he came to me
he came to me though I was afraid
my fear and anxiety have ruled my life and it has been so consuming
upon my windowsill he sat, black and ancient, and the tap of his claw against the glass spoke of something more eloquent than any language I had ever heard
and even in my fear I knew there was something there
and so I pulled open the window
and he flew within
and my fear rose as his wings beat against still air
and he slammed upon my chest and I fell backwards
upon the floor
without defenses
and the tip of his beak pressed against my sternum and once more I knew pain
the pain that all of us forget, primal and animal, deep and hurting, frightened to the core
in my nose was the smell of mildew and sweat as he pressed harder, there must have been blood in my mind but when I looked down upon him I was unharmed
his eyes met mine
something was planted deep within me
it was impossible for me not to pass out in the process
upon awaking he was gone
the window was still shut
but the fear and anxiety had left me
replaced by something so much deeper
a primal need
and fear
and spite
a flavor dancing upon my tongue that I will not forget
so I moved to my window
and the ink of the night sky had become alike to my own substance
as I moved to join it
Bonus question: What’s the first advertising jingle you remember from your childhood?
​Andrew Ross (@dengarsw): Super looking forward to the Animal Crossing Halloween Event. If people need candy or a place to hit up, watch my Twitter feed as I tend to post Dodo codes. I’ll also be doing the Pokemon Go Halloween Alolan Marowak raids just because it’s one of my favorite Pokemon (useless, but pretty). Probably gonna do some Pokemon Sword since, if it’s not obvious from my review, I spent a lot of time doing the multiplayer and not the core story. I’m still trying to figure out if I want the ice pony, which seems so useful with all that snow out, or the ghost pony because it’s just plain awesome. Who am I kidding? It’ll be the ghost pony.
Um, so, as a kid, my mom severely restricted the amount of TV we could watch. Like, an hour a day, including ads, so I told her I’d leave the room during those to get another show in (plus I was always told we couldn’t afford anything we saw). But that rule went out the window if dad was home alone. I can vaguely remember Chuck E. Cheese’s “Where a kid can be a kid” jingle, but just that part. It seems I’ve always understood that ads were a waste!
Brianna Royce (@nbrianna, blog): Honestly, between Halloween and a family birthday and packing, I’ll be lucky to sneak in to play any games this weekend. But if I do, it’ll be my usual: Star Wars Galaxies Legends, Torchlight III, and maybe some City of Heroes.
For the bonus question, I honestly have no idea, but the first one my brain conjured up when trying to think of one was Snappy Tomato Pizza, which I’m pretty sure I have never actually eaten, but the jingle for it is apparently filed away somewhere in my brain, so there you go.
Chris Neal (@wolfyseyes, blog): There will continue to be Behemoth slaying in Dauntless as I try to chase this season’s battle pass goodies as well as upgrades for some weapon sets I want, and a friend and I are going to likely schedule some regular dips into Elite Dangerous. Also, lots more Hardspace: Shipbreaker, because there are ghost ships now. Heck yeah.
Bonus question: CROSSFIYAAAAAAAH!
Eliot Lefebvre (@Eliot_Lefebvre, blog): Even with all of the issues that I’ve personally been having over the past few weeks, this weekend I have… well, it’s a kind of big deal that I can’t talk about. But it’s notable. Other than that, I’ll be tooling around a bit in Final Fantasy XIV, mostly.
My dad had a Toyota, so I very clearly memorized their jingle back when I was old enough to understand it: “I love what you do for me – Toyota!” I can still remember it with stunning clarity.
Sam Kash (@thesamkash): I’m still stuck on Spellbreaker so the majority of gaming is there. Although I continue to pick up my Halloween daily in Guild Wars 2.
Bonus: First to my mind was bagel bites. Pizza in the morning and in the evening? Hell yes.
Tyler Edwards (blog): I got an invite to check out something cool, but I’m under NDA, so… not a lot I can say about that. I’ll also be continuing my Curse of Strahd D&D campaign and possibly doing some RTS gaming — Iron Harvest 1920, StarCraft II, and the Age of Empires III remaster are all tempting in their own ways.
Bonus question: BY MENNEN.
Pierre, patron: The Last of Us Remastered platinum trophy is a long grindy effort, and I’ll grind a little more this weekend. On a whim, I decided to play Life is Strange again and it was a very good idea; I’m enjoying this game once more, and it’s so good to be back in Arcadia Bay. It’s definitely my favorite adventure game ever. (Close second is The Longest Journey if you’re asking.) As we are in lockdown again here in France, there will probably be a third game in my weekend program, but I don’t know which one yet. You’ll have to wait till next week. Be patient MOP readers and don’t leave us languishing and tell us in the comments what MMOs or games you’ll be playing.
Every Saturday, join the Massively OP community and staff for What Are You Playing, our roundup of what MMORPGs and other games we’re hoping to play this weekend (with a bonus question or two for our amusement). Tell us what you’re up to! Go off-topic! And don’t forget to have fun!
