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hallowedmuses · 3 years

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𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐭: 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞.

SUMMARY: With little to go on regarding Daisy’s kidnapping, Deke brings together a ragtag team of agents to help him search for Daisy. Clues in the camera footage lead the team to unlock Natasha’s memories of a pervious mission gone wrong that proves useful in locating Daisy Johnson in there here and now. TRIGGERS: Manipulated memories, brain washing, violence mentions WRITTEN WITH: @oflokismischief , @ofdcniels , @oflemcns , @ronniestvns, @daisyljohnson (mentions of)

DEKE: So Daisy was a badass. Not just a badass, but the badass. But just because she was a badass, didn't mean she was invulnerable. Maybe not as vulnerable as the average Joe, but Daisy had her vulnerabilities nonetheless. He knew firsthand, having been in her body when he was. Having been in her body and gotten her kidnapped, that is. Now, having returned to their own bodies, kidnapped she remained while he roamed free. A shitty deal for her he'd wager. His memory wasn't 100% on all that had occurred, but he'd tried to gather what he could. Including the best agents and biggest badasses he knew (or had previously known of) all together to rescue the director of shield. "So Daisy... kind of super kidnapped right now. Kind of my fault." Super his fault. "So how do we do this-- the whole rescue thing." He was used to being kidnapped, not on the opposite side of the spectrum as the rescuer.

NATASHA: She ran her fingers through her hair as she glanced at the team Deke had collected. She'd spent the morning questioning the kid and didn't get much. The list of people who had a vendetta against Daisy Johnson was long. Any number of people could've taken her. Deke didn't seem to know much about the people that had taken him while he occupied Daisy's body but he was able to give Natasha his last known location before the kidnapping and a rough timestamp of when the kidnapping might've occurred. "I pulled CCTV footage from various cameras around the location where Deke was taken when he was Daisy," she explained to the team. "We need to start cataloging it. Any faces that you see in the footage we need to identify because they could be potential witnesses. Pull license plates, even partials can be useful. Tattoos, piercings, birthmarks, presence of a limp, any apparent injuries...they can all lead us to witnesses or to the perpetrators themselves. It's gonna be a long day so be prepared to be here a while."

DANIEL: When Daniel had found out Daisy was missing, no... taken, he was furious and stormed into Mack's office practically demanding to be a part of the rescue effort. If i hadn't stayed in the other timeline I could have been with her... helped prevent this... he sighed quietly from his place against the wall, arms crossed over his chest as he studied the screens. This was something he could do, look over photos- footage and mark anything important, he'd done it for years and it gave him something to focus on other than Daisy being tortured again. He turned his gaze away from the screens and over to the woman, Natasha, as he stepped closer to the group "Just point me where you want me ma'am. I'm not leaving until Daisy is back."

Loki: Was one of the first people to notice her disappearance, Daisy and him had schedule a couple meetings that she didn't attend. Being called to this little joint recuse mission was something he demanded to be a part of. He looked to Nat knowing she'd be ideal to lead this mission after having plenty of a experience. The Footage would be key in understanding who planned this attack any little thing could go unnoticed when it came to watching things. "I agree the CCTV footage would be our best route to figure out just who we are dealing with, with all of us cataloging what we noticed I'm sure it will be quite easy to piece together the necessary information that we can run against the SHIELD Database." He mused agreeing with Nat before turning towards the somewhat new face he hadn't seen since that time in the dinner. "Good to know Mr. Sousa, It might be a little fast paced for you watching live CCTV but if you require any assistance I am quite good at muiltasking"

Jemma was concerned. No one had any idea yet on who had taken Daisy and it had been at least a few hours. She looked around at everyone who was in the room unsure of what to think about them. She knew Daisy trusted these people but some gave her slight weariness. She stood to the side of Deke listening as everyone spoke, finding that she agreed with the decision. "Have you already starting watching the footage?" She asked as her gaze settled on Natasha.

RONNIE: “Sorry I’m late.” Veronica apologized, sliding in to a chair next to Loki. She pulled out her laptop, listening to the conversation as she typed with great passion. When heard from Deke about Daisy’s kidnapping she felt the need to help in some way. While she wasn’t close to daisy per say, she cared about her a great deal, hoping the two might become good friends someday. “I’ll get started on those background checks while Daniel reviews the footage. Surely there’s got to be some kind of lead there. My A.I. JUSTINE run background the checks as we pull suspects. We won’t rest till we find her.” She agreed. “Have we got any leads so far?”

DEKE: Being surrounded by these super spies and all around badasses was harrowing to say the least. It reminded him of his own mortality (his own uselessness... ) He tried to give them all he could, but his memory was limiting to say the least. It seemed Black Widow (Natasha) had already done more for the investigation than he'd even touched. She reminded him of Daisy as she spoke, so serious and so authoritative. Ma'am. As fun as it would be to make fun of the man out of time (much like himself) it was hardly the situation for such thing. "Me too." He sputtered a bit, struggling to keep up with all going on. "I could help look over the footage or anything you need me on-- I'll help." Help in any sort of way he could, he would give it his all. Maybe it wouldn't be enough, but if nothing else Deke was confident in his scientific mind. He could help that way at least.

NATASHA: "I've only had the opportunity to do a cursory overview of the footage. There's a lot of it. Six adjacent stores have CCTV, but Deke was able to narrow down the time frame to a two hour block window at least," she replied. She knew the kid was nervous. Truth be told, it wasn't entirely his fault. Daisy had a lot of enemies being the Director of SHIELD. Someone must've known she wasn't herself and taken the opportunity to grab her knowing whoever was in her body wouldn't see it coming. Natasha entered her credentials into the system and pulled up footage from six different CCTV cameras, all timestamped within the same time frame. She then shared the camera views with everyone in the room. "Deke, you're with me. We'll start combing through footage on Camera A and B. Loki and Daniel you can take C and D. And Veronica and Jemma you can take E and F. If any of the traces you run get a match, please let the team know."

Natasha watched as everyone broke out into their teams to survey the footage found. “Alright, lemon boy,” Yeah, she knew about the lemons. She did her homework on Deke Shaw. “I’ll take Camera A and you take Camera B.” Natasha pulled out two legal pads and a few pens to hand over to him. She pushed play on her footage and watched it go one loop around at 2x the speed. In the far right corner of the screen, see saw Daisy’s form appear. The footage wasn’t incredibly clear, but she knew Daisy well enough so, she slowed the footage down. Sure enough, a few minutes in, she saw a van pull up. The license plate was obscure from this angle, but she hoped maybe one of the other cameras would pick it up. As the men stepped out of the vehicle, Natasha slowed down the footage more and more. She zoomed into their faces but the faces were obscured by a mask and helmets. The helmet itself seemed familiar in a way. She wasn’t sure why, but she had a feeling she’d seen something like this before. She took a screenshot of the video, trying to get as clear a picture of the masks and helmets as she could, so that she could run a search for gangs that may use similar paraphernalia. It didn’t take long to get the results back. No match.

“This is weird,” she replied as she played back the footage in slow motion to Deke. She was sure she’d seen these helmets before. They were so distinct. “Do you recognize any of them?” she asked him. She could feel the beginnings of a throbbing headache developing. She wasn’t sure if it was the stress of the situation. Natasha was normally calm and collected on missions no matter who’s life was on the line purely because their life depended on her being calm and in control. But, right now, she could feel pressure building up in her temples. It was an odd sensation. One she hadn’t felt since...since deprogramming. It was the feeling of blocked memories. Her mind was grasping at old ghosts she couldn’t reach. Where the hell had she seen these helmets before? Why wasn’t it coming back to her?

DANIEL: He nodded at the direction before moving towards Loki "Sir. I assume the basic functionality is the same as what's used on the Zephyr? It's been a few years but I'm a quick study." Daniel sat in front of one of the stations trying to keep himself focused. He'd made promises to Daisy, and staying in the alternate timeline made him break them. He didn't want to stay, but someone had to... they couldn't just leave the chronicoms to run amok there after all. "I can review Camera D if you want to take C." he suggested after pulling himself out of his thoughts. Part of him was hoping that there wouldn't be anything useful on his camera, but he also wanted to see her... even if it was a grainy image.

After they decided on who would review which camera Daniel started scrolling through the footage, albeit a bit of a slow start as he figured out the way the device worked. It was much more advanced than what he'd been using for the past few years, even with working with Stark and Pym technology, the eighties could only do so much. He had to admit, looking for clues and suspects was easier when he could pause and rewind the footage this would have made for shorter nights at the ssr, that's for sure he chuckled quietly at the thought. As he scrolled he glanced over at the other male "How has she been? Apart from getting kidnapped I mean." he chuckled, eyes turning back to the screen "I'm not really sure what exactly I'm trying to ask. She hasn't been running into too many brick walls has she?"

Loki: he couldn't help but smirk at Daniel's response he was definitely going to take a liking to this new man out of time if he kept it up with the sass. "Ooh I love when you call me sir, but I'm merely offering assistance, It's been awhile since you've use equipment, don't worry boy scot I want her back just as bad as you do" he whispered the last part as he took to camera C before quickly running through a basic run through of how to work the buttons in his favor. He needed to find Daisy and stop this torture's he'd failed her once before back when they were an item he swore he'd never do so again.

It was always tiring reviewing camera feeds but anything little thing could've been capture that needed to be addressed so he watched the video waving his hand to have his pen magically catalog the women's movements before looking at the other it was almost adorable the way his worry leaked through as he put together sentence to come out and ask how she was doing. "Daisy as I'm sure you know is a very strong girl who if given a direction would just run full barrel. She had a little incident back with a breech of her trust, in the form of a hydra spy, nothing bad was leaked in term of information but safe to say her circle of friends have greatly stepped up and provide a protective circle around her." He mused knowing there was plenty more but most of it should be Daisy's story to tell all he could do was ensure this Daniel was true to his word. If he ever hurt Daisy like scarlet had no one would be able to stop the pain he'd bring down upon them. "So all this interest, Do you have intentions towards Miss Johnson?" he smirked.

JEMMA: Once the recordings were divided out gave a reassuring smile to Deke. "This isn't your fault. We will find her." She then watched him go off with Natasha before turning her attention to Veronica. Another person she didn't know but she supposed that if the woman was here then she wanted Daisy back just like the rest of them. "Shall we get started." She went to sit down to start looking through the footage.

RONNIE: Veronica listened intently, all the while she continued to stare at her laptop, aside from the occasional nod or glance towards the others as teams were assigned with a basic strategy set into place. “Sounds good, best of luck with your footage everyone, we’ll find her.” Veronica added, a look of determination on her eyes. “We shall, the quicker we get through all this, the quicker we find her.. I really hope she’s okay.” Veronica sighed, a worried look coming over her. “Oh! I’m Veronica by the way, Veronica Wayne. I don’t believe we’ve met.” She extended her hand to her new footage partner.

DEKE: It was intimidating, working with these top agents. Which was almost funny because he felt normal working with Daisy, May, Mack, other top agents. Maybe it'd been that he'd met them on his ground, in his world. Or maybe he just knew them so well that he couldn't bring himself to be scared. Well except maybe of May when she got the kind of pissed that made ever instinct scream RUN. "On it." He wasn't much of a good shot, nor was he particularly brave but at least he was smart. Deke was confident in that much. At least this was something he could actually help with, to which he was grateful. "Thanks Nana." He said, grateful for her confidence in his innocence that he himself sorely lacked.

Lemon boy. Despite himself, despite the situation, Deke couldn't help but feel a lightness at the fact Daisy had actually given such mention of him that Natasha knew his affinity for lemons. Or at least, he presumed Daisy had mentioned it. He tracked through his footage, eager to find Daisy's face (himself, technically, but her face), he looked for familiar looking surroundings as well. Maybe he could stir some memories of where he'd, as Daisy, been taken. Natasha inclined him towards her screen and- "Yeah. Those are the asshats." Though it felt almost rhetorical to say when it was quite obviously them. He wished he had more information to offer, but he'd given as much as he could remember already. Anything else was just wasting time and repeating things.

NATASHA: She sighed deeply, her features taking on a troubled sort of look. “The head pieces,” she replied as she tapped on the screen to magnify it. “I’ve seen them before but the database search is coming back with no results.” Where had she seen it before? Was it the Red Room? She thought she’d unlocked most of her memories from that time. Whatever this was, the feeling of the memory was more recent than her time with the Red Room. Natasha’s expressions grew more stormy. If these memories that she was struggling to grasp onto occurred after she’d already been taken in by SHIELD that meant someone inside of SHIELD had programmed them away. Was she surprised? No. Not everyone in the agency had good intentions. Even after she’d exposed HYDRA’s infiltration of the agency with Steve at the triskelion and even after the agency went through a period of reformation, there were still people within the vast organization that couldn’t be trusted.

Could she trust everyone here? Her eyes glanced around the room. Deke seemed genuine in his concern for Daisy. He came to Natasha directly when he returned to his body. If he wanted to harm Daisy, he wouldn’t have done that. Then there was Daniel Sousa, he was a living legend within the agency, but had time and his absence from the team changed him? Natasha eyed him momentarily and gauged that she could trust him. His concern held a genuine nature - it was hard to fake the kind of concern that his eyes shone whenever Daisy’s name was mentioned. Then there was Loki. Most would doubt the God of Mischief and his alliances, but not Natasha. They’d been through too much together for him to have been playing her this whole time. Jemma, too, had been a long time colleague and proven her worth time and again. Veronica was new to Natasha. She was family to both Bruce and Tony - they’d both vouched for her and from what Natasha could tell she was willing to step up to the plate even though she did not know Daisy as well as the others. Natasha decided that she could trust everyone on this team.

“Loki,” she leaned back in her chair to get a better look at him. “When Daisy and I were out drinking once, she’d mentioned how you helped her retrieve some memories that were taken from her. I think...” Natasha glanced at her screen and then back at Loki. “I think I’ve seen these helmets before but the memory isn’t clear. And I fucking hate the memory machine,” she frowned and made a face. It was painful and while she didn’t mind the pain, she’d very much rather take the alternative option. “You up for some mind spelunking?”

DANIEL couldn't help the chuckle that escaped him at loki's comment, the humor reminding him of howard before he met maria "i appreciate the help loki. even with working with stark and pym tech for a few years this is still miles ahead of what we had then." he gave him a smile, nodding before turning back to the footage. daniel wasn't sure exactly what was important so he was noting down license plates for cars that showed up more than once while listening to loki "that's daisy for sure, full of fight." he smiled slightly, shaking his head "i'm sad to hear that happened but i'm glad her friends had her back." his grip on the pencil he was using tightened as he watched the van pull up and grab daisy... deke? no, deke in daisy's body... god, he'd been right in thinking that the further forward in time the worse/weirder things got. he looked away from the screen, pausing the footage, to look at loki again "mack beat you to this conversation, but yes. i do have intentions towards daisy."

Loki: rather liked Daniel if things were so darier he could see himself getting to know the other merely to ensure he had the best intentions for their Daisy. "You've quickly turned into quite the tech bug, I have to admit its pretty simply looking at footage, once you get over the amazment of the fact that yes we can record people" He mused looking through the footage as the other nodding his head "She is, sometimes even more so then she has the strength to give, she needs someone to catch her when she falls, not many people are like that in this world. So willing to give everything for those they care about, its easy to betray their trust, something I will never allow happen Mr. Sousa " he replied rather pointily before nodding his head 'We will always be there for Daisy, regardless of how hard she tries to push away, I love her dearly" He mused before looking at the other smirking "Well then, Try to speed up that Courting? we aren't in the 20's anymore and I'm almost positive she likes you." He mused before turning his attention to Natasha as she spoke.

"Yes I did, its quite a process one that takes a very hands on approach to things. I did it for Daisy to help her recover using a tiny bit of information using it as a trail to follow." He explained looking at her screen taking slight notice of the helmets, it'd been awhile since he'd been inside of Daisy's head but he could feel something about the imagine that seem familiar like Nat had said. "My way is a lot less painful, but it gives me access to your mind, whatever we uncover I'll see as well and sometimes it can give you a headache with the rush of information. I'll see and feel everything you'll go through so it's best we ensure no one else tries to interfere or touch either of us." He mused looking at her "Always down if you are Nat."

Jemma gave Veronica a slight smile. "I'm Jemma. Glad you're here." She replied as she sat down next to the woman. Her focus then turned to the videos that they were looking at. She wasn't quite sure what she was looking for but she picked out every detail out that she could about the car. Even though she was focused on her side she picked up the ending of the convo between Natasha and Loki. Her gaze turned towards them both. "Will that help?"

Veronica nodded, returning the smile towards Jemma. “Me too.” She agreed, her eyes following the footage. She was glad Deke had come knocking on her door, asking her to assist him with this delicate matter. She couldn’t explain it, but she felt something pulling her to daisy, like she was meant to help rescue the girl, and Veronica never was one to say no when a person was in need. aside from Wayne enterprises, Stark Tech produced the most advanced tracking equipment. Ronnie was the VP of one and one the board of the other so naturally it made sense he’d come to her for help. “Actually, that might be hold them key to finding daisy. I think we should we try it, if your sure your up for it Natasha.” Veronica perked up, both intrigued and excited to see what Natasha’s memories could offer in their search.

DEKE: He watched Natasha, the Black Widow, as she began to figure things out. He wasn't fully following, there was so (too much) he didn't know of. But, one thing he did know for sure, was that everyone here was someone who cared for Daisy. Who had her best intentions at heart and who only wished for her safety. That was all he needed to know. He'd keep watch, see where he could possibly offer his expertise. Though identifying those who had taken him (her, Daisy, technically) he didn't feel all too useful. "They used knock-out gas," It was shown in the video, so perhaps saying it was rhetorical. "So they have had a ton of info on Daisy, right?" There was still a long list of enemies, that didn't cut it down. It was clear this was something planned from the very start. He just wished he could offer something new, something helpful.

He stayed back as the other's went on. Natasha speaking to Loki. It was good that they had a lead, that they could have Loki go into Natasha's mind and uncover more info. Though, he did feel a pang of sympathy for Natasha and Loki both. From what he had remembered from his conversation with Daisy, mind stuff wasn't the greatest. And from the sound of it, it wasn't going to be pleasant for Loki either. Especially not for Natasha. He admired that they could do it without hesitation for Daisy, though he wished the situation hadn't occurred at all. At Loki's mention of no one interfering or touching either of them, Deke made sure to distance himself as far as he could while remaining in hearing range. He knew he had some clumsy tendencies, and he didn't want to risk screwing it up. Grimacing, he said. "Good luck guys." A pause. "Not that you need it because your both badasses and you could for sure do it and know what your doing but uh-" Yeah, he should just stop talking now. "Good luck." He repeated, lamely.

NATASHA: She sighed as she looked at the screen which was paused on the men with the intricate helmets. A design like this that generated absolutely no leads in any of the systems she had access to? It was beyond fishy. Someone was trying to hide something. Not only had they erased whatever it was that they were trying to hide from the computer systems, they'd also erased it from her memory. She was beyond furious. What else had been taken from her memories? What else might've been implanted? She hated this. She thought she'd been done with this phase in her life but here she was again trying to answer the age old question: what part of me do I own and what part of me is someone elses programing? "I was hoping my next surprise trip would be Greece, but I guess a trip down memory lane works just as well," she replied with an easy sort of calmness as she looked up a Loki. "Never mind the skeletons then."

The method might've been new to her, but she knew the drill by now. She grabbed a few of the wireless heart rate monitor straps and secured them around her chest. Despite the stress of the situation, her heart rate remained steady with no signs of elevation. "Alright, gang," she looked at the team. "Guess that leaves you guys on make sure I don't end up in a coma filled with my worst memories duty. When I get out of this, someone remind me to demand a raise," she winked before taking a seat across from Loki. "This ought to be fun. I'm assuming it works like the memory machine? Focus on what I've forgotten and you'll bippity boppity boo your way through my mind like a tour guide?"

Loki: Had little issue using his powers to help find Daisy, this brand of magic took a lot out of him but if there was a chance at getting Daisy back by unlocking Natasha's Memories it was something he had to try. He looked at the other chuckling softly "They must enough to know not to take her conscious even if Deke was in her body he could've taken them down by mistake." He mused looking at the other this process would be hard on them both but this information proved that it was a hit by someone who know just what Daisy was capable of. "After this I'll take you to Greece personally, tell Clint we are on recon mission." He teased looking at her "I've got you" He whispered only for her to hear.

He watched her get everything ready moving to take off his suit jacket knowing that he'd have to be pretty comfortable before moving to place his hands on either side of Nat's head. "Yes focus completely on that memory, and anything about it feelings, smells i need you to try and paint me a picture from there I'll find the cord to pull and we'll unlock this door. It's extremely important that no one touches me if something happens, if I break the connection I could loose Natasha" He addressed everyone in the room before looking at the other ensuring she was ready before closing his eyes as his hands glowed green waiting for Natasha to start remembering.

Jemma: She realized pretty quickly that although she would've been helpful with any medical issues that might surface, the process they were doing involved things that might've been beyond her knowledge, at least for now. Magic was just science that they didn't understand yet after all, and while this would have been a prime opportunity to observe such magic and try to understand it better, she received a message that made her unable to stay. Fitz needed her help with Alya back at home. She would've felt guilty for not helping as much as she could with finding a way to save Daisy, but in this situation, her help wasn't really necessary until they knew what was in Natasha's memories anyways.

She walked over towards Agent Sousa. "I know this must all be very hard on you, arriving here in the middle of this," she said, keeping her voice quiet, so as not to break the concentration between Loki and Natasha. "I have to see to my daughter, but I'm sure we'll find Daisy soon. She's strong, and I imagine that reconnecting with you will make all of this a little more bearable for her. She'll be delighted to see you. Take care, Agent Sousa." She moved towards the door closer to where Deke was. "Fitz and Alya need me, but just call me and let me know what happens, please?" she asked him. "You did a good job organizing all of this, but don't let it get into your head that this is your fault, okay? Daisy will need everyone clear-headed for this, but I know you'll help them figure things out." She gave him a quick hug. "You'll do great. I'll see you later," she said before departing out the door, closing it quietly behind her.

RONNIE: Watching Jemma exit, Ronnie turned back towards Natasha and Loki, nodding silently as she stood up, going to man the door to ensure no one interrupted them. While she knew she couldn’t be of any real assistance, she still chose to stay and offer moral support to Deke if nothing else. Plus, she was intrigued to see how Loki memory surfing with Natasha would go. “I hope you don’t mind, but I’m recording this, strictly for the archives.” She pulled up the holo pad on her watch, setting the camera to record. “Hey, relax..” She looked at Deke, resting her free hand on his arm. “Natasha and Loki have been through this before, they’ll find something to help us get to Daisy.” She offered him a smile of assurance before turning back to watch.

NATASHA: "I'm not picky. If we can't go to Greece, I'll take Asgard." She was probably going to need to get nice and drunk after this. Knowing the fact that your mind and memory were manipulated was never an easy pill to swallow. She nodded when Loki said he had her. "I trust you," she replied as she made herself comfortable for what was sure to be an uncomfortable experience. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, concentrating on the memory of the intricate headpieces. She could feel Loki's hands above her almost guiding her mind from memory to memory. It was like doors opening and closing in her head until her mind latched onto one particular memory.

The Kingdom of Latveria. She was here on some kind of mission. What was it again? Something off books, no doubt but not for herself. She remembered. Fury believed that Latveria and their prime minister Lucia von Bardas were supporting terrorism by equipping B-List super villains with high-tech equipment. So, he gathered a team that included both Natasha and Daisy and they broke into Castle Doom. Natasha could see it now almost as if she was relieving it. They were fighting their way through to get to Lucia, and then Daisy...Natasha gasped and gripped the seat of her chair as Loki pushed the memory further. He heart rate ticked slightly higher than usual. She could see Daisy with this glazed look in her eyes that Natasha now recognized as one associated with brainwashing. Daisy wasn’t in control, someone else was. She watched as her friend quaked the country and wrecked into near oblivion, presumably killing Lucia in the process.

When the dust settled, they turned on Fury. They were all rightfully angry at him for tricking them into being a part of this, but he didn’t want to face his own shame. Instead, he wiped both the records and the minds of all those involved, herself included. She never wanted to be a part of this and neither did Daisy. It looked like their involvement in it was now coming back to bite them in the ass. As the memory faded, Natasha felt herself resurface. The room came back into focus and she found herself staring up at Loki’s face. “Lucia von Bardas,” she replied as she sat up. “I need someone to pull up her last known whereabouts now.”

DANIEL: he didn't want to hover, it wasn't really his place seeing as daniel didn't really know natasha or loki, but they were important to daisy which, by proxy, made them important to him... so he wanted to hover and make sure everyone was okay. delving into someone's memories, in his extremely limited experience was not an easy task, but if daisy trusted loki to look in her head then daniel would trust that he had the knowledge to do it again. he forced himself to stay by the computer he'd been using earlier hoping he'd be able to look up anything helpful if the two discovered anything. daniel hoped what little he'd been shown on the zephyr combined with working with stark and pym for a few year and what he'd been shown so far would be enough for him to help. right now, being so out of his element, he felt a little useless but he wasn't going anywhere until daisy was back safe. hearing the name, daniel started typing "i have to say, this is a lot easier than going through files in some basement." he chuckled before opening the file that was pulled up. "ok, lucia von bardas. former prime minister of latveria... looks like she attacked shield hq and was focused on attacking some heroes. she was captured but broke out and stole a hellicarrier to make her escape." daniel looked over to natasha "i assume you and daisy were part of the group she was attacking."

Loki: chuckled softly at how jovial Natasha was being if anything it was good she was in a joking mood it helped to allow him access to her mind. "Fine by me, I'll have them waiting on you hand and foot like the princess you are" he mused nodding his head as they began his mind reading, he'd give her the lead it was always less painful that way when the one's who's mind he invaded lead them through the rooms that seem more familiar. It was only when her memory tried to fight back did he have to push throw following the thread, who ever messed with Natasha's mind had done a piss poor job of it, he was able to unravel plenty missing spots from the memory of the latveria. The Brainwashing he wasn't surprised to find out it was Fury who done this to Nat, he never felt such rage until he learned just what this man thought he could do with his power. Once they'd learned what they needed he started bringing Nat out of her memories and back to the surface feeling weaker then he had in awhile as he let his hands drop away breaking their connection as he turned to look at daniel to ensure he got the information before making a glass of water appear in front of Nat "Drink it all before you return to kicking ass and taking names okay?" he replied a shared moment between them.

NATASHA: She must've sat up too quickly because she was seeing stars. Being back in the here and now was jarring, but she tried to focus on what Daniel was saying. She nodded as he read through the details of the Lucia's last known whereabouts. Natasha remembered the attack on SHIELD HQ, but she wasn't in charge of the interrogation of Lucia nor was she there when the woman escaped. She now realized Fury had kept her out of that on purpose. He didn't want her to remember their infiltration of Latveria. Natasha felt Lok thrust a drink into her hands. She reluctantly chugged it before taking a seat at one of the computers. She pulled up the file Daniel was looking at and found the serial number for the Hellicarrier. If it was active, she could find it. She had enough of a clearance level to access the satellite feeds triangulate its coordinates. "There." She pointed on the map. "You'll find her there. We need a team ready for search and rescue efforts." She swiveled back in the chair to look at them. "Who's in and who's staying here to monitor this thing in case they decide to take it for a test flight." /

DANIEL: he stood from the computer, looking at both loki and natasha. there was a snowball's chance in hell that he'd be sitting this out, daniel was going in and was gonna help pull daisy out even if he lost his other leg in the process. "where ever daisy is that's where i'm going to be. i know you don't know me but i've got your back, whatever it takes." while daniel had no idea what he'd be walking into, even if he had 500 miles, he was going to help get daisy back. "mack can vouch for me and i'm happy to go through whatever tests you'd like."

Loki: He keeps his eyes on Natasha to ensure there wasn't any side effects to his mind reading so far she seemed alright which he was quite grateful for given how much he'd come to care about the other. He left her be when she downed the water without issue before following her to the monitor to look over the file Daniel had pulled it, it was exactly like the men from Nat's memories so he knew they'd finally figured it out. He couldn't help but smirk looking at the other "It's been quite awhile since I've bathed in the blood of my enemies, I think I might try my hand at Field work" he mused looking around at the other, if anything they could handle the extraction without issues. "I will vouch for the fossil who hasn't wanted to see history come alive before." he smirked teasing the other.

DEKE: When Sousa mentioned Mack as a someone to vouch for him, Deke gave a look. "I could vouch for you too," He'd been there too, he'd seen the badass-ry Daniel was capable of. He remembered him carrying Daisy into the ship, remaining by her side all that time, all the googly eyes between them both. However he deflated at the realization perhaps his vouch meant nothing at all, Sousa was probably still pissed at him too so- "He is very badass on the badass scale. Killed lots of Chronicom." Maybe it went different in the other versions reality, but Deke remembered vividly the badassary of Sousa, Daisy, and Mack together after they rescued him and Nana. So, regardless of hos much it was worth, he put his vouch out there.

Deke knew he wasn't all too much good in a fight. Sure he was scrappy, he SURVIVED from being scrappy in his own timeline. But this timeline had a very different set of rules, and he wasn't nearly so as attuned to it. Regardless of that, like hell he was going to sit back and do nothing. "You'll need a science person in case you run into something science-y." Bullshit, and these very smart secret agents and god-like beings probably knew it too. "I could science." While survival in this world consisted of things he wasn't used to, it was also full of new things he never had access to. Things he could put together, take apart, and make into other things. If there was one thing Deke was confident about himself it was his ability to make something out of nothing. That was his life in a nutshell back in the light house. Now he had actual things to make stuff from. Maybe they didn't need him, but he would insist to come either way. Hopefully, he'd be of use. Worst come to worst, at least they'd have a human shield if they needed one. "Actually it's more of engineering, but I'm pretty sure that's under the science scope." He added, a bit sheepish.

RONNIE: “Oh, you bet your asses I’m in.” Veronica was the last to speak up, but her voice was full of willful determination none the less. This wasn’t her first trek into the unknown to help rescue a fellow agent, friend, of person of importance. She was agile, as well as tech smart, and could certainly hold her own in a fight. She felt she could be a good assistance in helping to rescue Daisy due to her multitude of skills, and she felt like she owed it to her boss to help save her. Looking around, she saw several friends and a few acquaintances whom she was sure would become friends by the end of this. . “No offense to Deke, but I think I should handle the Scientific part of all this since that’s more of my department, and you, my friend, can on the engineering aspects of all this.” Ronnie kindly suggested as she stepped forward to look at region Natasha was pointing at meant not malice towards him with her words. “Shall we suit up now, or later? I’m ready when you are.”

NATASHA: She'd made plenty of time for herself to do research on each member of the team whom she hadn't had the pleasure of working with before (what else was she supposed to do with her time when she couldn't sleep?). This included Daniel. She knew what he was capable of but it was, dare she say, cute seeing this many people vouch for him. "I believe you, blue shirt," she nodded and patted him on the shoulder. Loki and Veronica both seemed ready to throw down, but Deke was more reserved. She understood some agents weren't necessarily field agents. That didn't make them useless. Natasha was a field agent but she was also a handler. Her job was to assess the attributes of each one of her agents and determine where their skills best fit. "Actually, I'll need someone to be the eyes and ears. Ronnie, will you run communications for us? I'll need you to hack into the surveillance system of Lucia's helicarrier and tell me what's coming." She didn't like turning corners and being surprised by what she was met with so coms was the best assistance to avoid that. "Deke, I'm going to need you in medical bay. I don't know what kind of condition Daisy will be in once we get to her. I'll need you to have the Hyperbaric Chamber up and ready." She turned to address Loki next. "I'm going to need you to wake Clint up from his beauty sleep. It's time to work for a living. I'll go get the plane ready. Everyone meet me back here in 20 minutes so we can get started."

#discord chat

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chvrchesrp · 7 years

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Welcome to CHVRCHES’ fifth event!

This event is our second missive event, which means a little bit of what happens tonight will be assigned to your muse. This event is a finale of the “Pestilence Chapter” and will be served to you in two parts. For the first part, your muse has been assigned a specific thread topic to explore. It’s up to you to delve into the interaction!

For now, we ask that for this night, you explore just this assigned thread—and not to make more threads during the time of the Escape Room. (There’s more to be revealed; after Part 2 drops, you can make your own independent threads.) You can, however, make threads and starters before the clock starts at your Escape Room location if you wish.

The date stamp for the event is Thursday, January 26th, for timeline purposes (though you aren’t restricted to beginning threads tomorrow, of course, you can even begin them today). Assignments are considered game canon, whether or not you explore them deeply. If you have an issue with an assignment, let an Admin know! For after, please do not write past January 26th for any thread yet—the drop of Part 2 might affect your muse’s future outlook.

Escape Rooms are a beloved past time for adrenaline junkies, gamers, team-builders, and competitive folks of all sorts. The premise is that you are shown to a room and then locked inside of it; within are a series of puzzles you have to figure out as a team in order to get released from the room. You must do this within one hour or your team fails the room. (You’re released, but you fail and take a shameful photo - you are the weakest link, goodbye.)

Escape Rooms are meant to foster trust, connection, cooperation, and critical thinking. Meant to.

ROOM ONE: MURDER MYSTERY INC.

“Love is clockworks, and it's cold steel, fingers too numb to feel, squeeze the handle, blow out the candle—blindness.”

After arriving at the Escape Room headquarters, you are ushered into a sleek black limousine; you are asked to put all of your cellphones in a velvet black bag, which will be returned to you at the end. After the 8 people in your party are all settled in, 1920s music filters through the stereo system, grainy and warbled and nostalgic. A champagne aperitif is offered to you, if you dare to drink it. The car smells of polished leather and money—the actual scent of money, as if a great amount of it had been there recently.

You are driven for about fifteen minutes: do you drink? do you laugh? do you speak? Suddenly, the car screeches to a halt, hitting the breaks hard. The lights in the limo go dark and the music stops playing. And then one by one, each of you is led from the limousine. When it’s your turn to exit the limo, you step outside and find a dark bag placed immediately over your head and your hands bound in front by lead-rope: and you are led, stepping on concrete toward somewhere else. You hear door open, and you are pushed inside, then your hands unbound. You can remove the bag from your head.

The rest of your team is there. As your eyes adjust to the dim lighting, you can see a room dazzled with 1920s opulence. There is even a chandelier hanging over a running fountain—it’s ridiculous in its mockery, it’s entreatment. You find there is a stranger in your midst: a ninth person, who welcomes you to his humble home. Then, the lights flash, and he screams, and the actor lies on the floor, ‘dead,’ the echo of a gunshot hanging in the air like a question mark as blood pools around him.

The clock starts and you must all discover who has ‘killed’ your generous host—before that person ‘kills’ you for witnessing! Search the room, leave no painting hung, no chair upright, no drawer unopened—

Assignments:

Shibah/Donato: Shibah naturally begins by observing the paintings on the wall—they seem out of place for a 1920s theme. She identifies them as The Triptych of the Temptation of St. Anthony, but realizes they are out of order. Near by, Donato has found a small lock that requires a 3-number code to open a drawer in a stately foyer desk. They must work together to crack the code—inadvertently drawing them into a required long-awaited reunion neither of them would prefer to have right now. Conflict emerges and it isn’t long before the two are full of rage and angst.

Belial/Babylon: Babylon notices eggs hiding all around the room—golden-painted eggs, silver-painted eggs, rhinestone-covered eggs. Collecting a few, she realizes by shaking them that there might be something inside, so she breaks them open, revealing the following strands of paper:

without one friend, alone

I cannot come down

world without end. Below me

young lovers Tread the sweet ground—

in my purity

But I am God—

Belial is studying the book case, noticing that among the many authors there, almost all of the books look faded and worn except one, which peeks out slightly. It’s marked as a book of poems. Perhaps if they can determine which poem Babylon found, they could find another clue on its page. That is, if they could cooperate—it seems Babylon hasn’t yet had the opportunity to confront Belial for “damaging” Dom. Belial engages in her argument, but has no trouble reminding her that he’s her boss.

Maria/Isadora: Maria turns over a heavy, ornate sitting chair to find that the base of the seat is hollow and that there is a latch she can undo; she finds a series of love letters from the now-deceased host to a woman named Chanterelle, who appears to have been a singer at a jazz club. For all of the letters, there are no post marks, no envelopes. Were they never sent? Some random letters are in all caps, and if she arranges them in order of date written, it spells out: C H E C K T H E D R A I N. Maria shouts to Isadora, who has been studying the fountain. Isadora is less than interested in helping Maria, but for the sake of the task waves Maria over when she realizes there’s a key in the drain of one of the shallow trays. They have to figure out how to get it—but Isadora can’t help letting drop that she knows the cure exists.

Raziel/Cassiel: Cassiel finds a piece of old film in a jewelry dish that has a few frames, seeing what appears to be a woman singing at her own wedding. The man she marries is not the now-deceased host. She wonders what it could mean, but Raziel swoops in with a film reel he found taped under the desk that holds Donato’s drawer. Raziel and Cassiel must splice together the footage to discover the ‘end’ of the story—except Cassiel doesn’t even think Raziel can do that right, so how can he possibly do anything in Heaven right? Raziel obviously spats back, saying Shibah has been absent and done nothing to earn the throne. That if she wants to be God so badly, she should act like it.

ROOM TWO: JEKYLL AND HYDE.

“Say hello to something scary, the monster in your bed, just give in and you won’t be sorry, welcome to my other side.”

After arriving at the Escape Room headquarters, you are shown through a door marked Authorized Personnel Only. Your party winds down a sterile looking white concrete hall, fluorescent panel lights above, flickering. Your shoes squeak and squick as you walk; even the floors seem too clean. You even feel a weird urge to not touch the walls. At the end of the hall is another door with the glass of its window frosted over: you’re shown through that, too. On the other side is the outdoors, actually: you can see a dirt driveway with haphazard gravel and unkempt, half-brown grasses. Lined up are 3 stately town cars, each pristine and white, freshly washed.

Each town car has a driver with white gloves, opening the door for your party. Three folks in the first two, two in the last. The car door is shut behind you and, as the engines revv to life, the windows of the car and a divider between you and the driver goes up—pitch black and opaque. You can no longer see where you’re going, but you’re comfortable enough. In what feels like forever—or is it only ten minutes?—you finally park and the car doors open. So rushed you can barely take in the outside, you are brought into what looks like a small house, and then down a flight of stairs. Your party is put into what would be a basement, the door behind you locked.

The basement itself is hardly grotesque: rather, it, too, is very stately. It looks instead like an office. There is a heavy oak desk with a green lamp and a laptop on it, an expensive throw rug, an assortment of pads and papers, a pad for prescriptions. Chairs opposite it, as if to invite guests or consultations. Locked pristine white metal medicine cabinets, a wall with shelves of scientific books, specimen jars carefully arranged and labeled. The floor is interesting: under the rug, there is a pattern of alternating colour tiles, grey and white, almost resembling a checkerboard.

The clock starts and you must figure out how to escape the basement, or else be charged for trespassing on Dr. Jekyll’s property! Search the room, leave no cabinet locked, no rug arranged, no jar unturned—

Assignments:

Abaddon/Olivia: In an almost metaphor moment, Abaddon discovers that the tall Grandfather clock in the room has no hands. Even this broken clock can’t be right twice a day—and she’s running out of time. In a fit dissonance, she overturns the clock and breaks it. From the loudspeaker comes one of the managers: “Please do not break any items in the room that do not easily break themselves.” Abaddon curses under her breath: seemed easily broken to her. Olivia, by a cabinet requiring a 4-number code lock, tries to distract Abaddon into helping, thinking maybe the clock and the nearby cabinet are related. How could the clock help solve the code? To tempt Abaddon into being helpful, Olivia tries to create a rapport, and soon the two enter into a muffled, whispered conversation about trading secrets as they try different number combinations. Olivia reveals to Abaddon that she thinks she might really be possessed this time—Abaddon gives her secret: back in August, during the chaos, she ripped off Gabriel’s wings without authorization.

Kiara/Jairus: Jairus has gone to studying the laptop; when he touched the trackpad, the computer asks for a Password. He types in a few attempts, but nothing comes of it; in fact, he has one try left before the computer gets entirely locked. Kiara notices his struggle and comes over to brainstorm and observe: she notices the keyboard, which seems unusual. After studying it a moment, she realizes she must have the Password—but can’t help jabbing Jairus over it. She, a young girl, figured out the answer when a hundreds-year-old man couldn’t. It sounds shakily familiar to their current situation... as she wryly types in the password that unlocks the computer (can you figure it out?), she throws out how hard it must be to have a young girl finding easy answers to all of his problems: the cure and the password both. How long can Jairus keep his calm when she’s hitting his rawest nerves?

Adele/Crowley: Adele is studying the book case, trying to see if anything seems particularly out of place. After shuffling through some of the books, she finds no discerning markers, no torn pages, no handwriting, nothing dog-eared. She puts each book back and tries for another: methodical, thorough. Crowley sees her doing this and laughs at her. Crowley does not like a sheep who bends over backwards, who does things as expected, so she proceeds to throw barbs at Adele as she looks. Adele is not really sure how to deal with someone not liking her, even every demon and sinner she has ever met does. Adele quips back that at least she’s trying—to help, to solve the puzzle, anything, trying—and all Crowley does is nothing. Glowering, Crowley leans on the bookcase as they argue... only to find the bookcase moves. Swinging open the book case like a door, another, heavier door is revealed—but there seems NO visible way to open it.

Elijah/Ethan: Elijah is studying the small, framed medical diagrams on the wall. He sees there are four and wonders if the order of them might be some kind of code or combination—each one is labeled strangely: H7, A4, D5, E2. He can’t seem to locate anything that might use and 8-digit code—none of the drawers have locks or combinations, none of the locked cabinets need that many. He shouts to the room for help, thinking he has something, just not sure what. Ethan—used to working for what he gets—isn’t adverse to helping. But when he starts, Elijah just sits back and watches, waiting. It starts a contentious argument between them, where Ethan says that all Elijah wants is an easy life of fame and hasn’t worked for anything in his life—and Elijah gets defensive and says he doesn’t know him. Meanwhile, Ethan does figure out that removing the throw rug reveals the floor—which looks just like a chess board. The edges are even marked 1-8 and A-H. Maybe if each person in the party stands in one of the designated squares... something will happen.

ROOM THREE: ZOMBIE OUTBREAK.

“Don't know what I'm after but the pressure driving me insane, searching for a different ride, had a funny feeling I can't hide, do the zombie stomp.”

After arriving at the Escape Room headquarters and checking in, you are sent directly right back out the door you came in. Out front is a school bus, yellow and beat-up looking, with spray paint all over it. It says things like “Turn back now!” and “QUARANTINE” and “Don’t open, dead inside.” Of course, you go inside. There’s no driver that you can see, but the thing can’t possibly be automated, so you just sit on the empty bus and wait as the rest of your party shuffles in. After everyone is seated, suddenly, each of you feel hands on your feet, anchoring you to the ground by the ankles—as you look down, a black cloth is placed over your head and zip-tied on. You can breathe, but the effect is obviously jarring and you can’t get it off.

The ride is a bumpy one, but any childhood notions of yelling ‘drive it off a cliff’ or similar to increase the ‘fun’ bumps of the ride have all but left your mind. You keep reminding yourself that of course, none of this is real, and maybe you even think some of it is hokey, but it’s hard not to get caught up as your body’s natural response is already flooding your mind with adrenaline and other survival neurochemicals. The bus slows to a snail’s pace, almost to the point where you think you’re not moving any more, and then begins to shake left and right, as if trying to be toppled over by forces you can’t see. Slowly, you start to feel tipped, and then suddenly righted, jarring. There’s a sound of the zip-ties being clipped off. Immediately, you take off your bag.

When you can see, the lights on the bus are all flickering, but you see no people except those in your party—no driver, no one to have tied the bags, no one to have held the feet, no one to have jostled your bus. You all get out, a little worse for wear, and head to what looks like a small warehouse. Entering, it’s all one room. You get to look around for about 3 minutes with the warehouse door still open. There’s an actor on the floor with his ‘guts’ ripped out, fake blood pouring from his entrails, appearing dead, a chain attaching him to the wall. There are 2 other, empty chains. There are 4 flashlights in various places in the room—4 too few. As you start to dart for the nearest one, the door slams behind you and locks and all of the lights go out. You’re in total darkness.

The bright, lit-up digital clock starts and you must figure out how to escape the warehouse, or else become zombie food! Search the room, leave no crate unopened, no shelf ignored, no stomach untested—

Assignments: (For clarity, those with flashlights are: Josh, Naomi, Dom, and Zoe.)

Josh/Magda: Magda immediately disregards the flashlight and heads for what she knows has to be a clue: she shoves her hands into the ‘stomach’ of the dead man. Triumphantly, she comes up with a key, but not what it goes to. Josh meets her with a flashlight, just in time for them both to jump back: where there once was an empty chain, now there is a living zombie trying to attack. They back away from the area and advise everyone else to do the same—but the zombie gains more chain (and more range to attack) the longer they’re in the room. Josh searches for something to put the key in among the warehouse crates and calls her reckless—that he should have done that, because if it was real, he’d be safer. She argues she isn’t fragile and has been through a lot herself—even lets drop she’s been sleeping with Crowley. How does that make him feel?

Satan/Naomi: Naomi, given her history, goes immediately for the flashlight. She starts to examine the shelves and begins to figure out that some boxes are marked with red dots. She starts to collect the boxes of varying sizes; they’re taped so well they can’t be opened by manual strength. Satan sees her struggling and goes to try himself, to the same lack of avail. This, of course, immediately gets under his skin: he can’t be foiled by boxes. Making them an unlikely team, the two bicker constantly as they try to figure out the puzzle—Satan making cruel and degrading remarks, Naomi biting back, but Satan’s blood starts to boil under the surface. By the time they find an empty shelf with red dots marked 1-6, it’s unsure if they can figure out the order without one of them snapping.

Renee/Dom: Renee and Dom both headed for the same flashlight and immediately start fighting. Renee, preferring to retain class and composure, lets him keep the flashlight, but not before she starts artfully picking him apart for his poor attempt to take her Church from her. How does Dom hold up under her acute interrogation? Perhaps in a moment of deflection or denial, Dom finds a lone object out on a crate: a skull, but one of those fake, glittery Halloween ones clearly not meant to resemble a human. It’s overt in its nonconformity, which means it’s a clue. Meanwhile, Renee notices a scale that had a small velvet bag on it—in front, instructions read that removing the bag without placing equal weight will detonate the warehouse. Perhaps they can solve this together, if they can stop tearing each other apart.

Zoe/Noah: Zoe gets one of the flashlights while Noah disregards and immediately gets to searching well away from the zombie. He finds a crate that seems to have a knocking coming from it. A knock sounds once, at even intervals, and figures the crate must mean something. Zoe, feeling the stress of everyone fighting about God and particularly creeped out that she's locked in a small room with Satan, tries to get Noah on her side. It does not go as planned. She flashes light on the box and sees there’s a sheet outlining Morse code. If they can figure out what code to ‘knock’ back to the box, perhaps it will open—if they can focus on the task and stop having an intense debate, that is.

Enjoy, darlings!!

#chvrchesrp #original rp #lsrpg #literate rp #bio rp #event #missive event #event 005 #blood tw

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abiteofnat · 7 years

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BACK AT IT AGAIN WITH THE CALCULATED FEASTING AT TASTE OF CHICAGO...

Because when your goal is to eat as much as possible, it becomes a game of food Sudoko. You have to manage salty with sweet, not tire yourself out with only fried foods, make sure there’s some kind of green in there, and the most important part- finding never-been-tasted tastes! After going 2-3 times a year for the past four years, it’s become difficult to find booths with new options that are both vegetarian and something I actually want to spend my golden tickets on.

In that case, you would think going to the Taste that much would get old! But it has remained so the opposite. I see it as my Six Flags, my Lollapalooza part 1, my... DARE I SAY... Hunger Games. (HA). It’s the one weekend every year that entirely dedicates itself to food with music on the side, instead of the other way around, and brings in thousands upon thousands of people. It’s kind of cool to see people of every part of Chicago together at this f r e e festival along Columbus, with restaurants from all over offering new cuisines and experiences for every attendee. People are gnawing into turkey legs, sticking forks into three different types of cheese fries at once, and just enjoying a day out with the fam in the middle of this amazing city. Pretty cool! Even when I’m sweating like a cold beer on a hot day and little children who are not mine and covered in ~sticky~ are stuck to my legs, it’s the best thing ever. I LOVE THE TASTE.

As per usual I ate a large amount of things and could have easily eaten soooo much more, however it was pretty clear they boosted the # of tickets per item at each booth. Usually it’s about 3-5 tickets for a “taste” of something versus the full item, but this year it was 4-6 tickets. I call BS. But, that’s why it becomes a fun game of arcade-prize selecting with the tickets! Before we dig into the meat of this photo essay style post, I want to give a giant shoutout to my new DSLR camera that has revolutionized the way I take photos for this blog. While iPhones do a great job taking people photos, the iPhone 6 that I own has taken quite a beating in my possession and has become a grainy disaster when focusing on anything detailed. Taking photos for the-hungry-sloth has now become my absolute favorite thing in the world, and photographing food is seriously tooooooooooo much of a passion for me because I get a HIGH from the crumb details you’re about to witness. Like, seriously, get ready to lose your shit because of how high-def this food looks. (I am so late to the professional game, y’all).

I didn’t post everything I ate, but these are the highlights!

Stop #1: PUNKY’S Pizza & Pasta

You know when you’re a kid and if you behave super well at the doctor’s office you get to choose a treat after? Like ice cream from your favorite place or McNuggets from McDonald’s? Fried ravioli at the Taste is my post-doctor treat. I wait for it, crave it, dream of it for 364 days and then the first morning of the Taste I wake up like it’s Christmas because I know it’s RAV DAY. I AM READY TO ZOOM ON THE BACK OF A PASSING PLANE DOWNTOWN BECAUSE HOT DAMN, THERE ARE TOASTY RAVIOLIS WAITING FOR ME.

My dear friends were rearing to go see local band Twin Peaks at the bandshell area where you can bring a blanket and get real cozy under the sun and Chicago’s skyline, however I needed a carbo boost or else they would get “hangry” Nat and not “calmly enjoying the free music” Nat. Usually I get the toasted ravioli from Tuscany’s tent, however this year we past by a new, checkerboard-clad tent that caught my eye and the smell of marinara sauce overwhelmed me and before I could stop myself my hands were throwing tickets like confetti at the nice young man behind the counter and THEY WERE M I N E.

These ravioli were breaded to perfection, fried evenly and not dried out at all, allowed the pasta to stay moist and not tough, and had the IDEAL cheese-pull once bitten into. The sauce was sweet, robust, but not too chunky and therefore got rid of the fear of dripping on my very ~girly~ skirt. I was in a cheese-y, saucy, fried-crumbs-errywhere blackout for a solid two minutes and then came back to earth a better person. Fried ravioli are always worth the ticket.

All smiles on the lawn, patiently waiting for Twin Peaks to start and enjoying the shade this fence attempted to give us. That twinkle in my eye? The afterglow of fried cheese.

Sorry, Tuscany tent, I’ll catch you next year.

Stop #2: La Mexicana

These paletas are the ROCKSTAR of the Taste! It’s hard to pass by anyone not holding a brightly-colored fruity refreshment, flavors ranging from watermelon (my pick) to strawberry to lemon-lime. They offer a much needed pick me up amidst all the “real food” options, or are the best sweet treat to use your final 3 tickets on at the end! Made with real fruit and a lot of love, these tastes or full size paletas are not something to miss. And super fun to slurp, which will become necessary after they begin to melt.

Stop #3: I’M THE WORST I DON’T REMEMBER?! If anyone knows where these tots were from, let me know! My friend got them had I h a d to photograph them, because if this isn’t #foodporn nothing is. Ugh. Tater heaven.

Stop #4: Brightwok Kitchen

I’m going to be honest, this did not initially catch my eye. As someone who uses the Taste to try a bunch of unhealthy food I would never order for a meal in real life, I avoid most healthy looking items. However, I am also so very anemic, and nothing there is protein/iron packed unless you eat copious amounts of meat... so I saw tofu and vegetarian friendly symbols and headed over. I was proved WRONG for being skeptical because this little bowl of goodness was sooo yummy! I got the taste of salad topped with tofu, edamame, carrots, sesame seeds, and a miso-ginger dressing that was surprisingly refreshing on a hot summer day. This place is located downtown by DePaul’s Loop campus, and I will for sure make a point to stop by there on my way to evening classes come the fall.

Stop #5: ONE OF THE SO MANY ITALIAN ICE BOOTHS. Can’t go wrong with a palate cleanser, and check out Ivana’s fantastic nails. She doesn’t even need a spoon to scoop some up!

Stop #6: Star of Siam

My foodie partner Erin RAN to this booth the minute we got to the Taste, as these potstickers are her version of my fried ravioli. They are very full of meat so I did not eat them, however I was enamored by their smell and enjoyed the pad thai as per usual. Not pretty to photograph though, it literally just looks like noodles.

Stop #6: Oak Street Beach Cafe

THESE SHRIMP BLOW BY MIND EVERY TIME. The garlic potatoes? Unreal. They are literally halves of whole potatoes cooked so perfectly and saturated with garlic, butter, and toasted on the outside to a delicious french fry consistency. OH my LORD. Me and Erin shared this full ticket price plate of wonderful, and I am still thinking about it.

Stop #7: O’Briens Restaurant and Pub

OK so this corn was the surprise of my life. As someone with a messed up jaw and a terrible fear of biting into an earn of corn due to past trauma, I was weary of Ivana’s desperate search for the corn. It was late in the afternoon, we were all sweaty, and I was already dreaming up the double scoop of Elephant Tracks ice cream I would force my dad to drive me to once I got back to Linden. HOWEVER. I counted my tickets, 6 left exactly, and we found the corn at a busy intersection filled with buttery people eating bright yellow, shining corn that just called to me. I just knew it would be so juicy, so salty, so *scrumptious* that I ordered one as well and said “to heck with my jaw!”

They pulled fresh ears, still in husks, out of the basket of corn carcass and then shucked them right there, revealing the most DANK ear of corn I’ve ever seen. Then, they were dunked in a vat of steaming butter, twisted with a napkin ‘round the bottom, and then handed over like a newborn baby. Y’all. We doused these things in salt like an arsonist and a very old wooden house, and they were FIRE. The corn was soft but ripe, sweet, so juicy, and literally- I’m so sorry for using this word- squirted when you bit into it. It was straight up porn. Right there in the streets of Chicago.

I am still in awe.

LAST BUT NOT LEAST, CHECK OUT THIS FUNNEL CAKE. IT’S FROM THE FUNNEL CAKE PLACE, AND IT SMELLS LIKE ALL YOUR BEST MEMORIES PUT ON A PLATE.

I am already counting down the days until the next Taste of Chicago (360 days) and hopefully will have more time, $100 dollars to spend, and couple new vegetarian options in the lineup! FOOD IS THE BEST. So are friends. This was a great marriage of the both.

Until next time, Happy Eating!

-Natalie

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