#but instead of putting an exclamation point after everything i want to put a smiley face XD rip i use/depend on emojis too much lol | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

nat-20s · 3 years

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8 for jmart?

#8- constantly cheacking their messages for words from the other

what else was I gonna do? here's some classic ol' season 3 pining babey

Hello Martin. This is Jon. I have gotten a new phone after losing my last one, please put in the new number.

It's a simple message. Straightforward, factual, and utilitarian. There is no reason that pressing send should make his heart race. There's especially no reason that the second he sends it off, he's tempted to lie on the deeply uncomfortable, likely bedbug infested motel mattress staring at his screen until he gets a response. Sure, he's sick of being overseas, and he's sick of being so isolated, and he's sick of running, but he's not...desperate for what little companionship can even be provided by words on a screen.

He does miss Martin, though. He misses Tim as well, but in a manner that's significantly more complex and knotted than the simple desire to be around him.

God, when did he start wanting to just be around Martin? He started being aware of that want when he was at Georgie's, but he has no idea when the want itself actually started. That was probably something he should examine. Technically speaking, that is something that he has time to examine, but he doesn't want to examine right now. Right now, he wants the comfort of perhaps one of the only people out there that doesn't want to kill him, or use him, or both.

Martin, whether through somehow sensing Jon's discontent from nearly 4000 miles away or, more likely, through a general dutifulness inherent to his character, only takes a few minutes to reply. Oh good! it'd been a little bit since hearing from you, we were somewhat worried. putting you in my contacts as we speak :)!

Saying that "we" were worried is almost certainly generous on Martin's part, but Jon feels no need to point that out. Instead he turns on his side and stares at the phone. He particularly focuses on the smiley face, ridiculously charmed by the fact that, despite everything, Martin hasn't lost his predilection for emojis. Two years ago, he would've rolled his eyes, maybe thought something snide about professionalism. It wouldn't have been fair, as Tim used to do the same thing and he thought nothing of it, but he wasn't fair back then. Now, he simply wonders if he can get away with sending one back.

Before he can respond, Martin sends another message. Are you actually alright? I realized I was kind of assuming that losing your phone was the only reason you were MIA, but is anything else going on?

Damn. He tends to forget how perceptive Martin can be. What, exactly, Martin had perceived in that first message, Jon couldn't be sure, but apparently there was something that tipped him off to the..eventful last week he'd had. He really, really doesn't feel like getting into all of that right now, especially not over text, so instead he replies a mostly truthful I'm fine.

Then, squinting at the screen and realizing that might come across as a dismissal, he adds, Well, other than trying not to contemplate the general sanitation practices of a motel that clearly hasn't updated it's decor since the 70s. I'm suspecting the sheets are much the same.

He doesn't know how Martin will react to the message. He can't see the face he'll make, won't know the tone of his voice. However, he likes to imagine that Martin will at least smile. Maybe he'll even give that breath of a laugh, the one that sometimes happens when Jon's being lightly acerbic and it's not directed at him. He doesn't know, but he does hope for it. Martin texts back Oof. Maybe sleep on top of the covers tonight, yeah?, and Jon thinks that he might have guessed Martin's reaction correctly.

Christ, who knew all it took was a combination of jetlag and threats to turn him into a sap. He needs to sleep. He really needs a deep, proper, uninterrupted sleep, one lasting a minimum of eight hours and ideally closer to fifteen. Checking the time, it would be a fairly reasonable time to sleep, especially with the early start he has tomorrow. He considers sending off a quick good night message, but then has the realization that as reasonable as it is for him to be asleep right now, it's just as unreasonable for Martin to be awake. Are you alright? Good lord, Martin, it's almost 4am over there. Did I wake you?

Barely 30 seconds pass before he gets back no, you're good!

A beat, then a follow up message. I've had a irregular sleep schedule since I was like 16. A lot of evening and night shifts had a lasting impact u know? Working at the institute made it a bit more consistent but it's still p rare that i sleep the same eight hours night to night.

Jon's starts to text back something sympathetic; he's had his own struggles with both in- and hyper- somnia, but his phone buzzes in his hand before he can finish it.

Sorry! That was uh probably more information than you wanted.

Well, that just won't do. Even if there wasn't a part of his brain that had recently started collecting facts about Martin like they were precious jewels instead of mostly mundane stories, he doesn't want Martin to think he can't talk to him about things outside of the standard bounds of coworkers. Not at all. We're friends, Martin, I enjoy learning about you.

His brain wants to catastrophize the second he presses send. For the first minute that Martin doesn't reply, he doesn't let it. After the second minute, he allows the minor worry to become more severe. Had it been too much? Were they friends? Jon certainly thought so, but what if Martin wasn't in the same boat? Their interactions had been entirely friendly for months now, but what if that was just Martin being polite? God, what if Martin still thought of Jon as his boss, nothing more?

Ten minutes. It takes ten minutes for Martin to finally respond, and Jon has almost called him four times to explain himself. Ten minutes, and the first response is only Oh!

Then: Cool

Well, that's not a "piss off and die", but it's not exactly comforting. Jon doesn't know how to reply, staring at the words on his screen and not entirely sure if he's fucked up or not. Fortunately, Martin's not done responding, and the next message is much, much better.

Hey uh. Feel free to say no I know it's getting late over there but. Im not getting back to sleep for the rest of the day and itd be nice to actually hear you. Would you be okay with a call?

Without a moment's hesitation, he texts back Yes!, exclamation and all, because he's become someone he barely recognizes. The phone rings just as immediately, and he feels his entire body relax at Martin's first "Hello?"

Things are difficult right now. Things have been difficult ever since the promotion that was a curse in disguise. The world is filled with monsters he barely understands. He wishes he was home despite the fact that he barely recognizes it, as filled with tension and strife as it is. There's so much to discuss, so many things they should be hammering out. But right now, the threats are not pressing. Right now, he can hear about the bad true crime documentary Martin half-watched before he got Jon's texts, and Jon can bitch about the three different "pip pip cheerio" comments he's gotten since coming over seas. Right now, and for the hour before Jon drifts off, breathing slow and deep, he can pretend that this is an ordinary phone call, in an ordinary world, between two people who simply miss each other an extraordinary amount.

#replies #elfgrunge #jonmartin #tma #jon sims #martin blackwood #fluff prompts #'this story has been told before' AND IT'LL BE TOLD AGAIN!!

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writershapeholeonthedoor · 4 years

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Dino Gear - Supercop

Read at AO3

That day turned out to be one of the worst days in Lena Luthor’s life. And she had a lot of days were people tried to kill her, including her mother and her bother, she was kidnapped more times than she was comfortable with and she did pretty much looked like a walking target to whatever shit the universe decided to throw her away, but, pushing all of that to the side, that was one of the worst days in her life.

She woke up late, which was a first in her life, after staying awake until very very late talking with Kara over texts. Her friend seemed bored and with insomnia and kept texting her the most random things for hours, going from asking her silly questions like her favourite color to sending pics of animals she found cute. And, for a reason she would like not to adress in the moment, Lena had stayed up with her until her friend finally fell asleep – or at least until she took more than five minutes to text her again. So when her alarm went off at 6am like usual, she didn’t heard it.

Jess saw her basically running to her office two hours after she was supposed to be there, but she was gracefull enough not to mention it while informing Lena of all the things she had pushed on her schedule. Because of her delay, Lena had even more meetings to attend in the afternoon and she had a board meeting and so many meetings that, by the time she exited the last one, she had lost count of which one that was.

She also hadn’t eaten nothing all day. Literally. She was late for work so she had to skip breakfest, she was in a meeting during lunch and another meeting after that. Lena spent all afternoon talking with stubborn, blockhead, white male, and by the time she realized she still had to put some solid food on her body it was already too late to ask Jess to grab her something.

To top all of that - because what more did she needed really? – she had to stay until late at her office, trying to finish some reports and working on some things she had promissed Winn she would take a look at. Not to mention that, in her rush to make everything on time, she didn’t had time to talk with Kara all day, even if she saw that her best friend had texted her more than once through the day. By the time she called her driver, Lena’s head was feeling twice it’s size.

She wanted nothing more than take her uncomfortable clothes off and go to bed. She had a terrible migraine, her body was tired and honestly her bed was just too inviting in the moment.

Lena had managed to take a quick shower and put her old National City University hoodie, and was on her way to pour some wine to herself, when there was a knock on the door. Her heart jumped against her chest at the sudden loud sound in her quiet apartment, but the panic quickly soothe when her brain started to work. There was only one person that would be allowed to go up by security without her being informed before.

What exactly Kara was doing on her door at 00:14am was beyond her, but Lena knew it was better ask her than keep asking herself instead. She sighed, putting down the wine bottle, and started making her way to the door. Lena loved her friend, she really did, but she wasn’t in the mood to entertain her that night. Her head hurt and she was tired, and it wasn’t even wednesday yet.

She took a deep breath before opening the door, ready to break Kara’s excited little heart, but then she had to stop short on her tracks when she took in whatever her friend was wearing.

Her hand instantly flew to her mouth to hide her laugh behind her palm, but it was already too late by the look on Kara’s face.

“Special delivery for miss Luthor!” Kara exclamed in her most cheerful tone, raising her hand that was holding a plastic bag to show her that she had, indeed, something with her.

Lena shook her head, her hand dropping back to the door handle, her smile almost too big to be comfortable. “Please, tell me this isn’t happening right now.” She said with a scoff.

Kara raised one eyebrow at her, but her smiley face was just too happy for it to stay like that for too long. “You like my dino gear, don’t you?” Her eyes moved up, clearly trying to look at the said clothing item, before coming back to stare at Lena with that bright glint on the blue orbs.

Lena looked at her friend from head to toe, still smiling, and quirked her eyebrows to what she saw. Kara’s bottom half was rather normal, just some old sneackers and a maybe too large grey hoodie pants with CatCo symbol on it, but her top half was something entirely different. She was using what had to be the ugliest sweater Lena had ever saw. It was a dark shade of blue, with a large green and yellow dinosaur on it, and it would have being an attrocity if she wasn’t looking so cute while wearing it. And, in her head, Kara was wearing a black cap with a green dinosaour being mounted by a green smiley alien, full with stars and planets around them and a fluffly coloured woolen ball on top. In the bottom, the phrase “Give me some space” was written in white and red, making everything even better.

Kara looked ridiculous, but, oh so cute. Especially with that easy smile of her and her face full of freckles around her nose that Lena could see thanks to the fact that her friend wasn’t wearing any make up.

“I heard you had a rough day.” Kara offered as an explanation, raising the bag again. “I thought I would show up to make you smile a little bit.” She wiggled her eyebrows and her cap moved along with it. “With kale to help me out.”

Lena couldn’t hold back anymore, she laughed openly now. “Jesus, Kara, you’re the best, I love you.” She shook her head again.

They hadn’t said it before, not even in a friendly way. They had said how much the other meant for each other, how much they cared, how far they would go for each other, but, for some reason, it felt different that time. Lena could hear in her own voice how blunt out honest she was when she spilled the words without thinking. She didn’t sounded like a thankful friend, no. She sounded like a in love fool, like her heart had just spit out of her mouth.

And apparently Kara had also realized it because all laugh and smile left her beautiful face when she stared back at Lena in shock. So Lena also stoped laughing, because clearly her friend was not amused anymore, and her heart started beating fast inside her chest, begging her to find a way to get out of the mess she dug herself and not ruin things for them, because having Kara as her friend was better than not having Kara at all.

“I, uh-“ Lena cleared her throat twice before she was able to speak again. “What’s in the bag?” She clinged visibly to her stupid question and clear attempt to find another thing to talk about.

But Kara wasn’t having it. “What did you just said?”

“What?” Not the best time to play dumb, Lena realized too late. Not the best way to get her out of that mess.

“You-“ Kara pointed at her with a shaking finger and wide eyes. “You said you- You said- You just...” Ok, so clearly she wasn’t the only one who had no idea what to say. “You said you love me.” Kara whispered the words almost in reverence.

Lena wanted to play dumb again, at least she would be able to buy her some time before having to answer the though questions, but she doubted that saying ‘No, I didn’t’ was going to sound any better than whatever crap she could come up with. Her brain was way too tired for that conversation to be happening.

So she went all the way around. “Yes, I did.” Lena crossed her arms in front of her chest, trying to embrace herself for the impact.

“Wow.” Kara whispered in awe while nodding along with it. “That’s some big news.”

“Kara, look, I’m sorry. I haven’t slept very well and I also didn’t eat anything all day, and I really want to go to bed, so...” It was the lamest excuse she ever gave anyone, but she couldn’t think straight when Kara was staring at her like that. It made her inside all mushy and warm, and it made her really nervous.

“I love you too.”

“What?”

“I love you too, Lena.” Kara repeated, her growing smile getting bigger and bigger by the second. “As like more than friends kind of love you.”

“You really do?” Lena never felt more nervous or hopefull in her entire life before and it showed on how low her voice became suddenly, the words barely audible for any human.

But Kara smiled at her again and, with a wink, said: “Well, I did used this thing in public, didn’t I?”

The CEO chuckled and shook her head. “To be fair, I think you would use it regardless.”

“That’s not the point here.” They shared a light moment where they both giggled like school girls about to kiss their crush, but suddenly Kara became very serious and she looked even more nervous than before.

“What?” It was ringing way too many bells inside her head and Lena didn’t liked it.

Kara’s eyes suddenly filled with tears and she looked down at her dirty sneakers so she wouldn’t have to see Lena’s reaction to what she was about to say. “I- Lena, I can’t do this, not without telling you the whole truth, it’s not fair with you and...”

“Kara.” Lena interrupted her gently. She hesitated only for a second before she reached out to grab Kara’s hand that wasn’t grasping the bag. The brunette coaxed her to come foward, but the blonde only followed her once she looked around and realized she was still literally standing in the hallway. “I think I know what...”

“I’m Supergirl.” Kara blurred out suddenly. She was still looking down, but after her outburst she looked up to meet the emerald eyes that made her feel so many things. Lena had raised her eyebrows, but she didn’t let go of her hand, so she took it as a good sign. “I’m Supergirl and I love you, Lena.” She stated, straightening her posture and stuffing her chest to give the impression that she was more confident than she really was.

Lena’s eyes softened and she took a step back, than another one, until she finally raised her other hand to push a stray of hair behind her ear, the touch almost making Kara combust in place. “I knew the first part, just for the record.” She claimed with a little amusement. “Quite hard to miss it. The rest is kind of surprising, not going to lie.”

“I really want to kiss you right now.”

“Kara, I don’t want you to take it the wrong way, really.” Lena paused and bit her bottom lip. For a second, the hero thought she was about to be rejected, but then she saw the corners of Lena’s mouth trembling slightly as she fought a smile. “But it’s really hard to take you serious when you’re wearing this hat and this sweater.”

Kara nodded and pretended to think for a second. “I can compromise with the hat, but I really like this sweater.”

Lena chuckled softly. “I think you look quite cute with it.” She raised both hands, using one to remove Kara’s Alien-Mounting-A-Dinosaur gear and the other one to brush the blonde curls away from her face. Her heart swell with love when Kara closed her eyes and leaned to her touch. “I will never say it again, so you better save this in your memory, but I did enjoyed the dino gear too. It made me smile.”

“That’s all I want.” Kara confessed as she leaned for their first kiss.

A week later, after Kara convinced Lena to a late walk through her block, people would see Lena using the dino gear while trying to convince Kara that she wasn’t cold enough to use the damn sweater.

#supergirl #supercorp #kara x lena #lena x kara #kara danvers #lena luthor #kara danvers x lena luthor #lena luthor x kara danvers #romance #love #cute #fluff #melissa benoist #katie mcgrath #meltie #jess #true love

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nomanicsdak · 5 years

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New Post has been published on https://manicdak.com/picnics-and-pirates/

Picnics and Pirates

Neverending Isles

Well, we’re back at it, here in far away, long ago Greece, where I start the game after a long hiatus playing Anthem (don’t @ me). I am finishing up an ice cream sandwich IRL while waiting for things to load up and get immediately assassinated by some bounty hunters, because as it turns out, I am still standing over Podarkes dead bod. When I return from being unsynchronized, I pay for my bounty because I don’t want them hassling me. Now it’s time to get down to business and reacquaint myself to the controls. I still have a gazillion points on the map to explore!

What I remember is that I think I have finished with the Silver Islands, which have lost their sheen after I found out that they don’t let you die there, and I am on a quest to defeat a cult and find my mom so I can find out who my dad is.

Let us now seek a new side quest so I don’t have to do any of that!

Here we go, I meet up with my pal, Barnabas and he’s giving me the update on Kyra! So they didn’t just fade off into the sunset without saying goodbye after all. I feel better about that since I put all that time in here. She is putting her traitorous dad to rest and is grateful I haven’t told her secret. (The secret of her dad being a murderous traitor thief.)

My Alexios’s opinion is that Podarkes should rot, but that the troops deserve a good story, especially Thaletas who is waiting up the stairs I am told. Barnabas bids me good night as he tells me to relax and party it up for a minute, and now I have a quest called a night to remember.

I will never be done with the Silver Isles, also, I’m not hookin’ it up with Thaletas, game. You better not still be trying to make that happen!

First, I’m led to Kyra as she lights dad’s funeral pyre. She has complicated feelings about this whole situation, but I encourage her to stay strong and help her peeps so a new Podarkes doesn’t crop up. We head back to the party now.

The bear smuggler is there all touching up on Barnabas’s face. She calls him Barny which is a good nickname for him that I didn’t even think of, because I couldn’t remember his name for several days after I met him. I’m going to steal it. They have bonded over their opposite missing eyes. How nice. Apparently they are in love now. What the hell? I spent so long wandering around these dumb islands that my boat captain has acquired a girlfriend. I can invite her to join the crew, so why not. Everybody wins? Maybe we could use a smuggler.

Once we are done with that love story, I can now breath a sigh of relief, because Kyra and Thaletas are together for reals, and he is no longer awkwardly hitting on me. Yay! Also, he’s over here turning down Spartan generalship in order to settle on the islands with Kyra. This is quite a thing for a dude who wanted to fight me to prove my Spartaness. Good for them, for now!

I decide to bow out quietly and leave the rebels to their islands without speechifying about it, despite Barny’s wishes. Of course, I can’t leave without Sokrates showing up to say goodbye and philosophizing at me. Until next time, Sokrates!

But I see new quests…what? I am determined to finish these silver isles though, so I’m heading back across the way to Mykanos now.

Psych! Apparently you can create your own levels in assassin’s creed now, and these silver exclamation points are user created. It’s been so long since I’ve been here there are new game mechanics. Of course in the first one I pick just to see what they’re like, my “one true love”, Thaletas, wants me to assassin someone for him. Even random internet strangers want me to hook up with this dude! Sorry, video game gods, it’s not gonna happen!

I move back to that blasted pirate island with the dagger lady that I attempted earlier in the game and spend the entirety of my gaming night trying to beat it. I KNOW I’ve faced dual wielding rogues before and beat them. This pirate lady is two entire levels below me, so I don’t know why this is so difficult! Bah. One bonus to this location when I finally beat her, is that there is a cultist here! I wasn’t even looking for one! So we get to cross another of those dudes off the cult family tree.

Since we’re laying siege to pirate islands tonight, let’s go find another one. There is a huge one to the west of me, so that is where we head! First a quick stop off at this little nothing island called Lestris. There is a quest item here though. Let’s see if we can find out what quest it belongs to… Huh. Artifact fragments it looks like??? Maybe I should upgrade my spear instead of going to pirate island.

Just kidding again! I travel all the way back to spear island to find out I need seven artifacts for the next section, but I only have four. Damn. Back to Pirate island I guess.

Yo-Ho-Ho

This place is literally called Pirate Island this time. I thought it might end up in another silver isles situation, but this one only has a couple of quests that don’t lead on an endless string of other quests. It is however, filled with bobcats jumping on my back. Which sucks, because I’m not about killing bobcats, but if they’re going to attack me…

Our first quest is for a little girl. She’s gathering clay for her friends and wants to make them some jewelry, so she asks Alexios if he will go find some pearls and shiny rocks. Sure thing! Helping the children of Greece free of charge are my favorite tasks.

I return to her shack on the hill expecting some more kids, but instead find three huge lumps of clay, and these are her friends. <Insert distressed smiley face here> I was not expecting this innocuous quest to turn tragic, but then again, I never do. Turns out her mother decided to go pirate to get some money and make a better life, but returned with a stab wound. Her last words to her daughter were to be good and make friends. The kid has literally made friends. Out of clay.

All my friends are clay.

I don’t really have the heart to tell this lonely child that her friends are clay lumps and she is delusional and needs to go out and meet real people. I choose to tell her that anybody can be a friend. My bestie is an eagle after all. She thinks that’s pretty cool. Maybe I can inspire all the young girls of Greece to become falconers? (I return a bit later and find her crying, because the rain has washed her friends away, but we cannot interact anymore. Did I do the wrong thing? )

Alexios, Blending right in

Second quest is some dude’s wife picking ceremony. The woman I talk to insists that she loves this man and he loves her. Apparently I get no choice but to think she is a gold digger. Is she? Who knows? An acolyte of Hecate approaches us and offers to make her a love potion. I and Alexios think this is a ridiculous farce, but agree to help anyway. I fetch some shrooms and some some wine and hand it over to the ‘witch’. All she needs now is a lock of the woman’s hair.

A love potion that causes hair to fall out, but not at the root– The mysterious ways of Hecate, I guess.

I return the next night and our friend is bald! Turns out the witch was merely a rival for the rich dude’s affections, and she has tricked this woman into drinking a sort of poison. It was only supposed to give her a rash, not make all her hair fall out. As to the why of the situation, the witch thinks she deserves this dude because they’ve known each other since childhood, and was just playing the game. The other woman is distraught, obviously.

the witch is way too pleased with her plan

But the show must go on! — This whole prank has rubbed me the wrong way and the ‘witch’s maniacal laughter is really not helping much, but I don’t get many options in the way of a peaceful resolution. It’s either, So sorry about your luck, bald lady, or kill the witch! (My true choice would be to tell the bald woman to forget about the rich dude; he’s not worth it and then hightail it out of there.) I call the guards on the ‘witch’ and hope she’ll just get arrested or something. Naaah. With that choice I get an update to the quest for witch killing. Damn.

I just stand aside and let the guards do it.

And that’s everything of note on pirate island! A short and sweet one with surprisingly few pirates! Maybe tomorrow we’ll hunt some cultists so I can upgrade my spear!

I do find one short quest somewhere along the way, but I forget where it was. A woman instructs me to go to a cemetery to find out which God is the most powerful: Apollo (I think? Or was it Ares? Something with an A. I didn’t write this one down!) or Posiden. “A” god has lions which are pretty powerful, but Posiden has like…sharks and krakens. Choices, choices. While I’m figuring this out some dude comes up to me and is absolutely convince I’m going to kill him. Huh? I tell him all is cool, bro, but then he comes after me anyway, because Athena told him it must be.

I didn’t get this memo

Back to the old lady who gave me this dumb quest, and I tell her Athena is the most powerful, because she got this dude to commit suicide by mysthios without lions or sharks. The lady thinks this is all amusing and I don’t even remember if she got the answer she wanted, and I don’t even know if I got any drachmae for it, but there you have it! Moving swiftly onward–

Wading into the Deep End

Update: So it turns out that I didn’t find an artifact on that island, just a clue to find one, which is good, because I need three more to upgrade! It has led me Achaia and now I can’t find the letter with the clue so… great. Am I even supposed to be here? I guess I’ll go search the coves and see what I can find!

I find many enemies that are at least ten levels above me, so–I definitely am not supposed to be here yet! Also, I’m level 30, how long is this game??? Before I move on to easier targets, I find the sunken temple of Demeter and some Ares boots that I can sell later. Maybe I’ll tackle the cultist in the arena? I have an actual quest for that, so maybe I’m not too weak for that one? It is in Pephka, and I get to reveal a whole new section of the map if I go there. So, let’s go!

Ouch!

First, I stop off at an underwater cavern to get some loot and fight some sharks. Turns out the quest item on that island was not the cultist letter, nor was it an artifact…it was some bricks. Do I have a quest for bricks??? What? Forget it. I’m going to the arena and resisting the temptation to stop at every island along the way. In keeping with the theme somehow…it is at a place called Pirate Point.

Ahh, turns out this is all Barny’s doing. He thought I should give this arena thing a try, because, obviously, I have nothing else to do. I talk to a guy named Skoura. I guess I’m here to inspire the crowds to believe in heroes again. I’ll do it!

It’s Skoura!

Well, I’ll do it up until the point where these other dudes are a higher level than me. There is a guy at level 50. Damn. Hopefully the cultist makes himself known before then. Is it Skoura??? I hope not, I kinda like the old dude. Also, I’m going to have to question this whole operation…

Like, why does Alexios, a single human person (or Demi-god?), have to fight like 20 dudes before I get to my opponent??? He only has to fight me. How fair is that? (I’m just complaining, because I am not good at this, and also this sucks and is no fun, but I won’t rage-quit just yet.) At least not until–yes, that did it–some upgraded gear did the trick. It is always my downfall.

After I win my first bout, some dude named Maion approaches me and Skoura. He’s all about the drachmae, so I don’t trust him. Hmm. Maybe he’s the cultist? I just want to find him before I get too deep in this arena business. Is that too much to ask? But there are only two out of five guys at my level or below.

Yeah, the one guy is going to be it for the arena for now. Excuse me while I go grind, thank you very much.

A Tale of Two Brothers

Here’s a novel Idea–Let’s get on with the story. Did I say I was going to investigate Alkibiades clue? Let’s do that! Off to Korinth we go! There are lots of undiscovered locations here. *rubs hands together in anticipation*

First thing I find is a bandit camp, which I think is going to be a simple affair not worth mentioning, but instead there is a quest there. I rescue some dude named Lykinos who has no idea why these bandits were shaking him down. I have to carry him to get him away. Let’s return him to his dad before I accidentally kill him trying to put him on the ground (I forgot which button puts people down!) and see what journey I have to go on now.

Okay, dude is an Athenian poet. When we get him home safe, and sound, it turns out that the bandit’s killed dad! Sad. We find this out because Lykinos’s brother–some call him Tim–shows up to tell us. He’s all aggro about it, probably because Lykinos has been swanning around Athens writing poems instead of being there at home / fighting wars. Now I get to do favors for both of them.

Lykinos cannot believe this shit

Tim wants me to get some Athenian armor from a vendor, and this can’t possibly be as easy to do as it sounds. Lykinos wants revenge. Even Alexios sounds weary with that idea, because he’s trying to convince Lykinos nobody wants any more bloodshed. He agrees, that’s why he’s hiring me. Gee, thanks, fella.

I go to the merchant and it turns out that that dad sold his armor, or maybe this guy is trying to cheat me? Whatevs. Buy all the armor! I only spend money on upgrades (if I remember to) and paying off my own bounties anyway.

Armor in hand, I head off to dispatch the bandits. When I get to their camp, I find them besieged by a pack of wolves. Maybe if I sneak hard enough, the wolves will do all the work for me??? All right, I am not that lucky or good at sneaking, but these dudes aren’t that difficult. I find a letter in the camp that says dear old dad owed these bandits a lot of money. Loan sharkin’ it up again, I see. I wonder if there’s a bigger badder shark behind these guys?

Spoiler: There is not. I’m always overthinking these sidequest plots.

What I do know is that I’m apparently staying for this funeral even after revealing the truth of dad’s shady business dealings. Tim wants me to get oil for an offering, and Lykinos thinks I should get some wine. He seems confused about what the oil’s for though, and there’s a lot of tension between these bros. We shall see! I get both offerings and complete a location.

When I return to my friends, they are having a brotherly blow up, like brothers do. After I give them a pep talk about being there for one another, because they’re all they’ve got left, it is time to go. Or is it?

Now Hug it Out!

Because, are these bros vibing on Alexios, or is it just me? Well, Lykinos wants to meet up with me later anyway. Winkity, wink?? Like, the last dude that wanted to see me after a quest was complete, I ended up with a bed of rose petals.

Aaahahah. Lykinos wants to make me dinner. I TOLD you. First I have to hunt down some deers, and when I meet him it’s on this picturesque overlook at sunset. Geez. Well, played, poet man. Dinner and a view–I think this hits the sweet spot right between a overly-sentimental bed of rose petals and goat orgy. I actually like this guy, so let’s do it!

But first a chat about Lykinos being a lying liar who lies. See, turns out he didn’t come back just to visit the fam. Actually, he just failed at being an artist in the big city. He didn’t want to tell his family so as not to disappoint them, and he didn’t want to tell me, because he was trying to impress me. He doesn’t know what he’s going to do know, because he’s not exactly the fighting type. I tell him he should become a cook because this venison meal he’s made is A+++

Are You serious right now?

Alright! Heart to heart over; we fade to black and return the next morning with Alexios all by himself again. Such is the life of a mercenary! It’s on to the next quest I suppose.

#assassin's creed #Games #Assassin's Creed #Odyssey

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