#what is up with the M24 thing

[riko0youth]

plz no hate also,don't justify,you could hardly change my opinion even if its wrong

Since i started shipping Kaishin i always restored to translated DJs and Fanart to feed it, whenever i thought of reading fanfic i simply felt repulsive, that it won't taste good, and boy was i right, i understood the reasons very clearly, but yesterday, due to accumulation of a few reasons , i caved and tried it , and now i need heaps of DJs and Fanart mouthwash to forget this taste.

no offense intended, the writing style of authors is actually super good, the plot is very entertaining, overall a good well written fic, but it just not my thing, simply because the western eyes(and i don't mean ppl living in the west, im talking abt the ideology itself, wherever they're from) and mine don't match, they don't see or understand the characters as i do, and same for me, i fail to see and understand most stuff they way they do, so simply, me and the anime fics, we can't mix, i can have some tolerance for stuff like bkdk , but a classic literally older than me DCMK is out of question, how they portray the characters and take them out of context, while its good and fun...its just not them so its pointless for me to read fics abt absolute strangers, i would rather go through my kaishin pins twice than read smth while i enjoy it, gives me a foul taste (i guess that's what alcohol drinking is like for people, yeah, its good that i don't and won't drink ever in my life)

also, if you don't know, i merely write for the sake of journaling, this post is not meant to criticize anyone, especially not the hard working authors, simply my pov that most won't agree on.

I am not trying to defend myself saying this, but i am merely stating how my mindset came to be, first, my childhood, pre-teen years, and the first quarter of my teens were spent watching Anime, and the rest of my teens was spent reading manga/hua/hwa and Danmeis , that's it, no friends, no social media, no way to understand how my peers from any part of the world thing, only how the Japanese, Chinese and sometimes Korean ''Characters" live, like and think, so ya, very very low tolerance, when i unfortunately started opening up to the "world" it was merely to look for more resources for a good read, my mindset was already set by then and i felt like an alien (still do, but meh that's me) among everyone else, and more often than not i feel super uncomfortable from a comment with a mindset that's just so foreign to me it feels sickening (im not exaggerating)

so ya, lgptq+ , most of the relationship 'cues', ideas of (in my weak pov seems extreme) individuality in romance ,etc etc, they are all things i am not very fond of, cuz my mind is attached to a more simple process, watching ppl be in love ,period.

oh ya and the concept of incent, which i find hilarious but that's just horrible of me, incent is wrong for two reasons, ethically, you can't marry your sibling because they're your sibling sharing the same blood of at least one of your parents and that is sooo wrong (im not too far gone to think on even such a thing) but speaking ethically , for me a sibling is diffrent from a COUSIN they don't share your blood, their blood is just closer to yours from a stranger, they are not the children of your own parents, so, i just find it pointless to be so hung up on it, i could marry a cousin and only discover they're my cousin after we've had kids and lives happy stable lives, should i just destroy all that and make my children live in agony cuz someone somewhere sometime decided that marrying the cousin is same as marrying an SIBLING and even giving it the same label? of course , another point ,which is actually, speaking abt cousins, more serious , is Genetically speaking you can't mix DNAs too similar because it increase the risk of genetic mutations and disabilities in offspring, but the risk is always there, so its *unadvised* at most to marry a cousin if you are planning to have kids, but that's it, and everyone is free to choose between marrying the one they want and increasing their chance of healthy children, so its absolutely *hilarious* for me to be so hung up on "incent" between 2 MALE COUSINS , like really, *where are you even coming from?* (and yes im talking abt what you have in mind , as i said, i started kaishin fanfics just yesterday which is apparently the worst possible timing since the whole M24 trailer fiasco or whatever it is that's bothering them and got swarmed with confusing tags that just made me lose my appetite and feel vaguely uncomfortable, and "what's the big deal?" confused)

ofc as a person opening up to the world the first thing i did was to try to fit in, it wasn't wholly unpleasant ofc, i got some of the dearest ships to my heart that sometimes support me post-breakdown, but i tried to think like others, only to discover its futile, i can guess how others would think , but im mostly unconvinced by it or don't feel like agreeing to it, and that just works to make it easy for me to gain enemies and unpleasant impressions, so i mostly lay off commenting my opinions since its as foreign to them as theirs are to me , and im not so free or sinister to make others feel unpleasant on purpose, ofc no one is perfect so i slip from time to time when my battery (i call it LXC battery of patience cuz that's what i think of portraying when im controlling myself from commenting and arguing, using LXC as a role model to extend the Battery's life) and as expected those slips catch fire , i also mostly use the method of burning letters, except i don't burn them , i have a very short memory span on most thing, so i write it, say i will post it later, and the when i see the draft i don't remember if i did post it or not , and it would be very stupid to post the same thing twice, also im not so attentive to open a site or an app specifically to check, i would rather spend that time reading

Most of the time i didn't understand why the "western" ppl make a big deal out of everything and are so hung up on realism , i still don't but i could get one thing, and ironically im the living proof of that one thing, that is, most people's mindset is affected by what they are exposed to, aka, what they read, see, or hear, so if something say like intentional harm like pushing people off the stairs and people always survive, if crazy troupe like that spiral into normality smh, and someone ALWAYS read it and always seeing it, them it won't be that hard to apply in real life, so the westerns are just looking out for others, or less selflessly, like every human, are trying to convince others of their opinion.

ofc in my case, which i don't know if its an exception or there are many others like me (again, i don't socialize) that help is absolutely unnecessary, since everything i read see or hear are for me strictly fictional, I won't fall in love with a minor as much as i won't fly off on a dragon, for me they're all fiction, love, itself , is something fictional i don't expect to see in the real world, that's why i love reading it the most, for me what i read is what can't be found in my reality like dragons, travelling to other worlds, falling in love at first sight, forbidden love etc, so its no surprise i feel unpleasant when some person out there try to stain my "world" with realism after i always painstakingly separated them anyways bye.

#kaishin #what is up with the M24 thing #tedtalk(is that what its called? #unpopular opinion #my unintentional quest to gather hate

[wisteriaiswriting]

Hi I want to request reader (male) is so sweet and innocent that everyone is like how did you end up in hell and then reader goes on to tell the most horrific story on why there in hell (you don’t have to put a the story in if you don’t want) also if you want can you make reader and Alastor be together and then alastor like yep that’s my partner right there

Thanks for your time and have a good day/night

𝕃𝕚𝕥𝕥𝕝𝕖 𝔽𝕒𝕨𝕟

Words: 208

You were so similar to Charlie, which in hell, wasn’t a common thing. Meaning you had to do something terrible to end up down here, as you weren’t a hellborn. But what did you do?

“So, what did you do?”

“Hmm?”

“I–”

“What he means,” Vaggie cut of Angel as he spoke, “Why are you down here.”

Ah. That's what he meant, and you mean it is a fair question. They should know anyways.

“I was a hunter,” Thanks to Alastor subtly watching and listening, wanting to know your story, he ‘poofed’ you a hunting gun, specifcally a M24. “But instead of shooting animals, I mainly hunted people. And dogs…” Whispering the final words.

Almost everyone in the room froze. Trying to process the story you just told them, why… how…what?

“Funny story, but how did you really end up down here?”

“That’s what happened!”

“How would you know?”

You swore Alastors grin grew at the question, sending you a quick glance.

“My friend, how do you think I get all this meat without hunting for it myself.” His words had everyone look at you, who was now looking through the gun around the hotel. “You know I also like gifts, an–”

“Are you two fucking?”

“Ew.”

“No.”

#hazbin hotel x reader #hazbin hotel x male reader #hazbin hotel alastor #hazbin hotel alastor x reader #alastor x reader #alastor x male reader #wisteria♥

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

am I the asshole for threatening my roommate with a knife? TLDR: it was only a little threat and he was being really annoying

my (M23) roommate (M24) likes to do this bit where he takes bites and drinks at the exact same time as me. like, in sync. on purpose. to piss me off. i had a long day at my retail job, and we were eating dinner (chicken and noodles) together watching super monkey ball speedrun videos. he starts doing the thing. i tell him to stop. he says ok, and then starts DOING IT AGAIN.

i pick up my steak knife and point it at him GENTLY AND NONAGRESSIVELY, and tell him i'm going to stab him if he does that again.

dude got all pissy and went to eat in his room. he's still upset about it two days later.

am i the asshole?

What are these acronyms?

#aita #am i the asshole

[reds-skull]

Not Alive, Nor Dead

[PREV PART] [AO3]

So I use a text-to-speech site to let me spot mistakes more easily (when the robot actually says it, I find it way easier), and that leads to this robot lady saying "fuck" in the calmest way possible.

For this chapter, it decided 'Phil.' stands for 'Philosophy'. So Graves' full name is now "Philosophy Graves". Almost died laughing.

Anyways...

The following day brought a lot of meetings with it. They would need extensive planning for their upcoming mission, if they want to catch what they dubbed ‘The PMC Revenant’.

Ghost has been on edge the entire day. Something about Graves has been pissing him off (well, something besides his personality and entire existence). The American has been avoiding everyone since his little chat with Shepherd, and Ghost doesn’t trust either of them not to plan anything behind their backs.

He knows, given the choice between glory and power, and saving lives, the Americans would go for the former every single time.

In that, they’re not so different from the enemies Ghost erases for them.

The sun is setting, and the Vaquero base is winding down for the day. The bright yellows and oranges remind him of the second thing that’s been bothering him - Johnny.

Well, not the man himself. The amount of secrets hidden beneath that easygoing smile. Ghost has been racking his brain for days trying to figure the Konchar riddle out, and he still is no closer to solving it.

His feet take him to the shooting range. He needs something to let his frustrations out on, and he rather not deal with the screams of Limbo right about now.

To his dismay, there’s someone else there already. Ghost can see the shots coming from one of the sniper nests. Whoever is it, they know their way around a rifle.

His feet are silent when he walks to the farthest nest, and settles down in front of an M24 SWS. He automatically goes through checking the rifle, before setting his scope on a target.

A quick inhale and the target falls, Ghost instantly moving onto another, when his companion shoots it down.

Annoyed, he takes a farther one, downing it perfectly. From then on, him and the other sniper enter an unspoken competition, each of them shooting farther and farther, until they both hit the last one together, the mannequin falling off the track and flying a few meters back.

Ghost huffs. He can appreciate the skills required to match him, no matter how irked he was when they started shooting his targets. He hears footsteps behind him and raises up to meet his new rival in sniping.

From the corner pops out Commander Karim, and she raises her brows, before smirking, “good shots, Lieutenant.”

Ghost nods, “likewise, Commander. Where did you get your training?” he can’t help the professional curiosity.

Farah’s face darkens, something defiant in her expression, “the streets of Urzikstan. We’re not an army - we’re a resistance. No… fancy bases and training programs.” She looks around, at the vast training fields, “my soldiers are people who want freedom, who are sick of seeing their family die for the crime of being born in their own country.”

He hums. Having to face such a great enemy with practically no support, the punishment being death and consequences equal your entire world… no wonder they so readily accepted the PMC revenant.

“I didn’t know that revenant deals in such… vile business.” Farah spits after a while.

Something in him believes her, “be careful who you trust.” 

She huffs, “I learned that lesson the hard way. But I trust the Captain, and so I trust you.” she turns to him, “I will help you hunt him. My soldiers are not safe until he’s out of the game - he knows too much about our operations.”

Ghost crosses his arms, “you got any other skills? Besides being a good shot.”

Farah smiles, walking towards the gunnery behind them. She inspects the weapons hanging on the wall, taking one revolver, opening the chamber to reveal one bullet.

She gives the gun to Ghost, and walks a step back. “Go ahead, shoot me.” she lifts her head up.

He looks from her to the revolver in his hands, thinking about it for a moment, before lining up and shooting her in the head half a second later.

Ghost tilts his head when Farah is completely unaffected, the bullet clinking on the floor. “They call it Ironskin. Shoot me, and the bullet falls to the ground, stab me, and the knife breaks.”

“How’d you get captured?” He returns the revolver to the wall, turning to lean on the table next to it.

“Gas. Not immune to that.” Farah snarls, and he gets the feeling there’s something more to that vulnerability than she lets on. She meets his stare head on, “I’ve heard rumors about you, Ghost. About your powers. Is Limbo truly as powerful as they say?”

“No”, he sighs, pushing off the table to leave, “It’s stronger.”

As he walks by her, Farah nods, silently analyzing him. She would make a powerful ally when Ghost deems her trustworthy. He’ll find out soon enough, on the field.

Price and Ghost are currently scoping out a potential location for the PMC revenant’s deal. The building is a small bar in a dark corner of Las Almas, with a back exit that leads to a car park, where intel suggests a truck housing the ‘goods’ will be.

The Captain has started irritating him about 5 minutes ago, when their very professional conversation about the best way to kill a man with a spoon has taken a sharp turn of topic to become about… Soap of all things.

“So… you and Soap, huh?” Price smirks, his voice filling his mind with his new most hated conversation starter. Seriously, when are they gonna learn there’s nothing interesting to gossip about him and Johnny?

The Captain side eyes him, “I beg to differ, I think it’s quite exciting, what you two got there.”

“What we got is a professional friendship between soldiers, Captain.” Ghost booms in return.

Price nudges his shoulder, cackling in his brain, “that so? Let me take a look…”

Ghost stiffens, “don’t you fucking dare-!”

“Don’t think about Soap MacTavish then, Simon.” He can practically hear the singsong way Price burrows into his memories.

Oh, now this is low, even for Price. Pulling out the ‘don’t think about the red balloon’ trick? Alright. Ghost won’t think about Johnny on principle.

He will not think about how Johnny smiles at him at mess, or how he claps his shoulder before leaving. He won’t think about all the nights he spent awake, staring at the ceiling, falling asleep to the memory of Johnny’s warmth on his skin. He certainly won’t think about how, when their eyes meet, he’s filled with this sudden urge to wrap his arms around him, how he wishes he could just do it one more time, how he’s going insane just thinking about it-

Ghost turns his head slowly, taking in Price’s gaping mouth and wide eyes.

…fuck.

He hears Price inhale to react, and drags a hand over his mask, “I don’t wanna fuckin’ hear it. I know it’s a problem. I won’t act on that, I swear on it Captain.”

Price returns to look at the bar, processing the information. Ghost starts to feel antsy when he finally pipes up, “as long as you keep it quiet, I don’t care what you do. We break a lot of rules, Simon. You really think I give a damn if you two start fucki-”

“We’re not fucking!” he says out loud, glaring at Price, and instantly turns away, unable to hold the Captain’s gaze, “and it’s not… it’s not exactly what I want.”

“What do you want, son?”

What does he want? Scratch that, it doesn’t matter what it is, he won’t get it. Not when it’s…

Price hums, “maybe something like this?” he projects a scene into Ghost’s head - two men, their faces flickering and undefined for a few moments before solidifying into Ghost and Soap. They’re sitting on a couch, in a small living room of sorts. Not talking, not doing anything really, just… cuddling. Trailing hands, flames warming skin, tracing scars, soothing. 

It feels safe. It feels… complete.

Ghost snarls and shakes his head to rid himself of the image, “stop.”

The Captain has a somber look that Ghost catches in the peripheral of his vision, “you want this, Simon. I could feel just how much. Question is, why do you think you don’t deserve it?”

Dead men don’t get to deserve, a memory whispers to him.

“We’re all dead. Doesn’t stop me from wanting, and deserving. Since when has that stopped you?”

Since he couldn’t even vocalise it. Couldn’t even form the words, his wants, in his scarred mouth. 

“Actions speak louder than words, son. I’m sure Soap will understand, he’s smart enough.”

Ghost sighs, “since when are you a relationship counselor, Captain?”

“Comes with the fuckin’ job, apparently.”

They huff a laugh, and return to their actual job, watching this extremely boring bar, and judging silently the people deciding 4 pm on a Tuesday is the time to get fuckin’ wasted.

Intel is slowly being pieced together, Farah and Alex joining on the efforts to plan for every possible outcome of the mission.

The two of them have been quite useful, providing details on the PMC revenant they couldn’t have gathered beforehand. 

The revenant is able to see from the eyes of all their soldiers, the puppets working as a hive mind. They’re not reanimated corpses, or replications of the revenant themselves, but a conjured creation, controlled like a robot from afar.

They can’t actually die, but destroy enough of their body, and the revenant will deem them useless, opting to melt the creature and focus their efforts on the rest.

Alex suggested attacking from multiple fronts, as the revenant’s greatest weakness is their own brain - they’re limited with how much they can divide their attention.

Optimally, they would go after the revenant themselves, but as Farah told them before, they’re likely not even in Mexico. For this mission, they aim to threaten, to scare the revenant into hiding, following his tracks to the snake den.

The two new revenants introduce the rest to their powers. Ghost already saw Farah’s, but he gets to see how knives just bend and refuse to pierce her. He reckons, if her powers are kept a secret, she can be practically unbeatable, if the enemy doesn’t prepare gas.

Alex’s showcase, while less shocking than Farah’s, is no less impressive. One moment, the man stands in front of him, the next he’s gone. 

Invisibility. Not hard to guess how he died. Ghost morbidly wonders if he lost his leg in the same incident.

Gaz volunteers to have a go at Farah’s Ironskin, and proceeds to throw whole tanks at the woman, who just stands there unamused. Soap is about to join in when Price blocks him, shaking his head. He informs Ghost the muppets had the bright idea of detonating trucks to use as rockets.

Ghost doesn’t even want to imagine how that would’ve turned out.

As he makes his way back to his barrack for the night, Ghost overhears two familiar voices arguing.

He sneaks closer, interest piqued.

“-playing at games you don’t understand, Phil.”

A barking laugh grates his teeth, “you’re always thinking so small, no wonder you’re still a Captain after all this time. You had potential, but you threw it all away to play with your little special soldiers.”

“At least I have soldiers, you two faced bastard.” Price growls, more anger than Ghost has heard in a while in his tone.

What does he mean by that?

“You can’t tell anyone, Captain” Graves mockingly enunciates, “higher brass got you tongue-tied, don’t it?” he chuckles cruelly, “this is what fucking annoys me about the military - so many damn rules!”

Footsteps echo, walking away, “you’ll learn one day, John. Sometimes you gotta step over red tape to get anywhere.”

The Captain is silent as Graves leaves. Eventually, he tells Ghost in his mind, “I know you’re there, son. Come out.”

Price is wearing a tired expression when Ghost slinks out of his hiding spot. “I suppose you have questions”, the Captain sighs.

“Not if the answers will get you in trouble.” he nods at the way Graves went, “is he going to be a problem?”

Price readjusts his hat, overlooking the horizon with contempt, replying honestly, “I don’t know. Keep a safe distance from him, and let Soap and Gaz know to not trust him. He won’t do anything while being tied to Shepherd, but the moment Graves will see an opportunity, I can’t guarantee he’ll keep his loyalties in check.”

Something tightens in his chest at the mention of the Sergeants. If Graves lays his hands on either one of them…

Limbo will be a mercy on him.

Can you tell I hate the military yet

#call of duty modern warfare 2 #cod mw2 #cod ghost #cod soap #cod gaz #cod price #simon ghost riley #john soap mactavish #kyle gaz garrick #john price #farah karim #alex keller #phillip graves #philosophy graves if you will #revenant au #call of duty fic #call of duty fanfic #call of duty modern warfare #cod fic #cod fanfic #ghostsoap #soapghost #ghoap #i feel like they did farah dirty in mw3 #(...like they did everyone) #so im exploring how desperate she must be for allies when her country is being occupied #and her closest people betray her #i feel like in some ways she and ghost are parallels #but while farah has people by her side #ghost is alone

[doroinoue]

AITA for tailing my best friend and not trusting him because he possibly got me killed?

I (M24) was recently resurrected by En's pet, and I'm currently looking for my killer, who I'm pretty sure is a cross-eye member. I have an old best friend (M28) from the south Zagan school of sorcery who always helps me when I'm in need, especially when it comes to the cross-eyes (I should mention now I'm a cross-eye member too (or used to be lmao)), so I was looking for him as well. The problem is that he has never shared anything about his life with me. I don't know where he lives, how he earns money, what his magic even is. Nothing! Which fucking sucks considering I share everything about my life to him. I've wanted to ask him several times about this, but he always conveniently leaves the convo saying he's "having a headache". Anyway, fast forward to a few weeks ago, I confronted the cross-eye elites(the ones closest to the boss) and even attempted fighting one of them, but it resulted in a fail and i ended up tied up in a room for several days. However they did hint that I was killed "because of my magic". That same magic helped me escape from there eventually by completely possessing over my body, and after some fucking around I ended up back in my old apartment, where my old best friend somehow found me. He took care of me for like a week because I was completely bedridden from the possession, and I pretended like everything was okay so I can keep his guard low. Here's the real kicker though. If I was killed because of my magic, that means HE sold me to the cross-eyes about it. Because guess what! I told no one about my magic, EXCEPT for him. He was the only person who knew about it. So he HAS to be the one that told em. And giving how I know nothing about him already, the suspicion falls on him even more. So anyway, he left for school and I decided to tail him. I suspected maybe he's changed as a person too since I died, but nope. Same old as ever. Goofing around and not caring about anything. He found me out eventually, and we got into a huge argument. I snapped at him and told him I don't know a single fucking thing about him and his life, and that there's no one who could've ratted me out except for him. He tried to deny it but it was too late. My magic seemingly activated again and I stormed off to deal with my killer myself, since I obviously can't trust him helping me anymore.

I feel a little guilty about it, but was I REALLY in the wrong?? Is it not rational to get fuckin mad?? Then again people always tell me I'm "neurotic" and "explosive" so I dunno. Let me know what you guys think. EDIT: No I won't fucking tell you what my magic is stop asking

#dorohedoro #drhdr #ドロヘドロ #risu dorohedoro #aikawa dorohedoro #risukawa #aikawa #risu #i dont think risu would keep any grammar i only wrote it like this so its easy to read #ALSO if u see a mistake no u didnt #my dyslexic ass

[gardenofnineveh]

r/JustNoMIL

Flair: Serious Replies Only

Hi. I (M29) was recommended to post here by my brother. My SO (M24) is having our baby soon (he’s half-Valyrian, be kind). He moved into my house about a month ago. Before that he was living with his mom and I was living alone.

Long story short, his mom/my MIL has been gifting him extremely expensive items, including a $150,000 crocodile bag, as “push presents.” Now, I don’t really have a problem w her gifting expensive presents to him or our baby. It’s her money.

My problem is that 1) I have a pet alligator Vhagar who is a very dear friend (she saved me in a kidnapping case when I was 14), so her giving crocodile skinned bags feels really inconsiderate, given that she knows what my alligator means to me, and also animal abuse. 2) Each time she drops by with presents, she gives snide comments about my house. Now I’m not rich like them; my family is, but I’ve since cut ties. She would often say how I live in the “ghetto” or “hood” and how her grandbaby will be growing up listening to “gunshots.” Or she would buy me clothing and say “I’m just trying to help you not get stopped by security at the hospital.” She would insinuate to my SO about how shit our living situation is (it’s not, we live in a typical suburban house), just so we can move back to her place.

I’ve tried to confront her about this, telling her that while we appreciate the gifts, we don’t have space for all of them. She says perfect, my SO can move back w her. I told her no, esp. not when she lies to my SO about me. She starts crying, saying how I’m not able to provide for her son and she’s going to call the police. Her first son, let’s call him “Jack,” comes, sees his mom crying, and starts getting physical with me, saying all sorts of nasty things about my relationship w my SO. I defend myself and overpower Jack, but Jack calls over another brother “Jeff.” Now Jeff is 7ft and plays basketball, so I’m outnumbered but put up a good fight.

My SO is pissed because he’s 7 months pregnant and has to pick me up from the police station, along with his crying mother and injured brothers. He takes me and his brothers to the ER while his stepfather takes his mom home.

I’m writing this as I wait for the ER doctor. My SO is crying about everything. Thankfully, he believes me cuz his mother lied before, but he is so distraught that he has to choose between me and her. He is mad at me for going to talk to his mom w out him in the first place, but he is more angry that his brothers and I are stupid enough to get into a fistfight.

I’m very worried about this family’s drama impacting his mental health, esp. since he’s pregnant. No contact/low contact is not an option since my SO is very close w his family and needs his support network.

Serious replies only. Please do not make inappropriate comments, esp. about our pregnancy, or I will report you.

[Alicent’s Post]

#lucemond #lucerys velaryon #aemond targaryen #modern au #fake reddit

[xsunnysucculentx]

rain

summary: your first mission with the task 141!

warnings: death, violence, guns,

pronouns: she/her

a/n: we finally have a name for reader!

oh. oh. was the only thing that came to your mind as you opened the door for ghost and soap, who were picking you up to go to the plane.

they had their tactical gear on and looked even bigger than they already were. you also put on your black gear and grabbed the black mask from the nightstand.

"looking good in your gear" soap said and you let the door fall into the lock.

"y'all look.." scrumdiliamptious "intimidating" you nodded at them and cleared your throat. especially ghost gave you a silly little feeling rn.

"here" ghost gave you a little ear piece and you saw his gloved hands. damn. you didn't wanna sound down bad, but.. you kinda were down bad.

"thanks" you smiled at him, taking your helmet in your left hand and following the two men after putting the ear piece in. your boots left heavy sounds on the floor.

"whats your weapon newbie?" soap asked and you caught up a little with them, walking next to him.

"M24 mostly" you stepped out into the setting sun and took a deep breath of the evening air. the mission was in somewhere between new mexico and texas, you'd be flying for a maximum of two hours.

"we have one on the plane!" soap said kinda excited and ghost raised his eyebrows for a second. "told you someone would need it"

"why, don't you like it?" you asked and saw the plane on the runway.

"no we just didn't have a competent sniper for a long time." soap joked and you noticed that you were the first one arriving at the plane. "im gonna gather the others, you stay here"

the pilots opened the door and ghost and you stepped into the plane. it wasnt a very big one, enough to fit maybe 20 people. there were seats on each side, a bench in the middle and a lot of weapons on the walls.

ghost went to the far back and pointed to the M24. "ammo and the rest is above your head" he pointed up and you nodded, taking a seat. you put your helmet in your lap and put the gloves on, simple black ones, unlike ghosts, which had some skeleton fingers printed on them. you tapped lightly on your helmet and sighed.

"nervous?" ghost asked and you looked down at you. god damn.

"no-" you choked and quickly looked down. why are you flustered all of the sudden? mask kink much? "no. im excited for our first mission together. i've been longer on the field than you might think, lieutenant."

you got up and started putting ammo in your vest pockets before the plane got too cramped up. ghost had to slouch a bit, the plane being a little too short for him.

"we're allowed to listen to music on the flight?" you asked and saw soap and other men come from the distance. the only one you recognised was gaz and price, the others were unknown to you.

"yes" ghost said and sat down next to you, his thigh almost touching yours. you pulled out a little sony walkman out and let it sit in your hands until the plane would take off.

"here" ghost held a parachute rig and you slipped your legs through. the rig was kinda hanging at your butt, not wanting to do the cringe jumping and pulling you turned around to ghost and he pulled it up, holding it until your arms were through. you fastened the clippers in the front.

"alright, everyone ready?" price asked and the others started putting their rigs on.

"yessir" you said with everyone and leaned your head against the wall behind you. maybe you could get a little sleep in.

you did indeed fall asleep until like twenty minutes before jumping. you rubbed your eyes and put your helmet on, looking through the plane. the others were either talking to each other or sitting quietly in their seats.

"jump off in 10 minutes" the pilot announced and the men stood up. you stretched lightly, your arms reaching the ceiling and you saw the sniper rifle in your sight field. ghost took it off for you and you gave him a tired smile.

"jump off in five"

you started to get nervous now. not because of your life being in danger or anything, you were quite good at what you were doing, but because of this stupid jump. and at nighttime. where you couldn't see shit.

you fidgeted with your gloves and checked all of your straps, pockets, everything there was. there was no chance you'd jump first, so you moved to the pilots direction and saw price open the slide door.

"jump off in three"

deep breath in.

"two"

deep breath out.

"one."

you saw the others jump and you gulped your fear down. it wasn't the first time you've jumped and it definitely wont be the last. you shook your hands and stepped to the ledge, putting your night vision goggles on. you took a step into the darkness and saw the others a couple of meters away from you. the wind was cold and you put your hands to your sides, following the others.

after a few minutes, you pulled the parachute and the air got taken out from our lungs for a split second. not even 10 minutes later you landed on the ground and took off the rig, looking at the scenery in front of you. a couple of houses scattered through the dried up ground and your team landed maybe a hundred meters away from them. you took your sniper off your shoulder and laid on the ground, looking through the scope. three men on the roof of house one, three and four and four men on house six.

"newbie, how copy?" ghost asked and you saw him looking up to you.

"there are snipers on the roofs, three on house one, house three and four, four on house six. maybe there's four on each building, i cant see all angles" you said and waited for further instructions.

"take them out"

you shot the first guy and saw the others hurrying to see where your bullet came from. two men stood above the body, giving you clear sight on them and firing two bullets relatively close after another. the men fell down, giving you clear sight on the forth, who looked into your direction, but was taken out before he could see you.

"roof one clear" you said over comms and saw your squad moving towards it. "clear out the other roofs" price said and you reloaded your magazine.

target. aim. shoot. that's all you had in mind.

"roof three clear" you announced, reloading once again. too bad this weapon only had five shots, you would've gone through swiping the roofs way quicker.

"house one clear, no laptops" alejandro said and you saw three people running to the second house for support. ghost and soap were in there and you looked at the other two houses.

"fuck" you said and zoomed in a little more "you have to watch out, they have a lot of back up"

"how many?" price asked and you started counting.

"shi, like twenty?" you answered and looked at your bullets. "i only have 15 bullets left"

"i told y'all we should restock them M24 bullets" soap scoffed and sounded bitter.

"just push forward, we're 20 and they're 20, one on one" alejandro said and you shot a bullet onto three man standing close to each other.

"gah damn, three for one, i'll take it!" you sounded happy, been a couple of weeks since you had such a lucky shot.

"newbie how copy?" ghost asked again and you searched him in the field for a second, seeing his mask almost immediately.

"i've got my eye on you, lieutenant." you said and moved your scope behind him. "but there's back up from behind!" you started taking out the men on the roof of the last two houses. "out of ammo! but those guys are 10 less" you thought what you could do to help..

"delta 1-4 down!" came from comms and you decided short handed.

"coming down" you said and got up, leaving your weapon on the ground. you'd probably find one on field anyway.

"no" price said sharply. "stay put"

"captain, with all due respect, im not gonna watch as more die" you said firmly and made your way down the hill.

"its an order kid" price sounded a little softer but still very stern. you ignored his call and picked up a shotgun, which probably fell down from the roof as you took someone down, because it wasn't a weapon that your squad had on them. you just hoped it had enough ammo.

you quietly followed the men and saw ghost hiding behind a corner. not wanting to reveal his spot, you went into the second house and grabbed some ammo on your way.

"newbie, where you at?" soap asked and just in that moment you looked through the window and saw someone coming into ghosts direction. you shot them two times and put your index finger on the little ear piece. "house two, they almost had ghost"

you jumped out of the first story window and quickly made your way to the fourth house, where ghost was. you shot some men on your way there and picked up a small pistol from the ground. if all hell broke loose, you'd still have your knife, you told yourself.

"i've been shot!" you heard someone say through comms and heard price sound strained.

"stay put, cover the wound and try to survive until we're clear, alright?"

"yessir"

you reached ghost and stood next to him. he looked at you and pointed at the door.

"six in there" he whispered and you nodded. "im gonna kick the door in"

you took a step back and got ready for the fight. with one heavy kick ghost ripped the door out of its hinges and immediately started shooting. you followed short behind and killed the remaining men together. you stood back to back, you watching the windows and the room to your right, ghost watched the stairs and the room to your left.

you saw an enemy and shot, turning to the room, where a light blue light was shining through and you started moving slowly to the room.

"dont go alone" ghost followed you backwards, practically being your second set of eyes.

"got it" you turned into the room and saw two guys crawling to the far back. you shot them, watching to the laptop. "lock the door"

"it wont hold back bullets-"

"but it'll hold them back for a second" you pulled out the USB drive and put it into the laptop, hearing ghost lock the door. "c'mon, c'mon, c'mon" you tapped against the laptop as the download of all files was moving on slowly.

"soap, how copy?" ghost asked meanwhile and soap grunted.

"been better lieutenant, they're not dying! standing here like fuckin' roaches"

"skill issue" you whispered and watched the last few percent load. "almost done ghost"

right then there were shots through the door and someone shot the lock open. ghost took them down immediately and you drew your pistol. the laptop made a sound and you just wanted to finish those guys off as fast as possible. you shot past ghost and he gave you a quick glare.

"retrieve the fucking USB stick and dont stand in my way"

you just wanted to help. furrowing your brows, you got behind the wall and pulled the stick out, putting it in your vest pocket. "USB-stick bravo retrieved" you said over comms.

"USB-stick delta in work" soap said and you heard some gunshots from his side, just as ghost was shooting the last couple of guys. he signalled you to follow him, his gun at his shoulder, looking through the scope. "im gonna head upstairs, you stay here"

"but what if-"

"you stay here." he repeated and you let out a defeated huff.

"house is clear" he came downstairs and looked at you. "you have the stick?"

"yup yup, right here" you gave it to ghost and he put it in his own pocket. as if it wasn't safe with you..

"soap, how-" ghost started but you yelped as you saw someone climbing through the window and had their pistol on ghost. you pushed him to the side and before the man could shoot you almost emptied your magazine on that dude.

"what the fuck" ghost said and looked at you.

"that was so fucking close" you breathed and gave the man one last shot, even if he was already on the floor. "thats for making me almost pee myself"

"you could've gotten hurt, bloody hell!" soap pushed and you shrugged.

"i'd rather have me injured, than someone dead" you looked him into the eyes and cocked your head.

"ghost??" soaps voice sounded concerned. "we're alright. just a little.. surprise attack. can't say newbie didn't save my ass right now." ghost answered and gave you a nod.

"well, glad she was your umbrella in that bullet rain" gaz joked and soap gasped loudly.

"thats it!!" he almost shouted and pointed at you.

"rain!"

#ghost mwii #ghost call of duty #call of duty #ghost x reader #task 141 #soap mw2 #gaz mw2 #price mw2

[lizhly-writes]

AITA WIP Game

hellloo, @likegemstone! i realize it's been a while, but thank you for the tag! i got stuck in a loop 1) trying to figure out how to write an AITA post 2) trying to find an area where my protag would genuinely wonder if he was an asshole, but! here we are!

Rules: Introduce your WIP in the style of a r/AmItheAsshole inquiry.

tagging! @evanescentdawn @inkstaindusk @juruna-yudja @doksangs and uh, anyone else who wants to take this, i guess!

AITA for asking to open up my relationship?

Look.  I know this already sounds bad.  Let me explain.  

I (M24) have been engaged to my fiancée (F25) for years.  Our parents were friends, so they set this up when we were kids.  We pretty much grew up knowing we were going to get married, but I’d say overall, we get along well and I’m happy enough with it.

I don’t think my fiancée is happy enough with it.

Some more background: we have this former classmate (F24), who I’ll call “Mei” for now.  In university, she took up pretty much all of my fiancée’s attention.  There was a lot of drama involved.  Even when my fiancée was with me, she was always talking about Mei.  Not in a good way, necessarily, but I’ve known my fiancée pretty much my entire life.  She wouldn’t be so invested if she wasn’t at least a little interested. 

Anyway, things happened, we graduated, Mei dropped off the radar, my fiancée stopped obsessing, and I’m still making this post, because they ran into each other maybe six months ago and it’s like we never left university, except worse.  Mei’s always attracted drama, but it’s like her capacity for it has levelled up, and it almost always ends up dragging my fiancée in.   

We didn’t set a date, exactly, but we were going to sit down and start wedding planning this year.  It keeps getting pushed off -- she’s always busy, she’s always dealing with some emergency, half the time, those emergencies have to do with Mei -- and at this rate, I just don’t think it’s going to happen.  

I hear her talk about Mei, and it’s always how she’s annoying but she’s so talented and so smart and so pretty and has so much potential, it’s a waste that Mei doesn’t have any backing and it’s a shame to let someone like that rot, and I could go on, but you get the point, right?  

I want to end the engagement, but for certain reasons I don’t want to get into right now, I can’t do it myself.  My fiancée can, but she never would, she’s very filial to our parents, and also, both our families are invested in this for more than just emotional reasons.  But I feel like if I let things go along this way, it’s just going to be very messy.  She’ll end up discontent for no reason she can put her finger on, maybe resenting me as the drama piles up, and then maybe this situation will implode in our faces and the engagement will end anyway, and, I don’t know, I’ll end up in jail possibly.  

I figured I could stop at least some of this by opening up our relationship a little.  She gets the SO she actually wants, and I stop thinking she’s resenting me for being an obstacle in her whirlwind romance.  I don’t think this is the perfect solution -- I’m not even really sure it’s sustainable? -- but it should at least work better than what’s happening so far.      

I tried to bring this up with her last night, and she… took it more poorly than I thought she would.  She got angry and accused me of trying to get rid of her.  She started talking about my apparently low opinion of her sense of duty and honor, and how could I possibly think that of her and how could I possibly think that she’d cheat on me, what kind of person did I think she was, etc.  It was messy.  

I didn’t think I said anything wrong, but I’m not feeling great about it.  She’s never gotten this mad at me before.  I feel like I need to bring this up again and talk it out, but was I being the AH for bringing it up to begin with?

#tag games #my writing #transmigrated as the female lead's villain fiance #i'm a boy who transmigrated into a gl novel what am i supposed to do now?! #everything

[dogmomwrites]

AITA WIP Intro

Tbh this tag game is a really neat way to look at your WIP through different eyes; seeing the whole story all at once from a character's viewpoint rather than how they respond to things during the actual telling of the story. idk I just dig it, so thanks for the tag, @cljordan-imperium! I'm gonna pass it on with soft tags to @writeintrees, @eccaiia, @ashen-crest, @breath-of-eternity, and @crypticcodexcreations, as well as an open tag!

This is for a silly little drabble about a couple pro wrestlers I wrote years ago. I may add to it or I may not, I really don't know

As a pro wrestler, I(m24) just wanna do my job and be cheered by my adoring fans—that’s what every pro wrestler wants. I used to be part of a tag team, but that ended a while ago, and neither of us really wants to talk to each other. As far as I know, my old partner(m26) doesn’t want anything to do with me at all.

There’s this one guy(m??) who keeps showing up and interfering with my matches. He never says anything, he dresses like some character from a fantasy movie, and everyone I ask says he was never actually hired, yet he’s never thrown out of any venue, and he gets to do whatever he wants even though the boss really doesn’t like him. I’ve heard some of the other wrestlers claim he can do stuff like open doors without being anywhere near them. I don’t believe that, though.

I think he wants me and my partner to be a tag team again, but I don’t. I don’t know what my old partner wants, and if I’m honest, I don’t care to. I’m a solo act now and I’ve been enjoying it this way. The only problem is, when I tried to tell the guy this, I don’t think he liked it. Now he’s being even more of a nuisance and frankly, I’m starting to feel concerned about what he’s gonna do next.

TL;DR: this guy keeps interfering in my career, and while he’s done some things that’ve helped me out, I just want him to keep his weirdness away from me and his nose out of my business. AITA for telling him to just leave me alone?

#aita wip intro #tag game #writer games #open tag #open to everyone #my writing #yavs writing #golden d

[hometown-haunting-sos]

I Moved Back to my Hometown to Take Care of my Sick Mom… and I Think I Encountered a Ghost.

I (M24) recently moved back in with my mom (F57) to care for her full time. She has small cell lung cancer. Doctors said we were lucky they caught it early, so treatment could start immediately. That doesn’t mean they can cure her or anything. It just means that what would normally be six months of needles, tests, hospital visits, and the suffocating dread of imminent doom will be sixteen months of needles, tests, hospital visits, and the suffocating dread of imminent doom. Lucky.

So anyways, my mom’s choking to death on her own blood and lung tissue, and nursing homes are expensive. That’s where I come in. The prodigal son. The one who escaped, who made it out. The bright eyed and bushy tailed little boy with stars in his eyes and a dream in his heart that struck out to go to school in the big city… and immediately crashed and burned after graduation. (A degree in journalism sounded way cooler before I had to actually rely on it for anything substantial)

But I didn’t quit. No. I didn’t go back. I could never. See, the minute I set foot in New York, I promised myself that there was NO looking back. My home was in the city now, and that little podunk meth town that I grew up in would stay in the rear view. And I kept that promise. For better or for worse, not once did I EVER consider going back. Until my mom got sick.

All of a sudden, staying in the city was no longer an option. I had to go back. I had to abandon the life I had only just started and run back to the one that I left. Even though I knew it wasn’t the case, I couldn’t help but feel like I was walking back with my tail between my legs. I felt like a failure.

But it’s fine, ‘cause I have a bunk bed now. Or, again. I have a bunk bed again. The room I sleep in now is just my childhood bedroom, plus a couple boxes of junk and a family of opossums I’m pretty sure. Oh, and a ghost. I almost forgot about the ghost.

So this all started the first night I arrived. It was, like, 2 A.M. when I pulled off the I-81 into Coeburg. I was starving, and the last thing I wanted to do was deal with my mother on an empty stomach. So I pulled into the only place in this town that’s open past 9 P.M., the Yellow Submarine 24 hour diner.

Walking into the charming old building, I was immediately thrown into a world of deja vu. Bittersweet nostalgia washed over my body in thick waves. My ears were greeted by the familiar sound of the Beatles’ song “Yesterday” rattling the speakers of the ancient jukebox in the far corner of the dining area, and my nose was filled with the greasy aroma of Carol Rigby’s signature 24-hour fries. I’d forgotten how much I missed the taste of those crispy cholesterol bombs. The diner looked almost identical to when I last saw it, save for the piece of plywood covering one of the windows on the diner’s back wall. The cracked, neon yellow pleather barstools and baby blue cushioned booths all sat, empty, exactly as I remembered them. The yellow and white checkerboard tile floor and stainless steel tabletops seemed like a photograph taken straight from my memory, but faded, slightly, over time. Everything was just like it should’ve been, save for one thing. One person was missing.

In spite of the stress and chaos that plagued me in my everyday life, in that moment, that instant when my foot crossed into the Yellow Submarine, my mind was taken back to a simpler, less depressing time. Suddenly, everything was alright.

Overwhelmed by nostalgia, I let my instincts take over, and made my way to the bar. I hopped up onto my stool, the second one from the right, and rested my elbows on the countertop, hunching forward and letting all the stress of the real world roll right off my shoulders.

“Hoooo-leee shit,” a familiar chain smoker’s rasp, that could only belong to old Carol Rigby, came from within the kitchen, “If it ain’t Mister Big City!”

I looked up from the countertop, where I’d been observing my baggy eyed reflection, and greeted the old battleax in an apron with a smile, “Miss Rigby! God, it’s been ages.”

“You can say that again. Welcome back, kid. It’s good to see ya down in our neck of the woods after all this time.”

There was a split second of uncomfortable silence when Carol’s gaze landed on the empty stool next to me, then made its way back to meet mine. Her eyes were soft, and filled with a sort of hesitant pity. I could tell she was debating whether or not she wanted to say something.

Before she could make up her mind, though, a softer voice emerged from the back room, “I thought I smelled something funky.”

A young woman, about my age, walked out next to Carol. Her arms were crossed and her head was tilted sideways. A smirk and cocked eyebrow added an air of sarcasm to her next words.

“Thought the raccoons had come back around. I was fixing to get the broom from the back.”

I remembered her now. She looked so different from how I remembered her, so much more mature. The creases in the corners of her eyes and lines between her eyebrows were new. They looked so out of place on the face of someone so young. They were signs of stress, doubtless caused by the weight of adult responsibility and loss.

“It’s gonna take a lot more than a broom to beat away this city rat, Val” piped up Carol. She laughed at her own joke, her deep guffaw sounded like a velociraptor from Jurassic Park with the black lung.

“I missed that humor of yours, Miss Rigby. Glad you’ve still got it.”

“You’re a grown man now, honey. It’s Carol. Now, what’ll you be having?”

“Lemme guess,” interjected Val, a mischievous, knowing look in her eyes, “your usual?”

“And that is?” I implored.

“Cheeseburger. Hold the mayo and mustard, extra pickles, cooked just long enough to get charred on the outside, but so the inside is still pink.”

“And?”

“Double side of fries.”

I was floored, “Damn. Didn’t realize I was that predictable.”

“I always remember the regulars,” Val said with a proud grin and her chin held high.

“I’m hardly a regular. It’s been six years, V.”

“Time doesn’t move the same round here, hun,” Carol assured me, resting a wrinkly hand on my forearm, “as long as you’re right here with us, you might as well have never left.”

I enjoyed my meal, and the company that came with it. While I ate, Val and I caught up. We talked about what we’d done after graduation, what lockdown was like in our respective communities, what it was like being an adult, how different things are, how different we are.

In many ways, everything in Coeburg was exactly as it was in my memory, but in one, very important way, nothing was the same. After I left the diner, and navigated the narrow, winding roads that lead me back to my childhood home, my nostalgia began to fade away. The temporary rose tinted fog that had filled my mind had cleared, allowing me to, once again, see the town for the place that it was. The place that drove me away so long ago. The place that I thought I had, finally, managed to escape.

The front door of my mother’s house was wide open, and the only thing that sat between her and the outside world was an old, dented screen door. I reached out my hand to grab the handle, and slowly pulled it open. The hinges screeched aggressively, cutting through the silence of the sleepy neighborhood like a greasy chainsaw through jell-o. Suddenly, I became very aware of the fact that it was four o’clock in the morning.

I did my best to creep in the house as quietly as I could, praying that the door hadn’t completely blown my cover.

“Boy, where the fuck have you been?” My mother’s raspy voice, emerging from the darkness, nearly made me jump out of my skin, “Last message you sent me said you just pulled off I-81, and I know for fucking certain it don’t take no two hours to get here off the interstate.”

“Good to see you, too, Ma.”

“That wasn’t an answer.”

“I was hungry,” I rolled my eyes and dropped my backpack on the floor next to me, “So I stopped at the Yellow Submarine. I saw Carol and Val there, and we lost track of time catching up.”

“And you didn’t get me anything?”

“I didn’t know you’d be up. You’re supposed to be getting rest, right? Isn’t that what Doctor Phillips said?”

“I didn’t know I was too good for a to-go box,” my mother continued, “I can reheat things, y’know. Just ‘cause you’re a big city boy now don’t mean we’re in the stone ages back here. Father Michaels gave me an airfryer for Christmas last year, and I’ll tell ya what, it changed my life.”

I nodded my head toward my mother and started to make my way down the hall to my room, “Alright, Mom, goodnight. I’ll talk to you tomorrow morning.”

“You’re gonna have to sleep on the top bunk, by the way. I’m using the bottom for storage.”

I sighed and rested my forehead on my bedroom door, taking a moment to beg all in the world that’s holy to put me out of my misery quickly. After taking an appropriate amount of time to be dramatic, I turned the handle, and swung my door open.

It was too late, or, early at this point, to take time to wax nostalgic and reminisce about the good old days. Instead, I kicked off my shoes and climbed up into the top bunk, plopping myself down on top of the blankets, still wearing my clothes. There was no time for comfort. Just sleep. And that was what I planned to do.

But I was interrupted. Because of course I was.

Just as my eyelids, heavy with the stress of a long day’s travel, began to shut, and my body, stiff and sore from ten hours on the road, began to fall limp, and my mind, so full of pain and nostalgia and trudged up memories, began to shut itself off, something happened.

My arm hair stood on end and the skin all around my body prickled up. My heart skipped a beat and my breathing got faster. I felt someone. A presence I couldn’t deny.

Before I had the chance to think, my body shot into an upright position, and immediately, I locked eyes with it. Him. I think it was a him. I can’t quite describe it in a way that 100% makes sense. There wasn’t a ball of light or a floating sheet. It didn’t look like a person, either, because it really didn’t look like anything at all. It looked like… nothing.

When I say I saw him, I really mean I saw nothing in the shape of something. But with no shape at all. The shape of this thing— this ghost. It has to be a ghost— can only he described as the uncanny, jarring absence of a person where a person should be. Like a gap in my perception of reality. Like my eyes wouldn’t see— or maybe my brain wouldn’t process— what every other part of me knew was right in front of me. I wanted to reach out to it. To understand it. To ask it, or him, a question. I could tell it wanted to talk to me, too. I felt it. I felt the absence getting closer like an arm reaching out to me, trying to take hold. Trying to communicate.

Before I could process anything— before I could cower away or reach back— I woke up.

The sun was up, its burning rays shining down through the curtainless window onto my body, which was now drenched in a cold sweat. I was disoriented. Just a moment before, I’d sat, face to face, with a presence that I was— and am— absolutely certain came from a world beyond our own. But in the blink of an eye, I was back in my bedroom.

I didn’t know what to do, so I started writing. And now I’m here, with my story, asking you all if you can tell me something— anything— about what I saw last night. It had to be a ghost, right? I saw a spirit in my home, and I don’t know how to move forward from that, or if moving forward is even an option.

#paranormal #paranormal encounters #ghost #horror #paranormal activity #pls help #advice

[pubg-mobile-esp-ak]

Pubg Mobile esp cheat » Download Free Cheats & Hacks for Your Game

💾 ►►► DOWNLOAD FILE 🔥🔥🔥 PUBG 2. PUBG 1. Extra Sensory Perception:- Using this app players can know to exact locations of their enemies even if they are in houses or behind the wall or any other thing. Carry two to three cars in your squad , so you can easily survive team attacks on you. This makes the game much easier once you know the exact location of your enemy it will make easier for u to take shots and cover or you can camp accordingly. If you know position of enemy. All Previous Apps List. You can lean out of vehicles from the passenger seat for some spicy drive-bys. If you want to win you are going to need a good helmet and vest, so when looting untouched equipment always grab the highest level possible. But if after a fight you find a damaged level three on the person you took down it can be difficult to know what to pick up and what to leave. The general rule here is actually pretty simple. Always take a level three helmet, even if it is close to being destroyed. A level three will always save you from a headshot with the M24,. Skip to content. Date Created. ESP versions.

[wasteland-2-cheats-zv]

PC Cheats - Wasteland 2 Wiki Guide - IGN

💾 ►►► DOWNLOAD FILE 🔥🔥🔥 Nainstalovat Steam. Wasteland 2: Director's Cut. I'm still new and not great at the game. It's really hard to build your character! If I played with 3 custom rangers instead of 4, but then decided to allocate 21 additional attribute points and 12 skill points amongst my 3 rangers, could I then play through the game with a sense of accomplishment? Or would I feel like a cheater? I would be giving an additional 7 attributes and 4 skill points to each ranger, playing on regular difficulty. I should just restart before I get too far!!!!! I know I would lose out on 12 perks, 1 quirk, and another game piece overall, so there is some drawback, I just can't for the life of me manage to build a team that feels right with the resources you get at the start. So I ask you, if I did this would it be a cheat? A handicap? Or no real difference? Should I just stick it out? Do you feel doubt because your team feels too weak I started on the Supreme Jerk and only created two rangers as my initial team. I think it's entirely possible to beat the game with a three-men team, especially if at least one of them has a high intelligence in order to grab some non-combat related skills. Combat should be a little easier on regular, so you won't have to min-max anything in order to succeed. Wasteland 2 has been designed to accomodate various kinds of teams, styles and playthroughs, and yours is not worse than anyone else's out there. Just stick it out and don't think that you're somehow cheating yourself out of the intended game experience. First couple playthroughs I was getting utterly destroyed by the skullhumping rabbits in AG Center. Watched a few guides and built a team of Modified Monkeys thanks to a really nice video guide and then farmed enough for an M24 super early game from the travelling merchant. At that point, learning to use my sniper to initiate and then go first for a follow up shot, I was doing very well. I think. My team felt strong, at least, my sniper felt like she had strong enough shoulders to avoid me noticing that I wasn't. The one thing I didn't like was that my leader character felt pigeonholed into a stat allocation I wasn't satisfied with, because I really want to theme my team a specific way but I also want to kinda have the leader be both smart and charismatic. Every time I tried to make him both smart and charismatic it ended in the disaster. I always felt I had to pick one or the other. I only ever got to AG Center and then Highpool after that. I didn't feel underpowered, but I didn't feel over powered due to character, just the M I want to play through the game in a way that doesn't feel like I cheated. I would rather have 3 characters that are a little stronger than 4 characters at current beginning strength. It has a tastier flavor to me. My big question is for you veterans, is this a majot cheat? I don't mind a little one as long as it doesn't make things too easy and enriches my game experience. However I'm just not experienced enough to know if what I want to do is something that in the end only cheats myself. So that was fun! Naposledy upravil Seshayn ; 9. I did not take it because I did not know that! I pressed a button when I got to ranger base Now all my characters are available from when I pressed the button QQ. Was that button mounted on a nuke?

[shuxjodie]

Shuichi's Soft Side 🙈

I would like to confess that I didn't read old chapters of Manga before but after reading it, I found something beautiful for RS

We all say he only cares about his Job but he does have his soft side for Jodie 🙈

Let's have a look-

Ch-601

Here Jodie committed a mistake. And when James asked Jodie about her decision, Shuichi completed her deduction and was looking so serious while answering to James. But as soon as he turned towards Jodie he smiled.🙈 He don't go hard on her when it comes to her mistakes. It's so sweet of him🙈 And before she looked so surprised and scared(maybe) but as soon as she looked at smiling Shuichi, she felt better 🙈.

This is very important panel as Gosho deliberately made a different slot for such a small dialogues. So it was for Shuichi's reaction towards Jodie which is very significant and should be noted. Well everything Gosho does have it's own reasons 😄

Men's reaction changes when they face women vs men, so men will be men 😂😏 Well it's different for Shuichi as it's undeniable that Jodie is unlike other women for him😏🙈

Whenever I see this picture, I get this feeling that Shuichi is telling her not to worry about anything as he will take care of everything.❤

Ch-1063

I would say it's a very responsible side of Shuichi.

James is the boss, so it is a part of his duty towards his employees to take important responsibilities. Well he is a very cool boss imo. I love that thing about him🙈 especially when he gets ready to drive for his junior. How generous of him🤗. But Shuichi went ahead and clarified it better for her sake.

Okay I'm getting into more details but body language plays a very important role and shows that how a person seeks about the other person in their mind. And the way Gosho positioned Shuichi, directly facing Jodie' back, it shows sincerity and willingness to take responsibility without delaying. So I would say he took the responsibility as well as he was worried too. Because it was a big mistake that cost lives.

Imagine your close one commited a mistake and you care a lot for them. And now they are worried about their decision. So how will approach? Possiblly you would like to approach them and look into their eyes and say what you have in mind. Psychology says that the position of shoes that where it is pointed while one talk to another person can show if they're interested in them or not. So changing positions affects the way one perceives the other person. I don't know if Gosho made that panel keeping these things in mind but he he is a very detail oriented man without any questions. So who knows?

Ch-599

Here a mistake was commited by everyone.It was circumstancial that kusuda shot himself. Here he, did the same with Conan too but he took the whole blame on himself and FBI as well. So I would say it's different from Jodie, because he is just a little kid who isn't a professional agent. So letting him have some big responsibilities, might sound bad. So as a responsible adult and an agent, he took the blame.

Ch-1036

This is my favourite! 🤗🙈 Awwww big brother can't see little sister wandering outside🙈 also maybe because of sun 🌞

Masumi look at your Shuu-nii, he smiles at you so brightly😫😭

And my favourite scene of the Chapter 1035-PEEK! 😍 This melts my heart instantly whenever I look at her 🙈

How adorable and how troublesome 😍❤

Ch-1038

He still let her in, because he wasn't able to look at her like that 🙈 SHUU-NI! ❤

Ch-1036

Ch-1037

Shu-ni saving his cute little sister 🙈I can exactly picture how Masumi's VA will say the line- "no way... he dodged" 🙈And thanks for that advice anyways 😂😒 Also I have this feeling that he is getting beaten up in M24 on purpose because he can't raise his hands on his cute little sister😢 He will play defensive only ❤

Basically he is a man who don't show that much of love and affection but cares deeply 🙈❤

Here is a treat!

Ch-1037

Look at him! Oh my god, he looks so happy that she grown from a fetus to teenager. She grew up so well.🤗😍

So after all he has this undeniable soft side for his homies, in any situation- whether they commit mistakes or can turn out to be troublesome in future 🙈😍

He is so sweet😘

❤

#akai shuichi #Jodie Starling #Edogawa conan #Sera masumi #James Black #Shuu-nii #brother sister love #brotherly love #redstarling #shuichi akai #dcmk #shujo #shuxjo #okiya subaru #shuu #subaru okiya #Shuichixjodie #shuxjodie #shujodie #detective Conan #Shuichi's soft side which he cannot restrain in many situation #he doesn't go hard #he cares so much #Shuu #dcmk affection #that's how he shows affection?¿ #Shu please spend time with your homies after this mess #please smile at Masumi so that she'll know that you smile at her #he smiles at Jodie 🙈

[bleedinghearthalstead]

SWAT!Jay / Upstead AU

A/N: Part 8! My take on Upstead at the shooting range. Crossposted on AO3, link on my blog.

"Before we start shooting," Jay says in his best teacher voice, "we're gonna familiarize ourselves with the weapon first."

Hailey sighs. "Jay, I told you I just wanted to shoot the damn thing once."

"Before we start shooting," Jay says in his best teacher voice, "we're gonna familiarize ourselves with the weapon first."

Hailey sighs. "Jay, I told you I just wanted to shoot the damn thing once." She has been begging Jay since they started dating and he's finally caved, but she certainly didn't expect her boyfriend to go all firearms instructor on her. It's 8 a.m. on a Sunday and they drove almost an hour outside the city to go to Jay's favorite outdoor shooting range. The owner greeted Jay like an old friend, immediately putting a box of the right ammo on the counter and telling him that his usual lane all the way in the back was free. Of course it was free, Hailey thinks, it's 8 a.m. on a Sunday.

Jay tuts at her. "If you want to handle the damn thing, I'm gonna show you how to properly disassemble, clean and reassemble the Remington M24 Sniper Weapon System." He opens the rifle case and reverently takes out the M24, laying it out on a blanket that he's already spread out in front of where they're kneeling on the ground.

It's kind of fascinating to watch Jay disassemble the rifle with practiced ease. He's not even looking at what he's doing with his hands, removing the parts one by one by muscle memory, mostly looking at Hailey while he explains what every part is and does, making sure that she's paying attention. Once he has the rifle reassembled, he takes out a pouch with cleaning utensils and shows Hailey how to "maintain performance standard", brushing and scrubbing the inside of the barrel and wiping down the rest.

"Jay," Hailey groans, "you do remember that I've handled rifles before, right?"

He rolls his eyes. "Of course, but you gotta handle Loretta with care."

She stares at him with wide eyes, trying to hold back her laugh. "You named your sniper rifle 'Loretta'?"

Jay warns her, "If you laugh, I'm gonna pack up and leave." Hailey bites her lip trying hard not to laugh. Glaring at her, he folds up the bipod on the rifle with a snap.

"No no no, wait!" Hailey puts her hands on his to stop his movements and gives him an innocent smile, then schools her face into one of pure devotion. "Please teach me the Halstead way."

"I swear to God…" At her pout, he huffs. "Alright, fine." Hailey grins and claps her hands in excitement. "But you gotta let me do this my way."

"I promise I'll be good." He gives her the side-eye, but relents and continues with his lesson.

Clearing away all the tools he used to assemble and clean the weapon, he sets up the rifle on the blanket, right on the firing line, pointing it downrange. "The steadiest stance to shoot in is the prone position." He motions at Hailey. "Lie down on your stomach with your legs straight. Prop yourself up on your elbows." Tying her hair up in a messy ponytail first, she gets down on the ground and Jay gets up to adjust her arms and kicks her legs further apart until they form a nice Y-shape. Knowing she is a lefty, he continues, "Now put the butt of the rifle in your left shoulder close to your neck." Again, he moves her arms to the right positions ‑ right elbow on the ground just to the right of the rifle's forearm, right hand under the butt of the stock, left elbow on the ground, making sure that her shoulders are level. "Put your left hand on the pistol grip and pull the rifle into your shoulder."

Already comfortable in her position, Hailey rests her face firmly against the stock, looking straight down the sights. Letting her breath out slowly, she inches her trigger finger to its intended position, but before she can curl her finger around the trigger, Jay steps on her right foot. Her head snaps back and she glares at him. "Ow, what the hell, Jay!?"

He raises an eyebrow at her, clearly having seen that she was ready to pull the trigger. "Easy there, tiger. Your feet weren't flat on the ground-" He then smirks and holds up a single round with two fingers. "-and the rifle's not even loaded yet."

"Whoops." She lets out an embarrassed laugh, realizing that she let herself get caught up in the excitement of finally being allowed to hold the coveted sniper rifle after Jay's show-and-tell that lasted almost an hour. She doesn't think she's been this giddy about shooting a weapon since firearms training at the academy.

Jay shakes his head at her and laughs. He squats down next to her and instructs, "Raise the bolt handle and pull it all the way back." She does as she is told and he one by one pushes five cartridges down into the internal magazine. "Now slowly slide the bolt forward and push the handle down." When the handle slots into place, he puts a hand on her shoulder. "Loretta is now officially loaded."

Hailey rolls her eyes as he grins. "Can I shoot now?"

"Patience you must have, my young padawan."

"Please don't jump on my back." Hailey laughs. "Or make me carry you through a swamp."

"Feel the force!" Jay lets out an evil laugh in return and drops down on her back, making her squeal. Holding her down with his body weight but careful not to crush her, he starts tickling her sides, her arms trapped under her. Hailey squeals again and tries to buck up to push Jay off of her, but he doesn't budge. He does however stop tickling her and begins to kiss the side of her exposed neck instead, his hands roaming up and down her sides. She lets out a low moan and tilts her head up to give Jay a better angle.

Her boyfriend is in the middle of sucking a hickey on her neck, but Jay's lips freeze on her skin when someone clears their throat next to them. "I don't mean to interrupt…"

Jay jumps up and gives the shooting range owner a sheepish smile. "Hey, Walt."

Walt gives them both a look like he's a disapproving parent admonishing two teenagers. "There's other people here too, Jay, so try to keep it clean, will ya?"

"Sorry, Walt. It won't happen again."

The older man nods, then leans closer to Jay and whispers, "She's cute." He winks at him and turns to walk back towards the front office.

Watching them from her position still lying on the ground, it's the first time Hailey has ever seen Jay blush. She giggles. "Well, that was awkward."

"That was one dad talk that I didn't think I ever needed." Jay grimaces. "I might have to find a new shooting range."

Hailey snickers and slaps his ankle. "Calm down, let's just get back to teaching me how to become Badass Sniper Hailey."

Jay raises an eyebrow at her, then bows down and playfully slaps her butt. At her indignant look, he grins. "Let's get to it then, badass. Get back in the prone position." Checking her stance, he does some minor adjustments, then pulls out a spotter's scope from a compartment in the rifle case and lies down next to her. Using the scope to look downrange, he picks out a target for her about fifty yards away. Considering she does have experience with long guns, this should be an easy shot. "Target at fifty yards, you got it in your sights?"

Hailey looks up from the scope mounted on the rifle and scoffs at Jay. "Fifty yards? You serious right now?"

He sighs. "We'll work our way up. I want you to get used to the motions first."

"Fine." Huffing, Hailey goes back to looking down the sights. "Yeah, I got it."

"Any adjustments you need to make? The knob on the right side of the scope is for windage and the top knob is for elevation."

"No, I don't think so." Luckily for Hailey, it's a clear and sunny day with barely a breeze.

"Good. Now chamber a cartridge. Raise the bolt and pull it back until it stops. Push the bolt forward. The bolt removes a cartridge from the magazine and pushes it into the chamber. Push the bolt handle down." She follows his instructions and she can hear a round move into place. With the way Jay has been taking care of this weapon, it's no wonder the mechanics work so smoothly.

"To fire, switch off the safety and then squeeze the trigger. Now before you do, one last thing that is also one of the most important things when firing – your breathing has the most effect on your shot. Breathe in through your nose and slowly breathe out through your open mouth, try to relax and slow down your heart rate." He hears her take a couple of deep breaths. "Fire at will." Hailey breathes deeply a few more times before a shot rings out and hits the target with a metallic ping. "Good. You hit it between the 9 and 8 ring. So either there was some wind or you swayed to the left when you took your shot. Use the bolt action to chamber another round and try again." On the second shot that takes her considerably shorter to set up, Hailey hits the target inside the 10 ring. She's a fast learner and Jay beams at her in pride. "Let's move on to a hundred yards."

Jay lets Hailey take a few shots on the 100 yards target which she pretty much nails before he hands her another five cartridges and tells her to reload. Remembering what he showed her earlier, she easily manages the task and immediately chambers a cartridge, ready to shoot again. They continue moving from target to target in 50 yards increments. When they get to the 300 yards target and she hits it at the bottom of the 7 ring, she lets out an indignant huff. Jay chuckles at her. "We're shooting at a longer distance now, so you have to adjust the elevation on your scope."

Realigning her shot, Hailey hits the bullseye and her eyes widen when a metal plate on the target comes loose and reveals the words "will you". She is about to ask Jay what is up with that, but he has already moved on to their next target, telling her that he'll buy her a really nice bottle of champagne if she hits the bullseye on the first try. Challenge accepted, she again focuses on the target, this time taking her time to adjust the scope and concentrating on regulating her breathing. Deliberately squeezing the trigger, she hits the bullseye. Another metal plate folds down.

Instead of being pleased at herself for achieving the shot, having read the words on the target, she squeaks out a tiny "what" and turns up to Jay who is now on one knee next to her, holding a beautiful solitaire diamond ring out to her. "I know we've only been together for two years, but I love you so much and I know that I want to spend the rest of my life with you, so..." He takes a deep breath and gives her a hopeful smile. "Hailey Upton, you hit me right in the heart, will you marry me?"

Hailey feels like she's going through some sort of out of body experience, but she doesn't even have to think about it. "Yes!" She throws herself at Jay and kisses him fiercely. He laughs into their kiss and wraps his arms around her, hugging her tightly.

Pulling back, Jay takes her left hand and slides the ring onto her finger. "It's my mom's ring," he whispers, "She would've loved you too."

Hailey's heart warms infinitely and she takes Jay's face into her hands to kiss him again. Breaking their kiss and leaning her forehead against his, she whispers back, "I love you."

"Congrats, kids!" There's the sound of a cork popping and Walt is back with a bottle of champagne and flutes. There's also cheering coming from far away that's moving closer and Hailey laughs and watches as Jay's team mates come running towards them from downrange, whooping and whistling loudly.

Jay grins. "Walt and the boys helped me set this up. Sorry for stepping on your foot, but you almost ruined your own proposal, they weren't done with the plates yet."

At that moment, the guys descend on where they were set up and Mitch slings an arm around each of them and gives them a bear hug yelling, "YAY, GUYS!"

They all laugh and Walt hands out champagne glasses to all of them. "To Hailey and Jay!" They all raise their glasses and cheers to the couple.

"Since we're here already …" Sam, Jay's spotter, pulls out a different rifle case out of nowhere. "I'm gonna beat you this time, Halstead."

Jay groans. "Dude, you're seriously bringing this up right now? I just got engaged!"

The two of them start bickering and the other team guys start laying in as well, but Hailey doesn't care, she's on cloud nine right now. This is definitely not how she imagined being proposed to, but it went down in pure Jay Halstead fashion and it's perfectly them.

They end up spending the rest of the day at the range, Jay and Sam, who is also an ex-army sniper, doing trick shots (and where did the cooler full of beer come from?) until Hailey leans down to Jay while he is lining up a shot and whispers, "Do I need to compete with Loretta or can I spend some time alone with my fiancé?"

Jay takes his shot, but doesn't even hit the target in the black and packs up his gear. The guys watch them knowingly and start wolf-whistling. Jay just gives them the finger and Hailey waves at them as he drags her behind him.

#upstead #jay halstead #hailey upton #chicago pd #jay is a nerd #whoops this ended a little different than planned lol #bhhfic #swat!jay au

[m4a1-shermayne]

Well it’s been quite the ride since 2013 and after a while I’ve finally reached 7,500 followers.

So for the hell of it today I will teach you about the M3 75mm gun and it’s uses.

First off I want you to forget about the whole Tiger/Sherman and Panther/Sherman debate for a moment and focus on the primary reason the tank was created in the first place: Infantry support and breaking through defensive lines.

The M3 it’s self finds it’s roots going back to a French Cannon known as the Canon de 75 mm Modele 1897 which was widely regarded as the first modern artillery piece at it’s introduction during the end of the 19th century.

Now you might be thinking “woah Sherm what does this have to do with a tank cannon from the 40s” well, everything! The biggest reason the Modele 1897 was so popular was due to it’s HE and timed shrapnel shells, infact it was popular enough that the French had several thousand still in service before the German invasion of 1940.

The Modele 1897 was used on a handful of other vehicles during the First World War including the Char Saint-Chamond.

The French and other nations also mounted these vehicles on trucks and used T30 shrapnel shells for Anti-Aircraft duty.

The US obtained numerous weapons during World War One including tanks and planes, they began using them during their time in Europe, Renaming the Modele 1897 to the 75 mm Gun M1897, the US was so fond of these guns that close to 2,000 of them were on the field in US service when the War ended in November 1918.

US production rates of the M1897 reached 1,000 total, but only a handful of those guns in particular got to Europe before the war ended. Which means they ended up with a large surplus of US made M1987s. Development of the M1897 led to an experimental anti-aircraft gun known as the T6. The barrel was shortened by 5 calibers from 36 to 31 and Nordenfelt screw breech replaced with the sliding block breech.

The time between 1918 and 1939 was great for weapon tech, from Biplanes to Monoplanes, from Carriers becoming a lethal and key capital ship in Naval warfare, to the smallest but fastest armored vehicles. The US had spent it’s time quite wisely building up and researching technology that would but it’s self into a relative sweet spot by the time the next Major conflict would arrive.

The M1897 would undergo modernization in the hands of all who used it, The French built the later M1897A2 and M1897A3 models while the M1897A4 would be built in US factories. The A4 model consists of the removal of rollers and sweeper plates with felt pads, and elimination of a portion of the jacket of the gun which is replaced by steel rails and bronze strips attached to supports on the gun.

The German invasion of France in 1940 caught the attention of the Americans, they looked into what made them so effective. One of the notes they made was the use of self propelled artillery. When looking at their own arsenal it was made apparent that the United States lacked vehicles that could fulfill such a role.

Debate and discussion followed and eventually it was decided to mount the M1897A5 onto the new and upcoming Half Tracks. Using the M3 and M5 half tracks the gun would be mounted and used in numerous roles such as Anti Tank and Indirect Artillery Support.

Known as the T12 or M3 GMC (Gun Motor Carriage) this vehicle would be sent to North Africa along with Operation Torch and find it’s self neck deep in German/Italian Tanks. However technology had moved too quickly and due to the fact the weapon was mounted on a half track and not a heavier vehicle, losses weren’t exactly minimal for the M3 GMC. Eventually the M3 would be replaced by the heavier M10 Wolverine, but that doesn’t exactly mean the M1897 was to be taken out of service.

At a similar time the M3 Lee was being produced as a stopgap for the problems US manufacturers were facing with the up coming M4 Medium. The War Department noticed the all purposeness of the M1897 and decided to develop it a bit further. The M1897 was shortened and adapted to the role of Anti Tank.

The gun would be known as the M2 75mm and it would arm all Lee/Grant tanks and during their time in North Africa they showed promise, but as time goes on technology always advances and being a stop gap doesn’t exactly mean time is on your side. However the T7/M2 would be used briefly on the Sherman.

The T6 was the first Sherman prototype, armed with the T7/M2 and boasting four .30 caliber machine guns, it had a handful of features that it would share with the Lee which would be eventually removed such as the side hull door. It should also be noted that the Lee’s hull door had periscopes embedded in it, the T6 prototype did not. Also the white circle is to bring attention to the fact the antenna was getting caught by the gun.

Eventually the M2 would be refined into the M3 which would feature a lengthened barrel and not much difference.

The M3 was highly praised for it’s High Explosive capabilities and Armor Piercing capabilities in the North African desert. But of course as the story goes when moving through Italy and France the M3 struggled against heavily armored targets. But it wasn’t exactly the gun’s fault.

First off, it should be noted that Shermans were not designed to engage heavy vehicles. That was the job of the tank destroyer units that stuck around. Just like it wouldn’t be the job of the tank destroyer to push heavily fortified areas.

Second, a certain individual is to blame for the inefficiency of the M3 75′s AP capabilities; General Lesley McNair. There are numerous types of munitions that these guns use, but the ones in question would be the M72 AP and M61 APCBC shot. The capabilities of the M61 APCBC shot had enough to punch through the Tiger at close distance and enough to punch through the sides at at least 500 meters. However due to McNair’s orders the M61 wasn’t issued to troops while the inferior M72 was in fact issued. McNair believed that Tanks were not the best way to fight tanks.

This is a USSR Archival photo of testing against a Tiger tank. The USSR tested virtually every type of ammunition to determine the capabilities against it. They found that the Sherman was more than capable of killing one if the proper measures were taken.

But nevertheless, the M3 turned out to be an amazing gun for infantry support and bunker busting. Infact the Army was so thrilled by the HE capabilities it was having a tough time switching the M3 out for the M1 76mm which had better AP but worse HE.

There are two other version of the M1897 I’d like to mention before finishing off. The M5 and the M6.

Attacking ships is serious business. They’re usually filled to the brim with anti aircraft guns so you’re usually forced to use rockets, bombs or torpedoes. But the US loves it’s kinetic action.

Lightened and stuck into the nose of PBJs and B-25s, the M5 was fitted with a automatic reloading mechanism which allowed it to be used more than once. 

The M6 is based on the M5 and used in the M24 Chaffee which was a very potent light tank when comparing it to the M3 or M5 light tanks.

Couple final notes. All major version of the gun could use the same ammunition.

The ammunition included: M72 APC

M61 APCBC

M48 HE

M66 HEAT

M89 Smoke

M64 White Phosphorus

Other rounds such as HVAP and Shrapnel were also developed.Crews would typically take 50% HE, 40% AP, and 10% Smoke/WP.

The last thing i’d like to mention is that France still uses two M1897 guns for ceremonial purposes.

Thanks for sticking around, I don’t really post tanks that much anymore but I’ll try to change that.

#Military #History #Shermanposting

[taww]

Review: Valvet Soulshine Tube Preamplifier by MGD

Marty DeWulf passed away about a month after submitting this review. His work was always an inspiration to me and it was a privilege to share his thoughts on this hobby he loved so much. RIP Marty - you are missed.

There was a time when two high-end audio companies dominated the conversation and the market regarding tube electronics. In the 1970s, Audio Research and conrad-johnson were the first, last and every word when it came to valves. There were other small tube manufacturers around, but they were basically garage-based start-ups, poorly financed with minimal budgets and little business savvy. It was a world populated by solid state and companies carrying the flag for “modern” transistor designs. It seems ironic that back in the 1970s when transistors were so predominant, they sounded their worst… the format was much less than mature.

Related Reading:

First Take Review: Valvet Soulshine Preamplifier & A4 Mk.II Amplifier

Thumbing through a current audiophile publication today, whether it be online or in the pages of a magazine, tube products abound. They come with names from companies I’ve never heard of before, and from faraway places. Go away for a few years and the scenery changes drastically… I feel so old. Fortunately, I’m still friends with @taww, who sends me stuff to listen to and write about. When I first talked to him years ago he wasn’t a fan of tube gear. If I recall, he thought valves to be totally inaccurate and euphonic sounding. [Okay, maybe that’s a little harsh, but yes I strongly preferred solid state accuracy.] I too, was a solid state guy. The dynamic range, frequency extension and clarity of modern solid state electronics have had me on their side for many years. But then, I heard the Monarchy M24 tube DAC and saw it as a true head turner with its tube section. [So did I! I bought my Monarchy NM24 review unit and it was my reference DAC for years, tubes and all.] 

The Monarchy wasn’t the first great tube product in my experience. I’d reviewed a tube preamp from Musical Designs that was a budget wonder, and over the years I’d heard a number of Audio Research products that seemed to bridge the gap between reality and sonic illusion in palpable ways. [Don’t forget Audible Illusions and Joule Electra, I remember you liked those too.] Some very fine tube products had served to weaken my wall of valve resistance and solid state preference, so much so, that I would eventually purchase an all tube preamp from SAS, as did fellow BFS writer Rich Weiner. Still, when it came down to absolutes; dynamic edges, front to back transparency, frequency extension and tonal trueness, my overall preferences always lead me down the road of the better solid state units, the Pass Labs XP10 for example.

When @miy-taww​ suggested that I audition the tube preamplifier from Valvet certain expectations immediately arose; it’s a tube preamp after all. In certain ways, valves are valves and they behave predictably, especially basic designs such as the Valvet. He gave me a rundown of the circuit employed and the choice of tubes. A picture of the unit’s performance was forming in my head even before my ears had heard it. The Soulshine preamplifier from Valvet (USD $5,890) was unique to me in several ways. Handmade in Germany, its parts selection was insanely high with premium resistors and exotic caps in abundance, all hand-wired with solid-core silver. It looked to be a new interpretation of an old theme. 

[Note: An upgraded version, the Soulshine IIz ($8,890), is now available. The original Soulshine reviewed here is still available on order for $5,890 through its US distributor, Alfred Kainz of highend-electronics.]

Design & Operation

A few words about the physical construction of the Soulshine. Like so many quality preamps before it, the Soulshine has a separate chassis for its power supply and control sections. Constructed of thicker than the usual aluminum billet, the appearance is low slung, clean and high tech. I like the way it looks. The front face, following the theme of clean futurism, has a chrome knob for the stepped-attenuator volume control and another for input selection (four line-level inputs, one of which is balanced XLR). To the right of the volume control is a window with numeric volume level displayed with blue LEDs; with one number for both channels, there is no way of setting left to right balance. The tradeoff is one less control in the signal path. 

The rear panel of the preamp allows for single ended as well as balanced operation, though @miy-taww​ informed me that the internal circuit is not truly balanced even when using the balanced connectors. [ On closer examination, it appeared that the inverting half of the balanced signal is referenced to signal ground internally. @miy-taww​ ] On an operational note, I consistently had to allow the preamp about 30 minutes warm-up time at the beginning of each listening session to obtain its best.

The Soulshine has a remote control for volume changes while its listener is firmly planted in a comfy listening chair. Unlike my last experience with a tube preamp employing remote volume control, the Valvet was quiet, responsive and easy to use. This is the way a remote should be configured – simple and easy to use. The lone problem I had with operating the Valvet came from trying to find the on/off switch…. which took me an embarrassingly long time to find (hint, it’s underneath the power supply).

Sonics

Having a pre-established vision of what the Valvet would sound like before it even arrived, I can now report that my expectations were only partially right. First off, let me mention the output impedance of the Valvet is 400 Ohms. Because of that, the input impedance of the power amp you are using is not going to impact the sonics of the preamp substantially. What I didn’t expect were the results obtained by using amps with high, medium and low input impedances; the preamp performed consistently regardless of the amplifier used. Frequency extremes stayed relatively consistent with each amp used. That was a big surprise. What did change was stage size as I went from one amp to another. With the Pass Labs XA30.5′s lowish input impedance (30 kOhms balanced, 15 kOhms unbalanced), the soundstage was somewhat smaller and a bit laid back. Going up in impedance resulted in a nominally larger stage and slightly deeper bass response, but little else.

Let me talk about the Valvet with the low input impedance Pass Labs amp. I didn’t expect these two products to work well at all, but the combo proved almost hypnotic sounding as my initial auditions with the two lasted far longer than anticipated. The performance with the Pass wasn’t so much like having the instruments and singers in the room, a phenomenon I’ve come to expect with my Pass amp and preamp combo. With the Pass and the Valvet it was slightly more distant, while still being super vivid, substantial and picturesque. It was almost like listening to an aural View-Master. Remember the toy from the 60s? It has two eye holes and a lever to press that advanced a round disc with photos that presented to each eye a slightly different version of a scene, usually outdoors, that resulted in the user seeing an almost unrealistically vivid, 3D, and real appearing vista. The sense of 3D depth was stunning using the Valvet and Pass with dense color tones and detailing that resulted in a reach out and touch it quality, a rare synergy between a solid state amp with a valve preamp. It was like being there, except on a smaller scale, a scale in which reality seemed to fit on a smaller stage. The Valvet preamp with the Pass amp was very much like the View-Master. It had a superbly grainless presentation with depth and dimension galore. I thought about how photos of Yosemite in my View-Master seemed like being there one frame at a time – just smaller. Listening to Red Norvo’s, Forward Look struck me as a less-than-forward look at the performance that was in every other way as alive and dimensionally solid as my old Yosemite View-Master images. 

View-Master ad, c. 1955 (source: Santa Barbara Museum of Art)

Dynamics were proportional to image size with good edge and bite, though not to the extent I expect from the best solid state preamps. Interestingly, while large bass and kettle drums when struck with the Valvet didn’t have the visceral punch of my Pass preamp, the Valvet conveyed as much big drum volume as any preamp I’ve ever heard. Going to power amps with input impedances higher than that of the Pass, such as my rebuilt Dayton Wright 500 (75 kOhms), increased the size of the soundstage, brought it forward, while causing the same to be ever so slightly less dense.

Purity. Whereas solid state preamps seem to more easily engender the quality of transparency, sometimes to the extreme, the best tube preamps in my experience have a quality I prefer to call purity. It’s a feeling thing, a sensation that one preamp feels more like “transparency” and the other feels more like “purity.” Yes, that’s a cop out. Then again, I’m not sure I’m capable of defining the two in such a manner so as to come up with a better definition of the two terms. Presently, I use transparency and purity with the understanding that with time, the two might eventually define themselves with some clarity. I fear that the difference in the two terms is more of a gut feeling rather than something clearly tangible emanating from the Webster’s dictionary. Let’s work on this.

Listening to Judy Collins “Send in the Clowns” [Tidal, Qobuz], the Valvet swims in a feeling of humanity - a female life was in the room singing in a form and fashion that highlighted inflection and elemental emotion over power or presence. Not that power and presence were not there, they were, but those qualities were subservient to the sensation of un-hyped reality; a reality formed and fashioned around the sensation of the tangible. It’s a reality that the previous tube preamp covered by me missed in total. The midrange rightness of the Valvet makes all of the exciting details of the music come to the fore, while never seeming to observe the performance through a microscope. Extreme transparency, on the other hand, not only draws attention to itself, but forces the listener, on many occasions, to focus his/her attention on aspects of the performance that are sometimes less than musical. The performance takes on less importance than the sonic fireworks used to stimulate the senses of the listener. Take your pick; the Valvet, though transparent in the best sense of the word, is more pure in its intentions and performance than almost any other preamp I’ve auditioned.

Comparing the Valvet to my Pass Labs XP10 preamp ($5,250 before being replaced by the XP12) resulted in exactly the results one might expect. These two preamps are of unquestionable quality, each passing the signal sent to it as close to perfect as one could want. But they differ, and the careful listener has no difficulty telling the one from the other. I might describe them as saying that where they converge on a singular sound, neither sounds too much like the other; they maintain their individual characters while each seeks a somewhat different though idealized vision of reality. Yes, I’ll give the frequency extremes to the Pass, even the highest highs. Gross dynamics have a small advantage with the Pass also, though it is a minimal advantage. Where they differ, and where the Valvet will have an advantage to some ears is in the area of midrange coherence and that mystery word “purity.” And while the Pass also strikes me as having a high degree of purity in its reproduction, the Valvet goes there in spades, swooping up the listener in a tsunami of musical coherence. The lens of the Valvet is one of musicality, but also of great organic texture, heart and warmth. Now, these later qualities are also found with the Pass - it too delivers a wonderfully picturesque portrayal of the performance - but the Pass tends toward back-of-the-stage “air” and transparency, and the Valvet toward purity. A logical case can be made for either preamp, and I loved listening to both, but I feel the Pass appeals more to my mind as the Valvet harkens more to my heart. Combine the purity of the Valvet with its View-Master spatial qualities, and this preamp conjures up my first memories of auditioning the original SP-10 from Audio Research, so advanced it sounded and how it stood out from other tube preamps I had heard back then. 

Conclusion

If you tend toward tube preamps and yet are unwilling to live with some of their greater failings, the Valvet is a marvelous place to go. The price is not unsubstantial, but when compared to some of the more insanely priced products out there that don’t sound as good, this is a fine place to end up. Thanks to Valvet distributor Alfred Kainz of highend-electronics and @miy-taww​ for allowing me the opportunity to audition this marvelous device. 

#review #preamplifier #tubes #vacuum tube #audio #audiophile