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zincviolet2 · 2 years

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Minecraft Java Download: Do You Really Need It? This May Assist You To Decide!

Earlier this week we had been handled to the information that Trion Worlds is going to offer free character transfers between "choose servers" once Update 1.Three hits. That includes the newest recreation updates like Update Aquatic, cross-platform play and access to a large number of content via the Minecraft Market. Many texture packs are on the market to you to definitely obtain and make use of in your Minecraft game. Dangerous time in Minecraft. If that is your first time creating a Realm, click on click on to start your new Realm. He jogs my memory of Stitch from Lilo and Stitch, and every time I kill an enemy champion I scream out "CUTE AND FLUFFY!" and he summons a shark to eat people's faces. Some servers could prefer types of fight which are wildly completely different from commonplace Minecraft PvP- a common approach entails utilizing End Crystal explosions to kill gamers shortly. This cool Minecraft mod additionally offers you with P2P tunnels, which can be utilized to transmit indicators, gadgets, fluids and other things over widespread cables.

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We'll make it quick. Snap's prototype AR glasses, or glasses like the Nreal Light, present how a lot work is still wanted to make them a purchase order you'd even consider. This Minecraft exploration mod adds plenty of nice trying biomes to the sport with new plants, flowers, timber, constructing blocks, mobs, ores, and much more! It makes exploration rather more simplistic. The human element is much more fascinating, way more compelling, and definitely extra difficult than anything a recreation designer can code. You've more than a number of options for Minecraft Multiplayer; a few of which require an web connection, whereas you'll be able to play different methods offline and from the same room. If you are more a fan of fantasy RPG video games than survival games, this is the mod for you. The game also has a inventive mode if you do not want to deal with survival. Alliances might be risky to affix due to frequent bouts of open warfare between alliances, but your probabilities of survival as a part of a bunch are significantly higher than they are if you are alone. On account of X-ray clients, your base will virtually actually be griefed whether it is near highly populated areas or for those who fail to cowl your tracks.

It may be worth considering the opportunity of taking on a wholly nomadic way of life, as the one way to really keep away from having a base griefed is not to have a permanent base at all. You should undoubtedly construct your base as far away from spawn as potential (no fewer than 10,000 blocks away, although even this might not be ample on heavily populated servers), conceal it, and use ender chests to forestall your items from being stolen when the bottom is griefed. Gamers with a foul popularity are vulnerable to being repeatedly griefed. As each human being is unique in nature and as everyone's taste differs from one to a different, due to this fact, each person thinks in his or her personal method. On segmentation.. One thing I've undoubtedly noticed since we acquired Rift off the bottom - is that a lot of people use "PvP Participant" as if it was a single minded segment that is easy to deal with, "if solely we would hear!" I am going to use a completely unfair and exaggerated example just for illustration's sake - It is nearly like referring to "The Liquid Drinking Public" and attempting to come up with one answer that matches them all - whereas forgetting that even amongst themselves, there are lots of, many contradictory opinions.

#Mc List #MINECRAFT SERVER LIST

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omg-im-such-a-masochist · 3 years

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THINGS YOU MAKE ME DO

Prompt: Inspired by the song Things You Make Me Do by Devil Doll

Word Count: Long-ish

Pairings: Roman Reigns x Reader

Warnings: +18, angst, heart break, manipulation

Editor: @thenightmareismyreality

Tag: @ziasaph , @marlananicole , @akiko-tanaka , @wickedsunfire , @sassymox , @nicolewoo , @saccreigns , @mindofasagittaruis , @reigns-5sos , @drewmcintyrekoccsrocbwdgfan , @auawdo , @lustyromantic , @babydee17 , @yungbludjazz360

Notes: This song is amazing, this band is amazing and I missed my main man, so enjoy lol ❤️ If you’d like to check out my other works, you can find them on my Masterlist 😉

I've got a secret plan to love you and I do so night and day

And I always stand right by you, have your back in every way

And you wish that I could save you and I wish that I could too

But if you cause too much pain for me I'll leave if I have to

He stood up from the hotel bed and began to get dressed, and as she stared at his figure, she wondered until when was she going to put up with this

But I think about you constantly all through the night and day

And I toss and turn in bed at night and hope it goes away

But it never does and when I wake and you're not next to me

I remember where you are, I hope your girl forgives me

“Are you leaving already?” She asked

“You know I have to” He looked at her “We can’t have people suspecting this” He motioned to the space between them “I would be fucked if they did” He scoffed

“Excuse me?” She asked, hurt by his lack of emotion “What do you mean by that?” She couldn’t have felt more offended, even if she chose to

“What, Y/N? Look, we fuck every once in a while, we have a good time but that’s it!” He chuckled, as he tied up his sneakers “Don’t try to turn this into something that it isn’t” He stood up

“Like what?” She asked angrily

“You know what? I’ll see you later” He winked, and walked out the door of her hotel room

Do I need you?

You seem to think I do

Can't seem to see through anything that you do

Oh, ooohhh, the things you make me do

Y/N was walking down one of the dark arena hallways, when a pair of strong arms grabbed her from behind, pushing her inside of one of the locker rooms

“Aren’t you gonna talk to me?” He asked, with his lips glued to her ear

“No, and let me go! I have work to do”

“You’ve been ignoring me for three days straight! Why is that, baby?” As his lips made contact with her skin, trailing down her neck

“Roman, just let me go. This is not the place and DEFINITELY not the time”

“I miss you” He whispered “Y/N, baby, you hurt my feelings when you treat me like this” He buried his face in her hair and caressed her body softly

She scoffed “As if you had any”

“Hey” He turned her around so she could face him “What’s the attitude about?” He looked into her eyes, and saw the resentment they held

“Is this because of what I said in your hotel room?” He sighed

“If you know, then why play dumb?” She spat

“C’mon Y/N, I’m sorry, ok?” He hugged her waist “I didn’t mean to hurt you. I’m an asshole! Please forgive me?” He pouted “Please, baby? I hate when you get mad at me” He begged with his eyes

“You don’t deserve it, you know” She crossed her arms in front of her chest

“Don’t be such a bitter bitch...It’s hotter when you’re MY bitch” He teased

When she tried to hold back a cackle, he knew he had won again

I should know better than to follow your lead wherever you go

Through the raging rivers, stones and alley ways we go

Sometimes I wonder if you really know where you take me to

But your radio is on so loud I can't get through to you

But if everything's ok with you then it's ok with me

You are such a little boy with you're big philosophy

But I'm not a little girl, I am a woman, don't you know?

I'm packing up my toys, I don't want to play anymore

“I don’t want to do this anymore” She said, watching him turn around and get dressed again - as he did every time.

“What are you talking about?” He frowned, as he looked for his shirt

“I don’t want to see you anymore, I’m done with this bullshit”

“You’re breaking up with me?” He laughed, in disbelief

“Well technically, in order to break up with someone you need to be with them in the first place”

“Not this again” He rolled his eyes in annoyance “Why do you always have to get feelings involved, huh? For fucks sake, can’t you ENJOY a one night stand like everybody else?” He threw his hands up in the air

“One night stand?” She widened her eyes in surprise “Do you call fucking almost every night for two years straight a ‘one night stand’ ?”

“Sexually speaking, we couldn't be any more compatible if we tried - so what the fuck do you want me to do? You’re a good fuck to me and I’m a good fuck to you! Why would I search in clubs and bars for something I have next door?” He tugged on his hair out of frustration “I don’t have to date you to like you, Y/N” He sat down beside her on the bed, and caressed her face delicately “You know I like you, don’t you, baby?”

“Yeah I know” She slapped his hand away “You like me when your dick is inside of me”

“Y/N” He sighed

“Get the fuck out” She kicked him on his lower back, in a repeated attempt to shove him out of the bed “Get out!”

“I’m leaving!” He said, grabbing his jacket

“Out!” She threw one of her heels at him, and her aim made it so it nailed him sharply in the hip

“I said I’m fucking leaving” He grabbed the door handle “Crazy bitch!” He said loudly enough for her to hear as he left

But what he didn’t hear were her sobs, which lasted the entire weekend

Do I need you?

You seem to think I do

Can't seem to see through anything that you do

Oh, ooohhh, the things you make me do

Six months had passed. Y/N had transferred to Smackdown, leaving Roman and all of their bitter memories together with Monday Night Raw, and for once in her life, is truly happy. That night, as she approached her car in the parking lot, she spotted none other than Roman himself leaning against the drivers’ door of her vehicle

And how can you smile at me when you know just what you can do

And it's not fair to me cause you know that I can never have you

How can you make me feel so good but then you make me feel so bad

You know that you are the baddest love that I've never had

“Hi, baby” He smiled sheepishly “I missed you” He tried to hug her, but she dismissed him

*It’s not going to be as easy as I thought* He mentally said to himself

“Can I talk to you for a minute? I wanted to apolog-”

“What are you doing here, Roman?” She asked sharply

“I got transferred to Smackdown”

“Good for you” She nodded once and continued “Now, if you excuse me, I’m really tired” She pointed towards her car

“Y/N” He cupped her cheek “Please, just hear me out? I regret everything I did, baby. I mean it! I should have never treated you like that, you don’t deserve it! You’re a beautiful, smart, sexy woman and it was a huge mistake to take you for granted” He brushed his lips softly against hers “Tell me you forgive me, I beg you, please, baby”

“I forgive you and then what? Everything goes back to what it used to be? You treating me like shit? No, Roman. This is not fair to me” She shook her head

“And you’re absolutely right! That will NEVER happen again! I give you my word, baby. Just give me one more chance and I promise I’ll make it up to you” His long fingers stroked the back of her neck lightly, making her miss what they once had.

That was until her phone rang, and the first chords of the Davy Jones Locket song echoed through the parking lot, remembering her of what she had now.

She smiled, as the song continued “No, I have to go” She took his hand off her face and entered the car to go meet the owner of that ringtone.

I've got my own man now, he treats me the way that you never could

And now you're all like "I should’ve, could’ve, would..."

But I'm afraid you've missed the train, you were too busy playing games

And now our story comes to an end, you ain't my lover or my friend

And when I am walking down the aisle oh so happily

Then you'll be saying "it could’ve, should’ve been me."

“Rumor has it, you’re getting married” Roman said, leaning against her office’s door

“Wow, news travels fast in this business, huh?” She answered, not paying too

much attention to him

“Can I see the ring?”

“Why? Want to buy a new one for your wife?” She scoffed

He decided to ignore her tone “Can I know who the lucky guy is?”

“Will it change anything if you do?” She continued to read her papers

“Can you stop answering my questions with other questions?”

“Will you stop asking me personal questions then?”

He chuckled softly “I missed that acid humor of yours”

“What do you want Roman?” She glared at him

“Your happiness” But this time, he meant it

“Now, that’s a bad taste joke” She laughed bitterly

“I know you don’t believe me, but I do”

“Right” She said dismissively

“Can you tell me who it is?”

“I figure, if you know I’m getting married then you also know who the groom is. Why hear old news again?”

“It’s Drew, isn’t it?” He asked defeatedly

She sighed “Yes, Roman. It’s Drew, are you happy now?”

“When is the wedding?”

“October. Why are you suddenly so interested in my love life?”

“I need to know how much time I have to kidnap you before you commit the biggest mistake of your life” He joked, but deep down, he meant it

“I’m pretty sure I’ve already committed that one” She said, intentionally making eye contact with him

“I love you, Y/N. Always have”

“You have a funny way of showing it” She murmured

“I’m sorry, babe...but I felt trapped. I didn’t knew how to express what I was feeling and I was so confused” He locked his gaze with hers “I would do everything different now, I swear I would”

She ignored his pleading eyes, and returned her gaze to her paperwork “I’m afraid that time is gone, Roman...There’s nothing left to do”

If you need me, I will not hear thee

Stay away from me, trying to decieve me

Oh, oh, ohhh the things you make me do

Oh the things you'll never make me do

Oh the things you’ll never make me do

Roses are red, violets are blue and so are you

One year later, Y/N is gathering her personal belongings from her office, her pregnancy doesn’t allow her to travel with the company any more, so she’s going to be working only from her home office for the foreseeable future. A knock on her door made her look up

“I heard the stork will be visiting you soon” Roman said

“Yeah, apparently she will”

“How far along are you?” He approached her carefully

“Just turned four months”

“Baby is popping out of nowhere, huh? Until a week ago you had no bump at all, and now” He reached his hand to touch her belly, but stopped midway

“It’s okay, Ro, you can touch it” She encouraged him

He smiled widely and rested his big hand against her tiny bump

“Do you know what you’re having?” He asked softly

“Girl” She smiled brightly “Regan”

“Even got her a name already? Damn baby, you’re fast- Sorry I shouldn’t have called you that” He said weakly

“It’s ok, don’t worry about it” She tried to hide the nostalgia the pet name brought to her

“I wish...” He trailed off

“Don’t. Don’t go there, please”

“You can still run away with me, you know?” He smirked, teasingly

“I’m sure you would look great holding a female version of Drew” She tried to joke

“As long as you birth it, I don’t care who made it. Although I wish it was me” He tried, one last time

“Maybe in another life, Ro” She smirked sadly, as she reached the door

“Do you promise?” He asked

“I’ll see you around” Smiling widely, she made her way out the arena doors, leaving him behind, for the second time (in that life).

But who knows what can happen in the next one?...

Please, if you’re comfortable with it, let me know your thoughts on this? Feedbacks are always appreciated 🥰😘

#roman reigns one shot #roman reigns x reader #roman reigns #roman reigns fanfiction #roman reigns imagine #wwe x reader #wwe imagine #wwe fanfiction #wwe one shot #masochist writes #Spotify

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lyricalive · 4 years

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A soul is an electric force, full of potential energy.

——Can we find souls in unlikely places, and set them into motion?

中古技術〜 Electric Spirit Seance

#01 Lullaby of a Deserted Hell

From a bird's-eye view, the figures of two sprightly maidens would appear like dolls amidst the surrounding range of artificial mountains, a stunning silvery wasteland.

The taller of the two small-looking girls, Maribel Hearn (Merry) planted her hands on her hips as she surveyed the junk that encircled them in all directions.

– "I can't believe you managed to convince me to go dumpster-diving. Is this a step up or down from graverobbing?"

– "We didn't rob anything from the graveyard. I definitely want to find something worth taking from here, though."

– "So this is a step down."

– "Nah, it's fine. These are all things that no one wants."

– "Or things that no one wants to be seen. Of course, that means…"

– "It's the perfect place for the Secret Sealing Club!"

The club's current president, Renko Usami, pumped her fist with plenty of good cheer. Merry smiled back, although she had mixed feelings about calling a land of literal garbage home.

– "We can't just have normal dates, can we?"

Fortunately, at least, the garbage was not excessively odorous or grimy. The site was a landfill specifically for electronic waste: frayed wires, boxy television frames, old phone models of all kinds.

The time was just around sunset -- more specifically 7:42 and 33 seconds, according to Renko's discerning eyes. The mild starlight reflected off of broken LCD screens, making them appear ever so slightly less lifeless.

#02 Rigid Paradise

– "What exactly are we looking for... Let me guess. Hoping to find some retro videogames?"

– "I won't lie. That'd be great."

– "But finding both a game and the console to go with it is going to be tough."

– "Did you know, if a company manufactures more games than it can sell, they end up buried underground to get them out of circulation?"

– "How wasteful. At least they were given a proper funeral."

– "The first time this happened was long ago in another country. Thousands of unsold cartridges... Just because they weren't popular at the time, now they'll never be played. I'd love to give them a chance."

– "Hee-hee, so much for a funeral. I suppose we're not in the business of letting the dead rest in peace."

In this unique sort of graveyard, the bodies had been piling up for countless years. Most of the material would never biodegrade, so the mounds kept accumulating, one layer buried under the next. In fact, despite the oceans rising drastically over recent years, this dumping ground remained unusually high above sea level for the sole reason that its foundation was constantly being reinforced by layers of tightly packed waste.

Renko, who had taken the precaution to wear pants and gloves on this excursion, knelt down to examine a mess of circuitry at the bottom of a looser heap. Merry meanwhile nudged the tip of her shoe against the ground, pondering how deep down was the earth.

#03 Poison Body ~ Forsaken Doll

The girl in black and white impatiently murmured the time, for the fourth time that hour, before stretching her back and turning around to check on her partner.

– "Find anything interesting yet, Merry?"

Merry, who had been spacing out for some while, quickly darted her eyes around for an improvised answer. A glint of light led her gaze to a long, flat cell phone teetering unceremoniously atop of a pile.

– "This... Haven't I seen this model in advertisements recently? How did this already become trash?"

– "Oh, you know. Technology becomes out-of-date awfully quickly these days."

– "Mm. I'd like to see it as a sign of progress, but…"

– "Yeah, it's not good at all. We're in an age of quantity over quality."

Manufacturers who design their products to poor standards, so as to improve on them soon after, are akin to the type of trickster youkai that disguises itself in beggars' clothes to take advantage of others' low expectations. In this selfishly self-deprecating society, it had become a disadvantage to show one's best.

– "Everyone knows this, but thinking about it makes me so irritated."

– "Right? Humanity is really holding itself back."

– "On top of that, don't they know that this is how vengeful tsukumogami are born?"

An object that has gone unused for 100 years is believed to develop a consciousness. Some end up harmless -- but if its short life was spent being used as nothing more than throwaway capital, naturally it would make sense for it to become unhappy.

Merry laid one hand gently on the phone, as if in a gesture of sympathy.

– "Hey, be careful not to touch more than you need to. It may look clean, but the chemicals released by e-waste can still be toxic."

– "Ah, right..."

She felt a bit sheepish for needing safety lessons from Renko, of all people. But, having thought too hard about it, it became difficult for Merry to view the objects as just physical material. A great majority of one's life was lived by virtual communication, so this material had great amounts of personal information stored in it. Of course, the information's original source was in people's minds, so it's not as if it would be instantly forgotten once the plug was pulled. But there were certainly more petabytes of raw data in a square meter of this dump than a human brain could hold.

#04 Electric Heritage

– "Come to think of it, though, have you ever actually heard a story about an electronic object becoming a tsukumogami?"

– "Well, no..."

– "I have a theory about that. I don't think e-waste is even capable of that transition."

– "How do you figure?"

– "Consider the crossover of electromagnetic fields and the detection of spirits. Electricity is a simulation of life energy, almost too spot-on. Like forces repel... so true life energy can't coexist with it. Because they're flowing with this imitation power, I don't think electronics get a chance to develop real souls."

– "I see. Then, we can't properly call this a graveyard..."

– "...if these bodies were never truly alive."

– "I can't decide whether that makes me feel relieved, or lonely."

Merry let out an audible sigh against their eerily silent backdrop. Then she braced herself to deliver the next news.

– "But, if that's so... then why can I still feel something spiritual around here?"

Renko's eyes lit up instantly.

– "Do you? I was hoping you'd say that!"

– "It just started... which is odd, since we haven't covered all that much ground since getting here. It's as if a border connecting to somewhere else just opened."

– "That supports the second part of the theory. Like forces repel, but opposite forces attract. They may not have souls themselves, but these empty vessels surely attract souls."

It felt fairly certain, now that both of their minds had helped confirm it: Some spirit, human or non-human, seemed to have decided to take up residence in the wasteland. Merry took a moment to feel proud of herself for her invaluable contribution.

– "By the way, where do robots fit into your theory?"

– "Well... I mean, there's no doubt we're getting closer every day to the A.I. revolution."

– "Oh, my. I knew I should have tipped our e-waiter last time we went to that café."

– "But that's a completely different phenomenon than what births a tsukumogami, right? It has to do with the software, not the hardware."

– "Yes. Though, it would seem to imply that there is a border of 'false' and 'true' life that can be crossed..."

#05 Entrusting This World to Idols ~ Idolatrize World

– "Now all we have to do is narrow it down, and we'll --"

As if on cue, Renko's thoughts were interrupted by a loud crashing sound from behind... music to her thrill-seeking ears. She whirled around to catch the culprit, her eyes fixating on Merry and the dark-colored object that rested a few paces away at her feet. The blonde girl threw her hands up in a display of innocence.

– "I didn't do it. It moved on its own! I just saw it fall out of nowhere."

Renko's attempt at a professional retort failed to conceal her excited, twitching grin.

– "Merry, Merry... This is the most basic of physics. An object can't move on its own! Unless..."

They approached the rectangular object and peered over it. It seemed to be a tablet PC, roughly twenty centimeters in length. It had landed face up, luckily enough to not have not shattered the screen, though there was a significant surface crack down its center.

– "Hm..."

– "We've ruled out tsukumogami. You think it could be... a poltergeist?"

– "I don't know. Rather than an outside force, the energy seems very contained in here."

– "So then... a spirit living inside?"

– "Something like that."

In response, the light of the screen flashed briefly on and back off.

– "Ahh! Electricity, a simulation of life energy..."

– "It also works the other way around!"

This was a very lucky revelation for the two investigators, as it would have been nearly impossible to find a compatible charging cable. In an age where each and every product was developed with its own unique cord design, this feature was marketed to consumers as a collectible game; the infinite variety, a controlled channel for creativity.

The device seemed to call out to them, understanding what they wanted. The power flashed again, on and off and on, in a quirky rhythmical pattern that almost evoked a personality.

– "We've definitely found something worth taking home!"

– "Wait. Isn't it wrong to remove a spirit from the place it's attached to? We can't just adopt a ghost like an abandoned baby."

– "Like you said, it's attached to the item, not the place. We're just fostering it for a bit before it moves on!"

– "All right... Just don't raise it to be wild like you."

– "And you, Merry, make sure you don't spoil it!"

#06 Nostalgic Blood of the East ~ Old World

The pair reached Renko's dorm with the haunted vessel tucked inconspicuously into their satchel, grateful that the spirit hadn't chosen to bind itself to a full desktop monitor or CPU instead. The question moving forward would be how to unlock its secrets.

– "How old do you think it is?"

– "Because it wasn't buried under anything, it seems like we should assume it to be fairly new. But it just feels so out of place."

– "Actually, I meant the spirit."

– "Oh."

Hand in hand with the phenomenon of planned obsolescence, the fashionable aesthetics of electronics changed as often as water under a bridge. Sleek designs were popular, then retro designs, then designs that mimicked the mimicry of two eras past, a vaguely deteriorating cycle. As a result, it was difficult to tell which era this piece of technology belonged to.

– "Remember that I saw a border open? Maybe not just the spirit, but the whole item came from somewhere else..."

They had been scrutinizing the home screen for quite some time, attempting to navigate the ancient interface, and hadn't made much headway. As far as they could tell, the data was heavily corrupted, and most of its history had been erased. They were able to access only the most basic types of apps, like the calculator and the keyboard.

– "Hey, Merry. I think we should use that other thing we picked up."

– "That? I don't even understand how we would use it..."

As evidenced by her smug grin, the more scientifically-minded of the pair had full confidence in the strange idea she was about to suggest.

#07 A Tiny, Tiny Clever Commander

– "I mean, really? A mouse?"

Renko had insisted that they bring home a wired peripheral mouse, which she had spent an extra half hour scavenging for. However, of course, the end of the cable did not match the outlet on the tablet.

Currently, she was back in the scavenging position, digging through the pile of unorganized junk that cluttered her closet (mostly books and occult items). Or rather, it looked unorganized, but she seemed to know exactly where everything was. ...Or rather, Merry concluded, it truly was unorganized, but her eyes were sharp at scanning through even a complete mess. She wondered if this small pile would ever become as large as the one at the dump.

– "A-ha, found it!"

Renko had managed to track down the very particular treasure she was seeking, the final piece of their forgathered puzzle. A small cube with many variously patterned notches rested in her open palm. The material's finishing was uncolored and plain, likely to have been produced independently with a 3D printer rather than as a commercial product.

– "W-Where did you get a thing like that?"

– "I have connections you don't know, Merry."

Merry thought she had heard this line before, and felt a bead of sweat roll down her neck just like the first time. The source was certainly shady. Universal adapters were not at all legal. Treating it like a Rubik's cube, and glancing back and forth for reference, Renko cleverly manipulated the block in her hand in ways that Merry was unable to understand.

Renko's partner, who had long embraced being an accomplice, appreciated her resourcefulness; she only wished to be kept more up to date when the other girl's mental plans ran ten steps ahead. But she supposed that this was how Renko felt in return when it came to supernatural sights that she couldn't see, so perhaps they were even.

– "Just like that? Like magic..."

– "Tell me, Merry. Can you see the border of magic and science?"

With all the pieces aligned, Renko ceremoniously linked the mouse to the tablet through the intermediary box. As a pop-up window indicated the drivers being registered, it was, they determined, a truly magical feat. The light on the screen dimmed a bit, as if the spirit were expressing slight disappointment that it was no longer their only option for a power supply.

– "Still... Better technology has been around for decades. These are so unwieldly. Does anyone use an optical mouse anymore?"

– "No, but no one's done this ritual in a long time either."

#08 No More Going Through Doors

Renko took Merry's hands in her own and conveyed them in a stack atop of the mouse. Holding this pose, Merry squinted at the screen in front of her, which displayed a neatly spaced virtual keyboard with a complete set of lettering. A mild shiver ran through her, either nervousness or excitement.

– "Hang on. This setup looks familiar somehow."

– "That's right. We're having a séance!"

Although Renko was very skilled with computers, hacking was not her expertise. She did, however, have the kind of mind that was able to think around the box, discovering back doors. The opportunity here was simple: If they couldn't reach the secrets, they would consult the only one who knew -- the spirit itself.

– "Huh!?"

– "This mouse is a perfect planchette to use as an interface. Sure, we have voice and touch technology. But you don't want the spirit to possess your actual body in order to touch the screen or activate your voice, do you?"

– "Definitely not. ...Wait, did I ever say I wanted to be the medium at all?"

Merry pulled her hands back from the mouse and saw the screen's light flicker weakly.

– "Oh, er... You're right. We didn't really decide that, did we?"

– "Mm..."

– "I think you'd be better suited, but I'll gladly go first. I've always wanted to try something like this."

Merry's eyes glazed over as she thought about the prospect of communicating with the spirit. They had assumed the sealed entity was harmless enough to bring home, but could there be some risk in directly channeling it?

Then again, what was the other option? To leave their investigation at a dead end?

You don't belong on this side of the unknown.

A faint voice bubbled up inside of Merry, almost like an intrusive thought. This had been happening to her increasingly often lately, though she always forgot about it after the fact. Because, at the same time, they certainly felt like her own feelings...

Maribel Hearn was sparked with a surge of curiosity that made her want to take the lead. These were precisely the club activities she had signed up for. How much more dangerous could it be than anything else, so long as one made sure to follow the protocols and say goodbye at the end?

– "No... I'd like to do it."

Renko blinked in surprise.

– "Really? ...Well, gee, make up your mind. You made me get all excited for myself. Go ahead, but I call next!"

#09 Shoutoku Legend ~ True Administrator

Having cleared the area and turned off all the lights, Merry sat with her back straight against a chair and took a deep breath. No candle was necessary, as the warm glow of the screen cast a ring of illumination around the table. They had thoroughly discussed the questions they desired to ask, though the words felt awkward to speak out loud. Nevertheless, the young medium opened her mouth.

– "What is... your name?"

...

The atmosphere of room was deathly still. Merry let all the muscles in her arm relax, preparing.

...

I...

– "It's working...!"

The spirit was conscious and listening. The planchette began to glide beneath Merry's loose grip, landing on the letter I. When it paused on the letter for several seconds, she clicked the mouse button to confirm before the involuntary movement slowly began again.

...FO RG OT.

– "Ah. So it's going to be up to us to give it a name."

– "Did you own this tablet?"

While Merry was lost in thought about a potential name, Renko chimed in with a question of her own from the opposite side of the table. However, the spirit seemed to hesitate in answering.

Suddenly, the other girl's focus returned. On an instinct, she broke the silence with an unexpected change of the question.

– "Does this tablet own you?"

...

YE S.

– "Huh... The tablet owns the spirit? How did that happen?"

Although Renko's words were more thinking out loud than a direct question, the spirit was responsive. Merry's hand immediately began to move.

...

SN AP.

– "Snap...? That sounds kind of scary."

– "What does that mean?"

The cursor then swerved dramatically past all the letters on the keypad and down to the app menu along the bottom edge of the screen. It hovered over an icon barely recognizable as an antique camera.

– "Ah..."

The app launched, reproducing a dark, blurry image of the table on which the device's lens was turned. Upon clicking the screen, a photograph was taken, and the damaged speaker emitted a distorted snapping sound.

– "Spirit photography!"

The two girls burst out in unison, solving the riddle simultaneously.

– "Right. We've all heard the old belief that getting a photograph taken of you might steal a piece of your soul."

– "It has some basis. If captured in a photograph by accident, a minor spirit's energy might become trapped."

Somewhere in the hidden files, such a photograph must exist, binding some foreign essence to this device. The spirit was likely eager to get free.

Merry minimized the camera app and returned to the keyboard.

– "Who took the picture?"

...

Unlike its own, this name seemed to be one the spirit knew. The pair observed with bated breath as the cursor navigated itself around the maze of letters. Ultimately, it came to a halt, and Merry clicked on the final letter.

– "...Eh? Merry, stop kidding around!"

Merry turned to her partner with a genuine, solemn expression.

– "I'm... not. I swear."

Renko's face went pale. In ink-black font, three familiar syllables stood on display beside a blinking cursor.

#10 Dream World Folklore

To disprove the influence of the ideomotor effect, they had asked the question several more times, using both girls as mediums, until the spirit ultimately stopped responding altogether.

– "Oh, no. We scared it away..."

– "Well, it did spook us first."

– "Renko... You weren't kidding about your connections, were you?"

Renko scratched her head with lingering bewilderment.

– "Is the spirit messing with us? Or could it be..."

Her gaze wandered over to the stream of occult paraphernalia still spilling out of the crack of her closet door, and she experienced a strange sense of longing. The adventurous scientist was heavily accustomed to investigating mysteries from an observational and objective point of view. Finding herself personally a step closer to the subject was a bizarre and almost gut-twisting feeling. She supposed that this was how Merry felt in return when the focus of investigations was on her own powers, so perhaps they were even. Almost.

After a few more sessions of séance, they managed to navigate to an encrypted folder. A full-screen photograph had flashed open... but, before they were able to make out any details, the tablet's power instantly cut off. Following this, it no longer responded to any input.

Their assumption would be that the spirit had been able to cross over, after deleting its digital ties to the physical container and unsealing the information it was attached to.

– "I suppose this is goodbye..."

– "Is the spirit free now?"

– "I think so."

– "That's good for it, at least."

– "Too bad for you. If we kept it, maybe it would have served as your personal shikigami."

– "Isn't that a bit cold-hearted? It was supposed to be our child!"

A shikigami is the perfect phantasmal servant. The owner may input commands, and it carries out orders with extraordinary speed and calculation. Of course, a normal computer already fulfills essentially the same purpose. Outside world humans of the modern era aren't in need of such a spirit under their possession.

Even so, the force of attraction that had drawn them to cross paths with this spirit would be a mystery to chase going forward. The two present members of the Sealing Club had a new story to tell, an urban legend that could be shared only amongst themselves.

Afterwords

Hello, this is someone who absolutely promised themself that they would publish at least one Hifuu fic per calendar year. The idea for this one began with a conversation with my real-life partner (as is usually the case of inspiration) about the excellent aesthetic of using a computer keyboard as a Ouija board. This subject in turn came up because of a "ghost" that haunts her keyboard by making a certain cryptic message appear on the screen at random times because the "." and "0" keys are in an easy position for us to accidentally press. So, this story is dedicated to our precious child, ".0-chan."

Then, while it was already being written, WBaWC came out and confirmed that a technology-themed fic would be totally appropriate, and my favorite song from the soundtrack had the perfect title to be used in it. (Also, its blatant dystopian themes justified playing up the similar themes of the Sealing Club's society even more than usual.) And yet, despite many things lining up, it almost didn't get finished in time. It's been such a busy and stressful year, which I hope gets better next year...

Another source of inspiration was the blog "Yukarisuggestion," whose portrayal I respect a lot. When they drop minor bits of supernatural trivia, it definitely feels like they are coming from the youkai sage herself, very natural to accept. I latched onto these posts in particular, finding the concept fascinating, and I only hope I interpreted it acceptably. ...I was really aiming sharply this time at the Sealing Club's conversational aesthetic of "casual confidence in super obscure things that outside listeners would hear as nonsense," so I'm afraid some parts may have crossed the border of B.S.

Also, I wonder if it's okay that the second half of the song choices are almost entirely bad puns?

ASA (Our ghost child's pen name would be "0.4" / "Rei-ten-shi"!)

Hifuu CD-style stories:

» [Tumblr] [AO3] 自封夢幻〜 Sentimental Reverie

» [Tumblr] [AO3] 陶然夢幻〜 Transcendental Revelry

» [Tumblr] [AO3] 羨望横断〜 Unenviable Crossroads

» [Tumblr] [AO3] 外来土産〜 Adventive Reminiscence

» [Tumblr] [AO3] 中古技術〜 Electric Spirit Seance

» [Tumblr] [AO3] 幻想惑星直列〜 Phantasmal Syzygy

#touhou #maribel hearn #renko usami #renmerry #fanfiction

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gamescare217 · 3 years

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How to make logitech gaming software work with g930

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sugamoonv · 5 years

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You Had To Open Your Mouth

Like A Mate Should

Summary: Namjoon and Jin see you being attacked as a godsend. You see your attack and meeting them as a series of unfortunate events. How unfortunate that you’re their mate.

Pairings: established NamJin / Namjin x Reader/ Jin x Reader

Word Count: 3,321

Masterlist > Previous > Next

The house is eerily quiet when you leave the room the next morning, the complete opposite from the loud, boisterousness of the boys you’ve already come to expect. A mop of dark hair peeks over the back of the couch as you walk into the living room. Jungkook is sitting, a small gaming device in his hands that has his whole attention.

“Where is everyone?”

The game flies from hand to hand as Jungkook jumps in his spot and loudly curses before the device finally falls onto the carpet with a dull thud. Jungkook rushes to pick up the device and he sets in on the coffee table before turning to you. He stares at you until you raise your eyebrows in a silent question and he’s reminded to speak.

“Oh, uh, Jimin and Hobi went into town. Suga’s probably still sleeping, and Tae probably went to the pond, and I um- I don’t know where Namjoon-hyung and Jin-hyung are.” He says the last bit of information as though he’s trying to keep a secret. An awkward silence blankets the both of you so your standing facing each other, eyes shifting around the room.

“I’m the one that’s bringing you back to town,” Jungkook blurts out. “Not that I asked to. That would be weird of me to ask because, you know, Jimin. Not to say that you’re not pretty-because you are- it’s just that I don’t really go that way and even if I did, it wouldn’t matter because Jin and Namjoo-wait.” The entire time Jungkook spoke, he kept his eyes to the floor and suddenly looked up as he remembered something halfway through his speel, face mortified.

You bit your lower lip before pursing your lips and standing on your tiptoes to lower yourself flat-footed again.

“....Okay. Are you good to go then?”

Jungkook rapidly nods, glad for the break in the conversation. “Are you okay to walk?”

“Uh, yeah,” you look down at your ankle mumbling, “I don’t think it’s fully healed but I should be good walking on it.”

Jungkook nods again.

You follow him out of the door onto the front porch. There’s a large space cleared that you assume is used as a lawn before the grass becomes shaded by trees. You see a large garden on one side of the yard and next to you on the porch is a dark, oak bench swing with a pastel blue cushion. You grip onto the railing as you limp down the small set of stairs onto the stone path leading into the woods. Jungkook watches from the bottom with worried eyes.

You’ve barely been walking for five minutes before you want to punch the younger man in the face. He’s already asked you about twenty times how you were feeling and if you were okay to keep walking. If it weren’t for his red face and the way his gaze would flicker to the ground whenever he caught you looking at him, you might have actually thrown hands. The tension between you and Jungkook built and there were only so many trees you could distract yourself with as you walked by.

“So how did you all meet?”

Jungkook stumbles in the path.

His lips split into a wide, nervous smile. The chubbiness of his cheeks with his slightly oversized front teeth and the softness of his nature at that second make you forget what exactly he is.

“Um, I’m half shapeshifter so my mom sent me away to school so I wouldn’t be seen in the clan and I met Taehyung there and he introduced me to everyone.” Jungkook’s eyes light up despite the heaviness of his words, perhaps from the opportunity to talk to someone new.

Jungkook takes a full breath before his face lifts and he begins speaking again. “I was really nervous at first because they were all older than me but Jin-hyung and Namjoon-hyung became like parents to me. Jin-hyung would actually drive me to school most days-Yoongi would sometimes drive me when he felt like it or he had to pick something up in town.”

Jungkook is looking at the ground as he talks but his expression is comfortable. You didn’t expect him to open up like this to you but his youthful aura begs you to stay silent and let him take advantage of you listening. Besides, it’s better than the solitary silence of the plant life around you.

Jungkook’s eyes squint in happiness as he reminisces, “It actually took me and Jimin awhile before we realized we were mates.” He looks up at you, a glint in his eyes. “I would annoy him a lot and I always looked up to him so I would copy him and for the longest time, I thought he was mated to Yoongi-hyung but then one day when he went into heat, Taehyung came running to me, yelling about Jimin was asking for me.” He laughs at the end as if he were sharing an inside joke with you.

Memories pop into your brain of the lessons your own mother taught you about werewolf mating and the brief touch on the topic in your high-school health class.

Jungkook hasn’t taken any notice to your mind drifting away. “And then it turned out that Yoongi-hyung and Hoseok-hyung were mates but they’re not as affectionate as Jimin and me and they completed their mark so they didn’t need to be around each other all the time when I joined the pack….You okay?”

Jungkook looks at you with wide, inquisitive eyes.

Your face flushes. “Yeah, I just- I just thought that it was uncommon for two werewolves that were the same gender to mate?”

If Jungkook has any issue with the word ‘werewolf’ or the question itself, he doesn’t show it. Instead, his eyes softened in understanding.

“I think it’s about the same as humans.”

“Yeah, but I thought you guys chose mates based on reproductive purposes.”

“Humans do the same thing, don’t they? And if you’re talking about us having mates based on how well we’ll be able to have children with them, then that’s a myth.” Jungkook sees your confused expression and continues on. “We don’t get to choose our mate, it’s just kind of, instinctual to us? Our nature subconsciously chooses partners it knows will most compatible with us based on scent so that doesn’t always mean whoever will give you the healthiest pups. It’s just who you’ll be most in sync with physically and emotionally, and then typically because of that our pups are extremely healthy and grow up sturdy.”

You silently nod in confirmation, absorbing all of the information thrown at you. Jungkook’s taught you more in 10 minutes than what you’ve learned about shapeshifters your whole life.

“Do you humans not feel the same connection?”

The innocence of his question draws out an unnatural amount of maternal sympathy. “Not really, no. Relationships like that usually take us a while to build.”

“In every movie with humans, they always find their mate though.”

“Yeah-those are just movies, Jungkook,” you look him in the eyes. “Nothing about them is realistic, especially the falling in love in three weeks.”

“So you’re telling me humans feel nothing when they meet their mate?”

“Nope.”

“I feel bad for Jin-hyung and Namjoon-hyung now,” Jungkook pouts at the ground and continues his trek.

Your eyebrows pinch as you follow behind him, mindful of the small boulders bulging from the section of the path you’re currently on, “Why?”

“Because Namjoon-hyung came back home when he ran into you and he couldn’t stop talking about you. I’m pretty sure him and Jin stayed up all night talking about you.”

You reach out and grab Jungkook’s arm to make him stop again. This time he looks just as confused as you do at your ministrations. “Wait, what? When did Namjoon run into me?”

“When he went into town.”

You shake your head to convey you still have no indication of when you and Namjoon crossed paths. “When did he go into town?”

Jungkook’s eyes flicker up as he thinks back a few days ago. “About two days before we found you and brought you back home.”

Your mind replays the week's events back to you until you get to the last time you were in town but your mind comes up blank. The only thing you can remember is the lunch you had with your friends and talk about the date before the date itself.

“We thought you were in the forest because you were looking for them.”

“No?” your eyebrows further deepen upon your face and Jungkook’s expression moderately shifts to mirror yours.

Both of you stand in front of each other, unsure of how to respond. Without saying anything, you come to a silent agreement when you look at your befuddled faces then with a shrug, begin walking again.

The rest of the walk is short and you and Jungkook don’t make much conversation for the remainder of it. You can’t get the thought of all that he’s said to you about Namjoon and Jin out of your head, especially the fact that you and Namjoon apparently already having had a run in before you ended up at their house.

There’s a park that the path opens into. It’s empty except for the woman jogging, pushing a stroller and another woman off in the distance untangling a leash from around the legs of her dog. The breeze is stronger here without the trees to halt it, but it’s still soft. You look behind you to see that the space you just came from is practically non-visible, as though you walked through a portal and the path was a mirage conjured up from days wandering through the woods hungry and dehydrated. But Jungkook is still standing beside you and the bandage is still snug on your ankle.

“So this is the central park. We’re pretty close to town,” Jungkook captures your attention, “You’re able to make your way back okay, right?”

“Mhmm.” You eagerly nod at him, ready to escape from the strange energy built between you two.

Jungkook takes a slow step backward, “Cool. Well-uh, stay safe and it was nice meeting you.”

He snaps his fingers and spins so he’s walking forward and you watch him disappear into the thicket back onto the pack. The moment you’re alone, the past week begins to feel like a fever dream.

Despite the plethora of questions from your friends once your phone was charged and you saw them in person and dodging demands to see pictures or souvenirs, the past two weeks have been relatively normal. Well except for the fact that no matter how busy you keep yourself, you can’t stop thinking about the pack of shifters that saved you. More specifically, Namjoon and Jin.

Jungkook’s conversation with you had been ringing in your head since the day he led you back. And the fact that he was the one to lead you back when Jin was the one that insisted that you stay. You would have thought that he would have wanted to be the one to see you off and make sure that your ankle was good before you departed for good.

You heavily sigh and drop your head back when you see the sign on the elevator letting all know that it doesn’t work. Of course, this would happen the day you have tests in all your Tuesday classes. You roll your shoulders as much as you can with the backpack containing your textbooks, planner, and laptop resting on your back.

You drudge your feet over to the paint chipped, metal door that opens to a shady staircase. You wish you could say you were the type of person who’s thighs didn’t burn after climbing three flights of stairs. The minute you enter your apartment, you throw your bag onto the small couch and make a beeline straight to your room. The promise of loose pajamas and a night in made you giddy and for tonight, you were allowing yourself a break from school.

You scroll through your social media and answer the occasional text as the characters on screen whined about the new issue of the episode. The acting was bad but the familiarity of it was comforting. You want to laugh at how close to home the current episode hits. It was a show from before the discovery of shapeshifters, where werewolves were seen as mythical commodities for entertainment and so anyone had free range to voice their interpretations.

The male lead of the show was fighting a group of people when hair started growing on his face and his eyes turned a bright yellow. As you watched the character’s claws swing at the faces of the other people, the now completely healed bite on your ankle began to ache. As though seeing an aggressive shifter on the tv screen was a trigger to your ankle, saying, “you should be in pain”.

You reach down and delicately rub the two puncture marks that were left behind. And with the reminder of your old wound comes the reminder of the creatures that caused it and the shifters that healed it. With the reminder of the boys comes the reminder of Jin and Namjoon. All that they did to help you and how they wanted to get to know you, the conversation you had with Jungkook about them and the conversation you had with Namjoon before you left.

A strange feeling bubbled inside your chest; something akin to guilt mixed another feeling you can’t quite determine. Now instead of your attention being put on the show playing in front of you and your phone face down on the arm of the couch, your legs are restless to move.

You sit up straight, leg bouncing and face screwed in concentration as you think to yourself.

“This is such a bad idea.”

You were able to maneuver through the park with the night sky blackening the sidewalk that ran through it. Yet here you are, in front of the mysterious hidden path Jungkook had led you out of some time before. You can’t see where the entrance is but you know you’re in the right space. The emptiness of the park around you is eery and sends chills up and down your spine so you have to swallow the thoughts of all the ways you could die being alone outside at night. What you wouldn’t give to see the woman from before whose dog got itself caught in its leash.

You almost turn around and go back home. In fact, you do that a couple times. Caught in a loop where you stare at the path then go to walk away only to swallow your nerves and turn back and be caught frozen before repeating again. You take in a deep breath and puff your chest to prepare to walk into the dark, unknown path when all of a sudden a loud rustling comes from in front of you and true fear clogs your throat. You want to turn around again but now you can’t.

You keep your muscles tense despite their natural shaking to prepare themselves to help you flee. Your heart has dropped into your stomach and your mouth is dry as the rustling grows louder and your mind conjures up images of red eyes peering from behind the fauna. You feel the phantom sensation of blood running down your ankle and you want so badly to look down to see if the intense ache felt is real.

“Y/N?”

If it weren’t for Jin saying your name, you would have no idea who’s standing in front of you due to the tears blurring your vision. Your diaphragm reanimates, allowing your lungs to expand and take in a deep breath of air that somewhat immediately stops the dizziness in your head.

“What the hell Jin? What are you doing here?”

“What’s wrong? Did something happen?”

Each of your words become jumbled as you speak over one another. Jin reaches forward and places his hands on your upper arms as he checks over you for any injuries. You take a step back out of his grasp and his hands drop to his sides, but his eyes remain concerned on you.

“You scared me! Why are you even here!?” you scold Jin and place a hand on your chest over your frantically beating heart.

“I’m sorry. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Why are you here?” you repeat yourself, exasperated and drop your hand from your chest.

Under the dim street lamp, you can see a blush forming on Jin, starting from his neck and coloring his face.

“There was something I needed to do,” Jin tries to deflect the question, “Why are you here?”

You don’t want to admit that the reason you looked for the path to their house was to see them. Admittedly, sputtering at Jin’s question probably didn’t make you seem un-suspicious.

“It doesn’t matter why I’m here. What is it you needed to do at 11 o’clock at night?”

Feeding into this game of deflection probably didn’t help your case either.

Jin rapidly blinks as he formulates what answer to give you. Eventually, he resigns himself to telling you the truth and squares his shoulders to make himself appear taller and more confident. “I was looking for you actually.”

“Why?”

Jin sharply inhales then clears his throat a few times. His shoulders now appear more tense and uncomfortable than those of a confident man.

“I wanted to ask you on a date.”

Your lips slightly part as you gape at him. Nervous energy fills the quiet air and Jin shifts from foot to foot as he watches and waits for a response. His eyes have begun to rapidly blink again.

“You came all the way here to ask me on a date!?” your hands thread themselves through your hair and you half spin away from Jin. “You walked all the way here at nearly midnight so you could ask me on a date!? You don’t even know where I live! How were you going to find me? What were you even thinking? Are you insane!”

Jin visibly flinches back as each question is thrown at him and by the time you run out of breath, his face is a raging red and his eyes are wide. His lips move on their own accord trying to speak the words caught in his throat.

At last, he’s finally able to respond to you staring at him aghast.

“I know Jungkook told you how mating works and I just couldn’t let this be a missed opportunity.” Jin goes from bordering on terrified to pleading. “Let me and Namjoon take you o just one date,” when he sees your eyes grow wider, he quickly corrects himself, “Just me! Let me take you on a date. I promise you won’t regret it and if you do, I’ll leave you alone and you can completely forget about me.”

Jin takes a hesitant step towards you so he’s almost directly under the dim light. His eyes softly bore into yours. His voice becomes soft as he drops it to whisper, “Please.”

It feels as though your mind is completely blank. You never expected anything that happened tonight to happen and yet you’re even more surprised by Jin’s appearance and request. It seems to be a pattern with him and the other boys to make every interaction with them feel like something straight from a movie. And you don’t know whether it’s the way the light hits Jin’s face or the fact that your brain hasn’t fully comprehended what he asked, but you nod yes. You don’t exactly mind the fluttering of butterflies in your stomach when he smiles at you as though you made him the richest man on Earth.

Tags: @detectivebourbon @omgsuperstarg @eshika0102 @delightfulyoongi @boononx

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ilu-writes · 5 years

Text

Hello to Hades

Days and Nights (solangelo)

Rating: G | Warnings: None

AO3 | FF.net |

Prev | x | Next

Will only has one request to make of his boyfriend. Unfortunately, Nico’s not as eager. (Or, the one where Will finally meets Hades and Persephone.) It’s a long one, sorry!

“What?” Nico stared at the boy in front of him.

“You heard what I said.”

“I’m hoping I misunderstood it. You want me to tell my dad that we’re dating?”

“It’s not that big of a deal.” Mumbled Will, absentmindedly tracing shapes in the grass. “Couples introduce each other to their parents. It’s just… a thing.”

“Most couples’ parents aren’t the god of the underworld.” Pointed out Nico.

“My dad’s Apollo, I’m not exactly new to meeting gods.” Fired Back, Will, and Nico rolled his eyes.

“Not the point.”

“Then what is the point?”

“I just- why is it so important for you to meet him?”

“It’s not, I guess.” Mumbled Will, glancing away. They were currently sitting on top of the hills by the strawberry fields, one of the only places that was empty while most people were training at the camp. He could see some campers having a game of basketball on the court.

“Are you embarrassed to have me meet him?” Will blurted out, then winced. He wasn’t usually so insecure when it came to this kind of stuff.

“Yes,” said Nico bluntly, and Will turned towards him so fast he was pretty sure he got whiplash. Before he could say anything, Nico held up his hands. “Not of you, of H- of my dad. And Pers- ah, my stepmother isn’t great either.”

Will, felt relief bubbling in his chest, and actually let out a soft laugh.

“That’s what’s stressing you out? Everyone has embarrassing families.”

“Not like mine.” Grumbled Nico, tugging at the blades of grass around them.

“I don’t care if they do something embarrassing, or whatever you’re worried about.” Will tried to reassure him, still smiling a little. “I just want to, y’know, meet them. I feel like we’re at that kind of stage in our relationship, all things considered.”

Nico’s cheeks flushed at the mention of their relationship, but he ignored it. “I know you won’t, but you’re-“ He struggled for a second for the words. “You’re- you’re just really sunny.”

“Sunny?” Repeated Will after a beat, raising his eyebrow. Nico sighed and dropped the grass blades he’d been pulling.

“You know what I mean. You’re all bright, and cheery, you know? And H- my father is the embodiment of darkness and gloominess. You’re, like, the least compatible people on earth.”

“So, you think he won’t like me?”

“He doesn’t really like anyone. I just- I think it’s going to be hard for you two to actually get along.”

Will considered that for a second. Technically, Nico had a point, he was the polar opposite of everything Hades stood for. But. “You like me.” He pointed out, and Nico rolled his eyes.

“Less and less by the second.” He mumbled, but in a way that clearly told Will he was kidding. The blonde sighed.

“Does it even matter that much if your dad doesn’t like me?” He asked finally, and Nico furrowed his brow.

“Not really. I don’t need his permission, or anything, I don’t care, I just- I don’t know. I don’t want to introduce you to someone who might not like you. It’s not fun.”

Oh. So all this was because he was trying to… protect Will?

Alright. Will could work with that.

“I appreciate that. Genuinely. But, Nico-“ here, he leaned forward, balancing his hands on either side of the other boys lap. “I don’t want to avoid it forever. Isn’t it better to get it over with?”

“… I guess.” Said Nico, shifting uncomfortably at the closeness and how it triggered a swarm of skeletal butterflies in his stomach.

“It’s just, meeting people’s parents is a big stage in people’s relationships. And I want to do that. With you. Awkwardness and all.”

There was a pause, while Nico took in what he said. Will could practically see the wheels turning in his brain. Then the other boy narrowed his eyes.

“Fine.” He groaned, rolling his eyes. “If it’s genuinely important to you, fine. You can meet my father.”

Will’s face lit up. “Thank you!” He blurted, leaning forward to press his lips against Nico’s quickly. “It really is.”

“I’m pretty sure this counts as a manipulation tactic.” Mumbled Nico, but he pressed his lips against Will’s again, and moved to cup his face.

Will found himself sinking into the kiss for a few seconds, before he remembered something and broke it.

“I have to be at the infirmary at half past.”

“That’s fine.” Said Nico, glancing at his watch. “You have four minutes.”

Will couldn’t argue with that logic. Grinning, he moved forward to kiss Nico again.

The next day, Nico was a lot more nervous than usual as he walked through the underworld. He had to force himself to take it easy and focus on matching Will’s pace. There was some part of him that was worried that if he lost track of the blonde for even a couple of seconds, something could happen to him. Which was stupid, he knew that, but the last time he’d taken someone into the underworld… Well, he was just glad Percy had forgiven him.

It didn’t help that he was trying to give Tartarus’ pit a wide berth, which only increased the amount of time they spent wandering around.

“So don’t take anything he says seriously.” He finished, toying with the handle of his sword.

“I know,” sighed Will, looking around them. “You’ve told me like a million times.”

“Just making sure you know.”

Will was starting to understand exactly how unlike him this place was. They’d been underground for at least twenty minutes now, walking through the winding back tunnels. The only light came from bright torches at regular intervals along the tightly packed dirt wall. He’d entirely lost his sense of direction, but he was pretty sure they’d gone back on themselves at least three times.

At the very least, Nico seemed to know exactly where he was going, not hesitating at a single cross-road.

Will tried to imagine spending all his time down here, and shivered. It was too damp, too dark, too many miles away from the sun- he could barely handle winter, let alone living underground.

He shivered, and Nico immediately stopped and looked at him. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Will assured him, immediately, but the other boy didn’t look convinced.

“Alright,” he said after a few seconds, letting it go. “They’re right through here.”

He pointed at a dead end.

Will wondered if it would be rude to ask how they were going to go through a solid wall. “They do know I’m coming, right?” He asked instead, crossing his arms to try and warm them up. Nico gave a distracted nod.

“I told them I was bringing someone… important.” He replied, although the slight uncertainty in his voice wasn’t comforting. “Are you ready?”

“Yep,” Will grinned, because it seemed like the best response. Nico placed his hand on the wall, and it melted away.

Behind it was what looked like a ballroom, with an impossibly high roof, towering stone arches, and huge picture windows. Brightly coloured honeysuckle and roses were spreading up the wall, curving around the columns, and flower beds filled with blooming flowers lined the walls. The chandelier in the centre was designed to look like an intricate, glowing root system. Possibly the most surprising part was that the windows clearly showed the upper world as opposed to the underworld, with beautiful arcing scenery that looked different in every single one.

“Wow,” breathed Will, who couldn’t think of anything else to say.

“Welcome to Persephone’s hall,” sighed Nico. The impressiveness had long since worn off on him.

A women who Will hadn’t noticed before stood up from examining some of the plants. She was clearly a goddess, and a beautiful one at that, with vibrant, flowing black hair and impossibly bright eyes. Her dress was full of bright, flowery colours that seemed to shift and flow into one another.

Will leaned towards Nico. “Persephone?” He asked, softly.

“The one and only.”

“Greetings!” Persephone turned to them and smiled. Her and Nico had gotten onto much better terms with each other, and although they still had the odd corn-plant moment, they’d started acting more like stepmother and stepson. Or, as close as they could get to it, given the situation. “I haven’t seen you in an age! And this must be your very important guest, hm?”

She turned to look directly Will, and he shifted under the weight of her gaze. He may have been exaggerating when he’d said he was good at meeting gods. It was a lot easier when he was in full medic mode.

May as well start with the basics, he decided.

“Hi. I’m Will.” He introduced, smiling.

“Of course!” Persephone waved her hands delightedly, and flowers appeared out of no where, floating in the air next to her. “I’m afraid you caught me in the middle of my flower preparations. I mean, I’d much rather be up there, since it’s summer and all, but I decided to stay down here for the night, since Nico had something important to say.”

She plucked the flowers out of mid-air, and pressed them into a surprised Will’s arms. “Hold these, won’t you? This place is a disaster.”

“The hall?” Asked Will, without really meaning to, but he was surprised.

“You see it too?” Persephone turned to him, sounding relieved. “It’s awful, isn’t it? I mean, really, bluebells next to coreopsis? Spring and Summer should be kept far apart, not to mention the blatant clash in colours.”

“Um,” Said Will, feeling himself heat up with embarrassment. He glanced down at his fingers, which were stating to glow softly.

“At lest he tried.” Muttered Nico, sounding unamused.

“Nonsense, I know he’s awful at this stuff, but still, the lack of taste-“ She cut herself off with a roll of her eyes. “You get it, right-“ She cut herself off midsentence when she looked at Will. Nico followed her gaze, and raised an eyebrow.

“Um,” said Will, his voice muffled through some very overgrown flowers.

“Wow,” said Persephone, looking mildly impressed. She clapped her hands and the flowers disappeared, much to Will’s relief. “Those are some good green fingers you’ve got there. Are you one of my mothers?”

“Oh- no,” began Will, but before he could continue, Persephone made a sound of acknowledgement and turned back to her flowers. He looked at Nico, who still had a bemused expression on his face. “It’s the sun,” Will whispered softly. “I guess down here, it’s even stronger than up there.”

“I guess that makes sense.” Said Nico, furrowing his brow. “Maybe. Does it?”

“Will!” Persephone called to him before he could answer, and he turned to look at her. She had a look of intense concentration on her face as she stared at one of the flowerbeds. “Since you’re clearly someone with some knowledge about plants – would you put the asters here instead of the bluebells?” She asked, before continuing on without letting him answer. “Oh, you’re right, of course, much too similar. How about a hint of frangipani?”

She snapped her fingers, and the bluebells were replaced with much smaller pink and white flowers.

“They both look lovely.” Said Will awkwardly. The only plants he knew about were medicinal ones.

“Apart, yes. But they don’t really set each other off, do they? That’s what flower arrangements all about, at it’s core. Maybe a sprig of-“

“Leave the poor boy alone, Persephone.” Said a deep voice nearby, and Will was suddenly glad his nerves were so good, because otherwise he would’ve jumped out of his skin. As it was, he limited his reaction to a jerky head movement to look at where Hades had just materialised.

Will wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but it wasn’t this. The god was dressed in simple black robes, his hood pushed back to reveal closely cropped black hair and impossibly dark eyes. Will’s heart stuttered a little in his chest.

“I am not scaring him!” Argued Persephone, looking offended. “We’re talking about flower arrangements! And really, who could blame us-“

“I thought you would like the flowers.” Complained Hades. “They were meant to be a gift to you.”

“I appreciate the thought, but it looked like it was pieced together by a blind skeleton-“ She cut herself off by taking a deep breath. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter. Nico’s here.”

Hades turned to them, seeming to realise they were there for the first time.

“Father.” Said Nico, a little stiffly.

“Nico. Who’s your- what did you call it? ‘Important visitor’?”

“Uh-“ Nico’s cheeks darkened a little, and Will shot him a comforting look.

“Hi, I’m Will,” He introduced himself, smiling.

“He’s, uh- He’s my… you know. Boyfriend.” Nico managed to get out, before falling silent and shifting uncomfortably.

“Boyfriend?” Repeated Hades, looking Will up and down. The blonde resisted the urge to curl into himself.

“Hi,” he said again, softer this time.

“Oh, isn’t young love so romantic?” Cooed Persephone, clapping her hands together.

“Is it?” Asked Hades, raising an eyebrow, and his wife rolled her eyes.

“Yes. And the two of you must be starving, here-“ She waved her hand, and a huge table full of food materialised in the centre of the room. “Let us eat.”

Will hesitated, but Nico walked straight towards the table, shooting him a reassuring look as he went. “Don’t worry, you can eat this food without getting stuck down here.”

“Yes, I’m not particularly looking to add more teenagers to this place. Not living ones, anyway.” Confirmed Hades, which wasn’t entirely reassuring, but Will followed Nico’s lead and set next to him.

“So, tell me, Will, what’s your opinion on-“

“No, Persephone.” Sighed Nico.

“But-“

“No one wants to talk about flower arrangements.”

Will was tempted to disagree, if only to keep them from getting blasted into atoms, but Persephone just huffed.

“Well, maybe if one of you did, it might brighten the place up.” She grumbled. Hades frowned.

“Why would you want to brighten it?”

“Anyway-“ Nico began, but Persephone spoke over him.

“Will, I’m sure you’d agree, since your dad is the god of the sun- isn’t it horribly dark down here?”

“How do you-“ Will began, but then paused. “Uh, I mean, I think it’s quite nice the way it is.” He lied.

“Ah, you’re a son of Apollo. Well, that explains the sunshiny smell. I’ll have to disinfect the place later.” Sighed Hades. Will looked bewildered.

“You can’t stink of sunshine, father.” Said Nico, rolling his eyes.

“Well, he’s just… very bright, isn’t he? Not what I thought your type was, at all.”

“Father-“

“Why would a son of Apollo want to come into the underworld?” Asked Hades, jabbing a fork casually in his direction.

“Oh, I- uh-“ Will’s whole plan was starting to look a lot dumber now. “I wanted to meet you guys. Cause you’re Nico’s family, and that’s- that’s what couples do.”

“Aw, that’s sweet.” Smiled Persephone, brightly.

“He’s cheery, too.” Said Hades after a few seconds, clearly going for the nicest option. Will felt his cheeks flush.

“Okay,” said Nico, standing up. “Father- a word?”

Hades rolled his eyes, but stood up and followed Nico to the corner of the room, much to Will’s surprise. If anyone else talked to a god like that…

“Don’t be so shocked, sweetie.” Laughed Persephone. “You’ll get used to it soon enough! But now that we’re on our own-“ she leaned forward across the table, as if shifting into serious mode. “Have you ever considered the process flowers go through during the seasonal shift from summer to spring?”

“Um, no, I can’t say I have…” Mumbled Will.

Over in the corner of the room, Nico was arguing softly with Hades.

“The boy reeks of sunshine!” Snapped Hades, quietly. “Of course we’re going to clash!”

“You’re not clashing, you’re just not trying.” Retorted Nico. “I’m not asking you to love him, I’m not idiot, I just want you to make an effort. He is!”

“I put up with a lot when you where all over Percy Jackson, so don’t act like I don’t make an effort for you-“

Nico felt his cheeks burn. “Will isn’t like Percy-“ He began stiffly, and Hades just let out a short laugh.

“You can avoid it as much as you want, Nico, I know you were in love with the boy. I’m not stupid.”

“I was.” Said Nico, trying to supress the embarrassment filling his chest. “I was, you’re right, but this isn’t- Will isn’t like Percy.”

“How so? Because he said yes? Either way, Nico, you know I’m willing to make a lot of sacrifices for you, but I don’t understand why you’d expect me to welcome this boy into my home-“

“Because I like Will more than Percy.” He blurted, his cheeks flushing. Hades paused, and took him in.

“More than-“

“Yes. Okay? And for some reason, meeting you is a big deal to him, so just. Be nice. Please? Make an effort.”

“Fine.” Said Hades, after a second, sounding annoyed but looking bemused.

“Thank you.” Said Nico, awkwardly, and they both turned towards the table. When he took in the scene in front of him, he almost wished he hadn’t.

“Persephone, please tell me that isn’t Will.” He said, staring at the large, overgrown sunflower balancing on the table.

“We were discussing the transition between seasons, and I thought he might want to experience it first hand!” She said, smiling.

“So you turned him into a sunflower?” Said Nico, incredulously. “Turn him back!”

“But the seasons haven’t changed yet!” Persephone pouted. “It’ll only take, like, a month for him to get the full experience-“

“My boyfriend is not staying as a sunflower for a month.” Snapped Nico. “Turn. Him. Back.”

“But I-“

“Persephone.”

“Fine!” She huffed indignantly, snapping her fingers. The plant on the table morphed into a very bewildered looking Will.

“I- I- Wha- I don’t-“

“My lovely stepmother turned you into a plant.” Muttered Nico, stepping closer to the table. “Take a deep breath.”

“A-a plant?” He repeated, frowning.

“A sunflower.” Hades butted in. “Fitting, I suppose. Anyway-“ He coughed as he caught Nico’s eye. “Persephone, don’t you have anything to say to our guest?”

“Don’t treat me like a child.” She muttered, before sighing. “I’m sorry I turned you into a sunflower.”

“Uh,” Will blinked, hard, trying to pull himself together. His head was still scrambled. “Um, it’s fine?”

“Good. Now that that’s cleared up,” Hades smiled at Will, and Nico shot him a suspicious look. “Tell me, son of Apollo: why did the sun go to school.”

Will didn’t reply for a moment, too dazed to fully process what was happening, but Nico looked exasperated. “Father-“

“You wanted me to make an effort, this is me making an effort.”

“Uh, I don’t know.” Said Will finally, and Hades turned back to him and grinned.

“To make himself brighter.” He finished, looking smug. Will let out a nervous laugh.

“Okay, that’s a good one.” He grinned, starting to feel more himself. “I have one. Why-“

“Will!” Nico gave him an incredulous look, but Will ignored him.

“Why do you have to wear sunglasses when you’re hot?”

“I don’t know, why?”

“Because sun glasses make you cooler!”

Hades let out a short laugh at that, as Nico watched them blankly. “Alright. I’ve got more- why didn’t the sun go to school?”

Nico stared at Will as they walked back through the underworld.

“What?” Laughed his boyfriend.

“I’m just… shocked. I didn’t realise you knew so many awful jokes.” He said, lwtting the surprise leak into his voice.

“Please, it’s Cabin Seven culture.” Will scoffed. “I have a million more where they came from.”

“My opinion of you is changing so much.” Muttered Nico, turning away from him to pull him into the next right turn. “So much.”

“So is my opinion of Hades.” Commented Will, raising his eyebrows. “I wasn’t expecting him to know that many jokes.”

Nico shrugged. “Yeah, well, when he puts in the effort… you can see where I get my fantastic sense of humour from.”

Will grinned and linked their fingers together. “Of course.” He said, his voice dripping with a false reassurance, before their shoulders together. “It went well, though. Overall.”

“Aside from you get turned into a sunflower.”

“Aside from that. Does she do that a lot?”

“Sometimes.” Said Nico, in a tone that suggested to Will that he didn’t want to dig any further.

“Well, I guess I should avoid messing up, then.”

“You’ll be fine.” Said Nico, smirking. “But anyway – does this mean I get to meet your parents now?”

Will spun away from the other boy, breaking their hands apart and staring at him with wide eyes. “Oh, Hades no.”

#solangelo #will solace #nico di angelo #solangelo fanfiction #days and night #pjo #hoo #toa #percy jackon and the olympians #Heroes of Olympus #trials of apollo

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wings-of-a-storm · 5 years

Text

I am so behind in my scene discussions, but Friday night’s clip (aka. the start of Lucas’ hell week) literally packed a punch, so I’m jumping straight to this one first! For full impact though, I need to go back a step and set the scene.

On Thursday, Lucas said some pretty stupid, ignorant things to Mika about what it means to be gay, and Mika completely lashed out at him. Anyone feeling as stung and guilty as Lucas would want to seek out someone to comfort them and make them feel like less of a terrible person. The first person Lucas goes to is Eliott. I love that so much, I could weep. (It’s telling on another level though, because it suggests Lucas came out to Mika in part for Eliott, in case Eliott’s problem was Lucas being so in the closet…)

But Eliott crushes Lucas in his time of need with what was essentially a break up text. Now Lucas needs even more comfort. He has no choice but to finally reach out to his friends even though he had been avoiding them for so long…

Cue the start of Lucas’ Friday night hell.

(THIS IS PART 1 OF 2 BECAUSE THERE WAS JUST TOO MUCH HAPPENING IN FRIDAY’S CLIP TO ANALYSE!)

LUCAS ALONE IN A ROOM OF FRIENDS

Lucas arranged to have his friends come over that Friday night because he really needed company and comfort. The problem is, he hasn’t felt completely connected to them for a while and he feels he can’t tell them anything about the stress he has been under. It means there is only so much his friends can do for him in that moment. So even though Lucas was the one who called them to come over, he isn’t present with them in that room. His grief is too great and he can’t share it.

How powerful is the use of silence in this scene! Where we go from the rowdy atmosphere of competitive gaming to the utter white noise of Lucas’ reality. He needs his friends there for comfort, to not feel so alone, but he is so far away from them. His world is nothing but silence and that dull elongated drone; there’s no more piano music in his heart. Even when Lucas has been sad before, we’ve had piano music! But this sadness has gone beyond that into numbness and depression.

I don’t think we have ever seen Lucas look more small and vulnerable than that shot we get of him on that couch, where he is literally separate from the others and wrapped up in his hoodie for comfort. I mean, the way he is sort of slumped into himself on the couch with his hoodie covering his ears like a warm blanket... The vulnerability is off the charts; it’s so goddamn painful.

And then when you get a look at his phone screen (which he has clearly been staring at on and off the whole night!), you realise his relationship with Eliott has been so perfectly summed up on one screen: the warmth of an eager, smiley Eliott going to all sorts of lengths to spend time with Lucas -- and then a sudden barricade of silence and rejection. It is like staring at what once was and what could have been. Lucas must have read those words hundreds of times to try and figure out what went wrong and how he lost Eliott. Tonight with his friends, all he can do is continue to wonder…

ONE DEPRESSED BOY

The depressive funk Lucas has fallen into really shows in his slow amble to the fridge. He just seems so lifeless, like it’s so much effort just to cross the room. You can even hear in his voice how much effort it is to even speak. How painful was it to hear the way Lucas told Yann there was “No problem” with a voice so barely there! He can’t even lie properly anymore; his soul is just so sad and exhausted.

It reminded me straight away of Martino’s non-existent voice when he told his father he was ‘fine’ after breaking up with Nico. We’ve all been there when we’re trying so hard to repress that emotion to survive the conversation and not break down. It’s hard for the viewer to witness, and it would have been so hard for Yann to see as well.

It was so wonderful how Yann engineered the whole beer errand to get Lucas alone and finally broach the topic that something was really wrong. Yann had tried giving Lucas his space earlier, but it had clearly gotten too far now and he had to act. It is commendable that even when Lucas wasn’t ready to open up to him still, Yann swallowed his frustration and committed to at least giving Lucas the one thing Lucas asked for: to just have fun with the boys.

Unfortunately Arthur and Basile interrupted them when they probably could have used a bit more time together in their world of unspoken understanding… And to make matters even worse, the interruption was to guilt Lucas into going to Chloe’s party.

The way Lucas closed his eyes, sucked his lip in and then rubbed his face when Arthur and Basile were yabbering on! You could feel how at his limit he now was; how he didn’t have the strength to handle any of it anymore.

Yann is fully switched on though; he knows Arthur and Basile are in another dimension right now and haven’t noticed how this whole Chloe thing is a huge wound for Lucas. I loved all the concerned and wary looks Yann gave Lucas while the other boys were talking.

I can’t lie though, I feel a little frustrated that Yann wasn’t completely getting what Lucas needed even though he was the most supportive one there. It seemed pretty obvious that Lucas wasn’t in the right state to go out and socialise, much less be at the party of someone who was clearly part of Lucas’ problem. I know Yann can only do so much but I can’t help but feel like he failed Lucas there by allowing the boys to guilt trip him into going out. I wish he had made sure Lucas was actually up for it no matter how eager Arthur and Basile were.

Like, sure it would be nice for Yann to see Lucas trying to make things up to Arthur and Basile, but at what cost for Lucas, you know? Maybe Yann thought a party would help distract Lucas, and maybe he thought that if Lucas’ problems had something to do with Chloe then maybe he could work on it at the party… But it just didn’t feel good enough…

My feelings of helplessness for Lucas’ state only grew when they were walking to the party and Lucas’ depressive bubble was still so painfully evident in the way he was dragging his feet along in a resigned amble. You can see how hard Lucas is trying though -- how he tried to reciprocate Basile’s affectionate side hug. I hope that even though Lucas was feeling like absolute shit and it was taking all of his energy just to walk anywhere, it gave him a small piece of happiness to know he was at least making Basile’s night…

BASILE, THE DRUNK CHICK WHISPERER (STOP!)

Oh Basile. Where do we even begin with him. I really can’t stand his behaviour with women, even if he was kind to Daphne when she was dangerously intoxicated. I also dislike how he screamed at Lucas once just because he couldn’t go to one party. He is very emotionally immature compared to every other character. Yet…despite all of that, I can’t help but appreciate that he has a kind soul beneath it all.

That being said, I cannot state enough how much I dislike that the writers are making Daphne fall for Basile gradually. I think he needs more time to grow first, and I think Daphne needs to have more faith in what she is worth and not settle for the one guy giving her attention. Right now they just don’t feel compatible. In time, I don’t know, but right now definitely not. Their maturity is on different planes...

Can you believe Daphne actually seemed jealous that Basile was nice to other drunk girls? And can you believe that Maria seemed excited to recognise Basile as the guy who held her hair as she puked in episode one? She was definitely not happy at the time, as I recall. What changed, exactly?

It made me uncomfortable that Basile seemed to be rewarded in this episode from girls when he hasn’t earned it. Like yes looking after someone who is intoxicated is a kind act but in Maria’s case he abused that by touching her back and person and then trailing after her for more. That isn’t kind, that is lecherous. And we weren’t privy to what he was like after he lead Daphne away, so how are we to know he didn’t take small advantages there either?

So please, Skam France, can you please stop this Daphne and Basile thing? No one but Basile wants it.

ENTERING THE ELU HELL ZONE: LUCAS FIRST SEES ELIOTT

We are now entering the Elu hell zone, guys. Buckle up.

In the past I have always enjoyed Nico’s and Eliott’s ‘parting the red seas’ scenes. But they have both officially been upstaged by Lucas because OH MY GOD WAS THAT ENTRY INTO THE PARTY AMAZING OR WHAT?!

When Lucas caught sight of Eliott across the room and his eyes just locked onto him and his body propelled him forward and he literally smashed through the crowd to reach him, I actually gasped and had to pause the clip because it was so savage!

He was like a human torpedo. I mean, he collided so hard with someone at one point that he had to adjust his balance to stay on his feet! Nothing was stopping him from getting to Eliott. I truly wonder if he even felt any of those collisions though -- all of his senses seemed to be narrowed onto one person: Eliott Demaury.

Let’s be real though, the real song that should have been used here is:

(Do yourselves a favour and watch the scene with this song over the top of it. It’s an experience! it works for Lucas’ exit too, obviously. ;)

What was so super angsty about this scene was that brick walls couldn’t have stopped Lucas from reaching Eliott, but seeing Lucille with him could. Realising that Lucille was there, that that was who Eliott had been smiling at… It just crushed Lucas and stopped him right in his tracks.

The camerawork here was phenomenal -- how the camera pans out from Lucas to emphasise his shock. And then Lucas’ view of Eliott goes blurry as if Lucas is in so much shock, his ability to see is failing:

I mean, the last thing Lucas was expecting was to see Lucille with Eliott at that party -- even despite the ‘I need space’ text. And boy did you feel that shock with him. The frantic EDM playing at the party really didn’t help…

(Side note: It looked like Eliott had a cigarette or joint hanging from his mouth as he was putting his jacket on. If it was a joint, Lucille must have been really out of sorts if he was comfortable enough to have it ready for use in front of her. I feel like something even as small as that says a lot about their relationship right now: that Lucille seems to have backed down with that stuff after their awful double date fight. Unless that was just a cigarette and I’m talking nonsense.)

ELIOTT’S CHOICE OF OUTFIT

I mentioned this in an earlier post but I find Eliott’s clothing choice pretty interesting here.

Clothing is a pretty useful tool for any filmmaker because clothes act as visual representation of our selves and our moods.

For Eliott, he stans one jacket and one jacket only. We basically always see him in that camel bomber jacket. Maybe he feels safest in it; maybe because it is so large, he feels like he is wrapped in armour. Whatever the reason, it is his go-to jacket. And the fact that we see Eliott wearing it in almost every scene he is in, primes us to heavily associate Eliott with it. That has meant that whenever we see a blurry brown shape in the background of a scene, we know Eliott is approaching before we even see his face. That jacket is Eliott.

The Polaris escapade was the first time we saw Eliott in any other jacket. (Sure, we had seen other jackets hanging up on his coat rack the day Lucas came over to listen to dubstep, but since Eliott never wears them, they may as well have been an art exhibit.)

I’m not sure why Eliott chose to wear a different jacket with Lucas that night but perhaps since he knew he wanted to take Lucas to the tunnel, he wanted to be as stealthy as possible in that slimming dark number. The better to scare him with and all that. I dunno. (We, er, won’t go into the mysteriously changed pants.) But since Eliott wasn’t wearing his usual giant bomber jacket that night, he did feel a little different, a little more exposed and open.

The jacket he was wearing at Chloe’s party though? So very unfamiliar. For starters, it was a black leather jacket (or at least it looked like one). He gave off such a ‘cool’ or 'bad boy’ vibe with it (that is how we are primed in general to think of that type of jacket right?). It made him feel so...other. So unfamiliar. So out of reach…

I think that clothing choice was so effective because Eliott is supposed to feel like a different person, doing things we just cannot comprehend. We are supposed to feel disconnected from him; we are supposed to doubt with Lucas that we ever really properly knew him. We are supposed to feel like he is hiding another ‘side’ of him. And it may seem small, but a change in outfit to a jacket so ‘cool’ and completely unfamiliar goes a long way to jarring us and setting that mood up.

CHLOE CONFRONTING LUCAS

While Lucas is frozen in place before Eliott and Lucille, he doesn’t even have time to process his heartbreak before the one person who could make this whole situation worse manages to bump into him.

Oh Chloe. The last we heard from Chloe, Lucas had essentially disregarded her anguish with a “…” text. It did not end well between them and a confrontation was inevitable. Chloe was owed that much. (I mean seriously, Lucas, “…”?)

I wasn’t prepared for how distraught she was going to sound when she confronted him though. I wasn’t prepared for the way her voice was going to break or that she would end up screaming at him. The pain in her voice really hit me and I felt so sorry for whatever private hell she has been going through because of Lucas’ treatment. Like many people, she is the first version of the Emma character that I actually felt for as much as I did for Lucas in that moment. I believed in her anguish and I wanted to hug her. I mean, the guy who had absolutely broken her heart and played with her over and over again had suddenly invaded her safe space -- her own private home -- and she was in shock to see him there.

That being said, of course it was absolutely not okay that she outed him; that she threw his biggest vulnerability into his face and inadvertently into the crowd. She was pretty ignorant as to how terrifying being in the closet is or how someone else’s sexuality isn’t up for your public interpretation. She has no idea how much she has inadvertently opened Lucas up to a lot of physical and emotional danger now.

And it was really hard watching Lucas’ face when Chloe was screaming at him. He was absolutely devastated to hear his name associated with the word ‘gay’ in such a confronting way. He wasn’t ready for it, and he has good reason for that.

And um…. Yep, people heard Lucas’ outing. There were definitely some looks exchanged and they didn’t appear too friendly either (whether that was because of his sexuality or because of the way he had obviously mistreated Chloe, it’s hard to know. To be honest, it felt like more the latter from the women).

Lucas’ life is clearly about to change and we just stepped over that precipice...

END OF PART ONE

#Skam France #skamfr thoughts #3x05 thoughts #Elu #Heartbreak 1 of 2 #Part 2 is almost done #even though my soul is sobbing

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lorton77-blog · 4 years

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Microsoft Xbox One S review

The Good The Xbox One S is a slick looking game console that's 40 percent smaller than the original and ditches the infamously gigantic power brick. It can display 4K video from streaming services and Ultra HD Blu-rays, and supports HDR contrast on video and games. The updated controller works with other Bluetooth devices, too.

The Bad 4K, Ultra HD Blu-ray and HDR settings only work with newer TVs, and may require some trial and error. The updated controller feels cheaper than its predecessor. Project Scorpio, the more powerful Xbox One successor, arrives in late 2017.

The Bottom Line The Xbox One S is the console Microsoft should have delivered three years ago, but there's little reason to upgrade if you already own the original box.

The Xbox One S is the version of the console that Microsoft should've first released back in 2013 instead of the lumbering beast that we got. It's better in a number of ways, making it even more of a worthy alternative to Sony's PlayStation 4.

Xbox One S offers a far more attractive enclosure, options for a bigger hard drive, a slightly redesigned controller and some video perks for owners of 4K TVs. It starts at $300, £250 or AU$400 for the 500GB version; $350, £300 or AU$500 for a 1TB model; and $400, £350 or AU$549 for 2TB.

That last model is available to buy as of today in the US (and includes the vertical stand that otherwise costs $20 when purchased separately in the US), while those with the smaller hard drives will be available later in August, bundled with games such as Madden 17 and Halo. (Additional bundles will follow later in the year -- including a pricier 2TB Gears of War 4 version in October -- and may vary by region.)

Sounds like a slam dunk, right? Unfortunately, it's never that simple. The One S doesn't get an across-the-board "buy it now" recommendation for two reasons. First off, it doesn't deliver huge improvements for anyone who already owns an Xbox One. But more importantly, Microsoft has already promised that the next Xbox -- dubbed Project Scorpio -- will be arriving in late 2017 with with the seriously amped-up graphics and VR-ready hardware that audiences are clamoring for.

When it's all said and done, the Xbox One S should be primarily viewed as a slimmed-down version of the Xbox One that introduces a mildly updated controller and provisions for 4K display. It's not going to warp you into a state-of-the-art gaming experience. Pragmatically, you're probably better off nabbing an older Xbox One, which are now being sold at fire-sale prices. But if you are getting an Xbox One for the first time, have an interest in the bundled games and aren't saving your pennies for 2017's Project Scorpio, the One S is certainly a good all-round gaming and entertainment deal.

Note: I found a site where you can complete task and get free Xbox gift card Codes

What's new in the Xbox One S

There's a short but significant list of improvements and changes to the Xbox One S.

Smaller, cleaner design: To start, it's 40 percent smaller, which considering its power supply is now internal, is impressive. It's also stark white, with some slick plastic moldings flanking the entirety of the box. I think it's the best-looking Xbox Microsoft has ever designed.

The One S can also stand vertically, too. The 2TB model we received for review packs in a stand. If you buy one of the other models, you can get the stand separately for $20.

4K and HDR video: Xbox One S gets a fairly beefy upgrade on its video capabilities, with 4K resolution (3,840x2,160, or four times as sharp as standard 1080p HDTVs) and HDR (high dynamic range, which is basically enhanced contrast and color). Keep in mind: those features only work on compatible TVs and 4K functionality only works with a small but growing list of compatible video content. 4K can currently be accessed through streaming video services such as Amazon and Netflix (as long as you have the bandwidth to support it and pay for their premium tier) and those new 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray discs. Certain games, meanwhile, will eventually be able to take advantage of HDR visual improvements, but don't look for PC-like 4K graphics -- the games are merely upscaled to 4K.

So no, you're not getting native 4K gaming out of an Xbox One S. In fact, only a limited number of games will feature HDR and none of them are out yet. They are Gears of War 4, Forza Horizon 3 and 2017's Scalebound.

New controller design: The Xbox One controller has been updated for the S, too. It has a more streamlined top section, better range and textured grips. It can also use Bluetooth to connect, which opens the door for compatibility with other devices -- no more annoying dongles, at least on Bluetooth-compatible PCs.

Unfortunately, I'm not a fan of the new controller's design. It's not a drastic departure from the original, but there's just enough of a change to make it feel cheaper. The plastic textured grips don't feel good the way rubberized ones do, but thankfully the triggers seem unchanged. The D-pad also feels slightly less tactile -- I even noticed differences between two of the new controllers side by side.

IR blaster and receiver: Still present is the IR port for controlling the console with a remote, but the Xbox One S also features an integrated IR blaster to control or power on other devices in the room.

And it still does everything the old Xbox One does: The good news is that you're not losing anything with the Xbox One S compared with its predecessor. Around back the console offers a lot of the same ports as the original Xbox One, though noticeably absent is a dedicated Kinect port. You can still attach Kinect to the Xbox One S, you'll just need a special $40 (!) adapter. Either way, the omission of a Kinect port should give you an idea of how that peripheral is regarded at Microsoft HQ.

HDMI-in and -out ports are still there, so you can still make use of the Xbox One's live TV integration if that's something that appeals to you, but I never found it overly useful.

Suffice it to say, the One S plays all existing Xbox One games, and a growing list of Xbox 360 games. It also includes all of the encouraging software improvements Microsoft has made over the past few years, including the redesigned interface, support for the Cortana digital assistant (using a microphone headset), compatibility with the Windows Store and, soon, additional cross-play options with Windows PC gamers on certain titles.

4K and HDR scorecard

I want to personally thank the Xbox One S for introducing me to the hot mess that is the world of 4K and HDR formats. I considered myself fairly fluent in the language of home theater, but I was bewildered at the insane of amount of granularity and confusion that the format is currently plagued with.

Odds are you won't be able set up in 4K right out of the box. I needed to download two separate updates for the Xbox One S to finally realize it was attached to a 4K TV, at which point it offered to bump up the resolution output to 4K.

I hooked the console up to four different TVs and had mixed results with each, so I tapped CNET's David Katzmaier to help me test out the rest of the Xbox One S' 4K and HDR capabilities.

What we learned is that getting all of these finicky display technologies to work together in sync will require some trial and error -- and patience.

Our major issue was getting our TVs to recognize HDR. The problem (which isn't solely the Xbox One S' fault) is that some TVs with HDR require a specific "UHD" or "deep color" setting to be turned on in order for HDR to work. These modes usually turn a TV's brightness all the way up and activate automatically when HDR content is detected. But none of our TVs detected the Ultra HD Blu-ray HDR signal that was being output by our "Star Trek" Blu-ray.

It wasn't until we forced the Xbox One S to output a higher bit depth (10-bit up from the console's default setting of 8-bit) did we get a clean HDR signal. Furthermore, we had issues maintaining a video signal altogether when our TV was in that special "UHD/deep color" setting for HDR but the Xbox One S was outputting a signal lower than 10-bit.

Sound confusing? That's because it was. And this was with the help of one of the best TV reviewers on the planet. It's possible your setup goes smoother, but there are definitely a lot of variables and boxes to check when entering the world of 4K, Ultra HD and HDR to make sure it all works correctly.

There's a really helpful 4K detail screen in the system display settings that gives you a heads up of which requirements for 4K, HDR and so on are currently being met. Definitely check that out.

Tragically, all of this time-consuming troubleshooting to get HDR to switch on isn't always worth it. In fact, it's sometimes nearly impossible to tell just by looking at the image onscreen. We tried. The takeaway? 4K and HDR are nice novelties, but I'm not sure even the most discerning eyes can always tell the difference. And because only a fraction of games will even support HDR (the aforementioned trio of Gears of War 4, Forza Horizon 3 and Scalebound), it makes upgrading a tough sell. Not to mention the fact that all the games you'll ever play on Xbox One S won't be in true native 4K resolution -- they'll just be upscaled to fit.

That said, there are plenty of 4K Blu-rays out there, and Netflix can stream some content in 4K (as long as you pay for its Premium tier). If you are in the specific position of owning a 4K TV and are looking for an Xbox One, the S is what you should be buying.

It's worth noting that the Xbox One S doesn't handle the higher-end audio options out there such as Dolby Atmos. The most you'll get out of the console is a seven-channel surround signal.

Looking forward to Project Scorpio

Microsoft's messaging about its console offerings can get confusing. It's best to think of the Xbox One and One S as their own tier. In terms of graphical horsepower, they're equal. The next jump in visuals and performance will come along with Project Scorpio, which is being targeted for the 2017 holiday season.

Details on that machine are scant at best, but it's safe to say it will significantly outperform the Xbox One and One S, the PlayStation 4 and -- if we're going on rumored specs -- the PlayStation 4 step-up console, the PS4 Neo.

This will usher in a sizable upgrade in all aspects of gaming with native 4K resolution output and HDR support. And Microsoft has already pledged that Scorpio will be "VR ready," presumably for a forthcoming virtual-reality headset.

The current messaging as to how games will work across Xbox One platforms seems simple enough. Any Xbox One (be it a standard, S or Project Scorpio) will be able to play any Xbox One game, though the Scorpio will be able to take advantage of better graphics, performance, frame rate and resolution. This seems to mostly fall in line with the PS4 Neo plan as well.

If we're just comparing raw specs, Project Scorpio's rumored details still fall short of what an Nvidia GTX 1080 graphics card is capable of.

Decisions, decisions

Under most circumstances, no, you don't need to buy an Xbox One S. If you already own an Xbox One or even plan to wait for whatever Project Scorpio winds up being, it's tough to rationalize a purchase.

If you're looking to enter the Xbox One space and you don't feel like waiting a year or more for Project Scorpio, an Xbox One S might be the right purchase for you as long as you have or plan to get a 4K TV.

If a 4K TV isn't in your future, you may want to look at the original Xbox One. It's already as low as $250, £250 or AU$500 and it's entirely possible Microsoft will drive the price even lower if it's looking to sunset the model and clear out remaining inventory.

#Xbox xboxones xbox360

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cyrelia-j · 5 years

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[fic] Inside a Dream VII (Garak/Bashir and others)

staAs part of my update project here is chapter 7 at last with more angst of course but leading into some garashir smut next chapter. For @alexisafanst

Past Parts are here:

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6

Summary: Still AU but not really an AU set at the end of everything show/books. This is inspired by book stuff but definitely diverges from book canon.

After Sarina’s death and Julian’s coma, Julian dreams. With the aid of a device provided by the other augments, Garak is able to bring that world to life. And then Jack shows up in the flesh, wanting “his” Julian back. Garak is forced to confront the truths he didn’t want to face and decide if he’s going to fight for him. But that isn’t his only difficulty decision, and he’s not the only one at stake.

Pairings: Mainly garashir but also tragic Garak/Parmak and past Jack/Julian (really Jack pack/Julian). Finally decided on end game Garak/Bashir and Jack/Parmak (It’ll make sense, I swear just have to get there first)

Warnings: ANGST, Drama, Romance, falling in love [again maybe] and bittersweetness with much tragedy to be had, (No one’s gonna die though, I promise :))

Warn your warmth to turn away

Here, it's December every day (I like that)

Press your lips to the sculptures

And surely, you'll stay (love like winter)

For of sugar and ice

I am made, I am made

In four hours he wakes and realizes that it’s his head resting on Jack’s shoulder now, Jack awake, fingers softly typing on the keys one handed, thumb his his mouth, a study of concentration. The moment that Parmak’s eyes settle on him, he sees a jerk of the hand away from his mouth with a long breath out.

“That’s not necessary,” Parmak says, sitting up straight as he’s able with a wince. “It doesn’t bother me.”

“It isn’t Correct,” Jack mumbles as his hand stops on the keys. There’s a compulsive wipe of his hand over his pants over and over as Parmak adjusts his glasses and looks at the monitor. He blinks when he sees it.

“You-”

“I fixed it for you,” Jack answers, not looking at him. “See you, you didn’t account for that protein structure and I remember…” Jack doesn’t look at him, instead staring straight ahead, and now that he’s stopped, Parmak feels the agitated bounce of his leg. “You know I I wanted to be a doctor once. Couldn’t. Forbidden, not Allowed by the Federation but now I… I have heard men talk about the blessings of freedom… but I wish any wise man would teach me what use to make of it now that I have it…”

“I’m not much of a teacher, I’m afraid. As you can see, it would seem that I cannot even fix my own poor broken brain.”

“Why fix it?” Jack asks with a shrug and a bite - seemingly defiant - of his finger. “By God, if I ever cracked, I’d try to make the world crack with me.”

“Then why do you keep pulling your finger out of your mouth?” Parmak asks smartly, pushing his glasses up, still marvelling that he thinks he might actually be able to falsely induce the mental state which had-

“Maybe I won’t hm,” Jack says around that finger as he types a few more keys over Parmak’s fingers. “Maybe I’ll I’ll just leave it there until it rots off mmhm, An offering of body.”

“One doesn’t barter with the gods, with the State. One doesn’t appeal, one merely serves.” But then, if he truly believed that shouldn’t he let his penance stand? Shouldn’t he abandon this silly idea of bringing himself back to Garak? Of erasing Tain’s mark? Parmak sighs as he watches Jack’s mouth turn down, watch his teeth nibble, his head turn, his hazel eye still bright, snow white dusted auburn hair thrown back from his face.

“There’s another way to do this you know mmhm,” Jack says suddenly. “The mainframe is down, and when falls the Coliseum, Rome shall fall; And when Rome falls- the world. But… but they were wrong… Julian and I made it out... Like Apocalypse - Patrick loved Xmen mmhm - but from a single atom can be regenerated…” He trails off and Parmak realizes in that moment what he perhaps should have suspected all along. The trinity is dead. The other Augments are dead. It’s only Jack and Julian after all at the end of the world, at the end of their own fire come through burned and scarred like all of them. “But you’re not a mutant, not hunted by the Sentinels, not one of us and… and your brain is more compatible than a basic’s but it would still probably kill you. And it… wouldn’t be quiet hm, it’s a buzz, a constant hum not always mellow wedding bells but brazen Alarum!”

Parmak laughs softly as he stands up.

“Do you think I would be working on this formulation, this psychedelic induction if I was concerned for my life? You’ve clearly gone over everything, ‘Doctor Merriweather’. You know just as well as I do that the odds of fatal cerebral hemorrhage are sixty percent.”

“Fifty now,” Jack corrects looking at him with a turn of his head more the jerk of an aging automaton. “Fifty percent isn’t a logical risk for… for the lying Morlock who’s only dreaming of Bashir.” The slip is a curious one, and Parmak sees Jack shut his eyes after he says it and Parmak wonders-

“The link is breaking down, isn’t it?” he asks brilliantly, even as he feels that adrenaline wearing off with the fatigue of little bit of sleep coming back. “That connection. You said you had to sever it from the Mainframe. That’s not all is it?”

Jack is silent as he continues working, head down, crawling onto the top of the table to sit cross legged, closer to the screen.

“You should sleep. I’ll work, finish this. Forty percent, thirty percent, it can be improved. Lauren said I… I wasn’t a surgeon, wasn’t a doctor but I could have been. Could’ve been better than Bashir, could’ve won a dozen Carringtons could’ve should’ve de profundis domine dum spiro spero…” comes the whisper as Parmak shuffles back over with a sigh. It would seem that they’re both hopeless.

“You don’t think you should sleep too then? I promise you with all the years of work another night won’t make much difference.”

“I don’t sleep,” Jack answers flatly and another jerking motion of his hand to the back of the neck where Parmak sees the faint scar. He stops when he sees it.

Parmak remembers treating a woman after The Fire who’d blinded herself so that she would no longer see the destruction behind her eyes. And when that hadn’t worked she tried to have him cut it out of her head. She’d mutilated herself so badly with the scalpel that she’d died that night. The scar is precise, small, neat, and Jack’s words haunt him. A hand goes to that shoulder again and he wonders just what he’s doing. Even if Jack doesn’t understand the gesture he shouldn’t be making it. Parmak sees the tension go out of Jack’s shoulders, sees the comfort that it brings him, the way his head tips to the touch with a breath and it reminds him so painfully that he can’t do the same for Garak.

“I do,” he says, wondering just what in the name of the Sky Serpents he’s doing.

“I… I don’t do that either,” is snapped quickly, Jack’s hand going over his to move it away.

“I wasn’t asking you to,” he says with another yawn.

“Oh…” Understanding that Parmak only is asking for company, for warmth though he still looks suspicious as he demurs. “Oh then I… I’ll probably keep you awake. I talk- talk books, novels, kept Julian up some nights but Sarina always liked it mmhm.” He’s back to “Julian” again, Parmak notes curiously as he steps back.

“Books?” He sees Jack uncoil from the table and slip off of it, arms crossed tightly now, biting his finger again, looking far younger in stature than he had when he first came.

“I don’t forget things. Anything. Ever. And it’s… it’s too quiet at night,” he practically whispers. “It’s the Wrong kind of quiet the kind of quiet not your quiet.” Poor boy, Parmak thinks. How much of that control forced in him was because of Julian’s influence?

“So then you’ll tell me a story?” Parmak asks amused, stumbling over his own foot as he becomes lost in thoughts, as he chides himself for thoughtlessly reaching out a hand to another stray. He catches himself on the wall, wincing at the strain on his back. He nearly starts when he feels Jack’s arms around him, so many years knowing that sudden physical contact is death, is pain but… fighting back that tension for Jack’s sake. He feels his heart racing when Jack picks him up and carries him up the stairs, speaking softly, in Kardasi directly, he notes when he catches an odd choice of phrase.

“In that pleasant district of merry England which is watered by the river Don, there extended in ancient times a large forest, covering the greater part of the beautiful hills and valleys which lie between Sheffield and the pleasant town of Doncaster…”

And then, he sleeps.

---

If Garak is damned then Kelas is coming with him. Kelas had once said (The first time that he knew him as Kelas and not Doctor Parmak) in a moment of anger, that the State gave birth to its lying snake of a son to drag those it deemed unworthy to the underground to be crushed by the darkness.

They came together hard and fast that first night, and that was when Garak realized that in spite of the rumors the doctor was not Tain’s toy after all.

It will pain him, it will bring him to the edge, may very well set him over it to see Garak tonight, but Garak needs him. Garak needs him and he knows if he knocks on Kelas’ door it will open. He knows if he asks, if he asks forgiveness soft, eyes down, tells him that there’s no one else who can comfort him that Kelas will swallow that bile, will shut his eyes tightly and open his arms to embrace him no matter how torturous. Kelas will forgive him even as it rips him apart and there are nights where that brings Garak a pain that he can’t stomach but… tonight is not one of them. Tonight he needs to know that no matter how cursed their union that Kelas will-

Garak stops himself at the doorway to the hall, frozen, never feeling more commiserate with Kelas than he does now. Bile, shaking, dizziness grip him and he takes a soft step back into his room to mask his presence from the Augment, a hand over his mouth because he… he, Elim Garak, Castellan, Spy, Interrogator, Murderer… might not be able to catch the sob burbling his his throat, growing, a nauseating bubble growing larger until he either screams or vomits where he stands.

“Maybe I’ll say a prayer to the slug slithering amongst the ancients that tomorrow I’ll wake up and be your Kelas again...”

It echoes, that ever present memory, swirling in his head, overlaid with the voice some eighty years past as they lay intertwined scratched, spent, breathing heavily with their chufas touching “shall I be your Kelas tomorrow when I wake up, Elim? Where tonight I’m Tain’s Parmak?” He’d stopped being Tain’s Parmak that night, to tease that Garak would only want him as long as he and his mouth were of some use… Garak doesn’t know that Kelas ever realized a day what he ever truly was to him. He doesn’t know that he ever realized a day what Kelas truly was to him beside a steady and familiar companion welcoming him back home from that human concept of Hell. Not until now that is.

Garak sees Jack carrying him up the stairs cradled to his chest like a breeze would break him… break them both.

“That’s you, Garak. You’d never save me…”

No, he wouldn’t, would he?

Garak has never saved anyone.

And yet when the door closes, Garak is flying down the stairs to Julian’s room.

Julian dreams of the space station again, only this time he dreams in color, dreams with names. The faces come into view. The cold comes back to him but it’s a chill that’s familiar. It’s a chill that’s home. In his dream like all dreams he passes through like a pitiful shade, the people walking through him, not seeing him, not hearing him as he calls out “Jadzia!” perhaps louder than any other, not knowing why the desperation to catch that brown haired woman (Trill? What’s that? Like music?) He doesn’t understand as it spins and spins around him, that lizard man, that Garak who’d abandoned him walking away always just out of his grasp no matter how far he runs, no matter how fast he tries to make his damn useless Augment muscles (Augment? I don’t understand…) move.

“Why is it that no matter how fast I go, how deep down I sink I can never measure up to what you want?”

He doesn’t understand where that thought comes from suddenly. It comes like a memory but it doesn’t make any sense because the memories he’s recovered are only of his wife, only of Sarina smiling at him before his… before his accident.

Except now there are other that he passes by chasing the lizard man around the dimly lit habitat ring. He passes the doors and sees a man with a mustache smiling at him and he hears Jack? He sees a door with an auburn haired woman grinning at him seductively hearing Lauren? He passes an older white haired man looking up from a massive three dimensional puzzle hearing Patrick? And then he sees Sarina but she’s wearing a uniform. A… Starfleet uniform? Section 31?

Julian feels a pain shooting through his head as he sees Garak moving farther away and he feels his throat vibrate, hears himself screaming “why am I never enough for you?!” Why isn’t he?... “How far into the darkness do I need to go for you Garak?! How much of me do I need to stain with blood to be worthy of you?!”

See Garak, I’ve given everything to the bloody State too!

I let them rip everything out of me and put it back for you!

And now you’re with him?!

That should’ve been me, Garak!

Julian runs past the last door seeing another woman with short dark hair and spots dotting her skin. She smiles at him and he hears Ezri before he stops with another whisper of “Jadzia”, the smile changing to a frown as the hall turns to gray and the portraits freeze.

Julian remembers.

He hadn’t whispered “Jadzia” though that was what he’d told her.

It was “Garak” that had passed his lips.

“Garak!” he wakes with a start, the apartment hot, too hot, the heater acting up again, though it’s a far cry from the halfway house where he started. It’s a far cry from that hospital bed and the smell of sickness. It’s better. It’s improvement. Recovery, isn’t that what Doctor Parmak had called it?

Doctor… Parmak?

Why is that name so much more familiar now?

He hasn’t seen Doctor Parmak. He hasn’t seen Garak as the flowers of spring have started to bloom and he’s begun to remember bits and pieces of what he might have once known, preganglionic fiber and postganglionic nerve echoing strangely in his head like a mantra, a chant of the Ancients (Ancients?) knowing that somehow They could never know… could never find out that he- But it slips away again as his legs tangle in the sheets and his knees draw up, forehead hitting them hard with a soft whimper. He doesn’t know how long he remains like that sure he’s going to be too tired for his shift, sure that his interview hangs in the balance because he’s finally remembered enough that he can… that he can get back to… to...

Julian feels a pain in his head, heart still hammering hard in his chest when he hears the doorbell. He wonders if he was screaming again? He think about it as he tries to remember where he left his robe. Zelda, his new neighbor a woman of few kind words, had complained about that the one day, but- There’s a knocking, a frantic pounding that follows and he wonders if the building isn’t on fire which would be dreadful because he’s still in his t shirt and shorts and Zelda might be a miserable old bird but he’d still feel obliged to see to her as well and that’d probably give her something else to be cross about but-

“Alright alright I’m coming!” he yells as he rushes to the door and throws it open.

Oh. It’s not the building on fire after all.

Its Garak, standing there breathing hard, half dressed in some sort of dark tunic, half off a shoulder, hair mussed, eyes wild and desperate as they look at one another from that brief distance of doorway separating them.

And suddenly, Julian’s the one on fire.

#star trek ds9 #deep space nine #ds9 fanfic #post canon cardassia #garashir #jack/parmak #elim garak #julian bashir #kelas parmak #ds9 jack #angst #fanfic #update #cyrelia-j

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titleknown · 5 years

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Three Spooky Fictional Knockoff Toylines!

That’s right, as the big writing piece for this spooky time of year, it’s three spooky toylines ripping off bigger properties in a way that do not exist.

These are all public domain/CC0, free to use for whatever you see fit, though crediting me and linking to my Patreon or Ko-Fi would be nice.

Shoutout to @genustoys, @phelous and @therobotmonster for heavily inspiring these with their work!

Now, LET US BEGIN!

Monsterlords of the Nether Realms- This line is an odd duck in that it was a knockoff of a toyline that wasn't all that popular. Namely, Inhumanoids.

It was seemingly designed to be cross-compatible with the large monsters of that line, yet in all irony it stuck around seemingly far longer, likely due to the lower price points it was was able to get away with due to being a “non-branded” product and the cross-compatibility of play pattern with the larger figures.

And they were shockingly lavish for what was seemingly a “low rent” property, which has lead to suspicions of it and its related properties being a money-laundering scheme, or at least cover for something unsavory, though others say it could simply be good craftsmanship and the evidence in favor of and against such is perhaps a story for another day.

There were five of them that ended up bumping around store shelves, give or take a few “extras,” which we will cover as they come.

The first piece; likely intended as the “mascot” due to its prescence in promotional artwork is the one known as MOLINTHA, or “ANTHILL EVIL” on certain variants, a large figure encased in a roughly mountain shaped “shell” when curled in a specific position; with an ominous “maw” that turned into a torso when the figure was uncurled.

The mountain pieces themselves (Which were free-standing on their own) provided a large amount of play value with platforms seemingly shaped for various 3&¾-inch figures, but the body itself was a gorgeous design, with the “scaffolding” where the mountain clicked on turning into a series of platforms for figures to climb and clamber over,

The articulation was low, but the sculpting was pleasantly gnarly, resembling some dark ancient castle covered in mystic carving given humanoid form, without an articulated head but instead a snarling “maw” in which figures could be placed inside. Though, there has been some speculation that this head was ripped off a similar design from the front of the classic D&D Dungeon Master's Guide, and I would be lying if I did not see the resemblance.

As expected, it did not come with any figures, but did come with a large assortment of commonly-circulated plastic “bugs” molded in a clear rubbery plastic; along with a few of the notorous “Chinasaurs” that ended up as the basis for D&D monsters bizarrely enough.

The second known most commonly as “LEVIATHOIN” was a piece that had a similar yet wildly different gimmick. The main “body” was actually simply an inanimate idol, which one might say resembles a very specific image of Baphomet, but the smaller figures were of real interest.

Four five-inch ones, bearing an odd resemblance to a scaled-down Molhilintta minus the scaffolding and with a few odd tweaks, with a similar simple articulation scheme, but also a feature in which the arms and legs could “click” together tightly, which leads to the real draw of such.

Each figure attached to a socket in the main “idol” and functioned as a crude combiner., forming a huge “creature”. Each figure could function as n arm or a leg on either side, and the color variants (Including a few alledged remolds of these torsoes) could be their own article in and of themselves.

The third known as MECHA-SHAG was an extremely simple design and yet also one of the most bizarre of them all. It was a hairy “core” akin to the Masters of the Universe Grizzlor, but with a strange robotic face; limbs and at least a dozen missile launchers. They were Micronauts-styled “safety” missiles, but still fascinatingly odd all the same. There is evidence for the pieces origin as a possible Shogun Warriors/Jumbo Machinder knockoff, but again that is a detail for another day.

The fourth one was known as RUCIBEDO, and was unusual even for this line. It was a stylized kaiju-esque “pterodactyl” with a flapping action; its oddly “bio-mechanical” look seemingly giving credence to the idea that the enigmatic company behind the linwas making a Shogun Warriors knockoff-series before they decided to switch gears, but those are not the only notable parts.

The most blatant one is the fact that it is sculpted in a bright red; translucnet plastic, and not only that but had electric lights wired to the flapping mechanism in some bizarrely spacious “alcoves” in the back (Possibly for aborted missile-firing features), creating an immensely striking effect. Albeit one that had a tendency to break; though there are repair guides out there.

And the fifth PLUCHUN is an odd duck, because it should by all accounts be considered kind of a “ripoff” due to using far less material for the same price point as the others, but is often the most fondly remembered.

It is a small torso seemingly made of organic “pipes with a “hatch” on the head and a button slightly below. It also came with a small container of “slime” indicating its function. Namely, put it in the back of the head; press the button repeatedly; and the slime drips out of the holes in the creature, with a pumping rubber “heart” completing the effect. Weirdly; while the rubber on most of these has rotted off, there appears to be a fully sculpted (Albeit much cruder) “heart” that still moved in and out when the button was pressed.

The whole thing was capped off by immensely long rubbery bendy-limbs in the same style as the “main body's” pipes. These tended to be very fragile, and while memorable, this has the fewest surviving specimens out of them all.

As said before, there are other specimens that may be covered at a later date; such as the odd hand-puppet and the bizarrely remolded Imperial Dinosaurs linked to the line and the smaller-range figures, but this is running a bit long, so I'll leave it here for now.

Nightmare Gores- Relating to the preponderance of He-Man knockoff figure lines in the 80s, and the popularity of slasher films, it was only a matter of time that the two would be combined, in ways only possible without mass-fundie-protest at least) in small lines like this.

In striking red-and-black packaging with crude art of a horde of ghoulish monsters rseemingly ripping out of the card back, with the bizarrely memorable phrase of “WE WILL KILL YOU” coming out of a word balloon, there's relatively few things like it.

It used a standard barbarian body whose origins predated the line; but from where they predated was a matter of debate (Though it is known that it most certainly was original to that company and not a He-Man or Galaxy Hole bootleg(), all the same across the line with differing headsculpts.

The headsculpts did have consistent names, and one could tell their inspirations relatively well. Joe was obviously a Freddy Kreuger without the hat, the hockey-masked Rod was obviously Jason Voorhees, Mike was very obviously a riff on Michael Jackson's Thriller Werecat (Corroborated with the usual non-caucasian color of his body sculpt) and Gross was blatantly the Toxic Avenger. Mush was a generalized “melting” face, but could be said to be taken from Cropsey of The Burning; and Hexen's gas mask was likely inspired by My Bloody Valentine's main antagonist; albeit with bizarrely added devil horns.

Then there are the oddballs. Clash is a fan-favorite alongsid Hexen due to his pure black-plastic body and strange hood in striking red with a black void for a front and two piercing red pupils, but I like Frank a lot if only for being a big ridiculous Frankenstein head repurposed for this, as was what I would call the “Baltard” of this line Stall-9 with his slighly crossed eyes and almost comical grin negating whatever intimidation factory they might have. Redd caps off the line with the strange combination of bull and horse head designs obviously repurposed from the barbarian toyline this comes from in a way that still sorta works.

Their pack in accessories vary across production, but there are some commonalities. Mike; Rod; Hexen and Clash almost always came with cool red vinyl “jackets” and Tedd and Frank almost always came with bizzarrely realistic handguns molded in bright orange. And Stal-9; Mush and Clash came with a “chainsaw: very clearly remolded from a gun.

The rest were a mushmash of machetes and hammers, and knives; axes and clubs that were clearly re-utilized from the original line. There are other “relatives” like the Killer Beasts and the Murder Lady, but we'll leave it here for now.

ShineFriendz- One of the many Tamagochi-come-latelies in the 90s, this line tried valiantly to differentiate itself from the usual Tamagochi clones by giving itself a backlite, far more extensive interaction within the limits of its mono-colored pixel art and a link function for “playtimes,” All in a model approximately the size of a modern day smartphone, and to be supported with early web tie-ins in lieu of an expensive animated series.

Of course, the fact that it was its parent company's first venture into such things; a battery company to be exact (Hence why they felt so secure in being battery-eaters), there was very little oversight into the programming. And, due to a series of circumstances too stupid to mention, the devices had far more memory than they anticipated, and far more than they would need for the device's intended functions.

And, what happens when you have bored programmers and lots of time, you get easter eggs. Lots and lots of unsettling easter eggs. To the point where they took up approximately as much space as the “main” games.

So, they were immensely easy to run into during play, but they went unnoticed by corporate during the first three iterations of the pets. The most notorious of them was the possible evolution called only BREATHING which looked like an emaciated and decrepit eyeless version of the brand's canid mascot-species the Buroof that was continually doing what its name implied and had a legion of ominous quirks too long to list here.

Despite rumors, surprisingly none of the glitches involved causing death or injury to any of the pets. Though, that still didn't make them any less fucked up, with such examples as a “pet” known as BRILT that took the form of continual flame graphic that at times would flicker to the outline of another; random pet, to the weird “bird” known as CAUSE whose pleasure meter would go up if you hit the scold button,

There's a full list of “AnomalyFriendz” (the usual fan nickname0 that's too long to list here, but it wasn't limited to them, with such things as a “Game” that involved running from what looked like a crude pair of jaws to a “food” that looked like a wad with what was unmistakably eyes. And the web fiction didn't help, given how the actual text stories were dark , reading more like if Clive Barker wrote Watership Down with it just being barely within what was “appropriate” for kids, with increasingly less subtle allusions to the “AnomalyFriendz”

The minority of parental complaints weren't what got the execs notice however, it was actually the fans of the property, young girls who wrote in asking about those glitches. Not even in disapproving tones either, just asking whether they were intentional, or even asking if playground rumors (Or the rumors circulating across the website's own forums) were true.

This lead to them trying to integrate the macabre bits into the actual marketing for the toys, with the fourth iteration “FreakyFriendz,” with a cleverly altered shell with an ominously warped corner and more integration of the “anomalous” and “regular” Friends. And that is what sunk the line.

Because, parents actually noticed and; since this was the 90s; they bitched up a storm, leading to most of them being removed from shelves. Which is a shame, because enthusiasts say these were the best models yet.

The company left the business shortly thereafter, but there remains a small cult fandom to this day; complete with officially sanctioned web-iterations and even a few (sadly stillborn) attempts at full on revivals. But, maybe someday...

#action figures #toys #fictional toys #public domain #horror #things that need to exist #things that don't exist #macabre #weird #bootlegs #knockoffs

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cryptocoinguides · 3 years

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Safemoon Has a New Project.

Hello and welcome back to the daily Safemoon news and updates review. In this content, I will talk about Safemoon and bridges with a full explanation as if you are five years old and at the end of the video you will understand why you should start packing your bags for a trip to the moon. So yeah, this video is super interesting so make sure to watch it until the very end. Disclaimer. Also if you are interested in getting price predictions and crypto news literally every hour, then join my telegram channel, we already have more than 2000 people.

If you want to invest in Safemoon, I would recommend you to use BitMart exchanger, also following the link in my description will give you extra discounts on trading fees. By the way, be careful of scammers pretending to be me on social media. I would never ask your 12 secret words. Links to my official Social Media accounts are in the description. Alright, so I want to start this video with a question. Have you watched the last AMA 2 days ago? Comment down below.

So if you haven’t watched it, then let me tell you something. Safemoon and its upcoming bridges are the only things being discussed on the Safemoon Reddit group and Twitter. But why do we need these bridges? What do crypto bridges even mean? And how will they affect Safemoon price and when these bridges will be implemented? Watch this video to find out. So recently Safemoon CEO John Karony posted the following message. “I’m sure you’ve seen today’s UK regulatory news regarding Binance, it’s important to not limit your projects to one chain. ” Well, big Binance vs Safemoon video you can find on my channel in my previous uploads.

In case you don’t know what recently happened to Binance in the UK, give me like 30 seconds to explain. LONDON Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has been banned from operating in the U.K. by the country’s markets regulator, in the latest sign of a growing crackdown on the crypto market around the world. Britains Financial Conduct Authority said Saturday that Binance Markets Limited, the U.K.

Division of Binance is not permitted to undertake any regulated activity in the U.K. From June 30, the company which already offers Brits crypto trading through its website must add a notice in a prominent place in its website and apps showing U.

K. users the following text: Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange by trading volumes, was set to launch its own digital asset marketplace in Britain. However, it was one of several crypto firms that withdrew applications to register with the FCA due to not meeting anti-money laundering requirements.

The FCA spokesperson clarified that the scope of the ban was limited. Though Binance Markets Limited is banned from offering regulated services in Britain, non-registered firms can still interact with U.K. consumers. That means Binance could still offer Brits crypto trading through its website. “We are aware of recent reports about an FCA UK notice in relation to Binance Markets Limited (BML). BML is a separate legal entity and does not offer any products or services via the Binance.com website.” Alright, so now let’s get to the Bridges announcement by the Safemoon team.

In the last AMA they said that bridges will be available from Tuesday, which is today. If you still don’t understand what the bridges are, then let me show you a quick and easy-to-understand explanation. ” Today safemoon announced something massive after only a few months of existence. BRIDGES which opens sfm to Etherum, EOS, Wax etc. Released TUESDAY USA time. Bridges are making a huge stir because thanks to our dev papa bridges change the crypto space and our beloved Safemoon is now CROSS CHAIN.

Bridges mean more access to Safemoon from different angles and other ways to acquire such as through Etherum and that corresponds to a huge increase in – volume + the ability to take advantage of what those chains offer. Think of Safemoon as New York City an island cut off but these bridges are now being built out to other cities so the traffic there can come in, each time they pay a toll on the bridge which = reflections to the citizens of NYC aka us #safemoon army! We aren’t so alone and it’s easier to buy.

Who remembers many months ago at our peak ATH we crashed the Binance smart chain – meaning no one could buy, our momentum was shot, had we had bridges this would not have been an issue because, for example, we could have used Etherum to buy safemoon. Guys this project is months old. John and the team have and are barely sleeping but still looking, working excited and fresh flying to Africa locking in deals, showing us actual video footage of meetings with the government, they are fully transparent and upfront, this is the ground floor to something incredible in 5 years this will be world-changing with what they have in motion.

Hold on guys, we’re going to the moon. ” Let me know if you still have questions about bridges down in the comments section. But I think this reddit post made it pretty clear. So as was mentioned above, Tuesday brings us bridges to EOS, Wax, and Ethereum. But why Safemoon team choose them, and what’s so unique in them? Well, let’s find out.

First, let’s take a look at the EOS project. What Is EOS? EOS is a platform that’s designed to allow developers to build decentralized apps (otherwise known as DApps for short.) The project’s goal is relatively simple: to make it as straightforward as possible for programmers to embrace blockchain technology and ensure that the network is easier to use than rivals. As a result, tools and a range of educational resources are provided to support developers who want to build functional apps quickly. Other priorities include delivering greater levels of scalability than other blockchains, some of which can only handle less than a dozen transactions per second.

EOS also aims to improve the experience for users and businesses. While the project tries to deliver greater security and less friction for consumers, it also vies to unlock flexibility and compliance for enterprises. The blockchain launched back in June 2018. Who Are the Founders of EOS? The EOS platform was developed by the company Block.one, and its white paper was authored by Daniel Larimer and Brendan Blumer. Both men continue to be members of Block.one’s executive team, with Blumer serving as CEO and Daniel Larimer as CTO.

Blumer is a serial entrepreneur, and one of his earliest ventures involved selling virtual assets for video games.

He went on to co-found Okay.com, a digitally focused real estate agency in Hong Kong. Larimer is a software programmer who has also started a series of crypto ventures. They include the crypto trading platform BitShares and the Steem blockchain. The pair met in 2016 and formed Block.one the following year. Alright, now let’s move to the second bridge which is the bridge to Wax. What Is WAX? WAX is a purpose-built blockchain, released in 2017, that is designed to make e-commerce transactions faster, simpler and safer for every party involved.

The WAX blockchain uses delegated proof-of-stake (DPoS) as its consensus mechanism. It is fully compatible with EOS. Wait, did I say delegated proof-of-stake? What does it even mean? Delegated Proof-of-Stake is the same as Proof-of-Stake, except people vote for who can validate transactions. In Delegated Proof-of-Stake, users have the power to give their voting power to others if they choose so. Delegated proof of stake is what is known as a consensus mechanism. Consensus mechanisms are ways that transactions are added to the blockchain. So when we have blockchains, we have a series of blocks, and blocks are just units of storage for cryptocurrency transactions.

For example, if you send a bitcoin to a friend, and a bunch of other people sends Bitcoins to their friends, these are all transactions. All these transactions become a block and certain people are responsible for adding these blocks to the blockchain. The people who are responsible for writing these blocks to the blockchain are known as nodes. Nodes are people who own computers with software that connect to the blockchain network. What determines who handles these transactions to blockchain? That’s where the consensus mechanisms come in.

Delegated proof of stake is all based on how many people voted for you to do so. So with the delegated proof of stake, we have a bunch of people who vote for the node that’s allowed to add blocks to the blockchain. The node who wins is known as the witness. Witnesses can validate the transactions faster. The winner is the witness, then the block gets added to the blockchain. Users can also vote for what is known as delegates. Delegates are people who can affect the rules of the blockchain network directly. So let’s say users vote for a particular delegate. The delegated person who was voted in is able to change the rules of the blockchain.

For example, change how many transactions are on the block. So with all of this, delegated proof of stake is aiming to solve some of the issues with how blockchains disperse the power, and how decentralized they are. Alright, if your brain didn’t explode, let’s get back to Wax.

The custom features and the incentive mechanisms developed by WAX are intended to optimize the utility of the blockchain specifically for use in e-commerce, with the goal of encouraging voting on proposals. To make this possible, WAX created a suite of blockchain-based tools upon which decentralized application (DApp) marketplaces and non-fungible tokens can be built upon.

Who Are the Founders of WAX? WAX was co-founded by William Quigley and Jonathan Yantis. William Quigley studied at the University of Southern California and then worked at Disney. After leaving Disney in the early 1990s, he got an MBA at Harvard and became a venture capitalist. Over time, he became the managing director at Idealab. Alongside creating WAX, he is also the managing director at Magnetic. Jonathan Yantis works as the chief operating officer at WAX and as the chief operating officer at OPSkins.

Well, the third bridge is a bridge to Ethereum.

I think 99% of you know what Ethereum is, but let me give you a brief explanation, maybe you will learn something new. What Is Ethereum? Ethereum is a decentralized open-source blockchain system that features its own cryptocurrency, Ether. ETH works as a platform for numerous other cryptocurrencies, as well as for the execution of decentralized smart contracts.

Ethereum was first described in a 2013 whitepaper by Vitalik Buterin.

Buterin, along with other co-founders, secured funding for the project in an online public crowd sale in the summer of 2014 and officially launched the blockchain on July 30, 2015. Ethereums own purported goal is to become a global platform for decentralized applications, allowing users from all over the world to write and run software that is resistant to censorship, downtime, and fraud.

What Makes Ethereum Unique? Ethereum has pioneered the concept of a blockchain smart contract platform.

Smart contracts are computer programs that automatically execute the actions necessary to fulfill an agreement between several parties on the internet. They were designed to reduce the need for trusted intermediates between contractors, thus reducing transaction costs while also increasing transaction reliability. Ethereums principal innovation was designing a platform that allowed it to execute smart contracts using the blockchain, which further reinforces the already existing benefits of smart contract technology.

Ethereums blockchain was designed, according to co-founder Gavin Wood, as a sort of one computer for the entire planet, theoretically able to make any program more robust, censorship-resistant, and less prone to fraud by running it on a globally distributed network of public nodes. Alright, so now when you completely understand what we are dealing with, comment down below your thoughts. Or if something is left unclear for you, feel free to ask it in the comment section. Just like Safemoon CEO John Karony said, “Bridges are an incredible asset and will continue to play a key role in the expansion and adoption for years to come.” If you enjoyed this video, then please like this video and comment something, this would really help me out to reach the youtube algorithm.

If you want to invest in Safemoon, I would recommend you to use BitMart exchanger, also following the link in my description will give you extra discounts on trading fees. But, note that I’m not forcing you to invest in this project. It’s 100% your personal decision.

Also if you are interested in getting price predictions and crypto news literally every hour, then join my telegram channel, we already have more than 2000 people. Don’t forget to check out other videos on this channel. Thanks for watching!.

Read More: Dogecoin outperforms Ethereum, BNB, Cardano, and XRP

via Safemoon Has a New Project.

#bitcoin news #ethereum news #xrp news #cardano news #crypto news #best cryptocurrency to buy #best crypt

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welcometophu · 6 years

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Not Your Love Song: Chapter 3

Marked Book 2: Not Your Love Song

Chapter 3

[ Previous | First | Next ]

Gram stays silent until after Thorne, Andy, and Stormy head out to the car. She walks to the library with Rory, once they’re gone, and her head cocks at the sound of an engine outside, the rumble of the van audible through the walls. She nods slightly. “Well,” she says. “Now that we’re alone, I suppose you have more reason to be here than Alaric’s gift to Miranda.”

“Since I stayed?” Rory says. He taps his fingers against his thigh. He hadn’t said much, just that he wanted to look into some things, see the kids. At the time, Gram hadn’t asked questions, either.

“Since you stayed,” she agrees. “You’re welcome here any time, you know that. But I worry when you come on your own, because there always seems to be a dire reason.”

It was only once, so far. But yeah, it was definitely dire.

“Nobody died this time,” he assures her, and she smiles slightly. He wonders if her reserve is because she doesn’t believe him, or because she’s just waiting for the other shoe to fall. It can wait, just a moment anyway.

He holds the door to the library open for her, and they walk in together.

It’s still his favorite place in the entirety of the compound. He loves the high shelves, filled with books. He loves the smell of them, the knowledge that’s buried here, if you just know how to find it.

Of course, finding it is the hardest trick of all.

Gram sits on one of the window seats, a footrest sliding to join her. “So it’s not a question of life and death,” she muses. “That leaves love, I suppose. Unless you’re here on Alaric’s behalf?”

“He does want me to talk to David while I’m here.” Rory sinks into one of the chairs, draws his feet up. “Something about an exchange of patterns or techniques—I have it written down. And I heard that Leo wants to talk to him about brewing and other fermentation processes. But no, I’m not here because of him.”

“Then what is it?” Her voice is gentle. Soft. Encouraging. There’s no reproach, nothing to fear. And it’s Gram, who has always been there whenever Rory has needed her. He has an abundance of family.

So he explains again, his wrist exposed.

“I would have thought that Pawel Szczek knew better than to cast a love spell,” she mutters. Her reproach is a tangible thing, hanging in the air between them.

“It wasn’t a love spell.” Rory tucks his arm back against his body, hiding it from view. “It can’t make anyone love anyone. It can’t force anyone to do anything. It’s supposed to show that two people are compatible. That they’re soulmates.”

“And if they can’t stand each other?” Gram rises, moves slowly to the shelves. She runs her fingers across the spines of the books, touching each one and pausing over the title. “Just because two people are spiritually compatible does not necessarily mean that the course of true love will be smooth.”

“Shakespeare,” Rory grumbles.

“Truth,” Gram counters. She pulls a book down, sets it on the nearby table, and keeps searching. “There is a reason we do not use magic to compel—”

“No one was being compelled, Gram. It was a traditional ritual from Ángel’s family. Ángel and Hayley cast it willingly, wanting the results,” Rory explains. They’d gone over it in detail before the casting, for just this reason. “No one was being bound or compelled. It just didn’t work out right. It turned out that they weren’t soulmates, and they met their soulmates afterward. Everything’s fine. I just—somehow the ritual hit me, too.”

She takes another book out, lays it with the first. “You didn’t ask to be marked by the spell,” she says quietly.

“I didn’t. But it was an accident.” Rory can see that. Looking back on it, he suspects there were some strange factors involved. Did Nikita’s abilities affect the ritual? Did his own? “Besides. That’s not the only thing I’m researching. Do you know if we have any records of any Mages who were able to steal or absorb someone else’s Talent?”

Gram’s gaze narrows, brow furrowing for a moment before her expression gentles. “Your innate Talent,” she says.

“I’m impressed that you got there that quickly, but yes,” Rory says. He rubs at his wrist, as if it’s going to change something. “Someone implied that I’m not shutting down Talent, but actually taking it. The thing is, if I am, I don’t feel it. So I’m not even sure where to go in researching that.” He doesn’t know why he leaves out that it was the shadow, but right now he can feel the weight of Gram’s regard. He already feels like a child waiting for punishment over the mark; he thinks maybe she needs time before he mentions that he’s listening to a mythical creature.

“I’d say talk to your professor, but I’m not certain of his judgment right now,” Gram says dryly. “We do have books on various forms of innate abilities among Mages, and certain micro-Talents—abilities that have been seen rarely, and most often among the Emergent.”

“I’ll go through those,” Rory says. “And while I’m here, there’s probably more on the shadowwalker/deathstalker myths that we didn’t find yet. I might as well get everything I can, since that’s still out there.” It gives him a reason to be going through all of it, trying to put it all together.

Gram pushes to her feet, crooks a finger until Rory walks over to her. She reaches and he bends down, wraps his arm around her, falls into the comfort of family holding on. “You look exhausted,” she murmurs. “We can help, Rory. What’s been done is done. Do you think Pawel can send us information on the ritual so that we can look at it? A new perspective—from a different Lineage than its origin—might help.”

“I could ask. Or you could.” It only occurs to him after he says it that he hasn’t told Pawel about the mark yet. “I should ask. I need to talk to him,” Rory admits. “I’ll email him tonight, see if he can Skype in the morning. It’s late, we drove three hours, and I’m tired. I just want to look through things tonight and see what I can get before I talk to him.”

Gram pats his back, slowly disengages and steps away. “You want to have a solution before you present the problem,” she says gently. “But yes, talk to him in the morning. See what you can find, and ask him if we can take a look at the ritual. Perhaps we can offer a different insight.”

“Thanks.” Rory picks up one of the books that Gram set out, reads the spine as she leaves him alone in the library. Portents in the Human Condition. Huh.

He sinks into the chair, cracks open the book, and starts to read.

The door cracks open sometime later. Rory doesn’t look up, expecting it to be Gram with a sandwich, or maybe someone else. A plate is set next to him, smelling of fresh ground peanut butter and strawberry jam.

“Hey.” Stormy settles into the nearest chair, just at the edge, leaning forward.

Rory blinks. “Shouldn’t you be halfway home by now?”

“Actually, Thorne texted that they got home already, and that your parents send your love. You’ve probably got it; it’s in the group text.” Stormy nods at Rory’s phone, and he wonders if he’s been ignoring it, or if he left it on silent.

It’s probably on silent. He doesn’t like the way it interrupts him when he’s working. He just doesn’t remember setting it.

“I stayed,” Stormy says, as if that isn’t obvious. “You’re upset, and you’re trying to do everything yourself, and I figured maybe you need someone on your side right now. Thorne and I did rock-paper-scissors and I cheated and won.”

“Like you always do.” Because Stormy is somehow an expert who always wins a game that shouldn’t have odds that good.

“Thorne had to drive the van home.” Stormy shrugs. “It would’ve been wrong to let him win.” She leans back in the chair, pulls her feet up and crosses her legs. “So. Tell me where we stand and what we’re doing, and let me help.”

Rory takes in the bags she’s dropped by the side of the chair. “Are you planning on sleeping in the library?” Because it looks like she’s armed with luggage and her backpack.

“Depends on where you tell me to sleep. I like your library, and it wouldn’t be the first time I’ve slept in a window seat,” Stormy points out. “Or I can sit here and transcribe notes and make lists and we can find a place for me to sleep later. I’ve probably been sleeping better than you and am more awake right now.” She drops her hand, fingers brushing the top of the backpack. “I’m here to help, Rory.”

He nods and she unzips the pack, pulls out her laptop. As she opens it, he holds up the book. “I’m reading about portentous arrangements of freckles, moles, and birthmarks. Apparently there are people who can read the signs of your life in your skin.”

Stormy taps away on her keyboard. “Like reading your palm?”

“Not as generic,” Rory says. “It’s about looking for unusual and specific clusters or arrangements. Like how mole patterns that match constellations might not be just random happenstance. Or matching the marks on one person to another.”

“Ah, like naturally occurring soulmarks or puzzle pieces.” Stormy nods like it makes sense, and maybe it could. It seems like reaching to Rory, like someone’s looking for answers in strange places that shouldn’t be expected to provide them.

Still, it’s almost close to what he’s dealing with. Almost.

“So, I was thinking.” Stormy pauses, fingers on the keyboard. The absence of sound is strangely quiet, as if she was drumming somehow when she was typing. Rory taps at the arm of his chair, fingers instinctively seeking the rhythm she let fall silent.

“What?” he asks, when she doesn’t continue.

“We should keep track of who we know it isn’t,” she says quietly. “I’ll make a spreadsheet and share it with you. We can list everyone you know you’ve touched since the ritual. There might be people you’ve touched by accident—”

“Not if I can help it,” Rory mutters.

“It could still happen. Someone who bumps into you in the store, someone who stands too close in an elevator,” Stormy points out. “You can’t just go through the rest of your life without touching anyone, Rory.”

“Why not?” Rory chews on his lower lip. “There are people I can touch. It’s not like I’m going to end up touch-starved. I have you guys, and Alaric. I trust people. I just don’t want to go around randomly touching strangers. I don’t need to shake hands. I don’t need to hug people I don’t know.”

“Me, Thorne, Andy, Alaric,” Stormy mutters under her breath. “Drea? Corbin? Chris? Who else.” She taps each name in, then stops again, looks over at him with wide eyes. “Rory. You’re a musician. We go out to our merch table. We meet fans. They want to hug us. That’s part of the business, you know that.”

“I have never liked that part of the business. You guys are the outgoing ones, not me.” Rory lifts the book, raises it like a barrier. “We’ll just say I’ve gotten even more shy. That I don’t do meet & greets anymore.”

“There will be awkward fanfic written about that somewhere,” Stormy tells him. “Does it happen immediately when you touch, or does there have to be skin to skin contact?”

It’s a distinction that hadn’t occurred to him, and he’s not sure if that makes it better or worse. “I don’t know,” he says slowly. “I mean, I honestly have no idea. It was supposed to be skin to skin, but I don’t know if it changed, since it obviously isn’t the same end result we intended. My innate Talent—that’s still best if it’s skin to skin.”

“We’re probably not going to know the answer to that unless you bump up against someone and end up with a mark, then,” Stormy says.

It’s a little terrifying when she puts it like that. Thinking that it could just happen, just because he’s in a crowd, and he’d never even know who it was.

On the other hand, maybe that makes it easier. If he doesn’t know, then they don’t know. And he doesn’t have to worry about expectations.

“Stormy, there’s something I should tell you,” he says quietly.

“That you’re gay and it’s ridiculous to list girls on this sheet?” She keeps typing while speaking. “Did that Dayton girl manage to get a hand on you?”

Rory shakes his head. “No. Alaric kept her back. And me being gay isn’t the point. I don’t think my soulmate would be female, but you can list them anyway.”

“Do you have any idea how many people I’m putting on this list?” Stormy asks. She turns the laptop, shows him a spreadsheet that already has an impressively long list of names. “And I don’t know the names of half the people we saw there, so you’re going to have to help with that. I’ll give you the laptop once I’ve got this started. So, what was your point?”

Birthmarks come in many sizes, shades, colors, and locations. It is highly unusual for two people to have a matching mark in all ways.

There are pictures in the book, of a pair with matching purple raised splotches in the shape of a bird on the backs of their shoulders, or two people with a red strawberry-shaped mark at the base of their back.

None of it looks like his mark.

Rory lowers the book slowly. “The point is, there’s a complication to all of this. I’m ace, Stormy.”

“Yeah, and? We know that.” She glances at him. “Anyone who knows you knows that. Do you really think magic is going to go out and find you a perfect match that’s going to expect you to fall into bed with them? You are romantic, right?”

“Completely,” Rory mutters. He’s pretty sure a years long crush qualifies, no matter how much that particular crush has lived up to its name by crushing his spirit.

“And if you trust someone, you like to be close.” Stormy closes the laptop, sets it aside. She pats her lap. “C’mere.”

“You’re ridiculous.”

She laughs, pats her lap again. “And I’m pretty sure that tall as you are, you still weigh less than me, so get over here.”

She opens her arms, waiting, and Rory knows she won’t back down. He’s also aching for comfort, for some kind of chance to just curl up with someone he does trust and let down his walls. So he sits across her lap, lets her wrap her arms around him as he leans down, props his head against the top of her head. She pats his arm soothingly.

The door creaks. “Gail?”

“Yeah, Gram?” Stormy responds.

Rory feels no need to lift his head or move.

“I’ve put clean sheets into a room for Rory. Are you planning on sleeping in the library or would you like a room?”

Rory makes a small noise; Stormy pats his arm again. “I’ll crash with Rory, if that’s okay with him. It’ll be more comfortable than sleeping on him in the van.”

“If you’re sleeping on me in the van it means I’m in the backseat and that is horribly uncomfortable,” Rory mutters. “But yeah. That’s fine.”

“I’ll put another set of pillows in the room then.”

The door closes, and Rory sighs, holding on. As much as he doesn’t want to move right away, eventually they have to, Stormy poking at Rory. “Your butt is bony,” she whispers.

“Sorry.” He stands and offers her a hand to pull her to her feet. “Let me grab a few more books to take up, then we can go put something on to watch and read and fall asleep, okay?”

Stormy crouches down, packs up the laptop. She takes the two books that Rory hands her, shoulders the bag as he walks away. “I’ll meet you up there, then?”

“You pick the show or movie, I’ll pick the reading material.” Rory remembers where they found the books on shadows before, and he starts there. He pulls books on legends, and books on Clan, and when he finally finds them, he pulls out books on niche Talents and unusual Emergents. By the time he’s done, he has a two foot tall stack of books of varying sizes.

They probably won’t get through everything overnight, but he can try. And there might not be anything in these pages. Or it might still be a puzzle, something he has to piece together, if he can only find the right clues.

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