#And an oil rig which is not all that fun

[saveyourblood]

Pretty Boy - Ch 6 (Buddie x Reader)

Summary: You can feel Buck staring. When your eyes meet his, you realize he’s staring at your hand, which is still on Eddie’s knee. You slowly retreat, which makes Buck turn his attention to your face. You smile softly. He just looks out the window. The one where you’re an advanced paramedic, Buck and Eddie are firefighters, and you think you might be in love with both of them.

Ch 1 | Ch 2 | Ch 3 | Ch 4 | Ch 5

Chapter Summary: The tension between you and Buck brings you and Eddie closer.

Word Count: 3.3k Warnings: none

Things between you and Buck are… weird. Awkward. Uncomfortable. The last time you had a real conversation with him, it was a fight, but it ended with you saying how much you care about him. It’s left you feeling like there’s an open wound on your chest, one that exposes your heart. You feel vulnerable, and you hate it. Your hatred of the feeling triumphs over your desire to be around him, at least for now.

In a weird silver lining, your lack of time with Buck has created room for one of your other coworkers — Eddie. Talking to Eddie when Buck was around always felt strange, like there was something in the air that wasn’t supposed to be. Which is funny, because when it’s the two of them, they’re as thick as thieves. Something about you being in the mix feels like adding oil to water.

You like to think you’ve gotten to know Eddie relatively well in the last few weeks. So when he’s staring off into space while the rest of the team is eating breakfast, you don’t feel awkward asking what he’s thinking about.

“Nothing,” he says, turning his coffee mug absentmindedly. “Just… this new school with Christopher.”

“Don’t think it’s a good fit?” You ask.

“No, it’s perfect,” Eddie replies, turning his attention to you.

You smile softly. ���Then what’s the problem?”

“They need to do a family interview.”

“Again, what’s the problem?” you chuckle. “I mean, aren’t the divorce and custody agreement papers enough?”

“They would be… if I had them.”

You frown. “What?”

Eddie sighs as he rubs his forehead. He leans closer so you’re the only one who can hear him. “We’re still married.”

Apparently, you don’t know a goddamn thing about Eddie.

“Oh,” is all you manage to get out.

Eddie chuckles briefly. “Yeah.”

“Wow. Just… from how you talk about her, you made it sound like things were… over over. Like, officially over.”

“ Shannon and I aren’t officially… anything these days.”

“You’re officially husband and wife.”

Eddie rolls his eyes, but he smiles as he does it. “Touché.”

“What’re you gonna do?” you ask softly after a moment.

He sets his elbows on his knees and clasps his hands together. “I don’t know.”

You just watch him and can’t shake the helplessness that washes over you. Eddie’s in a tough spot; no matter what you say, you can’t fix it. All you can do is be there.

“Tell me what I can do,” you say.

Eddie looks up at you with a lopsided grin. There aren’t many things you wouldn’t do to keep it on his face.

“I’ve been told I’m a lot of fun when I drink,” you continue. “Well, when I have three drinks I’m fun: that’s when I get dancy. After five drinks, I get sad. You can pick the number.”

Eddie laughs.

9-1-1 dispatch is down, making doing your job almost impossible. LA is a maze; without GPS navigation, you rely on your phone and eyes to do most of the work. It’s a miracle that dispatch existed before computers.

You’re in the passenger’s seat of the rig, and you tell Hen to make a right turn. When you pull up to what’s supposed to be the scene, though, there’s nothing.

“Dispatch, this is RA 118,” you say into the radio. “There’s nothing here.”

“No pregnant woman?” A dispatcher asks.

“There’s no building. It’s an empty lot.”

“Stand by, 118.”

You hang the radio with a huff.

“What’s going on with you?” Hen asks.

You frown and look over at her. “What?”

“You’ve been… off lately,” she explains. “Like, you’ve got this short fuse now.”

“Why shouldn’t I? We can’t even do our fucking jobs because some moron can’t fix a computer!”

Hen raises her eyebrows.

“Okay, point taken.”

“Buck says you two haven’t talked in a while.”

“Well, he’s a firefighter and I’m a paramedic. We can work the same shift and not see each other,” you shrug. “ I don’t know why he’s talking to you about it.”

“I’m not sure, but… it sounded like I’m not the only one worried about you.”

You play with your hands in your lap.

Hen sighs. “Look, I don’t know what happened between you two, but I hope it gets fixed, because you two are miserable without each other.”

“It’s not like that-”

Hen raises a hand to silence you. “I don’t know what you guys are… best friends, work spouses, or dating. Frankly, I don’t care. All I know is that, for better or for worse, you need each other. “

“118, you're gonna need to proceed to San Vicente, east of the Miracle Mile District,” dispatch crackles over the radio. “The nearest cross street is Sixth.”

You pick it up and push the button. “RA 118, copy that.”

“Where the hell have you guys been?”

When you finally arrive at the correct building, you’re faced with a pregnant woman lying on the lobby floor. A small crowd has formed around them, which you push your way through.

“We are fighting a system outage, sir,” Bobby explains, “we apologize for the delay.”

You crouch next to the patient on one side while Hen starts an IV on the other side.

“Hi,” you introduce yourself and don some gloves. “What’s your name?”

“Sonia. I’m 39 weeks pregnant, and 38 years old, which makes me a geriatric pregnancy,” she laughs a little. “God, I hate that word.”

“Word doesn’t matter: you still get a baby out of it,” you smile. “I’m gonna check how progressed you are, okay?”

She nods.

“10 centimeters, 100% effaced,” you observe. “You’re doing great, okay? On this next contraction, you’re gonna push, alright, Sonia?”

She doesn’t respond, so you look up.

Her expression changed. A moment ago, she was nervous but smiling. Now, her face is flattened, and she’s staring ahead at nothing.

“There's something wrong with the baby,” she says quietly.

Your body goes numb.

There are a few things you never want to hear a patient say, and ‘something is wrong’ might be at the top of the list. It’s called ‘impending doom’ — there’s no obvious threat, but it feels like something is about to go terribly wrong. You’ve seen patients die within minutes of saying something doesn’t feel right.

“Your baby is fine, Sonia,” you assure. “You'll-you'll be able to see for yourself in just a minute.”

“No! No, this was a mistake, all of it,” Sonia cries. “Roger was right to panic. Look, we can't do this. I can't... I can't do this. I shouldn't have this child.”

“Hey! Hey, Sonia, look at me,” you say, patting her knee to get her attention.

It takes her a moment, but her eyes eventually meet yours.

“All you have to do is push,” you tell her. “That’s it, okay? Just push.”

She still looks terrified, yet she nods.

On the next contraction, Sonia pushes. You coach her through the contractions, telling her when to push and when to rest. It only takes a few rounds until the baby is fully born.

“He’s here!” you exclaim as you wrap the baby in a towel.

There’s some happy laughter and a round of applause from the crowd as the baby cries.

“Beautiful boy, it’s time you meet your mom,” you say as you move to place the baby on Sonia’s chest.

She’s staring at the ceiling, her expression slack.

“I’ve got the baby,” Eddie interrupts, taking the baby from you so you can work.

“Sonia?” you say, rubbing your knuckles on her sternum. She winces, but barely.

“I can’t get a systolic above 70,” Hen says as she deflates the blood pressure cuff.

“She’s cyanotic,” you say, noting the blue tinge to her lips and fingernails. “She’s in shock.”

“Hemorrhagic?” Hen questions.

“She’s barely bleeding,” you shake your head.

You press your fingers to her neck. You don’t feel a pulse.

“Lost a pulse, starting compressions!” you shout.

Everything starts to move a hell of a lot quicker. Within seconds, the defibrillator is at your side, and as you compress Sonia’s chest, Hen is placing the pads. Eddie has a finger on her neck to ensure your compressions are effective.

When you get Sonia on the gurney, Eddie tags you out as the compressor to give you a break. Your entire body shakes with adrenaline, yet you help pack her into the rig and climb inside.

“She was fine,” Eddie mutters as he compresses. “Birth was going like clockwork, even for a geriatric pregnancy.”

“Sudden despair and fear and anxiety, rapid loss of BP, subsequent cardiovascular collapse…” you think aloud. It dawns on you. “Oh my god.”

“What?”

You’re reaching for your phone, dialing the phone number of the hospital you’re heading to. “It’s an Amniotic Fluid Embolism.”

Eddie looks over to you. His brow is damp with sweat. “She could be in DIC.”

“She needs Mass Transfusion Protocol,” you agree. You raise the phone to your ear. “LA general, this is RA 118 en route, I need to speak to your ER charge nurse.”

When you’re rolling through the ER doors, you’re kneeling over Sonia on the gurney as you do compressions. Doctors and nurses are shouting directions at each other, but all you focus on is your arms moving up and down.

You hop off so they can move her off of the gurney and onto the hospital bed. In the process, you notice that the defibrillator is showing Sonia’s in Ventricular Tachycardia — a shockable rhythm.

“V-Tach,” you say normally at first, then shout. “V-Tach! Everyone clear!”

The ER staff has no idea who you are, but when someone shouts those words, anyone with a medical background knows to listen. Everyone backs away with their hands raised. After hitting the ‘charge’ button, you do a quick survey to ensure no one is touching Sonia. Then, you hit the lightning bolt to deliver a shock.

Sonia’s body jerks at the electricity. The EKG tracing goes from tombstone shapes to a flatline. Then, there’s a beep and a QRS complex. Then another, and another.

“Got a pulse!” a random voice shouts.

You make your way out of the trauma bay and into the hallway, where Eddie’s waiting for you.

“That was… amazing,” Eddie says.

You stand next to him wordlessly. You nod but then let out a sob as you collapse against the wall.

Eddie helps lower you to the floor. He keeps a hand on your shoulder, squeezing tightly.

“God, this is embarrassing,” you remark between a few sobs.

“It isn’t,” Eddie immediately responds. “We’ve all been there.”

“It’s, uh, it’s how my mom died,” you say with a sad laugh. “They didn’t catch it in time. She bled to death internally. I just… I don’t know what I would’ve done if she didn’t pull through.”

“She did,” Eddie says, moving his hand from your shoulder to your knee. “She pulled through because of you.”

You nod again, wiping away some of your tears. “Thank you.”

Eddie nods in return. You notice that his gaze goes from your eyes to your lips and back up to your eyes.

It happens in the smallest of movements, but before you know it, your forehead is pressed against Eddie’s. You can feel his breath on your mouth. You quietly gasp at the sensation, and it makes him sigh.

You press your lips together. “You’re married.”

“She wants a divorce,” Eddie whispers.

You smile sadly. “You’re still married.”

Eddie sighs again, but this time, he moves away from you.

“I’m not saying it can never happen,” you say quietly. “All I’m saying is that I’m not that kind of girl. And you definitely aren’t that kind of guy.”

Eddie nods, his mouth shifting into a few different expressions.

You rise to your feet and offer Eddie a hand. “Let’s get back to work, Edmundo.”

Eddie laughs genuinely at the use of his full name. He takes your hand and uses it to help get himself up, but he continues holding it when he’s standing.

“Back to work,” he agrees and squeezes your hand before letting go.

You’re heading out a scene call, fire in progress with multiple victims suspected. You’re driving the rig while Eddie sets up the back. The 118 is the nearest firehouse, so your unit will be the first on the scene. It comes with a lot of responsibility, but you know you and Eddie are ready for it.

That is, until there’s a massive ‘BOOM’ from behind you.

You immediately pull over and look in your rearview. The engine following behind you is now on fire and lying on its side in the middle of the intersection. You can see a few firefighters lying on the pavement.

“Eddie, grab our bags!” you shout as you unclick your seatbelt.

You fly out of the rig and meet Eddie in the back. Instead of handing you your bag, he sets a hand on your shoulder and pushes you both to the side of the ambulance.

“What the hell?” You ask.

“There’s a bomber,” he says in a low tone.

“What?” you ask again, peering to the side of him.

Sure enough, there’s a kid — no older than twenty — with several pipe bombs strapped to his chest. He’s holding what appears to be the detonator in his hand. Someone is laying at his feet, his leg pinned under the passenger side of the engine.

Buck was sitting in the passenger’s seat.

You try rushing forward again, and Eddie grabs you by the waist this time.

“It’s Buck!” you scream as you struggle against him.

“I know,” Eddie says, his arms wrapped around you as he presses your back to his chest.

“We have to do something!” you cry, still thrashing against Eddie.

“We have to wait for the scene to clear,” Eddie explains. It’s more than a little annoying how calm he sounds. “If you go in now, both of you could die.”

“So what, we just let him die?” You ask, but you’ve stopped fighting.

Eddie doesn’t say anything, but his grip around you loosens. Eventually, you feel his arms drop back to his sides. That’s when you make a run for it.

You make it far enough to catch the bomber’s attention. You raise your hands in the air.

“I’m not who you want,” you explain, “I just want to help him. He has nothing to do with this. He has friends and family… he’s my family. Please, just let me help him.”

The bomber looks from you to Buck, then back at you. “He’s collateral damage.”

“Is that how you see yourself?” Bobby interrupts. He approaches with his hands raised.

The bomber’s attention shifts to Bobby, the person he’s been after this whole time. You use it as a window of opportunity to approach Buck slowly. When you finally reach him, you crouch down by his head.

“Hey, Pretty Boy,” you say softly. You set a hand on his head. “How’re you feeling?”

His left leg is the one that’s pinned, and he’s lying on his stomach. He tries to look up at you. “You shouldn’t be here. It’s not safe.”

“I could say the same thing to you,” you joke. You move your hand to his neck. “Are you in pain?”

“No, just kind of numb,” he says. “That’s not good, right?”

Your heart sinks. “You’re in shock: it’s normal.”

Bobby manages to distract the bomber long enough to subdue him. As the bomber gets rushed off, the rest of your team rushes in.

“Eddie, start two lines, wide open,” you instruct. “Hen, get him in the C-collar.”

You dig in the medi bag for a tourniquet. As you apply it, you try to drown out the sound of Buck crying out in pain.

“How are we doing?” Bobby asks as you stand.

“We’re out of time,” you mumble. “We need to get him out and to the nearest trauma center.”

Any extra body moves to the truck, waiting for the count to lift it. You place yourself in front of Buck, taking both of his hands.

“We’re gonna get you out,” you promise.

He nods slightly.

“Okay, my count,” you say as you move your hands to underneath his arms. “1… 2… 3!”

As everyone begins to push, you start pulling on Buck. He isn’t budging.

“It’s too heavy,” Bobby says.

“We got anything on the truck we can use for leverage?” Eddie suggests.

“No, we need more people,” Chim says, picking up his radio. “Dispatch, this is 118…”

There’s some clattering from across the way. Bystanders are pushing through the barricades to help. This time, you’re able to get him out.

You get him on the backboard, then onto the gurney. The whole time, you’re telling him that he did a good job and that he’ll be okay. As you’re running with him to the ambulance, he mumbles something. Once you’re settled into the rig, you ask him to repeat himself.

“You’re my family, too,” he mutters.

You wait in the waiting room the whole time Buck is in surgery. When he makes it out of recovery and to the ICU room, you don’t leave his side. You’re sure visiting hours are over, but you stay out of the nurse’s way. She doesn’t say anything; she just gives you a sympathetic look every once in a while.

You hear him stir a little bit. You look up from your phone to see Buck blinking awake.

“Welcome back,” you smile.

“You’re here,” he says, voice rough.

“Where else would I be?”

Buck looks around the room, slowly orienting himself. His eyes eventually land on his leg, which is in a cast and suspended in a sling. His eyes widen, and he lets out a few breaths as he tries to sit up.

“Okay, okay,” you set a hand on his shoulder, gently pushing him back. “It’s gonna be okay.”

“Is it?” Buck asks. “Did you talk to the doctor? Did he say anything about how the surgery went?”

“Just that you made it through,” you say softly. “And you're now the proud owner of one titanium rod and four beautifully cobalt-chromed screws.”

“Before they wheeled me in, he, uh… he said he didn't know how it was gonna go.”

You take his hand gently. “You’ll walk again, Buck.”

“Yeah, h-he said… he said he was pretty confident about that. He, uh, he just... he didn't know if I would ever… work again.”

You run a hand over your face. “Okay, I'm not gonna lie to you and tell you everything will work out how you want it to. But what I will say is that we should take this moment to be glad that you’re alive.”

“I’m really sorry about our fight,” Buck apologizes.

You laugh. “Buck, that is… so far from being important right now.”

“No, it isn’t,” he insists. “It wasn’t fair, how I reacted. I’m proud of you. I was just… scared.”

“Scared of what?”

“Losing you,” he admits quietly.

“Yeah, well, I was pretty scared of that today, so we’re definitely even,” you joke. Your smile softens and you squeeze his hand. “I’m not going anywhere.”

You move your hand to his forehead. You trail it down to his cheek, letting it rest for a moment. You turn your body to face him better. His eyes are closed, which you’re grateful for because if he were looking at you, you wouldn’t have the guts to do what you want to do.

You kiss him. It’s hesitant at first, and when he doesn’t react right away, you start to pull back. Before you can, Buck has his hand on the back of your neck, pulling you in closer. Your hand moves from his cheek down his neck and eventually rests on his chest. You only pull away when your lungs are burning from lack of air.

Buck traces his thumb over your lips. “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do that.”

You blush, laugh, and bury your face in the crook of his neck.

 Ch 7

[toffee32]

normal exchange between Lanius and his liturgy assistant Clodia

some info of them and OC rambling below !!

Since I started thinking ab Lanius I remembered that one little fun fact that Lanius blinded all of his slaves so they wouldn't see his face. I instantly thought of Clodia, this priestess OC of mine, that I designed to be perpetually blindfolded (Introduced her here) She traces her lineage back to Arroyo, her family being one of the saved by Chosen One before the oil rig exploded. Out of the six priestesses working in Fortification Hill, she's their oracle, prophetess and overseer of sacrificial rites. She's basically perfect to be a companion for Lanius. I wonder what I can make out of her being blindfolded, if she's blind, if she can see and it's a deliberate choice, if her story with Lanius goes further back and maybe he's the one who taught her to wear it, or maybe blinded her himself, all to keep her serving him. That's a lot to think about, but anyways she'd be his trusted liturgy assistant aiding him to perform rituals and all that business, they'd benefit from each other a lot, since I imply Clodia could either be a psyker with mind-control and clairvoyance abilities OR actually not and just perpetually high on herb and chems which induce her delusions. The same way Lanius may actually believe that his sacrifices please Mars or he doesn't believe in all of that and just performs out of formality or for the love of bloodshed, they use each other to legitimize their labour and mission.

May be too OP of her, but I also like thinking that she's one (out of the two, the other being Caesar ofc) of the people who get to influence him. If you'd ask Caesar about this and their relationship, he'd get very nervous and go ''It's all LARP. I do not need someone to mind-control Lanius to keep him from going berserk and ruining my project by going on a mindless genocidal rampage through the west!''.

[infamouslydorky]

I'm about to put this senator in public view for his opinions

Hey bud, it's not antisemitism to want to stop Isreal from using illegal weapons like white phosphorus on Lebanon. It's not antisemitism to call the country out for killing journalists and medical personnel, like the red cross, for trying to report and help the people of Gaza. It's not antisemitism to acknowledge that the IDF is actively destroying family lines of Palestinians, which very much qualifies as genocide. It's not antisemitism to call Isreal out for striking Beruit, a highly civilian populated city, and destroying apartment buildings with bombs designed to obliterate bunkers. It's not antisemitism to point out that Isreal has sabotaged beepers, used only by emergency personnel like doctors, and rigged them to explode upon beeping.

It IS antisemitism to blame Jewish people specifically for the actions of Isreal BECAUSE they are Jewish. Isreal, as a nation, does not speak for every Jewish person and neither does Netanyahu. Isreal never shared the land with Palestinians as much as Isreal forced Palestinians out of their homelands beginning in 1948. Now, historically, Jewish diaspora is and was very much a real thing, as consequence of a largely antisemitic western society, which forced the migration of Jewish people and displacing them from their original homes until they were once again driven out of any given country until after WW2, and westerners decided to shove all the Jewish people in what is now called Isreal. Fun fact: originally, the UN wanted to put displaced Jewish people in Uganda.

In more precise words, this is another form of colonization that capitalized on the suffering of misplaced peoples that lived in a society that largely scapegoated them for their problems instead of treating them like people and now the country of Isreal is doing the exact same thing to Palestinians.

What remains in the United State's interest in keeping support of Isreal is an easy access base of operations for resources like oil as well as military influence in the region. It is neo-colonialism in a claiming antisemitism trenchcoat.

So, no, it is not antisemitism to hold Isreal accountable for their actions.

It is, however, Islamophobic and racist to continue to state that Hamas beheaded babies with no evidence of such claims.

Also, a devastating hurricane destroyed massive amounts of the state of Florida as well as states like Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, North Carolina, and Tennessee with another two potentially on the way and no amount of support from the federal government because FEMA has no money but we sure as hell see it shipped off in the billions to kill innocent civilians for the military industrial complex, I tell ya hwat 🙃

[bogleech]

So, Necromon’s page mentioned about Necromizers, but those don’t seem to have their own page. Are they considered a Key Item rather than a monster, or can anything be a Necromizer, or what?

Necromizers are what I originally called the metahuman/trainer class that got renamed to Necrotomists in the RPG! They control nanomons (our new term for the Homunculoids/nanomonsters so it's easier to remember what they are) to animate dead tissues, allowing any of their monsters to keep regenerating or even just moving when they're totally dead. To Mortasheen this is also the same thing as being like a healing mage/cleric, they're all just the same concept of "keeping something functioning when it should be dead." I think their academy in the setting is the most fun I came up with if I'm allowed to say that about my own ideas. It's like an oil rig, but for collecting samples from a giant lagoon of corpse parts, the scraps of Mortasheen's meat industry. Student life is like a free-for-all anarchy of testing weird creations on each other and the rig's biotech harvesting limbs are also sentient beings. The students give them names and have rival fandoms for each one :)

We're so so close to the book being done now, like maybe only a few days worth of work total. Still testing how well it prints from different services though. I unfortunately keep having to come back to Amazon Self Publishing which remains the current cheapest option with the nicest color quality. It used to be a different company that was even better and cost even less, but Amazon bought it :/

[milestonekestrel]

STILL WAKES THE DEEPERS COME GET YOUR DINNER!!!

[BODY HORROR AND FLASHING WARNING]

Thoughts under the cut (it gets lengthy)!

So.. we´re finally here huh? Took me a little over a week, but its done at last!

I´ll be honest, the idea first came to me when I listened to the song. I was brainrotting so bad on Still Wakes the Deep, I think I could´ve twisted anything into being about it haha. But this song actually fits it super well. ¨You lose touch with all the things that made you feel sane.¨ fits especially well with Caz, as everything that sort of grounds him on the rig during the shape infestation, the things that make him feel sane (mostly his friends) are all things he loses. In many cases, right in front of him. He also loses his family, as he realizes hes never going to get back to them, and, at the end, he loses himself too.

I tried to draw Caz´s hair progressively worse as his mental and physical state do. At his very best, particularly in the flashbacks at the end, his hair is shaped very specifically. But the more he goes through, the worse it gets, until at the very end where its just a tangled mess. Also his emotions, obviously towards the end he is still super emotional and stuff but I had hoped to sort of make it more...subdued? Maybe that´s not the right word, but he´s been through so much that his reactions aren´t as big to things, he doesn´t quite have the enough energy. He still Goes Through It with Finlay, but after that he´s giving you a constant 5000 yard stare. The, ¨I just watched every single one of my closest friends die in front of me¨ look.¨

Even when he gets to the derrick, he can only stare at the shape abyss.

He´s also in terrible physical condition and I tried to illustrate that with the scene of him standing up after Finlay dies. He is literally on his last legs, he is so, so tired.

also!! three flashy sequences in very quick succession at the end! do you know why? because Caz starts to See. The first, after Brodie dies, is a bunch of unique images about Caz. The people, things, and parts of himself that he is losing or has lost. Accompanied by other things, parts of himself, his life, etc.

There´s also these two images of Muir and Innes that I love very much.

The second one happens as he holds the lighter above the oil abyss! This ones just people he lost. And the third is everything that happened in the pmv flashing before his eyes. Because it is Quite a journey he has been on.

But you know why these flash? because Caz realizes that every step he is taking is one step closer to his death. Because he realizes that he is never going to get off the rig. because he realizes that he is going to die here. So hes thinking about Everything. His life, his family, friends, the horrors he went through, the things he lost and the things he will never, ever get back.

He also hallucinates Suze a lot in the pmv, but unlike in the game its not flashback sequences and she is not normal Suze. Until the end, when he´s reflecting on his life, its Suze With Tendrils!! Shape infected wife!!

and then at the end, she becomes more normal. Because he is flashing through the events of his life. also because he misses her, but he knows that by doing what he is doing, Shape Suze will never, ever exist. She will be safe.

I had a fun time drawing all the scenes in the pmv, but a select few are my favorite.

For example: The Beira D Bookends!

At the beginning and the end of the pmv, you get a full shot of the Beira D!

I like these scenes because I love having secret things like this. The bookends,,, ough do u guys get it they´re bookends... The Beira D is where it all takes place, in the game, and in the pmv. It is the first and last thing you see as Caz, and the first and last thing he sees in the 24 hours this takes place in. It is a very significant location, which is why it bookends the pmv.

Addair and Caz at the Stack:

Getting to animate this whole sequence was a blast. It´s my absolute favorite part of the game! Followed closely by the ending, but still my most favorite. I just think its a really cool part of the game, and it plays a lot into my Addair headcanons so!!! pretty sick!!

Caz´s Memories:

After he drops the lighter, Caz and his family are shown again. You can see him and Suze reconnecting (as well as the fact that I yoinked @inky-ash´s headcanon about them meeting up after he got punched in the face). He also plays with a young Cait. and drawing the hug between them just about made my eyes misty, because he really loves his family,,,, auuuughh,,,

also. the wedding photo.

I didnt really try with their outfits honestly, but I still really love how this came out. the wedding photo means so much to me...

The Lighter:

a little extra bit about the lighter. I drew when it was handed to Finlay, and when she handed it back to Caz. There´s no real scene parellells between these scenes, but I do really love them, and the whole fact that the Lighter was originally given to Finlay before she gave it back to Caz.

The Scene That Is Most Definitely Not A Reference:

Just kidding. it is.

The pose and composition is indeed a self-indulgent reference to the first artwork I made of Still Wakes The Deep!

Sinking:

The first time you see Caz in the pmv? He´s unconscious in the ocean, and sinking.

and the last time you see him? Unconcious, in an ocean, and sinking.

boy I sure do love parallels and things.

The Helmet:

at the very end, his helmet appears in the waves, before sinking below the surface. This is another self-indulgent little detail that serves as a nod to my headcanon!

I also just generally enjoyed drawing Caz and his facial expressions. That man means so much to me, so it was awesome to draw him so much!

also, I think its funny you can tell exactly when I figured out what the Cadal logo looks like, or that there even was a logo on the uniforms.

If you watched the pmv, or read this far, thank you so much!! This game means so much to me, and I´m so glad I could make this pmv. I love all the support this fandom has given me so far, so thank you! Thank you so much! Couldn´t have done this without such an awesome fandom <333

[leth-writes]

lost boys x reader

This is the first time I've ever written for these characters, so tell me if anyone wants more!

Summary: You're going to die. Shame your friends had to die alongside you.

Warnings: discussions of gore and murder.

it was a hot, muggy day, and you were going to die.

You’d only wanted to go out with your friends, maybe spend some of your hard-earned allowance on candy and carousel rides. You’d never meant for it to be this serious.

The day, or evening, rather, had started off normal enough. You’d gone on the roller coaster a couple of times, eaten some cotton candy and won some rigged carnival games, and you and your friends were sitting, enjoying the free music coming from the concert. It was a sax player tonight, a man without a shirt and and a chest covered in oil, though the crowd was reacting as though it was the most intense rock concert they’d ever heard. The cheap lights twinkled, lighting up the night sky with bright, neon hues. Laughter and chatter filled the humid air, the boardwalk filled with people.

Santa Carla was the murder capitol of the country, but you’d never thought you’d find yourself in real danger. You’d always thought the only people at risk were people without a place to go and the various tourists that trickled through, people who wouldn’t be immediately noticed upon disappearing. You had convinced yourself that the mysterious disappearances were nothing to be concerned with, as had everyone else in the normally quiet town, and your parents had finally relented to letting you stay out late with your friends. The 5 of you were sitting on the ledge by the stairs to the beach, drinking in the atmosphere and joking around; the current topic of discussion was the crush your friend Cindy had on some boy from school, Freddy.

“I’m telling you, there’s just something about that boy that’s so…” She paused, licking her lips deviously, a glint in her eye, “delicious!” Lara, a brunette with thick, curly hair and large glasses, rolled her eyes. She looked off into the distance, staring out at the shoreline and watching the waves disappear into the night, merging with the sky and creating a watercolor of stars. “You say that about every guy that catches your eye, Cindy. Maybe you should slow down and wait for a while?” She asked, still staring into the distance, eyes vacant and cloudy. Cindy laughed, throwing her head back, large earrings clacking. Various people in the crowd in front of you turned at the noise, surprised to find such a small woman practically doubled over.

“You need to have some fun, Lara, don’t be stuck-up!” She continued, smiling so wide her gums were visible, framed by her bright pink lipgloss. “I’m not stuck-up, just busy!” Lara defended, fighting a smile. Tamara turned from where she’d been comparing nails with the last of your group, Amy, and gently nudged Cindy. “hey, don’t tease her, Cin! She’s just focused on school, you know how smart she is!” Tamara sighed, exhasperated.

“Yeah, Cin, she’s the only one who’s getting out of this town when high school ends!” Amy picked up. Tamara and Amy were practically inseperable, being old family friends, and practically all agreed. Well, except for the Todd Incident, which you officially weren’t allowed to talk about.

“Well, Fred is cute,” you hedged, trying to prevent an argument before it escalated and got you all kicked out. Cindy was known for her loud voice, afterall, and you’d rather not get a lifetime ban from the boardwalk, the only place with any sort of entertainment not designed for sticky 5 year olds.

“Well, not everyone can be so picky, hun!” Cindy laughed, luckily not taking it the wrong way. It was true, though it stung slightly; you hadn’t ever really been interested in boys, not the way your friends were; even Lara had had more experience than you, and she’d only had one boyfriend! Still, you couldn’t bring yourself to so much as look at the local population… The boys were so immature, you felt like you were babysitting, not going on a date! Not to mention, most were only interested in sex, not long-term relationships, like you wanted. While you knew Cindy was happy, and you were slightly envious she seemed to have such luck with boys, you just knew that you two were different. It didn’t bother you anymore, though you’d been convinced you were broken as a child for not seeing what the others were talking about when Johnny Park had caught every girl in your grade’s eye. You knew that you’d find someone eventually, or at least you hoped you would, but for now you were content with your friends and the entertainment offered by romance flicks.

“I just thi-” You began, only to be interrupted by the loud roaring of motorcycle engines.

All 5 of you turned, shocked, as a group of boys rode down the boardwalk on their bikes, laughing and shouting as people were forced to jump out of their way. “Holy shit,” Cindy breathed, popping her gum, eyes locked on the bottle blond at the front of the pack. “Jesus, they’re gonna hit somebody!” Lara gasped, hands flying up to clutch her face in shock. “I hope they hit me,” Cindy responded, eyes glazed with want. Amy lightly smacked her arm, chiding her. Still, she wasn’t to be deterred. “We need to talk to them,” Cindy continued, once again biting at her lip, this time a more serious expression on her face. “You look like you’re going to jump someone,” Tamara interjected, looking slightly nervous. Cindy just wagged her eyebrows in response, breaking the tension and causing the 5 of you to break into peals of laughter.

“Jeez, Cin! I thought you liked Fred?” you joked, nudging her in the ribs with your elbow. “Well, Fred can wait!” She said, determined. By then, the group of boys had pulled up to the ledge across the railing from you, parking their bikes and lighting their cigarettes. There was something almost ethereal about the boys, 4 in total, all clad in leather with hair mussed to rival an ‘80s rock legend. Maybe it was the way their sharp edges blurred in the twinkling boardwalk lights, the warm lighting casting them in shades of gold and white as though they were angels. You couldn’t help but admit that they shared some resemblance to the feathered creatures of myth.

The frontmost boy was… at first glance, average height, bottle blond mullet framing his face in choppy waves and light beard just starting to accentuate the sharp curves of his face. He glanced up from his cigarette and made eye contact with you, icy blue eyes locked onto yours. For a second, the sounds of the boardwalk faded away and the lights dimmed, casting his face in harsh shadows; you could swear he smirked, teeth elongated into sharp fangs, brow bone warped and jutting out. Then, in a blink, it was gone, and the only sign of the vision you’d had that remained was his slightly too sharp smirk.

The tallest boy, the brunet, was clad in a dark jean jacket, sleeves pocked with leopard print, exposing his bare, toned chest. His skin was a touch darker than the others, and his shaggy hair swung around him as he shook it out, looking almost akin to a shampoo ad. You couldn’t help but stare at the muscles as they twisted under his skin, bunching and pulling taught. Your eyes snapped up and you blushed as his own dark chocolate ones met yours, mirth clear in his face.

The boy next to him, head thrown back in uproarious laughter, seemed to be the wildest. His hair, also blond, was shaggy and teased so big it practically enveloped him, and his wild smile exposed sharp canines tinged slightly with… you weren’t sure, though it looked slightly red. Lipstick, maybe? He wore beige pants and a fishnet shirt, slightly covered by the decked-out and ripped leather jacket accentuating his lithe form. He looked graceful, almost dancer-like, in the soft glow of the evening.

The final boy was the shortest, hair twisted into cherubic curls, and had one arm swung over the shoulders of the long-haired wild blond. the two were practically howling, doubled over, slightly obscured behind the front two.

All in all, the group was… intoxicating. You couldn’t help but stare, and judging by the silence of your friends, you knew they were doing the same. Catching your eye again, the bottle blond clicked his tongue and said something to his friends, who all immediately straightened. Then, they began sauntering over, walking in a pack like circling predators. You couldn’t help but feel like prey in the jaws of a lion.

“Oh!” Lara squeaked, pale face flushed the same shade as Amy’s hair. Tamara and Amy just silently nodded in agreement, but you couldn’t help but feel slightly anxious at the sight of the boys approaching you.

Finally they reached you, forming a loose semi-circle, boxing the 5 of you onto the ledge. You were trapped, though it seemed you were the only one conscious enough of the situation to notice.

“Hey there,” the shaggy blond started, though he was quckly shushed by his shorter friend. The bottle blond inhaled sharply, then grinned devilishly. “Hello… we couldn’t help but notice you all looked lonely,” he began, making intense eye contact with Cindy. None of the boys were even looking at you; were you that unlikeable?!

“I’m David, this is Paul,” he gestured to the shaggy blond, “Marko,” the curly haired boy, “and Dwayne.” the dark-haired boy making sharp eyes at Lara. Cindy quickly introduced the 5 of you, though you noticed that the boys didn’t take their eyes off of the respective friend they seemed to pick. You should’ve taken that as a sign.

Throughout the rest of the night, none of the boys seemed to spare you a second glance. They took turns going off with your friends, who each returned looking satiated with mussed hair and clothes slightly skewed. None of your friends seemed to notice you sulking in theh corner, content to pair off with the boy that had decided they were their target for the night. It was lonely, and you found yourself staying slightly on the edge of the group. They chatted and laughed, but you were stuck in the corner on the ledge by the bikes, completely isolated. you spent the night staring off into the distant shoreline, contemplating just leaving, though you convinced yourself to stay to ensure your friends stayed safe. Or maybe because you were jealous, though you’d never admit it. Finally, a couple of hours into the merging of the two groups, David paused in his discussions with Cindy. “Hey, why don’t we all head to somewhere more… quiet?” He said, smirk ever-present on the chiseled plains of his cheeks.

“Ok,” Cindy breathed, seemingly wanting to go back to chatting with him, or more likely making out with him, as soon as possible. You sighed, seems like you’d be finding your own way home toni-

“Hey, you can ride with me,” Dwayne said, cutting off your internal pity party. At that moment, it seemed your friends remembered your presence, as they all rushed to get you to agree. You might as well go, just to ensure their safety…

So, you agreed.

One slightly awkward ride later, and you all found yourself staring into the entrance of a cave, water crashing harshly against the base of the cliff. It was dimly lit from the inside with a variety of candles, it seemed there was no electricity in the desolate cave.

“A-are you sure this is the right place?” You questioned warily. The boys just laughed, and Cindy huffed impatiently. “Come on, worrywart! We’ll be fine!” She sighed, pulling you inside.

If you thought the outside was intimidating, the inside was warm, though it looked like it had been ripped from a painting of a bygone era. An old fountain graced the middle of the room, large draped fishnet fabric separating areas of the space. There was debris everywhere on the floor, coating the space in a thick layer of dust that prevented you from being able to see its real color. All you could do was hope you weren’t stepping on any faultlines.

The boys filtered in, bringing your friends with them as they did so, scattering around the space. You found your way to the beatup couch, taking a seat across from where Paul was sucking a hickey onto Tamara’s neck.

“Well, I think it’s time for a drink!” David crowed, plopping down in the wheelchair next to the fountain. Light cast his face in harsh shadows, hiding parts of his expression from you. Still, you got the feeling he was looking directly into your eyes.

“Ow, you’re being a little harsh there, Paul!” Amy cried, and you turned to look- only for a splash of warmth to hit your cheek. Where she’d been sitting, cuddled into his lap, she was now splayed across the edge of the sofa, neck bent at an odd angle and face twisted. Her chest deflated with a soft sigh, and her eyes went glassy. Her body was limp, limper than you’d ever seen her, normally so full of life. Blood pooled in her neck, and Paul shot you a wide grin, fangs now coated.

You screamed.

And you jumped back.

And you bumped into someone. You whirled around, and there was David, face coated in blood. Just over his shoulder, you could see Cindy, her arm yanked out of the socket. Her pretty face was twisted and contorted in pain, and tears streamed down her cheeks, now ruddy from her fear. She was clutching the limb tightly to her chest, rocking slightly. It looked as though she’d been mauled by a bear, arm bleeding heavily and chunks hanging limply by a thread. She let out a short scream, and then Paul was on her. You couldn’t see her after that.

From the other side of the fountain, you could hear Tamara crying, harsh sobs filling the air. Lara had been thrown, her body lying limp where Marko was drinking deeply from her neck, head lolled to the side and eyes looking unblinkingly at you. You couold tell she was dead.

Then, David was blocking your view, and your entire world narrowed down to him. His harsh icey blue eyes locked onto yours, and it was like you forgot how to breathe; all you could do is stare at him, not even trying to run. It felt like you weren’t in control of your body.

“Drink up,” he whispered softly, hand gripping your chin and bringing an ornate wine bottle to your lips. Against your will, your lips parted, allowing the spiced red liquid to enter. It didn’t taste like wine, an oddly thick mixture, though you had no idea what it could possibly be.

The other boys cheered, now standing in a loose semi-circle behind David.

When you finished drinking deeply from the bottle, David kissed the remainder off your lips, so soft he barely brushed your lips with his own, plump and warm. “sleep,” he said, and you were gone.

[soclonely]

Hello friend! I hope you are doing well! May we receive a clones as non-military jobs?

Oh! You mean like what happened in canon after the clone wars when the Separatists and Republic found out they were being played, Palpatine was yeeted into oblivion, Anakin left the order and became a trophy husband to Padme and pod racer mechanic, and Bail Organa took over the Senate? :')) yeah! of course! Rex- I am always going to be here for Life Coach or Career Counselor Rex.

Echo- Middle school history teacher, specifically dealing with 7th graders (which he is good at because sometimes Fives has the maturity of a 14 year old)

Fives- Stand up comedian. He is funny, he has stories to share, and loves making people laugh.

Jesse- personal trainer. I feel like he'd be SOOO supportive and fun to work with.

Kix- Flight attendant. Likes to travel the world on his companies dime

Tup- Van life blogger!

Dogma- assistance principal of a high school.

Hardcase- Oh man, he has charisma. I'd say a car salesman. But he's pretty straight forward about it.

Coric- nutritionist. he wants to take care of people.

Bly- Family photographer (his favorite is catching moments of weddings and newborn family photos)

99- School crossing guard!! Everyone absolutely loves him!

Cody- He's so laid back and chill he's the perfect project manager for a company

Waxer/Boil- Childcare workers or elementary teachers

Wolffe- IT guy. I can imagine him getting SO irritated on the customer service end

Boost/Sinker- oil rig workers

Hunter- Deli owner

Wrecker- Construction site worker!!! Can you imagine the silly lunches he would eat while sitting on a beam?

Tech- Engineer of some kind. I deal with too many engineers to not say this for this clown of a man.

Crosshair- Fire range safety course teacher

Omega- Airline pilot or Zumba instructor

Howzer- with his hair? he works at the local Jamba juice for his entire life!

Fox- free lance editor. all the coffee he wants, makes his own schedule, barely has to deal with people, and I honestly feel like fox would be a big reader

Gregor- Exotic tour guide! he makes it fun and silly for even his most nervous passengers

[ceccolia]

my beloved mutual @mi-kitamura keeps sending me devastating Armand meta and headcanons so it’s up to me to restore order to the universe. here are five Armand headcanons that are happ(ier)y in nature:

⚠️Warning⚠️ I’m not good at headcanons this just came from a place of deep need that we have some balance in the ecosystem. Have my half-baked ideas.

He goes all out for date night. This one is barely a headcanon. But I think showmand in particular has really demonstrated a love for the cheesy romantic shit. He’s lighting candles and scattering rose petals on a white table cloth. He’s drawing a bath with carefully selected oils and herbs. He’s taking Louis to a fairground with a detailed itinerary. He will get irrationally mad at a carnival game that’s obviously rigged because he has to win that stupid stuffed bear for Louis to prove his worth

It makes me happy to think maybe he has a little secret sketchbook. This is not based in anything really except his history as an artist except now he just doodles for fun. Magnolias are a reoccurring theme.

While I’m on the topic of hobbies I’ve been screaming this from the rooftop for months but HOROLOGIST ARMAND. He was DEFINITELY part of the clock craze in the 90s. He would love taking them apart to see how they work. I just know he’s got a workshop in that penthouse somewhere.

He’s weirdly defensive over Nosferatu (2024) because it commits so deeply to its aesthetic and we know that a cohesive aesthetic in art is important to him. He’s definitely not still mad about Santiago backseat directing and suggesting to get rid of the projections. It has nothing to do with that at all.

I think he convinced Malik to “accept” that he “wanted” to die by bullying him so hard about the sunglasses. Which he then immediately stole 😭

[signanothername]

A personal headcanon, and I shall die on this hill, is that Blades is stronger than HW. This bitty bot goes from carrying a giant boulder in season 1 to the MHQ WITH all 4 Bots on it in season 2, to holding up a whole ass oil rig in season 3. Optimus THE Optimus was having trouble pulling the rope under ground and Blades (smaller than OP and waaaaay weaker than Bulkhead) was the one who helped him. I still think Boulder’s stronger, but Blades has some muscle to him, or maybe it’s just core strength XD. I like to think and if he ever took a swing at HW sparring for whatever reason they’d both be impressed (HW) and horrified (B) by this. He’d still lose tho, I doubt he knows how to fight aside from basic self defense or how to restrain a patient. HW would definitely react like Tylong in that bridge scene, while Blades would run like Po when they told him Tylong escaped.

Oh my god I love the way you think CHCHCHHCHC

I feel like Blades’ strength mostly comes whenever he’s focused on the job he has to do, his anxiety is usually what makes him clumsy and/or easily distracted, like in the Hightide ep, he trips and falls when he started backing away cause he got too anxious from Hightide’s intense attitude

When he’s focused though? Damn it’s like Blades is a different bot (he isn’t different he’s just badass <333)

And we even see him hold on his own in multiple episodes, like the virtual video game episode when he fights so many trees on his own, or when he and Bee fight the Energon eater, Blades is far from weak and I’ll literally fight anyone who tells me he’s weak /lh

The thing is tho, I feel like Blades relies on his agility than strength most of the time which is pretty fitting for him

But yep it’s really funny to think of the scenario that Blades would knock down HW, HW would probably feel so proud of Blades for it chcchhcjc

Blades probably wouldn’t like sparring with Heatwave cause HW tends to be a tiny bit rough and very competitive and we even see that whenever they play in the show and it’s always fun and wholesome to see HW and Blades bickering <33333 (and that’s mostly the reason i like to think Blades and HW are the youngst of the Sigma team)

That of course doesn’t mean Blades himself isn’t competitive to an extent and it’s always a delight to see Blades boasting whenever he does something that HW couldn’t hcchchchch

But honestly i’d die for the idea that Blades and HW roughhouse sometimes <333333

[joliackermann]

Just a human

Hello :3 The Addair post I have been warning you all about is finally here. I have so much more to say, but I feel like this post would end up being much too long if I would add all that as well. Spoilers for the game! Have fun :3 And if you have anything to add, feel free to leave a comment! Also please tell me if there are any issues with the screenshots enqonkfmqf I hope everything works! The way the game decides to present Addair is quite interesting. Every step was thought through and with intention. Assuming the player walks around, looking at the different rooms, the first impression one is going to have about Addair is going to be quite a negative one. Like in any other videogame, most people just walk around, looking for things they can click on. The only thing that fits this criteria in Addairs room is this poster:

This instantly lets the player know that this person is not someone who is liked by the main protagonist, and thus probably not a person that should be liked by the player either. The game's intentions are clear. But what I found interesting is that this poster is not the main focus when you view it.

This is what it looks like when you click on it. As you can see, the poster, the thing Caz comments on, is not in the middle, not the sole main focus. Even though Caz doesn’t comment on it, and quite frankly, most people choose to ignore it, there are pictures of children up on the wall as well. The game even lets you get closer to them by putting them basically right in front of you. Like it’s telling you “Hey look, this man isn’t that bad, you just have to look for yourself” but in a really obvious way. Most people just don’t seem to look that far. While Caz only comments on the poster, the pictures are right there. This man is a father and he cares enough to hang his children up on the wall. 

This is a screenshot of his desk, With a letter written by his child, a cute little drawing of an oil rig and a card from someone, telling him to come home soon. This man has a family. They miss him. Reading the letter written by the child, the player learns that the little horse figure belongs to the child and Addair has it there to repair it, just like he did with the child's skates earlier. One of Addairs voice lines is "Think of the money, just think of the money." Working on an oil rig pays well. Going by his voice lines, and the fact that Addair would rather spend the time fixing his childrens toys than buying new ones, it is highly likely that his family has some issues when it comes to money. 

He has even more drawings hanging in his room:

This man has a family at home that misses him and, going by this note from Trots, also a child that something has happened to? It doesn’t really specify what happened, but the note says “Sorry to hear about your wee lad.” Which, btw, beautifully highlights the humanity of these characters. Trots and Addair have quite different ideologies and opinions, but that doesn’t stop Trots from adding this line to his note. He doesn’t have to. Addair would probably not care if it wasn’t there. But this is a beautiful example of how the game makes these characters feel like actual human beings. 

As the player continues his way through the game, most people will probably end up in the crew lounge by this point. There are two minor things I want to talk about here really quickly. The first thing is the darts tournament.

Addair didn’t even sign up, implying that he doesn’t really want to have anything to do with the others, or they with him. 

The next thing are the jukebox suggestions.

Addairs suggestion does not receive a single vote, implying that he is very much alone in his taste when it comes to music. 

Moving on to the canteen where the player talks for the first and the only time with Addair. The conversation is very much negative, with Addair and Caz provoking and insulting each other, Addair even threatening Caz with his butterknife at one point. Realistically speaking, the knife would probably not have done any real harm, but the symbolism speaks for itself. But look at the way Addair is sitting:

He is sitting on his own in the corner of this big room, facing the others. Why is he sitting alone?

They even wrote “eejit” next to his name. 

Why is he facing the room? Maybe because he does not trust the others. Or maybe because, even though they don’t like him and he does not like them, he still wants to feel like he is a part of this group. Imagine being away from your family in the middle of the North fucking Sea, at a workplace where nobody likes you and disrespects you. At some point, you are starting to feel lonely. Especially when you constantly have to see how great everybody else gets along. 

And it’s not just that he is facing the room. He is sitting in the corner, where he can really just see about everything without really having to look around much.

Basically the game intentionally presents Addair in a negative way, encouraging through intentional game design decisions to manipulate the viewer into thinking that this must be a bad person before even ever meeting him. BUT the beauty of this game is that it doesn’t keep you from looking at things. Yes, it encourages you to look at some things more than others, but it doesn’t really keep you from looking at everything else.As already said earlier, that poster in Addairs room is the thing the game wants you to look at. But it never keeps you from looking at the photos of his family, the letter or the drawings his kids made. Even when the game doesn't shove all that information into your face, it’s still all there for the player to look at. 

The player doesn’t have to, but if they want to, all the resources are there to dive deeper into Addairs character. How troubled he is, what things in life are important to him and where he struggles. He is just like everybody else on this rig. Even though this is just a videogame and Addair is not the main protagonist, he feels authentic and complex. He is flawed and vulnerable. He has a family, interests, a hobby, certain skills. Sure, he may be a bit insecure or socially awkward or have a different political view as his colleagues, but at his core, Addair is very much just a human.  

[magpod-confessions]

Writing a fanfic rn and have low key just been staring blankly at my doc cause I don't know what Mike's job would be??? Like I'm kinda just thinking of him just being a pilot cause that's the first job my mind thought of for a Vast Avatar or have him work on a fucking oil rig since like 60% of men in my life seem to work in that field and it would be mildly amusing to imagine him doing all that shit or maybe I could make him a mechanic???

Eh we'll see which I'll choose in the morning <3

🗣️

honestly i think it could be funny if he was jobless but i think him being a pilot of some sort could be fun - deceit

Ok ok. Hear me out. Maintenance. He can fix elevators and lights and things that require ladders and heights and falling and it doesnt rly draw much attention to him. Do you see do you understand - rosette

[xenosagaepisodeone]

one thing that gets me about rcdart is that imagine going into debt to go to a prohibitively expensive school like calarts and then coming out essentially needing to scrap the portfolio you've cultivated for 4 years and rework your professional identity because your questionable art and online persona became the face of everything wrong with the animation industry. there's no winning because yeah, actually, some of your art was transphobic (some people say that they were transmasc themselves, but I'm unsure if this is true) and bizarrely racist, but the spectacle that's been made of your work has become so memetic that ameliorating your public image so you can actually get a job in your field is entirely out of your hands. some people will dislike you for the aforementioned racism/transphobia, some people will dislike you for cringe, some people will dislike you because they see you as a symptom of the sjw calartsification of western animation; regardless, they're all uniformly drawn to mock you because of the shape your art took. which is very bad if you are in a visual arts related field. your controversy isnt even innocuously daft enough to be fun like the miku binder person. i would have gone to work on an oil rig if this happened to me.

[voxoleous2]

Crude Blood Trials QnA

Questions from friends, my wife, and fans.

CW :: alcohol mention and slight Suggestive content

Q :: How old are the characters?

Captain Ames :: 57

Morgan Ames :: 38

Avery Dickson :: 31

Q :: What is the amount of time between the murder and the oil drum shooting?

Q :: How long has Morgan been in custody?

Q :: What is Morgan’s favorite alcohol?

Gimlet on the rocks

Q :: Is Mekkan happy with his job?

Mekkan likes his work

Q :: Are bullheads edible?

Bullheads are not edible

Q :: Does the oil on this planet differ from the oil on ours?

Same crude oil, no diff

Q :: Is Detective Crosby under pressure to solve the case quickly? Like from higher ups or the oil company?

Crosby is under pressure, yes

Q :: Did captain Ames get Morgan the job?

Captain Ames did get Morgan the job

Q :: How did Morgan’s father feel about them, and vice versa?

Captain Ames :: “Morgan is my boy, of course I love him. Gave up my life for the brat.”

Morgan :: “I know he regrets having me, but he tries hard to not show it. Grandma told me. Bitch. I love my dad though.”

Q :: How bad is Morgan’s memory now?

Morgan has a photographic memory

Q :: Is Morgan being kept in psychiatric care or a jail?

Morgan is in Jail.

Q :: Are the interviews being conducted on the rig?

No, in the jail on the mainland.

Q :: What alignment in D&D would all the characters be?

Captain Ames :: Lawful Neutral

Morgan Ames :: Neutral Good

Avery Dickson :: Lawful Good

Mekkan Crosby :: Chaotic Neutral

Q :: Is the antagonist evil?

Define evil.

Q :: What is the species featured called?

Homodea - tall/long men

Q :: Any fun facts about the species?

Hair was developed due to sexual selection.

Q :: Any fun facts about the characters?

The only married character so far is Avery Dickson.

The REDACTED part of pgs 9-10 was Officer Crosby offering to make Morgan feel good. Which is why Morgan said “crude”.

[disneyparksattractionstournament]

Extinct Disney Parks and Attractions tournament round 3: Bracket AB

Reminder, you don't have had to experience any of the attractions/experiences to vote! Just read in the info and/or watch the vid,then vote for which you wish you would have experienced more/which sounds cooler!

Videos and propaganda/info dumping under cut

Great Movie Ride: Hollywood Studios/MGM Studios (1989-2017)

Propaganda:

"This ride was SO fun! It was such a great dark ride; all the sets were so detailed and evocative of their movies, especially Alien. When that xenomorph came down, I was always startled, even as an adult, and it flat-out scared me as a kid. Spooky! And the little plot the ride had with the ride being hijacked by a gangster or a western outlaw who then fell victim to their own greed was absolutely delightful. It was such a great show of sets and animatronics, and I miss it so much."

"I genuinely loved this attraction as a weird autistic kid who couldn't really do anything else in Hollywood Studios and I'm really sad to learn that it's gone. I loved the atmosphere and the slow-moving ride vehicles and from what I understand it took a lot of skill to be a host on that ride."

"The animatronics were great for their times. I loved the two different versions of the ride (gangster/Wild West). The cast members were so much fun during the ride. A great tribute to great movies. The rotating props in the line queue was neat too."

"The best 22 minutes in AC on a hot Floridian day that will forever be missed."

"IT WAS SO IMMERSIVE!!! And the guides were apart of the ride and there were 2 different path at one point, the Western or Gangster, and hiding in the animatronics would be a real person and they would take over the ride from the host, then in a later scene in Indiana Jones part, the host would trick them into a "curse" and take the ride back! (just watch the video xD)THEN you went through freaking Oz! There was no ride like it before or after and I will never get over them getting rid of it!"

Maelstrom: Epcot (1988-2014)

Propaganda:

"This ride had everything. Troll animatronics. An off shores oil rig. A waterfall that they tricked you into thinking you were going to go over. Yes it was outdated but it made up for it in charm. Truly an experience the likes of which we’ll never see again in a Disney Park."

"Replaced by Frozen ride despite the culture being the point of epcot, was the highlight of my one trip there and had some super cool sadly retired animatronics"

[sso-maev]

Story quest thoughts!!!

Biggest impression I got from the quest is that the team has a direction for where they want to take the story. Which like finally. The quests being called “beginning of the end” really signifies to me that they’re not gonna keep stalling with the story anymore. The stakes are going up and it really feels like we’re nearing the end of the main story quests, at least the story we’ve been following.

Speaking of stakes, omg we actually bombed the DC headquarters. Went over this in a previous post but like. Sso has NEVER made a previously permanent area inaccessible. Im gonna miss the platform and emo crust-Justin (Gone but not forgotten❤️) but honestly? This was such a great way to make the scale of the battle so much larger. Also it does make sense to me that the HQ never actually drilled for oil. Dark core has other establishment that I’m sure were actually doing legit business, but since all the workers on the oil rig are robots anyway and it’s the location of the portal, it makes sense that they reserve the HQ for just the magic shenanigans.

Anne never hesitating to use her powers in the most dangerous way possible will never cease to be funny to me. Go queen commit whatever atrocities you need to. But I honestly think everyone was pretty well written in terms of dialogue. Anne takes a major risk with her powers, and it results in her getting the revenge she wanted. Alex isn’t only used as an engine for comedy, and I really like the bit where she expresses remorse for leaving us to face the dark riders on our own. Linda gets a lot more screentime than I expected, and she really reminds me of her book counterpart in these quests. The DR have nearly killed her so many times and she’s just not afraid of them at this point. She has this confident assertiveness to her that we don’t really see as much when she’s talking to friends, outside of short quips. Lisa is the only one who didn’t get that much through these quests, but I’ve kind of gotten used to that at this point. I can project my headcannons onto her regardless

Surprisingly I was also really fond of the soul horses this time! Concorde and Tincan had some really nice ominous foreshadowing to their dialogue (Runestones hasnt been used since WHAT dark times Tincan???????) and both Meteor and Starshine had some fun dialogue

The DR are always just so great. You don’t understand I love Jessica more than anything in this world. Her telling Katja to “do the thing” and it’s just them riding over an already iced river is absolutely wonderful. And oh my god the ENDING. Its so cinematiccccc. Mr sands is back after what. 7 years?? Insane. The three hits on the tree, the glowing red runes of the hammer, Sabines full name of general Malumi, Erissa sommersaulting out of the portal LIKE. The questline was short but it was so packed with new story developments. The soul riders think theyve won while the dark riders welcome their fourth general come onnn.

So Darko is dead right? Like if they were gonna bring him back they would at this point. I do wish they found a way to integrate him here, and if not that introduce him earlier in the game. I don’t really care that much about him as a character, but him being introduced as relevant, killing Elizabeth and then never being talked about again isn’t really the conclusion I want.

But overall I really liked the quests. Everyone felt in character, we got really impactful cutscenes, and the story is progressing in a way thats both natural and really exciting. I can’t wait to see whats gonna happen now that the HQ is gone and the dark riders are complete.

[yesmaddyposts]

Prototypes and Platinum Blondes

Fandom: The Barbie Movie (2023) Word Count: 1.4k Relationships: Pre-relationship, Margot Robbie's Barbie X Ryan Gosling's Ken Tags: Alternate Universe - Robots & Androids, Android ! Ken, Engineer ! Barbie, Unresolved Romantic Tension AO3 Link

Description: Mattel is the nation's top robotics company, and their newest line of romantic companion androids (The Ken Line) is officially underway. It's up to Barbie to get the prototype up and running.

Of all the projects Barbie has worked on in her career at Mattel, this one has got to be the most…ambitious. She can do it, of course. One doesn’t just graduate from MIT, land a job at the nation’s most prestigious robotics company, and build their way up to lead hardware engineer without knowing their stuff. But being tasked to help design a prototype for a line of romantic companion androids was definitely not on her bingo card.

She’s engineered plenty of androids that serve different functions in the past decade. Androids that are designed to take on high-risk, hard labor jobs like oil rig operators and nuclear waste managers. This project is a very different direction for the company. Barbie has to admit, it’s been a daunting task. She’s used to coding and programming androids for physical tasks. Designing an android with an identity, complete with flaws and skills and hobbies, is an entirely different ballpark.

The android’s factory name is K-0080. It’s printed on the bottom of his left foot and a manual on/off which is disguised as a birthmark on the base of his neck. He is the first of his kind, a prototype for what Mattel hopes to be their most commercially successful android line yet. The Ken Line. Ken because, apparently, Kenneth means “good-looking.” Not Barbie’s first choice. He’s been officially powered on for just shy of forty-eight hours now. Enough time to test out his primary functions, sensory motors, and reflexes. That’s the most fun part for Barbie when it comes to engineering. She likes to pretend she’s in a game show called “Can the robot do the thing?” Can he button up his own shirt? Can he do ten jumping jacks in a row? Can he walk in a straight line all while touching his nose with his pointer finger? 

In K-0080’s case, the answer is a resounding yes.

Right now he sits behind her on an examination table in the testing lab. He looks around curiously while swinging one of his legs like a little kid. That is kind of what he is right now. He has been programmed with the basics: speaking and understanding English fluently, reading and writing, mathematics. But that’s about it. Barbie glances over her shoulder to look at him. His face is cycling through a series of expressions like he is trying them on his face for the first time. Finally he settles on one that mimics confusion. 

Barbie has to admit, Gloria didn’t cut any corners with designing the android’s physical features. There’s a reason she is the head of the visual design department. The androids Barbie has made in the past have been humanoid, but their primary function was labor, not aesthetics. Most of the time they were missing key human attributes like hair and skin. But not K-0080. He looks more human than some actual people Barbie has met in real life. 

It is obvious that Gloria put an immense amount of attention to detail into this prototype. There is thought and care with every eyelash and freckle on the android’s face. A conscious decision was made on the exact shade of platinum blonde for his hair. He has a lean muscular build which suggests athleticism, but the lack of calluses on his hands indicate that he doesn’t get his physique from weight lifting. For god’s sake, K-0080 has pores.  

K-0080 catches her looking at him. He hasn’t been programmed with his full personality yet, so he doesn’t startle or get shy. He just maintains unabashed eye contact and asks, “What are you doing now?”

“I’m finishing up the transfer for your identity software so you aren’t just a one-dimensional love-bot,” Barbie tells him as if he will understand a single thing about what she is talking about.

“So cool,” K-0080 responds. She does a double take at the hint of Californian accent in there. 

It’s a very personal response for an android that is still only half-done. Did Kate put some of his traits in the original data upload without telling anyone? Barbie wouldn't put it past her to sneak something like that in there, after all everyone in the office calls her Weird Barbie because of their similar faces and her eccentric behavior. The two of them just pretend they don't know it.

When the android doesn’t react further, she returns to her computer, skimming for any errors that cropped up in the download for Kate’s code. And the code is extensive. Mattel spared no expense in polling target audiences for the type of “romantic companion” they wanted. They conducted numerous surveys on personality traits, hobbies, and qualities that people found most attractive. Even K-0080’s voice was hand picked. Barbie does not envy the poor intern who had to marathon hundreds of romantic comedies to create the perfect vocal blend of male Hollywood heartthrobs. What the company has settled on is this: K-0080 is to be a beach-loving, optimistic, charmingly awkward boyfriend-type with a soft spot. People want a companion they can fall in love with, but not one that is so perfectly superior that it ruins the illusion.

With Gloria's expert eye and Kate's creative genius, all Barbie has to do is put the puzzle pieces together. She isn’t the romantic type, honestly, but it’s a simple task with all the heavy lifting already done.

She sets the data files to transfer. With a sigh she stands up out of her desk chair and stretches. Her joints all pop in succession, an embarrassing reminder that this last month and a half she has been spending more time sitting at her computer designing a robot with a fake social life than she has being, you know, actually social. K-0080 tracks her movements with his eyes. They’re a shade of blue that is entrancing without tipping into uncanny valley territory.

If the trial period goes well, orders for more Ken Line androids will go into effect. That means different skins, personality traits, heights, weights, every customizable quality will be on the table. More variation means more opportunity to widen the customer demographic. She approaches the android and considers this potential future. Will K-0080 be the only one of his line to look like this? Or will people love him so much they’ll want an exact replica, leading to advertisements and billboards showcasing identical androids? She walks in a slow circle around him. What will become of this model specifically in the grand scheme of things? 

When she stops in front of him again, K-0080 smiles up at her with a dreamy sort of affectionate expression. Barbie can’t help the heat that rushes to her face. How has he mastered that already?

The moment breaks with the chiming of her computer. Data Transfer Complete the screen reads. Below that, a horizontal bar is filled in with a hot pink color, and to the right end of the bar is a 100% symbol. Barbie removes the microchip from her computer and brings it over to K-0080. She carefully folds back the cartilage of his right ear to expose the port in his skull. It’s a lot like an SD card for a camera, or a hard drive for a computer. The android is a vessel that stores information, and that information is transferred from the microchip. K-0080 has the capacity to learn dozens of languages, skills, and even fabricated memories and storylines. Kate calls it a “roleplay treasure trove.”

She steps back after inserting the microchip, then walks around so that she faces the android once more. K-0080’s face shifts to a neutral expression as he absorbs the influx of new information. A silver loading symbol replaces the irises around his pupils, gradually filling up with the same pink color as on the computer. When it is full, his irises fade back to their regular ocean-blue. 

This project has been years in the making. Years of blueprinting, engineering, researching, and it all comes down to this. The gravity of the situation is enough to make Barbie’s heart race. 

“Alright, let’s test you out. What’s your name?” Barbie asks. 

K-0080 seems to ponder the question, as if he is searching through his internal database for the correct response. His reaction time will get quicker with time, Barbie knows. He’ll need to go on trial runs. Mattel will be bringing in real people to go on “dates” with the first ever romantic companion so he can get real world experience. K-0080's code grants him the ability not only to gain knowledge from a single data transfer, but to pick up knowledge firsthand. The possibilities are literally endless. As if he is fully aware of this unprecedented accomplishment, K-0080’s lips stretch into a confident grin.

“My name is Ken.”