#'here's the recipe that in-game is made by setting apples on fire :) first take your vanilla sugar--' bro you are doing too much. | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

raven-at-the-writing-desk · 3 years

Note

This headcanon request is for the Pyroxene Trio and the Leech Twins caring for an S/O who is weak to cold weather 🌨 I hope you are handling the chilly season well Raven ❄️

My feathers are freezing...

HAHA WHOOPS I MISREAD PYROXENE AS POMEFIORE... Y-You can read the Jack headcanons for this prompt here. Cater’s can be found here! I apologize for the mix-up!

Curiouser and Curiouser...

First thing’s first, Vil will make sure you’re all bundled up! He has a keen eye for fashion, so he’ll help you find something that suits your tastes and keeps you warm (without adding so many layers that it gives the illusion that you’re all puffed up like a marshmallow).

Vil’s all for accessories; adding a scarf and earmuffs to your ensemble ties your outfit together while covering up spots that would otherwise be exposed to the cold. He actually wears a scarf and earmuffs just like yours--so you match!

When you’re visiting Vil in Pomefiore, you often find yourself still shivering--which leads to him lending you spare sweaters and jackets. You tend to accidentally leave while still wearing his clothes (they’re just so cozy!), but hey! That just means you have another excuse to meet up with your boyfriend again soon, right?

He doesn’t want your poor skin getting dry, cracking, and bleeding from harsh windchill, so he brews up custom-made lotion and lip balm for you to use. How will he know you’ve been consistently applying them? Simple--he’ll hold your hands and kiss you himself to see how soft they are~

Rook suggests exercising to work up a sweat and to chase off the cold! He’ll even join you for your winter activity of choice! How about a snowball fight, ice skating, or snow shoeing? Just be careful to not run, or you might trip and fall (though he’d be more than happy to help you back up)!

If your fingers are frozen, leave it to Rook to warm them up for you! He’ll lovingly grasp your hands in his and bring them to his lips to thaw them with gentle kisses and puffs of his breath.

He’s not a master chef by any means, but he tries to whip up simple comforting campfire recipes for you, be it a rich stew of wild game and winter roots or ooey gooey s’mores! Rook watches you eat with a dream look on his face, chuckling when you get strings of marshmallow or traces of chocolate on your fingers.

Rook finds every excuse under the sun to cuddle with you! He’s a big proponent of keeping warm by sharing body warmth, so he’s pretty much always hugging or snuggling you! It’s strange, but it seems like even his lips are hot--you swear that you skin singes when he peppers kisses all over your face.

Epel has lots of blankets, and he’d be more than happy to share. Each of them has a story to tell (this quilt was hand stitched by his ma, this one was passed down from his grandparents, and this one is a frost blanket for apple trees!). He points to each one in turn and fondly recalls memories attached to each.

You’ll nestle under the comforters together and whisper to each other all about the various holiday traditions and mishaps you’ve had. You have his undivided attention--and, seeing him up close like this, you can really appreciate just how pretty he is. His large eyes sparkle and his cheeks flush with fondness as he listens to you recount a tale.

He’ll prepare a mug of hot apple cider for you, spiced to perfection with some cinnamon and nutmeg. It feels nice going down, and warms you up from the inside out.

Once your mug is drained, your eyelids start to feel heavy--and so do Epel’s. He murmurs sweet nothings to you as you both slowly drift off to sleep, heads resting against one another.

Jade’s quite resilient to the cold, so if he notices that you’re having a hard time enduring the weather, he has no qualms with offering you his blazer. If you’re in a private setting, he doesn’t mind lending you his other articles of clothing either--why, you just look so cute in his oversized jacket, fufufu.

He’ll also keep an arm around your shoulder and keep you close to him at all times! Not only does it keep you warm, but he gets to view your flustered expression all the while.

It’s in Jade’s nature to constantly tease you, but when winter rolls around, you’re almost thankful that for his playful flirtations. Your face just heats up whenever he leans into your ear to whisper something, or he teases you about how darling you look--and that pretty much keeps you warm for a good few hours.

What would you care to drink? Tea, coffee, hot chocolate, soup... Jade can prepare the warm beverage of your choice, and exactly to your tastes. If you’d like, he can serve it with a plate of freshly made cookies as well, each one iced and festive.

Like his twin, Floyd’s not all that bothered by the cold weather. He just strolls with you to class without so much as a light coat on. Of course, he takes notice of your small, shivering figure right away and asks you what’s wrong. (The first few times this happened, Floyd tried to help by draping himself on you--and while that did keep you warm, it also just made it hard to walk!)

Since then, he has cycled through a variety of different methods, including grabbing you and sprinting toward the nearest school building as fast as he can, and stripping off his blazer and setting it on fire. Rarely do these ever work, but they certainly get your adrenaline pumping and your cheeks flushed from laughter.

He’ll make you something nice to keep you warm! ... And by “something nice”, I mean Floyd will hand you a cup of warm milk and ask you to guess what weird syrup flavors he mixed into it! Some days, you get lucky with standard strawberry or chocolate, but other times he’ll stuff mint, butterscotch, raspberry, and licorice in all at once!

Of course, Floyd will give you lots and lots of hugs, both in public and in private, to keep you warm! He doesn’t really care who sees (better that the other fish understand what’s his now rather than later)--in fact, if other people are staring, it makes him just wanna cuddle you harder and nuzzle his cheek against yours!

447 notes · View notes

honey-makki · 3 years

Text

grandma’s blessing

best friend!hanamaki takahiro x fem!reader

warnings: mentions of death (family member), oral (fem receiving), fire, probably unsanitary cooking conditions if i’m being honest (it’s soft i swear)

summary: the holidays are your favorite time of year. your best friend hanamaki tries to keep holiday cheer alive despite the loss of a family member.

word count 2.4k

masterlist

Holiday’s are tricky. Decisions on whether the trauma of going home will be a heavier burden to bear than the guilt and loneliness of your city apartment. GOing home was never a pleasant experience. Trips filled with parents nitpicking your seemingly successful life and emotionally battering you about anything and everything they could. The only reprieve would be hugging your grandmother and being able to see her face-to-face during dinner. She understood why you didn’t come home every opportunity and didn’t blame you a bit.

On years when it would be too much to travel, you knew that she would still give you a call. Spending all day on the phone with you while you bounced around the kitchen making much smaller portions of what they would be eating at home. Even the small amounts of silence on the call were comfortable. You could feel her next to you kneading the dough for a pie while you mixed together the fruit base. It felt like home.

The silence that has been living in your apartment the past few months after her passing was suffocating. Weekends spent with friends at their apartment just to get out of somewhere that just seems to reek of death and despair.

You had spent more nights at Makki’s place in the past month than at your own. He was your closest friend, a true confidant, someone skilled at lifting your mood, and the person you’ve been undeniably in love with for years. You accepted the fate of growing old with a horde of cats as long as you can have his silly pink hair shining in the sun when you hung out with friends. It’s ok that you are going to be alone forever as long as you still had a standing laser tag date once a month. The only thing stronger than your feelings of love towards the strawberry blond was fear of losing him.

He has been a pillar of strength during the past few months. Holding your crying body until you fall asleep on his tear-stained and snot covered chest. Setting alarms in your phone to make sure you are eating or going to work instead of sitting in a dissociative state. Ever since you shared a bed with him, he’s been a little more comfortable with physical contact. Walking closer together arms touching when going out or throwing an arm over your shoulder when lounging around the house. You can’t count the number of times you’ve both woken up in various stages of cuddling.

He was the one to bring up spending the holidays together. He had just gone home for a wedding and couldn’t afford another ticket and he knew that you were in a weird spot. “We can stay here and make dinner and bake cookies and watch shitty r-romcoms? Someone has to appreciate Hallmark movies, why not us?” You can hear his voice crack and start to speed up as a blush rises across his face. You see it but don’t really process it, more relieved that for the first time in months, the thought of holidays didn’t make you run to the bathroom and throw up. You smiled and nodded, setting plans for him to come over later in the week.

Makki always liked when you cooked, throwing a western spin on dishes he considered normal. But today, he was flabbergasted, you didn’t let him just sit on the barstool curating music while you did all the work, no, there was too much food to be made for him to laze around. You laid out the recipe for your grandmothers’ mac n’ cheese, explaining what everything meant while you got started on an asian fusion stuffing you figured out a few years back.

You stole glances at him in the middle of stirring, combining and folding everything together. His tongue sticks out between his lips while he deliberately measures out the exact amount of cheese required. In all the time you’ve seen him, you’ve never seen him totally lose his laid back air until now, and you can’t control your laugh. Is he really more serious about measuring out sharp cheddar cheese than a game that would take them to nationals? Or that physics final he actually studied for? Your heart skips a beat when you see his soft, satisfied smile to the dish he just created. All you can picture when he looks over to you is how cute of a child he must have been. Cheeks round encasing his bright smile as his head tilts ever so slightly to the left.

After he slides the last dish into the oven, you both opt for taking the time to clean the kitchen, knowing that you won’t want to do it after dinner. The dishes are washed and dried and while Makki puts away the ones that go on a higher shelf, you return flour and other ingredients to the pantry but before you put them down you call out to him, voice lighter than normal, the one you use when asking a favor.

“Taka, how upset would you be if I said I wanted to cook a little bit more?”

“You get dishes this time around then, but what are we makin’?”

You turn out of the pantry with a bounce in your step before slapping down the flour and newly acquired, chocolate chips and sprinkles. “Cookies! We always made cookies with my grandma and it wouldn’t be the same without them.” Your eyes sparkle at the thought of the sweet treats and equally sweet memories of your childhood. Makki thinks you are breathtaking.

“Let me get the bowls back down and we can probably make mediocre cookies if you have anything you do with it.” He smiles at just how cute the squawk you made from his teasing is, just happy that he gets to be here with you. He doesn’t really hear how you defend your baking skills and complain that just because you forgot flour one time doesn’t mean you are inept at baking.

He never thought he would be the type to settle down and be domestic, it just didn’t seem like something he cared a lot about, but now he he can’t rid his mind of the thought of waking up ten minutes before your alarm just to make you a cup of coffee or throwing your favorite blanket in the drier on days it’s raining so when you get home, you can melt into the soft plush and warm up instantly.The clattering of spices brings him back to the moment, turning to see you picking up the cinnamon and vanilla extract.

“You good, love?” There’s something about how you look when you flustered because of him, that scratches an itch he didn’t know was there. The first time a pet name like this had slipped through his lips he was certain that whatever line the two of you were toeing had been crossed, demolished. Instead you just tucked your hair away and averted your gaze back to whatever shitty movie the two of you were “watching” that night. Now it’s normal, well its not normal, its very much not normal for him to refer to you as love or babe and it's not normal for you to exclusivley call him by his first name. It's decidedly abnormal considering your relationship or lack thereof. But if you aren’t going to question it neither is he.

He helps you up and gather the remaining ingredients for the “famous snickerdoodle cookies” that you swear had won awards. The mixing of the dough is interrupted when he has to grab your wrist to stop you from adding salt instead of sugar. You refuse to look at him because you know he is sporting a huge smirk and raised eyebrows, knowing that he’s right about you not being the best baker. You are reprieved by the oven going off, signaling to remove the earlier and change the temperature.

“Damn, babe, these cookies look so good, especially this one.” You return to Makki who already started to lay out the dough on the baking tray. You see perfectly round blobs squished slightly by a fork for a pattern and then right in front of him you see the cookie he was talking about. You didn't expect to see your 27 year old boyfriend-who-isn’t-your-boyfriend to be holding a cockshaoped cookie. But really, you should have seen it coming from the guy who laughs when either of you fart.

He can hear the clock ticking as you just stare, annoyed. He was concerned for a second, that maybe he shouldn’t have made a lewd joke when making cookies. This is something he used to do with her grandmother, you stupid idiot.. But when he can see the apple of your cheek peeking out from behind your hand, he recognizes that face. The one that positively exudes warmth and happiness with her laughter. The butterflies always buzzing in his stomach go wild when this face comes out. He would do anything to see it for the rest of time.

You don’t know where the courage comes from but you cup his cheek for a kiss, he mirrors your action. It just felt normal, and you honestly didn’t realize that it wasn’t normal until you both pulled back. Your eyes are locked on his, both of you sporting a soft smile until his keeps growing, evolving into a laugh that is borderline offensive in how loud it is.

You don’t know why and you get a little nervous that maybe he doesn’t feel the same way, when you go to hide your face, you feel the heat rising but also a soft powdery coating? And that’s when you realize his hands are still coated in flour from shaping the cookies. Your eyes are rolling while you chuckle but Makki on the other hand is losing his mind, almost in tears from laughing while putting the cookies in the oven. “It’s not that funny, Takahiro! Get me a napkin please.”

“Nah, you look really sweet. Good enough to eat.” You weren’t surprised when he returned to kissing you, nor when he lifted you up by your thighs and plopped you on the counter. The kisses are sweet, lazy and perfect for a second kiss, and a third and a fourth. This is normal. His lips belong on yours. Your hands should be tangled up in his hair while his run over your waist and legs. This is right. There's no rush to deepen the kiss, both of you happy to just indulge in the warmth of the other, but it is inevitable. A soft nip at your bottom lip or an accidental tug of his hair, neither of you know what happened first but you both are staring at each other, panting lightly with a much darker gaze than the original flour induced makeout session.

“You are just as sweet as I thought. Gotta have a taste.” His voice is raspier than you’ve ever heard and you just let him move your body as he pleases. Pull your hips to the edge of the counter. Spread your legs as far apart as they’ll go. Lift your hips when he pulls your shorts and underwear down. Gotta act as sweet as he says I am. He has barely touched you but when he falls to his knees and just stares at your dripping slit that he's imagined for years, your eyes, you are already imagining how good he's going to feel.

You shouldn’t even try to think, his tongue exceeded any expectation or desire you had. Expertly flicking against your throbbing clit as he works two fingers in you. You feel the groan he lets out when he dips his tongue into your hole before you hear it. The vibrations reverberate up your spine and through your body, an all-consuming heat starting in your stomach, threatening to let loose, to run rampant on your body. His fingers, joined by another, return to your clenching hole and search for the spongy spot hidden deep inside. All you can hear is the blood rushing through your head, drowning out every other noise.

“C’mon love, cum on my fingers, on my tongue, I’ve wanted, dreamed about this for years, give it to me.” His slow words juxtaposed the fervent pace of his fingers and it was enough to send you over the edge.

You feel so hot you fear you might pass out, the groan Makki lets out beneath you is the only thing keeping you grounded. You were first concerned that you had hurt him in someway, but when you see his eyes roll back into his head and his tongue trying to lap up every single bit of cum you squirted on his face and thighs, you know it wasn’t due to excruciating pain, rather it's just an obscene reaction to you.

When you push him back, squirming with overstimulation, you hear him scramble and “Shit! Fuck! Fire extinguisher?? WHERE IS YOUR FIRE EXTINGUISHER???” You are still out of it until he starts actually screaming, words still evade you but he follows your line of sight to the red tube hiding in the corner next to the fridge. The smell of smoke is overwhelming all of a sudden. You were in a dreamlike post orgasmic state and suddenly your coughing, eyes hazy.

the cookies, SHIT THE COOKIES!! Smoke is billowing out of the oven and your fire alarm is blaring, but soon the room is filled with a white foam originating from Makki. You never realized that the foam would continue to expand until half of your kitchen was covered in it and you saw a sheepish looking Makki on the other side.

“Fires out”. Again, he starts to laugh at you, and this time you join him. Today has turned out entirely different than you expected. It wasn’t a sad day, it was filled with laughter, romance, an ill timed fire and Makki. All in all, a successful holiday, despite the fact everything you cooked was coated in foam. He’d seen you staring at the food and already took his phone out to order food, “Indian or ramen?”

Yeah, you think you’re grandma would be happy seeing you like this. Happy Holidays.

a/n: i don’t really know what this is but the image of makki being a disaster in the kitchen came to me one day and here we are. make sure you read the other fics in the collab

matsukawa’s funeral home winter collab

a/n 2.0: also a/o to @iwaasfairy for making that makki image that i used in my header. i love her more than i love him which say a lot

#hanamaki takahiro #hanamaki drabble #hanamaki x y/n #hanamaki smut #haikyuu smut #makki smut #makki x reader #makki x you #hanamaki x reader #hanamaki.coffee #kristen.writes #oral.espresso

217 notes · View notes

utterlyinevitable · 4 years

Note

if you're doing the Way to Say I Love You prompts...39 ethanxmc?? Thanks!!! ❤❤❤

50 Ways to Say “I Love You” Prompt List: 39. “I knew you weren’t dead. I refused to believe it- I knew it couldn’t be true”

Concussed

Word Count: 1.3k Warning: nothing. Summary: Ethan ends up in the hospital and Becca’s there to help.

A/N: This seems pretty pointless but Bryce is a catalyst lolz why am i really into breaking bby boy’s heart this week ?

________________________________________

Ethan Ramsey laid in agonizing silence on a hospital bed. His head was killing him and the harsh fluorescent lighting flooding from the hallway wasn’t helping. He had a few cuts on his chest and a split lip, other than that he came out pretty unscathed physically. Though his ego was sure to take a hit.

“Ugh,” Ethan groaned audibly as he thought about the smug smile that was sure to grace Bryce Lahela’s young and handsome features the next time he saw him.

Staring blankly at the industrial ceiling Ethan recalls the last few moments before everything went black.

Both him and Bryce were in the hospital’s gym for their weekly workout together. Ethan wouldn’t admit it but he appreciated the company and sorely missed the buffer Rafael gave between them before he was suspended. Bryce couldn’t stop talking about the friendly adventure him and Rebecca found themselves in the evening before - the two stumbled upon a gourmet mac and cheese truck driving past them in their drunken stupor and ran after it until they pulled over and agreed to make one last order. With elated fondness Bryce then proceeded to reminisce about the day she joined their group workout weeks before.

“That girl’s wild. How she stays in shape with all the cheese she eats is beyond me,” he shook his head admirably. Playfully nudging the older doctor with his elbow he added, “Girls. Huh, Ramsey?”

Ethan didn’t dignify that with an answer. He never knew how to discuss Rebecca to others aside from her accomplishments.

Bryce let out a chuckle.

Keeping his stoic composure and with a raised eyebrow Ethan asked, “What is it?”

“Nothing.”

From the quick reply, the smirk on his thin lips and blush settling on the apples of Bryce’s cheeks Ethan would assume the notorious flirt was thinking of Becca naked. Thinking of that one time he got to have her first. That one time before Ethan left his marks all over her.

Ethan knew his opponent was thinking of Becca’s fair skin and unholy curves because he was thinking it too.

The twinkle in Bryce’s eye made it all the more clear he knew of Becca’s fondness for the diagnostician as well.

Among the new moderate awkwardness the boys began their warm up on the treadmill.

They kept in time with one another. Right and left feet kept in sync with every slap against the rubber. Coyly, Bryce upped the speed and began sprinting. Ethan squinted his eyes and followed suit, accepting the challenge - 2 minutes on the clock - the need to beat Bryce’s distance and wipe that cocky smirk off his face pulled at Ethan’s strings.

One...

Two...

Three long and exceedingly quick footfalls slamming down painfully on the equipment, projecting the diagnostician further and further ahead of his colleague.

Then everything went black.

Ethan woke up moments later on the padded floor of the hospital gym to Bryce and Dr. Jackie Varma hovering over him, checking vitals and making sure nothing was broken. The two residents carefully cradled the long and muscular attending in their arms safely to an awaiting wheelchair. He put up a fight but Jackie wasn’t swaying easily.

“I knew you weren’t dead,” a sing-song voice brought Ethan out of his reverie with an eclipse of a smile. He cocked his head over to see Dr. Rebecca Lao hovering at the door with arms crossed at her waist and a playful smirk. “I refused to believe it - I knew it couldn’t be true.”

“Heh,” Ethan scoffed. He wasn’t dead but he sure as hell felt like it. His arm and the flesh of his bare chest ached in addition to the pounding in his head. Mortification set in as Ethan realized that a majority of the hospital staff would now know what dream lay beneath all those tailored suits and that lab coat.

Becca crossed the distance, settling on the arm of the chair right next to his bed. “Can’t say the same for the other guy. What’d that treadmill ever do to you?”

Ethan flashed back to the last thing he saw as the residents wheeled him away; it was of the broken black plastic arm hanging from the top of the treadmill. Rationally he figured that must’ve taken all the impact.

Ethan was quiet. His eyes darted to the closed window with blinds drawn, hoping to save himself from any further embarrassment.

“Bryce was afraid you cracked your head open.” She leaned over to caress the side of his face. “Looks fine to me.” Becca gently ran her fingers over the tiny bandage keeping a gash from bleeding open under the dark circles of his sea blue eyes which were completely fixated on her. She let her eyes trail to the split in his kissable lip as her caress ghosted over the defined lines of his jaw. “I thought you were above petty games?”

“All in good fun.”

Her eyes flickered back up to his with definite assertion, “You don’t have fun.”

As always she saw right through him.

She waited twenty seconds for an explanation. “You’re not going to tell me?”

“I wasn’t planning on it.”

Ethan nearly hissed when Becca removed her warm and comforting touch to cross her arms over her chest.

“You’re fine,” she stared him down. “You just have a concussion.”

Ethan couldn’t help but smile at her change in demeanor. She was adorable and, dare he say, sexy when she was annoyed. Her arms folded under her breasts calling them up to attention, her hip jutted out to accentuate her hourglass figure, and her plump lips pursed together.

“I know. I am a doctor.”

Becca rolled her eyes. “We’ll keep you for a few more hours and you’re free to go.” Ethan opened his mouth to protest but she continued without notice. “I’ll drive you home later.”

“I’m perfectly -”

Her stony glare stopped him.

“Fine,” Ethan conceded.

Three hours and one successful nap later Ethan was discharged with special instructions to take it easy and not come into work for two days. He rolled his eyes at Dr. Varma’s firm mandate, silently thankful he kept a spare copy of all his files at home.

“Ready to go?” Becca asked as she threw his shirt at him.

Becca stood in the small entrance way with his gym bag draped over her small shoulder. A concerned eye watched as he groaned at the tingling fire erupting through his torso as he moved his right arm up. That was sure to bruise.

The two walked silently out to Ethan’s luxury sedan in the parking lot, ignoring the hushed muttering of the resident gossips.

Becca stood at the drivers side and pulled his keys out from her coat pocket.

“You don’t have to. I’m perfectly capable -”

“I’m not letting you drive yourself home, Ethan. You literally have a concussion. That’s another recipe for disaster.”

They drove in sufficient silence. The lack of clouds this gorgeous sunny day was rendering Ethan incapacitated as the light hit his eyes. Becca carefully watched as he searched the glove compartment for his spare set of sunglasses. When he couldn’t locate them he slumped back into the passenger seat and threw his arm over his face in defeat. She scoffed internally at his childish outburst.

In no time at all she pulled the car into the designated parking space of his building’s garage. She reached out and lightly tapped Ethan to let him know it was safe to come out of the darkness.

“Hurm,” he grumbled.

“We’re here.”

They exited the car, Becca careful not to slam the door too loud in fear of adding to Ethan’s headache. Ethan and Becca unhurriedly strolled to the elevator together.

“Get some sleep,” she said as she handed him his heavy set of keys.

The elevator dinged and Becca turned on her heels towards the nearest subway station.

“Rebecca…” he called, stopping her in her tracks.

She turned to see the dejected and battered man before her, and her heart tugged just a little bit.

“Thank you,” he finished.

Her eyes visibly softened. “No thanks necessary. Just don’t make a habit of losing to Bryce.”

I’m not planning on it, he thought with determination.

________________________________________

Taglist: @ohchoices @dulceghernandez @aylamreads @binny1985 @ramseysno1rookie @interobanginyourmom @queencarb @perriewinklenerdie @rookiefromedenbrook @eramsey28 @choicesficwriterscreations @heauxplesslydevoted @schnitzelbutterfingers @purpledragonturtles @ramseyandrys @ermidc @mrsdrakewalkerblog @doilooklikeiknow @overwhelminglyaquarius @drethanramslay @edgiestwinter @rookieoh @lucy-268 @mvalentine @lilyvalentine @starrystarrytrouble @angela8756 @pitchblackstars @custaroonie @sanchita012 @thegreentwin

#requests #open heart #open heart fanfic #choices open heart #ethan x mc #ethan ramsey #ethan ramsey x mc #bryce lahela #bryce lahela x mc #bryce x mc #oph #oph ff #choices oph2 #ohsy #ff

83 notes · View notes

screenandcinema · 3 years

Text

Coming Attractions August 2021

As usual, we present monthly previews of new movies being released. These are the movies that will be hitting your local cinemas (and streaming services) this month:

August 6th

The Suicide Squad - While writer/director James Gunn was ultimately rehired by Marvel Studios to make the third installment of his Guardians of the Galaxy series (coming in 2023), in the short time between his firing in 2018 and rehiring in 2019, Gunn signed on to direct a new Suicide Squad film for DC Films. Now the sequel/reboot he made is finally here. Check out the carnage and mayhem of Suicide Squad in theaters and on HBO Max this month.

August 13th

The Kissing Booth 3 (August 11th) - Apparently Netflix made two The Kissing Booth movies, well here comes a third.

Free Guy - Ryan Reynolds is the titular Free Guy in this movie about video games which isn't based on a video game. Jodie Comer, who you will be hearing a lot about this fall when The Last Duel hits theaters in October, also stars in the film alongside Lil Rel Howrey and Taika Waititi. Early reviews of Free Guy have been surprisingly positive.

Respect - Academy Award winner Jennifer Hudson stars as the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, in this upcoming biopic. Forest Whitaker and Marlon Wayans co-star.

Don’t Breathe 2 - What happens when you take the villain of an action horror film and make him the hero in a sequel? Well, you get Don’t Breathe 2.

CODA - After premiering at the Sundance Film Festival in January of this year, CODA, which stands for “children of deaf adults” was met with rave reviews and was purchased by Apple for a festival-record $25 million. Now CODA is coming AppleTV+ for the rest of us non-festivals goers to enjoy.

August 20th

Reminiscence - Westworld co-creator Lisa Joy makes her directorial debut with this science fiction film starring Hugh Jackman, Rebecca Ferguson, and Thandiwe Newton. I am so excited for Reminiscence that if every movie coming in August was released on the same day, The Suicide Squad included, I would go see Reminiscence first. Check it out in theaters and on HBO Max.

PAW Patrol: The Movie - Cool, a Paw Patrol movie. Thankfully for parents everywhere, it will be released on Paramount+ in addition to in theaters. Turn it on and leave the room.

The Protégé - Director Martin Campbell brings us a new action thriller starring Maggie Q, Michael Keaton, Samuel L. Jackson, and Robert Patrick. That pedigree alone is a recipe for success. Will the final product be any good? Who knows.

August 27th

Candyman - Nia DaCosta’s Candyman, a legacy sequel to the 1992 film of the same name, stars Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Teyonah Parris and is all set to scare audiences who say his name this month.

Vacation Friends - Coming to Hulu is a new comedy starring John Cena and Lil Rel Howery. Fun.

He’s All That - Netflix presents a gender-swapped remake of the iconic 1999 teen romantic comedy. This version stars Corba Kai’s Tanner Buchanan and TikTok “star” Addison Rae. No word yet if any Sixpence None the Richer is on the soundtrack.

Now for a quick look ahead to September, my top picks for next month are Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Venom: Let There Be Carnage.

-MB-

1 note · View note

kittymaverick · 4 years

Text

Mystery Case Files 21: The Harbinger commentary and review, part 2.

outSpoiler free review first: Holy SHIT GRANDMA studios, talk about knocking the ball out of the park. Not only was that a solid good MCF game to start off with, you’ve now set up the expectation for the next game so high, I’m honestly a little afraid for you. Like... do you know how high the bar is now that you’ve hinted about the content of the next game? Right, coming back to Harbinger for a second. Barring one tiny little slip up which I think was just something that got lost in translation (English is like that), the lore of MCF managed to stay intact, which needs to be applauded. At one point, I almost questioned if there might be almost too many references, especially with that happens to the references in the game itself. (Yes, I, the MCF nerd and fanatic, actually had that thought). I still flip-flop a bit on whether this was a good execution, or a good but shaky execution. For one thing, the way it’s executed... wow, that’s some heavy stuff emotionally. Which is why I’m questioning if that’s “good”, because I suppose there was a line of emotional heaviness I didn’t expect we’ll cross in MCF, but GRANDMA took it there. And so far... part of me is guiltily okay with it, but wow... The studio’s art style does suggest that a detraction from from MCF’s usual Elizabethan English Horror Story with a side of Soul Steampunk and Celtic Druidism would not necessarily be a bad thing. That GRANDMA chose otherwise though, and stuck with a very, very MCF story (albeit more limited to the Celtic legends part), takes guts. What I do wish we’ll get, after the next game, is a story line that’s a GRANDMA original, sort of like Eipex’s the Black Veil, because I think the studio has potential in creating something that’s more them without pulling away too much from MCF. Anyway, that’s the spoiler free review part. Back to my spoiler filled commentary!

Aisling: I know I act suspicious, but I’m just a psychic! MD: I know I’m just a detective, but people keep dying around me, so hey, we’ve got that in common. Aisling: James gave me this cube by the way-- huh? *Emblem of MD appears* ...I’m sorry, that ancient celtic emblem... has a bloody hat. It has a bloody hat. I’m DYING.

Realized I jumped back too far to do this retroactive commentary. Oops.

MD: Okay, well, maybe he isn’t dead yet. We could probably dig him out-- *Nigel turns to bone* MD: ...Never mind. He’s beyond saving. Someone get the coroner!

Six thousand mirrors in the room, and not one shows your face. MD: A technique I have perfected over the two decades of my career. Didn’t save you from getting married to a homicidal madman though. MD: ...I don’t think he picked me because of my looks to begin with.

...Hey MD, I know paper work wasn’t exactly involved and all, but did you actually divorce Charles, or did you just betray him? MD: *DEATH GLARE* You know what, pretend I never asked. MD: You’d better.

MD: Let’s see what skeletons Nigel has in his closet. You know, the last time you found skeletons in a closet, quite literally... MD: Shut up, I was trying not to think about that! (This happened in Key to Ravenhearst. The Skeleton was Charles and Victor.)

Okay, so James was a MCF fanboy, Marge you met on one of your American trips, Nigel was a Fate Carney, John worked on a restored Ravenhearst. I don’t want to say her Majesty might have under exaggerated the number of keywords there were going on here... MD: Oh no, she definitely made it out to be less important than it seemed. She also definitely sent me in because the report she’s going to get out of this is going to be spectacular. The idea that HRM might be the ultimate MCF fan in-universe tickles me with delight. MD: And fills me with utter dread.

Nigel’s shadow puppet theatre: I got fired from the carnival! Boo! MD: Nigel, getting fired from Fate’s Carnival probably saved your ass. Temporarily, until whatever is going on here got you. MD: .................... What? Oh... MD: Yeah. Oh geez I’m looking forward to the case after this now! 8D MD: Why is it that the more I’m tortured, the more gleeful you are?

*Telephone rings* MD: Hello? Marge: HELP ME SOMETHING IS HERE AAAAHHH Well shit. MD: Yeah, she’s done for. Let’s go see the body.

*Gibs collects collectibles before going to body* *I die laughing because that’s my priority too*

MD: Oh no Marge I’m so sorry I couldn’t save you in time... ...Yeah right, says the person who doesn’t want to get their hand on the black stuff. MD: Look, my sorrow doesn’t in anyway override my desire for hygiene, okay? Reminds me of that one time I called some detectives from the last century dandies for refusing to stick their hand into a barrel of rainwater...

MD can I point out how you’re making detailed sketches of MARGE’S BODY in your journal? MD: Look it’s this or pyromania, okay? Don’t judge me. Also, I’m starting to think people that meet you on your cases shouldn’t bother locking their diaries. You always manage to crack them open.

Marge: Oh James is such a darling, I should get him to marry my daughter, then I’ll be such a happy mother-in-law. .............................. MD: ...................... Well, um, I guess Marge was a cougar on the inside, maybe? MD: Yeah, let’s phrase it like that (Restrain desire to make crude NSFW jokes...)

Marge: DAMN THAT GIRL FOR STEALING MY BOY. Marge, seriously, there’s officer Davis. I’m sure he’s just as nice! MD: And not on anyone’s death list. For now. MD: Don’t say that...

Davis: Well, I guess that’s one more evidence against Aisling. HOLD IT! MD: This note here shows clearly that Marge intended to frame Aisling for an attack on her! And the diary entries clearly document how much she hates the suspect. Therefore, the evidence shouldn’t be permissible-- Davis: Yeah, but Marge is dead, and there really isn’t anyone else in town left. *Record scratch* MD: ....It could be... you? Davis: Harhar, look here’s the evidence, go talk to Aisling. MD: Urgh, fine. It’s okay, MD, I was rooting for you there at least!

Aisling: Death, death is all around us! *Flees* MD: Okay, Aisling, that’s really not helping and only making you more suspicious! But since you’re away, I’m going to rifle through your trailer. Um, now who’s suspicious???

Hm, you know, this place would have been great for a holiday spot. MD: I don’t know, given my records with holidays... ...True, you’ll probably end up doing exactly what you are doing now. MD: That said, I think I’ll take a slice of apple pie since no one’s looking. Does the agency pay for your food on your cases? MD: They’d better because I’m giving the recipes to Her Majesty if they don’t...

Aisling: I came here to save John but he’s locked upstairs, please help! MD: Um, if you had let me come with you... maybe some time could have been saved? Aisling: But what if I get killed first then? MD:........ She’s got a point. MD: Dammit, fine...

Hm, so John’s ancestor worked on the original Ravenhearst... We’ll probably need to open up the original game to see if that was the guy that fell from the construction site. (My guess is it’s not, because that carpenter was originally meant to be Rose Summerset’s husband, so it should have been Summerset. Plus Rose’s kids were the twins and Victor.)

Oh damn, a model of Ravenhearst-- MD: Hm, it’s missing a weather vane. ........... MD: Look, just because I burn the place down several times, doesn’t mean I don’t care what it looks like, okay? Can you point out the window that you escaped out of by any chance? 8D MD: *sighs* This one...

Aisling: John, NOOOOOO. MD: Right, gotta cut him down quick! He might still be alive. *Proceed to spend over minutes solving puzzles* MD: I swear, this happened very fast in actuality... Never as fast as the plot demanded though...

*Puts weather vane on model* *Model turns into a raven* MD: ???????????????? Okay, I need to take points off for THAT ridiculous transformation and animation. XD

Aisling: I can’t take this anymore! MD: I know this is hard, Aisling-- Aisling: Here’s the next slab, btw. ....This mood whiplash... I’m dying.

Um, so apparently the banshee wasn’t trying to destroy the world, but was trying to restore herself, which... you disrupted. MD: Look, Allison and her friends needed rescuing okay? I couldn’t just sit idling by. ...If that was disrupted, then how DID Aisling turn human then??? MD: .....Let’s save that mystery for another time because I feel a headache incoming... (Fix edit: It seems to imply that the ritual was only disrupted, not failed, so Aisling did get her skin back, though now she doesn’t remember being a banshee...)

Aisling: I’m a banshee? That’s... That’s impossible. MD: Well, I’ve been through a lot to say most impossible things are actually probable in reality, though if you somehow don’t remember me shoving you back into the cave, um, then I’m grateful. Once you do, please don’t kill me. BTW, your turn on the cube of mystery!

Aisling: Well, if I’m a banshee, I guess I should go back to Dire Grove. We can catch the next ferry. MD: You know that’s a really long trip right? It might take us the better half of a day-- Or a single puzzle’s worth of time. MD: ...Where was THAT kind of fast travel all these years??? I do like how it’s implied that you guys had a huge detour with picking people up and dropping them off though.

Ais: Okay, we’re here in Dire Grove-- AH! MD: Wow, even nature is saying NO to you. Ooooooor it could be a certain immortal druid-- MD: Please don’t. It’s fine! We have a banshee. MD: All she does is predict death! Oh yeah, forgot about that...

*Aisling gets “kidnapped” by green energy* Gibs: That can’t be healthy. MD: That’s honestly pretty normal at this point for us. At least she didn’t get dropped down a tube.

Um, what’s with the Chinese incense in a Druid’s domain? X’D (I’m going to pretend they traded that...)

(I honestly don’t have a lot of stuff to comment on in the section in Dire Grove, because there isn’t much to snark about. Which, I guess, comes to show that 99% of silliness comes from MD dealing with PEOPLE, alive, dead, revived, or otherwise not really a human.)

*Aisling goes back to banshee form* MD: First, no hard feelings about last time, right? Aisling: *stares* MD: Please, thank you, and I’m sorry??? Aisling: You did help me out, so I guess it’s fine. MD: *sigh of relief* BTW, four people technically did DIE though in the process. Aisling: Um, that wasn’t me, if you recall your lore correctly. MD: True enough, but STILL. Just pointing it out. You want her to scream in your ear? She’s still got time for that.

HOW AISLING BECAME A BANSHEE, AGAIN. Aisling: To make a long story short, there was a lot of puzzles Puzzles which you had to personally solve, without MD’s help? Aisling: It really makes you appreciate how hard MD has had it for the last 21 years...

Did... did you just KILL four people to restore your spirit? Aisling: I just helped their soul cross over! I swear! Aisling, you’re being really SUS right now and I’ve practice how to spot a liar lately! Aisling: I only predict deaths! And then find the souls and tell them where to go. I swear that’s my task. EVERYONE VOTE AISLING AISLING IS THE IMPOSTER

Is one of your abilities literally “summon joyride”???? Aisling: it’s a carriage A carriage can be an awesome joyride if you use it irresponsibly Aisling: How does MD tolerate you? They don’t, they’ve just had worse company and I’m a lesser evil. 8D

Aisling (actually Gibs): *suffers through the last giant super puzzle* ...Yeah, REALLY makes you appreciate what MD goes through. Aisling: Is it always this bad??? Sometimes. I’ve seen worse.

Gibs: THAT CARRIAGE IS BADASS. See, I told you it was a joyride. Aisling: You know, I think I’ll float back to the MD. No joyrides. Awwwwwwwwwwww... Okay, now let’s rewind back to when MD started their rant. **************************************************

Aisling: BTW, this energy is still floating about. And I think I know why. Will you accept this energy and use it to save the world? MD: Oh hold ON a minute. You want ME to do WHAT? Aisling: Save the world. You heard what I said. MD: Okay, listen. I started this detective job mostly because I thought it was cool, and it was for the first couple of cases where all I had to deal with was bust the criminal organization STAIN and recover the Hope diamond for the Queen. But then that’s where all my trouble started because she sent me to this creepy manor which turned out to be a prison to not one, not two, but FOUR ghosts. What’s even worse is the first time I went, I thought I only had to rescue Emma. I was wrong, and for the longest time, I thought Fate Carnival folks were dying from my mistake. Turns out later it was completely personal. This was everything that happened before I met YOU. (Again, really sorry about kicking you back into the cave and getting you stuck in the situation you were in in the last who knows how many years...) Afterwards, I went to the Louisiana which got me on the bad side of a certain ghost pirate, who turned out to be the grandfather of the guy killing the carney folks from his mother’s side. Which was why he was killing them by the way. She sold him to Fate’s Carnival. Anyway, after figuring out that I’ve dun goofed, I went back to Ravenhearst manor, which turned out there was a WHOLE OTHER SECTION I didn’t discover last time, which was somehow a very personalized and twisted marriage proposal that I didn’t notice until too late. I burned THAT down for good measure before taking a break in some place near a lake. But then that guy’s FATHER took up issue with what I did, which I didn’t even started, to be honest. He tried to kill me for whatever grudge it was that he had. I had to stab his horocrux with my badge to get him to stop that time. But then it turns out that father ALSO has some offspring here in Dire Grove, and I had to come back to prevent THAT from going down in flames as well. Thankfully, I think they remained sane. I can’t say the same for the twins, who turned out to be the evil guy’s kids. They most definitely went insane, and REMADE Ravenhearst, which I had to burn down for THE THIRD TIME. All that plus the jump I took landed me in an asylum, which turned out to be the one where both the evil bald guy and his dad was imprisoned once upon a time. Of course, the guy’s father tried to kill me, AGAIN. Took care of that, and also removed the shard that was driving me bonkers. It only gets worse from here though. I got chased around by an woman with a clock for her heart who I had to defenestrate out a clock tower. She didn’t stab me, but then the guy who probably ENGINEERED MY ENTIRE LIFE did, because apparently he wanted to use my soul’s virtue to anchor death to the mortal world or something. I got an immortality feather out of that, I guess, so it wasn’t too bad, but I basically DIED. And then afterwards there was that undead guy who was really hung up about his biker jacket. Next was the evil guy’s ancient youngest son nearly destroying the world (4th wall break: THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT) trying to revive him which thankfully DIDN’T HAPPEN BECAUSE OH GODS I WOULD HAVE DIED FOR REAL ON THE SPOT IF IT DID, FEATHER OR NOT. Then a creepy woman in a mirror had to be locked back into the mirror dimension. And that’s when my agency had a fucking SECURITY BREACH which turned out to have been in the making for YEARS. And then the pirate guy came back and nearly enslaved me. I had to blow up his ship and exorcise him from this world. And AFTER all of that, I was finally sent to Blackmoor, where I met YOU, and also saw a bunch of people marginally related to me die from a cause we still don’t have any answers for. *DEEP INHALE*

Aisling: Okay, so your point is.... MD: My POINT is.... out of ALL the sane and wholesome people in the world who don’t have ANY BAGGAGE whatsoever, why do I, the Master Detective, have to be the one to save the world here-- Charles: Hello. MD: *SCREEEEEEECH*

CHARLES IT’S BEEN FOREVER-- wait, you’re not here to serve the divorce papers are you? Charles: Of course not. I’m asking MD to come back home with me. MD: WHAT?! Charles: Where else would I welcome you back to? *Evil cackle* ......... 8D8D8D8D8D8D8D8D Aisling: ........... :| :| :| :| :| :| :| :| :| MD: .................D:< D:< D:< D:< D:< D:< D:< MD: Aisling, hand that energy over, I’ve a WORLD TO BURN.

I have to point this out... the last time we saw Charles IN THE FLESH in game, was Escape from Ravenhearst, which was NINE YEARS AGO, likely TEN by the time Crossfade comes out. Happy Tenth Anniversary of your wedding, Master Detective? 8D

MD: AS IF.

#Mystery Case files #The Harbinger #MCF

12 notes · View notes

everlarkholidaystyle · 4 years

Text

Thank you to @567inpanem for coming up with the prompts…so excited.

The rules are simple chose a prompt write a story, draw a picture, make a meme, make a collage, or a music video, or even a soundtrack to the holidays. And submit it here starting on the Winter Solstice Saturday December 21, 2019 and extending to January 6, 2020 the End of the Holiday season…

Bake Off

*Peeta easily wins best baker title in his district with his special ginger bread recipe. But now he’s baking against the best of the districts! Will he be the Mellark that finally brings the grand title to 12? Intrigue! Deception! Sabotage! Bribery! It’s the grand quarter quell bake off has it all! Who will be crowned top baker and forever enjoy the special 25 yr title, fame glory and fortune! Your host Caesar Flickerman, with guest star taste testers including…Katniss desperate, agrees to work as secret agent, get close to Peeta, steal recipe and plans for a very special top secret gingerbread house, mess up his ingredients, make him oversleep after wild sex, anything necessary to keep him from beating the career district contestant! Will Peeta take home the big prize?

*Story of 1000 origami cranes in one year for luck or wish. Peeta makes 1000 (mockingjay) cookies?

D12 Fall Harvest

*Harvest Festival in D12 provides opportunity for all to not only celebrate bounty but also to give thanks, exchange gifts, participate in matching ceremony in anticipation of annual day of matrimony held on the winter solstice. Snapshot of Peeta and Katniss through the years?

*Harvest Festival is competition like Olympics or Highland games? Winners awarded cornucopia of food for the coming winter?

D12 Parcel Day

*The way those Parcel Days could have gone to forge relationship between Peeta and Katniss if it was something more, if for example they had to work together on things like what goes in them (maybe start off cold, then argue over differences, then get to know each other, grow together).

Thanks Giving

First Feast in 1621 lasted 3 days, 90 native Americans Wampanoag and 53 Pilgrims, celebrated successful harvest - feast, games, military exercises, diplomacy. Only 4 of 20 Mayflower women survived to the feast! Men helped cook for the party. No oven. 1863 Lincoln declared holiday. Make Katniss either survivor of voyage or Native?

Christmas & Hanukkah

See Prompt Nine.

New Years

Old college friends dispersed after graduation, but the group meets up every New Years for a night of drinking and catching up on the year and reminiscing and resolutions. At least for a while. But then they drift apart, skip years… until one (ok, I just realized this is getting closer to the movie big chill with every tweak). Or st. Elmo’s fire. But I like the concept of Katniss and Peeta having something in college and kept it secret but something happens and there’s secret is exposed….

Peeta and Katniss have crushes on the other one, attend a masquerade and neither one tells the other what there dressed as and they meet at the party and they do not realize they are attracted to their friend; maybe this can be an arranged marriage effort to match people attracted to each other by personality, not appearance, and the positive match confuses them? Or attendance is a psychology course requirement? (My intro psych had 1,000 students.)

Canon Based Non-Holiday Specific

something about coal…legend that La Befana witch flies down chimney, left gifts for good children, coal for naughty…Epiphany January 6 = end of Christmas season, day 3 wise men arrive manger BUT once Katniss is Victor, has $, sneaks buckets of coal for all the seam children to keep warm fire going, Peeta sneaks small raisin nut loaves? Or maybe this is parcel day beginning of legendary Mockingjay flies and delivers coal and sweet music. Maybe we can leave it like an open-ended thing parcel day in the and the districts how do you think each district celebrated partial day

Prompt #1 A Dog’s New Year’s Eve Prompts -

A dog living on a college campus in Columbia observed that paying cashier = get a cookie. So, for the last 5 years, dog picks up large leaf, carries to cashier, gets cookie, too. What if cashier is lonely baker Peeta? Stray dog actually belongs to Katniss. Because dog always snarls at Haymitch, he calls it “Katniss.” Peeta overhears, assumes the dog is “Katniss.” Haymitch doesn’t correct him.

Peeta reads horoscope for 2019 Year of the Dog: “For single people, they have a large possibility to meet some excellent friends of opposite sex and develop a romantic relationship with one of them.”

Peeta needs to find a date for New Years Eve and is running out of time! Hears Katniss over the radio reading the article he wrote “…Dog girls…need to pursue or express affection of boy dogs bravely. In addition, joining in more social activities on weekends is also an effective way to find true love…” Followed by a “BAHUMBUG Love is dead…dogs do not fall in love…hell like people dogs fall in lust’” Peeta wants to find this woman and set her straight…Love is not a Bahumbug.

What if dog getting too heavy like Columbian dog, vet accuses Katniss feeding dog junk, Katniss follows dog, catches baker feeding her now overweight dog, confronts him. But, Year of the Dog! So, HEA magic.

Prompt Idea #2 (Cultural Holiday)

*Pliny the Elder, a Roman who was one of the world’s first known naturalists, thought the Druids’ beliefs about mistletoe (that “mistletoe, taken in drink, will impart fecundity to all animals that are barren.” and hung it over their doors for luck) were silly, but the reputation stuck thanks in part to a Norse myth: definitely something with mistletoe and drinking its properties to become fertile

*Frigga, goddess of love and marriage, loved her son Baldur so much that she and Baldur’s wife teamed up to make all the world’s plants and animals to promise not to hurt him. Well, they got all the plants, except mistletoe. Loki, god of mischief, realized the mistake and made a spear out of mistletoe and killed Baldur. As Frigga cried over the loss of her son, her motherly tears turned into mistletoe berries. Those berries somehow brought Baldur back to life, so Frigga declared mistletoe to be a symbol of love. According to The Smithsonian magazine, “Mistletoe would come to hang over our doors as a reminder to never forget. We kiss beneath it to remember what Baldur’s wife and mother forgot.”

Prompt Idea #3 Candy Land Hunger Games edition

Weird holiday hunger games - Arena is a winter wonderland of marzipan mutts, “Snow” monster, Peeta and Katniss are gingerbread, she reattaches his leg with frosting, in crystal candy cave he can’t stop from taking a nibble she’s so delicious, it rains lemon drops, it snows powdered sugar, watch out for milk lake danger…

Prompt Idea #4 Misfit Toys

*On the Island of Misfit Toys, one new toy (Katniss?) perfect but with broken or lost heart, damaged toy soldier Peeta? determined to help with other toys (victors or tributes?)

Prompt Idea #5 Holiday Dueling Booth

Katniss and Peeta’s relationship has gone sour. For extra cash, Katniss opens a seasonal booth at the farmer’s market selling simple homemade baked goods, like apple cake, acorn flour scones. Peeta tries to get her attention by pushing her buttons, opens an upscale baked goods booth next to hers.

Prompt Idea #6 Tim Burton Holiday

Too much eggnog, Katniss nightmare: Mad Capital scientist builds a “Edward scissorhands” boy mutt but with kitchen gadget appendages. D12 turns on him. Katniss goes on daring journey to find only person who can help. Dr Wires lives underground with oompaloompa-like helpers (former victor mutts).

Prompt Idea #7 - Story Book Hero

Katniss is a working mom who doesn’t have time for all the school volunteer opportunities, but finds herself signed up for weekly storytime for December - The Story Book hero comes to life

Prompt Idea #8 Holiday Shopper

Wealthy Peeta and Finnick like betting on the stupidest things, each hires a professional personal shopper, tries to come up with Christmas shopping list item that will be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. But Katniss desperately needs the money, resolved not to quit.

Prompt Idea #9 - Open Ended Holiday Prompt -be creative any HG Parring any and all works

Looking for perfect gift Hanukah / Christmas

Eight Days of Hanukah

Office parties

School art projects

Deadlines

Should old acquaintance be forgot

Singer / Caroling / Rock Band / TV Show

Resolutions -

Snowstorms -

Holiday show

Gift of the Magi

Let’s find your smile (like a treasure hunt, by end found happiness)

Secret Santa party games

Gift Exchange

Twelve days of Christmas

New Years masquerade ball

Oh and one more thing don’t forget to #Everlarkholidaystyle2019

#everlarkholidaystyle2019

80 notes · View notes

peculiar-monstar · 5 years

Text

Not your last sunrise. Arthur Morgan x witch! reader

*SPOILERS***

So I’m into chapter 5 and i know how this story ends, but i can’t imagine my poor man like that, so here is my attempt to fix it.

this is a long one, SORRY-- I based his looks off the pic above (found on google i think) and on the Easter egg in the game where there is a shack with a crow and cauldron you can drink form that makes you pass out.**

SUMMARY: (fluffy happy ending) Reader finds Arthur passed out in her shack, she has a feeling something bad may happen to him and keeps an eye on him. Arthur starts having dreams of reader, and eventually they meet and she helps him and they sorta fall for each other. This starts at the end where he is on the mountain and has a flash back to how they met and how he got to that point. i tried to remember as much as i could from the game but it is not exact and there will be some grammar errors. hope ya’ll enjoy. (i had to give this precious man a happy ending)

He was exhausted, all his adventures and fights had finally caught up to him he realized as he laid there on that cold mountain top drawing in one ragged breath at a time. Slowly pulling his aching body over to a curve in the rock, he managed to prop himself against it enough to face towards the East. The tiny first morning rays were just starting to break the horizon, he could feel the chilled air all around him as he coughed and fought to keep his eyes open to see the sun rise one last time. Just as his eyes began closing, a rustling to his right made him shift. Expecting some animal to be there to collect its next meal, he instead took comfort in the large black crow he'd become accustom to seeing nearly on a daily basis in the last couple months or so. “ I'm afraid this is goodbye friend.” he whispered to the bird. Arthur then closed his eyes, giving into the darkness he felt, but as he started to slip he heard that voice, the one that filled his dreams and his thoughts, followed by a bitter taste on his tongue. “Hold on just a little longer Arthur, please.” Those words echoed in his mind with an angelic tone as he took in a long deep breath.

__________________two months prior_________________________

Arthur had been making his way around either collecting debts, hunting, or helping the occasional person. Today he found himself in the Grizzlies, where he stumbled on the sight in front of him. Dismounting from his horse he made his way to the run down looking shack, stopping to make a quick sketch in his journal. Entering the small area he first noticed the large crow calmly perched watching his every move. His attention turned to the large black steaming cauldron, he shrugged before taking a cup full of the black contents and tilted his head back consuming the liquid. He dropped the cup as he started feeling dizzy and stumbled to the door before he passed out in the doorway.

You had just taken a quick ride to gather a few more herbs needed for the recipe you'd been preparing all morning. When you had returned, a chestnut horse was standing where you normally tied your horse Harvey. Jumping down from the large Clydesdale you grabbed the herbs and cautiously made your way to the door where you saw a man face down on the ground. “Sir?” you called out but got no response. Dropping next to him you saw the cup laying on the ground by his hand. Turning the man over to get a better look at who had decided to drink a cup of some odd liquid, you took in his features. His dirty blonde hair, the slight stubble on his face forming a beard that was a little darker shade of brown, and the scar on his chin. Based on his attire that consisted of a light blue shirt, black and white suspenders, warn jeans, black boots and obviously his favorite hat or the only hat he wore that was on the ground, you knew he was a man who meant business. The guns stored on his horse told you too, and that he had been living a certain way for a while. “Well time to pack it up before he wakes up, would ya keep an eye on him Valor while I get some of this bottled to finish at home?” you asked the ebony bird still perched by the small table.

With in a few minutes you had Harvey packed and ready to leave, but the man still hadn't woke up. Walking back over to him you took his hands and pulled him a few feet away from the shack against a large tree stump, then reaching into your pocket you placed an apple next to him and set his hat back on his head before heading to his horse and offering the curious animal a peppermint. Jumping on Harvey, you looked at the man on last time as he started to stir, he looked up, and blinked a few times attempting to focus his vision on you before you nudged your horse on and galloped down the trail and disappearing into the trees. Valor watched as the man began to stir. “What the hell happened?” Arthur groan rubbing his face while looking in the direction you had vanished in. He made it to his horse, apple in hand mumbling something before looking back at the crow just as it took flight in the same direction you had left in. “Damn bird, I must be crazy, well lets go boy.” he said while mounting his horse and shaking his head.

_____________________4 days later________________________________

Arthur awoke with a jump, he wasn't sure if it was from the loud crash of thunder with the storm that was going on or his dream. Lighting the small lantern in his he'd set up, he reached for his journal and flipped through to an empty page. He quietly sketched in the dim light the same features he had seen the previous nights and the day he passed out at the shack. Finishing the final details he looked at the woman, her features he drew soft and her lips were in a slight smile. He flipped through his drawing passing the shack and other things he'd come across, but lately it seems this woman was in his dreams every night. Sounds from the storm had stopped and the sun would be making its way through the clouds so he decided to get up and make some coffee before being on his way. As the fire heated the water he broke down the camp and had almost finished when a loud caw made him whip around. Sure enough sitting on the ground was the large black crow. “Go on now, ain't got nothin' for ya.” Arthur waved his hands at the animal, who in return just hopped a few feet over, seeming unfazed by his attempts to scare him. “fine, ya pesky thing, still following me? Waiting on me to pass out again or somethin'?” He said as he took the coffee to his lips sipping it between eating some meat he had stored in his bag.

You had found yourself thinking about the man from the second you left and saw his eyes, something about them told you there was something about him, you felt worry and dread like something was going to happen but you couldn't place what, just that gut feeling. Once you had arrived back at your home, Valor made himself known as he landed on the porch. “Would ya mind keeping an eye on him for a bit? I have a feeling we'll be crossing paths again and it might not be on such nice circumstances.” The large bird tilted its head at you then took off fluttering through the trees and out of sight. “I'll pack up a few things and what we'll need for a camp just in case, hope you're feeling up to a few days travel Harv.” you tell the dapple gray horse as you started gathering supplies.

It had now been a full week since Arthur had seen the woman at the shack, he'd had dreams of her every night and multiple sketches of her in his journal. He swears he saw her in town, but by the time he made it across the saloon she was gone, and he'd blame it on the drink. “Arthur you ready?” Dutch called back to him from the road they'd been ridding on to meet with Colm o'Driscoll. “Sure.” He replied nudging his horse past them and up the hill to have the better view while Dutch and Hosea headed down to meet up. He stayed watching with his gun ready, but as he turned he saw the other men approaching and before he could move he took a hard hit to the head from a rifle.

He woke up with a groan, he had pains but managed to slip away from the camp, until he heard the men yelling then he felt the searing pain as a shot hit him in the left shoulder sending him to the ground. “Did I kill ya yet?” one of the men asked as they retied his arms and started dragging him back. He saw the dark shape of the familiar bird fly off silently in the darkness before he passed out. “Oh I missed you Arthur, and now I'll have an angry Dutch coming to get you with the rest and i will turn you all in at once.” He heard Colm speaking as he tried to move but found it impossible as he hung upside down. “So it was all a set up?” Arthur growled out and tried to take a swing at Colm. “Ah you're not doing so good, that wounds septic.” Colm snickered out before landing a few blows to Arthur's ribs then leaving. Arthur woke up again and managed to free himself and break his restraints, taking out one of the o'Driscolls before he tended to his wound as best he could, then slipped out of their camp unseen.

He was in bad shape and he knew it, he hurt all over, his shoulder was the worse of all. He knew if he passed out anywhere close they'd find him, he had to find a horse and make it back to the others. He stumbled a few more feet before he fell completely to the ground. Something soft and warm nibbled at his hand and he opened his eyes to see his horse standing in front of him. Another pair of hands wrapped themselves around him and helped him stand. His first response was to fight them off thinking it was another one of the captors, but as they helped him get on his horse he heard a voice that was from a woman. “Come on cowboy, you gotta help me a little, just get on the horse and we'll get you safe.” He strained in the darkness to see you and with even the minimal moon light he knew it was her. “I-- Yyou?” he grunted out as he fully settled on his horse as you climbed up behind him taking the reins. “Shh, just hold on, we have to get you outta here.” You whispered to him as you kicked his horse into a full speed gallop with Harvey running after. “Horseshoe Overlook” was all he managed to huff out as you continued pushing his horse on.

You had made it just outside of his camp, he had passed out again along the way. Jumping from his horse you grabbed a tiny bottle from Harvey's saddle bag and went back to Arthur. “Hey, I just need you to wake up for a second please.” you said while shaking his leg. He opened his eyes just enough to see you standing holding a bottle up to him. “Just drink it, your camp is right there.” you say and point to the clearing. He takes the bottle and downs it instantly then lets the bottle hit the ground as he slumps over his horse and you watch as the animal takes him into the camp, and you hear the many voices calling to get him help, and that's when you learn what his name is, Arthur. “Keep an eye on Arthur please, get me if he gets worse.” you say in a quiet whisper as Valor lands on your arm then takes off over the camp.

Nearly a week and a half it has taken Arthur to get better, the pain is still in his arm and even more he's still confused who and why this woman helped him and fills his dreams. The damn bird was back and everyone at camp still seems confused why it wouldn't stray far from his tent while he recovered and joked about it being his friend. “Seein' as you're not gonna leave me anytime soon, guess I'll add ya to this book too.” He commented as he sketched the crow before him. “Hey Arthur, mind going hunting for something for this stew?” Pearson called from the other side of camp. “Sure.” he replied as he made his way to his horse and rode out with the crow taking off ahead of him. “Damn bird.”

Arthur had made a pretty good kill with a large buck and two turkeys stowed away on his horse as he took his time making it back to camp. His eyes caught on the sight next the the river that ran down the fields. It was the large horse that he saw first then he saw you. Spurring his horse he headed straight for you. “Hey! Ma'am!” he called out as he stopped his horse just a few feet away. “Oh, I see you're doing better, it is Arthur isn't it?” you asked shyly as the man looked you over. “Yes ma'am, Arthur Morgan, but I didn't get your name miss.” he gave you a little smile. “It's (y/n) (y/l/n).” you say and flash a smile. “Well nice to finally meet ya miss (y/n), and thanks for savin' my life.” he told you as he watched you putting away a few bottles in your horses bag. “This is Harvey, and you've already met Valor.” you tell him while motioning to your horse then the crow sat atop a rock. “That birds with you? And here I thought he just liked me.” Arthur chucked. “We'll I'm sure I'll be seeing you around Mr. Morgan.” you add with another smile as you mount up and turn to leave. “Just Arthur miss, and I sure hope so.” he smiles and watches you leave before getting on his way back to camp.

The next few of weeks are like a blur to him, from all the jobs gone wrong, and so many of his close friends killed or injured, that damn island he was on, the pinkertons finding them and all this time when he did get sleep he'd see (y/n). Since they had made it back from Guarma he hadn't seen even so much as a feather from that bird. He had enough to worry about on his own but he couldn't help but wonder about her. He noticed he'd been coughing a lot more and finding it hard to catch his breath as well, but he put it as just not getting enough sleep after all that has happened. He sat staring at the water as he waited for a bite on his fishing pole, mind wondering back to his dreams.

He must have dozed off for a bit, because he found himself looking at a familiar pair of beady eyes watching him. Jumping up he spun around “Y/n?” he spotted you instantly. “Hey cowboy, good to see you're alive after all” you half joke. He goes to speak but gets cut off with a coughing fit followed by him trying to catch his breath. “God I missed ya, these last few weeks have been hell, then I ain't seen ya bird in a while didn't know if ya up and left or somethin' happened.” he noticed your frown. “Arthur are you okay? You don't look so good, and you sound worse.” the concern etched in your face and in every word. “Darlin' I never been nothin' to look at but, sure I'm okay, just a bit under the weather.” he offered a small smile, but something in his eyes said other wise. “Mind if I stayed here with ya? It's getting dark and you don't seem to have had much luck fishing.” you say already unpacking your camp from Harvey. “Well I've always been a poor fisherman, and sure darlin' if ya don't mind listening to me snore.” he told you as he started a fire.

You had both eaten your fill and gone to bed in your tents, but you couldn't sleep, something wasn't sitting well with you. He was coughing off and on and you could tell it was hard for him to breathe. Quietly you made your way to his tent and slipped inside. Arthur was asleep and you knelt beside him and placed a hand to his head feeling the heat. He moved and opened his eyes when you withdrew your hand, coughing a little before he spoke. “Everythin' okay?” his voice gruff from sleep. “Just checking on you, I heard you coughing a lot.” you said looking at him with worry. “'s Nothin' to worry 'bout, just a cough.” he said with a sleepy yawn. “If it'll make ya feel better you can stay in here and if I get too bad just wake me up.” You nodded and laid down next to him, with in a few minutes his breathing had fallen into a slow rhythm and you found yourself being lulled to sleep.

The weight across your side was the first thing you noticed when you woke up. Looking down you found it to be Arthur's arm draped over you and you felt his breath against the back of your neck. Not wanting to wake him yet you tried going back to sleep but found it impossible, luckily your eyes landed on a brown journal just in arms reach to you. Carefully you pulled it to you and opened it, making sure not to wake the now snoring man behind you. Turning each page you saw his sketches he'd done of everything he'd seen. Some words written next to the pictures, and you found one of the shack in the woods. Turning a few more pages you saw different ones of you, and you couldn't help the smile that spread on your face. He was quite talented with drawing, and the last page you saw a sketch of you siting at a fire, no doubt the one from last night. Feeling him move and take his arm off you, you closed the book and slid it away, turning over to face him. “Morning cowboy.” you smile at him. “See ya found my sketches.” he answers sleepily. “They're really good, I can tell I'm clearly a favorite.” you smirk. He couldn't hide the smile that he had as he gets up.

The two of you spend a little more time at the camp, he tells you about Dutch and the gang and everything that's happened to him the last few weeks. He doesn't want sympathy saying he did this and all this bad stuff that he's not a good man, and though you disagree he refuses to believe it. He sounds like he's tired and done with all the robbing and running and everything but says he's got people in the camp he cares about and wants to make sure they are okay. His coughing comes and goes and it pains you, this man thinks he's so terrible and he's already suffered so much and lost so much that it hurts you. You don't want to tell him what you assume he may have, but that gut feeling has a hold of you and you've seen the symptoms before. “Arthur, when you've done what you need to, what would you say to coming and finding me? I have a nice home far away from this bullshit, it would help with your coughing and there's no one there who'd know or bother you. The closest town is full of nice welcoming people, and I wouldn't mind having some company, since its just me, Harvey, and Valor there.”

He stayed silent while still looking at you, taking in what you had said. “Darlin' are you sayin' you want me to come stay with you?” he seemed confused by your offer. “I'm not quite sure what a woman like you sees in me, I ain't nothin' but some outlaw, and yet you've saved my life, worried over me, and offered for me to stay with you, I ain't a good man.” he rubbed the back of his neck as he kept his serious expression. “Well Arthur, I worry about you, and say it all you want, but I see a good man. What kinda man goes through all you have for people he cares about? Certainly not a bad man..” you comment returning his expression with one of equal seriousness. “And here I thought ya were offerin' cause ya liked me.” he chuckled. “There's that too... I mean I couldn't hate you and still want to keep an eye on you. Clearly you've taking a liking to me too, or do you always just draw women and let them in your tent at night?” you ask raising a brow. “Maybe..” he smirked. “Tell ya what y/n, let me take care of some things at camp and whats left of me will take you up on that offer, I just can't risk bringing you into all this now, this needs to be done before I can move on.” he stands and finishes breaking down the camp before walking over to you. “I'll keep an eye on you cowboy, but stay safe and do what you need to.” you tell him before pulling him into a tight hug. He brings his arms around you and returning the hug. “I'll see ya soon darlin'” he says before letting you go and getting on his horse, something in the way he said it sounded like it was a last goodbye. Standing there you watch him ride off, you turn to your horse and mount up. “Valor don't lose him, Harvey we've gotta get some things and quick.”

_____________________________________present_____________________

He felt warm, relaxed, and it didn't hurt to breathe for once. He slowly opened his eyes taking in his surrounding, he was in a home, there was a fire going and various herbs hung from the ceiling, the smell of lavender and cinnamon filled the room. Sitting up he realized he was in a large bed, the blankets the softest he'd felt and the curtains were slightly open to allow enough light but not to hurt his eyes. A noise drew him to the foot of the bed, where perched on the wood post sat that bird he'd come to know. “Arthur? How do you feel?” your voice was sweet as honey to him and he looked at you like you were an angel and he was in heaven. Your (y/h/c) hair was down and had a glow to it, your face showing every beautiful feature he'd become so used to seeing in his dreams and drawing. Your shirt was loosely unbuttoned and a little wrinkled around the sleeves, and your pants had a little dirt on the knees. He saw you look at him with concern, then he remembered he hadn't spoke a word yet. “Hey darlin', I – I feel better then I have in a long time, for a second I thought I'd died and gone to heaven.” he said with is blue green eyes still on you. “If I hadn't got to you in time you would have died.” he had tried to joke about it, but he saw you were serious. “What happened, I mean after, I remember the sun rise then your bird.” he asked sitting up completely.

“Taking a seat next to him on the bed, you handed him a cup of liquid that looked similar to what he had found in the shack that day. “Gonna knock me out again?” he asked taking the cup. “No, that's why your alive now and not dead from TB.” you watched as he finished the cup in a few gulps. “I could tell ya had it that night, you knew and were gonna just accept death on that mountain.” the sadness in your eyes tore his heart. “I'm sorry, I had found out before ya ran into me and I didn't need anyone else getting hurt or what not from me and my choices, I told ya I'm not a good man.” he stayed silent as you placed a hand on his forehead again, checking for a fever. “Well Mr. Arthur Morgan guess your luck has turned around. Seems as though you've fully recovered and no longer have it.” you say getting up from the bed and walking out of the room. You heard footsteps following behind you. “What? How? Ain't no cure for that.” he said as he rounded the corner behind you. “Come on now cowboy, you can't be that thick in the head, large black pot in the woods, weird animals that follow, and a magic cure for a disease that is a death sentence. People 'round here talk so I know you know.” you comment while washing out the cup then taking a seat at the table. “They say that's witch craft, but you don't seem like what they describe a witch as.” he adds while standing across from you. “What ever they call it, I tend to keep it a secret for my safety, but is this gonna be a problem for you? ” you ask, hoping he says no but afraid he will just leave now that he knows. “darlin', I only see one problem here.” he calmly said as he walked over to where your sitting. Kneeling down to be face level with you before bringing his hands up to cup your face. “That being why it's taken me this long to kiss ya.” and with that he brought his lips to yours in a passionate hungry kiss. You instantly threw your arms around his neck and pulled him closer kissing him back with as much love.

#arthur morgan x reader #Arthur Morgan #witch reader #red dead redemption 2 #fan fix it #i love him #he deserves all the love #he is a good man #fluffy #cuddling

171 notes · View notes

amayapowell · 5 years

Text

Powell Family Camping Trip

Chris drives down a dark narrow dirt road with the thick canopy of the forest surrounding either side of you and the full moon illuminating the lake in the distance as night starts to settle in around you.

“I’m so excited. I’ve never been camping.”

Chris laughs at her giddiness and takes her hand.

“I don’t think a cabin technically counts as camping.”

“Hey, there’re trees, a lake, marshmallows, a fire…This counts!”

He smiles, giving the back of her hand a kiss as he continues down the dark, gravely road.

“Well, I plan on giving you the most semi-authentic camping experience I can. I just hope we can sneak in a little Powell time.” He gives her a suggestive look while wagging his eyebrows.

“Love…this entire weekend is going to be full of Powell time”. She says with air quotes.

“Yes, but I mean these Powells.” He motions between them. “Not those Powells.”

She smiles back at him, a playful glint in her eyes. “I love when you call me a Powell.”

“And just think…in six months it’ll be official.” She leans over to the driver side to plant a kiss on his lips, temporarily blocking his view from the road as it opens up to a sleepy little cabin.

“Oh my gosh. An actual log cabin. I love it! How did your mom find this place?”

“Well don’t stop the kisses.” He says with a smile. “I don’t know. It belongs to someone she knows.” He gives her one last kiss on the nose before coming to stop on the gravel road. “You go on inside, I’ll get the bags.”

The cabin was nestled in lush verdant, surrounded by the smell of fresh pine. The front porch illuminates the old-timey rocking chairs and checkers table, setting the scene of a simpler time. She opens the front door and her senses are overwhelmed with cinnamon and Sinatra when she hears a familiar voice echoing from the kitchen.

“You guys made it! Amaya, you look so beautiful. Is that a pregnant glow I see?” Barb gives her a hopeful grin from the kitchen; wiping her floured hands down the front of her ‘Is that a tent, or are you just happy to see me’ apron.

Amaya laughs pulling her into a tight hug. “Thank you, Barb, you look beautiful too. And no, not the last time I checked.”

“Well, it’s a long weekend.”

Amaya’s eyes widen and her jaw drops at the inappropriate insinuation coming from her future mother in law.

“What’s this glow I’m seeing on you though?”

Just then a tall, distinguished, handsome grey-haired man comes out from a back room behind them, holding a bottle of rum.

“Well, now I get it.” She gives her side a nudge, noticing that there’s now a clear blush to her face.

“Amaya this is-“

“Mom why is there only one car outside? Where’s AJ and Kyle?” Chris interrupts their conversation, pushing the large wooden door open with his shoulder; freeing his hands to carry in their bags.

“Too cool to go camping with their mom. Kyle and his friends went skiing in Aspen.”

“That’s right and AJ’s with her boyfriend’s family in-…” Amaya tries to finish her thought.

“Boyfriend? Why am I always the last to know everything in this fam-…Who’s this?”

“Chris, Amaya, this is Rhett Adler.” Chris hugs his mom, skeptically eyeing the stranger being introduced to him.

“Addy, this is my first born and his wife Amaya.”

“Wow. It’s so nice to finally meet you both. Barbs told me so much about you.”

“Can’t say I can say the same.”

Amaya sharply elbows his side before reaching out to the handsome stranger. “Soon to be wife. It’s very nice to meet you, Mr. Adler.”

“Please, call me Rhett. He bends down to kiss the back of her hand.

“Rhett…as in Butler?”

“My parents have a flair for the dramatic. And the pleasure is all mine. You are just as beautiful as Barb has described.”

“And just as charming as the original it seems…thank you, Rhett.”

Rhett turns his attention towards Chris and extends his hand enthusiastically.

“Chris man, I’m a huge fan! That was a hell of a game against The Astros at the end of the season. I’m originally from Texas so your mom and I were butting heads a little during that game.”

“Hum.” Chris sharply huffs, folding his arms; leaning up against the kitchen island, giving a backward nod in response.

Rhett lowers his extended hand when he realizes that it wasn’t going to be reciprocated and instead claps him on the back before walking back to Barb, resting his arm around her shoulder and kissing her temple.

“So! Dinner should be done in about 30. In the meantime, can I get you guys a drink? Or maybe you’d like to freshen up a bit? Your rooms just at the top of the stairs to the right, all ready for you.”

Amaya tries to ease the tension since Chris’ ridged expression didn’t look like it was going to ease up anytime soon.

“That sounds perfect! I think we’ll unpack and then I will absolutely take that drink.”

Chris grabs their bags and trudges up the old creaking staircase, looking back in their direction as Amaya follows; nudging him in the back to keep his forward motion. Meanwhile, Rhett turns his attention back to his leading lady.

“Well, that went well.”

She laughs into his hug.

“He’ll be fine. We all knew he’d be the stubborn one. Give him a little time. If not, he won’t get any cobbler.”

“Wow, you are one tough cookie, Barbra Powell. Remind me never to get on your bad side.”

“And don’t you forget it. Now hand me the rum for the apples.” She says while playfully smacking his rear.

“Yes, ma’am.”

Amaya putts their things away, eyeing Chris over her shoulder; while he silently stares out the window.

“What’s the matter with you? You’re acting like a baby.”

“I don’t like this guy.”

She laughs at how cute and protective he is. “You just met him. And you barely did that.”

“I can tell. And what the hell kind of name is Rhett anyway?”

“Christopher Powell...you’re jealous.”

“Jealous?!”

“100 percent. You’ve been the man of the house for all these years and now you’re worried someone’s coming in and taking your place.”

He turns angerly back at her; resting his hands on his hips.

“That is not it at all. And you know it. But my mom is way too vulnerable. Especially after all my dad’s shenanigans. She’s not ready for a relationship or what the hell ever this is.”

She walks over to him, slipping her arms around his waist through his arms, leaning her body back slightly to look up at him. “Your moms a grown woman. She can take care of herself. She knows when and what she’s ready for. Besides, she deserves a little a lovin’ after all these years.”

“Ugh…please don’t.”

“You’re such a mama’s boy.” She says through her laughter, while he looks down at her, not at all amused by her ribs. “And I love it.” She raises to her toes to place a little peck on his lips.

“Your mom doesn’t love you any less, even though there’s a new man in her life. Besides. You’re the man of a new house, where no one will ever take your place.”

His arms are now around her, as he sighs resting his forehead against hers, groaning through his pouted pressed lips.

“Come on. You need to go back out there and be nice.” He lets his heads fall backward, whining at the mere thought.

After dinner, the four of them bundle up, gather their s'more fixin’s and sit around the fire pit, listening to Rhett strum lazily on his acoustic guitar.

“Rhett, Barb thank you so much for dinner and dessert. It was perfect. Barb I finally understand what Chris’ been raving about with that cobbler all these years. As your soon to be daughter, I hope I can get the recipe.”

“You don’t have to hope dear.” She looks down into her red wine glass, swirling it around as if she was carefully considering her next words. “You know what you have to to give me for it.”

“That’s extortion.”

“Such is life.” Bard shrugs carelessly.

“Wow. Well, now we know that I won't’ be the only one sass will be inherited from if we ever have a daughter.” Amaya laughs and shakes her head, turning her attention to their host. “Rhett, I am absolutely in love with your cabin.”

“Thank you. My grandfather built it as a wedding present for my grandmother and our family’s been vacationing here ever since.”

“That is the cutest, most romantic thing I have ever heard.”

“Oh, he’s pretty sugary.”

Amaya notices Rhett wink in Barbs direction and smiles at their cute exchange.

“I hope you’re mentally taking down some of these romantic notes over there Mr. Powell.”

“Speaking of romance. How’s the wedding planning coming you two?”

Amaya looks over at Chris reaching for his hand, the thought at least breaks through his rigid expression, allowing him to crack a smile as he leans down kissing her hand in his.

“It’s going great. I think we’re pretty much done. Food and decorations are all chosen. We’ll be in New York next week; before we head home to meet with a local bakery to try some cakes. Aaannd I will have my final fitting in the next few months.”

Still absorbed in his own thoughts of the situation playing out before him, Chris was oblivious to the less than subtle conspicuous look Amaya and Barb shared before him, but Rhett wasn’t going to let fly.

“What was that look for?”

“What look hun?”

“Uh oh Chris. I think you and I are going to have to ban together and batten down the hatches. These two together look like trouble to me, am I right?”

Chris remained stolid. His stare, cold as the air around them, slowly dragged up the neck of his beer bottle, fixated on this stranger trying to make a joke about the two most important woman in his life. And he wasn’t laughing. Amaya couldn’t help but feel the tension continue to tighten, right along with the grip of Chris’ hand.

“Anyway Rhett, what do you do for a living?”

“Nothing fancy like you two, that’s for sure. During the school year, I’m the high school shop teacher and outside of that, I help run the family carpentry business.”

“Well, I think I’m going to need to know how to get on the family discount plan. This place gives me so many ideas for our back yard. Maybe even our own vacation spot, huh babe?”

“I think if you give this woman some grandbabies soon, you’ll be on the lifetime preferred list. It’s all she can talk about. After the wedding that is.”

“Don’t I know it.”

The three of you share a laugh, but Chris keeps a stone face. Still determined, Rhett continues to try and break through.

“Yeah Chris, the sayin’ is true. ‘Happy wife. Happy life.’ You’ll find out soon enough.” Rhett says followed by a deep, raspy Southern laugh.

“Not possible. This man could not make me happier if he tried.”

“Well on that note, I’m going to go grab some champagne to celebrate all this love in the air. Can I get anyone anything while I’m up? Chris, another beer?” Amaya squeezes his hand as a warning, but he only musters out a single word response.

“Nope.”

“He’d love one...thank you, Rhett.”

“Right. Back in a jiff!”

As soon as the screen door slams shut behind him, in one quick motion, Amaya swats his shoulder against the least insulated spot of his worn plaid vest, giving him a final warning.

“Ow!”

“Be. Nice.” She chided through gritted teeth and narrowed eyes.

“You’re being awfully rude son.”

“Sorry.” He answers in a snide tone, taking the last swig of his beer.

“Chris. This man has invited you into his home. And more importantly, he’s important...to me. So you better think long and hard about how you’re going to change your demeanor before he gets back.”

WIth his frustration finally reaching its peak, Chris stands ready to defend his actions.

“Mom, I will not sit around and pretend to be happy while this-” Before he could continue his retort, he’s cut off by the sound of Rhett’s footsteps returning down the graveled pathway with a heavy sigh.

“Honey, I’m sorry I think I forgot the champagne at home.”

“Who’s home?”

Barb and Rhett eye each other before responding.

“Well, I guess now’s as good a time as any to tell you.”

“Tell me what?”

“That Rhett and I have moved in together.”

“That’s so great you guys, congratulations!”

“Moved in? Mom, what do you even know about this guy? I hardly think you’re ready to date someone, let alone move in with them.”

She can only stare incredulously back at his abrasion. Amaya too stares blankly back at Chris but chooses not to address him.

“Rhett…why don’t you and I grab some more firewood? I think my fiancé some apologizing to do.”

Chris’ eyes widen, silently pleading to her. ‘Don’t go.’ While hers respond in just as much of a loud silence. ‘Don’t look at me. You made your bed.’

Rhett offers his arm to Amaya and they walk away to a nearby shed.

“Christopher Joseph Powell. I understand that this is a bit of a shock for you. But don’t you forget that I’m the mother in this situation, no matter how old you are. And you don’t presume to tell me what you think I can and cannot do, or who you think I should or shouldn’t do it with.”

“But mom!”

“No, but mom! I’m a grown woman and this man makes me happy. Something I didn’t think would happen again after your father. And with your brother and sister gone, that house got really lonely; really fast. I’m finally ready to live my life again. And like it or not, I don’t need your permission to do so.”

Still shocked by his mother’s admission, Chris slowly walks over to his mother.

“I’m sorry. Really. I just didn’t expect to ever see you with anyone else.”

“I know.”

“All I want is for you is to be happy though.”

“I know that too. I also know that it’s going to take some getting used to. But...you have no say in the matter. So, you might as well get used to it and mind your manners...otherwise, you’ll be grounded for the rest of the weekend.”

Chris chuckles.

“Don’t think for a minute that I won’t do it either.” She walks up to him, placing her hands on either side of this stubbled face. “Talk to him. Get to know him. He’s a good guy.”

“And what do Kyle and AJ have to say about all this?”

“They love him. Kyle’s the one who introduced us actually.”

“What?! Really, why am I literally that last to know everything.”

“Probably because we all know that you’ll act like this.”

She swats him on the behind before pulling him into a hug.

“I love you Chrissy Pooh Bear.”

“Mom?!”

She laughs as the two of them pull away to Rhett and Amaya approaching in the distance. Chris walks over to Rhett, hands in his pockets and head hung guilt.

“Rhett I’m sorry for the way I acted. Really, man. You clearly make my mother happy, I guess.” He says looking back at his mother who’s now hugging Amaya’s side. “So that’s all that matters to me.” Chris finally extends his hand.

Rhett sets his pile of wood down at the fire pit and reciprocates the gesture. “Apology accepted. That’s all I want is to make her happy.”

“I umm, I saw the fishing poles inside. Do you fish?”

“Every time I’m here. Actually, the catfish are great this time of year. Maybe we can do a little sunrise fishing and catch tomorrow night’s dinner for these lovely ladies?”

“I’d like that. And I’d really like to get to know you better. Even if you are an Astros fan.” The four of you laugh.

“I’d like that too.”

After they shake hands Amaya walks over to her future husband, reaching up to pull him down for a warm kiss.

“That’s the man I love.”

“Well, she threatened to ground me.”

She heartily laughs out loud. “Is that all it takes? I’ll keep that in mind.”

After relaxing by the fire and listening to Rhett strum his guitar for a while longer, they all head inside as it starts to flurry. Preparing for bed, Amaya and Chris curl up together in their plush comforter admiring the light snowfall through the window; by the warm firelight of their room.

“That was a very nice thing you did for your mom.”

“I guess I was acting a little childish.”

“Really Chrissy Pooh Bear?”

Annoyed, he leans in tickling her sides only to end up pulling her in for a kiss.

“I guess I’m going to just have to get used to the fact that my mom has a…”

“A boyfriend?”

“Ugh…I don’t think I ready to say that yet.”

“A pretty sexy boyfriend at that.”

“Please do not call him sexy.”

“Why not? I can’t wait till you get a little more grey in this beard.” She says combing her fingers through his scruff.

Chris rests his hands beneath his head staring up at the ceiling. “If that’s what woman go for these days, I’m gonna shave tomorrow.”

“You’re a sensitive soul Christopher Powell, who knew?”

“Yeah...yeah. Try not to spread it around will you, I have a rugged reputation to upkeep.”

He rolls over to his side to pull her in closer to him, laying her down further and kissing her neck in the process. Causing her to let out a soft moan in the process.

“Ummm…as nice as that feels, what do you think you’re doing?”

“Warming you up Mrs. Powell. How am I doing?”

“Don’t think you’re going to sweet talk me, after that whole display tonight. I can definitely tell what you’re trying to do. But we are not doing that. Not when your mother and her boyfriend are in the next room.”

“Please do not mention my mother and her boyfriend when I’m trying to get you in the mood?”

“Christopher Powell, we are...mmmm...absolutely, noaaahhht doing this.” Her words leave her mouth in a breathy airy whisper, encouraging him to continue despite her verbal protests. Taking the hint, slowly he continues his attempts to convince her as the fire slowly dims their room.

“Your body is telling me otherwise.”

“My body can’t think for itself.”

“That’s one of my favorite things about your body. Now let me show you another favorite.”

#Chris Powell #Chris x MC #Chris x Amaya #The Freshman Series #The future Mr. & Mrs. Powell #Powell love

31 notes · View notes

mister-maiden · 5 years

Text

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. A love letter to metroidvanias

Betcha thought I was gone.

Guess again, Cultists.

From the faint sound of a piano in the background to the delicious plates of meat and apples hidden in the walls, Bloodstained just screamed Castlevania at me and I simply couldn't be more overjoyed. Just..UGHHNN man, this game scratched a certain itch that was lingering on the tailbone of a mildly neglected butt that is my Castlevania pants. And man this just DID it for me.

For starters. The graphics are absolutely stunning in most areas. From your roaring ships on the seas to your books flying from the walls. Nothing ever seemed out of place for its unique animation style. The only game I could really say it reminded me of was Castlevania: Symphony of the night.

It has this gorgeous atmosphere to it of Victorian style that played throughout the game, throwing a twist to every trope it could find. Water areas, fire areas, gearpunk are- you get the shebang. It's a wonderful adventure...however, this could be seen as a bad thing.

Several rooms made me feel like I was just...*going through* them you know? As in there was simply absolutely no substance to it besides having it be a room for a mid-weak level enemy. This made it worse having to go back and farm enemies for certain items and drops...Looking at you Dragon Eggs and Beast Milk...though honestly, this gripe may just be due to my personal tastes. Though this can be easily avoided if you use Johannes the alchemist to destroy certain items for their components...but this is hella expensive.

Speaking of ememies!...um...Well yeah.

Bosses were cool! Well. Some bosses. Half of the bosses made me feel like I was just smashing the attack button and standing in one place while the better bossfights forced me to change my playstyle, spells, hell even my equipment. They did a great job with the bosses that interacted with my own placement, but did a poor job with bosses that could be beaten without even moving.

There are many enemies as well. Several I recognized. The walking grunts that walk at you viciously. The giant that does tons of damage but is easy to read and dodge, the smalll....ANNOYING ENEMIES THAT DO DAMAGE AND ARE IS NIGH EKEHRJ-

The enemies were nicely done. All with their own weaknesses and strengths according to the abilities and weapons you used. A small enemy could be dispatched quickly through a broad stroke of a great sword or a bigger enemy with armor pierced with a spear, ect. I don't have anything good or bad to say about the enemies because they just feel...*alright*. I mean there's just really nothing special to these enemies compared to enemies in other games. They were just there to be there..nothing wrong with that though. The only gripe I had was the lack of diversity in demons. They were just three different stages of the same demons I face in the beginning: Weak, mildly strong/strong, Giant. That tactic of making the player feel like they are progressing felt sort of cheap. A darker enemy of the same model isn't different enemy

What was far more important and interesting was the ABILITIES each monster gave you.

See, through the game, every monster you face has the chance of dropping a shard which bonds to your character's body, giving her several abilities. Ranging from fireballs, bats, and burning acid to shadows, increasing your strength, and more.

You may equip up to four regular spells called conjure shards

A passive shard which passively increases a stat or provides some benefit

A directional shard which allows you to point the spell with your hand via the joystick.

A manipulative shard that manipulates objects and spaces around you.

Skill shards, which gives you passive skills you can turn on and off. These are probably some of the most important shards in the game which are generally found after a boss fight.

My FAVORITE shard: Familiar shard! Allows you to have a familiar along the screen! My favorite being this cool little silver Knight that blocks projectiles c:

Each shard has their own circumstances to be used and best creatures to be used against which is great. Just the rediculous wide range of spells allows the player any range of choice and playstyle. My favorite is flooding the screen with bats. You may upgrade.

Weapons and armor are always in supply. Some found in secret areas while others are only unlocked via finding recipes for the alchemist to make. All have their own merits with some holding special skills you can use on monsters (example: a specific spear or set of spears allows you to sprint forward at rediculous speed). Sometimes I felt like I wasn't doing any damage before realizing I had to move on to the next weapon tier. Sometimes this can workout poorly for games since the progression relies on how well you do damage instead of how skillful you are with how you use your weapon, but I didn't seem to mind at all of Bloodstained's usage of the tiered weapon system.

Now, with over 100 of spell choices and weapons to use against a wide variety of enemies, it can be a hassle to constantly switch between spells and weapons in the menu...which is why the game introduces the quick select wheel!..later...in the game...which was a huge issue for me personally.

The quick select wheel came a bit later in the game which was strange since I had quite the number of spells and weapons I had. A problem I saw immediately with it was that I had to actually unlock more quick select slots by finding them, hidden and scattered through the game. I think this was a poor choice due to how the game encourages the player to play with their setup yet constricts them by locking these slots that didn't need to be locked in the first place. Maybe it was to give more incentive to the player to experiment with their mobility, but I still don't enjoy it. They should have had all options unlocked.

So now that we have combat and art out of the way, I'll talk about the TOWN features.

As in other metroidvanias, we have a homebase like area which holds several quests and people of interest to talk to. A farmer which can be given seeds to grow crops, a nun which gives you fetch quests to find items in the field to say goodbye to the fallen, an older woman whos hunger knows no bounds. Another nun who is a merchant for you and will also buy your leftover shards, and a fellow alchemist who will transmute items into weapons, armor, and whip up a nice plate of food for permanent stat boosts.

The merchant Nun, or Dominique, will sell you potions, alchemy items, and ingredients. Generally these items are...fairly overpriced, but rightfully so so the player doesn't progress too easily. The prices never change too which makes her interactions pretty concrete. It was nice not having to farm for basic items for potions c: so thank you, Dominique.

Then we have Johannes, our resident alchemist which is where a lot of our time is going to be spent.

Johannes takes the items we find from monsters, and puts them to good use my transmutation. He's the man who helps us make our ultima keyblade!..well, stronger weapon. This can be a tad annoying as some enemies take quite some time to farm, but it wasn't a hassle as I could teleport to the room and kill them until I got the item.. honestly this felt...a tad tedious? Then again, not a huge farming fan of repeat killing a monster, but it was needed to get some items.

Johannes also has an option to make you food from the ingredients you find from monsters! (Great idea to cook meat from demons) these meals give you permanent stat boosts after your first bite, but subsequent meals of the same food won't give you anymore bonus stats.

A special interaction is the ability to upgrade your shards! Using items from the monsters you kill (generally the same demon that gave you the shard), you can upgrade your shards to give them a new effect and make them stronger! The shards can be leveled to level 9 and are maxed out from there. This is one of my favorite parts of the game because how ridiculously numerous these spells are in effects. Hell, I can summon a dragon so he can just SMACK the screen like a fly swatter. Nothing makes you feel as powerful as watching a dragon head you summon just spew fire on a defenseless boss.

Now quests. These are...pretty underwhelming and are accomplished simply as you walk along to be honest. You'll finish these without even realize it because of how simple they were. These felt pretty weak in comparison to the rest of the game, but I mean hey, gave me some cool items. These could have been more fleshed out or maybe given the player some better quests that weren't just *fetch this*. Quests were the weakest part of the game.

Story was..uh...well. I'll be honest. My girlfriend even witnessed as I called the plottwists one by one and it was sort of sad. Don't play this game for the story. Truly don't. There isn't a good story here. The story is only here to drive the action and gameplay which is what the developers focused on. The game comes with multiple endings, the true ending being a tad cryptic to get to without knowing a certain secret of what to do with a weapon, but regardless, the story atleast made sense...has just been done before.

Now. Should you buy it?

If you're a fan of metroidvanias...I'd say the price is worth it. About 20-30 hours of gameplay for the avid metroidvania fan..I think (I'll start recording how long it takes me to really finish something hah)

If not a fan: wait for a sale. It's something great to have and pickup. With some gripes about quests and enemies while also having praises for the enhance system and spells, I enjoyed myself. I really did. It was fun. I put it down a couple of times because it was just too much with how large the map felt sometimes, but after getting the hang of mobility and the teleport system, it really felt like a castle to run around in.

-------------------METRIC-------------------

Pros:

• Spell system is EXCELLENT. I wish games had this many spells.

• Combat was nice with weaknesses and different strengths to each setup and creature.

• Map is widely varied.

• Artstyle felt like a callback to Castlevania as well as the music

• Long and worth the pricetag.

• Repayable

•Freakin familiars, man

• Decent amount of weapon choice (even if all do the same weapon attack as a weapon in their same category, each weapon felt like an upgrade.

CONS:

• Reskinned monsters are not good replacements for different monsters. Please don't do that...it feels cheap.

• Story was uninteresting

• The quickslot should be available from the very beginning so I can customize my character. It shouldn't have been a skill.

So that was my review on Bloodstained c: I really enjoyed it after getting used to the controls...also fun tip...USE the backdash. It helps so much in certain boss encounters where every action counts.

Have a nice Sunday, Cultists c:

#cult review #metroidvania #gamereview #game review #bloodstained #adventure game #victorian #magic game #bruh #cultists #occult

4 notes · View notes

chibinightowl · 6 years

Text

Aww, Nuts

I couldn’t help myself after a certain conversation with @comebackolivia last week. Can be read as a sequel to In My Heart (In Your Pants).

~*~*~

Tim stands at the stove, carefully melting caramels with a little bit of water in a saucepan over low heat. He’s never done this before and isn’t feeling brave enough to attempt actual caramel but Alfred said this would work just fine for what he wants to do. When he called to ask, it was pretty clear to anyone who knows the old butler well that he was laughing at him, even if not a hint of it made its way over the line. Jason likes to joke that Alfred’s way of laughing is giving them the raised eyebrow whenever any of them say or do something stupid. Dick, especially, agrees. They’re still working on Damian, but he’s being stubborn about admitting that he ever does anything worthy of being laughed at and that the three plebeians that are his older brothers don’t count.

Chuckling, Tim goes back to melting caramels and enjoying the sugary scent that now permeates the kitchen. He has a few hours still before Jason will be home and he wants to have most of this done before he does, if only to avoid comments about setting the stove on fire.

Despite popular opinion, Tim can cook. And bake, somewhat. He just doesn’t like to if there’s someone else around who can and prefers to do it. Jason fits the bill perfectly, so Tim dutifully handles the cleanup. Not that Jason ever leaves much of a mess since he cleans as he goes, but it’s the thought that counts.

There’s also the whole cooking while distracted thing. This is why Tim is generally banned from the kitchen and a strict no electronics rule is in place when he isn’t. In compliance with this little rule, the recipe he’s following is printed out and all his notes are handwritten in a shorthand that makes sense to him.

On the counter behind him are all the ingredients he needs. The apples are bright green and have been carefully washed. He’s even polished them a bit with the towel because they’re so shiny and the whole aesthetic caught his eye enough before he started melting caramels to spark a quick photography session in which he set up a still life composition. Not exactly the most exciting of subjects, but to him, it means a lot since this is the first time he has been brave enough to try making caramel apples on his own.

His one true weakness.

Jason has joked that Tim will do anything for the sweet and crunchy treat after what he saw last year, and it’s a sad fact that there isn’t much he won’t say no to when there is a decadent candy apple on the line.

Ra’s knows it too and has tried to bribe him with a box before. Thankfully, the ninja delivering them did so when Jason was present, otherwise Tim quite possibly would have ended up kidnapped and imprisoned in some elaborate cell, subject to the whims of the Demon’s Head.

But that’s all in the past. Tim watches the thermometer and smiles when the contents of the pot reach the desired temperature.

It’s time to dip. Tim puts his game face on and drives the candy sticks into his perfect green apples. He can do this. Really.

~*~*~

The clock moves all too slowly. Tim glances at his watch again as he waits rather impatiently for the caramel coating to harden in the fridge. It’s almost time and he has the rest of his toppings ready. Melted chocolate, both white and semi-sweet, are ready to drizzle and he’s chopped peanuts as well. What he’s still undecided over is if he wants to heat some peanut butter and use that too.

No sprinkles allowed. Dick will be sad but these aren’t for him. At all.

They’re all his.

Well, maybe Jason can have one. Half of one. While feeding him the other half on the sofa like that time last year where things got a little hot and heavy afterward.

Fun times.

Tim checks his watch again and practically lunges for the fridge now that it’s time to check the hopefully hardened coating. He’d been generous with his time and it has paid off as each apple is perfect and ready for the next stage.

Now he just has to figure out how he wants each one to look.

He’s on the last one when the front door opens. Jason is home early. Dammit. “Hey, babe, where are you? Something smells good.”

“I’m in the kitchen,” Tim calls out, slightly peeved that his quiet time has been interrupted.

“Uh-oh, I take back what I said.” Jason pokes his head in and his eyes widen comically. “You’ve got to be fuckin’ kidding me.”

“I can follow a recipe, you know,” Tim bites out between gritted teeth. Almost done with this last one...

“Yeah, but I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve seen you in here by yourself and each of those times involves fire.”

“Does anything smell burned to you?”

“Nope. Massive points there. I’m just surprised to see you actually making those things.”

Tim shrugs and carefully rolls the last apple in the chopped peanuts. He’d ended up heating some peanut butter after all, so this one is double peanut goodness. “I thought I’d give it a try.”

“What brought this on?” Jason enters the kitchen and stops on the other side of the island where Tim has everything laid out.

“It’s September.”

Jason smirks and tries not to laugh. “Hate to break it to you, but fall doesn’t start for a few more weeks.”

“Party pooper.” Tim holds up the last apple proudly. “All done.”

“And you didn’t destroy anything. I’m so proud.”

“I’m not completely hopeless, you know.”

“Just mostly.” Jason leans over and Tim dutifully does the same to give him a kiss. “So, if I take care of the rest of your cleanup, does that mean I get one of those?”

It’s Tim’s turn to smirk. “You can have half of one.”

Jason’s eyes narrow. “Do I even want to know what I’d have to do for a full one?”

Tim waves the peanut-crusted apple around teasingly. “Let me get these back in the fridge to set and we can negotiate.”

“I’m pretty sure I have a few chips to bargain with.” Jason winks and waggles his tongue at him.

“Always trying to get in my pants,” Tim jokes as he sets the apple down on the plate and opens the fridge. “Although, if these turn out even half as good as they look, I’d let me into my pants too.”

#chibinightowl writes #Tim Drake #Jason Todd #JayTim #candy apples

85 notes · View notes

veneataur · 6 years

Text

A/N: I’m not sure there’s all that much whump in here, but Treville was hard to whump. We’ll go for light emotional whump. Porthos and Athos do make an appearance, though keep in mind that they don’t know Aramis at all at this point, which influences their reactions in this story.

Prompt: Insomnia

Fandom: BBC’s The Musketeers

Title: Losing Focus

No warnings

He remembers the exact date when he stopped sleeping. March 11, 2011. The day he found out that Aramis was MIA. It was a frantic call from Aramis’ mother at two thirty-seven in the morning. He almost didn’t answer from sheer exhaustion. Ben and Tim kept him busy during the day. It was a whirlwind of events after that. His contacts gave him little information and nothing that seemed true. Insubordination, negligence, cowardice. And criminal charges looming. The words didn’t seem true.

He saw Aramis once at the base hospital after he was brought back, a few weeks after the incident. Physically he was better. Not back in good health but better. And then the man was drummed out on charges everyone but Treville could believe. After a short stay at his sister’s, Aramis was gone without a sign.

The first few weeks he searched constantly. He skipped his lunches and stayed late after work, on the gut instinct that Aramis would return to the city of his youth. Every tall, wiry, wild-haired person he glimpsed out of the corner of his eyes his heart would start and his stomach drop. But it was never him because the picture he has of Aramis now is scrawny with a buzz cut to treat a head wound and shrunken over. Not the same Aramis he knew.

The effort is more than exhausting. He stops eating a lot as his stomach can’t take it and keeps a bottle of ibuprofen nearby for near consistent headaches. There’s been the more than odd occasion that one of his men finds him sleeping off a migrant on the couch or simply given in to his body’s demand for rest. He worries about Aramis, about Sarah, about Tim and Ben, about work, about his teams of Musketeers. He spends the nights lying awake in bed so as to not worry Sarah by wandering aimlessly around the house. It was easier, he thinks, during the school year to keep up despite the lack of sleep. But it’s summer now and when he gets home from work, the boys want to play. And Sarah’s had them all day, so it’s his turn to take them to give her a break. They don’t mean for their play to worsen his aching head or drain the last of his energy. And when Ben wins at Connect 4, it’s not because Treville lets him. His focus is gone and considers himself lucky to have gotten the game piece in a slot at all.

He wakes up on the third Saturday in July to Ben jumping in their bed. Tim stands near the edge of the bed, always the more quiet child. But, he supposes, Ben has reason to be excited, after all, it isn’t just any day that you turn ‘a whole five years old.’ As much as he loves his two boys, his worry over Aramis has left him with just a couple hours of sleep. That has to stop.

“Come on, dad. You gotta get up. We gotta get ready before everyone comes,” Ben says, trying to pull his dad up. Treville groans and rubs at his eyes, trying to wake up. Sarah’s been sick lately, so it’s up to him to get up and get the boys ready.

“Alright. Both of you go get your faces washed, get dressed, and make your beds,” he tells them, hoping they’ll hurry off now that they’ve gotten him up. Ben waits a moment until Tim nudges him along and soon Treville has silence once more.

“You going to be able to get them ready,” Sarah asks voice heavy and low.

“Of course. You just focus on feeling better. Come down whenever you’re feeling up to it.”

Treville forces himself out of bed. In the bathroom, he stares at himself for a good several minutes, leaning his hands on the counter as he tries to wake up enough to complete the basics. It’s only when he hears the boys running down the hall that he sticks his head out to stop them.

“You can head downstairs and watch some cartoons until I get down there. If you want something to drink, get some water from the fridge. I’ll be down soon to get you breakfast.”

He then forces himself to move quickly with clumsy tired limbs through the morning ritual until he’s finally dressed and ready to go downstairs.

“Do you need anything, Sarah,” he asks.

“No, thanks. I’m good. I’ll be down soon.”

“Don’t rush it. Take care of yourself first and text me if you need something.”

Sarah nods and slips back under the blankets. Treville prepares himself to go downstairs. The bed and his wife’s company is almost too appealing. He could just postpone Ben’s party. The guests would understand, but that wouldn’t be fair to Ben, he reminds himself. Sarah understands his need to find Aramis but the one requirement she gave, and as much as he wars with himself about it he agrees, is that it can’t interfere with the boys’ lives. He can’t neglect them to find Aramis and he wouldn’t, he doesn’t think so. He hopes he would never.

“So, what do you want for breakfast,” he asks with a forced cheerfulness.

“Pancakes!” the boys say at once. Treville just barely holds back the sigh because he can’t let them know that is the last thing he wants to make this morning.

“Pancakes it is then.”

He starts in the kitchen by getting out the flour, eggs, milk, sugar, butter, and baking powder. He starts by getting some sausage links going and then starts on the pancake mix. Once the batter is together, he remembers the sausage, smelling it as it starts burning. In the move to get the sausage, he runs into the bowl of pancake batter, knocking it on the floor.

“Damn it,” he says. Now, he’s got a mess to clean up.

“Is everything okay, dad,” Tim asks from the edge of the kitchen.

“Yes, just a little accident. Go back and watch cartoons with your brother.” Tim waits another moment before walking off. Treville turns off the sausage first and sets about cleaning. Seconds later, two sets of small hands join him on the floor in cleaning up. He blames the lack of sleep for the blurry eyes. With their help, the floor is cleaned in short order and he can get back to the pancakes. But he can’t get himself off the floor.

“We can just have cereal, dad,” Ben says.

“Yeah, cereal’s fine,” Tim agrees.

“No, we’re making pancakes,” Treville says.

“We?”

“Yes, we.” He didn’t mean necessarily that the boys were going to help, but he’s not sure that he can get breakfast together without their help. It’s not the first time they’ve helped in the kitchen. “Tim, do you mind measuring out the ingredients. Ben, once he gets things together, you can work on stirring everything, okay?”

Unsurprisingly, there are no complaints. Treville jots down the recipe for Tim and sets the boys up with a couple of step stools so they can see above the counter they’re working on. The boys don’t always get along, but this morning, fortunately, they do. They work together, with Tim doing the measuring, as Ben hands him ingredients. Ben watches carefully as Tim explains how to measure ingredients and crack eggs. But even as he watches proudly, he thinks of Aramis wowing his fellow cadets with cookies and cakes.

Then he reminds himself. He has to be here and present, not wandering. Aramis may be like a son to him, but these are his boys and Aramis would be angry if he were neglecting them.

“Excellent job measuring, Tim.” It’s forced but not because of their effort. “You ready to start mixing, Ben?”

“Yeah.” Ben nods seriously.

“You’ve got to take it real slow,” Tim says. “And gentle. Like this.” He demonstrates with a few stirs before handing it off to Ben. “How’s the sausage looking, dad,” Tim asks with feigned absentness as he watches Ben. Treville turns it and goes to the fridge to get some fruit. He pulls out a few apples.

“I think he’s got the stirring down, Tim. You up to cutting some fruit?”

“Mom’s never let me use the knives.”

“I think you can handle them. This what we’ll do.” Treville grabs a couple cutting boards, a knife for him to use, and a knife that would easily fit in Tim’s smaller hand. He talks Tim through the process of carefully cutting as he cuts off a large wedge that will lay flat on the board. He sets the first piece flat on Tim’s board and tells him to cut it up in chunks.

“Like this, dad,” Tim asks. He’s got everything in position to cut but hasn’t made the cut yet.

“Your fingers tucked away?”

“Yep.”

“Good. The last thing we want is a trip to the ER.”

Treville watches closely as Tim slowly cuts the apples. Ben is done with the batter by the time Tim has cut half of the apples but he won’t rush the boy. It’s his first time using a knife, so he’s expected to move slowly. As he watches them, he once again nearly forgets about the sausage, but he catches them in time to turn the fire off before they burn. While he starts cooking the pancakes, he sends Ben to set the breakfast bar. He doesn’t feel like getting the dining room dirty this morning. Now in a steady rhythm, breakfast is done quickly and they can sit down to eat. The boys devour pancake after pancake but for him the nausea he feels from a lack of sleep means he nibbles, eating a pancake and some fruit before he pushes the food away and tries to ignore the smell of the food.

Afterward, he sends the boys upstairs to clean up while he cleans the kitchen. It’ll be getting dirty soon with the party at 1 pm. It’s a BBQ with all of Ben’s friends from preschool and some of Treville’s Musketeers, the ones who the boys have taken a shine to like Athos and Porthos. He wasn’t surprised to find Porthos to be good with the boys but Athos was a surprise.

He should get the preparations going. He should get the decorations out and get a start on the food. But breakfast took what little energy he has. He moves sluggishly from the kitchen to the den where the good couch is. It’s comfortable and welcoming. He lays down face first to give his body a break from standing up and it feels wonderful to stretch out. From his toes to his shoulders, he enjoys the feeling.

“Are you okay, dad,” Tim asks.

“’m ‘ine, Tim.” The pillow muffles his words.

“You don’t look it. You look like when you or mom sends us back to bed because we didn’t sleep enough and are cranky.”

Treville pushes himself up, feeling his body protest the movement. He leans against the back of the couch, closing his eyes to ease the growing ache behind them. Tim climbs up on the couch next to him.

“I’m just tired, Tim. It’s been a long week. Where’s your brother?”

“Watching cartoons. You’ve had a lot of long weeks.”

Treville shouldn’t be surprised. Tim is six going on seven and more observant than he expects.

“Yes, a lot of long weeks and little sleep.”

“Will you find him?”

“I hope so but right now, we need to get ready for a party.” Treville tries to stand but finds himself back on the couch as his head spins.

“Do you want me to get mom?”

“Um…” Treville works to gather himself. “No, mom’s sick and needs her rest.”

“You’re sick, too.”

“Just a little headache and dizziness. Do you mind grabbing me a juice bottle from the fridge? I don’t care what flavor.”

As Tim goes off to get the drink, Treville stretches out on the couch but forces himself not to lay down. He just needs a moment’s rest and something to drink. Something to sort out the dizziness. He’d like some ibuprofen for the headache, but the bottle’s put away in the cupboard and he doesn’t want Tim to go rummaging for it. He thanks Tim for the juice when he comes back with it and slowly drinks. Halfway through, he sets it aside to close his eyes. The headache is pounding and he needs to get rid of it.

Then he’s slowly opening his eyes, blinking as he comes back to awareness.

“How’re you feeling, Captain,” Porthos asks.

“Huh?” Treville tries to sit up but a firm hand keeps him stretched out on the couch.

“You fell asleep. Tim called and said you and Sarah were sick,” Athos says. He’s standing down by Treville’s feet, which are covered with a blanket.

“The party.” Treville starts again, this time succeeding in pushing off Porthos’ hand, though he overbalances in the movement and would’ve toppled over if not for Athos’ quick movement.

“Is all set up for. People should start coming in about half an hour. We thought you’d like some time to get cleaned up,” Porthos says.

Treville sighs. “Thanks. I was supposed to do it, but I was just too tired to do anything. I messed up. Failed him.”

“Ben’s been having a ball helping to set things up. He knows you’re not feeling good but he’s not upset.”

“No, you don’t understand. It’s the one rule. They have to come first, over him. Over Aramis.”

“Easier said than done,” Athos says. It’s not absolution but an understanding. “Look, Ben is happy. He was overjoyed to see us come to help set up. It’s one time and no reason to beat yourself up over it. It’s not going to do any good.”

Treville nods. He’s not ready to forgive himself but he does hear the reasoning.

“Seriously, though, Captain,” Porthos says. “You have to stop this. I don’t know who this Aramis is, but it’s clear that he means a lot to you. Everyone’s looking for him when they go out, but in this city, it’s worse than a needle in a haystack.”

“I’m going to find him.”

“You don’t even have a clue where he is. He might’ve gone elsewhere and you’re beating yourself up over nothing, running yourself ragged for a man who’s far from here.” Porthos refrains from what he feels is the truth: Aramis is dead. From what he understood, the man was in no shape to be out alone, mentally or physically. Topped off with the weight of the OTH discharge and being responsible for a massacre, which Treville flat out denied Aramis could have been, and the man probably met an untimely end but was at least out of his misery.

“I know that no one believes me. I know that,” Treville says. “But you don’t know Aramis like I do. The man is a fighter and a creature of habit. He’s around here somewhere and he needs help. My help. I promised his parents I’d look after him as though he were my own.”

Treville pauses, leaning back into the couch to gather his thoughts. He’s grateful to these two men for coming over and helping. They didn’t have to on their day off. Both, however, have become senior officers and trusted members of the task force. More than that, they’ve become good friends of his family.

“You’re right though,” he concedes finally. “I have to stop this. I don’t know how, but somehow because Ben and Tim shouldn’t have to deal with this. Tim shouldn’t have had to call you two and you two shouldn’t’ve had to come do the work I should’ve been doing. Thank you. I appreciate your help.”

“Jean?” He hears Sarah call out for him. “Where are you?”

“In the den,” he calls back.

“What are you doing in here? Hi Porthos, Athos,” she says walking through the doorway.

“I fell asleep, I guess. I wasn’t feeling good this morning. You feeling better?”

“Yes, but it’s not going to last for long.”

“Huh?”

“Ben’s going to be a big brother,” she says.

“You’re…”

She nods. “Number three. I had a hunch this morning and decided to find out. How’re you feeling about it? The timing’s not the best.”

“Perhaps not, but welcome news still. Ben’s going to be so happy to have a little brother or sister to play with and teach like Tim does with him.”

“Both of them will be but what about you, Jean? You haven’t said how you feel about it.”

“Come on, Athos. We should probably leave,” Porthos says.

“No, you two are fine.” Treville stands and goes over to hug his wife. “I’m happy, elated for another child. I’m tired though. My focus hasn’t been where it should but it will be. I promise.”

“I don’t expect you to give up on Aramis. And I believe you. Okay?”

Treville nods. “Thank you.”

“Now, you should probably go get cleaned up while Porthos, Athos, and me work on getting the last things together.”

“When do you want to tell them,” Treville asks.

“In a couple days. Let’s let Ben have his day. Now, go get ready so we can get the party started.”

#bbc the musketeers #fan fiction #treville #athos #porthos #ocs #windy city musketeers #modernAU #emotional whump #whumptober

1 note · View note

the-coconut-asado · 3 years

Text

Food Wars in Wrigglesbrook

First they took our longhauls. Then they came for the short hops. But even in the slapped backside that has been 2020, they will never take our inalienable right to go somewhere, eat something and smugly share the ‘gram.

So while Vietnam in May and Galway in July are memories we are yet to make, booking a 19th century Romany caravan on the Welsh borders in September became the one we did.

In a normal year we wouldn’t have noticed you could stay in a Romany caravan near Wales or anywhere else for that matter, but once you start googling you can find all sorts of ways to spend your refunds from BA: sleep with horses in Yorkshire - £250 a night for an aluminium frame bunk bed, the smell of manure and night terrors from Red Rum licking your face; or a yurt in Somerset - I’ve seen too many disgruntled Four in a Bed contestants to think this is a good idea. But the idea of cosying up in an olde worlde caravan next to an open fire and a babbling brook? You have my attention.

The open fire and cooking pot were especially attractive as we weren’t expecting to have any memorable dining out experiences. For one thing, you never knew when the next lockdown was coming, so that Rule of Six could very quickly become a takeaway pasty on the A414; and on the other, we had yet to have a pub grub meal anywhere in the UK that gave us that irresistible string of emoji drools. We expected ‘ok’ but not OMG - so we started planning a trip for the local farm shop once we arrived and felt more Chevy Chase than the opening of National Lampoon’s vacation.

Then we did arrive, ravenous, and resumed our Trip Advisor habit with a vengeance.

At this point I should mention that this is a true story but names have been changed to protect the innocent.

We knew that there was a pub within walking distance, but here’s the thing about Trip Advisor: you have to read between the lines. Too many effusive yet vague 5 stars and you start to suspect critical faculties are low; people complaining about a mardy waiter but grudgingly acknowledging the silky gnocchi may be worth closer inspection. Measured against these criteria we were intrigued by the reviews for our local. It seemed like the food really was delicious (the degree of description, particularly of the game pie, was forensic), but that we may have a Basil and Sybil Fawlty on our hands. People talked of fights breaking out - between Basil and Sybil, Basil and customers, Sybil and customers - just name your combination. 2 star reviews were routinely met with a response that could cut you off at the knees with its sarcasm. Our dinner was decided.

It felt easy at first. Seated away from other punters and not so near the open door as to catch a cold rather than Covid, and were served our drinks on the double. And then things got ‘interesting’. 20 or so minutes in I politely enquired if we could order. Sybil, hair bun askew, frostily told us she was run off her feet and would deal with us when ready. We looked around - there were three covers in the restaurant and a further 3 outside. Still, we were on holiday so we took a deep breath and carried on drinking.

Shortly after Basil himself bowled up, pad and pen in hand. ‘ Do you have the game pie tonight?’ Adam asked. With a face that said ‘thanks for reminding me (sarcastic version)’ Basil launched into the sorry tale of his put-upon weekend, churning out over 100 of them. ‘ Not enough pigeons so I had to have words with our supplier, but that’s Brexit for you (eye roll).’

We ordered game pie and when it arrived it was sensational. I had rarely eaten a pie with such depth of flavour and warm, autumnal embrace. When Basil came to take our plates, I asked him what was in it to give it such complexity. “ A secret!’ he snapped. “Just one ingredient then’ I coaxed. I tried to pull off a boozy conspiratorial smile, but just looked like I was having a stroke. He drew a deep breath: “ Teal, pigeon, venison, partridge, wild boar. That’s all I’ll say”. I took a mental note.

A few minutes later he slammed a glass of something in front of me. I jumped as he said: ’ Tell me what that is then. Go on! I’ll tell you something - it’s’ not cooking sherry!”

I took a sip. “ Madeira?”

His mood changed slightly. “Exactly so. No one else round here uses madeira, just cheap supermarket alcohol. And now..” he said with a grand sweep of his hand as Sybil approached muleishly to take our dessert order: ‘ My darling wife will tell you what we have for afters’.

“ What’s the dessert of the day?.”

“ I’d have to check” said Sybil. The frost wasn’t thawing.

“ Why don’t you know? ‘ Basil demanded . ‘ There’s going to be words about this tomorrow”

‘Who says I’ll come in tomorrow?’ she snarled.

‘I don’t care if you come in tomorrow!’

‘I’ll have the rhubarb crumble!’ I interjected quickly.

Sybil was an inch away from ‘You know where you can stick your rhubarb crumble!’ so I felt I was doing my bit for the war effort. That and I did really want some rhubarb crumble and sod dessert of the day. But Sybil was aggressively set on checking it out and turned on her heel with consummate dramatic timing. She returned. It was sticky toffee pudding. “No thanks” from Adam at this stage would have been churlish.

With no knife left on our table with which to cut a slice of atmosphere, but satisfied that I now had most of the ingredients for Basil’s secret game pie, we tucked into our puddings. They were both molten and packed with flavour. Maybe what we had witnessed was not a slanging match but their creative process.

The next morning our host at the Caravan B&B served up the best English breakfast, with a demeanour more Biden than the Trumps of the previous evening. Homemade toasted bread, local black pudding and slabs of bacon with crispy fat - he and his wife clearly knew about food.

We decided to take one of his recommendations and try the next nearest pub that evening - a short drive away with equally complimentary reviews about the food but no apparent turf war between the owners. Here we dined on roast pork belly with crispy pig cheeks, a steak and ale pie (flaky delicious pastry, but without the sucker punch hit of Basil’s Game), and wondered why this part of the country had such a concentration of good pub food. And then we dined out at a third pub on our last night and our run of good luck came to an end. Partly my fault for ordering a curry because I have never yet had a good curry in a pub, but not my fault that the apple crumble had no sugar in it whatsoever.

Anyway, here we are back at home, it’s December, the cold has set in and the first vaccines are coming over the horizon. So you might like to try my take on Basil’s Game Pie for the ultimate winter warmer, followed by my Torta di Ricotta flavoured with the sweetest Miyagawa tangerines of the season - Dessert of the Day in my fantasy restaurant. Start your dinner with the quickest and yummiest dressed Burrata (not so much a recipe as an assembly, learnt from Jock Zonfrillo on this year’s Australian Masterchef) and I promise you will find no reason to argue with anyone.

Just don’t mention the war.

Game and Marsala Pie with Potato Pastry

I have used a mix of venison, partridge and pheasant here, but take your pick from whatever is in season - proportion one animal to two birds (so wild boar could supplement venison for example). I found that Marsala gives that same depth of flavour as madeira and is cheaper. You can make either normal shortcrust, or my delicious (if super short and un-photogenic) potato pastry. Serves 4-6.

Ingredients

For the game filling:

3 tbsps extra virgin olive oil

250g piece of pancetta, diced

1 large onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, grated

1 large carrot, chopped

500g venison, cubed

250 ml game stock (made with pheasant carcass) or beef stock

Meat from 2 x pheasants, cubed

6 partridge breasts, cubed

250 ml marsala

250g chopped chestnut mushrooms

Tablespoon redcurrant jelly

Handful of fresh rosemary, chopped

Handful of chopped fresh thyme

1 tsp salt

6 juniper berries

For the potato pastry:

175g self-raising flour

125g unsalted butter, cut into small cubes

175g cold mashed potato

1 egg, beaten.

How to Make

Heat 2 tbsp. of the olive oil in a casserole add the pancetta and fry until golden brown. Add the chopped onions, and stir to coat in the oil and pancetta fat. Continue for a couple of minutes until the onions soften, then add the garlic and the chopped carrot and continue to stir. Add the venison and continue to saute until brown, then add the game stock, marsala, herbs and juniper berries, along with the salt and a grind of black pepper. Cover and simmer for 45 minutes.

While the venison is simmering, add the remaining tbsp olive oil to a frying pan. When hot, add the diced pheasant and partridge followed by the mushrooms. Saute for about 5 minutes until the edges of the game are brown and slightly caramelised.

After 45 minutes, add the game birds and mushrooms to the venison, and stir in the redcurrant jelly. Cover again and continue to cook for a further 15 minutes. Take off the heat and cool.

To make the pastry, rub the cold, cubed butter into the flour in a large bowl until it resembles breadcrumbs, then add the mashed potato to bind it all together. Roll into a ball then flatten slightly, wrap in clingfilm and chill for 30 minutes.

Heat the oven to 200C. Put the game filling into a large, deep pie dish. Roll out the pastry carefully between two sheets of greasproof paper (this pastry is very crumbly and won’t behave as well as shortcrust). Lift carefully and place on top of the pie dish to form a crust, and patch ad pinch where the pastry tears. Trim any overhang and pinch the edges to seal (you can make leaves and roses from the spare pastry to decorate the top of the pie). Brush the whole surface with the beaten egg, then bake in the oven for 20 -25 minutes. Serve warm with some buttered cabbage.

Miyagawa Torta di Ricotta

I make many different versions of this light and velvety italian version of cheesecake-in-a tart, but this one has a delicious citrus hit. Serves 6-8.

Ingredients

For the filling:

250g ricotta cheese

100g caster sugar

2 large eggs, beaten

100ml double cream

Zest and juice of 2 miyagawas (or you can use clementines)

1 tsp. Vanilla paste

For the pastry (this makes twice as much as you need, so use half and freeze the rest)

500g plain flour

250g unsalted butter, chilled ad cut into small cubes

175g icing sugar

2 eggs

For the syrup:

Juice of 2 miyagawas

100g caster sugar\½ tsp. Ground cardamom

50 ml water

How to make

First make the pastry. Put the flour and butter into a food processor and blitz until the consistency of breadcrumbs. Add the icing sugar and pulse for a minute, then, with the motor running, add the two beaten eggs and pulse until it just comes together (don’t overwork).

Turn out onto a floured surface, divide in two, pat one half into a flatish circle, wrap in clingfilm and chill for an hour. Cut one third of the second ball and put to one side. Wrap the rest in clingfilm and freeze).

Heat the oven to 180C. Roll out the pastry to fit a 23 cm tart tin. Trim the edges (save these for later) , prick the base all over with a fork then line with baking parchment and bake blind (using baking beans or any dried beans) for 20 minutes. Remove the baking parchment and beans, brush the base of the pastry with beaten egg, then return to the oven for a further 15 mins. Remove from the oven and cool while you make the filling.

To make the filling: mix all the ingredients together until smooth. Pour into the cooled tart shell.

Working with your remaining pastry, roll out again and cut strips, then lattice these strips across the top of the tart.

Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until the filling is firm but still a bit wobbly. Remove from the oven and cool.

Make the syrup: Put all the ingredients into a small saucepan and heat gently until the sugar is dissolved. Bring to the boil and then boil for 5 minutes until thickened slightly. Turn off the heat and cool - as it cools, the syrup will thicken more. When cool, brush the syrup over the surface of the tart. Leave for an hour and then serve. This tart will keep well under a cover for another couple of days.

Dressed Burrata

So luscious with an unexpected hit of chilli. From first thought to table in 2 minutes.

Serves 2.

Take one burrata, at room temperature, and pop it into a small bowl. Snip a generous cross in the top of the cheese with scissors, enough to let it ooze. Drizzle on some top quality extra virgin olive oil, two turns of a black pepper mill, a generous pinch of sea salt, a chopped red thai chilli and a squeeze of lemon juice.

Eat straight away with slices of toasted sourdough or, as in this picture, some of my toasted beer and buttermilk soda bread.

0 notes

charger-batteries · 3 years

Text

Apple HomePod mini Review

There’s no shortage of smart speakers to choose from these days, but recent months have placed the focus on affordable, often spherical options. Apple's new HomePod mini, a $99 alternative to the larger, more powerful $299 HomePod, competes primarily against the $99 orb-like Amazon Echo (4th Generation) and the non-spherical $99 Google Nest Audio. If audio is your top priority, Apple's speaker is outperformed by Amazon's, as well as some other, non-smart wireless models in the $100 price range—the HomePod mini delivers solid, clean mono audio, but the Echo is substantially larger and more powerful, offering a stronger sense of bass response. That said, if you're already thoroughly invested in the Apple/iOS/HomeKit realm, the HomePod mini is still a strong smart speaker for the price.

HomePod mini Design and Features

The orb-shaped, 0.8-pound HomePod mini is available in space gray or white, and measures 3.3 by 3.9 inches (HW), with a flat panel on the top and on bottom preventing it from being a perfect sphere. The outer paneling is covered in an attractive, “acoustically transparent fabric” grille, and the top is a touch-sensitive control panel.

Internally, the speaker employs a single full-range, down-firing driver and dual passive radiators to enhance bass response. The down-firing driver’s audio is then dispersed by an “acoustic waveguide” that aims to capitalize on surface reflections to create 360-degree audio dispersion.

The HomePod mini might be small enough to pack in a suitcase or tote, but to be clear, it requires a power source in order to work. The hardwired cloth-lined charging cable terminates in USB-C, so the speaker can get its juice from a computer, or by connecting it to the included power adapter and plugging it into the wall.

The top panel glows white when audio is playing (or an array of foggy rainbow colors when Siri is listening or speaking) and has dedicated plus/minus buttons for adjusting volume. A single tap on the top panel plays or pauses audio, a double tap skips forward a track, and a triple tap navigates backward a track. Touching and holding the panel summons Siri, which you can also do by saying, “Hey Siri.” The controls are responsive and easy to operate.

Setup is automated and simple—just having an iPhone or iPad connected to Wi-Fi near the speaker is all it takes when you turn it on for the first time. The process involves agreeing to use Siri’s “recognize my voice” functionality, as well as syncing your Apple Music and iCloud settings, if you wish. Siri does a little demo for you, telling you how you can ask for music to be played or news to be read, though you can get more granular in Apple's Home app.

The HomePod mini is compatible with Bluetooth 5.0 and 802.11n Wi-Fi. Of course, the speaker also works with Apple AirPlay 2, so you can stream directly from Apple devices. There’s no physical connectivity here, however, like an aux input.

HomeKit, Siri, and Other Smart Functionality

The Apple Home app is designed to help you connect and automate smart home devices that are compatible with Apple's HomeKit standard. For instance, you can connect a smart light bulb from Nanoleaf and integrate it into your Home app, then use Siri voice commands on the HomePod mini to control it. Siri can turn it on and off, of course, but can also follow commands to turn the light, say, purple. Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant offer similar functionality, so you just need to make sure the smart home products you buy support the standard you want to use.

With Apple's intercom messaging function, you can send a voice message to multiple HomePod speakers throughout your home, and anyone can respond with their own voice message. Intercom messages can be sent to anyone who is part of your Home group inside the Home app. To send a voice message, you can simply say, “Hey Siri, intercom dinner’s ready,” and the message gets sent out, not just to other HomePods, but to any Apple devices you have set up in the app.

If you ask for a store’s hours on the HomePod mini, you might find that Siri has the directions to the store waiting for you when you get in your car and check the GPS via CarPlay. Ask Siri to find photos of zebras, and images of zebras will appear on your iPhone’s screen within seconds. Furthermore, Siri can recognize up to six voices on the HomePod mini, so Siri should also know that you asked about zebra images, and send them to your phone specifically.

As for audio sources, you can stream anything to the speaker from another compatible device (like an iPhone or laptop) via AirPlay 2. The speaker can also directly access Apple Music, Apple Music Radio, and Apple Podcasts, as well as iHeartRadio, Radio.com, and TuneIn radio streams. Some third-party audio apps, like Amazon Music and Pandora, have built-in integration, in which the HomePod mini will appear as a speaker option from within the app.

I have about 100GB of music stored on my iPhone 8, and nearly all of it was purchased over the years from the iTunes Store (I know, how old-fashioned of me). Before setting up Apple Music, my command, “Hey Siri, play Radiohead, ‘Decks Dark’” failed. When I clarified that I wanted to play music stored off of my phone, Siri complied, but getting a specific song to play proved difficult—Siri was happy to play “all music” on my iPhone or “shuffle music” on my iPhone, but requests like, “Hey Siri, use my iPhone’s Music app to play Radiohead,” and, “Hey Siri, play the playlist Testing Suite from my iPhone,” didn't work. Of course, you can always play music directly from your phone to the speaker manually via AirPlay 2, but the lack of integration of store-bought iTunes files with Siri voice commands is a bit disappointing.

With Apple Music up and running, Siri and the HomePod mini are both much happier. The speaker works smoothly, and music can be called up quickly.

How the HomePod mini Handles Privacy

In the era of digital voice assistants, it's reasonable to wonder: Is Siri always listening to me? Apple claims that, no, Siri isn’t listening when you don’t directly ask a question. But if you want to stop Siri from listening unless you expressly tell it to, you can turn off the HomePod mini's always-on mic by saying, “Hey Siri, turn off Hey Siri.”

Beyond this, Apple claims that when you ask Siri for anything—info from the internet, to play a song, ingredients for a recipe, etc.—the information exchange utilizes “random identifiers” to convey data back and forth. These random identifiers, Apple says, aren't traceable, so your searches are kept private. If you also disable the "send feedback" option, you have a smart speaker that should offer sufficient privacy to allay most concerns.

HomePod mini Mic and Audio Performance

The HomePod mini's four-mic array is designed to pick up voice commands from far away. We tested it with some quiet vocal commands from across a room, and can attest to an impressive reach. Obviously, if music is playing, you’ll have to speak up louder, and the mics once picked up a commercial during a football game—a voiceover said, “Hey Siri, who's leading the NFL in touchdowns,” and the HomePod mini immediately came forth with an answer. Someone in the booth during the broadcast also said something like, “Hey, seriously,” and this activated Siri, as well. I wasn’t listening to music, so this wasn’t annoying, but the potential to accidentally trigger Siri is there.

As for audio performance, Apple's “computational audio” here seems to be an example of the company creating a new term for one that already exists: digital signal processing (DSP). Nearly every speaker we test these days uses DSP to manage various aspects of the audio experience—most importantly, to prevent distortion when a speaker’s volume is maxed out. But DSP can also raise bass levels when the volume is turned low so that the audio still sounds full and rich. Apple's computational audio does these very things, along with aiding in the 360-degree audio dispersion made possible by the waveguide.

Whatever you want to call it, when a company implements DSP well, it’s usually a good thing—but make no mistake, the existence of computational audio in the HomePod mini isn't more impressive than the existence of DSP in any other speaker. Thankfully, Apple's version here allows the HomePod mini to get fairly loud for its size and price. At maximum volumes, you get a solid sense of bass depth, but the dynamics are limited to a notable degree. Again, this is par for the course with DSP, especially with a speaker this size.

On tracks with intense sub-bass content, like The Knife’s “Silent Shout,” the HomePod mini avoids distorting at top volumes—the deep bass thump is lessened to a thinner sound, but you still get a decent sense of low-end depth. At lower volume levels, the speaker does a good job of preserving the sense of bass depth so that the track still seems to pack a low-frequency punch without actually being played at a high volume level.

Bill Callahan’s “Drover,” a track with far less deep bass in the mix, gives us a better sense of the HomePod mini’s general sound signature. The drums here can sound thin on speakers that lack enough bass depth, but on the HomePod mini they sound relatively full and even a little heavy at times. It’s Callahan’s baritone vocals that seem to stand out the most in the lower register, with plenty of low-mid richness. Thankfully, the lows are balanced out with crisp high-mids and highs, giving the vocals some treble edge and the acoustic guitar strums some bright presence. At top volumes, we again can sense the DSP squashing the dynamics to a degree, but it doesn't sound bad, and at slightly more moderate levels, the dynamics are a little more vibrant.

On Jay-Z and Kanye West’s “No Church in the Wild,” the kick drum loop receives enough high-mid presence for its attack to retain its punchiness, while the sub-bass synth hits that punctuate the beat are more implied than delivered—we wouldn't really expect a thunderous subwoofer rumble from a speaker this size, anyway. This isn’t to say that the HomePod mini sounds brittle here—there’s plenty of added bass thump in the drum loop, just not powerful sub-bass. The vocals on this track are delivered with solid clarity and no added sibilance.

Orchestral tracks, like the opening scene from John Adams’ The Gospel According to the Other Mary, get a little added richness through the HomePod mini—the lower-register instrumentation is pushed forward in the mix, but balanced out well with the bright presence of the higher-register brass, strings, and vocals. This style of speaker isn’t designed for critical listening, nor for sub-bass thunder, but for casual listening it delivers some solid richness and strong overall balance.

We tested the HomePod mini on its own, but adding a second speaker to create a stereo pair can work wonders—just getting some stereo separation adds to the perception of a larger soundstage and more power. The difference between stereo mixes on a single HomePod mini versus a stereo pair of two is profound, but you're also doubling the price.

Comparing the HomePod mini with some similarly priced speakers, like the fourth-generation Amazon Echo, almost doesn't seem fair. Yes, they're the same exact price, but Amazon’s speaker is significantly larger, louder, more powerful, and provides a substantially stronger sense of bass depth. If audio is your top priority, it’s not even close—the Echo beats the HomePod mini (as well as the Google Nest Audio, for that matter) hands down.

Siri, Alexa, or Google Assistant? Which $99 Smart Speaker Is Right for You?

Ultimately, the value of Apple's HomePod mini comes down to how much you want Siri in your home (or to expand Siri's reach in your home). If audio quality is your top priority, you can get better performance with the $99 Amazon Echo or with a non-smart, portable Bluetooth speaker like the $129 JBL Charge 4. But if you already use Siri as your primary voice assistant, or you're invested in Apple's HomeKit smart home system, the HomePod mini won’t disappoint—its audio capabilities are solid, and its overall value is strengthened by its smart features.

0 notes

hakureiillusion · 7 years

Text

Magician Girls and You: A Yu-Gi-Oh! Archetype Primer and the History of the Dark Magician Girl

This ended up being far longer than I expected! I’ll put a break here, but feel free to keep reading where I discuss the origin and troubles of Yu-Gi-Oh!’s Dark Magician Girl (one of my personal favorite cards) and her recent rise, culminating in ideas for a pair of decks that will bring out her recent potential.

History of the Dark Magician Girl

Flash back to the turn of the century. Yu-Gi-Oh! has taken Japan and the US by storm, a multi-media project by Konami encompassing a TV anime, movies, CDs, manga, and of course, the card game itself.

Our main characters at the time were a boy named Yugi Muto and his ancient Egyptian alter-ego Yami. Their ace card: the iconic Dark Magician. Those who played the card game would likely recognize Dark Magician as being... well, largely underwhelming. Even before the game’s massive power creep. Dark Magician was a two-tribute 2500 ATK monster, outclassed by both Seto Kaiba’s Blue-Eyes White Dragon (a 3000 ATK monster for the same cost, also the “rival” character and monster) and Yugi’s own Summoned Skull (matching Dark Magician’s 2500 ATK but only requiring one tribute).

Despite this, most kids loved Dark Magician, even if largely for sentimental and iconic value. Dark Magician was always there whenever Yugi or Yami needed him, always coming out on top somehow despite the odds being stacked against him. Later seasons would expand on the duo’s relationship with their favorite card even more by revealing the card’s inspiration to be one of Yami’s retainers from when he ruled Egypt as its Pharaoh.

With Dark Magician’s popularity, Konami naturally began to capitalize by creating more cards built to support the iconic monster. Among the first was a female counterpart, aptly named Dark Magician Girl.

Dark Magician Girl made her debut in the year 2000, a particularly rare card that did not get released worldwide or with any saturation until years later. Her popularity spiked when she made her anime debut in episode 26, where Yami uses her to defeat another Dark Magician user named Arkana. And that was the day the world fell in love.

There were many reasons for Dark Magician Girl’s rather immediate popularity. For starters, having a card that supported the iconic Dark Magician gave her a leg up already. Second, her design is... well, it’s adorable, to be frank. Rather cutesy, but also quite cool in her own right, in sort of a girl-power way. Combine this with an audience of adolescents and prepubescents, and you have a recipe for many a future weeb’s first waifu.

Though despite the popularity and love she received, Dark Magician Girl would once again prove to be an underwhelming card. Along with her consistent popularity both in the anime and along other adaptations, she quickly went the way of Dark Magician; iconic and beloved, but borderline useless and only used in decks by people who really wanted to use her. And even when Dark Magician did get some eventual support to bring him up to a more viable status, Dark Magician Girl was left in the dust, now outclassed in every way.

Now fast-forward to the present, and Dark Magician Girl has finally gotten the support to match her popularity. More Dark Magician support cards have been made with her in mind, giving her some extra options, but her time to shine was finally reached with the release of the most recent movie, The Dark Side of Dimensions. This set introduced--among other things that help her--five new “Magician Girl” cards, not only to support Dark Magician Girl but also to establish her as the leader of a new archetype of cards. This has also made her quite unique in that she fits into both the “Dark Magician” and “Magician Girl” card archetypes, allowing her to benefit from cards that support both. Not only can she now stand alongside Dark Magician in a deck built around him, but she can even surpass him and run the show with her new Magician Girls behind her.

And now that I’ve thoroughly gone over Dark Magician Girl’s long-winded history, that’s what the rest of this little piece will be about: a pair of decks that capitalize on the new synergy between Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl, or just Dark Magician Girl herself. And whichever way you prefer, with the new Magician Girls backing them up, they are more dangerous than ever before.

About the Magician Girls

Including Dark, there are six Magician Girl cards; each are Spellcaster-type effect monsters from levels 1 through 6, together spanning across all 6 main attributes. Though their ATK and DEF may rise as their levels do, each are unique and bring their own irreplaceable support to each other. Before we go into deck ideas, let’s look at each of them in general.

Berry Magician Girl Level 1 EARTH Monster - Spellcaster/Effect ATK/DEF - 400/400 Effect: “If this card is Normal Summoned: You can add 1 "Magician Girl" monster from your Deck to your hand. Once per turn, during either player's turn, when your opponent activates a card or effect that targets this card, or targets this card for an attack: You can change this card's battle position, and if you do, Special Summon 1 "Magician Girl" monster from your Deck, except "Berry Magician Girl".”

Berry, while the weakest of the six, brings a very unique and vital ability with her. While four of the six Magician Girls have the ability to search out and/or summon more monsters to help them, Berry is the only one who requires no sort of cost or action for one of her abilities that do so. Her first allows you to add a Magician Girl to your hand just by normal summoning her, while her second--in addition to protecting her by changing her to defense position when attacked--will allow you to Special Summon another Magician Girl from your deck.

If Berry can be protected by other cards until the next turn, every turn is an opportunity to Special Summon another Magician Girl. However, this is rarely worth it; her job is to stack your hand with fuel for Lemon and Apple’s abilities, and replace herself with something better before her inevitable (and likely quick) destruction. If she survives a turn, she can be useful tribute fodder for Kiwi or Dark, but aside from that you shouldn’t fret over losing her.

Lemon Magician Girl Level 2 LIGHT Monster - Spellcaster/Effect ATK/DEF: 800/600 Effect: “Once per turn: You can Tribute 1 "Magician Girl" monster, except "Lemon Magician Girl"; add 1 Spellcaster-Type monster from your Deck to your hand. Once per turn, if this card is targeted for an attack: You can Special Summon 1 Spellcaster-Type monster from your hand, but its effects (if any) are negated, then change the attack target to it, and if you do, the attacking monster's ATK becomes half its current ATK.”

Lemon’s main ability will become quite familiar to you very quickly; half of the Magician Girls have variants of it. While Berry protects herself by switching herself to defense position, Lemon does so by both weakening its aggressor (cutting their ATK in half, permanently until they leave the field) and plopping a meat shield in front of herself, which the attacker is then forced to target. She can Special Summon any Spellcaster that doesn’t have unique summoning conditions in this way, giving you great freedom in exchange for the summoned monster losing their effects until they leave the field. While powerful, this needs to be used with caution, as a lost effect can make the summoned monster lose much of its value.

Her second effect likely won’t be used much, as it’s not particularly prudent to lose any of your other Magician Girls on the field just to stack your hand, but it plays well into her own ability. Berry can be tributed once her purpose is served, for instance, to grab a stronger or more vital Spellcaster into your hand and ready for Lemon’s next effect. Just be careful not to use Lemon to summon them if you need their ability.

Lemon synergizes well with the main “muscle” of the Magician Girl deck, namely Dark Magician Girl and Dark Magician of Chaos. Neither of their abilities are particularly vital, and after the ATK-reducing effects they can take down monsters with base ATKs of 4000 and 5600 respectively. For decks that also run Dark Magician himself, he has no ability to lose from being summoned by Lemon, making him a prime choice as well.

There is some debate as to whether or not Lemon’s effect-negating extends to the effect of Dark Magician of Chaos that states to banish him when he leaves the field. While people are assuming that it does not, other rulings for similar situations (such as Archlord Kristya and Skill Drain) do suggest so, as well as the exact wording of his effect... Konami will likely need to issue an official ruling on this soon, but until then, figure it out with your friends.

Apple Magician Girl Level 3 FIRE Monster - Spellcaster/Effect ATK/DEF: 1200/800 Effect: “Once per turn, if this card is targeted for an attack: You can Special Summon 1 Level 5 or lower Spellcaster-Type monster from your hand, then change the attack target to it, and if you do, the attacking monster's ATK becomes half its current ATK. If this card is destroyed by battle or card effect: You can target up to 3 other "Magician Girl" monsters with different names in your Graveyard; add them to your hand.”

Just like Lemon, Apple’s main claim to fame is her ability to simultaneously weaken anything that attacks her while pulling monsters from your hand to protect her. Compared to Lemon, this ability is slightly more limited, requiring the monster to be level 5 or lower, but doesn’t carry Lemon’s effect-negating drawback. On the plus side, all of the new Magician Girls ARE level 5 or lower Spellcasters.

With the effects of monsters summoned by Apple perfectly usable, this means that you can effectively “chain” Apples. Have one summon another, who in turn summons the next (or Lemon, or Chocolate), cutting your enemy’s ATK further each time. Nearly anything that can be bested in battle WILL fall to this.

Apple’s second effect will be your saving grace. When her effect falls short and she ultimately kicks the bucket, she allows you to take three different Magician Girls back from your graveyard. This allows you to recycle the ones that tend to end up there most (Berry, Kiwi, and Dark, in my experience), and makes her a fantastic mid-to-late game trump card.

Chocolate Magician Girl Level 4 WATER Monster - Spellcaster/Effect ATK/DEF: 1600/1000 Effect: “Once per turn: You can discard 1 Spellcaster-Type monster; draw 1 card. Once per turn, if this card is targeted for an attack: You can target 1 Spellcaster-Type monster in your Graveyard, except "Chocolate Magician Girl"; Special Summon it, then change the attack target to it, and if you do, the attacking monster's ATK becomes half its current ATK.”

While Dark may be the face of the Magician Girls, and Kiwi the biggest of the new five, Chocolate is the star player by far. Her respectable 1600 ATK makes her decent muscle, especially if she comes in on a half-ATK enemy.

Obviously though, her worth lies in her abilities. Just one look at them should tell you what you need to know; summon her, dump a Spellcaster to draw a card, summon that Spellcaster next turn to protect her. Easy, and frighteningly effective. Dump your strongest Spellcasters and bring them back, or use her to give Apple another go after Apple fetches Magician Girls from your Graveyard.

She’s as simple as she is powerful, and you’ll find yourself giddy with excitement every time you draw her or add her to your hand, as she is usually the initiator of the most devastating combos a Magician Girl deck can pull off.

Kiwi Magician Girl Level 5 WIND Monster - Spellcaster/Effect ATK/DEF: 1800/1200 Effect: “During either player's turn: You can discard this card; "Magician Girl" monsters you currently control gain 300 ATK and DEF for each "Magician Girl" monster with different names on the field and in the Graveyards, until the end of this turn. Spellcaster-Type monsters you control cannot be destroyed by card effects, and your opponent cannot target them with card effects.”

And finally, here’s Kiwi. She’s the most different one out of the new five, being the only one who doesn’t Special Summon another monster, as well as the only one higher than level 4 (and therefore the only one requiring a tribute to Normal Summon). In return, she gets two very unique and VERY helpful effects. I referred to Apple as a trump card earlier; and while that may be true in many situations, Kiwi is your REAL trump card.

Kiwi’s most basic effect is that she completely stops card effects from destroying your Spellcasters (including herself), and stops your opponent (but not you) from targeting them. This shuts down most ways for your opponent to deal with your monsters short of attacking them; which, if you’ve been paying attention, is exactly what you WANT your opponent to do so that you can activate the effects of the other four.

Mirror Force? Laugh in its face. Raigeki? Useless. Your own Dark Hole? Wipe your opponent’s side of the field, but not yours. The applications of Kiwi’s protective effect are endless, and crafty players know just how to summon her at the perfect time to avoid a board wipe. To properly counter this your opponent needs to use effect-negating or hand-returning effects that don’t target, and then has to deal with your setup afterwards to ensure you don’t just get Kiwi right back up and running.

Kiwi’s other effect, while not as all-encompassing, is equally fantastic. By discarding her from your hand, she gives every Magician Girl you control an extra 300 ATK and DEF for each uniquely-named Magician Girl on the field and in both graveyards. At best, that’s a solid 1800 ATK and DEF (if you have all six Magician Girls available). Combine this with the other Magician Girls’ effects that halve enemy attack and redirect attacks, and you have ways to beat high-ATK enemies in battle while also dealing some rather substantial reflect damage. This ability can be activated during damage calculation as well, allowing you to time it perfectly.

For all her utility, Kiwi is still somewhat on the weak side; 1800 ATK isn’t great, especially for a monster that needs a tribute, plus she’s the only one of the new five that can’t Special Summon others to help her, so she could use some protection from enemy monsters. Do that, though, and you’ll find her to be an invaluable support.

Incidentally, Kiwi is the only Magician Girl not to get censored in any way. Apple, Lemon, Chocolate, and Dark each have had their art edited to cover and/or remove parts of their cleavage and/or thighs, Berry and Dark have had the stars on their brooches replaced with simple red gems to avoid any relation to a pentagram, and Apple and Chocolate have had the garter straps on their legs removed. Kiwi got away scot-free, somehow.

Dark Magician Girl Level 6 DARK Monster - Spellcaster/Effect ATK/DEF: 2000/1700 Effect: “This card gains 300 ATK for every "Dark Magician" or "Magician of Black Chaos" in either player's Graveyard.”

The original Magician Girl herself. Once a lone counterpart to Dark Magician, she now stands at the crossroads between the Magician Girl and Dark Magician archetypes, a huge threat in conjunction with either.

Dark hasn’t changed at all since her inception; if anything, her effect is even less useful than it used to be. She gets an extra 300 ATK for each Dark Magician and Magician of Black Chaos in each graveyard, and while before this meant it took two dead Dark Magicians for her to pull more weight, over time Dark Magician support made him more useful than even the most powerful Dark Magician Girl.

But that time is over. Dark doesn’t even NEED her effect anymore, not with the other Magician Girls backing her up. Her small 300 ATK boosts are just icing on the cake, giving you a small leg up for each Dark Magician you lose.

Dark’s new claim to fame is having the highest ATK of all the Magician Girls. 2000 isn’t fantastic, but considering that half of the time she’ll be coming in on a monster whose ATK just got halved, it’s plenty. And Lemon’s drawback of negating the effects of monsters she summons is hardly a worry when it comes to Dark, who often isn’t relying on (or even using) her effect to begin with.

A slew of new cards (and a few older ones) have also given Dark plenty of support, to make her even more deadly on the field. She’s the biggest of the Magician Girls, and while not strictly the baddest, she packs the heaviest punch. And that’s really all she needs to do; leave the trickery and strategy to the other five, and plop Dark down on the field when something needs to die.

Now that we’ve introduced the six Magician Girls, let’s go over two vague deck outlines to put them to work. When I mention quantities, those are cards that you’ll definitely need; when I don’t, you can probably live without them, but they may be quite helpful.

Deck #1: Magician Girl

This deck will eschew the standard Dark Magician entirely, focusing around the six Magician Girls. The main point of this deck is to cut down on fluff, keeping it at a trim 40 cards that all synergize well. Primarily a gimmick deck; we all know you just want to use a deck full of cute girls. But it still works well if you play it right!

Main Monsters Surprisingly, you’ll find ONE male here! There are only seven different main monsters in this recipe, so if you have three of each you’ll have 21 total. A pretty good number for a 40-card deck.

Berry Magician Girl You’ll want three of her, for sure. She can search out just about everything in this deck, keeping your hand and field ready for whatever may come.

Lemon Magician Girl Three isn’t a bad idea, but you can live with two. Lemon synergizes well with both Dark and Dark Magician of Chaos, as they are the strongest monsters in this deck and their effects aren’t vital.

Apple Magician Girl Like Lemon, three is preferable but not required. Three gives you the ability to chain their effects nicely, but two is all you need to properly have them recycle each other as they die.

Chocolate Magician Girl You want three copies of Chocolate, hands-down. Like Lemon she synergizes well with Dark and Dark Magician of Chaos, discarding them to draw a card and then summoning them back when she gets attacked, effects intact.

Kiwi Magician Girl Again, three is the best, and HIGHLY recommended as she is the only one whose different effects require her to be in different places. If you want to run two you can, but you tend to always want to have an extra in your hand.

Dark Magician Girl You need three Darks. You will be searching them out frequently with Berry and Lemon, and those three will be out of your deck very quickly. If you could have four in a deck, I’d tell you to put four.

Dark Magician of Chaos In a pure Magician Girl deck, this is the only monster who will fall outside that archetype. Dark Magician of Chaos can be summoned by Lemon and Chocolate, and his 2800 ATK will make mincemeat of anything that had its ATK halved by their effects. Even things that didn’t will have trouble matching him. While Dark is more versatile for fetching and summoning, Dark Magician of Chaos is the real muscle in the deck and a fantastic choice when you can get him out. Three of him. Period.

Extra Monsters For the Extra Deck. You can’t possibly fill this up with viable monsters that can be summoned, so if you want to toss in a few extra level 1-5 Xyz monsters, go nuts. Just make sure they’re Spellcasters.

Dark Magician Girl the Dragon Knight The only non-Spellcaster this deck will run. She doesn’t get protection from Kiwi, but since she technically IS a Magician Girl, she does benefit from Kiwi’s boosting effect. Plus her own effect is nothing to scoff at, nor is her 2600 ATK.

Magi Magi Magician Gal As of yet unreleased in English, and it’s difficult to get her out since she needs two of a type of card you only have three of, but her utility is great and you have plenty of room in your Extra Deck to fit her.

Ebon Illusion Magician Like the Magician Gal, Ebon Illusion Magician is going to be hard to get out. You technically don’t have any level 7 Spellcasters to summon him with, but he can also be summoned by a rank 6 Xyz Spellcaster... namely, Magi Magi Magician Gal. Again, he probably won’t come up, but your Extra Deck is just that; extra. Having him in it can only help.

Spells Ironically for a Spellcaster-focused deck, you won’t find many necessary spells here. But there are obviously some you need.

The Eye of Timaeus This is how you get Dark Magician Girl the Dragon Knight out on the field. It’s cheap and effective, plain and simple. Not worth having more than one or two copies of.

Magical Dimension While there are plenty of great ways to use this card, you should keep one as a bit of insurance; if your opponent tries to wipe your board with a card effect, use it to summon Kiwi from your hand and protect them. Or summon Dark Magician of Chaos with it and use his effect to recycle it! I tend to run two of these in my deck, though three can be useful too.

Secret Village of the Spellcasters Situational use for when your opponent doesn’t have any Spellcaster-type monsters, maybe better as a side-deck card but can find use for discard effects in the main deck as well. This card synergizes FANTASTICALLY with Kiwi, making her (and therefore your other Spellcasters) even harder to remove than before.

Mystical Space Typhoon A classic. Raigeki Another classic.

Dark Hole Yet another classic, but now with Kiwi you don’t have to worry about wiping your side of the board as well.

Dark Burning Attack Budget Raigeki. Not as good, but totally unlimited.

Swords of Revealing Light Honestly sometimes goes against the theme of the deck (you WANT your Magician Girls to get attacked), but buying a few turns when things aren’t going your way is always a plus. Also useful for flipping your opponent’s monsters to nail with Dark Burning Attack.

Bound Wand This is how you keep Kiwi alive; the extra 500 ATK and ability to summon her back after her death will make her an absolute terror.

Traps According to my recent Google Image searches, Dark Magician Girl can be a trap too...

Magicians’ Defense Damage reduction and Special Summoning; everything you could ever want.

Dark Renewal Trade in one of your Spellcasters (and your opponent’s freshly-summoned monster) to Special Summon Dark Magician Girl or Dark Magician of Chaos from your deck or graveyard.

Torrential Tribute Again, Kiwi will save your own Spellcasters from this.

Magician’s Circle All six Magician Girls can be searched and summoned with this.

Magic Cylinder Another classic, for when you want to give Berry a chance to take a second hit or to protect Kiwi.

Call of the Haunted Kiwi’s effect stops the monster tied to this card from being destroyed by its effect. In case you haven’t figured it out yet, Kiwi is amazing.

Shift Opponent isn’t attacking the Magician Girl you want them to? Make them!

Battle Mania The best way to deal with a Magician Girl deck is to not attack. Unless Battle Mania happens.

Deck #2: Dark Magician Duo

This deck will use the Magician Girl deck as a base, trimming some of the fat to add Dark Magician and his support cards. This deck has stronger monsters and tends to not worry too much about waiting for your opponent to attack, though to keep enough copies of proper cards your deck might start to slip further and further away from that 40 count.

Main Monsters Now featuring even more Y chromosomes than before!

Dark Magician Obviously. As a normal monster he’s a prime candidate for Lemon’s effect, and even Chocolate can make great use of him. You’ll want three of him, two minimum.

Palladium Oracle Mahad Arguably just as useful as the Dark Magician himself, better on his own but without the support Dark Magician gets. But when he dies, you get a Dark Magician anyway. Fit as many of him as you reasonably can in the deck.

Magician’s Robe Basically a free Dark Magician if you can pull off its effect.

Extra Monsters A few more possibilities open up once Dark Magician and Mahad are in the deck. You still have plenty of space, fitting at least two of each.

Dark Paladin The classic dragon-slayer, and with The Eye of Timaeus you don’t need Buster Blader to bring him out.

Amulet Dragon Can be useful if your opponent runs a spell-heavy deck. Keep in mind that Kiwi does not protect him.

Ebon High Magician An Xyz monster that can be summoned with the help of Dark Magician or Mahad. When he dies you can then pull Dark Magician or Dark Magician Girl to replace him.

Spells Wait for the best card ever...

Dark Burning Magic The best card ever. Between all the Magician Girls and Magician’s Robe, it’s painfully easy to plop down a Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl during your opponent’s turn and the wipe their field during the battle phase.

Sage’s Stone Here’s a Dark Magician Girl, and here’s a Dark Magician. A tried and true card, though not as useful as it used to be now that there are more ways to get Dark Magician out. But with the ease with which this deck can get out Dark Magician Girl, you can’t ignore it.

Dark Magic Attack If you can’t pull off Dark Burning Magic, this is good too.

Dedication Through Light and Darkness Generally there are better ways to find a Dark Magician of Chaos, but if you need one NOW...

Dark Magical Circle This card is expensive for a reason. It makes your Dark Magician into an annihilator while also helping you make the most out of your deck.

Traps Dark Magician traps, not nearly as cute.

Magician Navigation Like Dark Magical Circle, this card is expensive because of how good it is. Pull a Dark Magician, and then either another one or a Dark Magician Girl. Then later use it to kill trap cards. It does everything.

Other Options

Monsters Magician’s Valkyria Normally shunned due to how difficult it is to pull off her combo, the Magician Girls have given her one last shot at relevance by making them easier to get out. In particular, combining two of them with Kiwi can effectively lock out your opponent; Secret Village of the Spellcasters makes them even harder to break through.

Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning Magician Girl decks aren’t as flush with Dark and Light monsters as standard Dark Magician or Spellcaster decks would be, but he’ll still have plenty of fuel for summoning and is always useful. Again, keep in mind that he is NOT a Spellcaster.

Magician of Black Chaos Usually not worth running, but he can be useful, even if just to feed Dark Magician Girl.

Spells Dark Magic Veil Only three monsters in this deck can be summoned by it, but they’re all things you want out.

Magic Formula Bolsters Dark Magician or Dark Magician Girl’s ATK and gives you a bit of LP back, but generally not worth the space in the deck.

Traps Eternal Soul Good support for Dark Magician, but you need Kiwi to avoid getting wiped if it gets destroyed. Probably not worth it unless you build around it.

Dark Horizon Situational but can save you when nothing else may.

And there you have it. She’s had a long and bumpy ride, but Dark Magician Girl is finally where she deserves to be: not just in the hearts of people everywhere, but their decks as well.

#fucking long post #yugioh #yu-gi-oh!#dark magician #dark magician girl #magician girl #berry magician girl #lemon magician girl #apple magician girl #chocolate magician girl #kiwi magician girl #the dark side of dimensions #yugioh deck

13 notes · View notes

nerdforestgirl · 7 years

Text

The Enchantment Alternative

Chapter Five: A New Tale

Previous Chapter: Chapter Four: A New Lesson

The pair took a stroll around the garden area of Sheldon’s cottage. They were quiet the whole way. They spent so many hours in either quiet or with Sheldon reading to Amy. She realized that she knew very little about the man with whom she spent so much time. Perhaps she would sneak him a question every now and again.

“I'm tired,” Amy admitted after they neared the end of the loop. Sheldon hooked his arm through Amy's to steady her as they headed back to the shed so she could rest again. It was as close as he had been to her physically since her carried her unconscious body back into the shed when he was terrified she was dead or dying from his carelessness. He ignored the joy he felt and the quickening of his heart at the contact.

“I'll be back with supper,” Sheldon promised after he returned her to bed. Her color was better and he wanted to take her on an even longer walk the next day.

“Who taught you to cook?” Amy asked him. He really was very good at it. Possibly better than she, and she had done a fair share of food preparation in the castle in her years.

“My grandmother,” Sheldon admitted. “I was a sickly child, so I stayed inside a great deal. She taught me to cook so that I had something practical to do other than keep my nose in books. A number of her lessons also made me a better potion maker.”

Amy nodded. She never would have guessed that he was ever sickly. He certainly wasn't now. The wizard's robes he wore did not show off the strong muscles underneath, but Amy knew first hand that he was quite strong and sturdy. She wanted to squeeze his arm when he had it looped through hers because he felt so strong.

“Get some sleep,” Sheldon told her. Then he left her alone to rest in her shed.

As the days went on, Amy started gathering more and more strength. Her walks with Sheldon started going beyond his garden, and since they were spending a great deal of time together, they were also learning more about each other. Amy realized that Sheldon was a brilliant man, but just another man all the same. He had interests beyond magic, so she learned that he liked playing games when he visited his friends and he enjoyed perfecting his apple jam recipe, which Amy agreed was the best she ever tasted. Mostly he spent his time alone reading anything and everything he could get his hands on.

“When did your friend leave?” Amy asked.

“Oh. Leonard left about a year and a half ago now. He and his wife actually lived just over that hill for a couple years before that. We were like a family, but they decided that they wanted to live closer to town. I go visit a few times a year,” Sheldon explained.

“That's all?” Amy asked.

“What do you mean?”

“You miss your friends and they live close to town. Why do you not also live close to town?”

“It's hard to do my work close to town. It can be dangerous to take on untrained students when you are playing with things like fire and water. I stayed in town once to train a student who needed to be close to his ill mother and nearly burned down an entire row of shops. Here, my students are likely to do so much damage.”

“Do you have a lot of students?”

“Some. When I have time to train someone. Though more than half look at the pile of books and leave. They want to jump right into the magic, and as you have seen first hand, that's not a good idea. I also do not baby my students. Magic hurts and I do not hide that.”

“Why don't you take a wife for the times when you are alone? I know you do not need the help with cooking or cleaning, but you must get lonely up here.”

“I have never had much interest in those things. I would rather be lonely all my days than be miserable with a wife who I do not love. And as you said, I get by just fine up here alone. Why don't you take a husband? Not many women want to work for themselves,” Sheldon said, turning the tables on Amy. He had learned a little of her life before she came to him, including that she was a curious child, which was frowned upon given her expected role of maid in the castle.

“I don't ever want to be married. I don't want to be under anyone's jurisdiction. I want to be my own woman, and I perhaps want to live in my own cottage like yours and keep my own garden and do magic to help people,” Amy told him boldly. It was all she had ever thought of since she was twelve, and now that she was grown and studying under Sheldon, she was closer to it than ever.

“Did your parents never have a happy life?”

Amy wondered how to tell Sheldon more about her childhood. She decided to just be honest about it because it was easier than making things up.

“My parents were never married. My mother was a maid in the castle until she died last year. My father... my father is the king,” Amy admitted.

Sheldon bowed in front of Amy. “Princess,” he said in a hushed and awed tone. Amy was sure he was teasing her.

“We both know I am no princess. I was never supposed to be born, and no one ever told me that I was the king's daughter. Though his nose is perfectly on my face.” Amy rubbed her nose self-consciously. She knew that her eyes were also the exact color of the king's. “I heard my mother speaking to the king one night when he visited our room. I pretended to be asleep. He was threatening her to never reveal the secret after she tried to get him to use his influence to get me magical training. He told her that I was nothing special and that he would do nothing for me despite the connection. It was the only time he ever admitted that I was his daughter. Then he threatened to throw us on the street if she ever brought it up again.”

Sheldon only nodded thoughtfully at her words. He had never been a great fan of the king, but this seemed harsh even for him. To refuse his own daughter training when she wanted nothing more. Though, he did not doubt her story at all. Now that he looked carefully at her, she looked like the king in a way that led Sheldon to believe that the secret was out no matter what the king wanted. Though, Amy was much more beautiful than the features suggested on the king's face.

“That was when I decided that I wanted to be my own woman, and I have worked hard to do that for the last twelve years. Here I am: training under a master of the craft and doing well as long as I am not hurting myself in the process,” Amy explained. Then she reached out to touch a flower in the garden. It perked up even though Amy was not trying at all to do magic. All the same, she winced in pain as he knees buckled a little and Sheldon scooped her back in his arms to carry her back to bed.

“I told you no magic,” he scolded her.

“I was not trying. The flower was beautiful and I only wished to touch it.”

“You are one of the most powerful mages I have ever met, Amy. Even I do not fully understand the extent of your magic, but until you are healed, you need to be extra careful,” he explained. Then he opened the door to her shed and placed her back in bed.

“I do not believe that you have done much harm to yourself, but I do believe that you should rest for the rest of the day. I would hate for you to have a setback.”

“Of course,” Amy agreed. She trusted Sheldon more than she had ever trusted anyone in her life other than her mother. If he wanted her to rest, she was going to. Besides, she knew that magic was not supposed to hurt like that unless something was wrong. It could be painful, but it wasn't supposed to feel like it tore something inside of her.

Sheldon did not leave Amy to sleep alone. Instead he took the chair that he always sat in and brought it close to her bed. He took her hand in his and sat looking at her as if she might suddenly faint again.

“I feel fine,” Amy assured him.

“I'm sure you are fine.”

“May I ask you a question?”

“Of course,” Sheldon said.

“Am I really as powerful as you said?”

“Yes. You must see that. It usually takes weeks before a student can light even a candle. You set a fire that rose ten feet in the air the first night you tried. It took even me two days to light a fire. Your power is why you must be so careful to take care of yourself. As you practice, you will be able to take that rushing river of magic in you and control it down to a little stream. Until then, it's even more important for you to listen to your body when it tells you it is tired or hungry.”

Amy nodded her head. Then she asked Sheldon for a cup of tea before wondering if she should be asking him for anything. He was still the teacher and she was still the student. Still, he stood without any hesitation to make her a cup of tea. Amy thought that even though they were student and teacher that they might also be friends now.

Next Chapter: Chapter Six: A New Chance

#NFG fan fiction

44 notes · View notes