#but he earned the title after stopping an alien invasion | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

the-archlich · 4 years

Note

Went back to read some of the old spotlights (thank you btw for all the amazing work you put in it’s the only way tumblr blog I’ve read consistently the past few years), in regards to Guanqiu Jian- how much validity do you think the points in the edict he made were against Sima Shi? For a long time military commander who served in countless battles, he would have had to know his rebellion was going to be a suicide pact without a massive army. Just seems like a terrible error of judgment.

Oh god. Old spotlights. Sorry about those. Y’all deserved better quality articles. But moving on...

On the one hand, it was a very political document, phrased very carefully. All of the criticism is leveled at Sima Shi specifically, sandwiched between effusive praise of other members of his family. It’s possible he hoped to convince Sima Shi’s own family to turn against him. Guanqiu Jian may have even been benevolent enough to spare the rest of the family if they did, although it’s hard to imagine any of the Sima would credit that.

Guanqiu Jian was probably thinking the same thing most rebels are. That when he raised his flag and started to march against the evil usurper, others would join him. But history (even his recent history) shows that’s too idealistic. Just look at how many people were content to sit back and let Dong Zhuo do whatever. Most people find it easier to live under a tyrant than fight one.

As for the accusations themselves:

Now Sima Shi, an official in the prime of his life, feigns ill health while he has no real disease, yet has strong troops under his command; he does not serve the sovereign as is proper to a subject. The court officials criticize him and men of principle jeer at him. It is something of which the whole Empire is aware. This is his first crime.

This, I think, is false. We know that Sima Shi did indeed have a major disease that required ocular surgery. And beyond that I don’t think his reluctance to personally lead armies is really a fault. But it was a marked contrast to his father, and no doubt it offended the soldiers.

In preparing to attack the rebels, Sima Yi would have grain for the army unhusked in large quantities and set definite dates for launching his attacks. Sima Shi, as a high official of the State, ought to eliminate the national calamity (i.e. Wu and Shu); as a son he ought to bring his father's work to completion. But he ceased mourning for his father, and had all his work stopped. As a subject, he is disloyal; as a son, he is unfilial. This is his second crime.

Again, I don’t think this one is a fair criticism. There was a long precedent for ending mourning rituals early, and aggressive campaigns against Wu and Shu were always a risky proposition. This is another charge that I think was intended mostly to alienate Sima Shi from the soldiers.

While the rebels withdrew to Dongguan, he mobilized the troops; the three (jiangjun with the word) zheng (in their titles) advanced simultaneously. But our troops were lost and our army defeated; the military preparations of many years went to ruin in one day, so that the rebels were induced to come. The Empire fell into disorder, the people suffered from death and injury, or wandered homeless. This is his third crime.

Here, Guanqiu Jian criticises Sima Shi for Wei’s losses in February 253; most notably the defeat at Lake Chao; and for Zhuge Ke’s retaliatory invasion. Guanqiu Jian himself fought on that campaign, and the losses at Lake Chao forced him to quit the field without achievement. This is actually a fair criticism. Others, notably Fu Jian, had objected to the campaign in the first place. As its architect, Sima Shi does deserve his share of the blame.

The rebels mobilized the entire forces of their State, and with five hundred thousand men, as they claimed, they advanced towards Shouchun intending to proceed to Luoyang. It happened that we and the taiyu Sima Fu proposed the strategy of blockading key positions without crossing arms, and returning to strengthen the defense of Xincheng. The generals and troops in Huainan rushed against spears and trampled drawn swords, defending their positions day and night. They were engaged in this strenuous work for a hundred days, the dead strewn on the ground. Since its very beginning, the Wei army has never suffered a more severe hardship than this. Yet Sima Shi has arbitrarily made no proposal to enfeoff and reward the heroes in this campaign. Power was in his hands, but he did not use it to record the merits of these men. This is his fourth crime.

Guanqiu Jian is referring to the defense against Zhuge Ke in 253. While Jin Shu says that Sima Shi took command of the overall campaign, SGZ seems to disagree. Guanqiu Jian himself names Sima Fu as the commander, which agrees with other accounts. Guanqiu Jian claims that Sima Shi didn’t grant due rewards to those who earned glory during that great battle. This accusation is likely true, although a closer look at Cao Mao’s annals probably could solve that question.

The late zhongshuling Li Feng and others, considering that Sima Shi did not act as is proper to a subject, wanted to denounce and expel him. Knowing of this, Sima Shi invited Li Feng to come to him, and that evening struck him dead, carried off the corpse and buried the coffin. Li Feng and his associates were high officials and in the confidence of the sovereign. Yet he applied brutal measures to him on his own authority, killing him without first having charged him with a crime. Sima Shi did not respect the authority of his sovereign. This is his fifth crime.

Guanqiu Jian criticizes Sima Shi for executing Li Feng and his conspirators without any sort of due process. It’s a fair criticism. While that group was planning to kill him and some action had to be taken against them, Wei had formal structures for such an event. Sima Shi bypassing them entirely is worthy of criticism.

Sima Yi used to express his admiration of the Prince of Qi and would say that he was worthy of being a sovereign; he thus fixed the relationship between sovereign and subject. Having served as guardian for fifteen years, he wanted to hand the power of government to the Prince of Qi: He inspected arsenals and ordered the bodyguards not to leave their posts without permission. Knowing well his own wickedness and iniquities, which secured blessing neither from the spirits nor from men, Sima Shi dethroned his sovereign under a false command from the Empress Dowager, charging him with crimes. Sima Fu, a paternal uncle of Sima Shi, is by nature good and filial; when he bade farewell to the Prince of Qi, he could not control his grief; and the multitudinous officials were all angry at Sima Shi. But Sima Shi was insensitive and did not pay attention to the cardinal principle governing the relationship between a subject and his sovereign. This is his sixth crime.

This one speaks for itself. Guanqiu Jian is denouncing Sima Shi’s removal of Cao Fang under a forged or forced command from the Dowager. That definitely happened. Even if the details are a bit muddled by contradictory sources, Sima Shi certainly used his power to remove an inconvenient sovereign. This is probably the most significant charge Guanqiu Jian could point at him, and arguably the only one that matters.

Then again, the late guanglu dafu Zhang Qi was innocent of any crime, yet he put him, his wife, and his children to death. Even the mother of the State, the Empress, was affected: he pressed the August Person to send her away. At that time, all were grieved and astonished, there being none that did not lament. Yet Sima Shi called it felicitous and rejoiced. This is his seventh crime.

This, too, is related to the conspiracy with Li Feng, Xiahou Xuan, etc. Seems a little sloppy of Guanqiu Jian to put it here.

Since the accession to the throne, Your Majesty, intelligent and martial, has applied his mind to all matters; he wanted to economize and make things simple. The Whole Empire, hearing of this, rejoiced. Yet Sima Shi would not improve and repent, nor practice the due obligations of a subject; instead of doing this, he levied troops and brought havoc to the palace, the feudal lords taking their own protective measures. At the beginning of Your Majesty's accession to the throne, he did not appear at Court to pay homage. When Your Majesty wanted to visit him at Sima Shi's home to inquire after his ailments, he refused to admit you, thus disobeying the laws of the land. This is his eight crime.

This is discourtesy to the emperor. Certainly a capital offense, though I don’t know if we have any evidence of it beyond Guanqiu Jian’s words. Of course, given the circumstances under which Chen Shou’s records were written, there is reason to be a little cautious about what he might have omitted.

Recently the lingjun Xu Yun had been appointed zhenbei jiangjun. Because he had made a gift of government property, Sima Shi impeached and punished him. It is true that he was merely banished, but he killed him by making him starve on the road. Hearing of this, the whole Empire grieved. This is his ninth crime.

Guanqiu Jian criticizes Sima Shi for his treatment of a respected official Xu Yun. This is all accurate. He committed a minor crime and was dismissed, which (indirectly, as Guanqiu Jian admits) led to his death.

The defense of the three quarters had become deficient, but he selected picked troops in large numbers to serve as his guards; the troops in the Wuying had become deficient, yet he would not supplement their number. Arms and weapons he took in quantities for his own barracks. The whole Empire knows of it and every one resents it; rumors course through the highways of the land, and the Empire is suspicious. This is his tenth crime.

Guanqiu Jian charges Sima Shi with building up his personal guard and resources while neglecting the needs of the state. However it should be noted that Guanqiu Jian speaks in terms of rumors and things “everyone knows” so this charge might not be authentic.

By profusely granting leaves of absence to the troops, he would win praise and make the four quarters empty of troops. He monopolizes power in order to exult his vicious intentions. He drafts men for the military agricultural colonies; he distributes rewards and obstructs the military work. He dares to disturb the ancient laws: he has the various feudal princes and dukes assemble in Ye, his intention being to kill them all. On one day he started a coup d'etat and dethroned his sovereign. Since Heaven does not help the wicked, it made his eyes swell, so that his attempts were frustrated. This is his eleventh crime.

In this last charge Guanqiu Jian says first that Sima Shi is taking measures to make himself popular with the army at the expense of its effectiveness and proper conduct. That’s probably accurate. It also reiterates the criticism for removing Cao Fang, which is certainly fair. However Guanqiu Jian also accuses him of planning to kill all the various members of the Cao clan in Ye, which doesn’t seem to have ever been on the table. That part is probably rumor or slander.

So all in all, I’d say that the charges are more accurate than not. Sima Shi was absolutely guilty of the most serious accusations, even if others aren’t quite so straightforward as Guanqiu Jian suggests.

11 notes · View notes

dragonofyang · 5 years

Note

Ok but...I feel like VLD S7-8 would’ve been a bit more interesting (jeez what an understatement...) if they had framed it as a sort of redemption arc for Team Voltron themselves. They caused the invasion of Earth by leaving Lotor in the Rift and now they have to deal with the consequences. But nope, cause Heroes never make mistakes right?

I suppose focusing so tightly on Allura should have left some holes in my analysis, and you’re absolutely right! I wanted to focus on Allura exclusively since the Heroine’s Journey model is so new compared to the Hero’s Journey and it fits it just so friggin’ well. Honestly, it’s kinda mind-blowing to me that I never learned about it until this year but it’s such a fascinating story structure. Mostly I’ll be discussing s8 in this response because the edits made to 7 would have been done prior to production completion, and they primarily were focused on including the MFE pilots and removing Lotor’s sympathetic backstory and moving it to s8e2 “Shadows”.

I suppose my biggest hiccup with my meta is that I kinda sorta ignored the majority of the cast by focusing on Allura XD because you’re right, narratively it’s interesting to see the fallout but also it’s structurally necessary for the Paladins to face consequences of a situation they caused. That would be a part of not only Allura’s arc as a Heroine but the Paladins’ as heroes (regardless of whether they fit the Hero’s Journey monomyth), as well as contextually appropriate given how this is a Y-7 and generally kids’ shows are educational in some way. While we see Allura be conflicted about leaving Lotor in the Rift almost as soon as Keith gives the order to leave, the team and the rest of the Voltron Coalition continue to applaud it as a good decision, and then in the version of s8 on Netflix either tacks in Lotor as a “big bad guy we defeated” using cut-and-pasted dialogue or simply ignores him as a character. I imagine Team V’s redemption would have begun in earnest after Allura’s descent into the underworld and her returning with the knowledge that not only is Lotor alive but that he needs to be rescued.

Having the team be in the trenches of their mistake not only highlights Allura’s conflict within herself--after all, she effectively destroyed the part of herself that she was afraid to accept in the same stroke as seemingly-killing Lotor--but it also demonstrates how the team’s biggest mistake in this is that they didn’t stop and listen. Allura’s mental health is at stake here from the very start. She’s listless, she feels alone and isolated, and none of her friends seem to notice beyond telling her to take a night off work.

Lance, much as I love what he could’ve been, would have been critical to the turnaround necessary not only for Lotor to get his vindication/redemption, but also to trigger the necessary metamorphosis of Team V from heroes who failed a challenge into true Heroes who make things right and grow. Instead, in the s8 on Netflix, Lance fulfills the role of the ogre in Allura’s Heroine’s Journey, and seems to be more possessive of Allura in the latter half of the season, rather than being given the opportunity to become quite probably the first of the Paladins to actually back her up in the proposal to save Lotor. Tbh if anything I’d wager that when it’s time to step up to the plate in the original s8, Lance more than makes up for the nonsense of the first half of s8 and probably convinces Pidge next that it’s a good idea to save Lotor. And Pidge being crazy smart would pick up on all the strategic benefits that Allura might not have elaborated on, as well as the subtextual emotional motivation.

And the cool thing about this is that it would give Paladin Allura the opportunity to redeem herself to herself. Because she shut down emotionally when she left Lotor in the Rift. Lotor represented the side of her she feared, the emotional, the feminine tempering to his masculinity, and shutting him in the Rift meant she was also shutting herself away from her own emotions and ability to temper the path her father left for her. As an Animus, Lotor encourages balance to Allura internally, but if he’s gone then so is that balance, so taking the initiative to not only save Lotor but revive him would solve this problem twofold: she would be saving him and righting the wrong that Voltron committed, but she would also be taking that critical step and acknowledging, approaching, and bringing to light the things she might not have wanted to face before. By rescuing him and effectively asking his forgiveness, she’s also forgiving herself and able to take those steps forward to unify herself and the universe.

In turn, all these redemptions and salvations would culminate in the storming of the pyramid, which would be Allura’s Heroine’s Journey climax and the point where Team V as a whole really ascends back to herodom. I mean, one key thing to remember is that since Team V has all the protagonists and serve as our lens into this fantastical world of aliens and robots, so the redemption is pretty much inevitable, but that doesn’t change the fact that they would be righting a wrong and redeeming themselves. It’s just that we see it with heroes rather than antagonists. With “Shadows”, you’re really supposed to see Team V as bad at being good, at least where Lotor’s concerned, but by righting their own wrong it gives them the ability to then move forward and help Lotor and Allura have that final showdown with Honerva and fix the universe, but only after they’ve proven themselves worthy of the title of “heroes”.

And again: this is a Y-7. It’s geared towards kids as a general rule but like a lot of DreamWorks stuff, it’s generally considered a family show. Cool as literary sex metaphors and facing permanent consequences are, you can’t mentally scar kids for life. The heroes gotta do their thing, but the important thing is that they earn it. They’re not Prince Charming in a Disney film who happens to be in the right place at the right time, they’re Hiccup and Toothless, learning to work together and fighting for the right reasons even when the odds are stacked against them, and that the dragons aren’t bad by nature, but by circumstance, and that they’re just as much victims as the Berkians. It’s a show that handles big themes and big questions that little kids might not realize they’re asking yet, but it gives them the groundwork to understand things better as they grow older. To quote Peter Keefe, who worked on Defender of the Universe, "At the end of the day, it's not about who's the most powerful, who's the most brave or strong. It's more like, who has the biggest mind, and how open can your mind be, and how important a sense of humor is and how we shouldn't take ourselves very seriously. So if they walk away with a little bit of a lighter lilt to their step, that's what Voltron means. It means ‘have a heart, have a soul’ and of course it takes place in a wild and fanciful world, but that's what people take, I hope."

#dragon's ramblings #teampurplelion #executive meddling #free vld s8 #freevlds8 #defender of the universe #vld #dotu #the heroine's journey #the hero's journey #redemption arcs #literature #beautifulmonsterseverywhere

15 notes · View notes

words-writ-in-starlight · 5 years

Text

aeondeug replied to your post

“Tag Game: Post the last sentence you wrote and tag as many people as...”

MASS EFFECTYRATH???

So when I play ME sometimes my partner hangs out in my room with me and I commentate to him, and he was hanging out with me while I was doing the Reaper IFF mission in ME2. And if you click around during that mission you can find the journal fragments from the scientists who boarded the dead Reaper and fell under its indoctrination, which features one of the most DOWNRIGHT CHILLING lines of the entire series: "Chandana said the ship was dead....but even a dead god can dream. A god--a real god--is a verb....it's a force. It warps reality just by being there. It doesn't have to want to. It doesn't have to think about it. It just does."

And I paused the game, abominations and husks all over my team, and turned to my partner who knew nothing about the Kencyrath, and said very intensely "I AM GOING TO WRITE A KENCYRATH AU OF THIS WHERE TORI IS SHEPARD AND THE REAPERS ARE PERIMAL DARKLING AND JAME IS THE VANGUARD OF THEIR INVASION WHO BROKE FREE AND RAN, AND I AM GOING TO TITLE IT 'EVEN DEAD GODS DREAM'"

And now I am doing exactly that. Some high points below the cut, in which I approach Mass Effect canon with my usual tender disregard for the rules and Kencyrath with an uncommon disregard for spoilers.

High Councillor Gerridon was one of a long-extinct, broadly human-like alien species, looked to as brilliant scientists and the creators of the mass relays and the Citadel by the current Council races. His people, the Shanir, were wiped from existence mysteriously about fifty thousand years ago, and no one knows why. The truth of the matter is that Gerridon betrayed the previous Citadel to the Reapers in return for immortality. He sort of got it--he's the heart of the Master, a Reaper made from the genetic material of his people. Jamethiel Dream-weaver was his twin and consort, who aided him in the annihilation of the Citadel and everyone aboard by using her species' natural biotic abilities to hold the entire populace in thrall until the Reapers came. For this service, and for the potential she showed to be a weapon in future cycles, she was spared. However, this massive expenditure of power began to erode her control over her abilities, and in turn her mind, and so Jamethiel was placed in stasis when it became too much for her to bear, until the next cycle came to an end and the Master decided to try a new method of harvest.

The new method of harvesting a cycle is named Jamethiel, for her mother, and when she's seven years old, the blood of her mother's ancient race finally comes to full bloom. Jame sees her father, the disgraced general of the First Contact War who has been court martialed and drummed out of the Alliance for his recklessness that obliterated the Fifth Fleet, point a gun at her nursemaid's head, and without help, without an implant, without anything, she throws up a suddenly clawed hand and hurls Ganth into a bulkhead with a biotic shove. The explosion of power is gone as quickly as it appears, and when Ganth picks himself up, he drives his daughter out into the void in an escape pod. Aliens are less than animals, in Ganth's opinion, and while lashing out against him might be an unforgivable betrayal, it's the new, strange claws on Jame's hands that earns her exile.

Jame hasn't lost all her memories entirely, although they're horrifically hazy for the first decade and change after her escape pod is lost in the black. Something about indoctrination at such a young age seems to have eaten away her ability to form memories at the time, although she's retained quite a few skills whose origins she's not quite sure of. Somewhere in that fuzzy time period, she was given a biotic implant lightyears more advanced than anything the Council races can boast, so that she could focus her abilities with more ease--the splice of human and Shanir is dicey at times, and she seems to have gotten all the power and none of the biological road blocks that would normally keep her from becoming a living supernova. It took a long time, the labor of years, for Jame to pull herself out of the endless black water of indoctrination. One breath at a time, building biotic walls around herself. It was impossible. She did it anyway. Then she heard that the latest cycle was almost ready for harvest....

Back on Ganth's ship of exile, Torisen grows up. People die. Torisen is not a biotic, is not an alien, is nothing like his sister. He is a loyal and obedient son. Until he's not. Torisen Talissen, possessing the clothes on his back and not a single credit more, finds the turians before he finds the Alliance, and it's Primarch Adric Ardeth who sees to it that this young boy doesn't starve before he's old enough to become a soldier. It's also Primarch Ardeth who gets him into the Alliance. There are more strings on that arrangement than Torisen knows.

His father's name is Torisen Talissen's greatest secret, when he finally reaches Earth, the Alliance, because Ganth Knorth is a war criminal whose methods in the First Contact War were notoriously brutal, whose final stand with the Fifth Fleet cost thousands upon thousands of lives and left every ship under his command shattered and drifting. Only a small handful of his commanders know the truth, and then Torisen is hand-selected for N-7 and half his life is classified anyway. He's not a biotic, he's not an alien, he's a good soldier and the most stubborn bastard any of his comrades have ever seen, and the mystery of where he came from fades under the glamour of his exploits. The Urakarn colony is the one everyone knows about. No one questions why Torisen fights tooth and nail to take Burr, his most trusted lieutenant, and Rowan, the medic he dragged from the sand, everywhere with him, after Urakarn. Even when he's assigned as XO on the Gothregor, second in command to Captain Sheth Sharptongue, they go with him.

On the Gothregor's maiden voyage, they're assigned to Spectre Ashe, no last name given, an asari that Torisen knows as a friend of a friend (the friend is Harn, he's already on board because Ashe requested some muscle), and orders to take her to Eden Prime.

While the Gothregor plots her jump to the first mass relay, Jame steals a data chip and her armor and the first assault rifle she gets her hands on, and runs, not stopping even when she blunders into a Beacon that the Master has been experimenting with. Her shuttle's navigation doesn't survive her rather explosive escape from the Master, so she slaves the thing to the first geth ship she sees and hopes for the best.

The geth ship is headed for Eden Prime.

Other highlights:

Tori actually super is a biotic, don't tell him, Shanir bloodlines allow limited biotic use without an implant and he's been unintentionally using it for years

I wanted Harn to be the captain of the Gothregor before she's given to Tori, but then I realized that the Best Outcome here is that Harn and Marc are both krogans but on diametrically opposed ends of the Self Control Spectrum. Harn is your classic krogan berserker, Marc is a really good cook who is also prepared to fuck you up with a shotgun if you mess with Jame. Also I just. Really love Sheth and wanted him to be here.

Pereden is Saren, the Ardeths are all turians, you know I'm right

Torisen is the first human Spectre

The first narrative arc here (the contents of the first game) mostly feature Tori's in-group as squad mates, ft:

Lt Burr, a sniper/assault rifle specialist

Kirien J'ran, an asari biotic who specializes in the history of the Shanir

Harn Griphard, a krogan mercenary whose record is actually pretty legit, shotgun specialist and berserker

Lt Cmdr Donkerri Caineron, disgraced grandson of an Alliance admiral, assigned to the Gothregor as a spy, pistol/shotgun specialist, he dies on Virmire

Grimly nar Weald, an upbeat quarian machinist, a friend of Tori's who's been on his Pilgrimage for a bit, a shotgun/tech specialist

Not a squadmate, but in the whole first arc the pilot of the ship is very quiet and unwilling to talk but over the course of the narrative Bel-tairi warms up to people a little

Jame is not a squadmate, she and Tori are both main characters in the first arc and if this was a game you'd have to take both always, but Jame is a biotic powerhouse and Tori is an assault rifle/melee specialist, don't question me

Tori and Jame stop Sovereign the Horde and still no one believes them about the Reapers, even though they make Torisen a whole-ass Council member and Jame a whole-ass Spectre (she doesn't even HAVE a military rank, she's not even PART of the Alliance, everyone on her ship calls her "boss" or "Jame")

It somehow does not improve things, re: Jame and Tori's relationship, to be more or less imprisoned on a ship together fighting the geth, and they'd die for each other but also everyone learns real quick to keep their heads down when they start fighting, until....

The Gothregor is destroyed not long after the Horde, and Jame Knorth (Tori and Jame take their real last name again, after everything, might as well redeem the family line while they're at it) is one of the casualties, killed saving Bel-tairi. Tori has two years to become intimately familiar with the fact that he may, actually, have fucked up. Then his sister shows up in his office with a new ship called the Tagmeth, new scars lacing her face and shoulder, and new horrible information about the fate of the galaxy.

Admiral Caineron is not actually running nearly as much as he thinks he is, he is being puppeteered by Matriarch Rawneth of the asari, but he's the one bankrolling the Tentir program and technically speaking Brier and Rue are his spies. In the second arc, squadmates include:

Marcarn, an unnaturally calm krogan mercenary who's an intermittent presence in the first game and takes an intense interest in making sure Jame eats regular meals, shotgun specialist and Local Tank

Brier Ironthorn, genetically engineered perfect soldier, stolen from her father by her mother at a young age, orphaned not that much later (Tori brought her mother’s tags back to her), Tentir officer assigned as Jame's XO who turns on Caineron pretty quick-like, biotic mostly specializing in your standard push/lift/slam assortment rather than Jame's more intense reave/warp/singularity skillset, she refused to place a control chip in Jame's implant during the resurrection

Rue Mindrear, Tentir officer and self-appointed quartermaster of the Tagmeth because Jame has no idea what she's doing, assault rifle/tech specialist

Bane, ex-prisoner with unusually erratic biotic abilities (Jack, okay, he's Jack, Ishtier tried to replicate legends of Shanir biotic powers and Bane hates/loves Jame enormously even before they figure out that they're related, he dies on the suicide run no matter what)

Grimly again, he and Jame are kinda tight by now and she politely pretends not to know that he's keeping Tori elaborately posted on their activities

Timmon Ardeth, grandson of the Primarch, looking to prove his father's ultimate innocence, sniper/electronics specialist, insufferable due to constantly hitting on Jame

Kindrie Walker, not a squadmate but the new medic, who grows a spine over the course of a year of yelling at Jame to sit down and let him look at her broken ribs, Rowan got a job at Huerta so she could be close to Torisen

Aerulan, a geth mobile platform named after the quarian word for Legion, sniper/electronics specialist

Probably some other people but Jesus this is long already

Tori comes back to the Tagmeth for the third arc, after the Reapers start to hit hard, because he's in some minor-to-moderate hot water with the Council on account of using his accesses to help Bel steal the Tagmeth and break his sister out of her own trial. This is also where they finally get to make full use of the datachip Jame stole waaaaaay back at the beginning, because the Reapers are here and she is the only person in the galaxy who has a record of previous cycles, including some odd schematics they can’t unravel.

They find a Shanir in stasis, his name is Terribend, and while he's too weak to fight for them, he might be able to help decode some of those schematics...especially the one labeled as the Ivory Knife.

The third game includes a Greatest Hits squad assembly of those left living and also features Jame and Tori actually functionally working together for once.

Um...I have no idea if I'll ever write this whole thing because I’m realizing it would be forty bazillion words, but I'll probably yeet snippets of it into the void from time to time.

#aeondeug #replies #mass effect #kencyrath #mass effectyrath #me: 'i'll just write a quick rundown of what i'm picturing'#LITERALLY TWO THOUSAND WORDS LATER #anyway yeah i'm writing A Scene right now #(it's jame and burr waiting for tori to wake up after his first encounter with a beacon)#but YEAH anyway jame and tori are both shepard and they mutually save the galaxy #i impulsively finished this massive write-up because (you guessed it) i have feelings after reading by demons possessed!#take it away from me #if you want any SPECIFIC scenes from this i would be happy to fill specific requests but otherwise idk #i'll just write whatever my little heart craves most from it #(......what my heart craves most is tori getting the report about the gothregor)#(proooooobably gonna write that one)#(ANGST! HELL! NOW!)#(i'm very tired because i slept terribly so my brain just spat out 'my tyr-ridan my tyr-ridan and me')#(mtmtam? MUH-TIM-TAM????)#(please stop me)#(i'm a monster)#queue deeper than the sea of stars

13 notes · View notes

dramaplustautology · 4 years

Text

Artemy and Nikolai Dragomirov

Some really messy notes from chats

The Dragomirov brothers, Artemy the older and Nikolai the younger, come from an intensely religious family that were amiable enough to their brood and cloth, but violent towards outsiders and other factions/interpretations of their faith. Not actually nobles themselves, they became rich through warmongering and pillaging in the name of their faith.

All of the blood thirsty, conquering tendencies funneled into Artemy, who has a deep sense of devotion to the church, and shame towards his ‘sinful’ urges. On the other hand, the baby faced Nikolai doesn’t feel much of a connection towards his family’s faith and is mostly in it for the perks of being rich. He’s got a smart mouth but would rather use it to chase cute nuns and alter boys.

Normally, their practices would alienate them from the rest of the church cause pillaging and taking prisoners for hard labour are bad no matter the reasons.

But they were in the right place at the right time when conflicts between countries intensified. The Dragomirovs were needed for the survival of their faith and the collection of kingdoms linked by it. As their victories grew, they were heralded as heroes by their church and lords.

Fearing that the flow of invaders would never end, the church decided to permanently keep the Dragomirovs as guardians. The archbishops came together and did a ritual sacrifice of a powerful demon/fallen angel to make the family extremely powerful (mega hornie) vampires.

This is kind of taking from when the middle ages catholic church said you could buy your way to heaven as long as you paid them enough, and did enough things in the name of the church. Then, you can pretty much drink wine out of duck pussy and still be guaranteed past the pearly gates.

As a reward for their deeds, and the feat of slaying that demon, they became immortal fanged monsters that could indulge in their bloodlust and regular lust as much as they wanted. Halos appeared around their pupils, glowing as a sign of their divinity, and their bites were addictive, forcing victims into complete loyal servitude. They are allowed to walk in daylight, and church relics can’t hurt them.

They’re weak to demonic things or people, though that’s relative to skill. Being demonic means having a chance at hurting them but their main profession is killing demons. They could be overpowered but there aren’t any countries or armies left to pose that much of a threat.

Despite being a kind of vampire, the family hates ‘evil’ vampires, and indiscriminately hunt them and other supernatural creatures. Witches and warlocks also get the torch, though that’s more of a formality since the family drinks them dry anyways.

That being said, the dragomirov’s own beneficiaries started to fear them cause they would go around turning people into their vampiric servants or gather a huge harem. That was mostly nikolai but Artemy periodically snaps and indulges in vice harder than his brother does.

It got worse after Artemy got antsy that conflicts were dying down, he wanted to do counter-invasions against the wishes of his parents. Keeping the borders strong was their priority, but Artemy’s bloodthirst was out of control. He killed them and went on to lead war campaigns that would soon earn him the title Warlord Saint. Countries he’s lead his armies through were know to burn for months, turning the sky gray with smoke, and turning the sun a ghastly red.

Nikolai, jealous little bastard, started getting jealous of all of Artemy’s fame. People feared him as much as they wanted to fuck him ajkgdldgds. The members of the church saw this growing resentment as an opportunity to end the chaos by supporting nikolai in his bid for power.

Getting the better of Artemy, nikolai defeated him in a duel but still cared about him enough to want to keep him alive. So artemy was pinned to the inside of a coffin with a sharpened demon’s rib. Nikolai had slashed his face during the duel, and the claw marks will never stop bleeding, which flows out of the locked coffin which got stuck under the alter of the family’s church building.

So, Nikolai didn’t go pillaging anymore or starting fights, but he went ham on his own brood and anyone that happened to wander into his territory. Became known as the Grand Hedonist by sticking his dicc in every priest and nun, indulged in the church’s riches which in turn cursed all of that shit.

The Kingdoms turned into a circus, with so much blood and nut spilling into the ground that it spoiled the soil and spread a horrible plague. What remained of the church members that gave the dragomirov’s their power couldn’t ask for help from their lord because the family had served him so well. They had to instead turn to the king of lies downstairs to seal Nikolai and his followers in his estate to be swallowed by the earth. All of this in exchange for forsaking their faith and becoming new demon lords.

That’s it, and peace gradually came back after much sacrifice but the next time conflict breaks out and fresh blood is spilled on their ancestral homeland, the brothers are prophesized to break out of their prison and spread their curse anew.

Side notes:

Dragomirov isn’t the last name of their parents. Their dad was named dragomirov and had a big ego so he gave his sons this surname. Drago means ‘precious’ and mir means ‘peace’ which is some added irony.

Artemy is very devout, all about following the good word to the T, and sacrificing every bit of himself for it. but can't stop himself from getting violence boners and will get randy while he’s in his nasty blood soaked armor, but is likely to break his partners bones when he gets out of control

Tho he denies it, Artemy has a taste for people with green eyes and will make a beeline for them. Like, skips over entire areas cause he heard of someone with pretty green eyes. it's cause his combat teacher had green eyes but otherwise he likes gentle people cause even tho his parents were very strict, his teacher was fair and had a soft spot for him

Nikolai loves the polar opposite; fighters and people that take work to break down. Can’t keep his hands to himself when it comes to scars cause they tell him that he's got a fighter in a cage

Artemy uses his mind control powers a lot but Nikolai prefers not to cause he likes chasing and watching his prisoners try to escape

opposites going on where Artemy tries to be intense but gets very baby with his S/O, snuggling up to them and clinging to them even tho he's much bigger and bulkier. and Nikolai pretends to be a good boy on the clingy side but will bite down to make people do his bidding

The brothers both keep momentos/trophies from vampires or other creatures they’ve slain. Fangs, horns, and claws are stuff that Artemy likes to keep and wear for intimidation factor, but nikolai likes wet stuff which includes eyes, tongues, and organs for aesthetic decoration.

Nikolai loves keeping werewolves as pet dogsbut like, he'll fuck em too. his werewolves are trying to bite him through their mesh muzzles but he laughs and says that they're actually kissing him

usually, the brothers both zero in on the same person even if they’re jelly of each other but they'll DP if they're too horny to fight each other.

Artemy is covered in battle scars and in most settings, covers his face in bandages or a mask (with his eyes uncovered) to keep his permanently bleeding face gashes from getting everything wet all the time.

Nikolai doesn’t throw himself into harrowing fights as much as his brothers so he doesn’t have as many scars, but loves piercings. His parents didn’t tho so he couldn’t get face piercings or even ear piercings. Even after they had died, the compulsion still stuck. Instead he has tons of body piercings and is very proud of the ones on his dick.

Artemy is more of a classical gothic romantic where he takes his S/O to hilariously emo poetic dates, like picnics at the cemetery. Nikolai can barely stand wearing a tie the proper way and would rather eat pussy under a truck.

The brothers’ fangs are so sharp that it even cuts up their own mouths, and their partners’ tongues when they make out. Specifically Nikolai’s fangs are slightly too big for his mouth so they stick out a bit and make his lip bleed when he’s not careful

#Artemy #Nikolai

1 note · View note

imagine-loki · 6 years

Text

Wedded Bliss

TITLE: Wedded Bliss CHAPTER NO./ONE SHOT: Chapter 20 AUTHOR: MaliceManaged ORIGINAL IMAGINE: Imagine Odin determined to find Loki a wife in a misguided, though somewhat well-intentioned attempt to ‘mellow him’. … RATING: T NOTES/WARNINGS: Happy Holidays, peeps! *whistles innocently*

_______________________

He wasn’t sure what to think about the fact that she was better at keeping her attention on the fight than him, what with the worry a constant presence on the back of his mind. He wasn’t distracted enough to make a mistake, of course - he would never let it get that far, not the least for the sake of his pride, but as it stood; she’d only spared him a few glances, mostly to orient herself as far as the enemy was concerned. He admired her focus, though; it certainly made things easier.

The battle was going surprisingly well, all things considered, given the fact that they were so terribly outnumbered, but the longer it went on for, the less likely it would remain that way.

“Edie! Got another wave headed straight for you,” Clint warned.

“Got it,” Edith replied with a slight grunt as she drove her dagger into a chitauri’s eye. She turned to look at the approaching enemy and blinked at their numbers. “That’s… that’s a big wave.”

“I’ve seen bigger,” Loki replied as he turned to look.

“I’ll bet,” She snickered, earning an amused snort.

“Not what I meant, but you’re not wrong.”

At that she choked on a laugh, still giggling a bit as she ran at the first one that got near enough, knocking its weapon aside and driving her dagger up into its brain. He followed after her, throwing knives disposing of five others before he reached two more, embedding his dagger in one’s skull and using its gun to shoot the other one down before the corpse fell. Edith reached into a belt pouch and threw a handful of explosive pellets out, taking out eight more, and leaped onto another one’s back, stabbing its neck a few times and using it as a shield against the other who fired at her.

“Well, now you’re just showing off,” Loki commented as Edith pushed the dead chitauri into the one who’d shot at her, taking advantage of its distraction and throwing a knife at it.

“You’re one to talk,” She retorted with a grin, “Should we be keeping score?”

“Guys; it’s not a competition,” Steve chimed in through the comm.

“Of course you’d say that,” Clint replied, “How many dozens have you killed so far?”

Steve simply let out a resigned sigh in response, earning laughs.

As the fighting went on, Loki found himself watching Edith more and more closely, looking for signs of her growing tired, though he had no idea what he’d do if he found one; there were hardly any safe places for her to rest, after all. But if she was tiring, she bore it remarkably well. Thor’s words before they’d joined the others rose unbidden to his mind and he let out a snarl and drove his dagger into the chitauri before him with maybe a little too much force. As loath as he was to admit it, his brother had a point; they were holding up well for the moment, but battles could be unpredictable.

He’d had a chance to tell her before the battle began and he hadn’t taken it; now hardly seemed like the time, but if the worst did come to pass, could he live with himself if he never told her? Was the fear of her reaction worth that risk?

Oh, to Hel with it, Loki thought and made his way towards Edith, quickly dispatching a chitauri that was coming up behind her along the way. She turned around, the ghost of a smile on her face, and was about to say something when he grabbed her by the waist, pulling her against him, and claimed her lips with his own. When he pulled back she stared up at him completely shocked for a moment as he searched her face nervously, until a small smile formed on her lips, and he released the breath he’d been holding in utter relief.

“Guys, I’m happy for you, really, but could we maybe focus on the invasion that is currently happening?” Tony’s voice sounded through the comms as he flew by them, causing them to part with a slight laugh before they returned to the fight.

****

It took some effort and some very big risks, not the least of which was teaching herself how to pilot an alien aircraft in the about thirty seconds before it would have crashed, but finally Natasha made it to the roof of the tower. The Hulk had been there first, dealing with the enemy leader, and though she hadn’t seen how the creature had accomplished that, the… well, remains painted a rather clear picture. She certainly wasn’t about to complain about his methods, considering it gave her the chance to retrieve the sceptre without a fight. The leader’s death broke the control he’d had over Selvig, who wasted no time in telling her how to turn off the device powering the portal.

“I can close it,” Natasha said, voice somewhat strained as she held the sceptre inches away from the Tesseract, “Can anybody copy? I can shut the portal down.”

“Do it!” Steve replied.

“No, wait,” Tony countered.

“Tony, these things are still coming,” Steve replied.

“I got a nuke coming in; it’s gonna blow in less than a minute,” Tony informed them, sounding a lot calmer about the fact than he thought he would. He sped up as he the missile passed him, gaining on it as an idea finished forming in his head. “And I know just where to put it.”

Steve was quiet for a moment, realising what Tony had in mind. “Stark, you know that’s a one-way trip.”

Tony ignored him as he caught up to the missile and held on. “Save the rest for the turn, J.”

“Sir, shall I try Miss Potts?” JARVIS asked.

“Might as well.”

On the ground, the rest of the team looked on as Tony sped by above them, guiding the missile as best he could towards the tower before using the full power of the suit’s thrusters to push it upwards, heading straight for the portal then through it. Before long, every chitauri on the ground and even the larger creatures seemed to die all at once, falling where they stood, much to their surprise. With the threat gone, they looked up to the portal for any sign of Tony returning, despite what Steve had said.

“Come on, Tony,” Natasha murmured, poised to close the portal.

“Dammit, Tony; get back here,” Edith hissed, her hand unconsciously reaching for Loki’s, who gripped it tightly, knowing exactly how much the billionaire meant to her.

After a few tense moments, Steve looked down and let out a deep breath. “Close it,” He said reluctantly.

“What?! No!” Edith cried.

“Edie…” Steve began.

“No; I’m going after him,” Edith declared almost frantically, letting go of Loki’s hand and beginning to make her way to a downed chitauri vehicle nearby, ignoring Steve’s protest. Before she could get very far, though, she felt a pair of arms wrap around her middle from behind as Loki stopped her. “Let me go!” She screamed, struggling against his hold fruitlessly.

Natasha plunged the sceptre into the device at last, shutting it down as Selvig said it would.

“No! TONY!!” Edith screamed desperately as the portal began to close, causing Loki to screw his eyes shut, hoping she wouldn’t hate him for this.

75 notes · View notes

oscarschineselitblog · 4 years

Text

Ten Interesting Chinese Novels

Please Dont Call Me Human By Wang Shuo ” Contemporary Chinese writer Wang Shuo, widely celebrated for revealing the "dark corners of new China" (Newsweek), applies his genius for cultural irreverence to one of the world's sacred rituals: the Olympic Games. In Please Don't Call Me Human, he imagines an Olympics where nations compete not on the basis of athletic prowess, but on their citizens' capacity for humiliation-and China is determined to win at any cost. The plot unfolds into an alternately bizarre and hilarious satire of nationalism, the Olympics, and the cult of celebrity. Banned in China for its "rudeness" and "vulgarity," this mercilessly brutal satire is filled with the kind of word play and outlandish antics that have earned Wang Shuo his own "genre by itself-call it China noir “ (Good Reads)

A Hero Born: The Definitive Edition By Jin Yong “After his father—a devoted Song patriot—is murdered by the Jin empire, Guo Jing and his mother flee to the plains of Ghengis Khan and his people for refuge. For one day he must face his mortal enemy in battle in the Garden of the Drunken Immortals. Under the tutelage of Genghis Khan and The Seven Heroes of the South, Guo Jing hones his kung fu skills. Humble, loyal and perhaps not always wise, Guo Jing faces a destiny both great and terrible.However, in a land divided—and a future largely unknown—Guo Jing must navigate love and war, honor and betrayal before he can face his own fate and become the hero he’s meant to be.“ (Barnes & Nobles)

The Fat Years By Chan Koonchung “ An entire month has gone missing from Chinese records. No one has any memory of it, and no one seems to care except for a small circle of friends who will stop at nothing to get to the bottom of the sinister cheerfulness and amnesia that have possessed the nation. When they kidnap a high-ranking official and force him to reveal all, what they learn—not only about their leaders, but also about their own people—stuns them to the core.” (Barnes & Nobles)

The Vagrants by Yiyun Li “ is based on a true story from 1970s China. In this tragic Chinese novel, a 28-year-old woman who has just survived ten years of a prison sentence has now been sentenced to death for her loss of faith in Chinese Communism. Following her death, we see the ripples it causes within her local community. “ (Books and Bao)

The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu “ The Three-Body Problem is a science fiction novel by the Chinese writer Liu Cixin. The title refers to the three-body problem in orbital mechanics. It is the first novel of the Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy, but Chinese readers generally refer to the whole series as The Three-Body Problem. “ (wikipedia)

Dream of the Red Chamber by Xueqin Cao, Chi-chen Wang “ For more than a century and a half, Dream of the Red Chamber has been recognized in China as the greatest of its novels, a Chinese Romeo-and-Juliet love story and a portrait of one of the world's great civilizations. Chi-chen Wang's translation is skillful and accurate.” (Good Reads)

The Dark Forest (Remembrance of Earth's Past Series #2)by Cixin Liu, “ In The Dark Forest, Earth is reeling from the revelation of a coming alien invasion-in just four centuries' time. The aliens' human collaborators may have been defeated, but the presence of the sophons, the subatomic particles that allow Trisolaris instant access to all human information, means that Earth's defense plans are totally exposed to the enemy. Only the human mind remains a secret. This is the motivation for the Wallfacer Project, a daring plan that grants four men enormous resources to design secret strategies, hidden through deceit and misdirection from Earth and Trisolaris alike. Three of the Wallfacers are influential statesmen and scientists, but the fourth is a total unknown. Luo Ji, an unambitious Chinese astronomer and sociologist, is baffled by his new status. All he knows is that he's the one Wallfacer that Trisolaris wants dead.” (Barnes & Noble)

Wolf Totem by Jiang Rong “ An epic Chinese tale in the vein of The Last Emperor, Wolf Totem depicts the dying culture of the Mongols-the ancestors of the Mongol hordes who at one time terrorized the world-and the parallel extinction of the animal they believe to be sacred: the fierce and otherworldly Mongolian wolf” ( Good Reads)

Deaths End by LIu Cixin “ Half a century after the Doomsday Battle, the uneasy balance of Dark Forest Deterrence keeps the Trisolaran invaders at bay. Earth enjoys unprecedented prosperity due to the infusion of Trisolaran knowledge. With human science advancing daily and the Trisolarans adopting Earth culture, it seems that the two civilizations will soon be able to co-exist peacefully as equals without the terrible threat of mutually assured annihilation. But the peace has also made humanity complacent.

The Wandering Earth By Liu Cixin “ I’ve never seen the night, nor seen a star; I’ve seen neither spring, nor fall, nor winter. I was born at the end of the Reining Age, just as the Earth’s rotation was coming to a final halt. The Sun is about to unleash a helium flash, threatening to swallow all terrestrial planets in the solar system. On Earth, the Unity Government has erected Earth Engines. With them it plans to propel our planet out of the solar system, setting it on a journey into outer space in search of a new sun. The Earth begins its centuries-long, wandering travels through outer space. Just as we began our journey, my grandfather passed away, his burnt body ravaged by infection. In his final moments, he repeated over and over, “Oh, Earth, my wandering Earth...”

1 note · View note

trbl-will-find-me · 7 years

Text

Every Exit, An Entrance (Part 3/?)

There are two (and only two) possibilities: either she led XCOM to victory and they are now engaged in a clean up operation of alien forces, or XCOM was overrun, clearing the way for an alien-controlled puppet government to seize control of the planet.

She’d really like to figure out which it is, but asking hardly seems the prudent option.

She gauges life by language.

When they met, it was stiff. Formal. He was Lieutenant Commander, and she was Doctor. That particular stage hadn’t lasted long, falling away in light of dinners, good natured ribbing, and a few too many jokes that should have earned them both sharp rebukes.By the time they were traveling, wining and dining in pursuit of funds, it had changed again, a strange mix of private first names and public titles. They’d adapted well enough, the code switch reading as performative to none but the sharpest observer.

He has been Central since the invasion, but the single name has come to hold two weights.

Language doesn’t lie, but it’s not much use in sorting substance from specter.

The op goes well. Molchetti mind controls the first Berserker they come across, and uses the creature to ram through the remaining complement, leaving the rest of Strike One to pick off the stragglers. The Ethereal lies crumpled on the ground by the time Martin puts a shell through its head. There are a few bruises, and Shen’s team will be busy with armor repair for the next several days, but its as close to a flawless op as they’ve run in months.

So, there is absolutely no reason she should have woken up with a pit in her stomach, a sense of doom just around the corner. Yes, there is the matter of the Council and the research, but she hasn’t been removed from her post yet, so she ostensibly still has time.

She rolls over and buries her head in the pillow. Logically, she knows it is months of stress, anxiety like nothing she’d ever felt before, slowly surely being processed. In the heat of the invasion, she hadn’t had the luxury to digest what was happening around here; this is the natural consequence of that.

But something nags at her just out of reach, a fact she can’t quite recall, a word she knows but can’t form.

Groaning, she sits up, and swings her feet onto the floor. If she’s not going to sleep, she’s not going to waste the time in bed.

There aren’t many places left in the base that feel truly safe. She walks the halls and remembers the wreckage, the chaos, the terror of a few short weeks ago. Her side aches, a reminder that there is healing, both physical and mental, left to be done.

She’s still not entirely certain how the Council was convinced to include an aquatics facility in the base. They’re not technically qualified to engage in anything other than land-based operations, and while she’s well aware of the benefits of swimming as exercise, she can’t help but see it as an extravagance.

Not that she’s complaining, of course.

She’s never been particularly fond of the water, not beyond hot showers at least. She hates the beach and the allure of a pool never quite took hold.

Still, she can’t deny they’re a good place to think.

She blames Central. Somehow, in crisscrossing the world, making nice and begging for funds, he’d convinced her that pools were the appropriate place if you needed a plan.

She’d teased him about it once; of course the Naval intelligence officer preferred water to sensible dry land when he needed to think; he’d been quick to correct her of course. Less Navy, more Kansas plains --- though those two are more closely related than you’d think.

Whatever the cause, she’d spent more time dangling her feet in from the edge in two-and-a-half years than she had in all the rest of her life combined --- almost always with legal pad in lap and pen in hand. She doesn’t see a reason to change that now.

The halls are quiet; with the die down in hostilities, they can run a smaller third shift. It’s less breakneck, less harried. People are taking advantage of the opportunity to catch up on nine months of lost sleep.

Which is what she would like to be doing, but that’s beside the point.

Pushing open the door, she sees she’s not the only one falling into old habits.

“Commander?” Central asks from the far side of the pool. “It’s four in the morning.”

“I know,” she says, prying her boots off. “I’m not the one in swim trunks, Central.”

“Don’t you have first shift tomorrow?”

“Yeah,” she offers, enjoying the warmth of the water against her bare legs. “But if I can do twenty hours of consciousness on four hours of sleep, I can do twelve on five.”

“And, yet, you’re here, not cooped up with your laptop. This after … what was it? ‘How your landing go? Pretty good it doesn’t seem.’”

“Of all the things that have come out of my mouth in the panic of battle, that’s what you’re commenting on.”

“For now,” he says, pushing off towards her.

She shakes her head. “It was appropriate.”

“Just do me a favor and stop the men before they start calling the SHIV ‘metal husband.’”

She chuckles, watching as he cuts through the water. “I’m more worried about their affinity for taping things to the little guys.”

He comes to rest a few inches from her, leaning his forearms up on the concrete of the deck. She’s briefly relieved to see amusement, as opposed to distrust, in his eyes, but can’t imagine why she’d expected the latter. “They got into the butter knives again?”

“Better. Sectoid heads.”

He rolls his eyes. “I hope you made them disinfect the SHIV.”

“And apologize to Vahlen.”

“That was cruel,” he grins.

“I have to get my fun somewhere.”

He looks up, considering her for a moment. “Why are you really here?”

She sighs, and leans forward, resting her chin on her hands. “The more I think about it, the worse it gets. Plasma weaponry is bad. Interrogation techniques are worse. An elerium bomb,” she shakes her head. “But it’s the things we didn’t develop that scare me most.”

“Meld.”

She nods. “You saw the gene mods EXALT was pushing. They couldn’t have done it without Meld. If they could disable the canisters, so could the council nations. The mods are bad enough, but handing them Shen’s outline on the feasibility of MECs? Humanity doesn’t have a great track record with ensuring their human experimentation is ethical. The more I think about it, the more I realize how much trouble we’re in.”

“And that’s not even factoring in psionics.”

She nods again, digging the heels of her hands into her eye sockets. “Things were supposed to get easier now, not harder. There’s no way I can let that data out. I’ll purge it myself, if it comes to that.”

“They’ll court-martial you.”

“I know,” she sighs, meeting his gaze. “But I can’t let anyone outside of XCOM get their hands on this.”

And, suddenly, she does know. If the worse comes to pass, if she’s removed from her post, she’ll purge the data and face the court martial. You tasked me with defending humanity. That’s what I did.

For a moment, she considers saying fuck it, and jumping into the water alongside him, fully clothed. She’d done it once before, in the Airbnb they’d stayed in outside of Rome. It had been hot, it had been been late, and the negotiations with Italy had just fallen through. Jumping into the pool solved at least one of those problems, and doing so fully clothed seemed the least likely to create any awkward situations.

It had the added benefit of her counterpart’s reaction, somewhere between amusement and disbelief. Most people wear a swimsuit, you know that, right?

She could do it again. She’d probably feel better.

But this isn’t some little Italian villa, it is a military base. They are not alone, and with their luck, aliens would come crashing through the base again the second she hit the water. She is still the Commander, and he is still the Central Officer, and they do not need rumors floating around.

She’s snapped out of her thoughts by a warm hand on her knee. “We’ll figure it out. It won’t come to that.”

She’s reviewing blueprints for the Proving Grounds with Shen when the ruckus breaks out.

“…I know alcohol fucks with your judgment, but I thought you had pickled yourself well enough to be immune to that particular effect.”

Sally.

She drifts out toward the ladder, debating whether or not to intervene.

“S’ a reasonable concern.”

Central.

She should not intervene. She should not eavesdrop. She should go back and---

“Reasonable? Reasonable? Since when do you --- you’re telling me that you think it is reasonable to think that the Commander, who was violently kidnapped and tortured at the hands of the aliens, who was shoved in a suit and thrown in a tank, who got the tech that got us flying, for fuck’s sake might have willingly collaborated?”

She screws her eyes shut. She’s not surprised to hear the accusation, but the expectation does little to take the sting away.

“Torture---“

“Willingly collaborated. Willingly. I can’t believe you. Have you talked to her?”

Lily is at her shoulder. “No one thinks that, Commander,” she says, quietly.

Upstairs, Central is silent.

“No, because you’re too busy down here, drinking yourself to death as usual. Look, I know you don’t trust me much these days, but do you really think Shen would stand to be working for someone she thought might have collaborated? Because I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but she still doesn’t trust Tygan. She’s fine with the Commander, though. Or, hell, you trust Kelly still, don’t you? Don’t you think she might have noticed that something wasn’t right?”

The Commander’s throat tightens.

“Do you think Volk would have helped you if he thought there was a chance of collaboration? And if you’re concerned ahout collaborators, might I remind you that Tygan worked for ADVENT –willingly worked for the aliens– and you still trust him. And over Lily’s strong objections!”

He tries to say something and is cut off by a torrent of French, mostly profane. There is the clunk of boots on metal, boot on rungs, boots on ---

Sally gapes at the two women as her boots hit the ground, the color abruptly draining from her cheeks. “You … heard?”

The Commander nods. “You’re both … pretty loud people. The ship is metal. Things carry.”

The cooler floods back into the younger Royston’s cheeks, and she runs a hand back through her hair, suddenly fascinated with the scuff marks on her boots. “I … Sorry. He … he doesn’t …”

“He’s a shitty drunk,” Lily offers.

“Vodka leaves him talking out of his ass,” Sally adds. “Everyone knows it.”

“And, he doesn’t do well with surprises.”

“Or, the aliens.”

She offers them both a small smile. “I appreciate it, you two, but we all know, on some level,” she sighs. “He means it.” She manages a shrug that she hopes doesn’t look nearly as defeated as she feels. “If he’s got doubts, then this doesn’t work. Divided we fall, and all that.”

“The crew’s behind you, Commander,” Lily says.

Sally’s quick to nod. “She’s right. He’ll pull his head out of his ass. He just has to sober up.”

She shakes her head. “It’s not gonna get better until it’s all out on the table.”

The younger Royston goes to say something, than stops herself. “You’re really gonna go up there?”

The Commander nods, then turns her attention to Lily. “Shen, plans look good. We’ll get started as soon as the debris is cleared. In the meantime, stand by for whatever’s coming down the line with establishing comms.”

“You got it, Commander.”

“Sally,” she sighs. “I’d appreciate it if you could do what you can to keep people away from the bar.”

“Jane’s usually got a plan.”

The Commander nods, and draws in a deep breath. “Alright,” she exhales. “Let’s go start to deal with this.”

There are many things she hates about the current situation. She hates the alien lines and contours of the ship, how tenuous they make XCOM’s hold on the space feel. She hates the odds, an entire well-armed totalitarian regime hunting them down, dedicated to their eradication. She hates the headache that’s been buzzing behind her eyes since she wore up on Tygan’s table, unceasing and unrelenting, untouched by anything she’s tried. She hates that virtually anyone and everyone she’s ever loved is dead, and she is here, absent their company and their ghosts.

Of all the things she hates, though, the one weighing heaviest on her as she mounts the ladder is the absolutely atrocious state of her relationship with Central.

On the macro scale, she knows that things won’t work if he doesn’t trust her. That in and of itself is a matter of no small concern if they want any shot at retaking the planet. That is what should be her primary motivation.

But it’s the micro scale that really eats at her. She wants her friend back, the person whose shoulder she slept on over more transatlantic red eyes than she’ll ever be able to count, who backed her up when the Council questioned her decisions, who went down fighting alongside her when the base was overrun.

She wonders if it wouldn’t have been better if they had just both died then and there. A brief, bright flash of pain and it could have all been over.

It is, she admits, in some part, her fault. She’d pulled them through everything else, but when it really counted, when XCOM had truly needed her, she’d failed. All her theories, all her strategy, all her foresight: it hadn’t been enough. She bears no small amount of blame for ADVENT, and she knows it.

But I didn’t collaborate.

He doesn’t look up when she steps behind the bar, doesn’t react when she sets a glass of ice water in front of him.

“I don’t know what to do, or what to say to make you trust me,” she starts. “I don’t even know if I can. I didn’t … I didn’t have any say in what happened. I promise you. I wouldn’t have turned on our people like that.” She sighs. “But I can talk all I want and it’s not gonna change anything. I know that. But, if you figure out what will, I’d really like to know.”

She waits, but there is no acknowledgement of her words. After a few minutes, she dries her hands against her pants. “I’ll be in the crew quarters if you figure it out.”

She’d give anything for the ache in her chest to stop.

#xcom #every exit an entrance #commander/central #john central bradford #x-posted to ao3 #minor WOTC spoilers

5 notes · View notes

mittensmcedgelord · 7 years

Text

Phantoms

LST didn't help me with a title this time.

Yet more of the mimic story wherein Morgan discovers a recording of a Fatal Fortress game, learns something new about his former self, and makes plans to avoid a doctor's visit. ( And where I attempt to lighten the mood after the last update. )

Previous: https://mittensmcedgelord.tumblr.com/post/161916575340/the-human-condition

I feel like I know them. If I shut my eyes, I can hear their thoughts pulse through the coral, the subtle vibrations of memory ghosts. I’ve spent the whole day listening to a backlog of employee recordings from Talos 1 that were ejected when the apex Typhon attacked. Alex held onto them in the hope that maybe, eventually, we’d find their surviving family. I’m sure it wasn’t purely altruistic. There are plenty of logs that are scientific, bits and pieces of Bellamy’s work or employees showing off their new neuromod skills. There are more that aren’t. I told him I wanted to study people, try to understand how they work. It took a lot of convincing and some shameless playing of the ‘little brother’ card, but I got access to the files.

The memories I have don’t go back far enough to remember the boltcaster fights or the Fatal Fortress games. Not that I think either Yu was ever invited to join in. It sounds like it was a different world back then. The crew is still relatively optimistic. There are still dart gun fights. There’s a different color to it now, though. There’s no Yellow Tulip, for one. Which means that there’s a distinct lack of drunken karaoke and that I will never get to hear Sho sing off key love songs outside of TranScribe recordings. And after the invasion I don’t think anyone is in the mood for drunken karaoke anyway. Now that they’ve encountered Typhon, humans are becoming a little more like them in order to continue. The priority is survival, at all costs, and everything else is frills.

So, it’s a pleasant surprise when I come across a second recording of Sho singing, this time completely sober. It’s the song she performed during the big show to promote musical neuromods. There’s a few other voices laughing and applauding. Someone wants to know where she even got a banana to use as a microphone. Someone else is teasing her for taking the ‘role play’ aspect of the game too seriously.

“I didn’t realize you dual classed as a bard,” the DM quips. I recognize the voice as Abigail Foy’s from the simulation. “Alright, you get 10XP for that performance. And…”

I hear shuffling and more laughter. Sho groans. There’s clapping all around the table again before the DM clears her throat and continues triumphantly.

“You also earn ten gold from the audience.”

“Hey,” a male voice interrupts. He’s doing his best to sound offended, but it’s obvious he’s not. Something slides across the table. “When I performed I only got silver coins. And I’m an actual bard.”

“Yes, but she actually sang,” Foy says matter-of-factly and taps something on the tabletop.

“So did I.”

“Poorly. Besides, we all know it’s because Abby thinks our new player is cute.” Someone laughs. High pitched. Female. A hint of an accent I don’t quite recognize.

“I’m cute,” he protests. I have to put a hand over my mouth so I don’t laugh louder than the recording. The other players are enjoying it too. He must have done something because a sharp peal of laughter comes through the speaker.

“Really, Chang? You’re trying to get Foy to say you’re cute?”

“And you’re only filling in for Elias for tonight.” The second male voice scoffs. “What do you really XP and gold for?”

“It’s the principle.”

“Oh my god,” Sho laughs. “Can someone please just tell Chang he’s cute so we can get on with it? Zack? Emma?”

“Don’t look at me,” the second male voice says. “Besides, I thought he were busy swooning over Dr. Yu? Or is it just a coincidence that your password is ‘OMGhotboss’?”

“How did you even know that?”

“It’s on a post-it note on your desk. It’s more of a surprise that anyone on the station doesn’t know it.”

I wonder if Morgan ever noticed it. I remember in the sim I saw it almost immediately. He wasn’t exactly trying to hide it. Morgan must have walked past his work station every day and caught a glimpse of it. The ‘devastatingly handsome’ line on his psychoscope profile makes a lot more sense now. Jason Chang was dead by the time the simulation started, though. There weren’t a lot of recordings, either. He had unrestricted access to the office during the testing, which seems like a lot of power for a secretary. Given the office I remember was mostly filled with useless junk, a few books, and a stash of moonshine there probably wasn’t too much to worry about. Another player—Emma, I’m assuming—interrupts my train of thought.

“Does this have to do with that time at the Yellow Tulip?”

“You mean the New Year’s party?” Sho sounds smug as she asks. She knows the answer, but clearly wants to hear it from Chang.

And this is when the audio runs out. I might have yelled ‘damn it’ when the playback stopped, but now at least I know which files to search through for the other game logs. I am, however, left with a significant amount of unanswered questions. Particularly about the New Year’s party in question.

“How’s it going, Morgan?” Alex’s voice cuts in over the TranScribe. Responding to higher levels of brain activity, maybe. I’m sure whoever monitors my data feed has been getting some interesting response levels.

“Great.” I’m a little too enthusiastic in responding. I also just found the next log for this session courtesy of Emma Beatty’s ‘IMPORTANT MEETING NOTES’ file.

“That’s great.” He sounds genuinely happy about that. Considering what a mess my first few days interacting with the crew have been like, I can’t blame him. I hear footsteps on the other end of the line briefly before Alex comes back in. “I’m glad the files are useful. Learning anything interesting?”

“A little. Wish there was more data on some of the employees. Emma. Zachary. Jason. The latter particularly.”

“Jason Chang?” He snorts. It’s almost a laugh. “You were drinking buddies. Or something like that. He’s probably why your entire stash of moonshine was missing when you finally made it to your office.”

I make an executive decision not to mention the “hot boss” thing. Or the party. Alex sounds like he’s impatient to get to the topic he actually called about. I load up the next recording and let it buffer while I wait. He gives me a few seconds to type before continuing ahead.

“You think you’ll be ready to go face the world again soon?”

“Yeah. Definitely.”

“Doctor Igwe told me you were having some trouble with your mimetics the other day.”

“I wasn’t feeling great. Some people cry, I turn into wispy black sentient smoke. Kind of a weird trade off.”

“Morgan, try to be serious.” When he says that, I can actually hear him taking his glasses off and pinching his nose. The first Morgan must have been a real joy to work with if that’s such an innate reaction in him. “If you think that’s going to happen again, I need you to be honest with me. We’ve never monitored extreme emotions in Typhon before. It could be a natural reaction to stressful stimuli.”

“It might. I’m still getting the hang of things.” I’m aware of what a vast understatement this is, but I want Alex to have some faith in me. His optimism about the project is contagious. I’d rather not lose that. I take a breath, hold it for a second, and let it out. My thoughts clear. “If it happens again and I start to change, what do I do? Head back up here?”

“Or the Typhon Research Lab if you can’t get to the grav shaft. Dr. Park knows about your situation. She’ll help.” He pauses. Something clinks against glass. “She actually wanted to schedule an appointment with you for a physical exam, but it didn’t seem like a good idea right now.”

“What kind of physical?”

“DNA stability, mostly. See if the dosage of psi hypos you’re getting is right or if you need any more cell lines to balance things out.” Another pause. I wish I could hear thoughts over TranScribe, but no such luck. Alex makes a small humming noise. “This isn’t about what happened the other day, if that’s what you’re thinking. It’s all routine. Well, it’s going to be a routine. We’ve all got a lot of adjusting to do, but I think once we start getting things back to something like normal it’ll start going a lot smoother.”

“Yeah.” Now I’m a little glad you can’t project thoughts through a TranScribe. I’m pretty sure fear of doctor’s visits isn’t something I’m supposed to have. The name Bellamy comes to mind, a swirl of respect and regret, and I remember that I saw his corpse in the sim. I tune out just long enough to get my mind in order and come back to myself to catch the end of Alex’s explanation of the examination procedure.

“I’ll make arrangements with Dr. Park when you’re feeling up for it,” he finishes. I get the feeling that’s going to be never. The way my body works is as alien to me as it is to anyone else on the station and I’m not sure I want to know the result of a physical, let alone take one. I start to tell Alex that, but think better of it. Silence hangs on the other end of the line producing the kind of gravity specific to situations you don’t want to be in. Glass clicks against one of those gaudy, TranStar coasters. Alex sighs. “Morgan, listen. I know it’s been rough, but you’re doing great. I want you to know that.”

#prey #prey 2017 #post game events #probably spoilers if you read the other installments #spoilers #mimics #bananas and bards and booze oh my #which was the working alternate title #this is why LST needs to help me name things #Morgan Yu #Mim #Alex Yu

16 notes · View notes

stevecanmakeanythingnerdy · 5 years

Text

Battle #24

Vinnie Vincent Invasion: S/T ( Side B )

Vs.

Epoxies: Stop The Future ( Side 2 )

Vinnie Vincent Invasion: S/T ( Side B )

This story is a crazy one, so sit back and let me set the scene. There are so many ties that come in and out of this band for 80s rock that it’s not even funny. Forming the band in the mid-1980s, and after his departure from KISS, Vinnie Vincent recruited bassist Dana Strum, who had served as a talent scout in L.A. Strum recruited band members for the likes of Ozzy Osbourne. Strum had found both Jake E. Lee and the late Randy Rhoads for Ozzy Osbourne, so when Paul Stanley had contacted Osbourne to inquire about where he found the guitarists, he was given Strum's name. Unable to find anyone KISS considered to be on Vincent's level, Strum decided to find Vincent himself in hopes of working together. Bobby Rock came on board as the drummer. With the nucleus of the band completed, the band searched for a lead vocalist. That would end up being former Journey singer Robert Fleischman. He provided vocals on Vinnie Vincent Invasion's self-titled debut album. The record is largely glam metal, with much of it being re-worked versions of demos Vincent recorded in 1982 with former New England members Hirsch Gardner, Gary Shea, and Jimmy Waldo under the band name Warrior. Hopefully you’re still following along because those are some pretty impressive names and we’re not done yet. Warrior achieved some success with Vincent essentially replacing John Fannon as guitarist and vocalist of New England, Warrior disbanded once Vincent was selected to be a member of KISS. After the release of this self titled debut, Fleischman exited and was replaced with new vocalist Mark Slaughter. With Slaughter now on board, the band released their second album, All Systems Go in May 1988. The album featured one of the group's best-known hits, "Ashes to Ashes," and "Love Kills," which appeared on the A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master soundtrack.

Later in 1988, the band was released from their contract with Chrysalis Records. Having grown annoyed with what they perceived to be Vincent's domination of the project, Slaughter and Strum left to form the band Slaughter, which would go on to have success. Whew! Got all that? Some big wigs of 80s rock for sure. The next question is then, who is this Vinnie Vincent anyway? Born Vincent John Cusano he is an American guitarist and songwriter. He is a former member of the rock band Kiss, brought in to replace Ace Frehley. He was a member from 1982 until mid-1984 during the band's transition out of their makeup period. Sidebar: Vincent was the last member to wear a unique makeup/costume configuration, as the character of The Ankh Warrior. The Vinnie Vincent Invasion was his next logical incarnation post KISS. So what does this invasion sound like anyway? Well, “Do You Wanna Make Love” starts it off with a very Kiss like riff. High pitched and wailing. Reminds me of Winger. The more mellow and somber ballad type song follows with “Back On The Streets”. It’s still quite solid with power chord chunks and screaming metal leads. Possibly one of the better tunes on Side B. Now, the next cut, “I Wanna Be Your Victim” totally borrows from the KISS tune “Heavens on Fire”. The riff is eerily similar. Not sure who is truly credited first, but....that’s a debate for someone else. The lyrical content may have been at fault for no radio support on this one. I can hear the hit bleeding through though. It’s a fairly decent tune. “Baby-O” is next. This one has more accessible portions that lean towards pop metal. The bleeting vocals are a little off putting but the tones are all OK, but nothing punches through the STRAT-o-sphere (#seewhatididthere). Actually I have no idea if he plays a strat, it just sounded like a good pun. The (angelic noises) title track (end noises) “Invasion” is next. It’s definitely the most produced and beefy and really different. Hmm what kind of invasion is going on here? Alien? Privacy? Seems to be a love invasion! And it seems like there would be a video for this one. One thing is for sure, it seems like Vinnie was out to prove something with this album. I think he was successful.

Epoxies: Stop The Future ( Side 2 )

Words can really not express how much love this band. When I say love, I mean this is the band I aspire to be in. It’s synth, pop, punk, rock ... all of it. If

two of my favorite bands, Devo and The Ramones had a love child, this would be it, 100%. They formed in Portland, Oregon in the year 2000 (sounds super sciencey doesn’t it?) and was heavily influenced by new wave. The group's music is a novel synthesis (#seewhatididthere) of punk rock and new wave but their lyrics are strictly focused on science fiction themes, Atomic Age futurism, alienation and consumerism. Robots, androids, clones and nuclear weapons all figure prominently in the Epoxies' lyrics. They were first known as the Adhesives before discovering that another group with that name existed, so they did the punk rock workaround. My time in music has been largely centralized around the underground and punk rock in general. I have always loved new wave and the 80s. By large punk rock has helped shape my beliefs and values and so when a band came along that fused all of these things, I was on board. Perfect timing too, as the punk scene was becoming stagnant for me. Almost Single-handedly this band kept my interest in the genre as I considered moving on (I mean there were my pals The Copyrights and The Ergs, too). Their purposefully “outdated” and “uncool” sound (that what the band says they were going for at the time) were fresh sounding relief to my longing ears. The band (perhaps accidentally) really stumbled on to something too, as soon after a LOT of mainstream acts were sounding like them. It’s jus5 retro enough, but still futuristic too. It’s difficult to explain the originality in sameness to anyone unfamiliar with the variables. Sadly the band called it quits around 2007. Stop The Future is their second and last studio album, but it’s a real gem, so hold on to your Energy Domes, spuds! Here we go! “Stop The Future” is the title track and a blistering, space rock, surfy instrumental. Not much else to say (#seewhatididthere) except it’s pretty tight and leads perfectly into “Struggle Like No Other”. With the Punky nuggets and four on the floor Blitz, this is a punk rock show case showdown. Quick, no frills, and deadly precision. The only flashpoint is that it does appear to come across as filler. “No Interest” has a good mid-tempo groove and really highlights the harmonies that Roxy and the band can accomplish together. I suppose that is one underrated element of the band that’s hard to translate. The band conveys unity through the music. Just the sense that they are all friends and having fun together. That’s hard to do, and honestly I could just be inferring this. Anyway, the sci-fi themes and range are what grabs your attention. “You Kill Me” is next, and one of the main tunes I think of when I think about this band. It has an almost swing beat, and really might as well contain a swinging bat too, because they hit it out of the park here! One of my favorites. “At The Seams” is another quick one to remind us that they are first and foremost punk rock and held together by stitches. The last two tunes are “It’s You” (a more straight ahead pop punk number) and “Toys”. On the latter, the 80s come alive! Nice sound FX and a pretty good, locked in groove. Diversity for the band with beautiful moments of keyboard serenity. Yes, for sure...THIS is the band I desperately long to form. It’s a perfect blend of DEVO and A Flock Of Seagulls meets Mr. T Experience and Green Day. I mean, they even use the checkbook font (#fontnerd) so...how could I NOT like them?!.

Today Vinnie Vincent Invasion did just that. Invade RRW’s battlefield and give us a show. The guy just looks like he knows he’s that good. They burned 165 calories over 5 songs and 23 minutes. That is 33.0 calories burned per song and 7.17 calories burned per minute. VVI earned 10 out of 15 possible stars. The Epoxies tried to stop the future because they are radically stuck in the past, but it’s OK because they are great at it! They burned 145 calories over 19 minutes and 7 songs. The averages are 20.71 calories burned per song and 7.63 calories burned per minute. The Epoxies earned 17 out of 21 possible stars. Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars Vinnie, because The Epoxies went over the top and walk away today’s champs!

The Epoxies : “You Kill Me”. Well, that’s the track I wanted to play, but nothing exists so here’s the whole dang album! Enjoy :)

https://youtu.be/YGwVTofvAQ8

#Randomrecordworkoutseasonsix

#Randomrecordworkout

0 notes

imaginetonyandbucky · 7 years

Text

Find Your Way Back

For the prompt: Imagine Tony being the last (and king/prince) of a really old race (they have magic and not of earth) and Bucky being his lover that fell into the void before the race went extinct. Bonus: Tony Turs dark + happy ending but they aren't heroes + smut

[A/N: I apologise to the Anon, but I’m not doing smut with this one, and the darkness is more of a past-thing.]

Part One.

Tony twisted mid-air to watch the portal stutter closed. Another day, another alien-invasion, another Avengers fight that came a hair too close to losing. Eventually, Tony was going to have to come clean.

They weren’t invasions, they were scouting parties, and as the portals drifted closer to New York with each occurrence, the clock that had started to tick down with the first scout was drawing to a close.

Tony liked the team, he really did, but there was no way to know how’d they react to him being the Prince and last remaining member of an alien race. Well, no, crowned or not, last remaining member made him King.

So there’s that.

There’s also the finicky bit of information that the race currently scouting Earth were looking for him, rebuilt from the few stragglers he’d left alive once his initial fury had subsided. (The same could not be said for the those who had dared attack his home and lost him James. There wasn’t a molecule of them left anywhere in existence, Tony had taken great pleasure in that.)

“Tony?”

Steve’s worried voice brought Tony out of his memories, and Tony realised he was still just hung in the air, when the rest of the team had already gathered for pick up.

“I’m gonna fly back solo, Cap.” Tony snapped off a sloppy salute, and Jarvis shut down his com before Steve could protest.

If he was going to tell them, it may as well be today, and he’d need the little proof he had left.

He set up the old chest in the centre of the common floor, and sat down next to it. In it, were the only things he had left: an entire planet, whittled down to the contents of a chest. A book handed down from King to Princess and from Queen to Prince, a bag of old memory-coins, the crown his mother had worn, a few pictures, and the bundle of letters he and James had exchanged for years and years upon meeting, to the very last days before they were attacked and lost to each other.

It was the memory-coins he needed to be his proof – snippets of his life back before, leading all the way up to Howard and Maria finding him, damaged and de-aged to heal, lost and hopelessly alone. Some of them were worn from his overuse; those, he’d tucked away into his pocket, too personal to be shared. He ran his fingers over the joints and hinges, avoiding the padlock for it’d open on his touch, and waited for the team to come back.

The elevator doors opened, and evidently Jarvis had said something, because nobody had stopped to change, and none of them said a word as they sat down, no one taking a seat behind him, each of them watching him, concern on their faces.

“What’s going on, Tony?” Steve asked when the silence began to stretch, and Tony sighed, running a hand through his hair.

“These forces attacking us aren’t an invasion. At least, not yet.” Tony supplied, and watched as everyone sat up straighter. He sunk a little further to the floor, not quite leaning back.

“How can you know that, friend Anthony?” Thor asked, frowning.

“Because they’re scouting parties,” he swallowed, “and I’ve seen them before.”

(Watch out for the cut, mobile users!)

“C’mon man, don’t joke.” Clint told him, laughing a little, but Tony just raised an eyebrow at him. He brushed his fingers against the padlock then, and it sprang open. Tony removed it with shaking fingers – he was more nervous than he’d thought – and tucked it into his pocket before opening the lid of the chest.

Natasha was the first to come closer, inspect the contents. She caught his gaze after a moment, cocked her head, an unspoken ‘may I?’ that Tony let her have. She reached for his mother’s crown, then, and carefully held it aloft. Bruce joined her then, Steve sinking to the floor next to Tony, though it was Thor who carefully retrieved the bag of coins.

“This is a women’s crown?” Bruce asked after a moment, and Tony laughed a little.

“You people and your gender roles. But yes, that was my mother’s crown, and her mother’s and her father’s and his father’s. It should be mine, but I never thought it fitting to be worn.” Tony told him, and Bruce settled to sit with a thump.

“You are much older than you would have us believe…” Thor murmured, carefully inspecting one of the coins. Tony simply smiled. He pressed in the centre of the coin, and Tony’s breath caught in his throat as the memory grew around them. There were gasps, and Clint fell off his perch on the arm of the couch at last. Tony stood up, and gestured for the others to.

“That’s my mother.” Tony pointed to a woman seemingly far off in the memory, stood in a doorway that didn’t exist in the room. “This is a few months before everything went wrong. That,” he gestured to the man now walking into the centre of the memory, “is me, and the man following me is- well, this language would call him James.”

The man following Tony – who didn’t look much different in the memory, except, perhaps, a little older, a little happier – had pale grey eyes and long brown hair, tied back in a ribbon, and an outfit almost as grand as the prince’s. Steve had gone still where he stood next to Tony, but said nothing, so Tony carried on, his eyes never leaving James.

“There’s- there’s not a word I can say in this language to name us, but we’re from somewhere across the galaxy from here. We weren’t a large empire, just that planet, but we traded far and wide, both our technology and our magic. These coins are a combination, tiny machines built to hold and preserve magical imprints over and over again. Those in the bag, all hold memories.” Natasha glanced at him then, seeming hesitant, even for her, to touch one. “There’s nothing horrific, and I’ve taken out which ones I don’t want to share.”

“Why tell us now?” Clint asked. “We’ve been living together for years now, what the fuck?”

“Because I’m doing my best to move on, but these scouting parties? My time’s up. I’ve got to leave, or go back to what I was.”

“I don’t understand.” Bruce told him, an edge of green to his eyes. “You’d just leave us to deal with it?”

“No!” Tony protested, only bringing his voice back down as a second thought. “No, god no, Bruce I’d never do that,” the memory faded back into the coin, to be replaced by another of Natasha’s selection – Howard and Maria were finding him, now, Maria convincing Howard to keep the child. “They’re looking for me.”

“For you?” Steve asked, softly, and Tony shot him a half smile.

“The race that are currently looking for me, betrayed us a long time ago. Sold us out to a third race. I lost my planet, my people, my l- James. It was just me, and I got angry. I stalked those that hadn’t died in the ensuing wars across the stars, and then when I could fight no more, and thought I was going to die, I let go.” Tony gestured to the retreating backs of his surrogate parents. “They found me, in the dirt, in their garden, obviously crashed, de-aged and distraught, even for a baby.” He laughed.

“And the guys looking for you?”

“The stragglers I left.” Tony muttered.

“You’re saying you killed a whole race of people?” Natasha asked. Tony nodded, not sure what to say. Clint swore loudly, and Bruce looked like he’d been slapped.

“I know this changes a lot, so just– look at the coins if you need to, what else is in the chest. Decide if you want me to stay or go. I’m just gonna-“ he gestured awkwardly at the elevator and dashed off.

It was a couple of hours before he dared go back up. There were no memories playing when he stepped out in the common floor, and the chest had been shut. The team were still sat around the floor, though, and turned to look as he entered.

“We have questions.” Steve told him, apparently having regained his voice from earlier. Tony swallowed, sitting down in the gap they made for him.

“Go ahead.”

“So you’re a King?” Clint blurted out, and Tony smiled sadly.

“I wasn’t ever crowned, but yes.”

“That’s so cool…” Clint muttered, yelping when Natasha whacked him over the back of his head.

“Have you always remembered that life?” Bruce asked.

“Yeah… it’s just there, always.” Tony tapped his head. “I’m still alien – it’s just my luck our biology is similar enough you’d never notice a difference, unless you knew what you what you were looking for.”

“And those differences are?” Bruce asked, almost eager, shocking Tony.

“I have a normal human lung capacity with the arc in, before that it was much larger, my heart has an extra valve, but an ECG never seems to pick it up, I don’t get burnt… a few other things that we’d have to look up, honestly.” Bruce nodded, a smile breaking out on his face at the ‘we’ and Tony let a little hope grow in his chest.

“Do you want to leave?” Thor asked, kicked puppy face in full affect.

“I’ve already lost one family. I’m- I’m not eager to lose another.” Tony told them, his sentence barely finished before Thor had swept him up into a hug.

“Then we are still agreed, yes?” Thor asked, and Tony was able to look and see then, the nodding and smiles from this weird-ass crazy family he’d found. Thor dumped Tony back on the floor, and Tony heaved a massive sigh of relief, earning laughter from the group.

“Just… one last thing.” Steve began, and Tony nodded, thinking, ‘anything, secrets of the universe? You got them’. “The man… you called him James.” Steve swallowed. “What was he to you?” Tony stalled – truthfully struggling to find the right words more than he was afraid of the reaction.

“His title here would’ve been consort.” Tony settled on eventually, “though I had every intention to marry him. With a sibling to produce an heir, it wasn’t an issue to the empire for me to do so.”

“He was your fiancé?” Natasha asked, shuffling closer on Steve’s other side. Tony nodded, not sure what the issue was.

“I lost him, in the first days of the war. He- well, he was ripped into the void.” Tony muttered after a moment, and Steve’s face shattered. “Steve?” Tony asked, frowning at who he’d like to think was his best friend, and hoping to god he wasn’t about to find out now that the good Captain wouldn’t approve.

“He didn’t die.” Steve whispered, more to himself than Tony, and Tony froze.

“What?” Tony uttered on a breath, barely audible, staring at Steve.

“Tony, who does James look like, to you? Who does he share a name with?” Natasha asked, and Tony frowned. James was uniquely precious, one of a kind in his humour and his intelligence, his attitude and every cell of his being. James was-

“Holy shit.” Tony whispered, “I- he was your Bucky. He was-“ Tony blinked back the burning in his eyes. “I missed him. I hung on too long and I missed him.”

No one knew quite what to say to that.

#winteriron #tony stark #bucky barnes #tony x bucky #TheCityLightShow

199 notes · View notes

smokeybrandreviews · 6 years

Text

Ruthless Calculus

I addressed this a while ago with my top ten Marvel villains post (which you can see here: http://smokeybrandreviews.tumblr.com/post/172603958899/one-bad-day) but, after seeing Infinity War for a third time (I am doing my very best to single-handedly get this flick to two billion) i wanted to address the opened ended conclusion on that list. Thanos is definitely on that list and is in definite contention to take that top spot. It’s wild how developed Brolin’s Thanos came out considering he’s only had one film of development. Infinity War’s Thanos is legitimately Marvel’s version of Ledger’s Joker and that’s profound as to me. The creatives over at Marvel, created a film that is essentially part one of a climax, to a series of films a decade in the making, but till developed one of the most complex antagonists in the history of cinema. I just compared him to The Dark Knight’s Joker but i’ve heard others throw him up there with Darth Vader or Hannibal Lecter and they’d be right. Thanos is just that good and the way the character came about is a legitimate narrative miracle.

Origins

Thanos is a beast in the comics. He’s a nihilistic god bent on destroying half the universe for the sake of impressing the personification of Death. He stronger than the hulk, heals faster than Wolverine, and can manipulate energy on a level of Captain Marvel. Dude is OP as hell and that works in the comic narrative but in cinema? Not so much. I was concerned how the MCU would portray Thanos because he’s basically a mustache twirling, bond villain with just as convoluted designs on the Marvel comic universe. Thanos is the benchmark for villainy in the comics so how do you translate such a ridiculously over-the-top presence into film? You don’t.

The core motivation of Thanos’ aggression is to impresses a girl. That sh*t was corny then but it works because comics are generally corny. Comic fans, though passionate about their hobby, tend to be pretty corny, too. I should know, i’m a comic book fan and i have been accused of corn on more than one occasion. Films, however, have a much wider audience. They have to toe that line to be accessible to a much wider swath of an audience while simultaneously being true to the character. The MCU found a very creative way to ground Thanos in a conceivable reality outside of his Death crush. His motivation to essentially cull have the universe as a means to enrich the lives of those left behind, was absolutely brilliant. It makes his goal feel real while paying homage to his ludicrous comic book origins and instills a plausible sense of stakes within a movie where aliens, gods, super-soldiers, powered armors, a tree, and a raccoon, clash in a hidden world superpower, tucked away in Africa. That sh*t is ridiculous and takes me to my next point...

Writing

Yo, Thanos is one of the best written antagonists i have ever had the pleasure of experiencing. The trick that was pulled off here is the fact that Thanos isn’t the villain of this story. He’s not the antagonist. Sure, in the greater sense of it all, he is the big bad, the bogey man, the lurking danger but, as a character, he’s just a guy who absolutely KNOWS a truth that is undeniable. He’s seen the end result of his theory and it’s utter devastation. He knows what’s at the end of that tunnel and has struggled, for what i assume to be centuries, trying to divert that inevitability. And this is the story about how he goes about that. The Thanos in Infinity War, is written like a PROTAGONIST. This is HIS story and everyone else, all of the heroes we have come to love and support, are HIS antagonists.

We’ve had a decade and nineteen films to establish our heroes, to endear them and their world to us. What would the MCU be without RDJ’s Tony Stark, Chris Evan’s Cap, Chris Hemsworth’s Thor, or Sam Jackson’s Nick Fury? Even newcomers like Boseman’s T’Challa or (my personal favorites because he’s always my personal favorite) Holland’s Pete, have come along and stolen fan’s hearts. Hell, for a long time, the only “villain” in Hiddleston’s Loki, sat on high, as the benchmark of MCU character development. So to create a threat in Thanos, who not only destroys all of that earned investment in a matter of minutes, is f*cking profound and to do it while creating a character that doesn’t feel cruel or misguided, is absolutely amazing. Thanos is written as the hero of this tale, while simultaneously, being the MCU’s goddamn apocalypse.

Scale

Now, when you have such a long, meta universe, you need one helluva a third act. You need to establish a threat great enough to put the entirety of a universe on it’s heels. Thanos does that almost effortlessly. The writing establishes his righteous mission and very human motivation but the scale of his strength is proven time and time again. Those opening scenes where he essentially retires The Hulk; a being that stands equal to Thor and, more or less, dog walked Loki, got his lunch sacked in a matter of seconds by the not-so-Mad Titan. All of this, after Thanos essentially decimate half of the remaining Asgardian pantheon! The cherry on top? Equipping a second Infinity stone on his gauntlet, a feat not even f*cking Celestials could accomplish, so far as we know. But it didn’t stop there. Thanos cut a swath through the MCU, single-handedly defeating half or the Guardians, Tony Stark, Doctor Strange, and my boy, Spidey - only to then teleport to Earth and decimate an army of heroes, killing vision in the process, on his way to a well earned victory. Dude took an Stormbreaker to the chest, from a rejuvenated and revenge-driven Thor, and still had the willpower to snap his fingers. There has never been a menace on this scale in the MCU and he caught everyone with their pants down, and these are cats who have stopped arms dealers, an alien invasion, and a goddamn AI takeover.

Vision

This massive, chaotic, amalgamation of creativity would be a real mess, if not for the vision of Kevin Feige but, more so, the Russo brothers. These cats entered the MCU with a bang, fundamentally altering how these stories were told. Their films are systematically the best in the MCU. Ryan Coogler is trying to give them a run for their money but he’s only got one under his belt while James Gunn is a distant second with his Guardians franchise, but the Russos hold the title of the best as we stand right now.The Winter Soldier gave us our first, compelling, villain in Peirce and their follow-up, Civil War, raised the stakes of an entire universe while grounded this shift in a very personal, very intimate tale between friends. This narrative wizardry essentially derailed the entirety of Joss Whedon’s more comic book camp, and grounded an already rich universe in the realities of our world. And to do that same thing with a giant, purple, space tyrant is profound.

Whedon laid out at the end of Avengers was a villain who would be a massive punchline to the entirety of the MCU. I lost my sh*t when we saw Thanos for the first time but, knowing the character, i understood he was going to be the biggest one-and-done situations in cinema. Dude is a ridiculous, overpowered villain, with a ridiculous motivation. The Russos took this framework and created a proper tragic villain, a villainous protagonist so to speak, that did the entirety of the MCU journey justice. The Thanos that the Russos envisioned so much more than his caricature beginnings and they guided us toward that vision with such care and expertise, by the end of the film, after he snapped his fingered, you almost identified with him. To have such a clear understanding of where this character was suppose to go is testament to why these cats are in charge of the overall MCU. They real good at they jobs, manq.

Casting

All of this, everything i just covered, would mean nothing if the person cast to represent Big Purple couldn’t carry the wight of this character. SO much went into making Thanos feel real, feel plausible that, if you have a performance even slightly lacking, it blows everything. The Joker wouldn’t have been the same without Heath Ledger. Lecter wouldn’t have been the same without Hopkins. Wader wouldn’t have been the same without Jones. Thanos wouldn’t have been the same without Brolin. Seriously, that scene with him and Gamaroa in his throne room was brilliant. Keep in mind, Thanos completely CG, you still feel every ounce of his emotion as Brolin desperately appeals to his favorite daughter. The geyser of anguish thrust upon his heart when he realizes the key to unlocking the Soul stone was written all over his face. His exchange with young Gamora in the Soul world after his victory was heart-wrenching. This man, and i mean that. This. Man. Sacrificed everything; his home, his empire, his children, and the one person he genuinely loved, for the greater good of the universe, as he saw it. Thanos broke himself in an effort to fix the ill of the universe and Brolin portrays that frailty with such skill, such nuance, you forget that this character was literally created as a means to reset continuity in a bloated comic book universe. The MCU Thanos is a real, live, emotional, force and Brolin’s skill in his craft, made that happen. He took what laid out before him and distilled one of the greatest performances i have seen in years. And this is after Killmonger and The Vulture stole the show in their respective films.

Thanos is a game changer. He is the new benchmark for a villain, not only in the MCU, but in cinema as a whole. This is a character that showed up, in full, for three hours and destroyed everything we know about the decades long universe Marvel created on screen, and he did it while being one of the most accessible, most understandable, most vulnerable antagonists in movies as a whole. You feel for him as he systemically rends your favorite heroes asunder. You identify with why he sets out to do the unthinkable. Even as he genocides half of the goddamn universe, you kind of want him to see that sunset at the end. Thanos committed a true atrocity, yes, but he paid a real f*cking price in the process. Dude might as well be a martyr at this point. We understood his motivations. We could do the math that got him to that cruel sum, even if it came across as obvious error to anyone with a heart. More to the point, he made that equation work. He punched his theory into fruition and, ultimately “saved” the entire universe. Thanos won and the best villains almost always do. The Joker won. Lecter won. Vader won. Thanos. Won. And he did it by being a real character - by being a real, complete, person with flaws and fear. That, i think, deserves the utmost recognition.

So, is Thanos the greatest Marvel villain out there? You bet your f*cking ass he is!

0 notes

ephemeraldrms · 7 years

Text

WANTED PLOTS

These are Plots that I am interested in ding with my FCs. Please message me if you are interested in any of them!

Plot One: Like Siblings

Muses: Boa & any other SM Male Muse

Genres: Romance, drama, angst, fluff, fantasy, smut(maybe)

As far back as she could remember they were like brother and sister. His father, the king, had taken her in and raised her after her parents had died in service to him. In everything but name she was considered a princess even though she was not directly related. They had always been close and now that they were getting older, other feelings were beginning to surface. It was time for them both to be married off in order to create political ties so they were enjoying what was to be their last times together. For him, a marriage would be easy because he had it all and a title but for her, she was considered less desirable. Boa was of noble birth but she was hardly a proper lady of the court. She had been a tomboy, encouraged by her doting adopted father, and much mocked by her contemporaries. Not considered beautiful because of her attitude and humble features, she was dreading the next stage of her life with every fiber of her being.

Plot Two: Nothing Makes a Better Romance than Zombies

Muses: Narsha & any Any Muse

Genres: Horror, Action, Angst, Smut, Romance, and whatever else we wanna put in.

So it’s the zombie apocalypse and shit is cray cray. Narsha is a loner survival type who used to be a surgeon before the world went to shit. She’s competent, capable, self-relient, sexy as hell, and has an emotional barrier the Great Wall of China would be jealous of. Already a bit of a sarcastic loose cannon before the fall of society, her lack of human interaction has not done her any favors. She sees what she wants and takes it, including men. After the two of you meet while pulling a salvage run and escape together, she rocks your world and you just can’t get her out of your head. While she has a bit of a soft spot for you, she isn’t exactly about that kind of attachment. The relationship is difficult, volatile, and sometimes violent. Can the two of you make things work and make a macabre rom-com thing work or will you get each other killed?

Plot 3: Angels and Demons

Muses: A female of my choice & Any Male Muse

Genres: Horror, Fantasy, Angst, Smut, etc

She has fallen from heaven, stuck on the earthen prison by jealous angelic rivals. She is doing the best she can to cope, missing her wings that were so horribly taken from her back when she comes across you. You’re a demon or a vampire and you see her as easy prey but there is just something about her you can’t shake. Her attitude and spirit are infectious despite her situation so in some ways you admire her even though she is your antithesis. As things progress you can’t tell if you are rubbing off on her or if she is rubbing off on you, maybe a combination of both. But will you try to help her as best as you can and see that she has a chance at reclaiming her wings or will you cling to her and use her for your own needs?

Plot Four: An Entire Galaxy and I keep running into you

Muses: Bom and a YG Male Muse ( but I am flexible )

Genre: Action, Adventure, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Smut, Comedy, Angst

Born on a basically desolate planet and raised to be a priestess until the disappearance of her mother and then her father, Bom ends up joining in on a smuggling ring and other various crime syndicates to help solve the puzzle. Never staying in one place or with anyone long, Bom has a hard time making lasting ties with just about anyone because she is so focused on using what she can to find her parents. Unfortunately, instead of finding them she keeps running into you and this morally ambiguous pilot doesn’t know what to do with you. Are you part of the mystery, a distraction, an assassin, or something else entirely?

Plot Five: We Have All Of Time and Space

Muses: A female of my choice and any male muse

Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Comedy, Dr. Who

You are the Doctor! A member of an ancient alien race from Gallifrey who stole a spaceship that can travel through time and space called a T.A.R.D.I.S. and you are looking for a companion to explore the universe with. Fortunately, you stumble across me and we hit it off so you decide to take me with you. Together we move back and forward in history solving mysteries, defeating bad guys, and having a great time. We challenge each other, argue sometimes, and sometimes we don’t really get along but that’s how it works. Are we just friends or something more and can we survive a Dalek invasion?

Plot 6: The Ice Queen

Muses: Gain & any Male Muse

Genre: Fantasy, Angst, Drama, Smut

This royal has a giant chip on her shoulder. Gain is a master enchantress in service to the late king right up until he dies. Most fear her and her unnatural powers as magic is not common and her chilly demeanor does little to help her case. Since birth she has been used to those using her abilities to get what they wanted, hurting her and those closest to her to manipulate her to get it so she built up a wall around herself. Her reputation is that of a cold and cruel killer which she does little to stop because it keeps everyone exactly where she wants them, at a distance. You are the heir in line for the throne and you find yourself inheriting her but what will you do with her? Will you make her your weapon, slave, mistress, queen or something else altogether?

Plot 7: SOULEATER

Muses: Dara and a male, preferably YG Based

Genre: Fantasy, Anime, Action

So Dara is a meister, a spunky one with a lot of attitude and strength despite her size but she doesn’t have a weapon. At least not yet. Then all of a sudden there you are at Death Weapon Meister Academy, a weapon looking for a meister to help turn you into one of the Death Scythes. Together the two of you bond, fight baddies, sometimes each other and have amazing adventures as you try to reach that ultimate goal.

Plot 8: Lost in Translation

Muses: Miranda Zhao and any male who isn’t Chinese)

Genres: Fluff, Smut, Angst, Slice of Life, Romance, Comedy

Miranda is a beautiful model looking for international acclaim as she heads out of mainland China looking for work. Lucky for her she stumbles across you to help her through the culture clashes, gaffes, and language barriers. Her warm spirit and easy smile make her easy to want to get to know but she has a real problem saying what she means and often gets her words confused. Are you able to help the radiant woman establish herself in a new place or are things going to maybe fall apart in the most wonderful way?

Plot 9: Were-Hunter Alpha, the Last of Her Kind

Muses: Boa and a male Muse

Genres: Supernatural, Action, Adventure, Horror and smut Based on the Dark Hunter/Were Hunter supernatural romance series. Kind of.

After Apollo cursed his children and their descendants for the murder of his wife, an alchemist who had married one of them crafted away for his children to avoid the premature death. He merged human with beast and created two new species were created. The creatures with the human hearts are born as humans and only can turn into their unlocked animal form when they reach puberty are called Arcadians. On the opposite side, the creatures with animal hearts that are born as animals and unlock their human sides at puberty are called Katagaria. Both types of were-hunters have their own species, clans, and customs as well as being at war with each other.

The war between the were-hunters started at their birth and carries to this day. Several of the clans have been decimated and thought to be completely extinct, as is the case with Boa’s. She is the last of her kind; an Arcadian dragon alpha whose scales are deepest ebony which earned her the title of ‘The Dark One’. The dragonswan is the favorite of the god who oversees all of the weres and because of that she is given the privilege and protection of running the Sanctuary (A place where all harm is magically forbidden and all species are welcome) in hopes that maybe she can find a mate to bring her clan back from the brink.

In this plot you can be just about anything you want: another were-hunter (Katagaria or Arcadian either way will be a good story), a dark hunter (if you are familiar with the series it makes a great option), a demi-god, a dream-hunter(again, if you know the series it is also a good option) or just a regular human. This storyline has a ton of options and I am willing to put in a lot of work whether you are familiar with the series or not to do something totally awesome so if you like the idea but are afraid because you are new to it, don’t worry.

Plot Ten: Bitter Enemies

Muses: Boa and Rain ( willing to change )

Genre: Slice of Life, Drama, Angst, Smut

You are both idols but at somewhat different points in your careers. You are at your zenith, the very height and she is just starting out but there is no denying her budding starpower. The agencies you both work for can basically print their own money if they get you both together on a project, there is just one problem; you two don’t particularly get along. You dismiss her as another fad and she sees you as a soon to be has been causing ruffled feathers. Can the two of you hold down your egos enough to make some money and what more will happen once you both get past the drama?

Plot 11: Into The Wilde

Muses: Any

Genres: Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Action, Smut, Drama

The world is full of weres: Creatures that are able to shift their forms from their natural animal state into that of a human. Everyone has heard of them, monsters disguised as people who lure humans away to be slaves or worse: dinner. Yet, no one has seen them or can recall any proof of their existence beyond vague fairytales and myths. Common knowledge suggest there is some truth to these stories but would you believe it? Hidden far away from prying human eyes, the clans of the weres live in secret. Each species is an advanced and magical society that uses their technology, powers, or a mixture of both to keep the humans unaware of them. Though they had long been at peace, war has begun breaking out among them as their views differ on how to deal with the quickly growing human race. In this plot either or both can be weres from any clan, both can even be human or a mixture of the two.

Plot 12: SSV HEIMDALLR

Muses: Any

Genres: Sci-FI, Fantasy, Action, Smut, Drama

In the distant future mankind has made it out into uncharted space, discovered other intelligent life, and proceeded to make war and peace with them accordingly. Humanity has embraced its celestial destiny and made itself a powerful force to be reckoned with in the universe. They’ve colonized more than just the habitable planets in the Sol system and have moved into other systems in faraway galaxies. Starfaring vessels of every size, shape and function roam space at will almost like small floating cities on their own. Each ship has a crew and a purpose. For the SSV HEIMDALLR, a state of the art and technologically advanced warship of joint human and alien efforts, their purpose is peace. Designed for covert missions in deep and often hostile territory, this ship patrols the borders of the farthest reaches of the empire to defend it against enemy alien governments, raiders, slavers, and pirates. As members of the crew, you are tasked with keeping the vessel in working order. This plot is highly customizable for character creation and growth.

Plot 13: The Accord

Muses: Any

Genres: Supernatural, action, angst, smut, drama

The Accord: A strict set of rules for children of the night that was put into place to hide the existence of vampires in the world. The elders of the five clans enacted The Accord to protect not only their secrets but the species as a whole from both themselves and humans.

During the middle ages with travel and communication becoming easier it was clear that they wouldn’t be able to rely on information of their activities being lost or regarded simply as local legend. With the rising numbers of both human and vampires things began to spiral out of control and get chaotic, resulting not only in the deaths of the initiated but the innocent as well. The strongest and oldest gathered together to discuss the problem and came up with a set of guidelines for them to follow as well as dividing up all of their members into 5 clans to guide, protect, and enforce the rules should they need to.

The world is changing quickly though and there are deep rumors of unrest among those in the clans and those vying for power. A schism has begun to form between those who wish to cling to the old ways and those who are looking for reform. The reformers are a largely militaristic group who believe in vampiric supremacy and push for the total enslavement of humanity while the traditionalists believe in temperance and working from the shadows to remain safe.

Amid this tumultuous time, Narsha is a vampire living in the modern day United States of America and governed by The Accord. Her life and death are a secret she keeps closely guarded that still affects her to this day. She’s a loner who prefers to keep to herself and doesn’t particularly want to get involved in any sort of power struggle or entanglement.Things for this woman seem to be going pretty well for her until one fateful day turns her world askew; she met you. Are you a vampire with an allegiance or a human that wakes her up from her habits and brings her back to life?

Please note that these are not Twilight vampires, they are not romanticized, they kill people and enjoy it. That being said; they aren’t demons or inherently evil either. They are more like hyper smart predatory humans. Eating people is natural for them, normal, and they look at humans like steak or cattle.

Plot 14: Extra Curricular Activities

Muses: Any

Genres: Taboo, Romance, Smut, Angst, Drama,

Possible Pregnancy Standard teacher and student plot where all the details can be varied and customized to fit muses and mood. This can go anywhere from actual fluff love and courtship to full on rape and abuse of power. Either muse can be the teacher or student, from any walk of life or any kind of school. The circumstances of this plot can be determined in more detail once the characters are fleshed out and I’m open to a wide variety of options.

It should be noted that the student will be of legal or very near legal age for most countries (18) so they are a young adult. Kiddy porn is a no-go and I won’t even entertain the idea.

#krp #krp oc #krp au #krp plots #wanted plots

0 notes

imagine-loki · 6 years

Text

Wedded Bliss

TITLE: Wedded Bliss CHAPTER NO./ONE SHOT: Chapter 19 AUTHOR: MaliceManaged ORIGINAL IMAGINE: Imagine Odin determined to find Loki a wife in a misguided, though somewhat well-intentioned attempt to ‘mellow him’. … RATING: T

__________________________

Loki and Thor exchanged a look when the leviathan appeared, deciding without a word to join up with the mortals; this would require a new plan. Ensuring there were no people left out in the open, they began to make their way to where Clint said he and Natasha were after requesting assistance, cutting down any chitauri in their way.

“You know, Sif and the others will likely take exception to being left out of this one,” Loki commented, stabbing a chitauri in the neck and taking its gun, firing at three others behind Thor.

Thor snorted amusedly. “Didn’t think that would bother you, brother.”

“It doesn’t,” Loki scoffed, ducking as Thor threw Mjolnir at a group of chitauri behind him, “If anything, it will give me something to taunt them with.”

Thor rolled his eyes, calling the hammer back to his hand. “I’m rather surprised you didn’t object to Edith going off to fight alongside the captain.”

“Why would I have?” Loki asked somewhat defensively.

“It is only that you were so insistent on remaining by her side before; and this is far more dangerous than the previous attack.”

“I’m not her keeper; she can take care of herself,” Loki replied shortly.

“I don’t doubt it…”

Loki stopped and turned on Thor, taking advantage of the fact that there were no chitauri in their immediate area. “What exactly are you implying, Thor?”

“I think you know,” Thor replied seriously, “And I think you need to tell her.”

“I think you need to mind your own business,” Loki snapped, turning and continuing on before his brother could reply.

Thor sighed frustratedly then followed him. “Loki-”

“Not now.”

“Then when?”

“I don’t know, brother; how about when we are not in the middle of stopping an invasion?”

“What if you don’t get the chance later? What if she-” Loki whirled around so suddenly, he almost ran into him.

“Do. Not. Say that,” Loki hissed.

“It is possible. We’ve seen enough battles to know that.”

Loki didn’t reply, simply turned and continued on, taking out his anger and worry on any chitauri unfortunate enough to get in his way.

****

Natasha had appropriated one of the chitauri guns by the time Steve and Edith reached her and Clint, and was busily taking out the aliens around them as Clint gave his attention to the ones firing at them from higher up in the buildings. They joined the agents, grabbing another chitauri gun each along the way and firing away at the multitude fast approaching.

“We’ve got to get back up there,” Steve said, looking up at the tower and the beam from the device on the roof keeping the portal open.

“I’m open to suggestions, Cap,” Clint replied, firing an arrow that splintered off into many smaller shards, taking out a handful of aliens at once.

“You know they’re probably swarming us on purpose to keep us stuck here, right?” Edith asked.

The gun in her hands seemed to jam and she frowned before sticking an explosive onto it and tossing it at a number chitauri approaching; the resulting explosion was larger than she anticipated, causing Steve to grab her by the arm and pull her with him to duck behind a car. She met his incredulous expression with a sheepish smile and he shook his head with a huff of a laugh, ruffling her hair affectionately before they stood.

“We should just send Edie through the portal; problem solved,” Natasha suggested amusedly.

“Plan B, Nat. Plan B,” Steve replied, earning a half-hearted complaint from the young woman. “More to the point, she’s right; these guys are keeping us here, away from the Tesseract.”

Suddenly there was a loud crack of thunder followed by great bolts of lightning that struck down on a large number of chitauri, leaving nothing but ash as they faded, and Thor landed in their place. “Then let us relieve them of their advantage in numbers.”

“Damn; could’ve used that in Laos last year,” Clint commented, causing Edith to snort with amusement at the memory.

“Where’s Loki?” Natasha asked.

Before Thor could reply Loki arrived on a chitauri ship, blasting his way through their numbers before jumping off, leaving it to crash into the remaining ones, and making his way to them.

“Found him!” Edith chimed, earning a somewhat confused look from him.

“We need to control this,” Steve said, “There were a lot coming here to keep us busy, but there’s a lot more going rampant all over the city. We need to draw them as best we can and take them out.”

“Hey, guys?” Edith called, getting their attention, and pointed down the street before them, “Isn’t that…?”

As they turned to where she was pointing, Bruce came into view riding a dirt bike that had clearly seen better days and dressed in clothes that didn’t appear to be his. They walked to him as he dismounted and met them halfway. “So, this all seems horrible,” He said by way of greeting.

“I’ve seen worse,” Natasha replied.

Bruce winced almost imperceptibly. “Sorry.”

“No, we could use a little worse.”

“Tony; we got him,” Steve spoke into the comm.

“Banner?” Tony asked, dodging another blast and responding with one of his own.

“Just like you said.”

“Tell him to suit up; I’m bringing the party to you.” As he said that he turned a corner, coming into their view, and shortly after the leviathan followed, taking part of the building with it as it turned.

“I don’t see how that’s a party,” Natasha commented as they braced themselves for the coming fight.

Tony flew low to the streets, prompting the creature to follow. Bruce looked back at the others then shrugged slightly and began walking towards the leviathan.

“Dr. Banner; now would be a really good time for you to get angry,” Steve said.

Bruce looked over his shoulder at him. “That’s my secret, Captain; I’m always angry.”

With that he turned and the others got a first-hand look at what Natasha and Edith had already seen as the scientist turned into the Hulk, finishing the transformation in time to halt the advance of the leviathan with a punch that crumpled its head almost completely. As they looked on slightly stunned, Loki felt someone bump into him a bit and looked down to find Edith had stepped closer to him, eyeing the Hulk somewhat fearfully; he placed a hand on her waist and she started slightly and looked up at him, finding a small reassuring smile that relaxed her again.

“That’s… definitely useful,” Clint spoke up after a moment.

“Here’s hoping there’s more where that came from; because there’s definitely more of them,” Tony said as he landed, looking up at the portal where, sure enough, more leviathans and chitauri were pouring out.

“Of course there are,” Steve sighed. He hadn’t thought it would be easy, of course, but that didn’t make it any less frustrating. He turned to address the rest. “Alright, listen up; until we can close that portal, our priority is containment.” He looked to Clint and nodded up to a building. “Barton, I want you on that roof. Eyes on everything; call out patterns and strays.” He looked to Tony. “Stark; you’ve got the perimeter. Anything gets more than three blocks out; you turn it back or you turn it to ash.”

“Right,” Tony replied, grabbing hold of Clint to drop him off along the way as he took to the air.

“Thor; you got to try and bottleneck that portal, slow them down. You got the lightning; light the bastards up,” Steve continued and Thor nodded before taking off. “The rest of us, we stay here on the ground; keep the fighting here.” He looked at Edith, noting Loki’s hand still on her waist. “You stick with him. I know you can take care of yourself, just…”

“I know,” Edith replied.

Steve nodded, feeling a bit easier. “Hulk?” The Hulk looked at him expectantly. “Smash.”

That earned him a grin before the creature leapt several feet onto the side of a building, and right into a chitauri, continuing on from building to building taking out as many of the aliens as he could see.

“Well, at least he’s having fun,” Edith commented, still eyeing the green creature a bit warily. She looked at Loki. “Shall we?”

Loki looked back at her intensely, as though he had something to say, but ultimately handed her a dagger. “Lets.”

70 notes · View notes