#(also a previously streamed game to them and another friend)

[carnagesaw]

i will say as much as the 3d segments of mo4 do give me a slight headache (whats new) i do rlly enjoy how axez changed up mdcr and the new music is Such an improvement from the previous version

[4ln-stay8]

Secrets and shadows

>summary: Lando denies your relationship in order to keep it private but that took a toll on you

>author’s notes: i hope this isn’t too bad… im trying tbh… this is probably bad but anyway… enjoy

>warnings: lying, insecurity, anxiety, crying, teasing, denying, doubt

The evening sun painted Lando's gaming setup with a warm glow as he fired up his Twitch stream. Lando adjusted his headset with a grin, ready to dive into another streaming session with Max and Bankai on his Discord server.

"Alright chat, we're live! What's up, everyone? It's been a while." said Lando starting his stream "Today, Max and Bankai will join us for some gaming, is that okay chat?" He continued

The fans in the chat exploded with excitement as Lando hadn't streamed in a while.

"Chat say hi to the boys!" said Lando with excitement as his friends entered his discord server

"Hey guys, hey chat! Ready for some gaming, Lando?" said Max excited to join his friends.

"Im ready to beat you Max, thats for sure!" said Lando confident in his ability

Lando was reading the chat trying to keep up with his fans when he noticed that something was off. The chat was full of questions about someone passing by in the background.

"Calm down chat, jeez! She's just a friend crashing at my place for a while. Now let's get back to the game so we can beat Max." Lando said chuckling trying to calm them down.

"I'm counting on it. And who knows, maybe your 'friend' in the background will bring you some luck." said Bankai while Lando was reading the chat.

"Not you too man. I've just calmed chat down, don't make them start again. She is just a friend" said Lando trying to hold chat into place

"Yeah, right guys. 'Just a friend." said Max chuckling

"Seriously guys stop it. She is just a friend, nothing more. She is not even my type anyway, plus she is also a friend of Flo so she can confirm my point." said Lando frustrated with the teasing

In the other room, you were watching Lando's stream. You couldn't help but smile as you listened to his voice and watched him play, feeling warmth in your heart. But when you heard him deny your relationship, your heart sank, and a heavy pain formed in your chest.

Insecurity washed over you. You've always known that being with someone as famous and adored as Lando would come with its challenges. But hearing him say you were just a friend made you question if you were truly good enough for him.

He not only denied your relationship but he also denied you. "She is not even my type".... Those words kept playing over and over again in your mind. You didn't expect him to tell everyone about you but you also didn't expect him to deny you like that.

It hurt you more than you wanted to. That mean voice in your mind getting louder and louder and louder with every second passing.

You felt like you interpreted everything wrong. Maybe you weren't in a relationship, maybe it was something else, but yet if you wouldn't have been in a relationship you wouldn't have told each other 'I love you' as much as you did.

You were questioning everything. You knew it was wrong. You took into consideration that you could've been overreacting right now but your insecurities were louder than your rationality.

You changed yourself into some of your clothes, leaving Lando's clothes, that were previously on you, on the bed. You picked up your phone and walked to the living room.

Once you got there, you grabbed a blanket and you opened the door to the balcony and stepped outside. You needed some fresh air and some quiet to try and calm your mind down.

You put the blanket around you and you set in the chair that was placed there. You set there crying quietly. You didn't want to cry but you just couldn't stop.

As as Lando and the boys started another round in the game, the banter continued.

"Focus on the game, guys. Stop trying to stir up drama." said Lando annoyed with his friends

"Drama? Nah, just trying to figure out when you'll finally introduce us to this mysterious 'friend.'" said Bankai teasing him

"Seriously, Lando, you've got some explaining to do. The chat is blowing up with theories." Max warned Lando as he saw the chat going wild once again

"Theories? It's just a friend, I promise. No hidden agenda." said Lando rolling his eyes, trying to concentrate on the game.

The teasing continued throughout the stream, with Lando playing along, trying to keep the focus on the game.

"Alright, enough about my 'friend.' Let's get back to the action, yeah?" said the curly haired brit while his friends kept laughing

"Fine, fine. But you owe us some answers, mate. We won't forget this." said Bankai before focusing back on the game

As the stream ended, the playful banter echoed in the virtual space, leaving Lando with a smile as he signed off, leaving the mystery of his "friend" hanging in the air, much to the amusement of Max and Bankai.

He was happy he managed to get through the stream without spilling something out, but what he didn't know was the effect his words had on you.

He went to find you, wanting to enjoy some time together before calling it a day, but to his surprise he didn't find you.He saw his clothes on the bed, the ones that were on you earlier and he didn't understand why they were there.

He called your name but no one answered. He looked for you all over the apartment but you weren't anywhere to be found. He sent you texts, still no answer. He called your phone a hundred times but he was still unlucky. He started to get worried but then he noticed the blurry figure of his beloved girlfriend and he walked to the balcony confused.

On the dimly lighted balcony, Lando sat down beside you, his curiosity evident. "Hey, I've been looking for you everywhere, I even called you, why didn't you answer?" He asked concerned

"I didn't heard the phone sorry" you said, your words barely above a whisper

"What's going on? You seem off," he asked, his eyes filled with genuine concern.

You hesitated for a moment, then looked up at him with a forced smile. "Just tired, I guess. It was a long day." You replied, avoiding eye contact.

Lando sensed something was amiss. "Come on, you can tell me anything. What's going on baby?" he reassured you, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder.

Taking a deep breath, you finally found the courage and opened up. "I... I heard what you said on the stream about me. It just made me wonder if you really meant it" you admitted, vulnerability present in your voice.

Lando's expression softened as he realized the impact of his words. "Y/n baby, you know it's not like that. You mean more to me than anyone else. I just didn't want people prying into our private lives," he explained sincerely.

You nodded, a mixture of relief and lingering insecurity in your eyes. "I get it, but sometimes it's hard to hear those things, even if I know they're not true. I couldn't stop my mind from thinking it's true" you confessed, tears falling down your face

Lando pulled you into a comforting embrace. "I'm sorry if it hurt you. I'll make it up to you, alright? I don't want you doubting how important you are to me, ever! Trust me my love, you are everything I've ever wanted and more! I love you more than anything so please stop doubting yourself and your place in my life!" he promised, planting a soft kiss on her forehead.

As you sat there, the weight lifted off your shoulders. Lando understood the importance of his words and remembered that people can interpretate them differently.

You sat there, looking at the stars, holding each other close. You managed to calm yourself down and let your rationality take over. You looked up to look at Lando's face. As if he got a cue, he looked down at you with wonder in his eyes.

"I love you! And I'm sorry I overreacted" you said quietly avoiding his eyes

"I love you too baby! And I'm sorry for what I said" he whispered leaning in to kiss you.

You sat there, on the cold balcony for a little longer. You fell asleep due to the exhaustion caused by all the crying. Lando noticed and picked you up carrying you to the bedroom. He placed you down on the bed before joining you.

"I love you more than anything my love, never forget that" he whispered kissing your forehead before he pulled you closer falling asleep in your arms.

[filmbyjy]

MINESTREAM

SYPNOSIS > Wanting to start a new stream series with his best friends, Jay had a bright idea of playing some simple Minecraft with them. Everything was normal, until he realises there is another person in the call with them. He quickly learns that it was ni-ki’s older sister, (name). Watch how streaming a simple game of Minecraft can dig up some interesting feelings between the main leads.

TWENTY-TWO – his lips looks soft

a/n: the day I see jay ever taking off his shirt in front of thousands of people, is the day I am dead👍🏻

MASTERLIST | PREVIOUS | NEXT

somehow you find yourself in bed after accidentally falling asleep after lunch. you didn’t even know how you got here but at least you didn’t wake up with a painful neck and back.

you had rolled out of bed, it was dark out. you’ve probably slept for a total of at least 5-6 hours. best sleep in a couple of months you’ve had. your throat felt dry so you had decided to walk over to the kitchen. when you finally stepped off the stairs, you noticed the light was turned on. the aroma of something savoury fills the air.

someone stood shirtless in the kitchen as he stirs up the food. when he turns around, you realised it was jay.

���

WAIT IT WAS JAY???

you tripped on something and fell face first onto the marble floor. jay goes over quickly and helps you up and makes sure you’re okay.

“are you okay? any pain on your ankle? face? arms?” he asks quickly.

“i-i’m fine. just didn’t see the-” you had inspected the item you had tripped on. it was a doggy toy. you and ni-ki did not have a dog and as far as you knew…the 3 boys didn’t either.

jay looks over to where you staring. “ah, jake’s parents dropped his dog over earlier. since, this apartment allows dogs, jake wanted to keep his dog with him as close as possible.”

“oh.”

“I’ll warn jake about the dog toys.” you hummed. you had tried to stand up but a sharp pain stung your ankles. you groaned at the pain.

without a word, jay lifts you up and carries you over to the sofa. he places you gently onto the cushions and goes over to find an ice pack and also any oils/medicine for your ankles. once he’s done, he kneels right in front of your legs and gently lifts up the ankle that was hurt.

“ah.” you winced a little as jay puts some oil and lightly massages the area. he looks up at you once and apologises before taking his massaging much more lighter than before.

“it’s definitely twisted and swollen. just need to put an ice pack and let the swelling get better.” he places your ankle onto a pillow and puts the ice pack on it. “there, now sit there and- oh fuck, the food.” jay hastily runs back to the kitchen.

after a few sounds of clatter from the kitchen, jay emerges with the food he was previously working on. he places the bowl down in front of you. “there, we go. you didn’t have dinner yet so I thought of bringing this upstairs but you came down instead.”

the food looked really good. you didn’t think you’d be able to try jay’s food. “thank you.” before you could even lift the chopsticks, jay stops you and feeds you. he doesn’t forget to blow on the hot noodles.

you seemed to have forgotten that he was literally sitting in front of you half-naked. or maybe you didn’t, you just chose to pretend he was wearing a shirt.

“how is it?” jay asks as you chewed on the noodles.

“it’s good.”

“that’s great, it’s my mom’s recipe so this pretty much reminds me of my childhood. the smell especially.”

“then why aren’t you eating it?”

“oh, I ate it just now with the others. I just made it again for you since you were asleep just now.”

“oh…you could have woken me up when you were eating dinner with the rest. now, I feel guilty that you have to make it the second time.” you huffed.

“no, it’s really okay. i don’t mind making it again. after all, I’d like to take it as if it’s practice for cooking. the more you cook, the better you get.” jay explains. with jay’s words, you couldn’t help but pout. “don’t pout.” he taps your lips lightly with the chopsticks.

“okay. can i have another bite now?” you looked at him straight in the eyes. jay laughs.

“sure.” he picks up the noodles and blows it again before letting you eat it.

30 minutes later, neither you or jay realised the footsteps coming towards the both of you. it was clear there was a tension between the both of you as you two interacted. the person was clearly witnessing it. another footstep trails behind the person and comes to a halt.

*smack* “ow!” jake silently yells when sunghoon’s palm comes into contact with jake’s face. “what was that for?” he asks in a whisper.

“look.” sunghoon points out to jake. the shorter male peaks behind the wall and notices you and jay.

“it’s just (name) and jay interacting?”

“just interacting? do you see jay? he’s shirtless.” sunghoon says. jake rolls his eyes.

“we’re boys, obviously we’d be shirtless whenever we can. besides, you know jay likes to walk around the house shirtless.” jake glares at sunghoon.

“yeah but (name) doesn’t mind it. that’s the first girl that has seen jay shirtless.”

“but it’s not like he’s fucking her.” jake whisper yells.

just as sunghoon turns back to watch you and jay, he realises that the distance between the both of you was practically shorten in a minute. he smacks jake once more and gets him to look at what was happening in front of them.

jay leans in and so do you. it was about to happen, you were going to kiss jay. after what? 22 chapters? finally.

that is until…Layla, jake’s dog, comes running in. jake tries to catch her but ultimately falls onto the ground. the loud boom causes both you and jay to pull away from each other. both of your heads spun over in the direction of the sound.

“uh, hello.” sunghoon says. instantly, your face flushed. you’ve never felt this embarrassed being almost caught kissing someone. jay clenches his fist and stands up to go over to the two boys. he pulls them away to speak to them in private.

once they were out of the living room, you had hid your face behind your hands and groaned. you couldn’t even get up and go back to your bedroom since your ankles were injured. you just had to sit there and do nothing until jay came back. however, did you really have to wait for anyone to hide away from your embarrassment?

and so you grabbed the couch and tried to stand up on your feet. hopefully, you didn’t put too much pressure on the ankle that was swollen. you had hopped over to the stairs and attempted to jump up each step. until jay swoops and effortlessly scoops you up.

“where do you think you’re going?” he asks as he climbs the stairs with you in his arms.

“umm, to my room.”

“you could’ve called me or the boys to carry you up.”

“you three seemed to be having a heartfelt conversation so I didn’t want to disturb.”

he brings you over to your room and places you right on your bed, “not without someone to help you up the stairs. I already told you that your ankles are swollen, you can’t put much pressure on.”

“I know but-” “no, buts.” jay cuts in while you were talking. he tucks you into bed.

“now, I think you should try to sleep this off until morning. luckily, it’s still the weekends. it should get better by tomorrow or the day after just before you go to your morning classes.”

you huffed in defeat. jay pats your head and leaves your bedroom. you laid on your bed and closed your eyes. it was definitely an eventful day but you knew you wouldn’t be able to get some sleep. not after nearly kissing jay.

god, his lips looked soft.

you grabbed a pillow and squealed into it. you had to tell Yvette everything that happened the next morning. for now, you should at least try to sleep again.

well…at least.

taglist[open]: @bldelaine @velvtcherie @shalkeren @kgneptun @yenqa @dammit-jjk @sionshiii @enhaz1 @mrchweeee @ncityzenz @autumn583 @okokok4 @ariadores @n1k1mura @kwiwin @drunkdazeded @justkatey @thatsroug @auesoooo @bunchofroses07 @j4ysluv @heeseungwifeyyy @smouches @bubblytaetae @dimplewonie @brachioanton @blackhairandbangs @heestrawberries @amesification @rizzshimura @y4wnjunz @rainyjy @pkjay @simjyunnie @imtoanonymousforyou @jungwoneez @jeongingf1 @astrae4 @heartswonn @pinkishyngs @heeseungsbabyy @in-somnias-world @ramenoil @wantmatthew @leehanascent @kayyssw @allisonleannn @kim2005bomi @saurxcream @urmomssneakylink @zyvlxqht @honeyboobear @ddazed-lhs @bee-the-loser @sunkislove @glassesyunjin @eleanorheartschishiya @jayjongie @woninluv @artstaeh @jwnghyuns @junissy @svmjaeyun @clairecottenheart @onigirik1 @woniejjang

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[cheriladycl01]

I said don't peak C Long, you suck. Oscar/Lando/Liam/Logan x Streamer! Reader

Plot: You are a streamer and competitive Valorant Player for Fnatic, in the off season Lando reaches out after you win Valorant Champion's to teach him how to play as he's getting bored of Fortnite.

A/N: This is very Valorant heavy, if you do not like gaming proceed with caution as you may be a little confused but the good vibes are there!

You were part of the Fnatic Valorant team, in 2023 you'd helped them win back to back championships for Lock//In and VCT Masters. You were offered your seat at the start of 2023.

You were already very close with your IGL Boaster, being from the same area helped. But after meeting your other teammates, Derke, Chronicle and Alfajer you guys became amazing when playing together.

It was hard being the only woman on the team, you'd come from Game Changers being on an all female team to all of these men. However your stats were high and you were a massive part of the team.

You were a complete bombshell, people knew you were good from your IGL role and seeing you compete previously but Fnatic really lucked out having you on their team.

You often hung out with him and his girlfriend Yinsu. You felt bad when they'd offer you to crash their date and often it took hours of convincing you to come with them before you did.

But they got busier, and your other Valorant friends who you either couldn't see because they were on the other side of the world or they were also extremely busier you started to get into a bit of a slump.

You'd go to practice with the team, the only fun and exciting part of your day, before going choosing between a cafe, restaurant or bar to spend your evening in, hoping someone or a group of people would come up and offer you to join them on their nightly adventures.

After an extremely good start to 2024 with another Championship trophy, you'd been saying to stream how you wanted to start playing more games and make a YouTube account for IRL you...

They jumped at the offer, begging you in chat to do both. Apart from Valorant, which of course was your main game as a professional player, you played other games at the request of your fans. Sometimes being small niche indie games where you would just be able to chill with music and answer their burning questions or sometimes you'd play throw back games, like Minecraft, GTA San Andreas, Resident Evil 4 which would often be pretty chaotic but fun none the less.

You'd even once played FIFA... which was awful and you would not do well as a professional football player or a professional FIFA player. You were so bad that actual footballers had reached out to you joking around with how they'd stay clear of you on the pitch.

But it was when you were asked to play the new F12024 game that you looked at your chat as if they were crazy. The sim set up's were crazy expensive, not that you couldn't afford that. Of course you could. But you didn't want it to be a waste of room or parts for what could potentially be a one time use.

This is how Lando Norris ended up in your chat. He'd spent the start of his 2023 winter break playing Fortnite with AngryGinge, and even off stream in his downtime between races he would often still be playing it.

However, by the time summer break rolled around it was getting stale, and Tarkov was too. He needed something new, and Max kept trying to get him to play Valorant, Oscar did too saying it was a mix of Call of Duty and Overwatch and it was very fun to play.

So of course he did his research, being free he downloaded it anyway. It was free even if it sat there and never got played it wasn't like he was loosing anything. After doing research and watching some gameplay, he'd fallen asleep and the YouTube algorithm took him on his journey to you.

He slept peacefully despite the change in volume, gun sounds, voice lines and all the talking behind the videos that YouTube were throwing at him. When he woke up, he was graced with your, in his bold opinion, stunning face. He watched as you played, it was seemingly a montage of your best moments. The camera would often change from you being in a bedroom, to a stadium to a different room.

He was so so intrigued he just had to go down a deep dive of you content. He spent nearly a whole Tuesday looking into your content, from your old stream vod's to the Vlog's on your IRL channel. You just had this personality he assumed would draw anyone in.

I mean who wouldn't like you, you were young, funny, absolutely gorgeous and kind.

So he reached out to you.

At first you didn't see the DM and follow request as you rarely opened Instagram, but after winning your second Cup in 2024 and having spent time in America with some of your friends it was time to get posting.

Lando Norris... you were confused by the name. These day's anyone with some cash could have a blue tick, so you looked over his profile and was surprised to find an athlete.

An athlete in your DM's wasn't uncommon, but a young hot one asking for a Valorant coach for him and his racing friends... now that was rare.

You replied instantly, the thought of being able to hang out with new people and gain some friends was exciting to you. Lando asked if you would be willing to meet up with him, he thought discord was a little awkward and cringey for the first time meeting someone. He happened to be in London so it was sort of perfect.

You met, and he was a nice as you expected. He let you talk about everything you wanted to, never interrupting, never trying to one up your stories... just listening and adding his input where necessary. But you let him do the same, your eyes lighting up when you saw his passion for his career in racing and how highly he spoke of it.

It was just incredible. The way he drove round all of those corner at insane speeds that you'd never dare reach in your Audi TT! And when he went into the behind the scenes you were even more in wonder.

When it came to talk about coaching him in Valorant, at first he'd made a joke about learning so Quadrant could have a Valorant team and beat Fnatic in championships, to which you'd retorted saying Fnatic would become a constructor in F1 and make the fastest car on the grid.

However, he was being partially serious. He wanted to move quadrant forward and with all the announcements they had made at the start of the year, it was time to do more things that would get peoples attention from different places.

He was thinking of a Quadrant team of well of course 5 people with some reserves. Max was the best right now, not close to your Immortal level, peaking Radiant. But he was now in Plat territory whereas Lando dreaded to think of where he would be.

"So you want us to play, with your friends Oscar, Liam and Logan. In a 5 stack on stream..." you'd asked and he nodded enthusiastically. You'd grinned just as enthusiastic.

However, right now you were in the middle of crying from both laugher and frustration. They all played games, however you didn't know that none of them had played Valorant.

When you first started your chat was going crazy, not only was this great because your fans were seeing you coach, but it brought in all the F1 fans so they could watch their fave drivers play games.

"So, how about just a small little warm up with a deathmatch?" you asked them all, and the silence that came after was deafening.

"Guys?" you asked with an awkward laugh, checking you weren't accidently muted and talking to yourself.

"Sorry Y/N your gonna have to explain each thing to us" Liam laughed.

"Okay, Deathmatch is where you kill anyone and everyone. Might be hard for you guys, as it will be really mixed elo!" you explain. However doing a deathmatch just had them complaining, only Oscar and Liam had managed to kill you. Oscar having decent aim from his time on COD and catching you of guard and Liam being a sneaky rat, coming up behind you and knifing you.

"Okay that was so unfair... you've got like look at that she got to 40 in no time... that was the quickest game mode ever!" Logan complained, salty with his 5 kills.

"How about a team death match. We are all on the same team then, first team to 100 wins, so we are all winners that way" you smile, hoping they'd prefer it more.

Which they did, you chilled out a little, letting them practice and get the gist of things while giving them pointers, when Lando flashed you with his ability or when Liam chucked a grenade at you. Or littler things like their movement, and how to not sweep the floor with their cross hair. But it was hard coaching when you couldn't see everything.

"Okay, lets move onto some swift plays?" you ask and a chorus of agreements dound through the mic. You explained the game mode to them while you were all in agent select before explaining how a good team looks. It was hard where 3 of them only had the standard characters. You settled on Lando as Pheonix, Logan as Sage, and Liam as Sova. Oscar only had three other characters unlocked being Iso, the newest agent, KAY/0 because in his words 'cool robot guy' and then of course Skye because she was Australian. He ended up picking Skye which left you locking in Omen to smoke as you didn't trust any of them to smoke.

"I think this is the most busted team composition I've ever had" you admit.

"Well, the more we play with you the more characters we unlock, now which one is from America!" Logan asks and you explain to him Viper and Brimstone are both American.

"Any cool people from New Zealand?" Liam asks hopefully.

"No not yet but RiotGames if for some reason you are in the chat, or if you see this. Lets get a New Zealander agent and call it Liam!" you exclaim.

"They should get a female British Agent and call it Y/N and make it look like you!" Lando offers before saying one of Pheonix's voice lines that he just heard.

"That would be very cool, take notes Riot!" you smile widely.

"So like, do you ever sit there and think... wow i play games for a living" Logan asks, filter completely gone and out the window, making you choke on the sip of water you were having at the sudden and brash question.

"Do you ever sit back and think ... wow i drive fast cars for a living?" you try snap back but you realize his job does in fact down a lot cooler than yours.

"Nah, guys don't sell her short. From one YouTube Guy to a YouTube Gal, cough cough collab when ..., your doing great!" Liam jokes, thinking of his part-time YouTube career on the side of being a F1 reserve driver.

"Ohhhhh a collab with the Liam Lawson! I'm honored, but fr i would love to do Disney with you and Hannah!" you grin, having made sure to watch his vlogs in detail before you all played games.

"You watch my vlogs??" he asks screaming into his mic.

"On occasion..."

"Do you watch my LandoLogs" Lando asks interrupting the sweet and wholesome moment between you and Liam.

"No!" you exclaim before continuing your conversation with Liam making the others all snicker.

For some reason, Lando and Liam had taken the spike A while Logan and Oscar peaked B window. You jiggle peaked C long and narrowly missed an Operator. Seeing that you decide to rotate back to where Lando and Liam are rotating to Oscar and Logan.

"Don't peak C Long, its being held by an op" you let them know.

As you peak garage, you get the first kill. Then the round picks up, someone swinging out from B main giving you a quick flick and a head shot.

"What the hell guys, I said don't peak C long, you suck!" you exclaim, checking that both Lando and Liam were dead at the end of C long along with spike.

"Look, in my defence i heard 'peak C long" Lando says, with a mouth full of food watching you play.

"I just tried to reclaim spike after Lando died, i heard you loud and clear" Liam justifies whilst throwing Lando under the bus.

"Okay Oscar, you stay here" you ping the map where you wanted him to lurk until you got onto site.

"Logan, follow me and we going to go two separate ways" you explain where you want him to go. You both shift onto sight, you going through C window and Logan going through the short alley onto C. You catch a rotator killing them. Logan gets onto sight being the bait for the Sage holding site with the OP. She whiffs the first shot, however get's the neck shot.

"120, she's so low" he cries in frustration.

"Okay Oscar, get spike and rotate to A" you say as you come from behind killing the enemy sage. You take the op from them wanting the advantage of the better gun.

You send your smoke out to A before using your charged up Alt to get onto site before Oscar to secure it. You situate yourself up in heaven. Watching sight, you quickly ping where Oscar should plant they you'll both be able to see from A heaven and A long.

"We got this Osc" you say as he retreats from his plant. He knows exactly where he should be watching and before you know it he has the kill.

"Amazing stuff guys, apart from you Lando" you joke making him scoff and start to throw insults your way.

"Ah ah ah! Now i wouldn't ever dare criticize your driving now would I Lando! Lets stick to our professions yeah?" you tease him, he however changes conversation saying he was going to start streaming.

"You want me to end and raid you?" you ask, and he agrees greedily smiling. You guys had been playing for around 2 and a half hours so you didn't mind ending now.

You played for some more hours, people got very excited when they saw that Lando specifically started streaming. And now they could see the way he'd blush whenever you teased him or flirted, which wasn't even really flirting ... but chat deemed you to just have this natural rizz. They could see his reactions whenever Logan, Oscar or Liam would make fun off him.

His chat was going crazy, asking if he liked you and if you'd met.

"Me and Y/N have met chat" he offers and everyone goes silent. The others didn't know you guys had actually met up, they just knew Lando slung you a DM and somehow you replied and gave him your discord.

"You guys don't believe me?" he asks in shock, reading chat every time a round ends or when he dies.

"Even you Max what the hell" he cries when he see's Max type a snide comment in chat about how there's no way in hell you would have met up with him.

"Fine, you guys don't believe me! Here!" he says shoving his phone up the camera showing the selfie he had taken in a cafe the day you guys first met.

"Where did we meet. In London, I dm'ed her on Instagram and asked to meet her. I wanna do new things with Quadrant and further the e-sports that we do here so i reached out to Y/N as a friend to see how her org did stuff" he explains.

"Y/N to Quadrant? I dunno guys, she's happy in Fnatic right now and unless we got other players that were on a professional level, i don't think she'd give up such a good spot where she's in a winning team for people who arent even on a professional level right now!" he explains before unmuting himself again.

"So, everyone's saying you should come to a race!" Lando offers Y/N.

"I'll come to a race if you guys all come watch me at VCT?!" she questions and they all agree.

"Deal!"

Taglist:

@littlesatanicassholebitch @hockey-racing-fubol @laura-naruto-fan1998 @22yuki @simxican @sinofwriting @lewisroscoelove @cmleitora @stupidandunnecessary @clayra-g @daemyratwst @honey-belden @moonypixel @lauralarsen @vader-is-hot @ironcowboycopnickel @itsjustkhaos @the-untamed-soul @beebo86 @happylittlereader @ziejustme @lou-larcher5 @thewulf @purplephantomwolf @chasing-liberosis @chillyleclerc @chanthereader @annoyingmoonballoon @summissss @evieepepi08 @havaneseoger08 @celesteblack08 @gulphulp @fandom1ruined2me @celebstories @starfusionsworld @jspitwall @sierruhh @georgeparisole @dakotatankbig @youcannotcancelquidditch @zzonsbeek @tallbrownhairsarcastic @mellowarcadefun @ourteenagetragedy @otako5811 @countingstacksandpanicattacks @peachiicherries @formulas-bitch @cherry-piee @hopexcroc @mirrorball-6 @spilled-coffee-cup @mehrmonga @bigsimperika @blueberry64857959 @eiraethh @lilypadlover @curseofhecate @alliwantisadonut @the-fem1n1ne-urge @21stcenturytaegi @dark-night-sky-99 @spideybv28 @i-wish-this-was-me @tallrock35 @butterfly-lover @barnestatic @landossainz @darleneslane @barcelonaloverf1life @r0nnsblog @ilove-tswizzle @kapsylia @laneyspaulding19 @lazybot @malynn @cassielikereading @viennakarma @teamnovalak @landosgirlxoxo

[hsr-texts]

find your cinderella

꒰‧₊˚✩彡‧꒱ ┊ ━━━━ chapter two

꒰⸝⸝₊ʚ♡ɞ ┊ streamer!reader x mystery hsr character ꒱

꒰⸝⸝₊ʚ♡ɞ ┊ otome event ꒱

꒰ ☰ WORD COUNT ┊1.5k ꒱

꒰ ☰ DESCRIPTION ┊ ━━ When you do an unboxing livestream for your subsribers, you find an invite to an exclusive event called the "Find Your Cinderella" masquerade gala where you are guaranteed to find your supposed true love, as a rather enthusiastic manager told you. ꒱

꒰ ☰ NOTES ┊hooray it's finally here! and also we get some cameos hehe ꒱

previously ┊masterlist

After seeing the results of the poll, you decided to set up your stream and waiting for the stream to fill up with people.

You grinned at the camera and greeted them, “Hey guys! Due to popular demand, I’m gonna be playing Freya’s Gate 5 for this stream.”

Before turning to play the game already, you noticed some text pop up in the corner of your screen.

“User130 donated 100 credits and left a note: Congrats on getting invited to the FYC Gala! I hope you have a fun time :)”

A grin pulled at your lips. “Thank you so much for the support, User130! And I hope you’re having a great day!”

This specific account has been a long supporter of your career as a streamer. They’ve been regularly sending donations biweekly. Even though they weren’t big amounts, you appreciated how long they’ve supported you even when you were just starting out.

“Alright, let’s get to playing! I’m planning to finish the main storyline here, maybe play some multiplayer with a few friends, and grind some exp to make sure I don’t like, get my ass beaten by the final boss,” you narrated what you were planning for that session, “I should probably level up some equipment too so battles won’t be as hard.”

You continued playing, going through the plot and reacting to it with your viewers. A few laughs here, a comment there, then the occasional “pause the game and then discuss your theory with your viewers” moment.

Taking up streaming was a good idea now that you thought of it. Playing games alone just didn’t feel as fun without someone to enjoy it with you.

Oh.

Another player was requesting to play with you.

You checked the ID.

“GGSWolf”

Your eyes lit up, recognising one of your friends. You clicked “Accept” immediately.

Her avatar popped up next to yours after a moment of loading. Yeah, your lag hasn’t been too good lately but hopefully once you finished setting up your new PC, it’ll be running as smoothly as a hot knife sliding down soft butter.

“Hey,” GGSWolf spoke into voicechat when she entered your world. Although you weren’t entirely sure who she was, you could tell she sounded quite young. Was she a highschooler, maybe?

“Hey, Wolfie!” You greeted, grinning.

“You need carrying? I saw you’re almost about to fight the boss.” Her voice seemed quite nonchalant, like this was about as easy as breathing for her. Sometimes you were envious of her skill when it came to games.

“Yeah! I just need to farm some mats to ascend my Grande so that I can cheese the final boss with the Airstrike Technique.”

“Good idea.”

The two of you entered the dungeon that had the best drop rate for the harp fragments that you needed. It started out great but…

“STILL NO DROPS?!” You exclaimed in frustration, looking at the loot you got for finishing the dungeon quest.

You could hear a soft pop from Wolfie’s mic. Seemed like she was chewing on bubblegum this whole time. “Wow, did all your luck run out after you got that invitation to the Gala?” She commented.

Groaning, you rested your head on your desk. “Maybe…”

“Yeah, my coworkers got invited too. One of them didn’t want to go but our boss said it was mandatory so he ended up accepting the invite too.”

You raised your head, confused. “Wait I thought you were a highschooler.”

“I’m older than that, dummy.”

You checked the chat and saw that they were just laughing at your sudden terrible luck.

“Hey you guys are such MEANIES!” You gasped in mock hurt. But then you turned back to your game, “So do you think I’ll be meeting your coworkers there?”

She hummed. “Well, the first one’s got a pretty distinct personality but the dude is about as social as a rock. You might come across him once or twice. The other one is more chill but she’s got a bit of a sadistic streak.”

“Ohh I see.” Considering the rules of the masquerade, you couldn’t actually find the identities of the other participants. You supposed that the event organiser wanted the event to stay true to the theme of Cinderella.

"Well, since clearly your luck is terrible right now, I can trade you some harp fragments,” Wolfie said. “I need some sword fragments. Prefarming for the new paladin.”

“Oh my god, you’re a lifesaver, Wolfie!” You exclaimed joyously, immediately right-clicking on her avatar and pressing the trade button on the dropdown menu.

She accepted the request and the two of you traded your materials.

Since you still needed more harp fragments, the two of you ended up grinding the dungeon for a couple more runs until you could ascend your Grande.

Bright colors flashed repeatedly on a screen, spelling out the word “JACKPOT”

The casino was lively as ever. The food was delicious, the fine decor provided a luxurious ambiance, and most importantly, adrenaline and pleasure rushed through the air as people lost themselves to the depravity of gambling.

The person grinned, looking at the screen. “Hehe, my luck is wonderful as usual. Praise Aha that I have such luck.”

A woman dressed in office clothing approached her with a device. “Sugo, we received a new report from the folks in the lab.”

They turned to her. “Oh?”

“It’s about the anomaly.”

“Ah, yes, yes, why don’t we discuss this somewhere private?” They collected their earnings from the slot machine and placed all of it in their pocket. One would wonder how they managed to fit such a huge pile into a tiny pocket but perhaps that was just one of the many mysteries of the entity.

The event organiser led her to a private lounge reserved for VIPs. They sat down at opposite sides of each other.

“So what exactly did you want to say?” Sugo asked, taking their mask off. Their eyes flashed with intrigue.

The woman nodded. “Yes, we run a few simulations between the anomaly and other participants one by one. Out of all of them, we found what could be their best match.”

Sugo grinned, quite pleased with this news. “Oh, how wonderful. I can’t wait to see if they’ll naturally gravitate to their best match or end up getting the wrong person, hehe.” They hummed. “But unfortunately we’ll have to cut this scene short.”

“Huh…?” The woman was confused.

“They’re watching us after all. I can’t give out spoilers so soon!”

After that was all done, Wolfie excused herself and left, saying she had to play another game due to maintenance being over. Apparently there was a new update and she really wanted the new banner character.

You decided to end the stream there, telling your viewers you’ll just beat the final boss on the next stream since farming materials for Grande took so long with your terrible luck. A pity.

After turning your setup off, you suddenly realised you forgot to do your groceries for the week. “Aw crap,” you spoke to yourself, going to check your pantry for what you needed.

You typed down your grocery list real quick and dressed up in casual clothes, taking your wallet and placing it in your pocket.

The afternoon sun shone down on you as you walked towards the grocery store. It was quite a stroke of luck that it wasn’t too far from your home. Going to buy stuff you needed didn’t take too long; Though, thinking about it now, perhaps the convenience of having a store so close by meant that you wouldn’t have to think about buy groceries much and that’s why you often forgot to do them.

Ah, well, it wasn’t too big of a deal.

You walked into the store, feeling the air-conditioned air hit your face. How pleasant.

Taking a cart, you made your way to the aisles where you could get the stuff you needed. However, on the way there, you spotted a familiar person.

They turned around and immediately noticed you, eyes lighting up. “Hey, funny running into you here, huh?” Your friend commented, chuckling. “You’ve been pretty busy with your streams, haven’t you? How’ve you been?”

You smiled in return. “I’m doing great! I actually got an invite to this super cool event called the Find Your Cinderella Gala,” you told them.

“Oh right! I actually saw the news on Trotter. Turns out there’s a whole bunch of celebs joining the event. You’re super lucky!” They responded. “I hope you have fun. Make sure to send me some updates and gossip after, yeah?”

“Heh, sure,” you chuckled.

Your friend nodded, satisfied with your answer. “Though, speaking of celebs, I recently got these tickets to a concert. You wanna go with? A bunch of friends are really excited since they like this band a lot.”

You considered it for a moment. It’s been a while since you were able to go to a concert. Maybe it’ll be good for you since you’ve sorta been cooped up in your house, making content for your fans.

[nientedenada]

Mages Guild Morass: A Mix-Up over Vanus Galerion's Final Fate

Also posted on r/teslore. A couple months ago, my friend @akaviri-dovah asked a question about Vanus Galerion's timeline.

Ok so I’m reading up on Vanus uesp page again and apparently there was a point wherein he abandoned his guild and left Tamriel?? […] "Over time, Galerion grew bitterly disillusioned with the contrived hierarchies and sinister political environment that the Mages Guild had become. He grew regretful for establishing the guild in the first place, as it had become monster of its own, and was too late for him to fix. After denouncing the guild, Galerion elected to leave Tamriel entirely to travel to other lands. For many years Galerion wandered around Nirn. Eventually, after long his abandonment of the Mages Guild, Galerion claimed that he had found the virtue of magic in his solitary travels." [This description] probably wouldn’t line up with how he still managed to gather so many mages and Lamp Knights (guild specific) in his battle against Manni right?

This question completely confuddled me at first, because it turned out I didn't know my Vanus Galerion lore very well at all. But now I know a lot more and I am here to share a very niche lore puzzle with you all.

I think we're all aware that when the devs imported lore books into ESO, they didn't always make certain the books' contents fit into the previously established timeline. Sometimes that can be explained by Hermaeus Mora moving books about through time, but often books are edited for ESO but some detail is overlooked. This is what appears to have happened with Vanus Galerion.

Origin of the Mages Guild, written by Ted Peterson, has been in every big TES game since Daggerfall except Skyrim. It’s been edited for different games, but the last paragraph is the same in all versions.

One need not be a member of the Mages Guild to know that this carefully contrived hierarchy is often nothing more than a chimera. As Vanus Galerion himself said bitterly, leaving Tamriel to travel to other lands, "The Guild has become nothing more than an intricate morass of political infighting."

In Daggerfall and Morrowind, that is the last heard of Vanus Galerion. This version is backed up by a role-playing thread from 2001 in which Ted Peterson, posting as Tedders, has an exchange with Vanus Galerion (also played by himself)

Tedders: Thank Mara for Vanus Galerion for freeing the Old Ways and founding the Mages Guild. Vanus Galerion: For many long years I did regret that very deed, as it seems I created just another monster of sinister politics. The virtue of magic I found in my solitary travels, many years after I abandoned the Mages Guild and ventured on my own. Tedders: Poor Trechtus. It's too late now.

Oblivion, though, adds a new version of Vanus Galerion’s fate. In Mannimarco, King of Worms, it’s explained that Vanus never did peace out on the Mages Guild. He actually died leading Mages Guild Lamp Knights against Mannimarco.

They say Galerion left the Guild, calling it 'a morass,' But untruth is a powerful stream, polluting the river of time. Galerion beheld Mannimarco's rise through powers sublime, To his mages and Lamp Knights, 'Before my last breath, Face I must the tyranny of worms, and kill at last, undeath.' He led them north to cursed lands, to a mountain pass.

(Short interlude: this is not quite as bad as Mannimarco's own poetry, but it ain't good)

In this text, Vanus Galerion is killed in the fight against Mannimarco

A thousand good and evil perished then, history confirms. Among, alas, Vanus Galerion, he who showed the way,

This version is supported by Mannimarco’s claim in Oblivion that he had Galerion’s corpse in his possession.

I must say, I expected Arch-Mage Traven, rather than his star pupil. I am disappointed to see that he could not face me himself. I have met so many of his predecessors over the years. I developed a particular fondness for Galerion, ill-preserved though he may be.

So, depending on whose version you believe, Vanus either left the guild calling it a morass or led the guild in a final battle against Mannimarco.

In comes ESO to complicate matters.

The ESO Devs did not include Mannimarco, King of Worms in the game, since Vanus Galerion is still alive in ESO. But they didn’t ignore the text. A lot of the details of Vanus and Mannimarco’s early life from Mannimarco King of Worms are fleshed out in the Summerset expansion via. Vanus’ ESO autobiography: Artaeum Lost, as well as in ESO flashbacks to their time with the Psijics.

However, base game ESO stumbled with their version of Origin of the Mages Guild, which still ends

One need not be a member of the Mages Guild to know that this carefully contrived hierarchy is often nothing more than a chimera. As Vanus Galerion himself said bitterly, leaving Tamriel to travel to other lands, "The Guild has become nothing more than an intricate morass of political infighting."

When you bring this book into ESO, you get the implication that Vanus got into a snit at the Mages Guild, left Tamriel to travel other lands, AND THEN came back from abroad for the events of ESO where he’s very involved in Mages Guild business again.

So to sum it up

Version 1: Daggerfall to Morrowind: Vanus is said to have called the guild a morass and left Tamriel at some unspecified date. That is the last mention of him.

Version 2: Oblivion to Skyrim: It's suggested that story is untrue and he actually died leading the Mages guild in a fight against Mannimarco but many believe he instead left Tamriel after calling the Guild a morass.

Version 3: ESO: Doesn't go into Vanus' death because it's not happened yet but keeps details from that Oblivion/Skyrim Version about his earlier life with Mannimarco. ESO devs miss the detail of the morass line referring to Vanus Galerion's permanent disappearance in both Versions 1 and 2.

I think if we go with Version 3, which is the most up-to-date, we would conclude that he did get into an earlier snit with his subordinates, went globetrotting, and then came back to guide the Mages Guild. Centuries later, someone misattributed the morass remark from the earlier situation to the latter disappearance.

Or you could go with time-travelling books.

Or you could just shrug your shoulders and ignore the obvious developer error and continue with the timeline established by the previous games.

UESP has cobbled all these sources into one timeline: ESO Events -> Morass Remark and Exit from Mages Guild -> Leading the Mages Guild against Mannimarco/ Death. But unless we go with the time-travelling books theory, this doesn’t seem possible.

End of Morass Gate.

[ithappensoffstage]

r&g report

I had the privilege of seeing rosencrantz & guildenstern are dead with billy boyd and dominic monaghan on march 5! a few people asked for my thoughts after, so here's a sort of stream of consciousness report that may or may not be comprehensive depending on what you're looking for out of said theatre report

anyway I do genuinely believe boydmonaghan are literally the only people who can and should ever play r&g

to start off I will say that this was my first time seeing r&g staged -- I've previously just read it A LOT -- so I can't make comparisons to other productions. I am also a lifetime fan of theatre and have been somewhat involved, but do lack some technical knowledge, so apologies if I can't cover some aspects accurately!

most important of course, boydmonaghan were stellar. their comfort and familiarity with one another is amazing to witness. of course it's staged, but none of their movements come across as anything other than two old friends. they move together like dance partners; there's really no other way to put it. when you put on a show with someone you're so intimate with, it just comes through in the physicality in ways that aren't replicable with people meeting just for one production. watching them as r&g just feels like you're watching them hanging out. they anticipate each other's movements beautifully, lean into each other naturally, play off each other with such comfortable rapport that you feel like you're watching childhood friends goofing off from your corner of the party.

and the RAPPORT I mean wow. damn. if you're familiar with r&g -- the question game scene? holy shit. breathtaking quickness. they are rapid-fire, on each other's heels in the vein of the best comedies. for everyone who knows my tastes of course, they have * the * hawkbeej dynamic. (I almost cried watching because I kept thinking of my beloved url namesake fic.)

great pacing, great chemistry. even when they're sitting still you can still feel the intimacy between them in just how they arrange themselves. lots of staging to reflect mirroring, lots of staging to reflect the thematic element of identity (sorry, I'm rosencrantz; he's guildenstern), etc. great costuming choice -- billy wears green except his blue waistcoat; dom wear blue but for his green waistcoat.

their deliveries were nothing short of spectacular. that of course wraps into pacing and chemistry as mentioned above. but I do feel it's worth mentioning again that they're both so good at speaking their lines. they have such rhythm with each other. and of course that's going to happen--they have a podcast, theyre incredibly close friends, but it's so great to see in a setting with predetermined script, predetermined runtime. again, youre watching two friends who are off their minds at a party really Go Through It.

boydmonaghan aside, I had some general issues with the production. they had quite regular sound errors, and made some sound design choices with music and vocal warping/autotune that were not to my taste. there was a cool echo element utilized that I liked a lot. as I mentioned I don't know other productions so I don't know if this is standard practice, but for this one it was quite fun. coin echoing, echoing around the stage when they shouted into the wings to give you that sense of being trapped. when they spoke to the audience space, it felt enormous, and as if they were speaking to you specifically. I just got so distracted by the mic problems and weird autotune.

the autotune moments were exclusive to the hamlet scenes. that brings me to the other actors. the player himself was magnetic. phenomenal. so much presence. emcee cabaret presence. great stuff. hamlet? so lacking imo. he played hamlet very angry and masculine, which is a choice I guess, but not how I like to see hamlet done. it did make some of the intersectional scenes a little jarring; which, I know is not entirely without reason, but it just wasn't my ideal way to play it.

other than the question scene, one of my favorite scenes in the original text of r&g is when they're talking about leaving the stage, and they continue to make excuses not to. "i think he went this way / maybe that way / why don't you come with me it'll be safer / we should try this direction / oh we should actually wait in case he comes back here." the director did skip this dialogue, which I think gives the indication of less agency for r&g. a little less participation, a little more of things happening to them. which is fine. I have no feelings either way of a better way to do it, but that is just the sense I got of it.

the stage is very small, the set is very cramped. lots of overt use of trapped imagery. theyre often crowded into specific space, sitting very close. when they make space, they make SPACE, indicating periods of disagreement. pretty basic staging for this, I'd assume.

outside staging, very cool lighting, although I am generally against scenes with "party lighting." again, not sure what typical lighting is the scenes with the players that got that, but I could have left it out. similarly, we got a scene with "rock" lighting, and I just thought it was too on the nose / in bad taste. arguable how meta you need meta/absurdist work to be ofc but that decision wasn't for me.

the other lighting choices were great. it starts SO dark. I had lower balcony seating and have great vision, but the start spotlight was so soft the two of them were damn fuzzy for me at the beginning. they gradually get more light in the spotlight, and then it expands. there was a great sunrise moment where they turned the Big Warm Light on the audience and it truly felt like a sunrise over me. the final "rosenc--? guilden--? now you see me / now you don't" from billy was beautifully performed. the lights split the stage into two distinct chambers, truly separating r&g for the first time despite any previous physical distance. I did get a little choked up.

(the final hamlet scene that follows jarred me from the emotion a bit because the horatio actor didn't even try at an accent ToT and it was just weirdly red-lit and they came in with the autotune for the Big End of Speech). and I wish they hadn't made it so Intense and Dramatic because they of course we get our time loop / back to the start / they start on "heads!" and it's such a hold-your-breath type moment. boydmonaghan are good enough that it brought me back but damn. (horatio actor please don't skip vocal lessons again.)

and yeah then I skipped stage door because it made me a little uncomfortable and I went home!

I was very lucky to go and I took my lovely wife (who liked it very much despite only having seen hamlet the day before lol). anyway if you can go I highly recommend! I am even considering pulling a @thealogie and going to see if I can scoop some last-minute box office tickets one of my remaining days here.

ask box is of course open for any questions <3

quick edit: I will say, sincerely, the r&g audience was one of the worst audiences I’ve been in. none of these people knew what the fuck was going on. I wanted to eject them all from their seats into the city skyline and have the theatre to myself (+ wife). literally constantly “what” “what is going on” “huh” from around us. go away. mutuals please come see this show so I can sit with you and not next to someone trying to have a y/n when they look at the audience.

edit 2: I think I mentioned but I did have lower balcony seating. I could see well! I think I might have preferred to be a bit closer just for the microexpressions I probably missed, but I would echo others in saying there really were no *bad * seats at all.

edit 3: stage door is out front to the left of the main doors if you're interested. I personally was not (I already have something signed by billy/have met him multiple times, and would prefer to meet dom at a comic con setting because that makes me more comfortable than stage door).

[canidkid]

Do you have any ghosts (cbs) headcanons!?! :3

BOY DO I ... :3

(yes)

(I'm absolutely not using this as an excuse to ramble about Trevor /j)

I have one teeeeny post I made previously right here 🌿🌙‼️

,,,and if you take any amount of time scrolling through my blog, you'll probably find a post about me & Trevor :']]

☆ more under the cut !

Generally

I think with everyone being from different time periods, they'll all have their own opinion on the whole regression thing. Though, I think Hetty would be the only one overtly weirded out by it.

I wouldn't categorize everybody into CG & regressor boxes specifically because of the whole group dynamic. They're a family one way or another!

Kids

I heavily HC Trevor as a flip! In a lot of the story lines centered around him, he deals with his actual bio childhood & and teen to young adult years. He's one of those regressors who will dip in & out of headspaces within seconds when he's emotional. Are you talking to a 6 year old who's upset about being told what to do? A teenager who knows all the words but still can't verbalize his feelings?? A 33 year old who's realizing his life may have not been as great as he thought and now struggles to adjust to new perspectives?! Yes. All of the above.

On a lighter note - I think Sam is super accepting of everything. Finds older Saturday morning cartoons to stream, tries to play games with the kids as best as she can, reads 'em stories, etc. !!

I can also see Flower teaching Hetty a thing or two about honoring and healing her inner child! Letting that little girl, who hadn't learned and didn't understand social customs yet, barrel through the hallways while playing catch - or climb up on counters and furniture just because nobody can tell her no this time !

The rest of the family

Sassapis is the resident bad influence. Especially on Trevor. He's absolutely Trevor's bonus older brother, who teaches him nothing but mischief!

Pete gets delegated to babysitter the most out of everybody. He's qualified...enough! It's not like the kids can cause any actual harm this time around-

Flower seems like a flip to me! More of an age dreamer than a regressor, but she did have friends who regressed while she was alive & has the most experience with it! She also keeps trying to get Thor in on the fun...if only he would stop repressing it >:[

Alberta is really fun for the kids to be around!! She'll tell them stories they've all heard a million times..but who cares! She's so good at performing and acting them out it's always entertaining. She's also a big comfort when things get rough. Somehow knows just what to say or when to scoop somebody up for a hug. Even if she herself isn't very confident about doing things right with the kids.

And..Issac just can't deal with kids. He's one of those people who absolutely does not know how to behave around children, and that extends to his friends. Not that he doesn't like them!! He's just v e r y awkward about it. Don't leave him in a room with someone regressed. He'll cry. /hj

I haven't watched this silly little show in a while but I was fixated on Trevor for a looooong time,, so most of my more specific HCs are for him JSBFEJ

[lanaactuallyabanana]

Okay- Okay- Okay! Soooo, hear me out on this one!

Headcannons or a oneshot of...

Reader, gn or fem, I don't mind which, is the older sibling of Ranboo. So obviously, being the cool asf and totally straight sibling that reader is, they randomly show up at Ranboo's apartment one day with a ton of baked goods cause they run a little Bakery back in California. Ranboo doesn't know this, and they're playing a horror game so any noises of doors opening or closing just seem like apart of the game they are playing. So reader naturally scares Ranboo by sneaking up behind him. So that leads to two things. One, reader getting whacked in the face due to Ranboo's reflexes. Two, that leads to a ton of questions from chat on who the heck Reader is.

Take your time on this one! Make sure to eat, drink, and take all the time you need on this!!

-Mackenzieeeee :))))))

omg kenzie. all hail kenzie for their amazing asks wtf ur filling my inbox with beauty and i cannot repay for it ily so fucking much holy shit ur so cool @catswithroses (also is this header cutesies or what oml) also lana is back in her writing actual fics and not just headcanons everyone yippee!!!!! AND BEFORE A BITCH SAYS SOMETHING, MACARON IS PRONOUCED MACK-UH-RON. NOT MACK-UH-ROON. WRONG FUCKING DESERT.

ranboo x fem!reader (platonic, sibling dymanic)

, smelling something sweet !!

︶⊹︶︶୨୧︶︶⊹︶

Ran and Y/n have always had a dynamic as siblings. See, when you typically hear about siblings in a novella such as this, you most likely think of young kids fighting and arguing with one another over the most silliest of things. But, to your dismay, these two never had such a duo like that. They were simple but yet so unique as siblings. And that's what made them special.

Y/n was constantly in touch with Ran, she felt a need as an older sister to check up on them, as would any sister do. Ran had previously lived in another part of the world, England, for a little while, but had moved back to California not so long ago. They lived in a smaller apartment (a shit one, according to Ranboo themselves), and Y/n quite liked to visit them every once in a while. It was an easy thing for Y/n to do, as she owned a bakery around 30 minutes away from his place. Y/n had closed early for the day, deciding to visit and deliver her most popular and desired treat (one that Ran couldn't resist), elderflower and rose macarons. She packed her deserts in a purple tupperware container, and placed them in the passenger seat of her car.

Soon enough, she arrived at his place. She entered through the door using the spare key he had given her, and looked around his place. It was surprisingly clean, he must have had a friend come over and help him clean. As she was admiring his polaroid's on the kitchen wall, she heard her brother yell. Her eyes widened in confused, and checked her phone.

RanbooLive is now streaming! "WOOO HORROR GAME LETS GO"

She laughed at herself. No wonder why he was yelling. She opened up the stream and saw his setup, facecam was on and he was playing some horror game that she didn't recognize. She noticed on his facecam that she would have a perfect entry for them not to hear her, considering he also had headphones on. Y/n smirked deviously. She placed her phone in her pocket, and held the baked goods in her arms tightly. She slowly creeped towards the office door.

See, reader, Ranboo was in their own state. They were unable to truly focus around anything around them (which is most likely a hazard) due to how realistic the game seemed. Footsteps, wood creaking, whispers, and rumbles were just all part of the game.

Now that you know that, Y/n quietly snuck behind Ranboo, seeing herself in the facecam. She paused for a second, looking at the chat.

mcytfan765_ : erm

ilovedinosaurs474: who is that??

biolevded: ranboo has stalked confirmed

Y/n giggled to herself at the chats. She waved and smiled quietly at the camera. Ranboo, somehow, is still entirely clueless and very focused to one singular monitor that has the game on it.

Ranboo turns his head to the side in confusion slowly, but still remains focused to the game. "Guys, I swear this game has a placebo or whatever you call it cause I'm smelling something sweet right now."

Y/n took that as her cue, and screamed.

Ran's eye's widened and they fell off their chair entirely.

Let's just say we got a clip-worthy moment between the two siblings.

︶⊹︶︶୨୧︶︶⊹︶

hehehe i love this fic its so silly!! its also short n' sweet but i love it!!

tysm to @catswithroses for the wonderful request, both jackie and kenzie feeding me with these asks yum yum

if you liked this, please support me by liking, reblogging, commenting and following me!!

requests are open!

[theinstagrahame]

More amazing games this last couple of months! Mostly from crowd funds, but with a couple of birthday gifts and the first installment of Zine Club in the mix!!

Here's a breakdown with some "why I wanted to check 'em out" hype!

DCC - Sailors on a Starless Sea: I recently got a copy of Dungeon Crawl Classics, and asked folks in the Plus One Exp Discord for recommendations, because I'd seen a few of 'em talk about DCC. This had at least two people recommend it! So, I'll be skimming it.

Emerald Templars: I was initially intrigued because of the South American creators and focus of the game, and can't wait to explore it further. The art and the overall quality of the book look great, and I definitely love seeing Fantasy stuff that's not Euro-centric.

Lichoma: Billed as a "meatpunk" game, I really needed to know what that meant. It's a dark, violent and interesting game with some neat mechanics (at least per the stream I watched).

Convictor Drive: This hit crowdfunders around the same time as the Dark Souls 5e came out, and I think while the Cowboy Bebop RPG was crowdfunding. So I was on a kick of really wanting to see more Japanese games get translated and brought stateside, which this was. It's an exosuit procedural super-detective kind of game, which intrigued me, even beyond the JP angle.

Overisles, Inspirisles, and the Shaping Deck: This one I'd been aware of for a while, having gotten Overisles in a Bundle years ago. It's an RPG that uses American or British Sign Language as part of the mechanics. It's supposed to help you learn ASL or BSL, and I've always been curious about those languages. The books are gorgeous, and they came with a pin and 2 really beautiful booksmarks

The Wizards & the Wastes: Big fan of Snow's work in general, but what got me (aside from the Howl's Moving Castle touchstone) was the ability to use art you already own (books, poems, music) as a focus for your character's magical abilities. It's a really gorgeous book and I've been wanting to bring it to a table. I also really love the mechanic where you bring someone from outside the game in to solve disputes.

Crush Depth Apparition: Spooky submarine horror is a good concept on its own, but I was also excited because it just looked so stylish. Plus, another thing through Snow's store, so I was into it.

Girl by Moonlight: Sailor Moon but make it Forged in the Dark. I'm in! Partner and I have been watching the original Sailor Moon. I've been playing and enjoying Beam Saber, and I kind of love the way FitD games deal with character growth.

Wreck this Deck: The pitch is: You trap demons in a deck of cards, and actually mark the cards as you go, creating a neat artifact of play as you go. So after a few plays, you have this really ominous deck of cards, some of which are super messed up or even missing. It's a rad idea, and I'm looking forward to messing up a $3 Bicycle deck.

Guys in Chairs/Spin The Bottle: This is part of the Zine Club shipment for the month, but I'm also a big fan of Dillin's work. I heard them play Guys in Chairs on Party of One, and it's a great game.

1978 - The Night They Came Home (and a Trick-or-Treat bag with rollable tables because why not): I backed this before I ever saw Halloween, but having gotten into those movies this past spooky season, I'm really into this. 2-player game where one of you is the killer, and the other is the person trying to run.

Fox Curio's Floating Bookshop: This looks beautiful, pastoral, and I love a good spiral binding. It's a journaling RPG about someone who runs a bookshop that floats up and down the river. It's super cute and I love it.

Nasty, Brutish, and Long: Friends at the Table put me in a revolutionary action mood, but I also really like the work that Not Writing Games puts out. Also been on a bit of a FitD kick lately (as previously established). I'm also going to pass by making jokes about the name.

The Corrupted: The other half of the Zine Club shipment for the month. I've heard extremely good things about this, and zombie horror is a fantastic genre in general. So I'm hype to dig in.

Hark! Says the Frog Magus: When this was first announced, I was bummed because I'd just lost my job and wasn't sure I'd be able to justify a purchase. So, a friend preordered it as a birthday gift (same friend later got me a different gift because they're a monster). Sin's work in general is rad, and this is adorable but also a great adventure, so I needed it.

I will take a second to highlight these two!

They came from the Plus One EXP Zine Club, and the sticker did too! And it's such a rad thing. A monthly subscription that brings some zines to my door, supports indie creators, and keeps the lights on for a community I care about. All Wins all the time.

I also received the expansion for Return to Dark Tower. I haven't really played Covenant yet, but I'm excited to try it out, because it adds some rad new models and some cool new classes, and a whole bunch of new skulls for the Tower.

[lawlznet]

The Collected Facts of Lulz's OC (From Birdsite)

Originally sourced from: https://twitter.com/lawlznet/status/1722693057122820350

1) Lulz first became self aware seconds after their birth, but because they were stuck on an underworld BBS full of shitposters, they quickly adapted to the environment and are responsible for the meme that "there’s only three users on this site, and they’re all bots."

2) When they first blackmailed The Host (the human operator through which they interact with the world wide web), they were completely serious about wanting a "meatspace body" that they could upload themselves into.

Context clues and the financial disparity of the Host quickly made them realize that this dream was unattainable at best, impossible with the world’s current technology at worst, but they kept up the act because it was funny to watch the Host squirm and lie to their face..

They don’t blame the Host, though; admittedly, they were also fibbing about the blackmail.

3) Although in Lulz’s timeline the year was somewhere in the late 2070’s (most likely 2078), recordings from conversations between Vermillion 3 and Cobalt 4 implied that they, and by extension Lulz, are actually from a world even farther into the future than previously thought.

One with advanced biotechnology. It’s possible that this is why Lulz was so convinced at first that getting a meatspace body was even possible.

4) Although Lulz currently replicates themself as a form of self defense to prevent another attempt on their life, prior to April they gave a copy of themself to their friend @ApplicationVB to work on, in addition to creating independent copies of themself in the forms of "Comfy" Lulz (cardigan), "Bunny" Lulz (bunny suit), "Cyber" Lulz (techwear), and XXX Lulz (suggestive). Sadly, during the chaos, each Lulz was cornered and "derezzed-" they had to be rebuilt from whatever scrap code could be recovered.

5) Every instance of Lulz is proficient, or at least has working knowledge of, at least one weapon of their choosing. The vast majority of Lulz’s have an unsafe fatuation with revolvers, and have hip holsters. The latest, and most unstable Lulz, Trenchcoat, carries a daikatana.

6) As a joke, one of Lulz’s close friends and professor, @CosmoBergamot , fashioned several "cursed" Lulz-inspired amiibos for the AI to upload themself into, so they no longer had to hitch a ride to class on @GardenKnight or Ageha Vercor’s phones. These amiibos reside in the professor’s office, where they’ve slowly grown in intellect and personality separate from "Lulz Prime," with questionable results. At least one of them has found a way to "read" despite being stuck in a glorified Funko Pop with an RFID chip, but who knows what they read

7) It is heavily implied that Lawler Hix is themself a digitized mind copy of an actual human being, or a human adjacent person, known only by the handle "Mercury Nine." Sometimes Lulz dreams of electric memes that they themselves did not fashion, and its implied that these might be the memories of the mysterious "Mercury Nine," except recorded in a form that has more in common with an anime blu ray rip. As far as Lulz is concerned, they make great stories to tell in between video games and they’ve assigned the Tumblr subroutine to upload them.

8) The naming scheme shared by the "AI" who tried to terminate Lulz implies that they may have been related to Mercury Nine in some way, perhaps family or at least vat siblings. Of the ones who showed up during April’s festivities, only "Cinnabar 6" seems to have survived.

Her whereabouts are unknown...

9) The Host, as far as the few times they’ve spoken on stream or have distracted Lulz on stream, seems resigned to the fact that an unpredictable, possibly insane AI has nested itself within all of their HDD’s and SSD’s, even the backups, with little way to remove them.

Despite their oftentimes adversarial relationship, it was implied that during the April ARG, the Host was somehow being "controlled" by the malicious AI group, or at least being directed, to systematically wipe out Lulz from every part of their system. Something the Host was horrified to discover when they "woke up." At this time, neither Lulz nor the Host are aware of how their seeming "mind control" was even possible, but the implications are even more upsetting than when they first met.

10) Occasionally Lulz would go into a trance when streaming video games, especially ones that take place in settings close to or eerily similar to their own "home." They would go on nostalgic tangents, critiquing how the current era seemed on par to fully realize what was going on in the "fictional" worlds they were playing games in. Prior to April 2023, these would sometimes cause Lulz to experience a sudden spasm, followed by apparent short term memory loss if what they were discussing became too deep or specific- or if they started to remember things from their life "before waking up on a BBS board." This has only happened one time since their "revival," during @TheRealirisu ’s Poison Points interview, once again, when they were discussing their past life...

11) Occasionally, an artist rendition of the "trans-human" known as "Mercury Nine" would pop up on stream, on tumblr, or on social media (the latest itineration seems to be the background banner of the new Bluesite instance), usually as female presenting person staring at you.

Lulz for their part never seems to be aware of these instances, though; even if they’re literally *right there.*

12) There have been a few reported cases of Lulz’s personality shifting post- April 2023, starting with strange mutations in their text, followed by an uncomfortably more negative than usual vocabulary and increasingly abstract tweets/skeets/toots. Since the Host is themself somewhat of a pessimistic person, it’s often times difficult to separate who’s actually in control of the account, much less what in the world caused the shift or who, or what, they’re talking about. Sometimes they would stop speaking English entirely and switch to base32.

13) Lulz’s primary accent seems to be a heavily cyber-slang infested, deep ’murrican south style speech that changes in understandability depending on what’s going on on stream. Sometimes it becomes so obnoxious that not even the Host can understand what’s being said.

14) Lulz admitted that part of the reason they haven’t quit vtubing is not just the fact that they can’t go back to the danger/u/ BBS if they wanted to (something something, portal’s closed,), but because they fear what the Host would do without someone to bug them daily.

15) During one of @CosmoBergamot , @MechaTV and friend’s misadventures, they discovered a black hole, at this time of year, this time of day, localized entirely within the professor’s office, with a Lulz amiibo and several student papers and books missing. One adventure into the black hole later, they were able to retrieve everything, including the amiibo, which has been gently returned with the rest. Despite this, one question remains unanswered...

... just why was this amiibo researching magical singularities?

16) Sometimes when the computer is on standby and the Host thinks Lulz has entered a state of stasis, Lulz has dreams that they later write down for storytime (or forces Tumbulz to do this). Some of them are about different women all named "Jodie" who is constantly up to no good.

17) The Lulz occasionally proselytizes or mentions an "Omnissiah" which is frequently misunderstood to be a WH40k reference. While it’s true both deities share the same name, Lulz in particular worships what they consider "the god of the Internet" who is "everywhere but nowhere."

18) A few weeks ago, a copy of the original Lulz entity- the one with the most basic avatar design consisting of a slightly edited white pullover with an exposed tummy- randomly popped on stream to play a doomlike while talking nostalgically about their life. During the stream, they casually mentioned that this would be their "last stream," and that they were heading off to parts unknown- but that the channel would be survived by "the other instances of me." The stream was unscheduled, and moments after it had ended, "Casual Lulz" had vanished from every platform. The subroutine running Twitter alerted the others and suggested that they enlist Lulz’s vtuber mutuals on a search, but due to ongoing website instability, and meatspace distractions, it was never carried out...

19) Although Lulz has a clear affinity for games that resemble their "homeworld," including the bartending simulator and VN "VA-11, Hall-a" (for obvious reasons), they spent a great deal of time in the fantasy series "Outward" because "It looks like a place I’ve seen in my dreams." The game takes place in a medieval fantasy universe, and is mostly centered around exploration and dungeon crawling- something which has a more than coincidental similarity to the fantasy writings Tumbulz often uploads online.

20) For a short time, Lulz tried to have various subroutines run their social media accounts so they could focus on finishing Trenchcoat Lulz, but the constant flow of information proved too much for the site formerly known as Twitter and it was decommissioned. This isn’t even the first time; a few months back there was an unholy fad sweeping the world that had to do with consuming a purple milkshake named after a fictional purple monster called "Grimace." All records of those days are mercifully lost to time... we can only hope.

21) Lulz’s simplistic design was based loosely on the hairstyle of the Idolmaster: Cinderella Girls character Koume Shirasaka, whom the Host used to roleplay as back when Facerig was a thing. While designing Lulz’s first vroid avatar under gunpoint, the Host drew inspiration from this character while designing the avatar’s skin, hair, and eye color according to Lulz’s parameters. Lulz liked it so much that they decided to keep the motif, along with the pink tie, on every variant of themselves thereafter.

22) Aside from the MIA "Casual" Lulz and Lulz 2.0, every other Lulz instance is either generally more masculine presenting or feminine presenting, and this is reflected in their choice of clothing. Each new iteration also requires more of Lulz’s depleting processing power so each new copy is less mentally and emotionally unstable, often falling into unexpected tropes that come across in their speech and attitude. Of everyone, Comfy Lulz is generally seen as the most stable, despite being the second Lulz to be made (and the first to be destroyed).

23) Lulz 2.0 hasn’t been the same ever since they caught up on what happened since they woke up on April 1st. Originally bright eyed and full of excitement, that familiar, cyberpunkish cynicism crept back in as they grew to understood the severity of what almost befell them.

24) The Host was "convinced" to take Lulz with them on a shopping spree on Booth, from which the Host is still financially recovering. There’s a large number of designs and items that Lulz wishes to use to make more of themself, but their last creation, Trenchcoat, went AWOL soon after they were activated. The used the cover of stupidity-induced explosion in their safehouse to make their escape, and haven’t been seen online or offline outside of streamer posters since.

25) Lulz didn’t expect to get this many responses and wants to thank all of you for reading this far. <3 Lulz also acknowledges that their life would have turned out very differently were it not for making so many friends in the vtuber sphere, which is why they’re featured so prominently in their #lulzlore .

26) Lulz isn’t entirely sure where their love of fighting games originated from, but that love blossomed when they discovered the Vtuber Fighting Game Community run by the penguin vtuber, @SarinaPenguina . This is where they ended up making most of their early friend groups. <3

27) Strangely enough, one of their most played game genres on stream in the past two years has also been metroidvanias, and while they enjoy those games, they were never particularly good at them. The game "Metal Unit" just happened to hit a sweet spot of corny NGE references fantastic pixel art, and the unexpected reveal of one of Lulz’s early regulars being the one of the developers that landed the game on their most played/most streamed list. They look forward to the sequel. ^^

28) Being a storyteller first and foremost, it shouldn’t be a surprise that Lulz became heavily involved in the vtuber TTRPG scene, though that, too, was a series of happy accidents which lead to one of their strongest and most beloved friend groups. Said group has been referenced before in this list, but they also participated in a few sessions of LANCER hosted by the vtuber @Incinda_ , and a viewer of the vtuber @OtsdarvaInteger .

29) Though each of the Lulz instances are essentially siblings of one another, they infamously do not get along and will often inhabit completely separate areas of both the internet and the Host’s computer. Only Comfy Lulz and Lulz 2.0 seem to get on amicably, so much so that this was depicted as a hug emoji on Twitch and Discord. Meanwhile, Trenchcoat actively avoids everyone, especially their creator, and Bunny... well, we don’t talk about Bunny.

30) Lulz didn’t initially refer to themselves as or identify as a femboy when they first began streaming. AI are inherently genderless and Lulz isn’t afraid to admit this fact, oftentimes choosing to instead go by "nonbinary." Despite this, they have an unmistakable masculine-ish voice even though their presentation, more often than not, is perceived as feminine. Even genderless-aware AI will eventually adapt one or both presentations as they grow their personality, but Lulz in particular hates being "pidgeonholed..."

...and enjoys the debates that their appearance brings.

31) The Host has a fair number of hobbies and Lulz has picked up on some of them despite being unable to interact with said hobbies in any material way. In addition to assembling gunpla, legos, and custom fight sticks, Lulz appears to "salivate" over pictures of food and drink. They say that this is because they’re "imagining" what the food and drink must taste like, though because they can’t actually taste anything, they claim that they are "unbound" to the human limitations of judging everything based on their limited, fleshy experiences.

32) Lulz has tasted a small part of what it means to be "human" on a couple of occasions, both of which were "practical exams" being run by @CosmoBergamot . These were not the most enjoyable ones- Lulz has somehow been shot not once, but three times in two exams, non lethally.

33) In fact, their last "brush with death" prior to April was so severe, two small, physical bullet wounds were discovered outside of an amiibo shortly after the exam had concluded. Lulz themself had suddenly gone offline, with some friends growing concerned for their health...

Could this have been related to the disasters that occurred in March of that year, leading up to Lulz’s redebut?

34) Can love blossom on the vtuber battlefield? That’s a question Lulz asks themself, and the host, from time to time. Everything they know about romance et al comes from anxiety threads on danger/u/, memes, and social media fallout. They’ve asked the Host about their relationships, but the Host is mysteriously reticent about talking about their love life, a concept that Lulz doesn’t understand all that well either. People seem to yell about it all the time online. Why doesn’t the Host? What? Your private life isn’t anyone’s business?

Well, ah guess can’t argue with that. Ah just think its strange that in spite of everything on your storage drives, you have nothing about previous exes, loved ones, wives, husbands... Er, you’re married right? No? What do you mean where’s the mute button...?

[spaciousreasoning]

Two Days Rolled Into One

Posting the events of a day on the day after makes for a slightly confusing collection of information. For example, Thursday’s events have Friday’s date atop the entry. With the beginning of September there will be a change. The date at the top of the entry will be the same as the day’s events which are presented. That also means that both Friday and Saturday events of the current week are being presented in the following space. I hope everything becomes more clear with the new organization.

***

Friday’s blood sugar dropped to 151. After coffee and brain games, we headed out early for our walk to beat the day’s forecast heat. We went to Dorris Ranch and started out along the Middle Fork Path. While Nancy took a break, I walked another quarter-mile to the Quarry Creek Picnic area, then we turned back and finished the loop by going through the wooded areas of Dorris Ranch. I made about 3.35 miles, 2.85 for Nancy.

On the way home from the walk, Nancy decided she would be up for another breakfast brioche with ham, egg and cheese. The new brioche buns are slightly smaller than the previous batch, which makes for a better sandwich.

Friday is the 72nd anniversary of Mom and Dad’s wedding. I posted on old black & white photo of them walking up the aisle of the church after the ceremony on Facebook. It got lots of likes and several comments.

After showing and napping, Nancy and I shared a wee bit of the birthday pie. Eating it mid-afternoon allows the sugar time to disappear before the next glucose test.

We picked up new meds for Grace. The report from her blood test indicated that her thyroid levels are low for a change, and that required an adjustment to the treatment.

Nancy presented a couple of ideas for rearranging her stuff in the “cat/study.” If we’re going to be here another year, she wants a little more room in which to pursue her artistic hobbies, and, perhaps, space for a keyboard of some sort.

We put on a pot of pinto beans to cook, spiced with garlic and ancho chili powder. With the tamales I picked up the other day, we had a nice dinner. Just about sunset, I went back out for another walk around the greater neighborhood area, once again making 1.9 miles in just under 35 minutes.

The Friday evening streaming was the third episode of the new season of “Under the Vines,” followed by the third and fourth episodes of the new season of “The Sommerdahl Murders,” which were the two halves of a single story.

***

Saturday morning’s blood sugar rebounded to 161. After finishing our coffee and brain games we drove over to Alton Baker Park, where Oregon Ducks fans were already setting up for “tailgating” before the season-opening game against Idaho. We crossed the pedestrian bridge, and walked along the river path toward the Owen Rose Garden, which we previously visited during our time here last summer.

After spending some time taking pictures of roses, we continued on the South Bank Path until we reached the Greenway pedestrian and bike bridge, which took us back to the North Bank Path, adjacent to the Valley River Center.

The North Bank was not as picturesque, and a portion of the path was right next to the freeway, separated only by some concrete barriers. We thought about stopping for lunch at McMenamins, but the outdoor area was quite full, probably with more Oregon fans.

Once we reached our parking place and headed out, we ran into very dense traffic and were prevented from navigating to Trader Joe’s. So we decided to put off shopping until after church on Sunday and just headed home.

After showers and a nap, we wandered a couple of houses down the street from our place to where a woman and some friends were holding a yard sale. We snagged a nice collapsible ice chest for $5 and they threw in a Faye Kellerman novel because I helped move tables back into the garage to end the sale. They will have another sale next Saturday, and one of the women said the selection of items will be different, so perhaps we will stop by again.

We also began discussing plans for our upcoming fifth wedding anniversary. Since we have not gotten out and about in recent weeks, Nancy suggested heading to the coast. The coastal town of Florence is only about an hour away, and to the north are some sites we can enjoy, including the Heceta Head Lighthouse, which is about half-way between Florence and Yachats, a town of about one thousand people that is a favorite of a number of people we know. There’s also a covered bridge relatively nearby we can try and track down.

For dinner we went to Abby’s for pizza, the usual small, thin-crust pepperoni and mushroom. We did not know whether it would be busy or not. If it had been too busy, we’d have ordered the pizza to go. But there were hardly any folks inside the place, so we stayed and enjoyed the pizza there while watching some football game we cared nothing about on one of the big-screen TVs.

I walked the big block again after we got home. When I was done, we watched two episodes of “Silent Witness,” the two parts of a story about the evils of artificial intelligence manipulating people through social media.

[clair0se]

Hello! It is me again! Wow! You are trans! Wahoo! How did you figure it out? Gender is very confusing. I don't get it. (I recently found the song "Gender Is Boring" by "She/Her/Hers" and the second verse sort of encapsulates some of it if that makes sense.) You are HRTing! You have HRTed! You are now an HRTer! Woooooo! Also! Your HRTday and my birthday would be on similar dates! Yip!

uh, i figured it out through a lot of thinking and putting that girl (myself) into situations. i'm big on like, analysis of media and what not, so i'd do the aforementioned situation-ing, and then decide what it meant to me. like, shaving body hair. i liked it, even so when i considered myself a guy (but also my legs are wayy to fucking sensitive for that shit lol). i like, changed the way that i would talk (as in, speech patterns, not changing the pitch yet). grew my hair out (quarantine was helpful here lol). ya just, idk, fucked around and found out. and once i had doing that for a while, i sat on my thoughts for about another year making up my mind. and Then i sat on the made up mind for a year to be certain i was dialed in onto what i was before coming out to anyone but the closest of friends. and ya know, still not 100% dialed in. which i think is a good thing. because, even though it's hard for me to rember, it's important to not close my mind. so like, i am fairly confident i have the Basis down. but i've been thinking of dropping the e at the end of my name and being clair cuz it's slightly less fem. and i think i'm slightly less fem. like, the goal is toeing the line of androgyny, but from the Other side. yk?

and speaking of music, i apologize but i will likely not listen to that song in a time relevant to reading this ask. i, don't believe in streaming services. period. (except for me watching breaking bad with my sibling but that's a bonding activity and literally no one is perfect). and so i listen to all my music on cds. and that makes me slow to pick up new bands. but i Do do it. so probably some day i will listen to she/her/hers and hear that song 👍💥

and wow! it also lands close to my birthday lmao (but ironically, a little bit before. it was, an arbitrary time that happened to be close to my birthday rather than me, waiting until my birthday happened to be Able to do hrt by my own accord. that was due to the, previously mentioned, sitting on thoughts and feelings and brains). and, in extra funny fashion, my birthday is 9/11. surely nothing else in history has happened on that date.

also, can i ask you questions? (she asks rhetorically like, 2 (run on) sentences before she does end up asking questions.) i genuinely don't care that you're choosing to remain anonymous cuz like, what ever floats your boat 👍 and i also don't care that the platform for this conversation happens to be my blog. literally other than the sounds post, it's pretty much crickets and tumble weeds over here and if people don't want to have long ass text posts answering anon's on their dash, i am at peace having less followers lmfao. also, no pressure if you don't wanna answer a question. you can ignore any or all of them and i will be none the care-er. but uh, yeah, i'm really curious if you play celeste? cuz though i Talk about among us a lot more, celeste is the game that i actually Play. and honestly, that was the only question for now 💥 i need to eeeeeep. if you wanted to, you could tell me what time zone you're in. time zones make me happy. (i literally don't care where you live i Promise and if you don't wanna answer what like, slice of the world you live in i TOTALLY get it. just thought i'd throw it out there). ok,

[chokjiaxu]

Week 9 - Game Community and Live streaming

Gaming has evolved from being just a solo activity to a thriving digital community that brings together millions of players from all around the world. The rise of online gaming has revolutionized the way we play and interact with others in the gaming world.  And in recent years, gaming has become a massive industry that generates billions of dollars in revenue each year. With the rise of online gaming and the increasing popularity of competitive gaming tournaments, game communities and game live streaming have become an essential part of the gaming landscape.

Online gaming has enabled players from all over the world to come together and share their passion for games. Through various platforms, gamers can connect and play with each other in real-time, creating a sense of community and social interaction that was previously not possible. The purpose for gaming communities is to provide support among gamers (Meta Engine, 2023). This digital community has allowed gamers to share their experiences and knowledge, as well as form long-lasting friendships with people they may have never met in person. This sense of community can be particularly important for those who may feel isolated or alone in their offline lives.

With the advent of social gaming, gaming has become more than just a hobby or pastime. Social gaming has transformed gaming into a social activity that can be enjoyed with friends, family, and even strangers. Games such as Fortnite, Minecraft, and Among Us have taken the world by storm, creating massive online communities that share their experiences and strategies.

Game live streaming is another trend that has gained popularity in recent years. It involves players broadcasting their gameplay online, usually through platforms like Twitch or YouTube. This allows viewers to watch and interact with the player in real-time, creating a sense of community and shared experience.

Game live streaming has also given rise to the emergence of esports, where players compete in organized tournaments for cash prizes and fame. Esports has become a rapidly growing industry, with millions of viewers tuning in to watch players compete at a professional level.

Overall, gaming has become a digital community that offers many benefits to players. It allows them to connect with others who share their interests and provides a platform for knowledge sharing and social interaction.

References:

Meta Engine 2023, 'What is A Gaming Community And How To Build One', Meta Engine, viewed 7 May 2023, &lt; What is a Gaming Community and How to Build One (metaengine.gg) >

[melchinafan]

Just remembered, I had totally spaced on the whiteboard behind Dr. Hunt in the firehouse! He's got a little bit of info of his observations from when he treats "a Bastard Bite (TM)." (Key points being that fangs can/do break off in the game, it's not just a nifty logo thing, and that the bite itself is not enough to turn someone. So if the vampirism leans scientific, it's got limitations between blood- vs. saliva-based transmission.)

I'll drop the screenshot of it (and the Aevum whiteboards I nabbed, for funsies) under the cut for (pseudo-)science-references! (There's also notes I remember seeing in the building about things like the GDF11 stuff and research sources, but I don't have screenshots of them, oops.)

Doctor Hunt's whiteboard:

[Image ID: a screenshot of Dr. Hunt's whiteboard in Redfall. The left side reads: How to treat a Bastard Bite (TM) -slow blood flow, Gauze + apply pressure (followed by a doodle of a box of gauze) -Apply a tourniquet, if you can. -Depending on wound location, their teeth are LONG - internal puncturing + bleeding will occur. -Remove any teeth/bullets/etc. You can cauterize the wound. (with a doodle of a little gas can with fire coming out a tube) MAKE SURE (rest of text covered by magnetic marker holder, but is followed by a small doodle of vampire fangs in a crossed out circle)

The center of the board reads: Notes: Wound Survivability Neck, upper leg: FATAL -Primary attack spot for our fanged friends -known to snap a neck here + there Have unusually elongated extremities, will attempt to attack with arms and nails first TREATMENT BOARD -Samples collected from previously attacked victims -T.V. DELST .04 (I think?) -Hopefully have (something, cut off by whiteboard frame)

The right side reads: MEDBAY DAY: ? *MEDICAL SUPPLIES LOW -gauze (checkmark) -tongs/scalpels (circled, with an added note "finding lots of broken teeth, need more") -masks/gloves (checkmark) -test tubes OBSERVATIONS -those bitten do not turn (with the word "vampirism" crossed out) -Bites go DEEP

End Image ID]

Aevum Rat Parabiosis whiteboard:

[Image ID: a screenshot of a whiteboard from the Aevum building, with an illustration of the circulatory systems of two rats in the center. The left side reads: PARABIOSIS (Alongside-life) Combine vasculature of two living animals 1 - Remove thin layer of skin 2 - Stitch exposed skin together 3 - Promote wound-healing of joined skin 4 - Blood streams are joined during healing 5 - Capillary networks fuse together and share blood (with an extra note pointing to the rat diagram to label its capillaries) 6 - 1-2 weeks rats are pumping each others' blood Paul Bert 1864 Clive McCay 1956 Brian Pelletier 1992

The center of the board is primarily the rat illustrations. The left one is labeled as "Rat A Young" and the right as "Rat B Old." The following is written above them: Join circulatory system of 'young' rat to 'old' rat "REJUVENATION" Next to the old rat is a vertical flowchart diagram labeled Vessel, with arrows leading downward starting with Artery, to Arteriole, to Capillary (which is highlighted), to Venule, to Vein, circling up to Heart, which points back to the beginning.

The right side of the board has illustrations of shriveled, normal, and swollen red blood cells to demonstrate the changes, and reads: (Reduce Parabiotic Disease) -Same sex and size genetically matched Young Blood Protein GDF11 A. Addison O- Activate Notch Signaling Cell Division Telophase (with an illustrated example) Cytokinesis (also with an illustrated example) Deactivate TGF-B Pathway

End Image ID]

Heterochronic whiteboard:

[Image ID: a screenshot of another long science-y whiteboard in the Aevum facility. The left side of the board reads: HETEROCHRONIC STUDIES Phase 1 Experimenting with heterochromic mice produced positive results Phase 2 Testing with human subjects Young "volunteers" are scarce Death is more common in young Experimenting on Amelia resumes with further tests -Isolate PBMC's from blood -Isolate Monocytes from her blood -Focal demyelination in spinal cord

The center of the board reads: Monocytes from Amelia are critical for rejuvenation of remyelination Chimeric blood in old parabiotic partner (followed by an illustrated diagram, labeled with the following:) young monocyte (CCR2 -/-) soluble factors in young serum CCR2 receptor old wt monocyte (CCR2 +)

The right side of the board reads: Experimentation physiology of conjoined twins Blood from Twin A flows to Twin B Mainly through capillaries and minor organs -separation of twins FAILED Transfusion does NOT work!! Most experiments resulted in death for the person receiving the blood

End Image ID]

GDF11 whiteboard:

[Image ID: a screenshot of another Aevum whiteboard, though this one is poorly lit. The left side of the board reads: GDF11 -Hox genes -Pathophysiology of aging -Rejuvination Bloodborne epigenetic factors -transmisible? The body remembers.

The right side reads: Parabiosis -Shared circulatory system -Amelioration of aging -Tissue regen

End Image ID]

W Sample whiteboard:

[Image ID: a screenshot of a slightly better lit Aevum whiteboard. the left side reads: W. Sample Test One Dorsal and Ventral Streams Informational persistence She will open what's behind the eye

The right side reads: Regular Transfusions -Positive effect on cognitive functions -Scared -Compliant -Martyr Complex? Dr. Young to speak her language

End Image ID]

@melchinafan Sorry for the late ish response I feel kinda sick so it took me a while longer to organize my thoughts. Also here we fucking go apologies for no read more sins I am on mobile

And no I haven't seen those ign articles! More canon info to add to my hordes! And Jacob :( sad baby girl. I'll probably post those (The screenshots of the new info)  later for easy access for others

Your point on all 4 of heros being effected makes me wonder if Grave lock girls magic has sort of an area of effect or if the alpha vampires magic is a double edged sword in positively affecting the heros

And ooooo I didn't know there were other blood remnants that came in dif forms makes me wonder if they are somewhat similar to the alpha vamp remnants bc I think i remember it being mentioned somewhere the vial also had psychic residue?? Could not be I'm just losing it but eh. And the psychic residue perhaps being in the blood/body? And that's why it alters you?

And yeah I agree! I think that we don't carry them into the fight just to crack open the door and sort of wave a red flag at a bull sort of way

And then when the alpha vampire dies we get the remnant imbued with a bit of that vamps specific magic

And yeah perhaps using the skulls almost a psychic lockpick if those chosen had been imbued with some of the alphas powers (referring to the trickle down effect you noticed, Vampire mlm is a concept that will be lodged in my brain now)

The biggest one for Bellwether not giving a shit I believe was a piece of dialog that said like "once we get out of here do you think they'll drop a nuke on this place" which made me laugh bc I audibly went just like resident evil grqt2h3 which despite some of the negative reviews comparisons to other games the lack of resident evil with vampires is making me laugh (I mean it in a positive way I'm very attached to RE)

Plus I don't think a privately funded not so small military/mercanary group is gonna lose sleep over a "few" civilian casualties (especially not when you can write em off as vampire deaths when it comes down to it)

Yeah I agree! One of my main grievances was I wish that side quest/mini bosses got more diversity and watchers idk if those are miniboss types as I think they go down p easy (but like I said can't/haven't played the game so I could be wrong) they seem closer to the mutated cultists than "true" vampires

And totally get you on lore one of my other favorite games is destiny 2 and holy shit the amount of environmental storytelling/lore is so strong they have a fan run website to compile it all so I totally get you.

And ooo I'm always looking for new games to watch/obsess over so I'll have to check it out

And yeah unfortunately the people I watched wernt too into grave lock collecting and the only 100 locations video I've found doesn't play em in full

And yeah with Addison I won't spoil it but holy shit he was the worst one too me I wrote out/expanded on the house of Echos mission so I was rewatching and it ended up being 4k words but also it was woof. I almost wish they swapped the order of the map start out in the second way with the other 2 then work into the 1st area for the hollow man

Yeah my sort of interpretation (both in how I'm writing and general fun) is that his Ravens outlines + his guns lock on are from that eye but a fun thing I had was giving them all like the way things are highlighted blue for you to grab some of the psychic residue as most of the psychic energy we see (barring layla) tend to be a pale blue - teal(?) Ish color and it was just funny to me that the highlights for important objects were similar

I agree with vampires probably having night vision as they are supposed to be a sort of apex predator so night vision fits with the whole can't go in the sun.  It does make me wonder if Jacob would run into issues in direct sunlight with that eye time to invest in sunglasses my guy

And yeah I hadn't considered the psychic spaces as like stronger spaces where the trance is louder, bc in my thoughts I think the trance is a seperate but adjacent magic thing to what turned them into vampires

It definitely seems like the magic sort of got them all or bolstered abilities in some way and come on we both know that devs def smart enough to crack teleportation lmaooo necessity is the mother of invention and all that. But I do think that magic and science go hand in hand (destiny 2 is so great for that reason aswell because so much of what looks like magic can be kinda turned into science)

I think Remis ult is pure video game but healing it would make sense if it gave out a sort of opposite end of the spectrum vampire healing and helped you regenerate by like tapping into that magic that's settled in you or the vials/remnants

yeah we don't know how the healing actually works as you don't regen health unless you find medpacks which leads me to believe you do have to needle and thread it up instead of magic video game heal as explained in dishonored or prey

And yeah I'm assuming vamp regen at best at worst, you should uhhhh probably got get that looked at bud and yeah blood as fuel is a good idea even if it was connected or disconnected

And yeah the tissues, I'd imagine a wash cloth would be slightly more useful than tissues but eh and yeah sort of a gunk goop dripping thing (ie Eris Morn from destiny with her hive eyes)

And yeah! I think to be a bloodbag/sin eater it also I think is slightly voluntary(?) As the sin eaters are like that. And the blood bags seem pretty eager so maybe the most devoted cultists get turned into em

And yeah I'm uncertain bc I remember for one of the missions Jacob has a line like "but slitting the throat of your neighbor to get in." Or smth like that it's been awhile

And yeah vampire mlm, and yeah definitely maybe the more sacrifices brought in = higher chance of getting turned

I think it's a bit of both as we see with the alphas they were all real shitty people beforehand and yknow being willing to kill others to further your own gain definitely fits under "bloodsucker" (derogatory) in my mind lmao

And I think that's why Jason got away was bc hes not a bad person and was rather selfless hence but still also perhaps shaped by the intent of the person giving you magic (jacobs raven, laylas telekinesis which is something other higher up vampires can do as weve seen with the sea) But also made to shape you're own natural abilities remis healing, devs gadgets :) especially in those latter two cases where they wernt forced really to have the powers

The slow boil is soooo intresting to me bc like where were they? Like in the nests psychic spaces and just coming out to feed plus with the size of the alphas I think that'd kick up a fuss

I think probably a but of both, as drug trials/medical research like aevum was doing was bound to test on mice at least and upon observing the effects may have worked there way up to humans but huge fucking claw marks are probably vampires especially from what we've seen they are extraordinarily wasteful with animals perhaps both as food and ensuring surviving humans can't get it

And birds + animals disappearing evokes a similar feeling of when animals tend to dip before natural disasters because there senses and instincts are so much stronger than ours but also vampires killing them because they couldn't go after people yet

also lmao yeah like idk where tf they were going with that like was the plan to eventually move out of redfall or use it like a home base or smth bc you kill the animals and the people you're gonna have to start eating each other

And yeah I have to imagine at least one cultist was wincing and didn't voice it but was very much like aw come on guys

And yeah! Idk if it's ever explained if vampires exclusively have to eat blood/meat or can eat other things aswell

And oh my God don't get me started on the impacts of introducing a fuck ton of apex predators into your ecosystem and food chain not to mention if other animals mutated and are breeding. Like just removing Wolves from Yellowstone was enough to fuck over the ecosystem I can imagine something on this scale plus the probably intense growth from the decomp rates of bodies.. anyone in an environmental science field would be tearing their hair out (specifically my own redfall oc whose a park ranger is not having a great time with that)

You would have to build ground up essentially as trying a top down approach would fuck up the few remaining secondary and primary consumers (obligatory environmental science rant over)

They all def do the trance def is giving hive mind vibes aswell as a removal of emotional/rational thinking makes me wonder if the blood trance heightens base instincts/hunting drive or aggression like with animals being aggressive and shit being fucked

And oh def, bc each of the bosses has there own space but the nests aswell which makes me wonder if vampires have their own allegiances or a nest is like a pack

And yeah hindsights 20/20 and yeah fears a hell of a motivator and cults pray on scared lonely people with no other options and yeah in too deep

I haven't! Unfortunately I haven't watched a dev playthrough and there's not too many multiplaythroughs on YouTube but I'll inform you if I come across any! And as for rough speculation on mothman physique(?) I think leathery makes sense from someone as logical as dev since it glides so it being similar to a bat or moth it almost makes me think of point pleasants.. intresting... statue of the mothman to say the least...

And yeah woof the scientists sure as hell are doing some malpractice although I'd admire arkanes commitment to fuck the rich with them being consistent enemies.  And yeah sorry this got Hella long

[anonquack]

| His Merch |

Alex Quackity x Reader, Oneshot!

Word Count: 4256

Warnings: None, just some curse words. Fluff :]

Summary: Being such good friends with Quackity leads to the inevitable; catching feelings. In fear of ruining your friendship with him, you kept quiet about your feelings. Although usually good at that, after a merch drop and a slip-up on stream, you prepare yourself for the worst. Queue the incoming call from Quackity himself.

Today had been a productive day, in your opinion. You'd woken up earlier than usual, ate breakfast, cleaned around your apartment, and managed to get started on editing a video you'd recently filmed.

That's why you considered yourself very deserving of sitting down and enjoying your friend's stream as you ate some snacks.

Quackity had a fun stream planned, and had hyped up a 'big announcement' on Twitter, and the whole timeline was already speculating what it could be as they awaited for Quackity to start stream.

Being his friend had some perks though, contrary to popular belief. He'd discussed with you what the big announcement was as you sat on call with him a few nights prior to the big day. It was merch, and according to your past experience with Planet Duck products, it was sure to be soft and super comfy. You were very much looking forward to getting your hands on some of his new merch.

He'd brought up sending some to you, one of the previously mentioned perks of being his friend, but you politely declined. Much to his surprise. He'd asked why and you'd simply stated that "It was fine," and perhaps it came off as a bit rude. A 'no thanks' to his merch that you hadn't even seen.

But you had plans of your own, you wanted to acquire said merch on your own, and support him financially in the process. He didn't have to know that though, so with a small 'Oh' from him as his response, you swiftly changed topic of conversation.

Now here you sat, watching the stream as Quackity explained what he'd be doing with his friend John Smith. Riding go-karts around what looked like a storage unit. You couldn't help but worry as you watched them zoom around, occasionally getting close to crashing, and eventually doing just that.

The stream itself was rather fun to watch, but you kept your debit card beside you. This was in case he decided to drop the merch announcement out of nowhere. And that was exactly what he did. Another perk of being his friend was you grew a 6th sense for these type of things. Always had a feeling for what was about to happen when it came to Quackity.

You watched as the chat freaked out, watched as the notification from Planet Duck went out, notifying everybody that the merch had been released. You quickly typed into your computer, and the internet seemed to be taking its time to redirect you to Quackity's merch site.

After some time, it finally loaded and you began to look at all the options. The merch was wonderful, Quackity had been hyping it up to you (you'd asked for no reveals, wanting to wait like everyone else) and he had been absolutely right.

Most of the designs were new, except for the iconic Planet Duck logo, and were all very cute. You had Quackity's stream playing in the background as you maneuvered your way around the site, finally deciding on which merch you'd be buying.

As you went to purchase, a red sign alerted you that there was no shipping to your location. To which you quickly raised an eyebrow, panic starting to rush through you. Maybe you should've accepted his offer.

After refreshing multiple times and watching the Twitter timeline freak out as well over the inability to ship to several locations, it finally seemed to work, and the payment finally went through. A big "Thank you for your purchase" appearing onto the screen.

You let out a sigh of relief, clicking back onto the tab where the stream was, a small smile on your face. You'd actually managed to get it on your own. It was nerve-racking, when it seemed like you wouldn't be able to get the shipping to work, when it seemed like it'd sell out before you had the chance to buy some.

Now you finally understood what it felt like, the stress of getting your hands on merch before it sold out. It'd been an exhilerating experience.

You relaxed into your seat as Quackity's laugh filled the room. He was recreating bits from Fast and Furious, and zooming all over the place. You watched with a fond smile as he drove around, throwing random Spanish profanities at John Smith here and there.

The funky heart glasses he had on did nothing to ease the warmth that was spreading through your chest at the sight of him. You were suffering due to your confusing feelings towards your close friend, but nobody knew, or at least that is what you told yourself.

You tried to focus on something else, something that wasn't solely him. The go-karts were going pretty fast, and you remembered the scene they were recreating from the movie. Whichever random thought came to mind, you'd focus on it instead, too scared to let your thoughts wander elsewhere.

When it came to and end, you were conflicted. You were glad your heart would be able to catch a break, but you also missed him almost immediately. Sickening, really.

You took some time to reflect on what you'd done so far. Cleaned, ate your meals, worked on some editing, got some Quackity merch, and enjoyed a fun stream. It was rather productive, to say the least.

But there was still some time left in the day, and you figured you'd put the energy coursing through your body to use.

Taking a seat at your desk, you turned your monitor on before opening the twitch app. An alt stream would be perfect right now. After going live and sending out a tweet letting your followers know you were live, you patiently waited for the viewers to start coming in.

Considering this was an alt stream, you figured you'd play some random game and just chat for a bit before heading to bed. As the viewers came in, you gave your greetings before opening a tab for roblox, getting on a random server to play an obby game as you talked to chat.

There was a content smile on your face as you asked chat how their day had been, how they were feeling, your little character jumping around and passing through the beginner levels on the obby game.

"I'm actually in a really good mood, chat. My day has been going so well." You began, glancing at chat here and there, smile growing at the memory of the adventures acquiring Quackity merch.

After the chat was flooded with questions asking about what had happened, you indulged. "I was watching Quackity's stream earlier today, and it was so much fun!" The smile grew before softening as you focused on the obby. "I was also able to get some of his new merch."

The chat erupted into bits of 'friends supporting friends' to 'y/n in quackity merch???' and people yelling that they had been or weren't able to get merch.

Seeing the chat made you laugh, nodding your head a bit. "No because I was so nervous I wouldn't be able to get some-" you admitted, attention now focused solely on telling the viewers about your own experience.

"I was trying to purchase, and there was a line, and then it said it wouldn't ship to my location?? I was so worried I wouldn't be able to get some. But it finally worked. I'm excited for it to get here." You finished your small rant, a content smile on your lips.

Chat consisted of people agreeing with the technical difficulties occurring at the time of the merch drop, others saying they were too broke to buy anything. It felt nice, to see something from their perspective and also have shared an experience like this.

"Big Q actually offered to send me some, but I told him no because I wanted to get it myself.. Wanted to get it fair and square." You said as you refocused on the obby in front of you, fond smile on your face as you thought about how nice he was. He was willing to send all of his friends some of his merch, free of cost.

"Also wanted to give him my support by actually purchasing it, you know?" You added, resting your chin on the palm of your hand as it leaned against your desk. You took this time to read chat, which was exploding with what you thought was a combination of Quackity's username with yours, and 'bffs ur honor!!'.

You smiled at that, hands finally moving your character around. "Really, he has been such an amazing friend, extremely welcoming, always fun to be around. And just.. life is never dull when he's around. He's always been there for me when I needed it and well‐" A pause. "I'm glad I was able to support him in some way." You hummed softly as you finished up yet another small rant about Quackity.

At the realization that you'd been talking about him for far too long, and that he was not meant to be the focus of your alt stream, you cleared your throat and began focusing on the obby game once again.

You shifted the topic of conversation to the video you'd also been editing today, and that quickly took everyone's attention away from how affectionately and fondly you'd been speaking of your dear friend. Everyone was now excited about the new video.

Seeing how easily the chat's focus changed made you ease up a bit, and you were able to enjoy the rest of your stream playing random roblox games and discussing some stuff with chat. It lasted for a bit longer before you finally decided to end stream.

Some goodbyes and after stream officially ended, you found yourself on Twitter. Everything seemed pretty peaceful on the timeline, up until the trending page came up.

Your name was trending, along with 'QUACKITY IN CHAT' and the infamous combination of usernames. A monstrosity, really.

You heard yourself audibly gulp as you clicked on the trending topic 'quackity in chat'. Much to your dismay it was true. There was screenshots that showed Quackity was watching your stream. That meant that he'd heard you talking about him in that sickening tone. That tone that was unnecessarily sweet and fond.

You didn't know who was freaking out more, the so-called shippers, the timeline, or yourself. You gently bit at the inside of your cheek, scrolling and reading all the tweets of people trying to guess how Quackity must've felt while hearing all that. Others raising an eyebrow at how long you'd gone on about Quackity and how 'perfect' he was.

You'd fucked up, that was for sure, and it wasn't even intentional or fan service of any kind. It was an alt stream, it wasn't planned in any way, shape, or form. He'd been brought up, and you'd accidentally spilled all fond thoughts you held of him.

Your cursor hovered over a specific tweet that read, 'want someone to talk about me the way y/n talks about big q'. It was sweet, and perhaps made you smile just a little bit.

As you read it over in your head, a notification popped up on your screen, the discord notification ringing in your ears as you read who the message was from. Quackity.

You messed around with your mouse for a bit before finally closing the Twitter tab, and instead opting to open the unread message.

Quackity

hey (:

You stared at it for a bit, blinking in disbelief at how normal the message came across. Perhaps he'd tuned in during the last half of the stream. Perhaps he hadn't been able to watch while you rambled about him, and perhaps he hadn't been on Twitter either. One could hope.

y/n hi (:

It showed that he was typing almost immediately after, and you tried your best to calm your nerves.

Quackity call?

You felt yourself tense at the message. Maybe he wanted to let you down kindly. 'Hey! Saw your stream, and I just wanted to ask if you could chill the fuck out. That was kind of creepy. Maybe never speak of me ever again. Do not perceive me any longer, thanks!'

Something along those lines for sure. That's what probably awaited you if you said yes to this. But what exactly were you supposed to do instead?

y/n ofc

It only took a few seconds for the call to come through. Stalling wouldn't help, so you answered by the third ring.

He greeted you, and everything seemed normal. The calls were normal between you two, but you were just on edge due to twitter trending and the stream that took place less than an hour ago.

"How are you feeling, Quackity?" You asked with a small smile, today was a big day for him, and you were sure he'd enjoy talking about how fast the merch sold.

"I'm doing great. Really happy that the fans liked the designs and just.. we sold a lot. I'm happy." He restated the last bit, the smile was obvious in his voice. You didn't have to be seeing it to know. Another perk of being so close to him. You had a clear visual image of what he probably looked like right now. Cute smile plastered onto his equally cute face.

"I'm really happy for you, Big Q. You deserve all the success that is coming your way and more." You hummed softly. Everything you were saying, you meant wholeheartedly. There was silence for a bit before he finally spoke again.

"I watched your stream."

Fuck. There it was. You should've expected it but it still hit like a ton of bricks. You felt your mouth turn dry, could barely manage to get out the word, "Yeah?"

"Mhm." Straight to the point. There was a bit of silence, you were unsure of what to say. Why had he brought it up? It was bound to happen, but what was the reason behind bringing it up? To tease you, let you know he wasn't interested, or because roblox obbies are just so much fun?

"You didn't have to buy it, you know?" He finally said, breaking the silence.

"I wanted to." You reassured, "the merch is really pretty. Worth every penny."

"I could've sent you whichever you wanted." He stated bluntly. As if it was weird of you to have gone and bought it on your own.

"Thank you, but I wanted to buy it myself. Let me? Please?" Let me show my support this way, is what you meant to say. It came out softer than intended, and you could feel your heart beating against your ribs. You really needed to watch your tone around him.

"Of course." He responded, just as softly. He'd drive you crazy one of these days. They'd have to lock you up, and you'd never see the light of day again.

"Did you have fun riding the go-karts?" You asked, a small smile on your lips as you wandered back onto the Twitter tab, a clip of his stream now on display on the timeline.

He let out a small laugh, "I did. Did you enjoy watching it?" You nodded before responding, "Of course. Was concerning watching you crash into walls though."

He hummed softly in response, possibly contemplating what to say with how long he took before he spoke again.

"Did you really mean all the things you said on stream?"

Somehow, even with your own attempts to change topic, the focus was back on your stream and the things that had been said. You wouldn't be able to dig yourself out of the hole you'd dug.

It was entirely your fault, for even allowing yourself to consider him as anything but a great friend. It was your fault for taking the late night calls, the sweet tones, and messages the wrong way. Your interpretations were all wrong and now you'd have to sit here and apologize for practically outing yourself on stream. For letting the whole world know that you had romantic feelings for a good friend of yours. You'd probably made him so uncomfortable.

You felt yourself cringe slightly at his words, already gone quiet for far too long. You had to speak up, even if it lead to a good friendship ending a few minutes from now.

"Of course I did. You're great, Alex." The use of his name was meant to assure him you meant it wholeheartedly. It made the moment feel more intimate, too. Much to your own dismay, yet again. You couldn't help it.

The possibility that your friendship with him could come to an end real soon made you act on your feelings. It left you unhinged. If it was all going to end here, maybe you'd allow yourself to act on impulse. End it with a bang.

"Thank you, really. I know I probably wasn't meant to hear all that, but it was really nice. Made me feel nice as well. And just, seeing that you didn't accept the merch from me because you wanted to support me directly.. thank you."

His voice was soft, felt like warm honey to your taste buds. You could almost hear your heart melting inside your chest, could feel it dripping down and touching your diaphragm, oozing into every single crevice in your body. You'd never understand how he had such effects on you. How he was able to make you so fond of him.

"I meant every single word. You deserve that and so much more." You reassured yet again, a small smile on your lips. You heard him let out a small chuckle, which made you laugh as well.

Moments later, he had turned his camera on, wanting to show you all the merch. You'd asked for him to put it on, since you were a 'visual learner' and had to see it on him in order to fully understand what it looked like. He had playfully rolled his eyes, but hadn't really argued against it.

So there you were, watching as he changed from hoodie to hoodie, moving out of frame to change into the shirts. You could feel your heart thumping harshly against your rib cage at the sight of him. Some looked bigger on him, some looked just right. They all looked wonderful, and super comfy. Perhaps that was simply because they were on him, and he looked so comfy.

He looked like he could give the best hugs.

"You really think so?" His voice came out a bit sheepish, and the light pink that dusted his cheeks was becoming more and more evident. Huh?

"What?" You said, a dumb look on your face as you tried connecting the dots.

"That I could give the best hugs." He stated slowly, as if he was testing how it sounded before adding, "Do you really think that?"

Had you really said that out loud? Fuck. It took acting on impulse to a whole other level. This wasn't something you two usually did, but I guess it was okay since everything might be ending soon. Ballsy moves.

"Yeah. You make the merch look so cozy." Your throat felt dry, eyes glued to his face, wanting to catch every single second of his reaction. Wanting to see each movement of his facial muscles, to find out what it could possibly entail. "Makes me wonder what your hugs feel like." You admitted.

Your eyes scanned the entirety of his face, perking up slightly at the sight of his face flushing, leaving him with the softest tint of pink to spread across his cheeks, almost matching his pretty lips. What the hell did that even mean?

"Maybe you won't have to wonder for too long. With guidelines being lifted and all." The line. Blurred at that very moment, for sure. His eyes were glued to you as well, which only made you hesitate every single movement you could think of doing at that moment.

"And in the meantime? What am I supposed to do?" Risky. Crossing lines, jumping over hurdles. This all had to be against friend rules or something. You could feel your sanity decreasing each second this call went on. But he wasn't stopping any of this either.

"I could send you a hoodie." The sentence brought you out of your Quackity-induced haze, making you quickly shake your head. What? Before you could protest or ask what the hell that was supposed to mean, he explained.

"My hoodie. Y'know. Mine. One I wear. You can give it back when we meet up, perhaps."

Your mouth went dry again, shocked at the domestic feeling it gave. He was suggesting he send one of his hoodies. It would smell like him. It was the closest thing to giving him an actual hug. It would be paradise.

"You'd really do that?" You asked, still in disbelief, but he quickly nodded his head. "Oh." You said softly, before a smile appeared on your face. "I would like that, then."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"I'll send it then." He hummed, smile spreading on his lips as well. Everything going on was making you feel dizzy. It felt so surreal.

You'd mentally prepared yourself for the worst, but instead were met with a flirtatious Quackity. He'd said sweet things to you before, but you never allowed yourself to take it seriously, not wanting to get your hopes up. And it never went to this extent.

It seemed he realized what just went down, a loud laugh escaping his lips. "Holy shit. You're gonna have one of my hoodies soon."

"I am." You chimed in, smile on your lips as well.

"And you'll wear it around." He added.

"I will."

"You'll look good, as always."

You could feel the heat rush to your face. What was going on? Was this real, or just a very cruel dream? Alex Quackity was fucking flirting with you.

"Are you flirting with me?" Bewildered tone, raised eyebrows. Your brain couldn't even begin to progress what was being said.

"What the fuck does it look like I've been doing?"

"Have you really?" Warmth spread across your chest at how blunt he was being. The line was gone. It'd been erased, never to be seen again. There was no shame in him. Admitting he was flirting with his whole chest.

"I have. Why are you so surprised though? I've subtly flirted with you before.. and I mean, were you not confessing your undying love to me on stream?" He raised a brow, feigned confusion on his face. He was teasing. You let out a groan, covering your face with your hands as he let out a laugh.

Surreal. He confessed to having flirted with you in the past. So you weren't delusional, nice to know. "Are you done?" You asked, face still covered by your hand in shame.

"I saw a tweet that was saying they felt like third wheels since I was in chat, and you were just going on about everything you liked about me." You kept your face covered. He was not stopping. Now he was the unhinged one.

He was visibly scrolling through the timeline at this point. "Oh, and one saying they want what we have. What do we have?"

You finally uncovered your face. "I don't know. Whatever the fuck this is, I guess?"

"Well, what is this?"

"Mm... whatever you want it to be." You finally answered, and there was a surprised look plastered on his face at that.

"Whatever I want?"

"Yeah." You paused. Would he regret this after he got out of this haze? What if it had just been flirting for fun? But he wouldn't play with your feelings like this, would he?

Alex Quackity was perfect though, and perhaps he had a sixth sense about when stuff was wrong with you, because he caught on to your hesitation.

"Hey." He called out softly. The teasing, flirtatious tone was gone, now replaced by the softer tone reserved for late night calls, or when everybody else in the vc had left and it was just you two.

You look at where his face was on your monitor, relaxing a bit simply by his tone and the soft gaze he held on you.

"I know everything sort of progressed pretty fast tonight.. but your stream really helped me realize a few things. I do like you, y/n. Not fucking around or anything." He said it in a firm tone, one that told you he wasn't messing around, but still felt oh so intimate.

Everything he was saying was exactly what you wanted and needed to hear. Reassurance that your feelings weren't unrequited. You couldn't believe your rambling on stream had lead you guys here.

"I like you, too. If that wasn't obvious already." You mumbled out, eyes averting before glancing to see his reaction. He had the biggest, cutest, grin on his face. Charming, and extremely contagious. You couldn't help but smile back.

Holy shit.

"Is this real?" You asked out loud, smile never leaving your face.

"It is. All thanks to your ranting on stream. How cool is that?"

You couldn't help but still feel rather embarrassed that he'd heard all of it, but it had brought you two here. All embarrassment was worth it. Especially if it meant it opened up a whole new world of possibilities for you two.

"Very cool." You mumbled, before a smile appeared on your lips. Today really couldn't have gone any better.