#tweak burkes

[lulu2992]

Uncovering the unreleased Far Cry 5 in-game Encyclopedia

The almost complete but unused in-game encyclopedia, reconstructed thanks to the oasisstrings file.

Please note that it’s still cut content, so some information might not be relevant anymore.

You can read the oasisstrings file here. Pictures from this encyclopedia were also extracted and posted by @xbaebsae here.

Part 6: Characters

Aaron "Tweak" Kirby

Uppers, downers, sideway-ers... Tweak is all about pushing the limits of the human condition.

Adelaide Drubman

A confident go-getter with deep pockets to do whatever she wants, like living with booze, bazookas, and boy toy Xander Flynn.

Bo Adams

A hardcore survivalist that chooses to live out in the woods and off the grid.

Boomer

A scruffy pal with unparalleled loyalty.

Cameron Burke

A U.S. Marshal with an agenda. The only thing standing between him and his political aspirations is the Project at Eden's Gate.

Casey Fixman

A grill cook with a classified past. Most locals don’t believe his outrageous war stories or the wisdom he serves up with every order.

Chad Wolanski

A self-styled prepper chef who sells food out of his food truck since his restaurant "The Grill Streak" burned down.

Dr. Charles Lindsey

A veterinarian drafted into service as a medic. There's no one else to do it, and aren't we all animals?

Cheeseburger

Orphaned as a cub and raised by Wade Fowler, he's the star attraction at the F.A.N.G. Center. He loves eating cheeseburgers.

Clutch Nixon

A legendary stuntman who left this world the way he entered it: Face first onto a pile of rocks.

Dave Fowler

Wade Fowler's brother, he runs the business end of the F.A.N.G. Center.

Richard "Dutch" Roosevelt

An old prepper who'd worked himself to the bone and lost everything even before Eden's Gate came to town. Same shit, different horse.

Dylan

(no description found)

Eli Palmer

A bonafide prepper and the leader of the Whitetail Militia. He helped Eden's Gate design their survival bunkers before he wised up.

Faith Seed

The Siren in the East. The youngest in the Seed family pacifies unruly followers to make way for the Collapse. Some believe she's only an illusion.

George Wilson

George is a Whitetail Militia and baseball enthusiast, but spends most of this time as a lookout because of his age.

Grace Armstrong

A medal-winning shooter and army sniper with a vendetta against Eden’s Gate.

Guy Marvel

A genius movie director envisioning a masterpiece of anarchy and gold statue wins. Even an auteur needs help to make movie magic.

Deputy Joey Hudson

One of your fellow Hope County Deputies who has absolutely no time for bullshit and has the fists to back herself up.

Hurk Drubman Jr.

His wit and intellect may have been blunted by paint huffing, but that hasn't stopped him from living a life of adventure.

Hurk Drubman Sr.

A retired oil baron who is the undisputed master of his domain... what's left of it after the divorce.

Jacob Seed

The Soldier in the North. The eldest Seed brother serves Joseph by creating the army that will defend the Project with their lives.

Pastor Jerome Jeffries

The local man of God who will do whatever it takes to protect the people of Hope County – even if it costs him his soul.

Jess Black

Dutch’s niece. Jess is a loner who nearly lost her life in Jacob's camps, only to discover a new talent in the process: killing Peggies.

John Seed

The Baptist in the West. The youngest of the Seed brothers, John is in charge of reaping the land of supplies that will help the Project survive.

Joseph Seed

The Father. The middle Seed brother heard a Voice that told him to initiate a great Project, to prepare for the Collapse of everything. And so he has.

Kim Rye

A world traveler who chose Hope County to put down roots, and those roots are on the way - she's in her third trimester.

Larry Parker

Genius or crackpot? Science will decide.

Mary May Fairgrave

The tough-as-nails barkeep who blames Eden's Gate for the death of her parents.

Merle Briggs

A local prepper. Merle could talk your ears off about his dream bunker, or the shelf life of canned goods.

Wilhelmina Mable

Wilhelmina Maybelline, big cat whisperer and taxidermist. The well-being of Peaches the cougar is her top priority.

Nadine Abercrombie

The last living member of a family of hoarders, though she considers herself a collector. Much classier than simply hoarding. And more selective.

Nancy

(no description found)

Nick Rye

The best dang pilot in Hope County. Give him a chance and he'll put on a show.

Peaches

The long-time pet of Miss Mable. Probably named for the color of her fur and not the sweet disposition she lacks.

Deputy Stacy Pratt (yes, his first name is actually spelled Stacy in the files)

One of your fellow Hope County Deputies who’s a good cop when his ego doesn't get in the way.

Dr. Sarah Perkins

A lone biologist determined to unravel the mysteries of how Jacob's Judge wolves are created.

Sharky Boshaw

A wanted arsonist, Charlemange Victor Boshaw IV hides out where he can live his fire-blazing, rockstar fantasies.

Sherri Woodhouse

She gave up city life, opened a fishing store, and began the hunt for her family’s missing legendary whiskey.

Skylar Kohrs

A high-powered expert fly fisher hell-bent on landing a legendary fish.

Tammy Barnes

Once a homemaker, now the chief interrogator for the Whitetail Militia. They say her marshmallow blondies are to die for.

Tracey Lader

A woman determined to bring down Eden's Gate, especially Faith. They used to be friends and the sting of betrayal fuels her wrath.

Virgil Minkler

A trusted mayor for the past 7 terms, now hell-bent on stopping the production of Bliss after it took the life of his son.

Wade Fowler

The co-owner of the F.A.N.G. Center, an animal rescue facility that takes in orphaned wild animals.

Walker

A member of Eli's Whitetail Militia.

Wendell Redler

He made it through Nam with his buddies. Now he’s an old man, his buddies are gone, and this is not the America he fought for in his youth.

Wheaty

The smart-ass quartermaster for the Whitetail Militia who also has a radio broadcast to counter the Father's propaganda.

Earl Whitehorse

The devoted sheriff of Hope County. He believes delivering justice with a gun should be a last resort. On the eve of his retirement, duty calls.

Willis Huntley

Just a man in love with the good ol' US of A.

Xander Flynn

Left California for Hope County to detox from the city life. Ended up finding "modeling" gigs at the Drubman Marina, and a cult cramping his style.

Zip Kupka

A self-proclaimed conspiracy "realist" who finds a new reason to hate the government with each passing day.

There were three more:

Coyote Nelson

Fishing is life.

In the files, Coyote Nelson is the name of the fisherman you meet at fishing spots.

Morris

A bright kid of Blackfoot heritage and the go-to person for all things computers and arcade machines. He keeps it on the down low.

The character’s full name apparently is Morris Aubrey. He’s the person who’s always near Far Cry Arcade machines and telling you how “awesome” the game is.

Scooter

A supply runner for the Whitetail Militia.

All I know about Scooter is that, according to a deleted mission objective, this character (who was also cut) was supposed to be escorted to the Wolf’s Den at some point.

#far cry 5 #well I can’t and therefore won’t tag everyone here but at least a few (the 'main' ones): #adelaide drubman #boomer #cameron burke #cheeseburger #richard 'dutch' roosevelt #eli palmer #faith seed #grace armstrong #joey hudson #hurk drubman jr #jacob seed #jerome jeffries #jess black #john seed #joseph seed #kim rye #mary may fairgrave #nick rye #peaches #staci pratt #stacy pratt #sharky boshaw #tammy barnes #tracey lader #wheaty #earl whitehorse #willis huntley

[philosophicalconservatism]

Response To Comment on Socialism And Radical Politics.

radical-libertarian

If you take the attitude that untested systems should never be tested, we would be stuck in feudalism or barbarism.

Philosophicalconservatism

I take the attitude that politically directed experiments upon millions of human beings is unethical. The free market system was not tested in this way. It was tested and established through a process of organic social development, not by political fiat. An emergence of full individual property rights over many centuries was followed by a technological-industrial revolution that made the cultivation of inherited land less vital, and other processes more important to the creation of wealth (processes which required the continual productive input of the individual owner in order for his position of wealth to be maintained, unlike the cultivation of feudal land). This was an unanticipated natural development.

The issue with radical ideology (of all kinds) is that a radical revolution which instantaneously unravels the entire existing order and replaces it with a new one (never before known within that society) is only conceivable in a context of top down political dictation and control. On their own, societies change gradually, and from the bottom up. An individual human being (a single autonomous person) can, at a particular moment in time, choose to completely change himself or his lifestyle. Entire societies, which are made up of millions of independent individuals and the immensely complex relationships that have developed between them, do not just decide at a single moment in time to completely and fundamentally change the way they function as if they were individual personalities.

Now a society may reject a specific government if that government has been widely abusive and oppressive, but they will either make superficial changes (usually in personnel) that still keeps the gist of the old system intact, or they will throw their entire fate into the hands of a tyrant-dictator to restructure their lives (Napoleon, Lenin etc.). The father of modern Conservatism Edmund Burke warned the fomenters of the French Revolution that this artificial ideological push toward a radical ideal would simply lead to an even purer political authoritarianism and of course it did. The Conservative is one who understands that freedom and lasting progress are conditions that must be grown into; they are a product of social development over time and not of political contrivance. Societies can be tweaked slightly for the good by political action in the short-term, but they cannot be remade in that way.

Here is a piece I did a while ago which may be of interest to you given your politics.

[bakerstreetbabble]

Granada TV Series Review: "The Copper Beeches" (S02, E01)

Season 2 of Granada's The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes starts with a gripping, dramatic episode, complete with a creepy "bad guy" (played to great effect by British actor Joss Ackland), a winsome heroine (the late Natasha Richardson playing Violet Hunter), and a bloodthirsty hound (not that hound, mind you). Honestly, re-reading "The Adventure of the Copper Beeches" just now, I felt like the Granada series took a fairly average story and made it into something much more exciting. Overall, they were very faithful to the source material, but they managed to rearrange a few plot points and use a fine cast to elevate the adaptation beyond its original form.

For one thing, Joss Ackland is extremely creepy as Mr. Rucastle. Sure, he's jovial enough most of the time, but Ackland is a talented enough actor to make every line seem sinister. From the very first time we meet him, we feel as if things just aren't quite right with this "generous" employer. Meanwhile, Natasha Richardson as Violet Hunter gave the role the right balance between a young lady who's getting more and more frightened and the kind of ingenuity that obviously wins the great detective's respect.

Jeremy Brett and David Burke are excellent, as usual, and there's a particularly delightful sequence at the opening of the episode where we are treated to one of Holmes's rants about how Watson has injected too much romance into the stories that Holmes thinks should be cold, logical case studies. We also are treated to a classic Holmes line, as the detective and his sidekick take the train to meet up with Miss Hunter: “Data! data! data! I can’t make bricks without clay.” (This line, which happens back at the flat at 221B Baker Street in the story, is moved a bit later in the TV episode, which I think works quite well.)

I should also mention the little detail of the slight change of setting of Mr. Rucastle's daughter's prison: in the original story, it is merely a mysterious, shuttered wing of the Copper Beeches estate. In the adaptation, however, it has been transformed into a mysterious "turret," which I think works a bit better.  That's what I enjoyed about this episode: the writers, while staying quite faithful to the original story, made minor tweaks to the plot, which ended up giving the story a lot more drama and forward momentum.

This was really a top-notch episode to begin the second season of the successful series. Before I wrap up the review, I should probably mention the entertaining final scene, in which Watson is clearly reading his most recent write-up of the events at the Copper Beeches, with no little delight at the effect his "romantic" storytelling has on his friend. By this point in the series, one can easily tell how comfortable David Burke and Jeremy Brett were becoming in their own roles, as well as in the camaraderie shared by the two friends. It really was a very fine episode to begin the second season!

#jeremy brett #granada holmes #The Copper Beeches #Youtube

[blackswaneuroparedux]

The French rioters have all the spirit of freedom without its character; they have all the boldness of anarchy without its genius. The French people want no capacity, and they want no courage, but they want both the advantages and the defects of generous minds.

- Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790)

I can’t help but think the ghost of Edmund Burke, the British statesman and philosopher who was highly critical of the French Revolution and its associated riots, looking down on the modern streets of Paris and sighing.

In his writings, Burke argued that the revolutionaries' disregard for tradition and established institutions would lead to chaos and anarchy. Whatever one thinks of the pensions reform everything was done constitutionally. There was nothing done undemocratically. This is how the 5th Republic has been set up by de Gaulle as a sort of ‘Republican monarchy’ in 1958. The fate of an unpopular legislation shouldn’t be decided on the streets but in the constitutional court as the 5th Republic was designed to function.Macron hasn’t done anything illegal - even if what he did was politically unpopular and perhaps heavy handed.

Regarding the French riots specifically, Burke expressed his dismay at the mob violence that had erupted in Paris and other cities. He saw the riots as evidence of the revolutionaries' dangerous and misguided approach to governance. In his famous work, "Reflections on the Revolution in France, Burke sincerely believed that the French people were capable of great things, but that the revolution had unleashed their worst impulses rather than their best. He argued that the revolutionaries had cast aside the institutions and traditions that had kept French society stable for centuries, and that this would ultimately lead to disaster. Overall, Burke saw the French riots as a symptom of a broader problem with the revolution. He believed that the revolutionaries had overthrown the established order without any clear plan for what would replace it, and that this had left France vulnerable to violence and chaos.

The same can be asked of the rioters and strikers. Every reasonable person, regardless of political alignment, knows that pensions reform have to be undertaken if the French are to continue to enjoy one of the best retirement pensions in Europe as well as also not place a horrendous tax burden on the future young generation when they get older - ironically the potential children of the very young protesters out in full force on the streets.

Certainly the current legislation can be tweaked - it is as currently conceived grossly unfair to women in the work place and those who do labour intensice work. I empathise with those protesting on some of the glaring issues unresolved. But at the same time I don’t think one should throw out the baby with the bath water. Reform can’t be buried forever as if there was no problem to address urgently. Yet no one on the left is willing to put forward good faith solutions to the problem that will continue to be a ticking time bomb for France. Macron’s view of himself as Jupiter certainly grates too. But in their visceral hatred of Macron, they let their passions over rule their reason. That’s very French.

#burke #edmund burke #quote #french riots #riots #protests #paris #macron #politics #pensions reform #democracy #5th republic #de gaulle #demonstrations #society #france

[jules-has-notes]

Dayton, OH — VoicePlay live performances

After spending quite a bit of time in Ohio the previous autumn, VoicePlay returned in July 2015 for a night at the Fraze Pavilion. The show was almost cancelled for inclement weather, but luckily the rain held off and the outdoor venue stayed dry.

Their opening act was Eleventh Hour of Kettering Fairmount High School, the host group for the Kettering A Capella Festival that VoicePlay had participated in the year before. These talented kids had also opened for the Sing-Off tour a few months earlier at the Troy, OH show.

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[NOTE: The videographer sings along a lot.]

Each performance of this blend of comedy skit and musical medley is always a little different. How much will the driver and passenger poke at each other's buttons? Where will the air freshener go? What song will Layne sing? Have a watch and find out.

Details:

title: Road Trip

original songs / performers: [0:50] "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" by Tiny Tim; [1:08] "Orinoco Flow" by Enya; [1:26] "Cum On Feel the Noize" by Quiet Riot; [2:35] "Big Shot" by Billy Joel; [2:48] "I Wanna Rock" by Twisted Sister; [2:57] "Voices Carry" by ’Til Tuesday; [3:14] "Shout" by Tears For Fears; [3:30] "Why Can't We Be Friends?" by War; [3:40] "That Smell" by Lynyrd Skynyrd; [4:24] "Hard to Say I'm Sorry" by Chicago; [5:43] "We Just Disagree" by Dave Mason; [6:04] "Let It Go" by Idina Menzel as Elsa in Frozen (2013) ** see this dedicated post for original song links

written by: "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" by Al Dubin & Joe Burke; "Orinoco Flow" by Eithne "Enya" Pádraigín Ní Bhraonáin & Roma Ryan; "Cum On Feel the Noize" by Noddy Holder & Jim Lea; "Big Shot" by Billy Joel; "I Wanna Rock" by Dee Snider; "Voices Carry" by Robert Holmes, Aimee Mann, Michael Hausman, & Joey Pesce; "Shout" by Roland Orzabal & Ian Stanley; "Why Can't We Be Friends?" by Papa Dee Allen, Harold Ray Brown, B.B. Dickerson, Lonnie Jordan, Charles Miller, Lee Oskar, Howard E. Scott, & Jerry Goldstein; "That Smell" by Allen Collins & Ronnie Van Zant; "Hard to Say I'm Sorry" by Peter Cetera & David Foster; "Let It Go" by Kristen Anderson-Lopez & Robert Lopez

arranged by: Geoff Castellucci

My favorite bits:

road raging Eli

Tony's flickering eye movements at the first iteration of "Cum On Feel the Noize"

♫ "We'll get WILD, wild, wild…" ♫

Layne jolting awake on the beat

Geoff's little twirl as he flees the vehicle

Earl using the pretend aerosol spray as deodorant rather than his usual hairspray motion

Hey, Layne, look up there. ☝

Eli almost laughing at the different interruption

Trivia:

VoicePlay had been performing and tweaking this medley/skit since at least 2010.

They made a professional recording in front of a live audience during the 2014 Sing-Off tour.

Layne usually sings "Royals" by Lorde as his interrupting solo, but sometimes changes it like he does here in an attempt to make the other guys break character.

.

As much fun as this medley is to listen to, it's even more entertaining to watch the boys perform it live, bopping around the stage and playing together.

Details:

title: The King Has Returned (Lion King medley)

original songs: "Circle of Life"; [1:51] "I Just Can’t Wait to Be King"; [2:29] "Hakuna Matata"; [3:16] "Be Prepared"; [4:39] "Circle of Life" (reprise)

written by: Elton John & Tim Rice

arranged by: VoicePlay

My favorite bits:

the rhythm section step-touching their way through the "Circle of Life" chorus

Tony and Eli gesture-bickering over which of them "mine" refers to during "I Just Can't Wait to Be King"

Earl's little Elvis groove at the beginning of "Hakuna Matata"

Eli and Earl bouncing across the stage in time with Geoff's little downward riff

Tony and Geoff's alternating Twist moves

the crunchy transition into "Be Prepared", and their emphatic stomping

Layne making a butt-smacking motion toward Geoff to go with the whipcrack in his percussion line

the two beats of silence after "Pay attention!"

Trivia:

This medley originally appeared on VoicePlay's 2012 album "Once Upon an Ever After"

"Hakuna Matata" was also included in the "aca-Disney" mashup they created for the 20th anniversary of Disney On Broadway, as well as in their "Aca Top 10 — Disney Sidekicks" countdown.

"Be Prepared" later appeared in their "Aca Top 10 — Disney Villains" countdown.

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[NOTE: The videographer sings along a lot.]

VoicePlay isn't exactly a boy band, but they certainly sound good singing these hit pop songs from across the decades. And they've got a few moves to go with those talented voices.

Details:

title: Boy Bands medley

original songs / performers: "ABC" by The Jackson 5; [0:36] "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" by The Beatles; [1:19] "My Girl" by The Temptations; [2:08] "Sherry" by The Four Seasons; [3:04] "YMCA" by The Village People; [3:37] "(You Got It) The Right Stuff" by New Kids on the Block; [4:00] "I Want It That Way" by the Backstreet Boys; [4:40] "Bye Bye Bye" by *NSYNC

written by: "ABC" by Berry Gordy, Freddie Perren, Alphonzo Mizell, & Deke Richards; "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" by John Lennon & Paul McCartney; "My Girl" by Smokey Robinson & Ronald White; "Sherry" by Bob Gaudio; "YMCA" by Jacques Morali & Victor Willis; "You Got It (The Right Stuff)" by Maurice Starr; "I Want It That Way" by Andreas Carlsson & Max Martin; "Bye Bye Bye" by Kristian Lundin, Jake Schulze, & Andreas Carlsson

arranged by: VoicePlay

My favorite bits:

Geoff's slow realization that his mic is dying

the other four carrying on through "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" just fine, but knowing that the next transition could be borked

return of the bass right on time, but a third too low (Good recovery, dudes.)

Eli's little head tilt in the back during the chorus of "YMCA"

the crunchy transition from "Right Stuff" to "That Way"

Tony's fabulous pop timbre on the lead for the last two songs

"Everybody watch him drink that water." VoicePlay, modelling healthy hydration habits.

Trivia:

VoicePlay revised this medley and finally recorded a video for it in 2019 as the result of a Patreon poll.

This piece usually ended with "What Makes You Beautiful" by One Direction, but The Fraze didn't have a screen to project the visual gag that goes along with it, so the guys omited that part entirely for this performance.

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[NOTE: The videographer and her daughter sing along and yell a LOT.]

This video contains three separate numbers — Layne's drum solo, the "A Crimpella" medley of phonations, and an encore of "Don't Stop Believin'".

Details:

title: Layne's drum solo

written & arranged by: Layne Stein

Look at him go!!! 🥁

.

title: A Crimpella

original songs / performers: [2:12] "Walk the Dinosaur" by Was (Not Was); [2:25] "Witch Doctor" by Alvin & the Chipmunks; [2:32] "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang; [2:37] "We Go Together" from Grease!; [2:44] "Motownphilly" by Boyz II Men; [2:53] "Imma Be" by the Black Eyed Peas; [3:01] "Tutti Frutti" by Little Richard; [3:03] "Shoop" by Salt N Pepa; [3:10] "Jock-A-Mo" (aka "Iko Iko") by James "Sugar Boy" Crawford; [3:18] "Mahna Mahna" from The Muppet Show; [3:30] "Lovin, Touchin, Squeezin" by Journey; [3:51] "Goofy Goober Rock" from The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie; [3:55] "MMMBop" by Hanson; [4:08] "Hooked on a Feeling" by Blue Swede; [4:10] "Bawitdaba" by Kid Rock; [4:16] "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" by Neil Sedaka; [4:25] "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen; [4:42] "Bad Romance" by Lady Gaga; [4:46] "Can't Get You Outta My Head" by Kylie Minogue; [4:52] "Limbo La La" by James Lloyd; [4:56] "All Night Long" by Lionel Richie; [5:13] "Wanna Be Starting Something" by Michael Jackson; [5:20] "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye" by Steam ** see this dedicated post for original song links

arranged by: VoicePlay

My favorite bits:

the stomp sending Eli flying

everyone "watching" the UFO flyby and waving to it

the big wind-up before the others join Tony in rocking out

Earl's little chugging motions during Geoff's "ooga chaka" solo, that Layne then picks up for the next section

using the ♫ "goo-ood-byyye" ♫ as an actual exit line

Trivia:

This medley was part of their setlist for several years, including during the 2014 Sing-Off tour.

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title: Don't Stop Believin'

original songs / performers: [8:00] "Don't Stop Believin'"; [10:38] "Open Arms"; and [10:47] "Any Way You Want It" by Journey; [10:31] "Oh Sherrie" by Steve Perry

written by: all songs written by Steve Perry in collaboration – "Don't Stop Believin'" with Jonathan Cain & Neal Schon; "Oh Sherrie" with Randy Goodrum, Craig Krampf, & Bill Cuomo; "Open Arms" with Jonathan Cain; "Any Way You Want It" with Neal Schon

arranged by: Layne Stein & Geoff Castellucci

My favorite bits:

the rare pairing up of Geoff and Tony & Eli and Layne during the first set of harmonies

Earl giving the camera a pointed look

Geoff's growl note as everyone but Earl drops out

the stacking of the polyphony section

Trivia:

Contrary to the cameraperson's assertion, Earl did not "mess up" the melody. That's how VoicePlay's arrangement goes. It's intentionally different from the original Journey version that she was probably expecting.

VoicePlay had been performing this arrangement since at least 2009, when they were still going by 4:2:Five.

In 2016, they were the featured guests at Camp A Cappella, and recorded a video for this song with the campers.

They later recorded a full version of "Any Way You Want It" during the second round of their PartWork series.

For a couple years, Eli also sang with a Journey cover band called Raised On Radio in between VoicePlay gigs.

#VoicePlay #live performance #a cappella #music #video #long post

[neorice]

Hero oh Hero Blog #1

Three Protagonists:  As many of my followers probably know, I run a pixelart webcomic by the name “Hero oh Hero” (read here). Just to throw my thoughts into the ether, I’d like to share a few of the writing choices I’ve made throughout the production of my comic & why I decided to make those. Not sure if they’re useful and/or interesting to anyone, but it’s fun for me to reflect. As of the writing of this post I’m at 2757 published pages & 3453 pages total if we include buffer, quite some content!  The first thing I’d like to talk about is the general structure of the comic, I run three separate stories that feel relatively disconnected, despite taking place in the same world.

Burk, a heroic character who goes around trying to defeat villains who do evil deeds. As he travels from city to city he meets various friends who join him.

Noah, a bookish introvert who’s favorite hobby is being left alone & avoiding social situations at all costs. He’s also a magic child-soldier being forced to perform missions for a totalitarian government.

Tobi, an adventurous inventor-girl who comes from a world that operates by video-game logic, she gets flung into another world at some point & is trying to find her way back home.  Comic Structure So the big question here is: why tell three stories rather than just putting all focus on a single one? I think the biggest underlying reason for me is that a lot of games I played & series I watched had what I’d describe as a “protagonist-centric world”.  It’s obvious that the story itself will focus on the protagonist, they have that role for a reason, but it goes much further than a character being important/central to the narrative. In a lot of series I felt that the worldbuilding itself, the magic system, the legends and myths, all of it was often designed to accentuate the protagonists’ importance, or somehow add something to “why” the protagonist in particular was worth following. Very often this’d result in stuff like worlds where, if there were 4-types of magic power a person could have, the protagonist would be the one special person with access to 2, 3 or even 4 of those abilities.  I don’t necessarily think this is bad writing in itself, but I did sometimes find, especially in series with interesting side characters/extended casts, that the way the universe seemed to revolve around the hero and their abilities often made the world itself seem less interesting or less real to me.  What got me interested in multiple perspectives & multiple protagonists back in the day were games like Seiken Densetsu 3/Secret of Mana 2 where you had 6 main characters of equal importance & you could basically decide for yourself which of the 6 was your playthrough’s “protagonist” & which 2 out of the remaining chars would join you on the team. Similarly games like Treasure of the Rudras played around with multiple different heroes rather than a “true” chosen one hero of more significance than everyone else.  I noticed that a lot of these games that either split up the roles, or provided multiple canonical characters who technically could’ve done the job, aleviated a lot of the annoyances I had with singular-protagonist series, but also added the fascinating element of how different narratives/perspectives could intersect and affect each other. Designing the Heroes. So from the early onset I’ve decided that I really wanted to tell a story where rather than just a single central protagonist, I wanted several protagonists of “equal importance”. The next question that follows is: If I’m going to have multiple heroes, what characters am I going to choose? Burk came relatively easy as he’s a character I made up for an old English class story back in highschool, though I did tweak him quite a bit from his original design. What I did want to try and do is contrast the other two characters from him, but not *just* in terms of “This one’s strong, this one’s smart, this one’s ... hot” or something, but also more on their role within the story. This is where I got the idea to try and really try to put a notable difference between the main characters & why they’re even in “their story”.  Burk’s a highly active protagonist who goes out of his way to look for adventure, Noah in contrast is absolutely reactive and is thrown into a plot entirely against his will. Tobi is hard to discuss without major spoilers, but I’m thinking that observant readers who are up to date probably know where she falls in this regard. Once I figured out the biggest area of contrast between the three, it was pretty straightforward what setting would best accentuate that aspect of them. Burk & his narrative very closely follow a D&D-type of “let’s find an adventure for the sake of it!” plot, whereas I intentionally threw Noah in a dystopian Empire that has little interest in things such as “personal agency” and “Freedom”. 

#heroohhero #hero oh hero #webcomic #comic #neorice #neoriceisgood #hoh-blog

[rachaelmayo]

This was commissioned promotional art for my friend Tim Burke, an author of the strange, horrific, and humorous (all at the same time).  The novel is called Saints of Flesh, a sequel to his first novel, Flesh Sutra.

For this promotional art, Tim wanted a magical emblem that utilized sacred geometry, but it needed to be "evil" sacred geometry.  He provided several designs he liked that were proper geometric diagrams, as well as a traditional yantra design, and said to me, pervert them.   He wanted them to be eye-searing, almost painful to look at.  They needed to be off; the measurements and shapes tweaked so that they're just a hair out of true. 

I'd originally wanted to make all the red linework into bones, but after we played around with designs back and forth, Tim favored a simpler approach.  The red and aqua dance in front of my eyes, and tweaked just a little in Photoshop, the design is deliberately almost painful to look at for very long.  Tim, of course, has made merchandise out of it, so it can be wrongity-wrongly-wrong on all kinds of stuff, including t-shirts and laptop stickers, and all kinds of cool stuff.

I worked out the geometric design on the computer, printed it out, then colored it with Prismacolors.  The dark background is also Prismacolor.  I don't know if it shows up well here, but the imagery is comprised entirely of muscle fibers and eyes.  Lots of eyes.  Oh God, So Many EYES.

#yantra #evil yantra #unholy geometry #not so sacred geometry #don't try this at home kids #aaaah my eyes they burn #color juxtaposition #color clash #muscles #eyes #horror art #weird art #commission art #promotional art #traditional art #traditional media #prismacolor

[theimperiumchronicles]

Hi there buddy, my name is Athena. I'm coming to say hi, see how you're doing and this is a chance to ramble about your wips. Have any of your wips been influenced/inspired by podcasts or any other media?

Hi Athena :)

YES! Thank you for asking <3

All of them!! So...let's start at the beginning...take a seat...get a drink and a snack...this will...you know what, get that drink and a snack and I'll break this down so you can go potty in between WIPS. Otherwise you'll be doing the potty dance and trying to read faster and you might skip something...and no one wants that. *grins happily* We'll start with The Imperium Chronicles (@theimperiumchronicles )

Okay - the original concept started as an RP a loooooooooooooooooooooooooooong time ago with some super cool and super good friends of mine. We used Cassandra Claire's Mortal Instruments book series as kind of inspiration, but there were parts of her mythos we thought were crap and her characters were too young and we HATED the whole chalice thing....so we kept a little and threw a WHOLE LOT out...and came up with the original crew - Abriella (who was an existing char of mine that I tweaked and was known as Brie then), Cruz, Dez, Talon, Talia, Raguel, Arioch, Char (she's dead and we're gonna leave her that way), and Deacon. Some people wrote more than one. None of the characters were actually based on characters from Claire's stories, we more based it one her setup and if you saw our stories then and some of the old stories I wrote for Brie, you'd recognize it. It's been almost 20 years now...she's evolved some.

NOW...the obvious inspiration for the current arc is kind of the Bible - 4 Horsemen and all. But again, there is a twist on it. Mainly because having done some Biblical study, I am aware that what we have today is at best the English translation from the Latin from the Greek from the Aramaic...or something along those lines....there may even be a few other translations thrown in there. In some cases there were multiple meanings for one English word. For instance when Jesus is walking on the water the more accurate translation is NOT "Fear not, it is I". It IS "Fear not, I AM." Why does this matter? Because God was know as The Great I AM. He was declaring his divinity within the statement but what seems like a minor translation issue is a HUGE one in context. Sooooo....I've used this to my story's advantage. In no way is my story related to reality or religion in any way, I'm just using something that is real in my fiction.

ALSO...Leandre, Andronicus, Orpheus, and Thenasus are completely and wholely based on the BBC Musketeers series, save the last season which IMO sucked balls. They are even based on the characters that share their FC. Leandre is my blorbo baby...Tom Burke *swoons*. ANYWAY...completely inspired by...blorbos were born watching the series while writing Abriella stories. Demanded they be born and allowed to participate. So, here we are.

Thinius...yep...he is alive and kicking because Imagine Dragons seems to write songs that just inspire the fuck out of the entire The Imperium Chronicles gang. And they demanded Dan Reynolds be a FC of a character as such. Don't ask where his personality come from other than when I saw them live in NOLA, it came to me watching that man literally bounce around for over 4 hours on stage like the Engergizer Bunny.

Kellen got his FC before I saw Shadow and Bone, but he became more formed and his character changed some afterwards. The plot didn't but he absorbed some of the elements of Kirigan that Ben played, elements that I had been struggling to figure out with Kellen. It was tied into the world building for Uffern, and as soon as he grabbed onto those tiny details, everything fell into place for Uffern and all the others who live there...including Korben's curse. z

POTTY BREAK...I'll start @bendingthelaws after I finish eating my lunch

TAG LIST - @ceph-the-ghost-writer @saltysupercomputer @careful-pyromancer @late-to-the-fandom @autumnalwalker @perasperaadastrawriting @fearofahumanplanet @jessica-writes22 @dogmomwrites @mjjune @verba-writing @blind-the-winds @shipping-through-eternity  @outpost51 @inkspellangel @blind-the-winds @sunset-a-story @writingmaidenwarrior @clairelsonao3 @toribookworm22 @there-goes-thefighter

Please let me know if you would like +/- From the list

#the imperium chronicles #my ocs #my writing #writing inspiration #inspiration #asks answered #answered asks #writeblr #writeblr connect #writeblr community #writer community #writing community #story ideas #writing ideas #where plot bunnies come from #plot bunny

[thebourisbox]

New antifungal molecule kills fungi without toxicity to human and murine cells

See on Scoop.it - Design, Science and Technology

  Terrible to terrific: A new antifungal molecule tweaks a powerful drug to harness its power against infection while doing away with its toxicity.

  A new antifungal molecule, devised by tweaking the structure of prominent antifungal drug Amphotericin B, has the potential to harness the drug’s power against fungal infections while doing away with its toxicity, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and collaborators at the University of Wisconsin-Madison report in the journal Nature.

  Amphotericin B, a naturally occurring small molecule produced by bacteria, is a drug used as a last resort to treat fungal infections. While AmB excels at killing fungi, it is reserved as a last line of defense because it also is toxic to the human patient – particularly the kidneys. 

  “Fungal infections are a public health crisis that is only getting worse. And they have the potential, unfortunately, of breaking out and having an exponential impact, kind of like COVID-19 did. So let’s take one of the powerful tools that nature developed to combat fungi and turn it into a powerful ally,” said research leader Dr. Martin D. Burke, an Illinois professor of chemistry, a professor in the Carle Illinois College of Medicine and also a medical doctor. 

  “This work is a demonstration that, by going deep into the fundamental science, you can take a billion-year head start from nature and turn it into something that hopefully is going to have a big impact on human health,” Burke said. 

    Burke’s group has spent years exploring AmB in hopes of making a derivative that can kill fungi without harm to humans. In previous studies, they developed and leveraged a building block-based approach to molecular synthesis and teamed up with a group specializing in molecular imaging tools called solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance, led by professor Chad Rienstra at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Together, the teams uncovered the mechanism of the drug: AmB kills fungi by acting like a sponge to extract ergosterol from fungal cells. 

  In the recent work, Burke’s group worked again with Rienstra’s group to find that AmB similarly kills human kidney cells by extracting cholesterol, the most common sterol in people. The researchers also resolved the atomic-level structure of AmB sponges when bound to both ergosterol and to cholesterol. 

  “The atomic resolution models were really the key to zoom in and identify these very subtle differences in binding interactions between AmB and each of these sterols,” said Illinois graduate student Corinne Soutar, a co-first author of the paper. “Using this structural information along with functional and computational studies, we achieved a significant breakthrough in understanding how AmB functions as a potent fungicidal drug,” Rienstra said. “This provided the insights to modify AmB and tune its binding properties, reducing its interaction with cholesterol and thereby reducing the toxicity.” 

Read the full article at: news.illinois.edu

[livviem-009]

Okay it's been 2 years since I made my FNAF AU, but now, I got some of my nostalgia back. Timeline baby! PART 1!!

Original blog post: (Yes that's me before)

--------

-Remembering what I have written years ago, this was basically a marlie au. I tweaked it a little from the first time I wrote it.

-After Michael witnessed his best friend, Charlie, killed by his father, he tried warning the authorities.

-Unfortunately, William got to him and killed him (Puppet gets possessed by two souls, who tried his damn hardest to get revenge and set the kid's souls free.

-Henry took action early and tried stopping William.

-He failed of course but he has a plan B. (The Afton and Emily line was finally gone).

-Usual William Afton shennanigans, until he gets springlocked.

-Years later, Clay Burke investigated an old burnt up house where he found a crying boy next to a body.

-The little boy introduces himself as Andrew and he gets adopted into his son's family.

-Jessica and Carlton are married and have two sons, a teen and a kid same age as Andy.

-K.C. Burke basically has that foxybully vibes but he is nice to his new foster brother.

-Jesse loved having Andy around and thought that he had cool eyes (Heterochromia: Blue and Brown) and the fact that Andy knew robotics at such a young age.

-One day, K.C.'s friends invited them on a visit to one of the old Freddy's pizzaria.

-When they went inside, Andy was fascinated by the circuitry before following Foxy to the stage.

-K.C. panics when he hears a child's laughter. When he gets to the stage, he saw Andy talking to Freddy enthusiastically, so he calms down.

-To be continued.

#fnaf #five nights at freddy's #fnaf silver eyes #fnaf au #games/books crossoved #michael afton #charlotte emily #henry emily #william afton #characters ensemble #everyone is still traumatized #au #fnaf oc #playful melodies au

[ogmosis]

CRIME FICTION INTERVIEW: RAY CELESTIN

Crime fiction set in the USA has a storied history with American authors such as Raymond Chandler, Patricia Highsmith and Chester Himes delivering a series of brilliant books through to the likes of evocative bestselling authors like Michael Connelly, Karin Slaughter and James Lee Burke who have stood out in recent decades with ambitious and atmospheric tales.

More and more British authors, though, are making a big impression with American set tales that span memorable eras in the nation's history. Rod Reynolds' trilogy featuring disgraced New York reporter Charlie Yates stood out over the last few years, while Ray Celestin's City Blues Quartet is a multi-award-winning series of novels plotting the intertwined history of jazz and the Mob through six decades of the 20th century.

With the fourth and final outing in the series Sunset Swing placed on the shortlist for both The Crime Writers' Association’s Gold and Historical Dagger awards, Ray was kind enough to take time out from writing his latest book and screenwriting projects to talk about the monumental crime series that, for me, ranks alongside the very best in crime fiction history.

Matthew Ogborn: What is your typical working day now that it looks like we have come out of the pandemic finally?

Ray Celestin: "I try and do novels in the morning when my brain is fresher and I do screenwriting in the afternoon, mostly writing pitches and treatments. There is a lot of waiting around and trying to prove your ideas. I have got a few things with production companies, endlessly tweaking treatments before they send them off to broadcasters. I just got a one-episode commission from ITV for a crime drama.

"I am not a typical author. I do loads of drafts before I submit to the publisher, so I normally submit the fifth or sixth draft and then we do the line edit and copy edit. A lot of authors submit their first draft, and it is a bit of a mess, and then they work with the editor. I have a few friends who I send the earlier drafts to. One friend is a former editor, and she puts big red crosses through lots of the historical chunks where she says, 'You've stopped being a novelist at this paragraph and you've started writing a historical book for the next three pages, and then you are a novelist again.' A lot of time it is coming up with a good segue from the plot to the history bit and then, other times, it is sort of disguising it. “If you have an interesting historical tidbit, I think it is quite good technique to find a location that reflects that and set the scene in that location. There is a scene in Sunset Swing where they kidnap Kerry and take her to a disused studio lot. Originally that scene started in a supermarket and then I was reading about how in the late 1960s the studio system was falling apart, and they were selling off their studio lots to developers. Historic film sets got mysteriously burnt down in insurance fires, so they got sold off and they used the money to buy property in Vegas. If I just set the scene in the studio lot, loads of that history will come naturally as part of the scene rather than just having a character relate that in dialogue or think that as they are looking at something. LA has got so many brilliant locations. I make a list of cool places and think which scene I can place in which location to get the most atmosphere out of."

How strong is the pull of writing historical crime fiction compared to contemporary?

"There is this nostalgia thing. I don't know if it is as simple as life is a bit depressing now, so we are looking back to the past. I don't think the past was better, in most instances it was worse. When I write the books, part of it is puncturing whatever people's view of what the period was. In Sunset Swing, it is set in the summer of 1967 which I always thought was the Summer of Love and a high point of compassion and culture, but it was actually a long, hot summer and there were so many race riots that year. This really violent summer had its own nickname - The Long Hot Summer.

"I like the research. I like reading history books and articles, but I read novels, short stories, and poetry of the time. You get a good sense of the language and what people were thinking way more than you would in an actual history book. With outlining, I treat it like a crossword puzzle. It is a game of slotting all these things together. The only bit of the whole thing I dislike is writing the first draft, it is like pulling teeth out putting the clay on the thing. I enjoy rewriting. I have this slow inefficient process doing six to eight weeks for a draft, leave it in the drawer for a month or two then book two days off and just reread it and then do the next draft. Sunset Swing took about three years, the longest of the three sequels. I don't think I can work in any other way or streamline it. My editor's line edits are very much her cutting stuff out and reducing the word count. You always think you need more words than you actually do. It is always maybe 10% over what it should be, which is very much a screenwriting thing as well scrabbling for every line to make it shorter and shorter."

Did you envision this as a series when you set out to write The Axeman's Jazz first?

"I wrote The Axeman's Jazz as a standalone as part of a two-book deal. I spoke with the publisher and she said you should write the sequel. I didn't really want to write a series like commercial crime fiction with 20, 25 books following the same detective, but while I was researching the Axeman I stumbled across this theme of the twin stories of jazz and the Mob and this weird thing that wherever the Mob was prominent in whatever decade, Louis Armstrong happened to be there. I like jazz music and Mob Mafia stories, so I could write about those two things. It had an end point and it felt like a closed story. He was in Chicago in the 20s, New York in the 40s and then the last book I wasn't sure whether it would be in the 50s or 60s and, before I had even written the second book, I realised actually What a Wonderful World would be a brilliant way to end the series. He wrote it in 1967 right at the end of his life and the decline of the Mob kicked off, so a good ending of that last scene of him recording or playing it to Ida. It was very clear there would be four of them.

"In Axeman, Ida and Louis are the youngest characters and they need to be the leads if the series wants to go on. Very early on I had this idea where you meet them at different points in their life and see the progression of them as people. One of the things that I am not happy with in the Axeman is that Louis gets really involved in the crime plot and in the subsequent books he is not massively involved, he passes on information and is a conduit for the history. That was always difficult getting that balance right. He was a real historical figure; he can't be running around like Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter!”

Did it get easier or harder to write the sequels as you flitted around time and locations?

"Each book was easier to research. Axeman was tricky as most of the history is music history as jazz professors were the only people really studying that period. That was cool because there were more jazz musicians in the book, so musicology was the main research for that book. There were not many novels written in New Orleans during that time, even though there were loads of 1800s New Orleans novels. I was relying a bit more on newspapers like the Picayune. They have digitised their archive, but there was a fire in their archive in the 1950s and for the two years that Axeman was set there was no archive, so I had to piece it together from years either side. The other thing is that none of the music was recorded. There was recording technology in New York, Paris and London but not a backwater like New Orleans, so all those original songs and classic first-generation jazz musicians they could have been recorded if somebody had realised the value of what was going on.

"The only city that I have visited is New York after living in it briefly. It was the easiest to write as I knew the streets and neighbourhoods. The first two are so far back in time, there are not many people alive who could say, 'Well, actually, that was not how life was like in New Orleans one hundred years ago'. It would be my research versus their research, but the most recent one was the trickiest because I started writing it before the pandemic and there wasn't much hope of me going there and there are loads of people alive who still remember the 60s in LA. It was the easiest to point out errors in the research and the feel of it."

Staying in Los Angeles, did the likes of Chandler influence your series finale?

"I was reading Raymond Chandler books when I was still in school and really loving them, but more recently I am a huge fan of James Ellroy. Another thing that made Sunset Swing tricky was that I was going into his patch. LA is a really literary city, there are loads of brilliant poets, novelists and essayists despite its reputation as a cultural desert just all about the movies. I got into a rhythm with reading Ellroy, and it is a bit hypnotic. I'm aware that he is not everyone's cup of tea, but I love his writing style and his knack for dialect and jargon, and the atmosphere is great as well."

Faron is one of the most chilling villains I have ever encountered in crime fiction, so how did you go about creating him without falling back into a clichéd antagonist?

"I wanted a Mafia boogeyman character. The second book was in the 20s and then it skips over the 30s which was the time of Murder, Inc. with a blue-chip corporation of hitmen going all over American killing people for the Mafia. I couldn't get the Prohibition/Great Depression in, so Faron was a way of having that. He started off in the Appalachians as a booze runner, then joins Murder, Inc. then becomes a legendary boogeyman and they meet him in the 40s when he already has this big reputation and a bit of a myth. There is a character in Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian called The Judge who is basically the Devil in human form. I liked that idea of having this sort of character who is almost supernatural, the embodiment of violence and poverty - a Mafia archetype, a horrific psychopath. The other thing that fed into him, which goes against the recent pop culture obsession with hitmen, is that they are horrible people. They get paid to kill people. How did these people become our heroes? I didn't want to glamorise it and I made a conscious effort to have a hitman be a really bad guy, not cool. Voodoo is a strand that runs through the series and he is very much a voodoo character operating in the shadows."

At its core, the series hangs on the Ida and Louis relationship. Was that a delicate dance in how to portray a fictional character and a real-life character over such a long period?

"The one tricky thing was Louis Armstrong's dialogue. I had to write the literary version of how he would speak and speak to Ida. That was a balance. With the other characters, that was quite easy as the investigator characters are all quite brusque. Ida is an African American who can pass for white, so she has a unique experience. I am aware that I am a white guy on a different continent who's got nothing in common with her really, so I didn't feel comfortable doing the civil rights and racism through Ida's eyes. Instead, I just made her a cop, a detective and an investigator viewing the world through that analytical lens. That was the only way I could come at this and feel comfortable about writing it. She has a roving eye and she is a logic machine. “There are funny things like every time she meets Louis he forces her to smoke a joint. She is strait laced and Louis is very much, 'Come on, chill out and smoke a joint'. I guess the other thing with her is that one of the notes I got in the second and third books is that there is not a lot of conflict between her and Michael. I did the opposite. They are likeable, reasonable people who are fun to be around and they bounce off each other. It is not like Sherlock Holmes and Watson where there is a brain and a guy who gets everything explained to him. These are two brains and talented people, and it is fun to watch how fast they think and spur each other on. It is like work porn. We love watching James Bond and Indiana Jones being really good at their jobs and that is why we also watch the Olympics and any sport. I wanted them to be doing stuff that the reader never could and the reader realises they are operating at a higher level and figuring out stuff that we never could. It has become a bit of a cliche now where the lead characters have to be chalk and cheese."

What do you want readers to get most out of this sweeping book series ultimately?

"The City Blues Quartet looks at the Mafia and jazz music, which are far apart and rarely get put together. Jazz musicians - when they have been depicted in film and TV - are a bit of a joke, they are light entertainment. Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet, and Duke Ellington were serious, proper avant-garde artists. People don't consider that generation as the equal of Picasso and Stravinksy, but they were modernists and they have never been depicted properly in that way especially in book two Dead Man's Blues with the 1920s hot jazz, avant-garde cutting edge music and book three The Mobster's Lament through bebop in the 1940s."

After delivering such an iconic crime fiction series, what is next? Historical again?

"I am working on a Victorian Gothic haunted house book, which is almost finished, and then hopefully the next thing is a standalone contemporary crime thriller set in the UK. I want to do another hardboiled historical series, but I haven't figured it out yet."

Find out more about Ray's City Blues Quartet on his website HERE.

#crime fiction #true crime #historical crime fiction #books #ray celestin #the axeman's jazz #dead man's blues #the mobster's lament #sunset swing #city blues quartet #mantle #pan mcmillan #publishing #raymond chandler #james ellroy #louis armstrong #jazz #jazz music #mob #mafia #murder inc #sidney bechet #duke ellington #picasso #stravinsky #james bond #indiana jones #cormac mccarthy #blood meridian #new orleans

[mariusroyale]

YOOOOOO

here’s this wip i never got around to finishing bc i lost motivation after colouring 😔😔 curse you, my lack of knowledge and abilities in lighting/colouring!! i really wanted to make it like one of those beachy anime thingies but alas

i couldnt figure it out

i dont know why it shouldn’t be that hard but skjjhdkfjhdf

and yes this pose/base thingy is from Master_0607 (i think??) i found it on my poses board on pinterest-

#octonauts dashi #octonauts tweak #octonauts fanart #dashi dixon #tweak burkes #my art #wip #idk if I’ll finish this one too lads

[impossible-ancient]

~Your favorite supporting characters from Far Cry 5.  The only original picture is Kim Rye, whom was already smiling.  Haha!  Enjoy!

#Far Cry 5 #Far Cry Fan #Far Cry #far cry fanfiction #Far Cry 5 Burke #Marshal Burke #Nick Rye #Far Cry 5 Nick Rye #Jerome #Far Cry 5 Jerome #Tweak #Tweaky Clean #Far Cry 5 Hudson #Charles Lindsey #Tammy #far cry 5 jess #Far Cry 5 Eli #Eli Palmer #Far Cry 5 Pratt #Deputy Pratt #Deputy

[peter-and-neal]

Peter: There’s seven chairs and ten kids. What do you do?

Mozzie: “Lose” three.

Neal: Bring three more chairs.

Peter:

#white collar #neal caffrey #incorrect quotes #peter burke #mozzie #I tweaked it because mozzie would never suggest killing kids and i didn’t want to use a different character

[peppermintquartz]

(Probably a one-shot but we'll see)

White Collar

Neal/Peter, Peter/El, El and Neal are friends

*

"We need an in," Peter Burke says and rubs the bridge of his nose. It's the new glasses he has to wear these days. "Jones has been digging and all we got is that he has a penchant for vintage cars."

"Friedman is canny," Clinton Jones says, as he helps himself to a second serving of lasagna. "El, this is delicious! It's so much-" He sees Peter's warning glare a little too late "-different from the lasagna I had the last time I was here."

"I updated the recipe is all," Elizabeth demurs. "Had some input from Geoffrey." She keeps her tone bland and friendly but there is no mistaking the warm mischief in her wink at 'Geoffrey', aka the 'late' Neal Caffrey.

Jones clears his throat. "It's good to finally meet you, Geoffrey Neil Anderson."

"The pleasure is all mine," Neal says and lifts his glass of Malbec in a toast. "To friends, new and old."

Peter tries to hide his amusement and mortification as he drinks. It's a calculated risk, letting Jones into the Big Secret, but it wouldn't have been fair to keep something like Neal's return hidden from one of the most loyal agents Peter has ever worked with. The next person getting an invitation to the Burkes' new house would be Diana.

It's still unreal to him, some days. Peter sometimes wakes up pressed to a warm, lean body that's mostly muscle, and thinks "it's that dream again", except it isn't a dream. It makes up for all the nightmares he's had of Neal dying, painful and alone, when he can kiss the man who conned them all and feel just how much Neal loves him.

Elizabeth likes having Neal nearby - just next door, in fact - and if they have a door joining the two houses, no one needs to know. She knows Peter is trying to work out an indemnity deal for Neal who recovered so much Nazi treasure, but he's torn between revealing that the death was faked and letting Geoffrey Neil Anderson live as he is.

Elizabeth prefers the latter. She has never liked the tracking anklet, and the distrust people have of Neal Caffrey rankles. Besides, she likes having Geoffrey as her little secret. Some of her acquaintances are already whispering about the art restorer Elizabeth is having an affair with. ("He comes to her events and escorts her to gallery openings. He even went to the opera with her! I mean, how much more obvious can they be? Not that I blame her - he's much more handsome than her Fed husband." She's having the best of Peter and Neal and she is selfish enough to want to keep it.)

Later, after Jones teased Neal on his new bearded face and went home, Mozzie returns with EnToo, the miniature Neal now armed with a new toy his size that he swings around. When the wand gets to Peter's belt, it starts beeping loudly. When Peter glares at him, Mozzie shrugs. "It's a metal detector, Suit, not a bug sweeper. He's just a curious kid."

"I think it's good to encourage curiosity," Neal says, to forestall the diatribe he can see Peter about to launch into. "And it's time for bed. Come on, EnToo."

*

Neal hums as Peter slots himself into bed behind him and snuggles back sleepily. "I thought it's El's night."

"One of her clients just called with an emergency so I thought I'd go where I'm wanted more." Peter kisses the back of Neal's neck. "Hope you don't mind."

"No, it's good. I like when you come to me, but I have a lot of walking to do tomorrow so we're not fucking," says the younger man.

Peter pretends to sound disappointed, but he also nuzzles into Neal's curly hair and his fingers tweak Neal's nipples, so he's not that dejected.

"I was just thinking if you want me to shadow that Friedman guy."

"Neal, the last person I want to think of when I'm in bed with you is Isaac Friedman." One large hand slides around Neal's hip and gropes him slowly. "I'd rather be busy with other matters."

"Mm. Sounds really good." Neal sighs extravagantly and turns around to lie on his back, cupping a hand around the back of Peter's head. "Remind me to talk to you at breakfast about the case."

Peter smiles down at Neal's beautiful and drowsy face. "Deal."

*

"I've heard that name before," Neal tells Peter over cereal the next morning, both of them dressed for work. El is sleeping in after firefighting a venue emergency all night; she has an event later and needs to be alert. "Tell me what you got. Maybe something will twig."

"Isaac Friedman? All I got is from a file. A month ago, his cousin Maxwell was murdered in a nightclub in Los Angeles, along with his bodyguard. Isaac was the one who called the police because he was calling his cousin and couldn't get him. But there were too many suspects and not enough to pin anyone for the crime," Peter says, opening the case file. "His sister is now the CEO of the Friedman empire. Takeout packaging and condiment packs were the foundation of their wealth, now they have their fingers in everything from perfume to pad thai."

Neal grins. "Cute." The smile disappears. "Maxwell... Maxwell..." He closes his eyes and leans back, displaying the inviting column of his neck. Peter thinks it's unfair that he has to be on this side of fifty to enjoy Neal, but he would never have compromised Neal or himself back when Neal was his CI. No matter how much he wanted to.

"Tyler Breeze."

"What?"

"Maxwell Friedman was a close friend of Eddie Briesman, who you may not have heard of, but Eddie is the older brother of Tyler Breeze."

Peter frowns. "And who is Tyler Breeze?"

With a fondly resigned sigh, Neal taps into his smartphone and slides it over. A good-looking blond man dressed in Calvin Klein briefs and a pouty smirk gazes back at him. "That's Tyler Breeze."

"He's a model."

"And a Hollywood darling, the victim of a sex tape expose, an entrepreneur, fashion influencer, and currently dating a very gorgeous hunk of tall, dark and handsome," Neal finishes. "Oh, and a great kisser as well as a very kinky lover."

Peter raises his brows.

Neal shrugs. "I was trying to get a Wesselman from him. But he was so sweet that I didn't." When Peter continues to stare, Neal sighs. "Okay, fine. I was warned off by Tyler's dom." Off Peter's blank look, the younger man mimics a whipping sound. "As in BDSM. Finn can be... intimidating. Plus, he knows the name I gave Tyler wasn't my real name. So I went to con Eddie instead."

Peter wants to delve further into Neal's past acquaintances, particularly with a BDSM-loving minor celebrity, but decides to get back to the topic. "So you know Isaac Friedman?"

"We've never met, but I've met his cousin. An entitled, arrogant ass who thought he was God's gift to humankind. Maxwell talked a lot about his family and how they were all leeches."

"Charming."

"Right? I circulated within that circle for a couple of months before I came to New York, so maybe I could, I don't know, reach out to Isaac, send my condolences?"

Peter hums and stands, taking his and Neal's cereal bowls to the sink to wash up. "We have to engineer an occasion for you two to meet and chat. Isaac is suspected of racketeering, but we don't have solid proof. If you can get close enough to change out his phone for long enough that we can mirror it to our own devices..."

"Peter, I'm not a CI any longer. I can't do that. Legally."

"Well, what if you, say, found a misplaced phone that you handed to a member of the staff of the event? Whatever happened between you finding the phone until it is returned to the owner is not your business and you know nothing."

Neal fights his knowing smirk and loses. He gets up and kisses Peter, giving his ass a good pinch just because he now can. "Now that I can do."

#white collar #case fic #ship fic #neal caffrey/peter burke

[lulu2992]

Hey! I’m trying to write about the bliss and you seem very knowledgeable about the far cry universe so I was wondering if you could tell me everything we know about the bliss and it’s affects on people in canon.

Hey! So, first, Bliss is two things: a drug, and a “place” you can “access” when you take the drug.

When Eden’s Gate arrived in Hope County, about 10 years before the events of Far Cry 5, they didn’t have Bliss yet. The drug is made from what they call “Bliss flowers” but it seems it’s actually Datura stramonium, or Jimson Weed, and the active ingredient apparently is scopolamine. They first discovered the flowers near the Silver Lake Summer Camp a few years after they arrived and learned how to turn them into Bliss at the Jessop Conservatory. To mass-produce it, they use the Whistling Beaver Brewery. The flowers are left to dry in the sun and then distilled. Bliss can be powdered or liquid. Powdered Bliss is only made by Faith’s private chemists in her bunker and is the most powerful. However, liquid Bliss makes Angels stronger and helps them “resurrect”.

Tweak’s father helped the cult create the Bliss and a pharmacist named Feeney is now in charge of the Jessop Conservatory. Bliss is Faith’s weapon and she is immune to its effects. She has control over it and over the people who have been exposed to sufficient doses, which makes her extremely powerful. John also uses it during Cleansings to make people more compliant and Jacob uses it in his experiments (to turn wolves into Judges, for example). The cult also has “Bliss bullets” to sedate people instead of killing them, but what they look like and how they work is unclear. In an attempt to convert non-believers, they have also put Bliss in the water, so there’s a little bit of it everywhere in Hope County. Sometimes, it forms and is referred to as “mist”.

Bliss has hallucinogenic properties, is sensitive to heat (it can explode), and is extremely volatile. When people are exposed to it, they see things that aren’t there, hear sounds, and feel euphoric. Faith generally appears to them. However, as John puts it, “too much Bliss can go to one’s head”, and since it reportedly passes the blood-brain barrier and can never truly be purged out, high doses of Bliss can make people lose their mind completely. It’s what happened to Faith’s Angels, who were exposed to pure Bliss and are now “zombified” and brainwashed. Bliss has harmful effects on the environment, as it kills the fish. According to Zip, it’s also turning all animals homosexual, but it’s probably just his theory… Bliss eventually killed Ethan, Virgil’s son, but we don’t know how it happened exactly. And according to Adelaide, Bliss has wonderful effects on Xander in bed.

Now, if you take enough Bliss, you can “go to” the Bliss. This place is not real, it’s just a hallucination, but it feels very real. Some people who have experienced it say they saw Joseph come talk to them personally and sometimes show them visions of the Collapse. Generally, people don’t want to come out of the Bliss because it’s a “place” where they feel happy and free (see how the Marshal reacts to it in the game). However, it’s dangerous to stay in the Bliss for too long as it can eventually severely damage your brain. The problem is it’s also dangerous to come out of it too fast for the same reason. In the game, the Deputy is given adrenaline to help them come back to reality. Burke refuses it and remains under Faith’s control.

That’s all I can think of for now. Feel free to complete this if I forgot something!

#bliss: feels good but is bad #far cry 5 #faith seed #I love to notice typos when it’s already too late :’)