#Aurora armour from memory attempt

[sapphire-draw]

It's been a while, hasn't it?

Get a Bildle

[halfmoonheart]

Happy Friday!! For DADWC: Fenris x anyone with the song "eyes of green" by the Anyway Gang for inspiration? :)

Thank you for your prompt! I really like this song, thank you for adding it to my rotation!! This takes place in my canon world state, where in Fenris is with my inquisitor Samahl & Solas, but I specifically left it kind of vague.

Word Count: 641 @dadrunkwriting

For reference: Aurora is my Hawke (Warrior) & Ginger is Samahl Lavellan's nickname

The slip of paper had arrived unceremoniously. If it had been any other day, any other morning, Fenris might have missed it. He might have been gone already, heading toward Skyhold to meet with Sam. Or he might have placed it on a beautiful end table of dark oak, forgotten with other letters from magisters and freemen. But he hadn’t been - Fenris had been home. He’d been roasting a duck with apples and leeks. And when he’d taken one look at the golden lion seal, his heart dropped into his belly.

Varric didn’t contact him much these days. What need had he? Fenris was in Skyhold so often, at least once a month, why waste the paper? Unless it was an emergency.

Fenris plucked the paper from the box quickly, slicing the seal open with the claw of his gauntlet. His green eyes scanned Varric’s neat print, longhand for Fenris’ ease. His heart clutched, shuddering to a halt like a startled horse. No. No.

Automatically, he threw the page to the floor. Fenris brushed upstairs, into his bedroom, where the only fire in the manor burned quietly. It couldn’t be. Varric was mistaken. Heavy armour banged to the floor as Fenris undressed. He was more comfortable in his tunic and breeches, cooler in the mid-autumn air. Somehow, it didn’t help. His skin felt hot. His heart was still lodged firmly in his throat. What was it that Sam had told him? Breath in for seven, hold, out, repeat - until his heart stopped trying to strangle him. He followed their ghostly instructions, fighting the tears that pricked in his eyes.

Then he thought her name. Aurora. The flash of auburn hair and the flash of a smile. She was a sleepy, easy presence that tinged Fenris’ early memories of Kirkwall with sunshine. Never one to run, never one to hide. Never one to say “no” to the needs of Thedas’ people. Never one to say “no” to Samahl Lavellan.

No. He couldn’t blame Sam for this. If anything, Sam would have been a voice of reason, attempting to draw their friend back from a fight. This was Aurora’s fault.

Fenris was going to kill her if he ever got the chance.

Vitriol was rising in Fenris’ gut. He could feel warring emotions bubbling. Mainly sorrow. Mainly regret. He wandered back to the foyer to pick up the paper with Varric’s lion seal, dripping tears along the way. He was angry. And frustrated.

“You shouldn’t go. Meet up with Anders. You know Ginger can handle things without you. They’ve been fine so far,” Fenris had said over the rim of a beer stein, watching Aurora Hawke with careful green eyes. She’d met him with a matching stare. Somehow, her eyes had always reminded him of pasture, of lush life. And somehow, he knew she’d disobey him.

“Stupid,” he said now, staring through tears at Varric’s letter. He wandered into the bedroom, where the fire was sitting low on a single log. Impulsively, he threw the letter into it, watching it blacken and curl instantly. Regret squeezed him again, as if the letter was the last evidence of Aurora’s presence on this plane. He tamped it down. This was not her swan song. She was too good for this. She was a hurricane. Hawke wouldn’t be tamed by something as simple as a demon.

After he watched the paper disappear into black ash, Fenris packed his bag for travel and locked the manor’s door. There was no one to notify in the city - Leandra was long gone, Bethany was in hiding, Anders was…wherever Anders was. It was dark when Fenris set out, but he didn’t care. The night was better than Kirkwall without Hawke. Wolves howled at his back as he headed toward Skyhold, but somehow this didn’t disturb him. Fenris was heading home.

If you like my writing, please consider checking out my AO3! <3

[ravenqueen89]

silent days, violent shades

 A Patreon reward for the amazing @agentkatie featuring some angsty smooching with my ultimate ME ship.

Fandom: Mass Effect

Pairing: fem!Shep/Aria T’Loak

Rating: Teen and Up

Summary: ‘There’s profit in survival,’ Aria says, later, an offer masked as a parting shot as Shepard starts to walk away. They both know that Shepard can’t run, but Shepard allows herself the illusion for another stolen moment. The thought of disappearing is tempting - she could discover other galaxies, let this one save itself for once. She could live without being so intrinsically aware of how close she is to the end of it all.

Notes: Shep is very aware of it all ending in this one, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that’s what’s going to happen. Also Nyreen is mentioned as alive because that’s how I roll. Title and soundtrack: Aurora’s Winter Bird.

Word count: 1550

also on ao3

The alcohol supplies are intact. Shepard finds it a tainted sort of blessing with Omega still smouldering around her. She is sitting at the tattered remains of Afterlife's bar. There's an odd sort of quiet in the aftermath of destruction. Nyreen has disappeared somewhere in the underbelly of the asteroid again, chasing what's left to be chased along with the Talons. Shepard's chosen not to ask Aria how she feels about any of this. The highly creative fragments of swearing and random crashing noises ringing out at intervals through the emptiness say enough.

Shepard drinks expensive whiskey from one of the few glasses that remain whole, aware that she is doing this on borrowed time. She should already be back on the Normandy. She has a galaxy to save, after all.

The problem with that is that no one's ever told her what to do about the weariness that's settled in her bones. No one's told her how it would all suffocate her. No one's told her how she would end up fearing sleep because it brings her closer and closer to her inevitable end. They told her to be a hero and forgot to tell her how to survive it. She supposes that's the point.

She drinks the whiskey, far too conscious of the fact that while she's sitting here planets are ending. Around her, Omega lies in tatters, but it lives. Outside of it, the shadow of death looms with the weight of universes.

Her hands are shaking, so she grips the glass tighter between them. The warmth of her palms affects the whiskey but it still doesn't feel like proof that she's alive, so she drinks and tells herself there's no point to this. The alcohol burns like regret and death, but it's not enough. It doesn't make the thoughts stop.

When Aria emerges back onto the main floor of the club, as impeccably poised as ever, Shepard feels entirely too aware of the smoke and detritus that still cling to her. Aria looks at Shepard and her mouth curls in that way that hints at all the mocking words that are just waiting to spill from her. Aria looks at Shepard, at the visible proof of weakness in her hands, and says nothing. Instead, she jumps over what remains of the bar with that offensive elegance of hers. Shepard watches her as she finds a glass that hasn't shattered despite being cracked and reclaims the bottle for herself.

Shepard doesn't know what to do with the continued silence, so she taps her finger along her glass, her blunt fingernails parodying rhythm until Aria's hand covers hers and disrupts the sound. The shock of contact makes Shepard's hands stop shaking and her thoughts stutter. She needs to fill the silence with noise but she can't form words and Aria's hand is still on hers. Shepard can only bring herself to raise an eyebrow but Aria doesn't bother to explain herself and that, at least, is familiar. All she does is look at Shepard like she can see right through her. All she does is remove her hand and sip on her drink like this is normal, but Shepard doesn't remember what normal feels like and knows that she won't find it here.

Everything feels slightly surreal, but Shepard attributes at least some of that to her own exhaustion. She can't remember the last time she slept more than a couple of hours at a time, kept awake by nightmares and meetings and all her fears. Until now she hasn't really had the chance to even sit since getting to Omega, what with Cerberus and adjutants and Aria. It's kept the rest of the galaxy at bay, though - an isolated battle. Now it's time to go back to war and everything in her refuses to move.

'Is the whole saviour complex thing getting you down, Shepard?' Aria asks, and there's no bite to it but it leaves its mark on Shepard anyway.

'Don't,' she starts saying, but she doesn't know how to finish the sentence, so she stops.

She's so tired that her muscles ache but she needs to move, she needs to leave Omega for the last time. She needs to stop thinking in 'lasts'. She stands and reaches for her helmet and gloves but doesn't have time to grab them before Aria's hand is back on hers, gripping her wrist firmly enough to make her breath catch.

'Don't what?' Aria says, her tone casual, but Shepard can feel the danger hiding just out of sight.

She shakes her head but doesn't move, and neither does Aria, and for a moment everything feels suspended, like time and gravity have ceased. Like a dream. Shepard wonders if she's fallen asleep, but Aria's skin is warmer than hers and Aria's thumb is pressed right against her pulse point. Shepard's heart races, traitorous and loud, and she has no idea what's happening, no idea what she's doing. She's used to stand-offs with Aria but she's also used to knowing what they entail.

'Don't what, Shepard?' Aria asks, again, and Shepard is so close to her face, only the bar between them, that she can see the flicker of exhaustion hiding in the corner of Aria's eyes.

She still doesn't know the answer, so she shrugs and says the only thing she can say and hope it brings the point across. 'I'm tired.'

Aria doesn't let go and Shepard can read her even less than usual. 'And?'

'And can we leave the bickering for later?' Shepard says, all too aware that the tiredness is giving her words a petulant note.

Aria keeps looking at her and Shepard doesn't know what she wants. She's got nothing else to give, so she looks away first, turns her gaze to a side. She notes the damage her shotgun's left on the ceiling and wonders if this is one of those random details she'll remember at the end. Aria's grip on her wrist tightens and the action regains her full attention.  

'I wasn't aware there's going to be a later,' Aria says, and Shepard is always aware of the finality of everything but she hates hearing it anyway.

She tries to snatch her hand away, but Aria smirks at her attempt, and Shepard does what she always does. She acts on impulse, jumping and hoping for the best. She presses her forehead to Aria's, her free hand finding its way to the curve of Aria's neck. The tension that's built between them snaps and twists like unleashed biotics and Shepard won't back down from it. She's too tired to care. She's running out of time.

Shepard expects to be blasted to the other side of the club. She doesn't expect Aria's hand in her hair. Time disintegrates in the space between them and Shepard really must be dreaming but she can feel everything. There's a tightness in her chest that's asking for all the things she can't have.

'I don't understand you hero types,' Aria says, and there's an edge to her voice that Shepard can't identify.

'But hero is exactly your type,' she counters with a whisper, because every sound feels amplified. This is familiar territory. This, she can do. The smile Aria gives her is dangerous, but it's nowhere near as lethal as her proximity, and Shepard's never been wise enough to run from annihilation.

The triumph she feels at the surprised sound Aria makes when Shepard kisses her is quickly overshadowed by the way Aria kisses her back. The hand in her hair pulls her head back while the hand on her wrist pulls her closer, the bar digging into the armour. They kiss each other like it's the last time and Shepard wants to be consumed by this, wants there to be nothing else but this. Somewhere in the distance, her crew waits for her to save them, like the galaxy does, and for a moment, for just one moment, she doesn't care.

There's nothing refined or elegant about this. Shepard's desperation has no time for finesse and Aria is not the type to leave fires unstoked. Shepard has been starving to feel something other than hollowness and futility for too long to be restrained and she's aware that she must look ridiculous, half-splayed over a ruined bar, but she doesn't care. Sounds she's never made are tearing themselves from her and spilling into Aria's mouth, but she doesn't care. Let Aria think of her as a weak and wanton human. Right now, they are equals. Right now, she feels alive.

‘There’s profit in survival,’ Aria says, later, an offer masked as a parting shot as Shepard starts to walk away. They both know that Shepard can’t run, but Shepard allows herself the illusion for another stolen moment. The thought of disappearing is tempting - she could discover other galaxies, let this one save itself for once. She could live without being so intrinsically aware of how close she is to the end of it all.

Instead, she clings to the warmth she can still feel in her hands, presses her fingers to her lips like she can trace the memory of Aria’s mouth on her, lets Aria sees the movement. She doesn’t offer a goodbye before she leaves. Finality can wait.

[choicesaddictionwriting]

Hope | Ramsey x MC (Kendall Archer)

A/N: I know this sucks but I’ve been having a lot of trouble writing for this blog and just write for my other one. So when I got this idea I just rolled with it. I hope you enjoy. 

Summary: At a meeting with the Hospital Board of Directors Ethan announces who he wants on his diagnostic team.

Hope | Ramsey x MC (Kendall Archer)

“I have decided to nominate Dr Archer for the fellowship,”

“Dr Archer…” A board member repeats right after him, Ethan didn’t know his name nor did he want to know but he knew his face.

“Yes,” Ethan nodded in confirmation, briskly, his eyes glancing over Harper, whose eyes were wide in surprise at his words before looking back at the five board members he was addressing.

He knew who Harper wanted him to pick. She had even told him who to pick. And maybe he should have just listened and perhaps before he met Kendall, he simply would have followed her instruction. Hospital bureaucracy wasn’t something he cared for, it was something he avoided, only indulging in it when he was forced to or when absolutely necessary.

But he was different now.

Everything was different now.

“We were under the impression that you and Dr Emery were in agreement as to who would be nominated for the fellowship,” Another board member, piped up.

“Clearly not,” Ethan stated, still standing at the end of the table, biting back any distaste.

“Well then Dr Ramsey, make your case,”

“I’m not disputing that Dr Aurora Emery, Dr Emery’s selection would not do well in the position and I agree that she has both consistently ranked highly and undoubtedly would be capable of taking the position…but,”

“But…” A nameless board-member encouraged much to his annoyance as he took a sharp breath and collected his thoughts.

No more thinking was needed.

“But,” He continued, his stance strong, his voice stern, “Dr Archer is different.  She has every attribute a good doctor or someone with the potential to be a good doctor should have. Compassion, empathy, perspective and curiosity, And these qualities are more important than the superficial high ranking of interns.  She didn’t come here thinking she was the best or already knew everything, she came her wanting to learn, to be better. Her only competitor herself and the limits she set. During her time here she has consistently shown an ability to handle the harsh realities of working here. She has made mistakes of course but she only makes them once. She has learnt that actions have consequences and that you can’t help everybody. But that doesn't mean she won’t try her hardest anyway. She is a dedicated individual whom I believe would exhaust every avenue three times before even considering giving up. And even then she would try something else. Which is the main reason she is my nomination, being a senior fellow on my diagnostic team means exhausting every avenue no matter how obscure to reach a diagnosis. Her ability to see beyond what is in front of her, think of ideas and make connections, as well as her extensive medical knowledge, is what will help her in this position.”

“Dr Ramsey,” Dr Emery called from down the hallway, causing Ethan to turn around in surprise, stopping as he waited for the Chief of Medicine to catch up.

“Dr Emery,” He acknowledged professionally, in the bustling hallway, “What can I do for you?”

They began to walk in step, everyone making way for them as they made their own way down the hallway to the children’s ward.

“Your intern, Dr Archer?”

“What about her?” He responded, his heart involuntarily racing at the mention of her, though he remained unfazed outwardly.

“She came up to me this morning asking me to manipulate a government subsidiary to provide care for a patient without insurance,” She relayed before explaining the situation fully to him.

“And you’re telling me?” Dr Ramsey questioned nonchalantly, expertly hiding all his emotions.

Impressive job, Rookie, he thought to himself.

“I need you to keep an eye on her for me,” She instructed, “I don’t want her getting the idea that she can go around saving everyone. Someone needs to put her in her place as her attending Physician. I’m giving you that job. You can’t save everyone, make sure she knows that,”

They had continued to walk, stopping at the glass doors of the children ward.

“You want me to stop her from finding unique ways to help people?” He countered, raising an eyebrow at her suspiciously.

“And what happens when she comes across the next patient that doesn't have insurance and she can’t find a way to help? I need her to be realistic and so do you if you want her to stick around,” She stated, before leaving him abruptly to catch up with another doctor down the hall.

Ethan sighed before turning around to the sight of the hectic Children’s ward. His eyes then widened at the sight of Dr Archer, doing a cartwheel for an audience of children all lined up in their beds. He watched for a second before swinging open the door.

“Dr Archer,” He called sternly.

“Yes, Dr Ramsey?” She responded before jumping and turning to look in his direction.

“This is a hospital, not a playground. What are you doing?” He instructed.

“Proving I can do a cartwheel,” She replied, nervously, looking at the kids who were all giggling under their sheets.

“What are you even doing here?”

“Checking up on Ellie here,” She informed, gesturing a small blonde girl no older than seven, “She came into the ER earlier and I promised I would check in,”

“And that involves a cartwheel in the middle of the ward?”

“No,”

“Get back to work, Rookie,”

“Oh, I’m on my break actually. I start again in,” She explained before glancing at her watch, “Five minutes. I should go, kids,” 

“Bye Kendall,” They waved off almost in time as Kendall waved back before slipping out the hard down the hall.

Offering him an embarrassed smile as she brushed past him and began to sped walk back to internal medicine.

And Ethan couldn't help but smile to himself as he watched her go, despite his better judgment.

“And besides that, she has an excellent bedside manner. She knows how to talk to people, patients, everyone. She is a pleasure to work with and has been a pleasure to mentor. She has the capability to mould herself into a truly fantastic diagnostician. She has all qualities to do it as well as some that put her potential above everyone else's. She comes to work every day with the belief that day will be a good one. She has infectious optimism which may not be the first thing you think of when you think you good doctor but it’s what all good doctors should have. She has belief, hope that everything will turn our right.  And she makes those around her believe it too. Not just patients but other doctors. Doctors who haven’t given a damn in years come in with this new found energy to help people. And it’s because of her. I know it because I too have felt it…”

“What about you?” What kind of doctor do you see yourself being in ten years,”

He watched intently as her face creased in momentary thought. Even in the midnight darkness her eyes still lit up as she spoke.

“The kind of doctor who could…make a difference in patent care,”

Ethan smiled in spite of himself, thinking of all she had already done, “More than you do now?”

“I’m only an intern! I do barely anything now,” She dismissed, her signature smile sad in spite of her carefree tone.

“Not true,” Ethan insisted, with a lot more passion than he intended but he made no attempt to restrain himself, “I’ve seen how hard you work for your patients. Even if they don’t always value it, you do make a difference.”

“But not enough,” She persisted, her positive demeanour diminishing with every word that was clearly coming from her deep-rooted insecurity which Ethan knew what obstructed her ability to see her own true potential, “I helped one uninsured patient receive care, but I can’t find loopholes for everyone,”

“Why not?” He demanded, knowing what she needed to hear.

“Because, because,” She almost stuttered, surprised by him, surprised enough that she thought hard about what to say, “Because the entire system needs to change, and I want to be a part of it. I’m going to be a part of it,”

She smiled brightly, any insecurity dissipated, as she radiated optimism…belief.

“And I have no doubt you’ll find a way,” He grinned back at her, any internal resistance he felt dismissed as he allowed himself to be completely armoured with her hope to the point that he could feel it himself.

No matter the unlikeliness of it and no matter what happened next she had made him believe that things could change, even if it was only briefly or for a moment which he knew wasn’t true. He was hopeful that she could do it, do what no one else could. She could change it all, she made him believe.

She made him hopeful.

“She doesn’t use patients as vessels to prove her worth or how impressive she is like Dr Emery and the other interns.” He persisted, the memory fading, “And that’s because she doesn’t need to prove it because she just is impressive. And I’m not referring to her impressive resume, of volunteer work and graduating top of her class at John Hopkins or even her medical knowledge and capability as a young doctor. She is impressive because she walked into these doors wanting to do good. And that is a desire that hasn't wavered.

Med school and inevitably this job train us into forgetting what are patents actually are and why we all because of doctors in the first place. The patients and our desire to help them. They are not cases to judged on the rarity or complexity of the condition they have. They are people, human beings, often in a there most vulnerable state when they come here. And much as they need capable and knowledgeable doctors, they also need another human being to depend on, to trust, to believe in. They need hope that they’re going to be okay and everything is going to be okay.

And Dr Archer gives them that.”

“I’ve exhausted every test, Rookie, what about that do you not understand?” Ethan demanded, getting up and raising his hands in frustration, “I don’t know what else I can do,”

“It’s going to be okay, Dr Ramsey,” She promised, Ethan could feel her eyes on him, despite his best efforts not to look at her, as he looks out the window of his apartment instead.

“You don’t know that,”

“And you don’t know that it won’t be,”

“I can’t let him die, Kendall,” He confessed, quietly, returning to couch, “And I also can’t break his trust. If anyone finds out the truth, he’ll fly to that beach, and I’ll lose any chance I have to save him. I don’t know what to do. I’m only what to do,”

Ethan then proceeded to hunch forward. He could feel her watching him again as he attempted to steady his rapid breathing. Then all of a sudden he feels the ghost of a hand on his knee and then the actual sensation. It was delicate and caused him to tense and stop breathing simultaneously. Though he recovered quickly, finding comfort in such a small act of intimacy.

“I’m here,”

“I know,”

“You’re going to get through this. We are going to solve this,”

“We?”

“I don’t know how much I help I’ll be but perhaps a fresh set of eyes or even a sounding board may help you. But I’m here if you need me, even if its to talk. I know you can do this,”

“You sound so certain,” He scoffed, downing the last of his wine.

“I am certain. I know you can do this. I believe in you,”

“Why?”

“Before we met I probably would have just said because you're the Dr Ethan Ramsey…”

“But now…?” He probed.

“Because the Dr Ramsey I know does everything he can and then some, especially for the people he cares about. You know he even went hunting for a stuffed frog in a storm drain,”

“Did he now?” Ethan almost chuckled, giving a small smile.

“He couldn't have done without me though,” She winked.

“This has never been a competition to her. In fact, she didn’t even want to compete at first and the only reason she did that was because joining my Diagnostic team meant that she would have the opportunity to help the people who need it the most and benefit the most from her knowledge and capability. Not because it means she’s the best intern or for the prestige of the position.”

“Rookie?”  Dr Ramsey questioned, as he switched the light for the supply closet to find Kendall sitting in the corner, her head in her hands.

“Dr Ramsey,” She spluttered, standing up quickly, straightening out her jacket and rubbing her eyes in quick succession, “I was just looking for…”

“Rookie,” He said sternly, repeating himself, not breaking eye contact whilst, picking up her bloodshot eyes, and tear-stained cheeks.

She looked determined for a second longer before she sighed and turned away.

“Okay, you caught me,” She gave in, already defeated, “I was crying in the supply closet,”

“That was obvious,”

“This isn’t a regular thing,” She insisted, taking a deep breath to compose herself,’“ I haven’t cried in here since my first day,”

“Is that what we deem impressive nowadays?” He countered, characteristically, observing carefully, “Your ability to hold it together?”

“No, I just…” She started before sighing and plummeting back to the floor again, heavily.

“Kendall?” He asked, taken aback.

“Dr Ramsey, I’ll be ready for you to lecture me about my lack of emotional control in half an hour but right now…I just can’t,” Kendall whispered, “Can you just please leave me alone,”

Dr Ramsey nodded, before closing and locking the door to ensure they weren’t disturbed. He walked over and sat down on the floor beside her. She had put her hands once again.

“What happened?” He probed, gentler now.

“What are you doing?” She asked, raising her head a little to look at him sideways, her eyelashes damp and she blinked away fresh tears.

“You’re upset,” He stated, pointedly, handing her a handkerchief from his pocket.

“Why do you care?” She snapped, uncharacteristically to the point that she didn’t even immediately apologise after.

“As there is a high chance that you’ve done something that effects me, as your attending Physician, given how upset you are. So what is it? Have you given a patent the wrong medicine, misdiagnosed them or killed them?” He paused for her to answer, but she didn’t, “ I also care about you…”

“You do?”

“Yes,” He responded without thinking, before quickly scrambling to find something to add, “Like I care for all the interns,”

“Right,” She accepted, wiping her eyes.

“So?”

She sighed once again, “Someone turned off my pager,”

“Oh,” He nodded, he had already heard what had happened from a colleague.

“You heard?” She picked up.

“Your carelessness has been a hot topic today,”

“I didn’t…”

“I know,”  He interrupted you, “I’ve seen you quadruple check your pager on multiple occasions,”

“Didn’t do me any good today though,” She brushed off.

Ethan felt his chest tighten at the sound of her feeling so defeated. Her brightness was dimmed and he could feel it physically. He hadn’t realised how much he had started to depend on her positivity to feel good himself.

“This completion isn’t worth it,” She suddenly said, shaking her head.

“Kendall…”

“Someone could have died because I decided to enter this competition,” She continued, breathing heavily, “And it would have been my fault because I decided to chase a dream over doing what I’m supposed to,”

“How could you possibly reach that conclusion?” He questioned, for the first time baffled by her ability to connect things together over amazed.

“I wouldn't be a target if I had joined this stupid fellowship race,”

“You aren’t a target because you joined, you’re a target because you have an actual shot of winning,”

“But it shouldn't be about winning.” She insisted, strongly, “It should be about doing our jobs to the best of our ability and someone earning it honestly, not cheating, sabotaging and putting patients at risk just to win. It’s not worth it. It defeats the whole purpose of doing this job,”

“You’re a good person, rookie,”

“You think I’m weak, don’t you?”

“No,” He corrected, “I think you’re a little naive to think that any of those other interns wouldn't step on your back to get to the top and if it were anyone else I’d say you need to get your act together and deal with it.”

“Then why aren’t you saying it?”

“Because your naivety or should I say your belief that everyone is good, your refusal to accept your position in the rat race to be the best, makes you who you are. And it’s what makes you the best intern, it what makes your competition. You don’t overthink, scheme or sabotage. You just do what you need to because your desire to help people is stronger than any of there desires to be the best. You’re a good doctor, Kendall…,” He responded, before adding despite his better judgement,

“You’re a good person,”

“So what should I do?”

“What you think is right. And don’t let them get to you again.”

“Ethan...” 

“Dr Ramsey,” He corrected, looking away. 

“Right,” She nodded, quickly, “I’m sorry,” 

“Don’t be, I’m sorry for...everything,” He apologised once again.

“Don’t be, I don’t regret it either,” She finally smiled. 

“The only question now, in my opinion, is are we going to be the hospital that fostered the potential of one of the most capable doctors that’s ever walked through our doors or are we going to be the hospital that missed out on that opportunity.”

With his conclusion, the room remained silent. A couple of board members had begun nodding in consideration of his words but no one spoke as they contemplated everything they had just heard.

“Well, Dr Ramsey, you’ve given us a lot to think about. Since there are now two final candidates we’ll reconvene same time tomorrow,” The head announced as everyone stood up and began filling out the room.

Soon only Ethan and Harper remained in the Board-Room.

“What the hell was that?” She demanded.

“My nomination,” He stated, cooly, “I think I made a pretty good argument,”

“We had an agreement,” She reminded, walking over to him with all the command and authority that made her Director, “I thought we agreed…”

“We never agreed, you told me who to nominate,”

“Because she’s always been at number one,”

“In a number ranking, you designed and manipulated,” He breathed, meeting her eyes.

“I would never…” She began to defend, getting slightly in his face.

“Not directly no,” He agreed, “But you ensured she got every opportunity to get there and stay there. She is a good doctor undoubtedly but she would be in the same position as all the other good doctors we have if she wasn’t your niece,”

“Do you really think they’re going to side with you over me after that long waffling speech of yours?” She questioned, her eyes intently staring into his, looking for a weakness or anything that would give him away.

“I’m hopeful,”

“You should know better than to be hopeful,” She scoffed. 

“You should know better than forgetting to be,”

[ianmrid]

...It's The Master Plan!

OK, strap yourself in; this one is a bit of a roller coaster.

For a good long while, I was pretty convinced that there was no way I could glitch either Mew or Deoxys into the Gen3 games, as I had done in Gen1 for Mew and Gen2 for Celebi, until I stumbled across a glitch known as Glitzer Popping. I have no idea why it is called this - it seems that it was intentionally picked to mean nothing specific, but also to not sound too generic.

A French hacker known as Metarkai fond a way to exploit some pre-existing glitches even further, allowing you hatch any pokémon you could wish for, and then these exploits were then documented in video guide form by a YouTuber called ChickasaurusGL. And man, are they ever complex. I am not going to even pretend I understand this stuff - it is way more complex than any of the glitching I have tried out previously - but I’m going to summarise the process in really basic terms. However, if you are interested in the original video, it’s linked below, but beware: it is is over an hour long!

In very basic terms, the glitch uses a bug known as the Pomeg Berry glitch in order to allow you to access the pokémon in your PC boxes during a battle - something you shouldn’t be able to do. This works by taking a Ghost-type pokémon that knows the move Curse. Curse reduces the HP of the pokémon by half - rounded down - in order to inflict damage each turn on your opponent. The ‘rounded down’ part is how to exploit the glitch. You essentially use Curse twice with a Ghost-type that has an odd number of HP, guaranteeing you are left with just 1HP. You can then use a Pomeg Berry on the pokémon, which reduces it’s Hit Point EVs, dropping it to 0HP without it having to be in battle, so it doesn’t truly faint. Now, when you enter a battle, you have no non-fainted pokémon in your party and the game glitches, sending out a placeholder icon known as Decamark (??????????).  Once this happens you can open your pokémon party screen and scroll off the bottom, accessing pokémon that are stored in your PC boxes.

Accessing the pokémon in this way can cause them to become corrupted, turning them into eggs. You can then repeat the process an double ‘corrupt’ into something referred to as indicator pokémon. This part is where it gets tricky. To achieve it you need to use pokémon with specific stats, specific EVs, specific moves, and specific hidden IDs. These hidden IDs can’t be known in-game with the exception of the pokémon available as trades from  NPCs. Since these are predictable values you can corrupt them by giving them the stats/EVs/moves needed. 

I figured the easiest way to try it out would be to attempt it alongside the video. The glitch only works on either non-English EU cartridges or US cartridges, so I was going to have to buy another copy of Pokémon Emerald since mine was an English EU copy. This was fine - it’s not like I would risk corrupting my existing save file, containing all the hard work I’d put in so far, so I turned to the internet and eventually managed to obtain a US copy of Emerald. It took a while as there are a huge number of fake GBA cartridges on eBay and, despite my best attempts to be careful, I ended up with a few duds before I got a genuine one. 

I threw together a very random team, since I needed to play through Emerald again to get to a certain point where I could try out the glitch. They needed to b high enough level to make things easy but not so high they wouldn’t listen to me. I’m not going to do a full entry on this team but here is a brief round up below:

Moone the Lunatone: I flip-flop on whether I prefer Solrock or Lunatone - and I was obviously in a Lunatone mood when selecting this team. The Rock- and Psychic-typing came in very useful in the early game where you normally wouldn’t see it.

Zippy the Banette: The key pokémon for this glitch as it is a Ghost-type that was able to learn curse. Curse behaves differently with non-Ghost-types so Banette was one of the few options available to me to execute the glitch.

Banquet the Swalot: A rather under-rated pokémon, it was nice to give Swalot an outing as it had a suitable level to make the game easy, but not risk getting too over-levelled.

Guy the Breloom: As with Lunatone and Swalot, Breloom was fully evolved but not too high a level to be useful. The part-Fighting type made short work of the early game Normal-types.

Humph the Camerupt: Since the glitch involves hatching eggs, I sent over Camerupt who has the Magma Armour ability. This reduces the amount of steps it takes for eggs to hatch, which could be handy.

Demi the Sharpedo: Originally a member of XD team until Walrein and Sableye ended up providing the same type-coverage. I needed a Water-type to get about, so I decided to give Demi a second chance to shine.

And here they all are (they still get a pic as I still played a full game with them pretty much!):

After smashing my way through the game as quickly as possible, and obtaining the in-game trade pokémon required, I configured them correctly and I was able to make the stages above work correctly. I used Bannette to correctly carry out the Pomeg Berry part of the exploit with no issue, and I even succeeded in the single/double corruption required to get he Indicator Pokémon. So far, so good.

The next bit is where it got really complex. I had to capture some Smeargle to transform them into Mew and Deoxys. It had to be Smeargle, due to it’s ability to learn any move through the use of its signature move, Sketch. Again they had to be set up a certain way - including being fed certain combination of pokéblocks to ensure the created Mew/Deoxys would be obedient, since this flag was usually set by the event item - a step we were skipping completely. I finally obtained and set up my Smeargle and now all I had to do was to double corrupt them, however...

I. Just. Couldn’t. Make. It. Work.

I just don’t know why. Things started out OK; I managed the single corruption stage after a couple of attempts, but try as I might I just couldn’t manage the double corruption step. Every single damn time, the Eggs remained the same. Now, it could be pure dumb bad luck since there is only a percentage chance of each corruption/double corruption working, but the chance is high enough that I would have thought I’d have seen a success at least once, given the number of times I tried. Additionally, there is no way to know for sure whether or not you are just endlessly trying out the same procedure over and over, with no hope of getting the desired result because you have screwed up a step earlier in the process. At one point, to try and mitigate that possibility, I started all over again, right from Step 1 of the glitch, but I ran into the same brick wall.

This was so disappointing. It was worse knowing there was a way to do this that I just seemed unable to achieve than when I thought Mew and Deoxys were simply impossible to obtain. In my frustration, and after spending many hours failing, I turned back to the internet and searched even deeper, looking for any other articles about the glitch, some clearer or easier instructions, anything! And then a ray of hope: Distribution ROMs.

Back in the day, before all games were online and internet compatible, whenever there was a event during which you could be transferred a rare pokémon, you actually had to go to a specific location - usually a store or festival of some sort - between certain dates and take your GBA with you. You would then be linked up to an on-site GBA which was running a specific cartridge that just distributed a rare pokémon or item direct to your save file. A good example of this would be the Old Sea Map which was an event-only item that was required in order to encounter Mew in-game. The distributions ran only in Japan during part of 2005, for attendees of either the Pokémon Festa convention or the PokéPark theme park. Incredibly, over on the site digiex, someone has manage to obtain ROMs of these original distributions, meaning it is theoretically possible to receive the event pokémon as if you were actually present at the time it occurred!

Now. Does this count as legitimate? The obvious answer is no - and that is true in as much as it only really ‘counts’ if you obtained it via the event legitimately at the time. But since this also means my Gen1 Mew and my Gen2 Celebi also don’t count ‘officially’ as they were obtained by glitching, I think this is an acceptable solution to my problem. I would argue that this is actually more authentic than if I had been able to glitch the game as described above, and certainly doesn’t violate my ‘no Action Replay’ rule. It is as close to the genuine experience as it is possible to get nearly 15 years after the fact. Now fulloy self-justified it was back to eBay to buy a GBA flash drive and a memory card.

First up; Deoxys. Deoxys was able to be encountered in-game once you got a hold of the item the Aurora Ticket. This could be used on the ferry to reach the otherwise inaccessible Birth Island. I loaded the Aurora Ticket distribution ROM onto my flash drive and managed to send my Emerald save file an Aurora ticket at my first attempt - it worked perfectly! As soon as I had the ticket, I headed to Birth Island and captured Deoxys - something I never though I would be able to do in Gen3! It was immensely satisfying and I enjoyed being able to battle and catch Deoxys rather than just being gifted one directly.

Next up is Mew. The Old Sea Map - the Mew-equivalent in-game item to the Aurora Ticket was something that was only ever released in Japan and unfortunately there is no ROM that has been discovered for this yet. However, I’m not too sad as there was also a direct distribution of Mew where you were gifted it directly - and the ROM for this has also been made available on digiex.

Getting directly the pokémon is slightly less cool, but at this point it is not a concern for me! I loaded up the ROM for the Mew distribution and attempted to send myself one. This actually took a couple of goes ot get right as it seems the GBA link cable I was using needed to be in a specific way round to distribute Mew - but once I fixed that, it worked like a charm. I’d finally done it!

Hoenn National Pokédex: Completed!

I quickly sent both Deoxys and Mew over to my final Emerald save file and my National Pokédex stats read 386 seen / 386 caught. With all the extra time I had spent in Emerald leveling up all the different evolutions, my total play time was up to a whopping 103 hours, 40 minutes! That isn’t even counting the additional 17 hours, 42 minutes that I spent on the US version, trying to get the glitch to work...

I am absolutely dreading what Generation 3 will have done to my graphs. But honestly? Worth it!