#THE ONE THAT KICKED MY WINGS HYPE IN TOP GEAR | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

isadelavega · 5 years

Photo

@alessafalling takes Isa on a skydiving adventure

Essie had pulled out all the stops for her first jump back on the horse. She was putting even more effort into making it an entire experience considering she a new diver with her. She glanced over at Isa in the back of a friendly instructors car who’d offered to pick them up from the bus stop not far from the grounds. A lot of the employees knew Essie at this particular company so they were happy to accommodate the women on the way to their jump.

“You excited?” she asked the other woman, getting quite hyped up herself. Almost bouncing in her seat she clutches the duffle bag of her own gear that’s sitting in her lap. “You ate breakfast right?”

Isa was excited, to say the least. Ever since Essie and her first talked about skydiving and Isa coming along to try, she's been thinking about what it would be like and when they would actually go, and after all the unfortunate, painful and horrible worlds they both had to suffer through, this felt like the perfect way to forget about it all and experience adrenaline in a positive way. At least Isa hoped it would be positive and she wouldn't hate the entire jump.

"We're about to jump out of a plane from who knows what heights - of course I am excited!" she grinned at Essie, her excitement showing. She kept looking out the window, checking if the plane was in sight yet, how long they had left of the car drive like a little excited to arrive to a holiday. "And yes, I ate. Full breakfast, I didn't forget how you said it was important." The possibility of it coming back didn't even cross her mind. "How high are we going up?"

“Most people would be bricking it you know.” Essie laughed, but she was incredibly glad that Isa was thinking positively. If at any point other than the last moment she decided she didn’t want to jump Essie wouldn’t force her to, it wasn’t how she liked to roll. She might be a tad disappointed for herself since they’d be strapped together, but she was sure she could manage to book another time for herself with the company if it did happen.

“Thirteen thousand feet is the standard.” she tells Isa. “Have you ever flown before? It’s a lot lower than commercial flights fly, but a lot, an awful lot higher than you’re probably used to being with the doors open.” she teases. The instructors car pulls up to a hanger with a large half empty car park. The wide hanger doors are lying open and there’s a small crowd of people in bright yellow jumpsuits being strapped into harnesses, that’d be them in around an hour.

"I'm not most people," Isa flashed a smile in Essie's direction before looking out the window again, trying to take everything in. She was always up for something extreme and the knowledge that Essie did this so many times before helped to calm her nerves immensely. She was aware that it might change, but in her mind if she could survive and push through the blight worlds and not run off from Soapberry, she could jump out of a flying plane.

The height sounded really high, but at the same time as somebody who's never been in different heights, she couldn't really determine just how high thirteen thousand feet was. All she felt was that it was high. "Never flown, no, but always wanted to try. But I usually used the train in land and did most of my travels through the ocean by swimming, so planes never really came up as an option. So that's going to be a new experience as well. How much will we see from the plane? Everything small or incredibly small?" Not that words would be able to properly describe, she was sure.

The car stopped and they got out and Isa looked around excitedly, noticing the people in jumpsuits, and she couldn't help leaning closer to Essie and whisper, "Do we have choices for those things?" She nodded towards the jumpsuits.

“Oh gee never flown huh?” the instructor hums all of a sudden from the front seat. Essie rolls her eyes and winks at Isa. “She’s got bigger balls than you to Eric, she’ll be just fine. I have every confidence she’ll have no trouble with the plane at all.” reaching out a patting Isas’ knee with a bright smile on her face. Eric just laughs and shrugs it off, all the folk that worked at the company talked like that to each other so it was no skin off his back to be teased, he encouraged the lighthearted atmosphere considering they got a lot of people scared out of their minds showing up daily.

Essis looks at Isa curiously and then lets out a small laugh, stifled in her hand. “You’ll look radiant in sunshine yellow, you should embrace the colour.” she compliments. “I happen to have my own suit, but that just because I’m practically a pro by now. Not to mention I need wing support.” she gestures over her shoulder at her wings unfolding neatly from their time being pressed into the seat in the car.

Taking the merms hand she tugs her towards a normal sized door to the left of the hanger. “You’re going to have to sign some scary waivers okay? But just know I have your back so they’re not really so scary.”

“Exactly,” Isa said with a grin. It was all just teasin and little fun, she could tell, but still it felt good that Essie took her side and said she wouldn’t have any problems with a plane. She didn’t think she would, but she also never tried it before, so technically there was always a small chance of it kicking in when they took off from the land. But she was determined not to show any of it even if she did turn out to be afraid of such heights.

She wasn’t so sure about the yellow, though, but not because she wouldn’t look good in it. “Of course I will look great in it, I look great in anything, but it still doesn’t feel like the best choice. But I guess gotta work with what I am given, right?” She looked at the wings as they unfolded. “Do you ever actually use it during the jumps? The wings, I mean. Or have you never tried that before?” She wondered if it would ever be possible for Essie to jump with nothing but her wings…

She let Essie tug her along and followed her into the hanger. “Sure, sure. Those are the ‘If you die, it’ll all your fault and responsibility, nobody gets to sue us for it’ type of papers, right? I assumed there would be papers like this, I am guessing they don’t let you jump with them, right?”

Essie wasn’t sure how Isa would react to all this new stimuli at once, but there was only one way to find out, and keeping everyone in a positive mood about everything felt better than being too negative and tipping the scale too far in the wrong direction. The fairy would rather bolster confidence and give light warnings, then drill the hard stuff in with the safety video she’d have to watch for safety reasons anyway.

“You’re going to have to make do, yeah.” the fairy shrugs. “Everyone has to, at least it’s not a gaudy orange they had at the place closest to my home back in Scotland now that was a disaster.” She shakes her head vigorously however. “Oh god no, I can already jump from cliff tops and dive from heights with my wings, the real thrill for me is strapping them down. Keeping them tight to my body to avoid injuring them, but not having access. That’s the real thrill.” she smiles. “Sounds mad to any fairy you tell, but to feel the free fall while flightless is so much greater a rush.”

“Yeah you need to sign the papers or they won’t let you jump, there’s an extra one for being tandem with me specifically. If at any point you want to back out we don’t have to go. But I hope you’ll allow me to take you, it’s honestly going to be so great believe me.”

Isa could understand why other fairies would call jumping with bound wings mad. It felt insane to have wings and not use them in a freefall situation - anything could go wrong and then Essie wouldn’t be able to even help herself. It felt like as if she went into the depth of the ocean and instead of using her tails, she swam with her legs (something she has barely ever done, only when she was with other people and only in shallow waters which felt more like playing around than swimming). “You’re kind of mad, yeah,” she said agreeing, her voice light. “But I am about to jump with you, so I guess if you’re mad then I am mad too.”

She gave Essie a bright smile. “I’m not planning on backing out. So many other people do it, right? If they can do it, so can I. And I am doing it with you, so it’s not like I’m doing all on my own. So bring on all the paperwork, I’ll sign them, sit through all the introductory stuff and then we can go jump.” She was ready, she was excited, she was determined.

Essie smiles and shakes her head. “We’re not mad, regular people do this ALL the time. Me strapping down my wings only puts me on a level with everyone else.” she reminds. It’s easy to forget for most non regular jumpers that the instructors of this extreme sport jump multiple times a day every day, not all of these people anything more than human. It seems so wild to people, but to Essie when she can afford the time and the people who work at this company, it's just another regular day.

Encouraged by the continual positivity from the merm she laughs and sits happily with Isa as she’s made to sign and read a few papers. Deciding she’ll even sit through the standard safety video and small talk about procedure despite knowing it all word for word.

Soon enough it came time to suit up and Essie grabs Isas’ hand again to take her to find a suit to fit. “What size are you? Probably around my size right? We’re quite similar in height.” even if Essie was a touch shorter it was a pretty insignificant difference. “Any particular shade of yellow you feel like?”

Isa skimmed through most of the papers, read what felt like extremely important carefully and only kind of reading what felt like nothing but rambling and the necessary that needed to be included and then signed everything. She knew this was part of the jump and she wanted to get through it as fast as possible. When it came to watching the videos, though, she was paying attention. She didn’t care that much about the danger, it was a thrill in her stomach for now, but she also didn’t want to be an idiot about things. She didn’t want to risk anything pointlessly. And it was interesting, too, she had to admit it. Or maybe she was just way too excited about the jump and she would have found anything interesting about it.

She followed Essie as she pulled her along to get the suits, giving the woman her size. “So I can kind of choose the color myself,” she said in a bit of a triumphant voice despite how it really was just the shade of yellow and it wasn’t like she could choose whatever she wanted to wear. “Something light, not that bright yellow we saw outside. And is there anything with some cute flower patterns maybe? Or would that be too much to ask?”

Other people were heading in the same direction, some pairs, some walking alone, and she asked, curiously, “Have you ever jumped with somebody you didn’t know before? Is that a possibility? Or is that only possible who have their license?”

A laugh escapes the fairys' mouth as the other doesn't recognise the joke. Looking for a more worn suit in the merms size she hopes the colour would be a little faded to fit her specifications. "Afraid gaudy is the only colour in your size." She giggles pulling one of the suits forward. "And flowers are not quite this places style. Gotta be bright and noticeable from a distance."

"I mean before you bank enough hours and do the extra training you HAVE to jump with someone else." She did assume isa meant overall and not as they would be jumping today, but Essie’s brain catches up and she hums "I've not had anyone but someone I know yo sign the extra waivers for me. I'm still not licenced it makes people nervous despite the only specification is still need to meet being freefall hours. I've done all the training, and I'm pretty close to meeting the last requirement but it still makes people squeamish."

Wrapping her arm around isa she starts moving off towards some changing rooms. "Lets get these on and then go get you a harness huh?"

Essie once again got her, Isa only realizing the fairy was joking when the woman pulled up a faded and not at all what she was suddenly picturing at the thought of being able to choose from the shades of yellow. The two colors were probably just new and worn out, and she grumbled with a dramatic side eyes at Essie, “You are an evil, evil fairy,” but her voice didn’t have any kind of anger or hurt in them. “And flowers can be bright and noticeable, too, but I guess that is too much to ask.”

She nodded along to Essie’s explanation. “I guess it makes sense. They wanna make sure they wouldn’t splash against the ground and having a license probably makes them feel better about the jump. And what about you, though? Are you required to take people with you to get the license or you could have it without ever taking anyone?”

Isa nodded and linked their arms together with the suit hanging off of her free hand. As they headed towards the changing rooms, people came and went and most of them smiled and said at least a hello to the two of them, specifically to Essie, though, some of them even joking and she bumped her hip against Essie’s when they reached the changing rooms. “They really like you here,” she said before they both went and changed into their suits. Once they were both dressed, she threw her hands up in the air in an all dramatic fashion, turning around. “If anyone can rock these suits, it’s definitely me,” she declared.

“We’re supposed to be a species of tricks aren’t we?” she laughs shooting the merm a wink. “Us fairies are wily creatures.” Essie usually doesn’t appreciate the generalizations that can be made about her kind, but it seems fitting in the moment to add to her little joke. “Ah but how much would it cost the company to cover everything in flowers only for big manly men to complain?” she hums shaking her head side to side.

“You could get a solo certification I think? I’m not too sure on that front that’s never been my goal. I’ve only really researched and paid attention to the tandem instructor license because it’ll also cover anything I want to do solo. I’m pretty sure it’s two different levels though, can’t imagine you’d be allowed to take someone dual if you didn’t have training or experience, it’s a different vibe solo verses assisted.”

“They better! I’m one of the very few regulars they have!” she laughs. Dropping her bag inside the changing room area she produces a sort of compression vest tailored to hold her wings down. Pulling her shirt off to button it into place, her wings snug against her back as she then reaches for her own jumpsuit, a bright violet shade with a few patches sewn into the arms. “Of you’re definitely pulling it off, you’re absolutely radiant.” Essie grins.

“I am going to have to pay more attention to this from now on,” Isa said, dramatically making shifty eyes at Essie and poking towards the fairy. All was in good fun, though. She shrugged at the thought of mans in flower patterned suits. “They’d be a sight for sure. If you ask me, if they can wear Hawaiian shirts, they could wear these too. Flowers are plants too, right? Not so different.”

“So basically you’re going for the harder of the two right off the bat, right?” Isa said, her voice impressed. “Nice. How long do you have left before you can get your license?”

She only saw from the corner of her eyes as she got dressed the way Essie locked her wings against her body to make sure she couldn’t use it during the jump It looked strange and uncomfortable and very unnatural, but she figured Essie wouldn’t use it if it would hurt her in any way. She assumed nothing was worth so much to damage her wings in the process. She grinned and did a small curtsy in reaction to the compliment. “Thank you, thank you. Your suit looks great, love the color.” She took another look at the vest Essie was wearing and she asked, nodding towards it, “did it take long to get used to that thing? Does it feel weird?”

“Keep as close an eye as you like, you’ll never figure out my ways.” Essie laughs back, her tongue sticking out at the merm cheekily. Winking at Isa she shrugs. “I mean if you’re offering to customise the suits make the company an offer. But embroidery is hard if you’re doing it yourself and not cheap if you’re paying for it. I’d keep that in mind.” she teases. “Whether men will wear it or not can’t argue with costs.”

“Basically, it just covers more of what I’m interested in. I can do all of it with this one license so why aim any lower you know?” She hums “The real numbers are in the system at the front desk, I’m a few months out maybe? I’ve been working on this for a long ass time.”

Shrugging the top half of her purple jumpsuit over her shoulders Essie pauses when she’s asked about her vest. Glancing up at Isa she lets her fingers tug at the fabric a little with a proud little smirk. “I made it myself. It felt weird when it wasn’t designed right, but this version is the best it could possibly be. I made sure it was exactly what I needed.” Essie then zips her jumpsuit over it out of sight. “It works like magic.” she jokes.

Isa let out a chuckle and shook her head. “Okay, maybe, but just maybe, it doesn’t bother me enough to offer the company some extra doll up to their suits,” she said, though she did note the fact that Essie was wearing her own suit and decided that if she was going to like the entire experience and would wanna try again, she’d get her own suit. “But if they have a suggestion box, I am definitely writing a card.”

“Oh, so you’re really close. Is there an exam of some sort at the end? Or just get the jumps and then that’s it?” she asked. It’s not that she wanted to get a license herself, she was certain the jump would be exciting but she didn’t think she would wanna go to that kind of lengths, she just simply didn’t know too much about skydiving and what came with it in general and it was interesting to her, so she had questions.

“Wow, that’s impressive,” Isa said with a nod. It made sense, though - not a lot of demand for vests that would strap down a fairy’s wings so they could go skydiving or do other things where they want no chance of their wings to be used. Probably most fairy’s would never get or need something like this. Both of them were dressed now and Isa clapped her hands together fast several times, getting excited all over again. “Okay, please tell me there’s nothing else to do and the next step is getting into the plane.”

“It’s not really an exam sort of thing, it’s just like...continual assessment? I always jump with an instructor whether I’m solo or tandem. So that they can clock my hours and make sure I’m up to standard. I’m always up to standard, you have to do a lot of certifications to be allowed to jump solo after all. It is a dangerous sport. They just gotta make sure you’re going to be as safe as you can be ...while you fall to the ground from a plane.” she snorts at the absurdity of health and safety in situations like these.

“I’m no master at any rate, the pattern was my sisters doing. She makes her own clothes as a hobby. She’s really good at it, she helped me out a lot back home.” Another short laugh escapes Essie’s mouth. “You haven’t even got a harness on, then we’ll be strapped together in the plane.” she pats the other womans arm. “It’s a whole process but it’s worth it I promise!”

Holding the door open she leads the way to the open hanger. They weren’t jumping with a whole squadron of people, mainly a few solo jumpers and an instructor strapped to another newbie. Essie beams as she stoops to help the merm into her harness. “After this it’s right into the plane.” And it doesn’t take very long for Essie to suit and strap Isa up. “You’re a lot easier to strap in than Danny.” she jokes pulling the last strap tight. Stepping into her own with practiced ease as the instructor diving with them comforts a more reluctant and worried looking face.

The instructor -Ryan- gave the two newbies another run down of procedure as they headed towards the fixed wing plane sitting idle on the runway. Essie bouncing along beside Isa in anticipation, her first jump since the blight worlds had opened up and she couldn’t wait. Clambering into the open door Essie pats the spot next to her and hums as the engine starts up. “You good?”

Isa beamed when Essie told her that once they got strapped in, the next step was the plane. She understood that there was a process to get to that point, but at the same time she was ready to finally be done with them and just get on to the fun part. Or, well, what she was determined to be the fun part. Essie strapped her in nice and fast and Isa laughed at the joke Essie made about Danny. "How did he react to the experience, by the way? I don't think I ever asked you that."

She listened to the instructor intently again and then they were off to the plane and Isa's fingers excitedly tapped against her legs as they moved and took their places. "Yeah, I'm good. Just never been on a plane before," Isa said as she turned around. They were sitting next to one of the windows on the plane and Isa's eyes were fixated on the view the entire time. She didn't want to miss anything. "I saw such depths of the sea most people couldn't even imagine, but I never ever got a chance to get a bird's-eye view before."

The plane was giving off weird sounds, or at least weird sounds for Isa since she's never heard the sound of a plane before, but it took off and slowly ascended, everything on the ground getting tinier and tinier and it felt unbelievable and surreal and kind of scary in the best possible way for Isa at the same time. "No wonder you like coming up here so much," she said with a grin at Essie. "The view is amazing."

Essie bites her lip and holds back a smirk as Isa asks how Danny reacted. “You ever heard a man scream at the top of his lungs? I have to tell you...what a sound.” The memory made her almost giddy. “He asked me just before the jump to be his girlfriend and then yelled the entire way down. Wobbly as a newborn lamb once we reached the ground. I bet we were a sight to see as well considering I was strapped to his back, my legs didn’t even touch the floor.” she took great pleasure describing the jump. It had been one of the last she’d done the month prior before everything had gone to shit, it’d been so good as if to make up for what was to come.

The fairy loved everything about skydiving, the plane journey being one of the very few exceptions. It was a beautiful view, sure, but it was too long in her opinion. She wished she could jump from a rocket instead, it would get her to the proper height in far less time, but was well aware that was completely ridiculous.

When they’d reached the correct altitude the instructor motioned for Essie to get properly situated on Isas’ back. Tapping the merms shoulder and shifting in her seat so that she could start strapping them together properly. “If at any point you decide you don’t want to jump you gotta tell me.” she says finally. “Not last second, I won’t take last second. But The solos will jump first. Then us, then the instructor.”

Isa couldn’t hold back the laughter that broke out of her at Danny’s reaction to it all. She could practically see it all in front of her eyes, hear the screams all the way down like it happened in some kind of animated movie or show. “That entire thing must have been a sight to see. Or hear, for the most part of it. It’s definitely a story, though - not a lot of people get asked to be the girlfriend right before the pair jumps out of a plane together. Or at least I assume it’s not happening too often.”

When Essie tapped Isa’s shoulder, the merm tore her eyes away from the window. There a certain kind of anxiousness inside of her now seeing the entire way up to the height they were now. This is where they would jump out. Of a plane. From so high above she couldn’t see the buildings or anything other than patches of colors mostly. It was insane to even think about. So she tried not to think about it, instead focused on what Essie was telling her while her hands worked, nodding along to show that she was listening, taking it all in. “No chickening out the last second, got it.”

Once Essie strapped them together, it felt so strange to have Essie behind her and not be able to properly look at her while she was watching the solos jumping out of the plane one by one. She was so certain she wouldn’t feel any sort of fear while both of her feet was still on the ground, didn’t understand anyone who didn’t end up jumping the last minute, but now she could get why people would not go through with it despite coming to such lengths to try it out. She was determined to not chicken out, though. She kept telling herself that a lot of people did it, nothing bad was going to happen, and as they inched closer to it being their turn, she reached back and took Essie’s hand for support. And then the last second, despite Essie telling her that she wouldn’t have it, she couldn’t help saying, “I’m not so sure this is a good idea anymore...”

Essie smiles dreamily at the memory. She’s completely hopeless to talk to when you indulge her for talking about her boyfriend. They’d had it pretty rough through the blight but nothing a little time couldn’t patch up. “Naive of me maybe, but I was so upset when he didn’t even ask me before the jump. He didn’t figure he needed to ask, but I don’t know I guess I’m just a hopeless case, I wanted to be asked. So he did. It was honestly probably the best way he could have come up with to ask me.” She knows she’s a touch embarrassing and gives Isa an apologetic look. “But enough about the boyfriend, this is a girls day out.”

Essie shuffled them rather awkwardly to the door, slowly one by one waving to the solo jumpers who cheered and hollered as they were whisked away in the wind. Jumping always had a short window of time, they needed to be dropped over the airfield after all. Essie squeezed the merms hand as they moved up the line. Their instructor already strapped to his own passenger just running his hands over all the connections the fairy had made between the two of them. Just checking it was all 100% correct, which it was. The fairy was listening carefully, waiting patiently for the moment Isa might object, if it was anywhere before they reached the door she’d allow them to stay on the plane.

The words didn’t come however until they were standing directly in the doorway, Essie had her hand on the wing as Isa spoke and instead of answering she tipped forward. Isa could yell at her later. but as they entered freefall she whooped as the rest of the jumpers thus far had. Unable to contain herself as she took a hold of Isas sleeves and moves her arms out into the correct falling position. Spread out like starfish she’d joked when the video had gotten to this point and Essie echoes the joke loudly to the merm as they fall.

Essie warned her that she wasn’t going to take very last minute chickening out, Isa knew that, still when Essie leaned forwards and jumped for the both of them, it came as a sort of shock and despite how Isa laughed at Danny’s reaction to scream his way down to the ground, she couldn’t help but let out a high pitched shriek herself, too. They were falling. They were falling. “Ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod,” she screamed in the beginning while Essie whooped and enjoyed it all.

And then Essie took her hands and moved her in the correct position and brought up the joke about the starfish she already said while they were watching one of the videos and just like back then, Isa couldn’t help the laugh now either. And her fear didn’t completely go away, they were falling down into nothingness, but she started to pay attention to the way it felt to be just falling and as the seconds passed by, she started to enjoy it more and more. “This is insane!” she shouted at Essie and ended up even whooping one herself, just to try out how it felt.

Essie let the feeling of the wind whipping through her hair wash over her, the lurch in her stomach had stopped being terrifying years ago. She was so used to this sensation and yet it never failed to thrill her. The fairy was no stranger to the screams of new jumpers, the instructor that had jumped behind them had another screamer strapped to his chest. Essie laughed and waves jovially to Ryan as he grimaced about his ears ringing.

“No more insane than deep sea diving.” she yells back. Although that might just be a personal feeling. Deep sea simply was the only thing that scared Essie enough to avoid the water completely. And while it was likely a little less dangerous, the fairy certainly didn’t see it that way. “Reach out for Ryan and Caleb!” she instructs, shifting her body so they fall closer to the other tandem pair. “We can spin them and they can spin us.” she yells excitedly. She loves tricks, and even with first time jumpers a little gentle spin won’t hurt.

Essie was just laughing at her screams and if Isa wouldn't have been preoccupied with all the screaming and falling she did. She experienced this before anyway, probably even expected Isa to be screaming her lungs out in the beginning since this was the first time doing this. "There's no chance of hitting the ground and getting smashed into mush during deep sea diving, though," Isa screamed back. It was funny, though - how the water was her element and Essie would have rather avoided it and the air was Essie's and she chickened out at the last second and was only falling now because Essie didn't let her.

She didn't even notice the instructor was close to them, Isa was more focused on the feeling of thrill that was rising in her stomach than who was near them. She looked around and caught sight of Ryan and Caleb. "That sounds insane and interesting at the same time!" she yelled as she reached her hand out and took their hands as the guys were also coming towards them, probably with the same intent that Essie had. "How does the spin work? What do we do?" she yelled.

Once Isa had a hold of Ryans hand Essie managed to reach out and take a hold of his arm with a grin. “Let go.” she told Isa. She’d just needed the merm to show interest to go through with it, she wouldn’t have if the merm had thought the idea not at least interesting. Ryans jumper didn’t seem so fond, but he winked at Isa and then threw his arm forward slowly, causing the two women to spin in a controlled and gentle circle like a human pinwheel. Even if the spokes were nowhere near human.

Jumps feel like forever in the air, but chutes need to be pulled correctly at the right time, and as the band of solo jumpers start to pull Essie lets go of Isas sleeve and tells her to brace herself, reaching up to pull their own chute. The sudden halt in the rate of movement towards the ground can cause a little bit of whiplash if not prepared. The parachuting portion of the jump is also exciting to Essie, able to take in the sights more calmly as she steers them into the landing checkpoint for pick up. A large bullseye on the grass for amusement.

“Bend your knees and don’t forget to move when you hit the ground.” she instructs Isa as they approach the target spray painted into the grass. Once her feet hit the floor Essie turns her head to ground the chute before grinning and unlatching herself with a little difficulty from the merm. “How was that?” she cheers.

When Essie told her to let go, Isa did and soon they were spinning around and oh my god, they were literally spinning towards the ground, the ground that was getting closer and closer with every second at this point and it was exciting and insane and thrilling all at the same time and it kind of felt like they’d be falling forever despite the ground getting closer and closer.

And then suddenly Essie told her to brace herself and pulled their chute, slowing down their fall and Isa spent the entire time looking around, trying to take as much of the view as she could in. And before she would have liked, she Essie warned her to bend her knees and make sure to pay attention to the landing and then they were back down on the ground, Isa losing her balance and a sudden lurch of her stomach that did not feel good at all. She was so preoccupied with everything that was happening during the fall, she didn’t even realize her stomach kept getting more and more messed up, so when Essie unhooked herself from Isa, instead of replying to the fairy’s question, she bent over and threw up everything that was in her stomach.

Once she was done, she rubbed her mouth off with her arm and gave Essie a thumbs up. “Would have loved to skip this last bit. Please tell me I’m not the only one you’ve seen do that.” She knew that would at least help her ego to know that she wasn’t the only one who threw up. “But the rest was really cool. Terrifying, but cool.”

Unhooked from Isa, Essie starts to unbuckle her own harness so that she can free her wings as quickly as possible. However she caught the sight of the merm swaying a little. It wasn’t very long until the breakfast Isa had told Essie all about in the car on the way over started to make it’s encore. Quick on her feet she steps forward and gathers the merms hair up and rubs her back with her other hand. The sight wasn’t so pleasant, and the sound was even worse. Essie had only ever thrown up once in her life -Fae not susceptible to illness after all- and she couldn't imagine how she must be feeling.

The thumbs up causes the fairy to laugh. “You’re not the only one.” she promises. “Far from it.” Is the reassurance she gets. Essie admires the attitude and rewards the merm with a bright smile. “All we have to do is wait for the van to pick us up and take us back to the hanger.” she husm soothingly. “But I’m glad you enjoyed yourself, I did warn you that I wasn’t going to take last second bailing, you should have said long before we got to the door.” she teases.

Essie coming up to her, holding her hair back and rubbed her back through the entire time while she was throwing up warmed Isa’s heart and felt extremely grateful for the fairy’s friendship in the moment. She would have preferred to skip this little incident and kept her breakfast down in her stomach, but Essie’s small help meant a lot to her, just like it did when she heard that she wasn’t the only one who ended up with her breakfast on the ground after the landing. “That’s reassuring at least.”

“How long does it take for the van to get to us?” she asked curiously. She laughed at Essie’s teasing, though and looked up at the sky, wondering how big the plane must have looked from down here when they jumped. “Yeah, I know you did. I wanted to jump, I swear, just standing there and looking down… we were really high up, Essie! Like, really, really, really high up! I’m glad you didn’t let me chicken out, though. I would have been really angry at myself if we didn’t end up jumping because of me.”

Essie wasn’t even lying to spare the merms feelings. So many people had this sort of reaction after landing even if they’d enjoyed themselves. Some got dizzy, some got giddy, some went into shock as the adrenaline stopped pumping into their system. The worst reaction was the throwers. But it wasn’t anyone's fault after all. “Don’t worry about it, we’re one of the last jumps today, so it doesn’t matter at all. The rain will get it.”

“Not long, fifteen minutes between here and the hanger straight road, but the walk would be much longer, not to mention the equipment needs picked up and packed away. “Maybe plane and jumping was a little much in one day. I didn’t realize you’d never been ip in one before.” she shrugs lightly. “My bad on that one, but I’m glad you liked it despite the upchuck.” Turning around she requests. “Help me gather the parachute so it can be stuffed in the boot when the van pulls up?”

“Good to know. Though if you wanted to forget it ever happened and not mention it to people if the topic comes up, that would be greatly appreciated,” Isa said, running her fingers through her hair and shaking it a bit.

She shook her head in disagreement, though, at Essie's words. "No, don't say that, I don't mind that I did both for the first time today. I wanted to try flying for a long time, so it was cool, and you have to get up to the air somehow to actually be able to jump, so it was unavoidable. Unless we would have gone to that cliff you like so much, but I think that would have been a different kind of jump. And it was fun! No reason to apologize since I had fun."

"Sure," she said and following Essie's lead and instructions on how to gather the entire parachute properly. Once they've done that, they only had to wait a couple of minutes before the van arrived to pick them and the others up and then they were heading back to where they started the day off. "How often do you actually come out here to jump?" Isa asked curiously.

Essie shakes her head slightly, an amused sort of smirk tugging on the corners of her lips. “Oh come on now, I told you the hard truth about Danny’s jump. It would hardly be fair of me to go around lying to people about yours.” she teases. But the fairy is also not mincing her words, she’d rather tell the truth about such things. She does allow the merm some comfort. “But I’ll only tell them if they ask directly how about that?” she adds with a wicked grin.

“I honestly wouldn’t let you jump form that cliff, there’s rocks at the bottom, it’s more a place for folk with wings.” she admits with a sort of awkward laugh. “And even then Danny said he’d never jump from it. Maybe I am a little crazy like people say.” It doesn’t bother her much, it would bother her if people thought she was truly crazy, but she knew she was a thrill seeker, it was no surprise to her when people who didn’t do extreme sports didn’t understand.

“Me? Whenever I can both afford it and have the time.” She responds. The others in the van being quite rowdy after the jump so she’s forced to speak a little louder than normal to compensate. The fairy starts to unbuckle more of her harness and gestures of Isa to do the same, for more comfort on the drive. “You think you liked it enough to do it again sometime? Obviously no time soon, most people have this as an occasional sort of hobby, once again...guess I’m just a little crazy with that one.” a short laugh leaving her lips.

Essie was being really fair, but Isa still would have preferred if the fairy would have agreed to not say anything about the throwing up. The screaming now felt like a given for the first time, but having a story about throwing up wasn't cute. But Essie also didn't seem pushable on the topic and who would actually directly ask if Isa threw up or not? Why would anyone wonder? So she ended up nodding. "Sounds like the best deal I can get from you, so I'll take it."

Isa's eyebrows shot up at the fact that Essie wouldn't even let her jump from that cliff, or that her boyfriend wouldn't be willing to jump, either. "Just how exactly does this cliff look?" she asked, now even more curious about the place than before. "Do you have pictures? It's your favorite place, you must have pictures of it, right?"

"Makes sense. Are there instances when you jump more than once a day? Is that allowed even?" She was speaking louder too, just to make sure they could hear each other. She followed Essie's lead and started unbuckling the harness as much as she could in the sitting position. "Yeah, not right away, not right now, but I think I would love to do it again. Maybe with an ending without throwing up and no chickening out in the beginning. Can you guys do other stuff in the air? Aside from the spinning? I wouldn't mind trying out other stuff, too."

Essie lets her grin slip back into a smirk. She was pretty sure no one would be asking about Isa specifically. The only person she imagined asking her about the jump was Danny, and really who was Danny going to tell that would mortify Isa? No one most likely, it wasn’t the sort of thing you passed on in gossip, especially considering he’d jumped for the first time himself and Essie had the memories to prove he hadn’t been so quiet. Even if he’d managed to keep his own breakfast down. The fairy saw no shame in throwing up, it was a shock to your body, you were jerked around quite a lot and loads of people did it.

Descriptions were really not her forte. She mimes a sheer drop and then as her hand reaches her lap she gestures both of her hands and her fingers upwards “With like rocks at the bottom.” It’s a terribly poor attempt at getting the point across and one of the other jumpers even laughs a little having caught that portion of the conversation from across the isle in the minibus. Essie shoots the man a look before shrugging. “I’ll take you there maybe, but not to jump. You’d die. I don’t really have photos.”

“It’s allowed.” Essie nods. “I get a pretty good deal with the company if I want that. I have to jump at the allotted times with others, but I just stay geared up and drink juice while I wait for them all to get the briefing. You just have to use your own common sense, jump as much as your body can handle and don’t be dumb about it you know?” At the ask of what else could be done in the air Essie beams. ISa being willing to know more, to go again sometime was a boost in her mood. And the fairy was already happy with the dive, this was just sugar on the cake. “I’ll show you some of my gopro footage? We rode inflatable dolphins once on the way down, it was ADORABLE.”

Isa tilted her head as she watched Essie’s hands as she tried to mime the entire cliff-drop. It didn’t really clear things up in her head but altogether it looked kind of funny and Isa watched it with a grin on her face. “Got it, no jumps. I very much don’t want to die, I can assure you of that, so I am not going to risk anything. But it would be cool to check it out once in the future, if for nothing else, the view from the top. If it’s so high, I’m sure the view is amazing from up there.”

She nodded along at Essie’s explanation. She could understand needing to know how much the body could handle. Technically they didn’t do anything that was supposed to be tiring, they literally just fell down from a big height, but still her stomach was recovering and she could feel in her muscles and her body in general that another jump right now wouldn’t be a smart idea. “How many can you jump in a day? I’m assuming there were times when you maxed yourself out.”

Isa’s eyes widened for a moment in surprise and then she burst into laughter. “Oh my god, yes, please, I need to see that footage, that sounds amazing. Why did you go with dolphins, though? Why not something else?”

“It’s a really great view.” Essie agrees. “Even if we don’t jump, apparently you can climb down with less danger to yourself. It’s not so high that you couldn’t climb, but a shorter fall makes the jump a little more thrilling sometimes.” the fairy winks. “But it’s still a good distance, it’s got a pretty solid height on sea level at least.”

“Oh, there were some days where I was completely reckless when I was a novice. Adrenaline is so good at masking fatigue and dehydrations and all that fun stuff. You’ve got to be smart, really take into account your limits. If I have the cash and the time I usually jump five ish a day? Six maybe. And after that I’ll feel completely fine. It’s an expensive wee hobby to have, but I know people who jump more, much more, and feel absolutely fine doing it. There’s no limit apart from your own body, so if you’re fit and healthy and looking after yourself you can sorta just keep going until you feel bad or so I’ve been told.”

“We were all solo, we all had a different coloured dolphin, it was hilarious.” a laugh escaping the fairy as well at the memory. “It was back home in scotland though, with a company I’d known since I started. One of the regular blokes had been driving for the days dives and saw an end of summer sale on pool toys. The dolphins had handles and honestly how could he say no to that?”

“Climbing down might not be my thing, but I could just enjoy the view from the top, that sounds pretty and you can jump.” Climbing generally didn’t excite her, especially if there were other ways to the top. Why strain yourself so much like that? You couldn’t even enjoy the destination properly if you tired yourself out completely first, in her opinion. “You’re jumping with your wings out from there, though, right? Not with a parachute or anything.” Might have been a dumb question, but Isa wanted to check.

“Six times a day... ” Isa repeated, looking out the window and up at the sky. That sounded so much and so insane to her, though Essie was right, it was all just a matter of time and practice. When she was standing up in the plane, jumping just once felt like an insanity too and still she jumped (well, to the push of Essie, but she was glad for it, she would have regretted not jumping). “That’s impressive.”

She was grinning as she listened to the story, the picture in her head not completely similar to what happened, but in her mind it looked really cool and rainbow color for some reason too. “That sounds so cool. And you have footage of this, right? I can’t wait to see!”

It was likely no surprise to anybody that Essie also enjoyed climbing, perhaps not as much as she loved flying and diving from heights but it was still an interest to her. Mainly free climbing, bouldering mainly, although this was something she didn’t strap her wings down for. She didn’t trust her feet as much as her wings, truthfully. “Oh yeah, wings out. I don’t have a death wish I swear. I just like extreme sports!” she laughs shaking her head. “Not a high enough fall for a chute.”

“Yeah, when I have the cash.” she confirms. he had a pretty good job now, and despite living alone her bills just weren’t that bad. Honestly she likely had enough money to fully indulge herself, but she was trying to be conservative. Save up for flights if ever there came a need for her to rush home. Emergency money was something her mother had hammered into her brain before she’d moved, so she was trying to be good. The fairy puffs up a little in pride at the comment, “Thank you.”

“I do. We have go-pro footage of all the jumps that day. My friend cut me a disc of it, which of course I instantly converted to a file in the cloud. Bloke is so old trying to give me a disc rather than send a file.” she laughs mockingly at her old jumping buddy back home.

Isa chuckled and nodded. “Yeah, figured you don’t have a death wish, you wouldn’t jump this many times and land safe and sound if you did. Even though I can understand why somebody would say that, some of the things you do just sound completely insane.” She looked back up at the sky, clear blue and nothing, not even clouds covered it up. “And then you go up in a plane and do the jump and it doesn’t feel that completely insane anymore,” she added with a grin on face.

She nodded along as if she understood what Essie was talking about. She had her phone, she knew how to use the basics, but things like the cloud and cutting a disc and such sounded like a foreign language to her. Not that she was going to admit that to Essie out loud, though. “Do you guys often film during jumps? Or was that just a one time thing?”

The van finally slowed down and pulled over to the side of the building and the two of them handed off their gears and Isa’s suit, Essie putting hers away. “Do I need to sign something else before we leave? Or anything else we need to do?” she asked. “Because I was thinking we could get some ice cream on the way back to town? What do you say?” She felt her stomach was all good now and she was kind of getting hungry, too, and ice cream just felt like the perfect solution.

With a shake of her head Essie shrugs. “I jump so often there’d be no point. I don’t need it to relive the feeling since I can just go and feel the feeling again. People jump and film occasionally at best. Mainly people film if it’s a bucket list sort of thing I find. Get a video because they’ll never go again.”

The end of the trip back to the hanger rolls around and they shed all their gear, Essie into her own bag, and Isa back to the pegs it came from. Emerging from the changing rooms the fairy glances at Isa. “We can totally get ice cream. Nothing else you're required to do but enjoy the aftermath of a jump and put together an amazing story to tell others about it. That’s what people usually do.”

They’d get a lift back to town, a short trip by anyone's standards and then they’re standing on the street waving Eric goodbye. “So where’s this ice cream place?” Essie asks linking her arms with the merm. “Lead the way.”

“Great,” Isa said with a nod when Essie agreed to the ice cream and then her mind wandered off to what kind of story she would tell others about her jump – definitely leaving out the chickening out and the throwing up. She’d include the screaming, since that felt like the least embarrassing of it all, and would focus most on the view and the adrenaline and the thrill and the spinning, that spinning was incredible. And the promise of other tricks and how she definitely wanted to go on other jumps.

They got back to town rather quickly, they said their goodbyes, and then they were left just the two of them. Essie linked their arms together and Isa happily started leading them towards the ice cream place she found relatively quickly into her stay in Soapberry. “It’s in Grieselle, in a courtyard. I think it must be a family business, but I am not 100% sure of that. But they are selling craft ice cream and they are coming up with their own flavors after supernatural creatures and artifacts and stuff. It’s really cool, I love going there.”

Bouncing along with one arm linked to the merm and the other swinging her bag, Essie hums as they go. She’d been in town here for ages, and yet simple little things like ice cream parlors were a mystery. The only other one she knew of having only been shown to her by Joey a week prior. “I really need to continue looking around this place, so many hole in the wall shops in this town.” the blight had put a real damper on exploration.

“So what’s your favourite flavour and do they have toppings? I will only eat ice cream if there are toppings those are the rules.” the fairy lets Isa know. “Also only gossip is to be shared over ice cream by royal decree.” she adds in a haughty voice.

Isa grinned and nodded along. “You’re not the only one. I’ve been here for several months now and I still have places to discover and explore. There are just so many different, new and magical parts of the town to explore, you can’t just fly through and catalogue all of them in a day. You gotta enjoy. We should have other days where we check out new places.”

“My favorite is vampire blood - it’s completely red, as if it was actually blood, but the flavor is actually a mix of berries and it’s one of the best ice creams I’ve tried in a really long time,” Isa explained. “And of course there are toppings. Not the biggest selection, but you’ll find something you’ll like for sure. As for the gossip, I’ll accept the royal decree and now you’ve made me ridiculously curious about the gossip you have. Anything juicy? About somebody I know too?”

“We should have a shopping day, we can go in and out of shops to our hearts content.” Essie suggests. She loves doing things like that, dedicating a whole day off work to something like a girls day out. It’d been an awful long time since the sleepover she’d had with Vi and Bella after all. She needed more girl time, the station was so chock full of men, and the one woman she knew was Ruby. And for obvious reasons she steered as clear as she could politely manege.

“The name is a little off putting.” The fairy comments, but knowing what actual vampire blood tasted like was maybe the only reason. At least it didn’t taste like the real thing. The expression that crosses Essies face shows that she hadn’t really been thinking she would have to start the gossip session. Holding open the door for the merm the fairy hums in thought trying to come up with something. “Well maybe not gossip but Bella and I are going to scotland soon. Bells is going to fly us there.”

"I am never going to say no to a shopping day, you can count me in," Isa grinned. She loved shopping - maybe a bit too much so. She could never say no, when she saw something she liked, she bought it without thinking about price. The only reason she could do this was because she didn't have rent to pay (which was yet another reason why sleeping in the water was a good decision on her part) so she could spend as much as her paycheck allowed her to buy. And she never actually had one of those movie montage girl shopping sprees before.

Isa shrugged. "They are just fantasy named. It has the flavors under the names, too, so you know what you're getting." She loved the idea and the different distinctions that they made with the names. They went inside and started looking through the possibilities while they waited for the three people ahead of them to order and Isa nodded at Essie's words. "Bella mentioned it to me before. Getting rid of her sire's belongings, right? Are you excited to go home?"

Essie was a lot more conservative with her cash when spending on things she classed as trivial. She saved her money for her hobbies and for food and rent. She already had clothes she’d brought with her from scotland. She hadn’t really bought anything new for herself the entire time she’d been in soapberry, but she was willing to change that. She couldn’t live in Dannys shirts forever when she hadn’t done laundry. She needed new things as the seasons changed and her clothes from home got worn in. “I need some serious new stuff and you always look good so I’ll need your irreplaceable opinion.”

Essie was peering into the cold cabinet of ice cream flavours as they spoke, trying to catch the names from around the people blocking the view. “I’m really excited, I thought I was going to have to wait until like my dads birthday or something to buy tickets. I’m lucky to have Bella. I’m glad I can do something for her in return, we’re going to get this done for her so she doesn’t have to worry.” Essie pulls back and decides to let the people move instead of being obnoxious around them. “So that’s a bit of goss from me, it’s your turn. Also it 100% still counts even if you knew we were going anyway.” she laughs.

“That just means you completely forgot my postal uniform, which I am eternally grateful about,” Isa joked but it felt like to be complimented and admired for her style. It was mostly dresses, she refused to wear any kind of pants until it was impossibly cold and she couldn’t possibly wear anything else, but while it was only chilly outside, she loved wearing different tights with dresses. Anything that wasn’t pants, she was happy with. “But thank you. I’m happy to help. What kind of clothes do you need? What kind of clothes do you like?”

Isa smiled and nodded. “She’s extremely generous and kind, yeah.” Bella showered her in gifts as well, which was a first for her for sure, but oh wow, it felt so nice and so amazing and enjoyed every single second of it. “You guys will have some time to check in on your family, too? And look around, show Bella some nice parts of Scotland?”

“Hey! That’s not fair!” Isa exclaimed, her voice high pitched and a joking dramatics to it, but her eyes were grinning. “If everything counts as new gossip, I could just tell you we’ve been skydiving and it would count as such too.” SHe shook her head and let out a small chuckle. “But okay, let’s see... do you know the Jameses? They live near the sheriff’s station, that couple where the guy is a naga. I heard the guy decided that he liked being in hig snake form more than being married and left the woman and went into the wilderness.”

“You don’t have any control over your postal uniform. I forgive you for that travesty.” Essie jokes with a wink to the merm biting her tongue between her teeth in a smile. The two were unaware they both had similar ideas about full length trousers. But they’d soon find out. “I like shorts, I need winter shorts for when it gets colder. Either that or thick tights and warm jumpers. But it’s not only that...I need some cuter things too.” a small blush on her face. “But we can talk about those things later.” she waves a dismissive hand.

Essie smiles indulgently at the thought of her best friend. “She is. I’m glad I met her so early on into living here. First person I really spoke to more than one time actually.” Shuffling up in the que as two people step out of the way with their ice cream, Essie beams “We’re staying with my family actually. My sister is helping Bella find the right place to go, so we’re staying in my family home since there’s enough space there for everyone. My sister sunny lives in a small place with roomies so it’s easier to stay with my parents.”

“Ah but I was there, you however are NOT coming to scotland with us. There’s a difference.” Essie shoots back jutting her lower lip out in a pout at the playful argument. She gasps loudly at Isas gossip. “Jake left Dawn? No way!”

"Thank you, thank you, that is very kind of you," Isa chuckled and then nodded. "Sounds like a plan, we can discuss preferences when we have clothes to choose from, too." She smiled at Essie's words about Bella. "I wouldn't say she was the first person I spoke to more than once, those were people I delivered mail to - some of them constantly order stuff so I talk to them several times a week -, but she was the first one I think I really talked to more than once, too." Bella had the kind of personality that it wasn't too hard to imagine that others were gravitating towards that too. "Oh, that's really nice. And I'm guessing that makes the entire trip a lot more easier - both accommodation wise and carrying out the task. When are you guys going?"

Isa let out a chuckle and raised her hands up in the air in defense. "Fine, fine, I guess you got me there. I am really not going. You should definitely send me pretty pictures when you guys are there, though." At Essie's reaction, she nodded. "Yeah, I had the same reaction! Couldn't believe it, they seemed so good together. But the neighbor sounded so sure. She said she didn't see Jake around for weeks now."

Two of the three people that were ahead of them paid and moved out so while only one person was ahead of them, they finally had a good look at the options and Isa started perusing them. "Do you know what you want to get?" she asked Essie.

“This shopping trip is serious business, we’ll need to ready our wallets.” Essie jokes lightly. She loved the idea of having someone to go shopping with, she hadn’t been shopping with anybody apart from her sister in years, and with her sisters goth style it was very hard to find anything she personally liked. But the dresses Isa wore were cute, and Essie couldn’t imagine shops selling similar things wouldn’t have something for her as well.

“I met her first don’t make me fight you for friend rights.” Essie teases wiggling a finger at Isa threateningly. “I’ll fight yeh.” she adds laying her accent on thicker just for the dramatic effect before dissolving into giggles. Although Essie knew honestly she was a very jealous person, she could get jealous of her boyfriend but she was also a touch friend jealous. She just didn’t like to let on, and tried her best not to be however and hoped Isa would never find out. “It’s going to be so fun introducing my mum and dad to Bella. My dad knows all about her, me and my dad talk the most on the phone, it’ll be fun to see what he makes of her in real life.”

“I’m so sad for Dawn. But then again if Jake left then it’s probably for the best. Being stuck loving someone is a shitty sort of experience when they don’t feel quite the same. Best not drag it out.” Looking intensely at the cabinet of ice cream Essie found herself unable to decide. “Are you getting the vampire blood one? I’ll get what you get but I want sprinkles. Always.”

Isa let out a chuckle. "Of course you met her first, you've arrived to Soapberry a lot earlier than I did, I couldn't have possibly met her before you did. Your accent came out so thick before, though," she added with a small giggle. "And I'm guessing it gets thicker when you're home, right?" Now it was okay to understand Essie, but she could easily imagine her getting into it where Isa would just blink and stare and not understand a word. "I'm sure it'll go down nice and smooth, be optimistic. You're really close with your parents?" she asked, wondering what that must be like. Sometimes she wondered if she grew up in a different way, would she still be here right now.

She nodded at Essie's question. "Yeah, I'm getting the vampire blood and the secret of the nymphs, which I'm not sure why it got its name, but the flavor is banana and the two goes amazingly together, if you ask me. And I usually get chocolate on the top - are you getting that too and the sprinkles on top of it or ice cream and sprinkles and no chocolate?"

Essie laughs and shakes her head. “I slow down how I talk A LOT, people here find my accent so damn hard to understand, especially on the phone.” she tells the merm. “If I went normal speed no one could keep up with me. Though you all give it a rather good go, i applaud the effort.” She says this last part at her usual speed, accent thick as it is when she’s back home. “I’m close with my dad. My mum and I chat, but we’re not as close. My dad is who I talk to the most aside from my sisters. And even then -though don’t tell anyone- I do have a favourite sister.” the fairy adds with a wink and a hushed tone.

“I think I want the nymph one. Nymph one and just sprinkles any and all kinds, as many as will fit on top and not fall off.” Essie requests to the employee behind the counter. Plain ice cream to her was boring in any flavour, she needed things she could chew or crunch to make it interesting. Plain wasn’t her style for most foods. “Glad you feel you can eat again after the dive. Stomach settled nice huh?”

“A lot? Seriously?” Isa asked back, a bit surprised. She figured Essie might pay attention to her accent, but she didn’t think she was holding back that much. “Can you show me how it is when you are not holding back?” she asked, now extremely curious if she could actually understand what Essie was telling her. It turned into a weird challenge in her head.

She tilted her head a bit, listening to what Essie was telling her about her family, nodding along to show that she was listening. “Was it hard to move away from them? A whole ocean in between and all? Also just how many sisters do you have? You sound like you have at least ten,” Isa giggled.

She smiled at Essie’s order and when she saw all the sprinkles on the scoop of ice cream as it was handed to the fairy and then Isa ordered her own, the chocolate oozing along the ice cream for a few seconds and then freezing along the two scoops. She quickly paid for both of them and then nodded towards the tables and chairs outside the place. “Should we sit?” she suggested. “And yeah, it’s okay now, no nausea or anything, thankfully. I am not going to eat a 12 course meal today for sure, but this ice creams won’t be causing problems either.”

“More when I’m on the phone at work honestly, I put on the shittiest american accent when I have to answer the phones at work. You’re getting like half speed right now.” Essie bites her lip to bite back a smile before laying it on thick. Her voice goes up slightly in pitch, words tumbling one after the other at Isa in a tidal wave. “But this is how I would usually speak. Bit harder to ken for people who are used to the slow american bullshite. And even then I don’t throw in words I wish I could. You’d never understand the full banter, I’d have a right beamer trying to explain, you’d think i was a right fuckin’ daftie as I explained what ,like I don’t know, napper or bampot meant.”

Toning her voice back down to half speed. With a grin Essie corrects. “I have three older sisters. And it was hard at first, but I moved to a city none of them lived a year before I even thought about moving here. It as hard doing that. But surprisingly easy to make the choice to go further after that.”

Taking her ice cream Essie bites the top off with reckless abandon. Glad the other was feeling better Essie sits at the table and beams across it at the merm. “OKay so gossip. How do you know Jake is gone gone and not just out visiting family?” the girls would theorise until they both were forced to head home.

FINISHED

#{ alessa caird }#{ essie 004 }#{ take a leap and fly }

7 notes · View notes

daleisgreat · 5 years

Text

Lockdown 2009

Greetings all and welcome to my fifth installment of marching through every TNA/Impact Lockdown PPV. Catch up on the previous entries right here! As I watched this PPV it reminded me of where I was with enjoying Impact in this era of April of 2009 when Lockdown emanated from Philly. Even though this was about a third of the way into infamous head booker Vince Russo’s eight year run with TNA, I think I was near the peak of my TNA/Impact fandom. They maintained a solid X-Division lineup and former X-Division stars were becoming mainstays in the World Title picture like Samoa Joe and AJ Styles. TNA was getting a lot of momentum with its Main Event Mafia faction consisting of former ‘Monday Night Wars’ stars like Nash, Sting, Booker T, Scott Steiner and Kurt Angle. TNA’s ‘Knockouts Division’ they established when Impact went two hours in 2007 put WWE’s then ‘Diva-Search era’ to shame and I feel it was the predecessor to the ‘Women’s Evolution’ era in the WWE for the past few years. This came to a halt when Eric Bishoff and Hulk Hogan arrived in TNA by the end of 2009 and within a year Impact went from must-see programming to becoming a chore and largely ignoring it by the end of 2010. There will be more on that to look forward to in future Lockdown entries. Here are some key takeaways I had from the 2009 Lockdown before I breakdown the matches…. -I think this is the final Lockdown with Don West announcing because Tazz at this time in the midst of his no-compete clause after finishing up with WWE after nine years. Don West did an entertaining short run as a heel announcer a couple months prior although he largely played it straight on this PPV. Sure enough, Tazz debuted in TNA a couple months later and West was gone from the announce desk. West was an affable and authentic voice for TNA in these early years for the promotion and while Tazz was always a solid announcer, I could not help but feel the announce desk permanently took a dip with the removal of West. -This was year two or three of TNA leaving the safety nest of the Impact-Zone Arena at Universal Studios for a bigger arena gate on the road. Lockdown was one of just a handful of PPVs that TNA took on the road per year and it paid off with a big-time atmosphere, especially with this 2009 card taking place in a city known for its passionate fan-base in Philly.

-Yearly props again go out to TNA promo-package voiceover guy, Barry Scott for delivering powerful narrations for all the storyline recaps before most matches yet again. His poignant voice makes any rivalry and PPV no matter how weak or strong at that moment seem must-see. WWE or AEW needs to hire this guy!!! -The 2009 DVD has a decent smattering of just over a half hour of extras. Aside from the pre-show match, there is a recap of the TNA Interaction fan fest, post-match interviews with Sting, Kevin Nash, Team 3D and a in-progress-of-being-stitched-up Mick Foley. Sting has some kind reflections after his match, Nash is a riot enjoying a post-match brewski, and they get so up close to the medical staff working on Foley that they have to issue a graphic content warning. A Smashing Pumpkins music video and a photo gallery I once again borrowed a few pics from for this entry round off the decent amount of extras. -TNA head honcho Dixie Carter made one of her first on-screen appearances for the company giving a quick interview to Jeremy Borash in the pre-show thanking the fans for their support. She started to make some PR appearances around this time to help promote the recently released Impact game on PS3 and 360 and I believe this was her TNA on-air programming debut. Regrettably, Dixie would go on to make more regular appearances in the years to come as an on-air authority figure much to the displeasure of viewers.

-I liked the frequent quick backstage interviews with talent before their matches and them combined with the aforementioned Barry Scott recaps served as a nice refresher on the rivalries going into this, and none overstayed their welcomes unlike a lot of modern WWE rivalry recap packages. I think Lauren was probably the fourth or fifth backstage interviewer for TNA at this point, and she did a fine good job with her reactions and adding in a quick take relative to the storyline’s after most of the interviews wrapped which added a nice ‘fan’s perspective’ view on the feuds. -Also worth noting is future TNA president and current top brass of NWA, Billy Corgan made an early TNA appearance in the music video hype package for the PPV, which is also a DVD extra, with him lending TNA Bullet with Butterfly Wings for use. Speaking of Corgan, you guys should really watch NWA Powerrr!! It and NXT are my current top two shows of the overcrowded 2019 wrestling bubble in America. -Before we begin (I know…sorry), I have to touch on the Suicide character making his Lockdown debut. He was a masked wrestler that debuted in the previously touted Impact videogame. The Impact game was ridiculously over-promoted on TV each week, eventually culminating in the videogame character becoming an actual wrestler. As of this writing, six different individuals have donned the Suicide gear for various stints for the character in TNA up until earlier this year when his most recent run ended. Worth noting is Suicide’s trademark fingers-to-the-temple pose. That same pose would coincidentally become the well-known cover art of the far better performing game, Borderlands when that game first released the following year. Naturally, having fans chant ‘Suicide’ and having him face off against opponents named ‘Homicide’ stirred controversy and TNA answered the criticism and would change his name to Manik…..before ultimately changing it back to Suicide due to presumably fan demand/creative resentment? TNA! TNA!

-Last year I noted how Lockdown 2008 had a shockingly low blade-job count with Brother D-Von being the sole wrestler who bled throughout the card. 2009 exponentially upped that number with six wrestlers donning the crimson mask with Abyss, Matt Morgan, Bully Ray, Mick Foley, Sting and Kevin Nash all doing the honors. Unlike WWE today, TNA did not change the mat canvas after a match if a wrestler bled so gradually throughout the night the mat transformed into a blood-soaked mess as you can see by the cell-phone photo I took with an overhead camera shot of the main event near the end of the PPV. -Ok, enough babbling, onto the matches of this 2009 Lockdown! The pre-show match is included as a DVD extra and has Eric Young squaring off against local Philly radio personality, Danny Bonaduce. Danny tries some slimy antagonist antics against fan favorite EY, and even sneaks in a little offense before Young surprised him with a roll-up for the win. Danny tried to avenge his loss by beating down Young afterwards, but Rhino came in for the save and gore’d the smithereens out of Bonaduce! The first official match on the PPV card was the annual X-Title, X-Scape contest. This saw champ, Suicide defending against ‘Black Machismo’ Jay Lethal, Sheik Abdul Bashir (formerly WWE’s Daivari), Kiyoshi and Consequences Creed (a pre-WWE Xavier Woods). I will give Vince Russo credit for accidentally stumbling into a legit thrilling finish for this X-Scape matc! It is probably one of my favorites of them so far. After a lot of trademark X-Division high-flying and a few pinfall eliminations, it came down to Suicide and Bashir to escape in order to win. Kiyoshi tried to climb the top of the cage to prevent Suicide from climbing over, but security intervened and pulled him down while Bashir attempted to sneak through the door during the distraction. Before Bashir could sneak out however, Suicide surveyed the surroundings and did a dive from the top onto the security and Kiyoshi outside the ring for the instant victory! It played out very convincingly and I was popping just as big for it as the crowd! -The second annual queen of the cage bout took place next between Sojourner Bolt, ODB, Daffney and then-Beautiful People intern Madison Rayne. Rayne would become a big player for the Knockouts division so it was interesting seeing her quite early in her TNA run. Unfortunately the Knockouts could not quite gel in this match and after several minutes of unremarkable action ODB hit a powerslam for the victory. The IWGP JR. Tag Titles match faired much better though with Motor City Machine Guns defending against LAX and No Limit. It was a bit on the spot-fest side of things, but a good one at that with the Guns successfully defending after hitting their Made in Detroit signature finish for the pin.

-Abyss and Matt Morgan squared off next in the uniquely titled ‘Doomsday Chamber of Blood’ that saw its stipulation being a wrestler cannot score a fall unto they make their adversary bleed. With that, we saw the use of tacks, glass shards and chairs resulting in the expected bloodbath. This Lockdown also took place while Abyss was a little ways into his ‘escaped mental facility’ version of his character and he referenced in a pre-match interview seeking therapy to stop weapon violence from one ‘Dr. Stevie.’ That Stevie turned out to be a TNA-debuting Stevie Richards fresh off his WWECW run who distracted Abyss by taking away a chair from him that caused Morgan to hit his finish for the win. This match gets the honors of being my annual induction for being a solid lock for the eventual WWE home video release of ‘Top 50 OMG Moments of TNA/Impact.’ -The Knockouts Title was on the line next in a triple threat with Awesome Kong defending against Angelina Love and Taylor Wilde. Unfortunately a freak concussion happened to Angelina Love a couple minutes in after she took a cross-body from Wilde. She looked on auto-pilot while Wilde tried to bide time with a hold, but eventually they got the call to go home and Wilde took a weak kick from a handcuffed Kong for the awkward sudden victory. Hate to see it whenever this happens, but this was still a few years before the concussion controversies gained steam in the NFL and before WWE and TNA banned head chair-shots, so part of me was surprised TNA did the right thing and quickly ended the match when they realized something was not right, so good on them for that.

-Both the TNA Tag Titles and IWGP Tag Titles were simultaneously up for grabs next between Team 3D and Beer Money. The announcers and promo package did a tremendous job hyping up this match for who would be the king of the tag teams and making this match have the vibe of a homecoming for Team 3D due to their ECW roots. All wrestlers left the cage within seconds of starting the match (they would be among many to do so throughout the night) and did a ECW-esque brawl throughout the crowd for old time’s sake! Eventually the action came back inside and saw a few good highspots that got the crowd and me rolling and finishing with Team 3D getting the feel good win after hitting Roode with a 3D through a table. -TNA’s version of War Games, Lethal Lockdown, happened next. It saw AJ Styles, Jeff Jarrett, Christopher Daniels and Samoa Joe team up against Kurt Angle, Scott Steiner, Booker T and Kevin Nash. Seeing how worn down Kurt Angle looked in his farewell match earlier this year it is remarkable how much better he looked ten years prior. He looks about 30 years younger! Highlights of this Lethal Lockdown see Steiner hitting impressive top rope suplexes and Franken-steiners to a big crowd pop and Scotty responded by doing an aggressive flurry of bird flipping motions to the Philly crowd before they could conjure up a ‘You Still Got It’ chant. After Jarrett entered last and the roof of the cage locked down with weapons on top, AJ and Angle quickly ascended on top of the cage roof with a big spot coming from AJ doing a splash through the roof of the cage onto a few Main Event Mafia members to a big reaction. The finish occurred when AJ got the pin on Booker T when Jarrett hit him with a guitar after Jarrett teased turning on AJ. TNA had another former WWE-debut immediately after the match though with Bobby Lashley having an odd motorcycle-themed tron and theme-song package as he posed to the crowd and did…..nothing else of note. This would be the first of two runs for Lashley in TNA where he eventually evolved into a pretty decent act before he went back to WWE last year.

-The main event saw Sting defend his world title against Mick Foley. I recall not being into Foley’s ‘executive shareholder’ authority figure character here where he was squabbling with Sting for calling him out for being inactive and being portrayed as losing his marbles. He continues that characterization by pounding his forehead to bust himself open at the very beginning of the match. Foley looks like he got himself in decent shape in time for this match, but he could not go like he use to by this point in 2009 as this was mostly a kick and punch affair until in a baffling booking decision, Foley attacks a cameraman for being in his way, only moments later to demand that same cameraman to hand him an out of reach barbed-wire bat from outside the ring, to which the cameraman who just got pummeled by Foley quickly acquiesces to. After beating down on Sting with the bat for a while the two engage in a anticlimactic climbing-over-the-cage affair that Foley gets the best of to become the new TNA World champion in an underwhelming headlining bout. The two put on a good effort, and I hate to slight Foley, but he and the odd booking dragged things down a couple notches to the ‘alright’ quality level. -This was a 50/50 night for the eight PPV matches. On one hand we had the off night for the women and the mediocre Doomsday and world title matches, but on the other we had two standout tag title matches, easily the best X-Scape match yet and better-than-usual Lethal Lockdown bout. Overall I would have to say the good outweighs the bad and will give 2009 Lockdown a solid thumbs-up. Join me next time as we enter the first of four Lockdowns that transpired during the not-so-highly-regarded Hogan/Bishoff run! Past Wrestling Blogs Best of WCW Clash of Champions Best of WCW Monday Nitro Volume 2 Best of WCW Monday Nitro Volume 3 Biggest Knuckleheads Bobby The Brain Heenan Daniel Bryan: Just Say Yes Yes Yes DDP: Positively Living Dusty Rhodes WWE Network Specials ECW Unreleased: Vol 1 ECW Unreleased: Vol 2 ECW Unreleased: Vol 3 Eric Bishoff: Wrestlings Most Controversial Figure Fight Owens Fight: The Kevin Owens Story For All Mankind Goldberg: The Ultimate Collection Hulk Hogans Unreleased Collectors Series Impact Wresting Presents: Best of Hulk Hogan Its Good to Be the King: The Jerry Lawler Story The Kliq Rules Ladies and Gentlemen My Name is Paul Heyman Legends of Mid South Wrestling Macho Man: The Randy Savage Story Memphis Heat NXT: From Secret to Sensation NXT Greatest Matches Vol 1 OMG Vol 2: Top 50 Incidents in WCW History OMG Vol 3: Top 50 Incidents in ECW History Owen: Hart of Gold RoH Supercard of Honor 2010-Present ScoobyDoo Wrestlemania Mystery Scott Hall: Living on a Razors Edge Sting: Into the Light Straight Outta Dudley-ville: Legacy of the Dudley Boyz Straight to the Top: Money in the Bank Anthology Superstar Collection: Zach Ryder Then Now Forever – The Evolution of WWEs Womens Division TLC 2017 TNA Lockdown 2005-2016 Top 50 Superstars of All Time Tough Enough: Million Dollar Season True Giants Ultimate Fan Pack: Roman Reigns Ultimate Warrior: Always Believe War Games: WCWs Most Notorious Matches Warrior Week on WWE Network Wrestlemania 3: Championship Edition Wrestlemania 28-Present The Wrestler (2008) Wrestling Road Diaries Too Wrestling Road Diaries Three: Funny Equals Money Wrestlings Greatest Factions WWE Network Original Specials First Half 2015 WWE Network Original Specials Second Half 2015 WWE Network Original Specials First Half 2016 WWE Network Original Specials Second Half 2016 WWE Network Original Specials First Half 2017

3 notes · View notes

sparda3g · 6 years

Text

Kingdom Chapter 581 Review

youtube

It’s highway to hell, featuring Hi Shin Unit. The day has begun and everyone is slaughtering anything in sight. It’s the usual everyday warfare; only on a larger scope. For the new recruits however, they weren’t accustomed to that said sensation. After many days of fighting for Shin and awakened to fight at their prime, it became clear what the veterans have been dealing for years. This was a really nice encouraging chapter that demonstrates the significant of being part of Hi Shin Unit.

After back-to-back astounding speeches, the action kicks into high gear. Notably, the new recruits were the main focus. The focus picks up here as they are fighting in the most crucial battle yet. It’s not set in stone on who will remain alive and be part of the cast for years to come, but so far, there are good amount of characters that are welcoming. With that said they are here to provide an inspiring storytelling of how rookies slowly evolve to where the veterans lie in today.

The new recruits are fighting like we have rewind back to the old days before Hi Shin Unit was a group; savages, mindless, and adrenaline rush to win and survive. Each time danger comes right at them, they freeze and practically say their prayers. That’s a clear rookie mistake, but it is reasonable with the magnitude of all or nothing scenario and going out with no tactic. If you want the veterans of Hi Shin Unit to get into the action, this chapter does it justice and then some.

It’s a good idea to resume the rookie’s subplot in this heat of a moment, let alone showoff the veterans like champions. Sosui saves them from Zhao cavalry, only for them to face against the archers. Some luck they have. Luckily, Suugen saves them like a boss. Of course, the new recruits are amazed by their badass moment. That’s nice and all, but if they feel the need to rely on them, they will eventually die. It’s why Kanto picks up on their action and notes that despite no tactic, they still formed a group and fight strategically. Even though it’s all or nothing, that doesn’t mean every man for themselves. It does lead to a cool yet defining moment.

Just when I said they can’t rely on veterans all the time, the army couldn’t prevent Zhao cavalry from barging through. That leaves the new recruits on their own. If this was like their first day, they would have died instantly. Thankfully, they didn’t freeze, but instead react on an instinct to defend themselves with Zhao’s shields. They even use Gouriki move on them, which is not easy. That was a really good reaction, but it’s more than a smart move. It’s a relieving sign of growth.

Shousa may have the coolest entry in this chapter. Good, because he’s my favorite when it comes to members outside of Shin and Kyou Kai. But really, how cool was that when Zhao cavalry tried to recover, but he came out of nowhere and denied them with stabbing. It’s even better since he fits in with others. He was the one that encouraged the rookies to fight on and witness their change. And change is definitely shown.

The past pages have them fighting like bona fide rookies with fears, slow reactions, and already call it quit. After couple of saves and reacted like real men, that’s when they’re finally growing accustomed to the battlefield. We get a page of everyone fighting, only now, there’s no more slacking. I guess you can say they have awakened, but there were few kinks to polish off.

Kanto is clearly the standout man of the new recruits. He narrates his action as it differs greatly from earlier. He no longer feels slow and sluggish; now, he feels like a warrior. It’s been a while so maybe this isn’t new, but this reflection seems new. Although we have been following Hi Shin Unit for a long time, the mentality view of a warrior wasn’t addressed until now. Regardless, it’s a nice way to describe the development.

Best man Shousa returns with an inspiring speech of his own. It’s as if everyone has gain a speech of wisdom. But seriously, it’s appropriate for him to follow up his last speech. He noticed Kanto and others have finally got the hang of it and it’s thanks to Shin that awakened their spirit. The speech is more like a reflection of Hi Shin Unit as a whole as well as their thoughts on Shin’s speech.

We already know they have great amount of respect for their beloved captain. However, it’s the first time we hear one of them speak out about him and share it to newcomers. Intentional or not, I thought it’s nice that it somewhat tie in to what Shin meant about passing down the story of Hi Shin Unit. Shousa and others can say that Shin is an idiot, which is funny to hear, but the view he sees goes much higher than everyone, and that’s what makes him incredible. It’s a way of saying his determination is untouchable for them. But is that the reason why they all awakened?

The selling point is the fact Shin, the man with a great vision, asked his people, the ones who tried to reach that vision, for help to push him to the top. It’s the feeling of equality that made them awed and inspired. Shin is no selfish captain; he’s the captain we all need. The icing on the cake is the single page of no dialogues. The scenery of Hi Shin Unit fighting with honor, not a sign of surrendering, is captivating. It’s them in a nutshell; a great scene to capitalize the foundation. This is one of the reasons why Kingdom is greatness. Kanto said it best, “I’m really glad I got into the Hi Shin Unit.”

The rest of the chapter is filled with hype inducing and by the end, I can see why. As mentioned in my last review, this moment gave Qin a great advantage against Zhao as they are being overwhelmed by non-strategic movement. Chougaryuu and Gyou’un realize that they are in trouble. Most importantly, they realize Shin and Ouhon reminisce the Bygone Era of Qin’s Six Great Generals. Now that’s hype. I seriously can’t wait on who they will crown the title after this war. They catch on that their army is awakened, so they must regroup to counterstrike. It’s like an NBA game, once a team has the momentum, you must break it to stop the downhill road.

Although strategy isn’t needed for this battle, Ten is around to fill in the grand scheme that may finally answer the question of Ousen’s hidden agenda. She could be the analyst for the time being. She knew that Qin has the advantage, so it’s no surprise Zhao will order a retreat. However, this is good as well because she figure out the full scope. If they are pushed back and Qin continue to advance, they would eventually leave a path to Riboku. This will give Ousen the cue to move out and match the frontline as theirs. In other words, this could be not just a decisive battle for the Right wing, but the endgame as a whole. Damn.

If her analysis is true, this could explain why Ousen is holding out on reinforcements and counted on the Right Wing to advance. Imagine, the whole fresh army going against exhausted Zhao. That would be like a clean sweep. It won’t happen, but the momentum will be on Qin easily. It would be funny if she is wrong and Ousen won’t do a damn thing throughout the war. Then the series would end soon. In all seriousness, lately, it has been hyping me up for an intense conclusion.

Overall, this chapter was really solid. The entire segment with Hi Shin Unit, rookies and veterans, was awe inspiring. The art scenery left a tender feeling, even in the midst of battle. It gave that finale feeling. I am curious when the series does reach the ending, how would Hara top this sensation. In due time. The hype level continues to go higher and higher. If Ten is correct, then it’s going to be intense as hell. Sadly, there’s a break. It’s no wonder the last part was nothing but hype. When it resume, I’m ready for anything.

#kingdom #chapter 581 #review #spoilers

0 notes

brothermouzongaming · 7 years

Text

Destiny 2: my thoughts, hopes, and fears

When I joined Destiny 1 I was very very excited to see what the house that built Halo would do now that they had moved on. Admittedly I was unprepared for the very different experience Destiny offered. It interested me, the idea of a simultaneous world the gamers would live, cooperate, and compete in. During the opening months, I was pretty into it, running through the gaunt story to really head out into the world and get a taste of that endgame loot I had seen on guardians in the tower. I was, however, bored by December. Not skilled enough to take on the raids or even hang in PvP reliably (”Git Gud” rings out in the background). My boredom wasn’t eased but amplified by releases like Shadow of Mordor, 2k, Dragon Age: Inquisition, and Far Cry 4. Not to mention Bloodborne, which I still haven’t beat yet. So I look up, a year and change passes and I forget all about Destiny. My adventures in the worlds mentioned above really dragged me away from the quick and frantic bullet hell that is Destiny. As more and more games came I never got around to my Warlock and before I knew it Destiny 2 was on shelves. I had missed out last time, I wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice.

Fuck me right?

Thots

So I played the story, as meaningless as it seemed, it was definitely better than the D1 campaign experience. On I went me and my friends through strikes, crucible matches, lost sectors, public events. We did it all seldom the Leviathan, at that point, I lacked the finer survival skills needed to survive (I’ve completed it 3 times since :D ). The experience felt thin, but this wasn’t new to me because D1 at launch was thin. It did worry me however that this was our second go around; shouldn’t a sequel feel a bit bigger? I’m not talking scale, but the endgame options in games like this, in particular, are critical to success in the eyes of the gamer. Ignoring that voice in my head telling me to put my controller down, I continued. The loot was disappointing but not just disappointing, but clearly, it was a shallow pool, to begin with. I could’ve made an Arthur meme from how many times I got the same gauntlets over and over and over and over again. Even today they’ll come by and say what’s up, mocking me.

As the weeks went on, something else wasn’t sitting right. These worlds, they were nice, but they lacked reasons for me to come back and explore...wait....where are the collectibles? I had completely forgotten that we used to have little treats of lore and other info waiting for us in hiding. Along with some simple things like jobs, I was wondering what in the hell would cause such a drastic step back. We were officially regressing. I didn’t give in to the voice although it was screaming in falsetto at this point. Curse of Osiris drops and holy shit was I mad. A world space you can barely turn around in it’s so small, a sad excuse for a story expansion, the same loot issues to the point where it was almost unnoticeable, mind-numbingly grindy missions for Vex weapons, ONE FUCKING PUBLIC EVENT, ONE Lost Sector (it’s also by far the smallest in the whole game).

On top of it all, Bungie had been beating their dicks about as fervently as they possibly could, making sure to hype that DLC at every turn. Destiny 2′s problems really become amplified when you look back and remember just how “excited” the team was and how they genuinely thought players would like the changes they made and the pathetic efforts they attempted at making it better in the form of the CoO dlc. A dlc now requiring another round of “making it better” from Bungie after several debacles. I honestly don’t think they bit off more then they could chew. Does anyone remember the fact that Destiny 1 was supposed to be a 10 year experience that would allow us to carry our character through it? Sure the franchise may have a ten year lifetime but even Mass Effect let you bring over your character. Instead, they literally start all over, new character, none of the old raid/strike/challenge specific loot (and yet old loot in the form of exotics and an arsenal of reskins), Remember when Destiny 2 was going to have “too much content”? I piss my pants laughing every time I think about it. There is quantifiably less content from weapons to their stats, the gear pool is ankle shallow, there are fewer reasons to grind and look for gear/weapons you want.

I see people on the Bungie forums go back and forth and both sides have a lot of good arguments. Destiny 2 does offer more worlds that are (overall) larger, and definitely more visually impressive. Where it falls flat is what kept players through the first lull in Destiny 1: the solid shooting mechanics, deep intriguing world, the lore and how it was distributed to the player (which could’ve used work imo), and the rpg aspects shown in random stat rolls for gear. This kept the players going beyond the level cap and outside of multiplayer; after they had done the strikes so many times it was almost scary, gotten bored of non-milestone related events, finished the assigned job and whatever the game offered. The hunt for the perfect gun is a hunt the players deemed worthy time and time again. Those are the things they chose to cut, either cause they hate their fanbase (obviously not), or they wanted to appeal to a larger audience. This was the only outcome Bungie should’ve seen coming and for some reason, they seem to be caught out time and time again.

Slather on that sweet micro-transaction paste and you got yourself a shit cake. As if gutting the deeper gaming mechanics, stopping all grimoire cards and other major means of lore distribution, reskinning a large amount of the arsenal both from Destiny 1 and within itself, and debuffing the player wasn’t enough. A lot of what could’ve been left in the world as far as loot is concerned was locked away behind the cold dead face of Tess, the Eververse employee who handles the in-game purchases both with bright dust and silver (their premium currency players pay to obtain). Eververse would hold some of the best items in the game as far as ghosts, ships, emotes, and sparrows are concerned. Not only that but event-specific items were even locked away with statistically no chance of any player getting most of the items from the said event. Pushing players to spend their money where they can try their hand, not even an honest shot, via the slow machine-eque loot box mechanic. Ah, look, an instance where cosmetic loot boxes can really fuck up a game and what it could be.

Hoeps

Destiny at its core is good. The universe is wildly enthralling with a mystique that draws you in, it makes you want to find out what the hell is going on. The shooting is sharp and responsive, you feel the grip of the gun in your hand and the kick when the trigger is pulled in a very natural way that emulates the experience well. The guns are intriguing, alien weaponry and future tech are hard to conceptualize but a lot of guns in Destiny will make you go “hmm” with intrigue as you wonder exactly how much ass this gun is going to rip when you get it out on the battlefield. Rat King, Wardcliff Coil, Legend of Acrius, Crimson, Vigilance Wing to name a few. I hope Bungie can find the spark that drove Halo, a franchise that wasn’t perfect but shined because of the painstaking effort put into it. I’m not asking for Halo 2.0 but I am damn sure demanding better of this bring a developer like Bungie.

Fiirs

I fear Bungie have completely lost their way. These aren’t the people that made Halo, someone came in the night and took what heart they had and locked it away somewhere no one can seem to find it. For a project as ambitious as Destiny is, there is no passion, no drive to actually make the next big franchise. They seem perfectly content to merely talk about it. Halo was nothing but a fps that amazed because of the world and the mechanics. Yes, the multiplayer was a hit but if you ask me that is exactly why it was. I would’ve thought that in the face of what might actually be one of the greatest franchises in Halo, Bungie would be hungrier than ever to prove that it was no fluke. More and more I’m convinced it was just that. Normally I’d blame the publisher especially with Activision’s stink all over this, but some reports insinuate that all this was Bungie’s doing because making game content was “too hard”. A mountain of an achievement they volunteered themselves to climb up. So what do they do to make up for it? Decide to fuck the people that help make them... yeah if you aren’t worried about Bungie I’d love to hear your thoughts because I need some hope.

#Destiny #Destiny 2 #gaming #video games #Bungie #Activision

0 notes

spekture · 7 years

Text

All the signs were there… the family of four with their matching island print attire sitting in the next row, the flight attendant greeting me with a hearty “aloha”, and the mid-flight snack of pineapple slices and macadamia nuts. This plane was clearly on its way to Hawaii. [Ok, there were no pineapple or macadamia snacks, but think about it, United Airlines, you could use some good press and I’m trying to paint a mood here!]

“Hawaii is paradise.” That’s what they tell you.

Hawaii is where you can help your high school sweetheart save her grandpa’s hotel. Hawaii is where you can hit a cow, lose your memory, and fall in love 50 times. Hawaii is where you go to forget your ex-girlfriend and fall in love with the hostess at your resort. Ok, so everything I knew about Hawaii may or may not have come from television shows or movies. [Ok, for those of you playing along, that would be “Saved By The Bell: Hawaiian Style”, “50 First Dates” and last but not least, “Forgetting Sarah Marshall”.]

For ten days I lived the island vacation dream, eating and thrill-seeking my way across Oahu. I swam through the crystal clear waters of the Pacific Ocean, I rumbled through a valley where dinosaurs once roamed, and I ate an inordinate amount of pineapple. There’s a lot to love about Oahu, here are eight of my favourites (in no particular order).

1. The North Shore

I love the North Shore of Oahu. In fact, I could write this entire article about my love affair with the easy-going, beach-combing vibe of Oahu’s northern coast. Heading north is the perfect escape from the tourist-driven chaos of Honolulu and Waikiki Beach.

Imagine yourself in Hawaii; sitting on the beach, a coconut drink in your hand, toes buried in the sand. A sea breeze sweeps in off the shore, chilling the sweat beading across your newly bronzed shoulders. The sun disappearing on the horizon, saturating the sky in a breathtaking array of colours. Off in the distance, a few local surfers are navigating the crashing waves of the rising tide.

That’s what most people envision when they think about Hawaii. They’re thinking about the North Shore of Oahu.

From picturesque beaches to quaint surf towns like Haleiwa, the North Shore has a little bit of everything for your beach vacation. The next time I travel to Oahu, I am heading directly to the North Shore.

[wc_box color=”primary” text_align=”left” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” class=””]

Hawaii Travel Tip #1: If you’re headed to the North Shore from Honolulu, be sure to take the scenic route by driving up Highway 83 (Kamehameha Hwy) along the coast instead of Highway 99, which runs up the center of the island. The views driving along the northern Oahu coast are reminiscent of California’s famed Pacific Coast Highway and are more than worth the extra time on the road.

Take your time. You’re in Hawaii!

[/wc_box]

2. Snorkeling at Hanauma Bay

[wc_row]

[wc_column size=”one-half” position=”first”]

[/wc_column]

[wc_column size=”one-half” position=”last”]

If you only have time to do one excursion while visiting the island of Oahu, you should go snorkeling at Hanauma Bay.

Snorkeling at Hanauma Bay was by far the most memorable and awe-inspiring experience I had while in Hawaii. Located 30 minutes east of Honolulu, Hanauma Bay provides the perfect combination of calm, crystal clear water and abundant sea life. Most of the bay is relatively shallow and is protected by a line of rocks so even the least experienced swimmers can feel safe jumping in and exploring the beautiful ecosystem below the waves.

We opted to book a shuttle package for our trip to Hanauma Bay since the package included roundtrip transportation from a Honolulu hotel of our choosing and all of the snorkeling gear we would need for $25 a person. Although you can drive yourself out to the bay and rent snorkeling gear on the beach, parking can be challenging due to the bay’s popularity. Fair warning, only 3000 visitors are allowed in to the park each day. Save yourself the disappointment of being turned away and book a shuttle!

[/wc_column]

[/wc_row]

[wc_box color=”primary” text_align=”left” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” class=””]

Hawaii Travel Tip #2: To get down to the beach, you have to walk down a fairly steep road from the visitor center atop the cliffs. There is a shuttle that you can pay to ride but I recommend bypassing the shuttle ride down and wait to ride the shuttle back up instead. There is a booth at the bottom of the road where you can pay for a one-way trip back up to the top.

[/wc_box]

3. ATV Tour at Kualoa Ranch

There’s a reason why Kualoa Ranch and the Ka’a’awa Valley is known as Hollywood’s “Hawaii Backlot”. Scenes from Jurassic Park, Godzilla, 50 First Dates, Lost and many, many more have been filmed all over the valley’s lush landscape. The best way to see these landmarks of film and TV? From the seat of an ATV!

The ATV tour kicks off with a brief safety video and a short test course. Honestly, I’m not sure where the test course ended and the real course started because before I knew it we were speeding up the side of the mountain and down in to the valley! The views riding into the valley were amazing as rolling fields of emerald transitioned into rocky mountain faces that disappeared into the low hanging clouds.

The route back to base camp was ridiculously fun, with our guide purposely taking us on the wildest and muddiest trails he could find. We had an idea what was coming when our guide looked back and yelled, “You’re good with a bumpy ride, right?”.

We finished the tour covered in mud and completely satisfied!

4. CLIMB Works Zipline Tour at Keana Farms

Snorkeling may have been my most memorable experience in Oahu but flying down a half-mile long zipline going 50mph while surrounded by breathtaking views of the North Shore coastline was definitely the most exhilarating.

If you’re an adrenaline junkie or just looking for an unique way to explore a part of Oahu’s North Shore, the zipline tour hosted by CLIMB Works at Keana Farms is a can’t-miss excursion. You will be flying down 8 side-by-side heart pumping ziplines that vary in height, length and speed. Nothing compares to the brief moment of freefall before you feel the harness tighten under your body after stepping off a 5 story high platform. It’s a shot of adrenaline that you want over and over again!

[wc_box color=”primary” text_align=”left” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” class=””]

Hawaii Travel Tip #3: The road to turn in to Keana Farms is a small dirt road with an orange CLIMB Works sign beside it. It’s really easy to miss, so be on the lookout. Travelling north, if you pass the high school, you’ve gone too far.

[/wc_box]

5. The Food

Hawaii is paradise for a foodie. [Well, “foodie” is a strong word… I really consider myself more of a food enthusiast.]

I ate a lot, and I mean A LOT, of mouthwatering food while exploring Oahu but here are a few highlights that stood out.

Fresh Pineapple – Anywhere

Pineapple just tastes better in Hawaii.

It was sweeter. It was juicier. Maybe it was all in my head. Maybe I was swayed by the island vibes. All I know is that I like pineapple on the Mainland, but I LOVE pineapple in Hawaii.

LFC (Laotian Fried Chicken) – The Pig and the Lady

Twice fried and covered in a light citrus sauce, these chicken wings were BOMB. There’s a lot of deliciousness on the various Pig and the Lady menus but I would be perfectly happy with just getting these wings over and over again. Perfectly happy.

Chicken and Char Siu Pork Plate – Mike’s Huli Chicken

Like garlic shrimp plates, huli chicken plates seem to be a dime-a-dozen in Oahu, but what a pleasant surprise it was to find legit char siu pork at a food truck on the way to Kualua Ranch! The chicken was pretty good too, especially dipped in the sweet and spicy Mike’s sauce.

From kalua pork to spam musubi to loco moco, the melting pot of cultures in Hawaii provides for the perfect fusion of ridiculously delicious food.

6. Malasadas from Leonard’s Bakery

[wc_row]

[wc_column size=”one-half” position=”first”]

Ah, Malasadas.

The hype is real people (I mean, I gave them their own section after all!).

They’re fried to order, filled with delicious “made-in-house” fillings (The custard filling is the best!) and dusted with sugar.

Go to Leonard’s Bakery. Order more than you think you can eat.

Thank me later.

[wc_box color=”primary” text_align=”left” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” class=””]

Hawaii Travel Tip #4: The bakery sells “hot” bags that can keep your malasadas hot. That means you can bring all that deliciousness back home with you!

[/wc_box]

[/wc_column]

[wc_column size=”one-half” position=”last”]

[/wc_column]

[/wc_row]

7. KCC Farmers Market

[wc_row]

[wc_column size=”one-half” position=”first”]

[/wc_column]

[wc_column size=”one-half” position=”last”]

In Honolulu, the place to be on a Saturday morning is the Kapi’olani Community College Farmers’ Market.

Wake up early (the market opens at 7:30am), skip breakfast (you’ll be eating plenty there), and immerse yourself in to the beautiful chaos of the KCC Farmer’s Market.

Start your visit off by grabbing a cup of coffee brewed from locally sourced beans at any of the several coffee stands and a cheese bread breakfast slider from the Eat Pao de Queijo stand. Take your breakfast with you as you peruse stand after stand of locally grown fruits and vegetables such as pineapples, dragon fruit, and longan. Make sure you pick up some locally made snacks like roasted macadamia nuts and freshly fried shrimp chips while you walk through the market. Finish off your visit with a lunch of fried green tomatoes from Two Hot Tomatoes, kim chi fried rice from Grandma G’s, and a bowl of Mama Le’s Pho Ga Tron from The Pig and The Lady.

It’s ok. Get it all. There are no calories while on vacation. [We’ve seen conflicting studies, check with your doctor before accepting this as medical advice!]

[/wc_column]

[/wc_row]

[wc_box color=”primary” text_align=”left” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” class=””]

Hawaii Travel Tip #5: If you can’t make it to the KCC Farmer’s Market on Saturday morning, the KCC also hosts a farmer’s market, albeit a much smaller one, Wednesday evenings from 4pm to 7pm. You can find out exactly which vendors will be at the market each day by checking the tip sheets at https://www.kapiolani.hawaii.edu/project/farmers-market/.

Another alternative is the Aloha Stadium Swap Meet. Located in the parking lots that circle Aloha Stadium, this outdoor market is open on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 8am to 3pm and on Sundays from 6:30am to 3pm. If you are looking for cheap Hawaii souvenirs definitely shop here first before shopping at any of the pricier establishments off Waikiki Beach. Be ready to negotiate!

[/wc_box]

8. Manoa Falls Hike

Hiking is a great way for me to justify all the food I will inevitably be stuffing in my face when trying to sample all of the local cuisine while travelling. If there is a waterfall at the end of the hike for me to photograph, even better!

The island of Oahu is full of hikes, ranging from easy to very difficult, that allow you to discover many of the island’s greatest natural wonders. Since I was traveling with inexperienced hikers that were determined to see a waterfall, we decided to hike the Manoa Falls Trail, a 1.5 mile well-maintained trail that ends at the 100ft Manoa Falls.

You only have to walk a few feet on to the trail before feeling like you’ve been transported to a completely different world. The rainforests that populate the mountainous areas of Oahu are a drastically different ecosystem from the beaches on the coast. It’s easy to forget you are still in Hawaii. As you continue up the trail, you will eventually cross in to a clearing that looks like a scene straight out of Jurassic Park. Once you make your way through the bamboo forest, the base of the waterfall is just ahead.

Manoa Falls is a great reward for making it all the way to end of the trail at the falls’ base. If you’re willing to overlook the warning signs and climb over a few boulders, you can even take a dip in the shallow pool beneath the falls. [Warning signs exist for your safety, we would never suggest you ignore them. I know, buzzkill.]

[wc_box color=”primary” text_align=”left” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” class=””]

Hawaii Travel Tip #6: This is more of a PSA than a tip. Wear proper shoes when hiking. I’ve seen too many instances of hikers struggling to maintain their footing because they are wearing flip flops on the trail. What’s worse, there are parents who have their kids on the trail in flip flops as well. I’m not suggesting that every hike requires hiking boots, but at least wear sneakers.

[/wc_box]

Like any good vacation destination, Hawaii left me wanting more. Oahu, after all, is only one of the eight major islands that make up the Hawaiian Islands. Looks like I have seven very compelling reasons to start planning my next trip to Hawaii!

Have you visited any of the Hawaiian islands yet? What are your favorite aspects of each island?

#gallery-0-5 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-5 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 33%; } #gallery-0-5 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-5 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

Military Demonstration team for Operation Homefront

Peter Brock arriving

Automotive legend Peter Brock

TIRES!

BRAKES!

MORE TIRES!

Cosplayer Sivene Delynn…image taken at Alamo City Comic Con

Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha) during a 2017 MotoGP race.

Planning a visit to Hawaii? You might want to check this out. '8 Things I Love About Oahu' by Tommy Tang. #Spekture #travel #vacation #hawaii #oahu #tips #top8 All the signs were there... the family of four with their matching island print attire sitting in the next row, the flight attendant greeting me with a hearty "aloha", and the mid-flight snack of pineapple slices and macadamia nuts.

#8 things I love #hawaii #oahu #top 8 #vacation

0 notes