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visionsofus · 5 years

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Field Trips, Infinity Stones, and oh mY GOD IS THAT SPIDER-MAN?

CH1 | CH2 | CH3

| CHAPTER 4 ~ interesting encounters and idiots (spoiler: Flash is the idiot) |

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An awkward encounter with some of the Avengers and Wanda Maximoff gives Flash a little bit of a flick.

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"See Peter, that was fine." Karen said through the small black ear piece that Peter was still wearing.

"I know." Peter sighed quietly so that the other students couldn't hear him. Majority of them were gaping at him and Peter couldn’t help feeling just a little bit insulted. Had they all seriously thought he was a janitor at Stark Industries? Really? Peter tried not to let it get him down as he removed his ear piece and returned it to its case.

"I'm going to choose to ignore the fact that you tried to get through with an explosive in your backpack or something -" MJ said to Peter who spluttered in response, "and focus on the fact that you must have pretty high clearance to be let through without it being an issue." She didn't sound surprised perse, more curious.

"Yeah I guess…" Peter said once he had regained his composure. "I had to work on some stuff for Mr. Stark and some of the labs needed specific clearance." It wasn’t a lie.

"Damn Parker." She said nodding appreciatively. Peter’s heart did a little flip flop and he cleared his throat in surprise. Before he could address the odd feeling, Flash felt the need to contribute to their conversation.

"Do you actually believe his bullshit, Michelle?" Flash asked indignantly.

"You just saw him use a clearance higher than you'd ever hope to get and you're saying that you don’t?" MJ fired back and it seemed Flash was a little stumped at that one.

"It's probably fake." Flash grumbled.

"I think you will find that our AI system is far to advanced to allow for fake badges to be used." Abigail said, turning her back on the group and leading them off down the hallway towards the elevator.

"He literally heard Friday talking to you and he still thinks that you don't work here?" Ned asked having made it through the detector safely. Together, Ned, MJ and Peter followed the rest of the tour group down the narrow corridor.

"Seems so." Peter said grumpily. It was difficult sometimes, not being able to take credit for the feats he achieved as Spider-Man, but over the last few years that had ceased to really matter. Having Flash and some of the other students not believe Peter for doing work he was actually open about was pretty frustrating. What on earth would they think if he told them he was Spider-Man?

"Can't you just show them your clearance badge to prove it to them? Or if we like bump into one of the Avengers you can be all like 'hey Hawkeye how you doin?'" Ned asked trying to imitate Peter's voice and, in the process, making it several octaves deeper than it needed to be.

"Sure thing Ned. If we bump into the Avengers, which we won't, I'll be sure to do that cause that's totally cool." Peter joked bumping his shoulder against Ned's fondly. There was absolutely no way Peter would even dream of approaching Clint Barton that casually, the archer was super intimidating.

"The first part of our tour will be conducted on level five." Abigail said bringing the group to a stop outside the elevators. "This level is home to several of our intern labs, including lab 3a which is our first stop for today. 3a is where majority of initial planning takes place, you'll be able to see where our interns are creating their ideas and beginning their models. After this we will proceed onto lab 4c which is where they begin trialling prototypes. There are some interesting projects in the works at the moment and if you're lucky you'll be able to see some of them being tested."

Peter was beginning to feel excited. It had been a while since he had last been to SI and by the rest of the worlds timeline it had been even longer. Back when Peter had first started visiting Stark Industries, Mr. Stark had placed him in Lab 3a to shadow some of the interns and learn how things worked at SI before he was allowed to progress onto developing his own projects. In the two years since then Peter had predominantly been working on Spider-Man tech alongside a few projects involving search and rescue tech that Mr. Stark had assigned to him.

"Because there is so many of us, we'll be going up the elevator in two groups, Peter can I have you escort the other half of the group to the fifth floor?" Abigail asked as she swiped her clearance card in front of the elevator swipe screen and waited for it to arrive at the ground floor.

"Sure." Peter said and walked over to one of the other elevators and swiped his own card. He ignored the way that his classmates’ eyes followed him and the way that Flash stuck his head out in an attempt to get a good look at Peter's clearance card.

Abigail's elevator arrived first, but it seemed a fair few of the students were keener to ride with Peter than in hers.

"Come on, in you get." Mr. Harrington said ferrying some of the students into the elevator, much to their dismay. Flash tried to duck out of the teacher's reach but was eventually coaxed into Abigail’s elevator, much to Peter’s relief.

He was left on the ground floor with Ned, MJ and a handful of other students. The elevator dinged when it arrived and Peter stepped in first, holding the doors open for the rest of the students. When everyone was in, he turned to the panel lining the wall to the left of the doors and scanned his clearance card again, swiftly returning it to his pocket and hoping that no one had seen it properly. The questions that would result from seeing how high his clearance actually was, were ones he didn't quite know how to answer.

"Hi Peter, what floor are you going to?" Friday asked over the intercom and Peter looked up in surprise. Friday was too advanced to be manning an elevator that a simple AI bot could handle.

"Uh… 5 please Friday." Peter replied into the panel receiver and the elevator doors closed and the box lifted smoothly from the ground. The wall opposite the door was made of glass and the students turned around to look out and down at the glass crosswalks that extended over the centre of the first few floors of SI. It was always a sight to behold and Peter never go bored of seeing it. There had always been an organised bustle to SI and Peter loved being a part of it.

"Ms Potts is currently in a meeting but I have informed her you are here. Happy has also been notified and has promised to come see you at some point today." Friday informed Peter in her thick Irish accent.

"Cool." Peter said, smiling at the thought of seeing Happy again. "Is Morgan here today?"

"She is currently with Happy whilst Ms Potts is in her meeting." Friday replied and the elevator came to a stop as they reached the fifth floor.

"Thanks Friday." Peter said exiting the lift and leading the students out into the corridor where the rest of the class was waiting.

"Your life is seriously crazy." Ned said, slightly dumbfounded by the casual conversation that Peter had just had with the Stark's AI.

"You're only just realising that?" Peter asked, laughing in disbelief. "My life is all kinds of crazy."

"Welcome to lab 3a." Abigail said bringing the group of students to a stop outside of a pair of sliding doors that led into the intern lab. Peter was more than familiar with the lab. He looked up at the letters crafted from old bits of tech and LED lights that read 'LAUNCHPAD'. After spending a couple of days in the lab two years ago, Peter had noticed that most of the interns referred to it by 'launchpad' rather than its official name. After a few weekends Mr. Stark had decided that Peter had had enough experience in working with the other interns and had moved him up to work on different projects, while allowing Peter to develop his own things on the side. As a thank you to the others who had been working in the lab, Peter had crafted the sign out of bits and pieces of the models that he had first made in the lab. The other interns had also contributed some of their projects so that the sign was a part of them all. Peter expected that would be taken down now that all of the original interns would have moved on, but it was nice that a piece of them all remained at Launchpad. As the name connoted, Lab 3a was the 'launchpad' of ideas and the place that all projects began and waited approval before interns could begin working on them properly.

Abigail welcomed them all into the lab space. The room was divided by several cluttered desks as well as a handful of SI holo-tables (Peter's personal favourite piece of equipment at SI), creating a grid pattern. Amongst the tables were around six interns, all going about their business. Overseeing it all was the head of Launchpad, Daniel. Back when Peter had started out as an intern he had been under the supervision of Daniel, with implicit instruction from Mr. Stark to 'just let the kid do whatever he wants as long as he doesn't blow anything up'. Back when Peter had been in this lab Daniel had seemed to be in his late 20s, but he seemed older now, more tired, it looked like he had escape the Snap.

"Midtown, this is Daniel." Abigail said as Daniel joined her at the head of the group.

"Hi everyone," Daniel said giving a little wave. "I manage the interns here at Lab 3a, aka Launchpad. I basically make sure that everyone is pursuing feasible projects and that they aren't going to end up blowing things up or accidentally electrocuting themselves once they actually start experimenting with their projects." Daniel's dark eyes gave Peter a pointed look and the boy grinned apologetically in reply. "Any and every project has to go through my approval before it is moved onto Lab 4c or 4d which is where the interns have the opportunity to start preliminary experimentation and data collection."

"You'll now have a bit of time to look around Launchpad. Daniel has told me that his interns will be more than happy to answer some of your questions about their projects so please feel free to make your way around." Abigail said and let the students slowly spread out into the room. It seemed they were finding the whole process daunting and to Peter's surprise it was Ned who made the first move, walking over to a small mousy haired boy who was working at one of the holo-tables. He looked up and smiled warmly when Ned approached him.

Their conversation was lost to Peter's ears as he remained behind to greet Daniel.

"If it isn't Peter Parker." Daniel said raising his eyebrows.

"Hey Daniel." Peter said grinning and giving the intern leader a quick hug. "It's been a while."

"A while?" Daniel said shaking his head and chuckling slightly. "Just 5 years!"

"Sorry." Peter said shrugging innocently and snapping his fingers, Daniel nodded knowingly.

"You working on anything at the moment?" Daniel asked eagerly.

"Nah…" Peter said trailing off sheepishly, "I haven’t really done anything like that in a while."

"Are you kidding me?" Daniel said in surprise. "Peter you have real talent, surely Mr. Stark had a part-time position set up for you here once you go to college?"

"Yeah I don't think so." Peter said shrugging and trying not to seem too sorrowful.

"Still have your sights set on MIT?" Daniel asked prodding Peter's arm and leading him over to his own workspace at the entrance of the lab.

"Yeah, I guess…" Peter said, the future had seemed so unsure since getting back from the Snap he wasn't really certain what he was going to do once he graduated.

"I sure hope so," Daniel said leaning against his holo-table casually. "I've been here almost ten years, if you include the Snap time, and I've never had an intern as diligent and talented as you. It would be unfortunate if you let all those ideas sit in your head instead of putting them out into the world to help people."

What Daniel said struck a chord in Peter and he nodded knowingly. "You're right." Peter said looking around at the lab, he missed it all. The process of hypotheses, creating an idea and watching it grow, nurturing it into a model and eventually seeing it come to life. "I just need a little time to figure everything out."

"I get it." Daniel said clapping Peter on the shoulder fondly. "If you need a letter of recommendation or anything, I mean I'm sure the CEO will get you one, but if you do need another just let me know, I'd be more than happy to write one."

"Thanks Daniel, that means a lot." Peter said grinning and looking down at his feet before returning his gaze to the rest of his class. They were making their excited way around to each intern.

"So, tell me what else has been up with you?" Daniel asked folding his arms casually over his lab coat.

"Not much to be honest." Peter said shrugging and sitting against the holo-table with Daniel. "I'm mostly just trying to get back on my feet again after the Decimation. It's hard to catch up when everyone else has moved on five years."

"I hear you." Daniel said nodding solemnly. "For the people like me who were left behind it was hell. The world was in chaos… no one knew what to do."

They were both silent for a bit and Peter wondered if he had put a damper on the conversation. It wasn't exactly the most bright and happy of topics, but it was the truth. Peter told enough lies in his life to find the excuse to be truthful whenever possible.

"But we go on, y'know?" Daniel said pushing his dark hair out of his face and looking out the large window that bordered one side of the lab and to the sky outside. "Just like we all slowly learned to live in that time five years ago, it's your turn now."

"I guess that's true." Peter said sighing sadly.

"But hey, it beats being dead right?" Daniel said grinning and standing up again. "Come on, I'll show you round to some of the projects that are being drafted right now."

"Lead the way." Peter said eagerly, pushing himself off the holo-table and following his old mentor around the lab.

"Thank you very much for your time, Daniel." Mr. Harrington said once their hour looking around Launchpad was up.

"Not at all," Daniel said, shaking Mr. Harrington's hand, "it's good for the other interns to have a go at presenting their experiments to people other than me or the AI."

"Seriously!" One of the interns piped up in agreement, "At least you all listened rather than just criticising our work." A few people among the class chuckled, not entirely sure whether she was referring to the AI or Daniel. Peter nodded knowingly, even Karen could be brutally blunt when it came to his ideas.

"Enjoy the rest of your tour." Daniel said by way of goodbye. Peter returned Daniel's warm smile as they left the Launchpad.

"Dude…" Ned said and Peter was worried that he friend was getting too overwhelmed. "This is insane."

"Which part?" Peter asked laughing.

"I think he means all of it." MJ said knowingly.

"I can't believe you worked here!" Ned exclaimed in hushed disbelief. "Your life is literally insane… like insane!"

"I guess it is pretty crazy… not bad Peter." MJ said and Peter did a bit of a double take. It was one of the rare times that Peter had heard MJ refer to him using his first name.

"You should have heard Flash's comments while we were in there though." Ned grumbled. "All that time you were talking to Daniel he was just making comments about how he could do better than the interns and he wasn't being quiet about it all."

"So damn rude." MJ said in disdain as the three of them watched the boy’s head as he walked up near the front of the group.

"Don't worry, one day he's going to get what is coming for him." Peter said confidently. He'd love to have the opportunity to knock Flash's ego down a few pegs if he ever got the chance. It might be hard as Peter Parker but perhaps Spider-Man could pull a few strings…

It seemed, however, the universe had different plans. Peter came to an abrupt stop, almost walking face first into the back of MJ as the whole student group stopped walking.

"Holy shit." Flash whispered.

"No way." MJ breathed.

"Are you all going down or up?" A familiar voice said, and Peter stood on his tip toes to compensate for his semi-average height and see over the group of students before him.

Peter felt sure that his eyes were tricking him because standing before the elevator, proving to be the oddest trio and entirely out of place in the corridor of Stark Industries was Dr Bruce Banner, Wanda Maximoff and none other than the genius Princess of Wakanda, Shuri.

The students stood in stunned silence and even Peter felt a little bit like a deer caught in headlights. What was he supposed to do? He knew that the other Avengers obviously knew his true identity, but did that mean that he got to talk to them here? There was also the question of what one of the most powerful and two of the smartest Avengers were doing at SI. In the years Peter had worked at the New York headquarters he hadn't encountered the other Avengers, save for Mr Stark, Vision and Colonel Rhodes. Back then the greatest concern of the Avengers was the Sokovia Accords which had forced the rest of the team to go underground for two years, only resurfacing for the Battle of Wakanda. Even Dr Banner had been off in another universe at the time. Seeing the three of them here was definitely odd.

"Dr Banner…" Abigail said finally after the silence seemed to stretch on for an eternity. "Um we're going up."

"Hang on a second," Bruce said glancing over the crowd of students, his superior height granting him some advantages in spotting the small kid standing at the back of the group. "Is that you, Peter? Come on out kid."

"Peter, as in Tony's Peter?" Shuri asked following Bruce's gaze to Peter who’s feet felt rooted to the ground as his classmates turned back to look at him, whispers bursting out.

"Dude, she knows your name." Ned whispered as both him and MJ turned to Peter in shock. Peter couldn't help feeling equally surprised that Shuri remembered his name, they had only really met on the battlefield and then at Mr Stark's funeral. Underneath the surprise, Peter was glad that they were all using his real name rather than his Spider-Man alias. Still, that wasn't enough to cover up the question of how on earth Peter knew threeof the Avengers.

"Hi Dr. Banner, Ms Maximoff, Princess." Peter said once he finally got his legs walking. He tried not to feel too proud and let it go to his head, but there was no denying that having three of the Avengers know your name was pretty cool. You literally are an Avenger Peter reminded himself mentally.

"How you going kid?" Dr. Banner asked as he enveloped Peter in a hug before Peter could protest. Peter grinned anyway and tried his best to return Bruce's affection, but it was sort of difficult given that Bruce was several feet taller than him.

In an attempt, perhaps, to draw the student’s attention away from Peter's interaction with the Avenger, Abigail walked over to the other elevator and called another one down. In the meantime, she tried to talk to the students about their next stop, Lab 4c, but was largely unsuccessful. Everyone's attention was still on Peter, particularly Flash who was sneering in his direction.

"Yeah, I'm not bad I guess," Peter replied once Bruce let him go. "My school is here on a field trip today," he said gesturing to the stunned students who had slowly been coaxed over to one of the other elevators.

"Ah yes, hi kids how are you doing?" Bruce said turning his attention briefly to the other students and waving. Shuri mirrored this and Wanda raised her eyebrows by way of greeting.

"How the fuck does Penis Parker know the Hulk?" Flash hissed, too quiet for the Avengers to hear but loud enough that it earned a sharp look from Mr Harrington and a fuming scowl from Ned.

The Avengers lift had arrived, but Bruce stepped aside and gestured to it, "you go ahead and take this one, we can wait for the next lift."

"Thank you Doctor." Abigail said, still slightly dumbfounded but proceeding to lead as many students into the lift as possible. "Peter, we'll be going up to level 6, can you take those three with you?" Ned and MJ had hung behind and not made it in, and, much to Peter's dismay, so had Flash. Peter nodded reluctantly and turned back to the Avengers.

"It's good to see you again." Peter said smiling widely at Wanda Maximoff and trying not to feel too intimidated.

"It's good to see you too," Wanda replied warmly. Peter hadn't really had much of a chance to see to Wanda aside from in battles. Particularly back in 2016 with the fight in Germany when they had been on opposing sides. The next time he had seen Scarlet Witch had been a month ago after they had both been brought back from the Snap. Peter had always admired and been in awe of Wanda's powers but seeing her almost rip Thanos apart with them had been completely insane.

"It's really good to see you all again." Peter said grinning at the Avengers. Aside from his despair and the loss he felt at not having Mr Stark around anymore, Peter had been lonely. Sometimes he couldn’t help wishing there were other Avengers of his age to talk to. Ned and May obviously knew his secret, but they didn’t understand what it was like, the stresses that came with the responsibility of being a superhero of sorts.

"We only saw you a month ago." Shuri reminded him. Peter ignored the way that MJ and Flash gaped at him when she said that.

"Yeah but a month is still a pretty long time." Peter said shrugging, there was a lot more than he wanted to say but what with MJ and Flash standing not far from them, he wasn't entirely sure how much he couldsay without risking his identity.

"I suppose a month is a long time when you're a kid." Wanda pondered as the elevator finally arrived at their floor.

"Wanda you aren't actually that much older than him." Bruce said making his way into the lift.

"Yeah but she has an old soul." Shuri said patting Wanda's shoulder.

"I'm going to choose to take that as a compliment." Wanda said looking sideways at Shuri and frowning slightly.

"Of course, it's a complement." Shuri said innocently. Peter wasn't entirely sure of the age difference between them, but it couldn’t have been much.

"Ned, MJ, Flash. Come on.” Peter said gesturing as he held the elevator open with one arm.

They seemed to snap out of a trance and eventually joined the three Avengers, technically four, in the lift. "Level 6 and Level 19." Bruce informed the AI once they were all in.

"But what are you all doing here?" Peter asked, leaning against the wall of the elevator casually. His classmates’ eyes flicked between Peter and the Avengers in disbelief. God only knew the questions he was about to get after this interaction.

"We've had a bit of a breakthrough with one of our projects…" Wanda said trailing off and glancing at her companions.

"We have a way to restore Vision!" Shuri burst out, seemingly unable to contain her excitement any longer. "Properly this time." Peter wasn't aware there was an improper way, or that they had even been working on bringing Vision back but that's what he got for not being involved with the Avengers for a month.

"Shuri." Bruce grumbled, shaking his head but smiling nonetheless.

"What? He's Tony's kid it's fine." Shuri said shrugging and smiling at Peter knowingly, obviously there was also another reason that he could know but Flash and MJ didn't need to know that.

"That's so awesome! So, you can bring Mr Vision back to life?" Peter said excitedly and looked to Wanda who had broken out in a rare and bright smile.

"Well that's what we are hoping." Bruce said stroking his chin in thought. "We’re hoping that what we need is here at Stark Industries. After that we’ll be attending the memorial later too."

"I'm really happy for you." Peter said directing the statement at Wanda. Not many people outside of the Avengers had known of the intimate relationship that Wanda Maximoff had had with Vision. Peter himself had only found out by accident in overhearing a conversation between Vision and Mr Stark. "I guess I'll be seeing you all at the memorial later too."

"Dr Banner," Flash said breaking the solemn tone the conversation had been about to progress to. Peter had almost forgotten that Flash was even in the lift with them. The boy had extended a rather bold hand out to the Hulk, yet he was completely ignoring the two women in the elevator. "Flash Thompson, big fan."

"Hey kid, nice to meet you." Bruce said shaking the outstretched hand slowly and looking at Peter, who tried not to make a face. He was praying that Dr Banner didn't think he was actually friendswith Flash or anything.

"Sir, I do have one question for you." Flash said and Peter balked at the prospect.

"Fire away."

"How much did Parker pay you for you to act like you all actually know him? Or are you guys just really realistic actors or something?"

"What the hell, Flash." MJ groaned and buried her head in her hands in exasperation.

"Is he for real?" Bruce asked looking questioningly at Peter who was going red in embarrassment.

"It's an honest question," Flash said as the doors to floor six finally opened, Peter was beginning to feel a little claustrophobic as the situation rapidly went south. "I have to know, why are you acting like you know Penis Parker when all he probably does here is mop the floors. Of course, that explains why he has such high clearance, so that he can clean the CEOs office and take the trash out!" Flash said suddenly coming to the realisation.

Peter glowered at Flash and wished more than anything that he could throw in a punch or a kick, but the doors had already opened, and Mr Harrington had a clear sight of Peter from the corridor where the rest of the students were gathered.

"Is this guy kidding?" Wanda asked narrowing her eyes at Flash as the boy made no move to get out of the elevator. "You can't be serious."

"Ok so maybe you aren't the real Avengers then… you two are probably just pretending to be Scarlet Witch and the Princess of Wakanda right?" Flash said and Peter felt his heart drop. Why in Thor’s name would you insult the Avengers?

"Seriously Flash just stop." Peter urged, he just wanted to get on with the rest of the damn tour now. Of course, Flash had to ruin the first conversation Peter had had with the other Avengers in weeks.

"I admire your self-control păianjen copil," Wanda said dropping in a couple words in what Peter assumed was her mother tongue, "but I am afraid I cannot share it." She was no longer smiling.

"Wanda as much as I would love to join you in kicking this punk's ass, he is a high school student so please don't do anything too-"

Bruce was cut off by Wanda stepping forward and flicking Flash's shoulder with her right hand, packing just enough of her mystical red powers to send Flash flying out the elevator and into the 6th floor corridor.

"Mr Thompson what are you doing?" Mr. Harrington said in disbelief, he had apparently not seen the trick that Scarlet Witch had pulled, or perhaps he had chosen to ignore it.

"Oops." Wanda deadpanned looking at Bruce defiantly and earning an enthusiastic high five from Shuri.

"If that little rat bothers you again give him a couple of these to take home," Shuri said dropping a couple of small beads in Peter's hands, they were smaller than the Kimoyo beads she wore around her wrist, "they'll give him a bit of a shock later."

"Oh, come on." Bruce complained pinching the bridge of his nose. "Do I really have to be the responsible one? You cannot go around giving out shock beads to high school students to use against bullies."

"Ned, Michelle, Peter." Mr. Harrington called and reluctantly Ned and MJ exited the elevator to return to the high school group. Flash was gradually picking himself up off the ground, rubbing the small of his back and grumbling about stupid 'party tricks'.

"But I can give shock beads to Spider-Man." Shuri said a little more quietly and shrugged before adding a fourth bead to Peter's palm.

"Thank you," Peter said grinning and tucking the beads into his pocket making a mental note to not leave them there lest he be the one getting the shock. "Good luck with everything that you're working on with Mr. Vision. I really hope it works out." Peter smiled sincerely at Wanda.

"Thanks kid." Bruce said clapping Peter on the shoulder as he left the elevator, Peter would have fallen flat on his face with the force of it if it hadn't been for his spidey powers. "We'll see you tonight at the memorial?"

"Yeah…" Peter said quietly and smiled sorrowfully at Bruce. "I'll see you there."

Peter turned around to watch the elevator doors slowly close. He gave the three Avengers a little wave as the silver box moved upwards, carrying them to the 19thfloor and leaving Peter to return to the mundanity of his high school field trip. Though he didn’t realise it at the time, the trip was not going to remain mundane for long.

#avengers endgame spoilers #spiderman fan fiction #spiderman field trip #field trip to stark industries trope #field trip trope #Peter parker #Michelle jones #Peter x mj #a little irondad/spiderson #except it is sad #more mentor Tony than fatherly but still wholesome #visionsofusfics

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arrianna21 · 6 years

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~Alchemy et Chaos~

Exploring caves, ruins, and abandoned forts is something you enjoy doing. Normally you do it by yourself, but that changes when your mage friend asks to join you on your latest expedition.

Game: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

Note: Little bit of gore

Word Count: 4,123

You collect the Morning Glory pulp and put it away while you continue your search. Figuring that 15 pieces of the flower would suffice, you stand up and make your way to the fort’s entrance before stepping inside. This is the last place you needed to search thankfully. As much as you enjoyed looting and exploring various caves and forts, the constant searching for plants and ingredients was becoming a bit tedious.

Normally you would never do this for free, but if it was for your quirky mage friend you would gladly do it without any pay. Especially considering the fact that he had returned the favor multiple times by creating, and giving you, free potions.

The strong metal doors open to reveal the stone walls, free of any torches or light whatsoever. Crouching down, you sneak down the steps and peek through the already open door. A dog was walking back and forth further down the hall, occasionally sniffing the ground before moving on. You keep your knees bent, walking quietly toward the animal and set a piece of venison near it, stepping carefully down another hall where there is a closed gate. It was locked and you use a lock pick, fiddling with it until you hear a click.

Pushing the doors open, you go inside and find a chest with some gold which you happily take. Going back to the intersection, you find the dog eating the raw meat, tearing large chunks out of it and you pass by to the other locked gate. Unlocking that as well, you find another chest with gold.

Continuing on down the main hall, there are three paths each going a separate direction. You contemplate going left or right, but decide to just walk towards the gate in front where you can hear voices. The metal gate is unlocked and upon entering, you find yourself at a balcony overlooking the area. A group of bandits and marauders are below and two of them are arguing to each other.

From what you can hear, they seem to be talking about a deal gone wrong. No one has noticed you yet so you decide to explore the area first.

Going to the left, there’s a small bridge that leads to a locked chest. Opening it reveals more gold and you head to the right where another short bridge leads to a similar locked chest that is also filled with gold.

As you walk back across the bridge, someone yells from below before chaos erupts. Thinking your cover has been blown, you run back to the balcony and find the large group has divided into two separate ones where the bandits and marauders begin killing each other. This actually makes things easier for you and so you stand at the railing while you enjoy the show. You have to actually stifle a laugh when a bandit accidentally shoots her friend instead of the marauder.

When most of them are dead, except for two bandits, you head to the right first and activate a turn handle that opens a metal gate. Walking down the stairs, you see a chest with two potions of healing inside. Rummaging through the box alerts the bandit nearby.

He yells upon seeing you and you pull your short sword out while fighting him.“Is that the best you can do?” the bandit asks as he wields his hammer at you.

Your response is to merely swing your sword, saying nothing while you hit his armor. After a few more hits, the elf crumples into the water and you huff. That’s the second body you would have to loot in the lake, the first being another marauder who was floating face down.

“You’ll regret stepping foot in here!” the bandit archer yells and a green arrow whizzes by you.

Turning around, you see her shooting from across the fort as she stands on a ledge. Muttering under your breath you grab your arrows and begin firing in return. Each arrow that sinks into her shocks her with lightning and it doesn’t take much before she also dies.

After looting another chest and a female marauder, who didn’t have anything impressive, you swim through the middle of the water, searching the rest of the bodies until you reach the other side. There’s another chest near a dead bandit Hedge Wizard that has 745 gold pieces and some repair hammers.

Other than the plants outside the entrance, Fort Nikel didn’t have much for your mage friend so you decide to leave after coaxing the dog outside, making your way back to the city of Chorrol.

Despite the simple dungeon, you were glad it was your last for this adventure, wanting to go back to your home so you could wash up and sleep for a few hours. Upon returning to the city, you stop by the blacksmith so she can repair your armor. After having a range of monsters and people alike attacking you, it was better to fix it before it had the chance to break completely.

Walking past the Great Oak tree in the center of town, you see Dar-Ma and chat with her for a bit. While you and the reptile Argonian talk about some new items her mother brought to their store, there is an explosion from one of the houses. Looking around in confusion, you watch as a small plume of smoke exits a house in the circle. That house just so happened to be yours and you automatically figure out the cause.

Saying goodbye to your friend, you walk to your house as the townsfolk stare with concern though you smile reassuringly. Pushing your front door open, you walk through the living room and immediately head upstairs to the guest room where you find the mage desperately fanning the room.

“Experiment gone wrong?” you ask and your voice startles him as he whips around to face you.

“Y/N! Back so soon?” the man chuckles awkwardly, not having expected you home for at least a few days.

“I’ve been gone for two days, Joon.”

“Right! Ah, how was your journey?” he abandons his post at the window when you hold out your treasure findings.

“Eventful for the most part,” you admit, describing the encounters you faced at the two forts and one Ayleid ruin.

“Good eventful I hope,” he says, organizing the various flora extracts on his desk.

You nod your head somewhat in agreement. “Besides the usual monsters, each location did have something unique. I did find this iron dagger for you.” Grabbing the weapon, you hand it to the surprised mage.

“Are you sure you don’t need this?” he asks, carefully taking it in his hands.

“Don’t fret, Joon. I found it on some treasure hunt that someone must have left behind.” You tell him about the strange note on top of one of the forts that was next to a sword pointing off in the distance. Following the note and the sword’s direction, it didn’t take you long before you found a chest near a boulder where the dagger sat. “I can even enchant it for you later if you would like.”

“Ahh, you don’t have to do that. You’re already busy enough.” Joon replies, clearly flustered by your offer and you roll your eyes.

“You know I don’t mind. Anyway, what were you trying to make?” you ask, referring to the opened window and cluttered desk oozing with various potions and ingredients.

“That? I’m trying to make a new potion, but it’s not going too well.” Joon rubs the back of his head, sitting on his bed with a faint grimace.

Joon, while intelligent beyond compare, was still learning the ins and outs of alchemy. He could easily make small potions, but he also liked to try his hand with more complex and new mixtures that only some high class mages could perfect.

“Taking a rest from that paper?”

You knew his thesis, while tedious, was not very difficult for him, but he needed to make sure he had enough evidence gathered to prove his point. After you had foiled the plans for the Mythic Dawn cult who attempted to take over Tamriel by opening Oblivion gates, Joon noticed a rise in Conjurers going rogue. He believes that certain factions are attempting to summon more Daedra and use them to gain control of the Imperial City. Not as bad as trying to take over all the land like the former cult, but still a problem nonetheless. Unfortunately, he needed to write a substantial paper discussing and proving his hypothesis.

He sighs before nodding. “I’ve made great progress, it’s over halfway completed, I just need a few more things for research purposes.”

“Like what?”

“They’re not too complicated--we can talk about it some other time. Are you hungry? I’m sure you’re hungry I mean you just returned from a long journey.” The man stands up abruptly and heads downstairs while talking and you silently follow after him. “I went out to buy some cheese and bread while you were away. They had some watermelon too.”

You watch as he begins gathering food from the kitchen and also setting the table for you.

“Joon,” you call to which he responds by looking up at you, bread hovering above the plate.

“Yes?”

“What do I need to get for you?” you ask, helping him set the table with more food. It was very early for supper, only the afternoon, but because of your erratic schedule neither of you ate at a set time, meal times changing daily.

“Just some Daedra things,” he replies cryptically.

Digging through a cupboard for some brandy, you begin grabbing some bottles. “Well if it’s Daedric stuff you need I don’t mind going to my house in Cheydinhal for those.”

“I appreciate the offer, Y/N, but those won’t work. They need to be…fresh.”

You lift your head up and shut the door with your boot, bottles clutched in your hands. “Oh,” immediately understanding his dilemma. “I see. Which Ayleid ruin do I need to go to?”

Sitting down, your armor and weapons clang against the chairs loudly which results in you standing back up before running upstairs to change and put your things away. A few minutes later, you return with a simple shirt and pants, going back to your seat so you can resume your conversation.

“That’s the thing. I wanted to ask you something,” he tells you while you start eating with fervor. Taking large chunks out of your loaf of bread, you urge him to continue and he does. “I want you to take me with you.” The sentence rushing out of him in a large gust as the mage resorts to gulping down his drink.

Once you finish swallowing, the bread halfway gone, you take a swig of alcohol to wash down your food. “Okay. We leave at 6:00 in the morning tomorrow.”

Your casual response causes Joon to choke and he coughs on his drink. “I’m sorry, what?”

“I said I’ll escort you,” you say, munching on a cheese wedge, the dairy flavor mixing with the wheat bread.

“You just got back from a quest. Wouldn’t it be best to wait a few days?” he asks in concern.

You shake your head. “Do we need to? If you have everything prepared, I’ll be ready as well. I don’t need much anyway.”

“I almost have everything. I wasn’t expecting such a quick answer to be honest,” he admits shyly.

Nodding, you continue eating and when your mouth isn’t full you respond. “Why? It’s not like I have anything better to do.”

“I don’t wish to burden you,” he replies and you wave him away.

“Joon, it’s fine, don’t worry about it.” You reassure him until he eventually acquiesces.

Once that is settled, the two of you talk about the rest of your journey and your encounters, laughing at the things you saw and witnessed. The next morning you both wake up early as you prepare for the hike to the Gold Road not too far south. Apparently there was rumor of a large Ayleid ruin by the name of Ceyatatar in that area where Conjurers were doing questionable things.

While you gather your weapons and him his potions, you are soon leaving the city gates as you begin walking. Staying on the main path to avoid any wild animals, the long walk is uneventful and you make small talk on the way.

Arriving later on that morning, you are immediately greeted by two Conjurers accompanied by

Xivilai. You battle the blue Daedra humanoids while Joon tosses some spells at the robed man and woman. One of the demons manages to summon a Clannfear while you slash at him with your sword. The spawned reptilian creature lashes out with its claws, but you ignore it, remaining focused on the Xivilai instead. Once it’s killed, the reptile also vanishes and you run to the other demon, sword meeting its giant Warhammer. It dies as well and when you turn to check on your friend he is throwing a bolt of lightning at the last Conjurer who screams before falling over.

“Here’s a potion of healing if you need it,” he tells you, giving the small vial to you and you put it away, deciding to save it for now while you cast a minor restoration spell on yourself.

“Thanks. I assume this is one of the things you need.” You say, looking down at the dead Daedra beside you. When he nods, you jerk your head to the other body. “Take care of that one and I’ll handle this one here,” you direct him while pulling out your dagger.

You pierce the Xiviliai’s flesh, cutting into it deeply, dark blood painting the grass around it as you separate the hard bones so you can pry the Daedra’s heart out. Standing up, you step over the body so you can check the Conjurers where you then steal a few healing and magika potions. Joon finishes with the corpse as well and after checking the surrounding area, you find no other enemies and head to the center of the crumbling ruin before walking down the spiral staircase.

“How many do you need?” you ask, opening the white door at the bottom and gesturing him inside.

“As many as possible,” is all he says and you shrug.

Entering the dark ruins, there are more stairs in front of you and a bridge with a small railing overlooking the main room below. You pull him down when you see the Conjurer walking around, urging him to remain silent. He follows behind you as you go down the stairs until you reach the archway. You stay crouched and make your way to the woman now standing in front of a wooden table, fiddling with some alchemy tools. Drawing your sword, you wait until you are directly behind her and then you swing hard. She grunts before falling over and you stand straight when the room is clear.

Joon comes forward to look around the room while you loot the body, but finding nothing in her robes. Examining the item on the table, you see the alchemy equipment on the wood along with some ingredients, one of which being another Daedra heart. A book was also hidden under the equipment and you inspect the cover with the title reading, “The Book of Daedra.” You show the book to Joon who takes it and flips through the pages while you continue looking around the candlelit workspace. The bookshelf nearby just has random objects, a human skull, plates, and crystal ball.

“I’m not surprised they have this,” the mage’s voice bounces around the cavern. “If they’re summoning Daedra, it would be expected that they would also have books about the demonic creatures.” He explains before putting the book into his bag.

Moving on, you see another staircase leading further down. Reaching the bottom, you see a Frost Atronach down the hall. Again, you sneak up to it and hit the ice giant hard where it easily falls over. You continue down more stairs while Joon collects the frost salts the giant elemental leaves behind upon killing it. There are more Conjurers and Frost Atronachs so you again sneak towards them in the hopes of taking them by surprise.

As you step closer on the cracked floor, there’s a harsh rumbling and you are abruptly yanked back as stones collapse in front of you. You hadn’t thought to look above you to see the rocks falling from the ceiling. The Conjurers turn around to investigate the noise only to find you and the mage struggling to get to your feet on the stairwell. One shouts and begins pelting you with magic while you try to grab your sword and run across, climbing over the fallen rubble.

You hit the ice giants first and there’s a spell flying behind you as Joon retaliates with an attack of his own, engaging with the dark mages. An Atronach almost crushes you with its cold hands but you jump back, whacking at it harshly. The creatures are harder to eliminate because they weren’t taken by surprise, but eventually you manage to kill them and Joon does the same.

Before you have a chance to investigate the area, a bolt of lightning shoots past you as a Storm Atronach bellows down the hall. Joon throws a frost spell at it and the rock monster collapses in a pile of rubble.

“Good shot,” you compliment to which he blushes, his dimples becoming more prominent as he smiles.

“Thank you,” he says and you laugh, finding his shyness endearing.

You search all the bodies while the man walks over to a table in the far corner and looks around. Collecting all the salts and potions, you find two coffers next to them that hold some gold. After gathering the treasure, you join your friend who has also found some more ingredients on another table, along with the same red book about the Daedra.

“It seems like all the Conjurers are reading this book,” you note.

“I believe so. They need to learn about the creatures if they’re going to summon them.” He explains and you both continue to the door that leads further into the ruin.

This next area is just a small cavern with enormous rocks protruding in various places and a

waterfall in the middle, guarded only by one Conjurer who is quickly dispatched. Crossing the bridge, you look at the slanted rock leading into the water and tell Joon you’ll be back while he collects the dead mage’s potions. When you dive in the pool, you swim around and check for any treasure. As you swim underneath, you find a tunnel that leads to a wooden door.

Going through, you rise to the surface for a short breath of air and see a body across the trench. It’s a dead treasure hunter, you realize as you examine the fur clothing. He only has a few pieces of gold and you check the coffer next to him that has some soul gems and a scroll. Joon would be interested in that, you think as you securely tuck it away in your bag so the water doesn’t destroy it. Swimming back to the other area, you show the mage your findings and move on to the next door.

You head down the stairwell and open the gate that leads to a big room with a Conjurer and more Daedra. Whispering to each other, you discuss your plan of action which is pretty much the same as it has been, he’ll handle the magic user while you take care of the demons. Even though you try to sneak up to the Xivilai, the Conjurer seems to sense your presence the moment you slip into the threshold.

Ducking behind a stone pillar, you dodge the flames as they fly into a wall before dissipating. Joon runs out and retaliates with his own spell, the ice crackling when it hits the dark mage. With the element of surprise gone, you swing at the blue demon with your sword, cutting into its torso. Blood spurts out from the wound and it growls, throwing a bolt of lightning, but it is absorbed by your armor. The other Xivilai also comes to its companion’s aid and at one point you are battling two demons simultaneously. It’s not long though as the first monster falls and you focus solely on the remaining one, hitting it repeatedly until it also dies.

Hearing a loud hiss, you see a Daedroth attacking Joon, the large crocodile monster swiping with its claws. Running to the other fight, you switch to your enchanted sword and hit the beast. Ice damages its scaly body and the Daedra turns its attention to you, allowing the mage to return to his battle with the Conjurer Adept.

The Daedroth tries to bite you, teeth nearly sinking into your face but you back away, stepping around until you are behind the creature where you can effectively swing at its back. The crocodile-like monster turns around and breathes fire to which you jump out of the way. A male’s yell rings in the cavern, your heart stopping in fear at the sound, but when the Daedroth fades away you sigh.

You see Joon cleaning his dagger on the Conjurer’s robes before taking the potions he had in his pockets and turning to collect some Welkynd stones sitting on the corner pedestals. Doing the same to the Xivilai, you extract their organs and explore the room. Some chests and coffers hold more gold, along with spell scrolls, soul gems, and another book.

“Joon, have you heard of this book?” you ask and the mage walks over to you.

He takes the gold book and inspects it carefully. “Summon Dremora Tome?” Joon turns the pages and skims through it quickly. “Oh, this is not good. This is a manual on how to summon all kinds of Daedra. Apparently, that includes a Dremora Lord.”

Your eyes widen as you look over his shoulder to see the ancient text. Cursing lowly, you turn to continue checking the area. “You better take that to the High Council with your paper.”

“I know. If the Conjurers learn the secrets to summoning such powerful beings, the Oblivion gates could open all over again. Only this time we have no King to fight for us.”

Your friend sighs harshly and while you look through the locked prison cells, you find an Orc’s body sprawled inside one. “It might be best to make note of this as well,” you advise to him.

Joon turns in your direction and stares at the dead captive. “I will add that to my list of notes as proof that these Conjurers are surely crossing boundaries.”

“Maybe we can send for the guards so this man can have a proper burial.” You tell him, going to another cell where a coffer sits inside. Opening the gates, you step inside and collect more gold.

Continuing your walk around the area, you see a blue stone block in the wall and upon pressing it, the moving cobble next to it reveals a hidden pathway as the stones drop down one by one.

Both of you crawl across and you see two more coffers next to a short ladder leading to a trap door. The small caskets hold over 500 pieces of gold along with some more scrolls and soul gems. You climb up the ladder first with Joon close behind and you find that you are outside in the Great Forest.

Beginning the walk back to Chorrol, you are both silent and contemplative, each lost in your thoughts.

“Y/N?” Joon calls your name after a minute.

You hum in response.

“Do you…think it would be possible for me to start coming with you on your explorations?”

“Why? Do you perhaps enjoy my presence that much?” you chuckle in amusement.

“N-no! I mean, yes, I enjoy your presence, er-company, but I also feel that it is necessary to see what all these Conjurers are doing in person.” The mage stumbles through his statement and you laugh aloud.

“I am only joking, Joon. Of course you are free to join me whenever you like.”

The man also laughs in return, walking beside you while offering an apple for a snack. You take the sweet fruit and bite into it. As you continue through the forest, you chat while pausing every now and then so the mage can collect some flower samples along the way while you carry on to prepare for your next quest.

A/N: It’s finally complete! I was really happy to write about this game because it is my all-time favorite and it has a special place in my heart. Oblivion is just…glorious and so much fun, it’s great, I love it so so much. Anyway this wraps up the last story in the VideoGame!BTS miniseries. If you enjoyed it, please send me some feedback, I would really like to know your thoughts. Thank you again for reading, I really appreciate you all sticking with me through this series!

#namjoon scenarios #bts scenarios #bts imagines #rm #bts #namjoon imagines #videogame!BTS #also I'm sorry about this…I had way too much fun nerding out with this story #no regrets

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squirrel-moose-winchester · 6 years

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Cupidstiel

Title: Cupidstiel

Pairing: Castiel x Reader

Word Count: 1405

Warnings: Fluff, Language, Mild Manipulation, Possible inaccurate Cherub traits.

A/N: In the spirits of Valentine’s Day, here is a fluffy Castiel fic, and my FIRST Castiel fanfiction EVER posted! It’s been long overdue! I would love some feedback if you’ve got the time! Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!! Use protection!!

Castiel had decided to accompany you on a walk for a bit of fresh air away from the bunker. The pair of you had made it into town, which surprised you as it was only supposed to be a short walk, but since you were here, you thought there would be no harm in perusing around. Plus, it gave you more alone time with your favorite angel.

While you were window shopping, admiring all the Valentine’s Day décor and treats, you lifted your head up just in time to see a man and a woman collide into each other. You gasped at the impact, worried that someone would get hurt, however there was something about the encounter that was a little weird. That’s when it clicked. The whole encounter seemed to happen in slow motion! Maybe it was your mind playing tricks on you, but you were certain that they were moving in slow motion.

“Cherub,” Cass mumbled under his breath but loud enough for you to hear clearly.

“A Shrub? There are bushes everywhere, what about them?” You asked.

“No, a Cherub,” he restated.

“Oh… kay. What’s that?”

Castiel looked at you a little frustrated but then was quickly reminded that you were still new to all of this. “In human terms, a cupid.”

“Seriously, a cupid?” Interest sparked in you. You hadn’t been a hunter long and you had only met Castiel and the Winchesters a few months ago so this was your first time to see, and possibly meet, a cupid. You’ve only heard the stories that that Sam and Dean told.

“Yes,” he simply replied, scanning the area for the suspect.

Cass started walking in a random direction, you not hesitating to follow. You wanted to meet this cupid considering the name is quite famous and you were more than curious. Cass stopped out of nowhere, causing you to almost ram into him. Out of the blue, he started to have a conversation with a brick wall. You looked at him like he was crazy, glancing around you to see if people were giving you and Cass weird looks. Thankfully no one seemed to notice.

“Hey Cass? What are you doing?” You whispered still observing for any onlookers.

“I know she can’t see you,” Cass snapped at the empty space between him and the wall.

“Who can’t see me?” You question, completely lost.

Suddenly, a person manifested out of the blue, making you jump in surprise. It was a woman in a white and red fluffy dress that ended just above her knees. Her eyes were a sparkling green and hair golden yellow. She was beautiful but her presence made you feel slightly uncomfortable. Maybe it was the huge smile on her face or how excited she looked.

“Holy shit, where’d you come from?” You squeaked.

“Hi, my name is Harper,” the woman smiled widely, “and I’m a Cherub, or a cupid, as you humans say,” she chirped. She was oddly bubbly and you found it startlingly refreshing. Most angels you met were so serious or flat out dicks.

“Hi, I’m Y/N,” you stuck your hand out for her to shake, but was instantly pulled into a giant bear hug instead. Her arms wound around you tightly, lifting you off the ground. When she finally placed you back on your feet, you were practically gasping for air, astounded by the strength she had.

“Harper, I’m surprised to see you here,” Castiel interrupted.

“Just going where my instincts tell me,” she smiled. “Which reminds me, my instinct is telling me that I need to use the little lady’s rooms for a while, do you mind watching the couple for me? And just be careful with this,” she passed her bow and arrow over to Castiel, “it’s got some power in there,” she warned. “Thank you, I’ll be back in a jiffy!” She hugged Cass before skipping off into the diner.

“Hmm… I didn’t know there were angels who needed to use the bathroom. Maybe she needs to reapply some more of her make up? Anyways… So cupid’s really have a bow and arrows, huh?”

“Yes, but not physically like this. They have a mark on the palm of their hand. So this is a bit odd,” Cass frowned, eyeing the items in his hands.

“Cool, let me see!” You shouted with excitement, snatching the bow and arrow from his hands and posing with it as if you were going to shoot an unsuspecting couple.

“Y/N, that is not a toy. We should not play around with cupid’s bow. They’ve got a strict chore to do, and if you mess this up, it could be catastrophic. Give it back,” Cass ordered, holding his hand out.

“Oh, have some fun,” you rolled your eyes before turning to point the arrow at Cass. “Do you love me?” You teased.

“That isn’t funny.”

“BAM!” You shouted causing Cass to jump. You dropped the bow and arrow to your side, not having the strength to hold them up from the hysterical laughing consuming your entire being. Cass glowered in your direction unamused by your little joke.

“Alright, give that back,” he growled, taking the bow and arrow from your hands.

“Sheesh, Cass. Someone’s got a stick up their ass,” you huffed.

“I can assure you that I do not have a stick up my ass,” he retorted. You snorted at his reply. He obviously didn’t get the reference.

“Fine, how about just one picture of you with the bow and arrow?”

“No.”

“Gosh, why are you so boring, Castiel?!” You taunted using his full name, trying to manipulate your angel friend to pose with cupid’s bow and arrow.

“I am not boring.”

“Then?” You arched your brows, wiggling your phone in the air.

“Fine.” Cass finally gave in to your control and assumed the archers position.

“Perfect,” you chirped taking a picture. “Now turn towards me,” you directed and snapping a picture when suddenly, the arrow came flying towards you and pink dust scattered all around you and Cass. “Did you just…”

“What have I done?” Cass’s eyes were wide and his lips parted in shock.

Seconds later you smiled over at Castiel, walking over to him seductively. “Was this your plan all along Cass? To get me to fall in love with you?” You teased, running a hand down his firm chest. “Because if you were, then the jokes on you because I already am,” you giggled, placing a kiss on his lips.

Cass tried to resist the softness of your lips against his, but he eventually gave him, deepening the kiss by leaning forwards. Just as he was about to wrap his arms around you, you pulled away just in time for Harper to reappear.

“Hey, thanks for watching my post,” she quipped, her ever large grin occupying half her face. “Anything happen while I was gone?”

“Uh… I’m sorry, I accidentally shot Y/N with your arrow and I might have made her fall in love with me. Could you please undo the spell?” Cass pleaded.

“Oh? And how do you feel about her?” Harper inquired, ignoring his request. She had a wide smile on her lips, expectantly waiting for an answer.

Cass was at a loss for words. He knew how he felt but he was resisting it. He had to. He was an angel and angels did not fall in love. They weren’t supposed to. It was all against the law of heaven.

“Well, I’m an angel…” he started.

Harper chuckled. “Castiel, all I do is manipulate the feelings that already exist or would eventually exist. I only heighten it so that two people who are meant to be together come together. My job is to give that ‘awakening’ moment.” When Cass didn’t respond, Harper continued. “Listen, this whole thing was a set up for you and Y/N. Give in to your feelings Castiel. Your secret is safe with me.” Harper winked before vanishing.

“Castiel, are you alright?” Your voice brought him out of his thoughts. Harper’s words were swirling around in his head, not knowing if he should believe her or not. But, she had no reasons to lie, nor was it in her capabilities to lie. A cupid was pure after all.

Cass casted his eyes over you, his deep ocean blue eyes boring into yours. “I’m fine,” he whispered before connecting his lips with yours in a mind blowing kiss.

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#castiel #castiel x reader #cas #cass #supernatural #spn #castiel fanfic #cupid #happy valentine's day #spn fanfic #supernatural fanfic #castiel fanfiction #angels #reader insert #valentine's day themed #cupidstiel #squirrel-moose-winchester

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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Star Trek: Discovery Season 3 Episode 5 Easter Eggs & References

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This Star Trek: Discovery article contains spoilers for Season 3, Episode 5.

Because everything in the 32nd century is brand-new for the Star Trek canon, it would make sense that the writers of Star Trek: Discovery could get away with not really referencing anything from the existing canon. To put it another way, how much do you really know about the year 1090 off the top of your head? The gap between Discovery’s point of origin in 2258 and 3188-3189 is huge. And yet, nerdy Star Trek Easter eggs and HUGE call-backs to some of the most beloved ships and characters ever, endure.

From a surprise cameo from a famous film director, to a lesson in Mirror Universe history, and yes, the appearance of Captain Janeway’s beloved starship, here are all the Easter eggs we caught in the latest Star Trek: Discovery episode, “Die Trying.”

“Federation and Starfleet Headquarters”

Saru notes that the ship is en route to “Federation and Starfleet Headquarters,” and then points out that these are “separate entities that now must abide together.” Although sometimes used interchangeably, this distinction is relevant. Starfleet actually predates the Federation and is an exploratory organization, analogous with what might happen if NASA and the Navy were combined in space. The United Federation of Planets, on the other hand, is the government. Starfleet and the Federation are not the same things, except now, as Saru points out, in the 32nd Century, they kind of are.

New Constitution

Owo sees what she describes as a “new Constitution.” This can only refer to what she infers is an upgraded version of a Constitution-class starship. The NCC-1701 Enterprise was one of 12 Constitution-class ships in service in Joann Owosekun’s time.

USS Voyager and USS Nog

The crew very prominently sees and talks about the USS Voyager NCC-74656-J. Owo and Tilly confirm that the “J” constitutes 11 “generations of evolution.” It is unclear if this means that this is literally the same Voyager from the 24th Century, or if the “J” means that this is the 11th ship to carry the name, “Voyager.” Elsewhere in the Starfleet Headquarters, barely visible is the USS Nog. Clearly, this was named for the Ferengi Nog from Deep Space Nine. Played by the late Aron Eisenberg, Nog was the first Ferengi in Starfleet.

New Starfleet uses the TNG coloring

Admiral Charles Vance and the rest of the 32nd Century Starfleet seem to use the color-coded system from the TNG era. Command officers still appear to sport red, while stripes of gold and blue are visible on other uniforms.

Kaminar Joined the Federation

Saru is thrilled to learn that Kaminar became a Federation planet sometime after Discovery jumped into the future. Because we never heard from Kelpiens in the 23rd or 24th century, it seems likely they joined the Federation at some point after that. In the Short Treks episode “The Brightest Star,” we learned the Prime Georgiou rescued Saru from Kaminar, but that Saru couldn’t return there because of issues with the Prime Directive. In Discovery Season 2, the ship returned to Kaminar in “The Sound of Thunder,” but Kaminar definitely didn’t enter the Federation at that point.

Sigma Draconis System References “Spock’s Brain”

One unnamed officer tells Admiral Vance that the “Emerald Chain” — an alliance of Andorians and Orions — is up to no-good in the “Sigma Draconis” system. This is the same star system from the TOS episode “Spock’s Brain.” Let’s hope that Spock’s brain hasn’t been stolen — again.

The size of the Federation

For the first time ever, the size of the Federation has been firmly established, not just now, but also, prior to the current timeline. Vance tells Saru and Burnham that there are “38 member worlds” in the Federation right now, but that because of bad communications, it’s possible that there may be more. Vance also says this number is “down from 350 at its peak.” We knew there were a lot of planets in the Federation in TNG, but we really had no idea exactly how many.

Starfleet Federation combo

As mentioned by Saru in the opening monologue, Vance doubles-down on the idea that “Where we sit now represents not only the headquarters of Starfleet Command by also the entire civilian government of the United Federation of Planets.” It’s unclear at this point if there are civilian government officials still operating, or if Vance is saying that he is basically Starfleet and the Federation at the same time. He also says that everything has “been that way since the Burn.”

Zero records of Discovery is basically Spock’s fault

Vance says “our records show Discovery was destroyed in 2258.” Saru implies the files would have been erased by Starfleet for safety reasons. But, the truth is, Spock is the one who erased the stuff about the Spore Drive. We saw Spock take these steps in “Such Sweet Sorrow Part 2.”

A War to Uphold the Temporal Accords

Admiral Vance’s “quick history lesson” mentions that the Federation spent most of the 30th Century fighting “a war to uphold the temporal accords” which he says is an “interstellar treaty outlawing time travel.” This references the prequel series Star Trek: Enterprise, and basically establishes that the “Temporal Wars” alluded to by Book in “That Hope Is You Part 1” are the same Temporal Wars that Daniels pulled Captain Archer into. It also seems that the Temporal Wars may have continued in the relative “present” beyond what we saw Daniels doing in Enterprise.

The Discovery crew drops references for their entire story

As the crew is getting debriefed by the new Starfleet, several characters, including Culber, Reno and Tilly tease-out plotpoint from previous seasons.

Culber: “I was emotionally dead, and I was murdered”

Culber was killed in the Season 1 episode “Despite Yourself,” when the Discovery jumped to the Mirror Universe. He was then brought back to life in the Season 2 episode “Saints of Imperfection.” He was in a terrible mood about being brought back to life which is why he jokes here that “I was emotionally dead.” The fact that he and his “murderer are good now,” references a confrontation he had with Ash Tyler in “If Memory Serves.”

Reno: “Commander Burnham fell out of the sky, with Captain Pike”

This references the Season 2 debut, “Brother,” in which Burnham and Pike rescued Reno from the USS Hiawatha, which had been crashed into an asteroid.

Tilly: “After I got my hair blown out and became a Terran Captain/Dominatrix”

Tilly is talking about the episodes in which she had to impersonate the Captain of the Terran ISS Discovery, her Mirror Universe counterpart nicknamed “Killy.” This started in the episode “Despite Yourself” and went through “What’s Past Is Prologue.” When Tilly had to dye her hair and straighten it in “Despite Yourself,” she noted that her mother would have approved.

David Cronenberg

During Georgiou’s debrief, a mysterious man with glasses sits-in and asks her all sorts of pointed questions. This character has not yet been named, but he is played by legendary film director David Cronenberg. Among other films, sci-fi fans probably know Cronenberg best for directing The Fly and Scanners. Is this new character a representative of the future version of Section 31?

Georgiou’s Mirror Universe History

Cronenberg’s character notes that the present is Georgiou’s “second universe, your third timeline.” This means that Georgiou has existed in the Mirror Universe version of 2257, the Prime Universe version of 2257-2258, and now, the Prime Universe version of 3188.

April 5: Bizzaro First Contact Day

Cronenberg’s man with glasses also mentions April 5, 2063. In the Prime Universe, this is First Contact Day but in the Mirror Universe, it’s the day that humans killed the Vulcans who landed on Earth. This event is depicted in the opening scenes of the Star Trek: Enterprise episodes “In a Mirror, Darkly Part 1 and Part 2.” To date, those are the only episodes of Trek canon that take place entirely in the Mirror Universe.

The Terran Empire’s Demise

When Georgiou and Cronenberg talk about the Terran Empire versus the Federation, he points out that the Federation “endures, unlike the Terran Empire that fell centuries ago.” We have no idea how this guy has access to so much history about a parallel universe, but the collapse of the Terran Empire references the Deep Space Nine episodes that take place in the Mirror Universe, starting with “Crossover.” In that episode, we learned that after Kirk asked Mirror Spock to make the Empire nicer in the TOS episode “Mirror, Mirror,” Mirror Spock basically did just that. But, his actions eventually led to the downfall of the Terran Empire. As far as we know, in canon, the most “recent” crossover to the Mirror Universe would have happened during Deep Space Nine, which is why Cronenberg says there hasn’t been a crossing between the two realities in “500 years.”

Ion storm

Speaking of the TOS episode “Mirror, Mirror,” while trying to help the Federation seed ship, the USS Discovery encounters an ion storm. Though this plot device has been used a lot in Trek, it was notably the reason why Kirk, Uhura, Scotty and Bones accidentally beamed to the Terran ISS Enterprise in “Mirror, Mirror.”

Burnham in command

Oddly, though Burnham is the main character of the show, we really haven’t seen her in command of the USS Discovery. Other than her brief attempt at mutiny on the USS Shenzhou, and her command of the ISS Shenzhou, this is the only real time she’s been in legit command of a starship during the entire run of the series.

Barzan Joined the Federation

Nhan hails from a race of aliens called the Barzan. In the TNG episode “The Price,” the Barzan were trying to sell rights to a wormhole in their space. At that time, the Barzan were not a member of the Federation. Their planet was also super-reliant on other planets for assistance, which is why Nhan later says that her people are known for “poverty.”

Airam’s funeral

Nhan tells Burnham that she’ll never forget Airam’s funeral and what Burnham said. This references the Discovery Season 2 episode “The Red Angel,” which began with the entire crew honoring Airam’s sacrifice in the previous episode, “Project Daedalus.”

Federation Starchart References a Ton of Known Star Trek Planets

A huge holographic star chart at Starfleet Command contains the names of a bunch of planets from the entirety of Trek canon. Some of the names are mirrored, which makes it tricky to read them all, but here are the ones we caught

Ankari Homeworld: This alien species comes from the Voyager episodes “Equinox Parts 1 and 2.”

Cardassia Prime: The homeworld of the Cardassians, primarily from Deep Space Nine.

Thalos: While it’s tempting to read this as a misspelling of “Talos,” from TOS, it’s not. Several planets in the Thalos system were referenced in both TNG and DS9.

Halee: Historically this is a Klingon planet in the Beta Quadrant. It’s been referenced in Discovery and TNG, starting with the TNG episode “Heart of Glory.”

We Don’t Have Five-Year Missions Anymore

Vance tells Burnham and Saru that Starfleet doesn’t “have five-year missions anymore.” This of course, references The Original Series, in which the Enterprise was on a 5-year-mission of exploration. Sura and Burnham are super-familiar with this policy, mostly because Pike was on a five-year mission on the Enterprise before he became temporary captain of the Discovery. Saru tells Vance that he feels like the DISCO crew come from a “revered time,” which seems to imply Saru has been reading a bunch of history while Burnham was on this mission. In this sense, Saru is aware that contemporary Starfleet must be huge fans of the exploits of the 23rd Century Starfleet. Basically, Saru gambles that the new Starfleet is filled with people who are, in a sense, classic Star Trek fans. He’s not wrong.

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Star Trek: Discovery airs new episodes on Thursdays on CBS All Access.

The post Star Trek: Discovery Season 3 Episode 5 Easter Eggs & References appeared first on Den of Geek.

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randomwoohoo · 6 years

Link

Judy: Previously on Zoomorphia

Nick: Carrots and I as Hybrid taught the silver wolf, named Bolt or whatever, a lesson. One punch beat him~ Easy-peasy~

Clawhauser: Wow! That’s what really happened!

Judy: No. It’s actually the opposite… His speed overwhelmed us… He even abducted the robbers. I’m not sure what he gonna do with them but… it probably won’t end well...

Nick: Don’t feel so bad about it. Those four mammals were criminals after all.

Judy: They should be brought to justice… not killed as someone pleases.

Clawhauser: Ahh… Don’t stress, you two. Anyway, you guys did a great job, taking care of the squirrel Savage and saving mammals.

Judy: Yeah, we did…

Nick: Aww, look at that smile~

Judy: I-I’m not smiling!

Nick: You so cute when you smile~

Judy: Don’t call me cute!!

Clawhauser: Teehee~ Now the Chapter 12~

.-.. . - .----. ... / -.-. --- -. - .. -. ..- .

Fanfiction.net

A recorded video clip showed Hybrid Archer form taking a stance on a table, aiming a bow before launching a glowing gladius sword like an arrow. A camera phone hastily turned to record image of a purple squirrel monster stabbed to the Bug-Burga restaurant’s window.

“Not bad~” An alaskan tundra wolf in a groovy black leather jacket, Bolt, stroked his chin while he was watching the clip on his smartphone, sitting on an oversized couch inside a motorhome.

“Bah!” A slender black wildcat with white paws, eyebrows and muzzle used a giant paper fan to slap Bolt’s head. “You crossed the line. What would you do if they discard their drivers?” She was dressed in white shirt, pullover bra top and black capri pants.

“But what if he made them keep their noses out of our business? Wouldn’t our job go smoothly?” A plump tan lemming, wearing the same style jacket as Bolt, lounged on the table.

“I know, right?” Bolt asserted.

“Don’t overindulge him!” The wildcat rebuked the lemming.

“Why are you wasting time watching that video anyway? You were there yesterday, weren’t you?” Ignoring her, the lemming queried.

“Well~ I have nothing else to do.” Bolt leaned against couch backrest.

“Go out to do your job then!” She scolded him, slapping him with the paper fan once more.

- .... . -.-- / .- .-. . / .-- .- - -.-. .... .. -. --.

At early night, in ZPD lobby, Clawhauser was listening a song, Try everything acoustic version, recently released on Gazelle’s official Zootube channel. Generally, this song gives a good cheering-up vibe. Even so, this version, for some reasons,was oddly sorrowful. It was not surprising once he remembered how she was the last time she visited ZPD.

He was waiting for a certain someone…

Eventually, that certain someone appeared. Chief Bogo came downstairs and traipsed across the lobby towards the front door.

“Chief Bogo!” Clawhauser called his superior cheerily from behind the reception desk.

“What’s urgency?” Bogo went closer to Clawhauser sternly.

“Umm… No. But-” The chubby cheetah just wanted to have a chat with the cape buffalo. He thought that it would be great to talk about her latest song because they both are fans of Gazelle the famous Zootopian pop star.

“If there’s nothing urgent, leave a note in my office.” Bogo yawned tiredly. “I’m out. Bye.” He left the station.

Clawhauser was left alone, his smile fading away… He opened a picture on his phone gallery. It is the selfie of him and Bogo at Gazelle’s concert.

Not only Chief but everyone else has been busy lately. They all are facing problems. He reasoned with himself in order to push negative emotions aside. “I have to do something.” He told himself resolutely.

.... ..- .-. - / -.. .. ... - .- -. -.-. .

A red fox in a light green hawaiian shirt and red-and-blue striped dark indigo tie gave a sigh of contentment. “Tod bless day-off~” He sat sipping coffee at a table near cafe’s window. The morning sun shed light on the right half side of him and the left side of the short-sleeved teal t-shirted gray rabbit sitting facing the fox.

“Hey Nick”

“Hmm?” Nick the red fox put a mug down, looking at his bunny friend in pleasure, feeling delighted that she was doing better and he had free time to spend with her.

“Do you think that Bolt guy is responsible for mammals going missing?” Judy the European rabbit drank a soy milk latte.

After getting better, she returned to focus on works. At that time, she was speculating that the wolf who abducted the robbers might have something to do with the missing mammal cases.

“I think not.” Nick took another sip, pointing at a flat screen television mounted on the wall. Therefore, Judy turned her attention to the TV.

ZNN was reporting the news about the dead bodies found in river in Rainforest district. A female snow leopard news anchor reported that the dead bodies belonged to the absconding criminals charged with bank robbery crime. The pictures of mammals when they were alive were shown. The duo recognized them right away. They were those whom Bolt kidnapped.

In another word, the mammals Bolt abducted did not go missing. It was less likely that he was behind the cases.

“So, that’s out of the question, huh?” Judy faced away from TV, gazing at heart shape latte art a bit distorted.

The news reporting continued. It was assumed that the robbers died from drowning. That said, Nick and Judy had different opinion… those robbers in all probability were killed by Bolt because the duo saw him killed one of them with their own eyes, or not really since Nick’s real eyes were shut back then. It was just they were united as Hybrid at that time.

Still and all, the two did not have any proves.

Nick turned his head away, looking out the window. A few moments later, a round cheetah walking past in front of the cafe caught Nick’s eye.

“Carrots” He poked Judy gently, still looking outside, so he accidentally poked her forehead.

“Wha-What!?” Judy was startled by her fox buddy. She saw him pointing to outside the cafe.

“Is that Clawhauser?”

She immediately turned her face to the same direction that he was pointing when he mentioned their big feline friend. There was an overweight spotted yellow cheetah in a blue police uniform walking on the street. The duo cannot mistake someone else for him. It really was Clawhauser.

Doubting why he was outside the station during working hours, Nick and Judy left the cafe to chase the police cheetah furtively. They followed him to a passage behind buildings, peeking around the corner.

Clawhauser scouted around cautiously, looking high and low. He came to a halt when he noticed a shadow resembling a rat with a huge turtle shell on its back. The moment that shadow moved, the cheetah unintentionally cried out in horror.

“What the what!?” An alarmed brown rat, owner of the shadow, carrying a large backpack on his back, scampered in circles.

“S-Sorry! False alarm...” Clawhauser was embarrassed by his misunderstanding.

The rat slowed down. “Jeez, don’t scare me, big guy.” He walked away as the cheetah was forcing a wry smile.

“Benjamin” Thinking that peeking from a distance would not get them anywhere, Judy approached Clawhauser with an intention to directly ask him what he was doing. Nick then followed her close behind.

The surprised cheetah was not prepared to bump into the pair, “I-I-It’s not like what you think! I’m not investigating Savages or anything!” blurting out.

The duo became speechless for a moment. “We haven’t asked you anything yet…” Judy stated.

“I don’t suspect you… or at least haven’t until now...” Nick said. The idea of Clawhauser investigating the monster Savages would not come in their heads unless he mentioned it himself.

“I mean- I-I-I-” Clawhauser acted uncomfortable, stammering while trying to make an excuse.

“You owe us an explanation. Let’s find a place to sit down and talk.” Judy suggested.

“By the way, Carrots, have we paid for our coffee at that cafe yet?”

“Oh, sweet cheese! It totally slipped my mind!”

“That being said, let’s head back to the cafe then.” Nick decided.

The duo returned to the same cafe at once, taking Clawhauser with them. Fortunately, cafe’s staffs knew both Nick and Judy as police officers; thus, they supposed that an emergency came up, which must be a reason why they left in a hurry despite not paying the bill.

Two of them could only laugh off. Following that, they asked the staffs for a larger table which can seat a bigger mammal like Clawhauser with them (the partners sitting together on the same side) and ordered more drinks, one for Clawhauser and other two to diminish Judy’s guilt of almost dine and dash.

Although the fox told his bunny partner “You can order just a glass of water for me.”, she “Just take it” still insisted.

After the drinks were served,without further ado, Nick and Judy questioned Clawhauser such as a reason behind his investigation.

He briefly hesitated before he gave an answer. “There is discussion on internet about Savages’ suspicious behavior.”

“Suspicious?” Said the duo in unison.

“They normally are all over Zootopia, yet some of them sorta have a pattern of hunting at lunch or dinner time in commercial areas. Besides, they sometimes appeared in places nearby where the missing mammals were last seen. For these reasons, I decided to investigate.” He informed.

“No offense but you really sound like those conspiracy theorists.” Nick commented.

“In any case, as of lately, we have encountered few suspiciously strange Savages.” Judy, lowering her head while crossing her arms, added.

“Eh? I’ve not heard about it before!” Clawhauser wondered what kind of Savages she was talking about.

“How do I put this?” Nick thought of explanation. “It seems one Savage we fought had somewhat fight strategy, not fighting with pure instinct. There were those which didn’t randomly attack mammals like normal Savages. For an instance, the bear Savage during bank robbery in Savanna Central ignored the robbers at first.”

“Are you referring to the one that the silver chrome wolf helped you two defeat?” Clawhauser seized a chance to mention Bolt.

“Yeah, that guy.” Nick frowned faintly, frustrated when he recalled how much his partner was depressed by the wolf.

After a topic about Bolt the silver chrome wolf was brought up, Judy puzzled over why the robbers’ dead bodies were dropped in Rainforest district even though Bolt captured them elsewhere. Come to think of it, Nick and she used to meet the wolf in this lush green district once.

“Nick, Benjamin, mind accompanying me?”

“To where?” The cheetah tilted his head, chubby cheeks jiggling.

-.. .- -.-- / --- ..-. ..-. / --- -. / -.. ..- - -.--

In the afternoon, inside one of the Rainforest district warehouses, amid piles of crates, a polo-shirted female yellow-bellied marmot was lolling on the edge of a covered sizable rectangular prism object opposite a buck-toothed gray jack donkey accompanied by an elephant who was the tallest among them three despite being a minor.

“Where is it?” The donkey raised his voice.

“Take it easy, man. How about a pep talk?” The marmot replied.

“Cut the cra-” He retorted.

“Easy~ Easy~” She interjected, hopping down and removing a covering. “Tada!”

It was revealed that the mysterious rectangular prism object under a covering happened to be a cage with a sleeping maned purple lion.

“Do you think you can fool me with a napping naked dyed lion?” He raged at the marmot.

She did not waste time talking but rather demonstrated, plugging her right ear. “Rise and shine~”

The purple lion open its glowing eyes. It began to drool, then sat up.

The donkey and the elephant got chilled by the presence of the caged animal in front of them. It gave an unpleasant sensation, which proved its identity, a Savage. More surprisingly, the male donkey was impressed by how obedient this monster was.

“Why don’t you give it a shot?” The marmot handed the donkey an earpiece size of which was fitting for him.

He reluctantly accepted it. Once he inserted it in his right ear, he tried giving a command. “Get up”

The lion Savage stood up. Subsequently, he gave another command “Speak”. It roared, petrifying the elephant, as it was commanded. Hence, the donkey grinned, pleased with what he saw.

Perceiving that the customer was satisfied, the marmot rubbed her thumb over the tip of her index finger and middle finger repeatedly, making money sign hand gesture.

The sulking donkey drew his phone up, tapping a screen couples of times before showing the screen to the dealer. “Done” It was shown that he had transferred the large amount of money to a certain account.

“It’s a pleasure to do business with you~” The marmot stepped away from the cage, implying the lion monster had officially belonged to the donkey since the moment the money transfer was made.

“Go get that cage!” The donkey ordered the minor standing next to him.

The fearful young elephant, tensing up, did not dare come nearer the monster.

“Quit dawdling! Wanna go back to be an orphan!?” He shouted at the elephant.

Intimidated, the minor consequently dashed to the cage.

In that instant, a silver flash plunged to the ground not far from other mammals, startling them. They turned their attention towards the exact same spot to get a good look. There was a kneeling silver chrome wolf with a reflective black bar over the eyes, two black thunderbolt stripes paralleling each other on abdomen, solar panels on chest and shoulders, Bolt.

“Get lost, kid” Bolt rose gradually to his feet. Other mammals were baffled by the wolf’s presence.

“I said get lost, boy” He raised both paws, electric sparks coming out of them.

The elephant got filled with terror, skedaddling from the warehouse, unwittingly bumping into one pile of crates along the way.

When the elephant minor was gone, “Dogdang, I can’t stand what you did, bub.” Bolt, right fist bopping left palm over and over, advanced towards the donkey.

Simultaneously, the marmot sneaked closer to the Savage. Seeing that she unlocked the cage, the donkey smiled broadly.

“What are you smiling for? You’re creeping me-”

“Attack!” The donkey interrupted the wolf. Suddenly, the lion Savage broke free from the cage and charged at the silver wolf.

He dodged narrowly, then pounced on the monster, wrapping his arms around its neck to strangle it. Unfortunately, it was not so effective because he did not possess enough strength. The Savage struggled, shaking and hurtling in order to throw the wolf off. However, he refused to let go, thereby being dragged along.

A few minutes earlier, Nick and Judy, still dressed in civilian clothing, together with Clawhauser in police uniform were investigating less crowded areas of Rainforest District such as a warehouse zone. Without warning, they heard a loud noise coming from one warehouse. It was a feral roar which the lion Savage let out when it was ordered.

Judy asked Clawhauser to take care of Nick as she was heading to the warehouse where the roar came from. Nick, jumping into Clawhauser’s arms, spoke up that the chubby cheetah’s arms were softer and comfier than the bunny’s to tease her. She grumbled before she yelled “Just transform already!”. Clawhauser wondered that an impression Judy was giving could be jealousy...

Fortunately, there was no one else in the area, so they transformed into Hybrid without any concerns. After considering various factors, they “FORM SHIFT-ARCHER” turned into Hybrid Archer form. They thought that Hybrid was not supposed to simply set foot in the battlefield through the front door, therefore planning to climb to the roof and ambush the target from the high ground. In that case, Archer form which moves quietest among three forms was the most suitable for this plan.

In spite of that, the warehouse’s door burst open, followed by the young elephant exiting in a headlong rush, completely disregarding Hybrid. Since the door had already opened, Hybrid sped furtively into the warehouse.

The green leather tuniced armored rabbit with fox features climbed to the top of a stack of crates to observe overall situation, Bolt threatening the donkey while the marmot creeping to the cage of the lion Savage. Nick and Judy viewed preventing Bolt from harming other mammals as a priority.

Even so, before they made any moves, the marmot stunned them by unlocking the cage. Even more surprising, the Savage followed the donkey’s command. These two mammals were evidently suspicious.

Bolt tried his best to cling to the neck of lion Savage running amok into many piles, leading to them falling and scattering here and there. The marmot used this opportunity during disorder to escape.

Previous to she making an escape, Hybrid “ACTIVATE” summoned a bow and created a tracking arrow from the right wrist, then shot it at her, the arrowhead stuck on her shirt without her knowing it.

After the marmot slipped through the door, “Hybrid! I know you’re there! Help me stop this kitty!!” Bolt surprised the duo. They did not expect that Bolt would be aware of Hybrid’s presence early on.

Despite their dislike towards the silver wolf, they indeed had to bring the feline monster to a stop because it was their responsibility. On that account, they cast their personal stuff aside and twisted MidniDriver’s handle forth twice “FORM SHIFT-HUSTLER” to change back to Hustler form.

Hybrid leaped across the field to block the Savage’s way in one jump. Pressing the syringe, “ACTIVATE” they used super strength to push it, bringing it to a halt.

The second that the monster came to a halt, Bolt, hugging the lion firmly, stabbed the tip of his knifepaw into the back of its neck. It writhed in pain but this time, the wolf finally released his hold on it. It appeared that he lost one of his nails in the monster’s wound.

“I’m counting on you, Mittens.” He whispered.

Everything happened so fast that “Hybrid’s really here!” the donkey had just realized that the armored mammal hero appeared in the flesh. “But whatever… Get them!” He commanded the Savage.

However, it did not attack Hybrid and bolt as he wanted. It merely stood still after being pricked in the neck by the wolf.

While the donkey was feeling perplexed that why he lost control of the lion Savage, Bolt neared the donkey prior to clutching his shirt collar.

“You are unforgivable.” The silver wolf lifted the donkey slightly, making him tiptoeing and trembling.

“Back off from him.” Nick in Hybrid warned Bolt while Judy was directing the body to move towards him.

“...O.K.” Bolt unexpectedly agreed to loosen his grip from the donkey easily. Everyone grew relieved a bit but he then bent down and punched the donkey. “Oops~ Negligent discharge~”

The donkey fell prone before Hybrid’s eyes. The duo instantly knew his faith.

The rage exceeding the fear to face the wolf again, Judy was ready to go head to head with him. Nonetheless, she could not proceed. It turned out that Nick was holding the body back.

“Carrots, look! That Savage hasn’t vaporized yet!”

She was shocked when Nick pointed out. The purple lion only maintained upright on four feet, not moving a muscle. Suddenly, it, roaring, went berserk.

The united duo wondered what was going on, but not for long, “A side effect of jamming control signal may be kicking in.” Bolt said something that piqued their curiosity.

Even though they wanted him to clarify, they had to wait until later because the Savage careered in a direction to the door. Both of them as Hybrid must defeat the berserk monster.

“Not so fast~” Bolt obstructed Hybrid’s path.

“Outa’ mah way!” Judy sprang, protracting claws and thrusting the paw to Bolt.

“Accel” Bolt sidestepped to avoid a blow, then palm struck Hybrid’s flank.

The armored mammal was sent to land on the ground. Just as the duo predicted, the strike did not hurt much, still, falling to the knees, they felt the body turned numb, which must be a result of electricity Bolt used during attack.

“I can’t let you remove that Savage … The program is being installed. So, be good kits~” Bolt said one more confusing thing; notwithstanding, it was obvious that he did not intend to allow them to eliminate the lion monster.

“Like heck we can just let it go!” Judy bawled.

“What if it attacks civilians?” Nick, taking charge of Hybrid’s vocal cord, softened the tone.

“Not my problem~” Bolt responded to Nick’s question simply, outraging Judy greatly. He turned his face to look at the purple lion charging out the warehouse’s door. “Track down that lion.” It seemed like he talked to himself. “Pretty please~”

Seeing that the monster was fleeing, and moreover, the silver wolf was being distracted, the duo decided to chase it.

After opening and closing the paws to verify that the body had recovered, Hybrid pressed the syringe “ACTIVATE” to use enhanced speed. In no time, the united duo ran so blistering that the armored mammal appeared like a red blur.

When Hybrid was passing Bolt, “Double accel!” he gyrated to catch the smaller animal, snatching the spiky yet fluffy fox tail. Hybrid was restrained from moving forward by him hauling the red tail, which “Don’t touch my tail!” upset Nick a lot. He hit the syringe “ACTIVATE”, tail spikes pointing outward, with a thought that sharp spikes would force the wolf to relinquish his tight grasp and fall back. Furthermore, he had his speed that enabled him to dodge.

All the same, still holding firm, he did not let Hybrid go. As a result, the silver wolf got stabbed by many spikes. Hybrid inadvertently pierced quite a number of holes in his body, glancing him with terror of killing mammals.

Out of the blue, Bolt swung Hybrid in spite of being spiked. The armored mammal was thrown away forcefully, tail spikes shortening and turning back to fur, to crash against the crates.

“Bolt! Do you copy!?” The wildcat on the other side of some sort of wireless communications asked. Apparently, only the silver wolf could hear.

“Loud and clear~ Awe! My beautiful shiny body... What a bummer.” Bolt complained.

“Retreat!” She instructed.

“I’m not done playing with them yet~ And what about the lion?”

“Forget about them! You have received damages in many parts. Besides, I’ve already taken care of that Savage! Rhino will pick it up. Now, get your butt over here!”

“Ro~gers~” Eventually agreeing to retreat, Bolt approached Hybrid lying on pieces of broken wooden crates. “This should buy us some time.” He stooped and pulled MidniDriver’s syringe, forcing Hybrid to detransform “Ciao~” previous to vanishing into thin air.

The doe rabbit, being left alone in the warehouse with one soulless donkey, could not help but feel numb everywhere like the body was electroshocked.

“Judy!”

She heard Clawhauser and Nick calling her name from outside, At least, they’re safe. thinking to herself while staring at a dreary ceiling.

.-- .... . .-. . / .. ... / ... .. .-.. ...- . .-. / .-.. .. -. .. -. --.

The young elephant was sitting on sidewalk in Rainforest District, hugging his knees in the midst of hazy atmosphere.

“Why the long face?” A male voice said.

He felt sorrowful to the point that he was not aware of an incoming mammal until the mammal arrived at his feet.

“I have nowhere to go...” He avoided looking at the other mammal in front of him.

“Where are your parents?”

The elephant’s eyes watered when the word ‘parents’ was uttered. He buried his face in his arms later.

“It’s all right.” The mammal stretched his right tan paw out to the minor.

The young elephant raised his head. He subsequently saw a blue-eyed brown St Bernard dog.

“Come with me” The St Bernard dog invited him softly.

- --- / -... . / -.-. --- -. - .. -. ..- . -..

#zootopia #zootopia fanfiction #zoomorphia #zootopia tokusatsu au

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megers67 · 7 years

Text

What is Wrong with Who Watches the Watchers?

I love Star Trek, I really do, but I think this episode really shows that the interpretation of the whole Prime Directive is off. Whether it’s by the characters or the writers, it just goes past the good intentions into offensive imperialistic ideas. The Next Generation’s season 3 episode Who Watches the Watchers is the best example of this.

So let me break it down for you. Why is this episode so frustrating to me? Mostly it revolves around this right here.

This is the duck blind that the “anthropologists” use to study the Mintakans. Thing is, apparently, this is a common anthropological method in the Federation. This is implied from what Geordi says in like, the fourth line in the entire episode.

“A hologram generator. Oh, a duck blind. Right. They’re anthropologists.”

And that’s troubling. Why? Because most modern cultural anthropologists prefer other methods of data collection, particularly participant observation. Participant observation is when the anthropologist goes and lives with the group of people, noting their experiences with them. This is such an effective method because it allows for hands-on work with the people. You can talk to them, ask them questions, but also work, eat, and sleep like they do. The point is to understand their perspective of the world in order to get a sense of why they do the things they do. If you’re just watching from afar, you get none of that intimate experience. These anthropologists seem to want to avoid contact at all costs. It baffles me! There is so much information that you’re missing out on! Why are they hiding themselves away from the Mintakans?

I would almost forgive them if their reason was to avoid the natural interviewee bias (not sure of the exact term at the moment if there even is one). Basically when you interview someone, you can’t actually be 100% confident that what they tell you is the exact truth. They could either be intentionally deceiving you and telling you what they think you want to hear, or be doing so subconsciously by giving you an idealized version of the truth. But as an anthropologist, you are supposed to take this into account. By spending time with the people, you minimize the first as you gain their trust. As for the second, it’s actually an interesting area of study in itself to compare what they say and what you see. It gives a good look into what their values as a society are.

But I know that’s not what these anthropologists are avoiding. They want to avoid violating the Prime Directive. What exactly is the Prime Directive?

You know? That’s a damn good question.

As Archer put it, there needed to be a directive to spell out how you can and can’t interact with alien species (clearly meaning the Prime Directive), but until that was made “I’m going to have to remind myself every day that we didn’t come out here to play God.“

For a directive that is so often used and referred to and held to so high a reverence, I haven’t actually seen much of actual text of it in canon. However, I was able to dig up something said in TAS episode The Magicks of Megas-Tu as far as official phrasing goes: “No starship may interfere with the normal development of any alien life or society.” Sounds simple, but apparently it’s actually pretty complicated as well because as of Voyager, it has at least 47 sub-orders. As far as I’m aware, these aren’t then listed, but they would assuredly follow the same philosophy, one that is derived from an anthropological perspective.

The anthropological perspective means that every culture, now matter how different it is from your own, is just as valid as your own. This means that other cultures may have different values and customs that are neither better nor worse than yours, just different. This is also the basis for the Prime Directive. As the Federation is its own collection of cultures, it has no right to just impose its set of values on new ones they encounter. It is for this reason it is often referred to as the Non-Interference Directive.

But it is often misused. Not by the characters exactly, but by the writers. Moral dilemmas are often an intriguing and engrossing way of creating conflict in a story. However, it can be really hard to pull off because the writers know the solution already. It may not be the right or wrong choice, but for the character(s) to make it, it must be right for them to make it. Usually this also means we as the audience are supposed to believe they made the right choice because they writers want us to root for the character unless this is something the character(s) involved are going to learn a lesson on. That exception however, can’t happen every single time. It just isn’t sustainable in a long series or franchise like Star Trek is. But when you have a lot of potential moral dilemmas, how can you be sure to pick the “correct” choice as a writer that your audience will be on board with?

You instead create a false moral dilemma. This is when a situation is presented and treated as a moral dilemma, but really isn’t. That way you get all of the tension of the debate and discussion, but little risk of doing the wrong thing because there really wasn’t a big issue. This is how the Prime Directive is used most of the time. The formula is that something bad happens on a planet. Perhaps some crisis involving a natural disaster or something. Then Starfleet gets wind of it then goes through this whole debate of whether or not they should keep these people from dying because by interfering, they are violating the Prime Directive. Then they usually decide to help anyway.

As an anthropologist, you’re not supposed to interfere. But what it means in that context is that you’re not supposed to just go running around telling people of different cultures that they’re ass-backwards and are doing things wrong and while your way is best way. It doesn’t mean that you just sit there and watch people die because doing so will ruin some abstract sense of purity of culture.

That’s playing God.

There’s a few reasons why:

1. It’s highly colonialist thinking. If you see a group of people and decide that you know what’s best for them because you are from a “more advanced” society, that’s colonialist. You are treating this other culture like children who can’t be trusted to make decisions for themselves and that it is up to you to be the adult in the situation and solve it for them without their input or consent. Why are you more qualified to make that choice for them? What gives you the right? That you’re from the Federation? That’s like the USA trying to “civilize” the Native Americans. It’s an extreme example and not like the situations we see in Star Trek, but it is the SAME LINE OF THINKING.

2. It assumes that culture progresses linearly, a very outdated anthropological idea. You may have heard according to sociocultural evolution that cultures progress from band, tribe, chiefdom, state. These are now only the names of organization sizes/relationships, not stages that go one to another. Sociocultural evolution now refers to a broader sense of how cultures change over time, not necessarily in any particular direction. There are many different theories now on how or why cultures change, but they can all agree that they are always in a state of flux. They might also stay more or less the same for long periods of time, changing in ways we can’t quite recognize. Some might see these people as being “behind the times” or in need of help in some way because they are not “civilized” in the way that we are. No. Again, just because we are different, doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with how or what or why they do things the way they do. To assume that they will follow the same path that Western civilizations took also assumes that we are a goal worth pursuing, that we are at the top right now. Can you see why that can be a major problem despite good intentions? Like, yeah. That alien species might never reach the point of space travel. They might be perfectly fine with that. Is there anything wrong with that? They might have been the way they are for thousands of years and advanced in other ways. Why is that arbitrary criteria something that makes them ineligible for being considered equal to you?

3. It assumes that any interaction will ruin the cultural purity or natural progression of their culture. Goes with the last one. It assumes that your culture is soooo awesome that they will abandon your own just to emulate yours. Thing is it assumes that these people would be willing to just abandon their own cultural norms because you (purposefully or accidentally) shown them the light and error of their ways. Which is really just silly and unrealistic. Yes, they might indeed change parts of their culture. That does happen when two cultures collide. It happens a lot. But is that a bad thing? Can you imagine how much technology and knowledge and other ideas the West has borrowed from other cultures? We literally wouldn’t be where we are today without that cultural diffusion. Yet each of the countries that make up The West are all culturally unique and complex not only between each other, but also the rest of the world. If everyone copied whole-cloth from a single culture that had any good ideas, then the entire Earth would be one damn culture. But it’s not. The reason is that we borrow what we want, and don’t borrow what we don’t like. It’s that goddamn easy. Other cultures made up of sentient beings can do just the same. The only reason they might borrow things they don’t want is if they are forced to. This also goes for things they want to borrow that you, for some reason, don’t want them to. That’s wrong for the reasons I have gone over already. Taking away people’s choice in their own lives for arbitrary reasons is wrong.

4. What do the people want? That’s the main issue. You can hee and haw back and forth all you want about whether it is ethical to intervene, but taking action (or specific inaction) without input at all from the people whose lives you’re affecting, is making a choice on their behalf. You are taking away their autonomy. Their ability to make choices about their own lives. When you do that, you are in fact playing God. If they ask for your help (even if it’s just spit out into the cosmos, distress signal style), that’s all the permission you need. They are explicitly asking for intervention. Plain and simple. If they don’t know if there’s a problem, the moment you notice, it’s your responsibility to figure out if they want your help. If there isn’t time to figure that out, you should assume that they want you to try. It’s a general assumption that might end up being problematic, but most things want to live. However, there is also a flip-side. If they don’t want your help, then you must honor that. Failing to honor that is then breaking the Prime Directive because you are overriding their wishes because you think you know better than they do. That’s hard, but you have to let it go.

So where does that put us in terms of how the Prime Directive is used in Star Trek? Well most of these moral dilemmas come when the main characters are forced to choose whether or not to save the aliens or follow the Prime Directive. In other words, the choice is to save the lives of a sentient race of creatures, or to preserve the purity of their culture, however short lived it now may be. Do you see what the easy choice is now? The writers present this as an extremely difficult debate. They save the aliens if they want their main characters to be shown as heroes, or let them die if they want to give their characters easy drama and sadness or mope about how hard the job is sometimes.

Bringing it back to the main point, here’s how all of this applies to Who Watches the Watchers. The anthropologists are observing the Mintakans from a duck blind (wrong). The duck blind’s camouflage then fails, allowing for a pair of natives to see the high tech (nothing wrong with that). One of these Mintakans is then injured and has to be saved by the Enterprise which is a big problem (not it isn’t). He is healed, given a memory wipe, and returned to the village (okay but Crusher had to defend her decision to save him). The memory wipe isn’t 100% apparently because he remembers Picard and tells everyone about his experience (nice going). The village interprets Picard as a god (okay this is a problem because you never should want this power dynamic). Also one of the anthropologists is still down there (not a big deal like everyone is making it out to be). After great debate (where the actual phrase “cultural contamination” is used for fuck’s sake), he sends Riker and Troi in disguise to pretend to be from over the mountain to rescue the anthropologist. The villagers debate among themselves about what “The Picard” wants them to do with the anthropologist and now these newcomers (really Riker and Troi did not do a great job). Stuff happens and eventually, after refusing to send a sign to make his wishes known to the Mintakans, Picard beams one of them aboard to show her he isn’t a magical god figure (the one time the Prime Directive is used reasonably albeit in probably not the best way). After he shows her that he cannot prevent people from dying sometimes, she understands that he and his people are just that, people (because she is capable of basic understanding like an actual sentient being who is an adult and not just a large child). Meanwhile, the other Mintakans are about to sacrifice Troi (because sure why not) when he returns the one he beamed aboard AND IS THERE IN PERSON HIMSELF (?????). He convinces them to stop (only after proving he’s mortal by being hit with an arrow because ugh), collects Troi, and fucks off. With the anthropologists. Because apparently now that the Mintakans have been “culturally contaminated” there’s no reason to stay and research them any more despite it being the perfect opportunity to do good ethnographic research.

Sorry that last paragraph turned into an unorganized rant. I might post that discussion of the Prime Directive in its own post though.

#prime directive #star trek #tng #anthropology #who watches the watchers

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ciathyzareposts · 4 years

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Challenge of the Five Realms: River and Phoenix

Ah, the glamor of adventuring.

As we wrapped up the last session, the party had emerged from the undersea kingdom of Thalassy with the emperor’s crown and the emperor himself. That was the second crown out of five that we need to retrieve before confronting Grimnoth.

This session began with the party moving on to Thornkeep. Despite its name, it wasn’t so much as “keep” as a collection of houses. The residents belong to an odd cult called the Children of Shamar. They believe that the return of the ancient Emperor Shamar is at hand. The populace seemed divided as to whether I am an obstacle to his return or the vessel of it. This is a good place to note something that I have forgotten to highlight in previous entries: In any given village, about half the NPCs are indoors, where they’re relatively easy to find, but another half wander fixed territories in the outdoor map. Sometimes, their territories seem boundless, and if you’re looking for a specific NPC, it can be hard to track him down. This was a “feature” of MegaTraveller 2 as well.

Ultimately, in Shamar’s Temple, we found a priest named Malocchius. He was the grandson of the Malocchius who had cursed the knights of Commington Forest, turning them into trees. He gladly gave us the Ring of Transformation to undo the curse.

Damn it. This would have been the perfect closing screenshot for my previous entry (“Sins of the Father”). If only I’d played 15 more minutes.

The head of the cult asked us to retrieve the sacred Scrolls of Shamar in return for the Spell of Restoration, which ages ago Cagliostra said I would need to defeat Grimnoth. The scrolls are supposedly hidden on the grounds of Castle Thiris (which I already visited and found empty), but a descendant of one of the builders of the castle might know where they’re hidden. He is north, in Arinor.

It was time to go back to Commington Forest. As I transitioned between the two locations, Duke Gormond’s knights attacked me but weren’t very hard. After their defeat, a quick screen showed Gormond “seething in anger.” I can’t wait to deal with him.

Keep sending them, though. They’re good practice.

Back in Commington, the Ring of Transformation did its job and the trees became knights again. They immediately offered to join my party. I can’t remember who I dismissed (one of the Monteplai prisoners, I think), but I was surprised to see that the result was a group of five knights in my party, sharing a single character portrait and inventory screen. Although they show up as a collective, you must individually place them on the battle screen. You also have to amass a stack of five of whatever you want them to equip before they can equip weapons, armor, shields, and other items. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite like it in an RPG.

A collective “NPC.”

With the trees gone, we were able to pierce further into Commington Forest, until we found a portal in one of its clearings. It took us to the elven kingdom of Fraywood, a realm “filled with mischief and magic,” as Cagliostra reported from her mirror. She said that in addition to the crown, we would need a symbol of “the innocence and goodness of this realm”–perhaps the horn of a unicorn. Unfortunately, unicorns will only appear to virgins.

Everyone uncomfortably avoids looking at Chesotor.

In conversation with NPCs, it transpired that power in the elven kingdom is based on one’s ability to tell jokes and pull pranks. Some wit recently pulled a good one on the new king, Wilric, by slipping a laxative into the food served at his father’s wake. (Grimnoth apparently killed him, too.) King Wilric was still stewing over this humiliation when we met him, plus he was concerned about the men burning sections of Commington Forest. (We had met them in the last session; they all claimed my father hired them.) The elves’ souls are apparently linked to the trees in the forest. For his help, he wanted me to identify the prankster who had embarrassed him and to stop the destruction of the forest. I had to return to the surface to deal with the forest burners. One made me kill him, another wouldn’t leave unless I bribed him, and a third (who said he had always felt guilty about the job) agreed to stop based on a moral argument alone.

This one was not long for this world.

Finding the prankster took several steps. We had to first find the alchemist that sold him the Dyell Root (the laxative). I had to threaten him to reveal the buyer: the king’s cousin, Brodo. Upon hearing this information, King Wilric concocted his revenge. He had me go to a different apothecary and purchase a large amount of Broche powder, which causes uncontrolled urination.

Brodo confessed to the entire plot when I confronted him, but he was still dumb enough to take a tankard of ale from me. Soon, he was wetting his pants and unable to control it. Despite the fact that his “revenge prank” was both derivative of and less impressive than the original, King Wilric was overjoyed and joined the party, contributing the third crown.

Bathroom humor wins the day.

During these adventures, we encountered a female elf named Gwin whose father had locked her in a chastity belt before getting killed in a prank gone bad. She asked my help finding its key. Her father’s friend, Tyrnoth, agreed to help us for 27 gold pieces. But when we followed his directions by entering a particular house north of the castle, we accidentally freed a “shaggy beast” that we then had to kill. Embarrassingly, I spent a lot of time afterwards digging up the floor before I realized the entire thing had been a prank.

One for you, Tyrnoth.

I eventually resorted to casting “Truth” spells to figure out who could help me. It turned out to be Rianen, Gwin’s sister, who had been jealous of Gwin’s beauty. Rianen found the directions to the key among her father’s effects, but she couldn’t read it because it was written in an ancient elven language. My Ring of Translation did the trick, although as you’ll see below, it’s unclear exactly how.

What part of this was “written in an ancient elven language”?

I dug up the key at the indicated location and returned it to Gwin, who joined the party in gratitude. Assuming she was the virgin needed to lure a unicorn, I wondered how we were going to find a unicorn, but it turned out that I didn’t need to worry: one showed up the moment we left Gwin’s hut. The beast sacrificed itself to allow us to gather it’s horn, an act that I hadn’t imagined was necessary until that moment. I’m reminded of how I didn’t realize that the bull was killed at the end of a bullfight until I was well past the age of 30.

This doesn’t feel good at all.

I also met an elf named Turry Startide who described himself as a “muse.” “Before the portal closed,” he said, “I frequently appeared to human creators and aided their imaginations.” Recalling the novelist’s request in Silvermoor, I added Turry to my party and took him with me when I went back to the surface to deal with the forest-burners. The author, Dorian Schick, was delighted to have a muse and gave me a diamond in return. This went into my spell components and allowed me access to a few new spells, including “Resurrection.”

Another NPC elf was named “Woody,” had the portrait of Woody Allen, and spoken in Allen-esque quips about his inability to attract women. After a few pages of one-liners (ex: “She hates jokes. I asked her to go for a walk with me in the woods and she said, ‘Don’t make me laugh'”), he gave me his collected Comedic Works. I remembered some gnome back in Alveola who wanted a book of jokes, but upon revisiting the gnome kingdom, I couldn’t find whoever it was.

This was a little too on-the-nose.

We returned to Alonia through the portal and moved on to the next stop in our exploration pattern: the Cathedral of Equus. Our trip was short. The cathedral was completely deserted, and I could find no sign of the monks and nothing to do. Later, in Havenshire, the mother of one of the monks told me of rumors that the monks had turned to sorcery and it was they who had summoned Grimnoth.

It was a nice graphic, though.

Thus, we continued on to the harbor village of Galraven, across a narrow channel from Gormond’s castle of Vinazia. I found some shops and spent some time selling amassed equipment and getting some better items for a few of my characters. NPCs told me that Gormond had threatened ship captains against bringing my party to Vinazia. A broke tavern denizen sold me a treasure map for 50 gold pieces; it refers to a bank of a river in a mountain village.

Gormond has apparently never heard of “Teleport.”

I couldn’t find much else to do in Galraven, so I teleported clear across the map, and slightly north, to the island of Jupiles and its castle, Ventrax. I hadn’t heard much about the location in previous encounters, but it transpired that the island is “ruled” by Emperor Kuvey Lyter. Lyter used to be a friend of my father’s, but the two had a falling out, and Lyter retreated to Jupiles, declaring it an independent state and allowing the practice of magic. The island successfully repelled the first few attempts to take it back, and it appears that Clesodor simply decided to let the matter go.

It turns out that Lyter uses the title “emperor” ironically, so it’s okay.

The kingdom was a weird cross between Oz and a Montessori School, with meandering colorful walkways and a happy populace of “artists, free thinkers, fun seekers, wanderers, and outcasts” allowed “the freedom to grow and learn.” Everyone loved Lyter and no one was unhappy to hear that Clesodor had died except Lyter himself.

The only thing Lyter wanted was knighthood, so he asked me to bring him my father’s knighting sword, which I had fortunately picked up in Castle Duras. In exchange, he gave me two more “group companions”–a set of knights and a set of archers. I had to get rid of Queen Neika and Sir Valakor to accept them. This means that while I have 10 character portraits, I functionally have 22 people with me–more of a “company” than a “party.” These individuals make combat easier but longer, since they’re placed and act individually despite sharing a single portrait.

Lyter has been building a wall to keep out the encroaching darkness, so he asked me to find a supplier for stone and mortar. The game didn’t give me an option to tell him that such a plan was both foolish and futile.

“Together, we might come up with less silly names for our two kingdoms.”

I consulted the map. The final sequence of visits seemed destined to go as follows: the village of Ragmar, the village of Havenshire, Castle Vinazia, Mount Shaska, and finally the northernmost village of Arinor. I knew I would have to return to Castle Thiris to find the Scrolls of Shamar and bring them to Thornkeep before returning to Thiris again for the endgame, and I suspected there would be some other secondary “return visits” in the meantime. Also, somewhere in that sequence, I’m going to need to find the passage to Aerieus, the final realm.

Ragmar, a dilapidated, vandalized, and suspicious village, turned out to the source of the thieves’ guild who has been raiding surrounding villages. The mayor begged me to find the guild and recover the village’s treasury, which they stole.

As we’re about to see, I apparently had trouble finding the guild, too.

One of the NPCs was the wife of Felron, one of the prisoners I released from Monteplai. She begged me to release her husband, but the game gave me no option to tell her that I’d already done so, and I had dismissed him from my party some time ago. This reminded me to remark that a game with this many NPCs needs some central place to organize them. They just disappear when you dismiss them; they don’t return to their original locations.

While I was in Ragmar, the gnome King Amarcam piped up that he had joined my party to help fight Grimnoth, not to solve all the problems of my realm. I thought it was a particularly realistic bit of NPC dialogue. I started to wonder whether I really needed the kings of the other four realms in my party, or whether their crowns were enough.

I’ll remember that next time I waste hours on a gnomish murder mystery.

I took a break of a few days after my visit to Ragmar, and when I reloaded, the party was in Havenshire. I can’t remember why I decided to move on from Ragmar, but I know I didn’t solve the thieves’ guild quest. Maybe I couldn’t find them. I have vague plans to return later, I guess.

A sheep gives me a new quest.

In Havenshire, NPC dialogue indicated that their phoenix, normally a protector, has recently gone crazy and started killing the town’s livestock. It is apparently immune to regular weapons. Sure enough, every time we engaged it, it killed my party members one-by-one without suffering any damage.

This was a good way to remind myself who’s in the party. I keep losing track.

One villager told of an ancient hero named Tyro who defeated the beast with the Armor of Valor, the Sword of Malokor, and the Shield of Blotgar. A farmer named Silverfox Tenderfoot said that all the talk of magic items was nonsense, and that the phoenix could be defeated by a giant who lives on Mount Shaska, “the greatest warrior ever.” However, I learned from one NPC that the sword and shield were buried and the map to them entrusted to a “family of sailors that lived in a harbor village,” which sounds a lot like the map I received in Galraven.

An NPC lays out the problem.

The Armor of Valor, meanwhile, was in the museum in the center of the town. The curator had hidden the artifact but agreed to give it to me if I could provide “proof that the phoenix can be stopped.” I’m not sure what proof he was looking for, but I didn’t have it. I thought it might be the sword and shield.

The king bargains for stuff he should just be able to take.

“South of the watersprings on the bank of the river,” the map had directed. I soon found a pool alongside the bank of the river and dug to the south of it. Oddly, I found not a sword and shield by a diary of someone named Sir Creyar, who discovered that when the phoenix goes mad, it must be killed “in order for it to regenerate into a greater form.” Fortunately, I kept trying and ultimately found the sword and shield more to the southeast than to the south of the fountain.

Does that shovel look “south” of the fountain to you?

Nearby, we talked to an NPC and found ourselves in conversation with the Avatar from the Ultima series, who complained of his lot in life. It ended with Chesotor telling him, “You probably have an adventure or two left in you. Rest up. Maybe we’ll meet again someday.” I don’t know exactly what the creators were going for in this encounter. It seems too silly to be serious, too grim to be parody, too detailed to be a simple homage. Maybe they were hoping to get jobs at Origin.

The poor Avatar has no idea what’s coming for him.

With the artifacts in hand, I returned to the curator, who gave me the Armor of Valor. I briefly thought of investigating the rumors of the giant, but I realized that to accept him in my party, I’d have to get rid of one of the group “characters,” one of the kings, Felrid (who Cagliostra said I’d need), or one of my powerful spellcasters. I decided to deal with the phoenix myself, but I don’t know what I’m going to do when I meet the King or Queen of Aerieus.

I found and attacked the Phoenix, who died in a single blow.

Chesotor fights the phoenix in the upper left, while the rest of the party mills around in the lower-right.

The curator told me to keep the magic items until I had defeated Grimnoth, then return them so the bird could be killed again when the time came. Other NPC dialogue change to reflect the fact that I had killed the creature, which is a nice touch in this game.

I’m not sure I’d call the battle “epic.”

Unfortunately, this session highlighted the exact problem I outlined at the end of the last session: it’s becoming much more an adventure game than an RPG. These seven hours featured no character development and only three combats, two of them against single enemies who died almost instantly. Nonetheless, perhaps more than any other game I’ve played this year, I’m excited to see how the plot resolves for the young King of Alonia. I don’t know about you, but I think it’s time to kill my cousin.

Time so far: 29 hours

Note: I started Realms of Arkania far too early. It was irresponsible to begin it with two games already active and my time so limited by end-of-semester activities. So it’s going to sit on the back burner while I wrap up Challenge and hopefully Camelot. I hope to get to the second entry on the game late next week.

source http://reposts.ciathyza.com/challenge-of-the-five-realms-river-and-phoenix/

#retro games #dos games #retro #crpg #adventure #amiga #oldcomputers #8bit #16bit #blog #repost

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briangroth27 · 7 years

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Arrow: Who is Vigilante?

Full Spoilers for Arrow Season 5…

I figured out who Prometheus was about a week before it was revealed—with the introduction of his mother the Claybourne connection couldn’t be a red herring anymore, meaning he had to be someone we already knew under a different name, and I remembered Caity Lotz was announced as Dinah Drake when Sara was recast, so I thought they could be using a similar misdirect since they announced Josh Segarra’d been cast as Adrian Chase/Vigilante but never unmasked him—and I love that Arrow’s writers gave us a different mystery in plain sight that hardly anyone who knows the comics even thought was a mystery! While Chase makes logical sense given the givens, he wasn’t the most emotionally impactful choice for Prometheus, so I’m thinking maybe Vigilante’s ID is that gut-punch twist. Guggenheim said we probably won’t find out who Vigilante is until next season, but there’s no harm in trying to guess now!

So, with Prometheus revealed (right after fighting Vigilante, no less), who’s the gun-toting, Punisher-like maniac running around Star City killing criminals and anyone deemed corrupt?

What We Know -There have been many iterations of Vigilante in the comics, including the original western-themed hero, Adrian Chase, a fellow judge (who murdered criminals), Chase’s bailiff (who used the previous Vigilante’s rep as a murderer to intimidate thugs without seriously harming them), Chase’s brother (who had technology to alter his face, DNA, and fingerprints), a female Gotham City detective with ties to Deathstroke, and another unconnected vigilante (who had a split personality after a traumatic encounter with a murderer as a child). Arrow could be pulling aspects from any or all of these versions. -Though Team Arrow didn’t encounter him for a few episodes, Vigilante’s picture was one of the potential recruits Felicity was looking at in the season premiere, so he’s been around for a while (at least since Damian Darhk’s Genesis Day). -He told Ollie, “I’m you. And the only difference between us is I use a more efficient weapon.” -He doesn’t think Ollie’s personal tragedies have hardened him enough if Green Arrow won’t kill criminals. -He can fight at least as well as Oliver and has stealth skills. -He has at least some tech skills, given his goggles. -Time travel, parallel worlds, Lazarus Pits, and other sources of resurrection magic all exist in this world and are fair game, even if this season is more grounded than the previous two. Flashpoint can also alter characters’ histories as we saw them play out, but I think that’d be cheating. -This isn’t something we know, and I’m not sure if I believe it myself, but what if Vigilante is the wetworks arm of Helix? He’s got to get his info from somewhere, his visor seems a little high tech, and they seem to have similar “anything for justice” morals. It doesn’t really change who he’d be under the mask, but I thought it could be an interesting connection.

Top Suspects

Roy Harper I could almost see the guns being a nod to his comic history as Arsenal, but I don’t believe he’d attack Ollie as viciously as he’s been doing (barring a Flashpoint reset to his past, which would be lame). Plus, it’s been established that Ollie can recognize the way Roy moves on sight, and that hasn’t been the case here; Vigilante is nowhere near as flippy as Roy was. Furthermore, Roy freaked out about accidentally killing a cop, so I can’t see him taking lethal force against anyone. It should be noted, though, that the comics’ version of Chase/Vigilante initially started as a non-lethal hero and later became more violent (though he was wracked with guilt over his actions at times). That could be consistent with Roy’s development over course of the show, despite last seeing him on a lighter path. I don’t think he’d try to assassinate Oliver, though. Ultimately, I want Roy back on Arrow, but not like this (undercover as Roy Harper, Agent of Spyral, anyone?).

Tommy Merlyn Either Flashpointed back to life, from Earth-2, or brought back via Malcolm using the Spear of Destiny on Legends, a crazed Tommy Merlyn would be a huge blow to Ollie. The costumed getup could be a reference to his father’s time as the Dark Archer, and mercilessly killing criminals could be a twisted take on his father’s Undertaking and his best friend’s nocturnal crusade. Maybe he thinks Ollie should’ve continued killing criminals, which could’ve saved Laurel and any number of other civilians. Would he try to kill Oliver? I’m not entirely sure he wouldn’t, especially if he’s not “our” Tommy. I think a resurrected Tommy is my favorite choice, just as he was once my top pick for Prometheus. And if it is a Tommy, I’d love for him to meet Laurel-2.

Earth-2 Robert Queen I suppose he could be Flashpointed back to life as well, but Earth-2’s Robert Queen—the Green Arrow of his world—would already have the necessary skills to carry out everything we’ve seen Vigilante do. Killing criminals would be right up Robert’s alley (The List was his, after all), and it’d be another massive gut-punch to Ollie if a version of his father were trying to kill him and teach him that mercy is “weakness.” We have no idea how lethal Robert-2 is as Green Arrow, so the guns might not be a big change at all. He’d also fit into the theme of legacy this season, but would he try to kill his own son’s doppelganger? That’d be cold. Based solely on the impact it’d have on Oliver, Robert-2 is probably my second-favorite suspect. Even if Robert-2 isn’t Vigilante, it’d be awesome for Ollie to meet him one day.

Connor Hawke/John Diggle, Jr./Green Arrow II What if he found a way to travel back to the present to meet his father? The traumatic event that hardened him into a killer could’ve been Dig’s death—everyone was dead but Ollie in Legends’ “Star City 2046”—and he could be trying to kill as many criminals as he can to prevent that future. Plus, thanks to Flashpoint, baby Sara became baby John Jr., making the potential future the Legends visited much more possible. Like Roy, I’m not sure John Jr. would attack Ollie (and Dig) as fiercely as he’s been fighting them, but maybe if his father’s life is on the line, he thinks he can’t afford to let them stop him, so he’ll do everything up to the point of actually killing them (or at least Dig). What if his partnership with Ollie in the future wasn’t enough for him after all, leading him to come back and save the city before it went to hell? If it’s John Jr., that would be a cool way to continue to play with the established presence of Flashpoint while staying true to the Arrow storylines and playing into this season’s theme of legacy. There’s still the issue that he’d know Ollie and Dig were Green Arrow and Spartan (Vigilante acts completely in the dark about it)…however, if the objective is not to kill either of the heroes, I could see someone like John Jr. and Roy not even needing to make it known he knows Ollie’s identity or going after him out of the costume much more readily than if Vigilante’s a full-on criminal. Vigilante did shoot Spartan point-blank last week, but what if it wasn’t just Cisco’s upgrades that saved Dig, but Vigilante knowing he’d be safe? Then again, he did try to assassinate Oliver twice last week, and I’m not sure Connor would go that far. I think John, Jr. would be the coolest reveal, if not necessarily the biggest emotional impact. Like Robert-2, even if John Jr. isn’t Vigilante, I still want him to meet Team Arrow somehow.

Captain Pike This one seems like a random guess, but given Vigilante’s attack on Ollie immediately after it came out that he’d covered up the Green Arrow killing a cop, perhaps Vigilante is a cop. Several of the comic versions were in law enforcement, so Pike would keep Arrow’s version in the same vein. He’d have access to all the weapons from police lockup and could’ve known Ollie’s limo route thanks to the police assigned to protect him. Pike’s probably guessed Ollie and Green Arrow are the same person by now, so if it’s him, Ollie’s in trouble. Although, that may be a strike against him…Vigilante doesn’t seem like the kind of person to wait around if he has actionable intel and doesn’t seem to have a personal vendetta against Oliver that requires drawn-out revenge, so why wouldn’t he just attack Queen at home if he knows? Pike’s been on the show for ages and has shown an appreciation for what Green Arrow does, so while that could translate into taking on a mask of his own, I also don’t think he’d be fighting Ollie to the death like he’s been doing. Though again, if we look at Vigilante not ever taking kill-shots on Team Arrow and mostly just shooting them in the legs and Kevlar, maybe their fights are to allow him to escape rather than to kill them. If Vigilante’s origins are grounded and there’s no Flashpoint, multiple Earths, or time travel involved, Pike is my second-highest suspect.

Paul Holt This one hit me right at the end of last week’s episode. With Curtis so excited to see Paul, I started to think he could be Vigilante. We don’t know much of anything about him, except that he’s athletic, a physical therapist, and cares deeply about Curtis. Curtis is with Team Arrow (and later separated from Paul) all the time, so Paul could be doing whatever he wants whenever he wants. I thought we didn’t know him well enough to truly be sad when he left Curtis at midseason (though Kellum absolutely sold the scene), but maybe this is why: maybe we’re supposed to get to know him more as Curtis tries to win him back, only to reveal next year that he’s been Vigilante all along. Maybe Vigilante cleaning up the streets is Paul’s way of making sure Curtis doesn’t have to put himself in harm’s way. Maybe he knows exactly how dangerous it is out there because he’s out there too. From a storytelling standpoint, it’d make more sense in terms of economic screentime usage if Paul were more than just Curtis’ love interest. Most members of Team Arrow have their own enemies, and this would be a great one for Curtis (and definitely a gut-punch given his attempts to fix his marriage). The obvious downside to it being Paul was when he took Mr. Terrific hostage and nearly killed him…though did he take him hostage to control the situation so Curtis couldn’t be harmed? Was threatening Mr. Terrific an insane attempt at scaring Curtis off the streets (which, combined with Curtis’ later failings at hand-to-hand combat, almost worked)?

Less Likely Suspects

Helena Bertinelli/Huntress It’d be fun to see Ollie’s original sidekick come back and Vigilante certainly shares her proclivity for lethal force. Despite Vigilante seeming to clearly be a guy (the biggest reason I’ve ruled her out, because she does seem to fit the bill pretty well), Helena would have the skills to do what we’ve seen Vigilante doing and the motive to take out any criminals she comes across. Plus, of all of Ollie’s friends and allies, Helena would be the most likely to try and kill him IMO. However, she knows Ollie is Green Arrow and Vigilante doesn’t seem to.

Earth-2 Oliver Queen Kind of a dark horse candidate, since he’s supposed to be dead. However, everyone on the Queen’s Gambit was supposed to be dead on both Earths, so what if he was only presumed dead, trained up, and then jumped over to this Earth to literally become Oliver’s dark reflection? What if “I’m you…” was literal? As the evil twin, maybe he’d even get comic book Oliver’s iconic goatee! I don’t really need to see Ollie fight himself, but I can see the thematic value there, particularly in a season all about Oliver finding peace with himself.

William Clayton The darkest of horses, but just imagine if, on his villainous time travel adventures over on Legends of Tomorrow, Malcolm Merlyn kidnapped Ollie’s son William and raised him as his own before depositing him in the Season 5 era to face Oliver as an adult. How twisted would that be? What if that’s the trauma that hardened him into a killer?

Talia Maybe she doesn’t think Ollie has become all she believed he could be, and has come to finish the job he started. I don’t think it’s likely though, especially since the promo for next week has her knowing who Prometheus is (so why wouldn’t Vigilante just attack Chase when he’s not Prometheus?).

Mei (Shado’s Sister) OK, I’d just like Celina Jade back on the show. I don’t really think Shado’s twin sister is Vigilante; as cool as a female big bad would be, it seems like a stretch to be her and it’d be just like Season 2 with Slade, even stemming from the same event (the death of Shado).

Over all, I’d be most emotionally satisfied if Vigilante is Tommy or Robert-2, but my gut says Paul or Pike; and right now I’m gonna say it’s Paul. If it is Paul, there’s plenty of time to make us care about him before revealing we should’ve hated him all along.

Who do you think Vigilante is?

#arrow #oliver queen #green arrow #mister terrific #prometheus #vigilante #tommy merlyn #connor hawke #john diggle jr #paul holt #roy harper #spyral #talia #huntress #helena bertinelli #captain pike #robert queen

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