#no please put your focus into interesting map design and using maps to tell stories

[fortune-maiden]

I am so torn on Fire Emblem Engage

some aspects of it look really cool but it just doesn’t feel like the Fire Emblem series I fell in love with

[dragonswithjetpacks]

I finally finished the next chapter of Theurgist. I don't know why I was struggling so hard to finish it. I literally only needed one conversation to finish it. Either way! Here we go!

Theurgist

Chapter Six: The Trouble of Secrets

-dragonswithjetpacks

Read here on Ao3.

“Is that it? Down there?” Ferelith peered over the edge of the cliff, shouting behind her as the roaring of the waterfall drowned out her voice. “Not much of a sanctuary is it?”

The ruined stone nestled into the grove below were nothing but rocks to her as she searched the area for anything note-worthy. From what she gathered, it was an area designated to the druids and a sanctioned place for their ritual. Other than that, everything else seemed a makeshift bandaid toward any attempt to reconstruct the architecture of the original temple that once existed. The stonework that remained standing was impressive in itself. But it seemed overshadowed by the poor craftsmanship of the woodwork, similar to what the tiefling camp was built around. With a disappointed huff, she pulled herself away.

“Let’s take a look at the rest of the camp. I’d like to hear a few more things about the druids before we head down there.”

“You don’t think we should introduce ourselves?” Gale crossed his arms, examining her closely. “The tieflings mentioned a healer was among them.”

“Did they?” she raised her brow. “I believe anyone with potential was said to be missing.”

“Ah, but there was a brief word about an apprentice.”

“I’m not interested in a druid apprentice,” she almost snarled, a wrinkle forming on her nose.

“We’re all in need of assistance, here,” he became stern with a lowered brow. “I can’t imagine putting off this kind of information. What sort of vendetta do you have?”

“I don’t,” she said quickly with a shrug to hide her hesitance. “I simply feel this is a problem more complicated that requires further assistance. Far from what an apprentice could provide.”

“And you think we’ll find something different with the rumors of refugees?”

“I think the tieflings will be desperate enough to help in any way they can. Rather than throw ourselves at the mercy of those running everyone out of the grove, why don’t we lend an ear to the needy?”

“She might be right,” Astarion pulled at his belt. “People in desperation are rather chatty.”

“Or we could stop wasting time. We have the location we need marked on the map. Let us be done with this place,” Lae’zel added her piece.

Ferelith had not trusted a single word of information she had received thus far. Every possibility for a cure to her brain problem seemed ironically far-fetched. Given her circumstances were unusual, she did not know why the suggestion of an obscure solution seemed so unlikely. Still, the idea of a gith camp made her uneasy and the thought of a druid healer made her sick.

“I want to at least speak with Zevlor, the tiefling’s leader, once more,” she stepped past her comrades. “I’d like to get a better idea of what we’re walking into down there.”

The focus was originally meant for striding back through the camp. Instead, it was directed toward to small orange eyes that caused her to pause. They belonged to a tiefling boy, not much older than the ones training on the platform above. Behind him was a poorly made table filled with an array of what she could only imagine were crafted items.

“Going so soon?” he grinned. “I couldn’t help but overhear your troubles. I might have something that could help.”

“I doubt that,” she scoffed.

“Hang on, lady,” he held out his hands. “Hold out your hand. Let me show you something.”

The small red hands of the child were quick, she had to admit. But still, she could tell it was the sleight of his hands that made the ring appear from thin air. Between his fingers was a single tarnished ring.

“Go on. Take it. It’s lucky.”

Ferelith humored him, taking it into her grasp. Between two fingers, she held up to her eye-level and began to wonder what sort of nonsense she might find in it.

“Call it,” he nodded, holding up a coin. “Heads? Or tails?”

“Heads,” she answered firmly.

The coin was flipped into the air, landing square into the center of his palm. The coin sat face-up.

“Heads it is,” he said confidently. “See? That’s the kind of luck you need. And you can get it with one of my lucky rings. I’ve got plenty more where that came from. Real cheap, too. Interested?”

“These runes are terrible,” she said, looking down at the ring with hardly any interest in the coin at all. “They’re gibberish.”

“Hey! Not so loud,” he hissed at her, grabbing at her hands to pull them back down.

Ferelith dodged his desperate attempts, stepping backward and holding the ring up further.

“This… looks like a smiley face,” she squinted.

“Alright, alright,” he sighed. “You caught me. They’re not lucky rings. I’m just… trying to earn money for my family. My father left and my mother… she’s so sick.”

He was lying. She was certain of it. Some children would line up just outside the alleyway across her shop. That alleyway was the same she would use to navigate quickly within the lower district of Baldur’s Gate. It was a quick shortcut, an access point, and a good source of information. There were often she would leave her window open, listening to the shouts of some poor swindled soul calling out to catch a thief. The alleys were swarming with urchins and pickpockets. She knew their games. To avoid their wrath, she would bring them sweets or simply a loaf of bread to feed them for the night. It kept her in their favor, but she always knew what to look for.

“I wish I had better things to sell than… trinkets. But it’s all I have.”

Ferelith crossed her arms, sticking her bottom lip out with large eyes to mimic the child. For a moment, he thought it was empathy. But he was quickly corrected by a jesting grin as the corner of her mouth turned upward.

“I’m not buying it, kid,” she laughed.

“I, uh… don’t know what you mean.”

“This is a Tinker’s Trash… and a clumsy one at that.”

“You know that really hurts. I’m running an honest- wait. Okay, what’s a Tinker’s Trash?”

“It’s when a scammer offers the target a ‘magic’ object-”

“Uh-huh,” he nodded eagerly.

“-then rigs a game to gain the target’s trust to sell them trash.”

“Interesting,” he paused for a moment, “And I promise this isn’t a Tinker’s Trash scam.”

“Then what kind of scam is it?”

“Look, I swear. These rings are the real deal. I’m not running a scam.”

“Alright,” she looked down at the ring with the scratched fake runes.

The children in Baldur’s Gate were clever, much like the little fiend before her. But not all children were so lucky. The desperation of the camp reminded her of the harsh ways of living within the underbelly of large cities. There wasn’t always a place for children to go. Which meant even if the tieflings ever made it, some of the orphaned children wouldn’t last a second in the dirty streets of the lower district.

“Let’s see what else you have,” she nodded.

“You’re paying for that one, aren’t you?”

Ferelith grinned wickedly. “Consider this your first word of advice: don’t let the target hold the product for too long. Or else the swindler will be swindled. It’s a free sample, now.”

“I’m not- you know what… it’s fine. You’ll feel way more confident once you’ve seen the rest of my stock.”

The trinkets scattered about the table were arranged quite nicely considering it was all literal garbage. One ring she picked up was covered in ants. She turned it over in her hand. Then picked up another ring. The child next to her was excitedly describing their properties and some came with stories of how they came into his possession. Children were typically creatures Ferelith did not gain any joy from. This brat in particular, however, brought a cheeky grin to her face. She purchased three of the rings.

“You bought something,” he said looking down at the coins she placed in his hand. “Most everybody says it looks like junk and moves on.”

“What can I say? I like collecting junk,” she shrugged, hiding the hint of the smile.

“Well, it’s a pleasure doing business with you. If you have any further need, you know where I’ll be. Take care!”

Just before she turned, she caught the quick wink to another tiefling who lingered off to the side. He appeared very nervous and simply gave a slight wave as their eyes met. Feeling rather pleased with herself, she approached the others near the edge of the cliff. Astarion had a rather irritated look upon his face from what she could gather. Then again, the expression had not left from the moment they entered the camp. Ferelith did the best she could to avoid him but found it impossible as he quickly hovered over her.

“You’re joking right?” his voice was harsh in her ear.

“What is it, now?” she said, sliding one of the rings with rubbish runes onto her finger.

“You’re just going to let them rob you?”

“They didn’t rob me,” she rolled her eyes.

“You bought actual garbage with gold.”

“What would you have me do?” she seemed rather interested in his response.

“They’re children. You could easily take it back. It might teach them a lesson.”

“And what lesson is that?” her head turned, her nostrils flaring with a cold stare. “That the strong can take what they want? That shouldn’t lessen the idea that the weak can survive.”

“The strong take what they want because they’ve earned that right,” he lowered his brow.

“We were all weak, once,” she rolled another ring around the palm of her hand. “Luck is what granted us the opportunity to become stronger. The only thing the strong have properly earned is the gratitude to have made the right choice and boasting rights.”

“Luck?” he appeared baffled by her statement. “That has nothing to do with it, darling. It’s all about dedication to gain power. A proper tool of strength.”

“Strength means nothing if you don’t know how to use that power,” she retorted. “And that is maintained by learning to avoid weakness. Besides… there is a chance the brat might come in handy.”

“I can’t see how a vile devil spawn with an eye for trash could be of use.”

“Don’t be so cross,” she mocked him with a false look of defeat. “I got something for you, too.”

The ring flipped up with a toss of her thumb. And he caught it, looking down and seeing the same thing he saw before. A piece of metal scrapped together.

“Wonderful,” he looked at it. “What does it do?”

“It makes you really invisible,” she grinned, walking back toward the entrance of the grotto.

“I don’t need invisibility.”

“You sure?” she tilted her head. “I believe I recall a bottle of acid smashed on the back of you during the battle at the gate. You were quite stealthy then, weren’t you?”

“I hope the money you spent on this just to insult me was worth it,” he grumbled behind her, tucking the trinket into his pocket as he listened to her chuckle.

“I believe it was,” she glanced over her shoulder with a suggestive wink.

***************************************

Even after a day combing through the camp, Ferelith had found no healer. Plenty of leads that pointed her to one, but not a single healer in her current sights. Not one worth the risk, at any rate. All she had discovered was a camp full of unresolved tension with a burnt-out leader reader to snuff out his opponent with a sack of coin. Tempting as it may have been, she still considered the resolve to be attainable and wanted to avoid any further conflict that might jeopardize her chance of receiving a cure. Even with that setting as the main course for thought, there was still something juicier that caught the attention of her hunger named curiosity. It was the man she had met in the grove. The one who had dismissed her so quickly for assuming he had taken a pact as she had. Her thoughts fluttered back to the image of the cambion she saw, her wings stretched out to show her true form in all its beauty. Though the sight of it was but a glimpse, Ferelith was certain of what she had witnessed in his mind.

Slinging her pack off her shoulder and tossing it to the ground, she turned with the intention to approach him. He met her gaze as she grew near with a welcoming smile. He had been waiting all evening and expected she was eager to speak with him.

“Salutations,” he greeted her politely.

“Blade of the Frontiers,” she held out a hand, and he grasped it gently.

“Living legend, in the flesh,” he boasted with a good shake. “Slayer of specters. Killer of kobolds. The pride of Baldur’s Gate.”

“So they say,” she shook her head teasingly as he let go of her.

“Ah, so you’ve heard the stories?”

“I have,” her smile grew. “The wonderful tales that they are.”

“All true, I might add. Won’t be long before they’re telling new tales. Mind flayers, flying ships, dragon attacks- the legend grows!”

“Mind flayers and dragons are quite the stretch from kobolds,” she crossed her arms. “I assume you have an idea of how to handle this, then?”

“There’s an old saying I just made up,” he tossed his hand carelessly. “To fell a dragon, you must chop off its head.”

“I see,” she nodded slowly. “So... you have no idea.”

“Hold on,” he held up a hand. “These goblins are organized. It’s no hamhead pulling the strings. We slither through their camp and off their leaders, quick as crickets.”

“Take out the ones pulling the strings and the puppets have no one to follow. Not a bad plan, but I never imagined goblins would be the type to fall in line. Are you sure they’re as organized as you say?”

“Positive,” he sounded firm. “I’ve learned at least that much while defending the camp.”

“You said you were waiting for Halsin,” she stated. “Why risk your life for the tieflings?”

“Did you see those kids back at the grove? They should be chasing frogs, climbing trees. Not training for battles they can’t win. Those people look at me and they see a hero. Imagine how bad they’d feel if they were wrong.”

Dark thoughts weaved their way into her mind as she saw the selfish side of the pride of a hero. The downfall of the tieflings meant damage to his reputation. Then again, something about what he said was true. If it wasn’t, she would not be wearing a fake magic ring on her finger. And she would be a liar if she said she felt any different about them.

“It is an unfortunate situation.”

“I disagree,” he said firmly. “Fortune has brought us to their aid.”

Ferelith turned her head, eyeing him with distinct suspicion at the tone in his voice. It brought her back around to the sole purpose of why she had a desire to speak with him. But it also had made her question what he had seen when they crossed memories. If she had found the cambion, what had he discovered within her memories?

“Your eye,” she stated lightly while trying to sway the subject. “… it’s a bit unusual.”

“Now, now” he held out a hand to keep her at bay. “I always save the best stories for my closest friends and my cruelest enemies. Get to be one of those, and I’ll spill the whole jug.”

Her posture softened, but the intensity of her gaze never left.

“You get that, right? Spill the whole jug? Ugh- guess I’ll toss that one into the heap.”

Ferelith had already seen enough to know that there was something else to suspect of Wyll. This game he was playing by being coy was enough to keep her interest, but not enough to prevent her from becoming impatient. Her eyes were sharp and she leaned forward a bit with a knowing stare. She could see the grooves carved into his eye, much like stone. She had seen something like it before. Not recently, but during her time in Neverwinter, she had witnessed two colleagues exchanging them before setting off on a journey.

“It looks like a sending stone.”

Wyll threw himself into a fit of laughter. “A what now? Goodness, but it’s just a bit of rock- nothing so special, I assure you.”

The lifting spirits in his voice would have thrown anyone else off course. But Ferelith was keen to notice his jaw clench at the mention of the magic stone. He knew she was far too cunning to outsmart. She narrowed her eyes at his lies, a sign that she knew something of his secret. She would hold it… for now.

“If you say so,” she smiled.

It sounded far more sinister than it should. And he watched as her black hair swirled around her shoulder as she whipped around to leave him to his own bidding. His brow lowered as he glared at her back, watching as if he were about to see some demon rip from her spine. Just as she had seen what lie beneath his thoughts, he saw deep into her. It was a tall dark shadow with his hands placed upon her shoulders. He loomed over her, hovering like a heavy reminder of whatever deal they had made. Ferelith was never shy to admit she was a warlock. Yet he did note that there had been no mention of what her patron was. Or what sort of power she received.

Ferelith had reason to be concerned with what Wyll had seen. If she was correct in her assumption that they had exchanged knowledge of their patrons, and if the angered outburst had truly come from a darker place within, then she knew her passenger was still on board. It put her to ease, but the troubled thoughts remained as to why he remained silent. So silent, in fact, that she could not even feel him burrowing into the depths of her thoughts. Then, there was an idea that the worm in her had was so tangible, so heavy, that maybe his projected form was simply too light in comparison. The sudden realization was so profound that she felt the need to make note of it. To write it down along with all the other sort of information she gathered that day.

Rummaging through her bag she found the ink and quill she had been keeping. And with a sigh, she pulled out her books, one carefully at a time. Among them was a red book. She looked at it curiously. She did not remember this book. As she opened the pages, she noticed they were blank. She leaned forward to smell them. The book was new. And the outside smelled of leather and sweet cherry wood. It brought back a memory. And she knew it should have been there before, but it wasn't. This was a gift.

Her hand ran across the leather as she remembered the last face she saw before she was kidnapped. But then something occurred to her... what if it wasn't the last face. What if there were more memories that she was missing? She couldn't even remember how she was taken. All she could recall was stone. The cold numbing feeling through her head. And the blackness surrounding her vision. If she was receiving the gift that night, then she must have been taken on her way home. That was the only explanation from what she could gather.

She searched further into the back of her head, looking for the voice that usually appeared as a potential source for answers. It remained silent. Her gaze fell up to the sky, feeling a bit remorseful at the temporary loss of her inner companion. Still, she had the journal. And she was relieved she had something to remind her of herself. Her gaze shifting down, she wondered how her other companions had been captured. She had seen brief memories of them. But what if they, too, had part of their memory removed as she did. Her eyes fell onto Astarion and her heart jumped for a moment. It appeared he was feeling sentimental as well. The attraction she had felt for him reared its ugly head once again. He sat back in the grass, his legs kicked out as he looked into the sky. She wondered what it was that intrigued his thoughts. She could use the tadpole. But if anything was going to keep her patron at bay, it would be the exploitation of their newly arrived tag along. Instead, she stood up, tucking the journal into her pocket before making her way to the elf.

"It's quite a sight," he said as he felt her approach.

He did not turn his eyes away from the sky. And she noticed the pleased expression he wore. It suited him, but she felt it was out of character considering how smug his previous smirks had been.

"The stars, I mean," he clarified, finally meeting her gaze. "I could take or leave your chin."

He caught the hint of a smile, an indication he had picked up the teasing tone which matched that of her own during previous conversations. She hid it well and even glanced over her shoulder to confirm that Lae’zel was still too busy sharpening her sword to eavesdrop. The light from the fire reflected off her face and he could see the highlight of her cheekbones. As she turned back to face him, he held his tongue. He kept the sight of her for a moment before looking back up.

"Am I bothering you?"

"No," he said softly. "Just thinking... Reflecting on what tomorrow might bring. When we arrive at this... gith creche."

The use of his enunciation was unnecessary, though she still felt her fingers twitch at her side. She rubbed her fingertips against her thumb to hide the subtle notion, a reminder that what was tangible was far more real than what a voice could provide. His words felt fabricated. Yet, the way his mouth moved when he spoke was still so very enticing.

"Will we find out how to bring the worm under control? Will this little adventure of ours be over?"

"I imagine that is likely" she directed rather casually.

Astarion's face dropped as he drew his attention back to her face. It seemed as though she was not taunting him this time. He began to question her motive. Whatever she had back in Baldur’s Gate must have been far more suitable than whatever he had to offer. Why would she stay? Why would she risk her life more than she already had? What was it that she wanted to return to?

"A pity..." he frowned with a nod of endearment. "A great pity."

He sighed, sitting up to push his hands off the ground and onto his feet. He dusted them off onto his pants and she took the moment to admire his jagged profile while he remained occupied. As jagged as it may be, there were still features that brought softness to his face. For one, his eyes that he could make rather large at any given moment. And the way his hair curled perfectly around his pointed ears. A man so prominent, so smug, so proud... did not seem the type to have such playful curls. She acted as if nothing was humorous about them at all, however, when he looked her in the eyes again.

"I hate to disappoint you," she stated in a rush, "but I doubt you'd miss me that much."

"Of course I would," he proclaimed with his eyes fixated on hers. "You've been to the Hells and back! Survived the crash. Survived everything that's followed. I'm not easily impressed by people. But you're stronger than I gave you credit for."

"I didn't know I appeared to be so weak," she lowered her brow. "I've always been renowned to be rather impressive."

Ferelith brushed her hair from the side of her neck, placing her beauty further into the light of the fire when she turned her head. Her sullen eyes, high cheeks, pointed nose, pursed lips... they all illuminated before him. There was a dark presence to her, one he could not name. But the feeling of it alone was welcoming to him. He glared at her temple, wondering if he could tap into her thoughts without her noticing. But he was not willing to risk it. Instead, he found the nerves that ran through her skull... the pounding of her heart. He followed the sound to her neck, tense from their conversation... She was impressive, indeed.

"And aren't you just," he found himself muttering.

Beautifully frustrated with a thumping rhythm sounding before him as his own personal concerto. It made him wander away from camp. Away to places where he could take her beneath the trees under the cover of shadows. It was more than just taking her blood. It was taking her... all of her...

"Are you alright?"

Her voice brought him back in front of her. In front of the blasted campfire.

"Hmm?" he hummed as he regained himself. "Oh, uh, I was leagues away."

"You're... staring..." she was stuck between question and concern.

There was no point in telling lies any longer. He was, in fact, staring. Though... the reasons were a bit muddled, even in his own mind.

"Was I? I just..." he held his breath, still unsure of his intentions but knowing the hunger was now committed. "I just need to get some... air. Clear my head."

"That's not strange at all…"

There was an urge to dispute her rebuttal, but he stopped himself from saying another word. He would hate to end this moment poorly. One so beautiful as she looked at him from down her nose, her chin held upright as she smirked with amusement as she had cornered him into an awkward circumstance. She was enjoying this. Seeing him struggle. He made note of it as he stepped slightly backward, ready to leave before he endangered himself any further.

"I'll see you later, then," he bowed slightly. "I'm sure of it. Sleep tight."

"Right," she nodded. "Enjoy your air, Astarion."

"Yes," he mumbled under his breath. "My air..."

[fyeah-bangtan7]

Jin: “It feels like my memories of ARMY were all a dream”

Jin is calm and quiet throughout the whole interview. But while his words start out sounding like those in an everyday conversation, they soon begin to tell the story of a protagonist in the intricate drama that is BTS.

You worked on the lyrics for “Stay.” Jin: The song opens with the words, “Was it a dream?” and I came up with the theme. We used to see our fans and it was great, but now that’s something we can’t do anymore. I thought it all felt like a dream. I wanted to say, “We used to be so happy together, but now I feel like your very existence was a dream.” I came up with the intro and then talked about it with RM. He really helped me a lot.

I’m guessing you came up with the lyrics because of COVID-19. Jin: It was around two to three months ago that I wrote the lyrics for the song, when it seemed like COVID-19 wasn’t getting any better. I want to put on another concert, and, like I said, it feels like my memories of ARMY were all a dream: Ah, they always used to be there with us, and then they disappeared like a memory—was all that a dream? Will we ever meet again? Those kinds of thoughts.

It sounds like you had a hard time getting used to this new situation. Jin: Yes. That used to be a part of our life for years, so it felt like a part of my life disappeared. When we had a busy schedule to deal with, sometimes I thought maybe it would be fun to have no job, but when that work was no longer there, no matter what I did, even if I poured myself into it, it all became meaningless very quickly. I felt insecure when I had nothing to do, since I’m so used to being busy, and feeling insecure made me think more about the things I like, and what I should do to make myself happier, besides work.

Would you say that’s been incorporated into your work on BE? Just from looking at the album photos, we can see each of you expressing your own thoughts through your room designs. Jin: Mine was the jewel room. They asked me what kind of concept I wanted for my room. I thought about what I wanted to do, and I wanted to go with gems. I was imagining myself lying down with gems all around me, but V, who was the visual director, thought I was joking at first. (laughs) “You were supposed to decorate the room, what do you mean gems?” But still, that’s the image I had in mind, so we went with that concept, except it wasn’t full of gems like I imagined. But I really stand out in the picture, so I’m satisfied with the result.

Why did you choose gems? Jin: Well … I have a sort of free, do-whatever-I-want personality, and at the time, I was really intrigued by gems, so that’s what I chose. This year, with the pandemic, I had more time to think about what I want and the things I want to do, and to try some new things, like playing piano, playing games, not playing games, meeting different people. But still, I can’t tell what I really like. I don’t think I ever thought much about myself, other than the work part. The best answer I found was doing whatever I’m interested in at the moment; is being the truest to myself. I’m more of a feeler than a thinker. Some might say I should have a plan for my future, but I don’t have any. (laughs) I thought that I really just do as I please.

So what does it mean to do as you please? Jin: Like I said, I’m someone who literally lives only in the present, so I tend to forget about the past, and I don’t stress over the future. I know I won’t forget important moments or times I spent with other people, but I’ve forgotten all the bad things that happened in the past and the hard times I had, and I’m really satisfied with my life now and happy to be working hard. How can anyone feel happy over and over again from something that happened in the past, no matter how good it was? You can be happier finding 10,000 won on the ground now than earning 100 times that in the past. I think I’m living true to my feelings by living in the now rather than thinking about the future or the past.

Even though you say you do whatever you’d like, aren’t there things you still need to be careful about, being a part of BTS? Jin: There are things that should be followed as a rule, such as not crossing on a red light, for example. Because if you do, there might be an accident. So those things, I set aside as things I shouldn’t do, so I never really thought of wanting to do them.

That sounds more like self-discipline. (laughs) Jin: It’s the same as not crossing at a red light if you don’t want to get hurt. I can keep myself happy living in the present as long as I’m not doing anything I shouldn’t be doing. Some might feel a bit frustrated, but they might also be the kind of people who cross at a red light. (laughs)

The song “Dis-ease” captures each of the BTS members’ thoughts on work. Is it especially difficult for you, in particular, to separate work from your personal life? Your life is influenced by your work. Jin: To me, work makes a lot of things happen in my life. Naturally there are times I feel stressed because of work, but the work I do makes me happy and has led to some spectacular experiences. Sometimes it’s interesting, other times it might be exhausting. I think I feel an entire spectrum of emotions thanks to my work. I lead my life the way I do because of my work, so to speak.

Just as you did, the other members also expressed on BE their feelings of what they’ve been through. Other than “Stay,” what other songs did you relate to? Jin: I didn’t really think about which songs I relate to, but I can tell you which song I like the most: “Blue & Grey,” by V. I liked that song from the very first time I listened to it, so I listened to the demo over and over again.

What was the demo version like? Jin: When V first made it and gave it to me, it didn’t have the rap part yet. There were no lines for the rap but it sounded really unique. Only the instrumental was there for that part and it felt like it was time for thinking by myself. Of course, I like the full version with the rap, too, but still, I liked how there was space that made you think. It’s been a long time since I got that feeling from listening to one of the demos. The first one was “Spring Day,” and the second was “Blue & Grey.”

It sounds like you found the song right when you needed some time to think. Jin: Yes. Before our debut, I had a clear goal: to debut. I chased after that one goal. After we debuted, I was chasing after a number one hit, and after we got number one I was chasing after major awards. And after that there were a lot of other awards, like from Billboard, and performances to put on, but it wasn’t a goal in the sense that it was my goal to debut. I’m just happy to be working. Every moment is wonderful and has become like my whole life. That wasn’t how I felt when I was a trainee because I had a serious goal then. But now, my goal is to live without overthinking anything. Maybe it’s not really a goal but a kind of defense mechanism. 

A defense mechanism? Jin: As you get thinking, you might somehow undermine yourself. So, as long as I don’t think too hard, I can work hard right now. Maybe that’s why I called it a defense mechanism: If I stop and think about it, I might have too many ways to put myself down. 

But if you imagine someone else were to have accomplished the same things you have, wouldn’t they think they deserve to feel proud? Jin: That’s true, but I’m also one of seven members of BTS. Thinking about what I’ve done as an individual feels like a burden to me. Up until we finished working on Map of the Soul: 7, I wasn’t burdened but felt, “Okay, we all did a good job. I’m happy with this.” But after getting “Dynamite” to the top of the Billboard Top 100 and starting down this new road, I started to wonder if I deserve any of this.

But you experienced a lot of big things before. What made you think that way this time? Jin: I was waiting for the chart position to come out all day, and then right before bed, Namjoon sent a message to our group chat. That’s when I realized we were number one! I was really happy, but something felt different. Maybe it was because we couldn’t see our fans. After “Dynamite,” we got even more love from even more people, and even when I was walking down the street, people would say things like, “I’m a big fan of yours,” or, “Thank you for introducing Korea to the world.” Then I started to think, “Do I deserve all this congratulations and love? That’s not me—I’m not that kind of person.” I got over it a bit, but even until a few days ago, the pressure was so intense that I couldn’t get any work done.

How did you move away from all that pressure? Jin: I just moved on. Like with COVID-19, we all have to wait and stay put until everything gets better. And actually, after “Dynamite” made number one, we got really busy, so I was able to think less about other things and basically avoid them that way, all those questions about life. I think that’s how I endured.

If you had had the fans there with you, maybe you would have felt less pressure or worry. Maybe it makes what you’re doing now seem incomplete compared to the past. Jin: We did so much and we worked so hard, but the result doesn’t hit you the same way, does it? The—excitement, maybe?—isn’t quite there. There’s a big difference between performing for people and performing for the camera. The performance itself is hard, too, of course. I have to keep at it for months once we start. But when we perform for people, I feel alive.

Had you been able to perform “Dynamite” on stage for your fans, you probably would have felt more love and more confident taking first place. Jin: I want to look and do my best in front of the fans no matter what. It’s a lot more fun when our fans are there, right in front of us. I’m not thinking about anything else in another sense, when they’re there with us. For people who don’t perform like we do, when they have fun, they don’t think about much else, and just focus on what they’re doing. I think we’re the same way when our fans are around. I don’t have to think about anything else, because my fans are all right in front of me. I just have fun and forget about everything else.

Hopefully you’ll feel like everything is back to normal once you can see your fans again. Jin: At first I thought I’ll probably cry tears of joy. But would I? I don’t really think so. At first I really thought I would, but now I think it might feel like going back home. It depends on who you ask, but I don’t think most people would cry just because they came back to their hometown after being away. I think that’s how I’ll feel: like I’m back where I should be.

Talking to you, it seems like the sense of being loved by your fans must be important to you, emotionally. Jin: You’re right. Getting love from the fans was my source of happiness—what can I compare this to? Like a kid who’s always showered with love by their parents, but then the parents are suddenly gone on a business trip for like, ten months. It’s kind of like that. I was always trying to make our fans smile, make them feel good, by acting cute, but now my parents have been away on their business trip for, ten months, and I’m trying to be cute over a video call. That’s what it feels like. So please, wrap up your business trip as soon as possible, and hurry up and come home so I can show you how cute I am again! And, to COVID-19: Please get lost. (laughs)

© source

[buggytron]

 BuggyTron

"So (Y/N) this is an easy process.” My father says leading me through it again. I smile at him buckling up in the Novas spacecore craft. The pod would put me to space and manually fly me to the colonies designation. My dad continues going over the procedures and points to the emergency controls just in case something went wrong and I had to pilot the pod manually.

Nodding as he finished his spiel he gave my restraints a last good tug. Humming in satification he pulls back a bit. I smiled excitement flowing through me, I was ready for my first flight space flight to this new colony mom had discovered.

“Okay.” He gave me a kiss on the forehead making sure my backpack was secure as well. “I love you…” He says putting our heads together. Closing my eyes head to his I laughed.

  “I love you too dad. I’ll see you soon but I’m excited to see mom.” He smiled back ruffling my hair.

 “Have fun. Her colonies great. I'll meet you there in a few cycles okay?" Saying goodbye he put his hand to the glass as I put mine over his. Pod getting ready to launch he backed up the safe travel distance. Waving at me I blow kissed him goodbye making him smile. Closing my eyes gas filling the pod I settle into sleep as the pod takes off.

 That's the last thing I remember as I wake up in the pod. Lights flash on my ships screen making me anxious. Opening communications to the landing bay alarms begin blaring. 

 “Mom? Dad?!” Hearing loud thuds outside the pod informs me its taking severe damage. The screeching alarms get louder echoing through the small space, bright lights flash across the flying modules screens, and a violent shaking left me vibrating in my seat as I tried to reach my colony. Trying to get back on course there was a sharp jolt and everything went dark.

 Autobugs P.O.V

 “It's a nice night.” Rodimus observes looking up at the sky as his thorax glowed.

 “Yes. It's peaceful.” Drift responded to the glowbug antenna twitching in delight.

 “Why’d you drag me out here for this?” Ultra Magnus questioned annoyed as he stared at the stars. It was peaceful but knowing the colonies co-leader and his second in command had plannes this party was making it hard to enjoy the night. 

  “Magnus were just trying to have some fun.” The glow bug complained, his light dimming slightly.

 “Rodimus cheer up.” Skids stated staring at his leader of the colony as a small group started to gather looking up at the skies.

 “Yeah.” Swerve chimed in finally catching up. Though the garden snail was never really known for being quick in the first place. “Tonights supposed to be the brightest meteor shower in half a vorn. We should all enjoy it.” He stated. “Plus this is the only time I’ll sell my nectar and honey at half price. In honor of the stars and Primus.” Swerve admitted. Rodimus decides not to look a gift bug in the mouth and pays for a fruity nectar buzzing happily. Let the party commence!

After lots of laughs over nectar or honey and story telling everyone finally became quiet.

 As everyone settled down in blankets and temporary nests they stare at the meteor shower in awe. Lights flash across the sky and stars twinkle as everyone watches the sky in all its glory. Looking out at the shining cosmos the colony notices a meteor go off it's course.

  “Swerve that ever happened before?” Skids questioned making everyone look at him. Swerve tilted his head confused.

  “No.” He admits.

 "Is that Meteor getting bigger?" Tailgate asks softly. His wings flutter and everyone realizes it's crashing.

  "NO IT'S GETTING CLOSER!" Panicked screeching fills the valley as bugs scatter.

  "Everyone move!!!" Ultra Magnus yells trying to retain order as everyone scatters. Getting out of the way the colony stared as something made impact but it wasn't a meteor. After the hissing had gone down Rodimus inches closer to the item curious.

 "Rodimus be careful!" Rodimus pauses his antena twitching as he gets closer curious. "It's a pod." He reports from his position. He notices a blob and his eyes widen wings fluttering. "THERE'S SOMEONE INSIDE CYCLONUS HELP!" Claws tear through metal as the Lost Light Colony stare. What was that?

~~~~~~~~~

Waking up in a comfortable bed I groan. Blinking my eyes to adjust I look around the warm wooden room. The smell of herbs and medicine fills my nose as I breathe. It feels refreshing. Slowly leaning up looking at the lanterns hanging around the room I smile. Cozy.

My backpack along with some of my clothes are placed neatly next to my bed. Nest? Curiously examining my resting place I hum. A soft nest full of blankets and soft materials. How interesting.

This had to the colonies new medical center. Looking for a doctor remembering that I got pulled from my pod after it crashed I hear a door open. Turning my head I smile softly, head a little dizzy.

 "Hello doctor. Where am AHHHHHHHHHHH!" 

Scooting back screaming in terror I stared at the giant bug in front of me with horror. What the hell was that thing???

  “Please calm down I know…” It starts chittering legs reaching out towards me.

 “Oh my god the bug talks!” Backing up more I fall out of the nest on the dirt floor. Looking around I grab the closest thing to me. Holding up a long sharp stick. A sucky weapon but a weapon none the less. Swallowing I grab my backpack holding the stick out. “Back up I’ll use this!” Holding it up defensively the bug… sighed? Chirped? It sounded annoyed but I didn't care! This thing wasn't eating me!

 “Please calm down. Your pod crashed last night during a meteor shower. We pulled you from the wreckage and saved you.” Looking at the giant bug I blinked. Lowering my weapon I watched the bug curiously.

 “Crashed?” I questioned vaguely remembering a crash. Random flashes and beeps filled my mind making me close my eyes to focus. Opening them tears flooded my eyes. I let out a deep breath shakingly dropping the stick. “I… I remember.” I said slowly as my hands tremored. I had almost died. Sitting down I pull my knees up to my chest tears streaming down my face.

  “Hey.” The bug said. Looking up tired and feeling hollow it smiled at me. “You're okay now. We salvaged most of your ship and I bandaged you all up.” Looking down I pulled up my sleeves seeing bandages made of leaves up the length of my arms.

  “... You… you saved me?” I questioned wiping at my face.

 “Yes. Now please breath. It'll be alright. We'll figure this out." He promises. Looking up at the bug I nod seeing that some others had joined him.

 “... okay…” I said slowly nodding again. Yeah. Yeah it'd be okay. They'd healed me. They were friends. “.... So where am I?” I asked looking around the room confused.

 “Well we call our planet Buggytron. Where are you from?” He asked calmly coming a bit closer. Leaning up and sitting criss cross I blinked.

 “Buggytron?” I’d never heard of a planet by that name. Not in any system or region on Novacores map.

 “You're not from this system pup. I've seen many things in my life. None of them like you.” He states. Nodding now calm I sat down as a warm mug was put in my hands.

 "So what now?" I question taking a sip of the sweet liquid. It was warm and felt smooth down my throat. Like an earthy cider or soothing herbal tea.

 "Welcome to BuggyTron!" Rodimus shouts. BuggyTron huh? Well could be worse. At least everyone here seemed nice.

[malacodaus-blog]

Old Blood 

||@exmortum​|| AKA Happy Birthday Cae 

Prompt: 

Sat opposite her, between them on the cherrywood surface of his desk lay a duralumin case on its side, the locks still tightly in place. It had been there since she had entered his office, innocent despite the disastrous contents safely nestled in the plush lining. Leather encased fingers laced together, the heels of palms resting on the polished surface just a twitch or two away. The rest of him appeared as ever; composed, posture straight, but for the tilt of the head. Across the sable tinted lenses of his sunglasses flashed the lights held in generations' old crystal. Behind the shades, his gaze was intent upon her.

‘ Tell me, Ms. Sherawat. . . what would you do for the sake of loyalty ? No, ’ rumble interrupted the query, the smooth expression of calm undisturbed by the undercurrent of danger in freezing waters. ‘ What would you do for the sake of your life ? ’

The metal brief case lodged like a barrier between Jessica and Wesker. An enigmatic little mystery box posed as the center piece of his desk. She could guess the contents but only he could reveal the answer, for certain it was why he called her here. A golden evening glow bathed the desk and office in warm light. It glinted from the windows and kissed Jessica’s throat, a final farewell of the day. Wesker’s office proved to be what she expected, simple but decadent. A minimalistic statement of class and taste. Not hollow or for show; Crystal glasses, art pieces running in the millions, books smelling of warmed leather, polished wood. Wesker appreciated true quality, not money spent for the sake of itself. His clothes were designer for comfort, and durability, to put forth the best appearance. Wesker expected that everything in his vicinity preform to standard. Jessica has stepped from chaotic streets into this den of organized papers, composed into stacks for efficiency. She’d find such skilled artistry nowhere else.

His focus burned holes into her, his gaze nipping like frost bite. In a torrent ocean, a riptide, Jessica was placid. Legs crossed at the knee, the pointed red toe of her heel drawing calm circles. Her posture remained open and inviting, hands on either arm rest of her chair, expression gentle and softened, unchallenging, patient. To his question she hummed, head cocking in thought. A single auburn coil of hair brushed along the collar of her pea coat. Jessica braced her chin against her white silk gloved hand and then smiled, slight and wiry.

A half-dozen handlers had asked this exact question before him. They didn’t use the same words of course, but the gist, the intention, the heart of it, was there. It wasn’t the question that mattered. The words were but a facade meant to draw her attention, so she could stutter over them and reveal all the more of her hand. No, the question was a thin veil for something far more sinister. Life or death, loyalty or betrayal, the binary dichotomy of her career. This was the relationship of agent and handler. No it was quite obvious: Wesker was threatening her. Her comfort was that if he truly wanted her dead, she would be, there was an angle here. He was looking for something out of her. 

The answer he wanted, the correct answer, the ‘I’ll do anything, please don’t kill me’ and the ‘I’m loyal to the end.’ Were the wrong answers, not because they were lies but because they were not true. What a beautifully crafted catch-22 he presented her with. In the original story the logic was simple. Only the insane would fly bombing missions but an insane person cannot fly. If one applies for insanity to escape the missions however, they admit fear in the face of death, which is a hallmark of sanity. Ergo, to apply for insanity is to admit to being sane. Only the insane would work for Wesker but Wesker doesn’t want someone insane working for him. To try to leave, however, would be for Jessica to admit her sanity and yet to stay would be to admit her insanity. And if she was sane and if she was reasonable, the kinda person that would balk under pressure, then he’d have no more use for her because those were not the traits of a good agent. And then she’d be killed. So the obvious, easy answer —the lie— was the wrong answer. Because the sane feared death and the insane were not good agents. Jessica wondered why they had to play cat and mouse. She was content to work with him for now, it was Excella they both hated. The enemy of my enemy is not my enemy, after all.

Jessica inhaled, thin breath through her nose, eyes narrowed imperceptibly. Not a tick on the clock had passed in the ensuing silence of his query. Wesker sat across the desk as unmovable as a statue, man hewn from marble and spun gold. Jessica’s forefinger traced the line of her jaw, eyes running over his form. Broad shoulders, strong arms, hardened and tight jaw. Beneath those glasses were unseen eyes, the windows of the soul folded in shadow. At a glance he appeared as a man, but if she peeled away the layers— what would she find? 

All her handlers were the same. Men of importance and power, charged to keep her in line, no matter what. One liked to belittle and threaten her and another tries to seduce her, cruel or sweet words, all twisted to the same end. Control. Wesker controlled everything. He controlled Excella, he controlled TRICELL, and its employees, and the labs that developed the viruses. Hell, he probably even set the AC in the office. Strong, functionally immortal, intelligent, Albert Wesker was the perfect human being. His files from UMBRELLA said as much. What power he did not have he hungered for. It was in his DNa, his upbringing, nature and nurture intertwined to produce a ruthless man that will stop at nothing. He would not trip over Jessica, no, if she fell in his path he’d crush her beneath his boot heel and she was not afraid to admit she’d be helpless to stop him. All her other handlers she watched crash and fall, hoist by their own hubris. They underestimated her, doubted her skill, when they thought they were the seducer, she seduced them— not many knew to watch her mouth and her hands. 

Behind the glint of those sunglasses, molten gold in the light, Jessica saw no expression. Cold and unfeeling, his chuckle echoed in a hallow chest. If she took her fingers to his pulse would she hear a heartbeat? Or did the progenitor take that from him too. He knew of her four years in Umbrella, the last generation of agents produced from their programs— she supposed that made them somewhat related. Perhaps in an extended metaphor, she could consider herself an adopted younger sibling, or a niece. If he was the beloved golden boy then she was the black lamb, which marked two families she had estranged. 

There were other kids in the program with her. Nine others to be exact, some as young as ten and barely reaching her hip. A couple were boys older than her. They all shared one thing in common: they escaped Raccoon City before the missile hit. UMBRELLA scooped them up like prize fish at a Carnival game. There were more than them initially but Jessica suspected they weren’t up to standard and thus were terminated. They all had ‘strong’ genes. They were healthy and attractive kids, intelligent. Jessica’s parents were wealthy and talented — and bait for blackmail— so the scientists cooed that she was an excellent candidate. No, they weren’t as good as the originals —the fabled Wesker project— but in a pinch they’d do. But she recalled their first two weeks together, huddled scared in a common room of a white washed facility. The young ones were terrified, the smallest cried for her mother every night. The first day soldiers shaved their heads, dunked them into ice baths to scrub them raw, and scientists poked and prodded them with needles and instruments. For a time it was them, together. Then they identified something special in Jessica, or Captain Rodriguez did, as he said, not many sixteen year olds walked out of Raccoon City. The others were shuffled off and they handed her over to the Captain. They told him to break her, and so he did.

It’d been almost a decade but she remembered him like it was yesterday. He was a gangly man in his early-fifties, all hard muscle and scar. A black curled beard hid his face and he always wore an olive green cap over his ice blue eyes. Captain Rodriguez served for twenty-five years as a US Army ranger. He spent ten of those as an instructor. In military training there were pesky things called rules meant to insure recruits weren’t injured or killed. These annoyed the Captain, they prevented him from testing his trainees and helping them reach their full potential, in his eyes. That was what he told Jessica, at least. He had a year to produce a combat ready agent prepared for military operations, covert espionage, and UMBRELLA’s dirty work. They wanted a loyal, tough agent to carry on the legacy of UMBRELLA and its philosophy. She was to be the final testimony; the best of the best. To that end they tested her vitals at every turn and mapped out her DNA. All while Captain Rodriguez forced her to her limits.

Those same scientists and executives told her that power was in the gene pool. Humanity was a potential untapped, evolution had stagnated in the digital age with the touchy-feely attempts of modern medicine that ensured that everyone could survive and reproduce. Only those with good genes should have the right to spawn they said. Power could unify the human race, perfect it. UMBRELLA sought to cull the herd, a few lives lost here and there, nothing compared to the greater future ahead. That was how they justified Raccoon city. A few lives lost, an accident but a reasonable price for the research and data. For the betterment of mankind, the city burned. Jessica’s potential was excellent, a little more time and they could perfect her too. It will be interesting to see how she responds in real combat.

“No”, Rodriguez would growl, head ducked so his eyes were hid beneath his hat brim. “Its not the genes that make a soldier, but the spirit.”

Those old fools, he’d say, trapped in their labs. They couldn’t see pass the numbers on their data sheets. Only later did Jessica wonder if the reason the scientists were so interested in her was because they had nothing better to do. UMBRELLA was dying and their funding was drying up, might as well harass some teenagers. Rodriguez never tried to convince her of the bullshit the executives fed her, probably why she never swallowed it hook, line, and sinker. The Captain told her two things: One, the mission comes first; Two, the enemy is the one trying to kill you.

“I am trained to put my feelings aside,” Jessica said, “And to complete the mission. Whatever it may be.”

The scientists of UMBRELLA had read Jessica’s genetic code and liked whatever they saw. They tried to use it to predict her future. If they had laid out a deck of tarot cards, they would have had more success. Jessica once dreamed of following her parent’s footsteps: she’d be an actress like her mom or an executive like dad. And if all those plans failed, she had Daddy’s money to fall back on. She believed in destiny, and perhaps that’s why she once thought Terragrigia and Raccoon City were inevitable, caught in the cogs of progress and evolution. That men like Albert Wesker exemplified the machine, unstoppable.

She could not see beyond those black shades, nor to the weathered hands under his gloves, or hear the heartbeat in his chest. Jessica did not know the full story of his birth and resurrection, only the hearsay of the rumor mill and what scraps she garnered from the enigmatic man. He was the ur example, everything the scientists wished she had been. The success story, the one that took his inheritance and ran. Quite the prodigal son, Albert Wesker. Then again, genetics and virus and all, he was still a man. It want the inhuman capacity of his muscle fibers or his super speed that impressed her, not even his intelligence, it was his spirit. Even if a scientist cloned him to the exact detail, they could not replicate him. Jessica cared not for his cause or his business, nor his desire for power. paths. For the first time in her life Jessica didn’t care who held her leash, only that he didn’t tug so hard. She’d come along. After all, now was a time for patience. If he needed to be stopped, someone with equal might would get in his way. It wasn’t the strong that survived --survival of the fittest did not mean survival of the strongest, but the one that could best suit its enviroment-- but those who adapted. 

Their genes could not predict their fate. Jessica was certain, nonetheless that they’d be dealt the hand they deserved. She was calm but she was not complacent, she had her own path to walk. Her parents didn’t decide it, UMBRELLA didn’t decide it, Rodriguez didn’t decide it, and Wesker didn’t decide it. That path did not cross over Wesker’s.  Because Jessica saw Raccoon City burn, watched the missile strike and felt the shockwave from miles away. Politics crushed buildings and shattered glass. It happened on Terragrigia too. Monsters ravaged the streets but the true demons sat in plush offices and debated the PR. She had come to terms with her mortality. Jessica once feared death, now she respected it. Her hands were blood stained and the damn spot would not wash out. She had no self-righteous vindication to hold her back, only the quiet apathy of a woman tired of all the games.

The only question is,” Jessica said, and here she leaned forward, arms bracing on her knees. The mask and the lies, the little petty quirks of an actress melted from her frame, she sat before him as raw as she’d ever been. Her eyes found the reflection in those sunglasses and looked beyond. Cold steel and burning gold, the slightest upturn of cocky smirk across painted red lips.

“What is it that you want me to do?”

[intimatevoid]

Notes for first-time DMs, from a second-time DM whose mistakes are fresh in her mind

So you wanna DM, but you’ve never done this before and have absolutely zero experience with D&D whatsoever? Here are some things you should know.

The most important thing you need to worry about is energy management. You are DMing your first game and you going to be spending a great deal of energy to do so. Unless you manage that energy, you will burn out. Most of the following tips revolve around this. Don’t worry, the world will get smaller and more familiar for you, and then you’ll be able to play around, but for now you’ve gotta learn how to manage the stage and backstage at the same time.

For the love of all the gods, please do not homebrew your first campaign. I know how tempting it is. I know how you’ve seen all the tumblr posts and are starry-eyed with the wonderful world you wanna present. Please, for your own sake: resist. Go with a pre-made module, official or fanmade but definitely not made by you. Making up your own module is exhausting and right now you need to be spending that energy on memorising systems that have been tried and tested by people who are better at this than you, not trying to change those systems “for flavour”. Once those systems are as natural to you as breathing, then you can try changing them. There are plenty of beginner campaigns and oneshots out there, many of which are free. Use ‘em.

Relating from the first tip: Your players are not gonna care if, like I did, you have an epic story you wanna tell them. Forreal. This sucks but you know what they’re here for? Their OWN story. If you want to tell a story, write a novel. I know this sounds harsh but D&D is designed to be made up as you go along, not planned out in advance, and if you do this then players will sense it and either resist or get bored. Take it from my disappointed self and my hours upon hours of wasted writing. It’s okay, you will definitely have enough stories from regular gameplay.

You don’t need a dozen sets of dice. Two sets is more than enough for any DM. If you’re like me and are easily distracted, it helps for them to be different colours, so that you can keep track of whether you’ve lost any.

What you DO need is a notepad,a mechanical pencil, and an eraser, to jot down anything and everything. Enemies’ HP, NPC names, little mistakes they’ve made which will affect them later, etc. Don’t bother trying to record the actual story that happens; instead, strongarm a player into being your scribe. You already have enough stuff to do.

For real, you do need a record of your games, at least a vague one that tells you where you left off. Cause you’ll forget, and so will everyone else who has any kind of life outside of that one game.

If you can help it, please don’t roll a DMPC to join the player party. I know how tempting it is! They get to play, why shouldn’t you? The answer is because it’s REALLY hard to multitask that many things. Your mind should already be busy learning behind-the-scenes knowledge. Unless that knowledge is second nature to you, you are going to be under a great deal of stress trying to remember everything and roleplay a character of your own. Instead, focus that energy on making NPCs interesting and engaging.

On the subject of RPing, you don’t have to do fancy voices or accents for everyone. I found it helped for me to imagine a facial expression for each NPC -- haughty, excited, bored, or the like -- and speak them with a voice that matched it. It helps you keep them unique without straining your mind by having to remember every single voice.

If you’re gonna play online, http://roll20.net is your friend. You can run your entire game through that, for free, including voice chat that is supposedly more reliable than discord. My own D&D mentor uses it to run their remote games.

If you’re playing in person, you are gonna feel yourself physically ageing every time your players open their handbook to look up deets for spells they’ve cast a thousand times and ought to have memorised for now. There are a number of ways to help with this:

Encourage them to make little cards with spell deets, and put away all but the spells they have prepared that day. Or, have them write down the spells’ page numbers so they can instantly reference them without having to fumble through the index. Or both.

Be prepared to pull up your brower and type in “5e <spell name>” because they’ve lost their cards and written down the wrong numbers and it’s all taking too long anyway.

In a nutshell: players are NOT gonna memorise their own stuff. You gotta manage this one for the sake of game flow, otherwise a single round of combat can and will take twenty minutes, as everyone else gets distracted every time someone takes more than ten seconds to present the deets of their spell or skill

Keep a card (or a piece of paper torn from aforementioned notepad) with everybody’s name, armour class, speed, and passive perception on it. Again, it’s much faster and less mind-numbing than having to ask the player every single time.

If you wanna draw hard copy maps, that’s gonna be a lot of work. Consider whether it’s worth your effort, depending on how visual your players are. If you absolutely must do maps, perhaps consider limiting them to dungeons and/or special areas, and keep the following in mind:

Official D&D maps are typically drawn on 1-inch grids, at least to an extent, to allow for easy calculation of movement. You can save a lot of time by investing in a lined vinyl mat, so that you don’t have to be drawing grids all the time. Use bulldog clips to fix baking paper over it, so you can see the grid through it, and draw your maps on that.

Or if you’re on a budget, buy an A2 sheet of 5mm grid paper from any stationary store, get it laminated, and use a permanent marker to line in every 25mm. That’s close enough to an inch to match standard D&D minis, and you can use the inbetween lines for stuff like drawing furniture and making consistent wall thicknesses.

Or, y’know, just 1/4 inch lined paper, if you’re in a country that uses imperial.

There are COUNTLESS other things that are useful to know, and plenty of other guides which will help you with that. These are just some real basic things that I’ve never seen put in a guide before, so hopefully it’ll help someone out there.

[stories-by-shanna-p]

Plot Bunny Adoptions

As some of you may know, I have an overabundance of plot bunnies! Plot bunnies are those story ideas I get (usually while writing another story) that stick around in my head.  Each time I come up with a new plot bunny, I write it down for later.  Which means they multiply quickly...

Unfortunately, my word doc with all these plot bunnies has become overcrowded.  I am unable to give all the love and care to these plot bunnies that they deserve, so I would like to offer them to caring writers who would give them a good home! 

Don’t worry, I have kept many plot bunnies to myself, but these others always seem to take a back burner, and that doesn’t seem fair!  So I am giving them up for adoption! 

Below the ‘keep reading’ line are many, many plot bunnies that I am putting up for adoption.  But before you adopt, some things to note:

Plot bunnies are available for the following fandoms: Supernatural, Star Wars, and Hobbit 

Once you adopt a plot bunny, it is yours.  You can change it to an insert reader, OC, ship, anything you like.  You can change characters that are the focus or even make it an AU.  It is yours, so you can groom it and play with it all you want! :D 

Plot bunnies can only be adopted to one home.  Once they are adopted, they are no longer available!  For this reason, if you want to adopt one of these adorable plot bunnies, you have to send me an ask with the plot bunny number you are interested in!  I will respond saying if that plot bunny is yours or if it has been adopted already.  

I will not be writing these plot bunnies after they are adopted, so they are completely yours.  Any that aren’t adopted will go back to my word doc and hopefully find a forever home with either myself or someone in the future! 

You are welcome to adopt more than one plot bunny at a time, if you can give them good homes! ^^

When you start writing the plot bunny, please tag me in it!!!  I would love to come visit and say hi every now and then! :D 

Adoptions will be open until July 1st.  

If you, or someone you know, has been looking for new ideas for stories or a challenge or such, please refer them to this plot bunny adoption.  I hope you will consider giving one of these little guys a good home!!! <3 <3 <3 

The plot bunnies below are organized by fandom.  For ease of browsing, if the original plot bunny idea has a main focal character, that character’s name will be bolded so you can find them quickly.  

Plot bunnies will have any random thoughts or details that I came up with at the time.  Feel free to use these or use your own.  It is completely your decision. ^^  I just copied them directly from my word doc! XD 

I hope you will find a bunny that suits you!!! 

Supernatural Fandom

·         Plot Bunny #2: (Metatron) God decides to bring back some angels that have died, Metatron, Raphael, Uriel, Zacharia, Gabriel, Balthazar, etc, but they have to prove they are worthy, so God decides…there first task is to be a guardian angel to a human, or in this case a hunter.  The Winchesters know a hunter, almost like a daughter to Bobby, who usually hunts on her own.  She will stop by the bunker every now and then, but then is usually alone, so when Chuck asks for recommendations, she is the first on their list…but that also means that her angel is Metatron.  Eager to prove his worth to his father, Metatron sticks by the female hunter like glue, watching her every move, which causes some tension.  Have a lot of spats, hilarious moments, awwww moments, and then perhaps feelings evolve? 

·         Plot Bunny #8: (Lucifer) Lucifer inspired by “Evermore”.  He had to convince her to leave for her own protection before the apocalypse.  

·         Plot Bunny #9: (Gabriel) While making his rounds as the trickster, Gabriel gets in a chat room and meets someone. They become quick friends and continue to chat for months.  One day, the girl asks to meet him, but of course, he refuses, even if he really likes her.  But then a friend of hers messages him, begging him to come, because she is dying, they say it will happen in the next 24 hours. He shows up and the friend meets him, happy that he came.  “You have been the only light in her life for these past months, now she can finally meet the man from the internet that she fell in love with.”   

·         Plot Bunny #10: (Gabriel) You are a student at the school that Gabriel is a janitor at.  You form a relationship with him, you being an acting/singing student. You find out (eventually) what he really is.  But at this point, you don’ care, because you have fallen hard for him.  One point, you dislocate your arm and he has to take you to the ER.  The meds make you loopy, and that is your first kiss with him.  “Wow, how messed up did those pills make you?”  Gabriel asked.  You responded with a smile.  “Enough that I have the courage to do this, but not so much that I won’t remember in the morning.”  You spend time at his place, eventually move in with him and his dog.  You are in acappella group, he goes to watch you compete. But what happens when your “father” Bobby Singer and your “brothers” Dean and Sam come hunting for him? 

·         Plot Bunny #14: (Castiel) Highschool AU. You are dating the popular senior, Dick Roman, when the Shirleys move into town.  You use to be friends with the Winchesters and others, but Dick pushed them out of your life to turn you into the cliché popular girl at school. When they move, you meet Castiel, who quickly develops a huge crush on you, but is really shy.  After many failed attempts to get your attention, Dick finds out about his crush and starts to bully Cas badly.  When you find out, you turn Dick in and go to check on Cas and his family.  It is then you find out what Dick did to push your old friends away.  In hopes to get you back, Dick makes a huge romantic declaration of love in the form of a proposal/promise ring in front of the whole school, but when you say no, it turns you into the biggest social outcast. Luckily, you have your friends back, and Castiel is happy to help you through.  After a year, you are now best friends with Cas, still unknowing about his feelings towards you.    

·         Plot Bunny #17: (Dean) You and Dean have been dating for a couple years now, while also hunting along side them. At least until you find out you are pregnant with Dean’s baby.  You tell him, and he freaks out and goes drinking.  When he gets home, you over hear him telling you that he is going to ‘fix his mistake’.  You misunderstand, he really means marry you and settle down, like he has been wanting to. Before you can find this out from Dean himself, you run away.  Four years later, Dean is still searching for you, but gets a call from Garth.  When he gets there, he finds out that you had a son, John Robert Winchester (JR/JB (John Bobby)).  You died when demons came after your son and sent him to Garth.  Garth has been trying to help Dean find her, so when this happens, he calls him.  Dean has to deal with the grief, while also bringing a little boy into his life. They stay at the bunker and Dean keeps hunting.  JR was raised on hunting stories and likes his bed time story to be readings from lore books.  He also likes looking at maps for where to go next!  OR you go to Bobby’s for some help where he tells you Dean has been searching for you (JR only 2/3).  Dean and Sam show up shortly after and chaos ensues? 

·         Plot Bunny #18: (Dean)  Dean and Sam run into Jesse, the boy who is half demon.  He takes them to a secluded place where others like him live and train.  It is led by a woman, who is very powerful, but also very kind and gracious.  When Jesse gets captured by demons, the woman works with Sam and Dean to free him. During that time, Dean and she develop feelings for each other.  The night they save Jesse, Dean admits to her that he is in love with her, and wants her to stay with him.  She loves him too, but, she leaves.  Because she knows the truth of her parentage, and the boys.  She leaves a note for Dean, explaining that she loves him, which is why she can’t stay, because if he knew the truth he would hate her, because she is Azazel’s child.  At first, Dean and Sam are angry about it, thinking that she tricked them.  But when words gets out that the demons have their hands on a powerful half-breed, Sam and Dean are back to the rescue.  

  Star Wars Fandom

·         Plot Bunny #21: (Hux) OC is resistance spy, but saves Hux’s life and they become friends, and almost lovers.  When the First Order is under attack by another force, she gets the resistance to bring in help and saves the day.  Eventual love

 Hobbit Fandom

·         Plot Bunny #22: (Kili and Fili) After reclaiming Erebor and the restoration is mostly done, the princes decide to put their skills to work by creating a memorial in the hall of kings for their father. When revealed, Dis is in tears, as is Thorin.  “He would be proud of you both.”  During, they talk of stories and what they remember about their father.    ·         Plot Bunny #27: (Thorin/Company) You are friends with Thorin, Dwalin, and all.  You are a bar maid in Ered Luin, they always bring liveliness to the place, and are very protective of you.     ·         Plot Bunny #35: (Bofur) In Ered Luin, Bofur meets a lass, a very shy one, that he wants to court.  But can the loud and cheerful miner court the quiet and shy seamstress?   ·         Plot Bunny #36: (Bofur) Bilbo notices after a while that all the little things Bofur whittles has a design or such that is always similar.  Bofur explains that it is his muse, how each piece has that as a dedication to her. She is a dwarf in the Blue Mountains that he fancies.  He is hoping that he can prove his worth to her father by being on the quest, and with his share, provide a good life. Jump to later with Bilbo spying Bofur in the market at his stall with a woman, holding her close and smiling.  He is happy he finally has his muse.  ·         Plot Bunny #37: (Bagginshield)  Bilbo tries to teach Thorin how to garden, and Thorin tries to teach Bilbo blacksmithing. ·         Plot Bunny #38: (Bagginshield) Upon his return, Bilbo throws a dinner for his family to explain his absence.  He assumed Thorin, the Dewarf King, would be fine…but Thorin is in over his head…then add Lobelia to the mix.  ·         Plot Bunny #39: (Bagginshield) AU: Bilbo is a school teacher (younger children) and Fili and Kili are his students.  When they get into mischief, the school calls Dis, but since she is busy at work, Bilbo gets to finally meet Uncle Thorin. 

[uomo-accattivante]

I love this interview! 👍🏼

Writer/director Alex Garland set a high bar for himself with Ex Machina, his stellar 2015 directorial debut. That sci-fi movie had a lot on its mind, but his newest film, Annihilation, is far more cerebral. It’s one of the most challenging movies of the year: bold, beautiful, and haunting in a way that occasionally verges on being experimental.

Not long ago, I had the opportunity to sit down with Garland and actor Oscar Isaac, who plays a key role in the film, to talk to them about bringing this story to the big screen. We touched on the film’s behind-the-scenes clashes, whether or not Garland was concerned with audiences being able to keep up with what he’s doing in this movie, Isaac’s approach to his troubled character, and much more. Read our full Oscar Isaac and Alex Garland interview below.

Warning: Both Garland and Isaac occasionally drop spoilers in a couple of their responses. If you’re 100% spoiler-averse, I’d suggest bookmarking this and reading it after you see the film. Our interview follows.

***

For me, watching this movie was like walking through a beautiful nightmare. I have not read Jeff VanderMeer’s book yet, but can you tell me about how you crafted the visual aspects of being inside The Shimmer?

Isaac: Sure. (laughs)

Garland: (To Isaac) Go on, do it. (laughs) Yeah, we knew we wanted it to be beautiful and disturbing, often concurrently within the same shot. So really, what happened was, there’s a script. And in the script it’s straightforward in many respects, because it says, like, say, this scene, you’d say, ‘INTERIOR. HOTEL BAY. Three people sit around a coffee table.’ But then of course, production designers and set decorators need to make it something where you can stick a camera. So the script was disseminated among the collective, the group of people who work together, many of whom I’ve worked with for a long time – some of them twenty years. Me and [set decorator] Michelle Day and Mark [Digby] on the production design team, [producer] Andrew [Macdonald] – we’ve worked together on seven or eight movies, so we know each other backwards.

It all goes out, and really what happens is, a conversation starts. Everybody’s got a voice, and everybody’s chipping in, and an organic, evolutionary process begins and it doesn’t really stop. It doesn’t really stop until the picture’s locked. Right in the 59th minute of the twelfth hour, or whatever the right thing to say is, in the grade, these things are being affected hugely. How much do you saturate the colors? Where do you choose to desaturate? Where do you choose to put a bright point in the screen and do we have a vignette on the shot to focus? So it never really stops. It’s a big collective all working together and getting there organically.

Isaac: But at the same time, nudging it towards ‘What’s most disturbing?’ As an example, without trying to give away too much stuff, the ‘fight’ scene at the end between the alien and Lena. I was there for a lot of those rehearsals, and just seeing – it’s such an ephemeral thing. Why is it more disturbing if she’s less aggressive here, but pushing into her? Why is it weirder if this movement happens as opposed to this movement? It’s hard to say why, but it’s one of those things where we wouldn’t think of it, but then (nods to Garland) you’d suggest it, and suddenly we were all like, ‘Yep. That’s definitely creepier.’ Something as subtle as, this alien being, all it is is intention. So seeing the physicality of that idea happen. The collaborative part is, you say that, and then we have to interpret that. How do you physicalize just intention? Then somewhere that alchemy comes together, and everyone gets on the same page and creates something really crazy.

By the end, Kane turns out to be unlike any character you’ve played before. But in the beginning, I was noticing a couple of similarities to the soldier you voice in the Homecoming podcast. Did you think about that character at all when you were making this?

Isaac: Oh, is that right? No, I didn’t. That one, he was a private. Sure, he had kind of gone through some weird stuff, but I think with that one, there was a bit of an innocence. Kane maybe has…it’s a little bit of a different thing. There’s a deeper, darker bubbling thing underneath him.

As the film goes on, it feels increasingly impressionistic and almost experimental at certain points. Were you worried at all about audiences not being able to keep up?

Garland: No. Not really. That’s not to say there’s anything to do with ignoring audiences. It’s not that. But it has to do with what you’re concerned with in relation to the audience, you know? For example, the kind of area where I’d think about it a lot would be to do with strangeness. So the film was, in some ways, conceived backwards. There was this crucial aspect to me that began as Natalie’s character is walking along the beach, and then contains the sequence within a lighthouse. I knew that was the goal, and I knew that I wanted us collectively to achieve a particular level of strangeness and beauty and oddness. Things like the dance sequence that Oscar was just alluding to. It needed to have information, but not information that was stated. It was more inferred. They key thing would be about strangeness, right? What it feels like to watch it. The crucial thing is what would it feel like? So then, you have to think, ‘How do you construct feeling?’

One of them, say in the case of strangeness, is that there’s a diminishing return with it. So if you begin strange, by the time you get to the end strange, you’ve got acclimatized to it and you’ve lost the thing that you’re shooting for. So that created a built-in structure, which on set and in pre-production, we used to call ‘suburbia to psychedelia,’ because it sounds neat and it’s a nice reduction. It’s a nice sound byte, isn’t it? But it’s got truth in it. Because if you start in suburbia, you start in our world, it gives you the chance of getting truly strange, in a way. So everything was sort of structured that way.

Along those same lines, there were some heavily publicized behind-the-scenes clashes about the making of this movie. I know you’re someone who’s not afraid to speak your mind, so I’m just wondering if you’re pleased with how it all turned out.

Garland: I only really give a shit about the film, OK? That’s actually all I care about. So as long as the film honors the intent of the collective, I’m basically happy. That’s what I care about. I think we did everything we could, and I’m proud of it, and I love it, so I’m fine with it.

I’m curious about your process. What kinds of conversations did you guys have about Kane, and was there a moment when you were developing your take on him where everything clicked for you?

Isaac: (Jokingly) Yeah, I had it all figured out, and I walked in and said, ‘Shut up. Sit down. And point the camera at this.’ (points at his own face)

Garland: He set the lens. There was some discussion about the lighting, but Oscar won. That’s the way it goes.

Isaac: (laughs) Yeah, we talked. That’s what we do. We like to talk a lot and we think about things in similar ways, I like to think, and we have a similar sense of humor. So I think my first question was, ‘I know it’s not Predator with girls, but tell me why it’s not Predator with girls.’ No, I’m kidding. I just read it and thought it was fascinating and thought it was so strange and so beautiful, and I wanted to play this character. What was so cool is that he has all this stuff bubbling underneath, as I was saying, so that’s what was most interesting to me. There was almost a Pinter-esque quality to it, where there’s all these pauses and all of this subtext that’s just emanating out of these two people. But they don’t say it. Like Alex said, it’s inferred. So we spoke a lot about that. ‘What is it that’s happening underneath, and what is the nature of this relationship? What do I know now that I’m not saying? In this scene, now what do I know? What does she know?’ Trying to map those things out. Everything had a palpable energy between the characters.

Then coming up with different ideas: ‘Where might he be from? What if I try making his voice sound a little like this? What do you think about that?’ And then at the end, just the nature of the energy of how do we do this speech at the end that’s being filmed? What’s the reason we’re filming it? What’s the intent of it? Getting very specific about that stuff. That’s what a lot of it felt like. And with Alex, it always feels like we’re building a motorcycle together, or building a car. We’re just kind of handing each other the tools and making it together. That’s what’s really fun about it.

Garland: It was actually all built backwards. So for me, for what it’s worth, the whole thing was about earning the speech that Kane says at the end in this locked off shot that just sits there and lets him do it. It’s about the words that are contained there and the things he’s expressing there. Everything else is in support of that moment. The whole film actually is in support of the last thirty minutes, basically. Which sounds like a sort of stupid thing to say, because truly all films are. But actually that’s not exactly true. In a way, every single thing that happens is just inching your way towards this strange metaphysical sequence. And having it not as just abstract firework fun, but having content.

Isaac: Or pain. I think what the last thirty minutes are just this metaphysical pain and despair in some ways.

Garland:(To Oscar, jokingly) That’s how you’re choosing to sell the movie? Are you out of your fucking mind?

Isaac: Let’s go back to Predator with girls. Predator with girls! (laughs)

Garland: It’s true, though. It’s true.

With this and Star Wars, you’re a part of two big recent sci-fi movies that proudly feature women at the forefront of the cast, which is really cool. I know you’re separated from a lot of the ensemble here, but tell me about working with Natalie on this.

Isaac: I was shooting Star Wars at the exact same time, too, so that was a wild thing to –

Wait, you were jumping back and forth between sets?

Isaac: It was literally the same studio.

Oh, cool.

Isaac: So some days I would walk from – I think I still used my trailer from Star Wars…

Garland: Yeah, we didn’t have trailers. But there were days where you were, on the same day, shooting both things.

Isaac: Yeah, there were. I would shoot something in the morning and then have a little bit of down time and then switch it up. So that was wild.

Garland: We’d catch him at his lunch break and say, ‘We’ve got to shoot this now!’ (laughs)

Isaac: I think I visited, too, still dressed up as Poe on the set.

Garland:Yeah, totally.

Isaac: It was pretty wild. It reminded me a little of Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, when he’s on the lot and you see all the different actors walking around. There was something very classic about it. So there was very little time, and not a lot of rehearsal time, and Natalie and I didn’t know each other. It happens in movies, obviously – you have to suddenly be very intimate with someone very quickly. I think the fact that she was willing to trust me and I was trusting her, and we just went in there and did it and tried to find a real intimacy. Which is always a weird, awkward, strange thing to do suddenly in front of a bunch of people. But we found that, and I really enjoyed those scenes with her. She is very focused, but also in those scenes, very emotionally available as well, so I really enjoyed that.

Garland: It makes me want to name-check Rian [Johnson] and Ram [Bergman], the producer on Star Wars [The Last Jedi]. I think because they come from an indie film background, here they are making like the biggest movie of all time, and they were unbelievably helpful and accommodating to us. And they really didn’t have to be at all. Most big productions would not even dream of doing that. And they went out of their way – whilst making fucking Star Wars, for Christ’s sake – to help this really small movie next door. It was very cool and I’m truly grateful for it, actually.

Making a movie with all female protagonists almost feels like a political statement today. Was that something that specifically drew you to this?

Garland: I really just want to dodge that question.

Really?

Garland: Yeah. The answer that I’m saying – which I’ve said before, so I apologize for it, but I’m in a position where this is the answer that I have – is that the previous film that Oscar and I worked on together [Ex Machina] had within it a very conscious set of deliberate arguments which related to gender and objectification. As well as other stuff about sentience and AI and all of that kind of thing. And what interested me about this project was the absence of an argument. So if I now talk about that, I dismantle the absence of the argument. So I’d just like to leave it at that.

Understood. You wrote this long before the Times Up and Me Too movements came to light, and I certainly don’t want you to explain the ending of your movie, but there’s some symbolism and imagery at the end that could be interpreted as being aligned with those causes. Does the film feel even more relevant now than when you wrote it, considering what’s going on culturally?

Garland: No, it doesn’t. I can’t lay claim to that. I wouldn’t want to. For me, it was a film, internally – by the way, let me just say, any time you present a narrative, in a book or a film or whatever the fuck it is, what is really happening is that fifty percent of the narrative is not provided by you. It’s provided by the subjective nature of the person receiving the narrative. So they fill in gaps, they provide stuff, they create agendas, whatever it happens to be. That is not problematic to me, that is just in the nature of the job. Right? For me, personally – so it doesn’t have to be for you – in as much as it is about something, which it is, to me, it is about the nature of self-destruction. It was about an observation I made, which is that everybody appears to be self-destructive. Some people are very obviously self-destructive because they’re addicted to heroin or alcohol or they act in a psychotic way or whatever, and they offer their self-destruction to you. Other people are very comfortable in their own skin, and they’ve got a fantastic job and a fantastic life and everything seems to be bulletproof. They feel like they’ve sort of cracked something about life. But then when you get to know them, you discover odd bits of self-destruction, which then become significant bits of self-destruction. It was the universality of it, that even the people who’d cracked it all had not cracked it all. And then I started trying to think –

Isaac: Where does it come from?

Garland: Where does it come from? Why is it that you have a really good marriage and you dismantle it? Why do you have a really good friendship and you dismantle it? Why do you have a really good job and you dismantle it? Whatever it happens to be. And the film essentially presents that question and an answer to that question by inference. To me, that is what it’s about.

*****

Annihilation hits theaters on February 23, 2018.

[theunnamedlizardrogue]

Chapter 8: Discovery

Sorry for the long wait!

Booker sneaks back outside the inn. He can still hear the voices from earlier tonight. They’re coming from what looks like a block of houses. A man, standing in front of a house, the door closes in front of him and he treads towards the next house. He’s getting closer to the inn. He’s doing rounds; going door to door. It won’t be long until he arrives at the inn. And so the next door opens, and there’s a small pause before Booker can see the black figure move about, he looks like he’s just started talking. It’s risky but Booker edges closer, what’s he doing at this time of night? He moves to a stall near the Inn, and begins to hear “-...but I came to ask if you’ve seen someone?” The woman responds, but she’s too far. “I… - hav… sorry” “They’re a green lizard. Murdered a citizen from the nearest town.” I... The... Why... Uh... The bandit hideout. Somehow. The guards? “If you see anything, come here.” The man hands something - a piece of paper. … The woman shuts the door, and the man turns. At this distance, he can make out a red article of clothing, wrapped around his forearm. Booker shuts the door.

Focus. The innkeep, quick.

The man rubs his hands on his shirt “What’s got you riled up?” Booker shuffles his hands and changes to an articulate speech, lowering his voice.  “A man is going to come in here, a dangerous man. He’s going to tell you that I’m a murderer. But it’s not true. I am carrying a rare map that they plan to take from me. They shot my dragonborn friend the other day due solely on suspicion.” The innkeep looks up at him in surprise. “I beg of you, they will slaughter me on the spot. Tell them you haven’t seen me.”

He lied through his teeth. But there’s no option but to place faith in the innkeep, Endarla and Locke are still upstairs. Booker runs up the stairs to his room.  

He quickly moves and hides by the edge of the door, breathing heavily. It’s dark, and he’s holding a knife close to his chest. Locke raises his head, but Booker holds a finger. Locke stares, and lies down. He can vaguely make out a conversation downstairs. Then footsteps. Footsteps. He grips the knife harder. Footsteps get louder and nearer. Footsteps. … The door handle creaks. Booker’s readied the knife.

The innkeep opens the door. “You’re safe.” Booker sheathes the knife in the dark. He swallows. The innkeeper didn’t notice the knife. That would have been hard to explain. “I thank you, I shall leave in the morning, post-haste.”

The morning after is hard to wake up from, Booker’s head is buzzing. He reaches for his knapsack lying on the floor near the bed and rummages through its contents. 2 potions left, he can’t get any more. The mage left a message at his makeshift stand last night that he’s momentarily stopped producing the potions to focus on his studies. Just have to try and fix the sleep schedule. He sighs and rubs his muzzle.  Always gotta improvise.

It looks like he’s the first to wake up this time, Locke’s lying on the ground with his arm lying on his forehead. He looks as terrible as Books feels. Booker stretches and he thinks of last night. He needs to gather everyone up and leave, before he’s discovered. He gets off the bed, gets on his knees and lightly shakes Locke. Locke wakes up and turns to him, with a glazed expression. “Meet me downstairs, alright?” Locke mumbles a “okaymph”.

Booker knocks on Endarla’s door and shouts “Endarla! Meet me downstairs!” There’s a slight pause before Endarla shouts back “Okay!” Booker pulls up his hood as he heads downstairs.

Endarla’s bought another pie for herself, she offers a slice to Locke. “Okay, what did you need?” “We need to leave town, no questions why, alright?” Both Locke and Endarla look at Booker confused. Endarla opens her mouth “… uh-“ “I know, I know. But someone’s following our movements. Her posture immediately changes. She instantly starts eyeing her surroundings. “Okay.” “If we’re leaving, I’d like to ask you something. I want to visit the box I woke up in” He remembers talking about that a couple of nights ago “…” “It’s not important, but…” Booker looks to Locke, he shrugs He thinks. “… Yeah, we can do that. We’d be out of town anyway.” “Really? Thanks.” He forces a weak smile “Hey, no problem.”

Booker checks corners on his way out of the town, no pirates in sight, thankfully. The morning light is way too bright to sneak around alone. He thinks of the directions Endarla once told him, follow out to the forest. 

The walk out of town is uncomfortable, a path in the middle of an open field. They’re exposed and could get spotted fast. When they reach the trees Booker feels almost instantly relieved, there’s high trees and thick foliage. Both Endarla and Booker try to figure out the trail she took into town. The trees whilst giving good cover A flock of birds fly out of a nest up high in one of the trees. Locke watches in wonder as they pass by. The three keep quiet as they pass through. They found the set of footprints. It’s a very unsteady trail, as expected.

Once they’re out, it finally leads to the box. It’s a stone box, partially glass at the top, and seeing inside it, there’s a cushioned inner layer. There’s silver layered about, but it actually strikes his notice, it’s brown-ish at places. Booker kneels down and traces his fingers on the surface. It’s dirty, certainly. He pulls out a flask filled with water and pours it on his hand, rubbing it again on the silver. It stays brown. He stands up “I’ve worked it out.”

Endarla looks amazed “That easily?”

Booker sighs “Yeah. The box has a silver lining, but the silver itself is tarnished.” “That means?“ “It’s from the air, this box has been here longer than you have.” Booker hasn’t broken eye contact with the box yet “I think it’s a… coffin. And with this sorta quality it means it was someone rich.” Endarla squints “I still don’t understand” Booker finally looks back at Endarla “Alright, let me run you through this” “This box was a coffin for a wealthy person, who designed the box with silver and glass. But it’s been here for a really long while, because you can see the silver’s tarnished over the years. You surely can’t be old as this box, so something tells me you were put here by someone.”

The tracks. That’ll give evidence. They’re hard to determine, but amongst the trio, there’s a fourth boot print here from the others, a little more delicate actually, not like the boots or wraps from Locke, Endarla or Booker. It heads into a different direction in the woods, back the way they came.

Booker’s curiosity takes a hold of him. “We’ll investigate.” “Right.”

Backtracking through the woods, he realises. The tracks… head back into the town. Booker pulls on his scarf slightly. “The person we’re looking for is in the town.” “Ah...” “I… want to know, “Then we go.” “But, it’s still risky.” !”^$&)”!(£)(£^!”_ “I’m curious.”

Booker casually walks into town, ignoring eye contact with anyone who passes by. He takes alleyways, waits until streets are empty, signals to the others when it’s safe to pass, all the while following the tracks.

They finally arrive. A hulking college in the middle of the town. White brick. Multiple buildings with different purposes, storing people, components, and most of all, knowledge. It’s a shame that the books in these colleges rarely have anything more than information about magic. He could never get a hang of it.

They stand at the gates, no one stands guard, but a mage wanders by at the perfect time. “HEY!” Booker shouts. The mage turns and points to himself? “Yeah! Open the gates please!” The mage errs in hesitation before coming closer and opening the gates, it’s better than breaking in.

“Do you know where the main desk is?” “Y-Yeah. It’s… over there.” He points to the large building in the building.

They push open the wooden doors and walk in, an elf receptionist looks up from her desk, and stops writing on a sheet of paper, and stands up; she lifts her head up high with a smile.

“Welcome to the College of Scientific Magic! CSM, for short. This place is run and maintained by our headmaster and founder Ignatius Saeno!” Locke’s already checked out. Booker inquires “… Scientific magic?” The receptionist responds “Yes, based on a theory held by the headmaster back in the day. The synthesis of magic and science into one! Mages scorned him, but look at the infamous mad mage no-” Saeno, that’s a name Booker can remember. He read some of the books as a kid. Ignatius Saeno used to adventure. Known almost worldwide for his erratic manner and was intimidatingly good at his craft. “I’d be interested in hearing the story, but first, we’re looking for a specific mage. He isn’t part of this college and he arrived here in the last two days. He might have been hurt?” “Oh! Yes! We have had one such person. His name was Wolfgang, correct? Let me grab him for you.” The receptionist walks away with an elegant strut. Booker smiles, the mystery is about to be solv-

A spear prods into his back Booker turns his head to the right, and behind him stands a man with a red neckerchief around his neck. With twenty or so other men.

“You’re coming with us.” … They all have a neckerchief. Is it all a symbol? He laughs “What about my friends here?” “Does it look like I give a shit? You’re coming with us.” Can’t attack, outnumbered and at a disadvantage.

Booker looks at Endarla and Locke He fakes a smile “Well, I’ll be leaving, I hope Wolfgang can answer your questions.” Endarla stares “I’m coming with you.” Endarla’s words surprise Booker “What, why?” “Wolfgang can wait, you’re being held at spearpoint” Locke nods in unison. “Well, this is all fuckin’ heartwarmin’, but can we hurry this along? Boss’ll want to see you.”

And just on time the receptionist returns with a man in purple clothing in tow. His hair is a mess, bags under his eyes and his left arm is bandaged.

“What’s happening here?” says the receptionist in slight panic “Nightingale?” Murmurs the purple mage, staring at Endarla. Endarla widens her eyes. Booker tries to cover; he still has his hands up “Sorry about the commotion, miss, but I’ll just be leavi-“ “Shut the fuck up, he’s coming with us, pissed off the wrong people.” The crude wastrel interjects. The receptionist’s eyes lower down towards the man’s neckerchief and she responds with “Ah… Right.”

Before they leave, Wolfgang quickly rushes whispers to Endarla. A spear points at him, but he, in a panicked stupor, declares he just wanted to give her some quick information. He declares that he’ll be staying at the for the time being, and for Endarla to return as soon as possible so he can check how she’s recovering.

The trio are pushed back outside, and led out of the college. When they return to the outskirts of the city, a carriage lays in wait of them. “How long’s the trip?” “Get in.” “Come on, the syllable count isn’t that mu-“ “A day. Get. In.” Booker climbs into the back of the carriage, with Endarla and Locke following him in.

Chapter 9: https://theunnamedlizardrogue.tumblr.com/post/178221350911/chapter-9-by-its-cover

[woodworkingpastor]

Grace in the wilderness -- Acts 8:26-39 -- April 25, 2021 -- Fourth Sunday of Easter

The Lord is risen!

He is risen indeed!

I noted last Sunday that it is our secular habit to celebrate our holidays before the event and not after, while the church celebrates holidays after the event. Just as we spent the 40 days of Lent preparing for the death and resurrection of Jesus, now we spend time between Jesus’ resurrection and ascension celebrating, because 33AD is the date that governs our lives. We are an Easter people; people of the resurrection!

Please pray with me:

Good shepherd of the sheep, by whom the lost are sought and guided into the fold; feed us and we shall be satisfied; heal us and we shall be whole; lead us that we may be with you, and with the Father, and with the Holy Spirit, where you reign, one God, forever. Amen.

Many of you have asked about our trip to Portland. Simply put, we had a terrific time! Rose is doing very well there; the opportunity to “stretch her wings” has clearly been good for her. We also had a great time seeing that portion of the Pacific Northwest. If I had Power Point available this morning, I’d would have shown you pictures from our hikes in the Columbia River Gorge, our day at the Pacific coast, and the various places we visited around Portland itself.

But connected to today’s Scripture, I want to talk about the trip from our hotel in downtown Portland to Rose’s house in Gresham, a suburb about 12 miles to the east. I found myself having a bit of trouble committing the route from the hotel to her house to memory due to a number of one-way streets, bridges, interstate merges, and just being unfamiliar with the lay of the land; I was certainly glad for the Google Maps.

It wasn’t until our last day there that I noticed something that changed my perspective. It turns out that both our downtown hotel and SnowCap Community Charities are on Pine Street. It made me wonder—was it the same Pine Street in both places? It turns out that it is—just 180 blocks apart. On the day we volunteered at the food pantry, I thought we might just take Pine Street all the way there. That turned out to not be possible; Pine Street is minor neighborhood street that at one point disappears for 40 blocks. But there was another street that went all the way, so we took it instead. Because we had the time to travel through Portland (instead of around it) we really got an interesting glimpse of the city: houses, businesses, and even a restaurant we returned to for lunch.

The interstate highways are terrific if efficiency is your goal. But if you want to see what is creally happening in a place, the neighborhood streets (which sometimes an feel as intimidating as wilderness roads) are the place to be.

Salvation on a wilderness road

We do not want to lose sight of the fact that this salvation story happens on a wilderness road. The setting is as relevant as the content, for there is no place where Jesus is not Lord and there are no people who are too far away to be reconciled, no matter if we measure the distance in physical or in spiritual terms.

Philip is one of the deacons we met last Sunday; like Stephen—whose story in Acts 6 and 7 that we skipped over—Philip was appointed to make sure the Greek-speaking Jewish widows in Jerusalem were cared for. It is a task that we never see him actually doing, however, because Acts is most interested in telling the story of how the message of Jesus would spread

in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).

Having given a gospel answer to the racial and administrative problems with the food distribution to widows, Acts simply move on.

The story abruptly shifts to Philip, who is told to take a trip. He’s not given a destination; he’s not told what he’s going to do or who he’s going to see or even how he will know he has arrived. All he is told is to travel down the wilderness road from Jerusalem to Gaza. So he goes, because Philip—like the other deacons—is

full of the Spirit and of wisdom (Acts 6:3).

He recognizes the voice calling him to serve, and he goes. As he walks down this wilderness road, the reason for his trip comes into focus. Just up ahead is a chariot returning to Ethiopia—a designation in those days that referred to the area south of Egypt. Seated inside is a high-ranking official of the queen, a man who has come to Jerusalem to worship and is now returning home. Somehow, the God of Israel has become known in this region far away from Jerusalem, and the faith of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has taken root in this man who has the means to make the long trip to Jerusalem for worship.

What we must notice about the man is that there would have been little room for him in the rush of Jerusalem’s public, festival worship. He had invested significant time, energy, and expense to participate in a worship festival that he would have only been allowed to experience as an outsider, because he was a eunuch. As Deuteronomy 23:1 says,

No one whose testicles are crushed or whose penis is cut off shall be admitted to the assembly of the LORD.

This is not the kind of Bible verse we normally mention in polite company; you won’t find this verse artistically paired with an awe-inspiring photograph hanging in someone’s living room. But there it is, a “chapter and verse” reason why the man would have only been allowed into the outer courts of the Temple to participate in the worship of his God from a distance.

But in the fervor that often accompanies faithfulness and tradition, the people hadn’t stopped to deal with the fact that God had promised a day was to come when outsiders would be made insiders. As Isaiah would later say,

Do not let the foreigner joined to the LORD say, “The LORD will surely separate me from his people”; and do not let the eunuch say, “I am just a dry tree.” For thus says the LORD: To the eunuchs who keep my sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, I will give, in my house and within my walls, a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off (Isaiah 56:3-5).

This conversation is the purpose for Philip’s trip, because the church was not looking to the literal wilderness for converts any more than they were looking to the metaphorical or spiritual wilderness to find those persons who were being left behind and left out. The Spirit’s intervention was necessary so that the church would be forced to make a connection it would not have made on its own.

Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch have a conversation about Jesus; using the passage from Isaiah the man is reading, Philip explains to him how Jesus was the Messiah prophesied in Isaiah’s message. Upon arriving at a place in the road where there is water, the man proclaims

Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized? (Acts 8:36)

It’s a fair question because he had just experienced Temple worship in Jerusalem where he was prevented from full participation. Would the faith of Jesus also keep him on the sidelines of faith?

The answer is “no.” The chariot stops and Philip and the man move immediately to the water because when faith in Jesus is authentic it will inevitably find the waters of baptism.

Finding our way on wilderness roads

The church has certainly found itself in a wilderness this past year; although it’s a stretch to call our outdoor worship venue a “wilderness,” being that this is our 58th week “in exile” from our Sanctuary and rhythms of worship, we certainly do wonder what mission and ministry will look like moving forward.

But lest we blame Covid for all that ails us, some recent surveys suggest a different source of our challenges:

Christian researcher Ryan Burge suggests that 40% of self-identified evangelical Christians attend church once per year or less. Not once a week; not once a month; once a year. That’s like “Christmas OR Easter.”

Research from the Gallup organization suggests that church membership in the United States has dropped below 50% for the first time in over a century.

You might be surprised at how many conversations I have with people who claim a belief in God and can even articulate a faith that is filled with spiritual practices like Bible reading, personal devotions, and prayer, but includes no relationship with a local church. Anecdotally, this seems to be on the rise in the people I meet.

For years I’ve heard that the church’s problems are the fault of the so-called “liberals.” But perhaps it’s not so simple. Perhaps we’ve been relying on the comfort of our own wisdom and methods and techniques and politics more than we have been trusting that God is still moving in wilderness places. If we will reject the temptation of allowing the church to be a comfortable place for the convinced and instead be a place where disciples are made and lives are transformed, then maybe today’s church can turn the world upside down like the church did in days of old.

What I’m saying is that despite the many challenges that face us, we have the spiritual resources to fulfill our calling. Could it be that Covid will function something like a fire sale—or at least a radical spring cleaning—where we are forced to admit that we’ve been hanging on to some things we haven’t needed? Might our love for worship in this outdoor space open our eyes to some new ways of being the church? Philip’s story shows that the church can function in the wilderness.

Reaching out on spiritual roads

If today’s church is going to thrive in the wilderness, then we must reevaluate our outreach.

We have a way of talking about outreach that encourages us to seek out what God is doing in the world around us and join God in that work. This is a wonderful way to understand the church’s mission. When Brethren hear this, though, our first thought is to interpret this through the lens of the second commandment, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” This, too, is excellent. The many ministries we support as a means of loving our neighbor and wanting to overcome the brokenness of the world by bearing one another’s burdens, and binding up the broken, and bringing beauty to the ugly places is always worth doing. Brethren have a long history of demonstrating to the world that we are not afraid of hard work on behalf of others.

But I sometimes wonder if our vision of outreach has gotten a bit out of balance.

The story of this text is about God literally chasing down a man who wondered about how much of a place he had in the kingdom of God so that Philip could show him the fullness of God’s grace. Both the Ethiopian eunuch and Philip would discover that in spite of their significant differences, grace would bring them into the same family.

In a recent Moderator’s Town Hall led by Paul Mundey, United Methodist bishop Will Willimon reminded listeners of a very interesting statement from John 10, where Jesus reminds the disciples,

I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd (John 10:16).

Today’s church is going to have to find where those sheep are. We must learn to come along side people and, beginning where they are,

proclaim the good news about Jesus (Acts 8:35).

These conversations will happen on contested ground, because we live in a time when even people who claim to be followers of Jesus shape their lives by values other than those of the New Testament. We will need to allow our own lives to be on display so that people will notice something different about us. Anabaptist theologian Stuart Murray reminds us that we will must

offer a [life] of peaceful witness that integrates words and deeds, personal and communal testimony, listening and speaking (The Naked Anabaptist, 83).

Sisters and brothers, these are challenging, difficult times. But out of the great challenge comes great opportunity for those willing to hear the Spirit’s calling and go to places yet unknown. Jesus is preparing the way!

[another-sonic-blog]

10 Days With ShadAmy (Day. 2)

It was already late and Shadow got into the rookie’s room in order to get some sleep. He wasn’t in a good mood after leaving Amy’s room. It's not like he was romantically interested in Amy, but he low key wanted her to say that he might like him. “Mister Shadow! Ah, you can go ahead and take the bed I can sleep on the floor!”- The red fox said and Shadow just followed the flow. He took his shoes off and climb to the bed while the rookie just happily laid on the floor next tot he bed. Not even five seconds have passed when the rookie began to speak. “Mister Shadow, are you awake?” “...I am now” “Can I ask you a question?” “You already did” “Well, not-” “Just get it over with already”- Shadow turn around and gave his back to the rookie. “how was Sonic the Hedgehog?”- The rookie finally asked. “...Why do you want to know that?” “Before my village got destroyed, people would always talk about the adventures of Sonic and his friends. They would even tell their stories to the kids.... I wanted to ask Miss Amy or Mister Knuckles about him, but I don’t think they are ready to talk about it” “....He was annoying...” “Ah...I see....”- The red fox didn’t get the answer he wanted to hear, he wanted to keep on asking, but he didn't want to annoy Shadow. “but... it was tolerable”   The rookie smile, happy to hear an answer. “I would of like to know more about him, but am really happy right now as well” “Why is that?”- Ask Shadow. “Never in a million years I thought I would have the opportunity to meet Amy Rose, Knuckles the Edquina and my favorite hero of all times, Shadow The Hedgehog!”- the rookie then suddenly he realized what he said. “Sorry! I mean, like sorry if I made you-” “Don’t worry about it kiddo”- Shadow didn't want to make the situation awkward for neither of them. He didn’t want to admit it but.. he was kinda happy knowing that someone admired him. “I have another question... if you let me” “Spit it”- “Do you actually need to sleep? You ARE the ultimate life form after all”- the rookie asked. “As a matter of fact, I don’t need sleep. I won’t die from sleep deprivation. However, I do feel the need to sleep. Just like I won’t die from starvation, but I still feel hungry...You know what I mean?” “Yes, I think that explains many things..thank you!”- The rookie said as he could happily go to sleep now. “What do you mean by ‘that explains’ many things?”   The rookie stood up from the floor and looked up to Shadow as he did the same when he heard the red fox stand up. “Well, like you know.. that’s why you went to Miss Amy’s room right? It's not like you NEED affection, but you still WANT it, right?- The red fox said and Shadow got extremely surprised at his comment. “Wait, are you inferring that Amy and I?...” “Well before leaving the main headquarters room you both looked pretty intense, so everyone assumed that you both-”   The rookie was once again interrupted by Shadow. “Listen to me...listen to me well... AMY AND I WILL NEVER, EVER-” . . . . “EVER BE TOGETHER”- Amy said as loud as possible in order to make Silver understand her point. “Sorry Amy, it was just a thought”- Silver said trying to defend himself. “At this point, I don’t think Shadow is worth my time” “Then, why did you invited him to join the resistance?”- Silver asked amused “Well, because we need his strength, he is a very powerful hedgehog after all...” “I am pretty sure I can take him one on one”- Silver said confidently in which Amy smirked. “It will be a very interesting battle to see, Shadow is very skillful in combat tho” “And so am I!” “Yeah that’s right” “Amy....” “Ye-Yees?”- Amy noticed that Silver got serious, and it wasn’t like a normal serious, Amy would only see this type of Silver when he was fighting an enemy. “you are hiding something from me...ever since you came back with Shadow, your hands haven’t stopped shaking...”   Amy hated him.... she hated how much Silver knew about her. “It must be cold, it's getting a bit chilly around-”Amy began but Silver stopped Amy mid-track and grabbed her hands. “Amy, please don’t lie to me...”- Silver looked at her in the eyes and Amy knew she couldn’t hold it for long. “Its just that...when I was talking to Shadow before coming here... he made me realized something...”- Amy felt bad for lying to Silver, but all of it wasn’t lie. “What did he made you realized?”- Silver never looked away from Amy’s eyes. “He made me realized how... everything, everything is just falling apart...Silver, am scared that one day, I just wake up and... and the resistance is no more... I am afraid that one day, you will never come back from a mission... I am... so.. so afraid...I can’t stop shaking.....”- Amy was in tears and Silver hugged her so lovely, Amy for the first time in since Sonic’s death, she felt safe. “I am also afraid... so afraid that one day I come back from a mission, you will not be there...when you went missing yesterday, I was looking for you the whole day, I thought Eggman had kidnapped you...just like you...I was so afraid that I couldn’t stop shaking...Amy, you are really important to me, so please never leave my side...together, we will both get out of this” Amy has another worry now...but also another motivation to keep on going. . . . “Where the heck is Amy and Silver?!”   Both Amy and Silver woke up at Knuckle’s sudden yell. They knew he was coming. *KNOCK KNOCK* “Silver, Amy hurry up...SHADOW IF YOU HEAR ME WAKE UP AND THE ROOKIE AS WELL THERE’S A MISSION!”- Knuckles said as he entered Amy’s room. It wasn’t the first time they have slept together, it wasn’t anything new to Knuckles or the rest of the resistance of how close Amy and Silver were. However, a black hedgehog wasn’t aware of it. “What happened!”- Shadow quickly got into Amy’s room and saw how Silver and Amy were still sitting on the bed together. “Great... you both are going to stink for the whole day” “It's not like we care anyways”- Amy said and they both stood up. “We don’t have the time for this lovers quarrels, we have a mission, I’ll see you in five minutes at the main headquarters”- and with that Knuckles left.   Shadow, Silver, and Amy were all in the room. Shadow was in the door, his back touching the edge of the door, one of his foot touching the ground while the other foot was also touching the door, arms crossed. While Amy and Silver were still in the bed. “Are you ever going to leave the room?”- Silver asked as he stood up from the bed. “I should be asking you the same”- Shadow said. “I was with Amy, and you?” “I was with her as well...I always am”- Shadow said, while he pointed the flower ring design on Amy’s hand. Not only that, but he also showed Silver his own hand, his index finger containing a matching ring just like Amy’s. Silver turned around and faced Amy who was speechless. She knew what Shadow meant by saying “I am always with her” since she knew Shadow could hear and know where she is at every second. “Well, it's me who Amy smells like right?”- Silver said and as he put his arm around Amy. “Not for long...”- and with that Shadow left the room, ready to join Knuckles in the headquarters room. . . . “You guys are late!”- Knuckles said, the rookie standing right behind him. Shadow arrived first, and then Silver and Amy came up together. “Sorry...”- Silver and Amy said together. “Uh, anyways let's get going with the plan...Amy, please show me a map of Eggman’s Space Colony” “Yes, commander!”- Amy then got ready to work and took her place behind the computer.  Quickly a detailed picture of Eggman’s Space headquarters. “So here is where our next mission is going to be”- Knuckles said. “You must be crazy if you think you can infiltrate Eggman’s base”- Silver said. “Maybe not us, but Shadow can”- Knuckles then turn around to look at Shadow and everyone did so as well. “Of course its possible, however, I don’t see a space shuttle nearby, right?”- Shadow said, sarcastically. “We have been preparing this for months, the resistance alongside Tails, have successfully built a small space shuttle. Only two people will go... Silver, you are in charge! Take Shadow and he will guide you through.”- Knuckles said confidently. “Wait, what!? Shouldn’t I-”- Shadow said, but was interrupted by Knuckles. “Silver is really capable and knows how to manage well with teamwork, you can learn something from him as well Shadow”- Knuckles then turn around and proceed to explain more about the mission. “Eggman’s Space Colony is the greatest source of power that his weapon-based industries work with, if we successfully destroy the Space Colony, there would not be weapons to fight us with. Therefore, that will be the perfect time to attack and once and for all finish this war”- Knuckles ended his speech, there still many questions so they followed up. “What about looking for the last two Chaos Emeralds”- Amy asked. “We will focus on that right after Silver and Shadow come back, if Eggman’s Space Colony has taken enough damage, there will not be any possible way that Eggman can build it back up in such a short amount of time, anyways we have located one Chaos Emerald already, but lets focus on this mission first” “How are we going to exactly destroy the base?”- Shadow asked. “The old way. Amy will hack into Eggman’s Space System and will guide you along the way in order not to get caught. You will secretly place three extremely powerful bombs in three different locations of the Colony. One in the North base, another one in the South Center and the most important one in the Heart of the base... once you place the three of them, you will take the shuttle back, and on your way back, you will detonate the bombs with the amplifier that will be given to you before you leave for this mission, meaning, tonight.” “Tonight!? Commander, don’t you think is a bit early?”- The rookie asked. “We can’t lose any more time, everyday Eggman grows stronger, we have lost many of our own already... we can’t afford this anymore”- Knuckles said. “It's alright, I am ready for this”- Silver said. “Silver, are you sure?!”- Amy asked him. “This is the reason I came back for”- Silver looked at Amy, and once again Amy saw those determined eyes, there was nothing that could stop him now. “You better be back”- Amy said. “If you are guiding us, then I don’t see what could go wrong!”- Silver smiled and Amy did the same. “You better do whatever I tell you to do, if not I’ll let you to die in the Space Colony”- Shadow said. “The same goes to you, Mr. Shadow”- Silver and Shadow looked at each other, it would seem that a fight would go down, but right now wasn’t the time. “We don’t have time for your rivalry!”- Amy interrupted. “Is this how Mr.Shadow and Mr. Sonic would fight?”- The rookie asked and he sighs at his mistake, it was a question meant to be for himself but it just came out of his mouth without any objectives. “Ha! Sonic and Shadow were way worst! Those two looked like they were more so in love with each other!”- Knuckles said, and he laughed a little. Even Amy smirked at the thought of Sonic and Shadow fighting...ah, what would she do in order to get to see him again. “Well, anyways let's get ready for tonight!”   And with that said Knuckles and the others began to make preparations for tonight. Everything was going smoothly the technology department of the resistance had everything almost complete. In the outskirts of the village, everyone in the resistance gathers in order to show support to the legendary hero and the new uprising hero, Shadow, and Silver. Amy wanted to go, see them depart, but she needed to be behind the computer guiding them. She then heard the main door of the resistance room open, she turns around to see Tails standing there, like if nothing ever happened. Amy could see how the light of his eyes left him when Sonic died and how tired he looked even after mourning his death for months. “I thought you were going to see your project be executed”- Amy said smiling. “I prefer to see it depart my final project with a friend”- Tails said. “Tails, we need you, you can’t just leave us...Who is gonna help us create more weapons, or what if anything happens to you and what if like Sonic, you, you..”- Amy wanted to break down again, she didn’t want to lose another friend. “Amy...just like you, I need time to grow, after Sonic passed away, I know you haven’t picked up your hammer...I know it pains you to see it because you couldn’t use it to protect Sonic...but just like you, I couldn’t use my technology to protect him when he needed it, I failed him...and I just need a break to clear my mind and heal the pain...I already taught everything that I know about the Technology department.. you don’t need me here anymore”- Tails said as he grabbed Amy’s hand as to comfort her. “I will be here whenever you need me”- Tails said and over him was heard the voice of Silver on the computer. “Amy, do you hear me? We are ready to depart”- Silver said and Amy went over the computer alongside Tails, she was about to speak but instead, she looked over at Tails and smiled. “Would you do us the honor, one last time?”- Amy asked “With pleasure”-And with that Tails stood in front of the computer and began to speak. “Silver, this is Tails, I would be in charge of this mission alongside Amy”   His voice was heard through all across the departing field and everyone was startled, they couldn’t believe that the famous Tails Miles Power was talking through the mic. “Is that...is that Tails Miles Power?” “The hero? the guy who defeated Chaos four?” “Sonic’s right hand?” “I thought he was devastated after Mr. Sonic passed away...” “This just shows how strong he is” “He worked on this space shuttle by himself for 2 months...just how great he is?”   Everyone still couldn’t believe that a legend was speaking to them all, it felt as if they were part of a story they would tell children in their village. “Great to hear from you Tails!, Shadow and I are ready for action!”- Silver said. “Let's do this!”   The spacecraft departed from earth successfully and Shadow and Silver were able to see Eggman’s Space Colony. “We are able to see the Colony from here Tails”- Shadow said. “I’ll activate the invisibility field around you now”-Tails said and as he made some clicks on the computer, the invisibility field was activated around the space shuttle. “We will prepare to land”   The landing was as well successful and they landed without getting noticed. “Ok, from here we will take on the bombs and place them in their corresponding place. We will follow your guide through the communicator individually.”- Silver said. “I will guide you through the North Center Silver and Amy will guide Shadow through the South Center individually”   With that, Amy hurried up to the computer that was in front of Tails, put on the earphones and microphone. “You hear me Shadow?”- Amy asked him through the microphone. “Yes I do”- Shadow said. “Ok we are ready to go, are you able to locate us?”-Silver asked “We do!”- Amy and Tails said simultaneously. The screen showed a very complicated map, and within it, it showed a red point for Amy, indicated Shadow’s movements and a green dot for Tails indicating Silver’s motions.   Everything was going in smoothly and Silver and Shadow were both very careful with everything. “Shadow so you hear me?”- Silver asked “Load and clear”- Shadow said through his communicator. “How do you destroy robots without making any sounds?” “You have to make a clear shot through the robot’s center, in the center, the ‘heart’ of the robot is found, if you take it out within one movement, the robot becomes impractical”- Shadow finished saying. “...thanks”-Silver said. “this only works if you get them by surprise... if you fight for them for too long or if they notice your presence they will alert other robots and without knowing the whole base will be after you”- And with that Shadow focused on getting to the South Center. “Shadow, take a left and go straight down the path, there’s going to be a locked door, I will hack into the system. You have to seconds to enter”- Amy said. “Copy that” “And remember that *cough* *cough*”- Amy suddenly began coughing uncontrollably. “Hey Amy, are you alright?”- Tails asked concerned. “Yeah, sorry”   Amy got worried, it wasn’t like she didn’t know. She knew that the poison that was in her body had begun to take effect on her. “Amy...after this, let's go find the Chaos Emeralds”- Shadow said through the communicator, it was a conversation between him and her and therefore, Silver nor Tails could hear them. “worry?”- Amy asked, deep down she was happy that Shadow showed some concern for her. “Worry? The only thing I worry about is the possibility of smelling you when I get back” “Well, you don’t have to get near me, the farthest you are from me the better” “Even if you smell like Silver, I still like to be with you, you know that” “Shadow stop saying those things...” “Why? Does it make you feel embarrassed?” “N-No, what makes you say that?” “I see it, I know that you are interested in me, just like like I am interested in you” “No way that I-”   *beep beep* That’s when Amy realized that before getting a coughing attack, Amy forgot to tell Shadow to be careful with the lasers. “What the heck is happening?”- Shadow asked. “Shadow have you placed the bomb yet!?”- Amy asked panicking. “Yes, but we still need to place the third bomb” “Silver have you placed the bomb in the North Center?”- Tails asked through the communicator. “Yes, but what about the third bomb?!”- Silver asked. “Your safety is more important, there are robots coming your way, meet with Shadow and get out of there!”- Tails said. “This is our only chance we can’t miss it!”- Silver said. “Silver, this is an order get out of there” “I will place this bomb, whether you want it or not... I am sorry”- And with that nothing else could be heard. “Silver turn off his communicator”- Tails said. “Shadow, you have to find Silver, please bring him back!”- Amy pleaded him. “Find, but I am gonna do it my way now” “Shadow?...SHADOW?”- Amy began to panic “Shadow turn off his communicator!!!”- Amy said to Tails. “Dammit......Damn both of them”-Tails couldn’t do or say anything else. . . .   Shadow encountered many robots in his way, he had to finish things very quick. He had to find Silver, place the bomb. Shadow has been here a couple of times, he knew the place very well and needed no assistance whatsoever. From the beginning, he knew that this plan of the resistance will not work. Eggman’s weaponry industries do not only get its energy from this Space Colony, Eggman’s has learned from his mistakes and now has different energy provides all around the Earth. He took some time and told Eggman about their plan, he agreed to let them get this chance and make them believe that the resistance has the advantage over him in order to get the Chaos Emeralds. “You better get those Chaos Emeralds Shadow!”- And with that Eggman stopped communicating with Shadow.   Shadow took a right turn this time and found the cells section. “Well, what do we have here?”- Shadow said as he got closer to one of the cells. “Shadow? It's being a while since I last saw you...are you here to rescue me?” “Yeah, I am not really glad to see you either...I really don’t have time to chat right now so, I’ll get to the point” “Go ahead” “I open this door, take off your handcuffs and you can leave this place with the space shuttle you came from” “And what do I have to do in exchange?” “You stop being Sonic the Hedgehog”   Sonic stood up from the chair he was sitting in, he stepped away from the shadows and directly look into the black hedgehog. “what do you mean by that?” “You have to pretend that you don’t have memories of who you are. I am not doing this because I want to, but because I have someone I want to protect” “...is it Amy?”- Sonic asked him. “....” “I knew it, I knew you always had a thing for her” “...Just like you do”- Shadow said and he turned around and inputted some codes on the touch screen next to Sonic’s cell. “You are right, so right”- Sonic finally got out of the cell and Shadow took off his handcuffs. “I don’t know exactly what your plan is but... thank you” “Now leave, she is waiting for you”- Shadow said. “She is waiting for both of us”   Oh, only if Sonic knew.......

[anessaythattakesthereader261]

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[textsfromninjagoblog]

Ninjago Prompt: Elemental Vaccine!

(This story was based off of a prompt from @writing-prompt-s , I’ll reblog it with this story when I find it again!)

It had been a fairly typical night for my insomniac self, laying cozy in bed while sketching on my IPad; listening to K-pop and electro-swing into the wee hours of morning. Well, it was nice, until this cloaked mad man crept through my bedroom window and put a gun to my head!

“Please don’t kill me!” I begged him.

“That’s the last thing I’d wanna do,” his said, his voice somewhat gruff, “now just calm down, all of this’ll make sense in a second.”

“May-ay I ask,” I stuttered, “what the gun is for, if you’re not going to hurt me, that is?”

“Some nut case tried to attack me and steal all of my merchandise.” he replied, “I suppose if you promise to stay still and not pull anything funny, there’d be no need for it.”

“I can do that.” Was all I could muster in response.

“Now we’re in business.” He said, lowering the firearm from my temple and clipping it in his holster.

All at once, the scruffy stranger’s demeanor seemed to change. His muscles relaxed, a smirk creeping across his lips as he pulled a large black briefcase from behind him and sat it on the comforter between us.

“Congratulations doll,” he said in the almost joking fashion of a gameshow host, “you’ve just won the jackpot! You get to choose one of our fabulous prizes!”

With that, he flicked open the case with a flashy gesture and turned it to face me. Inside were all manor of vials, each one ornately decorated. Their contents all glowed in different neon colors, but some also pulsed or glittered!

“Woah,” I gasped at the sight, “what are these?”

“That’s the catch,” he answered, “you won’t know until it’s inside ya! I’ve got the needle all ready whenever you are.”

“Wait, what!?” I snapped, recoiling from the case.

“Easy now,” the stranger said, “I can’t tell you what the serums do, but I can tell you what they aren’t. None of them are poison, none of them are drugs, and none of them will kill you.”

“Does this absolutely have to happen?” I said, still irked by the thought of being injected with a strange fluid by a random person.

“Yes.” He answered, his patience starting to waver, “No rush in choosing, but keep in mind I’ve got other places to be.”

I stared at the shimmering elixirs with a mixture of fascination and terror. Despite what the man had said, I was still assessing the potential lethality of each potion. My eyes were struggling to focus with the sheer variety of oddities available to ponder, around 16 to 20 in all if I ventured a guess!

One vial was ornamented with what appeared to be silver, molded into a design that seemed both cybernetic and serene. It’s solution was a glittering sky blue, and if the condition of it’s glass were any indication, had frozen it’s container from the inside out! While beautiful, I wasn’t in the mood to have my insides frozen solid, so I passed on that one.

Another one had grand carvings of jade adorning its rims. This solution seemed far more volatile, frantically switching from its base state of sparkling amber to any number of other shades and statuses then back again! This looked about as toxic as a mystery fluid could get, so I definitely decided against it!

The next bottle I inspected was quite intriguing. A golden phoenix emblazoned its base. The solution inside initially shun a deep cherry, with flecks of light copper swirling throughout, before gradually fading into a beautiful aquamarine! It rhythmically sloshed from side to side of its own volition, as though it were part of the ocean’s tides. I’ve always felt a connection to the sea and it’s creatures since I was little, so I felt pretty secure in my choice as I began to reach for it.

“Do you have a brother or sister?” The stranger interjected as my fingers made contact with the glass.

“I’m an only child.” I replied, “Why does that matter?”

“It matters because that one has a companion,” he replied, pointing to a bold orange and crimson solution that seemed to lick the inside of its container like a wild flame, “and they’re only allowed to be given to sets of siblings.”

I retracted my arm with a huff. What was the point of being able to choose my potential poison if some were barred from me at the get go!?

But then, I saw it.

Though a bit smaller then the rest, this vial had fully ensnared my attention. It’s solution was a rich lime green, with chunks of gold soothingly bobbing about within. I had no idea what drew me to this solution, but in spite of my mind reeling at how dangerous this situation was, it just felt so right!

“Are you sure?” The man asked.

“Positive.” I replied with a sense of conviction that I’ve never before felt, let alone while in a predicament like this!

With that, the man took the vial from my hands and produced a syringe, swiftly drawing the mystical-seeming fluid for my insane inoculation. As frightening as this ordeal had been; the expert manor that the stranger had about him along with the beauty of the solution swirling in its new vessel had soothed me somewhat.

“We’ve been stuck with each other for a while now,” I said as he prepared my left upper arm with what I think was an antiseptic, “any chance I could get your name?”

“I don’t get why you’d want it,” he replied, “I’m just a samurai without a master.”

“Ah, another riddle.” I snarked under my breath.

“Ok, I’m going to give this to you now,” he said, “it can look really freaky as it disperses, so you might want to look away.”

“Will it hurt?” I asked, now just wanting for this to be over.

“I’m not sure. Guess it depends on your pain tolerance.” He answered, “If you think you could distract yourself while holding still, maybe that could help.”

“Let’s see, a distracting story…” I thought aloud, “Well, for starters, my dad once got bit by a snake when he was a kid. Still has the scar to this day!”

“Hmm,” the stranger said, “it’s interesting you picked this vial then.”

I felt a slight pinch in my skin, followed by a bit of warmth flowing in as I tried to keep my mind off of what was happening.

“You can move now, its all done.” He said, seeming proud of whatever he’s just done to me.

“Um, thank you….?” I said, still not quite sure what to make of the events that I just went through.

“Your welcome,” he replied, “if all goes as it should, I’ll be seeing you again around New Years. Quick tip, get in contact with a priest before then. You’ll really thank me later!”

Before I could even question what he had just told me, the man had disappeared back out the window, silent and swift as the wind.

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

I woke up the next morning with the worst craving for some candy. Chocolate, gummy, a lollipop, heck, I would have even settled for a cough drop; I didn’t care as long as it was sweet!

So I got myself a mini Kit-Kat from the fridge, and it was amazing! I don’t think I’ve enjoyed a single candy bar this much since I was a kid!

“Wonder if this is a side effect of that shot…” I thought, looking at the part of my arm where I thought the injection had happened.

Nothing remained to tell of the previous night. I would have dismissed the whole ordeal as a weird nightmare, if it weren’t for what I found on my kitchen table…

It was a large curled up paper, sitting atop a small mound of black fabric. Upon unraveling it, I saw it was a map that lead to a remote part of Big Bear Mountain!

The words “Head there alone and find your destiny.” were scratched in the lower corner of the sheet, probably the cloaked stranger’s handiwork. I was getting increasingly concerned and confused, until I saw what the map had been laying on!

It was a hoodie with a skeleton pattern on it’s front!

Suddenly it all clicked! The events of the prior night replayed over and over in my mind, making more and more twisted sense as I thought it through!

I slipped on the hoodie and called in sick to work, curious to see if this map lead to what I thought would be waiting under the snow.

Because at worst, I was given a colorful dose of saline; but at best, that crazy Ronin had just started my personal ninja origin story!

[davewakeman]

Talking Tickets 31 January 2020

Hey There!

Thanks for being here again this week. If you are enjoying this newsletter, tell your friends and colleagues to sign up by visiting this link.

Yesterday saw the release of “What Matters In Tickets Now!” an ebook that I put together in partnership with my friends at Booking Protect.

I can say that this is one of the coolest things we’ve pulled together so far: 40 perspectives on the world of tickets and how to make more sales! It is great!

In conjunction with the launch of the ebook, we are putting together a special webinar with key ideas, takeaways, and action items to make the ideas from the ebook take hold in your organization. The webinar will be Wednesday, 26 February, and we will have a landing page to sign up ready for next week’s email, but if you want to make certain you get hooked up…reply to this email.

To the tickets!

————————————————————————————————————

1. Kobe Bryant passed away in a helicopter crash in the Los Angeles area:

Like all of us, Kobe Bryant had a complex history. And, one of the more mature things I’ve learned over the years is the understanding that no matter how you feel on a topic, your feelings are valid. So I am cognizant of the people celebrating his life and pointing out his failings, all of those feelings are valid.

I mention that because I don’t want to make a values-based judgment on this story, but I did want to discuss this because I think it highlights a few big points about what sports does for us and why sports and live events matter:

First, this story reflects the power of community that live events foster. I heard Bill Simmons talk about how Kobe’s death feels like it is hanging over the community. This is in death, but if you look through history, you’ve seen how sports also has pulled communities together, if only for a short time like when the Caps won the Stanley Cup. 

Second, this story points to the irrational nature of our likes, dislikes, and fandom. As many announcers pointed out, most people never met Kobe, so they didn’t know him, but they felt a real pain at his loss. While, I’m looking at this through the lens of Kobe, this equally applies to any athlete, team, or star. I mean, I have no rational reason for disliking the Oklahoma City Thunder, but because I was a Supersonics season ticket holder when I was a young adult, the ache of the loss of the Sonics is still there. 

Finally, it reflects the power of shared experiences. Sometimes, in a world where everything feels like it is on-demand or at our fingertips, we can miss shared experiences and that should be a lesson that we apply to the way we present events. 

2. The Super Bowl is on Sunday and the death of the NFL seems to have been a myth:

The challenges and opportunities that the NFL are looking at over the next few years likely deserve its own series of blog posts, but right now you can’t help but respect the turnaround that they NFL and its teams have managed.

$16B in revenue, rating increases, new stars, and more.

The article above does raise a lot of good questions about where the business will go next with gambling, chord cutting, and changing tastes of modern consumers.

But as we head into the Super Bowl, we can learn a lot from the NFL like how consistency and focus can help you weather a storm; how to monetize an audience; and how to respond to drops in business.

Plus, this year’s Super Bowl is an especially hot ticket! 

My question to you is who do you have in the game and what’s the score? I’ll come up with some prize for the person that picks the winner and is closest to the score. I don’t know what it will be, but we can figure out something fun…maybe buy you a drink or something.

3. StubHub could face legal action in the UK for deceptive pricing:

I’m not an anti-trust lawyer, but my lady is…so I don’t know the legal ramifications of the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority’s investigation into the merger of StubHub and Viagogo, but I can guess stories like this don’t help the merger in any market that is investigating it.

Unless you live in the United States where anti-trust enforcement hasn’t really been very strict for 30+ years and the rule of law seems to be optional in a lot of cases lately.

The context of a story likely helps a lot of you:

In the UK, the secondary market isn’t as big of a part of the ecosystem as it is in the United States. While resale has become more common over the last few years, professional trading is often frowned upon.

My argument to the traders that I am in touch with has often been that if you want to work in resale and be a valued part of the system, you have to work to constantly improve your value, deliver something differentiated from the primary market, and be above board in your business practices.

So a story like this hits right at the heart of what folks dislike about professional “touts” and the secondary market in general.

Add this to the public’s distrust of Viagogo and you can see that this isn’t helpful to any ongoing investigation of their merger or further or greater public acceptance of the secondary market in the UK or other countries around the world.

4. Live Nation’s updated consent decree is filed:

There was a few things going on with Live Nation this week that probably were worth paying attention to:

First, the consent decree. The new filing shows that Live Nation and Ticketmaster broke the decree on, at least, 6 occasions.

Live Nation pushes back talking about 6 alleged instances in around 5,000 deals.

A new $1M penalty for each transgression, a deal cut quickly, and dropped at a time totally designed for people not to notice it!

It looks like a victory for Live Nation to me!

Second, Live Nation is building a war chest to acquire more businesses. 

There is a lot of consolidation in the ticketing technology area going on right now and I don’t know if or when there will be some sort of correction.

What all of this massive amount of consolidation signals to me is that there is room for smaller and nimble competitors to swoop in and win a lot of business because as these companies grow larger, it is going to be incredibly difficult for these companies to service everyone effectively.

Finally, Live Nation completes the acquisition of the UK’s largest concert promoter. 

Over the next few years, this will bear watching because industry practices and consumer protection laws are much different in the UK and how this impacts the distribution of shows and Ticketmaster’s ability to win more business in the UK bears watching.

5. The CoronaVirus is causing troubles for sports business:

A few weeks back I had Greg Turner come on the podcast to share a bunch of stuff about China with us. Due to the nature of the Chinese internet and the way that they control access to websites and other things, that conversation was corrupted due to some technical difficulties and we figured out a way to rerecord our conversation to make sure we could have a proper chat.

On this new conversation we talked about a bunch of stuff, but we got into the conversation about the virus and how it is causing the cancellation of the X Games, the World Indoor Athletic Championships, and the Chinese Basketball Association is postponing play during the crisis.

Greg has a lot of insight into the situation in China, but seeing the AFL’s conversation around their annual China game continued to raise these issues for me and begged a couple of questions:

What’s the long-term impact of a virus or outbreak like this?

How do we prepare for these types of outbreaks when we can’t and don’t know when they will happen? 

What would you do if something like this started during a big event like the Olympics? 

These are complex questions and they mirror in many ways the questions I raised when considering the impact of climate change on events a few weeks back.

—————————————————————————————————————-

What am I up to this week?

I’m posting a few podcasts including Episode 100. Who will my special guest be? You’ll have to listen to find out!

I recaped INTIX on my blog and TicketNews as well.

I’m in DC this week! If you are in town, let me know.

My travel schedule is starting to take shape and I can confirm I’ll be in London from 10-16 April with a trip to the new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium at the top of my must-do list!

I’m also planning a series of workshops for the spring in London, Manchester, and Edinburgh. The details on this are still being mapped out, but if you are in the area of one of these places and want to be kept in the loop on these special events, reply to this email.

I’m working with some sponsors that will enable me to offer tickets to these events on an invitation basis. So, get your interest into me and let me know I’m looking at the right places to take my show on the road. 

Please follow and like us:

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Talking Tickets 31 January 2020 was originally published on Wakeman Consulting Group

[skookumarts]

May Flowers

The Pedestrian May Update

Thanks for joining us for this month’s update of The Pedestrian development. May has been flying by at an astounding rate and game development has been keeping pace. We mentioned last month about starting official beta testing and that continues to be a focus. Getting the game into player’s hands and making decisions and adjustments based on their feedback. We’re still continuing with more phases of beta testing as it’s just unbelievably beneficial. To read more about what’s happening with development please enjoy the rest of the update.

Twitter - Facebook - Steam Wishlist - Website

Video -

Normally this video is an alternative to reading the text version of the update. But this month we thought we’d do something a little different. It’s a bit more casual and conversational. Give it a watch.

Continued Lightmap Journey -

Lightmaps are like the frosting on our Pedestrian cake, mmm cake. In order to maintain your suspension of disbelief and immersion, the backgrounds have to be convincing. Having a nice glaze of interesting lighting situations is crucial to creating a consistent and believable environment. So this month we were able to light a few more areas to roughly how we want them. Most of the grunt work is getting it set up and getting a clean bake. Once there, the values can be fiddled with and there you have it, a finished cake.

Current lighting for the Rooftops and Subway areas.

Fun shadows in the Inner City and Campus areas

Beta Mechanic Finds -

Having playtesting sessions is one of the most exciting experiences for us. It allows us to bring the game out of our isolated little studio and give it some sun. When people understand and enjoy the game, it’s so encouraging. But, It’s also awesome to see when they find bugs, struggle, or have suggestions because it helps improve the game as a whole and we can see different playstyles. So because of the beta phase there have been some fixes and design tweaks to help make things cleaner and more intuitive.

Beta Visual Finds -

Playtesters have those fresh eyes that can pick out visual oddities. So it’s been nice to have a few art issues highlighted so that we can fix them. Our Pedestrian seasoned eyes are sometimes better than we’d like at overlooking things like unfinished textures or floating props.

Some objects that need fixed. Some cups with a seam and just color as a texture and a toaster with an outdated texture.

Options Menus work -

Our menus have had some more work on them, updating the art style, getting it working with keyboard and controller inputs. Still working out what to put in it and the best way to display them, but they’re improving.

Current state of our in-game options menu. Going for the classic look on these old tube TVs.

Kickstarter campaign game assets -

We’re continuing to add in all the in-game Kickstarter rewards, should be pretty close to being done with those. It’s fun to play around the game and see all these brands and decals filling up the world. The world has so much more life now, instead of just having our signature Butts™ brand we have a fun variety of different graphics.

Kickstarter brands and decals in the Downtown area. Really helps to add color and interest.

Kickstarter brands and decals as graffiti in the Inner City area.

Rewired -

We recently implemented a plugin called Rewired. This plugin takes inputs from a ton of different controllers and mouse/keyboard, standardizes the buttons and maps them to a set of actions we define. We can then use those actions in our code. It’s a night and day difference using this instead of Unity’s built-in input system.

One of the interfaces of the Rewired plugin. Showing the devices on the left, then narrowing down to the action on the right.

Graph -

We've noticed recently, that the old graph doesn't do a very good job of portraying the current state of the game. That chart was started during a time when we were still filling out the areas with content. Now that we are past that stage, the percentages barely change because most of the work being done is on the back-end or is beta testing fixes. We are in the process of figuring out a better way to visually showcase progress. For now you can continue to check out our Task Manager export  on Google Drive.

Shout out - Unbound: Worlds Apart

One of our Kickstarter backers just recently launched a campaign of his own. You can obviously tell he is a fan of puzzle games when he supports games like ours and is now making his own! I have a feeling that if you like our game, you’ll like Unbound as well. From what it shows in the demo and the campaign page, it looks like it’s going to be a pretty awesome experience. Let’s show him some love and give him support, guys!

Thanks -

So next steps are to continue with beta testing, new wave coming soon, and making changes based on the feedback. Along with that we’re also moving along with our already created list of tasks. The big ones being story enhancement and music implementation. Thank you all for being supportive and patient while we finish up The Pedestrian.

Twitter - Facebook - Steam Wishlist - Website

[grademove91]

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And with the growth in the digital and social media categories combined with an increasingly scientific approach it’s become ever more important to engage with your prospective clients online

And that’s when a specialist comes in…

Online comms has become do important to raising awareness of your product or service and engaging with your prospects at the top of your sales funnel there’s a whole sector of service providers specialising in just this aimed at business clients because when your average sale or the annual value of a new customer is over £25k it really does make sense to use a specialist who gets results.

Fortunately, there are some first-class agencies in the capital as well as Birmingham and Manchester that offer some stellar options to help you.

Please find below some our top list in no particular order to help you find the perfect set of agencies to select your new partner from and ultimately help you drive sales.

In this list we highlight some of the best firms in the London and wider UK area to help you with and your company achiever your goals

If you need DM explained, and it certainly did help for us, here’s two great video explainer.

1. Analog Folk

Analog Folk believe Digital technology is the most disruptive force the world has ever seen. It has the power to connect everything and enable the most magical experiences. Unfortunately, it can also create unforeseen problems and make life worse.

So, as brands, we have a choice to push people away or pull them toward us. Interrupt them with brand spam or create marketing that helps them achieve things. Expect them to endure complex journeys or design around their needs. Play fast and loose with their data or use it to their benefit.

2. Mother

They wanted to break free from the shackles of traditional agencies and be 100% independent.

Fold7 are a 21st Century London based independent creative advertising agency that favours inventive campaign ideas over any particular channel or output.

4. Karmarama

Karmarama believe their generous ideas create solutions for a client’s needs, for their business challenges now and their business opportunities next.

Karmarama is now partnered with Accenture Interactive and combine creative excellence with technology-inspired solutions. This means we can help clients with their business challenges now, as well as plan for their next business opportunities.

5. Coast Digital

Since 2002 Coast Digital have been crafting intuitive user experiences and deploying creative digital marketing strategies that achieve outstanding results.

As a digital agency that takes pride in creating success stories. Driven by understanding your challenge; fanatical about data; inspired by user insight.

If you’re passionate about digital marketing, Coast are always on the look out for talented individuals to help us deliver their next digital success story.

6. Reboot

Built on research, driven by creativity, Reboot specialise in making brands relevant and who will tell your brand story through a strong blend of SEO, PR, Content, web development and social.

7. Yellowball

Yellowball want to change the way that search is perceived and utilised by all marketers

8. Mint Twist

Mint Twist are a digital agency with a team of creatively-led individuals, each with a passion to craft memorable experiences for you and your audience.

9. The Good Marketer

As one of the best Digital Marketing Agencies London has for Small Businesses, TGM likes to think about themselves as - they argue - unlike their competitors in that they cover the entire digital marketing spectrum.

From Facebook Advertising to Email Marketing, TGM attempts to bridge the gap for growing businesses who don’t require an in-house marketing team but would still like to grow, develop and succeed.

10. Transmission

Transmission is a data-driven b2b digital marketing agency London that believes in customer obsession.

Transmission puts your customers at the centre of everything. Ensuring every message is compelling, personally relevant, and receivable at exactly the right time. Constantly listening and analysing. Continually testing and enhancing. Because life should be a series of amazing experiences, not simply a destination. Experiences planned with insight, intelligence, and heart.

Transmission combine consultancy, strategy, creativity and content with media planning, omnichannel activation and delivery to drive unified experiences that provoke real action.

11. Charle

Charle are a London based creative web design agency propelling up & coming brands through the power of bespoke website production and digital services.

Based in central London Charle also produce some great websites for small to medium sized brands at very affordable rates. Recommended!

12. The Croc

The Croc take the growth of existing customers as personally as winning new customers.

The Croc believes that the better they get at mapping the true moments that matter on the customer journey, the better they get at impacting bottom-line performance.

It all starts with great people and at The Croc every individual lives and breathes CX. Experts in data, strategy, technology, and creativity The Croc are in the business of creating unique, hyper-personalised experiences capable of building actual relationships.

13. Atom42

Working in partnership with their clients, Atom42 mould around internal teams to provide support in the areas where they’re needed most to provide and deliver a well-connected acquisition focused digital marketing strategy.

A straight-talking bunch of 40 ‘atoms’, based in London, who love what they do and care about who they do it for.

Atom42 offer a bespoke digital marketing service built around your needs, including PPC, SEO, web design & development, email, tracking & analytics, social, UX & mobile marketing.

14. Big Ideas Machine

Big Ideas Machine believe the way in which B2B PR is currently done is not in line with the way the world works and they exist to show that we all deserve better.

That’s why the Big Ideas Machine is all about Inbound PR: a combination of PR and Inbound Marketing. The result? The clout that great content and writing delivers, coupled with an all-important metrics and insights-driven approach.

Through a mix of creativity and innovation, the Big Ideas Machine help clients create big ideas and then turn them into measurable results, making a real difference to their bottom lines.

15. Passion Digital

Passion Digital’s desire is to become the most qualified and trusted digital marketing agency in the UK, a task that Passion Digital are well on the way to achieving and their focus is on delivering business-changing results for ambitious clients, whilst sharing our knowledge amongst the wider industry through events and training.

Internally Passion Digital’s ambition is to attract, nurture and develop great talent in an environment that allows us to the best we can be and believe there is too much jargon, confusion and ambiguity within the industry. Passion Digital communicate in a user-friendly way, creating clarity and transparency in all they do, thus driving tangible value and ROI.

16. Make Digital

Make is a young, tight-knit and fast growing team of professionals, specialising in the latest website development and digital marketing trends.

With an average age of just 27, Make digital are at the heart of the digital revolution and are creatively driven, but also understand the cost and time pressures most businesses face.

1. Analog Folk 2. Mother 3. Fold7 4. Karmarama 5. Coast Digital 6. Reboot 7. Yellowball 8. Mint Twist 9. The Good Marketer 10. Transmission 11. Charle 12. The Croc 13. Atom42 14. Big Ideas Machine 15. Passion Digital 16.