#Sam and Tess were my favorite characters but Tess never seemed to get anyone to stay with her :(

[biromanticbookbabe]

Sam and Cat from Lip Service (2011-12) in 1920's style clothing.

[aries-writingblog]

Atlas (1)

Summary: After years of being imprisoned on the Raft, Tony negotiates freedom for his sister Tessa. When she’s free- so is her past, and it will never stop hunting her.

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x OC(Stark)

Chapter Word count: 1,666

Warnings: PTSD (subtle ish), trauma, torture (in later parts), suicidal behaviors and thoughts, mentions of death, character death, injury, violence, angst, and a lil bit of fluff in there

Disclaimer: Atlas is my own, original work with characters belonging to Marvel (except Tessa and Dr. Clifton). Plagiarism is not cool kids.

A/N: this is my first work Im posting to this platform and I’m really excited and nervous about it. Hope you enjoy- constructive criticism is always helpful as well!!

The Avengers Tower. Former Stark Tower. 93 floors of office space, labs- people carrying out their business. People going about their day. At the top of all of them is Tony Stark. Waiting. Waiting in silence. Typically, he isn’t one to wait on anything or anyone but today... today is different. Today is special. Finally, the silence is broken by a shrill ring of his phone. Tony snaps it up, immediately accepting the call.

“Mr. Stark? Reid Kerrings.” The man’s voice carried through the phone, introducing himself. “Listen, I hear you’re trying to to negotiate a prisoners freedom?”

“She shouldn’t even be a prisoner,” Tony grumbled before plastering on a thick business tone. “Yes, that’s what I’m trying to do here. Thing is, I have a plan that I ran by Fury and Coulson and they seem to think it’s a great idea. Only thing is- that prisoner of yours is apparently ‘dangerous’ and she’d need stipulations on if she were to be released into my care.”

Tony hated this- speaking about her as if she were a terrorist. He hated that she’d been in maximum security prisons for six years. He hated that she was on the raft now. But, if he wanted to play ball, he had to agree to the terms. And unfortunately, that was one of the terms. He’d tried it his way two years ago and it got shut down. Several times.

“Well... you’re a damn maniac- prisoner 067112 is a psycho-“

“Her name is Tessa and that’s my sister you’re talking about so if you’d like to see your job another day I’d keep quiet.” Tony snapped, clenching his jaw. The phone fell silent before Kerrings cleared his throat.

“She would have to meet with an appointed therapist three days a week. She would also have to have a check in twice a week with a parole officer. If there is any flare up of her enhancement that is not accounted for by a member of your team, she comes back here and is no longer allowed parole. She is to be on a tight leash.” Kerrings read through the conditions of the agreement that Tony and Fury had worked out. “She must agree to these terms before her release. If she does, she will be escorted to your property tomorrow at 10:00 AM. Do you agree to these statements made today?”

“Yes.” Tony felt an excited, nervous bubble form in his stomach. He was doing it. His sister was almost free.

“Excellent. The escort team will run a security check on the building and perimeter.”

“Oh, well, not to brag or anything but- it’s the Avengers Tower. I ’m pretty sure this is the best it gets in terms of security.” Tony scoffed, turning when he heard the door opening. Steve Rogers stepped into the room, intending on speaking with Tony about another comm unit. He broke his. Again. He stopped short, hearing the man on the phone.

“This woman shouldn’t even be out of her cell here- she’s dangerous, I don’t care if shes your sister or not. The power of this woman is something that should be contained. not roaming around New York on a Thursday afternoon.”

“She’s a human being. No telling what you freaks have put her through in the raft- that’s probably why she’s going insane. You don’t even allow sunlight in that dingy of a prison. You treat someone like an animal, that’s what they become. Now, if you’ll excuse me, i’m going to run my own safety diagnostics on my own tower.” Tony quickly ended the call and lifted his eyes to meet Steve’s. “Can I help you, o wise elder of the yonder village?”

“Just... a new comm piece.” Steve stepped forward and tossed the broken pieces to the desk before meeting Tony’s eyes again. “What was that all about?”

“That is a surprise for the team I’m arranging.” Tony sat down at his desk, pulling up an image of a new weapon system, one that they’d encountered a few weeks ago on a mission. “These thugs were dealing with now... they’re sophisticated. They’re playing on a new ball field. So... I’m leveling it.”

“You can’t just do that without consulting the team first.” Steve scolded, his arms crossing over his chest. “What are you doing?”

“You’ll see- tomorrow morning at ten, have the team all meet in the conference room. I’ll bring my surprise to you.” Tony grinned, feeling strangely optimistic for once. Steve only sighed, knowing he wasn’t going to get anywhere with Tony.

“Fine- I’ll call a meeting.” Steve spun on his heel and marched out of the office. Tony sank further into his chair, spinning it to look out of the window.

“Friday, make sure floor ninety two is fireproof.” Tony called out, a twinge of doubt forming in his mind. He was quick to shake the thought from his mind, funneling all his belief into his sister. It had to work. For her sake.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sitting at the oval conference table, Bucky felt an impatience he hadn’t felt in months. Steve had let it slip- more like Bucky could tell there was something and kept prying- that Tony was on the phone with someone, talking about a prisoner. A woman prisoner. Bucky wasn’t sure what to expect and that caused a great deal of anxiety to pit in his chest. He didn’t like being kept in the dark.

Beside him, Steve sighed heavily, leaning his head on his fist, resting on the table. Being roommates with the guy, he knew Steve hadn’t gotten a lot of sleep last night, like most nights. He knew this because he himself was also up, roaming the apartment, watching tv and staring off the balcony.

“Anyone know what this surprise it stark mentioned?” Natasha pressed, becoming quite impatient herself. They’d all been sitting at the table for fifteen minutes. Waiting.

“No clue- I hope it’s better than the last surprise- the one that exploded while in use on the field.” Sam commented, scrolling absentmindedly on his phone.

Finally, the door to the room burst open, revealing Tony Stark marching in with purpose. Behind him, a woman in heavy chains, with metal cylinders encasing her hands, was being escorted in by two men in fire retardant kevlar uniforms. Her head was bowed, dark brown hair shifting to cover her face. Bucky sat up, seeing the woman marched in, heavily restrained. Tony clapped his hands, rubbing them together afterward. He gave the crowd a large smile and nodded once.

“Surprise, Avengers! This is my favorite sister, Tessa Stark, Tess, this is everyone. I’m sure you were given the brochure.” He turned to the two men. “You fulfilled your duties, you can go now.”

The men unclipped the chains and then pressed their thumbprints to the pads on the cylinders. They released with a hiss of steam, Tessa rubbing her wrists once they were free.

“I know you.” Sam’s voice broke into the conversation. Tessa’s jaw clenched and her eyes stared into the floor. She swallowed harshly, keeping her back ramrod straight and her hands in front of her. “Stark... oh, shit- where have I seen you...”

“Anyways folks, she is here to help out on our new group of rogues... she has a, ah... particular set of skills. Mostly explosives and fire. And since that’s what we’re dealing with, I’ve brought in the big guns.” Tony explained, settling in his chair and gesturing for Tessa to take a seat as well. She seemed wary of sitting beside Wanda but did it anyways, sitting barely on the edge of the chair. “Now, we’re gonna need a new plan of attack with-“

“Atlas!” Sam snapped his fingers, pointing at her. Tessa stiffened, caught off guard by the level of his voice. “That’s it! Code Name Atlas, Operation Dry Sands! You served in the army- I’m Sam Wilson, I flew with-“

“Riley...” her voice was raspy and low, rusted with disuse. “I remember you.” Bucky watched as she seemingly tried to melt into the chair, trying to hide herself.

“You were baller, man! She cleared missions like it was nothing!” Sam praised her, excited to finally meet her. “There was talk of her all over camps- everywhere!”

“Atlas?” Natasha asked, a brow raising. “That’s a peculiar code name- sounds... specific.” Tessa didn’t respond, keeping her head low. When the room fell silent, Steve took control.

“Right, well, Tony you mentioned a new plan of attack?” He expertly guided the topic over to a new path. Bucky couldn’t help but let his attention drift back to the new mystery in the room. He allowed his eyes to scan over her, stopping on her forearm where there was black ink. A tattoo of the army symbol, numbers below it. Maybe her squad number? Her arm shifted and Bucky looked up, meeting her eyes. He knew he’d fucked up.

Her dark brown eyes smoldered- a red tint glowing under her irises. Her lips were pulled into a scowl. He quickly lowered his gaze, catching a glance of her veins in her arms. glowing lightly orange. Bucky clenched his jaw and leaned back into his chair, a fierce scowl building on his lips. He didn’t like this woman, She seemed... violent. closed off. Hell- maybe she was just too much like him. And maybe he shouldn’t make a snap assumption but for some reason...

“Alright well, that’s all for now, Tessa- welcome to the team, please make yourself comfortable and if there’s anything we can do to help out- let us know.” Steve nodded as he stood up.

Tessa only nodded, stood up and spun on her heel- leaving the room without a word. Everyone glanced to Tony. He only shrugged and stood up.

“I’m gonna go make her feel at home- just got out of prison and all, see you around.” Tony gave a small wave over his shoulder and walked out, trailing out after his explosive sister.

[thoughts-and-travel]

Last of Us 2

Spoilers ahead!!

My thoughts of the second game was that the characters felt off to me. I didn’t love 18-year old Ellie like I did 14-year old Ellie. I felt like Ellie was annoyed by everyone except with Dina in Jackson, and I didn’t necessarily enjoy playing as her. I’ve played the first game time and time again and one of the things I loved about it was the interaction with the people we meet. As Joel and Tess, we get some time to love Tess’s banter with Joel. When we meet Henry and Sam ( Sam being the first kid Ellie sees in the outside) they immediately start talking and Ellie shows an interest in being his friend. That scene with them sharing blueberries and Henry saying that it’s been a while since Sam’s smiled? I love that. Hell even our time with Bill, I loved his grumpiness. Riley and Ellie? 10/10, adored their relationship and was actually sad by the end of the DLC.

But in the second game? Ellie just seems to dislike everyone. And I get it, at this point she knows what Joel did and she’s trying to deal with it in her way, but literally every time Jesse is around, I got the sense that Ellie low-key didn’t like him (even though I thought they’re friends?). Maybe it has to be with Jesse’s history with Dina, or maybe Ellie just genuinely doesn’t like him, idk. 

I loved Dina up until she got pregnant. Mel was already pregnant and them making Dina get pregnant as well just seemed like they didn’t know what to do with her because at the end of the day, this was Ellie’s revenge, not hers - so they needed a reason for her to sit out. Playing Ellie solo was fine at first, but then I started to get bored. Your friends helping you during battle, and the dialogue was something I found myself missing as I kept playing. And when Jesse showed up? Quiet, no banter, no help. 

However during flashbacks of Ellie and Joel, I felt like I was playing the first game again with added content. It was honestly my favorite part of the game, Joel actually HELPS during battle - this man will give you ammo and actually kills enemies. Ellie was her usual snarky self with him.

Speaking of dialogue - there were moments in the game where the characters said things and I thought to myself “wait, but they were never say that?” Like with Tommy at the end with Ellie, that felt very out of character to me.

Also speaking of out of character, idc what anyone says Joel trusting Abby right off the bat and saving her was out of character. It was known that Joel was distrustful from the beginning and you needed to prove yourself with him (He literally pulled a gun on Henry - someone he was already traveling with for some time - because Henry left him.) and I doubt Joel would’ve seen Abby struggling and risked his life for her.

My thoughts of Abby? Meh, I didn’t much care for her. Did I hate her at first? Yeah. But I needed to force myself to finish her story for the sake of the game and by the end of it I felt like that was also unnecessary. Also, I thought it was weird how Abby was willing to sacrifice all her friends and people she knew for Lev - someone she’s known for 3 days? And the whole battle for land thing? So stupid in my opinion because Lev’s people were literally in a whole island so why did it even matter? 

Also, all the deaths in this game was for shock value and it felt empty to me. When Tess died, I felt sad. When Same and Henry died? Same. When Riley died? Sadness. 

When Joel died, I was more like “Uhh...okay?” When Jesse died, it felt more like a “MMmm...’kay....?” 

One thing the first game did so beautifully was that it allowed players to slowly care for the people they met and this game failed to do that.

And by the end of the game I just wanted it to be over. The pacing felt off to me, the story and dialogue was clearly written by a team that was not involved in the first game and it showed, and the characters were not memorable to me (I had to Google a few of them because I couldn’t remember their names.)

This is simply my opinion, I’m not here to argue with people who loved the game and don’t agree with me. 

[mrfippstuff]

I played The Last of Us 2.

It’s not the steaming pile of shit that eats babies that people have made it out to be, but it’s also not this new shining platinum standard to video game narratives.

In terms of gameplay, I think it’s much better than the first, but in terms of story, I do think it’s weaker.

For gameplay, it feels nicer, the enemy AI feels more reactive and there’s more variables to what they can do, and being able to dodge and craft silencers are by far my favorite additions to the game. I also like how stealth is easier to jump back into if you get caught, with more options to it, and there’s no denying how good the game looks, and Seattle looks great as this post-apocalyptic flooded city.

As for story, well, I do have several problems with it.

To start things off, pacing. Something I liked about the first game was how brisk its pacing was, how we switched between fighting enemies to walking around peaceful and quiet environments, and while the same happens here, I think they stretch out some of those quiet moments for way too long. In the first game there was still things to do in those moments, often gather supplies laying around, or trying to navigate the environment, but here it feels like those moments seem like they’re walking you through giant impressive set pieces with nothing to do until you walk into the next cutscene.

Next, I think this game was a weaker supporting cast. I liked Tess, and Bill, and Sam, and every other character in the first game, but I don’t feel as strongly for anyone in this game nearly as strongly. Jesse was there, Dina was fine, and I have no real strong opinion on any of Abby’s friends, though I will admit that Lev and Yara got the most positive reaction out of me.

Which brings me to the next point; Abby.

This game has theme of hate, revenge, sacrificing everything to settle your own vendettas, and ultimately coming out the other end with nothing to show for it. Ellie’s side of the story is fantastic with dealing with these elements, and while as tragic as her ending her, it’s well done and narrative fitting for her.

Abby on the other hand, is odd. Those theme hardly seem too important in her side, despite the central conflict of his game coming from the fact that she got her revenge in a particularly brutal manner. There’s some stuff here and there, it’s maybe implied her interest in Lev and Yara is because she’s feeling guilt about something, but none of this is really put in the same kind of focus that it is in Ellie’s campaign. We know what Ellie’s thoughts and feeling on what she is going are, we can clearly see how it affects her and the toll it takes, but none of this stuff really happens with Abby. Even by the end of the game, I still can’t tell what her feelings on killing Joel ended up being. Her side of the story is largely independent from Ellie’s, to the point where they don’t even touch until the tail end of Day 3, the first time being her encounters Tommy and at the marina, only to quickly move back onto her own story, and then literally find a map to where Ellie is.

I like Abby’s story, but I feel it’s at weakest when it crosses over with Ellie, because it never really felt like a continuation to what she was going through, it felt like it’s just meant to be more to Ellie’s story. This leads to everything after the island to feel a bit aimless from her preservative to the point where I was confused that the conclusion to her story came because she got ambushed by a random group of slavers that had no relation to anything in the game. From Ellie’s point of view, the narrative is fantastic, tragic and fitting, but for Abby I honestly can’t tell what she took away from everything that happened, because when the two stories crossed over, Ellie was the only one that got any real narrative value out of it.

I ended up liking Abby, and her independent story, but while I can see what they were trying to do with her, it really seems like they just didn’t know where to take her character at the end, and the two narratives were in a one-way relationship where only Ellie’s benefited.

[solasmancer]

My Andromeda “Free Trial” Experiences

I’ve recently completed my 10 hour free trial for Mass Effect Andromeda, and this is my overall basic impression, and a few key things to note (spoiler stuff under the cut):

Overall, this is a good game.  Nothing about it should be a “deal breaker” for anyone who has a history liking Mass Effect games or BioWare games in general.

Animations:  I only encountered one animation issue, and it was very minor.  When talking to some NPCs on the Hyperion I noticed that a couple of them had no body animations, as in they were completely stiff from the neck down.  I expect that this is a glitch and will be corrected with a future patch.  I did not feel any facial animations were horrible,weird, or out of sync.

Character Creator:  Well....I never thought I would miss DA: Inquistion’s CC, but I do.  I was able to create a Ryder that I am very happy with, but I don’t like how my Ryder looks like 20 other Ryders I’ve seen out there already.  Having to select the preset faces and then limiting the ability to change major aspects like mouth or nose shape, leaves something to be desired.  I do not feel like my Ryder is unique, and that bothers me. 

Graphics Quality:  I am playing the game on PC.  I built my computer to run DA: Inquisition on Ultra settings.  According to the PC specs for Andromeda, I either meet or slightly exceed the “minimum” specs to run this game.  I turned up my graphics to Ultra when playing the trial, and everything looked great and I didn’t experience any lagging or buggieness.  Now, I have seen posts going around complaining about the “quality” of the facial modeling, and the only thing I have to say about that,  is yes many of the human NPCs I have looked at look like they came straight out of ME:2....which if you think about it works...kind of.  Andromeda looks like a game that fits into the Mass Effect aesthetic, which I think was a conscious decision made by the development team.  What is incredibly, stand-out amazing about the graphics in this game, are the armor and fabric textures!   Everything has clean detail in stitching, weave, and pattern.  The detail and texture quality on the turians and salarians is outstanding!  

Narrative: I feel like this will be a compelling and engaging story.  Everything is a mystery to solve, and that mystery drives the story forward.  Even the side quests feel meaningful, as they usually involve directly helping someone with a specific need, which all tie into the greater story arch.  

Dialogue and Character: Ryder is written very well.  All of my dialogue feels natural, and Fryda Wolff’s voice acting perfectly handles every inflection.  I always hated how stiff Commander Shepard felt, and I do not get that with Ryder.   The companions are all written well.  I have my favorites already, but everyone I’v met so far is unique and likable.  There are a couple of mildly campy lines here and there, but it’s not worth getting upset over (glaring at you edgy reviewer dude who said this was the worst writing in a game they have ever heard). 

The Nomad:  There is a big learning curve with this thing.  I am using a keyboard and mouse and I can only guess that the Nomad is really designed to be driven with a controller.  At this point, Ryder can give Shepard a run for their money on worst driver in space.  Or maybe it’s just me.

Spoilers ahead, plus the things that I really didn’t like at all

 Liam: I am going to have to play with subtitles on when talking to Liam because my Texan ass can’t understand his accent.  That’s a me problem though, not a game problem.  Liam is a very cool guy and I love running around with him.  He is a fucking BEAST in the battlefield when you get those omni-blades working good. He is the only character I’ve flirted with and to be honest, it was kind of a let down.  I almost felt like he was brushing me off :(  Tess hasn’t given up on him yet, though.  Regardless he will be a very good buddy.

Cora:  I was a little taken aback when she seemed so cool about me becoming the pathfinder, to later talk to her privately and see that she was not as cool with it as I thought.  She is definitively a total bad ass and yet super professional.  I want good things for her.

Vetra:  Most best amazing turian.  I love her, and her sister Sid.  She is going to be Tess’s best friend forever.  I don’t plan on romancing her, but she is still just super the best.  I know that this doesn’t give much insight into her character, but just trust me on this one. 

Peebee:  She gives me the impression of someone young, like a teenager.  She obviously knows her stuff, though.  She’s very bright and bubbly.  I look forward to knowing more about her.

Drack:  You don’t get to talk much to Drack in the trial.  But what I did see is pretty much on par for krogan.  He’s Wrex, with more sass.  

You don’t meet Jaal in the trial :(

Okay things that are super cool yet super annoying:  The galaxy map and traveling between systems.  It’s like a first person zooming around space thing, and it’s really really cool the first few times you do it...then it gets old and takes too damn long to go between planets. :(  I don’t look forward to grinding away at searching all these systems for resources having to wait between each planet as the travel animation plays.

Memory Shards:  This is my only WTF complaint.  I am worried about this SAM/Dad/Family Mystery story thing.  It feels shoehorned in as a way to tell some sort of rehashed Artificial Intelligence grey area moral compass story about how SAM is actually your Dad’s attempt at keeping your mom’s consciousness alive, blah blah blah.  And the act of “finding memories” just lying around...I don’t like it at all.  SAM gives you some bullshit explanation, about how you aren’t really “finding” them but that your Dad has put in blocks that will unlock as you progress, until you are ready to know everything.  It all gets one big giant eye-roll from me.