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revenantghost · 2 years

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Anime Round-Up: Winter 2022

Mostly doing this so I can keep track of what I’ve seen and remember to give my thoughts to peeps who asked for them. :’D So, here’s the anime that held my attention long enough to finish this season in order that they finished airing!

Sono Bisque Doll wa Koi wo Suri/My Dress-Up Darling

What a wonderful and cute ride! It took until after the first six or so eps aired for me to watch because I thought it would be too much fanservice for me (no hate on the fanservice lovers, just not my cuppa tea), but it actually wound up being extremely character driven and wonderful. Gojo is so soft and so dedicated, a teenager with the most wonderful heart of gold doing everything that he can to be the best friend he can for the first friend he’s ever had. And Marin! Her confidence is so lovely to see, but so is her softness and sweetness and how emotional she can get beneath it all. They both have a passion for their hobbies and a love for their art that seriously drives the story along. They’re just both ridiculous teenagers stumbling through new experiences in a lovely and meaningful tale. Also that animation and sound design are STUNNING, holy cow. I enjoyed the first half a little more than the second, but I still overall loved it, and would recommend it for someone looking for something sweet and light--but not too slow or lacking any character development!

Sasaki to Miyano/Sasaki and Miyano

SASAMIYA MY BELOVED! I started watching this because I read the synopsis and thought it would be extremely cringe and hilarious to watch, assuming that we would be living out every single bl trope under the sun and I was woefully, wonderfully wrong. Sasaki to Miyano follows a shojo format while being self-aware of boys love tropes and it creates one of the softest and most wholesome romances I’ve ever seen. Highschool age romances aren’t always my favorite with the ridiculous drama (which is a taste thing, of course), but these boys communicate, they care for one another, they’re gentle and extremely aware of boundaries, consent, and respect. Not to mention the side characters are some of my favorites of all time--the support and yet almost critical look at the tropes and relationships and problems around them are lovely. Both Sasaki and Miyano are beautiful, understandable, and complex human beings, stumbling through the later stages of adolescence, and I cannot recommend this anime enough. Also, shout-out to the cat in every episode, I adore that cat.

Sabikui Bisco/Rust-Eater Bisco

This show is a TRIP!!! Listen, I started this as a fun mindless and ridiculous shonen, and it is that, but it’s also wonderful on other levels. The world-building is absolutely ridiculous and a blast (they had me at attack hippos and iguanas you can ride), and the conflicts are very clear-cut and easy to follow. But where it really shines are its characters, especially the lead two. They’re just wonderful guys with refreshing personalities that are built so vividly and engagingly. Also they’re queer as hell. I don’t make the rules on this one, they dropped the big “love” bomb (and I mean the Japanese, extremely legit, “Aishiteru”) on screen and the power of love achieves all sorts of miracles--it’s as canon a relationship as any shonen atm is gonna get. The light novels go some places that touch on personal squicks of mine, but this first season? I recommend wholeheartedly for someone that wants to go on one hell of a rollercoaster of a romp full of character and heart.

Fantasy Bishoujo Juniku Ojisan to/Life with an Ordinary Guy Who Reincarnated into a Total Fantasy Knockout

This is not one that I planned to watch, despite a potentially hilarious ride, because there is room for... all the phobias in this premise. Two guy best friends are reincarnated into a fantasy world, one as a super cute girl, and they’re attracted to each other but terrified of that because they want their relationship label to remain as “friends.” It doesn’t sound bad, but it doesn’t take a lot of imagination to see how it could go bad. Instead, this is a genuinely funny and endearing anime that lightly touches on gender and attraction but is mostly about shenanigans and the deep, budding relationship finally managing to bloom between these two friends. Also did I mention these two were brought here by the goddess of LOVE??? If that isn’t as queer as you can get, I don’t know what is. (Shout-out to the anon who suggested this to me, I’m forever grateful) The concept of gender and attraction is talked about honestly, and enough to bring it to watcher’s awareness, but not in a way that overrides the story. It’s a comedy and a hilarious one above all else--it just also happens to be one of the best queer/trans stories I’ve stumbled into.

Tensai Ouji no Akaji Kokka Saisei Jutsu/The Genius Prince's Guide to Raising a Nation Out of Debt

This was a genuinely fun romp!!! I was afraid that it would turn into harem no-plot nonsense (which isn’t my cup of tea, but we all come to anime for different reasons), but it was a lot of fun! Wein, our protagonist, is incredibly refreshing and even down to earth despite the light-hearted nature of the show, and the plots were generally engaging and built throughout the show! The characters all had depth, and I was invested in the consequences of every move. Think Code Geass, but with a lot more humor and taking itself a lot less seriously. Bonus points for it’s no tolerance for racism, and that OT3 endgame pairing that I’m very curious to see if it becomes a thing.

Tokyo 24th Ward/Tokyo 24-ku

Listen... there’s still one episode left to trudge through, I know. But I’ve accepted my fate. This show had so much potential. The main characters are bright and vibrant beyond their main-character coloring, the world-building was fascinating, and the THEMES! Poverty and government surveillance and the definition of justice! The loss and cost of achieving justice!!! What it’s like to make horrible, crippling mistakes in the pursuit of what’s right!!! And then the studio hit crunch, we got the boob filler episode, and it fell apart at the seams. Please just go watch the OP and ED of this show on Youtube, they’re brilliantly animated and catchy, and they deserve attention. But the rest... RIP Tokyo 24th Ward, I’ll mourn you and your potential.

#Rev Watches Anime #Sono Bisque Doll wa Koi wo Suru #My Dress Up Darling #Sasaki to Miyano #Sasaki and Miyano #Sabikui Bisco #Rust-Eater Bisco #Rust Eater Bisco #Fantasy Bishoujo Juniku Ojisan To #Fantasy Bishoujo #Life with an Ordinary Guy Who Reincarnated into a Total Fantasy Knockout #Tensai Ouji no Akaji Kokka Saisei Jutsu #The Genius Prince's Guide to Raising a Nation Out of Debt #Tokyo 24th Ward #Tokyo 24 ku #Tokyo 24-ku #Long Post #Bah Bah Bah

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jisungscaramel · 4 years

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tinted glass | han

❀ genre: smut with a little angst, office au ❀ pairing: Han x Reader (female) ❀ word count: 1.7k

[Warning] explicit sexual content, (mild) power play, dom Han, face fucking, spanking, (mild) s&m, (mild) degradation

You wrinkled your nose in absolute distaste at the tacky decor of his office. It just screamed new money pretending to be old money.

It was in the corner of the building - two of the four walls were lead glass, tinted black for less than obvious reasons (mere privacy was only part of it).

When you walked in, the first thing you noticed was the white marble tiles, spaced by a gold colored grout. The amplified clang of your caramel stiletto pumps echoed in your ears annoyingly so.

There were two loveseats facing each other, divided by a coffee table, which was the only thing in the room that was remotely normal. It was simple cherry wood with cabriole legs. The couches were a different story. They were covered in red velvet, and the wood frame was detailed in gold - it looked like it came straight out of a Victorian castle and not in a good way.

You hung your coat on the edge of the couch, and draped yourself over it, making yourself comfortable by resting your head on the arm and your legs over the velvet seat without getting your shoes onto it.

You had a clear view of his desk on the far end of the room. It was fashioned from the same cherry wood of the coffee table. The desk was solid, revealing no secrets, and it had a warm toned granite top. The chair was just as extravagantly tasteless as the loveseats - they shared a design. Aside from a small stack of paperwork, a fountain pen in a black marble Art Deco style pen holder, and a name plaque, the desk was clear.

The name plaque in particular drew your attention. It was glass with a name lasered inside; its simplicity set it apart from practically everything else in the office. You actually didn’t hate it.

Han Jisung, CEO, it read.

It wasn’t the first time he requested this of you but it was never in his office. It was a bit unorthodox for you but it didn’t matter if he was still paying you extra for your “overtime.”

“‘I’ll be there at 10 sharp,’ my ass,” you muttered to yourself, rolling your eyes. His “appointment” technically started two minutes ago; his mild tardiness was out of character.

As the door began to creak open, you arched your neck back to get a clear view, not wanting to get up and turn around.

And there he was, black hair side parted and neatly arranged, ears adorned by diamond studs. His suit was all black and perfectly tailored. The gold detail on his loafers matched his cufflinks. He was definitely attractive, and even if you’d never admit it to him in a non-sexual setting, you most certainly had no issue in admitting it to yourself.

“You’re here early,” he remarked, voice nonchalant but his eyes would soon tell a different story. He strode toward his desk to set down the briefcase in his hand. He turned around to lean against his desk, crossing his arms and studying you with his gaze.

“I’m not early; you’re just late. You told me to be here at 10 PM… it’s 10:07.”

He raised an eyebrow in amusement, “is that so?”

His attention was more focused on the fabric on your body, or rather the lack thereof. You sported a red blazer, opened to reveal a black lace bra. You had a short tight skirt to match the blazer and off-black thigh highs. Your hair was pulled back into a high ponytail and you had bright red lipstick to match your suit.

Clearly, you’d picked the perfect outfit because the dome forming in his trousers was all too apparent.

“Take that blazer off… and the skirt too.”

You obediently followed his orders, placing the garments next to you on the couch.

“Now come here.” His eyes moved up and down your frame as you walked toward him, fixing on your lips when you fixed your position a foot away from him. “On your knees.” He affectionately petted your hair as you lowered yourself in front of him. He started unbuckling his belt. “Hands behind your back.” He dropped his pants and boxers down his legs in one motion, erection springing free. “Suck.”

You placed an open mouthed kiss on the tip, dragging your tongue down his length and back up again. You took the head into your mouth, circling its underside with your tongue - that was where he was the most sensitive. He growled lowly, gripping the edge of his desk.

Your lips rounded to cover your teeth and you slowly took as much of his length as you could without the aid of your hands to keep you balanced. You started bobbing your head up and down, making zero effort to curtail the gurgling sounds you inadvertently were making in an attempt to fight off your gag reflex.

“Fuck, why are you so good at this?” He threw his head back, gripping the base of your ponytail to guide you into a faster, deeper pace, and he began grinding into your mouth, just desperate for more friction.

You had to tighten the back of your throat just to keep up. Tears began rolling down your eyes, and drool began rolling down the side of your mouth.

He smirked. “Your face is so gorgeous when it’s stuffed with my dick,” he purred, stroking your cheek with the back of his index finger, “Such a good little whore.”

And right when you felt like your throat couldn’t take anymore, you felt a familiar thick salty fluid coat your tongue. “Open.” You opened your mouth and stuck your tongue out to catch the remainder of Jisung’s release as he haphazardly stroked it out, not caring if a drop or two fell on your cheek… or your chest.

Swiftly, he lifted you from your kneeling position and had you bent over his desk. He smirked at the revelation of your crotchless black lace panty. He gave your pussy a gentle slap, pressing his middle finger against your clit.

He drew his hand back. This time, he made harsh contact with one of your ass cheeks, making you cry in masochistic pleasure.

He groped your ass tightly, aligning his hips with your thighs to steadily dry hump you. In a matter of seconds, his cock was stiffening again, prodding hungrily on your opening. When you’d first begun this affair with your superior, you were surprised at his recovery time. Now it was normal.

He took the head into his hand, navigating it through your folds. “God, you’re fucking dripping, and I’ve barely touched you. Do you love giving me head that much?” he teased, bending over you until his lips were on your ear, “or maybe you’ve been dreaming all day about me rearranging your insides.” His low whisper reverberated through your nerves, making your core pulse in anticipation.

And for a second, you slip out of character, “oh you wish,” your held back sass was just begging to escape.

He bottomed you out instantly, your slick sin making it all too easy for him. He used so much pressure that he felt the surface of your cervix, making you scream in both pain and delight.

“Did you just talk back to me?” The sound of his voice competed with the constant beat of his skin on your skin.

“N-no sir.” You struggled to speak coherently, not able to fight back your moans and mewls.

He pulled out abruptly and brought you up to stand, methodically yet hurriedly guiding you to the wall, pressing your body against the glass.

“Fuck..” he hissed as he struggled to fit back in you, pussy swelling from the short lived but strong beating it already got. He spit on his fingers and brought them down to your folds, smearing his saliva with your juices to make it easier for him.

He slowly slid into you, and your eyes rolled back at the friction of him stretching you out, electricity igniting your body. The heat that radiated from where your bodies met contrasted wonderfully with the cold sensation from the glass.

For an instant, your eyes closed focusing on the feeling alone, but something else entered your mind: an imagination, the imagination of someone else behind you blowing your back out.

“Changbin…” you whispered softly, and upon realizing your mistake, your eyes shot open. The only sound Jisung offered was the usual array of grunts and growls. Either he didn’t notice or he chose to ignore it.

He lifted your leg up, guiding it to fold in to move over between his torso and your back and down on the other side. Now you were facing him. He gripped your thighs to give you more leverage, and you clung to his shoulder for support.

“Look at me.” His gaze was so piercing yet filled to the brim with lust, making the adrenaline release from every cell in you. His lips found their way to yours, kneading at them with pure carnal aggression.

He pressed your knees against the glass to get deeper access and he adjusted his angle to salaciously brush your clit.

“Fuck, Jisung, don’t stop…”

Words couldn’t express the medley of sensation that overtook your body when all your built up frustration found a release.

Jisung let you ride out your high, still chasing his own, not caring if it overstimulated you. It felt indefinite to you but in seconds, he was twitching inside you, pulling out half way to watch himself spill onto your thighs.

For the longest time, the only sound in the room was heavy breathing, but eventually you found your way (while half-limping) to his velvet chair, frankly not giving a fuck if it got stained or not.

Jisung opened one of the drawers of his desk and pulled out a wipe, handing it to you to clean yourself up.

“Do I have lipstick smeared on my face?” you asked.

“Hmm, no. Do I?”

You snickered, “Yeah, a little bit.”

Out of nowhere, he said, “You called out Changbin’s name earlier.”

“Oh…” Your pulse was exponentially increasing.

“Why?”

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A/N this is sort of a reinvented version of something I wrote a long time ago... not that anyone is gonna recognize it from the original... (gif isn’t mine)

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brawltogethernow · 4 years

Note

So on the whole, how useful would you say Death Note is for teaching someone how to write a convoluted plot between enemy chessmasters that's at least... 50% watertight?

General disclaimer that I haven’t touched the source material directly in many years, and all my dn posts are me feeling my feelings. But yeah, I can shake my 8-ball about this.

There are two components to dn’s approach to “a convoluted plot between enemy chessmasters”, and they’re only roughly stapled together. There’s the rivalry/characterization part, which is both compelling and silly, and is mostly about aesthetic. That never really concludes in a satisfying way. It’s not TRYING to, because the characters are pretty much there to hold up the thought experiment premise, which demands a lot of grit and unpoetic death and not solid foundations of character/relationship work. Like there’s stuff there but you’re really deep-mining for it and doing a lot of the work yourself, and that’s by design. All of the character arcs, which are pretty thin on the ground, trend in a negative/dismantling direction (because it’s a tragedy), and few of the relationships play out all the potential they have (because it’s not a tragedy about relationships).

The character aspect of the chessmaster stuff is heavily reliant on the conceit that once people are smart enough they will start reaching the same conclusions in the same way. Like there’s a single most ideal train of thought for every situation that even people who should have very different thought processes will reach with the assistance of enough little gray cells. This isn’t uncommon in smartboi stories, but dn went absolutely ham on it, if you want to make a study of that trope.

The biggest takeaway there is probably noting how the creative team seems to have been unaware that a lot of their audience was actually buying into that between the lead and their rival as a “meant to be enemies” kind of thing and didn’t realize that faction would be less interested once it became obvious that no, all geniuses in this world are taking turns using one brain. I’ll freely admit I deliberately misread this element to maximize my own investment.

Then there are the tricks and puzzles. The odd logical hole is inevitable, but overall they’re solid. They’re also just procedural plots delivered in a less formulaic story than that usually makes one think of. There’s nothing distinguishing them from the weekly puzzle of a House episode or a Detective Conan arc except for raw creativity and panache. There is rarely any characterization going on whatsoever. The twists require players, but you never get the sense that only whoever is being pulled to act could fill their part. They’re always stand-ins for perfectly generic individuals, putting their distinctive quirks and intense personal philosophies aside. This is that idea that there’s one way of thinking that everyone is accessing at staggered intelligence levels in play again. People are simplified until they can be pieces in contraptions no more complex than Light’s exploding desk drawer trap.

This is why the trick plots of dn don’t get pored over a lot by fans. They’re looped too loosely to the rest of the story to have an emotional impact that will make them memorable long-term. They’re deceptively simple, too. Kind of the opposite of a story twist that makes you rethink everything that came before it in a new light. You can’t dismantle dn and reassemble it like pentominoes very easily. A lot of it is grand set pieces, and if you tease out any of the puzzle plots they sort of lose structural integrity and flake away. This is why most canon divergence fic for dn is “diverging” by asking the question “what if Light were less of a shit”.

Ultimately, Death Note only gives the impression of being a complex engine made of moving parts. Its strong suit is its showmanship. It’s very good at carrying you along from twist to twist in a state of mild beffudlement that doesn’t quite escalate to belligerent and securing that “Oh wow! That was clever!” reaction. The mastermind-offs of are deceptively static, pretty much coming down to one party either failing or succeeding to thwart a plot laid out by another in advance without a lot of combating each others’ machinations in real time. Once resolved, twists vanish from the consciousness like disappearing gold. There’s no fiber to them, just flash.

This isn’t critique! Most elements of this story do what they’re deployed to do. (If the tricks needed workshopping, people would analyze them more, ironically.)

I’m myself shit at (de)constructing brain tingler twists and can’t really identify if dn’s are useful for instruction purposes. Not for people who don’t already have a natural talent for them, I guess! It might be interesting to identify why they’re not immediately identifiable as bloodless trick plots, except I suspect it might just be that the rest of dn is so insane and dissimilar from stories that usually contain those? Like I already compared it to two Holmes descendants, and it definitely has BBC Sherlock “let the asshole speak, genii are a protected species” vibes, and the criminal protagonist facing off with a detective premise is Arsene Lupin-y, yet I still feel weird identifying Death Note itself as in this broader genre because *gestures to all of it*.

It’s the least formula-reliant example of the breed I can think of right now, which is neat. (Annnnd also definitely feeds in to people being dissatisfied with it because they miscalled what it was trying to be. Dn is just generally pretty unique, and I imagine the team was making up a lot of its playbook from scratch as it went along, which leaves the audience in kind making up the experience of consuming it.)

All of the above is incidentally why dn is infamous for being very compelling in the moment but then having people revisit thinking about it and decide the he-knows-that-I-know-that-he-knows conceit is actually ridiculous and needs to be taken with a grain of salt.

So uh. This all SOUNDS like bad form, but that’s arguably me being a basic bitch who “likes when plot and character and aesthetic inform each other”, and that’s just fundamentally not what Death Note is. Also it’s kind of a lofty starting goal and writing is hard. Like! This approach worked! We are discussing a very successful property with many fans. (And a weirdly finite cultural impact for its popularity but this isn’t necessarily why.) I guess this is an acceptable playbook, and the takeaway is that you CAN successfully Frankenstein together different unconnected storytelling methods, and it will look dazzling and impressive and barely leave any of your readership feeling confused and hollow inside and likely to return and make fun of themselves for accidentally liking your work wrong.

Oh, also, dn as do’s and don’t’s of building a mastermind character. Do give headlining characters eye-catching, memetic traits. Don’t fail to trace those traits down so they actually represent something at your character’s core because you crossed over the line from “spinning characters out as foils and parallels who compare and contrast to each other in interesting ways” into “all of your smart characters are basically the same challenge-seeking misanthrope stamped with different surface features” -- except WHO ELSE IS GOING TO HAVE THAT PROBLEM? THAT’S NOT NORMAL.

So yeah you COULD study Death Note, or you could binge some crime dramas and then some X-Men issues that have battles in the center of the mind over the same weekend and get basically the same net effect.

#death note #mirrorfalls #asks answered

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jaimehwatson · 3 years

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I made another Snowpiercer playlist!

After posting my Wilford/Audrey playlist a while ago, I added some songs that didn’t quite make the cut to a different playlist, intending to put together another similar one. But rather than focusing on just one ship this time, I also ended up getting really interested in theorizing about what Wilford’s relationship with Melanie might have been like before the Freeze, and exploring the idea that maybe there was something going on there and some kind of love triangle with Audrey.

So here’s my new playlist, full of absolute jams that could apply to any combination of relationships involving Wilford, Audrey, and Melanie, and/or just general Snowpiercer vibes! Read on for more detail about the songs I selected, and as before, content warning for references to canon abuse & self-harm/suicide.

1. “The Tradition” by Halsey

Oh, the loneliеst girl in town Was bought for plenty a price Well, they dress her up in golden crowns His smile hides a lie

She smiles back, but it's a fact That her fear will eat her alive Well, she got the life that she wanted But now all she does is cry

Thanks @onetrainsnowpiercer for getting me into this excellent album! I thought it would be fitting to kick off the playlist with one that could suit the earlier days of Wilford’s relationship with Audrey, like my previous playlist was more focused on.

2. “cardigan” by Taylor Swift

'Cause I knew you Steppin' on the last train Marked me like a bloodstain, I

I knew you Tried to change the ending Peter losing Wendy, I

I knew you Leavin' like a father Running like water, I And when you are young, they assume you know nothing

Did you think I would make a Snowpiercer playlist without Taylor Swift on it? Not a chance. I picture this one being more from Melanie’s perspective, reflecting on possibly having had some kind of ill-fated romance with Wilford when she was young and naive.

3. “No Children” by The Mountain Goats

I hope I cut myself shaving tomorrow I hope it bleeds all day long Our friends say it's darkest before the sun rises We're pretty sure they're all wrong

I hope it stays dark forever I hope the worst isn't over And I hope you blink before I do And I hope I never get sober

The only reason this perennial favourite of mine wasn’t on the first playlist was that I had too many Mountain Goats songs already and wanted to keep things balanced. But this one got all the ones that didn’t make it to the first playlist plus some more I thought about later, so I’m kind of giving up on that balance by now. They just have a lot of great songs about terrible relationships, and I love them all so much.

4. “Gold Guns Girls” by Metric

I remember when we were gambling to win Everybody else said, "Better luck next time." I don't wanna bend like the bad girls bend I just wanna be your friend Is it ever gonna be enough?

This is another one that I can picture being about young Melanie, gradually growing more aware of everything that’s terribly wrong with Wilford and his approach to life, and of how little he cares to try to fix it.

5. “You’ve Haunted Me All My Life” by Death Cab for Cutie

And there's a flaw in my heart's design For I keep trying to make you mine

You've haunted me all my life You've haunted me all my life You are the mistress I can't make a wife And you've haunted me all my life

And this one I can see being Wilford thinking about either one of the women, and his unhealthy attachment to them and inability to keep them around for very long—maybe once he’s finally reunited with them both on some level in season 2, but still can’t fully persuade them both over to his side.

6. “Old College Try” by The Mountain Goats

From the cities to the swamplands From the highways to the hills Our love has never had a leg to stand on From the aspirins to the cross-tops to the Elavils

But I will walk down to the end with you If you will come all the way down with me

Another Mountain Goats classic. If you divorce it from its context of being from a concept album about a horrible marriage, I actually think this song is kind of sweet in the way it describes a couple still committing to try to make things work despite a whole host of problems. But never mind that now, because I’m putting it back in the new context of a whole collection of horrible romantic relationships!

7. “Risk” by Metric

So you're beaten up but you bounce back It’s all part of the pull And the story runs like a soundtrack We repeat 'til we're full Started slow, started late Started strong, then we lost faith Started slow, started to lose control The more we accelerate, the more we accelerate

Half of arranging any playlist I make is just trying to split up the Mountain Goats and Metric songs so that they aren’t always clumped together. Anyway, this one seems especially fitting to me in its imagery of a speeding vehicle of some kind (it’s a train, I’m always picturing a train) alongside its description of a relationship going badly.

8. “Big God” by Florence + The Machine

You know I still like you the most The best of the best and the worst of the worst Well, you can never know The places that I go I still like you the most You'll always be my favourite ghost

I think this one could be any one of the three of them contemplating their complex feelings about the past at some point around season 2.

9. “I Still Do” by The Cranberries

I don't want to leave you Even though I have to I don't want to love you Oh, I still do

There aren’t as many specifics that match the characters going on in the lyrics here, since it’s more of just a general break-up song, but I also really like the creepy way it sounds.

10. “Fault Lines” by The Mountain Goats

But none of the money we spend Seems to do us much good in the end I got a cracked engine block, both of us do

Yeah, the house and the jewels, the Italian racecar They don't make us feel better about who we are I got termites in the framework, so do you

This one feels really fitting for pre-Freeze Wilford, especially the engine imagery!

11. “I Don’t Care” by Fall Out Boy

Say my name and his in the same breath I dare you to say they taste the same Let the leaves fall off in the summer And let December glow in flames

Erase myself and let go Start it over again in Mexico These friends, they don't love you They just love the hotel suites

Another song that is simply a) an absolute jam, and b) generally fitting for my favourite obscenely rich asshole and his terrible relationships

12. “You asked for this” by Halsey

I want my cake on a silver platter I want a fistful in my hands I want a beautiful boy's despondent laughter I wanna ruin all my plans I want a fist around my throat I wanna cry so hard, I choke I want everything I asked for

This one I can picture as Audrey—or maybe Melanie too, but especially Audrey—beginning to regret getting involved with Wilford, but only once she’s in way too deep for leaving to be a safe or easy decision.

13. “my tears ricochet” by Taylor Swift

And if I'm dead to you, why are you at the wake? Cursing my name, wishing I stayed Look at how my tears ricochet

Much like several other Taylor Swift songs, I just know in my heart that it’s the type of music Wilford listens to in secret, while possibly drunk and definitely singing along very dramatically. This one he dedicates to Melanie once they’ve met up again in season 2.

14. “Speed the Collapse” by Metric

All the way from where we came Built a mansion in a day Distant lightning, thunder claps Watched our neighbor's house collapse Looked the other way

This one has a lot of good apocalyptic imagery that I can imagine scoring Wilford’s life in the last few years before the Freeze, as he makes his plans to save himself and let so many others die.

15. “Ox Baker Triumphant” by The Mountain Goats

I will thank my ride and crawl my way back inside To the guts of the building where my enemies Hide in the dark like roaches And I will signal the camera crew and everyone will do What he's been trained how to do Sweat dripping from my face as my moment approaches

Click your heels, count to three I bet you never expected me A little worse for wear Practically walking on air

I love this song a lot, and listening to it lately makes me imagine Wilford plotting his revenge while on his way to catch up with Snowpiercer before the end of season 1.

16. “Firewood” by Regina Spektor

The piano is not firewood yet But the cold does get cold So it soon might be that I'll take it apart, call up my friends And we'll warm up our hands by the fire

Don't look so shocked Don't judge so harsh You don't know You’re only spying Everyone knows it's going to hurt But at least we'll get hurt trying

This has to be one of my favourite songs of all time. It’s very beautiful, and I love the piano in it. I’ve always personally interpreted it to be at least partially about someone surviving a suicide attempt, and the overall imagery about burning a piano for warmth—and this bit about not judging someone for doing that—reads to me as more of a general statement about the difficult choices people struggling with mental illness and other similar issues have to make to survive. I listened to it recently and I could picture Audrey singing it in the nightcar. I think it suits her well.

17. “Cry for Judas” by The Mountain Goats

But I am just a broken machine And I do things that I don't really mean Long, black night Morning frost I'm still here But all is lost

I think the imagery of this song suits the show a lot in general, but I can also particularly imagine it being Wilford in a rare moment of self-awareness about how much damage he’s caused to the world and the people around him.

18. “Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide” by David Bowie

Time takes a cigarette, puts it in your mouth You pull on your finger, then another finger, then your cigarette The wall-to-wall is calling, it lingers, then you forget Oh oh, oh, oh, you're a rock 'n' roll suicide

I love Wilford a lot. I don’t want anything bad to happen to him ever. I hope he kills more people, and I hope he gets his train back, and I hope he wins. But if he does eventually die in the show, I hope he’s found in the bathtub with there being some ambiguity about whether he really killed himself or whether one of his victims turned the tables on him, and I hope the climax of this song swells as the camera pans over his dead body. That’s the only Wilford death I will accept, thanks for coming to my TED talk.

19. “Source Decay” by The Mountain Goats

I park in an alley And I read through the postcards you continue to send Where as indirectly as you can, you ask what I remember I like these torture devices from my old best friend Well, I'll tell you what I know, like I swore I always would I don't think it's gonna do you any good I remember the train headed south out of Bangkok Down toward the water

Okay, I promise this is the last Mountain Goats song on the playlist. It’s just—it’s perfect. It has a train in it. And on the podcast “I Only Listen To The Mountain Goats,” John Darnielle commented that there’s barely anywhere you can go south of Bangkok before you hit the water, it’s a train going nowhere, it’s so good. It’s also one of the songs I’ve previously ripped a line off for my fanfiction titles!

20. “Sellers of Flowers” by Regina Spektor

The sellers of flowers Buy up old roses They pull off dead petals Like old heads of lettuce And sell ’em as new ones For cheaper and fairer But they die by the morning So who is the winner? Not the roses Not the buyers Not the sellers Maybe winter

And Regina Spektor closes out the playlist again! This song is another one I picked more on imagery and vibes than anything else. But since it’s about a young child in a world that seems to be moving inexorably toward an all-consuming winter, if it suits any of the characters, maybe it’s an appearance of Alex here at the end!

Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy the playlist!

#snowpiercer #wilford #music #snowpiercer tv

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manychocolatefactories · 3 years

Text

CatCF Milk Chocolate: Part 1, the kids

About this version: Milk Chocolate was inspired originally by a mix of the book, the vibes of the 1971 movie and the Tim Burton movie aesthetic. A bit more goofier and whimsical than the other versions. In term of era, I thought of it as a mix of 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.

In this version seven Golden Tickets are spread throughout the world, and each time one is found the same female reporter (her character is a reference to the musical) goes to interview the children. Another recurring joke is that while the hunt is going on for the Tickets, there are all sorts of ridiculous debates on television such as: do the Golden Tickets really exist, or is this just a hoax ? Do the Golden Tickets give cancer? Can animals go on a tour like humans? What happens if a Golden Ticket winner dies before the tour? Are the Golden Tickets linked to the rise of youht delinquence? Are the Golden Tickets a proof of Wonka's alleagiance to the obscure sect of the Golden Bird?

First Winner: Augustus Gloop

(Based on Augustus Gloop)

This Augustus was actually based on an idea Stained-by-the-sea allowed me to "borrow" a bit. Stained noted that Augustus always made him thought of this section from the movie "North", about Buck and the Texan parents. If you don't know what I am talking about, I'll leave links down there. And this is such a perfect matc I had to dig a bit down there.

This Augustus is basically a mix of all the archetypes associated with Texas and Nevada. But more precisely, he is basically "Buck" from North - a boy whose family (and his own mindset) embody the motto "bigger is better".

The Gloop family always thought that they should be "the biggest and the bests" and that "bigger is better". Ironically, the Gloop parents themselves are regular-sized people, but they clearly enforced this mentality on their son. Augustus is a big boy. Literally. He is tall, he is thick, he is fat, he is very, very big. He is probably one of the tallest, and definitively the largest boy on the tour (in fact, he once or twice gets stuck in the doors of Wonka factory). He eats ten meals per day, and we are not talking of regular sized meals. We are talking piles of ribs, kilos of potatoes, entire chickens... His parents also prepared for him a "big" and "best" future - paying the local sportive teams to claim he is a sports champion despite Augustus never setting a foot on a sports field, arranging his marriage with the local beauty queen of the state he lives in, already preparing the three different houses he will live with his fifteen kids... As a result, Augustus isn't just big and fat physically, he also has a massive and bloated ego. He thinks that he is the best at everything, and that he should have absolutely everything he wants.

The Gloops themselves are actually the masters of the state they live in, so to speak. They are the wealthiest and most influential industrials of the area: they built highways, casinos, hotels, private villas, they are cow-farmers, owing a lot of slaughterhouses, and also dig for oil and gold. They want their business to be the "biggest there ever was" and all they do is exaggerately big: their villas are enormous, their hotels are everywhere, their farms hosts several thousands cows, their mines are among the deepest in the world...

Trouble is that, due to their expansion and consumption of everything, they are a threat to the landscape and the environment - destroying forests to build their roads and buildings, drying out the lands to feed their farms... in fact, part of the reason why their state looks like the most desertic parts of Texas and Nevada is due to their actions.

Think... Buck from North. Think Art Land from Mar Attack. Think an evil (and obese) version of Clay Bailey from "Xiaolin Showdown". In fact, if I remember well in one episode Clay turns into a sumo for one of the Showdowns... this would probably be Augustus' appearance in this version: sumo Clay Bailey. (Edit: Yes, I checked out, it is episode 23 of the series).

Second Winner: Clarence Crump

(Based on: Clarence Crump)

Clarence didn't had any kind of personnality in the original drafts outside of a desire to prove he was right. As a result, I decided to have a lot of fun and create my own character.

The idea of vanity has already been touched several times with the other brats, but I wanted to give it its own character and kid. I also wanted to create a polar opposite of Augustus, denouncing the fact that being skinny can be just as bad as being fat when in excess. As a result, Clarence Crump is here a boy obsessed about being thin, and proud of being too skinny for his own good.

Mr. Crump is a pseudo-health guru that keeps writing phony and very dangerous diet books, the kind that will advice you to stop eating altogether to lose weight. As for Mrs. Crump, she is a beauty pageant champion (local and regional, and while she acts as if she was some national beauty champion, she always failed at nationals). From their union was born a child who inherited their vanity, pride and obsession with "health"

Black haired, very pale, very thin, very slender, to the point his bones show, Clarence delights in being skinny, and works as a teenager model promoting the "thin-fashion". He is also the embodiment of fat-shaming, never missing an occasion to insult fat people (in fact he often calls Augustus a big fat cow). He uses however the excuse of health for that (a trick his parents taught him) - promoting extreme thinness by talking about health and fat-shaming people in the name of health allows one to be much more horrible than normally accepted.

A good proof of how Clarence actually is just very vain and obsessed with being thin, and not at all defending health - Clarence condemns sports for being unhealthy, because according to him "muscles are unhealthy because they don't make you look beautiful, they make you look ugly".

He always wears short and black sleeveless tank-tops, the point being that he needs to show as much as his body to the world as possible, to be a "living example". He even wears his black short and tank-top during the tour (despite it being winte - the only thing he wears on top of his clothes to not get cold is a skunk fur coat).

Third Winner: Miranda Grope

(Based on: Miranda Grope)

This character was based on Dahl's own character of "Miranda Grope" from early drafts of the story, the horrible and atrocious girl allowed to do "whatever she wants".

In my version, the Grope parents are hippie-like people, the father having a very long beard and being covered in fleas, while the mother is covered in flowers and oss (plants that grew over her), and both always wearing rose-tinted glasses. They are the kind of parents that refuse authority and orders, seeing these (and social norms as a whole) as a "dictatorship". They prefer to trust their daughter to find her own way in the world, believing that experience is the best teacher in life. The result? They lazily raised her by telling her they would never forbid her anything and that she could do anything she wanted.

Miranda is a devilish little girl who does only what she wants, and becomes extremely violent when prevented from doing something. Or when people say something she doesn't want to hear. Or just when people she dislikes are near her. She shouts, the screams, she insult, she kicks, she hit, she throw enormous and terrifying tantrums. She has a very wide range of insults, and a truly evil mind : most of the things she wants to do are borderline crimes. It seems for her only chaos and destruction is "fun", a true little punk.

Miranda has a disastrous haircut because she cuts her hair herself, and she is always wearing the same clothes that she rarely washes): a white shirt, a blue sweater with long sleeves, and a plaid tiles skirt. An outfit that looks strikingly like a school uniform - but it is pure irony, because Miranda hates more than anything in the world school. She doesn't go to school, and the only time she went near one was to try to burn it down. (Her appearance is in fact based on Lauren Child's illustrations for Miranda, if you are wondering).

Fourth Winner: Veruca Salt

(Based on: Veruca Salt)

For this Veruca, I wanted to do something slightly different... here, Veruca doesn't want everything just because she is a spoiled rich brat. She is still one, but she is also the product of post-WW2 consumerism.

This Veruca was born surrounded by advertisements, logos, slogans and product placements. On television, in the streets, in shops, in journals, at the radio... She grew up with them and was influenced, brainwashed by them. As a result, she is obsessed with obtaining everything that was advertised, and she herelf looks like a walking billboard since she is covered in big, flashy logo and keeps reciting different brands' slogans and mottos. As soon as she sees something she saw publicity of before, she needs to obtain it at once. She is a true zombie, only hearing the call of the shopping mall and of the television advertisements.

One idea I had was that the Salt parents actually worked for (or where at the head of) a wealthy advertisement company, known to produce, design and create all kinds of famous publicities and slogans - and that they used their daughter as a guinea pig for their tests, and delighted in Veruca being so addicted to consumerism. In fact, they may have named her Veruca because at the moment of her birth they were working on advertisements for an anti-wart product, so that's all they had in mind.

Fifth winner: Herpes Trout

(Based on: Mike Teavee)

I went with this version of Mikee Teavee with the focus on "violence" already present in the original work, but also heavily used in the opera (and touched a bit in the 2005 movie).

This Herpes Trout is the embodiment of the fear of kids becoming violent upon watching television and playing video games (his only two passions in life). He has a true fascination with guns and firearms - US soldiers shooting aliens, gangs shooting each other, cowboys shooting at bandits, it's all he ever plays and watches. Herpes worships violence, and is absolutely obsessed with war (here I am thinking of all the wars present from the 60s to the 80s, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Glasgow Ice Cream Wars...). War propaganda and the fight being glorifyed heavily influenced him - as a result his biggest dream is to go at war in some foreign country to kill everyone there and come home a hero.

Herpes comes from a family of rednecks and hillbillies from the deep country. They are not poor however, they are wealthy enough to have television and several video games, but they are uneducated people full of stereotypes, discrimination and hate. They named their son Herpes because they ignored what it meant but just thought of it as an "intelligent" name. Herpes has everal brothers and sisters, and all have a disease name.

Herpes himself is a big and strong kid, who followed body-buildings process a la Charles Atlas and military training, becoming impressively muscular. However, he retained a soft, childish and chubby "baby face", which kind of ruins the effect of this massive, muscular, almost adult body. Always dressed in a military outfit, he carries everywhere with him guns and firearms, the question being: are they real? Or are they not?

Sixth Winner: Violet Glockenberry

(Based on Violet Beauregarde)

I wanted with this version to take back the idea of a competitive and "sportive" girl obsessed with contesting and winning - introduced in the Tim Burton movie.

This Violet is a tall, muscular and strong girl. She won numerous sportive competitions, but this doesn't make her just arrogant and prideful like in the Tim Burton version. In my version she is also very aggressive and violent (a bit like in the original novel). She is a nasty and rude bully easily prone to anger (in fact, if she keeps chewing gum it is mostly to calm her down sot hat she doesn't punch everyone around). Her parents originally pushed her towards competitions to manage her anger issues, but sports only gave her more strength and destructive power. In fact, they became terrified of her, while she considers them losers here to serve her - she basically thinks of herself as self-made, literaly.

Seventh Winner: Charlie Bucket

(Based on: Charlie Bucket)

For this Charlie, I wanted to go with a Charlie similar to the original illustrations of the character: blond hair, blue eyes, a white boy...

Basically, he is the original Charlie. Very sweet, very innocent, a gentle kid, the best of the group.

However I changed slightly his background. Charlie in this version is not the grandson of four grandparents, but rather the big brother of four younger siblings - and his family here struggles with trying to feed five children (and a total of seven mouths) despite having very humble and low-paid jobs. I think Charlie has taken the role of a parentive figure for the siblings, but at the same time him spending so much time with young children helped him keep in touch with his "childish" side.

#charlie and the chocolate factory #catcf #milk chocolate #retelling #charlie bucket #violet beauregarde #mike teavee #augustus gloop #veruca salt #miranda grope #clarence crump

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monstersandmaw · 4 years

Text

Embers - Male dragon shifter x reader, Chapter Twelve (v.light nsfw)

Can you believe that this story is nearing 20k words now in total? It's going to start winding up soon, with only two chapters left. Thank you for the support you’ve shown me for this long-running series - I hope you enjoy what remains of their story.

(Old Trollbridge is based on Cambridge, UK. Also, in the UK, the ‘first floor’ is what Americans call the second floor; I only remembered this difference after my trip to Boston last year, so I thought I’d mention it, haha…)

No warnings, mostly sfw with a bit of very light kissing, and about 1700 or so words.

One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven

The night of the fundraiser rolled around eventually and you decided that since Mikaeïl would be helping to set things up beforehand, you would simply meet him there. Old Trollbridge was an ancient city, its history stretching back nearly a thousand years, and the university structure was unlike almost anywhere else, except for perhaps Oxenford or Dunholme, with almost thirty individual colleges where students were based and where some of the learning was based, while the majority of their lectures took place in the larger department and faculty buildings. Mikaeïl’s college - where the dinner was being hosted - sat on the old, sluggish, shallow river which coiled lazily through the buildings of the city which had grown up around it over the centuries.

More than a little outmoded in many ways, and highly intimidating to the uninitiated, the college which had been chosen for the evening was one of the oldest in the university. It was here, in the fellows’ dining room, rather than the communal hall, that the dinner was being hosted in order to raise funds for two charities supported by the Law Faculty, and more specifically, the criminology department.

Despite having worked in Old Trollbridge for the past five years, both as a free-lancer and part-time for the graphic design company, you had never set foot inside one of the colleges. It felt like sacred ground somehow; inaccessible to your profane feet. This one was built of a mix of warm sandstone and weathered brick and flint, and as you stepped into the archway that housed the Porters’ Lodge, a large minotaur wearing a dark green waistcoat with the college insignia exited the office and smiled out you. “Here for the dinner?” he asked, glancing at your smart outfit.

“What gave it away, the nerves or the clothes?”

“Both?” he laughed and raised his hand, pointing at an archway across the grassed court from the lodge. “Head over there. Follow the signs, and you can’t go wrong.”

“Thanks,” you said, swallowing the huge lump in your throat. Your heart raced. This was not your usual environment. At all.

It was Mikaeïl's, however, and somehow it didn’t seem so intimidating then. He made his home within these walls, and had done for over a century apparently. He even had a set of rooms in college, but he rarely used them. You began to look around you more closely then, at the mullioned windows and the Virginia creeper climbing up the drainpipes in the corners of the courtyard, and at the faces of the one or two students who passed you by as you made your way around the paved courtyard.

A gnoll with a chunk missing from one ear gave you a wide, toothy grin and a friendly wag of her tail, and a moment later a naga slithered out from a doorway, looking a little unsteady, with a dryad at his side, laughing loudly. The pair were more than two sheets to the wind, but it was a Friday night and you supposed that they worked hard here; they deserved a night off like everyone else.

A moment later, however, and you were walking through the doorway into the part of the college usually reserved for fellows and lecturers only, and a rather nervous looking young human, again wearing the college colours, stepped forwards to take your ticket from your hands. “It’s on the first floor,” she said, indicating the lift and the staircase which sat side by side. “Can I take your coat?”

“Uh, thanks,” you croaked, shrugging out of it. “Is everyone else here already?”

She shook her head. “A couple more to go,” she smiled, taking your jacket and hanging it on a rack to one side.

Nodding, you headed upstairs.

Pausing in the doorway to the panelled dining room, which was immediately opposite the lift, your breath caught in your throat. Mikaeïl was standing the far side of the room, talking to a handsome, young-looking orc in a manual wheelchair, and both had exquisitely beautiful champagne flutes in their hands. While he looked like a classical statue come to life, Mikaeïl had been right when he’d warned you that he would be almost a different person when you saw him in this context.

His back was ramrod straight, his mouth was set in a hard line, and he looked like he was about to breathe fire all over the poor orc. You recognised the signs now as intense social discomfort, and your heart went out to him. Bless him, for all his two hundred years, socialising had never become something he had learned to enjoy. Perhaps it was because his kind had been hunted almost to extinction by orcs and humans about five hundred years earlier, and shifters like him had learned to keep to themselves.

The moment you entered the room, however, he shot you a quick sidelong glance, reptilian eyes drawn to the movement, and then did a very unsubtle and obvious double-take. His shoulders dropped an inch, and his breath caught in his chest. Well, that was an ego boost for you for sure. Smiling, you made your way around the beautifully laid table and stood shyly beside him.

“Hi,” you murmured, glancing nervously between him and the orc.

“You look incredible,” he murmured, leaning close and kissing your cheek before introducing you as his partner to the orc. “This is Gharak. He’s halfway through a PhD in geophysics.”

“Wow. Nice to meet you,” you blurted, shaking the orc’s enormous hand before sliding your own around Mikaeïl’s waist. He tensed beneath your touch, but then laughed softly.

“I think we’ll be starting soon. Almost everyone is here…”

The murder mystery dinner wasn’t quite what you’d expected, but it was mostly pretty fun. The people who had bought tickets were… astonishingly wealthy. Like… you’d thought that Mikaeïl with his inherited wealth was well off, but most of these people were in a different league. The food was sublime, unlike anything you’d ever tasted even at Kiriavin’s cellar restaurant, and you found it an effort to wrench yourself from your meal to play along with the loose ‘script’ of the evening.

Mikaeïl was seated across from you, beside an older human woman who wouldn’t stop fawning all over him. If it hadn’t been your boyfriend, it might have been funny, but as it was, your heart went out to him. He’d whispered to you during the pre-dinner drinks that she was a major benefactor, not only to the department but to the university itself, and knowing this, you knew he couldn’t rebuff her attentions.

He did his best to weather it, but at one point he caught your eye and the look in his hard, golden gaze was so miserable that you found yourself instantly mouthing the words ‘I love you’ to him across the third course of the dinner.

At that, his cheeks flushed gently, and he mouthed back, ‘thank you’.

When it was finally over, and the mystery - such as it was - had been solved, you bid goodnight to Gharak, who had been sitting next to you and who had been an absolute blast, and crossed to Mikaeïl. He was standing with one hand gripping the back of his chair so hard you could hear it splintering beneath his fingers, and as you placed your own hand over the top of his, the tension washed out of him.

“You alright?” you asked. “I think that went pretty well?”

He nodded. His hair was tied back in a severe bun, with what looked like a solid gold hair pin topped with a dragon holding it in place, and his dinner jacket fitted him to perfection. He looked like the subject of an oil painting, and just as uncomfortable still.

“Mikaeïl?”

He inhaled, his nostrils going wide. And then his hands were on your jaw and he kissed you so hard you saw stars. The room was empty now, and as the two of you kissed, he growled softly in that low-frequency rumble that you could feel in your ribcage. It filled the room and made the glasses rattle and ring on the table. His hands began to shift again, copper claws growing as colour rippled up his forearms beneath the crisp white shirt, talons pricking into the fabric of your own clothes before he could stop himself.

“Mikaeïl?” you murmured again. “Let’s go?”

He nodded.

“You want to come back to mine or…?”

“I don’t care,” he said. “I just want you. I can’t believe how amazing you were tonight.”

“Me?” you asked. “I barely did anything… I just played my role of poor starving artist - hardly imaginative, I might add -” you said with a playful glint in your eye, “And the others solved the mystery themselves…”

“Not that,” he snarled dismissively, his lips rising on one side to show his elongated canines. “You knew…”

“Knew what?” you chuckled affectionately, bringing your fingertips to his slightly pointed ears and tucking a wayward strand of his fiery hair behind it, gently enough to make him shiver visibly.

He swallowed and kissed you again in answer. When he was done, he pulled back and said, “You knew when I got overwhelmed. How?”

You had to laugh at that. “Your body got all tense - well, even more tense than usual - and you looked like you were considering incinerating her where she sat…”

“I wouldn’t want to destroy a Chippendale,” he said flatly and you burst out laughing, tipping your head back. A second later, he raked the very tip of his clawed thumb down your throat and your laugh changed to a groan.

“Let’s get out of here,” you said, and he nodded.

“Your place is nearer…” he added, nipping your thrumming pulse with his teeth as he kissed your neck.

You didn’t argue.

“By the way,” he added as you took his hand and left the college behind you.

Glancing up at him, you smiled. “Mmm?”

“Are you free next weekend? I have a surprise for you…”

Your eyebrows sailed high. “What kind of surprise… You know I’m not wild about surprises…”

“Bring something warm to wear,” he said. “That’s all I’ll say for now.”

Part Thirteen

—

I really hope you folks enjoyed this one! Don’t forget to let me know if you did enjoy it by leaving a like and/or reblogging it!

For all early releases, character art and bios, upcoming story info, and much, much more, join me over on Patreon! (no new content planned in March (and no charge to existing patrons) but access to everything else is available)

You’ll have access to stories before anyone else, and you’ll get instant access Patreon-only content as well, including polls and an exclusive monthly story for those on the Pixies and Goblins tier or higher!

#exophilia #dragon shifter #dragon x reader #male dragon x reader #male dragon shifter x reader #gender neutral reader #male dragon #embers

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snowfianna · 4 years

Text

Fable IV rant:

I'm so pumped up for the 23rd because everything has led me to believe that Fable 4 will be announced this year and the game's existence has been confirmed for a while anyway it's just a matter of time of when will Fable 4 show itself. It's a badly kept secret tbh.

So to those who don't mind a big rant or wish to add on to my rant- here we go!

Can you imagine how good the graphics would be for this game, we've all seen modern games, surely, and they're all bloody fantastic looking. Fable Legends is technically the most recent Fable game despite it being a free to play online game

and that it's cancelled

but it also had a gorgeous look to it all! And the character models did great justice to the concept art and honestly that has my hopes real high because I love the concept art of Fable, specifically from Mike McCarthy, so exaggerated and recognisable- yet in all the games I can confidently say they did not do justice to his character design, specifically for Reaver. Sure, he looks stunning in the third game, but not quite what he looks like in his concept art sadly.

But also, since Fable was made in Unreal Engine (I'm pretty sure at least) we've seen examples of what can be done in Unreal Engine now and it's absolutely breath taking!

If you haven't seen here are some examples and they're so life-like.

Moving on from graphics!

Since Playground Games is behind the development of Fable 4, they would be spectacular at an open spaced world, judging from the Forza games.

I always loved the open world feature added to Fable, it made things more adventurous and you could do so many things that weren't at all related to the main quest to progress the story and it was just thrilling to see there were other things going on! I'd love to just have my dog companion running through fields, fighting enemies left and right and finding buried treasure or forgotten chests.

Run into strangers who request aid in something silly or rather serious and it would be up to you with how you go about the quest or if you even accept it to get renown or gold. Cause a massacre in towns and villages, running off with low morality and plentiful loot- oh one could fantasise of this all day.

Story, characters, writing and voices.

Fable has always had a fun environment of fantasy and a rather good story (despite the curse of mundane or pathetic boss fights in which I hope Fable 4 breaks this cycle) but the one thing that's always kept me on my feet in the games is the writing and the characters. It always just tried not to take itself too seriously, throwing in absurd quests that probably requires cheese or a really weird-looking outfit. It always kept my attention rather than just pure edge and seriousness of life or death.

The characters are a given, the writing done for them all is perfect in my eyes, I love hearing the variations of how characters of NPCs interacted (enough so that I even bought two of the Fable books written by Peter David). Despite Fable 3 not being the greatest at it's time, I found myself absolutely enjoy the characters for how they were- I even cried over Walter's death because it genuinely felt like I lost somebody pretty close (RIP Walter🙏). The writing and the chosen voice actors were superb and I'd love more of it.

I hope this time we can receive a full story instead of how Fable 2 and 3 were where plenty of plot points and such were cut out due to time constraints- thanks Microsoft, very cool. I'm still in anguish when listening to the Developer's Diary 3 of Fable 3 hearing lines that were just never said in the final product and it was definitely not just additional lines that weren't required as it seemed to mention entirely different things that weren't in the game; i.e. Reaver talks about his pirates in Bloodstone and how he misses them- in the final product he never mentions it and it's even shown that he's tried to completely bury his pirate past for whatever reason.

The pacing in Fable 3 was rather strange too, it felt like the revolution should've lasted longer.

Another hope of mine is to have choices that aren't so painfully black-and-white because it's very obvious which is the good or bad option to a scenario- personally for me I'd like to be morally grey rather than pure good or pure evil.

They better have kept the mechanic of your actions affecting your appearance too to the point where you grow horns and get cracked magma-like skin or this slight glow and aura around you and this flawless skin. It kind of died down in Fable 3, only looking more tired or have completely black eyes and the good- eh yeah not much I can say for when you're good. Purity and corruption seemed to also vanish in Fable 3 (at least I think) since you couldn't really change prices of the homes you were renting out, unless I've been a big goof who didn't arrange the rent prices in the game because I didn't know how.

Combat

Combat in all the games was rather straight forward, especially in Fable 2 and 3 where everything was just easy to beat or you could get overpowered around the start of the game. I'd hope the combat improves greatly this time and even bring back real consequences to dying instead of immediate revival with some lost experience and a scar. We need more serious consequences to your actions (this can be applied to all decisions rather than just if you die in a battle) even if it's just having to reload the last checkpoint. Makes things more challenging this way.

Another thing is to make boss fights less repetitive and simple- sure I can forgive it if the boss is from around the start but if they had phases you had to keep ontop of and didn't rely on summoning a bajillion other enemies to strike you, I'd be ever so grateful.

And if there's other characters fighting along side you, I'd hope they'd genuinely be helpful and keep up to speed with the player. I'm sure the AI in the past was the problem for this as AI wasn't at its best during that time so characters fighting by you didn't do too much or just did whatever that wasn't helpful. Now though, AI has improved immensely (I mean look at The Last Of Us 2, the AI is👌) and due to this, I'm sure characters would make battles more fun and the characters be more involved with the fight and even story.

Mana should be brought back as well, in Fable 2 and 3 mana just ceased to exist so you could just endlessly and repeatedly use the same spells and it just gave you too much power and the enemies barely stood a chance.

We need challenges people- CHALLENGES!

Medieval times? Yes.

I love Medieval fantasy and as much as I like the Victorian era too, I didn't think it quite suited Fable, as fascinating as it was to see fantasy turn industrial, it kind of took away from the Fable feel that I so crave. If they have indeed brought the game back to medieval times it means more creatures and enemies are back rather than driven away or limited to the same handful of enemies.

We can all also agree the guns were overpowered, though I did like receiving the Red Dragon late in Fable 2 to absolutely mow down enemies, it was satisfying to say the least. However, guns were far too powerful for the game, so I demand the bows and crossbows back thank you very much- or even throwing knives- I'll take what I'm given.

I'd love to see more of the natural landscape rather than towns or buildings that took over once entirely natural areas (Millfields/Bowerlake). However, I won't object to ruins of old buildings taken over by nature.

Skeptical with Playground Games? Don't be.

Are you worried that Playground Games wouldn't do justice to Fable since it's not Lionhead Studios? Don't be, it's been noted that Playground Games has hired several ex-lionhead workers and plenty other skillful workers to ensure we get the best product. I have high hopes and expectations for Fable 4 even if it's developed under a different studio, I've seen great things from them and I will believe they'll deliver us only the best.

Side note to all this

I will crash and burn if I don't see a crumb of Reaver or Jack of Blades in Fable 4- I don't know how true any rumours are of Fable 4 with time travelling and Jack returning, but we'll just have to see. Reaver still remains as my absolute favourite character of all time and I'd love to see more of him, even see him before he was 'Reaver'.

Jack too, more of his lore is stated elsewhere rather than in the game itself and I'd love to see it all be brought into light and really expand on his lore and make it known- rather than have ever-loving Fable fans like me dig around for these rather delicious bits of canon information.

That's my big rant, feel free to share your thoughts and what you'd look forward to!

Have some accidental art leaks from a Playground Game concept artist- believed to be for Fable 4👀

#fable #fable 2 #fable 3 #fable 4 #rant #honestly if you read this you have my respect #ramble

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unholyhelbig · 4 years

Note

Bechloe greek gods au?

[a/n: Long time no see guys, I swear I have so many prompts in my inbox, I’ll get around to them soon. This is rocky because I haven’t written them in a bit. Enjoy!]

She didn’t remember getting hit with an arrow; not the way it pushed into her skin evenly and produced an even bout of pain. It was more of an annoyance, really, like a mosquito who had barely tapped a vein before she swatted it away- smearing the brown and bubbling guts on the wall.

Her room was hot that day, and even with the fan pointed directly at the bare mattress that rested on the floor, she was washed with discomfort. Beca had kicked the sheets that usually covered her away- and hadn’t even noticed the soaked fabric was ruined with anything but her own sweat.

But by the time the alarm on her phone started going off, she knew something was wrong; the loud clang of something metal and weighted falling from her bed did nothing but confirm that the thickness of the room wasn’t her imagination.

Her downstairs neighbor pushed the blunt end of a broom against their ceiling in response to the clatter and Beca figured that that served as enough of a wakeup call. It was already past noon- she could tell by the lattice design of the sun streaming through her blinds.

Beca reached blindly until her fingers wrapped around the cold shaft of metal that had so rudely pulled her from her slumber. She moved her thumb against it- not a phone, not a pair of expensive headphones. No- it was an arrow.

From where- she wasn’t sure. There was no broken glass in her apartment, no more than usual. And she would have noticed, even in a drunken slumber, if one had come crashing through the window. She lived on the fifth floor of a shitty city building.

She sat up and groaned at the pinching on the back of her thigh, the way it burned and pulsed with her own heart. The arrow was plated and gold and heavier than she thought it would be. There was an expertly crafted heart on one end, the shaft cutting right through it. Its point was coated in a rust-colored liquid.

Too weird- she decided, too early for this.

She had a lot to drink last night and probably pulled this from one of the stupid holiday displays that they had laying around the city for some agro art project. That’s what she gets, she supposed, for picking a place to live on the same block as a prestigious art school.

Beca stood and limped to the dining room, setting the bloodied arrow down on the table before grasping at the nearest cup that looked somewhat clean. She didn’t wait for the sink water to chill before gulping down a full glass and going for a second one. The warm liquid soaked into the collar of her shirt.

She hadn’t noticed it at first, not clouded by her own thirst, but she had set the arrow down next to a small card. Something that would be left in a bouquet of roses, but bigger. It created a little tent and cast a shadow next to the gold. She plucked it from the table.

Beca,

I struggle not to speak in riddles, as I’m sure you don’t remember much from last night. But the two of us had quite the boasting match. Turns out I, in fact, can drink you under the table. So- as a consolation prize for your good efforts, I’ve left you something of mine.

She frowned. It was well written in a curled type of script that would take anyone a number of hours. Her head was screaming at her and her leg was hissing. Beca remembers finishing up a set and taking whatever free drinks the patrons thought to buy her. And a woman, glowering at her across the bar. She flipped the card over, looking for more fine print.

This arrow has the effect of undying love, something you mumbled about never being able to find. This should help to a certain extent- but be forewarned; a similar arrow built of lead was left in the possession of another. Find that arrow, find your love. Cure them.

All the best,

Oh… oh, this had to be absolute bullshit. There was no way some stranger that was lingering in the darkest and dankest bar in Manhattan had followed her to her apartment and stabbed her. People didn’t just do that. They didn’t’ leave cryptic notes or gold-plated arrows because someone like Beca Mitchell had half the mind to pawn it off.

Who was C?

She flopped down in the nearest chair, letting the arrow fall to the ground once more. It clattered, even on the carpet- and as if on cue, her downstairs neighbor pushed the broom against the ceiling- as if that would stop Beca’s hangover, or her struggle to piece together missing time.

“Oh, shut up!” she shouted back, pushing her heel into the floor.

She usually never fought back. There was never a reason to. Beca carried late and odd hours, and she often found herself treading lightly- even if she was a bit buzzed. But right now the pulsing in her thigh and the blurred intentions of the letter ate away at any resolve she hoped to carry. So she stomped three times and palmed the arrow.

Her neighbor slammed the top of the broom in response and Beca let out a groan before standing, ignoring the sharp pain in her leg. She pulled open the door and registered the musty scent that the hallway carried.

Beca’s steps were muffled in her socked feet, even as she trudged past the elevator with the “Out of Order” Sign that was tacked on the metal front. The cement floor of the stairwell was cold and unforgiving against her soles. She didn’t stop until she found the exact puke-green door that she was looking for. Beca even knocked before she lost a bit of her nerve.

Then the door swung open and the crisp scent of vanilla cut through her own rancid mix of sweat and lingering whiskey. A girl stood in front of her, blonde hair pulled into a tight bun and a fancy blouse hugging her curves. She had a fire in her eyes- but Beca had an arrow, and that was enough for her.

“I’m guessing you’re our upstairs neighbor considering your heavy-handed knock?”

God, who talks like that? “Spot on, sweetie. You pulled the stick out of your ass long enough to bang it against the ceiling, huh?”

The woman huffed and pulled the door open even more. Not allowing an entrance or even offering. She put more room between the two of them, taller and meaner. “Look, just keep it down, alright? You clamoring home at two in the morning is annoying enough. I don’t need mid-afternoon too.”

“I pay rent too, you know, I can stomp around as much as I like. Not everyone keeps a normal schedule.”

She found herself using the tip of the golden arrow as a buffer, it’s point still rusted in crimson. The stranger flicked her unripe stare against it and straightened up, fingers tightening against the doorframe.

“Where’d you get that?”

“I found it, “Beca frowned “listen, that’s not the point. I will start trying to be quieter if you just stop banging the ceiling-“

“No, seriously, where did you find this?”

She was being ignored entirely, the woman plucked the arrow from her fingers and walked into her apartment, leaving the door wide open. Beca sighed heavily and followed her in with her slight limp. If she was going to be murdered, at least it would be in her own apartment building, anything to reason her actions.

It was nicer here; with soft lavender curtains and pictures hanging on the wall. Beca had gotten all of her furniture from thrift shops and friends cleaning out storage units. It was like a home goods catalog, everything smelling sweet and more importantly, clean. She was suddenly nervous to track blood on the carpet.

“Chloe!” The woman shouted, voice echoing off the hallway, she turned her back to Beca, running her fingers over the metal “This was just in your apartment?”

“Sort of, I guess. It was in my leg. I pulled it out right before you started drumming on the walls.”

She nodded and went back to studying the object, not offering up any answers. But Beca didn’t’ have much focus on her anymore; instead, she was drawn inexplicably to the woman who must be Chloe. She walked with a certain grace about her- hair messy and curled like fire. Her eyes were a striking ocean blue and every inch of her sparked like broken waves.

The girl held a towel to her arm, soaked in red and dripping. She had scrubbed most of the blood away but held pressure against her wound before stopping and scrutinizing Beca. Her nose crinkled. “Who’s this?”

“What’s your name?” The blonde asked.

“Aubrey, you invited a stranger into the apartment?” Chloe glared “She’s dirty.”

She snorted “Hi, hello, right here. If I can just get my arrow back you gracious goddess, I’ll get out of your hair.”

What the fuck was that?

“Gross.” There was a round of silence, Chloe was staring at the carpet and Aubrey was tempted to do what Beca had asked. But none of them moved, not for a bit. Chloe was the first to speak. “Your arrow?”

“Not mine technically. But it lodged itself into my thigh this morning so I think that gives me some jurisdiction over it- now, if you’ll excuse me I have to go to an urgent care.”

“No, don’t go.” Chloe clenched her jaw, and the words seemed to settle in Beca’s stomach like a rock “I got one too. It’s not gold, not like that- but it’s black.”

“It’s lead.” Aubrey corrected. “Do either of you know what that means?”

Beca’s head was pounding and she wasn’t sure if it was from the sickeningly sweet scent of the apartment or the way her heart beat faster against her throat each time Chloe moved. The sun seemed to hit her in the right way and a deafening lightness filled her at each glance. She wanted to run her fingers against her skin, feel lips against her own and, she sighed heavily “You’re so pretty,”

“Focus, please.” Aubrey snapped “I had to take a class on Greek Mythology last semester. I remember this specific story about Daphne and Apollo. Cupid shot them both with arrows after a pissing match with Apollo, and one gained the overwhelming sense of love while the other”

Aubrey trailed off and furrowed her brow.

“The other what, Bree?”

“The other grew to hate the idea of it altogether.”

“That explains why the sight of this… this girl makes me want to claw my own eyes out.” Chloe’s breath was unsteady, but still, she smelled of lemons, and her lips pursed in the perfect way.

“That’s okay, my love, I would still die for you.” Beca pressed her fingers against her lips and let out a muffled growl in frustration. “Okay, that needs to stop, now. Unless that’s not what you want Chloe-“

Chloe groaned, “Any chance you remember how to fix it?”

“I got a note, with the arrow.”

“You didn’t think to mention that sooner?”

“I was a little blind-sided by how stunning you are, forgive me.” Beca wanted to bite her tongue until it bleed. But instead, she searched her hazy mind for what the letter said. It rested on her kitchen table and she didn’t think she could get up there with the amount of pain pushing past her knee and ending at the gash in her thigh. “it said I have to cure you.”

Aubrey’s eyes widened “Chloe, I think she has to stab you with her arrow. Theoretically, that would reverse the amount of disdain in you. It would balance it out.”

“And the amount of infatuation in her?”

“I suppose it could work both ways.”

The thought of diving the metal-tipped arrow into Chloe made her sick to her stomach. A rolling that started at the back of her neck and culminated in nausea, so thick and strong it felt as if she had been drugged. She essentially had been. One small part of Beca remembers the way she challenged the woman at the bar to a drinking competition, high on her own ego.

She would never bow to a challenge, never lose without losing herself first. But this arrow; its effects would let her kneel in front of this perfect stranger without a second thought. There was no way she could bring her shaky fingers to wrap around the shaft of the arrow, only to push it into the woman’s skin.

There was a sudden blinding pain against her shoulder, a white-hot metal. “OW! Fuck!”

Beca grasped at the warmth, fingers coated with liquid as she stared at the black arrow in the better part of her shoulder, she hadn’t noticed Chloe grab the lead object. “Dude, what the hell?” She yanked it away, grunting because it somehow hurt worse on the way out.

“What? No sly comment about my insatiable beauty?” Chloe smiled, and though it was charming, it didn’t make her heart stop. In fact, part of her found it more annoying than interesting and keen.

Beca hissed through clenched teeth “Give me the arrow.”

And Aubrey obliged. Somehow it felt heavier in her grasp. Beca had half the mind to go for the shoulder too, but the way Chloe was nursing her other arm made her reconsider. She let out a small breath and slid the pointed end of the object into the side of her leg, right near her hip, hesitating a bit.

“Mother of God,” Chloe’s voice shook, “How did neither of us notice that the first time?”

Beca could blame the alcohol and the way she was knocked out cold after her display at a local bar. But she decided to keep that to herself. She mercifully removed the object and set it on the counter next to the other arrow.

Aubrey lifted both eyebrows “How do you feel?”

“Like I’m losing a lot of blood.” She swallowed thickly, “And not like I want to shove the arrow somewhere completely different.”

Beca winced “Oh, ouch.”

The blonde reached around the other end of the counter and produced a pair of keys, just as perfectly organized as the rest of her, a look of annoyance and relief against her features. “I think we should get you both to a hospital. And then we bury those things forever, agreed?”

That seemed like the only thing that made sense all day.

#Beca Mitchell #Chloe Beale #Bechloe #Bechloe Oneshot #greek gods au #pitch perfect #pitch perfect fanfiction #request

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grigori77 · 4 years

Text

2019 In TV - My Top 10 Shows

This past year may have sucked balls in a lot of ways, but we certainly never got short-changed when it came to our TV. There was an absolute WEALTH of truly cracking TV around, both on regular networks and on the various on-demand platforms, and so here is my pick of the best, my absolute favourites of 2019.

10. WATCHMEN

Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof brings us a blinding sequel to comic book legend Alan Moore’s legendary graphic novel with a delightfully trippy, ruthlessly efficient rug-puller that seems pretty tailor-made for HBO. Old faces return in interesting ways, while there are some cracking new “masks” on offer, particularly Regina King’s Sister Night and the always-brilliant Tim Blake Nelson as morally complex antihero Looking Glass (in some ways very much the show’s own answer to Rorschach). It never goes where you expect it to go, and refuses to give easy answers to the questions it raises, effortlessly paving the way for more next year ...

9. THE BOYS

Amazon offers up its own edgy, thoroughly adult superhero property with this darkly funny antiheroic gem based on the cult Garth Ennis comic, expertly adapted by Supernatural creator Eric Kripke. Karl Urban dominates as Billy Butcher, the foul-mouthed, morally bankrupt “leader” of a makeshift crew of mercenaries, hitmen and psycho killers devoted to “taking care of” superheroes when they inevitably go bad. Season 1 ultimately serves as an origin story, showing how the team come together, laying quality groundwork for the incoming sophomore tour that promises to open the already fascinating world out significantly.

8. PREACHER (SEASON 4)

More Garth Ennis, namely this blinder of a closing season for AMC’s consistently impressive adaptation of his best known series for Vertigo comics. Surprisingly epic, deliciously subversive and constantly, darkly hilarious, this thoroughly non-PC series from showrunners Sam Catlin, Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen (yes! I Know!) certainly went out on a high note, providing its loyal followers with perfectly-pitched bow-outs and sometimes heartbreaking goodbyes for all its players, especially its dynamite leads, Dominic Cooper, Ruth Negga and, in particular, Joe Gilgun as unapologetic bad boy vampire Cassidy. A worthy end to one of my all-time favourite TV shows.

7. THE WITCHER

While it’s clearly taken its look from the wildly successful video games, Netflix’s second most ambitious long-form offering of the year takes its lead from the fantasy book series by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski that started it all. With its somewhat episodic set-up and decidedly twisted narrative timelines, it take a few chapters to get the hang of it, but there’s plenty to draw you in, from the exotic world-building to the frenetic action and compelling collection of richly crafted characters. Henry Cavill is the titular hero, lovably grouchy mutant monster-hunter Geralt of Rivia, but the real scene-stealer is co-star Anya Chalotra as roguishly self-serving mage Yennefer of Vengenberg.

6. CARNIVAL ROW

One of the year’s two big sleeper hit TV surprises for me was this inventively offbeat allegorical Amazon fantasy series from The 4400 creator René Echevarria and screenwriter Travis Beacham. Orlando Bloom and Cara Delevigne are the star-crossed lovers at the heart of this intriguingly dark and dirty murder mystery thriller set in Victorian London-esque city-state the Burgue, in which humans struggle to co-exist alongside a struggling disenfranchised underclass of fae (fairies, fawns, centaurs and the like). The racial turmoil undertones are writ large throughout, but this is far more well-written and lavishly appointed than you might expect on first glance, and almost ridiculously addictive viewing.

5. LOVE, DEATH + ROBOTS

My other big TV surprise was this wonderfully bizarre sci-fi anthology series of animated shorts from Netflix, mostly adapted from an eclectic selection of short stories from a wide range of top-notch literary talent including Peter F. Hamilton, John Scalzi, Marko Kloos and Alastair Reynolds (a particular favourite of mine). As you’d expect from the brainchild of Deadpool director Tim Miller and producer David Fincher, this is edgy, leftfield stuff, frequently ultra-violent and decidedly adult, and the wildly varied nature of the material on offer makes for a decidedly uneven tone, but there are some absolute gems on offer here, my favourite being Suits, an enjoyably simple tale of salt-of-the-earth farmers on an alien world utilising clunky mech suits to protect their settlement from rampaging giant xeno-bugs.

4. THE DARK CRYSTAL: AGE OF RESISTANCE

The show with the biggest cinematic wow factor in 2019 had to be this long-awaited prequel series to Jim Henson’s classic fantasy movie masterpiece, created for Netflix by, of all people, Louis Leterrier (yes, the director of The Transporter, Now You See Me and Clash of the Titans, if you can believe it). The technology may have evolved in leaps and bounds, but there’s a wonderfully old school vibe in the delightfully physical puppet effects used to bring the fantastical world of Thra and its denizens to life, so that it truly does feel like it’s based in the same world as the film. This was EASILY the most visually arresting show of 2019, packed with exquisite character, creature and set design that perfectly complements the awesome work done by Henson and Brian Froud on the original, while the writers have created a darkly rich narrative tapestry that makes Thra seem a more dangerous place than ever.

3. THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY

I was a HUGE fan of My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way’s magnificently oddball alternative superhero comic, so when I learned that Netflix were adapting it I was a little wary because I knew how spectacularly hard it would be for ANY showrunners to get right. Thankfully Steve Blackman (Fargo season 2) and Jeremy Slater (The Exorcist TV series) were the right choice, because this perfectly captured the outsider nature of the characters and their endearingly dysfunctional family dynamic. Ellen Page, Tom Hopper (Black Sails, Merlin), David Castañeda and Emmy Raver-Lampman are all excellent as the more “functional” Hargreeves siblings, but the show is roundly stolen by Misfits star Robert Sheehan and Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn’s Aidan Gallagher as nihilistic clairvoyant Klaus and the old-man-in-a-child’s-body sociopath known only as Number Five. Consistently surprising and brilliantly bonkers, this was definitely the year’s most wonderfully WEIRD show.

2. STRANGER THINGS (SEASON 3)

Writer-director duo the Duffer Brothers’ ultra-nostalgic 80s-set coming-of-age sci-fi horror series remains the undisputed jewel in Netflix’s long-form crown with this consistently top-drawer third season expertly maintaining the blockbuster-level standards we’ve come to expect. This year the cross-dimensional shenanigans have largely been jettisoned, replaced by a gleefully nasty through-line of icky body horror that would make major influences like David Cronenberg and Stuart Gordon proud, as perennial teenage bad boy Billy Hargrove (the fantastically menacing Dacre Montgomery) becomes the leader of an army of psychic slaves under the control of the Upside Down’s monstrous Mind Flayer. The kids are all brilliant as always, Winona Ryder and David Harbour really get to build on their strong-yet-spiky chemistry, and the show is almost effortlessly stolen by Joe Keery as one-time golden boy Steve Harrington and series-newcomer Maya Hawke as his nerdy new foil Robin Buckley, who were very nearly the cutest couple on TV in 2019. Another gold standard season for a true gold standard show.

1. GOOD OMENS

Sadly, legendary author Terry Pratchett died before he could see the adaptation of one of his most beloved novels (and one of my all-time literary favourites too) see the light of day, but at least his co-author Neil Gaiman was around to bring it to fruition with the aid of seasoned TV director David Mckinnon (Jekyll, Doctor Who, Sherlock), and the end result sure did him proud, perfectly capturing the deeply satirical voice and winningly anarchic, gleefully offbeat and gently subversive humour of the original novel. David Tennant and Michael Sheen could both have been born to play Crowley and Aziraphale, the angel and demon nominally charged with watching over the young Antichrist in preparation for his role in the End Times, even though they would both much rather the world just went on quite happily the way it is, thanks very much. This is about as perfect an adaptation as you can get, the six hour-long episodes giving the surprisingly complex story time to breathe and grow organically, and the result is the most fun I spent in front of my TV this year.

#best TV 2019 #watchmen #the boys #preacher #the witcher #carnival row #love death + robots #love death & robots #the dark crystal age of resistance #The Umbrella Academy #stranger things 3 #good omens

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miraithislife · 4 years

Text

Miraith Part 3 <3 (little long oop)

“Did you...ever have a family...?” She asked in a soft, curious voice. Wraith had been nestled warmly by the fireplace in Mirage’s private condo. It was filled with pictures, collectibles, and posters of him, of course, along with all of his trophies and medals from the Games, fan mail, fan art, comics, and practically anything else related to him.

“My family?” Mirage repeated in surprise, not really expecting her to ask that of him. He was in the kitchen, making them both some warm mugs of hot chocolate to treat the increasingly bitter cold from which they’d just sought refuge. “Well, yea. I have a family. I’m the youngest of four. Four boys. Had to screw around to get attention, you know.”

Wraith scoffed, “Bet that wasn’t hard for you to do.” She brought the blanket (with a full length Mirage printed onto it) more snugly around her shoulders, having replaced Mirage’s coat, which was hung neatly in the closet by the front door.

Mirage grinned, “Nope.” He laughed. “We were definitely a handful for our parents.”

Wraith bit her lip embarrassedly and looked to the crackling flames when realizing she had no idea what those were. She knew everyone had them, she’d heard the term before. Something about it was vaguely familiar. She wanted to ask, but the words stopped in her throat. Would she sound weird for asking such a ridiculous thing?

What would he think of her if she did?

What if he thought she was joking?

What would he think when realizing she was being serious?

A pit grew in Wraith’s stomach as her anxieties grew, and she began to get a headache from overthinking.

It’s Mirage. He’ll understand. She self-consoled.

Wraith took a breath and asked (after conjuring up the bravery) in a voice soft as silk, “What are parents?”

Mirage looked over at her. The look in her eyes told him she was being genuine and serious. “Uh,” he began, not wanting his surprise or delay in response to come off judgemental or make her feel bad. “Well...parents are the people who take care of you. Claim you as your own, cause, uh. They gave birth to you? Well no your mom does that part...the dad just--ahem.” He shrugged. “Yea they take care of and love you, basically. Raise ya. All that fun stuff.” He picked out two mugs from the cupboard.

Well, that wasn’t so bad. She thought.

Did she ever have parents...? She wondered.

“You have parents?” She asked.

“Well, yea.” Mirage replied, setting them on the countertop and closing the cupboard. “Everyone has parents, right?”

Wraith solemnly averted her gaze to her hands, saying quietly. “Right.”

Mirage winced. “I’m sorry...I didn’t mean--”

“It’s alright.” She said, rather shortly.

Mirage rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. “I mean, not everyone has parents.” He said in an attempt to make it better. He shrugged and said in a tone to play it off, “Besides, it’s not like having parents make you cool or anything.” He removed the pitcher from the stove once the water’d heated to the perfect temperature.

“At least not mine, heh. I mean, what kind of parents tell you you were an accident baby and try to sell you online?” He began pouring the water into each of the mugs, “OnLINE.” He stressed. “And for FREE?” He passionately continued, still holding the steaming pitcher, waving it along with his animated hand gestures and story retelling. Wraith raised the blanket to her mouth, she couldn’t help but softly giggle at his increasing annoyance as he recalled the memory.

Mirage was too enraged to notice her adorable little laugh. “I mean, hell. Like okay, I was an accident and you wanna sell me, but for free?” He gestured to himself. “I mean, look at me, I’m amazing! I’m handsome, I’m smart, I’ve got fans--I’ve gotta be worth a nice rack of pork chops at the very least. And I was the cutest little thing, too.” Mirage set the pitcher down, crossing his arms and leaning against the refrigerator. He shook his head, confused as to why he was so unwanted, “I had chubby cheeks...I had curls…”

“What were your parents like?” Wraith asked. “Aside from wanting to sell you, of course.”

“My mom was the sweetest woman you’d ever meet. Beautiful. Smart. Funny. She was great.” Mirage began, the selling incident instantly leaving his mind. He stood and resumed finishing the hot chocolate, adding the cocoa powder. “She was crazy smart. My mother was an engineer. She’d make things, design things, build things, break a few things.” He laughed. “That was always funny.” He laughed again. “She makes me, well, me.” He said, raising his arms to bask in his glory. “Mirage.”

He plopped a couple marshmallows into each of the mugs. Carefully, he carried the mugs to the living room and set them on the glass coffee table. He moved the gold and red accent pillows on his sleek dark gray couch to allow himself a seat next to Wraith. “She introduced me to illusion-creating tech. And...well, long story short I got obsessed and addicted, went to school and learned about mechanisms and doohickeys and whatchamacallits, and, well, yea, here I am.” He handed her her mug first.

“Then we made some pretty cool stuff together. My favorites were all the holo tech, I mean come on look at this baby.” He said proudly with a smug look on his face, gesturing to his outfit. “Worked at the bar for who knows how long, heard about the Games and wanted to join, sounded pretty fun. But I didn’t want to leave my mother alone, you know, since everyone else was gone.” His face fell.

“Until one day she came up to me after a long day of work and gave me a set of customized holo devices and told me to follow my dream.” He looked at her and smiled. “So, I did. And I promised to give her some money to help her get out of some long overdue debts and out of the slums and dirt we’d always lived in. I can finally say I’ve helped make her happy, now. I make sure she’s taken care of before going off to compete, cause you know, never know if that’s my last time seeing her.”

Wraith failed to suppress the warmth that washed over heart. “She sounds amazing.” She took the mug graciously. “Thank you.”

Mirage smiled, “Yea, she really is. Everything I do now in the Games is for her.”

Wraith couldn’t help but feel her heart warm her chest. She’d always seen Mirage as silly and rather self-centered, but it turned out, to her pleasant surprise, that there were things that truly mattered to him more than just women, fans, or having the spotlight on him. “She’s lucky to have such a great son like you. I’m sure you two have always been really close.”

Mirage blushed at her compliment, “Thank you.” He wrinkled his nose and shrugged, “Nah, not always. We didn’t really get along that well at first (which was entirely my fault), and we kinda just bonded after my three older brothers died in the Frontier War, so all she had was me by default.” He laughed wryly. “But honestly with the engineering thing, it helped make it work. Now I can’t imagine life without her.” He took a sip from his hot chocolate, only then realizing Wraith hadn’t.

“Don’t like hot chocolate?” He asked.

“Oh, no, that’s not it.” she replied. “I’ve just never had it.” Her eyes didn’t move from the chocolate tainted white blobs floating in her mug. “What are those?”

Mirage scoffed, “What are those? Only the best things ever!”

Wraith smiled, “What are they?”

“Marshmallows. Soft, squishy, sweet thingamajigs...I don’t really know what they are, but they make everything a million times better. Especially in hot chocolate.” Mirage replied. “Try it.”

Wraith looked at him, then back to her mug. Slowly, she curled her full, rounded lips, silently blowing away the steam that arose from the mug, watching it dissipate into the air. She closed her eyes and inhaled the heavenly, chocolatey aroma, exhaling a soft hum of content. Mirage, adorably, watched her place the mug’s rim to her mouth, but couldn’t keep his eyes off her beautifully shaped lips. Keeping her eyes closed, she took a sip. She sighed through her nose in content as the soothing warmth made its way down her throat and through her body, reveling in the cocoa’s richness and the marshmallow’s delicately sweet touch.

“Mmm.” She opened her eyes and met his. Her heart skipped a beat. The look in his eyes scared her. But...in a good way. There was no doubt he was in total awe and completely enamored of her existence. Mirage couldn’t hide anything from her even if he wanted to, and the throbbing in his chest that burned so fiercely out of love, longing, and desire began to grow to a point at which he couldn’t control or suppress for much longer.

Her heart raced.

There was so much she wanted to tell him.

So much he needed to know.

So much she wished she had the strength to tell him.

So much she wanted to share with him...in every way possible.

A blush touching her cheeks, she smiled warmly. “It’s delicious.”

Mirage beamed. “I’m glad you think so. And that looks good on you, by the way.”

Wraith slightly furrowed her brow, “What does?”

Mirage replied dreamily, “That smile.”

Wraith quickly averted her gaze as her blush deepened, she cleared her throat in attempt to change the subject, “What about your fath--”

Mirage’s mood changed quickly. “My dad was an absolute scumbag. Was never there. Hit and cheated on my mom. Abused and overworked us boys. Cursed us out. Destroyed the house. Kept us poor and put us down. Drank his life away and took his problems out on us. List goes on and on.” He said with a wave of his hand.

“Disappeared one day and never came back. Left us dirt poor and starving and took everything my mom owned to sell for money but you know, it was prolla-prabob-parlabol--” He threw his hands up in frustration. “WORDS.” He hastily stood up and made his way to the wall, punching it vehemently. He grabbed his wrist and gasped sharply in pain. He kicked the wall in frustration and sat on the side of his bed, facing the wall. “His leaving was the best thing that ever happened to us.” He ended in spite, fiddling with the straps on his glove.

Wraith didn’t know what to think.

She had never seen him like this before.

The saddened and angry little boy inside of him was waking up, and she knew that feeling all too well. To feel trapped. To have emotions suppressed and not worked through. To feel resentment and revenge. To want answers. To want to just know why.

Without a sound, she arose from the cushions and to his side, the bed bouncing a little as she sat. Mirage’s body swayed a little from the movement, his head hung low. Wraith reassuringly laid a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry, Mirage. I know that must’ve been very hard for you...to not have someone there when you needed them most, let alone cause so much pain...and to not understand why.”

Her hand gently turned his face to hers, and the look on his face nearly broke her heart. His face fell, his head hung low, and his eyes were full of sorrow and pain. Angry tears pricked his eyes, and several had begun to make their way down his cheeks.

Wraith continued, gently cupping his face with her hands and using her thumbs to wipe away his tears, “To have things happen out of your control and suffer from it. Whether it’s you or loved ones. Then you question what you did wrong and what you should’ve done right, as if it’s your fault...taking on that burden.” She lifted his face so their eyes met, and with a gentle motion, she brushed his hair from his face and behind his ear, then caressing his cheek in the same manner he had to her earlier. “But that doesn’t make you wrong in how you feel. Your emotions are valid. It’s okay to cry. It’s okay to be sad. It’s okay to feel hurt. It’s okay to be angry. Just don’t let them define or change who you are.” She smiled.

Mirage stared at her, speechless.

How did she know what to say? And how to say it? So elegantly and well put?

“That’s...exactly how I feel, Wraith.” Mirage said. He never doubted her past experiences, but the level to which they could relate was so touching it made his heart feel so much lighter. He now knew, finally, at 30 years old, that he wasn’t alone.

Wraith scoffed through a soft laugh. “Well, I know a thing or two about loss and pain.”

Mirage gently took her hands from his face and cherished them in his, pressing his lips to her knuckles several times, not breaking eye contact. “Well, you’re not alone anymore.”

#miraithislife #part3 #fanfic #mirageandwraith #miragexwraith #mirage #wraith #randomfluff #randomfluffs #love #cute #relationship #aww #miraith #fanfiction #apexlegends

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druddigoon · 4 years

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so i’m supposed to be working on scholarship applications but instead of writing 500 words on why i should receive money (bc i’m poor) i typed out 1.4k words of bederia smh

anyways cheeky au where bede feels feelings

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> Nervousness, worry; something heavy building up in the heart, weighed down like a lagging tail; the bearer of bad news. Guilt.

Bede lifts his arm up the second Gloria makes a move to get up from the couch.

“Leaving?” he says.

“Yeah.” It’s little more than an act nowadays, less for his benefit than Gloria’s. “It’s going to take at least a week to travel to and back from the dynamax sightings they want me to investigate, and I’d rather arrive back in time to catch the tail end of that fair you’re helping set up.”

She’s wading her way around the coffee table when he grabs her hand.

> Guilt, stronger now. Concern, rolling off in waves; can’t take deep breaths when the water line’s over your head. Resolve, don’t look back. No fear.

No fear? Fear and concern usually go hand in hand. If she’s worried about running into a dangerous situation, why isn’t she scared about it?

It takes him a while to realize she’s worried over him.

“I’m not mad at you,” he blurts out, “This is your job, you’re the only one qualified enough to handle dens over five stars, and you’re doing it so Galar can be safe. I’d be an idiot to get mad at that.”

“I know, I just wish it doesn’t have to be--” Gloria cuts herself off in the middle of her sentence.

Doesn’t have to be like this. There were a lot of things that didn't have to be: Bede’s disqualification, the Eternatus incident, Gloria’s stepping down a year into her championship. Wistful ideations did not rewrite the stars. Both knew it very well.

> Melancholy. Guilt loses its edge, dips down into resignation.

She’s staring at the cluster of mushrooms starting to grow from the ceiling, glowing gentle hues of pink, blue, and green. For the umpteenth time, Bede wishes he could read thoughts instead of emotions. Doesn’t have to be like this.

He sighs, lets go of her hand. “Come on. I’ll come to see you off at Hammerlocke.”

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

Rule Number One: Never talk about your ability.

Rule Number Two: Avoid touching anyone unless absolutely necessary.

Those were the two fundamental laws Bede set for himself during his time in the orphanage. Stories too grotesque to be put into words, stark terror and raw emotion. They blurred together to the point where he stopped caring--stopped reaching out, beat or intimidated anyone who tried to him. He withdrew.

Compassion fatigue, he’d heard the social workers discuss, after his main caretaker quit. Emotional exhaustion leading to a decreased ability to feel empathy for others. The cost of care. He often wondered if he had that too, how others’ emotions were often so strong it had washed away his own, the dull ringing in his ears after he lost contact. Or maybe he’d always been like this.

The first rule was broken when he accused his foster father of cheating, when he gave him a slap on the back after coming home from “work”. A day later he was picked up by Oleana, and told he’d shake hands with Macro Cosmos’s pawns during meetings.

The second rule spiralled downwards when he accidentally bumped into a challenger, back in Galar Mine No 1.

It’s such a hassle. So much easier to hate someone when he doesn’t know them. Rose is a man brimming with hope for the future, too bright to hold in a handshake for long. Oleana, once her obsessiveness and exhaustion and contempt for Bede has been whittled away from the manicured fingernails digging into his shoulder, is a woman who adores her saviour ever since the day he took her off the streets. He remembers the pity officers doled against his skin when they had to restrain him to be brought back to the orphanage, the desperation of a slipping boy when Hop’s knuckles bit into his lip.

So much easier to hate when they weren’t all so human.

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

In Ballonlea, where the sun fails to filter through the thick canopy of trees, time loses its grip. There is no such thing as a day and night cycle when all light comes from bioluminescent mushrooms, shining here before you were born and after you leave.

Hammerlocke, in contrast, seems to be bathed in the light of the sun. Dying rays outline castle walls against a wash of red and gold, and shadows stretch over corners, gothic. The air is warm; he’d read somewhere that the obsidian masonry was designed to absorb heat during the day and release it at night, which saves them from temperature fluctuations as a mainland city near the wild area. Save for a few stragglers, the streets are empty.

Bede is the first to arrive at the pokemon centre, teleported by his hatterene.

Gloria wouldn’t arrive in a few minutes--she always liked taking the corvitaxi, watching the region pass by beneath her. Bede would accompany her if he didn’t have motion sickness. The last time they rode together had been...messy.

He’s flipping through a curry catalogue in the lobby when she bursts in, windblown hair and old leather bag and all.

“Sorry, I had to take a detour to get my stuff. Completely forgot about that, or I’d have brought them to your house.” Golisopod lumbers in after, bags comically hanging on its upturned scutes. “Hope you didn’t wait long?”

Bede checks his rotom-phone. Half an hour, but she doesn’t need to know that. “Yes, a whole fucking two minutes. I thought you were fine spending a month in the woods wearing the same clothes, eating berries and roots like a neanderthal.”

“Oh, I hope Sylveon pukes on your pillow tonight.” The jab didn’t have much force to it, and he doesn’t need to touch her to see her stress; they’ve been around each other long enough for him to notice the incessant tic of her right foot, how she keeps running one hand over another as a soothing gesture, in the absence of his.

(It’s endearing. He usually looks down at people who fail to disguise their fears, sees them as weak of will, but this is Gloria. She’s the girl who’d faced and captured gods, the girl known to take on the most unstable regions of the wild area and come out alive; she’s also the girl who released them after making sure they wouldn’t cause harm, the girl fretting not because she might be risking her life, but because Bede will miss her. It’s cute.)

He sees her off at the Hammerlocke gates. Gloria has her back to him, checking maps, while her golisopod is already making its way down the stairs. The gap between them seems to be growing wider, and he wants nothing more than to reach for her shoulder.

That would be crossing a boundary. They’d talked extensively about his ability, and she’d said yes, it’s okay to touch her, she had nothing to hide from him. But just because he has her consent doesn’t mean he’s privy to her feelings at the moment.

Gloria closes her map, taking one step down the stairs.

Another step. Stops.

She looks back.

Whatever she sees on Bede’s face makes her turn around and run towards him. He doesn’t get a single word in before she throws her arms around him, almost barreling him over.

> Courage, the strength to keep walking even though each step is a battle; confidence, the rain that washes away all doubt; hope, the fiercest of them all, a steady mantra of We’ll be okay.

He grips her tight, wishes for once he could speak his emotions like she’s speaking hers. Settles for balling all his conviction into a whisper. “You’re going to do phenomenal, you’re going to pummel whatever that dynamax pokemon is without breaking a sweat, and I’ll wake up a week from now with a million messages of how you kicked their ass. Don’t worry about me.”

He can feel her smile from the shift of her cheek. “And I’m going to come back to Ballonlea’s first town fair sensationalised on the headlines of every media site, and finally get to ride on a ferris wheel that isn’t always ‘out of order’ like Wyndon’s is, because you did a great job bossing people and pokemon around. Don’t worry about me.”

They let go.

Gloria heads down the stairs to her golisopod. His skin burns warm as he watches them meet up, as they round the corner, until they are gone.

#drudwrites #bederia #bede #gloria #fuck tumblr formatting

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browserbroking398 · 3 years

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Where to plug headset on gaming pc

Wolfsgamingblog.com Site. Wolf's Gaming Blog Xbox 1 & Computer Gaming, And Board Games.

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thisyearingaming · 4 years

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2011 - This Year in Gaming

Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective - Nintendo DS, January 11th

A quirky adventure game where you are fucking dead, and you gotta work out who killed you. Ghost Trick is like Ace Attorney at first glance - it looks similar, and is made by effectively the same development team. Give it a shot on iOS.

Dead Space 2 - Multiplatform, January 25th

Dead Space 2 was the undisputed king of alien horror until Alien: Isolation released. Yeah, you battle massive acid-spitting aliens, but it’s the necromorph babies you’re gonna be shit-scared of. It isn’t quite as unique as it’s predecessor, but it’s definitely much better to play. Bring your brown pants.

The Nintendo 3DS Releases - March 27th

The 3DS was like magic when you first fired the 3D slider all the way up - then it became a gimmick you never used again. Releasing with a few decent launch titles and being able to boast Street Fighter IV as playable, the 3DS arguably didn’t really pick up much steam until a few months after launch. While more powerful than the original DS which was six years old at the time, I can’t remember being particularly interested in it at the time.

Portal 2 - Multiplatform, April 19th

Valve’s final single player experience until their jump into VR was a bloody good one - very funny and amusingly written with the best Steve Merchant performance since The Ricky Gervais Show, Portal 2′s puzzle solving adventure is rarely a chore to play through, and has thousands of custom maps courtesy of the Steam community.

L.A. Noire - Multiplatform, May 17th

Rockstar’s foray into adventure games has stood the test of time as an enjoyable and often startling journey nto the seedy underbelly of 1947 Los Angeles - as Cole Phelps you’ll threaten a Jewish man with the gas chamber, arrest a paedophile instead of a clearly guilty father, quote Hamlet to a prop skull at the scene of a car crash, destroy thousands of dollars of property, and yell at a child whose mother’s just been murdered. Great fun!

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The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings - Windows

CDPR hit it out of the park with a fantastically improved sequel to 2007′s Eurojank diamond in the rough The Witcher, and really introduce Geralt of Rivia to more people for the first time with this game. A branching story that sees Geralt hunting Letho, the killer of King Foltest, and allying either with smelly hippy elven leader Iorveth and his terrorists who don’t appear in the sequel or the very cool but quite racist Vernon Roche and his special forces group, who are supporting characters in the sequel.

Alice: Madness Returns - Multiplatform, June 14th

A surprisingly charming, unsettling dive into the fractured psyche of the Victorian equivalent of an actual goth gf, Alice is a sequel to American McGee’s Alice from 2000. Surreal as fuck and absolutely drowning in atmosphere. Just don’t look at any of the YouTube comments on videos of the soundtrack. Rather bizarre show...

Duke Nukem Forever - Multiplatform, June 14th

Sometimes it’s best NOT to bet on the Duke. I bought this game to kick ass and chew bubblegum, and I did neither - DNF is fucking boring, and I blame it ALL on Randy Pitchford’s devotion to ruining things I like. DNF could’ve been brilliant - either embrace your heritage like Doom Eternal would eventually do, or make it into a “last hurrah” kind of thing where Duke realises he’s getting old and can’t kick ass forever. The greatest disappointment of the 2010s so far - but worse would follow with it. The King is dead - hail to the King, baby.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Multiplatform, August 23rd

The piss-tinted prequel to 2000′s excellent conspiracy RPG Deus Ex, Human Revolution is like smashing Robo-Cop into a world where Detroit is not a humanitarian disaster zone. Adam Jensen, the gravelly-voiced biomechanically enhanced security chief of David Sarif, is dragged into a world of American conspiracies involving FEMA death camps, the government enforcing martial law in US cities and massive Chinese conglomerates plotting to control the world. Just like real life! DXHR is my favourite in the series for its design, atmosphere and narrative.

Dead Island - Multiplatform, September 6th

Eh. Wasn’t that good. Notable for having the most misleading fucking trailer since Metal Gear Solid 2, but nowhere near as fulfilling upon release. An open world zombie survival game with a focus on melee weapons more fragile than your granny’s second hip. Oh great, now there’s a dead kid on my page. Thanks, Techland!

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Driver: San Francisco - Multiplatform, September 6th

A game you literally can’t buy anymore, DSF was incredible to play when it came out and has only really gotten better with time. It’s still so unique for a driving game that I’m surprised Ubisoft have had the good sense to just leave it and not go pants-on-head retarded with the franchise since. Nick Robinson had to buy Subway gift cards just to purchase this game.

Batman: Arkham City - Multiplatform, October 18th

Arkham City was so cool at launch and it still is today. A proper Batman epic with twists, turns, and the most addictive combat arena for years. This whole thing is gold from start to finish, except for the Harley Quinn DLC. I can’t even go into detail about it here, but I fucking LOVE this game.

Sonic Generations - Multiplatform, November 1st

Sonic Generations is the best Sonic game since 3 & Knuckles, but has now unfortunately convinced Sega that not only do people despise the Adventure games, they also really want to see Classic Sonic and Green Hill EVERY GODDAMN DAY. Generations is like a proper celebration of Sonic’s history, even including stuff from every reviewer’s favourite punching bag Sonic 2006 - I really like Generations and it has a stellar modding scene on PC.

Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception - Sony PlayStation 3, November 1st

The “finale” of the Uncharted series until Naughty Dog decided it wasn’t. Uncharted 3 may not be as tight as Among Thieves, but it’s just as enjoyable. As quipping invincible action hero Nathan Drake, you’ll ruin historical artifacts and “incapacitate” about 4000 guys in your quest to find Iram of the Pillars, chased by Cruella de Ville and her mercenary squad of a million faceless Englishmen.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 - Multiplatform, November 8th

God I was so excited for this. World War 3 never looked cooler, and then it came out - and it wasn’t that good. It didn’t feel as epic as MW2, not as well-written as MW, and not as interesting as World at War and Black Ops. Multiplayer was... fine? I think this is the point where most people realised that Call of Duty was basically downhill from here.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Multiplatform, November 11th

See this paragraph? You can read it. Another installment in Bethesda’s cross-franchise “Little Lies” series, Skyrim has been released more times than China’s created a pandemic. But it’s still really good and when you rub it the right way it comes all over your screen like a particularly excited storyteller, ready to point in the direction of adventure.

Super Mario 3D Land - Nintendo 3DS, November 13th

Yeah this was the point I decided I wanted a 3DS. It looked incredible and so fluid, and it really was! Playing this was great fun. That’s really all there is - I can’t be funny about it, nor overly critical. What do you want from me?

Assassin’s Creed: Revelations - Multiplatform, November 15th

I didn’t like this when it came out - I thought the new graphic style was bad, Constantinople was dull, and the music was too different. Ezio was angrier, older, and the complete lack of any supporting cast from Brotherhood had me thinking this was a game that nobody wanted to work on - but now that I’m older, I can see this for how good it really was. Revelations blends the Ezio and Altair stories together, culminating in a satisfying emotional climax.

Saints Row: The Third - Multiplatform, November 15

This video speaks for itself.

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Minecraft - Windows, November 18th

There’s something beautiful about those early builds of Minecraft. Quiet, unassuming, and riddled with potential for exploration. I could talk for hours about the first time I was thrown into Mojang’s survival experience, about how I still get a bit weepy hearing Wet Hands by C418, about how shit-scared I still am of the mines and caves. Minecraft is immortal, and always will be.

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ellieisrael-travel-blog · 5 years

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My Hometown: Baguio

BAGUIO CITY ❤

Baguio City, the Philippines’ summer capital that proudly boasts itself with a kind of captivating beauty of which no other tourist spots can ever replicate. The City of Baguio has an awesome type of climate that never changes all year round. In fact, the chilly and spine tingling weather is perfectly suitable for everyone especially for family, friends and etc., the world over. Baguio City is now easier to get to from Metro Manila, so much so that a weekend trip isn't as far-fetched as it once was. It's not exactly a new tourist destination, but there are ways you can enjoy the City of Baguio even if you go through the classic tourist spots.

The Summer Capital of the Philippines (ctto)

TOURIST ATTRACTIONS IN BAGUIO

Burnham Park

Riding on the the boat on lagoon.

Burnham Park lies in the heart of Baguio City in the Cordillera Mountains of the Philippines. The park was a central feature of Baguio when the city was first planned and developed as a retreat for the US military, and remains today as a beloved landmark. Baguio, with its mild climate, is a popular tourist destination for Filipinos seeking a retreat from the heat of the lowlands, and Burnham Park serves as a major attraction for both relaxation and recreational activities. In Burnham Park, you may rent a boat and go rowing on the lake. A range of bicycles, including tandem bikes, children’s bikes and bikes with side cars for small children are available for rental. The park’s paved pathways are ideal for gentle rides and walks. The park serves as a scenic venue for walking and photography. During the rainy season—generally June to September—the park is often shrouded in fog and takes on a misty atmosphere. Flowers bloom in abundance following the end of the rainy season.

BenCab Museum

Paintings and Sculpture of Benedicto Cabrera

The BenCab Museum is on Km. 6 Asin Road, a brief 15-minute drive from the center of Baguio City. Built on a promontory, the museum commands a breathtaking view of the adjacent garden, farm, hill and mini-forest, the surrounding mountains, and the South China sea in the distant west. With its vision of bringing arts closer to the people, the museum houses the artist’s collections of his own works, as well as those of acknowledged Filipino masters and rising contemporary artists. The granary gods, lime containers, native implements, weapons and other outstanding examples of indigenous arts and crafts of the Cordilleras are also highlighted.

The Bencab Museum is committed to the promotion of the arts, and the preservation, conservation and protection of the environment, as well as the culture and traditions of the Cordilleras, as an expression of the artist’s gratitude to the country that nurtured and inspired an artistic career that continues to grow, mature and fascinate.

Tam-Awan Village

Tam-Awan Village (Ctto)

Tam-awan Village in Pinsao Proper, Baguio City uniquely blends indigenous aesthetics and exquisite Cordilleran craftsmanship with an artist’s concept for a village adapting to Baguio setting. A popular hang-out for Baguio’s artists is Tam-awan Village. Located about 20 minutes from downtown Baguio, it’s home to artworks that showcase Cordilleran culture. Modeled after a tribal village, it features several galleries that house works of art from both local and visiting artists. It also has its own cafe where you can sample authentic Cordilleran cooking.

Strawberry Farm

Strawberry Ice Cream

The Strawberry Farm is located in the nearby town of La Trinidad, Benguet, about less than 10 kms away or 30 minutes travel time from the center of Baguio. The strawberry picking season is from November to May. The Strawberry Farm also produces other fruits and vegetables, but most people just go to pick strawberries. They say that this farm has the best sunset view in La Trinidad Valley.

Lourdes Grotto

Lourdes Grotto at Dominican, Hills Baguio.

Lourdes Grotto is a Catholic shrine and place of meditation in Baguio. It is located on a high hill in the western part of the city where visitors will find the image of the Lady of Lourdes. The grotto is a favorite pilgrimage site during Holy Week most especially during Holy Thursday and Good Friday. Access to the top of the grotto could be made by climbing its 252-step staircase or by driving a light vehicle through a winding and steep paved road.

Botanical Garden

The Botanical Garden is located just 1 kilometer from Session Road, along beautiful Leonard Wood between Teachers Camp and Wright Park. You will be welcomed by a bas relief sculpture made of cement and stone depicting the different rituals of the Cordillera tribes, with real live Igorots who will be more than willing to pose for photos for a small fee. Filled with towering pine trees, the Botanical Garden serves the dual purpose of providing visitors and residents valuable beathing space and re-greening a fast developing city with greenhouses and nurseries designed to propagate the flora and fauna species that will eventually find their way to parks and gardens around the Summer Capital.

The Mansion

History of The Mansion House

The Mansion is the official summer residence of the President of the Philippines. It is located on the eastern part of the city along C.P. Romulo Drive (formerly a part of Leonard Wood Road) and right across from Wright Park. Older than the city itself, the Mansion is easily one of the most visited and photographed landmarks of Baguio. Inside the Mansion is a mini museum housing memorabilia and works of art collected over its years of occupancy by the former presidents. Within the compound and adjacent to the Mansion is a two-story building which serves as the official residence of the Philippine President in Baguio City and nearby is a small amphitheater. A contingent of Philippine marines maintains the security of this large compound and you will see a some of them manning the guardhouse at the vicinity of the gate. This is the official Residence of the President of the Philippines, here in Baguio City. Location wise, it can be easily found on the eastern side of the city, along the Carlos Pena Romulo Drive; and just right across the Wright Park. Also, the Mansion in the highly-urbanized city of Baguio; is one of the most frequently photographed landmarks in Pines City. Inside the premises of “The Mansion” is a mini museum which takes care of the memorabilia and other historical works of art; which had been collected over the years during the incumbency of a particular Philippine president. Likewise, within the compound which is so close to this particular tourist spot; is a grandiose two-storey building which is nonetheless, the official residence of the Philippines’ Chief Executive. Nearby, the entourage of the First family can have fun together while watching historical films in a small but technologically-advanced amphitheatre. In the colorful pages of Philippine history, “The Mansion” had served as the “Seat of the Second Session of the Economic Commission of Asia and the Far East.

Mines View Park

The view in Mines View Park

With Doglas

Baguio City started out as an American mining town in the early 20th Century, and one of its lasting attractions is Mines View Park. A ridge located at the extreme northeast side of the city, past The Mansion and Wright Park, Mines View Park boasts of a spectacular view of Benguet's gold and copper mines and the Cordillera mountains.

The main attractions in Mines View Park nowadays would be the commercial activities such as the souvenir and silverworks stores by the park. The one especially worth visiting is Rimando's, that offers the best carved artifacts, on the Gibraltar side.

Tourists also have a chance to get dressed in full Cordillera regalia -- bahag, shield and spear for the men, tapis for the ladies, vests and headdresses for both.

Good Shepherd

In Front of Good Shepherd (ctto)

Pasalubongs in Good Shepherd (ctto)

Good Shepherd Baguio is the most famous souvenir shop in Baguio. Good Shepherd has been operating since 1952 and, since then, a lot of tourists have come here not only to check out the beautiful sights but also to buy their Strawberry Jam (Php 190/8oz) and Ube Jam (Php 210/12oz). One can buy strawberry and ube jams, peanut and cashew brittle and other goodies. They also have a very nice view deck with the vista of the mountains of the Cordillera range as a backdrop for photos.

Wright Park

Wright Park is named after its architect Governor Luke E. Wright who ordered architect Daniel Burnham to build the place with recreational facility for American soldiers and civilian. Being one of the many scenic parks in Baguio City, Wright Park is absolutely the right place you need to visit after seeing The Mansion which is just fronting the place. It is located at the eastern part of the city and fronting the main gate of the Mansion. Its main features are a shallow elongated rectangular body of water known as the “Pool of Pines” and the park circle which is on one end of the park. Postcard-type photographs are usually taken at both ends of Wright Park. Bringing your camera would absolutely be perfect to complete your adventure experience.

At the both sides of the access road beside the pool, are tall pine trees and decorative street lights line. If you are fortunate enough, you can met and greet some Igorots dressed in their native attire and regalia who are willing to pose for a photograph. However, they ask for low cost fee. You can also buy native handicrafts sold at the end part of the Mansion made by few Igorot traders. From the park circle is a walkway which leads to a wide stairway made of stones that descend to an area where ponies are rented out. What is being looked forward by many tourists is riding a pony that is a longtime favorite among children and even adults. The place is not boring and usually crowded during sunny weekends and on holidays. You can rent some ponies and taken farther out along South Drive, the Mines View Park area or to Outlook Drive with accompaniment. There are 200 ponies available for tourists so that everyone will accommodate.

Diplomat Hotel

Fountain inside the Diplomat Hotel

In front of Diplomat Hotel

The former Diplomat Hotel in Baguio City, Philippines sits on top of the Dominican Hill. It used to be a rest house and a seminary way back 1911 before it was developed into a school and eventually, a hotel. Almost every tourist that goes to Baguio makes it a point to visit this place because in spite of the ruins, it remained as one of the most panoramic and picturesque spots in the City of Pines.

During the World War II, numerous nuns and priests were beheaded here. This is believed to be the reason why headless apparitions can often be seen during the night inside the hotel. The employees and guests also claimed that they would often hear strange sounds coming from the building. Crying coming from kids and babies became a common noise, which can be attributed to the massacre of numerous children done at the fountain. The Dominican Hill Retreat House, also commonly known as the Diplomat Hotel, is an abandoned structure atop Dominican Hill, Baguio, Philippines. It is now undergoing rehabilitation through the efforts of the city government. The whole property on which it stands has been renamed as the Dominican Heritage Hill and Nature Park. A panoramic view of the city unfolds from its vantage point, the stone crucifix on the outdoor patio of the hotel's second floor.

Lion's Head

Lion's Head at Kennon Road

The gigantic Lion’s Head along Kennon Road is one of the most recognizable landmarks in Baguio. Located at the outskirts of the city, it is also a popular stopover for quick photo souvenirs before entering Baguio’s downtown area.

Camp John Hay

There is something magical once you arrive at this iconic place in Baguio City. The Manor at Camp John Hay will embrace you with its old-world charm and elegance. The cool breeze, crisp mountain air and earthy scent of pine trees are but a prelude to an extraordinary stay in this jewel of a mountain resort. Nestled 5,000 feet above sea level with average temperature of 19 degrees Celsius all-year round, The Manor at Camp John Hay blends the surrounding beauty of nature with the element of luxury and spirit of hospitality. "Forevemore" Series of Liza Soberano and Enrique Gil was shoot it here.

Many tourist spot or attractions like PMA, Teacher's Camp, Session Road, SM Baguio, Night Market and Baguio Cathedral are some of the famous attraction in Baguio.

Cultures and Traditions in Baguio

Baguio Cathedral and The Bell Temple

Our Lady of Atonement is a Catholic church in Baguio City and is considered to be one of the most photographed buildings in the city. There are more than 100 cathedral steps you must climb if you want to take part in the mass, but you can park your vehicle on the church grounds. The Bell Temple is a Chinese temple located in the city, and it is important religious and cultural site for the local Chinese Filipino Community.

Foods

Spanish influence is evident in much of Filipino cuisine. You can purchase canned desserts (like Pinipig, a rice dessert) at the small shops or pick out fresh vegetables at the vegetable markets. They also have Strawberry Ice Cream and Taho. The most interesting drink in Baguio is Chocolate made in Coca. Also an interesting meal in Baguio City is “balut,” which is a fertilized bird egg which is allowed to “grow” a bit before it is eaten.

Panagbenga Flower Festival

The Panagbenga Flower Festival is celebrated every fourth week of February and is a thanksgiving celebration for Mother Nature. Colorful floats travel down the streets and local tribes dance in native costumes. The Microtel Inn is an idea hotel from which to view the parades.

Ifugao Tribe

The Ifugao Tribe of Baguio City built the famous rice terraces more than 2,000 years ago. Descendants of the Ifugao Tribe wear traditional dress of colorful woven textiles and headdresses. Some members sell woodcrafts or food, while others are happy to pose for a photograph (but make sure you ask permission before taking a picture).

Souvenirs and Pasalubong in Baguio

You can also buy some souvenirs or pasalubongs in Baguio like key chains, foods or snacks, walis tambo, I Love Baguio Tshirts, bags and wallet made in abacca for family, friends and etc.

Why I Love Baguio?

I love Baguio because of their beautiful attractions, their climate, the culture, the food, the Ifugao's, the so called pasalubong. I love it because they preserved the beautiful scenery of each attractions. When I was at Baguio I realized that the convenience of the everyday lives was smooth and refreshing because of the people we encountered. I will value each moment when I was in Baguio due to very satisfying experience I highly recommend to visit the beautiful place of Baguio.

How to get there?

Victory Bus Line located in Cubao

Hourly trip going to Baguio everyday

Travel time is around 5 hours

Fare is at ₱445 for regular and ₱356 for Student with ID/PWD/Senior Citizen

An option if you’re not on a tight budget and can sacrifice ₱275 for convenience purposes is the deluxe bus (JoysBus) of Genesis Bus Line located also in Cubao.

Free bottled water and a biscuit

Free use of blankets

NO BUS STOPS

Comfortable seats (28seater bus) with CR

3-3.5 hours travel time

Fare is ₱720 (no discounts for Students/PWD/Senior Citizen)

Thankyou for reading my blog, I hope you learn something about my hometown, Baguio. Enjoy and Godbless! ❤😍

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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World Of Warcraft: 10 Things Shadowlands’ Tutorial Doesn’t Teach You

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With the Shadowlands expansion, the World of Warcraft team hopes to make the legendary MMO more accessible than it’s ever been before. While I think they’ve done a pretty good job of breaking down some of the game’s more intimidating barriers, that doesn’t mean that Shadowlands offers the perfect new player experience.

In fact, it’s entirely possible to leave Shadowlands‘ new player starting area (an island called Exile’s Reach) without understanding or even knowing about some of the game’s core mechanics. It would have been impossible for Exile’s Reach to teach you absolutely everything you needed to know about the modern WoW experience, but it would have been nice if the new (mostly) universal starting area offered a better taste of the full game.

With that in mind, there are 10 of the most important things you won’t learn about in Shadowland‘s new tutorial area.

What All of Your Stats Mean

While you can explore your character screen for a basic understanding of what WoW’s primary stats mean, Exile’s Reach does a pretty poor job of actually explaining why they’re relevant and how they will impact you.

It won’t be long before you’re wondering how impactful certain stats really are and what stats you’ll want to focus on for your chosen class/specialization. While I wouldn’t want Exile’s Reach to tell you how to build the perfect character, it would be nice if you at least left the region with a better understanding of the mechanical relationship between your class/specialization and the game’s primary stats.

If nothing else, it would be nice if the area offered a clear explanation of what the difference between versatility and mastery is.

Not All of Your Skills Are “Useful”

Granted, I don’t expect the WoW team to use the game’s tutorial island as a chance to say “Some of these character skills we designed really suck,” but there has to be a better way to teach players about skill management.

WoW Shadowlands’ level squish means that you’ll learn new skills faster than ever. That’s nice for those who hate the grind, but it won’t be long before you’ve got a toolbar full of skills that you’re struggling to manage.

The fact of the matter is that there are some class skills you’ll almost never use and some skills you’ll certainly never use unless you’re playing a certain specialization. Don’t feel like you’ve got to find a way to bind every new skill you learn or that it needs to immediately be incorporated into your rotation.

Pretty Much Everything About Professions

I’m not sure how Exile’s Reach would even deal with a topic as complex as professions, but it would be nice if the opening island at least touched upon this subject.

World of Warcraft lets you learn two primary professions as well as a few secondary professions. While it’s certainly possible to reach the game’s level cap without even bothering with professions, knowing how to gather resources or craft equipment can make the leveling experience much easier/more enjoyable.

At the very least, you’ll want to learn fishing and cooking just in case you ever need them. It’s also not a bad idea to learn at least one gathering profession early on (such as mining or herbalism) as it’s easier to level those as you progress.

How Dungeon Loot Works

While I feel like the dungeon at the end of Exile’s Reach does a pretty good job of teaching you most of the basics, it falls woefully short when it comes to explaining dungeon loot.

WoW’s basic dungeon loot system (known as “Personal Loot”) is a controversial mechanic that essentially hands you an item at random after you’ve beaten a dungeon boss. The “problem” is that everyone has an equal chance of receiving an item. That means that it’s theoretically just as possible to receive multiple items from a dungeon run as it is to receive no items at all.

The first time you run through one of WoW’s dungeons and receive nothing more than gold, you’re going to have questions. It’d be nice if Exile’s Reach answered some of them.

Managing Your Talents

Talents are the backbone of character building and leveling in World of Warcraft. That’s why it’s a little odd that Exile’s Reach ends right before you unlock your first talent point.

In Shadowlands, you’ll unlock talent points starting at level 15. You’ll spend these points to unlock one of three new talents that are offered to you every five levels. The talents you’re offered will vary based on your class/specialization, and you’ll only be able to choose one talent from a given tier at any time. There are also special PvP talents to choose from which only apply in PvP matches.

While modern WoW lets you easily change and manage your talents in any area where your character is rested, it would have been nice if Exile’s Reach let you experiment with that first talent tier a little more to gain a better understanding of this vital mechanic.

Learning New Mount Levels

Exile’s Reach will walk you through unlocking and using your first mount, but you’ll likely leave the starting area with more than a few unanswered questions about how mount progression works in WoW.

As you level up in WoW, you’ll also gain the ability to unlock new mount mastery levels. Up to a point, these levels just allow you to ride your ground mount faster, but you’ll eventually be able to unlock flying mounts. Even then, though, every zone has its own flight skill, which means that learning how to use a flying mount in one zone doesn’t mean you’ll be able to fly in another.

This is all pretty basic information for WoW veterans, but anyone who is just starting out will likely not understand you’ll need to upgrade your riding ability multiple times and that certain restrictions apply to certain zones.

Flight Paths

Considering that Exile’s Reach is focused on teaching the absolute basics of WoW, I’m not sure why the game’s tutorial island doesn’t teach you a little more about flight paths.

Flight paths in WoW allow you to quickly move between important points in zones and across the world. Before you can fly to a certain point, though, you’ll need to unlock it by talking to that area’s flight master. Flight masters are typically located near zone hubs and are easily identifiable thanks to the green exclamation point floating above their heads.

This is another one of those elements that the game does expand upon after you leave Exile’s Reach, but it feels like this mechanic should have been better incorporated in the starting area.

How to Really Play Your Class Specialization

WoW does offer basic instructions for choosing a class specialization, but if you’re truly new to the game, you’re going to be thrown into the world drastically uninformed about how specs actually work.

While some class specializations (such as Mages) really aren’t that complicated in terms of how they differ from one another, other classes (such Druids or Shamans) offer completely different play styles based on your chosen specialization. Because of that, Exile’s Reach doesn’t really offer an equal learning experience for all classes, despite its efforts to change the quests slightly based on your class selection.

Players shouldn’t be told everything about specializations at Exile’s Reach, but even giving players a little area designed to teach the basics of each spec would be a drastic improvement.

The Bank

Banks are a cornerstone of the WoW experience, but they’re not referenced at all in the Exile’s Reach portion of the game.

Banks are admittedly pretty simple (you just use them to store your excess items), but considering that Exile’s Reach is designed to teach you concepts as simple as accepting a quest, it would have been nice if the universal starting area referenced them in some way.

Long story short, don’t start deleting or selling all of your items just to make room in your bags and learn to love hoarding things in banks if you suspect they may be useful to you down the line.

The Auction House

While you probably won’t (or maybe even shouldn’t) be using auction houses until later in your WoW adventure, it would have been nice if Exile’s Reach offered a simplified version of the auction house concept to at least teach you about the things they can do for you.

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Because Exile’s Reach doesn’t cover this topic, it’s a good idea to head straight to the auction house in a major city and at least explore what current market prices look like. I don’t generally recommend buying gear off the auction house until later in the game, but gaining a better understanding of what the real value of an item on the open market is versus what you can get for selling it to a vendor will help you better manage your inventory and funds.

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