#this is my shepard design! Modeled after myself
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I fuckin love mass effect, ignore the wonky text setup
#mass effect#mass effect shepard#mass effect fanart#mass effect original trilogy#this is my shepard design! Modeled after myself#this is specifically my me1 design#they use all pronouns and I love them so much#will probably draw them and some of the crew members at a later date#teehee
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Top 5 video games!
AAH WASH HIIII!! thank you for the ask!!
ok these are in no particual order! not sure how coherently I can word but I will try my best!! this will be a long post- so you can find it under the cut!!! I have a lot to say about my fave viddy games (and i am not sorry~) but I am sorry for spelling errors- my brain can not keep up with my thoughts and i want to get everything down and everything goes to mush :////
METAL GEAR SOLID 2 (2001)
long before cp2077 was the main source of brainrot- metal gear solid was the main source. I picked up mgs as a series when I was at university in my second year and then would not stop talking about it to my friends (one of which played the games when they came out!!).
the art of yoji shinkawa (see his work below) becoming a source of inspo to my drawing / painting practice (it may not look like it at times -but- it's there- a lot of my old worl had very paintily lines- using a ink brush in procreate ect! maybe i will post some old art one day )
(...there was also a point where I was doing weird perfomance art where I just stuck a cardboard box on my head and called it a day- hrrng.,.. just a box?!) oh.. how i miss being a student <3
BUT ANYWAY!!! MGS2 is my fave in the series- this is due to the character design- the character design altered my brain chemisty in the best way-- the art design- colours/mood- the greens the blues- also the soundtrack- ugh it's so good. (i also had/still have the biggest crush on solid snake- husband time... also olga gurlukovich.. my dear wife ugh she she her)
OH MY GOD WAIT- WAIT- another thing about mgs 2 and it's character design- THEY GAVE OLGA BODY HAIR- yes, i know thats quite a random thing to say, but, I feel like for the time the game being released- it was progressive(?) like- in games even today- most women are like - super models ? idk how to word but- it was so empowering to see Olga like that- she is an icon and i feel empowered when i see her! <3
2. MASS EFFECT 3 (2012)
The mass effect trilogy is a series thats so close to my heart- I picked the games up during the tranistion period between covid lockdowns and coming out of lockdown.graduating from uni- finding a job- screaming to the void- yknow- adulting- no more being a art student-UGH !!
a friend of mine from uni gave me the og ps3 box set at christmas 2020 (because i only had a ps3 at the time)... for me to play over christmas between term one and term two of my final year of uni... gaming got me thru a lot of hard times then-... actually skipped me1 because it was clunky and made me want to cry- went straight to me2 (after reading all the lore of me1) and then went into me3 blind.. god i was not ready - cried my heart out so much
Mass effect 3 is my fave in the trilogy because of the characters! also like with mgs 2- the soudtrack! also also! being able to create shepard to look how I wanted her to look- YES VERY GOOD-VERY NICE! I loved playing the whole trilogy- but ME3 has a place in my heart for real. - the build up to it- the feeling of impending doom - trying to get all your squad to trust shep- the citadel dlc!!! aaAHHHHH LOVE <33
EDI is my best girl- my best girl indeed!!! I see a lot of myself in her. How she grows and evolves over time0 how she learns and understands her worth. She brings me a lot of endless joy.
I got to play the full trilogy when it came out as a remastered bundle. The trilogy got me through a rough few months- I had got me first "real job" and it was a hard few months- but coming home and playing mass effect brought me joy ! I do need to do a re run of the trilogy for the purposes of vp and gif making- I do miss my beloved Zachary Shepard! (some screenshots of her below! on the left- me1 vs me3!! she grows- evolves- cuts her hair and gets ready to kick reaper ass!!)
fun fact: I have two mass effect art books! one of the books being a book that was only released with a game guide which came out in 2007.. the other being a big chunky book with SOOOO MUCH STUFF IN IT EE... both of which i paid for with money from my first "real job" (which i only lasted three months in- but dhdhdd it's ok-)
3. DRAGON AGE INQUISITION (2014)
DAI was THE GAME that got me into gaming/ made me realise I was a gamer. I picked up the game around the same time I picked up the mass effect trilogy- maybe a bit later.. was playing on the ps3 (and it ran like it was running on a toaster or a pottato) it froze every 20 mins and none of the character models looked any good... but i loved it still- yes I couldn't play any of the dlc at the time but it did not matter- i was having the time of my life.
In 2021 I got a pc built so I could finish parts of my degree from home (bc covid and having to stay home for my health)... my pc was powerful enough to run DAI so... yknow- I got it on pc and MY GOD- I COULD RUN IT PROPERLY AND PLAY THE DLCS !!!!! the joy of running the desent for the first time, jaws of hakkon and then big boi trespasser UGH MY HEART EXPLODED !! oh my god- playing the decent for the first time and hearing david hayters voice- i YELLED SO LOUDLY- (it was like my beloved snake was back fejhdhjdhjd) playing that dlc for the first time also felt so right- so natural- my canon inquisitor, wren having connections to dwarven heritage through her father
DAI was my first adult fandom- im not actively a part of the fandom anymore- but I met some really lovely people through it (psst @virginiabackroads and @elfishtales i am looking at you <3 ) I recently got back into Dragon age by making an AU for my best girl, Viridian (... in this au she is called Viri lavellan.. or just viri!) (psst @fereldanwench im still foreveer greatful you pointed me in the right direction for modding the game!!)
4. FALLOUT 4 (2015)
now.. this is a game I have yet to finish- but- I am having SO much fun !! The post nucelar setting is interesting- i'm still trying to learn the game mechanics- but it's exciting and cosy (even if i do scream when a feral ghoul comes out of nowhere and bites me!)
100% loving nick valentine- ugh I wish he were romancable... he has so much charm, like an actor in the golden age of cinema <3 I don't have a lot more to say about fallout 4, but this game is bringing me a lot of joy!! looking forward to more adventures and more modding soon!
5. CYBERPUNK 2077 (2020)
y'all knew this was coming >:) cp2077 my beloved!!!!!! yes, the game may still be broken and glitchy and there are so many things the game could do better in areas- BUT STILL- the joy this game has given me- the friends i've made though posting about the game-- everyone is so lovely!!
the oc's ive created (...viridian and rasmus- i am looking at you both) Viridian brings me confidence- (...rammbled about that here).. THE BLORBOS I'VE GOTTEN (JACKIE WELLES MY BABEEEEEEEEEEEE) - !!
ugh buying cp2077 was one of the best things I did in 2022! also being brave and choosing to posting cp2077 vp on here last october/november was another best choice I did in 2022.
the words are going but- oh goodness this game and the world building- the soudtrack- the level of detail!!! cp2077 as a game changed my brain chemisty in ways- but in the good way. opening my eyes to the world of virtual photography- video game modding. it got me back into writing as well <3 Thank you all for all the love and support within the fandom space- I feel like im home <3
#bunny screams into the void#wanderingaldecaldo#metal gear solid#mgs#dragon age#dragon age inquisition#mass effect#fallout#cp2077#cyberpunk 2077#bunny writes stuff#asks
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Disclaimer: I wanted to open a series and write to every episode something, but I already caved after EP 1 and simply not have the time for such thing. Now it sat here for months unfinished/unposted and I decided to at least post what I wrote, so it doesn't go to waste.
I hope whoever takes the time to read this you enjoy.
Uh... spoilers for an anime that came out in 2001, i guess...
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!LONG POST INCOMING!
So I started to watch the kirby anime...
I finally caved and started watching the anime. The english dub available on YT to be specific and it's an experience.
While i've seen many thinks about here in tumblr, seeing it for myself is an experience.
Right now I only saw 2 episode and pause probaly all 5 seconds to take screenshots, so i decided to share those and some of my thoughts.
Enough rambleing, spoilers for "Kirby right back at ya (2001)" ahead.
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It starts out good enough, I thought, a nice night shot with some random bird that likely won't be relevant. (I know better now)
Gotta say, these sheep designs are very cute. You just wanna join them.
Little did I know, I will mirror these cuties in a second.
Like stars above, that thing is huuugge. Little naive me thought to herself: Huh, what could this monster possible want from these tiny walking fluff balls which i like to cuddle?
HA HA HA, what THE FUCK.
And then it FLIES AWAY to the castle, that for some reason looks really abondend when i look at it now. I really thought it was some old empty castle.
And while i still sat there in silent shook about the pile of bones that just fell down the screen, the intro kicks in. And it has no right to be that catchy. It also explains the general plot pretty good. If you don't wanna see the anime, at least threat yourself to that. It also indirectly warns about the random 3D models that appers suddenly.
Now that i write this down, i realise that, while most likely not intentional, it fits that Octagon (that's it's name, I'm not kidding) eats the sheep. Cause it's a monster from Nightmare Interprises and "counting sheep" is a cliche methode to fall asleep to pleasend dreams.
(I bet that Shepard didn't get a smidge of rest after that happend.)
The first look at the child, adorable like always, sitting in a spaceship.
I actuelly feared that they replaced his wrap star with this.
Don't get me wrong i like the design, but that star is too iconic to be made into a ship.
"It's big and it's scary and it eats everything in sight!"
"That's King Dedede!"
I actuelly laughed at that, no amused exhale through the nose, but like an actuell laugh. As far as I'm aware, Escargon is a anime only, but he already scored is on my good side.
Like i already mentioned with the intro, the 3d is scaring. But hey, first Waddle Dee's apperence.
And also the first apperence of this Dreamlands most judgemental child and her little brother.
Personal Headcanon Time: Tiff and her family are the same species as Garlude and Jerico(?) (Meta Knight's other friend idk if that is his canon name, the guy with the shild and the locket)
(Like i said, I've been spoilered about certained things.)
"You might be right Tiff, a monster is the kind of thing Dedede would like."
"He must be behind this!"
I'll come back to this later, keep it in mind for now, pls.
"Want me to check him in for a two-week stay in the dungeon sweet kingy."
It speaks for itself.
So what i gather from this scene is that Dedede has ordered monsters before and later it's shown that he has the delivery system already installed. The Salesman from eNeMe adresses him like they spoke before.
And the Cappies act like this is the first time they had to deal with this or they wouldn't ask Kabu for advice...
Spoilers for episode 3
Like what's going on? In a later episode Meta Knight drops some lore about how he came to Dreamland cause he figured out Dedede owns and uses a delivery system so he stuck around, hopeing it would attract Kirby's Spaceship to the planet. Why is Dedede ordering monsters and what does he do with them before Kirby shows up??
I know Tiff and Tuff are only children, but the whole "Is Kirby the monster that ate the sheep?" dicussion can be easily solved by saying that he just arrived on the planet and the townsfolk tell Kabu that this happend three nights in a row now before Kirby even crashed there. Like how is he supposed to have done that? And the shepard clearly states that he saw it and it looked like an octupus...
More piles of bones!
Also Tiff shows quick thinking and gets the fuck out of there before they incriminate themselves by standing in the middle of the crime scene.
But they hide in the house of the shepard which is just a small shack. Where does that Cappy store his sheep when it's rainy? And how many are there if this is the fourth time in a row the landscape is littered with bones? Wait... does the Cappy sleep with his sheep? Cause all there is in this tiny barn is straw...
By the way, Tiff & Tuff don't get far with their interrogation due to being found almost immidently.
Why does one of the Knights sound like he speaks keysmash out loud? Like what accent were they going for? The first time i saw this i concentrated way to hard on trying to understand him that...
... I got almost taken out by Meta Knight talking. I Thought that was a Fandom thing that he's spanish but nooo.
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FA222 ,principles of graphic design:
Instructor: mr.munwar mukhtar
@uob-funoon @mnwrzmn
Project 1 : interviews
What is your given name, and user name on ZBrush Central?
My name is Khalid Abdulla Al-Muharraqi, my ZBrush Central user name is "Khalid72".
Tell us about your company, how did you start?
I set up Muharraqi-Studios to continue my family's history in the creative world and I am trying to continue to build on what my father started. The company was set up about two years ago after I left the commercial world of advertising with my partner Rashad who decided to leave a career in banking. We wanted to get together to make a place that allows us to be more creative. Since then we have been fortunate enough to work on some of the biggest projects in the middle east, and also continue working on our ideas and concepts, like our movie project. The most important thing for me is the work I do and that's what we are all about.
What is the size of your company?
The company is me and my partner, oh and our secretary... Keesha, a German Shepard! I am a hand's on guy and I do all the creative work myself. At first, I thought it was normal to carry that load because of the speed I work in, but later found out that I am actually very fast compared with bigger teams of artists in other studios. Finally I understood what people were telling me when they said I was 'unusual'. That’s why some of the CG magazines in Europe were amazed that a lot of our work is done by a one man team that puts all the 3D components together into a visualization. I work about 13 to 18 hours a day, I love 3D work, so my hobby and my work has joined into one, so … yes, very little time for a normal life.
What type of projects do you work on?
Well, I have been working on Architectural Visualizations since we started a couple of years ago, but I try to satisfy my urge to do what I really like, art!
You're located in Bahrain, somewhere most of us don't know about. Can you tell us how you learned your trade?
I love this question, Yes Bahrain is a small Island in the Persian gulf, we speak Arabic as our main language and English for the second, I will answer the second part in two parts, If you mean The art... I would say that I come from an artistic family, my father is one of the most well known artists in this part of the world, you can say that he is a household name in these parts. If you are asking were did I learn the 3D or CG art, I would say that I learned it by practicing for 8 hours a day after my official day of work, so I guess you can say I have been my own teacher in the industry.
Tell us a bit about your client base, mostly local, or do you have clients in Europe, Asia, America?
We serve clients from the Middle East, Europe and the Americas, I would say that I have been fortunate enough to have worked with some of the top people in the architectural industry, most of our clients are attracted to the type of work that we produce.
ow long have you been an artist?
Since I was six...I think! Well, the first painting I have sold when I was eleven. I was always painting and trying to find new techniques that will help create the concept in my mind.
Tell us about your background, your education, your mentors...
I studied art in Houston Texas for over seven years between interior decoration, photography, Visual communication, and digital enhancement or photo retouching, from there I have continued my working career in the commercial world. My first mentor would have to be my father, learned everything I know from him. He gave me the push start into the art world and made me feel it. There are also the books and artwork he has exposed me too with some of the top art in the world. A lot of names come to mind but I would say Frank Farazeta, Boris, The Creepy magazine and of course all the original Mad magazines and books that were very hot in the early 80's.
When you became an artist, did you first use traditional media?
For sure, I started with Pencil then got into crosshatching with ink, then I started painting with water colors and gouaches. I finally got into air brush art before I tried CG art.
What was your first CG package? What is your first 3D Package?
Nice question... first CG software was PSD, version 2, it was like magic... It felt strange especially that I was a traditional artist at the time. My first 3D package would be Alias Sketch for the Mac since I was a Mac user for a long time and did not have much 3D developers for Mac at the time. It was a new world for me and I think I still have a dusty copy of it today even after the software was canceled back in the early 90's, it just reminds me of my past.
How long have you been using ZBrush?
It has only been about six months, but I was up and running almost a few hours after I purchased it.
What made you try ZBrush?
I was watching some of the tutorial videos on how to paint details on the Gnomon training DVD's, and that's when I was shocked to see that it is art on the computer! I did not believe it at first, but It was one of the happiest moments when I first installed my first copy of ZBrush and started painting geometry for the first time, it reminded me with the days when I was pushing and pulling real clay to make a small creature of my imagination when I was a kid.
What's your favorite ZBrush feature?
The ability to paint geometry like it is physically in my hands.
How has ZBrush enabled you to express yourself in ways other packages couldn't?
Well you cant really compare it with any other software, it's simply too different! It changes how a CG artist works, it changes how he looks at things, has changed the industry to the next future leap, and who would want to go back to the past....? I would simply say that the concept of the software is very smart and impressive, my only wish to add on it is to have a bigger view port :)
Now onto "Floating Islands"Tell us about your creative process, how did this concept emerge?
One evening when I was stuck in the studio waiting for clients approval on a project that I was preparing for the kingdom of Bahrain, I was trying to get free again and relax my mind from all boundaries, I started to sketch a concept that has bean in my mind since I was a kid, the island that was then discovered to be on the back of a whale, these were some of the old middle eastern stories about Sinbad's magical voyages.
Do ideas just come to you out of nowhere, or are there particular artists or work you are inspired by?
I am always inspired by everything that is beautiful, whether it is an artist or a design or just Gods creation, I would also say that I have always had my own style in my work and almost never try to follow a certain style that I have seen.
I love this piece, can you tell me about the process of creating it? Have you explored this style before? Or was this created for something specific?
The process was, a sketch or the map as I would call it, and that would be the basis of my creation, I almost never start without it, once I crack the direction then I would start thinking about the execution and the path to take. About the style, well I don't think of my work as style, I think it is more towards I do what I feel, it is only when I am finished with it that I say "Yes! That's what I was tying to do". I almost never tried to repeat a style that I have seen elsewhere on my work. I feel that It is like a code of respect between artists.
In your image "Floating Islands" where was ZBrush used?
ZBrush helped me sculpt the geometry and take it to the next level in a short time. Modeling, UVs, Painting and scenes setups was between Lightwave and Modo. With ZBrush I was able to put the final touches that would make it come to life. ZBrush helped me start painting the UV map textures and setting up the foundation of the look and feel. I also generated some of the whales textures by the amazing ZMapper ;)
Tell us about your pipeline.
I start with Modo, then go to ZBrush, then finally render with Lightwave. The thing with software today is that they work hand in hand to complete each other, for instance ZBrush is very specialized in what it does, it focuses on the need of the artist and helps the creator to complete his task sufficiently with a smooth flow, artists have never had it this good.
What projects are you working on now?
We have just completed the visualization for the Master Plan for the Kingdom of Bahrain with one of the leading Architectural firms in the world, we have helped restructure and rebuild old and new cities for the country. Now I will be working more onto the movie project that we have been trying to get the time to start, hopefully I will be able to focus more on creating more Characters and environments for the movie.
Any last comments for us?
I would like to say Thank you to Manuel at Pixologic and Pixologic for appreciating the work I do. I would also like to thank all the development team and staff at Pixologic for there dedication to work together to help create some of the best tools ever created for the CG industry, I always expect the ideas to be fresh and most importantly designed for the end user, the artist, allowing the artist to continue being an artist without the restrictions and boundaries of a computer.
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Urban Legends (Part One - Chris Beck)
Pairing: Chris Beck x Reader
Word Count: 1.7k
Warnings: i don’t think any apply.
Summary: (Y/n) Watney was something of an urban legend at NASA. Commander of the Ares I mission, (Y/n) was the first human to set foot on another planet. She heard names like Neil Armstrong and smirked. She was on her way to being the most famous astronaut in history, and she was determined to bring her brother along for the ride. She recommended Mark to Vincent Kapoor. She helped him get on the Ares III mission to Mars.
Her brother was stuck on Mars because of her, and she was determined to bring him home.
After all, if he was the first human to die on another planet that would thoroughly steal her thunder; and she couldn’t have that.
Notes: This story is being simultaneously posted to AO3 as an OC story if you’d prefer to find that version. Also of note, Beck won’t be in the first few chapters, but I promise its coming.
There’s an urban legend about NASA.
In the 60s, the Soviet Union and the United States were deep into what is now called the Space Race. When the Soviets launched Sputnik 1, the first manmade satellite, Americans were wracked with panic. If the Soviet Union could launch a radio satellite into orbit around the Earth, who’s to say they couldn’t launch a gun?
The space program, NASA, became every Americans top priority. It was a nuclear deterrent, as well as a matter of national pride. If the Soviets had satellites in space hovering over American soil, then America needed satellites in space over Soviet soil. But America couldn’t just equal the Soviet Union; America needed to beat the Soviet Union.
When the first astronauts went into space, Soviet-born Yuri Gagarin beating out American-born Alan Shepard by less than a month for the honor of being the first man in space, they encountered a dilemma.
The ballpoint pen was pattented in the United Kingdom during 1938 as an alternative to the dip pen. It was a simple design. The new pen utilized a cartridge of ink attached to a metal ball over which the ink rolled out, allowing the user to write. There was only one problem. The ink was drawn down and fed out of the cartridge over the ball by nothing but the force of gravity. Meaning, in space, there was nothing to draw out the ink; leaving all modern pens effectively useless.
The United States invested $12 million of its funding into designing a pen that would function in zero gravity.
The Soviets just used pencils.
The truth isn’t quite as amusing as the legend, but it isn’t far off either.
When the United States realized that ballpoint pens were effectively rendered useless by zero gravity, they contracted a company called Tycam Engineering to order a set of 34 mechanical pencils for their next mission. Tycam Engineering charged NASA $4,382… for 34 mechanical pencils. After extensive criticism from the public and within their own departments about the wasteful spending, NASA canceled their order.
The Americans just used pencils.
Eventually, in the late 60s, a privately owned firm called Fisher Pen Company would indeed design a pen that worked in zero gravity. It became known as the Fisher Space Pen. The pen replaced the usual pull of gravity by installing a pressurized ink cartridge that functioned in any environment.
NASA paid $6 per pen for the privilege of writing in ink.
The Soviets paid $8.
(Y/n) tapped her Fisher Space Pen against the edge of her desk.
The amount of work that had been put into this moment, put into her sitting here now, was incalculable. Sure, she could add up the amount of hours she’d put in training. She could find out the amount of time she’d spent out on missions. She could factor in time doing research for her thesis or working on related projects. She could even calculate the opportunity cost of lost wages elsewhere in her field. None of it would give a definitive answer, though.
This moment was so much bigger than her effort and her work, and nothing symbolized that more than her pen. It had a history that went well past her, well past Alan Shepard, well past NASA. This pen spanned the Ares Mission, the International Space Station, Project Apollo, Project Gemini. Every astronaut before her had held one of these pens. The minds at Fisher Pen Company had put hundreds of hours and millions of dollars into designing it, and they had built their work on the minds that came before them.
The Fisher Pen Company could not have pressurized the pen cartridge if countless men and women before them had not perfected the cartridge pen’s design, if the Biro brothers who patented the first ballpoint pen in 1938 had not thought to innovate on the dip pen.
The giants of every field today rested on the shoulders of those who came before, and the Fisher Space Pen was no exception. (Y/n) was no exception.
It might be a bit of a stretch to call Fisher Space Pen a giant, but (Y/n) was self aware enough to know that she, in fact, was a giant.
(Y/n) twisted off the pen cap and set it aside with a deep breath. Eight years ago, in 2027, (Y/n) had picked up the very same pen and signed her name to a contract, and now she was doing it again. She couldn’t decide if she was more impressed that she was back in the chair or that she’d managed to keep track of one pen for eight years.
“You understand the full personal, professional, and legal ramifications of the contract you are about to sign, Miss Watney?”
(Y/n) looked up at NASA’s in-house attorney sitting across from her. He was a feeble man with a bald patch slightly to the right of center atop his head that perfectly matched the shape of the Tycho lunar crater, right down to the tiny tuft of hair that coincided with the peak at its center. They had only met once before, eight years ago, and understandably she didn’t remember him very well.
Back then, he had given her a full lecture, two hours long, about the document she was signing, the commitment it entailed. He’d clearly gone lax this time around. Perhaps he wrongly assumed she remembered any of what he’d said.
She couldn’t even recall his name when she first walked in the door minutes before. Back in 2027, she was practically shaking with the anticipation of putting her name on the dotted line. Back then, he was all that was standing between her and Mars. How could she be expected to pay attention.
“Don’t worry about me, Mr. Levinson.” (Y/n) falsely assured him. “I know what I’m getting myself into. I’ve been here before.”
“That you have,” Mr. Levinson wheezed out a laugh. “I was excited when they told me you would be leading this new program. It’s always good to see some familiar faces on the cover of my cereal box.”
(Y/n) chuckled to herself. Her brother had given her hell for those cereal boxes. Whenever NASA forwarded her inbox along to the Hermes, there were always a handful pictures of Mark with the cereal box strategically placed in various spots (Y/n) should have been.
Her birthday? He put it on the table with a cake in front of it. Family beach trip? He covered it in sunscreen and set it in the sand. Dad’s retirement party? He brought it along to a black tie event tucked under his arm. Mark somehow managed to talk some of the techies into letting him put the box in the seat next to him while he did his takeoff simulations. He even took the stupid thing as one of his personal items into his isolation chamber for 10 days.
Gem that he was, Mitch Henderson had sent along the video of Mark talking to the picture of her on the cereal box cover because, as Mark explained, ‘What? I got bored of talking to myself.’
(Y/n)’s eyes scanned over the contract. She wasn’t really reading it. Mr. Levinson knew that, but she needed to pretend for the sake of protocol. “The cereal box was all Annie. She thinks putting us out there in the public eye will increase awareness of NASA programs, and increased funding will follow.”
“It’s not a bad idea.” Mr. Levinson hedged. “It might be good for kids to have successful, intelligent role models for once.”
Role models. They’d certainly tried to make (Y/n) into one of those. Weeks upon weeks of PR training. It was worse than the actual astronaut program!
...That was probably an exaggeration, but it felt like it.
(Y/n) was the Commander of her mission, the face of the team. A face that was everywhere, and not just for the moment. A face that wouldn’t just be in history books, but would be on the covers of them.
A face that Annie refused to see dropping the f-bomb during any of the over 100 interviews (Y/n) had been expected to do before take off and certainly not during any of the countless hundred she had done since her return.
(Y/n)’s pen paused over the line she was supposed to sign, and a smirk tugged at her lips. “Wait, you were eating the kid’s cereal?”
Mr. Levinson spluttered for a moment, but his embarrassment was saved by the door bursting open.
“Mitch?” Mr. Levinson questioned.
(Y/n) turned when she heard Mr. Levinson say the name. The Hermes Flight Director stood in the office doorway looking absolutely terrified.
A cold chill ran up her spine. He didn’t need to say anything. Mitch’s eyes did all the talking, and she shoved away from Levinson’s desk, ignoring as the lawyer shouted, “Miss Watney, we’re not done here.”
Mitch led her through the halls down into the control room where the usually mild-mannered scientists were in frenzy.
(Y/n) didn’t frequent the NASA control room. Her eight years in the program had mostly been spent in training facilities or research labs, but she’d met the staff working the room before. She knew procedure well enough to know that this was unusual, and something was going very wrong.
“What’s going on, Mitch.” Her tone left no room for questioning.
“We had to scrap the mission earlier today. The winds got too strong. MAV was tipping.”
(Y/n) narrowed in on the readouts scrolling up the side of the screen. The wind speed was far too high. “Have they left the surface yet?”
“They haven’t yet, and the last updates from the communications system indicate the MAV was tilting too far. They were running out of…” Mitch never got to finish explaining the situation to (Y/n).
A crackly voice came over the loud speaker, indicating a transmission from Hermes to mission control. “Hermes, this is Commander Lewis. We have successfully docked the MAV and are beginning to route our return to Earth.”
(Y/n) felt intense relief fill her only to be washed away by sheer horror.
“Mark Watney was hit by debris en route to the MAV… He… He died on impact and didn’t make it to the MAV.”
A loud cry split the air, and (Y/n) only realized it had come from her when pain shot up her knees as they gave out and hit the ground.
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Next Time on... Part Two
Taglist:
Forever Taglist:
@maybe-a-fangurl / @libbymouse / @geeksareunique / @deathbyarabbit / @spilltheearlgrey
#chris beck x reader#chris beck#chris beck imagine#sebastian stan x reader#chris beck fanfiction#sebastian stan imagine#sebastian stan fanfiction#chris beck x you#chris beck fluff#the martian imagine#the martian fanfiction#chris beck drabble
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Reyes Vidal Theories And Headcanons
To start off, we’ll begin with all the canon facts we know about our favorite Kadara King, almost all thanks to his writer’s twitter;
He’s in his late twenties
He’s from Chile (born and raised?)
His first language is Spanish, but speaks English (fluently?)
After arriving to Andromeda but before the Nexus Uprising, he was a shuttle pilot assigned to Initiative callsign ‘Anubis’
He’s a dog person
Fan of alcohol??
And that’s it. Everything else about him is all speculation and random headcanons. ME:A has no further single-player DLC upcoming. No new comics, either. It’s really sad to say, but it seems likely that the canon story of Reyes Vidal ended with Mass Effect: Andromeda.
But not if I have anything to say about it! Below are my various Reyes Vidal headcanons and theories. And more to come, along with other Mass Effect characters!
1) Reyes as a ‘Shuttle Pilot’
People in the game sometimes describe flying vehicles as a ‘shuttle’, but technically, a ‘shuttle’ isn’t a type of vehicle, it’s the name for a delivery service - short routes, higher frequency, simple fare. You can shuttle passengers or objects place to place. If Reyes was a ‘shuttle pilot’, that meant he was flying things to-and-fro the Nexus on the Initiative’s orders, delivering people and goods by standardized rates.
We’ve already known a shuttle pilot in the franchise before; Steve Cortez of Mass Effect 3 was the Normandy’s shuttle pilot, because he had to deliver the ground team to-and-fro the ship regularly. Those fugly box-like skycars you see in the ME franchise seem to be Alliance/Initiative standard vehicles, described as ‘UT-47′s by Steven in 3, or a ‘Kodiak’ for similar models. Steve also takes Shepard on a skycar ride in the Citadel DLC, and talks about his piloting passion as if they were indeed on a plane and not a car (”There’s a lot about this bird you don’t know/Pilots would wear G-suits”).
Plus, Steve also trained by flying fighter jets, not ‘cars’. So when we say a character is a shuttle pilot, we really do mean pilot and not ‘flying car driver’. Reyes is a pilot in all sense of the word. Even though those boxy cars can indeed use FTL drive to fly between systems and planets, Reyes worked under the call-sign ‘Anubis’ so we can assume he flew a plane specifically. Aviation call-signs are for aircrafts and not cars. The dock manager would ask for the pilot’s verification, and the pilot would respond with the aircraft’s verification name and number - N-503 call-sign ‘Anubis’.
We never see him flying in-game. On the mission we meet Reyes’ ex Zia, we do see his plane outside the house where the supposed cargo was to be. It’s a poopy-brown, double-turbine-winged helicopter thing, and it’s also the plane he escapes onto if you save Sloane. He’s never flying it, though, it’s always him hopping in/off.
I’ve seen some fics where that’s actually where he sleeps, which I don’t think would be realistic - that plane sees a modest amount of action, not just during fights but also during ambient Kadara Port skydrops - you see it flying by sometimes. Inside isn’t big, you see like three seats and nothing else, good for five people maximum. Reyes would have to have this plane flight-ready at a moment’s notice. He’s still smuggling, after all.
It’s a very different plane from all the others you see. It’s not a boring basic Initiative box car, it’s not a bubbly green Angaran car, it’s not a green mess like the Kett’s. The only time you see a plane like that is during the Meridian final battle, where there’s two-three of those same planes, no matter if it’s Sloane or Reyes. I think it’s a plane that was created after the Nexus Uprising, crafted specifically by exiles. You find guns unique to exiles, after all, why not planes? Kadara exiles have wind turbine engineers, doctors, and not to mention the Angara who must be involved. They gotta have some people who can design and produce good planes. It’d be poetic if Reyes’ plane was a hybrid of Angaran and Milky Way engineering.
2) Reyes being Chilean, Brown, and Bi
I’ve said this before, but I was never happy with how Reyes was handled as a Latino man. I’m not Latinx myself, I’m Asian, so I speak from a different perspective of color. Reyes is a token Latinx person in the game, and he (along with his ex Zia) have thick accents and a sexualized history/personality. His accent in particular is super grating, since it’s faked by a white British actor and you can definitely hear it. As an Asian person, I am NOT a fan of seeing faked accents pasted onto a stereotyped love interest.
So when we see a character like Reyes, we make the best of it. We make him ours, and not Bioware’s very spotty writing. Canonically, Reyes is a flirty spicy Latino bi man, but he’s more than that. Romanced or not, you get to see the man behind that mask. He’s silly, insecure, and very intelligent. He’s good with guns, explosives, and planes. He can play politics to the point where he can become the driving force behind an entire planet.
But all that canon stuff still doesn’t erase the spots on Bioware’s record when it comes to making Reyes. They wanted to create a shady morally grey love interest, and Reyes is the direction they took.
Us fans, on the other hand, can actually give Reyes as a bi Chilean man some weight. We can write his Spanish as actually being specific to Chile, we can explore his sexuality the way bi people do. The Mass Effect universe takes place about 160+ years from now. It’s been more than a century. We all know that progress isn’t linear, but for the sake of our liberation, we’ll say that humanity’s ideals of sexual/racial politics have improved.
So unlike us, maybe Reyes didn’t grow up in a world that attacks brown/queer people. Today, being brown means you’re ashamed of your skin color before kindergarten, and being bi means your sexual journey is hindered by marginalization. Reyes, on the other hand, might have not faced these things at all. Humans of the Mass Effect world might see queerphobia/racism as something incredibly archaic, like oppressing redheads.
Not like Bioware’s good at portraying this type of progress. Sure, we never see anti-lgbt rhetoric in-game, nor marginalization of brown humans, but we don’t see any true evidence that the Mass Effect world has gotten rid of these things. I don’t for a second believe that there would be so many straight humans 160+ years from now. Or so many aliens that fall squarely into the human gender binary.
Headcanon; Reyes, being raised on Earth, sees himself as brown and knows the bloody history behind it. His skin color matters to him much the same way my browness matters to me - its a connection to your family, your people, and the way you look at yourself in the mirror. And he doesn’t identify as bisexual as loudly as many of us do, but not because he doesn’t like lgbt culture. He’ll checkmark the ‘bi’ box if you asked him to write out a census survey, I just think he’s one of those people who’s kinda casual about it. Especially if he doesn’t face the marginalization we do.
But being a queer man means he’s got that flamboyant side a lot of us do. He’s romantically cheesy, he likes red wine over candlelit dinners, he finds flower arrangements beautiful, he’ll go to great lengths to make sure he looks and smells nice (even on Kadara’s nasty sulfer atmosphere), he think he looks amazing in a fitted suitdress. And if he could, he’d repaint his plane to be a nicer color other than that fugly brown, like a sweet duochrome blue-purple, but unfortunately its a color that blends in well with Kadara’s landscape.
3) Reyes as the Charlatan
What’s canon about the Collective? They work from the shadows, cultivate poison, steal supplies, have torture rooms where they keep captured Outlaws, and information between them can get muddled or compromised. They’re not a pretty bunch, and the Charlatan isn’t a pretty business.
Compared to the Outcasts, they’re definitely the more gentle organization. And perhaps with the Outcasts out of the picture, they drop a lot of the shadier stuff they do, what with no one left to torture and assassinate. But their business still runs on crime, opposing the Initiative and the Angara directly at times - such as stealing supplies, illegal mining and producing of resources, and drugs. And Reyes oversees all of that.
You can also compare Reyes’ crimes to Vetra, who’s also a smuggler, but a lot less shady. Vetra does a lot of things without bloodshed or violence, and doesn’t even seem to steal things. Instead, she makes business deals that slip underneath the red tape and break regulations. Reyes, however, had to work under Sloane’s violence for many a month, and adopted immoral methods to work around her.
I truly believe Reyes isn’t supposed to be a violent man who likes bloodshed and murder. He sees it as necessary, and his goals are worth getting his hands dirty. Reyes wasn’t just scared about Ryder finding out he lied, he’s worried about the whole, you know, Collectives being a violent mob gang thing. As Kadara improves, he lets up.
When he’s not hanging out in Tatarus, out smuggling, or doing various other shady things, I headcanon Reyes as actually having multiple places to sleep and hie away. Not the Collective Base, though. No one there has ever met the Charlatan, and even the leader, Crux, only gets orders as messages. Before the big reveal, Reyes doesn’t confess any connection to the Collective. He wouldn’t show up at the base. His living spaces are probably within Kadara Port’s various shitty apartments, and also hideouts in the badlands.
Always he’ll be on call for Charlatan business. Even at the Meridian party, he’s clicking away at his omni-tool while talking to Ryder. He keeps odd hours, probably only managing minimal sleep schedules. And when he’s not available, his most trustworthy representatives take up his mantle. And if Sloane’s killed, he only gets more busy.
With an outpost settled, there’s legitimate money to make and Reyes gets right on that. I assume that, at first, establishing the outpost costs a lot more money than it makes, but having an initiative settlement eventually draws in a lot of resources and commerce. Reyes isn’t just the leader of Kadara Port, he’s the King of Kadara the planet and the outpost is part of his jurisdiction. Ditaeon may have been Ryder’s doing, but it’s Reyes’ town now.
4) Reyes and Ryder - Love And Trust
“He already lied to you once. Guys like that don’t stop lying,” - Vetra.
A romanced Ryder is obviously a big deal to Reyes. He even confesses to his right-hand woman Keema that he worried about what Ryder might think about him, and that’s something pretty personal to exclaim. He’s in deep and his self-esteem is heavily affected by what Ryder says to him. If you don’t decide to kiss him on the rooftop, you can instead say that he’s more genuine than you thought, which actually seems to hurt him.
There’s an animation difference between Scott and Sara - Reyes will slide right up against Scott’s personal space during their first meeting at Kralla’s Song, while he’ll stay a modest distance away from Sara. To our eyes, seeing an unknown, shifty man being so close to a woman at a bar is pretty creepy and scary. You, as a man, do not touch a woman you don’t know. To us, being in a place like Kadara Port and alone at a pirate bar means violence against women is a fear at the forefront of our minds.
He’s so uncomfortably close to Scott, though, probably in an effort to intimidate him slightly. But he’s not gonna pull that shit on Sara, because that would mean something completely different.
Reyes makes a big deal about being the perfect gentleman, which is something of a rhetoric joke. Because he’s not a gentleman when it comes to honesty and honor; he steals, cheats, and lies, he brought a sniper to the duel. But he is a gentleman when it comes to compassion and sympathy. He set up a soup kitchen for the slums. He donates money to the clinic. He prioritizes the Angara native to Kadara. He lifts the ‘protection fee’ nonsense and doesn’t exile people to the badlands.
He said he came to Andromeda to ‘be someone’. I think that’s supposed to be a double-meaning. He wants to be important to people, but why rule from the shadows if that’s the case? Because he wants to make a difference. He actually does want to help people and set up an Initiative outpost and dispense justice. That’s the ‘someone’ Reyes wanted to be all his life, and it grew into a passion when he finally upped and abandoned the Nexus.
Being a ‘gentleman’ is kinda old-fashioned, but Reyes seems to have a special interest in old-fashioned stuff, playing Soft Jazz while dancing quietly with Ryder. I think it’s just something he enjoys, like having actual full-blown romantic dates. Too bad he rarely has the opportunity to explore them.
About Zia; his alleged ‘ex’ is a mystery. Umi, a bartender, pinpoints her as an ex-girlfriend, but Reyes will say they merely had a few drinks and things apparently never went far. And when Zia shows up, there’s no love lost between the two of them, even though Zia apparently knows Reyes well enough. Relationships with a tail-end like that were probably never serious, but still had enough time invested to become actual, significant history.
I don’t know why Bioware wanted to write, direct, code, and implant this mission, as if it adds something to Reyes’ characterization. Zia in particular is a unique character model, which is weird because very few characters have a special face and texture. What does Zia mean to Reyes? To us?
I think Zia was an old smuggling/piloting partner of Reyes, and the two of them might have struck a connection during the first hopeless months of the Andromeda Initiative. Zia grew to know Reyes as a selfish man with no friends, split off from him and ran a competitive smuggling shtick, and even says a romanced Ryder will soon know how wrong they were to place faith in him. Its a side of Reyes we don’t hear from anyone else, and I think it’s meant to shake our confidence in Reyes as the future leader of Kadara - or as Ryder’s love interest.
After all, why would Reyes ask the Pathfinder for help in finding some random lost cargo? Because it was probably something super important. Worth not just money, but morality too. Reyes wouldn’t tell someone as unsubtle as Ryder that they were about to look for some misplaced escaped ark survivors (or whatever’s also super important, I dunno), or everyone and their mother would know they were up to something big.
Zia lured Reyes with the promise of something very big, and tried to take him down because she wanted to make more money. Reyes, on the other hand, isn’t completely money-driven. Zia represents the Charlatan we were told to fear, while Reyes is the true face behind the shadows. And after all that business rivalry, Reyes still buries her.
But Zia still says Reyes is a selfish man, and she knows him much better than Ryder does. Why would a fellow amoral smuggler care if someone was selfish or not? Was Reyes selfish to her specifically? Like, in a bad lover way? That’d suck, but he probably didn’t feel that much affection towards Zia in the first place. Or did Zia have ulterior motives that Reyes didn’t agree with, and cut off contact because Zia wanted to cross lines Reyes didn’t feel comfortable with? That’d be a nicer way of looking at it. Reyes was ‘selfish’ because Zia wanted to, I dunno, hit civilians for extra cash and Reyes said no.
My headcanon; with Ryder, Reyes definitely doesn’t take things super casual like he probably did with Zia. He eventually dedicates himself to them, and invests a lot of his emotions into their relationship. It might even be something he never did before, but a hero’s love is worth so much to him. He can’t leave Kadara, and Ryder can’t stay with him (at least at first). And secrets will continue to bloom between them. But Reyes will continue to improve himself, ‘becoming someone’ to not just Kadara, but to Ryder.
5) Random and MISC
Being an exile-in-an-outlaw-town-during-a-cluster-wide-war-against-the-Kett-and-the-Scourge means shitty food. Which Reyes hates and he does his best to avoid the Jim Bakker bucket-esque MREs that the Initiative hands out. And Angaran nutrient paste doesn’t sit right with Milky Way species, so he doesn’t eat that either. Life on the frontier means adopting to local flora and fauna, which means old fashioned Angaran dishes like Adhi roast, Kaerkyn shell soup, Taurg flank steak, and Drall bits. But no, he doesn’t cook if he can help it - he’s not terrible, just not good, and he’ll instead buy food from vendors on Kadara Port, or order it from the bar. And he’ll get dessert when he can, too.
And he loves Kadara Port. It’s his own little cyberpunk neon noir city, even if it does smell vaguely of sulfur. He loves looking out the window and seeing the bright glowing signs overlapping each other, hearing the shady bustle of exiles 24/7, the patter of acidic rain. When he begins to get involved with Ryder, he begins to take extra time to gaze at the city’s horizon and be sentimental. That’s what falling in love does to a person.
He’s canonically a dog person, and by dog we do include Mass Effect’s alien dogs such as adhi. The Collective is trying to domesticate wild Adhi, which is a project Reyes started to make them into guards and weapons, but a side of him just loves the idea of having an adhi as a pet. If he could, he’d have five rescue pups of varying breeds (and species), posting those Sexy Dog Instagram Photos of all of them at the beach, or something.
Time as the Charlatan means less time to work out. So his muscles aren’t big, and he’s got enough fat to cover them, too. If he undressed, you’d see that he’s smaller than his clothing would imply, no Ripped Taint or Tight Glutes. Lotsa hair, though, all down his chest and pelvis and legs. He actually doesn’t really like it, but he only has resources to shave his jaw.
All his outfits are the typical humanwear that all colonists to Andromeda have access too, but with extra touches because he Cares about his appearance. Fancy gloves, a nifty belt with a shiny buckle. He uses the slighest amount of product to slick his hair up, gotta stretch it out until he can find an Andromeda replacement. Uses a nice deodorant, and will get expensive cologne when he has the chance.
He hates the cold, and Kadara has modest winters that won’t freeze the water but will spread a frost everywhere. That’s already too much for him, and throughout the whole season he’s more tired, grumpy, and seasonally depressed. When spring breaks through again, he gets a burst of energy and happiness from the relief.
If Ryder ever lives with him for an extended period, they’ll quickly learn the difference between a 22-year-old’s living space, and an almost-30′s living space. Perhaps with Sloane out of the picture, Reyes gets a legit place to live and invests in real furniture and interior decor, while Ryder’s still stuck in that college student trash stage. Reyes forbids scratches on the table, or bath towels crumbled up, or windows left open during the rain, etc. Ryder think its cute that Reyes is so domestic, Reyes is just trying to save his expensive couch from shoes on the cushions.
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things you said when you thought i was asleep + whoever you ship shep w !!
“Hey, Tess.”
The words wake Miranda in what she knows is the middle of the night. However soft, the emotion behind them begs her attention and her concern, directed at the Captain bundled in a blanket. He sits at his desk, bleary eyed and half-asleep.
“Happy birthday. You’d be thirty today, the big three-oh.”
Her heart aches for him.
“We were going to throw this back party. Invite all your Alliance buddies. Eomma. Maybe even Jung-Seo. I was going to tell this big story about how you… you were my role model. How I always looked up to you. At first, it was gonna be a fuck you to everyone, but I didn’t want it to take away from the fact I meant it. Every single word. I do look up to you, Tess, I always have. I always will. Even though you’re gone, I… I still do. I always find myself asking what you would do. Even the way you might talk to your friends.”
He laughs, genuinely, and leans back into his chair. Relaxes. Miranda’s heart aches a little less.
“Garrus, right? Hell of a guy. Told me all about his mods to the Normandy back when you were commanding. Showed me how Cerberus incorporated it all in because his designs were better. Like, than the Alliance’s original build. Crazy, right? He told me, and I was laughing with him, then I realised you probably opposed the hell out of it. God. It makes me wonder if I really am turning into you.”
Miranda never met Tae-Yeon Shepard, the Hero of the Citadel, but she knows Kwon Shepard is a spitting image of her. She wishes he could see it. She wishes she could comfort him about it, but this is private, not meant for her ears. His way of mourning her.
“I really miss you, sis. Like, a lot. But knowing you, turning thirty today, you’d spend it complaining about how old you feel. How you remember turning eighteen just yesterday.”
He laughs again, but it’s softer, filled with more reflection. It quickly gives way to a sigh, but Kwon is smiling softly. Miranda traces it with her eyes against his lips, in the low light. It suits him, being emotional.
“Happy birthday, Tae-Yeon. I hope it’s a good one.”
She’s gone, long gone, but Miranda talks to her contacts anyway. They get back to her within the day, meaning by the afternoon, Kwon has an anonymous email to a published article with Citadel News Net. It’s linked with other, smaller news corps that report all across the galaxy.
She isn’t there when he opens it, but Specialist Traynor sends him up to his quarters to read it at 15:02: two minutes after its published for the galactic community to see.
The Life, and Life, and Commander Tae-Yeon ShepardThe First Human Spectre, the Hero of the Citadel, and a Much Loved Sister.
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I posted 360 times in 2021
120 posts created (33%)
240 posts reblogged (67%)
For every post I created, I reblogged 2.0 posts.
I added 420 tags in 2021
#miraculous ladybug - 49 posts
#luka couffaine - 46 posts
#lukanette - 46 posts
#marinette dupain cheng - 44 posts
#luka x marinette - 43 posts
#miraculous lb - 43 posts
#love - 39 posts
#marinette dupain cheng x luka couffaine - 38 posts
#miraculous luka - 36 posts
#mlb luka - 36 posts
Longest Tag: 68 characters
#pls tell me it’s either k.k.’s bubblegum or power rangers theme song
My Top Posts in 2021
#5
Mass Effect 2 hc:
On top of blaming himself for his squad’s death and his blind trust in the one who betrayed them, as well mourning the loss of his good friend, Commander Shepard...
I think Garrus lived in agony over having left the Normandy and believing that the day the ship went down, he could’ve saved Shepard somehow since that’s what he’s always done and is known for-
Following Shepard and saving her, constantly watching her back and keeping her alive.
And he spends those two years filled with regret that he let himself leave, when if he stayed, maybe she would’ve survived.
89 notes • Posted 2021-06-15 19:32:35 GMT
#4
26 for Lukanette WIPs please. :)
26. Party Crasher!Luka
I FUCKED UP AND JUST WROTE IT I GUESS???
Party Crasher
-Lukanette oneshot
“You mean to tell me Agreste ditched you? After all that pleading to let him take you to the party for your successful launch line for next season, he’s ditched you?”
“Kagami, don’t kill him.”
“Fine, remind me why I can’t though? This is such an ass move of his if he’s trying to prove he’s the one for you.”
“Because,” Marinette grits out, faking a toothy smile to a work couple that waves from passing, “I want to castrate and kill him myself.”
Kagami laughs roughly in surprise, “Why the castration?”
“So I can fit his small ass into the tightest pair of skinny jeans we have for our tall teenage girls.” The not so stoic girl sips on her wine, pleased with her friend’s rage. “I told him I haven’t been interested since we were 14, but him thinking I’ll forgive him if I even had a silver of interest in dating him? Fuck him.”
“Or,” Kagami drawls, long nails tapping the stem of her glass as she leans to peer over her friend’s shoulder, “You could fuck him instead?”
Mari gasps in offense, “I am NOT trying for a one night stand, no matter what you guys say.”
“No, you little mouse,” she admonishes, fully heartedly agreeing with the sentiment, “I just mean your big and handsome protective snake is here to save the day.”
Marinette’s mind took a second longer to click the pieces together, trying to make sense of Kagami’s nicknames for her friend group, before her heart thudded and she slowly turned.
There, passing by the models who had walked in Marinette’s designs and batted their false lashes at the rockstar, was Luka Couffaine.
Dressed to the nines in a very punk like and sophisticated way that revealed he very much wanted to impress her and did in fact listen to her fashion advice. Black skinny jeans only he could pull off, high top converse and a white button up with a black vest to overlay it. The cheeky and handsome bastard forgoing the tie to leave one too many buttons undone and his sleeves rolled up to reveal his tattoos.
Oh, on the life of his cat Sass was she proud of him.
And maybe drooling just a little?
He approached her, a sly smile working its way to his lips as he eyed her up and down, eyes shining bright at her black low cocktail that she paired with navy blue heels.
So maybe she sometimes used Luka as a whole for inspiration.
He raised a hand, finger wrapping around a loose curled tendril out of an elegantly messy low bun, “I thought it was the models you were supposed to make the stars of the show.”
“Had I known you were gonna show up, I would’ve worn one of my bests here.”
His hand froze, “This isn’t your best? You tease,” he broke out in a grin. His hand moved further, thumbing at the collection of piercings in her ear he accompanied her with to get years ago. “God, you’re so fucking beautiful.”
“Well, I’m suddenly glad I can only acknowledge this as awkward and not feel it.” Kagami noted into her class. Her phone buzzed, electing a sigh from her as she began turning. “Have fun, my mother decided to remind me why this wine was a good idea to have before she came.”
She watched her friend walk away, her other -her best friend and other half, remained taking her in and stroking the soft spot under her ear he once claimed with a mark-
The one time they admitted their crushes and strong attraction towards the other the night before he left for tour years ago.
It was the only time Luka had indulged himself in his wants and desires, the only time he had asked to and still provided her with an out. And now he still remains far off in her memories, even as he stands in front of her with that look on his face years later.
“How did you,” she swallows when his soft gaze flicks back up to her eyes with his full attention. “How did you get in? It’s a ticket only event.”
See the full post
107 notes • Posted 2021-07-25 06:52:50 GMT
#3
Sylvain: just one time? One double date, it’s all I ask. The girl’s friend just keeps begging to meet you.
Felix: no. Absolutely not. Would me handing your ass to you in a spar suffice as a better answer?
Sylvain: I swear, it’s like you’re allergic to the idea of love and romance.
Felix: I’m not allergic, I just want nothing to do-
Byleth: *third play through after a hiatus of gaming*
Byleth: *running into walls Bc speed control was forgotten about*
Byleth: *hassling people about lost items*
Byleth: *checking every cat for the Fraldarius one*
Byleth: *with an S sword skill level but in first month of game*
Felix: *inhaling sharply*
Felix: I want THAT one.
*also Felix: *has S support already with Byleth from previous play through*
108 notes • Posted 2021-02-09 05:27:36 GMT
#2
I’m calling it rn. I’m coining it. Any fic or content made in general regarding Jagged Stone as Luka or Juleka’s dad and them having daddy issues-
It’s called ✨Jaggy Issues™️✨ and I refuse to be told otherwise. It’s a must have tag. It’s required.
✨Jaggy Issues™️✨
Pls write it down and we can all silently acknowledge I’ve been waiting for someone to acknowledge this joke I’ve made before and that this tag or phrase is now my child
127 notes • Posted 2021-07-30 09:06:12 GMT
#1
Luka: so I guess you break my heart yet again for this episode
Marinette: *looks at Script*
Marinette: huh, I guess it doesn’t phase me anymore
Luka: me neither
Marinette:
Luka:
Marinette: so...
Luka: still wanna come over after shooting this episode, babe?
Marinette: sure, but let’s get takeout tonight too
Luka: obviously
That’s it. I fixed the show.
365 notes • Posted 2021-06-10 23:06:34 GMT
Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →
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Chapter 1
(So... I tried to write a fanfic with the story of Apso, I hope you’ll enjoy it :D I want to thank my bro @grayarothane, without him it would be impossible for me to translate my fic.)
Warning: I absolutely don’t respect the canon and the timeline of the Mass Effect universe.
It was Monday on the morning, and he had some time before going away from home. He was still trying to get used to the new flat. He had to move to the Citadel with his parents.
It was so different from Palaven, which was the planet where he grew up. It was difficult for him to get used to the changes, but he had to in order to integrate the Academy of the Alliance, the human army. He considered himself lucky to have been accepted even if he was a turian-human hybrid. Moreover he was the son of two war heroes.
On one side there was his Turian father Garrus Vakarian, senior officer of the turian army and who was likely to become the next primarch of Palaven, the highest rank of the turian hierarchy, and on the other side, there was his human father, Daniel Shepard, the most known human of the entire galaxy.
Apso stopped his deep thoughts, wished a good day to his dads and went away. Dan looked a bit anxious when he saw his son go, but Apso didn't notice it. On his way to the Academy Apso decided to pass through a longer way, but which gave a panoramic view over the Presidium. Even if nothing at the Citadel could remind him of Palaven, he liked the view over the Presidium, which had an atmosphere like on Earth, the planet where he was born.
Every year he visited Earth, but he didn't feel any strong connection to it. Yet the view helped him to forget his stress. It would be his first day in the Academy and he absolutely didn't know what to expect. The only thing he knew was that the headmaster, the only one to know about the identity of his parents would say nothing about this. Apso knew pertinently because of his mandibles, skin and hands it would be impossible to hide his turian side, but he wanted to avoid being seen as “the son of Shepard and Garrus”. He was 20 and couldn't allow himself to carry this burden on his shoulders.
He arrived at the Academy. In the hall everyone, without exception, stared strangely at him. He tried to reassure himself by thinking that it was due to the way he walked. The uniform designed for humans made him uncomfortable and it was difficult to walk normally. He went into the classroom and almost everyone gave him a dark look. There was a young man who did not. He was obviously looking at Apso, but contrary to the others, it was with a kindly curiosity. The teacher, a banal-looking man, asked Apso to introduce himself.
“Hi, my name is Apso. Nice to meet you.”
He hated having to talk in front of many people. Especially when the audience was staying distant like this. He sat next to the lonely guy, because he prefered shy people to hypocritical ones. The boy, whose name was yet unknown, tried to discreetly look at him.
The day started with a lesson about earthling military history. Apso liked history, but the lesson was about the First Contact War and made him feel out of place. If he had to be honest, he considered himself more turian than human. He was born on Earth but grew up in Palaven and during his childhood others regarded him as a normal turian. The Turian moral code allowed him to have a more or less “normal” childhood. He limitlessely respected turians and was proud to be one of them. But he also felt loyal to the Humans and the Alliance. He didn't have much of a choice.
At noon his neighbor timidly turned toward him: “Hum...Apso, right? This is the lunch break right now, do you want to eat with me?” Apso accepted with pleasure.
“By the way, what's your name? Apso asked on the way to the self-service restaurant.
-Oh, that's right that I didn't have the time to say you my name! I'm Scott Ryder. And I intend to go to the biotic section of the Alliance!
-The one supervised by Kaidan Alenko?
-Exactly! He's my role model! After all he's the second Human Spectre, right after Shepard. A lot of people people forget about his important role during the war against the Reapers, but he was on the Normandy with Shepard! But it's better if I don't start to talk about this, I could talk about him for hours. Scott said, shifty-eyed and blushing.
-Oh no I understand, I thought that he was pretty famous among humans, but it's true that he tends to be discreet according to what I understood.”
Apso was amused to see that Kaidan could have fans. Of course he deserved it, but Scott was right by saying that Kaidan was often forgotten due to Shepard's success. His father's reputation tended to outshine anyone else…
They arrived at the self-service restaurant. Everyone, except Scott, still stared at him with animosity. When Apso served himself, everyone was surprised to see that he had no problem to eat meals for humans. He and Scott sat at the back. The table was empty, and when people saw them they did their best to avoid them. Apso thought that was because of him and felt sad for Scott.
“Apso, don't you have problems to eat levo-amino food? Scott asked
-No, in fact I can eat levo-amino and dextro-amino meals. Whenever I eat meals that were cooked by the others I don't have to worry about anything, which is convenient.
-But you might have preferences, don't you?Scott asked with curiosity
-I like spicy meals, and the turian chocolate is the best.
-I see, I'm unable to eat anything spicy.
-I've heard that many humans are like this.
-That depends, but yeah. Haven't you met a lot of humans before?
-Not really, just my father and his friends. But he doesn't have a lot of human friends.”
Apso wanted to change subjects. It would be difficult for him to talk about his father's friends without saying that they all were war heroes who were trigger-happy, or had biotic powers fot some.
“Unrelated but the teacher didn't give me our timetable. Do you know what we have next?
-Shooting session, but the instructor is a pain in the ass. He's never satisfied of what we do. It's a good thing we can go home after that.”
Apso smiled a little as he thought about shooting. The lunch break was over. As soon as they left the table, four persons replaced them. Apso asked himself if everyone would continue to treat them like that.
There were around twenty students at the shooting session. The instructor was an old man. He wore an uniform and a kepi was hiding his eyes, yet we could feel his severity. He had a scar on the left cheek, which strengthened the feeling.
“ So rookies, let me tell you.” His voice was loud but he didn't need to scream. “Get yourselves a weapon from the gunsmith, then you shoot on the target. You'll pass in turns and when you're finished you can go home. Who wants to start?”
The students looked hesitant, they all knew about the instructor's reputation. Apso volunteered. The instructor stayed silent.
Apso went to the armorer and asked without hesitation:
“Do you have an M-3 Predator?
-Of course! Sounds like you're an expert!
-Just a bit.”
He preferred to stay humble, but he knew that as the son of soldiers he had good knowledge.
He got closer to the target. The students behind him mumbled. They might've be convinced that he didn't know how to shoot. The idea made him laugh.
Then he shot. Six sharp blows, which came one after another. They were perfect, which silenced everyone. Apso knew what he was doing, and he didn't expect the exercise to be that easy. He was accustomed to moving targets. He came closer to the instructor:
“-So? What do you think about it?
-Meh. That was hardly decent.”
Apso got over himself in order to stay calm. He didn't understand. How could the instructor say that? He was confused, tried to understand:
“I see, do you advice to give?
-I've nothing to add”. The instructor wasn't even looking at Apso.
Apso didn't insist. He understood. The instructor probably decided that he wasn't worthwhile. He gave the weapon back to the armorer, who looked sorry for him. Before leavinghe said goodbye to Scott, who seemed uncomfortable because of the situation.
On this way home, Apso thought that he should've expected this. Tensions between turians and humans had always existed, and even if they were allies some things couldn't be forgotten. Nevertheless,this situation suited him better than being seen as “the son of Shepard, savior of the galaxy”. Yes. He'd better be looked at the wrong way than be falsely appreciated.
When he arrived at home, he heard a voice:
“Hi Apso! Your dads aren't here so I served myself a drink.
-Uncle Wrex?!” Apso didn't expect to see his godfather Urdnot Wrex. He was the chief of the krogans, known and respected for helping to unite the krogans and cure the genophage.
“So, what about the Academy? Wrex asked, while laughing. Bet it's full of pyjaks!
-It's ok, their shooting exercises are really easy.
-Bwahaha! Like parents, like son!
-Not false.Apso answered , disturbed by the comparison.
-So, that was good to see you, but these assholes of the Council are waiting for me. See you next time and say hello to your parents for me!”
The next month passed really quickly. Apso continued to go to the Academy. Teachers' and students' attitudes didn't change. But Scott continued to talk to Apso. It was good for Apso to have a trustworthy friend at the Academy. He didn't talk about the situation to his parents. He didn't want to make them worry and was afraid that one of them would do something that could make people uncover the truth.
One day, at the end of his day at school, a krogan with a blue shell and a car on the left eye who was waiting for him.
“MORDIN!” Apso yelled . He hadn't seen his best friend for ages, and he was surprised and happy to see him.
“Hi Apso! I went to the Citadel for the day and I have some time, so let's enjoy this! How about we go and have a drink?
-Let's do this!”
Their friendly tradition was to meet each other at Chora's Den. This bar's reputation had been bad for many years. The only reason they liked it was because it marked the beginning of their parents' adventures.
“So Apso, how was your first month at the Academy?Mordin asked.
-Hum...it was good.Apso lied ,not looking at his best friend.
-Are you still not aware that you don't know how to lie?”
Apso knew it, but he hoped that Mordin would eventually give up. But his friend wanted the truth, and knew how to get it. Apso took a deep breath:
“There is racism, even from teachers, and particularly from the shooting instructor who can't stand my face but he can't say anything because of my results. It's difficult to be accepted despite my efforts but I managed to keep the identity of my parents secret. However I made a friend, Scott, he's the only one who doesn't reject me.
-I see, I imagine that you want to keep it a secret, but did you tell your friend?
-…
-You should tell him. And hit the morons who piss you off, even if you don't like it. So I have to go though, my father must be waiting for me.
-Say hello to Wrex for me.
-Without fail, and take care of yourself!”
Next Chapter
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Art history Chapter 10; Early Christian and Byzantine Art
For my research on a concurrent nonwestern art movement, I chose China. It is listed from 1-500 A.D. I have always been fascinated by China and their artwork. Whether it be their architecture, or the simplicity of their art, I have always been intrigued. In fact, just thinking about it makes me excited! For all of my posts, I have been interested in the cultures of the people, like the Ancient Egyptians, or the Ancient Greeks and Romans. But man, I would love to read more about the art history of Ancient China. Here’s what I learned though from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. In the Han Dynasty, (206 B.C - 220 A.D) China established a lasting model of imperial order among their nations that is still around to this day. These people even refer to themselves as the “Han people.”
I did some research on the Han people. They are in fact the most populous ethnic group in all of China. During the time of 206 B.C - 220 A.D, the Han people were forced south because of pressure from political turmoil, and during this time and for 300 years, the Chinese remained divided between the north and south, all the while picking up things such as Buddhism, painting and calligraphy. Within my research I found that Mahayana Buddhism is definitely a popular religion still to this day with the Han people. It is common within Ancient Chinese artwork to see statues of religion, or of Buddha. They used art materials such as gilt bronze and earthware to craft their art. The Han people were closely mixed with archaeology, biology and mythology, which can also be seen within their artwork. Their mythology can be seen in their art work of dragons (which I absolutely love). During this time they also began utilizing paper, which became a big deal during the third century A.D.
Okay, I am really excited about chapter 10. If you read the Bible, you can see that timelines add up, that being, when Early Christianity began influencing art and apostle Paul started teaching the Romans about Jesus Christ. While Christianity was spreading, it also had to stay an underground movement for three hundred years, because Christians were being persecuted. This was until Constantine issued the Edict of Milan, granting tolerance of all religions, which included Christianity. Somewhere in the Bible it is stated, “There is nothing new under the sun.” And that statement is the truest statement that I’ve ever heard. Even now, in today’s society are we always fighting for tolerance and equality of some sort. The fight is never ending, and this world will always seem unfair. But at that time, Constantine allowed for the tolerance of religion, which is interesting to me.
The Early Christian sarcophagus (Page 155 in the text) is very interesting to look at. We can see the detail and depth it takes, much like the art work we have seen beforehand in this art history book. It is also made out of marble, which was a common material used by the ancient Greeks and Romans. But the Christian influence on it is heavy, displaying people from the Bible and symbolism. (A Shepard representing Christ for example, and the dove, being the Holy Spirit.)
As I was reading about the Basilicas, or the beginning of the Christian churches, I was thinking to myself, “Okay, here is where we see evidence of Christians wanting to come together to worship and join in fellowship.” And the sentence right after confirmed that for me. Constantine was an active supporter of the churches being built. The churches were heavily influenced on architectural design, especially the Roman basilicas. These buildings were able to hold large amounts of people for Christian worship, and this just goes to show how fast Christianity was spreading during that time. The mosaics, frescoes, and marble columns were used to exalt God, and to teach and inspire worshipers. I love artwork in churches, we can see evidence with this as well that beautiful artwork stayed in churches ever since Christian influence overtook western art.
Christian mosaic was also made by adapting a Roman method, which was embedding tessarae. I am mesmerized by the mosaics on pages 160-163 of the texts. I can imagine how beautiful they must look in real life! I hope to see them one day. These mosaics are full of stories and symbolism. (The mosaic on page 170 is also magnificent. Such detail!)
Similarly to Near East and Egypt, we can see gold being used to symbolize royalty, or something grand. In the Hagia Sophia, we can see the gold roof, and it’s amazing. Through this artwork, we can see the influence of art through each time period, everyone taking something from each other to make art that is more and more grand. It makes me think on how far we’ve come, even now.
I can see the point that the Iconoclasts make. In fact, I can see it in my minds eye, people worshiping the art and it’s beauty rather than what it symbolizes. It makes me wonder just how much art we’ve lost that we could have had to this day. This was a very interesting chapter, it’s probably my favorite so far!
N.A (N.A.) China, 1-500 A.D Retrieved from: China, 1–500 A.D. | Chronology | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art
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Kris Galmarini: Channeling a Free Spirit
The youngest of three children, Kris (Warfield) Galmarini has always been a bit of a free spirit.
Growing up in Wheeling during the late 90s, she had a penchant for music and creativity, but also adventure. Going with the flow and conforming are not in her wheelhouse.
She met young Bob Galmarini at a Young Life retreat while in high school. She felt a strong connection early. Naturally, Bob hailed from Cleveland. Far from ideal, but they managed to stay in contact via letters and phone calls. While her friends gathered at the lunch table, gabbing about the day’s events, Kris stood in the hallway by the pay phones, talking to the man who one day would become her husband.
Why? She had a feeling. And when Kris gets a strong feeling, she runs with it. It’s character trait that’s served her well throughout her life.
She graduated from Cal-State Northridge in 2003 with a double major in business and music. She was soon married and the two moved to Charleston, S.C., where they still have a home.
After the birth of their second child (of three), both Kris and Bob were yearning for a creative outlet and came up with a clothing line named after their two children (Neve and Shepard Hawk). Neve & Hawk was born.
It’s grown from offering children’s clothing only to multiple lines, two production facilities and a flagship store in the charming town of San Anselmo, California, mere miles from the Bay Area. It does more than $1 million annually in sales. Not bad for running with a feeling.
That same energy and sense of spirit encompasses the Galmarini family. They live free, channeling the parents’ sense of adventure. That same feeling is represented in each piece of clothing they sell.
What started as a children's clothing line has expanded. Kris takes painstaking steps to ensure the quality of her clothing lines, not only in design, but also material.
What inspired you to go into this industry, not only in general, but to also offer the handcrafted, exclusive items that comprise your line? Each piece seems unique; where does the inspiration come from?
In 2010, after I just had my second baby, my husband and I would create together at home when the kids went to sleep. We desperately wanted to find ourselves again in the haze of a newborn and a three-year-old, yet didn't have the finances or the time to get that fulfillment outside of the home. So, we decided to tend to our passions inside of the house- playing music, sipping wine, and creating at night while the kids slept. My husband, Bob, is an artist and I had a passion for clothing design and so we combined our arts. What started as a t-shirt line quickly turned into more. And, here we are, 10 years later with a full clothing brand and flagship, all items produced in San Francisco and Peru. I think that at each stage, the concept and design is the focus and we haven't strayed from that. The design and ethical ethos behind our brand are what is important to us and what will be most important to us as we continue to grow.
The front of the Neve & Hawk flagship store in San Anselmo, California is pictured.
How has the business progressed from inception to where it stands today, not just in location and volume, but in how spread out the customer base is. Do you find you do more business at the flagship store or online? Also, any additional plans for expansion, both in locale or offerings?
Our brand started as a kid's clothing brand and was solely that for over five years. We only were direct to consumer (online) and in other stores (wholesale). We were doing great, but I wasn't happy. I didn't like being behind a desk, chasing money and dealing with stores. The creative part was secondary, and I began to hate my work. So, I started to figure out exactly what I wanted. And, it was a space to both sell and create in a world in which I wasn't managing accounts. So, I stopped all wholesale immediately and started the search for our first brick & mortar shop. When this happened, I decided to begin women's clothing and it quickly grew legs of its own and kind of dictated our direction. That was 2016. We have now had our store for almost four years. And, while our shop carries home, women’s, kids and men’s, our brand is 99% women’s. As for the percentages of sales online and in store- we used to sell more online. But we now are pretty even, doing almost $1 million a year in combined sales. As for expansion, in December we opened a craft coffee shop inside our flagship, partnering with an amazing woman owned, San Francisco-based coffee brand Lady Falcon Coffee Club. It has brought life to our store and has been so fun. And, ironically, has kept us alive during this weird time with Coronavirus. We are hoping to take this flagship model of store & coffee house and open another location in Charleston, South Carolina in the next year as we still consider Charleston home and still have a place there as I didn't want to fully let go.
One of the newest additions to the flagship location is the coffee shop, which wound up playing a huge roll in bridging the financial gap during the heart of the pandemic closure.
As a business owner, how has the pandemic affected you differently than the average citizen? You have a brick and mortar store to contend with, and employees? What affect has it had on them and how difficult was it to make the decisions you had to make?
The past three months been hard. I am not sure which has been more difficult, the emotional toll or the drop in revenue. The first few weeks were about fighting for my employees, coming up with a plan and doing hours of paperwork to get a PPP loan. We were unable to open at all and our production was shut down immediately in both countries so there was a lot of confusion with how to proceed. I am happy to say my full-time employees never missed a paycheck. And, they have been rock stars. It has been a delicate balance of making sure my employees are safe and figuring out how to make money during this time to make sure we survive. A whole lot of pivoting. That coffee shop we added the end of last year? Turns out it is what has saved us in many ways as were able to open curbside and also began a coffee delivery program locally, so people did not have to leave their homes during this time. Those things have kept us alive. We also did a pre-sale for clothing items that were in production when everything shut down and our customers really supported us in that release. We are so incredibly grateful. Now, we are open curbside most days for retail and coffee as well as coffee delivery and subscriptions, just trucking along and learning a lot along the way. We also took the first month off to get our whole flagship online- every brand and artist we carry in our physical location is now on our website too. It’s something we have wanted to do for years but never had the time. There are silver linings in this craziness. I have to focus on that, or I will just cry.
On your website you do a lot to mention and promote other small businesses in your community. On paper, it seems like a nice little town full of a variety and yet close enough to a major metropolitan area like San Francisco. Is it the perfect mix?
I love where we live--San Anselmo, California. It is the best little town and the community is wonderful. So many great restaurants and stores not only in our town but in all the other small surrounding towns in Marin. It is only 15 miles from San Francisco, right over the Golden Gate Bridge. It really is such a great mix and I feel so lucky to live here. As for other small businesses? YES! We must all support one another. The idea of us all being competition is sad to me. We are stronger together. Why feel threatened?
It's not uncommon for the Galmarini family to set off on an adventure. That freedom of spirit is what makes them who they are and its encompassed in the Neve & Hawk clothing line.
You met your husband in 1996 and you’ve been on this incredible journey together. You work together, play together, have three children. And you’re successful together. Given how other families struggle to make their lives work, do you ever have to sit back and pinch yourself?
I met my husband, Bob, in 1996 at Young Life camp. I used to call him from the pay phones in the North Commons and we wrote letters back and forth and dated on and off until 2001 when my mom passed. It was at her funeral that we reconnected and were married in 2004. We have lived in San Diego, LA, Charleston, and the San Francisco area. We have three kids—Neve (13), Shepard (9) and Sebastian (3). We came to San Francisco for his job, yet my work started to boom once we came. I think the key is that we have always been supportive of one another. I do pinch myself, all of the time. But it isn't always easy. Trying to navigate his crazy job (he is senior director of brand design at Slack) and my business, as well as the kids and their activities and school isn't always pretty. Sometimes it is an exhausting struggle. But we are both all in and that means everything. We also both are adventure driven so we are constantly dreaming up scenarios for our lives and then sometimes we just do them, even if it isn't the smartest investment. We are dreamers and also doers and those things combined can be amazing, and dangerous. I think the hardest thing is to make sure we carve out time for ourselves so Bob can surf, and bike and I can run or pretend I am running and read a book with wine in my hand. Whatever it is, we need to escape to it to fill up to be better for our kids and each other. Do we still want to punch each other sometimes? Of course. That is marriage and parenthood. Anyone that says otherwise is lying.
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Mass Effect 2 Review
Amazing presentation and much more streamlined compared to the predecessor. But as comfortable as the simplification is, the complexity of the first game, including its story, feels much deeper and more stimulating.
The cutscenes are incredible. Even the talking parts are visually interesting. There are a lot of interesting set pieces but also a lot of underdesigned levels. It's dull to take cover, shoot everything that moves, advance and repeat. Maybe the level designers wanted you to be more aggressive and fight at the front. But the game is over when Shepard falls. So it's basically high risk but no reward. Your team mates can't use medigel on you. They should be a little more intelligent to back you up when you are playing dangerous. Or better yet there should be an option how they should behave. Like using techs and biotics nonstop.
The story is kind of bareboned but there is nothing wrong with a simple premise per se. The design and the writing of the characters make them memorable but everyone feels rather isolated. You get a feel for the individual, but they do not play off each other. A few don't get along, which also doesn't help to consider everyone a team. I think the main threat is not established well enough. Or should I say: Not early enough... visually. Words don't cut it. You need to witness the devastation first-hand a lot sooner for better emotional throughline. And I didn't believe for a second this was a "suicide mission". You should be on the clock to get a better grasp of what's at stake. No one comments on your leadership when you take your sweet time traveling around.
If compared to Mass Effect 1 a lot of elements are... I wouldn't say missing but abscent from the sequel. Most notably regarding the equipment. There is no need to prepare because the micro-management has been significantly reduced. You have to collect ammunition but there is way less items to gather. No omni-tools, no omni-gel, no armor or patches. As a result of that you cannot sell stuff, which means money is rather tight. On the other hand it makes more sense that you level up after a mission.
You can still explore the galaxy and visit planets that aren't critical to the main mission. It's awesome that you can read about chemical and physical properties of planets and also that you can fly around instead of selecting everything from a menu. But you cannot drive around on the surface because there is no vehicle. All areas including the cities look and feel smaller in size - especially the Citadel. On the other hand the copypasta from the first game is gone. Could it be that there are fewer quests? Well, it's not like there is not enough content.
The structure is a little repetitive and predictable. You recruit all new team members, help them sort out a personal problem to gain their loyalty and then embark on the main mission. In between you scan some planets and collect resources. I know these loops are inherent to game design but they are very transparent in this case. It consists literally of the sum of its parts.
I find the emotional resonance from the narrative rather lacking. It is too cold. This can be tracked back to weak direction. It should be a big deal to meet your old team members again. A little sentimentality is called for here. Kaidan/Ashley and especially Liara are a huge disappointment in my opinion. I found myself not caring all that much what's going on in particular missions and wanted to go back to the shooting - which is untypical for a script kiddie like me.
The game is very easy (I played on normal) so that you don't have to think or pay attention. You do not have to understand the mission objectives or what's at stake to follow it through. If you wanna be a paragon, you pick the upper dialogue choice. If renegade the lower. No exceptions. Reading the option itself is negligible. You can equip whatever to everyone and will be fine, which feels inconsequential and that's a problem.
They neglected to provide gamepad support, which I can't understand since it was developed for the XBox. You have to install a mod to have it reinstated. With that it is perfect to play and feels wonderful.
There are a couple of graphical glitches that make characters jump around in the frame. No disaster, really, just funny and a bit immersion breaking. Somehow I got stuck on a ledge twice in different places where I couldn't get off, only after I reloaded the checkpoint. And then there was this one time Shepard's model was facing in the opposite direction. Opening the menu fixed it. Also some lines are repeated twice in a row, which is kinda funny. Maybe it's due to my low cpu speed. Or it's the aforementioned mod, I don't know. The game is very stable otherwise.
The german localization is top-notch but there are some issues. Sometimes the subtitle has problems with punctuation and shows blank symbols instead of commas. And the spoken word differs from the captions in a few places - sometimes drastically.
Bottom line, it's a fun game but not so much an RPG anymore. It is dumbed down and therefore more accessible, which means easier to play and to like. But it doesn't challenge your wits nor your heart.
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I get so many questions about what my tattoos are and what they mean to me. So without going into insane detail, I’ll explain a bit about them here! This is a rather long post....
I have these photos in order of when I got them.
I got my first tattoo the day after my 18th birthday (I had a cheer competition the day of my birthday so I was busy all day!). I had been working on the design of the arrow for about a week and finally came up with a design I really liked. The quote “Still I Rise” is in reference to the Maya Angelou poem. She is such a role model to me and this poem is incredible.
The second tattoo I got February of 2016. It is indeed a wolf with Celtic knot work under with a couple roses. When I was younger my dad would tell me this story of a Shepard and this creature called a Fairy Dog. I believe it was a story published in a Highlights magazine? A fairy dog basically looks like a large dog/wolf creature whose fur glows green and his eyes are red like fire. If you encounter one and they howl, the amount of howls is the amount of days you have to live. So basically this Shepard found a fairy dog at his door and was terrified, but instead of shutting him out the Shepard brought him in from the snow storm and allowed him to stay. Later, the Shepard went out to bring in his sheep. The snow storm from a few nights before was back and with a vengeance. He knew he was going to die. Then out of nowhere, this fairy dog appeared. He howled, and the Shepard was prepared to accept his fate. Instead of death though, more dogs appeared. They helped bring the man and his sheep to a nearby cave and saved them. I have this as a reminder to care for everyone, no matter how they look or what was said about them. It is also a reminder of my childhood. My dad and I don't speak much anymore, so this keeps at least part of him close to me.
My third tattoo was VERY impromptu. it was June 5 I think in 2016, I actually went to get a piercing but the jewelry was getting cleaned. So I decided to get tatted up while I was waiting. The hash marks are a reference to the Silence from the show Dr. Who and there is also the Twenty One Pilots sign as well. Throughout my life, I have suffered severe anxiety and depression. The hash marks serve as a reminder that I made it through then and I can again. TOP’s music helped me through quite a bit too. Their lyrics have so much meaning and is very relatable. Thanks to my boyfriend, the music they wrote, and writing, I made it through a very difficult time in my life.
The shell on my ankle was another random decision. A friend and I were preparing for a cruze and though we would remember the event by getting matching tattoos. Sure that’s kind of dumb, but regardless of if we are friends in the future or not, I do not ever want to forget the fun we had. I actually got this two days before my boyfriend and I went to warped tour (worst decision ever!). so it was mid July of 2016.
My fly was yet again, not planned. My boyfiend’s sister was getting her nose pierced for her birthday and I saw this flash sheet. So I went back the next day to get it (October 20016). To be honest, it was cool flash and it was cheap. But growing up my nickname was (and still is) Buggy. Also, thinking about life and how quickly it goes by, I relate it to the life of a fly. We like to think we have all the time in the world, but to be honest, it goes by quicker than we think. That is something I didn't learn until rather recently.
The sun and moon were AGAIN, not planned. See a pattern yet? I was at work one night and thought “man, I want another tattoo.” I don’t remember when I got this, but I think it was December of 2016 or January of 2017... I got these on the inside of my ankles because I think of the sun and moon as balance. I was a cheerleader in middle school and high school and balance was a HUGE part of what I did. This also relates to how I juggle school, work, and a social life while maintaining mental and physical well-being. It is basically a reminder to take time out of the day for myself. Just something here or there to make sure I am doing ok.
So this barn was VERY planned. I had been planning this for over a year. I wanted the perfect artist and perfect artwork. When I was about 5 years old, we moved in to the house next to my grandparent’s farm. They had a huge barn with an older house (they used this house for storage and had their house on the other side of the farm), there was also a little storm shelter behind the barn. Next the this was their chicken coop. So, my sister, grandparent’s, and I would walk through the flower garden (I called it their secret garden because I was/am still obsessed with that book) and would go through the side with the old house making up stories and playing pretend. About three years ago though, they moved to live with me, my mom, and sister and were forced to sell the farm. This tore me apart. I found out last year the new owners tore down the barn and every other out-building on the property. I cried for days. This was my childhood. I lived there for almost 10 years. So I found a picture I had taken of the barn, found some flowers my grandma used to grow there, and found an artist that would do it justice. This is one of my most meaningful pieces. I love it so much. (March 2017, touch up June 2017, another touch up soon)
My most recent was done on June 19, 2017. It says “If Anything, Then Everything”. Not only is this a quote I have been told much of my life, it was recently in a movie and I was reminded of the importance. Truthfully, if anything in your life matters, then everything matters. There is not a day you are not affected by something, you are also constantly affecting the lives of others in everything you say and do. Although this is not one I can see every day, it still stands as a reminder to watch what I say and do.
Thank you all for taking your time and reading this. If anyone is curious of pricing, pain, or the time it took to get these done just let me know! I can make another (shorter) post about that.
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How are you personally liking the singleplayer game so far? I'm just spending my trial time on multiplayer.
I’m liking it a lot! I’ve really enjoyed my time in the trial so far, and can’t wait for launch so I can restart and really get into it. For reference, all of my time (about 8 hours so far) has been spent in singleplayer (or in CC, or hopping in and out of the game or menus in order to test things like settings), to the first planet after the prologue, up to a point which I guess is not far from the story lock. It’s a good game, maybe even a great game, and a lot of fun. full response under a cut to trim dash clutter and for length. spoiler-free.
Considering the fact that I have a weird, apparently-shit and derpy graphics card, I was expecting performance/graphics to be pretty bad, but for whatever reason the game runs fairly smoothly/well even on my PC on medium settings, I don’t have issues with crashes, freezing, stuttering, lag spikes, etc, not even on the first post-prologue planet. load times are reasonable. Even with my lame card and on medium settings with some effects turned off (like chromatic aberration), the environments and set-pieces look decent to good, which is a nice surprise. I’m going to upgrade my graphics card tho because 1) it’s long overdue and 2) I want an experience playing this game where it’s “pretty”, not just “decent”. I think doing that would improve my frame-rate and get rid of some of the scratchy/fuzzyness in some places that I’ve noticed, like around character models. that issue is definitely on my weird lame graphics card though, not on BW.
Gameplay is good from what I noticed. I’m excited to go exploring. sidequests so far felt less sidequesty/better thought out/less tacked on than DA:I’s. the jump-jet is a rad addition, I love the new dimension to the world and exploring the new verticality adds and improved mobility is always a plus. I like the extra lore/flavor details you can get from using the scanner. Combat is fun and solid, better than the OT, tho I’m still getting used to it. combat feels fluid, and for once in a game of this kind I’m properly looking forward to trying out different skills/builds rather than repeating the same playstyle over and over. the Nomad handles well and better than the Mako (I use a controller for my PC and can’t speak to how it handles for kbm). Disclaimer/caveat: I don’t play these games for the gameplay, and I played the trial on a low difficulty to blast through combat in order to see the stuff I wanted to see in my limited time. I also don’t really pay much attention to mechanics in games. so I’m not the best judge, because I’d play games with poor gameplay and suffer through that if it was to access a BioWare world with the choices, characters, depth, etc. I will say that nothing about combat gameplay in ME:A has irritated or frustrated me, which is something - DA:O’s for instance frustrated me for being so slow, ME1′s for being clunky (Shepard handled like I was pushing her around as she sat in a shopping trolley), DA2′s repeating he-man/power rangers spawning waves of mooks were annoying. for reference, combat gameplay in ME3 and DA:I was never an issue for me.
The voice-acting is strong. the aesthetic of the game is very Mass Effect. and it feels like Mass Effect too, even though we’re in a whole new galaxy - specifically a return to the atmospheric feel of ME1 (I don’t know how to articulate this, sorry. but I feel like I’m in the universe and back in ME1 when the galaxy was huge and there was so much to see, that retro scifi way). The story so far has been good - good opening, smartly-integrated tutorial that didn’t feel like a tutorial but like the prologue it is, compelling, interesting, emotional moments that got me, plot-hooks that have me wanting to keep going and find out more. the writing is mostly good, with a few odd/shoddy lines here and there. The squad characters are AMAZING. I love the squad and the ship. There’s lots of dialogue, banter and ambient dialogue from NPCs around the Nexus and Hyperion, and on the tempest and when exploring. I’ve only been playing for eight hours but already Liam and Cora feel more three dimensional and more interesting than Kaidan and Ash did in ME1 (I’m saying this as someone who quite likes Kaidan and Ash). I haven’t personally noticed Liam falling prey to the same issues Jacob did that people have been concerned about, which is good. Peebee feels differentiated from Liara (I wasn’t worried about that, but saw the sentiment around). I haven’t spent enough time with her to be able to tell if she feels differentiated from Sera (but I’m not really worried about that either anyway). Vetra is the best thing that has ever blessed the earth. there are little nods, callbacks and easter egg references to the OT that are pleasantly unexpected or even emotional in terms of content. I like the music, its a good mix of new exciting future stuff and callbacks to the music of the OT. plenty smiles and some laughs (good laughs, at jokes) had. quality cinematics, good cinematic design. I can’t WAIT to progress the story further and spend more time with these characters.
my main piece of negative feedback is the CC. it’s very limited, I think it’s quite poor really. but I’ve harped enough about that already so won’t repeat myself. full thoughts on CC here if you’re interested and haven’t seen it. my second main issue is more moderate in nature - I find the animations (specifically facial animations/emoting of human characters, including SisRyder, including talking) really quite off/jarring. your mileage may vary on this one, it’s not an issue for some people, it’s a relative thing I think how much it gets to you. for me it looks wrong/robotic/fake. secondary to but related to the animation issue is the dead/glassy-eyed look of human characters. I think they need to overhaul the CC, improve facial animations where possible (pls fix exploding mouths), and fix the eye textures (several artists by now have posted detailed breakdowns of what’s wrong with the eyes and why they visually look ‘dead’). I don’t actually have an issue at all with other animation glitches like tbone pose, weird walking, weird running up hills, etc. hasn’t happened much for me at all and doesn’t bother me when it does.
then I have some minor issues: no quicksave; no pausing during cutscenes; no saving during priority missions; in dialogue would prefer the choice of 4 tone responses to pop up more often than they do; differentiating instinctively between dialogue tone icons for me isn’t that good, maybe I just need more time at it though; the menu design doesn’t feel very intuitive but maybe I just need to get used to it? but there are menus upon menus within menus and I feel like the UI could be better; 2 ambient dialogue conversations triggering at the same time as I walk past like on the Nexus for example (have to move around hubs slowly so I don’t miss things and when one starts I stand still because moving too far ends it); it needs to be easier to quit menus (like hotkey m to enter and exit map, not m to enter and esc esc esc to exit [if you’re wondering I’ve been switching to kbm for menus. its great that the switch is seamless]); I do miss being able to directly order squadmates to use their skills in battle; I think Suvi and Gil should have been given custom models like Liam and Cora, at the moment it feels like a repeat of the issue we had with Traynor and Cortez, which isn’t great; I do feel a little railroaded having Ryder’s background depend on their gender, I don’t want to have to give a fuck about Prothean science digs. but these issues are definitely of the minor variety.
I think right now I’d give it a 7.5 or maybe eight out of ten, improving CC and fixing the facial animations/eyes would drive it up to nine for me I think. and this is on a normal common-sense-person scale, not a pro reviewer scale (where 80% is actually like a shit score).
tl;dr loving it. 1 major issue, 1 moderate issue, numerous minor issues. absolutely loving it despite those and would definitely recommend and enthuse about it.
#bioware#mass effect#mass effect: andromeda#video games#mj replies#4tuchanka#dragon age#mj in andromeda#victory is in the Queuen
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