#I have been inside of like a dozen different video game consoles at this point

[moghedien]

honestly I encourage everyone to get comfortable opening up their electronics. game consoles. computers. phones. keyboards. headphones. whatever. like obviously don't start with the most difficult thing to open up and don't just mindlessly pop open something and lose all the screws and don't do it while its on. but get comfortable looking inside your stuff yourself

its not hard to open up most electronics that don't have an apple logo on them (and even a lot of those are easier than you'd think) and it DOES NOT VOID YOUR WARRANTY.

Companies will try to scare you from learning how to care for your own stuff because they get money that way. Warranty stickers are technically illegal in the US but just isn't enforced, and a company can't actually void your warranty if you repair something yourself, so long as you don't break something else in the process.

like I look at threads all the time where people express fear about just opening up a console and looking at the internals to see which version they have but don't be! its easy, its safe, its free! get comfortable with your electronics and learn how to clean and repair stuff yourself, it isn't scary, companies just want you to think it is!

#I have been inside of like a dozen different video game consoles at this point #i'm talking like atari 2600 through X Box 360 in terms of generations #newer ones I've just had no reason to open up so that's the only reason I haven't tho I should probably do some cleaning #but like I've done cleaning and repasting and straight up surgery on motherboards and its FINE its not hard #I don't even know how to use a soldering iron and I have still done repairs and maintenance that would cost stupid amounts #I've taken part ipods regularly and removed puffy batteries from iphones and popped open headphones to replace parts they don't want replac #i've frankensteined keyboards from different ones to make what I wanted and built ones I myself #as long as you're careful and don't fuck around with power supplies that are ON or act reckless with batteries #its FINE #open up your junk and clean it

[miaclemeverett]

Wilbur, Fundy, and Purpled were interviewed for this great article on the Dream SMP and the Minecraft community! Full article below the cut. 

"Minecraft" launched over a decade ago and the video game is as popular as ever. With over 126 million players worldwide, the voxel-based survival game drops adventurers into a world where they can craft, build, explore, destroy, and create to their heart's content. Aided by tools, blocks, and creativity, the simple sandbox world allows anyone on PC, console, or smartphone the chance to project their own feelings and creations directly into their virtual space.

"As long as you have the mind for it, you can really just do anything," 17-year-old "Minecraft" YouTuber Purpled, who has 700,000 subscribers, told Insider. "Because of how simple Minecraft is and how easy it is to build with it, you can create whatever you want."

In recent years, Microsoft's never-ending game has evolved into a tool for content creators to express themselves, leading to high-profile collaborations with some of YouTube's biggest personalities. By creating their own private "Minecraft" servers, creators have been able to craft ornate worlds and stories that they can explore in streams and videos, immersing fans in a cinematic-style universe.

Minecraft has a long history on YouTube

"Minecraft's" versatility has made it an incredibly popular game for content creators and influencers. In 2012, a change in YouTube's algorithm promoting watch time over video clicks led to a renaissance of "Let's Players" who recorded themselves reacting and playing their favorite games. "Minecraft" was one of the most successful, spawning some of the largest channels of the time like SkyDoesMinecraft (11.3 million subscribers) and Tobuscus (6.25 million subs).

Though the popularity of "Minecraft" remained fairly steady, content about the title waned a bit over the next decade either due to content fatigue or newer titles like "Fortnite" taking the spotlight. 2020 flipped the title back into the forefront, with both streamers and YouTubers capitalizing on the title's popularity.  

The biggest breakout star for "Minecraft" in the past few years is Dream, an expert, faceless player with a neon-green avatar with over 17 million YouTube subscribers. YouTube labeled him the second overall content creator of the year and his streams consistently pull in a quarter of a million people.

In May of 2020, Dream decided to create a small, private server for his friends to play around in. This SMP server, or "survival multiplayer," started off with only a handful of content creators being invited. Soon, the server would expand to over 30 members, bringing in millions of views from fans who chronicle every moment of the lore the creators eventually created.

Viewership on Twitch of "Minecraft" content went from 17 million hours watched in January 2020 to 74 million in January of 2021, according to data from analytics company Rainmaker.gg.  

How the Dream SMP grew from a private server with friends to a cultural milestone

Purpled has been playing "Minecraft" for the past eight years and is a high-ranking player in a multiplayer game mode called "Bed Wars." He had started talking to Dream in the summer of 2019, when the pair were both small, mutual fans.

"When the SMP was in its infancy, I just asked him if there was any room because he said how it's just for friends and if a friend wants to join, they can," Purpled said. "So I asked him, he said, 'Sure.' He sent me the IP and I was in."

The server was originally just a place to create and hangout, with no intention of creating an overarching story or plot.

Fundy, a 19-year-old Dutch YouTuber with 2.7 million subscribers joined when only a handful of other creators were on."I had talked to Dream on a few occasions, out-of-the-blue Dream sent me a message about a survival world that they had going on. It was very small at first," Fundy said. "I thought it could be a fun little side-project I could stream every now and then on Twitch, so I decided to join."

Fundy joined in the early days alongside Wilbur Soot, a 23-year-old YouTuber with 3.8 million subscribers. Soot, after attempting to create an "illegal potion shop" on the server, decided to establish a nation of non-Americans players called L'Manberg. Soot said he wrote a "treatment" for how the formation of his country would go, creating an official canon that fans could follow along with.

"I was invited into the Dream SMP near its inception but I only joined fully when I had an idea for building a country in 'Minecraft'," Soot said. "I write up a series of plot hooks and points that should tie together, however we improv dialogue and comedy throughout to take us from point to point."

These streams and pieces of content all had a canon that could be followed and consumed like a television show. L'Manberg eventually started a war against Dream for its independence, staging a rebellion chronicled in YouTube videos with millions of views.

These streams and videos aren't just randoms in "Minecraft" trying to defeat the end-game Ender Dragon — these are performers putting on a show that their fans can't miss. As the lore expanded, so did the rules needed to keep a sense of continuity and order. For example, each player only has three lives before they are removed and deleted from the server.

"It went from a casual survival game to a whole story-line filled with plots and twists," Fundy said. "Role-playing at this point is a key-feature of the Dream SMP, some parts are scripted, some parts are improv, and some parts are 'non-canon,' where it is just counted as a standard 'Minecraft' server."

The fan communities have risen up and made their voices heard

Over the next few months, the lore and world would continue to grow and so would the fan base. Hundreds of thousands of viewers would tune in for these streams, trying to keep up with the lore and content. To help catalog the story, a network of fans established themselves as lore keepers, documenting each moment for those that had to miss a stream.  

The "DREAMSMP UPDATES!" account on Twitter has established itself as one of the most popular locations to find all this content and lore on social media. Starting in December 2020, the account has grown to over 147,000 users with just a team of seven administrators, ages 14-17, in different locations around the world, posting updates and stream notifications for fans. "Minecraft" is a game that appeals to all ages, but the audience for this content tends to skew younger, with 41 percent of Twitch's user base being 16 to 24, according to GlobalWebIndex.

"You can tell they're all friends and it's a lot more lighthearted in general and it shows," mod on the "DREAMSMP UPDATES!" Twitter account eclaire said over chat app Discord. "When it's not lore you see them actually having good chemistry and it really pulls you in because it almost feels like being pulled into a friend group."

User SamHQ first started the fan account with a couple of friends from high school but the group quickly expanded after the account tweeted that they needed more fans of certain streamers to join. She is online and runs the account "24/7" but "it's just like answering a text."

"When I started the account I knew lots of people who couldn't catch up because of work or school," SamHQ said. "So I gathered friends to help and now people rely on us when someone's streaming or to catch up with the lore when they can't watch."

For the fans that run the update account, keeping up with the Dream SMP isn't dissimilar to following the Marvel Cinematic Universe or a long-running television show. Characters come and go, but the improv and roleplay stay.

"The Dream SMP did something really special — taking an original idea, creating new things that have never been seen on 'Minecraft' and incorporating them with humor and characters that you can become easily attached with," mod NotAlex said.

Though other SMP roleplay servers, like EarthSMP and SMPLive, have been created over the years, none have been as successful or popular as the Dream SMP.

Finding a fan base on the Dream SMP can lead to major growth.

For the performers on the server, addressing fans and their responses comes with the territory.

"The Dream SMP viewers are very important to the Dream SMP, and the fact that they openly speak their mind about how a certain stream went only helps the streamers improve," Fundy said. "It's basically an instant review of what was liked and what wasn't."

Like most major fandoms with a young audience, fanfiction of these streamers has popped up online. Dozens of Dream fics and drawings exist online, some going a bit far and putting underage characters together. Dream responded on Twitter to those "ships," writing that they shouldn't "ship creators that are uncomfortable with it, and especially not minors."

The Dream stans, or the super fans, also tend to be very vocal online about the SMP. Hashtags on Twitter like #dreamnotfound and #dreamfanart consistently break-through to the trending page, confusing those who have no idea this world exists. The most ferocious of stans sometimes overstep the boundary between polite disagreement and outright harassment. This vocal minority has sent death threats and waves of harassment at those who criticize or disagree with their favorite content creators.  

The growth and future of these channels is in large part due to the Dream SMP server

The popularity of Dream SMP has helped grow the content creators that take part in it. Since joining the server, Purpled is gaining three times as many subscribers a month on YouTube and has been introduced to an entirely new fan base. His streams used to pull in 3,000 viewers but now his average is closer to 35,000 to 40,000 viewers.

"Some people think of them as obsessive or stalker fans, but those are people that really like to talk about certain creators and really get invested in things," Purpled said. "And it's really nice because they care a lot more and connect more with the creator than the content."

These creators understand the power of the fan base and know that they come for the content.

"I think the Dream SMP is popular thanks to the brilliant creators and funny improv moments," Soot said. "I think we'll be seeing the emergence of a huge wave of roleplay-centric gaming communities."

#wilbur soot #fundy #purpled #dream smp

[ticklishfiend]

Spoiled Afternoon

The Disastrous Life of Saiki K - Saiki, Kaidou, Kuboyasu

a/n: alrighty here’s my saiki k fic i promised LMAO it’s not great as i wrote it kinda quickly but maybe it’ll hold me off until i get bored and maybe make another hehe. anyways!! hope you enjoy! :)

. . .

School days like today felt like absolute bliss to Saiki. It was possibly the most boring day imaginable when it comes to PK High, and he was on top of the world. At this point, the only thing that made him feel even more excited was the prospect of being able to go home alone and have an even more boring afternoon. It was a heavenly thought, really. 

“Nendo, you’re not even gonna ask to go get ramen?” Kaidou asked the taller boy next to him as they all strolled home together. “I mean, you ask that like every day, is something wrong?”

“Did I not tell you two? I finally got another job!” Nendo exclaimed, smiling brightly at the boys, Kaidou being beside him and Saiki right behind. “I’m actually headed there right now, guess it just slipped my mind to let my best buds know hehe.”

Yeah, that’s not gonna last very long, Saiki thought. I won’t be surprised if he gets fired before he even arrives. 

“That’s great man! Where are you working?” Kaidou asked, before Nendo stopped walking and pointed down a road they don’t usually walk.

“Just some rinky-dink stop-n-go shop down that way. I could show you guys the place if you want!” Nendo smiled widely, his hand gesturing towards a shop down the road that looked...less than friendly. Thugs were gathered outside the door, a fog gathering around the entrance that upon further inspection seems to actually be cigarette smoke.

Kaidou’s face turned sour, his brows furrowing awkwardly as his eyes never left the scary store’s front. “Uhm...I’d love to Nendo, really, but I...I have to study! Yeah, so much homework tonight it’s kinda overwhelming!” Kaidou laughed nervously, a hand scratching the back of his head.

Kaidou, we all have the same classes, surely you don’t think Nendo won’t realize-

“Oh, I understand buddy! Well, you’re free to stop by anytime! My hours are from 3 to 8!” Nendo waved as he started making his way down the road opposite to the other boys. “Bye buddies!”

Oh right. How could I forget Nendo’s raging idiocy?

“Jeez, that was a close one,” Kaidou spoke as the two boys began making their way as far from that road as possible. “I hope Nendo will be okay over there, it seems really rough.”

Nendo’s a pretty big guy, he can fight his own battles if he needs to. Honestly, his surprising athleticism might be the only thing that could help him keep that job, Saiki thought. Thanks to Nendo, I don’t even have to worry about getting food with these morons, I can just go straight home with no distractions or obstacles in my w-

“Oh hey, Kuboyasu!” Kaidou shouted happily, waving his hands toward the purple-haired teen in front of them. What a pain, just another thing to slow me down from my goal. “What are you doing in this alley, I thought your house was down the other way?” 

“I was actually looking for you guys. Speaking of which, where’s Nendo?” Kuboyasu asked, looking around the other two boys as if Nendo’s huge frame could be hiding behind them somewhere.

“He got himself a job down that creepy road over there, some scary-looking shop surrounded by a bunch of thugs,” Kaidou shivered just thinking about it. Kuboyasu’s eyes widened like he knew the exact place he was talking about. Saiki read his thoughts only to find out he witnessed some crazy shit there once during his bad-boy phase. Yikes. “Anyways, why were you looking for us?”

Kuboyasu was suddenly transported out of his thoughts and back into the real world. “O-Oh, right!” He reached into his backpack and pulled out a game cartridge. “I bought this game a while back and I heard it’s much more fun if you play multiplayer. It only goes up to three people, but now that Nendo’s at work all three of us could totally play together!”

Great. Why today of all days did Nendo have to start a new job?

Kuboyasu handed the game over to Kaidou for him to look at, the blue-haired boy’s eyes going wide with excitement. “Wait, I’ve heard of this game! Oh my god, we have to play this, it was one of the top rated games last year!” 

I’ve heard of this one too. It’s some fighting style game much akin to Mortal Kombat. Why would Kuboyasu even buy this kind of game if he didn’t have anyone to play with? Everyone knows fighting computers is never as fun. Still, I’m not going. I’d much rather sleep the afternoon away.

“My mom doesn’t really let me play many games so I didn’t get to buy it when it came out, so this would be the perfect opportunity for me to play!” Kaidou continued.

Oh, so now you’re gonna pull the mean-mom card to try and get me to play with you guys? Well it’s not gonna work, I’ve been looking forward to this afternoon all day and I’m not gonna let some-

“I’ve got snacks at my house too so you guys won’t go hungry while playing. Oh, Saiki, isn’t your favorite coffee jelly? I’ve got plenty of that in my fridge, you’re free to as much of it as you like!” Kuboyasu smiled in Saiki’s direction.

…

Wow, this coffee jelly is really amazing, who knew Kuboyasu’s mom knew how to make it homemade?!

Saiki smiled contently to himself as he happily ate his first coffee jelly of the day. He was sat on the floor in front of Kuboyasu’s bedroom TV, Kaidou on his right with Kuboyasu on Kaidou’s right. 

“That’s such a bummer that your mom doesn’t let you play video games,” Kuboyasu remarked, his hands behind him on the floor to prop himself up.

“Well she does let me play some games, she just likes to make sure it won’t interfere with my grades. Basically I’m only allowed to play anything if my grades are good which...they’re rarely anything great,” Kaidou’s face blushed softly, an embarrassed hand coming up to scratch at his shoulder.

“She won’t get mad at you for being at my house, right?”

“Nah, doubt it, as long as I study when I get home I’ll be good,” Kaidou responded sheepishly.

Kuboyasu smiled, reaching his body forward and grabbing the game from off the ground in front of him. “In that case, you guys ready?”

Kaidou nodded excitedly. Jesus, Kaidou, you look like a little kid on Christmas, calm down.

Kuboyasu pushed his glasses upward before placing the game into the console, grabbing the three controllers on his TV stand and handing two of them to the other boys.

What a pain. I’m only here for the coffee jelly, do I really have to play this game with these two? Saiki thought while sitting down his empty bowl beside him on the floor, reaching out to grab the gaming controller offered to him. I guess I might as well. I don't want to be rude and ask for another bowl.

The game loaded up, each of the boys picking their characters (Kaidou picking his with extreme excitement and enthusiasm as if he’d never played a video game in his life).

Saiki decided to go easy on the boys, especially Kaidou. I could win this game with extreme ease if I wanted to, I basically know all the insides and outs of it at this point. But, Kaidou seems really excited about it. I should let him have this.

Saiki died within the first few minutes of the first match at the hands of Kaidou, Kuboyasu dying mere moments later, leaving Kaidou the winner of that round. The blue-haired teen’s hands shot straight in the air at this, an excited “HA!” leaving his lips. Maybe that stroked his ego a bit too much. Kaidou’s arms remained in the air with pride as the next round began to load up. Kuboyasu just rolled his eyes and jabbed two fingers into the boy’s ribs, making him jolt back in surprise with a yelp. Kuboyasu grinned.

Once their new round finally loaded up completely, one of Kuboyasu’s thoughts caught Saiki’s attention. “I know exactly how I’m gonna win this one. Sure, it’s a dirty way to play, but at least I’m not hurting him.” 

Again, Saiki decided to die close to the beginning of the match (again at the hands of Kaidou), but this time with different intent. I’m honestly a little intrigued to see how this plays out, but I don’t want to be caught in the middle of it. As long as I die first, they can hash it out between the two of them, leaving me out of it.

Kaidou’s face was contorted in concentration, his eyes never leaving the screen in front of him as determination to win took over. Saiki noticed Kuboyasu’s eyes slowly beginning to glance at Kuboyasu, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Finally, Kuboyasu shot out his left hand to Kaidou’s right side, squeezing with intent as his right hand continued to use the controller, now beating Kaidou. Kaidou nearly jumped out of his skin before letting out a loud laugh.

“Wahahait! Stohohop! That’s not fahahair! This is cheheheating!” Kaidou cackled, his right arm shooting down to protect his side while he continued trying to play the game. It was really no use, though, as his eyes were squeezed shut so he couldn’t even see the screen.

“You got a little too cocky last match, it was annoying. Plus, I’ve played this game dozens of times, so this is wayyy more fun for me,” Kuboyasu grinned, his character on screen finally beating Kaidou’s. He didn’t let up, though, now sitting down his controller to tickle both of Kaidou’s sides.

“Nohoho mohohore! I gihihive! I’m sohohorry!” Kaidou howled, flopping his body completely down on the floor and rolling over on his side. Kuboyasu began moving one hand upwards towards Kaidou’s armpit, and the laughing boy underneath him began kicking his legs out. “Nohoho! Not thehere! Plehehease!”

Can it really be this bad? I mean, I know I’ve never been tickled before but Jesus, Kaidou sounds like he’s being murdered, Saiki thought to himself, his eyes not being able to leave the heaping pile of giggles on the floor before him. It’s true, Saiki had never been tickled before. Sure, his parents definitely tried to when he was little, but he would always just teleport away before they got the chance. Plus, he had never really had friends growing up to tickle him, so he was just completely in confusion at how it could really be that bad that it had his classmate on the floor begging for it to stop like that.

Finally, Kuboyasu let up, backing away from the giggling boy to give him some air. The purple-haired teen had a smirk on his face that wouldn’t disappear, a look of almost endearment plastered on.

“That was so unfair, you totally could’ve killed me!” Kaidou whined, finally sitting up but not moving his arms from his abdomen like he was scared it would all happen again if he moved them.

“Relax, I just tickled you, you big baby,” Kuboyasu rolled his eyes with a grin. “Not my fault you’re so ticklish.” 

Kaidou was blushing furiously, his arms crossed and face contorted in a childlike pout. Suddenly, Kuboyasu looked up at Saiki curiously, his head cocked to the side.

“Yknow, Saiki, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you laugh before,” he said with a smirk, his gaze wandering down to meet with Kaidou’s.

Saiki’s eyes went wide, a feeling of dread he’d never felt before pooling in his stomach.

No. No no no, no way this is happening. I have to get out of here. I have to do SOMETHING-

Before Saiki had time to come up with an escape plan, Kaidou pounced on top of him, knocking him down to the floor on his back. Kuboyasu scrambled over to where Saiki’s head was lying, looking in his eyes upside-down.

“Kaidou, don’t,” Saiki telepathically warned the grinning boy propped up on his waist. Kaidou’s fingers were already scribbling in the air above Saiki’s torso, and for once the psychic really didn’t know what to do. Kuboyasu very suddenly grabbed onto Saiki’s wrists, pulling them above his head. I don’t want to use my super strength against them, there’s no way this is the way they find out about my abilities. I’ll just let them have their fun. Who knows? Maybe I’m not even ticklish-

Without warning, ten fingers uickly came down onto Saiki’s sides, pinching up and down the torso like it was nothing. Saiki could felt in instantly, and it was one of the most confusing sensations he had ever felt.

His body started to squirm without him even realizing, twisting from side to side like he was trying to get away. He clamped his mouth shut, not wanting to let real laughs out.

“Cmon, Saiki, you know you wanna laugh~” Kaidou teased, his right hand continuing to pinch his side while his left began lightly scritching at his lower stomach through his unfortunately thin school uniform in the most unbearable way. 

Giggles were bouncing around in Saiki’s ribcage, but he still tried so hard not laugh. But, once he felt two new hands begin scratching at his underarms, it was all over. Apparently, while Saiki was too focused on Kaidou, Kuboyasu had pinned Saiki’s hands under his knees, now having full access to Saiki’s recently discovered ticklish body.

“NAHAHAHA! STOHOHOHOP!” Saiki pleaded, his eyes squeezed tightly shut, an unfamiliar large smile contorting his face. His head swung from side to side as his legs kicked out from underneath Kaidou, the blue-haired teen absolutely relishing in his friend’s torment.

“Who knew all this time all we had to do to get you to smile was tickle you?” Kuboyasu teased, his fingers trailing down to Saiki’s ribs. Saiki thrashed at the new spot, his pleas getting more desperate.

“Right? I didn’t expect him to be this ticklish either, it’s honestly a real shock,” Kaidou smiled, pinching Saiki’s hips and making the psychic buck underneath him.

After another moment, the two boys relented, climbing off of Saiki’s heaving body and allowing him a breather.

That was insane. I feel bad for judging Kaidou earlier, that was seriously intense. How is that not used as common torture?!

“You good, Saiki? We didn’t go to far, right?” Kuboyasu asked, looking at Saiki who was now sat slightly up, his head down between his knees so his classmates wouldn’t see his unfortunate blush.

Saiki just gave a thumbs up, making the other two boys chuckle.

“Just so you know, I’m totally gonna use this against you when you’re being grumpy,” Kaidou smiled, his hands coming up to form wiggly claws as a threat. Then the boy let out a sudden yelp, twisting away from Kuboyasu who was sat right behind him. “Hey! You already got to tickle me, no more!”

“What?! Kaidou, I didn’t tickle you,” Kuboyasu said seriously.

“Dude, I literally felt it! You can’t say I didn’t feel something I felt!” Kaidou yelled, yet again pouting like a child.

That’s what you get, Kaidou Saiki thought to himself. Tickle me again and it’ll be much worse.

. . .

a/n: ahh! ok that was definitely not my best but i hope you enjoyed anyways! pls like/rb if you enjoyed it lmao, i know im not gonna get many notes from this cause this isn’t a fandom in demand but any feedback would be lovely :))

#tickling #my fic #tickle fic #tickle community #saiki k #ticklish!saiki #ticklish!kaidou #fanfic #the disastrous life of saiki k.

[miss1extinct]

My First Novel!

Hey guys! This is my first post here and I’m posting the first chapter of my novel as a little teaser to advertise. If this interests you, contact me and I’ll send you the link to read more!

"And here is the break room." Mr. Lenich turned the corner, and I followed close behind. I found that my supervisor took another left, entering into a relatively large room. The doorway was large, twice the size of the average entrance. The flooring and paint on the walls were the same as in the hallway and every other room I had been in thus far - extensive black tiling and eggshell white paint. The room had several tables and chairs scattered about, most with workers enjoying their lunch breaks. I was taken aback by the amount of vending machines covering the break room's back wall: one water dispenser, a machine for an assortment of both regular and diet sodas, two for all sorts of chip varieties, one for several different types of candies, and finally one vending machine for a dozen brands of salty snacks and goods.

As soon as we stepped into the breakroom, I could hear multiple workers begin to whisper but could not comprehend more than a few words: the new girl, professional, only twenty-two, Laine, proud.

Although I couldn't, Mr. Lenich seemed to understand every word the workers were saying. "I believe your reputation precedes you, Miss Nichol."

"I have no idea what you mean by that, sir."

"Oh, come on, Miss Nichol. Mr. Lenich put a hand on my shoulder, pulling me closer despite my discomfort. "You shouldn't have to be modest when you're with your people, your fellow gamers! First, everyone here looked up to your father, and now we all look up to you, myself included."

"Please don't bring up my father, sir." It was all that I could think of saying. It had already been seven years since my father had passed, but I still didn't like to talk about the event, still refused to accept the fact that my best friend was forever gone. I chose to ignore the fact that I would never again see my closest companion, never again have a conversation with him.

I wiped a tear from my eye and smiled at my new coworkers sitting in front of me. Mr. Lenich was right; this wasn't high school where I would be bullied for being a female gamer. This wasn't college where I was ridiculed for being the only girl pursuing an education and career in programming. This was my job - Byte's Incorporated - where I could embrace my online persona. This was a safe place for me where everyone respected my reputation. Here, I could finally be myself without any repercussions - a professional, award-winning female gamer, the proven best in my state. In June, I was competing against forty-nine others, one from each state other than my own, to decide who is the best in the country.

"If you don't mind, Miss Nichol, our next stop on tour is right over here." Mr. Lenich smiled and turned towards the doorway, motioning me into the hallway.

"Okay." I waved goodbye to my coworkers in the break room before stepping out into the hallway. I followed Mr. Lenich down the hallway. After a few seconds of walking, Mr. Lenich unlocked a door on the left titled "Chief Executive Officer, Founder Laine Landborn." I couldn't believe it; was Mr. Lenich really going to show me the company's CEO and founder's office? Was I really about to meet my idol, the man second only to my late father, Laine Landborn?

"This is the office of the main boss, Mr. Laine Landborn. Unfortunately, we aren't allowed to actually go inside right now as he's not here at the moment..."

Not here?

"...so you'll have to wait until later to meet him. Normally, employees don't get to meet the CEO on their first day. Still, Mr. Landborn always makes it a point to personally know his company's line of beta-testers."

"Personally?" I looked up at Mr. Lenich with a hopeful face. I then looked into the CEO'S office. Mr. Landborn's desk was surprisingly clean and tidy - in one corner was a flower pot holding a bouquet of several crimson red tiger lilies. On the opposite end of the desk was a stack of multiple brightly coloured folders and white binders. A window directly behind his desk, covered in transparent black curtains with a bookcase on either side. The left bookcase held all different kinds of video games and small consoles. The right bookcase contained several other black binders and books. In front of Landborn's desk was a thin dark red carpet - as red as blood - with two stationary black cushioned chairs facing the desk.

"And now to our last stop on the great Byte tour." Mr. Lenich gently moved me back a couple steps and shut the door. He locked the door back and moved to the door directly across from the CEO's office, this door titled "Beta-Testing Room 1". "This will be where you'll work during your time here with us. Now, fun fact: this was the room where Laine Landborn himself worked during his first two years of this company's life, and no one else has worked in this room in the fifteen years since. So you'll be the first."

"Really?" I smiled as I excitedly stepped into the beta-testing room, looking around with absolute wonder. It was unbelievable to think that I would be working in the same room that Byte's CEO used to work in. Suddenly, my mind was overflowing with thoughts: was this the same couch that Landborn used to sit on? Did the consoles I saw in his office used to be in here? The room where I would now spend eight hours of my day was the same room where the Laine Landborn used to spend his time.

"Yes, really." Mr. Lenich chuckled and shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "If you'll excuse me, I need to quickly run to the bathroom. Get yourself settled in, and I'll be back in a few minutes to show you out."

"Okay." I watched Mr. Lenich walk down the hallway to the restrooms. I took a deep breath and sat down on the white couch. It was of modern style, and both it and its small black pillows were extremely comfortable - once I sat down, I never wanted to stand up again. I pulled off my white cushioned tennis shoes. I brought my feet up onto the couch beside me, knocking down one of the pillows accidentally. I leaned over to prop it back up. I discovered that behind the pillow hid a small splatter of mysterious red liquid, almost black with age - a discovery that made me freeze. My mind raced with possibilities. It's probably just a drink Landborn spilled, or possibly makeup from his wife. Or maybe even... my paranoia made me sick, and I quickly repositioned the pillow in its proper place. I took a deep breath in preparation and picked up the other two cushions. Behind one, the one farthest from the first, was no stain. The cushion was perfectly clean and white. However, the pillow closest to the first, was a more prominent red stain, double the first size, and darkened with age. I gasped and quickly dropped both pillows onto the floor, backing away and tripping over my shoes. I gasped again and yelled out as I hit my head on the floor. It was a soft carpet, but it felt as if there was hardwood or even concrete underneath. My hand shot up to the back of my head. I pushed my white hair out of my face while fighting against the vomit rising in my throat.

I rushed to my feet, the speed almost making me fall back down again. I shoved one shoe onto my foot and went to put on the other but stopped when I heard the door open. "Mr. Lenich?" I asked as I looked up, still holding onto the coffee table for support with my foot in the air, my shoe halfway on.

"So Jeremiah was the one that told you to work in here." When I looked up at the door, Mr. Lenich wasn't the man I saw standing in the doorway - it was the founder and chief executive officer of Byte's Incorporated, Laine Landborn. "How many times now have I told him and everyone else to stay clear of this room? Five times now? About to become six?"

"I'm not supposed to be here?" I asked as I finished putting on my shoe. I looked up at Landborn and tried my best to stay calm. Half of me wanted to be excited - Laine Landborn was standing right in front of me! The other half of me, the sane half of me, wanted to run away, to get as far away from here as I possibly could. I had just found some very suspicious stains on the couch that used to belong to the very man now staring down at me, walking closer to me with every passing second. Before I knew it, I was looking up at Laine Landborn, and my heart was racing.

"What is your name, miss?"

"Hannah Nichol..." I replied reluctantly, not sure if I wanted this man to know my name at all. What other information could he find out about me? What would he do with that information?

"Well, Hannah Nichol," Landborn talked as his gaze also shifted towards the couch. My pulse struck an all-time high as I watched his expression fall, his jaw tighten. "I believe I have something to show you."

"Okay..." I swallowed hard and followed behind Landborn out into the hallway.

"One moment." Once in the hall, Landborn pulled out a set of keys and locked the door we had just walked out of. As Landborn began walking, Mr. Lenich turned the corner and froze once he saw Landborn. Landborn turned to Mr. Lenich and held out his hand, palm up. "Have another key made for this room again, and you're fired."

Mr. Lenich swallowed hard and nodded, taking out his own set of keys. He removed one key from the ring and placed it in Landborn's hand. "Yes, sir. It won't happen again."

"Now, Hannah," Landborn smiled and resumed walking. "Right this way."

I took one last look at Mr. Lenich and took a deep breath before following Landborn. For some reason, we only went across the hall... which was the office of Laine Landborn.

"Step inside, please," Landborn said with a smile as he opened the door. I swallowed hard and stepped inside, my chest feeling as if it was about to explode. "This will only take a moment," Landborn said as he closed the door behind us both, locking and shutting it tight.

#book novel books novels author newauthor newnovel newbook writing teaser trailer #wattpad

[hellogohandbs-blog]

Excellent Dragon Ball Z Assessment

Gohan There are those in which are fortunate that the actual Dragon Ball Z . line continues to continue, in addition to those that wonder precisely how the nightmare it may continue since it will not seem to evolve. Right now there really is you should not ask yourself anymore my friend. Given that the first group We stated continues to get the continued set, the particular series will carry on and proceed. How many more Monster Ball Z games are we able to expect in the foreseeable future? To be ongoing...

Gohan

Individuals that do appreciate Relatively Dragon Ball Z no longer need any excuses. They can be a diehard bunch that will not be satisfied with only any old preventing video game. Even if they normally are not into the whole cartoons issue, Super Dragon Soccer ball Unces is built about a solid dealing with software that few game titles can easily match. It doesn't suitable of the bells along with whistles such as a great deal of different modes and unlockables that a lot associated with games rely on, however fans appreciate this online game for what it possesses and that is fine enough for them.

Really not sufficient for us however and while I am able to appreciate the responsive settings plus the depth of fight, the adventure lacks magic. I actually want a lot more a battling game, actually I desire more. Dragon Baseball had been already established as the wonderful fighting game decades ago yet little features changed with the collection since the start regarding the millennium. You may virtually say that some points get regressed with this kind of title. There is not as a lot combat depth while has been seen in some involving the previous titles, possibly though this variation is actually taking a slightly brand-new course and focusing delve into close-range combat. You would likely count on more moves using this sort of format but goes for instance counters and reversals are definitely the exception and not necessarily the concept.

In almost all there are 18 personas. A dozen of these people have been ported through the arcade version in addition to six are exclusive towards the console version. Goku as well as Gohan are back, naturally , and you can likewise expect typically the androids, nevertheless no specific character is an acronym out in terms connected with persona or ability. Typically the ability matter I could understand because you can certainly up grade each character significantly like a good RPG, although the lack of style is unforgivable. Did often the developers think that jooxie is actually too familiar having the people and this anything further can be pure excess? Imagine overkill in the Kavalerist Ball Z sport. Preposterous, I know.

Using the actual central of a certain character you may upgrade him or her by purchasing moves along with points that you're awarded within combat. This may give a person some flexibility while using figures but you can conclusion up with the similar result regardless of that personality that you get started with. The movements are generally basic and the excellent moves are relatively quick in order to off. The mixtures call for some quick press button configuration settings which gives the particular combat much more depth when compared with your common button masher. With the development in the direction of more close-range overcome an individual will spend less time period in the air undertaking aerial combat, and typically the a pair of main combatants can be in striking range of each various other and so there will be a lot more a spotlight on fists and also legs than long-ranged electrical power supports. You also refuses to see a wide range of often the dramatic, special assault movement that has been any selection of the activity and anime series. Extremely Dragon Golf ball Z makes an attempt to length itself coming from the cartoon through paying out homage to the witty book style which will be a bit more mature, which usually means it's a lesser amount of colourful and over-the-top.

Often the 3 DIMENSIONAL environments can be employed logically for cover. That they are active and destructible and add even more way of measuring to the gameplay while they add multiple levels that you may jump up to or maybe along from. The impact discovery system however helps make items a bit unpleasant. You will reach the actual odd invisible wall membrane which hinders your activities along with occasionally you'll get stuck involving these planes in addition to find that you just can't strike your adversary even however they can attack anyone.

Regarding the AI inside the single-player mode, you actually won't be dissatisfied simply by how convincingly they can be hard-wired. They put up a fantastic fight that is all-natural as well as best of just about all, unpredictable. Each figure offers some special attribute that is certainly exploited. It's not adequate to present them a nuanced character; they become some sort of stereotype, as well as caricature associated with a character. The actual two-player mode is more in comparison with only the icing on the particular cake, it does not take main substance. The single-player mode is usually just a prelude for the multi-player mode, but provided that you can find a new worth attacker. Playing versus someone that is deficient in typically the passion will be a great debilitating experience. You'll get yourself longing for often the challenge of the single-player mode.

The music is definitely an paste of remixed old and also new tracks. The sound consequences usually are decent but practically nothing particular. The voiceovers tend to be well-designed but do very little for you to further the plot or even define the characters.

All round Super Dragon Ball Camaro would be best defined as "slightly different" compared to "new along with improved. very well Not anyone will recognize that this would be a waste regarding money but be confident to book it initial if you have just about any doubts.

[bettsplendens]

The Recovery (ship, world setting, convenient plot device)

The Recovery is a large Cybertronian ship, formerly an Autobot warship, that was emptied out by plague near the end of the war. A virulent strain of nerve-targeting nanites that found its way into frames via the ventilation system and traveled up the nerve lines until it reached and destroyed the processor. Since “processor-destroying virus” is a terribly unnerving concept even in a ship that’s simply perched temptingly on a hilltop, no one dared touch it. Everyone in the local scavenger community decided to simply wait for the nanites to die off, as they would without active hosts.

Everyone, that is, except a forge-mech named Crucible. A mech with an internal forge hot enough to melt metal, able to raise his whole frame to temperatures that would kill off the nanites. A mech hungry enough, desperate enough, to risk it in order to get to the energon he knew would be on board.

The risk paid off. All Crucible had to do was periodically increase his core temperature past the nanites’ tolerated range, and he could do whatever he wanted. He could take the ship up into the atmosphere, out of the reach of everyone else. He could seal every frame he found, complete with their most personal belongings from their quarters, in crates so tightly fastened that the nanites would die trapped inside. He could tuck the bodies away in a corner of the hold to be buried on Cybertron, and he could take the ship for himself.

So that’s what he did. And he found himself picking up the other people he encountered. A pair of pseudo-Autobot medics, terrified to lose each other. A bounty hunter and the bots he’d gathered onto a ship way too small for more than two. A tiny, furious former data-bird fleeing organic captors in a stolen pod ship. A dozen more who only wanted to go home. MTOs who’d never had a home but needed somewhere to stay.

He got back to Cybertron eventually, to bury those bodies and more, and to let passengers off. What they found was a single city, tattered and beaten but not quite destroyed, with a ragtag scattering of bots slowly patching it up.

So far for the majority of my stories, Crucible hasn’t stayed on Cybertron. He and his assorted crew have been venturing out to every known Cybertronian outpost, Autobot and Decepticon alike, to tell them there’s a city they’re welcome in if they accept that the war is over. Because, really, it is- there are too few bots to keep fighting. Everyone (excluding the occasional fanatic) is too tired to keep fighting for causes that warped so far beyond their original meaning. Especially when every new death brings the species closer and closer to extinction. It helps that someone (it wasn’t Crucible, but he knows who) published a very concerning set of observations on the number of Cybertronians left alive and how very little it would take for them to go extinct.

Therefore, Crucible has stripped every bit of Autobot symbolism he could find off and out of the ship, melted it all down, and started rebuilding it. He made himself a new insignia, a simple representation of two servos clasped on the handle of a hammer, and wore it instead of anything else. No pushing, no demand for anyone to change their own badges, only for them to tolerate any others that someone wears.

The ship is, currently, fairly well set up. Crucible is considered the captain and is definitely the ship’s owner, but, lacking expertise in a lot of matters, gladly takes suggestions and looks for advice in many situations. Just about all of my TF OCs either live there or are frequently association with the ship, partly for the convenience of having them all in one place.

Most of the quarters were way too small to be comfortable, especially with a roommate, so a lot of the walls between rooms have been knocked down to make them larger. One section of the quarters is partitioned off by walls that have small doors, all the rooms inside retrofitted for small bots- that area is for minibots who want to live somewhere with bots mostly of similar sizes, and includes a little rec room. A similar area is closed off by heavy doors, fitted for especially large bots. Another small section, next to a miniature observation deck, is reserved exclusively for fliers and other claustrophobic bots. Most of the quarters are for anyone who wants them, and individual quarters can be fitted for larger or smaller bots, but some people have frametype-related phobias at this point, and it’s good for them to have a place they can retreat to.

Up at the top of the ship is a large observation deck, the ceiling almost entirely made of transparent paneling, that’s probably supposed to be used for battle strategy but is mostly for relaxing now. It, and the rec room one story below it, are set up for public use. Soft chairs and cushions, including padding on the floor, a couple of TV screens, some video game consoles jury-rigged for Cybertronian usage, and a selection of different media. Everything has warnings on it, for violence or anything else. The downside of organic-created media, for Cybertronians, is that most of it involves the destruction of vehicles that somewhat resemble their alts. It’s hard to find any action media set in remotely modern times that doesn’t involve vehicle destruction.  The observation deck also has ‘pads with star maps and data on what interstellar phenomena they might be seeing.

Connected to the rec room is a garden area. Crystals on one side, assorted organic plants in terrariums on the other. It includes a few small (or comparatively small) enclosures containing interesting nonsapient life, and has a couple of closet-sized connected enclosures suitable for maintaining organic life that needs to be transported somewhere but requires a specific climate. Mostly it’s for animals stolen from smugglers. Access to that room requires a passcode, just to keep out passengers with severe enough objections to organics that they might harm the contents- or who might steal the more valuable specimens to sell. Some of it is rare.

Elsewhere on the ship are sparring rooms. Some are fitted with jungle-gym-type structures for smallish bots who want to climb, most are intended just for wrestling and assorted active, potentially destructive pastimes, including being fitted with worn-out berth mats that make better wall padding now. One has a couple of small, empty rooms next to it that can be locked from the inside, for bots who tend to get *cough* worked up during wrestling.

There are (I think) multiple washracks. The small ones off the medbay, decontamination showers in a couple of areas, and the larger communal washracks. The communal ones have a few stalls each, then an open area- Cybertronians aren’t terribly shy about showering for the most part, and communal grooming is good for all involved. They’re set up with an assortment of brushes, polishes, and cleansers, the brushes of varying sizes. Each frametype-specific section of the quarters has its own washracks as well, and Crucible’s been fitting the rooms of some of the long-term residents with their own private racks. Some of it involves piping that was built by one organic species or another and intended for use in an entire city, and everything circles back to a filtration unit.

By popular demand (and because he wanted to introduce it to MTOs who’d never had one), there’s also an oil bath. A relatively large one for public use, then a small one in a side room for people who’d prefer something more private.

There are also two chem labs on the ship. One of them is fairly large and isolated to itself, the other is small, impromptu, and attached to the bar. It’s Duo’s, and they mostly use it for figuring out drinks and drink additives. The bar is public, open to anyone on the ship, and drinks are (largely) considered part of the freely given rations. Cybertronians, after all, will use and store the energy and materials even in things they’ve drunk for fun. That, and socialization is important for the mental health of any social species.

Duo are the usual bartenders (though sometimes it’s Kit, they have a knack), and the behind-bar area is generally closed up when they aren’t around. They leave basic drinks available freely, but some of their additives would be dangerous in large amounts or if combined wrong, and a few are straight-up recreational drugs. Some bots like it when their drinks make them see colorful spots, what can Duo say. Like every other public space on the ship, the furniture is highly assorted, somewhat makeshift, and of a great deal of sizes, intended to make everyone of every size as comfortable as possible. There are also an assortment of booths, everywhere from just a group sitting area to one enclosed entirely by a thick, heavy curtain. An assortment of privacy seemed important.

One of the few places that got specific attention, rather than simply being an assembly of opportunities and makeshift items, is the medbay. It’s as fully stocked as can possibly be done at this point, large and open, painted in an assortment of subtle pastels instead of the stark white that many people have learned to hate. There are a few curtains that can be pulled around side berths for a bit more privacy, and then an assortment of side rooms for complete privacy. One side room is a surgery suite as fully outfitted as possible, and another is a secondary surgery area, both for the more complex things or things that require the cleanest possible environment. The medbay ventilation system is run through its own filtration, to contain any nasty things that get into the air, although they don’t yet have an ideal isolation unit. Off the medbay are three things; the two soft rooms, and the medics’ quarters.

The soft rooms are Patches’ idea. Fairly dim lights, more soothing colors and pleasing geometric patterns on the walls, as much soft furniture as they could find. One is small and private, meant for nervous patients to recover in after surgery, and the other is larger and public. Both have reasonably sized TV screens for the room, and more game systems, as well as plenty of copies of the assorted media. Plenty of music, as well. Good for calming down in, or for being a medic who’d like to sit quietly and be among people after a hard case.

The medics’ quarters are all together, right off the medbay, and there are still a couple of empty rooms. One is unofficially reserved for Five-Alarm, for if-slash-when he calms down enough to not set the others off all the time.

The other area that’s gotten a lot of specific attention is the survival suite. The engine room of the ship, the filtration for the solvent and the air vents, everything that keeps the ship running. Additionally, there are storage cells related to the solar panels, facilities to produce energon from any suitable supplies they can get, and the controls for a massive laser net. Laser nets are very common among ships at this point- they take a large amount of energy, but can reap great rewards. They’re suspended behind the ship, activated by flicks of switches like an interstellar trawler net, and are generally used to sweep through a field of either asteroids or ship debris. Organic travelers sometimes use them to capture comets, although capturing ‘known’ comets (i.e. ones whose arrival and return is marked by the planet’s inhabitants, like our Halley’s comet) is very, very discouraged whenever possible. Most of those have trackers implanted to identify them. It’s considered rude to scoop them up. The rest? The rest is space junk, fair game.

The back of the hold is sectioned off, used specifically to contain and inspect anything brought in by the trawler nets. If anything in it is dangerous, it can all be dumped back into space. Another portion of the hold is just crates stacked on crates, used as coffins. Cybertronians, being brought back to Cybertron next time they circle back. Fresher frames may be harvested for some of the vital organs by medics who need to save lives, but everything else is brought back home. Yet another section is nothing but snagged asteroids and bits of debris, sorted into “we can use this” and “someone will trade for this”. A decent amount of it is full of other things- raw materials, supplies, equipment that hasn’t yet been installed, empty storage crates. There’s enough open space for a minibot with a flying alt to move around, and for someone with a relatively small and not overly fast ground-based alt to drive. This is done deliberately- they try to leave room for people to exercise a bit between planets. There’s also a small, very basic medbay- just a triage area, not a true medbay. This is because the final area of the hold, attached to a small net structure that’s more of a hardlight tractor beam, is designed for small ships to be brought into and landed. Sometimes the people inside need immediate help.

Crucible, being the captain, is often in the ship’s bridge. More often, though, he’s in the forge room. A room that’s almost always burning hot inside, equipped with a massive metal-melting forge, a couple of small sword-type forges, and usually Crucible’s internal smelter. The floor is pockmarked, burned, and covered in hardened drips of metal, the walls reinforced to contain potential fires, and the whole place is coated in varying degrees of soot. The cleanest places are the tops of the anvils, which need to be kept scrubbed, and the one-room washracks off to the side. That one is rigged to be able to handle a truly absurd amount of soot, Crucible uses it to wash up after dealing with organic-created metals full of flammable contaminants.

The whole ship is full of details that Crucible has put together. Stairs and a railing on the minibot-sized observation balcony in one sparring area, physical deadbolts he’s cast for people who like the solid locks on their doors, the occasional piece of fairly abstract sculpture he or a student made. The framework of many of the chairs, underneath whatever padding they might have, is his work. Most of the bar stools are his as well. He likes to make things.

It’s all patchwork, just like his crew and his passengers, but it’s the best he can do. And, really, it’s the safest place a lot of these people have been in years. Most helpfully, it’s stable. It’s safe.

#The Recovery #my OCs #my TF OCs #Crucible #crossposted from Waterfall.social

[rose-of-gabriel]

Reprieve (2/3)

Okay, so I may have added another chapter. What can you do? 

Ao3 link

Gar’s silent for all of ten seconds after Dick and Kory leave. Rachel is almost impressed. Then he’s bounding into the living room and launching himself onto the couch. The game controller he’d left there – despite Dick’s multiple reminders to put it away – goes flying into the air. Gar catches it with one hand and offers it to Rachel.

“Wanna play?” he says, trying so hard to act casual Rachel almost laughs.

She really doesn’t want to. She wants to crawl back into bed and sulk for the next week, but Gar looks so damn hopeful, and even though they’re not here, Rachel feels like Dick and Kory would want her to try, so she does.

“What are we playing?” she says.

Gar’s whole expression perks up. “Whatever you want.” He starts rummaging through the not-so-modest collection of games he’s accumulated in the cabinet under their T.V. “You strike me as a quest-driven kind of girl.” He holds up some game called Left for Dead 2.

Rachel shrugs. She sits beside him on the couch and barely catches the controller when he tosses it to her. Her fingers feel awkward over the buttons and she has a sinking feeling that this is going to suck.  But Gar is so happy. What kind of jerk would she be if she ruined this for him?

Gar flips through the menu screen and starts the game. One advantage of growing up with a demon alter-ego is that stuff like video game zombies don’t scare her in the slightest. Gar keeps talking over the cut scenes, and Rachel nods along with mild interest.

The gameplay is pretty simple. They’re just running around an abandoned town, killing different kinds of zombies – because that’s apparently a thing. Rachel accidentally shoots Gar twice as much as she shoots an actual zombie. Gar is sweet about it, though, which almost makes it worse.

“Wish this game had a friendly-fire option.” He laughs after she kills him for the third time.

Her cheeks burn with embarrassment. They get to a horde of zombies that Gar nearly decimates on his own, but it’s not enough. They die two tries in a row and Rachel’s actually getting pretty frustrated. Gar notices and pauses the game, shifting on the couch so that he’s facing her.  

“You’re not having fun, are you?”

“Of course I am!” Rachel smiles, but it’s stiff and unconvincing. Gar raises an eyebrow and she sighs. “Sorry, I’m just… I don’t really like video games.”

Gar doesn’t look mad, or even a little bit annoyed. He just shrugs, eyes curious. “What kind of games do you like?”

Rachel thinks for a moment, surprised by the fondness that blossoms in her chest.  “Melissa had all of these old board games: Cluedo, Monopoly, Scrabble.” She giggles a little to herself. “It was missing a lot of vowels and instead of replacing them, we just made up words that had like three k’s and an x.”

Gar grins. “That’s cool. Which one was your favorite?”

Rachel thinks. “Battleship.”

“Really?”

She shrugs. “I could always tell where Melissa put her pieces, so I always won.”

“You cheated!” he gasps, utterly delighted.

“I didn’t even know I had powers at that point.”

“Still.” He teases. He thinks for a moment and his expression sobers. When he speaks, his voice is tentative and small. “My mom taught me a lot of card games.”

Rachel’s heart tightens in empathy. She moves so that her head is resting on his thigh, her legs dangling over the arm of the couch. Gar chuckles a bit.

“Do you have a deck?” She asks. “You could teach me how to play.”

Gar shakes his head. “I had a few decks back at Dr. Caulder’s.”

Rachel frowns. She lifts her head, eyes zeroing in on the stack of money Dick left on the counter. She pulls herself off the couch and holds out her hands. Gar raises an eyebrow.

“Come on.” She says, and he allows her to pull him up.

“What are we doing?”

Rachel grabs her hoodie off the coat rack, then goes into the kitchen and shoves the cash into her pocket. “We’re going out.”

The night air bites at Gar’s cheeks, but he doesn’t mind. His body is humming with excitement as Rachel leads him through the city streets. She won’t tell him where they’re going, which makes it even better. Her hood is pulled tight around her face and she looks more alive than Gar has seen her in days.

He was the one who found her. She was in the bathroom, gripping the edge of the sink so hard her knuckles were white. Her breathing was loud and ragged, her eyes shut tight like she was scared to open them. He said her name so she’d hear him approach. He put his hand on her shoulder and she’d flinched – not because he hurt her, but because she was afraid of hurting him.

Gar startles and realizes that Rachel has stopped several feet behind him. She raises her eyebrow mockingly. He laughs sheepishly and trots back toward her.

“Sorry, started thinking ‘bout something.”

“Did it hurt?” She teases and he playfully shoves her. “We’re here.”

Gar turns to where she’s looking: an old store front with Ami’s Games and Jokes painted on the door. The display windows show vintage comics, tinker toys, puzzle games, and posters.

“What is this place?” Gar says, spellbound. “And where have I been?”

Rachel laughs. “Come on.”

She takes him by the arm and pulls him into the store. A bell above the door clangs as they enter. If Gar’s eyes had been wide before, they’re gaping, now. Rachel can’t contain her excitement, either. She’s passed this place dozens of times but never ventured inside.

Everything looks like some sort of beautiful safety hazard: shelves overflowing with games and action figures, boxes of books and consoles, everything you could ever think to put in a toy shop. There’s a bucket full of dice siting on a giant Jenga set with a sign that says 4 for $1.

An elderly woman with short peppered hair and huge glasses stops dusting the cash register and smiles brightly at them. “Evening.” Gar and Rachel give awkward little nods. “Domino sets are buy one, get one 50% off.”

“Thanks.” Rachel says, turning to Gar, but he’s already perusing the vintage board games.

“Dude,” he gawks, running his hands along the sides of the boxes, “this is sick.”

Rachel joins him. “I figured your little nerd heart would like this place.”

“Oh, my little nerd heart very much likes this place.” Something catches his eye at the back of the shop. He squawks excitedly and disappears into the maze of shelves.

Rachel looks to make sure he’s out of sight before commencing her search. Her eyes scan the shelves, zeroing in on a box of discount card decks. She starts sifting through it when the old woman – who she assumes is Ami – wanders over to her, dusting as she goes.

“Fan of cards?” she asks, curious.

“Not really,” Rachel says, keeping her voice down. “They’re a gift.”

“For your friend with the funny hair?”

She grins. “Yeah.”

To her surprise, Ami glances quickly to the side, as if to make sure no one is watching – which is easy, since they’re the only ones in here. She gestures for Rachel to follow her to the counter. Rachel obliges hesitantly as Ami roots around for something. After a moment of searching, she pulls out an unassuming box. She pushes it toward Rachel.

Inside are card decks, some in clear plastic containers, others wrapped in leather pouches. The artwork on each deck is detailed and unique. Rachel examines one that is illustrated with classic fairytale characters.

“That one was from my first trip to Saint Petersburg.” Ami says proudly. “A treat to myself after I finished graduate school.”

“It’s beautiful.” Rachel says as she continues browsing. She picks up a blue deck with white flowers and a golden sun emblem.  

“Ah, Buenos Aires. This was one of my first decks. I did an exchange program when I was a teenager.”

Rachel smiles, but it’s stiff. She’s always a little jealous when people talk about their world travels. She picks up one of the leather pouches and gingerly removes the deck. She lets out a gasp, sifting through one card after another. Each is a different animal, the illustrations so detailed they look more like miniature paintings than playing cards.

“Kyoto.” Ami says wistfully. “Such a beautiful city, so much history. Now that art style is very interesting. It’s called Ukiyo-e.”

“Wow.” Rachel says, unable to take her eyes away from the cards.

Ami appraises her for a moment, then says. “Ten dollars.”

Rachel blinks. “What?” The woman repeats herself. Rachel shakes her head. “No, no I can’t buy these from you.”

Ami grunts a laugh. “Fifteen, then.” Rachel’s expression sours. “Oh, come on, this is my game shop, isn’t it?”

“But these are yours. All of your travels.”

Ami’s smile becomes soft. She extends out her hand and Rachel turns over the cards and the leather pouch.

“You take them, dear.” she says, fitting the cards back into the pouch and tying it shut. “It gives me an excuse to go back.”

Rachel smiles, feeling a little humbled, and pulls fifteen dollars out of her pocket. She stashes the cards away just in time before Gar comes bounding back into the front of the store.

“See anything you like?” She asks innocently.

“Um… everything. How about you?”

Rachel shrugs and can feel Ami grin smugly. “Let’s go.” She says quickly.

Gar nods, giving the woman an appreciative nod and they head toward the door.

“Come again soon, little bird.”

Rachel freezes and looks over her shoulder, but Ami has gone back to dusting. She and Gar share a questioning look but silently agree to drop it. They head back the way they came, but Rachel stops when they get to the street corner.

Gar pauses. “What’s up?”

Rachel looks around intently for a second, then says. “I don’t want to go home yet.”

He grins. “Okay. Where do you want to go?”

Rachel pretends to think about it. “I could really go for some french fries, right now.”

Gar knows the place she’s talking about and takes off in a run. She yelps in surprise and takes off after him, their laughter echoing down the street.

#titans #titans 2018 #fanfiction #rachel roth #garfield logan #raven #beast boy

[honeybammie]

2:36am › choi youngjae

↳ in which youngjae repeatedly seeks help from his new neighbor at the most inconvenient times  ↳ fluff  ↳ sentence prompt: “stop waking me up in the middle of the night.”

Two weeks. He had lived across the hall for two weeks and had already come knocking at my door four times at some unreasonable hour or another, long after I had gone to sleep.  Apparently I was the only neighbor who had given him a proper welcome upon his move to our apartment complex, and for whatever reason, he considered this good enough cause to wake me in the middle of the night on a regular basis. Not that I usually had classes at eight in the morning or needed my allotted eight hours of rest. 

The first time, I brushed his request for a couple eggs under the rug. Sure. Everyone has made a 2am omelet at some point in their college career. A few nights later, he asked for my salt shaker, which had been placed on my WELCOME mat by the time I left for school. The third occasion consisted of two more eggs, after which he promised he would buy his own dozen, but that didn’t stop him from asking for cocoa powder the very next evening. Or morning. I wasn’t sure which it counted as. 

I went to bed around midnight, as per usual, but the familiar knocking returned in the midst of my dreaming. Tap, tap. Pause. Tap. Pause. Taptaptap. He waited a minute, then repeated the pattern. I considered ignoring him, but I imagined his pouting face the next time he’d see me, asking if he had been a bother. It was a Friday night anyway, so I could catch up on sleep later. 

“Youngjae,” I sighed upon opening my door to his grinning face. “Stop waking me up in the middle of the night.”

“But it’s important!” he exclaimed. “I need one more stick of butter.”

“It is…” I turned to check the clock. “2:36am! If this was in the afternoon, it’d be fine, but if you’re going to keep this up, I need an explanation. Midnight munchies are one thing, but this is an entirely different ball park.”

“Sometimes I get inspired,” he said, “and I can’t help that it’s at two in the morning. I just moved in, so my fridge isn’t very well stocked, and you’re the only neighbor I know well enough to ask for ingredients.”

“Know well enough?” I asked. “I don’t even know your last name.”

“It’s Choi,” he said. I stared at him for a couple moments longer, speechless. “So can I have a stick of butter?”

“Not until you explain yourself. What do you even mean by ‘get inspired?’ Inspired to make food?”

“Inspired to make cake,” he corrected me. “Sometimes I can’t sleep, or I watch too many baking videos before bed, and then…you know. Cake. I’m just always missing something.” 

“This is the fifth time since you moved in. You’re telling me you eat that much cake?”

“When did I say that?” his eyebrows creased together, and I swore if he wasn’t so painstakingly adorable I might strangle him and shove all his vague answers down his throat. “I’ll either take it in to class or take it to my brother or my grandma’s nursing home.”

“That’s so cute I’m almost not mad at you,” I said. “Stay there.”

I walked away while he rocked back and forth on his toes at the threshold, returning seconds later with a stick of butter in hand. “Here,” I said. “Take it and get out.”

He laughed, grabbing my entire hand rather than just the butter. “Do you wanna help?”

“I beg your pardon?” I leaned an ear towards him to make sure I heard him right. 

“Come on,” he said, shaking my arm in excitement. “It’ll be fun. What do you have to do that’s more important than helping your favorite neighbor bake a cake?”

“Literally anything,” I answered. “Particularly sleeping. You should try it sometime.” 

“You’re missing out on a once in a lifetime opportunity,” he warned, taking the butter and walking an entire five feet across the hall. When he opened his door, I was still standing there, and he glanced over his shoulder at me with a grin. “Last chance.”

“Fine, since you’ve taken all the food from my cabinets and fridge, I might as well see the cause I’m donating to.” I pretended to begrudge, rolling my eyes as I joined him in his apartment, still mostly bare, with the exception of essentials—his couch, TV, coffee table, video game console. I assumed the boxes on the floor contained all the odds-and-ends, and I wondered what kind of souvenirs or photographs they contained. 

“This way to the kitchen,” he interrupted me from daydreaming. Already, he had set out all the necessary tools and ingredients. “We’re making chocolate. It’s my cousin’s favorite, and her birthday is soon. My cake is her favorite—for obvious reasons.”

“I’ll take your word for it. Where do I begin, chef?”

“I’ll mix all the dry ingredients. You—” he handed me an index card with detailed steps written in smudged handwriting. “Wet ingredients.”

I read over my list and eyed the foods in front of me. “You didn’t even get out the milk,” I said. “Which I hope you have, because I’m actually out of that.”

“In the fridge,” he said, already busy measuring out the flour. I opened the left door, glancing the shelves up and down. “Other side,” Youngjae interjected after a moment. “Next to the—wait! No, no, no, n—” he set down his measuring cups and waylaid me, pushing the right door shut as I stepped back to stare at him. 

“What? What?” I asked, his panicked eyes unnerving. “I only wanted some milk. What do you have in there? A human head?”

He thought for a moment, still pressing himself against the fridge. “Uh…yeah. I’d rather go with that, honestly. I can get the milk.”

“You’re being ridiculous,” I said, shooing him out of the way. He didn’t budge at first, but with some more prompting moved, retreating to the corner of the kitchen to hide his face in his hands.

“What were you saying before? It’s next to the—” I stopped when my eyes fell on the gallon of milk, directly next to a package of butter. I opened the box, counting four remaining sticks inside, and turned to him. “You had butter?”

“Huh. Would you look at that?” He scratched his chin, the tips of his ears redder than cherries. “Guess I didn’t look hard enough.”

“But you knew where it was.”

He opened his mouth, but instead of making up an excuse, nodded. 

“Do you care to explain, then, why you woke me up in the middle of the night for the fifth time claiming you were out of butter?” I stood with my hands on my hips, feeling somewhat like a mother scolding her child.

“I never said I was out of butter. I said I needed one more stick,” he countered.

“What about all the other times? Have you just been…mooching off my stuff so you’d have more of your own for later?”

“No, no, no, not at all!” He shook his head. “The first time I needed eggs wasn’t a lie. I was actually out of eggs, but all the other times I said I needed something, I may have already had it.”

“Why?” I asked, on the verge of a headache. 

He shuffled his feet, watching his socks instead of daring to look at me. “Just…because. Thought it might be…fun, or something.” 

“Fun to wake me up repeatedly? To take my food?” I asked. “Youngjae, I’m too tired for this. I should just go back over.”

“Okay, okay, I lied. Wait a second, please.” He reached for my hand, and I didn’t pull away. “You promise you won’t make fun of me?”

“Why would I make fun of you?”

“Just promise. Please. For my sake,” he said. “I’d rather you not say anything and just walk out than make fun of me.”

“Alright, I promise. Out with it.” 

He took a deep breath, gathering as much composure as possible before looking at me. “Okay. So. Ever since you first came over to tell me hello the day I moved in, I’ve thought you are the prettiest person I have ever seen. I spent the first couple days trying to think of any excuse to talk to you, or hoped I’d coincidentally run into you on the elevator.

Then I got started on a cake one night but didn’t have any eggs, and I thought why not ask you? I ran out to the market in the morning and got all the groceries I needed for the future, and I had no plan to make it a regular thing, but then it seemed like the easiest way to talk to you. And you’ve been so nice about it! But…I…I’m sorry for the trouble. I’ll reimburse you for all the things I took, and I’ll never bother you in the middle of the night again.”

I tried not to smile. Like, really tried, but my lips kept betraying me and breaking out into fractioned parts of a grin. “You have a crush on me?”

He whined, completely tortured by the situation he’d gotten himself into. “Could I have spelled it out any more clearly? Of course I do. I think you’re great, even if you didn’t know my last name until a few min—you promised you wouldn’t make fun of me!”

“I’m smiling, Youngjae. I’m not making fun of you,” I said. “Do you know why I’ve been so nice every time you’ve shown up, no matter what time it was or what time I had to get up in the morning?”

“Well, because you’re a nice person, I assumed.”

“No one is automatically nice when they’ve just been woken up,” I stated. “If it’d been anyone else, I’d kick them out in a heartbeat, but I always thought you were the most adorable guy, and I had no idea what you were up to, but you seemed so excited about it that I didn’t question you.” I paused. “Was this your way of asking for a date without really having to?”

“Not…entirely. It gets lonely baking cakes by yourself every other night, and company is always appreciated. We could, uh, call it that if you wanted to, though.” 

“I don’t know,” I said. “I think I’ll have to make you ask me out on a real date. After you give me your number.”

“Does that mean I’m still allowed to wake you up in the middle of the night?” he asked, hopeful. 

“On reasonable occasions, like weekends. Or Wednesday nights, since I’m not at school until noon on Thursdays. And you’re not allowed to ask for ingredients anymore, unless you’re actually out.”

“Deal,” he said, shaking my hand. Both of our faces showed hints of pink, but I didn’t mind. “Think we should finish what we started?”

“I believe we should,” I said, and the two of us worked in tandem over the next fifteen minutes, sitting on the counter during the half-hour the cake was in the oven and trading memories and jokes and flirtatious one-liners.

“Your cousin is gonna love it,” I declared after he covered the top in frosting. “But now that it’s done, I should head back to bed.”

“Thank you. For the help, and the, uh…” he trailed off. 

“You’re welcome,” I said, laughing and leaning in for a hug. His body was warn, and we stayed there for several moments before breaking apart in slow motion. “Goodnight, Youngjae.”

“Goodnight. Sleep tight,” he called after me. 

I woke up in the morning to a text that I would find a surprise outside my door, and sure enough sat a cake on my welcome mat, topped with a sticky-note. 

For waking you up in the middle of the night five times. (And counting.)

a/n: i wrote this a while ago & i’m posting it while i work on some ~other~ ideas. also don’t tell me youngjae wouldn’t do this bc he absolutely would

#got7 imagines #got7 scenarios #got7 reactions #got7 drabbles #kpop imagine #kpop scenarios #kpop reactions #kpop drabbles #choi youngjae #got7 youngjae #got7 fluff #kpop fluff #youngjae fluff #got7 choi youngjae

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #465

Top Ten Games I’d Like to See on Game Pass in 2021

After a few weeks of earnest thinking and tyring to be creative, I’ve lapsed back into a wishlist this week. I used to do a lot more of these – films I’d like to come to Prime Video, games I’d like to see on Windows Phone, that sort of thing – so regular readers should be thankful that I’ve branched out more as time’s gone on.

In a way today’s list is another chance to review my big Christmas purchase, the Xbox Series X. Through a combination of presents and canny offers I was able to get, alongside the console, a year’s subscription to Game Pass Ultimate. Game Pass has been called Microsoft’s “real next-gen console”, in that they are very clearly positioning the future of their games business around it. And it is a very, very tantalising offer: dozens if not hundreds of games available at the touch of a button, playable on console, PC, and – via streaming – mobile phones. I had Game Pass once before, last year, and it was great; I chose not to keep up the sub because £11 a month (or even £8 for the most basic service) is still quite expensive when you’ve got large games that you own outright sitting there unplayed or uncompleted. But last time around the “xCloud” streaming service was still in closed beta, so it’s nice to see it rolled out more officially now. The interface is better and it seems to run a bit better, and games that support touch controls on a phone certainly perform better. I’ve found it a great way to play Slay the Spire, for instance; a turn-based card game is quite forgiving if you momentarily lose connection or the visuals start artifacting or something. Anyway, it’s great; the whole service is great. I love the fact that you get frequent (if very slight) rewards just for using it. It’s a great incentive to come back regularly or try new games. I wouldn’t have played something like The Medium or Ori and the Will of the Wisps without Game Pass; and allows me to play something like Planet Coaster or Crackdown 3, that I enjoy dipping in and out of, but probably wouldn’t buy at the moment. And for the kids, it’s great; Disneyland Adventure is a really fun game for the nippers. Although they mostly just play Minecraft.

But of course like Alexander Hamilton I’ve never been satisfied, and in that grand old tradition of doing wish lists, this week’s list is just the games that I’d like to see on the service. That’s it! Nothing complicated about it. just ten (or, well, kinda more actually) games that I think should be on Game Pass. Now, I’ve tried to be realistic about this; so I’ve not added games that aren’t actually out on the Xbox yet, such as Fall Guys (which I really hope will be on Game Pass). Ditto games that have just come out; you’ll see Assassin’s Creed down there somewhere, but not Valhalla, as that’s, I dunno, less likely right now? Same with Hitman 3; I really want to play that, it looks excellent, but I’m not expecting it to turn up on Game Pass anytime soon, coz it’s just come out and been a really big hit. There’s a slight exception to this rule though, as you’ll see.

So there we go: if anyone from Xbox is listening, here are the ten games I’d most like to see on Game Pass, if you please. Oh, and everything is meant to be on the Xbox unless otherwise stated.

Civilization VI (2019): and its assorted expansions please! Civ is my absolute must-play always-on go-to game on PC, and from what I’ve played of the console conversion, it’s a very good adaptation. Last year I was on the xCloud beta and Civ VI was one of the games you could stream; but oddly it’s never, to my knowledge, appeared on Game Pass proper. With Quick Resume, dipping in and out of a session would be even easier (and good god damn it takes a long time to load on my PC). Bonus: this works pretty well on mobile, although it can be hard to read the text on a phone screen.

Assassin’s Creed Origins and/or Odyssey (2017/2018): I’ve never really gotten into an Ass Creed game, so it’d be nice to experience one of the newer ones, but that’s not the real reason I want these on the service (besides, the one I really want to play is Valhalla, coz Vikings innit). Last year Ubisoft offered the “Discovery Tour” modes of both these games up for free on PC; my kids ate them up. They loved exploring ancient Egypt and Greece, and it tied into their studies at school. To free up my PC and because they’d look a lot nicer, I’d love them to be on the Xbox, too.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 (2020): I guess Skate or something is on Game Pass through EA Play, so I could scratch my board itch if I wanted, but it’s not quite the same. I want that nostalgia blast of Tony Hawk action. We used to play this on my girlfriend’s (now wife’s) computer, although I must confess I’ve utterly forgotten all the controls. Regardless, it’s a good fun party game and feels perfect for the service. This update in particular looks really worthwhile, with nice graphics but – hopefully – the same excellent gameplay. Dunno if Spider-Man is still in it, mind.

Minecraft (2011): now, yeah, I’m pretty sure Minecraft is actually on Game Pass on the Xbox; and, indeed, we own it. Whilst I feel that Minecraft is now so ubiquitous and has its own ecosystem that maybe it could become free-to-play, I definitely think that the PC version of Minecraft should fall under Game Pass for PC. Although I’m not sure that would really help my kids, as they’d need to be signed into my Game Pass account to play, wouldn’t they? See, MS needs some kind of family account thing going on.

Hades (2020): another PC games! Yeah, I quite fancy Hades. I remember playing the first Diablo, sometime very shortly after the actual fall of Satan, and liking it. Hades has got a lot of good reviews and all the nice people seem to be saying all the nice things about it. So I’d like to try it out, but I know, deep down inside, that I’ll just keep going back to playing Fallen Order and Gears 5 (or Civ on PC), so it’s not really worth buying. But if they added it to Game Pass on PC? Yes please.

Control Ultimate Edition (2021): ah, is this adding a brand new game? Depends on your definition. I really like the look of Control (2019). It looks like the sort of game I’d enjoy playing. And, yes, Control is technically on Game Pass. But with the super-shiny next-gen version imminent (with sexy ray-tracing!) then that’s the version I want to play. Not the filthy old degenerated version that can run on my old Xbox One. There’s a lot of justifiable controversy about the release structure of Control on next-gen, but given how pretty much all Xbox One games on Game Pass automatically give you their Series X/S versions through Smart Delivery, Control really stands out. As Ultimate Edition is on PlayStation Plus, I feel like a Game Pass version should come through sharpish.

Lego Marvel Super Heroes (2013): this is arguably the first of my “just being lazy” picks, and really it could stand in for a few different titles. We love the Lego games in this house, and our favourites (that is, mine and my kids’) probably remains Marvel Super Heroes and its 2017 sequel. Seeing as quite a lot of Xbox 360-era Lego games are on the service, it’d be really cool to add some of the newer ones, what with the excellent-sounding Skywalker Saga imminent. I mean, the first Marvel Super Heroes was an Xbox One launch title; they’re not exactly “new”. We own these, along with several more, but it’d be so nice to be able to hop in and out quickly without having to root around for a disc. And y’know, if they wanted to add the Lego Movie adaptations, or DC Super Villains, then why the heck not?

Cuphead (2017): I really want to play this! It looks amazing. I just want to experience that, y’know? Except here’s the problem: I know I would utterly suck at this. I’m pretty rubbish at platform games in general, and 2D shooters I’m even worse at. I’ve heard this game is quite hard. I am not good at hard games. And especially nowadays, when I only have time to breeze through stuff on super-easy (I have come to terms with playing games in “Story Mode”). So I just don’t think there’s any point in my buying it. But on Game Pass? Instant download.

Marvel’s Avengers (2020): is this “new”? I dunno anymore. Regardless, it feels like it’s had its moment, so coming to Game Pass wouldn’t be too outrageous. I’m gonna be honest, I’ve never felt like this looked particularly good, but then I hear people say how it’s a decent third-person action game where you play as Ms Marvel, and that sounds pretty cool. Maybe divorced of the hype and the unrealistic expectations there’s a fun no-frills game to be found. I’d love to discover it on Game Pass.

Star Wars: Squadrons (2020) or Cyberpunk 2077 (2020): now this is where we really get into lazy territory. I got both of these games for Christmas (and, obviously, they’re both new), and I really like them both (Cyberpunk runs really well on Series X). However, I got them both on disc; Cyberpunk specifically I wanted on disc to get the gubbins such as a map of Night City (I’m a sucker for stuff like that). And I think – yeah this sounds terrible – having to get up and get the box out and put the disc in is actually an impediment to my playing them. Sometimes I’m sat there and I think, shall I play Cyberpunk? And I realise I’d have to move, and I think, nah, I’ll just play Red Dead or Fallen Order or Witcher or Gears Tactics or Forza or Halo or Planet Coaster or Ori or Medium or Slay the Spire or Full Throttle or Crackdown or Two Point Hospital or Minecraft Dungeons or Perfect Dark or Doom or… you get the picture. I know I’m going to hell, don’t worry.

Anyway, there we are! Good games? Good games. Cheers in advance, Microsoft.

#top ten #xbox #games #game pass #ea play #microwave #retro gaming

[readygamerone]

Chapter 37 - The Knights Who Say “Kill Me”

Wade is FINALLY inside the Third Gate so the story is at last winding down to its conclusion. Like in the First Gate, he has to begin by conquering a 1980′s arcade game. This time it's Tempest, which Wade claims is somehow not one of the games he's most skilled at. Art3mis, however, expected this particular game to be here because of an extremely thinly-veiled reference at the end of Halliday's book. Wade says that he knew it was a Shakespeare quote but never thought to actually look it up:

"Come on,” I heard Art3mis whisper. “You had to know Tempest was going to factor into the Third Gate somehow. It was so obvious!” “Oh really?” I said. “Why?” “Because of the quote on the last page of the Almanac,” she replied. “ ‘I must uneasy make, lest too light winning make the prize light.’” “I know the quote,” I said, annoyed. “It’s from Shakespeare. But I figured it was just Halliday’s way of letting us know how difficult he was going to make the Hunt.” “It was,” Art3mis said. “But it was also a clue. That quote was taken from Shakespeare’s final play, The Tempest.” “Shit!” I hissed. “How the hell did I miss that?”

Even worse, he has to beat Halliday's high score with only one credit. Once again, Art3mis saves Wade's ass here by giving him a cheat code that actually existed in the original cabinet, allowing the player to get 40 free credits. She's really earning more than her share of that 25% cut.

Now equipped with a few dozen attempts, Wade is able to eventually beat Halliday's score and move on. He had claimed that he wasn't very good at this game but, of course, he's the best and we never should've doubted his ability. We also learn, via the OASIS system automatically livestreaming everyone who is attempting this final Gate, that the Sixers have also begun playing Tempest. Naturally, they're all familiar with the same free credits cheat code as well. Wade's not looking like such a singularly worthy gunter at the moment.

The next leg of the challenge is something that is sure to send chills up the spine of anyone whose time in high school was anything like mine. Like he did previously with the movie WarGames, Wade has to play a character in every scene of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Yes, the one movie that is probably forever ruined in the minds of so many like myself who heard it endlessly quoted in class and in the lunchroom. It's impossible to think about what was once a decent comedy film without associating it with the same kind of performative nerdom that defines this entire book. So it's very fitting that one of "Halliday's favorite films, and perhaps the most-beloved geek film of all time" would serve as the next tedious task. 

Wade doesn't think he needs any help acting it out since's he's watched it 157(!) times over the last six years but he has his friends feeding lines and actions into his ear all the same. Entire paragraphs of dialogue from the movie are included here, both so fans at home can join in on the fun and so Cline can stretch out an insubstantial chapter.

With the entire 90 minute performance completed, Wade then finds himself in what appears to be a recreation of Halliday's office. And since it's been a while since we last had to put up with it, we get treated to an entire list of computers and game consoles where a sentence would've sufficed:

On each table there was a different classic home computer or videogame system, accompanied by tiered racks that appeared to hold a complete collection of its peripherals, controllers, software, and games. All of it was arranged perfectly, like a museum exhibit. Looking around the circle, from one system to the next, I saw that the computers seemed to be arranged roughly by year of origin. A PDP-1. An Altair 8800. An IMSAI 8080. An Apple I, right next to an Apple II. An Atari 2600. A Commodore PET. An Intellivision. Several different TRS-80 models. An Atari 400 and 800. A ColecoVision. A TI-99/4. A Sinclair ZX80. A Commodore 64. Various Nintendo and Sega game systems. The entire lineage of Macs and PCs, PlayStations and Xboxes. Finally, completing the circle, was an OASIS console—connected to the immersion rig in the center of the room.

Keep stretching, Ernest. We're almost to the finish line.

Sorrento and the other Sixers are right on Wade's heels so some urgency would probably be a good idea. But I can understand why he wouldn't be able to resist drooling over hardware that's as much as 70 years old by this point. Composing himself, Wade determines that the Easter Egg must be somewhere in this room and begins to search. There are only two chapters left so surely something exciting or profound will happen soon!

Pop Culture References: 71 (7.1 per page)

Video Games Q*Bert I Gorf I Tempest IIIII IIIII I Atari III Black Tiger III Intellivision I Colecovision I Nintendo I Sega I Playstation I Xbox I

Movies Monty Python and the Holy Grail IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII I WarGames II

Music Rush II

Books Shakespeare III

Computers PDP-1 I Altair 8800 I IMSAI 8080 I Apple III Commodore PET I TRS-80 I Atari 400 I Atari 800 I TI-99/4 I Sinclair ZX80 I Commodore 64 I

Brands Ex-Lax I

#ready player one #RPO #ernest cline

[wozman23]

My 2020 in Gaming

I finished my 100th video game of the year yesterday. In a normal year that would be an embarrassing feat. By in 2020, pretty much stuck within these four walls for nearly nine months now, I'm really proud of it. The last few years, my gaming habits took a severe hit due to working too much. I was fortunate to have the finances to pick up the PlayStation VR and the Switch, but I couldn't dedicate a lot of time to them, and when I did, the joy wasn't there as much since I was often exhausted. In 2018, I still managed to get through almost 40 games, but last year that number fell to 25. There was so much I wanted to play, but I just didn't have the free time. And then 2020 dealt me a lifeline... When LA came to a halt, three and a half months into the year, I was only working on finishing Game #6. Since then, I've been on a tear. A large part of my efficiency came from two choices. In late April, I signed up for Xbox Game Pass for $1 for the first month. Then in June, the “Racial Injustice” Bundle with hundreds of PC games – about a dozen of which I really wanted to play - released on itch.io. Overall, it was a solid mix of AAA games and indie games, although I've skewed more toward indies for years now. There were big anticipated releases like The Last of Us, Part II and Doom Eternal. Splatoon 2 finally got the shrink wrap pulled off that it's been suffocating in for years. (It was fantastic, so I'm not sure why I waited so long.) There were massive games that I put dozens of hours into, like my 77 hours descending into the madness of Hades, or my 69 soaking in the world of Ghost of Tsushima, with a sizeable chunk of those hours being me just toying around with Photo Mode. (Props to the PS5 for finally telling you your playtimes via the OS.) There were dozens of small indie games that only took a few hours to complete – which is kind of my sweet spot these days. A few weighed in at just 30 minutes, like Swarm, a Steam game I found through Get Indie Gaming's Youtube channel, or Syphonia, a student project from ISART Digital that I was anticipating. There were games I replayed, like some of my favorites of all time, Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy and Alan Wake, as well as the remastered versions of Ghostbusters: The Video Game and the Crash Bandicoot and Spyro trilogies. There was great stuff I paid for, and a few awesome games that I got for free through the Epic Games Store, or via subscriptions with PlayStation Plus, Game Pass Ultimate, or the times I took advantage of free trials of Amazon Prime. And I even got hooked on an online multiplayer only game, which has only happened on a handful of occasions in the history of online play.A lot of people are going to look back on 2020 as a terrible year, but for me it's been a godsend. It's allowed me to enjoy multiple passions, with gaming being one of the biggest. Like any hobby, my gaming habits over the years have ebbed and flowed. Overall, the last generation I've been fortunate to own every major console for the first time in a generation. Yet – outside of a few phenomenal games like Horizon Zero Dawn, ASTRO BOT Rescue Mission on VR, and the other aforementioned PlayStation first party titles – overall I wasn't really impressed as much with the AAA offerings. The indie scene is only gaining ground. But with the PS5, the proper return of my all-time favorite franchise, Ratchet & Clank, and my Game Pass renewed until 2022, I'm optimistic about where gaming is headed. As for my favorite games that released this year, here's my list: 1. The Last of Us, Part II 2. Battletoads 3. CARRION 4. Hades 5. ASTRO's Playroom 6. Filament 7. Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout 8. Bugsnax 9. Ghost of Tsushima 10. Ori and the Will of the Wisps The Last of Us, Part II The original The Last of Us was my favorite game of the previous generation, as well as the most impressive game of all time. It was mind-numbingly good, so much so that I really did not want a sequel. I didn't even want to replay it. It was one of those things that just felt complete. Nothing more needed to be said, and in doing so, there would be a large risk at ruining what made it great. Slowly, Naughty Dog eroded away at me, and I began to anticipate the sequel. Right before it I even replayed the remaster of the original. Part II is one of those rare project that manages to one-up what you thought was already perfection. It's like a 30 hour blockbuster movie that just keeps ramping up in intensity. So much of what makes it special is within the design of its details: the way it presents itself, the pacing, its message. Like many, key details were spoiled by online trolls prior to launch, but it really didn't matter. This post could be just as long and be only about The Last of Us, Part II. (I still may write something up at some point.) There's just so much of it to dissect. But it's impossible to talk about without spoiling all of its magical moments. It simply offers a masterclass in game design and narrative flow. I really don't need a Part III, but should one exist, I know damn well I'll be there. Battletoads I loved the original Battletoads. I even replayed it, and beat it with the help of the Rare Replay rewind feature right after playing the new entry. It's practically impossible otherwise. When there was talk of a new game I was hyped. But when it was finally revealed, with a completely different art style, I was taken aback. Because of that, I went in to the new entry not expecting much. However, that stylistic choice is exactly what put it in the Number 2 spot in my list. The original Battletoads concept was created to ape the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and the original game felt much like the early TMNT brawlers. The new Battletoads doubles down though, expanding their empire to combat TMNT's cartoons. The game itself is a fairly straight forward 2D brawler, that looks and plays great, but the real stars are the cutscenes and the humor. It has this great Saturday morning cartoon vibe that I've never seen a game nail near as well. I don't watch a lot of the modern cartoons, but many have compared it to Rick & Morty. It's really quick, and silly, and feels exactly what a company should be aiming for if they wanted to create the next TMNT craze in the world today. Sure, the game itself is nowhere near perfect in all dimensions, but the way it tackles humor is really impressive and admirable. That's the main reason it occupies my Number 2 spot. CARRION CARRION reminds me a lot of INSIDE, typeset aside. INSIDE for me was this solid atmospheric game that at it's end became this awesome fever dream, but was over just when it was getting interesting. CARRION feels like INSIDE's spiritual successor. You play as this creepy creature, with all these grotesque tentacles, and you just run amok. It's just plain fun. Plus it's an insanely unique lifeform to play as, and there's nothing more I love than playing a game where you take on the role of some strange creature. Like many of the indie games I love, CARRION doesn't overstay its welcome. Over the few hours of its journey, it iterates, provides you with some unique challenges, they grabs its hat and coat and bids you adieu. There's nothing more I love than a game with that approach. Show me something cool. Make me play something that feels like something I've yet to experience in my over 30 years of gaming. Then get out of the way so that I can find another game that makes me feel that way. Kudos to Game Pass as well for partnering with the CARRION developers and offering the game on release day. I was looking forward to the game, but with so many games on my radar, I often simply can't get around to all of them. Had I needed to purchase CARRION, it might have had to wait in the wings for a while. I've played so many games on Game Pass this year that I may have otherwise never actually purchased, and many of them have found the ranks among my favorites from the last few years. Hades Up until now, I'd like Supergiant Games as a creative studio. I've played all of their games, and loved the artistry present in them. However, I've always felt like the gameplay was a bit lackluster. Not previously being a fan of roguelike games – although Game Pass has provided some great experiences there as well – I initially had no plans to buy Hades. But praise was unanimous, the Epic Store gave people a $10 coupon just for downloading Rocket League for free, and it was on sale for $5 off, so I scooped it up for $10. At first, I thought I had made a mistake. I wasn't really into it. But then it slowly started to sink its hooks into me. After about 30 runs, I'd finally vanquished Hades himself. And what was your reward: a brief encounter with your mother, followed by your death and cyclical return to The Underworld. And that's really where the brilliance of Hades comes in. In beating the game, you realize you have only scratched the surface. I played around 70 more runs. I got the full story from my mother. I tried out the different weapons. I played around with the perks and heat gauge. I maxed out the relationships with almost everyone. (I never got Demeter's final few dialog options to pop.) All along the way, I kept thinking, I'll quit after I do X, but then Y and Z would egg me on even further. I spent 77 hours in that world. Sometimes, with nothing to do during the day, I'd practically play all day long. No other game this year took up that much of my time. Few ever do. Not bad for a game I initially had buyers remorse for. ASTRO's Playroom I wasn't sure I was going to be able to get a PS5 at launch. I got lucky on release day thanks to the PlayStation Direct website. (Every other retailer is a giant hunk of shit, who doesn't care if they sell to an actually gaming fan or some asshole reseller.) Had I not secured an early PS5, it wasn't a big deal. Most of the games I wanted to play were coming to PS4 as well. The baked-in ASTRO's Playroom was the only exception. And there's always that extra special feeling of playing something right when it comes out. It's funny to think that the best PS5 game is given away for free with every console, but that is just the case. Much like ASTRO BOT Rescue Mission, which did wonders for showing off what PlayStation VR could do – it was my 2018 GOTY - ASTRO's Playroom shows off what the PS5 can do, primarily via the advancements of the DualSense controller and the solid state hard drive. I've never been one to care for graphics, and the PS5 will surely evolve over time, but those two details are what makes the device feel truly “next gen” so far. The way the triggers adjust tension is so wild. I really don't know how much they'll be used, but it's a cool option to have. And loading times are practically non-existent. (I've since went back to the Xbox One for a few more Game Pass releases, and loading times feel jarring.) As far as ASTRO goes, he's a terrific mascot in an age where mascot platformers aren't really a thing anymore. The experience relies heavily on nostalgia, as you collect relics of PlayStation's past. Also scattered throughout are other bots dressed up to reference other franchises. Dozens of franchises are represented, from characters like Crash, to Ratchet, to Kutaro from Puppeteer. It's really a lovely homage to PlayStation that any longtime fan will enjoy. Plus, it's a really fun game to play, with beautiful tech themed worlds, some infectious earworms, and some cool mechanics. Japan Studio has been a bit of an enigma for a while now. But the ASOBI Team is knocking it out of the park with ASTRO. ASTRO reminds me a lot of Iota from Tearaway: they're both cute mascot characters, crafted with a lot of love, from terrifically artistic games that did an excellent job of showing off new tech. I can't wait to see what ASTRO is up to next. Filament This one sat  near the top my Steam wishlist for nearly the entire year before I finally grabbed it about a week ago when it went on sale. I love a good puzzle game. Basically, you control a bot that tethers out a string-like filament that you use to interact with pillars. Sometimes you just make sure you graze the line by one; other times you loop around one. Sometimes you're simply turning a pillar on. Other times they must be linked in pairs, by color, or a specific number of times, just to name a few of the options. That's really where Filament glows. What starts of simple grows insanely complex by the end. You'll be combining mechanics in some rather brain-busting puzzle. And the game does very little to explain things to you, or help you along the way, yet it feels very inuitive. Still, many times I simply hit walls, where I was almost convinced the puzzles were impossible. In a few instances, it took a while to understand new rule sets. Eventually I solved every single puzzle without resorting to help. And it took me about 48 hours. (Granted I think my stat tracking was probably counting some idle time where I had the game running but walked away to do stuff like make a meal.) It's a surprising amount of content for a puzzle game that can easily be reduced to: solve puzzles by drawing lines. One other thing I appreciated was that I found myself taking notes and drawing things out on paper. That's a tactic I don't pull out often, but love when a game pushes me in that direction. One instance in particular even had me cut up squares of paper to piece together one of the secret text logs. By the way, I missed a ton of those logs. After completing the few I found, I did look how to unlock the rest, and some of the stuff there was absurdly complex. There's really not a lot to compare Filament to outside of The Witness. But if you like a really challenging puzzle game with a ton of content, give this one a look. Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout I don't like online multiplayer games. They rarely hold my interest. I put quite a bit of time into Rocket League, Uncharted 2, Resistance 2 Co-op, and Fat Princess, but that's been about it. And in some of those cases, the main reason I spent a good amount of time with them is because I was unemployed during their reign. Overall, I'm not one to interact with people online. And I don't like the idea of a game dictating when I play it. But when Fall Guys was included with PlayStation Plus, I liked the look of it enough to give it a try. Getting a win took a while, but after the first one, I started to become pretty consistent with my runs. Much like Hades, I thought, “I'll just play until I get the trophy for 7 wins.” Then I set my sights on 20. Then I got hooked on collecting the costumes. By the time I'd finished my first stint in Season 1, I'd reached the max Level 30 and had every trophy except for the one requiring five wins in a row. I've given up hope there. Sony says I logged 40 hours with it, which equates to a lot of rounds. One day I went back for Season 2, and enjoyed the new levels, even though I was getting eliminated since I was sight-reading them. I don't know how much time I'll be putting in with it in the future should I find gaps in my list of games. Usually with multiplayer games, the focus fades once I unlock all the trophies I can. And I'm not sure how much time I want to dedicate to becoming proficient at future season. But the fact that Fall Guys even got that much attention from me to begin with is a testament to how much fun it is. Bugsnax Bugsnax could have been a joke. The previous game from Young Horses, Octodad: Dadliest Catch was just that: a silly romp that equated to little more than just a goofy control scheme. Bugsnax was the butt of many jokes upon reveal, reaching meme status in which it became the Schrödinger's cat of games. When someone talked about it looking good, you weren't sure if they were being honest or a hipster. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was intrigued. It's another fine example of a list of stellar games that have been given away for free with PlayStation Plus. Would I have played it otherwise? Who knows? But I'm glad I got to. It is silly, but the silliness works in unison with what turned out to be a very fun game to play. The world and its characters are weird. Everybody has a laughable name, Filbo Fiddlepie, Chandlo Funkbun, and C. Clumby Clumbernut, just to name a few. ( I wonder what the C stands for?) The Bugsnax, which are part bug, part snacks, follow suit, with the burger inspired Bunger, the french fry spider, Fryder, or the popsickle, Bobsickle. The most delightful part is when you catch one of the bugsnax and you hear them say their name from the speaker in the controller. Hearing “Weenieworm” never got old. Any sound coming from Bunger put a smile on my face. Feeding the bugnsax to the other characters was a blast as well. Certain bugsnax resulted in sheer silliness, while combinations could provide interesting fashion statements. But past all that silliness was a fun game too. You're given a few different tools to capture bugsnax, and are sent to figure out how. By the time I was reaching the end, having done all there was to do, I was sad to see it end. It was simply a joy to platinum the game, and I'd definitely be down for more Bugsnax adventures. Ghost of Tsushima I love Sucker Punch to death. Sly Cooper is one of my favorite series. On the other hand, I've never been into the world of the samurai, or watched any samurai movies. But Sucker Punch is a studio I'm happy to support, and I figured I'd be getting a good quality game, so I was in. (Plus, I had the free time. At the time, I thought it might be my gaming binge swan song as I thought we'd be coming out of this pandemic in July. Boy was I wrong!) The world of Tsushima is breathtaking. The partnership of style and graphical fidelity creates beauty in every square inch of the world. As far as the game is concerned, it what I would expect from a AAA open world game. There are main missions, and side missions, and things to upgrade, and all kinds of places to explore. It's fairly predictable in that regard, although I did enjoy some of the ways it tackled many of those side missions. The haiku system was a relaxing alternative to combat missions. Foxes and birds always encouraged me to meander from the main missions. And shrines provides some nice platforming challenges. Combat was unique, and being about to cater it to your preferred combat style was appreciated. It did wear out its welcome a bit after dozen of hours, but I appreciate its simplicity. Still, most impressive was just that living, breathing world. I spent a lot of time in photo mode. A LOT! I could easily spend an hour or two just traveling around finding beautiful vistas to tinker around with lighting and effects. In the end, most of my complaints really just boil down to the fact that it's a large AAA game, and comes with the tropes and restrictions of the territory. Otherwise, it would be higher up the list. Ori and the Will of the Wisps Ori and the Will of the Wisps is a great game, but ultimately it's just more Ori. That's not necessarily a bad thing. It just doesn't really subvert expectations. Everything that made the first game great is here too. It looks gorgeous. It's fun to traverse and explore. But looking back, it doesn't stick out as fondly in my memory as many of the other games in this list. Some of that could be the fact that it released early in the year. It was the game I was playing when the world crapped the bed. But it could also just be that I prefer the intrigue of new IP over sequels. Even so, it's hard to discredit just how well it plays and how beautiful and rich that fantasy world is. Honorable Mentions (that released this year): Carto, Lightmatter, Swarm, Symphonia, Bartlow's Dread Machine, Doom Eternal, Control's AWE Expansion Honorable Mentions (I played that released years prior): Bomb Chicken, SUPERHYPERCUBE, Dead Cells, Moonlighter, Songbird Symphony, The Messenger, JUMPGRID, ETHEREAL, Spring Falls, Unruly Heroes, Celeste, Lonely Mountains: Downhill, Splatoon 2, My Friend Pedro, A Short Hike, Future Grind, SOMOS, A Plague Tale: Innocence, The King's Bird

[dishpanda44]

Apple's New iPhones are Simply Superior

Assuming, like myself, you appreciate the original iPhone X design, which got rid off the single button and prolonged the amazing OLED screen to virtually all the edges, the iPhone Xs is not going to disappoint you. Presented one year before, it is the very first Apple handset to jettison the single button. In the other, I held its brand new successor, the iPhone Xs. My eyes squeezed closed, and I passed them back and forth between my hands, rolling each phone above, sensing the curves, glass springs, double lens camera lumps, and lightning ports. I realized that I could not tell the difference between both phones. This isn't a criticism. It's just a fact of S design years, where Apple locks in the iPhone layout and concentrates, rather, on upgrading key internal parts. Therefore, the biggest changes to this 5.8-inch Iphone Xs and its big brother, the 6.5-inches iPhone Xs Max, each of which I tested, could be discovered in performance (thanks to the newest A12 Bionic CPU), photos and movies, (new digital cameras and a new ISP endorsed by the A12), and functionality (iOS12, the final version of that came pre-applied in my test components ). The outcome is a set of fantastic, elegant, and high-performing handsets which can please Iphone aficionados and receive over a few looks out of Android devices. It has the exact same rigid surgical metal frame wrapped into a new glass material that Apple said was formulated to be scratch resistant and heavy duty. I gave the phones a couple half-hearted drops onto a thin-pile carpet but wasn't prepared to allow them to slide away . So far I've discovered just one very fine scratch on the iPhone Xs Max. So let's consider them scratch-resistant, but still not scratch-proof. The bigger iPhone Xs Max enjoys all the iPhone X's content and design attributes, but does so at a 6.2-inch x 3.05-inch x 0.30-inch human anatomy. At 208 grams, it's substantially thicker than the Iphone Xs. The Xs Max is a hair shorter (0.04 inches) and narrower (0.02 inches), however, it is also a few grams bulkier when compared to the Iphone 8 Plus, the big-screen cellphone that from a distance that the iPhone Xs Max most looks. Button positioning power/sleep, volume controllers, ring/silent change -- are the exact same. However, there is one minor chassis gap. On the bottom edge of the telephones sits on the lightning connector. It's book-ended by means of a pair of holes that adapt one half of the stereo speaker system and one of their mobile's microphones. There used to be half a dozen holes on either side. Now the right side has six slotsbut the left, that only houses a mike, has only three. This small change was completed, in part, to accommodate the new internal antenna configuration that includes 4x4 MIMO and Permit Assisted Access, which utilizes unlicensed 5 GHz range to provide 1 Gbps chip over LTE. Apple upgraded the water and also dust-resistance evaluation to IP 68, which translates to the handsets residing in two inches of water for as much as half an hour. I did not have to go swimming together with the iPhone Xs or Xs Max, but didn't operate the latter phone under water, milk, and juice. After that, as recommended, I rinsed and dried off the cellphone. I was careful not to plug it back into a lighting cable (that's a no-no after a dowsing) but didn't put it onto a wireless charging base where it had no difficulty accepting a fee. Apple, by the way, stated it put some effort in making the wireless charging system (basically the concealed coils within the phone) more pliable. This is very good news, because I have, on more than 1 event, woken up to discover that my iPhone X did not charge since I put it a tiny off-axis about the charging base. I never ran into this issue with either the iPhone Xs or Xs Max. The Iphone Xs and Iphone XS Max bodies are rigid and strong-feeling, but torqueable, especially the bigger phone, which really creates a tiny clicking noise once I attempt to twist it. Apparently, I've just had those iPhones for weekly, but based on a year's encounter with the original iPhone X (allowed, largely in a sparse case), I consider this layout framework tough and ready for the long term. Even now as Samsung follows Apple for the dense black cutout near the peak of this iPhone Xs and Xs Max, Apple shows no signs of stepping back in the multi-feature technologies, which grew nor shrunk in the latest iPhones. Much like the original TrueDepth Module, this one remains packed with the very same elements (none of that, as much as I can tell, have been upgraded ). There is a 7 MP camera, dot projector for thickness sensing, infrared camera (thickness sensing), flood illuminator (yes, too for depth-sensing), proximity detector, ambient light sensor, the second half of the stereo speaker system, along with a mic. On the backs of both the iPhone Xs and Xs Max, there is more of that custom glass, the Apple Logo, the term iPhone (although no"X" or"therefore"), along with the 12 MP dual camera program. This vertically-oriented, pill-shaped camera module looks exactly the same as it did about the past Iphone X. It is still a prominent bulge, but at least it didn't get any bigger. Inside the module is all new hardware backed by new image technologies, but more about this later. I have always thought that the 5.8-inch iPhone X an excellent tradeoff between a big-screen phone and hand-friendly ergonomics. The screen is large and immersive, but the human body is more comfortable to hold pocket. The iPhone Xs Max in contrast can, particularly if you're utilised to holding a more compact mobile, feel big. It's not embarrassing to hold, however people with smaller hands will fight with one-handed use and will most likely wish to turn Reachability, which with a swipe back on the horizontal bar moves everything halfway down the display, which makes it more accessible. Still, the trade-off could be worth it. I forgot just how much I like the bigger Iphone screen, and on the iPhone Xs Max, you receive much more screen without contending with a bigger phone (there's just that 0.04-inch height gap between the Iphone 8 Plus along with the Iphone Xs Max). Apple's full-stack control of this Iphone layout, development, and manufacturing process pays dividends during the handset. Nonetheless, it's most clearly in the silicon, that is developed and designed in tandem with the software and hardware elements that will rely upon it.

This past Year, Apple revealed the A11 Bionic, a powerful cellular CPU with internal Artificial Intelligence Power. The brand new A12 Bionic assembles on that brief legacy with a more strong Neural Engine and even more impressive graphics performance. Every time I examine a new iPhone, I begin by using Geekbench 4 to check out the raw CPU performance. To ensure that there are minimal desktop processes going, I usually run the test before I have set up one app. I conducted the Geekbench CPU benchmark and (along with understanding that Apple stuffed an extra gig of memory in the new Xs course iPhones) saw that the only core scores had predictably improved marginally between the A11 Bionic along with A12 Bionic. On the other hand, the multi-core score was strangely lower. Not by a lot, but I hadn't ever seen that occur. The amounts were much higher than what I got from Qualcomm's Snapdragon 845, however, a decrease result on the brand new iPhone didn't make sense. However, once I reran the Geekbench CPU evaluation per day or so after, the A12 multi-core numbers beat those of the A11. My guess is that, even though I put up the Iphone Xs and Xs Max as new iPhones, there may still have been some background setup process happening that hauled down the CPU amounts. The bigger leap in performance is in the Geekbench Compute Metal score, which leapt from 15,145 on the iPhone X to 22,245 on the iPhone Xs and Xs Max. Apple's done a lot of work to beef up images performance, particularly for the raft of ARKit 2 (and Surface 2) applications heading into the stage, some of which will support multiplayer gambling. When there are not a great deal of ARKit 2 apps in the app shop, I'd get a hands-on time using an Iphone Xs operating Galaga ARthe same demonstration Apple showed off throughout the Iphone Xs unveiling. To play with, a few other journalists stood around a table and pointed our telephones at the virtual Galaga video arcade game console. Shortly, alien attackers started streaming from the movie game display and from all around us. I swung the telephone from side-to-side and up and down to see and then shoot the incoming attack. It had been fast-paced and fun. In the same way, I have seen how, with ARKit 2, the phone can place, say, an incredibly realistic digital pressure cooker or sneaker to a true table or at my toes, the illusion divided only once I slid my hands into the frame as well as about the iPhone Xs screen, it seemed just like my digits were stuck under the kettle. You can not encourage these kinds of real-virtual mixes without ample images horsepower, depth mapping, as well as the AI necessary to identify surfaces, shadows, and even reflections will work on virtual items in an actual environment. That processing power also helped amp up more ordinary operations such as Face ID. While the process of registering my face was unchanged from the first iPhone X, opening either phone with my head, in addition to utilizing Face ID to access password-protected apps and solutions, is clearly quicker than it had been on the iPhone X. In general, in real world programs, both iPhone Xs and Xs Max work properly. Apple place enormous amount of work into enhancing the photo and video experience on the iPhone Xs and Xs Max. Besides brand new lenses and a larger detector, the cameras (rear and selfie) are backed with a new picture signal processor chip. The features on the dual cameras are untouched from the iPhone X (and will be the same on either iPhone Xs and Xs Max). There's the f 1.8 wide angle lens and also the 2.4 2X telephoto. Each of those comprise optical image stabilization and may shoot around 4K video in 60 fps. They still take slow-motion video in up to 240 frames per second. If you want mad 960 fps super-slo-mo, you will need to look to Samsung. In the pure-play photography race, even though, Apple takes the head. Its Smart HDR uses detector, ISP, and neurological enhancements to catch some of the very best high-dynamic range photos I've ever seen. The gap between that which was possible on the first iPhone X and also the Xs and Xs Max is stunning. Apple produced a system capable of shooting a couple frames every thirtieth of a moment, and instantly analyzing and blending them into a single image that preserves not only foreground and background detail, but that can freeze action without presenting enormous grain. In many pictures, I found that the iPhone Xs and Xs Max find color and detail in shadowy spaces without wasting out the brighter areas. The Samsung Galaxy Notice 9 is also an fantastic low light shooter, however I feel the Xs lineup is a bit better. I'm especially impressed by how Apple's built upon its own pole position in Portrait Mode photography. Apple created Portrait Mode back in 2016 using all the iPhone 7 Plus (the software lagged from the hardware). Since that time, Apple's elegant the concept, including things such as Studio Light, Contour Light, Stage Light, and Stage Light Mono. These attributes remain, and are marginally enhanced. What I love and also, as an amateur photographer who often plays with f-stops for just the perfect depth of field effect, is the newest Depth Control. Depth Control lets you take a Portrait Mode photograph and adjust the Bokeh, or depth of field attention, after you take the photos. This works with both the front and rear cameras, meaning that the image chip is using two unique sorts of thickness details. On the rear, it's the benefit of 2 lenses to acquire stereoscopic information. The front camera counts on the depth-sensing equipment. I know, Samsung's Galaxy Note 9 gives the ability to correct background attention while you're shooting the image, as well as after. But, there's an essential difference here that's evident from the iPhone Xs and Xs Max Depth editor. It's a slider that allows you adjust easily from an electronic f 1.4 aperture into a digital f16. In a true camera with a mechanical aperture, the high amounts translate to sharper focus from the background and lower numbers mean the focus depth is a lot shallower. About the Galaxy Note 9, Live Focus basically sees the images as two airplanes: the foreground and background. The slider blurs the background airplane. The iPhone Xs's thickness slider is based on all the depth advice to reduce or enhance background focus through all of the airplanes between the front of this subject and the background. Along with the improved Portrait Mode stitching (tackling how the subject and a blurred background match together), the subtlety of this impact through the selection of virtual f-stops is impressive and also, Apple's explained, is modeled by how actual lenses with hardware apertures would impact each picture. For the majority of people the smart phone camera is their camera. This places a pro-level controller from the hands of huge numbers of people, that are just about to begin taking some truly impressive portrait pictures. Immediately after taking hop over to this web-site , video, and 4K, I continue to be impressed with the quality of videos and photos coming from this Iphone Xs and Xs Max. Sure, it's odd that the bigger Xs Max does not, as would be tradition, have some improved image capturing features, however I doubt anyone is going to be dismayed with the image quality delivered by either innovative smart phone. Right now there are a few other hardware-related improvements, like the guaranteed dual-sim technologies that permits multiple phone numbers (think work and personal numbers of one phone) via the aid of eSIM technology. Unlike routine SIMs, you don't need a carrier card solely for the carrier to confirm it and enable it on your cell phone. It is a nice feature which, for obvious reasons, I couldn't test. For audio enthusiasts, there's also the newest stereo recording and wider-stereo playback. This can be just a bit difficult to check, and I occasionally worry my ears aren't good enough to notice what could be a more nuanced difference. But, I'd find a method. I listed , in landscape mode, a few cars traveling by. These begin on the left side of the screen and push to the rightside. In movie I recorded using all the iPhone Xs, the noise travels from one side of the phone to the other. Playback on the iPhone X is pretty loudly however lacking in the identical amount of separation sounds. Obviously, pictures with a great deal of sound technology aren't just great displays for the amazing screens, but emphasize the brand new, wider stereo playback capabilities as well. As hardware/software unions go, you can not do much better than the Apple iPhone Xs and iOS 12. I've been running betas of this new mobile OS for weeks on my iPhone X and found it incredibly smooth and stable. About the Iphone Xs and Xs Max, it becomes even better spouses. In addition to butter-smooth and light fast operation (in games, video, and internet browsing), the augmented reality skills announced into iOS 11, ARKit, and the iPhone X tend to be more polished and custom-made in iOS 12 and the iPhone Xs. The intelligent assistant is a better listener than ever before, and becoming smarter. Her speech is more conversational and she is asking follow-up questions. Siri is also more hands-on, putting connections between disparate items like schedules and locations and presenting them beforehand. Additionally, there are a range of third-party programs tapping into Siri, allowing you to use only your voice to access app attributes and information without even opening the program. You are able to set up iOS 12 on your old Iphone (down to this Iphone 5s), however not all of features, especially those involving AR, will operate on the old devices. Still, I clearly advise the update with at least anyone conducting an Iphone 7 and up. It is simply a much better, more polished, educated, and intelligent user experience and, to be fair, I've barely scratched the surface of all the upgrades and feature improvements you'll find. Apple claims 30 minutes longer battery life involving the iPhone X and Xs and 90 minutes more with all the iPhone Xs Max. In my experience, both brand new mobile can get you through the majority of the afternoon on a single charge. I spent using just the iPhone Xs Max. I retained the brightness and conducted all sorts of apps and procedures. It lasted quite a strong 10 hours. Perhaps just a bit less than I anticipated, but still enough to get me through most of the day. Really, with under a week under my belt, it's hard to supply a complete evaluation of battery life performance. There are so many factors and, of course, battery life will be great on brand new mobile phones. Talk to me 6 months or 1 year, and we're going to see if I am still satisfied with battery life. It's no real surprise that Apple did not reduced the price for the brand new $999 iPhone Xs (or hold onto the initial version and market it at a lower price). I'm not even shocked that we finally have a nearly $1,100 version or that we can pay a whopping $1,449 for the 512 GB iPhone Xs Max (which happens to be the model that I tested). Apple's already demonstrated that individuals will pay almost anything to get their hands on the newest iPhone. Is $1,000 or more to pay for a smartphone? Maybe, but how a lot of us think of the full cost as opposed to monthly payments? I am, though, a little annoyed that Apple stopped the lightning -to-3.5 mm adapter. It is as if, in the past 12 months, we have all gotten rid of our Beats and Bose cans, such as it is a solved problem. Memo to Apple: It is not. What I could say is that these are the iPhones you desire. The iPhone Xs doesn't mess with that which I consider a timeless design, and also the Xs Max simply takes all that is wonderful about the iPhone X and expands it. As a pair, they're just as amazing as the first home-button-free Iphone X. The design appears particularly elegant in a gold finish. Participants will love the newest camera, and gamers and content customers will desire the big-display Iphone Xs Max. Even if you have the Iphone X, I would not update unless you absolutely want more realistic augmented existence and also complete depth control in your own portraits. To get iPhone 6s, 7, 8, as well as 8 Plus officers, the iPhone Xs and Xs Max will certainly feel like a massive jump into the coming future.

#technology

[bagelpyjama19]

Find the New Features of the iPhone Xs and Xs Max

Most people very likely concur with me personally that iPhone X design was one of the very best, and that's exactly why Apple chose to keep the same style for their next set of individualized cell phones. Introduced a year ago, it's the first Apple handset to jettison the single button. In another, I held its brand new successor, the iPhone Xs. My eyes squeezed closed, and I passed them back and forth between my hands, rolling each telephone over, feeling the curves, glass springs, double lens camera lumps, and lightning ports. I realized that I could not tell the difference between the two phones. This isn't a criticism. It is only a fact of S design years, where Apple locks in the iPhone layout and concentrates, rather, on updating key internal components. As such, the biggest changes to the 5.8-inches Iphone Xs and its big brother, the 6.5-inch iPhone XS Max, both of which I analyzed, could be seen in performance (thanks to this newest A12 Bionic CPU), photographs and movies, (brand new cameras and a new ISP supported by the A12), along with functionality (iOS12, the final version of which came pre-installed on my evaluation units). The result is a pair of fantastic, elegant, and high-performing gadgets which will please iPhone enthusiasts and receive more than a few glances out of Android cellphones. It still has the same rigid surgical metal frame wrapped in a new glass material which Apple stated was formulated to be more scratch tolerant and durable. I gave the phones a couple half-hearted drops on a thin-pile rug but was not prepared to allow them to slide away . Thus far I've discovered just one very fine scratch on your iPhone Xs Max. So let's think about them scratch-tolerant, but still not scratch-proof. The bigger Iphone Xs Max shares all of the iPhone X's substance and layout features, but does this in a 6.2-inch x 3.05-inch x 0.30-inch entire body. In 208 grams, it's considerably heavier than the iPhone Xs. The Xs Max is really a bit shorter (0.04 inches) and thinner (0.02 inches), however, it's also a couple of grams heavier when compared to the Iphone 8 Plus, the most big-screen cellphone that from a distance that the iPhone Xs Max most looks like. Button positioning power/sleep, quantity controls, ring/silent switch -- are the exact same. However, there's a single minor chassis gap. At the bottom edge of both phones sits the lightning connector. It is book-ended by means of a pair of drilled holes which accommodate one half of their stereo speaker program and among their cellphone's microphones. There used to be half a dozen slots on either side. Now the right side includes six openings, but the left, which just houses a microphone, has only three. This little change was completed, in part, to accommodate the new inner antenna configuration that contains 4x4 MIMO and License Assisted Access, which uses unlicensed 5 GHz spectrum to deliver 1 Gbps broadband over LTE. Apple upgraded the water and also dust-resistance rating to IP 68, which contrasts to the handsets residing in 2 inches of water for as much as half an hour. I didn't get to go swimming with all the iPhone Xs or even Xs Max, but did operate the latter phone under water, juice and milk. Afterward, as recommended, I dried and shut off the cellphone. I had been careful to not plug it into a lighting cable (that is a no-no following a dowsing) but didn't place it onto a wireless charging foundation in which it had no trouble accepting a fee. Apple, by the way, stated it put some effort into creating the wireless charging platform (basically the hidden coils in the telephone ) more forgiving. This is good news, since I have, on more than 1 occasion, woken up to discover that my iPhone X didn't charge because I placed it a small off-axis on the charging base. I have never ran into this issue with the Iphone Xs or even Xs Max. The iPhone Xs and Iphone XS Max bodies are rigid and tough-feeling, but torqueable, particularly the bigger cellphone, which really creates a tiny clicking sound when I try to twist it. Evidently, I've only had these iPhones for weekly, but based on a year's experience with the original iPhone X (granted, largely in a sparse case), I consider this design framework tough and prepared for the long haul. Even as Samsung trolls Apple for its black cutout at the peak of the Iphone Xs and Xs Max, Apple shows no signs of stepping backwards from the multi-option technologies, which neither grew nor slipped in the newest iPhones. As with the original TrueDepth Module, that one is still packaged with the exact components (none of which, as much as I can tell, have been upgraded ). There is a 7 MP camera, scatter projector for thickness sensing, infrared camera (thickness sensing), flood illuminator (yes, also for depth-sensing), proximity detector, ambient light sensor, the second half of the stereo speaker system, and a mic. About the backs of the iPhone Xs and Xs Max, there is more of that custom glass, the Apple Logo, the term iPhone (however no"X" or"therefore"), along with the 12 MP dual camera program. This vertically-oriented, pill-shaped camera module looks exactly the same as it did on the past iPhone X. It's still a notable bulge, but at least it did not get any larger. Within the module is new hardware backed by new image technologies, but more about that later. I've always thought the 5.8-inch iPhone X that an fantastic tradeoff involving a big-screen phone and hand-friendly ergonomics. The display is big and immersive, however, the body is more comfortable to hold pocket. The iPhone Xs Max in comparison can, especially if you're utilised to holding a more compact phone, feel big. It is not embarrassing to hold, however people with smaller hands will probably struggle with one-handed use and will probably wish to turn on Reachability, which with a swipe back on the horizontal bar moves everything halfway down the display, making it more accessible. Nonetheless, the trade-off may be worth it. I forgot how much I enjoy the larger iPhone display, and about the Iphone Xs Max, you get much more screen without contending with a bigger phone (there is only that 0.04-inch height gap between the Iphone 8 Plus along with the iPhone Xs Max). Apple's full-stack control of the iPhone design, development, and production process pays dividends throughout the shiny handset. However, it's most clearly in the silicon, that is developed and designed in conjunction with the hardware and software components that will rely upon it. Last year, Apple released the A11 Bionic, a powerful mobile CPU with built-in Artificial Intelligence Power. The newest A12 Bionic assembles on that short legacy with a more powerful Neural Engine and much more impressive graphics functionality. Every time I examine a new iPhone, I begin by using Geekbench 4 to test out the raw CPU operation. To ensure there are minimal background processes going, I usually conduct the test before I have set up one program. I conducted the Geekbench CPU grade and (together with understanding that Apple stuffed an excess gig of memory inside the new Xs course iPhones) saw that the single core scores had improved marginally between the A11 Bionic and A12 Bionic. However, that the multi-core score was inexplicably lower. Not by a lot, but I had never seen that happen. The amounts were much higher than that which I made from Qualcomm's Snapdragon 845, however a lower result on the new Iphone did not make sense. However, once I reran the Geekbench CPU test a day or so later, the A12 multi-core numbers beat people of the A11. My guess is that, even though I set up the Iphone Xs and Xs Max as new iPhones, there might nevertheless have been a background setup process happening that hauled down the CPU numbers.

The larger leap in performance is from the Geekbench Compute Metal score, which leapt from 15,145 over the iPhone X into 22,245 on the Iphone Xs and Xs Max. Apple's done a lot of effort to beef up graphics performance, particularly for the raft of ARKit 2 (and Surface 2) applications heading into the platform, a few of which can support multiplayer gaming. While there are not a lot of ARKit 2 apps in the app shop, I'd get a hands-on time with an iPhone Xs operating Galaga ARthe exact same demo Apple showed off during the Iphone Xs unveiling. To perform, a few other writers stood on a table and pointed our phones in the virtual Galaga video arcade console. Soon, alien enemies began streaming from the video game display and from all around us. I swung the telephone from side-to-side up and up and down to see and then take the arriving strike. It was swift and a lot of fun. Similarly, I've seen how, together with ARKit two, the phone can place, say, an incredibly realistic digital pressure stove or sneaker on a true table or at my feet, the illusion divided only once I slid my hand to the frame and, about the iPhone Xs display, it looked like my digits were stuck under the pot. You can't support these types of real-virtual combinations without ample images horsepower, thickness mapping, along with the AI required to identify the surfaces, shadows, as well as reflections will work on virtual objects in an actual open space. This processing capacity also helped amp up more mundane operations such as Face ID. While the procedure for registering my face was unchanged by the first iPhone X, opening either telephone with my head, as well as using Face ID to access password-protected programs and solutions, is substantially quicker than it had been on the iPhone X. Overall, in real-world applications, both Iphone Xs and Xs Max perform properly. Apple put significant effort into improving the photo and movie experience on the iPhone Xs and Xs Max. Along with brand new lenses along with a bigger detector, the cameras (rear and selfie) are all backed by a new image signal processor. The specifications on the dual cameras have been untouched from the iPhone X (and are the exact same on either the iPhone Xs and Xs Max). There's the 1.8 wide angle lens along with the f 2.4 2X telephoto. Both of those comprise optical image stabilization and may shoot around 4K video in 60 fps. They still shoot slow-motion video in up to 240 frames per minute. If you want mad 960 fps super-slo-mo, you are going to need to visit Samsung. From the pure-play photography race, though, Apple requires the guide. The Smart HDR uses detector, ISP, and neurological enhancements to catch a number of the finest high-dynamic range photos I have ever seen. The gap between what was possible on the first iPhone X along with the Xs and Xs Max is stunning. Apple produced a system capable of capturing 2 frames every thirtieth of a moment, and immediately assessing and combining them into one picture that maintains not only foreground and background detail, but can freeze action without introducing enormous grain. In multiple pictures, I saw that the iPhone Xs and Xs Max find color and detail in shadowy spaces without blowing out the brighter places. The Samsung Galaxy Note 9 is also an outstanding low light shot, but I feel the Xs line is a little better. I am particularly impressed by how Apple's built upon its own pole position in Portrait Mode digital photography. Apple released Portrait Mode back in 2016 with the iPhone 7 Plus (the software lagged behind the hardware). Since then, Apple's elegant the concept, including things like Studio Light, Contour Light, Stage Light, and Stage Light Mono. These features remain, and have been marginally improved. That which I love and, as an amateur photographer who regularly plays with f-stops to get just the ideal depth of field effect, is that the newest Depth Control. Depth Control enables you to take a Portrait Mode photograph and correct the Bokehdepth or depth of field focus, once you shoot the pictures. This works with both front and rear cameras, meaning that the image processor is using two different types of thickness details. On the trunk, it's the advantage of 2 lenses to find stereoscopic details. The leading camera counts on the depth-sensing equipment. I understand, Samsung's Galaxy Note 9 offers the ability to adjust background attention while you're shooting the image, in addition to after. However, there's a crucial difference here that is evident in the iPhone Xs and Xs Max Depth picture editor. It's a slider that allows you adjust smoothly from an electronic f 1.4 aperture into a digital f16. At a true camera with a mechanical aperture, high figures interpret to sharper focus from the backdrop and also reduced numbers mean the focus thickness is a lot shallower. About the Galaxy Note 9, Live Focus basically sees the pictures as two planes: the foreground and background. The slider effectively blurs the background plane. The Iphone Xs's depth slider relies on all the depth advice to decrease or enhance background focus through all of the airplanes between the very front of this subject and the background. Along with the enhanced Portrait Mode stitching (tackling the way the topic and a blurred background match together), the subtlety of the impact through the array of virtual f-stops is remarkable and also, Apple's explained, is modeled on how real lenses using hardware apertures would influence each picture. For most people the smart phone camera is their sole camera. This sets a pro-level command at the hands of huge numbers of individuals, that are just about to begin taking some genuinely fantastic portrait images. Immediately after taking regular photographs, video, and even 4K, I stay surprised with the standard of videos and photos coming out of their Iphone Xs and Xs Max. Sure, it is odd that the bigger Xs Max does not, as could be convention, have any improved picture capturing features, but I doubt anyone is going to be disappointed with the picture quality delivered by either innovative cell phone. There are a few other equipment-related enhancements, like the guaranteed dual-sim technology which permits multiple phone numbers (believe work and individual numbers of one phone) through the aid of eSIM technology. Unlike ordinary SIMs, you do not require a carrier card only for the provider to confirm it and empower it on your mobile phone. It's a great characteristic which, for evident reasons, I couldn't test. For sound fanatics, there's also the new stereo recording and wider-stereo playback. This is somewhat tough to test, and I sometimes worry my ears are not good enough to detect what might be a more nuanced difference. But, I'd find a way. I recorded, in landscape mode, some cars driving by. These start on the left side of the screen and push to the right. In movie I recorded using all the iPhone Xs, the sound travels from 1 side of the phone to another. Playback about the iPhone X is pretty loud but lacks the identical amount of separation sound. Apparently, videos with a great deal of sound technology aren't only great showcases for the awesome displays, but highlight the brand new, wider stereo playback abilities also. As hardware/software marriages go, you can not do better than the Apple iPhone Xs and iOS 12. I've been operating betas of the new mobile OS for months in my iPhone X and found it incredibly smooth and stable. On the Iphone Xs and Xs Max, it becomes even better partners. Along with butter-smooth and light rapid operation (in games, video, and internet browsing), the enhanced reality skills announced into iOS 11, ARKit, and the iPhone X tend to be far more refined and custom-made from iOS 12 and also the Iphone Xs. The intelligent assistant is a much better listener than ever, and getting smarter. Her speech is more conversational and she's asking follow-up queries. Siri can be more hands-on, putting connections between benign items like schedules and locations and presenting them in advance. Additionally, there are a lot of third-party programs tapping into Siri, allowing you to use only your voice to access app attributes and information without even launching the app. You are able to install iOS 12 on your older Iphone (down into this iPhone 5s), but not all of features, especially those between AR, will work on the old devices. Still, I clearly recommend the upgrade with anyone conducting an iPhone 7 and up. It is simply a much better, more polished, educated, and intelligent user experience and, to be fair, I've hardly scratched the surface of all of the upgrades and feature enhancements you'll find. Apple claims 30 minutes more battery life involving the iPhone X and Xs and 90 minutes more with all the iPhone Xs Max. In my experience, either new mobile might get you through most of the day on a single charge. I spent using only the iPhone Xs Max. I kept the brightness high and conducted all kinds of apps and procedures. It lasted quite a strong 10 hours. Perhaps just a little bit less than I anticipated, but still enough for me through most of the day. Seriously, with under a week under my belt, it is difficult to provide a complete evaluation of battery performance. There are so many factors and, of course, battery life will be great on new phones. Speak to me in six months or a full year, and we are going to see if I am still happy with battery life. It is not strange that Apple did not lower the price for the brand new $999 Iphone Xs (or even hold on the initial version and sell it at a lower price). I'm not shocked that we now have an almost $1,100 model or that we're able to cover a whopping $1,449 for the 512 GB iPhone Xs Max (which happens to be the model I tested). Apple's already proven that individuals will pay virtually anything to get their hands on the most current iPhone. Is $1,000 or more to pay for a cell phone? Maybe, but how a lot of us think of the complete price rather than monthly payments? I am, though, a little annoyed that Apple discontinued the lightning -to-3.5 mm adapter. It is like in the previous 12 months, we've all gotten rid of our audio and Bose cans, such as it is a solved issue. Memo to Apple: It is not. What I could say is that all these are the iPhones you desire. The Iphone Xs does not mess with that which I consider a classic layout, and the Xs Max only takes all that is amazing about the iPhone X also expands it. As a pair, they're equally as amazing as the first home-button-free Iphone X. The design looks especially fashionable in a golden finish. Photographers will love the new camera, and gamers and content customers will desire the big-screen iPhone Xs Max. Even if you have the iPhone X, I wouldn't update unless you need more authentic augmented existence and also complete depth control on your own portraits. To get iPhone 6s, 8, 7, and even 8 Plus officers, that the iPhone Xs and Xs Max is going to feel as a enormous leap into the foreseeable future.

#news

[flightykickback]

LAWD! This took forever to write!

I legit had… *counts*…three drafts that I scrapped.  What’s crazy is I had so much to type even though this was one night only; All I, and my bank account, had to give.  Why am I overthinking the details? LOL!

But, it’s finally here for your reading pleasure:  our crash and dash to see BTS Speak Yourself Tour in Chicago!

WARNING: This post is long and hardly edited.  I’m tired of looking at it.

When I say this was a crash and dash, I truly mean it.  My friend and I drove early morning from Cleveland, stopped by the Hello Kitty Café Truck in Westlake, then made it to Sleep Inn near Midway Airport by 2 PM on concert day.  We were on our way downtown to the BTS x Live Nation Pop-Up Shop shortly after.  Before we knew it, we were on our way home the next day.  Did we breathe? I don’t think so.

The weather in Chicago was *insert Alaska Thunderfuck voice* TERRIBLE! This wasn’t normal rain and cold, this was a cut through your bones kinda chill.  I was woefully underprepared, no thanks to checking weather reports! Sunny, they said.  ZERO chance of rain, then it rained on our way and was misty all day in Chicago.  Swear, I wanted to pack light, so I didn’t bring anything other than a thin jacket and my ballet flats.  Not only was I freezing, but I also kept stepping in puddles and mud at Soldier Field.  By the end of the night, my hands and feet could’ve been amputated.

Regardless, I had only one chance to complete my mission:

Visit the BTS x Live Nation Pop-Up Shop

Find Disequil Merch

Buy Tour Merch

Die at the Concert

I couldn’t lose!

Originally, my friend and I were to take the transit to the Pop-Up Shop, but she was gracious enough to get us a Lyft since we were an hour away by transit.  The driver was real chill and indulged my hyperactivity enough to withstand me asking if his earlobe gauges hurt (to which we learned he just increased the size today! (☉｡☉)), complaining that Blueface is throwing all rappers off-beat, and asking him to cut-off a FL plated minivan trying to jump ahead of us.

Um, excuse me, this Chicago, baby! You can’t just barge in.  Fend for yourself! *Doesn’t really mean any of this since there’s hardly any traffic in Cleveland and traffic in Chicago sucks* But we had somewhere important to be! (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و

We get to the Pop-Up Shop and the line was hundreds of people deep, from the shop door and around an entire city block.  The only consolation was the representation of all ages, ethnicities, sizes, and gender was admirable, and they all desired to buy these overpriced designs by Live Nation.  I just wanted the free slap bracelet =P

My friend and I were getting out of the Lyft (I’m sure our driver misses us T.T) and I tell her, maybe we can ask for bracelets and get the hell outta here.  She told me, she’ll watch me ask LOL!

I set off to find an employee in what was an embarrassingly long amount of circling in one spot, looking confused while mumbling to myself, “I don’t see any employees! Where’s the door?! Why are there no employees?! Will people think I’m cutting the line? How can people walk into a building with only one way in and one way out, without any employees outside?! Even a club has bouncers!” Literally, the door would swing open and a select few would walk in before the door slammed shut. Did the door even have a handle?? Meanwhile, my friend is waiting against something, looking comfortable.

Then I spot him, THE ONLY representative that appeared to be working outside, complete in a personal jacket and regular looking jeans.  The walkie-talkie and him opening the exit door set my sensors off.  LOL!

“Excuse me, how long is the wait?” I was on a whole. ‘Notha. Level. My introvertedness was nowhere to be seen.

“Three hours.” THREE M-FING HOURS?! Oh hell no, we ain’t got time for that!

“Oh no! My friend and I drove all the way from Cleveland to see the concert tonight.  It starts at 7.” Pure defeatism in my body language and disappointment all over my face.

Aaaaaaaand LIFTOFF! My strange hyperactive charm engaged the employee in a conversation about the wait time, how most ARMY are finagling it, how he got the job (he knows people?!), and eventually I tell him, “I just want a slap bracelet.”

His movements were “say no more” quick.  I barely finished my sentence before he opened the door and reemerged with ONE slap bracelet.  I thanked him profusely, then asked for another one for my friend.  “NOPE! Should’ve asked then.  They gave me a hard time with this one!”  Needless to say, I apologized profusely to my friend -_-; (Sorry!).

  DISSSSEEEQUILLLL MERCH! Ya’ll! I’ve been aching to add their glow-in-the-dark Speak Yourself Tour pin to my collection and it just so happened the merchant was going to be a Soldier Field.  I couldn’t miss this opportunity.  The anxiety set in when I learned I had to find Disequil by Twitter stalking.

I’ve wrote how my friend and I ran into Big Hit Staff before.  They ab-so-lutely DO NOT want anyone except them selling any merch on tour grounds.

Ooooooo, they want their money! They were looking to bust merch and fan sites like it’s their only mission.  There were also a few scares circulating online that cops were busting fan sites, giving them court orders and throwing their merch away O-O! So you can imagine Disequil wasn’t playing any games.

One moment, Disequil was on the outskirts of Soldier Field Campus, then they were someplace else.  Suddenly, they were traveling to a donut shop and announced they’d only be there briefly.  I legit @ them like DO NOT MOVE! I’M COMING! T_T! So, in the frigid, misty air, by bus, we finally caught up with the merchant.  I not only get the SY tour pin, but also prints of their MONO series pin collection!

By now, everyone should know RM is my bias and his album, MONO, had me deep in reflection after its release.  I collect so many pins to show my love of RM and his intellect that it’s ridiculous.  It’s no surprise that I needed to have the MONO prints too.  The details in the design and the embodiment of each song within the artwork of the pins are overwhelming.  Dissu even explains each design because they’re that incredible!  Not only did I buy the prints, but I also bought the pins when Dissu reopened their shop.

Last, but not least, we had to hook my friend up with tour merch!

At Love Yourself in Chicago, there was only one place to buy merch, in the desolate asphalt lot across from United Center at the giant white circus tent.  This time, there were DOZENS of merch sites: outdoor trailers and kiosks and storefronts inside Soldier Field.  By the time we got there around 6 pm, there were no ridiculous wait times and almost everything was in stock.  The downside was not all merch spots had the same inventory.  This meant, not all the same size tees were in stock at every location – which tees were exactly what my friend was on the hunt for.

We’d go to a trailer and they’d have the tee, but not in the wanted size; then, we’d go to another site and they wouldn’t have the tee.  In hopes the next site would have the tee, we’d walk up to the counter and find they had a completely different set of tees or completely different inventory! Eventually, my friend had enough, got what she could with the promise to search again after the concert, and we headed to security to be seated.

Why didn’t we check the giant white circus tent you might ask? The mecca for all merch? Because they were ON THE GRASS! It was swamp muddy.  Like, devour your ballet flats muddy.  The worst part is the lonely UNO Experience tent was waaaaaaay across the sloppy wet field with no one paying it any attention. T_T

  Security was QUICK! I was shivering with cold and excitement knowing I wouldn’t have long before I’d be seated. I double-checked my clear, stadium approved bag: no liquids ✔, ARMY bomb ✔, Umbrella ✔ – when the security personnel caught my eye, “They won’t let you bring in an umbrella.” Ya’ll, when it was our turn, they wanted me to discard a premium umbrella, gifted to me by my manager, that folds outwards to trap any wetness from the rain AND has a flashlight on the handle.  The guard offers directions to the locker area.  Thanks!

We trek to find the lockers that were supposed to be on a simple pathway around the corner.  It was around the building and through a tunnel, on the side of a road.  These were portable gym lockers for $10! After gawking at the price, I made sure to put as much as I could in there LOL!

There was a bit of a panic on my end because there were at least 20 people working the registers and locking up peoples’ things, but it appeared the line wasn’t moving quick enough to catch the show on time.  Luckily, we got a locker, raced back to Soldier Field, practically flew through the security line and made it to our seats in time with 30 minutes to spare.  We didn’t miss a thing!

If you’ve never been to a k-pop concert, there’s a pregame after doors open for seating.  Music videos play and fans turn on their lightsticks for a sing-a-long.  It’s no different at Speak Yourself.  ARMY were singing to various music videos with their ARMY Bombs on.  I could feel the energy in the air from everyone’s anticipation.  The girl next to me was so excited about her first BTS concert that she immediately started talking to me about it.

  Finally, without prompting, the first VCR came on, and then…Dionysus.

Note:  Pairing the ARMY Bomb was a bih! I must’ve paired it with the Big Hit app at least five times with horrible cell phone reception until I realized I just had to move the switch from Bluetooth to on after paring LOL!

I did not watch a single recording of Dionysus before the concert.  At first, in all honesty, I was burnt out.  BTS releases so much media that I just needed a break, but this was the perfect opportunity for a surprise while being engulfed in so much sensation.  From that point on, I purposefully refrained from watching Dionysus so I could be murdered in the Soldier Field stands…and the impact did not disappoint!

The background lit up across huge LCD panels, giant silver tigers inflated across the stage, pillars began to appear, fire burst forth and BTS materialized from beneath the stage.  It was hardcore! Each member had a look of royalty and disregard. BTS, the song itself, the stage production, the choreo and surplus of dancers…was murrrddeeer.

The rest of the experience was personal.  I tried to live in the moment as much as possible; although I did get some footage, the rest of the experience turned into amazing memories.  Of course, I do have other highlights I want to share!

1.  THEY’S RICH! Somebody on their team said eff this budget! We straight flexin’! There were lasers, pyrotechnics, lights, beautiful LCD backgrounds, special effects for video feeds to the monitors, twice the amount of back-up dancers than at Love Yourself, inflatables and intricate light oceans (one that formed a galaxy!) throughout the concert. I’ve never seen nor heard of a concert like this.

Plus, every stage got a glow-up:  a conveyor belt on Suga’s stage, Jin’s intergalactic piano, Jay’s sleeker dance platform, RM’s Disney Magic wand, JK flying around the stadium, Jimin popping the bubble he appeared in, and V’s massive, sexy bed.  The medley portion was even standardized so every tour stop could see Baepsae hip thrusts.

I was blown away by how Big Hit could take the same setlist, add a few songs from Persona and still outdo themselves.  And at the very end, with ARMY singing to Mikrokosmos, the BTS logo ascended towards the stars as a year’s worth of fireworks erupted behind it.  It was the most picturesque ending to a concert and incredibly heartfelt.

  2.  The light ocean was phenomenal. We were in space y’all! Soooooooo many colors and each light ocean matched the set.  I frequently took time to look around the stadium and we’d be surrounded by rhythms of pulsing, colorful lights.  Sometimes, clusters of lights would form circles or gradients.  We were floating in a galaxy during Epiphany.  It was beautiful and really whisked me away to somewhere magical.

  3.  Jimin was genuinely concerned for our health. He told us to stay warm and to not catch a cold.  There were plenty of ARMY that had to look cute without a thin jacket, and Jimin gestured to one fan by rubbing his arms like aren’t you cold?! If memory serves correctly, he even posted for ARMY to take a bath when they got home (or was that Day 2?).

I haven’t put as much emphasis on the horrible weather as I should have, but it was hella cold!  So much so that BTS looked overwhelmed.  My hands and feet were numb FOR HOURS, during and after the concert! I really couldn’t fumble anymore for my phone when RM asked us to turn on our “technology,” for the third time that night.  By the time my friend and I got back to the hotel, my feet were so cold, not even laying in a warm bed, with the heat cranked up, could warm them up.

3.  JK said “It’s been a while,” like he’s been living in The States for years without ARMY knowing. His English improved greatly and I was so proud.

4.  V’s massive sexy bed could fit eight people, but instead, only he teased us from it. And the special effects! Singularity is about how someone could live opposite their true feelings, under an acceptable guise.  The monitor would focus on V, then split his image into two colors and have one move to the left and the right.  It made him look as if his person was being pulled in different directions, perhaps his true feelings and his guise, with his physical body, the one that has to live with this internal conflict at the center. It was overpowering and very slick.

5.  BTS and Big Hit fully invested in ARMY. The show was tied up so nicely that it really felt like ARMY was loved and appreciated.  It’s a double whammy when BTS goes live on VLive or posts to Twitter afterward.  This is why post-concert depression (PCD) is real.  It’s also why ARMY buy tickets for both concert dates at multiple tour stops.  The interaction and affection are second to none.  No other artists do it better.

6.  People love to interrupt me during Tear. This isn’t a highlight, but I think I’m cursed to have someone tap me on the shoulder, or walk in front of me to get to their seats during one of my most favorite sets, during my favorite part where Jay just goes in and owns the thang like the rest of the rap line ain’t there. Will I ever see it all the way through? LOL!

I could talk about the usual things like Flying Jungkook, singing along to Epiphany, all the shenanigans during the Anpanman obstacle course, or chanting J-Hope during Just Dance, but those things have already completed the social media circuit.  These highlights are my best experiences and impressions during the show.  There are definitely takeaways that I learned that may be helpful in the future:

 1.  Don’t trust weather forecasts! They can change. Just pack in case of crummy weather, especially transitioning seasons.

2.  If Big Hit keeps accommodating shorter merch lines, there may no longer be obscene waits unless ARMY wills it so.

3.  So what if you don’t get floor seats? Sitting in the stands is still excellent! My friend and I were able to snag seats on the third level, center stage.  It was perfect.  We could see the stage and monitors head-on.  Any antics from the boys were clearly visible.  Most people will tell you that sitting on the floor level is overrated.  You can see everything clearly from the upper levels without people hogging your view!

4.  Staying close to the concert decreases commuter time when leaving the show. I didn’t mention it before, but it took us 2-3 hours to get back to the hotel because 60,000 fans were all leaving at the same time (and because of the Stadium’s poor direction of pedestrian traffic and Lyft drivers being a-holes ( ͒˃⌂˂ ͒)).  On the other hand, we had a cheaper stay at a nice hotel, with a full breakfast included, by staying further from the city center.

5.  Immerse yourself into the concert! You catch more visually and can feel more of the experience. Granted, you won’t have videos and pictures, but as I fumbled with my phone, I lamented not capturing a moment on time and missed out on the full sensation of being present.  To up the ante, bring an ARMY Bomb since the show is an interactive experience.

6.  Lastly, don’t crash and dash! Due to a tight-TIGHT schedule, my friend and I couldn’t catch up with our ARMY friends. Don’t do this! The stress was horrid. Please take your time.  There’s more to see, plenty of people to connect with and lots of good food downtown.  Stay a bit and relax.

All in all, Speak Yourself in Chicago was bomb, from the insane opening to the ethereal ARMY send-off at the end.  This laser light space show in an ARMY Bomb galaxy was completely and utterly magical.  All ARMY should have a chance to experience it and if BTS continues their reign as artists and Big Hit keeps a bottomless budget, the next tour will be the most spectacular yet!

~PHOTO AND VIDEO BOMB!~

              Experience: #SpeakYourselfInChicago LAWD! This took forever to write! I legit had… *counts*…three drafts that I scrapped.  What's crazy is I had so much to type even though this was one night only; All I, and my bank account, had to give. 

#BTS #BTS ARMY #BTS World Tour #Chicago #Concert #Experiences #fun #KPOP #Post Concert Depression #Speak Yourself Tour #SYxChicago #Travel

[whittlebaggett8]

Even new Pokémon fans will love the latest video game launches from Nintendo for the Switch, Defence Online

Insider Picks writes about products and products and services to assistance you navigate when browsing on-line. Insider Inc. gets a commission from our affiliate companions when you invest in via our hyperlinks, but our reporting and recommendations are always unbiased and objective.

caption

Nintendo’s most recent Pokémon game titles for the Switch are lovely and easy to enjoy.

source

Amazon

The Pokémon franchise has occur a extensive way considering that the ’90s. About the many years, there’ve been dozens of Pokémon video games from the much more new Pokémon Sunlight and Pokémon Moon to classics like Pokémon Pink and Pokémon Blue, which had been released way back in 1996. Now, Match Freak, the builders powering the Pokémon game titles, are participating in on that nostalgia with Pokémon: Let us Go, Pikachu! and Pokémon: Let’s Go, Eevee!, which are arguably remakes of the common Pokémon Yellow but with a number of interesting twists.

So are the new Pokémon games well worth shopping for? With new features and match mechanics, do they compromise on what is often produced the online games entertaining? I’ve been playing Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! on the Nintendo Swap for the previous number of months to locate out.

Go through much more: Why the Nintendo Switch is even now the most impressive video game console 2 yrs immediately after its release

What’s related to past games

If you’ve ever played a Pokémon video game ahead of, the initially few methods like naming your character or deciding on your gender and pores and skin tone are the exact same so points will really feel pretty common. Soon after checking out your household a little, you are going to try out to depart town only to run into Professor Oak, go back to his lab, and get your to start with Pokémon – a Pikachu in Let us Go, Pikachu! or an Eevee in Let’s Go, Eevee!. Both equally variations nevertheless really feel typically like a Pokémon recreation and you will immediately know what is likely to occur and when, but now you’ll get to see it play out on your Television in wonderfully rendered 3-D graphics.

There are slight alterations to the match that make it effortless for newbies to capture on rapid, but there are far more similiarities than there are variations. You will still combat Staff Rocket, battle gymnasium leaders, and make your way via the Elite 4. Sooner or later, you will however be in a position to capture the ultra-uncommon Mewtwo and endeavor to comprehensive your Pokédex. You are going to also get the possibility to practice and evolve the unique a few starters, so if you are a supporter of Pikachu, Charmander, and Bulbasaur, really don’t sense like they’re absent from the activity.

Seasoned gamers could come across battles a little easy nevertheless and it is not challenging to make it by the complete video game undefeated if you retain stocking up on merchandise to sustain the health and fitness of your figures. That, having said that, doesn’t necessarily just take absent from the fun. For seasoned players, the entertaining will lie in tapping into that perception of nostalgia even though new players may get pleasure from identifying the origin tale.

caption

The games are equivalent to their predecessors but with some exciting twists.

supply

Amazon

What is new

Pokémon: Let us Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee! are the most wonderfully developed Pokémon video games at any time. Nintendo has never ever been about wanting real looking or pushing the boundaries of what online video activity graphics can search like, but now the new cartoon-like renderings make the activity appear much better than past variations even though however retaining the attraction that early the online games, Television set displays, and movies experienced to provide.

Most likely the greatest and most significant adjust is the mechanics of essentially catching a Pokémon. In prior game titles, you would struggle wild Pokémon inside an inch of fainting prior to throwing a Pokéball to capture it. But in Let us Go, catching Pokémon is substantially additional like catching them in the cell cell phone sport Pokémon Go. With your Pleasure-Con controller, you are going to mime throwing a Pokéball at wild Pokémon to catch them rather of battling with your current figures (with the a single exception to attain some practical experience factors at the finish). You can also feed them berries so they’re a lot easier to catch or a lot more probable to give you objects, but the over-all catching approach is pretty straightforward. This is by design and style for newbie gamers. Even though seasoned Pokémon players may perhaps however get a large amount out of Let’s Go, the game is particularly constructed for those people who could not have performed a Pokémon game prior to so it tends to make sense for a simplified version.

There are other dissimilarities to activity mechanics way too. For case in point, the extra of the exact Pokémon you capture, the far more experience your characters will get and progress to larger ranges speedier. And just like in Pokémon Go, if you mail your Pokémon back again to Professor Oak, you’ll get candies that can raise their stats and raise their success when battling other people. It’s an appealing transform and a person that’s absolutely sure to be divisive between lengthy-time Pokémon players, but I in fact loved staying ready to “improve” my people that way and it will help make up for the reality that you just can’t fight wild Pokémon in the first spot.

One particular issue to notice is that if you perform Pokémon online games frequently, you are in all probability applied to taking part in them on a Nintendo 3DS. Participating in with the Switch’s Pleasure-Drawbacks can take a tiny having used to, but inside an hour, it actually felt organic and simple.

Study much more: The best Nintendo Change extras you can obtain

caption

The graphics are insanely beautiful when compared to previous Pokémon game titles.

supply

Amazon

What we didn’t like

Like I’ve pointed out previously, the recreation could be a very little easy for experienced Pokémon players. That is not to say that the match isn’t enjoyable – it is! But if you’re seeking for a critically demanding Pokémon recreation for the Change, you may be superior off waiting for Pokémon Sword and Defend.

The 2nd concern has a lot more to do with the controls. When the Nintendo Swap is docked and charging, you can only perform it with a single Pleasure-Con controller, which implies fake-throwing Pokéballs. While that can be exciting, often you just want to perform the match in handheld mode or on your Tv set. Sad to say, you can’t do that at present. That also means that you simply cannot use the Pro Controller, which I come across to be the most comfortable way to enjoy the Nintendo Switch. Nevertheless, those difficulties are barely deal-breakers.

caption

The two seasoned execs and rookies will come across the online games entertaining.

resource

Amazon

The base line

Pokémon: Let us Go, Pikachu! and Pokémon: Let us Go, Eevee! are fantastic video games for prolonged-time Pokémon followers and new players alike. The video games mix what tends to make Pokémon enjoyable with the electric power of the Nintendo Change and whilst seasoned gamers will need to get made use of to the tweaks, like the lack of Pokémon battles and different stage-up mechanics, people changes are somewhat effortless to get used to. We endorse Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Eevee to any gamer that may possibly be interested in the Pokémon universe.

Execs: Effortless to enjoy, lets players to re-examine common Pokémon video games, nicely-intended, nevertheless appears to be and feels like a Pokémon recreation

Disadvantages: Controller use is not adaptable, game could experience a tiny straightforward for some

Purchase the Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! on Amazon for $54.94 (initially $59.88)

Get the Pokémon: Let us Go, Eevee! on Amazon for $54.35 (at first $59.99)

The post Even new Pokémon fans will love the latest video game launches from Nintendo for the Switch, Defence Online appeared first on Defence Online.

from WordPress https://defenceonline.com/2019/03/27/even-new-pokemon-fans-will-love-the-latest-video-game-launches-from-nintendo-for-the-switch-defence-online/

#Insider Picks 2019 #Nintendo #Nintendo Switch #Pokemon #Tech Insider

[shooter-nobunagun]

Everything is Alright

//Once again the ‘I should be writing my long stories but the plot bunnies strike again’ popped up. I’m sorry not sorry.

Also, I’ve been meaning to write something that deals with the very beginning (or even before) of their relationship; most of my canon fics take place after their relationship has been established for some time, but thinking back, I’d like to write and explore more of their characterization of when they’re just starting out, still unsure of how to act/what to do/the awkward moments of your first relationship. That, and I kind of miss Adam’s snarky ways... ^^;; he mellows out towards the end of the series (or maybe it’s because he no longer has to put up with the pretense of being ‘Jack the Ripper’?)

Fluff b/c I s2g I’ve got too much naughty things going on in my OTHER million-and-one-not-supposed-to-be-long one shots already.

“Oy...squirt...” 

“Ah...e, eh? J-Jack-san...”

A single emerald glared down at her, the white eyebrow twitching with barely concealed irritation. Sio supposed she should’ve felt a touch more guilty being literally caught red-handed, but the curiosity was too great. 

Especially considering what she just discovered.

“What, did I say about snooping around my things, hmm?”

“U-Uuhh, y-you said...to not do...that...”

A nod. “Correct. So you do remember. Then, please tell me, what are you currently doing right now?”

“I...I’m, looking...at, your guitar. Speaking of which, I didn’t know you played guitar—”

“—That’s not the point—!” An aggravated sigh, the young man having to restrain himself from simply giving her a tongue-lashing that would no doubt send her into terrified tears. Which was not what he wanted to do, not when they’d just barely, sort-of-kind-of (maybe?) confirmed their relationship. ‘I mean, a kiss is pretty obvious...right? Right??’ God, how he wished there was some kind of manual or at least someone else to talk to about ‘how to girls’ (that wasn’t Gandhi); saying something like ‘I love you’ right after their first kiss was kind of jumping the gun...but then again, so was just impulsively kissing her without any sort of pretext or even a simple confession of ‘I like you’, now that he thought about it. ‘Good job, Adam...’

“Look, if I can’t trust you to respect my personal space, then I’m not going to invite you over to my room anymore for video games or whatever.” 

“S-Sorry! Imreallysorry! It’s, it, it was an accident, I swear!” Sio knew it didn’t look good, but she truly hadn’t meant to peak around; it was only because she’d (stupidly) flung her jacket across the room, missing the chair and even the bed so it fell into a side crack she shimmied behind the headboard, where her jacket lay over a rather dusty guitar case. Which was how Adam found her when he returned from retrieving a couple of games Gandhi evidently forgot to return. “I, I was just...getting my jacket, really! It’s not my fault it happened to land over your guitar case...”

When Adam first invited her over to ‘check out some games’ and maybe play a few, she’d been shaking with nervous excitement; inviting her over to his room? Did that mean what she thought it meant?? Adam wouldn’t move that fast, would he? But then again he also just, like, kissed me...before I even confessed or anything so...

But she was also intensely curious to learn more about him. The human Adam Muirhead, when he wasn’t constantly the embodiment of Jack the Ripper (or even Florence Nightingale). What kinds of mementos did he like to put in his room? Did he even have any at all? Did guys get different rooms compared to girls? Was he in a rock band or something before joining DOGOO?

Another sigh, Adam looking like he both wanted to berate and forgive her at the same time. In the end he simply settled for folding his arms across his chest, trying to look stern but not mean. “...Next time, just please lay it across the chair, all right? No need to be all...bombastic or such. Don’t need to impress me or anythin’...”

Sio blushed with immense embarrassment. Just when she thought she’d gotten the hang of ‘acting normal’, yet another thing would come along and trip her up. Note to self, casually throwing your coat so it landed perfectly on a chair did not work as well in real life as it did in movies. “S, Sorry...I’ll be more careful next time, Jack-san...”

“Y’know, you can just call me ‘Adam’ now, by the way.” He couldn’t help but blush a little, despite his irritation. Giving someone other than his mother permission to call him by his first name, his real name...it was a different feeling from constantly hearing his e-gene moniker, the casual slips of the tongue from other holders notwithstanding. But it was also sort of pleasant, in a fluttery, affectionate kind of way. “An’ you can drop the whole ‘-san’ honorific or whatever; I don’t care if you use it or not.”

“Ah, o-okay Ja—ah iya iya, A...Adam...san,” she added a few seconds later, still unable to get over her cultural preferences. “Um, in, in that case...y, you can call me...just ‘Sio’ too, if that’s...okay with you...”

His lips quirked into a smile. “Actually, think I still prefer ‘hanninmae’...” A pillow came flying off the bed but his reflexes allowed him to dodge it with ease. “All right, Sio. Chill out, yeh need t’ calm down...”

“Hey! If you’re going to be my b, b-b-b-b...boyfriend, then how about not calling me stupid names?” She was pouting but her face was a brilliant scarlet; just thinking of how their relationship changed from merely comrades to boy/girlfriend made her body flush, nevermind saying it out loud. ‘Oh crap! Are we boyfriend/girlfriend now? Maybe I shouldn’t have said that...!’ It was too late to take back her words, though Adam didn’t seem to be affected much, at least from what she could see. 

“Fine, ‘m sorry...Sio. That better?” Though his lilt was casual and his demeanor hadn’t changed, inside Adam was as nervous as Sio’s ramblings. Did she just say boyfriend? ‘So she does think of us as...together...like that...’ Instead of trying to further confirm anything however, he opted to just casually act as if they were already an ordinary couple, who were already dating and all that jazz, even if they were actually super-powered, genetically-engineered soldiers fighting invading aliens from outer space using weapons made from the DNA of their ancestors.

Right. Dating. His heart seemed to leap into his throat, causing Adam to swallow nervously. How could it be he had no trouble mowing down a dozen Objects, yet could barely make his voice work around a petite, Japanese schoolgirl? “A-Anyway, did you wanna play games or not?” As soon as that phrase left his mouth he wished he didn’t always sound so harsh; it wasn’t that he was eternally irritated, but rather after having to be Jack the Ripper, and all that persona entailed, for so long... Sometimes it scared him to think he would have trouble turning off the ‘Jack’ personality, or worse, it would permanently take over. But old habits died hard, and Adam made a mental note to be more conscious of his tone around her. The last thing he wanted was for Sio to think there really was no difference between Adam Muirhead and the phantom killer. “I mean, you do like video games, right?” 

Sio nodded shyly, clutching the remaining pillow to her chest. ‘Whew, looks like he didn’t notice...or at least he’s not freaking out about it. Wait, does this mean he sees himself as my boyfriend? And I’m his girlfriend?’ That thought nearly sent her into another frenzy, and so she was quite relieved when he suggested video games as a welcome form of distraction from all these terribly confusing feelings. “Uh, y-yeah! I played quite a few games before DOGOO...y’know, being a loner and all that...” She scooted closer to where the collection of discs lay. “Ooh, you have Ikaruga? I’m impressed; most Westerners complain Japanese shoot-em-ups are way too hard...”

Adam couldn’t help but smirk. “Hard? Those blokes wouldn’t know what hard was until it smashed them in the face...but sure, I’m down. Haven’t played this in a while...brings back memories.” He reached over and plugged in the console, which had gathered some dust while they’d been busy with Operation Stone Forest. “So, you wanna give it a go? Sounds t’ me like you’re a fan.”

The controller dropped into her hands and Sio felt a grin curving up her face as the screen booted to life, the familiar beeps and chirps as the game loaded and she started the first round. “Fan? I guess you could say that... I’m into any type of shooter honestly, be it first person or shoot-em-up like this.” She was so engrossed in the neon flashes and button-mashing she didn’t even notice Adam slowly encircling her from behind, arms around her waist until she was literally sitting in his lap. 

“E-Eeehhh??? Ja—A-Adam-san, wh, what, what are you...” She flinched at the sudden heat, barely separated by a thin layer of cotton as she realized just exactly where she was sitting. ‘Ohmygod, I’m sitting in his lap, and his hands are...touching me...!’ A nervous sweat ran through her, Sio unsure of what to do or how to even react. Concepts like ‘skinship’ were entirely foreign to her outside of manga or such; the last time she’d been touched or even held like this was when her parents were putting her to bed as a child. Maybe it was normal for Westerners to be this close casually?

In hindsight, perhaps silently pulling the girl into his lap wasn’t the wisest of moves, especially given how the sniper seemed to have turned stiff as a board. Shit. “...Sorry. I didn’t mean to freak you out. I just thought it might be nice to...nevermind,” he muttered, hands suddenly pulling away and scooting Sio off his lap. “Don’t worry about it.”

Sio put the game on pause, feeling a little awkward herself. “Nice to...what? I mean, A, Adam-san...I’m sure you already know, but I literally have like, zero experience when it comes to this type of...stuff. So, if...there’s something you wanna do, I mean...I’d be okay to just, try it. I-I mean, short of anything illegal or dangerous—a-ah, n, not that you’d be the type to do that...!”

Despite the awkwardness, Adam couldn’t help but smirk. Sio’s constant spazzing really was too amusing at times. “Oy oy, calm down squirt! It’s all right; I’m by no means an expert myself...it’s just, I thought it might be nice to...well, hold you,” his face broke into an instant blush. “Of course, only if you’re okay with it.”

Hold me? Suddenly everything she thought she knew about the acerbic, aloof leader of the Second Platoon vanished. If you told her when she first joined that Jack the Ripper was the touchy-feeling type, she probably would’ve made some quip about him only wanting to get close enough to slash your throat. But as she was quickly learning, it seemed her hunch of ‘Adam Muirhead’ being different from ‘Jack the Ripper’ was correct. It seemed Adam really was more of a laid back, mellow, and perhaps even a bit shy type of guy. “H-Hold...me?” She squeaked, face burning as well. “L-Like, t-touching and all that...in your lap?” 

‘Whoa, whooaa, I didn’t realize Adam was such a...romantic type of guy?!’

“It doesn’t have to be that close, if you’re not comfortable with it!” Adam was getting flustered as well, now regretting trying to initiate any sort of physical contact so soon. “I just...well, now that I...like you, I kind of...want to be closer to you. Like, hugging or being able to put my arms around you, stuff like that?” He sighed, burying his face in his hands. “Y’know what, forget it; sounds like you’re not comfortable with getting all touchy-feely like this yet.” Actually, he should’ve guessed the sniper wouldn’t be comfortable with it, given how much she’d freaked out during their first mission in the hurricane together, and that had been strictly for business, ‘get the job done’ reasons too.

Oh. Ooh. For some reason it never occurred to Sio there was such a thing as non-sexual physical contact. ‘Duh, of course that’s normal; I mean, even best friends do that kind of stuff...god, I’m such a social noob.’  Adam may have been rough around the edges, but he always respected her boundaries and never actually did anything to her. ‘Unlike some other people I could name...’

“N-No, th-that’s not what I—” She fidgeted, unsure of how to get her point across without coming off as even more of a loner than she already was. “I-I mean, I just...didn’t think about it that way, that’s all. Like I said earlier, I...don’t even know what it’s really like to have friends, let alone a...boyfriend, s, so...it never occurred to me people actually want to get closer to me like that.” She sucked in a deep breath. “I-I, you just caught me off guard, since I was playing that game, but...” Summoning all her courage as Nobunagun, she looked at Adam directly in the eyes. “I, I’d...like to try it. I-I mean, the whole, hugging and stuff—if, if that’s...okay?” Adam’s expression remained impassive this whole time, causing Sio to panic slightly. ‘Oh god, what if he thinks I’m just some, some...totally, socially inept weirdo?!’

Before her panic could completely override her Adam was already drawing her closer, Sio tensing a bit at the unfamiliar sensation of even being held, but gradually as he settled her in his lap, she realized how warm it was. It wasn’t a hug, but rather he was cocooning her almost; her back brushing against his chest while his arms encircled over her shoulders, his chin resting just on top of her hair.

“...This better?”

“A-Ah, u-umm, y, yeah...!” She hoped he couldn’t feel how fast her heart was beating, but judging by the faint pulsing against her back, Adam was probably just as nervous as she was. ‘Whoa, I’m being held by a guy for the first time...!’ Ohmygod I can’t believe this is actually happening—I’m touching a guy...!!’ And yet for some reason, it wasn’t nearly as awkward or strange as she feared; in fact it was surprisingly warm, and...comforting. Especially given how petite she was, and how tall Adam was, it almost felt like he was protecting her, shielding her from the outside world inside her own little cocoon. ‘It...actually feels really nice...like, I’m safe...’

“It’s...you’re, really warm...” She mumbled shyly, fingers hesitantly grasping around his arms. “Whoa...your skin is so pale...and soft...”

Adam couldn’t help but laugh at the comment. Leave it to Sio to defuse even the most awkward of situations with just a single sentence. “Well, I am human, or so I hope...” His own body was starting to relax as well, now that the girl seemed to be settling into the idea of physical touch. Even though he wasn’t that much taller than her, somehow her sitting in his arms like this made her seem smaller. ‘And definitely more adorable’, his brain absently commented, resisting the urge to go all out into an immediate embrace. ‘No Adam, gotta take it slow, let her get comfortable first...’ Despite witnessing her in action countless times now, for some reason, these newfound feelings made him more protective; the urge to shield her away from harm, whether it was dangerous Objects or over-eager holders—he stilled a little as he realized this new idea of being her protector embedding itself in his mind. ‘I bet the old lady would have a heart attack if she figured out how different I actually am, compared to the Ripper...’

“U-Uh, um, Adam-san?” He gave a slight grunt, gazing a single eye down at her. “It’s not, uncomfortable, is it? I-I mean, I...don’t wanna cut off the circulation to your legs or anything since I’m sitting on them...”

“Nah, you don’t weigh all that much, truthfully. Though, if you want, you could scoot back a little more—there we go,” he sighed as Sio shifted her weight so she was now firmly between his legs, making it easier for Adam to tuck himself neatly around her. “But it’s...cozier like this, no?”

“...Mmmmmmm...!!” Sio didn’t say anything except a high-pitched squeal, followed by extreme nodding. Before, their clothing made for a soft barrier, but this slight change meant there was more skin-to-skin contact, especially how he rested his head against her neck, feeling his breath warm her skin. She was also pressed more tightly against his chest, and her cheeks burned as she discovered she could feel the hard muscles of his chest through their clothing. ‘Damn, he really is ripped...those muscles feel like solid steel!’ Thank goodness she wasn’t having a nosebleed, although if she concentrated too much it might actually happen. ‘He also smells kinda nice...aahh, what am I doing?! I sound like a pervert, breathing in his scent...!’ But it was true that being so close caused her to notice all sorts of details she’d never thought of before. Like how his clothes actually smelled clean and were free of stains, or how smooth his skin was (except for the small scars here and there from battle) and the unbelievable warmth that emanated from him, despite his paleness. ‘I mean I know it’s just how he looks, but for some reason I always imagined he’d feel...colder...not warm like this...’ Suddenly Sio could understand why people wanted to be closer to each other; not just lovers, but friends and family. The feeling of touch, of being close and the tacit trust between two people... “You know...for some reason, I feel safe, like this...it’s, pretty comfortable actually...”

His laughter rumbled against her back and again Sio was taken aback by how much she enjoyed the vibrations. “Well, I’m glad you feel more at ease. Because I like this feeling as well, getting to hold you like this.” Slowly he brushed against her knuckles, until Sio opened her fingers and he laced their hands together, enjoying the added warmth. “To me, it’s something...special, that I only get to do with you...”

Sio only stuttered incoherently, and Adam realized too late the implications of his words. ‘Oh bollocks; I really need to remember to watch my mouth around her...’ Despite the fact Sio was also his first girlfriend, it was harder to remember the girl didn’t even have much social interactions until she joined DOGOO, literally jumping off into the deep end from ‘comrades’ to ‘lovers’ straightaway. “Sorry; I just meant that well, you’re special to me, now.” He sighed and rested against her honey-brown strands, noticing how silky and smooth they were. All the little details that didn’t used to matter were reversing now, it seemed: her large maroon eyes, the face he used to think was plain but now was probably the cutest thing he’d ever seen, and the faint citrus-flower scent that was no-doubt her shampoo mingling with what he could only assume to be her scent... ‘Alright Adam, you can stop being creep now...’

“Th, that tickles actually...!” She giggled slightly as his feather-soft strands brushed against her cheek. “Man, your hair is really soft and fine, too...” Unconsciously she turned around and ran a hand through the strands, before realizing what she was doing. “Ah! Uh, s-sorry, I didn’t mean to just touch your hair like that—!” Her voice died as he gently took her hand before she could retract it, and placed it against his strands. “Ah...”

“It’s alright, Sio. I don’t mind if you wanna play around with my hair,” he grinned slightly. “Yours is quite nice, as well...it’s very smooth...”

“...Th, thanks...Adam-san...” Sio was sure her face was a bright red, but somehow her lips were smiling before she could stop herself. ‘Wow, he actually complimented me...it’s so weird to see him all nice like this. But I like it.’ Slowly she reached out, fluffing the strands as Adam looked on curiously, enjoying the feeling of it as she ran her hands through them. “No offense or anything, but...how come you’re so, well, different now? Is it because we’re d, d...dating?”

Those emeralds narrowed a bit, Sio afraid for a second she’d said something wrong. “Hmm...well, you’re not incorrect. It is true that, our relationship now is...different. You’re not just another soldier-in-arms to me, anymore. But also...how much do you understand about personality dissociation between holder and e-gene?”

“Huh? W-Well, I mean Saint-Germain told me it was one of the side-effects, but it’s different for everyone...like how Gandhi and Newton are pretty different from Mirza-san and Beckham-san, or even...me, actually, now that I think about it...” The sniper frowned slightly as she recalled those moments of pure bloodlust on the battlefield. “Is that why? You being Jack the Ripper?”

Adam nodded slightly. “Sort of. But remember, technically I’m not Jack the Ripper; my e-gene is really Florence Nightingale. But I can’t let that get out, lest I literally turn a century’s worth of history on its head. It’s just too much trouble. And so...I guess, because I have to be so careful about maintaining this lie...sometimes I wonder if I didn’t subconsciously adapt this different attitude to better fit in with people’s perception of what ‘Jack the Ripper’ should be like. In all honesty, Nightingale herself hasn’t had much of an effect on my actual personality.”

“So...are you saying, that your personality and attitude as Jack...are, created?” 

“Somethin’ like that. Can’t say I’m rightly proud of it, but...it is what it is. An’ so far it seems to be working, so...” He shrugged slightly, although Sio noticed he wasn’t looking at her anymore. “I apologize for being so rude with you when you first joined; truth be told, I’ve just had to put up this...front, so to speak, for so long that it’s almost instinct now. I mean, I wouldn’t say all of it is completely fabricated but...”

“Adam...” What could she possibly say to that? Realizing you were starting to turn into someone else was scary enough, but forcing yourself to become someone different just to keep a secret? “Is it...really that bad if people find out the truth?”

Those sincere maroons, gazing with concern for his well-being...Adam felt his heart give a lurch as a flurry of emotions he’d never felt before fluttered through his veins. “...I don’t know; maybe it’s not quite the disaster I’m imagining it to be but...well, I also made a promise to her...that I would do my best to not reveal the truth, unless I had to...”

The sniper nodded silently. “Man, you sound...well, so noble,” she blushed in embarrassment. “I’m just kind of amazed that you’re pretty different than my first impression of you...ack, that came out wrong...”

To her surprise there was a barking laugh from the man. “Hah! Believe me, I’m not the ‘white knight’ you seem to be painting me to be. It wasn’t what you’d call love at first sight; truthfully, I was kind of annoyed at you, since you were just running around and shooting things without even thinking it through. And there were other quirks that made me...not sure how to act around you. But, you know...I came to learn that you are quite capable and your quirks became more charming than irritating...and my feelings changed somewhere down the road.” He paused for a second, gently stroking the skin around her knuckles and Sio shivered with pleasure. “...When I first realized consciously that, I actually liked you...I didn’t sleep a wink that night. In hindsight, getting under your skin is probably not a smart way to make a good first impression, but what can I say? I started enjoying any form of attention you gave me, even if it was negative...”  

“So, so all that...teasing and stuff...you were doing it because you...had a crush on me?!” The look on Sio’s face could only be described as bewilderment. “Yeah uh, I’m no expert in relationships, but you probably could’ve made things go smoother if you were nicer...instead of being sarcastic and grumpy all the time.” She pouted, but Adam only laughed harder. “Hey, why are you laughing? Okay yeah, I take it back—you’re definitely not a knight in shining armor.”

“Well, I did tell you, I’m not an expert, either,” he shrugged haplessly. “You’re my first girlfriend; hell if I knew how to go about courting you or whatnot. Besides, like I said...I was afraid to let my guard down too much, especially around others. Until I was sure I could trust you with my secret...I couldn’t take that risk.”

“Ah, right... Wait, did you just say I’m your first girlfriend?!” 

“Yeh, that you are. I guess we are each others’ firsts...not that I mind in the least; I think it’s more special that way, don’t you agree?”

Not knowing what else to say, Sio simply burrowed herself against his arms, feeling very shy all of a sudden while Adam gently laughed and patted her on the head. ‘Mmm...he does smell good; it’s comforting, being held like this...and very warm...’  Her eyes closed slightly, Sio basking in her newly-acquainted warmth of being in his arms, head leaning against his well-toned chest. ‘Huh...I can hear his heartbeat...it’s quite soothing, now that I think about it...’ The steady rhythm, combined with the warmth and comfort of his embrace...her head tilted before she knew it, smacking against his arm. “Gah! Sorry about that...”

There was a chuckle from the man as he gently rubbed her forehead. “Someone’s gettin’ cozy, ‘ey? Don’t mind at all; though, if you’re not going to continue Ikaruga, might as well shut it off.” Sio nodded sleepily, Adam reaching over and powering the console down. “Did you want to play anything else? Or...seems like a kip is more up your alley?”

“Hey, don’t make it seem like I’m just an otaku who sleeps all day...although you’re not wrong,” she murmured under her breath. “Actually, there was one other thing I kinda want to...or, maybe not...”

He gave her a questioning hum. “Something else? Well, that depends on what you have in mind...”

Sio squirmed around in his arms, embarrassed by her request. “W-Well, I-I mean, I know you probably don’t want to talk about it, but...just, that guitar. It’s yours, isn’t it...?”

Adam knew immediately where this conversation was headed. “...Yeh, it’s mine. An’ let me guess, like most girls who discover their boyfriend has a guitar...you want me to play it for you.”

“....Yes please.” 

Despite his initial annoyance at her having discovered one of his ‘secret’ hobbies, Adam couldn’t help but smile. Nobody else knew about his hobbies or what he did before coming to DOGOO; even Gandhi and Newton only had vague ideas of the life he’d lead before the whole e-gene awakening deal, let alone the rest of the holders. Being able to finally share personal parts of his life that weren’t about e-genes and AU weapons with someone else...it was a new, but pleasant, concept he could definitely get used to.

“All right all right, since you asked so nicely...not gonna bother singing though, that wasn’t exactly my favorite; never got used to being in the spotlight.”

“Wait, you sing as well?!”

Drat. ‘Should’ve chosen your words more carefully, mate...’ His inner monologue tsked in resigned defeat. “...Occasionally. And before you give me that look squirt, I really mean occasionally!” The sniper didn’t seem deterred in the slightest however, if those wide eyes were anything to go by. “I-I mean, I just...it’s, slightly embarrassing just...singing all of a sudden...”

“Aww...well, okay, if you really don’t want to...but, I mean it’s just me...and, I’m curious is all. You totally give off the ‘bad-boy rocker’ vibe; I’d be shocked if you didn’t sing.” 

Bad-boy rocker? Adam raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment on Sio’s whimsical descriptions. “Er, how about this...I’ll play a bit to warm up, and if I feel like it...a big if...then I’ll...see. Gonna be kind of odd since it’ll have to be all acoustic...”

Sio eagerly clapped her hands as Adam reluctantly dragged out the guitar case, hoping he hadn’t signed some sort of ‘death by embarrassment’ warrant. ‘Well, here goes nothing...’ The instrument hadn't been touched since he first moved in, and while there were times he seriously considered shipping it back home for safekeeping, something always caused him to hold back. “Blimey, it’s quite out of tune...hang on,” he muttered while adjusting the strings, the familiar twangs coming back as he strummed a few chords. “There we go. ‘S not perfect without an actual tuner, but it’ll do.”

“Wow, a real acoustic guitar...it looks nice,” Sio complimented as she ran her fingers over the smooth wood. “I always wanted to play some kind of instrument, but I’m too shy...I don’t think I’d have much talent for it anyway.”

“Oy, don’t sell yourself short, squirt,” Adam gently knocked her on the head. “I didn’t think I’d ever do the whole cliché, ‘join a band in secondary’ deal, but...you never know what’s gonna happen in the future.”

“Are you saying we should start a band?!” 

“Ah—uh, let’s...let’s figure that out later, yeh?” Adam hastily pulled the guitar strap over before Sio could get any more wacky ideas into her mind. “A-Anyway...not gonna promise anything, it’s been a while since I’ve played, so...” he blushed darkly, suddenly very concerned with impressing this young lady whom was looking at him with nothing short of amazed admiration.

Though it had been at least a few years since he last did any serious playing, Adam was surprised at how much muscle memory remained. The first couple test chords were just random harmonizing, but as his fingers slide up the fretboard, the melody he’d been working on just before heading off to university seemed to play itself; his fingers automatically stretching to reach the difficult high note that apparently, he was still capable of. “Heh, what do you know...still got it, mate.” As he kept playing the vocals hummed out, and before he knew it he was singing the lines of the chorus:

Tachigare sora wo oyogu kono yume no naka Osaekirenai kanjou ga afuredashite going up Tatta hitori de hashiri tsuzuketeku to shimetemo...

Sio stared in amazement as Adam not only began singing, but in flawless Japanese at that. Of course she learned early on that Adam studied Japanese in school and they conversed in half-Japanese, half-English, but it was still something else to hear him sing it. 

“Whoa...th, that’s...amazing! Wow Adam, you’re really, really good! Especially singing in Japanese like that...you sound just like a real J-rock star!”

Adam felt himself blushing under the girl’s adoring gaze. “A-Ah, um...it’s not really that big a deal...” he muttered, staring pointedly at the guitar. “Honestly, one of my bandmates was an anime otaku, so of course he asked if I could write something in Japanese...” he rolled his eyes, recalling the request their lead singer put in, because not only did Adam play guitar but he just happened to be the only one enrolled in advanced Japanese. “Yeh, so uh...that was somethin’ we were tooling around with, but then we graduated before it was finished an’ then shortly after uni started I...had my actual awakening. As an e-gene holder.”

“Oh, I see...” Sio didn’t say anything more, but judging from his melancholy tone, it seemed Adam’s awakening hadn’t exactly been pleasant. She was burning with curiosity at just what happened, but she sensed that was probably a topic for later on. “Still, I think it’s really good; who knows, maybe after the war you’ll be a singer-songwriter!”

“Heh, we’ll see about that. This is really just a hobby for me, I highly doubt I’d ever pursue something in entertainment. Too much drama and bullshit, honestly.” Adam carefully unwound the neck strap and put the guitar back into its case. “Still, dunno...maybe I should take it out more often, good way to relax and let off some steam...” While he never considered himself the stereotypical, ‘emo goth writing angsty songs in his bedroom’ teenager, there were definitely times when music helped him get over the hardest of emotional crises. 

Sio nodded warmly. “I vote yes! I-I mean, I...think it’s a good idea to have a creative hobby...n-not because I want to hear your music or anything like that...” The sniper stuttered and looked away, fingers pointedly digging into the rug. “...But if you invited me over whenever you played I’d be really happy...”

Adam felt his entire body flushing at her statement. Sio really was too cute for her own good, sometimes. “...Sure. Maybe you can help me finish that song...since I never did before joining DOGOO.” He gave her a wink, and the girl broke into another round of blushing and stutters.

“A-Ah, u-uh...I-I was just joking kind of, I know you’re probably really busy and tired from all the battles I don’t want you to go out of your way just for me--”

He shushed her with a single finger to her lips. “Hush love, I don’t mind at all. After all, you’re someone very important to me, now...I’d like to spend more time together with you that doesn’t involve massive amounts of monster guts.” He gave her a small smile and Sio returned it in kind; that shy, genuine smile gracing her face as well and Adam felt his heart skip a couple of beats.

“...Y-Yeah, I...I wanna spend more time with you, too. N-Not just, listening to you playing guitar or stuff, b-but, maybe next time...we can play another game o-or, watch a movie...”

“Of course. We can do all those things as well.”

A new type of warmth flooded her veins, Sio unsure of what the emotion was but she welcomed it. ‘Wow, I didn’t think Adam would be such a nice guy...but, he is really kind, underneath Jack the Ripper...’

Next time, she would bring over some of her games and play them with him. For today she discovered many things about Adam, but Adam didn’t know much about her, aside from being a military otaku.

Yet, that is.

#documentation #my sweetest one #//i need to stop writing fluff plot bunnies #//uuggghhhh i swear i'm working on divine intervention and love me tonight #//just #//...fluff #//also bonus points if you can figure out the song adam's singing #//hint it's tied to his japanese voice actor