribes, there’s barely men, except the elders. They were known as The Guardian of Ancient, the one who could read Goddess dreams. Remember what I said about God having a malicious taste of humor? Well, out of nowhere, Kali tribes was destroyed overnight, but one of them managed to escape and now she’s the only Kali in the world. And don’t forget about a sudden appearance of the Prophet who was predicted could save the world, but ended up being kidnapped by the mysterious Black Knight. And a white haired woman in red hood named Argenta visited the Calderock Village and claimed to be the Silver dragon, a fragment of ancient dragon who bossed around for her ‘job’ to find the Black Knight, but now the Black Knight and the Prophet are nowhere to be found.

And the rest? They were ordinary peoples, villagers. Many peoples except archers who didn’t go to a training camp would ended up as villagers, the blood of their ancestors will still flow within them, but discrimination from others will makes them forget about their origin. They’d lose their confident, but some of them will rise up and become important peoples instead, such as generals, soldiers, blacksmiths, tailors, warehouse keepers, mount trainers, potion makers, and the others I couldn’t remember. Studying as a trainee itself required lots of patience and times, you should be able to perform basic skills and be able to do the quests given by your trainer, such as entering a dungeon to gather specific ingredients and kill monsters and the mission could cost your life.

Oh, I forgot to mention, my ancestors were actually the real leaders of Silver Dagger, the most feared and famous guild in Saint Haven, their name will never be written in the history, but they’re the one who make history of victories and wars in almost every conflicts, even King Peter in Cassius Palace frequently sent them into secret missions or called them whenever they need a counsellor. You can tell from my story that my ancestors are the shadows of the Cassius. My father always told me that someday I’ll replace him, but I’m not interested.

Because of the absence of siblings in my family, my days are always filled with training and studying. My father shows no mercy, he trained me so hard that seems like he doesn’t care if I die during my training, but in the end of the day, my father will become softer and appreciate many thing that I did in my training and study. Sadly there’s only two of us in the family, there won’t be mother for me who welcomes me home. My mother died to protect me when I was a little kid because of sudden attack from Black Dragon in Saint Haven, and I know since her funeral held, my father is trying so hard to replaces her role. When I was younger, my father always told me a bedtime story in every night, but I refused and told him to tell me his journey instead, but he just smiled and tells me I’ll know it soon. Now my nights are filled with stupid tales of the ruler of God, named Desmodeus who ordered two Goddesses, Althea and Vestinel to create a world, but because of envy, Vestinel poisoned Goddess Althea into slumber and turns this world that created by Althea into chaos, and we, in the name of Silver Dagger, should bring peace back to the world, along with the ancient and chaos dragons. Now I really want the old tales of him back.

Since Saint Haven is the capital city of the world, where 7 of the races gathered to seek a better job, I frequently meet peoples from other races, and new adventures in every corner of the city. One day, when fate decided it’s time to meet my dear friend, I met him in the most unexpected way.

I remember that day, when my father forced me to enter one of dungeons in foothills of the Black Mountain, where almost all of the soldiers and members of many guilds from Saint Haven fought battalions of monsters that suddenly came and attacking the front base of Saint Haven’s fortress. It’s funny that when I watched the war while eating apple and sitting in the branches of highest tree in the foothills of the Black Mountain, I accidentally saw a boy with silver hair that has the most beautiful face even for a man, I snickered, he must be the new Knight Templar that has been in every headline of newspapers because of his contribution for Dragon Follower’s investigation. No wonder the King Cassius and General Douglass sent him in the front line, he’s strong.

I started to notice that he’s a rare case in his race, he’s a priest and also a paladin, meaning he could either be an inquisitor, a crusader, a saint, or even a guardian. Interesting.

But in just a second, something changes from his appearance, I furrowed, but then realize that he casts a spell to call lightning—upon me

I jumped to another tree before a thousand volts of lightning suddenly strikes the tree I was sit on, the fire quickly spreads from one branches to another, my half eaten apple is long gone. In the thick smoke and burning woods, I detect a flash movement of one people and suddenly the smoke in front of me is vanished, replaced by the beautiful face I’ve been watching. He spells a cast again and makes another thunderbolt strikes barely an inch from my place, if I didn’t move faster—

He continues to attack with force of winds and makes the trees around him breaking, a sharp piece of wood almost planted on my face, I jumped backward and let my body pulled down by gravity before hard ground under my feet breaking because of heavy pressure of mine, but then I must jump away from there before the shield of the Cleric makes the slightest contact with me.

A loud of crash could be heard. Our surrounding is filled with dust that flies because of Cleric’s attack—what a powerful skill he has. When the surrounding become clear from dust, I see something like an orb in front of my face—Cleric’s wand pointed at me.

“Who are you? Are you a Dragon Follower’s spy?” He exclaimed,

“I think you got the wrong person.” I lifted up both of my hands, but seems like it only makes him more suspicious because he just shoves his wand closer to my face.

“I ask you once again, who are you?” He demanded,

I sighed heavily. “My name is Reuvaldy.”

But seems like my answer didn’t satisfy him, he furrowed deeply. “What?” I shrugged, “you asked me who am I didn’t you-” my words are cut off by a sudden enormous cross that fell besides us, and there’s lightning in every inch of it.

“If you don’t answer me, I will not hesitate to kill you.”

“Alright! I’m an adventure who’s too lazy to join you defeating those monsters.”

He fell silence for a while, but then he quickly composed himself, “show me your license.”

I rummage through my pocket, then hand him the license my father gave me so I didn’t have to go to the training camps, in exchanges of strenuous training from my father himself. He takes it and examining it carefully before handing it back to me. But I know he didn’t read any description in my license.

“I’ll let you go this time, but you should help us get rid of the monsters.” He stated, I reply it with a heavy sigh.

“Fine.” I got up, “but before that, could you please remove your cross thing? It makes me uncomfortable.”

He looked at me once again before flicked his finger, which makes the enormous cross of lightning disappear. “Let’s go, we don’t have much time.” He turns around and runs into the war while shouting a command before he’s disappearing from my view. I chuckled, maybe he’s not that bad, could spotted me far above the tree in short time. I quickly made my way to him by slashing monster’s throats that are on my way, another stupid orcs, and annoying goblins that basically a parasite in every monster battalion tried to stop me, I smirked, “shower me with blood.” I snorted as I cut another orc’s throat open, a disgusting blood of them burst out, making another monsters fled when I glared at them. But it doesn’t affect the cocky harpies, they must thought they’re strong enough to kill us—especially the one with red feathers. But they’re all wrong, I slipped my hand into my pocket and quickly throws my

I finally saw the silver haired boy again, but before I could reach him, there’s a deafening howl echoing through the Foothills.

Yes I do realize we’re in the very front line of the soldiers, and I do realize those howl means the General monster has come down. And I do saw the gigantic General monster running to his target—the Cleric. “Cleric!” I shouted, but he can’t even moves because the monsters are surrounding him, I looked at the General monster who’s become very dangerously close to him and already lifted his giant axe pointed to the Cleric—there’s no time.

I lift my hand up in the air, absorbing the dark shadow into my hand before the fire starts to burns around the shadow, creating a red line which I called ‘hell’s ribbon’ and slowly this dark matter of mine forms into a huge piercing star which I throw toward the general monster’s neck and swiftly slash the monster into two before a loud metal clacking echoing through the foothills,

Shit.

The cleric’s eyes widened, he just saw one of the silver dagger’s legendary skill. He quickly turns his head and sees where I am standing, where the dark star came from.

I messed up.

The other monsters suddenly fled from the battlefield, their general is dead, making the soldiers and adventures confused with the sudden victory. The cleric’s view was blocked with hundreds monsters that run toward their base fortress, saving their life. The shout of victory filled the foothills of Black Mountain, they all cheering, except the cleric,

Who only saw a solid wood log laying on the spot where the assassin supposed to be.

#dragon nest #dragon nest fanfic #it's still a wip tho #i'd like to know what you guys think since i'm not sure if it's a good story yet #inspi #inspirated by some player i met in DN #a few names in FF are real players

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danwantseditingtips · 6 years

Text

I used a website generator to write us the ultimate Dan and Phil Rap

A Manchester State of Mind (The Ripped Jeans Hip Hop)

By DJ Howell

A Rap

Yeah, yeah Ayo, phandom, it's time. It's time, phandom (aight, phandom, begin). Straight out the flustered dungeons of rap.

The cheese drops deep as does my bush. I never stalk, 'cause to stalk is the brother of ambush. Beyond the walls of soulmates, life is defined. I think of fate when I'm in a Manchester state of mind.

Hope the cush got some tush. My kush don't like no dirty ambush. Run up to the push and get the firebush.

In a Manchester state of mind.

What more could you ask for? The pure cheese? You complain about stealing cereal. I gotta love it though - somebody still speaks for the seize.

I'm rappin' to the arp, And I'm gonna move your tarp.

Inappropriate, obsessive, besotted, like a furry Boy, I tell you, I thought you were in a hurry.

I can't take the stealing cereal, can't take the yank. I woulda tried to eat I guess I got no bank.

I'm rappin' to the tarp, And I'm gonna move your arp.

Yea, yaz, in a Manchester state of mind.

When I was young my brother was a tease. I waz kicked out without no freeze. I never thought I'd see that seize. Ain't a soul alive that could take my brother's ease.

A tall placenta is quite the argenta.

Thinking of fate. Yaz, thinking of fate (fate).

AIso can write this poetry, we are done for. I was in a bad place and this rap made me actually LOL

@danielhowell and @amazingphil I would give my first born to see you perform this on camera

in all seriousness, thank you for being a constant supply of happiness and distraction in my life. I hope you are happy <3

#phan #daniel howell #dan howell #amazing phil #phil lester #phandom #lol rip dan's old branding #phanfic

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tallbluelady · 3 years

Text

Bow

Rowan couldn't focus on her schoolwork. That wasn't particularly new for her, but usually she'd be able to pull out of her reverie and get back to it. But it just wasn't happening today. Her tenth nameday was today, and Papa had promised that she could get a bow when she was that old. Mama had been a little hesitant, but Ellant had gotten his bow when he was ten, so why shouldn't she?

"Miss Argentas, I was not aware that I assigned drawings of violence as the work of the day." The schoolmaster chided.

Rowan shook her head, looking at her parchment. It did indeed have a rather violent scene of Rowan shooting said schoolmaster. At least she was caught before she was able to label it as such. "Sorry."

"If you keep being distracted like this, I'm afraid I will have to talk to your parents about you staying here."

Rowan's eyes grew wide in fear and she grabbed a new parchment to start the assignment anew. The anxiety of disappointing her parents kept her on task for the rest of the day.

* * * * *

Mama watched as Rowan, who had been bubbly and excited this morning, walk to the shop low and tired.

"Is aught amiss?" Mama asked when Rowan slumped into her customary chair.

"The schoolmaster was extra mean to me today." Rowan grumbled.

Mama sighed and held her daughter. "That was cruel of him to do on your nameday."

Rowan sniffed, tears starting to well up in her eyes. "He said that he'd tell you that I shouldn't keep going to school."

"No, no, no." Mama stroked Rowan's hair. "You love learning too much. If we can find a different school for you to attend then we'll talk to him. But he shouldn't say things like that to you."

Rowan sniffed again and felt a bit better at that thought. Even the schoolmaster did things he wasn't supposed to.

It wasn't very long after this realization that Ellant came to the shop from his music lesson.

"How's the nameday girl?" He asked, twirling his flute around in his hands.

"Ellant, you'll drop that if you're not careful." Mama scolded.

"I"m careful!" Ellant's hand slipped, but he caught the flute in the other hand.

Rowan giggled at her brother's clumsiness. He set the flute down on one of the counters behind the main display.

"You still didn't say how you were doing." Ellant ruffled his sister's hair.

"Better." She answered, trying to fix it.

"El, why don't you take Rowan down to the bakery so she can choose a cake for tonight. Just bring it straight home." Mama handed him a small gil pouch and the house key.

"You closing up early?" Ellant asked.

Alfinne sighed. "Nay, though I wish it were so. You two are old enough to stay at the house by yourself and wait for your father and I before eating the cake."

Rowan and Ellant looked at each other knowing full well that they would not be able to, but nodded at their mother regardless.

"We'll have the summer sausage and mun-tuy for dinner. I'm sorry that we can't do anything warm for your nameday Rowan, but most adventurers come in closer to sunset these days." AMama said.

"That's okay. I like our mun-tuy a lot." Rowan said cheerfully, waving out the door.

* * * * * *

The two siblings were able to keep out of the cake until their parents came home with the help of a pair of free cookies from the baker. They got the table set for their parents so they could get right into family dinner without waiting too long. Papa came home first, meaning that Mama was likely haggling with an adventurer still. He seemed more tired than usual, but he brightened when he saw his children.

"How's the nameday girl?" He asked with a hug.

"Good!" Rowan chirped.

"Ellant, where's your mother?" Papa asked.

"She told us to come home after we got the cake. And we didn't eat any of it without you guys!" Ellant said, pointing to the pristine cake.

"So you haven't." Papa said with an approving nod.

Mama returned with an apology of her late arrival and they ate dinner as a family. Rowan was almost too excited to eat her meal until she was told that she needed to finish her portion to get her present that night.

They did let her have her present before they had cake, however.

"Alright, El. Go get the present." Papa said.

Rowan almost went after him to see what it was, but sat back down when she was bid to do so. Ellant returned to the dining room, object held behind his back with a mischievous grin on his face.

"Ta da!" He presented Rowan with his old short bow, tied with a purple bow as he did a bow.

Rowan squealed with delight has she held the curved wooden object. "Where's the string? Where's the arrows?"

"You know the rules, Rowan. No arrows in the house." Mama said.

"I'll string it for you, Ro." Ellant said.

"No, you strung it on your birthday; I want to do it this time." Rowan insisted.

Ellant looked to Papa, who shrugged. "You did do it yourself then."

With a lot of struggle and consternation, Rowan managed to get the child's bow strung. She plucked it a few times, more for the sound than for the actual feel of it, then rushed outside to go shoot at the target.

Ellant was close at hand, showing her how to actually shoot the thing. Rowan outwardly chafed at his guidance, but took everything he said to heart. With a tremendous amount of strength on her part, she was able to pull back the bowstring on the little bow far enough to actually fling something from it. Satisfied that she'd be able to shoot something, Ellant handed her an arrow to shoot at the painted Garlean that served as the target.

"Deep breath... and... release." Ellant said.

Rowan did as she was bid and the arrow actually flew out and hit the target. "I did it!"

Ellant picked his jaw from the ground and laughed. "You did. You actually hit the target."

Rowan beamed and pulled the arrow out of it. "It was a lot lower than I wanted it to be though."

"Yeah, but you actually hit the thing." Ellant said. "I couldn't do that my first time."

"Yeah, I remember." Rowan smiled.

Ellant scoffed and ruffled her hair.

#ffxivwrite #FFxivWrite2021 #rowan argentas #uhh #this ended up being 1k somehow?#probably cuz there are three different locations #but huh #go me #i need a writing tag

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getoutofthisplace · 6 years

Photo

Dear Gus,

As always, I was humbled by the number of happy birthday wishes I got on Facebook. I’ve made a tradition of sharing with everyone a detailed account of how I spent my birthday. Here’s what I told them about today:

It started around 3am, when I woke up with a piercing headache. I rolled around until I found a position on the pillow that somewhat alleviated the pain, I convinced myself I didn’t have brain cancer, then I fell back asleep until I heard Gus quietly crying in the next room around 5. I walked by the light of my phone screen from our bed to Gus’s room. When I opened the door, he pushed himself up and looked at me from his crib—he’s a stomach sleeper, like me. I closed his louvered closet doors some so the light wouldn’t be blinding, and I reached in to pull the string so I could see well enough to change his diaper. He stopped crying when I leaned over the crib rail and picked him up. Holding him against my chest in the middle of the night is always a reminder that I have the power to calm him with nothing but my presence and love—a power so raw and wonderful that I don’t understand how any parent ever takes it for granted. Gus cried again when I placed him on his changing table, but I quickly put a pacifier in his mouth, which stopped the crying and allowed me to switch his wet diaper out for a dry one. I put him back on my chest and walked him over to the closet, where I again pulled the light string, but I didn’t rush to place him back in his crib. I walked slowly, stepping side to side trying to rock him back to sleep while his trusty owl nightlight on the table emitted a constant stream of white noise. But even after he fell asleep I didn’t want to put him back down because he felt too precious in my arms to abandon for even a moment. But I did put him down, and he complained sleepily, but then fell asleep again.

I used my phone to light the path to the bathroom, where I stepped naked onto that unforgivable bastard of a scale, which read 195.2 pounds, up a little from Sunday morning because I gorged myself on corn casserole and cherry pie at my grandmother’s house in honor of my family’s plethora of January birthdays. I showered, spending more time than usual letting hot water run over my head because it made me forget about the headache, and I dried off in the dark so my eyes could adjust well when I tiptoed back through our bedroom without waking Liz up. However, when I opened the bathroom door and came into the room, I heard her whisper “Happy birthday” from our bed in the darkness. I felt my way to the side of the bed, then sat. I leaned down and began making kissing noises, which she reciprocated—it’s a game of “Marco Polo” we developed long ago to find each other’s lips when it was too dark to see them—until our lips met. “I hope you have a great day,” she said, before I tiptoed out of the bedroom and into the hall bathroom, where I got dressed and brushed my teeth. I let Suki out into the backyard to pee, put food in her bowl. I let her back in, grabbed my backpack, then went out to my truck.

At the office by 6:30am, I got the parking spot closest to the door, but there were a few cars scattered in the lot. I saw the light on in the gym and wished I had the discipline to develop a regular exercise routine. When I got close enough, I could see Jordan Culver in there like a champion with his headphones in his ears and a kettle bell in his hands. A few minutes after I got to my desk, my sister showed up at my cubicle in workout gear. “I have breakfast for you, but you can’t have it until after I get done in the gym.” “Oooo…” I said. Sometimes my brother-in-law makes breakfast for her and makes enough for me, too. I assumed that was the case. Around 8am, my headache intensified, which reminded me of the promise I made to Liz to call the doctor. I set up an appointment for 1:30. At 8.30, my coworkers gathered in a conference room around a breakfast casserole Chris Nick made and some fruit and they sang happy birthday to me while I wore the designated birthday sombrero and I assured them that—despite the #40andfabulous hashtag Liz used in the Instagram post she made that morning about me—I am not 40 yet.

I worked at my desk until noon, when I drove to Boulevard Bread for lunch. When I got there, I found Clayton Scott Grubbs and Ryan Hitt behind the counter making sandwiches. I asked Ryan what the special was, but he said there wasn’t one. “The first rule of business is to always have a special,” I said in a mock corporate tone the two of us used when we worked together back in 2010 at the now-defunct House Restaurant. I ordered a smoked turkey sandwich and some Zapp’s chips, then sat down until Joshua Asante came over to say hello. He asked me what I’m up to and I told him I was meeting the woman who just walked in. Hilary Trudell runs a storytelling show called The Yarn. We agreed to have lunch because I’m trying to back out of participating in her January 22 show because I don’t think I can tell my story in a compelling way within the allotted time. The show’s theme is “Adoption Stories” and I have a good one about how Lance Lang is my blood, but was adopted by another family at birth, then he sent me an email 52 years later because 23andMe.com said we share some DNA and now he’s family again. Hilary said she really likes the story and she gave me some ideas on how to approach it with brevity. Then we talked about Argenta Reading Series and how she and I are both trying to navigate the waters of nonprofits when neither of us knows anything about it, but we’re both committed to our causes. I promised her I will do my best to get my story where it can be told from her stage, and I’m 50% sure I can make it happen. I want to, and not being able to see the finished product in my head, which aches, so close to the date of the show disappoints me. It makes me feel inadequate as a writer. Like maybe all I’m good at is unnecessarily documenting things—like an entire day—and posting that exhaustive documentation to social media in the hopes of approval from a group of friends and acquaintances who might see it, based solely on some kind of bullshit algorithm that I used to feel I had a grasp of, but now I don’t know.

I drove to North Hills Family Medical Center, watched some sort of house-hunting show on HGTV in the waiting room for 40 minutes while I waited on someone to open a door and call my name, which finally happened. A nice woman in a surgical mask recorded that the scale she put me on read 204 lbs. “The boots,” I told her. She chuckled, and walked me to an exam room, where she declared my blood pressure is great. I told her about how I’ve had a headache since January 1. How the intensity of it comes and goes. The doctor told me a CT scan would be the course of action, but it’s probably just allergy-related, so a scan probably isn’t necessary. “I should tell you my father died of brain cancer in March,” I say. The doctor tried not to react, but his stumbling over words gave him away. “Just to be safe, let’s go ahead and do a CT scan.” And I could feel the pressure of my headache consuming me in that moment as I was reminded of all the doctors’ offices I sat in with my father in those three and a half years that it took him to die.

“If you aren’t in a hurry, he wants you to sit tight while we go ahead and get approval from your insurance to do the CT scan so we can get this going as quickly as possible,” the nurse told me. The urgency. I sat in the exam room and thought about how cruel life is and how I’m already aware that I should’ve met Liz and had Gus a decade ago so I could’ve spent more time on this earth with them as a family. I will be 71 when Gus is my age. To take my mind off of the fact that I may need to gear up for a fight against a brain tumor, I picked up the copy of WebMD Magazine on the table beside me. (How do you have a print magazine when your whole schtick is that you are on the web?) I skimmed it carefully when I read how broccoli might break-down cancer cells. I love broccoli. I should eat more broccoli, I told myself. And then I questioned why in the hell I would be eating turkey sandwiches for lunch when I am smart enough to understand the detrimental effects deli meat has on my body, not to mention the turkey’s. I committed silently to eating nothing but fruits and vegetables and beans and whatever else Clayton Bell's Facebook posts tell me to.

When the nurse came back, she told me the doctor changed his mind about calling me with the results of the CT scan, which will be Tuesday at 2.15pm. Now he wants me to come in on Wednesday so he can go over the results with me personally. It occurred to me that he’s taking the necessary steps to deliver bad news.

Liz wanted me to call her on my way back to the office, so I did. I told her the headache is probably nothing, and she agreed that it’s probably nothing. But she registered my fears through the phone because she picks up on the nuances of my behavior that I am unaware of. It’s a wonderful thing to share this life with someone who loves you enough to notice the subtleties of your voice.

Back at work, my coworkers asked me if I felt better. I can’t remember if I told them about my headache or they deduced that I wasn’t feeling well because I went to the doctor. Either way, I said, “Not really.” The left side of my head pulsated. Around 4:45, Laura messaged to ask me when I was leaving work. She had a gift she wanted to give me before I left. I walked to her office and pulled a box from a bag. Inside was a framed Kodak newspaper ad from way back. “I saw this at an antique store and it made me think of you and Liz.” It’s a black and white photo of a man and woman on snow skis. The man is looking into an old camera and the woman is grinning playfully beside him. It looks like an old-fashioned mirror selfie. “Kodak as you go,” the copy reads. I pulled a card from the box. Inside the envelope I saw Laura’s handwriting on folded up notebook paper. “I wrote some thoughts down on paper when you were in Arizona, I think. August 2016, I think. Dad was sick and you were gone and I know I’ll never do anything with them, but I thought you might like to have them.” I read the small pages. A rare glimpse into my always-professional sister’s emotions. She is my father reincarnate. The note says how she remembers us going to take family portraits in the early 90s, when Dad was preparing to run for the Arkansas House of Representatives. She remembers the man being there that served as Dad’s campaign manager and how she knew from that point on that she wanted to do marketing in some capacity. She and I have never talked about that time, but I tell her, “I think about that guy a lot, too, and what his job was,” but I never thought about the influence he had on my own desire to work in marketing. He was such a minor character in our lives—he had nothing more than a cameo—but then there Laura and I were, sitting in the office where we both do marketing, trying to remember his name. Only now that I write this the next day do I actually remember it. Chuck Hicks.

At home, I found Liz and Gus and Suki on the couch. My head hurt. “Gus is exhausted, I think we can put him down early,” Liz told me. So I took him back to his room, changed his diaper, put him in his pajamas. I turned on the space heater we have in his room, then handed him to Liz, who would feed him in the rocking chair after I turned out the lamp and went outside to throw the tennis ball with Suki until I could see Liz through the window in the kitchen, starting dinner. She bought things to make pad thai for my birthday dinner. I love Asian noodles. While she cooked, we traded stories about what happened during the day. “Oh, God. Were you able to contain yourself?” Liz asked me when I told her about talking to Joshua Asante at Boulevard. I’ve always admired his commitment to his art, and when Liz and I first started dating, I mentioned that I was possibly too intimidated to even talk to him. Now she always ribs me about it. But once she’d had her fill, we agreed that we should go to the gallery opening for his and Matt White’s photography at the CALS bookstore Friday. We decide we can just bring Gus with us. That some art will do him good. And then my head started hurting again, so I sat on the couch and rested my skull against the back of the sofa. After a couple of minutes, Suki pressed her nose against my hand, so I reached down to pet her. I touched dirt on her leg. “How much time do I have until dinner?” I asked Liz. “25-30 minutes,” she said, cutting tofu. “I’m going to give Suki a bath.” I picked all 45 pounds of her up and carried her to the hall bathroom where we have an outdated whirlpool (that I like but Liz says it has to go). I stripped down and got in the tub with Suki. I stood her up under the faucet and shampooed her. She hates baths. When I let her out, she got crazy, as she always does, running around the house spastically, and I tried to rush her into the back yard before she woke Gus up. I closed the patio door behind her and rinsed off in the shower. When I got out and dried off, Liz and I ate pad thai on the sofa while watching The Wire and she said, “I’m sorry the pad thai didn’t turn out better.” She always apologizes that her meals aren’t better, but they’re delicious 95% of the time. I’ve always loved her cooking and I always will. She doesn’t follow recipes.

We were in bed by 9pm, tired, but happy. When my headache surged again, I placed a helpless hand on my head the way my father used to and I tried not to think about it.

“It’s probably nothing, right?” I said.

“It’s probably nothing,” she said.

Dad

North Little Rock, Arkansas. 1.8.2018 - 8.24am.

UPDATE: The CT scan was clear. Turns out I have tension headaches caused by stress. The doctor recommended muscle relaxers and a massage.

#guy choate #alan watson #birthday #fireworks #sobrero #happy birthday #cancer #headaches #documentation #36

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kootenaygoon · 5 years

Photo

So,

Ryan was wielding his wrench like a weapon.

I’d known him for over a year by this point, and become acquainted with his peculiarities — just shy of an autism diagnosis, he had a propensity to rage monologue and exactly zero tolerance for small talk. He was a hulking blond metalwork artist struggling to keep a steady job, and he lived with his girlfriend Kate and his grandmother in a ramshackle house down in Lower Fairview. I’d seen him have a number of but I’d never seen him worked up like this. The dude was literally vibrating.

“What’s going on?” I asked. “Kate said some shit went down with Snapper?”

Ryan ran his grease-covered fingers through his hair, blinked at the sky, then spent some time sucking back air through his nostrils. Before I pulled up he’d been working on his latest project: a giant truck he’d salvaged from a Blewett junkyard that he was planning to spend the next few years restoring. A stripe of black ran through his right eyebrow.

“Let’s just say I haven’t murdered anyone yet. Kate should probably tell you the rest. You wanna smoke a joint inside?”

Once we passed through the entranceway I was happily greeted by Ryan’s grandmother, a white-haired Argenta woman fond of gabbing. She held us up for a moment with small-talk before we headed back to his bedroom, where Kate was sitting cross-legged on the bed rolling joints while watching some obscure British television series I’d never heard of. Ryan quickly gathered some laundry off a nearby computer chair so I could sit down, and Kate jumped up to give me a hug. We’d originally met through Paisley’s burlesque class and she’d quickly become one of my closest confidantes, a trusted ally I could go to when things got stressful at work or shitty at home.

“I was just over at Niles’ dispensary, and I heard some shit went down with Snapper? Like you got him fired or something?”

Kate laughed. “That dude’s lucky he’s not in jail. I had to physically restrain Ryan earlier.”

“What happened?”

If there was anyone who liked telling a story as much as I did, it was Kate. Her burlesque name was Lola Lane, and she was known for having a fiery and unapologetic personality. She was curvier than some of her contemporaries, passionate about body positivity, and was currently working at a high-end bra store on Baker Street. She put aside her rolling for a moment so she could fully engage, sweeping her hands through the air as she took me through the play-by-play.

“So we’ve been going to Niles’ dispensary since it opened, as you know, and we’ve always been really good customers. But the thing is, you know, they just can’t compete with Phil’s prices.”

“Right, so?”

“Well, I guess I was talking about that, telling people that if they wanted to save money they should head across the street, and somebody must’ve told Snapper that I was disrespecting the business or whatever bullshit, so he messaged me and started saying all this crazy shit.”

“Snapper messaged you? What, like on Facebook?”

“I should show you. I can show you what he said, word for word. It was so unnecessarily aggressive.”

Ryan snorted in the corner, staring at his computer screen, but didn’t say anything. Kate lit one of the joints, taking a few exploratory hoots, then passed it my way. Her rolling skills were exemplary, and I held it up for a moment to admire its firm, bat-like construction.

“So what did you do?”

“I called their head office in Vancouver, and talked to the president of the company.”

I laughed. “Are you shitting me? The president?”

She smiled, pleased with herself. “Believe me, when I told her the things Snapper was saying she was absolutely shocked. She promised me that he would be fired immediately. She said they couldn’t be associated with that sort of behaviour, especially while they’re in this grey area legal zone.”

“Okay, seriously: what did he say?”

She pulled out her phone, scrolled through her messages for a moment, then handed it to me. There was a pretty tame back and forth as he accused her of bad-mouthing the dispensary and told her to stop, but then things escalated. He started calling her “cunt” and wrote “better watch yourself”. My eyes widened, and I looked up at her in alarm.

“That’s a straight up threat. You should report that to the police.”

“Oh, I did. Showed them my phone and everything. They said they’re looking into the matter, but that’s not all. He also texted Ryan.”

I looked over to where Ryan was puffing on the joint, still typing away at the computer. He was frowning like he was in pain, like he was holding something back, and when I asked him what Snapper said he just shook his head like he couldn’t even acknowledge it without blowing over. Kate walked over and picked up his phone, showed it to me.

Nice grandma you got there. Does she need help with sweeping?

I was confused. “What does that mean? I don’t get it.”

“Ryan’s grandma was sweeping outside earlier today. This fucker was outside our house, watching us. Like he literally came over here.”

“He’s lucky I didn’t see him,” said Ryan. “I would have disemboweled him on the spot, decapitated him with a butter knife and fucked the bloody neck hole. That piece of human excrement threatened an old fucking woman. That shit doesn’t fly in Nelson.”

“Snapper’s done,” Kate concluded.

“I always heard he was a piece of shit, mostly from Blayne. But he gets away with a lot because he’s related to Niles.”

Ryan scoffed. “He’s not untouchable. The guy has no idea how easily he could be disappeared. Call up a couple of my friends, get some black masks and it’s bye-bye time.”

“Plus he’s got his trial coming up.”

I was holding in a big toke, and released it. “Trial, for what?”

“Blayne didn’t tell you? He’s going on trial for rape. Remember that girl Marijke? That one you met last Halloween? She’s taking him to court for full-out sexual assault.”

“Holy shit.”

Kate continued rolling, laughing to herself. “I can’t wait til that asshole is in jail. He’s been getting away with this shit for too long. I mean, good for Marijke fucking holding him accountable like that because I guarantee you she’s not the first. He’s always perving on the young chicks, cruising around. I think one of his girlfriends was even underage.”

We chatted for another half an hour, eventually playing some YouTube videos and moving on to other subjects. We smoked a second joint together, then Kate brought us bowls of corn chips. Ryan was finally acting relaxed again, getting caught up in discussing fictional characters and comparing favourite movies. Eventually I stood up to head home, but before leaving I stopped in the doorway. The news about Snapper had jarred me a little bit, and I was picturing all the times he’d been in close proximity to Paisley. I knew he was a shady character, but rape was next level.

“Hey Ryan, you know that posse you mentioned? The black masks and everything?” I asked, standing in the doorway. He looked up and shrugged, a questioning look on his face.

“Count me in.”

The Kootenay Goon

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evakfanficsrecs · 7 years

Note

Hi :) I hope you are having a great day :D. Do you have any ficrecs where Sana pours her heart out to Isak, about how shitty she's felt throughout S4? I love their friendship and I really want to read something that shows it. Thank you

Hello! Thank you so much, lovely :)

Sure, here are a few Sana & Isak fics, mostly focused on their friendship (of course with some Evak and Yousana on the side)! Have fun

Unwarranted by okaywhateverokayyesSummary: “You usually throw punches at people?” Yousef asks dryly. “Not usually. I thought I could better cover, for sure.” Isak’s tone is riddled with sarcasm.

du har meg (you have me) by kitsunechikyuSummary: “Sara was going to kick me out of the Russebus,” she blurts out. She cringes at how broken the words sound, her voice strained and cracked with panic. Isak blinks at her, confused. “Hva faen? Why the hell would she do that?” he asks. Sana wants to laugh. It’s obvious to her, having dealt with girls like Sara her entire life. People fear what they don’t understand, and for some reason they never seem to understand her. “Because I’m different,” Sana says. (Or; Sana is about to send the messages from Sara, but Isak catches her before hand and gets her to open up).

You’re Not Alone. by ThesuncameoutSummary: Basically what I think would happen if Isak talked to Sana after the end of the class. Set after S04E6 Clip 1.

Two sides to every story by neomaxizoomdweebieSummary: Sana had always had a lot of self control. Her homework always got done, no matter how boring the assignment. She always went to basketball practice, no matter how tired she was. She never yelled at Vilde, no matter how infuriating she was being. But as it turns out, even she has her limits.

Science Buddies by BellakitseSummary: Sana opens her mouth when she hears the front door open followed by the laughter. She picks out one voice in particular. “Crap, it’s him,” she whispers as she quickly smooths out her clothes, running a finger under her bottom lip to check her lipstick isn’t feathering.Isak’s eyes widen and mouths ‘the boy’ to which Sana nods furiously too, she doesn’t get to do anything else as Elias and Yousef enter the living room, stopping short when they spot Sana and Isak. * Isak and Sana study at her place, she tells him what’s been bothering her. Isak meets Yousef.

Like magnets do by littlemovie (Lejla)Summary: In which Isak and Sana are study buddies, Yousef can’t stop looking at Sana and Even is the prettiest boy Isak has ever seen.

hør på meg, og jeg vil høre på deg (listen to me and i’ll listen to you) by kitsunechikyuSummary: “Why do you believe in God?” he blurts. Wow, Isak. Smooth. Good job. Sana’s eyes immediately snap to his and narrow. She puts her pen down and leans forward, challenge written all over her pretty features. “The last time you asked me that,” she says, “We both ended up saying some hurtful things. You sure you want a rematch?” Isak cringes at the memory. That conversation was not one of his best moments. He’d gone into it bitter and confused and not willing to hear a proper answer. He wasn’t even entirely sure what he was hoping to get from it; maybe he had just been looking for a fight. The thought leaves a sour taste in his mouth. “That wasn’t… I was kind of a dick,” Isak admits. (Or; Isak apologizes for some things, and Sana learns more about her biology buddy.)

The calm by aTimeInSpaceSummary: “Isak? As in Isak who is together with Even?” Mikael is slightly hesitant as he asks but displays a small smile. They all look expectedly at Sana but it’s Elias who satisfies their curiosity. “Apparently, he and Sana are tight as fuck” Or, what happens before the celebration of Eva’s birthday begins. Major Sana and the ballon boys as well as major Sana and Isak because I love those relationships way to much.

it’s about growing up, getting older, living on a lover’s shoulder (it’s about time) by babyturtleSummary: The Sana-and-Isak-Childhood-Friends ft. Bookclubs AU you didn’t know you were looking for. * Sana and Isak might’ve spent more time fighting than reading the first day the met, but sometimes that’s just how it goes. Usually. Usually that’s how it goes. With Sana and Isak specifically. In their mostly dysfunctional two person book club. Or, life is hard and growing up harder, but take my hand and I’m right there with you.

breathe (don’t you let that heartbeat fall) by argentaeSummary: “Hey, do you want to come over to our place this Friday so we can work on our presentation after school? And that dinner invitation still stands,” Isak says. “I promise I won’t even touch the food, so no need to worry about that.” (Alternatively: biology buddies make a presentation, Even makes great food and Sana talks.)

now i’m back with the boys again by RineSummary: So here’s the thing: Sana never intended to be friends with Isak Valtersen. If someone had told her even six months ago that they could be friends, she would’ve laughed and rolled her eyes. But it turns out, he’s actually quite easy to get along with. * A fic about Sana gradually becoming friends with Isak and Even.

Best Buds by smilexdarlingSummary: Sana notices Isak is struggling and she does what any best bud would do to try and help out. This takes place between episodes 4 and 6 of season 3.

–A

#answered #anonymous #sana & isak #sana

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toothpastecanyon · 3 years

Text

Noie’s Mother, Chapter 1

"I need you to save my daughter."

It's not always Leon who makes that deal. In alternate timelines not far from our own, where things are only a little bit different, someone else is shaking that hand.

An alternate take on Noie's Brother where Leon, not Pinni, dies when Noie is a baby.

See most updated version on Archive of Our Own.

______________________________________________________________

“I need you to save my daughter.”

One phrase, echoed through a thousand alternate timelines. One demon - or angel, god, creature unfathomable in this universe - seeing in this the promise of a life once had, long gone, dearly missed. One handshake, and the child named Noie (named Belle, named Ryan, named-) lived to see many more sunrises. In a universe of infinite possibilities, there are so few without this child growing old.

And who is on the other side of this handshake? Not always Leon.

After all, he’s not always the one who survives.

“T̸ha͠t ͡w͏ill̶ ̵ co̴s͢t ͟ y̷ou.”

“Then talk, demon.” Before the circle stood Pinni Argenta. Her leg was in a cast, her neck in a brace, but her voice did not tremble as she stared down the voided Dreambender. “I am a professional demonologist. Give me a price, and I will negotiate.”

The demon curled his lip at that - a professional, always harder to swindle. “V͖͉e̗̜͖̭r̷̹͚͇̹̜y ̼̼̞ͅw̭̰̪̖ͅe̠̠̩̺̜͎̘l̥͚l̴,” he snarled. “b͇̞̫̯̟̟̫u̳͓͇̲͕̣͍t ̘͉̜̬̻t̺̪h̞͔̥̞͇e ͚͙̺̱̰̣p̹rḭ̳͇c̠̞͉̮͍͚e͖ ̬m͚̹̲a͖͈̟̤͕̥y͇̖̜̪ ̫̮̜̺̻ͅbe̯ ̪͉̯hi̯͍̯̱̘̫̯g̙̥̫̬̙̟h̯e̘͕͚͔̬r ̟̣͍͍̜ͅt̺͍̪h̯͉͔a͕̱̟̘͇n̩͍̺ ̭̮͖̜y̺̩̠o̙͈̟̪̪̻u͍͉̹͉͓̺͎ ar̹̼̯̬̞̹͚e͖̙̠̜̳ w̬̰i̳̣̪̺̘̦̼l̥͔̹͙l͔͙i̠̻͚̯n̞g̻̜ͅ t͍̩̜o̠͓̺ ͙̭̟p̝̺̩̝̬a̫̺̘̼̳͓͎y̱̫̥̫̙͚.̯”

“Then get on with it. I can summon another demon-”

“N͇͚͉̲̝̩͇O̠̮̣̘̼͍ͅ!̮ My͇ d͈͙̫͖e̖͓̖͙̻̻̮al̗͚̤̘!̯̳̰͇͔̼̮”

“Then tell me what your deal is, Dreambender.” She snuck a glance behind the hospital curtain, and then back at him. “Tell me now.”

Alcor gave a growl, but the sound faded out as it seemed to pick up on something. An unpleasant smile split it leaned in closer.

“I̘͓s̱ ̖̞̹̲th̦̼ͅa̙̠̜̮ͅt͓ d͙̙̪͇͕͚e̝͉̫̥̝s̩̥̪̰͍͈p͚͉ͅe̞̲̺rat̻̤̩̺̪̖̻i̪̦o͓̞̺̝̜͔͖n̠̱̖̩̟ ̟̬I̬̱ s̖̤̣̣m̪̳͉̲̯e̮̤̬ll͍͍?”

“Only annoyance. I don’t want to get caught by the human nurses around here. You don’t want me getting caught either - you won’t get a deal out of it.”

At that, the demon laughed. It was a rough, distorted sound, and it stepped out of the circle to pace around Pinni. “Oh, but it’s more than that, isn’t it? You can lie to me, little mortal, but I can smell it on you.” It took in a deep, deep breath. “Ah… sweet d͜es͟per̵àtio͘n.͘ You may be a demonologist, but you don’t know how to barter for a loved one’s life. You’re o̕ut̶ of͠ ̸your d҉ep̧th.”

Pinni said nothing to that. She stared straight ahead, her expression made of stone for all it moved.

“I’m going to enjoy this.” It leered in close to let her smell the blood on its breath. “What was the deal again? Your s̀͟͠o͘͜u͏̧l͘ for the life of your child?”

“No. My soul is not negotiable.”

“Oh, you’ll be surprised what you’ll offer to me.” Alcor noticed the sealskin draped around her shoulders - reached for it, and grinned as she finally flinched away. “Selkie skin. A ḑe̢l͟i̸cacy̷. Yes… I’d save one of you for this. Where is the child?”

The demon looked at her soul, and followed her thoughts up to a ward upstairs, where… oh.

“You must think I’m a real amateur if you’re going to try and talk past me like this.” Pinni watched him go very still. “I will not under any circumstances offer you my soul, so you can forget about that and ask for something reasonable. I know you save lives for less.”

Alcor didn’t say a word. He didn’t move at all. She frowned.

“Alcor. Alcor.” A pause. “Fine, I’ll call some other demon. Go, you are released.”

“Mizar…” he said in an undertone. His head snapped up to the ceiling. “She’s in trouble! Dying!”

“Mizar?”

“I have to make a deal… you!” Alcor dropped the void from his form and stuck out a hand. “Make a deal with me!”

Pinni’s eyebrow quirked up; otherwise she hid her surprise well. “Not until we define the terms. Did you call my daughter Mizar?”

“Then make a deal already! What do you want!”

“For you to heal my daughter without hurting or otherwise altering her in any way, and without harming anyone else in order to draw the needed energy. And this healing cannot, under any circumstances, be revoked by you or by anybody.” She stared him down. “And after this healing is done, you are to leave her and me alone, and you are never to contact us again. What are your terms, demon?”

“M-my terms? I… I don’t want to leave her alone!”

“Come again?”

He backed away. “No, I… Wait, I need time to think! I need to-”

“Wait? I can’t wait, she’s-!” Pinni took a breath. “She is in critical condition. I have many things to offer you back at my office, but you have to decide now.”

“Now?”

“Or I’ll call another demon.”

“No! Okay, I-I’ll decide now, I-” he snapped his fingers. “I wanna do the Belle thing!”

“Define that for me.”

“I want to grow up with her!”

“And what do you mean by that?”

“You know, I can be… I can be her sister again!”

“So you’ve done this before.” Pinni leaned forwards. “That means you can be more specific about what you’re asking of me.”

“I- well, I… it’s complicated.”

He began to explain, and there were timelines where Noie’s mother rejected this outright. Where she demanded another deal, a more normal deal, and begrudgingly he complied. But here, now, Noie’s mother was Pinni Argenta, and she listened for a while without comment, without shooting it down, without giving a single indication of the plan she was hatching in her mind.

“So uh, yeah,” Alcor was saying. “I just, I erase all my memories and I grow up with her, and it’s like nothing even happened! You don’t have to do anything… except raise me, that is something, but… look.” He sighed. “I… I think I need this. I’m sorry, I know I came off a little, uh, intense. I didn’t - I would never have done that, i-if I knew you were trying to save a child.”

“Uh huh.”

“Just… give me a chance? Please? I really missed this, I really need her back. I need… That’s my only ask. I need her.”

Pinni stared down the demon before her. “That’s your condition for accepting the deal.” She stated, and watched him nod. “Okay. I have several conditions.”

“What are they?”

“My first condition is that you will not be a demon for the duration of this deal. You will not display any demonic memories or powers, no matter what happens.” She stabbed a finger at him. “If you want to make a mortal suit and pretend to be a mortal, you’re going to commit to that, and I reserve the right to revoke the deal in any circumstance where you aren’t complying.”

Alcor gave a nervous smile. “Uh, okay, I can do that. No demon powers, got it.”

“No. Don’t reinterpret my words. I didn’t just say ‘no demon powers’ - I want you to agree to the whole thing.”

“I agree! I agree to the whole thing.”

“Good.” She straightened her coat. “My second condition is that you will alter nobody’s memories. I will not be forgetting that you are a demon, do you understand?”

“Oh… okay. Lionel wanted to forget, though.”

She didn’t respond to that. “And one final condition. I need a house, somewhere outside any major human settlement area, next to a body of water. A lake.”

“What? How is that part of the-”

“Because you’re asking a lot of me, you know that! You’re asking me to raise twins, all on my own, in a shitty little human apartment! Leon and I were saving up for a down payment, but…” She clenched her teeth. “That’s not happening now. So if you’re going to make my life more difficult, you’re going to compensate me. Is that clear?”

Alcor made a face. “That’s… a lot, but… okay. That makes sense. Deal.”

“I want to be the sole owner, and you can’t take it back under any circumstances. I don’t care what it looks like, but it needs to be habitable for the three of us- I mean…” She blinked. “No, right, the three of us. Yes.”

“Anything else?”

“I only want to reiterate that none of this - not the healing, not the house, not anything - can be taken back if this ends up falling through on your end. You will leave the house without hurting either of us in any way.”

“Okay.” Alcor made a bit of a face. “I’ve made human suits before, this is okay. Shouldn’t be a problem.”

“No, it shouldn’t be.” Pinni said, and then cleared her throat. “I am ready to shake on it, demon.”

At the sound of those words, the awkward, human expression vanished from the face of Alcor the Dreambender. The demon nodded, once, and extended a hand wreathed in blue flames. The light from it lent a cold, ghostly aura to the whole room; where it fell on Pinni, it drew deep shadows in her face, turned her eyes into pinpricks peering out from ashen sunken sockets. It was strange, how a little light showed both of them as monsterous.

Pinni didn’t hesitate for a second. She stuck her hand out, grasped Alcor’s firmly, and shook with practiced ease even as the flames licked up to her wrist. It was Alcor who let go first; he cleared his throat, and stepped back.

“So,” he started. “It’s done, then.”

“Nothing is done until you heal her.”

“Right… right! I’ll go do that now.” He hopped up and started levitating. “Then I’ll, uh, have to make preparations. I’ll see you next… after you get out of the hospital?” An awkward laugh. “As a… not like this.”

“That sounds like a good time to begin. Goodbye, Alcor.”

“Bye, uh… what’s your name?”

Pinni just stared at him.

“Uhh, oh, okay. Well, bye!”

He gave a wave, and then blipped out of existence, leaving Pinni alone.

Alone.

She started rubbing out the chalk with her good foot. A good demonologist never leaves an active circle lying around, especially in a hospital - stars, doing that was way dangerous for her liking. One wrong move, especially with an unbindable demon like the Dreambender, and…

Well. It was a good thing it didn’t go wrong. It went pretty amazingly, actually - he was surprisingly cooperative - but Pinni wasn’t feeling any rush of victory now.

“Ma’am?” A nurse’s voice. “Oh, what are you doing out of bed? Let’s get you-“

“Don’t touch me!” She limped away from him, holding one crutch up like a spear. “Get away from me, human!”

“You need to go back to bed. You shouldn’t be walking on that leg yet.”

“I’m going. You, stay there. Stay there!” She hobbled back over to her bed, glaring daggers into him. “There. I’m in bed. Now go, leave me.”

“Thank you. Were you trying to get something? You can always ask the nurse on duty if you-“

“I don’t need your help! Leave me alone!”

The nurse backed out of the room then, and she watched him leave with beady eyes, eyes that seemed to shine brighter and brighter until the shine broke off and ran down her face before she wiped it off with the base of her palm. She sniffed and gave her other eye another furious wipe, but then she felt her breath hitch and sob and and then she buried her face in her hands and cried and cried and cried all night for her family.

Because in this timeline, Pinni survives. She survives Noie, and she survives the car crash that cut her husband down right beside her, and she’s going to survive the strange deal she struck with a creature of darkness.

She does survive. She survives, alone.

______________________________________________________________

Pinni remembered very well her very first demonology course. Her teacher - he was a towering centaur called Professor Sader - walked in with his prosthetic arm in one hand, stood at the front of the class, and slammed it down on a student’s desk.

“Listen up! This is not going to be a fun class. You are not going to like me. Do you know why?”

She could still see him staring out into a sea of silent faces.

“Because one in seven demonologists die before their fifth year on the job. Do you understand me? If I passed all of you, there would be a lot of fucking dead people in this classroom, so I won’t. Now pay attention.”

She thought about his words a lot during her stay in the hospital. She thought about it when that human nurse came back with a big smile on his face and good news about her daughter.

“Let me tell you the most important lesson a demonologist is ever going to learn. It’s not enough to survive a deal. It’s not enough to get what you wanted out of it. Ten times out of ten, you only think you’ve got what you wanted - you’ve gotten tricked. Even the best demonologist gets tricked, you can’t escape it.”

Some days into recovery, Pinni was allowed to see her daughter. They brought Naomi in, placed her carefully into her arms, and the warmth of her little body, the softness of her sealskin, the life in her eyes… it almost felt like everything was okay in the world, for this moment.

Almost, but then she remembered what it had cost.

What she was going to have to do.

“So you see, it’s not enough to go over your terms - it’s important, your life depends on it, but there’s a mindset you gotta get into in this business, and it’s that playing fair will get you nowhere with a demon. Nowhere.”

The day she was released from the hospital, she walked out with two baby carriers. The nurses, the doctors, none of them who had seen through her recovery questioned it for a second. Nor did they question the new car idling at the front, with keys and the deed to a house sitting on the dashboard.

“You might think, if they don’t cause you much trouble on one deal, maybe you should be polite about it, be generous with your end, make them want to cut fair deals in the future with you. That’s how it works in our world, sure. But that’s not how it works in their world.”

Pinni’s hands shook a bit as she started the car. It came to life with a roar, and in the back, one baby started to cry.

“If you’re making deals with a demon, you gotta act like a demon. Remember: these aren’t beings with emotion. Some of them’re easier to anthropomorphise than others, but even the most politest, suit-and-tie wearing, well-spoken demon, it’s got nothing going on on the inside. Nothing. It’s got no feelings to hurt, understand?”

She drove slowly. Carefully. The road she took went on for hours, bringing them out of the city, out of the desert, up, up, up until canyons and cacti gave way to pine trees. The sun was setting fast as she pulled off the highway, into a small collection of rickety stores quite a ways off from any town.

“All a demon wants is chaos. All they’re ever trying to do is screw you over, so you gotta constantly be thinking, how can I screw them over? It’s mean, people say. It’s also the only way to keep yourself safe.”

She was thinking of those words as she walked into the store with her stoller. A human up front gave her a wave.

“Hey, welcome to Ricky’s magic shop! Aww, those are some cute-”

“I need powdered silver, angelic symbols, and scented candles.”

The man blinked. “Whoa, uh, that’s a shopping list. What do you need all that for?”

Pinni only reached into her bag and pulled out her Demonology license, which she placed on the counter.

“Oh. Okay… I was about to ask for that, but you’re - you’re way ahead of me, heh.” He stepped back. “I gotta fetch some of that outta of the safe. Hang on.”

Naomi and the demon started fussing while she waited. She took them on a gentle ride around the store, looking at all the shelves. There was some unicorn hair for sale - she snorted a bit at ‘responsibly sourced’ - and… what was this, yggsdrasil in with all the other herbs? This stuff could ruin a summoning, it needed to be stored separately!

She was not-so-subtly dropping the yggdrasil on the floor when the man came back.

“Okay, I got the- hey! What are you doing!”

Pinni left the carrier and started back towards the desk. “How pure is the silver?”

“Are you gonna pick that up? You can’t just-”

“Ninety five. Do you have anything purer?”

“Uh… no, we usually don’t, you know, sell a lot of this-”

“Then I’ll take half a pound.” She pulled out her wallet. “And the angelic symbols, do they come with a warded case?”

“A case? No, those are extra.”

Pinni glanced back towards the baby carrier. Even all the way at the other end of the store, one of them was starting to cry. She made a face.

“Fine, I’ll take one of those. Put them in now.”

“Uh, okay, your highness.” The man tried for a laugh as he put everything in a thick, dark case. “You from out of town?”

“How much does it come to?”

“No, seriously, are you? Just asking if you’re gonna be a regular here, so I can move.”

He laughed again as he closed the case. There was an edge to it, something that rang alarm bells in her head and set her heart beating fast. One hand came up, and grasped at her coat.

“You don’t need to know that.”

“No? I mean you come in here, you talk over me, you start throwing my merchandise on the ground like you own the-”

“Just let me pay.”

“Ohhh, now we don’t wanna argue.” That angry laugh again. He shoved the case at her and walked over to the till. “Fine, lady. Pay up, and get the hell out of my store, okay? Okay?”

“Okay.”

“There we are. Comes out to four hundred and twenty five with the case… a little ‘I’m sorry’ is free, though. Doesn’t cost nothing.”

Pinni took a deep breath, and picked out her card with shaking fingers. Both Naomi and the demon were starting to cry, and the sound of them and the look the human was shooting her and the hum of the air conditioning, it was all drilling into her brain and it was all she could do to remember how to swipe.

“Alright, there’s your stuff. You’re welcome.”

She just grabbed the case, grabbed the stroller, and made for the door as quickly as she could. Both of them were screaming at this point; she took a moment, standing still outside her car, to breathe.

In, and out.

…

Only then did she look to the stroller.

“Hey, hey, hey,” she said, gently unclasping Naomi from her seat. “We’re nearly there. It’s nearly over, okay? You’re doing so well. So well.”

Naomi kept crying as she was strapped in; her little face had gone red, and tears were streaming down her face. Pinni looked at this, and then gently reached out, and grasped the little patch of sealskin sitting on her lap.

Just at the touch, Naomi gave a full-body shiver. She stared up with wide eyes as Pinni drew it close, close to her face, and breathed out. Warm air rustled easily through the fur - her coat was so, so dry, it hadn’t even been tried on yet, hadn’t ever been swum in. It didn’t really smell like much at all either, but for a faint, lemony-soapy smell that was nothing like the ocean… more like the hospital.

Pinni wrinkled her nose a bit at that, but Naomi seemed to have calmed down. Pinni carried it in her mouth as she strapped the demon in the other seat and put the stroller away, and then she set it down in her lap when she got in the driver’s seat.

Key in ignition. Another deep breath, in, and out. Turn. Cringe as it roared to life again - as soon as this trip was done she was going to burn this fucking thing.

It was dark when she finally turned down an old dirt road. The pine trees formed a tunnel as it led her down into the belly of the forest, branches reaching out like arms in her headlights. The bumpy road stirred Naomi and the demon again; they started crying, and she clenched the steering wheel until her knuckles went white.

Not long now. Not long now.

In an eternity, or a moment, the trees gave way to some wooded cabin bordering a lake. She could see the water glinting in the headlights, see the still, peaceful darkness beneath its lazy waves. More excitingly, she couldn’t see the other shore. It stretched out into the night, and for a moment, it almost looked like she had come across the shore of a great ocean.

It almost looked like home… but there was one thing left Pinni had to do.

She turned off the car. The screaming from the back seemed even more piercing without the background rumble; quickly, she grabbed her black case, opened the door, and went around to Naomi’s side. She let Naomi hold her skin while she was unbuckled; once it was all undone, she cradled her daughter close, and walked her to their new home.

Pinni walked her to the lake.

“Shh, shh, shh,” Pinni said, and squatted down by the shore. “You’re okay. You’re okay.”

She hugged Naomi close for another moment… and then she held her out to the lake. Naomi was silent for a moment, confused; her foot touched the water, and she started crying harder.

“Okay. Okay. Is it cold?” She touched the water. “It won’t be too cold. Here, let me show you.”

She sat down, then, and repositioned Naomi so she was holding her with one arm. With the other, she took Naomi’s skin, stroked it with her thumb, and then, gently, dipped it into the lake. Naomi seemed to freeze as it soaked up the water; she gripped Pinni’s coat with her little hands, and Pinni smiled.

“It’s not so bad, see?” She kept moving it around in the water. “Your coat protects you, when you wear it. It keeps you safe. Keeps you warm.”

Gently, she drew Naomi’s skin out of the water. It was several times heavier, and dripping with water all over her lap… and Naomi reached out. Grasped it.

“It’s a part of you, Naomi. Your coat, and the water. They’re a part of you.” She smiled. “Do you want to put them on?”

She started to wrap Naomi up in the coat. Where it touched her skin, it seemed to stick, seemed to mould itself to her form without wrinkles or creases. She giggled and splashed around as Pinni lowered her into the water, looking up at her mother with a shine in her eyes and a fanged mouth gaping in a wide, innocent grin.

Pinni smiled back too, for a moment. Only for a moment.

“I have to do something.” She heard, behind her, the sounds of the one still crying. A sigh. “I’ll be back. I promise. I love you.”

Then she took a deep breath, in, and out, and placed her into the water. A second later she unbuckled the case, drew out the jar of powdered silver and sprinkled a line on the shore. She’d bought three angelic statues for their repelling energy; two she placed at either end of the line, and the third she held close as she approached the car.

The demon inside sounded like it was screaming. Pinni stood there for a second, fiddling with her coat, thinking of how best to proceed… until she came to a decision. She circled the car and dumped silver in a rough oval until she got to the back door; there she opened it, chucked the angel statue inside, and then slammed it shut and bolted a good distance away. The screaming had gotten louder, rawer - almost like bellowing - but for a few moments, nothing really changed.

Hmm. Maybe she should set up the scented ca-

BOOM!

The explosion nearly knocked Pinni off her feet. Shards of car went everywhere - some of them nicked her skin - and an even more deafening roar made her clap her hands over her ears. From the wreckage, a golden-bricked void crawled out, locked eyes with her, and snarled.

“S̴̢̰͍͈͈͎͙̣̬̀A̸̡͙̭͔B̭͍̫O̼͍͔̘͓̣̗͡T̹̙͇̱̕A̵̵͇̱̟̲̺̣G͡͏͏̫̪̙E̦̯!” Alcor growled out, and a second later he was looming over her. “W̪͙̯E̘̯ ̫̗̺̞̯͇H͔̪͚̯A̗̝D͈ ̲̤̹A̪͎̰̖͔̹͇̜ ̻̤̫͖̤̣ͅD̗͚̭̖̠̝͔̭E̪̥͎̝͈̥͙̖A̖̻L͍̭̮,͉̠̼̹ ̰͓̙M̭̲O̙̩̝̙͍R͔͉̝̩͉̮T͈͕̙͉̪͉̤̝A̳̼̮̳̟L̬̱̖̟̥!͔͍̯̤ H̶̴̗̻̬͉͜Ó̗̮̮̤̰̻͓̞̠̝̺̳͙͍͉́W̷̧̢̦̰̯̣̜̲̬̳̲̟̬̲̕ ̦̟̯͎͈̻̯̺̗̫̞̟͈̣̭͓̥͟͡͠ͅD͏͖̣̥̩̰̺̰A̢͖̗̲̥͎͙͉̮̻̙̺̬͍͈̠̼̮̳͖̕͜͜͝R͔̤̖̭̖̘̪̼͘͘É̡̨̪̦͖̹͙̺̱̺̳͙̤̠̳͔͉ ̶̹͓̬͔̺̺̘̺͖͓͖Y͏̡̙̳͉͚O̡̥̪͖̠̰̣͓̰͢Ų̯͈̣̰̣͈̀́̕ ͏̰̹̻̻͡ͅC̛̛͙̻̩R̦͇̤̰̰̙̦̭̟̼͙̕͡ͅO̷̷͔̟͎͉̯͜͢S̨̢͉̬̬̰͉̤̰̬̙̯S̤̜͉͕̹͙̫̹̣͔̭̬̖͜͟ͅ ̶͔̯͈̞̞̣͇͉̱̺̤͓̙͜M̸̶̡̗̥̥̘̘̦̭͔̕͠E̷̶͎̙͖̼͚̠̖̦̖͚̫̼̬͢͜͟ͅ!̞̳̘̭͎̫̙͓̜͇̭͍̰̥͍̱͇͈͉̀͡

Pinni stood firm, even as the demon stared her down with murder in his eyes. “Yes,” she said, calmly. “We did have a deal. And according to it, you have to leave, now.”

“L̷̰̼͕̫̝͟͠É̶̡͉͎̣̬̫̙̭̞̭̬͙̼͙̫̩̻͈͠Ą̴̶̳̮̼̣̥͚̦̖͚̪͕͙͖͎͔͢V̷͍̣̮̹̲̫̹́ͅE̵̡̮̮͙̬̰̝̥̦͢͜?̡̫̠͉̲̱̳͎͎̟̥̣͚̣͉̦̹̀̀ͅ ̛͝͏̟̪̖̪̜͉͙̖͙̺̯͉̫̝̙̀͞ͅǸ̛̫͕͚͚̦͙̰̘̲͖̝̼̖̰͈̠͘͡O̴̢͟҉̸̫̤̫̬̱͕̪͔̩̣̞ͅ!͖̬̱̤͙͠”

“But you are bound to. And you are bound to do it without causing violence.” She watched the burning in his eyes shift to a hint of something else - a hint of uncertainty. “That’s what you agreed to. That if you showed any demonic traits-”

“B͎̜͇̞̙̝̠̭u̼̝͔̮̠ṭ̗͈̺ ̻͈͈̺̠̪̞y̳̘̖̯̰o͕̠͖͔͓u̘ ̮̙͓̩̰̰ͅf͎̩͕͇̟̗͇o̠̟̞̣̻̥̣r̗̟̳̬̞͈̬̥͍c̙̝̦̜e̮̥̞̗̭̤̲d͈̠̟ ̬̰̟͙m͉̥̻̦̻̹̘e̬͎͍͍͕ ̘̟̻o̲͖͔u͔̞t̬͔̮ ͈̭̗̘̬͈̪̩o̟͖f̟͙ ͈̺m͇͖̫y͔͕̱ ̣̙̘̘̹b͔̝͈̩̙͖͕o̫̘͓͙̱̱͙d͙̫y̤͔̬̤̠!̻̥̬̰ ͈̖̺Y̶̛̘̭̭̺͎͖̹͢o̶̧̮̹̙̖̯͔̼͉u̢̡̠͉̥͍͙̺͚̗͠ ̖̫͎̮͜͢s̸̘͉̠̘̮̦̮̞͝͡a̟̱̼b̵͏̙̻̤̟o̶̱͙̣̜t̵̷͓̯̮͕̘̳͢ą̤̠̭͎̗̣͍͖͜g҉̰̦̱͖̣͝e̗̣̘̬͙͈̟̞d҉̨̺͎̣͖ ̢̙̺͎̗͙͉̗m̪̦͕͘ͅe̘̠͕̙͈͎!̢̛̩̪̬̮͖̱̩͜”

“But you did not disqualify sabotage when you agreed to this deal, did you? I asked you if you had any other conditions, and you said no. You agreed to something unconditional.”

Alcor spluttered. “B-͞b͞ut, w̢ai̸t-”

“There’s nothing to wait on. You need to leave, and never come back.”

“No! No, wait, please!” The void vanished from his form, and he clasped his hands together. “I know this deal was weird, but I swear, all I want to do is grow up with her! Please just give me another chance!”

Pinni just stared at him.

“I can - we can make another deal! Do you want a better house? O-or I can fix your car, I’m so sorry I broke it!” He reached out. “Just let me-”

“Don’t touch me.” She bared her teeth. “I don’t want anything from you - Naomi and I have everything we’ll ever need right here. We don’t need anybody, and we certainly don’t need a demon in our lives. So leave.”

“But… but…”

“You are bound to the deal.”

Alcor trailed off into silence; the only sound to be heard was the rustle of trees. The stink of oil from the still-smouldering car burned Pinni’s nostrils, but she kept staring at him, waiting for him to leave. Never turn your back on a demon, she knew.

Finally, Alcor seemed to get it. In an instant his expression twisted into ugly fury, and he snarled at her before vanishing into black smoke. Only then could Pinni breathe.

It was over.

She stared at the twisted hunk of car before her, breathed in and out, and turned her back on it. Turned towards the lake, and its beckoning moonlit waves. She walked to its shores, and then beyond them, into the water, soaking her human clothes. It was freezing, but for a moment she stayed there, treading water with hands and feet, eyes closed.

To be in the water again, it was… wonderful. Her sealskin kept her back warm, and, after a moment, she let that warmth spread out and cover her entire body. She opened her eyes, and with a flick of her back flippers she swam over to where Naomi had been.

She nosed around that area, but there was no sign of her. She called out, and the most plaintive little noise answered her.

She was further down, on the lakebed. Gently, Pinni grasped the scruff of her neck and carried her up into the shallows. There she sat, huddled against Pinni’s side, staring out at the world with wide, wide eyes… and Pinni smiled.

Smiled, even as she looked at the old wreck of her car.

Because they had a home now, the two of them. They had a home without conditions, a home no human nor demon could take from them… and it was wonderful.

Naomi felt so warm, huddled up to her.

It was all they’d ever need.

#transcendence au #Noie's Brother #Noie #toothwrites #writing aus of my characters is self care shaddup

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terryblount · 4 years

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DOOM Eternal PC Review: The End Is Nigh

The tagline of the game is “rip and tear, until it is done”, but ripping and tearing is only a portion of what the game has to offer. The DOOM Slayer has been unleashed upon earth to destroy everything that is evil in his path. You can rip and tear demons in half, or pull their freaking head off. You can slash and stab them in the jugular, or in the brain. You can shoot them in the face and break their necks. You can force feed them explosives and pull their disgusting eyes out. You can smash their head with your bloody fists or with your feet, stomping them until there’s nothing left. Hell, you can even reduce them to a puddle of blood and guts.

You play as the Slayer, the one – the only – humankind’s rage, its will to persevere, to overcome that which would threaten its survival. The Slayer is uncompromising; a relentless being of extreme violence that knows no signs of hesitation. He cuts through the demon hordes like a sickle through a field; his fury surpassing their own. He is faster, more unyielding, an avenging angel, the right hand of Doom here to save humanity from its sins. He is the DOOM Slayer and his fight is… Eternal!

Scary Stories For Baby Demons

DOOM is no longer a brainless first-person demon killing simulator. That was DOOM 2016, which was excellent by the way. DOOM Eternal offers the same and more compared to its predecessor. One of these new things the game has to offer is story. Yes, you read that right; DOOM now has a story. A very simple story, but a story nonetheless. I will keep it rather simple as the game has a lot of lore for you to dive into. You can even read a lengthy back-story regarding the history of the Sentinels.

This is Novik, your King. But no King can hold back the Slayer.

In the time of King Novik, ruler of Sentinel Prime and Argent D’Nur, as the Argenta secured peace through dimensions across time and space, the Slayer is found by the Night Sentinels outside the castle walls. The Sentinels, defenders of the land, found the Outlander bloodied, clawed and near death, mumbling of impending Doom and the forces of Darkness. By Argenta law, he would be given a second chance to fight for his freedom in the Coliseum. With his mind crippled with rage, he proves his worth and emerges victorious. “Rip and Tear” they shouted as he pushed beyond mortal wounds and certain death. And so, the Slayer is born!

“If you continue you will bring down the heaven’s wrath. You are but one man – they are no longer your people to save!”

King Novik warning the Slayer

It’s been eight months since the events of the previous title, when the Slayer awoke to, once again, destroy evil. Demonic forces have overrun earth, wiping out 60% of the planet’s population, under the now-corrupted Union Aerospace Corporation (UAC). The Slayer returns to earth to quell the demonic party by destroying the Hell Priests. The Hell Priests are powerful magicians who work for the corrupted former leader of the Slayer’s society. Her name is Khan Maykr!

Graphics, Controls And OMG The Optimization Of This Game

Visually, the game looks great. It’s not THE best looking game, however, it’s certainly a looker. In some rare occasions, you will stumble upon some low resolution textures. On the other hand, the game uses a brighter palette of colors compared to the prior game which was a bit darker. Locations and enemies also look crispier, though some enemies might look a bit less menacing than before.

In a second this demon will look less menacing without its head

The controls are perfect and this is probably the first time I didn’t have to change any key bindings. There is no mouse acceleration or smoothing, and to be honest I don’t even remember if there even is such an option in the settings. I only played with mouse and keyboard, so I have no idea whether the game runs/works great on a gamepad.

“Saving your people will not bring you peace, only make the burden you carry worse.”

The Betrayer advising the Slayer

Now what about optimization you might ask. Well, in case you haven’t already read John’s Performance Analysis, it is simply amazing. Seriously, this is probably the most optimized game I played in the last few years. With all the settings maxed, I had stable sixty frames per second at all times. I did not encounter any stuttering, nor crashes or bugs of any kind. The only issue I rarely had was clipping through objects or walls during the finishing animations. That’s about it. Phenomenal work from id Software.

Audio, Music And Voice Acting

The voice acting is all right. Nothing extraordinary and it’s not like the game has many dialogues or cutscenes anyway. While you can see much more of the Slayer this time, you will not hear him talking. At least not in a conventional way. Though, there is a setting that enables “Slayer pain grunts“, meaning you will hear him grunt whenever he receives damage.

The game features a photo mode and the Slayer is all about posing.

The music is fantastic and it fits the title just perfectly as long as you are akin to heavy metal music. Most of the music features heavy metal riffs and a choir of heavy metal vocalists. Demonic chanting and loud electric guitar sounds will also accompany you through the slaughter and mayhem.

All weapons feature unique sounds and some of them sound very familiar to the previous title. The rest of the sounds like ripping, pulling or even using the chainsaw on the demons are great as well. There are also sound notifications for equipment recharging, meaning you will hear a sound whenever your grenade is ready for use.

Ripping And Tearing, No Sewing

DOOM is probably among the most legendary first-person shooters in the world. The series always featured exceptional shooting mechanics and DOOM Eternal is no exception to the rule. The game performs and feels great. Shooting demons with any weapon feels smooth and natural. It basically feels just right. All the weapons have unique characteristics, with each having its own strengths and weaknesses. Each weapon handles differently and they all have recoil. And while the weapons do not feel arcade-ish, you should not expect a military simulator.

“If Sentinel holy blood is spilled on these grounds..you will lose all sovereignty here!”

Deag Grav taunting the Slayer.

Just like the previous game, most weapons in DOOM Eternal have two different attachments, which you can find scattered in the world or locked behind doors. For instance, the combat shotgun features a grenade launcher and an auto-loader. The first attachment shoots grenades, obviously, and the second provides the capability of rapid firing. You can change attachments on the fly and all attachments can be upgraded. They even have a mastery challenge. Thus, upon completion, your selected attachment becomes even more powerful. Now some of these challenges might be bothersome for some people. Thankfully, though, mastery tokens can be found scattered around the game’s world, however they are only available in the late game.

I never really liked this weapon, but know I do. Microwaving demons was never so fun!

Lastly, what would DOOM be without gore, blood and guts? I adore the gore in this game. It is extremely satisfying watching bullets shred your enemies’ flesh off their bodies, ripping them in half and stabbing them in the ear with their own arm. The visual damage/wound system is spectacular, and probably the best in a first-person shooter. Still, I believe that Resident Evil 2 Remake did it slightly better.

My only gripe is that the bodies of your enemies will immediately disappear after you kill them. I really don’t understand why this happens, especially since the game runs so well. I doubt it would have made a significant difference in frames, even if they hadn’t removed the ragdoll from the bodies. Thankfully, the blood decals stay a bit longer.

Glorious Glory Kills

Guns are not the only weapons available for the Slayer. Doing enough damage to the enemies puts them in a stun state, in which you can perform a glory kill. A glory kill is basically a very brutal execution. These executions have different animations depending the angle you initiate the glory kill. Therefore, you will see different animations from the front, the back, the side and from above.

Screaming wont help you Mr. Arachnotron. Don’t you know people hate spiders?

Most glory kills are being performed with the newly acquired Slayer blade, the Doomblade. This extendable blade is mounted on the Slayer’s left arm and it can only be accessed and used through glory kills. The rest of the executions are being performed by the Slayer’s hands or feet, and let me tell you they are god – damn – glorious. In case you don’t like them, you can completely ignore them. You can even disable the visual notification glow that appears on enemies when they are susceptible to a glory kill. Just keep in mind that all glory kills provide health pickups.

The Chainsaw, Enemy Weaknesses And Difficulty

The Slayer has a chainsaw which won’t be used to cut down trees. Instead, he can use it to saw demons in half. The chainsaw works almost the same as it did in Doom 2016. You can use the chainsaw on demons and by doing so they will spawn ammunition for all your guns. You can also use the chainsaw on big bad demons, however, it will consume/require more fuel. The chainsaw is a vital part of the game and it’s almost impossible for the player to avoid using it. Still, and if you are brave enough, you can try not to. If you run out of ammo, the game will automatically equip the chainsaw and you can use at any time (as long as you have enough fuel).

It looks like this demon is in pain, but in reality, demons love the chainsaw! Otherwise, why would they leave fuel lying around everywhere?

This time around, most enemies now have weaknesses, especially the larger demons. The Revenant, for instance, relies on its shoulder mounted rockets to deal damage. If you destroy them, it will effectively impair the demon, giving you an advantage over it. On the other hand, some enemies have more specific weaknesses. The Cacodemon, for example, can be easily staggered by throwing or launching grenades directly to its filthy mouth. As such, specific weapons will be more effective to specific enemies. In case you don’t optimize your enemy encounters, and since ammunition is rather limited, you will most probably need to refill your weapons by using the chainsaw. Ultimately, this means that players who like playing the game with only one or two weapons may find it a tad more difficult.

“My soul remains guarded, you can’t…”

Deag Nilox last words before meeting his demise.

Which brings us to the next point; difficulty. The game is not very easy, even on the normal difficulty, and on higher difficulties the game becomes insane. On Ultra-Violence, which is the hardest difficulty, I had to strategize before engaging in combat. I also had to pick up every available resource I could find in order to survive.

Doom Eternal features many different types and variations of demons. As such, the game will throw you different enemies to slaughter, something you will easily notice in later levels. The enemies are also more aggressive than before. Forget about standing still; you will be dead in seconds. Thankfully, this is balanced by the Slayer’s movement, which is faster compared to the previous game. Also, the double jump and dash abilities are available from the start. Finally, and even though the boss fights are very few, they are quite fun.

Where Does He Keeps All These Stuff

But wait, there are even more weapons with which you can create pandemonium. The game offers two different kind of grenades. The first is the classic explosive grenade and the second is the frost grenade. Another new addition is the flamethrower, or more like the tiny flamethrower, which is attached on the Slayer’s left shoulder. It releases small bursts of flame which can ignite enemies for a limited time. While the enemy is on fire, any extra damage will spawn armor pickups. All equipment have unlimited uses, but they need time to recharge. You can upgrade all equipment with different currencies, and by collecting secrets.

Damn, some demons will eat anything. This Mancubus is choking on his own power core. Bon appétit you big fat ugly bastard.

An Armored Suit Made For A God

What would the Slayer be without his armored suit, the Praetor Suit? Well, a very scary angry naked dude. The Praetor suit is not just cosmetic. The suit can be upgraded via tokens, crystals and runes. You can increase health, armor and ammo capacity. You can also further augment the suit with certain new abilities. The suit is also customizable with different skins, which you can unlock as you progress. You can even wear the original DOOM suit, though please do me a favor and do not wear that pink unicorn Twitch skin monstrosity; I beg of you.

Did Someone Call For Samus?

As I have already mentioned, DOOM Eternal is a bit different than its predecessors. The game now features platform elements. As such, you will be jumping, climbing and solving logical puzzles. Heck, you can even swim this time around. A significant portion of the game is figuring your way to the next fight, and a lot of times you will have to complete a series of challenges in order to achieve that. I am pretty sure many people will not like it. However, and in my humble opinion, it is a nice change of pace. None of these platforming sections are really hard though some of them may annoy some players.

Vinyl collection is one of the many pastimes of the Slayer. He loves his vinyls.

There is a ton of secrets to discover, like power-ups, lore, collectibles, and more. Many of these can be found “organically” while you progress. However, some others are well hidden. Extremely well hidden I might add. Not only that, but some are hidden even behind environmental puzzles. Therefore, I would recommend purchasing the upgrade that shows all the secrets in the map as soon as you can. Otherwise, you will be in a world of pain and… well… you are already in Hell. Speaking of map, the game features an awesome and very easily accessible Metroidvania-like map. For what it’s worth, I had zero issues with the map and I never got myself lost. My only issue was with the lore collectibles as you have to open the menu, and read a bunch of text. The previous DOOM game did it better by having real-time narration.

The Floating Fortress

The Fortress of DOOM is a space station designed by the people of Argent D’Nur. It was originally intended as a base of operations for the Night Sentinels. The fortress is the Slayer’s safe haven and he even has his own personal quarters.

This is the Slayer’s private quarters where he keeps some of his collectibles. Here’s also where he jams!

The fortress works as a main hub where you can initiate missions, master levels, re-play missions, unlock upgrades and collectibles. You can even see some of the collectibles you picked, decorating the walls. There are also several easter eggs to be found within the fortress.

Is DOOM Really Eternal?

The first DOOM is probably my favorite game, and that’s because it holds a very special place in my heart. But, if I had to choose one without being sentimental, I would probably choose DOOM Eternal. I am a creature of habit and I do not usually like change. DOOM Eternal is different, but not in a bad way. The game offers exactly the same as before and even more.

“For millennia, we have survived. Made others sacrifice in the name of our prosperity. Who are you, a human, once a mortal, to defy our traditions?!”

Khan Maykr preaching to the Slayer.

There are only a few new things that aren’t optional; the rest are up to the player. Hell, you can even finish the game in a couple of hours if that’s what you want. You don’t like cutscenes? You don’t like puzzles and collectibles? You don’t like finishers? You don’t like RPG mechanics? Just skip them all.

Are you ready to face your fears? Are you strong enough to enter the gates of Hell? Even if you are not, he is!

Of course there are some things you cannot completely avoid, such as sections of platforming and the use of the chainsaw for ammunition. So, if these are a major issue for you, you should consider keeping your money for something else. Maybe Resident Evil 3 Remake? On the other hand, if you don’t really mind these things, you will most likely have a hell of a time.

Seriously, think of all the games Bethesda released the last few years. Bethesda needs this game to be a success if they ever want to crawl out from the hole of disappointment (in which they already live in comfortably). And, well, here comes id Software and single-handedly saves Bethesda from its… doom.

Lots of tools to experiment

Great shooting mechanics

Excellent wound system

Numerous collectibles

Amazing optimization

Variety of glory kills

Superb soundtrack

Beautiful locations

Enemy variation

Superb controls

Cool story

Bodies vanish into thin air

No in-game audio for lore collectibles

Platforming might be bothersome

Frequent use of the chainsaw can be annoying

Computer Specs: CPU: i5 4440, GPU: Palit 1660Ti OC 6GB, RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws X 16GB, HDD: Crucial 275GB MX300, OS: Win7, 1080p

Playtime: 10+ hours total, this an estimate since the Bethesda launcher does not keep track of the time played.

The post DOOM Eternal PC Review: The End Is Nigh appeared first on DSOGaming.

DOOM Eternal PC Review: The End Is Nigh published first on https://touchgen.tumblr.com/

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oselatra · 6 years

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Whither the Rep

Its destiny is not in the stars, but ourselves.

The Arkansas Repertory Theatre last week produced the greatest drama in the 44-year history of the stage last week when it announced its debt was so deep it had to cancel its last play of the season and bring down the curtain indefinitely.

The news got a standing "Oh, no" from actors and audiences who knew that Little Rock — and Arkansas — had something special in its professional theater. The Rep has a reputation of great performances among theatergoers and as a great place to work among the many actors who've come to Little Rock. The idea that The Rep might close brought into sharp focus what that would cost Little Rock — fortunately, before it's gone, not after.

The drama has been building for quite some time, thanks to a dive in ticket sales and a faltering capital campaign. The course of theater never does run smooth, the Bard might say, but finding itself without the means to stage its final 2017-18 season production, "God of Carnage," which was to open in June, the theater's board of directors darkened the house.

The secured and unsecured debt — including $1.6 million in bank loans, including mortgages — is in total "north of $2 million," Brian Bush, chairman of The Rep's board, said last week. The board is trying to raise $750,000 to $1 million immediately to settle vendor debt and begin paying off the Bank of the Ozarks, which Bush said has been "cooperative and intimately involved in what's going on for at least six months." The board is also forming a group, "The Next Act," to talk about what form The Rep should take to be sustainable.

The Rep does have assets: Its theater at Main and Sixth streets and two apartment buildings for its out-of-town actors have been appraised at more than $6.5 million, Bush said. That makes it "real estate rich and cash poor," he said. Selling its real estate "is on the table," though the fact that The Rep has a place for its actors to stay has been one of the great draws for them to the Arkansas theater.

The Rep had raised $1.7 million during the quiet phase of a capital campaign the past couple of years, Bush said, but had hoped to raise $2.7 million during that phase. The total goal of $5.2 million would have retired all debt and created a cushion for the future, but with declining revenues — The Rep could only fill 47 percent its seats this season, Bush said, and campaign cash had to be spent to put on the plays.

The Rep's staff will be cut from 30 to 10 as of May 8. Producing Artistic Director John Miller-Stephany is among those losing his job. The theater education program, which breaks even, will continue through the summer.

There may be some good news: Potentially waiting in the wings is a $1.8 million grant The Rep has applied for from the Windgate Charitable Trust of Siloam Springs, which has made several multimillion-dollar gifts in the past few years to the arts, including $40 million last year to the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville to create an art and design district and $20.3 million to UA Little Rock and $15.5 million to UA Fort Smith for their fine arts buildings. Should The Rep receive the grant, it would have to match it.

***

"What I can tell you," actor Patrick Halley said last week, "is The Rep had a sterling reputation in New York as a wonderful and warm and incredibly artist-friendly place to work. The way I got my first audition there was a friend I knew had worked there — I begged him, 'Could you put in a good word for me?' " Since then, Halley has appeared in a number of Rep productions, including "The School for Lies" last October.

"What always set The Rep apart was, some places you would go and work in a metropolis with a ton of options as far as culture goes. The audiences at The Rep always stood out as excited and engaged and grateful and you really got a sense of the impact that your work was having in the community." Not every audience is like that, he said.

The Rep's staff of designers "are at the top of their game," Halley said, "and that's not always common. Folks like Linda Parlier [assistant to the production manager] and Alan Branson [sound design and engineer] and Mike Nichols [technical director and set designer], the costume shop — they had a world-class team."

Halley called Bob Hupp, the producing artistic director from 1999-2016, "an inspiring leader" and managing director Mike McCurdy "one of the kindest and sweetest men on the face of the earth."

Halley was in Fayetteville when the news The Rep would suspend operations got out.

"The Rep has been so good to me," Halley said. "When I got the news, it felt like someone has passed away. I was so very, very sad."

On Friday, the Friends of the Arkansas Repertory Theatre announced a Rally for the Rep to be held Tuesday, May 1, in front of the theater, with music by the Greasy Greens, and special friends of the theater, including founder Cliff Baker, the director from 1976-1998 and a guest director for the past 17 years, will attend. By Monday, 1,300 people had clicked the "Interested" button and more than 200 people had donated a total of $73,000.

"In a strange way," Halley said, "the level of outcry speaks to how special it was." As Joni Mitchell sang, you don't know what you've got till it's gone.

Candyce Hinkle has been an actress for 40 years, and has appeared in plays at The Rep and other local theaters, as well as in such nationally released movies as the Coen brothers' "True Grit."

"The Rep has been my heart, honey, and this is just devastating," Hinkle said. "You can go anywhere in Central Arkansas and see talented people tell good stories, but when you go to The Rep ... . You don't realize how supported they are by technical artists. Mike Nichols' sets, the ability to create atmosphere by sound and lights. It's such a team effort to put on the shows that they do. That is what we don't get anywhere else. It's a professional jewel in our midst."

Hinkle is convinced that there is enough support for The Rep that it can reopen and stay open. "It doesn't have to come back as the grandiose giant it had become. Even if it comes back with a different flavor, but the same dedication to technical support and quality of performances: That's what we have to save."

The school must go on, as well, Hinkle said. "How many lives has that program changed? Just to give those kids that. They are treated professionally: It's not a babysitting opportunity. It's hard work: You hold a kid to a standard, and they're going to meet it. It's strictly professional, it's not just fun — it's work to get to the fun."

***

"I took a couple of days of heartache and mourning," Cliff Baker said from his home outside Mayflower, but now he's ready for action.

Baker came to Arkansas from Missouri in the 1960s to enroll in the Arkansas Arts Center's bachelor of fine arts program, which in its short time drew national accolades and a visit from The Juilliard School at its closing to recruit some of its actors. After working in theater outside Arkansas for a while, Baker returned to visit friends "and they said, 'Let's do a play,' and I rented a storefront ... and they were all kinky plays," Baker said.

The Arkansas Philharmonic was also short-lived. Support for a new theater came from old-money folks who were thrilled to see a higher level of theater established in Little Rock. The Rep sold 300 season tickets at a fundraiser in the posh Edgehill neighborhood "and we didn't have a theater and we didn't have a season," Baker said.

The theater opened in what had been Hunter Memorial Methodist Church, across the street from MacArthur Park, and though the venue was humble, the theater staged ambitious productions, from the breakout gay-themed play "The Boys in the Band" (performed at the Arts Center before its Off-Broadway premiere) to musicals "Marat/Sade," "Threepenny Opera" and "Ain't Misbehavin."

The actors were young, the budget was a shoestring, and even if Baker rehearsed a play for two weeks, "If I knew it was going to be bad, we just didn't do it."

"In the nonprofit theater world, I don't think you ever feel like you are on your feet," Baker said. But in the 1980s, when the budget for The Rep reached $500,000 "and the actors weren't having to do everything," he decided it was time to look for a larger home. The Rep moved to its building on Main, with its larger theater and production space, in 1988. Its operating budget is $4 million.

"I think the idea of a professional theater made all the difference" to the Little Rock audience, Baker said. "And people felt like they may not always like a particular play, but they knew it was going to be well done and there would be elements they would remember — the performances or the design."

Baker doesn't believe people have lost interest in live theater. Little Rock and North Little Rock support The Weekend Theater, The Public Theatre, Celebrity Attraction productions at Robinson Center Performance Hall, the Argenta Community Theater, the Arkansas Arts Center's Children's Theatre and Murry's Dinner Playhouse. But those venues — primarily Celebrity Attractions shows in the renovated Robinson — also present competition.

Baker does think some of the excitement is missing. People can't expect a big "joyous hit" like "Sister Act," which Baker last directed at The Rep, every time they go to the theater. And a theater can't sustain itself by planning that the success of one big show will carry the others.

Now, with the "Second Act" strategizing, Baker is thinking about how to reopen The Rep in a model that would be sustainable. "That's where I'm focusing. I'm calling friends and colleagues and and asking what works, what doesn't work.

"It's an age-old dilemma for nonprofit theater. The Rep kind of overgrew and couldn't support it."

***

Ginger Pool, producing artistic director of Mill Mountain Theatre in Roanoke, Va., has felt The Rep's pain. So when Pool heard about The Rep's crisis, she called board member Ruth Shepherd and offered to help in any way she could.

In 2009, Mill Mountain, which had its roots in a playhouse established in 1964, found itself $860,000 in debt. Its debt wasn't related to real estate, but because for a decade it had over-produced, employed a fulltime professional staff of 23 with benefits, suffered high overhead and staged "a little bit of vanity theater, producing shows that Roanoke wasn't supporting. The quality never dropped, but when the audience is not listening to you ... ."

And so Mill Mountain ceased operations, keeping only Pool, the director of its revenue-producing education program. The fulltime staff and 16 contract employees and 12 interns were let go. It cashed in its Actors Equity Association bond.

So Pool got to work by meeting one-on-one with vendors, negotiating such things as payment plans and tax credits and "asking for forgiveness. ... It was the hardest work I've ever done, and the most rewarding." Within a year, all but $75,000 of the debt had been paid off or negotiated.

For a while, Mill Mountain's children's theater put on the only productions, on holidays. The theater realized "Roanoke hasn't given up on us yet," Pool said, when it was announced the youths would perform "Annie": The musical was a sellout before the play opened.

It took Mill Mountain four years to have a "soft reopening." A theater that once produced 14 shows on its main stage a season now produces three. The new business model, Pool said: "We have made a promise that each individual production will make money standing by itself. We are not in the frame of mind, do this giant show to pay for this riskier show. ... That's a slippery slope for theaters. ... So we look at what we're choosing, and if we have any hesitation if this show can't stand alone, we throw it out. We drill down to worst-case scenarios, really analyzing everything, before we announce [the season] to the public."

Mill Mountain still does theater that might be called art rather than entertainment, but does it in its small black box theater. It has also added Mill Mountain Music, twice-a-year concerts.

"I will say people don't donate money to pay off your debt. There are going to be angels in the community, but [their gifts are] not going to be of the magnitude that your problems are over," Pool warned.

***

Ironically, The Rep has been the anchor of development on Main Street, in what Mayor Mark Stodola calls the "Creative Corridor." Its educational program in a renovated historic building catercornered from the theater along with Ballet Arkansas's studio and a private gallery have supported the idea of a downtown arts district .

The mayor learned of The Rep's financial troubles a couple of weeks ago, he said. He said he'd approached Celebrity Attractions, which has a substantial marketing budget, about the possibility of the company's taking a Rep show on the road, and noted that the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau supports The Rep with a contribution of $50,000 a year. The city made a small contribution last fall by buying tickets for a group.

Stodola said The Rep had also broached the idea that perhaps the city could support the theater by buying the theater building and leasing it back to The Rep for a nominal sum, as is done in other cities. But Stodola said that idea was, for him, a no-go. "Other organizations that we support, they are city commissions, like the Arkansas Arts Center or the Museum of Discovery or the military museum," Stodola told the Times. If it were to become a commission, The Rep board would have had to give up its governance, Stodola said, which was something it was reluctant to do.

Board chair Bush said The Rep is open to collaborations with colleges and universities and other theaters.

***

Perhaps you are asking yourself, what sort of self-respecting city can't find the audience to keep its professional theater open? Former Producing Artistic Director Hupp, who is now artistic director at Syracuse Stage on the campus of Syracuse University in New York, said competition from the rise of local theater groups is a factor, if not the factor, for The Rep's woes.

"Celebrity Attractions has been performing [in the past], but they've never been able to bring in the tours they're bringing in now [thanks to the $70.5 million renovation of Robinson]. I mean, look at 'The Lion King,' 'Phantom of the Opera,' a tour of 'Les Mis' ['Les Miserables']."

"One of the things that's great about The Rep is the intimate relationship between the audience and the performers. So, that always played pretty well and distinguished The Rep from Celebrity Attractions. But the new model, and the amount of money the city put into the renovation of Robinson, definitely has an impact" on The Rep's ticket sales, Hupp said.

To those who are skeptical about competition's role in The Rep's trouble filling seats, Hupp insisted there is "legitimacy to the external factors."

Too, The Rep's real estate burden, which includes both debt and ongoing maintenance, is unusual, Hupp said. "The expense of owning those properties has always been a challenge for The Rep," he said.

The former director said he was saddened, but not surprised, by the news of The Rep's suspension. But he said The Rep can return.

"If there were some combination of grassroots support and either city leadership or private leadership that comes in and helps stabilize the theater, there is a path forward. There are people who feel very passionate about The Rep. You've seen the social media posts that have come out. That initial reaction of surprise and shock — if that can move beyond that initial emotional reaction to real activism, real organization, then The Rep has a great shot of sustaining itself in a reimagined form."

Here's how Hupp puts the question of what it says about a city that lets its professional theater fail this way: "I think the question people who live in Little Rock have to ask is, 'Is the situation with The Rep a canary in the coal mine?' Is this indicative of other, more challenging issues with the city?

"A thriving city should have thriving arts. And the arts organization has to be responsive and also provide leadership and vision for what the arts mean to the community. ... A healthy organization, wherever you are in the country, has to generate earned income and the city has to show its partnership in that equation through philanthropic dollars. And that's public support from the city itself and private support from those who have means and can help."

Whither the Rep

#Whither the Rep

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