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benedictsvestcollection · 4 years

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Be With Me- Modern Din/OC fic (AO3)

Chapter One: You can't keep the ground from shaking, no matter how hard you try.

Din Djaren was a bounty hunter. He worked from the road mostly. Had a camper van and a motorbike attached to the back of said van. His van had a bed, a small kitchenette and more recently… A very special and gifted child.

The child wasn’t supposed to be kept. He was actually supposed to be delivered to a company that wanted to use him. And once Din realized that, his conscience got the better of him and basically flipped the bird to the CEO, Moff Gideon and kept the child with him. The child was a foundling, an orphan… Much like he was when he was young.

He noticed rather quickly that the boy was special. That he had some sort of telekinesis powers. Which sounded like something out of a science fiction novel and he would have snorted at it and called someone a goddamn idiot. But he’d now seen what this kid was capable of. At only three years old, he was special. But he also seemed to have some kind of a disability, but he had no idea how to deal with it. So he cared for the boy as best as he could. He had the kid with him for about nine months now. Traveling the country, doing jobs and enjoying the peace (mostly) that came from the road.

Currently, they were in Washington State. A man had contacted his boss, Greef Karga… Hiring a bounty hunter for a private gig. To find a woman, Aurora Daniels and bring her back to him. He’d told them that she was his girlfriend and was worried that she had been taken. That was about a week ago. A quick look into her social media said she’d gone dark. The woman knew how to disappear, Din had to hand it to her.

But he’d found her in a small-ish town in North Washington State. Din was parked in a parking lot where the woman had been shopping in a Walmart. He watched as she came out, always looking around. She was nervous. Why?

He looked at the kid and handed him his favorite coloring book. “Stay here, okay?” He asked him. The kid smiled at him and nodded, not speaking as usual. He started coloring and Din slowly got out of the van. Careful to look like he was just heading into the store, and not there for her.

She was dressed in a sundress and low heeled ankle boots. She had a backpack, a medium sized duffel, and a few shopping bags of food and other essentials. Telling Din she was most definitely on the run from something or someone.

Finally, when he was close enough to her. He gently took her by the wrist and pulled her against an SUV. “Don’t scream. I’m here to help you. Your boyfriend has been worried about you.” He told her softly, in a hushed tone.

Aurora’s bright blue eyes widened when she was pulled away and met with brown eyes. They flashed when the man mentioned her ex. What a fucking joke, he was worried about her? “Oh yeah? I’m sure he’s very worried where his punching bag went.” She snapped at the stranger and wretched her arm out of his grasp.

She ran her hand through her brown hair, giving Din a look at old bruising on her arm. It was about a week old. Right around the time the boyfriend had called Greef. Din’s jaw clenched at the idea of a woman being beaten. “He do that to you?” He asked her quietly.

Aurora met his gaze again. “That’s just the tip of the iceberg, what he’s done to me.” She told him softly. She paused, wondering how much to tell this stranger about her ex. Finally, she gave in. “Time before this, he beat me so bad I was in the hospital for a week. Broken leg, busted nose and a couple of bruised ribs. But… His dad is a cop and they hid what he did.” She told him softly, whispering in case others heard her. “But they couldn’t hide my hospital record from the stay.”

“Jesus.” Din muttered, he made a mental note to call Greef and ask him to look into this asshole. Greef had connections all over the country with cops and might be able to look into it. “I’m sorry… The client… Your ex, he didn’t tell us much. Just said he was worried about you.” He tried to meet her gaze, to show her he didn’t mean her any harm. “Okay? And….” Fuck, for the second time in less than a year… Din was about to not deliver to a client. Because fuck that asshole. “Look… I’ve got to check on something… Please, come with me while I call my boss about this? You’ll be safe with me. I promise.”

Understandably so, Aurora was skittish. But honestly, knowing her ex was looking for her was fucking terrifying and for whatever reason… She trusted this man before her. Despite not even knowing his name. “I…” She suddenly slumped against the car behind her in exhaustion. “Okay.” She agreed.

Din gently took her elbow and guided her to his big silver camper van. Aurora was surprised to see a young boy in the passenger seat. Contentedly coloring away in his superhero book. “I uh… He’s a bit shy but he’s sweet.” Din told her as he opened the side of the van. Revealing the bed and kitchenette area in the back. He took his phone out of his back pocket and called Greef.

Aurora set her things on the ground of the van and sat down delicately on the edge of the bed. Not sure what to do or say. The boy turned in his seat and smiled at her, he still didn’t speak but he crawled out of his seat. Coloring book and box of crayons in his arms and he made his way to Aurora. She watched fondly as the boy helped himself up onto the bed where she sat and showed her his coloring jobs proudly.

“Wow, these are great.” She told him with a smile, studying the boy she wondered how old he was. He couldn’t have been more than three.

He squealed in excitement at her compliment, which caused Din to turn while on the phone with Greef. He smiled at seeing the boy interact with someone else.

“Din. Looks like this client is an asshole. Not only does he have a history of violence. But, it looks like the FBI is investigating him for drug running.” Greef told him on the other end of the phone. “Now your young lady on the other hand? Not even a parking ticket as far as I can find. Pays her taxes, parents are deceased and one sibling that lives in some kind of a group home. The only records I can find on her are hospital records, most likely from her man.” Greef snorted, Din could tell he was disgusted as well.

Din kept his eyes trained on the kid and Aurora. She was showing him how to stay inside the lines of his pictures and he was fascinated watching her with the kid.

“Tell the client I couldn’t find her. Give him a refund for all I care. I’m not letting him near her if I can help it.” Din growled lowly through the phone.

“What are you gonna do? Bring someone else on the road with you?” Greef asked him in disbelief. Din was notorious for being a loner. He was still having a hard time believing he kept the kid.

“If she wants. Yeah. The kid seems to like her, maybe she’d be willing to watch him for me in exchange for protection and a bed.” With that, he hung up the phone and strode back over to the opened side of the van. He cleared his throat quietly and the boy looked up at Din and beamed. He squealed and without warning, jumped into his arms. Throwing his arms around his neck. “Hey kid.” He told him softly as he held him close and looked at Aurora. “I’m Din by the way.” He told her.

“Nice to meet you Din.” She told him softly and then considered her next words. “Is he… Autistic? I-I only ask because my younger brother is and well… He reminds me of my brother in that way.” She explained gently.

Din was surprised, but her sibling living in a group home made sense now especially if she couldn’t care for him as an adult. “I-... I don’t know.” He admitted. “He was… I was supposed to deliver him to a client but…” He trailed off, almost ashamed that he was going to turn the kid over at all.

“Oh… Well, he’s very sweet.” She told him and simply stared at both of them as the boy fell asleep on Din’s shoulder.

“He is.” He agreed with a nod. Wondering how to broach the subject. “Look… My boss, he looked into your ex. He seems like a dangerous asshole. I told him to tell him that I didn’t find you.”

She stared at him, wide eyed that he’d done that for her. “Thank you.” She whispered at him.

“You’re welcome.” He paused. “I don’t… I don’t feel right leaving you alone. He’s just gonna send someone else after me, to find you.” He said gently. “I thought maybe… That is if you’d like… You could stay with us on the road. Could use some help with the kid while I take other bounty jobs. You seem… With your brother, you might be able to help him.”

Aurora was speechless. He was offering her, what… A job?

“You’d have a bed to sleep in and I’d keep you safe from anyone. Plus, I’ll pay you for watching the kid.” He explained hesitantly.

“I-...” She thought about it for a moment. He had a point, she knew her ex well enough to know he’d just keep coming for her. And Din looked like he would know how to protect her should anyone else come after her. “Yes. I’ll come.” She finally finished her thought with a nod.

“Yeah?” He sighed in relief as he climbed into the back of the van and gently laid the kid down in the bed so he could nap. “You can uh… Sit up front if you want. He’ll be out for awhile anyway.” He explained.

She put her few groceries away in a cabinet and grabbed her backpack before crawling into the passenger seat and buckling up. Soon, they were on the road and rode in a comfortable silence.

“Does he have a name?” She asked him suddenly, drawing Din out of his own head.

He was almost surprised because he hadn’t had anyone to actually talk with in a while. “I don’t know.” He admitted. “They didn’t give me a name when I was assigned to... “

“Oh…. And how long has he been with you?” She asked him curiously, blue eyes searching him as they talked.

Damn, her eyes were distractingly beautiful. Big and wide and the bluest he’d ever seen. “About nine months.”

“You’ve had this boy for nine months, raising him as your own and you haven’t given him a name?” She asked him, unable to hide her shock.

Din sighed. “Yes.” He struggled with his next words. “I didn’t want to… Name him and get attached. In case I find his family.” His voice faltered a little at the last part.

“Oh I see.” She told him, if she heard his voice break she didn’t say anything. “Well, I’m happy to help with him. Is there… Anything else I need to know about him?”

“He’s… Special. Has special abilities, I mean.” He told her. “I know that sounds batshit crazy but… It’s true. Seen them myself.”

“What? What kind of abilities?” She asked him in shock.

“He can move things with his mind. A company was wanting him for themselves. To study him. Turn him into some kind of a lab rat.” He shook his head in disgust. “I couldn’t… Could do that to him. He’s just a kid.” His hands were gripping the wheel of the van so tightly, his knuckles were turning white.

Her gentle hand found his forearm. “You did the right thing. Kids deserve to be kids. Sometimes… They don’t have a choice but to grow up too fast but you stopped that from happening to him.” She whispered to him.

Din wondered if she was speaking from experience about growing up too fast. But he didn’t press it. “Yeah… You’re probably right.”

“Plus he obviously adores you so…” She teased him before she went back to staring at her phone in her hands. She still had it off but she was debating on just throwing it out the window. She didn’t want her ex to find her.

Din noticed her and after several more minutes of silence he spoke. “I can get you another phone if you want. That way I can call you as needed and he won’t find you. Plus, you can keep in touch with my boss if you need another contact to help.” He told her, eyes never leaving the road.

“I-... You don’t have to do that.” She told him with a shake of her head.

“Yes I do. I’ll need to keep in touch with you if I’m gone on a bounty and this way your ex can’t track you.” He shrugged as if it were obvious.

“I can’t afford a new phone.” She told him softly, obviously embarrassed.

“I can. We’ll get you that and a new number. We’ll go through Seattle tonight. Get a room for the night. I could use a shower and the kid needs a bath. Then, in the morning we’ll get you a new phone.”

“If you’re sure…” She told him hesitantly, not wanting to be a burden.

“I’m sure. I told you I’d keep you safe and I intend to do just that.” He promised her gently.

“I-... Thank you Din.” She told him and smiled at him.

“You’re welcome… Aurora.” He tested out her first name and found that he liked it on his tongue. Almost sounded like a dream to him. And maybe she was. But he realized if she was, he didn’t want to wake up if it was.

#my writing #The Mandalorian #AU #Din Djaren #Din Djaren x OC #Pedro Pascal #yo I did a thing ya'll #love me #also I posted the chapter here under the cut and a link to my AO3

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entergamingxp · 4 years

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GTFO Grand Moff Talks About The Future of the Hardcore Shooter: “We’re a Niche Game”

December 11, 2019 1:00 PM EST

Grand Moff, Svante Vinternatt from 10 Chambers Collective sits down with DualShockers to discuss GTFO, its Rundown, and the future of the game as it goes through Early Access.

GTFO is a hardcore horror shooter that prides itself on being a niche game. It wants to invoke fear and inspire teamwork. It wants to push its community to the limits with hardcore gameplay. Developer 10 Chambers Collective also plans to support the game for a long time — and with it arriving on Steam Early Access today, DualShockers wanted to know more about the game and its future.

Ulf Andersson and Bo Andersson founded Grin in 1997, a video game development studio based in Sweden which started off making racing games for PC and arcade machines. Eventually, the team at Grin found themselves working alongside publishers such as Ubisoft, Capcom, and Warner Bros. Interactive. After twelve years in the industry, Grin hit financial troubles and closed down with the two founders moving quickly to start up Overkill Software with long-time Grin employee Simon Viklund.

Overkill Software —also based in Sweden— released Payday: The Heist in 2011 which became a success. After working a deal with Swedish based Starbreeze Studios, a sequel was put into the works, later releasing in 2013. Ulf Andersson left Overkill in 2015 and started up his own studio in that same year, known as 10 Chambers Collective.

The self-funded 10 Chambers Collective resides in Stockholm, Sweden with a small development team that has, since the studio’s reveal in 2016, stayed small while focusing on bringing a game with high-quality. Even part of their motto is “our passion is quality.”

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“We’re a very small team, so we really have to focus our resources on one thing.”

DualShockers was invited to Copenhagen, Denmark to visit the Unity Technologies building and got hands-on with GTFO. We saw how it had progressed since E3 2018 and experienced exactly what the new Rundown system entails.

After a few hours of buttock clenching scares and uttered profanities, I sat down with Co-Founder and “Grand Moff” Svante Vinternatt to find out some more about GTFO and its future as it approached its Steam Early Access launch. He explains the Grand Moff title was purely for legal and tax reasons, and that the team all do so many different factors in development that no one person warrants just one title.

“We’re a very small team, so we really have to focus our resources on one thing,” he says when asked if the game would introduce an offline mode for those who might want to just experience the game alone. “It’s kind of restricting,” he says, still talking about bots and offline play, “because that’s not a human you can communicate to, so bots could either do good or they could do bad — but they’re not a human being.”

10 Chambers wants to create a game that adheres to their target audience and that audience is one that is into heavy communications. “As you realized when we were playing, you had to speak all the time, and doing that with a bot — It would be really, really restricting on the game experience.” He clarifies that they have no plans to create an offline experience. “So instead of trying to do that, we focus on getting a better PvE experience, putting in more hours and getting those puzzles, getting those gameplay moments really, really fun.“

I bring up PAYDAY 2 and my experience with people not working as a team. I wanted to know how the team behind GTFO had tried to encourage teamwork. “So we actually won’t put matchmaking in early access to start out. We will have it down the road,” he explains. As he explains he mentions that they’re trying to build a community behind the game with a Discord that sits at over 65,000 users. Adding a quick play feature to play with random players opens “a lot of opportunities” for bad experiences. “We feel that matchmaking needs to be done in a way that fits the demanding team play of GTFO. Until we’ve solved that, you will need to be Steam friends with your teammates.”

Vinternatt essentially tells me that, at least to start, the game will be better enjoyed with people you know, or from the community who want to take it seriously. “It will be, in that sense, a little more restricted, but it will also give a better experience for those who actually want to play this kind of game.”

Last month, 10 Chambers Collective released a trailer detailing “The Rundown”, a collection of expeditions that the players can take part in that get progressively harder the further down into the complex you go. There’s a timer — when it hits zero the Rundown gets erased and a new one takes its place, introducing a new series of levels. But what if things go wrong behind the scenes? I wanted to know if they had a backup plan for missing a deadline.

“We will not set the timer until we are 100 percent sure,” Vinternatt explains and mentions only setting a date when they’re sure the content is ready. He also goes on to say how the team wants to be transparent with the community. “We’re gonna be upfront in how we’re doing stuff with the roadmap and with the Rundown. But I keep a lot of stuff secret because you want that feeling of finding something yourself for the first time. As long as we plan ahead and don’t set a date too early, I think we’re gonna have a good flow.“

“There’s gonna be a progression there,” he confirms after I ask if the Rundown was progression based or if players can jump right into the harder levels. “Right now in the current one, I think you have to complete both levels to open up the next area. So completing A1 and A2, and when you’ve done that you can play B1 and B2, but C1 won’t be allowed until the B2 is completed”

“We are thinking about the other variations as well that you complete two or three. And that unlocks a new tier. But there’s always going to be some kind of progression to get down to another tier.” The progression is tied to the Rundown mode, which seems to be the only mode the team wishes to focus on right now, “We are fully committed to PvE,” he says with confidence.

He goes on to detail how the game is going to be varied despite being stuck to this Rundown mode, “It takes steel commitment. We don’t want to grow the team because we want to have control over what we do. However, with the objectives, we are going to make stuff up. Having other objectives and having other tweaks or modifications.” He then references Dungeons and Dragons, as Vinternatt describes the team as a Gamesmaster, throwing curveballs at the players and seeing the outcomes.

“The tools that we have created over the last couple of years are essential for us to be able to produce the new expeditions for each Rundown.” But despite having tools in place to create new expeditions easily, he assures me there is also “a lot of handcrafting” to ensure the game feels good to play and has a good flow. With GTFO heading to Early Access, it allows them to try these out, “That’s why we’re going out and trying out, to see how the community reacts and hopefully they will be frustrated in a good way.”

“You get new levels for free continuously, which is a kind of new way of doing things.”

I was curious to know about customization and microtransactions. The team has already explicitly stated there will be no loot boxes or pay to win mechanics available. However, the mention of cosmetics being included in a potential “Support the Dev” pack in the future made me wonder, so I asked if they had plans for a microtransaction store focused on cosmetics, “I guess we could.” he says with uncertainty. He mentions how the game costs $34.99 and comes with the heavily supported Rundown, “We have this Rundown like continuously going, and it’s free. I mean, you get new levels for free continuously, which is a kind of new way of doing things.”

With GTFO still being in its early stages, the team is still unsure how to go about getting extra funds. “Of course, we need to put food on the table and there might be support developer packs. I’m not sure if it’s gonna be a store or if it’s gonna be like something in the future that is like a deluxe edition or something like that.” He does mention that, whatever it is they decide, “it’s going to be something that’s fair.”

Cosmetics, if included, will have to fit into the world of GTFO. “You won’t see someone running around with pink bunny ears. It could be fun to run around like that, but it kind of ruins the atmosphere. This is a serious game. We want to keep it serious.” But 10 Chambers Collective hasn’t really discussed cosmetics as it’s not a priority, “first of all, we just want to get the game out there.”

I dig to find out about character customization in terms of changing armor, and customizing weapons. “Absolutely! We have that plan already and a lot of stuff in the pipeline. But they just haven’t had time to do that yet.” Interestingly, Vinternatt clarifies that it won’t just be visual customization, but players will be able to manipulate weapons and tools through progression. He uses the following example, “Say you have a shotgun you like and a sentry gun, then let’s put them together and make a sentry shotgun.”

As GTFO is a game that’s incredibly dark and stylized to look as if you’re looking through a helmet, I asked about accessibility. I clarified that I wasn’t on about difficulty options, but instead ways of making the game more accessible to the player with features such as HUD scaling and color-blind modes. “We might already. I’m not sure if we already have scaling and stuff like adding what you want.”

“One of the guys in the team is color-blind if it works for him, I guess it works for other people that are colorblind as well,” he informs me. He goes on to say that they haven’t discussed accessibility plans yet. “I know we need to make a decision as a team, but absolutely. I don’t see why not. It’s just a matter of time and prioritization at the moment.”

I wanted to know if GTFO had plans for a more intuitive ping system, similarly to Apex Legends and Fortnite. Currently, the game only allows you to ping doors and lockers. “We have tried different ways of doing pinging. We tried having everything pingable in GTFO, but then people just started moving towards the pings and stopped communicating that much. We felt like that kind of ruined some of that experience.”

Vinternatt explained how the team wants to introduce tools, such as the bio tracker that pings enemies if the player has the tool, that offer a variety of ways to encourage the team to communicate together. “We’re a niche game so it won’t be for everyone. I mean, we’re fine with that. Everyone won’t like this type of game and it’s fine. But hopefully, those people who like it will love it or not.”

With the team constantly talking about supporting GTFO for as long as possible, I was interested in knowing if they had any plans for DLC or expansion packs, even if it’s so early on. “We don’t have any plans right now,” he says while mentioning about still having lots of work to do on the base game. “We want to do the rundown for a long time and give the community more value for their money than they actually expect. So will you see an expansion? We haven’t even talked about it.”

Regarding GTFO and any planned platforms, Vinternatt confirms, “We will start out at PC and Steam” detailing that they’re using Early Access to make the game experience good. “Doing several platforms at the same time with this kind of team would be really tough. So instead, we use that, we take time,” He then adds, “we would love to release on consoles”

I also brought up the rise in streaming services, asking if they’d bring GTFO to platforms such as Google Stadia or xCloud. I expected a similar answer, though he adds “the more platforms the game would be available on the more people could probably play it or we could get some some some extra help in marketing and that kind of stuff through these platforms that that be awesome.“

GTFO has launched on PC for Steam Early Access.

The interview has been edited for readability. The costs of the trip to Copenhagen to experience GTFO were covered by Unity and 10 Chambers Collective.

December 11, 2019 1:00 PM EST

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2019/12/gtfo-grand-moff-talks-about-the-future-of-the-hardcore-shooter-were-a-niche-game/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gtfo-grand-moff-talks-about-the-future-of-the-hardcore-shooter-were-a-niche-game

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