#and tempest still had a lot of anger for the way she had been treated by the world

[shyhandart]

Hey there! Do you perhaps have more Tempest and AJ stuff? Maybe some headcannons? You've planted worms into my brain

But wait, theres more!!

[ms-katonic-of-tamriel]

DAI Playthrough idea

Inquisitor Lucien Flavius Trevelyan.  Ex-Circle mage, mostly content with life in the Ostwick Circle, likes the learning and academic side, does miss his parents, but no inclination to rebel until it was actually happening, at which point he ran off with the rebels because all his friends were doing it. Not religious, no real belief in Andraste whatsoever but kept quiet about it in the Circle.  Since leaving, he’s become a lot more open about his views, and found to his surprise more people than he thought shared them, and there’s enough anger at the Chantry for him to acquire a coterie of fans and fellow freethinkers.  He’s at the Conclave hoping to try and talk some sense into the Templars but it doesn’t go well.

Decisions!

Broadly pro-mage, not very pro-Chantry.  Not anti exactly, but very much not pro either and really doesn’t like the Herald of Andraste title.  Not up to speed on elven issues but the more he learns the angrier he gets at the Chantry, and he does find the culture fascinating.

Goes to Redcliffe to talk to the mages, finds out about the bargain with Tevinter, goes ‘what the actual hell have you done’ and ends up sorting that mess out.  Templars can very much sort themselves out in his mind.  He wasn’t harmed at the Circle but he saw things happen to others.  Gives the mages an alliance.  They were his friends after all.

As Inquisitor he wants to stand for order and justice rather than the faith or revenge and does his best to pick merciful, rational choices where possible. After Adamant, he keeps the Wardens as Inquisition allies, and at Val Royeaux, there’s a good chance of him getting all three parties to work together.  Failing that, he’ll keep Celene as Empress, with or without Briala at her side.  At the Well of Sorrows, Morrigan is getting the power - Lucien hears the words binding geas and goes nope, not for me kthnx.

Romances:

Awkward demisexual who preferred books and studying to anything else, Lucien’s got no romance experience but might consider it for the right person.

Cassandra: too intimidating by far!  Also twice his age.  Even if he was into intimidating older women, Cassandra has expectations of a romantic hero who will sweep her off her feet.  Lucien has no idea where to even start so... doesn’t.  Also she will not shut up about the Maker, and Lucien has spent the past two years becoming a fervent atheist and loving not having priests around any more.  He can’t pretend to be Andrastian for her sake.

Iron Bull: Bull’s stories about his sexploits make Lucien’s eyes pop out and his hair stand on end.  As far as romance goes, Lucien is fleeing in the opposite direction from this one.  They get on well enough, and Lucien’s curious about the Qun... but not curious about anything else, thank you very much.  Still, he cares enough to save Bull from the Qun.

Dorian: a possibility, and Dorian would definitely be interested, but it’s more likely these two will end up as besties rather than boyfriends.  Never say never though. Lucien's really not OK with the way Dorian's family treated him and completely sides with him over it. If Lucien was accidentally flirting with him previously, Dorian might well choose that moment to confess his feelings. Not known how Lucien would respond.

Josephine: most likely out of all of them.  Pretty, cultured, goes out of her way to make Lucien feel at ease, Lucien would likely adore her.  Also the duel scene would be way more poignant with Lucien the inexperienced mage going rapier to rapier with a master duellist for her affections.  Plus they’re both probably demi.

The rest of them:

Cullen: hasn’t got a clue what to make of this somewhat unimpressive young man but he’s who the faithful are rallying around and the only one who can close rifts so he’ll keep him alive.  Becomes steadily more impressed with Lucien over the course of things.  Lucien talks him out of going back on lyrium, having no wish to see anyone shackled by the Circle if they don’t want to be there, even Templars.

Leliana: scares the hell out of him.  “No, don’t murder people!” becomes a common refrain.  However, over time, she softens, he starts to see her less scary side, and he’s able to talk her down from murdering Sister Natalie.  On seeing the change in her after, he’s got no hesitation supporting her for Divine.

Blackwall: they get on rather well!  Lucien respects Blackwall’s experience, always appreciates a big strong fighter to hide behind, and Blackwall’s avuncular nature appeals.  Finding out the truth about him is heartbreaking but Lucien can’t help but rescue him and give him another chance to do better.

Solas: Lucien respects his skills, does rely on his advice, but there’s something a bit off there.  He doesn’t know what though.  He wants to like Solas, but something just rubs him up the wrong way.  Still, he’s a useful companion, they do get on, Solas seems to approve of Lucien’s decision-making on the whole, and Lucien loves asking him about ancient elven culture. He's less keen on the whole 'what if the Veil wasn’t here’ angle though. Solas disappearing will feel like a betrayal and really hurt.

Vivienne: nothing in common at all.  Excellent chance he never recruits her in the first place.  If he does, he spends the entire adventure regretting it.

Varric: takes Lucien under his wing from the outset and looks after him.  Lucien’s appalled by some of Varric’s wilder exploits but does laugh anyway, and the two become fast friends.  Even if Lucien does keep wanting to know how Bianca works.

Sera: they drive each other up the wall but Lucien is somehow still fond of her.  That Tempest stuff is terrifying though.

Cole: weirds Lucien out completely, but he senses the spirit’s heart is in the right place and a spirit who turned human??  Come on, that’s a paper in its own right!  Cole’s fate could go either way, but I suspect Lucien will go for the human option.

Lucien's parents: never had any other kids. They still miss and mourn him. They've been worried sick since the rebellion started and Lucien disappeared. He never wrote because there'd been no contact allowed for over a decade and it never occurred to him. But word of their son surviving the Conclave and joining the Inquisition reaches them and they put all family business in their steward's hands and go to Haven. They get there in time to find the ashes, but returning scouts, maybe even the Chargers, can tell them Lucien is not only alive but Inquisitor and take them to Skyhold. Cue tearful reunion, Lyra as quartermaster, Davidicus joining the researchers, either available as a party member if Lucien needs them.

Training specialty: none of the mage ones appeal.  Knight-Enchanter?  “No I don’t want to be up close and personal with the enemy, I want to be far away from the stabby things!”  Rift Mage: “so... the initial innovators of this field are all dead due to the magic destroying them, and the second wave of experts are all off their trolley due to magical weirdness and seeing their friends disintegrated.  Er... think I’ll give this one a miss, thank you very much.”  Necromancer:  “NO!”

In the end, he ends up studying Artificer after persuading his advisors that just because he's a mage doesn’t mean he should only study magic.  “There’s so much else to study and learn!  It can’t just be learning about magical energies and the Fade!  There’s a rest of the world to see and study!  Why should being able to do one thing make me incapable of doing anything else?”  Cue magically enhanced traps, grenades and possibly some sort of Dwemer laser-enhanced crossbow thing replacing his staff.

Trespasser Lucien is a bit more cynical and battle-hardened and the constant pain from the Mark is no joke either.  He’s honestly not surprised at Solas’s identity by the time it comes out, not as much as he should be.  Does his best to save the dragon, would like to try and save Solas from himself if possible, but isn’t that committed to the idea.  Disbands the Inquisition entirely, thinking it has served its purpose, and then returns to his parental home.  He’s reinstated as their son and heir and is soon using Trevelyan money to build himself a whole series of prosthetic arms with a variety of attachments.  Just in time for the big society wedding involving the Trevelyan heir and the Montilyet heir whose families saw a couple in love and made the wedding decision for them.  Mostly they end up living in Antiva but Lucien’s parents are regular visitors... as are the rest of their former Inquisition colleagues.

[cilldaracailin]

Hammer To Fall

Hello my lovely Tumblr friends. Here is the next story in the Robyn and Taron series. Once this one is posted, I will have caught up with my AO3 which is a woohoo for me! But sad for you ‘cos you all will have to wait for more now! *Insert evil cackle here...*

Hope you all enjoy this story and don’t all come for me at once!

1

“So this was betrayal. It was like being left alone in the desert at dusk without water or warmth. It left your mouth dry and will break. It sapped your tears and made you hollow.”

It was the first time Robyn had ever left her office and stood outside the creche to take a phone call as she had never felt the need to raise her voice with such anger before. Emma had to double take as she watched her supervisor stand up as quick as lightening and rush out the door without a word, her phone to her ear. As she glanced out the window, she could tell that Robyn was about ready to blow, as she paced up and down the car park, her right hand moving with over exaggerated hand signals as she spoke. At first a smile lit up her face as she answered her personal phone, but it quickly turned to a frown and then a full-face glower, her words in furious whispers before she bolted for the entrance for the building. Emma had a vague idea of what the conversation was about and who Robyn was talking to and continued to watch out the glass window, Robyn stopping suddenly in front of her car that was parked in front of the green.

“I am actually going to end this call very soon Taron if you keep that tone with me.”

“Well I wouldn’t have to be calling you if you had of kept to our compromise.”

“And as I have already told you, I didn’t do it.”

“Pull the other one Robyn. I know you are still reading all the comments. Have been since that other picture from Elton’s was posted of us.”

“Are you actually kidding me? You really think I would go back on our promise to each other?”

“Well yeah of course. I know you can’t keep your fucking nose from the social media Robyn and you have completely broken my trust with you after what we talked about on the beach. You promised me you wouldn’t go out of your way to read anything and once again as soon as something else is posted off you go and you had to comment on it. You actually commented on the webpage that posted the picture of us too!”

“Taron! Are you even listening to yourself?”

“Well I don’t see myself listening to you anymore.”

“Ok you know what Taron. I don’t have time for this right now.”

“Because I do? I stepped off set to try and sort this fucking mess out.”

“I am in the middle of trying to organise a play for the kids as well as a parent’s night and this is a conversation that cannot be had right now.”

“Do you have any idea what shit you are putting Lyndsey through right now?”

“Do you have any idea how ridiculous you sound right now? I am going to end this phone call and seeing as how you are finding the time in your busy schedule to call me, you can figure it out again when it suits you because everything always comes down to you Taron and what you need and what works for you. What I feel or think never comes into play. It’s not like I went out of my fucking way to save your bloody life and open up my home to you. If you actually think I would do something like that Taron, you can forget about calling me until you get the sense in your head knocked back into place.”

Robyn ended the call and sat on the bonnet of her car, jumping a little as her phone rang nearly as quickly as she cut off the call with Taron. Looking to the screen, she glowered as his nickname appeared again.

“So, you are just going to hang up on me instead of talking?”

“Well when you talk such bullshit Taron and don’t listen to me, it’s one way to put an end to the conversation.”

“Why would I need to listen to you when I can see exactly what you have been up too online.”

“You actually think I would do that Taron?”

“Right now, Robyn I don’t know what you would do.”

“Well I know what I want to do is end this phone call once again. Like I said before, when you find time in your busy schedule to call me back and we can have a civil conversation, do it.” Robyn had her finger hovered over the end call button but she could hear Taron’s angry tones even as she held the phone away from her ear and frowning didn’t end the call.

“You have caused such a shit storm for me Robyn and my family. There are reporters outside my home in Aber waiting to pounce on them asking questions about me and you and the photo and you have made everything so much worse by saying something so fucking ridiculous as what you did.”

“Taron I didn’t write anything under the picture! I only saw the bloody article this morning and am just as surprised as you are over the whole thing.”

“Maybe you have finally got what you wanted from me Robyn. Maybe it was your fucking plan the whole time. Five minutes of fame while dragging me and my family into the shit as you roll away with your name in lights.”

Robyn had stood up and started to pace but stopped mid-step. “Really Taron? You are going to go that low with this? I’ve spent a whole weekend with your family getting to know them.”

“And it was your idea to go for a walk, get some air. Your fucking plan executed perfectly from beginning.”

“I had nothing to do with any of this Taron. Nothing at all and you ringing me with your accusations before talking to me is such a load of fucking bullcrap. I don’t know who that Robyn Quinn is but it is not me.”

“It’s you. You got what you wanted out of me. The name in the paper next to mine, the fancy dress for the party, a visit to my family and once you had enough of everything you just fucked me over. And the quote underneath just topped the bill too. ‘Nothing like a wet sexy rocketman to get a chick’s juices flowing.’ Classy Robyn.”

“Goodbye Taron.”

Robyn ended the call once more and turned her phone off, not wanting to even give Taron the chance to try and call her back again. She wanted to scream in complete and utter frustration. She never thought she would ever feel angry at Taron but she was so enraged with him. It had been a wonderful four weeks since she had left Aberystwyth and her relationship with Taron had just gone from strength to strength, finding herself taking a few late-night calls from him in New York from the set needing to rant or talk about how great his stunt had gone. Everything was so light and cheery and the distance between them was not as much of a burden as they thought it was going to be.

That was until a new picture had been printed of them while she was in Aberystwyth and it just happened to be of Taron carrying her into the ocean. It took four weeks before it circulated in through the media and whereas the photos from Elton’s party were treated mostly with respect the new one, which appeared in the papers that morning, created a storm and those trolls behind their keyboards went into full rumour mode and she could only imagine that it was the first time Lyndsey had to pull out every magical publicist trick she could to try and calm the frenzied media tempest down. Robyn had barely arrived in work when her phone rang with an extremely irritated Taron on the other end giving her shit over it all. She had actually arrived nearly an hour late because she was so caught up on social media, reading the tweets on her feed that mentioned Taron and her and Emma had called her to find out where she was. Fans were on speculation overload and everyone was convinced that Robyn had definitely known Taron beforehand and that they were on holiday in Florida and just happened to be caught out because of what happened, fans slating Taron for keeping their relationship a secret, other attacking Robyn for being with him.

As she scrolled through her Tumblr before work, she saw the link to the newspaper article that had printed the picture and story and it was the first time she had purposely looked at comments since she had left Taron’s home, keeping her promise to him completely about digging through the web for stories on them both. As she quickly browsed the horrible and disgusting words, there printed online for all to see was a comment that had been posted by a ‘Robyn Quinn’ and she had cringed at the revolting and sickening words that were under the name, her name. It was the first time she had ever seen another name like hers and it stung her to read the words that were associated with her name.

And then Taron’s call had just pushed her over an edge she was determined not to walk over and now she was beyond angry not just with the situation but with him as well. She knew the conversation they had on the beach in Aberystwyth about the media meant a lot to Taron and for them to come to a compromise was very important to him and Robyn had absolutely kept her promise to him and she had actually enjoyed how freeing it was not be so involved in social media and worrying about what everyone was saying about Taron or her. That was why she was so surprised by his initial reaction to the new photo but as his tone became more heated and his words more vicious and hurtful, she found herself almost at the boiling point with how mad she was with him. They had such an open communicative relationship, or so she thought and to hear him just run away with his words and not even wait to listen to an explanation and when she tried to talk to him he lost it with her, blaming her for the story and everything that came with it.

“Fucking arsehole.” Robyn muttered to herself and tried to compose herself and her mood by taking some deep breathes. Knowing her whole day was going to be completely distracted by Taron, she walked back towards the building and after entering the code into the keypad, into her office, slumping down into her chair, dropping her phone onto the desk.

“Do I even want to know?” Asked Emma as she took in Robyn’s face, a perfect mixture of angry frustration and sadness.

Robyn didn’t answer her but went back to her computer, typing up the programme of events for the parents Christmas night she was organising and although she was supposed to be concentrating the work piled up on her desk, her thoughts were constantly on Taron. So much so she had written his name six times in the programme. As the day wore on, the more infuriated she became with Taron, his phone call and his attitude. To have just rung her without letting her explain herself and to have the cheek and audacity to accuse her of writing something so disgusting about them. After everything they had been through together that he would even think she would disrespect him like that, or even herself like that.

When she arrived home that same Tuesday evening, her whole body and mind were filled with an unbelievable sense of betrayal. When she finally turned her phone back on, her voice mail was filled with distressing messages from parents, to accompany the phone calls and emails she had taken in her office constantly through the day. Along with the heated messages from parents, were narky voice mail rants from Taron, with each one his voice raising in angered tones, his words becoming more hurtful and unkind. It was the last voicemail that left tears in her eyes and a hole in her heart.

‘If you can’t be bothered to answer my calls then that speaks fucking volumes Robyn. You are a coward who can’t face the reality of the situation, one which you caused. Such childish behaviour, leaving me to deal with the consequences. I knew you never cared for or loved me. What an act. No wonder you got all of those roles. Batted your eyelashes and sang a song. Just stay the fuck away from me and my family. I trusted you Robyn, with my life and all I got was a fake fucking nobody who just wanted the attention. Maybe you should have just left me under that fucking shelf, bleeding. Probably would have been the best decision for everyone all round.’

It was his message that helped her make the quickest and probably most stupid decision she had ever made.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Matthew watched in the monitor as Taron messed up his lines for the eight time, calling cut looking to his assistant with a raised eyebrow. Taron was never one to be so unprepared or have an ability to fluff his lines and miss his mark so easily but so far since they started filming early that morning, Taron had very much been off his game.

“Taron do you need five?” He shouted over to him but his lead actor shook his head back in return. “Alright then. Let’s roll it again.” He waited for everyone to get into position and once he was satisfied, shouted action.

He held his breathe as Taron got to the line he had already made many mistakes with and sighed with relief as he finally said it smoothly and the scene could move on. Filming outside Bryant Park was chaotic and the weather although beautiful, the cold of a New York winter was really starting to creep in and he wanted to get the park scene filmed before the light became dark but it was becoming more difficult as Taron missed yet another line.

“Cut!” Yelled Matthew once again and he cringed when the curse Taron gave echoed to his ears. “Taron…” He could see the frustration in Taron’s eyes behind the Kingsman glasses as he jogged over. “Let’s just take some time out for a minute. Grab a coffee.”

“No Matthew. I can get it.”

“No offense Taron but you are not getting it. I am calling a fifteen-minute break.”

“Matthew…”

“I am speaking as your director now. Go and take a break and then come back to me with your head cleared and ready to get this scene done. There is only about three hours of light left.”

“No I can get it done. One more.” Insisted Taron.

“Taron…”

“One more.”

Matthew sighed. “One more but if you miss the mark then we are taking the break.”

With a nod, Taron ran back to his spot on the steps of Bryant Park and filled his lungs with the cold December air, trying to use the air to clear his head too. It had been a very long time since he had let his personal issues affect his work and his head at the moment was all kinds of messed up and endless thoughts of betrayal, confusion and irritation raced through his mind. Inside he could still feel the anger pulling at his skin, pinching him every so often to remind him of how the one person he thought he could rely on for anything had revealed her true colours in the most hurtful way. Through her perfect use of words. Robyn had always been so good with her words to manipulate everything to her way and he was so mad at himself for falling for her beautiful blue eyes and pretty face. Apart from his family, anyone he had ever let close to his heart had hurt him and Robyn had been no different but her broken loyalty was crushing him and each crush just squeezed his anger further to the surface.

“And action!”

Concentrating as hard as he could on being Eggsy, cool and composed Kingsman spy, Taron focused on the job at hand and not the fact that Robyn had not answered one of his voicemails, realising his nickname for her suddenly had a double meaning. She was a chicken, avoiding facing the truth, ignoring the mess she had made.

Matthew sighed with relief as Taron finally got the scene perfect and the take was able to continue as the characters spoke to each other at the bottom of the steps. He was relieved when the take was finally successful.

“And cut. Right lets just get set up so we can get them running up the steps and then we will move into the park.”

The camera was moved into position for the next scene and Matthew was checking his script notes when he heard a little commotion behind him.

“I am sorry but this is a closed set. You cannot be here.”

“Oh I was just looking for Taron.”

Matthew’s head turned when he heard a new accent around him. He was so used to hearing the twang of a New Yorkers, his ear easily picked up on the sweet tones of an Irish one. He noticed a woman standing beside their runner. Taron had told him that the woman who saved his life was Irish and blonde along with a many other things and he quickly put two and two together. This was Robyn.

“Joe it’s ok you can let her through.”

The runner stepped aside and the blonde walked his way. “Robyn?” He questioned.

“Yeah sorry for turning up like this. I was looking for Taron and knew he was filming at the park today. Thought it was the best place to find him. You are Matthew, right?”

“That is me.” Matthew held out his hand to shake hers. “It is nice to finally meet you. I have heard a lot about you from Taron. I am pleased you were around in that 7/11 to help him.”

Robyn gave a little smile. “Shooting this movie in December in New York? I am sure you are delighted.”

Matthew laughed. “Well we have been blessed with the weather so far and maybe you might bring a little extra Irish luck with you. You seem to do that no matter where you go.”

“Well don’t blame me if it starts to rain then.”

They laughed a little. “Taron never mentioned you were coming to see him.”

“Ahh yes. It’s kind of a surprise. I didn’t want him to know. I am sorry for just turning up like this. I know his filming schedule so just took a chance. Thought it would be a nice surprise for him.”

“Well I am very glad to see you. He has been in rotten form all day so maybe a visit from you might help sort his shit out.”

“Sort his shirt out?”

“Missed a few lines and marks. It is not like him at all.”

“Oh I see.”

“Can you wait another few minutes before you see him? I am a little behind schedule and if I can get this next scene in one take, I will be very happy and can give everyone a lunch break.”

“Yep that’s fine. I will hide here until he is done.”

“Thank you.”

Robyn stepped back and allowed Matthew to take his place back at the camera, making sure she was hidden behind the camera men and other people working on set. She only had to mention her name at the barrier and her cheeky chance had paid off, the words ‘Taron’s Robyn’ being enough to get her through security and up to where the director was working. Matthew shouting action, had her looking towards the steps of the park where Taron, dressed in his full Kingsman suit and glasses and another actor were about to engage in what looked like hand to hand combat, the director completely engrossed in the action of the scene and concentrating on the actors, making sure they made their marks.

With everyone distracted by the filming, Robyn took her chance and side stepping around the filming equipment, walked right onto the stone footpath in front of the steps, in full view of the camera and started to walk up the steps.

“Wait wait! Stop! CUT!” Yelled Matthew. “What the…” He watched as the young woman he had just been speaking too got in the way of the action sequence and right into the middle of the scene he was trying to film and had been desperate to capture all day.

Once he heard the words cut, Taron turned to look down to the director. He was sure he had met every move and not messed up this time and he froze when he saw an all too familiar face walking up the steps towards him.

“Robyn?” His breathe hitched in his throat and his stomach dropped as she took the steps two at the time to get closer to him. Dressed in jeans and a black hoodie, her hair tied up in a very messy pony tail, she looked exhausted and furious. “Robyn…” He stopped talking when she stopped two steps away from him and taking her hands from the pockets of her jumper, threw them up the air and towards him. He lost his balance for a second when yellow post-its flew at him and fluttered down on top of him.

“Calling me a coward and then not returning my calls? Cutting them off every time? Who do you think you are calling me a child yet a child knows how to stop and listen? You have absolutely no right to talk to me like you have done. I have been nothing but a friend to you Taron. You ring me accusing me of doing something but don’t have the decency to let me defend myself. You immediately assume that I would do something as sickening as that, under a picture of us and tell me that all I wanted was my fifteen minutes of fame? How dare you treat me like shit when I have given my whole heart to everything I have ever done for you.” Robyn was over gesturing with her hands but standing in front of him, remembering what he had done, she couldn’t help the furious tone of her voice. “We sat on that beach and we made a compromise, one I have followed through to no end, even deleting my twitter account and creating a brand new one twice to keep our privacy. I sat with you in my house, in my arms comforting you when you started to have severe anxiety about the media finding out about what had happened to you. I answered every phone call you made to me once our story got out and I calmed your fears and worries every time things got a bit too much for you. I stepped into your world without question and never once told you how it honestly made me feel, and went out of my way to book a fucking new flight to get to you because you needed me there at Elton’s party. I visited your home and gave my all to your family, your beautiful family who took me in as their own.”

As Taron took a step backwards up a step, she followed him putting her own foot on the next step and moving forwards. “I have been nothing but honest, truthful and open with you since you sat on the floor in the 7/11 bleeding out and you put your hand on my shoulder and told me I shouldn’t hold my emotions and thoughts in but as fucking usual I open my heart and my life to someone, a man, and they stamp all over it. You ambushed me on the phone and never even gave me the chance to explain anything Taron. You immediately accuse me of writing that comment because it was under my name. Call me out on it all you want Taron but I have done nothing wrong here. Executed the perfect fucking plan so my name could be splashed all over the media? Having stupid teenage girls call me a slut and money grabbing whore because I did something that saved your life? How is that fucking fair on me? Like I said on the phone to you yesterday, it always comes down to Taron and how Taron feels and what Taron wants. My feelings and emotions never come into play because I am not in the public eye. I am just a lowkey old supervisor who means nothing when it comes down to all, right? Can’t have your reputation fucking ruined. You’re the bloody coward Taron. Can’t face the truth of the situation. That someone is prepared to stand up for themselves. I really thought you were different but you are so far up your own egotistical arse. I don’t exist. Such a fucking coward.” Robyn turned to walk away but quickly turned face him again. “Also, don’t you think something as serious as saying it would have been a lot better if I had of just left you bleeding under the shelf is best said in person rather than through a voice mail? It’s so nice to finally know the truth of what you actually think of me. Enjoy your life Taron. Afterall, you only have it because I gave it back to you when your heart stopped beating.”

As quickly as she ran up the steps to confront Taron, Robyn ran back down them, hot angry tears falling down her cheeks. Rushing past the men and woman who operated the cameras and the other staff and crew on the movie who stood on the set, she brushed past Matthew not even catching his eye, and back towards the barriers that kept the public from entering the set. Her heart was racing so fast, she felt like she was going to faint and her stomach twirled in painful knots, her whole body starting to shake with sobs that left her body as she ducked under the red barrier and back onto sixth avenue heading down towards Hearld Square and Macy’s. Her walk was brisk and she constantly bumped shoulders with excited tourists as they enjoyed the cheery atmosphere New York provided at Christmas. She angrily wiped tears from her face with her sleeves and shoved her hands under her arms, trying to keep them out of the crisp cold air.

As furious as she was, she was completely heartbroken but after hearing all the of the voice mails on her phone and when he wouldn’t return her calls when she tried to ring him, she just saw red and refused to have anyone accuse her without an explanation and as Taron was so sure in his conviction of her, she wasn’t going to let him bully her into accepting his reasoning, not even letting him get a word in to defend his ridiculous accusations. She had thought nothing about booking a flight to New York for early that morning, hopping on a plane in Dublin at eight, arriving in Manhattan just before two and riding a cab straight downtown to where Taron was filming. She had tried to call him back again that morning but his phone was turned off and she refused to leave a voice message just as he did, wanting to see in him the flesh to tell him how she felt.

Now that she had, she briskly walked back towards thirty-fourth street, ready to hail a cab  back to JFK to wait for her flight home that evening. She had enough of the drama and was keen to go back home to the safety of her four walls where she could deal with her emotions in the way that had always worked for her and was ready to throw a certain blue dinosaur along with two pieces of clothing wrapped in two strings of photos straight into the bin.

(Ok just a little note here, I know that during Christmas in Bryant Park in New York is a wonderful Christmas market, I was there last Christmas, however for the flow of the story that market is not currently on and only part of the park has been closed off for filming. It’s all just fiction at the end of the day and just works in my head for the tension and dramatic effect :) )

[scarletta-ec]

Original Sin Story: Re_Crime

CHAPTER THREE: ~ADAM’S PROJECT~

Scene 1

Project “Ma” was a failure.

Scene 2

From a young age Adam has had primarily two strong emotions: Loneliness and anger at the world.

When he was a child, his parents were nowhere to be found. He was among smoking ruins. There was no home for him so he wandered the coast, passing through minor port towns. The only thing he had on him was a small bottle he was carrying. A piece of parchment inside read “Adam Moonlit”.

Those in the towns who could read took this to mean that this was his name. A fisherman temporarily housed Adam and taught him to read and write.

He lived a relatively peaceful life for about five years, though he doesn’t remember that time well.

One night, he was washed out to sea during a tempest. As he thought he was going to drown, everything turned white and warm and when he regained consciousness, he was deposited back on a shore. 

Adam somehow survived off of beached fish, making a crude home out of rubble and old boat debris. Every so often, the white blur underwater that saved him (though he didn’t have any way of remembering that) would appear to keep him from being too lonely.

One day, Adam asks the being’s name, and he hears it reply, learning its name is Catherine. He keeps talking to it, thinking of it as his mother (and then there’s this heartbreaking part where he’s just asking it questions, which devolve into demands to know why he’s alone and abandoned). Adam does not grow up well.

Scene 3

Adam, armed with a harpoon, reacts with hostility when exploring his new surroundings, comes across Horus Solnste, as most of the people who have shown up are hostile to him and steal from him. Horus isn’t bothered and tells him to relax. He says he is here to adopt Adam on the orders of his real mother. Excited, Adam gets into the carriage with him.

Just then, Catherine emerges out of the ocean, too far to make out and calls to him in his head, saying that Horus is lying and won’t reunite him with his mother. Horus says that Adam is being tricked by Catherine, as she is a familiar of Held. She can’t deny that she used to be a forest spirit, which enrages Adam.

He throws his harpoon, and she vanishes before it makes contact. Her voice, still present, tries to say something to him to calm him down, but he cuts her off, ranting about how it’s obvious she isn’t really his mother. Horus and Adam leave her, and head to the capital.

Scene 4

Of course, Horus says Adam can’t see his mother immediately. So he ends up living with Horus in the research facility, in the living quarters. Eventually Adam becomes Horus’ adopted son. He would always brush it off as Adam needing to study more, to work harder, as he can’t meet with her as he is now. Adam believes him because Horus is very persuasive.

Adam doesn’t feel like a human being the way that he’s raised. He gets only what he needs in terms of food and clothing, and is only allowed to leave the facility when Horus orders him to go shopping— he doesn’t want for things like knowledge and shelter but he is severely deprived emotionally.

When Adam grows up he becomes more persistent in asking about his mother, but Horus only says it’s not time yet.

Horus becomes older and weaker, and ends up relying more and more on apprentices. Adam ends up working with them more.

Scene 5

Adam only learns his mother’s identity when Horus is almost on his deathbed (Horus refers to his body as an “inferior good”).

Horus tells Adam to take over as institute director in his stead, which Adam agrees to.

Adam asks why Horus adopted him, thinking that he merely lied about knowing his mother. That’s when Horus reveals that Alice Merry-go-Round’s true name is Maria Moonlit. All queens have their name kept private by the Senate and scrubbed from all existing records and renamed Alice. Adam's mother is the seventh Alice thus far.

Horus admits he could never take Adam to her personally, because she is not allowed to contact anyone from the outside world. He insists he tried to make an exception, but the best he could do was have servants pass on his messages of Adam's condition to her.

Horus explains the situation further— that Maria didn’t want to get rid of Adam, but that it was all Gavriil's fault, and that furthermore he has turned Maria into his puppet using the brainwashing drug Venom, which he claims was made through collaboration with Horus’ “greatest apprentice”, Seth, who he says will seek Adam in due time.

Horus has put a notebook full of names and locations in a drawer— these are his allies, those who wish to overthrow Gavriil. Adam has a million questions, but before he can ask them Horus goes to leave— he has decided that when he dies, he will be alone. Adam never sees him again.

Scene 6

There are roughly ten other researchers at the institute— none of them object to Adam taking over, given Horus has been training him since he was young. Adam is a prodigy, and he has a keen interest in researching the legacy pieces, while at the same time upset that the research is being used for political squabbles.

One day Gammon visits the institute, claiming to be looking for Horus. Adam figures that he’s probably dead, and just wanted to die alone in peace, especially given the state of his health when he vanished. Adam then reveals that he knows Gammon was one of Horus’ collaborators in his secret revolutionary efforts. Of course, it wouldn’t look good for either of them if it got out.

Adam isn’t sure what side he wants to be on. He both respected and resented Horus. But for now he would like for them to look out for each other, sort of blackmailing him into it. Then he offers to get him some coffee. From then on they develop a sort of uneasy allyship.

Gammon is the eldest son of the Loop Octopus family, but he was cast out of being the heir due to being born without magic; not treated well by his family. He became skilled with guns and swords due to fervent study, and worked his way up to being head of the security division.

He also has purple prophetic dreams, which he admits to Adam while they’re drinking at a bar one day. He is an inheritor of Rahab— all Loop Octopus members are, to some extent, implying that there are differences in the strength of inheritor powers between individuals. He says that because his family can foresee the future, this means that a queen (who is only important because she can tell the future via divine revelation) is not necessary. Adam has not told Gammon he’s Maria’s son.

This leads to a lot of speculating and reflection on Adam’s part on if Gammon intends to rule the country, the possibility of someone who does not have divine revelation being in charge, whether the gods are even worth revering in the first place, etc. He starts to think that maybe the country should go back to being a kingdom with a hereditary ruler— that this would end the power struggles among the senate. And of course, Adam is a great candidate for king.

Gammon interrupts Adam’s thoughts to bring up that his father is very cunning. So much so that if, hypothetically, the real queen died twenty years ago (as she hasn’t shown herself to the public in that long), no one would have found it out. Gavriil was, himself, the one who established the rule that only the head of the senate can interact with her.

Adam dismisses the idea— Horus told him Gavriil was manipulating her with drugs. He’d have no reason to kill her. Either way, though, Gavriil is clearly the real power in charge of the country.

Gammon is sort of sprawled onto Adam's side, drunk. Adam tries to wake him, as Gammon tightens his grip, and then he is suddenly approached by someone. A man who looks identical to Horus, appearing to be the same age that Horus was when he first approached Adam on the coast all those years ago. He is Seth Twiright.

Scene 7

Adam has no proof that this is the real Seth Twiright, of course, but him looking identical to Horus is a pretty big deal. While he looks roughly the same age as Adam, Seth claims to be older, saying he studied under Horus long before he became head of the institute, roughly twenty years before, which would be about five years before Horus adopted Adam.

Seth claims he came to help now that his mentor is dead even pretty much none of the other apprentices have even heard of him until now. Adam tries to brush him off, but Seth persists, sharing knowledge of the Next Queen Project— something only those involved are supposed to know about. This makes it clear that he does have a connection to Horus.

Seth clarifies that he isn’t Horus’ child or anything, despite them looking alike, though they might have a distant relation or something.

Adam obviously can’t trust him given what Horus said, and it’s hard to read what Seth is after. But he’s a lead regarding Adam’s real mother, so he can’t just dismiss him. He lets Seth join the institute.

Seth is, like Horus, very persuasive and affable, and gets along well with the rest of the staff. He’s also just as brilliant, his assistance revitalizing the “Next Queen Project” which had come to a bit of a standstill after Horus’ death.

Seth is the one who brings them the “God Seed”, which is held in a small black box. Adam is examining it while Seth fiddles about with some of the machinery in the room. It’s a living liquid, Seth explaining that it was extracted from Sin, and that it is part of Levia-Behemo. Adam speculates that they can create people with magical power with this. He asks how Seth got his hands on it, and Seth says he was allowed below the temple by Gavriil due to being an old friend of his. He did not go through the Glass Hallway, but rather a different route, and claims to have never met the queen himself.

While Seth is just as interested in the legacy of the Second Period as Adam, his area of research isn’t machinery so much as living things, biotechnology. Adam asks him about his knowledge of drugs— Seth eventually tells him to stop beating around the bush, as it’s clear he’s asking about Venom.

Seth explains Inheritors of Gilles are able to manipulate people’s minds. Adam remarks he already knows this but Seth cuts him off. Seth claims he found the grave of one such inheritor, as he could find no Gilles Inheritor volunteers. He took the body back to his home, experimented on it, and at the end of this experimentation and analysis he produced Venom. He then analyzed his success and devised a recipe to make Venom with— but then says that he never used it, because it’s outside of his interests.

Adam wonders why; it seems he was commissioned to make it, but Seth doesn’t look like he’s interested in things like money or power.

Scene 8

The Project “Ma” stuff starts one year after Horus went missing. This chapter is basically a reflection on Adam’s motives; how he is empty inside and is doing all these things to try and fill that emptiness, how he blames Gavriil for not being able to live a normal life with a family that loved him, how he wants to control Levianta’s future by making his own puppet queen, etc.

He will fill the hole in his heart. If it’s for that, he will even become evil.

Scene 9

Adam goes to get Gammon to collaborate with him. He reveals that he is Maria’s son, though he has no proof, and tells Gammon that if it works he will become the next head of the senate. Adam plans to have the next queen change the laws so that succession will be hereditary again— and as the son of the former queen, Adam will become king.

Gammon doubts that’ll work out well, but Adam says that if he becomes king, Gammon will become the new prime minister. Gammon points out that it’ll be the next queen’s relatives who will be in line for succession, not Adam, to which Adam says he’ll just marry the next queen. And her children will be the Twins of God— no one would object to them being next in line for the throne.

Adam privately considers mixing his own genes in the Divine Seed that he’ll be using for Project Ma, so that those children will also be related to him. The outcome could be unpredictable so he mentally leaves it as a last resort should anything go wrong.

Adam hesitates to even think about killing Gammon for refusing, but Gammon agrees. He too is dissatisfied with the current state of affairs. And he also had a purple dream about Adam. But he doesn’t say what it was about.

Scene 10

Through Gammon’s contacts, Adam is able to get the recipe for Venom. He is also able to get his hands on Gavriil's journal. Though, it’s really more of a memo pad used to secretly write down Gavriil's private thoughts and as such, it’s very scattered and brief, providing little detail on what its entries are referring to.

In brief: Gavriil discovering Maria’s children and having a young retainer throw them in the river. The queen freaks out, and has to be quieted down. Gavriil thought he killed the servant to keep the secret safe but he shows up again. Gavriil decides to keep him around, as he’s useful. The servant makes Venom. Gavriil drugs the queen and then Ceci Vaju as well, saying that when he is dead he will inherit what he leaves behind.

Gavriil's notes become scrambled— basically saying first that he’s had purple dreams then amending that they are prophecies, repeating “I am Alice/Queen Merry-Go-Round”. His notes then detail the Project Ma prophecy.

There’s more that isn’t shared. The only thing Adam can glean from it is that what Horus told him about Gavriil is true, and that what Gammon suggested in his drunken stupor might not be total nonsense.

Scene 11

Adam reflects on what he’s learned— he believes Seth was the one who tossed him in the river, and he has or had, a twin sibling. He figures he’ll need to put some restrictions on Seth— now that he has Venom, he no longer has a use for him.

Adam has received information on a potential Ma candidate— Meta Salmhofer. Gammon warns him against recruiting her, as she’s a member of Apocalypse. Adam points out that one of their founders, Raijoou Zvezda, is listed as one of Horus’ collaborators. Though it was different when Raijoou founded it, evidently they weren’t a terrorist organization then, and she had since ditched it.

Even leaving aside the matter of Apocalypse, given that Meta is Pale’s girlfriend it’s unlikely she’s a virgin.

Gammon is against going to fetch Meta, as it would be dangerous. Adam, on the other hand, sees it as an opportunity for Seth to die in an “unfortunate accident”.

Of course, the plan was a miserable failure. Basically, Adam planned for Seth to be in one spot that would be attacked, while all the other researchers were safe. But instead the researchers were in the danger zone, and Seth was safe. Adam’s not sure how that happened. All Seth had to say about it is that they better do their best just the two of them from now on.

Scene 12

And so, Adam meets Eve, someone who would be perfect to manipulate. He didn’t plan for everything that happened— the fight with the White Army, Meta attacking Nemu (likely looking to punish Raijoou for her desertion)— but ultimately, he was able to get Eve to the capital. He drugged her with Venom by mixing it into her coffee.

Even with the drug, getting her to like him was a little tricky— he wasn’t charming like Seth and Horus. But he tended to her needs, spent time with her, was understanding, etc. Fortunately, Seth didn’t pop into the lab much due to his recovery, so he wouldn’t catch on that Adam was using Venom.

He and Gammon are drinking in a bar, and he’s complaining about women (“why are women so hard to understand blah blah blah”). Being the perfect boyfriend is stressful. He’d like to have Gammon switch roles with him, but Gammon evidently already has a wife and kids. Gammon also thinks they make a good couple, and so would they and that Eve would like him even without the Venom. Adam cuts him off, saying their being a couple is just for the plan.

He shifts the conversation to Vaju. Apparently they’re waiting for him to die, him already being sickly, before they move ahead, so that if Eve becomes queen it doesn’t appear to be solely Vaju’s work. Gavriil is in a similar position— once Vaju dies, all of his stuff goes to Gavriil, because he doesn’t have an heir, so Gavriil used the Venom to get him to make him his heir. This includes the institute, so that he can continue being head of the Senate even if they produce a different queen.

Adam asks if Gammon has any hesitation over killing his father. But apparently there’s no love lost between them.

Basically— Gammon is all ready to overthrow the current government. The only reason he was waiting this long is because he didn’t have a lynch-pin to pull it together. But Eve, once she’s queen, will be able to allow him to do as he pleases with restructuring the country.

Scene 13

The queen trial was Adam’s one chance to ascertain the queen’s condition, but of course Eve remembers almost nothing of it (which is to be expected). The moment Adam heard that Zellana was dead, he started worrying about Eve. He’d been confident she’d succeed, but she isn’t back yet. He can’t go get her, though, because it might tip people off that they’re more than just scientist and patient.

He’s concerned for her, which surprises him, but denies his feelings as being for his plan’s success only.

Eve suddenly arrives, and he goes to hug her (again denying that it’s for anything other than his charade). She seems a little mad at him, but also doesn’t act on it.

Scene 14

Eve is impregnated with the God Seed, with twins. Now all that’s left is to wait for them to be born. Meanwhile, Vaju dies, leaving everything to Gavriil.

Gammon is going to do his small rebellion after Eve becomes queen, and Gavriil will get mixed up in it and die. Then Gammon will be captured for his crimes. This is what Adam’s real plan is regarding him.

Scene 15

Eve gets restless and mood-swingy as the due date approaches. Earlier she’d been scared all day, having dreamed that she saw a bear. Adam thinks this might be because she’d drunken too much Venom.

Seth hasn’t shown himself since Eve became pregnant. He hasn’t gone home either. Adam, fearing that Seth has cottoned on to the plan and will tell Gavriil, increases surveillance on Gavriil and has his people look harder for Seth.

Adam takes Eve out of the institute for a bit. She says she wants to go to the Western coast, to meet Adam’s “mother”. He hasn’t gone back since Horus picked him up around there— he wonders if she’s still there.

He picks a car that won’t sway much, and they arrive at the coast. They gaze at the ocean together, Adam glancing over at Eve and noting her simple beauty. He starts to wish that they had met in some other way, without all these plans and prophecies and such, before forcing himself to drop the thought.

Eve suddenly announces that she’s going to name the babies Cain and Abel, though when pressed she says that there’s no real meaning behind those names.

Right as they’re going to leave several hours later, Catherine calls out to Adam in his mind. She explains that her physical body is gone, not because he speared her with a harpoon, but because it was a natural end result of her leaving Held’s power. She is now part of the ocean.

She was once a small fish, but one day she rebelled against Held and left. Unlike the other spirits, she had fragments of her memory remaining from their past, her past of being one who served the creators of the world.

Apparently in Levianta they are taught that Levia-Behemo is the only true god, and all others are false gods. Catherine explains the whole deal about Levia and Behemo making humanity, and Held suggesting the gods merely watch over the world, etc. Catherine hadn’t agreed with this, which is why she left the forest. Her body became humanoid once again, but it also signified that she had lost the physical immortality that she had with Held. Hence why she’s invisible now.

Eve can’t hear Catherine, as a note.

Upon being asked, Adam tells Catherine that Eve is his wife, which pleases her. She’s also relieved to hear that Horus is dead, saying that he was dangerous. Adam apologizes for his anger when last they saw each other, and they part on good terms.

Scene 16

Eight months into the pregnancy, Eve is moved to Alicegrad. That way she can be attended on and also be under greater security. The due date is very close now.

Once Adam receives word that she’s in labor, he rushes to Alicegrad from the institute. The sun has gone down, and there are no stars or moon in the sky. He’s stopped before he can get in her room by a guard, who informs him only those assisting with the birth can get in, including a priest. He does reassure Adam that she’s with the best doctor available— not Dr. Moreno, who drowned in a river the other day, but Seth Twiright.

The door opens. Adam sees Seth there, and also can’t hear the sound of babies crying. He had no information on Seth being a doctor in this regard— apparently his informants haven’t been telling him everything (Seth chides him for trusting them so much).

Adam pushes past Seth. Eve is sobbing but laughing, but the things she’s holding in her arms are not babies. They are darkish “things”. Eve is delusional, calling them her and Adam’s babies, thinking they’re still alive.

Adam tries to get her to hand them over, but she freaks out. Enraged, Adam goes outside to see Seth smoking, initially assuming he was behind it. But Seth claims he did his best. He says the babies simply died while they were inside Eve’s womb.

Rather, he says that this was Adam’s fault, because he was doing something “extraneous”, being vague on what exactly Adam did that caused it. He calls him out, basically insulting him as a researcher, but also won’t tell Gavriil what he was planning. He leaves Adam there, seeming really amused it all went to crap.

Scene 17

Adam is drinking alone in the furthest corner of a bar when Gammon comes in and sits next to him, arm across Adam's back and hand on his shoulder. He says they’ll have to start again— find a new candidate, and deal with the traitor in their informants.

Eve is infertile now. And she’s gone mad. Adam speculates that her spirit was weak already, due to the drugging, and she lost it when the twins were born dead. She’s still following the delusion that she has children.

Gammon tries to get him to perk up— they still have plenty of time before the prophecy comes to pass. But Adam’s had enough— he’s giving up on everything, telling Gammon to go back to his original rebellion plans.

Adam thinks Gammon’s not liable to leave him as a loose end, so Adam figures he and Eve need to flee the capital together.

Scene 18

Adam apologizes to his mother for failing to save her, not really knowing if she loved him or not. He’s tired of chasing his past, though. He also apologizes to Eve for what he’s done, realizing he does love her and wanting to go live in Held’s forest with her. He also wonders if Catherine might be able to find them there.

He loves Eve, even if that love is just a result of a brainwashing drug.

[hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger]

Spider-Man v3 2099 #23-25 Thoughts

Some mixed feelings.

 There was a lot of stuff I liked, and a fair amount I was disappointed by.

There was some art and dialogue production issues, which I think might’ve occurred because the series was wrapping up and whoever was in charge didn’t catch as they were prepping for whatever the next project was.

But more significantly, I honestly felt that there were several unanswered questions:

·         What was the big bad thing Miguel and Liz did that was talked about back in volume 2 #1?

·         What actually caused the Maestro’s version of 2099 to happen?

·         What caused that future to alter into the Sinister Six’s future?

·         What was up with those purple Mohawk mutant people from volume 3 #1 who obviously had something to do with Tempest but it’s never explained

·         How was Tempest’s mother involved with the Fist

·         Shit there wasn’t any resolution for Tempest’s mother at all was there!

·         What exactly did Tyler Stone plan to use Tempest for? Was he really just tempting her to take his treatment so she’d stab Miguel on sight?

·         Why should Sonny Frisco be left in the present day? He’s from the future and has some future tech leftover from his Iron Man armour

·         What happened to the Sinister Six 2099? Electro is presumably shut down for good but what happened to Venom, Vulture, Doc Ock and Sandwoman? Yeah presumably they’re all going to team up in 2019, but Sandwoman was nowhere to be found and IIRC she wasn’t dead. Moreover they were still around in 2019 under the employ of the Fist.

·         How did Tyler Stone travel to the past?

·         How did Tyler Stone join up with the Fist?

·         How did Tyler Stone rise to what seemed like the leadership of the Fist

·         What happened to Venture and Glorianna?

·         What happened with Miguel’s fellow time traveller who created the new version of X-Factor? Was that really just very loose and light set up for Secret Wars 2099?

·         The payoff for the Alchemax prison facility which was then turned into a terrorist internment facility was...just the place for the final showdown to occur? Really?

Why DID the cure for Tempest’s cancer turn her into an insect monster back in Vol. 2?

Also, not really an unanswered question but the emotional investment into Miguel and Tempest’s relationship is still rather hollow as I talked about back in issue #20. It just kind of feels significant because Tempest has been around since waaaaay back in the backup story from ASM volume 3 #1. Not to mention Miguel’s survival is definitely a dues ex machina.

The harsh truth is the more I think about the resolution of this the more I come to the sad realizing it at best left an awful lot to be desired.

Objectively it’s very problem riddled.

Now that being said...on a pure enjoyment level I did LIKE it.

I don’t think I ever expressed this before, but the reason I started calling posts like this ‘Thoughts’ rather than ‘Review(s)’ like I used to is because, whilst I firmly believe a story can be objectively evaluated, I found it stressful and well...not fun doing it.

Plus I do this blog for me and realized posts like this one are more for me, so I have a record of my thoughts and feelings for these stories.

I’m not saying me liking something or disliking it makes it good or bad objectively. But what I am saying is...well I enjoyed this.

I was disheartened by the lack of pay off to a lot of stuff, but I did enjoy the ride while I was on it.

Let me talk about a few minor things that annoyed me before I end more positively.

So a Pokemon Go parody is intrinsic to the battle to save the future. I dunno, that just feels both on the nose and unearned since Pokemon Go! wasn’t even a thing when this series began. Also Tyler Stone’s motivations were rather underwhelming and Miguel didn’t get enough of a showdown with him. Granted, I guess you could argue said showdown already happened in Secret Wars 2099. He same applies to the Sinister Six 2099, especially Venom given that he is Miguel’s brother from another mother. Furthermore the explanation for who Aisa is, was a tad underwhelming but not illogical as I’ll address later.

Now for positives.

For starters it’s funny that whilst this issue came out in like September 2017, it’s depiction of 2019 wasn’t that far off. The only things it a little wrong was that people aren’t as much into Pokemon Go! as they were in 2017 and Silk to my knowledge doesn’t operate in New York city anymore. But all of those are easily No. Prized so in theory this comic’s depiction of 2019 is actually canon. I think it basically HAS to be or else the Fist’s plan could still happen and Miguel would’ve prevented nothing. Although the Marvel.wiki says otherwise. But they aren’t always right.

My biggest point of praise is in regarding Gabri.

Maybe I was being dense, but I honestly didn’t figure out who he was until he stabbed Tyler Stone with a stinger like Tempest’s.

See, when these issues were coming out I obviously saw the covers of Miguel in his new suit alongside another Spider-Man 2099, one wearing the original red and blue 2099 costume. But I wasn’t paying enough attention to notice the red and blue costume was similar, yet clearly different to the original. I was thinking that it was simply Miguel from another universe, another timeline or another point in time, possibly playing off of the Edge of Spider-Verse issue with the alternate Miguels back in volume 2 issue #5.

But no...this is the son of Miguel O’Hara, the Spider-Man of...well we don’t actually know what year he is from. He’s a time traveller and whilst he’s partnered up with his mother in 2019, he looks to be about Miguel’s age. Giving him a suit similar yet unique to his father’s, with his ‘cape’ evoking his mother’s wings and such was a nice touch. I think PAD in making him a time traveller adds just enough credibility to his powers too as some kind of future technology. I doubt we’ll see much more of this character, but damn I’d like to, even out of his outfit he seems pretty cool.

And if nothing else, I just like that Miguel has a legacy and got to KNOW that.

Another thing I really liked about the structure of the story essentially allowed for there to be two climaxes, one in the future of 2019 where Aisa was the final boss and one in the present of 2017 where Miguel got to settle his business.

Let’s talk briefly about Aisa. So she’s literally one of the Greek Fates. I found this underwhelming, but I can’t say it wasn’t a logical reveal. In fact it justifies the Medea story arc with Elektra as that in hindsight was putting Greek myth on the chessboard for PAD to use later.

In fact these last three issues can be looked at as PAD essentially treating elements across his 2010s Spidey 2099 run (or at least the issues that weren’t mandated events) as chess pieces that came into play here.

·         Back in volume 3 issue #1, Miguel referenced Peter, Silk and Miles being around to pick up his slack. Those 3 saved the civilians under mind control.

·         The Sinister Six and Tyler Stone obviously all showed up in the Sinister Six arc beginning in issue #10, and in particular Tyler was popping up sporadically since the Secret Wars mini

·         Strange 2099 with the help of Cap 2099 ultimately save Miguel’s life and they were showing up before and during Secret Wars

·         Tempest’s insect form was introduced back in v2 #11-12 and was critical to the climax of this story. In fact I love the poetry of Miguel and his father Tyler both dying via stingers, stingers passed down from mother to son no less

·         Sonny obviously was showing up on and off since Secret Wars

·         The Alchemax Prison is something that’s been lingering (and unfortunately was often ignored) since way back in v2 #5

·         I already explained the Greek myth angle

·         Man Mountain Marko has been building a grudge with Spidey since before issue v3 #10

In a sense it was rewarding seeing all this stuff come back into play for the climax, but it definitely could’ve been done better, in a more satisfying way. Frankly, if the Medea story had been cut to 2 issues tops we might’ve had an extra issue to fix some of this stuff.

The final thing I want to talk about is issue #25 specifically. I don’t know if this was intentional, but to me issue #25 read as PAD delivering a microcosm of Miguel.

In various scenes, organically strung together, we see different facets of his personality. The dives are not necessarily deep, but this one issue, for any faults you might find in it’s plot, speaks a lot to who Miguel O’Hara is as a person.

It’s light, it’s subtle but it tells you the cliffnotes.

He’s sarcastic.

He’s sardonic.

He’s not a murderer, but is willing to be violent, willing to kill.

He is on the side of the angels, but is absolutely not one of them.

He values family but they frustrate him.

He’s far from wholesome.

He’s willing to make the sacrifice play for what’s right, for what has to be done.

He faces his own destruction head on.

He has a cynical streak in him.

He’s got anger in him and acknowledges it can compromise him.

He’s smart, both in terms of scientific brilliance and tactical thinking.

Hell even the use of his powers and gadgets (we could include Lyla in that) get one last ride in this issue.

And it’s all capped off with him saving everyone at the cost of his lover, his child and his own life. Only for him to come back to the world he’s saved, his home and ring in the new yea, the new century in factr. 2099 is OVER at last!

But he doesn’t celebrate. But he also isn’t Peter Parker, so he doesn’t somberely mope. He just gets on with it acknowledging what he’s lost, what it was for and rolling his eyes at the fact that the good times aren’t going to last.

And yet...it’s not depressing.

THAT’S Miguel O’Hara to me.

Over all, this arc 100% could’ve been better. But as a fond farewell to the character, possibly even being the last time his creator will ever write him, it was a Hell of a ride.

And for that ride, I thank Peter David and Will Sliney.

[poison-shark]

Noa’s Siblings

[[MORE]]

Mateu Eduardo Ramires

Is 7 years older than Noa

Is Atlantean/ Portuguese/ Amazonian/ Japanese

Only exhibits the human and Atlantean sides

25 in season 3

ADHD

Has a deep resentment for his parents for being addicts, alcoholics, sub par parents, and also dying

Deeply respects Noa and treats her like an equal, despite the age gap, but still sees Aya as a newborn

Is very overprotective of both of them

Got mad at Aya for going to study on Themyscira and Noa for allowing it

Thinks Obachan is just a crazy old lady

His personality is a lot like their mom’s, but his morals are closer to their dad’s

Basically looks like he could kill you, but is actually a cinnamon roll

Looks a lot like their dad, but has their mom’s eyes

They’re a deep brown almost black

Noa is jealous of them, she hates her hazel eyes because they remind her of Ren

His hair is always a tangled mess

Is studying magic in Atlantis

Cried when he met Aquaman

Managed a way to get surface tv channels underwater and never misses a Coast City Clippers game or one of Noa’s concerts

Is frustratingly straight and sometimes forgets his sisters are not

“So meet any cute boys at school? If so, who is he? Where does he live? Who are his parents? What’s his number? I just wanna talk!”

“Noooooooo?”- Noa

*blank lesbian stare*- Aya

Is still super supportive and apologizes everytime

Even though she’s younger than him, Noa raised him

He didn’t realize at the time what was happening and how it was affecting her

Called Noa for every little thing his first year in Atlantis

But when he realized his little sister had taken care of him for the past 5 years of his life, including 1 year of adulthood, and he didn’t know how to do anything

He regrets putting her through so much pressure

Was not the person who realized this

That was brought about in a conversation with Queen Mera and Aqualad that turned awkward

Has not stopped apologizing since

It’s been 5 years

Still has not stopped

Reminds her he’s sorry once a FaceTime

Bonds with his sisters through surfing and basketball

Hates all lanterns of the emotional spectrum, but green

Especially red and blue

Has gotten really good at magic

Has always been good at magic, but like Atlantean party tricks his dad taught him

They used to cheer the girls up

Their dad had only begun teaching him serious magic a year before he died

When he got to Atlantis he realized just how far behind he was

Got specialized training from Queen Mera

Faced Atlantean “Purist” discrimination for his skin and fins

Caught up on five years worth of magic in a year

Is now training to be an Atlantean Ambassador under Garth

Is a social activist in Atlantis

No longer cries when he sees King Orin

Actually babysits the little prince every once in a while

Is protective of Queen Mera a views her as a second mother

Would never tell her that

She already knows and has already mentally accepted him as her other son

Is trained in combat

Not only by Mera, but also their parents

They were paranoid and knew their kids would be in danger, so they all knew some form of self defense, except for Aya

Dislikes superheroes in general except for Aquaman, Tempest, Wonder Woman, and the Green Lantern Corps

Loyal to his country, his heritage, and views green lanterns as space cops

Ren Elpídio Ramires

Dead

Died at age 7

Was best friends with Noa

Even though he and Noa can’t be identical twins they looked almost the exact same

But y’know with scales

Looks takes after all sides of his heritage

Shy boi

Also anxious

Like all the time

Despite the super strength and speed he was always super gentle and liked to take his time and enjoy life

Dyslexic

Always had trouble reading and writing, but loved stories

Noa used to read him to sleep from the top bunk

He was a really good storyteller and had just as much imagination as his sister

They would come up with grand adventures and Noa would write them down while he drew the pictures

They were comic books

Ren loved comic books

And superheroes

Specifically Aquaman and Wonder Woman

And of course the mighty and brave blue, red, and green lanterns of Sector 2814

Had trouble making friends in school so Noa made them for him

He had a really bad stutter

Got picked on a lot for a lot of different reasons so Noa got into a lot of fights

Loved insects

He cried when Mateu tried to force Noa into killing a spider (I know spiders aren’t insects don’t come for me)

Noa set it free outside

A cuddler and a hugger

No one is safe not even the mailman who he knows by name

Hides behind Noa whenever yelling happens

Yelling happened a lot some months, none others

Was terrified of Aya

Had never seen a baby before

She looked like an alien

Freaked him out a little that’s all

Warmed up to her soon enough

Cried when she cried

Her crying used to wake up both him and Noa at 2 am, who would attempt to wake up their parents to deal with it

Their attempts were waved off

“Let her cry it out”

They did not

Noa would remove the newborn from the crib and rock her while he fixed her bottle

He was too scared to drop her to hold her

Noa would burp and change her and they’d both sing to her until she fell asleep

Was the only other person in the house other than their mother who could handle Aya’s grip

I like to think if he hadn’t died he’d have joined the Indigo Tribe (lanterns of compassion)

Now for the sad part

Their parents had dropped them all off at Obachan’s house as she was their closest relative

All the little ones knew was that they had to go on a ‘work trip’

Thought Obachan was silly and old and reminded him of his mom

The first day was great

She fed them ice cream for breakfast and pizza for lunch and sushi for dinner and let them stay up late and eat wasabi candies for dessert

The next day was not so great

The twins woke up at 1 am puking their brains out and running high fevers

Obachan panicked and didn’t know what to do

She was drunk and didn’t want Akari to never see her grandkids again

The other day she didn’t know she had grandkids

She wanted her daughters trust back

Even if Akari did live Obachan would not have earned her trust

She decided she would drive them to the hospital like a good grandmother and left Mateu to clean up and look after Aya

She was uber drunk and exhausted bc even kind of dealing with two barfing 7 year olds is the most parenting she’d ever done

They came to an intersection

She ignored the red light

She didn’t see the flat-bed

The truck couldn’t stop

It t-boned the tail end of the car

The crash caused Obachan and Noa to fall unconscious and gave Obachan some serious neck and back issues

But the impact snapped Ren’s neck instantly and his limp body fell onto the middle car seat

Hazel eyes wide

The twins were still loosely holding each other’s hands when the paramedics came after another driver passed by and found them

The other driver involved in the crash was flung through his windshield bc he wasn’t wearing a seatbelt

Noa came to briefly while being carried into an ambulance

She looked at the lady carrying her and asked, “Ren?” Before passing out again

At the hospital when she had been treated for everything she woke up again with a start calling for Ren, her parents, Mateu, anyone, but mostly Ren

Obachan hadn’t woken up yet

The nurse who came in asked her for as much information as Noa knew or could remember

She answered every one and asked a thousand in return

The nurse finally told her that her brother had died

She threw a fit

They couldn’t calm her down she screamed and cried so much she puked again

They had to sedate her

When they told Obachan her first thought was of how Akari would never speak to her again

He was buried with his parents in the Coastville Cemetery

Noa visits by herself every Sunday and lays flowers down and talks to no one

Aya Emi Ramires

Well, that was depressing now here’s the baby!!!

Aya was 3 months old when everybody died

In season 3 she’s 11

She takes after her Amazonian heritage

Dyslexic and ADHD

Sees Noa as basically her mom

Doesn’t agree with Mateu a lot, but respects him

Also has their mother’s eyes which tortures Noa

Generally reminds both of her siblings of their mom and of Ren

She doesn’t know that, but that’s part of the reason they’re so overprotective

Noa raised her to have fun and enjoy life and not take shit from anyone

Is really good at sports

This is encouraged by Noa who is literally the captain of the cheer squad

Gets made fun of and picked on by a lot of kids both boys and girls for her strength and speed, her learning disabilities, being Japanese, and being gay

Yeah

Aya gets into fights a lot

Noa shows up to the elementary school with Obachan who pretends she can’t speak English

Noa’s former principal is now afraid of her

Aya’s outlet for anger is sculpting believe it or not

She’s pretty talented too

Isn’t really into superheroes except for green lanterns and Wonder Woman, Troia, and Wondergirl

Gets bad grades even though she’s incredibly wise beyond her years

Doesn’t get along with kids her own age

They bore her

Figured out she wasn’t straight pretty early on with a crush on Molly from Bubble Guppies when she was four

Noa also kinda normalized girlfriends with her sister talking about girls and boys at school she had crushes on

Realized she was probably a lesbian in 3rd grade when she realized she wasn’t growing out of her boys are icky phase like her sister had

Confirmed 5th grade lesbian

Does not like being treated like a baby

Eventually the question came up about what happened to their parents at family dinner

Obachan steered herself out of the kitchen right when she was about to enter it

Mateu curtly and accurately responded with, “They died.” Before tossing the dishes into the sink and sulking off to his room, slamming his door shut

Noa explained the best she could to the 5 year old, but it was hard for a 12 year old to form the right words

Also informed her of Ren in a very watered down way

Aya knows Ren existed and was Noa’s twin, but doesn’t know exactly how he died

She’s seen their comics though

Noa used to read them to her

Mateu used to stand outside the door secretly listening and trying not to cry

Is very affectionate with Noa

Will hug and cuddle her until she falls asleep

Noa forgot how rib-cracking Amazon hugs were

She’s glad Aya’s there to remind her

Aya mildly resents Mateu for leaving for Atlantis

More for leaving Noa to handle her alone

Is just as protective of her siblings as they are of her

Worries about them constantly

Especially Noa bc she’s human

When she turns ten she decides she wants to study in Themyscira where she’d be better accepted than her normal school

She was right

A lot of thought went into that on her part

Noa’s music career was skyrocketing, she had school to think about, extracurriculars, scholarships, taking care of Aya, taking care of Obachan, taking care of the cats, handling the shop, putting out new music, new videos, photo shoots, socializing with her friends, charity benefits

It took accidentally overhearing Noa have a breakdown to actually set her mind on the Themyscira decision

She brought it up to her sister who was heartbroken and the idea brought up a lot of Noa’s insecurities, but in the end Noa said yes

Noa set the whole thing up through her new friend, Garfield Logan, who was more than happy to help

Aya lives with their great-grandmothers on Themyscira

She was happy to see that they were 10x more stable than Obachan

She studies all the classics, receives combat training, has been learning Ancient Greek, and her skill with dealing with her learning disabilities has improved and even aided her in some subjects

She FaceTimes her sister everyday and Mateu every month when he checks in

She watches every one of her sister’s concerts even during training, and which she gets reprimanded for

Has asked her sister if she can meet celebrities

Noa says next time she visits she can meet whoever she wants

Her hair has lightened to a lighter brown from being out in the sun all of the time

Has entered both the dreaded horse phase and dolphin phase

[ohlawsons]

vidcalls | 01

[ RE: THE SOUND OF YOUR VOICE IN THE DARK ]

SUMMARY. Business might keep Sophie and Reyes separated after the conclusion of their work on Kadara, but that doesn't mean they can't take time for the occasional message or visit. Or: some f!Ryder/Reyes interactions post-Kadara, because Bioware didn't give us enough in-game. Spoiler warnings will be marked at the beginning of each chapter. NOTES.  i still haven't finished the game but after the archon's flagship mission and doing the 3rd/4th parts of the ryder family secrets, i had no choice but to let sophie vent about some plot stuff. mission: ryder family secrets, the fourth unlocked memory also pls note i'm pulling stuff out of my ass for reyes' past bc all bioware gave us is """destroyed records""" with no helpful info LINKS. [ AO3 ] [ FFN ] [ sophie’s tag ]

She didn’t go see Scott like she’d planned, or Captain Dunn, or even Kandros.

When Sophie left SAM Node, she went straight to the Tempest, waving off Suvi’s greeting and Liam’s concern and shut herself in her quarters — lights off, windows closed, with only the soft glow of SAM’s interface to light the room. She cried — a good, hard cry like she hadn’t had in years — until her eyes hurt and her head pounded and her throat was raw.

It hadn’t occurred to her until that morning that she hadn’t ever properly mourned her mother’s death. At the funeral, Sophie had been so furious, so angry with Alec that it consumed her; he’d always treated her mother like a puzzle — especially as the disease worsened — and watching him stare at the casket in disappointment, like his failure was more of a tragedy than her death, had been the last straw for them both. She’d only spoken to Alec in the Milky Way once, after that, and it had been about the Initiative.

But watching it all over again, seeing herself with red-rimmed eyes and tousled hair as she clung to Scott, hearing the exhaustion and grief in both of their voices — it was almost like losing her mother a second time. That hadn’t even been the worst, though; Sophie had always suspected how Alec had felt, then, but actually experiencing it, feeling the wheels turning in his mind and listening to his insistence and excuses when all Ellen had wanted was a goodbye, had been enough to reignite the years of rage she’d harbored against him.

And what was she to do now? Talk about it? Drink about it? Continue to sit in silence and sulk over it? Any of those options required dealing with the issue — to varying degrees — and it was so much easier to just ignore it.

So that’s what she tried to do.

Pushing herself to sit upright, legs crossed, Sophie leaned against the headboard of her bed and pulled a tear-soaked pillow into her lap. She squinted against the light of her omnitool as she keyed in a familiar frequency, and as she waited for the connection to stabilize it occurred to her that she must be quite a sight, in her sweats with the hood pulled up, with nothing but her orange glow of the omnitool for light.

“It’s four in the morning, Ryder.”

She couldn’t make anything out on her omnitool’s screen, and assumed Reyes was in just as dark of a room as she was. Sleeping, probably, rather than having a minor crisis. “Damn. And here I was hoping you’d have time to get really drunk and have lots of sex.”

Sophie hadn’t missed the way her voice had wavered, and apparently neither had Reyes; there was the muted sound of shuffling from the other end of the call, then a light clicked on and Sophie was treated to a view of Reyes, without a shirt and with his usually carefully-styled hair looking delightfully mussed and unruly. “I’m not normally one to turn down an offer like that, but…” He trailed off, yawning. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” She fidgeted with the sleeve of her hoodie, and her resolve crumpled even without any prompting from Reyes. With a sigh, she leaned over to the panel on her bedside table and flicked on the light. “It’s stupid.  I mean, I’d be over it before I even got to Kadara, anyway.” Sophie had wanted to avoid the subject, and here she was prepared to talk through it with Reyes; she hadn’t ever done anything like this with him, and found herself wondering at what point she would have to pin a label on their thing — it wasn’t really a relationship; they weren’t really a couple —if they continued this trend of being about more than booze and sex and distractions on a hostile planet.

But Reyes was still waiting for an answer, and Sophie had more pressing things on her mind.

“It’s… Look, I’ll give you the short version because I don’t even know how to give you the long version,” she began, hugging the pillow in her lap with her free hand. She bit at her lip as she thought, not sure where the hell to even start explaining her enhanced link with SAM. “My pathfinder implant is more… complex than the others. Courtesy of my father, who apparently thought he was immortal and no one would ever have to deal with his own fucking—” With a hard sigh, Sophie let her shoulders drop and shook her head. “Not the point. Anyway, I can… see, I guess, some of his memories. Experience them.”

The hand that Reyes had been holding up, shielding his eyes from the light of his own omnitool, slowly moved so he could look at Sophie. Brow furrowing, he was quiet for a minute. “I’d like the long version of that, at some point. I think.” He frowned.

“You’ll have to get it from someone else, then, because I don’t understand it. Anyway, I…” She trailed off, teeth pressing harder into her lower lip. There was a reason she usually went to Gil or Liam when something was bothering her; Liam was just so easy to talk to — and their talks always began with him handing her a beer — and Gil had a knack for knowing when they needed to talk and when they needed drinks and a game of poker. It would be easier, she reckoned, if she was there with Reyes, instead of just on a vidcall, but then again the drinks and sex excuse might have actually worked. “SAM showed me a memory this morning, and… it was the last time I saw my mother.”

“Sophie…” Reyes pulled himself up so he was seated, rubbing the exhaustion from his eyes. The crisp white sheets pooled at his waist, but Sophie was too distracted to properly appreciate the view; either way, she was more focused on the concern etched into his features, a rare display for someone normally so suave and charismatic — rarer still that it was directed at Sophie. “Tell me about her.”

Not about it, not about the memory, not about the way her anger at Alec had overshadowed her grief at her mother’s death.

No, Reyes wanted to know about her, about Ellen, about the woman whose loss Sophie could still feel years later and a galaxy away.

“She was… kind. Above everything, she was kind. She was a glass-half-full type, but she had this thing about fate and acceptance and letting some things just happen. She used to always say… to say that—” Sophie took a shallow breath, feeling that familiar lump in her throat — one she’d thought she’d worked past, thought she’d trained herself to ignore when she talked about her mother.

But it was back, and all of a sudden her room felt too small — the whole ship felt too small — and she was faced with the fact that Ellen Ryder had died over six hundred years ago and Sophie had fled the galaxy where her mother was, and all she wanted was to claw her way back through dark space to Brazil.

“The first time Alec forgot mine and Scott’s birthday was when we turned seven,” she said, trying to pull herself back to the present conversation. “Scott wasn’t ever bothered by that stuff, not even then, but I just wanted us to be a family. I remember curling up in her lap and crying for forever.” Clearing her throat in an attempt to hide the shakiness that was beginning to creep into her voice, Sophie watched as Reyes studied her over the vidcall, taking in every word she spoke.

It felt good to be so openly wanted, and while Sophie had relished his initial one-track-mind sort of interest in her physically, Reyes’ recent earnest and eager desire to learn about her, about her life and her past, was something of a novelty for her. The relative openness they’d shared since Sloane’s death was… nice, and Sophie had been trying her best to embrace it.

“I was fifteen when I learned that he forgot their anniversary most years, too,” she continued. “I got right up in his face about it, yelling and saying all sorts of shit. Scott actually picked me up and carried me outside to calm down. I started buying her flowers every year — Mothers’ Day, Valentines, her birthday, anything that Alec could forget about.”

“That’s a much simpler solution that I would’ve expected from you,” Reyes commented, voice still rough with exhaustion but softened by admiration. “Then again — you are still single-handedly trying to patch up the galaxy’s problems.”

“Tell me about your mother,” Sophie suggested suddenly, pulling her knees to her chest; she was beginning to get restless, the way she always did when the conversation turned too personal and too open, but this time she had no desire to change the subject or end the call. No secrets between us, Reyes had said, hadn’t he, all those weeks ago in the aftermath of the Collective’s takeover of Kadara. While Sophie had thought she wanted to leave the Milky Way behind — let everything from that other life fade away —  with as much as she’d been thinking about her mother and São Paulo lately, she found herself with a fledgling interest in Reyes’ life, too.

He gave his head a little shake and laughed, a low, quiet sound that pulled a smile from Sophie. “You would have liked her, I think. She was always doing something, always working or cleaning up after us kids. There were four of us, and we each had our own way of causing trouble.”

She rested one cheek on her knees, a little surge of warmth spreading through her at the soft, distant gleam in Reyes’ eyes; she hadn’t expected nostalgia from a man like him. “Big family.”

“It’s easy to feel… lost,” he admitted, looking away as his smile began to fade, “with three older siblings. Like everything’s nearly run out by the time it makes it down to you.”

“You miss them?”

“I left them long before I joined the Initiative. But… yes.”

Their call fell into silence, and Sophie felt a pang of loneliness. She missed her mother, and she missed Scott, and in a way she missed Reyes — missed being close to him when all she wanted was to curl up beside him and sleep until her head stopped pounding and her chest stopped aching. “I’m gonna go see if Gil wants to grab something to drink before we have to leave the Nexus,” she decided, already dreading her decision to end the call. “And… Reyes? I know you’ve got Kadara to run these days, but when Scott’s up and walking again, I’d really like if you’d come visit.”

The corners of Reyes’ lips slowly curled up into a small smile, and when he spoke his voice was filled with a sincerity and honesty that Sophie was still getting used to. “Promise.”

[red-mafia-rpg-blog]

Gregor ValiguraVolkov || Brotherhood  || The Tempest

TAKEN | OPEN |

Face-claim: Jon Bernthal Age: 39 Occupation: N/A Nationality/Ethnicity: Russian

PERSONALITY

Enneagram: The Challenger Alignment: Neutral Evil MBTI: ENTP

+ Incorruptable, Principled, Venturesome

- Callous, Caustic, Pugnacious

From a young age, Gregor has always been somewhat of a rebellious, reckless child that enjoyed provoking fights and stirring up trouble. This behaviour reached its peak once he was taken in by the military and trained among his new comrades, topping in what others might call self-destructive tendencies. Along with that, he has always been carrying somewhat of a cynical and bitter attitude towards society and life in general, but paired with a sense of humour — possibly rather bizarre — it made for a person that acted much like a jerk but could be tolerated once you got to know him.His first actual love and later wife was the one to slow Gregor down for a while and heal him from what he has endured. Still, he would not let go of his reckless demeanour completely, but slowly turned into a considerate parent who cared about his wife and son more than his own life. The events of the war and of the aftermath, however, especially with the consequences of the Secret Police trying to recruit him, seemingly destroyed the glimpse of hope and happiness his wife had sown and cherished so carefully.Now, Gregor has turned into somewhat of an irascible person that only ever seems to come to life when in a fight with fists to his nose or stomach. He does not do emotions except for anger, wrath and rage, making his core identity. Underneath it all, however, he never quite let go of his parental instincts and is subconsciously always looking for a family he seeks to protect. Even though he refuses to acknowledge that to himself, this is mostly the reason why he ranked up so quickly in the Brotherhood and makes such a strong commander of support. He subconsciously sees all of his trainees, the people who belong to his syndicate in general, as family and whoever threatens to harm them… well, better think twice if it is worth the trouble.

BIOGRAPHY

Not even born yet, the mention of Gregor only brought up resentment. His father being no less a man than Pyotr Valigura, third Pakhan of the Valigura Bratva, an infamous, old and strong brotherhood, there wasn’t a place in the world for a mistake made by one of Moscow’s most powerful men: a bastard son; a problem originating in a random one-night-stand with a random barista after a random amount of alcohol. So a plan was counted up to clean Pyotr off his mistake before his fellow Valigura could find out. However, as his confidant arrived at the barista’s house to get the job done, nice and quickly, they found it abandoned, the expectant mother having disappeared off the face of the earth, or so it seemed. Her sister-in-law had taken her in while her husband was fighting at the front in the First World War, but knowing that she couldn’t hide from the brotherhood forever, she gave Gregor up for adoption.

The baby boy was taken in by the Volkovs, a family name well-known with his adoptive father a man close to Stalin. His parents never kept it a secret to Gregor that they’d adopted him — even though unaware of his true origins —, but this knowledge didn’t make a change about their family bonds. A few years into his childhood, he was promised to live a comfortable life, enjoying the family’s money and respect. These visions were rapidly shattered, however, when soldiers broke into their home one night, dragging their father away and sending them to Gulag, claiming he’s betrayed the Soviet Union. While Konstantin was eaten up by the shame and hatred for his father, Gregor distanced himself from the latest events.

He wasn’t my father anyway.

However, he couldn’t close his eyes from the truth that the family was left with no money or power, no future for the two boys. His mother, in her despair, sold herself to the men her husband had interacted with, only worsening the life they were forced to lead. Gregor and his younger brother were left to their own demise, somehow had to weave their way through life, until one day they saw the soldiers again.

This time, they were coming for the boys. With tensions rising in Europe and a new war seeming possible only few years after the massive failures in the Russian Empire’s participation in the First World War, the military hungered for new recruits. In memory of the family’s past, the Volkov brothers were to be moulded into perfect little soldiers, cleaning their name under the Soviet flag.

Konstantin had always been more of a reclusive boy who works hard a quiet and stayed out of the trouble for the better part. He had a mission, an aim to achieve: wash himself off of his father’s shame. Gregor, on the other hand, wasn’t driven by anything resembling that honourable motivation. In fact, he didn’t have a clue what to do with his life, was bored to death by everything, and just gasping for a little thrill. He ended up throwing himself head first into conflicts at every chance, more often than not needing his brother to bail him out of the fights again. Early into the training at the military, it was obvious that Gregor didn’t excel at hand-to-hand combat or short ranged weapons. But oh boy, when he first laid hand onto a sniper rifle. Sharpshooting quickly became his speciality. Finally, he was able to define himself over something, distance himself from the others, and so he’d spend hours and hours of practicing until there wasn’t a target he couldn’t hit, no matter the distance, his positioning, its movements or the wind. He also developed quite a fascination for explosives of all sorts — bombs, grenades, mines, missiles — but the rifle would always stay his weapon of choice.

Only two years before the outbreak of the Second World War, Gregor met the love of his life, Ana Matkin. A quick wit embedded into a stunning dark-haired and blue-eyed beauty, she completely threw his world upside-down, and in a head-over-heel decision somewhat mirroring his way of life, they got married and moved in together. By the time, Gregor almost broke contact with his brother. He was finally having it all: a loving wife, an adorable son, a life everyone was striving for. There simply wasn’t a place for Konstantin and the constant reminders of their past.

However, as war broke out, Gregor saw it coming and only waited for the day he and his brother were sent to the front. They fought side by side, had each other’s back, made sure to, one way or another, drag their sibling along and get them to safety. They made quite a team to be reckoned with. Until a mission in Germany went wrong, a trap, perhaps, Gregor doesn’t remember, but they got separated.

Gregor barely made it out alive and back to the camp where he was greeted with a simple “No” to his yet unspoken request. He tried to reason with the officer in charge, screamed at him, shouted, threatened him even, but all he was offered was a trip back to Moscow. Not just once, they told him that Konstantin as probably dead by now and if he wasn’t, God may have mercy on his soul. Gregor refused to let it end this way, and single-handedly slipped back behind enemy lines, only accompanied by a few comrades that couldn’t stand him so much but did it for his brother.

On a mission that should’ve meant certain death for each and every one of the soldiers, they infiltrated the Germans, found out where they were keeping Konstantin and delivered him from captivity. They never talked about what they did to him in those weeks, but he’s never been the same afterwards. Neither was Gregor, though, and when he finally returned to his wife and his son, eight years of age by then, he and Konstantin lost sight of each other and wouldn’t keep up any form on contact in a long while.

Processing the war, Gregor became quieter, calmer, but also more aggressive when provoked. Unable to talk about his emotions and claiming that no one could ever understand him anyway, he bottled up his anger, feeding that swelling hatred inside his stomach over the officer who had let down Konstantin just like that. After all that he’s done for his country. More and more frequently, Gregor would disappear down the basement for a couple hours, punching rough, solid stone walls until his knuckles broke and bled. Now that he’s witnessed it once, he couldn’t make the injustice unseen that loyal Russians like Konstantin and him, who had bled for their country, had to suffer.

Even though he desperately tried to ignore everything politics, the regular reports of how Stalin treated his people, the ones he should actually protect and care for, burnt a mark into Gregor’s heart. Ana was quick to realise the change of mind her husband was going through, trying to silence his rebellious, traitorous remarks about their government, but with no success.

Hardly a year back in Moscow, the secret police, hiding their true identity from him, of course, contacted him with an offer: either join them and go on mission for the Soviet Union in order to stabilise the country and preserve peace, or have them slaughter his wife and his son and all of his beloved ones. If only he knew who he was dealing with, maybe he would have decided differently. But then again, he’s always been somewhat of a bullethead, clinging onto his own principles way too strictly. And perhaps, too, he wanted to dare them to act on their thread.

Well, they did. A couple weeks later after he almost forgot about the strange encounter that had made him laugh for the first time in a long period, Gregor returned home from a run late in the evening and found the remains of his wife spread in their living room; crimson red had soaked into the furniture, covered all of the walls and read a barbaric note on the wall: Save your son.

He’s seen a lot while at the front; comrades carrying their own guts as they stumbled in shock, and others having their skin melting off their faces from the heat of an explosion. It was fair to say he had become inured to horrifying sights, but that scene that was presented to him in his very living room, made him double over and empty his stomach onto the carpeted floor. It was a moment of weakness, bare seconds, but a warrior doesn’t mourn the dead until the war is over. And so he pushed himself onto his feet, went for the sniper rifle he was carefully stowing beneath his bed, and climbed onto his home’s roof. They couldn’t be far, he hoped.

Yet he was surprised when he made out two silhouettes in the dark; a dark figure dressed all in black and his little Tad with his unmistakeable blonde locks being dragged to a car. Having a rough idea just which organisation he was dealing with, Gregor knew what awaited the boy; pain and torture and the fact that he was only nine years old wouldn’t make a difference to his capturers. So he raised the rifle, aimed and felt his finger sliding onto the trigger like it had countless times before. He wasn’t shaking, he wasn’t trembling, he was as calm as he’s trained to be. Gregor exhaled and a shot echoed from Moscow’s walls.

Completely numb, zoned out even, he watched as Tad went down, but much more interesting was the reaction of his capturer. He knelt down, almost as if in despair, hands clenched tightly onto the kid, holding him as he shook, fighting for his last breaths. The man raised his head, staring directly to Gregor’s spot on the roof. And even though he keeps telling himself that his mind must’ve fooled him, Gregor still believes to have seen all too familiar blue orbs reflecting his own pain.

After the events of the night, Gregor ended up where his story had started way back; joining the Bratva for good. He had grown numb to pain and emotions. Only hatred and wrath, bottled up deep inside, kept him going, made him get up the morning. He proved his loyalty and value to the brotherhood not only once or twice, but over and over again until he was promoted to rank 3, training officer. The trainees that had been assigned to work with him, utterly hated every second of it, but he taught them everything he learned from the military, war and his years in the tunnels. If they survived his training, they’d survive anything.

Only a few weeks back, their Pakhan found a special interest in Gregor and shortly after, he was promoted to the position of commander of support. Even though he told him it was the reward for his exemplary qualifications and achievements, Gregor can’t shake off the feeling that there’s more to it.

[anchorarcade]

Congress is finally asking Facebook, Twitter, and Google the right questions.

http://ryanguillory.com/congress-is-finally-asking-facebook-twitter-and-google-the-right-questions/

Congress is finally asking Facebook, Twitter, and Google the right questions.

The lawyers of Silicon Valley.

Drew Angerer/Getty Images

For years, the big tech companies have been running their wildly influential products with relatively little accountability. With few exceptions, they talk to the press only about the topics they feel like discussing and only under the most favorable of terms. Any reporter who covers these firms has a hundred good, important questions he or she wishes they could ask their executives on the record at any given time. The companies don’t allow it.

But for several hours on Tuesday afternoon, the general counsels of Facebook, Google, and Twitter sat before a Senate subcommittee and answered questions, under oath, about their companies’ role in purveying Russian-linked disinformation to American voters, both before and after the 2016 election. The hearing, held by the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Crime and Terrorism Subcommittee, was the first of three that the companies will face this week.

It was a rare opportunity, and the senators did not waste it.

Are foreign governments still using these tech companies’ platforms to meddle in our politics? (Maybe.) How do you know? (We don’t.) Is it possible that Iran or North Korea could be doing the same things as Russia? (It is.) Do you even know who all of your advertisers are at any given time? (No.) Are you media companies or technology companies? (Technology companies.)

The questions, in many cases, were more satisfying than the answers. That’s partly because, even facing unprecedented pressure from the public and Congress, none of the three companies was willing to put its top executives in the line of fire: Each sent a lawyer instead, presumably to make sure nothing overly candid would be revealed.

All three lawyers managed to avoid any serious missteps, though their reticence made them come across as a bit clueless at times. And the absence of the companies’ public faces—people like Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg or Sheryl Sandberg, Twitter’s Jack Dorsey, or Google’s Sundar Pichai—signaled that, for all their carefully PR-managed displays of concern, they still think they’re entitled to stay out of the fray.

As a result, Tuesday’s hearing alone seems unlikely to be a turning point of any sort for these companies, although who knows exactly what lessons the committee members took from it. The most interesting disclosures were those that the companies volunteered in their prepared statements, such as Facebook’s new finding that some 126 million users read political posts disseminated by Russia’s Kremlin-linked Internet Research Agency. (Earlier it had focused on the dollar amount of ads paid for by the group, which was a way of minimizing the scope of its influence.) The lawyers were determined not to let slip much else of substance under the questioning. Perhaps Wednesday’s sessions will reveal more.

Yet even in the face of the lawyers’ stonewalling, several senators managed to shine light on both the enormous power these companies have acquired and the ways in which they’ve fallen short of its attendant responsibilities.

A visibly miffed Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota put his finger on this disconnect with his first question. “How could Facebook, which prides itself on being able to process billions of data points and instantly transform them into personal connections for its users, somehow not make the connection that electoral ads paid for in rubles were coming from Russia?” he asked. Facebook’s general counsel, Colin Stretch, was at a loss. “In hindsight, we should have had a broader lens,” he finally stammered. “There are signals we missed.”

Franken: “You put billions of data points together all the time…… YOU CAN’T PUT TOGETHER RUBLES WITH A POLITICAL AD?” https://t.co/rSkIoTINTf

— Dylan Byers (@DylanByers) October 31, 2017

Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, cut through Stretch’s rhetoric about cracking down on actors using its platform to spread “vile” and divisive political messages. “How are you going to sort this out consistent with the basic values of this country when it comes to freedom of expression?” he asked. Stretch: “It’s a great question. I don’t suggest it’s easy.”

Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota pressed Google as to whether it’s funneling money to the Kremlin-backed media outlet Russia Today via its YouTube revenue-sharing programs. Richard Salgado, the company’s director of law enforcement and information security, stammered that he was “not sure of the information flow.” All three companies also declined to commit to supporting the Honest Ads Act, a bill co-authored by Klobuchar that would require greater transparency and disclosure in online ads.

Some of the most penetrating questions came from one of the least-known senators, Republican John Kennedy of Louisiana. Speaking slowly and in plain language, Kennedy opened with a line that encapsulated how a lot of Americans feel about Silicon Valley these days. “I think you do enormous good,” he said—“but your power sometimes scares me.” He proceeded to press Facebook on whether the sheer scale of its automated ad platform makes it impossible for the company to fully control. “You’ve got 5 million advertisers, and you’re trying to tell me you’re going to be able to trace the origin of all of those advertisers?” he asked. Stretch conceded the company can’t know for sure who all of them are.

Kennedy also interrogated Stretch as to how much Facebook knows about individual users, highlighting an internal document that leaked in May that showed the company promoting its ability to target teens with ads at times when they’re feeling emotionally vulnerable. Stretch pointed repeatedly to Facebook’s internal policies, which he said have been updated to prevent such applications of its ad tools, but Kennedy wasn’t having it. He said he was concerned about what Facebook has the capacity to do, even if its policies officially prohibit it. (He’s right to be concerned about that.)

One senator who seemed to miss the point was Ted Cruz of Texas. He spent most of his time accusing the platforms of political bias, dredging up old studies that showed Google searches surfaced more positive results, on average, for Democratic politicians than their Republican counterparts. And he reminded everyone of the mostly bogus 2016 controversy in which some Facebook contractors admitted that they trusted outlets such as the New York Times more than conservative outlets when it came to choosing sources for the site’s “Trending” news section.

That tempest prompted Facebook to pull back from human oversight of the section and delegate more power to shoddy algorithms—a retrenchment that may have played a role in allowing fake news and Russian propaganda to flourish. Yet here was Cruz, treating the hearing as another chance to rail about media bias and accuse tech companies of injecting their own politics into their products.

The senators may not have gotten the answers they wanted Tuesday. But at least they raised the stakes that these companies face when they try to sidestep or downplay tough questions about their responsibilities. They do it habitually with the media and pay a relatively small price in the form of tech coverage that often carries a cynical undercurrent. Stonewall members of Congress enough, however, and they’re risking the ire of a group of people who actually have the power to do something about it.

Source link

[awesomefelicitylewis-blog]

Congress is finally asking Facebook, Twitter, and Google the right questions.

http://ryanguillory.com/congress-is-finally-asking-facebook-twitter-and-google-the-right-questions/

Congress is finally asking Facebook, Twitter, and Google the right questions.

The lawyers of Silicon Valley.

Drew Angerer/Getty Images

For years, the big tech companies have been running their wildly influential products with relatively little accountability. With few exceptions, they talk to the press only about the topics they feel like discussing and only under the most favorable of terms. Any reporter who covers these firms has a hundred good, important questions he or she wishes they could ask their executives on the record at any given time. The companies don’t allow it.

But for several hours on Tuesday afternoon, the general counsels of Facebook, Google, and Twitter sat before a Senate subcommittee and answered questions, under oath, about their companies’ role in purveying Russian-linked disinformation to American voters, both before and after the 2016 election. The hearing, held by the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Crime and Terrorism Subcommittee, was the first of three that the companies will face this week.

It was a rare opportunity, and the senators did not waste it.

Are foreign governments still using these tech companies’ platforms to meddle in our politics? (Maybe.) How do you know? (We don’t.) Is it possible that Iran or North Korea could be doing the same things as Russia? (It is.) Do you even know who all of your advertisers are at any given time? (No.) Are you media companies or technology companies? (Technology companies.)

The questions, in many cases, were more satisfying than the answers. That’s partly because, even facing unprecedented pressure from the public and Congress, none of the three companies was willing to put its top executives in the line of fire: Each sent a lawyer instead, presumably to make sure nothing overly candid would be revealed.

All three lawyers managed to avoid any serious missteps, though their reticence made them come across as a bit clueless at times. And the absence of the companies’ public faces—people like Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg or Sheryl Sandberg, Twitter’s Jack Dorsey, or Google’s Sundar Pichai—signaled that, for all their carefully PR-managed displays of concern, they still think they’re entitled to stay out of the fray.

As a result, Tuesday’s hearing alone seems unlikely to be a turning point of any sort for these companies, although who knows exactly what lessons the committee members took from it. The most interesting disclosures were those that the companies volunteered in their prepared statements, such as Facebook’s new finding that some 126 million users read political posts disseminated by Russia’s Kremlin-linked Internet Research Agency. (Earlier it had focused on the dollar amount of ads paid for by the group, which was a way of minimizing the scope of its influence.) The lawyers were determined not to let slip much else of substance under the questioning. Perhaps Wednesday’s sessions will reveal more.

Yet even in the face of the lawyers’ stonewalling, several senators managed to shine light on both the enormous power these companies have acquired and the ways in which they’ve fallen short of its attendant responsibilities.

A visibly miffed Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota put his finger on this disconnect with his first question. “How could Facebook, which prides itself on being able to process billions of data points and instantly transform them into personal connections for its users, somehow not make the connection that electoral ads paid for in rubles were coming from Russia?” he asked. Facebook’s general counsel, Colin Stretch, was at a loss. “In hindsight, we should have had a broader lens,” he finally stammered. “There are signals we missed.”

Franken: “You put billions of data points together all the time…… YOU CAN’T PUT TOGETHER RUBLES WITH A POLITICAL AD?” https://t.co/rSkIoTINTf

— Dylan Byers (@DylanByers) October 31, 2017

Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, cut through Stretch’s rhetoric about cracking down on actors using its platform to spread “vile” and divisive political messages. “How are you going to sort this out consistent with the basic values of this country when it comes to freedom of expression?” he asked. Stretch: “It’s a great question. I don’t suggest it’s easy.”

Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota pressed Google as to whether it’s funneling money to the Kremlin-backed media outlet Russia Today via its YouTube revenue-sharing programs. Richard Salgado, the company’s director of law enforcement and information security, stammered that he was “not sure of the information flow.” All three companies also declined to commit to supporting the Honest Ads Act, a bill co-authored by Klobuchar that would require greater transparency and disclosure in online ads.

Some of the most penetrating questions came from one of the least-known senators, Republican John Kennedy of Louisiana. Speaking slowly and in plain language, Kennedy opened with a line that encapsulated how a lot of Americans feel about Silicon Valley these days. “I think you do enormous good,” he said—“but your power sometimes scares me.” He proceeded to press Facebook on whether the sheer scale of its automated ad platform makes it impossible for the company to fully control. “You’ve got 5 million advertisers, and you’re trying to tell me you’re going to be able to trace the origin of all of those advertisers?” he asked. Stretch conceded the company can’t know for sure who all of them are.

Kennedy also interrogated Stretch as to how much Facebook knows about individual users, highlighting an internal document that leaked in May that showed the company promoting its ability to target teens with ads at times when they’re feeling emotionally vulnerable. Stretch pointed repeatedly to Facebook’s internal policies, which he said have been updated to prevent such applications of its ad tools, but Kennedy wasn’t having it. He said he was concerned about what Facebook has the capacity to do, even if its policies officially prohibit it. (He’s right to be concerned about that.)

One senator who seemed to miss the point was Ted Cruz of Texas. He spent most of his time accusing the platforms of political bias, dredging up old studies that showed Google searches surfaced more positive results, on average, for Democratic politicians than their Republican counterparts. And he reminded everyone of the mostly bogus 2016 controversy in which some Facebook contractors admitted that they trusted outlets such as the New York Times more than conservative outlets when it came to choosing sources for the site’s “Trending” news section.

That tempest prompted Facebook to pull back from human oversight of the section and delegate more power to shoddy algorithms—a retrenchment that may have played a role in allowing fake news and Russian propaganda to flourish. Yet here was Cruz, treating the hearing as another chance to rail about media bias and accuse tech companies of injecting their own politics into their products.

The senators may not have gotten the answers they wanted Tuesday. But at least they raised the stakes that these companies face when they try to sidestep or downplay tough questions about their responsibilities. They do it habitually with the media and pay a relatively small price in the form of tech coverage that often carries a cynical undercurrent. Stonewall members of Congress enough, however, and they’re risking the ire of a group of people who actually have the power to do something about it.

Source link

[realfinemood]

Ryder Appreciation Week Meme!

Questions are from here. I’m going to do all of them instead of waiting for asks because apparently I have A LOT of stuff I want to say about Gwendolyn Ryder.

1. Does your Ryder like their father?

It’s complicated. She loves him, because… he’s her dad. But she can’t really say she particularly liked him. That would require him actually being around, or being present when he was. She can admit that she worked harder in school partly out of a desire for his approval, but the fact that she was more interested in science and tech than becoming an N7 like him didn’t really help. The fact that Scott tried even harder for his approval and still failed bothered her more than anything. She’s not a big fan of how he treats other people in general. (She knows she’s not super great with emotions either, but she likes to think she handles it better.)

It was getting better with the Initiative, though she had to work through her own anger that Dad’s work had ruined her own standing with a career she loved. That he saved her life at the cost of his own is a shock to her, one that she feels completely guilty about, and the fact that she can’t talk to Scott - the only person who’d really understand - makes it worse. The memories make things even more confusing, and hearing Cora talk about things she really should already know makes her feel even more guilty, but it’s at least made her understand her father a bit more.

2. How does your Ryder feel about their sibling?

Gwendolyn adores her baby brother. She knows she’s not really older than him in any important way, but she’s always been overprotective of him, even more so the more distant Dad grew. (Scott grumbles about it, but knows that’s her way of showing she cares.) Growing up they were partners in crime, but she’d always take the blame and claimed she talked him into it, especially if Mom was particularly mad about whatever it was. When they got older and he got a bit angrier/more emotional, she’d often let him just vent at her about everything, or bail him out when needed.

3. If given the chance, do you think your Ryder would be a good Nexus Director?

Not remotely. She didn’t fly 600 years to a different galaxy just to sit around playing school principal. The politics she has to deal with as Pathfinder are bad enough, thanks.

4. What’s your Ryder’s favorite weapon?

Gwen’s not really a weapon fangirl in any way? But when she saw that she could make a Black Widow that wouldn’t break her arm to use, she had to have it. That and whatever pistol she can find works for her.

5. What’s your Ryder’s fighting style/class? (biotic sniper can be a thing now!)

Her main fighting style is "build as manly tech toys as she can.” Her omnitool back in the Milky Way was modded with everything she could think up, but she needed a new one to integrate with Sam and the scanner. When she figured out how to get a flamethrower from it, it was love. When she got a shiny Remnant VI to replace her turret, Peebee became her new best friend. 

6. Does your Ryder get along well with Tann, Addison, Kandros or Kesh?

She sympathized with Tann at first - having a job that you’re not remotely prepared for? Totally understand. But the political bullshit got old fast. She gave Addison shit but knew she was completely right to distrust her ability to be Pathfinder. After having to do clean up on so many of her screw-ups though, Ryder’s general opinion of Addison is just to roll her eyes. Kandros is great - the fact that he knew everything that was going on was a lot for her and offered her a friendly shoulder meant a lot, even if they don’t agree on much. She really likes Kesh and considers her a friend, which is why the fact that even she didn’t stand up for her about going to Meridian hurt more than she expected it to.

7. Is your Ryder good at driving the Nomad?

She is and her squad can shut it. No but really, she drives fine. A slight tendency to drive up things that are clearly too steep to be climbed, but that’s what six wheels are for and you never know until you try, right?

8. What is the one Pathfinder task that your Ryder hates?

The speeches Addison makes her give everytime they start up an outpost. There’s things to explore and science to do and the galaxy is at least a tiny bit more stable. Either people will see that or they won’t, she doesn’t really get how making an awkward speech about it will help. Keri’s interviews she gets and just telling the truth is easy enough. But the speeches are time she could be spending doing literally anything else, and surely there’s people who could do a much better job of explaining.

She also hates that she has to spend some much time killing remnant instead of studying them, though that seems to be more an “existing in Adromeda” thing than a Pathfinder thing. She’s trying to take Peebee’s “can’t study them if they kill me” motto to heart.

9. What does your Ryder enjoy about being a Pathfinder?

She gets to initiate first contact with an alien species and explore vaults and alien planets before almost anyone else from the Milky Way. That is amazing and she’s definitely not taking it for granted.

10. How does your Ryder feel about the memories they unlocked?

Seeing Mom again hurt like hell. She always told Scott that of course Dad loved Mom, he was just grieving differently, but she never really 100% believed it until she watched them. Which brought more guilt of course, and more anger that he could just be with her instead of obsessing over Sam fixing her, but it was good to actually see that for herself. The fact that they could one day get Mom back is… something she’s putting off thinking about.

11. Does your Ryder consider SAM a friend/sibling/…?

Sam was Dad’s little project that screwed over her career and the thing he’d obsess about instead of spending what little time she had left with Mom. Once he’s in her head, well. Not much she can do about it, so might as well accept it, and it’s not like she can blame him anyways. She quickly grows to trust him and “friend” is probably a good word for it, though she’s more fascinated by the process of an AI learning and comparing her and her father’s actions. And teaching him her terrible sense of humor is a nice bonus.

12. What’s your Ryder’s favorite location in Andromeda?

Havarl. Not only is it gorgeous, but the ecology and the mutation of it is fascinating. She’s glad the council didn’t force the issue of putting a colony there, but she does which she could spend more time with the scientist there to study everything that’s going on.

13. If your Ryder could give one gift to their LI (if there is one!), what would they give?

The idea that she could find it when Vetra and all her contacts couldn’t is ridiculous, but she definitely recruited Sid into a fruitless attempt to find that ugly lamp Vetra wanted so much. She attempted making one and it was so terrible but Vetra loved it anyway, once she was done hysterically laughing at it.

14. How does your Ryder feel about the fight between Kallo and Gil?

She gets why Gil did what he does, and she quite frankly agreed with him. No matter how good Kallo’s team was, Andromeda brought things they couldn’t have expected. But that didn’t give him a license to be a dick to Kallo about it, or to not share with the rest of the crew when he changed things, or to make those changes while they were in flight. By all means, fix what needs fixing. But actually remember other people have value too.

15. What does your Ryder think about Shepard?

(I have no idea if this lines up with the timeline, but I’m going with it.) Gwendolyn and Scott were on the Citadel during the geth attack, though their ward was locked away from the real action. They only have news reports and friend-of-a-friend second hand stories, but she knows that Shepard and her team are what saved the day. Even if the council dying meant the Citadel got a little less fun for humans afterwards, she still thinks Shepard was pretty badass.

16. Does your Ryder like the other Pathfinders?

Definitely. She can’t help but feel empathy for people scared and still helping or working despite their grief. She doesn’t know Hayjer as well as Vederia and Avitus, but the fact that they all stepped up and supported her means a hell of a lot.

17. What is the one lesson your Ryder learned in Andromeda?

Planning things out and taking time to think them through is great, but it’s also a luxury. She was always a look before you leap kind of person, but Andromeda has taught her the interesting new strategy of “no one else has a clue, so wing it and figure out how much trouble you’re in later.”

18. What is the hardest thing your Ryder had to do in their life?

Leaving Scott to go pathfind. It was hard enough leaving him behind when it was only going to be a short trip. But taking off in the Tempest made her feel like she was abandoning him. Sure, there was nothing she could have done, and he was in good hands with Harry, but she was supposed to protect him and she couldn’t help feeling like she’d massively failed.

19. Does your Ryder like memes?

Absolutely. She makes sure to share the best ones with Liam and the most annoying ones with the entirety of the Tempest.

20. Which song would represent your Ryder well?

A combination of Fake It Till You Make It by BRIIA and Journey (Ready to Fly) by Natasha Blume.

And another meme because I can, I did this archetypes quiz with Gwendolyn:

And one with Lalla Shepard cause why not: