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gandrewheadcannons · 3 years

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I wanted to share some writing I had done earlier this summer with you all! If you like it let me know if I should continue? It’s meant to be a story focusing around the beginning of their time in Washington and into the podcast. I’ve left it at a really weird stop but that’s all I had so far.

Title: Undetermined

Pairing: Garrett Watts/Andrew Siwicki

Tags: Mention of prescription medicine, mention of Jeffree/Shane/Ryland, unfinished

Evening is dimly creeping through the half-opened windowpane casting a glow across the built-in table connected to the cramped inner wall of Andrew's microscopic kitchenette. His studio apartment in LA sat cramped in-between Hollywood and Calabasas, a mediocre waypoint for his work for the last few years. He clicks the viewfinder and focuses on the bright oranges and yellows that dance teasingly across the glittering tabletop; catching flicks of sliver and reflecting them back to the lens. A mug of dark roast with just an edge of too much cream is left forgotten in the corner of the frame. It feels cinematic and lonely all at once. The cafe style booth he sits in causes his back to ache, the rest of the kitchen a sterile and unforgiving white, but he misses capturing the day to day beauty the world had to offer. He imagines the reel being played back with a layered sound of twinkling windchimes, quiet laughter and a piano reverb with cuts of the morning sunrise on a hike and steam off the top of a ceramic mug. A familiar face with flecks of blonde in the beard, strong jawed and a roguish smile weaving in and out of the frame, turning back to laugh at something the cameraman said.

“-with a mandate like this.” Garrett is brushing his teeth through Facetime. Andrew catches the corner of his bamboo toothbrush flashing in and out of the lens. He must have laid his Iphone flat on the countertop because when Andrew really looks he can see the bottom of the mirror and a bunch of bright light.

“I know. It sucks. Couldn’t get honey the other day, man. Fucking honey. It’s not like the bees are going anywhere.” He laughs but it doesn’t feel funny. The minimal supply he had was dwindling thin. He was beginning to ration his meals and he wasn’t sure how much toilet paper was left under the bathroom sink. It was all very apocalyptic without any of the zombies or scientists swooping in with immediate remedies.

“Ah dude.” Garrett spits and there’s a tapping sound like he’s hitting his toothbrush on the edge of the porcelain sink before he fully pops into frame. He looks relaxed, sandy hair flopped to one side and beard properly scruffy though they’d only been locked down about a week and a half now. “I know. I can’t handle it anymore. I miss people.” Andrew hums at that. He doesn’t really. He misses the occasional gathering, sure, but he hadn’t quite placed his anxiety surrounding the idea of seeing others since they’d released the Jeffree series. "What was it that bothered you most about taking part in this?" His therapist had asked him. "I missed the fun," he’d answered. "What was the fun?" She’d pressed deeper. "Garrett," Andrew had been quick to reply. "And like. Everyone else too." He'd added when she hadn't said anything. "I miss it not feeling work." She had let him talk about that instead.

"Some people." He tacks on to Garrett who hums easily. He doesn’t think he misses many of the people he’d spent most of 2019 with, his life a mixed cocktail of Ambien, Adderall and Lexapro without any feelings of relaxation manifesting. His psychiatrist had discouraged upping his doses anymore and by early January she began urging him to begin seeking new opportunities to “work on his environment”. He hadn’t quite figured out the avenue to take to do just that.

"Well, some people." Garrett agrees and he's already back out on his couch. "I don't know how many more times I can watch Winter Soldier before I freak out." Garrett sighs. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing. Same as you and every other person." He turns his camera off. He needs the break from the screen.

"I miss you." Garrett is easy like that. He isn't ashamed to tell people how he feels in every moment. It was something to be admired and yet Andrew just felt envy at it. When Garrett had begun to slip away from him, melting like honeydew sweet and sour into a depth of a place where Andrew couldn't quite find him, he'd only managed to grab him back out by Garrett's honesty. Doesn't know if they'd be having this conversation if Garrett hadn't used that honesty like an anchor and letting Andrew catch him last minute with it.

"I can come over." Andrew offers. He hates being confined in these walls anyways. It was hollow and dark. The email from Shane still sat open on his Mac across the room on his bed. Thinking of extending the break, can't really decide. Want to get quarantined together? I have a few video ideas we could maybe mess around with or just film some day to day footage until creativity strikes us it reads. His skin itches for the company but the image of their guest room makes him uneasy. Doesn't know if he could withstand being there with very little to fill his hands with, editing complete and no real ideas on the table for the time being.

"I can come to you." Garrett offers like he was inconveniencing Andrew who had offered anyways.

"If you touch your car right now I am going to freak out Garrett Watts." Andrew admonishes. "The second they open up the garages and mechanics again I'm making you take that thing there, burn it and we get a new one." He's opening a duffle now and throwing in his travel toiletries and a few pairs of underwear.

"Oh come on Andrew it's not so bad." Garrett laughs as if Andrew wasn't still reeling from the aftermath phone call of Garrett nearly wrecking on the 101 barreling top speeds until he reached a secluded patch of grass to slow his Pirus down onto. By the time Andrew heard the story Garrett was okay; Michael had gone to pick him up and Garrett was sending pictures of little Star Wars figurines that Michael kept mounted on his dashboard. His heart didn’t calm until he had managed to get his hands on Garrett in person though, sneaking out for an afternoon to grab some coffee with Garrett before heading back to Shane’s to finish editing. His shins still feel heavy with the weight of Garrett’s calf as he’d pressed their knees together until the table while they’d talked – the weight reminding him of how alive and okay Garrett really was.

"Oh yeah a car that dies out randomly is really great." Andrew throws in a box of protein bars and a Gatorade into his bag. He hesitates before grabbing a stitched bear made from gray yarn, green buttons for eyes luring him in. "I'll be over soon." He doesn't know how well the conversation will hold up over Facetime as he's moving.

"Okay cool Andrew." Garrett's eyes are soft. "See you soon. My dad is actually calling."

"Tell him I said hi. See you soon." He so easily could tack on endearment, babe at the tip of his tongue burning hot. Garrett's ending the call before Andrew even has the chance.

The half opened can of frosting is across from, the only lights on are the ones twinkling from some intricate set up Garrett had on a shelf. Garrett’s on the third loop of the home screen on Prime, humming thoughtfully whenever he pauses on a summary to read but then continuing to scroll before picking one. He’s slumped down low, long legs kicked out on the coffee table while Andrew is curled up in a ball against his side. Once, Caleb had pointed out that if people didn’t know them they’d get the impression that they were dating. Garrett and Andrew had awkwardly laughed at that comment, tinged with humiliation at how their relationship was being interpreted. They tried to be better then, not letting themselves fall so in sync when other people were around.

Andrew loved it like this though, when it was just him and Garrett, so he could press his cheek into Garrett’s bicep and not have to question why it felt so right. In his left hand his phone illuminated with another message from Shane. Opening it he read a message about how much they all missed him and wanted him there during this time. Apparently Ryland was looking for someone to help film a video he had planned. He quickly shut the screen off and pulled back from Garrett some, his stomach in a sudden tangle of knots.

“Good?” Garrett asked him looking down. His crew neck was for Spokane and looked a little like the Taco Bell logo from when they were younger. He’d paired it with a pair of sweat shorts for the night as they were both supposed to be going to bed soon. Andrew picked at his own Adidas track pants, imagining a loose thread to busy his hands.

“You ever just. Feel like you gotta get out?” He tilts his head to the side and watches Garrett pause what he’s doing with his Playstation controller and set it carefully on his coffee table.

“In what way?” He asks thoughtfully, turning so his chest was open to Andrew. Their knees bumped and Andrew felt like a little boy when he wished he could crawl and hide in the empty space of Garrett’s lap.

“Like okay. Say you just really loved what you used to do. You basically achieved your dream job. You have all these amazing people, you like your boss, things are going really great and you’re making a lot of money.”

“You buy yourself a really good vacuum.” Garrett plays along teasingly causing them both to laugh.

“You get yourself those stackable containers for your meal prepped lunches.” Andrew plays back. “But then…” He runs his tongue inside his teeth then outside methodically. He searches his brain to try to figure out what to say to Garrett to

“Then?” He drums his fingers on Andrew’s knees to get him back to the present.

#gandrew #gw #as #my writing

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marisaaa · 4 years

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day 1 prompt: "Do you trust me?"

Once you turn eighteen and you find yourself in the presence of your soulmate, you know. Your soul connections are close enough to activate and they say it overrides all your senses. It’s just you. And them.

Aaron knows as soon as Robert steps into the common room, and he knows he feels it too.

have i known you twenty seconds, or twenty years? (AO3 link)

“I’m Adam. Barton.” A smiley boy stands up from where he was sat outside the headmaster’s office, “We’re going to be in the same mechanics class but right now, I’m your mentor.”

He reached his hand out to shake Aaron’s who took it timidly.

“Aaron.” He introduced himself, “Dingle.”

Adam smiled, letting go of Aaron’s hand and pointing up at the massive school sign painted on the arch of the hallway. “Welcome to All Hallows.”

Aaron had recently moved to live with his Mum in Leeds, requiring a school transfer… in the middle of his A levels. Luckily, this new school had the right subjects and really, anything would do if it meant getting away from his Dad.

Adam joyously waffled on about the school, clubs, competitions as he led Aaron around. The college was connected to a lower school, so the tour was a lot longer than Aaron had expected but he didn’t mind, Adam seemed to be in his element.

They got to a glass cabinet in the main school reception and stopped. Aaron watched as Adam smiled, looking over the many trophies the school held.

A few seconds passed. “Lots of trophies.” Aaron pointed out dumbly, making Adam chuckle.

“Yeah, loads.” He replied. Looking around to check no one was watching, Adam pulled open the glass door and pulling a photo frame out.

He pointed to one of the boys in the frame. They looked only a bit younger than themselves. “That’s Pete. He’s my brother/cousin.” Adam explained.

Aaron didn’t even want to ask. He just kept looking at the frame with feigned interest.

Adam continued, “Last year, they played for the under 16s international lacrosse championship.”

He seemed to be amazed by the information, so Aaron pretended to look impressed, as if he knew what lacrosse was.

“That’s good?” he questioned nervously.

Adam scoffed, “Good? That’s awesome, mate. International! They didn’t just play, they came second. That’s mint.”

Aaron nodded. “Are they our age?”

Adam shook his head in response, “Just left, actually. Pete and a few other teammates got a lacrosse scholarship and moved to the US.” He thought carefully, scanning the photo, “Wait no, Robert’s still here.”

He pointed to one of the boys, looking small on the photo. He had dusty blonde hair and wide, white smile. He knelt on one knee, holding his helmet and his lacrosse stick stood next to him.

Adam spoke in a whisper, “Snapped a tendon, last game of the internationals. He carried on playing though. People say he’s the reason the team didn’t win.”

Aaron chuckled but Adam looked him dead in the eye, serious.

“You can’t be serious.”

Adam nodded. “He was so embarrassed, didn’t turn up to school for the rest of the year.”

Aaron narrowed his eyes, “That couldn’t be for a small thing like the snapped tendon, possibly.”

Adam seemed to consider that, shrugging his shoulder and putting the photo back in the cabinet. “You can be the one to ask him, if anyone mentions it infront of him, let me tell you, you do not want to be on the receiving end of that.”

“Why? is he violent?” Aaron questioned, suddenly concerned for his safety.

Adam laughed, “No, not violent. He’s just, creative – with his words. Him and his girlfriend both. You see, her dad was the lacrosse coach – until he retired this year. Of course, Robert and Chrissie would get together, its cliché, right?”

Aaron nodded in understanding, watching as Adam closed the class door carefully, just in time for a member of staff to walk around the corner, not noticing a thing. He shot Adam a knowing glance, a small smirk on his lips.

“But anyway,” Adam continued to gossip as they walked further down the corridor, “They’ve been together, what? Three years now? Well, since Robert became captain of the team. Everyone knows Chrissie’s cheating on him, she hasn’t dumped him probably because she doesn’t want to cause a rift between her dad and his ‘star player’. But now he’s retired, everyone’s just waiting for them to break.”

Aaron listened intently, impressed with how much gossip he’s already been let in on. Although something tells him it’s common knowledge.

They turned a corner and through two double doors into a bustle of people. There were around twelve tables, completely full of teenagers.

THE COMMONROOM read the sign hanging from the ceiling, accompanied by some quote that Aaron hadn’t heard before.

Someone called from the left of the room, waving their hand over to where Adam and Aaron were stood by the doors.

Adam replied with a wave, then beckoned Aaron to follow him to where a group of people were sat both on chairs and on the table.

He was introduced to a whole load of people – boys and girls – who’s names he could barely remember already. One of them, Billy he thinks was clearly the main one of the group and Aaron watched from where he was sat on a chair as everyone crowded round and watched this Billy play something on his phone.

Mid-laugh at something funny Adam had commented, Aaron’s heart rate sped up drastically in his chest. It’s almost like something had been rewired in his body, like something sudden clicked. A piece fit to complete his puzzle.

The noise of the common room drowned out as he looked over his shoulder, his eyes meeting someone else’s across the room by the door, zoning in on him and him only.

A green eyed, freckled, dusty blonde-haired boy was staring back at him with his own shocked expression on his face. It was like all his nerves multiplied and he could feel every emotion under the sun, completely overwhelming him in… feeling.

The moment was interrupted, and their eye contact broke as a brunette girl tapped on the blonde boy’s shoulder, their surroundings suddenly becoming known again.

Aaron cleared his throat and turned his head back to the table, catching Adam’s watchful eye.

“You alright, mate?” Adam asked, hopping of the table and onto a chair next to him. “Your cheeks, they’re pink.”

“Nerves.” Aaron lied quickly but then gestured over to where the boy was, now in what looked like an unhappy conversation with the brunette girl, “Who’s that, over there?”

Adam’s eyes quickly found him and then flicked back to Aaron’s. “That’s Robert Sugden – the guy on the lacrosse team I showed you.”

Aaron’s heart stuttered, his eyes widening in realisation. Oh. Shit.

“And that’s Chrissie White with him.” Adam continued, gesturing to where they were sitting, “Doesn’t look like a thrilling conversation, though.”

Robert’s forehead was creased, and he ran a hand through his hair frustratedly as Chrissie turned abruptly and stormed off. Robert looked up and his eyes locked on Aaron’s who immediately shied away from the contact, only to look back up to see Robert walking away.

He didn’t know why or even remember standing up but soon enough, he was following Robert out of the common room and into a hallway he hadn’t even realised was there.

As he stepped into the hallway, he noticed the significant lack of light considering the time of say and the odd chill coming from the tall windows. He looked down both sides of the corridor, but it was empty. He was about to call out Robert’s name, but it felt wrong, considering they hadn’t met properly yet.

He took a step down the left side of the corridor – the side that seemed less daunting and searched for any other staircases he could’ve taken.

As he took a few more steps, the sleeve of the coat on his arm was pulled and he fell sideways into a small cupboard about the size of a box bedroom, containing shelves and shelves of outdoor equipment.

Before he could even register everything in the room, the door slammed shut and a light was turned on, blinding Aaron for a few seconds before his eyes focused on the person in front of him.

He looked… almost angry but hurt and confused at the same time. They stood in silence, just staring at each other for a few seconds before Robert opened his mouth.

“I- I’m sorry,” he nervously scratched the back of his neck, “I don’t usually do this.”

Aaron almost laughed. That was the last thing he’d expected him to say. He kept a straight face, trying to be angry about the whole thing.

“What pull random people into…” he looked around, “equipment storage?”

Robert sighed, “You’re not- you’re not a random person though, are you?”

Aaron tried not to notice the way Robert’s eyes dipped to his lips as he spoke. He shook his head.

“I feel like… I feel like I know you.” Robert spoke quietly, as if he was trying to work something out in his head, “How have I never noticed you before?”

Aaron gulped, the other boy’s voice making something stir inside of him. “I just moved here, from York. Today’s my first day. My name’s Aaron.”

Robert’s mouth opened in realisation and he huffed a laugh. “Well, Aaron. A hell of a first day, huh?”

“Well, I’ve had worse.” Aaron answered, trying to be funny.

A small smile formed on Robert’s lips and he made eye contact with Aaron again under the dim light of the cupboard. Aaron’s eyes flickered to his lips and then back up to Robert’s eyes which quickly darted down as he took a step back.

“I’m not gay.” Robert declared, refusing to look at him.

Aaron felt something drop in his chest. He’d heard of these cases. Your soulmate but in the form of your friend. He couldn’t help but feel somewhat disappointed. That this beautiful person, someone he was, indeed, very attracted to, is only bonded to him because they’re friends.

“Oh.” Aaron looked down at his feet and bit his lip.

“But I’m not straight, either.”

Aaron looked up quickly at that and Robert stepped closer again. Their faces were so close now, they were practically breathing the same breaths. He cleared his throat before Robert spoke again.

“Infact, right now.” He whispered, “I don’t know how I ever thought I was.”

Aaron took a quick gasp of air before Robert dipped his head and gently pressed their lips together.

It was like fireworks, Aaron would say. The moment the fireworks start and all you can do is stare in awe at how wonderful and beautiful they are. Fireworks, right now, everywhere. The feeling was ten times it was when they first locked eyes in the common room.

The kiss got deeper and more passionate, Robert pushing Aaron up against on of the shelves and Aaron’s hand gliding through the short hairs on the nape of his neck.

Robert let out a small moan before pulling away, the firework subsiding but still very much there. His eyes fluttered open and his lips were parted as he drew in quick breaths.

Aaron was speechless. He’d never felt anything near this before. He could feel as Robert’s heart was beating, the same fast pace as his own and they grinned at each other, both knowing exactly how the other was feeling through their bond.

Robert pressed himself against Aaron again and started mouthing at his neck, making Aaron lean his head back against the shelf.

“I have a girlfriend.” Robert murmured between kisses, but he carried on anyway.

“She’s cheating on you.” Aaron panted, but silently cursed himself, not wanting the be the one to ruin what was going on right now.

Robert stopped and raised his head to align his eyes with Aaron’s. They seemed to scan his face. Aaron suddenly felt under pressure. “I’m sorry- Adam said- he said everyone knew, and your conversation earlier didn’t seem great I-“

“I wanted to wait until she was eighteen.” Robert interrupted ,his eyes never leaving Aaron’s. “ Just to see if she was 'the one', you know?”

He nodded.

“But she’s not. And I’m…” he started to smile, “So goddamn happy about that.”

Aaron let out a sigh of relief before hastily pulling Robert’s face back down to his own, kissing him once more.

They carried on for what seemed like barely any time but must’ve been long enough for the bell to ring, signalling the next period.

They broke apart, the feeling of each other lingering on their lips.

“I have a lesson.” Aaron whispered, slowly opening his eyes to watch Robert do the same.

“Skip it.” Robert answered quickly, pushing his arms off the shelves where they were resting behind Aaron’s head.

Aaron rolled his eyes, “What? Skip my first ever lesson?”

“Don’t know you to know you’re missing, do they?” Robert said with a wink, his eyes unsubtly lingering on Aaron’s lips.

Aaron let out a small chuckle as Robert put his hand out, as if to ask Aaron to take it.

“Come on, there’s somewhere we can go instead.” Robert looked down at Aaron’s hand and reached his outstretched one towards it.

He narrowed his eyes, “What? So you can kidnap me and hide me in a cupboard again.”

Robert rolled his eyes but looked pleading. “I won’t, I promise.”

Aaron nodded his head slowly, a smile spreading across his face.

“Do you trust me?”

Aaron didn’t know why. He didn’t know how. But he did. With every fibre of his being.

He took his hand and it took his breath away with it, the fireworks making a comeback.

Robert pulled him out of the cupboard and down some stairs that Aaron hadn’t even noticed on his way there. Soon enough, they were outside and running across the field into a wood. Robert lead him through the wood and out into a clearing where a small barn stood,

He slowed to a walk, still holding onto Aaron’s hand, laughing as he swung it back and forth. Aaron could feel his eyes glowing with adoration as he watched the cold pink his cheeks and the wind blow lightly through his hair.

When they reached the barn, Robert pulled the door open, unveiling a room full of haystacks and wooden beams.

Aaron stepped inside and looked around as Robert shut the door behind them.

“Yep, exactly how I envisioned meeting my soulmate.” Aaron joked, “First he locks me in a smelly cupboard and then he takes me to an even smellier barn. Romantic”

Robert sighed but took small steps towards Aaron, eventually pushing him back and down onto a haystack. “You’re too traditional, Aaron.”

Aaron was not expecting his heart to flutter at the sound of his name on Robert’s lips and he could tell by the way Robert smirked, that he felt it too.

He started to lean down pushing Aaron gently on his shoulders so he was laying fulling on his back and Robert leaning over him, his arms bracketing his head.

“Now.” He whispered, leaning his face down to Aaron’s, “Where were we?”

And again. Fireworks.

#rememberingrobron2020 #day 1

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acioo · 4 years

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anonymous asked: I was just wondering if you have any ideas on how to get inspired to create characters?? I want some new muses but I don’t really know where to start? And your muses are Exemplary. Tyvm!!

hi, anon ! first of all, thank you so much ! you’re so sweet <3 i thought about this a while & i’ve made a list of things i take inspiration from / ways to get inspired ! also, i got some help by rachel ( @tombraiders ) & ( @laurakinnvy ), so thank those legends for that !

media ( tv shows / films / books / etc ) ― now, there’s a lot of ways to go about this. i’d never suggest taking whole parts of characters ( like, anything hyperspecific, i’d say, for example: your characters parents are scientists living in africa and your character contracts a rare disease that your char's parents cure your char from by injecting your char with a serum that turns your char green and gives your char superpowers AKA garfield logan ). BUT, what i mean, is that it’s very easy to take a singular idea and completely adapt it to a character and turn it into something that’s very different from the og idea but still so much fun. so, make your character the child of the sheriff ( stiles stilinski, teen wolf ), make your character the child of psychic/s ( blue sargent, the raven cycle ), or give your character a fraternal twin ( pines twins, gravity falls ), but run with it in your own way. give it a specific twist that came from you alone. remember to respect other writers, and i would NEVER suggest doing this with your fellow writers in the rpc, but no writer owns the idea of being a demigod, or have superhero family members, or being the child of a senator. if you are watching something, and you’ve always loved a particular detail, then run with it, and give it your own twist. you can develop an entire character by starting with one thing.

pinterest ― one of the first things i do when creating a character is begin their board. my layout is i’ll start pining general things ( clothing, physique, some words ) just to get into the feel of it. once i start getting more deep into a character, i will add sections to their board, all rooted in specific aspects of their lives ( so, for example, a sibling, a significant other, a power, a job ). i’ve even made pin boards where there are sections based on different aus i have for them. it allows me to flesh out the character while also keeping a more big picture view of them ( meaning, how all the aspects and qualities work together to make a dimensional char ), and i can pick up qualities that fit with the character by stumbling on them in pins ( for example, seeing a pin of a dog, giving the character a dog, expanding the relationship with the dog, so forth ). here’s an example of a pinterest board of mine, if you are wondering what i mean exactly ( and with the board, even more examples for sections: future children, family, childhood ).

a single thought ― i took a creative writing class a few years back, and an exercise we went through was posting a list of first lines from books ( here i will name a few, if you wish to try this: i had just come to accept that my life would be ordinary when extraordinary things began to happen, one summer night i fell asleep hoping the world would be different when i woke, it was a pleasure to burn, all children except one grow up ), and then she made us create an entire character with full background and as many clever aspects as we could ( within the span of forty-five minutes ). she’d also do it for short stories. it was a clever trick of hers to get us to think outside of the box, but it’s also a fun exercise to take forth in. it gives you a start place, but the finish line is wherever you so please. i once wrote a prize-winning short story based on a singular quote ( that being, there is one mirror in my house, from divergent. ) i used the quote “ it was a pleasure to burn “ ( farenheit 451 ) to create a character of mine who loves fire, and has shaped her entire life around it, but has begun to melt. my point being: it is possible and it’s sooo much fun. by the time you get finished ( though i don’t personally believe you should EVER be truly finished in delving into your character. by that i mean, don’t be afraid to change things up, because more often than not you’ll wind up better than you were before. i don’t care if you’ve been writing them for five months, or five years, if you have a thought, like hey what if their mom had a specific job that had an effect, for example, go with it and see where you land after ), you will have a character that should have a relation, but a thin one, to your source, if done properly.

playlists ― playlists are usually something i do after i begin my character, but i’ve ben open to a whole new world by rachel and han, who say they use playlists to create. which, makes a whole lot of sense. i posted specific mood playlists here that are available to help, but i also have something in the works in terms of songs to help, so look out for that. here are some songs that i think would be good in creating characters, or at the very least, starting to create characters: 8teen by khalid, bloom later by jesse, cold by rich brian, devil town by keep for cheap, everybody loves me by onerepublic. to explain further, here’s an example, using happy pills by weathers ( i take my pills and i’m happy all the time / happy all the time / happy all the time ), you could begin by making a character with a mental illness, then go into how they take medication for it, why they got it, and so forth.

real life ― this can be used in a lot of ways. maybe you have dual citizenship, and you can easily give this to a character, and use it to expand them: where do they live, which country do they feel more connected to, etc. or maybe you are funny, so use that: is it a coping mechanism, when did they become funny or were they always. there’s a number of things to include ( and it also sets a really good precedent, because i think one of the MOST important aspects of a character is making them a dimensional being who you could basically pop out of the pages and stick in a house and would reasonably work ): a family dynamic, a sexual orientation, a religion, an anecdote. it’s also a good way to get out feelings you may have, and can be some of the most compelling of writing, but i really do urge you to watch where this goes, because it can get out of hand, and you can wind up upsetting yourself, or creating a character that is a bit of a modge podge and not a painting if you will ( in that the parts don’t all fit together ).

muse inspo blogs ― lastly, muse inspiration blogs are a good way to do this as well. they have numerous tags where you can begin, maybe a label that you can use to fully explain your characters or a dynamic, and then go from there by scrollling through. there’s a number of muse inspo blogs that you can use, and i’m happy to string together a few if you send me another ask. i also have some musing tags, which you can find here.

#rph #rpt #writing #mine: guide #answered #moral of the story IS that i use examples way too much #im honestly not 100% sure how i make chars #they just ... suddenly exist #but i tried my best !#this is lng but i dont want to cut it : (#im sorry dash #long post

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iguessyouregonnamissthepantyraid · 4 years

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so uhhhhhhhhh y’all want a preview snippet of the “opposite set of people die in infinity war” thing

Two hours and thirty-six minutes following the annihilation of half of all life in the universe, Loki finds himself on his knees in one of the many aircrafts stationed in this Midgardian docking bay, elbow-deep in wires.

This place — this country, since apparently that’s what Wakanda is — as far as he can tell is home to the most advanced technology available on the planet. Given that this is Earth, that’s not saying all that much, but… well. It’s workable. More workable than anything Loki saw on his last visit to this planet, anyway, and for that much he supposes he has to be grateful. Small mercies.

Oh, and God knows you’re at a dire shortage of those right now, aren’t you?

Loki squeezes his eyes shut for a moment. He takes a breath, banishing that voice yet again. He sends it back to the corners of his mind where he’s boxed up every shred of coherent thought for the last two and a half hours.

Every thought that isn’t get the hell off this planet.

Every thought that isn’t numbing cold calm.

Every thought that isn’t entirely focused on the task in front of him.

It will take a bit of creativity, and a lot of finagling with the ship’s internal wiring. Actually, given that Loki is very, very far from an expert on ship mechanics and rocket science, it will take a lot of creativity, and probably a good deal of spells here and there, too. A spell to keep the ship producing oxygen in the vacuum of space. Another spell to give the thrusters enough power to escape Midgard’s gravity. Yet another spell to protect himself in the event that the actual owners of this ship take offense to his borrowing of it; after all, he’s not looking to be shot out of the sky before he’s even breached the upper atmosphere.

Perhaps some sort of cloaking spell would—

“I am Groot?”

Loki jolts, nearly smacking his head into the top of the wiring compartment.

When he extricates himself and looks over his shoulder, he finds the young Flora colossus standing in the open doorway to the ship, staring at him. Miraculously, that little handheld game of his is nowhere to be seen, and Loki finds that the prolonged eye contact is a touch more uncomfortable than it should be, coming from a teenage twig.

He waits about three seconds for Groot to elaborate, and when no further explanation is forthcoming, Loki asks, “What does it look like I’m doing?”

Groot shrugs. “I am Groot.”

“Exactly.”

Satisfied, Loki turns back to his task.

If he can just figure out where the thrusters are connected—

“I am Groot?”

Loki stops again, shooting him a look. “Oh, I’m sorry, I was unaware I had to run everything I do by you first. What the hell do you mean, why didn’t I tell you?”

“I am Groot.”

“No, you most certainly are not coming with me.”

“I am Groot.”

“No. You are not.”

“I am Groot.”

Loki exhales roughly through his nose, pressing the heel of his palm into his own forehead.

“This is not a debate.”

“I am Groot!”

Loki has never, in all his long life, ever wanted so much to track down whatever Fate is responsible for this turn of events and throttle them wherever they stand. Because— how? How did he end up here? How is he of all people alive at the end of the world, at the end of everything, alone on this godforsaken rock with no easy means of escape and a talking adolescent tree who’s convinced that they’re… what, friends? Because they fought together? Because they had a common enemy?

Have, his mind helpfully supplies. You have a common enemy.

Present tense.

Because the bastard’s still alive.

Loki drops his hand. Shakes his head. Takes yet another carefully controlled breath.

“You cannot come with me. The rest of your… friends,” Loki says, squinting because he’s unsure what the tree’s relations to that motley assortment of species actually was, “are likely going to come here looking for you.” He turns his back on Groot, facing the wiring compartment again. “If you leave, you’ll miss them.”

“I am Groot.”

Loki opens his mouth. Shuts it. Rolls his eyes. “Yes, assuming they’re still alive. But my point stands.”

“I am Groot.”

He almost laughs. Almost. There’s a hollow, bitter sort of humor in the idea that he would even begin to entertain the idea of staying here on Earth. The sort of humor that rubs the wrong way along the edges of his grief.

Do you really think it’s a good idea to go back to Earth?

“That is not happening.”

“I am Groot?”

“Because there is nothing for me here,” Loki all but growls, and he rips a wire out of its socket without thinking.

Damn it. Damn it. That was likely something vital.

“I am Groot.”

“There is no reason for me to stay on this planet—”

And there again, out of nowhere, like a blinding jolt, like the magic he used on the Valkyrie all those ages ago or — Norns, was that really only a few days ago? — Loki sees it at the forefront of his mind again, he sees Thor taking a single step forward and collapsing into ash, he sees his own magic desperately reaching out and doing absolutely nothing to stop it, and it’s all so vivid that it briefly knocks the air from his voice. He feels bile rising in his throat all over again before he manages to swallow it down.

“There is no reason for me to stay on this planet,” he repeats, so calm now that his voice is foreign to his own ears. “I’m leaving, and—”

“I am Groot?”

“It’s not your concern where I’m going.”

“I am Groot!”

“It’s not your concern what I’m going to do, either. As I said—”

“I am Groot!”

Loki slams his fist down onto the top of the wiring compartment hard enough to leave a dent, and the next second he’s on his feet. He whirls around and snaps, “I don’t know! Is that what you want to hear? I don’t know where I’m going to go, and I don’t know what I’m going to do!” And oh, there it is, the anger rising like an unstoppable tide, boiling, filling him up to the throat, sending his voice into a crescendo as he stomps forward and shouts, “Perhaps I’ll find whatever miserable corner of existence Thanos has hidden himself in and I’ll tear him limb from limb myself, or more likely I’ll die trying, or perhaps I’ll simply find a bar at the furthest corner of the universe and drink myself into oblivion, but I am leaving, and you are not coming with me, and whatever happens after that is no concern of yours because we are not friends.”

The shouting should be cathartic.

It’s not.

He’s left feeling hollow and out of breath, his lungs scraped raw, with an ache pulsing from the side of his fist and not a single ounce of satisfaction to show for it.

Groot doesn’t look angry. He looks like he’s trying to look angry, but it’s far too easy to see through the bravado. It’s easy to see that Loki’s words cut exactly as deep as he’d intended them to.

Something unpleasant coils in Loki’s gut, and he sighs.

“Look—”

But before he can say anything else, a deep reddish-purple light washes over the docking bay outside the ship’s door.

The light comes on and then fades, comes on and then fades. An alarm, clearly, and for a moment Loki feels his heart plummet down into his stomach. For a moment he finds himself standing on the Statesman all over again, listening to the desperate voice of a long dead Asgardian over the ship’s communication systems. We are under assault, I repeat, we are under assault… Engines are dead, life support failing… This is not a warcraft, repeat…

The voice that comes over the communications system this time is not one that Loki has known, if distantly, for most of his life. This time it’s the voice of this planet’s — no, that’s not right, this country’s king, the one who’d commanded all those armies on the battlefield right up until the end. The one with the strikingly impenetrable war suit.

“Attention: A new breach has been detected in the upper atmosphere directly above Wakanda,” King T’Challa’s voice echoes through the whole place. “Anyone who is still in fighting condition, be at the ready.”

“I am Groot?”

Loki gulps. “I have no idea.”

Honestly, he’s almost… relieved at the prospect of having to fight off yet another wave of enemies. Finally, someone to take out all this directionless anger at— oh, but that’s not true, is it, it’s not directionless, you know exactly who you’re angry with, and it’s not even Thanos—

Hell, perhaps he’ll even die properly this time.

But then the communications system comes right back on not a second later, and this time, it’s not the King. Instead it’s a young girl whose voice Loki has never heard at all.

“Everyone, disregard the call to arms! The newcomers have made contact and they come in peace. Repeat, please disregard the call to arms. The newcomers have made contact and they come in peace.”

There’s a click as the communications system shuts off.

The red light does not come back.

Groot nervously wrings his hands together. He seems to have entirely forgotten Loki’s outburst in light of this news; and really, Loki mostly has, too.

“I am Groot?”

Loki shrugs. He finds, surprisingly, that he hopes it is Groot’s family arriving after all, and he’s not sure whether that’s out of genuine concern for the little tree or because it means Loki will finally be left alone. He doesn’t care enough to parse it.

“Could be.”

“I am Groot?”

“You should go to the palace’s upper level,” Loki tells him. “That’s likely where they’ll have made contact.”

But then there’s yet another click from above, and the young girl’s voice comes back.

“And Loki,” she says, startling him. “If you are all finished attempting to hijack one of my ships, would you be so kind as to make your way up to my lab? The newcomers are asking for you.”

#it's about 1700 words #so like..... around a tenth of what's written so far #hoo buddy #this is a PROJECT #and this here is the opening scene #i'm gonna try to finish part 2 (out of 3) before i post part 1 so we'll see how quickly i can manage that #uno reverse card fic #me

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blodreina-noumou · 5 years

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Unpopular Opinion: Raven and Sinclair were the healthiest relationship on the show. I loved the father/daughter dynamic. What did you think about their relationship? If you did think it was healthy, what do you think made it so healthy?

There are a handful of characters on The 100 that I put in a special box in my mind, where I don’t think about them, because they make me entirely too sad. Sinclair happens to be one of them.

I will always be upset about the nature and circumstances of his death - Emerson was such a lame character, and that episode is so weird, and Sinclair’s untimely exit happens during a season where a lot of my favorite characters were unceremoniously killed. I really think they just wanted to isolate The Delinquents from any adults, so they could evoke s1 vibes, and they couldn’t think of a better way to get rid of Sinclair. (I’ve never looked into or heard anything about behind-the-scenes reasons why the actor might’ve left.) I loved him way too much, and didn’t realize how awesome he was until he was gone.

But for you, anon...okay.

I absolutely, 100% agree. In a show with very, very few healthy relationship dynamics, the father/daughter connection they had manages to be both understated and incredibly genuine. Here’s the biggest reasons I think they were healthy, where other relationships on this show tend to fall short:

1. Respect

“I took a chance on a zero-g mechanic with a heart defect. Why don’t you?”

Sinclair knows that Raven is a genius, and I think he knows it well before many other characters do. In the classist system of the Ark, he sees her as more than just a scrappy, mouthy kid, and does what he can to help her rise above her station. On Earth, he sees how far she pushes herself, how hard she works, and how clever and creative she is.

On the flipside, Sinclair is the one that Raven goes to when she needs support. She looks to him for affirmation, but also for challenges - she knows that he takes her seriously, and will let her get away with being a scrappy, mouthy kid, because she’s one of the few people who can get the job done, and do it better than anyone else can.

They respect each other, and they trust each other.

2. Mutual Affection

“She’s all that I have left, Clarke.”

Raven’s loneliness in life is clear - her mother dies from alcoholism when Raven is still young, and doesn’t seem to give a shit about her before that. The only person she really has is Finn, and she ends up watching him die. So Sinclair’s role as her mentor and father figure is clear, and we know she thrives from it, on some level.

But what’s more understated is how much Sinclair needs her. We don’t know much about Sinclair’s background - at one point in late s1, he says to Jaha that he wants to be with his wife, instead of spending the last hours the Ark has trying to come up with an impossible solution. We never hear about his wife again. I think we can assume that she died when the Ark landed, like many people did. There’s a small chance the writers just...forgot about her...but I don’t think so, because of this line. Sinclair knows loss, and he knows how important and special Raven is.

Even outside of Raven’s perception of him (his return in the episode where she restarts her own heart), we know Sinclair really cares about Raven’s wellbeing. He’s always encouraging her, sticking up for her, and looking out for her. He laughs at her snarky comments, and she’s always joking around with him.

Not to mention, heartbreakingly, his last words - “stay in the rover, stay in the rover.” He was dying, and the only thing he cared about was making sure Raven was safe. Ugh, my heart.

3. No Bullshit

“You can do no wrong, huh?”

While Sinclair is always willing to pump Raven up, to help her see her true ability and potential, he doesn’t sugarcoat things, and he doesn’t let her get away with everything. In 3x03, Raven and Gina are joking around, and Raven pipes off with something along the lines of “Sinclair loves me, I can do no wrong with him.” Sinclair comes up behind her at that moment to chastise her about all the work that needs to be done to make Mt Weather livable again, and sternly tells her to “get on it.” That’s when Gina replies with the above line.

Raven, supergenius that she is, occasionally needs people to keep her in check. She’s awesome, and she always will be - but Sinclair knew that her intelligence and perseverance were meaningless if she didn’t put them to good use, if she allowed herself to get lazy or complacent. He pushed her, because he wanted her to succeed, even when she was already outshining everyone around her.

There were so many wonderful, little moments between Raven and Sinclair, even before the big episode where he returns to help her find her will to live again.

They clearly respected each other, cared for each other, and weren’t afraid to call each other out on their bullshit. So few other dynamics in this show can claim the same. I’ll always miss him.

Okay, my heart hurts. Back into the box he goes! I keep him right next to Jasper, Roan, and Luna.

#raven x sinclair #raven reyes #jacapo sinclair #stephspeaks #spill the salt #asks #anons

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scifigeneration · 4 years

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Being copycats might be key to being human

by Connor Wood

Imitation is the sincerest form of being human? Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock.com

Chimpanzees, human beings’ closest animal relatives, share up to 98% of our genes. Their human-like hands and facial expressions can send uncanny shivers of self-recognition down the backs of zoo patrons.

Yet people and chimpanzees lead very different lives. Fewer than 300,000 wild chimpanzees live in a few forested corners of Africa today, while humans have colonized every corner of the globe, from the Arctic tundra to the Kalahari Desert. At more than 7 billion, humans’ population dwarfs that of nearly all other mammals – despite our physical weaknesses.

What could account for our species’ incredible evolutionary successes?

One obvious answer is our big brains. It could be that our raw intelligence gave us an unprecedented ability to think outside the box, innovating solutions to gnarly problems as people migrated across the globe. Think of “The Martian,” where Matt Damon, trapped alone in a research station on Mars, heroically “sciences” his way out of certain death.

But a growing number of cognitive scientists and anthropologists are rejecting that explanation. These researchers think that, rather than making our living as innovators, human beings survive and thrive precisely because we don’t think for ourselves. Instead, people cope with challenging climates and ecological contexts by carefully copying others – especially those we respect. Instead of Homo sapiens, or “man the knower,” we’re really Homo imitans: “man the imitator.”

youtube

Chimps and children watch how to open a puzzle box.

Watching and learning

In a famous study, psychologists Victoria Horner and Andrew Whiten showed two groups of test subjects – children and chimpanzees – a mechanical box with a treat inside. In one condition, the box was opaque, while in the other it was transparent. The experimenters demonstrated how to open the box to retrieve a treat, but they also included the irrelevant step of tapping on the box with a stick.

Oddly, human children carefully copied all the steps to open the box, even when they could see that the stick had no practical effect. That is, they copied irrationally: Instead of doing only what was necessary to get their reward, children slavishly imitated every action they’d witnessed.

Of course, that study only included three- and four-year-olds. But additional research has showed that older children and adults are even more likely to mindlessly copy others’ actions, and young infants are less likely to over-imitate – that is, to precisely copy even impractical actions.

Chimpanzees skip extraneous steps and just do what works, as when using a stick to extract termites to eat. Auscape/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

By contrast, chimpanzees in Horner and Whiten’s study only over-imitated in the opaque condition. In the transparent condition – where they saw that the stick was mechanically useless – they ignored that step entirely, merely opening the box with their hands. Other research has since supported these findings.

When it comes to copying, chimpanzees are more rational than human children or adults.

The benefits of following without question

Where does the seemingly irrational human preference for over-imitation come from? In his book “The Secret of Our Success,” anthropologist Joseph Henrich points out that people around the world rely on technologies that are often so complex that no one can learn them rationally. Instead, people must learn them step by step, trusting in the wisdom of more experienced elders and peers.

For example, the best way to master making a bow is by observing successful hunters doing it, with the assumption that everything they do is important. As an inexperienced learner, you can’t yet judge which steps are actually relevant. So when your band’s best hunter waxes his bowstring with two fingers or touches his ear before drawing the string, you copy him.

The human propensity for over-imitation thus makes possible what anthropologists call cumulative culture: the long-term development of skills and technologies over generations. No single person might understand all the practical reasons behind each step to making a bow or carving a canoe, much less transforming rare earth minerals into iPhones. But as long as people copy with high fidelity, the technology gets transmitted.

Ritual and religion are also domains in which people carry out actions that aren’t connected in a tangible way with practical outcomes. For example, a Catholic priest blesses wafers and wine for Communion by uttering a series of repetitive words and doing odd motions with his hands. One could be forgiven for wondering what on Earth these ritualistic acts have to do with eating bread, just as a chimpanzee can’t see any connection between tapping a stick and opening a box.

Rituals bond groups together. AP Photo

But rituals have a hidden effect: They bond people to one another and demonstrate cultural affiliation. For an enlightening negative example, consider a student who refuses to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. Her action clearly telegraphs her rejection of authorities’ right to tell her how to behave. And as anthropologist Roy Rappaport pointed out, ritual participation is binary: Either you say the pledge or you don’t. This clarity makes it easily apparent who is or isn’t committed to the group.

Surprise secret ingredient that makes us human

In a broader sense, then, over-imitation helps enable much of what comprises distinctively human culture, which turns out to be much more complicated than mechanical cause and effect.

At heart, human beings are not brave, self-reliant innovators, but careful if savvy conformists. We perform and imitate apparently impractical actions because doing so is the key to learning complex cultural skills, and because rituals create and sustain the cultural identities and solidarity we depend on for survival. Indeed, copying others is a powerful way to establish social rapport. For example, mimicking another’s body language can induce them to like and trust you more.

So the next time you hear someone arguing passionately that everyone should embrace nonconformity and avoid imitating others, you might chuckle a bit. We’re not chimpanzees, after all.

About The Author:

Connor Wood is a Visiting Researcher in Theology at Boston University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.

#science #psychology #evolution #learning #cognitive science

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morshtalon · 4 years

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Dragon Quest II

Well, it's been a while since I wrote a review on something. I've played a number of games in the meantime, but none of them really gave me anything I felt was worth talking about or that hasn't been talked about before, so I just keep them in the backburner of my mind for possible future reference.

However, I feel like current circumstances make for a good time to dig up one of the games I wanted to share my thoughts on for a long time, and that I had beaten before even writing the first review I've ever "published". That game is Dragon Quest II.

Part of the reason why I held off on it for so long is that I don't think my review of the first game is all that great, and another part is that, again, I don't feel like I've bunched up enough good stuff to say, even though I really wanted to talk about it ever since I played it.

But hey, by far and wide my post popular post is technically related to Dragon Quest II, so why not cut to the chase and do it, right?

Anyway, to say that the first game took off in popularity is an understatement, it being the seminal harbinger of an entire genre of gaming that would soon take the world by storm. You would think that means this would be the time-old tale of "runaway success game making company executives pressure developers into slaving away at a sequel with suffocating deadlines". However, planning for DQII apparently began before DQI was released. 1986 was a different time, I guess. A time when the industry was fledgling enough that it wasn't that much more than a group of dudes banding together to bring an idea to life, and then - not a moment of hesitation after that idea comes to fruition - immediately start brainstorming ways in which they can build on it to give birth to new, more complex explorations of the concepts they had just tackled.

I believe this is why it's good to go back and play these games in their original versions, in chronological release order. Nowadays, it's virtually impossible to innovate. Back then, almost every big-time franchise was always finding ways to breathe fresh air into the structure of their games. Though Dragon Quest isn't the most innovative when compared to the likes of Final Fantasy, they were still making great strides into the codification of the type of game they had pioneered. With that knowledge in mind, one can really appreciate the evolution by going back and exploring these things as they grew with the times. And hey, Final Fantasy still wasn't around by the time DQII came out, so once again, they had to rely on ideas from western RPGs they liked.

In my opinion, II is the first jRPG that actually feels good to play, if you can put yourself into the mindset of an 80's gamer. The designers felt the 1v1 battles of the first title were boring - a sentiment which I share - and put in different groups of enemies as well as extra party members for you to find. One thing that some of these old RPGs that only let you target a group of enemies does is drawing only one enemy sprite on-screen to represent the entire group. Surprisingly, this game does not do that, even though it predates all the ones that do. It draws every enemy on-screen, which doesn't seem like much nowadays, but it's very appreciated nonetheless. Sure, it came at the cost of battle backgrounds (all fights in this game are set against pure blackness), but they did the right thing. The party itself follows what would become a typical archetype of 3-person groups: One character who is a jack-of-all-stats, balanced between physical prowess and magic, one who is focused on physical combat (in this game, this character actually has no magic capabilities whatsoever), and one who is a pure mage. Perhaps surprisingly, because these structures hadn't become tropes yet, the main character is the physical one, and he's also pretty much the most reliable party member by a reasonable margin, even though all he can do is attack normally. Balance issues aside (we'll talk about that later), I honestly sort of dig this arrangement. It's a little bit of a breath of fresh air to see the main character in an RPG rely completely on his weapons, and in the future, in any DQ title that has a reasonable degree of character customization, I always try to make the protagonist a physical powerhouse, to match the one from this game. It hardly ever works, but hey, it just goes for show that I enjoyed it while playing. Given that the other party members join you as you progress through the game at specific points, that also means the complexity of magic spells is added to your arsenal slowly, getting you used to it without feeling overwhelming. Sure, the game is simple enough that it wouldn't be overwhelming regardless of how they had set up the pacing, but I never felt like any of the times I struggled were because of insufficient knowledge of the game mechanics. So, the battles are fun enough, and they feel just right in terms of complexity vs. focus. The strategies to win are simple - really, the whole game is very simple - but it does its job well, and it allowed the developers to have near-perfect control of the game's difficulty curve. As a result, it is also - almost up to the end of the game - pretty nice, even if the whole thing is on the challenging end of things. At the end, it gets... A little special. We'll get to that later.

Let's take a step back and look at the gameplay outside battles. First of all, the story is... sparse, to say the least. Not as much as the one in the first game, and supplemented in the international version by a frankly kick-ass introduction that gives the experience a certain tone and atmosphere I appreciate a lot, but still, it's 1987. jRPGs were... not so much about the story back then, if you can believe that. In fact, they were more like an extension of a point-and-click adventure game. DQII is, essentially, a big fetch quest. In a different story, one that has enough plot points that you can sense a type of underlying narrative progression, I would not enjoy having the game interrupted by a blatant collectathon. However, the fetch quest aspect is basically the soul of this entire game. The extremely loose story paves the way for an experience that boils down to pure exploration and combat, with light elements of puzzle-solving woven in, using the fetch quest premise simply as a background to leave the developers with fertile soil to plant their little tricks and enigmas without worrying too much about how it would all connect rationally. And here, we witness an aspect of old games that could only spring about as a byproduct of limited graphics, ill-defined representations of the setting's reality, and a healthy disregard for common sense, things that were the style at the time. The puzzles, and sometimes just the exploration, violate logic quite heavily. Traversing through a monster-infested castle to get to a point that is technically outside the castle, but you can't just walk around it because most of the outside grass tiles are exit tiles that warp you back to the world map? Sure, why not? Having dedicated "teleport-room" maps that only serve the explicit purpose of housing a teleporter to another part of the world, except for one which also houses a chest with an essential item if you walk along the right border of the map, but not the identical-looking left one? Mario 2 hid a goal post inside a secret too, so yeah! Throw that in! Stairs down in a brick islet surrounded by water which brings you to a room that's... Also at water level? We hardly have enough tiles to go around, let alone a set to represent underwater or underground rooms, so whatever! Nobody cares! And, honestly, I truly don't care, either. If a game is up to, let's say, willfully forgo a bit of logic in order to formulate a creative puzzle to play around with your expectations, then all the more power to it. I honestly feel like puzzles nowadays are too sectioned-off, contained within a single room in a single dungeon, ready for the player to walk in, solve it, move on to the next point in the flowchart and never think about it twice. When puzzles are woven in so closely with the world, requiring the player to think outside the box at all times, as they're out there exploring, it makes the whole game feel like it's working together to make a point, and helps reduce that feeling one gets when playing RPGs where there are very separate elements of gameplay that... Don't really connect to each other very well. Sure, you're blatantly aware you're playing a videogame at all times, and it's not super great for immersion, but this was a time when there just... wasn't enough memory for immersion. It was a constraint that naturally gave way to challenges that capitalized on its own limitations, and therefore, created a type of immersion of its own, where the player is completely sucked into their own thoughts, holding a notebook with a rough sketch of the world map in their hand (yeah, I might have done that), taking notes and thinking where in the world could that last crest possibly be?! I think DQII hit that sweet spot of looseness vs. clarity in the narrative that helped these wild, nonsensical elements flourish. I really don't know how other people react to this sort of thing, but I don't care. I had a good time with it, and soon after this game, everything RPG started to become more focused on story. That's definitely not a bad thing, but I felt a kind of clear, developer-to-player kind of communication from these small bits of wrongness that made me more aware of the time, effort and creativity put into it by the people who were making it. I realized that, were I in the shoes of the dude who was making all this crazy stuff, I'd be stoked to see my friends trying to solve them. I'm not trying to be sentimental, that's how I honestly felt while playing that part with the teleporter and the chest. In any case, I appreciated it.

Then you get to the road to Rhone.

Though, apparently, the game was not pressured into deadlines by higher-ups, I did read something about one of the guys in the team offhandedly setting a deadline that turned out to be just that little bit too tight, requiring it to be delayed from November 1986 to January 1987. This, along with the fact that, at the time, the second title in a franchise had the habit of being designed for people who were hardcore fans of the first game in that series, might go a little ways into explaining why everything starting from the road to Rhone is absolutely fucking brutal. Every element of the game that, previously, was a tad questionable, leaving that little itch of worry in the back of your head, returns here with the express intent to make your life miserable. I have a high tolerance for difficulty, one that is even higher for RPGs where, for the most part, there are always ways to slightly circumvent it and make your life easier. The simplicity of design in DQII means that this is not the case here, and from this point on you're expected to not only have the skill and familiarity you've accrued while playing, but also a very healthy amount of luck to go with you, otherwise you will die. And rest assured, you WILL die. In fact, due to the specific way in which the player's mortality rate skyrockets in Rhone, it's almost not even a matter of the game being "hard" in the traditional sense, because it doesn't exactly require you to be strong enough or smart enough anymore, it just requires you to be patient enough to slowly trudge through the mountain of corpses of your former attempts until you figure out how to minimize your risks to the lowest degree they possibly can be minimized, then hitting that sweet spot of luck and control that finally allows you to reach the end of the game. This particular way of handling things means that, after you hit about level 30 with the main character, further leveling will only render you negligibly less likely to die, and the effects are not strong enough from level to level to even be clearly noticed. But what exactly makes it so hard? The answer is primarily RNG. When you reach the end, you will begin to notice just how much RNG there is through the whole game. Starting off, the turn order is entirely random. There is an agility stat, but I never found any evidence of it actually factoring into who goes first in battle (instead, it's a carryover from DQI that calculates your base defense). If there are more than three enemies, you're at a disadvantage, but even if there aren't, a stray run of bad luck - which is guaranteed to happen given the density of random encounters - means you're gonna have to scramble with enemy attacks, and they are perfectly capable of leaving you in such a state that it would take a miracle to put yourself back in shape, if they don't just wipe you out instantly. Now, remember, two of your three characters have magic. However, at this point in the game, enemies have a large amount of magic resistance to all kinds of different spells, and magic resistance in this game means that there is a chance the spell simply won't work. If it does, it deals full damage. If it doesn't, it deals none at all. I don't know about you, but I almost never take my chances with low-accuracy, gimmicky stuff in other games. This one renders all spells like that given enough time. If you decide to rely on physical strength, the main character is the only one who will bring you any significant results. The pure mage at this point in the game is far more efficient at support casting than direct damage, and the balanced character is - memetically, at this point - incompetent at both, and also sucks as a physical fighter, so once again, you're boned on that front. All of a sudden, running away becomes an alluring strategy. However, once again, there is an ever-prevalent random factor to it, so the pressure is on in all fronts. The game becomes a challenge of carefully planning out how to simply survive each encounter. Do you take the chance and run? If you fail, you'll be wailed on by the full force of the enemy party, and will likely be too weak to attempt mounting a resistance. Do you take the bait and unleash the full force of your attacks? What if they all target different enemies in the group? You won't deal enough damage to kill one of them, so you'll suffer heavy retaliation and waste precious MP that could be spent on healing spells. Did you win or escape successfully? You've only lost about 20% of your health, but some encounters can relieve you of the remaining 80% before you can even act, so do you spend MP healing or do you trudge on because you already don't have that many to go around? If you make the wrong decision at any of these break points - and rest assured, there won't be a shortage of them - you'll either die or get so close to death it will be almost irrelevant to keep going. And then, it's back to the last save point. Rinse and repeat many times until you clear the road and get to Rhone proper, for one final save point and one last, grueling stretch of game before the final boss. Here, the game introduces enemies that have, no joke, a move that kills your entire party and has 100% accuracy. Typing it out, it sounds like hyperbole, like i'm salty that I died so much and am exaggerating the things the game does in order to trick myself into believing that it was super impossible times infinity, but no, it's true. To be fair, there isn't a high chance the enemy will perform this move, but when they do, there's absolutely nothing you can do to save yourself. Just reset the game when the screen turns red. Other than that, the rest of the lovely cast of enemies rounding up the final waves are more than capable of just killing you the regular way, so keep your wits about you like you did back in the cave and grind yourself up until the stat bonuses start getting negligible, because now, you need to face five bosses in a row. Right, okay, technically you can go back and heal yourself right before the last one, but I didn't know that, so if you're an idiot like me, try to get ahold of a Wizard Ring, as well. It's the only way to heal MP, and can be used multiple times until - you guessed it - it randomly decides to break. After that, you just have to contend with two bosses that use a move that heals all their HP when it gets low, so you also have to roughly keep track of their state in your mind so you can unleash a full round of attack before they can get in that heal. Unless your spell doesn't hit them, of course. Or they happen to go first. Or you just barely miss the threshold of HP that will actually kill them. Oh, and be careful! One of the other bosses also knows the instant death move. He won't use it often, but 30 or so attempts in, you're likely to see it once or twice.

Then, the final boss can randomly spawn with a number of hit points between 75% and 100% of his assigned value (every enemy does that), and you're gonna deal an average of about 15% damage per turn to it. Sounds easy at first, but he will take you out in either one or two moves, and...

...Here's the motherload...

...He has a 1 in 16 chance of casting the full heal move at any point in the battle. And he WILL do that the first 2 or 3 times you get to him, sucking you dry of resources and smashing your face all the way back to the save point to try the 5 bosses again, so it's back to grinding attempts until you have another mostly hopeless shot at him.

But when you get him, man...

When you do it...

*sigh*

Anyway, this was a long, rambling, focus-shifting tangent just to correctly capture the degree of luck and randomness that constitutes the final stretch of Dragon Quest II. How does it impact the rest of the game? Well, I still appreciate it for what it did right, and there's a small, strange part of me that actually thinks the insane difficulty perfectly fits the stakes that the game set up, but it is, nevertheless, very hard. And once again, it's the kind of hard that is virtually impossible to circumvent. For any average, non-god-tier player, there is no alternate way of tackling the simple-looking, but highly controlled challenges in this game that trivializes it. You can't change your party, you can't buy extra spells, you can't really use stat-up items to change stat configurations in any significant way. You just have to keep trying and hope it works, and for the first few dozen times, it won't, so you'll just have to deal with it.

Still, it shows, even up to the end, that the DQ team has a certain grasp of consistency in design that will slowly grow and adapt as the series embraces new complexities through the years. DQII stands as somewhat of a black sheep in the series (as the second titles of old franchises often do), but I think it has its place, and it's surely a wild ride. Also, if you can get yourself into the mindset of late 80's design, I can assure you it won't ever be boring. Maddening, sure, but not boring. It's more fun in the midgame, in my opinion, as for someone who is very used to RPGs, it can be exceesingly simplistic at the start and too hopelessly uncontrollable at the end, but I feel it deserves a score of 7 out of 10. It's pure gameplay, and, for what it's worth, you WILL get an intense experience. Just be ready to shake, a lot. And pad your walls.

#rpg #video games #review #dragon quest

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melyaliz · 5 years

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Let it be.

Fandom: Marvel / MCU

Summary: Sometimes a song can say things your voice can’t.

Pairing: Bucky Barns x Reader

Notes: PURE FLUFF

I just needed to write something, escape from the craziness of my job. It’s close to another idea I have… but I’m trying to get over myself and my need to make everything I write creative and out of the box. It’s ok to love a trope and write it a million times in slightly different ways…

Right?

(Have I written anything with Bucky yet?)

All Masterlists @melyalizarchive

Connect with me! AO3 / Instagram / Pinterest

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

“Well hello, farmer” you fought back a smile as you walked up to Bucky. You weren’t going to lie, he looked good. More relaxed, happier. Every day seemed better, you saw more and more of the man you assumed he once was.

Glancing over his charts that Shuri had given you once more you put them back in your box before pulling out the tools you would need for his arm’s tune up.

You had been a S.H.I.E.L.D scientist. The proper word being had been. Leaving that life behind after hydra and then the civil war you had helped Steve find his friend Bucky and ended up staying in Wakanda to help with his development.

After all, it wasn’t like you could go back.

Or wanted too.

The breeze was cool on your skin giving you goosebumps as you knelt down next to Bucky to start your work.

Or maybe it was nerves.

Those had been cropping up a lot lately.

Like -at the moment- how his smile kind of made your heart annoyingly beat a just little faster.

Only just.

“Where’s the little one.”

You bit your bottom lip trying again (and failing) not to smile. Really girl? You had several masters and you were here blushing like a flipping grade school girl. “She’s a little consumed with upgrades for her brother’s suit.

“Ahhh” he nodded as he watched you from his seat on the bench outside his tent, “she’s a funny one, that kid.”

“Yeah” you agreed fondly. This past year had been amazing working in Wakanda. Not only learning about all the advanced technology and working with Shuri on new ways to use it but also…

“Hello, earth to Y/N” Bucky’s voice cutting into your thoughts. You looked up your gaze meetings yours. His clear blue eyes so close as he watched you work on his new arm. “Where did you go?” he asked studying your face.

“Just thinking,” you said glancing back down at his arm, “Just about how grateful I am to be here.”

“Yeah?”

You nodded pulling out a few more tools from your box before going back to work, “it’s so advanced here… scientifically speaking, yet so…” you paused for a moment looking over at Bucky’s small home overlooking the beautiful lake. The sun reflecting off the water throwing small rainbows of color. “Peaceful.”

“Yeah” he nodded but his gaze wasn’t on the beautiful view, it was on you. That gentle smile that always seemed to play on your lips. The way you would scrunch your brow when you were focused or lost in through. The sound of your humming some tune (normally something he didn’t recognize) when you were working on something you loved or were just happy.

Kind of like at this moment only…

“Hey, I recognize that song.”

“Oh” you felt your face heat up as you realized your mistake. But it was too late to cover it up now, he had already caught on there was more to the song then just being stuck in your head.

“What?”

“I just…” you looked away fumbling with your tools.

“Oh, now you have to tell me.” he nudged you a playful smile on his lips eyes bright. He had found it, something that cracked you. He had been looking for it. That thing that would catch you off balance.

Little did he know his every existence was starting to do that to you.

“Don’t laugh ok?”

“Never,” even with that serious face you couldn’t help but see that twinkle of mischief in his eye. You wondered for a moment what kind of man he had been. Back in the ’40s before… all this.

“Well, I got to thinking last night how you haven't really listened to music since the ’40s and that kind of sent me down a rabbit hole of music from that time. Honestly, it’s crazy to think about, things like you missed stuff like Elvis, the Beetles, and Queen.”

He laughed soft and light and you weren’t sure if you were about to die of embarrassment or just joy at the sound. “I guess you’ll just have to teach me.”

“Man that’s a TALL order, I wouldn't even know where to start. I have a masters in biology and technology not the history of music.”

“Well what songs do you like to dance too?” he asked, you had long finished your adjustments and were not just sitting there feeling light and slightly flustered. Pulling out your phone you scrolled on Spotify trying to find a good playlist.

“Guess we could just start with the 50’s” you said clicking on Jailhouse rock, “This is the king himself, Elvis.”

Bucky nodded to the music, “This is cool.” standing up he held out his hand you eyed it warily, “This is kind of a swing...”

“Which I can do,”

“And I can’t.” you countered still taking his hand regardless of his hesitation. S.H.E.I.L.D may have taught you many things but dancing wasn’t one of them.

“Good thing I’m an amazing lead,” he said as he started to twist his hips you following his movements, the energy infectious. Soon you were both laughing and breathless as he swung you around to Hard Headed Woman.

“Now this one is about you.” he laughed as he spun you around.

“Well excuse me!” you said breathless and flushed as you pulled out your phone clicking on Respect by Aretha Franklin while singing out the words taking a few steps away from him giving him the full attitude that only Aretha could invoke.

“Where did this girl come from!?” Bucky asked bursting out laughing.

“She comes out with the right song.”

“What about a slow one?” Bucky said trying to take your phone, “Pick a slower one.”

“Hummm, well we haven’t done The Beatles,” you said clicking on Here comes the Sun.

“This really isn’t that slow.”

“Excuse me, this is one of their best…” you cut yourself with just one look from Bucky switching to Let it be. “I mean they are all good.” as the piano started to play Bucky paused listening to the tempo for a moment before nodding approvingly taking your hands again.

“Buck…”

“Shhhh”

Both of you slowly danced around the camp, it was in that moment that you noticed that it sun had been slowly fading into the horizon. Ok, there was no way he had planned this. The way the electric guitar played from your phone as the two of you danced under bright amber and soft purple hues that were reflected over the pond.

Bucky’s soft crystal blue eyes looking down at you seemed to reflect the lights around him making him look even more unworldly than he normally did. It was captivating, sweeping you away from this world onto another plane. Somewhere else where only the two of you existed. You couldn’t look away, you didn’t want to.

Whisper words of wisdom… let it be.

As the song faded Bucky gently dipped you his strong arms holding you as you couldn’t help but smile letting out a soft giggle wrapped up in the magic of the moment.

“Let it be” you heard Bucky whisper the last phrase to himself before pulling you forward closer to him than you had ever been. Your hands pressed against his chest feeling his toned muscles under the thin fabric of his shirt. You could bearly breath, scared any sudden moments would break this spell and you would find yourself back running from Hydra or stuck in the small town you had lived in before S.H.I.E.L.D, or anywhere but here.

Anywhere but in the arms, on the man, you were desperately crushing on.

It was like a magnetic pull. You weren’t really sure who had started it but gently you both met. Lips gently kissing sending sparks through your body as the tender embrace. Caught in a moment. Swept up by the magic of the lights around you and the sounds of the music still playing on your phone as it switched to Hey Jude.

Hey Jude, don't make it bad

Take a sad song and make it better

Remember to let her into your heart

Caught up in the moment as you both melted into hidden feelings that had been building for god knows how long. Maybe before you both had even met. With all the craziness of your lives, you wouldn't be surprised.

Both of you pulling together by a fate that couldn’t be controlled. Moving in time but no longer to the tune of the music.

It was like ice water washing over you as Bucky’s metal arm brushed your bare skin just under your shirt. It pulled you out of your daze and sent goosebumps over your skin.

Pulling away for a moment with a gasp you felt yourself plummet back to reality. To this earth.

The sun had set and the moon shone brightly as the stars started to twinkle above.

“I’m sorry,” Bucky said pulling his hand away, fear written all over his face. “Did I hurt you… I…” you winced as you watched him unconsciously try and cover his metal arm. The pain on his face evident.

Gently you reached out pulling his mechanical arm bringing his hand to your face before kissing it.

“Don’t be,” you said your eyes never leaving his. “Never apologize, you can touch me however you want.” your voice husky as you kissed his hand again. His breath hitched in his throat as he watched you.

“Oh doll you have no idea how long I have wanted to hear you say that,” he said before pulling you toward himself again. This time his kiss was rough, needy, but just as all-consuming. You kissed him back with just as much intensity, hands roaming his body going places you had never dared before but had wanted to for oh so long.

With one swoop of his arm, he pulled you up. You let out a soft squeak as you wrapped your legs around his waist.

Your phone was along forgotten as he pulled you toward his tent both of you about to make some music of your own.

-GET TAGGED!-

Tagging: @royslittleharper @the-shadow-of-atlantis @coffee-randomness @daisyboobear @werewitchling @jason-redhood @hello-i-lovespiderman-blr @ocelysium @pinkwitch21 @tomhncharliep

#Bucky Barnes #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes x you #Bucky Barnes fluff #Bucky Barnes fanfic #Bucky Barnes reader #MCU fanfic #mcu x reader #mcu x you #marvel x reader #marvel x you #Marvel fluff #MCU fluff #my writing #cindrella and her mice

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arplis · 3 years

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Arplis - News: The Best Gifts for 4-Year-Olds, According to Child Development Experts

Age 4 is a huge milestone year. Not only do many 4-year-olds go to preschool or start pre-kindergarten, they tend to become much more well-rounded, articulate opinionated little humans at this age. Most 4-year-olds start to share, ask tons of questions, and form solid friendships. Kids also become choosier about what toys they will or won’t play with around age 4. That’s why the best Christmas gifts for 4-year-olds are toys that play into these new, emerging capabilities while also taking kids’ own specific idiosyncrasies and interests into account.

“Think about simple board games to use new thinking skills and emerging self-control as they wait for a turn and cope with losing, puppets to tell stories with, interlocking plastic blocks to create structures, a child-sized chalkboard for writing and drawing, or a bicycle or other wheeled toys so they can move their strong, growing bodies,” says Rebecca Parlakian, the senior director of programs at Zero to Three. “And pretend play props are always a great idea, as they let kids make up and act out stories.”

When it comes to Christmas gifts, consider a toy’s longevity. Open-ended toys, ones that can be played with in limitless ways, are the gold standard. They include blocks of all shapes and sizes, such as Legos, and toys that mimic real-life objects and tools. As a general rule, the less a toy does, the more your kid’s imagination has to work. When it comes down to it, the best toys for 4-year-olds are those that let them play however they want.

Balance Board by Wobbel

This wobbly board teaches kids about balance, helps them hone their gross motor skills, and supports up to 480 pounds worth of child. Plus, most of all, it's a hell of a good time because it's way harder than it looks. And it doubles as a bridge or a tunnel for playtime.

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Wooden Stacking Board Game by Lewo

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Ukelele by Hape

A wood gorgeous guitar perfectly sized for 4-year-olds, with tunable strings. It looks like it belongs at Coachella. And it lets kids explore the fundamentals of music and rhythm.

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Wooden Balancing Tree by PlanToys

Looks easy, right? Wrong. Kids work on their motor skills, while doing some serious concentration, as they try to balance the six birds on the 10 branches.

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Bowling Friends by Melissa & Doug

Things don't get any more fun than hurling a pin at these soft animals and knocking them over. The weighted bottoms make the game ever more challenging.

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Adjustable Telescope for Kids by Hape

Want to get your kids outdoors? Give them this adjustable telescope, beautifully made from bamboo. Explorers get 8x magnification so they can see bugs and blades of grass up close.

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Hide &-Seek Periscope by Hape

From its lightweight design to its wrist-strap, this is a great periscope for kids. They can hide behind a tree, use it to spy on animals (or each other) and explore nature.

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Nature Detective Set by Hape

First, kids look through the magnifying glass, which magnifies things four times. And then they whistle when they spot something really, really notable.

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Rocket Ship Indoor Playhouse by Melissa & Doug

The sky's the limit with this 4.7 foot long rocket ship playhouse. It includes capsule windows, a door that opens and closes, and four stabilizer fins. Kids pretend to be astronauts, aliens, explorers, or whatever else they can dream up.

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Smart Tech Train Set by Brio

A gorgeous train set, with some added oomph: Kids arrange the tunnels and station, and the train stops, honks the horn, backs up, or blinks its lights. It's compatible with all other Brio train set.

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Grill and Play Kitchen by Hape

Kids fire up this ultra-detailed grill, serving up bell peppers, steaks, and sausages, and using tons (thus working their motor skills) to flip the food. The grill has double-sided grates, a collapsible side table, moveable wheels, and an open-and-close hood.

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My Wooden Weather Station by Moon Picnic

Junior meteorologists can get a handle on the weather by reporting back on what's going on outside. They turn the dials to show whether it's sunny or cloudy outside, how hot or cold it is, and if it's going to rain. All, while helping hone their fine motor skills.

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Pinball Game by PlanToys

Pinball is fun. We get it. But this kid-sized pinball game also teaches them to solve problems while also working on their motor skills. The goal, of course, is to try to keep the ball in play as long as possible.

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Barbie Inspiring Women Series Ella Fitzgerald Collectible Doll by Mattel

Ella Fitzgerald, a musical icon and trailblazer, is immortalized thanks to this Barbie. It's a great way to encourage pretend play, while also talking to kids about history and those helped make it.

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Ice Cream Cart by Tender Leaf Toys

It's never the wrong time for ice cream. This stand is the epitome of pretend play, as kids take orders, use the scooper to fill the cone, and count out change.

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Magnetic Wooden Block Set by Tegu

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Just Rocks in a Box 8 Colors by Just Rocks

These 64 long-lasting soy wax crayons are shaped precisely for little hands, specifically created to strengthen kids' grip muscles and improve fine motor coordination. While also letting kids be as creative as they want.

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Baby Stella Doll by Manhattan Toy

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Motor Mechanic by PlanToys

So your car broke down? Happens to the best of us. Your 4-year-old mechanic will simply pop open the hood, pool out the enclosed tools, and fix the problem. This detailed set has a steering wheel, gearshift, horn, brake, accelerator, turnable car key, air conditioner, radio, side mirrors, hood lift support and screw jack. The mechanical tool in the front can be used to change tires, because tires do have to be changed.

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Micro Mini Kick Toddler Scooter by Micro Kickboard

The perfect starter scooter, this has a stable a lean-to-steer design and a weight limit of 110 pounds, so it will serve you well for years.

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Snug as a Bug in a Rug Board Game by Peaceable Kingdom

Kids learn about colors, shapes, and numbers as they work together to get the very cute bugs to safety before the stinkbugs invade.

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Meal Maker Dough Set by Green Toys

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Tool Belt by Plan Toys

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ABC Building Blocks by Uncle Goose

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Learning Resources Botley 2.0 The Coding Robot

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Doctor Role Play Costume Set by Melissa & Doug

Real-world toys like this set help 4-year-olds make sense of the complicated, often overwhelming things they see in the adult world. And let's face it: Seeing a doctor can be a scary thing. This gorgeous medical kit is great for pretend play, as kids dole out pretend shots and take your blood pressure.

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Hand Puppet by Cate & Levi

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Bristle Blocks by Battat

These 112 interlocking blocks connect together and let kids build towers or cars or dinosaurs or castles or, or, or.

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Imagination Magnets by MindWare

By age four, kids recognize their own body parts. This magnetic set lets them create animals, faces, cars, flowers, and buildings. From flowers to skyscrapers to dogs to mom and dad, the proverbial sky's the limit. They can follow the enclosed puzzle cards, or freestyle. And when done, the magnets are stored in the wood carrying case.

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Magna-Tiles Stardust Set

Kids get insanely creative with Magna-Tiles, and this set has 15 colorful, shiny and glittery shapes including four mirrored squares, seven glitter squares and four equilateral triangles.Kids can use these magnetic blocks to create and build complex structures, which helps with critical thinking and problem solving.

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Dynamo Wooden Domino Set by Hape

This 100-piece domino play set encourages children’s spatial thinking abilities and color recognition, and fosters a basic understanding of physics. What goes up must come down. Kids learn that, and more, with this deceptively simple yet utterly cool domino set. It includes a bridge, a bell and assorted tricks that add extra drama to the domino racing game.

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Playfoam by Educational Insights

It's like slime, without the mess. This non-sticky stuff never dries out, and is great for hands-on sculpting. Not only does it foster creativity, but it glows in the dark.

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Wooden Dollhouse by Hape

A gender-neutral dream house that lets kids play together and act out scenarios they see at home or at school. With six rooms and furniture included, this dollhouse leaves tons of opportunity for open-ended play that won't get repetitive.

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Magnatab by Kid O

This magnatab allows kids to 'draw' by using a magnet to flip over metal spheres, revealing their silver-colored underside. It's like the modern-day etch-a-sketch, and can be used to draw over and over again. And it glows in the dark.

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Checkout Register by Hape

Sure, this cash register sneakily teaches kids about math. And yes, it shows them the basics of what it means to have and spend money. But it's also a good time, as they pretend to run a store, or a cafe, and charge their customers using the bar code scanner and card reader. Plus, they need to count out exact change.

Buy Now $33.49

Every product on Fatherly is independently selected by our editors, writers, and experts. If you click a link on our site and buy something, we may earn an affiliate commission.

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The post The Best Gifts for 4-Year-Olds, According to Child Development Experts appeared first on Fatherly.

Arplis - News source https://arplis.com/blogs/news/the-best-gifts-for-4-year-olds-according-to-child-development-experts

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nikachuwrites · 4 years

Text

[ MACKENZIE “MACK” PARKER. 30. CIS FEMALE. SHE/HER/HERS] is here! They’ve lived in Silver Lake for [ 6 MONTHS ] and are originally from [ COLORADO SPINGS, COLORADO ]. They are a [ POLICE OFFICER ] and in their downtime love [ WORKING ON HER MOTORCYCLE ] and [ ARCHERY ].

trigger warnings: death, cancer, sexism, ptsd

b a c k g r o u n d →

mackenzie parker--most commonly (and if she had it her way, only) known as mack, is a spitfire to say the least. she always has been--even from birth. rumor has it that as a baby, mack was as stubborn as ever, crying even harder when someone would tell her to calm down. didn’t exactly qualify her as the world’s cutest kid, that’s for sure.

in total, the parker family has five members: melanie, miles, mason, maddox and mack (yeah, her parents had a thing for m names--don’t blame her for their cheesy nature). mason and maddox are the oldest by four and three years, respectively

fun fact number one of the parker kids: they’re air force brats, through and through. melanie was a lieutenant colonel in the united states air force before her untimely passing (but more on that later) and miles retired as a combat medic level 5 (comparable rank to a Master Sergeant). The family lived in many different places throughout their times; however Mack has always felt particularly drawn to Colorado and often lists it as her home when asked.

growing up, mack didn’t get a chance to make a lot of friends--moving so many times made it difficult to put roots down so she became very close with her brothers. she has always been a fiercely loyal person and her brothers were always the first on that list. they played together, talked together, did a few years of home schooling together--they were her best friends. of course they fought and gave each other hell, but it was only to toughen each other up. no one dare lay a hand on mack’s brothers or have the mighty wrath of her to pay--and the same went for them to her.

that didn’t mean her family was happy-go-lucky. her house was always regimented, run by strict code of expectations and you’d have better met those...or else. it was partly a way to create structure since roots were so hard to put down, but also it was simply the world her parents lived in--and now it was hers. “yes ma’am, no sir, captain so-and-so called for you, etc”--this was her understanding of the world.

mack was fortunate to grow up in a house with a strong female role model--and in some ways, mack was most close with her mother. melanie was not overly doting or affectionate as a mother, but she never let her daughter ever get the sense that she was less than because of her gender--her household was always even stevens as best it could be, and if not, it often came down to age, not gender for a deciding factor.

because of this, mack participated in many “male” hobbies and interests: archery, mechanics, legos, model sets. mack loved anything that let her build stuff. she wasn’t overly creative in most areas, but she felt the most inspired when she was kneed deep in building materials, creating things. both parents encouraged it and while her brothers often tried to bug her when she was in the zone, they’d brag about her creations to the few people they did hang out with outside of each other.

mack, mason and maddox all understood what military life brought--risk, reward, changes, moves. perhaps the thing they understood most was deployment. of course, there was always a worry of either parent not returning, but it had happened enough times that the kids knew how to support the others through it. mack was often the glue, in some ways, for her brothers. together they were quick to fight but when mack was around--and especially on deployments--they did their best to come together. she knew it was an important role she held, and she placed great attention on it.

(tw death, cancer) deployments had become such a...routine, in a way, for the parkers that the idea that something else might take a parent away had barely crossed their mind. but cancer has a way of sneaking up on everyone. before they could even consider long-term treatment plans, melanie’s stage-IV breast cancer swooped her from her family and left the four of them devestated--particularly little mack, who was only 14 at the time.

mack had prepared herself for the letter. the man showing up at the front door with a flag. the processional that came from passing away on tour--she had not prepared herself for death by unknown enemy. the blonde became withdrawn, incredibly moody and not a single person could get through to her. she was more sarcastic, stubborn and generally a pill. her brothers didn’t know how to help nor her father, as they were also dealing with their own grief

plenty of people tried to fill the role of mother for mack, pushing her to do more ladylike things--swimming, gymnastics, arts and crafts, cooking--but the more they pushed, the more she rebelled. people in high school expected her to be one thing and she was hellbent on doing the opposite. her one champion of feminism had gown, her father had become despondent at the loss and both mason and maddox were either already in college or about to enlist on their own. she was alone and she was paving her own path.

high school had not been kind to her--while she didn’t do the traditional high school antics often, she occasionally drank and found herself at a house party. she’d never been one to shy away from risks.

while high school had not been totally kind to her, she did excel academically, earning a full ride scholarship to the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. It had been her only goal in the wake of her mother’s passing: get to Colorado. There she would be ok--Colorado could save her, she thought

mack did aeronautical engineering at AFA, a nod to her mother who had always supported her love of building and flying. in fact, it was in her studies she felt the most connected to her mother and the most at peace. college had rounded her out, in some ways--though in others, it only made her fight harder

(tw sexism) AFA did not have the same views as her mother did about women in the force and it was a constant battle between belitting remarks and flat out barriers that she fought daily, but she did so with vigor. by the end of her year, she’d made some substantive changes to the instiution, though it didn’t mean she had made friends along the way.

mack served for four years, from 22-26, being on reserve for two years until 28 and then took a year to acclimate fully back into civilian life

six months ago, after an almost engagement that ended up...well, not going as planned, mack packed up her things and headed west. her time with the military was done and she needed something knew...

...which brings us to silver lake and her new role as police officer. truth be told, the woman missed the structure of the service and while being a police officer is not the same, there is a sense of comfort in the role. besides, mack’s desire to protect couldn’t be left alone for too long. she’s never moved anywhere alone before, so its a new adventure for her--but she’s ready to take the risk

h e a d c a n o n s →

please just call mack...mack. or parker. or even officer. but if you value your life, its never, ever mackenzie.

(tw ptsd) mack definitely has some ptsd and is often plagued with nightmares and triggered by it at odd times. she has gotten really good at hiding it though and she will not talk about it. even though she hella needs too

she loves zebra cakes with a small obsession and always has a box in her desk and at home.

she has a motorcycle named daisy and she’s usually fixing it up on the weekends. its her baby and pride and joy--so don’t even think about touching it.

mack is actually more mellow than she was in high school. she’s still snarky and loves a good sarcastic comment. her wit is strong and she’s not afraid to tell you how it is. but she grew a lot in the force and she was able to process some heavy things (not all though). so generally she’s much more amicable nowadays. also, if you buy her a beer (or a whiskey sour), she definitely won’t mind chatting with you

she’s a HUGE classic rock fan. so big. if queen, guns n’ roses or ac/dc come on--its over for you all. also punk pop. but she also really likes country music and the vibes could not be more different. she doesn’t listen to a lot of it, but a strong woman singer is a strong woman singer

leather jackets, ripped jeans, chucks--that’s her style and that’s all you’ll get from her unless you’re really lucky or you are really presuasive

#[[gunpoweder & lead ft. mackenzie parker]]#mackenzie parker; intro #intro

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