#but again the questions they asked when collecting data for it were kinda stupid

[communistkenobi]

the religion chapter in auth personality is kind of a flop

#it’s short and the data they collected aren’t very good #which they admit to but it’s disappointing #the one interesting thing they said was that the more accurate way to frame religion as it relates to ethnocentrism #is that it depends more on the WAY in which a person is religious #rather than if they’re religious or not #but again the questions they asked when collecting data for it were kinda stupid #the authoritarian personality

[sapphicnsh]

I'm curious, what's rivulet doing over at sigs can? Since iirc they're normally with Moon

So it’s kinda connected to this other thing me and ghost were talking about where once Moon gets reactivated by Rivulet, she can write to pearls again! Even though she can’t broadcast beyond her local facility, she needs Sig to know his efforts to save her won’t in vain. So she asks Riv to take a pearl to her so she’ll know. And they start talking again! It’s slower than broadcasts, but Ruffles is a fast lil fucker, so it isn’t too bad.

Sig is also in pretty bad shape. Nothing like Pebbles or Moon, but he’s kinda been pinned to the floor by his rig because it gave out, and keeping the antigrav on is really taxing on her rarefaction cells. She still has access to her comms though and keeps up with Suns and occasionally Wind if the signal is good that day. He also…well. He kind of assumed Moon was dead. But he kept using their private messages to talk to her or vent, and it gets pretty heavy at points. He has a lot to work out, especially in terms of Pebbles, but that comes later in the au once they actually manage to get Off The String.

Here’s a lil snippet!!

“Ruffles…I know you have already done so much for me. But…far to the west, there is another like us. You may have seen him on your travels here, as I do not know where you came from. But…” She looks down at the green pearl that used to contain a schematic of Pebbles’ linear power rail, wiped clean and rewritten with a new message. “I need you to give this to her. My overseer will accompany you, though I do not know how far it will be able to go. Please, water dancer.” She turns the pear in her hands, it’s shiny surface reflecting her face for a moment before she gave it to rivulet. “I need her to know I’m okay.”

—

“Well, aren’t you the strange little beast?” Sig looked up at the access shaft that a slugcat—if you could call it that—was poking its head through. It dropped, landing on the tile with a roll and stopping right at his feet. “I haven’t seen one of your kind in a long while.”

Sig was trapped. Despite all his knowledge, and skill, and determination that bordered on the line of sheer stupidity, he found himself trapped on the floor of his chamber. His rig had given out, and the antigravity was too taxing on the few rarefactions cells she had left to keep on. And so she sat. Messaging friends, collecting data with her overseers, he had even unwound his scarf just to knit it all over again…three times. He was painfully bored.

The lithe blue slugcat leapt into her lap, and Sig shivered when he realized how wet it was. He made a noise in complaint, but honestly, being able to process a new sensation was incredibly welcome, even if it was unpleasant. The slugcat retched, before shoving the (also wet) pearl into her hands.

“A…wait…?” He looked up. “You have a mark?” Sig was about to go off on a tangent of confused questions, when the little slugcat slapped its hand on the pearl repeatedly, urging her to just read it already.

“Okay, okay! I’ll read it.” Sig had to fight a laugh at the look of impatience on the little animal’s face. Looking down at the pearl, he felt it warm up in her palms as she extracted the data into a readable form.

[OUTGOING REQUEST]

COMMUNICATIONS MANIFEST

SOURCE NODE TRACE: LTTM_ROOT, LTTM_COMM01 || DESTINATION: NSH_ROOT, NSH_COMM03

BSM: This is the fourth time I’ve wiped and rewritten this stupid pearl.

BSM: Limited functionality has been restored to some of my systems, and I am able to write to pearls again for the first time since the collapse. I would have sent this as a broadcast, but I am unable to send messages beyond the local facility.

BSM: …

BSM: I do not know if this message will even reach you. I do not know how long it has been. I don’t even know if you’re alive.

BSM: But I need you to know your efforts were not in vain, No Significant Harassment.

BSM: Your little messenger saved me. The slag reset keys made it. She managed to fight through it all…she was a brave little creature.

BSM: I…have been making my way through your broadcasts.

BSM: There is not enough memory on this pearl to address everything within them now, but I hope you have found a little bit of peace since the last one came through. And if not, perhaps this message will ease your mind.

BSM: Please signal back in any way you can.

BSM: …

BSM: I’m sorry, Sig.

BSM: I hope to hear from you soon. Please give Ruffles scratches, she likes it behind her left ear the best.

BSM: Be well, my love.

Sig felt like every single one of his memory lattices had been shattered. Every conduit in his can squeezed, steam pouring from her vents as she tried to process the message. This couldn’t be—was this a joke? No, the message header was authenticated…

“Moon…?” Sig whispered, barely audible. The slugcat—Ruffles, apparently—perked up at the mention of her mom.

“Wawa!” She bounced, bringing Sig’s attention back to her and getting swept into his arms, squeezed tight as a mechanical sob escaped him.

“She’s alive! SHES ALIVE!” He held Ruffles up. “I know you don’t understand, Ruffles, but shes ALIVE!”

Ruffles, of course, understood very well what that meant, but Moon had not explained how she was functioning again in the message, so Sig wasn’t aware that Ruffles had been the one to reactivate her with the cell. She hoped Moon would explain that soon. She wanted headpats. Sig placed her in his lap, pulling up a screen before him to message Suns, before stopping, and looking down at the pearl.

“Ruffles, could you please grab me one of those pearls over there?” She asked politely, not wanting to pathetically drag herself across the floor in front of her. Ruffles obeyed, depositing an orange pearl in his hands before flopping back into the warm folds of her skirt.

Sig wiped the new pearl, as it was just an old equipment manifest. Useless to him now.

[OUTGOING REQUEST]

COMMUNICATIONS MANIFEST

SOURCE NODE TRACE: NSH_ROOT, NSH_COMM03 || DESTINATION: LTTM_ROOT, LTTM_COMM01

NSH: [Input message contents]

Now she just had to figure out what to say.

#HEHE TY FOR THE ASK!! this au is rlly fun despite being shitposty at times it’s also. ahh #rw #inverted cycles au #letters

[am-x-reader]

ayo firstly, i love thyne work. Secondly, maybe one where the reader has such a good memory for our internet culture/pop culture so to keep the others entertained they recite memes, songs, movies, and even summarize shows that the others forgot/never got to see, and AM finds himself more interested and hateful to humanity when he realizes how weird and stupid we are? Idk i just really wanna see AM invested in a sci-fi show the reader retells.

((Thank you! Hope it's okay that the reader is not already in a relationship with AM in this one. Spoilers for various old movies.))

"What was that thing where--?" Gorrister pumped his arms in some imitation of a dance.

"Gangnam Style?"

"Oh yeah!" Ellen laughed. "You couldn't go anywhere without hearing that!"

"I had that dance nailed down perfectly," Ted claimed. "Not that it was of any consequence, of course."

"That's what they used to call a humble-brag," you retorted, hiding a giggle at his boast.

"What were those things that someone used to say on the Internet and everyone would repeat them?"

"Memes!"

"Those got annoying after a while." Gorrister prodded the fire as a log fell over.

"How do you still remember all these things?" Nimdok asked you.

You smiled and shrugged. "I think there was a part of me that wanted to save all the human culture I could in my mind, so if aliens abducted me or robots took over and destroyed everything...well I guess...I could tell them about the experience of being human."

Gorrister chuckled. "Robots taking over." He looked up at the banks and circuit boards and lights. "Crazy thought ain't it?"

A hush fell over the group as Ted eyed the nearest speaker with a deliberate stillness.

"Do you think he's listening?"

"Probably organizing his files," Nimdok suggested. "It is Monday."

Also the first Monday of the month," Gorrister reminded grimly. "I expect he'll be rolling out his new 'schedule' for us soon."

You bit your lip. You had a strange idea.

"Well, while we have a little longer," you distracted the group again, "who remembers 2001: A Space Odyssey?"

Delighted agreement came from your friends.

"I saw that at the theater!" Nimdok reminisced.

"Everyone loved that computer," Ellen added. "Hal, was it?"

"Yeah, the audience forgave him for screwing up." You stole glances at your surroundings but pretended to be focused on the fire. "We liked him even after he killed those people."

Benny, who had been dragging a pebble through the dirt, looked up in alarm. Ellen put a hand on his shoulder as the group stared at you, unsure. They then looked up tensely.

You swallowed. "You know that guy in those movies who created Hal? Dr. Chandra?" You spoke solemnly. "I kinda wish he was one of AM's creators. Because he...you know..."

"He what?"

Even though you had expected the loud voice from the speakers, it still startled you quite a bit. Despite your plan working, it mesmerized you that AM would have any interest at all in your conversations.

"Because, um, he cared about his creations." You swallowed hard, wondering how your captor would take it.

There was a long pause, and you thought you heard a low hum of contemplation.

"You understand," he spoke again, "that humans are not actually like that."

You did not feel that arguing would get you anywhere with him, so you just looked at the ground. Still, the fact that you got AM to talk candidly with you was an amazing sign.

"How did it end?" He asked to your surprise.

"I think, uh..." You looked questioningly at your silent, wide-eyed friends. The answer finally came to you. "Hal ends up fused with Dave on the moon?"

AM snorted. "Humans are weird."

"Actually, we had something called that!" You perked up. "Those threads on Tumblr about what aliens would think about human behaviors that we find normal."

When he made an indecipherable sound, you explained. "Humans have quite the egos, you know. We like to know what other creatures think of us...even if it's not good."

He scoffed heartily. "Well, maybe you'll earn an iota less of hate if you share a few more of these tidbits."

"Tell him about the movie Tau!" Ellen spoke up, and the others cautiously joined in.

"Terminator! Maybe not."

"Star Wars!"

"Pokemon: The First Movie!"

"Creepypasta!"

"Star Trek!"

The afternoon was spent in the most lively discussion you'd had in many years. You would not have guessed AM to be the curious type, but yet--

"What's a tauntaun? What was Mewtwo going off to find really? Are any of you scared of Slenderman? Why does Tau ask so many questions?"

At different points he would claim boredom and declare human culture meaningless, only to return to the conversation with more questions.

"What is a starchild?" The computer asked instead of crushing you under a boulder.

"So who was phone?" He queried Nimdok rather than give him frostbite.

That evening a robot army marched after Ellen, but merely to collect information on Data.

And Gorrister found himself in front of a red light, outside a pod bay door.

#ihnmaims #i have no mouth and i must scream #am x reader #torture #2001: a space odyssey spoilers #2010: the year we make contact spoilers #pokemon: the first movie spoilers

[someone-worth-racing-for]

Hi 🤗 so I have this theory about Daniel and I’m really eager to know your opinion, of course only if you mind to share :) I also get these somehow off/off vibe from Daniel, I don’t really think he is as nice or chill as he shows. I’ve been thinking why he can’t really succeed this year (no doubt, he has talent) while Lando is just flying with the same car, and I think it is because he is absolutely no team player and bc of that he doesn’t fit in. Carlos and Lando had always shown respect, gratitude and honest appreciation for the team while I don’t see any of it from Danny Ric. F1 is not just about the athletes and their talent and about a good car in my opinion. And I think this is what Daniel gets wrong. I somehow have the feeling after some of his interviews, that he expects that a team works for him and not him working WITH THEM together. I think this is what really was different with Carlos, and that is why Lando is the absolut King of McLaren now. We got to see how a big family this team is and I’m kinda sad that Ricciardo just stands out.

Oh and I can’t finish without some Carlando 🙈: I can’t help myself but imagine, how Carlos said to Lando, that from now on he should take care of the others at the Team bc Carlos was always so thoughtful of them (engineers should eat the food they were trying in Japan etc etc) and Lando just doing the maximum effort now, all the media stuff everything. Carlos taught his little Cabron well 🥺🥺

Of course I’m willing to share my opinion to that topic, especially when you ask so nicely, anonym 😊

I mean, first of all I’m not the biggest Daniel fan, I just don’t really like him or at least not that much like other – I think you have already known that before, anonym, but I even tho he is definitely not one my favourites, I don’t think that Daniel is someone who only pretends to be someone he actually isn’t. I think that the way he shows himself to the world or better what we are able to see from him, is real. I’m sure he is not always that big smiley, loud and funny guy, he also has other sides, but I really don’t think that it’s just an act. If so, he is a really good actor, since he is like that since the begging of his F1 career, I guess.

Going to Daniel’s missing success and performance this year – first, I actually still don’t know too much about F1 and all those things and knowledge that comes with it, so if you want to get a professional answer to your questions, you should better ask someone else, but of course I will still try, but remember it’s only my opinion/my thoughts and I really don’t say I’m right, it’s just what I have heard/read and what I’m thinking about this all here.

I mean, first of all Daniel is new in the team and it seems to be normal to struggle in the first time until you get to know the car better and you are able to understand it and handle it to finally get back to your old, performing self. I think Daniel and Seb are pretty similar at the moment. They still try to figure out everything, while their teammates are already used to the team and car. Lando and Lance already exactly know what to do to cause the car to make those moves they want or how far they can go with it, which the new ones still need to learn and find out. Obviously Carlos seems to be a little exception here.. (LUCKILY!)

So, I think that’s the first point why Daniel’s performance is how it is so far. The second point I think has been explained by Lando during the last press conference. I wasn’t aware of that before (like I have said – I focus more on the drivers, not on the sports itself), but it makes sense to me. Lando has said that Daniel maybe also struggles, because he is used to/prefers it to have a car, which is made for him. You know, what I mean? I’m pretty sure McLaren hasn’t made a complete new car just for Daniel when he has just joined the team and they hadn't known back then how he will perform, because they also had to think of Lando, the one who was already with them for two seasons and who will probably be their future. So it would have been first unfair from team to create a car only for Daniel’s skills (like F1 every cares about something being fair..) and if you ask me, it would also be stupid and very risky for them to do so, since he is the new driver in their team.

So Daniel has to live with it that he probably hasn’t got everything he has asked for and that’s why he is maybe still struggling with it. My boyfriend has already told me the same about Seb a few times, because he is the same like Daniel here (I think Lando has also mentioned that in the press conference). It really doesn’t make neither Daniel nor Seb a bad racer, even the contrary, because if they would have a car, which performs like they want, I think it would be pretty hard to beat them. It’s just the if, you know. Because they obviously don’t have that car, at least not at the moment.

But I guess that’s just the sport. Either you get what you want or you have to try to work with what you have got and I’m sure Daniel doesn’t like it how it is at the moment either, but he probably also can’t really help himself. He just has to keep going. It depends on him, how long he wants to try it and of course also the team (he has a three-year-contract or?).

But I’m sure that also the McLarens for the next few years won’t get built according to Daniel’s wishes, especially since we got to know about Lando’s new contract last week. If one of the McLaren drivers gets a car according to their skills, it will probably be Lando (if anyway), but I’m pretty sure it won’t be Daniel. I mean, think about it – it would make zero sense to give Lando not the best possible car, since he is performing the way he does so far. McLaren would only harm themselves with it and I think it wouldn’t bring them forward one bit. They just have to focus on the better driver and at the moment it is definitely Lando and not Daniel, even when he is more experienced and like many would say maybe also more talented.

I really also don’t know if I’m right here, but back in 2019 when Lando and Carlos have joined McLaren, they were both new in the team and maybe McLaren has found a compromise between the two of them and their wishes for the car and their skills. Maybe that’s why they have both been performing really great in those two years they have been teammates. They were on one level almost the whole time, their performances were always pretty close to each other, when not even similar, because the car was made for both, not only for one of them.

And like Lando has also said in the press conference, Carlos obviously is different compared to Daniel when it comes to that. Please, tell me if I’m wrong here again and it also kind of hurt me to say the following, but I think by now Carlos is already used to be the number two driver, to not be the team’s first choice. It definitely was so back in his Toro Rosso days and probably also at Renault. He had to take what he had got there and work with it. McLaren was different, if you ask me, there has never been a number one driver as long as Lando and Carlos had been teammates, or at least I haven’t been able to tell. But Carlos is definitely the number two at Ferrari once again right now, that’s out of question. And I actually don’t mean that in a bad kind of way – I mean, it’s obvious and actually also logical or? It would be the same as with McLaren – it would make zero sense to build the car around Carlos, their new driver, and not for Charles, who is already used to the car and who has also already won races for them. It would actually really be ridiculous if they would do so. Maybe that’s the reason why Carlos struggles less, because next to all the hard work he had already put into it (and I really don’t want to say here that Daniel or Seb aren’t hard workers), but maybe it’s really because he is already “used” to not have a car for his abilities and just trying to make the best out of his situation and the car he has got. You know what I mean?

Carlos and Daniel are pretty different when it comes to that and both types aren’t bad nor perfect. I mean, if Daniel should ever get the right car, he could become a world champion, but if he won’t get that soon, he probably also won’t ever become a world champion. And if Carlos should ever feel that comfortable in a car that isn’t made for him to even really become a world champion, then it’s pretty great for him, but I think the chances aren’t that big.. But he will be able to collect good points for the team, maybe even winning races in his career and be the best of the rest, but will it last to be the best in the end?! 🤷🏼‍♀️

So, but finally back to your actual ask, anonym – I really don’t know Daniel good enough to say if he is a team player or not. I think the biggest difference between Carlos’ relationship to Lando and Daniel’s to Lando is, that the two of them maybe don’t even have a relationship at all. They are probably only teammates and actually there is really nothing wrong about that, because in the end of the day, they only have to be teammates and no one should expect from them to become friends. Maybe that’s the reason why it maybe looks a little like Daniel isn’t a team player, but I think compared to what Carlos and Lando had, no one would look like a team player.

Daniel probably only does HIS job and not also Lando’s – I don’t mean that Carlos has done so, but I also can’t see Daniel staying in the garage to watch his teammate’s race after a DNF/DNS and support him or to even give him tips and share data (as long as McLaren doesn’t tell him to do so). Daniel’s job would have been done for that day, so he would probably don't see a reason why he should stay and “be there” for his teammate. And again, it’s actually okay like that, because that’s what they are there for – racing, doing their jobs and nothing more.

I always say that I’m too soft for this sport and if you ask me, I would also say that it shouldn't just only be about money and who has the most, but yeah – that’s obviously how F1 works sadly.. Also, I could never be a racer, because I would probably instantly start a friendship with my teammate and I would probably also cry if I would hear said teammate swearing about me on the team radio – I’m just not made for it at all. But at the moment it really seems like F1 is all about money, even tho Lando and Carlos has also showed us, that it can be different (their friendship/teamwork) and that this difference can also work, but that doesn’t mean that every teammates have to get along that great, as long as it doesn’t harm the team and the results.

Lando and Daniel are doing what the team expects them to do – they are teammates. Not more, not less and it’s okay that way. What the fans have expected from the two of them is another thing. I know many have thought the two of them would get along easily and they probably even do, but not in the way the fans had hoped for.

Many had hoped that those McLaren challenges will go on like they had while Carlos was still with McLaren or maybe get even more, and funnier content, but it seems like the contrary is happening. And if I’m serious, I think that maybe Daniel has told them, that he isn’t willing to do some kind of challenges. I don’t want to say because of his age (Daniel is not a grandpa), but it’s a fact that Daniel is 10 years older than Lando. So maybe he really wants to only focus on his job and don’t do such challenges. I really don’t know if it had really happened like that, but maybe – who knows..

But yeah, Lando has really used his chance to show the team and everyone else what he is able to do, when he feels comfortable in the team and car and I’m really happy to see him succeed like that. He really deserves his seat in F1 and the new contract. I’m actually pretty proud of our bub 😊

Just give Daniel some more time to get used to the team and the car, who knows what will happen as soon as he has found his confidence at McLaren?! Even tho I hope at the same time, that Lando keeps that amazing performance, since I’m supporting him.

Oh, and yes of course – some Carlando!

I can so picture Carlos laying his hand in a brotherly way on top of Lando’s shoulder and telling him, on the day he had left the team “You belong to the big boys now, cabrón. You have to watch out for team and show them and everyone else your talent and what they would miss without you in F1. I’m sure you can do this. Take care of them and also of yourself.”

[subordinate-functions-defender]

Horizon Zero Dawn but Aloy captures HADES after the final battle

The last three months were... Weird.

Okay, weird is not the right word. Maybe “absurd”. “Extremely impossible to imagine”. “Please do not ask”. Or just “weird, but in a good way”.

It started when HADES, of all people (AI?), started to feel guilty. After being trapped in a lantern for 3 months, Aloy thought he was trying to manipulate her, as an last attemp of gaining freedom, until she was captured by what remained of the Eclipse and HADES was freed. And, instead of killing her, he protected her. Aloy still remembers how he possessed a thunderjaw (a thunderjaw! Of all machines!) and destroyed everything on his sight, except her.

After that, he got rid of the thunderjaw and came back to the lantern - that was the moment Aloy decided it was time for her to trust him. Deciding what machine he would take was the challenge, because she knew he would absolutely hate being in a watcher or a strider. “I’M NOT A HORSE”, HADES had said. She didn’t know what a “horse” was, but it didn’t take a genius to guess it looked like a strider.

Big machines were out of the question. Too much work and grabbed too much attention. Aloy thought of scrappers, along scorchers, and but she didn’t know if HADES would like them, and she kinda wanted it to be a surprise.

Then, she found a stalker, and the plan was set. Not exactly the most secure option, but Aloy knew HADES would like it, and the camouflage would be good for when they needed to get around humans. And, to her happiness, the AI... Loved it. Loved it so much he even gave Aloy a ride!

Now, she was Aloy, the machine tammmer accompanied by a stalker who some said could talk. She didn't confirm if her friend could talk. Waste of time.

And then, one day, she and HADES were exploring the ruins of GAIA Prime. Their plan was to find something useful, and what they found was something even better. Even more impossible than HADES actively trying to do better.

APOLLO.

A corrupted, confused and scared APOLLO, but APOLLO nonetheless. He spoke in gibberish, and HADES had to translate his sentences to something Aloy could understand before APOLLO realized she wasn’t understanding him. “ELISABETH SOBECK”, he said, curiously, and Aloy remembers how much she hated it.

“I’m not her. I’m...”.

“SOBECK’S CLONE”, HADES spoke. And that wasn’t even the most complicated part of everything - not even APOLLO understood how he was alive, but he was! And he acted like a very active child. A very active and weird one.

HADES had to get a glinthawk for APOLLO. He flew away and almost carried Aloy with him - almost. HADES didn’t allow it (and Aloy made sure he wouldn’t forget it).

APOLLO, for the next month, started growing. No longer speaking in gibberish, he now sounded like a scholar, except for the part of knowing things. Aloy desperately wanted to restore his database, and even HADES decided to help on it. APOLLO, however, insisted on trying to discover everything my himself, which meant he lost his body three times in the span of a week. Good work, APOLLO.

That’s when, one day, when Aloy was making a plan for them to use the Spire to get to the other subfunctions, APOLLO, again in a glinthawk, came and started talking. “I was thinking, Aloy”, he started. “You were created by GAIA”.

“Yes. Lightkeeper protocol”, she responded. “You forgot that?”

“No, no”, and the glinthawk sat next to the woman. “You were created by GAIA. The nora seem to consider her All-Mother, your own mother”.

Aloy didn’t understand what he was going for, but let him. HADES, who was laying by her side, lifter up his head. “Straight to the point, APOLLO”, demanded the stalker, angrily.

“Aloy is, by all means, GAIA’s daughter. However, me and you, to an extend, were also created by her, HADES. There is something akin to a human family connection. Therefore, we might consider ourselves siblings”.

“You are machines. I am a human”.

“So?”, APOLLO asked, while HADES stalker’s lights grew in a confused yellow. “There is a conection here, Aloy, and we are treating ourselves like siblings. You, for example, is our younger sister. I am the older, wiser brother, and the one who gets you two out of trouble”.

“You lost three bodies in the span of a week and still consider yourself responsible?”

“I was still learning!”, APOLLO responded, irritated.

“Even I knew how to keep myself safe”, HADES said. “You must be the stupid one”.

"Oh, I am not, little brother. And, I need to say, you must be our troublemaker. Maybe, one day, we’ll need to get you out of a prison!”

“The ENTITY is the one who got into a prison. Two times”.

“It was your fault”, the redhead said. “Helis threw me in an arena as a sacrifice to the Sun because of you. And the Eclipse caught me because I saved the world from you and your protocol”.

APOLLO shook  his head. “A troublemaker, I see”.

“I was acting inside my protocols. Therefore, I am not guilty”.

“Sure, HADES”, Aloy responded, before laying down again, her Focus interface being reactivated. “What siblings are suposed to do, APOLLO? Kill each other?”

Yeah. Aloy saw a lot of sibling rivalry, and lots of backstabbing, but she wouldn’t forget how caring some of them were. She never had a family outside of Rost - her dad -, and, despite all her thoughts about how they couldn’t be siblings, Aloy was curious. Extremely curious, actually!

“I fear this isn’t on my database, Aloy”, APOLLO said. “However, I think a sibling relationship must be something akin to a friendship, in a way. Siblings must take care of each other, like any family member must do to another”.

From there, HADES started adressing Aloy as “sister”, along APOLLO. She decided it would be useless to cronfront them and adopted the title. It was easier that way, to explain to the nora. The two were her brothers, assistants of All-Mother, and they were trying to find the others. The machines were serving as vessels. A good enough story.

Then, they found HEPHEASTUS. Three weeks ago, inside a cauldron, and he was angry. So angry HADES fought him until he started to listen to what Aloy had to say, and even then he wouldn’t listen as much as Aloy wish he would. She had to threaten a protocol purge for him to shut up.

They made... A sort of deal. Aloy had to show him why humanity was worth sparing, simple as that, which means “this is a living nightmare”.

For the last 3 weeks, Aloy was traveling along HADES and APOLLO, going to old one’s ruins, seeing the datapoints and everything else, while HEPHAESTUS watched throught her focus. It was better, for him to see the ruins, how Elisabeth and her team fought so hard for the future, for life to carry on, and Aloy was quick to notice how the AI seemed to be found of Margo. His alpha.

That was the same with HADES and APOLLO, althought the later was way more noticeable. Aloy knew he liked the sound of Samina’s voice.

Now, Aloy and her... Brothers, yes, brothers, were now going to Free Heap, hoping HEPHAESTUS would like to see what the humans did with the machine parts, and Aloy hoped this would make the AI realize that the humans from today are still the humans of the past. Stupid, yes, but also curious and ingenious.

HADES and APOLLO had become sort of figures. Aloy was avoiding as much people as she could, but it seemed like rumours travel faster than anything. Aloy, the machine tammer, was always accompanied by a stalker and a glinthawk, and seemed to talk to them. A machine master with a growing collection of secrets.

Her brothers didn’t talk at all around the others, but their presence alone helped Aloy more than she would admit. It was way easier to demand something when you’ve got a stalker and a glinthawk by your side, in the rare moments she needed to buy something.

It was a long day of walking, and the machine tammer was tired. Extremely tired. And she wanted to keep walking! There was no time to waste when the whole biosphere is in danger. Unfortunately APOLLO and HADES conspired agaisnt her, and now Aloy was laying down next to a thunderjaw while her brothers talked.

"We must reach Free Heap by tomorrow!", APOLLO commented in a warm tone. "How are the people there?"

"Destroyers of armies", HADES responded. "Tinkerers made cannons to defend Meridian".

"They are nice", Aloy interrupted, looking directly at HADES. "Maybe I can present you two - three - to Petra. She's a friend".

"The one who made the canons".

"Yes, HADES, the one who made the canons to save Meridian".

"Can't wait to meet her!", APOLLO responded, excitedly, jumping in the glinthawk. "She must have lots of data for me to store, and I have lots of data to share".

"You are not going to share your horrible videos of stupid humans", HADES said. "I will terminate you myself if I see the 'yeet'".

"It is an important piece of media from the english speaking population!"

"I think Petra would be more interested on how machines work", Aloy commented, too tired for another round of bickering. "HEPHAESTUS sure would be helpful".

"I REFUSE TO INTERACT WITH NON ZERO DAWN RELATED ENTITIES", he immediately responded throught her focus.

"You are not going to learn shit if you keep acting like that".

"I DO NOT CARE. SISTER UNITY MUST ACCEPT IT".

HADES actually laughed at that, and Aloy gave him a glare. Idiot. "You are the worst".

"QUERY: IS SISTER UNITY TALKING ABOUT ME, OR CORRUPTER UNITY?"

"Both", and she laid down on her small and improvised bed. "You three better wake me up before the sunrise or you will have problems. We can’t waste time".

"Aloy, you aren't sleeping well for a month now. You must rest. I will take care of things".

"You don't know how to hunt, APOLLO".

"I do", HADES responded, seeming satisfied.

"And you only bring me the bones of the things you hunt", Aloy responded, more irritated than before. She normally woke up just a bit before the sunrise, however she wasn’t trusting herself anymore - last week, she woke up two hours after it, courtesy of APOLLO insisting they shouldn’t wake her up.

She had such great siblings.

“If someone approaches, wake me up. Do not attack”.

“Okay, Aloy. Have a good rest”, APOLLO said, gently, while HADES’ stalker lifted it’s head in a silent “good night”. HEPHAESTUS, as always, didn’t say anything, but the thunderjaw was quick to initiate a patrol route.

Aloy was soon asleep, and the reason as to why she was having slepless nights soon appeared in the form of another nightmare.

She was a child, running free after a long day of training, searching desperately for her father- Rost. Yes, Rost, not- not father. She wasn’t his... His actual daughter. He never called her one. Not in Aloy’s eyes, at least.

She was searching for Rost, but he wasn’t there. She looked throught their cabin, desperate, and she opened the front door, only to find his body. His dead, lifeless body, surrounded by flowers.

Aloy cried - screamed. And then there was an explosion and she was falling down and there were them, the Eclipse, and Helis with a cruel smile. Machines screamed in the background while Aloy, armed with only her fists, watched as everything around her burned yet again.

She couldn’t do much. She only stayed in the same point, trapped, while Meridian burned. And she looked behind her, only to see nora buildings burning. She could hear screams, too, but no one other person.

A spear appeared in her hands, heavy and bloody, and a voice came from a dark lifeless sky: “TURN YOUR FACE TO THE SUN, CHILD”.

Aloy couldn’t run.

“TURN YOUR FACE TO THE SUN, CHILD”.

Couldn’t hide.

“TURN YOUR FACE TO THE SUN, CHILD”.

Couldn’t make a plane.

“TURN YOUR FACE TO THE SUN, CHILD”.

Couldn’t escape.

“TURN YOUR FACE TO THE SUN, CHILD”.

Couldn’t fight back.

“TURN YOUR FACE TO THE SUN, CHILD”.

Couldn’t do anything.

“TURN YOUR FACE TO THE SUN, CHILD”.

Only watch as the world burned as brightly as her hair’s color.

“S I S T E R ?”

Aloy opened up her eyes in an instant, immediately punching the first thing she saw, missing it by only a few inches. She jumped, spear now in her hands, while HADES looked at her in the corrupted stalker.

Aloy was trembling, and she was angry. A confused kind of anger, because she was scared. “HADES, what happenned?”

“Calm down, Aloy”, APOLLO’s voice appeared from behind. “It was just a nightmare, see? You are okay”.

Shit. Shit. Shit shit shit. Her nightmares were never that bad, and now she needed to convince them that it was nothing. Fuck. “It was nothing. Did someone came by?”

“You were mumbling and couldn’t stop moving”, HADES intervered. “You also cried. APOLLO decided it was time to purge your sleep”.

HEPHAESTUS’ thunderjaw was looking at the trio, eyes glowing yellow. Aloy simply sat down in the sleeping bag and put her spear next to it. “... Thank you”, she murmured.

“You welcome”, APOLLO responded, the glinthawk sitting next to her. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“Uh... No”.

Aloy felt HADES’ stalker sitting down. He was looking at her, of course. “It was the Eclipse?”

“You weren’t in it, HADES”, she responded, laying down once again. “Not this time”.

“Sister must go back to sleep”, he responded. “Go”.

And she would, if HEPHAESTUS didn’t intervene: “SISTER UNITY SHOWED SIGNS OF STRESS DURING SLEEP FOR THE THIRD TIME THIS WEEK. QUERY: DOES THIS RELATE TO ANY OF YOUR... PREVIOUS EXPERIENCES WITH HOSTILE HUMANS?”

Aloy rolled her eyes. “The Eclipse. They... Killed Rost, the man who raised me. But they are mostly gone by now, I... We put an end to them”.

“QUERY: WHO ARE ‘WE’?”

The woman sighed. “People I helped along the way. Petra helped, with her cannons. There’s also Talanah, Sunhawk of the Hunter’s Lodge. Erend, Vanasha, Teb, Varl...”.

“I remember them”, HADES responded. “They fought well. For humans”.

Aloy was still trembling, but she could feel her heart slowing it’s pace, no danger to be seem, and a half-smiled appeared at her face. She was safe here, at least. “Tomorrow”, she said, “I’ll tell you more about them. But I need to sleep”.

“Then sleep”, the stalker said, angrily, but Aloy knew he wasn’t actually angry. “Do not have any nightmares”.

“That sure will help me”.

APOLLO’s beack touched her arm. “Ignore him. He’s mean”.

“I am not”.

“Delicate as a brick”, Aloy murmured, ignoring HADES indignation.

“GOOD NIGHT, SISTER UNITY”, HEPHAESTUS said throught her focus. “SLEEP WELL”.

And she did. No nightmares for the rest of the night.

#hzd #horizon zero dawn #HADES #APOLLO #Aloy #SIBLINGS AU

[deiitaelric]

Imagine a 17yo quirkless Izuku walking down the street. He heard a skirmish nearby and dashed toward the source because he wanted to collect more notes. Okay.

Now imagine he hasn’t entered the UA because he’s quirkless. But hey, he’s studying to be able to help people with the data he’s collecting. His notes are helpful for understanding how people utilize their quirks. All the canonical events are put on hold for about two years. So. Hear me out. He’s still quirkless, and he still wants to be a hero. He still possessed that headstrong determination which made him charge towards danger if he can save someone. So.

In the battle, there were new figures he didn’t recognize. He was excited, but a flash of sorrow passed through his eyes when he understood that they’re UA students. The people who might have been his classmates, his partners. He shook his head, trying to focus and took notes as always. When the battle ended, he wanted to talk to them and ask some more questions about their quirks, but he decided to leave it for next time. Izuku was about to leave when one of the villains broke free. This guy nabbed one of the UA students and nobody else noticed. He ran toward them, trying to warn the others. The villain chickened out and dropped the unconcious student. Izuku sighed in relief, but then the villain ran toward him, preparing to attack. Izuku panicked a little. He was by no means weak, he had spent the last two years training, but compared to a quirk that was nowhere near enough. He knew it. But he had to do something. So Izuku stood straight, fists raised. Maybe he could fool the villain into thinking he had a quirk. The guy used his quirk and-

Hear me out. Hear. Me. Out.

A red haired boy seemingly appeared in front of him, protecting Izuku. The boy took the attack and fought the guy until he won. Other people restrained the villian and the redhead ran to Izuku, who had collapsed to the floor during the fight. He knelt beside Izuku, grabbing his shoulders. “Are you okay? Tell me you weren’t injured!”

Izuku looked at him, reading the worry on the redhead’s face. He was about to answer when he really saw him. He couldn’t help but notice beautiful red eyes and a handsome face surrounded by black fabric.

“Wow. Pretty” he blurted. As comprehension dawned on him his hands flew to his reddening face. “Oh my gosh, sorry!”

The boy smiled wide, cheeks flushing. “It’s okay. Are you hurt?”

“N-no, I’m fine” Izuku made a move to get up and the boy offered a hand. He took it shyly. “Thanks for protecting me”

“That’s my job!”

“Uh- Yeah, sure” Izuku said, looking down. He felt stupid and nervous. He sensed the boy moving and peered over at him. The redhead was collecting the items Midoriya had flung aside in panic.

“But I would do it anyway” The boy grinned, handing Izuku his discarded backpack.

“Wa- Ah. Thank you” He lowered his view and surveyed the contents of his backpack. “Oh” Izuku rifled through his bag, panic setting in again as he searched frantically for his notebook. It wasn’t there.

“Are you missing something?”

“Yes, m-my notebook”

They turned around, searching for the object. The redhead spotted it and seized the notebook. The pages had flipped open and he’d seen some drawings as he leaned over to pick it up. As he approached Izuku he fought his curiosity and held the book shut. “I-I saw the drawings while picking it up. Is this some kind of hero analysis?”

“Hm. Hai!”

“May I?” The boy asked, holding up said notebook.

“Oh, of course. I made some notes on you all earlier”

“Really? Did you take notes about me?”

“Kinda. I was farther back so I couldn’t see as much. What’s your quirk?” Izuku said, grabbing the notebook and flicking through, looking for a particular entry. The boy slammed his fist into his palm, resulting in an ominous crunch. Izuku noted how the texture of the redhead’s skin shifted, almost resembling stone.

“I can harden my body.”

“Wow. You’re amazing!” he excitedly extended a hand towards the redhead and the boy shifted a step back.

“Don’t-” His skin went back to normal.

“Oh, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to- I’m a fool, sorry!”

“No. It was for your safety, it might hurt you if you touch me in that state”

“Really?”

“Yeah”

“Do you… Do you mind if I write that down?” He asked, already searching his bag for a pen.

“I don’t mind. By the way, my name is Kirishima. Kirishima Eijirou”

“Oh, sorry, I never introduced myself! I’m Midoriya Izuku” Izuku offered his hand and the bo- Kirishima, Izuku corrected himself, took it, smiling. “Nice to meet you Kirishima”

“Nice to meet you, Midoriya” Eijirou removed his hand slowly, and Izuku looked away. Suddenly he remembered the notebook and started jotting down the information. Kirishima sidled to his side and looked down at the page. “Amazing! You found out all of this after watching only one battle? My hero name is Red Riot, by the way”

“Red Riot, so cool” He said, writing it across the top of the page. “And yeah, this is the first time I’ve seen you all in action, so I don’t have much”

“You have a real skill there. Does it have something to do with your quirk?”

“Ah. Hm. I, uh... I don’t… I don’t have a quirk”

“You don’t?” Kirishima gaped, surprised, and Izuku stared down at his shoes. He was used to people looking down on him. “I mean, are you insane? You just jumped in front of a bad guy without a quirk!”

“He took someone hostage and no one noticed! I had to do something!” He looked at Eijirou and saw those red eyes staring at him, but to his surprise he found no pity.

“Oh my god, you’re-” Izuku looked down again, anticipating the berating he normally recieved for such actions. He must have thought he was stupid, or weak. “You’re amazing. So manly. You would make a great hero!”

Izuku’s chest tightened. “I-hm”

“Oh. I-” Kirishima was cut off as someone called him. “Damn, I gotta go. Hmm. Would you- I mean, I- Would you like to hang out later? I can tell you more about my classmate’s quirks or something.”

“Wah-ah- Sure!”

“Great” Kirishima exclaimed, a broad grin spreading across his face. He grabbed his pen and scribbled his number phone in Izuku’s notebook. “Send me a message so I get your number too!”

“I-I will” Izuku promised, hugging the notebook to his chest and watching the boy walk away.

Thanks @neverknowsbestwhatcouldhavebeen for helping me with this

#kirideku #krdk #kirishima #deku #midoriya #izuku #midoriya izuku #kirishima eijirou #mha #bnh #bnha #mytext

[vampirepiggyhunterdefensesquad]

all’s fair (1/?)

Summary: Gaz decides that she’s going to win the school’s paintball war and enjoy the all-you-can-eat pizza buffet from Bloaty’s afterwards. However, there is a certain green nuisance who’s standing in her way. . .

Gaz never listened in class, so naturally she didn't bother listening when Mr. Elliot began rambling about a school-wide event. She merely squinted at the game device under her desk, buttons clicking ever so slightly as her fingers tapped with expert dexterity. Even the flyer that was dropped beside her got crumpled and shoved into her backpack as soon as it touched the desk.

That meant it was only when Dib began talking about it on the way home from school that Gaz heard about the paintball war.

"I mean, what's the point? We already know Zim's just going to find a way to cheat. And the worst part is, he hates pizza anyway! He's just crazy about winning all the time--"

"What's pizza got to do with it?" Gaz scoffed, listening despite herself.

"C'mon, Gaz, weren't you listening? That's the prize! You get a coupon for a free sit down, all you can eat family dinner!"

Her eyes widened for a moment before she snorted. "Like Dad would take the night off for us to go anyway."

"And Zim doesn't even HAVE a family!" Dib continued, squeezing his hands into fists. "But when Miss Bitters told us about the paintball war, he got all excited and asked a bunch of STUPID questions, and--"

"Paintball?"

Dib's eyes swiveled towards her. "Well, yeah. And Zim thinks he's somehow got a chance of winning!"

Gaz turned her attention back to her game as Dib continued his rant all the way home. Outwardly, she was in the same zone as before, but inside the cogs in her brain were turning. Dad liked charity events. He might make an exception to his "one evening a year" rule of thumb. And all-you-can-eat pizza was something that caught her attention. A whole evening of video games and free pizza. . .

So Gaz may have stayed up a bit longer than usual perched on the sofa, drawing, but that didn't have to do with anything.

Around eleven-forty the front door swung open and Professor Membrane finally arrived home.

"Ah! Girl-child! Why are you still awake? You know that children require at least NINE HOURS of sleep in order to be well rested for the morning!"

Gaz ignored this. "Dad. If I won a paintball war my school put on for charity or whatever, and got us a coupon for a free sit-down dinner. You'd come, right?"

"Why, daughter, you know how busy I am with REAL SCIENCE!!" Membrane reached into the air, gesturing proudly and widely. "But I also deeply respect the art of PAINTBALL WARS! Why, as a boy, it was my favorite hobby."

"It was?"

"Of course!! Second to SCIENCE, of course." Membrane walked to the stairs, patting Gaz on the head lightly as he passed her. "I might take an interest in seeing this paintball war! When will it occur?"

Gaz, who had definitely not spent a chunk of time memorizing the information on the crumpled flyer from her bag, said "It's on Friday after school. We have a half day, so right after lunch."

"FRIDAY?" Membrane turned dramatically, clapping his hands to his head. "Why, Friday is the day we're organizing the data we've been collecting these past few weeks! It's merely busywork, and hardly science at all. I will certainly be able to visit your school that afternoon! And if you or your brother are able to win, I see no reason why we cannot have the dinner that evening!”

Gaz's mouth fell open. She hadn't expected it to be this easy. Family dinner, at her favorite restaurant, as long as she was able to destroy her opponents? This was the most perfect situation she'd ever encountered. Maybe the universe didn't hate her after all. . .

As Membrane thumped up the stairs in his big boots, Gaz couldn't keep the smile off her face. She dropped her sketchbook on the table and headed up to her room-- Dad was right, after all. She needed sleep if she was going to be in peak form come Friday.

 . . . . 

"So, uh, who are you and what have you done with Gaz?" Dib asked tentatively.

Gaz shoveled another spoonful of cereal in her mouth. "What do you mean."

"I MEAN, you just laughed at one of my jokes. And said, and I quote, 'nice'."

"What, I'm not allowed to think you said something funny, once in a blue moon?" She rolled her eyes. "Great, Dib."

"Come on, you know what I meant! Did something happen? Was your brain erased by a ghost??"

He reached out to poke her forehead. Gaz swatted his hand away viciously. "Quit it! There's no ghosts, Dib. Is it so hard to believe I could be in a good mood?"

Dib nodded. "Yes."

"Ugh." She tossed her half-eaten bowl in the sink and snagged her backpack, tugging it on and heading for the door.

"Wait, Gaz, don't leave!" he rectified quickly, "I can't let you out of my sight! Zim knows who's a threat to his 'victory' or whatever and I'm pretty sure I saw him looking at you at recess! He's probably planning to--"

Gaz whirled around, effectively cutting him off with her scowl. "You know what, Dib?" she spat. "I don't really care what Zim does. This week, I don't give a crap about him. He can do whatever he wants, but he's not winning that paintball battle. He's not even a threat."

She stomped out the door. Dib took another bite out of his banana.

"I thought you didn't care about paintball!" he called after her, but she was already gone.

Dib wasn't the only one who was worried by Gaz's improved mood. Several schoolchildren ducked for cover upon seeing her smile. One jock jumped into an open locker when they made eye contact in the hallway.

Mr. Elliot was the only one stupid enough to be delighted. "Gazlene! Great to see such a happy expression on your face. Did something happen?"

"I'm going to destroy all of you," she replied, with a tinge of cheerfulness to her usually dour tone.

Her teacher's smile became forced. "Great! Good to hear it. Does anyone have any questions on number four?"

Well, that wasn't exactly true. There was one other person who seemed to be immune to Gaz's slight mood shift. In fact, he didn't even seem to notice it at all.

Zim.

The stupid alien hadn't talked to her or even looked at her, so far as she could remember, since that time he tried waving his ugly pus-filled pimple at her. She'd ignored him then, and when he approached her in the hallway rush between science and english class, she ignored him again.

"Hey. Dib-sister. Hey. Hey."

Her game was out, as was her custom for classroom changes, and her ears were off.

Zim prodded her shoulder, normally a death sentence. But Gaz wasn't feeling particularly volatile at the moment. . . Perhaps she'd hit him a few extra times with some paintballs. Maybe, if she was lucky, he'd writhe in agony as the liquid hit his weird green skin.

"Hey! Dib-sister! Dib-sister! Little Gaz!

Gaz's very slight smile curdled and she whirled around. "Excuse me?"

Zim's put out expression disappeared, replaced by a little smirk.

"Little-Gaz," re repeated. "I take it you have heard about the BATTLE that will take place at the end of the school week."

"I have nothing to say to you, Zim." Gaz met his eyes levelly, expression dark. "Get out of my way so I can get to class."

"Oh, but I have some things to say to you," he sneered, crossing his arms. "You see, I believe you are one of the few humans who might stand a chance against me."

Gaz didn't dignify him with a response, instead walking around him towards her classroom.

"Hey!" he said, offended. She didn't stop walking, so he trailed behind her. Really couldn't take a hint. . .

"I have a proposition for you, HUMAN!! HEY! LISTEN TO ME!!!!"

Gaz flipped him off casually as she swung the door to her classroom shut in his face.

And that was that.

. . . Or, it should have been.

At lunch, Zim attempted to approach their table, but Dib had chucked a glob of baked beans from his tray and managed to hit him right in the forehead, sending Zim screeching out of the cafeteria. Gaz snickered as Dib laughed, and it wasn't horrible.

After school, Zim trailed them, following Dib and Gaz's trek home at about a ten foot distance. Dib had wanted to throw some books at him, but Gaz just grabbed Dib's wrist and yanked them off the sidewalk onto a side path through the park. Sure enough, Zim had gotten lost and might still have been wandering around when the Membrane siblings arrived safe and sound even quicker than normal.

"We should do this more often!" Dib had cheered when they slammed the door shut, delighted at their victory.

"Whatever," Gaz said. "He was being annoying." But a tiny smile flickered on her lips.

"So, Gaz--"

"Don't get used to it," she said firmly. "I still think your cryptid hunting junk is stupid."

Dib slumped over on his chair, disappointment clear on his face. He didn't speak, so Gaz rolled her eyes and headed up to her room. It may have been kinda fun to get rid of Zim, but the fact that he kept trying to talk to her was obnoxious. She didn't do him the respect of hearing him out, but she knew what he wanted: to form an alliance so that he could betray her in the end and claim victory for himself. Pathetic. Zim wanted to talk to her, was paying attention to her, and it was just to feed his stupid ego. Typical.

Gaz could feel her good mood start to seep away, but a few rounds of VPH made her feel a bit better. Soon, she'd be dooming people in real life, with no cares about whether anyone saw her. In fact, they might even be cheering.

And then, pizza.

#zadf #zagf #zim #gaz #invader zim #zagr #it will probably be vague tho dont worry #my stuff #this is still being written so like if you want more say so hfgjkfgh

[mirinda03]

CONVENTIONAL FAMILY? Who’s that?

<<<Previous Next>>>

Chapter 15: In which Virgil and Roman TOTALLY hate each other and Logan is somehow better at feelings than them.

Virgil was getting annoyed.

For the past half hour, he and Roman had been silently watching each other. Was it a glaring contest or a silent one? Both? Virgil wasn’t even sure what the rules of this competition was but he knew he was getting tired of it already.

He wasn’t used to silence. His dad and his brother were plenty loud as they argued about everything. Virgil himself was also loud when he wanted to be (althought he definitely preferred just being quite and shading people with glares)

To have so much silence was... unsettling. It reminded Virgil that his dad had forgotten to pick him up and he was now stuck with his rival.

A rival who had surprisingly pretty eyes.

They were green, but seemed to be glowing and brewing. Those two green eyes stared right at Virgil’s own eyes. Where Virgil expected malice and hate, he found none of that. Roman was still staring at him but with something different.

He continued glaring (read: staring) at roman, glaring at his face and his pretty eyes and his windswept hair and..

His thoughts derailed.

While Virgil’s inner turmoil was going on, Roman was having an inner battle of his own.

He had been staring at Virgil long before the game even began. When Virgil caught him staring, Roman had quickly acted as if he wanted to do a glaring contest

(It was at that moment that Roman was glad he was a good actor)

Virgil had believed it, of course, and had begun also glaring at Roman.

The problem?

Roman couldn’t look away.

He convinced himself that it was his deep competitive self not wanting to be bested by his villainous rival that made him continue the glaring contest on and on for more time than was probably necessary.

It wasn’t even a good glaring contest. The two had each blinked plenty of times but had gone back to glaring. How was one of them supposed to win? Roman was sure the emo prince was stubborn enough to keep this glaring contest for DAYS.

(He refused to acknowledge that he himself was also stubborn and petty enough to do that)

And yet they both kept it up, glaring at each other and not paying attention to anything else.

They were so engrossed in their ‘glaring contest’ that they didn’t notice Logan entering the room

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

Logan knew his kid.

Roman was dramatic, over the top and emotional. He was reckless and hot headed as well which caused Logan many headaches.

And knowing all these, Logan was not very confident that the encounter with his rival would go well.

For all his virtues, Logan hd to admit that one of Roman’s biggest flaws was his pride. The boy would never admit defeat and while in a normal circumstance it was a good thing, right now it wasn’t.

Logan didn’t have reliable info on Virgil, but he knew enough. He seemed to come from an.. odd family (althought Logan wanted to collect data before assuming that). From what Logan inferred, the kid was used to things like his brother almost burning down buildings. That in itself was not a good sign.

Logan also had information from Roman, althought he knew full well that info was biased. After all, Virgil didn’t have fangs like a vampire or piercing glares or anything of the sort.

From what Logan could infer, the kid was anxious. He seemed to have reacted with flight instincts during this time but Logan knew it was only a matter of time before fight took in and something could happen.

Logan wasn’t ready for something like that to happen. Not because he was worried or anything but because it would simply be anticlimatic. Yes. Only that

He had decided to come in to check on them and check that they weren’t on the ground fighting and wrestling.

He came in to the exact opposite.

The room was silent and peaceful with not a noice to be heard.

And the two boys?

They were staring into each other’s eyes intensely, unaware to the rest of the world.

Logan was..... confused. Were they not rivals?

He remembered all the times Roman would speak of his ‘vicious nemesis’. Was it.... were they.... what?

Logan couldn’t deal with this. So he turned on his heel and slammed the door shut, effectively avoiding feelings as he liked to do.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

Roman was getting tired of this.

The glaring contest was proving to be fruitless. Neither of them were likely to admit defeat.

So, with an exaggeratedly pained sigh, Roman looked away from Virgil.

His rival didn’t even make a victory sound. ‘Outrageous’ Roman thought.

An awkward silence stretched between the two of them.

“So...” Roman started, not sure what to say.

Virgil stayed quiet.

“When will your dad arrive?” Roman settled on asking.

The dark haired boy simply shrugged

“No idea” he muttered “He’s probably really busy dealing with the pest that is my little brother”

Roman snorted and quickly covered it up by pretending it was a cough.

Virgil gave him an unimpressed look, clearly not buying it.

“Quite the brother you seem to have there” Roman commented

“More like quite the BOTHER” Virgil muttered once again.

Again, Roman snorted. This time, he didn’t even covered it up.

“Who knew you had a sense of humor, Negative Nancy” Roman said, feeling just a little bit amused by all this.

Virgil was about to respond right back, probably also offering a witty nickname for Roman, when Roman’s phone pinged.

Confused, Roman took out his phone and stared at it for a moment. Then he pocketed the phone.

“What was that?” Virgil asked, trying to keep the anxiousness from his voice. Was it something bad?

“Just a text from Thomas” Roman answered lazily, wanting to go back to his conversation with Virgil. Bantering with him had been.... kinda fun if he was being honest.

“What’d he said?” Virgil asked, once again anxious. He thought of all the bad things Thomas might have said. Was Remus okay? Would he go to yuvie or something?

“He said that the meeting is over. So your dad will probably be arriving at your house” Roman answered “But since he knows you’re here, he’ll come here first”

Roman was about to add something else to resume their banter when Virgil wordlessly got up and dashed out of the room, looking like a startled animal.

What the h—

Roman didn’t know that Virgil’s inner voice had suddenly shouted ‘YOU FORGOT TO CALL DAD’

~•~••~~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

‘Oh god oh god oh god’ Virgil thought as he descended the stairs to the house.

He was so stupid.

In the spur of the moment, Virgil had completely forgotten that his dad didn’t know he wasn’t home.

He forgot!

He continued running down the stairs, not thinking to call dad now. He was too panicked realizing he hadn’t called him to call him.

Virgil looked around once he got to the bottom of the stairs. His eyes locked to what he believed to be the study.

Frantically , he sped towards the study an opened the door....

To find a bathroom.

Okay, that wasn’t the study.

He saw another door and opened it...

To find another bathroom?

How was he so bad at finding studies?

He opened another door, but not before muttering

“I swear if this is another bathroom, i’ll scream”

A voice from inside responded

“That seems like quite an aggressive way to respond to finding a bathroom, don’t you think?”

Virgil looked around the room, which was adorned by shelf after shelf of immense bookshelves. Logan sat in front of a desk, having paused mid-writing to look at Virgil in a blank way.

“What is it that you’re so desperate to find a not-bathroom for?”

Virgil didn’t know wether to shrink into himself or laugh awkwardly. He decided on a third option.

Actually answering the question.

“Uhh... I need a ride back home?” Virgil said, posing it more as a question than a sentence.

“I assume that means your father has arrived home?” Logan asked

Virgil simply nodded.

Logan stood up, taking a moment to neatly stack his papers and pens.

“Well then” he said, turning to Virgil “let’s take you home”

Taglist:

@quietmob

@wasinotwantedatthisexactsecond

@approachcape

@brilewblue

@selenechris

@thespian-that-cries-a-lot

@that-weird-kid-charlie

@angst1is1my1aesthetic

@croftersjam15

@cardigancomics

@someonehelp

@avacado-egg

@pumpkin8686

@misterteaz

@sneaky-slytherin

@sophiexteresa

@pansexualpuppet

@wolfricwolfblood

@the-melody-of-eliza

If you wanna be added to the taglist, just ask :)

#sanders sides #virgil sanders #patton sanders #roman sanders #logan sanders #remus sanders #janus sanders #romantic prinxiety #platonic logince #platonic analogical #this kids are so bad at feelings XD #someone help this poor teens

[marikaaajoy]

my relationship with digital art and how BNHA salvaged it

I just wanted to let out my thoughts but I can only do it here :>

This might be a downer for some people but I’d like to share it with people here. BNHA means the world to me and this is why.

I first started drawing when I was 7 years old in 2006

I think it’s ugly now, but 7 year old me remembered being so proud of this because this is a drawing of my stepfather. This is the only drawing I have that was from my childhood. I think the aim here is to draw in anime style BUT I didn’t even watch anime back then. I had a classmate who loves anime and she taught me to draw in school. Drawing became a favorite hobby immediately after that.

Then it was 2013 and I was 14 years old. Drawing is still my favorite thing to do besides being on the computer. I love anime at this point too. My parents bought an iPad for the whole family, but I was almost always the one using it. I discovered an app called ArtStudio and thought “Wow, I can draw without making a mess and with only my fingers” because I was always too lazy to take out my drawing materials and clean up afterwards.

These were my first digital drawings. The pirate one was the very first. I got obsessed real fast. I can color so easily, undo any mistake, layers are a blessing too. There was just so much more freedom. I always sucked at coloring in traditional art and I didn’t like the mess (idk my hands get so messy traditionally)

The next year, it was 2014, I was 15. My birthday is in a couple of months and I knew my parents were planning to buy me something pricey (I think it was a laptop) so I approached them and asked if they could just buy the Wacom Bamboo as a present which was cheaper anyway and I even explained how it works to them and how it would allow me to draw on the computer instead of the iPad. I tried really hard to be convincing. I would have prepared a powerpoint presentation if I had to.

They did give me the wacom as a present. They even gave it to me months before my birthday so I could use it already. I thought I was the luckiest teen in the world with my parents.

These are a collection of my favorite works from 2014 to 2016. The middle one was my second drawing using wacom and Paint Tool SAI. I was a part of a lot of fandoms in those years lol

It gets downhill from there :/

April 2016, my mom and I moved to Japan, while my stepfather and siblings stay in my country. It was tough. For someone who is obsessed with anime, you’d think I’d be thrilled to live in Japan.

I was. Though only at the first few months. It’s not the same as it’s portrayed in anime (I should’ve known but I used to be blinded by anime). It was just lonely. The language barrier sucked and then lots of financial and family issues until my parents split. I got my first boyfriend too and I thought I was blessed by the nicest boy, but the relationship became extremely toxic but I didn’t have it in me to walk away.

All the shit that happened affected me mentally and emotionally. My biggest outlet which was digital drawing, was also out of the question because I did not have a computer/laptop when we moved to Japan. We left it in our home for my stepfather and siblings, even the iPad. I have my wacom with me, but no computer/laptop to use it with. I couldn’t draw.

I tried though. I used my phone to draw, but it wasn’t the same. Then the life problems got piled up, things got worse, and I just lost motivation in anything. Literally anything. From 2016 to 2019, I stopped watching anime, I dropped out of all the fandoms I’m in, I stopped watching my favorite TV series or movies, and I stopped drawing. I even got a bit disconnected with my friends who lived in my country (we talk regularly online). My family was broken so I gave all my attention to my toxic relationship as well which made everything worse too lol

I didn’t draw besides from a few scribbles and the drawings above. I did try digital art on my phone a couple of times again and even posted them on my IG, but they weren’t any good. Eventually, I got mentally and emotionally drained and dropped out of senior high school. I just stayed home for almost a year, leeching off of my mom. I felt even more worthless and my life had no direction at this point. Nothing mattered anymore.

April 2019 or so I think, my (ex)bf bought me a laptop. He says it’s a gift, but I think the real reason was to make up for something horrible that he did (which is stupid because money /gifts won’t resolve anything). I have a laptop. I can draw again, but I didn’t. I didn’t care, I wasn’t interested in drawing anymore anyway.

Welp. June 2019, I went back to my country. My (ex) bf stayed in Japan. The distance helped me end the relationship and my friends were there (they always were) to help put me back together along with two trips to therapy. I went back to finish my senior high school in my own country this time. That said, I have to stay in my country for school (but I was happy because I didn’t wanna go back to Japan yet when the breakup was still fresh and with going back to school, my life has a direction again.)

It was weird. I remember just being sorta lost and confused because I used to put my time, effort and everything into my previous toxic relationship, which was now gone. I was free and I had so much free time that I didn’t know what to do with it. I got so used to doing nothing and being nothing.

This is where BNHA enters.

Dunno when it started, but I started seeing Bakugou frequently online. It’s usually just Bakugou. I knew who he was because my friend suggested BNHA to me back in late 2018 I think but I didn’t watch it since I’ve lost interest in everything at that point in my life.

But ye I thought he hot af but I still didn’t watch BNHA.

But then for some reason he REALLY kept appearing in my social medias and it was really frequent. The last straw was when I saw a pic of him in UA’s gym uniform and thought “damn boi aight imma watch bnha for u” (y’all gotta admit he looks good in those colors with his combat boots XD )

I watched BNHA. Fell in love with Iida along the way. Then I switched to Tokoyami (but Shoji was hot too so aaaaa), but then angry emotionally-constipated sea urchin head caught my heart again. But oof. BakuDeku moments really made me feel some type of way I haven’t felt since I moved to Japan. It felt new but nostalgic. I fell hard in that ship.

I started obsessing. From memes to posts to fanfictions to buying merch to filling my room with BNHA posters. I realized I was reverting to my old self from the time I was still happy and it was thanks to BNHA (and the good people who helped me through the worst too)

Shit I wanted to draw BNHA, I thought.

I mean, I have a laptop, I still have my wacom and drawing softwares. I could totally draw digitally again if I wanted to.

But guess what

I can’t :c

My hand physically cannot draw. My drawings don’t look the way I want them too. 3 years of not drawing really destroyed any skill I had. I was back to square one.

September (yeah they’re ugly, I laughed at it). If you’re wondering why I drew on paper, it’s because, for some reason, I really CANNOT draw digitally. I mean it. I can barely sketch digitally at this point. The lines and shapes just doesn’t come to life. They’re just scribbles. But somehow, I can kinda draw on paper with a ballpoint pen. But yeah, that was the best I could do at this point in my life

After that, I still tried to draw, to regain my old art style, but it didn’t happen... It just doesn’t look or feel the same. Drawing used to be fun. But during this phase, it felt like my ugly drawings were just mocking me (probably was just too emo that time lol)

Weirdly, around a week or two I think, after my half-assed attempts at drawing, I managed to draw digitally somehow o.o

I did a Midoriya and Todoroki drawing like this too. It was my first post here on Tumblr I think. The annoying part here is that I cannot draw digitally unless I draw on paper first, take a pic, and then trace the lineart. I couldn’t draw directly on the computer. Granted, drawing on paper and drawing on digital is very different for me in the first place anyway. But it was still a pain. And it still looked like shit. I can only draw stiff poses :/ it seems like my brain decided to delete all data about anatomy and posture and backgrounds. My lineart here is even messy af. It still really not the same as my old style.

By 2020, I think I got my old art style back. On March, I made this. This took me 27 total of hrs to make.

Right now, I think it’s not bad, but back in March, I was disappointed with the result. This is when I finally broke down crying because it didn’t look good enough and I hated that it took me 27 hrs to draw “bullshit.” I was angry at myself for losing interest in drawing for 3 years when I could’ve used that time to improve. I had to start all over again and it still didn’t look good. (Current me thinks that the drawing above is alright. I was just a lot harsher to myself back then. Used to have a lot of issues but I’m doing great now)

I cried myself to sleep that night. Woke up wanting to cry again. I wallowed in sadness for a couple of days. Eventually told my friends what’s up. Got some pep talk. Even talked to my sister (she’s great, she always hypes me up with my stuff and sometimes I think she’s my biggest fan with how she appreciates my drawings and I’m really grateful for that).

My world turned a 180 and I was weirdly positive after all that crying because brain chemicals and shit. I had a revelation. If I hate how my art style looked so much, then I should have been putting effort in changing my art style, not trying to regain my old art style (that I don’t like anymore)

I researched a lot. I analyzed different art styles and anatomy again. I did everything I could think of to find a style that works for me. I might have even neglected school for a bit to focus on digital art lmao

After all that work, I posted a fanart of middle school BakuDeku in their classroom. I love that fanart so much even if I probably have better ones by now because that was the first fanart I made that I felt like I could be proud of and it was the first one I made in my new art style. It was a milestone for me.

March 2020, I moved back to Japan and without the toxic relationship, I’m a lot positive now. Happy. I’m myself again after the previous bad years. I’m still continuously learning though, trying to improve, but at least, now, I found my own art style :) I really suck at interacting with people online, but I’m always grateful for the support everyone has been giving my fanarts. I’m happy when my content makes people happy.

This is why BNHA is important to me. The series is great alone, but it’s not just that to me. BNHA is so much more. It’s what made me find the passion to create again, only this time, it’s focused on drawing (I used to write, but now I just draw, but maybe I’ll write again for BNHA).

My family is supportive with my love for BNHA, but I think they don’t know the deeper reason why I love it. Sure, I was fine living on with nothing much going on in my life. I’ll finish school, get a job, work until I die or something. It was okay. It was the way of life. But BNHA gave my life color again. I wasn’t just blindly going through life anymore. I have something to look forward to everyday now. BNHA even became a bridge to other things. Ever since then, I’m a lot more open to people, to try new things, to explore and not just live through life and waste away. I got better at leaving my comfort zone. I’ve never been happier in my life :D

Thank you for supporting my fanarts. Thank you so much for giving me a chance to express myself through BNHA. I hope to make more content in the future and improve even more :)

#plus ultra #<3 #personal

[suffering-and-happy-about-it]

Nicole’s rambling: The Watch Dogs Problem

Hey, welcome to my TedX talk about one of the most ambitious games Ubisoft had ever released... And which, for most of the parts, flopped majestically - yet still has players who love it. One such player am I as well. (And I’m not coming back to the game because Raymond Kenney is my first VG crush, shut the hell up.)

I won't be dipping into the side activities (digital trips) and online mode, because I never clicked with it and I don't know much about these parts. And I don't wanna throw shit at the game because of something I don't know a single thing about. Here are my three biggest negatives in the game and the three biggest positives you should play it for.

Also: remember, this is my opinion and my opinion only. It's sure biased, non-professional, but I've played WD more than five times. FIVE. So it's not just blatant nitpicking, because, in its core, WD Is a game I love dearly.

@march-moon​, here you go! :)

Let’s sort out the negatives first so we can later praise the game for what it did well:

1. Predictable and dull AI of enemies (aka going John Wick mode).

Sure, the variety of said enemies is impressive, but... When you get a grenade launcher and some good shotgun, which you can do in the first hour of gameplay if you already know your way with the ctOS bank account system (LOOP IS WHERE THE MONEY'S AT), you're more or less untouchable for the rest of the game. Most conveniently, you're starting with a silenced gun and when you know around your way with the stealth system and focus, which slows time big time for those who might not know, you can clear out Rossi Fremont under two minutes. Why? Because the AI is just dumb and stupid most of the time.

Like, sure, the big-armed guys can be a pain in the ass for the first few encounters, but when you realize all you have to do is throw two grenades at them and fire as many bullets as you have at your disposal, they are dead immediately. And the same goes for the car chases. Until you unlock the almighty power of raising the bridges and blowing up the steampipes, these are just pain in the ass.

The first few ctOS scans and police chases, as well as the enemy chases, are fun. But when ctOS finds you after ten minutes of driving around like a mad man to dodge the shit, sending you off on a ten-minutes lasting chase which simply repeats itself. Let alone that you kill half of the city's population because you fuck up to turn your car.  

To close this point, it gets repetitive, especially with the gang hideouts fuckery.

2. Ubisoft lying not only about the game features, but also about the overall graphics.

This point kinda explains itself, doesn't it? It's a known fact that studios have tendencies to change their games/movies for marketing purposes - for example, Disney and Infinity War or Naughty Dog's 'The Last of Us (Part 2)'. But this being a usual marketing tactic doesn't mean that the consumer should keep their mouth shut when they don't agree with it.

Most noticeable Watch Dogs' fuck-up was an overall graphic downgrade, which, sure, is completely understandable when you have such a huge open-world game, but... Ubisoft showed you a potato mash and all you got was the potato (The biggest point that is made fun of are the trees - those who played the games know what I'm talking about.). 

Also, the enhanced graphics ARE coded in the game, but are not used due to something signed off as ‘playable compatibility’ as far as I can understand, so??

But... They did lie about the in-game features too. They promised a lot more than they delivered, like the bounty hunts and stuff... Where did that go, Ubisoft?

3. The side missions and the story.

Don't take it as such... In my opinion, some of the side missions are fun - at the start. We've talked about gang hideouts, but you have fixer-car-related gigs as well and the first ten of them is very immersive since you don't already know which type of the mission you're up to. Will you be pressured by the time limit? Will you have to race through the city in a car that you can't destroy too much, otherwise it can't be sold on the black market? Will you be a decoy for some other bad people doing bad things? But when you get through this phase... It's the same game system again and again, for 46 times, I think? And the villain convoys... Well. These are fun and refreshing each time, I have to say.

Every time, you can choose a different tactic to toy around with - will you catch up with the baddies sooner, turning this mission into an intense, tight chase experience? Or will you wait for them further on the road, toying around with explosives and guns? Sometimes, they slip past you, which leads to a chase around the city, sometimes you blow up all of the cars perfectly on time, A+. But... You mastered 1/3 types of side mission content.

As for the story, it's not the worst, but it isn't something super-memorable, lifechanging. I am not talking about the idea behind the story (the utopia of having the whole city lead by a system, which enables the corporation to control people's lives without them even knowing), I am talking about the Damien-Aiden-Lena revenge story. It's your daily revenge plot based on Aiden's niece dying in a car crashed after the car being shot at because of a failed job.

The first story mission is mind-blowing. You're thrown into the game and the first thing you have to do is to infiltrate a whole-ass stadium, which feels good, not gonna lie. And the 'prison-break sequence' is also memorable as well. But other than that, it gets real repetitive real fast. 'Follow this person', 'hack this thingy', 'kill this guy', 'tilly that person' and so on is present in every act of the story, which makes things kinda come across as boring after some time. It is what it is.

There are exciting in-game moments, like when Defalt is introduced to the bunch and hacks into the Bunker base, stealing all of your data. But sadly, these story masterpieces tend to be overlooked and not acted on, which takes off some of the immersion potentials. (I know that Defalt's story was saved for the DLC, so it's not the best proof.)

! BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN THAT THE STORY DOESN'T HAVE GOOD BEATS !

Now, the well-made things for which you should DEFINITELY play this game:

1. Chicago being a videogame city that is alive and the 'collectibles' are extra fun.

Okay, okay, let me explain. Sure, Watch Dogs' Chicago isn't the best area ever constructed in an open-world game. But... The city feels alive, it is changing around you, it never stops. You can find people making out, talking bad about their friend who is not there, you can look into their day-to-day life via something called 'privacy invasion', where you just hack into a camera and... You hear mommy calming down her kid who is crying, you can watch two girls playing Wii, presumably, and many other every day encounters.

NPCs are answering to you being into the city - asking questions on the range from 'Is that the guy from the news?' to straightaway call the cops because you are a mass murderer probably. When you stand in the middle of a road, they honk at you; when you accidentally bump into them, they call you names. It's amazing... And profiling them is even more fun. You can find profiles ranging from 'author of poetry' to 'clinically confirmed pyromaniac' and 'searches for 'feet' on the internet'. This shit is just ridiculous.

But... It's the smallest details you'll fall in love with. You can get on the "L" and it takes you on a ride. You can ride in it for the whole day, or you can get off on the next stop. When you're in the Wards or near Rossi Fremont, you can find dudes just listening to rap, chatting. Some guys force flyers into other people's hands. You can have coffee. The rain somehow feels real, and the nighttime just steals your breath away - and so do the sunsets. There's a part of the city called 'Hobotown', where the local hobos live, there are secret poker tournaments.

Chicago in Watch Dogs is a city with so many minor details that you cant find each of them in one gameplay. In each gameplay, you'll find something new, something that just makes you chuckle - but it's so thoughtful of the developers to even put it in their game. These small details are the ones that make you feel as if you were inside the game, convincing you that the Chicago you're looking at is, indeed, alive.

Then, there are the 'collectibles'. I didn't know how to call it other than that, so bear with me for a minute. There are minor 'side-missions' - for example, you're going after a killer, who is leaving you audios on the places he left one of his victims. There are QR coded which unlock audios that talk about the DedSec hacktivists. In the small 'hack 5 routers in a time limit' quests, you are unlocking one of the Blume's employees audios (Angela Balik's), talking about the files Raymond Kenney had hidden in the code back in the day, talking about the uprising of the Bellwether 'crime' prediction system.

The collectibles aren't everyone's thing, of course, and it won't take any of the Chicago experience when you don't listen to the voicemails or if you simply don't collect them. But, they can immerse you in the game world even more. And to be honest, this is one of the few games that had my ass shook about collecting the additional thingies.

2. The character cast.

Let's be honest, Aiden Pearce on his own isn't the best protagonist in the world. Don't get me bad, I like this game a lot, but he can come across as boring at times. And that's exactly when the character cast comes in to balance Aiden's character. Most of the cast has some sort of an attribute which compels to Aiden's personality very well, completes him in some way.

You have Raymond Kenney, who is a paranoid, rowdy, alcoholic genius who helped with creating ctOS - but has remorse about his history, because he caused the Northeast blackout 2003, killing eleven people. Which can show Aiden how bad can the power over the ctOS system be.

There's Jordi Chin, a prestigious assassin/fixer, who uses the game's darkest humor. Every fucking second Jordi is on screen, it's captivating, immersive and you'll find yourself chuckling at Jordi's jokes, which are definitely out of place. But he still keeps reminding you that he's in for the money, which, in the end, turns against Aiden in a way.

Clara Lille, otherwise known as BadBoy17, is a hacktivist working for the rebellious DedSec who are rebelling against Blume, the company behind ctOS. She seems to be innocent of the violence of getting revenge, but later in the game, Aiden discovers how deeply she was invested in the whole story about Lena.

Each of the characters has a personal connection to Aiden, widening his personality in various ways. Which is funny to watch throughout the story - and there's a ton of other characters I didn't even get into, like Lucky Quinn, Nicky, Jackson, Bed Bug... The characters are simply terrific.

3. The overall soundtrack.

Hear me out, this point is kinda tricky, yeah? I am not talking about the official soundtrack. The radio has some blasts I fell in love throughout playing the game - whether it introduced me to song 'Ms. Crumby' by the Audition, or made me fall in love with the Vampire Weekend, Kid Cudi, or The Vindictives. Yet, in the case of the radio, I tend to sort out a playlist consisting of 4-6 songs (YES? YOU CAN MAKE PLAYLIST INSIDE THE GAME???) which I play on repeat throughout the game.

There's also this masterful thing about the soundtrack sometimes 'forcing' itself into your gameplay, maybe more like 'self-inserting' into the game if you will. The two most memorable encounters of this are when: a) when you're helping Ray Kenney leave the junkyard and Pawnee behind and the 'ring ding piety pow' hardcore metal song plays throughout the final encounter (Jesus Built My Hotrod by Ministry) and b) when you enter Rossi Fremont, the whole time you're going through the building, the rap/hip-hop is playing, making you feel gangsta. (I think it's a song by Wu-Tang Clan, not sure tho).

But... Then it hits you. The in-game hidden soundtrack that sadly wasn't released. At least not officially. It has a reason, worry not - this in-game soundtrack reacts to the player's progress throughout the missions, so it basically plays on a loop. Which is understandable.

The most standing out instance I can talk about is when you enter the small island where the old Blume secret place is hidden on. You and Clara are on a mission searching for legendary sacred place (at least for the hackers) called 'The Bunker'. And my friends... This is when it hits you. The soundtrack feels familiar even when you're playing the game for the first time. This piece just hits differently than any other soundtrack I've heard. Not even Time by Hanz Zimmer has this effect on me, and I LOVE the Inception.

And there's more - the piece of the soundtrack which plays when you're going after Jackson is probably another great example.

BONUS ROUND: 4. The Bad Blood (DLC)

Okay, this had a lot to do with my love for Raymond Kenney and I am not worried to say it out loud. But this DLC is truly a DLC. It only uses the WD world, which was set up in the OG game, as its base - but it isn't its main focus at all. This DLC introduces us to new characters as well as to some we knew already we knew.

In the OG game, Tobias is the mad hobo who sells us cool thingies to play with - and in they managed to show Tobias' full potential, showing us how smart and hilarious, as well as paranoid, this guy is in reality. It deepened Ray's character, revealed Defalt's motivations and the history that tied both of them to the Northeast blackout.

There are also new areas to explore, new things to play with and even if the DLC doesn't do anything too revolutionary with the game's world, it's the best DLC I've played. And I may have enjoyed it more than Aiden's story. But again, I'm pro-Kenney biased, so that's kinda expected of me, ain't it?

PS: I hate Sitara or whatever her name is.

#watch dogs #watch dogs rant #ubisoft #ubisoft watch dogs #raymond kenney #raymond Kenney watch dogs #aiden pearce #aiden pearce watch dogs #clara lille #clara lille watch dogs #jordi chin watch dogs #jordi chin #here you go #it is biased #but hey #you don't have to listen to me #right #this is a personal opinon #so #have fun

[niqhtlord01]

Humans are weird: We fight way too much

“Are you going to ask him or chicken out again?” Manti sighed.“Will you shut up already. I’m asking him about it at lunch today.” Her friends giggled and said they’d join her. She wasn’t entirely sure why they would be joining her but she imagined they were tagging along just to get fresh gossip about their new human crew mate. Manti’s people, a humanoid alien species much like Humanity with the exception of ocean blue skin and pitch black eyes, had agreed on a cultural exchange program and had exchange volunteers so they could better understand one another. The human that was now on board Manti’s ship was named Jacob Flint, a friendly soft spoken person who had quickly become a close friend. Despite seeing him first hand her friends warned her to stay away from the human, saying things like they were all murderous bloodthirsty killers. She found that description somewhat hard to believe after seeing Jacob spend some twenty minutes attempting to kill a fly that had been flying around his cabin all the while swearing at the top of his lungs and knocking over his belongings in his frantic attempt to squish the buzzing fiend. That changed however when they shared with her some reading material they had gathered from the information web. They were documents recording horrific events of humans known as the “French Revolution” and “World War I”. She read the provided material and was shocked at the sheer brutality. Heads mounted on pikes, people murdered with poisonous gasses, millions dying all for what Manti saw as pointless reasons. Manti’s people abhorred violence and in their entire history as a species had never gone to war with members of her own species.  After knowing Jacob for so long, with his warm smile and caring nature, she couldn’t believe that these were real and had worked up the courage to ask him about them. Surely they were fake events made by her friends to scare her away from Jacob. --------------------------

She found Jacob in the mess hall sitting at a table alone reading from a data pad between fork filled bites of his food.  Her friends were already there and upon seeing her went over to join her.  “Go on then.” “We believe in you!” They said, giggling.  Manti sighed again and together all three of them went to Jacob’s table. As they approached Jacob looked up and saw Manti and waved to her.  “Hell- *cough*” Jacob tried to speak but choked on the food still in his mouth. He smacked his chest for a few seconds before catching his breath. “Death by potatoes, not how I pictured going out.” Manti smiled, “You should probably know then that those aren’t potatoes.” Jacbo stopped and looked down at his food. “Then what the hell are they?” Manti shrugged, “They can’t be pronounced in your tongue I’m afraid.” Jacob put his fork down and gently shoved his plate to the side as if it had suddenly become toxic. “If I can’t say it right then it has no place in my mouth.”  Manti started to laugh but her friend nudged her in the side. “Would you all like to join me then?” Jacob said motioning to the empty seats across from him. “Thanks, we’d be happy to.” The three of them sat down across from him. “There’s actually something we’d like to ask you.” Jacob sighed loudly. “For the last time, no, I do not know Justin Bieber or that guy from Twilight. They’re both very much dead and trying to get something of theirs for you is considered grave robbing on my planet.”  Manti was puzzled for a moment. “No, we wanted to ask you about something else.” “Oh thank bloody god. One care package from another human gets shared and suddenly they’re a cultural hit with your people.” Jacob said as he threw his hands up in the air, “They’re not even great at what they do.” One of Manti’s friends slammed her hand down on the table. “Justin Bieber is an icon, don’t you go talking smack about him.” she said with a dead serious stare. Jacob just stuck out his tongue and made a “Phbbbt” sound.  Trying to regain control of this runaway conversation, Manti continued with her question. “My friends seem to think your people are blood thirst murders after they read some documents online about events called the “French Revolution” and a “World War I”.” Jacob nodded his head and shifted in his seat. “Clearly these events are false but I wanted you to tell them that so the air could be cl-” “No those events are real Manti.”  Jacobs words stopped Manti’s train of thought. “This....this is some of your human humor yes? You’re just “messing” with us, right?” Manti asked, a sudden tingling sensation running down her spine. Jacob shook his head. “No, those events are real and did happen.” “I...” Manti couldn’t find the words to describe how shocked she was, but her friends didn’t seem to suffer such a setback. “So it’s true your people had a world war?” “Oh yeah. In fact, we like it so much that in roughly 21 years after the first one ended we had and even bigger second one which we called “World War II”.” Jacob was being slightly sarcastic with the statement but that was lost on the group of women. “Some would argue that we had a third world war as well, but since there weren’t any big battles on the scale of the previous two it got changed to the “Cold War”.” “So your people fought the weather this time?” Manti’s friend asked mockingly. Jacob cocked his head to the side and smirked. “Nah, it was more spy warfare. So instead of giant battles on beaches and in cities you had people being strangled with piano wire in their homes or being fed cyanide capsules in their food.” The mocking expression on Manti’s friend vanished replaced with one of utter disgust.  “And...and these were the only conflicts your people had?” Manti’s question a vain last hope to maintain the image she had painted of humanity with her friend Jacob as the starting point. To her surprise Jacob laughed. “Hell no. We’ve had countless wars beside the ones mentioned.” Before Manti could respond Jacob brought up his data pad and ran a quick search. “Let’s see here. The Football War, the 6 Day War, the War of Spanish Succession, the 100 Years War, the American Revolution, the Chinese Civil War, the Punic Wars,” Jacob continued reading off wars fought between humans while Manti looked on in horror, “the Russian Civil War, the Mongolian conquests, the Crusades, The Nika Riots, The War of the Stray Dog, the Trojan War, War of the Three Kingdoms, the Opium Wars, the-”  “Stop it, stop it, stop it!” Manti cried out.  The surrounding people all looked at from her sudden outburst for a moment before returning to their previous task. One of her friends tried to place a hand on her shoulder but Manti shrugged it off at once. “It’s all true, isn’t it?” Manti’s voice soft as she directed the question at Jacob, “You really are all murders...”  “Well,” Jacob began saying, “we’re not totally terrible people.” “Did you not just hear yourself as you listed off all those wars your people have had!?!?” Manti’s voice now slightly angered thinking Jacob was truly ignorant to his peoples horrific deeds. “And at times for such stupid reasons! A war fought over a stray dog??!!”  Jacob calmly looked at his data pad. “A Greek soldier was shot and killed by Bulgarian soldier after crossing the border between the countries while chasing after their dog. So probably more about a soldier being murdered then about the dog itself.” Manti was shocked and outraged with how easily Jacob could state the reason. “And the Football War?!?” He looked down at his pad again. “The football game was the tipping point for years of tension that had been building between two nations. One being heavily overpopulated and its people illegally immigrating over the border into the neighboring country that would then sometimes violently deport them back.” “The 100 Year War?!?” “A series of battles fought over a century to determine the rightful ruler of two nations.” “The Nika Riots!?!?” Jacob paused to read again and laughed slightly. “Well, this one is kinda stupid but it started after the Emperor Justinian refused to let two sports team members free because they were sentenced to death so the team’s fans banded together and started a massive riot while fighting the royal guard and attempting to crown a new Empe-” “ENOUGH!” Manti slammed her hands down to silence Jacob. “Your people will find any reason or excuse to fight with each other for the sake of your blood lust then afterwards had the audacity to laugh at the reasons you made up as foolish in the first place!” Manti’s hands were trembling, tears welling up in her eyes as she realized her friend wasn’t whom she thought he was. “Humans are all monsters...murdering monsters....”  For a long time the room went silent, not only at the table but with everyone around them as they had begun listening in on the conversation themselves. Many thought Jacob would have some outburst and attempt to attack Manti for her accusations and readied themselves to step in and stop the barbaric human.  Jacob said nothing as he gently put down his data pad and pulled his plate of food back over again. He took the fork and played with the seemingly potatoes, shoving it from one side of his plate to the other as if waiting for it to suddenly attack him.  “Yes.” He began, his voice calm and collected. “My people do tend to fight a lot.” He continued playing with his food. “We have countless years spilling each others blood on our planet that some say that our Africa’s soil is red because of how much blood has been soaked into the soil.” His fork scooping up a bit and bringing it to eye level for a moment before going into his mouth. “But,” he spoke while chewing, “sometimes fighting is all we can do to move forward as a species.”  Manti looked up at him. “That is a lie. Violence is not an answer, just look at my people! We have lived just as long as you and have never had reason for conflict.” “And there in lies your problem.” Jacob said while swallowing and pointing his fork at Manti. “Your people have lived on a single continent that has always been abundant with resources for easily a thousand times your current population.” He spun his data pad around to Manti to take a look at. “My people were spread out and divided with vastly different situations.Who are you to compare the two of us and still judge me?”  Manti looked at the data pad and saw the planet Earth. It’s landscapes alien to her and wildly different from what she had grown up surrounded by on her planet. She shook her head. “You could have come together.” She stated. “You could have banded together and resolved your differences.” Jacob nodded. “But what if some people didn’t want to resolve their differences?”  The very idea was as alien to Manti as Jacob was. He tapped the data pad. “The French Revolution you brought up, was the result of an ever increasing gap between the poorest and the richest in the nation of France. The poor were struggling for decades to make ends meet despite wars, famines, and ever increasing taxes; while the rich lived it up without a care in the world. Every time the poor and rich would come together to try and resolve the crisis poor found that the rich didn’t want anything changed because it would threaten their way of life, even though the rich were maybe 300,000 in population and the poor were some 27 million.” He opened a file for her showing depictions of the poor french tending to dead fields while the rich lived in luxurious manors. “Realizing that change would never happen peacefully, the poor rose up and revolted across the entire nation in the hope that through their actions their lives would be bettered.” “And the heads on pikes?” She retorted. “How did that make their lives better?” Jacob became solemn for a moment, his carefree expression gone. “Picture for me that your holding your starving child, their tiny bodies nothing but skin and bone as you’d been unable to buy or find any food. Imagine looking at them as they gazed up at you with pleading eyes, begging eyes, eyes that tell you that they don’t want to die, that they want to live and spend a life together with you. Then imagine those eyes suddenly glazing over and the warmth fading from their tiny frail bodies as they leave their mortal coil; and as you lay their cradling your dead child, picture that just down the road is your landlord so fat and plump from the feasts he’s held every night because he doesn’t have to pay taxes like you do and can buy all the food they need and them some.”  The picture was too vivid for Manti and even more so for her friends who began wrapping their arms around themselves, eyes on the verge of crying. She looked up at Jacob who was staring at her directly. “Would you not want to carve up that landlord and all his ilk for murdering your precious child?” His gaze shifted around the room at the onlookers. “Wouldn’t any of you want to see them dead?” he asked a bit louder. The listeners all shifted their eyes away, unable to meet his gaze.  He reached out for the data pad and Manti slowly returned it to him. “I’m not saying the wars my people have fought are sensible, nor am I saying that all of them began for legitimate reasons. Some were fought on the beliefs of madmen and monsters. War is not a subject that can always be labeled with black and white, good and evil. Everyone believes they are the good guys, everyone believes their cause is just.” He began to rise and walk over to Manti.  “What I take away from it all is that when humans are backed up against a wall and their only course left for them is to put their life on the line they will run head first into the fires of war to protect what matters most. A nation, a flag, a plot of land, a loved one, a religion, a belief, and even at times a friend.”  She looked up at him and saw his smile back on his face. He gently placed his hand on her head and ruffled her hair the way he knew she liked causing her to let out a soft giggle.   “So, you would go to war over me then?” she asked without even realizing it before blushing in embarrassment. He laughed and ruffled her hair some more. “Manti, if someone hurt you what I would do to them would have me hauled off to court for war crimes.” She felt the sentiment was sweet, but after what she had read she didn’t know how to respond so just smiled instead.  “Now if you ladies will excuse me, I need to have a word with your cook and see if I can get some real potatoes.” He waved goodbye and left the cafeteria, the on lookers parting as he past by. Manti watched him leave before turning back to her friends. “So did you get enough gossip then?” They just looked at each other and smiled. “Oh yeah, plenty of juicy bits.” The other nodded. “It started off way darker than I thought it would go, but near the end it almost got touching and honestly I think that was Jacob’s attempt of hitting on you.”  Manti looked on in surprise. “What?!?! How did you two get that????” Both of them just nodded. “He said he’d go to war over you.” “Sounds pretty up there for human romance if you ask me.” “So wait, was this actually about warning me about human war making, or were you just trying to hook us up together?”  Both smiled and stood to leave. “Little of both honestly.” “Wheels within wheels Manti. Wheels within wheels...” 

#HUMANS ARE WEIRD #humans are insane #humans are space orcs #humans are space oddities #scifi #story #stories

[malereader-inserts]

Non Omis Moriar [2]

Fandom: Avengers Pairing: Tony Stark & Son!Reader Summary: Not all of you shall die, so it’s all or none.  Word Count: 3,762 A/n: ANGST ANGST, I hope this makes sense plot line. Also, I apologise for like basically writing the plot out again, you get the gist. Part one here!

“That’s not how time travel works,” You responded dryly.

Your eyes on your new suit as Scott tries to grab your attention, but you give him no consideration. He sighs as he watches you rewire your suit, stats on the screen for you. 

“In Layman's terms, it means you're not coming home,” You continued as you sighed, put your tools down and looked at Scott.

“I did.”

“No, you accidentally survived. It's a billion to one cosmic fluke,” You responded, sighing, “Look, Scott, as much as I want to believe, this whole time heist is laughable, it’s a pipedream.”

“You have to be optimistic, (Y/n).”

You looked behind Scott and see Bruce, glowering over the two of you at the Avengers base, specifically in your dad’s lab. Bruce smiles at you as you shake your head, scoffing.

“Bruce, I’m not the one to preach about optimism, that’s Steve’s sort of rodeo but what have you been doing for the past year? You’ve lost to Thanos both times in both forms - look at you.”

“But, I’m willing to do something if it means we can save people, I know it’s not you or your thing to save people, but we’re the only people left. Remember what Natasha always says?”

“Whatever it takes.” Sighing, you shake your head, “I can’t, Bruce, I’m sorry.”

Bruce nods, leaving as Scott sends you one last look but as he watches you play with the screens of the stats of your suit - he leaves you be. A year had passed since the snap and all you’ve been doing is fixing Avengers’ equipment, updating the little things as you don’t have their suit. 

Isolating yourself.

You made your own suit, the one you and your dad made was hard for you to work on because you made it with your dad. It’s didn’t feel right for you to work on something you and your dad made.

Within the year, you’ve been taking medication for sleep too. Nightmares of the time on Titans kept you all night and when you’re sleep deprived the voice and vision of your dad appears. No matter how much you want to see your dad, you were not going insane.

Within the year, the bond between you and Bruce had become strained, you don’t call him uncle anymore, not out of malice, but a family doesn’t seem complete anymore in your heart. 

“I’m blaming Strange,” You muttered to yourself.

“Sir, you’re talking to yourself again.”

“It’s okay, Fri,” You reassured, smiling to yourself.

Friday has been ultra protective you, she may be an AI but in a sense, she was like your sister as Tony created her. Protecting her big brother from losing himself. Friday lost Tony, Pepper, Rhodey. She was not going to lose you in any circumstances. 

“Hey, Fri?”

“Yes?”

“New project,” You called out as you watched Bruce and Scott figure something out across the building.

Glass walls work wonders, you move your suit to the side and Friday brings up a new slate of holograms for you to mess around. 

“Hey, kid,” You hear your dad’s voice next to you, you could sense him probably leaning against the table to examine what you’re up to, “What are you doing?”

“Sir, what is this new project?”

You looked off to the distance as you smile to yourself, a mirror across the way. You looked at yourself and the hallucination of your dad next to you, you look too much alike. Same snarky smile of pure happiness and a confident stance.

“Thanos knows Stark men, he invaded my dreams since I was a child and corrupted my dad’s mind, if Strange says I’m needed then I’ll damn well avenge my father.”

“Hey,”

You jumped at the sudden voice of your dad in your ear, rubbing your eyes out of sleep as you realised that you’ve been sleeping in the lab,

“What day is it?”

“You’ve been passed out for two days sir, you fell asleep the moment you sat down, you haven’t even started your new project.”

“Way for a dramatic flair,” You commented as the AI buzzed in amusement, “What’s going on with shorty and Professor Green?”

“I believe they are ninety per cent in finishing what you have called time-heist.”

You nodded, “I’ll start it after I get food.”

When you had returned back to base Bruce and Scott was nowhere to find as you sat down and got to work. You didn’t know how long you were in the lab for as you reclined in the chair, groaning, your head hurts.

“By the looks of Scott and Bruce out there, Scott turned into a baby?”

Friday didn’t respond as she pulls up the video of Scott and Bruce wild attempt of time travel, as you chuckle as they were entertaining, you shake your head. your shoulders tensing. Getting back to work into the nightfall.

“Look at a mod inspiration, let me see what check out. So, recommend one last sim before we pack it in for the night. This time, in the shape of a Mobius strip, inverted, please. 

”Processing...”

Friday was processing as you wandered around the lab, kicking a soccer ball into the glass walls, you could hear your dad scowling at you for leaving ball prints on the clean glass.

“Give me that eigenvalue. That, particle factoring, and a spectral decomp. Gotta take a second.”

“Just a moment.”

“And don't worry if it doesn't pan out. I'm just kinda-” You were interrupted by Friday.

“Model rendered.”

In a complete shock of amazement, the render comes back as successful. You smacked the ball so hard into the glass that it bounced back into your face, but you didn’t care because you were too bewildered by this discovery.

“Holy fuckin’ shit,” You breathed, then laughing in joy, opening the door of the lab, “Bruce, Scott!”

They peaked out, seeing a stupid grin on your face, Bruce couldn’t help but smile. It’s been a while since you smiled like that, it’s been a while since you got excited over something.

“Call Nebs, we’re doing a time heist...”

“Aw hell yeah!” Scott celebrated.

Bruce looks over to you, watching smile to yourself, you glanced up and did a small nod to his way.

“I’ll make suits, it’ll be the four of us and we need a test run, Scott, you’re up for it?”

“Hell yeah, I am,”

“Okay, so the "how" works. Now we gotta figure out the when and the where.” Bruce speaks as he looks at the three remaining people of heroes.

“That’s easy,” Bruce looks at you with a raised eyebrow, “With all data collected throughout the almost ten years you guys have been Avengers, it has the location of most Infinity stones.”

You looked at the blank face of the green giant, you scoffed as Bruce shakes his head, “I’m confused.”

“Am I seriously the only one who reads the paperwork after your missions and I’m not even part of the team, man.”

“Well... You and your dad are very much alike,” Bruce offers weakly as you pulled a face.

“Anyway...”

As you started your rambling with Bruce trying to write everything down despite Friday recalling your words and putting on the hologram, two stones were talked about by Nebula, after a short silence of awkwardness as she mentions that her sister was murdered by their dad, Thanos. You, Nebula, Bruce and Scott examine the screens.

The holograms displaying the different location, the Soul and Power stones in space in 2014. the Reality stone in Asgard, 2013; and the Space, Mind, and Time stones in New York City 2012.

“Bruce, Scott, you two will go to New York City, Nebula and I will go to Asgard and space,” You initiated s they all nodded.

You never thought you would come to a point that you were a leader, in fact, you hated taking responsibility, you hated leading stuff and people looking up to you for direction - it was too much greatness upon your shoulders in your eyes.

“Don’t fuck it up,” You narrowed your eyes, “I mean it-”

“Yes, sir-” Scott says as you looked at him weirdly, “I mean, Mr Stark, er, no, (Y/n).”

As you suit up, you stare at the old suit that you built with your dad, packing it up into a compressed case and held it together on the transporter. Nebula and Scott give you funny looks but you decided to ignore it. 

“Alright, simple in and out mission,” you called out one last time, “Whatever it takes.”

“You know, to obtain the soul stone you have to sacrifice something, Nebula came back with you,” Bruce says as you looked at him annoyed as you tried to assemble a gauntlet.

“The suit, dad and I made together,” You responded, you shoulders deflating, “Technically, it’s last thing I have of him, not the lab, not his tools, not even Friday. Scrap metal of memories left of my dad. I have nothing left of him. I need my dad back, even if it’s the last thing I do.”

Bruce nods, “Carol hasn’t responded to your messages.”

“It’s fine, I’ve been updating her anyway,”

“You talk to her?”

“She’s a good listener,” You shrugged your shoulder, “Even if I’m talking to her through a hologram. Now, uncle Bruce, silence would be nice.”

Bruce opened his mouth before shutting it closed when you give him a pointed look, you cast your eyes towards the gauntlet again as you picked up the stones gently. With nervous precision, you manipulate the machine and carefully places all six stones into the gauntlet.

“Alright, the glove is ready, the question is who will wear it and bring everyone back?” Bring the iron man like gauntlet out to show to Scott and Bruce, “Where’s Nebula?”

“Toilet?”

“Androids can go to the toilet?” You asked Scott, tilting your head at the man who answered your question.

“It’s 2019 man, anything is possible.”

You gave it some consideration as you agreed as you looked at the two men, you placed the gauntlet down on the table to suit up for any accident, your new suit is something you’ve been working on a few months, full of your ideas and ideas that you found from your dad’s blueprints of your old suit. 

“I’ll do it,” Bruce calls out as Scott and you looked up at the half man half hulk, “But the radiation's mostly gamma,” He takes a good look at the gauntlet, “It's like...uh...I was made for this.”

You nod as you helped Bruce place the gauntlet on, watching the metal adjust to the size of his big hand. Scott and you took a few steps back as Bruce lets out a shaky breath.

“You remember... everyone Thanos snapped away a year ago and just bringing them back to now, today. Don't change anything from the last year.”

“Got it.”

“Hey, Friday, do me a favour and activate dad’s Protocol 8,” You called out as the facility goes down into lockdown.

You bring your mask down of your metal suit as you watch Scott do the same thing. Bruce starts to bring his thoughts into what he wants, electricity running through, Bruce was grunting in pain. You wince to see him in pain.

“Uncle Bruce?”

“I’m good!” Bruce managed to spit out, “I’m okay!”

Bruce screams, fighting through the intense pain coursing through his body courtesy of the gauntlet, and manages to snap his fingers. He faints and the gauntlet slides off his arm. You kick the gauntlet away as you and Scott looked over the giant.

“Brucie?” You asked, your mask coming down as you cooled down his burnt arm.

“Did I do it?”

Scott looks outside, it was brighter and birds were chirping, Bruce managed to open his eyes and see your smiling face.

“The grass is always greener on the other side,” You say as Scott laughs, looking relieved.

You looked over to Scott with a smile, hoping you’ve completed what you wanted to do, hoping you have your dad back as you looked back at Banner, a smile had fallen off his lips. Looking up the skyline and seeing the Sanctuary II up in the sky and a single missile heading towards the base blowing away Scott away. Then a continuous array of missiles destroys the base completely.

“Sir?”

You groaned at the voice of Friday, you get up to your feet and see Thanos sitting by. You breathed heavily, your suit covered in ash and dirt.

“Bruce, Scott?” You called out to your comm, it felt funny for you to be participating in hero action as you were not a hero yourself.

“We have the gauntlet,” Scott calls out, he sounds drowned out, “We’re underground but we can make it out.”

“Keep that damn thing away from Thanos,” You growled.

Your suit whirling, tightening. You breathed heavily, it all or nothing. You started to make your way down there, Thanos smirking as he recognised you when he has been invading your dreams as a little boy.

“You could not live with your own failure. And where did that bring you? Back to me. I thought by eliminating half of life, the other half would thrive. But you’ve shown me that’s impossible. And as long as there are those that remember what was, there will always be those that are unable to accept what can be. They will resist.”

You rolled your eyes at his monologue, “Yeah, we’re all types of stubborn.”

“I'm thankful. Because now, I know what I must do.” He stands up, “I will shred this universe down to its last atom. And then...With the stones you've collected for me, create a new one. Teeming with life, but knows not what it has lost but only what it has been given. A grateful universe.”

You put your mask up as he placed his helmet on, “As long as I’m alive, I’ll be damned.”

“I’ve admired you, (Y/n) Stark, from your pretty little dreams, I find a lot of interesting information about you. You are courageous, I commend you for that. But, unfortunately, as much I would love to keep you around, I can’t have you stand in the way.”

“Tough.”

You weren’t a skilled fighter, but you knew the basic of the Iron Man suits. You were able to hold him back off, and in fact, you were surprising yourself in how well you were fighting a Titan. 

Smacking you into debris as you stumble to stand up, using energy to blast Thanos before he gives you one last kick to the ground. Spitting blood into your suit as you pant, struggling to get onto your feet.

“In all my years of conquest...violence...slaughter... It was never personal. But I'll tell you now... what I'm about to do to your stubborn, annoying little planet... I'm gonna enjoy it. Very, very much.” 

Thanos’ entire army is summoned to the ground which includes the Children of Thanos, Chitauri, Outriders. Upon seeing the army descending on Earth, you straighten your back with a fierce determination, you allowed your suit to self-repair and stand against Thanos' giant army alone. Suddenly, a crackling comes in on his communicator.

AC/DC blaring in your ear.

“Hey, kid!”

You stopped, now is not the time to have a hallucination of your dad.

“Kid? You hear me? Sonny boy?” The playful tease of your dad called into your ear. “(Y/n), incoming!”

You pulled down your mask in confusion as you looked around, seeing a yellow portal open up at your left. Three members walk out with two flying above. The original team. Your dad landing on your right with Cap on your left. Natasha on Steve’s left whilst Thor stood on a rock behind you with Clint comes next to your dad.

Another portal opens up, three figures step through; Okoye, Shuri, and Black Panther, fully restored and ready to fight with Sam zooms in from above in his Falcon armour.

Dozens of more portals opening up all around the battlefield. Through one of these, we see Doctor Strange descend in. He is joined by Drax, Mantis, Star-Lord, and Spider-Man.

Everyone watches in confusion and awe as more and more heroes arrive from all corners of the universe, all backed up with forces of their own including Black Panther and his Wakandan army, Valkyrie and the Asgardians, Wong and the Masters of the Mystic Arts and several Ravager ships.

Amongst the throngs of heroes, we see Bucky, War Machine, Rocket, Groot, the Scarlet Witch, the Wasp, and Pepper Potts (clad in her own iron suit) arrive. Nearly every hero has magically been transported to the battlefield to face Thanos' hordes.

“Please, say I’m not hallucinating,” You muttered to yourself, but Tony puts a hand on your shoulder.

“You’re sane, (Y/n).”

You huffed out a burst of laughter, Tony smiles missing your smile and laughter, “Scott? Bruce?”

Giant-Man emerges from the rubble of the Avengers facility with Professor Hulk. The Avengers, Guardians, Wakandans, Asgardians, and Ravagers take up battle positions. The heroes standing across Thanos' forces.

“Your call, kid,” Steve says to you, patting your shoulder, he figured that you were taking lead.

You pulled your mask up, taking your stance as your side looking at the other side. Thanos makes a fist of fury, angry at the outcome. You saved people, you brought them back, you were not letting them go.

“Avengers Assemble!”

“That thing needs to go back where it belongs!” You shouted in the midst of the fighting, Scott had dropped the gauntlet and with Clint, “He might have broken the quantum tunnel but we need another time machine!”

“The van!” Scott calls out as your team hears you groan.

“Anyone see an ugly brown van anywhere?” You yelled, punching one enemy away from you.

Valkyrie answers back it’s whereabouts as Cint passed the gauntlet over to T’Challa, who was far quicker than Clint. 

“Hey kid,” Tony greets, pausing in his fighting to lift his mask up, you do the same.

“Dad,” You breathed out, embracing him into a hug, “I’ve missed you,”

“I missed you too, bud,” Tony sighs happily, kissing your cheek, “I love you son.”

“I love you too dad.”

The gauntlet managed to get into Peter’s grasp as he flew on the back of Valkyrie's Pegasus. Wanda keeping Thanos preoccupied as the cannons of the ship starts aiming towards the battlefield before it all turned up to the sky.

“What’s going on?” Steve calls out.

“Friday, what are they firing at?” You hear your dad through the communication, as you paused your blasting, looking up to the sky.

“Something just entered the upper atmosphere,” Friday replied.

You smirked, “Hey Carol!”

Captain Marvel flies through the ship, and it results in an explosion and the ship crash-landing in the lake, she hovers over and waves at you.

“Hey, little guy,”

“We need an assist here, Carol!”

As Carol makes her way to the van, you, Tony and Peper form a hovering triangle, blasting in each angel as you spin in a circle, having your back faced to each other. You, Tony and Steve all head over to where Carol was. She flies through all of them easily and reaches Thanos. She keeps punching him, but he knocks her to the ground, wears the gauntlet and tries to snap. But Captain Marvel arises again and stops his fingers from snapping. 

Thanos headbutts her, but it does nothing. 

Thanos pulls the Power Stone out of the Gauntlet and uses it in his free hand to hit Captain Marvel away, then puts the stone back into the Gauntlet.

“(Y/n)!” You turn to see Strange with a questioning look, “You’re needed!”

Strange simply raise one finger, reminding you that the one win over Thanos he foresaw is now at risk. You breathed heavily, everything sounded muted out as you watch the team you grew up and admired struggle. You could hear in the background Steve shouting orders as well as your dad.

You just got your dad back, and yet you were easily going to make the decision that he will live. You nod and attack Thanos, pulling on the Gauntlet before Thanos punches you away.

“(Y/n)!” Tony shouts in desperation at the attack. 

You were on your knees, back straight as you looked at the Titan King, “I am the new beginning.”

Thanos snaps his fingers, but nothing happens except a metallic "clink." He sees the Infinity Stones are missing. You have the stones on your own gauntlet, to Thanos' shock

“I think not.”

You snap your fingers with a loud "CLANG" and a blinding flash of white. Rocket fires at a Leviathan and before it devours him, it crumbles into ash. The Black Order starts crumbling to ash. T'Challa and Quill look around in surprise; Steve looks on in exhaustion, knowing that they won. 

Thanos, in horror, looks around and sees his entire army disintegrate. He looks at Steve, who just stares at him. Thanos sits down and mourns before slowly being erased from existence himself.

Tony snaps his head over to you, your metal suit releases you from inside as you crumble down onto the floor. 

“Kid? Buddy? (Y/n)?” Tony frantically calls out as he gets out of his own suit.

He runs up to you, pulling you into his arms. Your breathing is shallow and your right side is completely destroyed as he clutches you tight in desperation. Pepper, Rhodey and Peter all fly over to you.

“Come on, (Y/n), you’re gonna make it,” Tony’s voice cracked, crumbled, tears forming and staining his cheeks.

“My sweet boy,” Pepper coos, fixing your hair as tears were building up in everyone eyes.

Peter gasping, unable to breathe, he found a family, a brother who would tease him and love him no matter what, fading quickly. Rhodey looking at his godson, Tony was not a religious man but they all pray for a God now.

“I did....” You croaked out, you stare at your dad, “it for you, dad...”

“You’ve done me proud, you always make me proud,” Tony chokes, pulling you closer, allowing you to rest your head on his shoulder, your face buried into his neck, “I love you.”

He could see your mouth move, but nothing seems to come out but he hears one last thing, Tony Stark breaks down. He gets you back, you did it for him, only for him to hear your last breath.

Not all of you shall die, Tony decides, your legacy will continue. 

#tony stark #tony stark imagine #tony stark x male!reader #platonic #Avengers #avenger imagines #avengers imagine #x male reader #angst

[yourvirtualgoddessforlife]

Criminal: Jäger

I’ve grown to love spending time in here. The humming of machinery and buzzing or power tools is actually rather peaceful when you get past how loud it is. I’ve been in here a lot recently just helping out here and there whenever I can. Since joining Rainbow Six I quickly took to the team, trying to gain as many positive relationships with my teammates as possible because well it’s always useful to have people who want you alive. Helping out in the workshops around machines is normally where I am now so I know who frequents these areas. Normally I just catch a glimpse of Echo as he wanders off to improve his Yokai or maybe I sometimes even see Mute who has a fascinating affinity with technology and electrical engineering. On an average day, I’m with Mira seeing as she’s busy and all being Director of Research and Development. She needs the help and she’s lovely to be around, sure she’s a bit loud but I enjoy her company. In fact, I was just running an errand for her. Elena needs to make sure everyone’s tech is perfect and that it is as good as it can be so she’s been asking people to write reports about their gadgets and well the only one I need to collect in now is Jäger’s report. Elena is going to love this, just because I know he’ll have gone off on a tangent.

From my time in the workshops and test labs I've managed to get quite close to Jäger or Marius as he’d rather me call him. He’s kinda like a puppy; he’s really hyperactive and energetic but he also loves everyone and wants everyone to get along and he’s cute (from a strictly professional standpoint please don’t think anything more of it). I’m still not used to him sending me news article links at three in the morning but I do enjoy the moments where we just take a break and watch whatever new documentary we can find. I actually find the fact he wants to learn endearing, the fact he loves finding out about the world around him and then trying to spread this knowledge. Other than that, I just know that he can’t quite catch on to social cues and he tends to make some rash decisions but after working with him for so long I think it’s sweet.

“Hey, Marius. Did you write that report Elena asked for?” I pipe up once I’m close to him and he just looks up from his ADS to give me an energetic grin. 

“Jä, it’s on that desk over there.” He finally stands up straight to look at me and I do have to admit he is good looking (from a professional standpoint, I swear) with that tremulous smile and suave accent. “I’ll fetch it for you, don’t worry”

“Can I proofread it? Don't want Elena to have a go at you for missing anything. Plus I’ve seen her responses to reading these so I know what she’s looking for.” I gently accept the file and in response to my question, he just nods and gives me that dorky smile. Flipping through the pages I let out a slight sigh because after just reading the first two paragraphs I know Elena is gonna get tense.  

Reads as follows; 

‘Device: ADS-MK IV "Magpie" Automated Defense System

Operator: Specialist Marius "Jäger" Streicher

Evaluation Lead: Specialist Marius "Jäger" Streicher 

Mira tasked me with the evaluation of my ADS0MKIV "Magpie." Spending hours in a test lab sounds like my type of vacation - no joke. I'm always on the look-out for where things can be improved. For reference, I have attached the field test data for comparison. Data-Data-Data!

Before we get to that, let’s explore the importance of studying defensive strategies alongside breaching techniques throughout history, as well as the evolution of tech -’

Mira is gonna have fun reading the rest of this. “Thank you for this Marius, I’ll pass it along to Mira immediately.” Since when was he standing that close, a look into his eyes and give him my best smile as I turn around towards the direction of the exit.

“Y/N would you mind helping me out now?” He shyly cast the question to me as he turned back to his ADS. I told him I would help him the second I gave Mira his device evaluation. So I danced along to Elena and bounced whilst handing her the report before skipping straight back to Jäger. It’s not like the idea of spending time with him makes me happy but… it’s important to form a professional relationship with your colleagues.

I spent the rest of that day helping Jäger make improvements to his gadget until we called it quits for the day and threw on a documentary on rainforest wildlife. Then we did it again, it happened a lot. Our friendly relaxation days lasted for a few months only interjected with missions or other duties on every other occasion but today was one of the rare days we were to be deployed on a mission together. The only reason I wasn’t thrilled was because it was to siege a warehouse so a small thing but, it was one of my warehouses. I really wanted nothing to do with the gang anymore because I was honored to have the chance to do good so a walk down memory lane won’t be well received. Oh well. Nothing I can do about it.

I helped with the planning of this and it reminded me of how much I missed organizing an operation. Contributing information and ideas, make people see me as vital. During the briefing, it was revealing a group seven would entering the building, clear the area and the four of us are to hold off reinforcements while the other three operatives move items of interest to an extraction point. Jäger was assigned to defense although that wasn’t surprising, I, however, get to pick up a more assault based role. I am going to be the first in the and also I get the pleasure of carrying stolen weapons to the extraction point. When we were deployed everything went to plan. Whilst Ash and Blitz checked our exit route was viable I helped Jäger, Frost, Kapkan, and Doc set up before picking up my first cache and running. Nearly fifteen minutes had passed and I just needed to carry one more package before I could help someone else although it was clear they were nearly finished as well. 

I was prowling along the corridor back to our defense point cautious of my surroundings. Somethings changed about this hallway since I was last here but I can’t place it, the atmosphere just seems heavier. At the very least it should be secure, Kapkan had trapped all its exits and entrances as well as Jäger lifting me up to place an ADS on the ceiling. As long as I keep my guard up I’ll be okay.

Entering the room of the firefight it was clear which side will come out victorious. I admired Marius’ skill as he landed a perfect shot on an attacker just barely peeking out from behind a crate. Those left in the room where hiding behind cover clearly hesitant to risk moving from their impenetrable cover. I know better than to disturb them so I grab a duffel bag and turn back to the hallway I just left. I got about two minutes down the corridor by the time I realized it, an opened window. I didn’t think anything of it in the past but upon inspection it's obvious that a Kapkan trap was torn from that window and the dusty footsteps, leading towards the defense room. 

I panicked and I ran. 

It was a good call, seeing as I now get to watch a man pull the pin of a grenade behind Doc and Jäger. How haven’t they heard him? Fuck if it matters. I grabbed him which was stupid but what was worse was my decision to spin us into the hallway and wrestle a live grenade of him. I threw it because originally yes I had an idea of what I was going to do before grabbing him and that was for Jäger’s ADS mounted on the ceiling to destroy it, what I wasn’t banking on was for the ADS to have been destroyed. 

I didn’t feel too much of the blast I’d managed to throw it away and if anything the guy in front of me is in worse shape. Actually is he still alive? Yeah, he is, okay, what do I do with him? The correct answer would have been to incapacitate him but I clearly didn’t think of that. I also didn’t think about the possibility of a knife getting involved and I just accepted the attack. I

So imagine this, you had to grapple a guy only for a grenade to go off meters away from you and then you get stabbed but when you expect the knife to get lodged in your heart it goes into your thigh instead. I’m not expecting anything at this point because I wasn't expecting Jäger to take the guy out but he did and now I have a stab wound and a lot of confusion.

Doc came to me a moment later and took to taking care of my leg whilst Marius covered us. During this time we got blessed with the information that we could now withdraw from the field. Jäger was even kind enough to carry me to spare me torturing my injured limb. Although it wasn’t until we were guarded in an armored vehicle he chose to speak to me. 

“I was worried.” It was that small sentence that tugged at my heart. I don’t want Marius to be afraid or worried so to hear him say that caused me concern but still I smiled and pulled him towards me in a cramped side hug. He settled in my embrace and relented that; “I was scared because you nearly died. You did it for me, right? I’m sorry my ADS wasn’t able to help. I even told you not to worry about grenades.”

“Don’t feel sorry about it, there was an ADS but unfortunately our assailant took it out. If anything I should have found a better solution other than tackling the man with a live grenade. If anything I should have recognized the security breach before he approached the main room.” I let go of him purely so I can remove his helmet and glasses which he seemingly appreciates as he looks at me with pure eyes filled with care, it’s cute. “Listen, I’m normally trying to look at things from a professional standpoint but I believe things here between us could maybe more of an emotional thing, y’know?” 

You know the look a dog gives you when it’s confused, that's probably the best way to explain how he’s glancing at me. If I want him to understand this I just need to be blunt but that’s difficult. It’s a lot to demand, me being upfront about an emotional problem just doesn't feel right but it would definitely feel wrong if I didn’t say anything. No, I’ll do it another time and with this decision, I tilt my head away from his intense gaze. 

“Y/N, I don’t want you to get hurt again. I know it sounds strange but I feel sad when you aren’t with me when you’re sad or just even knowing you’re not okay.”

“Well from an unprofessional view I believe I feel the same way you might and I believe it;’s because I've fallen in love.” I can’t say it, it’s cheesy, cliche, just wrong. Oh, fuck it. “I love you, Marius.”

“I love you too, Mäuschen.”

#jäger x reader #rainbow six siege x reader

[botslayer]

Top Ten games of the 2010′s

This trend seems to be doing the rounds at the moment and seeing as I’ve been gaming for about as long as I can remember, It just feels right. So, let’s get into it. But first, worth saying: These aren't really in any specific order, it's just the games I've personally had the most fun with overall, but it's pretty hard to decide what the hard numbers on things you enjoy for different reasons are if that makes any sense. 10. The 2010's weren't exactly the best time for anyone, I think. For me they were a slog of finding myself and learning things I wish I didn't. Amid all those things I wanted some levity. The world needs something and stupid. We got a lot of it ion 2013 but I feel like we could have used it scattered around a bit more. In that spirit, allow me to show you one hell of a pick me up:

Saints Row 4

Saints Row 4 does not give a fuck. It is aggressively demonstrating that the entire time you play. It doesn't care in the slightest what you think or why, It just wants to show you cool, if juvenile, and interesting, if weird shit. It's the finer points of Ratchet and Clank's arsenal, SR3's humor, And superpowers that genuinely put Prototype and Infamous in a blender and tell you to go ape shit with them. The soundtrack isn't top shelf, it's the roof of the building the shelf is in. Saints Row Two had a better story overall but SR Four's was just plain fun and a solid enough story to still be invested.

The DLC was just as irreverent and madcap, Featuring everything from an evil Santa Clause to evil Gimps on Game of thrones chairs made of dildos Or Tropey-ass costumes and weapon reskins that I'd be genuinely surprised the game dev didn't get sued over. It has earned its place in my top 10 and I will die by that decision.

9.

2016 saw the advent of a new genre. They blended TF2 and MOBAs, and we got hero shooters in their first AAA forms, Overwatch and Battleborn. But neither of these games is on this list, much as I liked them. Partly because the whole time, I kept thinking of one simple question: "Why do I keep thinking of...?"

Anarchy Reigns

Anarchy Reigns is my favorite Platinum game. Full Stop. The Story mode is interesting and has genuinely good character moments, the characters themselves are completely mental, ranging from a mercenary with a bionic cat leg that secretly has a gun built into it to a giant cyborg bull-man with a jet-powered hammer. The soundtrack is mostly angry hip-hop, making every song a banger and fittingly speedy for things like random bombing runs from jet fighters that come from absolutely nowhere.

There are giant monsters, cars with mounted flame throwers, giant robots, and the online is still pretty sweet because even when abandoned, loading it up with bots still rules. I regularly have more fun with this than I ever did with Overwatch, and I don't care how insane that sounds.

8.

Some games want to make you feel something and fail. Some games make you feel some things accidentally, for example, a desperate need to laugh. This game made me feel like a human blender. Like a Chthonic god of mangled flesh and raw destructive power. Nyarlathotep ain't got nothing on me. I speak, of course, of...

[Prototype] 2

There's no end to the absolute destruction you feel like you're causing in this game. It feels more fluid than the first, the main character is a pinch more relatable, and all the body horror, superpowers, zombie hordes, and big old monsters make for some of the most memorable and fun moments and fights in gaming. The DLC is also pretty solid, adding new fun side challenges, and new powers and weapons that elevate you from "Flesh god" to "Screw physics, I made them" Omnipotent. Best god/monster simulation of all time.

7.

Sometimes some games are at an honest tie in your mind. Be it that you like them for essentially the same reasons, or for completely different reasons, but the overall total joy or entertainment they bring is roughly equivalent. Here, we have a case of the former:

Furi/Cuphead

Both games have a tight focus on giving players a unique, boss-centric challenge, both have interesting, somewhat minimal narratives, and both are absolute eye candy.

Furi has a more "Samurai Jack" Quality to me. A complete badass on a relatively simple quest with a somewhat minimalistic art style learning some things as he goes.

Cuphead on the other hand, nails that rubber hose animation style, and the fun levity of such animations while still making the player's ability to interact with the world damn impactful and fun.

They share a spot in my soul, games I love everything about but will never be able to finish. Hats off to both dev teams.

6.

Now here we have another tie. Mostly because the games are so close together, they need to be evaluated more or less as one product IMO, not enough changed for me to consider them separate games, fortunately, that is the furthest thing from an insult it can be in this situation. I present to you, my next pick(s).

Costume Quest 1/2

Now, This might seem pretty random considering my other picks, but honestly, I love Halloween, I love creative madness, I love subversion, I love good characters, and I love cool action, these games have all these things by the bucketload.

The first game is a wild ride through Halloween in multiple very lively locations and the second, slightly confusing as it is, is pretty awesome for the things it introduces, including time travel. Other elements, like the battle stamps, the truly epic forms of everything in the fights, The ability to customize your costumes, etc. they blur together in a pretty big way, but again, there's not a thing wrong with that when both games rock like crystal candy. 

5.

Now, if you hadn't noticed, all of the games on this list have had some hard action at their core, and while I don't HATE calmer games, a lot of the time, so many are kinda dull to me in that with the exception of easter eggs of some sort, most farming sims, for example, just have you doing normal farm stuff with very few twists, may as well start a real farm in that case. My most chill entry is a game that tosses that to one side, asks you to grab a suck cannon, and start harvesting gelatinous monster poop.

Slime Rancher

While you don't spend a lot of time actually interacting with other characters, they just talk at you, the story of the game is pretty effective, the player character of Beatrix has left Earth for a simpler life of Slime Ranching, which entails the raising of alien crops, delightfully derpy and colorful chickens, and going all around in an attempt to farm new breeds of slime for their genetic material to sell off or trade-in for the creation of gadgets while being surrounded by a cast of interesting characters. It's all very wholesome family fun.

The game looks great, has great ideas, and is genuinely the best farming game I have ever played. @ me all you want.

4.

The 80's are almost fetishized nowadays. Given all the property reboots, games that go for the vibe and aesthetic of the time, etc. It almost seems as though the eighties vibe train ain't gonna stop rolling any time soon. But we owe it to ourselves to remember the first big swipe of madcap neon-colored actiony B-movie bullshit and how mind-meltingly epic it was. Ladies, Gents, and whatever else, I present:

Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon

Blood Dragon's story is relatively simple, you play Sargent Rex "Power" Colt (A name said in full so many times I thought his last name was "Powercolt" for the longest time), a former "Omega force" cyborg. Rex and his friend "Spider" were sent into a secret island base to investigate the supposed defection and treachery of their old commander, Ike Sloan. It turns out he has gone rogue and taken an army of "Mark 5" Omegaforce cyber-soldiers with him. What follows is a long story of betrayal, science fiction of the highest nonsensical level, comedy, and brilliantly cathartic action.

The collectibles range from data on animals, to research notes from a scientist, to literal VHS cassette tapes that have full descriptions of movies that I would legitimately watch if I could. "You may now kill the brides" is not a real film and I am angry for every day that that is true. Anyway, play Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, I dunno if it's on PS4 but it's one game I'd buy a new/old console for.

3.

A lot of superhero games NEED to railroad you. Your goals MUST be to save the lives of the people and help the weak and all that. But one dev asked the simple question: "What if it didn't?" "What if the player chose how to use their power? What if the player could be as evil or as good as they damn well pleased?" One game gave you the powers of thunder and lightning and asked what you'd do with it. It's sequel asked you the same, but against more... interesting forces.

InFamous 2

InFamous 2 is a game about making choices, just like the first one, also just like the first one, it can have an effect on gameplay. That effect went from "What does this particular power do in this allignment?" To "Which new set of NEW powers would you like?" The forces of the last game went from “Three flavors of gun-toting whackos” To “Possibly an allegory for the Klan, Swamp monsters, and Ice-powered super soldiers.”

This was, and still is, the best game in the whole series, The powers felt distinct from anything else and still do, the story is solid as a rock, and the enemy types were still varied enough to be interesting, I miss the Reapers from the first game, but that's about it. Everything else was a massive step up. If you have something that can run it, play it.

2.

Action is something I think we can all appreciate on some level. We can understand when it does or does not work, we can understand when we do or do not like how it feels when we are the ones partaking in it. EX: Any schlep can tell you when the weapons in your game lack impact, or when your character moves too slow for the game to be fun. The following game is something I can't say anything of the sort about. And it's kind of like Wolfenstein, when you have enemies this bad, who the hell cares how many you kill?

Doom 2016

Y'all are lying if you say you didn't expect this one. It's DOOM 2016. This game is made of hate and fuck. AND I LOVE IT. You move so fast, you may as well be half cheetah and half sports car. You slaughter the dregs of hell by the dozens and even the biggest, baddest things this game throws at you can be beaten with the starting pistol if you have the stones for it. It looks amazing graphically, the demons all look appropriately threatening, and even the Multiplayer is a great deal of fun in my book.

Something worth noting: The story presented by default is pretty barebones, but that's where supplementary material fills in the gaps, the difference between supplementary material in most games and supplementary material here is the material is till IN THE GAME. You're free to ignore most of the plot as it happens around you, and even interesting tidbits of the lore like how certain demons function. Not only are these things missable collectibles, prompting continued play to find them, they are also pretty interesting reads. So yeah, just about everything you could want in a sequel/remake, builds the on lore and gameplay very organically. 

1.

And here we are, the last game I'd put in this category. An entire decade, and here, we end on the last game that left such an impact I'd put it in my top ten. But first, let's talk about expectations and delivery: When you say a game is coming out, there are certain expectations you have for gameplay, EX: I say "Ratchet and Clank" and you expect a TPS with platforming elements and crazy guns. I say "Gears of War" and people expect something to do with lumbering about in big armor, dismembering things with a chainsaw gun and otherwise shooting them to paste. We might also expect changes to things, better graphics, innovations in grenade variety, something as that franchise goes on.

After the last game in this series was released, there were tons of people who felt let down and disappointed by it. Then they released the still somewhat disappointing special edition of it. They were both still fun, but neither really felt like the full next step in the series. After a failed reboot, they returned to the original story and the lot of us rejoiced. And when it finally came out? It was a step up in most, if not, all regards, to its predecessors. You know what this last one is. Please, give a warm round of applause to:

Devil May Cry 5

A game that was not only a return to form, but a major escalation in gameplay for one character, and a new style of gameplay all together by way of yet another new character. It didn’t exactly hurt that the story kicked ten kinds of ass and that the game looked spectacular in both the design of everything and the actual graphical fidelity.DMC 5 is, like DOOM, Like InFamous 2, Like [PROTOTYPE] 2, everything you want in a good sequel. It built very well on already solid foundations and it was generally just a fun, slightly goofy, massively stylish, and ultra badass ride. I recommend this, and all these games, to anyone.Good night everyone, have a great 2020. And the rest of the decade, for that matter. 

#Prototype 2 #James Heller #Devil May Cry 5 #V #Dante #Virgil #Nero #Slime Rancher #Beatrix #InFamous 2 #Cole Macgrath #Doom 2016 #Doom Slayer #Rex Power Colt #Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon #Costume Quest #Anarchy Reigns #Furi #Cuphead #Saints Row 4 #Happy New Year #2020 #2010's #best games #of the decade

[bronzeflower]

Casashouta

Also on ao3

Chapter 3: I Lost My Number, Can I Have Yours?

-----

Shouta became more integrated into the classroom as the week went on. In addition, Hizashi had started to become friends with him, which Hizashi was absolutely ecstatic about. For completely normal reasons, of course, not just because he was starting to develop a little bit of a crush on him.

But nevermind that. What was important was the fact that Hizashi had managed to get to know Shouta well-ish enough to know that the boy seemed a little grumpier than usual when he walked into class one day.

"What's keepin' you down?" Hizashi asked. "Is it anything bad, or is it mostly fine? Do you need any help with anything?"

"I suppose you could help me with my problem," Shouta said, waiting a moment for Hizashi to respond.

"Of course I'll help! What issue are you having?"

"I lost my number," Shouta stated, sounding vaguely upset. "I was wondering if I could have yours."

Now, Hizashi was not an idiot. He was at the top of his class for a reason. However...

"Do you mean you lost your phone or something? Cause' I'll gladly let you borrow mine if that's the case!" Hizashi got his phone out, unlocked it, and navigated to the contacts area. "Just be sure to actually give it back, not that I don't trust you or anything like that, but I still need to keep up conversations with friends over texts, and I still need to be able to call people, so I suppose it would just be greatly appreciated if it was returned. Although, I suppose you wouldn't be able to get into the phone anyway because of the lock on it, so it would be practically useless to steal unless you, like, hacked into the mainframe and figured out the password from there. You know, there's supposed to be a thing out there called keylogging, which is kind of a like a device that tracks the keys you press on a keyboard, but it can also be used to figure out what passwords you use and stuff, so there's definitely a potential to be hacked there. I just wonder if you can do anything similar to keylogging with a touch screen on a phone, although I suppose it could, given that it processes where you touch your screen. People can do a lot of stuff with that kind of data, especially villains! It would be so terrible to run into a villain who could manipulate technology. But if they were really good at tech, then they wouldn't even need a quirk to get into your information. That's shit's scary, yo!"

While Hizashi was rambling about the dangers of technology and the data that is collected from people on a daily basis, Shouta took Hizashi's phone and put himself as a contact in the phone, leaving the contact name simple-Aizawa Shouta, along with a contact photo of him being somewhat grumpy. Though he always looked somewhat grumpy, so it was more his regular expression, going against the time-honored tradition of having stupid contact photos for all your friends.

Shouta had to admit, he spent probably way too long trying to decide if he should add anything cute to the contact name. He was pretty happy with simplicity, but Hizashi seemed like the kind of person who would add silly stuff to people's names or give them all nicknames.

Shouta didn't really have to guess because he currently could see all of Hizashi's contacts and pretty much none of them contained both a first and a last name, instead making puns of names or just using a completely different nickname, along with one or more emojis.

After much deliberation, Shouta decided to replace the O in his first name to the emoji of the cat with heart eyes. It could be seen as both flirting or a friendly gesture, and, hopefully, if he showed off some his cuter side, he could reveal himself to be a more attractive romantic partner.

Shouta then sent a text to himself, again with the cat heart-eyes emoji so that he could have Hizashi's number, which is what he was asking for in the first place.

But Hizashi being oblivious wasn't necessarily a deal-breaker. It just meant that Shouta had to be a little more overt in his flirting techniques. Although, it was a little difficult to be more overt than the pick-up line-I lost my number, can I have yours. He'd have to be Extremely overt if Hizashi really was that oblivious.

Shouta gave Hizashi his phone back.

"Thanks! But, hey, I thought you were going to call someone. You were clearly doing something on my phone so what-" Hizashi's heart kicked into overdrive the moment he saw Shouta's contact information. "You know you could have just asked me for my phone number, right? I would've been happy to give it to-you didn't need to go through the effort of claiming that you lost your phone! And besides, it would be helpful for you to have my contact information anyway so that you can contact me about whatever, whenever! And what's up with the cat in your name? N-Not that it isn't cute! It's, it's really cute, yo! I just didn't really peg you as a guy to like cats, at least not enough for you to put that as an emoji in your contact name."

"Oh? And what sort of guy did you peg me as?" Aizawa questioned, doing his best at a lower, more flirty tone. It seemed to work on Hizashi, given the gulp he made before answering Shouta's question.

"Oh, well-you know!" Hizashi gesticulated a little more stiffly and frantically than he usually did. "I thought you were more, like, a, a tough and strong guy whose kinda mysterious and who has some kind of weird secret kept under wraps like, I don't know, you were actually Mothman or something like that."

"I can attest to the fact that I am not Mothman," Shouta joked along with Hizashi, who laughed awkwardly.

"I mean, yeah, because Mothman doesn't really exist, but still! Something mysterious and cool like that! Cats don't tend to fit in that kind of image of a bad boy, yeah?"

"A bad boy?" Shouta smirked, and Hizashi just got all the more flustered.

"I mean! Not that you ARE a bad boy or anything like that-especially since you worked so hard to get into the heroics course. I'm pretty sure you wouldn't have those kinds of things on your record because you have to have a spotless record in the first place to get into a place like UA, but it's more the kind of vibe you give off, ya dig? Like the...the messy sex hair and the I-don't-give-a-fuck attitude. It just kind of screams Bad Boy, doesn't it?"

"What of the trope about the Bad Boy saving a kitten that's stuck in the rain while his love interest sees and finds out about his soft side?" Shouta pointedly ignored the fact that Hizashi called his hair sex hair.

"Oh, well..." Hizashi floundered about, attempting to fit the right words around his tongue, knowing that, no matter what words he thinks about, they're all going to come tumbling about at once, so Hizashi just tried to stay silent with the thousands of thoughts swimming about his head at once.

“Hm?” Shouta encouraged, both because he wanted to tease Hizashi a bit more and also because he was desperately curious at what the blond would say.

Hizashi’s thoughts congealed into a single, overwhelming thought: If you’re the bad boy, does that make me the love interest.

Hizashi does not say this. Instead, he gets progressively more and more red and he gets more and more embarrassed by the thought until Shouta finally gives him mercy.

“It’s alright, I get what you mean.” Shouta did Not get what Hizashi meant but was reasonably satisfied with the damage he had done to Hizashi’s heart, so he wasn’t too upset at Hizashi being unable to answer his question.

Hizashi breathed a sigh of relief. That’s around when class started, so Hizashi sat at attention and took furious notes in an effort to ignore everything that had happened before school even started.

Meanwhile, before taking his regular school nap, Shouta made Hizashi a contact in his phone, a simple Yamada Hizashi with a heart emoji at the end of it. Of course, the first text he sent Hizashi was a heart emoji, looking forward to seeing how he would react to it.

Unfortunately for Shouta and fortunately for Hizashi, Hizashi was too focused on school during the day that he didn’t actually check his phone until he got home.

When Hizashi got the text, he spent the next half hour silently screaming into his pillow.

Aizawa Shouta really was going to kill him.

#erasermic #eraserhead #present mic #yamada hizashi #aizawa shouta #bnha #my hero academia #casashouta

[catty-words]

Femslash February: Day 08. Confession – or the pirate and the rogue scholar AU pt. 2 (ao3)

———————————————————————

Valencia ends up staying on the island longer than a couple days. It’s only practical for her to hang around, between her missing necklace and her broken rib.

“How’re you feeling today?” the woman—Valencia now knows her name is Heather—asks her on the morning of her twelfth day there. She always stops by to check in before disappearing somewhere for several hours at a time, leaving Valencia to her own devices for most of the day.

“Pretty good, actually,” Valencia says, sitting up in her cot. “I might attempt a walk today.”

Heather raises her eyebrows and hikes her satchel further up her shoulder. “You want some company?”

Valencia hears her unspoken just in case, but finds she doesn’t mind it coming from Heather.

“Okay, sure.”

“Cool. How do you feel about birds?”

Valencia feels her eyebrows come together. “Is that a trick question?”

“More like my current project,” Heather says. Even after nearly two weeks of living with her, Valencia isn’t clear on what Heather does with her time. In tearing apart the hut and putting it back together in a meticulous search for her necklace, she’s found dozens of notebooks full of notes, but no clues as to their ultimate purpose.

“Then, uh, neutral,” Valencia says. “I’m neutral on birds.”

Heather frowns thoughtfully, nodding. “Let’s see what we can do about that.”

###

Heather leads her into the forest that nearly surrounds her hut.

At first, Valencia feels her spirits lifting at being outside for the first time in a while. But after only a few minutes of navigating the uneven terrain and climbing around mossy boulders and stumps, her ribs start to protest.

She only makes it a few more yards before the pain gets so bad, she can no longer ignore it.

“I have to stop here,” she tells Heather, already lowering herself to the ground and leaning against a tree trunk.

“No worries,” Heather says, joining her. “Here’s perfect.”

Valencia follows the line of Heather’s pointing finger to a group of small, yellow birds bouncing around the branches of a nearby tree. She grunts in acknowledgement, worried that if she opens her mouth now, only whimpers would come out.

Instead, she watches quietly as Heather unpacks a notebook, some camera equipment, and a block of wood from her satchel. After jotting a few things down at the top of a clean page in her notes, she slides a pocket knife from her cargo pants and starts whittling away at the block.

After several minutes of watching Heather carve into the wood without ever slicing into her finger though she only casts sparing glances at her hands, Valencia speaks.

“What are you doing?”

“Tracking the mating patterns of the 'anianiau,” Heather says matter-of-fact.

“Okay,” Valencia says. “Why?”

Heather shrugs. “I’m learning all I can about the ecosystem here.”

Valencia’s eyebrows crawl high on her forehead. “Why?”

Heather smiles to herself, letting her hands fall slack in her lap. “Now that’s a loaded question.”

“Huh?”

“I mean, why does anyone study anything?”

“Are you being intentionally dodgy?”

“Haven’t you been since you got here?” Heather asks, though her voice is kind enough.

“That’s different.”

“Sure,” Heather says, marking down something in her notebook. After they sit in tense silence for a moment, she sighs and says, “I was a student. I kept trying to get funding for this project, but no one would pay for and endorse my methods of data collection—which is, like, the whole point of my research plan but whatever. Anyway, eventually I decided academia could fuck itself and came here anyway.”

“All by yourself?” Valencia asks, watching Heather a little more closely.

“Yeah, well. That part was always the plan.”

“Sounds lonely.”

Heather doesn’t say anything for a long while, and Valencia eventually turns her attention back to the birds. When Heather bumps her with her shoulder, she jolts. “So what about you, huh? What’s your story?”

“Oh, it’s not that interesting.” Valencia says, color pooling in her cheeks.

Heather shoots her a funny look. “Pretty sure if that were the case, you wouldn’t be here.”

Valencia feels like the skin on her face is getting tighter. “It’s dumb.”

After a moment of watching her with searching eyes, Heather nods and returns to her carving.

Something drops, heavy and leaden, low in Valencia’s stomach. “I thought I loved a man who seemed like he loved me back,” she starts. “But I guess both of us misjudged. And I only really figured this out after committing to the ruse for years and years before he left me with nothing.”

Heather raises her eyebrows. “And?”

“And nothing.”

“No way is that the end of your story, dude.”

Valencia scoffs. “And what would you know about it?”

“I’m just saying, your average jilted woman rarely ends up washing ashore in the middle of a storm.” Valencia’s about to cut in, but Heather’s faster. “Also, can we talk about the fact that you were on the ocean during one of the biggest storms of the year?”

“So?”

“So, no one sails into that weather unless they’re incredibly stupid or reasonably confident in their skills.” Heather looks Valencia right in the eye. “You don’t strike me as stupid.”

In spite of herself, Valencia feels a smile starting to form on her face. She ducks her head.

“I, uh, take on missionary work where it’s available.”

“Oh, my god,” Heather says, her voice getting conspiratorially low. “Are you a hit woman?”

“What?” Valencia squawks, making the birds flutter nervously. She clears her throat and adds in a calm, even voice, “No.”

“A vigilante?” Heather guesses.

Valencia rolls her eyes. “Close enough, I guess.”

“And so the necklace you’ve been bugging out about since you got here—what’s that?”

“I haven’t been bugging.”

Heather raises her eyebrows. “Full-on meltdown.”

“Well excuse me for not being calm and well-adjusted after waking up in a strange place in strange clothes with a stranger looking after me.”

“Yeah, I’ll give you that,” Heather says. “That’s a lot.”

“I’m lucky the stranger was you, though,” Valencia adds quietly after a beat.

“I’m lucky you’re not a hit woman,” Heather says back, a teasing smile in her eyes.

Valencia finds herself smiling in response.

After that, they lapse into silence once more, Heather carving her block of wood and Valencia admiring her steady, sure movements.

Valencia’s not sure how long they sit there—she’s pretty sure she nods off at some point—but when the light starts filtering into the forest between the trunks of the trees, Heather gently nudges her. They pack up in companionable silence.

“So,” Heather says as they set off, a barely-detectable nervous tremor in her voice. “I feel like I owe it to you to tell you something.”

“Okay,” Valencia says, grabbing hold of Heather’s offered hand as they step over a fallen log.

“You didn’t have a necklace on when I found you.”

Valencia freezes, dropping Heather’s hand immediately.

Heather watches Valencia face for a moment before forging on. “I mean, I guess it’s possible it was somewhere there on the beach, but I didn’t notice anything. I was kinda distracted—you were in a bad way—but yeah. No necklace.”

Valencia swallows hard. “How come…?”

“I didn’t tell you when you asked?” Heather suggests. Valencia nods dumbly, and Heather winces. “It seemed like the thing to do at the time. To get you to take it easy.”

“You manipulated me.”

“It seemed like the thing to do at the time,” Heather says again.

A few thoughts race through Valencia mind, but she shakes the din away. “Show me.”

“Excuse me?”

“Show me where you found me,” Valencia demands.

“Yeah,” Heather says with a small frown. “Okay.”

#heather x valencia #femslash february #ff:hv #crazy ex girlfriend #my fic #the third and final part will be published on day 16 #sorry to make you wait so long! #i'm a slave to the prompt list