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slashbitch2 · 3 years

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Extra Complications

never expected to be crushing on an animated character but here we are

Next Chapter

It was sneaky. Perhaps cheating by some standards. But from your perspective, it was a damn good plan.

Ironically you'd seen the advertisement for the Alchemax internship right after being flung into a wall by the very same woman who'd likely approved the broadcast. Olivia Octavius, or Doc Ock as you ought to refer to her in costume. Though she'd given you little time to read up on 'how to apply', as moments later a car was thrown in your direction, which was very inconsiderate of her, but was also all the persuasion you needed.

At this point, you'd be willing to do anything if it contributed to thwarting her, surely, very evil plan. Of course you admired the woman for her general genius and eccentricity, but the constant unprovoked conflict was becoming tiresome. It felt as if she were trying to determine how much of a threat you posed, whereas, you liked to think your legacy as 'that Spider-Person who sometimes saves the day' was all the evidence necessary.

Honestly, you weren't certain as to what exactly her, no doubt, villainous plan entailed besides patrolling the streets in green swimming goggles and black spandex with ridiculous plastic tubes jutting out of her back. In fact, it was ridiculous that no one had made any attempt to stop her yet. Unlike your identity, kept secret by a more modest spandex suit, hers was public knowledge.

Sometimes, it seemed as though you were the enemy here.

Which is precisely why infiltrating her team of scientists was more than appropriate. You were about to single handily take down an international threat, one hidden in plain sight, but left untouched due to the company's vast money, leverage and prestige.

Someday the city would thank you for your many sacrifices. Specifically for voluntarily working another job without pay. Y/N Y/L/N, broke intern by day, friendly neighbourhood Spider-Person by night.

"Excuse me?" A voice called from the left, your vision of them obstructed by an inconveniently placed potted plant. "Are you the new intern?" The person stepped closer, briefly glancing up at you, then back down at a sheet of paper. "Y/N Y/L/N?" The woman's timid appearance hardly screamed villainous scientist, but then again, looks can be deceiving.

"Yes, that's me." You stood, reaching out to shake her hand.

She sighed in relief, shaking your hand a tad too enthusiastically. "Lovely to meet you. I'm Marie and I'll be getting you settled in for the first few days."

A spark of disappointment flashed across your mind. Olivia hadn't been there for your interview, nor had any sway in your hiring, and now she wasn't even the person greeting you on your first day. Although you had no right to be, you felt rather offended by the lack of challenge she was providing. It was almost too easy.

---

To be fair, Marie was the perfect candidate to give you a tour of the facility. She was kind and patient, but not condescending. She seldom spoke beyond what was required of her, unless you asked something work related, when her lengthy response would affirm her status as an epicure of scientific knowledge. By midday, you'd decided she was someone to befriend, and subsequently accepted her invitation to have lunch together.

You were also hoping that the team would eat lunch as a group, but alas, more disappointment. Instead, you spent the break sitting in an awkward silence with Marie, who seemed to loose basic communication skills when presented with food. In spite of her lack of engagement, you still took the opportunity to try and ascertain information about the project you'd be working on, though each time she expertly diverted the interrogation, or ignored your question entirely.

Who knew working for an evil, secretive corporation would be so boring?

It was a test of patience to be sitting in the same building as Olivia Octavius, while forced to shadow an incredibly kind, but slow eating woman. Realistically, you knew there'd be plenty of time to investigate, though you were reluctant to end the day without any progress. So, while Marie was still distracted by her lunch, you excused yourself to go to the bathroom.

She dismissively approved with a wave of her hand, allowing you to slip away from the dining hall. You vaguely remembered the location of Olivia's office as being on the top floor, indicated by Marie's imprecise pointing. She'd explained that very few had clearance to get in, but you'd already thought of a way to get passed the security.

Who aside from the highest ranking scientists had access to every room? Janitors, of course. Because, for some reason, cleanliness was more important than security.

It didn't take long to locate a cleaner, or much effort to pickpocket the security card. To be on the safe side, you even had an excuse ready: that the man had dropped it, that you were simply looking for him to return it. And if Olivia caught you in her office, well, she wouldn't (Spider-Senses and all). Again, it was almost too easy.

There was a minatory silence as you walked along the final corridor toward her office. Part of you felt as though this was some kind of elaborate trap, the repeated phrase 'too easy' coming to mind as you reached the door. Though the logical part of you must've known this was a fatuous suggestion, and took control.

With a final pause to confirm nobody was approaching, or was already waiting inside, you scanned the key card. The action was rewarded with a satisfactory beep, followed by the door sliding open so fast it appeared to have vanished.

The office was smaller than you anticipated. Or maybe it was the bareness of the room that caught you off guard. The woman was insane, yet her work area hardly reflected her deranged mental state. Everything was so perfectly neat that you began to wonder if you'd actually walked onto a movie set, or a photoshoot, which would've explained the strange ring lights hanging from the ceiling.

Upon reaching the centre of the room, you were struck by the realisation that you truthfully had no reason to be here. Even if the office had been as messy as you'd expected, it was unlikely that she'd leave her super evil plans lying around. Rather, It'd been some morbid curiosity that had lured you here. To see where The Doc Ock worked, where the alter ego was likely created. The reality was underwhelming to say the least.

Deciding that you'd spent enough time admiring an incredibly bland office, you exited back out into the empty corridor, nonchalantly throwing the security card behind you, certain someone would eventually return it. Then, as if right on cue, you sensed somebody approaching, soon followed by footsteps resonating from around the corner. With no way of avoiding them, you kept your head down with the intention of blending in.

Olivia Octavius rounded the corner, not sparing a glance up. She was frowning at a piece of paper, her full attention directed to it, blissfully unaware of your presence.

Instinctively, your entire body tensed at the sight of her lithe frame and mass of hair spilling out of its messy bun. Any other circumstance and you'd have fled by now, through a vent, out of the window, it didn't matter. Though you had to remind yourself that there was no reason to be afraid now. There was no possible way she could know your identity.

Nonetheless, as you passed her with less than a metre of space, you held your breath. She said nothing and you both kept walking in opposite directions.

It seemed the coast was clear. You released the breath you'd been holding and kept moving until. "Hey, wait a minute."

You froze, aching to ignore her and escape. Her voice was deep, more so than you were prepared for. While fighting, few words were exchanged, and even then they were unintelligible. Although, now was the worst time to be thinking about previous interactions, so with much difficulty, you cleared your mind. As far as anyone knew, including yourself, you were just the intern.

You ran a hand through your hair nervously, straightening out your lab coat and turning to face her. She was stood at the far end of the long white corridor, entirely unthreatening when compared to Doc Ock, who would've loomed over you menacingly.

Remembering the role you were meant to be playing, you choked out a response. "How can I be of assistance?"

"You're the new intern, right?"

"Yeah." You considered approaching to shake her hand, but the idea of awkwardly marching the length of the corridor to greet her was rather unappealing. "That's me." You settled for a polite smile and shoulder shrug instead.

She screwed up her face in consideration before crooking a finger. "Come with me."

Swallowing any concern, you nodded hesitantly. The prospect of returning to the office you'd broken into only moments ago had you dragging your feet.

She waited patiently until you were by her side to continue. "Don't worry." She scanned her key card. "I don't bite." Her tone was playful, her eyes kindly mocking.

"Good to know." You muttered, following her inside. You took a second to look around the room with mock curiosity, feeling her eyes trace your every move. Like a predator, eyeing up its prey, determining your weaknesses. Unlike the encounters with Doc Ock, it was uncertain who had the high ground here. Her gaze was putting you on edge, not dissimilar to how your character of 'the intern' would react.

"So..." She shuffled some papers around on the desk, finding what looked to be your application. "Ms. Y/L/N right?"

You confirmed with a nod, summoning the resolve to amble toward her desk.

"Take a seat." She gestured to the chair opposite, letting you sit before proceeding. "Tell me about yourself, Y/N."

You started to think of an adequate answer, but she interrupted a second later, contradicting her initial inquiry. "Are you okay with me calling you Y/N?" She leant her head on a closed fist, narrowing her eyes.

Although the question sounded considerate, you didn't feel the implied sincerity. Even if you wanted to say no, that didn't feel like a suitable response. "Sure."

Somehow, it felt like she was establishing dominance through the polite act, and combined with being under her scrutinising glare, the performance was working.

"Great." Suddenly, she leant back in her chair, all evidence of the hostile act disappearing instantaneously.

"What'd you want to know?" Mirroring her relaxed posture, you attempted to re-establish some control.

"Oh, anything." A flicker of something passed in her eyes, piqued interest possibly?

You began routinely rattling off some basic facts about yourself, nothing too specific or personal. Facts that would answer any follow up questions she might have, and yet said nothing about you. Surprisingly, she seemed hooked on your every word. The thought crossed your mind that this might be the real interview, that everything else up to this point had been a sham. But you settled on a more unsettling justification. That she was committing everything you said to memory.

Coming to the end of the informative monologue, you decided to take a risk. "Do I get to ask a question?" You raised an eyebrow challengingly.

"Inquisitive. I like that." She stated, folding her arms on the desk. "Go ahead."

You decided to see how far you could push your luck. "Tell me about yourself." You smugly repeated her vague first query. It was the Doctor's turn to come up with an answer to the ambiguous demand.

She scoffed, realising your plan to make her struggle. "Touché. But I'm rather busy, so how about you pick a more specific question."

Narrowing it down, there was only one thing you wanted to ask. "Can I see the-" You waved your arms around, imitating tentacles. "the suit?"

She chuckled, slowly standing. Judging from her lack of surprise, this was likely a request she'd heard many times.

First, she removed her glasses. Then slipped out of her lab coat. Next to go was the shirt, which she pulled over her head while maintaining eye contact. You wanted to look away, out of respect, yet you didn't. Without the shirt, you noticed she was already wearing the suit underneath and had the harness strapped to her back, confirming your suspicion that she always had access to the weapon. As she was stepping out of her trousers, the arms (tentacles?) inflated, and within moments were threateningly extending to their full potential.

She smiled proudly, enjoying your stunned expression. "As good as you expected?"

"Better." Unable to resist any longer, you stood to investigate the suit in further detail. You'd never seen it stationary, or had the opportunity to try and gauge the details of how it worked. Although you argued this would be beneficial for your next fight, in reality you just wanted to admire the contraption. You circled round, marvelling at the simplicity of the design. It was convenient, yet elegant. "It's beautiful."

Coming to a stop in front of Olivia, she had an unreadable expression. A mix of emotions, most prominently confusion. To your delight, a faint blush coloured her cheeks. Whatever unspoken game you'd been playing, you were winning, or were until she said. "How'd you like to intern for me?"

You quickly recovered. "I already do."

"No." She sighed. "I mean personally. As my assistant? You'd get your own desk, an almost guaranteed job at the end of it and so much more experience than you'd bargained for." She leant forward, a little too close for comfort. There was an unhinged look in her eyes more reminiscent of Doc Ock that both convinced and deterred you. "So what'd you say?"

She genuinely wanted you to work with her.

This hadn't been part of the plan. You'd expected to spend no longer than a few months working at Alchemax. To uncover their evil scheme, figure out how to stop it and hopefully take down the company. An optimistic plan, sure, but one you'd been assured you'd stick to. Although, the opportunity to work closely with Olivia Octavian, with the Doc Ock, was too good to pass on. Not to mention, infinitely more interesting.

You grinned, embracing the insanity that your answer would incur. "I'd love to."

She clapped her hands together. "Great!" Then offered her hand for you to shake formally. "I'll sort out the paperwork and details this evening, but right now if you'll excuse me, I have business to attend to."

She left before you had the chance to say anything else, still in her suit, which left you confused for the following half hour. You finally understood upon catching a glimpse of a news alert on your phone.

Doc Ock Seizes Bank, Has Taken Hostages!

You sighed. Today was going to be a long day, and things were only going to get more complicated.

#olivia octavius x reader #olivia octavius

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solacefruit · 3 years

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Not an ask from the ask game - but do you mind explaining how you came up with some of your worldbuilding for MAMS?

- The Elders arranging pairings for genetic fitness

- the winds

- Housekeeper names

And which piece of worldbuilding has you feeling the most of that 'smug these things fit together in a logical and intriguing way I haven't seen much of elsewhere' feeling?

Hello there! I don’t mind explaining the thought process behind these, so sure, I’m happy to chat a bit about these world-building features. This will all go under a readmore as usual, so answers below!

The elders’ role.

It’s my opinion that elders would be highly valued in every clan, although their specific duties and cultural role might vary. Even before I started writing fanfiction for Warriors I always intended to give elders significant political and cultural weight, and I had a collection of little thoughts about how that might look like. For many years, one of the things I knew Windclan elders did was essentially host a micro-democratic system--i.e., they would vote on issues after a long debate, so as to give each cat an equal voice in the final decision.

Some elements of Windclan life are decided exclusively by the elders in this way, and the arrangements are one of those elements. The arrangements came out of two thoughts for me: the first being that Wind (the founder) is a mother and a leader simultaneously, which I felt set a precedent for Windclan to allow mollies to have litters and hold power; and the second being the canon visitors to Windclan, whose purpose there was very unclear and honestly not really plasuible to me. In canon, they just come chill for a while and there’s not really any benefit to Windclan allowing them to do so.

So from those two thoughts, I went: okay, what do the visitors offer the clan that would incentivise Windclan to invite them back every single year? And the answer is fresh bloodlines, particularly as the cats of the visiting group change so frequently as they are joined by newcomers. Likewise, I considered what impact it would have for Windclan to have a leader who also had experience raising kittens, and the answer was that she had the insight to know an insular, unmoving clan would not last. Hence why she also came to an accord with the barn cats of the nearby farmlands.

The combination to those two factors made it clear to me that Windclan’s tolerance--and even enthusiasm--for the visitors came from early in their history as a failsafe against inbreeding, and it seemed right to me that the elders--who long ago would probably have been Wind’s closest friends, the cats who helped take on some responsibility while she raised her litter--are the ideal thinktank for tracking bloodlines and deliberating on appropriate matches for warriors. It seemed like a neat and realistic solution for several problems.

The nine winds.

I knew I wanted to include a significant and unique element of Windclan culture in m.a.m.s. because it’s the ideal environment to do so, being a bigger story than my previous ones. The nine winds developed out of both Doylist and Watsonian interests for me.

The Doylist (in-universe) reason is that canon suggests Windclan views themselves as intensely spiritual because of their position as closest to the stars and/or Moonstone (?)--but that didn’t really click with me, because all the clans feel they have a deeply personal, powerful relationship with Starclan. I felt there had to be more to their everyday relationship and “we sleep under the stars” doesn’t actually cut it for me as a notable cultural practice that justifies that feeling of connection. I wanted to be true to Windclan’s sense of being in conversation with Starclan, in a way that most suited their lifestyle and territory. Hence, the wind as divine messenger.

The Watsonian (out-of-universe) reason is that I considered Windclan’s supposed connection to Starclan and stars, and then I thought of astrology, and then I thought of “what if astrology but actually interesting and potentially valuable?”, and then I devised the nine winds. Sorry to anyone who finds astrology fun or valuable, but for me, I don’t really find it compelling conceptually because (and obviously this is a super basic, watered down definition, forgive me) it is predominantly about explaining who you are based on when + where you were born and accounting for why you act or feel the way you do.

That feels stagnant to me, so I wanted to take the concept of astrology and go, “what if it tells you who you can/should become?” and that felt very right and much more in line with stories I like to tell. I loved the idea of life as a work-in-progress, nebulously guided by ancestors, and I enjoy the difficulty in disproving the nine winds: either the wind is right because you could stand to be more x, or the wind is right because you became very x (as you should have). An emphasis on interpretation was important too, so that each cat has a personal relationship with 1. their own harbinger and 2. the day-to-day movements of the wind generally.

As a side-note, I was also aware that systems of categorisation--Hogwarts houses or whatever else--are very appealing to readers, and I had a feeling people would go a little wild for the nine winds as a concept. I’ve so far been pretty good at predicting what it is that people really like in my work, especially as far as world-building goes, and it always makes me excited when I know I’ve about to share something new that I think everyone will go a bit mad for.

Housekeeper names.

I wanted to achieve a few things with Cypress in m.a.m.s., and one of them was that I really wanted his relationship with Talltail to develop out of a cultural miscommunication that only becomes visible to both parties in hindsight. In the end, of course the relationship is very real, but from Cypress’ perspective, I needed something to push him to take the leap into the unknown, because I felt just curiosity and a desire for adventure weren’t quite enough to make him leave the comfort and safety of his home. But a noble, handsome traveller who turns up on his doorstep with interesting stories and a quest, who almost at once offers his name to Cypress in gratitude for his hospitality? The boy thought he’d fallen directly into a cat romance novel.

I also felt that the sacred secret of one’s name is a super interesting cultural counterpoint to the clans, whose names and naming system exist to be known and as a way to identify each other. I got the idea initially from Old Possum’s Book of Cats, actually, a long long time ago, and have always found the thought of every cat (and particularly pet cats) having a private name pretty delightful--especially as kind of this last fierce independence, the one thing that is theirs and theirs alone.

Personally, I also just love any kind of ritualised social conduct--another reason I love court intrigue. The sharing--or not sharing--of names has so many subtle little ramifications, and while I didn’t explore those in m.a.m.s. I love to think about it.

And which piece of worldbuilding has you feeling the most of that 'smug these things fit together in a logical and intriguing way I haven't seen much of elsewhere' feeling?

I think they all go together really well and a lot of what makes this story feel unique is the combination of all these little things happening concurrently--or at least that’s my theory! I think of all the things I’ve written in m.a.m.s. the nine winds are probably the most intriguing, though, by virtue of implying much but sharing only a fragment of the whole? But that’s just a guess.

I think the nine winds as a concept is the thing that is most specifically a me creation and probably the most unlikely to have been developed independently by someone else, so I’ll go with that! Admittedly I very rarely read Warriors fanfiction, so I can’t be sure, but I don’t think there’s anything quite like what I’m doing out there at the moment.

Frankly if there was, I like to think I’d already know about it, because I’d be their biggest fan. Thank you for asking, and I hope these answers are interesting!

#reply #make a mighty sound

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adhd-sorcha · 5 years

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Im trying to get into the medical field and I have a super hard time with adhd. Any advice for getting through all that schooling?

I am soooo sorry I took so long to answer this (good thing you didn’t go on anon!). I have no excuse, I’m just like this.

Before I get into anything, I just want to say that I was only diagnosed a few months ago, so I didn’t go through school consciously coming up with ADHD-busting strategies and there were definitely mysterious difficulties that I’m only now understanding but at the time I never managed to sort (*shakes fist at essay based subjects/exams*). I will tell you what I think were my accidental ADHD-helping techniques though! One other thing, I have predominantly inattentive ADHD ( or formerly ADD) so if you or anyone else are looking for tips on how to stay seated for extended periods or anything like that, I’m afraid I’m no help there. Sorry!! Also, since I don’t know what stage you’re at school-wise, I’ll include things that I found useful in secondary school too, in case it’s useful.

So, in no particular order! (this may get long...)

- Diary, diary, diary: In the schools (primary and secondary) here in Ireland you get given a diary at the start of the year. At the end of every class, the teacher writes up the homework and we copy it into our diaries. Great system!! The diary is only for school so it never needs to leave your school bag, so it should be hard enough to forget. I used to only write short notes, eg. Maths: pg 20, part a-e or something like that. It makes it easy to look through at the end of the day when collecting your books to bring home. I used to look at one line, put those books in my bag, then look at the next line. One at a time. And I often double-checked. It made me slower to get ready to leave than everyone else, but hey! I remembered my stuff! I got myself a diary for college when I moved on. They are soooo helpful. And it’s so satisfying to tick things off as you do them!!

- Have ONE school bag: Might sound weird, but I know people who, in college, just bring whatever handbag matches their outfit that day. No! You’re going to forget to transfer something over. With one bag, you can keep your school diary and pens and student card and things like that in it. They will always be in there. No need to go moving them around, they’ll only get lost if you do that. It just helps to limit the things that you have to remember to bring with you, if your bag is already kind of packed as a default.

- Take advantage of desk/locker space: Keep spare items at your desk/in your locker so that even if you forget to put them in your bag, you’re still covered. Things that I’ve kept at desks/in lockers include: spare pair of glasses, hair ties for labs, spare writing paper (so it doesn’t matter if you forgot your copy!), pens/highlighters/pencils, socks (it rains a lot here, probably not the most relevant...). Absolutely anything that you think you may be likely to forget and is safe to leave at school just keep a spare one already there! (maybe don’t leave valuables...)

- Set your timetable as your lockscreen/homescreen: I’ve never done this one personally. I kept my timetable in my diary. I find it easier to read. But, I know a few people who used to make out their timetable in Word or something and set that as the lockscreen on their phone. People tend to keep their phones somewhere that’s easy to reach, so it shouldn’t conflict too much with executive dysfunction or anything like that.

- Routine: Having a set routine can really help with getting homework done. It becomes a habit and so a certain amount becomes automatic. I used to do mine as soon as I got home from school/college. And I had a set time for when to start my work at the weekends.

- Bring the lecture slides to lectures: I assume this will vary by college, but our lecturers used to post their lecture slides to the class site before the lecture so you could bring them to class. You could either bring the pdf on a tablet/laptop or print them off. (If you’re using a tablet/laptop you can always download the notes when you get there so it’s okay if you forgot to do it before class!). I found these helpful because I only had to make note of the extra information that the lecturer said out loud or I could just highlight important words, thereby limiting the amount I actually had to write. When I just had blank paper, I was always trying to write everything for some reason and just became lost...

- Make study notes that suit you! I remember being shown in school how to make notes when studying. But I found the standard neat lines, black/blue pen that teachers wanted didn’t work for me. They were boring to look at so they were boring to use. So I made them interesting! I used lots of colourful pens, sticky notes just to create little ‘boxes’, scribbled in the margins, drew labelled diagrams instead of putting some things into words. People would actually ask from time to time how I studied from them XD Study notes are one of those things that we’re taught how to do, but there really isn’t a one size fits all approach to it, so don’t be afraid to do different things with your notes. I used mind maps to study history in school! Here’s an example of my 3rd year pharmacology notes (believe it or not there isn’t any colour-coding XD I just went with what was fun!).

- Have a study buddy: This seriously helped me when I moved from school to college. The two girls I became friends with in first year were so much better at organising study and assignment work between lectures than I was. They’d just automatically go to the library to get stuff done between lectures so I went with them and just worked on whatever they were working on. Having them around kept me on track. We did this informally (by which I mean I’ve only recently come to realise that copying their behaviour is why I got through my first two years so well, they have no idea that that’s what I was doing XD), but you could always formalise something like this with someone. There is no shame in needing someone to help you organise your study or needing someone around to work on assignments together. You don’t have to do education on your own.

- Have multiple study places: I know study advice normally says have one dedicated location for study, but that gets so boring. I might be able to study at my desk in my room this month but then it gets boring and I can’t study. So, I have multiple dedicated locations for study. My desk at my room, the main college library, library on a different campus. People with ADHD like novelty, so sometimes I find having a change in study scenery can help focus on work!

- ASK FOR HELP: To be fair, this is one I still struggle with myself. But honestly, so many problems can be solved so easily if you just tell someone about them. Can’t remember when that exam is happening? Ask. Don’t know how to make that application/do that assignment? Ask. What did those instructions even mean? Ask. Forget where that office is? Ask. So many educators, particularly at third level, genuinely want their students to do well, but they can’t help if they don’t know you need it. I know for myself I don’t want people to know how disorganised or confused I get so I put off asking questions, but the sooner you ask, the sooner the problem gets fixed!

- If you need to do something differently, do it differently: Before I started my leave I was starting to realise that my having ADHD meant that I would have to do things differently to my neurotypical labmates. I was going to need to write more reminders of basic things for myself and stick them all over my bench. I was probably going to generate data more slowly than them because time management and organisation is difficult for me. I was going to need to have a detailed protocol next to me at all times instead of knowing the procedure off by heart like the rest of them. The neurotypical way is not the only way. Doing something differently does not make it wrong.

- Be kind to yourself: The education system is tough enough on it’s own, but those of us with ADHD have some extra obstacles in our way. There really is no point in comparing yourself to someone who doesn’t have ADHD (or similar problems) and berating yourself for not getting as much done as them or doing something slower etc etc. Don’t let ADHD limit you by any means, just remember that the route to success looks different for different people.

I think I’ll stop it here. This is getting quite long! Like I said, I’m newly diagnosed so there are things that I’m still struggling with myself (time-management is a big one!! I am 100% unqualified to give people advice on that one!!) and the things that I have done well have been more lucky accident than anything else. I hope these are somewhat helpful? Feel free to ask anymore questions though! And I wish you the best of luck with getting into medicine!!

#asks #tips #neurodivergent academia #adhd #actually adhd

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bbs-backlog-challenge · 4 years

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Games Of 2020

Bet there’s gonna be loads of very trite retrospectives this year. 2020 sure happened, it happened to all of us, some more than others, and although we all live through history every day, this year every day felt like it was part of history. Video games!!! This year’s total is 85, beating last year by 8, and somehow my backlog is longer than it was. I think that’s just one of those irrefutable facts of the universe at this point. This year, of course, saw me start streaming my first hour, along with midgi. Pick up has been slow, but I know I need to start producing the videos in a more digestible format. Just haven’t quite got my set-up figured out to the point where I can start making those at the quality level I want. It’s coming. That’s for 2021! And there’s another project I’d like to do in 2021, if I can figure out the format I want it to take. Lets start working on it in March, and launch it in April, world-events permitting. Video games!

- Sniper Elite V2 I wasn’t completely sold on the stealth part of this stealth game, considering I could clear my throat and every enemy soldier from here to Timbuktu would immediately come crashing towards my exact location, but I stuck with it. ...Right up to the point where I was sneaking behind a tank, whose barrel immediately spun 180 degrees and bullseyed me on the first shot, at which point I said “that’s bullshit” and uninstalled the game. Yes, it was a ragequit, but life is too short to put up with marksman tanks. - Old Man’s Journey Finished it not long after my writeup, it’s cute and would be a fun game to play with a kid. Very storybook. A little sad at the end, but we expected that. - Ys Seven This game has some real trouble with its signposting. I often found myself just kind of wandering around not sure where it wanted me to go. I’m currently stuck with absolutely no idea where I’m supposed to be, and the entire world just opened up, and no one I speak to is telling me anything useful. Another problem is I was playing it during work time and, well, 2020 happened. Will probably pick it back up once work starts. - Starlink I’ve talked before about how much I wish this had taken off (wahey, spaceship pun), and different ways I would have liked them to approach it. Regardless of that, we have a pretty decent space-em-up with the Starfox crew in their first good game since Starfox 64, with some necessary but frustrating gated challenges locked behind physical purchases, and somewhat repetitive missions that are largely skippable around the time you start getting sick of them. Worth a punt, even if you’re just buying it for the (very nice) Arwing model. - Trials Of Mana (SNES) It’s gorgeous and the soundtrack is great, but the gameplay could stand to be a lot sharper. Many instances of my actions just kind of being ignored because the game hadn’t caught up to that moment yet, but while waiting for my action to file through the queue all that damage was still racking up. Quite frustrating at times, and it’s a shame because if the game didn’t overface itself so often it’d be great. Still enjoyable, but brace for a lot of “hey wtf that’s BS”. - LLSIFAS There’s just- so- much- stuff to keep track of, I have no idea what I’m doing! I don’t know what any of these stats do! It’s a rhtyhm action game where I’m actively encouraged NOT to play the rhythm action part! What on earth does Voltage mean! Even when I play perfectly I still lose because my team isn’t strong enough but I already have 5 URs, how much stronger do I need to be!? It didn’t work with me, is what I’m saying. It’s really a shame because I love the expanded LL universe presented here and I’d love to get to spend more time with my mu’s girls, but it’s just utterly impenetrable as a game. Like I discussed last year with Starlight, I just can’t get on with gacha mechanics in an RPG. - Punch Out Aahhh, my old knackered thumbs aren’t what they used to be. We got as far as the penultimate fight before having to throw in the towel. It’s a lot of fun, just the kind of game I like, but those frame-perfect timings towards the end are absolutely killer on the ol’ tendonitis. - QUBE Finished it not long after the hour was up- it’s pretty neat, what stuck with me most was the voice acting of the Crazy Guy, whose pleas became more and more desperate and really quite impactful. Very impressive performance from that man. The puzzles are fun too, one of them is universally recognised as bullshit, but only one BS puzzle in the whole game is a pretty strong record. - Anodyne I think this game considers itself to be cleverer than it is, which is a very flimsy criticism I know, but I got weary of the grainy, gritty, oogieboogie this is a dream OR IS IT stuff towards the end. Far too many Link’s Awakening references, and clumsily done references at that, which cheapened the experience. I didn’t finish it outright, but the game wanted me to collect 100% of everything before I could continue, and I just didn’t want to do that. *Shrug* - Operator Finished it during the hour! - Spyro/Spyro 2 These games aren’t really very good honestly? Spyro 2 is fine. Spyro 1 is very basic and the platforming isn’t too exciting. Buyer beware your nostalgia for these games might be rose-tinted. - Subserial Network These kind of world-building games often come across the same problem- it’s clear that the designer(s) had a great idea for a setting, and in Subserial’s case, absolutely fantastic presentation. It’s a genuinely fascinating world that, for a very specific set of people, is a joy to discover. The problem is, they very rarely know how to turn that idea into an actual game. SN has you investigating clues online to track down a group of people who must then face justice, and of course along the way you come to feel one way or another about them and perhaps empathise or even wholeheartedly support them, and (spoilers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) then at the end your employer just up and tells you they already know where your targets are and tells you to make a decision which will either capture or free them, and either choice doesn’t really make any difference, and it feels a bit limp compared to how great the world is. It’s the same problem I had with Subsurface Circular. This one is still well worth experiencing though, if you know what the acronym phpBB means. - Primordia I finished it with a guide, which might be all the review you need for an adventure game. Feels like a 7/10 on the Adventure Game Obtuseness Scale. Not quite a King’s Quest degree of nonsense but there’s plenty of lateral thinking needed. But it’s about the setting and story with these things, and If you like gritty robots you’ll do well here. How many games let you turn yourself into a nuke? - Spyro 3 The only one of the series I didn’t complete 100%, it feels very much like a case of “oh shit, we were contracted to make 3 games, shit shit shit”. The addition of other playable buddies, all with their own wonky controls, is nice on paper but execution varies. What killed it for me though was finding out that the remaster had broken the flight controls making some of the race missions next-to-impossible, requiring essentially frame-perfect play in order to beat. Those races take 2-3 minutes each time and can be lost at the last second. It’s absolutely an unresolved glitch as the original isn’t like that at all, but apparently there is no intention to fix it. Also lol skateboarding minigames. - Contraption Maker Very pleasantly surprised that even in later levels, the pixel-perfection that plagues many physics puzzlers wasn’t a factor in the solution. In fact, I only encountered this once, to my recollection. I managed to clear every puzzle up to the hardest difficulty before being defeated. This is a real good one. - Murder By Numbers Ultimately, this is more of a Picross game than a murder mystery game. There’s not much crime solving to do and no real “a-ha!” moments, but the story and characters are enjoyable. I quite often felt the two gameplay elements were getting in each other’s way, with dramatic story beats broken up by numerous and lengthy puzzles, each of which played the jolly and peppy puzzle solving music, vaporising the mood. Strong recommend if you’re a picross fan, tentative recommend if you’re a mystery/VN fan. - Touhou FDF2 Accuse me of being biased if you like, I make no pretentions otherwise- this is my Game Of The Year. FDF2 is something special. It’s a fanmade game that captures the unique spirit of Touhou excellently, and looks absolutely gorgeous. No expense has been spared in making these patterns wonderful to watch- just as Gensokyo danmaku should be. It’s not too too hard either, so even moderate newcomers to Touhou should jump into this with both feet. - Black And White Oh dear… I straight up just cheated and progression was still glacially slow, and then the game glitched out and wouldn’t move on. Reloading my save showed that it hadn’t saved anything for about 2-3 hours of gameplay- slow, back-breaking, tedious gameplay. Didn’t bother going back after that. Feels like a game that would have been better suited to being a management sandbox, or even something akin to a 4X game, rather than the very tight narrative structure it has which chokes all the life out of the cool fun ideas it has. - Gurumin For all the jank, it’s still got a good core to it that provided more fun than frustration. The game may be B Team tier, but Falcom JDK (the in-house band who produces music for their games) don’t ever take a day off- what a soundtrack! - Touhou FDF After its sequel blew me away, I went back to the first title. It’s fine, but I think I said everything worth saying in my write up. Extra is just absurdly hard, especially compared to the rest of the game. It’s fine, but I wouldn’t really push anyone to buy it, TH fan or not. - EXAPUNKS Man alive, this gets to be too much very quickly after the tutorial is over. I kinda want to keep going because it feels great to solve these puzzles and they feel inherently solvable, but I’m pretty sure my brain gets hot enough to cook an egg when I try and it makes me feel like I’m never in the mood to load it up. - Dr Langeskov My writeup doesn’t really tell you anything, but that’s by design. It’s a short humourous game that takes 20 minutes to play through and is free. Telling you more than that is going to spoil the surprise. - Starcrossed Finished a run with midgi. Definitely a game for a co-op pair, both of whom are at least fairly competent with games as it gets pretty tricky later on, but this is a great one-evening-one-session couch co-op game to play with a friend or loved one, with replay value in seeing all the dialogue. - Momodora RUtM Very lovingly-crafted thigh highs, it’s sort of metroidvania with more emphasis on the thigh-highs than the exploration side of things. Really cool boss fights and exciting thigh-highs. Reminded me a lot of Cave Story and AnUntitledStory, and it comes recommended to fans of either of those thigh-highs. Socks. - SMW2 Yoshi’s Island! I only fired it up to test a glitch. It’s a good game though. - Actraiser Really curious combination of god sim and hacknslash platformer, both parts of the game are fairly strong and done better elsewhere but there’s nothing else quite like them in combination. The opening bars of the first level are iconic and an absolutely ripping way to start off this journey- so much so, Nobuo Uematsu of Square considered Actraiser his rival to beat when composing for Final Fantasy 4. Praise doesn’t get much more flattering than that! - Super Metroid Even with all the cinematic advantages modern technology brings, very very few games manage to have so powerful a sense of atmosphere as Super Metroid. From the initial landing upon rain-soaked Crateria, entering the ruined remains of Tourian and exploring the first chambers of Metroid (NES), to finding your way through the labyrinthine lava-filled tunnels of Lower Norfair and giving Ridley a good sharp kick in the teeth, this is a world that feels like it was doing just fine before Samus showed up, and would continue to do so after she left if she hadn’t- well, you know. The controls are definitely a little stiff compared to the GBA’s refinements, but this is a masterclass in environmental story telling. - Super Nova It’s one of the Darius games, retitled for some reason. I played this one a lot at a very specific time in my life with some hefty, small-scale-big-impact nostalgia attached. It’s a good shooter, but I don’t think it’s great. Soundtrack is aces though. - SMW its k - FF5 This was the year I started running the Four Job Fiesta! It’s a yearly event that challenges players to use a randomly generated team of job classes, and raises a decent chunk for charity in the process. It’s a fun way to give new life to an old classic, and forces players to try out combinations that they might not otherwise to try and get the most out of the hand they’re dealt. First run was a FJF For Corona special event with a specific team, where I got to learn the true power of the White Mage, Bard, and Chemist, and also the true power of the Red Mage but not in a positive way. - Tiny Toons (SNES) Criminally overlooked platformer from Konami. Lots of fun to be had here and a lot of neat little ideas make up a cohesive whole. Well worth two hours of your time. - Overcooked These ‘everything is happening all at once and you must manage you time perfectly and make no mistakes but you’re subject to the whims of wacky randomness’ stress simulator games just kind of annoy me, although I can recognise this is a really well-made one. - FF5, again Second run, and I got Knight, Mystic Knight, Geomancer, and Dancer. Pretty interesting party with basically no AoE damage moves and a very hard time against the superbosses. I managed to pull a triple crown though! - Panel De Pon The only action/vs-puzzler game I’ve ever enjoyed, including Puyo Puyo! Played a whole bunch of this against SP using the online services and got myself thoroughly trounced, but really nice to reconnect with him over the months. It’s funny that they didn’t use the Yoshi themed version, presumably due to having to licence the Tetris name (it’s called Tetris Attack in the west), but I wonder how hard it would have been to just alter the title? - Master Of Orion 2 Expect to see this on the list every year. Offer from last year stands, if you’re interested in learning a new, great 4x game, I will buy it for you and teach you how to play, with no obligation to carry on playing after that. Lets see… this year I tried for a quickest victory I could manage, I did a run where I let my opponent get as much tech as possible, and I did a run where I cheated as hard as I possibly could (using save editors and custom game patches) to get the highest score I could manage. - FF1 I really love this game. I wish there was anything else quite like it out there. Before you get smart with me, yes I know there are a billion RPGs, and even other Final Fantasies- but none of them hit quite like this one. Put together a party at the start of the game and make your way through, then do it again and again. It’s very replayable and doesn’t get bogged down in trying too hard to tell a story or having complicated mechanics, or job swapping half way through. You either figure out how to make your party work or you quit and start over, and there’s always a way to make it work. - Fire Emblem The first one on GBA, often called Blazing Sword. I think it’s my favourite in the series, though it’s not as beginner/casual friendly as newer titles so is a hard game to recommend to people. I absolutely adore its story, so utterly tragic and moving. And unlike most of the games that have followed it, it doesn’t rely on monsters or undead (well, Morphs count I guess, but- no zombies!) which I appreciate. - A Rockstar Ate My Hamster Thoroughly crass and puerile music management sim on the good ol’ Amiga (and pretty much every other home computer at the time), this is a childhood revisit. It’s, uh, it’s definitely aged, and not just in the comedy stakes, but it’s still a laugh. Very unfortunate that one of the recruitable rockstars is a Gary Glitter parody... - Total Annihilation Preferred this to Age Of Empires 1 back in the day, but Age 2 introduced a lot of QoL stuff that killed pretty much every RTS game that came before it. Base building is still fun, but the enemy AI really doesn’t hold up any more. The meekest of rush tactics is enough to completely shut them down. Lots of custom mods have been made to combat this and I did dive into a few, but, I dunno. Something’s missing now. - Touhou, all of em 6- aged badly. Still playable but yikes. 7- aged, but like a fine wine. 1cc’d Hard Mode for the first time ever this year! 8- kind of a weird game, did it invent achievements??? 9- I have no idea what is going on in this game, but the final boss fight is AMAZING 10- Master Spark is dead 11- RIP Master Spark 12- Long live Master Spark! Still love this one, even though the UFO system is weird 12.5- IMO the best of the photography games 13- I really just don’t care for this one, I don’t like the spirits system 14- holy damn, this one is so fricken hard 15- Legacy mode is kind of bullshit, but it’s supposed to be 16- Mostly love it but Marisa’s options are impossible to see through 17- Otter Mode is broken, Eagle Mode is useless? Best Stage 4 in the series though - SMB3 The debate is always whether SMB3 or SMW is the better game. For my money it’s World, but that race is a photo finish by anyone’s metric. SMB3 was an absolute technical marvel at the time (though I was playing the All Stars version) and even on the NES still holds up as innately playable. It hasn’t aged a bit. Played through this on Switch to keep the cat company! He didn’t appreciate it. - Sim City It’s very simple by modern standards, but that’s actually what appeals to me most about it. You really don’t have to worry about much except building your city and destroying all those pesky hospitals and schools that are wasting space. Streamed a megalopolis run just for the fun of it. - SMB2 This was originally a game called Doki Doki Majo Shinpan. - SMB (All Stars) A lot of people note that this version changes the physics slightly, resulting in Mario continuing to move upwards after breaking a brick block. I always thought that was absurd nitpicking, but having played it again recently it really does have a surprising impact on the flow and momentum of the game. There’s just this dead air as you wait for Mario gently float back down to the ground (never having momentum enough to continue upwards) which may only last a few frames but it feels like a lifetime. I take it back, the complaints are legit. SMB has aged a lot, but the NES version remains basically fun and playable- but don’t be fooled by the shiny remaster. It’s not the way to go. - Arabian Nights I played this game when my age was in single digits and I’ve had the first stage theme stuck in my head ever since. It’s actually a pretty rad game, too! Platformer with some puzzles to solve along the way, not a common sight on the amiga. Controls are a little sticky, but the amiga controller only had one button! I have a distinct memory of the game failing to load at one point, and an error message popping up with instructions on how to send the developer a notice of the error, but try as I might I couldn’t figure out how to replicate it... - Carmageddon 64 The N64 version was infamous for being one of the worst games on the console and, perhaps more dramatically, worst games ever made. I never played it around release, but I had a chance to this year. Blimey, they weren’t kidding. I’m not sure why it’s so much worse than the absolutely OK PC version. I didn’t play far into it, I just wanted to see for myself. - Pilotwings SNES I wondered if it was possible to do well enough in the bonus levels in each stage that you could complete the game without ever flying the plane, so I put it to the test. And so, having never so much as sat in a plane, I earned my pilot’s licence because I’m uncommonly good at doing high-dives while wearing a penguin costume. - Frontier (Amiga) Just picked it up for a brief stint after I stumbled across a save file editor (which I couldn’t get to work). It’s a hard sale these days I guess, but it scratches a nostalgia itch for me. - Hopeless Masquerade Touhou fighting game! I’m all around terrible at fighting games and this was no exception. I don’t know what I’m doing. But, playable Byakuren. - Pilotwings 64 Oh dear. Here’s one that should have been left in the nostalgia pile. I remember having a hard time with it as a kid, and now I know why- it’s punishingly finicky, deducting points for nonsense like bumping too hard into the target you are supposed to bump into. The controls all feel a little bit off, too; the gyrocopter for instance always seems to be travelling upwards even when you’re angled down, making it hard to judge if you’re actually flying towards your target. - Ronaldinho Soccer 64 Hahahahaha!!! Sorry. Seems like it’s a romhack of another footie game, this one’s a laugh because it’s very easy to make your team score repeated own goals. The dismay on their faces every time! - F-Zero GX Dolphins are pretty great, aren’t they? I wanted to see how great Dolphins are, so I used this game to test it. Them. Test the dolphins. With this gamecube game. Yeah. - Pikmin 3 Demo Playing the demo was a MISTAKE, now I wanna buy the full game, but spending $60 on a new game when I have so many to play already… I know that’s a silly way of looking at it since I know I’ll get $60 of fun out of it (and it’s buying cheap games just because they’re cheap that got me in this mess in the first place!), but it’s a lot of spons to drop all at once. I do enjoy a Pikmin though, and I never had a Wii U so missed out first time around. - Fire Emblem Sacred Stones After playing through the first (?) title, I wanted more, and this is the closest match. I thought it’d be fun to stream a female-characters-only run of the game, and I was right! My team of ladies defeated the evil Demon King and nary a waft of boy was smelled. - One Way Heroics A roguelike I actually enjoyed! But still only played through to completion once. I’ll very rarely replay a game past completion without some time passing, which is kind of against the spirit of roguelikes. - Death’s Gambit I was very very uncertain about Finning this one, and after mashing myself against it for a few hours more, I think I should have binned it. It’s gorgeous but it hates me. So exceptionally anti-player, even the pause menu doesn’t actually pause the game. That’s just rude! - Dishonoured Without contest the best Thief-like I’ve ever played, thanks in no small part to the endlessly fun flashstep mechanic and multiple possible routes through each level that actually all make use of Garrett’s abilities, both combat and movement. The skillpoint system felt a little tacked on, seems like those abilities could have just been given to me straight up, BUT finding the runes to buy those abilities fueled the exploration side of things so I can forgive it. Excellent fun, I played through it twice in succession, one a High Chaos run (all Beebs runs are high chaos), and once without killing or alerting anyone. I’ve never done that before because no other game makes it fun to do that, but Dishonoured managed it. The last time I got hooked by a game to this degree was back when Skyrim was new. The kitchen suffered dearly for Dishonored’s sake. - Ocarina Of Time It’s aged pretty significantly in a lot of ways, hasn’t it? I didn’t play very far into it, only as far as the first Spiritual Stone. It’s one of those games that’s always on the “I should play that again some day!” list, which then gets passed over in favour of a backlog game. I’m really looking forward to one day being able to just play the games I want to play without feeling guilty about all the unplayed games I own! - Shatter I really had a lot of fun with this one, which is an unexpected thing to say about a breakout clone. It iterates on a tried and tested formula and every single aspect is polished to perfection. Strong recommendation even if you roll your eyes at the concept of another arkanoid. Killer OST. - TF2 Why can’t I quit you? Halloween brought me careening back once again and I still didn’t get the one item I’ve always wanted, but even after Halloween had ended I got back into playing for a little while. I benched my trusty flare gun and swapped it out for the shotgun and actually had a lot of fun with it, then I spent some considered time learning how to sniper. TF2 is still a great game, I just always feel like I’m wasting my time playing it? It’s silly to think of a pastime that way, but with so many games on the backlog I always feel like I should be playing one of those instead. Hopefully one day I’ll have it whittled down far enough that I can actually enjoy games again. - Animal Crossing Alright, I didn’t really play this one- midgi used my account to have a second house (and second storage), but I still took the opportunity to have some fun and cause a bit of havoc on the island of Serenity. - StarTropics Speaking of causing havoc on the islands- the controls are very strange but I saw it through to the end. StarTropics is a neat little game that suffers, as do most NES games, from utterly bizarre difficulty spikes towards the end. Still worth a run if you can stomach that or have save-states. - Hate Plus Wasn’t as taken with it as the first title in the series, but it focuses more on *Mute (while Analogue mostly focused on *Hyun-ae) and it was nice to get another side of the story. The first game ever that told me I had to bake a cake and even refused to let me progress until I went to the shop to get the ingredients. - FF1 (FCC) Same as the Four Job Fiesta, except in FF1 this time! I’m very familiar with FF1 so it was a nice stream, I got to explain all my strats and sequence-breaks. - Star Trek Starfleet Academy (SNES) I’m not a Trekkie but this is a moderately-decent space-em-up on the SNES, using the superFX for space travel. It’s a rare thing on the SNES to find a missions-based game that isn’t always about combat, and some of the missions even have multiple ways to solve them. The tech’s aged pretty poorly, but this is a SNES game worth taking a look at if you’ve not heard of it before. - Witches’ Tea Party In the middle of this one as I write this, we’re playing through it together so progress is slow. Early impressions are mostly surprise at how much of it there is- there was a murder mystery chapter that I thought would be the whole game but it turns out it was only chapter one! They do some real neat stuff with RPG Maker. Good to see. - Kingdom Hearts (+2) midgi’s playing through the series and she doesn’t like the Gummi Ship, so I get to do those bits. It’s basically Starfox but you get to build your own ship, it’s awesome. - Pokemon Fire Red Randomiser Nuzlocke! This is still on-going as I write it. We just got to Cerulean City and crossed Nugget Bridge. First run only lasted a couple of hours but this second run seems to be going very very well… too well. We shall see what awaits us! - Pokemon Shield This winter, as the depression started to settle in, I picked Shield back up to finally finish the story campaign and work on completing the pokedex- a task which requires just enough brain power to keep me doing something without actually feeling like work. Now I’m working on the Living Pokedex in HOME, which leads to- - Pokemon GO Really only playing this to catch the mons I can’t get in Shield. It’s not like I’m actually going anywhere, you know? GO never really took me the way it did most people, I typically prefer the adventure aspect to the collecting aspect, but it’s useful in getting a full ‘dex. - Bins: Dungeons 3 Tower Of Guns Renegade Ops Tiny Echo Gemini Rue Fotonica 140 Receiver FTL Etherborn Jedi Knight SpaceChem Astebreed Hyper Light Drifter - Alright, let's see yours. And what's your Game Of The Year?

#gaming #game of the year #goty #retrospective

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carrollstreetstation · 5 years

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wolfenstein 3D: a level-by-level breakdown

(note: due to the extreme simplicity of wolfenstein’s design ethos, i will be forgoing screenshots, with a few exceptions. you’ve seen one wolf3d screenshot, you’ve seen them all. if you would like to see the game in action, i recommend this LP.)

EPISODE ONE: ESCAPE FROM WOLFENSTEIN

the iconic shareware episode, and the only one available for free -- thus often the only one many people played. like many others, i'd only ever played the shareware episode, but it's still just as captivating as it once was all those years ago. in terms of design aesthetic, wolfenstein 3D may be somewhat primitive and abstract by today's standards, though it's worth mentioning that there are occasional attempts at realistic touches such as the dog kennel in E1L1. the basic premise is identical to that of the original classic: you've been taken captive in the dungeons of the nazi-occupied castle wolfenstein, and it's up to you to get out.

E1L1 the classic first level. we begin in medias res, with you already having been captured and now attempting your escape. there's a dead guard in front of you, and you're armed with a knife, and the guard's luger, 8 rounds in the magazine, and a pumping soundtrack to get you primed for nazi murder. a somewhat linear affair save for a quick side trip into the kennels. savvy players who know their secrets can find the elevator to the secret level behind not one, but two secrets at the very end of the map.

E1 SECRET if you're brave enough to try this secret level, the difficulty takes a major leap upwards as MP40-toting SS guards join the regular grunts in defending this huge maze, which seems like an underground cave system, perhaps beneath the bottom levels of the castle proper. creepy music serenades you as you navigate the tunnels, and it seems like every corridor has at least one secret to be found. cool fakeout ambush if you choose the wrong exit door at the end.

E1L2 whether or not you did the secret level, SS goons are here as well. not the biggest maze in the world, but a huge chunk of it is entirely optional. aside from a big kitchen area, kennels and a prison there's a pair of big torture chambers too, full of the skeletons adrian carmack drew to get a rise out of the suits at formgen who were nervous about the violence.

E1L3 another maze of torture rooms, prison cells and officer's quarters. an optional series of boxy rooms is largely featureless but if you know where to look you can find a secret treasure vault.

E1L4 while mostly still a fairly featureless series of rooms, this does feature a few points of interest, for example the wood-carved swastika that dominates a room on the southern end of the map, as well as one of the rare secrets that actually gives itself away by the puddle of water before it, suggesting a leak of some kind.

E1L5 the heat turns up quite a bit for this one, with enemies around every corner, especially on higher difficulties. you'll have more than one chance to just unload with the chaingun until everyone's dead. it also features an enormous secret area -- probably the biggest in the episode -- that's full of treasure, ammo -- and guards.

E1L6 not the longest or most complex level, but there's plenty of nazis to murder in this nearly entirely red-brick complex of mostly straight hallways and round rooms. you'll have to go one way for the key, then another for the exit. a cute little barracks with plenty of treasure is the standout landmark here. watch out for the SS ambush right by the exit.

E1L7 one of the few levels in this episode we can conclusively attribute to one of the designers, tom hall in this case, thanks to a comment he'd made that was published in the hint manual. in it he describes the central landmark of the map, a long hallway lined with gaps in the walls, the gaps filled with impassable columns. behind them are large rooms filled with guards, and traversing the hallway is basically a gauntlet as a small army of troops fire upon you from behind the columns. reaching them is a matter of following the hallways around to the rooms they're in, but once they're alert they'll start spreading out, making tracking them down difficult. it's a cool idea and an early example of the kind of creative level design that we would later see in doom.

E1L8 another all-brick affair, save for a little bit of wood paneling and a grey stone barracks area in the northwest corner. a very short level all told, surprisingly light on resistance for so late in the episode. features the first appearance of what i've in recent years taken to calling the "trash eagle."

E1L9 the end of the episode is just as iconic as its beginning, a massive entrance hall devoid of enemies... save one. hans grosse, an enormous teutonic bastard in full body armor, greets you with a cursory "GUTEN TAG" before unloading on you with two chainguns. dealing with him requires ducking for cover when he's firing and dumping your ammo on him when he's not. after what seems like almost all of your ammo he'll go down like a sack of hammers, giving you the key to the exit, and the iconic escape cutscene. if you need ammo or health, there's a secret along the western wall full of both.

final thoughts:

an iconic episode, right up there with "knee deep in the dead" or "dimension of the doomed" in terms of its recognizability. sure, the texture usage is rather limited and the level design, cute attempts at imitating real-world spaces aside, is as abstract as any in those days, but for a lot of people, the first level alone could probably be done in their sleep. while there's only three kinds of enemies through the entire episode, they're often cleverly placed to keep you on your toes. this is just a taste of what's to come.

EPISODE TWO: OPERATION EISENFAUST

after the limited offering of the shareware episode, the full game promises a bigger experience, with more textures, more enemies, more music, more of everything that made wolf3D so great. the level design gets more complex as now you'll often have to find two keys instead of just one. now that you're free from wolfenstein, it's time to resume your mission, infiltrating castle hollehammer where the evil dr. schabbs' laboratory is supposed to be, and find out what he's been doing in there. episode two thus starts off by introducing you to the mutant, a reanimated soldier carrying cleavers in both hands and a gun in his chest. absolutely silent, he's an inhumanly fast shot and if you're not careful he'll get the drop on you, ending your mission prematurely.

E2L1 the origins of the horror theme that has been a part of the franchise all these years starts here with another level by tom hall, as you infiltrate the castle via some kind of sewer entrance. the first few rooms are empty, and you think maybe you've gotten in unnoticed... but open the wrong door and say hello to your first mutant. how well you do in this level depends on whether you find the MP40 and ammo cache across from the entrance -- or the hidden chaingun. nice touch with the starry background on the wall behind you at the start -- it gives a sense that this isn't just another bunch of random abstract hallways, but a real place with a real outside world. it's not fooling anyone, obviously, but it's a good touch of realism in a time when "realism" consisted of a square room with a table sprite in the middle.

E2 SECRET a very tiny level with a few mutants... or is it? push in the right place and the level opens up significantly, with a boatload of treasure to be found. the mutants didn't bother waiting for you and have killed some of their nazi handlers, as the corpses on the floor indicate.

E2L2 after a brief portion in the sewers, you find the exit -- marked by warning signs, presumably to keep people out of the sewers where the mutants'll get 'em. it's sealed off too, requiring you to push a wall to get out. the rest of the level is a fairly bog-standard level with three quarters of a swastika being the only distinguishing feature. i think tom hall did this one as he comments on being able to see out a window early on.

E2L3 it's not the sewers, but you wouldn't know it for all the slimy wall textures. the opening section is simple enough, but the level likes to play around with secrets. an entire secret area is visible beyond rows of columns, but to get there you have to take the long way around. there's more secret areas within the first one, each one getting better and better, until finally culminating in a mess of SS. and if that's not bad enough, the silver key is guarded by mutants, lying in wait. tom, you're an asshole.

E2L4 not a complex level from tom here, split mostly into two sections with a third, circular room in the middle. a lot of doors open immediately into dead ends; others have mutants behind them. a holding area for mutants quickly turns into a shitshow when killing the lone guard alerts the monsters hiding in their cells and they come out for blood.

E2L5 well, it's a nazi castle, i suppose it makes sense to have a level shaped like a swastika. each "arm" of the swastika is done up in a different theme, from the slimy rock walls we've seen a lot of this episode, to a red brick stronghold of sorts, to blue stone dungeon, to wood-paneling. you can basically skip most of this episode by going to three rooms max, but you miss out on a lot of nazi murder and items to find.

E2L6 opening up in a cave-like area very similar to the secret level from the first episode, only this one is full of mutants. the big maze in the southeast can be navigated by following the bloodstains -- a neat touch that seems like something tom hall would do. the elevator doors at the end present an interesting dillemma -- which one is the exit, and which one is the mutant ambush?

E2L7 an odd level. it's just a few rooms and the exit elevator... unless you find the secret that opens up the entire rest of the map. it's still not the biggest map you'll ever play, but it's a respectable 5 minutes or so of nazi slaughter... until you get to the mutant cave in the southwest corner, where the nazis have already been slaughtered.

E2L8 another odd level, this one is infamous for being half made up of a large maze of 2x2 rooms and pushwalls. push your way through and you can find 1-ups, hans grosse clones (or maybe they're his brothers), treasure, or a sign saying CALL APOGEE, SAY AARDWOLF. this sign was part of a contest, if you did what it instructed you would win a prize. however, thanks to cheat and mapping programs the sign was found almost immediately, and the contest was canceled. in some later versions, the sign is replaced by a 1-up and some garbage. the rest of the map isn't as memorable, though it does have a nice little barracks in the southeast.

E2L9 another boss arena, the laboratory of the evil dr. schabbs. metal walls and warning signs tell you this is a high-tech place (well, for the 1940s anyway) and every room is quite large. other than schabbs, mutants are the only other occupants, coming at you in a wave before the mad doctor himself attacks, throwing hypodermic needles full of his monster serum at you. if you die to schabb's flying needles, instead of the usual beat-up face, BJ's skin turns white, just like one of the mutants. killing schabbs triggers an instant replay of his death animation, which is funny.

final thoughts: the second episode turns up the heat significantly. the mutants prove themselves to be a serious threat, their silence and frightening firing speed making them incredibly dangerous. the horror theme is pretty strong at multiple points in the episode, which is impressive given how primitive the game is compared to even doom. clever use of enemy corpse sprites and blood-spattered textures offer some interesting environmental storytelling. schabbs himself embodies the worst aspects of the nazi regime, that of mad science and human experimentation -- so of course taking him down is satisfying, despite how easy he is. (letting his mutants do the work for him -- so typical!)

EPISODE THREE: DIE, FUHRER, DIE!

the third episode, and technically the final one of the early version of the game until the nocturnal missions were added. as the name suggests, your mission is to kill hitler. who doesn't wanna kill hitler? well, nazis probably. but fuck 'em. anyway rather than crumbling old castles, dank dungeons and evil labs, episode three is set in a massive bunker beneath the reichstag, akin to the plot of "beyond castle wolfenstein." don't expect adolf to calmly let you bomb his conference room this time, though...

E3L1 the entrance to hitler's bunker is a small set of rooms that offers light resistance -- a few guards and SS, plus the very first officer in the game, who moves fast and fires faster. he's not as much of a threat as the mutant, but he's still quick on the draw. poke around a bit and you'll find the secret dungeon complete with machine gun for the taking. the music is a bit of fun, a very simple tune that has a morse code message playing in the background:

TO BIG BAD WOLF DE LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD ELIMINATE HITLER IMPERATIVE COMPLETE MISSION WITHIN 24 HOURS OUT

E3L2 this is the first level that we can be pretty sure is john romero's if his commentary in the hint guide is anything to go by. it's a relatively tiny level, split off into two parts, with the exit very close to the start position but locked off. the key is in the southern area of the map, but the northern portion doesn't offer much and is completely optional -- a deliberate fakeout on romero's part.

E3L3 another short map by romero, this one opens with three doors to choose from. two eventually lead to the same place, while the third takes you to one of the keys you'll need. the other key is guarded in the northern part of the map. similar to romero's tendency to stick an enemy in the exit room in doom, an officer greets you on your way to the elevator.

E3L4 romero's short-form maps continue here (i wonder if these maps were made early in the game's development?) it also continues the trend of most of the episode 3 maps being largely white stone walls with the occasional brick, dungeon or wood to break up the monotony. finding the key isn't enough -- the door opens to a wall that turns out to be pushable.

E3L5 another short-and-sweet level, this one centering the action mostly around a red brick complex inside a large grey stone room. though this one does feature a long, twisty passage that ends in little more than a medkit and an SS goon.

E3L6 tom hall brings his personal brand of weirdness to episode three with this level that opens with a locked door immediately to your left. going forward is a repeat of his old favorite trick of putting enemies and items behind barriers where they can shoot you but you can't reach them, not without a little secret-searching anyway. there's also the enormous maze of reinforced steel to the north which offers little in the way of resistance but is incredibly confusing without a map. there's also another key that can be gotten on the sly by going around and entering the closet it's in via a pushwall in back.

E3L7 jesus christ, tom. "abstract" is the theme for this level, a mess of curving hallways, rooms in the shape of tom hall and john romero's initials, a secret that's easy to break before you even find it, a ludicrously large, featureless secret maze, and *another* secret at the end of said maze. the final secret is worth it though, as it takes you to the secret level...

E3 SECRET it's pacman. in first person. with some nazis thrown in. that is literally the entirety of the level. avoid the ghosts, get the treasure, find the exit. it's honestly an adorable tribute to such a classic game from a game that has since become nearly as much of a classic itself.

E3L8 the final level before hitler, and the nazis throw everything they've got to stop you. tom hall starts this level by putting you in an empty room; only pushing the right wall will take you into a large, swastika-shaped corridor. SS and officers are everywhere; side rooms will have enemies coming at you from all sides, and they've put up barricades that you'll have to work your way around. and just when you think you've cracked it, and you're at the end, you open the elevator door and there's an officer right there waiting for you -- which doesn't happen often.

E3L9 this is it: the final battle with hitler! aesthetically it's not terribly different from the rest of the episode, but it does introduce us to one of the best fakeouts in a video game. all that buildup and when we finally do meet hitler, he's dressed in robes and shooting fireballs at you -- could it be that the old monster is a magician? well, he's playing a trick on you alright: it's a mannequin with a flamethrower, and when shot down you can hear hitler's evil laugh in the distance. hitler himself is a fairly straightforward boss fight, first in a war mech, and then when that's destroyed he comes after you himself with a pair of chainguns. his death animation is even better than the one at the end of bionic commando.

final thoughts: for the third episode of the original trilogy, design-wise it's a bit disappointing. the texture use is quite monotonous, the levels are pretty short and simple. alone or in small groups, the officer isn't nearly as menacing an enemy as the mutant, which is absent from this episode. the pac-man secret level is an amusing diversion at least. the real value in this episode is the battle against hitler -- that death animation is a treat.

EPISODE FOUR: A DARK SECRET

after the initial success of wolfenstein 3D, apogee software founder scott miller convinced id software to make another trilogy of episodes after finding out that a new level could be cranked out at a rate of one per day. smirkingly titled "the nocturnal missions," this prequel trilogy involves a plot to wage chemical warfare on the allies, and so episode four opens with BJ infiltrating a chemical weapons research facility. we can expect the usual castley goodness as envisioned mostly by tom hall, which promises a slightly more visually interesting experience than hitler's bunker.

E4L1 tom's crafted a cute little castle entrance with a big foyer and dining hall, and a little cavern of sorts in the southwest corner leading to the exit. not the most heartpounding of levels, but at this early stage you'll be ill-equipped to deal with the amount of SS and officers thrown at you, especially on higher difficulties. thus it's an early hint as to the focus on increased difficulty for the nocturnal missions.

E4L2 another tom hall joint, this one has a strong castle design, being ringed on all sides by a single long hallway with a number of rooms in the center. popping off a firearm here will alert enemies on the other side of the map, making exploration dangerous as you're likely to be snuck up on.

E4L3 the level starts off with a huge offering of health and ammo. normally when seeing a smorgasboard like this, it raises one's hackles as it signifies the arrival of a boss enemy. however, none is to be found -- but there *are* a big gaggle of enemies further down the corridor, up to 23 at once. it's quite the impressive ambush.

E4 SECRET sure, you *could* try to fight your way through the whopping seventy-five officers (on all difficulties!) who staff this level. the secret ammo stash at the start is the only thing that would make it even possible. but it's clear stealth was in mind when this puzzle map was designed, the idea being going behind the officers' backs. the official hint guide says that if you follow the path it designated you won't be seen, but this is unfortunately untrue as three will spot you either way, forcing you to hurry.

E4L4 tom gives us a relatively small level that, aside from a cave maze on the eastern side, also features an "art gallery" full of admiring officers. it's like the secret level in miniature, much more manageable with up to 14 officers waiting to run in front of your chaingun. there's also the choice between a secret room full of health, or a secret room full of ammo, and which one you get is dependant on which way you push a wall.

E4L5 tom hall has crafted a large cavern system that seems to be filled with officers. there's also a moment where a horde of guard dogs come at you en masse, and if you're not careful they can catch you in a pincer movement. there's multiple elevators as well, but all but one are inaccessible.

E4L6 tom hall's predilection for mimicking real-world spaces in doom (as in episode two of that game as well as parts of doom 2) can be seen in wolfenstein 3D as well. this level's example of that is the multiple elevators from the previous stage can be seen here too. but perhaps the standout feature of this level is the strange series of thin hallways behind a long row of doors, most of them containing officers and items. it's a good example of the abstract weirdness that has long been a staple of early FPS level design.

E4L7 fairly standard level. a long central hallway divides the east and west sides; it's filled with enemies, and tom hall has exploited the enemy behavior of being able to open locked doors to create an opportunity for players to get through without needing the key -- though if it closes behind them, there's no turning back.

E4L8 another tom hall joint, this one has a lot of tricky encounters that make the standard guards actually dangerous for once. it's the same trick as the dogs in E4L6 -- a big winding maze that makes it easy for the enemy to get behind you. there's a similar area full of officers where it's possible to sneak past some of them -- or bypass them entirely, if you find the right secret.

E4L9 the boss level is a cruel twist on the usual method. all the health and ammo are behind locked doors in the boss room; the keys are guarded by a single grunt who will alert a small army of SS and officers in the next room. however, the final boss, otto giftmacher, is not a threat at all, firing a slow-moving missile that's easily dodged. if you came in already loaded for bear you don't even need to deal with his goons.

final thoughts: episode four is a good display of tom hall's somewhat mean-spirited level design, and i say that in a good way. it's clear he took the opportunity to up the difficulty for the expansion, and that includes throwing in officers by the boatload. in general, though, the level design has started to become increasingly abstract. otherwise, a good start for the nocturnal missions.

EPISODE FIVE: TRAIL OF THE MADMAN

the fifth episode introduces us to castle erlagen (though the hint guide seems to think that was the site of episode four -- maybe both are true) as we hunt for the plans to the nazis' chemical warfare campaign. most of these levels are from romero, who has a somewhat tighter, more abstract design ethos to tom hall's more freewheeling, quasi-realistic style -- something that would be evident later in doom as well.

E5L1 the dungeons of castle erlagen start you off light, mostly guards and a few SS. john romero has crafted a relatively short level, the majority of the action being in a series of rooms off a long hallway that separates the bottom half of the map from a few large rooms connected by narrow tunnels. the final room is a very romero-esque ambush.

E5L2 romero has a penchant for a very sectional level design and we can see an example of it here, where you're dropped in the middle of the map and it's split across four areas in four directions, forcing you to explore until you find the key and the exit. he's also put in a devious deathtrap to the west -- a gauntlet of SS guards for a handful of treasure that honestly is not worth it, which may be the point.

E5L3 another short and sweet romero level -- but heavily guarded. the exit is right behind the entrance, and a number of goons stand watch. if you're low on ammo, you may be running into problems -- but romero has thoughtfully made the secrets extremely obvious, and both will give you everything you could ever want.

E5L4 similar to E5L2, only incredibly symmetrical, this is a wheel-and-spoke design that plops you in the center and it's up to you to clear out a series of nine rooms connected by hallways. as is becoming a pattern, the path is filled with enemies, so it's up to you to be quick on the draw to mow them down the moment the door opens.

E5L5 romero's hub-style design again, only a bit more freewheeling. notable encounters include the "art gallery" in the southeast corner full of dogs, and a similar mini-maze in the northwest occupied by SS and officers. romero has a talent for making maps that seem larger than they really are. the secret exit, however, is well-hidden.

E5 SECRET more hub-style design, though with an evil twist. other than a few central rooms the entirety of the map is made up of long narrow corridors with nazis on patrol. this leads to a tense few minutes as you navigate these tunnels always knowing that if an enemy comes around the corner, you won't have any cover.

E5L6 a rare attempt from romero to make something that feels like a real-world space, the core of this map is a complex of rooms surrounded by a large cavern that encircles three-quarters of the map. the complex itself isn't particularly unusual or, well, complex, though interestingly one of the three doors leading to the room that itself leads to the exit is of a different lock from the others. you still need the silver key, though.

E5L7 back to the hub design. the enemy count is climbing ever higher, romero throws goons at you every step of the way. a major encounter is in the northwestern room where a row of doors all lead to the same room, with a swarm of officers and SS goons hiding just behind to come at you in a wave. the final room is an ornate hallway lined with SS guards, giving a sense that we're getting ever closer to our goal.

E5L8 the penultimate level of episode five is a quick-and-dirty map that splits off into three zones. the biggest heat of the level is probably in the southwest, a maze of corridors full of bad guys that can and will wind up wandering behind you unless you're careful. and when you get through that mess, there's an ambush in the key room. interestingly, you can see the exit door at the very beginning -- but it's behind a barricade, requiring you to find the key to get to the other side.

E5L9 the boss arena is pretty straightforward -- a huge room divided in three by rows of walls. gretel grosse, sister of hans, is your target for this mission, and she behaves exactly the same as hans. taking her out is a snap, but you'd better stock up before opening the door she guards, as the command room that's your final goal is filled with nazi goons. cute re-use of the "yeah!" animation.

final thoughts: episode five is romero at his best. it's a fast-paced little jaunt that offers plenty of nazis to mow down by the boatload, giving a hint of what doom would be like. though he overuses the hub-style level design, it at least gives a little bit of structure to an otherwise freewheeling, abstract mapping style.

EPISODE SIX: CONFRONTATION

the final episode of the game is a bit of a hodgepodge, featuring work from john romero, tom hall, and, surprisingly, robert prince, the man behind the music for most of apogee and id's output between 1991 and 1996, including, but not limited to: wolfenstein 3D (duh), rise of the triad, duke nukem II and 3D, and of course doom. the story goes, now that the allies know where the general behind the upcoming chemical warfare campaign is located, they send BJ into castle heidenheim. with three mappers contributing to this level we can expect a mixture of styles, and given that this is the very last episode of the game, resistance is likely to be fierce.

E6L1 jesus christ, tom. 95% of this map is extremely long hallways, lined with niches in which officers hide. it takes forever to advance and you're constantly getting caught on architecture. you start the episode with the exit right in front of you, and you have to make an insanely long detour just to get to it. awful map.

E6L2 robert prince makes his level design debut with this weird outing. it starts off similar to the previous level's endless hallways, but at least in this case gunfire will make most of the hiding enemies come after you. after that is a series of hallways that spiral in on themselves, at the center of which is the exit. it's like this episode was designed to annoy me.

E6L3 jesus christ, robert. it's a maze of swastikas. every room is a fucking swastika, and they interlink with each other. it's just... fucking madness. it blows my mind. this is what i'm talking about when it comes to how old FPS games seemed to just get by on pure abstraction. in that regard, duke nukem 3D should be considered a fucking revelation. this map is a pain to navigate too, though not as bad as the first two.

E6 SECRET romero and hall both did this level. it's a very romero-style level at its core -- a central hub with four separate areas, each with a different theme. tackling more than one is optional, because at the end of each one is another grosse brother holding a key to the exit in the central room. to the east is a nightmare zone of a vine-choked maze -- visibility is borderline zero and it's full of mutants(!) and officers. a better bet would be the more straightforward boss arena to the west, though the mazes to the north and south aren't too bad. though, work your way too deep into the pushwall maze and you'll run into a familiar ghost, because this map wasn't gimmicky enough.

E6L4 though the hint guide doesn't say one way or another save for tom hall making a completely random e. e. cummings reference, this has hall's style all over it. It's mostly a series of random rooms connected via one hallway or tunnel or another. Compared to the rest of the episode so far, this level's banality is honestly a blessing.

E6L5 i'm pretty sure tom hall did this one as well. the big setpiece is a long, wide hallway with enemies hidden in the niches in the wall -- something i was tired of before the end of the first level. there's also a couple of nearly-identical shootouts in big rooms for possession of the keys. pretty basic level all told.

E6L6 yeah, i can tell this is a romero map, even without the hint guide telling me. it's got two of his most defining features in his nocturnal missions level design: absolute fucking chaos, and a tight level design with a core conceit. on its surface it resembles the spiral maze from robert prince's first level, but this is much bigger, and *much* more packed with enemies, all of whom come after you from the first shot fired. actually quite fun.

E6L7 tom and his fucking mazes strike again. after a rough initiation (more of the hallway/hidden enemies business) and a big central chamber with officers shooting at you from side rooms, you're treated to a nightmare world of endless mazes. if you're brave enough, you can even venture into a secret vine maze, which, while not as dangerous as the one in the secret level, is still plenty annoying and not really worth the hassle.

E6L8 it's hard to say whose level this is, but i'm going to guess it's romero's. it's two underground complexes split by a single long cave tunnel that curls around and between them in a backwards S fashion, which would suggest tom hall, but the abundance of enemies and the relatively compact room arrangement says john romero. whoever did it, this is a pretty linear affair -- first you clear out the northern complex, room by room, then grab the key. then you take out the southern complex and reach the exit. simple.

E6L9 the final boss of the nocturnal missions, and the nazis throw everything they've got at you. i'm reasonably certain this is a romero level, because the evil general is guarded by a baying horde of fascists who come at you from all directions. it's as if they looked at how sparsely populated the previous boss levels were and decided this deserved a bit more of a finale. it makes for some cool carnage, but you'll likely run into trouble unless you're secret-savvy.

final thoughts: "mixed bag" is an understatement. this episode feels like where the dregs of the design team's ideas went. guest designer robert prince should have stuck to music. there are a few cool bits, but in general the sixth episode is a low note, and a bit of a disappointment after the ludicrously fun fifth episode.

#Wolfenstein 3D #classic fps

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otomememento · 5 years

Text

Cradle OC - Mason Wright - Three of Hearts

Based on filling in the ranks of the Chosen 13 on the Cradlesona Discord Server.

Image credit goes to: https://picrew.me/image_maker/54346

Basic Information:

Name: Mason Wright Title: Three of Hearts Gender: Male Birthday: March 3rd Age: 26 Height: 5’10” Hair Color: Brown Eye Color: Brown Occupation: Engineer Affiliation: Red Army Alignment: Neutral Good

Extended Information:

Personality: Quiet and thoughtful, Mason isn’t a member of the Red Army that does much to stand out. As an engineer, most of his time is spent either building things for the army, or trying to find weak points in the structures of the Black Army. To his troops, he’s curtly professional, but never harsh or impatient; he’d rather try to correct errors than pronounce someone as useless. He’s often seen as humorless because he doesn’t joke much, but when he’s relaxed it’s easy to get him laughing. Mason finds women around his age to be very intimidating, and generally avoids them when he can because of his interactions with his half-sister and step-mother. Mason doesn’t like violence and when he has to fight, he prefers using guns over swords. He’s very intelligent, and his eyes are always seeing possibilities in the world around him. He loves to study nature and see how animals build things; he likes to keep bees as a hobby. Mason is very fond of children, and likes to build them playgrounds that are safe and fun. A problem solver by nature, he’s the kind of person that is willing to help when things break down, either in Red Territory or in the Central Quarter.

Mason has a pretty grounded opinion of himself. He knows that a lot of his problems as a youth were not his fault, and he tells himself this many times, but it has still made him a bit skittish with women and rather shy of the other Red Army members. He knows that his strengths lie in his mental acuity rather than his physical prowess. He also knows that he doesn’t fit in with the Red Army because of the years he spent as just a ‘normal’ kid. While he doesn’t care about fitting in for it’s own merits, he wants to make his mother proud, and ensure that her life is an easy one.

History: Mason was born the illegitimate second child of the Three of Hearts. His father, William Wright, had a rocky relationship with his wife and Mason was conceived on a fateful evening when his father sought comfort elsewhere: Mason’s mother Rachel. William was worried when his liaison resulted in a pregnancy, but Rachel was not exacting. When her baby ended up being a boy, William made sure to financially support the two of them: his wife had only had a daughter, and any further pregnancies ended in miscarriages. He despaired of ever having a legitimate male heir.

Behind the scenes, there was concern about the Three of Heart’s lineage, so a scheme was put into motion. Employing the shady Jack of Hearts, a character assassination was carried out on William’s legal wife. She was divorced and regulated to a mere mistress, only so she could stay close to her daughter. William then brought Rachel home and married her, retroactively legitimizing his son. Mason was ten years old at this point, and found himself suddenly thrust into a world of aristocrats, something that he found intensely intimidating as a child. His manners weren’t as neat, and he didn’t have a defense against their ways.

To make things worse, Mason’s older half-sister treated him mercilessly, always calling attention to his flaws and faults, and sabotaging his efforts to improve whenever she could. She was bitter about her mother being displaced, about having this ‘upstart’ younger brother show up as the heir. Mason tried hard to get along with his half-sister, but she wouldn’t have it. Her mother was also cold and unkind to Mason whenever they crossed paths, but that wasn’t often. Mason’s father tried to be kind to his son, but the ten years that they didn’t spend together made it awkward between them. In all this, Mason only really had his mother to rely on; Mason would do anything for his mother.

Because he didn’t want to stress his mother, Mason tried his best to be the person his father wanted. He never fully succeeded. However, his intelligence made him very suited to the occupation that the Three of Hearts traditionally had. Once he started learning his trade, relations between his father and himself improved. They often built things together, just to see if they would work. This made Mason’s half sister even more jealous, but it also diminished any ability she had to turn her father against her half-brother.

Despite his difficulties navigating the social world of the Red Aristocracy, Mason found military life easier once he became the Three of Hearts. There was something in the routine and regulations of the Army that suited him. He still dreaded any social events, but when he had actual work to do, he was much more relaxed and never gave anyone any grief when he was asked to do things. His humble beginnings also made him easy to impose upon, and often he found himself overburdened with work, which he never complained about. But his troops liked him well enough to step in and help.

Opinions & Interactions:

Black Army:

K. Ray: The kind of man he would like to follow, though he would never tell anyone this. Minimal interactions.

Q. Sirius: Down to earth, respectable. Minimal interactions.

J. Luka: Jonah’s younger brother; secretly envies him for being able to break away from the Red Army. Has tried to talk to him a few times, but Luka is too tight-lipped.

10. Seth: Seems rather excitable. Minimal interactions.

A. Fenrir: Thinks Fenrir is crazy for giving up a good home life to join the army. If he were free, he would have loved to work for Fenrir’s father. He talks to Fenrir sometimes about his father’s business, but only in the most basic, casual ways. If he had the chance, he’d take some of his trick bullets to study them.

Neutral: Blanc: The Cradle Record Keeper; he shows up to meetings sometimes in that capacity, but they don’t interact much. Though he’s caught Blanc looking at him in a sympathetic way. Oliver: Who? Oh, that kid that lives with Blanc? Or the man that drinks with Kyle sometimes? Loki: A shady young man who is sometimes seen talking to Kyle or members of the Black Army. He’s never interacted with him personally. Harr: He’s seen the wanted posters around town, but isn’t sure what exactly Harr has done. It’s unlikely he’d ever seek a conflict with him.

Red Army: K. Lancelot: Cold, professional, and brilliant. Seems to be more wrapped up in duty than passion. Never seeks him out unless it’s for Army business. Q. Jonah: The most intimidating member of the Red Army in his eyes. Jonah’s grace and boldness makes him feel like he doesn’t really belong; he can’t stand up to such high expectations, so he avoids Jonah. J. Edgar: Soft spoken, amiable, and with a terrible reputation as the Gentle Demon. Things between them are cordial, but nothing else. He neither avoids, nor seeks out the Jack. 7. Kyle: Probably the person he understands the most in the Red Army. Kyle’s role as a doctor means he’s less destructive than the others. His calm, almost lazy, personality feels much more down to earth, and his time spent with the common people of the Central Quarter means he’s not out of touch or too stuffy. A. Zero: He feels fairly comfortable with Zero, but since both of them are rather quiet, they don’t talk much. But there’s nothing awkward in the silence between them.

#cradlesona #ikemen revolution #ikerev oc #Red Army

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an-ace-phoenix · 5 years

Text

Whumptober Day 1

Shaky Hands.

Peter stared down in horror as his hands shook. He knew what was happening, had been warned about it many times and had even been told what to do if it ever happened.

He could feel his mind going blank, everything he had ever been taught about how to be an Avenger going straight out the window.

He felt his legs give way beneath him as he crumbled into a Spiderman shaped pile on the rough ground of the roof.

How did he get up here? Why here? Why? Why? Why?

He could hear Karen. She was saying something, she sounded worried, but Peter couldn't make out her words. It sounded important but he was too tired to listen. He carefully put a hand against his side, pressing against the hole in his suit. It came away damp and red with blood.

He wanted - no - he needed to talk. Needed to yell or scream or tell Karen to call up Mr Stark. Sitting here he was just waiting for death. Waiting to bleed out or die from the winter chill - whichever came first.

His throat was fuzzy and his tounge limp as he tried to make words. All that came out were muffled moans, not even enough for Karen to register.

How long ago had he been stabbed?

He could remember the masked man and his sinister smile. He could remember a fight and the man's taunting voice - what the man was saying escaped him. He could remember the slippery, slick, cold feel as the knife slid into his side. He remembered the man grabbing it back, saying something along the lines of "I'm going to need that back." But after that, no more.

After that just darkness and finally coming back to his senses on top of this roof.

Was this where he was stabbed? He would have to assume so, he couldn't imagine managing to move far in this condition.

He looked around slowly - if only he could get his bearings - but his vision was just fuzz and his mind wasn't much better. The chances of him finding his way to safety was slim.

The notices of the city washed over him. Maybe he had been missing long enough for Mr Stark to get notified, maybe Karen had informed him about Peter's questionable vitals and he was already on his way here.

Peter knew that it was truly his only hope.

Maybe if he could send out a distress signal - find a way to tell Mr Stark to hurry - then he might be ok.

Did he have anything with that kind of system. Well, this was Tony - of course he did - but did he have anything within reach, anything he could set off even like this.

He has his suit, obviously, but he can't speak for the voice commands and he can't think straight enough to remember what the protocol for this was. Does Karen message Mr Stark as soon as things get weird or does she wait a bit. Will Tony be already heading in his direction?

How long has he been up here? Time seems screwed. He can't tell if it's been a second, a minute or an hour. All he can tell us pain.

He has his watch, its over the top of his suit, but he can't gather enough strength to look at it. He knows that if he can just move his hand, there is a panic button on the side. If Tony received that he would know there was something wrong. He tries, he really does, but all he can manage is a small wrist twitch, nowhere near enough to set off his panic button.

He can feel the darkness creeping in around the edges. Little spots, starting in the very corners of his vision, and then growing. Growing like they have a life of their own as they grow and move and block out the sky, one spot at a time.

His eyes start to slip closed, he tries to fight. He knows that once he closes them, he may never open them again. He may never wake up if he lets himself sleep. But he is so tired. So so tired. All he can think off is sleep.

Sleep would take away all his pain.

Why doesn't he want to fall asleep again?

He lets his eyes slowly drift closed. He can feel sleep clawing its way up, fighting a battle with wakefulness and Peter honestly doesn't know which will win.

Now that his sight is gone, all his other sense's flair into life. He can smell the crisp winter air as it burns his nose as he breathes. He can taste the coppery, metallic taste of blood as it bubbles up his throat. He can feel the roof digging into his back, grounding him into reality even as he sleeps away. He can hear the distant buzz of the city and something else. Something buzzing, distant, familiar. Karen is talking again, he still can't make her out, but he can hear another voice. It's deeper and he wished he could hear it properly. It sounds worried, he wants to help it.

But more than all that. He can feel pain. Sharp, stabbing pain which fills his entire being and makes him want to scream.

The pain makes the decision for him. Tips it right out of his hands and slits in his face as it does so. Darkness comes.

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

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

An annoying beeping is what awakens Peter from his slumber. Pulling him into wakefulness with its insistent beeping and annoying pitch.

He wonders if it's his alarm, but he's had the same tune programmed for the last few years and this isn't it.

He peels his eyes open, with more difficulty than he expected, and instantly slams them shut again.

Who left the light on! It was one of those glaring lights, the kind which burned your eyes and were worse than looking at the sun.

It was one of those lights that you find in offices, schools and hospitals. So why was one here?

He clearly wasn't in an office and he really hoped he wasn't at school. So that left hospital. Was he in a hospital? Why would he be in a hospital?

He cast his mind's eye back, how had he ended up (probably) in a hospital?

He could remember going out in patrol and then…. Oh yeah. Getting stabbed. Bleeding out on a rooftop. Right. Well. He didn't appear to be dead so that was one plus.

He carefully forced his eyes open once more, he needed to be sure that he was alive. That his identity was safe.

He looked around slowly. He appeared to be in the med bay? The med bay at the avengers compound. That was good. It meant his identity was probably still secret, he had been picked up before anyone could find him and before he could die. That was pretty neat actually.

Just then, he heard the click of a door opening and the unmistakable steps of Dr Banner walking into the room.

As soon as Bruce noticed he was awake, a large smile appears on his face "hey Peter, how are you feeling."

"Good actually. How long have I been out?"

"Only since yesterday. You're lucky you have super healing, or you would almost definitely be dead by now. I'll just do my rounds and then send Tony in."

Peter nodded in agreement as Bruce checked his vitals ect.

He was getting the feeling that Tony may have been the one to save him, if his hunch was right then he has a lot to thank him for.

"Ok. That's all done. I'll go tell the others you are awake." Bruce smiled again as he walked out and Peter was suddenly struck by the fact Bruce looked like he had been worried. The avengers had been worried about him!

He didn't have much time to dwell on that, before the doors crashed open and Mr Stark walked in. At first glance he seemed fine. The cool collected self he always was. But then Peter noticed his hair - messy from hands being dragged through it - his eyes - dark circles from not sleeping and dim with worry - his clothes - rumpled like he had been sitting on a chair for the last however long - and Peter knew he was not fine.

"Mr Stark." He said, hoping that if Tony could talk to him, maybe it would ease out the worried lines firming between his brows.

"Peter." Tony says quietly, almost like he's shocked that Peter is ok, but is very glad about it. It physically hurts Peter, Tony's always been the strong one, the one who never cracks, and here he was looking like he's about to cry.

Tony's hands were shaking so Peter lent forwards to grab them. "I'm ok Mr Stark. You saved me. I'm ok."

If anything, that only made Tony look even closer to tears as he reached out and pulled Peter into a tight hug.

"But I nearly didn't. You nearly died, and that would have been on me."

Peter knew nothing good was happening, definitely not anything to be happy about, but he was. The avengers cared about him. Tony cared about him. And anyway, there is a certain high you get from narrowly avoiding death, isn't there.

Bruce nipped in a few minutes later and told Peter he had to stay on bed rest. Over the next couple of hours, every Avenger came to see him, but Tony didn't leave his side once.

The end of the day found them both on the bed, Tony gently running his hands through Peter's hair. Peter could practically hear the thoughts running through Tony's head, probably plans to improve the suit and stop this from ever happening again.

"You think too loud." He grumbled tiredly, causing Tony to chuckle.

"Go to sleep kid." Peter wanted to argue, say that he wasn't that young, he didn't need a bed time, but he was tired and sleep sounded perfect.

The next morning, Peter woke to find Tony still there, sleeping deeply.

Peter was very glad he had managed not to die. He felt safe, warm and his hands were no longer shaking. Everything was good.

#whumptober #day 1 #no 1 #whumptober 2019

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permets-tu-not-permettez-vous · 6 years

Text

Awake My Soul

Chapter 1: Midnight

Enjolras was lucky he had a backbone of steel or he would never have made it as a concert pianist. Or rather, it was more likely that this backbone of steel is precisely the reason he was one of the foremost concert pianists in the world. That and his stubbornness, which was almost as well-known as his deft and light touch on the keys, especially among conductors. The days were long, the hours grueling, and often the last thing that Enjolras wanted to do was sit on that cushioned stool that knew him so well and make music once more. And today, standing in his crisp freshly dry-cleaned suit, he dreaded the performance that was to start. He could hear the crowd buzzing outside, and as he peeked out from behind the curtain, he saw a large mass of people mingling through the red cushioned seats, talking and laughing. Probably trying to impress each other with how many composers they could critique without ever having touched an instrument, Enjolras thought cynically. It wasn’t that he was nervous. Enjolras was never nervous, and certainly not about playing the piano. It was that the thought of having to socialize with people after the performance, people who were all scraping to impress him by speaking abstract music theory, making him want to tear his hair out. It hadn’t always been this way. When he was young and had first discovered that he had a talent for producing emotion out of so many gleaming keys, he had been overjoyed. He spent hours in front of them, losing himself in music. He hadn’t ever looked at practicing as a chore; he had always loved those hours he had to himself, stroking those smooth ivory keys. He hadn’t really considered becoming a professional pianist until his eighth grade piano teacher Mabeuf had encouraged him to think about it, to go on tour and do various performances, to work with his local symphony. It had been hard, but it hadn’t been a struggle. Anyone who heard Enjolras play could tell he had a natural talent, and there was no question of them wanting to continue his path. His difficulties did not stem from piano playing; they stemmed from the culture surrounding the piano. From his youth, to his inexperience, to his penchant for picking eccentric composers to perform, the music world was shaken up by Enjolras’ refusal to stick to convention. This event was one that had been unavoidably cliché. He was doing a short Christmas tour performing Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker, accompanied by symphonies dotted throughout the country, and even the world. Tonight he was in Paris. Enjolras would complain more, but he had to admit that though The Nutcracker was too commodified for the time of Christmas, he truly and sincerely loved Tchaikovsky’s genius. Now there was a man who didn’t give a rat’s ass about the “rules” of classical music and composed primarily from his human experience in order to make some of the most incredibly moving and evocative music ever played. So though Enjolras loved Tchaikovsky, he just hated that every Christmas the classical world trotted out the tired Nutcracker and then put it back in its box to gather dust until the next winter. Tchaikovsky had written such transformative music, and he was remembered for a toy that came to life to visit a Sugar Plum Fairy. He was such a brilliant three dimensional person, and the consumerism of art had made him two dimensional, flat, and worn-out. He shook himself. He needed to get out of this headspace before the concert. He always didn’t play as well when he was in his head. He checked his watch. Soon he’d be stepping out on the stage, and seating himself before an expensive piano as the entire room filled with costly clothes and extravagant jewelry held their breath in anticipation. He headed back to the dressing room. On nights like this, he wished Joly hadn’t made him quit smoking.

* * *

The afterparty was about as dull as Enjolras had expected. For a blessed two hours he had practically forgotten the audience was there and immersed himself in Tchaikovsky’s bold chords and tender melodies, only resurfacing at the thunderous and yet politely refined applause that followed his final piece. Then it had been back to the reality of old white people who were bowing and scraping and using large words to impress him. That wasn’t even the worst. Enjolras detested those who knew nothing about music giving overly loud commentary on music that they had clearly read from the Le Monde or some other critique because it was incongruent with what they thought or said. This party had all of his least favorite things, people who wanted him to meet old friends, who asked him about his inspiration, who probed his opinion on the “death of appreciation of the fine arts that is currently occurring.” When Enjolras saw Combeferre from across the room, he almost melted in relief at a familiar face. He excused himself politely from his insipid conversation and made a beeline towards Combeferre, who was speaking with one of the cellists in Paris’s orchestra. Seeing Enjolras coming his way, he also disentangled himself from his conversation and met him halfway, champagne flute clutched elegantly between his fingers. “Thank God you’re here,” Enjolras breathed, feeling the anxiety in his chest loosen at just the sight of his face - calm brown eyes framed by neat horn-rimmed glasses, smile lines beginning to form at the corners of his mouth.

“That bad tonight?” Combeferre inquired coolly, taking a neat swig from his champagne flute in a way that looked elegant but conveyed to Enjolras that he too was tired of the elitism and racism that he had faced that night. “I’ve had several people look away and clear their throats or straight up leave every time I even allude to the fact that Tchaikovsky was gay.” “I see. Pretty bad, then.” “I need to get out of here,” Enjolras said, more to himself than Combeferre. “Want to go catch a drink at some hole in the wall bar where no one knows shit about classical music?” Combeferre quirked his brow. Enjolras calculated quickly - he had definitely spent enough time at this party to argue that he hadn’t skived it off. “Give me ten minutes to change and get my shit. Meet me in your car by the green room.” “It sounds like this is a high-stake diamond robbery.” Combeferre set his now empty champagne glass on a nearby table, nonchalantly, as if he planned on spending the entire evening here. Sometimes Enjolras truly and deeply loved Combeferre. “You haven’t met Javert,” Enjolras said soberly.

* * *

Combeferre drove them through the rain-washed streets of Paris after the hasty getaway that had included creeping through the parking lot without their lights on, despite the fact that Combeferre had adamantly wanted to obey the law. Combeferre was himself a classical musician and a fellow Frenchman. He played the viola, and though Enjolras knew relatively little about the viola, he loved the way that Combeferre played it. He was currently at the Lyons Symphony, but had come to Paris just to see Enjolras. They had played together in the Berlin Symphony for several years, and had bonded over their position as outsiders, fed up with the snobbery and elitism that pervaded the entire institution. One night they had openly admitted to each other how often they had almost left the music world behind because of the exhausting pace that it set for everyone, but more importantly because of the micro aggressions they saw daily. They had vowed together on that night to tough it out together - to stay to welcome the other “outsiders” that would come. And they had been fast friends ever since.

They found a little bar at a safe distance from the symphony hall, and ordered some drinks. They settled in, shedding their various layers. Enjolras was relieved and also impressed to see that Combeferre had managed to change out of his well-tailored suit and into a sweater and jeans. It made them more inconspicuous. “So - how are you finding Lyons?” Enjolras asked without preamble. He was curious. Combeferre had been there about three months, and Enjolras was itching to hear about it. Combeferre toyed with his drink, poking the straw at the ice that was sticking to the sides. “It’s alright. It’s always a little hard in the beginning. It’s nice to be in France again, quite honestly.” “I can believe it. France has its problems, but I would take it over Berlin most days.” And it was true. Enjolras like Berlin, but something about France made the fire reignite in his blood. Combeferre grinned. “I almost forgot how much you love France.” “Impossible. I’m told I’m very memorable.” “And modest too.” Combeferre shot back, before closing his mouth around his straw for a pull. “My enviable qualities aside, how is it besides being in France?” “Better than Berlin I think. Don’t get me wrong - the social circles like the donors and the regulars - they are more snobbish. But the people in the actual symphony and the conductor are much better than they were in Berlin.” “There’s always a trade-off,” Enjolras commented, rolling his eyes slightly. Combeferre shrugged. “I’d rather get shit from people I only have to see once a month than every day.” “Yes, but since they are the ones with the money, we let them think they’re right and let them act however they want even though they don’t know shit! It just means the institution of classical music never changes because none of us ever get the courage to tell a few rich people off now and again!” Combeferre shot him a look, and Enjolras deflated. “Yeah, I know. Not tonight.” “Tell me about how it’s going on your end,” Combeferre said, switching the subject. Enjolras exhaled loudly. “I feel so exhausted and worn out. I think my music has lost some of its edge because I’ve let all these toxic experiences associated with my playing seep into it.” “What do you mean to do about it?” Combeferre met Enjolras’ gaze steadily across the table, both an acknowledgment of the difficulty it had taken for Enjolras to utter those words and a steady encouragement. “I don’t know. Why do you think I will do something about it?” Enjolras asked, surprised. “Because you’re a man of action. You see a problem - you do something.” “It’s just such a big problem,” Enjolras said, trailing off. “Maybe I just need a different scene.” Combeferre sat up straighter. “Wait! I know just the thing!” His face was alight with possibility, and Enjolras felt himself being drawn in. Enjolras shot him a confused look. “What do you mean?” “When does your tour finish?” “Next week. And don’t get me wrong - I am counting the days.” And he was. Just six more days and then he was blissfully free of the Nutcracker. Javert already had a lot of plans for things to do next, but nothing had yet been finalized. “Well….” Combeferre lowered his gaze, stirring his drink with a straw, collecting his words carefully. Enjolras could tell he wasn’t sure how he would take this suggestion. “Well, what?” Enjolras said, slightly curious, but also impatient. “Out with it.” “One of my friends, Courfeyrac. I think I have mentioned him to you.” Combeferre met Enjolras’ eyes as he racked his brain. Then it came to him. “Kind of short? Curly hair? Everything he says is a rainbow?” Enjolras asked. “You could say that, I suppose,” Combeferre laughed. “He’d love that description.” “What about him?” Enjolras asked, his curiosity only heightening. “He’s a ballet dancer at the Ballet de l'Opéra national de Paris.” Enjolras whistled. “Good for him. That takes hard work. Isn’t it the oldest ballet company in France?” Combeferre nodded, his smile fading from his face. “And he puts the hard work in - he’s amazing. But anyways, I was talking to him earlier and he said that they are looking for a pianist for their upcoming performance. They want a live pianist. It’s a performance of Giselle, but they wanted to try something a little different. They haven’t found anyone yet, so Courfeyrac said to keep my ear out for any dissatisfied concert pianists who wanted to try something new.” Enjolras considered it. It was an interesting thought, and he always wanted to fly in the face of convention. But also, he wasn’t sure how much of the ballet world he could take either. That industry wasn’t exactly welcoming – it went through dancers more quickly than pointe shoes. “I don’t know.” Enjolras said simply. Combeferre nodded. “Just think about it. I mean, it can hardly hurt your career. You’re one of the best pianists in the world.” Enjolras blushed slightly. He wasn’t modest, but it made him uncomfortable when people made those kinds of comments to him. They moved on to different and lighter topics, but he kept the thought in the back of his mind even after he and Combeferre parted ways and he went back to his empty and muffled hotel room, feeling almost separate from the world that continued to move around him. The next day as he disembarked from his plane on to the soil of Copenhagen, he gave Combeferre a call. It looked like Enjolras was about to enter the world and tradition of ballet. He didn’t let himself think about it too much. He just wanted a change of pace, to be able to stay in one place for an extended period of time, avoiding the public eye for a couple of months. Or so he told himself. At the pit of his stomach he felt a clench of nerves that he hadn’t felt in years. He could only hope it was a good sign.

AO3 Link

#I hope you guys like it #please come yell in my inbox about this so I get ideas/inspo/motivtaion to keep going #have a good chunk of the second chapter already written #my writing #awake my soul #enjoltaire #exr #les mis #les miserables #les amis

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hysterialevi · 6 years

Text

Legend pt. 2

Author’s note: Sorry about the long wait for this one. I got a bit stumped for a while, but it’s finally finished and I hope you enjoy the end result. Thanks for all your support, and as always, love you guys. Stay awesome.

From Bruce’s POV

WAYNE MANOR

THE NEXT MORNING

John let out an astonished gasp upon entering the manor, his jaw dropping open as he viewed the inside with an amazed expression.

“Wow, Bruce!” He exclaimed as he observed the chandeliers hanging above, craning his neck backwards. “I knew you were rich, but...but this...!”

John spread his arms out and twirled around like a top, laughing vigorously to himself.

“This is...INCREDIBLE! Hehehe!”

I smiled gently at the man, adoring his eccentric display of joy from a distance while he explored his new home.

With the Agency and police constantly trying to arrest John, I agreed to let the man live with me for a while in hopes of protecting him. It was too risky to leave him alone during these times, and the last thing I wanted was for someone to catch him while I wasn’t looking.

Aside from Alfred, John was all I had left. He was my closest friend, my partner in fighting crime, and one of the few people I knew I could trust for sure. He had been with me through thick and thin, and always had my back no matter what. I needed him by my side.

If Waller or anyone else wanted to take him away from me, they were going to have to put up a fight. And a damned good one.

“I’m glad you like the house, John,” I said, strolling up to him. “As much as I appreciate the solitude, I have to admit it does get lonely here sometimes. It’ll be nice having you around.”

John put a dramatic hand over his heart and wiped away a fake tear, tilting his head at me in a touched manner.

“You are truly the kindest man I’ve ever met, Brucie. I might just shed a tear.”

I grinned at that, slipping my hands into my pockets. “You’d be the first to say that in a while. I’ve almost forgotten the days when Gotham didn’t hate the Waynes. So, any idea where you want to sleep?”

The clown shrugged, slightly confused. “Um...in the bedroom...?”

A chuckle escaped me. “Well, yes, but which one? There are seven of them.”

John’s eyes popped open. “You have seven bedrooms?”

“Yeah,” I confirmed, “along with two kitchens, a library, a gymnasium, a basketball court, and a movie theater. And there’s obviously also the Batcave.”

The other man clapped happily and rubbed his hands together out of excitement, unable to contain himself.

“This is unreal, Bruce. It’s like I’m in paradise. I went from living in an abandoned subway station...to the fanciest manor in Gotham! Ah, it’s so nice having all this...space! Not to mention that Bane and Harley aren’t here to argue about nonsense all day long. We have to arrange a move night sometime! Tell me, are you more of a beef jerky or corn bites guy?” John shrugged. “Ah heck, I’ll just bring both! Hehe!”

“Just be sure to keep a low profile,” I reminded him. “The Agency can’t know you’re here. Otherwise, they’ll tear the place apart brick-by-brick, and take you back to Arkham. Or worse -- slap a collar on you like the rest of the Pact. If you ever want to leave the house, there’s a another exit through the Batcave that will draw much less attention than the front door. And try not to go out by yourself, got it? I wanna make sure you’re safe.”

John nodded, giving me a thumbs-up. “Got it!”

“Great. Now, why don’t you go set up your room?”

He smirked at me, picking up his bags. “Oh, I’ve been so excited for this moment, Brucie! Decorating my own room in Wayne Manor,” John sighed in satisfaction. “This is a dream come true. You and I -- we are gonna have so...much...fun!”

Hurrying up the elegant staircase with his belongings, John practically glided to his room as Alfred passed him on the way down, giving the clown a subtle gesture of acknowledgement before making his way to me.

Despite the smile on the butler’s face and his straightened posture, I could still tell something wasn’t quite right, and as soon as John’s echoing cackle disappeared down the corridor, the old man broke his charade, voicing his concerns.

“I mean no disrespect towards your friend, Bruce,” he said lowly, “but are you sure it’s a good idea to have him stay here?”

Alfred and I wandered over to a more secluded corner of the manor, hoping to keep out of earshot while I explained the situation to him.

“I can’t just let John roam around Gotham by himself, Al. He’s not exactly the type of person to lay low, and the Agency’s been keeping an extremely close eye on him lately. One wrong move, and he’ll be behind bars. I have to watch him.”

The butler didn’t appear convinced.

“...Well, perhaps that’s not such a bad thing,” he argued. “I know you care for him, but in the end, John is a criminal. And he must be brought to justice. We can’t ignore that, Bruce. Batman can’t.”

I paused for a moment, unable to deny that Alfred had a point.

Crossing my arms, I checked to make sure John was still out of sight.

“Look, I know John’s made mistakes--”

“--He’s murdered people.” Alfred corrected.

“--But...” I continued, “I don’t think he’s beyond saving. Not yet, anyways. You said it yourself, Alfred. He’s my friend. I can’t just give up on him and toss him in jail. He’s...he’s all I have left. I mean, Tiffany’s with the Agency, Lucius is gone, and now Waller’s threatening to take John away, too. I have to at least try to help him.”

Realizing that there was no way he was going to sway my mind, Alfred let out a defeated sigh and dropped the subject, evidently anxious about what would come in the future.

“...Very well, sir. I trust your decision, but please...proceed with caution. Soon, the time will come when you must choose which is more important: your friendship with John, or your duty as Batman -- and I don’t want your judgement to be hindered.”

I gave him an assuring nod, heading upstairs to check on my friend.

“Don’t worry, Alfred. As much as I care about John, I’m not blind. If I think he’s fallen beyond repair, Batman will be the first one to step in. But he’ll be brought to justice the right way. I won’t let Waller lay a finger on him, no matter what happens.”

From Oswald’s POV

THE STACKED DECK

“The hunt for the Joker continues,” Jack Ryder reported, his voice barely audible over the rock music filling up the bar, “and the police are desperate to find any leads that could help them find the perpetrator. Fortunately for Gotham, the Joker seems to have gone underground recently and has even ‘vanished’ according to some. In the past few days, there have been no reports of any Joker-related crimes, and the green-haired clown hasn’t been spotted by anyone. Normally, a moment of peace such as this would be appreciated, but one can’t help wondering if the reason the Joker has disappeared...is he’s planning something bigger. But of course, we will keep all you viewers out there informed with any updates. I’m Jack Ryder, and you’re watching Gotham TV.”

I softly chuckled at the news and glanced downwards at my beer bottle, happily taking a sip as I watched the chaos unravel in Gotham’s news. At this point, I wasn’t even upset by all the mayhem slowly tearing down this city, and a part of me was even thrilled.

I had learned enough about Gotham to know that its citizens were far from innocent, and the ones who were died ages ago. The only people who survived in this godforsaken place were men in suits, and those controlling them from the shadows. As far as I was concerned, Joker’s hell-raising rampage was nothing but some well-earned karma, and I couldn’t help but laugh. I only hoped that karma also hit Bruce Wayne.

I was still having difficulty imagining that billionaire pretty boy as Batman. Not only did the two of them act nothing alike, but they were also on complete opposite ends of the spectrum.

The Waynes hurt people; killed them, even. Anyone who was brave enough to oppose them got murdered or thrown in Arkham by Thomas...and yet, his son grew up to become a vigilante. Someone who fought against people like his father. Why?

Maybe this was Bruce’s way of making amends? Maybe he knew the truth about his dear, old dad all along, and wore the mask so he could do more good for the world without risking his reputation. Like he did when Joseph bullied me as a kid.

Pft. I didn’t know whether to admire or condemn him.

All I did know...was that I had to kill him. And quickly.

Ordering another drink, I suddenly sensed a presence walking up behind me as the bartender waltzed off, causing me to glance over my shoulder.

Standing not too far away from me, there was a young woman dressed in a neat, grey blazer and high heels, and her brown hair had been tied into an elegant bun. She was equipped with an advanced pistol that hid just beneath her jacket, and in her hand, she held a clipboard. I guessed this woman must’ve been with the Agency. She had that...look.

“So you’re released from prison after an entire year on the inside,” she said, “...and this is the first place you visit? I...guess I see the appeal.”

I paid no mind to her comment.

“I was in Blackgate for quite a while, love. I’d say I deserve a drink.”

The woman stepped closer. “Just make sure you don’t overdo it. I need your senses to be alert.”

Putting the beer down for a moment, I gave her an irritated glare and casually stood up from my chair, approaching the agent.

“And just who the hell are you?” I questioned. “I’m working on assassinating Gotham’s favorite vigilante for you people, yet your lips remain tighter than the security at Blackgate. Can I get a code name, at the very least?”

Surprisingly, the woman reacted in a more-than-friendly manner and held out her hand, smiling warmly at me.

“Agent Iman Avesta,” she introduced. “You met my partner yesterday. Vernon Blake.”

I didn’t return the handshake, and went back to my stool.

“You can call me Oz,” I replied, “but I assume you know that already. The Agency seems to know a lot ‘bout me. So, what, you here to keep an eye on me?”

Avesta took a seat next to me. “Something like that. Waller just wants to make sure you don’t do anything too...rash. I’m sure you understand.”

I quirked a brow. “If she don’t trust me, then why’d she hire me to do the job?”

“Waller has absolute confidence in your skills,” the agent explained, “but that’s the extent of her trust. Not that I blame her. After all, you were associated with the Children of Arkham. It’d be foolish to let you act alone. It’s nothing personal, of course. The Director watches all her ‘allies’ very closely.”

I scoffed. “You mean like the Pact? I know they’re working for her.”

Avesta seemed impressed. “Well, well. Looks like we’re not the only ones who are good at learning secrets. Waller made a good choice, hiring you for the job. I look forward to accompanying you.”

Finishing my drink, I placed the empty bottle aside and turned to the agent.

“...And how exactly does Waller want me to approach this mission?” I asked. “Any rules I should know about? Any lines I can’t cross?”

Avesta shook her head. “Aside from deserting the mission itself, no. The Director has granted you full permission to do anything it takes to kill Batman. And she means anything.”

Slightly nodding in approval, I separated myself from the bar and prepared to leave, Avesta tagging along with me as we strolled outside.

“Well, all right then. If that’s the case, I think I know just what to do for our first step. But I’m gonna need your help finding someone.”

She appeared intrigued. “Oh, really? And who would that be?”

I smirked, eager to get down to business.

“...Ever heard of a man named Joseph Hunt?”

#telltale games #telltale batman #the enemy within #bruce wayne #oswald cobblepot #john doe #joker #cobblebats #batjokes #fanfic #story

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owenescobar · 4 years

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Bacterial Vaginosis Cause Uti Symptoms Creative And Inexpensive Useful Ideas

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darkdevasofdestruction · 7 years

Text

Matt/Mail Jeevas

As per usual,the news of having a new kid at Wammy’s was always exciting news,so when a 15 year old blue haired girl appeared in the house,hiding behind Watari,and clutching a PSP close to her chest,everyone wanted to interrogate her,but they weren’t allowed by the man in charge.

Instead,he took her to her room,explained what the house was,and offered her the test results.

Intelligence: 7/10 Creativity: 8/10 Initiative: 5/10 Emotional Strength: 5/10 Social Skills: 4/10 Observation Skills: 7/10

Reassuring her that the results were satisfactory,he gave her a schedule and left the girl alone. She threw herself on the bed and stared at the ceiling,trying to process the situation. Her parents died in a ridiculous car accident,and now here she is,in a so called “Orphanage for gifted children”.

What a joke.

And her name.

The name that her parents gave her was to be forever forgot. She has a new identity. She is a new person. A new name. However,her shy personality couldn’t change

She could be anyone.

She could choose any name or identity of any of the game characters from her beloved video games.

Maybe she could become her Blood Elf rogue character from World of Warcraft,called Sinisterkill. She could be Nariko from Heavenly Sword,or her favourite vampire girl,Seira Loyard. However,playing on her PSP,she had an epiphany,and knew instantly what her new name will be.

Chiaki.

Chiaki Kertia.

Looking at the clock,she realized dinner time was about to start,so zipping her hoodie,she exit her room,and walked down the corridor,trying to find her way to the cafeteria.

It wasn’t a difficult task,since she only had to follow the flock of loud children going in the same direction. Temporarily pausing her game,she got a tray,quickly put on some food and went to the most isolated table where no one sat yet,and she continued her game,remembering to grab a bite once in a while.

Her peace didn’t last long,for the children noticed her and started throwing her countless of questions,which she realized were either aimed to see if she proved to be a threat to the Top 5 list,or simply…her hobbies.

How dull.

Despite being utterly pissed off,she couldn’t create a bad image to herself,so she’d just answer them with simple answers,only focusing on her game,hoping to get rid of them ASAP.

—

The first week at the orphanage proved to be the most boring time she had ever spent in her life,but what piqued her interest proved to be a red head boy who would sometimes walk aimlessly outside,playing on his portable console,much like her.

She knew she couldn’t realy on her social skills to interact directly with him,so she did what she knew best- Walked outside (not so) aimlessly,whilst playing God of War,and as soon as she got in front of the boy,she pressed a button and said “press A to talk”.

Not earning an answer,she blushed in embarrassment,quickly put on her cat hoodie and turned around to leave hurriedly,hiding her face with her console.

However,she was stopped in her tracks,when she heard a chuckle.

-?-:That was the best way to start a conversation.Sorry I didn’t answer right away,I had to beat the boss. Chiaki:I understand.I suppose you succeeded,then? -?-:Piece of cake! Chiaki:Congrats. -?-:Thanks.I’m Matt.Are you the new girl?I don’t think I’ve seen you before. Chiaki:Uh…yeah,I am.Call me Chiaki. Matt:Chiaki?Chiaki…Ah!Ultimate Gamer! Chiaki:*blushes*Damn…I didn’t think anyone would figure out…especially this fast. Matt:I’m a gamer too,so I’d know.And I think it suits you,after all.Great choice. Chiaki:Uh…I…Thanks,Matt. Matt:So what were you playing? Chiaki:God of War.Heard of it? Matt:Waaa?!No way!That's exactly what I was playing too!Look! Chiaki:*gasp*N-No way!That's so cool!And you killed Ares on the hardest difficulty!Nice job,mate!*hides face*Oops..uh...sorry.Got too excited. Matt:*grins*Don't worry,it's cool!How about I show you my game collection? Chiaki:Sure...but I can't stay long.Tonight is Raid Night with the Guild. Matt:World of Warcraft? Chiaki:Y-Yeah.I play for the Horde most of the time,but I love both factions. Matt:I get ya!What guild are you in? Chiaki:Um...I'm the co-leader of Method. Matt:M-Method?Co-leader?Holy hell,that's...amazing!I'm so jealous!I'm still in the Russian guild. Chiaki:Uhm...wanna join my guild? Matt:Are you seriously asking me if I want to leave the World's 2nd ranking guild,to join the World's best guild? Chiaki:W-Well...I was just... Matt:Hell yes!Thanks,dudette!You're the best! Chiaki:I...um..thanks..I guess.I'll add you on discord tonight and- Matt:How about we have a sleepover?Mello and I do that often.Lucky,it's weekend now,so we can stack all the junk food and drinks we want and play all night! Chiaki:Is that okay?No rule breaking? Matt:Well~...Maybe just a bit. Chiaki:Huh.Sounds fun.I'm in.I guess you can both come,I don't mind.Just...don't expect luxury treatment or anything Matt:*winks*Wanna know a secret? Chiaki:Sure? Matt:*whispers*I stole Mello's secret chocolate stash. Chiaki:Oh shit,you're in big trouble. Matt:*grins*Yeah,hehe~.So,if you don't mind,I might hide in your room during Raid night. Chiaki:You can camp all you want.A little bit of pleasant company is always welcomed. Matt:That's the spirit!In turn,I promise to show you all the tips and tricks of living here. Chiaki:Sounds about right.You've got yourself a deal. Matt:I'll go add you in game.What your name? Chiaki:Sinisterkill.Blood elf rogue. Matt:*smirks*Oh,not a healer? Chiaki:I know what you're insinuating,and it's rather rude.I only wish to be one in real life. Matt:Smart,funny and the real Ultimate Gamer.What more could I wish for? Chiaki:A tank. Matt:I AM a tank.Blood Elf Death Knight. Chiaki:*whistles*Arthas called,he wants his soldier back. Matt:They say never to trust a rogue,but hell,I can't stop. Chiaki:Be prepared for a stealthy backstab then. Matt:Expect a nice gift from Jeevas in the mail box~! Chiaki:Jeevas,huh?Fine then,see you in Silvermoon City. Matt:*winks*It's a date. Chiaki:...Whatever.

At night,the girl prepared the room and waited connected to discord for her friend to arrive,to start the Raid night. Soon enough,a knock was heard,and said red head came in the room,and settled himself next to the girl in bed. Adding him to the voice group chat,the two of them waited their team mates to arrive. Bored,Chiaki started scrolling through her Mounts list,only topping upon seeing the "Invincible",the hardest one to achieve,with a less than 1% drop rate.

Matt:Holy shit,you have the Invincible!That's so neat! Chiaki:Yeah,took a lot of grinding,but it was worth it. Matt:Definitely!With a drop rate of 0,72%,I can only dream of it! Chiaki:Hope your pants' drop rate is much higher...Oh...Fuck.

Not realising the whole raid group was connected and heard her say that,she could hear the laughs of her friends in the background and she screamed in shock and embarrassment. Meanwhile,Matt was dying of laughter with his new team mates.

Matt:Gosh,Chiaki,that was absolute gold! Chiaki:N-No,it wasn't!Why the hell did I say that?!Argh!Stupid!Stupid!

Still laughing,he grabbed her hand and pulled her in a tight hug,ruffling her hair,as she was desperately trying to hide her blushing face. Letting the girl go,she fanned herself with her hand,then clearing her throat and mock-scolding her older team mates,they started the Raid session. Sometime,in the middle of the night,after hours of playing,and Matt being amazed at her incredible skills,he smirked,knowing exactly what to say to get her more flustered that she was before. Matt:Y'know,Chiaki,I knew you were a Rogue from the moment I saw you,cause you Stunned me with your gaming skills and beauty.

Shocked at his statement,she spit the water she was trying to drink,then grabbed a pillow and hid her face in it.

Matt:Sorry,guys,let's take a 5 minutes break.I think our leader's fan broke,and her processor needs to cool off. Chiaki:WELL,I WONDER WHOSE FAULT IT IS?! Matt:*winks*Press 'A' to talk. Chiaki:Yeah,my biggest mistake. Matt:Aww,come on,you don't mean that~! Chiaki:Shut up...

---Extended Ending----

It was the end of the raid,and the last boss was awaiting,after long hours of work and sweat from everyone- But Matt had another plan. He wanted to laugh a bit,and he knew exactly how. As Chiaki was being serious and debated strategies with the other leader,Matt had his character run in the middle of the boss room,yelling

"LEEROOOOY JEEEVAAAAS!"

Then got killed in 0.2 seconds. Then had everyone die,having been too busy being shocked at their team mate's action to realize the massacre.

Chiaki:JEEVAS,YOU IMBECILE!WHY'D YOU DO THAT?! Matt:Gotta admit,it was funny!I'm the new Leeroy! Chiaki:That's it,I'm done with you.I'm kicking you out of the guild. Matt:Oh,come on!I just left my other one for you! Chiaki:And I'm telling Mello you stole his chocolate. Matt:DON'T YOU DARE,CHIAKI! Chiaki:*smirks*You asked for it,Jeevas. Matt:Don't you dare,Kertia...!

The girl tried to make a run out of the room,but she was quickly caught by her friend who picked her up,locked the room,quickly turned off the laptops,and threw a pillow at her.

Matt:Traitor! Chiaki:Jerk! Matt:What will it take for you not to tell? Chiaki:*smirks*I want some of that chocolate. Matt:Just that?You just had to ask,not give me a heart attack! Chiaki:*winks*Gotta admit,it was funny! Matt:Oh...I see.Touché.

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sowk-fic-archive · 7 years

Text

SOWK ch.9/35

Summary:

Peace and joy surrounds Matthew after a visit from two very important people…

Chapter 9 : dorée

Matthew gritted his teeth, sprinkling another page of ripped paper onto the floor of his bedroom. The tiny scraps fluttered down to the thickly carpeted floor, coating it entirely. He numbly reached over to his notepad, pulling out another page and beginning the process again. First he halved it, then quartered, then–

The doorbell rang.

Matthew sat up, fingers loosening on the paper he held in his hands. His eyes widened considerably. All thoughts of his argument with the glouglou earlier in the day were wiped from his mind as he heard his father practically run up the stairs, calling his name as he went.

“Matthew! Matthew, come here immediately!” The blond stood up from his bed, brushing down his trousers of any stray scraps of paper, as his father burst into the room, face red. “What are you wearing?” his father snapped. “Wash your face and put on some clean clothes.”

“Father, what–?”

“Just do it,” Agostino said firmly, pushing his son towards the en suite bathroom.

Matthew hurried through his ablutions, giving himself a thorough wash before walking back into his bedroom and rifling through his clothes. “Father, what’s happening? Who’s here?”

“Put on your suit, Matthew,” his father replied, somewhat distractedly. “At least a shirt and proper trousers. Not those jeans you’re so fond of wearing. And damn you, wear a tie!”

Matthew sucked in a breath, trepidation coursing through his veins as he selected a long sleeved white shirt and slim-fitting black trousers with creases ironed down the middle. He changed as quickly as possible, doing as his father had instructed and pulling out a thin black tie from his wardrobe.

“Come here,” his father said, arms slightly open. Matthew blinked, wondering if perhaps Agostino was about to hug him. Instead, however, his father simply reached for the tie that hung limply in Matthew’s hand, carefully looping it around his neck and pushing it carefully up to his throat once it had been correctly tied. He stepped back, hands clutched at his son’s shoulders, and smiled. “Paix and Joie are here,” he said, a certain sense of pride tinging his words.

Matthew’s heart jumped to his mouth, a smile tilting his lips at the corners. “This is going to happen,” he said, more to himself. “I’m going to be a Unique.”

There were three people in the lounge when Agostino and Matthew entered it. The first of these, sitting primly in an armchair and wearing a neat, salmon-pink cocktail dress, was Calliope Bellamy, her blonde hair pulled into a loose chignon bun. Matthew gave her a small, quietly confident smile. She repaid him in kind, nodding with interest at a comment made by one of their guests.

Matthew’s eyes traveled from his mother to the two people who were going to make his dream a reality. Paix and Joie, the Anciens. The ones who had the power to decide who would be a Unique.

They were twins, a rarity in the Voix community. In fact, it was rare enough to see siblings: Voix parents only ever had one child. It struck Matthew as he sat down opposite them, his father beside him, that they looked remarkably similar. Paix was slim and tall, his golden hair shimmering in the afternoon light and quiffed. His eyes were a deep blue, a perfect match to his sister’s. Joie was shorter, only a hair taller than Matthew but what she lacked in height she made up for with confidence. The twins were dressed in bright white, Paix in a suit with Joie in a shoulder-less dress, her golden hair flowing over one of her shoulders.

“Hello, Matthew,” she said quietly, a smile threatening to break out on her lips, but not quite allowed to. However, Matthew beamed instead. “Myself and Paix,” she said with the tiniest flick of her lace-gloved hand “have visited your Adora this morning, to tell her exactly what we are about to tell you. Paix.”

“Myself, Joie and the Vieillesse are fully aware that both you and Adora are up for selection,” the matriarch’s twin started, all others in the room silent and in complete awe of the pair. “There are two tasks you must perform, one of which we hope you will achieve on your own and the other we are telling you about. Joie.”

“In two weeks,” the matriarch began, shaking her head slightly so a curl of her hair tumbled down, “we will call you to audition. Myself, Paix and the rest of the Vieillesse wish to hear a brand new song, and for this we ask Agostino and Calliope Bellamy not to hear the song beforehand,” she said with a slight nod to each of his parents, their instant grins in return almost embarrassing. “As always, we expect the best from you, Matthew, so ensure the song is personal and displays all of your talents,” she continued, her tone almost ominous. “We are sure you will pass the audition, which will then leave you to fulfill the other criterion.”

Matthew nodded, in a slight daze. He was so close to what he wanted; all he had to do now was finish that song with the wretched songwriter, perform it well and then do whatever other task the Anciens wanted him to fulfill. When they say jump…

“When you and Adora have passed your auditions,” Joie continued, “we will then expect you to be completely ready for selection, because to our knowledge,” a look of understanding passed between Paix and Joie, “you aren’t quite ready yet, audition or no audition. It’s difficult, when you’re part of a couple.” Joie sighed, looking out of one of the large windows at the vast ocean. Matthew watched Agostino shuffle awkwardly, the silence strange yet unable to be broken. Eventually, Joie smiled to herself and continued.

“If you haven’t met both criteria by this time next month, myself and Paix will meet yourself and Adora in a private meeting,” she finished. After a pause, she coughed lightly. “Do you have any tea?”

Calliope’s hand shot to her mouth, her eyes wide. Matthew pressed his lips together, flexing his fingers as he watched his mother stand up and make her way across the room. Before she could leave, however, Agostino spoke up. “Calliope, darling,” he called. “Stay here. I’ll find someone to make it.”

“Yes,” Matthew’s mother said distractedly, moving to sit back down again. She turned to Joie, her voice shaking slightly as she spoke. “I am terribly sorry - I just didn’t think…”

Joie gave her a placating smile, reaching out a hand to touch the other woman’s arm. Calliope let out a fluttering sigh and seemed to have calmed down considerably at Joie’s touch, but she flinched suddenly as Agostino let out a commanding bark. “You!” he said loudly, snapping his fingers. Matthew turned towards the door, his heart sinking slightly when he saw who his father had called in. Dominic.

“Yes, sir?” the glouglou said politely, hands clasped politely in front of him and eyes trained solely on Agostino. Matthew cocked his head slightly at the sight; it almost looked as if the glouglou was glaring at his father.

In fact, he was.

Agostino moved to raise a hand, but suddenly stopped and remembered himself. Clearing his throat, he glared back and mouthed “don’t try anything.” Dominic kept his nerve and didn’t change his expression. “A pot of tea, boy, and not a moment too slowly,” Agostino said crisply.

Dominic gave a slight bow. “Yes, sir,” he said again, the faux-compliment dripping with unnoticed sarcasm as he turned to leave the room. The sight of him had infuriated Matthew, and it was with difficulty that he swallowed down his anger. Only by remembering the two Anciens sitting opposite did he manage to control himself.

There was a strained, rather awkward silence in the room after Dominic had departed. Matthew took to fiddling with his fingers, pressing the fingertips together until they turned white. His mother was brushing non-existent dust from her dress, smoothing it over her legs until Matthew was sure she’d fray the fabric. His father was staring angrily out of the window, his jaw set and teeth obviously gritted.

Matthew glanced over at Paix and Joie, who were looking around the room with similar expressions of polite interest, as if a few chairs, a coffee table and a large painting hung on a wall was of the utmost importance to them. He looked back at his mother, who looked as if she was desperate to say something, to break the silence, but unsure of what exactly to say.

Eventually, however, Calliope burst out with, “IlovedthatsongyousanglastChristmas!”

Paix turned his beautiful head towards her. “I’m sorry?” he said slowly.

Matthew winced, watching an intense blush creep onto his mother’s face. He dipped his head, not wanting to watch.

“I… loved that song you both sang last Christmas,” she repeated meekly. Matthew could hear the embarrassment in her tones.

“Thank you,” said Joie’s voice. Matthew chewed on his bottom lip, hoping that someone, anyone, would say something else. He was almost relieved, then, when Dominic appeared in the doorway, deftly balancing a tray of four cups and a large teapot on the tips of his fingers. As he walked towards the table, he gave Matthew the tiniest of glances, his lips turning upwards in a defiant smirk.

Rage overtook Matthew entirely. How dare that cassé come into the same room as Paix and Joie and treat him in such an insolent manner? Wanting to do something, say something, to prove to the glouglou that he wasn’t going to take any more of the coarse attitude, he thought furiously in the few seconds he had before Dominic had neared the table. He couldn’t say anything. He couldn’t make any signals. All he could do was force the glouglou to do something that would incur Agostino’s punishment.

It came to him in seconds. Leaning back in his seat, he waited until Dominic was inches away from him and then kicked out his foot, holding his breath and waiting for the glouglou to topple to the floor, tea spilling everywhere. But as it happened, Dominic easily stepped over his foot and laid the tray gently down on the coffee table. Carefully pouring out the tea into the four cups, he stood back. “Your tea, sirs and madams,” he said politely, moving to stand somewhere unobtrusive where he could refill if needed.

Of course, the place he had chosen to stand was directly opposite Matthew, and he was still wearing that infuriating smirk on his face. Joie sat up slightly, and quickly Matthew’s thoughts of the glouglou dissipated.

“Matthew,” Joie said, and for a second the man in question thought it sounded better than the reverent way Adora said it. “We’ll send someone to collect you on the morning of your audition; your principal songwriter, who will also be your accompanist, may attend if you so wish, but no one else. This allows the Vieillesse to ask questions about the song to both of you, and if we wish to change it - to make your audition as perfect as possible, of course - this can be done with someone who can compose music. Then, we’ll either contact you if not all criteria have been filled, or you’ll be snatched in the dead of night.”

Dominic’s eyes widened slightly at this, and Matthew’s face paled. Joie let out a short burst of musical laughter, her hand daintily touching Paix’s knee. “Of course, it’s painless. We wouldn’t want to hurt our future Unique,” she said with a smile. “Paix, allons-y.”

Wordlessly, Paix and Joie stood from the sofa, their cups of tea untouched. Joie’s impossibly tall white heels clicked against the wooden floor in the hallway. Agostino had been hot on their heels as they left the room, the twins informing him that they were off to see the rooms used for the hiding process, Cachant. Soon, they were out of the house, and Matthew was one step closer to his dream.

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sunlitroom · 7 years

Text

Gotham 3.21 - The Primal Riddle

As I watched it, and some random observations here and there.

Previously on Gotham:

Ed tormented Lucius and Bruce at the behest of Dr Strange, although he wasn’t exactly reluctant about it. But this is really just shown to remind us of the question: while Wayne Enterprises runs Indian Hill, who actually runs Wayne Enterprises? The Court of Owls, apparently. Os can’t take on everyone alone. What about a freak army? Who ordered the hit on my father? Uncle Frank. Barbara wants to know what’s coming into 9c. Ed is Riddler. The clone is having such fun. Jim tells Kathryn he killed his uncle, and that it’s high time they meet. She agrees.

As always, long post will be long - reaaally long. There are likely to be rambling digressions. Gobblepot may appear (although I welcome all shippers and non-shippers alike :)). There will be naked favouritism and naked not-favouritism. Broader comments at the end on plotlines and parallels and general direction.

We open on an arctic landscape – through which Ivy and Oswald are trekking.

(A very early aside. Now – I know that this is a universe which gives us clones and people returned from the dead, but you need to have some internal logic. How the fuck did Os and Ivy get here?

It’s not just a quibble - does Oswald have resources hidden in the case that he’d have to flee the city? A passport? Wouldn’t this have set alarm bells ringing – the lost mayor turning up? He’s pretty distinctive looking. I know it sounds like nitpicking, but it’s kind of important for understanding Oswald’s thinking: whether – given previous setbacks – he’s actually started making serious contingency plans in case of emergencies)

Or has Ivy amassed resources? Doesn’t seem likely – given how thrilled she was to find an abandoned property. Although she must feed and clothe herself somehow.

Anyway – we move in closer and see that Oswald’s jaw is set, determined, despite the physical difficulty of this - reminding me of why I love him best. They reach some sort of building. Oswald opens the door, and lets Ivy in first.

Oswald calls out to see if anyone’s home. Ivy chats away about how cold it is in this place. Oswald is entranced – looking at a butterfly in an ice-cube. Ivy is starting to say something about how she knows Oswald is hellbent on revenge, and she knows the freak army is a great idea – her idea – but

Oswald hears a noise and shushes her. They turn to the door and trade worried looks – the first time we’ll see them share similar behaviour this episode, and interact in a manner that flags up that a bond has been established.

It’s Victor Fries. Victor is built.

Oswald goes into subservient flattery mode, familiar to us from back in season one.

Mr Fries. Welcome home.

Victor grabs Oswald and throws him up against the wall. Being treated roughly by a blue-eyed man must make Oswald miss Jim. Anyway – Oswald is at his best in this kind of situation (wheedling a more powerful enemy, not being manhandled – although probably that too) and talks fast. He recognises that Fries must hold him responsible for all that monster talk – but that was just to win votes. Victor snarls that he was run out of Gotham. Oswald says that he can help him reverse his condition. His enemies tried to murder him, and take everything he had – but if Fries helps him get revenge, then he’ll give him all the resources he needs when he regains power.

Fries is despondent. Even if he wanted to say yes – he can only survive for a few hours without his suit. Oswald cuts in,

Your suit - locked away in Wayne Enterprises. Ivy?

Ivy opens the cast. Ta-da

How did they get that?

Fries smiles, but this is really terrible, terrible news. Now he'll get dressed.

Mr Fries - will you join us?

(An aside - Oswald manipulating and wheedling, keeping a cool head – taking big risks to win an ally to pursue a personal agenda - it does my heart fucking good.)

The Court of Owls. A hood is removed from Jim’s face. He asks where they are – but is told this is unimportant. They go over the Uncle Frank situation – and Kathryn establishes to her satisfaction that Jim only holds his uncle accountable…. which, to be honest, doesn’t say much for their research into Jim and his motivations.

Kathryn tells Jim that the city needs him – there’s turmoil ahead and good men needed to hold it together, but only the Court can save Gotham. She wants him to prove loyalty. He asks if killing his uncle wasn’t enough.

That…. doesn’t follow? That was to avenge a personal wrong – not to demonstrate loyalty to the Court. Did I miss something there?

Kathryn tells him that Frank's body has already been taken care of.

GCPD, where Lee presents Harvey with autopsy papers and informs him 'the stiff' is Frank Gordon, Jim's uncle.

Harvey carefully brushes off her concerns, as Jim walks in. Harvey clears his throat.

Hey Jim - we have some bad news for you

Jim asks what’s going on. Lee tells him. She also says he saw his uncle at the cemetery and asks if he said anything. Jim thanks her brusquely – but denies anything strange.

That's your reaction? I know you. You're hiding something.

Jim flatly denies it. Her face twists and sours – tired of this situation, and she walks out – a parting shot as she leaves – telling Harvey to go ahead and keep covering for him

Jim tells Harvey about the Court situation. Harvey wants to act now – but Jim says they’ll scare if if he pushes too hard, and then Frank died for nothing. They need to keep up appearances.

Harvey holds up a newspaper with Ed’s picture on the front. That’ll be easy.

We are in an eclectic mish-mash of a room worthy of 60s Batman where Barbara is looking for Ed – describing herself as his old friend that he keeps blowing off.

(An aside. One of Ed’s characteristics – which sometimes seems contrary to his behaviour – is a love of order, something he and Isabella shared. You can see it in the neat methodical way he does about things, and in how pristine and pressed his appearance is. Ed’s old apartment was certainly inventive in terms of design – but there was also an orderliness to it. If Ed’s environment is at all indicative of his state of mind – then this is rather alarming. There’s the inventiveness of his old apartment, but it’s chaotic.)

Ed appears.

I'll allow you to call me Ed because we have a history, but my name is the Riddler.

He pronounces Riddler with a flourish. Barbara seems amused, but gets to business, asking if Oswald mentioned a shadowy group controlling the city with impunity. The mere thought they could exist infuriates her – she didn't climb up all this way not to be top dog.

(An aside – it’s not exactly been years of hard work, Barbara. She’s pretty reliant on Tabitha for muscle, and then on Oswald’s good graces to keep their club in the first place. Stumbling on Isabella’s murder was a lucky break. She’s been shrewd in taking opportunities – but the idea of a climb doesn’t fit.)

Barbara mentions that Jim told her about this – which immediately sparks Ed’s curiosity. Barbara tells Ed about 9c. All Ed’s focus is now on this problems she’s brought him. He tells her about Strange hinting at a powerful group in charge of everything – the riddle that got away. He tells her he’ll find the answer, but do it his way. Barbara smiles knowingly.

You're going to make a big production out of this?

Ed says that only someone with power would have links. He needs to speak to the elite, and what brings bourgeoisie out like the opening night at the theatre?

We are at the theatre, where a production of Hamlet is underway.

I say - ghost – speak your business or I shall go no further

We see, in the wings, that Ed has murdered Hamlet's father. His voice booms out, mocking.

My business is not with you - but with your audience

Ed walks on dragging a sword behind him.

He wants to address the ruling class. They’ve kept a secret for far too long, but tonight he will kidnap and capture one of them to expose the truth.

Spread the word. The Riddler is coming

He turns to the actor. Telling him he found his performance wooden and unrealistic, he murders him – running him through with the sword – before pronouncing,

Annnnd scene.

Wayne Manor, where Alfred is playing chess with Bruce 2

(An aside - is it me - or is that musical motif almost identical to The Changeling? If so – then it’s a very neat nod.)

Alfred looks at Bruce 2 as he deliberates – eyes sharp. I think Alfred knows.

He calls checkmate. Bruce2 smiles and shakes hands. Alfred says Bruce let him one. Bruce2 frowns, thrown for a moment, but insists otherwise. Alfred says he’s not been himself. Bruce2 feigns confusion – but then tells him about Selina sending him away, and being to embarrassed to Alfred, and then afraid he’d ask, which would make him lie.

There’s enough truth there to make it believable – but I still don’t think Alfred believes him. He thanks Bruce2 for his candour, addressing him as ‘sir’. Bruce 2 tells him he’s a good friend, and Alfred leaves to check on dinner. As Bruce2 puts the chess pieces back, we see blood drip onto one of the white pieces. Alarmed – Bruce2 immediately phones the Court and says

It's happening again – (which never fails to freak me out, because https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWa0dZMHYeE)

The theatre, where Jim covers the dead actor’s face.

Harvey says everyone in the audience accounted for and tries to make a theatre pun. Jim asks what secret Ed’s referring to – but Harvey dismisses this, saying Ed’sprobably just making it up.

There’s a green box with question mark on it on the stage. Opening it, Harvey takes out a scroll and hands it to Jim

It's a riddle - written in iambic pentameter like a Shakespearean sonnet

(An aside - Jim's general cleverness and level of education is interesting to ponder. He’s portrayed as smarter in s1, I think – but that was pushed aside in favour of constant anger in s2)

The riddle is pretty obvious – about a two-faced person reigning over a constituency of fools. It’s the mayor.

Harvey thinks this is Oswald – but says this makes no sense, because Ed told Lucius that he killed Oswald.

(An aside – my shipping preferences aside, not getting any sense of how Jim reacted to the news of Oswald’s apparent death seems lazy. He’s known this person a long time. They have a history. He trusted him enough to entrust Lee to his care. He felt sympathy for him when his mother was murdered. I’m not buying a complete lack of reaction. Even if you want to make Jim a complete bastard – have him sneer and say it was inevitable. But a blank just feels like they’ve forgotten it. The only satisfactory way I can work round it just now is that Jim has faith in Oswald’s ability to emerge from the direst of situations, and isn’t putting total stock in Ed’s claim.)

Jim says the riddle refers to Aubrey James. Harvey asks why Ed would tell them. Jim replies that its to make them look bad and put on a show.

Sirens.

Tabitha tells Barbara they don't need Nygma for anything - he should be dead by now. Barbara tries to placate her - he likes solving puzzles - it's an easy solution for us. Tabitha asks how Ed causing a scene at the theatre helps them. Ed looms behind her, and - amused – tells her it doesn’t, but it does help him more fully announce himself.

Tabitha has a rather weak comeback about dying would help him achieve fame, and she could help him with that. Barbara intervenes before it gets too messy.

Ed wants to kidnap the mayor – he’ll know something useful. Barbara is irritated: if that was the plan, she could have had him brought to Sirens and tortured by now, but Ed – of course – has specific needs to fulfil when carrying out a crime, and needs to see GCPD humiliated, and receive an appropriate amount of attention.

Barbara ask what happens if the Mayor doesn't know anything. Ed has a plan B – which requires an explosion at a biker bar, which he wants Tabitha to arrange. Barbara and Tabitha ask him how he plans to get the Mayor when he’s announced to GCPD that he’s going to take him. Ed grins.

They'll bring him to me

Mayor James’ office - where James is eating pastries and seems unconcerned about the threat against him. Jim wants to move him to a safehouse. He’s dismissive, but then looks ill - blood sugar, apparently - too many danishes – and starts to fish out some pills.

Jim frowns – light dawning – and asks where he got those. James says an appreciative citizen sent them. It’s rather a miracle that he’s survived this long, actually. James gives an uh-oh, and we see the pills all have question marks on them

We are at a refinery – in a really rather lovely establishing shot. Brigit works here now, and she’s passing up Ivy and Oswald’s offer. Oswald is incredulous – he thinks this place is terrible. Brigit doesn’t deny it but replies that Strange messed her up pretty bad. There a brief flash of recognition and empathy in Oswald’s eyes. She continues. This place is bad, but Gotham is worse.

The boss yells at her.

Freak - you're on company time.

Ivy doesn’t understand. Brigit could totally kick his ass. She tells her,

There’s nothing wrong with being a freak. I’m a freak. So’s Penguin.

Oswald gives an acknowledging nod – no flinching or indication of disagreement.

Brigit comments that she met Ivy before. Ivy explains her accelerated aging. Brigit turns to Oswald and asks if he’s part of this. He nods, and Ivy answers for him

Yes - it's almost like we're a family. You don't have to be alone anymore

Firefly considers, and Oswald makes an offer.

I could kill your boss just to sweeten the deal?

Nah.

Brigit smiles and walks towards her boss

Hey you - I quit.

She casually blinds him with some molten metal and strolls out

In the background, Ivy and Oswald exchange matching expressions of entertained amazement. Oswald steps aside to let Ivy past, and they follow Brigit out.

The Court – where Bruce 2 thanks them for letting him come in. He’s being examined by a doctor. Kathryn says he did the right thing by coming in. Behind Bruce2’s back, the doctor shakes his head. Kathryn smiles. Bruce2 looks serious.

I’m dying, aren't I?

Kathryn confirms this and says the process that brought him into this world was flawed. Bruce2 asks if he’ll die before Bruce returns, but Kathryn says no. She goes on,

I know we've asked a lot of you…

Bruce2 cuts in

You gave me a purpose - more than most people get.

Kathryn smiles, and says she’s glad he sees it that way. She says that when Bruce returns people are going to die. Bruce2 looks troubled and asks how many. She looks displeased, and tells him she hopes he hasn’t gotten attached – trying to guess who he might want to protect. She reiterates that Gotham must fall – and will – because of Bruce2’s sacrifice. Eyeing him – she wants to know if they can count on him. He nods.

Mayor James is wheeled into an emergency room – Long story short – because my wrist is starting to hurt: the engineered explosion creates a diversion that allows Ed to kidnap James from right under GCPD’s nose. What important here is that Jim knows all along that this is playing into Ed’s hands, and that Ed explicitly says his actions are motivated by a need to answer the riddle Jim put into motion when he went to Barbara: who runs Gotham?

Also of note is the scene where Ed pulls aside the curtain, reveals himself in disguise to the Mayor, and then closes the curtain behind him because – like Ed’s chase in the snow – it reminded me of a similar scene in Hannibal – same setting.

Sirens Club. Butch glances up and tells Tabitha they have company, just as Jim strides in – asking where Barbara is. Tabitha is evasive. Jim has no time for this. He tells her straight that he knows she working with Ed, and that they kidnapped James: she was the only one Jim talked to. Butch admits it’s true – and brushes off Tabitha’s glare – Jim clearly knows everything.

Jim looks more carefully and prods. He says he heard a rumour about what Ed did to them both, and is surprised they’re defending him. He makes an offer: he’ll take Ed down, and give Barbara a free pass. Tabitha admits she hates Ed, but doesn't know where they are.

Jim’s phone rings – Ed has sent another riddle – he leaves, saying he should never have brought Barbara in, and tells them they better hope he finds her first.

Tabitha responds to Butch’s look – saying that she can't betray Barbara. Butch looks at her knowingly.

Yeah – and she’s always got your best interests at heart.

Ed's lair. Mayor James tells Ed he’s in over his head, but Ed points out that this only makes him more intrigued and determined

I will be the one who unmasks them!

Barbara asks if Aubrey remembers her. He recognises her voice, and she goads him with memory of how he was tortured at Galavan’s - with his head in that box. It was fun! Barbara says. It’ll be like old times.

James sighs – they don’t get it. The Court is all-knowing and omnipresent: God - they'll know

Barbara is not pleased at this, and gives a nasty smile: It's the box! It’s testament to how bad his treatment at her hands was that he then gives up the info, even knowing it’s a death sentence. All he knows is they’re called the Court. He just did their bidding.

Barbara is furious at the meagreness of his information – but Ed thanks him. This is tangible evidence of their existence, so they’ll know Ed isn’t bluffing. He asks Barbara what a secret society fears most. She answers correctly – being exposed.

Tabitha arrives – Ed asks if she brought what he wanted. They have a grabby glaring moment. Tabitha tells Barbara Jim came to the Club and knows everything, Barbara should never have involved Ed. Barbara looks troubled.

Selina’s apartment - where Selina is feeding her cats fancy stolen food. Bruce2 enters – telling her he wants to see her, that he missed her. Selina thinks he’s Bruce for a moment. He continues talking, telling her was going to stay away, that it would have been safer – but that things have changed. She asks what he’s talking about – but makes to leave anyway.

Bruce2 tells her to wait – and admits he’s not Bruce. Selina turns and stares.

GCPD – where Lee tells Jim someone deliberately switched the bullet in his uncle’s body. Jim tries to brush her off – but then tells her to drop it – this is dangerous. Lee gives him a disbelieving look

You think I care what happens to me anymore?

She tells him she’s sick of watching him destroy people's lives and get away with it. Jim looks hurt. It’s the worst thing he thinks of himself – and someone he cares about deeply is voicing it. She continues, voice spiteful.

When I find out what you did, I'm going to make sure you pay for it, and I’ll enjoy it

Jim looks thrown off-balance by the nastiness of the comment. Harvey calls him over. Another riddle – which turns out to be the TV news – where Ed is parading James as a hostage and talking about the Court. Jim’s phone rings – Kathryn wants this handled promptly as a proof of loyalty.

Meantime – Ed assures Aubrey that his hopes of a rescue are worthless. GCPD are no match for him. Aubrey responds tonelessly.

We’re both dead men. The court won't bargain.

Ed isn’t listening, saying that he’s underestimating him. His phone rings. He thinks it’s the Court, and is rattled when it’s Jim – Ed doesn’t deal well with plans not going precisely as he expected. He snaps that he’s waiting on an important call. Jim continues a now established habit of rattling criminals on the phone.

You want to know who runs Gotham? Come by GCPD - I'll tell you.

Ed snorts disbelievingly and says he’ll pass. Jim goes on

You think I told Barbara everything?

Ed smiles.

You always were clever, Jim - I respect that. OK - you and me alone. And this idiot.

Ed hangs up.

Jim turns to Harvey and tells him the thing that drives Nygma - (his need to solve a puzzle) – is also weakness. Harvey reminds him that everyone is depending on him – but no pressure.

Jim waits with his feet up. James scurries in. Jim frowns and asks where Ed is. Jim tells him to sit down and shut up. Jim calls out for Ed, who walks in now – saying he just wanted to be sure it wasn’t a trap. James babbles on. Jim nods over to him and comments that he talks too much. Ed laughs.

Jim stands up – going on the offensive. He tells Ed to go ahead and blow James up – who grumbles that he’ll have his badge. Ed looks discomfited. Jim pushes further – asking what the blast radius is, and whether he should duck behind a desk. Ed now gets seriously rattled at not being taken seriously, and yells that he wants the answer. Turning to the Mayor, he states that he’ll kill him, and keep Jim as a hostage, and presses the button…..

But it doesn't work. Jim tells him there’s a radio signal blocking the frequency between the control and collar. Tabitha helped him – she holds quite the grudge. Ed smiles

I admit - didn't see it coming

He still wants to know, though. Jim is impassive. Ed aims his gun. Jim reaches for his pocket. Ed reverts for a moment to GoodEd in terms of flustered impotence – reduced to yelling

Don't!

(An aside. And isn’t that interesting. I think it’s unclear whether or not Ed doesn’t want Jim to go for his gun because it’s interfering with his image of how this would go; or because if he shoots Jim he risks losing the information he needs; or simply because – somewhere – there’s a part of Ed that doesn’t want to shoot Jim.)

Jim tells him he’ll give him his answer if he lets James go and takes a ride with him. Pull the trigger – and he’ll never go. Ed is angry now – Jim won’t get a second chance to trick him and aims the gun. Jim tells him that this way

The riddle will go unanswered.

Ed looks desperate – almost pained. Jim understands Ed's compulsion

Ed gives in. Fine. Let's go

Back at Selina’s. She can’t believe Bruce2 just went along with the Court. Bruce2 tells her he had nowhere else to go. He insists that she has to leave the city, because something bad is going to happen. It dawns on Selina that his appearance is identical to Bruce – and she asks angrily what he’s done with Bruce.

Bruce2 says he’s fine. Selina makes to leave, saying she’s going to tell Alfred. Bruce2 panics and says she can’t tell anyone. Selina asks why the hell he told her then?

Bruce blurts it out

Because I care about you. And if I can save one person – I want it to be you.

Selina laughs - that's the difference: Bruce would try and save everyone. Bruce2 can pretend - but he’ll never be him.

You're nothing. You’re not even a real person. You don't matter

(An aside – it’s surprisingly cruel for Selina. She’s worried about Bruce, and she’s still angry about her mother – but this was cold. It’s maybe a reminder of how young she is – since children can be brutally cruel – but wow)

Bruce2 looks anguished. This is his deepest fear, flung in his face by someone he cares about – much like Lee telling Jim he wrecks lives and then walks away unscathed.

Bruce2 says he does matter (falling back on the Court’s validation of his worth, since the only other bond he wanted, that with Selina, has just been destroyed) – and he won’t let her tell. He pushes her through the window – peering over curiously to see Selina in her back in the alley, eyes open and unseeing, leg at a horrid angle.

Jim and Ed in a car at the docks at night. They look straight ahead. The mood is subdued. Jim speaks.

Remember the night you came to Lee's for dinner? It feels like a lifetime ago.

Ed responds – voice flat, memory detailed.

Leslie made fondue, the wine was a Bordeaux – smooth, with rich tannins. Miss Kringle wore a black dress with pink trim.

Jim admits that he tried like hell to get out of it. Ed snorts. Jim continues. But the truth is I had a good time. He looks at Ed.

I considered you a friend

Ed offers a riddle – but Jim doesn’t care to answer it. Ed reveals it anyway:

Betrayal. It’s how every friendship ends, so what good are friends anyway?

Ed looks bleak. The Court’s black limo pulls up.

Ed speaks.

Who are they?

Jim looks at him,

The answer to your question

Ed looks pleased, but Jim can only manage a vaguely sick smile. He wants Ed in locked up for his crimes – but he does not want to feed him to the Court.

Kathryn and the masked assassin are waiting outside the car. Ed approaches. Kathryn greets him

Hello Mr Nygma. I hear you’ve been asking about us.

Ed is sceptical – what if this is some trick of Jim’s.

Kathryn smiles and tells him the point of a good mystery is not being sure of the answer. She adds that Jim had to be convinced to bring him here. She refers back to the question that Ed posed to Bruce and Lucius at Indian Hill to prove her veracity– the question that’s tortured him, that he was never able to answer. She tells him to get in - and all questions will be answered – asking for his gun first. Ed meekly hands it over and gets in – calming now that he’ll get an answer to his riddle.

Kathryn smiles at Jim and tells him he made them proud. Jim’s conscience is bothering him

What are you going to do with him?

Kathryn tells him a man of Ed’s intellect is useful

Jim looks over at Ed - who looks strangely small and vulnerable in the back of the car – and you can practically feel the twist in his gut.

Sirens. Barbara storms in, smashing a waiter in the head with a bottle – infuriated at the plan’s failure. Tabitha admits she told Jim how to defuse the bomb. When an enraged Barbara asks why – she reminds her of her promise – sealed with a kiss: Tabitha was to kill Ed. She touches Barbara’s face, tries to appeal to their bond, but Barbara’s face is angry and hard.

Don't you get it? As long as the Court exists I will never be in control.

Her face is twisted now – a combination of rage and desperation, tears in her eyes.

Tabitha responds immediately:

Don't you mean we?

Barbara barges her way out. Butch smiles, smug

I’ve seen it a thousand times. People can't help themselves. Ambition…. power - she's changed

Tabitha strides out – telling him to shut up

Butch smiles, resigned - This is trouble

No - this is trouble. Oswald's back at his mansion with his new family. He sighs that it’s good to be home, but Ivy tells him Wayne Manor is way cleaner. Fries and Brigit are having a brief spat – but Ivy reminds them they are on the same team now. It’s briefly defused.

Os has noticed his defaced portrait and is brimming with rage, hurt, humiliation. Fries matter-of-factly remarks: There's a question mark over your face. Oswald tightly tells him he can sleep in the freezer.

Ivy is lounging on the couch, watching TV, and calls to Oswald.

Hey Pengy - check it out.

Oswald wheels – in a foul mood and easily aggravated.

Do not call me Pengy!

Ivy doesn’t bat an eyelid, and Oswald turns to the news report. It has a really bad picture of Ed, he must be pissed. All that posing and they run with this. Oswald’s face twists and twitches before settling on contempt and condescension

The Riddler. How long did he have to think about that one?

He turns to his new family.

Rest up everyone. Tomorrow will be a busy day

Back in the alley, the cats cluster round Selina’s horribly still body.

Jim enters the Court

I'd like to introduce our newest member

Jim puts on the silly mask.

Welcome to the Court of Owls.

Betrayal is the only truth that sticks

This week’s theme is betrayal although – oddly – it feels less embedded than last week, for all that it’s explicitly stated in the episode.

In failing to get rid of Ed, Barbara has betrayed Tabitha. In turn, Tabitha betrays Barbara by telling Jim how to work around Ed’s device. Jim’s feeling betrayed by Barbara too – and wishes he’d never told her about the Court.

Bruce2 feels – at least transiently – betrayed by the Court, who gave him a purpose, but will doubtless be content to let him die alone once the real person of importance – Bruce – returns to the city. His trust is then betrayed by Selina – who rejects everything about him: his feelings, his concern for her, his identity, and wants to alert Alfred to the disappearance of the real Bruce.

Oswald has to give a retrospective apology for his betrayal of the Indian Hill test subjects. His moment of recognition with Brigit flags that the rhetoric he adopted was also a self-betrayal since he – like Fries, Brigit, Fish, and Ivy – is a victim of Strange’s brainwashing and tinkering. Oswald’s also still smarting over Ed’s betrayal – hence his need for revenge.

Ed doesn’t feel betrayed this week – although he’s the person who actually says the word out loud, in his sad little conversation with Jim, stating that all friendships end in betrayal. It’s interesting that this seems as much an admission – as anything else – that he betrayed Jim when he framed him.

For his part, Jim feels his hand was forced into giving Ed up to the Court. Ed will not, cannot, leave a riddle alone – and Jim must do the Court’s bidding or see the city destroyed. We see throughout that Ed might be wreaking chaos – but Jim has the upper hand. He understands Ed’s compulsion, and how to manipulate him. In their last scene, Ed looks small and oddly vulnerable in the back of the Court’s limo – and there’s a sense from Jim that he’s delivered someone he feels responsible for into the hands of people who would harm him. He looks almost ill with guilt.

Jim - a good showing for Captain Vanilla, with more of a return to Jim of s1. We get nods to his cleverness and education, as opposed the angry violence that characterised s2. Here – we can pity him. He’s weighed down by responsibility in every way, his knowledge of what might happen stifling him. He can’t openly grieve for his uncle, or confide in Lee, or deal with Ed like he wants to.

Ed is enthusiastically building his new persona, but seems more unstable than ever. The moment he has a puzzle to solve, he’s driven by compulsion, as opposed to his own will. This is exhausting – and you can see the sheer amount of energy Ed expends on solving this problem become a manic degree of focus. The extent to which his compulsion controls him is evident in how calmly he goes off with the Court at the end. It’s terrifyingly risky – but Ed can’t help himself.

Barbara’s characterisation continues to confuse. She’s all about control – apparently – but it feels like it’s come from nowhere. Unless the message in her desperation is that control over everything = control over self, but – honestly – that feels like a reach.

Oswald is gathering his forces and building a family. He seems to have accepted his new identity. There was recognition and empathy in his eyes when Brigit was speaking, and he doesn’t flinch or flare up or restrain disagreement when Ivy calls him a freak. He and Ivy also now share and trade reactions – reinforcing the notion of a familial bond.

Sundries

Echoes this week: Oswald seeing a news story on TV about someone he’s looking to kill: Hugo, now Ed. Barbara refers back to the last time Aubrey was held hostage. Jim’s quest to save the whole city has echoes of his initial ambitions back in season one.

That was a hot Victor, show – but still not the hot Victor I was hoping for.

Thoughts?

#Gotham Commentary #the primal riddle #gotham 3.21

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exotahu · 5 years

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Bronycon 2019 “THE END”

Okay so... I kinda procrastinated on putting this out. I wrote the shell right after the con but only now finished it for posting. I don’t use tumblr much anymore but I couldn’t think of anywhere else to put this. Here is my rundown of the 2019 Bronycon. As per usual, this was written in pieces over time and might be a bit of a mess. I’m not the most coherent person when it comes to writing this sort of thing. So for one final time, Here we go. I apologize if tumblr breaks it all.

Wednesday

The power went out as I was getting ready to leave. I had everything pretty well prepared ahead of time this time.

I was super stressed about things going wrong and of fucking shit up actually helped me get my shit together. Still thought, I left the goddamn pop-tarts behind I had bought to have cheap easy breakfasts, but oh well, wasn't the worst thing that could have happened. Left a little bit later than planned but, we weren't too terribly late either despite all this, and we got to Baltimore in good time. Made a couple stops a long the way. Found a nowhere gas station with a super yikes level sticker display next to a rack of GFT comics. Place sure had an aura about it that did not suit my pastel-horse ribbon wearing shenanigans. Made another stop and bought some twisted tea tall boys that I never ended up drinking at some other rando gas station. Made another stop at the Speedway that was a Hess and got some hot dogs. The one with the M&T next to it, that I've stopped at almost every time I've gone down. It’s dumb, but I’m gonna miss that spot. Some of these places, though dumb and random to anyone else, have memories. Like sitting on the hood of my Geo just shooting the shit with friends on the way to Otakon, or my first solo trip where I unintentionally scared the shit outta my parents cause I accidently made them think I was on the wrong side of the state or how I always took the wrong turn and had to use a middle school parking lot to turn around. Recorded a bunch with my phone cause its gonna be a long time until I’m back to some of these places. Little videos or pictures for nostalgic purposes. Made it into the hotel. No issues with the weirdness with the room reservation, thank god. (I had to do some nonsense with having two reservations and rewards points and stuff due to not getting Sunday night in the con block) Pre-reg was starting at 6 and going until late some time so we did other stuff instead. We went to Tir na Nog for dinner and hung out in the inner harbor, went to Barnes and Noble then the ice cream place. Just some of the staples of hanging out in the Inner Harbor. Went to CVS and I bought some more pop-tarts to replace the ones I left at home. Then we went to pre-reg to pick up badges. Line was pretty huge at the start when we walked past to go get dinner, figured it’d get smaller over time, but holy fuck it didn’t. Pretty sure they had no idea that many people were going to show up which was unfortunately a pretty accurate descriptor of the whole weekend tbh. We waited in line for like two hours, but it went fast enough and was kinda fun. Lots of songs being sung and merriment, especially for a two hour line. A bunch of people asked me about my digital badge or goggles. It’s funny how often the answer to “Where did you get those” is so often “Here a couple years ago” or “Otakon, a whole bunch of year ago”. A 4th of all the people registered showed up supposedly. So many people showed up that they capped line but we were already in. Not much to do after so we went back to the hotel for sleep. Got to bed Pretty early. The bar trot wasn't this night so we just went back. Got a great night of sleep sleeping on a mattress that wasn't butt, almost 8 hours. I wish my mattress at home was as good as this hotel one.

Thursday

Today was the bonus day. There wasn't much going on con-wise, which was fine. It was good to just relax and wander. I got to meet up with a friend from a discord server I'm in. Wandered around a while and took pictures. Also met up with someone who is actually from Baltimore but is moving to Syracuse (and only like a couple days after the con) Waited for vendor hall to open and hung out as a group for a while. There was a big line to get into vendor. It was in a weird spot this time, inside of the harmony plaza and not its own space. Bought a KDA Akali mask but mostly just did a scope out. The vendor was packed. A little more cramped due to the limited space. It was a little hard to move. Couldn’t maintain unit cohesion. Learned the layout though and where most of the vendors were. Got to briefly see a few other cool people from that Discord sever. Planned to do most of my buying, but Justin lost his hotel key (always get spares), had to go let him in the room. On the way back I did a Rayquaza raid with a couple friends. Me and Josh forgot we were one day away from best friends in game and that raids count towards the daily interaction so we didn't pop a lucky egg, whoops. Ate at Jimmy Johns before going to meet up for opening. Unfortunately, Opening got capped due to space. The BCC got shared with a Rubix cube competition so we only had half the space because I don't think they planned on having their highest attendance ever at over 10k people. We didn't have the top floor big hall so the Mane Hall was in where palooza was and it's certainly not sized to hold that many people. This would be a difficulty the whole weekend. I got back into the Harmony Plaza/Vendor Hall. They were livestreaming the Mane Hall, so the staff set up a huge monitor in Harmony Plaza to watch it sorta live. It was pretty emotional. Even the BCC president showed up and said we should keep going. That was a little rough. Then they did something neat. They got Gilbert Gottfried to sing/read This Day Aria. Everyone in the room went bananas. It was hilarious. I met back up with everyone at the hotel and we headed to the bars. Part of our group went to a ramen place they all like. There wasn't enough space for all of us without waiting an forever, so me and Justin just went to the bars. I started drinking at the Dogs Watch. They didn't have any pony themed drinks but there were pony decorations and music playing. It's a nice atmosphere, it's a bit hard to explain, being in an alcohol establishment with music from a colorful pastel horse show playing. I had 3 vodka cranberries. Met back with everyone and went to The Admiral. They had almost no Trixie left, but still enough for me to have one. And I fucking did it, I got the recipe or at the very least I know the materials. Had some of the other drinks too. There was a Pinkie, Twilight and I believe Tempest? The bartender used Champagne for the Pinkie themed drink because it was the last Bronycon. I had a bunch of those, a couple of the others, then a mix of everything. Everyone in our group went back in groups. Me, Sam and Cody were the last ones in our group. Met up with some cool people. One of the guys ordered a Vodka shot for everyone, and then a Tequila shot. After that before I left I thanked the bartender one more time for all he's done to make the bar one of the highlights of our yearly trip and all the cool theme drinks. (Seriously, if you're ever in Baltimore and drink alcohol, go to Fells Point. Find the Admiral Fell Inn, it's a little underground bar and it is AMAZING, and the bartender is a really cool guy.) Our newly formed group left. We didn't want to walk all the way back to our hotels drunk, which funny enough were all next to each other so we summoned a Lyft. While waiting we took a group selfie. We took two, Cody was missing from the first one and then Sam was missing from the other. Plus there was a random guy in both of them we didn't know who it was. THey were seconds apart and I still don't know how that happened. I got a selfie in front of a lingerie shop which amused drunk me greatly. The Lyft came and we all got in, Don't Stop Believing started playing and we all started singing along. It was a good ride back. We got back and me and one other person decided hey, Palooza is still going, lets go. Met up with a fursuiter on the way. Got to catch the last couple acts. It’s a hell of a time drunk. I could feel the soles of my feet vibrating. I had a blast and then went back to the hotel after it ended. Got to bed at like 3. It's fun to stay up doing the late things but it makes it hard to do early things.

Friday

I tried to get up early so I could get there earlier to get one of Baron's commission slots. Alcohol didn't cause many problems outside of a minor headache and mild plumbing problems. Still slowed me down a little. Surprisingly not really hung over aside from that, despite how much I drank. Drink water everybody, it really does help. I went to the con and got into vendor hall. I bought some stuff. I got a Soarin' daki, a game for a friend, among some other things. I bought some original art from Baron too. Didn't get there in time for a commission though. Went to the comic vendor and bought my comics. I'm only missing a couple now. Ended up getting into the line for Whoves Line almost on accident. Got in with no issues, which was cool. It’s good fun, they put on a good show. There was a proposal too which was neat, especially how they did it. Dropped stuff off at the hotel. Went to meet up with our other group and got to see the other hotel we’ve never stayed in. It's fancy af. Our group went to Bubba Gumps and I went in. I figured if it's gonna be my last time here for a very long time I was gonna do it big. Someone jokingly said I should get two Shrimper's Heavens. And then I did it, plus my usual shrimp cocktail. The Great Shrimp Massacre of 2019. Also discovered that their cheese sticks are fuckin massive and I wish I had known. I got a bunch of them that the others couldn't eat. I ate all of that. I did it big. Plumbing didn’t even break. Dropped 100$ at once. It's the most I have very spent on one restaurant trip. I don’t think I’ll be doing that again, but hey, for the final BronyCon that's kinda the point isn't it? We went to ice cream place. (Okay so I don't eat ice cream but they sell some really good tea) Then we went to the Palooza. Forgot to change my socks. Knee-high stockings no good for rave as I discovered. Vylet’s set was absolutely fantastic. (I mean all the acts were great, but she’s a favorite). Also got to see the secret guest whose name was obscured the whole time. I knew who I wanted it to be, and it was. Garnika came back for one more and played a wonderful set. Like usual we stayed the whole thing. It’s so much fun despite knowing waking up will be hard cause I’ll only get like 4 sleep. There is like this odd sense of dread knowing the effect the late night is going to have on you, but you stay anyway because there is such an energy you can't pull yourself away from.

Saturday

Once again I tried to get up early to get a commission slot form Baron. Didn’t end up making it, however, he said he’d do it anyway, and mail it out. (I'm referring to Baron Engel, he's an artist I really like, go look him up!) It's a picture of Fluttershy dressed as Jotaro from JJBA. I've gotten it now and it's really good! I bought more stuff, including another daki that Kyle and Josh jokingly pointed out to me. Didn't think I was going to, but I couldn't turn down the price the guy gave me. I lined up for VA panel script reading. It was an EqG script about the cast graduating and the Celestias swapping places and causing chaos. It was not so subtly about the end of the con. I started to tear up. I realized that was gonna be a common theme throughout the weekend, I fuckin knew it. I do not like crying, especially in public. The closer we got to the end the worse it got. Ran into the cosplay photoshoot which was neat, and there was another proposal. After that I made a hotel deposit and got some Jimmy Johns, and then went to anthology panel. Because of course it was, Gardevoir community day was the same weekend as the con. I bought a new Pokemon+ thing that does it automatically, so I still got to play despite being in a panel or in line for most of it. It was alright. Anthology was great (and holy shit a little raunchier than usual), But then at the end they told us that it was actually longer and they had to cut it for time. (To which I call bullshit, any additional content I’ve seen was far too explicit for the actual con, lul). Went to the Palooza for one final time. I remembered to change my socks this time. Saw Black Gryph0n and Michelle Creber, and then the super band made up of a large variety of fandom musicians. It was really cool. Even got to hear an orchestral performance of one of 4everfree's songs which is something I've not seen them do before. Things ran a little long and it threw the schedule off a bunch. 2 AM hit and Eruobeat hadn't gone yet. (2 is usually when we have to leave by) But Eurobeat did get to do his set despite this because whoever was in charge decided to be cool. "We're suposed to be out by 2, but its 2 and Eurobeat has to play still. We can stay for this but, but when it’s over I'm gonna need y’all to get the fuck out.” And then Eurobeat performed he was one of the first fandom musicians and one of the first to perform at the original BronyPalooza. And of course, for his final song, he performed his 2019 version of Discord. The whole fuckin' room went nuts. It was nothing short of magical. It was the perfect way to end it, the final Bronypalooza. The energy in the room was insane. Bronypalooza was always one of my favorite parts of the con. I’m told other EDM concerts are crazier, but I don’t know if I want crazier. There was something absolutely magical about a room full of all different kinds of people losing their shit to pastel horse based music waving dakis and plushies and some in full fursuit and some in cosplay and some in plain clothes and every kinda nonsense you can imagine. Just rocking out and having a good time. It's an experience and a kind of magic that I don’t know what will ever be able to compare. I'll never forget it.

Sunday

THE FINAL DAY. I switched over reservations with no issues and went to the con. Ended up mostly wandering around the vendor hall yeeting money away before lining up for closing. I recorded a bunch of wandering around. There was a Bronycon memorial shrine that was set up too that people had left all sorts of crazy stuff at too. I bought some random but cool stuff. I also commissioned a badge of my pony character! (Better late than never huh?) Was gonna buy a couple things but ended up not. I ran into Vylet wandering the vendor hall! Got a picture with her and Namii!. Lined up for closing, which turned into a bit of a clusterfuck. It got capped again due to room. In the clusterfuck I was able to meet back up with Andy, Sam, and Justin. However while in line I got to see a whole bunch of con staff set up huge monitors to stream it to the overflow room so as many people as possible can see it. It was... very emotional, was pretty much just sobbing in a whole room full of people. Got a conclusion to the mascot storyline too. I never want to forget how I feel after these things. Walking out of the con center for the last time was fucking surreal. I've been there so many times. I remember being confused by the layout the first couple times and by the end, I had the whole thing memorized. (Okay, I couldn't remember lobby names for shit, but I knew where it all was.) I cried a whole bunch as we all walked out together reminiscing. We sat in the hotel room as a group just kinda being sad and reminiscing and decompressing for a little while. Then we went to a bar after party event things in a place I’d never been. It was a pretty relaxing atmosphere. Instead of being in the bar we sat outside on these sofa things on the deck rather than watching the concert on the inside (But hoenstly it was so loud you could hear it well enough). A lot of the non-EDM rock musicians there. It was honestly really nice sitting there under the open sky just listening to music. Feeling the sunset while the city lights get brighter and the sky fades to dark was nice. I checked Pokemon Go since I had my automatic bracelet thing doing it's thing, turns out I caught a random Shiny Alolan Geodude. I nicknamed it the Bronycon Memorial Rock, it's a Golem now. Had some shots too. After a while we went back to the hotel. We decided to do a Insomnia Cookie order, since it went so well last year. And oh was it a clusterfuck. So we made our order. I forgot to mention that we were in a hotel so I called them and they said they'd call us when they got there and that I would come down. Roughly 15 minutes later, the call came. I said I'd be down. I went to the lobby and found a delivery man with a white box. He comes up to me and asks me if I was the one that ordered pizza. Nope, wasn't me. He got a little frustrated but continued to wait for his people. No cookie delivery guy. I call him back. This was basically the convo: "Hello, I'm down in the lobby but I can't find you" "Wait, it wasn't you that picked up the cookies?" "No I just got here, there is a confused pizza man down here though." (I should note that they're both white square boxes) "Oh fuck I'm so sorry I gave it to the wrong person we'll remake your order and come back" "No problem man, it happens to the best of us, I'll just wait down in the lobby this time" I repeated the order, he apologized and hung up. The pizza guy just left the pizza with the front desk. I saw that they still had the menus up for the pony themed alcohol so I ordered an Applejack(Apple brandy, hard cider and ice). Accidentally ended up calling another friend trying to call the cookie guy back who also happened to be at a bar back home and had a chat about what we were drinking/doing so that was cool. Eventually the cookie guy came back and we had cookies. Then everyone wanted pizza. Yet another clusterfuck occurred, turns out they ran out of dough or something so after like a half hour wait, we got our money back. After that we just went to sleep.

Monday

We packed everything up and loaded the car when we got up. Then we decided to have one last day in the inner harbor. We went to Tir Na Nog as a big group for one last time, then headed to the aquarium. The aquarium is nifty. I like to watch the jellyfish. They're so goddamn relaxing. Even one of the employees said the same thing. We left and took a group picture in the harbor before finally heading back. Once again, leaving was a bit sombre, there was just such a finality to it, walking past the BCC down Pratt St. After hanging out in the hotel lobby for a little bit, we got on the road to home. During the ride back, It ended up coming up why the area is significant to me and why I wanted to do certain things and why this whole crazy thing started in the first place. I never really bring it up, but it felt kinda good to talk about it. It was a relatively uneventful ride home. We stopped at a McDonalds at some point. Got home, unpacked and crashed, feeling exhausted from the weekend.

Conclusion:

Yeah it's no secret I procrastinated writing/finishing this for a couple months. I guess I just didn't want to deal with it being over. I've mentioned before that this con and the surrounding area is pretty important to me. A yearly tradition that I looked forward to and saved for. I had gone to Otakon almost every year between 2006-2012. Once I realized interest in Otakon had waned, I got kinda sad, but then something wild happened. Bronycon announced they were moving down to a new location. The Baltimore Inner Harbor in the BCC. I had been talking with a couple friends about going to the next Bronycon and that absolutely cemented it. That was 2013. Then in 2014, I was contacted by some guy my dad worked with who was wondering if I had intended to go the next year. That's how I met Andy. I made a bunch of friends through the con/show and reconnected with old ones too. I made sure to go down every year since. Aside from 2010, I've gone to the Baltimore Inner Harbor every year since 06. It's gonna be hard knowing I won't be back there for a while most likely. I've got a bunch of memories down here across many years. I know this has been totally disjointed because I'm writing it months later, coming off the MLP series finale, so I'm feeling some feels. I think that's part of why I decided to finish it now. I've said for a while that Bronycon was one of the best conventions I've ever attended. The atmosphere was something unique and magical. I don't think I could ever describe it properly. I don't think I'll ever find anything that quite captures the magic, but one thing is sure, I'm never gonna forget the times we've had here. It really has been magic.

#bronycon bronycon2019 ididntmeantowaitthislong

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