#the two of them meet up to play more 3D chess but this times it’s not at all plot relevant | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ppoquita · 3 years

Text

He Walks in Starlight

Tags: bong jaehyun x reader, vaguely Star Trek inspired, mostly just a sci-fi au

Length: 2.1k words

First time writing a scenario/imagine so excuse my amateur writing. I really just wrote this for fun lol

Your eyes felt blurry as they struggle to open while you hear the tone of your alarm go off. It felt cold and all you wanted to do was lay under your blanket where it was warm and cozy. You sighed as you turned off your alarm. You looked at the calendar displayed on a screen. Star date 21499.2. You flattened down your disheveled hair before getting up to get ready.

The Compass was business as usual. The ship's bustling crew members were all at work. You went down to the records department to start your day of organizing files and data logs when you saw a rather tense figure standing at the door. It was a young man your age. He stood rather agonizingly. Once he got a glimpse of you he looked like a deer in headlights. Confused, you walked over to unlock the records lab. “Excuse me,” he said with a surprisingly deep voice. “Are you in the department of records?” he asked.

“Yes, sir.” you said after swiping your card. The door automatically slid open and both of you walked in. You sat and turned on the computer. He only stood in front of the desk where you were stationed.

“These are my files, I’m new.. just transferred from the Miracle.” he explained while handing over some rectangular discs. You took the discs from his slender hands and put them into your computer for analyzing.

[ Bong Jaehyun

Age: 22 Earth Years

Birth Place: Seoul, SK, Earth

Specialty: Geography and Cartography

*** ]

You looked at his photo and then looked up at him. Spitting image, no doubt he was legit. He’s quite handsome in your opinion. His eyes looked like shiny glass. They were pretty, almost like tiny galaxies were hidden in them. You looked away to finish the processing. You took his discs and filed it under Crew Members subsection ‘B’. “Alright, welcome to our ship, you’re officially part of the Compass now.” you gave him a slight smile. Jaehyun’s lips also curled into a smile.

“Thank you.” he said. He made his way to the door and promptly left.

***

Records were extremely flooded that particular day. Your fingers moved quickly as you processed files and organized discs. Dwarf Planet ZETA110 was being explored. Many records of the flora and fauna were piling in. Not only that but information the planet's makeup and natural climate came in as well. You felt exhausted as you moved back and forth between your computer and the filing wall. Thankfully, it was almost break time. You could almost taste that roasted chicken breast. The thought of food alone made you salivate. You stretched as you got up from your chair. Just then your shift relief came in and you grabbed your keycard and walked out. You tiredly rubbed the back of your neck as you made your way to the elevator.

The dining room was half full. You groaned and weaved through the amount of people sitting. You entered your card into the ordering machine and tapped your choice. It was only a moment's notice until the food came out. You looked around for an empty seat and saw Jaehyun again. He was sitting alone, still with that anxious body language from before. He looked like he was spacing out to a far off world. You hesitated, you weren’t really one to make acquaintances. Yet, you sympathized. Space was lonely and cold. It felt empty and void. When you didn’t have someone to really confide in, it felt even worse. Almost as if you’ve been exiled to a blackhole of self-pity and bitterness.

You walked over and sat across diagonally from him. You glanced at his plate to make conversation. “Spicy pork belly stew, nice choice,” you commented rather nervously. He looked over at you and perked up a bit.

“Hi.” he said, smiling a bit. His eyes glimmer and twinkle. You feel breathless for a moment.

“Hi,” you repeated back. “Are you settled in yet?” it had only been a few hours since you last saw him but you figured to ask anyway.

“No,” he sighed. You watched as he moved the handle of his spoon. “Had to beam down and take a look at the planet’s landscape.”

“How is it?” you asked out of sheer curiosity. You never really got the chance to go to other planets. Most of your companions were people who work on the ship and had no business being on the ground.

“Humid,” Jaehyun replies. “It’s so humid, like a jungle, but there’s not that many trees. Everything just feels heavy...”

You started to eat your food. After eating you got up to put back your tray and utensils. Jaehyun got up as well. You felt shy as you walked beside him. You wondered if it’s okay to open up more. “Hey, when will you be done for the day?” you asked.

“Not sure,” he replied. “Why?”

“Well, if you’re up for it, I’ll be in the break room. We can play a game of 3D chess if you’re interested. Or maybe a friendly 1-on-1 on the arcade machine if that’s more your style.” You suggested. Jaehyun blinked before smiling. He shyly looked away from you. You only took a moment to appreciate his side profile.

“Yeah, that sounds good.” He said.

“Well, duty calls, I’ll see you later.” You excused yourself from him.

***

Jaehyun’s presence was almost intoxicating. You wondered if it’s an effect due to the planet’s troposphere. Nonetheless, as the two of you stood together hovering the arcade machine, you felt warm. The both of you were focused on the game quietly. At one point you felt your hand accidentally brushed up against his.

Afterwards the two of you moved on to 3D chess. You tried to make conversation asking things about him. You found out that he’s a picky eater, he likes music, and fantasy movies. Much like yourself you enjoyed a good movie. The conversation then spiraled into the best movies made in the 21st century.

“Check,” you said while moving your piece to the second level.

“I’m not good at games, huh?” He joked.

“I mean, you’re not awful.” you assured him. Jaehyun held his chin thinking for a moment before making a move.

“Checkmate,” you laughed as you captured his king. He lets out a disappointed sigh before sitting back in his chair. You look over at the clock at the time you usually go to bed. “Well, it’s quite late isn’t it? I’m sure you’re tired.”

“I guess so...” he said before getting up from his chair. Almost immediately he loses his balance. You stood up quickly to hold him.

You put his arm around your neck. “Hey, Jaehyun, are you okay? Jaehyun?” You looked over to see his face had grown pale. His eyes looked dull, it no longer had that shine.

“Head...hurts… so bad…” he groaned.

“Don’t worry, I’ll get you to the medical bay.” you comforted him.

In the medical bay Doctor Lee was busy taking care of two others. You were instructed to help Jaehyun onto one of the beds. You wondered if you should stay with Jaehyun. You obviously worried for him but maybe this was too much. You turned away from him but before you could move you felt a hand grab your wrist. Jaehyun’s fingers were wrapped around your wrist weakly. You looked at him softly. “Stay, please,” he croaked. His cheeks blushed red and he looked anxious. You only stood by him unsure of your ability to comfort him.

Thankfully it wasn’t dire. It turned out that several of the crewmen were affected by the planet’s air quality causing them to have hypertension. Jaehyun was fine. He’ll be back to normal by the next date. You let out a big sigh of relief as you lied in bed.

During your break you decided to visit him. When you entered the medical bay you saw Jaehyun sitting upright. His eyes were looking sparkly again. He almost resembled a puppy who was happy to see its owner. “Hi.” you greeted.

“Hi, good to see you again.” he smiled. He seemed to be in better condition.

“Status report?” you asked.

“All good, blood pressure back to normal, should be able to retreat to my quarters within the next hour or so,” Jaehyun reported. The two of you laughed as you looked into each other's eyes. “Once I’m out of here there’s something I’d like to show you,” he said. You lifted an eyebrow at him. “Meet me in the botanical lab when you’re free.”

The rest of your shift felt painfully slow. You were too curious about what was going to occur later. While your relationship with Jaehyun wasn’t extremely close yet it often felt intimate at times. You sighed as you organized the incoming discs. Everything felt like walking on thin ice. You never knew what exactly to feel other than attraction.

You promptly met Jaehyun in the botanical lab. He was sitting among the countless native flora of different planets. “Hi, again.” you greeted. Jaehyun stood up and signaled with his hand. You walked over to where he stood. You looked in the same direction as him and saw the most stunningly vibrant red plant. It was crimson red and it’s leaves were olive green. You stared for a moment then looked at Jaehyun.

“They call it a Carmesí Florera,” Jaehyun plucked a petal and sniffed it. “It smells like fruit punch,” he held it to your nose and you took a whiff. It really did smell like a fruit punch. It made you feel a little nostalgic. “And they say,” Jaehyun grabbed your hand and put the petal in the palm of your hand. “If you give a petal to someone, they’ll be with you for a long time...” you looked up at him as he gently closed your fingers into a fist. Your eyebrows furrowed as you looked at him. His ears were as red as the flower petals.

“What are you trying to say?” You questioned.

Jaehyun only shrugged. “You’re a great companion,” he said. You frowned a little. Part of you wished this could be a fairytale where next he’ll sweep you off your feet. But this wasn’t a fairytale, this is a science fiction that somehow became reality. However, this gesture was too strange. It didn’t make sense. Jaehyun was staring softly. He worried that he might have said something wrong. You clutch your flower petal and sighed. “What’s wrong?” He asked.

You shook your head. “I don’t understand,” you said honestly. “What do you mean with this? We may be miles and miles away from Earth but this sentiment can be seen as a romantic gesture from any planet, I’m confused...”

Jaehyun looked scared for a moment. As if you said something awful to him. He seemed appalled but then something changed. He straightens out his back and looks you in the eyes. “Okay then, I’ll be honest, I like you, I have a fondness for you, I… want us to be closer, and maybe in the near future we can be more than that.” he admitted.

You blinked a few times. It was a romantic gesture. Jaehyun made a romantic declaration. Your relationship was, in part, intimate. Your face was red at that point and your heart was beating quickly. It happened too fast and you’ve never really felt like this before. You were smiling without noticing.

“I like you too.”

***

Bong Jaehyun walked in starlight. He was as bright as the sun but can feel cold as the moon. Behind his eyes was the universe’s tiniest galaxy. It twinkled and shined for the world to see yet it was tucked away for only the brave to explore. Just when he felt unreachable, he held out his hand just enough for you to reach. He was almost undetectable yet his gravitational pull left you no choice but to adore him. There may be thousands of galaxies out there to discover but you were glad to have discovered him.

Even though the two of you laid flat on the cold observatory room floor staring at the endless void that was space, he was still more breathtaking than the billions of stars littered around them. You stared at him wondering what he was thinking about as he looked up at the vast sky. Was he also comparing you to a star?

Slowly you inched your hand close to his. You wondered if it was okay. Your pinky finger shyly bumped into his. You felt his hand touch yours almost as if it were asking for an embrace. Your fingers interlocked with his and you couldn’t help but smile. Jaehyun turned to look at you. He looked with a certain tenderness that makes your stomach flip. In that moment, you concluded that out of all the stars in the universe he was the brightest.

#golden child #golden child imagines #golden child scenarios #bong jaehyun x reader #bong jaehyun

20 notes · View notes

star-duck · 4 years

Text

The Case Files of Jeweler Richard - Book 7 Mini Summary

This won't be as extensive as my book 6 chapter 4 summary since Book 7 is the start of a multi-novel saga, so a lot of things that happens here could mean completely different things by the end of the saga. At this point I wouldn't know, but I want to note down details that can potentially be big later on. As usual, let me know if I get anything wrong!

Seigi begins his internship in Sri Lanka after failing the second part of the entrance test to be a civil servant. His parents gave him their blessing since they're already familiar with Richard, the guy who offered him the position. Richard supposedly is currently working in Ginza as usual. Shaul visits Seigi from time to time.

One day Seigi receives an email titled "Help Richard" in english, containing a ticket to a 6-day cruise ship trip that starts in Florida. The event is held by Gargantua group, a high-end jewellery company. The sender's name is "Jeffrey", but Seigi has doubts if this is the real Jeffrey. He tries to contact (the real) Jeffrey, but receives no reply. He also contacts Shaul who basically just tells him to do whatever he wants, so Seigi decides to go on the trip.

When he first gets on the cruise, he meets a guy who glares at him really badly. It leaves an impression, and Seigi wonders why this guy even recognizes Seigi, but he shrugs it off. Seigi then receives a call by Richard, he freaks out because he's both happy but also unable to tell Richard that he's also on board the same ship as Richard. Seigi doesn't want to disappoint Richard, so during his internship he's never called Richard... at all. During the call, Seigi walks around the ship, finds Richard on the deck, and surprises him from behind. Richard is extremely shocked and then his expression goes dark. He won't tell Seigi why though.

The two chat together, Richard absolutely refuses to tell Seigi about anything that's happening. The main event for them is a jewellery show event, where the group showcases all their new releases and more in this 100 year anniversary cruise. Richard initially asks Seigi to just not come at all and stay locked in in his room, but eventually gives in and lets Seigi go to the show under one condition: if anything happens to Richard, don't save him.

The next day, the jewellery show happens, and after viewing all the high-end showcases, Seigi goes to the buffet area. While eating, he's greeted by the director of Gargantua group, Amen Carlsbrook (アメン・カールスブルック). He asks Seigi to "share a bit of what's on Seigi's plate, because he wants to know Seigi's taste". Seigi confusedly gives him some of his sandwich, Amen happily takes a bite, laughs and walks away.

After a while, Seigi sees Amen.... holding Richard by his waist and touches him inappropriately. Seigi gets extremely angry, notices that everyone else in the room pretends to not see what happens, and gets angrier. He knows he can't create a mess here and risks Richard getting hurt, so he slowly walks closer until his eyes meet Richard's. They communicate through eye contact for awhile until Seigi yells "there's a dolphin!" that creates a minor ruckus among people in the room trying to look through the window. Seigi then dashes out with Richard who manages to get free from Amen's hands, and they run to an outdoor area.

(This whole scene is actually pretty amazing, with all the little eye contact exchanges and stuff, i hope someone can translate it later)

Richard explains that Amen is a very very very distant relative of his, and he's always had an eye on "pretty things" including Richard. Amen initially sent the cruise invitation to both Richard and Seigi, two people in a room. Richard can't reject the invitation, but he also don't think he should bring Seigi, so he decided to go alone. Jeffrey calls Richard, explains that the email Seigi received wasn't from him, and tells Richard of how Amen and his second-in-command Malnuit Patel (マルヌイ・パテール) are on bad terms. Oh by the way, Richard arranged so that both boys have separate rooms (unlike what the invitation stated), he says he prefers to have his own room. lol.

Suddenly some guards appear, starts body searching Seigi, and finds out that he has a miniature of a jewellery show item in his pocket. They accuse him of stealing and brings him to the security room. There, a security staff basically talks him down and expects him to confess. He resists and Richard defends him, and then Amen walks into the room.

Amen says that errors like that happen, and he's willing to forgive it and accepts that it's his company's fault so long as he gets to spend the night drinking champagne with Richard. Seigi figures that he's being framed just to give Amen the opportunity to do this to Richard, and instead demands the security staff to check the security camera and prove his innocence properly. The group decide to just do that, so Amen, security staffs, and Richard stay to check the cameras, while Seigi is asked to leave the room.

Another security guard is assigned to Seigi. A chinese guy with brown two-block hairstyle, looks youthful like a k-pop idol (or so Seigi said), slightly shorter than Seigi, and speaks Japanese. His name is Vincent Rai, but he asks to be called Vince-san. Vince lets Seigi wander around so long as he doesn't try to contact people from outside the ship, so Seigi decides to check around the show again.

Vincent is cooperative with Seigi, even supplying Seigi with new information. What Seigi gathers so far is that Gargantua group is in the middle of M&A deal. Initially the plan was to work with a Chinese company, but suddenly Amen changed his mind and picked an American company. This angered his second-in-command, Patel, and there are rumors that Patel is trying to steal Gargantua group's designs by 3D scanning items displayed in the show. To nobody's surprise, Amen is known as a moody, sexual harasser, power harasser, etc etc.

It gets late and the two goes back to the security room. Seigi sees Amen trying to offer Richard cakes, a lot of items and untouched sweets scattered around in the room (I assume it's Amen trying to woo Richard), and a chessboard. Richard is simultaneously playing chess with Amen, rejecting his advances, and checking the security cameras. Amen is stuck in his turn in chess so Richard tells him to think about his move overnight. Seigi thinks what he does is like a modern day Scheherazade.

The security camera checking isn't done, but they put it on hold for the day and will continue tomorrow. Everyone goes back to their rooms except Seigi, who's staying there overnight.

The next day, Richard, security staffs, and Amen come back. Amen brings in the chessboard and flowers. ew. Anyway Seigi decides he wants to catch Patel 3D scanning the jewelleries in action, so he visits the showing area again. He really catches him, but Patel runs away to the ship's casino area. (Excuse me I have no knowledge of casino so if I get anything wrong pls do tell) He sits in a poker table where he can just never get up until he runs out of chips. Seigi decides to join the same table.

Slowly Seigi thinks he screws up, but suddenly Richard appears and asks the dealer to join Seigi as a team of two. Dealer says yes, and Richard leans close to Seigi's right, right hand on the table and left hand gripping the stool Seigi sits on. Seigi can't bring himself to look at Richard in that really close distance so he talks to Richard while still looking forward.

Every other player gives up until there's only Patel and Seigi-Richard left. Our boys win, and Patel reveals that the rumor about him stealing jewellery designs is started by Amen. He says that he's tired of Amen's actions so he decides to do just that. Amen appears and let his guards apprehend Patel, and they walk away.

Later that day, Amen tells Seigi that the item he was accused of stealing is a fake, the real item just fell into some corner during the show, and that Seigi's completely innocent. Seigi knows that's an absolute bullshit and he really really want to punch the guy but decides to just smile and thank Amen.

Richard and Seigi eats in the restaurant buffet, then Vincent comes to greet them. It's revealed that Vincent is Richard's ex-assistant back in Hong Kong. Apparently they don't have a very good relationship, though Richard thinks highly of Vincent. Vincent brings Seigi to an outdoor area, leaving Richard behind, and starts to tell Seigi... a lot of interesting things.

First of all, Vincent tells Seigi that he should stop liking Richard, because that's probably better for Seigi's sake. He also warns him to stop the internship and go back to Japan since he suspects that Shaul uses him as a "dog collar" to Richard's "dog", meaning that Shaul really only wants something to prevent Richard from quitting his company since his family feud is over and he can safely go home. Not to mention, as the son of a noble, he doesn't need to work a day in his life if he wants to.

Vincent also says some very vague things about how Richard's sheer genius and kindness isn't something everyone can ever achieve, and it's pointless to hope to be like that, so it's not worth trying. Seigi replies that while half the reason he's in Sri Lanka is because he admires Richard, the other half is because he wants to get away from Tokyo for a bit after the deadbeat dad stalking incident. He thinks that's why his parents are so supportive of him. Seigi also doesn't intend to drop his dream of being a civil servant.

Vincent gives Seigi a contact number, under the condition that he shouldn't let Richard know. As Seigi is confused, Vincent walks away, passes by Richard who's walking towards Seigi. Richard then tells Seigi how much he values Vincent back in Hong Kong.

Finally it's the end of the cruise trip, and as our two boys are leaving, Amen greets Richard and tries to hug him. Seigi forcefully pushes himself in between the two, so Amen awkwardly ends up hugging Seigi.

Back in Sri Lanka, Seigi hears news about Amen being accused of sexual harassment, and the victims are bringing a lawyer from England. Because of this, M&A deal is temporarily stopped. He wishes the victims well.

While cooking wattalapan, Seigi receives a call from Richard. After small talks, Seigi tells Richard in english how much he wants Richard to be here with him and eat his home cooked food. Richard only replies with silence, and the chat continues. Suddenly, surprise, Richard... really is here, in Sri Lanka. Seigi is extremely happy and they both sit and eat wattalapan and royal milk tea.

Richard then informs that the reason why Seigi's personal information, email, and passport are leaked is because of Jeffrey's ex-secretary. Richard thinks Jeffrey messed up real bad. Richard also shows Seigi a video mail containing a little white girl talking in Japanese. Her name is Octavia, and she was a student of Richard and his ex-fiancee, Deborah Sahin. She says that Richard has made people (she treasures) suffer, so him and his two brother-cousins are going to pay for that. Then she pulls out a video call screen with Vincent in it.

Vincent starts with the same advice to Seigi, telling him it's better to go back to Japan. He then confesses that he was the one who put the stolen item into Seigi's pocket during the show, because his superior (one of the security staff) made him do it. Richard should've known this while checking the cameras, but Vincent says that he's not gonna ask why he protected him then, saying that Richard "never changes, such a good, lonely man".

Jeffrey apparently gets a similar mail, but in his version, the mail said thanks to his ex-secretary (presumably for leaking Seigi's information). Richard and Seigi goes back to small talks, and as Seigi refills the tea, he's thinking about how the kitchen in this house has enough cutleries and stuff for a house party. He dreams that one day he can hold a party with Richard's family, his own family and friends in Japan, and probably new people he meets in Sri Lanka.

Random trivia:

-Richard says that years ago, women in some high end parties were smitten by his looks enough that they held champagne drinking competition over it.

-Richard refers to Jeffrey as "Good-for-nothing talking wallet" again when he talks to Seigi.

-It's absolutely disgusting but Amen calls Richard with his childhood nickname, Ricky. To hear it from anyone but his close cousins and co send chills to my spine.

-Vincent got married while still in college. He's currently 26 years old, studying in America. He practices jeet kune do. Seigi suspects he likes anime and manga and that's why he can speak Japanese, but Vincent doesn't answer this question.

-Seigi goes to a net cafe during his "arrest" to look for more info regarding the group. During that, Vincent plays real time battle games until his eyes turn red....

-Half of Seigi aka Iggy's blog is about cooking. He blogs his wattalapan cooking trial too.

#the case files of jeweler richard #jeweler richard #nakata seigi #richard ranashinha dvorpian #spoilers #translation

191 notes · View notes

tabletopjourneys · 3 years

Text

Session 39 Notes

(Skipping ahead so last session notes are in time for a quick read before next session) The Silver Scale Pack split up: While group A confronts The Superb Owl one last time, group B falls for a cryptid and gets teleported to the other side of Bouldergap from their recon mission. Plus: Shopping. Again. lol.

@gher-bear @aradow @telurin @epimetala

On this day The Silver Scale Pack's split missions get critical. Diem and Ixayl'anu have to battle it out with the The Superb Owl and her mob of charmed Bouldergap citizens.

Ultimately they win by deceit and successfully chase The Superb Owl off, back to The Iron Heights (mountains) without any loss of life or nonconsensual fey abductions.

The Bouldergap citizens are pretty grateful once the distance shakes off the last vestiges of charm and begin getting back to their lives, cleaning up the mess of a spontaneous tournament, and finding/checking on loved ones lost in the crowd and/or forgotten in their bespelled states.

In other words, nobody we know of is angry at us for chasing off the pretty owl. They're all pretty aware it was a spell that made them love and admire her so much.

Meanwhile, group B meet one of the near-mythical cryptids called a ropen up close. This one seems to be super ancient and magically potent with decorative colorful jewelry and tattoos that commonly get mistaken for "colorful plumage" in the rare (and doubted) accounts of sightings.

When first attempting to communicate the ropen (accidentally?) deals 3 psychic damage to the safety-bubbled forms of Rana and Fee. It sounds like the angels from Supernatural. Once it corrects this, it's voice still holds tangible power and sounds like an ancient being of immense power speaking to children.

It tells them both they are not safe here and that they have the situation contained and are handling it. Then puts them both to sleep and sends them safely to the other side of Bouldergap out into a field where they wake up about an hour later.

Just in time to hear Diem communicate through the stone that the owl has been handled.

The pack reunites and reports everything to Lawmaster Eldeth. They agree to gather in the morning for another trip out to Stoneroost with the help of two guards.

Their free night until then is spent shopping for gems and supplies. Afterward, Rana and Fee play a training game with their ratties and chill in the Temple of V'kandis until they wake there in the morning and procure another helper for the trip out in the form of a dwarven priestess who offers her healing skills in exchange for being able to check in on her family in Stoneroost.

Ixayl'anu spent the night in the stables with her newly resummoned elk. Diem went off to find and presumably spent the night with the other disguise-loving storyteller The Superb Owl had suggested they have a nice chat with.

(Read More)

(At Least Group A is Safely in Town…Right?)

The Superb Owl: Capture them! (80 ft reach command)

Initiative order starts with Ixayl’anu and then Diem; Ixayl’anu goes first and casts moonbeam on the Superb Owl (it really is a fey owl; though a typo does turn her into the super bowl instead. Just a thought.). Ixayl’anu then runs her 30ft south along the fence.

Diem has to run to catch up as Ixayl’anu shoots past them. “Fly, Ixayl’anu!”. They cast fly on them both as soon as they manage to catch up to her in about 30ft.

5 villagers jump the fence to try and grab us.

One guy across fence to her right manages to grab Ixayl’anu and yank her a little off balance and out of the reach of the guy coming straight at her who’d jumped the southern fence to follow the owl’s orders.

Two guys of three more guys who also jumped the southern fence manage to grab me - one to each arm.

The Superb Owl not only takes half damage from a save (8dmg) by staring her turn in moonbeam, she actually pretends she created the moonbeam as an awe-inspiring spotlight for attention. She spreads her wings and flies straight up in it, showboating a little, and says, in an enunciating announcer voice: Bring them to me and I will deal with the heretics!

Practically everyone near the owl by the northern gate of the square arena and out in an oval of about 40 ft east and west is gazing in star-struck admiration at the owl.

Ixayl’anu struggles to get loose and succeeds her strength check, gets loose and flies 30 ft up and 30 ft east.

Diem uses fey presence to go all Galadriel-style-you-would-have-a-dark-queen visage and voice to inspire fear (16 wis check): Not me you fools!

This works on four out of five of the guys around them, but the one who resists just happens to be one of the guys holding on to them, who actually tightens his grip in half panic as Diem tries to fly away with him still attached (contested strength check failed). They only succeed in lifting him a few feet off the ground.

Diem to Ixayl’anu: Get out of here, go get the others!

A new guy enters the area from the south gate and helps the first pull me back down to the ground as those other four continue to cower a few feet back from me.

The owl takes 4 dmg starting in moonbeam again and doesn’t care, the barely-felt pain is worth the extra awe-inspiring beauty of her spotlight. She is hovering there at about the same height as Ixayl’anu (about 30ft off the ground): Keep that one contained, I will get the flying one!

She’s sad to leave her moonbeam, but flies after Ixayl’anu and misses both attacks. Screams: Look at me! (tries to charm Ixayl’anu and fails)

Ixayl’anu screams right back at her and lands all 3 attacks plus a level 2 smite: 45 total damage. “Never trust owls!”

The Superb Owl screeches again.

Diem goes completely limp and in the owl’s voice says: I have possessed this one, you can let it go. (23 deception)

Everyone buys it and lets Diem go. They immediately zoom 30 ft up and 30 ft toward Ixayl’anu, flying with her between me and the owl.

Guys who let them go realizing their mistake: Oh shit!

(3D chess for everyone now!)

The Northern portion of the crowd begins surging toward us as well, both guys who had Diem are running after them even though they’re 30 ft up.

Korial, the feathered dragonborn from one of Ixayl’anu’s home islands (who had been in charge of and enlisted in the fighting competition) had come out at some point, disappeared in his tent again, and is now coming out, handing off nets to capable-looking people nearby so he can take a shot with his bow at Ixayl’anu. He hits her for 10 dmg

The Superb Owl screams in Ixayl’anu’s face again and tries to grab at her for a grapple. 18 slashing damage and a strength check of 20 vs 21. Ixayl’anu pulls herself away from the grapple at the last minute, which is ruled one reason why the claws hurt so much - made the wound worse pulling out of the grasp.

Ixayl’anu’s next attack misses, but her 2nd does 15dmg plus another smite for 9 more dmg (total 24dmg).

Diem still doesn’t want to hurt the owl if they can avoid it, it’s chaotic good, but just doesn’t understand the concept and finality of death for mortals or why consent is important for the little honor guard it’s trying to create. They are out of big spells, but still have a lightning bolt in their ring if it comes down to it. However, the people also need to know this fey is willing to kill them for the sake of convenience anyway. It’s not outright evil, but inhuman enough it will kill them as easy as praise them.

As such, totally trying to create some doubts and tarnish the awe, show a little truth in a dramatic way, Diem moves their hands in front of their face as if they’re casting a spell, conveniently blocking anyone able to see their face from seeing their mouth move as they mimic The Superb Owl’s voice again, as loud as they can supervillain style and say: I will kill anyone who fails me! (21 deception).

A good amount of people around the South fence pause a little bit at this, including the guys who let them go during the last deception.

After that, Diem shoots Northwest and up 60ft to get above and behind The Superb Owl without flying close enough on the way to cause an attack of opportunity (essentially 20ft behind the owl to the northwest and 30ft up for a total of 60ft above ground and away from Korial’s bow).

They cast an eldritch blast but their heart still really isn’t in killing this pretty fey creature yet (Ixayl’anu is definitely not holding back for sure). Their first blast of crackling iridescent magic misses entirely as a result, and the other is held back too much, doing only 3dmg.

The guys who got nets from Korial are now close enough to throw them at Ixayl’anu, but both nets go wide without accidentally ensnaring any of the people under her instead.

Korial shoots at Ixayl’anu again, but misses.

The Superb Owl: Get more archers! Stop using the nets!

She disengages from Ixie and flies a bigger circle away. She goes up to about 80ft off the ground and take a commanding view of the whole area.

Ixayl’anu has seen birds of prey do this maneuver - she’s getting height so she can do a dive at Ixayl’anu (from 50ft above her now/20ft higher up than Diem is). Diem is clueless what this means for Ixayl’anu.

Ixayl’anu drops moonbeam and downs a potion (16 healing) on her way to get behind the owl and in front of me, close enough she and Diem both get the advantages of the bless she casts in moonbeam’s place (add a d4 to any attack roll or saving throw for a minute - 10 rounds).

Diem casts message on The Superb Owl, speaking directly in her head in sylvan, using their patron’s voice: Harm my pets and mark my words you will have an archfey hounding your immortality, making sure no one anywhere ever even thinks about worshipping you ever again (Intimidation check of 26).

The Superb Owl’s wingbeat pauses and she dips down a couple of feet in reaction. She’s still for the moment.

Diem yells out as loud as they can, in part for the Northside audience this time (and in their own voice): This is your last chance, do this the right way, no one’s taken by force and no one dies if they refuse!

24 performance for the crowd gets another big circle near enough to hear who are beginning to doubt. This includes Korial who has run forward enough he heard Diem’s yell. He also pauses and shakes his head a little bit.

The owl takes a good look around at the chaos and doubters, she screams an angry and hurt sound: None of you were really worth it anyway!

She disengages, picks up speed by dropping about 30 ft (still about 50ft from the ground though) and books it back toward the iron heights.

Ixayl’anu misty steps after her and crackles lightning effects, swiping at the air in the Superb Owl’s direction, making noises to reinforce driving her away and generally trying to be intimidating “You better run!” style. She rolls an 11 for intimidation. She can’t see the owl’s face for obvious reasons, but feels like she did a good job.

(The “Victory Speech” No One Asked For)

Diem flies lower toward the ground and makes themself look like an autumn-and-firey-sun themed archfey with a slightly higher voice than their patron’s to address the people around then. Their impulsive goal here is mainly to check on the hostility levels of the crowd while also trying to make sure a the presence of an archfey makes it into some stories. Just in case any of those get back to The Superb Owl in the future. They don’t use their own patron’s looks because they don’t know how their patron would feel getting that credit. They do go for a fiery-autumn look thinking this heavily V’kandis sun god religious area might attribute the deed in story to V’kandis instead, or an archfey follower (vague spur-of-the-moment possibilities for how this story gets retold over the years lol). Their performance is only a 16 for this though and it’s ruled that most people are simply distracted by the charm suddenly getting dispelled, becoming worried about loved ones and children/parents, etc. no longer in sight. Either way, everyone clearly knows what happened now (insofar as being charmed goes). Diem finished the story with what the owl had been planning, that it wasn’t just harmless (to hopefully discourage later retellings from making the owl out to be something to be tolerated the next time it comes around. Like no, it was definitely planning to take people against their will and seriously considering killing anyone merely for refusing to go with it. As they see the mood of the whole crowd shifting toward deflated sadness and seriousness, they end with what they hope is an inspiring message to find their loved ones and celebrate the return of their freedom. Diem knows it’s not their best work for sure, but they think it went over reasonably well for people being understandably distracted by suddenly remembering all the things and people and tasks the owl made them forget. They do notice Korial is standing there just listening and watching, head tilted after the hold on him was also dispelled.

At the end, Diem then pretends, for the benefit of whomever might still be watching, to be released by the mysterious autumn-fire entity who’d possessed them, their own visage fading back in as they get their bearings and look up at Ixayl’anu. They pull out their sending stone and say into it: Owl taken care of, we’re on our way to you guys in Stoneroost, let us know if we shouldn’t.

(Rana and Fee are falling!)

Fee makes a perception or investigation of 23 right before they start falling, they both hear a crack of thunder even though the sky isn’t stormy. Arcana check of 2 - Fee thinks it’s thunderbird thunder, there might be a thunderbird nearby she just doesn’t know.

Rana was showboating a little like “look at my mountains!” before she fell.

They feel cocooned in this nice little bubble of antigravity and have a slow descent that stops right above the trees like levitating above the treeline.

The ropen are following their descent with intent. 30-40 ft away still, it has embellishment on it - what Rana assumed was a natural coloration, it’s a paint/tattoo and jewelry situation.

These details make no difference to Fee.

Rana has an arm extended toward Fee about to cast a polymorph, but then they’re slowing down to a stop. “Fee are you okay?”

“Yeah, you?” Fee was also reaching for her hand and they manage to grasp hands.

When they stop, Fee tries to see if she can swim in the air, but she doesn’t move.

Rana: were you hit?

Fee: No you?

Rana: No

Fee: Can you become an owl again?

Rana: No...well, yes, but not the same way and I don’t know what knocked me out of owl to begin with (Rana is watching the Ropen as they talk - it’s taking its sweet time to get to them like a turkey vulture rather than any bird of prey about to swoop down and snatch you motions.

Fee looks for the ground through the trees and asks something I missed.

Rana perceives 18 trying to see if there are any other ropen around. 100 ft or so and getting closer (overiding the shorter distance earlier). She casts speak with animals and calls out: “Hello!?” (holds her hands out in peaceful gesture, rats freaking out with “What the fuck is happening?!” type chatter in her ears now).

Rana and Fee must make a con save, both fail (7 and 9, respectively). Both begin to hear ringing sounds in their ears - it’s SPN angel speak type noise. It crescendos to the point it hurts, all in their head, past the point of unbearable for a half second before it cuts out and they take 3 psychic dmg.

The ropen is close enough to hover in front of them after that and they both hear an intense psychic voice “This is not a safe place to be so I am going to bring you back to the nearest settlement - you should not be here until we handle it.”

Rana: We can’t go back, we’re here to figure out what’s going on.

Ropen: We’re taking care of it, their invisible bubbles of levitation start moving both Rana and Fee back the way they came.

Rana makes one persuasion check of 6 before the ropen puts them both to sleep. The whole time the ropen made them feel like they were being talked to as a child by an ancient, one that radiates strong magic.

(The zone you tried to access is down for maintenance; have a portal, take a nap)

Both Fee and Rana wake up feeling like it was really brief, but find themselves in a field outside Bouldergap. (Tournament was southwest of Bouldergap, they wake up northeast of Bouldergap - slightly farther away from town, and directly North of the road in.

Wisdom saving throws: 13 Rana, 20 Fee; Rana wakes up without memory of why she’s even here, the last she remembers she was an owl flying to Stoneroost. She tries to point at the empty air like the ropen is still there though.

Rana: Look, look that’s the thing I saw!

Fee: Yeah we both saw it…?

Rana: Yeah it’s right there! (the air is obviously empty though)

Fee: Uuuhhhhh…

Rana: Wait a minute, why are we back here? (She checks on the rats, who she can no longer understand, but that’s okay because she doesn’t remember casting that spell anyway.)

Fee: Oh, I see, what’s the last thing you remember, friend?

Rana: Flying

Fee: And then we were falling.

Rana statues.

Fee: Here’s what I think happened, I think your bird demons have some kind of bubble around Stoneroost because you somehow became not an owl and we were plummeting toward the ground and they slowed our descent and they made this awful noise screaming in our heads or maybe just my head and then talked to us like kids and were like “No we don’t need your help, we got this dudes.” (She retells the whole thing with more words than this but this is all I got transcribed live).

Rana looks doubtful: I think I’d remember that...

Fee: Yeah you would think…

At about this time, Diem’s voice comes through on the sending stones.

Diem: Owl taken care of, we’re on our way to you guys in Stoneroost, let us know if we shouldn’t.

Fee picks up almost immediately: No, don’t go to Stoneroost - fly to the other side of the tournament just out of town, we’re, well...marco polo or something when you get close until you find us and we’ll catch you up on--

Rana interrupts: Meet us at the gate into Bouldergap.

Fee: Yeah. That probably works better.

It will take Diem and Ixayl’anu about 5 minutes to fly to their destination.

In the meantime, as Rana and Fee walk toward said gate, they talk about what Rana doesn’t remember. She is very VERY interested in everything Fee has to say about the ropen. Fortunately for her, while Fee didn’t care about all the details of the ropen, she did take note of them with her high perception and was able to describe them pretty accurately to Rana - including the detail that they aren’t naturally colorful so much as wearing paint or tattoos and decorative jewelry that glints in the sun. Rana doesn’t know enough about ropen to say whether any of this was normal or not.

The lore for them is only that they’re brightly coloured pterodactyl-like creatures. No one’s gotten close enough to realize it’s not a natural thing and Rana thought they were just animals until now.

They do both remember getting just past the area where we saw the abominations on the road before they were stopped and ported away.

(Together again)

As Diem and Ixayl’anu approach and land, they find Fee and Rana both looking pissed, Rana has her map out, half plotting a route through the mountains instead.

Diem: How’d you guys get over here? Nevermind because…(they proceed to excitedly tell how things went with the owl - including the bit Ixayl’anu was not yet aware of about the message spell convincing the owl that their patron promised retribution if their pets, plural, were harmed)

Ixayl’anu preens with pride over her actions and shining moments during the story. We did not highlight, live, that she would be hearing the message that chased the owl off for the first time though, so there’s no noted reaction to that bit.

Rana (after Diem concludes the story): I hope the Ropen gets it.

Ixayl’anu: Ropen?

Rana looks at Fee: Well, since I don’t remember what happened…?

Fee: Yeah...remember how Rana was gonna carry me safely and we were gonna do this recon mission…?

Rana glares into the open air at nothing over the whole situation.

Fee: Once we got a little more than halfway to Stoneroost, just past where we were before we hit a bubble or something I don’t know but that big Rope-Roc bird thing flew in and Rana got switched back and we were falling then we were not falling and then the bird thing screamed in our heads and it hurt. Then was all like, “Don’t come over here I got this.” and then I don’t know yeah that’s when we were put to sleep and moved over here. I guess Rana must’ve been dropped too hard because she doesn’t remember it all.

(Again, there were definitely more words used than this, more things said, all amusing retellings, but this is all I got transcribed live)

Rana: They’ve never stopped me going through the mountains before, so I’m thinking we go through the mountains and hike out there in the morning. (She also notes that they didn’t see abominations on the road though, at least).

We talk about possibly going by road one more time, but this time, coming out silver scale first to see if that gets us in the door with these Ropen. Among our options is Rana just straight flying out there again with one of us on her back, Ixayl’anu riding on her elk, or possibly hiking back out there and flying for the last 10-20 minutes. All with the silver scale and letter ready to show as a potential vip pass.

Diem pulls out their sending stone and starts to catch the guard captain up on everything as we head her way to check in.

Eldeth: Just meet me at the guard house, this is too much to take in over sending stones.

(At the guard house)

By the time we get there Eldeth says she’s heard many different stories but they all start with YOU (here she points at Ixayl’anu) breathing lightning all over the damned thing.

Ixayl’anu (not in the least as guilty as she should be lol): Yeah…

Eldeth: (nods to self like “Alright then.”) Well we hadn’t tried that, but it worked.

Diem fills her in with 25 performance on every little detail of everything tried first and failed and why etc. including visual demonstration of the archfey they tried to put in the story for retelling in case anything got back to the owl at least some versions might have an archfey involved.

Eldeth seems to appreciate all the details: Well, we had a deal and you handled it, but I’m not gonna lie I’d prefer to help you through to Stoneroost in the morning.

She calls in two guards for us though - a dark blue skinned goliath barbarian type named Mash Jufrin who has a pegleg (Mash was one of the dumb guards from the other day) and a reddish older looking warrior tiefling named Tioshikio Ayibi. Eldeth introduces them and says, “These are who I can spare - they’re the best at smashing things.”

Mash (laughing): Yeah I’m best at smashing things.

Diem: Delighted to meet you (to Eldeth after looking at the rest of their party) I’m definitely for the morning though too, I could use a short rest?

The others nod agreement.

Tio: In that case, I’ll go help out with breaking down all the festival havoc and meet you all at the gate out toward Stoneroost in the morning.

As Diem notices no one is telling the Stoneroost route story, they message Fee to ask why they’re not telling their story.

Fee out loud: Oh yeah you should totally do that!

Diem (also out loud now): Me? Oh...okay *tries to remember everything Fee said and does a 26 performance on telling their story*

Only because of that performance do they not laugh at Diem outright for talking about sky bigfoot but Eldeth is still looking at Rana (the local of our group) like “Seriously?”

Rana gives a look back like yeeaaaah...it is though, I know how it sounds. (She’d been wincing and frowning at every mention of ropen during the story.)

Eldeth believes us but points out that she wouldn’t otherwise if not for the owl and everything crazy that’s been going on of late. She recommends Tio to get more supplies to that end from the armory. We all part ways, Diem getting their extra sending stone back after announcing they have a date to get to.

(Free evening for shopping and more!)

We get the evening to do whatever we like. Rana needs a 300 gold diamond, so she’s going to go shopping. Since it’s on the way to other places we’re all headed, we all go with. Rana gets distracted by all the shiny pretty gems, Ixayl’anu has to pry her away eventually. Rana picks up 2 diamonds and can’t help herself, picks up 2 rubies, a sapphire and an emerald. Loose stones that call to her. Handful of rubies and pretty things.

Diem forgot in the live session but since it was determined they were there for the shopping on their way back to Emmen’s festival tent, they have been approved for also picking up some pretty stones and would have been just as enthralled by the pretties as Rana lol. Gem haul (whopping total of 1500gp lol): Includes 3, 10gp titanium rainbow peacock kyanite feathers, a large Iolite/Cordierite sample that is dark blue with white and clear crystal clusters in it at first glance - looking closer at various angles reveals the whites to shift into shades of silver that blend in with the blues that also shift with lighting into shades of black and violet as well (300gp for a small “brick” sized uncut chunk). Another normal-sized sample of this same uncut stone for 50gp, a water opal with an imperfection that looks like a crescent moon, worth 1000gp (the two big ticket items are to be gifts for their patron, if anyone asks), and topped off with a pouch of additional, hand-selected rough cut samples of asst other stones mostly in shades of teals and purples (basically would look like a small stash of rough fluorite, quartz, etc.). They also pick up a little amethyst cat figuring worth 100gp (because gifts to the fey should always come in threes).

Ixayl’anu hauls us out of there before we spend ALL of our money there (I mean for her goddess’ sake, it’s not like they’re the teeth of a rare and impressive beast or something) and goes off to find a shop with healing potions where she buys two common healing potions (100g total).

Diem gets 2 greater healing potions for 150 each.

Rana says she’s going to the temple, everyone but Diem is gonna join her there. Diem splits off from the rest to find their aforementioned “date.”

Ixayl’anu resummons her elk in the temple courtyard. It takes her 10 minutes to do so. He bugles frantically as though no time had passed since he was attacked and Ixayl’anu is there with horse girl hugs and affection that he appreciates as she calms him down.

Mutanamri quietly comes up to her during this: So while you’re welcome to stay here, and we appreciate all your help recently...your steed does have to stay outside the temple...it’s a little bit of a sacrilegious thing, so if you could put it out in the stables please?

Ixayl’anu nods and says she understands. She and her elk continue their affectionate reunion on the way to stables. She spends the night in the stables with her elk, sleeping together.

Rana floats the idea with Fee to do a find the item and retrieve course for the rats outside the temple somewhere. Fee agrees. Rana hands Fee a frickin ruby for this game and uses a frickin emerald for Hamlet, hiding them for retrieval. These are the games of the rich, people lol. Rana casts speak with animals and they send the rats out on their missions. They make animal handling checks of 8 for Rana and 17 for Fee 17. Horatio wins! It does help that he recognizes the “retrieve” game through practice a little better than Hamlet does.

We confirm that tiny animals stopped speaking draconic about a couple miles out of Longview. So Fee can also speak to and understand her rat through her ring.

Afterward Rana settles down by the flame and Fee with her, presumably.

(In the morning…)

In the morning, after everyone’s gotten up and performed early morning mass, Alka Briskfizz, a dwarven priestess in green, gold, and cream-colored robes, her orangey-red hair in pigtails approaches Rana and Fee: I heard you helped with the owl situation and I know you talked to Mutanamri a little bit about that already. I’m actually here right now because I’d like to offer my services for your other trip - I’ve got some family in Stoneroost as well. It would be nice to go up and see them with your group, make sure everything’s alright. I have some healing capabilities.

Rana nods: We’ll take all the help we can get.

Fee: Yeah…

Alka: Good - though...I thought there was more of you?

Rana: Yeah, we have to go collect one of us somewhere in town and the other is sleeping in the stables with her elk.

(some missed conversation for sure)

Fee: Have you heard anything more about what might be going on?

Alka: Every time I’ve been on the road it’s been uneventful, so this is new to me.

Fee talks about how the road was creepy and Alka says that’s definitely not normal for the pass.

Rana talks about what to expect on the road, mentions the ropen but frames it like, ‘yeah, we know it sounds crazy, but with everything else that’s going on, why not an impossible cryptid too?’.

Fee chimes in every now and then.

Alka’s listening politely. Rana insight checks at a 12 on her reactions - she seems skeptical but open to there being something best described, for now, as a mythological cryptid.

They swing by the stable first to pick up Ixayl’anu and that’s where the session ends.

#Fight the owl meet the ropen #Anesh #Bouldergap #Stoneroost #ropen #The Superb Owl #Korial #Lawmaster Eldeth #Mash Jufrin #Tioshikio Ayibi #Mutanamri Sichar #Alka Briskfizz #Autumn archfey disguise #Diem pretends to be their patron #Emmen Hayley alluded to #The Iron Heights mentioned

3 notes · View notes

medea10 · 4 years

Text

My Review of Kaguya-sama: Love is War

How did I get into this anime? It was about time to do it as this was one of the best animes to come from the winter 2019 anime line-up (after Dororo and The Promised Neverland). Now let’s hit…

Hold it Medea! Weren’t you supposed to review Darker Than Black for your Aniplex pick?

Ah, yes…THAT anime. I watched it. I finished it. It was a mind-fuck. I bailed on the review. And while I’m at it, I’m also not reviewing Psycho Pass 3, Violet Evergarden, or A Certain Scientific Accelerator. Onto Kaguya-sama!

Shuchiin Academy, once a school for students that are well-off financially. Nowadays, it’s still that, but even commoners can attend. And one such student is a boy by the name of Miyuki Shirogane, who in just his first year managed to obtain the top spot at the school with the position of Student Council President. By his side is his vice president, Kaguya Shinomiya. This girl comes from extreme wealth and excels in many fields including art and music. The students here revere these two as being the best of the best. And also…they make a great couple!

Pump the brakes here, pal. These two are NOT a couple. As a matter of fact, both characters end up playing 3D chess in their brains to try and take the other person down with mind games if even the slightest topic involving love is brought up. Both Kaguya and Miyuki already have feelings for the other, they just won’t admit it. The first person to admit love will be considered the loser in this war. And both of these characters are stubborn to the point of…oh my god!

THESE TWO ARE TSUNDERES! I’ve seen animes where only one person is the tsundere in the couple. But what happens when they’re BOTH tsunderes? Well…it took over 20 episodes for Taiga on Toradora. It took over 4 seasons for Louise on Familiar of Zero. But those two animes had only ONE tsundere. This anime has TWO. We might be here for a while!

Well, let’s watch who wins and who loses in the game (or war) of love!

BETWEEN THE SUB AND THE DUB: Aniplex of America has a good grip on this anime as they have managed to license the second season before it has aired. Much to my dismay, this anime has not received an English dub. Aniplex of America has released the blu-ray last month ($100+ shipping and handling), but only with Japanese audio/English subtitles. Okay.

Now IF they decide to come back in a few years and dub this series, I have a few thoughts. And don’t say it’ll never happen. FUNimation and Sentai are guilty as fuck of releasing a series with no dub and two years later dropping a dub release just so they can grab extra dough.

I HAVEN’T FORGOTTEN NICHIJOU YOU GRIFTING CRAP-WEASELS!

Anyways, if they decide to do this, I want R. Bruce Elliott to voice the narrator. I don’t give a shit about the rest of the cast, I just want that for the narrator! That’s just my take on that matter. I know this would NEVER happen unless Elliott ends up in L.A. for a few sessions (as he’s mostly stationed in Texas). It’s just that he’s the best person to play a narrator in just about anything. Don’t believe me? Watch Space Dandy and Sgt. Frog and get back to me!

Oh! And just my luck, FUNimation plans on giving this series an English dub. Though it’ll be a while before we see anything due to COVID-19 mess! No rush, take your time. Rest up. Consider R. Bruce Elliot as the narrator. And we’ll see you after we get off quarantine!

The sub version consists of a lot of newer, yet familiar voices. As for Kaguya’s seiyuu (Aoi Koga), this is my first time hearing her voice and so far I’m impressed. I’m also impressed with an anime to have several tsunderes and no sign of Rie Kugimiya, the QUEEN of tsundere anime characters. That shows great dedication, but if she ends up in season two, I’m gonna scream. Here’s what you might recognize these folks from.

*Kaguya is played by Aoi Koga

*Miyuki is played by Makoto Furukawa (known for Saitama on One Punch Man, Hatsuharu on Fruits Basket 2019, and Banri on Golden Time)

*Chika is played by Konomi Kohara (known for Miu on Domestic Girlfriend, Fizel on SAO: Alicization, and Kai on Hitoribocchi)

*Yuu is played by Ryouta Suzuki (known for Ryouhei on Tsurune)

FAVORITE CHARACTER: Chika. Chika. Chika. Chika. Chika. And did I mention Chika?

Best girl!

SPEAKING OF CHIKA: I found an infectious little song in the form of an ending theme! For one episode, we got an ending theme song featuring Chika.

Chikatto Chika Chikaa♡! I just love it! This should win an award or something!

*several months later*

Thank you Crunchyroll Awards!

Seriously, this ED as well as the OP theme are just so infectious that I constantly go back to replay these two songs whenever I take a break from replaying Black Clover themes (no joke, I love Black Clover themes). The first ending is fine. It’s just that Chika’s special ED was so addicting that I had to mention it once, twice, or more!

SHIPPING: It’s pretty obvious to see that Kaguya and Miyuki are mad for each other. But there are several obstacles in their way. For one thing this is sort of their first love, so approaching this subject is very new. Secondly, both of them are dead-set on the fact that love is a war full of wins and losses. Both Kaguya and Miyuki play these mind-games when something mundane happens like a personality quiz or a weekend activity. They try to trap the other person into saying something embarrassing or admitting to something. Even though it’s so crystal clear that they both are romantically interested in each other!

However, I’m pretty sure Kaguya has lost more battles than Miyuki due to the infamous sick day episode. Sick Kaguya is pretty ballsy getting Miyuki to lay in bed with her.

FUNNIEST MOMENT: You can blame this on the fact that I’m absolutely immature and have the mind of an 8 year old. But there was a moment in mid-season where Chika learns of a specific quirk about Kaguya. Because Kaguya was suppressed when it came to matters of phrases and naughty words, she still finds the word “wiener” utterly hilarious. And so during this whole segment, you’ve got Chika continuously saying the word “wiener”. Then, she goes the extra mile to have other members of the student council like Miyuki and Yuu to say the word. And Kaguya is trying to prevent them from saying it until we just get a barrage of “wieners” and hysterical laughter. I gotta admit that it was one of the funniest moments in this series.

ENDING: A few episodes before the finale, a monumentous moment occurred. Kaguya got sick.

Just go with it!

Whenever Kaguya gets sick, her mind goes into a complete stupor. Her mind is almost that of an infant or small child and once she’s better, she will not remember a single thing that happened. And Miyuki was the poor sap to check on her during that sick day! I’ll cut to the chase and say what went down.

She opens her bed covers and drags Miyuki into bed with her. Now before your mind jumps in the trash, they remained fully clothed…although they both did fall asleep. So, they slept together. Just no intercourse! This kinda lead to a major fight involving a cake, an apology, and a cute moment where Kaguya touches his lip!

Hey, a girl who’s been sexually suppressed her whole life, this is like first base here.

I feel that was a bit of a breaking point to bring up on a count of a lot of the mind games stopped temporarily. Probably because the last two episodes of the season involved summer break! By the looks of it, Chika was having a blast eating so much and Yuu is doing his usual gaming stuff. All the while, Kaguya and Miyuki didn’t really do much during their break. But they promised to all meet up one day to see the fireworks. Unfortunately, that serves to be a daunting task for Kaguya as she’s been heavily sheltered her entire life. Her family (especially her father) never let her do things normal kids take for granted including going out with friends or even walking to school.

In fact, Kaguya’s plans of meeting up with Chika and others to go shopping were cancelled due to Kaguya’s father calling her to the main house…for literally nothing. Add to that, the family saw it in THEIR best interest to not allow Kaguya to leave the house to see the fireworks with her friends. But Kaguya decided to defy those orders! She gets her servant Hayasaka to disguise as her if any other servants come in and escaped her house. Yuu, Chika, and Miyuki were all in an agreement to save Kaguya…just not on the same wavelength. Kaguya on her own ended up missing the firework show. But once Miyuki found her, he took her and they went on a small adventure to another prefecture to see another firework show. But it could be cutting it close due to traffic and the show was reaching its end. Thankfully, they made it! Kaguya was finally able to see the fireworks with her friends.

It’s just that Kaguya didn’t pay attention to the firework show…she stared at Miyuki the whole time!

In the final segment of episode 12, Kaguya and Miyuki kinda realized how dorky they were the night of the firework show. Kaguya let her guard down so many times that night and spent the entire firework show staring at Miyuki. Meanwhile, Miyuki thought he sounded stupid when he took Kaguya to the show. We get one final mind-game between these two until it ended with Miyuki almost saying something and Kaguya chases him down while the end credits play on in the background.

Will either one of them say how they truly feel about the other? Who will win? Who will lose?

…Guess we’ll find out in a few days when season two airs!

This was an entertaining anime! It’s like if Death Note were a rom-com instead of a thriller. Both Kaguya and Miyuki have a similar mind-set to Light Yagami when it comes to the game of love. They both have the hots for each other and both refuse to admit it first. But thanks to key moments including Kaguya’s sickness and the firework saga, there’s been definite progress with these two letting their guards down. But they’ve got a long way to go! I mean, these two are major tsunderes meaning they’re going to suppress their wants and desires with the opposite sex with these ridiculous mind-games. So…we might be here for a while before any one of them admits their feelings. But I say give it a watch! It’s not that long of a series and it’s still fairly new so it’s still open for more sequels and side-projects before losing its luster.

Currently, this anime is available for streaming on Hulu, Crunchyroll, and FUNimation.

And stay tuned for the second season exclusively available on FUNima…You guys are really pissing me off with your exclusivity!

Okay, I managed to finish this baby up quite quick. What’s the next Aniplex title I’m going to watch?

Picture it, Medea. Osmosis Jones but…

Cells at Work?

That’s great. I’m also not reviewing this one. I have my own reasons for not reviewing this. So let’s hit the randomizer button again because as of this date, I finished Cells at Work.

Lord El-Melloi…I’M NOT READING ALL THAT SHIT! Sum it up quickly!

It’s Fate, but with Waver Velvet.

Jesus “Tap Dancing” Christ, it’s another Fate series! I’m not reviewing anything Fate! It’s a cluster-fuck of a series! Don’t get me wrong, I love Fate/Zero and Unlimited Blade Works as much as the next dip-shit, but the franchise is a pile of cluster bombs and I can’t make heads or tails of any of this. Regardless, I finished that hot mess as well.

Okay you picky-ass bitch, how about the best animated anime of the 2010’s?

Demon Slayer!

Now that’s more like it! But I will still fight to the death that best animated goes to Violet Evergarden!

#anime review #kaguya-sama: love is war #kaguya-sama wa kokurasetai #kaguya shinomiya #miyuki shirogane #chika fujiwara

4 notes · View notes

mystical-flute · 5 years

Text

Phoenix

Written for @techno-sorcerer in the summer mini exchange on Discord!

In the aftermath of Gozaburo’s death, Seto Kaiba works to build Kaiba Corp up from the ashes.

Seto Kaiba stared at the stacks of files in front of him. Kaiba Corp was his now, Gozaboro nothing more than a hole in the conference room window, temporarily boarded up with plywood.

He couldn't quite believe he'd actually won. He knew, of course, that all of this had been nothing more than a giant game of chess, but at the end of the day, Gozaburo Kaiba had been a ruthless, two-timing, snake. The fact that he had taken care of himself was a very, very small weight off of Seto's shoulders. After all, there had been no guarantee that Gozaburo would ever have stayed true to his word and allowed he and Mokuba to stay.

The heaviest burden would be rebuilding Kaiba Corp from the ground up. The documents he'd read on Gozaburo's military interests were making his stomach churn. They'd been given to him by an assistant, who had taken him deep into Kaiba Corp's underbelly once the Big Five had left of the building.

The assistant had been crying in relief when he'd confirmed things were changing.

Seto gave her a raise and made her his personal assistant for her cooperation and the semblance of a heart she had.

She'd cried harder then.

Seto let out a sigh, pulling one of the files to him and beginning to read.

October 25th, Egypt

Nesbit's new bomb was the envy of the battle today. The group we're working with killed 30 rebels today. A victory for one of my top men. Nesbit it pleased, and I gave him a hefty bonus for his ingenuity. The group was so pleased that they've requested more. Next week, we plan to begin testing on –

Seto couldn't keep reading, throwing the file to the ground in disgust. Rebels or not, 30 people were dead, and he knew thousands more he hadn’t even read about yet. His stomach lurched at the thought of some of them being children. Or parents, leaving children alone without parents.

This couldn't go on.

Slamming a hand on the desk, he rose to his feet, pressing the button for his assistant.

"Yes, Mr. Kaiba?"

"Summon the press. I want them here in an hour… and those files you gave me? Burn them. And then burn the ashes. The new era of Kaiba Corp starts now."

The lights were blinding, but he remained firm as he stood at the podium, looking at the eager reporters with disdain.

"Today is the dawn of a new day for Kaiba Corporation. No longer will we be a company that associates with criminals and death. Today, I am pleased to announce that Kaiba Corporation will become a company on the forefront of technology, and that technology will be…" he flourished his hand, and Mokuba and his assistant pulled the sheet back from the table next to him, the 3D model of his holographic technology and Kaiba Land revealed. "Gaming technology."

He could hear the shock in the room as the reporters began to murmur, cameras flashing once again.

"Kaiba Corporation is determined to rebrand itself as a company that brings joy to people, not fear. I am positive that I will be able to lead this change with the same amount of determination that Gozaburo did before me," he concluded. There, he had to play the poor orphan card for sympathy after all. "You all will, of course, be invited to the next press conference, when I reveal my holographic projectors. Thank you all for your time."

Seto stepped back and bowed respectfully to the reporters, before turning to Mokuba and leading him from the room.

"Did you mean all that stuff you said, Seto?" Mokuba asked.

"Of course I did, Mokuba. You'll see, soon Kaiba Corp will bring joy to kid's faces, instead of fear," he replied, giving him a ghost of a smile. "And I promise, nothing bad will happen to us again."

"You mean, even Hobson won't hurt us anymore?"

Seto's fists clenched at the mention of the mutant-looking butler his stepfather had employed, and the things that had been done to him under his eye.

Hobson had been fired forty-five minutes after Gozaburo's death.

"Yes. Especially Hobson," he confirmed, squeezing Mokuba's shoulder with affection.

"But… what am I gonna do for tutoring?"

Seto paused at the question, brow furrowing. He'd fired anyone associated with Gozaburo Kaiba that hadn't willingly joined his side, and that had included the tutors that Mokuba had been learning under.

And then he remembered his assistant eagerly chattering away about her son's school. He was Mokuba's age… and freedom was all Seto had wanted for he and his brother…

"Mokuba, how would you like to go to school? A real school?"

His brother's eyes told him all he needed to know, and immediately, he found himself researching the best schools in Domino, making sure they had very little in terms of problematic staff members or students, and while he was enrolling Mokuba, he enrolled himself too. Yes, he was a teenage genius, and had completed his studies at the age of 14, but he had a sick satisfaction of knowing this would be something that would make Gozaburo spin in his grave, so why not?

And so, he found himself sitting in the back of a classroom, toward the end of a lesson. It was a dry math lesson, with equations and formulas he'd been able to solve when he was twelve, but at least there was no one whacking a stick in front of him if he found himself doodling numbers for what he wanted Kaiba Corp's first line of gaming tech to be. He was so engrossed in this that he didn't realize the lesson had ended until someone tapped his shoulder.

He lifted his eyes just enough to see a short, spiky-haired teen standing in front of him.

"Um, I'm sorry to interrupt, but school is over for the day. You seemed so engrossed in what you were doing and I didn't want you to miss your ride so – "

"Thank you," he said briskly, pushing his work into the bag at his side and rising to his feet. Giving the other student a curt nod, he turned and started making his way to the door, when he heard the other's eager footsteps behind him.

"Sorry again but I just wanted to let you know that I saw your press conference the other day, about making Kaiba Corp a gaming company and I'm – I'm really excited to see what you have to offer! My grandpa runs a card shop and so I've been into games and stuff my whole life! And what you had next to you at the conference seems really cool!"

His brow quirked in curiosity at the shorter teen. "A card shop? Like for Duel Monsters?"

"Yeah!"

A small smirk formed on his face. "Well then… I'll be sure that your grandfather's shop is one of the first to get any technology that we develop." Yes, it was a small, presumably independent shop that would hardly make a blip in their sales, but it was a stepping stone.

"Okay! That sounds awesome! I have to go meet my grandpa now but maybe we can talk more tomorrow?"

He had no inclination to do that, but he nodded slightly in agreement, turning away as he saw the Kaiba Corp car pulling up.

"Did you have a good first day, Mr. Kaiba?" he assistant asked with a polite smile, though her eyes were hiding something more.

"It was uneventful," he said with a shrug. "What did I miss?"

"Maximillion Pegasus called. He wants to speak with you about arranging a partnership with Industrial Illusions and Kaiba Corp!" she said with a wide smile.

Kaiba allowed a brief moment of shock to pass on his face before he spoke. "Call him back and tell him my schedule. I would like to meet with him as soon as possible," he said, looking out the window and smirking.

What was a terrible idea now, Gozaburo?

Just like the mythical phoenix, Kaiba Corp would rise from the ashes of its shameful past.

#seto kaiba #fanfiction #yugioh #mokuba kaiba #yugi mutou

19 notes · View notes

thesearchforspirk · 6 years

Text

1 x 1 : Where No Man Has Gone Before {Subtext Study}

As we’re going in production order (which seems to produce a more linear story) the story of Gary Mitchell and his tinfoil eyes is where we’ll begin this journey into Star Trek subtext. There’s quite a bit in this episode to wade through, particularly of the homoromantic quality, so let’s get started.

Tellingly, perhaps, our episode opens on our two main objects of study playing their beloved three-dimensional chess. As someone who has been in Spirk fandom for awhile now, I can attest that 3D chess is mentioned as an activity Kirk and Spock engage in together in their recreation hours in about 99.9% of fanfics (logically, the chances of them having recreation hours that overlap with one another is about slim to none, given their respective positions, but a little willing suspension of disbelief never hurt anyone). However, I think we only see them actually play it in-canon in about 2-3 episodes total, if that.

Still, there’s something significant about the choice of chess as a game for these two to engage in and this particular game’s history as a means of courtship and flirtation.

This is also our first indication that Spock adheres strongly to the fact that he’s Vulcan and “without” emotions and that Kirk delights in teasing him about the fact. “Certain you don’t know what irritation is?” Kirk asks, knowingly, with a shit-eating grin after he makes a move that Spock wasn’t anticipating (having already smugly announced he would have Kirk check-mated in his next move). The banter here relies heavily on the natural affection between the two of them, that which the script wants the audience to be aware of. Though Spock alleges to be immune to emotions he is clearly anything but, and yet, Kirk finds an affectionate delight in this fact. He’s allowed to rib Spock a little bit about this without threat of any real offense, indicating a very high level of trust between them.

Certainly this could be the banter of two who are just friends and have no unspoken attraction or romantic interest between them, but talk like this often manifests as flirtation as well. Kirk’s decidedly sultry smirks at Spock (the first of thousands that would proceed them in the next few decades of material) and his huskier tone of voice are interesting acting choices for Shatner to have made if he hadn’t intended to play Kirk as flirty in this scene.

As I will often disclaim, I’m not suggesting that the original intent was the same as the interpretation I’m asserting here. What I am saying is that the evidence for a layer of flirtation is there, be it intentional or not, and to not at least acknowledge it is to ignore the obvious.

Moving on!

Kirk has been attempting to stay alert for any news about a recently heard Earth distress signal (despite the -ahem- distractions). News of said distress signal finally comes in, interrupting this little verbal tango between our boys, and Kirk and Spock rush to the transporter room to find an old-style ship recorder. Spock asserts that due to the damage on the object it’s likely that something happened to the ship (in the vein of blowing up or whatever I guess). The recorder begins transmitting a signal as soon as Scotty starts feeding tapes into the computer and Kirk puts the ship on red alert.

Enter Gary Mitchell, barely missing the turbolift ride alongside our boys. It’s made obvious right away that Gary and Jim are close from the casual way they greet and chat about ship stuff even under red alert. Gary then turns his attentions to Spock and, weirdly, sort of sizes him up before asking in a more straightforward tone “So, you finished the game?”. Spock nods and moves forward to the doors preemptively while explaining, “[Kirk] played most illogically. His next move should’ve been the rook.” Behind Spock’s back, Kirk grins and makes a throat-cutting motion to Gary to subtly indicate Spock’s obvious loss.

When I first saw this episode, and each time I return to it after a prolonged absence, I always initially get a sort of antagonistic vibe between Spock and Gary. On my original watch I thought it was going to be some sort of bigotry thing on Gary’s behalf against Spock’s being a Vulcan (which does happen with a different character in a different episode) but that ends up not being the case here. We really have no reason to believe there’s anything antagonistic between them, at least nothing that’s addressed directly.

(note Kirk’s got another amused, if not sultry look for Spock here)

The likelihood is that Spock’s cold retreat to the turbolift doors is more attempt to escape mention of his chess defeat than anything else. Gary’s once over of him, however, and hard tone of voice might suggest something else. Could be an organic jealousy in the fact that they share a mutual, close friend and seem to be on equal levels of bonding with the same person, but don’t seem to have much in common with one another and occupy awkward spaces beside him, sort of privately elbowing one another for the same category in Jim Kirk’s life. But what is that category, exactly? Is it just one of platonic friendship or something else?

A common argument against Kirk/Spock is the assertion that Jim (specifically) is clearly a lover of women and has never taken a male lover in canon and so must be, therefore, purely heterosexual and uninterested in men. This is a bit of fallacy in an of itself because 1) of course we never saw Kirk take a male lover in any sort of obvious way, this was a show produced in the 60′s for godssake, 2) Kirk’s frequent and, presumably exclusive, taking of female lovers doesn’t necessarily exclude him from being able to find men attractive and enjoy romantic/physical relationships with them, 3) most of the time when Kirk would take a female lover it was to gain something for the purpose of a mission; only rarely was he actually indulging in sincere feeling or attraction.

All that said, there is an argument that Gary Mitchell might be the earliest precedent and indication that Kirk has taken at least one male lover before and, therefore, has a history of finding men physically and romantically attractive. Due to the attitudes of the time it’s purely speculation based on subtext and ambiguity, but one I’ll explore here as we learn more about Gary and Jim and their history together.

In any case, I will also add that sexuality is fluid and being attracted exclusively to one gender for most of one’s life doesn’t mean that one may never find themselves drawn to something different at some point. Even if Kirk had never taken a male lover, had never found men attractive in any way prior to Spock, it doesn’t mean that Spock couldn’t have been an exception. I would also assume at this point in earth’s social development that relationships of all kinds between consenting adults are accepted with much more open minds, that any bigotry that might keep someone from indulging in or owning up to a desire would no longer exist. Food for thought. Back to our regular programming.

The three men go to the bridge and take their respective places. Kirk orders neutral warp at the edge of the galaxy and puts out a ship-wide message that the disaster recorder came from the SS Valiant two hundred years ago, the hope being that more insight will eventually be granted to them as to what happened to said ship. Meanwhile, Spock continues to have no luck with the burnt out tapes.

The department heads arrive on the bridge as ordered and we meet Dr. Elizabeth Dehner, a psychiatrist that recently joined the crew. Sidenote: if the Enterprise was ever granted a psychiatrist to replace her after this episode (spoiler alert) they certainly aren’t part of the ‘department heads’ club as we never meet them- maybe due to the events of this episode, who knows, but I can at least hope the Enterprise continued to value the mental health of her crew members despite all that. I digress.

Spock announces that the recorder has finally begun to transmit something and Kirk steps up behind him at the science station because it’s absolutely 100% necessary to the mission. Completely. Because it’s not as if Kirk would probably have been able to hear him fine from his chair or anything.

(okay, this one is just me being a bit silly but STILL, really now, Jim)

Dr. Dehner expresses an interest in knowing how the crew of SS Valiant might have fared psychologically under the distress. Gary Mitchell expresses his respect of his female crewmen and women in senior positions of power by openly flirting with her in front of the crew and then, just as openly in front of the Captain, calling her a “walking freezer unit” when she doesn’t reciprocate. He even makes ‘ooo ice queen’ face at Kirk after she rebuffs him. Nowadays that would probably, hopefully, rightfully so be grounds for sexual harassment and something Kirk would’ve had a responsibility to shut down right then and there, but y’know. 60′s. Women in power are scary so we have to knock them down a peg.

Weird how Star Trek is meant to take place in a more open-minded, less bigoted, socially progressive time in our future, but is still sometimes a product of the generation it was produced in. I love it regardless, of course.

Anyway, Spock begins to relay the spotty transmitted information; apparently the Valiant encountered a magnetic storm and then, for reasons that are unclear, began frantically searching for information on ESP in humans. Kirk asks Dr. Dehner about this and she helpfully explains that some humans can indeed see future events, but that the ability is never very strong. Spock continues that one crewman seemed to have recovered and that was when the frantic search for ESP info began, followed by an apparent self-destruct order from the Captain. Unnerved by this, Kirk orders that they leave the galaxy at warp factor 1.

Unfortunately, a magnetic force field appears right about then and the two women on the bridge grab the hands of the men nearest to them because, obviously, right? 60′s. Gary and Dr. Dehner are struck by the magnetic surges while the rest of the bridges’ control panels get various levels of fucked up. Even still, the Enterprise makes it through the storm and Kirk orders Spock to collect damage reports (with a very necessary and much needed hand on his shoulder, naturally). He then checks on Dr. Dehner (who appears to be fine) and then Gary, whose head he lovingly cradles in his hands.

(This tender moment only goes on to show us that Gary has spooky tinfoil eyes now!!! Can’t even imagine how painful those archaic contacts must have been for the actor.)

Upon return from commercial break, Kirk informs the audience that the Enterprise’s main engines and warp drive have been fucked beyond use. He also has Spock checking out Gary and Dr. Dehner’s records for ESP ratings, only to see that they have some of the highest on the ship (these must be old records though because there’s no way those two are 23 and 21 years old, respectively, at the time of this episode- SORRY, BUT TRUE), concluding that this must be why they were shocked and lived to talk about it. Dr. Dehner returns with autopsy results on the deceased, informing that their brains were burned out with the electric shock. She also vehemently defends ESP ability against Kirk and Spock who are suspicious of whether or not ‘espers’ are dangerous.

Kirk then goes to check on Gary who’s been under medical observation and we’re granted a deeper insight into their friendship.

Gary somehow knows it’s Kirk before he sees him or allows him to say anything. He points out that Jim looks worried and Jim replies with a knowing smile, “I’ve been worried about you ever since that night on Deneb IV.” Gary laughs and looks down coquettishly. “Yeah, she was nova, that one.” The fact that we have no idea what they’re talking about and that this conversation barely makes any sense of is no real importance. We’re not supposed to understand. This is meant to feel like listening to two friends who’ve known each other so long and so well they’re almost speaking a shared, exclusive language about experiences and jokes only they understand. Gary talks some about his weird eyes and then he goes back to teasing Kirk. Apparently our strapping Captain was something of a bookworm nerd back in his academy days, who knew?? (His bookishness happens to be one of my favorite aspects of Kirk’s character and one that history so often forgets in favor of him being some kind of machoman womanizer- ugh) To this teasing Kirk responds with a blush that would rival that of a school girl with a crush on her teacher.

(tee hee OH GARY STOP IT)

Gary mentions how he “aimed that little blonde lab technician” at Kirk probably to distract him from being too tough in his student-teaching position, to which the latter responds with, “You what??!” “Yep. I outlined her whole campaign for her.” “I almost married her!” So, we know Kirk likes the intelligent types as much as he is one himself. Fascinating. (Sidenote: I personally headcanon that the “little blonde lab technician” was Ruth that Kirk ‘sees’ in Shore Leave, but that’s for another episode discussion) Gary warns Kirk to be good to him because he’s “getting even better ideas” now. He also has a forebodingly echo-y voice now to indicate to a wary Kirk that shit’s about to get real.

So, what’s the deal with Jim and Gary? Everything is played rather ambiguously between them, certainly in no small part to indicate to us, the audience, that they’re close and have been for years. To have them discuss blatantly spelled out exposition of their shared past would feel in-organic and I’m glad the Star Trek writers chose ambiguity for this reason. But this ambiguity, plus the sultry way Gary teases Kirk and the affectionate, bashful blushes and smiles he gets in return could easily indicate that their friendship may not be platonic (or perhaps it is now, but hasn’t always been- maybe there was some sexual exploration together at the academy and feelings due to this that Kirk never really shook). There’s subtext enough here to believe so, I think. I’ll leave it to the reader to decide whether or not Gary could qualify as one of the earliest indications that Jim may not be so immune to masculine charms as history would so direly like for us to believe.

Anyway, Kirk returns to the bridge to find Spock watching Gary’s superhuman reading speed that is ever increasing. Spock pointedly asks the rhetorical question, “Is that Gary Mitchell? The one you used to know?”. A rather...knowing question for a being that claims to not understand or experience emotions. Kirk orders a 24 hour watch on Sickbay and all the examinations and tests possible. Gary then looks over at the viewing screen, right at Kirk, as if to suggest he knows he’s being watched.

Back in Sickbay proper Dr. Dehner has arrived to...probably do an examination or something but she’s not coming off as 100% professional. Since she’s being a little bit more receptive now Gary reluctantly apologizes for having called her a “walking freezer unit” and she assures him that “women professionals do tend to overcompensate”. Once again, this has been obligatory misogyny thanks to the 60′s!!! This little song and dance continues between them as Gary changes the readings on his vitals panel and pretends to be dead (just to get Dr. Dehner close to him- smooth, buddy) and recites a love sonnet at random from memory (that was actually written by Roddenberry himself when he was an aviator- the more you know!).

It’s funny how het flirtation in this show is only different for being more blatant in dialogue and sometimes physicality. The acting choices, reactions, tone of voice, expressions, etc, are pretty much the same when the subtext suggests it’s two men flirting. Just saying.

Lt. Kelso comes in to check on Gary and Gary informs him exactly what’s wrong with the engine. Have you gathered yet that this guy has special powers now? Gee, I hope so, because it’s not as if the show has been making that abundantly clear.

The Department Heads once again meet in the...meeting room, I suppose, Lt. Kelso showing via a blown circuit that Gary was right somehow. Dr. Dehner is late because she’s apparently in love with Gary now to the point of throwing all sense of professionalism out the window; when Spock points out Gary is transforming into something unnatural, Dehner chides him for not showing more compassion despite those on his planet not having feelings like “we” do. Kirk naturally jumps to his defense and Dehner continues in her tirade, chiding Kirk also for not ‘caring more’ about his close friend. Kirk justifiably reminds her that he and Spock are just doing their damn jobs, lady, JESUS. Also what happened to the professional that wisely rebuffed Gary’s attempts to openly flirt with her in front of her colleagues back at the beginning of the episode? I’m more concerned about Dehner’s changing personality at this point, tbh.

It soon becomes clear that Dehner’s been withholding information about Gary’s abilities. Her defense for having done this is that maybe a superhuman man would be really great thing, guys, like a better kind of human being. There’s a long, awkward, uncomfortable pause while everyone in the room gawps at the fucked up eugenics bullshit she just spouted out and it’s kind of a glorious moment, honestly. Instead, offers Spock, Gary’s power will likely grow beyond their ability to thwart him and they will become a nuisance to him and who knows what kind of shit will go down then. Kirk dismisses his Department Heads with the instructions not to tell any of the crew about this.

Kirk solemnly wanders off to the side, lost in thought and no doubt conflicted about possibly having to watch someone he, well, loves (in what way is up to you) change into a monster. Spock, who can’t seem to go a minute of screentime without himself or some other character reminding us that he supposedly can’t feel or doesn’t understand earth emotions or whatever, stops dead in his tracks and slowly turns around to his Captain. Something has compelled him to stay back and continue talking to Kirk and it certainly wasn’t an order.

(the emotionless, stoic Vulcan who can supposedly feel nothing ever looks on concerned for his friend and captain. Does anyone in the crew really buy that no emotions story or-...?)

Spock basically restates what Kirk likely already knows (that Gary is dangerous, duh) and we also hear the first very important, vulnerable use of the name “Jim” instead of Captain. They’re alone, after all, and despite all protestations Spock knows how this affects his friend and cares about that. Deeply, perhaps. Even still, Spock isn’t one for soothing platitudes. He elects instead to remind Kirk of the facts of the situation and when he’s defensively asked to provide suggestions and not just state the obvious, Spock says they can basically maroon Gary on the planet they need the lithium crystals from or they can kill him. No pressure, Jim.

Kirk is upset by all of this so he tells Spock to “get out of here” and Spock insists that those are the choices, whether he likes it or not. “Would you try for one moment to feel?” Kirk rallies back, though he seems more sad than angry. “At least act like you’ve got a heart...we’re talking about Gary...” Spock says that the Captain of the Valiant probably felt the same way- and look at where the waiting got him! Spock also says he thinks he and Kirk probably came to the same conclusion. From the look on Kirk’s face we can assume Spock is right about that.

It’s interesting in this scene that the one thing we already know Kirk finds endearing about Spock -his defensive need for logic in any situation- is the one thing that irritates him enough here to throw back in Spock’s face when he presents the cold hard facts about their situation. However, we as the audience should know by now that the fact Spock was affected and moved enough by Kirk’s mood to stay back and talk to him in private indicates that he does care a great deal. What’s more, that logical perspective, rather than some simpering “poor you” sympathy speech, is exactly what Kirk needed to get his head back in the game and do what needed to be done.

This is the part where I’d go so far as to say Spock has been a better friend (boyfriend, in time) to Kirk than Gary probably ever was. Granted, most of what we’ve seen of Gary thus far has been under the influence of the evil tinfoil eyes, but we do know that Gary was one for toying with Kirk’s emotions to get him to behave a certain way (the “little blonde lab technician”). Gary is even more charismatic than Kirk and one gets the impression he knew what to say to get what he wanted long before the powers. Perhaps Gary was good at telling Kirk what he wanted to hear. Spock tells Kirk what he needs to hear and cares enough about him to bother.

In any case, the decision is made; Kirk will attempt to maroon Gary on the uninhabited lithium mining planet. He, Spock and Dr. Dehner return to Sickbay to retrieve him and Gary has become as cocky as he is powerful. He can read thoughts now so when Kirk asks him what he’d do in this position, Gary says, “Probably just what Spock is thinking now. Kill me, while you still can.” He smiles knowingly as Kirk goes and gives Spock a reproachful, sort of scolding head shake, but no sooner does Kirk come back that Gary strikes him with some kind of electric shock. Was this manipulative little smile just a result of evil tin foil eyes or was this some of a rivalry with Spock resurfacing? Hard to say for sure, as we don’t know much about Gary Mitchell prior to the evil powers.

Once Kirk is struck, Spock, the emotionless Vulcan who we can only assume has no impulse to act on, jumps quickly into action with his phaser because like hell you’re going to strike the Captain and get away with it. He too is struck.

(omg so emotionless, you guys)

Gary goes on some more about how powerful he is and how he needs the right world for his ends when Spock and Kirk somehow take him by surprise and restrain him to the bed (despite the fact that he’s supposed to have super perception and strength, but the plot needs to move after all). They also manage to somehow get him to stand up straight for the transporter despite being unconscious but, again, whatever.

Everyone beams down and Gary is put in a cell while attempts are made to salvage parts for the engines. Gary attempts some carefully worded manipulation on Kirk, recalling the time he intercepted some poison darts aimed at Kirk and nearly died from it, so why should he fear him now? Kirk calls Gary out on his true intentions and the ego that’s grown along with his powers betrays him when he attempts to launch out beyond the electric barrier. The shock drains his power and for a moment he returns to normal.

As Gary’s eyes return to their familiar brown, he says in a very small, soft, almost frightened voice, “Jim...” and we’re granted a much more vulnerable insight into the depth of his feelings for his friend. Perhaps there was some amount of manipulation to their relationship all along, exacerbated now by the god-like powers, but in this very brief moment we’re allowed to believe that perhaps Gary really did care for Jim in a sincere way as Jim so obviously cares for him. Masterful acting, that.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t last. When Gary’s eyes change back he hisses, “I’ll only get stronger. You know that, don’t you?”. Later, Scotty informs Kirk that the salvaged switchboard fits the Enterprise’s bridge and asks if Spock received the phaser rifle he ordered down. Kirk is confused for a moment until Spock shows up with the aforementioned rifle and he’s angered by this. He stomps over to a corner, followed by Spock who explains his reasoning in that Gary keeps getting closer to escaping the force field.

“Dr. Dehner thinks he isn’t that dangerous, what makes you right and a trained psychiatrist wrong?” Kirk argues.

“Because she feels, I don’t. All I know is logic. In my opinion we’d be lucky if we could repair this ship and get away in time.”

Kirk checks on the now completed self-destruct button that Lt. Kelso has rigged up. He shares a long look with Spock before reluctantly ordering the lieutenant to press the button if Mitchell escapes and there’s no other alternative.

This conversation between them is interesting because they’re essentially both avoiding the truths of their respective situations. Kirk sounds not unlike Dr. Dehner did when she was arguing for Gary’s innocence; desperate, emotional, smart enough to know better but compromised enough to convince herself differently. Of course, her arguments were fueled by romantic affection and Kirk’s could easily just be that of a strong platonic bond but...the fact that there’s a parallel between them is interesting.

Meanwhile, the audience should be well aware by now that Spock is quite capable of feeling and acts on those feelings and impulses more than he’d like to admit. I think on some level he and Kirk both know this, so arguing that he “doesn’t feel” wouldn’t really be a convincing argument in this case for someone who knows him so well, if it was meant literally. I think what is really being said here is that Spock isn’t so deeply emotionally compromised by Gary, whereas Kirk and Dr. Dehner are (but not both romantically? Hard to believe). Spock can see and own the difficult truth of the situation where Kirk cannot, or, rather, will not.

Unfortunately this plan doesn’t work out because Gary becomes wise and takes control of some wires to strangle and kill Lt. Kelso. Back at the cell Dr. Dehner continues to argue that he isn’t dangerous and Gary 100% backs her up on this by electrocuting and knocking out Kirk, and then Spock (who of course tries to shoot him with the phaser rifle after he dares to harm the captain). Dr. Dehner finally joins Gary and reveals that she, too, now has tinfoil eyes. SPOOKY.

Later, the not-McCoy doctor comes to tend to the unconscious Kirk and Spock. Kirk wakes first but asks that the doctor not revive Spock until after he’s left to go after Gary- further evidence to the fact that Kirk is well aware Spock feels and acts on something other than logic, particularly where his Captain’s well-being is concerned; either Spock would try to stop him or come with him for protection, but either way Kirk isn’t risking it.

Elsewhere on the planet Dehner and Gary are meandering around exchanging awkward dialogue, making the artificial plant section of Hobby Lobby appear around them and eating fruit and drinking water because apparently despite having god-like powers they still need the essentials to survive. Kirk does a poor job of hunting them from the shadows; they don’t need god-like extra perception to hear Kirk stumbling around, knocking over rocks and otherwise letting the whole planet know of what he’s doing. Gary tells Dehner to go talk to him so she can see “just how unimportant they are”.

The conversation that ensues is the kind that really elevates and defines Star Trek where it is in the pop culture subconscious, one that makes it more than just space people in space doing space things, a layer of complexity that I think has been lost in the translation to the frankly horrific ‘rebooted’ series (my opinion, your mileage may vary). Dehner insists that what Gary is doing is right for her and him and other powerful Espers like them, they are where it will take humanity eons to reach in evolution, but Kirk insists this isn’t true. Though Gary may have ‘god-like’ powers, he still has his inner human frailties and demons that his growing ego won’t resist. A true God needs compassion and wisdom to temper those powers. He begs Dehner to think about this like a psychiatrist would- logically, perhaps? Indeed, Kirk is pulling from that logical need Spock has aptly reminded him of.

Gary finds them again and physically forces Kirk to ‘pray’ to him while assuring him of his inevitable death. Kirk challenges Dehner in asking her if she likes what she’s seeing, “corrupt power corrupting absolutely”. She decidedly does not and finally strikes Gary with her own powers to stop him. He strikes back and weakens her significantly, but she’s done the same to him and this gives Kirk and opportunity to show off his infamous fighting skills, get his shirt ripped open, and straddle his probable former lover in the sand. Not the first time he’ll have borderline erotic fight like this with another man. In the end, he manages to trap and I guess kill Gary in the burial plot made for him. A strategically placed boulder is all that’s needed to stop god-like powers, I’ll have to jot that one down.

(there’s no good reason for this picture other than Shatner was a really hot piece of ass back then and I like to appreciate that from time to time)

The fight has weakened Dehner too much and she dies too, as I clumsily alluded to happening earlier in this write up.

Kirk returns to the ship and adds Dehner and Gary to the list of official losses and ends their service records with the honorable notation that they gave their lives in performance of their duties. Spock, looking concerned, seems to sense the difficulty in this for Kirk and comes to stand silently beside him- a subtle gesture of support and condolence, and it would seem sufficient at that, but then he goes on to assure Kirk that, “I felt for him too” where concerned Gary’s helplessness to the power.

Kirk seems a little stunned at the confession, but the smirk that follows says that he isn’t surprised and is furthermore pleased that Spock would openly admit what he already knows so well. “I believe there is some hope for you yet, Mr. Spock,” he subtly teases with a private grin and knowing look. Spock smiles too, but not until he’s looking forward where no one can really see, not even his Captain.

Certainly there’s a message in this episode about how absolute power needs morality and compassion in equal measure, but there’s also an interesting disparity between Kirk’s two closest ‘friends’. Even before the god-like powers, Gary is very charismatic and knows exactly what to say to make Kirk grin and blush and giggle, whereas Spock is very honest, straightforward, and no nonsense. Gary seems as if he was always emotionally an open book, whereas Spock for many reasons comes across as emotionally unavailable (even if that isn’t really true).

Assuming that there was perhaps a romantic, sexual history with Gary and Jim, it would be a natural assumption that Gary allowed Kirk ‘close’ to him pretty early on, though I think the genuineness of that relationship is difficult to really call for sure. Certainly there was a strong bond between them that I don’t doubt the honesty of, but I get the distinct impression that Gary probably did a lot in the way of bait and switch, reeling Kirk in and then pushing him back out when it suited him, manipulating him from time to time.

Spock, meanwhile, is the exact opposite. Not very charismatic, tells Jim what he needs to hear rather than what he wants to, insists despite the bond growing between them and the feelings and impulses that he acts on that he can’t feel. Or rather, won’t admit that he does. Perhaps this has created something of a frustrating barrier for Jim, always feeling as if he’s distant from Spock where Gary would let him in so readily.

However by the end, it becomes clear that despite his insistence to the contrary, Spock is the more devoted, the more caring, the more dependable ‘friend’, and maybe Kirk has decided he is more than willing to go the extra mile, however long it takes, to help Spock coax down those walls if he so wishes to further their bond...in whatever form that may take.

Thanks for joining me on this long ass study of Where No Man Has Gone Before. I’d love to hear everyone’s thoughts and feelings on the episode, what I’ve made of it, things I may have missed, etc. HMU!

Join me next time for a similarly long write-up and subtext evaluation of The Corbomite Manuever.

#star trek tos #spirk #space husbands #captain kirk #spock #subtext study #slash #come hop aboard the uss kirk is pansexual headcanon ship #season one #episode one #where no man has gone before

270 notes · View notes

maskedpeach · 7 years

Text

RPG Maker Fever Hanged by Four Dwarfs

Warning:This article may contain spoilers and the content inappropriate for children…or may not contain.But get the children away from the screen just in case.

It was the rainy day just like this one. I was in my room watching porn the stars, when I’ve noticed the body hanging in the opposite window. Neighbor hung himself. While examining the scene I’ve found his laptop with unfinished article. I’ve got the laptop and went home. Later I got arrested for break-in, but before that I managed to post this article on tumblr. Enjoy!

1. Blight Dream

Blight Dream is an exploration adventure game, where you play as a girl, suffering from memory disorder ( don’t confuse with amnesia ), whose goal is to regain memories from the blank period of her life. But there’s one little problem-it seems that your brother isn’t really excited about you getting back your memories, that’s why he’s watching your every step and prevents all your attempts to remember. So, watch his movements and try not to get caught by him. But is it really your brother, who you should be afraid of? Play and see for yourself. Beside interesting plot, this game has high-quality visuals ( character’s 3D-models are similar to ones in remake of FF3 and CP:Blood Drive ) and wisely chosen soundtrack.

2. 1BeatHeart

Here goes a sequel-spinoff to 1bitHeart, without friend-making and QTE-scenes though. This time the main character is Misane-chan, who, along with Nanashi, is solving various murder cases in resort hotel. Gameplay is very similar to Ace Attorney games, logic is pretty simple, so, as long as you’ve played any detective games-you’ll be fine even without hints. Like it’s predecessor, 1BeatHeart has wonderful presentation – beautiful art and sprites along with catchy soundtrack and quality voice acting.

3.The Hanged Man

The Strange Men Series is probably one of most known game series in rpg-horror community, and, no doubt, one of the most interesting. Here goes the last game in the series, which concludes the main plotline, and makes clear some things, that were hanging in the air since the Crooked Man. The Hanged Man introduces us new protagonist – Will, a bit unstable, but still nice boy with active imagination, who’s searching for his missing friend. Along the way he’ll meet many of our old acquaintances from previous games. Once again, game has fully voiced cutscenes, with quality voice acting for an indie-game. Gameplay, though, is more simple compared to predecessors, most of the game you’ll be exploring various locations and solving puzzles, there’s no action cut-ins, except for quite complicated final chase. Overall, the Hanged Man is an interesting game and very decent conclusion of the whole series.

4.Farethere City

Here goes the game, made by Segawa, the author of our favorite End Roll. Farethere City was her first game, and it’s bit more simple in terms of gameplay ( for example, there’s no rpg-elements and game’s world isn’t that big ). But when it comes to story, City is as good as ER, both sad and moving,-game starts with little kelp (Mr.Turnip?) named Pigula, who has recently moved to a new city and wishes to open a shop, but something is definitely off with both city and our hero. Visual part is as bright as one in the End Roll (including a bit of stylish disturbing artwork).So, if you liked End Roll and still want more, I highly suggest playing Farethere City.

5.June Bride Nightmare

What a beautiful wedding…and how quickly it turned into a nightmare. Our protagonist, Yuno, was so close to finding her happiness with the man she loves, but ended up being the only surviving person on her own wedding, and now she’s forced to play hide and seek with the mysterious maniac in the church, where wedding was held. Every time the maniac appears, you have a choice to sneak past him or to run for it by performing a QTE. Game has an interesting story, good gameplay and wonderful presentation. Even if you are far from romance ( like myself, heh ), Bride still leaves the strong impression, especially the bittersweet true ending ( there’s also secret ending, but it isn’t that good, really ).

6.Little Red Riding Hood’s Wolf

Who doesn’t know the tale about Red Riding Hood? Famous tale indeed, and has many various interpretations, in most of them the girl gets eaten by wolf one way or another. But not this time. In this game granny is dead from the very beginning, little Red Riding Hood and the wolf are working together in order to find the murderer. Story is interesting and have some nice plot-twists (personally, I liked how the theme of split personality played in here ) and characters are nice. When it comes to gameplay, LRRHW plays like any other rpg-horror, so if you aren’t new to genre, you’ll easily beat this game in a hour or so. It’ll be quite pleasant hour.

7.Stray Cat Crossing

If you constantly play rpg-horrors and still haven’t got tired from amnesiac characters, I highly recommend you to play Stray Cat Crossing. First thing, that catches the eye is very detailed sprites and pixel artwork. Other one is dark atmosphere of haunted house with stylish designs and some grotesque well-animated cutscenes. Gameplay is mostly consists from searching the right items and solving simple riddles, but there’s also one frustrating chasing scene at the end of the first section of the house. Story may lack originality, but still good and teaches us to forgive, this time not others, but yourself, since sometimes there’s things that are beyond our control. And despite ending being optimistic, closing credits are a bit creepy.

8.Three Ghostly Roses

You find yourself in the strange place, greeted by mysterious man in the blue cape, you don’t remember anything about yourself, except for the name. Edmund Brigham. Doesn’t ring a bell? Nope, it doesn’t. To find out about your past and your purpose, you’ll need to carefully explore every corner of the dark and unwelcome world, before it’ll start to fall apart. TGR looks very similar to NES games and has wonderful original soundtrack, which perfectly fits to dark atmosphere of the haunted world. Also game has pretty unique battle system, where you watch the enemy’s movements and try to exploit it’s weakness. And, there’s no healing items, you recover HP by defeating the enemies, but despite that, difficulty level is quite fair.

9.Dreamfarer

Good sleep is important, isn’t it? It definitely is, but not for the people in Dreamfarer, who don’t need to sleep at all. In the society, described in the game, sleep is considered something out of ordinary, since no one’ve slept and seen a dreams for a long time. Yet, little girl, who has an ability to travel between other’s dreams, accidentally gets into a dream of a man, who is currently in comatose state in the hospital. To get back to reality, you’ll need to swap between girl and the man, since both of them see the same things from different perspectives, and help the inhabitants of the dream world. Dreamfarer is one of those games, which start as cute adventure and get darker and darker towards the end. This game has amazing fully redrawn graphics and stunning artwork (there’s literally tons of CGs ).

10.Shirakami-sama to Yon-no-Oni

Our next game is perfect if you are tired from jumpscares, suggestive content and brain(or heart)-breaking stories. Shirakami is very heartwarming game about friendship between boy and four demons, who help him in search of his cousin, who went missing while preparing to upcoming festival. Game has warm atmosphere of small village, strong with it’s traditions, beautiful illustrations and interesting gameplay, based on main character’s perception. There’s 3 endings in total, to see all of them you’ll need to beat the game 3 times (it’ll take from 3 to 5 hours in total ) and every time story goes the different way. Currently, game ia available only in russian and japanese.

11.From The Next Door

When you see something extremely cheap-it’s always suspicious. In case of food it might be rotten ( not always though ), in case of newly acquired house-get ready to deal with abomination living next door ( and no, I don’t mean neighbors ). Usually, when you notice paranormal activity in your house-you try to get away from it as far as you can, but in case of our heroine Namie ( who is as “smart” as Ayumi Shinozaki in CP: Blood Drive )- you’ll wait until things will get reeeeally ugly. Despite main heroine’s stupidity ( or thanks to it ), the game came out really creepy and interesting. Additionally I would like to praise game’s stylish visuals reminiscent of GBC-games and good work with setting the right atmosphere. And, once again, if you’re not the sensitive type-I suggest you playing in complete darkness with headphones on.

12.Hansel

Despite the game’s title, you will meet neither Hansel nor Gretel, instead you are playing as twin brothers, one of them is timid and another is sharp-mouthed (oh well, they’re both little rascals, no matter how you look at it). Hansel is nice adventure game with variety of references to famous old fairy tales, good humor, adorable visuals and quite unexpected ending ( two endings, to be exact, since another one is unlocked after beating the game for the second time). Game is relatively short ( 30-40 minutes ) and puzzles can be easily solved without a guide.

13.Lavender

Lavender presents another look on the Rapunzel’s story, in which there’s no prince and evil witch isn’t that evil. Your goal in this game is to descend the tower to retrieve your birthday present, solving various unique puzzles ( from feeding plants to playing chess ) on your way down. Lavender has quality pixel graphics and overall good presentation, which helps to create the feeling that you’re traveling through old storybook. Personally, I really liked the game’s normal ending, but there’s also a secret one for those, who like, when plot starts to turn grim and bloody.

14.Dudley and The Mysterious Tower

There goes a new title, developed by Sen, but don’t expect second Mad Father or Misao. Dudley is far more simple in terms of both plot and presentation. But it doesn’t mean that the game has nothing to offer. You play as a courier, who has an important delivery to tower’s owner, and his dog. Each floor of the tower is designed as a puzzle, in order to solve which you’ll need to switch between courier and the dog, who can do things courier can’t ( like seeing ghosts and talking to other animals).To climb the tower and see the contents of so-called “delivery” you’ll need about 40 minutes, so if you have some free time-be my guest.

15.Apocalypse Never

And once again our closing title belongs to “escape” genre, where you need to leave locked apartments by all means necessary. This time you play as carefree guy, whose drunken older sister has changed all locks in the house. Game is about 30 minutes long and has several endings, which depend on how fast you’ll manage to escape the house and meet up with a friend ( don’t forget to bring “that” with you ).Also game has good humor (some jokes are just hilarious) and nice art style.

#rpg maker #rpg horror #Wolf RPG Editor #apocalypse never #1beatheart #blight dream #stray cat crossing #the hanged man #farethere city #little red riding hood's wolf #dreamfarer #june bride nightmare #three ghostly roses #from the next door #lavender #hansel (game)#dudley and the mysterious tower #シラカミサマ #games

1K notes · View notes

skeksissquid · 4 years

Text

Progress Blog: Year 2 Week 1 -8-26-2020

Well, It’s been a while since I last posted here. The school year has just started as of the 23rd, and it’s been mainly getting back to work since that means new projects being pitched as well as new models to be made! Starting with Monday, that was mainly taking time to get acclimated with getting back into the swing of things, and started to think about what games I wanted to pitch, and who I will most likely be working alongside this year. On top of this, I spent the majority of the meeting trying to learn how to use references in Blender for creating low poly character models in said program. As for Tuesday, I spent majority of that day trying to come up with game ideas to pitch, and came to two conclusions: A CCG (collectible card game), and a fantasy adventure game. The main concept that I wanted to have wit the ccg was that it be a mix of chess and and the Pokemon card game. This would be done by having a 60 card deck, as well as a sort of “king piece” on a board similar to that of chess, as well as the opponent’s “king piece” on the opposite side. The goal of the game is to deal enough damage to the opponent’s king piece with creatures that you can summon and move around the board, while using different cards to shake up game play. As for the adventure game, that would be a game about trying to get to a mountain from a starting point while trying to stay warm from a fire that they have ad is slowly burning out. In order to survive, the players must try to go around and find pieces of driftwood or sticks to use in order to help bolster their fire. In order to create opposition and challenge though, there would be creatures that either hate the light or are trying to take it (moth themed creatures?) and so the players would have to try to avoid them, either by skulking around or having a dodge-based game. As for today, I spent it listening to Mr. Compton in a meeting whilst learning about things like portfolios and when to get those finished, all while modeling a sort of creature from a reference image in Blender and is low poly. Going back to portfolios, I’m fairly certain my parents are adamant on me going to a community college for the sake of a lower tuition and instate costs, so I might not be able to apply to a good art college yet, but I still want to be able to try to have something presentable to try and hone myself for working under pressure and strict deadlines. With that being said, I want to be able to work more on pieces that I will be proud of and demonstrate the skills that I have in order to hopefully be able to get into an internship if I can. If at all possible, I think the Deck Nine would be the best option given how prevalent the company is on top of it potentially helping me with future opportunities. The next best option that I can think of would be Serenity Forge, but the positions that they are looking more is leaning more towards knowledge on Maya as well as working on things like foliage, but it definitely be would be good to learn, even if I don’t know how to use Unity.

What I accomplished this week:

Monday: Getting acclimated with the new people in my cohort, doing a bit of Blender modelling

Tuesday: Design work for the ccg and adventure game

Wednesday: Going over portfolio work, Blender work

The model that I created on Wednesday

Image used as reference (A sort of parody of a Golbat)

What I hope to accomplish next week:

- Start working on more complex models

- Get more models portfolio

- Try to find a project that I want to work on. (The people are pitching a horror game, and I don’t think it’ll be helpful for me, nor do I want to work on another horror game again, unless it’s something really special)

Problems that I might run into:

- The groups might not use 3D

- I might not get zBrush by that time to work on better models

- I might get distracted with other classes

0 notes

spiritionary · 7 years

Text

Board Game Spirits

Entity: The spirit of a board game

Species: Potentially some variety of thoughtform or pop culture spirit

Personality: Dependent on the board game itself and the spirit

My Experiences & Reflections

Since I’ve been in New Zealand visiting my cousins, I’ve been playing a surprising number of board games. My older cousin and his girlfriend are both very into them, and it’s been really fun getting a quick introduction into the world of elaborate and strategically diverse board games beyond classics like chess or simple ones like Sorry or checkers. These board games have complex storylines and themes, tons of figurines and components, and take up to several hours or even a whole day to finish playing. To me, they almost feel more like a video game in 3D cardboard parts than just a board game. With all the characters, backstory, and strategic elements it feels like you’ve entered miniature worlds that fit on a table top.

At first playing some of these games, it didn’t even occur to me that they might have their own spirits - whether as an inherent quality of the game à la animism, a spirit possessing or living within the game, or a thoughtform attached to the game developed out of repeated interaction with the object. Usually one doesn’t associate games with spirits, but really there is a long history of games becoming spirit communication devices or even regarded as having their own spirits in one way or another. Hear me out! Ouija boards began as a game and are still sold as games, but are highly regarded as tools for communicating with spirits. Tarot and Lenormand decks began as playing card games and then became divination tools believed to have their own spirits (I firmly believe my tarot deck has its own spirit) and/or that they can be used to communicate with other spirits.

Upon deeper reflection, I should have realized that of course a complex board game played again and again might develop or already have its own spirit. Looking back I realize that the funny and rather tingly or exciting feeling I felt while playing these games with my cousins were alongside the feeling of a sort of presence within them that I could feel in the back of my psyche. Yet, I still didn’t consciously notice and then think on all this until the Robinson Crusoe game tipped its metaphorical hat in my direction.

This game involves multiple decks of cards which are rigorously shuffled at the beginning (and sometimes reshuffled during the game). There is a continuous theme kept throughout via different scenarios which represents the overall goal you’re trying to meet and impacts certain elements of how you play the game for that scenario. But aside from that, event cards from different decks come at random - they don’t have to relate to one another. At one point we pulled cards from two different decks that tied together perfectly, and at that moment the same feeling hit me as when I talk to my tarot deck during readings. That’s when I felt the game’s spirit, as if it was there the whole time but hadn’t fully surfaced in a more obvious way until right at that moment.

I’m at least now convinced that particular copy of the board game that my cousin owns has its own spirit, and that perhaps all games do too or are at least open conduits for spirits to interact with potentially much like divination decks and Ouija boards are. If you have your own experiences with spirits and board games, feel free to reblog and comment!

~ Mod Fire

---> Have questions? Send them to us at SpiritFAQ!

#popculture #social #neutral #domestic #urban #popculturespirit #boardgame #boardgamespirit #newzealand #modfire #thoughtform #thoughtforms

31 notes · View notes

michaelina520imvu-blog · 5 years

Text

How to get easy credits on imvu check today

Acquire IMVU Credits,Affordable IMVU Credits Now On Sale At Mmocs.com!

A new partnership with the virtual social community IMVU provides you access to their 100 million+ registered users by enabling them to play your games with their own personalized 3D avatars. An additional way to have credits is to be a creator in IMVU. This is by far the hardest issue to do. You are better off working for minimum wage. If, you would be able to basically discover a job. Becoming an IMVU creator is time consuming and you can't use the expertise you find out any other spot. Nonetheless, IMVU is a virtual world. In virtual planet points are distinct compared to genuine life. In true life you can't cheat for dollars. In IMVU you can effortlessly cheat for credits. The IMVU credit generator 2018Â is what you require to achieve free of charge credits in IMVU. It is much easier and virtually as satisfying as having free of charge money in actual life. In just a matter of minutes you can conveniently get your hands on the IMVU credits hack and have limitless IMVUÂ credits.

If you are searching for a trustworthy and trustworthy hacking tool for IMVU, then you have reached the ideal spot! Our IMVU Hack will increase your practical experience entirely as it will allow you to generate innumerable currencies. Credits and Predits are the two main currencies that you will require for getting various things as nicely as gifts from the Virtual Goods Catalogue.

The obtainable credits of IMVU are not that a great deal that it lasts for a longer period of time. So, one particular technique of filling up the pockets of the customers in the game is by purchasing a precise amount of imvu credits by paying a great amount of real money. As this game specifically targets the children, and teens who only get a compact amount of money as their pocket funds, it is not feasible for them to obtain these credits by paying real funds. Thus, the die-difficult fans of the game will not be in a position to enjoy the game fully. imvu credits generator hacking tools aid in solving this difficulty simply, and the faithful fans of the game can delight in all the perks of IMVU features free of price.

Thinking of there are a lot IMVU hacks on the net, you can hardly know which one is applicable. You have to spend consideration to the supply, viruses and other difficulties you may perhaps encounter along the way. So, ahead of you commence this journey, make certain to have the appropriate hack which will aid you unlock all the levels and present you unlimited recourses.

IMVU, Inc. is an on-line internet site and metaverse which produced in 2004. That is an on-line social activity location where the users meet new folks, chat, play activities with buddies and so on which requires location majorly treated with 3D avatars. IMVU has a currency strategy that will is based on IMVU credits and promo credits. A further document of credits and exists for the consumers that remain developer expressions to are generated when the user uses promo honor of IMVU. Majorly these credits are obtained from the participants to purchase personal items like chess, hair, skin, pets, in, clubs, landscaping, and partners and so on.

Other than using hack tool you can also able to gather up the credits in the distinct methods. As like you can capable to earn revenue in the every day spin and this is regarded as the simple way that can capable to assistance you. Roughly you can capable to get 15 to 20 credits which you can generate up in the onetime modes. It acts as a single of the most essential system that is applied for collecting up all your fortunate factors.

Our hacks and cheat codes can operate from any portion of the globe. So what this can do far more for you beside this single function. Play Strategically: In Imvu game, you will come across difficult stages as soon as you attain Level 8. How can they support you? Plenty of Credits and Predits will assure that you develop wonderful badges, get well-liked on the internet site, and have an enjoyable encounter. Proper, totally free of charge of charge! If you have any queries with regards to this method of receiving no cost credits to your account, you can often. Like this page on Facebook You must be logged in Facebook to see the like button 2.

youtube

How To Get (A) Magnificent IMVU CREDITS On A Tight Budget

At present, everybody have a particular interest and craze in playing the games. Among them the IMVU is one particular of the common games and when you start out playing, you can travel to the great globe. You can start out playing the game exactly where ever you require to produce up your account and do register for playing the game. At the time of playing you have to have to buy some resources for your game play. This was definitely a common problem that would be faced by the person who ever chooses this game to play for time pass. In that location the Imvu credits hack acts as like a stepping stone for reaching your results.

Aside from other aspects IMVU is a globe of fashion. If you have an inclination towards design and style IMVU is the greater location to start out. If you would want to discover this good quality in genuine life you are going to need lots of income. Nevertheless, with the IMVU credits hack you can effortlessly boost your notion upon preparing and style. If you are prosperous in IMVU making eye-catching garments, you have a greater possibility of becoming actually a very good developer in correct to life. But for this you require to be able to buy clothing with out fretting about the spendings. That's exactly where the totally free IMVU credits aid you enhance your style and conception upon fashion. Most importantly, IMVU is a big community with players all about the globe. If your passion if style, it is the best location you can acquire genuine feedback relating to your style and capabilities.

This is a common tactic with Survey's, a long lore-sink, modal that only rewards when you've generated them adequate information to be worth far additional dollars than what you are generating back from the credits inside the game, at this point you have likely provided your personal details to a hundred thousand businesses, and can anticipate to get calls from random numbers who generally never even speak, those darn telemarketers! Alternatively, you can watch videos. I've tested for the sake of this report how typically these presents really create credits, and it appears that the videos are the most reasonable for your time investment.

Genuine credits are generally only obtained through completing gives, and acquiring the coins by means of imvu's direct money shop, provided you have a friend who has an excess quantity of coins readily available on their account, they are also in a position to send you these coins through something referred to as "Gift a Buddy" a tool that applies to each element of imvu's money shop, this is the capability for your buddies to give you an early birthday present, Christmas present, or just show you their appreciation for becoming awesome.

In this post, we are going to helpyou earn credit speedily and conveniently even though playing IMVU game on your Android, iOS or possibly your web browser. These are someof the tricks that in all probability quite handful of persons may possibly know. If you are fortunate tolearn them at early stages of the game,it will be terrific for you to get maximum return from them.

It can help in to save a good quantity with ease. By using such solutions, you can acquire a very good quantity of resources with ease. Properly, there is no want of worrying about a single issue. You can get as several credits as you want for no cost by often making use of it. Opening an account makes it possible for you to do all types of issues you can chat with other people, play games, and even create apps. It is easier and almost as satisfying as getting no cost dollars in true life.

These credits can be purchased online employing actual currency from IMVU These IMVU credits can be transferred back to IMVU to actual currency for developer's accounts only. Similarly, promo credits are made use of to buy present items for other people. With the passing time, this striking, and spectacular cosmos of the IMVU kept on accumulating different exclusive characteristics in the game for its customers. Therefore, stimulating and engaging a massive number of players from quite a few regions around the planet. It has provided an massive platform to the customers to creatively discover, play and interact with other people today all more than the planet.

The game planet of IMVU is readily available on different platforms on the world wide web and can be simply downloaded and used on various devices free of charge of charge. But unlike the game, the currency http://steffie594credits.withtank.com/imvu-how-long-does-it-take-for-someone-to-send-credits-to-my-account-imvu-check-out-today/ of the game that is necessary to play additional at higher levels in the game are not offered no cost of cost and it has to be bought with the assistance of funds.

0 notes

starfleetorbust · 7 years

Text

3D chess

Also @blueoftheenterprise ‘s fault. Send all complaints to them. I AM INNOCENT HERE! I was tricked into posting it D:

1163 words

------------------------------------------------------

You’d seen him in one of the recreational rooms, staring intently at the tridimensional board. He was clearly playing the computer and you’d sat beside him to watch in curiosity. Spock hadn’t even blinked as you approached, moving a piece across his board before he typed in the move to the computer.

“Would you teach me,” you finally had the courage to ask. He’d look at you like he was just noticing you.

He glanced at the board and then back to you. “Chess?” “3D chess,” you clarified. You knew all the basics of the two dimensional chess, but you’d never learned the more complicated game that you’d seen students playing at the Academy. ”Maybe when you’re done?” Spock glanced over the board. “This game will commence in precisely 15 moves, wherein it will end in a draw. Computer, cease program.” Then turning to you he set the pieces up in a way that varied from the regular chess you were used to. “Allow me to assist you. We will begin with the basics.”

---

“You are still thinking two dimensionally,” he pointed out, moving his bishop across three levels in one sweep and taking your knight. You held back a groan and glanced down at the pieces in defeat. A week of trying games after shift had seemed to have been fruitless. “You are greatly improving,” he noted, but you still felt as lost as when you’d started. Seemed every time you started to learned something, Spock found a way to counter it without a thought. You studied the board for a long time before moving your queen out of the way of danger. Spock slid his rook across the board.

“I believe that is checkmate, lieutenant.”

---

It became a regular routine between you, meeting on the rec-deck to practice. It was usually only a game or two a day. After a few weeks of being terribly beaten, you’d finally taken on yourself to start looking up some help from the computer. There were a ton of strategies, and names of moves that you’d never even heard of before, but you’d tried a few against the computer until you were sure you could use them reasonably.

When you first started a game with a legitimate opening, Spock had simply raised an eyebrow and countered the move easily. It was like a dance as you both followed the opening, you cornering his pieces to move as you wanted them he until broke the chain with an unexpected move.

You’d moved your next piece with a lot less confidence.

---

“Why do you play with me?” you’d asked one day after losing horribly to him once again.

“I do not fully understand your inquiry,” he said.

“I mean, you taught me the game at this point, but I can’t be much of a challenge to you,” you pointed out.

“The alternative being the computer, which I have programmed myself?”

That caused you to blush in embarrassment. “I find it fascinating to see your continued development in this skill. The captain and I have a biweekly game scheduled if it concerns you. I enjoy your presence as an opponent.”

---

“I would not do that,” Spock pointed out as you reached for a piece. “See if you can spot the issue.”

You gave the board a hard look but came up blank. After you offered him a confused look, he pointed to a couple pieces. “Rook to D6(6), it takes your knight and you’ve exposed your queen to be taken by the bishop at C3(2).”

You sighed and nodded. Spock had started slowly giving you advice on moves, but he was careful in his guidance to not just give you the moves he would make and allow you to think things out for yourself. It still felt like he was critiquing every other move you made. But you could see that he was a good teacher, and you welcomed the advice to the silence that accompanied most of the other games. Spock was not one for small talk, and you needed to focus.

You glanced over the board and moved another piece, getting a short nod from Spock.

---

“I am impressed. You have started to think several moves in advance,” he pointed out as you had just managed to be stalemated by the commander. “Your actions are clearly more strategic, and you made several wise choices that I did not anticipate. Your defense has progressed exponentially and you have successfully blocked all of my attacks, clearly to the point of a stalemate.” He may have considered it a success but it still felt like a loss.

“I want to try again,” you’d insisted, reaching over to set up the board again.

“I cannot continue this evening, y/n, but I will leave you with the board for the evening as I find it often helps more than the electronic computer version. Please ensure you take care of it, it is a personal set.”

You didn’t expect him to trust you with something so valuable, but you assured him it was in good hands. You spent the rest of the evening working playing the moves from the computer. ---

“Check.” You moved your rook to the fourth level, taking a pawn in its wake. If there was a little pride in your voice, you’d never let him know.

“Negative lieutenant,” Spock said, causing you to scan the board with a furrowed brow.

“How is that not check?” You felt defensive. “The move was completely legal and your king in jeopardized by the rook.” You pointed the line between them.

“It is not check, because it is mate,” he said simply, reaching over to knock over the king piece with a single finger. You looked again, and realized that by taking the pawn, your bishop was trapping the king from his only route of escape. You glanced up at his face but found it unchanged.

“Congratulations, y/n,” he nodded to you. You were still thinking on how that was possible when he stood and left.

---

The next evening you two were meant to meet, the commander was not in the hall as you expected. There was surely some reason he was running behind and you didn’t mind waiting. Moving over to the table you normally sat at, you saw something on it.

A closer inspection revealed it was one of the pieces from Spock’s set. The white queen. You picked it up delicately and rolled it between your fingers. Somehow you already knew what this meant. Spock was meticulous about his board, there was no way this was lost or forgotten.

He was giving you so much more than the piece. There was so much more to the gesture than originally visible. Without the queen, the set was now incomplete. He was giving you a sign, an silent interest. You were his queen now.

You’d have to find him tonight and see where things went.

#blue #BLUE THIS IS TERRIBLE ;-;#WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO READ THIS BLUE

30 notes · View notes

robotlit · 4 years

Text

“Zola”

Day 2 of the AI Film Festival — in which I watch movies at the Sundance Film Festival, explain their premises to AI Dungeon 2, and let it write a new plot. Today’s entry is Janicza Bravo’s Zola, an adaptation of a viral Twitter thread about a dancer who goes to Florida on a bizarre trip with a fellow stripper and her pimp. But what if the pimp... was Howard Hughes?

[PROMPT: You are a waitress and dancer named Zola who has been suddenly invited to Florida by a fellow stripper. You get in the car with your new partner, her boyfriend, and a mysterious man who claims to be her roommate. After stopping at a shady motel, you begin to think this trip is a mistake — but it's too late to turn back.] When you arrive in Miami, you find that the stranger is none other than Howard Hughes. He tells you he wants to show you around his new movie studio, where he says "you'll see things that will blow your mind."

When you arrive at the studio, you discover that it is indeed an enormous mansion on a hill overlooking a lush tropical garden. The two men lead you through its halls and rooms as they describe how the set was built.

They say that you can expect to see some of the most amazing special effects ever created. Then, one of them stops abruptly.

"We're going to have to stop," he says. "I don't want anyone seeing me or my companion out here alone."

He turns to you and motions for you to follow him into a room off the set. As soon as you enter, he begins talking about something very personal: his past life. His eyes are red from crying, but his voice is calm and steady.

He explains that he used to be a famous actor, but he had an accident when shooting a film. His face was badly burned and his career ended there and then.

But, he adds, he still feels like an actor even though he doesn't act anymore. So, instead of retiring to a secluded island and spending his remaining years playing chess or bridge, he decided to spend his time working on movies.

He also decided to become a director.

The pair of you sit down and talk for hours about your own lives, which seem so different from each other.

What do you make of all this? Are these people just making up stories to explain their strange behavior?

Or did they really meet in another reality and share similar experiences? What does it mean if they both believe that you are Howard Hughes' girlfriend? Is this evidence of parallel universes colliding?

In any case, you decide to trust what the two of them tell you.

You will find out more tomorrow night...

You wake up early the next morning and head back to the hotel where you stay until dinnertime. When you get home, you immediately check your phone again. It's been three days since the last text message came from Amanda.

You look at her number again and call her. She answers.

"Hello?" she asks.

She sounds surprised by your sudden visit, but she tells you how much fun it has been to speak with you today.

"I have to go now," she says. "I'll see you later."

"OK," you say. "Goodbye."

"See ya soon," she says as she hangs up. You hang up too and put your phone away before heading into the bathroom to brush your teeth. Then, you hear a knock on the door.

"Who is it?" you ask.

"It's me," Amanda says. "Can I come in?"

You open the door and she walks inside. As soon as she enters, you close the door behind her.

(Berate Amanda for lying and taking you to Howard Hughes' mansion instead of a strip club)

"Amanda, why would you lie to me like that?" you say. "Why not tell me the truth?"

"Because you're an asshole," she replies.

"Well, I'm glad we can still be friends," you reply.

"Yeah, well I don't want to be friends anymore," she says.

"What?!" you exclaim. "How could you just say something so stupid? Are you even listening to me right now?"

"No!" she responds.

(Continue berating Amanda for betraying your shared bond of hoeism)

"Look, I know you're upset about this situation. But if you really care about me, then maybe you should do something else with your time. Like go to a strip club or some shit."

"Oh no! That's not what I meant!" she protests.

(Demand to go home)

"Fine, fine, whatever," you say. "But I'm going home now."

"Wait! What are you doing?! Don't leave me here alone!" she cries.

"Just go!" you insist.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to post a massive Twitter thread that will be turned into a very meta film with strong costume design and excellent comedic pacing."

"That's not what I mean!" she insists.

"Yes it is! Look, I've got to get back to work because there's always more work to do and I need all my energy for that."

"Okay, okay, whatever," she says.

(Post a massive Twitter thread that is turned into a very meta film with strong costume design and excellent comedic pacing)

You begin posting tweets about how you're working on a movie that will be released in 3D and that it will feature a female lead who has been kidnapped by aliens and forced to wear a sexy space suit. You also mention that the movie is being directed by someone named Howard Hughes.

#ai dungeon 2 #ai dungeon #ai #procedural generation #sundance #zola

0 notes

thisbloghasonepurpose · 4 years

Text

Another amazing rp that Omegle won’t give me a gosh darn log link for

You're now chatting with a random stranger. Say STAND WITH HONG KONG AGAINST THE CCP!

You both like McKirk.

Stranger: ((Sick Jim, Bones is unaware. Just love me some angsty fluff! Established or un, totally up to you.)) Need to move that physical I had scheduled for tomorrow. JK

You: Jim, this is the 4th time you've rescheduled this physical. -LM I can't keep making up excuses for you -LM

Stranger: But Bones, you're so good at it. It'd be a shame to let that talent go to waste. JK

You: Oh, trust me, you never let it go to waste. -LM There's only so long I can put this off before one of us gets a message from Starfleet about it. -LM

Stranger: Not my fault they've been shoving me into meeting after meeting. JK

You: I can do it outside of our shift times if that's what it'll take. -LM This has become a new record, even for you, and technically I shouldn't be letting you continue duty without it. -LM

Stranger: Ugh, I hate technicalities. JK

You: Regulations exist for a reason, I guess. -LM Why do you hate your physicals so much? -LM

Stranger: I don't, just haven't had time. JK

You: Bullshit, you haven't. -LM You've had time to play 3d chess with Spock in the senior officer's lounge. -LM

Stranger: He /made me/. Chess is his idea of a break. JK

You: No, I've seen him try to make you do things and you have a very specific defiance of that. -LM What's been going on? I thought you'd wanna just get the physical over with. -LM

Stranger: Pick your battles, Bones. Not gonna fight him over chess. JK I do. I mean it, really haven't had time. You've seen my schedule, you know the Feds have me everywhere at once. JK

You: ((oooo I actually love that, calling the federation 'the feds' )) You have some time right now? We're in transit to a starbase at the moment, right? -LM Let me look you over real quick before we get there. -LM

Stranger: ((It's my favorite thing)) Fine, Bones. JK

You: Thank you. Meet me in my office? I'll tell Chapel to let you in. -LM

Stranger: Mmhm. JK

You: I mean it, if you don't show up you're gonna hear about it in an official report. -LM

Stranger: I know the drill. JK

You: Okay, I'll see you in a bit. -LM ((Do you wanna switch to paragraphs or nah?))

Stranger: ((Sure thing! Want me to start?))

You: ((Yeah, thanks :) ))

Stranger: ((If you want me to change anything, let me know! Diagnosis wise, I'm thinking scarlet fever? You know Jim's immune system sucks too much t let it just be strep))

You: ((Sure, sounds good! ))

You: ((I've never done this type of scenario before so I'm sure you know what'd work best))

Stranger: Jim, to put things lightly, felt like complete shit. Too hot one second, too cold the next, and not at all sure if he could stand for longer than a few minutes without his legs giving out from under him. He'd barely made it to the bridge, which is where he'd been planted until he suddenly remembered (through the haze clouding his thoughts) that he had that stupid physical scheduled for tomorrow. No way he could show up feeling or looking the way he currently did. And now, in his attempts to get out of it, he'd sent Bones into a frenzy. He'd felt /fine/ up until a couple days ago, what started as a rash on his neck spreading down his torso, then his arms (all thankfully hidden by his uniform). Then came the vertigo and the sore throat, quickly snowballing into barely being able to swallow all the coffee he needed to keep him awake and a searing headache. God, he just wanted a fucking nap. Of course, Bones refused to push his physical back any further, so any hope of avoiding him until he could stand on his own two feet without wobbling was lost. But he was able to make it through a day of work without crashing and burning, so he was counting that as a win. He hobbled on back to his room to freshen up, the mere idea of taking his uniform off making him shiver so hard his teeth chattered. So, naturally, he kept it on. His legs almost gave out on him on the way to the bathroom, hand only just catching him on the edge of the bed in time to keep him from hitting his head /too/ hard on his bedside table. Ouch. A swell of nausea pulled at him as he finished the walk to the bathroom, though he couldn’t exactly puke when he hadn’t eaten in two days. With a rinse of his mouth and a check to make sure his rash was concealed, he was off to med bay. He rubbed tiredly at the newest sore spot on his head with one hand as the other knocked on the door frame of Bones' office (that he was shamelessly leaning against for support), body tensed in preparation for a full on lecture.

You: ((Sorry brb, gimme 2 minutes))

Stranger: ((No rush!))

You: Bones tapped his PADD idly, checking to see the time. 5 minutes after the last time he checked. Where the hell was Jim? The doctor knew that, unless this was him skipping out, there was really no reason for to take him this long to get here. Sighing audibly, he had just started to fill out a report when he finally heard the knock on his office door and he felt a wave of relief wash over him. He had really not been looking forward to playing 'regulations' with Jim. He opened the door, relief staying for only a few seconds before he had fully taken in the state of the man standing (in you could call it that) in front of him. "Jesus H. Christ, man." He muttered, pupils dilating in fear and panic. He slipped one arm under Jim and helped him wobble over to the exam table, grabbing his scanner with the other and getting to work. "What the hell happened? When were you going to tell me that you were a walking popsicle?" He gestured vaguely to the intense shivering on Jim's part.

Stranger: Sure, Jim was grateful for the added support as Leonard slipped an arm around him, but he'd give /anything/ to not have to look at Bones' face in that given moment. This, this was why he never said anything - just to avoid seeing someone he loved look at him like that. His eyes closed as his body met the exam table, another wave of vertigo washing over him and bringing back that stupid, incessant nausea. He was pulled back to reality by the oh so familiar beep of the scanner, one eyelid cracking open to regard Leonard as he spoke. "Ideally never?" Came his hoarse answer, then a thick swallow. "Nothing in my stomach to puke, but, y'know, might puke."

You: "Shit, hang on." He muttered, scrambling for his hypo and programming in some Dramamine before giving Jim a quick shot. As much as he cared for the man, he did not want to be covered in his stomach acid. "There we go, alright. Tell me what you're feeling, other than the puking and the coldness." The scanner in his hand let off an especially loud beep and Leonard glanced over at the monitor, his brows furrowing as he went into full A&E doctor mode.

Stranger: If the way that Jim barely flinched in reaction to the hypo was any indication, he was /far/ more run down than he'd thought he was. His eyes closed again once the hypo had finished, attention partly diverted towards Leonard and the other half focused on just keeping him awake. Who was he kidding, he was too fucking cold to sleep. "Head-" He was cut off by an extra loud beep near his ear, "hurts." He finished with a grimace, continuing only after another swallow. "Throat hurts, skin hurts. Vertigo's bad."

You: He nodded quickly, brain scrambling to piece together all the symptoms. "Okay..." He mumbled, the louder beeping on the scanner continuing as he dragged the scanner all the way down Jim's arm then back up and down his torso. "What the-" Leonard yanked up the bottom of the captain's uniform shirt, eyes darting across the huge rash that was spreading downward from his neck. "How long? How long have you had this rash?" He asked quickly, needing to know exactly how fast this had spread. He hadn't seen anything like this in his years of practice aboard the Enterprise but something about it struck him as oddly familiar. He'd heard about an illness like this somewhere before, maybe while he was at the academy? He grabbed his PADD so he could quickly access the computer's memory banks, which he knew had all academy training information on them, and quickly set the parameters as 'medical'.

Stranger: ((I'm so sorry love, I have to head to bed! Thank you for this, hopefully I'll run into you again soon! <3))

Stranger has disconnected.

0 notes