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ionlymadethissoicouldleaveanask · 2 months

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In the nook of a valley that looked like it was ripped straight out of a postcard for “Adventurer’s Paradise,” Vannak-134 and Riz-028 stood awkwardly side by side. The scene was something out of a nature documentary, except the majestic beasts here were two supersoldiers in state-of-the-art MJOLNIR armor, not exactly blending in with the scenery.

Vannak, towering and clad in dark blue that screamed 'I’m here to party, but also I might accidentally demolish your house,' wore his EOD-variant helmet like it was part of his skull. Riz, on the other hand, was a study in black and subtlety, her armor sleek and adorned with a helmet that was more 'mysterious avenger from a sci-fi serial' than 'standard issue.' Those antennas on her head? They screamed 'I'm listening to your secrets, but also, I can't get good radio reception here.'

They were supposed to be scouting, or patrolling, or some other military term that meant 'walk around and make sure nothing explodes.' But there they were, staring at a waterfall as if it held the secrets of the universe, or at the very least, the secret to breaking the ice and admitting, "Hey, I kinda like you."

"Bet I can beat you to the top," Vannak said, breaking the silence with all the subtlety of a grenade in a china shop. His voice had that deep, rumbling quality, the kind that in ancient times made people think, 'Yep, that’s a leader,' or 'Maybe he’s a god,' but now just made Riz roll her eyes so hard she might've seen her brain.

Riz turned, her posture all 'challenge accepted,' but with an air of 'I’m also judging you.' "Wanna bet?" she threw back, her tone light, her dialect crisp with a hint of mockery, as if she was saying, 'Oh, we're doing this again? Alright, Shakespeare.'

The air between them, usually charged with the electricity of unspoken things and the lingering question of 'What are we, really?' was now laced with the anticipation of their ridiculous challenge. It was their thing, finding the most absurd ways to compete because apparently, talking about feelings was too mainstream.

"Okay, hotshot," Vannak chuckled, the sound muffled by his helmet, "loser buys dinner. And not just any dinner, but something from the black market of the mess hall."

Riz’s laugh cut through the sound of the waterfall. It was clear, almost musical, if music was made by sarcastic supersoldiers. "Deal. But when I win, I want one of those steaks you swear are 'just as good as real meat.' You know, the ones you talk about with the same reverence most people reserve for holy relics."

"You’re on," Vannak shot back, his stance ready, like a knight of old, if knights were into futuristic armor and making bets instead of jousting. "Prepare to be disappointed when it's your turn to raid the kitchen."

They squared up at the base of the cliff, the tension palpable, if you ignored the fact that this was all over a race to the top of a waterfall. "Ready to eat my dust?" Riz taunted, bouncing on the balls of her feet like a boxer ready to enter the ring."In your dreams," Vannak retorted, with the confidence of a man who has absolutely no idea if he can actually make good on his words.

Then, they were off, scrambling up the cliffside like two oversized mountain goats with an affinity for heavy metal—music or armor, take your pick. They climbed, occasionally slipping in their haste, the sound of their armor clanking against rock mixing with the constant roar of the waterfall. It was a symphony of chaos, a testament to their stubbornness and perhaps, a metaphor for their approach to personal issues—climb first, think later.

Halfway up, Riz nearly lost her grip, her foot slipping on a wet rock. Vannak reached out, grabbing her arm in a move that was part knight in shining armor, part 'oh no, we’re both going to die.' For a second, they locked visors, the world narrowing down to this moment of accidental intimacy.

"Thanks," Riz muttered, yanking her arm back like it was on fire, her tone a mix of gratitude and 'I'll never live this down.'

"Don't mention it," Vannak replied, his voice a weird blend of smug and genuinely concerned, like a puppy that's just saved its owner from tripping but also kinda caused it in the first place.

The race resumed, with more caution this time, as if they’d both been reminded that, yes, gravity still existed and, no, their armor couldn’t fly. When they finally reached the top, panting and probably a few dignity points lighter, they collapsed side by side, looking out over the valley below.

"So, about that dinner…" Riz started, breaking the comfortable silence.

"We'll see," Vannak replied, his tone light, but his unspoken words heavy with the promise of more than just a meal....

This was excellent. Your gift for imagery continues to astound me, and the ridiculousness of this event was so fun! I love the idea that Riz and Vannak are so bad at talking that they’d rather beat each other up than ask each other on a date.

The pining is adorable and the competition is even better. I loved it all.

#halo #halo fanfic #vannak 134 #riz 028 #vannak 134 x riz 028 #others writing

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ageless-aislynn · 1 month

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Aislynn and the Long Rambly Rambles about Video Games and Finishing My Halo WIPs and Potential Future Halo Fic Ideas and I Dunno Maybe I Should Finish My Last Two Flash WIPs 'Cause That Would Be Super Rad, Too, Right?™️

Finished! I had a lot of fun with Portal! I did finally manage to compensate for the weird "look to the side and look all the way up or down" problem I was having, thankfully. The puzzle aspect was awesome!

Now, since I'm here for a good time, not to be an amazing gamer, I'mma be straight with you: I looked up the answer whenever I got stuck. I tried all of the puzzles "cold" first and kept trying even when I had no idea what to do. Then, when I reached that first hint of ~~frustration~~, I just looked up the answer. Most of the time, I still had to work to get through it, so it wasn't a gimme. But I don't even care if it does. Like I said, I'm here for a good time, full stop. After really thinking I was never going to get to play any other games in my Steam library because of all of Georgette's serious computer issues, I'm just super happy to be playing again!

I may play the second Portal next, might just go for something else entirely.

I still want to finish Scott/Peebee and Scott/Jaal in Mass Effect: Andromeda but while I can't make any further GIFs, I'm not in a big hurry to do that next. I can still capture the footage, though, so might just have to do that and then hope Georgette will let me install Vegas. 🤞😣🤞

I also have Half-Life and Half-Life 2 and I believe they're connected to Portal in some way? Also have heard they're good games, so they're definitely on my to-play list.

Also there is, in no particular order:

Mass Effect Legendary Edition (got to finally experience the OT, after all!)

Dragon Age: Inquisition (I'm thinking this might slightly scratch my itch to play Baldur's Gate 3, since I'm waiting on that to go on sale)

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (been looking forward to this one for a long time!)

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (another one I've been looking forward to for a while)

Tomb Raider (2013) (DEFINITELY been looking forward to this for ages and ages!)

Titanfall2 (have heard a lot of good things about this one; have also heard it's not too terribly long, which I'm looking for right now, I've got things like ME to play if I want something really long and involved but I'm honestly also looking for a few things that are less of a large time commitment to intersperse with the epic-sized games 😉)

Dead Rising 1, 2 and Off the Record (There are a few things about them I hope won't make me feel stressed out, I don't always do good with things that have time limits, but mannnn, I really want to try out all of the funny weapons and such that you can craft! So the plan is to not worry about "winning" just get in there and have fun!)

I've also got the Resident Evil Village demo but am kinda bummed that it's on a 30 minute time limit. So, like, if it takes me forever to get the hang of the controls, I might not get to see 5 minutes of gameplay. That'll suck. 😠It seems like it would've been better for the demo just to be a level or part of a level and if it takes you an hour to play it, what does it matter? You're still just playing that one little chunk they set aside for you to test out. Oh well, I'll give it a try out of these days.

The Resident Evil 4 remake demo isn't time-locked and you can replay it as much as you want, so I'm thinking about giving that a try. I dunno. I've watched a LOT of playthroughs in this franchise and I'd like to try them myself but I also know I can get skeeved out by body horror and sometimes survival horror in general just stresses me out. So, don't plan on picking up the full game of either of these until I get a chance to try out their demos at least. And I want them to be on a great sale in case I try the full game and then find myself going

Anyway, if you play games, what are you into these days?

Halo MCC will always be my comfort place, needless to say! Does anybody here do the weekly challenges? I love doing them! Just need 100 more points and I can buy everything on the final level/season/whatever they call it. I love getting new nameplates, lol!

Anyway, I did also do some writing today towards Camp NaNo and made my ridiculously low daily word par. I'm hoping to actually get all of the rest of "Recreation" and "15 Minutes" done in first draft form this month. That would be rad to just have to do final editing and get them posted in May! I'm going to miss them when they're done but I want to make sure that I get their story told, you know?

If I should achieve that goal, then I have a fluffy Vannak x Reader one-shot I'd like to finish. Then I realized if I do that, I'll have given everybody in Silver Team a Reader character except Riz. Can't have that, now can I? Riz is also MAH BB!

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authortobenamedlater · 1 year

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Vital Record

It's harder than expected to find a safe-for-my-dash photo of these two that still has relevance to the fic.

Do you want to see big bad Master Chief snuggle a baby? The correct answer is YES.

The vaunted Baby Blessed One fic is here. FINALLY. I have it on Tumblr @mrtobenamedlater so it's officially up now.

This obviously ignores the S1 finale. It is also not anything I want to see on the show (nor do I think we will, as things ended up), but I didn't want The Scene either yet here we are. I decided it should at least have a purpose.

No current plans to continue this but I have several ideas for what could happen if I did. I'll post about them here at some point.

This is also I believe my first Halo fic in which Cortana is not prominently featured.

@ageless-aislynn @sarnakhwritesthings @sweethoneyjazzeuphoria @christian-anon

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ionlymadethissoicouldleaveanask · 1 month

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“Can I get 50 bucks?”

My dude if I had, I would give.

But in more seriousness, this comes from this prompt list. When we talked a little bit ago the plan was for this to be about Fred/Kelly but I have written a ton of them lately so I'm branching out just a little bit - I hope that's okay!

---

Reach City, like most things in Riz-028's perception, was different after the pellet. Everything seemed... more. More light, more noise, more smells. The sound of vehicles on the street and children playing on the sidewalks were distracting. The bright lights of mobile billboards burned her eyes. The aroma of overcooked street food and hot asphalt filled her nostrils. It was almost overwhelming.

Still, she forced herself to go out into it. She had a few reasons... she needed the time to adjust before sliding back into the field, she could use the experience viewing how civilians interacted with her without the pellet masking her reactions and feelings, she wanted to see the world the way it really was - not the gray, emotionless place she had known for the majority of her life. More significantly, though - she was out because Vannak-134 insisted she come along with him.

The big man managed to be convincing when he wanted to.

Vannak stopped on the street outside a brightly-lit building. A large window dominated the front of the store, showing off animal displays all throughout the interior. Riz raised an eyebrow at her companion. "What are we doing here?" she asked with a smirk.

"You'll see," the other Spartan answered. He was wearing a grin - not the sarcastic one Riz had grown used to seeing whenever he won some kind of competition over the past twenty-some years, but a sincere, almost childlike smile that was at once familiar and foreign to her. She wondered if it was the same grin he used to give her before the augmentations and the pellets and the... everything else.

She blinked when she realized that they'd been staring at one another for too long. "Well," she said, trying to hide the warmth she felt in her cheeks, "show me then."

"Right," Vannak said with a nod. He opened the door and marched inside.

Riz followed him, her smile growing more and more curious as Vannak confidently strode to the front desk. "I'm here for my shipment," he said.

The attendant looked up at him nervously. Riz supposed that a Spartan - even out of their MJOLNIR armor - must be an incredibly intimidating sight.

Vannak slapped down a large handful of credits on the counter, causing the attendant to flinch. "I'm here for the birds," he declared with a stern look.

The attendant nodded, disappearing into the back.

"What did you just buy?" Riz asked, crossing her arms over her chest and shooting Vannak a look. Spartans didn't have much room for personal belongings, much less living creatures.

The other Spartan just smiled cryptically. "You'll see," he rumbled. Something about the glint in his eye sent a thrill down Riz's spine, but she decided to file that bit of information away to analyze later.

After several moments of silence in which Riz did everything she could not to meet her fellow Spartan's eye, the attendant finally reappeared. In his hands were three cages, each housing a multicolored bird.

Riz stared first at the cages, then turned her eye on Vannak. "You dragged me all the way out here to show me that you bought some sky rats?" she asked, remembering the slang that Earth still used for pigeons.

A look of mild offense passed through her teammate's features. "These are certified purebred show pigeons," he countered fiercely. "They are beautiful, and I brought you here to meet them." Under his breath, but still loud enough for her to hear, he added, "And because you're making everyone depressed just hanging around the barracks all day."

The attendant cleared his throat nervously. "Well, here you are Sir," he stammered. "We've got the papers written up as well."

Vannak smiled wide enough to show his rows of perfect white teeth. While it was a display of pure joy from the Spartan, the civilian seemed to regard his grin almost as one would a tiger baring its teeth. "Perfect," the Spartan said, ignoring the attendant's obvious discomfort. "Riz, meet Benny, Jenny, and Lenny."

Riz rolled her eyes. "What am I supposed to do," she said with one eyebrow raised, "shake their hands?"

Her fellow Spartan snorted. "Maybe you ought to leave the jokes to me," he countered in a low voice, but the mirth in his tone was unmistakable.

"Uh... Sir?" the attendant interrupted, his voice squeaking only one octave this time. When the pair of Spartans turned to him, he swallowed nervously again. "There's... there's actually another bird," he stammered quickly. "If you're interested." As he spoke, he lifted another bird cage onto the table.

Riz watched as Vannak all but bounced from one foot to to the other in excitement. Then, the large man's smile turned downward slightly.

"I didn't bring enough credits for a fourth pigeon," he said thoughtfully, counting out the currency he'd brought on their outing. Several seconds passed in silence before he turned to Riz. "Can I get fifty credits?" he asked bluntly.

The candor with which he spoke, particularly about such a seemingly mundane subject, took Riz off guard. "Why would I give you any money?" she countered.

Vannak took a step toward her, standing close enough now that she could smell his aftershave. It was surprisingly pleasant, as was the heat that radiated off of his large form. "I'll let you name the fourth one if you spot me the money," he said, drawing out the words as if it must have been the most enticing offer she'd received all day.

Riz crossed her arms over her shoulder. She knew from the sinking feeling in her stomach - accompanied by the strange fluttering she felt whenever Vannak turned that smile on her - that she was going to lose this fight.

"Fine," she finally said, slapping down a handful of credits on the counter. Then she turned to Vannak and said, "You're ridiculous." There was no venom in her tone, and for once she didn't even try to pretend that there was.

Vannak smiled widely as the attendant collected the money and began filling out the final paperwork. "What should we call him?" he asked her from the side of his mouth. "I'm thinking Kenny."

Riz shook her head, a smile working its way to her lips in spite of her. "Absolutely not," she bit back. She stared at the bird, surprised to find that it really was a beautiful creature. She tapped one finger against her lips three times as she thought. Finally she came to a conclusion, and turned a smile on her companion.

"I've go it," she said brightly. "We're calling him Keith."

---

Full disclosure, I do not remember the pigeons' names and am not in a great spot to be able to look up the episode right now. So I'm putting down the names that genesisgray used in this story (which I highly recommend that you all read.)

I also know nothing about pigeons. Ask @makowrites if you want to know what makes Vannak's special.

#halo #halo fanfic #halo tv show #riz 028 #vannak 134 #vannak 134 x riz 028

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ionlymadethissoicouldleaveanask · 2 months

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12. "Let's play cards, winner gets..."

In the less-than-glamorous bowels of the UNSC's latest "home away from home," a motley crew of Spartan super-soldiers hunched over a rickety table that had seen better days. The flickering overhead lights cast an almost comical glow on the proceedings, making the stack of MREs in the center of the table seem like a treasure trove worthy of a pirate king. This was no ordinary game night—it was poker night, and the prize? None other than Master Chief Petty Officer John-117's stash of rations.

John, the man, the myth, the legend, shuffled the deck with the kind of seriousness you'd expect from someone defusing a bomb, not playing cards. His stoic expression could have fooled anyone into thinking he was plotting the next big offensive against the Covenant. Sitting across from him, Fred-104, Blue Team's de facto leader when John wasn't around, eyed the deck with suspicion, probably wondering if those hands of steel could finesse a shuffle or just snap the cards in two.

To John's right, Vannak-134, the strong, silent type, cracked a rare smile, his eyes twinkling with the kind of light-heartedness you wouldn't expect from a guy who could bench press a Warthog. Beside him, Kai-125 was the picture of cheeky confidence, her smirk suggesting she had a few tricks up her sleeve—or maybe she was just happy to be there, hard to tell with Spartans.

Riz-028, rounding out Silver Team, was the embodiment of focus. If there were an Olympic medal for intense card-playing concentration, she'd have taken gold, no contest. Her eyes darted from player to player, as if trying to x-ray their cards—or their brains.

The game itself was a slow burn, each hand dealt with the kind of gravitas usually reserved for high-stakes diplomacy or interstellar negotiations. Bets were placed with a mix of Spartan rations and bravado, the currency of choice in these parts.

"Alright, fellas," John's voice cut through the tension like a knife through butter. "Last hand. Let's see if anyone can pry my precious rations from my cold, dead hands."

Kai snorted, throwing her cards down with a flourish. "John, you might be the Master Chief, but you're not the master of poker. Watch and learn."

Fred leaned back, stretching his arms as if preparing for physical combat rather than a card game. "You know, I've seen Grunts with better poker faces than some of you. Let's wrap this up before our esteemed leader here starves."

The final showdown was more akin to a circus act than a game of poker. Cards were slapped down with theatrical flair, accompanied by a running commentary of taunts and jibes. When the dust settled, it was John, with his unflappable demeanor and a hand that would make a Vegas shark weep, who came out on top.

Fred shook his head, chuckling as he collected the cards. "Well, folks, looks like John's rations live to see another day. I swear, you've got more luck than a leprechaun."

John cracked one of his rare, almost-there smiles, the corners of his mouth twitching upwards. "Thanks for the game, everyone. And don't worry, my rations are always up for grabs. Same time next week?"

The laughter that followed were the true prizes of the evening. In the world of Spartans, where life and death hung in the balance, these moments of absurdity were their own kind of victory, a reminder that beneath the augmentations, they were still human. Well, superhuman, but who's counting?

That's on me for putting a game of chance in John's lap. My bad, everybody.

This was a ton of fun. Nice to see the dorks getting to be such dorks. Great work!

#halo #halo fanfic #others writing

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