#or walking at different speeds to control the environment animation

[wykwryt]

pining for my long lost love to return to me (hades ii)

[rockergiirl]

I’d actually love to hear you babble about might and magic 6

Might and Magic 6 is great, the start of what many consider the "golden age" of the might and magic series ending at 8 (we don't talk about 9 and 10)

This game is near and dear to my heart, being one of the first games I can remember playing that wasn't like an edutainment game, when I first played it my dad showing it to me was like "arrows keys to move, A to attack enemies" and then walked off to do something, when he returned he found that I had tested the controls in the starting town, arrows keys to move into the main street, and then pressing A test the attack button on an innocent civilian that I proceeded to punch in the face and then get the whole town to gang up on me and kill me.

it's very much in the vain of old crpgs of old, you play not as a single character but a party of 4 characters, each with their own skills and equipment clearing dungeons and completing quests (pretty much every single one is either kill a monster or collect an item tho)

It was the first game in the series to use 3D environments and models, although the models were limited and all the npcs in the game are just sprites of recordings of the model animations, but tbh I really like the aesthetic of the enemies, think something similar to the old DOOM games but it has a little extra like true 3D (or at least faux-3D I'm not fully aware of how the engine works) but the sprite based characters that I like, idk they just have a nice aesthetic.

The skills are defined by the character classes you pick at the start, for example a sorcerer won't be able to wear chain armour like a knight can, but a knight can't learn magic like a sorcerer. There are 3 main classes: Knights which specialise in physical combat, Clerics can use various divine magic, and Sorcerers can use arcane magic, then there are 3 sort of overlap classes: Archer a combination of Sorcerer and Knight, Paladin a combination of Cleric and Knight, and Druid is a combination of Sorcerer and Cleric. Each class also has advanced classes that require you to complete a specific quest for but give you bonuses.

There's skills for the various weapons you can find like staffs, swords, spears, bows, and blasters, then there's armour like shields, leather, chain, and plate, the various schools of magic, arcane being elements like fire and water which tend to lean towards offensive spells like fireball and slow, and divine magic is stuff like spirit and body which tend to be supportive spells for getting buffs or clearing effects like disease or insanity, then there's misc for things like body building for getting more hp or meditation for more spell points or disarm trap so you don't get suddenly killed by opening a chest.

Each skill has 3 levels, learned which just gives you the benefit of having the skill, expert gives a small bonus, and master gives you a massive bonus, for weapons it can do things like increase damage with the type of weapon or make you more likely to hit, with armour it can increase the ac bonus from wearing that type or reduce the speed penalty to actions, for spells it allows characters to learn more powerful spells like town portal and fly while also increasing the effectiveness of lower level spells so they don't get left behind (even though some spells in different schools have some overlap :P) and misc skills it just increases their effectiveness like being able to disarm higher level traps or being able to repair higher level gear.

You learn and train skills by reaching skill level requirements and sometimes even attribute requirements then finding trainers, which you find either from information provided by other npcs or, in most cases, barging into everyone's house at 3am after you returned from a dungeon and reached the skill level for the next training level. People that can initially teach skills are easy to come by, but skills tend to only have about 2 people that can train to expert, and only 1 for master.

Each class can learn most of the skills of different types, although knights can't learn any magic skills and for some reason clerics can only use maces, bows, staffs, and blasters

The main gameplay loop is you enter an area, go through the houses and points of interest picking up quests, go to various dungeons filled with monsters that you fight, collect gear and complete objectives, then return to town to sell excess gear, level up and increase skill levels and train skills when you can, hand in quests, move on to the next area.

It's a fairly mindless game that doesn't require as much attention as something like Baldurs Gate 3 or something, I've gotten the most out of it having it as a podcast/video essay type of game to play while listening to something else (but do not miss out on the ingame music, it is divine) and can be played with modern controls, resolutions, and QoL improvements (and a bit of modding weirdness) with the World of Enroth mod that combines 6, 7, and 8 into one game because why not

Story spoilers under cut (just in case idk this game might be to obscure for some people but you never know)

Anyway story: simple explanation in the context of might and magic 6 alone there are these demons that have recently appeared and attacked the town of sweet water which caused the player characters to flee to new sorpigal on the literal other side of the continent. The characters are trained by a warlock that teleported them there, there's a cult called the Church of Baa that have been gaining a foothold in Enroth because they provide affordable healthcare (I am not joking) but everyone is suspicious of them because they might be working with the demons and might be threatening the royal Ironfist family and might be trying to remove the Ironfists from power.

One thing leads to another the player characters are tasked with stopping the demons but must first get aid from the Oracle which requires the consent of the Enrothian council which makes up the early game of the player running around doing errands for each of the council members, also the child king nicolai escapes and literally runs off to the circus but you just look up the circus timetable and teleport to the place they will be at track him down and return him home. After gaining the approval of each of the council members you are allowed to see the oracle, and this game you thought was made by tolkein nerds SIKE IT'S ALSO STAR TREK NERDS! (but you may have already known that because when you leave a church one of the lines the priest npc says is literally "live long and prosper")

The oracle is a computer called Melian and the player needs to find and retrieve it's memory crystals from various dungeons. After retrieving the crystals it explains the demons are the Kreegans which are an alien race that have invaded the planet and the players after doing some more busy work get those blasters I was talking about and descend into basically a xenomorph hive and kill the kreegan queen, destroy the reactor, and job done, congratulations your winner.

[hangingfire]

The day's activities commenced with a tour of the garage. In the garage, there are many mysteries one is not allowed to know or see. The use of phones is forbidden lest one incur accusations of espionage. When we got into the garage, Lewis's car was naked, its insides visible for all to see. I think this was the moment where my respect for the sport as it exists really made itself clear. It is hard to describe what I felt looking at that car. The closest phrase I have at my disposal is the technological sublime. I pictured a living, breathing animal of extraterrestrial origin, hooked up to a thousand arcane sensors that delivered messages in little pulses. All the tubes and sculpted carbon-fiber parts and the endless net of wires all working in service to the godhead engine, formed something totally incomprehensible to me, a feat of engineering so vast it breached the realm of magic. Hamilton himself walked through in his helmet, unexpectedly on an errand. After being in the presence of the car, I perceived him differently than before, when he was just a guy driving in circles on TV. The scope of his capabilities became more directly known to me in the face of that which I believed to be unknowable. All of that was built in service of him.

[...]

One thing that strikes me about Formula 1 is its unexpected resemblance to fencing— it is an absolutely poised and disciplined affair. Recently, for my 30th birthday, I took up medieval sword fighting—historical European martial arts, they call it. For the first two weeks we worked on standing in a good medieval stance, always prepared to move. Sword fighting is learned through what are called set plays, specific motions of sword and body combined into one fluid action. But when you watch people who are really good at sword fighting, an ornate, flowing dance emerges from these seemingly disparate parts. Formula 1 is like that. When the cars line up on the grid, everything is totally neat and rehearsed, completely in its place. Tires, people, staff, even journalists. The teams are meted out in perfect sections—they don't call it the grid for nothing. But when time comes for the sprint to begin, team members move in perfect coordination, synchronized. They have stances and footwork. This is most true of the pit crew and the astonishing speed at which they travel through space as one organism, totally practiced in set plays of their own. This was beautiful to watch in real life. The unfurling of the apparatus of the setup, groups peeling back one by one until there are only these alien cars, these technological marvels kissing the ground. Before the heartbeat, they respirated.

[...]

After the second sprint, the INEOS folks informed the journalists that we needed to leave early in order to avoid traffic and make it to dinner on time, where, apparently there would be a special guest. Frustrated, I returned to watching the cars as they started up again, knowing that the drivers were pushing them to their limits, engrossed in their personal kaleidoscope of motion and color. Hamilton was in one of them. In the last shootout, he drove differently than before. A great verve frayed the lines he was making, something we can only call effort, push. Watching him, I understood what was so interesting about this sport, even though I was watching it in its most bare-bones form— cars going around in circles. The driver is the apotheosis of quick-moving prowess, total focus and control. The car is both the most studied piece of human engineering, tuned and devised in lab-like environments and at the same time a variable entity, something that must be wrestled with and pushed. The numbers are crunched, the forms wind-tunneled. And yet some spirit escapes their control, and that spirit is known only by the driver. Yes, we watch this perfect blend of man and machine, but we speak of the machine as though it were not of human origin, as though the machine, being born from science could— eventually, through its iterative processes— sublimate human flaws. The driver, being human, knows this is false. His intimacy with the machine is the necessary missing connection, and even if the machine were perfect, it was made for imperfect hands. But it is never perfect. The gaps in its perfection are where disasters transpire, but also miracles.

—Kate Wagner, "Behind F1's Velvet Curtain"

(Putting aside the controversies around this article, this might be some of my favorite writing about Formula 1 and why it can be so goddamn captivating. The drama and the pretty people are entertaining, but these passages really nail the ineffability at the heart of motorsport, and beautifully.)

[vermakesthings]

Druid's

I will refer to "nature" as the living aspects of nature, even though nature also refers to things like thunderstorms, unless explicitly stated otherwise.

Druid's are another race just like the Werebeasts that were used as janissaries and revolted. Druids were typical humans, taken by the god who enslaved them and changed to be more in tune with nature. They can eat any biological matter and gain nutrients from it, it is common to spot them casually taking a bite out of a tree branch. They do not get sick from any sort of infection, or parasite. They are about three times as strong as a mortal when surrounded by living nature, so trees, beasts, etc. When in a less natural environment- a human village, for example- they are much less strong than a human, and if they spend a few days there they will be put into a coma. They won't die from this alone, though if not returned to nature and consciousness or fed they will end up dying of thirst. Druid's are incredibly weakened in underground locations. Entering a cave is likely to put them in a coma within hours, and during that time they will be hardly capable of walking on their own. When in an unnatural environment, the nonliving aspects of nature, notably weather and such, will increase their longevity to a degree. If the village they are in has a continuous thunderstorm, they will probably last a few weeks without a coma. They have an innate connection with animals, and can understand their behavior/body language instinctually as well as more easily tame them. This does not extend to actual control over the animal. They can also tell plants where to grow, and for the cost of much stamina may force plants to grow much faster, as well as in ways that are unnatural, shaping them.

They look mostly like regular humans, but on closer inspection you will notice differences. They're hair looks kind of like plantgrowth, with some of it actually forming leaves if grown long. This hair color can be changed at will, to literarily any color.

The child of a druid will always be a druid entirely, even if the other parent was a normal human. Druid's are not immortal, but they do live at least four times as long as the average human lifespan, so roughly 300 years. Oftentimes more than that, often less. No one knows what happens if a druid has a child with a werebeast, as it has not yet happened, nor has their ever been a vampiric druid to test that result.

In modern times, they have their own community within a forest near Demtuny. They do not build homes in most cases, as they are quite comfortable in storms, and in the environments they choose they do not have to fear temperatures. The more they sleep within the branches of trees and the grass of the earth, the more comfortable they are; building a home both A: requires space taken from the environment, as well as resources and B: separates them from natural life. Now when they do decide to build an enclosure, they do so in a way that does not have those two problems, by growing trees and plants in such a way that the entire house is built with nothing but still living plants. This takes several days, even with their power to speed growth.

The reasons for these curses and benefits: the god who enslaved them was one of nature. He was loath to use humans for his war, and his plan if he did win the war with the other gods was to wipe out all humanity, but in the end was forced to or else lose to the might of the other god's janissaries. He did however change them more to his liking. Some of these changes were for his own reasons, such as the hair style, but some were for war. He tried to make the changing color to the entire body for camouflage but he did not have enough power for that for so many people, not after the effects he'd already given them, and so it only affected the hair. The 3x strength is obvious why, but at the time he did this it affected them anywhere, not just in nature. It was only when they rebelled that he attempted to revoke their strength and curse them with weakness, but they were so attuned with the natural world through their long servitude towards him and through the other blessings which he did not have the power yet to revoke, so he was only able to curse them with weakness in an unnatural environment.

They are peaceful with Demtuny, though they do have rules: they do allow the people of the town to enter the forest with limitations, that being that their main village's borders are to be respected, and they are to fell no plant within their forest, only taking already dead things as must, unless the Druid's give explicit permission. The other forests the druids have no claim over, and do not object in any way to their treatment, though they do offer advice often.

With Reliqonous they are not peaceful. They have carefully made sure Relqonous is not aware of them, and even after Demtuny was discovered neither did Demtuny reveal their secret nor did they help to defend Demtuny from Reliqonous' force. They do all they can to prevent notice. If someone from Reliqonous enters their forest, they are unlikely to ever leave again, barring should they move into Demtuny, due to their friendship with the druid's and their policies of keeping the Druid's secret.

[gertlushgaming]

Hitman Blood Money Reprisal Review (Android)

For this Hitman Blood Money Reprisal Review, we are Agent 47 — a trained killer caught in the crosshairs of a rival agency, “The Franchise”. Embark on a daring mission to take out a shadowy conspiracy’s lethal architects, and employ every tool at your disposal to get the job done while keeping a low profile. Infiltrate, execute, and escape undetected. We are playing this game on a Pixel 7 Pro.

Hitman Blood Money Reprisal Review Pros:

- DecentHD Graphics. - 3.91GB Download sizes. You have to download from the store and then boot the game up to get the additional file downloads. - Google Play integration. (Optional) - Push notifications. (Optional) - Full controller support/integration. - Profile manager allows you to have multiple saves. - Cloud save integration with Google Drive. (Optional) - Advanced Graphics settings - Device preset (Low/medium/high), optimization preset (Battery saver/Graphics/performance/performance+), and frame rate limiter (Default/30/40/60/90/120). - Game settings - Blood, the field of view slider, color correction, optimization preset, and preset override. - Pop-up tutorial text and an opening training mission. - Touchscreen controls - you can customize the touchscreen controls for scope, default, and binoculars by dragging and dropping the buttons. - Controls settings - invert Y axis, gameplay vibration, virtual controller vibration, turn speed slider, aim style (trackpad/joystick), trackpad acceleration, and trackpad sensitivity slider. - Left-handed control layout support. - Gameplay settings - picture in picture cam, simplify strangle, auto-reload, out of ammo hot swap, aim assist (auto aim/disabled/standard), instinct mode, minimap, alerts, aim perspective (original/enhanced), highlight interactible objects, and view reticle. - Four difficulties - Rookie, Normal, Expert, and Pro. - Gameplay- Play as Agent 47 and take out your targets any way you can. Use the environment for cover, Take people's identities, and get weapons. All bets are off. - Play how you want. - With so many ways to do your missions, You have so much replayability. - Constant checkpoints. - Hitman vision turns the screen black and white and shows any interactibles like doors or items, targets will show red and it will show character outlines through the walls. - Cutscenes are a mix of FMV and in-game sequences. - Smooth animations. - End of level breakdown and rating. - Loadout- Choose what to take in from firearms to decoys to outfits. - Auto climb ledges. - The game runs smoothly and looks fantastic. - Tap and hold to skip cutscenes. - HUD- The same in each game but with a different style of presentation. Shows health/instinct/equipped item and a mini-map. - Hitman HD instinct- Hitman/Batman vision. You can see targets and enemies through walls. This bar also goes down when you use it to blend in or walk past someone who may notice you. - A full 3D game world with 360-degree camera control. - Challenges- Complete missions but also do it in particular ways or do some extras to earn new gear. - Hitman HD- Clear on-screen button icons to show what can be interacted with. - Mission text pops up on the screen. - Point shooting- Hitman HD only. This is like Deadeye in Red Dead, Activate it then mark the targets and let go for a fast flurry of shots. - Save and load when you want. - Fast loading times. - Actions- You can distract people with items or environmental interactions, Knock people out, or kill them in many many many ways. Dump bodies into closet bins or over a cliff. - Murder simulator sandbox. - When playing with touchscreen controls you see all the buttons but not the joystick (its the whole left side of the screen) and moving the camera (all the right side of the screen around the buttons). - Decent cutscenes and voicework. - A lot of truly jaw-dropping locations and vistas. - More emphasis on the story in these two games. - You can click the minimap to bring up the fullscreen map and then tap and pinch it to navigate. Hitman Blood Money Reprisal Review Cons: - Cannot view controls in the game. - No Googleplay achievements. - Does heat the phone a fair bit but you can negate it somewhat. - Ugly textures in places especially horrid jagged buildings and backdrops. - At times the menus don't always feel as smooth or clear as you would like. - You can save whenever but you lose progress in level regardless when you exit. - The cutscenes look low-quality next to the gameplay. - The tutorial is lackluster and doesn’t always explain all the elements/possibilities or even the HUD. - Bad ragdoll effects at times. Related Post: Warhammer Age of Sigmar Realms of Ruin Review (PlayStation 5) Hitman Blood Money Reprisal: Official website. Developer: Feral Interactive Publisher: Feral Interactive Store Links - Google Play Store Read the full article

[bearpillowmonster]

I had this game as a kid and I thought it was so hard so I never got anywhere but found it cool that you had these characters in a mansion environment, if only I could actually play it.

Those feelings of "it's too hard" kind of turned into "it's a cheap licensed game" after I figured out what that meant over time so I just never tried playing it again. I even looked up some reviews of all the Scooby games at one point which none really seemed all that savory. Then one day, I was looking for some Scooby related clothes I could buy and couldn't find what I was looking for, nothing that said "medieval" or "ghost" and nothing said that more than the cover of this game, it always struck me as a kid. Like something out of a Goosebumps book.

So I went back to the source, this game. I got all three Gamecube games, starting with Night of 100 Frights because that cover interested me too since Charlie was on it but I never got to play it but ugh were the controls annoying, going too slow with walking speed, too fast with running and the sound effects repeated constantly. I ended up shutting it off and trying a different one first, because why not.

One thing I saw consistent in the reviews was that the opening cutscene is always a really nice homage but it seemed like all the Scooby games did that so it lost its novelty. With that said, with how cheesy the story and cutscenes are, it does feel like a Scooby-Doo game, even the movements are akin to the show. There can be some overly long animations like climbing up on a crate but all in all it controls better than Night...why is that though?

It's not perfect but I think part of it is the level design itself and how it's laid out. You're in close quarters but with enough variety and obstacles to not seem bland. Night wasn't bland, it was just more open so it could act as a collect-a-thon so its faults were a lot more noticeable. In fact, the whole gameplay style has changed, rather than being copy and paste, your goal isn't to collect Scooby Snacks, it's to, well, I'll let Velma explain it-

Sneaking is something that took me a long time to get over in games and it was Metal Gear Solid that made me finally get there but this isn't really a stealth game. Because you get this book that lets you absorb enemies into it using rapid presses of whatever button comes on screen. You get more pages, you get more types of ghosts, that simple.

So, no, it's not as hard as it was as a kid but that's because I made it harder than it had to be, I didn't understand that type of game yet or that you "could" be spotted by ghosts, just had to bypass them. I won't spoil the level variety but they just get longer from there. There are different sections of them and it does decent enough with pointing you in the right direction so you don't get lost and there are frequent save points. I'm just convinced I never could've done those vehicle sections as a kid though, those give me a run NOW.

It still falls for licensed game traps, hearing the same voice lines and sound effects over and over. They switch some up for the specific level you're on but like I said, those levels get longer. Sometimes they play over cutscene dialogue too. But all in all, a decent experience that was never boring, I'm convinced enough to check out Night again and Unmasked now too.

[janellesemporium1]

The Benefits of Pet Strollers: Enhancing Comfort and Convenience

28AUG

Pets are not just animals; they are beloved members of our families. As pet owners, we strive to provide them with the best care, comfort, and companionship. One innovative tool that has gained popularity in recent years is the pet stroller. Often associated with small dogs and cats, these specialized strollers offer numerous benefits that cater to both the pets and their owners. In this blog post, we’ll explore the advantages of using a pet stroller and how it can enhance the quality of life for both pets and their human companions.

Mobility for Older Pets

Just like humans, pets age, and their mobility can decrease over time. For senior dogs, cats, or pets with medical conditions, walking long distances might become a challenge. A pet stroller offers a comfortable and safe way to bring your aging furry friend along for outdoor excursions without causing them discomfort. This mobility aid ensures that they can still enjoy fresh air and new surroundings, maintaining their mental and emotional well-being.

Outdoor Adventures for Small Pets

Smaller dog breeds and cats often have shorter legs and limited stamina for extended walks. Pet strollers enable these pets to accompany their owners on outdoor adventures that might otherwise be too physically demanding for them. Whether it’s a leisurely stroll in the park, a trip to the farmer’s market, or a family picnic, pet strollers allow these small companions to experience the world beyond the confines of their home.

Safe Haven in Crowded Areas

Crowded places like busy streets, markets, or events can be overwhelming for pets. A pet stroller provides a safe and secure space for your pet in such environments. It acts as a protective barrier between your pet and potential hazards like aggressive dogs, vehicles, or large crowds. This ensures that your pet remains stress-free while still being able to participate in social outings.

Recovery and Rehabilitation

After surgeries or medical procedures, pets need time to heal and recover. A pet stroller can be a valuable tool during this period, allowing them to get fresh air and sunlight without straining their bodies. The controlled environment of a stroller prevents them from jumping, running, or engaging in activities that could hinder the healing process.

Convenience for Multi-Pet Families

For households with multiple pets, managing walks can be quite a juggling act. Different animals have different needs, paces, and energy levels. A pet stroller allows you to take all your pets out together without the hassle of coordinating different walking speeds. This convenience simplifies outings and ensures that all pets receive attention and exercise.

Protection from Weather Elements

Extreme weather conditions, be it scorching heat, pouring rain, or cold winds, can make outdoor excursions uncomfortable for pets. A pet stroller comes with covers and canopies that shield your furry friend from harsh weather elements. This protection ensures that your pet’s well-being is not compromised by adverse weather conditions.

Conclusion

Pet strollers are no longer just a luxury; they’ve evolved into essential tools for responsible pet ownership. They offer comfort, convenience, and safety for both pets and their owners. Whether you have a senior dog, a small cat, or a pet on the road to recovery, a pet stroller can significantly improve their quality of life. Investing in a pet stroller means investing in the happiness and well-being of your cherished companion, allowing you both to explore the world together, one stroll at a time.

[huaqiangmachine]

What are the characteristics of the chain compost turning machine?

The chain compost turning machine is suitable for trough aerobic composting of organic solid waste such as animal manure, sludge waste, straw and so on. The walking system of the organic fertilizer equipment adopts the advantages of frequency conversion speed regulation, good adaptability to different materials, stable operation, high stacking efficiency, and deep tank operation, which effectively shorten the fermentation cycle and improve the production efficiency and product quality of the organic fertilizer prodcution line.

Performance characteristics:

1. The pallet structure with chain drive and rolling support is used to save electricity and energy, which is suitable for deep slot operation.

2. The tilting plate is equipped with a flexible tensioning and elastic damping system to protect the transmission system and working parts from efficient operation.

3. It is equipped with removable wear-resistant curved tooth blade, which has strong crushing ability and good oxygen filling effect.

4. When flipping, the material stays on the pallet for a long time, is scattered at a high level, is in full contact with the air, and is easy to reduce water.

5. Through the transverse and longitudinal displacement can achieve any position in the slot flipping operation, flexible.

6. The lifting of the working parts is controlled by hydraulic system, flexible work, safe and fast.

Seven. It can remotely control the operation of the machine, such as forward, transverse, flip and fast backward, and improve the operating environment.

8. Trough material distributor, automatic discharge device, solar fermentation room and ventilation and aeration system can be selected.

9. Equipped with a shifting machine to change the slot can realize the multi-slot operation of a flipping machine, saving investment.

[polhandmore]

Farming usa 2 free

Farming usa 2 free update#

Farming usa 2 free series#

Farming usa 2 free simulator#

Use the tilt or slider, depending on which suits you best.

Control your settings to increase/decrease the speed of harvest and animals according to your game style.

Take control of real tractors as you move towards your land.

Unlock and expand your fields to get more crops.

Recruiting workers to increase productivity time.

Farming usa 2 free update#

The developers regularly update the title to make them better, but they were still mixed up at the time of writing this review. There is nothing that makes such a slow title cess accessible, but the problem is worth pointing out. Unfortunately, the new graphics pay off in terms of performance, which isn’t exactly the best at the moment. In addition to the on-screen non-screen display, we can also detect the position of the vehicle with specific graphical descriptions, such as Waste of paintwork or low yield during work. Look at the new maintenance system where you have to monitor the condition of the vehicles and spend money to fix it in bad condition. The amount of farming resources in the USA to entertain fans is over three hundred. This does not mean that they are ugly, only that their crutches are less noticeable than the rest who have taken good care of their previous chapters. The improvement in vehicles, which has always been the mainstay of farming in the USA, is not clear. The sky in particular has turned completely red and now it looks more lively and natural than the previous chapters, but the lighting system has also been redesigned. Everything now seems more elaborate than the former USA, and the environment is better portrayed.

Farming usa 2 free series#

We’re talking about a genre that thrives on it, not darker characters or TV series twists and turns.Īlong with the physics engine, the graphics engine has also been improved. We imagine Farming USA fans not very interested in telling a strict story side, preferring to reintroduce additional vehicles with exciting care and the latest activity. However, aiming from time to time is more than a feature designed for the unsatisfied gamer to add something to the title. Simulation has always been great and developing a company is still the most delicious part. The pace and simulation activity of the game does not allow for revolution, but something else can be done to power this campaign which is the weakest part of the whole production. How to Play Farming USA 2?ĭespite the news, the gameplay of Farming USA 2 is similar to previous versions. Spread over 250 acres in 9 different areas, players can experience a variety of crops such as wheat, corn, hay, barley, wheat, and cross-platform multiplayer. Plant the soil, sow the seeds, water and fertilize, and finally harvest the products. This game perfectly simulates all the farm experience a true farmer needs to perform. By making a profit on their products, you can expand the farm and buy new equipment.Īre you looking for a traditional farm game but has new features? Coming to Farming USA 2 you will surely be satisfied with that. However, the user needs to raise both large and small animals. All machines are designed to get the right crop of farm produces, including many. The player has many tools from a tractor to combine. It will allow all lovers of agriculture to realize their dreams and cultivate their arable land.

Farming usa 2 free simulator#

Use money to buy bigger and better autos and implements.Farming USA 2 - Sequel to Farm Simulator for Android. Buy cows, pigs, and sheep and feed and raise them to resell. Plant, grow, spray, and harvest corn, wheat, soybeans, and hay. Actually sit in the driver's seat, or switch to external digicam angles. Visit the grain elevator, animal stockyard, or car dealership. Walk or drive anywhere on your farm, which includes a house, barn, shed, and 5 fields. Own over 30 farm automobiles and implements together with tractors, combines, semi/trailers, vehicles, planters, cultivators, and so forth. Plant, grow, and harvest crops as nicely as feed and elevate cows, pigs, sheep, and horses. Walk round your farm and drive tractors, combines, trucks, semis and extra. Farming USA is a farming simulator that lets you take charge of your personal farm in a sensible 3D world.

[baconpal]

pokemon rant time

this one’s about the 2 new things, and is at least slightly intended for people actually excited/interested in them, click keep reading or perish

Gonna try and keep stuff short cus there's a lot of topics this time and I've already gone off about how pokemon Isn't meant for me or meant to be a good video game anymore, but gamefreak is right back on their bullshit, so I feel I need to at least point it out.

I'd like to preface all this with, if you are a fan of pokemon still, please realize you can ask for more out of this series. Expect perfection, even if you don't think you'll get it anytime soon. Pokemon won't go anywhere, the old games won't go anywhere, and gaming is a hobby, not a necessity; don't accept low quality products from a company just because you feel like you're supposed to.

With this next wave of pokemon games, gamefreak is clearly testing how little they can put in to a $60 game while still keeping the 2 major audiences they've cultivated. By responding to the most obvious and vocal complaints from the community, gamefreak is aiming to make games that seems like what most players want, without having to put in the work on quality products.

GEN 4 REMAKES Pokemon BS (I am not calling this shit BDSP) is intended for the audience that put up with let's go and RS remakes. The most vocal and obvious complaints for these games is their failure as definitive versions of the games they are remakes of, such as missing features/content, or drastically changed story/dialogue/style. In a way, the recent remakes are inferior versions of incredibly old games, which shows a lack of improvement in pokemon as a whole.

To address these issues, BS is very, very, VERY clearly aiming for a more 1-to-1 recreation of the DS games, but with fully 3d graphics. Clearly the map layout has been transferred exactly, and gen 4 already had mostly 3d environments to begin with, and everyone knows about the future-proof pokemon models at this point, so the amount of effort required to create something like this is absolutely minimal. Assuming dialogue, trainer teams, move lists, etc. are also lifted directly from DP, then this game could be developed in basically no time at all, leaving the team time to ensure the product is of decent quality and includes ALL of the content of the originals, if not more, like the earlier pokemon remakes did to ensure they were truly definitive versions of the games. That being said, it is unlikely the team behind BS has been making use of this saved time to improve the game.

One failing already clear is that the quality is not very good, at least graphical quality. The footage we have shows environments lacking in color compared to the original, with messy, unpleasant textures that contrast poorly with the simplistic environments. The characters especially do not work. As cute and fun the fanart of tiny dawn has been, BS dawn and all other characters look awful. They have gorilla arms that reach down to the floor and lifeless faces, as well as incredibly stiff/simplistic animations. As it stands, BS is a visually inferior game to DP, though most consumers will simply see it as 3D>2D without any understanding of what an artstyle is, so this might not be a problem for many, but that doesn't mean you should accept it.

What remains to be seen is what content will be added/missing from pokemon BS. It is very possible that massive parts of the game, such as the underground, variety of online modes, postgame areas, and content from platinum could be missing entirely. We also do not know if pokemon from after gen 4 will be worked into the region, or even supported. Gen 8 still currently does not support a large number of pokemon, and the remakes may continue this limited dex trend.

Even assuming the remake includes everything from the DS games and doesn't add anything that slows down the story or harms the experience, it will still only be an exercise in forced obsolescence. The main reason people can't really play DP still is that the online isn't supported anymore. If BS turns out to be exactly the same as DP, then you're buying the same game for at a higher price, only to play it until the online service goes away again, or the next game comes out, if both don't happen at the same time.

Don't let yourself buy a 13 year old game at twice the original price.

GEN 4 NOT-REMAKE KIND OF NEW THING On to legends now, gamefreak is targeting the people who put up with sun/moon and sword/shield. The obvious problem with those games to most people was simply a lack of change from the standard pokemon formula. Even when changing the gyms to trials or stadiums, most people still understand that the format and story structures are mostly unchanged. Of course, this problem has seemingly been addressed by changing the game structure a fair bit, but almost entirely by removal.

Trainer battles, and by extension, gyms and tournaments/elite 4 have been confirmed to be absent, meaning all battles are only vs single pokemon, in spite of the player likely having a team of 6 pokemon. Even if battle difficulty is increased to compensate (doubtful), this will still drastically increase the simplicity of combat and make it even less likely for the game to include any meaningful challenge. Exploring towns and meeting NPCs is also seemingly missing, as the game is confirmed to have only a single village, which frankly looks incredibly boring and we've yet to see a single NPC inhabiting the village.

Battles now use an ATB format instead of a turn-based format (for those of you who don't know what that means, it basically means nothing, it's still turn based, it just means the speed state determines who gets more turns instead of who goes first, that's it), but beyond that there seems to be no noteworthy changes, pokemon learn 4 moves with limited PP, type advantage will still definitely be the most important aspect to battle, and the player being able to walk around during battle provides no meaningful impact. While the little dash the pokemon do to approach each other is cool, it is already a sign that gamefreak will not be addressing the issue of lacking animations for pokemon battles, as they can't even be assed to animate and program pokemon walking around the environment during combat, and lucario doing 1 kick for a move described as a series of punches isn't a great sign either.

On the topic of lacking animations, the new "pet simulator feature" for legends seems to be an advancement on the ride system from sun/moon, which presumably people missed from sword/shield. Being able to ride on your pokemon to do stuff sounds cool, but in all likelihood, this system will be limited to only a select few pokemon who will each do a select few actions, and is not a reasonable replacement for all the other pet raising features that have been removed in the past. Similar to BS, the total number of pokemon included may also be limited arbitrarily, in spite of the fact that no new pokemon need to be added, as these games are not claiming to be a new generation.

The largest issues I personally have with this new game is the horrible technical quality and gameplay quality shown in the initial trailer. Unfortunately, these types of problems seem to be difficult to explain to the average consumer, even though the issues seem incredibly obvious and inexcusable to people like me.  Most people were able to understand the problem with the berry trees in gen 8, because it was easy to explain, "this tree doesn't look like the other trees, and it sticks out, isn't that weird?", and so gamefreak has eliminated any immediately obvious issues like that, sticking with a very consistent artstyle for legends, making it almost impossible to easily explain its faults to the average pokemon fan.

People have been really quick to compare legends to BoTW; the game that invented grass, trees, and mountains. In spite of these comparisons, nobody seems to point out that legends looks dramatically worse than that almost 5 year old game from the previous generation. Plants are stiff and lacking in energy, draw distances are poor, colors are drab, and textures are messy. Many parts of legends seems to ape BoTW on just the surface, essentially just following market trends. Even the controls seem to follow after modern 3rd person shooters/stealth games, including a seemingly pointless roll and a clunky looking ball lobbing arc that feels unfun before even getting to play it myself.

The largest issue, painfully obvious to some, and impossible to explain to others, is the framerate. The trailer clearly was ran on actual switch hardware, and not prerendered, which would be a good mark for gamefreak if it didn't result in a trailer that never once hit 30fps. Even with empty fields, with only 1 or 2 characters on screen, the game was incapable of meeting the target speed, and had to resort to optimizations like reducing the frame rate of pokemon only inches away from the player to stop-motion levels of choppy. If situations with almost nothing going on result in slow-down, how will the game perform during actual gameplay? Even though slow-down is something everyone can feel, many people aren't capable of identifying it.

The major things to wait and see for legends is if the removed aspects of the series are made up for by some additional systems or content, and definitely wait to see if the performance improves. As with BS, preordering a game like this only shows that gamefreak only has to market the game by saying it's different, not improved, like they've been doing for years now.

TL;DR FUCK GAMEFREAK One major thing of note is that gamefreak is releasing 2 games based on gen 4 at the nearly the same time, meaning they have no obligation to design new pokemon or even include pokemon not from sinnoh, and also that the sales of each game can be used as an indicator for which of their 2 audiences is more loyal to them. Both BS and Legends are in a position to be pushes aside if they fail, but if either succeeds, gamefreak can continue in the direction of the more successful game and reap the benefits, without any need to innovate, improve, or adapt to criticism.

The last thing I feel I have to remind people about is that gamefreak is a company; you don't need to be "grateful" to them. I've seen that word thrown around far too much by people who seem to buy pokemon games like its a tax, and not something they want to do. You don't have to suck up to a company that made games you liked as a kid if the games aren't what you want anymore. Pokemon is so wildly successful that it can't possible die, so don't buy the games out of pity, or out of some feeling of obligation. Buy the video games you want to play and nothing more.

Basically, if you are considering getting any of these new games, please wait until the games are out before purchasing them, and decide for yourself if they are worth your money, and more importantly, your time. Preordering these games only lets gamefreak know their audience will buy and put up with anything. They have no real competition at the moment, so the only thing the audience can do to encourage improvement is show some of restraint.

[starr-fall-knight-rise]

Humans are Space Orcs, “Protective Humans.”

Saw this suggestion in my inbox from a couple months ago lol :)

“I am glad you could agree to come commander, with all of the …. Issues with the LFIL, we have had a really difficult time trying to maintain good relations with the rest of the galaxy.”

“We are glad we could come, of course, anything to help people understand humans a little bit better, plus Dr. Krill has a speaking engagement at the conference, so my coming here was twofold.”

“Ah, yes, your little doctor, when I heard about his particular speech, I have to admit I am very intrigued and excited. Anyway, we are glad that humans could come and help us with our mission. Even with human tourism growing in certain sectors of the galaxy, there are still many places were humans had never been seen, and it is in those areas where we have the most difficulty. They hear the rumors, and they see reports on the news about the worst kind of humans, and they just get scared.”

Commander Vir pulled to a stop standing next to the conference director, A Finnari by trade with a relatively trustworthy face despite being an alien, “Well, then they wouldn't be the only ones. Humans have been practicing paranoia against ourselves for thousands of years.” 

Out in the hallway of the conference center, aliens bustled by many of them staring on at the commander and his group of following humans with wide frightened eyes. Some of them pointed in excitement while others shied away to the other side of the hall.

It was still true that less than 7 percent of all aliens in the galaxy had ever seen a human, and for many of these, that fact was no different.

This would be their first time seeing a human.

The commander had to bite back his innate response to smile at them, seeing as most aliens, like most animals, considered the display of teeth to be a threat. So he simply waved a hand garnering a few flinches, and a number of curious head tilts.

Maybe someone should do a seminar on human body language, perhaps then the general public would feel more comfortable around them.

“Anyway, we thank you for coming, but your friend’s lecture is about to begin, and I am very excited to see how it goes.” The commander nodded to the Finnari director, and he, and the other three humans with him, Maverick Ramirez and Dr. Katie stepped into the room where doctor Krill was setting up his presentation.

As was becoming routine at the conference, they received a gasp and an eruption of mutterings as they appeared from the doorway. 

Dr Krill looked up from his work, as the humans inched to the side of the door trying not to be too disruptive, “Stop right there you four, and come here.”

In confusion the humans did as directed.

Dr. Krill stood up voice electronically amplified over the sound of the room, “Can everyone hear me, good, that is very good, now today I am going to be talking about a subject that, as the humans say, is very near and dear to my heart. That translates as, it is very important to me.” he motioned the humans to sit down on the stage, and they did as ordered though rather awkwardly, “Now I thought about just speaking to you for today, but have decided that, you aren't going to be able to keep your focus away from the humans anyway, so I might do us all a favor and add them into my lecture as a way to introduce you to them in a controlled environment, and hopefully, after today, you will come to see the humans as I do. Great allies, and an undeniable opportunity for friendship.”

“now , I wanted to do something a little different today, something a little off from my normal structured way of speaking about humans because I find it very displeasing the way the rest of the galaxy sees humans, and I want to change that. I tried determining a fact about humans that is the most forgiving and the most empathetic. Something all of you would enjoy.”

There was a muttering of intrigue about the room.

“Well I am going to start off with a little bit of a lecture. A lot of you may not know that humans give live birth to their offspring, not eggs like the Vrul, Rundi, or the Celzex, but more like the Tesraki or the Drev. however based on the physical structure of the human, and the slow evolution to walking on two feet. Humans are only capable of producing offspring at a reasonable size generally around six to seven pounds, and arguably no greater than twelve to fifteen pounds, though there may be exceptions. Now, as you know six pounds is very very small compared to the end result of a human, and the size of the head has the greatest bearing on this issue. The human head shape requires offspring to be born extremely underdeveloped, so underdeveloped that when they are born they can barely see or hear and have no ability to coordinate their own movements. It takes almost an entire rotation of their planet around their star in order for a human to walk. In essence it takes as much as eighteen revolutions before the average human is no longer taken care of by their  parents.”

There was a muttering from the crowd.

“Now based on the surprising helplessness of the human offspring compared to the final product, they tend to be very loud, and very difficult to take care of seeing how underdeveloped they are. Generally if any one of us were saddled with an offspring like that we would probably just give up, but the human brain is so hot wired to love their offspring, that none of those annoying things generally tend to matter. In fact, the power of a human’s bonding abilities is so strong that they can even bond to creatures that are NOT human in nature.”

Another surprised murmuring around the crowd.

“A human will have the same reaction to a nonhuman than they do to their own young, and in that case, this means that a human will protect the offspring of another species with their own lives. Human parents have been known to kill, lift objects five times their size, and fight off even more dangerous predators for the safety of their offspring, and they will do it for yours too..”

This time the murmuring around the room was almost palpable, it was as if they could hardly believe what they were hearing.

That couldn't be right.

“What if I told you that the safest place our offspring could be, is in the arms of a human.”

That caused an absolute uproar of chattering, and Krill had to wait a few minutes before the room calmed down.

The humans were looking between each other with some curiosity hardly believing what they were hearing, not sure where this was going.

“now , I have brought forward a couple of gracious volunteers who trust my judgement enough to help me demonstrate what you are about to witness .”

“Our first volunteer.” He motioned to the side of the stage were a Rundi was waiting, as she walked onto the stage, the crowd noticed at least three tiny shapes running around her feet.

The human turned to look eyes wide, to the crowd they almost looked hungry.

“Dr. Katie, can you tell me what you are thinking.”

The human looked up her wide brown eyes somewhat magnified through her glasses, “I want to hold one so bad.” She turned her head towards the rundi, “Can I hold one…. Am I allowed to do that. I’ll wear gloves.”

The rundi mother seemed surprisingly calm allowing the human to come over and pick up her little ones holding them gently in their hands running a finger over their tiny heads. One of the humans was holding the tiny creature to his chest. Patting its tiny head with one finger. 

“You see the protective nature in which the humans hold young that isn’t their own, I picked the rundi first specifically for this reason, simply because they don’t look remotely human. Arguably the humans shouldn't even connect them with their own young, and yet this is the posture of a creature that isn’t going to let anything happen to their charges.” He turned to the humans. “What would you do if someone tried to hurt these little rundi?”

The darker human looked up from the creature he was holding to his chest, “I don't know probably rip their arms off and beat them with them…. But that's probably a bit graphic so… er, i would be very very upset?”

“Great save.” The commander muttered, stroking his hand delicately down the little Rundi’s back, who seemed to be enjoying it rather happily. Of course all the humans were wearing gloves, considering that the rundi had an aversion to water, and humans had a habit of shedding it wherever they went.

They actually seemed disappointed when they had to let the tiny creatures go.

Not that they were disappointed at the next moment  when A dark blue-black tesraki brought out a fuzzy little bundle.

One of the humans made a strange squeaking noise. Again begging to hold it.

The humans seemed to be having even more fun than the rest of the crowd was having watching them. 

“You see the younger a creature of a different species is, the more likely humans are to adopt it with their social bonding.”

“Look at its little pig nose eep!” 

“Hey let me hold it. You don’t have to be a hog.”

“You can fight me.”

“Sharing is caring.”

“What if I don’t care.” The humans jostled with each other for a turn holding, petting or cooing over the creature, though their aggression seemed to terminate at a predetermined distance from the small one, and if it wasn’t obayed, there were other humans to make sure they kept in line. 

“You see, I would wager to say that your children are safer with humans than they are with you. Not to call you a poor parent. But humans will take falling impacts, jump in front of speeding vehicles, and their bodies are known to be quite durable.”

The commander was leaning over Dr. Katie’s shoulder stroking the Tesraki’s huge ears with one finger, “So soft.” 

“Though the creature does not have to be fluffy, but for some reason humans really enjoy it, despite their own young being hairless. In fact there are many humans that much prefer to have a creature of a different species than they are interested in having one of their own 

“Furbaby.” A human whispered as the tiny Tesraki was appropriated back from them.

“My next demonstration we have to thank by way of lord Celzex.”

The humans lifted their heads, eyes widening, “No!”

“YES!”

What came next was an excessive spectacle of human happiness characterized by a lot of squealing from both male and female humans, and a ton of tiny, angry little balls of colored fluff with massive eyes and huge feet.

Dr. Katie sat in a corner holding a handful of the little colored fluff balls in her arms, “Guys….” She moaned, “I think I’m gonna cry, this is pure happiness. I want all of them.”

Maverick lay on the ground flat on her back as at least ten of the tiny creatures crawled all over her. It was pretty clear they were trying to attack, but to the human it caused nothing more than an eruption of giggling.

The commander and Ramirez sat opposite each other trying to wrangle a small heard of the fluffies who ran about in an angry circle.

Needless to say, the humans were very disappointed when they had to be taken away. 

Ramirez held out a hand, “Wait, but, no….” 

Maverick was frowning looking down at her empty hands like she was missing a finger.

“And now for my last demonstration.” The doctor began.” Motioning his last volunteer up.

What came next was a nine foot tall male Drev, cradling a tiny shape in his lower arms.

Excitedly, the humans rushed over, and the Drev seemed to have no problem handing over his young to the pack of cooing humans.

Maverick bumped Katie out of the way, and took the tiny creature in her arms running away with it across the room.

The other humans trailed after Craning their necks over her shoulder and trying to see the tiny creature who opened its little beak like a baby bird chirping and blinking at them.

“I swear if anything happens to this child I will kill everyone in this room and then myself.” 

“I didn’t know they were so frigging adorable. Shit, I want one.” The commander grumbled playing with one of the tiny hands.

“Yeah, who wants a human baby anyway, these ones are way cuter., and they don’t smell.” 

“Maverick, if you don't let me hold it, I promise I will have you on bathroom duty for the rest of your foreseeable career.”

Maverick frowned, “Just five more minutes.”

“Fine, five, but then it's my turn.”

The doctor continued to lecture as the humans sat in a circle passing around the tiny drev, “You see in a time of crisis, a human will wrap themselves around their offspring using the rigged bones, and taught muscles of the shoulders, back and ribcage as a shield  diffusing impacts and cushioning falls. It is also quite common for an entire pack of humans to form up around younger humans to protect them.”

The commander had appropriated the tiny Drev from Maverick and was softly stroking a thumb against its tiny cheek. The small creature opened its mouth like a baby bird, chirping slightly before nuzzling its head against the human’s chest growing quite comfortable against the warm, soft human.

“Its official, I am the favorite.” The human announced 

“But-”

“No no, you see, sleeping, now you can’t take him away.” The other humans pouted and the commander grinned.

“You see it is all thanks to the annoying and underdeveloped nature of the human offspring, that we can thank for human over protectiveness. Now, this effect lessons somewhat as you grow older, but generally speaking it never goes away entirely. A human will bond with anything, a broken piece of equipment, an item of clothing, and definitely you, for sure. Should you be cautious about which humans you trust? Certainly, but we exercise that caution daily with each other.”

He motioned to the group of huddling humans holding the tiny sleeping Drev.

“Just remember this image here the next time some propaganda string tells you humans are monsters.” 

[alicanta77]

Chapter 1: Tomorrow Never Dies

Pairing: y/n x Jeno

Themes: mutant au, angst, fluff

Warnings: mind control, experiments performed on people, needles, violence, minor character death, blood, descriptions of injury, swearing

Words: 14k

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Finale

——————————————————————————

The repetitive high pitched beeping drew you out of your heavy sleep. You winced as the ceiling light switched on automatically, the brightness glaring down at you. You heard a groan from your roommate, signalling that he was also awake. You lay there for a second, your eyes trying to adjust, before pulling yourself up into a sitting position.

You turned your head towards the boy on your left, wincing once again as your neck cracked loudly. His eyes moved towards you, one eyebrow raised questioningly.

‘Lab last night?’ He asked, the three words asking the question that all of you dreaded.

Did they take you into the lab last night? Did they experiment on you? What did they do to you? What do you remember? Do you remember anything?

‘Yep.’ You muttered. ‘Routine 2b.’

It was Jeno’s turn to wince at your revelation. He knew that 2b was a painful routine that they could put you through, involving a lot of needles and a heavy focus on your neck.

You simply let out a dry chuckle and shrugged, a short yet sharp pain shooting through your neck and upper back as you did so.

‘Still feeling it?’ He asked again, clearly noticing your obvious discomfort.

‘How could you tell?’ You gave him a small smile, a sad but familiar one that was always exchanged between the two of you the morning after a visit to the lab.

The door of your cell buzzed, signalling that it was open, and in walked a single guard. He was wearing protective gear from head to toe, from thick boots, to a bullet proof vest, to his gloves, all the way to the helmet covering his face. You never knew who was behind all the gear, having never seen the face of a single guard in this facility for as long as you’d been here. The pistol strapped to his boot, or the knife at his side, or even the machine gun across his back probably should have scared you, but when that’s all you’ve known, you don’t see anything wrong with it.

Besides, you’re only in this facility to protect the outside world from dangers like you. The facility you’re in holds some of the most dangerous people in the world. The upper levels of the facility held criminals, each getting more threatening as you ventured down through the floors of the building. Those arrested for petty theft or vandalism were kept at the top, then the serial killers and mass murders were contained one floor above the bottom. You were kept in the most secured sub basement section of the facility. The lowest possible layer. You were watched at all time by guards and cameras, taken into labs for tests and experiments. Doctors would perform these on you, taking samples and notes, figuring out how to help you control yourselves.

The sub section you were kept in held around 150 people, most of them teenagers and young adults like you. You were different, called mutants of some kind. That was the closest you had ever come to an actual answer about what you were. What you did know was that you had abilities, something that the average human didn’t have, and that was what made you dangerous. Out of all the years you had been here, you had only managed to figure out a few other subject’s abilities. The seven other boys you shared your area with, to be exact.

You first found out about your roommate, Lee Jeno, subject A7, weather manipulation. He could create a storm by narrowing his eyes or make the sun shine brighter by simply smiling. His abilities were often affected by his emotions. The happier he was, the easier it was to create a sunny environment, but when he was angry or frustrated, he often found it difficult to control the storm that started brewing. There was something oddly poetic about his abilities though. This thought occurred to you the one and only time you saw him cry. To this day, you still have no idea what happened to break his heart like that, but, you watched one day as the guard pulled him aside and delivered some news. The next thing you knew, Jeno had collapsed to the ground, sobs tearing from his chest. Even though you were inside, rain droplets started to fall on your head. It was as if the sky had decided to cry with him. 

There was Mark Lee, subject A3, healing and super speed. Apparently it’s incredibly rare to have more than one ability. That’s why they call Mark Lee the ‘Golden Boy’. He often finds the world running at a pace that was too slow for him, his naturally faster system getting bored easily. He would spend some time running laps around the training room faster than you could blink. His healing skill is the one he has most trouble with. It doesn’t come as easily to him as his speed does. Instead, he has to learn it. Without thinking much, he can mend cuts and fade bruises, and, when he really focuses, he finds a way to stop serious pain or bleeding, and often pulls the body back together slightly.

Next, Huang Renjun, subject D9, image manipulation. He is the hardest to get a read on. You often can’t tell if he’s really in front of you, or if it’s simply just an image of him. He can make you see anything he wants you to see. Whether that is an empty training room when there’s actually ten people in there, or if it’s suddenly transporting you to a beach in the Caribbean. He seems to have the most control over his abilities out of all of you. Focusing now on making multiple people see what he wants them to, rather than just an individual.

After him, Lee Donghyuck, subject B5, he sees the future. No one knows how much he can see or how accurate it is, but he always know more than you do. You often think that he knows a lot more than he’s letting on. He likes to use his ability for trivial things, like telling people what’s for lunch or what to expect in training today. He has a much more serious and caring side to him though. You suspect that he uses his ability to keep an eye on your emotions as somehow, he always seems to know when you’re having a bad day.

Also, Na Jaemin, subject D2, mind control. Sweet as sugar but just as artificial, he could send you the deadliest smile, all while secretly enticing you into doing something for him. Normally it’s nothing drastic, fetching his lunch for him or asking a guard the question he doesn’t want to. But you never know when he’ll get bored of that and make you do something you really don’t want to. You always make sure to keep him on your good side. Similar to Donghyuck, no one really knows the true extent of his powers, making him even more mysterious. Even the guards seem nervous of him because you can never quite tell when he’s enchanting you, not until it’s too late.

Then comes Zhong Chenle, subject C6, a shapeshifter. Can transform easily if he’s looking at the animal, harder if he has to remember it and really has to focus if he wants to take on the form of another human. He always seems to be in a good mood. How he manages that you have no idea, but you’re always thankful. He takes the whole situation less seriously than the others. Choosing to randomly turn into birds and fly into the guards helmets or run up their legs as a mouse. No matter what, he always manages to make you laugh. 

And finally, Park Jisung, subject D4, super strength. Not exactly what you would expect the boy to have, considering his personality. He seems too sweet for this reality. He always wants the best for people and sees the good in everyone. Sometimes, you wish that you could have that mindset. He’s such a pure soul that you often forget he could squish you in between his fingers like a fly if you weren’t careful. He constantly seemed to forget that he was incredibly strong, often banging the table when laughing and knocking off a leg, or clapping Hyuck on the back and sending him sprawling to the floor. He was a bit clumsy but had a heart of gold.

Rounding out the floor, there was you, subject A1, telekinesis. You could move a glass simply by looking at it, pick something up by blinking or shake your head and watch the overhead lights swing. If you focused hard you could lift or move heavier things, but moving people took almost all of your energy. Like Jeno, your emotions affect how powerful you were. Unlike with Renjun and Chenle who seem to lose control the angrier or more emotional or worked up they get, with Renjun’s images flickering and Chenle shifting uncontrollably from animal to animal, you and Jeno seem to be able to do more. Jeno could make a thunder storm powerful enough to blow the windows out by clenching his jaw and you could lift impossibly heavy objects and even throw them. Pushing people to the side also only took a slight flick of your hand. Sometimes your powers scared yourself. What would you do if one day you lost control and hurt someone you loved? If you were already dangerous enough to be locked in a facility like this, what would that make you? You would be worse than a monster.

As well as sharing the same floor with you, you also shared the same training room and dining hall. You even shared the same lab. It terrified you every time you walked into or past it and got a glimpse of the blood coating the doctor’s hands from their previous procedures.

The guard back out of your doorway, keeping an eye on the two of you at all times. You tilted your head to the left slightly, narrowing your eyes at him, watching as the guard’s moves sped up. He tripped over his own feet slightly in a bid to leave the room as fast as possible, causing both you and Jeno to burst out laughing when the door was shut.

‘You really have to stop doing that. It’s mean.’ Jeno lightly scolded you, the smile still present on his face.

‘Oh please, I am nowhere near as bad as Chenle. You know, Jisung told me that the last time the guard went into their room, Chenle had hidden himself as a moth under the bed, and then dropped in front of the poor guard and turned himself into a bear.’ You recited the story of yesterday morning to Jeno’s disbelieving face. ‘It’s true! Besides, at least we get to wake up to a smile on our faces.’

‘Yeah, you have a point.’ He paused for a second before giggling again. ‘Chenle is ruthless.’

You couldn’t help but laugh as well, treasuring the rare moments like this. Moments where everything seemed ok, seemed normal, and you could enjoy life and laugh with friends as if nothing else was wrong. However, those moments only ever last a few seconds.

The speakers in your room buzzed to life as a voice cracked through them.

‘All subjects to the rose room in five minutes. All subjects to the rose room in five minutes.’

You both looked at each other and sighed, before climbing out of your beds and grabbing the clothes provided. The guards come in every morning to drop them off. A simple grey jumpsuit, that was all you wore, everyday. You grabbed yours and headed into the bathroom to change. You pulled it on and spared yourself a short look in the mirror. The dark bags around your eyes were prominent, as were the small red dots on your neck. The only traces of what you went through the previous night. You rubbed them, trying to soften the aching before turning to leave the bathroom.

You knocked on the door, waiting for a shout from Jeno to say that it was okay for you to come out, before exiting. Together you waited for the trademark low pitched buzz that signalled your cell door being unlocked, and headed out into the hallway.

As you left you spotted the doctor waiting by your door. The other cells on your floor made the same low pitched buzz, and, gradually, out walked the other six boys. There were doctors positioned by each door, prepared with an injection. You received it every day, a numbing agent, that dulled your abilities for a period of time. It was given to you in the morning, allowing you to do your work and have lunch before it wore off and you went to your training sessions. 

The doctor extended a gloved hand to you, silently asking for your arm. You handed it to her and she rolled up your sleeve. She turned over your wrist and held you by the elbow as she positioned the syringe just below the joint.

The syringe wasn’t the kind they used in the labs. It wasn’t glass with a long metal needle on one end, it was thicker, something that had to be properly gripped with a button on the top to administer whatever was inside.

The doctor gave you no warning before she pushed the button and you winced as the machine let out a hiss, injecting the blue serum into you. You watched as she held out a hand to Jeno and repeated the same procedure. You blinked slowly a few times, the effects of the drug already taking hold.

‘Make your way to the rose room. Now.’ A guard to your left barked.

You turned robotically, your mind fuzzy and clouded. You began the journey to the rose room, your entire being occupied with the simple task of getting there. You had no thought process, no questions running around your mind, you weren’t thinking of anything. You just did what you were told.

You walked down with Jeno by your side, the white walls and floors passing you by with every step you took. You vaguely registered Jaemin joining you in your peripheral vision, but you didn’t turn to look at him. You kept your head straight, your face emotionless and your mouth shut. None of you looked at each other, none of you looked anywhere but straight ahead, and none of you uttered a word. None of you gave an inclination that you were more that walking robots, fully compliant and prepared to carry out any instruction given.

Because, in reality, under this drug, that was all that you were reduced to. You just didn’t realise the danger of that yet.

---

The door to the rose room was already open when you arrived, a guard standing there holding it for you. You didn’t spare a look towards him, your dull eyes kept focus on what was in front of you. You trudged towards your position, finding the spot labelled with your subject number and began your work.

The rose room was a large greenhouse. Inside it was a maze of rose bushes, sporting roses of all kinds and colours. If you were more awake then maybe you would appreciate the reds, blue, yellows and purples a lot more, but in your zombified state, you only knew work. In the middle of the room, however, was a large conveyer belt. 

Your job was to extract certain things from these roses, place them on the conveyer belt, and move onto the next thing. You did this for three hours in the morning everyday.

It was only in the rose room that you saw more of the subjects that were kept in the facility. You were just conscious enough to be aware of the girl and boy on either side of you, and of the fact that you didn’t recognise them.

However, you were blissfully unaware of the guards stalking through the rows of you. They stopped by the boy on your left and grabbed him by the shoulders. You didn’t register the guards movements. You didn’t register the boy being violently yanked out of his position. You didn’t register him being dragged down the halls. You didn’t register his screams.

You did your work.

---

Due to the numbing agent of the serum, time didn’t seem to exist during your work and lunch, so, before you knew it, it was time to train. 

The training room was a very large open space, with an area of it dedicated to a certain activity. Your training works in a circuit. Each of you has an individual routine, specific activities and exercises to work on each day that are tailored towards your abilities. As well as the ability training, you all have fitness training and agility and other physical exercises to complete as well. You weren’t sure what you were training for, but you had been doing it all your life.

Yesterday you had been working on distance training. This was one exercise that was centred around your ability and focused on you trying to move the same object from a further distance each time. It was repetitive and mentally draining, but always gave you good results. Since that was yesterday, it meant that today you were working on your physical agility and assisting it with your abilities. It involved things such as jumping from narrow beams and using your telekinesis to help and support your movements.

You always began without using abilities, trying it by yourself so that you knew where you needed to direct your energy. You started on two long beams that were only around two feet off the floor, and you simply jumped between them, trying to keep your balance. You had to make your way down them while jumping from one to the other, speeding up each time you completed it.

Then, once the instructor watching you was satisfied, you were told to use your abilities. You now used telekinesis to manipulate the air around you to help you jump. It made you jump further and faster, also with safer landings. You continued with this for a short while before the instructor stopped you.

‘Right, now let’s actually put it to the test.’ They said, turning away from you.

You watched them, confused, bending over slightly with you hands on your knees as you tried to catch your breath. You had been hoping for a break so that you could rest briefly but you had no such luck. Your instructor turned around and pointed above them.

‘Up you go’ They said nonchalantly. You followed to where they were pointing and you let out a breath of disbelief. Above you, hanging from the ceiling, were thin beams that were swaying the the minute breeze cause by the movement.

‘You’ve gotta be kidding me.’ You thought. But you instructor simply looked at you expectantly and you knew that you weren’t getting out of this. All the other boys were drawing to a close with their exercises, which didn’t go unnoticed by your instructor, so they decided to make a small change to their plan.

‘You get through this once, and then we’re done for the day. Okay?’ They said, nodding with a smile that was anything but friendly.

You took a deep breath and climbed the stairs to the side of the room. On the way up you looked down and watched as Jisung finished his final exercise, meaning that all the boys were officially done. You reached the top and looked out in front of you.

The beams were much thinner than those you had been working on below, and, not to mention, the ropes holding them up looked suspiciously frail. They creaked as they moved and the wooden beams swayed gently in front of you. You knew that you weren’t getting out of here without completing this task, so you jumped.

The first jump was easy. It wasn’t even half a meter long and your telekineses helped you to keep the beam steady. You took careful steps, wincing every time the beam creaked underneath your weight. The ropes groaned as you moved but you kept going, knowing that slowing down would be more dangerous. 

You cleared the second jump again, with a little more effort required, but you couldn’t quite figure out why it was more difficult. You made you way across this one swiftly, keeping you steps as light as possible due to the trembling ropes. The last thing you wanted was to fall now. It wasn’t until you reached the third jump that you realised why it was getting harder.

The jumps were getting bigger.

You swallowed, risking a look down and seeing the seven boys watching you carefully. You took a shaky breath, keeping your eyes on them as you saw Jeno give you a nod of encouragement. You nodded back and lifted your head, determined to finish this. You focused your mind on using the air around you and pictured pushing the particles together to form a barrier. You jumped forward and used that barrier to lift you slightly higher. You let out a sigh of relief when you cleared the distance, but you relaxed too early as you hadn’t taken into account the weight of you landing.

The ropes creaked dangerously loudly and you watched in fear as they began to fray. You knew you had to finish this quickly, or else you would be taking the quick way down. You took step after step, walking as fast as you possibly could to reach the second to last jump. You lifted off again, this time with less preparation due to you worry of the beam snapping, and you almost didn’t make it. You landed, roughly on the edge of the beam, holding onto it desperately in an attempt to pull yourself up.

You could hear the worried intakes of breath from the boys below you, but they didn’t say a thing. They weren’t allowed to. Interfering with another subject’s training had painful repercussions. 

‘Come on y/n.’ You heard Jaemin’s voice echo through your head. You spared a look down to find him looking at you intently. You realised that he must be using his abilities to speak with you telepathically. You didn’t know he could do that. ‘Pull yourself up. You can do this.’

You forced yourself to focus, using your ability to help your legs up and you got onto the beam. You had just straightened up when it started to shake, the ropes of the verge of breaking.

‘Run!’ Jaemin’s voice shattered your dazed mind and you took off. One foot in front of the other, just trying to reach the end. You only had two jumps left to make, one to the final beam and one to the solid platform at the end with the stairs to take you back down to the safety of the ground. 

You launched off the beam and onto the final one, the impact of your landing causing the ropes to tremble. You began to run and they properly gave out. You felt the beam beneath you begin to give way and you placed a final foot as close to the edge as you could, and leaped.

You used your ability the best you could, but you could tell that you weren’t going to make it. Then you felt a sudden gust of air push you up slightly, allowing you to just clear the distance and land in a heap, safely on the other side. 

You lay there on the ground for a second, catching your breath. The instructor’s voice echoed around the training room.

‘Head back to your cells! We’re done for the day!’

---

You and Jeno were making your way back to your cell after dinner. The events of the training room hadn’t left your mind. That final gust of air had saved you. And you knew that it had to have come from Jeno. No one else could do that.

‘Hey Jeno?’ You asked, keeping your eyes on the floor as you walked.

He hummed in response.

‘Thank you for earlier. I don’t know what I would have done without you.’ You said honestly.

He stopped you walking, forcing you to look at him.

‘You don’t ever need to thank me. I’ve got your back and you’ve got mine. No matter what, we’re always gonna protect each other yeah?’

You nodded, a smile etching its way onto your face.

‘Yeah.’

You kept walking, turning the corner into your corridor that your cell was near the other end of. On the way to your cell, you passed the lab with its door open. You looked into it as you passed and stopped in your tracks. Donghyuck was on the operating table they had in the middle of the room, being restrained by two guards as he whimpered and resisted. You watched as they clamped metal restraints over his wrists and ankles, keeping him in place. A doctor began to approach him with a scalpel in his hand when the two of you were noticed. The doctor gestured towards the guard who reach forward and slammed the door shut, the lock clicking afterwards.

You and Jeno shared a sad look. The familiar whirring noise of the doctor’s instruments radiated through the door and you winced. You both recognised that sound and knew what Donghyuck was about to be put though. Jeno’s arm came up to your back to begin to guide you back to your shared cell. You accepted and walked with him. You knew that there was nothing you could do.

You hadn’t even got halfway down the corridor before Donghyuck began to scream.

---

9 days had passed since your last lab visit, meaning that you would be back in there tonight. And you were. You hadn’t even finished eating when the guards came to collect you. The other boys watched you sadly as you were escorted away.

You lay down on the operating table waiting for them to proceed. You felt the two guards approach you and you instinctively began to draw yourself away.

‘Strap her down. We don’t have time for this.’ The doctor instructed, frustration already present in his tone.

The guard stepped towards you again, grabbing your hands and pushed them down onto the table you were lying at. He ignored your begs and pleads to let you go and, instead, clamped the metal restraints down over your wrists. He repeated this process with your feet, effectively locking you in place.

You struggled against the cuffs with all you might but couldn’t budge one bit. You were used to being cuffed at your wrists and ankles, but it was when the guard approached you with a large belt, strapping your stomach to the table, that you really began to freak out. Your whole body thrashed from side to side as you tried to break free, but eventually, you found yourself unable to move.

The doctor leaned forward and pushed the guard out of the way. You noticed that, for the first time, there were three doctors preparing to work on you, rather than the normal one. This, and the intense measures that they went to to ensure that you couldn’t move, caused your fear to shoot through the roof.

‘The new procedure today Doc?’ One of the younger doctors asked.

‘Yes. We should be able to get some good data.’ The doctor leaning over you answered. 

You whimpered slightly, terrified of what was about to happen. The doctor leaned further over you, adjusting the scalpel in his hand. You tried to move away from it, but you had no power. The other two doctors held you head and chest, exposing you neck.

You felt the small knife make a long incision on the back of your neck and you couldn’t stop the scream that ripped from your throat. Something was on this knife that was making it unbelievably painful.

‘Don’t panic, she’s just reacting to the acid that’s on the tools.’ The first doctor’s voice cut through.

Acid.

Whatever was happening to you, it was going to be the most painful experience of your life.

And it was.

You screamed and thrashed and sobbed, trying everything you could to escape the merciless torture that was being inflicted upon you. You were cut in areas, injected, and hit with other objects. The doctors measured you reactions to each of these and took notes on how your body reacted.

You eventually transcended the level of pain, you body and mind too broken for you to register the full extent of what you were going through. You couldn’t even scream anymore, your lungs and vocal cords exhausted from the amount you’d used them in the previous hours.

‘Ok that’s enough.’ You heard a voice say. You tried to pry your eyes open to see who was speaking, but you couldn’t move. You could barely even focus on the words that were being said.

‘It’s not your job to tell us what to do.’ You recognised the main doctor’s voice.

The previous voice replied again. ‘It’s my job to keep them alive. Now stop.’

You managed to pry open your eyes and noticed a guard standing in front of the doctor, staring him down. You could’t process what was going on. The guards never stood up for you.

However, something in the guard’s words made the doctor turn back towards you, and when he saw the state that you were in, he swore.

‘Fuck.’ The words left his mouth softly and he suddenly began to rummage through the drawers. ‘Save the data, we need to eradicate this experience. She couldn’t take as much as we thought she could.’

The younger doctor’s voice piped up, a sentence that sent a chill down your spine. ‘We could try it on subject A3. The higher levels of speed mean that he heals faster, we would probably get further on him.’

‘Good idea.’ The first doctor replied.

Subject A3... Mark.

‘Now this is going to wake her up for about thirty seconds before knocking her out again. But she still isn’t going to have control over her limbs so you need to get her back to her cell, understand?’

You assumed the doctor was talking to the guard, but your eyes had closed again. The weight of your eyelids being too much to hold open in your current state. You tried to protest as the doctor tiled your head to the side, but all that came out was a choked whine. You hissed as the needle pierced your skin and something was injected into you.

You head spun violently as your body registered the new drug and you felt as though you were going to throw up. Your eye shot open as you gulped for air, your newly freed arms coming up to scratch at you throat.

Not even two seconds later, your entire body was numb. You couldn’t move, stand or pick yourself up even if you wanted to. The guard approached you, holding one of your arms over his shoulder and supporting your waist with the other. He lifted you up and walked you out of the door. Until the doctor’s voice caused a sudden stop to his movements

‘Ten? Not a word of this to anyone.’

The guard, Ten, didn’t move, didn’t even turn back to look at the doctor, but he didn’t need to in order to understand the threat. He made his way down the corridor, swearing as you slipped slightly from his grip. You watched the floor begin to spin under you feet as you were carried back to your cell. He finally reached the door, swiping his key card in the lock and kicking it open before throwing you back inside.

Your limp body hit the floor with a hard thud and the door closed behind the guard as he exited, locking with a click and a buzz. The ceiling spun above you and you couldn’t move to pull yourself up from the floor to get to your bed. You just registered Jeno’s worried face coming into your vision when it all went black.

---

You woke to the same high pitched beeping you did every morning. This time, however, to the view of Jeno’s head on your bed too. He had fallen asleep on the floor, watching over you throughout the night.

He stirred slightly, groaning as the beeping woke him from his slumber. He lifted his head, turning suddenly to look at you, his eyes widening when he saw that you were awake.

‘Y/n? Are you okay?’ He asked, concern etched on his features.

You opened your mouth to speak, but all that came out was a hoarse croak. You throat burned from the previous night and you winced at the pain. Jeno stood quickly, running into the bathroom to get you a glass of water. He came back and handed it you, watching as you gulped it down.

‘What did they do to you?’ He whispered, watching you form sadly. 

‘I don’t know.’ You whispered back, unable to speak any louder.

The door buzzed open and a guard walked in, the number 10 easily visible on the strap on his upper right arm. He placed the new grey jumpsuits on the end of your bed began to walk away again. The guard stopped in the doorway and turned back.

‘The rose room has been cancelled.’ He informed the two of you. ‘Instead, you train in the morning, then go for lunch and have a free afternoon. Get out of bed y/n.’

Both yours and Jeno’s heads shot towards the guard as he left, the two of you frozen in shock as the door locked shut.

‘Tell me you heard that too.’ Jeno breathed.

‘Yep.’ You confirmed, your brain running at a mile a minute.

‘They never address us by our names.’ He stated, and he was right. You were always addressed by subject number, nothing else.

‘Yep.’ You repeated.

‘Only by subject number.’

‘Yep.’

‘What do you think it means?’ He asked, turning away from the shut door to look at you.

‘I don’t know.’ You shook your head, your eyes still locked on the cell door that was staring back at you.

‘Why was it only you?’ Jeno wondered aloud.

‘I don’t know.’ You knew about as much as Jeno did so you honestly had no idea why he was asking you all these questions.

‘How do you feel about it?’

You paused, not knowing how to answer the final question that, for some reason, made your blood run cold. You turned to look at him.

‘... I don’t know.’

---

You and Jeno were the last to enter the training room. You both scanned the guards surrounding you all, but when none of them had the number 10 on their armour, you shared a disappointed look. Before arriving, you had decided to keep a look out for that guard, to see if there was something that separated him from the others. Something you could notice that would give you a reason as to why he used your name rather than your number. Once the eight of you were in the room, the guards turned and left, shutting the door behind them. You all stared at the shut door, then at each other. You had never been left alone in the training room before. Never.

What was wrong with this day?

You walked towards the physical agility station, confused when you saw Chenle standing there, preparing for his training. You weren’t sure why he was there when it was your turn for that station. He turned around when you approached him, his confused features mirroring your own.

‘Umm I’m meant to be on this station today.’ You informed him, not quite understanding why he didn’t already know that. You had all been on this training timetable for as long as you could remember.

‘No you’re not.’ Chenle replied bluntly, staring at you as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

‘Yeah, I am.’ Chenle shook his head at you but you persisted. ‘Yes, I am! I was on distance training yesterday so now I’m on this. Aren’t you on strength and conditioning?’ You stared at him expectantly but instead watched as worry spread across his face.

‘Y/n...’ His voice was low, quite as if he wasn’t sure how to tell you this. ‘You did physical agility three days ago.’

‘What do you mean?’ You asked, unable to quite wrap your mind around this new piece of information.

‘I mean you did this activity three days ago.’ He repeated, his eyes widening with worry. ‘Don’t you remember?’

You shook your head and took a shaky step back. By this point the other boys had begun to notice the conversation between the two of you, prompting them to come over and see what was wrong. Jeno placed a hand on your should, having just overheard the last two sentences.

‘Y/n, what do you remember?’ He looked you straight in the eyes.

‘I don’t know.’ You repeated the words you had already said multiple times today, fear and frustration growing. 

‘What did they do to you in that lab?’ He questioned, desperate for an answer.

‘I don’t know.’ You could hear the emotion creeping out in your voice.

‘Think!’ Jeno said, shaking you by the shoulders gently.

‘I don’t know! I don’t remember!’ You raised your voice, your body beginning to shake. All of the other boys stared at you in horror and you fell into Jeno’s hug whispering a scared. ‘Why don’t I remember?’

It was Jaemin’s voice that spoke the words you were all thinking but too afraid to say, scared of what it would mean for you all.

‘They wiped her memory.’

---

You eyes opened to the harsh light above you as the same rhythmic beeping woke you up. Even though you have woke up to the same noise for as long as you can remember, it still drives you insane to listen to it.

You rolled over, pulling your pillow over your head as you waited for it to stop. You felt a weight on the side of your bed and hands gently pull the pillow off your face. You opened one eye to be greeted with Jeno’s smiling face. You couldn’t help but let out a smile at the little crescents his eyes made each time he smiled. It always managed to make you happy as well.

You rolled onto your back and shut your eyes again, pulling one arm over to help block out some of the light that was still making its way though. Jeno’s hand came up to rub your arm comfortingly.

‘How are you feeling today?’ He asked, his voice slightly raspy from just having woken up.

You groaned out as a response

‘I don’t know. Better, I guess. We talked about it a lot yesterday which helped. At least now we know how much I’m missing.’

You removed your arm from your eyes and looked at the boy above you who was nodding.

‘Three days, including an entire visit to the lab. We have to assume that something happened that they didn’t want you to remember.’ He mused, the logical and rational side of his brain showing.

‘But what?’ You wondered. It annoyed you so much that the only person who had these answers was you, and you couldn’t even remember them.

The cell door buzzed and a guard walked in. You lifted your head to get a look at his number. 23. No luck. He threw the jumpsuits onto the end of your bed and then proceeded to stare at the two of you.

‘Stay apart. No need to be that close.’ He ordered, but neither of you moved. ‘I said, keep distance between the two of you. Stay on your own bed!’ 

He took a step forward, as if he was preparing to pull the two of you away from each other, but you acted faster. You threw your hand out, making a pushing motion and watched as the guard flew out of the door, landing on his bum a few feet back. 

He stumbled to his feet, attempting to stammer out an insult or some other kind of attempt to show off his power, but instead just settled on slamming the door shut. 

The lock buzzed and Jeno turned to look at you, shock and amazement clear on his face.

‘How did you manage that? That took almost no effort.’

You sighed.

‘I’m tired.’

Jeno’s brows furrowed at your reply.

‘But you’re like me in that being tired means it takes more effort and focus to use your abilities.’

You nodded at him as you explained yourself.

‘Yep. But I’m not that kind of tired. I mean I am, but most of all, I’m tired of this. This life, whatever it is. I’m tired of being treated like I’m a monster, I’m tired of the experiments, I’m tired of the training, I’m fed up with being here.’ You turned your head to look at Jeno after your confession and watched as he nodded with a sad but understanding smile on his face.

‘Yeah... me too.’ He admitted, his voice soft.

‘I know.’ You whispered.

---

You exited your cell, ready for the day and saw guards lined up by your door. You and Jeno shared a confused look, wondering where the doctor’s were, when the guard next to Jisung began to speak.

‘From now on, we’ll be administering your serum.’ He then turned to the boy in front of him. ‘Arm out.’

The guard by your door did the same, grabbing your wrist and exposing your inner elbow. He placed the syringe just below the joint and pressed down. You winced at the feeling that you were unfortunately used to and stepped away so that Jeno could get his. You then waited for the usual symptoms to hit you, watching as your friends turned into the comatose shells of themselves that you were expecting.

But they never came.

Your mind remained as sharp and aware as ever, and you could feel every thought that ran through your mind. You turned back to look at Jeno and, one look at his eyes told you that he was feeling the exact same thing. Your eyes flickered towards the guard who administered your serum and you focused on the number on his arm.

10.

Jeno followed your gaze and looked back at you with wide eyes. The guard began to walk towards the two of you and, out of the corner of your eye, you could see the other guards doing the same so you didn’t think too much of it. Until he began to speak.

‘You’re heading to the rose room.’ He then made sure to look the both of you directly in the eyes. ‘And you’re under the usual effects of the serum.’

With that, he turned and walked away, leaving both you and Jeno alone. You decided to just do what he said and head to the rose room, but you made sure to act as though you were feeling the usual effects of the serum. You moved lethargically, dragging your feet and keeping your eyes ahead at all times. Jeno did the same, both of you faking it the entire way there, while wondering what the hell was going on.

---

You stood at your usual position in the rose room, gathering ingredients and putting them on the conveyer belt like you always did. When you entered the room it was hard not to react to anything. The range of brilliant colours blinded you as you entered and it took everything in you not to just stop and stare.

You noticed that, out of the all the subjects there, that you guessed would be around one hundred, it only looked like your group was under the serum. The rest of them seemed very much aware of their surroundings and what they were doing. When gathering the ingredients you took a quick look at what it was exactly that you were gathering. When you got a glimpse of the label, your heart stopped. These were the same bottles that were found in the lab. It wasn’t until you managed to look over every different object obtained from the genetically modified roses, that you realised you had spent your entire life gathering the solutions and serums that the doctors had used to perform experiments on you.

You had been assisting in your own torture.

You found yourself standing at your final station, a girl you didn’t recognise on your right and the space to your left was empty. The guards began to march between you all, weaving their way through the working subjects. They stopped next to you, so close that you could feel their breath on the back on your neck.

The hairs on your arm began to rise and goosebumps began to form at the close contact. You prayed that they couldn’t see your reaction, knowing that it would give away your state. But they weren’t there for you.

The guards grabbed the girl on your right by her shoulders and pulled her backwards. They held her underneath each arm and dragged her out of the rose room. Her screams, struggles and pleas for help went completely ignored as she was eventually pulled out of sight. No one took any notice, not single subject seemed to realise what had just happened. You could her your heart pounding louder than every before, the girl’s screams still echoing in your head, haunting your thoughts.

A sudden bell sounded through the rose room, one that you recognised as signalling the end of the session. You turned in your spot, waiting for your turn to leave as all the subjects filed out of the rose room in orderly fashion. The fact that the girl was taken at the end of the session made you nervous. Is that what the guards were doing when walking through you all? Looking for their next target? And how long it would be until it was one of you?

---

After the longest day yet, you and Jeno were back in your cell. The door locked behind you and you both turned and stared at each other in disbelief.

‘How much have we missed by being under the serum?’ You asked.

‘They must only put us under it so that they can get away with doing all those things, it’s not to protect us at all.’ Jeno stated and you nodded in agreement.

‘And did you see what we were gathering in the rose room?’ You brought up, watching as Jeno’s eyes widened in realisation.

‘The solutions they use in the lab! And what did they do to that poor girl?’ His voice softened as you both thought about the subject being dragged away from you all, begging for help.

‘I didn’t even know her name.’ You muttered.

‘Me neither.’ Jeno admitted. ‘But did you notice, I don’t think anyone other than our group was under the simulation.’

‘Yes!’ You agreed. ‘I saw that too. Everyone else seemed perfectly aware of what was going on.’

Jeno nodded and you sat down on your bed, your brain feeling as though it was about to explode.

‘Huh...’ You mumbled, a sudden thought crossing your mind.

Jeno turned his head towards you, his eyebrows furrowing at the confused look on your face.

‘What?’ He questioned.

‘It’s just... the other subjects were definitely awake. It was obvious that they hadn’t been given the serum that we normally are. So, why didn’t they react to that girl being taken by the guards.’ You pondered.

Jeno thought for a moment, sitting down on his own bed opposite you.

‘Maybe they’re used to it.’ He suggested. ‘We don’t know how often that happens, it could be considered normal.’

‘I guess.’ You conceded. ‘But they didn’t react at all... I mean, even if you’re used to it, she was screaming for her life and they didn’t even spare a glance. It’s strange not to take any notice of that. I mean, we only didn’t because we had to act as if we were still under the serum.’

Jeno didn’t reply for a second, his eyes fixated on his hands that fiddling were in his lap.

‘Why do you think we weren’t given the serum?’ He asked, looking up at you.

You opened your mouth to tell him that you had no idea, but the lock on your door buzzed, and it swung open. Four guards stalked in causing you and Jeno to both stand out of shock. You were never disturbed at this time unless it was to take you to the lab, and it was Renjun’s night tonight.

Two of the guards approached you, the other two heading towards Jeno.

‘What’s happening?’ Jeno asked, but he was ignored.

Not a words was uttered by the guards as they grabbed you by the arms and began to drag you out of your cell. You began to kick and scream, struggling with all your might to break free.

‘Jesus, why can’t she go quiet?’ One of the guards complained, earning a groan from his partner.

‘Just get her to the lab and stop complaining.’

The lab...

You began to throw yourself about, desperate to not go back there, whatever the cost. You had no idea what it was that was making you react this violently, but your instincts kicked it and told you to fight with all your might.

Upon seeing you reaction, Jeno tried to reach for you, but he was stopped by the other two guards who grabbed him by the shoulders and forced him back. They held onto him tight as he tried to break through them.

‘Y/n! Let go!’ He yelled out, trying to land a hit on one of the guards.

‘Jeno!’ You called back, kicking out with your feet in an attempt to throw the guards off balance.

‘Y/N!’ You could hear Jeno crying out for you as you were pulled out of the cell completely. You just managed to see the two guards holding Jeno throw him to the floor before they turned to leave. They locked the door, with you on the outside and Jeno on the inside.

You continued to be dragged away, crying out for dear life, begging someone to come and help you. But no one did. They all acted as if you didn’t exist. You couldn’t help but wonder if this was how that girl had felt earlier. Screaming and pleading for someone to save her, only to be treated like a ghost.

Jeno’s screams for you could still be heard halfway down the corridor, along with the heavy banging against the door from him throwing his body against it in an attempt to get out.

As you approached the lab door, every morsel of your being was telling you, screaming at you, not to go back in there. But you didn’t have a choice. The two guards threw you into the lab, one of them following you in, before the door was locked shut. You were stuck in the lab with one doctor and one guard, and you were terrified.

You banged on the door, trying desperately to get out. You were so frantic that you couldn’t hear the doctor trying to get your attention. It was only when you realised that they were making no effort to restrain or cuff you that you managed to calm yourself down slightly.

You turned away from the door, the tear tracks down your face prominent. You weren’t sure when you had started crying, the utter terror you had been feeling having taken over your entire body.

The doctor took one step towards you, holding up his hands as if in surrender, but also to show you that he wasn’t holding anything.

‘Well done y/n. Just try to keep yourself calm okay? Breathe... Can you do that for me?’

You didn’t reply to him, simply staring at the man that seemed to act as if he cared for you. These doctors didn’t care for you. Normally you would be handcuffed to the table, screaming in pain by now, but for some reason you were standing upright being told to breathe.

The guard to your left took off his helmet, causing you to take a breath of surprise. You had never seen a guard with his helmet off before, much less one this close. You gawked as the man smiled at you, a genuine, comforting smile that for some reason made you feel safe.

The doctor began to speak again.

‘Y/n, we’re not going to hurt you. In fact, we’re trying to help you. My name’s Doyoung and this is Ten.’ 

‘Uh huh...’ You stuttered, not really managing to get any real words out.

‘Ten administered your serum this morning, the serum I created for you. And you probably don’t need me to tell you that it was a fake.’

You nodded at the doctor’s words, still trying to calm your racing heart.

‘We did that because there’s a lot that you don’t know about this place that we think you should.’ The doctor, Doyoung, then turned to the guard. ‘Ten can you get her some water?’

The guard, who you assumed went by his uniform number 10, nodded before standing up.

‘Do you want to sit down?’ Doyoung asked, pulling up a chair for you.

You nodded, gladly taking the chair and very grateful that he didn’t ask you to sit on the table. Ten offered you a glass of water, which you took with a small smile as thanks. You took a sip, relishing in how the cool liquid managed to calm your mind.

‘Ok, keep going.’ You said and Doyoung’s eyebrows raised in surprise. ‘Why are you surprised? Like you said, after what I’ve seen today, I’m not so sure that this place is really meant to keep me safe.’

Doyoung sighed and looked down sadly.

‘It isn’t. This place isn’t designed to keep you safe, but rather to keep you in. It’s a prison. I know that to you it seems as though there are hundreds of people here, but there aren’t. Only the eight of you on your floor are being kept here.’

You let out a deep breath you didn’t even know you were holding.

‘A prison...’ You whispered. ‘Only for the eight of us?’

Doyoung nodded and Ten placed a comforting hand on your shoulder.

‘Why us?’ You asked.

Doyoung and Ten shared a look, making you dread what was coming next.

‘Please, just tell me what I am.’ You begged, so tired of having spent your entire life not knowing the most basic thing about you.

‘Doyoung, she needs to know.’ Ten said, as Doyoung sighed.

‘Yeah, I know. There’s no easy way to tell you this y/n. The world fell into chaos slightly. Political leaders began to clash more and more with each other and, before we knew it, we were on the brink of a third world war. One that, this time, really would involve the whole world, and with the creation of nuclear weapons, our government want something that would set us apart from everywhere else. He decided to turn his intentions to modifying humans. He exposed children to certain chemicals and levels of radiation when they were young to see if anything had an affect on them. Eventually he found success, but at a very large cost.’

‘How large?’ You whispered, scared of the answer. Ten spoke up this time, making you turn your head towards him.

‘He tested on over three hundred thousand children. You eight are the only survivors.’

You didn’t know how to react. Eight out of three hundred thousand. Who would be willing to pay that high of a price?

‘What does that make me? A weapon?’ You asked, your voice quiet, almost inaudible.

‘You were human, at some point. Now, we’re not sure. I would believe the closest definition is a mutant of some kind, but y/n, you have to remember that this doesn’t define you.’ Doyoung leaned forward but you shook your head.

‘I’m not human, I’m a mutant, a weapon, an experiment. I’m nothing more than an experiment, a toy for you to play with in your lab. That why I’m prisoner here. I’m a monster.’ You were spiralling, caught up in a mess of reality and new information, you couldn’t control where your mind was heading.

‘Y/n, Doyoung is right, this doesn’t define who you are.’ Ten tried to reassure you but you whirled on him.

‘Doesn’t define me? Yes it does! It literally is what I am, how can you say it doesn’t define me?’ You accused.

‘Because you’re more than that! Beneath all that’s been done to you, all we’ve done to you, we know that you’re people. You are human, you think and feel as we do, you love like we do, you die like we do. And who gives a damn about what made you what you are. It’s who you are that matters.’ Doyoung stood up during his small speech. He somehow managed to verbally slap some sense into you, allowing you a brief moment to calm your mind.

‘The others need to know.’ You blurted, your thoughts suddenly drifting back to Jeno.

‘Yes, and we will tell them.’ Ten reassured.

‘Tonight.’ You insisted. ‘They’ve been through exactly the same thing I have. Why should I get to know the truth and they shouldn’t?’

Both Doyoung and Ten looked at each other, having short, silent conversation before Doyoung sighed and agreed with you.

‘Ok, tonight. Ten go and fetch them from their cells. The doors are locked so the corridors should be empty of guards.’

Ten nodded and left the room quickly, stopping briefly to scan the hallways and only continuing once he knew it was clear. The door automatically shut softly behind him. You suddenly remembered something else Doyoung said, causing you to turn back to face him once more.

‘What changed your mind?’ You asked, only receiving a very confused look from the doctor in return. ‘You’ve worked on us for years, as a trainee then as a real doctor. You haven’t had this position long, so why are you risking everything you’ve worked for? When did you start to think of us as humans?’

A guilty look crossed Doyoung’s face.

‘I’ve done some terrible things to you, to all of you, over the years, and I cannot apologise enough for that. I always thought... that we were doing the right thing, the thing that should be done. We needed something to set us apart or, before we knew it, we would be a speck of dust on the ground, bombed within an inch of our lives. But that was over ten years ago, and you guys haven’t left the facility once. I kept telling myself that it would be worth it, that this was all being done for a reason, and that you would understand that. But then I was in the lab and something made me look at a subject differently. The way he acted, it was something so vulnerable, so human, that it changed my perspective completely.’

‘What was it?’ You asked, immersed in Doyoung emotional words.

‘It was Jeno. He was undergoing a procedure that had been done a thousand times before, but the head doctor that day decided to make some changes. I don’t know what he did, but Jeno started to scream, and not just shout out in a bit of pain, I mean, properly scream. I could hear the strain on his vocal cords and he started crying out and begging for help like I had never heard anyone beg before and he kept calling for the same person over and over.’

‘Who did he call out for?’ Your voice was shaking slightly, your emotions running high at the thought of what could have made Jeno scream out like that.

Doyoung looked at you, complete sincerity in his eyes.

‘You. He called out for you.’

Before you could reply, or even process this information, the door to the lab burst open and the other boys all piled in. Jeno spotted you, alive, awake and well and made his way towards you immediately. He pulled you in for a tight hug as soon as he reached you, wrapping his arms securely around your waist. 

‘Oh thank god, you’re okay.’ He whispered. He pulled back and brushed the hair out of your face, holding your cheeks in his hands while he searched your face for any sign of pain. ‘Are you okay?’

You nodded in response. ‘Yeah I’m okay. But you guys need to hear this.’

You watched as Doyoung and Ten explained to the other boys what they had just told you. You watched as they went through exactly the same reactions that you did. And you watched as each of them managed to process this information in their own way.

‘There’s only one thing left to tell you all.’ Ten said, watching as eight pairs of scared eyes looked up at him. ‘We’re going to break you out.’

‘I’m sorry, you’re gonna what?’ Renjun asked, voicing the shock you were all feeling.

‘You’re more than just subjects, more than just experiments, you’re people. And you don’t get the chance to just be people when you’re trapped here. So tomorrow, we’re gonna break you out.’ Doyoung explained.

‘Tomorrow?’ Chenle questioned and both Doyoung and Ten nodded in confirmation.

‘What’s happens after that? Where do we go next? All we’ve known is this facility, so what will we do outside of it?’ Jaemin piped up, thankfully thinking ahead for all of you.

‘I already have a truck ready for us to escape in tomorrow, from there we will drive out of range so that they can’t detect us. Doyoung and I know some people who are willing to help. We’ll stay with them for a while and then, eventually, reintegrate the eight of you back into the world, and allow you to lie the normal life you’ve always been deprived of.’ Ten spoke. You sat there silently, just taking all this information in. You were getting out, and not only that, but also going to get the life you never thought you would ever be able to. You weren’t sure what life would be like on the outside, but as long as you had the guys there, you knew you would be okay.

You felt a pair of eyes on you and turned your head, only to catch Jeno staring at you with an unreadable expression on his face. He looked away as soon as you noticed him, clearing his throat before asking one last question.

‘So... how are we getting out of here?’

---

You lay in bed that night, unable to sleep. You knew that you could probably do with a good rest, but your mind was so active that it was impossible. You couldn’t tell if Jeno was awake too, worried that if he wasn’t you might wake him from your constant moving. Doyoung revelation about him calling out for you when in pain was plaguing your mind as well. You had often found yourself thinking of Jeno when you were undergoing procedures in the lab, but you had always dismissed it as wondering what state you would be in when you were returned to your roommate. Was it possible that it was something more? You can’t deny that you’ve felt something for Jeno, he was kind, compassionate, empathetic and so damn loyal to you.

‘Y/n?’ Jeno’s voice disrupted your thoughts, causing you to jump out of your skin.

You swallowed before replying.

‘Yeah?’

‘Oh you’re awake too.’ He mumbled.

‘Yeah... I can’t sleep.’ You admitted.

‘Me neither.’

The conversation stopped for a minute and, for the first time since you met him, you didn’t know what to say to Jeno. You felt colder in your bed than you ever had before and you wanted nothing more than to crawl into his and fall asleep there.

‘Y/n?’ Jeno spoke again, much softer this time.

‘Yeah?’ You whispered back.

‘I’m cold...’ He confessed and you could almost hear the blush that you knew would be dusting his cheeks.

Before you let the surge of courage you felt pass, you climbed out of your bed and padded softly over to his.

‘Move over.’ You instructed, gently tapping his side.

He did just as you told him too, moving himself to the edge so that you could climb in. You lay facing each other for a while and you found yourself unable to tear your gaze away from his eyes. He lifted up a hand to move a stray piece of hair out of your face and sighed.

You shut your eyes slowly, hoping that by being closer to him you would be able to get some rest. The only problem was, the beds that you slept on were not the largest and could only really fit one person. You found yourself almost pressed up against his chest and that made it very hard for you to calm your rapidly beating heart.

‘Hold on, bear with me for a second.’ Jeno mumbled as he moved himself around slightly. You squeaked in surprise when you felt his hands come to waist, pulling you halfway onto his chest as he settled down on his back.

‘Is this ok?’ He asked hesitantly, and you nodded in response.

Even though you were practically lying on top of him, you couldn’t deny that this position was much more comfortable. From here you could hear his heartbeat and you allowed the consistent rhythm of it to help lull you to sleep.

You wrapped your arm around his waist, the other coming up to rest on his chest as his arms found their way around your shoulder and stroking your hair. You closed your eyes and felt yourself finally drift off to sleep, almost missing the soft sentence Jeno whispered into your hair.

‘I don’t know what will happen once we get out of here, but please just... don’t leave me. I think I need you more than you know.’

---

For as long as you can remember, you have woken up to the sound of the high pitched repetitive beep of the alarm. Not today.

You were quickly pulled out of your sleep to the sound of alarms blaring, red lights flashing and shouting in the corridor. You and Jeno shared a sleepy but scared look before quickly climbing out of bed. You bit your lip slightly in embarrassment as you remembered the position that the two of you slept in last night. Jeno approached your door and pushed on it gently. The door swung open and the two of you stared in disbelief.

You followed him out into the corridor and found yourself standing in the middle of the chaos. Guards and doctors were running up and down the corridors shouting commands and arguing with each other while the eight of you all stood in your doorways, confused to high heavens.

‘Grab them now!’ You heard one of the doctors yell as you were finally noticed. ‘They’re not getting away.’

You saw a guard lunge for Chenle, who quickly turned into a fly and disappeared from sight. Three other guards ran towards you and Jeno, their intentions obvious and the two of you immediately began to move. Jeno threw up a gust of air, knocking them off their feet, while you pulled doors open and moved their legs so that they were constantly tripping over.

‘Guys we have to get out of here now!’ Mark yelled over the noise.

He suddenly appeared from nowhere, making you jump.

‘They somehow found out about our plan, either we leave now, or we’re never getting out.’ And with that he was gone, disappearing at the speed of light.

Jeno opened up a hailstorm on the guard in front of him, his efforts useless against the tough armour that they were wearing. You pulled out a metal drawer from one of the cells and used your telekinesis to ram in into the guard’s leg.

He crumpled where he stood, his head landing hard on the concrete. Your eyes went wide as he lay there unmoving for a second, until he let out a breath and groaned in pain. Jeno’s grabbed your arm and shouted something at you that you didn’t quite catch, you eye still fixated on the guard in front of you.

You really were dangerous. You had hurt someone. And it had taken very little effort from you to do so. What could you do if you really wanted to hurt someone? How badly could you hurt someone without meaning to? 

You lost focus on your surroundings, Jeno’s sudden pull on your arm causing you to lose balance. You managed not to fall over, but it slowed you down. You forced yourself to focus, to think rationally, to prioritise leaving and then you could figure out the extent of your abilities.

But you were too late. One of the doctors noticed your stumble and grabbed a taser from a fallen guard. They quickly pushed it into, electrocuting you where you stood. You mouth fell open as a scream tore out of it and your body collapsed onto the ground.

Your mind went fuzzy, everything around you slowing down as you tried to take it all in. You vaguely registered Jeno screaming out for you as you lay on the cold floor. You lifted your eyes and stared into the open door in front of you. It took you a few seconds to realise that you were staring into the lab. You watched as one of the guards cornered Doyoung, who stood with his hands up trying to explain something. They didn’t listen however, and you watched as the guard pulled a gun out of nowhere and squeezed the trigger.

Doyoung doubled over, a red patch forming on his stomach. His back hit the counter behind him and he sank down towards the ground, the pain evident on his face. The red mark on his shirt was growing by the second until it covered half of his lower stomach. You found yourself staring into the dull, lifeless eyes of the one doctor here who had actually tried to look out for you.

Your eyes welled up with tears, blurring your vision. You barely felt the arms that hooked under your elbows and began to drag you down the corridor. The last things you registered before you blacked out were Jeno screaming for you, and Doyoung’s dead body.

--- 

‘God this kid is a pain.’

‘I know man, I don’t get why we have to be stuck here with her.’

‘Doyoung though? Hmmm, I didn’t see that betrayal coming.’

‘Really? Out of everyone, I’m least surprised that it was him. He always had the weakest stomach when it came to things like this.’

You heard the voices before you even realised that you were awake. The guards in your room were having a casual chat while they waited for you to wake up. Your head was pounding and your mouth tasted like pennies. You scrunched up your face in discomfort, trying to open your eyes but with little success.

‘Oh, look. I think she’s coming back...’

You groaned out slightly, your mind suddenly becoming aware of the pain your body was in. You forced your eyes open, regretting that choice as soon as you were blinded by the harsh white light of whatever room you were currently being kept in.

You blinked a couple of times, trying to adjust to your surroundings, before taking a quick look around. You definitely weren’t in your cell anymore. You found yourself chained to the wall, literally. There were heavy metal cuffs around your wrists, ankles, stomach and even your neck. Each of those cuffs were attached to a chain that was embedded into the wall behind you.

They had taken every measure possible to imprison you somewhere they knew you wouldn’t be able to escape from.

You lifted your head and found yourself staring at two guards, both with their helmets off. They looked at you with such patronising looks on their faces, but you couldn’t focus on them. Your eyes were trained on the cupboard behind them, an open cupboard that you could see was filled with guard uniforms.

One of the guards followed your line of sight and laughed.

‘You’re not in our cloak room, don’t worry sweet heart. You’re in the maximum security room at the end of the hall.’ 

Your blood ran cold at his revelation. No one who entered this room ever made it out alive. But then, that was before you learnt that there were only eight of you actually being held in this facility... You really had no idea what this meant for you.

‘Allow me to explain.’ The other guard took a step forwards. ‘Every time you get drugged and tiptoe off the the rose room to do your work, we walk in and grab a random person standing next to one of you and drag them back here. Now their job is to just scream and kick and draw as much attention to themselves as they can while everyone else ignores them. Once they get here do you know what they do? They get back into their guard uniform and go back to work. All those people you know, everyone in the rose room with you, all of them are one of us.’ He let out a laugh. ‘I can’t believe you were stupid enough to think that they were real subjects!’

The first guard joined in, enjoying taunting you when you were at your most vulnerable.

‘God you really are stupid aren’t you?’ He commented. ‘You thought you were getting out? You’re never going to get out of here. You’re simply going to be stuck here for the rest of your life.’

The other guard laughed again.

‘Yeah, you know that war you were made for. It’s not going to happen so you really aren’t ever getting out. You’re too scared to hurt one of us, how would you ever be useful in a war?’

‘God you’re such a waste of space. I can’t believe that out of the hundreds of thousands that went through the initial testing, she was one of the few to survive.’

‘Tell me about it. Why is she even in maximum security? She probably wouldn’t hurt a fly.’

The guards continued with their taunts, each one crueler than the last. You tried everything you could to block them out, but it was difficult. Especially when they were right, you had been useless. It’s because you were too scared to hurt a guard’s leg that all of you are stuck here forever. This is your fault.

‘No it isn’t.’ Jaemin’s voice echoed through your head, startling you. ‘Ignore them y/n. None of this is your fault, it’s theirs. Don’t forget who put you there in the first place. Now, listen to me, you need to get out of there. Now. I don’t care how you do it, but y/n, it’s time to go.’

The guards continued to taunt you, telling you how powerless you were and you started to feel your anger grow. Jaemin was right, these people did put you in here. They imprisoned you, tortured you and the people you care about. They put you through hours upon hours of pain, just to tell you that you weren’t good enough.

You pulled your hands closed into fists and focused your mind like you never have before. You channelled your anger into your being, thinking of everything you’ve lost, everything they’ve taken from you. A family, a normal life, the ability to just be human. You felt the power rumble from within you. It was like nothing you had ever felt before. It grew from your soul, feeding off your raw emotions, evolving and mutating as it made its way throughout your limbs. It finally reached your head and your opened your eyes. They were pure gold.

The guards stopped their conversation and stared at you in fear, completely at a loss as to what they should do.

You finally understood. You weren’t human. You were so much more than that. And it was time they learnt just how powerful you could be.

You threw your head back, and screamed.

You unleashed all the power within you as a sheer bolt of energy. The chains imprisoning you shattered, falling to the floor. The guards were throw backwards, both of them hitting the wall with a sickening crack, and your door was blown off its hinges. You stood and began to move, feeling every part and every being in the universe working with you and you knew, this is what true power felt like.

You had no idea how to come down from it, you were so taken over that you didn’t feel the hand that gently found its way into yours until you were being turned where you stood and found yourself looking into Jeno’s eyes.

‘Come back to me y/n.’ He whispered, pulling you into his chest and stroking your hair. You let go of all the anger you were feeling, choosing instead to ground yourself with the boy in front of you. ‘We have to go.’

‘I heard.’ You mumbled, pulling yourself away from him chest.

You ran through the corridor, gathering all the boys on the way. Jeno had managed to create a mini hurricane in his room, effectively blowing his way out of the cell he was in. Jisung quite literally just barrelled straight through his door, but he once again misjudged his strength and couldn’t stop himself. He kept going straight into the door on the opposite side of the corridor, luckily bursting it open it for Renjun.

It the situation weren’t so dire you probably would have fallen over laughing at the scene in front of you. 

Chenle turned into a midge and flew through the key hole of his cell door, making you admire the boy’s talent to find a loophole in every scenario. Jaemin used his mind control to get the guard who was watching him to open the door for him. Also making the guard bow for him as he walked out as a finishing touch. You couldn’t help but smile at that. Jisung pulled off the doors of both Mark’s and Donghyuck’s cells and the eight of you ran.

You turned a corner and barrelled straight into a guard. All of you threw up your hands, ready to fight, until you saw that it was Ten. Instead of getting a punch in the face, Ten found himself with eight superhuman teens hugging him with all their might.

‘Ok, let’s do this later, the truck’s outside. Go!’

He pushed you all off his and pointed towards the door in front of you. You ran towards it, turning your head to the left as you passed the lab and not missing Doyoung’s body, still lying there on the floor. You swallowed back your tears, promising that you would mourn him properly later, and pushed forwards. You burst out of the doors, shocked beyond belief to find yourself in a lobby of some kind. Your entire life, you thought you had been in the sub basement section of a facility, but really you had been above ground the whole time.

You didn’t have time to marvel however, because, as soon as you were spotted, the alarms went off. They blared through the building and you took that as your cue to leave.

Jisung ran first, easily breaking the main doors open, despite their heavy lock, and the eight of you poured outside. You saw the truck that Ten had mentioned, the trademark number 10 a sign that it was yours. It was on the outside of the barbed wire fence that surrounded the facility. The fence was too high to climb so you took a deep breath and held your arms out. You pulled them apart, imaging a rip and watched as the fence tore in two.

You all sprinted through the fence and piled into the truck that was waiting for you. There was a fabric roof and some metal beams making the skeleton on the inside so you held onto that as you climbed in. Mark moved around to the front seat and you look out, waiting for Ten. You needed him to drive this truck as none of you could. 

Ten finally appeared, running at full speed towards you.

‘Go!’ He screamed. ‘Just go!’

You wanted to shout back to him but you never got the chance to. The gunshot rang out loudly and Ten fell straight to the ground. He lay face down in the grass, not breathing, not moving a muscle. 

He was dead.

‘Mark... Mark drive. We need to go.’ Donghyuck’s shaky voice tore you out of your trance. Mark moved himself so that he was in the driver’s seat and turned the key.

‘Ok, I can figure this out.’ He reassured himself.

‘Well can you do it now because we have some rather unfriendly company arriving in about thirty seconds. And you don’t want to know what they’ll do if they catch us.’ Donghyuck warned, making all your eyes widen in fear. When the boy who can see the future tells you that something is going to happen, you’ve learnt that the best thing to do would be to listen to him.

Mark moved the gear stick into ‘D’ and slammed his foot down on a random pedal. Luckily he seemed to get the right one because you all lurched forwards, speeding away from the facility. Mark’s super speed means that he has extremely fast reflexes, making it very useful for when he needs to learn a new skill. He reacted quickly to the movements of the car and it didn’t take long before you were smoothly driving away from the prison that was also happened to be the only home you’ve ever know.

Renjun shuffled in his seat, facing his body out the back of the truck and towards the facility. He lifted up his hands, turning his palms out before suddenly clenching them into fists. He then sat back down, his back hitting the seat as he let out a deep sigh.

‘Just a quick image of an empty field. It’ll throw them off the scent long enough for us to get out of here.’ He explained before leaning his head back and shutting his eyes.

You looked back at the large building that was disappearing rapidly into the distance and thought of Doyoung and Ten. The two who risked everything so that you could all be where you are now. And they were the two who paid the ultimate price.

You felt your eyes beginning to droop, the gentle movements of the car lulling your tiring body to sleep. You felt Jeno’s arm come around your shoulder and you leant into his warmth, relishing in the comfort of being close to him. Only now did you realise how exhausted you really were. You allowed your head to fall onto Jeno’s shoulder, feeling his arm tighten slightly around you, and you felt safe.

For the first time, ever, you felt safe.

[carnegiemuseumnaturalhistory]

Waddling in a Winter Wonderland: How Penguins, Humans, and other Animals Traverse Ice and Snow

Winter in Pennsylvania has it pros and cons. The not-so-wonderful aspects of the season, such as shoveling sidewalks and trudging through knee-deep snow drifts, can be considered character builders at best.  But then there’s the fun stuff, like ice skating and sledding.  These can more than make up for the negative things, especially if you’re a kid. As a child, I remember doing these winter activities (plus making snowmen and snow angels, too).  A lot of the activities that we see as leisure fun have actually been around for thousands of years.  Through invention and adaptation, both humans and animals have learned how to deal with their wintry landscapes and safely travel from one icy area to another.

Today, people associate ice skating with sports and recreation.  But, for a long time in human history, skates were essential for winter travel.  They date back at least 3,000 years to around the end of the Bronze Age, when the people of Eastern Europe and Russia created skates out of animals’ shin bones (most likely cow and horse).  These bone skates lied flat to the ice so the wearer could glide in all directions.  However, control and speed were somewhat lacking.

But a dramatic change happened in the 13th century when the metal blade was introduced.  Two hundred years later, better control and faster speed were achieved when sturdier bindings were added.  Rapid travel was now possible during the cold winter months.  In the 15th century Netherlands, for example, the canals that were built to power water mills and irrigate farmland in the summer would transform into frozen highways for thousands of travelers in the winter.  

Today, we no longer need to depend on nature because temperature-controlled ice rinks are at our disposal all year round.  But, whether the ice is natural or man-made, scientists are still not 100% sure how ice skating is possible.  There are multiple theories.  One is that the extreme pressure of the skate blade on the ice creates a high viscosity bead of melt water that the skate glides on.  Another theory says that the uppermost layer of ice is made up of an extremely thin (10-20 nanometers) layer of freely moving water molecules.  The skate blade glides across this quasi-liquid layer.  It’s very similar to the support provided by the surface tension of the top layer of liquid water.  Whatever the reason that makes skating possible, people just know that they really like it.  Skating is an extremely popular activity, especially as it relates to sports.

Athletes can prefer different temperatures and textures of ice.  “Slow ice” is warmer, softer, and rougher, and figure skaters prefer it for pushing off and landing complicated jumps.  In contrast, hockey players prefer “fast ice.”  It’s colder, harder, and smoother, which makes skating faster, passing easier, and puck behavior more predictable.

And if you could equate a hockey player to any creature in the animal world, it would be a penguin.  These experts of ice travel prefer “fast ice.”  This is because they use tobogganing as a primary way to get around.  The toboggan, a thin, flat, flexible piece of wood, has been used for centuries by humans as a transporter of supplies as well as for leisure fun.  But, in the case of penguins, they themselves are the toboggan!  Walking for penguins is slow-going.  They can only waddle along at about 1.5 mph.  With tobogganing, penguins can move faster with no risk of falling.  On horizontal ice, they slide around on their bellies, using their flippers and feet for propulsion, steering, and braking.  But when they find a nice downslope…stand back!  Like tiny tuxedoed torpedoes, penguins can slide down an icy hill at surprising speeds.

While penguins love to take advantage of ice’s gliding properties, polar bears have developed adaptations that keep slipping and sliding to a minimum.  The sole of a polar bear’s foot has thick, black pads that are covered with small, soft dermal bumps (also called papillae) that create friction between their foot and the ice.  Long hairs growing between the pads and toes, plus curved claws, also provide traction.  They are the only bears that walk in a plantigrade, heel-to-toe, manner. Their gait is almost human-like, with the one slight difference that their toes point inward to avoid slipping.  Their forepaws are also similar in structure to a human hand, so much so that it would be difficult for the average person to tell the difference between the bones of a polar bear paw and the bones of a human hand.  This round, flattened paw shape acts like a snowshoe that spreads out their weight as they move over the snow.

Polar bears aren’t the only animals adapted to walking on top of snow.

Thousands of years ago, large regions of the world were snowbound for much of the year, including North America. This meant animals needed to adapt to their environments; some of these animals are still around today, like the snowshoe hare, whose wide, furry, large-toed feet—larger than any other rabbit species— allowed them to move easily over deep snow.  

Like the hare, the ptarmigan, a partridge-like grouse, also lives in North America and has its own set of built-in snowshoes.  As winter approaches, its feet become more feathery and they grow longer claws.  These seasonal changes increase the weight-bearing surface of their feet by four times and reduce sinking in the snow by half.

Caribou (also known as reindeer in Russia and Scandinavia) go through a similar transformation with the coming of winter.  Their sharp-edged hooves grow longer, their foot pads get tougher, and extra fur grows between and around their toes.  These changes transform their already wide, flat feet into the ideal snowshoe for a frosty trek.  For animals such as these, developing coping strategies for cold weather transport are essential to surviving and thriving in a frozen landscape. 

So this winter, if you just happen to be strolling along admiring the Narnia-esque view around you, and you fail to notice that patch of ice at your feet, you may end up flat on your back, staring up at the sky, wondering “Why me?” but don’t despair.  Instead, take comfort in the fact that even penguins, the masters of the ice, slip and take spectacular spills from time to time. At least you’re in good company!

Shelby Wyzykowski is a Gallery Experience Presenter in CMNH’s Life Long Learning Department. Museum staff, volunteers, and interns are encouraged to blog about their unique experiences and knowledge gained from working at the museum.

[dailycharacteroption]

My Creations Week: Dessgeega Starfinder Monster Conversion

It should come as no surprise to longtime fans of this blog that I love video games just as much as I love traditional tabletop, and I love even more that that two have a long history of influencing the other, with entire genres of game in both mediums being invented to emulate each other in different ways.

Starfinder is no exception here, and it would be foolish to assume that certain elements of the system weren’t influenced by the Metroid franchise, what with it emulating the horror of the Alien franchise and having a protagonist that progressively gets stronger over time (albeit thanks to her equipment rather than “leveling up” per se.

 In any case, I decided to do a monster conversion for a classic Metroid alien hailing back from the very first game!

 Dessgeega CR 9

XP 6400

N Medium Animal

Init +6 ; Senses low-light vision; Perception +17;

Defense

HP 145

EAC 22 ; KAC 24

Fort +13; Ref +13; Will +8

Immunities fall damage, fire

Offense

Speed 20 ft, climb 20, personal gravity

Melee Pounce +21 2d10+13

Offensive Abilities Adhesive Spittle +18, entangle DC 16

Statistics

Str +4; Dex +6; Con +3; Int -4; Wis +2; Cha +0

Skills Acrobatics +17, Athletics +22, Survival +17

Other Abilities leaping charge

Ecology

Environment warm underground (Zebes)

Organization solitary, pair, or clan (3-4)

Special Abilities

Leaping Charge

A Dessgeega may leap as part as a charge attack, making an athletics check as part of the movement, and potentially falling after the attack resolves.

Personal Gravity

Dessgeegas have the curious ability to treat down as up and and the reverse, as if under the effects of the reverse gravity variant of a control gravity spell. While in this state, the dessgeega falls upwards, and may walk upside-down and even leap off of inverted surfaces. A dessgeega can turn this ability off or on as a full-round action.

A handful of life forms on the planet Zebes have evolved a body plan centered around a central body with a pair of powerful leaping legs, and one of the strongest is the species native to Norfair known as dessgeegas. Dessgeegas possess an insect-like head complete with mandibles and antennae, as well as armored chitin and spikes on their legs. Like many other zebesian native species sharing this body plan, not only are they powerful leapers, but also possess a curious ability to invert their personal relationship to gravity, allowing them to traverse along the ceilings of their subterranean lava tunnel homes with ease and ambush prey from above.

A hungry dessgeega will attack potential prey by pouncing upon it, often leaping upon a prey creature several times to strike with their taloned feet until they are subdued. However, vexing prey might be subjected to a spray of the silk-like adhesive that dessgeegas typically use to protect their egg sacs, immobilizing them.

The carapace of a dessgeega is extremely tough to deal with the rigors of Norfair’s volcanic environment, which warrants heavier ordinance to defend oneself from them.

While not a part of their normal biology, during the BSL incident, X Parasite-infected/mimicked dessgeegas capable of firing barbs reflexively at foes were spotted, a trait likely developed by the X combining the desgeega form with the DNA of Cacatacs, which do possess that ability.

[thecreaturecodex]

Ocean Strider

Image © Blanca Martinez de Rituerto, accessed at Dungeons and Drawings here

[The ocean strider was evidence that the 3e Monster Manual II didn’t really know what to do with high level monsters. It’s supposedly a CR 18, but it has an AC of 19 and 165 hit points. It’s much physically weaker than the orca it looks like, despite being the same size. And its only real offensive power comes from spells, of which it gets a ton. Like, elemental swarm and horrid wilting five times a day. I basically rebuilt this from the ground up, aiming for the neighborhood of the original’s hit points, but adjusting the ability scores up and the spellcasting down. I also gave it more of a hook as to why it’s so territorial, which the book sort of glosses over.]

Ocean Strider CR 13 CN Fey Walking along the surface of the water is a humanoid with rounded features and black and white skin. It carries an enormous blade, and appears to have sharp teeth.

Ocean striders, sometimes called sea shepherds, are proud and territorial fey with the features of orcas. They consider themselves the herdsmen of the whales, protecting them from other hunters and harvesting them for food. Different ocean striders prefer different species of whales, some remaining in a single territory their whole lives, others moving from polar to tropical waters with every migration.

Ocean striders remain near the surface for most of their lives, guarding the vulnerable calves of deep-diving species of whales while they feed in the darker waters. They can either swim or stand on the surface with ease, and it is in this latter position that they usually interact with humanoids on boats. They view sailors as potential threats to their livestock and livelihood, although they are somewhat more trusting of aquatic humanoids. They are not inherently averse to selling or trading their whales for meat, whalebone or oil, but woe betide the whaling ship that over-harvests any whale stocks, or that tries to hunt an ocean strider’s whales without their permission.

Ocean striders are fearsome combatants in protection of their whale pods. They favor oversized falchions as weapons, but their teeth and fists can strike hard as well. Ocean striders usually use hit and run tactics, trying to sink ships first and foremost to keep enemies distracted with the environment instead of dealing damage. They rarely fight to the death, preferring to flee and harass their enemies at a distance with inclement weather and summoned monsters.

Ocean Strider Boons and Banes (CL 20th, level 9th, DC 25) Ocean striders are usually stingy with their boons, reserving them as tokens of friendship with those who do a great service for the sea shepherds. Their banes are used much more liberally, however, with the ocean strider bestowing it on creatures that surrender to them as a reminder of the sea’s power and as a warning to stay away from the ocean.

Boon: You can polymorph into an orca, as per beast shape III, at CL 20th. You may use this ability three times before the boon is expended, and the boon is permanent until used.

Bane: Whenever you are on or in a body of water, attacks made with natural weapons against you deal bleed damage equal to the weapon die rolled. Bleed from multiple sources does not stack. Stopping this bleed effect with magical healing fails unless the caster succeeds a DC 25 caster level check. This bane is permanent until removed.

Ocean Strider CR 13 XP 25,600 CN Huge fey Init +6; Senses blindsight 60 ft., low-light vision, Perception +33 Aura frightful presence (60 ft., Will DC 26) Defense AC 27, touch 15, flat-footed 24 (-2 size, +2 Dex, +12 natural, +4 deflection, +1 dodge) hp 190 (20d6+100) Fort +11, Ref +14, Will +18 DR 10/magic and cold iron; Resist cold 10; SR 24 Defensive Abilities freedom of movement Offense Speed 40 ft., swim 60 ft., water walking Melee masterwork falchion +20/+15 (2d8+16/15-20), bite +14 (2d6+5) or bite +19 (2d6+11), 2 slams +19 (1d6+11) Special Attacks capsize Spell-like Abilities CL 13th, concentration +19 Constant—freedom of movement, shield of faith, speak with animals At will—control water (DC 20), control winds (DC 21), fog cloud 3/day—cone of cold (DC 21), summon nature’s ally VII (creatures with a swim speed only) 1/day—control weather, horrid wilting (DC 24) Statistics Str 32, Dex 15, Con 20, Int 16, Wis 23, Cha 23 Base Atk +10; CMB +23; CMD 40 Feats Alertness, Blind-fight, Cleave, Combat Expertise, Dodge, Improved Critical (falchion), Improved Initiative, Mobility, Power Attack, Spring Attack Skills Diplomacy +29, Intimidate +29, Knowledge (geography, local, nature) +26, Perception +33, Sense Motive +33, Stealth +17,  Swim +19, Survival +29 Languages Aquan, Common, Sylvan, speak with animals SQ hold breath, wild empathy +26 Ecology Environment any aquatic Organization solitary or moot (2-6) Treasure standard (Huge masterwork falchion, other treasure) Special Abilities Frightful Presence (Ex) The frightful presence of an ocean strider does not affect creatures of the animal type. Water Walking (Su) An ocean strider is perpetually under the effects of a water walk spell as a supernatural ability. It may swim below the surface of the water if it wishes. Wild Empathy (Ex) An ocean strider gains the wild empathy class ability of a 20th level druid.

[janellesemporium1]

The Benefits of Pet Strollers: Enhancing Comfort and Convenience

Pets are not just animals; they are beloved members of our families. As pet owners, we strive to provide them with the best care, comfort, and companionship. One innovative tool that has gained popularity in recent years is the pet stroller. Often associated with small dogs and cats, these specialized strollers offer numerous benefits that cater to both the pets and their owners. In this blog post, we’ll explore the advantages of using a pet stroller and how it can enhance the quality of life for both pets and their human companions.

Mobility for Older Pets

Just like humans, pets age, and their mobility can decrease over time. For senior dogs, cats, or pets with medical conditions, walking long distances might become a challenge. A pet stroller offers a comfortable and safe way to bring your aging furry friend along for outdoor excursions without causing them discomfort. This mobility aid ensures that they can still enjoy fresh air and new surroundings, maintaining their mental and emotional well-being.

Outdoor Adventures for Small Pets

Smaller dog breeds and cats often have shorter legs and limited stamina for extended walks. Pet strollers enable these pets to accompany their owners on outdoor adventures that might otherwise be too physically demanding for them. Whether it’s a leisurely stroll in the park, a trip to the farmer’s market, or a family picnic, pet strollers allow these small companions to experience the world beyond the confines of their home.

Safe Haven in Crowded Areas

Crowded places like busy streets, markets, or events can be overwhelming for pets. A pet stroller provides a safe and secure space for your pet in such environments. It acts as a protective barrier between your pet and potential hazards like aggressive dogs, vehicles, or large crowds. This ensures that your pet remains stress-free while still being able to participate in social outings.

Recovery and Rehabilitation

After surgeries or medical procedures, pets need time to heal and recover. A pet stroller can be a valuable tool during this period, allowing them to get fresh air and sunlight without straining their bodies. The controlled environment of a stroller prevents them from jumping, running, or engaging in activities that could hinder the healing process.

Convenience for Multi-Pet Families

For households with multiple pets, managing walks can be quite a juggling act. Different animals have different needs, paces, and energy levels. A pet stroller allows you to take all your pets out together without the hassle of coordinating different walking speeds. This convenience simplifies outings and ensures that all pets receive attention and exercise.

Protection from Weather Elements

Extreme weather conditions, be it scorching heat, pouring rain, or cold winds, can make outdoor excursions uncomfortable for pets. A pet stroller comes with covers and canopies that shield your furry friend from harsh weather elements. This protection ensures that your pet’s well-being is not compromised by adverse weather conditions.

Conclusion

Pet strollers are no longer just a luxury; they’ve evolved into essential tools for responsible pet ownership. They offer comfort, convenience, and safety for both pets and their owners. Whether you have a senior dog, a small cat, or a pet on the road to recovery, a pet stroller can significantly improve their quality of life. Investing in a pet stroller means investing in the happiness and well-being of your cherished companion, allowing you both to explore the world together, one stroll at a time.