Lady Red

A woman stands at attention, a helmet in her hands. Normally a woman of her age would be dressed a gown and standing amongst the court, but that was not her role. Her gloved fingers absent mindedly traced along the edge of the metal as she listened to the ongoing conversation being had. Her armor was standard for The Realms knights. Her poldron's were painted a delicate shade of yellow, the same shade as the feathered plume on her helmet and well worn cape that hung over her shoulder.

Her companion stood beside her, a man who could easily be mistaken as her father. His clerical robes were a bright shade of white. The fabric was lined with a thick wine red trim, the same shade of the sash fastened around his waist. The satchel that hung at his side was filled with medicinal herbs and remedies he had on hand. He may be her retainer, but this man had his own reasons for being here.

On the other side of the room was an elevated platform which held two wodden thrones. It was framed by thick cobalt drapery, as was most of the hall. The color was that of this kingdom's crest. His majesty Pendleton, a fair king, was away at battle with the enemy of The Realm with his two eldest sons. Sat upon the throne was the queen. It was rare to see her these days. Though she had many ladies in waiting, their position at her side had been replaced by nurse maids. Their white robes made them appear as ghosts as they stood not too far away from her majesty. Even at this moment The Queen looked feverish.

At the bottom of the steps that framed the platform stood two stoic knights. From a far away glance and the far away distance the two appeared to be the same height. The one at the left hand of The Queen had red paint adorning his armor. The gear was standard for an accomplished knight such as himself. The metal plating was covered in blemishes and dents. A single red plume stood atop his helmet, the face guard lowered to obscure any glance towards his face. The knight at the right hand of The Queen had more advanced gear. His armor made him seem subtly more intimidating than his partner in red. His armor was adorned with white streaks down his plating and a black hound on his right puldron. His plume sat higher than the other and was a rare combination of white and grey feathers.

Since the war had begun the court had begun to thin, as did the knights present at the castle. While her partner was here to potentially aid the queen, she was here to fill an empty position on the guard. Just another suit of armor ready to guard her majesty and the nobility within the palace walls; as was the plan.

But rarely do plans go as thought.

"Madam Knight"

Her head rose to look up towards The Queen.

"Come forward."

The woman glanced towards her partner, earning a curt nod. With hesitence she strode towards the platform. Though they did not move, she could feel the eyes of the guarding knights on her as she approached. Her eyes glanced up towards the queen as she stood at the bottom of the stairs. There was a quiet moment between the two women.

"Speak your name." Though she was weak, The Queen's voice echoed through the hall.

"Lilliana, your majesty."

"Your retainer spoke highly of your deeds. Are they true?"

"Indeed your majesty"

There was a pause. The Queen put a finger to her lips in thought. Seconds crept as she looked towards the throne beside her. One could wonder what was going through her head as she battled her own thoughts in that moment.

"You are knowledgeable of my family, yes?"

"As much as I have been told, your majesty"

Her eyebrows lifted, a light look of surprise at the lady knight's honesty.

"Then you know I have a son not at war. Have you any thoughts?"

It was quiet in that moment. The court stilled as they held their breaths. Though it was not out of fear for what she would say. It was of their own, fighting to keep their thoughts unknown. Lilliana had heard the muttering of the court earlier that day. Many did not favor the young prince who did not go to war. They saw him as a coward. But was it cowardice to protect your mother and furthermore your family line? What sorrow would it bring if the King and his heirs perished in war? In her mind, it took great courage to bear the burden of survival.

"The Prince has made a great sacrifice to stay by your side." she said quietly, as if unsure of what she should say. "Though I have heard many unkind words for his lack of action, I have not come to share them. We all have our reasons for what we do and do not. That is all I can say."

The same look of surprise stayed on the queen's face. Her eyes once again hovered over The King's throne. For a moment she could see her lower lip quiver. Lilliana was about to look down when she locked eyes with the queen. She could almost feel the turmoil brewing inside.

"Kneel"

Without hesitence she followed the command, kneeling on the lowest step of the platform.

I made my way back onto Facebook [I know] to see what the anti-cap groups [I know] have to say about the Marineland Transfer.

To my surprise only one of the two had a post relating to it still up; and it didnt have any added dialog, it was just a repost to the group.

Now, of corse, the only comment on it said "Trafficking, torture, animal abuse, sanctioned animal cruelty." and nothing more. The other group does have the feature where one of the mods has to approve any posts added to the group, but just like another I was in, it seems as though the only recent posts [other than those from organizations] that have been approved are all from the same person. Theyre known for making the usual clickbait videos you see from groups like this, but they're all about Ran and Stella at Kobe Suma.

Yesterday a handfull of the belugas from Marineland Canada was transported to the Shedd Aquarium and SeaWorld San Antonio(?). Of corse the comments are full of people lamenting the animals being sent to SeaWorld in general. Ive seen comments that say it's a fate equal to death.

I need to remind myself that the General Public has been manipulated by PETA and other "Animal Rights" groups. The facts are that Marineland Canada is closed and they do not want to keep taking care of the belugas or keep them on property. There are only two choices: send them to other aquariums or euthanize them.

And they just dont understand that. The general public is still gripping to the idea of a Whale Sanctuary that does not exist, and the one that the know [Whale Sanctuary Project] is one Marineland Canada have repeatedly stated they did not want to work with, has stated publicly that they are not prioritizing beluga rescues at this time, has a capacity of 5-8 belugas, and most importantly IS NOT BUILT.

I'm so tired of the whole LARP trend. Thankfully Technolarp has stopped, but I recently found the Larp vs Blue account and...

If their half assed content gets more views than the machinimas I've been in, I'm going to be severely disappointed. Is that what people want? A rehash or poor replica of content they loved? That's probably why we're getting live action remakes, reboots, and sequels instead of new and original concepts. Jeeze and don't get me started on Red vs Blue Rebooted.

Days in the Kenyan desert were no joke. The sun beat down upon anyone standing in her light. Her throne in the sky was clear of any fluffy clutter for the most part. It had been that way for a few days, but her reign couldn't last forever. Luckily for them the forecast that morning called for a refreshing evening thunderstorm. The idea of potentially having a cool evening after a week of hot and swampy nights made the day seem to crawl by. By 15:00 you decided to stop checking the clock. Not an hour later you stopped trying to look for clouds.

With a disappointed sigh you make your way down from the lookout on the outer wall. The teammate who tapped you out of watch duty took a second glance at your sulking form, but ultimately didn't ask what was wrong. They knew. Out of everyone on base you were the most excitable when it came to the chance of rain. It's not like the team was stationed in a dry as hell canyon. It's just who you were.

The afternoon slowly slipped into the early evening and suddenly there was a low rumble. You quickly run up the stairs to get a better view. It's hard to see, but on the other side of the water you can see a beautiful wall of dark grey clouds. A smile as bright as the sun shining above you grows on your face as you see the clouds getting closer. The wall seems to race across the lake, heading straight towards the base like it heard you calling.

The storm was just about halfway across the lake when you could see it drop its payload of water, a torrential downpour that would no doubt flood the vehicle bay the moment it made it over your head. Suddenly the wind started to pick up. At first it felt like the normal winds from an incoming storm. The breeze made the heat seem to blow away, but quickly it picked up into something more. Something dangerous.

The gale starts kicking up sand and dirt from the upper rim of the canyon walls. A loud alarm blares throughout the base. It's one you had never heard before. Before you can think to ask what was going on a warning popped up on your helmet's hud.

[Dangerous Radiation Spike! Seek Shelter Immediately!]

The voice of Farside's AI Checkmate repeated the warning in your ear. Before you could even think to move, someone was already grabbing you. This was the quickest you had seen anyone on base move in days. Within a fraction of a second everyone was scrambling down stairways and off of catwalks to duck into the relative safety of the indoors.

The next thing you knew you were half dragged, half shoved, into a room. You tripped over yourself as you stumbled into the darkness. Then you actually tripped over something that was leaning against the wall. Reaching your arms out you catch yourself on a shelf. As you struggled to get your bearings you could hear the door shutting behind you. There was a moment of complete darkness before a solitary light weakly flickered on. Keeping your eyes low you see exactly what you had tripped over: a weed eater.

You were confused at first, looking over the other yard tools leaning against the walls and sitting on the shelves in front of you. Then a moment of realization slowly creeps in. Of course there's a garden shed here, where else would Peanut have gotten the tools to maintain the base? Most of them assumed he was weeding by hand. They never would have imagined that gardening tools were an option let alone available to use.

[All FIXER operatives are detected in interior sectors. Initializing Base Shutdown]

The robotic voice of Checkmate drones over the com channel once more.

If you don't know what Hanahaki is, it's a trope seen in fanfic where someone starts caughing up flowers because the person they love doesn't love them back.

Lmao I saw this and thought of one of those "draw the squad" templates.

You dont follow me, have no original content, and dont engage with the fandom I'm in.

I wonder if Izzy would be into a game like that. We know she's into werewolves so Valko would be up her alley.

I think a parody title could be "Desire in the Stars" a game made as UNSC propoganda for civilians to engage with. It would be like if COD made a dating sim during the MW2 Summer. [I would romance Alejandro in a heartbeat]

I want the boys to be tactical, but with a twist. Maybe some supernatural so we still have our warewolf, but maybe some with enhancements, like Caleb.

If I do write this silly little fic I think I'm just gonna namedrop Valko, but for the rest of the boys-

James, the super soldier with a bionic arm

Rupert, the medic with telepathy

Alex, the rookie with super speed

Valko, the CQC expert who's a warewolf

Lin, the sniper who's a reaper for death himself

Marco, the communication officer who's a siren