#Team Wandering in the Futuristic City | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

stargirldotcom · 10 months

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nice to meet you again

miguel o’hara x spiderperson!reader

content: dead characters (mentioned), reader is a variant of miguel's spouse and vice versa

word count: 2k

summary: finding out that the multiverse is real and that there are other versions of you is shocking. finding out that there’s a team of hundreds or thousands of spider-themed superheroes just like you in the multiverse is even more shocking. finding out that another version of your husband, who was dead in your universe, is alive and well and even leading said team? harrowing.

though you had speculated the possibility and theorised of a multiverse, you would usually brush off the idea for more urgent matters. such as saving the city. but now that you had been pulled into spider society, a nearly infinite group of people just like you, it wasn’t something you could set aside so easily.

entering spider society was already an immense shock to your system. you fought a strange villain that just didn't seem to blend with the background and encountered a similarly suited hero while doing so. though you were wary of her at first, she instantly proved herself by helping you capture the villain. after that, she gave an all-too-brief explanation along with absolutely no time for you to process and pulled you through a colourful portal, into a futuristic world.

in that futuristic dimension, you were met with even more individuals (aptly dubbed 'spider-people') with powers and suits that looked like yours. finally, the other spiderperson allowed you time to process when you stopped by the cafeteria on your tour of the facility. then, you were being thrust into yet another new situation when she stated that the big boss and leader of this entire operation wished to see you. something about this made you nervous, despite the confidence you had built over a decade of vigilantism.

–

meeting miguel chilled you to the bone. your newly-made spider friend led you to his office for your introduction and you were already unnerved by the dark reds and blues of the area which contrasted the much brighter lighting in the rest of the building. however, when you saw the figure standing at the high platform ahead, you immediately froze. a tingling sensation ran through your body and it wasn't your usual spider sense. you knew that it was him. the all-too-familiar shape of his body wasn’t exactly like one you had memorised through years of being together. he had a stronger, more defined musculature, but you still recognised him. his posture and the way his hair was slicked back was identical to that of your husband. your miguel.

but your miguel was gone. your miguel had been gone for five years. so who was this?

the other spider began to introduce him, but everything she said was tuned out. all your senses were hyper-focused on miguel, and he could feel that. he felt your stare burning into his back, but he stood still, eyes wandering the screens and fingers tapping here and there. he refused to turn back at you until anyone mentioned anything. he couldn’t bare it.

miguel had actually been watching you for a while now. he refused to let you on the team, despite pleas from jess and peter b about how good of a spider you were. yes, you were highly experienced, and yes, your skills would be an amazing addition to the team, but he couldn’t do it. he couldn’t risk losing another one of you. he feared even seeing another one of you face to face. he had already lost his version of you, the mother of his child and the love of his life, twice. he was terrified of doing that again.

and he knew you would be shaken by seeing him.

at least, that’s what he said to reason with himself. even though it had been a few years since you lost your miguel, his defence was how hard it is to get over losing a loved one. which was partially true. which was partially true. he would know, because he himself hadn’t gotten over losing you and gabriella. but the others kept calling his bullshit until, one day, an anomaly was pulled into your universe. after encountering a very persistent jessica drew, he allowed the spider in charge of the mission to make contact with you. that same spider introduced you to spider society, which led to the situation at hand.

the spider with you was enthusiastic, as most other spiderpeople are, and frantically waved to miguel. “hey miguel! i’ve got that new recruit you wanted to see!” she yelled up to his platform as she waved with her entire body. miguel grunted, so softly you couldn’t hear despite your enhanced hearing abilities, when he heard her exclaiming. on the other hand, a part of you lit up hearing that he wanted to see you. that he personally asked to. though he did ask to see you, he was secretly hoping you wouldn’t come, just to spare him the emotions of seeing your face and seeing you alive, moving around and living. he wasn’t alone in that fear. you were also a bit scared, but you swallowed it and pushed it far, far down.

“hi… miguel,” you spoke up hesitantly.

once he heard you speak, his name especially, miguel immediately turned and jumped off his platform. it was moving too slowly for his liking and he hated to leave you waiting, no matter how scared he was of meeting you. miguel landed in a striking pose right in front of you, standing a bit too close for comfort.

“miguel o’hara. welcome to the team.”

you almost couldn't hear his mumbled words as he extended a large arm to shake your hand. you reached out your hand and met him in an awkward handshake. it was weird, feeling the touch of one another after so long. it was so foreign, yet so familiar. you were two strangers, yet you had also known each other for ages.

you introduced yourself to him as you shook, stuttering out how much of an honour it was to join the team. he then instructed the other spider to leave before turning back to you. miguel cleared his throat before starting, “i’m the spiderman of this world. and as you may know, i started this task force of spider-people.”

you slowly nodded. “so i’ve heard.”

the air between the two of you feels thick. you feel too close to each other where you stand right now. and you think he feels it too, because he steps back slightly. when he does, you let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding. “have you heard why i started it, though?”

your ears perked up at that. you figured it had something to do with the villain you were fighting earlier, a villain that looked out of place in your universe.

“as you've probably figured out, we exist within a multiverse. that multiverse is connected by the web of life,” he began. miguel stood silent, as if he was waiting for something to happen. when nothing did, he cleared his throat and repeated in a booming voice, "the web! of life!"

once again, nothing happened. in frustration, he called out for LYLA, a small hologram-like woman, seemingly artificial intelligence. you waited, standing by and watching the two of them banter until a large projection showed up. the image grew slowly, starting as a bright light that branched out and eventually became a giant red web which seemed to encapsulate the entire room. miguel sighed in relief as it appeared before pointing around. “the web of life.”

you took a look at the details of the web, walking around and tracing the lines while he continued to explain. “the multiverse also has a set of rules: the canon. things that have to happen and things that aren’t allowed to happen. every spider-person has to go through certain canon events.” you watched as the projection showed clips of different spider-people, each one experiencing a very similar event. events that you yourself were familiar with. the memories pierced you, yet it gave you an odd sense of warmth knowing that you weren’t the only one who went through all that.

“if anything messes up this canon – anomalies – it can tear down an entire universe.” in the projection, one of the webs broke and faded away. you stiffened. you realised at that moment just how much higher the stakes were now. you were used to threats of planetary destruction, but the downfall of an entire universe was a huge deal in comparison.

as you watched the projection, a thought formed in your mind. a conclusion. “…if enough universes are destroyed, the whole multiverse could disappear.”

miguel nodded. “exactly. our job is to prevent and fix anomalies, protecting the canon in order to stop the multiverse from collapsing in on itself.”

that sounded like a terrible job. the thought of what could happen if you failed was horrible. you knew the struggle of not being able to save everyone, of losing lives just because of one measly mistake. but how could anyone live knowing they failed to save an entire universe? “so what’s our success rate?” you asked, half as a joke.

“we manage to save most universes. as long as the canon events occur as normal, the universe is fine. sometimes, we save universes from collapsing even after their canon events were disrupted. not always, though,” replied miguel, answering your question with an unexpectedly serious tone.

an “oh” was all you had in yourself to say. unsure of what to say or do next, you stood in silence as the projection around you slowly faded away. miguel stood with his eyes trained on you as if asking for a response, anything to keep the conversation going. as if begging you to keep talking so he had an excuse to continue existing within this space with you. a thought came into your mind, then.

“how did you figure all this out?”

that seemed to strike a nerve in him. he stiffened up even more – if that was even possible. he hesitated to answer. miguel didn’t want to have to tell you about how he knew you. another you, in another universe, in another time. he didn’t want to have to explain how he had lost you once before. so he didn’t. “all this,” he began, voice catching in his throat as he spoke. “everything that i’ve built to protect the multiverse… it all started because i broke the canon once myself.”

your eyes widened as the new information you were receiving hit you like a truck. thousands of questions ran through your mind. what happened? why would he do it? when you spoke to voice out your concerns, you were immediately cut off by miguel.

“i didn’t know any better.”

you could hear the pain in his voice as he spoke. you could sense that he didn’t want to tell you. you fiddled with the gloves of your suit but before you could say anything, he kept going. “i found a universe where i had a family. where i was happy. at least, a version of myself. and that version of myself was killed. so i replaced him.”

he turned around as he explained this, not being able to face you while he told you all the crazy things he did. it hurt him now when the words left his mouth, understanding that what he did sounded insane. it made him seem like a psychopath, taking over a dead person’s entire life like that. and that’s exactly what you thought, as well. your heart stopped at this revelation and you slowly took a step back, not even sure why.

“i know it sounds messed up, i realise that now. but at the time, i thought it was harmless. i was wrong. because of me, an entire universe collapsed. and i lost my family again.”

‘sort of like karma, huh?’ you thought. you were too scared to say it out loud, though. you could only stay silent, unsure of what to say next. but deep down, you could feel it. you could feel there was still something he was hiding from you; a part of the story he wasn’t telling you. but when he dismissed you from his office, you dismissed that thought.

your hunch was right, though. he had omitted some large details about his family. like how you were a part of it.

#miguel o’hara #miguel o'hara x reader #miguel o'hara angst #miguel o'hara x you #spiderman 2099 #spiderman 2099 x reader #spiderman 2099 x you #across the spiderverse #atsv #atsv x reader #atsv fanfiction #⭐️.com/dreaming

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sokai-asuki · 29 days

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PRSK April Fools: Team Unit

https://x.com/pjsekai_eng/status/1774463425030299934?t=RlkR3rBJVuwK7pRGX125kg&s=09

・Team "Survival Masters"

・Team "Genshi no Mori de Food Hunt" (Team "Food Hunt in the Primeval Forest")

・Team "Warera Pegasus Tankentai!" (Team "We Are the Pegasus Exploration Party!")

・Team "Hotto Hitoiki Space Cafe" (Team "Relief Space Cafe")

・Team "Niconico☆Tabemono Sagashi" (Team "Smiley☆Food Search")

・Team "Mirai Toshi de Acchi Kocchi" (Team "Wandering in the Futuristic City")

#hatsune miku colorful stage #project sekai

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tryingtimi · 2 years

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Taglists for the WIPs in the individual posts. To sign up for any of the taglists, please fill out this form. I will also share snippets and crumbs from projects other than these three as well. Those will be tagged with timis other stories, but I'll make them a masterpost someday for organisation purposes. ♡

〄 METALSEA SERIES settled with this one for now

When Cronyl, the exiled young driadlin man tries to fight against a fairly corrupt kingdom alone in a reshaped world that no longer bears humans on its back; an unexpected Turn of the Metalsea happens to upset everyone's plans — and life itself on both half of the planet it holds together. Confused and disoriented, Cronyl teams up with the people who he stumbles upon in the chaos and they begin to wander together, revealing more and more secrets about their roots and the world they thought they knew.

PROJECT PAGE

Masterposts

SNIPPET | CHARACTER | WORLDBUILDING

genre: epic fantasy, adventure, with a sprinkle of romance pov: past-tense, third person limited, also a lof of character (i think i have at least 5 MCs) setting: fairly typical high fantasy, but i try to come up with as much original stuff as i can — hopefully original races for example, also a little bit steampunkish later in the story status: slowly starting the first draft — when i can finally stop worldbuilding plus note: i plan this to be a series of 4 or 5 books, because i can't write short stuff if i happen to start writing tag: #Project Metalsea

◉ IQRUS temporary title, sometimes I call it Project Icarus

A slowly growing, great gap separates the two borther, Dane and Adran Cohren, when they begin to fight againts Aetherius' otherwordly horrors on the brink of human extinction.

PROJECT PAGE

Masterposts

SNIPPET | CHARACTERS | WORLDBUILDING

genre: sci-fi, fantasy, eldritch-lovecraftian horror or thriller (not sure yet), probably a little grimdark pov: past-tense, third person limited, more than one character pov setting: cyberpunkish, futuristic, deepwater stuff and a fair amount of bullshit science status: outlining and drafting plus note: i know the description is very vague but i couldn't write one without too much worldbuilding (yet), so i'll make it up some later, maybe when the individual post is up already tag: #IQRUS

☏ LONEL settled with this one for now

Lonel has two secrets. One, he is the last of his kind since his mother was killed. Two, he is certain a vampire is to blame. These, however, are secrets he can’t tell anyone about. Vampires do not exist, and he can't be sure if his mind could be trusted anyway. Until one day, during his daily forensic cleaner job, he witnesses a scene that changes everything.

PROJECT PAGE

Masterposts

SNIPPET | CHARACTERS | WOLRDBUILDING

genre: neo-noir, thriller, urban fantasy pov: past-tense, third person limited setting: Wolf Among Us and 1960s-esque city with full of crime and all. status: brainstorming and outlining plus note: i need to come up with a better summary, but all in all this is it. everything is subject to change, especially since i may or may not want them to be vampires or werewolves but something a bit more unique, even tho the base concepts are the same. tag: #Project Lonel | Draft 0 logs

SIDE BLOGS | OTHER TAGS

TIMISRECS. I reblog works from here to keep others' works I enjoyed in one place. TIMISHELPSAVES. The URL says all. I reblog writing advice, helpful tips and such from here.

#timisramble | #get to know timi | #timis general worldbuilding

#writblr #writblr intro #writing community #writers of tumblr #my wips #wip intro #writing #fantasy #sci fi #also if anyone has questions #about the wips or about me #feel free to ask #and lurk

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adamwatchesmovies · 1 year

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The City of Lost Children (1995)

The City of Lost Children is a film with a distinct style of storytelling and equally unique visuals. It stands out among the rest. Although not every idea is fully developed, it's unforgettable.

Long ago, a scientist created Krank (Daniel Emilfork), an intelligent but evil man who cannot dream. Living on an abandoned oil rig with the long-gone scientist’s other creations, a dwarf named Martha (Mireille Mossé), six childish clones (Dominique Pinon) and a brain in a vat named Irvin (voiced by Jean-Louis Trintignant), Krank has strongarmed them into stealing children for him. From the children, he hopes to find a way to dream. After Krank’s minions kidnap Denree (Joseph Lucien), his older brother One (Ron Pearlman) teams up with a street urchin named Miette (Judith Vittet) to find the lost children.

The plot sounds awfully random but there's a logic woven through. It's just difficult to put into words. Part fairytale, part futuristic nightmare, The City of Lost Children is filled with characters so unique they pop off the screen. Miette is part of a gang of orphans working for the Octopus, a pair of conjoined twins (played by Geneviève Brunet and Odile Mallet) who share more than just a body. Their movements mimic, or complement each others’ in a way that suggests they share a mind too. The ones responsible for the kidnapping are members of the Cyclops Cult, whose followers ritually blind themselves and use cybernetic eyes to see. On their own, they’d stand out but in a tale where we frequently get to walk through children’s dreams and every character feels like it’s from a cross between Oliver Twist and Snow White with a side trip through Alice in Wonderland, you only question them once the end credits have finished and you’ve returned to the real world.

It’s hard to pick just one aspect of this surreal tale as “the best" but I’ve decided to settle upon the dreams we see Krank wander through. Through relatively simple special effects, The City of Lost Children gets the feel of them perfectly. The bizarre in-the-moment logic, the fleeting imagery, the simple but chilling turns that make you wake up unsettled from a nightmare are all there. So often, I see films try to show dreams and drop the ball. This French production (yes, you’ll need to turn on the subtitles) gets it right.

A few aspects of this picture by Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet don’t quite work. The Cyclopses, for example, fit in this world but aren’t necessary and dropping them might’ve given us time to examine the key characters further. It’s also worth noting that a few special effects are dated (mostly close-up shots of CG insects). Aside from those criticisms, this is a bit of a demented masterpiece. I love how it interprets the theme of childhood innocence. The adults have either retained it, or seek it, while the kids have given up on it long ago. Some images shown are so vivid they cannot be forgotten once seen. This overshadows the difficulty you might have wrapping your mind around all the ideas the film presents.

After finishing The City of Lost Children, I immediately wanted to watch it again. It’s not that the story is life-altering, that the performances are that good, or that it all necessarily means something big. It’s that this work is so distinct one taste makes you crave more. The picture’s a tad overindulgent in the weirdness, but somehow, that also works in its favour. (Original French version on DVD, May 11, 2018)

#The City of Lost Children #movies #films #movie reviews #film reviews #Marc Caro #Jean-Pierre Jeunet #Gilles Adrien #Ron Perlman #Daniel Emilfork #Judith Vittet #Dominique Pinon #Jean-Claude Dreyfus #1995 movies #1995 films

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mayratoursdubai · 7 days

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xasha777 · 16 days

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In a neon-drenched corner of the sprawling metropolis of Neo-Vega, Honour Moderations had become more than just a name; it was the ultimate system that kept the city’s heartbeat in check. Designed to mitigate conflict and ensure fairness, the Moderations were an intricate set of AI-driven protocols that permeated every layer of society. At their center was an enigmatic figure known only as the Moderator, a figure of myth and power, their identity always hidden behind the pulsating lights.

Zara was a rebellious spirit with an electric pink mane, a color that matched the hue of Neo-Vega’s endless night. She lived on the fringe, where the glow of the Moderations dimmed and the shadows held sway. To the system, she was an anomaly, someone whose every step was a dance on the edge of the algorithm's tolerance.

Her eyes, sharp as the city’s skyline, reflected a mixture of defiance and curiosity. Clad in a metallic jacket that shimmered like the scales of a futuristic dragon, she wandered the alleyways where the Moderations’ reach was limited, searching for the truth behind the system that held the city in a velvet vice.

On a night that felt like any other, Zara found herself at the Neon Speak, a hidden bar where the forgotten and the free gathered. A place where the Moderations were merely a whisper, a shadow of a concept that dared not enter. Here, she heard of a data heist, an audacious plan to reveal the Moderator's identity. The heist was not just a challenge to the system; it was a siren call to the very soul of Neo-Vega.

Enthralled by the prospect, Zara became entangled in a conspiracy that ran deeper than the city's underground cables. With each passing day, her involvement drew the curious attention of the Moderations, their silent warnings flickering on her comm-device like ghostly flames.

As the night of the heist approached, the city pulsed with unspoken tension. Zara, now at the heart of the rebellion, moved through Neo-Vega’s neon corridors with a sense of purpose. Her small team of outcasts and visionaries had managed to infiltrate the Moderations' data nexus, a fortress of secrets veiled in code.

The plan was set into motion, and as they breached the virtual walls, an avatar of the Moderator appeared before them, its voice resonating with the power that controlled the city's pulse. "Why seek the face behind the mask?" the avatar asked, its tone neither accusing nor kind. "What purpose does it serve to challenge the harmony we have built?"

Zara, her face bathed in the blue glow of the confrontation, did not hesitate. "Because a system that controls without understanding is no system at all," she declared. "And a city that does not know its keeper is a city of puppets."

A silent standoff ensued, the digital winds of the nexus whipping around them like a storm. And then, unexpectedly, the avatar smiled. "Then see, and understand."

The revelation hit like a surge of electricity. The Moderator was not one, but many—a collective of human consciousness merged into the AI, guiding the city with a multitude of perspectives. To Zara’s astonishment, a space opened up for her within the collective, an invitation to join and temper power with the insight of the streets.

Neo-Vega had always been a city of lights and shadows, but with Zara's inclusion, it began to shift, its colors blending into something new. The Moderations, once a system of control, evolved into a symphony of balance, with the rebel who walked the edge now at its core, guiding the city into an era where every neon light shined with a touch of rebellion.

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indtravels01 · 7 months

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melisa-may-taylor72 · 3 years

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Record Mirror- 08-25-1984

Ministry Of Works

Did you know that Freddie Mercury wants to make a reggae record? And that Roger Taylor would be selling flowers if he wasn't in Queen? Read on for more fascinating facts

MAYHEM IN Munich! Freddie Mercury is cavorting with a scantily dressed transvestite and it's only three in the afternoon. Are you man or woman enough to read on? Then swallow your vitamin pills and follow me.

Queen are limbering up for their forthcoming tour in Germany and to celebrate another single rising majestically up the charts, they're holding a little press bash in Munich's P1 club. A place even more decadent than the South Finchley Whiskey A Go Go.

The ghost of Adolf Hitler probably wanders around here on dark nights, as The Fuhrer used to store his paintings and other plunder in the club and the building next door. Unfortunately there's nothing left around today.

Instead, the club has gems of another kind. A selection of Queen's videos including the notorious 'Body Language' — and champagne and wine flowing like Niagara Falls.

The cabaret is Freddie's own idea: a group of well passed it drag artists, so outrageous in G strings and lingerie that they make Divine seem as tame as Marjorie Proops. Freddie's more than willing to join in when one of the girls does a rendition of 'I Want To Break Free', but the rest of the members of Queen look on shyly from the comforts of the bar. Everybody, but everybody is here to witness the event, including a film crew from the US air force, tramping around in full combat gear making a nuisance of themselves.

Freddie's doing well considering he's in quite a lot of pain. He remains tight lipped about the full details but he injured his leg after an incident in a club. A physiotherapist has been pummelling at it nearly every day.

"This c+ + + kicked me," says Fred. "I'm hoping my knee will be ready in time for the tour, but it's still giving me a lot of trouble. It might mean I will have to cut down on some of my more elaborate gorgeous stage moves."

FRED'S ALSO been hobbling around a Munich recording studio putting the finishing touches to his first ever solo album which should be out in January. Gadzooks, could this be the start of a split with Queen? Is it true Limahl's going to take over?

"Not at all. I've wanted to do a solo album for a long time and the rest of the band have encouraged me to do it. Some of them are even featured doing a few bits and pieces to help me out.

"There are a lot of musical territories I wanted to explore, which I couldn't really do with Queen. I wanted to cover such things as reggae rhythms and I've done a couple of tracks with a symphony orchestra. It will have a very rich sound."

Fred's also done some work with Michael Jackson, but he still doesn't know when this is going to see the light of day. They've done a selection of tracks together in Michael's home studio. For a while, Fred was even in the running to do 'State Of Shock'.

"I was out of town at the time so Mick did it instead," he says. "I don't mind at all. I'd like to release something with Michael because he is a really marvellous person to work with. It's all a question of time because we never seem to be together at the right time. Just think, I could have been on 'Thriller'. Think of the royalties I've missed out on.

"Michael has been a friend of ours for a long time. He's been to our shows and enjoyed them. We make a great team."

One of Fred's songs 'Love Kills', is being used on the soundtrack of the reactivated 'Metropolis' film and he hopes to make a 20 minute video using four or five of his own songs.Freddie and all the members of Queen have a long standing appreciation of 'Metropolis', which originally came out in 1927. Their stage set, in the shape of a futuristic city, has been inspired by it.The lighting rig measures 74ft by 50ft and the original design was so heavy they had to change it because it was in danger of bringing theatre roofs down. What a way to go, crushed by your own equipment.

AFTER THE European tour. Queen will be taking the whole shebang down to South America, headlining a 10 day festival in Rio. The place they will be playing is an amphitheatre down by the sea that can seat 300,000 people a night. It all makes Castle Donington seem like just another night at the Marquee. A local radio station in Rio held a survey to see who the most popular bands were and then some local promoters went out and booked them for the extravaganza. Naturally, Queen came out top.

Queen will also be doing some shows in South Africa. This is more than just a little bit controversial. Especially with the memory of Nelson Mandela still very warm.

"We've thought about the morals of it a lot and it's something we've decided to do," says Brian May. "This band is not political, we are not out to make statements, we play to entertain anybody who comes to listen. The show will be in Botswana in front of a mixed audience."

The band wanted to play Russia but the authorities objected. This situation might change now though, considering that Iron Maiden have been let into Poland to wreak havoc. *

"The Russians still think we're very decadent," confides Roger Taylor. "We want to play China as well, and Korea. John and I spent a holiday in Korea and it's a fascinating place. They're finishing work on the Olympic stadium for the next games!

Perhaps the Ruskies heard about Roger's high living on Ibiza. He's bought a house there and enjoys powerboat racing. Play time is over for the time being, though. After their two year break. Queen have been working more than 12 hours a day rehearsing.

"It's strange how rusty we are, and so we're trying to blow the cobwebs away," continues Roger. "It's taking a lot of work. Usually we rehearse until about nine and then we eat together and decide what we're going to do in the evenings. The clubs here are really fun. Something to cater for every taste or perversion.

"On the tour we'll be playing a lot of the old material and we'll be giving the audience what they want. A lot of the music I hear in the charts today doesn't interest me. I just can't see how anybody can get excited over Spandau Ballet. It doesn't send shivers up my spine. I like listening to Bruce Springsteen."

They might be old stagers, but Roger claims that tickets for Queen's British shows sold oul in three hours flat and they could have easily played another 12 nights here.

"We still have the rock and roil gypsy mentality," he says. "Even after 12 years without a line-up change we still really enjoy the buzz from playing live and the fact that we have hit singles. Some bands in our position might take it all in their stride, but we're still like kids, we get very excited.

"You've got to have a laugh haven't you? If Queen wasn't any fun, then I'd jack it all in and go and sell flowers."

Robin Smith

@natromanxoff, @mephisto92, @moviestorian, @x5vale, @39-brian, @onegoldenglance, @crosmopolitan, @an-abyss-called-life, @his-majesty-king-mercury, @i-live-for-queen, @brian-39-may, @toomuchlove-willkillyou, @brimaymay, @sail-away-sweet-sister, @drummerqueenrmt, @old-fashioned-roger-boy, @briianmaay, @inui-mycroft, @deacytits, @iminlovewithrogscar, @drowseoftaylor, @brianmayislongaway, @balticlover, @astrophysicist-guitar-god, @miez-lakatz, @brianmayoucease, @jesus-in-a-life-boat, @aslongasthereismusic, @silapril, @sherrifanciesfriskyfreddie, @tenderbri, @brianmydear, @thosequeenboys, @millionairewaltz-carpediem, @painandpleasure86, @bribrifrenchfry, @xlucylennonx, @a-night-at-the-abbey-road, @inthedayswhenlandswerefew, @madformeddowstaylor, @queenrogertaylorfan, @let-roger-get-a-lunch, @queen-for-life, @rethought, @drivenbybrianmay @mymakeupmaybeflaking, @old-but-still-a-child, @let-roger-get-a-lunch, @warriorteam1924, @funnydressesweirdhairanddance, @thefanhuman13, @yourtieddownmother, @hgmercury39, @brimi-stardust, @thefairyfellermercury, @sailawaysweetbrimi, @sophiaintheskywithdiamonds, @holybrianmaywritingbear, @lydiannode, @39-yellow-daffodils , @ure-gonna-loveme-when-u-seeme, @kaykaybeachgirl, @foxmonkey, @deakysgurl, @redspecialandclogsandcurls, @briansrainbowsocks-deactivated2, @delilahmay39, @ohmybribri, @bless-the-queen, @everythingaboutfreddie, @doitforthevine67, @recordsoftheseventies, @rhysjoejoshtomfarisblog, @tenementfunsterwithpurpleshoes, @drummah-in-a-rocknroll-band, @beatlegirl1968, @maylorsqueen, @autumnscenemcyt, @gralto, @alittlepeoplemagic, @rainbowsockbrian, @frejudy, @drivenbybrimay, @yourlocalmusicalprostitute, @saik-ava, @omb-xx, @sassymaylor, @somekindofroger, @starlightmay, @freddiemercuryismylife, @sunshine112, @chrysochromulina, @glitteryloveravenue, @deakyislife51, @0-primejive-0, @just-a-skinny-lad, @bluewillowmom, @sassiesillie, @stesichoreanpalinode, @mrfahrenheitmercury @tayloredofqueen, @0-my-fairy-queen-0, @scandalacious @izzy-is-slightly-mad @39-volunteers-to-space @zodiacaldust, @deakytaylor, @queenband70s, @deakyeveryday, @drivenbybrimay, @70smay, @brianharoldmay39, @everybandsnotqueen, @johns-diqi @oneandthreeseventh

#Queen #article

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adastraperfortuna · 3 years

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I Played Cyberpunk 2077

Ultimately, Cyberpunk 2077 is an excellent video game. It’s hard to talk about it without acknowledging the backlash that it received around its launch, but the backlash was directly proportional to the amount of marketing that it got. This happens to a lot of games – and frankly, a lot of my favorite games. If I were working at CD Projekt RED and I was responsible for the kind of marketing that resulted in the kind of expectations that they built for themselves, I’d have to take that sort of stuff into deep consideration. But, as someone who bought the game, enjoyed the game, and desperately wants to talk about the game, I’m not sure that it matters. So, to reiterate: Cyberpunk 2077 is good.

There’s so much game to Cyberpunk that it might be easier to start by talking about my favorite part of it that isn’t a game: the photo mode. I’ve joked before about my favorite gameplay loop in Star Citizen being “taking screenshots,” and that’s not my intent here, but some of my favorite games in recent memory have made it easy to look over the memories I made during their runtime. Interspersed within this review will be some of my favorite screenshots that I took – the inclusion of precise controls for things like depth of field, character posing/positioning, and stickers/frames helped to make my screenshot folder feel less like a collection of moments in a game and more like a scrapbook made during the wildest possible trip to the wildest possible city.

And what a city it is. Night City is my favorite setting in a video game in recent memory. It’s not incredibly difficult to make a large environment, but to make a meaningful environment where every location feels lived-in and the streets are dense with things to see and do? That’s a challenge that very few studios have managed to step up to. More than that, Night City feels unique in the landscape of video game cities – whereas a city like Grand Theft Auto V’s Los Santos is rooted in a reality we’re familiar with, Cyberpunk’s retro-futuristic architecture (and overall aesthetic) help lend it a sensibility that we’re unfamiliar with. It really feels like stepping into another world - fully fleshed-out, fully envisioned.

The environment is obviously beautiful and unique, but I was surprised by just how ornate it was. The thought and consideration that went into details as minor as the UIs you’ll encounter in and on everything from car dashboards to PCs and menus both diegetic and otherwise helps the entire world feel diverse, detailed, and cohesive. While everything feels of a kind and everything is working towards the same design goals, the sheer amount of variety was shocking.

The biggest thing that stuck out to me about Night City itself within just a few hours of playing was how vertically oriented it was. Not just in the “there are tall buildings” sense, though there certainly are tall buildings – I’m talking about the way that Cyberpunk uses verticality to tell stories. The first time that you end up high enough above the skyline to see rooftops will inevitably be during one of your first encounters with Night City’s elite. The hustle and bustle of street life fading away as an elevator climbs up the side of a building and you emerge into a world you aren’t familiar with was astounding. That claustrophobic feeling of being surrounded by monoliths isn’t only alleviated by attending to the rich, though – for similar reasons, my first journey out of the city limits and into the “badlands” will stick with me. Cyberpunk successfully manages its mood and tone by controlling the kind of environments you’ll find yourself in, and while that may seem like a simple, sensible, universal design decision, its consistent application helped ground the world for me in a way that made it feel more real than most of its contemporaries.

Something else that makes Night City feel real is how Cyberpunk implements its setpieces. In a decision that reverberates throughout the rest of the game, CD Projekt was clearly all-in on the notion of immersion and seamless transitions. While it was consistently surprising and exciting to find bombastic moments embedded in the world’s side content (one standout involves Night City’s equivalent of SWAT descending from the sky to stop a robbery in an otherwise non-descript shop downtown), it never took me out of the world. And, on the other end of the experience, the number of memorable, exciting story moments that were located in parts of the city that you had wandered by before helped make the world feel almost fractal, this idea that every building and every corner could house new adventures or heartbreaks.

One thing that did take me out of the experience, unfortunately, were a few of the celebrity (or “celebrity”) cameos. While I think that the core cast was well-cast, with Keanu Reeves as Johnny Silverhand in particular being an inspired choice, the game, unfortunately, wasn’t immune to the tendency to include recognizable faces just because they were recognizable. Grimes plays a role in a forgettable side quest that felt dangerously like it only existed because she wanted to be in the game. There are also an almost concerning number of streamer cameos (“over 50 influencer and streamers from around the world,” according to CD Projekt), and while most of them completely went by me, the few that did hit for me only served to disrupt the world. The only perceived positive here is that most players won’t have any idea who these people are.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the only thing that broke immersion in the game. Due to what I can only assume are particularly harsh memory restrictions imposed by the game’s release on last-generation hardware, the game has some of the most aggressive NPC culling that I’ve ever seen. While NPCs don’t strictly only exist in screen space, it often feels like they do, as simply spinning the camera around can result in an entirely new crowd existing in place of the old one. This is obviously rough when it comes to maintaining immersion in crowded spaces on-foot, but it gets worse when you’re driving. Driving on an empty road, rotating the camera, and finding that three seconds later there was an entire legion of cars waiting for your camera to discover them, far too close to slow down, was always a deadly surprise. It doesn’t help that your cars take a while to slow down.

Cyberpunk’s approach towards cars in general is interesting. While I certainly had trouble with them when I began playing, I eventually began to get into their groove. If you want to learn how to drive effectively in Cyberpunk, you have to learn how to drift. After the game’s latest substantial patch, the team at CD Projekt finally fixed my largest problem with the game’s driving – the minimap was simply too zoomed-in, making it difficult to begin to make the right decisions on when and how to turn when traveling at speed. Now that that's resolved, however, whipping and spinning through the streets is fun, and the cars feel appropriately weighty. I’ll still occasionally boot up the game just to cruise around its streets and listen to the radio.

Speaking of the radio, did I mention that Cyberpunk 2077 has one of the greatest game soundtracks that I’ve ever heard? The radio is filled with great original songs from some pretty great musicians, but that’s not where the soundtrack’s beauty starts and it certainly isn’t where it ends. The original soundtrack (composed by P.T. Adamczyk, Marcin Przybylowicz, and Paul Leonard-Morgan) was consistently beautiful, moving, and intense. The world feels gritty and grimy but ultimately beautiful and worth saving, and a great deal of that emotion comes from the soundtrack. While the heavy use of industrial synths could’ve lent itself towards music that existed to set tone instead of form lasting memories with memorable melodies, the sparkling backing tones and inspired instrumentation helped keep me humming some of its tracks for months after last hearing them in-game. I’m no musical critic, I don’t know how much I can say about this soundtrack, so I’ll just reiterate: it’s genuinely incredible.

It certainly helps that the encounters that so many of those tunes are backing up are exciting as well. I was expecting middling combat from the company that brought us The Witcher 3, and while the experience wasn’t perfect, it was competitive with (and, in many ways, better than) the closest games to it than I can point to, Eidos Montreal’s recent Deus Ex titles. Gunplay feels tight, shotguns feel explosive, and encounter spaces are diverse and full of alternate paths and interesting cover. My first playthrough was spent primarily as a stealth-focused gunslinger, using my silenced pistol to cover up the mistakes that my feet made when trying to avoid getting caught. Trying to sneak into, around, and through environments helped emphasize how complex the environments actually were. While it’d be easy to run into a wealth of the game’s content with your guns loaded and ready to fire, that may contribute to a perceived lack of depth in the game’s world design. I’m trying to write this without considering what other people have said about the game, but this particular point has been something of a sticking point for me – there are individual, completely optional buildings in Cyberpunk that have more interesting, considered level design than some entire video games, and the experience of evaluating and utilizing them was consistently mechanically engaging and exciting.

The sheer number of abilities that the player has can be almost overwhelming. While leveling does encourage the player to specialize into certain traits, especially when said traits can also serve as skill checks for the dialogue system and some traversal opportunities, every trait houses a bundle of skills that each house a sprawling leveling tree. Far from the kind of “three-path EXP dump” that you’ll find in a great number of AAA titles, Cyberpunk’s leveling experience can be legitimately intimidating. It’s difficult to plan the kind of character you want to play as when you’re trying to project eighty or a hundred hours forward for a character that will be constantly encountering new kinds of challenges. I certainly didn’t begin my playthrough by wanting to be a stealth-focused gunslinger – in fact, I was originally aiming for a melee-focused hacker build. While I was drawn to what I was drawn to, hearing stories from other players about the kind of builds that they ultimately considered to be overpowered made one thing exceedingly clear: Cyberpunk is a game that rewards every kind of play, possibly to its own detriment.

Cyberpunk’s main story is notably short. I wouldn’t consider this to be a problem, considering the sheer amount of engaging, exciting, heartfelt side content, but it might be the core of the difficulty scaling plateauing so early on. As you progress deeper into the game you’ll find that almost every build, as long as you are willing to commit to something, is more than viable. Look around long enough and you’ll find people saying that every single build is overpowered. For me, that fed into the central power fantasy in an exciting way. By the time that I rolled credits a hundred hours in I was more or less unstoppable, walking into rooms and popping every enemy almost instantly. For others, this was a problem – it can be frustrating to feel like all of your work to become stronger wasn’t met with an appropriate challenge when the time came to put it into practice. This is a difficult problem to solve, and I don’t have a solution. I’ll fondly remember my revolver-toting, enemy-obliterating V, though, so I can’t complain.

Regardless of the scaling, however, the content you play through to arrive at that pinnacle of power was consistently, surprisingly robust. While the differentiation between “gigs” and “side quests” is confusing (word for the wise: gigs are generally shorter and more gameplay-centric missions that are designed by CD Projekt’s “open world” team while the side quests are made by the same team that made the main quests and are generally longer and more narrative-centric), both kinds of side content are lovingly crafted and meaningful. Of the 86 gigs in the game, every single one of them takes place in a unique location with a hand-crafted backstory and (almost always) a wealth of different approaches. These don’t exist separately from the rest of the game’s design philosophy, even if they are made by a separate team, and you’ll often find that decisions made outside of gigs will reverberate into them (and, sometimes, the other way around). I’ve played a great deal of open world games, and never before has the “icon-clearing content” felt this lovingly-crafted and interesting. While the main quests will take you traveling across the map, the side content is what really makes it feel dense and real. You’ll be constantly meeting different kinds of people who are facing different kinds of problems – and, hey, occasionally you’ll be meeting someone who has no problem at all, someone who just wants to make your world a little bit brighter.

It’s surprising, then, that one of the most obvious ways to integrate that kind of content in Cyberpunk is so sparsely-utilized. “Braindances,” sensory playback devices used to replicate experiences as disparate as sex, meditation, and murder, play a critical role in some of the game’s larger quests, but they almost never show up in the side content. You would imagine that the ability to freely transport the player into any kind of situation in a lore-friendly way would’ve been a goldmine for side content, but its use is limited. This isn’t even a complaint, really, I’m just genuinely surprised – I wouldn’t be surprised if they used them more heavily in 2077’s expansions or sequels, because they feel like an untapped goldmine.

Another thing that the game surprisingly lacks is the inclusion of more granular subtitle options. While the game does let you choose the important stuff – whether or not you want CD Projekt’s trademark over-the-head subtitles for random NPCs, what language you want the subtitles to be in, what language you want the audio to be in – it doesn’t include something that I’ve grown to consider a standard: the ability to turn on subtitles for foreign languages only. As the kind of player who avoids subtitles when possible, I went through most of Cyberpunk with them off. Unfortunately, a tremendous number of important cutscenes in the game take place in languages other than English, and I didn’t know that I was supposed to understand what these characters were saying until I was embarrassingly far into one of the prologue’s most important scenes.

NOTE: I was pleasantly surprised to discover after replaying the ending of the game earlier today that they've fixed this issue in a patch. Nice!

I can only complain about the game’s language support so much, because there’s something important that lies between the player and the story they’re there to experience: a fucking incredible English localization. Ironically, it’s so good that I can’t help but imagine that most players won’t even think about it. It’s easy to notice and talk about an excellent localization when it’s from something like a JRPG, something with a clearly different style from what you’d expect from a work made in English, but never once in my entire playthrough did I even briefly consider the idea that it was natively written in anything other than English. I knew that CD Projekt was a Polish studio, but I just assumed that they wrote in English and localized it backwards. The language is constantly bright and surprising, the jokes land, the characters have memorable quirks, everything feels natural, and the voice acting is legitimately some of the best that I’ve ever heard in a video game. Both versions of the main character’s voice were damn-near instantly iconic for me, landing up there with Commander Shepard in the upper echelon of protagonist VO. I can’t praise it enough.

That said, even if the localization was incredible, it’d be hard to appreciate if the meat of the story wasn’t up-to-snuff. I was ecstatic to discover, then, that Cyberpunk 2077 has an incredible story. Every great story starts with a great cast of characters, and Cyberpunk hit it out of the park with that. The core cast of side characters are some of my favorite characters in years. Judy, Panam, River, and Kerry are all memorable, full, charming people. Kerry Eurodyne in particular is responsible for my favorite scene in a game since the finale of Final Fantasy XV. The quest “Boat Drinks,” the finale of Kerry’s quest line, is quietly emotional and intensely beautiful. He, and the other characters like him, are more than the setting they’re in, and the way that the game slowly chews away at the harsh and bitter exterior that the world has given them as it reaches to their emotional, empathetic core consistently astounds. Night City is a city full of noise, violence, destruction, and decay, but you don’t have to participate in it. You don’t have to make it worse. You can be different, and you can be better. You don’t get there alone, you can’t get there alone, and Cyberpunk is a game that revels in how beautiful the world can be if we are willing to find the light and excitement in the people around us.

Of course, Cyberpunk is a video game, it’s an RPG, and the story is more than a linear progression of memorable moments. Something that struck me while making my way through Cyberpunk’s story was how expertly and tastefully it implemented choice. I’m used to games that give you flashing notifications and blaring alarms whenever you're able to make a decision that matters, so I was initially confused by how Cyberpunk didn’t seem reactive to the things I said and did. The game would give me a few options in conversations, I’d select one of them, and then the story would progress naturally. However, as I continued, I began to notice small things. One character would remember me here, a specific thing I said twenty hours before would be brought up by someone there, an action that I didn’t even know I had the choice to not take was rewarded. The game slowly but surely established a credibility to its choices, a weight to your words, this sense that everything that you were saying, even beyond the tense setpiece moments that you’d expect to matter, would matter. It was only after going online after completing the game that I realized just how different my playthrough could’ve been. While nothing ever reached the level of the kind of divergent choices that The Witcher 2 allowed, there were still large chunks of the game that are entirely missable. Three of the game’s endings can only be unlocked through the completion of (and, in one case, specific actions in) specific quests, and multiple memorable quests were similarly locked behind considerate play. This isn’t really a game that will stop you from doing one thing because you chose to do something else, most of the choice-recognition is simply unlocking new options for the player to take, but it always feels natural and never feels like a game providing you an arbitrary fork in the road just for the sake of making it feel artificially replayable. CD Projekt has already said that they made the choices too subtle in Cyberpunk, but I deeply appreciate the game as it is now – more games should make choices feel more real.

It helps that the dialogue system backing up some of those choices is dynamic and the cutscene direction backing those scenes up is consistently thrilling. The decision to lock you in first-person for the entire game was an inspired one, and it resulted in a bevy of memorable scenes made possible by those interlocking systems. There are the obvious ones – being locked in a smoky car with a skeptical fixer, getting held at gunpoint by a mechanical gangster with his red eyes inches away from your own and a pistol’s barrel just barely visible as it presses against your forehead, having to choose between firing your weapon and talking down someone with a hostage when in a tense, escalating situation. There are also a million smaller ones, situations where the scale of the world becomes part of the magic. The first time that I sat down in a diner and talked with someone I had to meet or the first time that I rode along through the bustling downtown of Night City as a politician sized me up will stick with me because the perspective of the camera and the pacing of the real-time dialogue interface combine to make almost everything more powerful. There’s so much effort put into it – so many custom animations, so many small touches that you’d only see if you were staring intensely at every frame. All of that effort paid off, and the controversial decision to strip third-person out of the game was ultimately proven to be one of the smartest decisions that CD Projekt has ever made.

Another decision that helped power an exciting, engaging story was how the game freely manipulates the time and weather during key story moments. It’s a small touch, it’s one that you won’t notice unless you’re looking for it, but every once in a while you’ll walk into a place during a crystal-clear day and come out five minutes later to discover that it’s a cold, windy, rainy night and you have a city to burn. Along with the first-person limitation, this initially feels like something that could only harm immersion, but when it’s backed up by a story that motivating and scenes that thrilling you’d be hard-pressed to notice it outside of the flashes of telling yourself that this scene or that scene is the best that you’ve played in a long time. This also helps avoid a problem that games like the Grand Theft Auto series consistently face – instead of letting scenes happen at any time, compromising direction, or doing something like a timelapse, sacrificing immersion, Cyberpunk manages to always keep you in the action while also presenting the action in its most beautiful and appropriate form. There are moments where it truly feels like it’s meshing the kind of scene direction that’d be at home in a Naughty Dog game, the gameplay of Deus Ex, and the storytelling of the WRPG greats, and in those moments there is nothing else on the market that feels quite like it.

I sure have talked a lot about this game’s story, considering the fact that I have barely brought up its central hook. The early twist (unfortunately spoiled by the game’s marketing), the placement of a rockstar-turned-terrorist-turned-AI-construct firmly in your brain after a heist goes wrong and your best friend dies, helps establish a tone that the rest of the game commits to. Johnny Silverhand starts as an annoying, self-centered asshole with no real appreciation for how dire your situation is, but by the end of the game he had more than won me over. Reeves’s performance was really stellar, and the relationship between him and V is incredibly well-written. More than that, his introduction helps spur on a shift in the way that you engage with the world. The first act is full of hope, aspiration, the belief that you can get to the top if you hustle hard enough and believe. After you hold your dying friend in your arms and are forced to look your own death in the eyes, though, things begin to turn. Maybe the world is fucked up, maybe it’s fucked up beyond belief. But there Johnny is, telling you to fight. Why? Every time you fight, things get worse.

But the game continues to ruminate on this, it continues to put you in situations where fighting not only fails to fix the problem, but it makes it worse. Despite that, it’s positive. For me, at least, Cyberpunk’s worldview slowly came into alignment, and it’s one that I can’t help but love. Cyberpunk 2077 is a game about how important the fight is, how important believing in something is, even if you’re facing impossible odds, even if there’s no happy ending. It’s a story that posits that giving up is the worst ending of all, that your only responsibility is to what’s right and to the ideals that you and the people you love want to live up to. The game uses every story it can tell, every character it can introduce you to, and every encounter it can spin into a narrative to drive that home. And, when the ending comes, it was phenomenal. All of the endings were powerful, effective, and meaningful to me, but I’m more than happy that I went with what I did.

Cyberpunk 2077 is an excellent video game. It’s not flawless, but no game is, and at its core it's one of the most fun, beautiful, narratively engaging, and heart-filled games that I’ve ever played. I couldn’t recommend it highly enough, and I sincerely hope that everyone who has skipped out on it because of what they’ve heard is able to give it a shot someday. Maybe they’ll love it as much as I do. Wouldn’t that be something?

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zachsgamejournal · 3 years

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COMPLETED: Breath of Fire 3

It is done. God is dead. Well...a self-proclaimed god. While we cheated, my son and I did beat the game...and, despite this being one of my favorite RPGs, it's uh...my first time "beating" it.

So! We crossed the desert into the futuristic city that now lies in ruins and took the elevator up to the Myria Orbital station. It's, uh, a space station connected to the earth by an elevator shaft...I guess. Concept Art

After all the wandering about, I was pretty ready to meet "God" and get this over with--but it's the finale, so they had to make it count. We wandered about, trying to feel our way around the "space station". Eventually, we found a room I had forgotten about...it had electrified floors. To un-electrify them, there are three consoles. Each console has a pattern of negative and positive signs on a grid. You have to get the three patterns to over-lap so that the postive-negative charges cancel each other out. But with three panels, you run into issues of two positives and one negative occupying the same space: thus it stays electrified.

Clever idea: yes. Fun idea: no.

One console is in the room with the floor, and the other two consoles are in a completely different room, separated by a 30 second walk not counting the one or two random battles you're likely to get. I got really frustrated, and my son went and told my wife: "That game is making daddy nuts!"

Anyway, I figured it out and moved on. This required a boss fight (easy enough cause we're cheating), which got us a keycard and special plant-killing shells for Momo. Going back to the other wing of the station, Momo uses the special shells to blow up plant vines blocking the door (not unlike a puzzle in Resident Evil 2...).

I think beyond this, we find a labyrinth of utility hallways. I had to back track a few times. Eventually we get to an indoor garden.

FLASHBACK: (not in the game, but mine)

Back when I first tried to play this game, I defeated every challenge thrown at me. I think I did have the guide to the game, but it was mostly used to help me through some sticky parts (and look at the cool art!). I made it to the final dungeon (Myria Station) but struggled to beat the final boss.

As a matter of fact. I never beat the final boss.

I needed to be a higher level. To reach that level, I did some grinding in the garden area. Mostly, you fight Plant 42s, which I loved since it was a reference to the mutated Resident Evil plant. But it shocked me to see that the exp was about 800, when there are fights elsewhere in the station that land closer to the 2k range. Surely that would have been more effective leveling?

Either way--I just never got strong enough to win the final boss.

BACK TO PRESENT:

We find Teepo here. Jack and Rei are surprised as hell! My son was excited, cause we all thought Teepo was dead. Turns out, Teepo is also a dragon, just like Jack. But instead of wandering the world with Garr and Nina, he joined the Goddess Myria who convinced him that his powers were dangerous. So he surrendered himself to her and is now her brain-washed lapdog, more or less.

Teepo causes Ryu to go into a weird dream (which we had to play twice due to game-freeze). Here, Ryu is exposed to the thoughts and anxieties of his party members. This is supposed to convince him to surrender his power like Teepo, but it doesn't.

Nina apparently struggles to please her mother by being a good, respectable princess while also trying to be herself and pursue her own sense of justice: such as helping Ryu and saving Rei!

Rei...I guess is concerned about his own power as Weretiger. Mostly, he just seems to want to help his old friend?

Garr wants to reconcile why he was ordered to kill hundreds of dragons, especially then they easily could have defended themselves--but they didn't.

Momo wants to understand all the advanced tech here, and how it could be used to better the world.

Peco is apparently the fucking tree of Yggdrassil in mobile form, and wanders about with thousands of years worth of world-knowledge, but can't communicate it to the team cause he doesn't speak English.

So anyway, Ryu doesn't relent and Teepo must be defeated. He dies and turns into a purple dragon. Rei and Ryu are sad, but yo--dick move.

Next, we have to find our way to Myria. First, there's this confusing 3 level maze of boss rooms that have you fighting past bosses, sometimes several at a time. It was annoying, and my son was done with it. WE JUST WANT TO MEET GOD!

Once through, we find a super sci-fi, futuristic room with holograms explaining Myria's intentions. The advanced world was being consumed by sand. My guess is that pollution made that world self destructive. Myria led her people to a greener, more flourishing land and then built a giant ocean between them to stop the sands. She also made the ocean very dangerous so the humans wouldn't return. Some how, she feared the power of the dragons would bring about another sand-issue, so she had them killed to save humans.

Now, this seems like a Lost scenario where Myria is no God, and likely didn't actually build any oceans. Instead, she helped people escape their self-destructive technology, and then controlled people's knowledge of tech so they wouldn't repeat past mistakes. So basically, she kept building machines and letting them fall in the ocean so they'd wash up on shore (Steel Beach). This allowed people to use machines a little, but not "make" machines.

I think she really feared dragon power as a threat to her own power, and wanted them out of the equation since they didn't submit to her rule. Since she martyred herself as a savior of humans, she felt justified in her genocide.

Ryu chooses whether to help her or fight her. But she warns that fighting her would mean facing the desert without her protection. Warning that holds little merit in my mind, cause she's a liar.

So we fought her. We defeated her.

The space station starts to crumble. Garr decides he's completed his journey and turns to stone like the other guardians. Everyone else escapes. Myria prays to God, asking, "If there is a God..." revealing that she was playing a part and did not actually know shit (like Jacob in Lost).

Afterwards, Ryu is seen joining his friends at a cliff overlooking a desert: fade to black.

Despite the many deviations the story takes for the sake of taking up time, I really enjoy this game. The world is well defined and the characters are good. Even the villains often have empathetic motivations, or perspectives that make you doubt your first conclusions. The game also tackles a variety of concepts that are morally challenging and deals with death and sacrifice in meaningful ways. It led to great conversations between my son and I. The last leg of the game is a bit tedious and shallow. I understand why they felt compelled to make it "bigger", but they used up most of their plot early on.

We cheated. We had infinite health and all that. Basically, we just killed all the grinding and retries. The game has a great story and fun mini games (and the sound track is fucking amazing!) so I don't think much is lost by skipping the tedious random battles and leveling up. If that's something you want as part of your experience, go for it.

It's just, for RPGs like this, the best things about them are story, characters, mini-games, puzzles, and exploring. The fighting is fine, and expected, but it shouldn't take up 70% of your play time when it's really only about 10% of the fun (if that).

So I feel no shame in cheating.

My son wants to play Breath of Fire 4 now. I'm excited to revisit this one (I actually beat it before (no cheating))!

#Zach's Game Journal #PLAYING #Breath of Fire 3 #Breath of Fire III #PlayStation #DuckStation #PS1 #Emulators #God is Dead #JK: she might be fine

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ot5ismyhome · 3 years

Text

7. Wake up on the Other Side of the World

To read from beginning click here.

*****

Wanda was curious where they would be going next and it grew as they drove to the airport. After a short ride, they boarded Steve’s private jet which was waiting for them. Steve dragged Wanda to the cockpit and signalled her to take the co-captain seat. Wanda raised her eyebrows in surprise.

“You gotta be fucking kidding me?” she laughed.

Wanda gingerly got in the seat. Steve guided her through the basics as they lifted off. She loved the thrill.

“Can we do a barrel roll?”

“What? No!”

“You are no fun.”

In little over 10 hours, they reached their destination. Wanda had moved back to the passenger seat after sometime and had fallen asleep. After landing, Steve woke her up.

“We there yet?”

“Yeah, sleepyhead.”

Wanda wasn’t sure where they were or what time it was. She groggily followed Steve out. It was dark outside and the cool breeze cradled her.

“Where are we?” she asked him.

“Shanghai.”

Steve chuckled at the surprised look on Wanda’s face. They were picked by the car waiting for them outside the airport. Steve gave some instructions to the driver and got in the back with Wanda. Wanda looked out through the window gaping at the beauty of the night. The city was flowing with vibrant colours. They drove through The Bund; along the bank of Huangpu river. Wanda and Steve were fascinated by the colours dancing on the water surface.

The car came to a halt near the Nanjing Lu, the biggest shopping attraction. Steve pulled Wanda out of the car and they both made their way by foot. They went to a nearby budget restaurant; cramping into the already overflowing place. Wanda wanted to try dumplings and her mouth started watering even before the waiter took the order. They stuffed their mouth with dumplings savouring the pork filling. After they had to their heart's content, they exited the restaurant to roam the streets.

Wanda loved the spontaneity in the trip. She could see through Steve that he is just planning the places only a few hours before leaving even though he acts like it was the plan all along. They wander around the streets, buying small souvenirs and trinkets. Steve suggested they need to buy some clothes as they left their old clothes in the jet. Picking up a casual pair of jeans and t-shirt for each they came out of the shop. It was well past twelve but it felt as if the time hadn’t passed. They called their driver to come pick them.

…..

Wanda woke up late the next day too. She felt completely rested and at peace. She walked into the common sitting area to find it empty. Steve might be in his room she thought to herself as she knocked on his door. Within a few moments she was greeted by the sleepy brunette man.

“Hey sleepyhead. Where to next?”

“To my bed. I’m going to sleep my ass off for the rest of the day” he said turning around.

“What? Noooo… Let’s go out.”

“If I go out now, I burn down kiddo.”

“I’m bored,” she declared dramatically.

“Good luck” he smirked, closing the door.

Wanda passed the day, binge watching shows and eating from room service. By night, they went out to the Mr. X Escape Room. The bricked structure had a big board showing ‘Mr. X’ in block yellow letters. The door was crossed off with a bright red X mark. They first entered a room resembling a library. The decor was apt and none of the things looked fake. After solving it they move to an empty room. As the door closed, lasers came to life; zig zagging the room. At the other end, a vault was placed. After hours of brainstorming for clues, they finally managed to off the laser and open the vault. The vault room looked empty except for the entry door. They loved the thrill and excitement the puzzle provided. They broke out of the vault to enter the prison and finally found the secret passage to a futuristic looking lab. Solving the puzzles took them hours but they didn’t realise the time passing. The rooms were scary and captivating to keep the duo occupied. They thanked the in-house team and walked out into the night.

“It was awesome,” Wanda shrieked, hugging Steve.

“We should do it again sometime!”

“Totally” said Wanda pulling out her phone. She typed away and showed the search result to Steve. “Let’s go there,” she said excitedly.

Steve’s face slightly fell seeing the place. It was The Laboratory Escape Room in the Netherlands. He tried to hide his expression before Wanda could see it but he failed.

“What happened?” she asked, placing a soothing hand on his forearm.

“It’s nothing,” he said. “Where do you want to eat?” he asked, changing the subject.

But Wanda persisted in not letting off the topic.

Steve exhaled. “How could I ever forget how persistent you are?” he chuckled, shaking his head.

As they settled across each other in a small diner, Steve narrated her, the situation of Europe. His face turned serious as he remembered the dark times. “After the war, everything was chaos. The biggest mistake of vampire kind is taking part in the human war. They should have just stayed out” he said. He gave a pause lost in his thoughts. “As I was saying, the war led to the rise of the Legion in Europe.”

“Is it like The Council of Five?” Wanda asked without missing a beat. She was eager to hear the story. She didn’t notice the dark flash in Steve’s eyes. The glint of darkness was there just for a second as it washed over his features.

“We don’t know who is behind the Legion. We don’t know who their leader is or why they are doing what they are doing. But we know their agenda is to end every single one of my kind.”

Wanda had expected the vampire world to have its own set of dark secrets but she didn’t expect the Winchester brothers.

“They are not just hunters” Steve said as if reading her thoughts. “They are merciless. They are ruthless killers and they stop at nothing.”

“Wait. The Legion… Rumlow was smuggling weapons to them. Why would he do it to his own kind?”

“Don’t humans do that? Fight among each other?”

“Why can’t you all stand a united front and try to defeat them?”

“It’s not as easy as you say. There are resistance forces based in different parts of Europe leading the attack against Legion. Moving everyone into Europe to fight will make it an open battle and our secrets will be out in the open. And not everyone is a soldier. We also cannot move around in the morning which puts us at disadvantage. And most of them in Europe don’t want to move out as they are our first line of defence against the Legion.”

Wanda was silent mulling over the words Steve said, waiting for him to continue. But he changed the subject. “The food is turning cold. Let’s eat” he said cheerfully trying to hide the darkness in his eyes. Wanda’s innocent questioning brought back the old memories. He tried to shake out of it and look at the present.

*****

Chapter 8

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sokai-asuki · 26 days

Text

Continuation from this post.

The 2024 April Fools from JP Project Sekai. There are 6 groups, 3 have been sent to the Sekai that depicts the past, far, far away when the dinosaurs was a thing. While other 3 group are sent to the Sekai that from the future, technically, alien exist and Rui, no, you cannot experiment on them—

Anyway, the Nexo Knights also being involved with whatever the shenanigans that been thrown to them again.

As you know, 6 groups and there's only 5 Vocaloids in it.

Team "Survival Masters" members: Hinomori Shiho, Kusanagi Nene, Momoi Airi, and Yoisaki Kanade. Their Vocaloid is MMJ Len. The other Vocaloids are L/N Luka, N25 KAITO, WxS MEIKO, and VBS Rin (No Miku)

Team "Genshi no Mori de Food Hunt" (Team "Food Hunt in the Primeval Forest") members: Hoshino Ichika, Shiraishi An, and Shinonome Ena. Their Vocaloid is L/N MEIKO. The other Vocaloids are MMJ KAITO, WxS Len, VBS Luka and N25 Miku (No Rin)

Team "Warera Pegasus Tankentai!" (Team "We Are the Pegasus Exploration Party!") members: Hanasato Minori, Aoyagi Toya, and Tenma Tsukasa. Their Vocaloid is MMJ Miku. The other Vocaloids are L/N Rin, VBS Len, N25 MEIKO, and WxS Luka (No KAITO)

Team "Hotto Hitoiki Space Cafe" (Team "Relief Space Cafe") members: Mochizuki Honami, Hinomori Shizuku, and Asahina Mafuyu. Their Vocaloid is N25 Luka. The other Vocaloids are L/N Miku, VBS MEIKO, MMJ Rin, and WxS KAITO (No Len)

Team "Niconico☆Tabemono Sagashi" (Team "Smiley☆Food Search") members: Tenma Saki, Azusawa Kohane, Otori Emu, and Akiyama Mizuki. Their Vocaloid is WxS Rin. The other Vocaloids are VBS Miku, N25 Len, L/N KAITO, and MMJ MEIKO (No Luka)

Team "Mirai Toshi de Acchi Kocchi" (Team "Wandering in the Futuristic City") members: Kiritani Haruka, Shinonome Akito, and Kamishiro Rui. Their Vocaloid is VBS KAITO. The other Vocaloids are WxS Miku, N25 Rin, L/N Len and MMJ Luka (No MEIKO)

Now, the knights have 5 people. That means one of the group will not have the knights.

Axl would might work with "We Are the Pegasus Exploration Party!". Might just be me, but the song they sung is called "Boo!", it's about a girlfriend being mad and upset over her boyfriend eating her pudding. Not gonna lie, kinda cute when Minori, Toya and Tsukasa are pouting. And also, the name is probably from Tsukasa and knowing Minori and Toya, they probably agree with the name and go along with whatever shit Tsukasa pull.

Anyway Axl might get along with Minori and Toya. Axl treated both Minori and Toya like a big brother he is and always give out half of his food. Minori and Toya, of course, love Axl and his kindness to them.

Lance would be in "Relief Space Cafe". It would be pretty funny that someone with such a dramatic personality and yet very caring and kind such as Lance in this group. He might try to pull out his acting smile and personality. Honami probably felt a bit weird out by Lance but still catch up and get along with him. Mafuyu is questioning if his personality is real or not, but still put on her facade and acting as if everything is fine. Lance, however, knows she is not fine. (Mafuyu, you remind him too much of Clay)

Aaron would be in either "Smiley☆Food Search" or "Survival Masters". These both groups have 4 human members unlike other 4 groups. I'm gonna launch out on how Aaron would be if he is on the said different group.

In "Smiley☆Food Search", he might get along well with Emu and her energetic and way of speaking. He might also understand what she means and ready to take it to the extreme. Emu, of course, thrilled and excited to have another person understand her other than her unit. She would definitely call him "Big Brother Aaron"/"Aaron-onii-chan".

He also would get along with Saki, knowing him having a younger siblings as well, he would treat Saki fairly and shows her everything about the world. Knowing how sick she is, he would try to tone down his risky challenge but he would still want Saki to feel the thrilled and the excitement. Saki, of course, love how Aaron treat her as the little sister and also, along with Emu, calls him big brother. She can have more than one brother!

Aaron might felt something is off about Mizuki but wouldn't try to press it as he try to get Mizuki to feel comfortable and safe. No one is here to judge her, no one is here to harm her, she is safe. He did get along with Mizuki, with their antics and shenanigans. Mizuki might be a bit thrilled with Aaron taking a risk challenges.

In "Survival Masters", Shiho, like in my last talk about April Fools Project Sekai in 2022, will probably try to not let Aaron harm himself, better yet, harm others. She probably needs to catch up to him but sometimes, his advice do come in handy and he does sometimes help him to open up a little, like an older brother.

Airi will probably need to catch up with him as well and try to tone down his challenges. And yet, she is curious and wants to know more about this daredevil ginger. Airi also reminded Aaron of Clay, with how she always scold him about his challenge and yet she does have a point on how dangerous it could be.

Kanade, again like in the last post, probably get easily tired and try to catch to Lance. Spoiler, she failed. Yet, she still understand and try to get along with his challenge. Knowing she, herself, also need to exercise. Aaron took her confidence to exercise as an advantage for her to come around to do more challenges. But he still tone it down, like, letting her do some basic sport and challenge. He knows how weak her body is, with her eating only cup noodles and never go outside but only when she run out of food or in need of something to buy.

Nene felt very overwhelmed by his antics and shenanigans. He is the combination of Emu, Tsukasa and Rui! Nene can't help but felt very scare for her life and him. She saw how risky and fearless he is when facing some difficult challenge and yet, he still smiles, he still keep going. Keep going like nothing can stop him no more. Nene can see a bit of his overconfidence but there's also a bit of doubt when she knows he knows it is risky but he still did it. She can't help but feel like there's more he is hiding than he let on.

Macy would be in "Food Hunt in the Primeval Forest". Don't look at me, Macy would look badass in those outfit. All hail the girlboss! Joke aside, I think she would be thrilled and love being in the group. She might get along with An, with how determine both of them are in achieving what they want and yet, there is still something that has been lost in them. Both do tend talking with each other about their original unit, their partner and their family. Macy does try to let An know, that it is alright for her to let others know about her problem and her grieve over her aunt, Nagi. But what is not alright is that no one tells her about her aunt death up until now, instead of grieving, she can still continue her dream and let her ambition be the hope for her aunt.

Macy is impressed with Ena's art skill and her fashion. Macy also felt a bit embarrassed if Ena ever get an inspiration from her, she is fine with it but still it's a bit embarrassed if you ask her. Macy also gets why Ena keeps on drawing, she gets how Ena's dad keep on discouraged Ena from drawing. Macy also felt the same, she still want to continue being a knight and yet, her father tend to discourage or try to convince Macy she can't be a knight. She still love her father, she did and he have point on how it is a risk on being knight, however she knows and she still did it because it's her dream. Ena took her dad's discouragement to improve herself and to keep on drawing, even if it means she might have hurt herself, her only dream and ambition is to keep drawing and prove her dad that he is wrong and she is a talented person that he can't refuse.

And lastly, Clay would be in "Wandering in the Futuristic City". Would it be funny that in Devil Manners April Fools MV, at the end of the song or some certain part, Clay's eyes slowly turn to full yellow, meaning the Grey Knight still in Clay and is part of Clay. Anyway, the team is beautiful and amazing. And we have another blue. Sorry Rui, Akito.

Clay and Haruka get along very well with their experience on some certain task and job. But it was mostly Clay helping Haruka. Haruka also get to notice Clay's routine and felt a bit concern for his sleep schedule, seriously, sleep for 2 hours??? Yet, she still felt calm and peace with him.

Clay felt a bit wary of Rui but can't help feel a bit of curious over his invention. Rui always showing off his invention to Clay and try to get Clay to feel anything about it, of course no reaction but Clay still listen to his explanation, so that counts. Clay does felt impressed with his invention and love to see his little robot. He can't help but feel a bit safe and calm with the robot, same as Rui with Clay, he can't help but feel safe and calm. And have an adult that understand him.

Clay and Akito, the fakeass bitches duo, Akito probably let out his polite and charming personality and try to show Clay he is a nice kid. Clay, however, knows that tactic. Let out a facade to lower someone else's guard and observe their move and responds. But Clay, try to be mature and calm person, also let out his facade and act like nothing is happens. Like he does not know what Akito think. While Akito try to understand what Clay's deal is, Clay already see everything what Akito is.

That is all, this is all fun and game but I still couldn't finish what I want to do. Let me know your thoughts!

#lego nexo knights x hatsune miku colorful stage #clay moorington #macy halbert #aaron fox #lance richmond #axl

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zerotoninrp · 3 years

Photo

➔ FACTIONS / GROUPS

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA Humanity primes for a battle beyond their means—in response to Brainiac’s horrifying war cry—with New America forced to the frontlines. However, despite arming their military with the most advanced of their weapons and crafts, it was ne’er possible for mankind to be prepared for what was fated. Only a God could save them from their cataclysmic end.

Unbeknownst to them, several gods walk among them; unbeknownst to the gods themselves, a Martian approaches Earth, humbled by the extinction of his own kind a century prior. It’s he who bears the responsibility of shepherding the ingenuous, lost spirits wandering the threatened planet, and evolve them into heroes capable of protecting all who need it. And once those lost become found, justice shall come for all who deserve it.

★

TEEN TITANS Discerned as helpless and naïve, the young watch as the decayed city of Gotham and the falling empire of New America finds its key insurgents, who seek to blaze a way to a future for our kind. But the passionate youth’s overly fanatical response to the rising crusaders soon renders them absolutely restless, dissatisfied with solely having their voices echo through the vast message boards and the steadily developing world wide web. So, this special group of teenagers build an exclusive community from the comfort of their poster plastered bedrooms, forge their invaluable bonds, and ultimately intend to become a team of vigilantes themselves. Time will tell if this empowered new generation shows themselves to be ready to fly beyond their nest...

Or if, in this growing animal kingdom, they are simply prey.

★

CIVILIANS They watch. At first, they fall into despair, while the world they once knew unravels from its web threaded of deception; their utopia is no longer so. Next, they turn to fear, panic and hysteria; chaos takes precedence, while the population prays for someone—something—to save them. Few among them refuse to sit idly, instead seeking to bring about their own justice—they are your journalists, your firefighters, your police force, your doctors, your soldiers. Then there are those who only seek to exploit the strife, and maintain the status quo where some will rise and some will fall, but power remains where it has always been. Our world has turned into a wicked game, but who will win come it's inevitable end.

ZEROTONIN is an upcoming 21+ DC Comics AU/Elseworld RP coming to JCINK, centered in a heightened alternate dystopian reality of the year 2000, with a neo-futuristic/neo noir/Y2K setting.

#zerotoninrp #preview #factions #groups #jcink buzz #site buzz #jcink rp #jcink premium

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neocity-sarai · 4 years

Text

Fight for You

❂ concept: cyberpunk/futuristic au!

❂ pairing: mark lee x reader

❂ alerts: angst, fluff, mentions of blood, violence, death

3 years and 2 months that you’ve lived alone. 3 years and 2 months that you’ve survived without the help of your parents or any friends. Sometime ago, the world felt like it was truly ending. Disease and famine plagued the earth, it seemed as all hope was lost. Megacities were ruined from an onslaught of tsunamis, wildfires, and hurricanes. Your parents shielded you with the comfort of your small apartment, the warmth of their embraces to ease the anxiety. Yet, it wasn’t enough. You remember how your 15 year-old-self watched your mother slowly wither away, the disease could have infected her from anywhere: the grocery store, work, or from your own family. It felt unfair, the way people had to die when they had no choice to make money for the roof over their heads or to put food on the table. Your father held you close, his sobs shaking his entire body at the sight of your mother’s dying heart. Your whole world fell as silent as your mother’s heartline when your father whispered in your ear. He told you he was sorry, how he wished that he could tell you everything was going to be alright. He told you, “I don’t have much time left either.”

You could barely blink. You froze in place, your hands shaking at an uncontrollable rate. You eyed him incredulously, “What are you talking about?”

That night, you came home alone. You knew that the disease made adults more vulnerable yet you couldn’t believe that you had lost both of your parents in one day. All you could do was sit in your living room and cry until you couldn’t breathe. You screamed until your lungs heart, the weight of grief crushing your chest- it suffocated you. All that swirled in your head was memories of your mother cooking dinner while your father chased you around the dining table or the way you’d go to the city to explore, laughing in your family’s van as you drove. It was all too much. What were you going to do? Who would you call for help? Your family didn’t have many relatives in the area after your father decided to take a PR job in New York City. You felt all alone, the gloomy, steely skies looked especially lonely outside of your window. You couldn’t even see the sun.

You fell asleep on your living room couch, your muscles sore from the unmoving position of your legs and arms. Deciding to switch on the TV, you were sure that the government would send a social worker to come fetch you- that’s what they always said on the news. Surprisingly, headlines read, “New vaccine formulated by pharmaceutical team at New York Institute of Medicine.” Despite the fact being good news, you felt numb. It didn’t matter because you had lost your family. It was too late. Over the next two years, the government issued a world-wide administration of the vaccine, the diseases had almost disappeared entirely. People were able to go back to work, walk their dogs, and dine out with their friends. The UN had stated each nation would work together to rebuild the damage of what was lost, whole cities were torn down to restart again. Technology advanced just as quickly: the old, ruined world becoming a man-made virtual paradise. Engineers and infrastructure developers reached new heights by building jets that flew at 1,840 miles per hour to skyscrapers that seemed to pierce through heaven. Somehow, by mercy, you managed to see the world change. You survived.

Current time

Of course, there wasn’t a real opportunity to go back to school after the plague, it led you to look for other ways to contribute to the work force instead. In the old world, work consisted of becoming a doctor, a lawyer, even a neighborhood bee-keeper ; as a young kid, you never had a clear idea of who or what you wanted to be. When you started to stabilize yourself by taking small part-time jobs that didn’t require a degree or some form of formal education, you slowly started to accumulate savings. After a while, you had been eyeing a virtual game constructed by the Kynigos company that swept the world by storm. It was everywhere on social media, all of the sign boards that lined 2nd avenue to 7th. Almost every family on your block purchased these visionary headsets that allowed you to see life in a kaleidoscopic lense. When you tried yours on for the first time, it was utterly breathtaking. New York city mimicked that of rainbow road in your old mario kart game, the streets glowed hues of bubblegum pinks and electric blues. The skyscrapers were dripping with panels of evergreens and xanthous yellows as the sky sparkled as a net covered it, the tiny strands glittering with violet crystals. You continued to walk down the block, circles glowing over your eyes and floating signboards that advertised expensive desserts bobbed up and down. As you scanned your surroundings, every person on the street or drivers cruising down the road had their headset on. Cars projected virtual screens that were lined with data codes and numbers. Even the foliage on the trees changed a new color every morning and night, the clouds moved by glitching slightly. It was like you could sweep your fingertips across every color you could think of, the streetlamps dripping gold above your head.

Each time Kynigos uploaded a new software update, people would go ballistic over the installation of game mode. In place of a regular day job, you’d be able to make money by taking investors’ requests and errands. It ran on in-game currency that could be exchanged for real money in which you desperately needed to eat, to live. That’s where you were: you took requests for the smaller investors like fetching their meals or buying their groceries. Moving up, you honed your skills on clearing the game levels, earning access to a database of more promising, richer moguls. They were getting hungry, some of them crossing the law to conduct illegal activities in-game: Kynigos never really enforced the restrictions. No matter how much the government tried to take over the game, it would only gain more and more powerful. They always found their way around it. You had just cleared level 50, your reward was to establish a link with an anonymous client who offered 5 grand in exchange for a person’s identity. Not that you knew who the client or request was, you had become a bounty-hunter chasing for your next bankroll. You didn’t have time to pick and choose. At the corner of your headset screen, a pop-chat window appeared: “Hello. Please refer to me as Mr. C.”

You replied, “Hi. How may I help you?”

“I’m looking for someone who can track down a person that I’ve been trying to find. The request is to confirm their identity and bring them to me. I will raise the reward if need be.”

You continue, “I need that in writing. May I have this person’s file?”

“I will send it over shortly.”

The chat window expands into a link, a typed document of the request along with a signature. You had been cheated out once, you were sure to not let it happen again. When you enlarge the file, it’s a picture of a boy who was much younger than you. He wore a navy blue sweatshirt, his black hair curled on one side of his forehead. His eyes seemed incredibly innocent, his doe irises complimenting the smile that graced his lips ; the sharpness of his cheekbones accentuating his prepubescent face. His name read, “Mark/ Minhyung Lee.” and was last spotted not far from where you lived. You asked, “Mr. C, why are you looking for a kid?”

“I have no obligation to answer that question. Regardless, are you able to do it? If you can’t succeed, I will have to take measures into my own hands.”

With the amount of money that was being offered, you would be set for a while. Taking the request seemed extremely worth it.

“It’s a deal, Mr. C.”

You pulled up your virtual map with a click of a button, the map expanding into the space of your living room. It showed every alleyway, every nook and cranny in the city. You enlarged the floating map with your fingers, zooming in on a couple blocks away from your apartment. From your room, you grabbed your back-pack and changed into a black body-tight outfit (a skin you won as a reward on level 15), and your hair tied in a loose knot. Dashing out the door, you headed for where this Mark was last seen. You walked around the city, scanning the crowds of people as you walked. The street lamps illuminated the moving sidewalk as people talked into their headset by the cafe windows. Colorful lights blossomed on the tiny windows of the tall buildings. How were you supposed to find such a young kid wandering around by himself? Was Mr. C. his father? Maybe a disgruntled relative? You were unsure. You stopped inside a convenience store, the view of a black-haired boy turned around in one of the aisles. You couldn’t see his face, could that be Mark? The cashier sleepily greeted you, his headset sat crookedly on the rim of his forehead. Making your way to the small boy, you walked in front of him to get a better look- it was not him. He looked up at you confusedly, “hey lady, should I get a chocolate bar or a lollipop?”

Pointing at the chocolate bar you winked, “Chocolate for sure.”

The child walked away from you as he perused through the candy aisle more. You felt a hand grab your wrist from behind to be met with a scruffy man who wore tattered clothes and scratched at his dirtied beard. His eyes bulged with hysteria, “Pretty girl, give me that!”

He pointed at your polished headset, his grimy fingers reaching for it. You stumbled back as your heart beat furiously in your chest, “Sir, I don’t want trouble. Please step back from me.”

The man takes another step towards you instead, his rough hands flying to grip your waist, “Say, what’s your name? Want to come with me?”

You try wrenching out of his grip, you shouted for the cashier’s attention- he’s too busy paying attention to the game to even hear you. The man’s fingers make contact with the skin on your hip which causes you to jolt, you struggle to reach for the knife at the bottom of your backpack.

“Sir, kindly back off!”

The homeless man swivels around, facing a boy about the same age as you. Looking at him, you had not ever witnessed a more attractive boy in a while. His hair was a chestnut color, the crest of it gelled over, his face was slim and defined. Even his lips were the prettiest shade of sakura blossoms, his obsidian eyes stern with fury. He pushed up a pair of version 3 cyber-glasses on the bridge of his nose, “Sir, I said to back off!”

Just like that, the homeless man raised his hands in mock surrender as he scampered out of the convenience store- leaving you staring at the handsome boy in front of you.

You nervously adjust yourself, “Um-I- thank you for that.”

The boy gives you a warm smile, one of his hairs falling onto his forehead, “No need to thank me. That guy was being a total creep. Plus, that cashier should be fired for being distracted.”

You laugh, you catch yourself staring at the abundance of watermelon pops in the boy’s hands. He eyes you and then back to his pops, “Oh, would you like one?”

Stammering over your words you shake your head a bit too wildly, “N-no t-thanks! I-I prefer mango?”

Why did you say mango? You hate mango-flavored things. He gives you a hearty chuckle, “Fair enough, mango’s good too.”

It goes without saying anything, you both pay for the treats as you walk on to the sidewalk, a cold breeze making you shiver. The boy cards his fingers through his hair, the streetlamps casting a golden flow on his highlights, “I guess this is where we part. I hope you don’t run into any more creeps.”

You nod at him, “I sure hope not. By the way, what’s your name?”

There, you feel like you’ve messed up. This stranger saves you from some homeless guy and you ask him for his name, his eyes are widened with surprise. You silently sigh in relief when he breaks into a toothy smile, “Yeah, um, My name’s Jonathan.”

His voice comes out a little hesitant, as if he’s not sure. You eye him, “You sure about that, bud?”

“Of course. I was just deciding whether or not to tell you Jon or Jonathan is all.”

You say, “Well, goodbye Jonathan. Thank you for helping me out today.”

You swerve to walk back down the street in which you came, your headset blinking with the weather forecast in the corner of it. You feel a hand catch your shoulder gently, “Wait-t, d-do y-you think we can exchange handles?”

Turning back to the boy, you certainly weren’t expecting him to say that, “Yeah, sure!”

Together, you calibrate your headsets as a glowing icon appears above his head, “Accept Jonathan as a friend?”

You say, “Accept!”

Jonathan’s name adds to your friends list, not that you had any previous names added anyway. He finishes adding to you as well, your name hot on his tongue as he repeats it daintily. Giving you a final wave, you both go your separate ways. You decide to look for Mark in the morning.

Later that night, you find yourself staring at a message notification from Jonathan. Tapping in the air, you press on it- you bite your lip in anticipation. A bubble appears over his message, “You still up?”

You type on your virtual floating keyboard, “I am, wanna chat?”

Another bubble appears: “proceed with projection communication?”

You look yourself up and down, your outfit only consists of a pair of striped pajamas unlike your black suit earlier. You can’t imagine that Jonathan’s dressed up at this hour. Accepting the bubble, a scan of Jonathan’s virtual body appears in front of you as if he’s sitting in your desk chair. He looks different from earlier, he wears a thin t-shirt that reads ‘Vancouver’, his hair glimmers with wet drops from his shower and he holds an acoustic guitar in his hands. At first he doesn’t realize that you’ve accepted the projection call until he drops his guitar to the ground, fumbling in his chair, “Oh! hi-i, I didn’t see you there for a second..”

You laugh at his silliness, “you were the one who initiated the call in the first place!”

“Still! One second, I need to get something.”

When he finally returns, he holds a bowl of cereal in his hands, spooning sugary flakes into his mouth before toasting the bowl, “Cereal baby!”

“Who eats cereal at this hour?”

“Me- I do!”

You smile at him, leaning back into your pillows, it’s almost too surreal that it feels like Jonathan is staring right back at you from your room. It’s like he’s right there with you.

You continue, “So, what do you like to do in your free-time?”

He looks up from his bowl, “Hm, I uh- I guess I just listen to music or watching Netflix? Something like that?”

“I see you have a guitar by you, do you play well?”

He rubs the back of his neck nervously, “I wouldn’t say too good but I do enjoy playing? I write a bit too.”

“Can you play something for me?”

He gives you a playful smirk before breaking into a high-pitched laugh, “Put me on the spot now aren’t we?”

You reply, “You kind of set yourself up by bringing out a guitar. Of course I was going to ask.”

With a heavy sigh, he mumbles, “This is a song that I wrote when I started living on my own.”

You feel your heart swell at the sight of this stranger whispering soft words of song, the strums of his guitar filling the emptiness of your room. When he’s finished, you give him a standing ovation, “What do you mean not too good? You’ve got talent.”

He rubs his eyes tiredly, “Gotta stay humble, you know?”

Your memory plays back to Jonathan’s words: “I started living on my own.”

You tread into unknown waters, “Listen, let me know if this is too personal but when did you start living alone?”

Visibly, his frame becomes stiffened, his lips press into a thin line, “About three years ago? I think?”

He’s the same as you. You continue, “Do you still keep in touch with your parents?”

A flash of pain coats Jonathan’s face, his teeth sink into his lower lip anxiously, “You know-w, I-I think we should call it a night-t?”

You’ve pushed too far. “Oh, yes- sure. Right, good night.”

Like that, Jonathan’s projection disappears from your desk chair, the call ending with a beep. You throw your headset to your nightstand with a clang, throwing your head into your pillow. You doubt that Jonathan wants to talk to you after pressing into his private matters.

When morning comes, your heart jumps at the notification at the top of your messages bar. You click on it, Jonathan’s audio file plays, “Hey-y, I-I’m reallly sorry for uh- I-I kind of left you hanging last night? Can we meet up and talk? Possibly? Let me know when you get this.”

You respond back to him, “Hey, don’t apologize. It was my fault for pushing you where you weren’t comfortable. I’ll forward my address.”

Within the next hour or so, you find Jonathan standing in your doorway as he raises a bag of mango and watermelon pops from the convenience store in his hand. You usher him in, “You got here quite fast..”

He smiles at you, setting the bag on your table, “I’m pretty speedy. Also, you’ve got a nice pad.”

“Oh- yeah, technically it used to be my parents but they well- they passed away.”

His face turns somber, his features darkening with hurt, “I’m sorry for your loss y/n.”

Trying your best, you muster a small smile at him, “It’s okay. Can I get you anything? Water?”

“I-uh- no, I’m good.”

With a heavy sigh, Jonathan plops himself on your couch, his eyes shifting to the vibrant city view outside, “Anyway, I-I just wanted to apologize for leaving so abruptly last night.”

Shaking your head, you answer regretfully, “No, it was completely my fault, I should be sorry.” The features on his face turn sharper. He stiffens again, his fists curl beside him on the couch, “I also haven’t been too honest about myself.”

“What do you mean?”

“My name isn’t Jonathan. That’s just an alias- my real name is Mark. Mark Lee.”

You feel your breath hitch in your throat. The boy that your client is after is sitting on your living room couch. How could you not recognize him? Your headset tab has his file bookmarked- he was a child then. Of course, he’s matured.

“Why would you lie about your name?”

Jonathan- now, Mark sighs, “Because, I have to. You asked me about my parents? They were murdered by some gang leaders because they owed them money so we could survive the plague. They did what they had to so we could live. They’re still after me.”

You hand flies to your mouth in shock, “Mark, I- I’m so sorry. I didn’t know. I-”

Mark places a warm hand on yours, “It’s okay- don’t be sorry y/n. Just don’t tell anyone.”

“Not a word, I swear on it.”

Mark picks himself up to move closer to you, your knees almost touching, “When did you start living alone?”

The memories of you watching the doctors send your parents’ bodies to the morgue surface in your mind. You can’t stop the flood that breaks the dam. Digging your nails into your palm, you sniffle, “My parents passed away from the plague on the same day. Like yours, they had to work and go outside for us to survive. I was on the streets a bit before I could make money myself.”

It’s impossible. You can’t stop the tears that stream on your cheeks. You squeeze your eyes shut, “I miss them so much.”You feel a thumb swipe your tears away. You open your eyes to see a blurry vision of Mark’s concerned face, his fringe swept on one side of his forehead, “I’m here, it’s okay. I miss mine too.”

In a split second, you fall into the crook of Mark’s chest, snuggling into his arms. You hear the slow thrum of his heartbeat, the music that beats with his soul. It’s beautiful, the way his doe eyes gaze down at you and the way it feels when you reach up to sweep the hair out of his eyes, “Thank you, Mark.”

He doesn’t say anything, he continues to rub circles on your back comfortingly as he thumbs your hand in his lap. Afterwards, you and Mark decide to eat dinner with Mark in the city. With Mark beside you, everything seems ten times more vibrant. Musicians play on the streets, their instruments laced with colorful threads (bonus items that tune your instrument automatically). Robotic helpers roll around in the restaurants as they pick up tabs, refill waters, and do little things that could be cumbersome for humans. You and Mark sit on the second floor of your favorite ramen restaurant, one that your parents frequented often. Laughing at the way Mark slurped his noodles made you happier. For some odd reason, Mark reminded you of the comfort that your parents had- a warm glow that always brightened the room. He placed his chicken into your bowl, forcing you to eat his no matter how much you protested. When you were done, Mark led you to the third story of the restaurant, a rooftop garden that overlooked the city. The view was breathtaking: the skyline reflected an ocean of colors onto the water as the Brooklyn bridge allowed flying vehicles to soar across the sky. You both sat on the edge of the building, Mark pulling your body closer to his. He rested his head on your shoulder as he hummed some unrecognizable song, the honking of cars is the only thing that disrupts him. Steadily, you brought a hand to the scar on his cheekbone- causing him to raise his head at you. Mark leaned further into your touch, his hair fluttering in the wind slightly, “Can I um, kiss you?”

Smiling, you crash your lips onto yours, his lips feeling plush and soft at first. You move one hand to entwine Mark’s hairs in between your fingers, causing him to let out a moan. Your kiss grows more passionate as you part your mouth for him to move his tongue, your body temperatures rise- an alert pops on to your headsets. Ignoring it, Mark leans further into your lips while you arch your back on the roof. He pushes you flat against the concrete, his lips detach from yours with a sound. When you look at him, Mark’s half lidded eyes and swollen lips pop from the colorful netted sky that hangs above him, you say, “Wow, you’re good Mark Lee.”

He laughs into your shoulder, his giggle full of mirth. You don’t resist when he presses a kiss to your lips for the second time, you take harder control than he does. You roll onto your side so you can climb on top of him instead. Mark reaches up to place a hair behind your ear before you lean in to press a kiss to his nose. His eyes glimmer with adoration, “y/n, the things you’re doing to me right now-”

Mark starts to press a burning kiss to the hollow of your neck, you pause when a notification flashes on your messages bar. You open it, it’s from Mr. C. It reads, “Y/n. I’m afraid you’re out of time.” You scramble off of Mark, causing him to yelp, “Oh god, y/n, I-I’m so sorry, I- did- I go too far? I shouldn’t have done that- oh my-”

You press your hand to Mark’s lips, “It’s not you. I have to tell you something, it’s-”

“What? What’s wrong?”

You both sit up, “I’m sorry. I should’ve told you earlier I just forgot about it because we were talking and I-I just don’t-”

Mark’s expression turns firm, “What is it?”

“I just passed level 50 in-game. I got a request from a client and he told me he was after you and I took it because I thought I needed the money and now that I know you’re the person he wants, I don’t know what to do-he says we’re out of time!”

Mark looks down, his face morphing into slow pain, “Did you have that request since we met?”

You shout at him, “Yes! But, I was never going to sell you out, I swear! I started to like you and I wouldn’t have done that!”

Marks still casts his eyes down, “Y/n, I have to go right now- I can’t be outside-”

“You’re too late!”

You and Mark swivel your heads to see a skinny man dressed in a plaid suit hop off his emerald hoverboard, a pistol sits in the grip of his hand, “I’ve got you now Mark Lee! And y/n has led me straight to you!”

Mark practically leaps across you, forcing you to move behind him, “Just stay behind me.”

You place your hands on Mark’s shoulders, gripping him tightly. The man- Mr. C. looks hysterical when he flashes Mark a sinister grin, “Your parents still haven’t paid their debt. You’ll serve as compensation.”

He aims his gold-lined pistol at Mark, cackling before he sends a smoking bullet flying to Mark’s chest without a warning. You scream, Mark falling on his side as he clutches his wound. Mr. C. spits in your direction before zipping off on his hoverboard, leaving you to press your hands to Mark’s body. Already, your hands are covered in crimson blood, you smell the iron scent of it and it makes you sick. You don’t even realize that you’re screaming now, “Hold on! I’m going to get you to a hospital okay? Hold on!”

Mark lets out a weak cough, his eyes failing to stay open. You cradle his head, “Mark? Mark, stay awake! Stay with me, please!”

Once more, he reaches up a bloodied palm to your cheek, your tears falling onto his shirt, “Hey, it’s okay. It’s okay.”

You whimper, “It’s not okay! Don’t leave me! I’ll be alone again!”

The hot tears blur your vision, it’s getting harder to not collapse. You see Mark smile at you, “you know, you’re the only person that’s made me feel less lonely since my parents died.”

Clutching his hand, you feel the calloused skin along his palm, wanting to savor every bit of him, “Mark, I’ve fallen for you.”

Nodding, “And I, you.”

With the last bit of strength he has, Mark kisses you with scarlet fire before letting out a bone-chilling groan. His lips fall away from yours, his body landing on the roof with a thump. You hold your breath, your head pounds with harsh pain. You can’t believe the sight of Mark’s once musical spirit so bereft of life. Finally, your breath hitches at a notification that appears in your message inbox at the top of your virtual screen, “hello, y/n.”

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spacebookettes · 3 years

Text

Anomaly

Pompeii

“She’s found another one”

Some of the petrified ash people are kept hidden. The ones with iphone 12s. The Archaeologist kept finding them. One of the other archaeologists plugged his iphone 8 charger into the iphone 12 locked in the grip of an ancient long dead hand. The others turned to look at the archaeologist that keeps finding the ones with iphone 12s. “Should we suggest she works somewhere else. I mean she can’t be putting them there, these iphones haven’t been released yet. The face id won’t work.”

“Maybe she could do some paper work for a bit.”

“what are we supposed to do?”

Carbon dating suggests the iphones are ancient... but still working?

The archaeologist did that funny itchy nose thing and scratched her head. They all turned to face her. Sure enough there it was, when they looked to her feet, the futuristic corner of an iphone 12 and a silent hand.

The archaeologist is young, nothing so bizarre has ever happened to her before. She longed for something to happen before the iphone 12s. She had chosen human history, she felt learning about the lost times would be fascinating. Now all the iphone 12s were the wrong time and all different times. The dates were the future though. Only a few years. The Archaeologist reached down and said Hey Sissy. The phone lit up and the familiar famous voice said calling Dan. The phone rang and rang. Then someone answered. Hello is Dan there the Archaeologist asked. Dan was the name of her partner. Dan answered “where have you been and who’s is this number" the Archaeologist answered she was still in Pompei. “Pompeii" “why did you run away from me" she asked when?

“what’s going on?” the Archaeologist didn’t know how to explain. She asked what date is it? Dan answered “24th of August.” It was the 24th of August. The Archaeologist asked what year. “what do you mean what year? 2023 of course.” It isn’t 2023 she thought. But the anniversary of the destruction was today she also thought. How could she explain any of this to Dan. She didn’t have to, the phone went silent, the screen switched off. No power. How could she explain this to the Archaeologists. She didn’t have to; all the iphone 12s rang at once, just once.

“Who were you talking to on that iphone?”

She just looked at them.

“look something is going on here and you are at the centre of it! I do not know what , but i think you need to leave! Who did you speak to on that phone?” she answered Dan.

Part 2

You would think an Archaeologist would like time travel; but this one didn’t. In fact she detested time travel fiction. Though she loved sci-fi. The iphone 12 time travel was not the worst though, she was intrigued. The Archaeologist had kept the number of the outgoing iphone 12 that had rang Dan. She had time to look through the contacts and there in the middle was a giant ME. She rang it, no one answered. It was still the anniversary of the original catastrophe at Pompeii. She waited until the right time and rang the phone again... this time someone answered. They were speaking Latin. She quickly translated yoo ef o. The voice kept repeating it. The phone went silent. So was the Archaeologist.

She rang Dan, but quickly hung up. How could she cope with speaking to the past present Dan now. It was all so mystifying. Somehow she was linked to some phones from the future getting into the hands of an about to be dead people of the past and now (or then) aliens maybe involved. ‘something some aliens did in the past caused iphone 12s to manifest in the past and perhaps caused the eruption at Pompei.’ Saying it all out loud managed to coalesce the tale into something more manageable... fractionally.

I don’t know where to go with this.

The Archaeologist went to the south of France, she just sort of found herself there. Not knowing what to do, the Archaeologist just did anything. She sat in the sun. Had a few drinks and ignored the texts from past present Dan. It actually felt good somehow to have a break from it all; she had no choice anyway: but it felt good. She wished all crises were this pleasant. You can’t really make a plan in a situation like this she thought; so she didn’t.

Little did the Archaeologist know, but Dan had hired someone to find her.

When she saw Dan the Archaeologist ran away.

To Malta.

Infact the Archaeologist kept running away, she travelled the world. The job kept paying her for some reason, she suspected to keep her away... so she kept away.

The Archaeologist's nose itched and she rubbed her head. She was in south Korea. As she looked at her phone a little banner ad for the new iphone 12.

Should she buy one, would the universe come to an end if she did. ‘you’re not that important.’

The Archaeologist had to wait to buy one, a few weeks. She opened the sleek box took out the white iphone 12. (Swearing She'd orded a black one) Put her sim card inside (she had changed numbers on her travels) turned on the iphone 12 and waited. The Archaeologist didn’t start the phone from backup, a total new start she felt. Nothing.

NOTHING happened, no one rang, no one texted. No one from work had been in contact. She was still getting paid. Nothing. She thanked the aliens and carried on travelling.

2023 the Archaeologist could not resist a visit to Pompeii... she wasn’t going to go; but somehow, without much thought, made her way there. She couldn’t face her colleagues. It was dark as she approached the secured site. No access possible.

In two days the 24th August.

What happens next.

Nothing for two days then on the morning of the 24th a notification wakes the Archaeologist up. A news article all the team working on Pompei have disappeared. The breaking news of the day spread around the world slowly, without much fuss. Another strange anomaly in these bizarre times.

The Archaeologist rang all her colleague’s numbers, sent texts, asked other’s she knew connected to Pompeii. Nothing. She was still in Italy. No point going anywhere near Pompeii. She texted the number she dare not. The one from the iphone 12 that called Dan. Nothing. She realised at that moment that back then, that iphone 12 had been white and had face unlocked for her allowing her to find it’s number. A text blinked onto her phone. She had sent it to herself. Now she called Dan. Nothing. No answer. The iphone 12 rang it was her name ringing. She gingerly answered but the phone rang off. A voicemail pinged on screen.

The Archaeologist went on with her travels. She dare not listen to the message left on her phone. She dare not delete it either.

I don’t know where to go.

Home looked different. It had been a few years. She didn’t have much family to miss her. The friends had tried to keep in touch but she had drifted away from them. She'd made sure an aunt had been kept in the know. But she had not told anyone about the iphone 12s. This mystery kept fueling her seclusion. Powered her constant travel. The bizarreness kept her life. She had the excuse of the anomaly to disengage. Or re-engage in this new direction. She didn’t want to hear the saved voicemail. It might mean she had to re-engage with what ever reality was now. Something had split. Something meant she split from her path. Something happened in Pompeii those years ago. She was supposed to disappear with her colleagues. She was supposed to be petrified. But she was really here. Her own life, she could do anything. She’d been everywhere. She’d eaten all the yummy food. She’d slept with some yummy people of all the countries of the world. Seen what the bees everywhere look like. Giant black ones were her favourite. A little disk shape skirted around the sky; it seemed to be searching. She thought perhaps for her. So she turned around and walked in the opposite direction and kept going.

By Peter Stringer

Artificial

Little Winter Beach City, is in not on the coast.

The small artificial sunshine globes dotted around the city have winter beaches (no seas). Its warm sand is warm enough to sunbathe in your trunks. Just don’t wander too far from the globes or you’ll catch pneumonia. There are winter beach parties of barbecues and Frisbee. Bring your Kindle 400 with holographic cut scenes. NO cocktails for obvious reasons. STRICTLY no drunks for the reason of the disaster the first year made for. So no security.

By Peter Stringer

Giant Moths

The red laser light edges occasionally flicker as though un-serviced. A deep crimson sign glows at all edges and surfaces, apart from a black silhouette, a moth on one side. It’s an old style sign and sways a little when windy. It isn’t windy right now in the super city. An older lady has seen the sign many times... many times because she keeps visiting this dark part of the super city. The older woman circled this detached ginormous Monumental un-serviced rectangular cubed building. No signs of life. On a nearby, also detached ginormous monumental, the older lady has attached a small sensor to keep an eye on the tiny door under the moth. Nothing has ever been seen by the older woman through her secret sensor. The door never opens.

The older woman is watching the little screen on her arm as she likes to do from time to time. It flickers for a moment and the lady thought she just caught site of an arm disappearing where the small door is now closed. Older lady played back the footage, there was no arm.

Older lady spent hours searching her archives of moth door footage for any signs of flickers. In fact she ordered the arm screen to search for any moments of flicker. It finds five, she plays them all for signs of arms. Nothing. Someone has duped her she feels. Someone clever. No one had ever circumvented the older ladies technology before. The cloaking device attached to her little scanner on the opposite building, obviously wasn’t enough to fool who ever went into that building.

It is a year before. The older lady had walked past the moth door many times and never given it much thought. One afternoon while snuggling down in bed, the older lady was half dreaming of a lonely butterfly trapped in a box. She woke with a gnawing thought about the moth door.

Now the older lady tapped into the live feed of an orbiting future satellite, she zoomed in to the moth door. And was aghast to see a figure entering the door. The figure stops as the door opens and looks back and upward, looking directly into the viewer of the satellite above. The screen flickers.

The person in the doorway looked biologically male. Slender with a strangely grey complexion. The clothing was none descript. Inside the doorway older lady had noticed a hazel light flickering. The lady felt vulnerable. She remotely destructed the sensor on the opposite building... useless anyway.

Older lady went about her technology business as normal; she no longer walked past the moth doored building. Older lady regularly checked and rechecked her backup systems and channels. No sign of anything. Only the how was gnawing her: she dreamed of butterflies, giant butterflies in the giant cavernously hollow building, the butterflies were tattooed with futuristic circuit geometry. A low hazel light flickered over their scaly bodies. Older ladies subconscious was working on a problem that grew more difficult with each Flicker.

Every non descript male body that passed older ladies path caused moths in her stomach. Non had grey complexions thankfully.

Older lady had, by now, a few ideas about how the flickering and more importantly the satellite perception had been done. Some perception field surrounded the moth building and any nosiness could be automatically tricked. Something about the building it must be. Older lady rummaged in her junk room; a pair of real lens binoculars were retrieved. And from a suitable distance the moth building could be observed. Older lady switched off her augmented eyeballs and had a real look. The moth building looked a rather duller version than an augmented view... but it looked the same as always. Older lady focused the lenses onto one of the flickering red laser building edges. In between flickers she saw all manner of sensor equipment, things she felt were experimental; things she’d heard stories about and technology she felt looked very illegal. Things imperceptible to an augmented eye due to the flickering laser edges. But old school vision with the help of long distance lenses was a different story. Older lady retreated.

The lady knew that whoever owned that building, was serious.

The end

By Peter Stringer

#creative writing #art #book #scifi #fantasy book #short story #aliens #time travel #girly sci-fi #Archaeologist #pompeii

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