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seesgood · 3 years

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can we very gently talk about call out posts / culture really quick? not in a judgmental way, but in like a: i just want to pose a thought and explain why i’m never going to buy into it and why i wish it would become less of a trend instead of more of one? and i’ll add the disclaimer here: i totally get not wanting certain people around you for various reasons, that is all your prerogative. that’s your comfort level. but in emphasizing “your blog should be a safe space” we’re kind’ve losing sight of the fact that the rpc should also be a safe space, and as much as your comfort and safety matter, so do other people’s. and not just the person who hurt you, but the third parties and other mutuals and 99.9% of people who are not at all involved in any way in whatever happened. so, anyway here goes, read it or don’t, we all have different opinions or reasons, i just want to be heard:

people are allowed to change. think back to who you were last year. two years ago. think about the stuff you said when you were seventeen, or twenty-one, or hell whatever age you were. current-you would probably cringe at the kind of stuff past-you had to say. because you grew. you learned. you had life experiences. in hindsight you have the freedom to be like “oof yeah that was not the best version of myself right there damn i don’t want to be like that again.” the growing trend of ‘here’s a 10+ page google doc complete with out of context screenshots that sometimes date back to like 2017 or earlier’ makes this kind of change impossible. because right there, you’ve just frozen a person in time, probably not at their best, removed any and all amounts of context, and put it on the internet and let other people judge it for themselves.

so that leads into another point that i want to just kinda present to the community at large: the act of documenting behaviors and storing them for months / years at a time, in itself creates a super unsafe environment, not just for you, your friends, the people who have hurt you --- but also for anyone else that isn’t at all involved in whatever happened. like, for example, i like to think that i’m a pretty nice person. i actively try to be a nice person. am i sometimes not having the best day? have people definitely caught me in bad moments? oh hell yeah. but am i, as someone who tries really hard to be nice and welcoming, constantly thinking through every message i send to someone knowing that a) i could have a reputation that makes them read into context that isn’t there and that could contribute to them misinterpreting words i meant in a different way, b) very aware that every post i make, ask i send, message i send can at any moment be screenshotted and posted and taken out of context and either serve as someone’s only opinion of me or pile on to someone’s existing opinion of me? yeah. so in my experience, and based on people i’ve talked to, we now have this thing where you can be surface-friends wtih a lot of people, but if you want to survive in the tumblr rpc you should really only have 2-3 people that you really trust that you can actually talk about shit with.

and lately i’ve been seeing a resurgence of posts on my dash about like “bring back xyz in the rpc” or “the reason the rpc is like this is because of xyz” and i both agree and disagree with a lot of this, but primarily i think the reason the rpc is Off lately is because everyone and their cousin has a DNI, which is --- again --- your decision and i understand and respect that, but while you know the context of every name on that DNI, other people don’t. and to be honest: other people don’t really care and honestly maybe they shouldn’t care. --- and don’t get me wrong, your friends should care if someone has hurt you. that’s important. but joe billy bob who just wants to write their character with yours is going to read through your rules, they’re going to see “do not interact with me if you follow with or interact with these people you’ve never heard of and if you want me to tell you why just message me” (which no one is ever going to do, i’m sorry to say). and say, joe billy bob also followed that other person because they were like ‘omg this blog looks cool’ --- now joe billy bob, who just wants to write cool plots, is suddenly the middle-man in some type of drama that they do not understand, and maybe they’re able to remove themselves from the situation, but even then it’s still in the back of your mind.

this is getting long. it’ll be longer, but let’s take a brief break for me to remind you that in some cases, it’s definitely good to give your mutuals and friends a heads up when someone has done something really, really bad. like, remember x amount of years ago when some dude was like ‘i’m gonna make up a new person and say they died by suicide as a social experiment’ or ‘hey this person actively tries to force very triggering plots about abuse / rape / incest onto people and has been doing so for years and does not seem to change their ways no matter how many people try to educate them’ that’s shit people should probably know about. and it’s also okay ( in my opinion ) for your friends to be able to message you like ‘hey i saw you’re writing with x and i just wanted to let you know i had this experience with them’ if that’s something they feel comfortable doing. and if they are comfortable with you still having the autonomy to make your own decision regarding the person.

i’ll be honest, for a second: i’ve been part of friendships and groups that have turned really toxic for one reason or another. a handful of times. there are probably people out there that are like “yeah this chick is really fake and manipulative and etc, i was friends with her back in 2019″ which, okay. yeah. i’ve definitely done shit and said shit that was not the most representative of who i want to be and who i want to become, and you probably have to. because we are human beings and we are a product of our social groups and the community around us. and you shouldn’t be chained to a version of you that isn’t you anymore. people change. they grow. you don’t have to like them, but you should respect that sometimes people don’t mesh, and that doesn’t mean any of them are bad people, it just means the experience was bad.

a few additional notes i would like to make but i’ve already gone on way too long:

90% of the callout posts that i’ve seen and the DNI’s that i’ve seen can, in my opinion, be classified as a friend group thing. you were friends with x, x did something, now y and z aren’t friends with x anymore. pain is a very, very real thing and people hurting you should never be minimized, but at some point i just want you to remember that not every friendship is going to end happily, but both you and the other party should be allowed to move on and grow better, healthier friendships after. rehashing Friend Group Gone Wrong instances removes that ability for not only person x, but also person y and z.

you putting out a callout says just as much ( maybe more ) about you than it does about the other person. which sucks. because i’d like to think we all have great intentions, and i’m not saying that you should swallow your pain, but it might not be the kind of thing that impacts the community at large, and maybe you should try to find a better way of working through it with a trusted friend(s)

i’m going to be very real and very blunt on this one: literally no one cares. i say that with love. i’m good friends with people who have each other on their DNI’s. establish a baseline of respect and ‘i’m not going to say anything to them about you and vice versa because there’s no need for me to do so’ and move on. but seriously. no one cares. most outside people read callout posts because they like being in the know about the drama, not because they actually care.

person a and person b who are mentioned in the DNI / callout aren’t the only ones who are going to be affected. your friends, your mutuals, your writing partners are now all put in a weird spot where you have to pick sides on an issue you know nothing about and shouldn’t have to know anything about. you’re asking people to choose sides on an issue they cannot fully understand, and that’s not fair to them or to you. and it drives great people away. and then we all lose out on having more awesome people in the rpc.

you’re entitled to your safe space, but this is a public platform and you are also responsible for maintaining your safe space. you shouldn’t put it entirely on other people to do that for you. you can block, blacklist, make up funny names for, or spitefully erase from your many anything and anyone that you wish. but you shouldn’t make your friends do it for you.

there’s always an inherent power imbalance when any kind of drama occurs between those who have more followers / friends / connections and those who do not. and the smaller blog is always going to suffer a little bit more because they don’t have people blindly coming to their defense.

bad moments, bad experiences, bad decisions DO NOT equal bad people.

allow people to make up their own mind about something or someone

anywho, if you read through this whole thing i think i owe you financial compensation. but also thank you for reading / listening / considering. even if you rolled your eyes through the whole thing like “stfu lia” that’s fine. i’m just presenting an alternative thought. i’d like to once again state: i’m not judging you if you’ve made a callout/DNI or if you’re on a callout/DNI. like i literally don’t care. and frankly, in my opinion, i shouldn’t have to. because i, and you, and your friends, and your mutuals, and your non-mutuals should be allowed the space to make up their own opinion and mind on something or someone without being told that there will be consequences if they don’t agree with you. set boundaries. communicate in healthy ways. you don’t have to forgive the people who have hurt or wronged you, but you also don’t get to decide that their actions make up 100% of who they are as a person, or decide that that is the only side of that person people should get to see.

#ʟᴇᴛ’s ᴛᴀʟᴋ ɢʀᴏᴜɴᴅ ʀᴜʟᴇs ⸺ psa.#/ long post cw.#when i say long i mean LONG #i could do an entire dissertation on this #i could do a ted talk #but ys know #if anyone wanted to do some ahem non-light reading this morning #*jazz hands*#( if you want to reblog this monstrosity you definitely can )

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irandrura · 3 years

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The Elder Scrolls - a disclaimer and rant

I am going to make some posts about The Elder Scrolls, and in particular, its background, setting, and characters. That means that a disclaimer is probably necessary.

Here’s the tl;dr version: yes, I know about the lore. Please trust me when I say that I was really super into it about a decade and a half ago, and I’ve kept an eye on it since. I have read the Michael Kirkbride forum posts. I have read C0DA, The Seven Fights of the Aldudagga, Sermon Zero, the Loveletter from the Fifth Era, and so on. I know the forum roleplays like The Trial of Vivec. I know that Ayrenn is really a time-travelling mining robot from outer space. I think all the stuff I just referenced varies widely in quality, opinions quite reasonably differ on it, and it’s frequently at odds with what’s actually depicted in the games, but at any rate, I promise that I know it.

So when I go on and talk about Psijics – I know, all right? I know. I am choosing to engage with the setting on a level that focuses more on characters, human stories, and, well, the narratives of the games. The TES apocrypha is interesting, but of limited relevance to the things I’m interested in. There are many valid ways to enjoy TES. Okay?

Now, the longer part:

If you haven’t played TES, and… actually, scratch that, for like 90% of people who’ve played TES, none of the above needed to be said. The thing is, when you play a TES game, it is a fairly straightforward elves-and-wizards-and-dragons fantasy setting in the D&D mould. Indeed, the earliest versions of it, back in the 90s, were based on a D&D campaign. So there’s relatively little surprising about it, and “it’s like D&D” will carry you most of the way towards understanding it.

However, TES games are also renowned for containing lots of in-game books you can read, which are often some of the most striking and evocative parts of the games. These are supplemented by a large library of apocrypha: often unofficial material, posted by developers (and ex-developers) on the internet. The most infamous of these writers is Michael Kirkbride, who has some… very unusual tastes and interests, but there are a range of other names as well. In any case, the result is that TES has an ‘expanded universe’ composed of these non-canonical writings. Often canonical texts in-game hint at some of this vast, unofficial hinterland, and sometimes ideas invented in the apocrypha sneak back into the games themselves.

Further, the apocrypha often hints at what seems to be a very different setting to the one directly experienced in the games: one that’s less about warriors and wizards and adventure and more one about divine magic, transcendence, myth, and meaning. The descriptions often seem to be somewhat at odds. This can best be demonstrated with some examples.

For instance, here is Michael Kirkbride’s description of a High Elf warship, written before any game had depicted the High Elf homeland:

Made of crystal and solidified sunlight, with wings though they do not fly, and prows that elongate into swirling Sun-Birds, and gem-encrusted mini-trebuchets fit for sailing which fire pure aetheric fire, and banners, banners, banners, listing their ancestors all the way back to the Dawn.

This is Old Mary at Water.

You will immediately notice two things. The first is that this sounds really cool. Some of it you need some context to parse (the old elven homeland is called ‘Aldmeris’, hence ‘Old Mary’ as a mocking nickname given by its foes; the High Elves believe that they are literally, genealogically descended from the spirits that created the world at the Dawn), but even so, man, that warship sounds awesome. This Kirkbride guy can write. The second thing, though, is that it is extremely unclear what any of this even means. Given that descriptions… what does this ship look like? Try to picture it! What the heck does ‘crystal and solidified sunlight’ look like? How exactly does a trebuchet throw fire? What?

You might then go on to play a video game where the High Elves are taking part in a war to conquer the continent. If you’re like me, you’re probably keen to see one of these fabled warships. But then it turns out that in-game, High Elf ships look… like this. Or like this.

(Indeed, the High Elves are often a good example of this. An earlier written text, in a pamphlet enclosed with the video game Redguard, described the elven capital of Alinor as “made from glass or insect wings” or “a hypnotic swirl of ramparts and impossibly high towers, designed to catch the light of the sun and break it into its component colours”. Needless to say, should you visit it in a game, it does not look like that.)

After a while, you start to notice that there is very little connection between the world implied by the apocrypha and the world experienced in the games. Kirkbride says that the “closest mythical model” for the ancient knight Pelinal “would be Gilgamesh, with a dash of T-800 thrown in, and a full-serving of brain-fracture slaughterhouse antinomial Kill(3) functions stuck in his hand or head”, and says “Pelinal was and is an insane collective swarmfoam war-fractal from the future”. Indeed in Kirkbride’s descriptions Pelinal seems to have been an ultraviolent schizophrenic who led a wild, genocidal band of anti-elven warriors, was very definitely gay, and who had only a red, gaping hole where his heart ought to be (which in turn is a reference to the missing heart of the creator-trickster deity Lorkhan, whom Pelinal was in part a mortal incarnation of). You might find that really cool or you might find it banal, but there’s no denying that it’s extremely different to the Pelinal whose ghost you can meet in-game. The apocryphal Pelinal is a mad butcher whose closest mythic model, contra Kirkbride, actually seems to be Achilles; the game Pelinal is a straightforwardly sympathetic chivalric knight. This is complicated somewhat by the in-game books being written by Kirkbride and therefore being gonzo bananas insane, so the ‘canon’, such as it is, is unclear – but at any rate it is impossible to deny that there’s an incongruity.

I could go on with examples for a long time. I haven’t even mentioned the most famous – the 1st edition PGE description of Cyrodiil compared to what it actually looks like in Oblivion – or more recent ones, like the gulf between Alduin the mythic dragon who will consume the world and indeed time itself in its terrible jaws and the frankly quite underwhelming beastie you fight in Skyrim. The point I’m making is that there are effectively two TES settings: one relatively down-to-earth, immersive, and depicted in great detail in the video games, and one that’s this absurd mash-up of magic and science fiction and whatever psychedelics Michael Kirkbride has been taking this week.

I write this long disclaimer because it has been my experience discussing TES in the past that people who are mostly interested in the former – in the relatively grounded setting experience in the games – sometimes run into an elitist attitude from people who are interested in the latter. Sometimes fans of the apocrypha can come on much too strong, or gatekeep the idea of being a fan of ‘TES lore’. Any sentence that starts with “actually, in the lore…” is practically guaranteed to go on to be awful.

My point is not that the apocryphal TES is bad. As I hinted above, in my opinion its quality varies extremely widely: there are things that Kirkbride has written that I think are pretty cool (I unironically love the Aldudagga) and there are things he’s written that I think are indulgent tripe (C0DA stands out). Ultimately it’s all about what you enjoy, and I would never try to tell anyone that they shouldn’t have fun reading or speculating about or debating the zaniness of some of these texts. Indeed, as far as online fandoms and video game fan fiction goes, TES probably has the most fruitful ‘expanded universe’ that I’ve ever seen, and I think that’s wonderful. Kirkbride himself has said that “it’s really all interactive fiction, and that should mean something to everyone” and “TES should be Open Source”, which is a position I wholeheartedly endorse – and does a lot to take the edges off some of the worse things he’s said.

Rather, my point is that everyone should enjoy what they feel most interested in, or most able to enjoy. Further, I argue that there is absolutely nothing wrong – and for that matter absolutely nothing less intelligent or less intellectual – about a person preferring to engage with the version of TES most clearly depicted in the video games. Part of this might be defensiveness on my part, because in my opinion what TES has always done best is a nuanced depiction of cultural conflict: this is particularly the case in Morrowind and Skyrim, and ESO’s better expansions tend to deal in this area as well. As such I take relatively little interest in the metaphysical content of much of the apocrypha. For me, Shor, say, is most interesting as the protagonist of several conflicting cultural narratives, rather than as a metaphysical essence.

I would also argue that the most recent game content has taken a good approach by going out of its way to legitimise a range of possible approaches to the setting. The latest chapter of ESO, Greymoor, includes a system where the player can dig up ancient artifacts, and a number of NPC scholars will comment on them for you. This allows the game to indicate in-character scholarly disagreement over issues fans have previously debated. One item shows disagreement over whether the mythical character Morihaus was literally a bull, or a minotaur, or whether he was a human allegorically referred to as a bull. Another one points to disagreement over the possibility of magical spaceships: apocryphal materials have referred to ‘Sunbirds of Alinor’, ‘Reman Mananauts’, etc., as sorts of magical astronauts, but that seems so ridiculous given what we’ve seen in the games as to be easily discounted. I like items like this in-game because they seem to say to players, “It’s okay to disagree over questions like this – no one is doing TES wrong.”

That said, I am reasonably positive that I’m in the minority here, because I am in the camp that usually says that legends exaggerate, and so Morihaus probably wasn’t a bull and magical spaceships don’t exist. This is not a popular position. My reason, of course, is that I think tales are more likely to grow in the telling rather than shrink, and I have a dozen of what I think are hard-to-deny examples of this happening in TES (e.g. heroic narratives of the War of Betony are very different to the grubby reality you uncover in Daggerfall, or Tiber Septim is almost certainly from Alcaire rather than Atmora). However, this means that I openly take an opposite methodology to Michael Kirkbride. Kirkbride was once asked by a forum poster whether some in-game writings are exaggerated. His reply was: “I prefer, "It is very possible, as is the case throughout this magical world, that some of the exaggerated claims made about some subjects pale in comparison to the Monkey Truth. ZOMGWTFGIANTFEATHEREDFLUTYRANTS."”

Needless to say, I find this implausible, and it means that, for example, I interpret the Remanada as an obvious piece of propaganda, inventing a story about Alessia’s ghost in order to retroactively explain why Reman, probably born the son of a hill chieftain with zero connection to the previous dynasty, really has imperial blood. This is a very different but in my opinion more historically plausible take than Kirkbride’s, who has a naked thirteen year old Reman standing atop his harem and slaughtering recalcitrant followers.

I’m not saying that my approach is objectively correct. It’s all fiction – and as Kirkbride said, TES is open source. The only thing that matters is what you the reader, player, or interpreter find the most interesting. For me, that means generally favouring what is seen in the games over the developer apocrypha, which I can take or leave.

At any rate.

I’m going to go on and make some more fannish posts about stuff in ESO that I liked.

Just… if it’s relevant, be aware that I am familiar with the zany stuff. Some of it I like, a lot of it I don’t like, and I feel no obligation to use it if I don’t like it.

There. Disclaimer over.

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ckret2 · 4 years

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“You’re so vain” “Give em hell kid” And “I hope you die” I’d love to hear those explanations

Righto! Okay so recap for the people who might have missed it, this is about the radiosnake playlist I mentioned/linked a bit over a week ago, Serpentine & Demonswing. When I posted it I also added an “and if you wanna know why any songs are on the playlist you’re free to ask.” The playlist is a work in progress so some of my answers are gonna be “so here’s the explanation for why it was included but tbh I’m not 100% on keeping it.”

Important things to mention before getting into it: the playlist is build specifically off my headcanons from “Cold Day In Hell,” and so all of the songs act on the assumption that CDIH is “canon.” (tl;dr: they’re exes, because Alastor got scared of emotional intimacy, told Sir Pent he never actually liked him, and ran off after blowing up all his airships.) The first chunk of songs is from Sir Pent’s perspective, the second chunk is from Alastor’s, the third is from them both or about them both, and the last few songs are “I like the vibe but honestly am not sure this fits the playlist.”

Also, y’all are welcome to keep asking me about songs, because this is a lot of fun.

I’m absolutely sure that tumblr is going to delete this read more out of the post but I’m going to put one anyway, maybe it’ll let this one work just to be contrary. If it doesn’t, I apologize for the dash stretcher, that’s just how tumblr do.

So! Explanations:

You’re So Vain (Lyrics)

This one is on the Sir Pentious side, so, although it’s not directly/accurately about Alastor, it is about how Sir Pent sees him in light of their catastrophic breakup.

Verse 1 is less on the nose in its description of Alastor, but you get the impression of someone who is obsessed with how he comes across to other people, and who is far more interested in himself and the image he’s giving off than he is in any of the people he’s trying to impress. A great deal of Alastor’s personality is—or at the very least, comes off as—completely performative. As though to this day he’s still nothing but a radio host performing for a listening audience, even when he’s only talking to one person. The fact that he’s always wearing a fake smile and pointedly providing his own sound effects adds to that impression of a performer who never breaks character.

And the fact that the character in the song is still wholly self-absorbed even when he’s dancing with a partner gives a nice little glimpse into how Sir Pent’s retroactively reinterpreted his last evening with Alastor.

Verse 2 is the stanza that comes closest to completely accurately reflecting what went down between them. First, the alliance between them, the implicit promises that they the were going to conquer Hell and then Heaven as partners in crime—“Well, you said that we made such a pretty pair / And that you would never leave”—and then, the breakup—“But you gave away the things you loved / And one of them was me.” It’s the one line that acknowledges that the character in the song did, indeed, actually love the singer, and wasn’t just performing a role/playing at being in love.

It’s also a line that would ring false to Sir Pentious, because in the aftermath of CDIH, he genuinely doesn’t believe that Alastor ever loved him. He completely buys Alastor’s claim that he was just screwing around with Sir Pent’s emotions for his own entertainment. Words to the effect of “one of [the things you loved] was me” would never come out of Sir Pent’s mouth.

However. Of all the lines in all of the songs in Sir Pent’s portion of the playlist, that one line is the most accurate thing that could be said about Alastor, the blade that would stab into the core of who he is and the role that he played in this story. Because of his vanity—his selfishness, his pride, his obsession with his own independence, his fear of love, his fear of vulnerability, his fear of sharing his life with someone else, etc.—he didn’t just lose what he loved, he did very deliberately and intentionally give it away.

(I’ve always found that line to be the most interesting in the song, for the hint that this vain person did indeed truly feel for someone else, so I’m glad that line fits so well here.)

Verse 3 is just more “what Alastor is like as observed by Sir Pent,” except even more accurately than the first stanza. Constantly running around, constantly moving on from one brief source of entertainment to another (just stuff “threw his support behind the Happy Hotel” somewhere between “gambled on a horse race” and “watched an eclipse”), constantly socializing with dangerous people and people whom he’s going to hurt without caring in the slightest.

Okay so that’s the lyrics.

Making sure the aesthetics/styles/genres of the songs match the character they’re for is one of my high priorities on this fanmix—not to the extent that having the wrong style is an instant dealbreaker, but I’m going to be hesitant to include a song that doesn’t at all match the sound I’m going for. For Sir Pentious, I’m kind of running with two styles.

The first style is “sounds Victorian-ish enough to get a shrug and a nod from anybody who doesn’t actually know/care about Victorian-era music,” so that’s gonna be just about anything orchestral/symphonic that doesn’t clearly fall into a different genre, symphonic metal that sounds symphonic enough to satisfy me, instrumental covers of other songs (string quartets, piano, full orchestra...), things with harpsichords (LISTEN i know that harpsichords are more baroque but they’ve got the right Vibe, you know, they’ve got the Feeling), and things with organ—but like, it’s gotta sound like pipe organ (pipe organ—sounds like a church) and not like Hammond organ (Hammond organ—sounds like a baseball game). Also steampunk, except a lot of “steampunk” genre music sounds swingy/jazzy, so those songs get ruled out because that’s Alastor’s aesthetic. And also, like, actual classical music, but I’m not into a lot of actual classical music, so I don’t think any’s actually made it in yet, lmao.

The second style is based on what the creator herself said about Sir Pent’s music preferences: “Sir Pentious would listen to Blink-182. Pentious would literally listen to stuff like Linkin Park, Green Day, the emo stuff.” So I took "the emo stuff” as “oh okay cool so the stuff I listened to at 15 got it” and ran wild with that. I’ve been most heavily drawing from My Chemical Romance, Panic! At The Disco, and Mindless Self Indulgence to represent that half of Sir Pent’s preferences. (MSI because I feel like that fits an in-your-face and morally jaded villain, P!ATD because their newer stuff fits his flamboyance and exuberance and egotism, and MCR because... because I know them best.) I haven’t yet made much time to carefully comb the discographies of the other bands listed or look into other more traditional emo-associated acts.

Carly Simon’s original “You’re So Vain” matches neither of these styles.

I combed through about 60 different versions of “You’re So Vain” on Spotify looking for ones that meet one of these aesthetics. Like 90% of them were, I’m pretty sure, just various singers adding their vocals directly over a karaoke version of Carly Simon’s original.

In the end, the only one that came close was Marilyn Manson’s cover. He’s a bit outside of the bounds I try to stick in for Sir Pent, but like, okay, he’s industrial metal, but in a particularly goth way, that’s close enough to emo. To my mind, “Sir Pent listens to emo” is like... Sir Pentious’s musical preferences are going to be, 1) counterculture, the kind of stuff that causes conservative Christian moms to go into moral panics, but also 2) mainstream counterculture, the kind of bands that produce huge hits & get featured in major blockbuster movies, but also also 3) slightly dated mainstream counterculture, i.e., at the end of the 2010s he’s listening to the bands that may still be popular but that peaked in the mid 2000s, in keeping with the way he’s trying to keep hip and modern but always seems a little bit behind.

So, in the 2010s, he’s listening to 2000s emo acts. In the 2000s, he was listening to the 1990s’ biggest metal acts (like Marilyn Manson) and possibly grunge acts (things like Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins). In the 1990s, he was listening to the 1980s’ biggest post-punk and new wave acts (like The Cure, Joy Division/New Order, Depeche Mode). Always evolving his stylistic preferences, always trying to keep up, but always a little behind. So that’s how I justify putting Marilyn Manson in lmao.

Although that was the only version of “You’re So Vain” I thought fit well enough, I also found a version by Trash Pour 4, a version by Les Reed Orchestra, and a version by Giant Sand that were all very good. Trash Pour 4 is driving me crazy because I can’t quite figure out what genre they are, I just can’t place them—but they’ve got several other good covers that I’d like to take advantage of at some point.

I also found a song called “You’re So Vain (Christian Dior)” by The Energy Commission that’s not a cover of Carly Simon’s song, just a new song with the same name. I’m lowkey considering including on Alastor’s side of the playlist. It’d serve as a very sharp critique of how image obsessed Sir Pent is, there’s some snappy turns of phrase that seem like they’d appeal to Alastor’s sense of humor (my two favorites are “He went off the deep end ‘cause he’s so shallow” and “He’s got a timepiece on his wrist and it says ‘watch me’”), the fact that it’s a critique specifically of high class materialism fits with the fact that I headcanon Sir Pent as coming from British nobility while Alastor’s ancestry is both racially and socially mixed (including at least one close relative who was a slave, I’m thinking a grandparent but haven’t settled on my headcanons yet), and I love when there are parallels like that in playlists about the relationship between lovers/partners/rivals/siblings/any-combo-of-two-people.

The reason I haven’t added it yet is because, by the end of the song, it’s not just a critique of being a rich shallow image-obsessed douche, but specifically of how that culture ties in to exploitative capitalism that’s wrecking human lives and the world—which, in the context of the characters we’re talking about here, would translate into a criticism of Sir Pentious’s very-imperialist-sounding take-over-the-world villain ambitions. Which isn’t something I think Alastor cares about. He probably should, but like, he just doesn’t. He’s a villain himself. I’m sure he’s got his own morals and standards and hard limits but “take over the world” isn’t on his list of dealbreakers. What’s taking over the world include? Mass murder and subjugation? Yeah, he’s cool with that. So that’s why I’m still on the fence about adding it.

Give ‘Em Hell, Kid (Lyrics)

So remember how I said that My Chemical Romance is one of the bands I’ve drawn from most heavily so far in looking for emo Sir Pent songs? Yeah for about a day there were six different MCR songs sitting in Serpentine & Demonswing as I slowly whittled them down to the ones that I thought fit best. “Give ‘Em Hell, Kid” is one of the last three, and actually one that I’m constantly on the verge of cutting.

Lyrically, it’s an Alastor song. There’s mentions of the singer having come from New Orleans (listen... i am a sucker for songs that mention New Orleans, it automatically earns five points on the imaginary “is this an Alastor song?” rubric in my head). The singer is singing about a love interest who’s gone, and he’s making no moves to pursue/reclaim the love interest, wishing them well (“So go on, live your life”), but he’s a wreck and a lesser person without them (“If you were here, I'd never have a fear,” “Well I'm a total wreck and almost every day”), and it’s just getting worse with time, not better (“But I miss you more than I did yesterday”).

The line “Some might say we are made from the sharpest things you say” although directed toward “you,” i.e. the love interest, i.e. Sir Pentious, in my head actually reflects more on the things Alastor said to Sir Pentious: the cruel things he said to Pent—that he’s weak, ineffective, behind the times, a has-been, never going to conquer hell—ended up a self-fulfilling prophecy, because that’s exactly what Alastor’s rampage made happen. Today, as he is now, Sir Pentious is made from the sharpest things Alastor said.

“Your dreams and your hopeless hair” makes me think of Sir Pent’s wild efforts to conquer hell (and, of course, his ridiculous cobra hood), and “We never wanted it to be this way for all our lives” is a perfect expression of Alastor’s regrets/remorse over what his actions have done to both of their lives, but especially to Sir Pent’s life.

And all the references to violence—murder scenes, firing squads, sharpest things—fit with the fact that both of them chose to live lives soaked in blood.

So it’s a perfect Alastor song. The only problem is, it’s an MCR song, which is sooo far outside of my acceptable genres for him. (I’m not gonna get into Alastor’s genres now bc there are better songs to do that on, just know emo ain’t it.) And not only is it outside of his acceptable genres, it’s in the OTHER character’s acceptable genres, which is very messy. I can vibe with “lovers’ songs borrowing from each other’s aesthetic” a LITTLE bit when it’s used to represent, like, emotional synchronicity or the like (ex: both “Roustabout” and Vernian Process’s “Maple Leaf Rag” are on my “Alastor+Sir Pent style fusion songs” list). But MCR is a big departure from Alastor’s acceptable styles.

Plus, the playlist already has two MCR songs, and do I really need three songs from the same band? Unless there’s a really good reason, I try to avoid having repeats from the same band on one playlist—I feel like a good well-rounded fanmix oughta have a diversity of sources. (With “a really good reason” being something like “I’ve got the playlist divided into five sections detailing five phases of the character’s life and each section is introduced with a different track from the same band” or “I’ve got an instrumental version of the song to kick off the playlist to serve as ‘foreshadowing’ for when the version with lyrics shows up at the most dramatic moment” or something like that.)

If I was going to, like, make it a thing, I could. Justify it like “there’s one MCR song that represents them when they’re together, one MCR song from Sir Pent’s perspective, and one MCR song from Alastor’s perspective, like a little triangle,” but like... if I was going to do that I feel like I’d want to do it with a style that’s either representative of both of them or else independent of both of them, and MCR is so heavily a Sir Pent sound. Basically, having three songs from one band would be okay if it was a band that vibes with the overall tone I’m shooting for in the playlist—but it’s not. So I’m very torn on “Give ‘Em Hell, Kid.”

“El Tango De Roxanne” + “Overture” + “I Hope You Die”

Okay before I can talk about “I Hope You Die” by itself, I kind of have to explain its exact position in the playlist and its relationship with the other two songs I just listed.

While MOST of the playlist is chunked up into the four sections I mentioned earlier (Sir Pent, Alastor, both, undecided), within those sections the songs aren’t really in any particular order. The one exception is the very first three songs on the playlist/the very first three songs in Sir Pent’s section.

These three songs, presented in that order, all as Sir Pent songs, serve as Sir “in war, the side remembered is the side with the most style” Pentious the Super Villain making his big entrance like:

youtube

“El Tango De Roxanne” starts slow/quiet, and then (with a couple of brief dips) it gradually builds in volume and pain and intensity, getting faster and more emphatic, switching from mournful longing to nearly-angry anguish, until it ends with a pained scream, steampunkish percussion, howling background singers, and a wailing violin.

And then it pauses, for just a moment.

And then “Overture” hammers you with the most dramatic opening chord you will ever hear on an organ in your life, perfectly matching the energy at the end of “El Tango De Roxanne” and maintaining that level of energy throughout the song.

And then it stops so quickly it’s like someone gasped, holding its breath for a split second—and then some dude yells “You must die! I alone am best!” and the guitars kick in for “I Hope You Die,” leading into a depiction of the most intense, vitriolic, disgusting sort of loathing imaginable.

The build-up from “El Tango De Roxanne” and “Overture” really revs up “I Hope You Die,” the intensity of the organ in “Overture” highlights the intensity of the guitar in “I Hope You Die,” and all together it hypes up what could have been just a dark humor song about hating someone into something that sounds like a very genuine demonstration of hatred.

And taken all together, it makes for a fantastic intro for Sir Pent.

It also serves as a perfect intro to the current state of affairs between him and Alastor—sort of expressing his personal emotional journey on the morning Alastor betrayed him, as his reaction transforms over the course of three songs from grief/despair to fathomless fury.

There’s more I could say individually about “El Tango De Roxanne” and “Overture,” but I won’t, because it’s “I Hope You Die” time.

“I Hope You Die” (Lyrics - warning for a whole stanza dedicated to hoping someone gets raped in prison)

A small handful of the songs in my Hazbin playlists were discovered in and added from existing Hazbin character playlists I found on Spotify before I started making my own. “I Hope You Die” was one of them, found here. Which is why it was added even though it doesn’t fit my strict genre standards, it won me over before I narrowed down the styles I’m working with lmao.

(I feel like “El Tango De Roxanne” was one of those too, but I can’t now find a Spotify playlist containing it that added it before I did. Where did I grab it from? It’s not something I would’ve looked up on my own, something must have inspired me. IDK what though. None of the other songs mentioned in this post were found on other playlists.)

So this song is, obviously, just about how much some dude hates somebody else and wants extremely horrible things to happen to them. It’s sorta... *eyes lyrics uneasily* ... sorta tasteless; but, tasteless in a way that I feel like reflects back on the character singing the song. The feeling I come away from after finishing the song isn’t “the band wants you to think the person they’re singing about deserves this to happen to them,” because it doesn’t even give a reason why the singer hopes this person suffers; but rather, “the band wants you to think that this is the kind of hatred that the character/persona the singer is portraying is capable of, this is the kind of vile stuff that character wants to see done to their enemies, this is representative of the depths of that character’s rage.” Which is why I’m like “yeah... okay, sure, that fits” even though I’m real iffy about the last couple stanzas.

Because for a character who’s in Hell surrounded by people who have stomped on the last dredges of their civility and decency, and a character who’s patterned after a super villain (and, because the series creator dropped the idea that there are heroes/villains in the living world, the only super villain in this setting), and a character who gleefully boasts about being evil, and a character who we know demonstrates very rapid/extreme emotions and expressions of hate/outrage... Yes, I can absolutely see this song as the exact sort of hatred Sir Pentious would level at somebody who’s slighted him. And Alastor blew way the hell past “slighting” him. Alastor, without exaggeration, has ruined his life (afterlife?) and over fifty years later Sir Pent is still unsuccessfully struggling to get back up to the level he was at before he even met Alastor. Right now, Sir Pentious really and truly and deeply despises Alastor.

A song like this—sheer, frothing, unrestrained, vengeful contempt—tells you a whole lot about what kind of emotions Sir Pentious is capable; and it tells you a whole lot about the kind of effect Alastor’s actions have had on him, to inspire this level of reaction from someone who was very close to him for fifteen years and increasingly in love with him for probably a good amount of that time.

Plus, the “You must die! I alone am best!” is such a very, very Sir Pentious sentiment.

So that’s those songs! Again, y’all are free to ask me for my thoughts on more. Yes, most of them will probably be like this, lol.

#(i'm p sure the fact that i included links means this will stay out of the main tags)#(but i'm gonna include some dummy tags so the main fandom tags aren't in the first 5 just in case)#anonymous #ask #music #radiosnake #hazbin hotel

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wlwtangle · 4 years

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Sonic for Beginners Guide (as of the 2020 Sonic Film)

Heya! I don’t think I’ve seen anyone make a post like this yet, or I haven’t seen a post like this yet, but if you just saw the newest Sonic film in theaters or on digital, and you’re interested in going into the Sonic community and trying out tons of other Sonic Media and don’t know where to start, here’s a guide that should help you where to go next if the only thing you have to go off of is the newest movie!

Intro

Everything that I will recommend you to in this post only assumes you’ve seen the full Sonic movie (yes, that includes the post-credits scene) and will prominently feature the following:

Dr. Eggman/Robotnik

Sonic

Tails

(No, this guide won’t feature Owl Mom, as she only appeared in these movies so far. She was never in any other Sonic media, and I doubt you’d see much of her outside the movies)

With that out of the way, let’s begin!

Games

There are quite a lot of Sonic games, and this can seem the most overwhelming, especially since SEGA has been trying their hardest to get new fans from the games rather than the films. But there are a few good games to start with if you only saw the film!

In terms of emulating any of these games: I am fine with emulation. There is nothing wrong in terms of finding ways to preserve these games for years, and if you don’t have the money to own any of these games, then I do recommend emulation. The only emulator I can recommend in terms of the old, 90s Sonic games would have to be Kega Fusion, and if you want to find the ROMs/ISOs, good luck. I can’t tell you how to find ROMs/ISOs, as that is illegal, so I’d recommend asking a friend for help or DMing me if you need help finding a place to find ROMs/ISOs, but legally I can’t post where to find ROMs/ISOs. Despite all of that, when possible, please support SEGA by buying them officially when possible. With that out of the way, let’s truly begin!

Sonic the Hedgehog (1991) - The very first Sonic game, of course, is the best place to start. Not the 2006 one! The 2006 game also titled Sonic the Hedgehog for Playstation 3 & Xbox 360 is not a good representation of the Sonic brand SEGA has been trying to push today, and it’s not a great game overall to start with. Sonic the Hedgehog from 1991, however, is! It isn’t based off the new film, but it is what the current film has the most based off of. It starts off with the basics; you play as Sonic, and you have to stop Dr. Eggman from taking over the world, while saving all your animal buddies. It isn’t too long of a game, and better yet, this game is the easiest to get. It’s available on the Playstation Network store, Xbox Store, Nintendo Eshop (both for the Switch and 3DS), Steam (for Windows and Mac), and it’s even available on both Apple and Android devices! It’s free on phones, but you have ads, so that’s probably one of the best places to start in terms of games!

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (1992) - Now, if you just saw the film, including the post-credits scene, then this is another perfect place to start. Not only can you play as Sonic, but you can also play as Tails! There are tons of more levels than in the first game, and there’s even a little secret if you collect all the Chaos Emeralds! (can’t say much about those as they haven’t been introduced in the films yet) And like the first game, there are tons of places to get this game. You can get this on the Playstation Network store, Xbox Store, Nintendo Eshop (on both Switch and 3DS), Steam (Windows and Mac), and on both Apple and Android devices! Like the first game, it’s also free on phones, with ads, so if you played the first game or only saw the newest film, this is another great place to start.

Sonic Mania (2017) - Another perfect place to start, and one of the best Sonic games in the past decade, this is an official catch-all Sonic game made by fans for not only the classic 90s games, but also features new levels and new playable characters that haven’t been seen in any recent games, including Mighty the Armadillo and Ray the Flying Squirrel. Now, I don’t think we’ll ever be seeing Mighty or Ray anytime in the films, but Knuckles is in this game as well (and in Sonic 2, I forgot to mention that), and I got a feeling Knuckles might show up in the next Sonic film. But yes, you can play as Sonic and Tails, of course. And this game does also have a multiplayer mode as well, and tons of extra secrets. And honestly, if you do want a recent game to start off with, Sonic Mania might have to be the best place to start with. And the best part is, this game is available on all recent modern gaming hardware, including Playstation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Steam (Windows and Mac). Sadly, this game isn’t available on smartphones, but that shouldn’t detract from how good this game is. While the base game is cheap, only running you at $20, the DLC for this game only costs $5, while the physical release of this game (which includes the base game, DLC, and more), should only cost you $30.

Now, I hear ya, platformers aren’t really your thing. You don’t have the most modern, recent gaming devices, and your computer/laptop isn’t that powerful either. You only have a smartphone, and you only play mobile games. In that case, SEGA does also deliver in smartphone games, especially for Sonic! There is really only one I can recommend for beginners that even did include a limited event based on this film (that sadly has already passed), and that is

Sonic Dash (2012) - Possibly the easiest place to start with in terms of Sonic games on smartphones. Even though Sonic 1 & 2 are available for smartphones, SEGA did make and release this before those games came out. And with 100 million downloads, who could deny how huge this game has been for them. You really only start out as Sonic, play through Green Hill Zone, and you fight Dr. Eggman. Gameplay-wise, this game is very similar to Temple Run/Subway Surfers, so if you played those games, then this game shouldn’t be that hard to get into. As you play this game, you’re able to unlock more characters, including Tails, and you even get to unlock more levels, and even get to upgrade your characters as well. It is available on Apple and Android devices, and is free to play, despite all of the ads, so you can start off there if you don’t want to play any big Sonic game and just want a casual, light mobile game to play.

Now, Sonic didn’t only have games to boot. He also had tons of cartoons and comics! And let’s talk about those cartoons!

Cartoons

There are tons of Sonic cartoons out there, and there really aren’t that many to start off with if you only saw the film. These are the only few I could recommend to start off with.

The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog (1993-1995) - One of the first Sonic cartoons by DiC (animators behind the old Mario cartoons), this is honestly one of the few Sonic cartoons I could recommend to beginners, or only those who have seen the film. It stars Sonic and Tails, as they defeat evil plans by Dr. Robotnik, and it does include characters exclusive to this show. And despite the reputation this show has, I’d say this is one of the better cartoons to start off with. Sonic the Hedgehog 1993, or better known as SatAM (Saturday Morning Sonic Cartoon), isn’t really that good of a place to start off with if you only saw the movie. Not only does this show feature tons of characters that aren’t really seen outside of this show and the Archie comics, but this is a little bit more serious, and I don’t really recommend this to beginners who only have the film to go off of. AoSTH, however, is a lot more light, comedic, maybe even a little more childish, but it is one you can have on in the background and don’t really have to pay attention to, and it’s one you could show to kids. You can find this show currently on Netflix, as well as a number of episodes have been uploaded to YouTube in HD, so you can choose wherever you want to see this show.

Sonic Mania Adventures (2018) - A short series of shorts based on Sonic Mania, I’d say this is another great place to start especially in terms of cartoons. They’re all silent cartoons, and are based on Sonic Mania, but also features an original story to boot. Best part; you can watch them on YouTube now. Here’s a video with all of the episodes combined, and they also made a Christmas Special as well. The whole series is only 15 minutes long at most, and it’s something I definitely recommend checking out if you have the time.

Sonic the Hedgehog the Movie/the OVA (1996/1999) - An absolutely different movie from the actual Sonic movie we got a couple months ago, despite some obvious problems within the script and writing itself, I’d highly recommend checking out this movie! This is a really good movie that captures the speed of Sonic perfectly, and is one of the only few Sonic cartoons based on that 90s anime aesthetic. So if that suits you, then I’d recommend checking out this film on YouTube.

Comics

Now, this is even harder to decide on where to start with when compared to the cartoons. Not only are all the comics not that good, but they are all especially dependent on whatever type of knowledge you have on Sonic. The Archie comics are really only dependent on SatAM, and are cancelled! But the IDW comics are heavily dependent on if you played Sonic Forces, which isn’t that great of a game to begin with if you’re only knowledge of Sonic is based on this new film. But the IDW comics aren’t even on that good of an arc now. The British Fleetway comics aren’t that great either; not only are they ableist (with Super Sonic being “mentally insane” and evil), those comics are also cancelled as well. I really only have one comic series to recommend to beginners, if you can even find them.

Sonic -Mega Drive- (2016) - Made by one of the best writers for the Sonic comics, Ian Flynn, and drawn by the same person who redesigned Sonic for the new film, Tyson Hesse, these are a series of one-shot comics based on the original Sonic games. Very easy to get into, the cast isn’t that large, and overall it’s just a whole lot more appealing than the Archie or current IDW comics! There’s only two issues, with a third one that was cancelled due to SEGA withdrawing the Sonic license from Archie in 2017. If you can find them, I recommend checking them out.

Misconceptions About Sonic the Hedgehog and the Fandom

Now, coming out of the new film, you are really interested in Sonic the Hedgehog, but you already know about a whole lot of misconceptions about Sonic and his fandom, which may turn you off from going into this. So I am here to smash down a lot of those misconceptions, because a majority of them are all wrong, and I’m pretty sure anyone can enjoy Sonic after watching the film.

1. The Sonic Fandom is only full of overgrown babies who complain about all the newer games and only love the old games.

This is an absolutely terrible misconception! This is absolutely not true for the entire fandom, and despite the bias I have towards the 90s Sonic era as seen in this guide, let me say this: There is no one wrong place to start with in terms of games. The Sonic Adventures games are good, Sonic Colors is good, and so is Sonic Generations and Lost World. There is no terrible Sonic game, and if there is, then that game probably has a small fandom of people who see the positives of that game, and only wish to improve on it. You are not wrong if you have an unpopular opinion on any Sonic game, and you can honestly enjoy any Sonic game of your choice. Yes, there are gatekeepers in this fandom, but they are small in numbers when compared to the majority of this fandom. This fandom is absolutely welcoming of any Sonic fan who enjoys any part of Sonic, and if anyone online is making you feel bad about enjoying any part of Sonic, then you can either ignore them or block them. You don’t need to hear their voices, as their voices are only minor when compared to this whole fandom.

But yes, there are people like SammyClassicSonicaFan who do have a bias towards 90s Sonic games, and there are people who have a bias towards the Modern games. But overall, it doesn’t matter what type of games you do enjoy, it’s just that you don’t bully or harm anyone else for enjoying those games. And again, mostly everyone in this fandom are fine with whatever Sonic game you like. Not that many people really bullies anyone in this fandom, and if they do, then again, they are the minority.

2. The Sonic Fandom is full of furries who only draw porn of the characters.

Yet again another terrible misconception about the Sonic fandom! Just because you’re a fan of Sonic, doesn’t make you a furry. I am one of the rare exceptions, though, as I am a Sonic fan, and a furry as well, and Sonic is partially the reason why I am a furry. But overall, I have met Sonic fans who aren’t furries, and I’ve met furries who aren’t Sonic fans.

And to that other half of this misconception; no, just no. Not only are the majority of the cast practically children (Tails is 8, Amy is 12, and Sonic is even 15), a majority of the characters who are 18 or over only barely fit that range (Rogue is 18, Vector is 21), and a majority of adults don’t even have confirmed ages (Dr. Eggman doesn’t even have a canonical age, and there’s been debate over whether Shadow is 15 or over 50 years old). So no, we don’t draw porn, and almost all of us are grossed out when we find Sonic porn (the only exception of this are the creeps who do draw that porn, but we don’t consider them apart of this community).

So there you go! That’s all I could think to mention in this whole guide! I hope you have fun enjoying these shows and games, and I hope you especially have fun in the Sonic community!

If you do have anymore questions about anything related to Sonic, feel free to DM me or send me asks/anons on this blog.

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kmomof4 · 5 years

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Time and Again Ch5

Ok, so I had a whole post all ready to go with such a spectacular cliffhanger, that I know y’all were SOOOOO looking forward to! But my EVIL beta @hollyethecurious wouldn’t let me do it! So you can blame or thank her for making me have mercy on all of you. I choose to blame her... but I still want to share the post I had planned, because I thought it was really great and it was such a shame that only Hollye and I saw it... so here it is.

Bwahahahahaha!!! You think the last cliffhanger was bad?

Ok, HOW is there not a gif of Samuel L Jackson saying “Hold on to your butts?”

So just imagine a gif of Samuel L Jackson in Jurassic Park saying “Hold on to your butts” right here...

Anyhoo, I hope you enjoy this new chapter! And before you yell too hard at me, ch6 sneak peek will be up Saturday morning with the full chapter Sunday.

That was the original post I had planned, I hope it gave you a good laugh. So without further ado, here’s ch5! I hope you enjoy!

Ao3 link

All the love and thanks to my besties and beta @hollyethecurious and #1 encourager @winterbaby89! I love you ladies more than I can say! Thank you for everything! *Mwah*

Also lots of love to the CSSNS discord ladies for all their encouragement, patience, and advice while I worked on this.

Tagging my peeps: @hollyethecurious @winterbaby89 @snowbellewells @stahlop @resident-of-storybrooke @jennjenn615 @kingofmyheart14 @profdanglaisstuff @branlovestowrite @thisonesatellite @ultraluckycatnd @flslp87 @whimsicallyenchantedrose @let-it-raines @shireness-says @kymbersmith-90 @darkcolinodonorgasm @bethacaciakay @searchingwardrobes @ilovemesomekillianjones @teamhook @aprilqueen84 @qualitycoffeethings @superchocovian @artistic-writer @donteattheappleshook @doodlelolly0910 @seriouslyhooked

Please let me know if you’d like to be added or removed.

Under the cut, unless Tumblr ate it.

A/N Thanks to @totheendoftheworldortime for the use of her original line from Unlocked.

Emma sat on the knoll outside her apartment watching children play on the playground below. Watching them was a very effective tactic in keeping her circling thoughts from overwhelming her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a tall, raven haired man stroll toward her. She pointedly ignored him as he settled himself down next to her.

“I rescheduled the meeting with Miss Lily,” he answered her unasked question.

She nodded, still refusing to look at him. “Good.” Then, indicating to the children playing below, she said, “You see that little girl down there? The one with the red hair?”

“Yes,” he replied.

“She reminds me of a girl that I knew when I was a teenager. Her name was Kelly. She was older than me and a real snippy, jealous bitch. I can see that now, as an adult. When I came into the home, all I saw was a bully who took every opportunity to put me down and try to make me feel like Ingrid, our foster mother, could never love me. Didn’t work.” She shrugged before continuing. “Ingrid eventually adopted me and sent her and all the others away.”

He cocked his head to the side. “So I was right on the beanstalk, wasn’t I? You have been left alone.”

She rounded on him then, her anger flushing her cheeks. “Don’t you even say that! You have no right!” She turned back toward the children, angrily swiping at the stray tear on her cheek.

His voice was more gentle than she’d ever heard it before… awake, that is. “We’re going to have to talk about this. Eventually. You know?”

“No, we don’t,” she said, shaking her head. “We do not have to talk about this at all. In fact, this is THE last thing that I’d ever want to talk about.” She was more comfortable giving him some details about her less than ideal upbringing than she was talking about this.

Emma Swan was a master at denial. She had a degree and everything.

“You’re my boss,” she exclaimed, waving her hands around aimlessly. “Not some dashing, romantic hero that my dreams keep painting you as.”

“Our dreams, Swan,” he interjected, softly.

“No,” she replied, shaking her head furiously. “No, I refuse to believe that. Dreams are the most secret, most sacred… Dreams are the window to the soul.” She closed her eyes, shaking her head again. “I read that somewhere. But it’s true,” she continued, opening her eyes and turning to him. “Dreams are the window to the soul and no one… NO ONE… has the right to enter another person’s soul.” The tears she was so desperately trying to hold back escaped and tracked down her face as she turned back toward the children.

“I’m sorry, Swan,” he apologized. He reached out to wipe away her tears, but then hesitated before touching her. “You’re right,” he agreed, “no one has the right to enter someone else’s soul. But this wasn’t my fault. This was not something that I did. And, you may not have considered this,” his voice got unbelievably more gentle, “but, if we did share dreams, and based on your reaction, I’d say we did. Although we should at some point compare notes, see how much lines up. Anyway, if we did share dreams, then not only did I enter yours, but you entered mine.”

She hadn’t thought of that. Oh shit. She turned surprised eyes on him. Ducking his head, he scratched behind his ear. Her mouth dropped open when she recognized the gesture from the third dream, just after he had given her the flower. “You did that,” she exclaimed, pointing at him, eyes wide. “You did that in the dream. In the meadow.”

His hand fell while his cheeks and the tips of his ears flushed. “Well, that’s two things that line up,” he mumbled, visibly uncomfortable. He turned back to her. “Listen Swan, whatever happened, I think it’s safe to say we’re dealing with three dreams?” She nodded. “The beanstalk, Port Royale, and Camelot.”

Emma turned away, embarrassed. She knew what she experienced in the dreams, and was having trouble reconciling the fact that Killian had experienced the same things, too. She looked up to see him staring down at her hip.

“Do you have…” he began, with unabashed curiosity.

“Yes,” she exclaimed, indignant, her hand hovering over where her swan birthmark was. “Yes, I do. And I’ll thank you to not bring it up again! I resent this, Mr. Jones. I resent this very much.”

“I’m sorry, Swan,” he apologized again. “I truly am. I won’t bring it up again. But I think that the only way we’re going to solve this… thing…” he gestured between them, “between us, is for us to… uh, to…”

“You think we should have sex, don’t you?” she interjected, angrily.

“What? No!” he exclaimed, surprised. “Well,” his countenance fell into sheepishness, “maybe. But not… I mean...” he finished, indignation again coloring his tone. “These dreams put us in increasingly… ah… intimate situations.” His cheeks and ears were flushing again as he scratched furiously behind it. “I can’t help but think that maybe the universe is trying to tell us something?” His tone and shoulders rose at the end, making it more of a question than a statement.

“Oh, you have to be kidding me,” she blurted out, “Soulmates? Not you, too!”

“What do you mean, ‘you too?’” The confusion on his face almost made her laugh.

“At lunch the other day, Down the Street Cafe.” She waved her hand around impatiently. “Soulmates was our topic of conversation. You’re not telling me you believe in them too, are you?” she asked, condescension dripping from her tone.

“What I believe about soulmates is neither here nor there,” he asserted. “What I’m trying to say is that given the nature of the dreams, maybe there is something to them. I think we should go away together. For a few days, at least. I have a place, well, Granny has a place, an island off South Padre, that I go to to unwind, relax. We could go there. Give you a chance to see me as a man. Not as your boss. If the other happens, well then, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

“Nope,” she argued, shaking her head vehemently. “Not interested. The dreams all happened when I worked late at home. Now that the campaign is over, late nights are over, too. There won’t be anymore dreams. So, there’s no reason for me to ‘see you as a man.’” She put air quotes around his earlier words. “Hopefully, I’ll be getting that promotion and moving to LA in a few months, so that’s even more of a reason to not ‘see you as a man.’” She was so caught up in her tirade, that she completely missed how his face fell at her words. “So, just leave me alone, and stay the hell out of my dreams!” She got up, and stormed back down toward her apartment.

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

Emma Swan hurriedly returned to her home from the marketplace. She had left her temporary guest sitting outside her little cottage, and something that she had seen in the village had her heart beating rapidly in alarm against her ribcage.

She had found him on the shore, unconscious, nearly a month ago, on her early morning constitutional. The violent storm from the day and night before had finally blown itself out a couple of hours before dawn and had left the air crisp and cool. Since the storm had kept her indoors the day before, she looked forward to watching the sun rise from her usual place along the shoreline. She found that starting her day in this way put her in a good state of mind to get through the day as the village healer.

Before she got to her spot however, she came across a gravely wounded man. He had a huge gash along his torso, starting at his left collarbone and not ending until it nearly reached his right hip. Whatever had caused it, had nearly cut him in half. She was amazed that he still breathed. Once she got him to her cottage and could have a closer look at his injury, she realized he hadn’t been in the water long as the wound still seeped blood and the tissues around the gash were horribly swollen and an angry red, signifying infection had set in.

Over the course of the next week and a half, after sewing him up, she had treated him with poultices and cool sponge baths to bring his temperature down as the infection raged through his weakened body. She could only hope that the poultices and the infection fighting herbs she had to force him to swallow during very brief moments of consciousness would do their job and save his life.

She remembered her stunned awe when, almost two weeks ago now, she had awakened after a full nights sleep to find that his fever had finally broken and he was sleeping peacefully beside her.

He hadn’t opened his eyes until the next day, and when he did, she had to shake herself to keep from getting lost in their cerulean depths. She had answered his questions and asked a few of her own as she continued her ministrations over his injury in the following days. He still spent most of his time sleeping, so they didn’t have much opportunity to speak to one another.

Once his sleeping patterns evened out to a more predictable cycle, she started helping him out of bed for brief minutes each day before his exhaustion and weakness would overtake him and he’d have to be led back to the bed. After a few days of this, with each day his time outside the bed lengthening, his sass started to show with his mild complaining about being confined to the bed, not in the good way, he remarked, eyebrows waggling. She had finally promised him that she would let him get out of the bed today and stay that way for awhile after their noonday meal. She didn’t want to overtax his weakened body and cause a setback in his recovery.

After their simple meal, she had helped him out of bed and out of doors. Being out in the fresh air and sun seemed to make him lighter somehow. He had turned his face to the sun with his eyes shut and just basked in the midday warmth. When she told him that she needed to go to the market and he should come back inside while she was gone, he begged her to let him continue staying right where he was. He would be fine until she returned, he protested. She’d only be gone for about an hour and so she had reluctantly agreed.

Now she was berating her stupidity as she nearly ran once she was beyond the sight of the village. She arrived at the cottage nearly breathless to find Killian right where she had left him on the crude wooden bench right outside her door.

“What’s your hurry, lass?” he asked as she rushed over to him.

Struggling to catch her breath, she dropped her basket to the ground to help him inside, even though he didn’t really need it. “We have to get you inside,” she gasped, wrapping her arm around his middle. “Did anyone see you?”

“No,” he replied, puzzled, getting to his feet. “I didn’t see anyone. Why?”

“There’s a wanted poster in the village with your picture on it. Fifty gold pieces for information leading to your capture. You’re wanted for piracy,” she informed him.

His countenance darkened as he allowed her to lead him back inside. “Aye,” he agreed, darkly. “His Majesty,” he spat out, “sent me and my crew on an unholy mission. I was captain of his flagship. I would have no part of it, and so, my crew and I stole his ship and have been doing what we could to destroy his navy one ship at a time.” His gaze bore into hers as he settled himself at the table.

“What was the mission,” she whispered, sitting across from him.

He bowed his head, refusing to meet her gaze. “I was ordered to a small, unnamed hamlet right on the borders of the kingdom. We were to arrive under cover of night, barricade every structure in the town, so that no one could escape, and then burn it to the ground. He said it would serve as a warning to those villages that resisted his rule.” Her gasp of dismay made his cheeks flush. “When I returned to the ship, I informed the crew what we were ordered to do, and immediately proclaimed us pirates, dedicated to the overthrow of this wicked tyrant.” His eyes had finally risen to hers with a burning flame behind them. “I’m proud to say, first, that my entire crew followed me and second, that in only two weeks time, we had sunk 8 of his ships. Then we were caught in that hurricane and I was thrown overboard. You know the rest.”

“Indeed, I do,” she replied. “I can’t believe it,” she murmured, “I mean, I can,” she said shrugging, “but I can’t BELIEVE it!” She shook her head, before standing up and making her way to the cooking area to begin preparing their dinner. “I have no love for King George, believe me. His taxes are oppressive and his cruelty is known in every corner of the kingdom. But this! This is beyond anything I’ve ever heard of!” She turned her eyes toward him with a burning flame of her own behind them. “I’ll help you,” she declared. “Do you need a healer on board your ship?”

He smirked and raised an eyebrow at her. “Why lass, are you saying that you want to stay with me? Hmmm?” She blushed and turned her attention back to the food she was preparing.

“Oh, um,” she stammered. “I was just offering my services… if you needed them… on your ship.”

He came up behind her until she could feel the heat from his body. “We’d have to find my ship first, darling.”

She spun around facing him, her eyes widening at his close proximity. “Oh no you don’t,” she countered him. “Don’t think I don’t know what those charms are around your neck. I noticed them when I got your shirt off when I first found you…” she trailed away, blushing again, as he looked at her with a knowing grin. “I know magic when I see it. I had to use a potion in the poultices to help with your healing. That gash should have killed you. Anyway, one of them is a charm against drowning and the other you can talk to another person who has a matching shell. I know that you’ve been communicating with your ship since you woke up.”

“Clever girl,” he replied, smirking at her. “You’re right. I have been communicating with my first mate. They were carried to the other side of the realm by the hurricane and are making their way back to get me. They should be here in the next few days. Perhaps as early as tomorrow.”

“Then take me with you,” she pleaded, looking into his eyes. “I can’t continue to live here under his rule. Not after this. Not when I can help you.” She looked down, blushing. “Not when I can stay with you.” She looked back up into his eyes then with all the longing and desire that she had felt for him since she found him, and that had only deepened since he awoke.

“Emma”, he choked out, as he met her gaze. “Are you sure? The life of a pirate isn’t an easy one. But I will take you with me, if you’re sure that’s what you want.” He raised his hand to cup her cheek, the tenderness in the gesture surprising her. Perhaps the desire she felt wasn’t unreciprocated.

“Yes, Killian,” she breathed, “I’m sure.” She saw in his eyes the moment his control snapped. His lips crashed into hers as he gathered her even closer into his arms. She rose onto her toes to meet him, winding her hands in his black hair, before clutching his shoulders as his lips left hers and peppered kisses along her jawline and then her neck.

“Then yes, darling,” he murmured into her skin. “I’ll take you with me.” He claimed her lips again as he lifted her into his arms and carried her to the bed they’d been sharing now for four weeks.

“Do you have any idea,” he continued, “how long I’ve wanted this? Or how maddening it was to wake every morning with you beside me and not being able to touch you? Only force of will kept me from taking you into my arms while I awaited your answer just now.”

“Well,” she gasped in between kisses, “you weren’t exactly able to do anything about that until just these last few days, plus I wanted to be close in case you needed me, and I didn’t fancy sleeping on the floor.”

“That’s true,” he replied, claiming her lips again as he lowered her to the mattress. Releasing her lips when he dropped her, he climbed up and hovered over her, desire darkening his blue eyes. “Never doubt that I need you,” he whispered, before lowering himself down on top of her and kissing her deeply again. She melted under his ministrations when his tongue sought entrance and she eagerly granted it.

They undressed each other slowly, wanting the encounter to last. With every piece of skin exposed, with every gasp, with every murmur, every kiss and touch they fell more into each other until everything in their hearts and minds were consumed in the fire and passion they had for each other.

Much later, when they lay together sweaty and sated, Emma traced nonsensical patterns into his chest. “We never ate dinner,” she declared.

He chuckled before laying a chaste kiss on her forehead. “Aye, lass,” he agreed, “but you don’t see me complaining.”

She raised herself enough to settle her chin on his chest. “Oh, I’m not complaining either,” she smirked. “But I do think we should eat something. Keep up your strength.” She patted his chest with a wink.

“Why Swan, were you planning on tiring me out this evening?” he asked, cheekily.

“Maybe,” she drawled, pressing a kiss into his sternum. She rose from the bed and pulled on her shift, so that she could get them something to eat. As she did, she cataloged the herbs, roots, and equipment she would need to take with her when they left, as soon as the Jolly arrived.

“I should make preparations for leaving,” she said, returning to the bed after putting a hearty stew over the fire to simmer for a bit. “I can get things together while we wait for the food and by the time it’s ready, I should be too.”

“Whatever you need to do, darling.” He pulled her back down to the bed, kissing her tenderly.

“Mmmm,” she murmured against his lips. “I won’t get anything done, if you don’t stop that.”

He chuckled. “That’s true.” She could feel his smile against her lips. “Maybe I want to ravish you first, then I can help you in your preparations.” He pulled her over on top of him and pressed his hips into hers so she could feel what she did to him. “Having twice the hands, can only make the work go faster,” he murmured, pressing sweet kisses into her neck, before working his way down to nip at her collarbone.

“Ah yes,” she agreed, “having another set of hands will certainly make the work go faster.” She gasped as he lowered her shift to expose her breasts and dove in. After that, there were only gasps and moans of pleasure as they discovered even more of the secret places that left them panting and begging for more.

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

“Captain. Come in, Captain.” The voice through the shell sounded tiny and far away.

“That’s Smee,” Killian moaned as he reached over Emma to grasp the shell necklace that had been discarded sometime the evening before.

“I’m here, Smee.” Killian spoke into the shell.

“Sir, at dawn three man of war’s flying George’s colors were spotted off the port side. We’ve tried to evade them, but they’ve caught up and are preparing to board. They haven’t tried to engage.” Killian looked at Emma, her eyes wide.

“They must be trying to capture…” she whispered.

“Aye,” he replied, solemnly. “The Jolly was his flagship. He’s probably hesitant to sink it. And if he does, and I were on board, then he couldn’t make a spectacle out of me. And if I know him, that’s exactly what he’ll want to do.” Turning back to the shell, Killian gave his orders. “Do not engage, Mr. Smee. When they board, do not engage. They’re trying to capture me and get the Jolly back. I won’t have you and the crew putting yourselves in that kind of futile danger.”

“Y- yes, sir,” his first mate stuttered.

“I’m sure we’ll be hearing what His Majesty plans for you before long, and I’ll make plans accordingly.” He paused, considering the implications. “Godspeed, Mr. Smee.” Killian turned tormented eyes upon Emma. “He’ll plan to hang them all.” Emma nodded. “I can’t allow that.” Emma nodded again. “As their captain, it’s my job to protect them.” He pulled her to him, so she couldn’t see his eyes, stroking her hair. “I’ll either have to successfully break into wherever he’ll be holding them or surrender myself in their place. There’s a decent chance that he’ll agree to that. There’s not a more vindictive bastard in the entire realm, and the chance to publicly humiliate and kill me after I stole his ship and made a fool out of him may be too much for him to resist.”

“Killian, isn’t there another way?” she pleaded, lifting her eyes back to his.

“If you have another idea, darling, I’m all ears,” he mused. “I should send word to the castle immediately, so it arrives before word of their captures does. Offering myself for them.”

“But he won’t let them go,” she protested, raising herself to her elbow so she could look down at him. “He’ll trick you somehow and hold on to them, then hang you all.”

His blue eyes were contemplative as he met her fearful gaze. “I’ll have to refuse to surrender myself until they are safely away then. I’ll have to see them safe with my own eyes before I’ll turn myself in.” His countenance hardened then with his next words. “You’ll have to go with them, love.” She started to shake her head when she realized what he was saying. “Don’t you shake your head at me. You’ll hang too for hiding me. And I won’t have that.” He pulled her back down to him until her head rested on his bare shoulder.

“I can’t lose you, Killian,” she murmured into his skin, before placing a chaste kiss into his collar. “I’d rather die than lose you.”

“No, love,” he whispered before kissing her forehead. “You have to go on and live. Stay with my crew. They’ll keep you safe, and you can play your part in bringing George down. Smee knows about you, so there’ll be no issues when you arrive at the ship.”

Tears filled her eyes as she moved up towards him, gently capturing his lips with her own. The kiss was languid, unhurried, tenderly exploring one another. Emma’s hand found its way into his hair and tugged him even closer, as if she was trying to occupy the same space or consume him completely. The other traced his ribs leaving fire in its wake before it traveled lower and grasped where he was hard and aching for her. He thrust into her palm seeking that friction that would lead to unadulterated bliss.

“Oh, Emma,” he groaned, releasing her mouth. His eyes momentarily rolled back in his head under her exquisite torture before he came back to himself and flipped them on the bed. Killian stared into her half shuttered emerald eyes, trying to read what he found there. His hand tenderly cupped her jaw before trailing away down her neck until he reached her breast. She writhed under him as he teased and kneaded her ample breasts before sucking a turgid nipple into his mouth, never halting his explorations.

“Ahh, Killian,” she cried out under his ministrations. Killian flicked her nipple with his tongue and was rewarded with a gasp of pleasure. He smiled against her skin before he proceeded to suck a mark into her breast. Her breathless moans wound the tension inside him tighter and tighter until he worried that he’d explode before he could bury himself within her heat. His hand continued its way to her core where he found her wet and wanting.

“Oh, yes, my darling, always so wet for me,” he praised..

“Yes!” she cried out. His long fingers curled up inside her, searching for the spot that made her see stars. “Yes, for you! Only for you!”

“Gods, Emma,” he moaned, as she started to ride his fingers. “I need you now. Need to be inside you. Please,” he begged.

Emma stilled and captured his gaze with her own. “Yes, Killian.” She lined him up at her entrance where he took her in one long smooth stroke.

Twin groans of ecstasy reverberated around the small cottage as he sheathed himself in her warmth. He crashed his lips against hers as his heart beat a singular rhythm. Em-ma, Em-ma, Em-ma. He held himself still for a moment, savoring the feeling of home he always felt when he was inside her. For a captain, home was his ship. But being with her these last few weeks, even if he was only conscious for the last two, a wholly unfamiliar feeling had risen up. He couldn’t deny Emma’s beauty or her expertise and care for him when he was nothing but a stranger to her. But these past few days, as she continued to care for him, he knew that he couldn’t leave her behind.

Once the Jolly arrived, he had planned on doing whatever was necessary to convince her to come with him. But then, she had her own revelations about her feelings for him, sending him reeling. His strong, fierce, beautiful Swan cared for him. She had captured him, heart, body, and soul and he would not take a single moment left to them for granted. She was his home and he loved her with an overwhelming passion. He wouldn’t have his love blaming herself or regretting anything that had happened between them when he was gone.

He began to pump a steady rhythm into her, determined to show her what he couldn’t now and probably wouldn’t ever speak of. Their rapture built slowly until at last, he raised her leg to rest on his hip and his thrusts grew more frantic. The change in angle was exactly what she needed for her walls to begin quivering along his length. With a cry of his name and her fingernails digging into his shoulders, her walls clamped down on him dragging him over the edge with her. Killian pressed his lips against her forehead, eyelids, and nose before caressing her own as they drifted back to earth. A whimper reached his ear as he rolled off of her, not wanting to crush her. He drew her back into his arms and stroked her bare back as she nestled her head into the spot where his neck met his shoulder.

“Okay, I’ll go with them,” she promised, placing a gentle kiss to where his pulse was still beating rapidly. He drew her even more tightly into his arms before dropping a kiss on her forehead.

“Come,” he said, rising from the bed, “I have to send word to the castle. How many days journey is it from here?”

“As the crow flies, about half a day,” she replied. “In actuality, about two days journey by horse. I would imagine that your crew would be held here in the village gaol, and that George would travel here for their hanging. It would be much easier for him to come here rather than his guards to take them to the castle. There are too many chances for an ambush and possible escape between here and there.”

“Then I should send word now, before his men have a chance to notify him of their success.” He pulled on his clothes and turned to her again. “Do you have paper, and a quill and ink?” he asked, “Or do I need to go into town to procure them?”

“Are you kidding?” she asked, incredulously, “With your face on the wanted poster?” She shook her head. “I have some here. You write your message, I’ll take it into town. It should be there in two days time, before he receives tidings from his men.” His face was tender as he drew her into his arms.

“Then we have at least two more days together. I suggest we make the most of them,” he breathed before kissing her breathless again. “But first, my message.”

He settled himself at the table and began to write.

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

There was an air of celebration in the square of the village. Public hangings were always looked forward to as a distraction from the mundaneness of everyday life. And the hanging of pirates was even more eagerly anticipated because of the notoriety of the prisoners. This hanging promised to be entertaining. An entire crew that had deserted from his majesty’s navy would meet the noose. They had also been responsible for the sinking of ships that carried food and other goods that the villagers depended on.

The crowds had started to gather just after dawn, with the hangings to commence at noon. Killian and Emma had absconded away from her cottage not long after to where the Jolly was still docked a week after George’s men had arrived with their prize. George planned on boarding the ship, reclaiming it as his own, and returning to his castle after the hangings were over. Killian had planned on hiding Emma near the ship so that when his crew was released, she would join them on the Jolly and be safe. What he didn’t realize, of course, was that Emma had no plans whatsoever to leave Killian to his fate. She planned on dying beside him, knowing that once she revealed herself at the hanging, she would be arrested and hung as an accessory. But she wouldn’t let him know that until the last possible moment.

She stood at the back of the village square hidden in the shadows where she could see all the proceedings. King George sat on his makeshift throne on the dias to the left of the scaffolding meant for the pirates. As the pirates were led out from the gaol, a hush descended on the crowd. Until a brave soul spit at the pirate at the head of the line. Then the quiet tension was broken as the gathered crowd began to yell, scream, throw things, and jeer derisively at the prisoners. George had a smug smile on his face as the pirates were reviled and beaten by the half crazed assembly. Suddenly a shot rang out and the fabric making up the back of the dias blew back where the bullet penetrated only inches from where King George sat. His smile disappeared as a shout rang out over the alarm of the crowd.

“Hear me, subjects of King George.” Killian cried out over the gathering. “I am Captain Killian Jones of the Jolly Roger, and I am here today to surrender myself to your king in exchange for the lives of my men. When I was notified of their capture, I sent a message to the king laying out the terms of my surrender. As captain of these men, it is my duty to see to their safety and well being. When your king received my missive, he rejected my offer. Apparently it’s better to kill many then to capture and kill the one that is truly wanted.

I am responsible for the taking of the king’s flagship. I am responsible for the sinking of eight of his ships in single combat. I am the one that he wants. But in true cowardly fashion, he has to make a statement. A statement that, he hopes, will be received with fear and trembling in his subjects. Now I ask you. Is that how a king should rule? Through fear and intimidation? I think not. But that is exactly what he does.

I stole his ship and plotted my course of securing his downfall because of the mission he sent me and my men on. To a village, a fortnight’s journey from here by sea, on the outskirts of his kingdom. To barricade every building within the walls of the village and burn the village to the ground, killing all the residents within. The aged, women, children. I could have no part in the deliberate murder of innocents. For that, yes, I am guilty and I will pay the price. But you will release my men, your majesty. Then, and only then will I lower my weapon and place myself in your hands. I give you my word. And my word can be trusted. Because I am a man of honor. Otherwise, I will shoot and kill you where you sit. That earlier shot was a warning. This pistol is aimed right between your eyes, and I will not miss.”

King George’s face was nearly purple with fury, but after a tense and silent standoff with the pirate captain, he finally nodded at the executioner and ordered him to release the prisoners. Eyes never wavering from his former sovereign, Killian called to his men. “Make haste for the Jolly Roger, Mr. Smee. You know what to do.”

“Aye, aye Captain,” the rotund man shouted back.

Once the pirates had left the square heading in the direction of the docks, Killian lowered his weapon. The smirk was back on King George’s face as his guards rushed the captain and dragged him to the scaffolding.

“You were right, you know, Captain,” the king sneered. “I did want you. But with you now out of the way, it’ll be nothing to capture my ship back and all of your men will still hang.”

“Do you hear that?” Killian shouted again at the crowd. “King George will stop at nothing to squash every last voice that rises in opposition to his rule. Remember that, I charge you all,” he proclaimed, his restrained hands pointing at the crowd.

Emma could wait no longer as the noose was fitted over Killian’s head and tightened. She pushed forward shouting his name. “Killian!” The crowd parted before her so that she ran unimpeded to the very foot of the scaffold. “I love you!”

He looked down at her, love shining in his blue eyes. “I love you, too.”

King George gave the signal and the trap door was released.

The sickening crack jerked Emma upright in her bed, tears streaming down her face.

Trying desperately to catch her breath, she nearly knocked her phone to the floor instead of picking it up in her trembling hands. Barely able to see through her tears, she found him in her contacts and pressed call.

“Yes,” he answered curtly, after the first ring.

She couldn’t speak. Couldn’t do anything other than gasp out her sobs of relief at hearing his voice.

“Emma?” he asked, concern coloring his voice.

She nodded, still not able to speak, not realizing that he couldn’t see her.

“I’m okay, darling,” he cooed, “I promise you, I’m alright.”

She nodded again, still trying to bring her sobs and breathing under control, and ended the call.

Untold minutes later, while still trying to shake herself from the clutches of the dream, she heard a knock at the door. Opening it she found her boss standing on the threshold looking quite the worse for wear, still in his pajamas, with his hair sticking up in all directions. Seeing him there, all the emotions that she was trying desperately to hold back came roaring into the space between them as she fell into his arms. Her sobs, that she had nearly gotten under control, now echoing in her ears. She was barely aware as he lifted her into his arms, bridal style, and carried her into her apartment, using his foot to shut the door behind them.

He whispered endearments and comfort into her hair as he sat down on the sofa, still holding her close. As her sobs finally started to taper off into gasps and hiccups, Killian nuzzled his nose against hers. “If I pull some strings, we can leave today,” he murmured into her skin. She had not the strength to resist him and nodded into his chest.

This last dream was the final straw. She wasn’t sure she could survive another one. She’d do anything to get them to stop. The dream had exposed the deepest part of her heart and mind, leaving her no place to hide now. She wasn’t just attracted to Killian, she loved him. And she probably had since she first came to work at Jones Brothers.

“I don’t understand,” she confessed, “I don’t know what happened. I didn’t even turn on the TV tonight.”

“No…” he trailed away, “but I did.”

She raised incredulous and accusatory eyes toward him. “You did this… intentionally?”

“What? No!” he exclaimed, clearly horrified. “I would never willingly seek this. I wouldn’t put you through an experience like this.”

“No, of course not,” she agreed, looking back down. “It must have been horrible for you, too.”

“I mean, maybe unconsciously,” he conceded. “I couldn’t sleep. I don’t even remember what was on. Sometimes I just like to have another voice in the house.”

“Me too,” she agreed. “It’s exactly why I turned on Netflix on the nights I was working late at home. It keeps things from getting too quiet when you have nothing but work or your thoughts to keep you company. And those nights, those episodes of Black Sails, showed up in our dreams.”

Suddenly very aware of how close he was holding her, and his continued caresses down her arm and back, she startled back and got up from her spot on his lap. “I’ll, uh…” she trailed away. “I’ll pack and be ready to leave…” She looked everywhere but at him. “Uhhh, how long will we be gone?”

“Let’s plan to come home Sunday,” he decided. “If that’s okay with you? I’ll go home and pack, and make some phone calls, then I’ll be back to pick you up. Probably about nine?”

“Yeah, that’s fine,” she agreed. She walked over to the door and opened it for him as he rose to take his leave.

“I’ll see you then,” he whispered. She looked up at him then and was startled by what she found swimming in his blue eyes. Trust, devotion, love. All the things that would normally have her running as fast and as far in the other direction as she possibly could. But for some reason, the thought of doing that with him, simply made her heart ache. Shutting the door behind him, she leaned back against it. What have I gotten myself into now?

Thanks for reading and sharing.

#time and again #krystal writes #art by krystal #ch5 #cs fanfiction #cs fanfic

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fireflyquill · 5 years

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Look, I know I’ve teased bits and pieces from 34265 fics, and this was not really how I’d anticipated spending my “work at home” day, but here we are anyhow :)

I realize that there are a lot of Feelings about Ashe, and not entirely sure where I stand on this topic. Perhaps this fic is an attempt to work through one angle of it. While I’m not certain yet about my thoughts on Ashe’s relationship with Jesse, this fic suggests that they may have been involved in their younger, more foolish days.

The photograph on Ashe’s hoverbike comes up in a mission briefing. Jesse panics.

Established relationship. Both Genji and Fareeha are little shits, but what do you expect of younger siblings?

---

“Shit, shit, shit,” McCree muttered under his breath as he looked down impatiently at the watch Hanzo had got him for Christmas to ensure that he “would have no excuse for being late”.

Trying the best bakery in Gibraltar on a Saturday afternoon was practically a suicide mission, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

“D’ya have anythin’...bigger?” He eyed the the cake that the attendant brought him a frown. “And maybe in chocolate?”

She nodded and retreated to the back room, returning with an 8-inch chocolate cake decorated with fresh raspberries.

“Perfect. Ma’am, you’re a lifesaver!” He tipped his had at the lady and she laughed at him.

“Big cake, big apology?” she asked in accented English.

“Now why would you think it’d be for an apology?” Jesse chuckled, reaching for payment.

She shrugged. “You look like you feel guilty.”

“Naw, that ain’t it. Thank you again!” Jesse called as he raced out the door.

After all, there was nothing to apologize for. It hadn’t been a lie: just a--convenient omission.

He stopped by the liquor store next, looking down at his watch again as he walked briskly through the doors.

4:00pm.

Winston had called the meeting to debrief the Deadlock attack two hours ago, a meeting that Jesse had missed, as he was making his way back from an uneventful solo mission. Fareeha had texted him 90 minutes ago to warn him about that one torn photograph they had found on the dash of that goddamn hoverbike. She had suggested he write his will and last testament.

It had only been 89 minutes ago that Jesse McCree had felt his heart rise to his throat in a way he’d not felt in years, and yet it felt like an eternity, which was something else with which McCree was not accustomed.

Most of the time, time flew by.

His time with Deadlock was a matter of minutes. His time in Blackwatch, just an hour. The fall of Overwatch happened in the blink of an eye, and in the blink of another, he had returned, found love, and had now been with Hanzo for three years.

No, that wasn’t quite accurate.

Time had flown by and it hadn’t. Because for three years every day had been a new, distinct, beautiful thing because of Hanzo, a new day that promised new memories, and new reasons to love his grumpy archer. Looking back, he could hardly believe that it had been so long, but in the present, he felt every day and every moment.

And for three fucking years, he had never told him about her.

“Shit, shit, shit,” he mumbled again, speed walking to the “International Liquors” aisle.

He had texted Genji earlier to get a better sense of the situation. Genji’s reply was blunt: “Bring cake. A big one.”

Shit.

McCree wondered at how bad the report had to have been to get both Fareeha and Genji so worried. Had there been other pictures? Did Jack inconveniently remember how Ashe had screeched his name the first time they met on opposite sides of the field, first in glee, then in dismay?

How much had they talked about Ashe’s background? Did Hanzo think he was a gold digger?

“Shit, shit, shit,” Jesse muttered, seeing that the store was plum out of Hanzo’s favourite sake. He picked the next best thing and hoped that it was enough.

After paying for his purchase, Jesse ran towards the boat he had docked at the pier, and revved the engine hard.

He’d never been one to worry, but the half hour that it took him to get from the mainland to the small island base gave him too much space to think exactly the wrong things.

It hadn’t been until Gabe forced some sense into him that he was able to see what Deadlock had been, and even then it had taken years. The allure of being free, of doing whatever the hell they’d wanted to do had been an elaborate lie that they had set up for themselves.

There had been consequences to those actions that a teenager was unable or unwilling to see, consequences that Ashe had continued to leave unacknowledged. Consequences that might continue to haunt Jesse today.

McCree clenched his teeth as he pulled up to Gibraltar’s dock, and absently tied the boat to a post. He sprinted through the front door after Athena granted him security clearance, knowing full well that speed would not really make things better, but being unable to shake the need to see Hanzo right now.

Training room: no.

Kitchen: no.

Rec room: no.

Bedroom: no.

Each empty room made Jesse’s heart beat just a little bit faster.

Maybe Hanzo didn’t want to see him. Maybe he was hiding. Or maybe, he was gone.

The last thought made McCree come to a full stop.

“Shit, shit, shi--”

“So there you are.”

Jesse spun to find Hanzo standing behind him in the hallway to their room, arms crossed, eyes curious.

“I thought you were due home several hours ago?”

Despite Jesse’s desperation to find Hanzo, he hadn’t really given much thought as to what he’d say once he did.

He thrust the box towards Hanzo instead.

“Cake,” he blurted out.

Hanzo raised an eyebrow.

“I got you cake,” he amended. “And this. But they didn’t have the one you like.”

Hanzo lit up immediately, his eyes glistening with delight. He herded Jesse backwards so that he could enter the room fully, and the door closed behind him.

“Thank you,” Hanzo reached for the cake without looking up to fully address Jesse, but this was to be expected. He placed the gifts on their small side table and began to undo the ribbon on the cake box, turning to give Jesse a small kiss on the cheek. “What is the occasion?”

This reaction was unexpected.

“Uh…”

“Speechless?” Hanzo snorted as he picked a raspberry off the top of the cake and popped it in his mouth. “How unlike you.”

When there was *still* no answer, Hanzo finally turned his full attention towards Jesse in concern. “What is it?”

“I’m sorry,” Jesse answered immediately.

Hanzo blinked again. “For what?”

“You’re not angry?”

“For what?” Hanzo repeated.

“At the meeting…” Jesse continued to falter.

“Oh,” Hanzo blinked. “That woman?”

Jesse nodded numbly.

“You thought...that I would be angry that you’d not told me about her?” Hanzo asked slowly, trying to piece together what McCree seemed unable to say.

“Pretty much.”

Hanzo’s silences were what frightened Jesse the most. While Jesse was fairly good at reading Hanzo, silences meant that Hanzo was thinking, and that he himself had not come to a decision that could be read.

“Do you love her?”

Jesse looked up sharply. That tone he knew too well. Doubt.

“No,” he shook his head to emphasize the point. “Not now, not ever.”

“Do you love me?” Hanzo pressed on, stepping fully away from the cake now and towards Jesse.

“How is that even in question?” Jesse murmured, taking a step closer and reaching out by instinct for Hanzo’s waist.

Hanzo snorted, allowing himself to be folded into Jesse’s arms. He tilted his head upward.

“Then what is the problem?”

“Genji said you were upset,” Jesse tried, realizing his error as soon as he had put it into words. “...or at least, that I should bring cake.”

“You should always bring cake,” Hanzo nodded solemnly.

“The little shit played me, didn’t he?” Jesse sighed.

Hanzo chuckled. “I cannot be angry at him for it this time. It meant that I got cake.”

Jesse grunted, taking a few steps back to kick off his shoes into the corner of their room. Hanzo’s expression softened.

“You are upset.”

“Damn right I’m upset,” Jesse grumbled. “Spent the entire afternoon scared shitless that I’d ruined the best thing to ever happen to me.”

“How foolish,” Hanzo chastised. “To think that you owe me this. Jesse, if I’ve not told you about my many previous lovers, it’s only because they do not matter.” Hanzo lifted a hand to the side of Jesse’s face, and McCree nuzzled into it.

“Lover is a strong word.” McCree rolled his eyes. He drew stiff though when the full meaning of Hanzo’s words sunk in. “Wait. ‘Many’?”

Hanzo continued on as though he had not heard the question. “You are the only one I love. And if you think the same, which I know that you do, then my mind is at ease.”

“How many are we talkin’ about?” Jesse frowned.

“It doesn’t matter how swole, or good looking, or flexible my previous--”

“What now?!” Jesse sputtered before he noticed that Hanzo was smirking. “Oh.” He ducked his head sheepishly and Hanzo laughed.

Hanzo framed Jesse’s face with both hands, pulling gently so that Jesse was looking at him again.

“Only you,” Hanzo repeated, smiling the same smile that Jesse knew only he ever saw. All jealousy and anxiety melted away.

“Only you,” Jesse murmured, pressing forward to seal the words with a kiss.

#mchanzo #post overwatch reunion #firefly writes #my writing

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kpoppwriter · 5 years

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Back 2 U

Anonymous said to kpoppwriter:

Hello! Could I request a G-DRAGON scenario based on the song, “back to you,” by Selena Gomez and with a famous!reader? Like a model, actress or idol? Maybe, they had an on-off relationship? Thank you.

The after party. The worst part of it all. The award show had ended and now it was a room full of over glammed Instagram models and underrated ice sculptures. The only reason you were hter was because of your dear friend Ariana. She was a dear, but she was busy talking her way into some fake gold wearing rapper into buying her another drink. You were trying to keep your calm but places like this where everyone was fake made you feel so out of place. You tried to look for a way out as you parted through the crowd, away from that ugly lamp shade you had been posted to for 15 minutes. As you walked out on the front yard you saw your ex. Ji was smoking his cigarette as you met eyes with him. He stood up off the stairs of the porch. His stringy black hair falling on his face as he looked down at both of your feet. You had broken up just a week ago. But anyone could tell that a break up in Hollywood meant nothing. He put out his cigarette and glanced back at you, without a word, heading back into the party. You walked to your car and sat in the driver’s seat. Not yet starting it but just thinking, and not thinking, just breathing a feeling of adrenaline and heartbreak.

After 5 minutes you turned the car back off and marched back in. Ji was busy talking to some girl, what could you say, that was what split you two. He asked the girl to go grab them drinks after glancing your way. You waited awkwardly as she walked away and he made a dash for you. He grabbed your hand and pulled you to his car.

“C’mon, she’ll get mad if she knows I ran off.” He said as he hopped into his car with you.

“Who was that?” You ridiculed.

“Gigi, she’s cute and sassy,” he said while starting his car, “but she isn’t as fun as you.”.

He drove off as the radio played some old 90’s song. It sounded like Fat Joe but the signal coming through wasn’t enough to make it out so you just zoned out as he drove down highway.

After a 20-minute drive you opened your eyes to see an empty looking biker bar. He turned the car off and got out. The old looking vending machines and “Motel 7” next door was enough to know this was a place the paparazzi wouldn’t find you. Ji opened the door to the bar, gesturing you in. The red lighting and endless number of pool tables wasn’t reassuring but Ji putting his hand on your lower back made it feel a little better. He walked over to a table and grabbed two sticks, there were only a bartender and 3 bikers in the room so the space was free. He shouted your drink orders to the bartender as he threw you a pool stick.

After 4 drinks and 9 rounds of pool, you could remember why you loved Ji, he was still playing as you were sitting by the old dusty jukebox. Everyone but the bartender had left so you and Ji were just having fun. Ji walked over with his wallet as he looked at the options on the old machine. You tried to lift your head to look at him but your body had shut down after your 3rd drink. He put on “Super Freak” by Rick James and helped you up. He backed up and let you stand on his feet as he swayed back and forth.

“In my past life I wrote this song about you, do you remember?” He mused.

You hit his arm lightly as the song sang about how kinky the supposed girl was. You couldn’t help but be slightly happy to be with him again. Ji always made you happy, or at least feel something, not empty like Hollywood does.

After a few more dances to that song on repeat for 2, or 4 more times (you loss count), the bartender asked you two to leave as he was closing up. Ji walked you to his car before you both agreed you were to fucked up to drive. You and him wondered what to do before he nodded to the “Motel 7”. You drunkenly staggered over with him as he sang “Staying Alive” by the Bee Gees.

You waited outside as he got the keys from the front desk.

It was only 30 seconds into the room before the make out session began. It was always like this, one led to the other, and on and on. He was so passionate and kept whispering about how he had missed you and wanted to be yours again. You were so drawn in by the intense look of his eyes and his soft lips you couldn’t help but to start again.

You awoke to the sun hitting your face through the blinds. Ji was sleep next to you with his tattoos looking so gorgeous from the sunlight. You grabbed your phone to check the time and grabbed your clothes off the floor. Ji was waking up as you did the skinny jean jump and struggle dance.

“Damn your ass always looks so good in jeans.” He said through his morning daze.

“I’ve got a dress fitting in LA in an hour so I gotta go.” You said with a uneasy apologetic smile at him.

“Alright, I have to see the boys in a bit for rehearsal.”

You tried to wet your hair hoping it might help untangle it since the motel had a lack of brushes. You took Ji’s baseball cap and went to kiss him goodbye as he tried to redo his eyeliner in the mirror.

“Hey,” he said grabbing your wrist, “thanks for last night, I know it might seem like I can’t stand you at times, and sometimes you actually can’t stand me, but if I could keep doing it again, I’m gonna keep going back to you.”

You kissed his cheek and walked out. Ariana had came to pick you up.

“Ji again?” she poked.

“Yeah.”

“You guys still playing that game of ‘I love you so much I need to hate you until we meet again’?” She giggled.

“Yeah.” You said as she pulled off and you watched him walk to his car.

Another after party in two weeks, another story. Same you and Ji.

- Morning Star

#gdragon #bigbang gdragon #bigbang #gd #Kwon Jiyong #g-dragon #G Dragon #bigbang drabbles #bigbang scenarios #bigbang smut #bigbang angst #bigbang fluff #admin Morning Star

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mizmahlia · 5 years

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Hey, Mizzy! For the fanfic questions, A (Until I Have Nothing Left), B, C, F, I, M, N, R, S, T, U, X, Y, and Z! ^_^

A: Howdid you come up with the title to Until IHave Nothing Left?

A little backstory for context: I worked at aphysical therapy clinic. Nearly half the patients either had cancer or were inremission and dealing with the after. I got to know some of them really well,as they came in for a few months at a time. A handfulI knew the entire 5+ years I worked there.

Among the many inspiringthings I heard from patients was how they were gonna fight like hellbecause they weren’t ready to go yet. Whether it was chemo, radiation, surgeries,clinical trials- it didn’t matter. Whatever it took, they were willing to try. Sothe title is a nod to Jason choosing to fight until there weren’t any otheroptions.

B: Any of your stories inspired bypersonal experience?

You could say Until I HaveNothing Left is, I think, based on the answer for letter A.

Ifyou’ve read some of my older work, you come across a character named Nora.She’s based on the younger sister of a childhood friend and her name was Amelia(Emi for short). She was diagnosed with leukemia when she was a toddler andfought it until she was ten. That was the first time I’d lost someone close tome who wasn’t old and let me tell you- the death of a child hurts so muchdifferently than the death of an adult. But Emi was an incredible human beingand I could spend thousands of words telling you how wonderfulshe and her brother were. (Her brother died about five and a half years ago.)

DuctTape and Super Glue was also semi-inspired by the loss of a friend/familymember. I really can’t explain how much I adored him and how inspiring he was,but I can tell you how big the hole he left behind was.

Andthe dialogue prompt for Jason Todd, the one where he says, “You broke me”, wassadly inspired by real events in my own life. It was really cathartic to writethat one. I’d been holding onto some hurt feelings I thought I’d let go of, sowriting helped purge the last of it.

C: What member do you identify with most?

Dick- I tend to put myself last when trying to help people Icare about, and I minimize what I’m going through because I feel like I shoulddeal with it on my own. The thought of “bothering” someone for help is sort ofparalyzing sometimes. But on the more positive side of things, I love takingcare of people and making sure people I care about have what they need to feelgood.

F: Share a snippetfrom one of your favorite dialogue scenes you’ve written and explain why you’reproud of it.

Jason turned and handed the phone to Damian.“Your dad wants to talk to you.”Damian narrowed his eyes and glared once again, but took thephone.“Yes, father?”Jason busied himself with laying his wet gloveson the dash, knocking more snow from his boots and unzipping his jacket. “I understand, father. We will wait for you hereand I promise not to take off.” When Jason turned around with a shit-eating grinon his face, Damian turned and looked out the window.“Yes, Todd is in charge.”“I’ve been waiting all my life to hear that,”Jason said, laughing. He reached for the phone and Damian handed it to him.

Thisone was fun to write, and it feels really natural, at least to me. There’ssomething really, really funny aboutDamian having to admit he’s not in charge and that he’ll listen to Jason.

I: Do you have aguilty pleasure in fic (reading or writing)?

I absolutely lovewriting sentimental, sappy nonsense. Not fluff, necessarily, but stuff that Iknow will feel emotional to people who read it. (Wow.. that sounds super manipulative!)

As far as reading goes, I think it’s nearly the same. I lovelaughing and crying and feeling all the things while I read. The more extremethe emotion, the better.

M: Got any premises on the back burner thatyou’d care to share?

I got the ludicrous idea yesterday to send Sam and DeanWinchester into Gotham City where they sorta run into Batman and John Constantine.

N: Isthere a fic you wish someone else would write (or finish) for you?

Not that I can think of, no. I do look forward to reading stufffor Doom Patrol, though.

R: Are there any writers (fanfic or otherwise)you consider an influence?

Are there ever! Daniel Silva and Vince Flynn tell suchincredible stories, both in setting and character development. The moment I getmy hands on a new book from either, I’m busy until I finish reading them. (Whichis usually in two sittings, tops.)

Fics writers in general really inspire me, especially those whoestablish their own expansive universes. And when their fics take place withinthat new world they’ve made? I love the hell out of that. It takes so muchcreativity to do that, something I wish I could do.

You are certainly an influence, as well. :)

S & T were answeredhere.

U: Share three of your favorite fic writersand why you like them so much.

@zombiesbecrazy (AO3 Page)

I first fell in love with her writing after reading Phantom PainRelief and her ability to tell a story using the smallest, yet such important details blowsmy mind. The dialogue and mannerisms she uses feels effortless and natural, suchthat I feel like I’m reading comics when I’m reading her work.

@unavenged-robin (AO3 Page)

I’ve learned a ton about writingemotion, setting and description from reading her work, and quite frequently I’mleft an utter emotional wreck. There’s never a wasted phrase, sentence or conversationin her work, and that’s something I wish I could do. She’s eloquent, yet direct.Matter of fact, but emotional.

@oh-mother-of-darkness

Her headcanons and fics inspired themost original popular post on my Tumblr (Jason seeing footage of his death). Shewrites all kinds of things SO WELL. Angst, humor, you name it. And I really herability to tell a story in only a few hundred words- her prompts/requestscontinue to blow my mind.

X: A character youenjoy making suffer.

Although it’s not intentional, Jason Todd.

Y: A character you want to protect.

Alfred Pennyworth.

Z: Major character death–do you everwrite/read it? Is there a character whose death you can’t tolerate?

Ooooo, I read it allthe time. I don’t seek it out by searching tags, but if I see a fic tagged withit, I’ll read it at least 90% of the time. As far as writing it, I haven’t (yet!!),but it’s definitely something I’d like to explore. It needs to have a purposeand fit into the plot, though.

Fanfic Ask Game

#Fanfic Ask Game #an-all-write-life

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kinsie · 5 years

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Overly Belated Game Impressions from PAX Aus 2018

Every year I go to PAX Aus with some close friends to check out the Incredible Future of Games that everyone else already checked out six months ago. This is usually coupled with checking out some wonderfully well-preserved old games and hardware, along with some typically wonderfully weird indie stuff I've never heard about before. Every year, I've written up a little review of things I've played (or watched get played) on an old private forum some friends maintain, but this year, I've figured, fuck it, I might as well post it publicly, right?

Not Indie Games

Super Smash Bros Ultimate sure is a Smash game. That's not a bad thing, but since this was the same demo build from E3 (so before the Castlevania reveals) there wasn't a huge amount of surprises - just a damn good fightfest. Amusingly, the demo booths were split into two groups - For Fun (items on, Switch Pro Controller) and For Glory (items off, the new Gamecube controllers). New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe has a nonsensical name and spawned an even more nonsensical meme. The demo had six levels to play - three from the base game, three from the Luigi expansion - with both the new and old characters to play. It doesn't look like anyone other than Toadette can get the meme crown, meaning players using that character won't have to jostle for powerups in multiplayer. I didn't play Pokemon Let's Go Eevee because the queue was like 90 minutes long, but my friend braved it and gave it a resounding "ehhhh" with a hand gesture resembling a teetering see-saw. Apparently the co-op stuff wasn’t available in the demo, either, which concerned my friend since that was specifically what he was interested in.

V-Rally 4 looks nice aesthetically, but the gameplay seems pretty "eh". The name seems to be about the most interesting part. Dragonball FighterZ for Switch seems like a pretty decent port. I don’t know much about the source material or original game, but it ran fast and I didn't notice any obvious hitching or whatever.

Luigi's Mansion for Nintendo 3DS is... a 3DS port of the Gamecube launch title. It ran at a solid 30fps... a whole lot better than I recall Luigi's Mansion 2/Dark Moon running, but I was also using a vanilla 3DS for that game while the demo units at PAX were New models.

Indie Stuff

The Xbox Adaptive Controller was present as part of a demo setup for a version of One More Line. I wasn't expecting to have to push the Big Novelty Button as hard as I did, I thought it'd be a lighter touch for some reason. Although I know the button kinda isn't the point of the thing...

Supertrucks Offroad is a PC adaption of a mobile take on old top-down racing games. There's promise here, but the current handling and physics leave a lot to be desired. Hopefully it continues to develop and evolve.

Infinity Heroes is a card game with some simplified mechanics and animated versions of all the card graphics. Has potential, but still plenty of rough edges and pre-alpha grit to sand out.

Metal Wolf Chaos XD sure is a port of an Xbox game. It feels pretty well done, all things considered - the framerate is great, the controls are responsive, and the English subtitles are sometimes even connected to what's being said by the characters!

Ghoul Britannia: Land of Hope and Gorey is a point-and-click adventure game that, unexpectedly, uses a Fallout-esque isometric perspective instead of the usual side-on.

Table of Tales is a VR tabletop RPG where you control an entire party of Scoundrels by moving pieces around a constantly-changing board and playing ability cards. Since it was a VR game, there was a long sign-up queue to play, so the developers set up a little booth where Arbitrix, the game's DM (and, incidentally, a mechanical talking bird), would cheerfully explain the game for you. He said my goatee was perfect for a pirate adventure. It was probably intended as a compliment.

Supermarket Shriek is very similar to a game I prototyped years ago, except it's got a Supermarket Sweep theme and shrieking goats. Also, it's actually getting finished and has more than one level, which is another differentiator. Use the shoulder triggers to make the characters inside a shopping trolley scream their lungs out, propelling the trolley and allowing you to steer it through silly retail-themed obstacle courses.

You probably think, based on the squat protagonist and camera angle, that Tunic is a riff on Zelda: A Link to the Past. Surprise! It's actually a riff on Zelda: Ocarina of Time! The combat is very similar, with a dodge/roll button and Z-targeting (although I guess it's more RT-targeting now) that jumps to the next enemy upon beating your current one. I can't say enough nice things about the graphics... One thing that's interesting is that the entire game is in a fictional language. This includes stuff like the pause menu!

Dash Blitz is a pretty amateurish attempt at a Smash-esque platform fighter. The "feel" just isn't there, sadly.

Nom Nom Apocalypse is a top-down dual-stick roguelite about fighting off food monsters. It looks pretty interesting, but sadly I didn’t get to go back and give it a hands-on look.

Henry Mosse and the Wormhole Conspiracy is a good old-fashioned point and click adventure. The graphics are wonderfully drawn in a cartoon style, but they suffer from really puppet-y animation like an old Flash cartoon, and it breaks my heart.

No Moss Studios bought along Beam Team, a couch co-op game about fighting a giant donut that I didn’t get to try, as well as a collection of weird little Patreon-funded oddities like Sprout Up, a simple little mobile game about weaving through vines, and My Magpie, a bird-aiding simulator of sorts.

Little Reaper is a platformer with a fun movement twist in that you can throw your scythe - which travels in an arc like a hammer in Mario - and teleport to where it lands. I'll have to give this a closer look.

Mars Underground is an Earthbound-esque RPG-style adventure game with a Groundhog Day-style conceit of being stuck in a time-loop. I can't really say it struck me, to be honest.

Scout's Honor is a co-op party game where four players team up to set-up a camp-site in a limited amount of time while dealing with hazards and such. It looks kinda cute, reminds me of Overcooked a bit.

Ice Caves of Europa is a rather odd-controlling game where you pilot a hover-drone controlled by an artificial intelligence. This one probably takes a bit more time to wrap your head around than a convention center allows.

Introspect looks really cool - a Shadow of the Colossus-style boss rush with an emphasis on movement tricks and agility. I didn't get to play it while I was there, but the developers were handing out download codes for the show floor build. It seems pretty fun, although it still needs a good deal of polish.

Soundfall is a dual-stick rhythm-shooter where you have to get to the end of a course before the song ends, with rewards for shooting and slashing to the beat ala Crypt of the NecroDancer. One to watch.

Ticket to Earth is a tactical strategy RPG ala Fire Emblem with a tile-matching mechanic that makes how you move to your enemies even more important by limiting your movement and charging your special abilities. The comic artwork is nice, although the talking heads only seem to have one or two facial expressions.

Nova Flow is a first-person speedrunner that reminds me of a blend of Mirror's Edge's DLC maps and that one paint game that got incorporated into Portal 2. One of the demo levels was apparently one of the hardest levels in the game, and the developer was quite impressed at my getting within inches of completing it before the demo timer ran out...

Dawnblade seems to be an attempt at doing the whole Diablo thing on a phone, with the player hacking their way through short, pre-made maps. Visually, it looks like any of a million other games riffing off of Warcraft 3, and it seems to have some weird mobile game trappings like a stamina system to limit the amount of time you can play in a period of time.

Little Bit Lost is a survival game where you've been shrunk down to the point where ants tower over you and are powerful monsters. This one felt real early. It has promise, but needs a lot of polish to truly deliver on it.

Rogue Singularity is a 3D platformer with procgen levels. The feel didn't gel with me, and I can't really say I liked it all that much. It didn't help that the Switch port I played seemed to lack anti-aliasing entirely, giving the entire scene an unpleasant jagged look.

Ashen looks utterly fascinating - an open-world Souls-esque action RPG with Journey-style "passive" co-op where you can occasionally meet other, anonymous players out in the world and either help them or leave them to their fate. It looks really pretty.

Speaking Simulator is a hilarious puzzler where you have to manually operate a human mouth in order to say Entirely Normal Phrases in order to convince people that you are absolutely a human and not a murder robot in disguise.

Untitled Goose Game had a massive queue that I was absolutely not going to fuck with. :(

yeop

#gaming #paxaus2018

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mcbride58conner-blog · 5 years

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If Steph Will Undoubtedly Be Suspended For Recreation 7 many People Are Questioning,

Yahoo released factory reset safeguard (FRP) in Android 5.1 to make it impossible to employ a compromised product. But if the SE appears similar to the 5S, then there is no motivation for me to buy the SE over the cheaper 5S. I really don't sport thus functionality doesn't issue, both 8mp camera OS model, equally fingerprint scanner, etc. We appreciated every Story of Heroes” recreation produced sofar, and I feel such as the figures were a bit more distinctive, while the PSP activities all acquired slower startup moments. Also you can not delay and when you have an system that may upgrade to Nougat, go right ahead and install it. The rollout seems need certainly to removed and there have not been any technique- parasites that are breaking, or problems of one. A properly tuned portable front-end to a current Web-based commerce engine may not be significantly more than insufficient to support people requires. 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Don't wish to fight about it, but I firmly think that cellular gaming is merely nonviable, but the way of the near future as-well. Curiously though, I found that loading situations for activities did not fluctuate significantly between the two gadgets, and in several games—Minecraft for instance—the Moto GRAMS truly hundreds quicker. Of what supplements are utilized regarding likewise this notion influences how they are approached by game developers. Analysts are regularly creating solutions enhance microchip ability and to miniaturize mobile phones. Frankly though, I believe that ultimately, gambling that is mobile can be quite a serious gaming software as much as any unit that is other as long as persons devote the effort to get the superior games. If you like to transfer your entire images, first ensure then proceed and select your unit again , and choose the Photographs case up top. 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Character Musician Xavier Coelho-Kostolny attracted a comparability between the movie's figure types and people of the overall game. The design and appearance of cellphones offers come a considerable ways since the mid-1980s when cell phones were not as small as a people brain. Your Android is worked on by bad and it can be actually controlled by you. But the one catch is the fact that when you you future want to play the overall game you should have to go through some shenanigans again.

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sailor-arashi · 7 years

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Anime suggestions?

Asking a 42 year old lifelong anime dork for anime suggestions!?

Sorry that it’s taken me a little bit to address this. In the absence of specifics I decided to provide a recommendation of my old favorites as opposed to new releases. Of course then I realized I could write entire essays on each of my old favorites as a recommendation and started thinking about how to make a post like that. Then I decided to provide short recommendations for most of the old favorites and save the hard-sell for a single great freaking show. This in turn led me to end up re-watching large parts of said show because it’s just that freaking great. Also, if anyone reading this wants lengthy essays on why I love a certain series, ask away and I’ll write one up if I’m feeling productive one day!

Anyway!

If you’re looking for recently-aired stuff, you can go through my GIF tag to see what I’ve been watching for the past few seasons. Chances are if I’m making GIFs of something I also recommend watching it. The only recent show that I’d mention specifically as deserving more attention than it received is Made In Abyss. It’s a great little show. It’s also really dark, despite the cutesy character designs, so don’t be fooled. Also, if body horror is a trigger, stay the fuck away. The Abyss does bad bad things to people. Anyway, on to the old stuff ;)

Macross SeriesMacross is my all-time favorite ongoing setting. It’s one of the great pillars of the Real Robot genre. It’s stands apart from its peers by focusing more on the human side of conflicts, having an actual nuanced take on the role of the military, and just being very hopeful in general. There are several separate series that I recommend, thus I am grouping them together.

The Super-Dimension Fortress Macross (1982): The original. A true classic of anime. The animation is terribly dated at this point, but the story still holds up. Every time I remember that I first watched this within a year or two of it airing, I feel really old.

Do You Remember Love? (1984): A stunningly-animated movie version of the TV series. The story is slightly different, but close enough if you don’t want to put in the time to watch the TV series but want a better frame of reference on the sequels. It’s also one of the most technically impressive hand-animated movies put to film, so it’s worth a look.

Macross Plus (1994): Four episode OVA series set 30 years after the original. The focus is on the reunion of three former friends rather than the overarching events of the setting, so it can easily be watched without knowing anything about Macross. It’s also widely regarded as one of the best OVA series ever made. It launched the career of Yoko Kanno, among others.

Macross Frontier (2007): Takes place 47 years after the original on board one of Earth’s many outbound colony fleets. Like Macross Plus, the cast is original to the series, and the first 8 or so episodes begin with summaries of the history of the Macross setting, so it can be watched without watching the others…though you’ll miss a lot of references and a bit of the story nuance, but not enough to be unenjoyable.

Moving on from Macross!

Azumanga Daioh (2002): The original slice-of-life show. Cute girls doing cute things. You will cry when they graduate. Watch it.

Nadia of the Mysterious Seas (1990): High adventure in the 1800s! Very very loosely based on 2000 Leagues Under The Sea. This is the series that put Gainax on the map. It also has one of my favorite openings ever.

Aim For the Top! Gunbuster! (1988): While we’re talking about the glories of 80s-90s Gainax, let’s drop in on Gunbuster. A surprisingly-deep take on the Super Robot genre, featuring the most hot-blooded female pilots you’ll find anywhere, which is a huge selling point. If you ever wonder why Evangelion took off so quickly, it’s because it was sold to us as a TV series “by the people who did Gunbuster!”

Marmalade Boy (1994): For years this was my ‘warm blanket and dark chocolate’ anime. Whenever I was feeling down for reasons hormonal or otherwise I’d just start watching randomly from one of the 76 episodes. It’s just an animated soap opera. The main character, Miki, is stunned when her parents come back from a vacation and announce that they’re swapping partners with a couple they met in Hawaii. They all move into the same house together, and Miki meets the other couple’s son Yuu. Hijinks ensue. Nearly every episode ends on a cliffhanger or stunning revelation. It oozes melodrama from every frame of animation.

EDIT: I just walked out into the living room and told the wife what I was doing and mentioned that I recommended Marmalade Boy. Her response: “RUN MIKI! RUN FROM YOUR PROBLEMS!” and now I can’t stop laughing, because that’s exactly Miki’s response to everything bad that happens to her.

(I appear to be drifting closer to writing essays for them all, I’ll just add a couple more and move on)

Yamato 2199 (2012): A bit of a cheat, as this is fairly recent, but it’s a direct remake of the original 1970′s series that I watched as a kid…and it’s frankly better than the original.

Please Save My Earth (1993): Six-episode OVA series that covers the first half of the manga series by the same name. A girl named Alice begins having dreams of living in a hidden base on the moon. She encounters several other people who are dreaming the same thing. I used to hate one of the characters for what he did. Then I understood but still couldn’t forgive it. Finally, now, I think I can forgive him. It’s a series that makes you feel very strongly, but to explain is to spoil. One of Yoko Kanno’s first series as a composer.

His and Her Circumstances (1998): A romance buds between two people who hide their true selves behind a mask of normalcy. Will they still like each other once those masks are stripped away? A compelling romantic comedy from Gainax, and also one of the codifiers of the Gainax Ending, so the show kinda goes to shit in the second half, with three recap episodes and the animation devolving into stick figures, but the main plot is resolved long before then and despite all of this it remains a truly incredible series.

Okay, so, now we come to it. The hard sell.

If there is anything at all in this post that you watch, you absolutely MUST WATCH

GIANT ROBO: THE ANIMATIONThe Day The Earth Stood Still (1992)

I cannot possibly summarize the plot better than its own intro, so watch this:

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The entire show is like that! Breathless exposition! Dashing heroics! Fearful villainy! And the entire thing done in a retro-60′s design aesthetic as an homage to the original creator of all the characters within, Mitsuteru Yokoyama. Top it off with a literally operatic soundtrack and you have the recipe for…well…maybe that’s hard to say? Why am I recommending a series about a kid who controls a giant robotic pharaoh?

The show looks absolutely ludicrous, and in many ways it is. The characters are over the top in a very old-school sort of way. You’ve got your obvious good guys, literally called the EXPERTS OF JUSTICE. You’ve got your obvious bad guys who constantly pledge themselves to the service of a guy named BIG FIRE. The heroes protect the new utopia that the world has become with the invention of a perfect power source. The bad guys seek to destroy that utopia and crush humanity beneath their heel. It’s all so cut-and-dry. Even the characterization of some of the villains as “noble monsters” and some of the heroes as “ends justifies the means” loose cannons doesn’t really give it much depth.

At first.

The show very quickly disabuses you of that notion as it delves into what it actually took to carve out a utopian existence from a humanity that is so frequently opposed to any such thing. It examines the motivations of the villains and finds them valid. It examines the motivations of the heroes and finds them wanting. It provides two questions that drive the emotional arc of the story and demands that the characters, and you the viewer, answer them.

Can happiness be achieved without sacrifice?

Can a new era be reached without misfortune?

As the sins of the past rise up to destroy the hope of the future, somehow the giant robot pharaoh stops seeming so ridiculous. The fact that everything looks like 1960′s guy-in-monster-suit action cinema only serves to contrast the actual depth of the characters and the series as a whole. To say more is to spoil, so I’ll not go into detailed analysis. Suffice it to say: The show looks silly, yet is really quite serious.

It also has one of the best finales of all time. I watched this series as it was released, and there was a three year wait between episode six and episode seven, and I can honestly say it was worth every second. Re-watching it just a few hours ago, my cheeks were wet with tears and stretched in a big grin at the same time. It’s probably the most satisfying end to a series I’ve seen.

So, there you have it. A whole bunch of old anime to watch. (WATCH GIANT ROBO)

If anyone reading this actually watches something based on my recommendation and enjoys it, please let me know. It’s always great to hear that a recommendation was well-received.

#holy crap how to tag this?#I think i'll leave it and maybe tag the series in later #i've been writing this for a couple hours now #wife loving dork #gotta put that one in for the wife mention #how-tobe-him #giant robo #macross #kare kano #his and her circumstances #azumanga daioh #please save my earth #marmalade boy #fushigi no umi no nadia

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attract-mode-collective · 6 years

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Ready To Wear, Ready To Play

As previously noted, there’s been yet another change in direction for the Attract Mode blog… which I have dubbed Version 2.8 Final CE EX Λ Core Plus Alpha. BTW/FYI. But yeah, been posting on Twitter, a lot. So much so that you may have missed something, so here’s a recap!

Note: was originally going to cover everything tweeted throughout the month, but because there’s so much to cover (and February’s short)… am guessing bi-weekly might be the way to go. Am also going to present things mostly in order.

K, enough chatter: at the very top is another fine example of a Famicom being the ultimate in fashion accessory (via nintendu). And here we have, not designer threads but designer plastic (via gamefreaksnz)...

Speaking of plastic, Sega (or someone who got Sega’s blessing, or maybe not even) made Super Monkey Ball figures? Guess so (via magimacaque)...

I was under the belief that, if I truly wanted to make an impact with the relaunch of the Attract Mode Twitter, I couldn’t just post one single piece of Klonoa fan art, but two...

And I only have one example of Cuphead fan art, but it’s the one that counts (via jothelion)...

It was Kyle who helped kick the Attract Mode Twitter’s rebirth into high gear, with the reveal of his Nintendo Power covers. So to help replay the favor, I must insistent that everyone purchase the hard copy of RPG_Friends (which I first mentioned here)...

Nothing makes me happier than seeing such a dense assortment of Japanese game stuffs (via peazy86)...

... Yet that being said, I also believe less can be more, plus a nice breeze while playing Secret of Mana is... well... nice (via sixteen-bit.tumblr)

These gamer chairs perfectly embody Japanese sensibilities when it comes to furniture, plus are a total 180 to the junk they peddle in the US (via shmups)...

Time for another excellent toco toco vid, this one features your fave old school Capcom illustrator, and mine, Akiman…

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There's so much I love about this interview with the creator of Hong Kong 1997, whose goal was "to make the worst game possible”. Though this picture of the guy is near the top of my list...

I love these kooky kids, thinking they could possibly get away with stealing an entire Final Fight arcade cab (via videogamead)...

Yeah, I feel the same way kid (via tvgame)...

"This is Jesus. He lives inside my Neo Geo MVS cabinet. He was there when I got it. He is glorious." (via arcadephile)...

The pathos that is Sub Zero at the bat, in four modded screenshots(via lanceboyles)...

The pathos that is the Kachō interacting with kids, in just three YouTube screengrabs (via gaijira)...

And the pathos that is Splatoon 2, via two screengrabs and the piece of fan art that resulted (via lunaticobscurity)...

Though in addition to pathos, Splatoon is also filled to the brim with intensity (via thewaragainstgiygas)...

Welcome to VIOLENT CITY (via shmups)...

Also, STAY CHILL (via paperbeatsscissors)...

Not that any band in which music is performed via guitars hooked up to Famicoms is all that typical to being with, but this one is most definitely not typical (via miki800.com)...

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This "what the hell is going on exactly" illustration has motivated me to finally Wario Land a spin at long last (via it8bit)...

Remember Absolutely Rose Street, the Beverly Hills 90210 meets Degrassi meets Wayne’s World-esque show that was actually an infomercial for the Sega 32X in disguise that I wrote about a little whiles ago? Well here's ad for it (via oldgamemags)...

I'm a total sucker for old Japanese video game mags, primarily ones featuring models/statues on the cover (via miki800)...

Another cover to an old Japanese game rag, this one featuring the very first Metal Gear; I wonder if this slightly cutesy take helped to inspire the Metal Gear we meet in Snatcher (via mendelpalace)...

Here we have a page from an 11 page comic, done in a single sitting, for an event that celebrates various pairings of Solid Snake/Otacon, one that's called Snot Week for whatever reason (via millionfish)...

I want this woman to be my mom (via cyberfights)...

Am obsessed with this image of a man playing Xevious in the middle of a desert that's clearly fabricated and clearly from the 80s (via shmups)...

mendelpalace sez: "This picture gives me anxiety" and I feel exactly the same...

This is comparable to my own morning commute, except for the lack of floating cherry blossom petals and various other differences (via tightenupthe)...

Spring is almost here, which means it's time for a new wardrobe, which really means it's time to get new PaRappa attire (via miki800.com)...

If a glitched Nintendo logo when booting up a Game Boy looks fashionable to you, you're in luck (via gameandgraphics)...

Tho if a glitched Game Boy Advance start up is more your style (via corruptionasart)...

Has anyone received this Mega Drive/Genesis chiptune album on a cart (described as a "16-bit VMU") yet? (via catskullelectronics)

Ever wonder what a 3 part symphony, one performed via 5 different Nintendo DSs and 5 different copies of Electroplankton, sounds like? Well wonder no more (via mendelpalace)...

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And ever wonder what an Italian-based, US-born R&B, blues and disco singer (which is how Wikipedia describes Ronnie Jones) thought of video games in the year 1980? Again, wonder no more (via aestheticoftheday)...

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The new DDR, which will record your performance and also add snazzy video effects, is my early contender for GOTY 2018 (via @Sega_AM2)...

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I will never grow tired or bored of watching this run cycle, ever (via shmups)...

What appears to be a Nier motion study (via sixteen-bit)...

Sakura-ha (via rosscountertv)..

To commemorate the discontinuation of the Kinect sensor (via prostheticknowledge)...

Google Translate took the original Korean & translated it as: "Ittsumi! Maria", which @NotLikeFreddy re-translated as: "It's-a me, Mary-o"...

The medium of video games most certainly has many mountains to overcome yet, but there's little denying that we've made some progress nonetheless (via videofame)...

"I have to go now. My planet needs me.” (via sixteen-bit)...

Cuz it's been a while since I shared a gif from Sin & Punishment (via n64thstreet)...

The SNES & Genesis had cool accessories and all, yet I often wonder what it would have been like if 3D printers & Etsy were around back then...

Pretty much the cutest lil thing you'll see all day is this Genesis CDX hooked up to a 5″ Sony PVM (via decideweapons)...

“'Club Sega during the Snow' is a top-tier aesthetic, I think." (via pr0jectneedlemouse)

I love old VG sound team photos, especially when they double as old band photos, like Capcom's Alph Lyra here (via videogamesdensetsu)...

You all have no idea how happy I am to finally see a decent sized version of the flyer for Deadly Sport... again, no idea (via melvanainchains)...

Here's an illustration of Terry Bogard eating a hot dog (with the rest of his Fatal Fury posse chowing down as well)...

... Turns out, Terry's affinity for hot dogs is somewhat of a thing (via busterwolf)....

... Or, perhaps SNK as a whole are simply huge fans of hot dogs? (via meldowiseau)

I absolutely love this familiar, yet thoroughly refreshing take on Samus (via lady--peaches)...

And nothing new to report, as it pertains to @deimosremus's Metroid redesign, so am just going to continue staring at this some more...

Love Hultén is mostly known for their handheld creations, like the Pixel Vision, though I mostly dig their full-sized cabinet, the Kabin 1...

"Damn Tecmo never let Microsoft live that design down" (via sixteen-bit)...

Cuz I recently began replaying Breath of the Wild...got the Switch version for the gf on her birthday... some fan art (via it8bit)...

I've seen my fair share of comics with Sonic & Tails, but never one that addresses the debug mode from the original Genesis games (via vg-libary)...

Here we have two cats, from the game Jingle Cats, occupied with the fridge (via obscurevideogames)...

And here we have just one cat, from the Sailor Moon anime, occupied with an arcade game that I am unable to identify (via sailormoonreblogs)...

Can you believe the music video for @MissyElliott's Sock It 2 Me is over 20 years old? Crazy, I know...

Speaking of Mega Man, I guess I need to finally check out Mega Man Zero, cuz apparently X goes through some kind of religious conversion or something (via omnilunary)...

And here we have Cut Man, the one we all know (and love) from Mega Man meeting his Captain N doppelganger (via mewymarsher)...

I absolutely need this on a shirt or jacket (via @buzz_clik)...

It's always a thrill, seeing a fighting stick made out of tupperware in the wild for the very first time, isn't it? (via @silva_hime)

Yes. Fighting Layer is that game in which you jump off a folding chair to smash another one on the head of a gigantic falcon (via lordmo)...

Tonight’s episode: PINBALL ALCHEMIST (via tonights-episode)...

Here we have a Tumblr thread giving suggestions on how to access a seemingly inaccessible area of a hotel lobby; my fave, for perhaps obvious reasons, is the ring path/light speed dash combo from Sonic Adventure...

Am kinda hungry atm and feel like slicing & dicing some celery & onions, plus making some Julienne Fries; anyone got a copy of Sonic 2 handy? (via sonicthehedgeblog)

A. thanks to this fan art, I now know you can also play OutRun in Hokuto no Ken PS4! & B. great piece & all, but...still a shame that Alex Kidd is missing (via inspiredfatty)...

I've legit been staring at these rotating NES and SNES gifs all day long (via 3d-bear)...

These photos from the Dreamcast Mobile Assault Tour, circa the late 90s, right before the system's launch are very... and I mean VERY... 90s (via posthumanwanderings)...

"What will your next dream be?" (via 081594)

You know that UK/US reality show Undercover Boss, in which a billionaire CEO disguises himself as the new mailroom guy? Well there's apparently a version in Japan, with an episode starring the president of Taito (via @MMCafe_Prof)...

On Valentine's Day I came across a horror movies blog that presented various horror movie Valentines, including one for Jason Voorhees that references Friday The 13th for NES (via cameraviscera.com)...

Also, for Valentine's, my girlfriend made me pixelated chocolate; the pic does the blue hearts in particular zero justice, which look like plastic toys, but most assuredly are made of milk chocolate...

... And that’s it for now! The rest of February coming up in a few!

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isaiahrippinus · 4 years

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From Campari to Kahlúa, New Uses for Old Liqueurs

Building a decent selection of base spirits lays a solid foundation for any home bar. But it’s the careful addition of modifiers and liqueurs that unlocks your bar’s true potential. It’s impossible to mix a Negroni, for example, without sweet vermouth and the Italian bitter liqueur Campari. And good luck shaking up an Espresso Martini without a coffee-based liqueur such as Kahlúa.

While liqueurs like Campari and Kahlúa may seem linked to specific cocktails, don’t write them off as one-trick ponies. Neither should you reach for Aperol only during aperitivo hour or open the orange liqueur when it’s time to mix Margs. With a little insider knowledge, there’s a world of opportunities to explore, from forgotten gems to lesser-known “modern classics.”

To find out how to get more miles out of the liqueurs on your bar cart, we tapped a small pool of bartenders with a wealth of experience.

Among them was Brian Miller, a self-styled “tropicalogist” whose resume is littered with New York cocktail institutions such as Pouring Ribbons, Pegu Club, and Death & Co. Also weighing in with sage advice from the Empire State was Lucinda Sterling, who came up at Milk & Honey under the late Sasha Petraske, and now works as a bartender and co-owner of Middle Branch and Seaborne. Completing the trio was Los Angeles-based Tyson Buhler, national beverage director at Death & Co.

Aperol

Likely the liqueur that’s most famously handcuffed to one specific drink, the Aperol Spritz, it is a perfect example of a criminally underutilized bottle. Instead of adding Prosecco and soda, try it in the Mexican-inspired Oaxaca Soul. An original creation from Phillip Childers of Sterling’s Middle Branch, this shaken cocktail combines 1 ½ ounces tequila, ½ ounce Aperol, ½ ounce agave syrup, and ¾ ounce lemon juice. Strain over ice and garnish with an orange slice and mezcal float.

For a better-known modern classic, Sterling suggests the Intro to Aperol, created by Audrey Saunders at New York’s Pegu Club. Bittersweet, with a citrus twang, this summery shaken cocktail blends 2 ounces of Aperol with 1 ounce gin, ¾ ounce of lemon juice, and a dash of Angostura bitters. Alternatively, there’s the Paper Plane, a Sam Ross creation from his time at Milk & Honey. Requiring an added, esoteric Italian ingredient, this well-balanced, equal-parts cocktail shakes ¾ ounce each Aperol, bourbon, lemon juice, and Amaro Nonino. (It’s worth picking up a bottle of Amaro Nonino for this drink alone.)

Baileys

Newly minted home bartenders might turn their noses up at Baileys, but two of our bartenders revealed a soft spot for the velvet- smooth liqueur. Miller enjoys a splash in hot coffee in lieu of cream and says, “I’ve never had a bad Baileys before. The shelf life is probably the same as a Twinkie.” For those who feel the urge to pull out the shaker, all roads lead to the Mudslide. The grownup milkshake sees 1 ounce each of vodka, coffee liqueur (more on this soon), and Baileys, shaken with 1½ ounces heavy cream.

Another (in)famous preparation is the Blow Job shot, a regrettably named ‘90s creation that floats ⅕ ounce of the Irish cream on top of a ½ ounce shot of Amaretto. A healthy topping of whipped cream is added as garnish for good measure. The Baby Guinness, a more enjoyable preparation, ditches the cream and switches in coffee liqueur for the Amaretto. It’s a picture-perfect pairing alongside a pint of the real thing. And before we leave the Emerald Isle, Sterling offers one last Baileys tip: Mix equal parts with Irish whiskey and lots of ice. “You definitely want to water it down and make it last that little longer,” she says.

Campari

Once you’ve conquered the Negroni, Buhler says the drink’s “siblings” are the next logical step for exploring Campari cocktails. A few simple tweaks to the equal parts gin, Campari, and sweet vermouth recipe offer a range of options.

Remove the gin to enjoy a bittersweet Milano-Torino. Add a splash of soda to that drink and it becomes the Americano. “As long as you’ve got a couple bottles of vermouth in the fridge, the Boulevardier and Old Pal are also really easy spins,” Buhler says. The former subs in bourbon for Negroni’s gin, while the latter replaces it with rye and switches out the sweet vermouth for dry.

For a departure from Negroni’s well-worn flavor profile, Buhler recommends more recent creations. “There’s a really great drink that came out of Milk & Honey years ago from Mickey McIlroy called the Rome With a View,” he says. A citrusy riff on the Americano, this cocktail shakes 1 ounce each Campari, dry vermouth, and fresh lime juice, with ¾ ounce simple syrup. Finish with a splash of soda water and an orange wheel.

“There’s another one that I love from the ‘90s called the Jasmine,” Buhler says. Created by Paul Harrington at the Townhouse Bar & Grill in Emeryville, Calif., this drink could be mistaken for a Cosmopolitan with its powdery pink appearance. Instead, it’s a more nuanced riff on the bracing Gin Sour, with ¼ ounce each Cointreau and Campari replacing simple syrup and adding complexity.

Cointreau

Where there’s an open bottle of Cointreau, there’s likely a recently finished Margarita nearby. But the orange liqueur is an incredibly adaptable ingredient, capable of delivering more than refreshing Margs. “The Margarita is just an extension of a Sidecar, which I think most people have heard of but probably don’t make very much at home,” Buhler says. Where the Sidecar’s Cognac replaces Margarita’s tequila, opting for gin as the base spirit yields a White Lady, which can be shaken with or without an egg white. For a more obscure classic, Buhler puts forward the Lucien Gaudin. A stirred, spirit-forward cocktail, this drink combines 2 parts gin with 1 part each Campari, Cointreau, and dry vermouth.

Coffee Liqueur (such as Kahlúa)

Coffee liqueur is an essential ingredient in the Espresso Martini, a drink famously concocted for an unnamed supermodel looking for something to “wake her up and f*ck her up.” Other uses for the liqueur are similarly crude. Best known among them is the White Russian, which shot to fame following its supporting role in the Big Lebowski. For the lighter Black Russian alternative, simply stir 2 parts vodka with 1 part Kahlúa. And don’t be afraid to switch up the base spirit or play with proportions, Miller says: “Try equal parts rum and Kahlúa, with a cream float on top.” Alternatively, experiment with Kahlúa as a cocktail modifier. “Campari and coffee are neighbors,” he says. “So add a teaspoon or half a teaspoon to your Negroni. A little bit goes a long way.”

Lillet Blanc

A summertime staple, aromatized wine Lillet Blanc begs for little more than ice, fruit, and an optional topping of soda to be enjoyed. But it also finds a home in some great classic cocktails. There’s the Corpse Reviver #2 and its lesser known sibling, the 20th Century Cocktail, which subs in crème de cacao for orange liqueur and omits the absinthe rinse.

More debatable in reputation is James Bond’s Vesper Martini, which attempts to settle the gin-versus-vodka debate once and for all by including them both. While the merits of this drink remain a point of contention, Buhler says you’re on the right path if you’re including Lillet Blanc in Martini variations. “It rounds out the edges a little and helps make the boozy, dry cocktail a little bit more approachable,” he says.

For a more refreshing, batchable drink, a healthy pour of Lillet Blanc is the perfect way to jazz up a White Sangria, Sterling says.

St-Germain

There’s much to love about this approachable floral liqueur. “When I was at Death & Co., we used to call it bartenders’ ketchup,” says Miller. “You can put it in almost anything and it tastes great.”

While it most famously appears with Champagne and club soda in the Elderflower Spritz (also known as the St-Germain cocktail), the floral “condiment” has worked its way into a number of innovative Death & Co. creations over the years.

An Old Fashioned reboot, Phil Ward’s Elder Fashioned stirs 2 ounces Plymouth gin with ½ ounce St-Germain and a dash of orange bitters. Miller’s original creations from his time at the bar include the Carré Reprise, a reimagining of the Vieux Carré that replaces Benedictine with ½ ounce of the elderflower liqueur. His Little Sparrow follows a similar spirit-forward formula, but riffs on the relationship between apples and elderflowers. Calvados provides the base spirit while a dash of 100-proof Laird’s apple brandy ups the ABV.

For simpler solutions, Miller suggests using St-Germain as a sweetener. For recipes that usually call for 1 ounce of simple syrup, replace half with ½ ounce of St-Germain. Whether it’s a Daiquiri or Gin Collins, the elderflower liqueur works as a “floral enhancer” he says.

The article From Campari to Kahlúa, New Uses for Old Liqueurs appeared first on VinePair.

source https://vinepair.com/articles/how-use-campari-kahlua-liqueurs/ source https://vinology1.tumblr.com/post/626980131056107520

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adrenalineguide · 5 years

Text

Urban Cowboys: GMC Sierra Denali vs. Ram 1500 Sport

Text and Photos By Michael Hozjan

GMC Sierra Denali

Get behind the wheel of GM’s Sierra Denali or Ram’s 1500 Sport and it’s easy to see why the pickup craze is growing by leaps and bounds, and not just in rural Canada. Once you get past (or used) to the gargantuan size of Detroit’s latest pickups, the interior accommodations are second to none, and more often than not best the luxury barges of the sixties and seventies in legroom and features.

There’s no mistaking that grille.

GMC’s Sierra, like its Chevrolet sibling the Silverado is all-new for 2019 and yes it has grown again in every direction. But don’t think of these two as twins, each has its perks and differences. The Denali clearly steals the show, not only in looks with the big bold chrome grille but more importantly with some desirable items in its roster. It’s easy to see why then Denali sales have grown by leaps and bounds over the last six years, accounting for a third of the General’s sales, with the Crew Cab versions making up over seventy-five percent of the market.

More than any of its competitors, GM is trying to minimize the effect of the overall size of the truck with several noteworthy features. Most notably is the Denali’s tailgate. Not only is the tailgate a lot easier to close than previous models, it also features the industry’s first six-step flip and fold tailgate. Flip the top third of the MultiPro gate once for lower access to the bed, continue flipping it and it turns into a step to access the bed when the gate is down. Someone is finally thinking out of the box. No pun intended. Is this the Stow’n Go of the pickup industry?

There are lots of Mickey Mouse features available on today’s vehicles, the MultiPro tailgate is not one of them. A welcomed addition to any pickup.

There’s a rear back up camera to ease hooking up a trailer as well as squeezing into a parking spot. Oh and there’s the ProGrade Trailering System should the camera not suffice. Not only does it guide you for a one man hitch up, but provides a slew of checklists including the trailer’s electrical diagnostics.

The retractable running boards ease egress and ingress into the four-wheel-drive truck. Once inside you’ll appreciate the refinement that the Denali has received. Fit and finish is superb and the quality of materials used is in par if not superior to its competitors. There’s a welcomed 8″ Heads up Display, that shows your speed and the posted limit...nice, but I do question some of the features like hill ascent angle? In all honesty I find the overall look of the Sierra’s dash a bit too 1990’s futuristic attempt at a galactic spaceship. Maybe a little too overambitious design. Don’t get me wrong, it works fine, everything falls into place with my hands intuitively going to all the controls it just isn’t my personal cup of tea.

The two-tone seats are firm enough for daily duties, offer decent lateral support and comfortable enough for royalty. There’s heating and ventilating for driver and the front passenger seat with the back outboard seats also getting heating. The heated steering wheel is a big plus after a day on the job or early morning startups. Head and legroom have been improved, carpeting fore and aft is something that wasn’t seen in pickups a few years ago, today it’s limo quality.

Back or front the seats are comfy enough for royalty. Storage bins under the seat hide items from prying eyes.

My Denali came with GM’s biggest available mill, a $2,895 option- the 6.2L V8 delivering 420 horses with 460 lb-ft. of torque mated to a smooth and quick shifting 10-speed automatic transmission controlled thankfully by a glitch resistant old-school steering column mounted shifter. There’s enough power to tow your work trailer or haul the race car to the local track with max towing capacity is now 4264 kilos (9400 lbs.) with a maximum payload 912 kg. (2010 lbs.) . The shorty, 1776 mm (just under 5 foot) box holds 62.9 cu.ft. of cargo.

Need less towing power? There’s also a base 5.3-litre V8 available and an inline six turbo diesel should be hitting dealer showrooms by the time this gets published. I still managed to average a decent 14L/100km of the good stuff on the big boy which included winter warm ups.

Controls for the 4 x 4 system are conveniently mounted on the dash. I left mine in automatic and the truck performed flawlessly regardless of what Mother Nature. Large 22” Bridgestone Blizzaks provided the traction in slush, snow and ice and gave a smooth quiet ride.

A clean, crisp design sets the Denali apart.

GM has been in second place behind Ford and its F150 almost since the dawn of day. New features, a clean-cut design and that tailgate may just be the ticket to push it to the forefront. Don’t leave out the GM dealer when shopping for your next truck.

Price as tested: $79,240*

* Includes $1,795 destination charges

Ram 1500 Sport

With the battle for pickup sales dominance getting fiercer by the minute, consumers are the big winners, profiting with some great deals, fantastic features and a variety of models to choose from.

For 2019 the Ram gets a major redesign with six different trim levels to suit everyone’s tastes and requirements. Also included in FCA’s repertoire for 2019 is last year’s carry-over model, now christened the Classic. The biggest news in the lineup however is the Ram Sport - a Canadian exclusive. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles tells us that nearly a quarter of Canadian Ram buyers choose the Sport Appearance Package for their trucks, so the folks in Windsor decided to make it a model onto itself. But not content on just replicating the options list, FCA added a ton of goodies to further sweeten the truck.

Replacing its siblings chrome grille with a subtler black unit gives the Sport a cleaner look. In fact all the chrome has been given the black treatment from the huge, almost comical, Ram’s head on the tailgate to the headlight trim. Available in nine different monochromatic colors, the Sport package entails standard bi-LED headlamps and, if you’re tall enough to notice, an optional performance hood distinguishable by black functional scoops that aide in heat extracting engine heat, standard 20-inch wheels with 22-inch wheels available and unique Sport badging.

Standard equipment includes power adjustable pedals, heated seats and steering wheel, rear view camera, push button start, damped tailgate to ease lifting the thick gate, and an active air dam and grille shutters.

But it’s what beneath the skin that counts; utilizing high strength steel in the frame and body brings the scales down by 102 kilos. There’s also a good amount of aluminum used throughout, from suspension components to the hood and tailgate. An oddity is hill-start assist. On an automatic?

The Ram corners flatter thanks to a 20 per cent boost in roll stiffness in the suspension, and variable rate springs in the rear give it a maximum payload of 2,300 lbs. The Ram Sport can tow 12,750 pounds, up 20 percent from last year’s Ram.

Dwarfing an suv, any dispute of the growth of today’s pickups?

Power is derived from the familiar and bulletproof, 5.7-liter HEMI V8 that pumps 395 horses and 410 lb-ft of torque. Its multi-cylinder displacement system (MDS), which shuts off half the cylinders when less power is required, has been tweaked to operate in four-cylinder mode as much as possible. It’s mated to an eight-speed automatic with on command all-wheel-drive. Sadly the Sport moniker doesn’t mean you get the option of a manual tranny. There are buttons on the steering wheel to shift the automatic when required but a poor replacement for a floor mounted shifter

Like the Denali, the Ram Sport has two other engine options coming later this summer utilizing a mild hybrid system called eTorque. The first is a 3.6L V6 (305 hp, 269 lb-ft of torque), the 5.7L HEMI will also get eTorque, but the release date is yet to be announced. There are rumors of the 3.0L turbodiesel V6 making a comeback next year but with FCA confirming that 90% of its RAM pickups are ordered with the 5.7L V8, I don’t see any rush to get the diesel to market.

The eTorque uses a belt-driven motor-generator on the engine, a 48-volt battery pack, and a regenerative braking system. The set up provides auto stop-start capability that’s reportedly much smoother than using a conventional starter for the idle-stop function, while providing a brief boost of torque.

Stopping power has greatly improved with front discs growing by over an inch and a half to 14.9” and the rears to 14.8”

My Sport came with the optional four-corner adjustable air suspension which features four modes: Normal, Aero (highway cruising), Off-Road and Entry/Exit. It’s been asymmetrically revised for smoother, more comfortable performance.

The interior is a carry-over but the Sport comes solely in a blacked-out interior with exclusive trim touches, like satin light black-chrome highlights, real metal trim and diamond-plate. There are storage bins under the floor and the rear seats. The steering wheel now telescopes and tilts. Front heated/ventilated buckets are comfortable while the rear seats can be reclined as much as 8 degrees. A surround-view camera, adaptive cruise control, and a 12-inch infotainment screen are all on the options list as is a top of the line 19-speaker Harmon/Kardon sound system.

With 102 mm added length for the Crew Cab there’s extra legroom, and an extra 38-millimetre box height that apparently improves aerodynamics but only adds to making it even tougher to reach over for anything in the box. One usually doesn’t think of aerodynamics when it comes to pickups. But FCA claims the new active air dam, which lowers at highway speeds does improve aerodynamics and hence fuel mileage.

Snow, snow and more snow, the Ram induced confidence no matter what.

The Ram Sport is everything a truck should be in 2019, despite its size it feels smaller, it’s comfortable, quiet – some 36 percent quieter, yet still allows enough of the V8 growl enter the cabin to stir the senses, the ride is well-planted and controlled with smooth shifts. I got the Ram at an opportune time this past winter, when we got repeatedly hit by more and more snow. The Ram handled itself superbly and kept me comfortable with my confidence level never waning of what the truck could handle.

Like the Denali, the Ram gets the job done very well, they both ride and handle superbly with wonderful engines, making your buying choice that much tougher.

Pricing starts at $43,345 for the short bed (5’7”) two wheel-drive version. My fully loaded beast with such trick items as dual-pane sunroof, ventilated seats, power running boards, 22-inch wheels ballooned the final tally to $73,600. Luckily as we go to press there is a ten grand plus discount offered by FCA, which should soften the blow.

Price as tested: $73,600

#gmcsierra #ram #denali #pickup #ram1500

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