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makingoutinthemojave · 4 years

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Could you possibly do Hancock comforting a female Sole Survivor, who just destroyed the institute, and now has to take care of synth Shaun. And she’s happy to do it, she’s just nervous that she won’t be a good mom?? If that makes sense??

I let my friend write this one for me! Let me know if she did a good job! She inserted her character Andromeda into the situation. Also her character isn’t happy at first to do it, hope that’s cool!

“Mom?”

The child stared imploringly up at Andromeda. He had his father’s eyes.

No, he’s a synth, she thought, flinching away from his gaze.

Her son was dead. She could still feel the heat from the explosion that destroyed him.

The explosion that she had caused.

As the synth watched her with his innocent eyes she crumbled inside. How could she ever gain the privilege to be called “Mom” again? Synth or not, no child deserved a mother like her.

The Railroad agents standing around her looked anxiously between the two.

The silence was oppressive

I can’t do this. I can’t do this.

“I can’t do this,” Andromeda whispered, feeling something wet trail down her face.

“But, Mom I-”

Andromeda didn’t stay to hear the rest. Her legs carried her quickly away, her feet stumbling blindly over the rubble in the Railroad base. She heard Desdemona stop Deacon from following her.

Thank you. No one could understand this pain.

She didn’t get far before she buckled under the weight of her turmoil, curling in on herself and shaking as her body was wracked with sobs.

All across the Commonwealth, the people rejoiced at the end of the Institute. They had finally been freed from fear. Little did they know that their savior was grieving it.

No - not grieving it. It was something deeper than grief.

For the first time, truly, Andromeda was alone. Her husband murdered. Her own son killed by her hand.

She was the sole survivor.

For so long, the only thing keeping her going, the only reason for her to wake up in the morning, had been the promise that she would find Shaun.

But the Shaun she found was not hers.

He had grown up too far for her to reach. A monster beyond a mother’s redemption.

Andromeda had never been good at dealing with trauma. She faced all things with a grin and set shoulders, letting her experiences build up inside until they rushed out in waves of sorrow.

It had never been this bad before though.

The death of her husband. The search for her son. The murder of her son.

And now, this new child was asking for her affection.

How could she do it? How could she love this child when he looked so much like Shaun? How could she face him with her blood-soaked hands, her broken heart?

“Hey there.”

A raspy voice tore through her misery.

From her curled-up position, she heard him walk over and slide down the wall to sit next to her.

“Ya know, this is the second time I’ve had to chase you down like this, right?” Hancock gently prodded her with his shoulder, speaking softly.

“Sorry,” Andromeda murmured, wiping her eyes and leaning her head back against the wall. She studied the cracks in the rock ceiling above her, partly to try to stop the flow of tears and partly to avoid having to look at his eyes. Really, it was mostly to avoid his eyes.

“The kid’s okay if that’s what you’re wonderin’. Confused, but okay. What ha-”

“Hancock, I can’t do it.”

She could feel him staring at her, shocked by her sudden outburst.

“He wants me to be his mom. That kid he… my son programmed him to make him think that I’m his mother but I…. I can’t do it.”

“But,” Hancock started, his brow furrowing, “Why not?”

She whipped around to him, feeling as though she was about to explode.

“Because he’s not my son! Because I killed my son! Because I killed, Hancock! My hands are dirty. I’m broken and twisted. How can I raise somebody when all I can see when I look at them is what I’ve lost? What I’ve done?”

She ran her hands through her hair frantically, her fingers catching on the knots.

“How can you not understand that I’ve lost any right to be happy? That I don’t deserve him?”

Hancock reached out and grabbed her shaking hands, holding them tightly in his.

“Your son murdered and enslaved thousands. He subjected the entire Commonwealth to constant paranoia and fear. And yet he worked for what he believed was right. You’ve killed. You had to kill your son and many others. And yet you’ve done more to help the Commonwealth than anybody else has in a century,” He reached up and gently wiped her tears, “Do you see what I’m saying? Nobody deserves anything, really. To some, you deserve to die. To others, you deserve sainthood. This world doesn’t work in a way that acknowledges what people do or don’t deserve. I know that for a fact, ‘cause I’ve got you. Who knows what you really deserve… Well, actually, I know. You deserve the highest happiness. And, for once, I’m not talking about getting high, here.”

Andromeda laughed lightly, trying to put on a smile.

“Listen, love,” Hancock placed his hands gently on either side of her face, looking at her seriously, “I know I just said that the world doesn’t work in a way that gives a shit about what you deserve, but I think today the world is breakin’ that rule. There’s a kid in there that needs you. Synth or not, he’s Shaun. Or he can be if you’ll let him. I’m here with you no matter what choice you make, but I think this is your shot at doin’ it all over.”

She nodded, the corners of her lips tugging upwards at the thought of it. She was by no means healed, nor would she be for a while. But she had the chance at a new life. With Hancock. With Shaun.

“I think I might like that. You’ve gotta stick around though, killer,” She said, standing up with him.

“As you wish, smooth-skin,” He smiled to himself, “Ya know, I’ve always wanted a kid. Among Ghouls I’m known as the best influence a kid could hope for. And seeing as my… uh… factory is out of commission for the foreseeable future, this might be my chance.”

Andromeda took her hand in his and chuckled.

“A good influence, huh? We shall see.”

“And hey, ya mind not telling anybody about how amazingly comforting I was back there? I gotta keep up my rough-and-tough reputation.”

“As you wish, raisin-man.”

Forever, he would follow her wherever she called him. He remembered the promise he had made to her from what felt like ages ago:

For as long as you’ll have me, I’ll be here.

It seemed like Andromeda would have him there for a while.

Hancock liked that.

#fo4 hancock #hancock fo4 #fo4 #fallout reacts #fallout 4 reacts #fo4 reacts #sole survivor #fallout 4 #fallout #reacts

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santalsaburablog · 4 years

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Adventures of Santal. Chapter 1: The girl who survived.

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away

Heroes create the times.

The story begins! On the beautiful Twi'lek planet Ryloth, a young Twi'lek lethana, Elina, is raising the daughter of her friend, who, along with her husband, was killed on a starship in an attack by mercenaries. Baby Santal lives carefree and happy. But no one suspects that it has a great destiny in store for it. Only time will tell.

— Santal! There is no answer.

— Santa-a-al! there is no answer.

Elina was walking up and down near the house and shouting:

The woman went through all the rooms once more , then suddenly it dawned on her, and Elina quickly went in the direction that her brain suggested, hoping that her instincts were not deceiving her.

"Of course I forgot about the backyard. What were you doing there? In

front of Elina sat a little girl with dark hair tied in two ponytails. Judging by the condition of her clothes, the little girl had time to Tinker in the ground.

"I'm sorry, aunt. I watched the flowers and didn't hear them. After all, what beauty surrounds us!

Elina was touched and calmed down. Why be angry with a child for such nonsense? Thank you for thinking about flowers and nature, and not about something indecent. And so, let him think about the world around him. In General, her ward loved life in all its manifestations.

"Santal, let's go." I need to get you cleaned up. We'll be having lunch soon.

An hour later, the two women, the big one and the little one, were sitting at the table. Letanka this day rasstaralas and prepared a favorite meal of the pupil.

"So go with her, — thought Elina. "She's not doing this out of spite. Just likes to touch and explore everything. But Santal is only three years old, in six months — four. I try my best to raise her, because she is, poor thing, the daughter of my late friend. I still remember that story. Her family was attacked by hunters. And Santal managed to survive. I just don't know how. Later, when the case was resolved, the mercenaries were not caught, and they wanted to send the girl to an orphanage. But my husband and I didn't allow it. Especially since I'm infertile myself. And I want children. Nobi's husband is a farmer, and I'm a homemaker. We live modestly, but everyone is happy."

Three and a half years ago.

The New hope starship, commissioned by the Shang couple, had just come out of hyperspace. Thirty-year-old Adira Shan lay exhausted after giving birth. Her husband, Bastian, was holding a newborn, long-awaited first child.

"It's a girl.

— Santal, — Adira said.

"Why Santal?" my husband was surprised.

"Your ancestor's name was SATEL. Looks like it, doesn't it?

— Exactly. Perfect. Bastian happily circled the room with his daughter, and then gave his wife to feed.

"She will be the most beautiful and intelligent Jedi in the world, — the woman said with love and tenderness as she watched the baby drink breast milk.

"That's right. You'll see. As the child grows up, we will give it to the temple. In three years somewhere.

"I want her to stay longer." You can ask. And we would have taught her everything.

"You know the rules. Must not.

Adira sighed, thinking how unfair this was.

"Do you remember how we met?"

— Yes. We were younglings then. I was coming from training, and you were coming from the library. Our heads collided. The conversation started in just a minute. They became friends, and then, when they grew up, they got married.

— Many memories. You can't remember everything. Oh, well. We're about to land on Ryloth. Soon we will hug with friends, show the baby and…

Bastian's thoughts were interrupted by an unexpected explosion. The man quickly ran to the sensors.

"What is it?"

— The enemy spaceship! We are shooting back urgently! They seem to be mercenaries!

And the starship seemed to be lying in wait. Waiting for the right boat to come out. On it a girl with a red tail on her head commanded:

— Aim for the engines! Don't let them land!

The shelling started. The enemy ship had good weapons: it included a laser turret mounted on top for space combat and crushing asteroids that got in the way, a pair of heavy laser cannons that could cause deadly damage to the enemy even faster, and an ion cannon that was used to immobilize cargo ships. As for the "New hope", there were improved armor, hyperdrive and power volleys of two guns.

Unfortunately, on this day, the victory was won by an enemy ship, which took the loser on Board. The leader of the bounty hunter gang quickly drew his Blaster.

— Begin.

Meanwhile, Bastian and Adira drew their swords.

— Adira, protect Santal! I'll try to deal with the mercenaries. There must be three of them.

The Jedi, using the Force, realized that the hunters were divided. Question: who will he run into? As Bastian passed through the corridors, he heard voices. One is female, the other is male. As the man approached the door, a short, fish-faced man jumped out and scurried back when he saw the Jedi.

— What's the big idea! Open it quickly, I won't hit you!

Suddenly, a second wickway man came up behind him and started shooting.

"Well,well. What do we have here? "no," he said.

Bastian was a master at deflecting shots, even when the bullet hit him squarely in the arm. The hunter fell, and the Jedi saw that a red-tailed girl was standing behind him, who also started firing at him. And then fishface jumped in from behind. As a result, the girl shot the unfortunate man. Advertising: Hide

— Great, " she grinned. "Bane, we did it.

The gang leader, who had been watching from afar, approached the trio.

— Well. Look for the second one. The customer gave clear instructions: destroy the dynasty, every last one of them!

Meanwhile, Adira was bundling up her daughter, preparing to escape in a secret escape pod. Of course, the mercenaries all blew up, but one was overlooked because it was disguised.

"Santal, all my gift to you, I'm sorry. Only hope to save your life. I hope Bastian doesn't let you down.

A shot rang out.

"Hello, honey." Duros pointed the Blaster at the woman.

The Jedi activated the sword and held it out in front of the hunter.

— Stay back! What did you do to my husband?!

— The same thing I'm going to do to you now!

Adira ran further and further, deflecting the shots, which was difficult, especially since one arm was occupied, and she herself was weakened after giving birth. So it was quickly backed into a corner. All four of them.

— Well, that's it.

— No. Not all. The Jedi gathered herself and pushed the hunters aside as she ran forward to the capsule.

But then there was a roar of four Blaster shots. Adira had just rounded the corner when a burst of energy from one of the weapons hit her in the stomach.

"Hooray! Hey, who got hit? — shouted the fishheads.

Red-tailed Aurra laughed.

— No matter. We must return to the starship immediately. It remains only to destroy the ship, ' ordered the duro, well knowing that this did petroliana.

Or so he thought. In General, it was unclear who was hit. Bane decided to cover up the discussion, because who cares? It's like setting off an explosion.

Adira waited until the footsteps had subsided, then rose quietly, holding her hand tightly to her abdomen, hoping to stop the hemorrhage a little. Finally, with great difficulty, she managed to put the baby in a compact capsule. Adira was mentally prepared for death. She's seriously injured anyway, and soon the ship will explode.

How cruel and unfair the world is sometimes! Just as you're making serious plans, the next moment something terrible happens and everything changes. Or you realize that you are dying and that the dream is already out of reach.

"Hush, daughter. Don't cry, don't be shy. Grief will leave you. I lullaby my last I will always be with you.

Adira kissed her daughter one last time, laid her on the pillow, closed the door, and pressed the button. And just in time, because fifteen seconds later the ship was engulfed in an explosion. The last thing Santal's mother hoped for was that Her little girl would be saved and taken care of.

***

"They are the chosen ones of the force. And it is our duty to remember that we will also leave in due time. We are creatures of Light, but our bodies are not eternal vessels. And we'll all be here in time. Please be silent for a minute to remember and move on. We must live for the sake of the living Jedi. They will live in us forever, " Grand master Yoda concluded.

Since there were no bodies, the Jedi order and their companions were standing in the open air, with two fires burning. Some even cried.

"Bastian was my best friend, — qui-gon said.

"And mine, too," Windu said.

"How pathetic. So young, — it was heard from all sides of the phrase in this way.

"It looks like the legendary Jedi dynasty has ended forever," Ki-ADI-Mundi said.

"Are you sure?" Yoda asked. "I can smell the excitement of The force. Maybe there is hope, and someone survived. It is impossible to foresee our future. Bastian and Adira are dead, but the dynasty is alive. Bye.

"Do you think someone survived?" But there was no one there.

— Maybe — Yes. Or maybe not. And this gives me hope.

As the Jedi reasoned, in the distance, one of the senators, Palpatine, thought: «Perfectly. So the Shang dynasty is gone. No one can stop me."

Present time

And Santal lived quietly in a foster home. She knew the history of her real parents very well. She was repeatedly told about them. The girl sometimes missed her family, even though she didn't tell anyone. The only thing left of my mother is her Padawan scythe, which she managed to pass on as a souvenir.

Santal desperately wanted to know the truth about the tragedy that happened over Ryloth. How it really was. What if they weren't mercenaries? What if the parents managed to escape? Etc., etc. And so nothing.

In General, the girl began to notice strange things lately. Santal always felt that something was going to happen. Or no, it's not. She always felt the presence of someone or something. It was as if someone was telling her, guiding her, keeping her on her way. Santal found a logical explanation for this: it is the parents who help. They're right next to her.

And so the carefree and fun life of Santal Shan went on. But there was no sign that she would soon be the one to change the order of things in the galaxy.

A new life was about to begin.

#cad bane #cad bane x oc

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conciteque · 5 years

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Kiribaku Month - Day 2: Crossover

Behold my second contribution to @kiribakumonth2019!

Since this is already a crossover, I’ve decided to take it as my cue to hopefully make my AU a bit clearer. Not much kiribaku here but it will make sense soon.

If you have questions or anything, feel free to ask! I could talk about this AU forever

Read under the cut. I hope you’ll like it!

Wordcount: 1810 words

Day 2: Crossover

Kacchan’s life was a nightmare.

The fighting for humanity and killing machines aspect was just fine, and he enjoyed working on Earth—especially when the alternative was staying in space in that floating tin can they called the Bunker—but everything else was awful. He hated constantly having to work with a bunch of extras who were trying to be friendly. He hated how he got used to their needless familiarity, and how they stopped fearing him in return. He hated how, after years of being called Kacchan by these idiots who’d somehow decided that formal denominations were lame, his inner circuits had somehow rewired so that he thought of himself as Kacchan instead of Killer unit K20 or, ever since he was reassigned, Battle unit B20. He hated how the nickname had remained, too.

But most importantly, Kacchan hated, hated how the damn Commander had decided to pair him with shitty Deku for this new mission on Earth. Of course, he knew why he had to be with the stupid Defense unit, but he couldn’t stand the guy. Defense units in general were annoying, always getting in the way as if he needed help, but Deku was the absolute worst. He got destroyed so often that Kacchan sometimes wondered if he didn’t do it on purpose, and then, once the battle was over, he’d turn toward his partner with that shitty smile of his and ask “Kacchan… are you ok?” as if he wasn’t the one that was broken everywhere.

The worst thing, though, was that this time, Deku seemed to have undergone a hard reboot. Or at least, his memories had somehow been deleted so far back that he didn’t remember Kacchan at all. In a way, it was a good thing because Kacchan couldn’t stand the shitty Defense unit remembering the rare times when he’d actually saved his ass, but it was also fucking annoying because it meant that they’d have to go through the whole attempted friendship process again.

He’d have to remind Deku that emotions were fucking prohibited over and over again.

He’d have to explain the basic rules of working with him again.

He’d have to teach the shitty Defense unit not to argue with him and to fear his wrath again.

He’d have to deal with Deku’s obvious disappointment again and again until the Defense unit finally learned that their relationship was strictly professional and Kacchan didn’t give a shit about him, or about any other fucking android.

That was another thing Kacchan hated about the guy: his emotions were all over the place. If Deku’s eyes weren’t covered by the standard YuUEi blindfold, Kacchan was pretty sure they would start leaking like he’d heard human eyes did.

So really, despite how relieved he was to be back on Earth for what seemed to be a pretty long time, with a lot of freedom to do as he pleased in between assignments, Kacchan couldn’t truly enjoy it. Knowing he’d have to babysit Deku the whole fucking time was ruining everything.

After a successful landing on Earth where he’d managed to avoid speaking to his forced partner, Kacchan was immediately assaulted by his stupid Operator.

“Good morning Kacchan!” the round faced extra exclaimed with way too much enthusiasm through his battle pod, the shitty device floating in front of his face, just out of reach. “I hope you had a safe trip! Did you know that long ago, it would have been night time on Earth?”

“I don’t give a fuck,” he grumbled. “What’s your point?”

“Grumpy as always, I see. I’m going to send you the location of the Resistance camp. It’s not too far from here. Make sure to make a good impression on them!”

“I don’t care about the opinion of some extras. I just need to secure the resources right?”

“That’s the idea, but you also have to work with them. You’re not just here to take things, you also need to build a proper relationship with them. We need their help, remember?”

“Then you should have sent someone else, for fuck’s sake! What made you dumbasses think I was the right unit to build a fucking relationship with a bunch of shitty outdated androids? I’m a soldier dammit!”

“Orders of the Commander,” the Operator shrugged, not one bit impressed with him. “You can probably leave the talking to Deku, though.”

Oh, so that was why he was paired with the shitty Defense unit. Because that green haired freak was all nice and friendly. Great…

Round Face left him alone soon after, and for the rest of the way, he was stuck with Deku marveling at Earth and dropping shitty fun facts about humans and how the environment adapted after the planet stopped rotating, as if Kacchan didn’t know everything about that already.

The place seemed oddly familiar, but he tried not to dwell on it. Maybe he’d been in the area at some point, who cared?

The good part was that it didn’t take them long to reach the Resistance camp. It was a shitty place that barely deserved its name; just the inner courtyard of a building in ruins, with a bunch of shade sails and a couple of furnished rooms in the parts that weren’t too damaged.

When they stepped into the camp, Kacchan felt like the eyes of every android were on him, and he hated it. In his opinion, eyes were meant to be covered. He wasn’t supposed to notice that they were both surprised and curious to see them. It felt unnatural.

Despite what Round Face had said about leaving the talking part to Deku, Kacchan was the one who spoke first.

“Who the fuck is in charge here?”

“That would be me,” said someone on the other side of the camp.

Kacchan walked toward him and crossed his arms as he reached android who’d spoken, a male unit with bright red hair somehow worn in spikes, big red eyes, and a smile that revealed a row of shark teeth. That guy looked like an idiot, but at least he’d be easy to recognize.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Eijirou, leader of the Resistance,” the shitty haired android said.

“I don’t give a shit. Do you have the stuff?”

There was a flash of… something in the red android’s eyes, before he started fucking chuckling of all things.

“Don’t you think you should introduce yourself first? We’re going to see each other a lot in the foreseeable future,” Shitty Hair said.

“Whatever. I’m B20. This loser here is D9. Do you have the stuff?”

“You can call me Deku,” shitty Deku added.

“Nice to meet you, Deku. And what should we call you?” he asked, looking at Kacchan again.

“B20,” he said.

“We call him Kacchan,” Deku said at the same time.

Kacchan almost punched him.

“Fucking don’t,” he said instead.

“But Kacchan, don’t you think it’s better if—”

“Shut the fuck up, nerd! Who even told you to speak?!” he exploded.

“Ah, I see…” Eijirou said, thoughtful. “You’re the angry kind. We’ll call you Blasty!” he announced with a grin.

“No fucking way, Shitty Hair!” Kacchan snapped.

“My hair is just fine, and my name is Eijirou,” he reminded, calm and obviously amused.

What the fuck was wrong with this guy?

At this point, Kacchan was ready to fight. Shitty Hair or Deku, he didn’t give a shit, he just needed to kill something. That was why Killer units went out of production, he remembered bitterly. They had a tendency to go berserk, and the other androids were too fucking weak to handle it.

He was getting ready to punch someone when, like some sort of joke, he was interrupted by the pods, sending some fucking useless speech he’d heard a thousand times already.

Some cheesy music started playing, and a booming laugh resonated in the camp.

“YuUEi units! This is All Might speaking, on behalf of the Council of Humanity!”

At this point, Kacchan was highly tempted to destroy his pod. However, he knew the shitty little thing was fast as hell and wouldn’t let him do it. Plus, he’d have to listen to Deku’s complaints and he guessed killing the guy wasn’t the best way to ‘make a good impression’ on those Resistance extras. He didn’t see the point of all this, but he was still going to take this mission seriously.

Fucking Deku was absorbing the speech with absolute focus and fascination, and it made Kacchan want to throw up. It was the same bullshit as usual. Bla bla, the war against machines, humanity hiding on the moon and sending them, YuUEi androids, to destroy the machine invaders so that they could reclaim the planet. Bla bla “you are humanity’s last hope and we’re counting on you to do everything while we hide like fucking cowards”. He heard the same shit every day, what was the point?

“Glory to Mankind!” All Might concluded, signaling that the speech was finally over.

“Glory to Mankind,” Deku repeated solemnly, like the fucking nerd he was.

Kacchan rolled his eyes.

Shitty Hair had watched the whole thing with a look of polite confusion, and their conversation resumed immediately after. By the time Kacchan left, he was sure of one thing: he was going to fucking hate this mission.

Shitty Hair didn’t seem impressed by his attitude, he refused to call him anything other than Blasty, and he ended up sending Deku and him on an errand like they were some fucking underlings and not busy YuUEi soldiers. He never flinched when Kacchan yelled, smiled when he complained, and sometimes, he looked fucking… pained or something. It was confusing as hell. That shitty haired bastard was supposed to be scared of him, not fucking sad!

To make things worse, Kacchan couldn’t leave that damn place before interacting with a bunch of extras who were all acting entirely too familiar with him, introducing themselves and then throwing an arm around his shoulders to “give him a tour” as if he wanted to spend more time there than necessary. And worst of all, Deku seemed to love the place. Of course, he’d feel right at home among the Resistance extras and their fucking friendliness.

So yes, Kacchan was going to do this shitty task the red haired android had given them. But only because he had nothing better to do at the moment and the Commander had called personally to remind him that he was supposed to help the Resistance when asked.

As he left for the place Shitty Hair had mentioned, trying to ignore Deku’s babbling about how fucking nice everyone was, Kacchan made a mental note to teach the shitty Defense unit how to fear him as soon as possible, so he could finally enjoy some fucking peace.

Kacchan’s life really was a nightmare.

#bnha #Kiribaku Month 2019 #day 2: crossover #kirishima eijirou #bakugou katsuki #midoriya izuku #kiribaku #nier automata #nier automata au #conci writes stuff

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booksandtea · 6 years

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Video Game Recommendations| #Blogoween So I wanted to do a post on horror games to fit into blogoween but I realised I haven’t really played that many. Or at least many that people may think of when thinking of horror games.

You have the big names; the Amnesia series and Slender: The Eight Pages games that shot pewdiepie (one | two) into the spotlight and which for me at least are when horor games became more popular. I tried both of the games named but neither really did anything for me.

Much later we see the rise of the Five Nights at Freddy’s series which I also tried at the height of its hype and wasn’t fond of.

It wasn’t a case that any of these games were too scary to play, they just didn’t offer enough for me to get invested in them. If I were to return to any of these games it would be Amnesia as its a lot more story focused.

But fear not. Or do fear! I do have a small list of games that I can recommend in the horror genre, or at least have horror elements to them.

RESIDENT EVIL 5 (2009): “The Umbrella Corporation and its crop of lethal viruses have been destroyed and contained. But a new, more dangerous threat has emerged. Years after surviving the events in Raccoon City, Chris Redfield has been fighting the scourge of bio-organic weapons all over the world. Now a member of the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance (BSAA), Chris is sent to Africa to investigate a biological agent that is transforming the populace into aggressive and disturbing creatures. Joined by another local BSAA agent, Sheva Alomar, the two must work together to solve the truth behind the disturbing turn of events.”

I probably played this back in 2009 or 2010 on the XBOX and its actually the only Resident Evil game that I’ve completed all the way through. I actually really enjoyed this game and at the time the hardest thing I found was keeping an eye on my health.

Lots of zombie fun which means its kinda gorey! But yay to weird mutations.

RUSTY LAKE HOTEL (2016): “Welcome our guests to the Rusty Lake Hotel and make sure they will have a pleasant stay. There will be 5 dinners this week. Make sure every dinner is worth dying for!

Rusty Lake Hotel a unique puzzle-escape game with a surreal, strange setting inspired by David Lynch’s TV series Twin Peaks.”

I love the Rusty Lake series, I’ve only played Hotel but I do also own Roots. Both of these I’ve seen Dodger play through but Hotel is probably my favourite of the two.

In RLH you have 5 guests staying and for 5 days you have to procure the ingredients for a meal by doing tasks and puzzles for one of the guest. In the evening everyone sits down and eats a meaty meal that they can rate depending on how many of the ingredients you were able to get. The puzzles can be pretty challenging at times and none of the guests ever seem to care that every evening there is one guest less…

I highly recommend you check out any and all of their games and the best thing is many of them are on mobile and they’re not huge or powerful games so I would imagine most PCs can handle them. I also think the horror in this is tame so if you’re a fan of puzzles they’re definitely worth it, my only complaint is theres no achievements.

YEAR WALK (2014): “In the old days man tried to catch a glimpse of the future in the strangest of ways.

Experience the ancient Swedish phenomena of year walking through a different kind of first person adventure that blurs the line between two and three dimensions, as well as reality and the supernatural.

Venture out into the dark woods where strange creatures roam, on a vision quest set in 19th century Sweden. Solve and decipher cryptic puzzles, listen for clues, and learn about mysterious folklore creatures in the built-in encyclopedia as you seek to foresee your future and find out if your loved one will ever love you back.

Mysteries and clues await everywhere in Year Walk, but to fully understand the events that took place on that cold New Year’s Eve, you will have to delve deeper than the adventure and lose yourself between fact and fiction.”

I’ve also completed Year Walk and I really enjoyed it, the art itself is super cool and at times very pretty. The story itself is rather sad too but you learn a lot about this Swedish phenomena.

This game does have achievements which is great but I will say it can be tricky to navigate to each area so if you can have the map pulled up elsewhere that makes it easier – also will help you get an achievement.

This is definitely a fairly straight forward game to play but it is on the spookier side of things, both story wise and because there is a jump scare or two. I know at least one of them can be avoided.

LAYERS OF FEAR (2016): “You take another drink as the canvas looms in front of you. A light flickers dimly in the corner. You’ve created countless pieces of art, but never anything like…this. Why haven’t you done this before? It seems so obvious in retrospect. Your friends, critics, business partners—soon, they’ll all see. But something’s still missing…

You look up, startled. That melody… Was that a piano? It sounded just like her… But, no—that would be impossible. She’s gone. They’re all gone. Have to focus. How long has it taken to get to this point? Too long, but it doesn’t matter. There will be no more distractions. It’s almost finished. You can feel it. Your creation. Your Magnum Opus.

Dare you help paint a true Masterpiece of Fear? Layers of Fear is a first-person psychedelic horror game with a heavy focus on story and exploration. Delve deep into the mind of an insane painter and discover the secret of his madness, as you walk through a vast and constantly changing Victorian-era mansion. Uncover the visions, fears and horrors that entwine the painter and finish the masterpiece he has strived so long to create.” I picked up Layers of Fear the other month when … humble bundle? was offering it for free. I figured why not! I dont play many horrors and this seemed interesting.

So far its mostly a walking simulator where you explore a mansion that evolves over time. Its very atmospheric and creepy, theres no real guidance as to what time line you’re in but you slowly get to know more about the people who live here. I’m very excited to see where the story goes.

As I’ve not finished this game yet I can’t fully say how scary it is but the bit I’ve played there are definitely the odd jump scare here and there and overall a very eerie vibe.

ABZU (2016): “Immerse yourself in a vibrant ocean world full of mystery and bursting with color and life. Perform fluid acrobatics as the Diver using graceful swimming controls. Discover hundreds of unique species based on real creatures and form a powerful connection with the abundant sea life. Interact with schools of thousands of fish that procedurally respond to you, each other, and predators. Linger in epic seascapes and explore aquatic ecosystems modeled with unprecedented detail. Descend into the heart of the ocean where ancient secrets lie forgotten. But beware, dangers lurk in the depths. “ABZÛ” is from the oldest mythologies; AB, meaning water, and ZÛ, meaning to know. ABZÛ is the ocean of wisdom.” Okay, so technically Abuz isn’t a horror game. For the most part its very pretty and tranquil, but there is a part full of exploding bombs whic is a bit tense. Additionally the full story of Abzu is one of horror and warning as at its core its a commentary on how we’re destroying worlds and pollution.

Rather than going into full depth on its story you can read up on it here as I think its a very important and powerful game. Plus if you don’t like being underwater then this might have a layer of fear for you!

And thats that for horror video games I think you should play. Of course honorable mention to Until Dawn but with that being a PS4 exclusive its a lot harder for people to play – instead try watching a playthrough of this game on YouTube perhaps? This has a lot of gore, jump scares, and Josh is my favourite character in that game as realistically we all need to protect him.

Please note: all images were taken from their own Steam store pages.

Have you seen played any of these games? Are there any games that you’d recommend?

If you enjoyed this post consider supporting Northern Plunder Ko-fi | Twitter | Book Club | RedBubble

5 Horror #VideoGames You Should Play | #Blogoween Video Game Recommendations| #Blogoween So I wanted to do a post on horror games to fit into blogoween but I realised I haven't really played that many.

#Abzu #Blogoween #Blogoween 2018 #Layers of Fear #Resident Evil 5 #Rusty Lake Hotel #Video Game #Video Game Review #Video Games #Year Walk

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imgonnabeyourbubblegumwitch · 6 years

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I Love You, You Pay My Rent: Chapter Twenty Two

First Chapter (Prologue)

Previous Chapter (Chapter Twenty One)

Nico hadn't been not living with Will Solace for long enough to get over him. He wasn't sure if there'd ever be enough time in the world that could allow him to get over Will. Jason's words hit him like a sledgehammer as some part of his unconscious made connections faster than his conscious could process. His heart, already hammering, sped up.

“Who’s Luke?” he asked before he caught up with himself.

“I knew he was working for someone,” he added when he’d reached a point where he all his thoughts had arranged into something almost satisfactory.

"You knew?" Jason exploded at the other end of the phone. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Is this still about whether or not Will's got some secret plan to destroy me? Because if he did it worked."

Jason let out a frustrated hissing sound and that brought Nico up short. Jason didn't get frustrated. Jason didn't get angry.

Jason was scared.

"I'm coming over," Jason said. "I'll be round in ten."

Nico had to be content with that. It didn’t mean he had to like it. Ten minutes had never seemed so long before. He couldn't sit still as he tried to clutch at the connections he'd made without knowing, tried to drown baseless fears that perhaps weren’t so baseless if only he could put together the dots. But he couldn't think straight, and he gave up resorting to pacing round his small room with his heart in his throat.

When Jason hammered on the door, Nico was up like a shot managing the distance between his room and the hall in what felt like a heartbeat. He passed Reyna who was reaching for the handle, and wrenched the door open.

"Jason," Reyna greeted, sounding remarkably calm.

"Jason!" Nico said with far less chill, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him inside. "What's going on? Where's Will? Is he okay?"

Jason was shaking his head and made his way into Reyna’s living room as Reyna tactically vanished. Nico was practically vibrating with impatience as he threw himself down on the floor opposite Jason It was then Nico noticed Jason was bleeding, a deep scarlet patch blossoming on the grey fabric of Jason's sweatshirt. Jason saw Nico looking and covered it up with a hand.

"It's fine," he said. "Just a scratch."

Nico swallowed the lump in his throat. Just a scratch took a place in his head at the back of the long queue of things that gave him the lump in his throat, that made his heart keep up an uneven double time.

“Okay,” he said unconvinced.

"Will?" he added. He couldn't make the name much more than a whisper but Jason understood.

"Alive," Jason said, though the way he said it didn't sound promising that that would be Will’s continued state in the foreseeable future.

"Luke's moved against my father. Turns out Horatio isn't quite as dead as people thought. It's suspected he's manipulating Luke into this crusade against my father. And yours. And -"

"Percy's," Nico guessed.

"Luke's way too smart. He's divided my father's people. He's created chaos and everyone has turned against each other, accusing each other. They won't stand united."

"When you say your fathers people -?"

"I don't know." Jason looked stressed. His hair was a mess, and longer than usual, and he put it further into disarray by running a hand through it. "I want to believe my dad's legit but I think it's getting pretty hard to find evidence for that. I mean it was hard enough after -" he broke off with a half glance at Nico.

Nico knew what he meant. Even with his own powers of denial, he still struggled with what his father did for a living, what his father might be. But he'd always thought there was a line, a line between being corrupt or heartless and actual murder. And he'd assumed his father had never crossed that. He'd hoped his father had never crossed that. No doubt Jason had thought the same.

"Anyway I know that he's got all these men and lawyers at his disposal. I mean I should have guessed."

Nico shrugged.

"It was easy to believe they were just shady, corrupt businessmen."

Jason nodded in relief.

"Luke's moving against them. It's already started and my dad's trying to fight back but it's all a mess. Horatio has been really sneaky. There are spies everywhere and -"

"Will wasn't one of them," Nico said firmly.

"You said you didn't know," Jason said kindly, but just as firmly.

"He wasn't working for Luke willing," Nico said. "I wasn't sure about whether he was trying to get back at me for whatever we did to his mother. But I was sure – still am – that he wasn't working for Luke willing."

Jason stared at him for a moment, but then nodded accepting.

"Then he's going to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

"I need to find him," Nico said.

"Find him?" Jason asked, clearly exasperated. "What do you mean find him? How'd you lose him?"

"He's moved out of the apartment," Nico admitted.

Jason closed his eyes and took a breath.

"Do you have any idea how suspicious that looks?" he demanded.

Nico narrowed his eyes.

"I don't care if you don't trust him," Nico said. "I do. I lov-like him Jason. I liked him a lot. And I ruined it and I'll accept that, but he's innocent and we've screwed him over once and I'm not going to let him get hurt again just because you don't -"

He broke off when his voice gave out. His breath was coming in panicked gasps.

"I can't lose anyone else," he told Jason in a very small voice.

Jason had been his very first friend and Jason was still in many ways his best friend. And Jason understood.

"Alright," Jason said. "Alright. But this is going to be really dangerous and stupid."

"You don't have to help," Nico said sullenly.

"Don't be stupid," Jason told him.

Jason suggested that the first point of call was figuring out where Will was. From there they could warn him, or shield him or, well actually he didn’t really want to think about any other ‘or’s not when they could involve telling his family and friends that Will had been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

No. It wouldn’t happen like that. Nico had to find out where Will was.

He was hesitant to get Lou Ellen and Cecil involved, but he realised that without them he’d never have a clue where Will was now that he wasn’t in the apartment. He would sleep, couldn’t rest, until he knew he’d done all he could to protect Will so despite the late hour he summoned Lou Ellen and sat in wait in a diner near their coffee shop that was still open.

He should have been panicked, jittery and scared, but a deadly kind of calm had settled instead. It was a calm that was thin veneer over the tide of panic that lay in wait beneath but it was calm enough to keep him going.

Lou Ellen arrived in a tattered hoody over leggings. She was rubbing her eyes. Though acknowledging it was late, Nico hadn't actually realised quite how late it was and he felt a surge of pure, unadulterated gratitude that Lou Ellen had come out in the middle of the night just because he’d called.

"Is everything alright?" Lou Ellen asked. "Wait actually don't answer that, I need coffee first."

Nico felt like he owed her for coming out to see him so he waited, still with the same icy calm that numbed him to impatience. The coffee came quickly – there was no one else around to serve, nothing else for the staff to do - and Lou Ellen took a sip.

"I need to know where Will is."

Lou Ellen raised an eyebrow and appraised him.

"You look different," she said. "What's going on? You're not drunk are you?"

"Of course I'm not drunk," he said. "I just really need to speak to Will. Or find him. Or both."

"Why?"

That was Cecil's voice and of course Lou Ellen had called Cecil. He should have expected that.

"Why?" Cecil said again when Nico didn't form a response quick enough.

Nico wondered how to explain that, how much he could say.

“I don’t know that now is maybe the best time –“ Lou Ellen began gently, but Nico shook his head desperately, still searching for words but finding everything got stuck in his throat. He had to say the right things. He had to make them understand. This wasn’t about getting Will back, although a secret part of Nico idly wondered about them reuniting about Will realises the lengths Nico was prepared to go to about – no. This wasn’t about getting Will back. This was about making sure he lived. Making sure Kayla didn’t lose a brother, Lou Ellen and Cecil a friend.

"Is he in trouble?" Cecil asked with more clarity than Nico expected and he felt another surge of gratitude. Even so he briefly considered lying, it would be easier if Lou Ellen and Cecil wouldn’t directly involved in any way either Luke or Jason’s father’s people could trace, but eventually figured that would cause more problems that it would solve.

"Maybe," Nico said. "That's why I need to find him. To figure that out."

"But you guys broke up," Lou Ellen pointed out with an annoyingly sly smile. "Why would you care what happens to him?"

She knew. Cecil knew. Everyone must know Nico would do anything for Will. Everyone must know Nico still -

"I'm not heartless," Nico answered.

Lou Ellen just looked at him.

"I'm not going to say it Lou Ellen, you know why."

"As long as you know," Lou Ellen said serenely. "As long as this doesn't turn into we're better off apart I must protect you by staying away like I'm some kind of tortured hero in a teen romance. He is happier with you. You are happier with him."

Nico glared at her because she was far too perceptive and then shrugged in defeat. Cecil and Lou Ellen shared glances, which turned into an entirely silent but expressive conversation and then finally Lou Ellen nodded, and Cecil seemingly caved.

"We don't actually know where he is," Cecil said.

Nico gave him an exasperated look.

"But Kayla might," Lou Ellen finished.

"No," Nico said. "No way. I am not involving Kayla in this. I didn't want to involve you two in this."

"Too late," Cecil pointed out with a yawn and an air of disinterest in Nico’s views.

"And Kayla can handle more than you think,” Cecil said. “She grew up with a brother who was being paid to stay un-curious by some random businessman and then a brother who was for all intents and purposes in some criminal mob gang.”

“Kayla is tough," Lou Ellen agreed.

"You two tracked me down," Nico said, not entirely convinced an as of yet unprepared to admit that he needed her. In an ideal world where Will might see Nico coming to rescue him from his shady boss and fall back in love with him despite how terrible Nico had been as a boyfriend, he didn't think Will would respond in the same way if he turned up with the news he'd gotten Will's sister killed along the way.

"It took us weeks," Lou Ellen pointed out. “And a friend who happened to spot someone who matched your mopey zombie like description in a coffee shop. No one has seen Will in about a week. Maybe two.”

Nico pinched the bridge of his nose but his veil of calm was wavering and he could feel the depths of fear below it hollow and consuming.

"Don't tell Kayla anything," he warned.

"That's easy," Cecil pointed out, a little waspishly. "We don't know anything. You haven't told us anything."

"Because you're not involved," Nico hissed.

The two stared back stonily and he gave up.

They both insisted he come with them to meet with Kayla and Nico didn't have anything else to do other than wait for Jason to come back to him for whatever information he could get from Thalia, or glean from his father. In the taxi he checked his phone compulsively, waiting for a message from Jason. None came.

Kayla lived far further away than Nico had anticipated - with a distant aunt on the outskirts and it took far too long to get there. He fell out of the taxi when it came, barely stopping to throw some money towards the driver. Lou Ellen went first up a narrow pathway and to knock on the neat white door.

"It's the middle of the night," Nico realised suddenly.

"Bit late to worry about that now," Cecil said. “Besides it’s so late it’s actually pushing morning.”

Nico needn't have worried because Kayla came to the door after a short interval apparently forewarned that they’d be dropping by; unlike Lou Ellen and Cecil who were dressed as though in a hurry and the dark, she looked put together and surprisingly serious in dark leggings and a green tank top, her short red hair brushed and tied up.

"What's going on," she asked. Her eyes settled on him and her expression changed. "Nico?"

"We need to know where your brother is," Lou Ellen said.

"You couldn't have just called?" Kayla asked relaxing slightly from panic station and stifling a yawn.

"I had a feeling he was probably here, or around here and we needed to speak to him. In person. So he couldn't hang up on us. Or freak out that we were bringing his ex who broke his heart."

Nico winced.

Kayla seemed to think about that. She swept her gaze over Lou Ellen who was sincere, to Cecil who was surprisingly impatient to Nico. Nico didn't know what she saw in his face but she relented.

"He was here," she said. "He went out about an hour ago."

"He was here?" Nico asked before he could help it.

He'd been entirely focused on Kayla before and the next step in finding Will before something bad happened, but now he noticed one of Will's jackets hung over the banister, a pile of medical textbooks in the corner. His heart gave an involuntary swoop - both excited and hurt. Seeing Will's things, seeing Will's life away from the apartment, away from him was strange. He could almost see Will. like an after image, tossing his jacket at the stairs and it landing draped perfectly, running out of the kitchen holding toast and a textbook late as usual.

"Do you know where he went?" Kayla asked. "Or why?"

Kayla shook her head.

"He doesn't know anyone around here," she said. "I don't know where he'd go."

Nico's phone vibrated and he snatched it up. Instead of Jason as he'd expected the message was from Will.

"Are you alright Nico?"

Nico hadn't felt himself fall but he was now only being supported by the wall and Cecil who had managed to grab hold of his arm.

"Nico?"

Lou Ellen and Kayla's faces swam, blurry in front of him. Up until that moment he hadn't thought Will was in any immediate danger, just general danger and while it had been important to warn him away from his shady boss who it turned out was at war with Jason’s shady father, and possibly his shady father, it hadn’t been life or death.

Jason had said that people were moving against them, but had implied that so far this had happened in small targeted strikes. Except small scuffles weren't how you took power. Small scuffles were little more than - distractions.

Will accused him of not having seen many films, but Nico had seen the godfather right up to the end.

Will hadn't texted since they'd broken up.

"What?"

That was Lou Ellen. She was responding to him but he hadn't realised he'd said anything aloud. Cecil scowled and snatched the phone out of his hand.

"It's a picture message," Cecil said for the benefit of the others. "Looks like a building site?"

"It's a trap," Lou Ellen said.

"Obviously," Cecil said.

"We'll go anyway," Lou Ellen said.

"Obviously."

"I'm coming," Kayla said.

"No," Nico said, finally forcing himself back to reality. "No you guys can't. You have to stay here."

He was met with three identical stares.

"You don't know who these people are - " Nico didn't either but that was neither here nor there and he didn't want to draw attention to that. "I'll go."

The three identical stares deepened into three identical glares.

"He's my brother!"

"He's my best friend."

"We're not going to just leave him."

Nico didn't have time to argue it with them. He snatched his phone back from Cecil and turned and stormed out.

"Do you know where that is?" Kayla called after him, annoyingly calm and far too pragmatic.

Nico stopped. He didn't turn because that would have been giving her the satisfaction of knowing she had him.

"No,” he admitted grudgingly.

"So you do need us."

If Nico was against Lou Ellen and Cecil stupidly risking their lives, he hated it even more that Kayla was now along for the ride. Kayla didn't seem to care: had just pulled on her jacket and began walking leaving the others with a choice of standing in her hallway or following.

As they walked Nico got another text. He tried to be surreptitious in checking his phone, falling back slightly so the others didn't see. He was glad he did, because the next picture showed a pool of red. Not ketchup. He pushed down the desire to vomit, or freak out and forced the others to move faster.

The streets passed and Nico kept checking his phone, compulsively ensuring he hadn’t accidentally missed the vibrating of further messages. He wondered who was sending them. Was it Will? Unlikely. Of all the people Will could reach out to, he doubted Will would reach out for him. Besides while the building site made sense of sorts, the blood was a threat.

Nico didn't respond well to threats.

In the dead of night the streets looked the same, the flickering lights casting orangey glow over the pavements, reflecting in the heavy sky and in the mist that collected on the ground around their feet. The alleyways were gaping holes. After what felt like an age, something that could have been Will's building site suddenly loomed - two derelict towers set for demolition, a deep pit that might have been the foundations for something new. And on the other side of the street the skeleton of a new apartment block.

"Great," Nico said. "Thanks Kayla. You can go home now."

"You want her to walk the streets alone?" Cecil asked. "That sounds more dangerous to be honest."

"No," Nico said. "You two are going to take her. And call the police on your way."

Kayla scowled but Nico cut right over her.

"Don't make him lose you," he told her. It was harsh and Kayla flinched, but she wavered and that made it worth it.

"We're staying here," Lou Ellen said in tons that didn’t offer a chance for argument. "But we won't go in. Though only on the condition that you promise not to do anything stupid. We'll call the police from here."

It was a compromise and Nico pretended to agree to it. Stupid seemed to be all he could manage when it came to Will.

The night was surprisingly soft. His senses were on high alert, and he moved slowly letting the haze shroud the sound of his footsteps. There weren't any streetlights here, no one living to need them, but he was still an obvious patch of darkness against the mist that wasn't quite thick enough to cover him. He felt horribly exposed approaching the building, and he was relieved when he ducked into the empty rectangle the would one day be the front door.

In a horrifyingly ironic twist, the layout of the building was similar to home. He knew almost instinctively where he had to go. He checked the first floor anyway, thorough. There was nothing just empty, impersonal concrete and hollow rooms where his footsteps sounded loud against a back drop of silence.

He swallowed and tried to stop his heart beating so loudly. Would anyone else be able to hear it? It felt like they would be able to, like it was broadcasting his fear to everyone within a twenty mile radius. His phone buzzed again and he brought it out with shaking fingers. Another picture message. This one was blurry and confused but he eventually realised it was a zoomed in photo and the three blurry patches of darkness only just visible were Lou Ellen, Cecil and Kayla.

Fear initially stopped him dead, legs like led, but then he shoved his phone back into his pocket and used it to push him up the stairs.

One flight then two.

They'd lived together on the fifth floor. First door on the left. Instead of wood there was just an empty gaping gap, and it wasn't quite in the right place. Nico talk a breath and walked in.

And found himself faced with an empty room.

He looked around in confusion. It was nothing like their apartment after all, the proportions all wrong, the bare walls at different angles. Nico took another couple of steps forward, confused, wondering if he'd been wrong. Even if Will wasn't here, he'd expected someone. Guards. Criminal guys. Thugs. Ninjas?

He was new to this criminal empire thing.

Perhaps that's why it was only just occurring to him that there also should have been guards all through the building if this was a trap. There was nothing.

But then who had taken the photo?

He crossed slowly to the square hole in the wall that would become a window. He could distantly see Lou Ellen, Cecil and Kayla. This had to be where the photo was taken from. The angle was right. And he'd received that while he was on the stairs. Whoever it was must still be in the building somewhere.

The thought chilled him. He turned, rapidly so he no longer had his back to room and saw someone watching him.

He jumped, took a step backwards and found his legs hitting the wall, his back hitting nothing but open air and a five story drop.

Clouds cleared momentarily as the tall figure took a step forward, and Nico caught sight of the weapon trained on him and a flash of blonde hair. His heart stopped.

Next Chapter

#writing #my writing #fandom #Percy Jackson and the Olympians #Nico di Angelo #will solace/nico di angelo #Will solace #solangelo

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clairedmaddox · 5 years

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The Goose

The following is an excerpt from The Lund Loop Newsletter. To learn more click here.

In one sense, the hole in the television was beautiful, almost artistic.

The impact – from what I first assumed was a broomstick, but later turned out to be a hammer – had punched a perfect circle in the center of the tube, radiating a sunburst of fine cracks towards the edge of the screen.

That it hadn’t exploded in an electric storm of glass shards puzzled me. All the TV’s I’d seen smashed by guitars in bad 80’s music videos had done so. But the lack of dried blood or bits of flesh in the shag carpet in front of the television cabinet convinced me otherwise – and somewhat disappointedly I must confess.

None of my roommates were home to help solve the mystery, but explicitly understanding the dynamics of a house shared by four twenty-something males, I started to backfill a theory as to why the only TV in the house was now inoperable.

And it wasn’t just any TV. It was a 32” Sony Trinitron, arguably the best set you could buy in 1986. And even though my roommate got it for free by pulling a credit card scam at Circuit City, it was still a loss.

Occam’s razor suggested an overly inebriated partygoer had backed into it while playing air guitar with a broom, but that’s as far as I could take my mental exercise as I was tired and numb. To the point that kissing sixteen channels of cable TV goodbye for the foreseeable future didn’t even register.

I had just arrived home after a six-hour drive from Arizona, where my girlfriend and I spent a week trying to make Castaneda-like connections with the spirits of dead shamans, but instead got drunk and crashed in cheap motels.

I was disappointed by the experience, though the fact that Castaneda’s tool of transformation was peyote and ours was Crazy Horse Malt Liquor did not occur to me at the time.

It was upon climbing the stairs to my room that I realized the damaged TV was just the beginning of a tale that would end with the spilling of avian blood and a public shaming, the likes of which Huntington Beach, California had never seen.

—-

The older you get, the more your circle of friends solidifies. Though you still might pick up some acquaintances later in life, it’s very rare to develop true friendships after forty. Rarer still is meeting true friends of your true friends – those whom you’ve never met before. That’s because, by the time you hit forty, you’ve known your true friends for a long time and are much more likely to have met anyone else meaningful in their lives.

Meeting friends of friends is something that happens in your early 20s.

That’s the time when your world is expanding, first by leaving high school, and second by entering college or the workforce. That’s when you first start to meet people who don’t know your parents or siblings, aren’t familiar with your hometown, and don’t share a common history with you.

Meeting a friend of a friend is a dicey proposition when you’re young. They come with implied approval due to their relationship to your new friend, but not a guarantee. After all, you haven’t really known your new friend that long, so how can you be sure they are a good judge of character – present company excepted.

For me, it worked like this…

In my early 20s, I picked up some new friends whom I ran with for a few years. One was from across town, another from one county north, while three or four others were transplants from out of state. Those were the ones you had to worry about.

The transplants were trying to get away from something. Usually a small-town mentality or small-minded people.

But small-minded people aren’t very good at getting the hint, and every spring break or 4th of July holiday a friend of a friend would arrive in town, excited to see what Southern California was all about.

That’s how I first met Snap. His real name was Sean.

Sean was a good guy. A solid guy. He was intelligent and polite, even thoughtful at times. The type of guy you’d introduce to your mom and she’d tell you the next day, “I really like that Sean.”

But Sean was a different person when we went out drinking – which happened quite a bit.

One moment everything would be great. Everybody would be laughing, joking, and having a fun time. Then in an instant, it would all go bad.

Sean would fly across the bar and crack a random guy in the jaw. Or scream “you’re a fucking bitch,” to a girl whose only crime was to order a drink next to him. Often, he’d break down and sob incoherently to his friends, who, while trying to console him, would suddenly be accused of mockery and challenged to a fight.

The worst part was that you never knew when it would happen. On some nights it only took one beer before things went off the rails. On others, he could drink all night long without incident.

But when it did go bad, it always happened without warning. There were never any signs or telltale clues that he was about to go off. He just snapped.

So, we called him “Snap.”

—-

As I came to the top of the landing, I noticed that three of the four doors to the bedrooms were open, an unusual occurrence in our house. Though all my roommates knew and mostly trusted each other, it was best practice to keep your door shut.

And it was no coincidence that the only door that was still closed had a lock on it. Or that it was mine.

Walking past the open doors, more damage was revealed. In my roommate Andy’s room, his pride and joy, a five-component stereo system, had been destroyed.

All the knobs from the tuner were on the floor, and the posts that held them in place bent downward as if hit by a hard object.

Both the windows on the dual-cassette player were cracked, like some solid metal object had been smashed into them.

The five-disc CD player had dents all over its case, the type that would occur if a hammer type instrument had struck it.

Hmmm?

And finally, both speakers had multiple holes punched in front and back, each the same size and circumference as the hole on the TV tube downstairs.

Double hmmm?

Then I passed Greg’s room and saw that the strings on his prized guitar were hanging by the tuners, as if ripped out from the bridge. There were also round impact marks across the face of the guitar which matched up with the stereo and the TV.

I was sensing a pattern here.

My third roommate, Jeff, has a couple of things askew in his room but no damage as far as I could see.

As tired as I was, I couldn’t help but modify my theory. Besides, it was simple.

Andy worked five days a week and had to get up at seven each day. Because of this, he was always in bed by 9:00pm. However, Greg was currently in between jobs, and liked to watch TV downstairs until early in the morning. On more than one occasion – sometimes multiple times per night – Andy would come out of his room and ask Greg to turn the TV down.

Sometimes once was all it took. But other times it might be four or five times before the request was acted on, and by that time they both were screaming at each other like maniacs.

Like I said, it was simple. Andy finally had enough of the loud late-night TV, came downstairs, and in a fit of rage, smashed Greg’s TV screen with a hammer.

Greg then took the hammer, ran upstairs, and went to town on Andy’s stereo system. After he was done, Andy took the hammer and attempted to destroy Greg’s guitar.

My roommate Jeff likely tried to break them up – physically – which is why some of the stuff in his room was knocked around.

Simple.

So I unlocked my door, went into my room, and crashed for a well-needed rest, unaware that the real culprit in this mayhem was “Goose.”

—-

I met Goose for the first and only time when I woke up from my nap. His real name was Eric. I never did get his last name.

He was a friend of a friend – a transplant – who had been hanging out and partying at our house for the last three days.

Our house sat on the corner of our tract’s outlet street, right next to a main thoroughfare. Sitting on our front lawn, you could see a wall across the street which ran along the length of that thoroughfare denoting our neighbor’s backyards.

It was in one of those backyards where a honking sound began on the Saturday night I was trying to commune with dead Indians (sorry, that’s what we called them in 1986).

The sound was made by a goose.

Apparently, Goose – the friend of a friend, not the animal – was in the front yard drinking with my friends and roommates and got annoyed by this sound. So he announced to anyone who’d listen, “I’m going to go over there and kill that fucking goose.”

With that he threw down his beer, grabbed a club out of an old golf bag in the garage – I think it was a three-wood – ran across the street, and jumped the fence into a random neighbor’s backyard.

Immediately, he was confronted by a full-grown male Canadian goose, honking, and using its long neck to lunge and peck at him. According to Eric’s police deposition, he freaked out, took a swing, and despite never having played a hole in his life, connected flush with the head of the goose, immediately silencing it and in the process, separating it from life.

Eric claimed that he never meant to hurt the goose, just to scare it, but when it lunged at him, he panicked, causing him to take the fatal swing.

But that wasn’t the end of it and retaliation was swift. In addition to reporting it to the police, the owner of the goose got his brother and a buddy together, grabbed some tools, including – c’mon, you know where this is going – a hammer, broke into our house when everybody was out, and proceeded to do as much damage as possible to our highly prized consumer goods.

But he didn’t stop there. He also called the local newspapers – when local newspapers were social media – and begin a shame campaign.

So though Eric returned to the shithole from whence he came, never to face justice – or return to HB again, my roomates and I had to endure the scorn that arose from a series of front page articles about the goose murder, each one accompanied by a photo of the neighbors holding up their photo of Susie – their deceased pet goose.

The Goose published first on your-t1-blog-url

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thrashermaxey · 6 years

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Ramblings: 2018-19 Breakout Candidates (Mar 22)

Around this time last year, I looked at some breakout candidates for the 2017-18 season. Specifically, I looked for players who failed to reach 55 points who stood a good chance of clearing 65 the following year. This is something we’ll do again, but first let’s look at how last year’s breakout candidates have faired:

2016-17

2017-18

Injured Superstar

Points

Kris Letang

Taylor Hall

Jonathan Huberdeau

Aleksander Barkov

Alex Galchenyuk

Tyler Toffoli

The Renaissance

Points

Anze Kopitar

Patrice Bergeron

The Classic

Points

Conor Sheary

Jake Guentzel

Andre Burakovsky

Matthew Tkachuk

Max Domi

Anthony Mantha

Jonathan Drouin

Sam Reinhart

Bo Horvat

Mikko Rantanen

Sebastian Aho

Robby Fabbri

Dylan Larkin

Christian Dvorak

Nick Schmaltz

Brayden Point

Post-Hype Sleeper

Points

Brandon Saad

Nathan MacKinnon

Elias Lindholm

Gustav Nyquist

Chris Kreider

Jakob Silfverberg

Throw enough shit at the wall and something’s bound to stick, am I right? Still, this is a pretty good success rate for a list made in March of last year, well before the draft, free agency, coaching moves and training camp have provided added information. In particular, the injured superstar and renaissance sections provided a bounty of good options. If you bagged Kopitar, Barkov, Hall and Huberdeau there’s a good chance you’re dominating your league.

On Tuesday I looked at a bunch of guys who fit the injured superstar or renaissance tropes, although I wouldn’t necessarily bet on a good chunk of those getting to the 65-point plateau. You could also add Auston Matthews, Jeff Carter, Alexander Wennberg, Kyle Palmieri, and Mika Zibanejad to the injured list.

With those two lists sections well pegged, let’s run down our other two tropes:

The Classic Breakout

This is the archetype with the most potential because players typically peak early. Everyone should be looking for players in years 3-5 around ages 20-23 who might pop up in a bigger role next season. One of the best indicators of future success is 5-on-5 scoring rate. Several names jump out with over 2.0 P/60 at 5-on-5 as youngsters including:

Points

P/60

Nico Hischier

2.56

Jake DeBrusk

2.38

Vinnie Hinostroza

2.34

Ondrej Kase

2.3

Travis Konecny

2.26

Kyle Connor

2.19

Danton Heinen

2.13

Adrian Kempe

2.1

Ryan Hartman

2.07

Kevin Fiala

2.04

Tyler Bertuzzi

2.03

Alex DeBrincat

2.02

Sonny Milano

Off that list I’d rank them:

Hischier

Fiala

Konecny

Connor

DeBrincat

Everyone else on that list probably needs more time for a bigger role to emerge. These five have grabbed large roles and could explode with even more usage.

Hischier has been helped by Taylor Hall’s MVP run, and may not be quite as fortunate if Hall takes a step backwards. On the other hand, Hall has also been helped by Hischier. This is a duo that should stick for the foreseeable future. Get Hischier some top power play unit time and he’ll bust out.

There probably aren’t any more minutes for Fiala to grab on a loaded Preds roster. He’s just so damned good that he can’t be left off.

Konecny took off after getting promoted to the Flyers’ top line. Can he carry that over in a full season there? What if Giroux regresses again? Still without top PP time there’s another level for Konecny to hit, although the path to more PP time is blocked.

Connor is entrenched on Winnipeg’s top line and top PP unit. There’s so much young talent in Winnipeg that he could conceivably be phased out. On the other hand, he should improve with each passing year.

DeBrincat probably has the clearest path to a breakout. What he accomplished without much PP or Patrick Kane exposure is truly remarkable. It seems inevitable that DeBrincat will fill the void left by Artemi Panarin as a dynamic goal-scoring righty across from Kane.

Other players who didn’t hit the 2.00 P/60 mark who I like nonetheless:

Points

P/60

Pavel Buchnevich

1.99

Andreas Athanasiou

1.99

Nick Schmaltz

1.98

Oliver Bjorkstrand

1.79

Timo Meier

1.7

Jesse Puljujarvi

1.47

Nolan Patrick

1.4

Pierre-Luc Dubois

1.31

This time last year I wasn’t big on Schmaltz. I am now. He’s already locked in as Kane’s centerman. Give him another year of growth and let’s see what he can do.

I don’t like that the Rangers are removing talent, but there are some indications that they aren’t intent on being bad for long. They could make splashes in free agency this summer that vault them back into contention. You could also argue that the less available options for Alain Vigneault to block Buchnevich with the better. Buchnevich seems destined for stardom. He’s as good a bet as there is for a breakout. It’s a matter of when, not if.

The rest of these guys might be a couple of years away but have flashed intriguing upside.

The Post-Hype Sleeper

Points

P/60

Ryan Spooner

2.85

Nick Bjugstad

2.51

Charlie Coyle

1.94

Anthony Mantha

1.81

Matthew Tkachuk

1.73

Bo Horvat

1.83

Sam Reinhart

1.36

With how much information there is out there these days, basically anyone who appeared on last year’s breakout list but failed to breakout becomes a post-hype sleeper. Is there a MacKinnon on this list? Unlikely, but I really like what Tkachuk and Horvat have to offer.

Tkachuk appeared on the verge of busting out this year until injuries caught up to him. It’s also worth noting how much the shooting percentages worked against the 3M line this season. With better 5-on-5 results Tkachuk could have been near a point-per-game pace. He proved himself the best net-front option on the Flames, which opens up big potential alongside Johnny Gaudreau.

Horvat and Brock Boeser lit the world on fire for a few weeks early on before injuries derailed both of them. Let’s see what they can do in 82 games alongside one another. I’d bet on both eclipsing 65 points.

Who do you think might go from sub-55 to plus-65 next season?

Watch out for a suspension to Brayden Schenn after this hit to the head on David Krejci:

{source} <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Schenn's hit on Krejci. Schenn was given two minutes for charging. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/stlblues?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#stlblues</a> <a href="https://t.co/s5CaCZuEDl">pic.twitter.com/s5CaCZuEDl</a></p>— Cristiano Simonetta (@CMS_74_) <a href="https://twitter.com/CMS_74_/status/976641051829198848?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 22, 2018</a></blockquote>

Amazingly, Krejci finished the game, but you never know with head injuries. The Bruins can’t afford to have any more players get banged up.

Ryan Donato scored again. That’s four points in two games for the rookie. Hot start and in top-six minutes. He could prove very useful these next few weeks.

Sidney Crosby, ladies and gentlemen:

{source} <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Sidney Crosby's hand-eye coordination remains undefeated <a href="https://t.co/hfL90DVgsj">pic.twitter.com/hfL90DVgsj</a></p>— Dimitri Filipovic (@DimFilipovic) <a href="https://twitter.com/DimFilipovic/status/976621428953948160?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 22, 2018</a></blockquote>

Dylan Strome was recalled yesterday and not one of the fake recalls he has experienced in the past month. He got into the lineup for 12:18, including secondary PP time, and scored his second career goal. It’s been awfully slow getting his NHL career going but he has destroyed the AHL.

I’m more interested in the top line options for Arizona, however. Derek Stepan has 10 points in the last 10 games. Clayton Keller has 19 points in the last 20 games! Brendan Perlini has been in the mix with those two but hasn’t been productive. Richard Panik has been up on that line and has points in three straight.

Due to concerns over concussions Mark Borowiecki is going to start turning down fights. Smart choice. The league has swung away from the use of enforcers and fighting in general, but there are still a few reliable scrappers. Scratch Borowiecki off that list. For those in multi-category leagues, this will hurt Borowiecki’s value. Although he is still liable to take a bunch of minor penalties, as well as piling up massive hit totals.

While we’re on concussions, there are some interesting results from a study on the careers of players after suffering concussions:

Navarro said players who had publicly reported concussions were compared to players who didn’t. The players with concussions had a 14.6 per cent chance of playing in the NHL five years after the injury. Players who didn’t have reported concussions had a 43.7 per cent chance of being in the NHL five years later.

That’s alarming but doesn’t necessarily mean that having a concussion leaves a player marked for failure. Fantasy relevant players are going to earn more chances to rediscover their play by virtue of having previously put up large point totals. It also helps that those point totals tend to lead to long-term contracts that buy financial security and a guaranteed roster spot. However, even in the case of players on long-term deals there is the fear of long-term injury reserve as has befallen players like Marc Savard.

If you haven’t yet, please check out Cam Robinson’s latest Top 100 Draft Prospects rankings.

Thanks for reading. You can follow me on Twitter @SteveLaidlaw.

from All About Sports https://dobberhockey.com/hockey-rambling/ramblings-2018-19-breakout-candidates-mar-22/

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