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#and there are other channels still making crack videos of guardian
forkaround · 1 year
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I wonder why so many people still remember Guardian despite how it got nerfed halfway through and how people remember the shitty special effects with fondness rather than chagrin. How even today people come across things from the set, details and entire maps of Dragon City. How much love fans have poured into this show that didn't make any big waves like The Untamed did! How there is an entire blog dedicated to finding photos of one of the main actors laying on things! You won't find this type of media experience anywhere else coz the end product was a mess but it was our mess!
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The Williams Family Hcs
Put under cut due to length
- All of them are very, very aggressive about the whole affection thing.
- The others are triplets, Mitch was born a good 7-8 years later.
- Their parents are pretty wealthy socialites and kinda jerks about it. Both sets of kids were accidents, but their social circles would have been absolutely pouncing on the scandal if they'd aborted or opened up to adoptive agencies. Dumping the kids is considered perfectly acceptable though.
- All of them were home-schooled for their early childhoods and isolated from anyone else as the Williams mother and father didn't want to have to deal with children or risk being judged for their parenting failures.
- Once Mitch was about to start primary/elementary school their parents dumped the four kids in the States with a butler/caretaker whose job was merely to appear for any legal/formal shit where they would need a legal guardian and pay bills until the triplets were of age. The kids were mostly left alone beyond that.
- The butler/caretaker was to live in a separate house to avoid them developing any sort of emotional attachment to the children and would be replaced each year by a different member of the staff. Part of this was to also lower the odds of social backlash.
- Audrey Speck and Ruf started playing video games in part because it was the only way they could socialize with others. Before that, the in-game characters were so nice to them that as children they associated this with actual friendship and family.
- Things were a little better when they actually went to school with other kids, but not by much. There was still a certain level of stigma about them all being very antisocial and difficult to talk to.
- The triplets mostly raised Mitch even pre-move and kept doing so in America.
- The main activity in the household outside of schoolwork was gaming. They always let Mitch join in because they remembered how lonely they were back when it was just the three of them, and refused to ice Mitch out too.
- All of them are extremely aggressive full-time. They all very much love each other and would without question do literally anything to make sure the others smile but even day-to-day life is filled with constant trash-talk and fake/semi-real punches and elbows. They call ceasefires in serious cases but kill-steals, breakfast theft, and dirty fighting over who gets the nice controller are all fair game.
- Having grown up with this since he was old enough to hold a controller, Mitch still carries this form of socializing. Part of his rudeness to the team is because this is almost exactly how he'd be with family. The rest of it is because Mitch has an ego bigger than the Hinobi HQ.
- All of them act as caretakers for each other because even the person who's supposed to be the legal caretaker is only allowed to step in if one of them is in the hospital.
- Audrey put her foot down and yelled at everyone about fitness after they lived on chip bags for 2 weeks straight. They all take at least 2 hours a day to get healthy exercise and stretches, with one day a week dedicated to fitness and minimal gaming. All four of the Williams kids are ripped as hell.
- Ruf makes the best soup when anyone is sick. Mitch can imitate it half-way, and Speck and Audrey have been banned from even trying.
- They forget to eat and sleep and take care of themselves a lot, but very out of sync with each other. Frequently the solution to this is that a currently-healthy sibling will physically sling the unhealthy one over their shoulders and throw them into a bed while the other two shout about rest and health and shove food at the one currently yelling that they're fine thank you very much and the room is only spinning a little.
- The Furious Four channel started when they were very young. Ruf and Speck were still dealing with cracking voices back then. They were a pretty quick hit.
- Mitch started the 'MitchFTW' channel as way to get a little alone time. He loves his siblings but he also needs some gaming time where he didn't have to constantly be at 100.
- The triplets know about the channel. Mitch asked them to not interact with it off the official Furious Four account so they all made individual ones. They were his 3 first subscribers and always left a (very softened) encouraging comment.
- The last video on Mitch's FTW channel was made 1 week before he got recruited by Hinobi. He uploaded long videos once a month and shorter ones weekly.
- Mitch's parents somehow found out about the job and announced via formal letter that since now all 4 of them were self-supporting and the triplets were 18, that was that for any contact they'd have with the family again, but if Mitch lost the job, they would report Audrey Speck and Ruf as being neglectful, since they had claimed technical custody of Mitch as soon as they could.
- In reality the Williams parents wouldn't give a fuck either way but they are very resentful of their kids for having taken up any time/resources at all in their lives and dropping them one line that would cause problems for over five years is a good way to get payback on children when you're a miserable twat.
- Mitch got very paranoid about this for several years and worked himself to the death in no small part so that he'd be indispensable to the company and they couldn't fire him.
- He's a very competitive person too, but he's also aware that if he continuously has an extremely high number of successes, Phil will overlook his questionable socializing in favor of keeping his skills onboard.
- Audrey Speck and Ruf have been doing their 'shit's broke' routine for about seven months before Mitch moved out. They were seeing him maybe once a week before that when he'd break in to grab a protein bar and then run out again. The last conversation they'd had was over two months before then.
- Honestly, the triplets did try visiting his workplace, talking to online gamers who'd interacted with him, etc but all of these were dead ends. Mitch doesn't know that Phil keeps track of many times they were memory-erased after they stormed into the HQ demanding to see their little brother. The one time Mitch actually found out they'd stormed in, Phil erased that too. It was a high-pressure moment and Phil was scared Mitch would quit if he knew how worried his family was.
- Mitch's telling his siblings about first getting the job was a lot like Miko's in terms of the approach. He told them the entire story and all three of them were ready to raise hell and high water over a preteen being put into this much danger daily but Mitch said it was the first thing he'd ever wanted outside their family. His voice cracked the way it had the few times he'd been a little kid and cried after being abandoned by their parents, all the way back when they were still living in the UK.
- Speck calmed the other two down a bit and told Mitch they'd support him no matter what if he could just please tell them if shit went wrong and then told Phil that if Mitch ever got hurt the man had better prepare himself a cemetery plot.
- After Phil sets on reprogramming their memories, he says to the triplets that their younger brother got a job at Hinobi for his gaming skills and technological understanding and the usual schpiel. Mitch added in "and he knows you're proud of him and he loves you all so very, very much."
- Phil elected not to mention Mitch's slight crying.
- Post-canon nobody actually bothered to mind-wipe the triplets because it was assumed none of them actually saw anything. They saw. They suspect, and following around a sufficient number of Glitch Tech mobiles and fights confirms it. Audrey makes all of them write down shit in diaries and journals and game codes so even if they get mind-wiped they'll remember.
- They start trying to find Mitch's team in their downtimes and bond with them. Mitch can't actually memory-wipe everyone fast enough (as pointed out by Miko the first time he'd considered it) so now he's stuck dealing with this bullshit.
- The team finds the triplets absolutely fascinating. On one hand, they're literal gaming legends, Otoh, they're Mitch's siblings. On the third hand, it's hilarious to watch Mitch deal with their antics and insistence on befriending every member of the team.
- Five and Miko get Speck into classic games and he proceeds to get the other Williamses in too. Mitch is not a fan of having to deal with his coworkers in his downtime but here he is, learning how to play Ping with it's one pixel bouncing back and forth across the screen.
- Audrey and Ruf will nag Mitch to death about eating and sleeping enough. One of their new tactics for getting Mitch to eat at least something healthy during group hangouts is to tell the others funny stories about tiny Mitch and how he'd learned to game until he loudly announces exactly what healthy things he's eating today and eats at least one in front of them.
- They also frequently figure out ways to make excuses to plug in VR technology into stuff so if rogue glitches ever show up they're pretending to play a game but also allowing Mitch to hack into their tech so he thinks he's keeping them from knowing what they're actually fighting.
- Part of the problem with Mitch's attitude is that he's not used to being stronger than his team since he grew up with a good 7 years less experience than his siblings. Their team dynamic was a constant amount of pushing from every player and it somehow cancelling out into a decent balance, with Mitch always pushing his limits to even out the playing field. They're all very affectionate about it but most people see this attitude as overly-aggressive and self-focused (They're not completely wrong about that, but it's not just selfishness).
- Gaming with the triplets lets the team have a little more understanding of why Mitch is just like thatTM. It also gives the triplets a chance to see that their brother can be kind of a jerk and they start calling him out during their group hang-outs/game nights. There's a surprisingly high effectivity rate of Mitch being gently ribbed by family to get him to be nicer.
- Ruf Audrey and Speck can adjust to other people a little easier than Mitch. To them, adjusting to play with little kid Mitch was the practice round. They do, however, abandon all of their kindness efforts in hyper-competitive games. The team knows to game at their own risk in things where only one player can win.
- Miko and Five struggle a lot with the annoyance that is Mitch constantly being right but also being a total pain about it. The same traits in Mitch that really bug them on the job are the same ones that they realize his siblings appreciate; someone keeping a clear head under threat, who can hold their own and doesn't need to be bailed out unless absolutely necessary, who can then work with other people like that and the team buildup is that much more powerful than if they were all playing separately.
- Eventually Mitch finds out that the triplets are aware of what the Hinobi job actually is, and that they've made far too many backups for him to destroy individually without perma-wiping their brains and causing long-term damage.
- Audrey Ruf and Speck are the first unofficial black-market Glitch Tech team from then on. They already have a decent amount of practice and the Alpha team appreciates having adults who can get them into places, go on supply runs, and handle the overflow of glitches in certain districts.
- At the end of the day, all four of the Williams kids care about each other a whole lot. They care about the Alpha team too, even if the triplets only got to know them recently and Mitch is bad at expressing emotions in ways that aren't insults and xp theft.
- The four of them are part-time working and part-time attending online and inperson college. Audrey is working on being a video game soundtrack designer (currently has a job in it but they aren't allowed to promote her without a degree), Ruf wants to do stuff with food and currently helps run a casual foodtruck, Speck is planning on being an electrician (TA at multiple courses), and Mitch's degree is in programming, with a minor in game design (job self-evident).
- All Mitch actually supplies tends to be batteries and the occasional controller/tech support. Most of their stuff is bought with their own money, occasionally with Mitch's employee discount.
- They now hang out at least once a week as just the Furious Four. Occasionally the stream ends with all of them passed out on the couch and the last standing member waving goodbye to their audience as they turn the monitor off and grab a blanket to throw over the other three
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wendystales · 3 years
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Memories - lrh (Chapter Four)
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Memories (also on Wattpad)
Chapter Three ※※※※※ Chapter Five
I absorbed and enjoyed the silence that was hovering around my house. I grabbed a glass of juice and sat down on the couch on the balcony. My mom left early for work, and Leah even tried to take me along for a photo shoot she was going to do in Venice. But, honestly, I'm not in the mood for dragging plaster casts around under the sun.
Not to mention that it is good to have moments alone to get my head straight. I know that in a little while it will be even harder to escape from these outings, I mean, I know I have to get back to my routine, but as long as I can avoid it, I will.
I put the juice on the table and pick up my diary. Unlike yesterday, I open it to the first page, like a book, and start reading. I go through a few pages about my feelings, about what I planned about my future, about my parents' divorce.
"I know it was inevitable. Anyone could tell how distant they were, I just didn't want it to be like that, that she suffered the same way I did. And I didn't want to feel that anger from him. But deep down, I know it's for the best.".
A few more pages telling about the scout who had seen me at the mall, the first photo shoot, the first runway show for a small clothing brand. Then arriving at the day I met Ashton.
"That one nobody expected/imagined/sought for. Ashton Irwin is my yoga partner!!! Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Oh my gosh, I never would have imagined that. I was dying of nervousness about being the new student, then he comes and offers to be my duo and oh gosh, he's amazing. Super fun and nice. AND HE CALLED ME UP FOR COFFEE ON SUNDAY.
" Ashton and I sat at a table on the sidewalk. Under the table, I snapped my fingers in nervousness as I read the menu.
- Do you already know what you are going to order? - he asks. I pout and nod my head in denial.
- All I know is that I don't want espresso. - I comment.
- Can I recommend one? I think you'll like it, it's whipped with cream and chocolate, very sweet. - He points to the menu after I accept his suggestion.
- It amazes me how good you are at coffee. - I joke, making him laugh.
- I like coffee. I once took a tour of a coffee farm in the countryside right here in California.
Coffee becomes our first topic. Because he knows and understands coffee, Ashton convinces me to do a tasting at a promising coffee shop in Brentwood the next morning. It was not the kind of program I am used to doing, but everything is different now, my life has changed and so have my types of programs.
- You are lost being my friend, I will call you all morning for breakfast together. - Ashton comments as we drive along the sidewalks of Los Angeles.
My body shakes when it hears the word "friend". I still wasn't sure if I could consider Ash a friend, but now, I'm happy to know that I can and that he considers me too. "
The memory warms and cheers me up, giving me more desire to read and remember.
I don't realize how much I was smiling until my cheeks start to hurt. After that day, his name becomes very frequent, until it joins Leah's.
"I don't know how to explain this girl. She came in so confident and nose to nose, I was sure she would be insufferable, then she opened her mouth and all I could think was 'where has she been all my life? ' And I don't want to get my hopes up or be a pain in the ass, but she's also a model and she talked about me going to her father's agency and if that works out? it's one of the biggest agencies in the world, I'm going to take off. God, if this is your will...".
I laugh at the following narrations that already involve Ashton, Noah and Leah. I can't remember what is written, but my imagination gives me a warm, happy feeling in my body. And if the reality has been as fun and nice as what I imagined, then it was very good.
I feel my body shiver and a chill take over my stomach when I see Luke's name for the first time. I cut the pace of my reading, preparing myself for what was to come. I reach for another glass of juice, buying time and even courage to read the rest.
"I had already noticed him looking at me, I just didn't want to believe he was looking at me, and it was perfect like that, until Ashton brought him in. It's one thing to know who Luke is, it's another to talk to him. In the end it wasn't so bad. I guess. I just stared for the first hour at anything but him, but I guess he must have missed it. Now I'm in the dilemma of if he liked me, I mean, we spent four hours talking and nothing, no kiss, no phone exchange. NOTHING."
I laugh at myself. I can perfectly see myself being embarrassed by him and not being able to look him in the eye.. If I could go back in time, I would tell this Marnie that Luke really liked her, even though I only had a basis in videos and pictures.
I pick up my cell phone and open insta, going to the date that marked my diary. 07/06/18. It was Ashton's birthday party. I flip to the side and see a picture taken in Hawaii, with the caption "The one where we got lost". I turn the page and find that trip.
"I know I am committing one of the biggest follies of my life and deep down, I don't even know why. That's a lie, I do, but that's not the point. In fact, it is, but that's not what I'm going to talk about. Again, it is. The point is: I can't believe that at the last minute I agreed to go on a trip to Hawaii with a bunch of people I barely know. Except Ash, Noah and Leah. And P.S. Monday is his birthday. It only gets better.”
Apparently things between Luke and me went pretty quickly. I read a few more pages seeing that on his birthday, we had our first kiss and from then on everything happened too fast and messy.
I write about many fights and reconciliations. Both he and I, didn't want anything serious, but both he and I, couldn't stay away from each other and there was my reason.
"There is a good big part of all this blocking that I believe is because of what happened and because of me trying to pretend it didn't happen. Dr. Prescott says that if I don't put it out there and don't talk about it, it will consume me. 'Talking about our fears, worries and problems makes them smaller and easier to defeat.'
Besides my parents, no one else knows about that day."
I run my eyes quickly down the page, seeing that that one was about Stephen's cheating.
I close the journal in fear. I don't know what is coming, and I don't know if I have the courage to read it. It is one thing to hear about it from others, from their view and opinion, even if it is not on purpose. It's another to hear about it from my view, from what I've been through.
I have no doubt that there are things in these next pages that maybe even my parents don't know. Things and feelings that I have kept solely and exclusively to myself and I don't know if I am ready to face this, again.
I put down the diary and go in search of something else. Luckily for me, my guardian angel, aka Leah, calls me.
“Are you busy? I thought we could have lunch together. What do you think?” she bombards me, not letting me say hello.
“Hi to you too. No, I'm not busy, just reading my diary.” I run my hand over the cover, keeping in the back of my mind what awaits me. “ I'll take lunch.”
Before Leah can answer, I hear a muffled argument on the phone and wait for the fight to end.
“Sorry, but Noah is asking if he can come along.” she asks, without patience.
“Of course he can.” I hold my laughter, imagining the two of them fighting on the other end of the line.
“Okay, in a few minutes we'll be there. Kisses.”
I say goodbye to her and decide not to read the diary again. The doctor himself told me not to force myself into anything. I set the table and wait for the two of them to arrive.
After forty minutes, the doorbell rings. I make way for my friend and analyze the tall, muscular man behind her. Unlike my memory, the Noah of today has his hair well shaved and brunette, like his sister's. His green eyes fill with tears when he sees me crack a smile, and like his twin, he doesn't wait for permission and hugs me.
“Don't ever do that again, young lady. What a shitty world this would be without you!” he squeezes me before showering me with kisses, all over my face.
Leah turns and pulls him away from me, making me laugh. I follow them both into the kitchen and look at the bags they brought, excited.
“We made sure to stop by The Palm and pick up your favorite dish.” I didn't even know that I had a favorite dish at The Palm. But when Leah opens a box and I feel my mouth water when I see that noodle with shrimp, I realize how little I know myself.
“Have I ever told you that I love you?” I ask softly, with a smile.
We start lunch and today my attention was on Noah, after all he was the new thing. I listen to him tell about the day we met, when he began to advise my career with his sister, and how things have been going since the accident.
“You don't have to give any interviews if you don't want to.” he assures me once again.
I still don't know how to deal with this "public figure" business, but deep down I feel a need to give a "satisfaction" to everyone who knows me. Noah has already sent some notes about my condition, but I know that I will have to appear on some channel in the future.
We changed the subject and started talking about my amnesia. Noah was not very happy that my first memory was his hair fiasco. I commented that I was reading my diary and asked about some events.
“Are we really lost in Hawaii?” they both started to laugh and agree.
“That day I wanted to hit Mark. I was getting very angry that he could not accept that he was reading the wrong map. Not to mention the car dying and us pushing," Noah comments.
“Mark was never good with maps. He says himself that he was a lousy Boy Scout.” Leah says before drying her third glass of water.
“Who is Mark?” I question.
“Mark is an ex-lover of mine. At the time we were chatting and he had the house in Hawaii. One thing led to another and in the end he went along.” Leah ends with a frown.
“And why did we let him drive then?” I ask, full of curiosity. They look at me as if I know the answer. Or, as if I should, but I just raise my eyebrows, saying nothing.
“Because it's Mark.” Noah shrugs. “He likes to be in control of everything.”
“The one who was definitely happy with us there was that guy who owns the coconut stand.” Leah says.
So there it is, the little wooden stand, with a pile of coconuts in front of it. A short man, probably about 50 years old, laughing at our misfortune while selling the fruit to us. Images begin to form in my mind.
" “- Look there.” Kyleen and I focus on the little man laughing as he takes the money from Michael's hand. “He sure is very happy with us standing here.” Leah says.
“Of course he is. We already bought twelve coconuts from him. Bad little man.” I make a face.
“We're not lost. It's just a shortcut.” we cut off eye contact with the stand and focus on Mark arguing with Noah and Ashton.
Leah looked at her lover in total disbelief at what she had gotten herself into. If regret could kill. The next moment Mark stomps his foot on the floor, like a child with a temper tantrum. At that moment, Calum looks at me with wide eyes.
I look away so that he doesn't see me laughing. Kiki, who was behind me, slaps me to stop, but this only makes me want to laugh more. I hide my face in her arm and in the end, my laughter gets out of hand. Both she and Calum start laughing with me, causing the boys to look at us curiously.
It takes no more than five minutes for Mike to join in the laughter with us and soon everyone else was laughing except Mark. Even the little bad man was laughing. It was the worst thing about us being lost, but that's what was happening and it couldn't be anything but comical, even though it was sad too. ”
“Of course he was happy. He sold about fifteen coconuts for us.” I don't even try to control my smile. Once again I remembered, and this is more than great.
The twin couple in front of me crack a big smile too, and soon they are clapping their hands and stamping their feet on the floor, making noise. I clap my hands with them in celebration.
“She is coming back.” Noah comes around the table, hugging me from behind and again showering me with kisses.
I was never one to have many friends. Usually it was just Bethany and Stephen, and a girl in my music class, but I don't know if I can consider her that, after all, we only talked during class and it was all very unrelated.
The point is that I have always envied those people who managed to have a large number of friends, and friends really, not just colleagues. Friends who call you for everything, who are always by your side, who enjoy your company, and who consider you family.
In this moment, with just Noah and Leah, I can see that I finally have these friends that I have wanted so much and without having to pretend to be something that I am not, without having to buy their attention, as I felt I needed it with Bethany. And if I'm happy like this with just the two of them, I can't wait to see the others.
“So, you said you were reading your diary, did you remember anything else?” Leah asks excitedly.
All the happiness and euphoria that had surrounded my body disappears. The bloody page with the bloody day comes back into my mind. They both notice my mood drop.
“I remembered a day when I went to have coffee with Ash, but…” I play with the edge of my cup, trying not to get too much into that energy. “I found a day where I tell about what happened.” I look at them, who are serious and attentive.
“Do you want us to read it with you?” Leah holds my hand across the table, gently patting it.
I shake my head positively and point to the notebook on the coffee table in the living room. I watch her return with the notebook and hand it to me. I open it to the marked page and stare at my handwriting again.
"I haven't had the courage to tell either Ashton, Leah, or much less Luke. I can't tell if I'm ashamed of it or just afraid of it happening again. The problem is that it's really starting to get to me, to the point where I get irritated when I see Luke and Leah talking and it shouldn't be like that. So I need to get it all out so that I can start over.
It was our anniversary. I snuck out of my work to see Stephen at his house. I wanted to deliver his gift soon. Two streets before his house I ran into Noelle, his mother, and told her I wanted to surprise him, so she told me to get the key under the third vase and go in.
Maybe it would have been better just to ring the doorbell and not have to see it. I was very quiet so as not to be discovered, and in the end, I was the one who discovered something."
My racing heart hurts from beating so hard. I can't keep my breathing normal, holding it at various times. I feel like it's a suspense book where no one wants to find out what's behind the door of the abandoned house, but needs to, in order to continue the story.
I notice in some letters and words the ink smudged and I know it was from my tears and it only hurts me more.
"There is no word to describe the disgust, pain, and anger of seeing him and her in bed naked. My until then boyfriend, and my until then best friend.
And what only made it worse was that she didn't even try to explain herself, didn't show an ounce of regret, even if it was a pretense. Nothing. While he tried to say it was nothing like that, Bethany still says it had been going on for a long time."
I close the journal angrily and throw it away, stopping on the other side of the long table. The lump in my throat gets bigger, but I don't want to cry, not for this and not again.
Deep down, I have always had a flea behind my ear with the two of them. The countless rides Stephen insisted on giving her. The way she always motivated me to fight with him, for reasons I thought were small and insignificant. But it was my first serious relationship, what did I know about dating, right? Bethany, on the other hand, had dated seriously twice.
It had always been there, I just didn't want to see it.
“I always suspected it and never, never wanted to believe it. After all, he was my boyfriend and she was my best friend. They wouldn't be able to.” I let out a humorless laugh.
The twins look at me fearfully, as if I were a mother scolding them.
“But you know what the worst part is? I believed him. He looked me in the face and said that nothing happened. That Luke was to blame for our breakup! How stupid of me!” I shout, picking up the diary and throwing it further away, as if it would hurt Stephen.
“Wait, what?” Leah speaks loudly.
I look at her startled and realize what I said. I open my mouth, but nothing comes out. I didn't want anyone to know about the meeting.
“You met with Stephen? When?” she turns the table around, coming closer. I swallow dryly.
“Yesterday morning," I begin softly, but it was enough for Leah to cover her eyes with her hands and snort. Noah laid his head on his arms, sighing as well. “I was confused and needed to hear and see him.” I start to defend myself.
“After everything your mother told you about him?” Leah asks.
“And you think I would believe her? Would you? With amnesia on account?” I retort. Leah takes a deep breath and denies it with her head, giving me reason.
“But you could have told, or asked, I don't know.” Noah ponders.
“Nobody would have let me, I know nobody likes him and rightly so.” I give in.
“That explains a lot.” Leah comments softly, but loud enough for me to hear.
“Explains what?” I ask confused.
She looks at Noah, who nods, giving her the green light. Like me, she swallows dryly before she begins.
“Explain why Luke is so grouchy and weird. Not wanting to come see you.” he answers, poking at the seam of the chair.
NO! No! No! No! No! Please, no. He can't have seen.
“You have to take me to his house.” I ask, heading for the hall.
“What?” the two shout following me.
“I need to talk to him. Now!” I shout the last part, putting on a jacket with some difficulty.
“But why?” Noah helps me.
“Because I think he saw something that wasn't supposed to happen and got it wrong.” I open the door, going to call the elevator.
“Oh, no!” they understand and soon follow me.
Things between Luke and me may be messed up, but the last thing I want him to think is that I cheated on him.
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magpiemorality · 4 years
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Platonic intruality with Remus as Patton’s guardian angel :0? Idk it’s an idea I had that I don’t think I could execute well but I think you could!! If I may add one more thing, could it be hurt comfort? I don’t wanna specify more because I wanna see what you do with it!!! (Okay bye now ily!)
This spiraled into something monstrous and painful and very, very cathartic. I hope it doesn’t hurt anyone to read, do watch the warnings. And remember; it is a story, and not an instruction booklet. Because of subject matter I’ve put a little summary in so there’s more warning about what’s coming!
And to you Chris, thanks for the prompt. It was special to write, in many ways.
The Hardest Fight Of All
Guardian Angel Remus has been assigned to help Patton Abbott, a sweet high school student with a very normal, decent life; nothing easy to spot for Remus to fight. But if the threat isn’t from outside, then it may be coming from within.
Warnings: Mental Health Issues, negativity, Unreliable Narrator, Self-Esteem Issues, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Emotional self-harm, what might be construed as bad handling of an individual with mental health issues, death mention (metaphorical). 
AO3
***
Patton Abbot didn't deserve his guardian angel. No really. He was sure he was nice enough, and he tried to be kind to everyone he could and forgive anyone that did him harm, but he didn't deserve a guardian angel for that! He wasn't in much danger, he didn't have a lot to complain about, with his perfectly normal life and normal parents and normal school. He even had normal friends! It felt selfish to have a guardian angel when he wasn't suffering at all really, and he hadn't earned it through doing anything particularly good either.
His guardian angel loudly, passionately and regularly disagreed, but Patton had yet to be convinced. Remus was lovely, but there were so many more deserving people that needed his help! He was flattered Remus seemed to enjoy being his guardian angel and hanging around with him but it was probably only because he was forced, and Patton was good at acting nice so at least he hoped he wasn't making the angel's job too awful.
That was if you asked Patton, at least. Remus would have a different perspective on things. But Patton hadn't... actually asked him? Because he was so obviously lying when he insisted Patton did deserve his presence and protection, because Patton didn't deserve it.
Over time though, something changed. Remus started to lose his glow, his wings began to droop and he stopped skipping and floating around above the ground, steps dragging heavier and heavier on the floor. Patton was terrified, constantly checking in with him because Remus was too important to feel bad, or get sick, or whatever it was that was happening! Patton had to help him!
When he woke up one morning to find Remus leaning on the windowsill, gazing despondently out at the garden and the rest of the houses he started to really panic. He had to be hurting the angel somehow, but how?! And how could he fix it?!
"Remus? What- what's up bud? You know you can always talk to me right? I think you're awesome, and you deserve to be happy!"
"I'm not so sure."
"You do!" Patton insisted, placing a hand between his wing joints on his back. "You do so much good, you're always taking care of me and you're so kind and lovely and fun and you-"
"It's taken me a while, you know," Remus interrupted. Patton went quiet apart from a soft, questioning hum. "To figure out why I was sent to you."
Ah. "Well it must have been a mistake, like I said before, but that's okay, you can consider-"
"Patton for the love of the sky and the stars; shut up."
Patton shut up, trying not to let the harshness hurt. He knew he'd been babbling on a bit, so it was probably his own fault, and after all even angels only had a certain amount of patience. And Patton knew he was annoying. But it still hurt just a little bit.
Remus rounded on him, eyes alight for the first time in weeks. He grabbed Patton by the shoulders and steered him back to the bed, sitting him down on the edge firmly and moving back to pace in front of him. Patton waited, still conscious of the reprimand, until Remus finally burst.
"I can't believe it took me so long! Honestly, I wasn't sure there was much to do here; you seemed so happy so much of the time, and you get along with almost everyone! Sure there's the odd bully, but its only ever in situations you put yourself into knowing they'll come, like that video channel thing of yours, and I suppose I assumed you realised you could just leave if you didn't want to see it all. You were so nice to them, too nice! But even when I visited them, sorted that out for you, or got you to spend time away from it, you were still... so hurt. And now, now I see the true problem. It's worse than I thought, and I'm- I'm so sorry I didn't see before, but I'm also angry, and it's not at you but it is-"
Unsurprising, Patton thought. That made sense, after all.
"Because the evil that I'm supposed to battle for you... is you."
Slightly more surprising. "Come again?" Patton asked, apologising quickly for speaking up. Remus bared his teeth as fury flashed over his face, flaring bright again for a moment. He looked... terrifying, but glorious. An angel in battle.
"There is no greater threat to you than yourself. And I don't know how to fight that! I'm angry because I'm sad; why would you attack yourself so viciously day after day, hour after hour, word after word and never afford yourself a single iota of the kindness you afford others?!" He stopped, chest heaving, and Patton felt the weight of an expected answer. He couldn't reply, just shrugging, which only set Remus off again. "You, the nasty horrible thing inside you, it's killing you! You feel like you're dying, and you just let it happen. I don't- I don't know how to fight that, I don't think I can fight that, and you just- " He growled, his morningstar appearing, only partially there, for him to swing in fury. "Everything they say to you that you rail against in public, you bite back against if those very words are turned on your friends with no mercy, you say the same things in your own head. You are so awful to yourself, you're just like them! I cant fight that!"
Patton swallowed. "It's not a big deal," he said weakly, heart hammering in his ribcage.
"But it is! And I can't do my job if you're the one stopping me at every turn! You don't even know you're doing it, or maybe you do and just pretend you don't, I'm not even sure anymore. But you desire so much better, why can't you take your own damn advice?! I don't- I don't think you even want to feel better sometimes, you've turned your suffering into so much of your identity. Do you actually like being this way...?" He cut off, narrowing his eyes at Patton suspiciously. Patton felt part of him squirm under that gaze, but another small part was quietly begging for the angel to go on, to finish lancing this horrid, deep-seated, ancient boil of Bad.
"It's not fair!" Remus finished. "You're doing it to yourself! Do you know how easy that is to stop?!"
Those were the words that finally got Patton up on his feet. Because no matter the truth of the rest of it; that was a lie. "It's not easy! It's not!" Thoughts of therapy and mental health diagnoses and the difficult of facing everything alone when it was easier to just suffer and frame it in martyrdom and help everyone and hope, pray that one day someone would help him too.
(And then push it away away away when that same help was offered back, falling into misery when that endless push- desperately testing his friends to their limits because he knew they'd get tired eventually- turned into a self-fulfilling prophecy as they ran out of support to throw against his walls of self-hatred and negativity)
Remus stepped forwards until they were chest to chest, gazing down from his height, fully blazing bright in the innocuous setting of Patton's bedroom. "But it is. If you want to."
Patton sat down again with a thump, feeling faint and nauseous. There was a moment of silence before he burst into tears, pulling his knees up to hide his face in. He wasn't even sure why he was crying. Because of the horrible cruel words? Because he didn't deserve even this harsh kindness (that felt like staring at the sun without protection or touching electricity, raw and painful and unfiltered for his comfort) after how awful he'd been? Because... because it felt terrible to even think about the fact that this could be his fault in some way?! And now Remus hated him just like the rest and he was going to leave and Patton would be alone and-
Two warm, gentle hands came up to cup his face and tilt it back into view, and Remus was there, looking stern and serious but not angry anymore. The relief that flooded through Patton was almost euphoric, like the weight of the entire sky lifted back up off his lungs. "I can't fight this battle alone, Patton," the angel said. "And I can't fight it at all if you don't truly, deeply, one hundred percent want me to fight it. To do that you need to understand that it's your battle too, that you have to put your armour on and go to war alongside me, if we're to have any chance at success. Because right now you're on their side, and you're sabotaging us from within."
"But it's my condition! My brain doesn't-"
"You think I don't know about that?" Remus frowned, rubbing his cheeks gently. "You've got medication. You've got a therapist, you have people who are trying their hardest to love and support you. But you can't survive the ocean on a raft of other people's making. It will stop you sinking, for a time- perhaps even for a long time, but you won't get any closer to shore unless you start to paddle. And as you paddle you'll also have to patch up any cracks in the raft with your own hands, perhaps with the materials you're given but the work to stitch it all together and sail it has to be your own. It's- I'm not a fan of metaphors but do you see? You can't be the only one not contributing to your own recovery."
"I'm not recovering from anything, I just have a negative self image and... and some other things. But they're bad! They're not things you get better from-" Patton tried, voice trembling and weak. Remus just looked at him, hands still on his face.
"Aren't they?" He asked simply. "You don't think you could ever manage to feel better than you do right now? You think all the stories of people improving their lives are... made up? You think, perhaps, that the medication is all a placebo, that once you've labelled the problem it's made permanent and nothing can ameliorate the symptoms or make life easier to live?" The angel leaned in and dropped a kiss to Patton's forehead, leaving a warm tingling in its wake. "The world would burn, if that were true," he whispered, before standing up.
Patton just kept on sitting in silence, face itching as his tears started to dry on his skin.
Remus gave him a small but real smile. "You've got plenty to think about. Consider my pitch; without you I will continue to fight the war, hopeless though it may be, but with you..." He grinned properly then. "Oh the things we could achieve, dear one."
And off he vanished, in a flutter of feathers and the sound of moving light.
It left Patton feeling as though, in the space of only maybe half an hour, the entire world had changed around him. He wondered, as he lay down on his bed, exhausted and reaching for his favourite plushie for comfort, whether what Remus said was what his therapist secretly wanted to say. It was a funny thought, mild-mannered Dr Picani ranting like the passionate angel, but Patton barely managed a lift of his lips. He needed to rest, and then he'd start to think about all this. If it wasn't true, if the angel was mistaken, seeing things that weren't there because of how boring it was being Patton's guardian; then nothing really needed to change except he would renew his efforts to get Remus reassigned.
If it was true though? Then that changed everything, and Patton Abbott would have a lot of hard work ahead.
He wished he knew which one he was hoping for.
-
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wayward-wren · 3 years
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Alright I’m losing my mind how do u feel about infodumping this new thing you’re watching bc ily and want to know what you’re talking about XD
Oh boy oh boy anon, have you opened the flood gates. *cracks knuckles* I’m always down to info dump. (gets kind long so i’m putting a cut in)
The Dream SMP is a Minecraft multiplayer server owned by Dream, and most of the stuff happens over on live streams on twitch. Some content creators post highlight videos on their youtube channels, which was how I started, but it doesn’t quite fully catch the whole story and nuances (that being said I’d recommend TommyInnit, Wilbur Soot or Technoblade as a good place to get started, they all have youtube playlists on their channels)
The server starts off like a normal survival server, but then TommyInnit joins and starts stirring up trouble. This sparks off the disc war (fighting over Tommy’s most prized possessions on the server (keep that in mind) a couple of discs he’s managed to get (Cat and Mellohi most importantly)) and the pet war (Between Tommy and Sapnap, involving a lot of animal deaths, including Tommy’s cow Henry). I’m a little unclear on the early days of the server, cos I’ve only seen a few youtube highlights, but that’s the gist of it. 
Then Wilbur Soot joins the server. With Tommy, Tommy’s friend Tubbo, Eret and Fundy (who is Wilbur’s son and also a fox in lore), they create a new country of L’manburg, declaring independence from the rest of the server.  Dream, the owner of the server, doesn’t like this idea and it sparks the first war - the battle for independence. After fighting, a betrayal which still hangs over the heads of everyone even now, and a whole lot of tnt, Tommy challenges Dream to a 1v1 duel for independence. He loses, but sacrifices both his prized discs to Dream, securing L’manberg’s independence. 
There’s a time of peace, other characters like Niki join L’manburg and then Wilbur announces an election because he wasn’t democratically elected and wanted to secure that power. They tell Quackity - another member of the SMP who isn’t allowed in L’manburg because he’s not European and L’manberg is for Europeans only - and he decides he’s running as well. 
A last-minute entry from JSchlatt and a party alliance between Quackity and Schlatt meant that Schlatt barely won the election. Schatt’s first decree is to exile Tommy and Wilbur, and they’re chased out of L’manburg by a rain of arrows. The walls are torn down, the flag burned by Fundy and a new flag erected and L’manberg is renamed Manberg. 
Tommy and Wilbur find shelter in an underground canyon they name Pogtopia, Tubbo is left behind and recruited to be a mole/spy for them and they call in the help of an old friend - Technoblade. 
(An aside here, Techno, Tommy, Wilbur and another Minecraft youtube - Philza - have a group dynamic called the Sleepy Boys Incorporated. Lots of people headcanon them as a family, with Phil being the father and the others being brothers, but I like Phil being Wilbur’s father, Tommy being adopted/just showing up and they can’t get rid of him, and Techno being an old friend of Phil’s who’s about Wilbur’s age)
Schlatt announces a Festival. Tubbo is in charge of decorations for it and is also giving a speech. On the way back after spying on the announcement, Wilbur turns to Tommy and asks if they’re being the bad guys. He then announces “let’s be the badguys” and despite Tommy’s protests, gets a Whole Lotta TnT of Dream. 
The day of the festival arrives - Wilbur has rigged the entirety of Manburg with tnt. Wilbur and Tommy spy on the festivals while Techno who was invited joins in. Then, after Tubbo’s speech - which is going to be the cue to explode it all - things start to go wrong. Schlatt and Quackity trap Tubbo in a box, and Techno is called up to execute him because Schlatt figured out he was a mole. 
Techno does because of mild peer pressure, Wilbur goes to find the button but can’t, Techno goes on a rampage and murders a whole bunch of people, and Tommy is Upset. Back at Pogtopia he challenges Techno to a 1v1 fist fight which he loses (dude has not won a single 1v1)
Tubbo is now with Pogtopia, having lost the second of his three canon lives (as have Tommy and Wilbur at different points). Fundy reveals himself to be a spy for Pogtopia (though Wilbur still calls him his ‘traitor son’ and ‘look my son who I despise”), and Dream announces that there’s a traitor in their midst. A date is set for the final war. 
The day arrives. There are 11 and a half stacks of tnt under Manberg. Techno shows the team his underground bunker and they all gear up. After a battle, Dream announces that they want to surrender, and shows them Schlatt, who dies to a very anticlimatic heart attack. 
Wilbur appoints Tommy president, who declines and Tubbo becomes president instead. Then Wilbur slips off to the button room, saying that the thing he built the country for no longer exists (turns out he’s the traitor). 
Then Philza, who had previously not been whitelisted, joins the server directly behind Wilbur and at the same moment, Techno shoots Tubbo, announcing that despite constantly saying he was fighting against government he’d been betrayed by them setting up a government right in front of him. Everyone starts fighting while Phil tries to talk Wilbur down. Wilbur doesn’t listen, hits the button, blows up Manberg and then asks Phil to kill him. Phil does, (somewhat reluctantly “you’re my son!”) and then rushes down to help the others fight the two withers that Techno just spawned. 
In the aftermath, New L’manberg rises with Tubbo as president. Techno goes into retirement and Wilbur comes back as Ghostbur - who is extremely wholesome and has a bad memory, cos he’s not able to remember anything bad. There’s a stretch of peace, in which Ranboo joins the server, Ghostbur, Fundy and Phil have some family bonding, Ghostbur hands out blue which apparently sucks up sadness, and some side plots happen. 
Then Tommy and Ranboo burn down the house of the current king of the smp and Dream takes his chance. Through various manipulations, threats, and forcing people into situations they don’t want to be from Dream, Tubbo exiles Tommy.  
Tommy has a Hard Time in exile with Dream heavily manipulating him, to the point where he’s staring longingly at lava in the nether and being a shell of himself. Ghostbur hangs out with him for a bit (giving him and tubbo both compasses that point to each other) but just vanishes one day, leaving tommy completely alone with Dream. (it’s later revealed that Dream sent him off to wander in the snow - and turns out snow and rain melts him. He also finds a blue sheep who he calls Friend)
 New L’manberg is rotting from the inside, Tubbo bowing more and more to the pressures of his new role and becoming more corrupt. He and his cabinet (Fundy and Quackity and Ranboo is there as well) put Phil under house arrest while trying to track down Techno to kill him. 
Dream pushes a little too hard with Tommy, and Tommy towers high into the sky, realizes Dream was never his friend and leaves, finding shelter under Techno’s house. 
The butcher army (Tubbo, Fundy, Quackity and Ranboo’s there too) capture Techno by holding his horse hostage and try to execute him, but he escapes with the help of Dream (which will come back because Techno now owes him a favour) and goes back home to find a feral Tommy living like a raccoon in his basement. Tubbo then goes to visit Tommy, only to find a creator where Dream blew everything up, and a tower reaching into the sky, with no sign of Tommy. He assumes Tommy is dead. 
Techno and Tommy have been hanging out together, Tommy wanting to get his discs back (Tubbo having one he gave him as a symbol of trust and Dream having the other, but Techno wants to destroy L’manberg and the government) Tommy is slowly building up his confidence and sneaking back into L’manberg. Techno rescued Phil from his house arrest. Tubbo has been burying himself in projects and being mostly ooc which I translate to ‘my best friend just died and it’s partly my fault so I'm gonna go make a guardian farm and Not Think About That.’ Ranboo is the only one with any sense and can see that Dream is holding all the streams and that people shouldn’t be fighting, but working together to defeat him. He’s technically part of L’manberg, but he’s been hanging out with Techno and Tommy a fair bit. 
And Dream commissioned a prison that is going to be completely inescapable. Like, completely. Like, the creator of the prison died and respawned inside it at one point and said it’d take him an hour to get out and he knows how it works and had to be teleported out. Like, this thing will send texts to the guards’ phones if a block is broken. We have no idea what it’s for and we are afraid. 
In today’s stream, Tommy and Techno hold someone hostage in an effort to get Techno’s weapons back, Tommy and Tubbo properly see each other for the first time and get into a bit of a fight, Techno starts to slowly turn Tommy against Tubbo/the government and Tommy faces off with Dream, gaining enough confidence to cuss him out. 
And that’s basically where we’re at now. This is a very rough outline of what happens, and I’ve left out most of the more cursed lore (Wilbur has fun) and a lot of the side plots (like the Crimson egg that’s been spreading, and El Rapids). If you wanna know more i’m down to info dump more and can provide you with links. 
Also, real quick, check out the animatics! SAD-ist has some amazing ones, as does Late-August, The Channel Without a Name and a WHOLE lot of other’s whose names I forget. Honestly just search ‘dream smp animatic’ and spend a couple hours looking through them they’re AMAZING. I can provide you with links of those as well!
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thedinanshiral · 3 years
Text
Temple Guardians
The sole basis to state some of the new concept art for DA4 shows Executors is one single triangle with a couple of wavy lines across it. And i’m tired of it, because that one interpretation is being treated as fact lately and it leaves so much out, so this is my humble and very tired contribution. 
First we had this piece of concept art in the behind-the-scenes video
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and from the moment i saw it i got strong ancient elvhen/temple guardian vibes. Very strong vibes.The background looks like ruins, the magic is new, they have a uniform. ~*-.´Temple Guardians´.-*~
Then we got this illustration to the short story Ruins of Reality, showing the elf Strife from Tevinter Nights on a different adventure, and this is when people began to lose it for me.
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OMG a triangle with wavy lines, OMG the Executors symbols, OMG definitely Executors, OMG. Yeah, at first glance, maybe, but..
People missed the other triangles, the other cracks that don’t resemble the Executors’ symbol at all.
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People missed the other triangles in the first concept art having a certain texture that again, doesn’t resemble the Executors’ symbol at all. People also failed to consider that such a mysterious and secretive faction wouldn’t be wearing their symbol on their back for easy identification...
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And missed the fact these outfits don’t resemble the only description we’ve had so far of what an Executor looks like (or not, because the one present in Dread Wolf Take You has their face covered as well, with a mesh).
I think the first and the latest concept art pieces represent one type of character, while the short story illustration represents Strife, particularly. And none here can be said to be an Executor based solely on their fashion sense. 
There’s one recurring character and it’s the archer.
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The outfit between the first two is clearly the same, and the animated version from the teaser trailer, while difficult to see clearly, not only has the same bow but also the mask and some details of the armor can be seen and matched to the concept art as well. 
So my take is this: Shield and Bow guys are most likely ancient elvhen, and temple guardians much like the ones from the Temple of Mythal. Remember Solas told Abelas that his people still lingers, implying there could be others like him elsewhere, and since the action is moving north and in particular Arlathan forest, we’re bound to encounter more ancient elvhen ruins. Possibly another ancient elvhen temple. A temple that, like Mythal’s in the Arbor Wilds, could still have its guards defending it. This archer stands in ruins, barefoot like elves do, with a uniform that has an aesthetic that reminds of ancient elvhen lines, and has a bow comprised of multiple triangular parts suspended in place by what appears to be magic, that shoot arrows of light, most likely also magic. 
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Notice the bow parts have details that almost  resemble some form of circuitry, with light/power going through it, which could be lyrium. Now, who used to mine lyrium to get more powerful to play war games? Well, arguably anyone in Thedas, but the Evanuris started it. I can imagine they designed and produced all sorts of weapons and artifacts for war that could use lyrium to amplify their powers. Either this character is a mage themselves and that bow is how they channel their magic, or this bow is an example of ancient elvhen design, infused with lyrium in a way that allows magic use for non mages. 
It’s a technology that could have had a variety of applications..
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..as we see this other guy rising up multiple triangular plaques as a shield. My first thought was all these triangular shapes could normally be part of their armor, detachable to take other forms, like this shield or that bow. 
Strife, on the other hand, is a modern elf who joins a Dalish clan nearby Arlathan forest. Chances are the outfit he wears in that illustration comes from Clan Morlyn, and it’s possible they preserved or tried to replicate whatever they could from their ancestors; this would explain the suspended triangles, or why they look cracked as if from age or wear. His hood also has visible and kinda messy stitches, and the cloak is one piece -unlike the others outfit which is made of four separate sections- which gives me more the impression he’s wearing a replica. 
As for what temple these guys could be guarding, i have two ideas: Andruil’s or June’s. Andruil’s basically because of the emphasis on the archer figure, and because Arlathan forest is full of creatures and she was Goddess of the Hunt. I can imagine Andruil enjoying herself hunting all over the place. June’s because these new weapons/equipment would be right up his alley as God of the Craft and he is specifically credited for having taught the People how to make bows. 
Talking about the Executors, there is a chance they could be a different faction of ancient elves, maybe a group who survived the fall of Arlathan and exiled themselves “across the sea”, but if that were the case then the total disregard with which Solas petrified the one Executor to have made an appearane so far i’d say they were the troublesome elvhen who were on the “wrong side”, the Evanuris side. Their very name “Executors” indicates they carry out someone else’s orders. For all we know so far, the Executors could be Evanuris loyalists, but which Evanuris? Lots of big ifs here. And still, i don’t consider the characters depicted in these concept art to be Executors, they seem pretty grounded, they’re given similar backgrounds and stance each time: in the first concept art they’re defending against something in some ruins, in the teaser trailer the archer is going after a red lyrium darkspawn that stands right next to the big tree that as we’ve seen before is the same tree that stands by a number of urns and graves, in this latest concept art the archer is aiming their arrow and ready to shoot. These figures are adopting a defensive stance each time. 
So there you go: Temple guardians. Or some other faction that serves a similar purpose but i like how Temple guardians sounds. I could be entirely wrong, any and all of us could be, but if i’m to consider any of this says “Executors!” i’m gonna need way more than two wavy lines on one of three triangles.
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in-tua-deep · 5 years
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Do both Fives get put in school in your double trouble AU? Do they get to have a chance at a (semi) normal childhood? How do the siblings handle having to actually parent one young kid and an actually an old man kid? And does young!Five bring out the childish side of old!Five? I just love this entire concept and young!Five having to fit in with the absolute disaster that his family has turned into. He loves them anyway.
“You know, we could go to school.”
Five flips a page in his book and ignored his ‘twin’ aggressively. But he could feel the heat of the stare from across the room and it was interfering with his concentration. So he glances up to meet gazes with a face identical to his own. “We aren’t going to school.”
“Why not?” Baby Five asks. Five shoots him a look but baby Five ignores him with ease, face earnest in a way they both know is false.
“I am fifty-eight years old.” Five informs his idiot double, as though anyone could ever forget what with Five bringing up his age every other minute. “I’m not going back to school.”
“Did you really keep track in the apocalypse?” Baby Five asks, raising his eyebrows at the other. His face is full of implied doubt, and Five would be offended if it wasn’t founded. When Five doesn’t respond, Baby Five crows triumphantly, “Ha! I knew you didn’t really know how old you are.”
“The Commission estimated!” Five protested, “I’m sure they were accurate!”
“Oh? Just like how accurate they were about the apocalypse definitely happening?” 
There’s really no good response to that so Five just shoves his book off his lap and crosses his arms childishly. Not that he’s a child. They already established this. 
Mercifully, Baby Five drops that line of inquiry to focus on the other equally terrible one. Perhaps not merciful after all. “What’s so bad about going to school, anyway?”
There’s a pause between them, before Five bristles, “It’s - it’s full of children that’s what!”
“You don’t even know what school is like!” Baby Five protests loudly, “You never even went! It could be fun!”
“If media has taught me anything it’s that school is in no way fun.” Five points out, standing his ground on the topic. Admittedly his knowledge of schools is limited - he only tried to scavenge around a couple during the apocalypse. Too many children’s corpses for his comfort, but a decent source of pens and paper and similar supplies.
“Claire said it’s fun.” Baby Five holds his position.
“Claire is six and the only things she’s really learning are how to read and write and make glitter monstrosities to hang upon the refrigerator.” 
“How do you know it wouldn’t be us making cool things to hang on the fridge?” Baby Five challenged, suddenly frowning. “Plus I mean - I dunno. I love Mom but I feel like she should be able to do her own thing, you know? Instead of teaching us?”
Five would like to protest that he doesn’t need the lessons since he’s an adult, but Grace has been a life saver when it comes to bringing both of her boys up to date on the present day and also gently giving them books and worksheets about things they never got to in lessons since they left at thirteen. 
“You want to be stuck learning about basic algebra and geometry?” Five asks instead, because it’s easier focusing on how school inconveniences them instead of how they are inconveniencing others. But his voice is just a tiny bit more uncertain that it was before.
Baby Five sighs deeply, “I mean. I guess not. But I’m bored of staying in the house all day and seeing the same people and just. Ugh. It’s been the same thing my whole life! Can’t we just like, pick and choose what classes to take? Maybe we could do maths with the higher up students.”
“I’m pretty sure we’re at like, the excessively knowledgeable ‘probably has a doctorate in mathematics’ level of maths.” Five says doubtfully, because it’s true. Five has been teaching his counterpart the equations and tricks he’s learned after forty-five years of doing nothing but think about equations and time travel in his spare time, but it’s not like it doesn’t come naturally to them. Five had always been light years ahead of his siblings when it came to the subject, and it was often a point of frustration when the others didn’t get something.
To Five, complex equations and algorithms were as second nature as walking. Sure they’d had to learn the basic at some point, but once they got the hang of it, it was easy. Time travel equations were more akin to figuring out how to walk on water instead of just walking. In this needlessly complex metaphor, that is. 
Baby Five slams his hands on the desk, making Five jump (though he’d deny it if pointed out), “That’s it! We could go to college! They let you pick classes and stuff there, right? So we could just test into the highest math class possible? Or not take one at all!” 
“We’re thirteen.” Five counters, but his tone is a little more thoughtful. “We’d have to take tests and stuff to say we’re ready to graduate high school. Which we are. Actually I’m pretty sure Reginald had us at college level when we were nine.”
“He always did have high expectations. But seriously! Just think about it! We’d get out of the house. We’d learn cool things. Luther ‘n Allison would stop fretting about what we’re gonna do with our lives. A whole new population to play tricks on.” Baby Five grins with mischief, and it makes Five crack a small smile back.
But there’s one problem. 
“Ugh, we’re going to have to legalize our existence if we want to do official things like that. And then they’re not just going to let us do our own thing, what if they try and take us away?” Five has never had a desire to go into the foster system, thank you very much.
“No one ever said we had to do things the legal way.” Baby Five sniffs, as though offended at the very thought of going through proper channels. Which, well. Yeah that sounded like the Hargreeves way. “I bet we could like, just pretend we’re the original Five’s kids or something. We would’ve been what, sixteen? There have been younger parents.”
“Pretend to be our own children? That’s your solution?” Five asks, eyebrows climbing up his face in incredulity. “And then what? Make it so we died and? Left our little orphan selves to family?”
“It’s plausible!” Baby Five protests.
“Yeah, and it would still wind up with us having one of our darling siblings as a legal guardian.” Five said firmly, which was his whole issue with this to begin with. “Which one of the boneheads downstairs do you want to have legal control of our lives?”
“Mom could do it?” 
“If you think Mom legally exists in the eyes of the law you’re even more naive than I thought.” Five sniffs, “She’s even worse off than we are.”
“Well okay miss negative Nancy,” Baby Five huffs, “You figure something out then.”
“Negative Nancy? Have you been hanging out around Klaus too often?” Five looks offended at the very possibility of their brother being an influence on his alternate self. Baby Five sticks out his tongue instead of answering.
There’s a pregnant pause between them before Five sighs, “Ugh. I’ll ask Mom about it tomorrow if it means so much to you. But I still absolutely refuse to attend a public high school with a bunch of snot nosed children.”
“We’re snot nosed children if you haven’t noticed.” Baby Five gestures between them with a roll of his eyes. This time it’s Five who sticks his tongue out childishly in response, even though as an adult he should really be above such things. 
“Maybe we can take a history course and you can correct the professor.” Baby Five offers, a vague sort of olive branch. 
“Bet you we could make at least one physics professor faint by jumping into class.” Five shoots right back, taking said olive branch with as much grace as he can allow. 
“Dibs on the time travel stuff for a thesis.” Baby Five grins.
“Absolutely not.” Five shoots down instantly, “When you spend forty years working on inter-dimensional maths, then and only then can you claim my work you little thief.”
And that ends the discussion on that.
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BUT YEAH essentially I don’t think any iteration of Five would ever really go to high school with other kids like that because honestly?? even as an actual thirteen year old Five is lightyears ahead on some subjects and he has issues. Can you imagine Five dealing with bullies and gossip and shit teachers?? 
Five would have one (1) person pick on him and break someone’s arm because he was taught violence is the first answer to everything. He’s genuinely kind of too dangerous to be around other kids his age. He’s also not one to suffer fools lightly, and so the first time a teacher taught something wrong (which they would because history class is full of historical revision and Five was probably there for half of it) he would butt heads with someone. I knew teachers who didn’t like to be corrected and I knew teachers who would be thrilled their student actually knows a subject, it just depends.
I mean Five is thirteen and that’s what? Eighth grade? That isn’t even high school yet. I was learning geometry. I was reading the outsiders. Learning all the prepositions in english class. Making bridges out of popsicle sticks in physical science and watching that one miracle of life video again. We had to run the mile every Wednesday and it was the worst. 
You think putting Five in a PE class anywhere near other children and dodgeballs is in any universe a good idea?? He would obliterate them. He would make at least one person cry and probably send another to the nurses office and then, when he got in trouble, wouldn’t understand what he did wrong. Because Diego threw knives at him and probably hit him at least once, a foam ball should be nothing and that kid is making a fuss for no reason. Doing sprints until he pukes - you mean an average Thursday in the Reginald Regime?
at least in college Five would be able to tailor his schedule and take whatever level course he needs. He could be in very high level math courses and be in beginner’s astronomy or intro to archaeology or linguistics 101 or whatever the hell he wants to learn tbh (probably anthropology or contemporary history courses if he wants to catch up to modern day??)
as for the parenting bit, both Five’s aren’t exactly what you would call receptive to being parented by anyone thank you very much and will aggressively tell you to fuck off if you tried
BUT both Five’s also wouldn’t know what the fuck a parent looked like if it hit them in the face with a baseball bat because when they think ‘parent’ they think ‘good old Reggie here to traumatize everyone again’ so their idea of being parented is?? being told to train, being told what to do/being given a schedule to follow with specific hours carved out for everything, private training, being told their flaws in excruciating detail, etc. so like,, if the bigger Hargreeves are careful and subtle about it and frame it in a sibling way then they can sometimes get away with it
after all if Diego drives Klaus everywhere, then it’s not bad if Diego offers to drive the Fives somewhere, even if they can do it themselves. If Allison fusses and puts more food on everyone’s plates then it’s not a thing and doesn’t need to be pointed out. If everyone has to check in with hourly texts to the group chat when they’re out after dark, then it just makes sense that the Fives do as well since knowing where everyone is can only be a boon after all the shit they went through in the apocalypse
honestly the parenting going on is basically just setting up healthy boundaries (making sure the Fives knock before just fuckin jumping into someone’s room or bathroom) and gently coaxing them into going out and doing things which they can frame as family outings/taking Grace out to see the world, and also gently nudging both Fives in the direction of healthier coping mechanisms/getting them to go to therapy, that sort of thing
Vanya is a firm believer in both therapy and setting an example so she probably gently encourages the whole family to find someone to talk to and holding up setting an example to the Fives as an excuse to get her whole family into much needed therapy is very helpful
and young Five ABSOLUTELY brings out the childish side in old Five, mainly because old five actually genuinely has No Fucking Idea how adults function and while he physically grew up, his social growth was very stunted by the,, how do i put this,,, lack of Anyone Existing Around Him For Forty Years so he has like?? vague ideas of how grown up people function but not a whole lot
like his primary example of Being An Adult are a) Reginald, an eccentric billionaire who didn’t work outside of abusing children like that was his job and b) the Handler who has no concept of personal space and frequently insinuates she’s going to kill him
and THEN,, when he actually achieves his goal and gets back to his family he gets a wonderful assortment of:
Luther, who lived on the moon for four years with no social interaction. Has never owned property or held down a job. Has he ever done taxes? Has he voted in an election? Does he even have a license?
Diego, who lives in a boiler room at the back of a gym and fights crime as a vigilante in his spare time after flunking out of the police academy. Has anger issues and an obsession with knives.
Allison, the movie star whose personal life is a fucking WRECK and is going through a brutal child custody case after she mind controlled her child on multiple occasions. 
Klaus, who in general is just a wreck of a human being who has no occupation that I know of and is frequently in and out of rehab. Also homeless and overdoses on a seemingly regular basis if the nonchalant-ness with the paramedic says anything on that.
Ben, who is dead and invisible to them but who likely died before reaching adulthood anyway so.
Vanya, who has managed to hold down a job and home but has no social life to speak of and taste in men bad enough to literally end the world if given the chance. Seething with anger and resentment that has been bottled down and doesn’t know how to deal with her own emotions (though that was mostly Reggie’s fault tbh)
but as you can see there is not one single human adult in the Fives lives that is even in the ballpark of healthy normal adult role model.
I got away from myself but my point is that Five doesn’t know how adults act and baby Five is capable of prodding Five into joining his shenanigans partially because of this fact and partially because Five just genuinely wants to have fun sometimes
and if, occasionally, the duo pretend to be one another so that Five has an excuse for acting as childish as his genuinely teen counterpart then, well,,, who can tell them apart anyway? and it’s in the name of the game and confusing their siblings so there
I have plenty of feelings about the double trouble au goodness gracious
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wisteriafield · 4 years
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Wisty plays Cinders part 5
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Only area left to do now is Ariandel. Seems like I could rush Freide without having to go through the whole area but I’m gonna wanna check for added content anyways
Despite the MLGS looking so cool, its actually weaker than the Aquamarine Dagger in my experience in so far
Found more weapons with unique movesets, Alonne’s Sword uses Freide’s scythe swings in 2h, does the Black Blade R2 into a fast UGS swing (if you buff with the WA the Shimatsuken does a Black Serpent pyromancy)
Chikage is actually nothing like Chikage and is a paired weapon of Chikage and the transformed version which uses the cut WA from Onikiri and Ubadachi. Beast Cutter actually has its moves, of all things, pretty sad they couldn’t do the same for other bloodborne attack animations.
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Iron Pinapple reference (wearing the Channeler set like his channel icon)
The actual video was done by InfernoPlus (who I hate but the video is funny)
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Thorned Greatsword is a greatsword with a UGS moveset, complete with lightning spear sword beam
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Trial of Perseverance is too hard, enemies hit way too hard for how aggressive they are, you pretty much have to use an ultra weapon to avoid getting overrun and are constantly backpedalling. Enemies constantly respawn a la Old Dragons from Sekiro, but I was hoping it’d have been more like SW Jedi Fallen Order where there was a fix amount of enemies so you could slowly push the offensive. Interesting mode though
Of the 10 waves, I’ve never made it past Wave 2
They seem to have a suggestion box so I’m gonna do a write up and send it somewhere that they’ll hopefully read when I finish my first playthrough. They locked a lot of rings
Literally everything about this game is more DS2, right down to things like including Red Crystal Lizards
For including BB items, the Hunter Set isn’t in the game, really baffling.
Spells have an increased effect once you totally max their upgrades (which involves rechallenging bosses with special global debuffs of your choosing)
Loyce Set is in the game, but no Loyce Sword, very upsetting.
Rings are like DS1/DeS levels of powerful, and some with up to +3 variants (Chloranthy +3 is +50 sta/s, normal speed is 45/s, +3 in vanilla is like +12 lol, for example, but you need it with how much more stamina you use in this mod)
Halflight’s goons are total cunts that can poise with just painting guardian set somehow and have like 10k hp, you wouldn’t even normally play this in multiplayer I don’t get why you’d make this this way.
NG+ exclusive enemies are a thing, as well as a separate mode that adds extra minibosses to certain areas.
Some areas are stupidly densely packed with enemies lacking in forethought of enemy placement you’d get in the vanilla game. Archives bridge is like Boletaria bridge on crack. I find it really insulting that some areas are setup that taking damage is inevitably no matter how well you try to play, and I feel the same way about passive poise vs invaders with fast weapons and spellcasters.
All in all, still would highly recommend for being able to replay bosses whenever, but hope that they sharpen some of the edges on the product
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grewupfcst · 4 years
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𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘬𝘢𝘪 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘴
[ connor franta, cismale, he/him ] have you seen ( malakai 'mack' sparks ) hanging around? the ( 24 ) year old often hangs around ( bean there, done that ) when they’re not being an ( actor/youtuber ). i’ve been told they’re ( witty ) but ( guarded ) and when i look at them, i see ( growing up too fast, playlists for all occasions, hugs that feel like home & bright stage lights met with brighter smiles ). wellcliff wouldn’t be the same without ‘em! [ spirit, 18, she/her, est ]
triggers: death (specifically death via car accident), anxiety & fighting/violence
Blake covered everything about the Sparks family in her intro for Ollie, but you know what? I’m gonna go over it again and then launch into Mack’s own history/personality, sprinkle in some headcanons.
Malakai Thomas Sparks was the second born son of Broadway actor Xavier Sparks and silver screen/television actress Joy Sparks (neé Townsend), younger brother of Ollie by three years.
When it came to families, Mack certainly lucked out because his was incredibly loving and accepting. Even though the world wasn’t always the kindest or most open to celebration of differences, the Sparks household would always be a safe place to retreat to.
This came into play many times over the course of his life, but two standout instances were his diagnosis of Generalized Anxiety Disorder (G.A.D. for short) before he started junior high and when he came out as gay during his freshman year of high school. He thankfully received plenty of support from loved ones which was all that truly mattered to him at the time.
In reaction to the world’s cruelty however, especially during his junior high and high school years, this kid got into his fair share of fights. If anybody messed with his friends or talked shit about his family, then Mack would be quick to put a stop to it either with well-crafted verbal takedowns or with an actual physical fight. Thankfully, the scuffles were nothing serious, but they still served as a lesson to would be bullies. There would be hell to pay if you screwed with any member of Mack’s inner circle.
For the most part though, Mack’s life was peaceful and idyllic. Made the grade in school, did well in his extracurriculars, had an awesome group of friends then went home to a loving family. Plus, his acting talent was starting to shine through during his school years and he’d taken up YouTube as a way to strengthen his acting abilities while also simply goofing off on camera to hopefully make other people laugh.
As the story goes, lady fate threw a wrench in that happiness. Xavier and Joy had been en route to a movie premiere when they unfortunately got into a car accident then passed the same night. Seeing as how Ollie was 18, the elder Sparks was declared Mack’s guardian.
Eventually, a sense of normalcy returned. Mack had continued making the grade in school, but he’d closed himself off for some time. But he did eventually start hanging out with his friends again. He also rediscovered his passion for acting and revived his YouTube channel which had been dormant following a video that announced a hiatus after his parents had passed.
Fast forward to the present day. Thanks to Mack’s YouTube channel being pretty well recognized at this point, he has been offered some roles in films made by production companies that frequently worked with YouTubers interested in acting careers. He’s got his foot in the door and his star continues to climb higher, plus his channel continues to do well.
Personality wise, there are plenty of things that people notice about Mack right off the bat. His brightness, for starters. He’s quite the intelligent guy yet he’s also young and still has plenty of learning to do. But brightness also means he does the best he can to look on the bright side of situations even if it might be difficult to do so or when it seems his normally realistic nature should win out. There’s also his unwavering loyalty when it comes to his loved ones. How he’ll always leap to their defense at the drop of a hat and will always be there to either help you move in or be a shoulder to cry on after a break up. Of course, there’s also the fact that he’s quite guarded. Even members of Mack’s inner circle have dubbed him a tough nut to crack simply because he doesn’t want them worrying about him when he is of the belief they most likely have bigger fish to fry than whatever problems he’s facing. And there’s no denying his impulsive nature either, especially when it comes to protecting his loved ones or buying tickets for the hottest concert.
And that’s all I’ve got about Mack, but there is so much more to be discovered as the rp goes on! It’s currently almost five in the morning as I’m wrapping this up, so thank you so much from the bottom of my heart for reading all of this. Feel free to like this, maybe slide into my messages and I’ll get back to you ASAP!
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I have a crack au idea for you- taken seriously or not. Asmr Channels AU. Logan’s have page turning, whispered facts, or silent videos. Roman has a bunch of RP videos, rarely is he himself and if he is- its him rambling about self care. Patton’s channel is mostly petting cats/dogs asmr, cooking, paint mixing or the goo stuff. Virgil is silent and never shows his face in his videos but his binaural sound affects like rain and thunder are fantastic. He also does ear to ear talks about anxiety
And as extra- remus’ are always ear eating or some gross obscene shit that makes the front page, and deceits videos are full of fx makeup and roleplays as well as quiet tapping. I’ve thought way too much about this because fuck i listen to so much asmr.
clone! clone! clone! okay, I also listen to a ton of ASMR so bood af on that front, also this could definitely be taken as crack but I love YouTuber AUs (in general for all fandoms) so I’m gonna take it seriously.
Alright, so I love the idea of Patton being like,,, the Dad of their corner of the ASMR world–like, he does ASMR videos that are also kind of educational (healthy tips, positive affirmations, step by step recipes, etc.) as well as very soft and caring (big brother/best friend roleplays, tucking you into bed, etc.). The others all absolutely watch him and would all vehemently deny it if asked because they don’t want people to know how much they need all of that.
Patton’s the only one who’s met all of them in real life and they also all independently came to the conclusion that they adore him and would protect him with their life (platonically or romantically, you decide) and again, would absolutely deny it if asked.
Virgil I agree would be great at soundscapes and things like that–sounds of a forest on a cold, winter’s night; thunderstorm outside your bedroom window; etc.–and definitely specialises in the slightly creepy while still being relaxing. He’s also done some more experimental stuff, like playing around with different sounds on the mic and dedicating videos to the ones that worked.
He’s never shown his face or even said anything though which is why it’s such a big deal for him when he agrees to a collab on Dee’s channel of Dee doing his makeup. (Pretty much) everyone was really nice about it and so, even though he doesn’t do it often by any means, he knows he has a little more freedom to make videos with his face or voice in it if he wants to.
I absolutely love the idea of Dee doing makeup stuff and I think he could do roleplays but they’d be a lot more sparing–something sort of ridiculous treated genuine like, “Planning To Overthrow The Government - Roleplay” or something like that. He also had a pretty popular series where he imitates other ASMRtist’s styles, even going so far as to dress up like them. He’s done everyone in their little corner except for Remus cause he refuses to stoop to that, no matter how easy he would be to imitate.
Roman turned up to their apartment semi-unannounced, so the two of them have done a collab together, though it was mostly unplanned. It ended up being a slight disaster because Dee wouldn’t stop flirting and Roman wouldn’t stop laughing, but they did end up with a passable video–and learnt that they actually get along quite well.
Remus started creating ASMR videos to spite Dee–his roommate–except then he actually started to enjoy it. And then he realised his brother had actually been doing it for years too and, since he was gaining notoriety pretty quickly, he continued not only cause he enjoyed it, but because he knew it would piss the two of them off.
He started with mouth sounds and eating videos and that sort of thing, though he pretty quickly stumbled upon the slightly weird roleplay videos that exist and was absolutely sold on them. So, he’s made a series of kidnapping ones, vampire feeding/turning videos and even an Addam’s Family roleplay. He got Dee to assist with costuming and makeup for that one since he decided it was necessary to play every single character himself. Virgil’s the only one of them who actually watches Remus’s videos but he thinks if he brought it up, both Roman and Dee would find a way to silence him. So he doesn’t.
Roman definitely also does roleplays, though he does the considerably more common ones–doctor, hairdresser, store clerk, etc. His favourite one he did was a guardian angel roleplay cause he got to employ all of that religious knowledge he’d gained growing up but didn’t really use. He’s done a series of softly singing you to sleep videos too, and he also does videos in Spanish as well as English.
Roman discovered Virgil’s love of Disney when he made varying Disney themed soundscapes on his channel and so when they meet up at a con they definitely do a Disney themed collab–a roleplay on Ro’s channel and more trivia on V’s.
Logan does more strictly educational facts because he initially started creating the videos purely for himself. His hypothesis was that since you learn a language well from exposure, that could translate to other methods of learning. Therefore, if he surrounded himself by the knowledge he needed to know when he was relaxing or right before going to sleep it could blend into his subconscious and assist him in processing the information.
He shared this method with Virgil–his best friend–who was basically willing to try anything to help him study. V said while it may not have necessarily helped him study, he did fall asleep really quickly and then subsequently explained to him the concept of ASMR. Logan was actually drawn in almost immediately.
So, Logan makes educational videos as well as some simple sound videos Virgil has helped him out with, as well as videos where he simply read part of a fiction book or textbook. His first roleplay was a librarian one and he kept getting excited about the books, and Virgil, who was helping him out with it, couldn’t stop pointing out what an absolute nerd he was.
I may have gone slightly overboard here but, uhhhh, yeah. I really love this idea.
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aphmau · 5 years
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The Audience of My Channel
Okay, holy hell....
I wrote a freggin’ long history and now that I’m lookin’ through it... it’s a mess.
I’m going to TL;DR this who want the point but if you’re seriously concerned about this and want to understand the history then I recommend reading but understand this post is a mess of explanation but it’s worth the read IMO if you are interested in this history of my MC content and who it’s intended for.
TL;DR: My heavy story content isn’t aimed at kids/younger audience, if that was not evident from S4 alone then there is plenty of evidence from BEFORE and during Diaries days to support this. The heavy MCD implications also show I’m writing for that older audience who grew up with me. I’ve retained a lot of my audience from those days and know that young adults watch my stuff (hence a small reason for my lack of growth due to not conforming to kids content, you’ll see other MC YTers who convert to Roblox taking off in comparison) Some of my content can be found on the YT kids app and if you are a parent/guardian concerned about the heavy material I recommend using the YT kids app as it censors those seasons/episodes. It’s not 100% perfect but the kids who do watch me only know me for the content listed on the YT kids app. Most parents who let their kids have free roam of base YT are already aware of the lack of censorship from all sorts of YTers and have expressed they are aware of the material in my content and allow their kids to watch under their supervision and guidance. Who/What people watch on YT is up to them to decide. I rate my vids in the self rate system to be aimed at the demographic I’m writing for. 
OKAY THAT’S NOT TL;DR, BUT CLOSE ENOUGH. The rest goes into detail and is what I originally wrote if you want to understand my prospective. AGAIN IT’S EVERYWHERE.
Alright so I’m in the addressing mood, but let’s start this train with one thing at a time. Today I want to clear up a misconception that a lot of people tend to have about my channel. 
“Aphmau has a kid audience.”
To some extent, this IS true.  These days people naturally associate “Minecraft” with kid friendly content. Especially with YouTubes crack down on what is advertised to kids via search. (Which as a parent: thank you YouTube.)
To another extent, this IS false.
In the early pioneer days of MC a whole ton of adults were playing the game which promoted the popularity of it. These were also the days YouTube didn’t have heavy censorship so everything was free game. There were adults cursing and talking about sex during gameplay, having tiddies in the thumbnail, to adults playing MC drunk. Again totally the early days of both YT and MC. 
During this time a lot of the MC audience was mixed, both young and older. (I was in the older crowd; was watching Shadow of Israphel by the Yogscast at the time before my channel started) Eventually time passed and it was obvious that the game by itself appealed more to the younger demographic and it kept that audience. [I’ll get back to this point later].
Around the time I entered the MC scene it was the untamed wild west. Hell, I remember doing a Cops and Robbers video with Adam about being high the whole time. Around that time I was writing Diaries which had a lot of adult themes, war, topics, violence, death, [babe house, tho that’s not bad], sexual implications, blood, etc. etc. I also had side series going on that were more light hearted [Pixelmon, Mod Mod World, etc.] I also played games such as Saints Row, Hunie Pop, Dead Space, etc.
Again all this was in the untamed wild west of the internet. 
Fast forward to today, all of those youngins who consumed that content have now grown up. They are either finishing up High School or already in College or they have always been adults and are just older (and by that I mean they’re even more cooler now) Surprisingly a LOT of them have been with me from that long ago... and holy crap you guys... thank you for being with me for that long <3
Fast forward to today again, you’ll see MC and YT have been censored heavily.
If you want to be a successful MC YouTuber these days - You gotta make content aimed at kids to get on that YT kids app - and just let me say there’s nothing wrong with that at all! I’m all for peeps makin’ their content the way they want to for the audience they want to consume it. (always disliked when creators would belittle others for the kind of content they make)
Let me say this: Diaries and MyStreet [plus a few other series] have always had heavy adult themes in them. I have been watching my audience grow from the start and know who I am writing for since a lot of peeps who are watching the more intense series have aged with me. 
“But you have kids who consume your content!”
Yes, there are children who consume my content because it is on the Minecraft platform. You will also notice the most vocal peeps in the YT comment section/twitter/insta/etc. tend to be youngin’s who will shame you for liking a certain ship, hate you for your opinions, etc. [they are NOT ALL like that] Understand that these peeps (while I love and appreciate their support, wish they read my PSA’s and were a bit more understanding sometimes) are often in the minority of those who consume the more intense storylines/game play. Of course there are exceptions. Creators after YEARS of experience, data, and analytics will know who watches what content based on statistics and feedback. Some of our decisions are based on the analytics we receive and what people show they want in content by watching it.
Now, where are these “children who are watching my content” consuming it from? The YouTube Kids App. (GOD THIS ISN’T A PLUG BUT IT’S GONNA SOUND LIKE ONE BECAUSE I GET INTO PARENT THINGS, ALSO THIS IS RELEVANT TO WHO CONSUMES MY CONTENT SO IF YOU CARE ABOUT THIS TOPIC PLEASE BEAR WITH ME) 
As a parent, I use the YouTube kids app. The YouTube kids app has a LOT of options to make sure kids under the age of 13 are consuming the content their parents want them to watch. (But the age you can set goes all the way to like 20+ for some reason) There are two options: 
1.) [Younger] More restricted, meant for preschool kids and elementary school kids.
2.) [Older] For parents who think their kids are old enough to be less restricted and it even warns parents that there may be suggestive content, violence, etc. In this option.
There are a lot of kids consuming the more tamed versions of my content which they know me for. There are some children I meet at fan meets that don’t even know that certain episodes of Diaries or MS Season 4, 5, or 6 exist or that I even do RP’s. (They seem to like my content for Snipper Clips, Love Balls, MyCraft, etc.) I’m perfectly fine with the app gating off my mature content, rightfully so since it’s not meant for that demographic. With a lot of that being said I cannot control what is and is not seen on that app, but know that a lot of my mature content is off of it.
That being said, my writing is aimed at teens, young adults, and adults. 
The problem is people see MC as being “ONLY FOR KIDS! THIS IS A KIDS SHOW IF IT’S IN MINECRAFT!” which to me... as someone who has been using the platform since the Wild West days... to pretty much tell similar and just as harsh stories since then... is pretty much the equivalent of saying: “IF IT’S A DRAWN LIKE A CARTOON IT MUST BE FOR KIDS!” Or “VIDEO GAMES ARE MEANT FOR KIDS” (which are very ignorant statements because cartoons and games can be for adults)
Again the problem lies in the fact that I’m still using MC as a platform to tell stories. And really, that’s not a problem since I know where my content is being consumed, I know who consumes it, and I know who I am writing for. 
The kids app exists for parents who are active in their child’s lives and make sure my content is what their kids want to consume and I use that as a barrier to entry for younger kids who don’t get the themes in my mature content. 
The people who have grown up with me and know the adult themes in my story often times don’t want to admit to their friends that they watch Minecraft because of the stigma that comes with that statement and often times won’t participate in the community. Btw, side note: For those that are vocal I sincerely appreciate you who have been around forever and help grow the community.
[ADDITIONAL UNIMPORTANT NOTE: We actually did a test run to see if our audience was younger than we thought. I tried doing a ROBLOX RP to see if maybe our demographic was there instead of MC. (...Also I wanted to make something for our kids to watch.) It turned out the feedback from the audience was so overwhelmingly negative on it because peeps didn’t want to see the channel turn into a “kids channel” with kid directed content]
But again... the problem is the stigma that comes with using MC as a storytelling device. A lot of YTers bowed out of MC because they felt they no longer had the creative freedom they once had before censorship happened. Which if I had been completely kid friendly from the beginning I could see where the problem is, however this is not the case and adult themes (be they subtle or not) have always been there.
My content is for those who want to consume it on the main YT site/app. Anyone under the age of 13 SHOULD be using the YT kids app, but that is in their parents hands to decide what is appropriate for their kids. I advise fellow parents when they ask me in person to make sure my content is for their kid(s) and to have open discussions about the topics at hand if they decide to allow their kids to consume my content. I understand parents cannot be there 24/7 but they should not entrust media to be the core source of conversation for a mind that’s still growing and needs a parent/guardians guidance.
I will continue to use MC as a platform and the YT self rating system to make sure my content gets pushed to the right outlets, I cannot monitor who sees my content. Eventually I’d like to move to another story telling platform OR modify MC so it doesn’t look like MC anymore but rather something that looks similar to the unity engine. (We tried this with Ultra Nova but didn’t have people who cared about the project enough to help with it. Jason ended up doing the modeling and it didn’t come out like we had hoped) Jason and I would love to get into animation (2D/3D), but that is not possible at the moment, however we are working on that and maybe later FAR down the line you’ll see that! (you can see with S6 we’re getting a feel for it! Animation ain’t just there for show it’s for prepping for the future)
I will do my best to open up more about my creative choices. 
I understand some peeps are upset about the Ein/Aphmau thing and I plan on addressing that (maybe in another blog post later this week but it might just say what I’m about to say). Peeps tend to get riled up as soon as something negative happens and are on “attack mode” which leads to provocation and just a whole mess of emotions coming from both sides. But since I’m trying to be more open right now I’ll give it my best shot to address it later. For now to give a brief summary: not all stories/characters are 100% planned. My writing for stories years ago was not written knowing exactly where the characters would be year(s) later. Again a topic to get into depth for another time. I know there are peeps out there who won’t listen and will probably see everything I say as an excuse. But hey, I’m gonna open up and if they want to believe me or not is up to them. I understand why they’re upset and I value and respect their opinions, but implying someone’s absolute moral beliefs on a taboo subject through a fictional story is just odd. I think my girl Michaela best sums that up in this post. 
My responsibility as a creator is to create. I do take responsibility in who sees my content through the systems that are set in place for that. But there is also a responsibility in the viewer to know the type of content they’re consuming. In the future maybe I’ll add in self ratings since that isn’t completely and transparently done through YT. 
Whew, I hope that sums things up or at least gives an answer to a few things.
Sorry for being all over the place with that post, let me know if you want me to convey anything in better detail for this topic. I’ll address other topics mentioned in here when I have a moment, thanks again for your time! <3 (appreciate if you took the time to make it this far!)
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sleepyfan-blog · 5 years
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Why this?
your angsty discord request @izzy-the-bizzy dreamswap by @onebizarrekai
warnings: major character death, ds crue, angst, implied manipulation
characters: DS Blue, DS Cross, DS Dream, DS Nightmare, DS Error
word count: 2,048
summary: All Cross wanted to do was bake a cake and enjoy spending time with his boyfriend.
Despite the fact that his former friends hadn't contacted him at all - not since he had come to stay with Blue - Cross had to admit to himself that he... He missed them. He missed the hijinks that the three of them could get up to - even if running for their lives from JR and Nightmare's lunatic brother wasn't always fun. He also... Worried about them, as he did regularly rescue them after they'd gotten captured by Justice Reigns. But his phone with their contacts had broken months ago and he... He had tried to text them with his new phone, using code phrases to tell them that it was him trying to talk to them but...
They never responded. Which hurt, but Blue's steady, calming presence had been a wonderful gift. The two of them  had been dating for about two months, and while... While Blue could get really intense sometimes, he was also very attentive and sweet and Cross didn't understand why Error held a special hatred for the swap Sans. Maybe it was because Blue was a hugger? He knew that the glitched skeleton had a fear of touch... But Cross didn't mind touch - and was more than content to let Blue cuddle him while they watched TV or played video games. The other still talked on his phone a lot and interacted with... Shady people, but as Cross was still wanted by Justice Reigns, he figured that he wouldn't judge anyone else who was on that list.
Sure there were people who deserved to be in the crazy angel's hit list, but as the three of them were innocents... Cross was pretty sure that there were more.  soft sigh left him as he stretched and yawned, glancing at the front door to their home. Outertale really was beautiful, and he... He liked being able to stay in one place for more than a couple of weeks that wasn't the omega timeline as... It felt more real. Blue said that he would be home from a job soon, and Cross was trying not to get worried. He got up and paced around their home, before deciding that he was going to make the both of them a chocolate cake. It would give him something to do other than to stare at the channels that had nothing on - or the video games that he'd played a million times (they weren't as fun by himself).
Humming softly to himself, Cross pulled out the ingredients that he needed.. Another thing he appreciated about living with Blue - he could impulsively decide to make himself something to eat and wouldn't have to go out and steal half of the ingredients because they had to leave behind everything that they didn't have on them or in their inventories three dozen or so AUs ago, because Nightmare's brother was a lunatic.
It was super tempting to just eat the batter, the warm scent of the rich chocolate tempting as he scraped it out into the cake pan. He could almost hear Nightmare's scolding voice "It's better when it's cooked, Cross." Or Error quietly asking for the bowl, so that he could lick it clean. Not that Nightmare was any better at avoiding eating batter. The oven beeped, and Cross grinned, sliding it into the center, humming a little more as he cleaned the mixing bowl and giving into the urge to lick the spatula clean before actually washing it.
He double checked the fridge and danced a little in victory "Yes! We have cream cheese!" Cross celebrated, double checking that it didn't have either of their names on it, before scraping it into the freshly washed bowl, pulling a couple of bars of dark chocolate from his special stash and melting the chopped pieces in the microwave as he measured out the rest of the ingredients for the frosting that he wanted to make, mixing them together, and carefully pouring the melted chocolate in as soon as it was cool enough.
Waiting for the cake to cook took forever and Cross rocked backwards and forwards on his feet, occasionally staring at the frosting, before looking away again. No. He could wait until the cake was cooked... and cooled... before he frosted the cake and had some. Trying to frost the cake while it was warm would lead to a deliciously sticky, melty mess. Which Error and Nightmare appreciated, but disappointed his boyfriend and he didn't want to disappoint Blue. He liked it when Blue was happy with him and this was going to be so tasty. Cross could feel it! He had poured all his love and care into making the cake and the frosting, even though he had danced around like a dork while doing so. But Blue wasn't there to see and tease him about it, so there.
Cross wandered back to the TV, turning it on, mostly for something to distract himself as the cake was going to be a while in the oven and then the fridge (maybe he could put it in the freezer instead? So that it would cool faster? But... There wasn't much room in their freezer right now) and he needed to do something to distract himself from eating handfuls of warm cake and freshly made frosting like a "Godless heathen, goddamn it Cross! At least share, damn it!". He didn't particularly feel like watching any of the metta- or napstaton shows going on - and would have skipped past the Justice Reigns news channel, as it was either recordings of Licht's speeches, propaganda or both mostly, but they were doing a breaking news bulletin about a dangerous and clever criminal.
Grinning a little and curious as to what sort of prank Nightmare pulled on Dream this time, Cross jumped over the back of the couch with a flip, landing on his butt and bouncing up a bit with the force of landing on one of the cushions. The newscaster continued "-nd unfortunately, though Von Licht was able to fully rehabilitate the dangerous criminals Nightmare and Error, a particularly powerful Swap Sans with some Coding abilities that goes by the name Blue has proven himself to be utterly unrepentant."
The camera switched to a live-feed image of Dream, with Ink, Nightmare, and Error at his sides. With Ink and Nightmare on his right and left sides respectively. Error was holding Blue in his strings, the other's soul pulled out, the strings holding them looking as if they were starting to cut in painfully - especially as his boyfriend was wincing a little and shaking. Dream stared down impassively at Blue, who was on his knees.
Panic filled Cross as he desperately tried to figure out which AU they were in - spotting JR's main castle. Determination filled the skeleton and his blade manifested in his his hands. With a powerful burst of energy, he slashed himself a portal into Dream tale, as close to where his boyfriend was being held as possible, running as fast as he could, as he couldn't overcome the anti-teleportation wards. What the fuck were Nightmare and Error doing by Dream's side? Had they been brainwashed? Was that why they hadn't been answering him? Not that he really cared what the answers to those questions were - he and Blue could plan to rescue his idiot friends after the other was safe.
"BLUE!" Cross screamed, tears sliding down his face as he leaped onto the stage, slashing through Error's strings, intent on grabbing the other and continuing to run as fast as he can - and teleporting away as soon as they cleared the wards.
"Cr-Cross no! W-wait!" The love of his life cried out, tears streaming down the other's face "No d-don't!"
A wave of pure despair crashed through the former royal guard, and Cross felt himself crumple down into a heap, weeping inconsolably. There was a restraining hand on one of his shoulders, and he looked up, reaching up to his face and wiping his tears from his eye sockets enough to realize that Nightmare was the one restraining him "W-why?" He asked, his voice cracking in pain and confusion.
"Blue is... Blue is the worst sort of being. This was the only way that Error and I could come up with to rescue you. He's... He's dangerous, Cross. He's vile and manipulative and-" The negative guardian spoke, voice low and insistent "He's been using you for months. The only thing we could do was to go to Dream for help."
"Dream.. Th-the same being wh-who's been hunting you most of your life. Who wants us all dead. TH-that Dream? Nigh... Nightmare I know that you d-disapproved of m-me and B-Blue together but th... This..." Cross responded. If he wasn't so despondent he'd be furious. But he was drowning in his own despair. He stared up at Dream, the only one who could stop this "Please... L-lord V-von Licht... Please spare Blue. He... He's... He's not all bad I-I promise. I l-love him s-so much and I know he loves me... I-I'll do anything!"
"His crimes are numerous and grievous, young skeleton. He is the head of a powerful and widespread crime ring that delves into everything from blackmail and extortion, to illegal substance production and distribution, to name a few. He is also known to be an abuser and mind-breaker. I can sense that your feelings for him are true, but he is too dangerous to allow to continue to live." Von Licht responded, shaking his head a little "While you currently believe that he is a loving and kind partner, after time has passed and you heal from his psychological manipulation and training,  you will realize what he's done to you. While it is true that he does hold some twisted affection for you, he is causing far too much damage to the multiverse as a whole for me to allow him to live, and he has proven resistant and defiant to rehabilitation."
"No... No... Please no... Don't... Don't kill him. Please! Ni-Nightmare ple-please t-talk sense into D-dream... E-error? Please... Please don't let this happen..." Cross begged, still entirely too miserable to do anything but plead. He should... where was his determination to make things better? why... Why was it the only thing he could do was weep and plead.
"That monster twisted me so far around I couldn't tell which way was up unless he told me!" Error  hissed, having already wrapped his strings around Blue's body and Soul again, his eye lights blazing with anger "And I can tell he's done the same thing to you... Don't worry, Cross. We'll help you recover. I thought that Blue was good for me too, before you and Nightmare found and rescued me."
"But Blue hasn't... He hasn't hurt me. He-He's never struck or hit me once..." Cross protested, tears still freely flowing from his eye sockets "Please don't do this..."
"It must be done. For the betterment of the multiverse - and to allow both Error, yourself and everyone else that this monster has ever abused and manipulated to begin to truly heal." Von Licht responded, shaking his head a little "It is a pity how deep you are currently lost in his machinations, but that will pass."
Blue cleared his nonexistent throat and asked, his voice wavering a little, but full of that bravado and cheerful determination that Cross admired so dearly "Dream von Licht, as you are about to have me killed, may I have one final request, before I am murdered before millions after a very fast trial that was held less than an hour ago in one of your courts?"
Dream's wings twitched a little in irritation, the only indication of his true mood that Cross was able to spot "And what is this request of yours, criminal?"
"I would like to kiss my boyfriend one last time, so that he has one final memory of the two of us being close." Blue asked.
"Request denied." The angel growled, flicking one of his fingers in a decisive gesture.
Cross howled as he watched Blue's soul shatter before his very eyes, the other's body dusting slowly.
"Remember me... My love... That way... I'll always be... In your heart..." Blue murmured sweetly, the last thing to fade was his wonderful smile.
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ruler-of-scientists · 5 years
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Project SHELL
Deire was getting increasingly tired.
Not only was the backlog of work something she had to work through on top of all the daily work she already had, her attempts to extract more info on the blueprints she had discovered were turning up little progress. It was difficult juggling her daily tasks alongside her personal investigation- she could usually handle her personal tasks and investigations at the same time, but Veryn’s tasks as Homeworld Leader were on a whole different level of activity. It was no wonder she saw so little of Veryn outside of meetings, arranged or otherwise, and during worktime.
The fact that she was the one selected to succeed him in his area of work had never been daunting, but she was only now beginning to have a true appreciation of the job’s difficulty. The responsibility of an entire planet- no, an entire race- was on her shoulders and though she would not crack under pressure, she was beginning to face herself with the possibility of dropping the investigation and just continuing to do her job in her mentor’s absence.
But she refused to see this as an option. Veryn had hidden some projects from her before, but he had always revealed them to her shortly after they had proven viable. This was different. These blueprints were dated to at least a century ago, indicating the project had been ongoing for just over a hundred years- and all without her knowledge. It bothered her. It didn’t anger or displease her, but it bothered her that Veryn, her mentor and role model, the one she looked to for guidance and tutelage who trusted her with a lot more than he usually trusted anyone else....
It bothered her that he of all people was keeping a secret this great. She had stumbled upon it by mere accident during that conversation with Silver, it was unlikely Veryn had intended to keep the blueprints themselves hidden, but she knew as well as Veryn himself did that the blueprints were just the tip of the iceberg....
There had to be project notes. Lab reports, Experiment testing results. Images, videos, something, anything beyond blueprints which developed from each other, but that was all she could find. They were hidden, well hidden, and it was because Veryn not only didn’t want her to know. He didn’t want anyone to know. And that was why she knew it was important. Veryn was known for his secrets, but this was excessive even for him. A mechanical life-form designed to use PSI without risk or constraint was possible but still difficult without organic components to generate the natural willpower needed to utilise Psionics in the first place, and even a mechanical frame, no matter how resilient compared to an organic one, had its limits with the amount of PSI that it could channel.
This is why they’d never went beyond the ‘Final’ class in Starmen, because that class was the very furthest the Starman design could be pushed in terms of physical resilience and mental ability to channel- if they dared push further, there was no Starman frame with current technology levels that could withstand that level of power without rupturing, not to mention the disastrous damage that would be done to the organic mind utilising such power...
All these thoughts going through her head, and eventually she found herself laying her forhead in a palm with her eyes closed, beginning to drift off. She blinked a few times, then shook herself off and sat up in Veryn’s chair, casting a brief glance to the cityscape outside. A large ship could be seen hovering over the surface, transporting various materials transported from other colonies down to the metal planet while also admitting other supplies to take to those colonies. She had sanctioned an order for those materials some time ago, only to have to redo the order when Auri had pointed out to her that she had made a mistake in the document authorising the transportation of certain materials that were meant to be distributed to another facility instead of the Homeworld itself.
She had made the correction in time but such an error, while hardly disastrous, was unacceptable to a perfectionist like herself. Mistakes...she couldn’t afford to make mistakes but she recognised that she was reaching a level of overwork that made her far more susceptible to making the very mistakes she so despised.
Auri, stood to the side and observing her, chose this moment to speak up. “Ma’am...you are thoroughly exhausted. I must insist that you rest.” “I cannot,” Deire sighed in no small amount of tiredness, attempting to rub her eyes of the desire to close over; “I will use the Instant Revitalizer in short order, then continue.” “The Instant Revitalizer can only compensate for so much so many times,” Auri countered with a disapproving whirr, moving closer a step as if to make a stronger point. “You need real rest. Your working capabilities are declining and you -beep- are in no shape to continue operating your duties as de-facto leader of this society while Veryn is absent. It is against my -vrr- directives to attempt to enforce your need to sleep like when you were a child, but I would be enforcing this need right now if I were unbound.”
“Do not suggest such treasonous behaviour,” Deire hissed now, in audible irritation, irritation that she immediately took back, both because she knew it was unproper of an Arkan to display such emotion no matter the circumstances and because Auri only had her best interests at heart.
Try as she might, she could never seperate from the little girl inside her who had seen Auri as her guardian in the past during times of great turmoil for her. She would never acknowledge it openly, but it did influence her current act of sighing again, then sitting more upright in her chair and looking to her bodyguard. “My apologies. I merely...cannot understand why or where Veryn would hide all traces of this project, especially from me. I must understand.” “Perhaps it is not your place to,” Auri suggested, earning a squint from his ward. He continued, somewhat hastily but without any trace of uneasiness, “I mean -whirr- to say that perhaps this matter is something Veryn wants to keep secret from you specifically.” “...I cannot believe that,” Deire stated, and it was not one of faltering disbelief- it was a flat out denial of the notion that Veryn would ever want to keep something secret from her on purpose. And if it was the case, it only made her want to discover what the secret was even more. She frowned, then turned back to the console before her. She rubbed her temple, then shook her head. “...perhaps you are right on the front of me needing rest, however...I must not drive myself into a pointless rut achieving nothing when I have actual things to do with my abilities hindered by this exhaustion.” She almost yawned, but closed her eyes and let air out through her nose instead before nodding. “...very well. I will rest, then...Auri, take me to my ship.” “-click- Excellent, ma’am,” the Starman Deluxe replied readily, phasing over to Deire in preparation. “By the way, ma’am...you have a request from a collegue of yours in the Dome to meet tommorow. Will I organise it into your schedule?” Deire paused as she stood, her tail twitching at the tip a little; she looked at Auri, then back at the monitor...before looking back at him again, and nodding. “Yes. Very well. Allot whatever time is needed.” Another pause, then she gingerly reached out and took the Starman’s pointed hand. “Thank you.” “I will rearrange your schedule around it...and you are welcome,” Auri acknowledged, before flashing out of existence with her, the two reappearing in Deire’s personal ship far above in the planet’s skies. Meanwhile on the screen inside the office, before it automatically shut down, was a blueprint of a mechanical life-form that vaguely resembled Cercil, like before.
Except this time it was headed with the title: “Project: SHELL.”
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spjm04 · 5 years
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Movie Synopsis & Review: Why "Thor: Ragnarok" is the Best MCU Movie
Taika Waititi's "Thor Ragnarok" feels more like an homage to 2014's "Guardian's of the Galaxy" than a sequel to the dark, dull 2-and-a-half hour bathroom break that was "Thor: The Dark World" It performs the balancing act of comedy and action that recent MCU additions try to accomplish with flair and excitement. PLOT SYNOPSIS The story begins with a bang as we see Thor lying captured in a crate, having failed in his quest to find Infinity Stones. Thor escapes to find Surtur, a mythical creature which threatens to destroy Asgard, in an event known as Ragnarok (hence the title). Thor then steals Surtur's helmet, the key to Ragnarok before defaeting an army of Surtur's minions whilst "Immigrant Song"  blares in the background. This scene perfectly sets the tone for the rest of the movie, and sends us a message. "Thor: Ragnarok" exists to redeem Thor. Thor's brother Loki is revealed to be alive once he returns to Asgard, and it turns out he had been disguising himself as Odin, yet Odin is in fact on Earth. Thor and Loki return to Earth and, after an encounter with Doctor Strange, travel to their father in Norway and catch him in his dying moments. After the tragic death of his father, it is revealed that the Odinsons have a sister, this movies main antagonist, Hela, Goddess of Death. Hela crushes Mjoilnir with little effort, before instantly going to Asgard. Thor winds up in space on a what resembles a floating garbage dump when he is attacked by a dangerous group who intend to eat him. Thor is, however, saved by a bounty hunter, Valkyrie. He thanks her, but she electrocutes him and kidnaps him. Thor is taken to Sakaar, where we are introduced to the Grandmaster. He runs gladiator fights on his plant, and after buying Thor from Valkyrae, throws him into a dungeon to await his fight against "The Champion" Meanwhile, on Asgard, Hela restores her undead army so she can conquer all the realms. Yet this turns out to be impossible as Heimdall is hiding with the Bifrost sword. Thor is thrown in to the arena to fight the champion, who turns out to be none other than the Incredible Hulk. After fighting for a while, Thor looks like he is about to die, until his new powerful thunder powers appear. He is about to defeat Hulk until the shocker in his neck stops him. Back on Asgard, Hela is about to execute a woman as no Asgardians will reveal Heimdal's location until one man steps up, endangering his fellow Asgardians yet saving the woman. After Thor speaks to Hulk, Hulk tells of the Quinjet that is on the planet, and so Thor begins to plan his escape. After learning that Valkyrie is also Asgardian, he fails to convince both her and Hulk to join him on his quest to stop Hela. Thor manages to remove the device from his neck before rushing to the Quinjet. Hulk follows him, destroying the Quinjet, but sees a video of Black Widow, which calms him down and for the first time in two years, he turns back in to Bruce Banner. Thor explains to Banner their current situation whilst the Grandmaster hires Loki and Valkyrie to hunt for his missing prisoner Thor. Loki forces Valkyrie to remember her past fight against Hela and forces her to have a change of heart. So, Valkyrie, Banner and Thor all form a plan to escape. Thor manages to steal a ship, despite Loki's efforts, and he escapes alongside his fellow "Revengers" Reaching Asgard just as Hela is about to destroy the remaining population who had attempted to escape through the Bifrost Bridge, Thor engages her in a vicious battle but is still overpowered and loses an eye. Feeling he is useless without his hammer, Thor has a vision of Odin who explains to his son that the hammer simply channeled his powers reminding him he is the God of Thunder. Odin also tells him that anywhere can be Asgard, as long as its people survive so will the society. Now realizing his full abilities, Thor unleashes a massive lightning bolt sending Hela flying. . Thor unites with Valkyrie and Loki knowing Hela will soon be back as she is only growing stronger from Asgard's power. Thor suddenly realizes that he cannot stop Ragnarok but must instead bring it about, and sends Loki down to the vaults to throw Surtur's skull into the living flame. Loki does so and escapes just as Surtur is reborn and starts laying waste to the realm as well as presumably killing Hela. Thor escapes with Loki, Hulk, Heimdall, Valkyrie, and his fellow Asgardians just before Asgard is completely decimated. Although Thor is upset about the destruction of his home, he knows that he had to do it to prevent the extinction of his people. He then finally meets his destiny and takes the 'throne' (really, the captain's chair on the bridge) where his first order is to return to Earth. CHARACTERS Thor Odinson: Chris Hemsworth delivers his best performance as the God of Thunder yet. He changed his Shakespearean-esque personality and tone, and mad Thor much more human. Thor has awkward moments, cracks jokes and is cocky when he wants to be. He is now one of the most powerful characters in the MCU, even without his hammer, and will be a formidable threat to anyone who crosses his path. Taika Waititi and Chris Hemsworth achieved the impossible; they not only redeemed Thor, but they made him one of the best characters in the entirety of the MCU's roster. Bruce Banner/Hulk: Mark Ruffalo's Hulk changed massively since his last appearance, mainly he has the ability to speak in cohesive sentences. Hulk inspired the Sakaar act with his hugely popular comic Planet Hulk. Hulk was still a well liked character before this movie, but t=audiences stock has definitely risen in the character thanks to Ragnarok. This movie also gives him a brand new arc that is introduced in the middle of the movie and is wrapped up neatly by the end, being Banner's resistance to transforming in to the Hulk. Hulk may seem like compsonic relief, but he is so much more than that in this movie. Hulk shows passion, anger and sadness. Hulk has substance, he has more than "Hulk Smash!" Valkyrie: And wrapping up the Revengers is the badass booze-hag played by Tessa Thompson, "Valkrie" Valkyrie is a bounty hunter for the Grandmaster, and is actually a brand new character. She is played excellently by Thompson, who encapsulates her sarcastic personality very well, yet Valkyrie doesn't have much of an arc apart from wanting revenge, and that's not all. Her personality also fails to have more features than the previously mentioned ones, assuming you don't include "alcoholic" as a trait. Despite this, Thompson has some hilarious lines and plays an important role in the movie. Thompson puts in a great performance as the Asgardian. Hela: Emo Cate Blanchet is one of the most deathly “Big-Bads“ in the MCU and she certainly acts it, but more importantly she hits all the criteria for an excellent villain. Firstly, she’s evil. That’s a given. Secondly, she’s extremely powerful. Thirdly, She has aplan with catastrophic results. Fourthly, she’s personally close with our main protagonist. Fifthly, she has a coherent motive. She has a right to the throne. And finally, she improves our hero, makes him stronger as a result of fighting her. She humbles Thor, which, once again, humanizes him. Korg: Played by Taika Waititi himself, Korg is the funniest part of the movie. His role is largely expository for Thor, but it's exposition done right. Every line Korg says will make you laugh, or is important, despite him being a B-List character. There is a complaint to be had that he was perhaps underutilized, yet his minimal appearance was absolutely perfect. Loki: Loki had a simple role in this movie but had huge development by the end. He started the movie with a typical Loki move, i.e not being  dead. Loki started of still evil - turning on his brother in the climax of the Sakaar act - but by the end there’s no more tricks. He played a big role in the fight against Hela, and when he’s on the Asgard ship at the very end, you can tell he finally feels for the first time that he has a family. His story id left on a cliffhanger though as during the fight against Hela, he presumably stole the tesseract. Final Notes Overall, Thor Ragnarok is without a doubt the most entertaining MCU movie. It has hilarious comedy, gripping, well choreographed fight scenes, amazing characters including one of the MCU’s best villains. 9/10
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{Valentine’s Collection} #9
“I’ve been carrying this around for months, waiting for the right moment. And I’ll tell you: there is no right moment. So I’m just going to ask you right now.”
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The quiet on the other end of Chris Redfield’s comm line didn’t surprise him; in fact, it made him smile. Around him, the decaying, desperate world fell away as he rested his broad back against the cover of a solid wall separating him and all manner of things that wished him harm. Some might mistake this as the last act of a desperate man afraid of the end of the world, but Chris meant what he said--he’d been carrying this proposal, and the ring, around for months. This wasn’t a desperate plea to spend the end of the world together--this was the plea of a man desperately in love with the one salvation he had.
“R...Repeat, Redfield.”
“You heard what I said, Monica,” Chris knew he didn’t need to repeat himself; Monica always heard him. “I know this is over official channels and I probably shouldn’t be saying this right now, but I have to. I can’t take another step without letting you know exactly how I feel.”
Back at the BSAA, the agent responsible for Chris Redfield’s radio comms was Monica, but she was far, far more than that. She was the only reason Chris was alive, not slumped over a bar four bottles deep into a coma he wouldn’t wake from. Monica had been the one to pull Chris back together when he hit rock bottom, when the world stopped making sense to the man who had stared death in the face more times than any mortal man should have to. He’d turned to alcohol to drown out the nightmares and the PTSD, but she wouldn’t let him drown for some reason. She believed in him, even when he hadn’t believed in himself, and when he finally cracked, broke down in her arms and asked her for help getting back on his feet she hadn’t let him down. When the end of the world came and the government needed one of it’s best agents, Chris was clear that the only way he would do it was if Monica was his correspondent. She would be safe at headquarters but she would be his guardian angel, watching over him via satellites and radar, guiding him through the trenches so that he could come out unscathed at the other side. They worked together flawlessly, both in personal life and business, and Chris had never been so calm on a mission before. Her voice was soothing in his ear, even when she was worried about him, or whispering to him about enemies approaching. She’d always been there for him, and he didn’t know the first thing about repaying that. What he was doing was actually pretty selfish, he thought, but he couldn’t help himself. If this really was the end of the world, there was no other way to do it.
“G-Go ahead, Chris. I’m listening.”
Chris’s smile was a little bittersweet as he slumped back against the wall. “You always are, baby. You’ve always been there for me, and I don’t deserve you at all.”
“Don’t say that.”
“It’s true. You pulled me out of the bottom of the bottle and to this day I don’t know why, but I’m grateful all the same. You make me feel like the man the world expects me to be. Chris Redfield,” he emphasized almost sarcastically, but there was sincerity in what he said. “That name, people always said it meant something but I never saw it. Never saw the big deal in myself before you, and I know my name won’t mean anything if it’s not something I share with you, too.”
Monica worried her lower lip with her teeth, green eyes flicking to the video screen as Chris lifted his vest cam from it’s perch on his shoulder, so that she could see his face--and so he could see hers.
“Hey, gorgeous. You look sad.” Chris gave her that tired but handsome smile. “I promise, being my wife won’t be so bad.”
“That’s not--” Monica cut herself off, turning from the camera to swipe at an errant tear on her cheek. “S-Stop talking like you’re not coming home.”
“What? Of course I’m coming home--well, that’s if you’ll say yes.” Chris fished around in his vest pocket before producing a ring Monica could see glittering clearly even through the night vision. “I can get through all this if I have you waiting for me. If you’ll say yes to being Mrs. Chris Redfield when I get there.”
Monica fitted her small hand over her mouth, stifling her tears as best she could. Blinking glassily, she nodded quickly.
“Come on angel, say yes so I can hear you. I need to hear it.”
“Y-Yes,” Monica moved her hands to her lap, nodding again. “Yes, Chris, I will. I-I’ll marry you.”
Chris’s smile showed teeth, his rugged appearance all the more emphasized by the warzone he found himself in. Monica could hear the gunfire, the shouting and the screams of the wounded, the sick, the dying, but right at that moment none of that seemed to affect Chris. None of it was reaching him, couldn’t touch him because he was over the moon with what she’d said. He always had a way of making her feel special, as if she was the only thing that held him together and she would never have put that much importance in herself--but Chris did. He held her hand tighter than anyone she’d ever been with; he clung to her while they slept as even in his sleep he couldn’t let her go. She caught him staring at her all the time, as if she was the only spot of color in his otherwise dreary world. Monica knew she was responsible for helping Chris kick his alcoholism but that was the extent of the credit she gave herself, but Chris regarded her as if she was the entire world. She couldn’t deny, just by the effortless smile on his face, that the only reason he was going to try and get through this apocalyptic world was because she’d said yes to him. She meant that much to him--she meant the world and everything in it to Chris Redfield.
“Well shit,” Chris ran a tired hand through his hair. “I spent months panicked you’d say no and now I don’t know what to do with myself.”
“You finish up there and come home,” Monica swiped the tears off the crest of her cheeks with a soft laugh. “You still have to put the ring on my finger, you know. Make it official.”
“Don’t worry baby. The world won’t end before you can make an honest man out of me.” Chris carefully tucked her ring back in his breast pocket. “I told Piers where your ring is, just in case--”
“No,” Monica shook her head. “Piers can get a ring for me himself, I’m not taking yours from anyone but you.”
Chris slowly sealed his pocket back up, blinking visibly before he turned back to the camera. “...Why can Piers get you a ring?”
Monica froze, before she swallowed thickly. “H-Huh?”
“You heard what I said,” Chris shifted, both his brows hear his hairline. “Sweetheart, is there something you need to tell me about Piers?”
In the background of the camera, and confirmed by Chris looking up, Monica could hear Piers’s comment of, “Captain, now’s not...really the time, is it? Also, if that is Monica, tell her I said hi.”
“You’re unbelievable, kid.” But there was no hard edge of jealousy in Chris’s voice as he regarded Piers. He couldn’t blame the kid for having a crush on his soon-to-be wife. “I guess you can sleep at the foot of the bed.”
“Why? She has two sides.”
“Don’t push it.” Chris turned back to the camera. “I’m supposed to tell you hi from Nivans. And don’t worry, I’ll bring your little boy-toy home in one piece.”
Monica couldn’t help but laugh, shaking her head. “You two take care of each other out there. I’ll be keeping an eye on you here like always.”
“I’d be lost without you, angel.” Chris pressed two gloved fingers to his lips, then moved them to the camera. “I love you.”
Monica mirrored the gesture, feeling warmed that her big, buff Captain was so open with sharing affection and his emotion over open channels. He loved her and he wanted the world to know it--he didn’t care who was watching.
“I love you too, Chris.”
“Wish me luck?”
Monica shook her head with a pretty, wry little grin. “You don’t need it, but I’ll wish your enemies luck.”
Chris’s grin matched hers and he shot her a heart-stopping wink. “That’s my girl.”
With the weight of her ring against his chest, Chris stood to his towering height with the promise that no matter what happened, she always would be.
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words4bloghere · 6 years
Text
Cosmic Champions
He had said “street level.” There were types of heroes. Street levels stuck to a city. Supers went where they were needed, though they usually stuck to a specific area. Cosmic level heroes went to space. Fought global threats. It was in their name.
Spider-Man was supposed to be street level.
May sat numb on the couch, holding onto a pillow. The TV was on, but was playing the emergency screen. She was waiting for it the broadcast to return.
When the ship had first been seen, all of the news channels went to it. Before they even got there, they were showing submitted videos people had recorded on their phones. She had gasped when she saw the red and blue suit, but the air never made it to her lungs. She stopped breathing as she watched the web slinger zip off directly toward danger.
When the news crews had gotten there, most of them had purchased “Stark Vanity Lenses.” They were capable of incredible zooming, and produced crystal clear images. Stark Industries had developed them, “All the better to see me with, my dear.” Stark had said with a wolfish grin. 
So May had gotten a beautiful HD image of her child, her nephew, sticking on the side of an intergalactic spaceship.
Chasing after Iron-Man.
She had sat on that couch since then, not breathing, waiting for more reports from the Avengers. Anything to tell her when her child was coming back. But no, the next report was that most of them had fucked off to Wakanda. No one called her. No one stopped to say, “Oh! Mrs. Parker! Since Peter is literally the only minor on this team, we understand how nervous you must be, here, let us tell you everything we know and how we’re planning on bringing him back.”
There was no Captain America there to call her ma’am, to treat her with the respect of a woman who has allowed her only son to fly off into war. Shouldn’t he know what that was like? Hadn’t there been enough childless women during World War Two?
Even the compassionate and diligent Pepper Potts hadn’t bothered to call. All of these people, a vast network of adults, and not a god damn one of them had reached out to her. They let her boy go off and fight with them, for them in some cases, and never stopped to think about her. How she feared for him when he was just out on patrol in their neighborhood. How she was still his guardian.
She had seen how Peter’s face lit up when he talked about Stark. How the messages and calls Stark made sounded comfortably paternal. Surrogate father and son, of course. May was too numb to even be angry.
Ben should have been enough. Fuck, Peter’s own parents should have stayed and been enough. It’s not like she wouldn’t have still been there. She and Ben had been there on the day Peter was born. It was a common joke between brothers that childless Ben and May would become a second set of parents. 
But they were gone. And when May watched as people turned to dust on the other end of the cameras, before the broadcast was shut down, she knew he was gone too. Her son. Her Pete. Her heart had been walking around inside of that boy and now he was gone. He was never coming back, just like Ben, just like her beautiful brother- and sister-in-law.
May finally put her face in her hands and wept. There was nothing left in this world for her. Inside of her, the only conflict was whether she wished Stark had been turned to dust or not. She wished him gone, away so that he couldn’t hurt her again. But she wished that he survived, so that he would go through exactly what she was going through right now. So that he would feel a pain that scooped everything out of her and left her a husk.
Death had taken everything good from her.
“I did no such thing.” 
May screamed as she jumped from the couch, turning to see a figure draped in a black cloak.
“Every Parker in question,” The figured continued as May slapped her hands over her mouth. “Had been sent to me.”
“What do you want?” May demanded, lowering her hands just enough to be heard.
“That idiot Thanos has fucked up the cosmos. I’m a cosmic entity, so I’m pissed.” The figure walked around the couch and sat down, casually reclining into their seat. “I’ve come to pick you as my champion to un-fuck the cosmos.”
“Me?” May asked, now lowering her arms.
“Well, my boyfriend doesn’t yet exist in your universe so yeah,” The figure pulled back their hood, revealing a cracked and weathered skull. “I think you’ll make an excellent champion of Death.”
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