#Backdated before Halloween

[tumbloggingattheendofitall]

Alrighty

(admin stuff includes : today is July 31st, 2024. I've been having this theory in some form since early in 2023, like about the month after the Return Tour completed in Japan. And it's finally come time to write down my potential prescience. I also want the record to show that in an effort not to shove my potential theory into the fandom's circuit, I'm posting this privately for now. I will make this public either after WWWY2 has finished, if my theory becomes the collective one before then, or if my theory is disproven before the time in which I have theorized.)

All said, there's a prerequisite understanding going into this. You must be willing to buy into the idea that MCR5 is Real and it is Coming. If you have that prerequisite met, other helpful things to have include

Knowing some MCR lore, broadly

Being aware of the specific ways MCR has been opaque and cryptic in the history of the band. Good examples include the lead-up to the Return announcement

The sheer time scale at which they Plan these things

Can't hurt to also know about Gerard's old interviews in which they talked frequently about the ways the Smashing Pumpkins influenced the trajectory of the band, and the ways that this directly contributed to the tinhatting of the fandom in the Hiatus Period

All to say, I believe that I'm being backed up by the methods that MCR have often taken to breadcrumb about their plans in ways that are effective, but only if you have a certain level of colloquial understanding of their particular style of dropping breadcrumbs. Which, in my experience, is a long haul sort of thing - less 100-meter-dash, more cross-country-marathon. Like the aforementioned Smashing Pumpkins inspo being used as the foundation for why exactly MCR would definitely be reuniting in 2019 - the original interviews mostly happened between 2007-2009 iirc, and that's still easily a year ahead of when the breakup really happened.

So. My theory, which is dated in its current iteration to this moment (but I'll backdate my officially going hard into it back to Halloween 2023 because I think that's about the time I realized how much the breadcrumbs of it all impacted my opinion here) begins with, duh, MCR5 is happening. I believe it, I Know it, and I won't be discussing the decade and a half of knowledge I'm using to make the claim, you just have to accept it. It's happening. The when and where are the big question marks, much the same way that pretty much everything about What's Next With MCR are also huge question marks.

I think I know the answer is what I'm saying. All this big preamble exists just to say, I think I know when and where and all the rest of the answers. I think I've known since... Ok I guess it's actually November 17 2023.

Theory : I believe MCR was a driving force behind the addition of Day 2 of WWWY Festival. I believe that the box office draw of this band gave them plenty of social currency they could leverage into legitimately getting a bunch of festival organizers to add a second day. I think the only caveat any reasonable event coordinator might have would be that the first date would have to sell out first before a second day could be added. I also think MCR aren't stupid and collectively were Aware that their presence at the festival would absolutely bring those sales through the roof.

I think they've had this plan since at least the Australian/Japanese leg of the Return, in some form. I think they may have finessed and altered it, may have even intentionally delayed it due to Frank's side time with LS Dunes - and perhaps a mosaic of other factors I don't have access to or knowledge of. But I think the plan is as follows with regard to what Will Happen. MCR will take the stage on Day 1 of WWWY2 and they will play The Black Parade, start-to-finish. They Will Not play the stage show that they killed in Mexico, in fact I'm willing to bet they will undersell their own theatricality for Day 1. This is important and intentional. I am willing to bet they will fill the time with B-Sides if needed - maybe even mixing the B-Sides with the original release. That wouldn't surprise me. The point is, I believe they will at least play KAYF and All The Angels. I Don't think they'll play anything from other eras on Day 1. But I'd argue that if they do, it'll be as an encore, a 3-piece-set encore. Blood isn't part of the encore by the way in this version of the set. Either it's the final song of an encore that's just their most loved B Sides after the entirety of Black Parade, or, it's the last song before an encore of 3 songs - Vampires Will Never Hurt You or Skylines and Turnstiles as the first, Helena, You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us, or TYFTV as the second, and Kids for the third. I'm willing to concede I have strong preferences for specific picks, but I also don't think it matters what is done there - I think what matters is, it'll be a 3-song encore set that the band finds emblematic of each of the Non-Black-Parade eras. Who knows, it could be all Non-Album Tracks. An encore could even just not happen - very like them, in some way. The point is, my theory is, Day 1 of WWWY2 is about being a prelude to Day 2, and underselling themselves in that prelude.

I think at the end of Day 1's set, the official site will be updated - next 5 tour dates will appear, or some other announcement if they're feeling generous, something cryptic à la the Return teaser if they're not. Again, this is a prelude - all window dressing, actually. It's why I think they're going to undersell their theatrical bent for this performance.

I think it'll cause uproar, of course, because people will wanna know why they went so Under Expectation, underperforming, whatever. I think the girlies and gays will be rightly Irate at the Horrors for the performance on Day 1. I think it'll be exactly what they said it would be right down the line, and the MCRmy collectively will be Upset. But hopeful.

I think day 2 will be insane.

You see, I remember exactly where I was when Foundations dropped, and I think that's the level of warning they intend to give for anything that comes next. It's not that they didn't leave breadcrumbs for Foundations, it's that until it had actually blindsided the collective MCRmy, nobody had the answer for what those breadcrumbs added up to, just a lot of guesses.

Day 2: they will open the performance 'as usual' with The End and, likely, Dead!. Maybe they'll be really cheeky as it were and get through Welcome To The Black Parade, but I think they'll monopolize their time, so they'll start like they did the night before, but with more theatricality (either marginally or overtly). I also think that by either the end of Dead! or WTTBP, The Thing will have dropped online. My hope and strongest theory is, no warning, they will drop MCR5 in its entirety online and then proceed to perform it in its entirety with the remainder of their set.

(Alternatively, they will still perform the whole thing, but the online drop will be a complete list of tour dates, and/or album announcement.

Otherwise, I could see an Ultimate Greatest Hits Mashup as the set, with either, both, or all being dropped online, either over the course of their set or as one giant Drop at some strategic point during or immediately following their performance.)

What will be dropped, and when, is still a lot of variables based on which breadcrumbs I'm parsing and in what ways I'm analyzing them. My strongest feeling, though, is that Day 2 will neither be a repeat of Day 1, nor will it have anything to do with The Black Parade except in that they're using that as a ... window dressing and prelude to what's Actually Happening. And while I'm willing to concede there's multiple possibilities for what's Actually Happening, I think there's some breadcrumbs that strongly suggest, What's Actually Happening is an album release party that will correctly shatter expectations and cause a collective MCRmy meltdown.

Anyway I kinda look forward to being proven so stupidly wrong, but God can you even Imagine if I were right? Lol

[lgchyunhee]

♡ BOOGIE ON AND ON 

starter for @lgcxhaeun​ backdated to hyunhee’s birthday weekend 

when saturday evening rolls around, hyunhee can barely contain her excitement. she would be lying if she told anyone this was her first time clubbing, making the blonde seem like quite the troublemaker. she presumes that most people go clubbing and drinking before they turn nineteen, anyways. besides, where’s the fun in life without a little danger?

like she promised haeun earlier in the week, she’s picked out all of her favorite two piece sets for both of them to pick from and share. one of them can wear the top, the other the bottoms. they’re supposedly one size fits all, but hyunhee knows sometimes that’s far from the truth. the clothes are made of stretchy material, at least, and if they don’t fit she’s more than willing to go on a little pre-clubbing shopping spree. 

she neatly puts the clothes in a duffle bag so they don’t wrinkle alongside her makeup bag. hyunhee’s not an expert when it comes to makeup, but she knows enough to get by. besides, she has a ton of glitter courtesy of peripera sponsoring legacy’s halloween party, and can’t think of a better occasion to use it. 

when she’s satisfied that everything she needs is packed up, hyunhee strolls over to the other’s dorm and knocks three times on the door. she’s bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet, unable to keep calm while waiting. she’s just way too excited to spend some quality time with haeun again. 

[rearranging-deck-chairs]

actually hang on lets spend the rest of the night imagining the specials with yaz still there. marrying the old with the new or the.....oldnew with the newold idk but yaz deserves her hand held and her arm pulled out of its socket in enthusiasm (she even refrains from taking 13s hand when shes actively dying!!!!) and i want to see her see 14s openness and have them literally look at each other in startlement like what the Fuck

i want her there meeting donna and rose, Watching. i want her there in the cab while the doctor catches up. i want her asking questions about donna while they sneak into the.......place where the alien spaceship is and i want the doctor to respond to those questions easily with basically what he tells shirley later. i want to see what "Because I've got this friend called Donna Noble, and she was my best friend in the whole wide universe. I absolutely love her. Oh. Mmm. Do I say things like that now?" turns into when it has to be said to yazs face.

i want her there in the tunnels of unit meeting shirley. the two of them doing the lay of the land conversation in quiet voices like theyve done this a thousand times before. the doctor going "double-bladed dagger drive, damaged by laser fire, which means-" and yaz finishing "two alien species at war with each other? feel like ive heard that one before" - "i was wrong then though, wasnt i?" - "and now?" - "lets hope not" before shirley interrupts "doctor" "and this is yaz" "nice to meet you" "did you get the heat readings and deceleration?" "ive got everything. shirley ann bingham. unit scientific advisor 56" "i was scientific advisor number 1" "you were?" "he was. im gonna get a bonus just for meeting him. but why are you hiding away? we're on the same side" "hmnggweelllyeahh we were just upstairs yesterday slash last year dalek....cybermen....master.....situation, you remember. new faces, old faces, bit awkward, you know how it goes" "hang on, last year?" "oh yeah, we skipped ahead a bit" "doctor!" "just give me your phone later we'll backdate a couple of texts. nobody needs to know" "youre impossible" "you were supposed to go home" shirley like: 👀 but then that soldier comes to interrupt them and they bounce

i want her there in all the scenes in donnas house feeling sooo out of place and trying to understand how she feels like the doctor just died but also,,,,not? but every time she thinks shes about to lose it the doctor pulls her into the conversation with a "yaz :)" thats just Too familiar counting on her skills and her knowledge bc she literally just saved the world and the doctor's life, and saying little things that the rest of the company wont understand just to make her feel like,,,,,,"im still here im still me" like a lowkey version of 11&12 to clara in deep breath.

i want her to pipe up "but you all assumed about the doctor?" when rose points out about the meeps pronouns and everyone look at her like Hang On Who Are You Again? and the doctor quickly move the conversation along to Meep Things before anyone starts asking Questions and i want yaz to shoot him a look that he Pointedly Ignores.

i want them to be all halloween apocalypse team dynamic as they get the family out of the house when all the soldiers come and the doctor surprisedly going "this is a lot easier with two" and yaz being like "took you long enough"

she'd stay with the family to get them to safety, maybe because the doctor orders her to but i dont think she'd listen so i think she'd take the initiative. that way you can still have the big climactic scenes with 14 and donna alone.

i want her to burst out laughing in the end after donna and rose "let it go", taking centre stage for the first time in the whole episode to go "hang on. hang on. tHE DOCTOR?!??!?! the doctor????? she'd have understood???" near hysterical because this day - in true doctor fashion - has lasted an entire year. i want everyone to be stopped dead in their tracks, the doctor as well as anyone else, startled and taken aback and realising we still dont actually know who she is? like shirley does, but none of the others. a friend of the doctor, sure, presumably, but we dont know where she came from, we dont know how long shes been here, just sort of in the background, watching, Being There so reliably that the doctor seems to count on her presence almost like the sonic or the tardis or that net that appears when you jump.

so she introduces herself to them briefly like "sorry. yasmin khan, and..." - looks at the doctor "...not actually entirely sure of the rest, right now". and the doctor looks at her like Not The Dirty Laundry Please I Put On This Whole New Outfit So Nobody Would See The Dirty Laundry. and yaz, loyal and devoted and one lie in two mouths when it comes to the doctor, narrows her eyes like fine. and the doctor turns to their Audience all smiles and is like "yaz! my best friend" "number 56?" she mutters "thereabouts?" he whispers back and they share a look that says we'll talk about The Rest later.

then we can finish the episode almost as it went. get a new look at the new tardis with two doctors at once. the doctor running around the console room while yaz gets her hands on the new console Immediately to figure out the new controls. she'd watch donna and the doctor together, figuring them out too, figuring out the new doctor too. and simultaenously her old doctor retroactively too. thinking about the doctor in her living room as donna talks about dinners and school plays. putting that away to pull him aside later to ask if he......would like that, actually. dinner. "i never got to taste that pakora" he says. "didnt miss much," she says. he gives her a look that maybe he thinks it was, and with that basically gives her an answer to the question she asked.

now wild blue yonder is gonna be more complicated. i think you'd need her to stay in the tardis. you know, lock the doors, have the doctor yell at her a bit through them, give her some instructions for repair perhaps. and then the doctor and donna can go take a stroll while yaz takes care of that. then wild blue yonder can go almost exactly as it goes. and the giggle i think would be very interesting with yaz added in. room enough for a couple of fun conversations. lots of potential with yaz+other companions

"i think i need to do the next part alone" no you dont!!!!!!! you dont!!!!!!!!!

[liarsmiles]

Bedtime Stories | OPEN

Situated at a park camp site in the city of Shizume, deep within the darkest part of the wooded area there, stood a lone man, dressed in a lavender yukata. Beside him was a tent and a fire pit, although the fire was not lit despite it being so dark and cold. Instead, the tall man had his back turned to the pit and he was talking to no one in particular. The tone of his voice had a creepy edge to it, like you could hear the creepy smile plastered on his face just by the tone of his voice alone. 

Whether you had been stumbled upon him from the beginning or had just gotten there, one could assess that he had been recounting a very terrifying tale. “And then... the man awoke in the middle of the night to see a dark figure looming over him. Even as his adrenaline kicked in, making him more alert, his eyes were still blurry from sleep. The face of the figure wasn’t immediately seen, and although the man’s mouth was agape and his eyes wide, the figure could tell he was having trouble adjusting to the dark and so.. He leaned in closer... and closer... until...”

At this moment Gen whipped around, the flashlight he held under his chin illuminating his features in an unflattering way and casting part of his face with dark shadows while the rest were illuminated by the light. His face was contorted into a wide grin. “THE FIGURE’S FACE BECAME CRYSTAL CLEAR! TWO BLACK HOLES FOR EYES AND A PERFECTLY ROUND BLACK HOLE FOR A MOUTH! AND LEAKING FROM THOSE DARK EYES WERE THIN STREAKS OF RED!!” 

Gen had more or less figure he’d been alone up until this point, so he had no idea if anyone had been standing there watching him. Hell, he wouldn’t have been able to see much of anything with that flashlight practically blinding him. 

[luxeacademyhqs]

((PLEASE KEEP IN MIND THAT THIS IS BACKDATED TO HAVE HAPPENED ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2021!))

At approximately 9:00 PM, things at the Halloween Haunted House set up in the Courtyard of Luxe Academy began to go haywire. The attraction is split into three distinct and separate houses. When strange things began happening- lights flickering, sound and fog machines glitching- students currently making their way through Slashers, Thrashers, and Head Smashers or Medical Malpractice were ushered out of their respective houses by House attendants (outside employees hired by Luxe to put on the production). Those making their way through Into the Dollhouse, however, faced a far different scenario. Lights flickers and machines glitched, though no one came to usher the group out. Instead, the slamming of doors could be heard throughout the constructed warehouse, automatic locks clicking instantly into place, barring anyone in the house from exiting. The group was given a window of 60 seconds to realize what had happened, before the lights went out completely. Suddenly, hands from seemingly everywhere and nowhere simultaneously shot from the dark, dragging each member of the group in separate directions. Lead through the houses in separate directions, though walking far further than it seemed possible, given the size of the constructed houses, and most assuredly going down a set of makeshift stairs during part of their journeys, the groups were eventually placed in two separate rooms. 

After several disorienting moments, shrouded in darkness, the lights in each respective room flickered to life. Taking stock of those around them, the two groups soon would come to similar and obvious conclusions- one room housed any Elite student present in the house at the time of the glitches, while the other contained any scholarship student there. Other than each other, the only thing not shrouded in billowing black fabric is a large projection screen, standing blank and noiseless. After approximately two minutes of silence, each screen flickered to life, beginning two very different ‘films’.

Elite Students were forced to watch a film entitled ‘BIRTHRIGHT’. The ‘film’ featured digitally recorded footage of nearly every student on campus, at various points throughout their days, and in various locations. While much of the footage was obviously filmed in public areas (the courtyard, the dining hall, the gym), some clips featured more intimate and private areas (locker rooms, empty suites in the respective Dominant and Switch/submissive housing). While the film’s intro and the first minute or so of footage was backed by bright, cheerful music, the melody soon took an evil turn, slowing, deepening, and leaving all who were watching with a deep sense of dread. More footage rolled, though this time it featured highlights of specific students- Scholarship students. During their time on screen, each of their faces was edited to melt. Voiceovers played in the background, chanting, “Luxe Academy was erected as a home for the most elite, the most prestigious, the most worthy members of society. Now, the doors have been opened, halls filled with those who have no right to be here! And you, those fate has chosen to protect these sacred halls, have stood by and watched as our beacon has been forced to dim her light in shame. Act now, prove yourselves, prove your loyalty to your lineages. Prove that you are worthy to walk the halls of Luxe Academy!”. 

Scholarship Students were forced to watch a film entitled ‘TRESPASSERS’. The film, beyond the title, was exactly the same as that viewed by the Elite students. However, the voice over was different. During their ‘film’, the Scholarship studets heard, “Trespassers. Outcasts. Intruders, be warned. Your presence at Luxe Academy will no longer be tolerated. You have overstayed your welcome in a world in which you do not belong, and the time has come for you to relinquish what was never yours! Heed our warning, and retreat while you can. Leave this place now, before it’s too late!”

Following the completion of their film, the ELITE STUDENTS ONLY were shrouded once again in darkness, and lead back to the entrance of the Into the Dollhouse haunt, seemingly free to go. 

OOC: While this event took place on Sunday, October 17 in-game, I’m going to timelord it, similar to how the events of the Halloween celebrations are going, so that all players will have a chance to interact with and write through this plot as they’d like. If  came to you in DMs and plotted with you to have one or more of your characters involved, please make sure that you post something from them addressing and calling attention to what has occurred. Not every character was involved in this drop, so there will be students on campus who were in the other Haunted Houses but were simply evacuated, who were doing other things around campus, or who had already gone to bed. Where this goes, how your characters react, and what comes of this will be determined by your game play, so make sure you’re talking about this with as many others as possible. Use this opportunity to connect with characters you have not in the past. Build new relationships, raise suspicions, make observations, and remember to come to me with any questions about what to do, or what this means! Happy Plot Drop, y’all! AND REMEMBER: Only the Elite students were released from their confines. It will be up to you, the players, to determine who first realizes the Scholarship students are still missing, and what the plan is to make sure they are located and set free as well. I will be monitoring the dash to ascertain when this discovery happens. Once it does, I will release a list of clues for those searching for the missing students, leading to their safe return. 

PLEASE ALSO NOTE: All students have access to their cell phones, with service, during this ordeal. Use that as you will. 

Plot Drop Participants:

-Amaya Kingston @amayakingston -Isabel Evans @dommeisabelevans -Max Evans @sxmaxevans -Darren Carter @sdcarter -Isla King @switchislaking -Max Whittaker @dommaxw -Elanor White @switelanorwrp -Cassie Ainsworth @lovelycassieainsworth -Mark Petrie @markatluxe -Brady Davin @bradyatluxe -Teddy Duchamp @subteddyatluxe

[foreverydinger]

Backdated from before Graduation and marked with a ‘DO NOT OPEN UNTIL YOUR BIRTHDAY’ tag because Greg knew he was going to forget about Tony but wanted to make sure he had presents for him since he was going to have to practically remeet him again. Included in the card is a £25 gift card to Chippa’s and the following note: 

Tony, I hope by now we’re friends again - if you haven’t reminded me by now though, this is your reminder to do so? Because what the hell man you promised but anyway, I’m going to assumed you did! And that you me and Ian are back to where we were before… everything. Or… kind of close at least. I realize it’s probably incredibly hard, and I’m not sure things will ever be the way they are right now but, I hope we’re close at least. I also hope that I didn’t push you away. I promise if I did I’ll come around. Maybe we just have to be a bit more… re-established. You could always try Among us (is that still a thing?) since that worked so well last time :). I just want to let you know how much I appreciate you as a friend, Tony. You’re literally one of my best friends and I’m… really incredibly grateful to have you. Part of me is actually terrified for graduation because I don’t want to lose you. I hope so much that we can get back to this again soon, so that doesn’t have to be a worry. Anyways…. you probably said this was silly but…I wanted to make sure you had gifts for your birthday given how soon it is after graduation. And I know even if you reminded me day one I might not know everything about you that I know now, you know? So… even it’s it’s silly. I still had to do it. Also I’m really sorry because I want to bake you something!! But… I don’t think that would last well in this parcel. Though it might be funny if this thing just starts stinkin’ right? Nah that’d be rubbish and mean. But still, it’s the thought that counts right?  … Happy Birthday, Tony. Love you, Mate. Gregory

Included with the card are a few gifts wrapped up inside of a gift bag: 

- An original Halloween Movie Film Cell poster bc he knows Tony’s a film junkie (and loves horror movies) 

- A headphone amplifier & Headphones that Tony can hook up to his Turntable so he can listen to his records but peacefully now that he has a roommate

- A needle felted cupcake (because he can’t make him real ones so close enough)  - A handful of cute pins that Gregory thought reminded him of Tony that he figured he could put on his leather jacket.

[maryellencarter]

(I have cropped any personally identifying information out of the pictures for obvious reasons.)

So here's all the information I have at the moment on the Bonus Situation.

* To recap, the bonus projection software has been telling me for a couple weeks now that I would get a $96.06 bonus. Normally in the past this has occurred on the second paycheck of the month.

* Many of us have noticed the bonus projection software not updating properly since about October 4.

* I called IT the other day and filed a ticket about the frozen bonus projections, on advice from a friend on the support team.

* Today, or rather yesterday by the time I'm writing this, I got my electronic pay stub for the payday coming up this Friday, and discovered that it was unexpectedly short, specifically because the bonus listed on it was $12 instead of $96.06.

* I emailed my supervisor about the shorted bonus. She has forwarded the email up the chain of command but has no firm information yet. We will not both be at work again till Sunday, so I will hear no more from her on the issue till then.

* Later in the afternoon, I received the above email, from the admin in charge of the bonus projection software. Several things are hinky about this email. To wit:

* "The data for the M[onth] T[o] D[ate] numbers has been paused as of early this month because they are used for the calculating of the monthly bonuses, which is still being worked on." I am not here to criticize Mr Admin's grammar, but to point out that this is a blatantly flimsy excuse, for the extremely simple reason that there is a whole separate tab for last month's bonus data, and in fact that tab is still fully functional and showing my $96.06 bonus! It is this month's daily tracking of bonus data which has been frozen.

* Granted, if one were to admit the concept that the bonuses were still being calculated, it could be taken to explain why I'm only getting a $12 bonus on my paycheck. However, the bonuses were calculating themselves in realtime for the whole of September, and the last metrics finalized themselves on October 7. In the week since then, I could have calculated the bonuses for the entire bloody company using nothing more than my smartphone calculator and paper if I was given a paid 40-hour week to do it in, let alone having a software that was already displaying the answers!

* Also, you know, the software has never before needed to be frozen while last month's bonuses are "calculated", let alone a week after the metrics were finalized. And it has always previously told me accurately whether it was going to send me a $500 bonus or none, or something in between. This is, in short, fishy.

* Mr Bonus Admin goes on to state, "You should still be able to access the daily values" (I can't), "but the monthly ones will not update, and in fact should now not show up at all, until the work to change the scorecard and bonus structure is done. That activity should hopefully be done next week."

* The other picture besides the email is the completely blank screen where my outdated bonus projection resided until today. The one about the metrics I'm currently getting for October, not the one about the $96.06 bonus I was supposed to get for September, which may I remind you is still quite visible.

* "Your numbers are wrong? Boom, NO MORE NUMBERS! There, I fixed it." XD

* The referenced "work to change" the software has not been announced to workers at my level in any way, and no changes that could possibly involve shutting down the whole system have been made or announced. I am frankly Suspicious.

* Other agents have also said things about missing bonuses or confusing bonuses. One supervisor announced that the bonuses would not show up till our Halloween paycheck, which I could hypothetically swallow, if I didn't have a $12 bonus sitting there in black and white on this week's pay stub. Seems like there's a lot of misinformation floating around right now. (Also a certain amount of what smells very like disinformation.)

* So, lacking any information what is actually going on, and faced with an email that would have to put on black tights and a domino mask to look any more disingenuous, my brain is going for all the wildest explanations, like "The system has glitched out completely and is assigning random bonuses to everybody, and they're frantically trying to cover while they get it fixed", or even more dramatically, "Maybe the company can't afford to pay all our bonuses and is retroactively revamping the bonus system, and it was supposed to be done in time for payday but they're running late, and also maybe they really are only going to give me $12". That seems slightly less likely though because they did just give me, on the same paycheck, $28.08 in backdated raise.

* I'm also stressing the fuck out about bonuses in general because I had a really bad stats day today. A disgruntled gentleman (whose account was legitimately pretty thoroughly fucked by a previous incompetent agent) gave me a low survey, which busted me straight down from the $2/hour bonus tier to the 50¢/hour bonus tier. If my other numbers are really good for the whole rest of the month I can maaaaybe struggle my way back up to the $1.25/hour bonus tier. :P

* I also only took 9 calls today, averaging a half hour each (not counting outbound callbacks after various calls dropped), which fucked my call length for the month from the truly astonishing 795 seconds I'd been running, just under the wire for an additional 50% on top of my bonus, all the way up to 901 seconds, where I'm barely scraping by under the cutoff for having my bonus cut in half. I'd have to come in under 700 seconds every day for the rest of the month to recover from that, and I can't recover from the flunked survey at all.

* So, you know, I've gone from expecting a $96.06 bonus on Friday and hoping for a $474 bonus next month, to getting a measly $12 bonus, a runaround from tech, and maybe a $79 bonus next month if my numbers don't get any worse. It really feels like a kick in the gut.

* (If a fucking miracle happened and I wound up with upsells over $30 a call, non-repeating callers over 86.5%, and an average call length under 930 seconds, I could hypothetically get a $197.50 bonus. Or if I also managed to squeak my surveys back up above 82% good... okay, that's only one more good survey and no more bad ones, it could happen. More likely, my upsells wouldn't quite hit $30 and any further good surveys I get would go toward making up the difference. But if I had both my repeat callers and my upsells excellent, I'd only need one more good survey -- assuming no more bad ones, obviously -- to squeak back up to the $2/hour tier for a hypothetical bonus of $316.)

* The trouble with that being that I don't... I don't know if I have any faith anymore that I'll actually get my bonus as projected? Like I can't think of any way that mysterious and unspecified "work changing the bonus structure" mid-month combines with an inexplicable $12 bonus to work out in my favor. I feel like I'm bracing for a slap.

[displacedprincess]

Willpower || Elena & The Gargoyles

@carvedfromlivingstone

Backdated: January 19th

Summary: The gargoyles smell a change in Elena’s hormones, Elena weaponizes a loaf of bread and calls bullshit.

ELENA

“Felipe! Raf!” Elena called out, practically kicking the door open to Goliath’s. “Where are you bitches at? I’m gonna fight you!”

This, of course, was said in the same playful tone she used when she threatened to kick Naomi, Isa, or even Goliath’s ass. No asses would actually be kicked, however, her little gargoyle brothers absolutely owed her five quid or a Chippamunka’s milkshake each. 

“I told you that guy Maru was crushing on was gay!” Elena exclaimed, doing a little happy dance. “As a bisexual, my queerdar is spot on. I have been deciphering the sexuality of humans a lot longer than you kids have. You’re welcome.”

GOLIATH

As all of the gargoyles were currently in the kitchen, none of them saw her come in. They all certainly heard her, and Goliath simply grinned as Raf and Felipe both groaned. 

“Bite me, princess, we already agreed he was probably gay,” Felipe yelled back, grabbing an orange slice and preparing to throw it at the older girl when she came around the corner. Cesar reached over and snatched it up first, tossing it in his mouth while giving the younger gargoyle a look that said ‘Don’t you dare’.

“But that’s good to have it confirmed, right Maru?” Raf said. Ever the peacekeeper, that one. Maru, of course, had his face practically glued to the screen of his laptop and had missed all of this.

“You’re just in time, joya,” Goliath called out. “Lunch is almost ready.” He gave her a smile as his daughter stepped into the room, leaning in to press a kiss to the top of her head in greeting.

He stopped midkiss, eyebrows furrowed.

Wait. He couldn’t possibly- she wasn’t- was his nose on the fritz? Was this a side effect of aging?

Cesar had caught his bewildered look and Goliath motioned down to Elena with his eyes. ‘Smell her’ he mouthed. It’d be good to have confirmation.

“Oi, no greeting for me?” Cesar grumped while giving Goliath a subtle nod.

ELENA

Elena grinned at the gargoyle she now affectionately (teasingly) called abuelito when he was acting particularly like an old man, and launched herself at him. “I could never leave you out, Cesar!”

The princess was, of course, oblivious to the eye conversation going on about her. 

“Papá, what’s for lunch?” She asked as she pulled away from Cesar. 

GOLIATH

With her attention diverted, Cesar sniffed at the princess’s hair and gave Goliath a similar wide-eyed look to the one he’d been wearing not a moment before. Shit. It wasn’t just him.

Felipe had picked up on the two elder gargoyles eyeing each other and gave them both a questioning look. Cesar dismissed him with a wave of his hand while Goliath kept Elena distracted.

“Aggressively Scottish food, I promise you’ll hate it,” he joked. Just act like everything was normal, Goliath. Be cool.

“Princess, come sit by me and we can throw stuff at Maru until he looks up and you can tell him about his crush,” Felipe ordered, pulling out the bar stool for her and ignoring Cesar and Goliath’s glares. When Elena got close, he ruffled her hair up just enough to be annoying and so he could smell her over the cooking food without getting too close. 

His eyes also flew open and he looked back at Goliath and Cesar, mouth falling open. They silently told him to shut his trap.

ELENA

“Ooh, sounds fun! I never realized how fun having three little brothers would be.” God, fucking with the boy’s was the best. Thinking nothing of Felipe’s request, she sat next to him and began to peel an orange to throw slices at Maru. 

She shot Felipe a glare as he messed up her hair, only half as annoyed as she looked, then tossed a slice into her mouth. Only to immediately spit it out. 

“Ick! Aw, man! Every orange I try to eat lately is nasty.”

GOLIATH

"Just recently, huh?" Felipe asked, and Cesar kicked him under the table hard enough that the younger gargoyle went stiff to try and keep in his yelp of pain.

Raf had seen all of this go down, and while the curiosity was killing him, he didn't want to get too into Elena's space. While Elena was distracted with trying to distract Maru, Raf looked at Goliath meaningfully and pointed to Elena under the table before gesturing with his open hands. The universal sign for 'What's wrong with Elena?'

Goliath turned so his back was to Elena and his side was just in view of Raf, appearing to be checking on the food cooking away. But instead he was tapping a hand against his lower stomach with wide eyes. Raf's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. She's…. Hungry?

ELENA

“Moon Market must not be able to get good batches in right now.” Elena added, pouting. She did so love oranges.

Not to be dissuaded from distracting Maru, however, Elena quickly stood up and scurried over to him. She threw her arm around his shoulder and put on the greatest show of her life. 

She gasped, horrified, and pointed to his screen. “Maru! I am scandalized. I’ve been in a German dungeon, and that is not what they look like.”

GOLIATH

Maru had actually been working on a program he'd been tinkering with. It wasn't much, but he was hoping to set up something that could be used to keep the remaining gargoyle clans around the world in contact so long as they had access to the internet (and these days, who didn't?). He had not been paying attention to the silent conversations going on around him, to the rest of clan bouncing Elena around like a scented teddy bear.

He was not aware there was anything to hide.

Which was why when she shocked him out of his trance and he took a sharp breath to snap at her for being a brat, he stopped, sniffed again, and said blunty "Why do you smell pregnant?"

"Elena's pregnant!?" Raf gasped as Felipe and Cesar both smacked their foreheads with their open palms. Goliath looked like he wanted to dangle Maru and Raf both off his roof by their ankles. While the sun was up.

ELENA

Maru’s quip shocked Elena into genuinely gasping, dumbstruck at the notion that she would ever be-- 

“Oye pendejo!” She shouted, picked up a loaf of bread in its little bread plastic and, wielding it like a club, smacked him with it repeatedly.  “I’m going! To kick! Your ass! If you ever! Spread some bullshit like that around! Understand!?”

She beat him a few more times with the bread for good measure before tossing it in Felipe’s general direction. “Goliath, you need to buy bread.”

GOLIATH

Well, life with Elena was certainly never boring. She even managed to catch Cesar and Goliath off-guard, and that was nearly impossible.

"Oi- hey!" Maru yelled, ducking and covering his head. "Stop hitting me you crazy princess!" he barked in Gaelic, wishing more than ever he had his wings to protect him. Raf was the one who rushed around to stop her, grabbing her hands and gently pulling her away. He was the last one to get a sniff of her, and he could recognize the weird smell of a woman who's hormones were all over the place. There had been enough human women at the castle when he was growing up that even he could recognize the smell.

He looked at Goliath, panicked, which was when their dad finally stepped in. "Don't beat your brother with a loaf of bread, Elena," he said, though his voice was a little too soft to be properly scolding. "What Maru means is your scent is… different."

ELENA

Elena was not finished with Maru, oh-ho-ho, no. For saying something as idiotic as why do you smell pregnant, Maru deserved a proper ass beating. How can he say that!? After the pregnancy scare she had while Mateo was in the underworld that she never told anybody but Naomi and Goliath and Mateo about, that Maru’s ignorance of if entirely his own fault, that he should definitely know about despite Elena never telling him, how could he say that?

“Let me at him before I bite your hands off, Rafinha!” Elena growled in very colloquial Avaloran Portunhol, reverting to her truest native tongue in her rage.

At Goliath speaking up, Elena stopped struggling against Raf and looked over her shoulder at Goliath. “Previously unsaid sentences in human history.”

She flipped her hair over her shoulder and crossed her arms over her chest, glaring hard at Maru before she turned to properly face the rest of the clan, rolling her eyes. Pregnant. Seriously, Maru? 

“Yeah, well, that’s not a very funny joke. Especially after Halloween before last.”

GOLIATH

“What happened the Halloween befo-” Felipe started, but Goliath silenced him with a wave of his hand. He did know what had happened, and knew how frighted Elena had been. 

This was… not going to be a fun week for anyone.

“Mija,” he said gently, taking one of her hands from where they were crossed together and holding it in both of his own. “I think we need to see your doctor.”

Six out of six gargoyles agreeing was all the confirmation Goliath needed, but Elena needed a human doctor as well.

ELENA

Elena was not pregnant. She refused to be pregnant, and therefore she wasn’t. The great pregnancy scare of 2018 took any last shred of ‘I will tolerate pregnancy’ out of her. So, no. Her fatigue, nausea, and super light periods that were absolutely periods and not spotting, did not mean she was pregnant. Because she couldn’t be pregnant. Because she refused to be. Therefore, she wasn’t.

She stared at Goliath with a look of betrayal, because how dare he entertain that she would possibly be- and she just stared at him for a long moment before she shook her head and laughed.

“Gargoyles have a crazy sense of humor, this really isn’t funny. No, nope, I’m not. I’m not pregnant, I’m on birth control.” That she doesn’t ever remember to take. “And Mateo uses condoms.” Usually.

“I’m not stupid.” Elena insisted. “I’m not stupid.”

GOLIATH

No, she wasn’t. But she was pregnant.

Felipe opened his mouth, but this time it was Cesar who glared him quiet. Unfortunately, Maru was out of range. “Six gargoyles smell baby on you, yes you are,” he said, still annoyed to have had his work interrupted. Raf leaned over and punched him - hard - in the shoulder. “What the hell-christ!?”

“He means pregnant, not stupid, by the way,” Raf added, trying to help and failing. “You’re not stupid.”

The look Goliath gave them all was unimpressed to the highest degree. “Okay, none of you are allowed to talk anymore,” he told them as he gently ushered Elena to the living room, away from the rest of their tactless family. He sat on the couch and nudged Elena down next to him.

“I wouldn’t joke about this,” he said softly.

ELENA

Elena sat next to him only because she was twenty-five years old, which was far too old to petulantly refuse. One could also say it is too old to beat your brother with a loaf of bread, but Maru had had it coming.

She shook her head, she’d deny this even if it killed her. “I’m not pregnant, I can’t be. I refuse to be, and if my body betrays me like that right now I’ll - well, I can’t death threat my own body, can I? The same energy remains though.”

She pulled her legs up onto the couch and wrapped her arms around her knees. 

“I don’t want to be pregnant, so I’m not.”

GOLIATH

That’s really not how it worked.

Goliath could only exhale long and slow through his nose, rubbing Elena’s back gently. “Then go to the doctor and prove us wrong,” he offered. “I’ll go with you and you can rub it in my face immediately if you’re right.”

If Goliath was right - and he was - then he’d be on hand to comfort his daughter. 

ELENA

Elena really didn’t see why they were sooooooo sure she was pregnant. Like...she was a human! Maybe they got the scent markers all mixed up because they’re different species. 

Yes, yes that was it. 

But you know what, fine. She’d humor her old man and the rest of the gargoyle clan, and go to the doctor. And prove them wrong. 

“Fine.” Elena held up her hands in surrender. “It’s okay, I can go by myself. If I’m pregnant — which I’m not — you don’t want to be the person who came with me to find out.”

She checked her Apple Watch and sighed. “If I leave now I’ll have time.”

GOLIATH

Actually, he did want to be there, because he knew Elena’s reaction wouldn’t be a calm one, but he also wouldn’t pressure her. Instead, he leaned in to kiss her forehead and stroke back her hair. “That’s my girl,” he said warmly. “I’ll pack some food for you to eat on the way. And text me later, alright? I’d say call, but I’m probably going to be busy kicking some sense into your brothers so I may not reply.”

(If Goliath heard a hissed ‘Shit’ and three sets of footsteps bolting out the kitchen door as softly as possible while Cesar snerked, then he didn’t point it out.)

ELENA

She nodded, now a little concerned that maybe Goliath was right. Wait, what? No, don’t think like that Elena. Will it away, will it away. 

“Yeah, I’ll— I’ll text you when I get the good news.” That she’s not! Pregnant! That her uterus is STILL not on the market!

Elena stood up and before Goliath did, turned on her heel to kiss him on the cheek. “Te quiero, Papá.”

[wreckingduty]

((Things I need to write for Space Cadet:

-Continue the story of him getting settled at BuzzTube

-His birthday (backdated to before Halloween)

-Thanksgiving

-Christmas

-New Year’s

-Lunar New Year’s

-Valentine’s

-Junior’s Birthday (February 21)

-St. Patrick’s Day))

[enigmasotr]

Birthday Surprise | N+A (backdate)

@boundlesssxuls

For a few months now, Nick and Avery had been spending a lot of time together, feeling each other, learning as much as they could about the other, things that weren’t known by everyone that they were friends with. Of course, things had developed to more than just a typical friendship, with the obvious sexual tension that they had developed early one, however, Nick didn’t want to be defined by who he was in the bedroom, and that was one thing about Avery he enjoyed. The two could just sit on top of a roof and talk, or lay in bed just watching television without any ulterior motives. So, when he found out that her Birthday was a few days after Halloween, he had made plans for them to have the weekend off from house shows just so he could give her a surprise party, even if it would just be the two of them.

The night before her birthday was Smackdown, and he had flown them both back to his home in Phoenix right after the show was over in New York, which he had barely made due to travel delays back from Saudi Arabia. Nick had fixed her breakfast in bed then gave her his credit card and told her to go out and treat herself while he done some things around the house. He gave her no limit on what she could get or any of that, hoping it would be enough to keep her gone for awhile so he could get her a cake made and plan out their night.

[pheacas]

16, 17, and maybe 24 for DEH?

16. Best movie musical?

I don’t really know if I’m supposed to be referring to stage musical adaptations or not so I might as well just give one of both.

Once is my favorite overall, which started as a movie and then was transferred to the stage a few years later as a Tony crusher on Broadway. It’s a very calm, serene experience that always gets me. There’s never any real big story going on. It’s just a vacuum cleaner in Dublin attempting to make it as a musician and a Czech immigrant just trying to survive.

Little Shop of Horrors is my favorite movie adaptation (if we consider the original ending and not the theatre ending). That’s not say much, because LSOH is one of my favorite musicals already, but unlike something like Rent (which is a musical higher up on my list), I feel that the LSOH movie gets exactly what the show is going for. It’s weird, it’s quirky, and it’s wonderful. Plus, that puppet is wow.

17. Worst movie musical?

Here’s the thing I don’t watch a lot of movie musicals that I know I wouldn’t like, but I guess if I was forced to name one, it’d be Rent? That can be taken weirdly because yes, I listen to the cast album all the time on Spotify (because I’m forced to they don’t give us the OBC), and there’s certain things I do enjoy about the movie, but it sucks all of the charm from the musical and makes it feel much more corporate.

The spoken dialogue always feels unnatural and unnerving, they take away major plot points and songs for... No real reason (like I understand taking out Contact even though it’s pretty important, but I literally don’t understand taking away anything that gives Mark, Joanne, or Collins character and while still keeping in all of Over the Moon (and I love Santa Fe but like... That could’ve been taken out for more important songs too like Goodbye Love B and even Halloween because we still get more Collins development than Mark (and Halloween is literally only a minute and a half and they filmed it why not just shove it in))).

I mean again I’m such a Renthead if there’s nothing else Rent I’ll definitely take it but ugh I’d rather even watch Rent Live as much as I’ve made fun of it because at least the life is there and at least they didn’t take out important bits and they actually had some really good additions, especially in the Mark department (and I’ll take Jordan Fisher over Anthony Rapp tbh).

24. You’re now the script doctor for [Dear Evan Hansen]. what do you change?

Oh God there’s a lot I would change, but I really can’t say everything, so I’m going to focus on the ending of the Jared and Alana archs.

So, in one of the earlier concepts, Jared was the one who released the letter out of spite. I think that’s much better than Alana doing it randomly and destroying her character arch of caring for people as she sees Evan sobbing to take it down and people automatically attacking the Murphy family.

We set it up early on; Evan actually sends Jared the letter to show Jared what he’s talking about, but Jared never actually reads it, kind of just doing his usually routine of being a dick. Then I’m not going to get into many of my smaller changes but maybe even just a line or two before Evan walks into the scene right after Only Us with Jared and Alana talking about the emails, and Jared giving Alana doubt in it (because definitely what’s already going on, because the backdating emails thing is like? Exactly what Jared said?).

Good For You happens, and then after that, instead of the scene with Evan giving Alana the letter, Jared posts the letter to the internet because he feels that’s the only way he can get back at Evan after their falling out without straight up saying “Evan lied and here’s why”, because it’s the closest thing he can really get he feels before actually saying the truth.

So like yeah Evan is absolutely freaking out and desperately calling Jared because he knows Jared did it and he goes to Alana in a panic, and she’s so confused as well because it was released under Evan’s name, and Evan eventually reveals the whole truth to her, even bringing up Jared in it, and she’s disgusted. Like she just stares at him for a couple of moments, trying to process all of what Evan has said, and then she tries to walk out, but Evan rushes to grasp her wrist to get her to stay, which horrifies her even more and she rushes to pull out of it. Again, there’s another pause while Alana collects herself, and then she eventually decides to give him a little rant in how fucked up it was that he dragged her through all of this, and how rancid it is that he dragged the Murphys through this and used a lie on their dead son for his own benefit, and she forces him to go and speak to the Murphys.

I think at the epilogue, before we see Zoe, we get a scene with Jared, a bit more akin to the book (which is a horrid statement I’ll never reference the book again). It’s not at the orchard, and I’d say maybe quite a few months after? We’re skipping around wowsies but maybe to show the change they can be back in summer clothes and its the summer before college. It’s probably like... Evan’s graduation party and they’re just huddled in the back with awkward red solo cups in hand and the first thing that slips out of Evan’s mouth is a “fuck you” for releasing the letter, and Jared’s face is quick to drop, and this is the first time we really see him show real emotion other than Good For You. He admits he never read the letter before even posting it, and he just wanted to give Evan a little scare before it turned into... That, and he tells him that he regrets even posting it because if he knew what it had actually said, he would have never released it. When he actually read it, he admitted he felt sick, and he wondered if Evan had always felt that way whenever Jared was pushing him around and Evan admits that yes, those thoughts were there and they really hadn’t completely gone away. There’s a bit of awkward tension on both sides, and it ends with Jared again apologizing, saying he just didn’t know and if he did he wouldn’t have ever treated Evan like that. Evan loosely accepts the apology, but he asks why Jared treated him that way, and Jared doesn’t really have an answer. Eventually, after a couple more moments of staring into those sad cups and Jared admits he kinda had a thing for Evan and just never wanted to really... Tell him because he knew he’d be rejected and Evan is just like “oh” and doesn’t know how to process it. Again, more awkward pauses, and eventually it ends with Heidi calling for Evan, but before he leaves he again awkwardly glances to Jared and they both apologize to each other, hug, and Evan runs off, leaving Jared to just stand there awkwardly alone as he transitions with the little set away and the scene changes to the orchard.

[mixseungwoo]

“you have no idea what he is capable of.”

  ( backdated to oct 27th, myeongcho cemetery  ;                                                                              whether this is canon or not is up to you! )                

( tw: death, vague suicidal thoughts ) ☯ —  — — — ✘ sentence starter meme  — — — —

seungwoo goes to myeongcho cemetery, following the trail the yeogi community center left for the sake of halloween. he goes alone, a strange occurrence for an extrovert, maybe, but not for seungwoo. he’ll make friends here, even going in without anyone else. he will be boisterous and entertaining in his stories, and he is. his first scary story is about the time he stayed up all night studying and still got a D on his test, and the disappointment in his parents’ eyes despite their following forced encouragement of him.

after the first, he excuses himself for the true purpose he came, and wanders away from the bonfire, tracing a familiar path. 

he hasn’t visited jeongwoo’s grave since his last death anniversary, too ashamed to show his face after so much time spent without a lead on wonwoo’s whereabouts-- with his failure to see through his mission to kill wonwoo and gain their vengeance. wonwoo’s death would be for all of them: hyunwoo and his career-ending injury, seungwoo in his life, and jeongwoo in his death. 

maybe the ghost stories summoned him. when he sees a figure in front of jeongwoo’s grave, he slows, then comes to a halt, and at first, he thinks it’s jeongwoo himself, a specter returned to haunt them for the halloween season. (god, what would jeongwoo say to him? nothing good, surely.)

it’s not hyunwoo, either. seungwoo just knows, and that leaves one rational option, or perhaps it’s not rational at all, and it’s simply who he hopes is there. his blood boils in anticipation, but he calls upon the hitman training he underwent for this day, and disappears behind the cover of a large tombstone. there, he watches, and doesn’t let himself make preemptive assumptions, but even from a distance, he knows it’s wonwoo, even after years. they’ve changed over the years, but the side profile is similar, even in the dark and even from a distance. 

he steps lightly in an arc behind wonwoo until he’s behind him, baby brother seemingly unaware of his presence, and he pulls him into a chokehold. “hi,” he greets him, all twisted smile. “miss me?”

he learns that wonwoo can fight back. of course he can; wonwoo was stronger than seungwoo from the start, but none of them knew it. seungwoo knew before anyone else, aside from maybe their mother, and in the years since jeongwoo’s murder wonwoo hasn’t regressed. seungwoo can meet him here, however, and he lines wonwoo’s head up with the nearest tombstone and tries to bash it in.

he fails. wonwoo regains his footing near instantly, and their struggle only eases up when seungwoo reaches the switchblade in his back pocket and holds it to wonwoo’s throat. he smiles again, sharp and biting and triumphant. “i’ve been looking for you. here, of all places?” it’s ironic. it’s poetic, really: wonwoo’s blood, soon to stain the soil jeongwoo is buried in. the only missing, unnatural piece in this equation is seungwoo still surviving.

maybe there’s time to change that, too, because wonwoo says if anything happens to him, is boyfriend will hunt seungwoo down and kill him-- and you have no idea what he’s capable of, he says, and seungwoo just smiles crookedly, fearless. “you don’t have any idea of what i’m capable of either,” and he twirls his knife in between his fingers to prove his point.

it gives him an idea, though. maybe taking wonwoo’s life is too easy. maybe, the vengeance seungwoo needs is taking away the person most important to wonwoo, just like he did to him.

[imogenmastrano]

drowning | backdated

@vincentnygaard

There were pros and cons to not making meaningful relationships. A major con? No one for Imogen to go to when she needed someone. Of course, Imogen had people she could go to when she needed to rant, or when she needed to escape. Making drinking buddies or ranting buddies was easy, because it was easy to talk about the things that pissed her off. Talking about her sister’s funeral and how she felt about it all? Not so easy. She had no friends; not really. Out of everyone in town, there were three people Imogen felt comfortable opening up to. One included her sister, who was grieving and who she knew she couldn’t talk to. With Lily gone, Imogen needed to be the strong one, so she couldn’t go to her. Another was her ex best friend who she cut out of her life with no explanation, who probably never wanted to talk to her again; so she was out. The last option was the girl she killed her sister to save. Definitely not someone the witch wanted to see right now, let alone talk about the incident with. So, she was left with nobody.

The funeral had left Imogen in a state of suspension. Since watching her sister’s body lower into the ground, the witch had partially checked out. She was stuck in a state of being present but absent, feeling more like she was watching herself do the actions rather than experiencing them as she did them. She was floating, suspended up, and she hated it. Being around Kitty grounded her a bit, but not entirely. Kitty was a temporary anchor, tying her down and keeping her from floating back up when she was in her presence. She needed more than that. Or so she thought. In the middle of the flight back to Hollow Grove, it was like everything just came crashing down on her. The reality of it all sunk in. Not just that her sister was dead, but how she died, how she looked, Kitty’s expressions during it all. Everything that happened came rushing back to her in vivid detail, and it started to suffocate her. But she couldn’t deal with any of that, not with her sister right beside her, needing her to be her strong. So she held it in. She dwelled on it. Let it take over her mind for the remainder of their flight, and the following car ride from Boston to Hollow Grove. 

Despite the fact that it was early morning, or maybe late night — their flight was a short, late one, and she was too busy drowning to check the time — Imogen couldn’t bring herself to sleep when she returned to her apartment. Her mind just wouldn’t stop. She kept seeing Lily’s body, impaled and partially crushed. She kept seeing Kitty crying, kept hearing Kitty’s desperate pleas to leave, kept seeing her sister’s torn and bloody old-fashioned red Angelica costume, kept seeing her own shaky hands fail to lift the boulder trapping her. And during the rare moments when she could push those terrifying thoughts away, her mind kept her up by replaying the events leading up to their gruesome discovery. Agreeing to help search for Cat. Searching the bash for her. Finding her in that god-forsaken church, and making the awful, terrible, thoughtless decision to save her ass by tearing the ground beneath them in two, ultimately saving her life and damning her sister’s. During these moments, she thinks back to every single time she could have prevented herself from doing what she did. She analyzed every decision that led her to where she was that night. There were so many times she could of done just one thing different that could have prevented it all, and she didn’t, and the realization was crushing her. 

Imogen wasn’t big on opening up to others, but she knew if she didn’t talk about it soon, the guilt of it all would kill her. Somehow, someway, she’d truly drown under it all if she couldn’t find some way to get some air. With no one to go to, the witch decided to let her feet lead her. Despite the hour, and the fact that she had nothing but a light jacket to fend herself from the November weather, Imogen left her apartment immediately after settling her sister in to walk through town. One way or another, she found herself in front of a familiar door, though she’s not sure how long it took her to get there, as the town’s scenery did nothing to faze the hold that night had taken of her mind, and left her walking blindly through the streets. Swallowing, Imogen slowly — barely — knocked on the door. When the door somewhat surprisingly opened, the witch kept her eyes downcast for a minute, remaining silent before sluggishly lifting her gaze to meet his briefly, before they dropped. She wanted to be smart, make a play on the words of their last conversation, bring some form of humor here. But she couldn’t even bring herself to remember anything before or after the Halloween Bash at the moment, so she didn’t bother. Even if she did, she doubted she could have really said the words in the playful way they deserved. She’s been drowning for far too long now to be in any other state that than the passive, zombie-like one she’s been left in after the hours of dwelling.  “I’m cold.” Is what ended up coming out thickly, after opening and closing her mouth once already due to a failed attempt to say anything about what she was going through. “Can I come in?”

[wreckingduty]

Open RP - Trick or Treat

((Backdated to Halloween and also fast-forwarded a bit past where I've written the story so far.))

At midnight, Ralph expected the yearly Halloween transformation that usually befell him and his children, but 12:00 passed with little fanfare.

Confused, but not minding it too much, Ralph went to bed.

He's woken up the next morning by someone knocking on his door. He opens it up to find Kinda standing there in a blue shirt with a pattern of black spiders and spiderwebs.

Kinda grins at him, "Happy Halloween! Come on and join the fun! Everybody's eating together, then we're Trick-or-Treating at a bunch of websites all day! It's a good way to network and promote your channel, Yesss has already printed up a bunch of cards with your channel's address on it, so you can give 'em out as we go."

This was a lot at once, so Ralph blinks blearily for a moment, then nods, "Sure, just lemme get ready."

Ralph didn't have a costume with him, but he did have his Hero's Duty armor. He figured that that way, his kids could hang out with him, and nobody would think too much about it.

When Ralph leaves his apartment in full gear, Kinda nods, "Nice choice! That'll help you promote your channel more, since you've worn it in some of your videos."

Kinda leads the way to the community cafeteria for the spooky breakfast buffet. All the food had Halloween-themed names or twists and there was pumpkin spiced stuff everywhere.

Ralph loaded up on plates and him and his kids sat across from Kinda as the assistant chattered about how the day was going to go.

"You're free to go wherever you want, some of the other channel runners know what sites their stuff'll play best on, but there's a group of us that hits a bunch of the bigger sites snd some up-and-coming ones. You're also welcome to give your cards out to people walking around, but they might be seen as pop-up ads or unwanted emails, so be careful with that. Also, don't feel like you have to give out all of your cards, we can save 'em for later."

It took a while to get everyone in and to have breakfast. While most of the content on Buzztube was generated by people outside of the Internet, but there was a good amount of people inside the net, who like Ralph, were video game characters or algorithims or other parts of websites or games who posted their videos. A lot of them didn't live at Buzztube, having their own places to go and didn't post often enough to get an apartment, so the cafeteria was packed with many faces Ralph had never seen before.

Everybody was talking amongst themselves as things were being finalized. Since this day brought people from all around the Internet, it was a good way to promote between each other as well.

Kinda looked at his watch, "I've gotta go help finish things up, but I'll catch back up with you when we leave." He then squeezed his way through the crowd to the front of the room where Yesss was coordinating things.

Along the front wall of the cafeteria was rows and rows of shelves filled with business cards and plastic bags. All of Yesss' assistants were lined up in front of the shelves, waiting for her to get things started.

Once she was ready, she stood in front of the crowd gathered before her, "Happy Halloween everyone, and Happy Promoterween! Many of you have been here since the first Promoterween, but we've always got some new faces in the crowd.

"Today's event is for fun, but most importantly, networking. Talk to people, fill up your bags with their cards, and give yours to them. Who knows, this could lead to a partnership or promotion opportunity. If it doesn't, though, don't worry. You're getting your name out there, and that helps, too."

Yesss gestured to the assistants lined up on both sides of her, "We'll pass out your bags and business cards. If you have your own cards or have some left over from previous years, feel free to use them as well. Once you have your supplies, you're free to go, or you can stay here and travel with the group."

With that, the assistants started working quickly to give out everything to everyone. This year's bag featured a Buzztube logo with vampire fangs, being both festive and advertising material.

Some people left as soon as they got their supplies, or waited for their friends and affiliates to get theirs, but most people stuck around in the main group led by Yesss.

Kinda grinned at Ralph as he handed him his cards and bag, then went on to give the next channel runner their things.

Ralph looked his card over, it was simple, but got the point across. It had his name, his username, and his channel name listed in the middle of it. On the left was a picture of him in his Hero's Duty armor, and on the right was a picture of him in his civilian clothes. The back of it was mostly taken up by the Buzztube logo. The card covered everything needed to find his channel.

Since Ralph was near the back, it wasn't long after he got his stuff that it was time to go.

Kinda walked with Ralph as Yesss led the large group, telling him about some of the websites the were going to and the process of giving their cards out.

The first stop was one of the biggest websites around. They had a large party space set up with snacks and lots of empty bowls set around.

Kinda gestured around the room as everyone came in and started talking to the workers of the website.

"The big websites host their own parties, there's plenty of snacks and people to talk to. You drop your cards into the glass bowls, and you can give them to anybody you hit it off with." He gave Ralph a little nudge, "So, go on and get yourself out there, I'm going to get myself some nachos."

As Kinda left him, Ralph awkwardly made his way around the room to put one of his cards in every bowl.

While Ralph was dropping off his cards, a few people approached him. Some recognized him from his channel, while others were curios about his armor.

It look a little getting used to, but Ralph soon warmed up and had a great time. His bag had a handful of cards in it and he wasn't quite ready to leave when Yesss called for them to go to the next location.

Most of the big websites went the same, large parties with lots of people. With every location and person that talked to him, he got more and more comfortable with things.

The medium-sized websites weren't as exciting, the group went from office to office or cubicle to cubicle giving and reciving cards and treats. They didn't have dedicated party spaces, but most everyone had Halloween-themed decorations and outfits.

By the time they were getting to the smallest websites, it was getting late. The small websites were often just run by a single person or small team, so it didn't take long to trade cards and chat a little.

Once they had finished up at one of the websites, Yesss called it quits, "I think this has been our most successful Promoterween yet! Thank you everyone for coming out today and getting yourselves out there! You're welcome to visit more sites by yourselves if you'd like, but anyone who'd like to go back to Buzztube is welcome to come with me. If you're hungry, the cafeteria will be having a Halloween feast for the rest of the night, so stop by later to get some spooky treats." Her speech done, she turned and led the way back to Buzztube. Most people followed after her, but a few split off to do their own things.

Kinda grinned at Ralph, "So, what'd you think about our Halloween traditions? I guess they're pretty different than what you did back where you came from."

Ralph nods, "It was different, but I liked it better. I wasn't sure at first, but after I got used to it, I enjoyed it."

Kinda smiles, "I'm glad you liked it. Hopefully you'll stick around to enjoy a bunch more Promoterweens. You gonna hit up the feast?"

Ralph replies, "Yeah, I figure we'll eat somthin', then head on to bed, Junior and Princess haven't met this many people in one day, either."

Kinda gives him a nod, "Gotcha. I'll probably eat with you for a little bit, then I've got some work to catch up on."

The Halloween feast in Buzztube's cafeteria was extravagant. While they were gone, the place had been decorated with all sorts of spooky things. There were glowing cauldrons, spiders of every size, both bats and cats, and more pumpkins then you could count.

The food was hearty, while everything had themed names, only the dessert was specifically decorated to the occasion. Everything else was meant to help them recover after a long day. There were large carved turkeys and hams, more vegetables then Ralph had ever seen, and a tower of fruit that stood taller than him.

Ralph and Kinda both loaded up, and there wasn't much talking between them as they ate. After two plates, Kinda said his goodnights and left, while Ralph and his kids chowed down.

They stayed for a little while, watching people come in to eat, then they finally headed up to their apartment to get ready for bed.

At first, it was a little hard to relax from all of the excitement, but eventually the length of the day wore them out and Ralph and his kids fell into a deep sleep.