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collidescopeeyes · 6 months

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Time is a Roulette Wheel

Pyke: Pt 3

League of Legends | Pyke x F!Reader

Chapters: Prologue | Viego | Pyke: 1 - 2 - 3

Read the whole thing on AO3 here

SFW

He’s on deck tying nets. It's simple work, but time consuming. Over, around, cinch, repeat. Shanks is chattering to him about something or other, but Pyke's long since started tuning him out.

Across the deck, Iso laughs. He glances up without meaning to. She's talking to the wind mage, Addison; they need to stay on deck while they channel the breeze, and they like company. She tucks her hair behind her ear, blown loose by the wind, and he watches for a moment as she mimes something to accompany whatever story she's telling. He's never been the type to get distracted by a pretty face, but something about her draws him in like a fish on a line. Always has, ever since that first day when he realized she was one of the few honest things about a dishonest town.

He notices a suspicious silence. He glances to the side to see Shanks watching him, or rather watching him watch her. There's a grin on the other man's face he doesn't like. “So, when you finally pop the question, am I gonna be your best man?” Shanks crows, elbowing him in the side. Pyke lets his unimpressed glare be all the answer he needs, and Shanks leans back, hands in the air. “Alright, point taken, you scary motherfucker. God, you're the only man who could ship out with a real bed and a beautiful, talented woman to warm it and still be as sour as an old fucking lemon, y'know that?” He doesn't bother to respond to that. Over, around, cinch. Shanks presses on, undeterred. “You are gonna ask her to marry you, right? Truso’s gotta be paying you enough to afford a nice ring.”

His hands pause on the net. “Never thought about it,” he grunts, and that's true enough. Pyke's never been good with sweet words or grand gestures, not unless she wanted him to kill a giant fish for her. She's never mentioned wanting to get married. Was it even the same, where she's from? He's never asked, and she gets antsy when her past is brought up–he would too, if answering the wrong question had him coughing up glass. He looks at her and thinks my wife, and that's a pleasant enough thought. Never thought he'd be much of a husband, though. Never thought he'd find anyone he wanted to stick around for in the first place, either.

“Unbelievable, you are!” Shanks scoffs. “Haven’t thought of it, Bearded Lady’s hairy tits, man. How’d you land her, anyway? Certainly wasn't with your shining personality.”

Good question. Shanks is a pest, but he's not wrong. He shrugs. “She picked me.”

“C'mon, gotta be more to it than that,” Teal, another harpooner, plops down on the deck next to them. He makes no move to help with the netting. “How'd you meet? Bar?”

“He'll tell you if you help with the bloody net,” Shanks offers in what he probably thinks is a tantalizing voice. Pyke shoots him a glare, but Teal picks up a rope and starts working, and his knotwork is respectable so he supposes letting them pry into his personal life isn't the worst trade.

He sighs. “Buddy down at the slaughter docks nearly had his arm taken off, heard her clinic was good at stuff like that. She gave me a decent price, so I came back when I busted my leg. Lost my purse, but she offered to let me work it off porting for a personal project. Gig was decent, so I kept it on the side.”

There's a moment of silence. “That's it?” Teal says expectantly. “Nothing else?”

He thinks back. “We played cards a lot?” He says hazily.

Teal squints at him. “And she just, what, randomly decided to jump you one day?”

Over, around, cinch. “Pretty much.” Not that he hadn't been just as surprised. Plenty of looks linger on his arms and his muscles, he's not blind. He's got a mean face and a sour attitude to go with it, though, and not many women want to stick around for that. He'd been pleasantly surprised by her interest, but if you'd told him then she still wouldn't be sick of him in a years time he'd have thought you were full of shit.

“You motherfucker, I had money riding on this,” Teal hisses. “I thought for sure there would be alcohol involved.”

“I mean, why you?” Shanks laments. “Just why?”

“Because he's loyal and considerate and handsome, and if I hear this question again I'm going to start disinfecting wounds with vinegar,” Iso says mildly, her arms crossed. The other two were so focused on him they didn't notice her walking up. Shanks startles so badly he almost goes overboard, and Teal ducks his head in shame. Pyke staunchly continues his work, though that's really not a combination of words he would have expected anyone to apply to him.

“Sorry, ma’am,” Shanks says sheepishly, Teal mumbling the same. She nods, gives him a smile, and walks off.

“...you know we're just giving you shit, right?” Shanks says a moment later. “We're happy for you, really.”

“Shut up and tie the line,” Pyke sighs.

---

They collect more sea-beasts than they can store and start heading back a day ahead of schedule. No Jaull-fish yet, but you refuse to let your guard down until you're both safely back on shore.

You've thought about asking him to quit before. You're comfortable enough without the money. Seeing him out here changes your mind; this is his element, and he's worked damn hard to be here. You can't ask him to give that up for something that might not even happen now.

(Putting aside if he even would, just because you asked, but you don't want to think about that)

A week out from home, you're woken in the middle of the night by yelling. You push yourself up off of Pyke's chest muzzily, and he makes an irritated noise. There's a bell going off in a rhythmic pattern; Pyke listens for a moment before groaning “Pirates.”

You clamber to your feet and quickly start changing into your day clothes. Pyke, likewise, sits up and starts shoving his feet into his boots, grumbling. Despite being such an early riser, he hates being woken up. He shrugs on his cloak and passes you your knife belt, before rolling his shoulders and trudging out the door.

The deck is lousy with sailors running to and fro, getting ready to receive the ship plowing towards you. “Iso, good!” Truso catches you by the shoulder, stuffing what has to be far too many flintlocks in his belt. “I don't know how comfortable you are in a fight, but–”

“Pretty comfortable,” you say easily. He sags in relief.

“Perfect, as you were then,” he gives you a thumbs up and then immediately spots someone with a keg of something they shouldn't and strides off, yelling.

“Doc!” A sailor you vaguely recognize appears by your side. “If someone gets hit by a cannonball, how much of them needs to be in one piece for you to fix em?”

“Why?” You ask warily. He points at the railing, where Shanks is swinging a pair of bolas wrapped in a wet cloth.

“He reckons he can land it in a cannon barrel before it goes off, so it backfires,” he explains.

You look at Pyke in wonder. “How the fuck have you not died already?”

He shrugs.

—

“I get it now!” Shanks announces, huddling behind a crate as he frantically reloads his pistols. “She's with you because she's fucking crazy!”

Pyke barely spares him a glance. Any second now this bastard shooting at them is going to have to reload, and then Pyke is going to yank him onto their deck and stab him in the face–

Iso goes launching onto the enemy ship, using the crate they're covering behind as a step up. Love of his life plunging headfirst into active gunfire aside, he's not one to waste an opportunity, so he stands and launches his harpoon into the gunners shoulder and drags him against the railing Iso has just landed on. She doesn't even spare him a glance, just kicks him hard in the temple and moves on. Pyke doesn't make the conscious decision to go after her, but nonetheless finds himself halfway across the deck.

“That's what I'm fucking talking about!” Shanks yells as Pyke scales the rope still stuck between gunner and the railing. “Crazy!”

She moves like she has no concept she could even get hurt. He crests the railing in time to watch her throw knife after knife, hilts to throats and skulls and eyes. Two men approach from her side–he rips his blade from the body and throws it at the furthest one's knee, piercing it from the side, and pulls the rope taut to trip the other. She turns and launches a knife into his head before he even hits the ground, but in her distraction another pirate pulls a sword on her. He yells before he even registers the warning leaving his mouth, and she turns in time to take the blade through the shoulder instead of the throat. She kicks, sending the man stumbling back, and then rips the blade out of her shoulder and cuts him down. There's barely even blood on her shirt, how fast she healed herself. No pause in her movements from the pain, just focus in her eyes as she moves to the next target.

“Iso!” He yells, voice harsh with anger and adrenaline and a bone deep fear he's never quite felt before. The next pirate between them gets his blade to their throat, and he doesn't stop to look as he rips it out of them, just keeps heading her way. She glances at him as he approaches, and it's like she doesn't even recognize him for a moment. “Are you trying to give me a heart attack?” She blinks, and the fog clears, like she's coming back from somewhere far away. She glances down at the tear in her shirt where the blade was like she's only just noticed it.

“I liked this shirt,” she says mournfully. Someone swings at her, and she ducks under it and plants a knife in their gut.

“Stop getting stabbed, then,” he suggests tersely, catching a sword swing on his harpoon blade. “There's no fixing dead.”

She has the audacity to snort at him as she knifes the wielder of the blade he's fending off. A tide of sailors floods the deck, heartened by their charge. He sticks close behind her, watching her back and creating opportunities for her to strike, and together their knives cut bloody swathes through the pirates. He's never had much problem with fighting pirates, but there's a new viciousness in him with her on the line. It's a swift battle, but brutal, and they come out on top.

After, Iso fixes up their wounded, and Pyke watches her. Not for the first time, he's struck with the sensation that he's caught a glimpse of a ghost, that someone she used to be rose to the surface for just a moment. She fights like a pit rat, like someone who's been doing it so long that fighting feels like home. Her hands are soft and she doesn't have any scars to speak of, but she fights like she ought to. She has a past, and he won't ask because she can't tell, but he wonders.

She tucks her hair behind her ear as she sends the last of the wounded off, and blood smears on her cheek. He frowns. He knows where she keeps the clean cloths, at least–she’s particular where she puts things back home, and it's the same here. She gives him a soft smile when he kneels down and starts cleaning her hands off.

“You scared the shit out of me out there,” he tells her. She looks sheepish, at least. “I know you can fix yourself, but that doesn't make watching you get hurt easy.”

She shrugs one shoulder uncertainly. “I just…I’m used to it, I guess. Didn't have much choice, back when…” and she pauses, swallowing, feeling the edges of her curse.

He wants to ask, but knowing her she might just try to answer, so he doesn't. He folds the cloth over and wipes the blood from her cheek. “Goes both ways, y'know,” he says instead. Her brow creases in confusion. “You die, I'm gonna kill you.”

She laughs. “You don't have to worry about that.”

A knock on the door frame. “Cap wants you, Pyke,” he glances over to see a sailor, one of the men who prepares the sea-beasts for transport. “We’re stealing their grog and sending the survivors off with enough to get to land.”

Iso perks up. “There are drinks on the table?”

—

He forgot Iso is a lightweight. She doesn't tend to drink much at home, though most drinks in Bilgewater are watered down piss anyway so he's never thought much of it. The tipsiest he's ever seen her was at a going-away party for one of her regular patients and his old crew mate, a newly-wed couple off to try their luck in Piltover–to be fair, he'd also probably had too much to drink, because his only clear memories of that night are arriving, a cask of Freljordian mead, Iso trying to jump him in the back, and then trying to walk home carrying her while she mouthed at his neck and did her level best to wreck his tenuous self-control. This is probably as bad.

She's singing a shanty from her home, and aside from the fact that he's never heard of a place called France, it's hardly any different from the ones he's heard. She bellows the last line, and someone else picks up with another song as she catches her breath. She turns to look at him, eyes bright, and the way she smiles at him does something funny to his insides. He's not exactly sober either, he'll admit. She makes her way across the galley to the corner he's claimed–he’s not one for being the center attention, and everyone wanted a piece of hers after the stunt she pulled.

“Pyke,” she croons as she reaches him, half falling against his side. She rests her head against his chest and looks up at him through those pretty lashes of hers. He winds an arm around her waist, and she’s so soft that sometimes he feels like he's committing some sort of sacrilege just by touching her. His hands are made for bone and salt and blood, not softness or sweetness. “I can't believe your name is actually Pyke. I thought that was a nickname. Cuz of the, y'know,” she mimes throwing a harpoon. “Although I don't know what it'd be short for. Pycheal!” she says, then bursts out laughing at her own joke.

He frowns down at her. “That's like saying Iso is short for…” he pauses, struggling with his limited vocabulary. “Isometric?” He's pretty sure that's a word he's heard her say before.

She laughs. “Fuck, I dunno, maybe it is. I just picked it.”

He looks at her curiously. “Not the name you were born with?”

She shakes her head. “Wasn't allowed to use my old one, when I came here.” She gestures at her throat and he nods in sudden understanding. “I dunno why. Most of the rules make sense, but my name? Why the fuck does that matter?” She looks off into the distance, frowning. “All the Voidspawn have weird names. Maybe it's just important for them.”

He blinks. His understanding of the Void goes as far as that it's a big problem somewhere far away from here. “What does that have to do with…” he pauses, then shakes his head. He doesn't need to know, and she probably shouldn't answer.

She looks up at him again, this time with an odd look in her eyes. Remorseful, almost. “Sorry I got stabbed. And for jumping on the pirate ship. People kept calling me crazy and I realized that that's because that was a crazy thing to do, and I thought that if you did something crazy like that I'd be pretty mad at you, so. Sorry.”

He must be drunk, because the next thing out of his mouth is “D’you wanna marry me?”

She blinks at him. “Like, now?”

It's not a no. He swallows, trying to conceal the way his heart is flopping in his chest like a beached trout. “Sure.”

She squints. “Do you have a ring? Do people even use rings here?”

“Doesn't have to be a ring,” he says. “Buhru tradition is a trophy from a hunt. My ma got a shark tooth."

She blinks up at him, then pokes one of the shark teeth he wears on his belt. “Okay. Give me that one.”

He looks at the tooth she's pointing at. “What, just that one? You don't want a…special one?”

“That one is special, it's yours,” she says earnestly. “Some big fucking fish tried to kill you, and you said no. Just keep doing that, keep coming back home to me, and I'll marry you as many times as you want.”

He's not good with words, and his tongue feels thick in his mouth, so he just reaches over and snaps the tooth off its chain. She beams as he hands it to her, and he watches in bemusement as she bends down and undoes one of the leather laces for her tall boots. She fishes a knife out and cuts it halfway, and then sets the tooth against the wall and strikes it in the center as if her knife was a chisel. It cracks into two halves, the edges slightly jagged where they fit together, which she binds up as pendants with her improvised leather cords. Her creations complete, she stands up on her toes to loop one around his neck.

He swallows harshly as the bone settles against his skin. She hands him the other and turns around, pulling her hair out of the way, and he’s never been so careful about tying a knot in his life. When it's done, she turns to smile at him, and there isn't a thing on this earth that could stop him from kissing her in that moment.

—

You wake up with the worst headache you've ever had. You groan, throwing your arm over your eyes to block the light.

“Not even magic fixes hangovers, huh?” Pyke rumbles. You decide that wedging your face in between his arm and his side is much more effective means of blinding yourself.

“Aren't you supposed to be doing, iunno, sailor stuff?” You croak.

“Cap’n gave us a honeymoon off,” he says. His fingers trace up and down your spine. “May have had a few words with him about my wife getting stabbed under his employ.”

Oh yeah. That happened. Vague memories return to you about necklaces, and then Shanks insisting on doing a ceremony, and then a lot more drinking. “Do you think Shanks is actually a priest?” You wonder aloud. He claimed very loudly to be, but by that point he was also insisting he had personally executed the pirate's captain, so.

“Does it matter?” he asks.

You suppose it doesn't. It's Bilgewater–not like there's a marriage registry. Laws are only laws insofar as anyone can be fucked to enforce them. If Shanks said he was a priest, then fuck it, you may as well be married now. You lift your head up and rest your chin on his chest, next to the pendant. He cracks one sea-glass green eye and looks at you, not quite smiling but as at peace as you've ever seen him, and you think no, it really doesn't matter. You're happy right here, right now.

—

“Tell me again,” you grit out.

The captain–no point remembering his name, he's a dead man walking anyway–shifts from foot to foot uncomfortably. “There was a Jaull-fish. It almost sunk the ship. Pyke was already in the water, and the lines snapped–”

“Don't fucking lie to me,” you snap. “You cut the lines.”

He flinches, and tries to cover it with a scowl. “Ma’am, I know it's tough to hear, but I don't appreciate what you're insinuating–”

“I'm not insinuating anything,” you hiss. “You know what you did, and if you weren't already as good as dead I'd kill you my fucking self. Now get out of my house.”

“Ma’am–” he tries. You hurl a knife at him, and it embeds itself in the wall next to his head. He gets the message and leaves.

After, you sag against the floor. Stupid. Stupid, stupid man got himself eaten by a stupid fucking fish, and you were a stupid idiot for thinking that he wouldn't. It wasn't even the Terror–when he left, he said it was named something stupid, something to do with Guppies. Why was it still a Jaull-fish? What changed? What didn't change? What the fuck do you do now?

You scrub your wet eyes, trying to reign your breathing in. Fine. So he got eaten by a fish. He'll come back. With a list of names being manipulated by fish from the bottom of the world, sure, but he'll come back, and you'll fix him. You just have to find him first.

—

“Wh-what do you want with me?” The sailor asks, after he wakes up. One convenient thing about being a doctor is no one thinks much of you buying chloroform.

“Me? Nothing,” you say, watching him struggle against the rope. “But Pyke does, and I've got some strong words to have with him.”

His eyes go perfectly round. “P-Pyke’s not…he's dead, lady, I-I’m sorry, but he is, I saw him go down myself–”

“I know,” you say grimly. “That's why you're here.”

—

“Pyke?” You say cautiously. He looks up at you as he rips his blade from the sailors throat. You're not broken up about it–you’d followed the man for weeks before you got a chance to nab him, and he was a real piece of shit.

Pyke turns to look at you, and it's like seeing double. That's your husband, the man you've grown to love over the last two years, and it's the corpse you were expecting to see ever since you met. He looks almost the same as the day he left, except there's a trifecta of scars running across his face and his eyes glow with an unearthly blue. You already miss his eyes, the sea-glass green, the warmth in them. Now he looks at you like a stranger. “Pyke, it's me,” you urge, willing recognition into those awful blue eyes.

His eyes narrow. “You look…familiar. What's your name?”

“Iso,” you prompt, cautiously approaching with your hands up. The list is already in his hand from the last guy, but surely he already knows the names on it–was the Deep manipulating it already? Was he ever after the crew that got him killed? He glances it over, then frowns and shakes his head.

“That's not…” his voice is thick with confusion and his eyes are hazy. Then he glares at you. “Tell me your real name.”

You blink, an awful strangling feeling between hope and despair straining your voice. “How do you know that? Think, Pyke. You know I can't tell you.” Another step.

His eyes go to the list again. “Iso…Iso?” He mutters under his breath. “I don't know an…” he shakes his head furiously, clutching it with a groan. You wait with baited breath. For one glorious moment, there's a spark of recognition in his eyes–and then it fades, fogging over. He tilts his head, as if he's listening to something you can't hear, then shakes his head. “You're not on my list,” he says.

You're close enough. You launch yourself at him, sweeping his legs out and pinning him to the dirty warehouse floor. You feel him trying to come apart under your hands, his edges going damp and indefinite with seawater that isn't quite there, but you grip his time tight and force it back, back–until you can't anymore. It's the same feeling you got when you tried to rewind yourself back home, that something had changed so fundamentally that what you are and who you were are only connected in your mind, that the past was so far away nothing could ever bring it back. That the man you know is the gone.

“No, nonono,” you plead. Pyke looks up at you with blank, uncomprehending, blue eyes. “Give him back, you piece of shit. Give him back to me!”

“What are you–?” You can stop him from turning to sea mist under your hands, at least, wind him back to solid. He's trying to leave. Fucker. “Get off me.”

You grip him by the collar and pull him up, searching his eyes for something, anything. “Can they hear me, your new bosses? Can you hear me, you fish fucks? I'll kill you. I've killed bigger and worse and you picked the wrong man to take.”

He hisses under his breath, apparently giving his newfound ocean powers up and resorting to good old fashioned violence. He swings, and you duck back in time to avoid taking a fist to the face, but as your balance shifts he surges up and throws you off him. For a moment he looks at you, obviously torn, and then he vanishes.

“You motherfucker,” you seethe into the empty night.

—

You hunt him more intently than any bounty hunter. You don't really stop him from killing anyone, mind–near as you can tell everyone he kills makes Bilgewater a better place, but honestly in a town like this you could throw a knife in any given direction and accomplish that. You don't know where he goes when he's not on the hunt, but he only seems to come up in proximity to a dead body. Still, you dog his every step like a bloodhound. He doesn't quite try to kill you, but you obviously unsettle him, and he does everything in his power to avoid you short of giving up a kill.

“Who are you?” He demands, after the third time you track him down. “Why won't you fuck off already?”

You fish your pendant out of your clothes. “I'm your wife, you ungrateful fuck, and when you finally get your memories back in that thick skull you're gonna feel like a real asshole.”

His fingers go to his cloak, where his matching one would rest underneath the fabric. “A wife? No, I don't have a…” and this is the part that shits you off the most. That moment of clarity where he almost, almost recognizes you, and then it slips away. He clutches his head, and there it is, the cusp of understanding dragged away by whatever voices drive him now. He looks back up at you, and there's something oddly desperate in his voice when he grits out “You're not on my list. I don't know what you're trying to do or who you think I am, but you're wrong. Leave me alone.”

“Not happening,” you hiss, even as he turns and dives into the water. He's right, though, as much as you hate to admit it–this wasn't working. Being around you wasn't jogging any memories, and if it was, the Deep smothers then back down. Maybe you needed to go directly to the source, then.

—

“This is new,” you note. Pyke's blue eyes stare at you from the reflection of the water. You were only on this pier to drink your woes away–he's never sought you out before, and despite yourself, hope rises in you. “Is it cuz I killed that Jaull-fish?”

“You what?” He says, confused.

You sigh. “Guess not. Didn't help, by the way. Don't know if you've ever tried to negotiate with a giant murder fish, but they don't fold easy, even when they're drowning.” You rewound miles of ocean to before it was ever a sea just to air-drown a fucking fish, and it still got you nothing but a raging headache, a week comatose, and some increasingly exaggerated rumors about yourself, courtesy of the boat you paid to bring you out there.

He's quiet for so long you would've thought him gone, if not for his reflection in the water. Then, he sits heavily next to you on the docks, his blade in his lap. “Deep calls to me,” he says slowly, like he's not sure how to explain it. “In a thousand voices, all of them wanting blood. You make them go quiet, and they don't like that.” He presses his thumb to the edge of his blade. “They don't like that you call to me, too.”

You slide him a sideways look. “Do you even still have it?” You ask tiredly. “The pendant?”

He hesitates a long moment, as if he's struggling to focus. Then he fishes it out from under his cloak and looks at it, brow furrowed. You sigh. “You made me a promise, on that tooth. You said you'd come back home to me. But you're not home, and you're not even you, and I don't know if you'll ever be again.” You scrub your face with your hands. It's been months since he died. You're so, so tired. “I don't know how to fix you, Pyke, and I…I don't even know if I can.”

“I don't…” he says slowly, then shakes his head. “My head’s not right, I know that. Things keep changing on me, and most of the time that doesn't matter to me, but with you I feel…” he trails off.

“Feel what?” You prompt.

“When you're drowning, it starts to feel like home, like peace. It's breathing again that hurts the most.” That burbling echo in his voice goes distant, and you don't have to look to know he's gone.

You drink alone on the pier.

—

You haul your equipment out to the hill again. Hiring another porter seems like a pain in the ass, and you made a lot of money off that Jaull-fish, so you buy the land and build a cottage on it. Clinic gets less traffic now that people think you're some kind of sea-god, anyway.

—

Sometimes you see blue eyes watching you from the dark. He never comes close, and you don't either. He made his choice.

—

You find it. Your world, or something that looks so close it makes your heart ache. You project it onto a full-length mirror frame and you watch the world that used to be yours go by, until the sun fully sets and the crystals in your telescope dim and your world slides out of focus again. The mirror shows nothing but your own reflection, slumped to your knees before it. You hadn't realized you were crying until you see the tear tracks on your face.

You sit there, in the dark, for a very long time.

—

Pyke stays gone, until you turn around one day and he's right there. “Fish finally convince you I need killing?” You ask dryly. It's the only reason you'll let yourself think of for him being here, and they're about to be real fucking disappointed if that was the case.

His wide eyes, which were fixed over your shoulder, fly to you. “No, that's not…” he shakes his head, and then drops his knife, holding his empty hands up imploringly. “Don't go. Please.”

Your brow furrows in confusion, and you follow his gaze to your mirror–he’s arrived just as the sunset hit your telescope, as the light cast a window to your world into your home. It probably said something about you, that for all that you've watched that mirror every day for the past month, your chest burning with grief, the second he shows back up you completely forget about it. You turn back to him slowly, heart in your throat. “Pyke?”

He takes a step towards you, and then pauses like he's not sure he should. “I remember now. The Kraken Priestess, she did something to me, and I…I'm sorry. I know I hurt you, and I know my head still isn't right but I…” he looks at you pleadingly. “I’m here. I came back home to you.”

“Took your fucking time,” you say, voice tight, and throw yourself into his arms.

—

After you're done crying, and then punching him in the arm, and then kissing him senseless, you curl up on the couch in front of the fire.

“I don't know if it's the same, if that's really back home,” you explain softly, your head on his chest. He doesn't have a heartbeat anymore, but somehow he's still warm, still smells like the sea. “Looks like it is, but honestly, even if I could figure out how to actually get there without opening a gaping hole in this reality, there's no guarentee it'd be where I came from. And that's putting aside that it's been decades since…” you trail off, your curse at the cusp of burning in your throat. Honestly, nature of parallel worlds being what it was and with your fucking luck, you'd probably end up in the KDA universe or something stupid like that.

“I wouldn't blame you, for leaving,” he says, voice rough and low. “I'd hate it, but I wouldn't blame you.”

You glance up at him, at his blue, blue eyes. Then you swing yourself up to sit in his lap, cupping his face between your palms. He wraps his arms around your back, letting you turn his head this way and that, examining his face. The well-healed ridges of his new scar, and the glow of his eyes–they make his gaze seem much more piercing than before, like a shark. He's gotten paler, too–not much sun where he spends his time, you suppose. He still looks like him. “Why are you back now?” You ask softly. “What changed?”

He's quiet for a moment. “What Illaoi did…put a new voice in my head, one that wasn't the Deep demanding blood. The Mother Serpent is a thing of flow, of moving towards what you want, and after that anger was gone…what I wanted most was you.”

You make a reminder to yourself to heal every Buhru you meet for free. “Is it gonna stick?” You ask, voice thready with uncertainty.

He glares at nothing in particular. “It will. I'll make it. They want me to do their killing, I'll do it on my terms.”

“How do you know they won't just…stop keeping you alive?” You ask hesitantly. Your fingers trace over his chest, next to his pendant, where a heartbeat would be if he had one. It scares the absolute fuck out of you, that your powers can't help him.

“Don't think they can, not anymore,” he shrugs, careful not to upset your balance. “Whatever I am now doesn't belong just to the Deep, Mother Serpent saw to that.”

You hesitate a moment. “I don't care, about the whole…Blood Harbor Ripper thing,” you tell him. “I mean, maybe I would if those people weren't complete fucking scumbags, but apparently the fish have morals, so whatever. It's just…you know those people you kill aren't what you think they are, right? They weren't there when you died.”

He's quiet for a long, long moment. “I know. At least, sometimes I do. Deep gives me a reason to hunt, but I've never been much fussed about killing people who deserve it anyway.” He looks up at you, frowning. “I'm…crazy, I know that much. I know I'm not what you married, anymore.”

“You are,” you insist. “I knew…I mean, I didn't want to admit it, and by God did I try to stop it, but…I knew this could be you, and I married you anyway, and I meant what I said when I did. I don't care about…fucking eldritch murder fishes, or their hitlist, or that you're only breathing when you need to talk. As long as you keep coming home to me, that's enough,” you tell him earnestly.

He lets out a soft breath, and a rough hand comes up to cup your cheek. “I love you. You know that, right?”

You lean into his touch. “Obviously. I love you too.”

He chuckles. “Good, ‘cause I haven't told you that I'm going to the Shadow Isles to kill Gangplank yet.”

You blink again, this time in confusion. “Wait, what? Why? Didn't Fortune already kill him?”

He shrugs. “Apparently not. Deep wants him dead, Nagakaborous wants him dead, I get to renegotiate my contract if I kill him. Everyone swims away happy.”

You frown. “I'm obviously coming with you. And before you get all fussy, I can take care of myself, I literally can't die, and I'm not letting you leave me again."

He blinks. “You…can't die," he repeats.

“Did I not mention that? I swear I mentioned that,” you say sheepishly.

He looks at you, blue eyes searching yours, and then sighs. “Not like I'm in any position to doubt. Besides, Fortune’s probably gonna be happier to see you than me.” You give him a confused look, and he shrugs. “Swimming to the Shadow Isles would take too long. Fortune wants him dead, Nagakaborous wants me to kill him, Fortune recruited Nagakaborous' priestess to help her kill him. And she has a ship."

“So you were gonna just show up and ask to join the murder party, because she hired someone whose god hired you to help kill a guy who should already be dead?" You summarize slowly. He nods. “Well, okay, yeah, Fortune probably wants Gangplank dead more than she cares that you're a wanted murderer. Wait, do the fish want you to kill Fortune?”

He shrugs again. “She's near the bottom of the list. I don't work overtime for free.”

You can't help it. You laugh, dropping your head against his shoulder. “What, like you're getting a salary? A benefits plan? You should unionize.”

“I'm their only employee, I've got all the bargaining power in the world,” he says easily. He cups your cheek, turning your face to his so he can kiss you softly. “They're not keeping me from you again, I swear it.”

You lean into him, feeling him warm and solid and here, him, finally just him. Your husband, the man you love and the man you've dreaded him becoming since you met and the man you knew deep down he was always going to be. You don't know what exactly the Deep wants with him, or where the wind blows from here, but you know you're going to face it together, and that's enough for you.

#league of legends x reader #league x reader #reader fic #leauge of legends #x reader #crossposted on ao3 #f!reader #reader #my fics: tiarw #Pyke #pyke x reader

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followniceinchnails · 3 years

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tagged by @pyroklutz ty :]

answering these for both my main + here

1. why did you choose your url?

change my url a LOT here so uah. i chose isolectric bcus it sounded funky and i was listening to the mind electric. the name iso came AFTER i decided my url lol

2. any side blogs? if you have them name them and why you have them.

@.enaily for selfship, @.pinksss for pink aes posts, @.unrivaled for red aes posts, and i have a dreamworks madagascar sideblog with a mort rabies pride icon

3. how long have you been on tumblr?

since december 2019 but havent posted anything till late march 2020

4. do you have a queue tag?

for my main: #queue be doo be doo ba

5. why did you start your blog in the first place?

for tha funsies

6. why did you choose your icon/pfp?

for this blog: spogebob Happy :] technically its spongebobs son or something but eh

for my main: canon

7. why did you choose your header?

for this blog: because i am become christmas like literally

for the other blog: its a circle its minimalis🤢minimalisticc circle

8. what's your post with the most notes?

ᘛ⁐̤ᕐᐷ🎹!!! on my main.

9. how many mutuals do you have?

on my main i had like Many

10. how many followers do you have?

on my main i had like 500something here i have like 18 lol

11. how many people do you follow?

on my main like 1000something

12. have you ever made a shitpost?

😔

13. how often do you use tumblr each day?

manymany times

14. did you have a fight/argument with another blog once? who won?

not that i remember. i won though

15. how do you feel about ‘you need to reblog this’ posts?

HATE DESPISE . HATE BAD<3BAD HATE reblog or you will FUCK YOU

16. do you like tag games?

yeag :]

17. do you like ask games?

yeas i like sending i like recieveing. not much of the chain ones but they are appreciated

18. which of your mutuals do you think is tumblr famous?

on my main its @.thehugwizard and @.official-lucifers-child but not on here

19. do you have a crush on a mutual?

pluushs on one of the mutuals on my main.. sh<3e is so cool

20. tags?

uh @chunkybirb @cleverclove @that-swagalicious-raccoon and anyone else if you wanr

#mentions game

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hnd1bjordimoleromora · 6 years

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Portfolio 1 Evaluation

Who are you?

This project was very exciting because it was open to interpretation. After deciding the story the shoot and planning carefully what materials and equipment would use, I still had to change some aspects due to weather conditions and needing to operate camera and lighting equipment while being the model. However, I am proud that the final product is quite similar to what I planned and how much problem solving skills were used.

Object: For my book shots, I had to wait for a dry day to make sure that the books were safe. I finally took the shot one early morning in my parents' home. They have a lemon tree which have low hanging branches where I could easily place the books.

I put the tripod in the lowest height to and pointed the camera upwards with a very wide angle to exaggerate perspective and bring the illusion of high tree. I used a silver reflector to bounce back light and fill the shadows in.

I shot the image tethering the camera to Lightroom and used a Light meter to get the right exposure.

Self portrait For the image taken at home, it went exactly as planned. The key light was a speedlight and used a clipboard as a gobo, then two speedlights with gels were used as fill lights, and were bounced off the ceiling to diffuse them. To get the angle, I use a boom light stand as a tripod to position the camera just above the sofa. I shot the camera with an programable trigger and tethered using Lightroom to have a visual of the image.

Location I did an initial plan included two options: one involved tying myself to a tree and use speedlights. It was hard to find a dry day and ended up shooting while I was visiting Spain. However, I even though it was dry, it was too windy to put any lights on, especially being alone and tied to a tree. The wind however helped to keep the wool I used to tie myself to the tree flowing.

The other option was using an image of shooting a tent. For this, in one weekend camping get away I brought fairy lights to illuminate the tent and brought my old camera because we were close to a beach and didn't want to bring my best equipment. I pre-focused on the tent during golden hour and shot 30 second images during the blue hour.

Final canvas After bringing all the images together, I realized the tonalities were not very consistent and using two images of myself would make the lines on what is location and what is selfportrait not very clear. Finally, with Iain he had the same opinion that it would work great if the book images had blue tones. In post processing, I didn't a nightime conversion, but the books looked lost. Then I decided that it would look better if the images were glowing, so I did a colorized yellow version of the layer and painted using blur for the glowing light from the books, then another layer to simulate how the light would affect the surroundings with opacity 50% brush and finally painting rim lights on the edges to make it as believable as possible. I am very happy with the look of the image, it's clean, yet it has a few layers. I also find it represents my personality well and it's open to interpretation.

Catch me if you can For catch me if you can I contacted a few sports event, some answered with vague proposals, so I finally decided to shoot with Llers FC, speaking directly with the manager in the framework of a commission. I shot a Women football match, but after looking at the images I realized that they were not good enough for the brief and learned that it was better to shoot in Shutter priority mode when the light is not continuous and higher ISO, to follow the ball and predict where the action will happen, to be concise and shoot bursts of 3 or 5 images to avoid buffer issues, and try to go from wide to zoom in as the action progresses. Basically it was an excellent practice that helped me interiorize how to capture the action and focus on composition. The second shot was for a men's football match and it was very challenging because the light was changing and had some storms in the middle of the match. I took just over 2000 frames and editing was a bit hard. I made a checklist of things they needed to have to fulfill the brief and be the best quality with the notes I took from Andy Buchanan's talk: They should fulfil the brief: panning, freezing motion and different focal lengths used. In action images, the ball should be present, and it should be moving or in the air to bring context and movement. Images should be sharp were the action is. In both action and reaction images, the faces should be visible.

I did two canvases, the first one I wasn't very happy because I realized some of the images where slightly out of focus or too busy. So I finally went for one that was cleaner. I am quite pleased with the result, especially taking into account I used a regular telephoto zoom lens with a maximum aperture of 6.3 with a very slow AF system.

Clean white For clean white I decided to shoot something with a lot of movement, that would give the impression of flowing. I thought that would be a good challenge since when using film in such an unpredictable technique would require planning. After trying with the digital camera, I made a note of what hair movements would bring the best results and when the shutter should be pressed. I realized it worked best prefocusing the camera where the eye would be when the shutter would be released. To get the right exposure, the light meter was essential. Taking different readings in different areas helped a lot to predict the uniformity of the background while the modelling lights were useful to see were the light was falling and how adjusting the light positions would bring uniformity. I also realized that the histogram that we see on the back of our cameras is based on the jpeg conversion, so it was better to keep the jpeg conversion as neutral as possible. For the darkroom, I struggled quite a bit to get my prints right. Being FB paper, I had issue gauging how pure white and blacks look before the paper dries. I also realized that this paper needs to be handled with extra care. Some of the prints had some minor dust spots from the negative, which it's also something I need to improve.

Seeing the light For seeing the light we went to the botanical gardens and asked strangers permission to take their portraits. Planning the composition and light was helpful to avoid wasting the time and trying not to rush the shot and concentrate on taking the portrait worked best. For the shots in the botanical garden, I took an image from an American tourist who was visiting Scotland because she had roots in here. We chatted while taking the image so her expression is relaxed. I used diffused light from the glasshouse and used a white reflector and leaves to fill in shadows. The leaves brought a green colour cast which I corrected on Photoshop, as well with some small Frequency Separation to smoothen transitions between shadows and highlights. The rest of three shots were taking in a 1 hour window in Spain. They are relatives of my partners. I shot in a very bright day at 12 o'clock. For the man's image, I shot against the sun in a park and turned the reflector as a key light. For the lady, she was sitting in her balcony and used a flag to block direct sunlight, making a shade and bringing an image with no contrast. The image of a girl was shot using a diffusing material and the kicker light was achieved by placing her close to a white wall with direct sunlight.

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brainloading223 · 3 years

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Desperados 3 Mac Download

Desperados 3 Mac Download Windows 10

Desperados 3 Mac Download Utorrent

Desperados 3 Mac Download Version

Desperados IIIDeveloper(s)Mimimi GamesPublisher(s)THQ NordicDirector(s)Dominik AbéArtist(s)Bianca DörrWriter(s)Martin HambergerComposer(s)Filippo Beck PeccozSeriesDesperadosEngineUnityPlatform(s)Microsoft Windows PlayStation 4 Xbox One MacOS LinuxRelease16 June 2020Genre(s)Real-time tacticsMode(s)Single-player

Desperados III is a real-time tacticsvideo game developed by Mimimi Games and published by THQ Nordic. The first installment in the Desperados series since the 2007 spin-off title Helldorado, it was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, MacOS, Linux.(1)(2)

Stronghold 3 is a full version game only available for Windows, that is part of the category PC games with subcategory Strategy. More about Stronghold 3. Since we added this game to our catalog in 2016, it has obtained 52 downloads, and last week it achieved 19 downloads. Download Stronghold 3 for Windows now from Softonic: 100% safe and virus free. More than 250 downloads this month. Download Stronghold 3 latest versio. Desperados III is a story-driven, hardcore tactical stealth game, set in a ruthless Wild West scenario. Play smart if you want to succeed. A good plan can make the difference between survival and finding yourself at the business end of a pistol.

Gameplay(edit)

More about Desperados: Wanted Dead Or Alive Since we added this game to our catalog in 2011, it has reached 123,501 downloads, and last week it achieved 63 downloads. Desperados: Wanted Dead Or Alive is a light game that requires less storage than many games in the section PC games.

Desperados III is a real-time tactics video game developed by Mimimi Games and published by THQ Nordic.The first installment in the Desperados series since the 2007 spin-off title Helldorado, it was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, MacOS, Linux.

Desperados III is a real-time tactics stealth video game. The game features five playable characters, with each having access to unique weapons and abilities. Players can play the game as a stealth game, in which they can assassinate enemies silently or disguise kills as accidental deaths. It is possible for players to complete missions without killing anyone by knocking out and tying up enemies. Bodies of incapacitated enemies need to be hidden or else other enemies patrolling the area will discover them and trigger an alarm that calls for reinforcement.(3) The cones of vision of all enemies are displayed, allowing players to navigate the map without alerting them.(4)

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Players can also play the game as an action game and utilize the showdown mode to temporarily stop the game, allowing players to coordinate and chain up the actions of the player's squad. In showdown mode, players can issue commands to each of the character in the party. When the player exits showdown mode, the characters will execute the commands issued by the player simultaneously.(5)

Story(edit)

The story is a prequel to Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive, the first game in the series, and explores the origin of the series' protagonist John Cooper.(6) The game is set in the Wild West in the 1870s and features various locations including Colorado, Louisiana and Mexico. In addition to John Cooper, the game also includes Hector Mendoza, Doc McCoy, Isabelle Moreau, and Kate O'Hara as playable characters.

The story follows bounty hunter John Cooper as he pursues Frank, a notorious bandit leader responsible for killing John's father, James Cooper. Along the way, Cooper meets Doctor McCoy, who was hired by the DeVitt Company, a wealthy corporation, to defend the train Cooper was taking on his way to the town of Flagstone. Once in Flagstone, Cooper learns from his friend Hector Mendoza that Frank is at the mansion of the soon-to-be-married local mayor. In the meantime, the mayor's prospective bride, Kate O'Hara, finds out that her betrothed has sold her family's ranch to DeVitt. In the escalating altercation, O'Hara shoots the mayor as John Cooper walks in, seeking Frank. The newly met pair promptly escape the mansion and head for the O'Hara ranch to defend it from the attacking DeVitt company men. The defense is successful, but Kate's uncle Ian perishes in the battle.

The group eventually gets captured on their way to New Orleans, where Frank, who is working for DeVitt, is located. A Voodoo practitioner called Isabelle Moreau rescues them. Together, they set out to find her partner, Marshall Wayne, who disappeared while investigating DeVitt. Frank's gang have imprisoned many people out in the Louisiana wetlands, to be shipped off to work in DeVitt's mines. Once they rescue Wayne, the group sets fire to the old riverboat that functions as a headquarters for Frank's people. This act puts Frank on alert, and he locks down the city. Having sneaked past the roadblocks and guards, Cooper asserts that he wants to face Frank alone, to which Kate and Hector object. At Hector's mention of James Cooper's fate, John snaps and shoots Hector in the arm. Alone, he proceeds onto a docked freight ship, where he and Frank duel. Cooper is outdrawn and wounded.

The entire group gets captured again and sent to DeVitt's mines as slaves. Install mysql server on mac. They eventually escape after a week, but McCoy cuts his losses and abandons them. The others undertake Wayne's commission to abduct DeVitt himself from a lavish party at this mansion. They manage to spirit DeVitt out, but at the last moment their captive outwits them and hold them at gunpoint, only to be disabled by the returning McCoy. With the group back together, they hunt down Frank at the Devil's Canyon, where James Cooper and a young John pursued Frank years ago. Frank and John have another stand-off, watched over by Frank's lieutenants. The rest of the group overpowers Frank's posse, while John outdraws and finishes off Frank.

Development(edit)

The game was developed by German studio Mimimi Games, the developer of Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun, whose gameplay mechanics were similar to this game. THQ Nordic, which acquired the rights to the franchise from Atari in 2013, served as the game's publisher.(7) Since the last game in the series was released more than a decade ago, the team made Desperados III a prequel story so that it can be accessible to new players who are new to the franchise or new to the genre. To achieve this, the team ensured that the game features an adequate tutorial system that teaches the player the gameplay foundation, and implemented gamepad controls for players who use a controller to play.(8)(6) The game's showdown mode, which allows players to pause time completely, was created after receiving players' feedback about the limitations of Shadow Tactics's 'shadow mode'. Unlike Shadow Tactics, the game features a more playful tone, with characters bantering with each other more frequently.(9)

The game was officially announced by THQ Nordic in August 2018.(10) Initially set to be released in 2019, the game was released on 16 June 2020 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.(11)

Docker install sql server 2019. Run the below 2 commands to install Docker using powershell. Type “y” and press enter to every questions asked. PS Install-Module -Name DockerMsftProvider -Repository PSGallery -Force. PS Install-Package -Name docker -ProviderName DockerMsftProvider. You have now Docker installed on your 2019 server core. Get Windows Server 2019. You can download the ISO to install Windows Server 2019 now, from.

Updates and Expansions(edit)

Since July 2020, Mimimi and THQ Nordic started supplying free updates for the game, which include additional mission scenarios. The first updates entail a loose frame story, titled The Baron's Challenge, in which the main characters get hired by an enigmatic figure, who is simply known as the Baron, to undertake certain missions for the entertainment of his patrons. Each mission can be unlocked with the successful completion of one or several levels in the main game. While the settings are basically the same as in the main story, each of the 14 new missions includes a different objective, sometimes with the characters having their in-play options restricted. In one example the player is required to eliminate certain enemies using environmental kills only, meaning that their other weapons are locked down for the scenario's duration.(12)(13)

Between September and November 2020, Mimimi and THQ Nordic also began publishing a purchasable three-part DLC story expansion, titled 'Money for the Vultures'. The plot is set three months after the events in the main game; Rosie, an NPC previously met in Baton Rouge (Mission 7), hires Cooper's group to hunt for the hidden wealth of Vincent DeVitt.(14)(15)

In December 2020, two new updates were provided: The 'Veteran Bounty Hunter Mode', which allows the player to optionally add the other protagonists to a level where any of them were originally not available (this option does not exist for the Baron's Challenges), and the 'Level Editor Light', a cheat which allows (in the PC version only) the complete rearrangement of a mission map's characters and items.(16)(17)

Reception(edit)

Aggregate scoreAggregatorScoreMetacritic(PC) 86/100(18) (PS4) 82/100(19) (XONE) 85/100(20)

Review scoresPublicationScoreGameSpot9/10(21)GameStar88/100(22)Hardcore Gamer4.5/5(23)IGN8/10(24)PC Gamer (US)86/100(26)PC Games9/10(25)Push Square(27)

Desperados 3 Mac Download

Desperados III received 'generally favorable' reviews, according to review aggregatorMetacritic.(18)(19)(20)

It was nominated for the category of Best Sim/Strategy game at The Game Awards 2020.(28)

References(edit)

^Wales, Matt (19 February 2020). 'Wild West tactical stealth sequel Desperados 3 now due this summer'. Eurogamer. Retrieved 22 February 2020.

^O'Connor, Alice (2020-09-02). 'Desperados 3 is now on Mac and Linux, and its first DLC is out'. Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved 2020-10-26.

^Moyse, Chris (22 May 2020). 'Desperados III trailer tells greenhorns all they need to know'. Destructoid. Retrieved 14 June 2020.

^Walker, Alex (4 March 2020). 'Desperados 3 Is More Stealth Tactics Done Well'. Kotaku. Retrieved 14 June 2020.

^Morton, Lauren (20 May 2020). 'Desperados 3 gets a lengthy gameplay trailer before launch next month'. Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved 14 June 2020.

^ abTakahashi, Dean (10 June 2019). 'Desperados III: Why THQ Nordic is making a prequel for the stealth tactics series'. VentureBeat. Retrieved 14 June 2020.

^Sarker, Samit (24 June 2013). 'Nordic Games acquires rights to Atari's Desperados and Silver'. Polygon. Retrieved 14 June 2020.

^Bishop, Sam (30 August 2019). 'Desperados 3 'the perfect entry point for new players''. Gamereactor. Retrieved 14 June 2020.

^Cox, Matt (19 June 2019). 'Desperados III is Shadow Tactics wearing a lovely cowboy coat that lets you pause'. Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved 14 June 2020.

^Horti, Samuel (21 August 2018). 'Desperados 3 announced, led by Shadow Tactics developer Mimimi'. PC Gamer. Retrieved 14 June 2020.

^Wakeling, Richard (21 April 2020). 'Desperados 3 Release Date Announced'. GameSpot. Retrieved 14 June 2020.

^Su, Jake (24 July 2020). 'Desperados 3 Update Adds More Fun Challenges to the Wild, Wild West'. PC Invasion. Retrieved 18 October 2020.

^Su, Jake (20 August 2020). 'Desperados III Update Adds Four More Baron's Challenges'. EGM. Retrieved 18 October 2020.

^Binsack, Tom (2 September 2020). 'Desperados 3 The First Story DLC Money for the Vultures is Out Now'. Games Guides. Retrieved 18 October 2020.

^Sinha, Ravi (2 September 2020). 'Desperados 3 – Money for the Vultures Part 1 DLC Out Now'. Gaming Bolt. Retrieved 18 October 2020.

^Romano, Sal (9 December 2020). 'Desperados III 'Bounty Mode' update now available'. Gemano. Retrieved 9 December 2020.

^'Desperados III: 'Level Editing Cheats''. Mimimi Games. Retrieved 10 December 2020.

^ ab'Desperados III for PC Reviews'. Metacritic. Retrieved 20 June 2020.

^ ab'Desperados III for PlayStation 4 Reviews'. Metacritic. Retrieved 20 June 2020.

^ ab'Desperados III for Xbox One Reviews'. Metacritic. Retrieved 20 June 2020.

^Wildgoose, David (4 August 2020). 'Desperados 3 Review - Revolvers And Redos'. GameSpot. Retrieved 4 August 2020.

^Deppe, Martin (12 June 2020). 'Desperados 3 in the test: The best real-time tactical game since Commandos 2'. GameStar. Retrieved 12 June 2020.

^Estrada, Marcus (19 June 2020). 'Review: Desperados III'. Hardcore Gamer. Retrieved 19 June 2020.

^Ogilvie, Tristan (12 June 2020). 'Desperados 3 Review'. IGN. Retrieved 12 June 2020.

^Schutz, Felix (20 June 2020). 'Desperados 3 put to the test: Wild West tactics at its best (update)'. PC Games. Retrieved 20 June 2020.

^Brown, Fraser (12 June 2020). 'Desperados 3 review'. PC Gamer. Retrieved 12 June 2020.

^McCormick, John Cal (12 June 2020). 'Desperados III Review (PS4)'. Push Square. Retrieved 12 June 2020.

^Tassi, Paul (December 11, 2020). 'Here's The Game Awards 2020 Winners List With A Near-Total 'Last Of Us' Sweep'. Forbes.

Desperados 3 Mac Download Windows 10

External links(edit)

Desperados 3 Mac Download Utorrent

Desperados III at MobyGames

Desperados 3 Mac Download Version

Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Desperados_III&oldid=1014359412'

0 notes

ohfrickfanfic · 7 years

Text

Alone Time

Anon request: Hey girl<3 love ur fics, I was wondering if you could do one where female reader is on the road with Tyler and josh as a photographer and they are in a van because haven't really taken off yet and someway or another they get some time alone for the first time in forever and do it in the van. Please no daddy kinks or blood play thank you so much xxx

Warnings/Tags: None fairly fluffy and vanilla

"I'm gonna miss you so much, but I'm so proud of you and Josh." You say siting on the edge of the open trailer attached to the van; swinging your legs as the boys pack; about to embark on their first series of shows and music festivals since the departure of Nick and Chris, and the addition of Josh to the now two-piece band. You and Tyler have been dating for about a year and things have started to get pretty serious lately; even loosing your virginity to each other. You really hope the two of you can keep your relationship alive despite the distance.

"I have a feeling you're not gonna miss me all that much." Tyler says with a curious looking smile.

"Are you crazy? Of course I'm gonna miss you Tyler I love you!" You respond puzzled as to why he thinks you wouldn't miss him.

"Well it's just that me and Josh were talking and we know you love photography and we really need a photographer for the road so we were hoping you would come on this journey with us and be our photographer, that way you'd never have to miss me." He smiles.

"Tyler, I would love to ,really I would but I don't think my little crop sensor DSLR camera that I just use just as a hobby is going to be able to do any justice. I don't even own a wide enough lens and I don't think my cameras ISO capabilities are high enough for how dark some of the venues might be."

"I was afraid you would say that which is why..." He trails off reaching into the the trailer and pulling out a brown box and handing it to you. "I know you're Birthday isn't until next month but..go ahead, open it." He says excitedly.

You open the box to find a full frame sensor camera, and a wide angle lens. "Tyler!" You gasp. "Thank you so much, but really you shouldn't have, you and Josh are barely making money from this yet, you should have saved your money and put it towards new equipment or something.

"No baby I wanted you to have it. It's not brand new or anything but the guy at the used camera shop said this is perfect to get you started photographing shows and what not. Josh chipped in too; we really want you to come with us but it's yours to keep regardless of your decision." Tyler says just as Josh returns from the house with another box of equipment.

"Oh you gave it to her? What'd she say?" Josh asks sweaty and out of breath as he loads the box into the trailer.

"So what do you say? We can't pay you or anything yet, but I know we'll be able to one day, but for now I can pay for your food and stuff on the road." Tyler looks to you for an answer.

"Yes of course! Thank you! You guys don't have to pay me the camera is more than enough." You place the camera box down to your left and hop down from the trailers edge pulling both boys in for a hug. "Eww Josh you're all sweaty." You tease.

"Yeah, well why don't you guys quit the cute stuff and get back to helping. He jokingly pushes you both towards the house.

"I'm so happy your coming with us. We're gonna spend so much time together. Tyler slips his hand in yours as you make your way back to the house for more equipment.

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

Tyler's words were naive a best; sure you spend a lot of time together; a lot of time between shooting pictures helping to lug Tyler's heavy ass piano up and down venue stairs, a lot of time sleeping in a cramped van next to each other but never with each other and only for a span of four hours here and there if you're lucky, and more notably a lot of time with Josh. It's not that you have anything against Josh; you love Josh, he's such a good friend to Tyler and to you as well and he makes for great company but any rare alone time you and Tyler would be able to have is instantly deterred by Josh's presence, and the lack of intimacy is taking a toll on both of you. Having recently lost your virginity to each other, your want for each other is almost constant, no matter how busy or tired you both are but all you can manage is a few sporadic heavy make-out sessions whenever Josh is out of eye shot for more than a few minutes, whether it's when he stops to use the bathroom, or decides the taco bell drive through line is too long and goes inside to order.

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

Tonight's a successful night; the boys are finally starting to have more and more people attending shows and tonight has been by far the most yet. It's not a ton, but it's definitely a lot more than the twelve people that attended the first show outside their hometown, at the Park Ridge VFW in Illinois. You snap picture after picture of the performance; you've never seen the boys, especially Tyler, look so proud. After the show it's back to lugging equipment into the trailer and time to head back on the road to the next show. It's Josh's turn to drive; you and Tyler laying in the back with nothing more than a quick kiss goodnight before falling asleep.

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

A few hours later you're woken up by the sudden sputtering of the van, and look out the window to see you've come to a stop in a rest area off the side of the highway.

"Please don't tell me the van just broke down." Tyler says sleepily, rubbing at his eyes.

"No, sorry man, ran out of gas." Josh says. " I thought we had enough to make it to the next gas station, it's only a half mile away, the exit is literally right there." He huffs, clearly frustrated and slightly embarrassed by his miscalculation. "You guys stay here and rest I'm just gonna walk to the gas station and fill up a gas can I'll be right back." He says as he exits the van.

"I've never been more happy to run out of gas in my life." Tyler says as soon as the van door closes.

"Tyler why would you be happy to run out of gas." You ask completely puzzled by his words.

"Because now I get to do this.." He says moving to straddle you, placing soft wet kisses along your neck.

"Mmmm Tyler!" You moan, knowing your desperate need for intimacy is finally about to be fulfilled. Tyler helps you rid yourself of your shirt tugging it over your head and begins kissing down your bare chest; stopping only to tongue at each nipple before moving lower, fumbling with the button of your black skinny jeans as his lips ghost over the flesh below your navel.

"Tyler...Tyler..Stop!" You whine as you squirm under his touch.

"What's wrong baby?" He asks barely lifting his mouth away from the surface of your skin.

"Nothing, it's just that we don't have much time, and as much as I miss feeling that tongue of yours..." You pause to drag a finger lightly over his lips. "I miss something else much more." You tease brushing your leg up against his denim covered bulge. He groans in agreement and you quickly undress each other; completely unfazed by the light sheen of sweat beginning to pool on your bodies without the air conditioner running in the late summer heat.

"God I've missed this so much." He breathes into your neck as he pushes into you. "Mmmmmm feels like you have too; so wet for me baby." He mutters against your flesh, kissing up your neck and connecting your lips.

"You have no idea how m-much." You moan into the kiss, running your fingers through his fluffy brown hair, tugging lightly; some pieces stuck to his forehead and neck with sweat, as he slowly thrusts.

"Uhhh you feel so good." He pants, arching his head back slightly; you seize the opportunity you kiss him gently right below his ear where you know he likes, he closes his eyes humming lowly in response and driving his hips harder into you.

"Fuck, Ty...Yes...so good." You whine wrapping your legs around him and pulling him in deeper. He grunts loudly, hooking one hand around your leg, pulling it from around himself and placing it over his shoulder, hitting your spot from a whole new angle. "Oh shit Ty, right there, don't stop."

"Mmmmm you like that baby?" He grinds into you holding your leg

"God yes....Oh shit I'm gonna cum." You cry out as the pleasure building in your core comes to a peak, Moans of his name falling from your lips as you ride it out. Tyler's thrusts speed up chasing after his own orgasm, finishing just moments after you. The two of you collapse into into a sweaty pile, your leg sliding from his shoulder down to his side.

"I love you so much." He breathes heavily, pushing sweaty locks of hair from your face. "We need to find a way to do this more often, even if it means I gotta kick Josh out of the band." He jokes.

"I love you so much too and I agree" You smile. Just then you hear the gas cap being unscrewed, followed by the glugging noise of gas filling up the tank, and scramble to get dressed. Josh screws the gas cap back on and opens the driver side door just as you both finish slipping on your shirts; Tyler's pants up but still unbuckled.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here." Josh teases.

"Hey Josh, you wanna sleep now, I'll drive." Tyler tries to change to subject. "I'm kind of awake now."

"I'll bet you are." He laughs. "Sure I'll sleep on the sheets you two just fricked on, no problem." He chuckles as the two boys lazily switch spots, climbing over the seats in the van. "I swear there better not be a wet spot." He jokes, settling in to the makeshift bed.

"No promises." Tyler laughs throwing his arm around the seat preparing to reverse out of the spot in the rest area.

"You know if you guys ever want ummm.. alone time, you can just tell me to get lost or something, well not lost-lost but you know what I mean." Josh says mildly embarrassed.

"Yeah we already decided, we're just gonna kick you out of the band." Tyler's perfect laughter fills the van.

"Not cool." Josh playfully pouts.

"Hey Babe, you still wanna sleep some, or you wanna come up here and keep me company." Tyler asks. As tired as you are his warm smile lures you to the the passenger seat and you climb over in the same manor the boys did. Tyler rests his hand on your leg as he drives.

About twenty minutes out, you hit heavy traffic from what appears to be an accident up ahead.

"Any ideas on what we could do to kill time while we're stuck in traffic." Tyler jokes, loud enough for Josh to hear. Josh groans half asleep in protest to Tyler's innuendo.

"Hey you wanna see some of the shots I've gotten so far." You ask Tyler, pulling out your camera bag from under the passenger seat.

"I'd love to babe, I bet they’re as amazing as you."

#twenty one pilots #twenty one pilots smuts #tyler joseph #tyler joseph x reader #tyler joseph smut

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anycontentposter · 5 years

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How to Get Better at Street Photography

It goes without saying that if you want to get better at something you have to practice. Simple, right? The thing is, that unlike more structured pursuits such as sports or music, the idea of practicing street photography seems a bit hard to wrap one’s head around.

But before we get into that, we should establish the best methodology for practice in in general.

A shot I’ve taken before many times (not in this spot, but the same idea) before getting this awesome opportunity. Regular Practice vs Deliberate Practice

Regular practice happens any time you do almost anything. If you think about it, that’s how we learn most things in life: from using a fork, to talking to tying our shoes. If you just do it, you’ll gradually get better at it. It applies to more specific skills as well. If you sit down to jam on guitar for 30 minutes, you just practiced a bit. Shoots hoops after school? Practice. The same goes for street photography—shoot for an hour: that’s practice.

You can certainly have revelations and make improvements with regular practice. And it’s a lot of fun! But there is a more refined approach, commonly called “Deliberate Practice.”

Deliberate practice is when you make a conscious effort to practice very specific skills in a targeted manner. It also includes feedback and consistent rules or a set of constraints. Let’s break all that down.

To use analogies in sports and music again, it would be like running drills of very specific actions or movements, and in particular targeting ones where you think you have a weakness. In basketball it might be shooting from the free throw line, or perhaps it might be playing a particular part of a song again and again on guitar until that one part is perfect.

Deliberate practice is about breaking skills down and targeting weaknesses. But how can we apply that to photography?

Orange stripes on a 28mm lens (Ricoh GR II)… …and the same place a few weeks later on a 40mm lens (Nikon D4). Constraints are the Key: Prime Lenses

In photography, especially street photography, it’s hard to break down skills into sub-skills and drill them. What are you going to do, run around with the camera like a soldier in boot camp? It sounds silly. When practicing photography, it’s most useful to focus on the last part of deliberate practice: constraints.

We can put constraints on many aspects of our photography, the most obvious being focal length. I believe this is why prime lenses are traditionally so highly praised by street photographers. The common wisdom is that prime lenses spur creativity, but I believe that underlying this commonly held notion is the fact that by constraining the field of view, the photographer must learn how to compose the frame by moving their body (the cliché of “zoom with your feet”) which, over time, results in a better spatial awareness and understanding of the effects of that particular focal length.

However, as mentioned above in regard to deliberate practice, it’s good to tailor this advice by focusing on weak points. If you’ve been shooting with a 35mm prime lens for years, perhaps trying a 28mm or a 50mm for a few weeks will help you improve your skill with those focal lengths as well.

Eventually, using a zoom lens will become a more mindful and deliberate shooting experience where your own positioning (and therefore, your perspective) become less influenced by the lens. You will more easily be able to choose either a perspective and then match the focal length, or a focal length (effectively, a field of view) and then adjust your perspective to make it work.

I had my 28mm on the camera, but felt this would have been better with my trusty 40mm (this shot is cropped a bit). Nonetheless, I feel that having a prime lens helped me make an interesting composition in the heat of the moment. The constraint stimulated my creativity.

Of course, you could learn all of this with a zoom lens, but it’s more efficient to apply the deliberate practice method by giving yourself this focal length constraint. And if you don’t have many (or any) prime lenses, that’s okay! Just tape your lens to a particular focal length and go out and shoot that way for a day or two. Bam! Instant prime lens!

After this kind of practice, I now think of a zoom lens more as a series of prime lenses than a single continuously zoomable lens. That’s not to say that I look at the markings on the lens and set it to exactly 35mm or 50mm or whatever before I take each photo. It’s just that in my mind, I think to myself “I need about 35mm for this shot,” or “around 50mm would suit my idea for this composition.” And I got to that point by shooting on primes for a few years almost exclusively.

I somehow instinctively knew that the simplicity of primes would force me think in a different way with them. It wasn’t until years later that I learned about deliberate practice (mostly when I read the book The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle) that it clicked for me: prime lenses create constraints, and that’s why they are a great tool to help us build an understanding of the relationship between focal length and field of view while developing spatial awareness.

Shot in Aperture Priority, this shot required a 3-stop underexposure, something I expected from having practiced with both Aperture mode and Manual mode for quite some time. Constraints in Exposure: Manual Mode

By using prime lenses, we can apply a constraint to our field of view. Another way to constrain the way we shoot is to use Manual Mode. Generally, I don’t think Manual Mode is a must for street photography. I feel it can be a hindrance in some cases, although in others it does allow for more precise, accurate and, most importantly, consistent exposure.

For the most part, I use Aperture Priority when walking about town and shooting street photos; however, in the context of this article, I feel that Manual Mode is a must for training one’s understanding of exposure. It applies a constraint in the sense that it forces the photographer to think about the three main settings that are available in almost every camera–shutter speed, aperture and ISO–and understand how they relate.

It’s also possible to take it a step further and “lock” one or two settings for a day. That is, you can choose a particular combination of settings for two of the three, and then only adjust the third one to maintain a correct exposure. For instance, on a sunny day, you can select f/8 for the aperture, and 1/500 shutter speed, and the only adjust the ISO as needed in order to get the correct exposure. Similarly, say at night, you can choose f/2.8, 1600 ISO, and then adjust the shutter speed as needed. The point is to get an inherent understanding of how these settings work together and individually. Once you have this intuition, it becomes much more obvious what’s happening when shooting in semi-auto modes like Aperture Priority with Auto ISO enabled.

The ultimate goal of all this is to move beyond the phase where the camera’s operations are some sort of “black magic” and move into a mindful awareness of what the camera is up to at all times. This will allow for more consistent exposure when you’re out doing street photography, which is very beneficial in a photographic genre where speed is important and there are few second chances.

A shot inspired by the work of Siegfried Hansen… …while I shot this one with Saul Leiter in mind. Constraints in Theme: Emulate the Masters

So, we’ve talked about ways to constrain your framing and exposure. The third constraint that can be applied for the sake of deliberate practice is a constraint of style or theme.

An easy and fun way to do this is to “emulate the masters.” What that means is that you can find a photographer whose work you admire, or even simply has certain aspects or qualities that you wish to include in your own work. Once you find such a body of work, identify the consistent themes and choices that the “master” has made in his or her work, then go out and keep these themes in mind: constantly asking yourself “what would _____ do in this case?”

I try to avoid pushing my specific preoccupations when giving “study” advice for photographers, but I think it’s useful to illustrate this idea with a few example masters from whom I’ve drawn influence. The first is Alex Webb, whose work emphasizes multiple layers and subjects, all coming together to a single whole. Basically, he’s a master of having many individual subjects in one frame.

Something I learned from Saul Leiter, but made my own—obscuring subjects with bold splashes of color in the foreground.

The next is Saul Leiter, in whose work we can see an abstract approach to color and form. He sometimes avoids giving a direct portrayal of his human subjects instead opting for compositions that are more abstract, emphasizing splashes of colors, often blurred in the foreground. To the same end, he regularly employs reflections and glass in his images. Shooting in ‘bad’ weather is also common in his work.

Finally, I enjoy the work of Siegfried Hansen, who is a master of geometry and in particular utilizing lines and shapes in his work. Much of his work does not involve people, which is a bit unusual for most street photographers, yet he makes it work. All three of these photographers employ color to greatest degree, having little to no work in monochrome.

Of course, the work of each of these photographers can be analyzed in much more depth, but these visual elements and ideas are what I took from them and keep in mind when I am out shooting and practicing. Find the masters that inspire you and do the same!

I’m certainly a fan of Saul Leiter’s work… Self-Feedback and Mentors

The last piece of this “deliberate practice” puzzle is feedback. This is arguably the most important part, and in general it is not unique to the deliberate practice model. Everyone can agree that critiques and feedback are crucial for artistic growth. The problem arises when we can’t find a mentor to give us feedback… so… how can we get around this?

What I’ve learned is that being your own mentor is possible by channeling the masters. Just as I mentioned above, when you’re out shooting you can think to yourself “how would ‘so and so’ compose this scene?” Or even more concretely, you can focus on specific aspects of your composition: “what would ‘so and so’ say about this framing, or this element in the shot, or my timing?”

From this idea you can create for yourself a mental checklist of dos and don’ts. For example, here are some that I often keep in mind:

What (if anything) can I remove from this frame to make the story stronger? What (if anything) is in the immediate vicinity that I can add to the frame to make the story stronger? Can I improve any leading lines in the scene, by moving them into the corners, etc. Is my timing as good as it can be? Did I catch the action in the perfect moment? Can I imagine a better subject here, that is, a more suitable passerby that would enhance my composition?

And so on… The mental checklist can be anything that you think you need to work on. You can, and should, think of specific weaknesses or aspects you would like to improve, and then keep those in mind. It’s totally fine to write these things down to help you remember them.

An example of more reps: I had plenty of time to shoot here, so I took quite a few frame of this scene. Notice the general idea is not much changed, but the composition changes quite a bit from shot to shot…. …with the door handles… …and without… …and finally with a tilt—this is the shot I chose as the final. Focusing (Your Mind) and Doing More ‘Reps’

As a final note, I want to mention a few concrete and specific things that I do when I’m out shooting street photography.

The first is to make sure I give myself every opportunity to focus. This means I put my phone on airplane mode, or put in my bag. Another thing is that I typically bring only one camera and one lens. This can be a drawback at times, but it also makes for less indecisiveness. I don’t stand there wondering if I should switch lenses. I just focus on the gear I have and make do. This goes right back to the idea of constraints to spur creativity. To further enhance my focus, I tend do as much shooting as I can on an empty stomach. I find that having lunch first is the death of creativity, but when I’m hungry my senses seem heightened and my awareness and perception are increased. Also, getting some nice food after a few hours of shooting is a great reward!

Finally, in the words of Muhammad Ali, “I don’t count my sit-ups; I only start counting when it starts hurting because they’re the only ones that count.” In photography, when you are presented with a scene worth shooting, the first few shots “don’t count” when it comes to practicing and stretching your “perception muscles.” Even if you’re satisfied with that first shot, take more anyway. Give yourself a specific goal, like “shoot each subject from 10 different perspectives” (or any number you like). This is commonly boiled down into the phrase “work the scene.” In any case, the point is to force yourself to think harder about how to frame the shot. Do it until it hurts!

As always, I hope I’ve inspired some new ways of thinking about your own photography. And if you have anything specific you want to practice, please let me know in the comments and I’ll be happy to give any advice I can to help you come up with a training regimen.

About the author: Lukasz Palka is a freelancing Tokyo photographer who is the co-founder of EYExplore photography workshops. You can find more of his work on his website or by following him on Instagram, YouTube and Facebook. This article was also published here.

Read more about this at petapixel.com

https://bestcamaccessories.com/how-to-get-better-at-street-photography/

#advice #editorial #howto #inspiration #photography #practice #tips #blog

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thehushpost · 5 years

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Aditya Roy Kapur all set to marry his girlfriend Diva Dhawan

The Hush Post|16:30 pm|1-minute-read|

Bollywood actor Aditya Roy Kapur is all set to marry his rumoured girlfriend, Diva Dhawan, reported Mumbai Mirror. Reportedly, Aditya and Diva will get engaged in a couple of months and will be tying the knot in 2020. Apparently, the couple will be making it official soon.

However, both had constantly denied being in a relationship. Earlier when asked about…

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#Aditya Roy Kapur #Bollywood #Disha Dhawan #marry #Trending

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jodyedgarus · 5 years

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Willians Astudillo Is A Baseball Enigma

Willians Astudillo was already something of a cult hero before he made this year’s opening day roster of the Minnesota Twins. He earned a video shoutout on MLB.com shortly after his major league debut last year when his first-to-home sprint left him gasping. And ESPN tweeted that he “may have broken every single one of baseball’s unwritten rules” after he kneeled in the batter’s box to watch a winter ball home run. (The kneel was “a natural reaction,” Astudillo told us. “I thought it was going to be foul.”)

Willians Astudillo may have broken every single one of baseball's unwritten rules on one home run pic.twitter.com/LD6e73C1Eh

— ESPN (@espn) January 9, 2019

But there’s another thing that makes the 27-year-old rookie nicknamed La Tortuga is perhaps the most interesting man in baseball: his bat. No one in pro baseball hits quite like he does.

Among all major league hitters in history to record at least 100 plate appearances, Astudillo ranks first in batting average (.382). While he looks something like Bartolo Colon, he’s hitting like Ty Cobb.

With the Twins and Diamondbacks Triple-A teams in 2018 and 2017, Astudillo posted the lowest strikeout rate each season among all Double-A and Triple-A batters with at least 100 plate appearances. In the farm systems of the Braves and Phillies in 2016 and 2015, he had the lowest K-rates in all of the minors. Across his entire minor league career, he struck out just 81 times in 2,461 plate appearances (3.3 percent). With velocity and strikeouts at record levels across the majors, it’s never been more difficult to make contact with a pitch. But in an age when walks and on-base percentage are prized, Astudillo has shown little interest in watching pitches go by. He walked on just 85 occasions (a 3.5 percent walk rate) across nine seasons in the minors.1

In his brief major league career, he’s striking out at a 2.8 percent rate. Two players have had lower K rates for a season since 1989: Tony Gwynn (1995) and Felix Fermin (1993 and 1995).

Astudillo has always hit. So why did it take him 10 years to make the major leagues? It’s probably that the sport didn’t know what to do with him. No one has looked, or hit, quite like the 5-foot-9, 225-pound catcher/utility man.

The Twins’ scouts were perplexed by Astudillo, said Derek Falvey, the chief baseball officer for Minnesota.

“They weren’t necessarily projecting the power or the on-base skill because of the lack of walks,” Falvey said. “I’d say [the scouts’ grade on his bat] was probably fringe-average, in that range, toward average. It wasn’t anything that stood out.”

He was such an outlier that Minnesota’s own projection system struggled to find comps when the Twins were scouring minor league free agents after the 2017 season.2

“He’s an interesting guy because he’s not someone projection systems would easily pick out,” Falvey said. “It’s a simple reason: Projection systems are based upon history. Take a random player, like Jonathan Schoop. You know what his track record was through the minor leagues. If you have a similar batted-ball profile, strikeout rate, swing-and-miss rate, all those things, there’s a chance you might become someone like him over time. That’s the way projection systems are built. They look at history to then look at the future.

“Willians is kind of his own breed.”

Astudillo is interesting for another reason, too: He’s getting better.

Astudillo’s grandfather and father were obsessed with baseball. His father had played professionally in Venezuela. Astudillo remembers a drill in which his father would kneel a few feet away and flick corn kernels toward him in their backyard in the coastal city of Barcelona, Venezuela. Astudillo’s objective was to hit the knuckling projectiles with a broomstick. He thinks his rare contact ability is part nature and part nurture.

“I think it’s just who I’ve been since the beginning, practicing with my dad and my grandfather. That close nucleus back home, just practicing,” Astudillo told FiveThirtyEight through an interpreter. “It’s something that I have. I don’t know how to explain it exactly.”

But low-strikeout, high-contact hitters are increasingly interesting for another reason beyond their scarcity: They’ve shown a knack for developing power.

The average launch angle has increased every year since Statcast began measuring balls in play in 2015, from 10.1 degrees in 2015 to 11.7 degrees last season and to what would be a record rate of 13.2 degrees as it stands early this season. (Astudillo’s average launch angle was 12.2 degrees last season.) That trend suggests that more hitters are trying to hit balls above infield shifts and out of the ballpark.

Hitters with excellent contact rates but unlikely power-hitting builds — like Jose Ramirez, Jose Altuve, Justin Turner, Mookie Betts and Francisco Lindor — have become sluggers in recent seasons. As more batters are adjusting their swing planes, elite contact hitters have made the greatest offensive gains — measured in one way by isolated power, or batting average minus slugging percentage.

Astudillo has also gained power in recent years without having to sacrifice his contact ability. No projection system or scout saw that coming. Falvey, who had worked in the Cleveland front office before taking the Twins job, noted that Ramirez was also a high-contact hitter before he had an unlikely power breakout.

“Did anyone see Jose Ramirez turning into that kind of power hitter?” he said. “If anyone tells you they believed that at the outset — I worked there — I can tell you that’s not true. We did believe he had some interesting profile traits. Same thing with Willians.”

While Astudillo was limited to 128 Triple-A plate appearances with the Diamondbacks in 2017, his isolated power jumped to a career-best .217, up from .065 the previous year. His previous best ISO mark had been .101. (The MLB average ISO was .161 in 2018.) With the Twins last year, he followed up with a .192 ISO mark in 307 plate appearances in Triple-A and a .161 mark in 97 plate appearances with the major league club.

His power has been present early this season, too. Within his first three major league swings of 2019 on Sunday, he doubled twice. In his second start Wednesday, Astudillo went 3-for-5 with another double.

“I think it’s the experience from playing more often,” Astudillo said of his power surge. “Yes, I made contact (early in my career), but it was mostly weak contact. I was swinging at pitches a little out of the zone. Now I am not swinging at those pitches. I am being more selective.”

Astudillo ranks 35th in the frequency of swinging at pitches out of the zone among major league hitters to have recorded at least 100 plate appearances since last season, and he ranks 17th in swing percentage. But Falvey noted that Astudillo doesn’t dramatically expand his zone and offer at pitches far outside the strike zone.

“It’s not like he’s trying to chase balls over his head or out of the strike zone,” Falvey said. “He just constantly attacks strikes. He has a unique ability that when he attacks a strike, he usually doesn’t miss.”

Baseball Savant

When Astudillo goes outside the zone, he’s not going that far out of the zone. And when he swings — either in or out of the zone — he doesn’t miss. Astudillo leads baseball in contact rate (91.9 percent) and out-of-zone contact rate (83.3) among batters with at least 100 plate appearances since last season. That’s well above the MLB averages for both last season, with contact rate at 76.9 percent and out-of-zone contact at 60.1 percent.

While Astudillo’s bat is fascinating, it’s not the reason the Twins signed him in November 2017 to a minor league contract with an invite to spring training. They were intrigued by his glove.

During their organizational meetings last spring, Twins officials went through the scouting reports on players in their camp. As they looked at Astudillo, they thought he could play second, third, left field and catcher — important versatility in a sport that increasingly requires roster flexibility. A Twins evaluator in the room then spoke up.

“‘He can play center, too, just ask him,’” Falvey recalled.

The club officials were amused. Center field didn’t seem like a natural fit for the stout player. But Astudillo showed them the proof: video of himself robbing a home run in a 2014 Venezuelan winter league playoff game.

youtube

Months later, after several Twins went down with heat exhaustion during a game on a sweltering afternoon last June, Astudillo trotted out to center field in Wrigley Field. He became the first player 5-foot-9 or shorter weighing more than 220 pounds to play center in a major league baseball game, according to Baseball-Reference.com.

But even given his versatility, the Twins thought he was best suited to play catcher, according to Falvey. Astudillo rated as an above-average pitch framer throughout his minor league career, according to Baseball Prospectus defensive metrics — and pitch framing has been a focus of Falvey’s since he took the reins of the Twins after the 2016 season.

While the Twins initially brought in Astudillo for his interesting glove, it’s his bat that will ultimately determine how much he plays and whether he’s a short-lived curiosity or becomes a useful major leaguer.

Even the Twins admit that they didn’t see this player emerging. But as is so often the case with Astudillo, what you expect is not what you get.

Check out our latest MLB predictions.

from News About Sports https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/willians-astudillo-is-a-baseball-enigma/

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actionsports01 · 6 years

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Gut wrenching, the edge of your seat anticipation, pageantry, drama it’s not a suspenseful movie it’s #1 Alabama vs. #4 Georgia for the SEC Championship. The beast from the east vs. the beast from the west. A dead to right bullet of an on-target pass thrown by Jake Fromm towards Mecole Hardman broken up by Shyheim Carter at the last second otherwise Georgia keeps their potential game-winning drive going. Then a fake punt that gave Alabama possession at midfield.

Jalen Hurts rolls out to throw a pass during the SEC Championship Game (photo by Dennis Morton Jr.)

The forgotten one Jalen Hurts who came off the bench symbolic of last year when Tua Tagoloiva did the same put together a game-winning drive. The big play came on 3rd and 8. It was a 19-yard pass to Irv Smith Jr.., followed by a scrambling 16-yard pass to Jaylen Waddle to pick up another first down. Hurts called his own number a quarterback draw right up the gut the defender nearly ripped his head off at the goal line, but nothing short of death was going to keep this outstanding young man out of the end zone to will his team to victory.

It was an ending befitting a hero. In a society commonly referred to as the lost generation, Jalen Hurts exemplifies team. During the quarterback controversy, not a word, during the season, not a peep when I asked him the question. How does it feel for all you have gone through to come off the bench and contribute to this amazing win he said, “ kinda feel like I am breaking my silence. I haven’t said anything all year, but this team has worked really hard. In the off-season last spring, we know what adversity looks like. Sometimes we’re going to get hit in the mouth, but we know that we are going to be fine. We did a great job of getting it done today. I think we did a great job of doing that.”

Tua Tagovailoa is helped off the field during the SEC Championship game (photo by Dennis Morton Jr. December 1, 2018 Mercedes Benz Stadium

The Heisman Trophy front-runner Tua Tagovailoa went down with an ankle injury 11:15 mark of the 4th quarter. Dejavu crossed my mind thinking wouldn’t it be nice for Jalen Hurts if he could lead the comeback. His first pass was for 13 yards he converted the teams first 3rd down of the game that’s right Alabama’s first 3rd down conversion came in the fourth quarter. It was Hurts time. He connected with Jaylen Waddle on a 23-yard pass. The oxygen was sucked out of the stadium when he tied the game at 28 with a 10-yard touchdown pass to Jerry Jeudy.

Georgia lost the National Championship after a commanding 13-0 lead in the first half now they had allowed Alabama to come back from 14 points down to tie. How could this be?

Saban had kind words for Jalen Hurts: I’ve probably never been more proud of a player than Jalen. It’s unprecedented to have a guy that won as many games this whole time that he was a starter, and then all of a sudden he’s not the quarterback. How do you manage that? How do you handle that? You’ve got to have a tremendous amount of character and class to put the team first, knowing your situation is not what it used to be, and for a guy that’s a great competitor, that takes a lot. It’s not easy to do.

Georgia was first to score that was like a heavyweight boxer getting stung in the nose causing him to be dazed and confused. Alabama has lead in every game except Ole Miss, and that was for only seventy seconds. Bama wasn’t Bama they dropped passes that hit them directly in their hands, Tua was harassed and looked uncomfortable the Crimson Tide were being tested for the first time all season.

Tua threw an interception at the goal line that killed their momentum. The Bulldogs had them right where they wanted them. After a play, I had never seen where after further review the Alabama player fumbled the ball and recovered it for a touchdown the score was 21-14 at the half.

Jake Fromm was dropping dimes all night throwing the ball with pinpoint accuracy, at one point he completed ten straight tying an SEC Championship record. When he missed, he missed right so the defender couldn’t get to the ball. He made great decisions to throw it away; I didn’t understand the strategy with bringing in Justin Fields a great talent for the future but not the here and now. Over the five past games Fromm has been on fire he finished the game 25-39 for 301 yards and 3 touchdowns. Fromm’s completions, TD passes, and yards were the most by a Bulldog in an SEC Championship game.

His counterpart Tua Tagovailoa 10-25 for 164 yards 2 interceptions and 1 touchdown easily his least productive game of the season. Josh Jacobs was the games most valuable player he made key runs to keep Alabama in the game none more important than the 59-yard blast in the first half. He contributed 8 carries for 83 yards and 2 touchdowns. Georgia scored no points off two Alabama turnovers while the Crimson Tide forced no turnovers.

The dynamic running duo of D’Andre Swift and Elijah Holifield combined for 135 yards far less than our 225-yard projection they needed to win the game. With that said Georgia had the game but let it get away AGAIN. Kirby Smart is an outstanding coach he has three years of experience in that role, and all new head coaches have to experience growing pains. The decision to run the fake punt at such a critical stage of the game will be debated for weeks however it shouldn’t define the head coach, that’s the difference between good, and great remember he has seen the living legend Nick Saban do it for years.

Here is his explanation on the mindset of the fake punt.

“Yeah, we had been carrying that for -actually carried it last year. Thought it was there, and it was there today. We were going to snap the ball quickly. We took too long to snap the ball. They didn’t have a guy covered. We had a guy wide open. We took so long to snap it that they recognized it and got the guy covered late. It was probably 20, 30 yards’ field position that — we came to win the game. We wanted to win the game.

I talked to the guys before the game about it. If we get an opportunity to run it, we’ll run it. It was there. We just didn’t get an opportunity to get it snapped before they covered the guy.

Sweet Home Alabama Crimson Tide are the 2018 Undefeated SEC Champions knocking off Georgia 35-28. If you are not an Alabama fan, you have to happy for the ultimate teammate Jalen Hurts.

Jalen Hurts all smiles celebrating with his team after leading the comeback for Bama to win the 2018 SEC Championship in Mercedes Benz Stadium December 1, 2018 (photo by: Dennis Morton Jr.)

Photo by Dennis Morton Jr.

The Forgotten One Shall Rise Gut wrenching, the edge of your seat anticipation, pageantry, drama it’s not a suspenseful movie it’s #1 Alabama vs.

#action sports and news #Alabama Crimson Tide #CFP Playoffs #College Football #featured #football #Georgia Bulldogs #mercedes benz stadium #Sec Championship #sports

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ball2thewallblog-blog · 6 years

Text

Big Game Hunting: Trading for Kawhi

TL Summary: Wizards have golden opportunity to be front-runners for Kawhi and class of the East. They need to act now

_______

As it has been rumored for a long, long time, Lebron James is officially an L.A. Laker. Since James has partnered with Wade/Bosh and Kyrie/Love, he has ruled the Eastern Conference. The Celtics and 76ers are now clearly the frontrunners, with teams like the Raptors, Bucks, Pistons and Wizards hoping for everything to break right for them to get to the Eastern Conference Finals at best.

Before Lebron announced his decision to head West for the first time in his career, there were only 4 teams considering making a run at another top 5 talent in the league, Kawhi Leonard. Two of those teams - the Lakers and the 76ers, were reportedly discussing trades with the Spurs mainly to get Lebron’s attention (or keep it, as the Lakers continued pursuit does). The other two teams - the Celtics and Clippers - were big game hunting, but both were without or unwilling to include the assets the Spurs were looking for.

That’s another note that makes the Kawhi situation interesting: What do the Spurs even want? It’s been reported that they have no interest in rebuilding, but they also have asked for a plethora of draft picks in stipulated trade talks. From what I gather, they want to compete (whatever that realistically means in the West) as long as Popovich is still coaching, while simultaneously setting themselves up for the future. In most cases, if your former best players have retired or are well on their way there, and your current best player wants out, you rebuild. You look to the draft and get off all your long-term contracts, while finding young players who could turn into your next franchise gem - or clear enough money so that you can sign him instead. But they want to go the Pacers route - retool, no matter who comes and goes - as their recent Rudy Gay and Marco Belinelli signings show. I have no doubt the Spurs can make it work, considering what they were able to accomplish last year without Kawhi.

Now that Lebron is westward, the 76ers seem to have cooled on their pursuit of Kawhi - though I think they would be wise to actually heat it up - and the Celtics never seemed to have their hearts in it anyway. The Lakers and the Clippers are all that is left, mostly due to Kawhi’s expressed desire to be back in his hometown. The Clippers have less assets now that we’re in post-draft season, and the Lakers are being hard bargainers. But why isn’t there a team like the Thunder last year, who is looking to take a huge chance for a superstar who can turn your franchise around if everything goes right?

Enter the Wiza… oh, nevermind. Through the experience of knowing who Ernie Grunfeld and Ted Leonsis are, no one counts the Wizards into the Kawhi equation. Everyone knows that Kawhi isn’t coming to D.C., so all the attention was on re-signing Mike Scott and maybe Ty Lawson or whatever.

… but as free agency has been passing the Eastern conference by and rumors continue to swirl around the Kawhi Leonard very-not-fun-sweepstakes, I’m asking myself: Why not D.C.?

_______

The Wizards are good. I think that’s hard to remember sometimes because they’re ran like a very mediocre franchise that has no interest in being GREAT. The Summer of 2016 ruined so many possibilities, and not many moves afterwards have been able to get the fanbase out of the disbelief that this team is 2nd (or 1st) round fodder. But they are good. And young. And they likely have a longer contention window than the Raptors and Heat and higher potential than the Bucks and Pistons. They continue to be right on the cusp of contendership, if things break right and fall into place (or some other star’s leg breaks). Well, the only opportunity for things to break right seems to be right now, and the Wizards have the ultimate chance to make things fall into place. So I present:

The San Antonio Spurs trade Kawhi Leonard to the Washington Wizards for...

Scenario 1:

The Small-Fundamentals

Wizards Send: Otto Porter ($26,011,913), Tomas Satoransky ($3,129,187), Troy Brown ($2,749,080), 2019 1st Round Pick (Top 5 Protected)

Spurs Send: Kawhi Leonard ($20,099,189), Patty Mills ($11,571,429)

Reasons this works for the Spurs:

Coming off the extremely un-Spursian situation with Kawhi, the Spurs get 3 smart, low-key young players to add to their core. There’s a lot of high BBIQ in this trio, and I’m sure Pop will be excited to develop these steady, 26-and-under-still-with-upside players who can (mostly) contribute to a winning team right now. The first round pick allows them get even younger, or use it to get another asset to help the win-now mentality.

Reasons this works for the Wizards:

They get Kawhi, a top 5 player to join Wall and Beal to make an all-star trio with as much immediate upside as any in the Eastern Conference. Kawhi likes to play a lot of Iso, Wall is only really useful with the ball in his hands, and with Beal’s recent affinity for… dribbling a lot, this isn’t a perfect fit. But it’s a massively talented one, with a clear pecking order and defined strengths among the three. D.C. has a coach that depends on his stars to ISO their way to victory, and there are few players better than that then Kawhi. (See the synergy numbers posted by @colezwicker. When Kawhi is healthy, he’s fantastic at everything here). The end of game option becomes Kawhi and Kawhi only, which allows coach to continue to be uncreative with his end of game offensive sets, as he’s one to be.

Patty Mills provides shot-making, range and ball-handling in spades. Having a dude who can hit stepbacks, shoot off movement and pull up for 3s will be a very welcome sight for a team that only has one player who can create at that level - Bradley. New-comer Austin Rivers has some of that ability as well, but Mills is the much better, more efficient version of him, and might be the harder one to move in a trade due to his contract. Wizards could look to trade Rivers because of the redundancy, or keep a hyper-offensive oriented backcourt off the bench. I know it usually hurts Wizards fans to think about giving up first round picks - it’s been done too many times before with reckless abandon - but the 2019 draft class is projected to be pretty weak in comparison to the last few and the next two, so if there was ever a time to strategically use that asset, it’s now.

The Money:

The money is pretty even for next year, making it a wash for both franchises in the short-term. The Spurs get off of Mills contract, which runs through the 2020-21 season. The Wizards get a rather expensive but reliable G in Patty, that they should happily take if it comes along with The Klaw.

Scenario 2:

Star Sample

Wizards Send: Bradley Beal ($25,434,263), Kelly Oubre ($3,208,630), Jason Smith ($5,450,000)

Spurs Send: Kawhi Leonard ($20,099,189), Danny Green ($11,571,429)

Reasons this works for the Spurs:

Bradley Beal is a better player than any other being talked about in Kawhi trades. He doesn’t offer quite the tantalizing potential of Jaylen Brown, Markelle Fultz or Brandon Ingram (or the rookie scale salary, either) but that’s only because he’s already a star. Not a superstar, but he proved last season that he could do a lot to lead a team’s offense while Wall was out for half of the year. He just turned 25, made a great leap last season - showing his passing/vision and off-the-dribble skills more than ever - and was asked to do that in Scott Brook’s Iso heavy system. In the Spurs setup, with a lot less pressure on him due to being next to LaMarcus Aldridge and the other shooters the Spurs have, Beal’s life would get a lot easier in San Antonio and might allow him to reach his very highest potential.

Kelly Oubre doesn’t seem exactly like the usual Spurs cup of tea, but they’ve shown that they are able to make the most of most players, and being in a structured system like theirs might do a lot for the soon to be restricted free agent. He could backup Rudy Gay at the 3 or step in as the starter there if they want some young, athletic legs in their to run with Dejounte Murray (and Beal, of course). And throw in Jason Smith to help the Wizards Cap situation, getting them under the tax for the time being. The Spurs have a knack for making use of unathletic big men who can shoot, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they make Smith look serviceable in a way Scott Brooks never could - or wouldn’t try to.

Reasons this works for the Wizards:

Kawhi, again. And Danny Green is still a terrific defensive player that can knock down a good clip from 3 point range - 36.3% on 4.6 attempts last year. He was also one of the guys in the Spurs locker room who was defending Kawhi throughout the season no matter what story the media got their grubby hands on or made out of thin air. He definitely never escalated the situation like the Spurs old (hall of fame) timers did. Hopefully there’s goodwill and friendship there. Green can step in as the starting 2 guard, or be a great option for your first wing off the bench. This also gives the Wizards two players - Leonard and Wall - who have so much gravity that there should be no excuses for Otto not to take 8 3s a game.

Does this mean Kawhi or Otto starting at the 2? I don’t know. I think it will be fine either way - Otto has shown that he is a good guard-defender when healthy, and Kawhi can guard anyone. In the best scenarios, this would mean Otto plays more 4 in important stretches of the game. Wall-Green-Leonard-Porter Jr-NERLENS NOELDwight Howard? That is some defense.

The Money:

The Wizards save a little over $2.4 million on this one, bringing them below the luxury tax. San Antonio makes a big salary commitment to Beal, but he’s worth every cent in today’s NBA. Having him locked in through the 2020-21 season along with having matching rights to Oubre’s unrestricted free agency next year are big pluses for them. Jason Smith comes off the books after this season, as does Danny Green.

Scenario 3:

Break the Glass In Case of Emergency

Wizards Send: Bradley Beal ($25,434,263), Otto Porter ($26,011,913), 2020 2nd Round Pick

Spurs Send: Kawhi Leonard ($20,099,189), Danny Green ($11,571,429), Pau Gasol ($16,800,000)

Reasons this works for the Spurs:

All the reasons I listed above for Beal and Otto. Getting two, just turned 25, super talented wings who are locked in for 3 more seasons is a great foundation to lay. If the Spurs want to compete in Pop's last years, this is the way to do it. There's not a better win-now offer on the table than this one. And there will never be one. Not even a trade centered around Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown (not happening, btw) offers this much assurances to help the Spurs win in the very near future.

Reasons this works for the Wizards:

This might seem drastic. It's the By-Any-Wings-Necessary plan - the one you offer if some other team swoops in with a drastically better offer than what's been discussed so far. If that happens, I don't think it's a bad gamble to make. John Wall's Supermax kicks in next year, and it's really untenable to have him, Beal and Otto on the roster all making upwards of $27 million, even with the increase in salary cap over the next few years. This is the last ditch effort, swing for the fences offer that doesn't leave too much of a down side

Consider the Possible Outcomes:

1 - Kawhi comes here, is healthy, balls out next to Wall, they are the 2nd or 3rd best team in the East. Even in a series against the Celtics, the Wizards have 2 out of the Top 3 players in the series (I would definitively say they have the Top 2, but I understand lots of people would take Kyrie over Wall). That's giving yourself a real shot. If he bolts for the Lakers, you tried. If he loves it here and him and Wall become best friends, you have a repeat of the OKC Thunder situation, but with more cap-room, younger star players, in an easier conference. Dreams coming true

Or,

2 - Kawhi isn't healthy or hates it here and doesn't get to his peak level. You tried, it didn't work out, Kawhi leaves and you've got lots of cap space next summer to build around Wall again (that's also why it's important to keep Troy Brown, Oubre, Sato and all first round picks in this scenario - because this could end very badly)

Pau can be helpful for a year with his passing, shooting, and leadership. Even if he isn't his contract is only partially guaranteed for next year. Him and Green (can) come off the books after this season. Go get O'Quinn, Len, Jonas Jerebko, Wayne Ellington or whoever you can fit on the books to fill out the roster. Sato, Oubre, expiring Markieff Morris are all pretty good assets to help fill the gaps as well. If the Spurs insist on putting Mills in the deal, send over Rivers expiring deal to even things out

The Money:

The Wizards save about $3 million, which is why I threw in the 2nd round pick to sweeten the deal fo SA. It gives the Wizards a ton of flexibility moving forward, and the chance to Max Leonard. Spurs get the stability they want, with both Beal and Otto's contract running out around the same time Aldridge's does. _______

Why not the Wizards? While the Spurs are out here getting low-balled by the 6ers and Lakers, the Wizards have a chance to swoop in and take this - and themselves - seriously. The Celtics look monstrous but they are still young and have two stars with major health concerns. The 76ers are even younger and have less shooting than they did last year. These two teams are only going to get better, so the Wizards time is now. A big market team needs to let their fans big-market dream, and stealing the most undervalued generational player from their rivals (and Lebron) would restore so much of the faith they have lost.

In the Summer of 2016, The Wizard's front office showed they could think big with their pursuit of Kevin Durant and Al Horford. Now they have the opportunity to do a lot more than just think, or even dream it. It's time to come alive. The ball is in Ernie's court.

(All salaries from the terrific EarlyBirdRights.com)

#washington wizards #nba #kawhi leonard #san antonio spurs #nba trades #opinion #sports

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