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(no subject)
May. 2nd, 2020 07:07 pmEvery time I flick through the latter Destiny 2 Shin-centric books I get the hopeful idea that maybe I will finally vibe with them, and every time it turns out that no, I still don't like the direction they took. Every time.
( grump grump )
( grump grump )
(no subject)
Apr. 15th, 2017 07:59 pmThere was a meme floating around on naming key characterisation points for nominated characters, and I got tapped for the three Last Word/Thorn boys.
( shin malphur )
( jaren ward )
( dredgen yor )
( shin malphur )
( jaren ward )
( dredgen yor )
(no subject)
Oct. 29th, 2016 08:09 pmThings I still can’t stop brooding on:
- Many, perhaps even most, Guardians use their conditional immortality as a tactic in and of itself – a tactic seen in the existence of the Crucible, in the lead scout’s cloak, in Rezyl Azzir using his own corpse as bait. There is purpose in pain, etc etc. Injuries are impermanent and death doesn’t mean defeat, and this is the knowledge they carry with them into the fight.
- Thorn, and by extension Dredgen Yor, was a one-shot Guardian killer. Where it touched Light, it devoured it, and what was devoured could not be restored.
- Shin Malphur grew up mortal, with injuries that lingered and deaths that came all too easy. Every bullet was a one-shot killer. This was the knowledge he carried with him into the fight.
- Guess who finally won.
(no subject)
Jun. 8th, 2016 08:14 pmI like to think of Jaren Ward’s comrades back at the City still keeping in touch with him during his Palamon stint via dial-up Ghost, and at first they try to be supportive of their friend as he gets overly invested in the squalid politics of badland unfortunates because, well, between Pahanin not doing great after the Vault and You-Know-Who acting increasingly off, it’s been hard on Jaren lately and he’s probably earned a mid-life crisis or two.
But weeks pass without sign of him returning, and then months, and suddenly they realise that while they weren’t looking he went and adopted an entire village of dirt-grubbing ferals and they’re just, “They barely have electricity. They don’t have plumbing, Jaren.” “Mm.” “You have to shit in a hole.” “True enough.” “Please come home.” “I’ll speak with you next moon.”
Everyone is baffled and at least one person is actually pretty offended because they have a goddamn duty that Jaren has tossed to one side in favour of babysitting people who knew what they were getting into when they chose to live outside the walls, and that’s a rift that never gets repaired because Jaren’s response to the accusation is a silence so cold it would freeze the ether in a Vandal’s veins.
But others come around enough that they enjoy hearing what little village gossip they can pry out of Jaren (the man can dead-eye the wings off a fly but story-telling, they all agree, is not his forte), and they keep Jaren abreast of City happenings in return (“Pahanin made a wordplay about cuttlefish yesterday! It was appalling. Three rookies jumped off the west tower to escape and Banshee claims he purged his memory banks so hard he lost an entire week”) and Jaren takes wry comfort from the knowledge that you can take the Hunter out of the City but the City will never stop calling the Hunter at 3am to see if Shin’s recovered from his cough yet.
But weeks pass without sign of him returning, and then months, and suddenly they realise that while they weren’t looking he went and adopted an entire village of dirt-grubbing ferals and they’re just, “They barely have electricity. They don’t have plumbing, Jaren.” “Mm.” “You have to shit in a hole.” “True enough.” “Please come home.” “I’ll speak with you next moon.”
Everyone is baffled and at least one person is actually pretty offended because they have a goddamn duty that Jaren has tossed to one side in favour of babysitting people who knew what they were getting into when they chose to live outside the walls, and that’s a rift that never gets repaired because Jaren’s response to the accusation is a silence so cold it would freeze the ether in a Vandal’s veins.
But others come around enough that they enjoy hearing what little village gossip they can pry out of Jaren (the man can dead-eye the wings off a fly but story-telling, they all agree, is not his forte), and they keep Jaren abreast of City happenings in return (“Pahanin made a wordplay about cuttlefish yesterday! It was appalling. Three rookies jumped off the west tower to escape and Banshee claims he purged his memory banks so hard he lost an entire week”) and Jaren takes wry comfort from the knowledge that you can take the Hunter out of the City but the City will never stop calling the Hunter at 3am to see if Shin’s recovered from his cough yet.
(no subject)
May. 12th, 2016 08:19 pmHonestly, somewhere along the lines adult Shin characterised himself in my head as just Incredibly Done with the City and the Vanguard and everything about a place that would define itself as the last, the best, the true light of civilisation, and in doing so cast aside everyone outside their walls.
( a bitter revelation )
( a bitter revelation )
(no subject)
Feb. 26th, 2016 08:24 pmIt intrigues me that Guardians were first known as Risen because it confirms Ghosts don’t really know what they’re doing. There is no grand plan! Their purpose is simple: find a hero, raise a hero, and then aid that hero in however they choose to fight the good fight. The Ghost is only ever meant to be support.
The Faction Wars themselves are evidence of that. Each budding group had their own blueprint for how humanity could rebuild itself, and they swayed various Risen to their individual causes, immortal soldiers making for formidable allies – and all the while the Ghosts would have been supporting their chosen heroes as they clashed with Risen and Faction alike and fought to find a better way. They do seem to have limits, but only broadly; Dredgen Yor’s Ghost calls him out for murder because he is acting in contempt of the Light, to hurt and impede, but Eriana-3’s Ghost participates in torture because she is acting in service of it, to struggle and succeed. As long as their hero still stands against the Darkness, the Ghost is bound to assist them.
Curious, then, that the Ghost in the game refers to you as a Guardian from the get-go – a title chosen by the Risen of old to reflect a particular purpose – and is so quick to urge you to the Tower and the Vanguard. It suggests that over time the majority of Ghosts have come to approve of this system. They have no grand plan of their own, but they’ll nudge this one forward as a preference. A Guardian who chooses to work outside the Tower’s bounds will still have an eager aid, of course, because they raised you for good reason and trust in your decisions; they just find this a model worth seeing.
A warming thought, in a way: the Traveler gave us beings that would support us in almost all things, and we rewarded that faith by building something they actually like.
The Faction Wars themselves are evidence of that. Each budding group had their own blueprint for how humanity could rebuild itself, and they swayed various Risen to their individual causes, immortal soldiers making for formidable allies – and all the while the Ghosts would have been supporting their chosen heroes as they clashed with Risen and Faction alike and fought to find a better way. They do seem to have limits, but only broadly; Dredgen Yor’s Ghost calls him out for murder because he is acting in contempt of the Light, to hurt and impede, but Eriana-3’s Ghost participates in torture because she is acting in service of it, to struggle and succeed. As long as their hero still stands against the Darkness, the Ghost is bound to assist them.
Curious, then, that the Ghost in the game refers to you as a Guardian from the get-go – a title chosen by the Risen of old to reflect a particular purpose – and is so quick to urge you to the Tower and the Vanguard. It suggests that over time the majority of Ghosts have come to approve of this system. They have no grand plan of their own, but they’ll nudge this one forward as a preference. A Guardian who chooses to work outside the Tower’s bounds will still have an eager aid, of course, because they raised you for good reason and trust in your decisions; they just find this a model worth seeing.
A warming thought, in a way: the Traveler gave us beings that would support us in almost all things, and we rewarded that faith by building something they actually like.
(no subject)
Feb. 6th, 2016 08:26 pmAll the enemy races know Ghosts are the weak links in the chain; small, weaponless, easily wounded by the Dark.
What they don’t know is that they can and will demat a basketful of laundry straight into your face and be back behind their Guardian in the time it takes you to claw four pairs of underwear out of your eyes.
What they don’t know is that they can and will demat a basketful of laundry straight into your face and be back behind their Guardian in the time it takes you to claw four pairs of underwear out of your eyes.
(no subject)
Feb. 5th, 2015 08:29 pmIt goes without saying that the in-game introduction to Guardian life is somewhat briefer than seems helpful, so here’s a collection of headcanons on how it might actually work in-story!
• ( blorp )
• ( blorp )
Guardian Ideas
Jan. 13th, 2015 08:30 pmA Hunter who has grown addicted to the visions and memories seen in death and is starting to put others at risk with their suicidal tactics.
A Warlock working secretly and perhaps vainly to try and encourage a rebellion among the Cabal’s psions.
A Titan campaigning for support and willing colonists to settle ground outside the Traveller’s protection, with the hope of creating another safe space to ease the issue of overpopulation within the City.
An Awoken who was one of the very first to leave the Reef in search of the fabled homeworld, only to be met with hostility from the survivors; centuries later they struggle to balance pleasure at seeing their kin spreading across the Earth against lingering resentment at having to fight in the name of those who murdered them in their fear.
A highly regarded Crucible champion who is terrified of going outside the City.
A former botanist who fills their Tower room to overflowing with their attempts to document all the plants that are new to them and sets hidden, hungry eyes on the Black Garden.
A Guardian whose initial resurrection was interrupted; though they were successfully raised they have a dislocated, erratic grasp of the Light, making them as dangerous to themselves and allies as their enemies should they try to weaponise it in the field.
One of a pair of Guardians raised simultaneously who now walks the worlds alone with their twin’s Ghost, the new bond forged by their shared grief.
A fervent believer in the Traveller during the Golden Age turned bitter xenophobe and Binary Star cultist as a Guardian – or vice versa.
Someone of a famous enough name that they’re able to identify and meet their own distant descendent. It’s weird for everybody.
Disabled and neurodivergent Guardians who work through it – mute Guardians who let their Ghosts lend a voice when needed, blind Guardians who stalk fearlessly through the unseen shadows between Light and Darkness, attention-deficit Guardians who develop armour systems that boost focus and catch details they might miss.
The next Speaker, though they don’t yet know it.
A Warlock working secretly and perhaps vainly to try and encourage a rebellion among the Cabal’s psions.
A Titan campaigning for support and willing colonists to settle ground outside the Traveller’s protection, with the hope of creating another safe space to ease the issue of overpopulation within the City.
An Awoken who was one of the very first to leave the Reef in search of the fabled homeworld, only to be met with hostility from the survivors; centuries later they struggle to balance pleasure at seeing their kin spreading across the Earth against lingering resentment at having to fight in the name of those who murdered them in their fear.
A highly regarded Crucible champion who is terrified of going outside the City.
A former botanist who fills their Tower room to overflowing with their attempts to document all the plants that are new to them and sets hidden, hungry eyes on the Black Garden.
A Guardian whose initial resurrection was interrupted; though they were successfully raised they have a dislocated, erratic grasp of the Light, making them as dangerous to themselves and allies as their enemies should they try to weaponise it in the field.
One of a pair of Guardians raised simultaneously who now walks the worlds alone with their twin’s Ghost, the new bond forged by their shared grief.
A fervent believer in the Traveller during the Golden Age turned bitter xenophobe and Binary Star cultist as a Guardian – or vice versa.
Someone of a famous enough name that they’re able to identify and meet their own distant descendent. It’s weird for everybody.
Disabled and neurodivergent Guardians who work through it – mute Guardians who let their Ghosts lend a voice when needed, blind Guardians who stalk fearlessly through the unseen shadows between Light and Darkness, attention-deficit Guardians who develop armour systems that boost focus and catch details they might miss.
The next Speaker, though they don’t yet know it.
(no subject)
Oct. 28th, 2014 05:22 pmSo many of Wash’s problems come down to him being a great big melodramatic nerd who keeps casting himself as a main character in the wrong genre of story.
He assumed Project Freelancer was a heroic drama, starring the good guys as steadfast soldiers throwing themselves on the experimental grenade because humanity was dying and extreme times called for extreme measures – but the Director was corrupt and ruthless, the Project had little to do with the war, and their sacrifices contributed nothing in the end.
So he became an anti-hero instead, reshaped by The Black Pit Of Betrayal into a patient predator holding dark secrets close and biding his time in his enemy’s shadow until he could hit them brutally hard from within – but consequences were already catching up to the Director, and the legal system had no tolerance for some rogue playing around with action movie tactics.
So he tried damn hard to become the villain, figuring the wrong people always seemed to come out on top and a self-serving attitude would at least serve his self – but his nominated enemies treated him more as someone in dire need of a nap and a juice-box than an irredeemable antagonist, and wrapped it up by dusting him off and taking him home.
I have to figure that around this point he gives up the worst of it, throwing his hands in the air in the grand gesture of fuck it and accepting that there’s no such thing as a universal plot-line – there’s just things that happen and the ways you deal with them, and the best anyone can do is strive to keep the balance between intention and fact.
It never does stop him from casting long, brooding stares at minor inconveniences and internally narrating the way a spilled cup of coffee relates to the hardships of his life though.
He assumed Project Freelancer was a heroic drama, starring the good guys as steadfast soldiers throwing themselves on the experimental grenade because humanity was dying and extreme times called for extreme measures – but the Director was corrupt and ruthless, the Project had little to do with the war, and their sacrifices contributed nothing in the end.
So he became an anti-hero instead, reshaped by The Black Pit Of Betrayal into a patient predator holding dark secrets close and biding his time in his enemy’s shadow until he could hit them brutally hard from within – but consequences were already catching up to the Director, and the legal system had no tolerance for some rogue playing around with action movie tactics.
So he tried damn hard to become the villain, figuring the wrong people always seemed to come out on top and a self-serving attitude would at least serve his self – but his nominated enemies treated him more as someone in dire need of a nap and a juice-box than an irredeemable antagonist, and wrapped it up by dusting him off and taking him home.
I have to figure that around this point he gives up the worst of it, throwing his hands in the air in the grand gesture of fuck it and accepting that there’s no such thing as a universal plot-line – there’s just things that happen and the ways you deal with them, and the best anyone can do is strive to keep the balance between intention and fact.
It never does stop him from casting long, brooding stares at minor inconveniences and internally narrating the way a spilled cup of coffee relates to the hardships of his life though.
(no subject)
Jan. 8th, 2014 05:32 pm“I knew you would do this, Meta. I just can’t believe-”
I’ve always wondered what supposed last words Wash had to say to the man who used to be his friend, who was as much a victim of the Project’s AI experiments as him, who stalked him and battled him and never quite took that final, fatal shot to end the threat that Wash posed.
Always wondered whether Wash would have ended on dark sarcasm
(“-it took you so long-”)
or tired resignation
(“-I thought there was enough of Maine left to change that-”)
or not at all.
(“-you’re still underestimating me.”)
I’ve always wondered what supposed last words Wash had to say to the man who used to be his friend, who was as much a victim of the Project’s AI experiments as him, who stalked him and battled him and never quite took that final, fatal shot to end the threat that Wash posed.
Always wondered whether Wash would have ended on dark sarcasm
(“-it took you so long-”)
or tired resignation
(“-I thought there was enough of Maine left to change that-”)
or not at all.
(“-you’re still underestimating me.”)
(no subject)
Dec. 4th, 2013 05:35 pmBy my count there are several moments Maine/Meta backs down from killing Wash.
First is just after South has shot him in the back; the Meta clearly walks up to the disabled Wash, and at absolute minimum fails to finish him off. It’s unclear, but he may have also left Wash with the healing unit, or the healing unit may have simply done enough by the time of its removal to keep Wash alive. Regardless, he leaves the defenseless Freelancer to be recovered.
Second is where Maine takes aim at Wash and clearly hesitates a long moment before then being forced by other circumstances to make a retreat.
Third is when they go toe-to-toe, he knocks Wash down, and then he chooses to run instead of fight further.
Fourth is debatable, but in the belly of Command he is given clear opening to kill Wash, and only wounds him instead. Badly wounds him, mind, but does not seem to rank Wash’s death above other priorities.
Fifth is even more debatable, but given this prior history, I do find it notable that in the final scrap of season eight Maine doesn’t manage to kill Wash. It’s not as though Wash isn’t making him work for it, but the Freelancer’s pretty outclassed, and even when Maine does bring him down he chooses to stalk towards him slowly enough that he has time for last words (and unexpected cavalry), and turns away from him to focus on the Red Vs Blue over unloading a final finishing shot. Maybe Maine’s just playing up the menacing theatrics - he has a history of that too - but it’s worth pointing out.
In short, Wash goes up against the Meta multiple times and, according to the evidence and the outcomes, Maine keeps pulling his punches.
First is just after South has shot him in the back; the Meta clearly walks up to the disabled Wash, and at absolute minimum fails to finish him off. It’s unclear, but he may have also left Wash with the healing unit, or the healing unit may have simply done enough by the time of its removal to keep Wash alive. Regardless, he leaves the defenseless Freelancer to be recovered.
Second is where Maine takes aim at Wash and clearly hesitates a long moment before then being forced by other circumstances to make a retreat.
Third is when they go toe-to-toe, he knocks Wash down, and then he chooses to run instead of fight further.
Fourth is debatable, but in the belly of Command he is given clear opening to kill Wash, and only wounds him instead. Badly wounds him, mind, but does not seem to rank Wash’s death above other priorities.
Fifth is even more debatable, but given this prior history, I do find it notable that in the final scrap of season eight Maine doesn’t manage to kill Wash. It’s not as though Wash isn’t making him work for it, but the Freelancer’s pretty outclassed, and even when Maine does bring him down he chooses to stalk towards him slowly enough that he has time for last words (and unexpected cavalry), and turns away from him to focus on the Red Vs Blue over unloading a final finishing shot. Maybe Maine’s just playing up the menacing theatrics - he has a history of that too - but it’s worth pointing out.
In short, Wash goes up against the Meta multiple times and, according to the evidence and the outcomes, Maine keeps pulling his punches.
(no subject)
Nov. 22nd, 2013 05:37 pmI’ve always headcanon’d that you can tell just how invested Tex is in anything by the outcome of her efforts.
( pinocchio didn't know what he was asking )
( pinocchio didn't know what he was asking )
