#and I miss being able to click on the previous version of posts so bad

[disasterhimbo]

@staff @humans could you please stop making the interface of this website worse?

#just got the new mobile update and I hate how they moved the person-the-post-was-reblogged-from’s url #and I miss being able to click on the previous version of posts so bad #they just ruined that bit of functionality for no particular reason? #tumblr #hellsite (derogatory) #my post #original post

[shazos]

Rouxls is Hiding Something Big: A Deltarune Theory

FORENOTE- For some needed context, it may help reading my previous Deltarune theory here for important details that I will cover in this post. (My previous theory provides notable evidence on why Gaster is indeed the “Knight” figure talked about by multiple characters in Deltarune.)

Now, this is going to sound crazy. But after much time of poring over and analyzing Deltarune, I have come to a conclusion. One that I’ve been convinced of for awhile now. Something that’s been lying right under all of our noses without many of us even realizing it. We have all been bamboozled. Hoodwinked. Tricked. Why, you may ask?

Because the comically stupid and inept Duke of Puzzles is actually... not an idiot. No, he’s the complete opposite. He is a downright mastermind.

As collective players, we are all falling into the same trap once again. Putting faith into a character’s preconceived personality !

When their true personality turns out the complete opposite of what we expected...

It is here, my evidence for this claim begins—and we delve into the true identity of Rouxls Kaard. Buckle up everyone, cause this one’s gonna be a fun ride. 👀

So, to spill the beans up front, and get it over with. I believe Rouxls Kaards identity... is none other than W.D. Gaster in disguise.

Now. I didn’t immediately become invested in this theory—I was skeptical at first like everyone else. But, once I began examining Deltarune and all of its characters a bit closer...things weren’t exactly adding up about the Duke of Puzzles.

Point #1: Anagrams

I initially began to become suspicious of Rouxls Kaard because of his odd name. Sure, it is a play on the words of the term, “Rules card”. But it is spelt in such a peculiar way. If it were just simply a play on words, I think that there would be a much better way of going about spelling it rather than just jumbling a bunch of random letters together. There is a very intriguing reddit post found here that goes more into depth about his name that ties well into my theory. The thing that stood out to me in particular, is that Rouxls’s name is actually also an anagram for “A Dark Soul RX”, (with the left over RX typically being used in terms relating to doctors/medicine.) Not only is Gaster a Doctor, but he’s also always associated with darkness and the research of souls. Toby loves his anagrams—so I wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest if this was intentional. But it doesn’t end there.

I’ve noticed that Toby Fox has a tendency to tease certain things about his games through merch. And wouldn’t you know it—he has in fact, a particular item on fangamer of a “dark heart.” One which description describes the Angel’s Prophecy. Hm...

But let’s back on track onto my second observation, shall we?

Point #2: The Physical Resemblance to Gaster

Now, there seems to be some interesting foreshadowing related to inverted colors in Deltarune. Before Ralsei takes his hat off, he appears black. But once he takes his hat off, voila, his colors are inverted, and he is revealed to actually be a white goat highly resembling Asriel.

In addition, the entire Dark World is literally just. An inverted version of a normal world.

The Dark World could have hypothetically been the created world/experiment that Gaster had fallen into in the first place. After all, his experiment had to do with “darkness”, and “negative” photons--AKA the Dark Fountains, and the negatively/inverted landscapes of the Dark World.

And how does Rouxls Kaard appear inverted anyways? Well, he looks like THIS.

He even has the strange dangling lip thing—which another character said to directly resemble Gaster, Seam, has as well:

In addition, if you look at Rouxls’ text-box profile very closely, his eye colors are actually mismatched which is a rather interesting detail!

Point # 3: His Accent is Extremely put on.

I think anybody that has read any sort of Shakespearean/Old English writing, can instantly realize that Rouxls is as bad as imitating an Old English accent as a high-schooler reading Hamlet for the first time. Rouxls absolutely butchers it. He practically adds eth, and est at the end of any word he chooses, and calls the job done. What is even more interesting though, is when he gets nervous or panicked, he drops the act all together and talks normally.

Point #4: He is Pretending to be Dumb; His Puzzles are Actually Impressive!

I found it intriguing how there are countless puzzle traps in all the forest areas and in the Card Castle prison that were actually very well done. You have to flip the spades, diamonds, hearts, etc to unlock doors, and open secret chests. They require a decent amount of thinking skills, and are actually competent. But who made them?? Oddly enough if you observe one of them in the forest areas, it appears that Rouxls Kaard vandalized one of the puzzles to make it harder for the player to beat it—which further implies that he actually indeed made those puzzles himself. This shows that Rouxls is much more competent than only being able to make a single box shove puzzle that is comically easy. Where else do we see a place full of plenty of rather well made puzzles + traps seen? All throughout the Core in Undertale—a place which Gaster himself created!

Point #5: Rouxls IS Aware the World is a Game--AKA DON’T FORGET TO READ NPC DIALOGUE FOLKS!

I think it is well aware by now that Rouxls likely wants us as the players to underestimate him--and deem him a fool so we wouldn’t bat an eye at what he’s actually up to. But the most biggest give away to this is something that I have surprisingly seen no one mention at all. And oh boy, it is the most damning evidence that Rouxls is no idiot to be trifled with.

To the left of Seam’s shop, there can be found a little group of former puzzle-makers that used to live at Card Castle, until they were fired and replaced with Rouxls Kaard. They are now all out of a job, and are just barely scraping by since the Spade King didn’t give them any severance pay. However, Rouxls Kaard offered them a way to get money--by selling the tutorials he made.

These tutorials go over TP, stats, information about Susie, Ralsei,  and Kris. Rouxls Kaard has never once met any of the players yet--and he knows everything about them. He knows about stats. He knows the world is a game.

HOW??

In addition, when you talk to Rouxls in his shop, he calls you three the Heroes of Legend. He is well aware of the Angel’s Prophecy. He knows.

Whenever any character in the world of Undertale & Deltarune knows that the world is a game, it is an instant red-flag. It goes to show that they know much more than they let on. Flowey and Sans are big examples of this in Undertale. Pure hearted, dorky idiots that we trust earlier in the game--but wind up seeing the real side of them later on.

...So why should we treat Rouxls any differently?

Point #6: The “Control Crown”

Something that I immediately thought was kind of weird, was the fact that Rouxls Kaard was able to control the K. Round with a “Control Crown” device. If he is so stupid, how was he able to create a full on mechanical device that can brainwash a life-form into being violent/cause it to triple in size?! That is genius material right there!

But things start to take on a much darker side when you begin to look at the subtext of this realization, which I will get to in a moment...

First of all, Seam claimed these exact words.

The remaining king was the Spade King-- as the King of Hearts, Diamonds, and Clubs are seen to be locked up in the Dungeon. Therefore, the Spade King put the Knight, and his strange son into power. IF it were the Spade King in power, the dialogue box WOULD have said “himself”. Therefore, the Knight, and his strange son were put in place to control the kingdom. And who are they?

Gaster/Rouxls Kaard, and Lancer.

Evidence to back this up:

Lancer calls Rouxls his “Lesser Dad”. And Rouxls calls Lancer, his Strange little darling/son.

The Spade King is not in charge. During his boss-fight, he states that he obeys the word of the Knight.

If you observe more of Lancer’s dialogue in the scene right before the gang enters Card Castle, he states that his dad, (Spade King), recently forced his troops to listen to Lancer instead. Therefore, Lancer is by all respects actually second in command to the Knight.

One of Rouxls main interests is...Lawmaking. Even though he is just supposedly an innocent Duke of Puzzles.

Another one of Rouxls main interests is...Cages, and long strolls in the dungeon... 

There are innocent puzzle-makers locked up in the Prison who are terrified--they were arrested for the simple act of making a puzzle without a license. HM, I wonder who could have possibly locked them up? *Wink wink nudge nudge*

And what ties this all together, is perhaps the most obscure, tiniest detail that no one would have likely observed on a first play-through. If you go to the first floor of Card Castle and click the description tablet next to the elevator to the Prison, it claims that the Prison used to just be a Basement Which Just Happened to Have a Lot of Cages. This is backed up by the caged animals in the basement, who say that they miss the “good old days” when they used to be the only ones there in cages, and not a bunch of people behind bars.

In summary, Rouxls is locking up a bunch of innocent people, and playing nice to our faces. He IS the knight. And he is not to be underestimated.

Point #7: Rouxls’ Plan is Already Set in Place

The part where this theory gets a little dark, ties back to my mentioning of the control crown earlier.

If you observe the throne room, it looks like it was recently torn apart in a sort of...conflict.

Why was the Spade King the only king left un-caged to begin with? Why wasn’t he locked up too?

Well...Rouxls Kaard needed someone to put him in charge. But not only that—he needed a scapegoat. Someone to blame. Someone to be “The Bad Guy” for the Heroes to fight.

The Spade King...is actually innocent. He is obeying the Knight, because he is being controlled by a Control Crown. The throne room is in ruins because the Spade King likely fought against this at first, but Rouxls won and successfully put the Spade King under his command. I thought it was strange how the King was so...violent. So irredeemably evil, and even murderous toward his own son Lancer. Yes, it could be argued that this is indeed his true personality, that he is a complete, abusive jerk. But, the whole ending battle of Deltarune chapter 1 feels so...set up in a way? It feels so starkly good vs evil, black and white. Almost like a play.

And oh boy. I think I was onto something.

If you pay close attention to the fight with the Spade King, there is a brief moment at the beginning where he is completely shrouded in shadow. Except. For. His. Crown. It glows stark white in comparison to himself. Like a Chekov’s Gun if you will.

And even more interesting, in the supposed good/pacifist ending, the Spade King is locked up in Prison, the other three kings are still locked up in cages, everyone else is freed, and Rouxls and Lancer now have full control of the kingdom...

Guys. We just played right into Gaster’s hands.

Point #8: Seam Knows that Rouxls is the Knight...

The final observation that genuinely makes me convinced in this theory, is a small detail I noticed at the end of the Pacifist run of Deltarune. Once you have beaten the game, and all of the prisoners are freed, everyone comes to celebrate at Card Castle for your victory. Everyone, except for Seam. That is because Seam knows what the “Strange Knight” did to Jevil. He knows who the Strange Knight is. And he knows what the Knight’s true intentions are.

Point #9: Extra Tidbits I noticed:

When compared to the other denizens of card castle, Rouxls seems out of place. He is the one vaguely humanoid character among a bunch of card and chess themed Darkners. 

His puzzle is... too easy.

Rouxls is oddly excited about overthrowing the king/taking his place. 

Rouxls is well versed in calligraphy of all things. (Relation to fonts + letters.)

Rouxls “sparkles” have an odd resemblance to the shining save states...?

He makes pop culture references, such as ones seen here and here. Could just be random throwaway jokes, but often times more “aware” characters such as Sans and Papyrus are keen on breaking the fourth wall at times/making references to relate with the audience.

His hair looks strangely out of place. Especially the hairline which is really receded to an unnatural degree on the left side. It’s a wig guys...

He gets a suspiciously new position for no reason at all. In any normal situation, he would be extremely unqualified for it if he were as stupid as he makes himself out to be.

Rouxls is literally wearing armor, akin to a medieval knights.

If you pay close attention, Rouxls has a few very subtle similar speech patterns to Gaster. They both occasionally repeat words twice. They both use the words wonderful and truly a lot, etc.

When Kris and the gang beat the K. Round, Rouxls said it was just to test their abilities.

Rouxls theme has leitmotifs from Gaster’s theme.

End of discussion. Deltarune’s finale is legit going to be Gaster getting his wig snatched.

#deltarune #deltarune theory #Undertale theory #rouxls kaard #gaster #Undertale #aa this was a fun theory to make #So many interesting plot details

[theonetheycallhannah]

The Treatment of Captain Syverson-Chapter 13: SNAFU

Characters: Captain Syverson, various original minor/supporting characters.

Summary: Sy has some time to think about his past, present, and future while roughing it in the Virginia wilderness which leads him to a revelation about what he really wants…but is it too late?

Need to start from the beginning? Miss an update because Tumblr? Click me!

Word Count: 4.7k

Warnings:  Mild language, mature themes, military and weapon terminology, discussion, and use. (For those who don’t know, SNAFU is a term coined in the military. It’s an acronym for “Situation Normal, All Fucked Up.” And since this is from Sy’s perspective, I thought a military term, as opposed to a therapy term would be appropriate.)

Author’s Note: Despite this being the longest chapter, clocking in at almost 5k, it was one of the easiest to write, and came the quickest. I love writing from Sy’s perspective, and the pure love he has for Shane. I’m hoping to be able to write a bit more of his POV before the story is complete. We’ll see. I apologize if it seems like one long rant about Sy’s feelings…I guess that’s what it is, with various activities peppered in. He can be a sensitive guy, and I wanted to show that. 

Disclaimer: Unfortunately for me, Henry is not mine, le sigh, and all mention of him, his characters, any characters from his films, or his precious doggy, Kal, are strictly for transformative and recreational use. I neither ask for, nor accept payment for the work I post on Tumblr or AO3. Unbeta’d because this is for fun and escapism.

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Hope I’m not forgetting anyone! If you want to be notified when I post a new chapter or work, I’ll be happy to add you to my tag list! Stricken blogs are getting personal messages from me when a new chapter is uploaded because Tumblr’s faulty tagging system will not stand in the way of me delivering what the people want!(?) lol! (Although…their lackadaisical notification system might…sorry for that. I have no control. lol!)

X@X@X@X@X@X@X@X@X@X@X@

Sy was no whimp. That much was certain. Missouri winters had toughened him up more than most men in his battalion and most of the participants in the training he was currently undertaking.

But it was more than that. Sy was uniquely prepared for the elements. He remembered a particularly harsh December night during Christmas break, before he joined the service when he was home alone and had to let the dog out. Fool that he was, he wore no shoes. Greater fool, he'd allowed the door to the back yard to close…and unfortunately, it had a tendency to lock. Which it did. He tried fruitlessly for a while to break back in, but being without a cell phone, he knew he'd have to walk a good distance for help with the lock.

He slipped out the gate and started up to the road, to follow it  to his grandparents a few miles away. The county road wasn't the best kind for walking, particularly barefoot in the late fall, but his feet were soon too numb to feel the gravel and whatever else was lacerating the soles of his feet. After about an hour, he made it there, shivering, knocking frantically and waking his frail old grandparents up to rescue him from his own negligence. He'd regret that until the day he died. Not that they were angry about it. They shrugged it off. His grandma cleaned the blood and dirt from his feet and bandaged the shallowed abrasions. They didn't look too bad, considering the area they lived in and the trash that could have been waiting to carve him up. Then she set about cleaning up Sy's messy footprints from her normally immaculate floor. Grandpa looked all over for their spare keys to Sy's and his mom's house, and finally found them. He lent him a pair of shoes, drove him back home, and let him in the house. After that, Sy found himself eager to spend time outdoors during colder weather. As if determined to build up a tolerance to it in case he ever found himself in such a situation again.

Now, despite the time of year being only late August, it was unseasonably cool, especially at night, as if Christmas was right around the corner, and Sy was wishing more and more that he had someone to cuddle with during the nights he'd be doing cross country training here at the beautiful Shenandoah National Park. He had packed only the essentials for the expedition, a mess kit, bed roll, canteen, modest rations, first aid supplies, et cetera, plus a rope and a tarp for building a shelter. On his person, he had a compass, a topographical map of the park with checkpoints indicated, waterproof, strike-anywhere matches, a hunting knife, a tactical knife, an M17 pistol, and three .9mm clips. He was also given a flare gun to use in case he got stuck for any reason and needed extraction.

On his first night in the wilderness, he'd taken a lot of time falling asleep. Thinking.

He thought about his last week at home. He wondered how Mr. and Mrs. Stevens were doing with Aika. Shane had offered to watch her, and he considered it. He had appreciated her eagerness to help after her…less than enthusiastic response to hearing about this trip. But he decided since Aika had a close relationship already with Fred and Caroline, and she was still getting to know Shane, they'd better be the ones to take her. She understood, and had offered the second reason that since she worked so much, she wouldn't be able to give her the kind of attention she was used to. That had made a lot of sense. He felt like kind of a bad dog parent for not thinking of it, himself.

He thought about the week he'd been here already at the compound. His first day filling out paperwork, he was asked for an emergency contact. He was used to putting his mom…but she wasn't in the best of health, herself. He had nobody. Nobody but Shane. He put her down, instead of his mom. He thought about the seminars on company approved methods of subduing and detaining targets and combatants. He should have taught Shane some self-defense moves before he left. She could handle herself, and she'd proven so, but still. A refresher, or an advancement on one's skills was always a good idea. But he was sure she'd be fine. He thought about her the most in the torturous policy and procedure lecture. What he wouldn't'a given to have her here with him. She would have made everything fun. And she would have been a way better study partner than Keith. Keith, a Navy vet from Little Rock was a good guy…he just…didn't get Sy's jokes. He was a very literal kind of thinker, and it took extra effort for Sy to communicate with folks like that.

Shane, though…he and Shane wouldn't have gotten too much done, study-wise. They would have been…distracted.

As he hiked along the trails to his first checkpoint, he breathed in the clean, crisp air and stopped at the odd overlook here and there. The park was nestled on the outer edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and they were too gorgeous not to appreciate while he was here. He found himself…uniquely emotional. He didn't feel lonely often, but since he'd met Shane, he'd hardly gone two days without seeing her, even if it was for just an hour. She'd love all of this. She'd probably want a tent, and coffee in the mornings, so they wouldn't be able to travel quite as light, but they'd make it work. Maybe one day they'd take a trip like this. Just for fun. No checkpoints. No deadlines. No semi-automatic weapons…well, honestly, he'd probably still bring a gun, anyway. You never did know about people these days, he thought. Of course, that's probably what people think of me carrying a pistol, he also thought…anyway, he was almost to the checkpoint.

Said checkpoint was a big tent, like the ones they sold fireworks out of leading up to Fourth of July. Inside there was a single lane shooting range set up down one half of the tent. On the other half, there were stations set up with dismantled weapons that you had to assemble in a certain amount of time. Someone had beaten him to the range, so he started with the guns. No problems whatsoever. He was familiar more or less with all of the models, or some version of them. When the previous participant, a small blonde woman, had finished on the range, Sy stepped up to the counter.

The attendant reset the target for Sy so he could do a close range shot, then again for mid and long range ones. He shot well, although he still wasn't used to the lighter weight of the SIG Sauer M17s the armed forces switched to back in 2017. They'd offered him an M18 at the compound, but he favored the heaver pistol, instead. Maybe the M18 was more packable, but Sy just didn't feel right firing a weapon that felt like a feather in his hand. If it was up to him, he'd take a Colt Python .357 Magnum Revolver. That, however, was more than just a question of how the firearm felt in his hand. Being out in the wilderness like this made him think back to how it must have been before these lands became civilized and gentrified. Back to the days of the cowboy, Wyatt Earp and the OK Corral. Back when it was just the wild and free land he could pretend it was now. He thanked the attendant, who was writing his name on his targets to take back to the compound along with his graded weapon assembly timesheets, and then was back on his way.

There was an eerie beauty about this unsullied land, he thought, as the dusk fell the second night of the excursion and he began setting up his camp about halfway between the first and second checkpoints, by his estimation. With his fire built and his shelter up, Sy took out some of his rations, cured meat, hard cheese, and some walnuts, and had a light supper before cleaning his gun and turning in while the ground still held some heat from the waning sun, wishing again as the cold set in that his woman was there to warm him.

His sleep was fitful. And he awoke before dawn, from dreams he couldn't remember but which still left him feeling empty. They must have been about her. He was starting to feel regret. The last time he'd seen Shane, he'd said some things that he meant to be selfless. But he didn't mean them. He meant the parts about loving her, of course. But the last thing he wanted was to come home and find her moved on with someone else. He couldn't stand to think about it. As he walked into the next checkpoint area, the range was already set up for close range firing. He riddled the target with .9mm holes and could barely wait until the attendant got the fresh sheet set to mid range before he began firing.

"How about you let me fully clear the lane before you start on the long range target, okay, Syverson?"

"Sorry, man. I'm a little…on edge today. Won't happen again."

The short, sandy-haired buck trotted out to replace the riddled sheet with one more for the long range leg, pulled it down and lacked it in to long range position, then hoofed it back up to safety, sensing the captain's impatience. Sy shot cleanly, but with cold anger, as if the silhouette on the page out there was trying to take Shane away from him. He put two square in the chest, and two in the head without hesitating.

"Man, I've never seen a long range shoot like that! What's the deal, you pissed at an ex, or something?" Sy checked the man's lapel for a name tag.

"Not exactly, Mister…Daniels."

"Call me Jack." they shook hands, and Sy chuckled, questioning.

"I'm Sy. You're name is Jack…Daniels?"

"Yes sir. No relation to the Lynchburg Daniels, unfortunately. Momma wanted to name me after her granddad, and my old man, well, he had no problem with it given his affinity for the spirit."

"A wise man, your dad. Some of my best nights have included Tennessee Number 7." He didn't elaborate, but he was getting very specific flashbacks of drinking games in his kitchen with Shane. And he was gonna have to shake it off before the weapons assembly drill, or else he'd end up putting together an assault rifle backward.

He made it through without any trouble, thank the good Lord. But that didn't mean that his mind wasn't still reeling. He was thinking of Shane and the possibility that she was being courted by Chris Evans look-alikes and young Harrison Ford doppelgangers, and it was making him furious. He was pretty sure that she was about as interested in taking a break as he was, but he couldn't help himself from making the offer under the circumstances. He kicked himself as he made his camp for the evening, not very far away from the third checkpoint, but too far away to get there by dusk when the daily deadline was. He was a shoe in to get there first in the morning, though, if he was reading his map correctly, and he was damn good at maps, if he did say so, himself. And who would bitch at him for bragging out here, anyway. The odd cricket or squirrel? He didn't think so.

It was colder tonight, and he was thankful that he thought to boil some water for his canteen and put it at his feet. He curled his surly, burly body up under the layers of blanket and thermal sheeting. He was almost warm enough…but he still needed something.

His sleep was plagued by strange dreams that he unfortunately remembered tonight. The scene began with Shane in a bright pink dress and matching gloves, dripping with diamonds, like Marilyn Monroe in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. She looked so glamourous and beautiful, but she was getting passed from man to man to the tune of Madonna's Material Girl, which was not the correct song, and he knew it in that moment, but couldn't correct anyone, because it was all playing out on the big screen TV in his basement. When he realized this he turned it off and noticed a familiar head of hair on his lap and stroked it, about to say "Hey, sunshine." until the figure sat up and looked at him, and it was Jordan, the PTA, batting his eyelashes at him, and asking, "You ready for bed, babe?"  The therapist leaned in for a kiss, but Sy leaned back, tumbled off the couch and landed on those crutches again, standing right in front of Shane in the lobby of the therapy clinic.

"Hey sunshine." he said warmly. She looked confused.

"I'm sorry, do I know you?"

"Well…I should hope so…it's me. Sy."

"Sorry, not ringing any bells. I'll look you us and see who you're with, though. Usually Heather tells the new patients which therapists they get their first day. What's your last name?"

He felt like he was getting kicked in the gut with a soccer cleat worn by the Incredible Hulk. He answered with defeat.

"Sy's a nickname. Last name Syverson, first name Logan."

"Oh, there you are. Looks like Cory gets to take care of you today. I'll let him know you're ready. As long as you're all done with the secretaries?"

Sy nodded and collapsed to the floor blacking out. When he woke up, his neighbor, Mr. Stevens was standing over him, insisting it was time for him to get ready. He kept handing him things to put on. Pants, a nice shirt, a vest, a light blue tie, a jacket, nice shoes. The whole enchilada. They got out of Fred's car at a little white chapel outside which, his neighbor pinned a small boutonniere of powder blue hydrangeas to his lapel and walked in with him.

"Come on, boy. She'll be here any minute."

Sy was nervous, but excited. He was obviously marrying Shane. But he couldn't remember proposing, or planning the wedding, or an engagement party, or bachelor party, or rehearsal dinner, nothing…but none of that mattered. He heard the first notes of "Here Comes the Bride" and everything faded away, anyway. He began to cry as she got closer. She was moving slowly, he presumed out of nerves. Or perhaps she'd chosen the wrong shoes. It didn't matter. They'd dance the night away barefoot, and make love until dawn. He wished her veil wasn't so thick. He couldn't even see her bouquet. Let alone her stunning face, no doubt smiling as she cried with him. When she stood in front of him, he broke protocol and removed the veil to find Aika in a white dress on her hind legs panting, tongue lolling happily to one side.

"You may now kiss the bride." said the wizened old minister, causing Aika to knock Sy to the ground licking his face until he blacked out again.

This time, he woke to the chirping birds of a mountain morning in Virginia. His campfire long snuffed, his canteen now chilled as his blood. Those dreams…those were traumatic. He didn't want Shane to see anyone else. The thought of seeing anyone else himself repulsed him. Thinking about what his life would have been like if they'd never gotten to work together made him physically ill, and he was terrified that if he didn't act on these feelings, he'd end up with no one but his dog. Why did it take a trip out of state and all these nights of solitude to figure this out? She was all that mattered. He could dig ditches, flip burgers, get a teaching certificate and coach, or teach gym. Whatever. He also liked history. He could think of something if the people at Secure Source couldn't keep him in consistent work. It would be fine. He understood his purpose now. And it wasn't just to do his duty to his country. He'd served proudly for years. He had a new purpose now. And it was her.

He packed up camp in what he was sure was record time and hauled ass to the last checkpoint where the brass should be waiting for finishers. He was the first one there this morning, but he wasn't sure if anyone had made it yesterday. He didn't try to make small talk with the attendant today. He was on a legit mission to get back to his locker at the compound, turn his phone on and call Shane. He fired four shots, but only made two holes on the long range target. One in the chest, one in the head. The attendant was impressed, giving the highest possible grade.

"Man, Syverson. I pray I never do anything to piss you off."

Sy nodded in acknowledgement and went on to the weapons drill booths. Today, there were distracting sound effects playing on a speaker in each booth, and each one was different. Sy ignored the cacophony, pretending it was white noise, and focused on the puzzles at hand, breezing through the new weapons in better time than ever.

As his cards were being scored and turned in for review to Jane Freitag, the administrator over acquisitions and training, he got himself a cup of coffee and a doughnut, and just observed her, tactically, and objectively. She was a redhead with sharp features, freckles, and light eyes. She was slender, but dressed simply, and modestly. The consummate professional. Sy had honestly barely registered her gender, and it wasn't because she wasn't beautiful. She was. Full red lips, lashes for days, and although her clothes didn't exactly accentuate her shape, he could tell he had a decent figure. He just wasn't interested. And would never be interested in anyone but Shane again. Miss Freitag startled him out of his thoughts.

"Mr. Syverson." She beckoned him to the entrance to the tent near her vehicle.

He picked up his gear and coffee and trotted over to her.

"Ma'am?"

"Jane, please."

"Sy, then, for me. What's next on the agenda?"

"Well, you're the first participant across the finish line. I'm very impressed. It seems as though you almost could have finished last night."

"Yes, ma'am, if I hadn't taken a little extra time for sightseeing, I might have made it here by dusk last night. I just haven't had the hustle I had today."

"Well, that's nothing to sneer at. Normally, the deprivation of food, regular water supply, and proper sleeping conditions make participants sloppy. The opposite seems to be true for you, as you've done better at each checkpoint than the one before. Now, let's get back to the compound and get you a proper meal, and a shower, and talk about what's next for you here at Secure Source."

"Yeah, about that. Before we go much further with this, I need to know one thing."

"What's that?"

"I need to know if you'll be able to find me work near enough to St. Robert and the base there so that I don't have to relocate and travel all the time.  I've got a life there, and…it's not something I can just pick up and move on a whim, and I don't want to be away for weeks and months at a time. I know I made this trip work, but I'm praying it didn't already ruin everything." He wasn't going to waste time mincing words. He needed to know right away or else this wouldn't work.

"Sy, with your talent…they're gonna want to put you on the high profile cases. Celebrity security. Concerts, movie premiers, things like that. You'll be wasted as a small town rent-a-cop." there was true concern in her face and her voice as she drove them out of the park and onto the main road to Secure Source's compound.

"If there's a need I can fill, how is that a waste? There's lots of talent in this program. Just 'cause I finished first don't mean I did it the best. And I'm sure most of these folks have the people skills to take them farther'n me. And if you wanna gimme first crack at those, I'll hear ya out. Just…let me reserve the right to turn down the out of town jobs. Especially if they're short notice. And if it takes me away from another security job, I want you to send me a replacement a few days in advance so I can meet 'em, train 'em, and introduce 'em around."

"Seems reasonable." Jane said.

"Well, alright, then. I think we got ourselves a deal. I'll shower up in the locker room real quick, then meet ya in the commissary for a sandwich so we can handle the particulars?"

"Sure, Sy." she agreed as they pulled into the parking structure.

They went their separate ways, Jane to her office, and Sy to the quartermaster to return his supplies and get the key to his locker. He practically danced there, he was so giddy to get to call Shane. He did need a quick shower first, though. Which he took, grabbing some shampoo and soap out of his travel bag. When he got back to his locker, towel around his waist, he replaced the products and grabbed his phone. He sat on the bench between the rows of lockers as it booted up.

When it did, it began alerting him as if it's life depended on it. Three text messages, three voicemails, … and twenty four missed calls. That was odd. Maybe a telemarketer had gotten his number.

He checked the texts first. One was a picture of Aika from Fred, his neighbor, the other two were from Shane…two days ago. The day he went into the park.

Hey, hope you have a great first day of Survivor: Virginia! Lol! Be safe! I love you!

OMG, nutty day today! I'm gonna be doing notes for hours! I'll text you in the morning! <3

And then nothing…he chuckled at Survivor: Virginia, but was a bit concerned. Maybe she'd decided not to waste time texting him if he wasn't going to respond? He didn't know. Maybe some of the calls or voicemails were from her. He'd check before calling.

One from his mom, one from the Stephen's house phone, and the rest were from Fort Wood Therapy. That was weird. He was discharged and didn't have any appointments…surely he wasn't missing any…Shane would have said something. He listened to the voicemails. The first one was from Heather.

"Hey, Sy, it's Heather, Shane's friend here at therapy. Hey, give me a call when you get this. Thanks."

Weird…the next one was from Susan, Shane's boss. In the same tone.

"Captain Syverson, it's Susan DeForrest here at Fort Wood Therapy Clinic. Please give us a call when you get this. Thank you."

Again, weird. The last one was Susan again and far less friendly and measured.

"Mr. Syverson. I don't know what kind of game you're playing, but you need to bring Shane back to work and stop screwing around. One or both of you is in serious trouble. Either you're being hot-lined for abduction or she's fired for not showing up for work. The choice will be hers." and the line went dead.

Sy felt his stomach twist into nauseated knots at Susan's words. Shane hadn't been to work. For how long? He had to call them. He didn't want to think about the horror that might have befallen Shane while he'd been away.

"Fort Wood Therapy Clinic, this is Heather, how may I help you?" Heather said, trying to hide the obvious worry beneath the cordial demeanor.

"Heather, it's Sy, what the hell's going on with Shane? What do you mean, she hasn't been to work, I don't…"

"Let me give you to Susan, Sy. I'm sorry." She added the last two words in a whisper. After a brief moment on hold, Susan picked up.

"So, Mr. Syverson. Finally decided to call us back?"

"Cut it out, Susan." He let her blatant ignorance of his rank slide in favor of getting to the point. "Tell me what's going on."

"Shane left work Monday and hasn't been back since. No one has seen her. Apart from you, I presume. I knew letting her date a patient would come back to bite me. I should never have--"

"Shut up! This isn't about you, and it isn't because of you. And you had no right to tell Shane who she could and couldn't date, anyway. I haven't seen her in about a week and a half. I'm training out of state for a job. I've been away from my phone since Monday, and I just got back to it now."

"She isn't…with you? I assumed…"

"Well, you know what they say, Susan. I'm coming back early if I can manage it. See if I can do something to help find her. Thanks for calling me. I know your intentions weren't the best when you did, but ultimately, it worked out. I may not have found out otherwise, at least until… much later."

He hung up before she could respond. He had to talk to Jane about cutting his training short. This was all his fault. If he had just come to the realization of just how important, how vital Shane really was to him before he left…well he never would have gone in the first place. She was his life now. His world. His future, and his whole heart. Tears stung his eyes as he dressed to meet Jane in the commissary. She'd have to be okay with this. She'd have to understand.

As he got closer to the smell of fry oil, seasonings, and sizzling meat on a griddle, aromas that usually made his stomach grumble with hunger, he had to swallow back the bile that crept up his throat. He found her seated at a small round four-top, already eating a salad. He sat across from her, startling her from whatever she was reading on her phone, and again when she looked at his expression and complexion.

"Sy, what's wrong? You look downright green!"

"Listen, Jane, I'm going to have to leave training early." She scowled at him, but he was more concerned with the putrid smells of boiled egg and onion coming off her chef salad. He had to get this over with quick before he wretched in the middle of the mess hall.

"That's a big ask, Sy. Gonna have to have a reason."

"I just got a call that my girlfriend is missing. I need to go home and help find her."

"Oh…yeah, that's…that's some reason. I'm really sorry to hear that. Any leads so far?"

"No, I just got off the phone with her useless boss and all she told me was that she hasn't been to work since Monday and can't be reached on her phone. I have my suspicions, but I wanna talk to the authorities."

"Okay, well. Maybe when things calm down at home, we can set you up with some online courses like we do for our assets who need refreshers, but are on assignment. I'll approve that for you."

"Thanks," he said, gratefully, "I'm also wondering if the company has any…transportation solutions for me…of an immediate nature?"

"Man, what were your letters to Santa like as a child?"

"Oh, you know, a little red wagon, end of poverty, world peace…that kind of stuff." he grinned his most charming grin.

"Why am I not surprised? Okay, but you have to return the favor somehow, Sy."

"How about, one assignments of your choosing, no questions asked?"

"Hmmm, what about five assignments?"

"Three?" he countered.

"Done." they shook hands across the table. "I would have settled at two." she smirked.

"I would have done ten." he winked at her as he turned to retrieve his belongings from his bunk and locker. He had a plane…or perhaps a chopper to catch.

Up Next: Chapter 14: No Call No Show

#Sand Castle #netflix sand castle #captain syverson #captain syverson fanfic #henry cavill #henry cavill fanfic #sigh for sy

[artificialqueens]

Tree House Kisses, Chapter 40 (Adorney) - Scorpio and Veronica

A/N: Click here for previous chapters here on AQ or here if you���d rather read on AO3. xoxo!

Thank you so so much to @saiphl and @sillylittlecandycane for beta-reading!!

Chapter Summary: Courtney does her best to support Adore’s new relationship, even as Tati comes to a disappointing realization.

Chapter 40: Don’t Cry Out Loud

“Omigod, your dorm room is so cute!” Courtney squealed, and Roy hid a smile, settling down on the bed. Of course Courtney would find the stark white, institutional shared room which was barely bigger than a prison cell just adorable.

He lounged on the bed, wordlessly stretching his arms out, grin deepening when she immediately climbed up to settle into his embrace, sighing softly. He kissed her hair, breathing in the familiar scent of her, wondering why it felt like a million years had passed since they last saw each other. He wanted to go back home for their anniversary a few weeks ago, but midterms had been kicking his ass and he just couldn’t take the time away. Courtney seemed fine about it, even telling him not to worry when he’d promised to make it up to her, but he was aware that she might be harboring some resentment.

“I’ve missed you so much,” he murmured. “I’m so, so sorry I had to cancel the last-”

She silenced him with a kiss, passionate and deep, her fingers digging into his shoulders telling him that all was forgiven, that she still loved him, that they were good.

“I missed you, too…” Her arms tightened around him. “Anyway, Happy Belated Anniversary…”

“Two years,” he said, kissing her lightly. “It’s been pretty good, huh?”

“The best.”

It was a few minutes before he felt any need to speak again, content to hold her close, occasionally seeking out her lips for soft, messy kisses. He tried to keep himself from getting too excited, since he was aware that his roommate could easily burst in at any moment. (Joe had promised to sleep elsewhere, but it was only 5 pm, so he didn’t think that deal had begun just yet.)

Soon though, Courtney had rolled over on top of him, body warm and pliant, kisses growing more and more heated. When her hands drifted down to his fly, tugging at the button, he regretfully stopped her, breathing hard.

“We should, uh...wait a little bit. Just until I know we can have some real privacy.”

“Okay,” she agreed, sitting up, running a hand through her hair. She tossed him a sheepish smile. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry,” he assured her, kissing her hand. “I’m just trying to avoid a potentially embarrassing situation.”

“Mmhmm…”

As he sat up, leaning against the wall, she moved towards him and rested her head on his shoulder.

“So...I’ve told you all about my classes and stuff. What’s new back home? Anything interesting?”

“Uhh...I dunno. Murial’s still a pain in the ass, my mom has a new boyfriend, same old shit.”

Roy laughed. “Is he as weird as the last one?”

“Thankfully no. But...well, he’s almost suspiciously normal.”

“Keep your door locked at night,” Roy joked.

“Yuck.” Courtney hit him on the arm, shaking her head.

“How are the neighborhood kids? I haven’t talked to Bob in weeks, is he good?”

“Yeah, I think so. I haven’t seen him that much outside of class. I’ve been hanging out with Adore’s friends most of the time.”

“Oh yeah? Is Violet behaving?” He raised a curious eyebrow at her.

“Shockingly, yes. And Adore has a new girlfriend,” she added, almost as an afterthought.

“Oh...” Roy paused, unsure how he was supposed to react to this news. Somehow, he didn’t think that jubilation was called for. “Anyone I know?”

“No, she’s a new girl. Tatianna. She’s cool, and like...so pretty.”

“Well...good for Adore.”

“Yeah, it’s really good!” Courtney said. “They have so much in common. Tati plays bass, and they’re into the same music, and like...they fit really well together, you know?”

“Uh huh.” An unsettled feeling began to creep into Roy’s chest. That old, nagging feeling that he could never get rid of when it came to Courtney and her best friend.

“I’m like, so, so happy for her,” Courtney continued. “It’s been awhile since she’s dated anyone, and like...it’s really great to see her happy. I really think that this one will last. At least, I hope. It’s only been a few weeks, I guess. Less than a month. Right now they’re all giddy, in that like, honeymoon stage. You know? It’s really cute.”

“So...I mean, are you two still hanging out, or is she kinda occupied?” Roy asked slowly. He knew how much Courtney had suffered last year, how miserable she’d been without Adore, and he had no desire for her to relive that.

“We’re hanging out a lot! Yeah, it’s funny, it’s kind of been a lot of the three of us. Which is cool because I’m getting to know Tati too. I think you’d like her, she’s really sweet and funny and had this kind of sarcasm that catches you totally off guard. She’s great.”

“Um...yeah, great.”

Roy cleared his throat, swinging his legs off the side of the bed, suddenly itching for a change of topic, a change of scenery. He reached out a hand to Courtney.

“Do you wanna go for a walk? I can show you the campus and then we can come back and change for dinner. I think you’re gonna really like the restaurant I found.”

“Sounds perfect,” Courtney beamed at him with that smile, the one that never failed to melt his heart, twist up his insides, make him believe, if only for a second, that life was truly good. He grinned back, dimples deep in his cheeks, pulling her in for a tight embrace.

He was able to convince himself, that night, that everything was fine. The distance he felt was just a normal part of living apart. That this awkward year was just a necessary thing for them to get through before they could be together for real, like adults.

Roy wasn’t naive, he knew that people grew apart and that nothing was guaranteed--but there wasn’t a single version of his future that he could fathom without her in it. So the next day as they said goodbye, once again, the promise of being reunited soon over Thanksgiving kept it from being too bittersweet. Courtney certainly seemed unconcerned, hugging him tightly and whispering “I love you” into his neck.

He breathed her in once more, the feel of her post-shower hair damp against his cheek. He wished that she could stay longer, but she had what was sure to be a long drive ahead of her, and he had a paper to write.

“Call me when you get home…”

“I will.” She smiled up at him, began to unwind her arms from his waist, pressing a kiss to his cheek. “Don’t look so sad. I’ll see you in a few weeks.”

Before she got too far away, though, Roy pulled her back one last time, holding her against his chest again, unwilling to let go just yet. “Five more seconds…”

Courtney giggled, hugging him back, whispering, “Take as many as you need…”

-

Adore was cute. She was really cute. And fun, and chill, and everything Tati felt like she needed after the trauma of a cross-country move.

There was just one problem. Well, maybe not a problem. A concern. Something that, at first she’d brushed off as paranoia, but the more she got to know Adore and her friends, the more it bugged her. It didn’t seem to matter that they’d been best friends for years, or that Courtney had a boyfriend (albeit one whom Tati had never seen in the flesh). Something about it was just...uncomfortable.

Tonight though, she decided to put it out of her mind. At Adore’s suggestion, they were having a chill movie night. They’d just received a bountiful order from the delivery guy--two stuffed-crust pizzas, wings, garlic knots, and whatever else they felt compelled to order after smoking in the tree house.

Tati set all the food out on the coffee table while Adore shuffled through her DVD collection.

“I promise, you’re gonna love it,” Adore said, punctuating her statement with a wink in Tati’s direction.

“I trust your taste,” Tati said, settling onto the sofa with a sigh.

Adore found the DVD she wanted and began to load it in when a familiar voice sounded from the doorway.

“Hi guys! What’s up?”

Courtney.

Tati felt bad, for thinking of her as a problem. She was a perfectly nice girl, friendly and fun and charming--but she was also always there. It seemed like she and Adore barely ever spent time together without Courtney being involved in some way. And it wouldn’t bother Tati so much, except that there was this weird energy between them, something all their other friends had just decided to ignore, apparently.

Or maybe Tati was just paranoid, overly judgmental? She bit her lip, guilt once again washing over her, that she covered with a friendly wave and a bright, “Hey Court!”

Adore looked up, slightly puzzled.

“Hi babe...I thought you were doing your whole...anniversary extravaganza thing with Roy.”

“Oh yeah, I was! It was so amazing, he’d planned this perfect romantic night, totally overboard just like always, and then brunch today.” Courtney giggled, and Tati didn’t miss the wistful expression that flickered across Adore’s face. “Anyway, I just got back, traffic was a nightmare, it took me 4 hours, blah blah blah. What are you guys up to?”

“Movie night.”

“Awesome, what are you watching?”

“Tati’s never seen The Craft. So..”

“Omigod, really?” Courtney flopped down onto the sofa. “You’re gonna love it, it’s so good. What kind of pizza is this?”

“Uhh, we have one pepperoni, and one mushroom…” Adore caught Tati’s eye, responding to the incredulous look on her face with an apologetic little shrug, pressing play on the DVD player and standing up to join them on the sofa. So, it seemed pretty clear that she wasn’t going to tell Courtney that this was a date night.

“Ughh, I love you! Thanks for getting one without meat.”

“Thank Tati, I hate mushrooms,” Adore laughed, sitting down between them.

“Tati, I love you. You’re beautiful.” Courtney leaned over Adore to blow a kiss at Tati, who caught it half-heartedly.

Tati couldn’t concentrate on the movie. Her whole attention was focused on Courtney and Adore, and their every giggly, weirdly flirtatious interaction.

She was definitely, definitely not being paranoid. As she inched herself further and further away, scrunching against the arm of the sofa, Courtney seemed to be doing the opposite. It began with her feet in Adore’s lap, then shifted to a head on her shoulder, then finally she settled into her most comfortable position: curled up with her head resting on the pillow in Adore’s lap.

Adore didn’t seem to mind one bit, either, or notice that anything was amiss. She and Courtney spent the whole movie giggling and reciting their favorite lines along with the characters, and eventually, her fingers began to drift absentmindedly through Courtney’s blonde hair.

After what felt like seven excruciating hours, the credits finally began to roll.

Courtney sat up, bright-eyed, stretching.

“God that movie is so good!” she said, then added in a deep voice, “You girls watch out for those weirdos.”

Adore laughed uproariously, replying with, “We are the weirdos, mister!”

“So uh...I guess you guys probably like...want some alone time now, huh?” Courtney asked.

It took all of Tati’s self control not to roll her eyes. But the truth was, she couldn’t even be annoyed at Courtney. Adore was the one who should have told her to leave.

“Do you mind?” Adore asked, and Courtney stood up, giving her a suggestive wink.

“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” she said, kissing Adore on the top of the head and then moving to Tati, giving her a hug.

“I don’t think that works here, babe,” Adore said, laughing.

“Okay well then…” A cheeky grin pulled at Courtney’s lips and she said, “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do after like 4 shots.” She punctuated that statement by licking her lips suggestively.

Adore giggled again, shaking her head and saying, “Get out of here, idiot!”

“Nighty-night, kids!” Courtney called, heading for the back door.

Tati swallowed. She knew that Adore would probably want to mess around now, but she didn’t have the energy to fake it. Nina was right. Jumping into this way too fast was a mistake. She needed friends, or the year would just be a total misery, and she was super grateful to have found their group. But if she got in any deeper with Adore, there was a chance she’d jeopardize that. So she stood up, picking her bag off the ground, and said, “I should probably take off, too.”

“What? Why?” Adore looked confused.

“Uh...you know, it’s getting late, so…” Tati began to put on her jacket, and Adore jumped up to grab the sleeve.

“I thought you were staying over. My mom’s at work…”

“Well…” Tati hesitated, knowing that she had to handle this delicately, or risk losing all of her new friends.

“What’s wrong?” Adore asked, biting her lip.

“I just...I had a different idea of how tonight would go,” Tati finally explained.

“Oh, yeah. I’m sorry about that, she’s not always great at reading the room,” Adore said, unable to keep the affectionate chuckle out of her voice.  

“It’s not her.”

“It’s not?” Adore’s brow furrowed deeper.

“I mean...it’s just the way you are with her, the way you look at her. And why didn’t you just tell her to leave?”

The red began to creep into Adore’s cheeks. “I guess I didn’t think I...should.”

“Right.” Tati finished putting on her jacket and slung her bag over her shoulder.  

“Wait, Tati. You don’t understand.” Adore’s hazel eyes were glassy, her voice desperate as she clung to Tati’s sleeve. “It’s really complicated, with her.”

Of course Tati understood. Inappropriate, uncomfortable crushes were practically a right of passage for teenage lesbians. Hers was a friend from camp, a girl who still made her heart ache every time she thought about her.

“Yeah, no, I do get it. Actually.” Tati took Adore’s hand and squeezed it. “I guess I just didn’t realize how complicated until tonight.”

“Please don’t go,” Adore begged, still gripping her sleeve.

Tati leaned forward and kissed her gently on the cheek.

“You’re beautiful, you know that? But, it just seems like you guys have a whole--”

Tears began to slip down Adore’s cheeks and Tati stopped abruptly.

“Fuck,” Adore whispered hoarsely.

“I won’t say it out loud, if you don’t want me too.”

Adore bit her trembling lip, nodding, then swiped at her eyes with the back of her hands, finally releasing Tati’s arm.

“Yeah, please...please don’t.”

“Okay.” Tati took a deep breath. It didn’t seem right to just leave her here crying. But on the other hand, she was fairly certain that the tears had nothing to do with her and everything to do with her bestie next door. “We’re still friends, right?”

“Yeah, of course,” Adore sniffled, nodding.  

Tati pulled her in for one last tight, quick hug and headed for the door, sighing. So much for a fun and inconsequential little fling.

-

“Here you go, Grandma.” Courtney carried the cup and saucer to her grandmother at the kitchen table, setting her tea down carefully. “Do you want some of that cranberry biscotti you like, too?”

“Yes, thank you, dear,” Muriel said, and Courtney skipped over to the cupboard, feeling like an absolute model granddaughter. She’d gotten home to find Muriel in the kitchen, cleaning up the dishes after dinner, and immediately offered her assistance, scrubbing out a pot, loading the dishwasher, and then making her grandmother a cup of tea as she’d sat down heavily at the kitchen table. Surely she deserved an award of some kind for being this considerate and helpful.

She arranged several biscotti artfully on a plate when a knock at the kitchen door caught her attention. She set the cookies down and then opened the door, surprised to find Adore there, eyes a bit red and watery. (Of course, these days, Adore’s eyes were usually red, as she seemed to have upped the weed smoking quite a bit.)

“Hey...are you alright?”

Adore nodded.

“Where’s Tatianna?” Courtney asked.

“Uh, we sort of...broke up.”

“Oh no!” Courtney slipped outside, shutting the door behind her, feeling like this was a conversation that Muriel didn’t need to hear. “I’m so sorry!”

Courtney pulled Adore in for a hug, trying to hide her relief. She really did feel bad, even if part of her was jealous about all the attention Adore was lavishing on the new girl; mostly, she just hated to see Adore upset. She put her hands on Adore’s shoulders, pulling back a bit to look into her eyes. Up close, it was clear now that she’d been crying.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, it’s cool, I’ll be cool, I just…” Adore sighed. “Bonnie’s at work, and I just really didn’t want to be alone.”

Courtney nodded, gently tucking a lock of hair behind Adore’s ear. She hated seeing her best friend sad, of course, but it felt good to be the one she came to for comfort.

“Do you wanna stay over tonight?” Courtney asked.

“Is that okay?” Adore bit her lip, eyes flicking to Courtney’s grandmother, visible through the kitchen window.

“Of course! Anytime.” Courtney hugged her again. “Come on in. Have some of Gary’s artisan gelato.”

“Sounds perfect,” Adore said, finally flashing that winning smile, just like when they were kids and Courtney could solve any problem with ice cream. She grinned back, pressing a kiss to Adore’s temple before pulling her inside.

-

Adore lay awake, staring at the faint glow-in-the-dark star stickers all over Courtney’s ceiling. She couldn’t shake that nagging, uncomfortable feeling she’d had ever since Tati had said, or rather not said, what she had earlier.

Was Adore that obvious? Did everyone know?

And more importantly...did Courtney know?

She shifted her weight to her side, facing Courtney now, who was sleeping peacefully, one blonde curl falling across her face. She studied the way the moonlight illuminated her features. She’d spent so many hours of her life looking at that face, and almost as many dreaming about it. And still, sometimes, it was like she was a stranger. It was odd to think about how someone she’d known so long, shared some of her deepest secrets with, could be in the dark about something so monumentally big.

For a moment, Adore wondered if Tati was right. Should she just tell Courtney how she felt? Lay all her cards on the table? Deal with whatever heartbreak, whatever pain might result?

“Court?” she whispered, inching closer, brushing her hair away from her face.

“Mmm?” Courtney’s eyes fluttered, her arms instinctively wrapping around Adore’s waist, pulling her closer.

“I need to tell you something.”

Courtney opened her eyes, blinking awake, and immediately her brow creased with concern. It wasn’t until then that Adore realized that she’d been crying.

“What is it, Dory? Are you okay?” Courtney asked.

“Yeah, I just...um…” Adore took a deep, shaky breath, the oxygen filling her lungs like a splash of cold water to the face.

“What?” Courtney’s thumbs gently dried her tears. “Is it about Tatianna?”

“I...I…” She gazed into Courtney’s eyes in the dim, moonlit room, breath hitching, unable to get the words out.

“What? Are you okay?” Her voice was so soft and warm and caring, hands still cradling Adore’s cheeks, and Adore knew that it was now or never.

She could be honest, in this moment. On the lumpy mattress they’d shared countless times over the years, underneath the dimly-glowing star stickers on Courtney’s ceiling. She could confess, unburden her aching heart, and maybe it would all be fine. But...what if it wasn’t?

“Um...yeah. I guess I’m just sad.” Adore gulped, her nerve suddenly gone, every ounce of courage dissolved in an instant. Her heart pounded as if she’d narrowly escaped death, as if a truck had just swerved into her bike lane, missing her by inches.

“I’m so sorry,” Courtney said, pulling her close, wrapping her into a warm embrace, lips pressed to her temple.

“Thanks. Thanks for...being here,” Adore sniffled.

“I’ll always be here. I love you, Dory.”

“Me too,” Adore said, eyes falling closed as fresh, hot tears trickled down her cheeks. She wished that Courtney knew exactly how much, but even more than that, she was relieved that she hadn’t taken that terrifying leap into the unknown.  

#rpdr fanfiction #tree house kisses #scorpio #veronica #adorney #adore delano #courtney act #bianca del rio #tatianna #bitney #adore x tatianna #lesbian au #high school au #m/f au #angst #fluff

[heloflor]

Voicemail

AO3 link

He hasn’t been answering. No matter how many calls, he never answers. Then, maybe hearing a voice might change his mind.

Note : Here’s more angst about the whole ‘going rogue’ situation from season 2, because apparently I’m obsessed with it (seriously I wrote two other fics around it, on top of the ones I already posted). This time I tried doing something with a different “style”, going for what’s almost a dialogue-only story.

Like in my previous fics, Cavendish and Dakota are an old married couple.

Also I don’t live in America so I don’t know what are the automatic messages there; so don’t be surprised if what I wrote is basically a translation from the French version of it.

Warning : Near the end, and while it’s not the feeling I wanted to convey for it, there’s one line that can be read as suicidal thoughts. So be aware of that if you’re sensitive to these topics.

Click

The number you are trying to reach is not available. Please leave a message after the beep.

“…”

Click

Vinnie sighed. He lost track on how many times he tried to call. Each time, it rang for a while, making him know that Balth didn’t block his number. But his partner still wouldn’t answer.

Click

The number you are trying to reach is not available. Please leave a message after the beep.

“…Hey Cav ? It’s Dakota. I…Look, can you call me back ? Can you at least tell me where you are or why you left ? I just- just call me. I need to know that you’re alive.” Click.

  Click

“Cavendish ? Please call me. I know your phone isn’t dead. I need to hear you.”

  Click

“Why aren’t you answering ? What-why did you decide to leave ? Was it my fault ? I know you erased my memory, but why ? What did I do ? Can’t you just stop holding a grudge and tell me ?

Please…”

  Click

“It’s scary, you know. You’re scaring me. I hope you’re proud of yourself.

I…I can’t sleep at night. I keep thinking of you...Of where you could be. How you might die…

I can’t help it. You died so many times, from so many different ways…

Cav…Balth I-…Please call me.”

  Click

“Listen Balth. I don’t know why you left, I don’t know what I did, and I don’t know if you’re mad at me or just doing something stupid. But can you at least talk to me ? I went through your stuff and saw that most of it is still here, so I know you’re going to come back.

Unless you want to start a brand-new lif- no. You wouldn’t do that. And if you did, you would’ve warned me.

…

Please call me, Balth. And if you don’t want to tell me where you are, at least tell me when you’ll be back.

I’ll be waiting.”

    Click

“I’ve been hanging out with Doctor D. I thought you’d want to know. It’s weird. He’s just some weird annoying and childish guy, but he’s also Professor Time. And he’s alone too. His platypus friend was paid to spent time with him or something. We don’t really get along, but it’s better than nothing…It’s better than being alone…

It’s been almost two weeks since you left. I hope you’re doing okay…I’ve been trying to find you. I don’t know if you want me to, but I’m not giving up on you. Whatever reason why you left, I’ll find you. I just hope not to run into a corpse…

…

You know I love you right ? I promised to always be there for you, to stand by your side, to love you until death do us part, remember ? And yeah, I know I cheated on that whole ‘until death’ part but…Look, all I’m saying is, if you left because you’re mad at me or because you did something bad or embarrassing, you can come back. Just come back and we can talk about this. I’m not angry at you.

I just want to see you…

I need to make sure that you’re still alive.”

    Click

“Two weeks now, and still nothing from you…

I’m starting to think that you lost your phone or something.

…It doesn’t matter, I’m going to find you.

I promise.”

  Click

“I sprained my leg today. I was eating out with Doctor D when a giant cardboard fell on us. I couldn’t help thinking about you when I went to see a doctor. If you were there, you would have been fretting over it. You always do. Even when I hurt myself stupidly. You always get worried before being angry. I wonder if you’re worried right now. You probably are.

…

I should’ve told you I got severely injured. Maybe that would have made you come back.

…Please be safe, Balth.”

  Click

“My leg got better. I’m glad it barely took a few days. I don’t know I long I could’ve go on without being able to look for you.

I started asking people around and hanging missing posters, see if anybody saw you, or at least make people know that you’re missing. Though, I don’t know if this will help much. Nobody cares about some old guy missing…

But now that I’m out of a cast, I can go back to look for you.

I’ll see you soon, Balth.

…I hope…”

    Click

“I left the apartment. I couldn’t stay alone in this place any longer. Every night, I have the same nightmares. I see your previous deaths…

I…I’m scared Balth. I’m terrified of what can happen to you, of what already happened. So please ! Please call me or text me or anything ! Just…please…

…

I’ll be staying with Doctor D. If you come back and look for me, I’ll be at the Murphys’.

…Please come back.”

    Click

“You know, as annoying as he is, I’m starting to understand how Doctor D can become Professor Time. He showed me a few of his inventions today to try and see if they can help find you. And you know what ? They’re pretty impressive. Of course, they ended up not really helping…but the Professor sure knows what he’s doing.

…I think I’ll keep asking for his help. I tried finding you. Just where on earth are you ?!

Doctor D might be my last chance to find you. I don’t like it, but I don’t have any other choice.”

  Click

“I told Doctor D how we met today. It gave me a strange sense of nostalgia. Did you know that I hated you guts on that day ? You just seemed like some nerdy jerky killjoy. But you were also pretty cute. And, well, I guess some things never change. And by that I mean the killjoy part. Heh…

…You know, I could never pinpoint the moment when I fell in love with you. I remember we were just hanging out when I realized that I liked you, but I think I fell in love before that. There was just something about you, and it made me want to stick around. I think-…I think I realized that the first time you died. When you did, I felt- it felt like it was the end of the world. I couldn’t believe it- no, I didn’t want to believe it. For a moment, it felt like nothing mattered anymore. But then I saw our car and I just- I had to go back !

I have no regrets. I don’t care how many rules I broke or how much I messed up the timestream. I don’t regret a thing. And if you asked me, I’ll do it all over again.

I love you Balth. Nothing will ever change that. I don’t know if you can hear this message. I don’t even know if you’re still alive or if you even care. But please believe me when I say that I would do anything to see you again.

I don’t care about the consequences.

I need you.”

    Click

“Four weeks. It has now been four weeks. Four weeks of looking for you. Of having no information, no reply, not a single sign of life from you !

…

I’ve been pretty much everywhere in town. I checked every street, every building, every store. Just where are you ? And how do you manage to survive ?

Unless you didn’-…

I’m starting to think you’re not even in town. Hell, maybe you’re in a completely different state. Or maybe you’re somewhere around Danville or something.

…I have to say, I haven’t looked in the forest much. There’s no way someone can survive for four weeks in the forest, let alone you. And now that I can’t go back in time…

…

I’m scared Balth. I’m really scared. I know I told you a hundred times already, but you have no idea how much this whole thing is getting to me !

I will try looking into the forest, if not for at least finding you corpse. You deserve a real funeral. And I know you’d hate to just have your body lost and forgotten.

…Please tell me I’m making things up. If you’re alive, give me a sign, anything. I don’t care if it’s from you or someone else or if it’s you telling me to stop looking for you. I just need something to know you’re still alive. I’m really starting to get desperate here Balth !

I’m going to start looking for you out of town, or even try to reach other towns in the Tri-State-Area. I’m not going to stop until I get a sign from you.”

    Click

“…

…

…Balth I…

…

…”

    Click

“…

…

…

…You’re dead, aren’t you ?

…

…

It’s been an entire month now and still nothing. No calls, no texts, no nothing…

…

There’s no way you survived that long. You never survive that long.

…I…it was a dumb idea to send you these calls. I just…I just tried to hold onto something that doesn’t exist.

I just have to face reality. I…I’ll probably never see you again…

…

No.

I don’t want to believe it. I don’t want to stop looking. I don’t think I will ever stop looking. Call me an idiot, a hopeless romantic, I don’t care.

It’s not like I could hear you anyways.

…

…I can’t keep doing this. I can’t keep giving myself false hope.

Balthazar, if you hear this, if somehow you’re still alive…I love you. I love you more than anything in the world. I want nothing more than to be by your side right now, to hold you in my arms and never let go.

I hope…I hope one day we’ll be together again. No matter where you might be now, I hope I’ll be able to join you soon enough.

I…

I don’t want to let go…I don’t want to give up like that.

I’m going to keep looking. I need to keep looking. You’ve been alive for a while. Who knows, maybe you’re still alive now.

Oh who am I kidding…

…

I can’t keep doing these calls.

…

…Goodbye Balth. I-…I’ll find you. Or I’ll find your corpse and then I’ll find a way to bring you back. I have to.

…

…

…Goodbye, honey.

I love you.”

                                                      -----------------

Beep

End of transmission. To listen to this message again, press one.

The phone dropped out of his hands before he could notice. He soon followed suite, his legs giving up. He could feel hot tears running down his cheeks. He tried to suppress it, chocking down his sobs. He tried to cling to the remembrance of why he was there, of what he was doing. But for the moment being, there was no escaping the flood of guilt and regret that washed over him.

I’m sorry Vinnie

I’m so sorry !

#Vinnie Dakota #Dakavendish #Balthazar Cavendish #Milo Murphy's Law #MML #tw suicide #not really but better safe than sorry #my fanfics #angst #mml spoilers #mml season 2 spoilers

[klarolinedrabbles]

What are some of the tvd to fandoms greatest hits so to speak... I was only in it for a short time and then jumped out because I couldn't stand to

Oh, well allow me to be your guide. This will be under a read more because I already know, I’m gonna write a whole essay. Shout out to my ride or die @hellsbellschime.

I don’t think any overtly crazy happened during the good!TVD years. No wait, I’m lying.

The year the spin-off got announced, I believe it was tvguide, that posted an article with like info tidbits for currently airing shows. And one of them, was that Hayley was pregnant with Klaus’ kid. I remember this shit so clearly, man. Everyone was so confused. And then they were like SURPRISE, APRIL FOOLS. Because it was in fact April 1st. So ha-ha we all had a laugh, great. Fastforward to what, late April? Episode 4x20 airs, and it’s exactly what happened???

That whole day btw, the day the backdoor pilot for TO aired was just insanity. I’ll say that about a lot of days in this answer, but that day was really just something else. Like we were delirious, that’s the only way I can explain what happened on here. It was a nightmare but also one of the funniest night’s I’ve ever spent on here. I gotta go back for old time’s sake and reblog some of the shit from that night because we all snapped. And not in the good way. 

The TVD 100th. Now, we knew Joseph was coming back for that episode so they hype was real. Because up until that point, we’d gotten a huge load of nothing in regards to Klaroline. They released a trailer, a short one, that’s still in my favorites folder on youtube to this day. I rewatch it all the time because it’s iconic. And there was literally .002 seconds of Klaroline. It’s Caroline standing and then Klaus says “hello, caroline” and everyone lost their shit so much when it dropped that ‘hello caroline’ trended ww on twitter. 

THE DAY THE NETWORK THAT AIRED TVD IN AUSTRALIA AIRED A PROMO WITH THE KLAROLINE KISS IN 5X11. ICONIC. I literally woke up, logged on at around 11 AM my time, and my dashboard was on fire. It was the BEST. We didn’t know wtf to do, it was amazing. 

Paleyfest. Ohhhh buddy, lemme tell ya. So TVD/TO got chosen to have the CW panel’s at Paleyfest that year. Everyone was on a bit of edge because TO to that point was what, almost done with S1 and Klaroline had been given the mega cold-shoulder despite being the very thing other than the Mikaelson’s that got used to lure people in? After the pregnancy plot from hell, everyone was ready to peace tf out, but we got halted because it was a ‘ohh of course it’s gonna continue’ then they tried to nip Klaroline in the bud with 5x11 and no one was having it. So Paleyfest was where we were gonna get some ANSWERS, DAMMIT. I live on the east coast and the festival was held in the west coast so I wasn’t awake when it was happening. I remember making a post about how ‘going to sleep, and hoping when I woke up the answers were good.’. So I went to sleep, woke up a few hours later like 2-3 AM my time, and checked my blog and the first message I had was ‘don’t wake up stephanie, everything is a mess, stay asleep where everything’s fine’ I—

The gist of that was, they basically set JoMo up to be the bad-cop in shutting down Klaroline. He gave this long answer that made absolutely zero sense. The girl who asked the question about Klaroline, who was like 13 at the time, got called a bully for even asking a question at an event she paid to be at. A mess. And JP was like NO CROSSOVERS, ORGANIC, BLAH BLAH. And Paul was sitting next to her going “why can’t the show’s just intersect”, he was right and he said it. 

I can’t remember if this was S1 or S2, but somebody tweeted something and Carina replied ‘when you’re found dead in your basement with klaroline written on you this is why’ or something like that, that was a ~fun~ night. And then like half an hour later she was like “I’m sorry, I’ll never tweet about Klaroline again just leave me alone” if you’ve ever seen this fandom refer to ourselves as basement dwellers, this night is why. 

NARDUCCI. Can’t forget him. Talk about a man who just didn’t get it. And I don’t mean Klaroline, he just didn’t get anything, nothing in his head has ever clicked, I’m convinced. He used to pick fights on twitter repeatedly. Admitted once that he missed his flight because he was on twitter…arguing with a fan. AND ONE DAY, he decided to just—snap. Went on this hours long tirade against the Klaroline fandom, essentially calling everyone stupid because no one was appreciating the ‘art’ of the show. So when I say it lasted hours, I mean that. Now, you’d think, that he would be done, right? WELL, apparently that wasn’t enough, so the next day, he continued. I remember because I was in this gc on whatsapp, and I remember Erika sending a message to the gc going “omg, Narducci vs KCers round 2″ when I tell you I screamed. The man went on a two-day rampage against this fandom and it was insane. 

S6/S2 of TVD/TO was not a fun time. I can genuinely say it was borderline a chore to come on here during that time. It wasn’t fun, every day someone was in argument with someone from production on twitter. Truly the worst year of the fandom, imo. So S7/S3 rolls around and that’s where shit went nuclear. 

Hillary and I, are minding our own damn business, when someone come’s to us with information regarding the new seasons. This was post-SDCC, so it’s like the lull of September, waiting for the seasons to start in October. And we get approached with information, talkin bout how Caroline’s gonna be pregnant with Alaric’s twins in S7. When I tell you we didn’t know wtf to do. And we had to like wait on confirmation about it but then we found out it was legit and we were pissed. Literally ask us if we wanted to be in the spoiler game, the answer is no tf we did not. And she and I basically spent two days complaining. LIKE UGHHHH WE DON’T WANNA DO THIS, BUT ALSO THIS IS DISGUSTING, WE CAN’T JUST LET THEM SPRING THIS ON EVERYONE, BUT AGHH WHY US. So we chose collectively, as a duo, because das my other half yo, to blab. 

That went over as best as anyone could hope for it to go. Now, flashforward yet again, this time to around late Novemeber/December. I had been sent word that something was going down. TVD/TO lost their Thursday slots and got bumped to Friday’s, so a plan was going on, and they made one. We’d heard that they were rearranging something mid-season because they were gonna make a crossover work, publicly we found out it would be Paul and JoMo that crossover back-to-back. THEN ONE NIGHT—I call it black friday bc  that day was a fucking mess—, a friend of mine was friends with an SCer, I wanna say, and she was hearing word that the crossover did have Klaus and Caroline interact via phone call, but that it was very definitively an ending. Because they spoke about Camille and Stefan, etc, etc. Like a closing of the book type thing. So okay, we were like devastated, everyone on twitter was losing their shit. Everyone was pissed, and @-ing the writers all these crazy, sad things, we were a wreck. Ask Hillary about this night because she, I remember, describes it as ‘logging on and reading what everyone else had and not understanding why tf everyone was mad about it’. It was the first and last time that our roles were reversed, and bless her for it. 

SO WE’RE SITTING THERE, it’s Saturday, and we kept getting more information and we were like…something isn’t right here. So we did a bit of digging, spoke to a few people and waited it out. LO AND BEHOLD, everything we’d heard about the phone call was false. There was a phone call but the CKers and SCers were so mad about what was actually said in it, that a few of em, ring leaders of the feeble minded, made up a version and passed it around their fandoms as legit till it eventually worked it’s way over to us. So we all jumped the gun on fake information, lmfskdnknsks. Rumor has it, you can still hear Hillary yelling ‘I told you so’ at me through our group chat. 

So all was well, I couldn’t tell everyone why not to panic, just that they didn’t need to. Until, this account popped up called tvdspoiler or something on twitter, also saying false information about the phone call. Sending everyone into a panic yet again. I remember this because I was at  kmart with my mom, and the kmart by my house was in a basement so I had no cell service. I was able to send like a couple of messages, and was basically like ‘tell everyone to chill, I’ll clear it up when I get home’ did that in like a couple of hours cause then I had to leave to the midnight showing of the force awakens with my friends. So that day was chaotic, but fun. It was the first time I reached 99+ messages on my inbox, lmao. 

So that all happened like a good while before we actually saw the episode. But cut to a few weeks later. I woke up at 1 AM my time to drink water, was on tumblr trying to go back to sleep. I checked my inbox and there was this bizarre message talking about ‘got some scoop’ and they were like ‘Finn dies in 3x17, Aurora gets put into some weird sleeping spell in 3x18, Camille and Davina die in 3x19, Lucien dies in 3x20′ and I quite literally laughed??? Literally who wouldn’t. Like who tf would ever believe TO had the balls to do all of that when they never killed anyone off. AND, WHO WOULD BELIEVE THAT SOMEONE WOULD JUST STOP BY, SHARE IT AND LEAVE. So I sent a screenshot to Hillary and was like ‘yo did you get this because wtf’. We often got duplicate messages. And we often got messages of people who were pissed about the two previous times we, from the klaroline fandom of all places, had legit info that wound up being true, that they were just waiting for us to fuck up. So we used to get messages of people pretending they were sharing info, and it was just antis trying to make us look stupid. 

SO, Hillary says ‘just answer it because it’s obviously fake’ top ten moments before disaster. I answer it and am like oh haha, and where did that info come from. And they came back like a minute later, saying ‘I have a source’ THEN THEY ELABORATED. They mentioned that Lucien drags Freya and Vincent to Mystic Falls to do this spell with some bullet and etc. So at that point we were like fUCK because that same day we’d found out was in 3x16, which ended with Lucien and this white-oak bullet, having kidnapped Freya. And that’s when we knew, that someone showed up in the middle of the night, spoiled the whole back-half of TO S3—and then left.

The back-half of S3 was so fun??? Every week the info just kept coming true. On the wikia everyone hated me, probably the most anti messages I ever had was during that time, honestly it was great, 10/10 would recommend. 

THEN, at some point in our blog history, Hillary had been getting quite a few messages about PT. And she had this fucking line in one of the messages about Phoebe’s pronunciation with her accent for the show, or lack thereof. And she said “weeches and woves will always have a place in my heart” SO THEM PHOEBE TWEETED IT. THAT EXACT LINE, and we were like was she...? So we shrugged off okay. A few days later, she tweeted “hellsbellschime enough, there’s plenty of other things to watch on tv, I hear mad men’s great.” And I—

THIS WAS ON SOME RANDOM ASS SUNDAY. Like I was lounging around, waiting for the new episode of game of thrones and then WHAM, chaos. AND AS IF THAT WASNT ENOUGH, Leah joined in too. Putting a target on my friends back...about her blog that no one was making them read. You can’t make that shit up. And Jenn actually replied to Phoebe’s tweet and got a reply back, and she was all “you’re right, I’m sorry” and then deleted the original tweet, which I still have a screenshot of btw. And then Leah showed up in Hillary’s inbox with this ridiculous three part ask about how she shouldn’t criticize women in the acting industry because of how hard it is for women in that industry which is true, but it doesn’t make you exempt from criticism??? So not sure where she meant to go with that one.

SO THERE WE HAVE IT, our fandom’s greatest hits. I’m sure I can elaborate and insert more, but I’ve been typing for a good 40 minutes. 

Told ya, I wrote a whole dissertation, lmaooo.

#Stephanie talks fandom #klaroline #Anonymous

[sell-our-skins]

Day 4 of Paradise Motel Week Post Canon AO3 Link ~ Hum Hallelujah “Trying to honor the dead is really difficult when the person who killed them is *right there*”

The Girl was struggling to close her backpack. It was a fairly cheap thing, recently bought by her mom. The shade reminded her of apricots, and all of the times she used to steal fruit flavored candies with Ghoul. Actual fruits were impossible to come by in the zones, or at least they used to be, but with BL/ind being gone, she supposed that she could try a real one now.

It was hot in the car. She was sitting in the passenger seat and the sun was beating down on her through the windshield. Her door was open, occasionally giving a short gust of wind. ‘Mom’s getting the keys,’ she told herself. Soon she could crank up the air conditioning and try to relax. That was, if the bag would actually close.

The zipper refused to budge. She gave it another exasperated tug, “Motherfucker,” she hissed out. Stupid zipper. Stupid backpack.

“Motorbaby?” Maya poked her head into the front seat of the van. Her dark hair, which was streaked with the occasional grey, was pulled up into a loose bun and a leather jacket thrown over a plain green tank top, “You need help?”

The Girl sighed, silently handing her mom the backpack in defeat. Maya smiled warmly, opening up the glovebox in front of the Girl with a gentle click. It was filled to the brim with trinkets from their adventures so far. The older Killjoy pulled out a half melted blue candle and began to carefully rub it over the zipper lining.

The Girl arched one of her eyebrows.

“Don’t question me, child of mine,” she warned with a chuckle, setting the candle down on the dashboard. Maya firmly grabbed the stubborn zipper, and closed the bag with ease.

“I take back my eyebrow raise. You’re clearly a deity in disguise,” Maya rolled her eyes, handing the Girl her bag and buckling herself up. The Girl carefully set the fruit-colored-bag in the backseat.

Maya started the van, and she started to head towards Route Guano. It was only now sinking in, what they were doing and where they were going. The Girl could feel her stomach flip with anxiety and her head filling with doubts.

It was apparently visible in her face, since her mom commented on it, “You know, we don’t have to do this. We could… make an altar for ourselves. Just a family thing.”

She actually considered it for a second, but no. She wasn’t going to let some asshole ruin her day

“I’ll be fine.”

--=+=--

The two Killjoys pulled up to the Ultra V hideout, which was formally some type of restaurant. A fast food place, most likely, but it was nearly unrecognizable. It was covered in spray painted tags and other interesting looking ornaments. However, today, it was also decorated with different types of desert wildflowers.

Pretty much as soon as the car had stopped, a teal haired Killjoy burst through the front of the restaurant, followed by their pink haired twin.

“KIIIIIIID! KID KIID!” the twins called out, running towards the car as fast as they could. The Girl felt a little smile appear on her face as she opened the door and hopped out of the van. Instantly, Vaya had pulled her into a tight hug and loudly exclaimed, “I can’t believe you actually came!”

“Yeah, glad you could make it, tumbleweed,” Vamos tried to play faer previous excitement off casually. Fae leaned against the van, a caricatured version of looking cool. Though they somehow made it work.

“Don’t scratch the paint, pup,” Maya piped up, hopping out of their car with a bag slung over her shoulder, “Can ya’ lend me a hand?”

“‘Course, Ms. Psychic,” Vaya called out, letting go of the girl and rushing to the other side of the van, their sibling following closely behind.

Merely a few seconds later, Vinyl came walking towards the group. The Girl gave him a wave, grabbing her apricot backpack from the backseat. Vinyl pointed at her backpack, raising an eyebrow.

“Oh, uh, I got it. You can see if mom needs help, though,” he nodded at her words and travelled around the vehicle. The Girl glanced over at the doorway. The last member of the Ultra Vs was just standing there. Staring back at her and leaning against the doorway. His hair had faded slightly, turning a sort of pinkish red.

She sighed and looked up into the sky. Probably around 4.

‘You’ve been through hell and back you can deal with this,’ she ran a hand through her hair and made her way into the Ultra V hideout. Val’s eyes were practically staring right through her. Like a snake watching its prey. The Girl just tried to not acknowledge it.

She looked around at the now decorated restaurant. There were a handful of wildflowers in a variety of colors in cans and petals on the ground. A desk had been pushed out into the front room, making a makeshift altar. It was extremely plain, the only things on it being a faded polaroid of Volume in a soft yellow frame, a couple bad luck bead bracelets placed on the corners of the picture frame, a bag of chips, most likely stolen from Tommy, and a hair dye kit in Electric Frankenstein.

She opened up her bag and began to pull things out of it. Beads, photos, and other precious items. The Girl started to add things to their shared altar, making sure everyone had a section. Her family, her friends, no one was left out.

“Surprised you’re even here, halo head,” Val finally piped up, after what quite possibly could have been the most awkward silence.

‘Halo head,’ she mused to herself, ‘haven’t heard that one in a minute.’

“I’m here to help, don’t get sour,” she said with a sigh, carefully setting out both the battery powered and real candles.

“Help with what? None of this even… matters,” he moved away from his spot in the doorway and towards the altar she was working on.

She didn’t even dignify his sentence by turning to look at him, continuing to set out the picture frames. Val was just trying to get a rise out of her, she knew it.

“I mean, what deity is this for, again?”

“The Phoenix Witch,” the Girl strung a string of bad luck beads around the top of the desk.

“Yeah, the humanoid in a feather coat.”

She gave Val a somewhat annoyed look from over her shoulder, “Just a few months ago you saw me explode into a ball of green electricity,” she went back to what she was doing.

That seemed to set him off, really make him flare up, “I’m not gonna let some bomb with a silver tongue make my crew-”

“Heyyyyy!” Vaya announced their presence as they burst in through the front door. When they noticed how tense Val was, they cleared their throat, “Hope I didn’t interrupt your little get together.”

“Nope, we’re fine,” the Girl put on a fake smile. Apparently it was believable enough, because they let it go with a shrug.

Vaya was followed in by the rest of the Killjoys, all holding different bags filled with goodies.

Val’s anger seemed to fizzle out, since he practically slunk back into the background. It was like a sparkler, going from loud, bright, and fiery to silent in a matter of minutes. A sparkler in Poison Red hair dye. It still made her frown when she thought of it.

--=+=--

The altar was almost completely done, and Vamos was helping with the finishing touches. It was packed full of gifts and photographs, all meant to honor the ghosted. Maya, Vinyl, and Vaya were all in the restaurant’s kitchen, cooking both for the altar and for all of the other Killjoys. There was laughter coming from the kitchen. Well, Vaya and Maya were laughing, Vinyl was trying to fight the smile that wanted to appear on his face. The others were able to hear due to the openness of the restaurant. Val was hunched over on the couch, scribbling in his notebook.

“Lookin’ pretty shiny,” Vamos adjusted one of the frames near the back, since the glare of the lights had made it difficult to see. In it was a photo of Dr. Death Defying and Cherri Cola that the Girl had stolen out of Dr. Death’s station. Faer smile faded almost instantly.

“Christ, I kinda miss the old man,” fae mumbled, tone somewhat sorrowful, maybe even regretful. Fae brushed some of their neon hair out of faer eyes and continued to stare at the frame for a moment. Val shifted on the couch, no longer hunched over. No, now he was listening.

“Yeah, but, I guess… it happens… in a way?” the Girl struggled to find the words, she could feel herself getting somewhat choked up.

“It wasn’t his time,” Maya added, her tone laced with bitterness, “It’s a damn shame, but he’s with the witch now”

“God can you hear yourselves? He was a broken record. A dust angel. What’s the point of all of this?” Val’s voice snapped through the conversation. Everyone was tensely staring at Val, now. A stiff silence having come over the room.

“You wouldn’t know a broken record if you were hit over the head with one,” the Girl snapped back, after what felt an eternity, “The hell is wrong with you? Why can’t you just enjoy something for once?”

Val wrinkled his nose at her, storming out of the building without another word. Fuck.

“Guess you really blew up on him,” Maya tried, her joke falling flat.

--=+=--

It had only been around 15 minutes. The Girl hesitantly poked her head out of the door, looking at Val, who was sitting on the stairs.

“What?” he didn’t look up at her, like he thought the pavement was the most interesting thing in the zones. The stars were just starting to pop up in the sky, the sun sinking behind its spot in the hills.

The Girl just plopped down next to him and stared up at the sky, “You don’t have to like me, Val.”

Val looked up from his pavement, staring at the Girl with a look of mostly confusion.

“We just can’t keep pretending like we aren’t bothered by each other,” she ran a hand through her hair, focusing on a particularly bright star.

There was a beat of silence, “And I know you’re too stubborn to agree. It’s fine,” she hoped that her words came off as lighthearted. The last thing she needed was Val snapping at her again.

“You like the stars?” he finally spoke up.

She broke her staring contest with the bright star to glance at her fellow Killjoy, “Yeah, uh…” The Girl ran a hand through her hair again, debating whether to share what just popped into her head.

“Party, they used to tell me that when you got ghosted you would get turned into a star,” Val looked over at her, his face unreadable, “It always made me feel better, when I would hear people talking about claps going South on the radio. Made me feel like they were just… turning into stardust.”

He looked like he was processing her words, struggling to find the right response.

“Shiny,” is what he finally landed on.

“Yeah, shiny.”

#paradise motel week #day 4 #fanfic #danger days: the true lives of the fabulous killjoys #danger days #the true lives of the fabulous killjoys #killjoys #the girl #the girl's mother #her name is maya the psychic because i said so #maya the psychic #the ultra vs #vamos #vaya #vinyl #val velocity #hes an angsty teenage atheist #wheres that video thats like 'teenager reads bible in sarcastic tone' #thats him #so many tags jesus

[mildlincrs]

hi, tumblr — it's been (way longer than) a minute, but i'm back from the chaotic journey that was junior year! and with that, i wanted to continue what i started with my advice for rising freshmen and rising sophomores; i’ll be writing a final post for rising seniors once i (theoretically) finish high school.

note: i'm currently attending high school in the united states, so there are certain points i mention that may not apply to you if you aren't also studying in the u.s., but i still hope that you get something out of this post!

note 2: this post is pretty long -- a lot longer than the previous advice posts -- and also pretty personal. i go in-depth on what junior year was like for me (spoiler: not great), and subsequently, i have plenty of advice to help avoid some of what i ended up experiencing. 

my junior year experience

for reference, click [here] a list of my junior year classes (along with classes i’ve taken and plan to take). i took two ap courses, and the rest of my courses with the exception of band were honors courses. 

to be blunt -- junior year was one of my worse years of high school, academically and mentally. sophomore year was definitely one of my lowest points, too, but junior year was really shitty in a lot of ways. i was busy working (trying to) nearly all the time, and i found myself constantly under stress, struggling to maintain my grades -- especially in my calculus and physics classes. at a certain point in the year, i subconsciously stopped caring, i think, to the point where i couldn’t focus at all when i was working, instead opting to do things that were considerably less productive. i’d study for up to five minutes at a time, only to stress myself out of studying and go to sleep -- yes, i stressed myself to sleep. other nights, i’d stay up doing absolutely nothing, in spite of the massive amounts of work and studying i still had left to do. i was close to failing my physics class, at one point, too, and physics was arguably the class i studied and worked the hardest for.

another reason that this year was pretty terrible for me was the fact that i was recovering from several injuries. in june of 2018, i injured my knees -- for reasons i’d prefer not to disclose -- and though they were healing over the summer, with marching band, the injuries were only exacerbated. if you want an idea of how bad they were, i struggled to simply walk short distances if i didn’t have any sort of support. marching band is basically dignified, faster walking, so you can imagine the kind of stress that i was under. because of this, i had to stop dancing and take a season of winter guard off -- two of my biggest emotional releases in life. without both of those things for over six months, i felt pretty directionless, and i ended up relapsing (i have chronic depression). that along with the business of junior year made life feel pretty damn miserable. physical therapy didn’t help me, i had virtually no time to schedule a meeting with a therapist or other mental health professional, and i was exhausted 24/7. 

all this being said, junior year still had its good moments! i got to take two astronomy semester courses, both of which only reinforced my love for astronomy  -- i’ll be doing astronomy-related research in the fall - i got to play some pretty damn good music in band, qualified and made all-state band for the first time, and i became closer with my best friends and got to make new ones. i completed a year-long research paper (while missing quite a few deadlines on the way) that turned into what’s probably the most vulnerable piece of writing i’ve ever produced (message me if you’re interested in reading it!), and i didn’t fail any of my classes. good stuff. 

more on not failing my classes: 2nd semester was kind of weird for me, in that my grades went up in some classes, but slowly sort of decreased in others. for example -- i studied and worked my ass off trying to improve my calculus grade during 1st semester, but my exhaustion caused me to fall asleep during a lot of classes, meaning that i would always miss the material being taught, and by the time i got home that day, i was so exhausted that i would just fall asleep until the next morning, not even bothering to figure out what i had missed during class. with physics, worked harder than i ever had during 1st semester, but i continued to receive low scores on tests and heavily relied on my lab and quiz grades to keep me afloat. i cared less about japanese more and more, (which SUCKS because i really loved the class and language but my effort just went downhill) and i can distinctly remember not studying for several of the tests that were administered, and as such, receiving subpar scores. i did, however, pass all of my finals and ap exams, which was definitely a plus. 

tldr: my work ethic went to shit, and i salvaged it somewhat, at the cost of losing a lot of sleep and not eating for multiple days at a time WHICH IS NOT HEALTHY. DON’T DO THIS PLEASE. junior year was worse than sophomore year in a lot of ways, but i fucking MADE IT so who’s the real winner here

advice for junior year

my number one piece of advice is to take care of yourself. you’ve probably heard it before, but that’s because you should do it. i’m 100% serious when i say that it can really make a difference. i mentioned that i lost a lot of sleep and didn’t eat sometimes during the school year, and because of that, i was super super sick at one point which only made my mental health worse, which only decreased my ability to focus and work properly. please stay healthy ahh like hydrate, get some mf sleep, and eat well! if you have to choose between studying for a test and sleeping at 3am, then go the fuck to sleep. and it’s not just about being healthy enough to do well in school! it’s literally your own wellbeing. put your physical and mental needs first, no matter what.

for ap courses: highly recommend looking on the collegeboard website for practice questions! the website also outlines the test structures, which i found helpful for me when i was studying for the exams. if you’re hoping to score a 4 or 5 on your ap exams, it’s in your best interests to go in prepared as possible. iirc the website also provides overviews of all the content that should be studied/is covered on the exam, which can help structure your studying, too!

another thing on ap courses: while if you score well enough on ap exams, you might be able to transfer those credits to your college courses (if you enroll at a u.s. college), i wouldn’t recommend loading your schedule with ap courses. they’re college-level courses for a reason; they will be fast-paced and involve a lot of work on your part. a rule that i used when deciding what ap courses i would take in high school: if i didn’t particularly like the subject, then i took the honors version of the course. otherwise, if i felt like i could challenge myself, was interested in the course, and if it was available, then i signed up for it. i knew from sophomore year that i wasn’t good at dealing with both school and my mental health, so i recognized that i’d need to lessen my ap coursework as much as possible so that i didn’t throw myself into an even worse situation (i took zero aps sophomore year). 

don’t spread yourself too thin involving yourself in things in and out of school. sort of similar to my philosophy of not overloading my schedule, i made sure that i only committed myself to extracurriculars that i cared about and enjoyed doing. i personally marched my third season of marching band, and remained involved in my school’s urban dance club as much as possible (though when i took a break from dancing, that was definitely harder, but towards the end of the year, i was able to participate in a few performances with my friends). i also participated in an outside wind ensemble every week, and that was plenty for me -- i had a lot of music to practice both for that group and my school’s band, and then i had to balance THAT with practicing music for private lessons & auditions, and with schoolwork. i know there are people who are involved in so many extracurriculars, which i wouldn’t recommend. devote yourself to what you love in high school; that will also give you something worth writing about in things such as college applications! better to pursue what you love with passion and authenticity than to sign-up for a club for the clout even if you’re not remotely interested in it. 

if it’s offered where you live, i would recommend taking the sat and/or act during your junior year. i’d also recommend taking subject tests if you have the time for it. the earlier you take these tests, the more likely you are to have an opportunity to retake them if you don’t score as well as you hope. you can also start taking these tests during sophomore year -- i took sat subject tests in june of my sophomore year, took the sat twice during junior year, and i will be taking the act in july. i’ll also be retaking an sat subject test and taking a completely new one. 

while it may be daunting, start thinking about college -- whether you want to go to college or not, where or what you’d like to study, etc. since i plan on majoring in music, i started researching sort of early so that i could give myself enough time to finalize a list of the colleges i am applying to and the repertoire i need to learn and practice for auditions. but regardless of what you decide to do with your future, no one is expecting you to have every step of your life labeled out. things can change, and that’s okay! that’s literally how life works. definitely reach out to your counselors if you want advice from them! i’d also recommend sitting down with your parents and talking about the college application process with them and what they can do to help you.

there’s a lot of pressure during junior year -- it’s the last full year of high school before college applications, and typical for students to be busy 110% of the time. that said, find time for yourself to destress and do nothing school or work-related. if it helps, schedule specific times of the day where you just relax and do something that makes you happy. finding a work-life balance can really make a difference (i say, not having one, though i have many friends who talk about this to me).

if you need help with anything at all -- talk to someone about it! feeling super stressed and shitty? talk to someone you trust, whether they’re your closest friend or a teacher (which reminds me, if you plan on asking a teacher for a rec, take time to talk with them if you can, it makes a difference). you are not alone. i know for some people (especially for me, actually), it can be super difficult to open up about what you’re dealing with, but it’s arguably better than trying to push your way through it all on your own.

best of luck during your junior year -- i believe in you<3

love, fei

#mine #mmp #mp #studying #studyblr #high school #study #studyspo #advice #tbhstudying #studyquill #lookstudyblr #obsidianstudy #heysareena #focusign #study tips #school

[seotipsandtricks-me]

If your mobile rankings have suffered recently, simply telling you to improve the mobile experience isn’t going to help you diagnose the specific problems you’re having. So, in this article, we look at nine reasons your website might not work on mobile and how to fix each issue. These are: Your site isn’t mobile responsiveYou haven’t optimised for mobile-first indexingSlow mobile pagesUnfriendly navigationPage content isn’t immediately obviousYou’re using popups / interstitialsYou haven’t optimised your CTAs for mobileClickable elements aren’t optimised for touchYour mobile forms are killing conversions With more than half of all web traffic coming from smartphones in 2018, mobile optimisation should be a priority for every brand. This is where the majority of consumer journeys now start and Google has introduced a number of algorithm updates over the years to favour websites that provide a strong mobile experience. Mobile optimisation FAQs Before we get into the specific reasons your website is struggling on mobile, let’s answer some of the most common FAQs surrounding mobile optimisation. How do I make my website mobile friendly? There are various approaches to creating a mobile friendly website but the two most common are: Responsive design: Create a single website that adapts layouts, content and element sizes to suit different display sizes.Mobile sites: Build a separate mobile website in addition to your desktop site. Responsive design is generally the recommended approach for most types of website, especially since Google has moved over to mobile-first indexing (more on this later). How do I optimise for mobile devices? This is a tricky question to answer in a short space but you’ll be getting a more in-depth answer throughout the rest of this article. For now, here’s a list of the key areas you need to optimise for the best mobile performance: Loading timesNavigationPage layoutContentElement sizes (text, images, buttons, etc.)Touch elementsWeb formsFile sizes (images, code files, etc.) Your priority is to create the best possible experience on mobile devices and it helps to focus on the limitations of these devices. You’ve got limited screen space to work with, potentially weak data connections and all users really have to navigate and interact with your site is their fingers. It pretty much comes down to visibility, navigation and speed. Why are mobile friendly websites important? With the majority of traffic now coming from mobile devices, this is where the majority of your marketing strategies are going to generate leads. The majority of consumer journeys now begin on mobile devices and poor experiences are going to kill your chances before they’ve even begun. That’s not all either. 53% of all traffic came from mobile in 2018Google rewards mobile friendly sites (and punishes the not-so-friendly)Various studies show users don’t return to a website after a bad experienceThat means poor mobile experience could cost you 53% of visitorsToday’s consumers move between multiple devices, making a consistent experience increasingly important Ask yourself how much time, money and other resources you pile into lead generation, increasing traffic and your other marketing strategies. Now, tell yourself 53% of that is wasted because you don’t have a mobile friendly website. That’s why it’s important. How much does it cost to make your website mobile friendly? Probably a lot less than not having a mobile friendly site will. Now, that we’ve covered those, here are the top nine reasons your website isn’t working on mobile. Your site isn’t mobile responsive Let’s state the obvious to begin with. The number one reason why your website might be failing to work on a mobile device is that it is simply not mobile responsive. This means the website doesn’t proportionally resize to different size screens. Responsive design isn’t the only approach to mobile optimisation but it is the one Google recommends and it makes a lot of sense from an SEO perspective (see reason There are challenges with taking the responsive route, though – especially when it comes to optimising page content for multiple screen sizes. The biggest mistake brands make is designing layouts and content for desktop and then trying to scale them down for smaller screen sizes. This isn’t going to create an intuitive experience on mobile. Instead, you need to create content with all devices in mind and consider the needs/limitations of these devices from the very beginning. This will enable you to make design choices that create a consistent, highly-optimised experience across each device. Quick tip Aim for a consistent experience across all devices so users can move from mobile to desktop and understand where everything is. Use JavaScript to only show the first sentence of large chunks of text on mobile and place a “see more” button users can click to read the full text. By using the display: none CSS property, this text remains visible to search engines but doesn’t show in the browser, allowing you to create page layouts that are perfectly scrollable on mobile. You haven’t optimised for mobile-first indexing As I say, responsive design isn’t the only approach to mobile optimisation and many brands have opted to develop separate mobile websites. The thing is, Google is changing the way it indexes web pages to reflect the fact that most searches now take place on mobile devices. Mobile-first indexing essentially means Google will now show the mobile version of a page by default, only showing desktop pages when no mobile version is present. For responsive websites, nothing really changes because the mobile and desktop versions of each page are the same. However, websites running any separate mobile pages need to optimise for the change. Here’s a quick list of what you need for mobile-first indexing: Your mobile and desktop pages contain the same contentBoth versions of your page have the necessary structured dataBoth versions of your page have the necessary metadataBoth versions of your page are verified in Search ConsoleAny rel=hreflang tags for internationalisation include separate links for mobile and desktop URLsYour servers can handle any increase in crawl rate for the mobile version of your siteYour robot.txt directives are the same (and optimised) for both desktop and mobile versionsCorrect use of rel=canonical and rel=alternate link elements between mobile and desktop versions Mobile-first indexing is still rolling out and you should have received a notification from Google in Search Console if your site has already been moved over. Don’t wait until your site is moved over to take action, though, because this will affect pages that are poorly optimised for mobile. Quick tip Although mobile-first indexing will apply to your entire website, any ranking changes will happen on a page-by-page basis. So start by optimising the most important pages on your site and work from there. For more information on mobile-first indexing, take a look at our previous posts: Mobile-first indexing: What does it mean for SEO?Google wants to clear up some mobile-first indexing confusionThe latest on mobile-first indexing Slow mobile pages Despite all of the research showing how slow loading times kill conversion rates, the vast majority of website fail to deliver this performance essential. In fact, Google’s own research suggests the average web page takes 15 seconds to load on mobile. The recommended best practice is no more than 3 seconds.             Source As of July 2018, mobile loading times are now a ranking factor which means slow loading times can hurt your position in the mobile SERPs. However, slow loading times also negatively impact multiple other signals that Google uses to determine where your pages should rank: bounce rates, time spent on page, pages visited, etc. More importantly, slow loading times kill your conversion rates and just about every other KPI in your marketing strategy. Quick tip Work with agencies/developers that make page speed a priority because this is one of the most important performance factors for the end user. If you’re using a WordPress website, take it easy on the plugins, optimise your images and files (CSS, JS, etc.) and use speed optimisation tools like Google’s free PageSpeed Insights. Unfriendly navigation The menu is one of the most important, if not the most important thing on a website. Small websites have quite a simple job, with the desktop menu being easily duplicated on the mobile version of the website. Large sites however can have difficulties. Some menus display many pages going up to third tier navigation levels. If this is transferred across to the mobile site there is the potential that the user will spend a long time scrolling through the vertical menu trying to find the right page. If you amend the mobile menu to only include top level pages you may be able to keep users on your pages, but they might be missing out on valuable information from the lower level pages. Quick tip Create a menu that works on a desktop and then try other ways of integrating the lower level pages on the main page to let users navigate to find out more if they choose to do so. Page content isn’t immediately obvious Scaling is always an issue with a responsive website and getting it to scale correctly whilst showing the correct information can be the difference between engaging the user and the user leaving your website. Having a logo, menu, slider and breadcrumbs before the content can look great on a desktop. When this is scaled down, the user may need to scroll a lot before they actually get to the page content. This has other issues as well if your pages all have the same header, with the user thinking that the page didn’t even change. Quick tip Test, test and test again. Mobile sites should be simple for the user to use and do not require all the flashy gimmicks of the desktop site to succeed. You’re using popups / interstitials Many websites use overlays or interstitials to promote the brands app, get a user to sign up to their newsletters or give special offers. When these are displayed on a mobile device they tend to have a negative effect on the user experience, causing frustration. Quick tip Use a banner instead to promote your content on a mobile device. You haven’t optimised your CTAs for mobile Optimising your website’s layouts for mobile devices is great but your success is going to be short-lived if your CTAs aren’t getting results on mobile. The effectiveness of your calls to action will depend on how you optimise the content surrounding them, their visibility on mobile, where you place them on the page and all kinds of other factors. Don’t assume your CTAs are going to perform on mobile just because they’ve been getting results on desktop. Quick tip Effective mobile CTAs need to be incredibly concise and so does the rest of your page content. Remember that text is going to bunch up on mobile displays, pushing your CTAs further down the page and forcing users to scroll further to reach them. Make sure you hammer home the key benefits of your offer using the appropriate headings and don’t be afraid to add extra CTAs for mobile displays. Clickable elements aren’t optimised for touch This is something else a lot of brands overlook while optimising for mobile. If you want people to actually interact with your website, you need to optimise for touch. Navigation menus, CTA buttons, web forms, media players and just about everything that turns casual browsers into potential customers revolves around touch gestures. Above all, make sure touch elements are large enough to interact with (padding is your best friend). Don’t try squeezing too many touch elements into a small space because people are only going to end up hitting the wrong thing. Also, make sure users can still see all the content they need to when touch elements pop up on the screen. For example, don’t leave people typing blind because their device’s native keyword has covered up the text field they’re trying to interact with. Quick tip Find the largest set of thumbs you possibly can to thoroughly test your website on mobile; they’ll soon find any potential issues. Your mobile forms are killing conversions Frustrating web forms can be the bane of users searching on a desktop. When this experience is switched to a mobile device it can be the difference between missing out on a lead to a competitor, or making the sale yourself. First of all, make sure you’re building your web forms with the correct HTML5 code so the relevant keyboard pops up for messages, email addresses, numbers, etc. Stick to single column layouts and, once again, use plenty of padding on every element so they’re nicely optimised for touch. Always remember how much of a pain typing on mobile is. Enable auto-complete and stick to the minimum number of fields necessary to reduce users’ workload. Quick tip Don’t make your form validation too strict; the aim is to help users complete your forms, not prevent them from submitting information. Useful tools There are a few things you can do/tools you can use to test the mobile-friendliness of your website: Check in Google Search Console for messages which would have arrived in March 2015, alerting you to ‘fix mobile usability issues’Google’s Mobile Friendly Tester – https://www.google.co.uk/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/Google Page Speed Insights – https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/ Finally your own mobile phone is always a good indicator. Perform a site search (type site:www.yourdomain.com) into your mobile browser. Next to your listing you should see a tag which states ‘mobile-friendly’. Still struggling? If you’d like one of our SEO or design experts to take a look at your site, call us today on 0845 123 2753. In the meantime, you might find these other mobile-related articles helpful: Content in the mobile age: Long form or short form?How to use context to improve your mobile search resultsWhy you should optimise your email campaigns for mobile The post 9 reasons your website doesn’t work on mobile appeared first on Vertical Leap.

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[orihime-maychan]

I gave the ATLA live action movie “The Last Airbender” one more shot...

Four hours ago, I happen to catch the Avatar: The Last Airbender live action movie on the telly, and before I cringed out even thinking about it, I said to myself:

“It’s been almost 10 years, what could possibly make me cringe anymore than what it was?”

So... I watched it. I was supposed to go to sleep because I had a bad case of food poisoning (again) but then my tummy got all better so.. Why not. And I was surprised for the next 1 hour 30 minutes.

OK, so to all ATLA-TLOK fans out there, before you bash me into little pieces for even mentioning this live action movie, PLEASE HEAR ME OUT FIRST!

I am not posting this to bash or to rave about anything, I am just posting this to bring out my thoughts on this movie about 10 years after it was made/after I watched it for the first time (under the assumption that my opinions are valid and welcomed in this site).

I wanted to put this “late” review and commentary so I could have a comparison point once the ATLA series goes live in Netflix next year, among other things.

I believe I may have been too attached to the animated series way back then to have made a somewhat partial and unbiased review to put it down completely as trash.

And lastly,

In relation to the previous point, I will take into account a possible viewpoint from non-ATLA fans who just wanted to while away their time by watching a movie which they knew nothing about.

I’m not gonna put any jumps/breaks/keep reading cuts on this post because it doesn’t show up on mobile anyway, and also because some people on desktop are too lazy to click it so.. I’ll just make this a long-ass post and hopefully my PC can survive the long-ass ness x_x So if you started reading this well.. It’s on you. =P

I will be doing the commentaries based on the following:

How the story flow compares to the original ATLA series

Character comparisons between the series (especially KEY characters)

Rendering of the effects

If I was a bystander who watched it for the sake of watching (i.e. if I wasn’t an ATLA fan), how would I feel about it?

If I remember to do so, I’ll probably make an overall comment on the whole thing based on what I said and add some stuff I may have forgotten to add. Also, since the Airbender movie is just for Book 1: Water, well it’s the only thing I’ll comment on. Again, be warned, this will be a long, long, long-ass post.

Live Movie vs Book 1 Series

Well, let’s be honest here, even the Ember Island Players took a very long time to showcase just Book 1 in their own version, so of course Nick and Paramount had to cut everything to fit into 1 1/2 hours of movie time, and that would cut out more exciting and pivotal scenes from even getting shown. I mean, it’s not like they had that much budget to turn the whole thing into something as long as one movie from LOTR or even Hogwarts movies. A lot of the magical bending stuff were sorta uhm.. not there? Also, there were so much leaps and stuff just to visit all of the Air Nomad Temples, that was basically what Aang, Katara and Sokka were doing most of the time, aside from learning how to bend, escaping Zuko and Co., as well as inciting rebellion within the Earth Kingdom under the Fire Nation domain. And also, I felt the whole thing wasn’t even meant to be a big production, unless I just don’t watch enough movies to recognize anybody. Seriously, the only actors I recognized in the live action were Jackson Rathbone and Dev Patel, I honestly don’t know everybody else (sorry Yue, I find you lovely but I don’t know who you are T_T). So... You see where I’m going here?

So... Because of many constraints, the entire Book 1 was reduced into this plot:

Two Southern water tribe siblings found a kid (and a huge fluffy beast) frozen in a ball of ice, which shot out a beam of light after breaking the ice ball. They brought the kid and the beast back home, in which they tried to get to know him better. But a foreign prince from beyond the wild seas took it upon to himself to bring back what he believed to be his target, The Avatar, by storming into the Southern water tribe village and taking the kid from the ice into custody. The two siblings’ grandmother later revealed that based on history and her own knowledge, the kid was the Avatar who was supposed to bring balance into the world, but disappeared in almost a century. So the two kids took it as their responsibility to rescue the ice ball kid under any circumstance, until he could turn the tides from the Fire Nation and bring balance and harmony into the world. Meanwhile, the kid from the ice was tested if he was indeed the Avatar, and unfortunately passed the test, now has an existential crisis and wanted to run away again, which he was able to do so with the help of the water tribe siblings. This leaves the captor, the former Prince of the Fire Nation even more pissed and determined to recapture his place and his position in his own country, as well as his father, the Fire Lord.

After visiting all of the Air Nomad Temples and realizing that he was the last bender of his kind, the Avatar underwent another existential crisis which he was only able to mitigate through meditation and reaching out to the spirit realm. This was further intensified by his need to master all of the remaining elements in order to serve his life purpose better because he ran away even before beginning his trainings, and he just couldn’t make stronger attacks or defenses just by bending air. So along with the two siblings, he traveled to the Northern Water tribes in order to learn water bending from the master. During the course of this travel, he met with the former Fire Prince and fought with him multiple times, he was kidnapped by another Fire Nation official after being lured by an Earth Kingdom citizen (and was actually set free by a ninja who later turned out to be the former Fire Prince), and he kept getting blocks from unlocking his full water bending potential. Only by entering the spirit realm and chatting with a dragon spirit was the Avatar able to keep himself calm despite the stuff happening around him.

After staying at the Northern water tribe’s place and learning water bending for quite sometime, the time for war against the Fire Nation came. However, despite preparations, the water benders were outnumbered and overpowered by the fire benders, which further worsened when one of the moon spirits got killed by the Fire Prince’s rival, thus removing the water bending abilites from those who could. However, ironic as it seems, another Fire nation member knows how to undo the damage that was done, and once the sacrifice was done, the water-benders were back in action. So much so, that even the Avatar was able to chase away the Fire Nation’s armada of ships away. After realizing that he was indeed, needed to restore the imbalance brought upon by his disappearance, the Avatar took his original responsibility to heart by bowing back to all of those who bowed down to him.

That was basically the entire content if focused only on Aang’s development. If you’d ask me, an hour and a half won’t be enough to bring to light all the wonders and charms of the original series, you might need like a three-hour trilogy series just to show each character’s full strengths and weaknesses. So even if a lot of the nice stuff in the series had to be cut out, I’d say that whatever was used in the movie was pretty much enough to show a proper plot to keep track of.

Basically, it all boils down to this:

The production team (or whatever governing body had to make the decisions regarding how the whole thing had to be made) had to take into consideration their target audiences, the production cost, and how long the whole movie must be in order to maximize whatever resources they had. If I was to base my opinion on such things, then I say that the movie’s storyline is overall OK.

Movie vs Series... Characterwise

Well, to make this long-ass commentary a bit shorter, I’ll just make a generalized comparison because for a short movie, there is obviously not enough time to build each character up so it makes for seemingly-flat characters. 

First of these is the fact that despite filling in some backstories for most of the characters, their traits seem to feel a bit wanting. Like there’s something missing. If you’d ask me, the thing that’s missing is whether or not they are capable of change. Some characters are like that, you see them move for the first 5-10 minutes and you’ll know whether or not the character has some potential for growth and change, not necessarily for the better but just some overall change from point A to B. We see this in the ATLA series because there is so much time spent on that, and I think that’s what makes everyone in there so endearing. Heck, even Azula has some fans because at least, at some point she had some sort of character change. However, based on my experience, that’s not easily done because in order for a character to enter change, a lot of events, introspections, expressions, and other internal and external influences must push the character to change. To make them strong or weak isn’t the point, but rather to make the character move out of their system and into another. This wasn’t  possible in the live action movie because again, time constraints. So whatever they were from the beginning just continued on until the end. NO dead-obvious growth observed, whatsoever. I felt like this was a disservice to ATLA fans because the characters portrayed on the screen were so different from the ones we got used to (hate) and even loved from the series:

Aang got reduced to a very confused and angry boy, who was originally written as a warm, friendly, and happy-go-lucky ball of charm. Also, if they wanted to do justice for however they shaped movie Aang, they should have made a whole lot more internal dialogue about his regrets and stuff, so angsty and angry Aang could have been justified better.

Katara got portrayed as a stiff girl, when in fact she was originally shown as hopeful, inquisitive and even smart, apart from her kindness and her nurturing and fun side. Also, as far as I recall, Katara in the series was already a very competent water bender, so why reduce her to a floppy one in the movie? It would have been better if she just was a wee better than what she was but still wanted to learn from Paku, to show children that there is always room for improvement (because again, this was originally intended for young viewers)

Sokka got reduced to a moody teen (Sorry Jackson), when in fact he was like Ronald Weasley: funny, resourceful, really tactical (friendly reminder that Ron won Wizard’s Chess, just saying) and is actually a comic relief. OK, so maybe there was a teeny, tiny part where Sokka was funny, but like 3% or lower. If you blink, you’ll miss it. I guess the part where he was brotherly to Katara was OK, just to redeem his movie self a bit.

Despite the vibe, movie Zuko wasn’t too angsty for my taste, he was just full of anger and revenge, so I don’t feel like it’s justifiable for him to be like that. Even if he actually got some screentime for some flashback, the character was just too angry and vengeful, not enough teen angst to give it depth. Sorry Dev, you did great but if you had an idea on who Zuko really was, you may probably gave him a better shape. Unless you already know how but just got cut off by the directors or something. I won’t know for sure. Also, we need more scars, like really deep, wrinkly, very horrifyingly discolored scars, not just the mild ones that I had to squint to see, because that’s surely a good source of Angst(c)

Uncle Iroh’s love for self-indulgence and his laid-back style wasn’t completely spot-on, I wanted a really chill yet wise vibe from him, but I guess the lack of dialogues between him and Zuko plus the fact that I only saw him drink tea TWICE, well, that’s just sad. I’m sure Uncle Iroh would’ve wanted more tea and cake times, and more feet-pampering. Plus more father-and-son scenes with Zuko because that’s what will eventually give way for angst and realizations but then again, I may be too opinionated on this one.

Ozai wasn’t as evil and as psychopathic as I expected him to be. He could have been more cruel, more harsh, more brash, more brutal, less passive, and less fluffy. General Zhao had more of that Ozai feel in him, maybe the two should have just exchanged places. Or better yet, it would have been better if they just made Ozai into a narcissistic manipulator, that might have worked. A charismatic manipulator, like Azula.

I think these are the only key characters worth mentioning in the movie since they’re pretty much pivotal in how that story arc moves, whether in the live action movie or in the series.

Movie Bending (Expectations vs Reality)

I had to say, the bending was actually OK, for me at least. The flamey-flamey shots and the water to ice bending were cool, the earth bending could have been better and faster but it’s pretty much decent, and the fact that air bending can be made more visible by putting air particulates like dust and mist around the whirlwinds so that the air movements can be seen is actually laudable. But then again, there wasn’t really that much bending to show since there were equally as much fight scenes as bending. It didn’t do that much justice though, since in the series bending elements were not limited to just fighting. Bending the elements could destroy or build structures, bending can heal or break people, and there is just so much complexity that elemental bending can show fans or non-fans or even beginning fans, which were not shown in the movie because of so many constraints. I’d dare say it was a disservice, but again, given the restrictions, I’d say that the bending shown in the movie was also, overall, given the circumstances, were pretty much OK.

If I wasn’t a Fan... (lol)

Well, if I wasn’t a fan, if I wasn’t aware (or even living) in the ATLA-TLOK universe, I would say that this movie had some entertainment value. Sure, maybe introducing the four nations could have needed some extra sentences at least, like the intro in the series, or maybe like show the map of the entire ATLA-TLOK world, talk about each part briefly, and maybe some bit on explaining what the elemental benders are. So I won’t be surprised at Katara making water balls or Aang making whirlwinds or Zuko kicking some fire out. I’d be confused as heck. Also, I feel that it would be even more amazing if they showed Appa flying a lot, and Aang’s interactions with Appa and Momo, because seriously, that would have at least made some of the kids think on the possibilities of having a flying bison or a flying lemur. Because showing a flying Appa but not seeing how that looks when you’re on the back of one kinda, I dunno, feels less magical. I only saw them fly once and swim once on water but that’s about it. At least show them parking Appa on one of the Air Nomad Temples or something. My point is:

Make the scenes a bit more engaging to the viewers. Strike their imagination or something. OR at the very least, make them awe at the possibilities of bending or whatever.

If the viewers came out of the cinemas feeling like they want a flying bison or they wanna bend fire or rocks or stuff, then at the very least you’ll be able to gauge if they got engaged with your movie or not. I don’t care what age group they would be, heck, I’m in my early 30′s and after more than a decade of being an ATLA fan, I still want my own dragon or flying bison. I won’t even mind if I get a letter from Hogwarts that I’m accepted as a witch, or if a parcel suddenly appears at my doorstep and something magical or mystical was there. Now if that isn’t engagement then I don’t know what is.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get that kind of feels from the movie, it just felt like something that would pass through me and won’t even consider remembering. I mean, the bending was all magical and stuff, but the characters weren’t able to pull me in. I wasn’t able to connect with them as much as I wanted to. They weren’t as much likeable or relatable as much as I expect them to be. They feel like a one-time deal, and I feel bad for them, actually. I mean, if you’re gonna write about a bunch of people, at least make them a bit relatable for the viewers. Give them a bit of depth, so that we won’t take them at face value. I mean, even the most boring person on earth has some depth, so at least, make the characters seem like they could actually feel things, because they aren’t stuck on something like a one-dimensional person. At the very least, make them DECENTLY human.

Overall Comments and some Final Stuff

I’m a bit sleepy but I’ll try to sum it all up and give my conclusions.

The Avatar the Last Airbender movie (seems to have) came short because of too many constraints:

Time constraints

Budget constraints

Character constraints

Creative constraints

However, despite such constraints the plot was actually enough to keep the movie going. There were also sufficient backstories for the main characters to use in order to push through with what they’re supposed to be doing. Sure, Aang only learned how to water bend but I think there was enough elemental bending in the movie to show the different styles of bending so that’s OK, I guess.

Overall, even if it sucked the first time around, after giving this movie another shot I guess it’s pretty much an OK movie to watch, to while away the time. I just hope that the Netflix version can be a WHOLE LOT BETTER at translating the animated series into live action. I know it’s a lot of expectations but at this rate, I could just hold on to properly-written and portrayed characters as well as smooth-flowing storylines, never minding whether or not the places or the bending are properly portrayed.

And with that, this review is done.

Will snooze and let this whole thing roll off my back.

#The Last Airbender #The Last Airbender movie #yeah that live one from 10 years ago #I gave it one more shot #well I was pretty much surprised #either my expectations have lowered now because I actually enjoyed it #or I just made adjustments based on my previous experiences #The Last Airbender movie commentary #I don't care if it's late AF #atla movie #atla movie versus atla animated series

[bedlamgames]

Q&A #93

Next update is very close to being done, so time to get back on the answering questions horse. Plan is to also do these as twitlongers for those that no longer want to deal with tumblr. 

Anonymous said: The good news is that for explicit content posted in the past, tumblr seems to be willing to let it stay (if my reading of their announcement is correct) -- you may be able to keep this blog as an archive, but wherever you choose to move I'd gladly follow. (I'm already pledged for a dollar on Patreon so that shouldn't be a problem.)

Actually, belay my last message, creating your own website might not be a bad idea. I know that SilverBardGames has their own website and that's like my other indie game developer (with explicit content) that I follow. Word of mouth might still work to spread the good word.

That’s the plan. I do definitely need to sort out a website though sometime. If this experience has shown me anything it’s that relying on a single resource is a baaaad idea. 

justanothorguy1 said: Where are you going to post you new download links for you games?

Will still post them here, the patreon, TFGames, and the Collective. Will also post them going forward on the twitter. 

rafaelivri said: 1. Somehow my slaver that I recruit started with cum lust+++. Is this even intentional (that they can have it from the very beginning)? 2. Any way to get rid of it? 

Worked out what was causing that and it should be fixed in the update. 

Anonymous said: I'm not sure if this a bug but recently I've been getting a lot of slaves and slavers whose descriptions say that they're barely taller than a goblin.

Maybe a weird run of RNG? Not heard that from anyone else yet so one to keep an eye on I think. 

Anonymous said: was wondering if theres a walkthough for no haven somewhere? i played a bunch of it and interested to figure out what i missed

There is a wiki which you can find a link to on the No Haven page here. Not something under my control though so no idea if there’s a walkthrough out there. 

Anonymous said: watch as your posts get flagged anyway tho *shrug*

Been over a month and no flagged posts so worked out how to handle that apparently :D

Anonymous said: I don't think your link in the latest blogpost is supposed to lead to some tony mo and his videogame loveletters on patreon.

Oops missed a character in the copy/paste. Thanks for the spot. 

Anonymous said: i had a idea for a no heaven maybe some content where your bed warmer slave takes control of you in bed if there dominate and your secretly submissive. and if the there a dominator or hypono they start taking more control of your over time secretly controlling you and camp form behind close door.

That’s been on the books for awhile where certain slaves will be very dangerous to have as a bedwarmer. For a start those mantras coming in the next update just might end up being used on you in future updates. 

joyfullyunadulteratedruins said: Is the Hypnopics thread gone? That's the only way I can download No Haven now, and the download link here is still on version 0.821

Looks to be still there to me?

Anonymous said: [no haven 0.832] imgur a/d4SJMAC is it intentional that a fel person doesn't want to get corrupted?

[no haven 0.832] imgur /a/J0ooMqC the love being desecrated drone until entirely embedded sounds to me like the check doesn't have to be done anymore, but I keep having to do it.

Yeah for some reason they may not always think that you have their best interests at heart :)

That other one is a temporary bodge of their thoughts to overwhelm their resistance. In future though there will be more permanent alterations possible like with slaves in the next update. 

Anonymous said: Could we, in the future, have a fourth-wall option to discard a slave or slaver? No reward given, just a simple deletion. It's happened to me a few times where assignments that involve specific slaves - such as the lamia in Dance the Night Away or the drow males in the Deep Mtns quest - bug out at the turn in and leave behind a slave you cannot get rid of. Also been numerous times where I've gotten an abysmal roll on a slaver and had to wait for a guaranteed disaster quest to get rid of them.

Previous anon here who was asking for the fourth-wall purge. Yes, I am aware that there's a quest to remove unwanted slavers. However, since you can't reliably force it to pop, its usefulness is inconsistent at best. Also, it gives a payout and only works on slavers - the purge I'm asking for would be more universal and give nothing. Just a convenient deletion to improve gameplay. The accompanying picture could be a screaming stickman being sucked into a black hole.

I’d prefer to fix bugs rather than do workarounds if possible. Been down that path before and it only complicate things badly. 

The reason why there’s no outright dismiss a slaver is that from the beginning on of the challenges I wanted was some of your own slavers so just booting them would lose a lot of fun possibilities. 

Saying that I do want to do more with morale/reputation so that slavers have a chance to get fed up enough that you can drive them away. I’m also planning a new assignment which will be a risk free depending on choices way to dump unwanted slaves without need for chancing the Whore Makers.  

Anonymous said: Hi! Thank you for for that great game! Some questions about the future: 1) Will we have any mechanics with C:Devices and C:Enchantment in the near future? 2) Any plans to expand the list of slave trainings with anal/vaginal tranings or something else?

Thank you!

Maybe not near, near future, but certainly sooner rather than later as both I want to have as encampment roles. Next update also has some of the groundwork for enchanting. 

Yes absolutely more training is coming including bimbo training in the next update. 

nh-maikochan said: Bug report: Had a slaver level up and had the option for the aspect "Friends in High Places", however, when I clicked on -View Choices-, it instead gave me the entry for "A Friend in Every Port", however the text for that made reference to Scouting the Deep Mountains instead of the Dreadsea Coast. "Aspect: A Friend in Every Port - Requires Friendly and two Scout the Deep Mountains Success or Crits, awards an additional two assignments on Scout the Deep Mountains Success or Crit results."

So just had an interesting bug. I took a slave to auction, my camp leader going along on the assignment, got a critical result, and while the assignment said that the slave was sold, she ended up coming back with me. Some factors that may have had an effect: Had gotten word that bimbo slaves were in demand, and the slave was indeed a bimbo and my leader has Inquisitor, which activated giving me an assignment.

First one I’ve sorted for the update. 

Other was that slave bimboborn? Cause I think that might be causing issues with selling. 

Anonymous said: Hi! What do you think about oppotunity not only gain new perks when slaver lvl up, but to remove existing ones, such as Unruly or Reserved for example? Thank you!

My current plan is to use hypnotic to tackle those unwanted mental traits. Certainly not a bad idea though. 

Decided that it wouldn’t be a bad idea to pull in questions from other sources to give as much info as possible out in one place at one time. So going forward I’m also going to be including some of the questions asked elsewhere along with including the answers I made. 

From TFGames: I'm a little confused as to biomancy and hypnotism and changing other characters. The odds seem to really not like being "in the field" but I can't figure out where else to be? Also, I can't seem to figure out what hypnotic triggers actually do when you put them on a slaver. Is there a way to alter someone's personality via hypnotism or domination? In terms of customization and exporting... is it just the char-gen where you can export a character? Is there a way to say, see a slave get captured, manipulate or change them via training and influence, turn them into a slaver and then export that character and see what happens on their career? Alternatively, is there a way to change the names of the slaves you capture and slavers you recruit? For say, immersion purposes >.> Or generate and specify your own "number two" ?

Hypnotic triggers on slavers currently are used for respect checks which are when a slaver doesn't want to do something like go whore themselves out, where a slutty outfit, or be corrupted and you need to persuade them. Using the triggers is a lot more effective than some of the other options. In the next update triggers will also be used on slaves to help with their training and unlock new bonuses. In future those slave mantras will be able to be used on anyone including yourself, and I'm also planning extra usage to deal with annoying traits like reserved and unhinged. Currently it's just the main character. I'd like to do more, but given I also want to move away from rags I'm not planning to do anything with it for now. There is an option to nickname under help and options. I don't think it's ideal though in the current implementation and it needs another look sometime.

From TFGames: Is there any get mind controlled content besides the "dreams" ascociated with Lacey's toy?

Being possessed is the main one which is a rare outcome from corruption which then has a bunch of follow up text at end of day, during respect checks, and leadership challenges. The Quick as You Like mini-adventure if you go on it assignment has MC content, especially if you 'win' the race. There's the hidden cults when you go into town where you can lose control. There also might be some assignments that have a bit of MC action if you go on them. If you're submissive there's also mind control content in the story line assignment to unlock the hidden area and slave auctions.

From the Patreon: A suggestion to add more interplay with your slavers in NH - in the "Talk" menu add a topic called "ask for rumours" where you can ask your slavers if they have any leads/tips. Depending on certain factors they could offer you a tip-off for a mission (type & quality determined by slavers type and your relation with them), to be added to your list, in exchange for gold/supplies/days off/sexual favours. Could also lead into leadership challenges if you rely too much on a slaver. Slavers could also have an x% chance of approaching you for a chat each day and ask you for things and you could choose what to charge them (no charge leads to a relation increase, refusing outright leads to a decrease). Would be a way of getting slavers to wear things/do things that they otherwise wouldn't and vice-versa. Looking forward to the update.

That's a really neat idea. Added it to my to do list.

#Q&A

[quarantineroulette]

Minor Disappointments’ Least Disappointing Releases of 2018

Preamble: I had a bit of a low (not Low, although that would’ve been preferable) period in 2018 that went on for several months. I didn’t really listen to music during that time, and so I missed out on a lot of things. I’m kind of too scatterbrained from holiday hysteria to really take in anything new. So these lists probably don’t designate “the best”, but they’re decent documents of what I wasn’t too distracted or down to take serious notice of.

Secondly, my own band released an album this year, and that occupied a large amount of time normally reserved for listening to other bands. I won’t rank it because I don’t want to be that conceited...but if you want to check it out for yourself, the highlights for me are “For the Rest to Rest”; “Open Up the Ways”; “Screen Test”; and “Suspend Disbelief”. One of my favorite reviews of it described our sound as being a “unique blend of post-punk, brit-pop, indie, and a little post-rock too.” and said we’re “one of the smartest bands to come out of Brooklyn in a very long time.” This is both why people should listen to it and also why they might not.

Thirdly, one of the things I listened to the most this year was Protomartyr’s Consolation EP, but I’m refraining from listing it as it’s not a full-length. That said, I think it’s as good as nearly anything I’ve heard this year, Protomartyr are the best and both of their live sets I caught were my favorite gigs of 2018. TLDR: Protomartyr = good. Most other things on this list = equally good but not Protomartyr. Let’s get started shall we?

10 Songs That Were Good: 

10) Neko Case & Mark Lanegan - Cures of the I-5 Corridor. How has a Neko Case / Mark Lanegan duet not existed until 2018?? No matter the year, something this gorgeous and heartbreaking is always worthy of making the cut.

9) Lana Del Rey - Mariners Apartment Complex . I remember Spencer Krug tweeting something kind of snarky about “Venice Bitch” a few months back, then deleting it, and damn well he should’ve because both that and “Mariners Apartment Complex” are blinders. “Venice” may be the most low-key epic ever, but the way “Mariners” takes hints of Leonard Cohen and Lee Hazlewood / Nancy Sinatra and places them in a pop context is perhaps even more admirable. It’s truly inspiring to hear mainstream music this nuanced.

8) Parquet Courts - Tenderness . I love the jaunty piano, and how Andrew Savage’s vocal take is simultaneously forceful and lax. But most of all I love how all its elements converge to create a sense of hard-won optimism.

7) Iceage - Thieves Like Us . Iceage do a swamp cabaret song and I just can’t love it enough.  

6) MGMT - Me and Michael . Yes, it’s ridiculously ‘80s, but you would have to be a very dour person to not smile whenever that opening synth riff kicks in.

5) Shame - One Rizla . Riff of the year. Hands down.

4) Bodega - Jack in Titanic . One of the great things about 2018 was witnessing Bodega’s success. To me, they’ve always been one of the few up-and-coming indie bands with the  charisma to be actual stars, and it’s been a joy seeing the rest of the world take note of this. From the moment I heard “Jack in Titanic”, I just knew it was destined to show up on a BBC Radio 6 A-or-B list at some point in the near future (and it did!). And yeah, they’re my good friends, but even if they were strangers I’d appreciate the smartness, melodic hooks, and sexiness all the same:

3) Preoccupations - Disarray . Click on that link because the song is really good, but be warned -- the vocal melody is never, ever going to leave you.

2) Protomartyr - Wheel of Fortune . This song has everything: a nerve-wracking stop and start guitar part, an at-once badass and terrifying refrain, Kelly Deal, and the exact sense of urgency that’s needed right now. Powerful, timely, and a rare example of a song that puts its guest star to highly effective use.

1) Janelle Monae - Make Me Feel . This song combines about five different Prince songs but Janelle Monae’s personality is so strong that the end result is something wholly her own. And if the song weren’t a blast on its own, the technicolor video is almost lethally fun: 

10 Albums That I Loved A Lot: 

10) Arctic Monkeys - Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino . I really loved this album but I’m ranking it as 10 just because it’s the Arctic Monkeys and I can’t believe I enjoyed anything they’ve produced *this* much -- especially a lounge album about a casino on the moon. I find Alex Turner overrated as a lyricist and cosplaying a Bad Seed isn’t endearing to me, but he obviously loves Scott Walker a lot so I guess he gets some sort of pass.

9) Moonface - This One’s of the Dancer and This One’s for the Dancer’s Bouquet . The only reason this isn’t ranked higher is because I haven’t been able to give it the attention it deserves. This is a concept album where some songs are sung from the pov of the Minotaur and others from Spencer Krug, and both these creatures are enigmatic are too enigmatic to be given mere surface reads. This all said, I’ve listened enough to glean that, as always, Spencer’s lyrics are awe-inspiring, the marimba is implemented well, the alternate version of “Heartbreaking Bravery” is excellent, and comparing and contrasting its themes with those found on Wolf Parade’s 2017 release Cry Cry Cry is a fun past time if you’re me or seven other people. Looking forward to delving deeper in 2019.

8) Janelle Monae - Dirty Computer . To be honest, I *was* a little disappointed in this. It’s not as cinematic or stylistically adventurous as Monae’s previous full-lengths, but I think Monae herself is extremely talented and I wish she was a much bigger star. Furthermore, when considered against the drek of the general pop landscape, this is still a bold, unpredictable, and intelligent pop record from a true enigma.

7) Luke Haines - I Sometimes Dream of Glue . Like “Kubla Khan” if it had been written after huffing a river full of glue, but instead of Xanadu it’s an English village full of miniature people having a orgy:

6) Parquet Courts - Wide Awake! . No other song better captures the frustrations and anxieties of living in NY in 2018 than “Almost Had to Start a Fight / In and Out of Patience”, and for that alone this album would make the year-end cut. But it also happens to be brilliant start to finish, with the two closing statements, in the form of “Death Will Bring Change” and “Tenderness” respectively, being among PC’s best.

5) Low - Double Negative .  Mimi Parker’s voice emerging from a sonic cocoon on “Fly” is one of the most gripping moments of Low’s fantastic career. This album challenged me the most in 2018, but it’s also one I frequently returned to, determined to crack its code.

4) Preoccupations - New Material . I suppose some would dismiss this as too trad. post-punk, but holy hell - these trad. post-punk songs have got some hooks! And there isn’t quite another singer like Matt Flegel, who somehow manages to channel Bowie and Mark Lanegan at the same time. I’ve listened to this so much that New Material already feels like a well-loved classic.

3) Gazelle Twin - Pastoral . I would argue that Pastoral is the closest anyone’s come to making something comparable to PJ Harvey’s Let England Shake. An electro-pagan examination of Britain’s heritage and history (and the whole Brexit thing) that manages to feel thorough despite only being 37 minutes long, Pastoral moves beyond being just “a record” and becomes something closer to contemporary art. Elizabeth Bernholz’s vocals, whether warped or unconstrained by processing, are remarkable throughout. A mash-up of folk traditions and modern beats that somehow works shockingly well:

2) Idles - Joy as an Act of Resistance . Boyfriend / bandmate James and I have discussed this album more than any other this year, and it’s been a pleasure hearing his love for it and forming my own appreciation of it in the process. What sealed it for me was James’ description of “Idles” as pagan, and how the band’s use of repetition and simple melodies (as well as their bacchanalian stage presence) created an air of ritualism. In their primalness, they even remind me of The Birthday Party - a “woke” Birthday Party, but a Birthday Party all the same. My favorite musical moment of the year may very well be Joe Talbot’s first shout of “UNITY!” in “Danny Nedelko”, primordial, raw, unpretentious, and completely punk. We *need* these guys right now:

1) Suede - The Blue Hour . There is a joke in the TV show 30 Rock in which Jack Donaghy -- Alec Baldwin’s network head character -- says he attended Harvard Business School, where he was voted “Most”. The Blue Hour could be considered “Most” -- it’s meant to be taken as one piece, it’s insanely grandiose and, like its predecessor Night Thoughts, listening to it makes everything in my life seem 18 times more dramatic and tragic. I don’t know how, but this bizarre mashup of Kate Bush, Jacques Brel, Pink Floyd, Scott Walk, Gregorian chanting, classic Suede, spell books and (of course) David Bowie somehow seems bizarrely in step with 2018. Seeing as this top three consists of albums that are arguably “pagan”, and folk horror’s representation in popular 2018 films like Hereditary, The Blue Hour feels accidentally on trend. It’s crazy to think that a band whose first release happened 25 years ago could still be relevant in 2018, but Suede somehow are so please give these dads a hand and then listen to The Blue Hour’s glorious closing trio of songs a lot, because boy are they “Most”.  

[aion-rsa]

New World: How to Choose and Change Your Faction

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Amazon’s New World is one of the most ambitious PvP-focused MMO experiences in the last few years, but you’re not going to get the most out of the game’s marquee feature if you don’t join one of New World‘s three factions and help your fellow faction members quite literally take over the world.

Of course, the prominence of the game’s faction features will undoubtedly leave most New World players desperately trying to answer the seemingly complicated question, “Which New World faction should I join?”

The good news is that New World‘s faction system isn’t like World of Warcraft: Shadowland‘s Covenant system and other “faction” mechanics in popular MMOs. In other words, you’re not immediately going to miss out on some incredible gameplay benefit or risk nerfing your own character simply because you chose to join the “wrong” faction.

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The bad news is that the similarities between New World‘s three factions can sometimes make it more difficult to choose which is the best for you since there isn’t always an obvious best option. That being the case, here’s a better look at how New World‘s faction system works and a little advice on how to pick the “right” faction.

How Many Factions Are in New World?

There are three player-driven factions in New World: the Marauders, Covenant, and Syndicate. Here’s a brief breakdown of the stylistic/narrative differences between each:

Marauders – A military-like group of warriors looking to establish a “free” nation where the strongest are able to stake their claim to the land.

Covenant – A divine order tasked with cleansing the land of evil forces and heretics so that they can establish a new world in their image.

Syndicate – A mysterious organization that relies on intellect and subterfuge to acquire incredible knowledge they believe will help them reshape the world.

At this time, it doesn’t seem like your faction choice greatly impacts the game’s overall narrative (though that could change down the line). However, those who like to role-play as their created character may prefer to join the faction that best fits their personality.

When Can You Choose to Join a Faction in New World?

You won’t be able to join a faction in New World until you complete the “Commitment to the Cause” story quest. Thankfully, that’s one of the game’s earliest quests, so you should expect to reach it within the first hour of play (assuming you can queue into the game that quickly).

This buildup to that quest requires you to speak to all three faction representatives before making your choice, so you’ll have plenty of opportunities to learn a little more about each before making your decision.

What Unique Benefits do New World’s Factions Offer?

Surprisingly, New World‘s factions don’t offer a lot of unique gameplay benefits. If you’re worried about picking the faction that will make your character as strong as possible, you’ll be happy to know that your faction choice won’t greatly impact your personal overall power level (at least not directly, but we’ll get to that in a bit).

However, it is worth noting that each faction vendor does offer unique gear. While those items all offer relatively similar power levels in the long run, their unique visual designs mean that you might ultimately decide to side with the faction that offers the coolest set of endgame armor (if you’re into that kind of thing).

Along with emphasizing your faction’s primary color (orange/yellow for Covenant, green for Marauders, purple for Syndicate), these unique sets of armor stylistically represent the goals and lore of each faction. High-end Marauder armor tends to be heavy plate gear, Covenant armor is clearly based on Knights Templar gear, and Syndicate armor pieces are typically cloth-based items that will ultimately leave you looking like a plague doctor.

Each faction also offers a series of objectives and quests via the job board system, though there doesn’t appear to be a lot of differences between the quests at this time as most of them are variations of gathering missions and PvP objectives.

On the PvP-side of things, being in the most “dominant” faction is certainly preferable. Not only does that mean there are theoretically always more faction members around to help you conquer and defend territories, but playing in a territory controlled by your faction yields additional bonuses. On the other hand, playing in a territory dominated by another faction will likely result in having to pay higher service taxes and, you know, getting killed more often.

What is the Best Faction In New World?

It would be lovely to say that the best faction in New World is the one that’s right for you, but the truth is that the best faction in New World has a lot to do with which is the most popular and which faction your friends want to play in.

Simply put, the faction that has the most members on a particular server is most likely to eventually dominate that server. While New World‘s developers have hinted at “underdog mechanics” designed to help the second and third most popular factions on a server regain territory, it’s not clear at this time exactly how those mechanics work.

Unfortunately, there is also no official way to tell which faction is the most popular on your server prior to picking your faction (though there is an “unofficial” way to acquire that information that we’ll discuss in a bit). While this feels like an intentional design decision meant to help ensure that everyone doesn’t just join the most popular faction right away, it’s still fairly easy to tell which faction is the most popular by keeping an eye out for how many members of each faction are running around the map and which factions currently control which territories.

Anyone who plans on playing New World with their friends should also know that the game’s Companies (essentially New World‘s version of MMO Guilds) can only be joined by people in the same faction. As such, it’s highly recommended that you coordinate with your friends to make sure you all intend to join the same faction if you’re hoping to get the most out of this title’s social features.

So while it hurts a little to say this, it really does seem like the best faction in New World is the one that’s the most popular on your server. So far as that goes, it’s worth noting that the Syndicate and Marauder factions seem to be the most popular at the moment across most servers, though some servers are certainly already dominated by Covenant players.

Of course, those fortunate enough to be playing on servers where there isn’t a significant difference between faction populations can feel free to choose the one they like best and simply see how things play out from there.

How Can You Change Factions in New World?

To change your New World faction, you first need to open up your character menu by hitting the “K” key. From there, click on the “Bio” tab and look for the “Change Faction” option at the bottom left of the screen. This will allow you to swap to one of the game’s other factions, though there are some rules and restrictions you need to know about this process.

It costs 100 Azoth (a magical mineral found throughout New World) to swap factions.

After you swap factions, you’ll trigger a 120 day “lockout” period. During that time, you will not be able to change factions again.

Each faction swap will cause you to lose your previous faction rank and faction badges, and you’ll pretty much be starting from scratch with the new faction you choose to join.

You are not currently able to swap to the faction who controls the most territory on your server (if territories are equally conrolled between the three factions, this restriction seems to be based on faction population). Interstingly, this restriction could be used as a way to see which faction on your server is the most popular, though you will need help from another player who has already reached this point in the game to make the most of this information before choosing your first faction.

The post New World: How to Choose and Change Your Faction appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[mysocialfox458]

Sims 4 Cc Tracker Mac

Apple Cc Sims 4

Sims 4 Cc Tracker Zerbu

Sims 4 Corrupt Cc Tracker

Download tens of thousands of free premium quality creations and custom content for The Sims, Sims 4, Sims 3 games - no login required and updated daily. Always check for updated mods after a Sims 4 Patch/Update; at the Mods Tracker on which ones are broken or now updated. Also EA Forums do a regular post for tutorials, mod usage & broken mods/cc. I use Sims 4 Studio for batch fixes it solves a lot of problems in bulk (but not all.) Also available for Mac.

The new chapter in the Sims story

This title has been a cultural phenomenon since 2000, when the first installment was released. The game crossed demographics, and everyone became a fan of the series. Now it’s on its fourth outing; how has the series held up?

From baby steps to retirement

The greatest micro simulation game is back. Sims 4 has big shoes to fill. Is this sequel up to the task?

The premise is the same: create your avatar, build your dream house, fall in love, watch your children grow - choose your life. As ever, there’s a lot that you can buy for your Sims, from stove tops to guitars and everything in between. You can share creations of your with other players online, and the detail work that’s gone into some of the objects in this game is incredible.

But you could be forgiven for thinking that there should be more in Sims 4 than there were in any of the previous games. Sadly, this is not the case.

There’s no swimming. You can’t make pools and you can’t toss your Sims in, remove the ladders, and wait for them to doggy-paddle themselves into an early grave. That was one of the most iconic things about the franchise up until now and it’s a curious thing to remove. The whole point of the game is to have complete control over the life of the Sim, so why take any of that control away from the player?

The avatars are now much more competent than they were in the last game. You don’t have to babysit them all the time, and while that might be good for some, it still takes away the player’s control.

While the game looks good and runs pretty well, it doesn’t really make up for the issues here. The loading screens take forever when you first start the game. This is a legendary trait of any Maxis game, but this time it’s really something else. If that weren’t enough, the most critical visual component in the game is broken: the camera. How can this be? Did the developers not playtest the game? Do they not realize the camera is broken?

It’s frustrating, because the team and Maxis / EA could have had a smash-hit here. But modern corporate practices are probably responsible for the underwhelming game that is The Sims 4.

Where can you run this program?

You can run this game on Mac OS and Windows computers.

Is there a better alternative?

Yes; in fact, The Sims 3 can offer you a better experience. If you’re looking for other Maxis sim titles, try any of the SimCity games.

Our take

While The Sims 4 does little to improve upon the groundwork laid by its predecessors, it’s still a fun game at its heart. The customization and in-game object shopping could take you hours alone, but it feels like this game is being purposefully left empty. Considering that the franchise has always banked on the expansion packs to turn an extra profit, that could be the reason it feels so bare.

Should you download it?

Yes. Despite its flaws, Sims 4 could be fun, and it might be more enjoyable if you haven’t played any of the previous games.

Highs

Good graphics

Attention to detail

Online sharing

Lows

Less content than previous entries

Camera issues

Long loading screens

The Sims 4for Mac

This tutorial deals specifically with fixing Create-a-Sim items. For a way to fix the CC chairs that broke with The Sims 4 in March 2021, read this article.

If you play with Sims 4 mods or CC, then you are probably familiar with the hellish visions of Sims being transformed into punctuation marks that look like they have crawled out from the underworld. (PS: Wouldn’t an underworld pack in The Sims 4 be awesome?).

Moving on. We love using Sims 4 custom content. That’s not hating on EA or The Sims 4 team, there’s just so much gorgeous stuff available. And bunk beds. There are functional Sims 4 CC bunk beds.

Apple Cc Sims 4

The problem with Sims 4 CC is that sometimes it can break. Mods and CC break with updates or sometimes you download them in a broken state. It can be quite traumatising to see the Punctuated Sims from Hell appear.

That question mark slapped in the middle of their virtual foreheads will make you question your life decisions and haunt your dreams.

If you are a bit of a Sims 4 custom content hoarder, then it can feel like a real struggle to figure out which CC is broken.

We have all had that moment where we get so fed up with broken Sims 4 CC that we just go and delete the whole mods folder and start over. Once that recycle bin has been emptied, regret follows instantly.

But there is an easier and far less traumatic way to fix broken CC in The Sims 4. It works best for Create a Sims (CAS) content that’s broken, but you can also use it to get rid of Build/Buy custom content that’s broken or that you no longer use or simply don’t like the look of.

It is also a great way to find any custom content that might be missing from your game. This is useful if you have downloaded some Sims households, lots or objects that do not show up in your game.

Best way to fix broken or bad CC in The Sims 4

To easily fix broken or bad custom content in The Sims 4, you will need to use the Sims 4 Tray Importer from L’Univers Sims. It’s a completely free download and it is safe to use. You can download The Sims 4 Tray Importer from the official website over here.

This little application is life changing for Sims 4 players who use a lot of CC. If you have a bad batch of broke custom content, it can help you clean things up in no time.

Once you have installed The Sims 4 Tray Importer (which runs separately to your Sims game), you will be able to quickly delete any broken CC whenever you want. It can even help you clean up your library if it has gotten a bit full.

To get started, you will have to save a household in The Sims 4 with Sims dressed in the broken custom content.

Don’t worry about how they look. They’re not going for a fashion show, they are going into the bin. Do you care what your garbage looks like before you chuck it out? Yeah, didn’t think so.

How to use The Sims 4 Tray Importer to fix broken CC: Step by step

As mentioned already, save your broken Sims to your library to get rid of CAS CC that is broken. If you are trying to delete build/buy CC, then save a room or lot.

We find it is quite useful to have a “delete me” room next to every build, so that we can easily put objects into it we want to delete later. For this example, we will only deal with broken CAS CC in The Sims 4.

You can access all the households, lots and rooms in your library through The Sims 4 Tray Importer. You can refine accordingly using the filters shown here.

Here is a household of ours. For our American readers, this is the national rugby team of South Africa. Well, our version of some of them anyway. For our English readers: Do you remember the 2019 Rugby World Cup?

Once you have found the offending family (they will show up like the zombies from CAS, or you can name the family “broken” or “delete this” to make it easier).

If you want to just get rid of a household, room or lot without also deleting the CC, you can switch over to the files tab. Highlight the files and right click.

Then select the “Show containing folder” option. Your Tray folder will open with the files highlighted. You can just hit delete in the folder and the files bell be deleted.

To get rid of broken Sims 4 Custom Content or find missing CC by using TS4TI, switch over to the CC tab on the application.

You will see a list of all the CC in use for that household, room or lot. Any missing mods or CC will show up highlighted in red like in the screenshot below.

If you want to find the missing CC, right-click and use the “Find on Google” option. Note: Some users recently reported that there are issues with this option showing up. If you are having problems, refer to the TS4TI support forum. There could be an issue with your firewall blocking access or you might be running an out of date version, or other similar issues. It is best to check with the app’s developers for troubleshooting. If the option is there, a browser tab will open and you will find the websites where the CC is hosted. You can then download it and add it to your mods folder. This is quite useful to help find missing meshes.

If you simply want to get rid of the bad or broken CC, click over to the CC tab, select the items and right click to open your Sims 4 mods folder by using the “show in folder” option (like you did with the household/lot/room files earlier).

Sims 4 Cc Tracker Zerbu

If you select more than one item of Sims 4 CC to delete, several windows will open up with the selected items highlighted in your mods folder. You can just delete them one-by-one by going through each window and hitting delete.

Sims 4 Corrupt Cc Tracker

And that’s it. This easy way to find and delete broken or bad CC in The Sims 4 works for rooms, lots and CAS items. If you found this tutorial helpful, sign up to our Sims 4 newsletter over here or check out the rest of our Sims 4 content here.

[megamanxfanfics]

Did the Risk pay off?

Did you enjoy my little April Fool’s Joke? Did anyone even notice it??

Sorry about that. It’s not usually like me to joke like that, but the reason I did so was because its probably the last time I’d have the opportunity to ever pull an April Fool’s Prank about this project again.  That is to say, I am very confident that by next April Fool’s Day - 2022, I’ll be long done with Season VI.

It’s a little sad to say that, but mostly triumphant on my end. There was a little truth in that 4/1 post. I Did go on a Marvel bend and rewatch the entire MCU for funzies, and I was taking a long ass time on getting out Ep. 13, but believe me. I wasn’t over or burnt out from X at all.  I just needed a little time to figure out how to execute what I wanted to do properly.  I’m mostly satisfied with the turnout. =D

For those of you who haven’t read S. VI - Ep. 13 yet, I highly suggest you do so, because there will be Massive Spoilers ahead.  Since the tail end of Ep. 11, I set X up for a risky fanficky side-adventure.  And now that I’ve committed to it and it’s officially out there, the only question that’s left to ask is... Did the risk pay off??

First, I guess I should admit that my planning for the 2nd Arc was always hazy, even after finishing up Ep. 7, when X defeated the Nightmare Zero.

I knew in Ep. 8, we were going to have a lot of Zero getting reacquainted with the gang and that I was going to have to resolve the plot hole of X5′s Bad Ending, lining up with the way he acts in X6 - as a Zero fanboy.  So the returning Memory thing factored in big time.

Ep. 9 was Zero’s first mission out while X recovered.  My plan was to always have X get in that portal and face Dynamo.  But what would come after was a giant mystery to me.  

I didn’t want X to keep bumping into to Dynamo every time he got in a portal.  And I also didn’t want him to keep bumping into High Max either.  All of High Max’s dialogue and interactions thus far indicated that he wants X dead, and based off of the rules I set up for the Portal Dimensions, X couldn’t just leave in the middle of a fight.  That’s also not his style.

So in a way, I kind of wrote myself into a hole.  I’d either have to end High Max early, (which I didn’t want to do), or I’d have to get creative.

Then something clicked out of nowhere.  Something that could be very Nostalgic and Special, but would it work??  When X gets to the Fire Portal, he could face a Nightmare Vile from X1.  Then in the next portals, he could face Nightmare versions of his other bullies from the rest of the games. X2 - Violen & Agile, X3 - Bit & Byte, X4 - Double...  It could be great!  But what purpose would it serve other than Fan Service?

It’s a great question that I’m still asking, but ultimately - my alternative was to have X face High Max prematurely and lose [where it would be very hard to have High Max spare him.] Or to have X prematurely defeat High Max, which again I really didn’t want to do.  And Dynamo was way too injured to just keep taking beatings from X.  That’d get very boring and annoying very fast.

So I went for it.  It took 2 episodes to get there, but in Ep. 11 X took on Nightmare Vile...  And honestly, I thought it was great!  While he was doing that, Zero was facing Blaze Phoenix, which was equally exciting to me.

Honestly, in Ep. 12, I wanted to get right to it and call that one Nightmare Lane, but X & Zero needed to recover and I already had planned on them talking everything out, which I was putting off again and again.  That episode named itself once their conversation about X5′s encounter in Antarctica really got going.  I also really kinda loved that ending with X’s failure in the Inami Temple portal.

This set us up for Ep. 13, which I wanted to be an Action-Packed showstopper. So that was the plan all along for this episode, once I committed to the Nostalgic Nightmare idea.  My goal was for X to get to Double, and I made it there. It worked out.  But this is admittedly a very dense chapter.

Part of the point of these Nostalgic Nightmares is to show X’s growth after all this time.  He’s been whining and complaining this whole time about how the Nightmare is too tough, but guess what? He’s already so much stronger than he ever was to previous threats like Vile, the X-Hunters, the Nightmare Police & Double.  I felt like this could be a much-needed confidence booster for him, but also serve as a dual purpose for the bad guys to wear him down, psychologically.  Any excuse I can have to make the villains banter, I’ll also take.  I really like how this is all build up to Metal Shark, but will it pay off is the question?  Will I be able to stick that landing?  Time will tell.

I'm looking forward to writing Ep. 14. Honestly, I wanted to have a whole fight with Double and then some aftermath planned as the true closer to Ep. 13, but upon rereading, it was already dense enough.  [Frankly, it probably could’ve ended when Zero was about to set off to the North Pole Area, but that’s fine.]

Also, I really surprised myself with how good X’s meet up with Phantom was. [His Rescue Reploid name in the game was the ONLY reason for these MMZ Easter eggs.] But now I’m so happy that I’ve been including them, because I’m feeling a bigger picture coming about for when I end this Season.

Levy was just this flirty inclusion to spice up the Alia & X dialogue at first. Anything else with her would be a bonus. Fef became a very necessary device to keep Hal & Kassy safe, while they’ve been stranded in the Magma Area for so long.  Making him a junkie derelict was an interesting choice too. And of course, Phantom was in the Portal at the Central Museum revisit.  I always had this vague sense in my mind that X was going to have a very harrowing rescue mission that kept failing at every revisit, but then he’d bump into Phantom who was holding his own and he’d get this giant sense of hope. Boom. Grainy Effect. Episode ending right there on Phantom.

But of course, in execution that couldn’t happen with the rest that I had planned and that’s fine.  Still, I was surprised at their dialogue with each other. Phantom was really impressive and cool.  Just the premise of this exhausted warrior, whose resigned himself to protecting himself for days, only to bump into X and consider him a fool for getting stuck here with him.

But no. Now, Double has entered the Portal.  And X knows there’s a way out.

[I also never thought about the fact that Phantom would be stuck in the room with him during the fight, so now I’ve got some thinking to do.] lol

Harpy’s save will be next and I don’t mind spoiling that he’ll be in the Recycle Area.  [I did my best to keep to their elements, but the X6 stages didn’t really lend for that.]

Phantom was always gonna be in the Central Museum, because that is game-dictated. Levy could’ve been in the North Pole, I suppose, but the Inami Temple is ridden with females, so it made the most sense to me to make that her domain. Fef being in the Magma Area was spot on. I love that it was his old hangout spot - Dark Haven.  So teen-angsty/broody.

Harpy being in the Recycle Lab is kind of just a circumstance thing, but we’ll talk about it when we get there.

I wanted to go over the writing process to this one, but this is already getting quite lengthy.  I guess I can say that it was straight forward, writing through X’s battle against Violen & Agile. I always wanted Isoc to come in right after, to give us the hint that he’s Serges 2.0. But then, that revisit to the Amazon Area got draggy...  I did my best, but I had to make cuts.  I liked what I did once he got in the portal. His refight with Bit & Byte was pretty cool.  Bringing Marty into it was a fun choice. I did like, how X got his moment of catharsis after all.  [I know there’s a real lost-opportunity with not including iX, but honestly that’d be too much.  If I ever write iX again, I think it’s best if I save him for the Mega Missions series.]

This thing fell apart when I got to the Central Museum revisit. I didn’t want to write that at all... In my script, I had marks at the bottom of the doc for what he’d say in the other totems IF he revisited.  And here we weeeeere.   Yet again, I was in the same position as last year at this time, when I wrote out Ep. 3.  I handled it better, then!  Playing over and over again to find right parts of the stage I wanted to write was annoying.  I bet I missed out on Rescue Reploids too, or Zombie Reploids at this point, but it’s fine.  It’s been so long, they probably just died.  I could always edit that in post, that X passes a bunch of dead bodies.  That’d make for some spooky atmosphere.

At this point, I re-analyzed the entire chapter and decided it was high-time for Zero to wake up and go about his original directives.  Time to add to the layers. It brought parts to life, for sure.  It even cemented other transitions, which was really cool.  I liked that I gave Douglas something else to do other than just, be there...

Once I was actually writing Zero’s stage, it did start to feel like a different episode, but I had a goal to reach and damn it, I was gonna get there! lol What’s good about this is that it moves Zero along in the stage without it being a real pain in the ass.

And that basically takes us to where the episode left off.

For the broken Central Museum part, I wrote X’s interactions with Phantom first. Then, with every Totem, I caught up to it as I could.  Once the Zero layering came about, things pieced together.  Same goes for any extra Villain narrations. The episode definitely started a certain way, and I wanted to keep that up as much as possible.  While also having Alia commentary, when appropriate and necessary.

I like this one. There’s a decent balance amidst all the nonsense I set up for myself.  And I definitely think that all these Portal Revisits are more interesting for X’s Nostalgic Nightmare encounters.  It spins the premise around that they didn’t just create a Nightmare Zero, but also a Nightmare Vile, a Nightmare Violen, a Nightmare Bit, a Nightmare Byte and now a Nightmare Double.  The possibilities are endless.

Yes, X’s mission is a complete side-quest, but guess what?  It makes you think that if he didn’t do this, the Nightmare would be that much worse for everyone later, down the road.  It’s Preventative Action.  It’s pretty neat.

Also, again - every Investigator thus far has been relatively good, but mislead in thinking that X was the enemy.  So once he’d explain it to them, they'd be at a standstill, and pretty much at a loss for motivation.  Go figure that Zero actually battles the evil ones with Infinity Flea and Blaze Phoenix.  But he’ll get a real taste for the good/mislead dilemma soon enough with Blizzard Wolfang.

Then we’ll see how I handle Metal Shark when I get there.  I’m looking forward to it.  I can’t believe I’m almost up to the 3rd Arc already!

But that’s exactly what I was getting at at the beginning of this rant.  This is definitely gonna be my last Season.  [Unless we get an X9 that suddenly ends all cliffhangers.] So with that said, I think the Nostalgic throwback was the right thing to do.  Show us that growth and remind us of where he’s been in a short time span, before we end things proper in MMX’s final season.

I’m getting misty eyed thinking about it already. =P

I’ll see you next time for Episode 14.

#MMX Fanfics #Season VI Diaries #Did the Risk Pay Off? #Nightmare Revivals #2nd Arc talk #MMZ characters #Writing rant #It's almost over

[kun-summacumlaude]

SUMMA CUM LAUDE? #9

Sighs heavily ...

I’m back again, this time with a more experienced version of my online school report. Remember this from the last post - ”Right now, all that could ruin the experience for me is how tests and exams are conducted.” ? Well, e don happen. This post will be account of my experiences up until Friday, the 12th of March, 2021. 

Last time, I mentioned that the school needed to buy a better plan for zoom classes to work, and they did just that. I’m not applauding them for that. There was no initiative or anything, that was their only option. Zoom classes finally started and the issue went from accommodating students to noise during classes. My goodness! It was so annoying. “Mute your mics.” became the three most used words during classes at the time. This made zero sense because the host has the option to mute everyone from the start, why this responsibility was placed on students, I don’t know! This issue came to an end when the hosts started doing the needful. No applause for that. You can imagine how annoying it was trying to follow in class and then hearing someone’s junior sibling crying or another person pricing coke and gala?!?!?! 

Apart from the noise, another thing was my mates. People can be very immature.

Why are you drawing on the screen during a class?

Are you a child? Following zoom classes was not working for me, but I attended all anyways. 

VLEARN.UNILAG.EDU.NG This was the official website for accessing course materials and initially for carrying out continuous assessments. To cut the long story short, it was bad! I have no idea what the server capacity is but this site couldn’t work as long as tests on courses with a large number of students was going on. It just would not load. And even worse is during the times you also have a test and the site refuses to load. I know people who missed their entire tests because they couldn’t even get into the site. Another issue was the site logging you out or not saving your answers. How did my first test go? It was Physics, slow but worked for me that day. Then my next test was when I ate my own breakfast—By the way, “Gbogbo wa la ma je breakfast” became very popular amongst Unilag students at the time, as well as cuts from Peaky Blinders. Gbogbo wa la ma je breakfast in its actual origin meant that we would all enjoy in the end, just at our own time. But in Unilag it meant and still means that we will all partake of the sufferings and frustrations of online school, Imagine! During this test, the questions were much harder than any of us were fully prepared for, our lecturers actually set JEE questions for us. On top of the difficulty, LMS was not loading the questions (the questions were in .jpeg format). Imagine trying to pass a test and you can’t even see the questions. Of course majority of us didn’t do well in the test. Lucky for us, there was a second test the week after and it worked better that day.

Another issue was the fact that Lecturers set hard questions and gave little time to solve the questions. This was extremely unfair. We compared our tests to that of the sessions before us and it was blindingly obvious that there was an increase in difficulty and a ridiculous and somewhat wicked reduction in time. So many unanswered questions. Everywhere you would see someone asking “Why?”  “Why?”  “Why?”  “Why?”  “Why?” We just could not understand what we were going through. Also makes me ask, why did the standard of assessments go up drastically while the standard of teaching actually got worse online? And to add to this mess, at times you would get the right answer and whoever set the questions would have fixed in the wrong one and you lose marks you deserve. For instance, according to one of my tests, mass = mass/density . WOW! PHYSIKSS.

Engineering Calculus I Test

Ladies and Gentlemen, the worst of the worst. The devil of my online experience. On this day, my spirit was crushed. And I will narrate the entire story. I’m going to attach a video to show you what we actually went through in this whole situation. We used another platform: Utest.unilag.edu.ng to take this test. Being in group A, I started my Calculus test at 8AM. The moment I started, I became jittery because question 1 was solvable but not the quickest one to solve. My lecturers words when he informed us about the test: “the time will not be enough but you have to do your best”, how are you giving students a test and not giving them enough time from the get go? All of this alone was enough to make me scared during my test. 25 questions in 20 minutes. That’s 48 seconds per question.  So I started and on the first page I answered 3 out of 5 questions and skipped to the next page, with the intention of returning to the unanswered ones, that’s a very normal way to take a mathematics exam, especially when time is not on your side. On the second page I answered 4 out of 5, making it 7/10. On page 3, none of my questions loaded. I couldn’t see any of them. Applying common sense, I moved on to the fourth page where only one question loaded, which I answered and moved on to the last page. Summary: 12 out of 20 questions unanswered on the first four pages. On the fifth and final page, three questions did not load, the other two were not quick questions so I decided to return to the first page. I began to click on question 1 and it was not responding, why would Utest be messing with me this way during such a crucial time? It took a lot of clicks to realise that The Calculus Lecturer took away the option to return to the previous page in a Maths exam and DID NOT INFORM ANY OF US. This was the craziest thing to me, I was in disarray. It made zero sense. 

Everyone knows that students will always go for the questions they find easier to solve, so there’ll always be skipping a returning in a Math exam especially when there’s an unreasonable amount of time but the lecturer took this option away and kept that information to himself. You can imagine the damage it did to those in Group A because no one returns to earlier questions until they get to last one. When I realised, I went straight to WhatsApp and sent 

“MY GOD YOU CAN’T GO BACK”

to our group chat and about the same time I saw others in group A saying they couldn’t go back and they skipped a lot of questions. Look at this scenario, you’re taking a test and running out of time and you skip two pages of questions because none of them load and you later and painfully find out you can’t return to them, this is what happened to us that day. I felt like a victim of wickedness. I failed that test for sure because even on the last page, I guessed four out of five.

Summary: I answered 13/25 questions and about 5/6 were guesses. I also had about 15 questions in which the image did not load.

 How am I supposed to pass that?

That same day, Engineering Algebra I Test Later in the day was the time for Algebra. This test was not as bad as Calculus because now we knew to guess and not just skip. But this test was impossible. The questions were not written to be solved in 48 seconds. I’m going to include a solution to one of the question just so you can see what I mean. Lecturers were not testing any knowledge here, they just wanted to know if you had seen that question before and could remember the answer It was a memory based quiz in my opinion.  It was also very annoying how they just go online and pack some random questions without cross checking the answers, I’m sure this is the case because of some reviews I’ve seen. This was just to show you what we are actually going through. I just saw my exam timetable and it’s comical. I had to take a break from school work. It’s crazy how it’s seems we’re getting punished for a Pandemic we played no part in creating and escalating. Another thing that has annoyed me a lot is students who are able to login and see questions speaking to the rest of us like it’s our fault images are not loading. If I can live stream a football match then what is a few 100 kilobytes of a tiny image??? I’ll also put up the video where I showed them their “methods” were not working. I really wanted out this week. It was mad stressful. Some lecturers are acting like we’re writing in Ideal conditions. -Unilag is more interested in curbing cheating than actually conducting examinations- Thank you for reading and goodluck to me in my forthcoming examinations. God bless you all.