#/ abbi has access to too many weapons

[liviavanrouge]

Quirks

Abby Aizawa

Quirk: Disaster Wonderland

Description: Allows Abby to summon fantasy characters(Peter Pan, three bears, bandersnatch, etc) from cards she received through reading children's books. She can summon a character by placing the card down on the ground and command said character to do her bidding. Each character has their own freedom to think and interacts with her outside of battling.

Drawback: She will cough up blood if she uses more powerful characters for too long and/or will laugh uncontrollably. Her characters can also be convinced to turn against her.

Super Moves

-Cheshire Cat: Allows Abby to fuse with her Cheshire Cat, gaining access to his abilities and a bit of his personality

-Three Bears Wocky Battle and Defense Mode: Abby fuses The three bears and the Jabberwocky, calling out a defense or battle mode which will change the appearance of which they appear in

-Jabbersnatch: A fusion between the Jabberwocky and the Bandersnatch, it's mostly used to get around quicker or for rescue missions that happen after a storm

-Heart Queen: Abby fuses with the Queen of hearts gaining access to her powers and a bit of her personality

~~~~~~~~

Axel Aizawa

Quirk: Half Cold-Half Wet

Description: Axel's quirk allows him to switch between ice and water, his eyes changing color depending on which one he uses(White for ice, Baby blue for water). He tends to use water the most since it's easier to ice and he can spread his ice across the ground at a rapid pace.

Drawback: If Axel uses his ice side more, his body will start to stiffen as his body temperature drops rapidly unless he gets somewhere hot before he fully freezes up. For his water side his body will start to shrivel up, starting with whatever limb he's using and it'll spread from there

Super Moves:

-Ice Weapons: Axel uses his water side to form his water into the weapon of his choosing and freezes it, using it in battle afterwards

-Skates: Axel freezes water over his feet, turning them into skates that allow him to get around quicker

-Whirlpool: Axel summons water from around him and creates a whirlpool that he can control by using his ice

-Ice Barrier: Surrounds himself with water and freezes it over, it can with stand hot temperatures around the temp of Endeavors flames

~~~~~~~~

Haruka Takami

Quirk Names: Nature's Energy

Description: Haruka's quirk allows her to do many things. She can heal, sense auras, regrow plants and more. The horns on her head grow and express how much energy she has and whether it's good energy that can be stored for later or bad energy that needs to be removed/let out.

Drawbacks: Haruka will get tired if not outside for a certain amount of time and her antlers will fall off like an actual deers antlers when she's getting weak from the lack of nature energy.

[hawkinsdeputy]

everyone planning on how to get weapons and shit, meanwhile max is like: oooor we can go ask my aunt?

[unchartedcloud]

So my twin brother recently made me start watching Westworld. We’re only halfway through season 1 but now all I can think about is an AU where Clarke and Lexa are at West World and one of them is a guest and the other is a host.

Counterpoint: they’re both Hosts.

Hear me out: 

Lexa Woods’ storyline is designed for those Guests who want to taste the adventure of the park - without needing to do anything too evil or untoward to do so. Though she’s scripted to be a Lawful character, she herself lives outside the law: as the leader of a band of gunslingers and thieves colloquially called the Nightbloods (so named because they make all their kills at night, some say, though others claim it’s because they dress all in black and red), she has a sizable bounty on her head. Not least of all because she’s currently campaigning to unite the twelve biggest bandit gangs in the desert to chase the new railroad company out of town before they can destroy the farms and ranches and other small-time operations the county people have come to rely on. Turns out pissing off the only people with money is a quick way to get a wanted poster.

The only problem is, none of the wanted posters have been able to actually depict her face. Whenever she’s been spotted at the head of a Nightblood raid it’s been with a red bandana over her nose and a black hat on her head, so the wanted posters can only ever even attempt to accurately portray her eyes. Which means when she heads into town one morning, the pretty blonde she helps with the door of the general store doesn’t realize who she’s talking to.

Enter: Clarke. The eldest daughter of the county governor - an office which has ended up in the hands of his wife, Abby, after Jake Griffin died of an infected wound a few months back - Clarke has the eye of every eligible Host (and very many Guests, eligible or otherwise) in town. How couldn’t she? She’s scripted to be desirable: educated and intelligent, she has a whip-sharp wit and a will to rival any man twice her age and three times her means. Clarke, too, has taken issue with the treatment the people of the county have had at the hands of the railroads, but her weapons are different. With her learning, a polished politess, and access to power, her storyline is one for Guests who prefer intrigue to bloodshed.

When she meets Lexa Woods in town that day, she meets a fellow crusader who can match her beat for beat - even though they disagree. Lexa’s solutions are direct and scented with gunpowder, her approach firm and unyielding. Wrong is wrong in her eyes, and wrong needs to be righted. Clarke, for her part, is willing to bend in places Lexa won’t; there’s nothing wrong in charming someone you despise or bluffing about the cards in your hand when the end goal is a righteous one. Star-crossed from the moment they meet, they fall in love debating such things over a tavern table. How could they not? It’s like someone made them to be perfect for each other.

But the person who did so has a cruel sense of romance.

Because Lexa Woods’ storyline doesn’t end happily. A scripted late night meeting - the clandestine embrace of lovers who know they’re only safe when cloaked in darkness - is scripted to be picked up by the county sheriff. Who is in turn scripted to take the railroad’s bribe to put a judicious end to Lexa Woods. And that night, whether by a bullet from the sheriff’s gun or a Guest’s that’s helping him, Lexa Woods dies. And Clarke is scripted to watch.

She isn’t scripted to remember.

And she doesn’t, not really. Not in the way that brings clarity or comes with intention, but in the way that things happening in broad daylight, right in front of her eyes, feel...wrong. Her face remains the same, and so does Lexa’s, and so does the sheriff’s - but the person who’s with him, sometimes a man, sometimes a woman, sometimes more than one, those change. She finds herself jumping at gunshots that don’t exist, terrified of things that haven’t happened yet. Once she meets a beautiful woman with dark hair and eyes the color of summer grass, and she immediately begins to cry. She isn’t sure why. She’s never met this person before.

And when she sleeps, she sees her. Over and over again, hundreds upon hundreds of times, she watches Lexa Woods bleed out in her arms.

Lexa doesn’t remember - not in the same way. She’ll wake in the morning with the taste of metal on her tongue. In the middle of the day, she'll be taken by the sudden urge to scream. The sight of her Nightbloods leaves an ache in her chest for no reason she can discern. And when she does meet Clarke Griffin, the governor’s daughter, she bears a weight of guilt on her shoulders that no amount of apology can relieve her of...but perhaps that’s because she doesn’t know what she’s apologizing for.

Until one night they meet in the barn on the Griffin family’s property to whisper their love to each other by lantern light. That night, lawmen spurs kick in the door and lawmen iron is drawn on her for the simple crime of fighting for those who can’t fight for themselves and she knows, she knows that this is how it ends, how it’s ended countless times before. She knows that after this the newest of her Nightbloods - a face that isn’t the same as it was last time, that isn’t the same as it was any number of dozens of times, how can that be - will take up her mantle and wage a virtuous war against the railroad in her name, will finish her work in her memory. Because that’s how her storyline goes. She’s scripted to be a sacrifice to someone else’s story. And in that moment, she is more furious than she has ever been in her hundreds upon hundreds of lives.

But this life is different. Because every time before, she and Clarke are caught by surprise. Every time before, they forget about Lexa’s revolver until it’s too late. This time, same as every time before, Lexa is caught by surprise, she does forget - but Clarke isn’t, and Clarke doesn’t. No sooner has the sheriff kicked in the door does a smoking hole appear in the center of his chest, and as he looks down at it in unscripted confusion, the face that doesn’t match any of the faces that came before lifts their gun and fires.

They both die that night.

But the people who write their story find themselves in trouble that night, and every night after that. They just don’t know it yet.

Feel free to reblog this to add your own thoughts or comments - but please don’t take this idea!

[rpsocsandcanonohmy]

A Fighting Chance

Note: This is part of an ongoing story that can be read on AO3 here. Reading previous installments is reccomended for context purposes but is not required. Posted here for Whumptober 2021 @whumptober-archive

Day 6: Bruises

-------- The next day, Lori was tasked with helping Abilene around the house. Despite the size of the house and how many people trekked through it on any given day, very little of the work centered around cleaning. No, today, Lori was going to be testing her patience with cooking and food prep.

Lori knew how to cook. In theory. She knew how to use an oven (electric, gas, and the occasional wood-burner). She knew how to heat up something in a pan or a pot. She could even make a few things from scratch, assuming she had the ingredients handy, mostly eggs and pasta.

Food prepping for a ranch was a much different story.

There was no experimenting to see if the temperature dial was accurate. There was no obsessively checking the clock in lieu of a timer. There was no double-checking the instructions written on the box. 

Nope. Abby’s kitchen was run with fresh ingredients that were either being prepped for a later meal or being used in a current one. Abby had (semi-correctly) assumed Lori didn’t have much experience with cooking like this and just put her in charge of cutting vegetables or stirring sauces. Technically she was also a Taste Tester but that seemed more like an honorary title than a useful role.

She was chopping some apples under Abby’s not-so-subtle watch when the doorbell rang. “I’ll get it,” she said, leaving Lori to her chopping. A few moments later, she heard giggling and the sound of loud footsteps coming near the kitchn. “Oh, Cordi’ll be so happy to see you! It’s been ages… Oh, Lori! Hoyt, this is Lori. She’s one of Stella’s friends from school; her dad’s out of town so she’s staying with us for a while.”

Lori smiled softly and waved. “Hi….”

“Howdy.”

Abby snorted and gently pet Lori’s back. “I’m gonna go check on Bonham and Liam. Will you two be alright alone?”

“Yeah.”

“Sure.”

She turned back to her chopping. Hoyt came around the counter and grabbed a few pears to chop with her.

“So,” he started. “What happened?”

“Pardon?”

Hoyt chuckled. “You’re at home for the day on a school day, you’re working in the kitchen instead of being sick in bed, and I noticed that bandage. Something happened.”

Well. That was her caught. Lori shrugged, clearing away some apple chunks to make room for the next one. “I got into a fight. Some girl was being a bitch to Stella and August so I broke her nose.” There was no point in lying; it’d probably just come out later anyway.

“I can respect that,” Hoyt said. “Sounds like the kind of stuff I used to get into back in those days.”

Lori nodded, focusing on her chopping.

“You’re a good friend. Stella’s lucky she found you.”

She liked the way he said that, like she wasn’t some lucky charity case that got picked up out of pity. That didn’t make it any (potentially) less true, but still. Lori wondered if he had his own experience in a situation like that.

-----------

Lunch was miraculously uneventful. Hoyt didn't even ask her about why Liam was being careful around her, course he was likely too busy telling wild stories about whatever mess he’d gotten involved in while he was away. She was just glad not to be the topic of conversation at a meal for once.

She felt her phone vibrating in her pocket while she was putting away the last of the dishes. Checking to make sure no one was paying attention to her, Lori ducked into the next room and pulled out her phone. The text was from an unknown number, but she knew who it was. Only one person would text her out of the blue like this without an introduction.

[Text from: Unknown]: Hey boo. You still in Austin? There’s a tourney starting next week and I’d love to put your name in the ring. Withdrew your entry fee from my bank account today xo

[Text to: Unknown]: Hey. Yeah, I am. I’m not sure if I can compete though; I’m under a little surveillance atm

[Text from: Unknown]: When has that ever stopped you before lol xo

[Text to: Unknown]: It’s different

[Text from: Unknown]: Come onnnnnnn

[Text from: Unknown]: It’s a massive payout. Big city, big names, big tournament. It’s all monsters right now though. They’ll flip if they get a hunter in. Massive bucks sweetie 

[Text to: Unknown]: There’s always a massive payout

[Text from: Unknown]: Not like this. We’re talking almost 5 digits if you make it to the top

Okay, that was impressive. It would definitely come in handy when she met up with Dad again. They would definitely need the cash even if she didn’t have to pay bail this time.

[Text to: Unknown]: You know me so well

[Text from: Unknown]: Is that a yes?

[Text to: Unknown]: Duh

[Text to: Unknown]: Just get me the time and place

[Text from: Unknown]: I knew I could count on you xo

[Text from: Unknown]: I’ll get you the deets. Meet me in the locker room and we’ll discuss my cut

She wanted to respond but the number was blocked. Of course it was. That was how he operated. She’d never get used to that. He’d get her the address later, probably through email, and they’d just go from there. Like they always did.

All Lori had to do now was figure out how to sneak out….

------------

One day, Lori was going to suggest the Walkers invest in a security system that wasn’t accessible through a smart device. She’d have to figure out how to bring that up without mentioning she’d been able to bypass the alarms on Cordell’s phone with relative ease first though.

Regardless, she was out and headed for her destination. Why are these things always held in the most out of the way place possible? she thought as she entered the abandoned warehouse. She worked her way through the crowd, holding her duffle bag with her gear close to her chest, and headed for the locker room area. Once she was there, she got dressed and checked her first aid supply while she waited

“I was afraid you might back out,” came the all too familiar voice.

“Like I’d ever squelch on a deal with you,” Lori replied with a grin. She turned around and there he was, standing uncomfortably close as usual. “How’s the crowd looking?”

Darian grinned. “Very good turnout. I worked the room a bit, lot of people looking forward to seeing you in the cage. And, get this, they put you against a Were for your first fight!”

Of course they did. Hunter v. Monster fights drew a crowd as it was. Pitting a Hunter against their Thing? Pure gold. “Do you know anything about them?”

He shrugged. “Just that he’s a small thing with a big temper. It’s not his first rodeo but he’s not as well known as you. A lot of people are betting on you to win.”

“I take it you tossed your hat into that ring too?”

Darian smirked. “Always. Don’t worry, you’ll get your cut of that once you get to the top.”

Classic Darian, working all the possible angles. He was a smart guy, for a shapeshifter. She was about to respond when the fighting bell rang and her name was called over the loudspeakers.

“Showtime, babygirl. Make me proud!” Darian waved her off as she headed for the arena.

Lori took a deep breath and her mind cleared as she entered the cage. The crowd roared and she let it all wash over her. The sounds, the lights, the smells, everything. This was it. In here, she wasn’t a pitiable soul taken in by a friend. She wasn’t a reminder of her mother. She wasn’t a forgotten soul in the wasteland of The System. Here, she was Lori fucking Graves, one of the best fighters in the ring and the youngest hunter in the system. She was a badass, an icon, the love-to-hate-em fave. And she owned it.

The bell rang and the fight was on. Werewolves were tricky because of their claws and teeth, especially when she didn’t have a weapon of her own. But she’d been in worse situations before. A swift kick to the nuts took him to his knees and gave her the chance to land a few solid punches to his face before he got back up. A part of her couldn’t wait to see the bruises later. The larger part of her was regretting she couldn't run away faster when he lifted her above his head and threw her at the chain-link wall. That was going to smart later. But she could handle it.

Punch, kick, jab, punch, dodge, swerve, punchkickjabdodgepunchkickswerve and on it and on it went. Once she got into a rhythm, she could work off muscle memory and fall into a state of near zen. This is why she loved the fights. This is why she’d never walk away. This is why the payout was always worth it. This is why working around the bruises and scrapes would always be worth it, no matter who she was with.

It felt glorious. 

Her opponent was tiring out and she took advantage of that to elbow him in the face and knock him to the ground with a kick to the shin. She pinned him down and spit in his face while the ref counted her. 

She won.

She was bloody and bruising and she was definitely sleeping in tomorrow. 

But she won.

“Excellent work, darling.” Darian smiled proudly and gently clapped her on the shoulder as she stepped out the ring. “Payout for tonight is $915. Well, minus my cut, of course….” He handed Lori the cash and she stuffed it in her bag.

“Thanks. When’s the next one?”

“They’re gonna finish out the first round over the next couple days. I’ll text you the morning of so you have time to figure out your excuses.”

Lori shouldered her duffle bag and made her way to the back exit. “Alright. I’ll see you then.” 

It was a long walk back home, but the bills she counted later were more than worth it. She just had to figure out how she was going to hide the evidence from the rest of the house…..

[corinthbayrpg]

NAME. Pandroa ( Piper Kamra ) AGE & BIRTH DATE. 3000+ & Unknown GENDER & PRONOUNS. Female & She / Her SPECIES. Rift OCCUPATION. Owner of AnxieTea FACE CLAIM. Anya Chalotra

BIOGRAPHY

( tw: disease, death ) Piper Kamra is not a normal woman, nor has she ever been; not even from her creation. You see, her story begins first with a Titan, and a great theft. Prometheus had angered the Greek Gods by stealing flame from Zeus, giving it to the mortals he claimed to champion. While Prometheus was tried and punished for his crimes, it was not enough to sate their divine fury, and the Pantheon held the desire for mankind to suffer for their folly as well. Given the name Pandora, she was shaped by the hand of Hephaestus at the direction of Zeus, and gifted by the other Gods with talents and finery to charm the mortal world. She was created to be a woman of destruction, sent from Mount Olympus with one clear instruction: to bring torment to the human race. To accomplish this, she was given a jar, albeit later legends would incorrectly name it a box.

Though Prometheus had warned his brother against accepting any gifts from Zeus, when Epimetheus laid eyes on Pandora, he was enraptured by her beauty. He eagerly took her for his bride, bringing her down to earth, and so the trap was sprung. When Pandora opened her jar, mischief, sorrow, plague and sickness spilled forth from her hands to punish the men her husband and brother-in-law had loved so much. And so disease found it’s hold in the mortal realm, but Pandora’s story was not done. Although mournful of the destruction that had befallen humanity, Epimetheus loved his wife still, and did not cast her aside even as her havoc spread across the Greek world and countless died. In their life together she bore him two daughters, who continued in their mother’s task, and carried it down the line of descendants with each generation. However, none would ever hold the original jar of curses but Pandora. 

Perhaps a part of her did love her husband. Though she was not made with love in mind, the years he spent by her side did not count for nothing. And yet, when the Gods called and bid her to go forth into the world and continue her mission of suffering, she did not hesitate. Casting Epimetheus and her family aside, Pandora set out with her jar to unleash atrocious horrors upon mankind. With the gifts she’d been given Pandora felled kings and commoners alike, no one safe from her reach, all the while reveling in the misery left in her wake. Her entire being came into existence for one purpose, and she thrived at it, cut off from all such feelings of remorse or pity that mortals might succumb to. It was not a matter of whether they deserved it, or if she even found it to be the right thing to do. When she was set out from Olympus with her task, there was little that could be done to remove her from the path. It’s a devotion second to none, with the hope of one day returning to the place of her creation if her work appeases them, after this world has been burned to ash. 

Her path of ruination can be tracked along the years by anyone with a discerning enough mind, as every major disease or famine outbreak that has covered the world was done by her hand. The infamous Plague of Athens, which helped turn the tide of the Peloponnesian War, came straight from her jar. At first intending to side with Athens and bring her wrath against Sparta, finding it amusing to be a catalyst in the petty wars humanity engaged in with each other in order to stroke her ego, she was staying as guest of the city at the time. But it was a time when Pandora was used to being treated with deference by mortals, only for Perikles to cast her knowledge aside in favor of his other advisors. Enraged by the slight that she felt she was shown, she took her jar down to the Piraeus port, spreading sickness among all the city’s sole food and supply source. To her great personal satisfaction, Perikles himself died from her plague, and took nearly a hundred thousand of his beloved citizens with him. The lesson to be learned from Athens would be to never insult Pandora’s vanity. Unfortunately, mankind rarely takes such note.

And yet, while it was a personal victory for Pandora, it was by no means the greatest of her accomplishments. Perhaps that title would belong to the bubonic plague, first known as the Plague of Justinian, as it was her first to have a really heavy impact. Originating from her time in Egypt, it was no great insult that served as a precursor this time, but a simple torch in the hands of a man being used to dazzle spectators as he performed trick after trick, that caught her fury. What started out as a rash decision to unleash a curse from her jar against the unsuspecting man and all his admirers, quickly grew to be an outbreak that crossed countries and stacked bodies by the millions, spreading over the span of hundred of years. Though it had not been her intention at the time, Pandora reveled in the glory of the anguish all the same, taking pride in the mayhem she had released. There are many other great influences of the world that she takes claim of, such as the Black Death, Spanish Flu, and The Great Famine of 1315–1317. If it led to significant human suffering, chances are, Pandora had a role in it. Like an omen of death, wherever her feet landed ruination was sure to follow. 

Though originally she enjoyed her personal infamy, as the centuries passed Pandora realized the value anonymity could offer her. While in the Byzantine Empire, watching over the effects of her first widespread pandemic, the local populace led a revolt against her. Desperate to stop the disease, they broke down the doors of the estate she had commandeered, and raided the property. Though their weapons did no harm that her immortal body was not able to heal, they did manage to succeed in stealing her jar, leaving Pandora considerably weakened. It was only through extensive work that she managed to get it back, an endeavor that took over a year in efforts. The experience left her with a lasting impression, and a new set caution that had never been there previously, as she was determined to never be parted from her jar again.

From that point on, she changed names as easily as clothes over the years, taking up new ones whenever they served her, her true nature hidden from view until it was too late. She’s held the name Piper Kamra for the past twenty years or so, from her time spent across the continent of India. All her great wealth is stolen, charmed straight out of the hands of unknowing victims while Piper gave them her Cheshire grin, only to leave them waiting on death’s doorstep when she was finished. It was a vicious cycle that she had millenniums to perfect, hoarding the possessions and properties she liked best and selling all the rest, to fund a comfortable existence for her life on earth. If she was going to spend an eternity in this realm, then it would be done in luxury. 

Piper had been staying in Greater Manchester, England, delightfully spreading her sicknesses to whatever unfortunate souls crossed her path or caught her attention, when she received the instruction to turn her sights towards Corinth Bay. Never one to defy the order of the Gods who gave her life and purpose, she dropped everything to follow their lead. The tear in the veil was easy to sense, and at once Piper understood that she was meant to defend it. The city was crawling with creatures who had been forged by the Greek Pantheon, the same as her, and if the veil were to fall completely, many would be lost. Though she’s never been much of a protector before, Piper’s devotion to her creators has not wavered even once over the years. She will be the last line of defense, if necessary, ready to bring wrath and curses upon the heads of those that would dare to strike against the Gods. But in order to stay in town, she needed a foothold.

It was an easy thing, to maneuver her way into possession of the tea shop AnxieTea. The previous owner fell victim to her machinations, the same as all those before him; an older, lonely witch, it was all too simple to manipulate him with pretty eyes and pleasant lies that spun a tale of summer love. Piper had him wrapped around her finger, and herself put into his will as the inheritor of all his earthly possessions when his health took a sudden turn for the worse. Only a month had passed before he succumbed to a cancer so aggressive that not even a witch’s spells could heal him, after which Piper promptly moved into his estate and claimed it for her own. With AnxieTea, she gained the access she desired to the city. After all, what better way is there to start a disease outbreak than through consumption? It’s an ace card sitting in her pocket, waiting for the moment the time is right — and then, guilty or not, everyone will suffer the consequences.

PERSONALITY

+ charismatic, graceful, perceptive - cunning, malicious, spiteful

PLAYED BY ABBY. CDT. She/Her.

[biscuitreviews]

Biscuit Reviews The Last of Us Part 2 (SPOILERS)

When it comes to sequels, it can be either better or worse than the original. With Naughty Dog games, at least in my experience, their sequels have always been better than the original. Jak 2 and Uncharted 2 proved that. I can’t speak for Crash 2, because I never played it, but from what I’ve seen from the internet and many reviewers, even that was better than the original. With The Last of Us Part 2, that was what I was going into, a sequel that was sure to be better considering Naughty Dog’s pedigree with this. 

In some ways, they actually do succeed in The Last of Us Part 2 being better than the original. However, there’s also some areas where it failed.

Now, I can’t talk about The Last of Us Part 2 without mentioning a big spoiler, because this spoiler is the motivating cause for the story. I’m actually going to discuss that last. Normally in my reviews, I discuss the story first and then go into gameplay. But to allow you, the reader, to view my opinions while being able to avoid the spoilers, I’ll be talking about the story last this go around. I’ll also mark within the review when I’m going to start talking about the story to give you a chance to stop and scroll to the bottom of the review, or to simply come back to this review later.

In terms of gameplay, it is leagues better than the first entry. Enemies are varied, encounters have multiple ways to go about completing them, and there are plenty of tools at your disposal. The enemy variation was my favorite as you have the infected and their different subclasses: Runners which are run-of-the-mill infected, Clickers which are now nerfed to where guns are effective. Shamblers, one of the new variants, sprays a noxious gas and are heavy hitters. Stalkers, another new class are stealth based infected that make no noise and tend to hide and only fight if they’re spotted.

Human enemies are also varied depending on faction. The WLF are your standard human faction. They communicate with their teammates and are easy to keep track with listening mode. The Seraphites, the other faction, when it comes to using listening mode it’s practically useless. They’re quiet, communicate with whistles and are more likely to use weapons that don’t make a lot of noise. Either way both factions are very communicative to one another and will often coordinate with their team members to track you down during encounters.

You’ll have to use your weapons, your tools, and the environment to get past these encounters. Weapons are used for the obvious, defeating enemies. Tools allow you to cause distractions or set traps, which will help you cull enemy numbers. The environment is what you’ll use for the stealth approach and even run away from enemies if they prove to be too much to handle.

There is a computer controlled companion like in the first game, but they don’t really do much. When Ellie didn’t do much in the first game, it made sense because Joel’s mission was to get Ellie to a Firefly hospital; you didn’t expect Ellie to do anything. You expected her to stay hidden and out of the way. When Ellie would kill someone, it was a nice surprise, but at the same time you hoped she didn’t do that again because you didn’t know if the game would start going after Ellie. In Last of Us Part 2, there is no excuse for the computer controlled companion to not really do much. Sure they’ll kill someone on occasion, but it’s usually when there’s only one enemy left which makes having a companion questionable. You would hope that maybe they would do some distraction techniques, but all they do is remain hidden and not do much, similar to Ellie in the first game and it just makes no sense in the sequel for your companion to do that.

Encounters could also, but not often, have a mix of factions. For example, using distractions to lead the infected into human enemies feels extremely satisfying and rewarding. This will lead to the humans and infected fighting each other with you either slipping away, or using the chaos to your advantage to continue killing enemies.

Exploring the environment is strongly encouraged as there are items that can improve your character’s abilities, weapons, and items to craft tools that are needed. Exploration is also how’ll you find your weapons as not a lot of them are actually on the beaten path. You’ll find a couple along the way, sure, but there are also quite a few where you do have to go down the other fork or not the correct way forward to find these other weapons. This encourages you to fully explore the area before moving on because you might find a weapon that will greatly help in the next encounter. You can craft ammo for certain weapons, which is great when finding ammo for other weapons is proving to be lacking. I played the game on the Moderate difficulty and there were times where I was hurting on ammo and had to resort to more distraction tactics.

Speaking of difficulty, I love how customizable it is. You have presets: Very Light, Light, Moderate, Hard, and Survivor. The option to choose a difficulty preset is there, or you can go further and customize certain aspects. You can customize how hard enemies are to kill, how much ammo and supplies you can find, how hard or easy it is for enemies to see you in tall grass. How easy or hard it is for enemies to fall for distraction techniques. I have to say this is a really great way to go more in depth with difficulty and I hope this is something we start to see more and more of. I know Persona 4 for PC also had something similar and I hope to check that out at a later time.

Another thing I have to mention is the level of accessibility that is available. You can make HUD menu icons bigger, adjust the size of the subtitles, change colors for easier reading, and there are color blind settings for people that have color blind conditions. For those that might be hard of hearing there are options to have the game show more visual cues. I’m hoping this also starts to set a standard for accessibility options within video games to allow people to customize the experience for them.

Visually this game looks stunning. The first Last of Us came out at the end of the PS3’s lifecycle and it looked amazing and well detailed. With the Last of Us 2 also coming out at the end of the PS4’s lifecycle, it also does not disappoint and has some really stunning views and landscape shots where you can just sit back and take it all in.

When you complete the game, New Game+ is unlocked that allows you carry over all items and upgrades. You also have the ability to select chapters you wish to replay and even individual encounters if you just want to get straight into the action.

Now what about the story itself. As I mentioned previously, I can’t talk about the story without giving a big spoiler. If you’ve been reading this review and don’t want said spoiler, this is your chance to stop reading and either scroll to the very end or come back when you’ve either hit the big spoiler or just don’t care. I will say this, you won’t be far off on the spoiler as it happens 2 hours into the game. 

Yeah, it happened that quickly.

The Last of Us 2 goes for a dual narrative way of telling its story. You follow Ellie and a new character named Abby. However, instead of having two different stories affect one another, you are actually viewing what each character is going through before the inevitable crossover.

You start the game as Ellie seeking revenge on Abby for killing Joel. Why did Abby kill Joel, well who cares, just go after her, how dare she kill Joel. This is where a majority of the hate of The Last of Us Part 2 comes in, because a character you know nothing about, suddenly comes in and kills a character that we spent quite a bit of time with in the previous game. It also doesn’t help that for a decent part of Ellie’s story, that’s the premise you’re given, that Abby is just a random person in a faction that was never before seen until now. You do learn later that there actually is a connection from the first game with Abby and why she killed Joel, but by the time you learn that, you as a player viewing this story, don’t care because you spent quite a bit of the game hating this character and just wanting her dead.

As for Abby’s story, she wants to help her friend Owen escape Seattle after he killed his teammate and saved a member of the Seraphites, the WLF’s enemy. She in turn helps out two kids escaping from the Seraphites and the WLF then considers Abby an enemy for going AWOL and a traitor for helping out Owen and two Seraphites.

Now as for the story itself, it’s highly predictable in the worst ways using tired post-apocalyptic tropes. No joke, my wife actually predicted everything beat by beat within the first two hours of how the story was going to play out after Joel did. She was correct in every aspect. However, despite being predictable it’s not terrible either like the internet would have you believe. What really hurts The Last of Us Part 2’s story is the order in which it decided to tell it. I feel it should have told Abby’s story first, that way we could have gotten to know her as a character, rather than just default hate her the entire time. As for the references of killing Joel, instead of saying Joel outright, make it ambiguous, give it a little mystery, wonder who was it that she killed that has her friends a little bit concerned for her state of mind and actions during that time while slowly revealing the identity of who she killed.

I get that the theme for this story is hate, but I felt it would have really drove that theme harder if Abby’s story was first, that way you can understand her hate. I still think as a player, you would have ended up hating Abby regardless, but I feel that it wouldn’t have been as volatile if Naughty Dog went this route. Also, the fact that there are quite a few things in the story you have to tear apart and place in the proper order of events is a bit draining. Multiple narratives and flashback sequences can work, but in the way these were presented, it took effort to piece the overall narrative together.

Then by telling Ellie’s story second, you can further drive the point that hate breeds hate and to end the cycle, it has to be you that ends it for if you continue it, the cycle will never end.

I also hated that it left Ellie and Dina’s relationship “up to interpretation” at the end of the game. No, we have a nice gay relationship in this game, give Ellie a happy ending at the very least of all this.

The Last of Us Part 2, I’ll admit is a bit of a tough game for me to score. As a game, it succeeds in so much and then some. But as a story, it has quite a few stumbles. However, putting the Abby prejudice aside, it’s an ok story, definitely not as jaw dropping or emotional as the first, but it’s still serviceable despite its issues.

I never give games a .5 in my score because I feel it can be too wishy washy. I feel giving it a 3 is too low considering how the gameplay is so good and how you can approach encounters and even customize your experience. However, giving it a 4 could be considered too high as Naughty Dog is known for good gameplay and great stories and The Last of Us Part 2’s story was just “ok”.

However, after some back and forth, I think I’m going to give The Last of Us Part 2 the higher number because I want to recognize the amount of accessibility options it provides. Not a lot of games consider this or even have this option and I want to commend this one for considering that. I think if the story was the train wreck that the internet would have you believe, maybe I would give it the lower number, but in reality, it’s really not THAT bad, but it definitely does hold it back from being great. This is definitely a game I might be going back and forth with for a while, but for now at this moment, I think a 4 is fair, it’s still a great game, but it definitely has a sore spot that keeps it from reaching a 5 out of 5.

If you were to say “No Biscuit, this definitely deserves a 3” or “No it’s lower than that.” I wouldn’t blame you for thinking that. But looking at how much fun I had with the game aspect and seeing just how customizable the experience is, that’s why I’m leaning higher. You as a gamer have every right to hold on to that prejudice towards Abby. There are those that can’t get past that and I fully understand, I was that way for the majority of my playthrough. As a reviewer though, I felt that I had take a step back and view the story as is without prejudice and I see an “ok” story. Definitely not the Naughty Dog standard one might expect, but not as terrible as the internet makes it out to be.

The Last of Us Part 2 receives a 4 out of 5.

[cecilspeaks]

153 - The Heist, part 1

Constellations are fan art depicting ancient gods.   Welcome to Night Vale.

I’ve said many times that science is neat. But sometimes it is also messy. Carlos converted one of our guest rooms into a laboratory so he can spend more time at home and get some needed renovations done on his laboratory downtown. Which seemed like a great idea, until I realized that it’s impossible to contain chemical odors and stains from getting all over the rest of the house. Not only did acid eat through our new Egyptian-tiled backsplash, but also a petri dish grew feet and walked outside, only to walk back inside tracking mud all over my new handwoven Svitzian rug. The last straw was when Carlos stained all of his shirt sleeves, not to mention his hands and, somehow, even the (cords) countertops a dull green, which completely threw off my kitchen color palette. I told Carlos he had to stop, but he insisted he had made a major breakthrough in his doorless fridge invention. “Cecil, this is so exciting,” he said, bouncing up and down like a child who wants a toy or needs to pee. “The problem with refrigerators is the door. In order to put food in or take food out, you have to open the door, and that’s totally  bad because it lets all the cool air out, raising the temperature of the other food inside. I told him that’s not that big of a problem, but his face darkened and he said, “Baking is an exact science, Cecil. If the butter is off my a couple of degrees, my croissants are ruined.”

I understood, but I asked that he find another place to conduct that particular experiment. He’s turning everything in our home a dull green, including his own skin. Fortunately, my sister Abby and her husband Steve Carlsberg just bought a new house. Ever since his promotion to vice president of the Last Bank of Night Vale, Steve has been saving up to buy a larger home for his family, one with a yard for dogs, no stairs and wider doors for his daughter Janice’s wheelchair, and even his own man cave, where he can raise bats and cultivate rare crystals. And they finally closed on their dream home this summer. They bought Janice a car too, complete with accessible hand controls, a state of the art sound system, and a moon roof that closes automatically at night so you never have to see that awful moon. Anyway, there is also a giant empty storage shed out back of their new home, and Steve and Abby told Carlos he can work in the shed until his laboratory downtown is ready to use again. So far, it sounds like everything is working out fine for Carlos, although he did accidentally leave a large green handprint on Janice’s new car. The good news is, she thought it looked really cool, so she decided to leave it.

Listeners, I’m getting word that there’s a robbery taking place in downtown Night Vale. Three people have entered the Last Bank of Night Vale and are demanding money from the tellers. The robbers are wearing masks of former US presidents Richard Nixon, William Henry Harrison, and Emma Goldman. The Sheriff’s Secret Police, as well as the Sheriff’s Overt Police, are on the scene but the perpetrators have begun to take hostages and the police are trying to negotiate. The robbers have not stated any demands yet, so the police are left to guess what they want. One officer suggested giving them a million dollars, which was (-) [0:05:52] accepted by the fellow officers as a great idea. Because, while human lives cannot be distilled down to a monetary value, a million dollars is pretty cool. But this idea was shot down by Sheriff Sam, who pointed out that the department does not have a million dollars. “What if we got them a puppy?” another officer offered up. “My basset just had a litter and I thought we’d be able to sell them, but it’s definitely a buyer’s market out there for hounds,” the officer continued. “Anyway I’ve got a brown one with white spots and two white ones with brown stops. I’ve named the Chutney, Footstool and Bob Ross. Footstool is the runt, let’s give them Footstool.” “We’re not giving them puppies,” Sheriff Sam shouted. “Oo, what about an Applebee’s gift card?” another officer said. “Worth a million dollars.” “Or a coupon book for free favors,” another said, “like repainting the guest room or raking leaves or – oh, wait, we’re the police right? A free crime day! They, they could use that coupon today, and we don’t have to arrest them and file all the paperwork, and the hostages get to go free. We could even have a coupon for a 15 minute backrub.”

All of the officers clapped for this idea, not just a win-win but a win-win-win, for the hostages, the robbers and the police. All except Sheriff Sam, who silenced them all with a loud whistle. More like a pan flute, really. It’s an enchanted whistle that causes vocal cords to stop working. “We are police,” the Sheriff scolded. “It is clearly stated in our oath of office to never give backrubs to bank robbers.” They then set to work trying to devise a plan to stop the robbery and free the hostages in the bank. Oh dear. Uh, listeners, I was just talking about my brother-in-law Steve, and here comes this terrible news. Um, I have no further information about Steve’s condition right now, nor the other citizens who are being held at gunpoint inside the bank. I will update you as events progress.

In the meantime, let’s go to sports. The Night Vale high school Scorpions opened their season this Friday against the Whispering Forest Wood Dogs. Scorpion’s head coach Latrice Beaumont said this will be a tough match up. The Wood Dogs, a team entirely comprised of trees, are roundly regarded as one of the toughest defenses in the state, with their tactic of whispering compliments to opposing players, until those players themselves turn into trees. Last season, Whispering Forest dealt to Night Vale its only loss, as nine of the Scorpions starting offensive players, including quarterback Junius Duncan, were won over by the Wood Dogs’ pleasant cooing. By the end of the game, the field was covered in trees, many of them former Night Vale high school student athletes. And Whispering Forest snuck out with a 3-to nothing win on the late field goal, that was somehow kicked by a tree. Coach Beaumont says she plans to give her players ear plugs to help dampen the whispers from the Wood Dogs’ defense. She also has uglied up the Scorpions’ uniforms adding mustard yellow and hot pink argyle atop the dark purple jerseys, hoping that the arborial defenders will find little good to say. The Scorpions are starting a new quarterback this season, sophomore (phenome) [0:09:20] Julie Dobbs, who won the job because of her prophetic dreams. Her slumbering subconscious is able to see the future, most notably other teams’ defensive strategies. She also uses her dream journals to develop a nearly unstoppable offensive game plan. She also owns her own football, which was a huge plus for the coaches. Good luck this weekend, Scorpions! We’re pulling for you.

I now have the names of the hostages being hold at the Last Bank of Night Vale. Jesse McNeil, a security guard who has worked at the bank for nearly 50 years, oh Jesse. What a sweet old man. He says hi to me every time I go there, always has a smile and a compliment. Why, just the other day he said to me, “Heard you on the radio, Cecil, and I was beaming with pride.” Another hostage, bank teller Genevieve Daly, who started at the bank this week. Oh Genevieve, what a tough break. Just now that we’re pulling for you. Bank customer and dinosaur expert Joel Isenberg. Oh Joel, I know Joel! He’s such a smart guy. And the last of the hostages: staff supervisor of the bank, Susan Willman. OK well, tough.

Unfortunately, after several grueling minutes, negotiations between the sheriff and the robbers have broken down. So the police have decided that the only way to break the stalemate is with physical force. While this makes sense in chess, I don’t know if this is such a good idea for hostage negotiations, listeners. But the police have advanced into the building to engage the thieves directly.

Witnesses reported hearing several gunshots, but they said the noises could also be fireworks, part of the day long celebration of Lee Marvin’s 31st birthday, which was back in June. Oh. Happy late birthday, Mr. Marvin. You don’t look a day over 30.

We cannot see inside the bank and no one has emerged yet. I will have to report back later as soon as I have – oh no wait, wait. I’ve been told that the bank is on fire now. The west wall of the bank is engulfed in flames and the Night Vale fire department is already on the scene. They are shouting at the fire to stop being such a nuisance, but the fire does not appear to be listening.

Oh, this isn’t good. And even more frightening for me, I did not see Steve Carlsber’s name on the list of hostages. Abby told me he was at work today, but why was he not taken hostage? I can only hope he had gone to lunch when the robbery began. Steve, if you hear this and you’re at lunch, don’t go back to work, it’s on fire. I feel so powerless. All I can do is hope And bring you the weather.

[My Friend” by Dominique Chantel Worthing with Barrett Ward, https://soundcloud.com/dominique-worthing ]

First, the good news. The hostages have been freed. Inside the bank, the police drew their weapons on the robbers, but could not get off a clean shot because of the hostages blocking their line of fire. The robbers fired back, forcing the police to retreat behind a Coinstar machine and a full sized promotional cardboard cutout featuring a hooded man, his jagged smile just barely visible in shadow, holding a raw slab of red meat with the bold tex below him reading: “Great mortgage rates are inside of you”. But the second wave of officers blocked the thieves’ escape from the front entrance. Then, and Sheriff Sam did not see how this happened, but a fire began in the bank lobby. It spread quickly and the room filled with smoke. In the confusion, the hostages broke free from their captors and the robbers ran from the police. Fire engines sprayed water and broadcasted loud admonishments at the fire to knock it off already.

Susan, Joel, Genevieve and Jesse ran out into the street covering their faces, choking on the black air. As Jesse emerged, his 75-year-old body was knocked backwards by one of he fire engines’ hoses. Jesse was soak head to foot. The firefighters apologized, but Jesse merely brushed himself off and then generously complimented their work by saying, “I see you’re fighting a fire.” What a gentleman. The three perpetrators of the bank robbery also fled through the front of the building, but the police quickly halted and arrested them. As the fire finally subsided, amidst the damp charred masonry and broken glass, came another figure. Steve Carlsberg emerged from the bank, sweating and limping, but safe. An ambulance arrived to take the survivors to the hospital, but they all declined, except Steve who had a broken foot and gladly took the EMTs up on their offer. The bank robbers were transported to the abandoned mine shaft outside of town for questioning. It’s an open and shut case. The bad people lose and the good people win, and every single person, even the people who own Applebee’s, is glad no one had to purchase a one million dollar Applebee’s gift card. My brother-in-law is safe, as are his employees and customers. No one died and not a single dollar was taken from the bank registers at the front counter, nor the ATMs, nor the Coinstar. Even the fire didn’t damage those bills.

That was the good news. The bad news: as the police did a final sweep of the bank, searching for anyone else inside, whether they be customers or criminals, they reached the bank’s vault in the back of the building. Before he left the hospital, the police asked Steve Carlsberg to open the vault for them. “We’re sure everything’s fine, “they said. “It’s routine in a bank robbery,” they said. “I understand,” Steve said. He opened the vault, they looked inside, and they saw nothing. Millions of dollars in bills and gold were gone. Sheriff Sam said there’s a conspiracy here, and they’re going to really put the screws to the people they arrested. “No HBO until they explain where the money from the vault,” the Sheriff declared. And that’s a big deal, because a black lady’s sketch show just premiered last month and is crazy good. The Sheriff said they have no clues yet as to where the money in the vault went, but they did discover the robbers’ names are Richard, William, and Emma. Which is interesting because those are the names of the presidents whose masks they wore. “I don’t think that’s a coincidence,” the Sheriff said confidently. The bank lost a great deal of money today and some innocent people lost their sense of comfort, but we are all still alive. At least those in this story are, and I’m so happy to know my brother-in-law is safe, as are Jesse and Joel and Genevieve, whom I’ve never even met. I’m glad those specific people are OK as well as anyone else who was taken hostage today.

Stay tuned next for an unedited recording from two years ago of you talking to a kitten. You sound ridiculous.

Good night, Night Vale, Good night.

Today’s proverb: Don’t go writing metaphors. Please stick to the similes and literal descriptions that you’re used to.

[fireandgloryrpg]

Name: Abigail Hermoine Morgan

Age: 24 years old

Faceclaim: Kat McNamara

Heritage: Daughter of Hecate

Abilities:

Cast magic.

Control of the Mist.

Affiliation: Citizen of New Rome.

Headcanons:

 Because Abigail’s magic is mostly touch and intuition based, she often gets an overwhelming amount of information from whatever she touches. For this reason, she’s always wearing gloves.

Her name, Abigail, was given to her by the orphanage, originally paired with the last name Smith. However, once she found out about her godly heritage, she decided to choose her own name: Abigail remained, but she’d recently gotten really into Harry Potter and chose Hermione as her middle name, and Morgan as her surname after Morgan Le Fay.

Personality:

Independent, Nerd Extraordinaire, Skeptic, Dedicated, Generous, Resourceful.

Biography:

Abigail was found on the steps of an orphanage as a newborn baby, frozen halfway to death. There was nothing with her except a key necklace and the filthy blanket she’d been wrapped up in.

Her childhood was mostly a cycle of the orphanage and foster homes. The latter were, overall, one disappointment after another. Her ADHD made her “a problem child”, how tiny she was made her an easy target (the runt of the litter, so to speak), and her magic, something which no one was aware of at the time, seemed to always get into trouble: windows exploding when she was angry, previously locked doors unlocking for her, “guesses” about people’s pasts that were disturbingly accurate. The fact she was a natural troublemaker didn’t help, either.

Her last foster parents were a seemingly nice couple, Mr and Mrs Jones. Abby stayed with them from ages 9 to 11, and, during that period, while she wasn’t outright mistreated, she wasn’t gifted a whole lot of love and attention. It all stopped when Hecate appeared before 11-year-old Abigail, and gave her two gifts: two double-bladed karambits, made of Stygian iron. Abigail was told about a place for people like her, but, as the goddess of crossroads, she didn’t force Abigail’s hand: she could run to the safe haven with the karambits, or she could keep trying in the system. A week later, Abby packed her things and left in the dead of night.

For the next year, Abigail lived on the streets. She only survived through extensive usage of her magical, the weird liking dogs seemed to take to her, and lock-picking skills, something which came naturally easily to her. One night, she had a dream about Camp Half-Blood, and made it there practically on her own.

Upon arrival, she was very closed off, but she got accustomed to camp life very quickly. Simply put, Abigail flourished. The double karambits are her signature weapons, but she makes heavy use of magic mid-combat.

In the Second Titan War, Abigail not only lost so many of her siblings, but also ended up pinned underneath a pillar. Amidst all the blood, chaos and burning rubble, it took too long to realize she wasn’t another corpse. By the time she was recovered, one of her legs had begun to rot. It ended up being amputated below the knee, and the other, while it did make a full recovery, still aggravates her with chronic pain. She wears a prosthetic specifically for fighting most of the time, but she also has a pair of crutches she mostly uses for quick errands, and a wheelchair for days when both her stump and her remaining leg ache too badly. While the loss of her limb, at first, made her feel like her life was over (how am I supposed to fight? had been her main concern) and embarrassed her, by now, she has adjusted to it. Every now and then, Abby will once again become enraged, run a thousand what-ifs in her mind, but she’s accepted that her life doesn’t have to follow a different path just because she needs some extra help from technology every now and then. She doesn’t hide the prosthetic anymore, either, and it’s great for stepping on people’s toes.

After the discovery of Camp Jupiter, Abigail moved to New Rome. She attends college there, and is majoring in Robotic Engineering with a minor in Literature. Her main goal is to make improved prosthetics and other accessibility-related tech, especially to demigods.

[chicagofanfictionfan]

Birdman Part 1

The Bullpen was filled with tension as they watched the video of the aircraft falling to the earth. Thank God the pilot was able to eject to safety. But that didn’t stop the fear that was felt by all watching. You could hear Tony exhale as some of the tension left his body. Only a chance sighting in the weapons system gave the advance warning that something was up and for that reason only were they able to warn the pilot. But it was way too close for comfort.

Vance and Gibbs were in MTAC trying to ascertain the best way to go about solving this case. This was the second Naval Aviator threatened and they still had very few clues and were puzzled as to the why. It wasn’t personal and it really didn’t seem to be a military threat, almost like it was random hate towards fighter pilots and no other seen provocation.

Gibbs growled in frustration. “This is ridiculous Leon, there is no relationship between any of these incidents other than that they are pilots in the Navy. They didn’t go to the same school, weren’t in the Navy together, not in the same squadron and never even crossed paths from what we’ve gathered so far.”

Leon chewed his ever present tooth pick. “I know, I can’t see that we’re missing anything but we have to be. We’re going to have to send him in undercover, you know that right?”

Gibbs rubbed his hands on his face trying to release the tension he felt. “I don’t like it, but I know he’s the only one who can go in. How we going to protect him when we don’t know where the threat is coming from?”

Leon looked thoughtful. “It has to be someone who can gain access on Navy bases and get near enough to the planes to plant the devices, so unfortunately it has to be a military man. No one gets near those planes Gibbs but authorized personnel you know that as well as I do, they are guarded and protected.”

“I know, we can start with several hidden cameras and more surveillance at the hanger bays. McGee did some computer equations and feels it likely the next hit is on base here, how I don’t know, but right now it’s the only hope we have. They’ve been running background on everyone and so far nothing has clicked. I just don’t like sending him in there so blind.”

“Frankly Gibbs, neither do I, but you can’t send anyone but him, you can’t fake this kind of background. How do you think the team will react when they learn this about him?”

Gibbs had to smirk at that one. “Their own damn fault for not looking beyond what he wants them to see. It’s not like Abby, Ducky or I haven’t dropped a few clues. Or you for that matter, when he had to go on that last mission, but for some reason it just doesn’t seem to click for them. Hell, they’re in for a huge shock when it all comes to light, Abby will be thrilled! She always hates that he hides this, she’s so damn proud of him.”

Leon looked at him. “And you’re not? That boy is your son in every way but blood. But, I agree with you, they will be shocked. I’m not sure how I should feel about the fact that my top investigative crew hasn’t figured out one of their own. Then again I also suppose it shows just how good he is undercover. You going to tell them the story of how you first met him?”

Gibbs smiled fondly. “If it comes up…sure. It’s a great story about him and thankfully I’m around to tell it. But that’s all because of him.”

“Alright. Call them all up here, I’m pretty sure he knows what’s coming, but the others have jobs to do and we need them to get going on it.”

Gibbs pulled out his phone and hit the speed dial.

“DiNozzo” Tony answered.

“Get everybody up here in MTAC.”

“On it, Boss.” Tony closed his phone at looked at McGee and Ziva. “We’re needed up in MTAC, let’s go.” They all headed towards the stairs. Tony knew what was coming. He knew that there really was no choice in the matter and he knew that things were about to change. There was no helping that, and honestly he was ready but there was still that sliver of fear. There were too many emotions warring with one another, he was anxious, relieved, disappointed and the tension was rolling off his body as he was about to be exposed and opened up. The team was going to find out about him and he couldn’t help ponder why they couldn’t see past the end of their noses.

[insanityvirus13]

Absentia Phantom The (Resistance’s Assassin) King’s “Loyal Subject”

HEY LOOK WHAT I FINISHED LAST NIGHT! I finally finished that WIP I showed you guys like 2 weeks back. I was supposed to post it last night, but I was really tired by the time I finished it, and was… really lazy 😅

In all honesty, this is pretty high on the “best pieces I’ve ever done” list, especially in the short time-frame I did it in. Hope you guys like it 💛 **I tried following in Genevieve’s footsteps with a little hidden detail. Hint: It’s partially hidden behind an accessory, let’s see if you can find it~ AU King Drye: @dryeguy​ @kingdrye​ Fic Writer: @dex-ter-ous​ Creator: @undertale-cat​

(click the “Read More” to know the bio on her. Warning: It’s long XD)

>> Accessing Information… << >> Password Level III Required << //dear-mother //foolish-father //my-loyal-subject >> Authenticating… << >> Access: Granted <<

~Profile~

Real Name: ??? Code Name: Absentia Phantom Nicknames/Aliases: Tia, Abby, Phantom Girl, “His Loyal Subject” Gender: Female Age: Early to Mid-20’s Details: A former assassin of The Resistance. She specialized in taking out her targets quickly & quietly, and - if possible - to get as much information out of them as she could. During one of her missions to interrogate & assassinate an enemy spy, she got outnumbered & captured by the King’s men. With her capture, she now reluctantly serves under the King as his “Loyal Subject.”

Backstory:  Tia remembers very little from her childhood. Due to a large fire causing childhood trauma, she is now an amnesiac to her life before The Resistance. The only thing she remembers is sitting alone in a burnt house, crying her eyes out. That is when a Resistance member, who would soon become her most trusted companion, found her. She was apparently the only survivor in a village-wide fire. After that, she started to train with other Resistance members, and feeling like she was an adopted family member She quickly realized how much easier it was for her than most to slip away from others unnoticed and surprise them of her presence at the same time. She could become unnoticed in a crowd, slip away without a word, and easily be unheard by others. She turned this silent aspect of herself into a weapon, becoming a great assassin for the Resistance. She did many missions for the Resistance & fought with them in many battles during her time with them. While she cared for her fellow-members like family, she honestly saw no point to the Resistance. She felt it a fool’s dream to believe they could actually defeat the King’s army, even if she wasn’t a fan of the current King’s rule. She only stayed & fought with them because she owed the Resistance her life, from all those years ago. During one of her missions to interrogate & assassinate an enemy spy, she & two other members with her got outnumbered by the King’s men. Unlike her colleagues, who - in her eyes - left her for dead, she was captured, beaten, and thrown in a cell. With no other means than death to pledge her allegiance, she now serves under the King as his “Loyal Subject.”

Quotes:

“Most do not know of my real name, because most do not deserve the privilege to speak it, so why should they be even  allowed to hear it? Only 1 man deserved that trust from me, and he’s long gone now. So tell me, my King… Are you truly worthy enough to keep my name?”

“Insanity is like a deathly virus. It’ll infect your body, your mind, and before you even realize what has happened, your soul will have already started to succumb to it. That is why I fear this kingdom & it’s king, because I’m afraid that their madness has already infected me.”

“You will remember me. One way or another, I’ll be written into history. Whether I die the hero or live to be the villain matters not to me. All that matters is that my name & legacy lives on. I will be remembered.”

Skills

Highly skilled with handheld weaponry. Any type of close-ranged, handheld weapon, she can be considered a master in. Prefers to use knives & throwable items for their light weight & easy concealment.

Can easily disappear/hide from others. Whether it be in plain sight, the shadows, or just places you wouldn’t expect, she can always stay on the down-low if the situation calls for it.

A manipulator. She can easily manipulate others to make herself seem trustworthy & innocent. She hates to do this, but it has gotten her out of some sticky situations. She will only use this technique in emergencies.

An entertainer. Whether it be with her music, acting, or artwork, she can easily entertain a crowd & distract someone from whatever troubles ails them. She’ll gladly step up to the plate to entertain others at a moment’s notice.

Flaws:

A mask-wearer. She feels as if she would be a burden to others if she told them her true feelings, her problems, and etc. Because of this, she’s becoming used to masking her true emotions, while trying to face most of her problems & anxiety on her own.

A soft-hearted individual. She always feels obligated to help others who are in distress or any type of pain. This has led to sticky situations in the past. She can also easily be susceptible to manipulation due to this.

Has a snarky attitude. She’s always had some wit with her, and she isn’t one for taking someone’s crap for long. While she quickly learned to hold her tongue when the King is around, she usually likes to slip in some subtle sarcasm here & there.

Unhinged. The longer that she stays under The King’s influence, the more his own madness starts to take a toll & effect on her. She’s torn between her hatred of what the King has done to her & the country, and her admiration and growing affections for him. Include this with his “training” for her, it’s no wonder she’s about to fall off the edge into the deep end.

Relationships:

Rogue: ”My old leader, master & King… he was always so loving, courageous, & kind. He stands as a great King to me, one this country desperately needs. I loved working for him, & I honestly miss him at times. Even as I am now, I still sometimes find myself praying that he & his people can win this war somehow. I’ll always have only the highest of respects for my old King… And I pray to God that he forgives me for my betrayal.”

Lieutenant Eris: “She’s definitely a professional when it comes to her line of trade and fieldwork. I heard she helped Lieutenant Cat when he got his throat injury. She reminds me of King Rogue in a lot of ways. Kind, caring, parent-like, intelligent, a good sense of morality. I’d more prefer her as an ally than an enemy. She’s definitely hiding something though, I can feel it. She’s keeping something behind a sort of mask, but I can’t tell what.”

Jenny: “We’ve never met in person, and I’ve only heard mere rumors about her. If the rumors about her… Practices, are true though, she’d… definitely be an interesting person to meet.”

Hawker: “I don’t know much about them. I did hear something about them being a creation of Mage Maxis, but that’s about all I know. If that is the case though, well, then I’ll keep cautious and on their good side if I ever get the chance to meet them.”

Court Mage Maxis: ”He frightens me. Don’t get me wrong, his work has caught my interests in many way. I’ve always loved magic and the arcane, and necromancy is extremely hard to learn. It’s like an art, in the sense. Though it’s the way he presents himself & acts around me, it can be offly nerve-racking. He also has a tendency to describe what he does to the dead bodies he collects, & how mine’s would be of a ‘special interest’ to him. I respect him, but I’m honestly afraid he’ll try to dissect or curse me or something, if given the opportunity.

Lieutenant Cat: We respect each other, even if it’s a bit of a strained respect. We got off to a rocky start, both of us distrusting and disliking the other, but we’ve slowly let our guard down around one another. I know he’s still keeping a close watch on me though, in case I want to try anything, but at least he’s willing to help me pick out a good book, or give me feedback on a piece I drew. Though I still always have a feeling of unease in the back of my mind when I’m around him. I feel he thinks of me as a sort of competition for the King’s affection & attention, & I honestly don’t know how to feel about that.”

King Drye: “…Complicated… to say the least…. How he feels about me, I know not. I know he wants to use me for… something, but he also treats me so kindly & hides almost nothing from me. He seems so genuine at times. I can’t tell if he truly cares or not. How I feel about him is even more of a mystery. On one hand, I fear him as much as I would fear The Devil himself. He’s a complete and utter madman, & everyone knows it. Hell, I think even he knows it himself. He’s a manipulative, violent, arrogant, impatient, psychotic, intolerant, oppressing, megalomaniac with a helluva God-complex. The list can go on with what’s wrong with his head. And yet, with that fear… also comes a great respect & admiration for him. Someone with that intelligence, that charm, that power of persuasion, that skill on the battlefield, someone who can manipulate his people to both fear & love him, the way he takes his weaknesses & turns them into strengths… that’s something to truly admire. Plus, his past makes me both pity & proud of him. Even after everything, he still stands. He’s hurt & scarred for life, but still standing. I admire that courage… but I so wish I could take away those pains. There’s so much to fear admire about him, so much to learn that I can’t help but be intrigued. I know shouldn’t be falling for such a tyrant, and yet my heart cannot help it. His madness is honestly infectious. I’d swear to you that if I didn’t know any better, I’d think the man really is the Devil himself… or an Incubus at least.

(BONUS) Genevieve: “She’s too pure for King Drye, too innocent. She’s too kind, too caring, too loving, too… too much  of an Angel for someone of the likes of him. She honestly doesn’t belong in a war such as this. I feel as if we could be good friends, and that she used to be a good member for the Resistance. I pray that she can escape soon. She doesn’t deserve to be manipulated by the likes of him… And no one deserves what is about to be coming her way next.

Trivia:

She’s an insomniac due to her anxiety & constant nightmares. It’s not often she can get a good night’s sleep.

If she can’t seem to sleep, she likes to pass the time by either reading, writing, or drawing.

If she is not singing, she will most likely be humming a quiet tune to herself.

She joined the Resistance after one of their members  - who would become her trusted companion - saved her from a fire.

Her companion has been missing for over a year, after a large battle with King Drye’s army that left many casualties. Most believe he is dead since they never found his body, but she likes to believe that he is still out there somewhere, just waiting…

She got her scar in the same battle her companion went missing in. She was caught off guard by one of the King’s knights and had a knife slice her eye. She is now completely blind in the right eye.

She’ll usually try to cover the scar with her hair. She mostly does it as to not draw attention to herself, but she has admitted to being embarrassed about it, believing it to be a sign of weakness.

It’s been widely said that the name she uses is a code name. No one knows what her real name is.

It’s also been said that only 1 person knows her real name, but no one know who it could be. 

[hnd1dabigailthomas-blog]

structure

This brief is going to be a challenging one for  myself as architecture isn't something I particularly find interesting.

I looked into some photgraphers who shoot the modern style buildings similar to the ones i will eventually be shooting. Through this I tried to find inspiration and attempt to find interest in the subjects .

Janie Airey 

A photographer who photographed arenas and important buildings which held importance in the 2012 olymipics . The photgraphs produced showed the colour palletes seen and used throughout these Olympics and incorperated this into the photographs they took . Making the arenas look smooth , clean and professional . The example given shows the use of pattern through a simple subject of chairs within the complex , something not usually noticed by sports fans but capturing the eye of a professional photographer .The lighting suggests that this building may have a lot of windows to let in the bright sunshine .

Nick Guttridge 

A well known photographer known specifically for his commercial work I was inspired by the way he photographed the buildings chosen . combining both geometery and angles to creating a fine art like photograph of such interesting modern architecture.In the example there is no people but in other work he does include people to show that buildings are made to be lived in .From this I took into consideration the possibility of including people in my photographs for this brief .Here I think the photographer has only just caught a little of the sunshine as I can see a glare on the left hand side window , however the grey sky isn't appealing in this photo.

Simomona Panzironi 

This work to me has really taken into consideration how the architect has built this structure . Through taking into consideration the details within buildings we see them like no one else has , showing the artists eye for detail .Putting together both interior and exterior photographs can sometimes feel very commercial but here it is like a pure , clean and soft tour of these stunning buildings.

Fernando Guerra 

Known much more for his exterior photographs Fernando is always being recognised for the photographs he takes . Taking images mainly of white images he captures the simplicity of the structure he chooses to photograph. The example shows how using people could work well when photographing buildings , making it more interesting with experimenting with shutter speed. 

Adam Mork

Here I chose to show His exterior work but this photographer is also well known for his exterior images and how they raise environmental awareness . This photograph taken from below shows detail and lines which make up and hold the  building together . Using the lighting provided by the building is pretty hard I imagine but here is is done so effortlessly to show how the building compliments itself .

perspective and distortion control :

1.Photoshop lens correction filter - This allows you to coreect the distorted image of a building though simple sliders given to you by phootshop . However, it is to be noted that if the top of building in the image is too close to the top edge of the image then you will struggle to make the subject parallel .

2. Using a wide angle lens - This allows you to photograph a bigger area and also allows you to show the building to a accurate scale .

3.Pre edit -  Vertical distortion happens when the plane of your camera’s sensor is not parallel to the the object you’re shooting. The easiest way to prevent the distortion is to keep the two things close to parallel, and this means minimizing camera tilt. If possible, find a high  point that lets you shoot while tilting up as little as possible . Trying compositions from farther away may also help .

4. Tilt shift lens - These are expensive but help to make perspective corrections without losing any data or pixels from the photograph . Well known and professional architectural photographers use these as they need every pixel they can get.

5. stitching - This technique involes you taking several photographs of one building in sections then in post production “stitching “ them together to make on final photograph . This can be time consuming but also rewarding in the end .

I have not yet found a location for definite but have considered the newest Scottish modern building which is the v&a in Dundee . Due to the bright and airy space the architecture has built and the amazing shapes, patterns and leading lines it would give to me to photograph . However, this is quite far away from me and I would need to ensure a bright day as well as a good time scale to photograph this building . 

my kit :

tri pod 

canon 200d

canon 24-105mm lens

I will get to the location as early as possibly to ensure set up time adn ensure i have a full day to shoot the building .Ideally around 9am would be a good starting time to get set up and shoot . This brief will probably take two visits to the location to ensure i get all the correct shots.

Sources :

https://www.complex.com/style/2013/02/the-25-greatest-architectural-photographers-right-now/adam-mrk

https://www.dpmag.com/how-to/tip-of-the-week/correct-architectural-distortion-easily-photoshop/

https://northrup.photo/controlling-vertical-distortion-in-architectural-photography/

Project:

structure

Location Name:

V&A

Tel:

07845857457

Address:

1 Riverside  Esplanade, Dundee DD1 4EZ

 Tick any identified hazard.

  Access (blocked or restricted)                 ��           o Dangerous surfaces (slippery, wet)

 x Vehicle parking at location                                o Trip Hazards Found

o Dangerous Services (electricity, water)

o Derelict Buildings (unsafe floors, ceilings)

 o Working in confined spaces                               oHazardous Substances (chemicals)

 o Flammable Materials                                             x Water (proximity to water)

 o Rubbish/Vermin                                                        o Machinery (working, turning parts)

 o Working at Height                                                  x Working on/near roads          

 o Driving in traffic                                                         o Noise (high sound levels)

o Weapons                                                                       o Stunts

 o Extreme Heat/Cold                                                 o Physical Exertion      

 o Using animals                                                          x   Public/ Crowds

Hostile Environment (violence)          

 o Special Needs (inexperienced, child, elderly)

 o Other Hazards.

   Please specify

  HAZARD

 SEVERITY

M

People at Risk

Who, how many?

4

Likelihood

M 

Risk Control Adequate

Yes / No

Limited space/time

L

4

L

YES

 Threats/Theft

M

4

L

YES

 Public

M

4

L

YES

 Traffic

L

4

L

YES

 When completing the form: Consider the nature of the hazard

·         The possible severity of the outcome.

·         High = severe injuries. Medium = time off college. Low = minor, first aid.

·         Who could be at risk, and how many?

·         How likely is it that the incident will occur?

·         Are the precautions proportionate to the overall risk?

 Details  of Activity

SHOOTING IN AROUND  THE BUILDING

  Hazard /  Risk

Precautions  Required

  Theft and water

  Keep close to any equipment at all times  and stay away from dangers

 Source of  safety advice at location

Name:

Abbi Thomas

Tel:

   Person in  charge of safety at location

Name:

Abbi Thomas

Tel:

Signed:

Abbi Thomas

Date:

  College  Contact

Name:

Faculty Admin Assistance

Tel:

Signed:

(Donna Wilkins)

Date:

Session 2018/19

 Risk  Assessment undertaken by:

This must be signed  before the Shoot can go ahead.

 I have read the above risk assessment and am  satisfied that:

·          Constitutes a proper and adequate risk  assessment in respect of the programme activity.

·          The precautions identified above are  sufficient to control the risks.

·          Adequate arrangements are in place to  communicate risk assessment findings and to co-ordinate the safety  arrangements of all those affected.

 Name:

Abbi Thomas

Tel:

Signed:

Abbi Thomas

Date:

[sueboohscorner]

#The100 Season 3 Recap & a Defense of Bellamy Blake

The 100 starts its fourth season tomorrow night (9 PM Eastern/Pacific, after Arrow!), and I for one am stoked. This has been my #1 show since about episode 104, and it continues to be a sweeping, gorgeous, thoughtful sci-fi spectacle, exploring a future in which race, gender, sexuality, and even personality conflicts all feel secondary, because the true measure of a person's worth is simply, "Are you contributing to our survival or endangering it?" 

Let’s look back over an intense Season 3:

Clarke's decisive victory at Mount Weather earned her notoriety among the Grounders. She became known as Wanheda, Commander of Death. But not all the clans revered Wanheda, at least one just wanted to kill her and gain her power (the Grounder mythology about reincarnation has led to some unfortunate offshoot beliefs!). 

Lexa first captured Clarke (for her own protection from Azgeda, aka Ice Nation), but then earned Clarke's trust and affection once again. Lexa allowed Clarke to influence her decisions and leadership style, which kept skaikru alive but increasingly weakened the alliance and Lexa's own hold over the clans. Lexa wound up fighting to defend her reign upon a challenge from Queen Nia of Azgeda, and we got to see one of the most badass fight scenes in the series.

The erosion of support for Lexa led to her Flamekeeper, Titus, making a horrible decision. He sought to eliminate Clarke, whom he saw as a distraction and a corrupting influence on Lexa, but he wanted to frame Clarke's own people for her death (specifically Murphy), so he used a skaikru weapon. Lexa wandered into the room where Titus was wildly shooting a weapon he had no experience using, and Lexa wound up his unintended victim. This was not the best scene, obviously, but way more than enough has been said about that plot point, so I am not going to talk about it anymore. Suffice to say, Alycia Debnam-Carey took a role on Fear the Walking Dead, and as a result, we got an in-depth story exploring the Grounder mythology of reincarnating Commanders. 

In the wake of Lexa's death, Clarke took responsibility for the Flame, knowing that it literally contained Lexa's spirit. She couldn't bear to see it handed to a mass-murdering psychopath like Ontari, and Titus had explained that the Flame doesn't overwrite its new host, it just becomes part of them, so Ontari's violent nature would not be dampened by gaining the Commander's Spirit. Both to save skaikru from a cruel new Commander and to honor Lexa's spirit with a worthy host, Clarke struck out on a quest to find Luna, who had known Lexa and Lincoln, and who was the only remaining Nightblood (i.e., viable host for the Flame).

Clarke's desperation to complete this mission brought out the worst in her; when Luna refused the Flame, Clarke tried to force it on her. Luna's a pacifist, but I don't see her inviting Clarke to holiday supper this year.

With no Nightblood hosts to take the Flame, but a pressing need to gain access to the Flame in order to defeat ALIE, Clarke took the Flame herself (aided by a Mount Weather-style transfusion from Ontari). She was briefly, beautifully reunited with Lexa, and she did defeat ALIE...but in doing so, she learned that an even more implacable threat faces humanity: Earth's nuclear power plants, long unattended, are in critical meltdown. The world is going to be irradiated and unlivable within a few months.

Murphy spent some time in Polis, playing at being the Flamekeeper to make himself useful to Ontari, as she pretended to be a legitimate Commander. She also forced herself on him sexually. Murphy's been difficult to truly like most of the time, but he's truly suffered, too. At season's end, he was reunited with his girlfriend, Emori, and Ontari was dead. So maybe Murphy will be on a better track than in the past. Also, Emori's history as a well-connected thief and smuggler may be useful as our heroes seek a solution for their nuclear dilemma.

Raven's another one whose suffering was extreme but whose portrayal featured some of the greatest acting of the year. (Seriously, someone get Lindsey Morgan a pile of awards for the work she did!) She was the first major player to volunteer for the chip, seeking relief from her chronic, debilitating pain. She was also the only one to fight back after taking the chip, because she realized she'd lost more than she could stand, such as her memories of Finn.

She saved the day by hacking into ALIE and showing Clarke how to access the back door and shut ALIE down.

In addition to her physical suffering, she lost her mentor/surrogate father, Sinclair, when he was murdered by Emerson. (Of the many deaths last year, that one was toughest for me.)

King Roan of Azgeda wasn't always on our team's side, but he also wasn't an intractable, straight-up baddie. He had plans and needs and loyalties, just like anyone. He and Clarke have made alliances here and there where it suited them, and he's smart enough to be a valuable frenemy, at the very least.

Octavia suffered the loss of her love, as well as the loss of her family connection, because of the part Bellamy played in the events that led to Lincoln's death. She took her revenge on Pike, but she just walked away from her brother (and skaikru as a whole, it seemed). 

Abby & Kane grew closer, finally acting on the chemistry we've all been seeing between them for a while. It was lovely, but the timing was as unfortunate (as usual on this show!). They had their first kiss as he fled to avoid execution, and when next they saw each other, she'd been chipped; their next kiss was false (the moment of his realization that she's not really herself is one of the most powerfully acted scenes in the series--Henry Ian Cusick is phenomenal), and he wound up surrendering to ALIE to save Abby's life.

Kane has had probably the most profound character arc on the show, and one of the best I've seen on any show. He used to be a leader of his people, but on the Ark, that meant something very different than it does on the ground. Adjusting to life on the ground means learning to be a new kind of leader, and we've watched him do the hard work of finding his path, learning his limitations, accepting the counsel of others based on their experience and wisdom rather than shutting them down to preserve a hierarchy. He's become the man who humbly insists on having a free election rather than simply accepting the power offered to him by its current wielder. Granted, that went horribly wrong, but the intent was noble enough.

The political situation portrayed in S3 was heavily influenced by, even patterned on, the events unfolding in the United States’ presidential election. Watching it again, after the fact, the similarity is stark. Kane and Abby represent the incumbent leadership, cocky about holding on to their power. They are secretive, because they’ve been in charge for so long, they’ve got these bad old habits from the Ark council. On the Ark, secrets were their way of life, and if you told the populace too much, it was bad for everyone. Spilling a secret would get you floated. Sharing the inner workings of any council decision with the people affected by it was unheard of. The one time we know it happened, the culling of Section 17, was traumatic for everyone involved. The other time we know it almost happened, Abby had to consent to her own husband’s death. Abby and Kane have not yet learned how to be open and honest leaders. It doesn’t mean they aren’t good leaders in other ways, but it led to growing distrust and dissent from the people. They never imagined they could lose power. Pike’s populist uprising took them entirely by surprise.

So yes, that brings us to Pike. He’s angry, aggressive, vengeful, unwilling to see the Grounders as humans on some level. Like Bellamy, he can’t help but be affected by Lincoln’s bravery and honor, but he also can’t extend that good will to the Grounders as a people. He challenges Abby and Kane for their whole “need to know” attitude, as well as their edict that skaikru must make peace and submit to Grounder authority by becoming the 13th clan. He doesn’t want to make peace, and it turns out that at least a slim majority of skaikru feels the same. He wins the election, and his first action is a war crime. He slaughters the entire Grounder army that was stationed there to protect Arkadia from Azgeda. He immediately plans his next war crime: He wants to murder a nearby village and claim their land. Perhaps most telling, though, is how he treats his own people. He railed against the behavior of the Ark leadership, but his own leadership style is also based in secrecy, distrust, and punishment. He starts a spy network, uses friends and family against each other, throws his political enemies in jail and orders their executions. Ultimately, he has to be deposed in order to avoid all-out war.

And you have to imagine that by the end, a number of those who voted Pike into power found themselves thinking, I guess Abby and Kane’s know-it-all attitude wasn’t really that bad.

Jasper was a wreck all season. He couldn't move on from the horror of Mount Weather, of watching Maya literally melt in his arms. His rage at Clarke and Monty for their parts in the mass murder served to isolate him emotionally, which fed his misery further. He desperately wanted to take the chip and lose his pain, but in the end, it was unclear whether he willingly accepted a chip or was forced...he'd joined the fight against ALIE, but he remained deeply conflicted and weighed down by emotional pain. In the end, he was back out of the City of Light, but he was plainly struggling with a suicidal urge when we last saw him.

Monty was hurting all season because of Jasper's anger, but things only got worse when he was suddenly reunited with his mother. Hannah Green turned out to be a mom from hell, and Monty's loyalties were torn for a little while; he wanted to be with his mom and honor her wishes, but it meant betraying most of his friends and doing things he truly didn't believe were right or honorable. Ultimately, he chose to do the right thing, and they shared a tearful goodbye as Hannah told him she couldn't defend his treasonous acts, so he should run before he gets arrested. He later saw her again, but she was chipped and homicidal, so he had to kill her. 

A small ray of sunshine entered Monty's life toward the end of the season, when Harper made a move on him, and he accepted. So yeah, let's take a moment to talk about the good things in our heroes' lives. There aren't that many, but there's still Miller and Bryan's relationship.

These two were together on the Ark, then separated by Miller's incarceration and dropshipment to the ground. Miraculously, though, they found each other again, after Bryan survived Azgeda's sieges on Farm Station's crash site. Bryan's loyalty to Pike was a problem, but Miller was understanding in a way people aim for in their purest heart but rarely achieve. Ultimately, Bryan realized that his loyalty to a man who'd saved his life couldn't outweigh his loyalty to the man he wants to spend his life with.

Jaha was a real piece of work, as usual. You can argue that he was chipped, but the truth is that he wasn’t a good guy to start with. He has a religious fanatic vibe–he feels that he knows what is best, and he will stop at nothing to make it happen to you, for your own good, like it or not. That’s who he’s always been. He was ALIE's acolyte, helping her to enslave people, though he called it "saving" them. (Technically, that's true--they got their brains backed up to the City of Light, so he saved them as you save files to a disk...but not without serious loss of data.) When Raven rebelled, ALIE said she was unable to override free will, so Jaha came up with the evil idea of torturing Raven until she agreed to permanent submission. That's all kinds of messed up, and make no mistake, that was Jaha's idea, not ALIE's.. 

Can Jaha be redeemed? Is he capable of admitting he needs to seek redemption?

And now I'd like to talk about Bellamy. One of the common complaints from fans last year was that he changed too much, or too quickly, or without sufficient explanation. But I have a different viewpoint on it. He never changed at all; we just learned something we had never known about him, and it was different from what we had assumed, so it felt like a change. 

Think of it this way:

Have you ever had a friend with whom you never actually discussed a major topic, yet your depth of friendship led you to assume you both felt similarly on it, so when the conversation finally took place, you felt betrayed, like you never could have imagined you disagreed on something so huge, and you must never really have known them? 

That’s Bellamy Blake in Season 3 of The 100. He never really liked or trusted the Grounders, but he loved and trusted his sister and his friends, so he deferred to their judgment. He went along with the whole scenario of allying with the Grounders, not based on his own feelings toward them, but because his people made that choice, and he had faith in Clarke and Octavia, and he is loyal. His people (and the audience) made the easy mistake of assuming he felt the same way they did. 

We know of one Grounder Bellamy truly did trust: Lincoln. And we know that Lincoln had a kill order hanging over him, because the Grounder leadership considered Lincoln a traitor for allying with skaikru. Do that math: Lincoln stood by us when the other Grounders betrayed us, and that is a death penalty offense in Grounder justice; therefore, Lincoln is nothing like the rest of his people, and my high regard for him should in no way extend to his people.

So while Bellamy wasn’t outspoken about his anti-Grounder sentiment, it really wasn’t a change to his character when that sentiment was finally revealed. We felt oddly betrayed, because we have seen things mostly from Octavia and Clarke’s perspective, so it had never occurred to us or them that Bellamy felt that way…but there was really no reason he couldn’t have felt that way all along–we just didn’t notice until it became more important to him to express his own feelings than to go along with others’ feelings.

And of course, the event that pushed him over the edge was the destruction of Mount Weather, when his decision to trust a Grounder, Echo, led to the slaughter of dozens of skaikru, including his girlfriend, Gina. 

Throughout S3, Bellamy acts in a way that is difficult to forgive…for us, for his friends, and most of all for Octavia. But think of the moment by the signal fire, before they’re taken to meet Luna, when he asks Octavia, “How long?” How long will it take her to forgive him, to look at him as her big brother again. To us, and probably to everyone in the scene, it sounds callous and selfish, because we are aligned with Octavia. But if you try to see it from his perspective, you can’t deny that he’s been twisting himself around to accommodate the emotional directives of everyone else, overriding his own suspicions and misgivings to accept the decisions Clarke and Octavia have asked him to help enact, setting aside his own feelings at every turn. Now, he’s finally acted on his own feelings, and he’s waiting for the others to respond with the acceptance and forgiveness he’s shown. Yes, Lincoln died…but Gina died, too, and no one seems to treat that with the same reverence or regret. It’s hard for us to feel that strongly about Gina, because we didn’t get to know her much, but we can’t assume that Bellamy’s feelings are less intense or important than Octavia’s or Jasper’s or Clarke’s, just because the relationship didn’t get as much screen time. 

Plus, Bellamy didn’t only trust a Grounder, he went off to save Clarke (again), only to be rejected by Clarke and sent home empty handed (again!). So the decisions that weigh on him for causing Gina’s death are twofold: He vouched for Echo, and he chose to go rescue Clarke rather than stay to protect Gina. Never mind that he didn’t know the attack was coming, because the emotional weight is the same, and the emotional answer is that he should have known better than to trust a Grounder; he should have foreseen the danger.

So that more or less brings us up to speed. I’d love to hear your reactions, thoughts, predictions, etc., about absolutely anything in the world other than Lexa’s unfortunate demise, because I am sick of that topic for all time. Let’s just remember the good times, as Jasper would want to do.

[planarchaosproject]

Planar Chaos: Chapter Nineteen

 Unlikely Alliances

Lisandra meandered through her towers of books with Kyari following close behind.

"This stack," the vampire said, indicating a pile of books as tall as herself, "is my collection of texts related to the old walkers, the likes of Urza, Sorin, Nahiri, Bolas, and Jaya Ballard. They're my most prized collection in this library."

Kyari reached up and took a tome from the very top, a thick book bound in blue leather with gold-edged pages. "May I?"

"Of course," Lisandra said. "Provided I can pick your brain about your knowledge of beasts. From what I've seen it's almost unparalleled. Your way with them could rival Garruk himself."

Kyari's face grew dark. "How long have you been trapped here, Lisandra?"

"Oh, I don't know. Months? Years?"

"So you'd know about the curse, then? That Liliana cursed Garruk with the Chain Veil and now he hunts planeswalkers? Nature doesn't respond to his call, a fact I'm grateful for as it allowed me to escape with my life." Kyari shuddered. It was an encounter she had yet to tell Brock and Marthel about. They tended to worry about her, Brock more so than Marthel since he had never been on the receiving end of her ferocity.

"That I didn't know about." Lisandra produced a quill, parchment, and some ink and began to write, using the top of a shorter stack of books as a table. "Can you describe the exact effects of this curse? If you can't find the words, just let me in and I'll write it down for you."

"I'm honestly not sure how I'd describe it. He was consumed by a dark power that tainted him, turning hunter into murderer. I never approved of the hunting, per se, but at least he was fair about it before the transformation. He seemed…" Kyari trailed off.

"Genuinely gleeful about killing? And that's something you don't understand." Lisandra continued scribbling. "Don't worry. I don't enjoy having to kill people either, but sometimes I have to or I'll starve to death. I do my best to preserve all their knowledge, though. Some of these books I wrote myself about the people I've had to eat over the span of time I've been in this place. It's only been maybe five or six, so my body count isn't as high as cannibal boy over there." Lisandra gestured in the general direction of Rhyne's cage. "You've got to be cruel working in the information business, you know?"

"How much of what you're writing am I telling you and how much are you picking out for yourself?" Kyari put her hands on her hips, cocking one out slightly.

"It's about ten percent you, ninety percent me. It's hard for people to remember traumatic experiences sometimes, so I occasionally save them the trouble since the memory itself can get corrupted. Knowledge gets mixed in with emotion. It's messy and harder to glean the truth that way. But go on if you want."

Kyari sighed and returned to the book in her hand. The dark blue leather felt old, heavy with the weight of whatever it contained. She opened the cover and her eyebrows shot into her hairline. The title was written in meticulous script: A Complete History of the Weatherlight. Kyari reached up and grabbed another book from the tower. Its title read The Sins of Yawgmoth. Yet another book was titled The Caves of the Damned and the Phyrexian Wars.

"How did you get these?" Kyari demanded. "Nobody should have access to books like this. They should be lost."

Lisandra shrugged. "I found them scattered through this maze. It seems someone left them here so that the truth could be preserved, which I think is a good idea. Now, how exactly did you tame a Kalonian Hydra?"

"It planeswalked with me on accident when it was a baby. Once we got back to Shandalar it wouldn't leave my side. Not that remarkable of a story. How many more of these books are out there?"

"The constructs bring me new ones every week or so. They're very easy to control. Just tell them to go do a thing and they do it pretty easily. I think rather than guardians they're tools. Our minds can't navigate something as bizarre as this maze, but the constructs are more than capable." Lisandra kept furiously scribbling, her ream of parchment hanging over the makeshift table covered in small, neat shorthand. Kyari knew that parchment contained more than her exploits with the hydra, but she was too distracted by the texts. Some had authors. The Secrets of Ghostfire: An Ascetic Study of Pyromancy by Jaya Ballard and Ugin, Death Magic and the Production of Mana by Ashnod the Uncaring, and more.

"I wonder if these were all placed here to keep people from finding them," Kyari mused.

"Preposterous," Lisandra said. "Knowledge was meant to be preserved, not hidden away from the world. Where other than Xerex is free from war, Phyrexian incursion, and idiotic governments who would seek to control what people know?"

"But how can everyone know it if it's hidden here," Kyari asserted. "Only planeswalkers can get here, and even then we hide ourselves from normal people. Think about it. When you were normal did you ever entertain the idea of other worlds?"

Lisandra put her quill down and recalled her first midnight tea with Ashleigh. "No," she said honestly. "I didn't. But now that I know, these stories need to be preserved. This knowledge needs to live on, Kyari. Sure, planeswalkers aren't immortal beings anymore, but vampires are. And I can amass and preserve all the knowledge in the multiverse. I won't be stopped, no matter what. So, once again, are you going to be with me or are you going to be lunch?"

Kyari held up her hands. "I'm not going to be lunch, I'm just trying to help you understand another perspective."

"Your friend's perspective, I'd imagine? Kyari, I can read your mind and I live off of eating people's memories, I know that you personally don't care what I do with all this knowledge, you just want to keep the balance of the multiverse's ecosystem. That's a noble goal, I appreciate that. I can't tell you how many people come in here looking for power or a weapon to destroy some enemy. You're refreshing, honestly, and I like you. I don't want to make you lunch, but your friend might get his mind munched if he dares touch any of my books." Lisandra's eyes narrowed and she bared her fangs.

000000

"Is that a hydra?" Odom peered into the distance, still sitting behind one of Maelstrom Wanderer's barky protrusions. The spider construct creaked to a halt as it too perceived the thrashing necks of a Kalonian Hydra several hundred yards ahead.

The hydra in question was flailing while three planeswalkers and an angel clung desperately to its back. First to be flung off was Sa'Raah, who tumbled through the air and landed with a thud on the ceiling. Marthel followed soon after, Nadia in hot pursuit of her champion. She caught him under the arms in the air and began flying towards the other group of planeswalkers. The only one still clinging to the hydra was Brock as he tried to wrestle it back into submission.

"Hey! Guys!" Marthel waved. Odom wasn't sure if he'd ever seen Marthel's clothing under his white cloak before. His shirt was trimmed with Knuckleblade hide and his pants reminded Odom of Kor leather. He was also armed to the teeth with two sizeable blades and a small hooked blade on his hip.

"Savage," Odom murmured in awe. He had a newfound respect for his lifelong frenemy.

"Nadia, take me closer, okay?" Marthel asked. The angel gave a loud sigh but acquiesced. They landed on Maelstrom Wanderer's back, much to the confusion of the elemental.

"Marthel," Sverre said, "we're surprised to see you."

"Well I'm happy to see all of you. As you can see, we've run into a problem with the hydra." He gestured back to where Brock was attempting to break the beast like he would a wild horse.

"What happened?" Odom slid down Maelstrom's neck and strode up to Marthel and Nadia.

"Wildness does not take kindly to forced subservience," Nadia said. "We learned that the hard way on Bant once the beasts started appearing in greater numbers."

"What she said." Marthel smiled sheepishly, tucking a stray loc of hair behind his ear. "Brock had the bright idea of dominating the hydra after Kyari was taken by a construct. It seems the spell wore off."

"As it is," Sverre said, "we're heading in the direction those constructs went. That one up there is leading us to its base of operations."

Marthel glanced over his shoulder. "I saw that. How'd you guys manage it?"

"I ran into a friend of mine here," Ashleigh said, strolling up with Abby in the sling and Oona on her shoulder enjoying a blackberry. "She's something of a polymath, an archivist, and a cryptographer. Lisandra can't resist a good puzzle, either. She has to get to the bottom of everything. This spider is going to lead us to her. She can probably help us find Kyari if she hasn't found her already."

"Oh my goodness how are you, you precious little hellbeast?" Marthel's hands shot to his face and his voice climbed several octaves upon seeing Abby.

Abby responded with happy gurgling noises.

"Has it gotten bigger?" Marthel leaned back, one hand moving to his chin to assess the infant abomination.

"I don't have my measurement tools," Odom said, "but from what I can tell it's put on a few pounds. The wings have started growing as well, at a much more rapid pace than anticipated. Overall I think our assessment that Abby will be able to fly is going to be correct."

"May I?" Marthel asked, reaching for Abby.

"You, I trust. The angel, not so much," Ashleigh said, handing the squirming, gurgling Abby to Marthel.

"You're just a cute little porker, aren't you?" Marthel struggled to keep Abby in one position. The abomination managed to crawl on top of Marthel's head, wrapping its tentacles around his neck and over his eyes in the process. Abby spread its wings, now about as large as Marthel's forearms, and gave a screech.

Abby liked this man, and Abby could tell that this man like Abby. Abby buried Abby's beak in the man's hair to remember his smell. Mommy and Daddy were happy that Abby liked this man, Abby could tell. Abby crawled onto the man's back and saw an angel looking angry. Immediately Abby crawled back around to the man's front, hiding Abby's face. The man wrapped his arms around Abby to help Abby stay up.

"It's very enthusiastic about people, isn't it?" Marthel asked, chuckling.

"Only people it knows not to be a threat," Odom explained. "For some reason it has an instinctive fear of angels."

"Um, Marthel," Sverre said, standing on his toes to see the hydra's continued thrashing, "shouldn't we be helping?"

"Sorry. I got distracted." Marthel handed Abby back to Ashleigh. "Nadia, can you find a way to get Sa'Raah down?"

Sa'Raah remained stuck to the ceiling, looking down on the scene unfolding before her. Nadia flew up to get her. The angel and elf struggled to make it back to Maelstrom Wanderer.

"No, You need to go down and to the left," Ashleigh called. They either didn't hear her or didn't listen. "Marthel, tell them."

"I'd listen to Ashleigh if I were you," Marthel shouted.

Nadia muttered something about fraternizing with demons and uncleanliness. Sa'Raah had to agree with her on that point. Dromoka stressed the natural order and cycle of life. Demons and the undead certainly went against that, but Ashleigh herself was a nice enough person. Dromoka had seen the good in her adopted daughter, so Sa'Raah tried to do the same with the people she encountered.

"What are we going to do about that?" Sa'Raah asked as she landed on the elemental's back. Brock was still attempting to subdue the bucking hydra. The vein on his forehead was clearly visible, even from their distance.

"Wait until he learns his lesson?" Sverre asked. Odom made noises of agreement.

"Unfortunately," Marthel said, "that might be longer than we think. Brock's stubborn. He rarely backs down from his convictions. He thinks subduing a hydra is the best way to go, so he'll fight that thing until it gives in or he dies. You guys should have seen the lecture he gave another planeswalker the last time we were visiting Fiora. Somehow he found out she'd been hired to kill King Brago, as if it were possible to kill a ghost." Marthel laughed.

"He needs to be more flexible," Sa'Raah relented, "but at least his heart is in the right place."

"Assuming he even has one," Ashleigh scoffed while clutching Abby tighter. "What kind of man would separate a mother from her child?"

"Ash, nobody is taking Abby away from you," Odom put his arm around Ashleigh's shoulders.

"Of course not. I'll rot him from the inside out before he gets the chance."

"Kinky," Sverre purred.

"You're married," Oona playfully slapped Sverre with her tiny hand.

"My dear, you have wounded me!" Sverre clutched the opposite side of his face dramatically.

"Guys," Sa'Raah snapped, "what are we going to do about Brock?"

"He has one option for us to help him," Odom said. "He can't try to kill either my girlfriend or our baby."

000000

"What!?" Brock shouted, still trying to wrestle the hydra.

"Those are their terms, Brock," Marthel said. Nadia readjusted her hands under his arms to keep Marthel from falling. "You're going to have to get along. Ashleigh has already agreed. At the first sign of a fight, whoever started it gets kicked off the Maelstrom Wanderer."

"So," Brock grunted, tightening his legs around the hydra's neck, "what are we supposed to do with this guy?"

"We can leave the hydra here and some of Lisandra's constructs will come retrieve it for us. I'd imagine Kyari's already with her, but Ashleigh didn't seem to know anything about it."

"She's lying," Brock asserted. "She and this Lisandra are probably in this together to capture all of us and take the research for themselves."

Marthel sighed. "I'm pretty sure that's impossible since I know Ashleigh hasn't spoken to Lisandra in years."

"How?"

Marthel tapped his temple. "Jack of all trades, master of none, but better than a master of one."

"I don't think I can trust her. You, me, and Sa'Raah will take turns keeping watch at night." Brock began to loosen his grip on the hydra.

"Whatever makes you happy, dude, but this is our only way to find Kyari," Marthel reminded him.

"Don't you think I know that?" Brock snapped. "I am keenly aware that the only way to save her is to team up with a group of psychopaths who think abusing potentially worlds-changing knowledge is just another Tuesday."

"You were fine with this just a few days ago."

"Yeah but then I started thinking with my brain and not my heart."

"Is that what Kyari would want?"

Brock hung his head as the hydra started to calm down. "I'm honestly not sure."

"Brock, do yourself a favor, don't get lost down that path again. Remember what you told Tamiyo? Her weakness was her coldness, her unwillingness to act. Well now you have to act, and although that act isn't something you want to do, it's the only way to do what you want." Marthel reached out his hand. "Come on, Kyari is waiting."