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datasponge · 4 years

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Podcast Project - #1

I’m going to listen to every podcast that won a 2019 Audioverse award. Is someone paying me to do this? No. Why am I doing this? I love podcasts. I love learning. I love Excel and python. I wanted to combine them into one singular format to give me some outlet, that nicely outlines every fact anyone ever would need about a podcast. I’ll also go off on pop culture, but those posts are tagged, search: Opinion Corner

Why Podcasts Keep Me Sane At Work – PP#1

My friends and co-workers at various times have been horrified and astounded at the number of podcasts I listen to on a daily basis. The reason for this is simple, I spend a lot of time alone or on less than challenging work or I’m in a public space trying to pretend I am not around other people. That last part is hard on account that my headphone adapter is on the fritz with one earbud working at a time.

This week it is the right earbud. I have been blessed for this occurrence.

Some people like to point this out to me, that in paraphrase, “All you do is listen to crime podcasts”, which is at worst very inaccurate and at best, anoints them as someone to avoid. I don’t just listen to crime podcasts, those are usually just the ones that I happen to bring up if the conversation turns to, “Oh do you listen to podcasts? What are your favorites?” It’s not a personality trait, but still, people like to point it out like that’s what’s really my deal.

This blog is now my way of providing a large anecdote of evidence, that “Hey! I like everyone who is a complex creature, with wants and needs and many shortcomings! The fear of being known along with the dread of not living up to my own potential haunts me daily, but I can’t tell you that when I talk about my weekend plans, so I’m going to tell you about the newest comedy podcast that’s helping me through the workday!”

Anyways on to the main scope of the project. There were overall 62 winners across the six categories this year. I put it in a spreadsheet, sorted some data and found that were a unique 46 podcasts. Those 46, I’ve listened to 6, meaning I have 40 podcasts left to listen to and hopefully enjoy.

I’ll be breaking down how many seasons are per podcast along with the number of hours listening I have in store for me to figure out how many blog posts I can reasonably post in a couple months. I think I’ll add the one’s I’ve listened to already at the bottom of my list since most are on hiatus or posting every couple weeks, meaning I could listen to the newer episodes without breaking up this project too badly.

Along with this, I’ll be posting my approach to how I’m trying to analyze and parse my data in Excel and Python. This is partly a future dev diary for me to figure out what I keep trying for problems that aren’t working and to highlight the fact that Excel is a crazy powerful application when used correctly.

Process: My previous and the more tedious solution had been to highlight just the stuff I want to copy, but I’m here to learn to automate my slow finger response and get this down to a click of a button. My second even more tedious solution would be to still text to columns, but have to piece back the info I needed by copy and paste.

Google search with some mash-up, “separate text to columns by the character” yielded a message board with the solution to use the equation, Column 2, =FIND("for",A1) and Column 3 =RIGHT(A1,B1-13) .

Column 2 had the number of characters including spaces from the word I put in the “ “. Column 3 removed all the characters, including spaces from the designated word.

In theory, this should be able to copy all the way down, but there wasn’t a uniform number of characters. I did end up getting closer to the magic number each time I ran it but then forgot to account for the spaces. Damn spaces. The spaces meant when I copied just the values to a new column to highlight the duplicates, it meant that any cell with an extra space would be skipped throwing off my total count. I ended up running four times, trying to catch each mistake I was making in the Excel doc. Note: This might be because I was tired, but defiantly need a way to account for spaces.

Conclusion: There is apparently a better version called Right-Trim, that combines the ability to take out spaces with the character you want to remove, but as of this posting haven’t attempted yet. I will update in future posts if I’ve managed to improve my text parsing process.

#excel #podcast #audio verse awards #pet project #weird data #data science #? learning

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magggg202 · 5 years

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Guys I went over my last doc and rewrote some of it so here’s the newer version of my fanfic “Making A Deal With The Enemy”

Making a deal with he enemy

Gregg sat on Annie’s floor helping her pack for a weekend away with Beth, Ruby and Noah. Even thought they were divorced now and had a short affair he would always love Annie. Except lately she has been very off, ever since the night she told him Rio was dead. Rio and him hadn’t talked in a few months because Gregg didn’t agree with Rios life choices but that was his friend. Rio was Annie’s friend too and Annie was acting like nothing had happened.

Annie walked in with her luggage, Gregg looked up at her. She wondered why he always stared at her with curiosity.

“What?”

“How can you go away? Rio is dead.”

Annie wanted to tell Gregg the truth, she had been begging Noah and Beth, they both said for the time being their secret must stay a secret.

“Gregg that was three months ago, he wouldn’t want us to dwell on it.”

Gregg got up off the floor. He was mad. Dwell. How could she say that. Rio was their friend for years. His Death wasn’t something they should get over. “I’m going to pick Sadie up from school.”

“Please bring him home before you go to your house, I want to see him before I leave tonight.”

Gregg shook his head yes and left. He was mad. Rio and him hadn’t been close in years but they always spoke from time to time and that changed nothing Rio was always would be his best friend.

Later that night and a 3hr and 40 minute plane ride later. Beth, Annie, Ruby and Noah all landed in Cancun Mexico.

“The car will be here in 2 minutes,” Noah told the girls.

Exactly Two minutes later a black car with tinted black windows pulled up and the passenger door opened, Rio got out and gave everyone a smile.

“Miss me?” He smirked.

Beth ran over and hugged him tight, this had been the longest 3 months of her life.

Rio places his hand on Beth’s chin and kissed her softly, he had really missed her. He breathed in her red door perfume, he had missed that smell so much. He missed everything about Beth. But he missed her most of all.

Beth pulled away so Rio could say hi to everyone else. He gave Ruby and Annie a hug and shook Noah’s hand.

“Well let’s get going shall we?” Rio gestured for everyone to get in the car.

A few minutes later they were pulling up a long drive way to a huge brick house that over over looked the Caribbean sea.

“Holy Shit,” Annie stares at the house. “This place is fucking beautiful.”

“It really is.” Everyone turned around and saw Gregg standing behind them. He was clearly very angry.

“Gregg what the hel-.”

“DON’T.” He shouted at Annie.”

Rio steppes in front of Annie. “Bro, don’t be mad at Annie, she wanted to tell you.”

“For three months I had been thinking you were dead.”

“You were supposed to, everyone, except the people here.” He pointed To the girls and Noah. “The FBI hasn’t to think I’m dead Gregg.”

“Why!”

“Come in my house so we can talk privately.” He points to his ears indicating people could always be listening.

Everyone goes in the house, before Rio and Gregg talk, Rio shows everyone around and to their rooms.

After they settle Annie and him go to Greggs room to speak to him about what really had happened three months ago.

“How’d you know where to go?” Annie said walking in the room.

Gregg looked out the window at the waves crashing on the shore. “I knew something was up, I’ve known since last week when I heard you talking on the phone to Beth, begging to tell me the truth. I booked at ticket. I picked Sadie up from school and brought him to Nancy’s told them I had to go somewhere for the weekend. I waited all day at the airport for you guys to come. I rented the car outside and when I saw you I followed you.”

“You’re a better cop then Noah and you aren’t even a cop,” Rio laughed.

“Shut up,” Annie rolled her eyes.

Rio sat on the edge of the bed. “Noah felt bad for lying to Annie about everything, he told them he wanted to help and he did. Beth and I came up with a plan. Well we all did. Noah got me a bullet proof vest. The plan was to trick Turner and that we did. I kidnapped him and I had to threaten Beth to make her get mad at me and make it believable for Turner. And she had to shoot me. I got my hands on some supplies that made it look like I was dead and bleeding. I had some of my guys on standby with an ambulance, where they dropped me off at a private jet that took me here to my safe house.”

Gregg burst out laughing, this was all fucking crazy he had thought. “Didn’t’ Turner want to see the body?”

“That’s what Noah was for. I beat up Turner so well that he had to go to the hospital and Noah took over and acted as if he saw me.”

“That’s kind of Genius.”

“We had to get him off my back and Beth’s and so far I think we did a pretty good job.”

Annie sat next to Rio and sighed, “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”

Gregg turned and looked at them, he walked over and hugged them both. “I’m still mad you guys didn’t tell me, but I forgive you.”

They all hugged it out for a good five minutes, when Beth walked in.

“Mind if I still him?” Beth gave Rio a smile.

“We do not,” Annie and Gregg said in unison.

Rio and Beth walked hand and hand into his room. Rios room was huge, pantings on the wall, pictures of him and his son Miguel on his night stand. White fitted sheets on the California king bed.

Beth pushed Rio on top of the bed, he let out a light laugh. Beth climbed on top of him holding his hands in the back of his head.

“I really missed you,” She said.

“I missed you more.”

Beth leaned down and kissed Rio. It was a long hot and passionate kiss. The one she had been waiting for, for months. Rio let go of her hands and ripped open her buttoned poke-a-dot dress. He flipped Beth over and started kissing her from her lips down to her stomach, Beth moaned with pleasure. She had missed his body on hers.

Rio had missed the feeling of being inside her.

After they made love Rio and Beth laid staring at each other. Beth laid her head on Rios chest. She rubbed over it with her hand. He pushed her hair out of her face.

“Sorry I shot you.” Beth frowned.

Rio smiled, “you had too.” He kissed her forehead.

“Remember all those years ago at Annie’s baby shower.”

“What about it?”

“I told you I was going to be with you someday.”

Beth looked up at Rio. “And you are.”

The next morning, the girls all laid on the beach soaking up the sun, while the boys were inside, drinking and sharing stories.

“I want to marry Beth.”

Noah and Gregg put their beers down and looked at Rio.

“I’ve been thinking about it for a few months now, I love her more than anything. I’m not going to stay hidden forever. And if we get married she can’t testify against me.”

“I honestly don’t know what to say.” Gregg raised his eyebrows.

“I already got a ring.”

“What?” Noah was shocked.

“Tonight at dinner I’m going to ask her to be my wife.”

Gregg sipped his beer. “Just don’t ever give up on your marriage like I did. I will forever regret losing Annie.” He looks at Noah. “Don’t you ever hurt her.”

“I don’t plan on it.” Noah said.

In the corner of the kitchen Annie let out a light cough. The guys all look at her, Noah and Greggs eyes went wide. “You guys going to come swimming?” She acted like she hadn’t heard anything. “Yeah babe coming.” Noah chugged his beer and followed Annie outside.

“You got to get her back Gregg, you love her. You have a kid. Noah’s a great dude but he’s not the one for her, you are.”

Gregg stares at Annie, “I love her more than anything.”

“She loves you too, I can tell.”

Gregg walks over and hugs Rio. “Thanks bro.”

They walk outside to join the others.

At dinner the guys anxiously wait for Rio to pop the question, when finally he stood up and looked at Beth and who looked back at him confused.

“Elizabeth I have loved you since I first met you 16 years ago at one of Greggs house parties. It was only a quick hello but I knew I could love you,” he gets on one knee.”

“Oh my god,” Ruby says.

“This past year getting closer to you has been not only a wish of mine but a true honor. It sounds corny but I’ve never wanted someone so bad to be in my life. I know I make mistakes and I know I’ll make more in the future but I will never make the mistake of hurting you or letting you go. I know that this is crazy but I want you to be my wife. Will you-.”

“You don’t even have to finish your sentence, I love you Rio and I would love nothing more than to be your wife.”

Rio opens up a small case threat olds a square shaped 14 karate gold diamond ring. Beth covered her mouth in shock, Rio took her shaking hand and slipped on the Ring that fit her perfectly. Ruby and Annie were crying, they were so happy for Beth. They thought she was crazy but they were happy. Everyone clapped and Beth and Rio kissed. They were getting married.

“I have a question,” Ruby spoke up.

“Yeah?” Rio and Beth said.

“How can she go wedding shopping? She has to be careful.”

Rio smiled, “I’m glad you asked, I have a friend who I pay more than enough money to help out. His name is doctor Mark Sensi. He’s an American doctor who moved here years ago to help out my friends here and myself. He agreed to take pictures and act like he’s dating Beth. It’s going to be a love at first site kind of thing.”

Ruby tilted her head, she was impressed Rio had thought this through. “I’ll allow it.” Rio laughed and hugged Ruby, “thank you.”

During the night Annie woke up and for some reason decided to look out the window where she saw Gregg sitting on the beach. She grabbed her robe and went outside.

“You okay?” She sat down next to him.

“I love you Annie, I want to have more kids with you because the one we made is pretty fucking fantastic. You have been my best friend for years. And when Rio asked Beth to marry him tonight it reminded me of us.”

“I love you too.”

Gregg looked at her surprised. “You do?”

Annie signs and takes his hand, “I love Noah but I also love you. I’m so confused Gregg. But I dont know what to do right now okay? I need time to figure it all out.” Gregg leaned over and kissed Annie’s cheek. “I’ll wait for you, forever.”

Annie leaned her head on Greggs shoulder. They stayed almost all night.

The next morning Rio made everyone breakfast, Noah walked over to him and congratulated him on his engagement to Beth. Today was the last day they’d all see each other for a while. They had to make sure no one was on their trail.

“Still can’t believe I made a deal with the enemy.” Noah laughed.

“I am not the enemy Noah.”

Beth walks over and wraps her arms around Rios waist while he cooked scrambled eggs.

“Noah haven’t you learned Rio has a big heart, but he makes dumb decisions. We all have to make a living.”

“Amen,” Ruby says. “I defiantly needed this vacation, but I miss my husband and my kids. But mostly my husband, because after hearing you too last night, I got to get me some sex too.” They all laughed.

“Well we had to celebrate our engagement,” Rio smirked.

Annie walks in the kitchen her hair a mess, “you had to celebrate it all night long? Mine and Noah’s room was next to yours you know. That fucking head bored. Bang, ba, bang, ba, bang. I mean I was only there for like 2 hours because Gregg and I sat outside but still.”

Noah looked at Gregg and than back to Annie. He had competition.

“Later on you and I are going to walk the town Elizabeth.” Rio looked at his fiancé. He had never been this happy. He hoped from this day forward everything would go well and if it didn’t, it didn’t matter he had Beth by his side.

#brio #rio x beth #rio and beth #beth and rio #elizabeth and rio #rio and elizabeth #nbc goodgirls #beth boland #fanfic #good girls nbc fanfic #brio fanfic

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calliecat93 · 5 years

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Red vs Blue Season 17 Review, Part One

On March 9th, 2019, Red vs Blue: Singularity premiered at last. After the monster cliffhanger of S16, to say that many of us had been anxious would be an understatement. Well, it’s several months later and the season has concluded it’s 12 episode run. So, was it good? Was it bad? Well… that’s a hard question to answer. But however we feel, we’re going to be going over it today in my Season 17 Review~!

This baby got a Hell of a lot longer than intended, so hopefully, it’s coherent. I tried to be firm, but honest. No matter what I think though, there is no arguing that these people put in a lot of work to make this season a reality. I never want that fact to be ignored. So thank you Jason, Miles, Josh, Austin, Greg, Joe, RT Animation, and everyone else for all the hard work. Couldn’t have been easy, but we appreciate it all the same~!

So with that said, for the final time, let us talk about Red vs Blue Season 17.

Visuals/Machinima

This season was unique in that not only was Halo 5 still being us, but they had to go back and use all the past renditions as well. It looked like they were going to use Halo 2 Anniversary for the paradox stuff, a familiar yet different design, but I guess someone decided it was better to just reuse the older games. Which I think was probably the right choice. Halo 2 Anniversary I think would have helped add this feeling of everything being off, but at the same time seeing the previous versions helps connect to the moments more. It adds more emotional investment since we’re seeing something that we recognize being fucked with. It meant more work for the Machinima team, and I hope that they’re all still alive and had a nice vacation after it was all over cause yikes. Their efforts are greatly appreciated~

The machinima was overall very good. Josh Ornelas has been with the show for six years as a machinimator and directed at least a few episodes of S14. So he was more than fit to be a co-director for this season. Austin Clark is newer and IDK when he started (my guess is around 14 or 15), but I think he’s shown that he’s perfectly capable both as a machinimator and as a director. I never noticed any issues with the machinima that threw me off… but as usual, it’s hard to critique what are essentially video game movements/defaults. Very least whenever the characters were emotional or something, I got the feeling from how the scene was framed. Even though you can’t see the faces, the machinimators know how to frame it to make you feel the intended emotion. Episode 9 with Carolina and Wash’s talk I think demonstrated that. Yeah, the VA-ing helped, but you can see the emotion, even though there’s no emotion to display. And while Austin handled the even-numbered episodes and Josh the odd ones, everything felt like they were on the same page, which is essential when co-directing. They both did an excellent job directing.

Animation was sadly sparse compared to the last season. Wasn’t bad though. There were some good bits, like the opening credits and Wash directing his gun at Genkins in Episode 3. Oh. and Genkins getting stabbed with his own golf club was pretty gruesome, especially with his writhing around, but seeing the original Halo animated was nice. We only got one fight scene, but it was Carolina vs Carolina and it was badass. Not as creative as the Donut vs O’Malley fight, but still really good and impactful. Loved it!. The sets and effects were all very good. Just look at the opening. The effects used for The Everwhen looked really cool and other-worldly. The Labyrinth looked pretty creepy, as it should be considering its true nature. And of course, all the previous Halo’s still looked good… maybe a little dated with Halo: CE but still as good as it did in the remaster.

Overall, visually speaking, the season was really good. The machinima looked great and was directed competently. I felt engaged, and that’s what’s important. Definitely one of the season high points.

Voice Acting/Music

We’re mainly going to be discussing Dan Godwin, Shannon McCormick, Jen Brown, Ricco Fajardo, and Lee Eddy. Everyone else in the main cast was pretty much at the expected level of quality. There’s sadly not much to talk about specifically, which we’ll go more into during the character section. But Joel, Matt, Gus, Geoff, Becca, and Jason Saldana all did well and gave the quality that I expect from them, just nothing that stands out really. I’ll say this, Geoff and Becca’s performance in the finale was very strong and emotional and I loved it. Matt he both got to do Wyoming again and had to do Doc and O’Malley at the same time, which he nailed perfectly. And hearing Burnie as Church again was really nice… but never let him do English Lopez again. Ever.

Let's talk about villains first. Ricco Fajardo as Genkins is freakin’ fantastic. While we got glimpses of it last season, Genkins fun but truly shitty self is on full display this season. And Ricco is clearly having the time of his life recording it. He’s just always so cheerful and having fun, but it feels so messed up and sadistic due to the circumstances. But he owns it. Sometimes having a villain who is just shitty can be fun, especially if you have a competent actor doing it. And Ricco absolutely nailed it. We also have Lee Eddy, who voiced 479er, make her return to RvB as Chrovos. She too is clearly having a fun time. She goes full-on Large Ham with Chrovos’ theatrics and basting but also portrays her getting fed up very well. It’s the Gwen in her showing, haha. But yeah, these are two fun villain characters, and the performances very much reflected that. Loved it~

Next, we have our Freelancers, Shannon and Jen. They both got the emotions hard this season. Which considering how their plot ended last season, is no surprise. It’s no shock that these two did very well, but… man… Jen had to express a lot of guilt, but also a lot of tears and pain. Which she did very well. Carolina feels terrible and has to accept that her efforts were in vain, and Jen conveyed that very well. The second that Carolina breaks down in Episode 9… God, I just wanted to hug her. Then there’s Episode 11 where Carolina is confronting her past self, and it truly does feel like two different characters, even though it’s the same actress. It was a very strong performance this season, arguably her best one yet.

Then we have Shannon. Oh golly, Shannon. How long has he been doing Wash now? Over a decade, right? He knows this character in and out… and he perfectly shows that this season. Wash has a lot to get through this season. His anger at Carolina, him having to accept what happened, accept what has to happen, it’s a lot. Shannon nails it. From going back and forth between normal and crazy in Episode 3 to any time his anger at Carolina showed, to his talk with Carolina in Episode 5, his acceptance of his fate and prepping for it in Episode 9, and his horror to seeing everyone die in 11. And he still got lighter moments, like his interactions with Donut, which were super enjoyable. Shannon just knocked it out of the park this season, and I loved it.

But of course, the one I have to give the biggest kudos to is Dan Godwin. While he has performed Donut since the very beginning… well, he only got to do so much since Donut only got to do so much. He never did a bad job, or he was on par with everyone else, but he simply wasn’t really allowed to go beyond ‘optimistic, innuendo-spouting moron’. That is, until now. Dan got to do so much this season. He got a full range to do with Donut that he really never got, or only got so briefly. He got to be emotional, he got to be angry, he got to be frustrated, he got to be utterly done with absolutely everything. And he conveyed all of that very well. Heck, I think the pitch even lowered a little bit compared to before, or it felt less squeaky as the season went on. It feels more like an in-between of Blood Gulch Donut and pre-Paradox Donut, which I think works. Overall, Dan got to show how much experience with the character he really has after so many years of not getting to, and he was by far the best performer due to it.

Everyone in the cast did great. Even for brief returns like Miles and Gray with the Mercs, Arryn Zech with Dr. Grey, and the Freelancers all did a great job. Jason Weight as Grif’s coach was also simultaneously hilarious and scary. He clearly put his all into it, anyways. As for the music… what? Ae we surprised that it was good? David Levy and Trocadero again delivered a solid soundtrack. The fact that we have to wait for both this soundtrack and still for the S16 soundtrack continues to upset me. But at least it means a lot of quality tracks whenever they do come out. Solid job overall from the music team.

Characters

So one of the problems with these reviews is I have to remember to look at things two ways: as a fan and as a critic. We had a lot of really good character stuff with some characters… and not so much with others. And looking at it as a fan and then as a critic causes two widely different perspectives regarding this section. Normally I’d rather get the negative out of the way, but to explain the negative I have to talk about the positives first. Hopefully, I don’t come off as too harsh, but I want to be honest in this review as well. So.. here we go.

Okay, happy first. The two main focuses of this season are Donut and Wash. Let's do Wash, and in turn Carolina, first. Wash… well, got put to the side last season for the most part. His plot was mainly focused on his brain damage that he didn’t know about and ended with his blow up at Carolina. Which we all know what that leads to. Here, Wash has to deal with the fallout of it. He gets to stabilize and be back to pre-brain damage and is determined to save the others… but his anger at Carolina is lingering. His arc this season is about him forgiving Carolina, helping Donut, and accepting his own fate. I think, overall, Wash had a very good arc. And this is coming from someone who is not that big of a Wash fan.

Wash’s anger at Carolina is understandable, but he realizes that she did it out of concern for him and never meant to hurt him, and especially after talking to her in Episode 5 and how even when paradox’d she still trusts him, he forgives her. Carolina, in turn, has to deal with the immense guilt of her actions… again. Yeah, the fact that we got another ‘Carolina is guilty’ story after Freelancer, S13, and S15, it’s feeling a little repetitive. But her emotions regarding it were very well written. You do really feel the remorse and understand why she did what she did. It makes it even worse when in Episode 9, Wash accepts what has to happen and Carolina has to accept it. It was one of the toughest scenes in the season but was such a beautiful, poignant moment for both. They still have problems, like Wash fears of losing everyone and Carolina has past issues lingering still over Freelancer and her family. But it’s safe to say that they’ve both become closer and stronger.

The biggest character of this season is, of course, Donut. This was a long time coming. Up until the end of the last season, Donut was probably the most underutilized character in the show aside from maybe Lopez and Doc. He went from a dumb but semi-competent rookie to a flamboyant, one-note joke character. Like after Blood Gulch I can't think of anything significant that he contributed. Recollection more or less wrote him out/killed him off, Chorus did nothing with him, and S15 also did nothing with him and even forgot him in certain scenes. S16 began to fix that, having Donut get annoyed at being ignored, nearly betray everyone, and then get into one of the shows best fight scenes by far. So we were building up for something for this season, and sure enough, it came and it came hard… was that at innuendo? Dang it Donut, you’ve influenced me too much!

This was developed for Donut that was loooong overdue. He further got frustrated with being ignored and belittled by everyone around him. He recognized his innuendo problem and tried to actively improve it. He showed some of that competence he had in Blood Gulch, piecing things together and actively taking charge since he understood things the most. When he told everyone off in Episode 7, it felt so satisfying because of how long he’s been treated like a nuisance when he was at worst a little annoying and TMI. He was willing, tried his best, and it really felt like he was finally allowed to be more than just a joke. It really made me like and appreciate Donut a LOT more than I did before. Like he used to not just be my least favorite Red, but my least favorite of the BGC. Now? He’s right below Grif and Simmons on the Overall Favorites List. Yeah, that’s a LOT of places.

Donut was great and I wouldn't change him getting him this development… but this development did come at a cost. That being development for everyone else. The other Reds and the Blues were shafted and shafted pretty badly. The first half of the season, they are trapped with no memory and go about how they would in that time period. Which okay, it’s necessary for the plot so we can overlook that one. They get restored in Episode 6… and they are STILL badly shafted. They are all joke characters, which does NOT work when we’re this deep in the plot. I mean we get some moments, like Tucker reliving his failure on Crash Site Bravo and recognizing his fault over the past few seasons, Sarge has his scenario in Episode 11 that I thought was very insightful, but those are small moments. Sadly, Donut got too much attention. Even with Wash, him realizing how he was the Donut of Freelancer was more or less contributing to making Donut look good, as did Tucker’s moment. I like those scenes and I love Donut… but not everything had to be about him. He’s the main character, not the only one.

Let's do the Blues first. As I said, there were more or less just there and had no real major character development or effect on the plot. But that being said, they were given some legit good stuff. Tucker got it the best as he re-lived Crash Site Bravo and finally realized true leadership was. It was about stepping up when no one else would and when things were at their bleakest, not being the cool, macho guy like he kept acting like it was. Which after these past two seasons, was nice to see. I was one of the people who were perfectly fine with how Tucker was written the past two seasons because I could see why he had regressed. But I do know that a lot of people didn’t like it, and this feels like a good way to bring it all around. Have Tucker relive his worst moment, this time having to let it go through, and therefore truly remember what caused him to step up on Chorus: because he had to. It’s short, but it does its job and this along with his Labyrinth vision I think has really helped Tucker’s character immensely.

Caboose is overall pretty minor but had some good scenes like beating the shit out of Genkins in Episode 6 and figuring out how time travel worked before the others. It helps show that he’s an idiot, but he’s a smart idiot (if that makes any sense) and was a step up from his limited screentime last season. He also had my favorite line in the entire season (“These graphics look horrible!”). Sister was overall minor, but I’ll go into her later. You’ll see why when I get there. Doc was overall also minor and how the Hell he was in the Everwhen I’ll never know, but I do like him in the finale and finally getting a grip on O’Malley. He more or less is a combo of the two now and seems much more capable due to it, so that’s good. So yeah, while it may not have been a lot, the Blues and Doc were at least given something, which is better than nothing at all.

The Reds though… so you know how these past two seasons started giving them more development? You would think that since Donut is the main character, that would continue, right? Haha… nope! They went right back to ‘the comedy relief team who do absolutely nothing!’! Which after the past two seasons started to do more with them… yeah, this felt like a slap in the face. Sarge annoyed me this season. Mainly in Episode 7 where he was a hypocritical asshole about Donut’s betrayal, ignoring how he not that long ago betrayed everyone and was still feeling guilty about it. He was also the one primarily being a jerk to Donut, which did not do him any favors. I know it’s Sarge and he’s an asshole, so it’s not 100% unexpected… but I felt like it was pushed too much just to contribute to the ‘Donut is so unappreciated!’ arc. His speech in Episode 6 was hilarious though and I did like his Labyrinth vision showing that he can't handle both civilian or army life. It was surprisingly insightful in a way that I’m not used to with Sarge. So yeah, I feel his screentime was on par with Sister and Caboose at least.

Simmons… got nothing. Absolutely nothing. I mean the running gag where he kept seeing Donut shot was really funny, and it also meant he wasn't an asshole like Sarge. Heck, he seemed to be the only one willing to hear Donut out about saving them in Episode 7. And he did more or less point out how they could launch the gold club through the portal to stop Genkind from reigniting the paradox, which was minor but nice to see for him. Him not being a kissass anymore is also sticking, which seeing him back when he was pettier in Episode 2 did make me appreciate where he is now. The way that he was legit concerned for Donut during the ‘Wash shoots Donut’ gag also helps make it look like he at least cared about him in contrast to Sarge’s jackassery. But he was otherwise just there. Very least, it also means he was the only Red that I didn’t get frustrated about since his character remained consistent… until the finale with the utter bullshit that was his nightmare. Seriously guys, what the fuck?!

But at least with Sarge and Simmons, they weren’t exactly in the spotlight last season, so I don’t feel like I got cheated with them. I cannot say the same about Grif, however. Which we will cover that, as well as the Story section, in Part Two.

(Part Two)

#rvb #rvb17 #rvb spoilers #rvb reviews #callie reviews

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boyfriem-moved · 5 years

Note

pl ea se info dump about your ocs

oh boy ok you,,, don’t want this but u already asked and it’s too late to go back so im just gonna start talking

ok so i have like 2 separate oc worlds and 3 seperate groups of ocs within those (these are just the main ones, there’s ones i don’t think abt anymore and ones i’ve abandoned and fan characters and stuff but if i went over all of that i’d be here all day so i’ll just stick with these)

so the first world is just our world, modern day, but with magic. there’s this one town, barnsley, georgia, that’s cut off from the rest of the world. most ppl drive by without ever noticing it, and if someone tries to go in who’s not wanted the town will disappear or try to kill them or just do something to keep them out. it’s a vaguely sentient town. in barnsley there’s a big forest and no one’s ever gone in and come out the other side. there’s ambiguous danger in the forest, mostly faeries who will make you fall in love with them and then kill you and harvest your bones and stuff.

so there’s like 4-6 characters depending on where we’re looking at in terms of what storyline i’m following (this is the one that i did nanowrimo for three (3) times and have over 100,000 words of thrown out content for and obsess over constantly so it has the most solid plot and there’s a lot of it) so anyways i’ll just go over all 6 and try to make it as simple as possible without talking about converging storylines and alternate drafts and stuff

ok! so! vi larson-park is the daughter of one of barnsley’s 3 great magicians! her mom could do all sorts of crazy magic and i can’t get into the parents’ backstory here bc they have a whole OTHER story and that’s just. too much (maybe i’ll do that later? we’ll see) so yeah her mom did magic and also made some bad deals and stole some stuff from the woods and indirectly caused some ppls deaths but it’s like fine probably. so vi grew up with her mom, natalie, her mom’s witch girlfriend, erica, and erica’s twin brother, simon (who i’ll get into later and also who doesn’t exist in half the scrapped drafts) in this big empty DEFINITELY HAUNTED house on the edge of town where erica grew up and they were good and happy. then like a year ago natalie was killed by nick, who i’ll also get into later, and that’s kinda the end of her story, vi and erica are obviously devastated and they have a funeral and vi starts having the occasional odd dream here and there, but things go back to normal after awhile. vi has absolutely no aptitude for magic, and because of that she often feels alienated by erica and simon who are VERY magical and always talking about things she doesn’t understand. she’s fiercely loyal and protective and not really scared of anything. she’s always wanted to know what’s in the woods but knows better than to go looking

tyler is vi’s best friend and also 50% whole entire Not Human. he either came from the woods or was found outside a random gas station in like arizona or something depending on which draft i’m going by, but either way he was found around two years ago and has been clinging to vi ever since. his backstory is a big unknown to the human characters and no one really knows anything about him. he’s a faerie prince, the son of the erlking, who’s sort of the ambiguous villain of the story but i’ll get into him later. he has 3 brothers, sorrel, dain, and kell. sorrel is the oldest and known as the winter prince, then there’s kell for spring, dain for summer, and tyler himself for autumn. (btw his name isn’t actually tyler technically it’s robin but i'm not gonna get into that rn.) sorrel is cool and collected and stone cold bitch, and all he wants is to be king so he roped tyler into helping him try and kill their dad, which failed, so then he lost his position in the royal court and now he’s doing tons of morally gray stuff in an attempt to get back in his dad’s favor so he can kill him for real this time. dain and kell are sort of nothing at all and you don’t need to know anything except dain is really mean and violent and kell is an ally(?). after the whole failed killing debacle tyler ran away to barnsley in hopes that he could find something in common with the humans, since he’d been a faerie all his life and couldn’t stand it. he’s quiet and doesn’t like doing or saying things unless he absolutely has to, is generally unhelpful unless something benefits him, scared of being alone, hates being indoors, runs around barefoot and only eats food from the woods. he’s kinda like an outdoor cat.

nick and marcus jacobs are brothers and general hooligans. nick is the older one (he’s 19) and marcus is 15 and they grew up in barnsley for the first 14 years of marcus’ life until marcus accidentally killed their dad and they left town. which the dad killing subplot is really a lot to get into but basically their dad was the second magician, along with vi’s mom, except the effects of magic on a person can kinda drive a person insane and the others managed to keep it together but he slowly went crazy until he was paranoid and in pain all the time and ended up taking a lot of it out on his sons which ended in him threatening marcus and marcus in an act of self defense unleashing raw magic power he didn’t know he had and accidentally killing him and also taking out all the power in the entire town and causing a minor earthquake. it was a Big Deal. so yeah they buried their dad in the backyard and skipped town. after their dad died all his magic went down to nick so nick has newfound power (marcus btw has never been able to use magic since then and has no idea how he did it) but he also has voices in his head and weird dreams, and with all the voices yelling at him all the time he realizes that the only way to get rid of them is to get rid of the magicians. his dad did some magic bullshit that made him the vessel for the magic once he died but the other magicians didn’t so he doesn’t have to kill anyone besides them and it makes sense bc i say it does shut up. so for like a year they drive around aimlessly, meet with and kill vi’s mom, meet with and kill aidan’s dad (i’ll get to aidan once i’m done here), pick up a hitchhiker depending on which version of the story i’m telling, then go back home where they’re not really welcome anymore but that won’t stop them. nick is cold and mean and. y’know. a murderer, but he also loves marcus greatly and gets attached to people more easily than he would like to admit. he’s sort of closed himself off and resigned himself to killing “for the greater good”, but it’s hard for him, and there’s definitely people he wouldn’t kill. he fully planned to, once he got rid of the magicians, never kill again, and he keeps that promise. marcus is soft spoken and anxiety ridden and a bit of a crybaby and he hates death and doesn’t fully trust nick and doesn’t trust himself either. on the outside he appears bitter and angry constantly.

aidan mulligan is a HOOLIGAN! a whole entire rowdy boy! he’s also the son of the third magician and marcus’ ex(?) boyfriend? more like boyfriend on standby. it’s complicated. there’s nothing special to him, he’s rowdy bc his parents never gave him enough attention so he runs around with people he doesn’t really like and is always getting into trouble. his favorite activities are skipping church and running the local cryptid watch am radio station, which no one listens to and which he used to run with marcus. he misses marcus dearly and keeps waiting for him to come back. he’s loud and talkative and his mood changes drastically but is always on the highest setting. he’s either screaming-and-throwing-things angry or unable to shut up and bouncing all over the place. not to pick favorites but he’s my favorite i really love him. his life moto is “fuck you dad” basically. oh yeah nick killed his dad and stuff and it’s hit him hard but he’s not as torn up by it as he probably should be, which he feels terrible about. his mom lives on the other side of the country and doesn’t currently know his dad is dead, which isn’t really something you’re supposed to keep secret generally but the mulligan family said fuck the rules. he has two brothers, connor and seamus (connor older, seamus younger) and loves both of them though he would never admit it.

simon diederich is the secret special bonus magician!! also i think i gotta talk abt parent backstory for him so,,,, here goes: basically, simon and vi’s mom and marcus and aidan’s dads all stole magic from the forest in a way that doesn’t super make sense but it’s my story i can do what i want. and in the process simon died and they had to leave him behind in the woods, but then since the magic in the forest was weak it couldn’t continue being formless or else it would turn into nothing since so much of it had been damaged by the humans or w/e. so it took simon’s body as a vessel and resurrected him with all his old memories but also 100% more magic power. so he took that power and went back home and has been just straight chillin, unaging, for 30-ish years. he got like. immense wisdom when he was resurrected and is also possessed by a sentient forest so he does what the forest wants which is protect the town and fistfight anyone he doesn’t like. he’s obnoxious and immature and thinks he’s hot shit and loves these trees more than he loves other people probably

bonus character: lila is the ghost who lives in vi’s attic. she’s like 7. i love her

THAT HURT MY FINGERS TO TYPE. I HAD TO MOVE TO GOOGLE DOCS TO DO THIS BC TUMBLR KEPT LAGGING AND MY WORD COUNT IS NEARING 2000 BUT W/E LETS KEEP GOING

next, still in the same universe, are the residents of greywell, washington. greywell is what’s on the other side of those woods no one can cross in barnsley. how does that work? magic obviously. greywell is a lot like barnsley but more sinister, it’s a lot newer so the characters aren’t as fleshed out (with one exception) and there’s really only 3 i actually care abt so this ones gonna be a lot shorter. i’ve thought abt plot but nothing solid so there’s some...stuff but mostly this one will be short

zoe hammond: amateur teen witch who’s also cursed. she has an eye on her left hand which is always watching her and she wants off desperately. u know how i said in some versions of the story nick and marcus pick up a hitchiker? that’s her, going to barnsley bc she knows its magic and hopes someone there will know how to fix her. she respects authority and stays in line for the most part, but she also takes shit from no one. she’ll talk to nearly anyone but doesn’t particularly like anyone in town, also she sells witch shit out of the trunk of her car in the school parking lot

wesley: short rowdy trans boy with absolutely no self control who’s stoned all the time and does crazy things for the adrenaline rush and doesn’t bind safely and falls in love with every boy he meets. he skateboards bc of course he does. he’s always ready to fight and punches ppl a lot but usually ends up losing fights bc he’s tiny. i love him

noa: ok this dude went into the woods one (1) time and now there’s this magic glove stuck on their hand? and a ghost in their phone?? and they’re literally so confused and they’ve never had any friends in their entire life but all of a sudden that weird lesbian witch and her crazy skateboarder friend are talking to them all the time and they died? except they woke back up like nothing had happened even though their head basically blew up? and there’s like faeries and stuff coming after them because they want the glove and they can’t get the stupid thing off their hand and they have no idea what’s going on noa is an absolute nervous wreck who’s really fun to draw and they have no idea what’s happening to them and tbh i don’t rly know what i’m doing either but i’m having a good time

ada: the phone ghost.

last set!! i have them all done already from this thing i did with @dogstoes so i’ll just paste them in but first background:

this is a completely separate world, it’s like this 1910s era fictional city with magic and shit. the magic system is kinda complicated but basically there’s elemental magicians who are heavily tied to religion, they’re believed to be sacred and god sent by p much every organized religion. they do elements, it’s pretty simple. then there’s blood magicians who can basically transmute but they have to use their own blood to do it. anyone can learn to be a blood magician but most ppl don’t want to bc. blood ow. blood magicians are an ABOMINATION AGAINST GOD and there’s a stigma against them in religious communities so they tend to populate big cities and less religious places. there’s also healers who are born like elementals and can’t be trained, they’re isolated from both schools of magic bc unlike elementals they’re not pure (well, depending on which religion you ask) and unlike blood magicians they’re not common. born magicians are born with pure black eyes (irises? the colored part. not just all black) that differentiate them from nonmagic ppl. there’s also super intense mary sue magicians who r rare and born with red eyes (i started this world when i was 13 don’t judge me bitch) and they can shapeshift kinda? but in cool ways, it’s not just shapeshifting they could also make their skin tough or nails pointy or w/e. one of them specifically likes to harden his own blood in weapons it’s kinda metal. anyways here’s the character profiles from the google doc pasted in word for word

Characters (bc i suddenly decided this is Sharin With Rivers material If You Shall Take It):

So basically there's these 2 gangs, run by this woman Lyra Frey and this dude Lucas Sweeney, and they Do Not Like Each Other At All. Neither of them are good bc yknow...gangs….but lyra’s is like...better anyways here's characters

Lyra's dudes:

Emil Finch: 21, any and all pronouns, ace, lyra’s right hand man/ veteran of a bloody civil war (TECHNICALLY a war criminal but yknow…it's whatever). Likes cats and Arya, dislikes cigarettes and being short. Their birth name is Emilee, which they shortened to their liking when they moved to The Big City, and they used their father's name (Finn O'Malley) to join the war. They're a healer magician but ssshhh don't tell anyone. They used their powers to hurt people when they were in The War and now don't trust themselves, so they stick to traditional medicine thank you very much. (Also knives. They’re a big fan of knives.)

Arya Frey: 21, she/her, Lyra’s adopted daughter and mechanic. She has METAL LEGS and has to walk with a cane so she doesn't go outside much, mostly makes machines and strategizes for her mom. Likes drawing, Emil, making things/taking them apart, dislikes cold weather (it makes her joints hurt), magic, Drunk Emil. She has two cats named vriska and karkat. Everyone is suspicious of these names even though it's like 1910 and an alternate universe and homestuck doesn't exist.

Jaz Anaheim: 18, he/him, big gay disaster, a pickpocket who came to the Big City with his brother when he was 16 to work and send money to his mom, stole from a kingpin, joined a gang, watched his brother die in front of him, and lied to his mom for 2 years about his job and his brothers aliveness while he sent her blood money. He's a humble farm boy, no magic, tall and uncoordinated, basically all he can do is steal and flirt badly and he's very aware. Also where he came from magicians were rare because they were all drafted for the war so when he sees magic he's way too impressed. Likes loud music, people being interested in him, his family (just his mom now :’)), his hometown, dislikes the city, feeling disliked, himself, swimming

Sweeney’s band of assholes:

Elliott Sweeney: 24, he/him, Sweeney’s son and certified dad hater. He's a blood magician which are common and not that impressive but he’s good at what he does bc he did nothing but practice for like 6 years. His dad basically controls him and makes him work for him because he's useful. He resents his dad with every ounce of his being but doesn't have the spine to do anything about it. After accidentally burning down part of their house and killing his mom his dad sent him away to the summer house in the country, where he lived for the past 6 years, obediently doing his dad’s bidding and learning how to control his magic until he got fed up and burned that house down (on purpose this time), making his dad move him back to the family house in the city so that he could keep an eye on him. he’s one of those badass mega magicians who does blood swords and stuff, he’s also spent so much time reading that he knows a lot about magic theory. Quiet, reserved, extremely petty, but shows a sense of humor around his sister. Never really knew Alise growing up so he’s more of a cool uncle than a brother. Likes his sister, learning things, astronomy, dislikes his dad, Emil, doing magic, fighting, feeling trapped

Alise Sweeney: 14, she/her, her dad named her Alise with an S because he's just that much of an asshole. She's a self trained blood magician and good at what she does. She hates her dad almost as much as Elliott does but she's also not a fucking baby about it. Is DEFINITELY planning on killing him at some point. Was raised to make jokes and do crime and her brother said if she does crime she's grounded. Has never been serious about anything ever, and probably has a screw loose. Has killed people. Is basically a tiny fighting machine. Her dad was rough on her growing up. Likes picking fights, Elliott and Atticus, pissing off her dad, causing trouble. Dislikes her dad, people stronger than her, tense situations, being alone

Atticus Grey: 16, he/him, not Sweeney’s son but hates him enough that he probably could be (in case you were noticing a theme here, sweeney is kinda unlikeable). His mom left soon after he was born and his dad ran up a huge debt and ended up working for Sweeney to pay it off, then died in a gang fight before he could get through it. Sweeney, the merciless motherfucker that he is, decided that Atticus would finish paying it off, and snatched him up as soon as he was 13. His dad used to hang out with Emil’s and so they ended up taking care of parentless Atticus (along with (extremely reluctant) Arya. Atticus is really close with Lyra’s entire crew because he's spent so much time around them. He's a fire magician who knows a bit of blood magic but barely uses it, and he's an angsty bitch. Likes Emil, being alone, dislikes everything else.

oh yeah then there’s those bitches in charge:

Lyra Frey is a [REDACTED] year old woman from [REDACTED] who moved to the city while fleeing from [REDACTED]. She was in the civil war briefly, fighting for the [REDACTED] side. Her real name is not Lyra, but is actually [REDACTED]. She loves Arya more than anything else probably. Sees Jaz as an unofficial son, is skeptical of Atticus, likes Emil but doesn’t trust them.

Lucas Sweeney is one of those rich bastards who also does crime on the side. He’s a politician but everyone and their mother knows he’s an absolute crime lord on the side. Has arguably more power than Lyra but has no idea how to use it, plus Alise has already recruited like half his employees into joining her uprising. He’s a selfish man and a terrible dad. No one likes him.

uh yeah that is. all!! this is over 3000 words jesus do asks have a word limit? i sure hope not

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villainship · 5 years

Text

[SWTOR asks/questions - R answers]

From @ghostace!

Extremely sorry if the text cut doesn’t work. lmao. I just answered All of it.

1. do you play mostly as male or female bodied characters? which body type do you use the most?

I go about equal on the gender options. I LIKE the body type 2 (aka. the societal beauty standard I’m accustomed to), but I try to mix it up. I don’t like what #1 does with the heads/faces but I do like female #4 faces.

2. which class has your favourite visual aesthetic?

Probably sniper, although double lightsabers are good too.

3. what advanced class has your favourite combat style for levelling, pve, and/or pvp?

Juggernaut/Guardian tanking is my top choice because it’s not complicated. Levelling sniper/gunslinger has been more fun.

4. are there any class combat styles you love, but can’t deal with on the mirrored version?

I still have so much to learn--I don’t have this issue yet.

5. what discipline can you just not play worth a damn?

I imagine the worst will prrroobably be trooper/BH heals. It seems like there’d be a lot going on, and I’m really unsuited to juggling different skills/unsuited for heals generally.

6. are there any disciplines you haven’t ever tried? which ones?

I’ve done tanking, DPS, and some healing, but there’s a lot of subtypes of the classes I’ve never tried.

7. what class has your favourite voice acting?

I haven’t finished much of the game! But uh. I really love the male warrior voice. Guilty obsession.

8. what single line is your favourite piece of dialogue in-game? where is it from?

So far: the exchange on Corellia where you can convince the droid to call up Baras -- just to troll him.

9. what single-planet class story arc is your favourite from all/any of the classes?

From my limited experience, Warrior’s story on Belsavis sticks with me.

10. which class story has the best story arc on a planet you normally hate?

I guess I hate Quesh but that was a good Warrior moment too.

11. which class story has the weakest story arc on a planet you normally love?

uhh I do love Ilum, but don’t feel too strongly about the short plot there (except I loved to look So Important in the cut scenes).

12. which shared (pub/imp) planetary arc can you never skip when levelling through the vanilla story?

8); I don’t tend to skip them yet.

13. are there any side/exploration/heroic missions you especially love?

Can’t think of one right now--but I love event missions. Gree & rakghouls!!

14. which character did you make as a throwaway (ie DvL) and came to love?

I haven’t really had that experience. Cezek is not meant to be particularly important, but I guess I might end up playing her more than I thought b/c sniping is fun.

15. which character did you think was going to stick around but these days is at the bottom of your login list?

No-. . . !!! I love all my children. . . !!

16. who was your original main? do you still play them?

Tarskal. 😒He’s still a main. Lol. Kirryl (pubside) is less-played than I might like her to be. She’s still my only max-level DPS, but DPS is not often sought-after.

17. if you have any older characters, what’s changed about them since you started?

It’s been less than 2 yrs since I started and I still haven’t finished with any of them-! so. . I wouldn’t call any of them ‘older characters’.

18. what companion headcanons/meta do you follow no matter what?

Several of them are MORE GAY than vanilla romance would have you believe.

19. which companion traits would you like to return to the writer’s room for reevaluation?

From what I’ve heard, I would like them to reconsider Doc’s behavior with “no means no”.

20. what five companions would you pick, from all of them, if you had to make a new crew?

Going with what I know: 1. Ashara 2. Vector 3. honestly maybe Qyzen 4. a Nexu 5. (this spots saved for a later favorite)

21. what in-game decision did you most dislike the given options for?

nggh. There’s gonna be some bad ones I bet.

22. do you collect cartel market items or stick to base-game? older items, newer items, a mix?

My character wardrobe is usually just stuff I picked up in the game. I am very into SH decos--cartel or otherwise.

23. which outfit did you spend the longest on? the most credits?

All are meticulously chosen. lol. I think the only pricy one was when I bought the Show-Off armor to have the open-chested vest for TD (cuz the Hooligan jacket with the belts was never in my price range). Getting skanky is the most costly style choice in this game. (And it was not outrageously pricey.)

24. what item(s) did you most regret buying on the gtn or cartel market?

Oh, I dunno that I have any big regrets yet. Maybe a few things I’m like “well THAT could have been cheaper if I waited”.

25. what collections category do you have the highest % completion in?

97% emoteeees

26. which stronghold did you spend the most time decorating? the most credits?

I unlocked most of Yavin, which was Expensive, but I have never properly decorated there. I might have spent approximately equal amounts of time on Coruscant and Dromund Kaas (a Lot for each). Nar Shaddaa is decorated-ish but maybe didn’t take so long.

27. which stronghold do you spend the most time in?

Nar Shaddaa on imperial (it’s got my best convenience setup), Coruscant on pub side.

28. do you host anything at your stronghold, or is it mostly for you?

I’m ready to have anybody over anytime!! I mean I also use it to conceptualize living situations for my OCs, but it’s awfully lonely if no one else ever visits.

29. what do you most like about the changes from beta, vanilla, early f2p, 4.0, etc?

I haven’t been here that long. :o I like how things turn more convenient though. 8); I DO remember a time before heroics were available in the activity window.

30. what do you miss the most about “the old days”? if a newer player, what have you heard about that you would have liked to experience?

Hmmm. It would have been cool to play before spoilers are just A Given about everything. And I don’t know if it was ever a thing, but I like to imagine a scenario where people actually do PVP in the rakghoul tunnels b/c that sounds like a glorious mess. Lol. Oh--AND I wouldn’t mind seeing what planets/world-bosses were like before everything got adjusted-for-level.

31. tell us a random fact/story you haven’t shared before about a swtor experience

Everybody loves to habitually touch/pick-up whatever items they can in this game, yea?

Well, when we were settling into being level 70, Dani and tried (and enjoyed) playing Uprisings with just the 2 of us and companions. (It can be easy for 2 people on Story mode, or they can present just a nice level of challenge--I learned a lot through those before I really started doing Flashpoints, actually).

We did good on Inferno! That was the first one. Big success.

We tried Destroyer of Worlds as our very next one, I think.

So like. . . the mobs weren’t causing many problems for us. It can get a lil crazy, but a tank (me) can keep things a bit organized, and Dani would AOE-/decimate/ those mobs as DPS. They are so weak. >:) ! We must have beat at least one boss encounter (possibly 2).

But as you go, there’s these ~mysterious~ stone tablets scattered all around the caverns, radiating a mystical energy.

U can click on them. Pick them up.

WHICH--as it turns out--(spoilers lmao) is the method of summoning the bonus boss Tentacle McAlien Horrorsquiggles.

Well no sense in letting the new visitor go unchallenged, now that it’s standing there waiting to say hi-- It--uh--turns out, though: the bonus boss was CONSIDERABLY more tough for us than the rest. We did our v best & gave it all we had (I def didn’t know everything I know now about playing my character, and gear was Worse), but we were hopelessly outmatched. \8) Got Wrekked a few times without any progress.

And then we realized we had to walk past the Monstrosity to get through the door. It did not despawn. So . . . Some more death resulted from that.

In the end, I THINK we made it past with Juli’s group-stealth. But the droid with our explosives did not progress far enough to trigger the end of the Uprising. (Either that, or that happened on a different run-through. . .) RIP & Reset. 8D;

We did finally complete the whole thing on the do-over (no problem~!!!) . . . But we’ve never gone back and had our rematch w/ that eldritch bonus boss.

#long post #ask meme #about me: R #raikari post

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solarbird · 6 years

Text

The Armourer and the Living Weapon, Chapter 7: they are beautiful, but they are new

This chapter is worksafe, with the possible exception of some moderately strong language. [AO3 link]

Lena Oxton bolted upright in her bed, leapt vertically, and jinked across the room. Where am I?! She grabbed at her chest, missing the weight of her accelerator, pawing at herself, terrified until she slowly realised that she wasn't slipping out of time - she'd teleported, without even thinking.

Looking over next to a closed door, she saw her accelerator - or a smaller, thinner version - resting on a charging station not unlike her own. What the bleedin' hell...? How'd I do that? Is this a Slipstream world?

Looking down, she realised she was in front of a window, dozens of stories above the ground, and standing on a dresser. She stomped at the piece of furniture - quite solid, quite real. Looking back at the bed from which she'd leapt, she realised, suddenly, Widowmaker?! as the assassin sat up, blinking, looking over to Lena, confused, then remembering, looking around, afraid... and then, less so, as she saw the Kiss, unloaded, but quite intact, by the nightstand next to their bed. She grabbed her, reassured herself with her presence, and placed her back down, nearby.

"Looks like we've got first class accommodations," Lena said, quietly. "And they were kind enough to keep your counterpart close. Thanks, invisible room monitor." She walked quickly over to Widowmaker, leaning her head against her lover's, whispering, "Do you remember anything after my apartment? I don't." "No," the defector replied, just as quietly. "But clearly, time has passed. Your eyes are..." she looked closely, to be sure, "...copper. They are beautiful, but they are new."

Lena paled as the room's door opened, and Oilliphéist came rushing in. "You're awake! Finally!" She wrapped herself around her lover, who found it took everything in her to push her back away. "You lied to me!" Widowmaker shouted.

"No! Yes! A little!" replied Oilliphéist, standing off, giving her counterpart her space. "It was horrible, and I hated it - I didn't want to, but I had to get you home! But that's the only thing I lied about, and Moira's agreed I'll never have to do it again."

"What's she done to us?" demanded Tracer.

"Nothing! Well, nothing much. Why, do you think I should?" interjected Dr. O'Deorain, as she stepped into the room, following Emily by some seconds.

"You call this nothing?!" Lena pointed at her eyes and snarled at the infamous doctor, a spike of instant loathing for her running across her body.

The doctor laughed. "Nothing psychological. Yes, I... fixed a few things for you, while you were here. I was, after all, an Overwatch medical officer, and you are a member of Overwatch, and I am, still, a doctor. You'll like it, once you know. Here, see?"

She reached over, and turned off Lena's chronal accelerator. Lena shrieked, and failed to teleport, but did back quite quickly into the wall behind her, which remained as substantial as ever.

"I thought you might appreciate a little insurance against incidents like the one in Numbani last year."

Lena reached around her, touching the wall, the bed, the wardrobe - all still entirely solid. "...how?"

"The anchor core was separable, and easily powered. It's part of you, now."

"...you implanted it?" She didn't trust it, or any part of it. Get it out, get it out, get it out...

"It runs off your own glucose - a far better solution, I think you'll agree, than before. You'll need to eat more, but not too unreasonably more, and you'll still need the vest for teleporting and time jumps. But you no longer need to be wearing it for that, and you'll get more jumps per charge."

"Yeh - I'll believe that when Winston verifies it, and not before. How'd you make room... inside me?" She shuddered at the thought.

"Easily enough done. Your lungs are slightly smaller, but vastly more efficient; you've come out ahead, I assure you. But let's skip the Q-and-A, shall we?"

She held up a hand, and started counting on long, long fingernails. "Thanks to all the head trauma you've suffered, your retinas were going to disintegrate well before you turned 40. Now, they won't." A second finger. "While I was in there, I got rid of your blind spots. Also," a third finger, "you'll see better in both darkness and extreme light." A fourth; "And, I have this wonderful new technique for improving nerve conductivity, so I threw that in as a bonus. You're even quicker, now, and more dextrous." She flipped her hands open, palms up, and took a little bow. "You're welcome."

Lena just stared at the doctor, the fear in her mind rising as the list grew. "Bleedin'... anything else?"

"Welcome to Oasis?"

The Overwatch agent glared in silence, trying not to shake.

Through all of this, Widowmaker had been inventorying her mind. She didn't feel reconstrained, but she knew from previous conditioning that she never did - she always felt like herself. She looked over to Oilliphéist, who still looked so beautiful, so perfect, and to Tracer, who still looked so perfectly annoying, so perfectly foolish, and yet, so perfectly... wonderful. If nothing else, she has let me keep this, she thought.

"And me, docteur?"

Dr. O'Deorain gave her an exasperated look. "My niece would barely let me touch you. You can't ghost, like she can, which is a bit of a shame. But she did at least allow me the nerve conductivity - you're now her equal in speed, though neither of you can keep up with your diminutive... friend... here."

I'll never trust my quickness again, thought Tracer, enraged. Fuck. Fuck you, doc. Fuck you.

Emily walked back over to Widowmaker, and knelt beside her on the floor, by the bed. "I'm really sorry she made me lie to you. But she swore she wouldn't touch you, not the real you, not your mind, not ever again, and I've stayed awake the whole time, making sure." She reached up, offering her hand. "Forgive me?"

Widowmaker hesitated, then took Oilliphéist's hand, and nodded, once. "Oh, god, I've missed you," the newer creation repeated. "It's so good that you're home." And Widowmaker smiled, relaxing, resting her head against Emily's and running her hands through her beloved's hair. "It's... so lovely to be with you again," she whispered. I wish we could do an associations check, she thought, but that is not a tool we should reveal here...

"How long we been out, luv?" Lena asked Emily, kindly, a little touched at the scene, despite herself.

"A little over a week," the once ginger replied, sleepily. "I've been watching over you both, worrying, night and day. I really need a nap."

"Why don't you take one, dear," said the doctor. "I owe our guests an explanation, and I do have a proposal to make."

Emily crawled into bed next to Widowmaker and held her, so tightly, and this time, Widowmaker didn't push her away, and didn't even want to. She smells so nice, she thought, sliding aside and off the bed as Emily curled up to sleep. And she feels so wonderful. But then... she always did.

"I imagine you're both hungry. Lunch?"

"No," said Tracer, as her stomach growled. "Well... maybe."

-----

"So you're sayin' that part's true? Akande really wants to start another Omnic War?"

They were both back in their "guest room," Oilliphéist still asleep, the two of them at a small round table with four chairs, surrounded by windows overlooking the city. Tracer had turned her accelerator back on at first opportunity, not taking any chances.

Widowmaker nodded. "He has - or, at least, a few weeks ago, had - every intent of doing exactly that. All my most recent orders had involved helping him consolidate his power - I made a particularly lovely shot to kill a rather... more pedestrian... member of council, interested only in money, and not politics. A common criminal, risen far above his level, but at least he died beautifully."

"Killing Mondatta was part of the war effort, wasn't he." It wasn't a question, and Widowmaker did not treat it as one.

"Yes, absolutely."

Lena snarled, but considered the repercussions. "Seems t'me this kind of infighting must really weaken Talon. It happen often?"

The assassin smirked, wryly. "How do you think Akande went to jail?"

The door to the guest room opened again, and Moira appeared, with afternoon tea. Lena glared at the minister, who smiled in return. "Checking on my information? Good - that's only the proper thing to do. Tea?"

"No. Well... what kind?"

"A nice tippy assam, I find it good in hot weather. I'll go ahead and be mother, it seems only fitting," said the doctor, as she sat down and began pouring cups for the table. "And yes," she tilted her head just a little to Lena, "we'll share the same pot. We can even swap cups if you'd like."

"I insist," said Lena, after the cups had been poured.

Moira waved at the tea set, and smiled a tiny smile. "At your pleasure."

"You did it," Widowmaker said to Moira, as Lena swapped cups around. "She's... wondrous."

Dr. O'Deorain smiled the least-ungenuine smile Tracer had yet seen her manage. "She is. I always backed her petitions for enhancement. I have no idea why the rest of the board was so hesitant." She added just a hint of sugar to her tea, and took a careful sip.

"What else did you do to her?" demanded the senior assassin.

"Other than the obvious?" she laughed. "Very little. There were reasons she was the template, after all." She looked over to her niece, still asleep in bed. "She is more mission-focused, now. If it makes you feel better about what happened, I'm certain that's the only reason she was able to lie to you about the meeting. She even fought me on it. Honestly, I was surprised."

"She wasn't always floatin' about in a little cloud of euphoria, was she?" Lena asked. "Doesn't seem your type, love."

"No. That is also new," replied the Frenchwoman.

"And not my doing. I gave her everything she wanted, everything she'd ever dreamed, and it all actually worked just like she'd always hoped. What did you expect, depression?" Tracer glared, but Widowmaker laughed, just a little. "But... as you have demonstrated, the mind has a way of rebalancing itself to a kind of neutrality over time, and I've enabled her to avoid that fate, if she chooses. You can hardly blame me for wanting to see my niece be happy, can you?"

"Mate, I could blame you for saving an orphan from a runaway lorry."

The doctor laughed. "I can't blame you for that, right now. But I do hope that over time you'll forgive me this little incident. I couldn't exactly ring you up for a teleconference, could I? Not with what you know."

The minister put her tea back down, and leaned forward. "Look, I'll be direct. Akande is a danger to the entire world, and needs to be stopped. I do not have the political power within Talon to do it, which means it is time for a short, vicious, but small war, to prevent a long, disastrous, and genocidal war. I intended to go into it with myself and my two most brilliant creations, but I would prefer to go into it with you on my side, as well, and with Overwatch specifically deciding to keep its distance. If we lose - no loss for you and yours, it's all on us, and no "heroes" are implicated. But if we win... everyone wins."

"I don't believe you, mate," glared the teleporter, putting sugar and milk into her tea. "Somethin' else is goin' on."

"Something else is always going on," the doctor agreed, picking up her teacup. "Akande is shorting my budget within Talon, and it is affecting my work. Nothing matters more than that - nothing - and I will not stand for it. Renewed Omnic incursions would absolutely target this city, and, therefore, my facilities and experiments, and I will not have that, either. The chaos would set my research back years." She sipped her tea. "There. Is that selfish enough for you? I do not pretend to be otherwise."

"What's this 'small war' involve?" She almost growled the question. Bloody hell, you irritate me, she thought. No wonder Ziegler doesn't like you.

"Widowmaker will be familiar with kind of actions needed - distance assassinations, close-up killings, some theft, some intelligence gathering for blackmail, all the nasty covert games Overwatch pretends to hate, but did so very much of the first time around." She placed her cup back in its saucer, and added a little more tea. "This time, Overwatch wouldn't have to be involved, not directly. But you... you'd make a lovely addition to our little task force, and with your personal involvement with my two favourites, you can see why I had to ask."

"I'm not agreein' to anything," Lena said. "Not here, not like this." She sipped from her teacup, and looked down at it. Huh. A bit light for my tastes, but... not bad.

"You're free to leave, you do realise that?" asked the minister.

"Am I? Really?"

"Yes."

"Then where're my pistols?"

"Did you check the dresser?"

"...you serious?"

"Absolutely," the doctor said, adding just a little more tea to her cup.

As Lena arose to check the dresser - where her guns and wrist braces had been neatly put away in the top drawer - Emily stirred, muttering, "...pistols?" She sat up, blinking. "Pistols? Oh! Yes! Pistols! Lena, I have presents for you!"

"...wot?" replied the teleporter. "You..."

"Your old pistols are terrible! " She smiled, and shook her head ruefully. "Awful balance, erratic kick - how did you ever hit anything? " The armourer yawned, broadly, and stretched.

"Emily, you should get some more sleep. You've been up for days."

"I know, but..."

"You can give her your presents in the morning, dear. That's an order."

Emily muttered, and rolled back over, wrapping her arms around her pillow. "Fine..." she said, and closed her eyes.

Lena had snapped on her wrist holsters, and popped her pistols free, spinning them in her hands. Loaded, she thought, more than a little surprised. She pointed them straight at Moira's face. "So I can leave whenever I want, then?"

"Yes. But I wouldn't recommend shooting me first. Assassination of a government minister is frowned upon, here in Oasis."

Tracer flipped back her pistols. "Leave... alone, abandoning Wids here to be monkeywrenched? Not hardly, mate."

"You too," she said, turning to the former Talon assassin, waving her right hand airily. "At any time."

"And Emily?" asked the assassin.

"She should stay, at least a few more days - I'm not sure you remember this, Widowmaker, but the first months after your upgrades, you required extensive adjustments and maintenance, so that..."

"I remember," said the senior assassin, abruptly. "It was... extraordinarily painful."

"I learned a great deal from creating you," said the doctor. "It will not be so, for her. And less will be required." She sighed. "I'd've done it already, except she refused to sleep."

"Then," Widowmaker said, "we will have to wait, until that is finished. And I will watch you, every single moment, while you work on her, and if you do anything - anything - to her mind..."

"Bullets?" offered the doctor. "I know she's empty," she said, gesturing to Widowmaker's rifle. "Here." She reached into her jacket and pulled out a standard set of sniper rounds. "Just stay out of my way, while I work. You know how much I hate interference."

Widowmaker nodded, and took the rounds, inspected them, validating them as real, and loaded the Kiss. "Lena?"

"I don't like it, but - I'm not leaving without you, and I'm not gonna ask you to abandon her."

The assassin reached out, squeezing the teleporter's hand tightly. "Thank you."

"I take it, then," said the Irish doctor, "we're all in agreement?"

Lena nodded briefly, and the Widowmaker echoed her, a moment later, more slowly.

"We are agreed."

#gingerspider #talon emily #talon!emily #moira o'deorain #widowtracer #widowmaker #tracer #oilliphéist #emily oilliphéist gardner #overwatch #overwatch au #also on ao3

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imlostinatunnel · 7 years

Text

Lightning (Mercy76 Week)

Lightning flashed through the night and through the windows as Angela walked down the well lit hall. She stayed as far from the windows as she could and hugged the files she carried harder as the thunder followed.

Just her luck to only be stationed here for a few days and at the same time a storm, one of the worst the facility has seen in months, decides to show up, she thought.

The rain picked up again playing a quicker version of its song comprised of taps against the windows and small splashes in the puddles. She followed suit and picked up her pace until she reached a secured door at the end of the hall. Scanning her temporary badge slid the door to the side revealing rows of shelves with boxes containing the medical files of the Overwatch members in the region. The door closed behind her and she started to look for the ‘H’ section. Another lightning strike came through the only window on the wall and broke her concentration making her misstep and catch her breath.

“Hello?” came a voice a few sections down. “Someone there?”

“Yes. Who are you?” She composed herself hoping the voice would not put the lightning and her stumble together. “No one else is scheduled to be back here but me.”

“Uhh. I was supposed to come in earlier. I got caught up with something.”

“I’m the only one scheduled back here for today.”

The voice did not respond. Angela began to back up to the door. “I will get security,” she threatened.

“Ok, wait. Please.” A tall man with the blondest hair she had ever seen, save for her own, walked out of one of the middle sections. His figure was enough to distract her from the storm outside for a moment. “Fine. You got me. Please don’t tell anyone? I’m just looking for one of the newer member’s files. He shipped out a few days ago and didn't fill out a few things in his agency forms.”

On closer inspection she realized she was talking to the man on the Overwatch propaganda posters. “You’re Commander Jack Morrison, aren’t you?”

“ And you look like the Dr. Ziegler. Looks like we both have a fan.”

“Your ‘fan’ is a disappointed fan. Don’t you think it’s disgraceful to be such a poor example? Moving through confidential information like this? Isn’t it protocol to bring the person back to finish what they didn’t?”

“Well, yes. But I’d rather not deal with his smart ass again.”

“But to set such a bad example-“

“Doc, please. Was there ever a time you may have forged a signature so you did not have to deal with a patient any longer than you had to?”

She wanted to deny it, but the thunder rumbled outside. She was in no condition to lie for the greater good in a convincing manner. “Fine. One file. Who’s is it. If it’s not in here then I’m holding it.”

“The guy’s last name’s Hart. First name starts with an ‘M’ I think.”

Angela’s eyes widened. “Oh. Him.” She handed the file to Jack so furiously that it was almost forced into him. “Do what you have to do. I can’t stand another second with him either.” She opened the door to let Jack out. “How did you get in here, exactly?”

“Oh, right!” Jack reached in his pocket and handed her a badge similar to the one she used to get in. “How rude of me to ask this, I know, but can you make sure that Dr. Phillips gets this back?”

She rolled her eyes. “Fine. Don’t let me catch you back here again.”

“Yes Doctor.” Jack stepped outside of the room.

Not half a second later, a huge flash of light shone through the windows immediately followed by a magnificent roar of thunder. Angela screamed and dropped the files she carried, and she tried to run out of the room. She would have, but the door had sealed itself shut. To make matters worse all the lights in the room lost power. Her only source of illumination was the window and the crimson red safety light.

She began pounding on the door as tears of panic ran down her face. “Please! Someone! Open the door!” She kept this up for what felt like minutes until she ran out of breath and her throat was dry. Her heart raced the more she came to realize how alone she was. Trapped in a small room while the lightning and thunder outside hunted her down through her memories. She heard someone’s voice on the other side. Had they been trying to communicate with her and she could not hear it over her panic? She did not know.

“Doctor Ziegler, are you still there? Please say something!”

She recognized the voice as the man she just met, Jack Morrison. She wiped the tears from her eyes only to have them replaced by new ones. “I-I’m here.”

“Are you hurt? Are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” she worked out between her heavy breathing.

“I’m gonna run and get help, don’t worry.”

“No, wait! Please don’t go!”

“Doctor, if I can find help we can get you out quicke-“

“Please don’t leave me alone!” she begged.

There was silence. “Commander? Jack?” Her chest tightened again as she lost the feeling in her legs and sat against the door.

“I’m here, Doc.”

Hearing his voice loosened her chest and she was able to breathe easier again. She heard him sit down to her relief. He was not going anywhere. She positioned herself so her side leaned against the door to hear him easier.

“I can’t get a connection on my phone. If you insist on this, we may be here a while,” he said.

Conversation can be a distraction, she thought. And she desperately needed one. “W-What does it look like out there?” she asked in an unwilling weak tone.

“Just a hallway,” Jack said. “Just with all the lights turned off.”

Angela curled her legs in upon hearing more thunder. She needed to keep talking to him to distract herself. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Of course.”

“Are you scared of anything?”

There was silence for a second. “I’ll be honest. The dark,” he answered.

Angela cleaned her face a little with her sleeve. “Are you ok out there in the dark?”

“Yeah,” he said. “I have my eyes closed so I can’t see it.”

Angela could not help but let out a small giggle. The feeling felt good.

“Ah, I heard that!” Jack teased.

“Why are you afraid of the dark?” Angela asked, hoping she was not getting too personal.

“Well. I grew up on a farm. One night I found myself lost in the acres of fields we have and the moon wasn’t out. I was at the mercy of my own navigation which was pretty bad. I was only six at the time and could not see above what we grew. I felt like something kept chasing me that night.” Silence fell between them for a few seconds. “What about you?”

“I-I don’t like the thunder. Or lightning,” she said.

“Not a lot do. Can’t say I’m the biggest fan either,” he said. “Do you want to talk about it, or is it just a natural fear?”

Angela brought her legs closer and bowed her head, burying her forehead on her knees. “I was young during the Omnic Crisis,” she said. “There was no warning and there was no time to evacuate.” She felt the tears start down her face again, dripping off and staining her pant legs. “They started their attack during a heavy rain and thunderstorm and-“ She lost her breath and sniffled. “When the all clear was given, I didn’t even recognize my parents. The machines, they-” Her breathing was becoming less controllable. “I-I can only remember what they l-looked like after everyth- everyth-” She could not speak any longer. The pain in her throat was becoming too much to bear. She started to shiver.

“It’s ok, Angela. I understand. You don’t have to finish.”

Him calling her Angela, a name other than Doctor or Ziegler, made her forget her situation. For a few seconds, not even the roar of thunder or the flashes of lightning could scare her. It was the best feeling she had in ages. It was not the man on the posters on the other side of the door, he was a human being. She felt warm again.

“Hello?” said Jack. “You ok in there?”

Angela brought herself back to the present. If only they were both on her side of the door. She could curl up next to him and hold his hand while she slept and he protected her from the hunters that were the thunder and lightning. That is what she wanted now more than anything. “I’m fine. J-Just a little tired.”

“Try to go to sleep if you want. I’ll be here when the power comes back.”

“You promise you won’t leave?” She asked.

“I promise you, they’ll have to pry me from this door before I leave.”

Angela smiled. She trusted him like no one else before. She closed her eyes and let the red light fade to darkness. She hoped that the first thing that she would see when she woke up would be Jack.

He was.

Well... “support”

Sadly I can’t participate in all seven days of Mercy76 week. Only two, maybe three days at most. But I’m loving everything I’m seeing, keep it up you amazing people, you!

I’ve got more fics here!

#mercy76week #day2support #fanfic #mercy76

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