#I found a new love doing comics with chat screenshots
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junkanimate · 11 months ago
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...Just wanted to share my vision
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laurellynnleake · 1 year ago
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People looking for primary sources on the Burned Furs:
The Burned Fur's Wikifur page, covering 1998-2001
The Burned Fur's original manifesto (written by Charla Trotman/Iron Spike/Squee Rat)
(6/12/23) Xydexx Unicorn shares screenshots from his personal archive as evidence Iron Spike/Squee Rat contributed art to a "Try Suicide" poster that the Burned Furs distributed at Anthrocon 1999
#ComicsBrokeMe:
(6/11/23) Editor Andrea Purcell describes being "fired" and "blacklisted" by Spike when she asked for a raise to a livable wage and was told to wait for contract renegotiations, also mentions late payments.
(6/11/23) Artist Dechanique @dechanique talks about being overworked and underpaid at ICC, having to fight legally for late payments, and not getting royalties for any reprints. Says she was publicly dragged by them in 2016 after posting about their page rates.
(6/12/23) Artist Kino @kinodraws discusses bad experiences working on Burnout Star with Iron Circus Comics; mainly Spike delaying writing the script for 3 years with poor communication and leaving Kino unable to take the book elsewhere
(6/13/23) Iron Spike argues that Andrea lied about being "fired" rather than "quitting" and doesn't address paying less than poverty wages; ICC members Amanda Lafrenais (Love Me Nice) and Kel McDonald back up Spike but assert the company has a lot of financial issues. No mention of any other artist speaking out about poor wages and late payments. Andrea responds.
(6/13/23) Diana Nock of Girlbot wrote on twitter about Iron Spike and ICC mistreating her while working on the Poorcraft books. Includes underpaying, delayed scripts, late and missing payments. Describes how in 2013 she finally shared with Spike how bad her mental/physical health had gotten - soon after discovers that someone at ICC cut her out of her webcomic creator social sphere by secretly starting a new almost identical Skype group that excluded her.
(6/15/23) Jaquilline Lesnick @jaqqqln (Girly) has reshared her 2022 posts about her negative experiences with ICC, Amanda Lefrenais, and Hiveworks buying out her website Slipshine, telling her side of a notorious confrontation between her and Spike on FB. Points out her original description of Spike cutting her out of the ICC Skype social sphere, and says that Diana Nock was actually the main victim of the exclusion and she herself was collateral damage. Nock confirms, saying she wasn't ready to come out publicly about it when Lesnick first shared the story.
ComicsBrokeMe: Daisy Finch McGuire (Gastrophobia), Matt Wilson (Cartoon Drivethru), and Anne Notation back up previous ICC worker's stories (including the secret 2nd skype chat).
I also did a thread in 2019 analyzing Charla Trotman/Iron Spike/Squee Rat's own words from the time and trying to figure out their involvement. For the record, I haven't found any evidence that they were involved in the transphobic and homophobic hate that took over the "movement" (and their original website has a brief "don't be homophobic" thing in the FAQs)....obliviousally on twitter says she witnessed this at the time, confirms Spike is Squee Rat, but doesn't confirm that they were directly involved in the hate part. In the future, we may learn more from Xydexx Unicorn's archives if he chooses to share them.
FINAL NOTE: I have collected these sources with the intention to archive claims of abuse and exploitation in the indie comics publishing scene. I DO NOT CONDONE harassing Iron Spike or any member of ICC. Period. They do not need to be "punished" or driven from the internet. I also do not endorse calling anyone involved a "sociopath" or "narcissist" as that demonizes people with extremely stigmatized mental illnesses, who already face staggering rates of abuse. Public discussion about workers rights at ICC must stay focused on ENDING EXPLOITATION, and not on punishing ICC's top staff.
I also encourage all non-white people reading this to keep in mind Spike's status as a queer, Black person living in the USA. They've faced a great deal of racist abuse and bigotry over their career, and the nature of the dominant American white supremacist culture means it is far EASIER for non-Black people to believe negative rumors about Black people at face-value. And both Black people and queer people face much more violent repercussions, to both unfounded rumors and rumors based in fact.
We can criticize their payrates, question their treatment of workers, and withdraw support from ICC, without demonizing Spike. Remember that Spike is not a monster you need to destroy to protect white creators. Please read these sources for yourself and come to your own conclusions.
The Facade of Iron Circus Comics and Spike Trotman
I feel like this needs to get some more traction on social media…
#comicsbrokeme trended recently, with comics creators and artists telling horror stories of extreme low wages, cruel bosses, and the constant struggle to make ends meet.
One company, and one person came up in an alarming amount of posts… Iron Circus Comics and its founder, Spike Trotman.
What Trotman has been accused of is not just run of the mill mismanagement or low wages, though they are infamous about underpaying and missing payment dates. They will actively and precisely bully, berate, and mentally destroy creators working under them. Trotman uses their clout as an internet famous comics publisher to keep people in line, and a recurring threat that if creators ever spoke out, Spike would sic their fans on them.
If you ever wondered why so many creators from Slipshine and Iron Circus up and vanished, THIS IS WHY. Several artists and creators have said that Spike Trotman sapped them of their desire to make comics.
This is downright sociopathic behavior to be sure. But then one starts digging into Spike Trotman’s past, and there’s a lot of skeletons in the closet. Squee Rat and Darth Versace were their previous handles on the internet. Squee Rat may sound familiar to people who have heard of the ‘Burned Furs’ movement.
Burned Furs was a puritanical, homophobic, transphobic offshoot of the furry fandom, founded by Spike Trotman, who also wrote the ‘Furry Manifesto’, which outlined their goals of getting rid of pornography, degeneracy, and expression of sexuality in the furry community. They distributed pamphlets at cons encouraging ‘degenerates’ to kill themselves.
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A very inconvenient past to have when your brand is leftist and sex positive. Spike very much knows this, and they have tried to scrub all evidence of their past as Squee Rat from wikis and articles about Burned Furs.
Right now, Spike is hoping that this all dies down. In fact, they just had a big party for the success of the Lackadaisy cartoon pilot.
Especially ironic given that Spike once encouraged people to eat one meal a day to make ends meet in the comics industry.
What you can do is make sure this reaches the eyes and ears it needs. Find the dissenting voices against Spike and Iron Circus, and boost them as much as you can.
They shouldn’t be able to hide behind this facade and continue to hurt people.
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erodasfishtacos · 3 years ago
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HSLOT WASHINGTON D.C.
Like, comment, share, and come talk if you enjoyed the fic.
*inspired by this *
I write for free - so if you would like to support my work, you can donate here. (plus my bday is coming up in a week 😌)
-
Despite Harry being less than active on social media, it doesn’t mean that he didn’t creep through Instagram and Twitter after the shows.
He used a fake account to scroll, constantly liking pictures and videos of his wife dancing or funny fan signs to his phone.
Tonight, after the Philly show, YN was already fast asleep in their tour bus bed - she had curled into Harry with her leg between his and her head on his bicep.
Harry was trending on Twitter for his show, however, he scrolled a bit further and noticed that a hashtag called #JusticeforYN was trending.
When he clicked on the link, it took him down a rabbit hole of screenshots and videos from the concert.
It doesn’t take long to see what had happened, it was a girl recording herself on Snapchat from the pit during the concert.
The ‘fan’ held up her phone enough that you could see her but also YN, Jeff, Harry Lambert, and Tommy in the background behind the pit.
Adore You started blasting through his AirPod and the girl recorded his wife dancing with their friends - he gets distracted for a moment, watching her have fun and sing along.
He loved her so fucking much.
But then, it’s the next clip, and the captioned text on the video said ‘Harry’s Whore.’
The small smile on his face disappears instantly when he sees where this is going.
In the next few segments, the girl is screaming things at YN who can’t even hear them because of the music but it’s still completely disrespectful.
“Hi, Harry’s Whore!”
“Get the fuck outta here, nobody wants you here!”
“Fuck you!”
It makes Harry rage, even from the comfort of his bunk with his perfect love, and then he digs deeper to find his real fans defending YN.
YN was pretty loved by the fans. She was always kind, posted pictures of Harry (because he rarely did), and made really kickass merch.
He finds the Twitter account of the girl who harassed his wife, her name was Gina, and he read through her tweets.
She was going to three more of the concerts - following them from Philly to Detroit.
One of her tweets said…
‘If you guys are mad about what I said during the last concert, just wait what I have to say to her next time.’
And he also finds out that she had won a meet and greet for the DC show through the record label and Harry already knew what he was gonna do.
-
YN wakes up before Harry, sitting in the small living area of the bus - watching a cooking show on the television and still slightly dozing in and out of sleep.
“Hi bun,” She mumbles, opening her arms and legs to let Harry flop between them. Chest to chest and he was a bit to heavy for this but he liked laying like this.
“Mornin’, my love,” Harry rasps, peppering kisses all over her jaw and the smooth column of her neck until she giggles.
“Shouldn’t you be saying good morning to your whore on tour?” YN replies, her voice is light and unbothered - obviously found out the online drama.
Harry tenses up, looks up at her seriously, and tells her, “M’gonna take care of it.”
“Don’t, it’s fine, bubs,” YN assures him, she’s smiling softly and Harry just…he is so obsessed with the woman below him that he has to kiss her for a long moment.
“No, it’s not. I’m not going t’let someone treat m’wife like that. She won tha’ meet and greet. I’m gonna have a talk w’her when she comes backstage,” Harry tells her, lips brushing on every word and he can help but grind his hips forward against her.
“Always so horny in the morning,” Yn teases but still lets her thighs fall open a little bit more so that the only barrier is their underwear.
“Can y’blame me? Look wha’ I wake up to,” He rumbles, voice getting illogically deeper and raspier when he speaks.
It’s not long before he tugs his briefs down just enough and her panties to the side to get inside her with his lips glued to hers.
He’s whispering things that would make him blush with embarrassment if anyone heard him.
“Can’t believe y’mine after all this time.”
“Y’my perfect match, on m’knees for you whenever you ask.”
“Arena full of people and all I see is you, baby.”
“Feel like heaven.”
“Only y’make me feel like this.”
“Come on, stubborn girl. Show me y’love me.”
-
Harry looks insanely stunning in his purple outfit but honestly - YN always steals the show (without even trying). ***
They’re in a common area, waiting for the meet and greet with the fans - it’s comical how Gina’s face drops when she arrives to see Harry facing away from everyone with YN giggle as he crowds her up against a wall.
They can hear Harry murmur, “Y’alway showin’ me up. Only gonna be able to look at y’during the show, bug.”
“Harry,” Jeff calls to his client, making him turn around and his eyes instantly search the small groups of fans until his eyes land on a girl dressed in a bright pink fishnet dress and boa.
“You,” Harry points at her, his face isn’t giving away any emotion, “Can I have a chat w’you?”
“S-sure,” She stutters, eyes wide and excited - oblivious that Harry actually knows what she had been posted on social media.
The singer takes her off to the side, YN’s eyes keep darting to them as she chats with the friendly fans who are complimenting her dress and her merch designs.
Frank is standing near Harry, prepared to escort the girl out after the conversation.
“Can we get a selfie?” Gina asks, pulling out her cellphone.
“No,” Harry replies seriously, “You also are going to get escorted out of this arena and banned from any of my future concerts.”
“Wh-what?” The girl stumbles, eyes watering as she looks at him in confusion and dismay.
“I need to make this a safe space for everyone who comes to my concerts. That especially includes m’wife. And I don’t feel comfortable havin’ someone scream at m’wife and posting nasty things on social media attending my concert.”
Realization flashes across Gina’s face, “I’m so so sorry. I can apologize. I really didn’t mean-“
“No. I don’t think my whore of a wife would want to hear it,” Harry chuckles with a nasty edge, “Y’can fuck off now. Go find a new artist to harass ‘cause if I see y’face at one of m’concerts - y’getting kicked out immediately.”
Frank appears beside them, gently guiding the hysterical girl out of the room while the fans look back in confusion.
They forget all about it once Harry saunters up to them and gives them a crooked smile, “Hi, m’Harry. How are y’guys?”
The fans don’t miss his hand moving quickly to squeeze his wife’s hip in reassurance before starting to sign things and take pictures.
-
Later that night, the disgruntled ‘fan’ sends out a nasty few tweets where real fans go after her and defend YN.
Also, the true fans are cooing over the fact that Harry is such a good husband.
haleyhs22: omg, could you imagine being called out by the nicest guy on this earth
tpwkjess_young: okay but I wish I had the luck that @ynstyles has to get a manz like that 😩
UsWeekly: Harry Styles bans ignorant fan from tour after nasty videos were leaked attacking his wife
strawberriesinsummer: harry is such a VIBE. Like he deadass kicked that girl out and then spent the whole night trying to seduce his wife with his shimmies and winks - he’s the hoe 🍑
-
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darkficsyouneveraskedfor · 4 years ago
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CTRL+ALT+DECEIT
Warnings: non-consent sex and rape; oral, fucking, stalking, hacking, threats, implied violence.
This is dark!Jake Jensen x reader and explicit. 18+ only.  Your media consumption is your own responsibility. Warnings have been given. DO NOT PROCEED if these matters upset you.
Synopsis: You find your pictures on someone else’s Insta but that’s not the only thing he’s stolen.
Note: Yay, another Jensen fic at last. I’m probably gonna try to work in more one shots between my series. I’m looking at Andy Barber, Ransom Drysdale, or Lee Bodecker right now for next week but we’ll see.
Thanks to everyone for sticking around and putting up with me and thanks in advance for all your feedback. :)
I really hope you enjoy. 💋
<3 Let me know what you think with a like or reblog or reply or an ask! Love ya!
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The chirp of the chat pierced your eardrum once more as you ignored it for the spreadsheet of dates on your other monitor. Working from home could be both peaceful and distracting but the third bing had you muting and pushing your headset to your neck with a grumble. You switched windows as the chat box blinked.
‘So why didn’t u tell me u had a bf?’ Zia’s bubble blipped up followed by impatient emojis.
“Wat r u talking bout?’ you typed back and clicked back to the spreadsheet to update the status of each course. That noise came again and you flipped back.
‘I’m not stupid! Come on. He’s far away but he’s cute.’
You frowned and tapped the space bar lightly. You were utterly confused. The only activity in your daily life were the general notifications from Tindr. You repeated the question and she sent an emoji rolling its eyes.
‘I’m serious.’ you replied.
She sent a link and then a laughing GIF attached to another bubbled response, ‘I’m not buyin it.’
You clicked on the hyperlink and a new tab opened. You scrolled down on the Insta as the air was knocked out of you at the sight of your own face. Not only were their pics taken from your public profile but several you’d never even posted. Your skin crawled and the bing sounded again.
‘So… an online thing huh.’ Zia pressed on.
‘I gotta work.’ you closed out of the window entirely but stayed on the Insta.
You scrolled through about a dozen or so selfies of you, each labeled as ‘missing my lady’ or ‘she’s so sweet, sending me pics to keep me company’. Your stomached roiled with mortification and the unsettling sensation of intrusion. It was easy enough to guess you’d been hacked but to think this was what the creep did with it was even more startling.
You changed the password on your Insta and went through the process of doing so with all of your accounts and ran a scan on your PC. You would likely have to file a ticket for a proper inspection with a specialist. You couldn’t help but shake as you went back to the profile after checking your bank account and PayPal to make sure it wasn’t worse than just pics.
You went back to the profile and found photos of the culprit. His spiky blond hair and glasses were unsurprising and his comic book tee shirt was even less. Your disgust was quickly replaced with anger as you hit the chat icon above his info.
‘Hey, jackass, care to tell me how you have my photos on your profile?!’
The read icon appeared almost and you saw him typing. It stopped and then started again.
‘You’re so beautiful, I wanted to share it with everyone.’
You scoffed at the message and cringed at the screen. ‘Are you nuts? Like actually. You stole my photos! You hacked me. Creep.’
You blocked him immediately after hitting send and logged out. You opened Excel again and tried to focus on the coloured cells. You could hardly process what you were doing as your phone began to vibe on the corner of your desk. It didn’t let up and you couldn’t focus past the incessant buzzing.
You snatched it up and several messages covered the screen as you unlocked it. ‘You really think that’s gonna work’; ‘You can’t block me’... several in a similar vein that you deleted before blocking the number. You silenced your phone and turned back to your monitor.
Suddenly the screen went black and you blinked. You hit the keyboard and clicked, assuming it fell asleep. It lit up again but all you saw was yourself staring back. Your mouth fell open and you ripped the clip-on cam from atop your monitor. You disconnected it as the notepad opened and typing flicked up across the white space.
‘I didn’t want it to be like this.’
You could move the mouse or backspace. All control was lost and you sat there helplessly watching the scrawl.
‘I think we’d be really good together if you only gave me a chance. Can’t you see I worship you?’
Your phone began to shake constantly and a private number flashed. You picked it up and hollered into the speaker, “leave me alone”. You hung up but it kept on and your screen turned to black once more. Your PC was still on but there was no reaction from the machine.
Fuck, you sat back and looked at your phone. You couldn’t even call work to tell them because the damn thing wouldn’t stop ringing. You put your head in your hands and grunted in frustration. How the fuck did all this happen?
🖱️
After your initial panic died down, you disconnected your tower and shut off your phone. You left your cell behind as it was just as useless. You hauled the PC down to IT at your work and filled out the ticket without giving intricate details on everything the weirdo had taken.
You left with a borrowed laptop. You wouldn’t sign into your personal accounts and stick to the company portal. You were embarrassed but happy to have a temporary solution. You got home and set up the new computer and reconfigured your wi-fi. You finished the last of the day’s work and ended the day with a glass of wine.
When you dared to turn your phone on again the next morning, it was filled with notifications from all platforms but each one you clicked on errored and prompted you to sign-in. All your new passwords were wrong and you knew it was him. 
You checked the Insta and found a screenshot on his profile from the day before, your mouth agape in horror that could easily mistaken for surprise.
‘Her face when you pop the question on the call’. The caption made your stomach curdle and you nearly flung the phone away. You couldn’t comment without logging in or message. So you created a shell account with a throwaway email you used on Reddit.
‘Why won’t you stop?’ you sent the message through as you waited for your coffee to brew.
‘Stop what?’ he added a winky face with his reply and you growled.
‘You know who this is! Why are you doing this?’
‘Hmmm…’ he let the message hang there and you sat down with your mug and listened to the birds outside. ‘Imagine what someone else would do with everything I have.’
‘Look at what you’re doing. You’re ruining my life.’
‘Ruining? Sweetie, I’m watching over you. Protecting you.’
Your nostrils flared and you burnt your tongue on the coffee and planted it on the table so it sloshed over the sides.
‘Love you, sweetie. See ya soon.’
The chat box turned grey as you realised he blocked you. That pissed you off more than anything and you lobbed your phone away with a shout of anguish. This guy was fucked!  
You were shaking so much you couldn’t even drink your coffee. You got up and paced until you could think straight. You dialed into work and told them you were taking the day off for a personal emergency and shut down your phone. You were too afraid he would find a way onto your work laptop and you didn’t want to have to explain that to IT too.
🖱️
Zia showed up on Saturday and she wasn’t happy. She buzzed up and banged on your door impatiently. You let her in and she crossed her arms over the strap of her purse as she crooked her hip.
“I know I shouldn’t have snooped but if you’re mad at me, you should’ve just said so. I would’ve backed off,” she scowled.
“I’m not mad,” you said as you backed into the front room and dragged your feet over the rug.
“Sure, you’re just ignoring all my messages by accident,” she stayed at the other side of the room.
“Not exactly, no,” you shrugged, “it’s a long story.”
“And you couldn’t shoot me a message to say that at least?”
“Look, I’m stressed the fuck out. I’m sorry but the only reason I didn’t answer you is because I can’t.” 
“You can’t?”
“I can’t even turn my phone on anymore.”
“What--”
“Just--” you touched your temples, “I don’t even know how to explain--”
“Jesus, are you okay?” her anger slaked away as her voice softened.
“No, I’m not,” you sniffed, “I’ve been trapped in this apartment and I can’t think straight and I can’t even talk to anyone because my phone and my life is totally fucked.”
“How about we get a coffee and you can tell me once you’ve calmed down,” she said, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so worked up.”
“You don’t know how bad it is. I really fucked up,” you whined, “I don’t even know how it happened.”
“Is this about the boyfriend?”
You huffed and shook your head, “I told you, he’s not my boyfriend-- Let me get dressed.”
After you felt presentable enough to leave the apartment, the thought of getting away ushered you down the winding stairwell and onto the sidewalk. You and Zia walked down to the cafe on the corner where you always overspent on their specialty drink and caught up.
You ordered but when you tried to use your card, the machine beeped in rejection. You tried again but still no luck. Zia offered to pay and you promised you’d pay her back. Anxiety pitted deep in your stomach as you sat. You’d have to call the bank and figure out why eight dollars would bounce.
“So,” Zia said as she shaded her eyes against the sunlight streaming onto the open patio, “he’s not your boyfriend?”
“I don’t even know the dude,” you hissed as you almost overturned your cup, “Zee, those pictures, they were all on my phone. I never sent them to anyone. I don’t even know his real name and when I confronted him, he crashed my whole system and blew up my phone. I haven’t been able to log into anything because of him.”
“You’re shitting me,” she chuckled.
“Zee, I’m not fucking kidding,” you blinked, “don’t you think if I was dating some dude out in who knows where, you’d be the first to know? You think I’m wasting my time with the idiots on Tindr for fun?”
“No way,” she scoffed.
“Zia, look me in the eye,” you said as you gave her a stern look, “I’m freaking the fuck out.”
“Did you call the police?” she asked.
You sat back and closed your eyes. You were so swept up in the panic, you hadn’t even thought. You could report it to the police, just get a record of it even if they didn’t do anything else. You heard horror stories of hackers and how little could be done but you had to at least try.
“I guess I should go down to the station today,” you ran your fingertips along your chin, “I don’t know, I felt so alone, I thought--”
“And call your bank right now,” she slid her phone over, “figure out what’s going on with your accounts.”
You took her cell and dialed the number on the back of the card. You dragged your finger down the side of your cup as you listened to the automated message and hit the buttons to direct you to customer service. The hold song bubbled in your head and finally picked up as you finished the last of your mocha.
You explained the issue after giving your information as Zia sat patiently across from you. She watched the other patrons and looked out across the street as you waited on the representative on the other end.
“Looks like your account has been locked. Your savings and checking have been placed on hold citing possible fraud,” the woman explained.
“Well, can’t you unlock them? Why would they be flagged?”
“Hmm, well I see no suspicious spending so possibly… it could be due to an external lock, not us.”
“What does that mean?”
“I can’t speak to that. Have you received any communications from the Revenue service?”
“Revenue service? I don’t--no,” you gulped.
“I’m sorry, there’s nothing else I can tell you,” she said, “you should consider contacting federal services.”
You hung up and handed Zia her phone back. “Apparently, I’m under investigation for fraud? I don’t know.”
“Shit,” she took her cell, “are you sure?”
“It sounded like it but-- I gotta check my credit card,” you stood and grabbed your empty cup and your purse.
You stormed down the street to the ATM at the corner and inserted your card. LOCKED the machine made a hideous noise and you pulled out your card in irritation. You put your wallet and touched the sides of your neck as the heat swelled through you.
“I don’t understand--”
“Um, you should see this,” Zia said.
Zia turned her screen towards you and your heart dropped to your toes. There was a picture softened by a blush Insta filter and the caption read, ‘just got into town, surprising bae with flowers’. Over the cluster of petals at the bottom of the image were you and Zia sitting at the cafe patio.
You spun and searched around for any sign of the man and the bouquet. You could hardly breath as it felt like you were being squished between invisible walls. You clapped your hand against the wall and steadied yourself as Zia gently rubbed your arm.
“Let’s go to the station,” you croaked as tears welled in your eyes, “please.”
🖱️
The police told you everything you expected. Even as you showed them the photos and explained how you never met that man in your life, they only offered you words on a piece of paper. They’d file the report and follow-up in case of any further escalation. It was a non-answer, a cold shrug.
Zia went home with you as she offered to stay the night. You gladly accepted and the two of you cozied up on your bed and spent the night watching early 00s rom coms. You found it hard to relax even with her there. You couldn’t stop thinking about how close he’d been without you even knowing.
You at last began to doze off as Reese Witherspoon triumphed and exhausted by the endless maelstrom of dread, you slipped into a deep but perilous sleep. You were locked in limbo between waking and slumber, almost as if you could hear everything around you but remained blind and unknowing all the same.
You woke with a start as you felt like you were falling. You sat up and reached to the other side of the bed. Zia was gone. She must have got up to get water or use the bathroom. You took a breath and turned your legs over the edge. You got up groggily and lumbered across the room, your mouth dry and head aching. Some tylenol and water would do you well.
You hesitated as you noticed the bloom of light just around the corner from your doorway. Zia must be having trouble sleeping, you guessed as you kept on. As you came in sight of the front room, you heard a whimper and you backed up against the wall as tall figure stood before the coffee table. The flowers laid across the wood, slightly crumpled from a struggle.
As Zia whined, he jabbed her with his foot and she grunted around the rag tied around her mouth. Her arms and legs were bound behind her as the man loomed over her. You recognized his blond hair and glasses, the menacing blue eyes as he raised his chin and crossed his arms.
“Been waiting on you,” he stepped over her, “I was disappointed when I realised it was her. Good friend though, hanging around…”
“Don’t hurt her, please. What do you want?”
“You can’t figure that out?” he taunted, “huh, I’m sure you can guess what it will take for me to leave her in one piece.”
Zia wiggled and received another boot. You pushed yourself forward and he stepped closer, predatory as he dropped his arms and clenched then unclenched his fists. He chuckled as you stopped short and gaped up at him.
“She’s cute,” he said, “she can join us if that makes it easier for you.”
“You’re disgusting,” you snarled and winced as he reached out to touch your cheek. You fought not to shove him away, your eyes on Zia’s bound figure.
“Play nice and I will,” he warned, “every time I hurt her, that’s on you. I wish I didn’t have to do this to show you how much I love you.”
You shook your head as your lip trembled. He pressed his palms to your cheek and ran his thumb along your lips. He leaned in and you cowered as you realised how big he was. You didn’t expect that looking at him from the other side of a screen.
“Do we put on a show for her or did you want a little privacy?”
“You won’t get away with this,” you hissed.
“Oh yeah? I locked you out of your social media, your pc, your bank… do you really want to see how far I can take this?”
He smothered your murmured answer with his mouth and kissed you gruffly. He pulled away and looked you in the eye. He bit his lip and hummed.
“So, do we do this here?”
“You’re sick,” you grabbed his hand and wrenched it away from your face. You yanked him and directed him to the bedroom, “you monster.”
“Now come on,” he twisted his wrist around and grabbed your elbow, “I could’ve killed her. Don’t think I won’t.”
You quivered as he forced you back into your bedroom, the street lights casting shadows between your curtains. He flung you ahead of him, as strong as his thick arms would suggest. You stumbled and caught yourself on the side of the bed. You turned as the door slammed and he prowled towards you like a wild cat.
“Well,” he threw his hands up and you caught a glint of light against the lens of his glasses, “you want me to undress you or you think you can handle that, sweetie?”
You puffed in repulsion and looked away from him. Even in the dark, you could feel his eyes on you. You jittered as you reached to the neck of your loose tee and slowly raised it over your head. You dropped it to crumple on the floor and you touched the top of your shorts. You heard him moving around and shied away as he flipped the switch and light shone across the room.
You pushed down your shorts as you heard a thump from the next room. His jaw twitched as his eyes lingered on you and he reluctantly glanced away. He swung the door open and stormed out into the front room. You went to the door and heard his snarl.
“Stop fucking moving,” he rasped, “every time I have to tell you, I’ll pop another out.”
Zia gave a muffled sob as you heard a sickly crack and you hurried to look around the wall into the room. He blocked your sight with his broad chest and pointed you back to the room.
“I didn’t say you could leave the room,” he spun you and slapped your bare ass, “fast, fast, fast… before I lose my patience.”
Your skin stung from the strike and you tripped through the doorway as he followed quickly. Another slam and he poked you further into the room with his knuckle. You stepped away from him and tried to cover yourself as you faced him in horror.
He quickly swooped his shirt over his head and revealed a buff chest thick with blond hair. He kicked off his shoes and fumbled to undo his fly. He tilted his head as he looked you over and groped himself through his jeans.
“You know what to do,” he said, “I’ve seen the way you touch yourself… cyber security 101, cover your webcam.”
You shuddered as he beckoned you closer. He stopped you and put your hands on the waist of his jeans. He leaned in and nuzzled your temple as his hot breath seeped into your goosebumped skin.
“My turn,” he pushed on your hands until you pulled down the denim on your own strength.
He stepped out of his jeans and snapped the elastic of his boxers. You stood and latched onto those shakily. He ran his fingers along your arms as you pulled them past his erection and they fell to the floor with a whisper. You didn’t look down, instead staring past him as his hand swept up to cup your tits.
His fingers crawled up your chest and his hands wrapped around your neck. He squeezed and turned you so that your back was to the bed. He marched you backwards as you felt his dick bobbing between your bodies. You gasped as he pushed you down onto your mattress, your legs dangling over the edge as he came up to straddle you.
“Such a good girl,” he taunted, “look at you… I bet you’re wet already.”
He pulled a hand away and stroked his length as he raised himself on his knees. He clung to your neck as he leaned over you and planted his hand on the bed above you. He hovered his dick over your head and you closed your eyes.
“Put it in your mouth,” he ordered, “now, or I’m putting it in your ass.”
You reached up blindly and angled his tip against your lips. He dipped his hips down and you choked as he prodded at your throat. Your legs twitched as he forced his cock past your gag reflex and your whole body tensed at the intrusion.
He balanced on the hand above your head and the one on your neck. He thrust harder and harder as sloppy sucking reverberated around the room between his dark groans.
“That’s it,” he purred, “look at you taking my cock. I can only imagine how tight that cunt of yours is.”
Your eyes welled and you flicked your lashes as you tried to bat them away. You kept your hand at the base of his dick as you tried to ease his motion. He ignored your reluctance and only delved deeper as he brought himself to his limit, your lips touching the fuzz along his pelvis.
When you couldn’t breath, you slapped his hard stomach and he reared out of you abruptly. You coughed up spit as he sat back on his heels and released you. He huffed as he looked down at his glistening dick and climbed off of you.
“Stand up, turn around,” he snarled as his eyes flashed. 
His glasses were low on his nose and he slipped them off entirely and folded them up on your night table. He squinted as he watched you stand and turn stiffly. He smacked his hand in the middle of your back and pushed you over impatiently. He stepped closer and tapped his tip against your cunt as you were exposed to him.
He bent his legs and poked along your slick folds. You were wet enough for him to glide in and fill you up completely. He was so big it was painful and you arched your back as you tried to take it. He pulled back and slammed into you harshly. You let out a garble and he repeated the motion, taking you off your feet.
He leaned over you and grabbed your knees, lifting them on the bed as he urged you forward. His hand brushed up over your ass and he pressed between your shoulder blades until your face was flush to the mattress, your arms bent around you like a broken doll.
He thrust again and the loud slap made you wince. He jerked his hips roughly until he found his motion, rutting into you with hissy breaths as his other hand groped your ass. He hummed as your body shook before him, ruled by his touch as your walls clenched him.
He pushed his thumb down between your cheeks and circled your asshole. You strained and lifted your head in alarm. His other hand quickly stretched over your crown and pinned your face to the bed. He felt along your cunt and slickened his thumb before trailing back to your puckered ring.
He pushed lightly at first and as he broke through you gasped and whined. You gripped the blankets as he moved his thumb in and out of you, his hips still rocking steadily into you. He slid his thumb out entirely and prodded with two fingers instead. Before you could react, he forced them inside and you cried out in surprise and pain.
“I know you want it, sweetheart,” he groaned, “I can feel…” he kept fucking you, “I can fucking hear it.”
Your holes tightened around you as he carried the pace. A new pressure began to bloom inside of you, unlike anything you’d felt before. The burning in your ass and the stretching of your cunt mingled to an agonized bliss. You sobbed into the blankets as you came uncontrollably around him, shamed by the unwanted release.
“Fuck,” he drew out the word as both his hand and his hips sped up, “look at you cumming for me. Cumming for this creep.”
You moaned and curled your fingers around the duvet tighter. You felt the same knotting deep inside and you came again as he reached a tantamount. This time, you gushed around his cock and felt the deluge down your thighs as the noise grew wetter and louder.
“Look at you, sweetheart, you can’t handle it, can you?” He snorted as he sucked in a breath suddenly and his hips staggered.
He pushed his fingers deeper and kept them there as he fucked you as hard as he could. He slammed into your cunt over and over. Your hips throbbed with each tilt of his pelvis and you smothered your cries as you felt him coat your walls in his release. 
He stopped just as suddenly and dragged his fingers out of your ass. He leaned against you until your legs collapsed and fell onto you with a sigh. He covered your body with his as his shallow breaths hazed around you. 
Your own heart raced as you stretched your arms out stiffly and quivered. You tried to pull yourself from beneath him. He kept you pinned under his weight and jolted you with a cruel thrust.
“Oh, we’re not done, sweetheart,” he muttered along the shell of your ear, “not even close.”
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lu-zijing · 2 years ago
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Hello and welcome~!!
I'm Lu 紫晶! ~ "Lu Zijing"!
My Channel/Blog is known as "THE AMETHYST ARCHER"
YouTube is my main platform - but Tumblr comes next. You can find me there, on TwitterX, and on Instagram as well.
TUMBLR: Here I mostly post drawings, discussions, and whatever, whenever I feel like it. And is just more active for reblogs and chatting.
YOUTUBE: On YouTube, I'm trying a more persistent release schedule. With specific dates for releases. Read more about that on the community side on my YouTube.
INSTAGRAM: Only drawings and finished products are posted here. Short said It's a more organized place for many of my drawings.
TWITTERX: I'm not that active here, but when I am, it's mostly for discussions, thoughts, and comments.
Links to all social media are found in this post.
5 FUN FACTS ABOUT ME ~
I LOVE Cats. Drawing them, petting them, looking at my cat--
I ABSOLUTELY ADORE drawing Chinese Dragons, Wings, and yeah, Cats. Under normal circumstances, I would not turn down a request including some of those in any way.
I DO WRITE AS WELL. I am working on a oneshot right now, but haven't released anything yet.
I LOVE DANMEI and just Asian especially Ancient Chinese Culture.
And ehhhh, for the last one, I'm From the North. of what? Well, you will have to guess.
____
I hope You will or am enjoying my content! Be sure to leave a reaction to let me know if you did~! But only if you did!
PLEASE NOTE that I use a lot of content and designs that are not mine, but are fanart and likewise.
And DO NOT ever take any art or content and repost it somewhere, without permission or credit. No matter if it is written on the post or not.
Please report any who might repost my art without giving credit,
THANK YOU!
Status: Active
/ Currently focusing mostly on Bungou Stray Dogs (BSD)
Hashtags to quickly find categories of my stuff will be added soon. Including them will be some of these:
#LUZijing'sARt #LUZjing'sFAnart #LUZjing'sRAmbles
Relevant LINKS and INFO:
About Me and My Channel
Different names - The story behind them: N/A
What to call me?
My Social Media
YouTube
Instagram
Tumblr
Twitter
My Art - Last updated on the 25th of February
Flaming Cat
A Night Full Of Stars
Lunar New Year of the Dragon
Lunar New Year of the Dragon without text
BSD FanArt - Last updated on the 30th of July
HAPPY BIRTHDAY NAKAHARA CHUUYA!!! (29th of April 2024)
Nakahara Chuuya digital Screenshot Redraw + drawing process
Dazai Sketch "I went a bit wild with the colors in the darker nuances"
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAZAI OSAMU!!! (19th of June 2024)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TACHIHARA MICHIZOU!!! (30th of July 2024)
SOUKOKU Age 15 Manga Cover Redraw INCLUDING Speedpaint
Spellbook
Carnival ride/carousel
BSD Discussion - Last updated on the 16th of August
They are sold in Magazines??! Gorgeous Official art!!
So this IS official art, after all, My thoughts, Soukoku
Official Art Outfits/Clothes Appreciation Post!! LIKE DAMN-!!!!
Fitzgerald DOES speak Japanese, but...
A Reblog: Chuuya WASN'T happy when Dazai left -that IS clear- but it's not like he was a sobbing mess for months either
So... BSD CHAPTER 117—!!!!!!!
A Reblog: Is Amenogozen truly killing people?
Official art parallels between SSKK and SKK..!!!!
Is this Official art or not?? SSK
BSD CHAPTER 119 - what is going on Fyodorrrr-!??
Dazai's bandages..?
LMK FanArt - Last updated on the 31st of July
Color Shift: Wukong and Macaque
Color Shift: Red Son and Mei
Sun Wukong Design
Macaque Design
My Fancomic: Forgotten Memories - Not started yet
MK doodles on paper
Wukong and Macaque on paper
Yin and Yang, Shadow and Light
Sun Wukong - ATTACK!
An exercise in perspective with the Golden staff
The Great Sage Equaling Heaven, Sketch
The Demon Bull King, Sketch
MK, the Monkie Kid, Sketch
Descendant of the White Dragon Horse - Mei, Sketch
Expansion of "Descendant of the White Dragon Horse - Mei, Sketch"
MINI-COMIC: With SWK and MK - "What.....?" "...What...?"
POV: Realization came. Or you could just call it smug Wukong~
Quick Analog Sketch of SWK
Mo the Cat (Screenshot Redraw)
I WATCHED S5 AND COULDN'T HELP DRAWING SOME STUFF/SKETCHESS ALREADYYY
LMK Discussion - Last updated on the 28th of May
A Reblog: How many layers of ‘glamour’ does Macaque have?
A Reblog: What if it is his clones?
S5 Trailer: Is that The Black Tortoise of the North MK is attacking?
Crossover FanArt - Last updated on the 2nd of May
A kinda crossover.. New releases from my YT channel with sketches from both TGCF and LMK
Other/Reblogs - Last updated on the 29th of July
Go watch Heaven Official's Blessing - 天官赐福, It's good :D
BSD: A book about how to live, a book about how to die - AMAZING detail-!
WRITING TIP: An Injury doesn't always need to be accurate in fiction
——
Fandoms on YouTube so far -
The Owl House (TOH)
Tangled The Series (TTS)
LEGO Ninjago
LEGO Monkie Kid (LMK)
Heaven Official's Blessing - 天官赐福 / Tian Guan Ci Fu (TGCF)
Bungou Stray Dogs - 文豪ストレイドッグス (BSD)
Content on YouTube so far -
AMVs
Edits
Lyric Video
Humor Video
MEP
MEP Part's
Collabs
Theories/Analyses
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boop-le-snoot · 4 years ago
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If life gives you melons...
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Ship: Loki x F!alt! reader
Rating: Explicit / word count 5,5k
Summary: You've heard about meet-cute, how about meet-ugly? Reader has tattoos and a tongue split. There's this joke that "bisexual alt girls go looking for a girlfriend and end up with sad, tall and skinny white bois" and boy did that hit home. Inspired by this cringy video of Hiddles [youtube link].
During a panel at a comic con, Loki notices reader and they go on a date, reader gets railed: top!Loki, choking, rough sex, unprotected sex, all the good stuff. Open ending, with a bonus of reader and Loki pranking Clint.
x. I usually fancy they/them pronouns for Loki but seeing as it's a smut-shot, I decided to go along with he/him for the sake of simplicity. Loki's at least 6'4 tall and you can fight me on that. Also, I write like a Tony stan - I feel the need to apologize to Loki stans for that. I love you guys! 🥺👉🏻👈🏻
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The long line of people appeared to be neverending. Loki was an enhanced, as the government recently had adopted a politically correct term for Earth's non-human inhabitants, but even his enhanced endurance had begun waning due to sheer amount of people wanting a piece of memorabilia signed by The God of Mischief. Loki had gained a considerable amount of fans after doing his part in killing the mad titan Thanos and by extension, saving the world. It turned out, humankind was a sucker for a good redemption arc.
Loki's hands ached where they wrapped around the pen that he'd been using for nearly 4 hours to neatly place his name, written in neat runescript, on various pieces of merchandise that his fans (and wasn't that a strange thing!) presented to him. He used to think that he would have actually succeeded conquering the earth if he had a grasp on how to use social media and his charm; now, he just wanted the torture to end. An involuntary sigh left his mouth when he saw another print of himself in full battle gear being placed in front of him by a reasonably attractive young woman.
"Um, thank you," She stammered, giggling softly, and Loki spared her a painstaking smile, scribbling his name once again. The woman briefly caught his eyes. "Um, you're the reason- the inspiration for me. I became a stripper."
Loki blanked, feeling his eyes widen and blink on their own accord a few times. He wasn't sure if he heard the woman correctly, as the unusual statement made his brain freeze.
Loud snickering from behind the blushing woman interrupted the system error that he was experiencing in his head. It wasn't often that somebody managed to render him speechless. It looked like whoever was in line behind the stripper woman had taken advantage of that. Loki's eyes snapped to the short-haired person, who looked torn between cringing and breaking into embarrassed laughter.
The stripper left without a word, and as Loki picked up the cursed writing instrument once again, the short-haired person smiled at him kindly. "That was a little weird," They snorted, "And thanks, have a nice day Mr. Loki."
"When life gives you melons, you might be dyslexic," Another woman, that appeared to be the short haired person's friend, deadpanned and gave a cynical side-eye to the departing stripper. Loki heard snickering coming from the short-haired person and quietly joined himself. The woman noticed it, winking at him as she collected the newly signed t-shirt. "Bye," She smiled kindly.
It was a split second decision, really. Something about the cheeky way she addressed the situation sparked Loki's interest. "Wait, you forgot something, darling," His baritone called out to the departing woman. She turned around, confused, and hastily grabbed the standard issue photo that he was holding out to her. With a final grateful nod, she smiled and left.
If Loki's smile had returned for the time being, none of his teammates made any remarks on it. Only his brother, Thor, gave a couple of knowing looks to the Asgardian sorcerer.
The woman in question didn't think twice about the photo that she stashed in her backpack along with the signed t-shirt. The Comic-Con had been full of people and the lines were unfairly long. The sheer exhaustion after attending a 3-day long convention had set in and she was eager to simply come home back to her apartment and crash on the nearest soft flat surface. Upon arrival, she did exactly that, flopping down gracelessly on the couch, her backpack landing next to her with a careless thud.
Unloading her trophies was a short time affair: a single white tee with a dozen signatures on it, written in what she hoped was waterproof Sharpie; one mug, shaped like an Iron Man helmet; one poster, showing Spider-Man on a picturesque NYC horizon and a signed photo of one Loki. Strangely enough, she did not remember requesting it - not that she was complaining. Free merch was free merch.
The front side wasn't signed whatsoever. Overcome by curiousity, she turned it around. A phone number was written on the back of it, the handwriting neat and the letters obviously being inked out by a thinner, more sophisticated pen than the one Loki had used for scribbling on the tee. The woman gaped silently, not believing her eyes. Did Loki himself had given her his phone number?
One margarita and a hefty helping of Chinese takeout later, the numbers persisted staring back at her mutely, the neat cursive being almost mocking in its quiet. The woman's smartphone had found a comfortable place right next to the photo, equally mum regarding the unusual situation.
An additional margarita was needed to gather the courage required to actually type out the number in the receiver box. Fruity alcoholic concoction in one hand and phone clutched in the other, the woman's eyes squeezed shut tightly as soon as the dreaded "Hey, got your number today! :)" read delivered. She'd typed and erased the message several times, groaning in embarrassment. How the hell does one approach an alien god?
"Hello! May I ask your name?" The response came after a brief moment - a moment the woman had suffered through by taking too haste sips of her drink, her common since screaming her to not overdo it and wait at least a full minute before replying. Everything felt awkward and misplaced.
In no time, she was sending the screenshots of the conversation to her girl-advice group chat that consisted of her closest friends. Chatting with Loki turned out to be surprisingly easy and he was great at upholding conversation, something that couldn't be said about all those Tinder matches she had had back in the day.
Even if using proper grammar during a text message conversation was something she had to reacquaint herself with, she was glad he wasn't just another boring, shalllow, condescending-ass white boy. Despite the cultural differences and his lack of knowledge of things like pop culture and music - something he said he was working on since New Asgard became a sovereign state on Earth - they bonded over music and tattoos and generally being rebellious against society's standarts.
The invitation to dinner didn't come as a surprise for the woman. She agreed happily, looking forward to continue their conversation outside of the internet - if Loki's part of the chat was anything to go by, not only was he charming, but also quite intelligent. And easy on the the eyes, too. They had traded selfies at some point and the Asgardian didn't look any worse in a hoodie and sweatpants than he did in his battle leathers. Loki had appeared to truly have had integrated into Earth's society.
The night of the date, the continuous text exchange did very little to calm her nerves. Loki texted as much as an overeager teenage boy: every now and then he would double-text and grossly overreact to her sending a simple meme. In fact, he smugly conveyed the fact he'd single-handedly started a meme war between the Avengers and even Steve was forced to participate; something that was, allegedly, out of character for the blonde man.
She didn't mind. Not like she had many friends to have so much fun with. Even if it took her twice the time to do her favourite eyeliner style, it was worth it. She hoped Loki would appreciate the bold, but classy make-up and the dress and shoes combo that accentuated her assets. Her date expressed curiousity about her tattoos and the difference between her preferred style and the humans he spent most time with. She guessed secret agents were not particularly fond of anything that made them memorable so she held out quite the hope for... Showing off some of her tattoos in a more private setting.
In other, simpler words, the woman came in prepared for both a friendly, leisurely stroll and a quality night. Either way, it would be a time well spent.
Loki's shiny, raven hair was impossible to miss as he towered over the rest of the people waiting by the restaurant's entrance. He wore tailored black trousers and a simple cashmere sweater, perfect for the evening's damp, cool air. Tall and lithe, Loki was mouthwateringly handsome.
"Come here often?" She wormed her way through the crowd, causing the man to smirk down at her. Her cheeks flared from the tiny gesture alone.
"Just waiting for a friend," Loki uttered lowly, extending an arm towards the woman, which she gracefully accepted as they made way towards the entrance. "Reservation for Loki," The Asgardian stated to the hostess, who, after a rapid doube-take, led them to a private, secluded area in the back of the restaurant.
Loki shouldered the slightly awkward interaction with grace, paying no mind to the girl. His focus was solely on his date and he was nothing but gallant as he took the woman's purse and held out the chair for her to comfortably sit down. As a prince, he was taught well, she mused.
"Usually I would ask 'what brings you to our little ball of water and dirt?' but I think we can skip that part," The woman stated with a sheepish grin, idly flicking through the menu and curiously eyeing the items that were unfamiliar. The desire to try something new fought with the possibility of accidentally ordering something too far out - like snails or other things that rich people fancied, for some reason.
Loki's greens briefly appeared over the top of his menu, grateful and sparkling. "I think it's best if we do just that," For a second, he looked away, before returning to the menu. "I can think of better things to discuss. I recall you didn't finish telling me about that college friend of yours, who was an anarchist... I'm dying to know..."
The waiter came and went, barely noticed by the pair, as they both poked at something that sounded the most familiar for both of them. Stoically, Loki admitted that Tony Stark did the booking for him and the woman reluctantly acquitted she wasn't very familiar with upscale establishments, being of middle-class background and working a middle-class job.
Interrupting the story she began telling hours ago, the woman took the time to point out the things she was familiar with on the menu and advised Loki to stay away from - like the aforementioned snails, and other things, slimy and salty things that she considered to be 'disgusting but rich people liked it for some reason'. The conversation slowly progressed into Loki telling her the mischief he got up to at the feasts Odin threw. The Asgardian shared the woman's disregard for influential people doing gross things to show off.
The food was good - it was really hard to miss with a traditional Italian lasagna - and seeing Loki shovel an obscene amount of food was an experience, but she didn't comment on it, tactful enough to consider his alien biology might have different dietary requirements that her human one. It was great, really, that she could order dessert and not feel guilty about it.
The gelato melted in her mouth like sweet ecstasy and she moaned with her next bite, only partly aware of how obscene really was the noise.
Loki's hand stuttered on it's way to his mouth. Wide-eyed, he stared at her lips, at her mouth, where her tongue lapped up the small drops of dessert from the spoon. "Why the split tongue?" The Asgardian finally gathered his wits, having had a good look of what he was sure was a trick of the eye at first.
She grinned, acutely aware of the effect that particular body modification had on men. "I like being different. I embrace the weird." She giggled, not at all ashamed, sticking out her tongue and wiggling both parts of it teasingly.
Loki's Adam's apple bobbed; "Weird?" He raised his eyebrow, fighting to maintain his previous cool composure.
She nodded. "Weird," She retorted coyly. "I usually don't divulge the details at least until the third date. Wouldn't want to scare my potential suitors off," The playful wink was the proverbial cherry on top. He was hooked, his eyes darkened, following the plump arch of her lips as she took another spoonful of the treat and savoured it, closing her eyes for a brief moment.
It was pornographic.
"Obviously, Midgardians don't know what's good for them," Loki scoffed in his usual bored monotone, fully aware of how fitful his attempt to conceal his excitement was. He sounded needy even to his own ears.
"And you do?" She pushed away the empty plate, chastely patting her mouth with a napkin. The raised eyebrow and the little smirk spoke volumes.
The grin he wore was hardly anything but feral; he asked for the waiter's assistance by flicking his wrist in an impatient fashion. Once the bill was paid and the woman's cardigan found its rightful place on her shoulders, Loki once again took hold of her arm, this time holding her smaller body against his larger one, taking care to slow down and keep his strides shorter.
She found the coolness of his presence refreshing in the moist, heavy air of the New York city.
"Where to, milady?" Loki asked her, looking down at the woman fondly.
"My place is a block away. Walk me, good sir?" She gave a delightfully easy smile in return.
He nodded, letting her lead the way, allowing himself to get a little bit lost in their shared presence, a little bubble of them in the middle of a busy city. It was as if someone had quickly turned down the volume of the honking cars and noisy pedestrians around them, leaving the soft breeze and the sun slowly descending below the skyscrapers. It felt far too short, partaking in the comfortable silence together, skin tingling under the thin layers of cloth where they were touching.
The sun was trapped in the strands of her hair as she smiled at him from her doorway, worrying her lip between her teeth. It was a bittersweet moment.
"A kiss good night for the good sir?" She asked hopefully, eyes darting between his face and his mouth.
Loki obliged, resting his palm flat on the door frame, towering over the woman as he gently slotted his thin, cool lips against her warm ones. The woman stood on her tippy toes, eager, placing a hand on his chest. The pair melted into the kiss - it had no business being this mind-blowing, brain-freezing for two people that have not met until that very day. The woman didn't refuse when Loki probed with his tongue, requesting entrance to her mouth; she licked into his own with fervor, fisting her hands in the soft fabric of his sweater.
With the hand that was free, Loki pulled the woman flush with himself, feeling the heat of her start a fire of its own inside of him. Her breathing rapid, the gesture only served to tighten her hold on his sweater, until a soft, barely audible moan slipped into his mouth, causing his brain to quickly reassess the situation.
Regretfully, Loki pulled away, clearing his throat. "Perhaps we should take this elsewhere," He meaningfully looked at the array of doors around them.
"I thought you'd never ask," She retorted with a fond eyeroll, tightening the grip on his sweater once more, to pull him inside her apartment and shut the door behind her. The awkward moments were few and in between; neither knew who reached for the other first, mashing their mouths with less grace than before, clutching at the other's arms and hips with hunger.
This time, Loki didn't hold back his own muted groans of satisfaction, shivering when the woman's hands snuck under his sweater and the simple tank top he wore underneath. Blunt nails scraped along his abs.
Step by step, she pushed him further inside her apartment, determined in her small quick strides. There was no mistake of their destination; no mistake in her desire: she was as hungry and as impatient as him. The crease between his eyebrows deepened, long arms extending to unzip the top of her dress to reveal a simple but tasteful black lacy bra covering her breasts. The woman barely noticed the action, stepping out of her dress as soon as it hit the floor.
He admired her. Inches of soft skin covered by intricate ink, some patterns bizarre and complicated, some beautiful in their simplicity. Loki couldn't wait to find out about the meaning behind every one of them, to trace the lines with his tongue and sink his teeth into the heated flesh.
The hands that were holding onto him for dear life tugged on his sweater and he chose to simply vanish it, too preoccupied with looking at the view in front of him. She gasped and her eyes met his: uncanny, magnetic emeralds shone with magic and power and desire.
"Fuck," She more mouthed than said, walking backwards in a trance until her shins hit the bed.
Loki grinned, advancing on the panting woman with the grace of a predator. "Darling?" His tone was innocent; his expression was anything but. His large hand encompassesed the side of her face, thumb running over her bottom lip in a possessive gesture that had her squirming in her place. He loved the way she just melted into his touch.
Their lips met again, slower this time. The kiss was once again graceful and unrushed, allowing them to explore the softness of each other's skin, mapping the arches and valleys with gentle strokes of their palms. The broad expanse of Loki's back was uneven, riddled with scars and blemishes, and she mapped every single one, blunt nails raking down it as she pressed into him, arching into his hands where he held her.
The soft flesh of her ass, barely covered by a scrap of black lace, was shamelessly grabbed - the woman didn't doubt there would be marks left - letting her feel his arousal pressed against her belly, hard and twitching. She didn't resist her desire to ge handsy and palmed it, taking note of the gasp and the twitch coming from the man occupied with the clasp of her bra. In no time, it flew away, forgotten somwhere the very moment Loki's palms took over her breasts, running a careful thumb over each nipple.
"Fuck," She parroted her previous statement, equally breathy and considerably more aroused.
"That's the plan," Loki's chuckle was hoarse.
She huffed, biting her bottom lip before reaching out to swiftly pop the button of his trousers, smirking at the hiss the friction of her palm produced against his cock. It shouldn't have surprised her that Loki was a commando kind of guy, but still, she gasped, partially from the ministrations of his clever fingers, partially from the mouthwatering sight in front of her. The thick, flushed length made saliva gather in the corners of her mouth.
He must've heard the audible swallow. "Not so haste, darling," He tutted, giving her relaxed body a gentle push, causing her to land on her back, heated skin against the soft duvet of her bed. "Let me taste you," A thud; Loki had dropped to his knees, using his large palms to spread her legs, opening her up to his eyes.
If his previous work hadn't made her so pliant, so aroused, she'd have been rendered speechless; instead, the woman arched her back, presenting herself and the desire that had pooled down below. The Asgardian chuckled, fingertips soft against the scratchy lace.
"Tease," The woman moaned, outstretching her arm to guide him but quite unable to reach him. She had to settle for squirming in her place, receiving a fraction of the desired traction against her swollen lips.
"Am I, love?" Loki asked her sweetly, caving enough to dip a single finger to run along the outside of her slit. It glided easily thanks to all the moisture gathered there, lips parting easily before his touch. The panties were vanished away promptly, another finger joining in immediately to rub slow, precise circles around her clit.
She keened low and long, fisting the fabric in her hand until her knuckles turned white. Loki knew what he was doing. It didn't take him very long to slide his long digits to the welcoming heat of her opening, dipping them inside until she began to make the noises he so craved. His mouth followed after that, long agile tongue drawing senseless shapes on the inside of her labia and dipping deeper, where her clit stood out engorged and slick.
He could smell the bittersweet of her arousal, mouthwatering and hot.
"Loki, fuck," She moaned, only half-coherent and partially aware of her own hips following his every stroke, every flick. He only advanced, hitting that sweet spot inside her with every stroke; the sparks traveling up her spine quickened with each time she changed his name like a prayer. "Loki, Loki, Loki..."
He growled, attaching his mouth firmly to her clit, and she arched for the final time, coming undone, squeezing around his fingers and gushing in his mouth, the obscene sounds covered by her own scream of delight and his impatient growling. The growling that sent shivers of aftershocks throughout her body.
"Darling, you taste so sweet," Loki groaned, still panting.
She took the time to open her eyes: Loki looked comically out of place in her bedroom, he dwarfed her bed and made her feel small, but it didn't matter at all at that very moment. His erection stood out hard and proud; despite the leg-shaking orgasm just moments ago, she wanted more, she wanted to taste him, she wanted to feel him inside-
With unsurprising agility, one swift motion was all it took for her to rest comfortably against the pillows, his throbbing member resting against the juncture of her thigh. She tasted her own release on his lips, however brief, whispering a weak, "Please," aching to feel the emptiness.
"As my lady wishes," Loki's cool breath ghosted over her cheek. She waited with baited breath until the tip of his manhood breached her, exhaling a moan into his neck and immediately wrapping her lips around a patch of skin as he stretched her so sweet.
Loki's arms shook slightly as he waited for her to adjust. He kissed her, soft and sweet; there was something vulnerable in him, something as sweet as the ache he'd taken away. Once he began to move, slow and fluid, all there was left was an all-consuming need to feel. As graceful as dancer and with a deadly precision, Loki pounded gasps, moans and screams out of the woman's slack mouth, kisses turning hungrier and sloppier by the second.
"So sweet," He cooed, relishing in the snug grip of her cunt around him.
She only keened in approval, too far gone and unused to the intensity of the feelings from a man with centuries of practice and the power of a god.
His thrusts slowed gradually until he was rutting into her, grinding his pelvic bone into her clit. The gasps and screams turned into drawn-out, longing moans; her hips followed his, meeting in a slow, sensual motion.
Loki was not a patient man. He withdrew - she gasped in protest - flipping the woman over on her fours with ease, taking but a split second to admire the curve of her body presented on display for him. Just for him.
With that thought burning in his mind, Loki sheathed his cock deeply inside her spasming cunt. It was nearly unbearably stimulating and only his own desire to prolong the bliss held back his own impending orgasm. That, and his own ego; he was naught if not a generous lover.
She slurred something, quiet and incorrigible, fucking back onto his cock as eagerly as he was plunging into her heat. The hand he'd placed on her shoulder promptly wrapped around her throat in hopes of lifting her close enough for him to hear the words but instead, it sent a full-bodied shiver throughout her. Loki grinned, tugging her that much closer.
The arch in her back looked quite uncomfortable yet she didn't mind; it was the exact opposite, in fact, her cunt tightened around him, drenching his shaft down to his balls. Her fingernails dug into the flesh of his thigh, the sting of pain going straight to his cock-
"Loki, I'm gonna, I'm gonna-" She slurred, gasping for air.
He weakened his hold on her throat enough to let her gulp the so-needed oxygen. It was her undoing: was it the rapid pace of oxygenated blood traveling to her brain or was it his cock, mercilessly pounding against her g-spot - she was violently spasming around his cock, much like she did around his fingers not too long ago.
It felt like ages, her crescendo coming in waves with no signs of stopping any time soon. Loki's continuous thrusts, his hips slamming into hers, her skin feeling like molten lava.
"Gonna fill your sweet cunt with my seed," Loki moaned lowly, holding her up by the throat, the other hand leaving fingertip-shaped bruises on the outside of her hips. "Mark you from the inside out," His voice had gone into primal territory, growling filling up the room.
"Please..." The woman rasped, oversensitive.
And he pleased, with a series of sharp thrusts, he buried himself to the hilt in her, the force of his release making her shudder and moan once against, going limp in his arms. Loki kept her in her place until every drop was inside of her cunt. Nothing was sweeter than that.
The Asgardian didn't bother with getting under the covers to hold her, conjuring a soft, comfortable throw in modest green, to cover their nudity. He didn't need the extra warmth but his companion was by far more fragile and sensitive to these things- Loki's fingertips traced the array of bruises he'd left in the wake of their passion, expression surprised as he found the woman smiling.
"Feels nice," She supplied meekly, eyes half-lidded, face trusting and open towards him.
He gave a small grin in return, placing a chaste kiss atop her head. "Yes, it does, darling."
Time after time, she didn't expect much out if their date. The sex was nice, nice enough for both of them to want seconds and thirds after their rushed first time - but it wasn't like she expected him to hand around. It was a pleasant change from the usual mutual ghosting she'd done with her previous partners, but Loki had texted again and they had resumed their conversation via text like nothing had happened.
No, that would be incorrect. Now, she had a wonderful friend who was a great conversationalist and an even better lover. There was no pressure to put a label on their relationship so the woman didn't bother with it; it didn't seem like Loki cared about the label, either, so she left the topic alone and enjoyed things the way they were. It wasn't like she had a line of suitors anyway.
She couldn't help the smile that creeped onto her face when she unlocked her phone and saw a video call request from other than Loki himself. She still had thirty minutes worth of lunch break to waste and this was a wonderful time to chat with a friend.
"Stark, hand it back or I swear to Norns-" Loki's voice sounded agitated and far away, accompanied by sounds of a struggle; the bearded, smug face on the screen was not who she expected at all. Only years of customer service and low bullshit tolerance combined stopped her from freaking out seeing none other than Tony Stark smirking at her from the screen of her phone.
"Yes?" She arched an eyebrow, taking note of the anger of Loki's tone.
"Hi, I don't think I need to introduce myself," Stark babbled, eyeing her - disheveled and with a wall full of sticky notes and miscellaneous items acting as the background to her video. "Reindeer games refused to show you to us so we decided to persuade him," Tony's grin grew wider, muted whispers being rapidly exchanged in the background all the while Loki screeched "BROTHER!" and various expletives at the top of his lungs.
"You could've, I dunno," She paused, unimpressed. "Asked me to dinner, like a normal person. Instead of stealing, you know, like a thief," The eyeroll that she performed had the team worried her eyes would fall out of their sockets.
"I merely borrowed his phone, don't be dramatic," Stark huffed, and for a moment, she could see various other people trying to look at the screen and by extension, at her. "So, what is it that you do? Because Smurf over there wouldn't..."
"Oops, bad signal. Sorry, can't hear you properly," Her side of the call suddenly shook and in a moment, she ended the call, not at all willing to deal with people that lacked boundaries. Sure, it might have been Iron Man, but if he was planning on being a snooping asshole, she wasn't gonna go down with that easily.
Exactly five minutes after she had clocked out, an incoming call from Loki had her equal parts excited and mortified. What if..? But he was apologetic. And very angry, swearing in his native language - something that he'd promised to teach her at some point.
"So, Clint did it?" She sipped her beverage, strolling home with the phone pressed snugly against her ear.
"Most of it was his fault, yes," Loki grouched on the other end of the call.
"I vote we get back at him. Invite me over, if he's so inclined to see me, and watch him get humiliated in front of everybody," It wasn't a secret she had her own mischievous tendencies.
"As much as I appreciate your vigour, darling, I doubt the Widow will appreciate you verbally castrating the Hawk in public," He replied sourly, his voice still betraying the faint notes of interest.
"I have a backup plan!" She stated without a hitch. "He'll embarrass himself and I'll be your alibi."
"I'm listening," Loki perked up immediately.
They decided to not to stall and schedule the 'family dinner', as Thor himself dubbed it, for the next available weekend. Loki had made sure Tony's AI had been made aware the trickster would be gone all day, and it took him very little magic and effort to pop in and out of the tower for the five minutes that were needed to execute their prank.
His friend barely managed to keep the snickering at bay as they ascended the elevator to the common floor where the dinner was being held. Not only that, but the woman spouted an area of dark purple love marks, barely obscured by the low turtleneck of her blouse.
She made her introductions and they made theirs. "This affair could use some background noise," She remarked off-handedly, casting a meaningful glance at the TV.
Tony Stark was known for being a great host so he entertained her wishes, flicking on the huge flat screen with a flick of his wrist.
The team froze.
"I... -" The woman stared at the screen, mouth hanging wide open at the scenes that played out. "... am not going to kinkshame, but please turn it off," She stated in a small voice, seemingly unable to tear her eyes away from the mass of tentacles commencing erotic assault on a woman's body.
Wordlessly, the TV shut down, immersing the room in stunned silence. Loki face-palmed, the slap of his palm against his face echoing in the eerily quiet room.
"Loki!" Captain America, red as a tomato, instantly accused the most obvious person.
Except, he had forgotten one thing. "Loki was with me all day," The woman replied, unkindly. "Do you need more proof?" She tugged on the hem of her turtleneck, exposing an inch of skin marked blue.
The good Captain's face changed the shade once again, venturing very well into beetroot territory. "Who was the last one to use the TV?" Rogers asked, now with a hint of anger, as he stared at a guffawing Bucky.
"I believe it was Mr. Barton," The AI piped up, mechanical voice sounding almost insinuating. Or, perhaps, it just appeared that way.
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erin-epica · 4 years ago
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Woop-de-doo, it's Lord Scarlet stuff part 2
This was a post I planned on making WAY sooner, but I accidentally lost the original draft so I didn't even bother to try doing it gain until recently. And just now something happened that changed everything; and I mean what both DID and DIDN'T automatically give me the right to post this. I almost deleted my first post at that, and here's why:
In the first post, I mentioned that when I initially found out Vic was lying to me, I was quiet about it and just stopped talking to her out of fear, and then when I asked for help on what to do I was told to leave without a word. I don't think that was entirely the right thing to do in the long run, because it may have been the easiest way out but I'm better off with proper closure.
And the thoughts she left me scarred with never left my head. Time and time again, I'd find myself crying myself to sleep again at the thought of Brock forced to hide romantic feelings for Master Frown and not know who he was anymore while Frown was left unaware and in love with someone else, even if it wasn't Lord Scarlet.
And the pain sometimes came with a want to confront Vic one last time and open up to her about how I wasn't blind anymore, and how much she really hurt me. But I, again, wass scared she wouldn't care and would cut me off.
So when the pain got worse, I did what any coward would do: tell everyone else about my pain.
Now I DID tell friends of mine other than the Unikitty Amino staff about what happened, and they were all sympathetic and understanding about it. But then I told almost everyone, and then made my vent post on here (as well as Wattpad). As much as I wouldn't want to call them call out posts, they might as well have been. I didn't want people to harass Vic and make her mad...but at the same time I kinda did. I was too scared to face her that I was hoping that someone would do it for me. I even tagged accounts of Vic's. Not cool of me at all.
Now the Tumblr and Wattpad posts got me pretty much more of the same: sympathy, and acceptance that I had moved on. No one came after Vic but we could still agree that none of her actions were justified (I even got @careeningle's attention...sorry about the aneurysm)
Now comes the next important thing that happened, because I mentioned @friffinx kinda being responsible for me getting back to the Lord Scarlet Amino to write the message that I did. In it, I said that after I sent the message I did I would leave the Amino again & for good.
Well...I lied. I still checked in every day for the same reason I started venting: I kinda wanted Vic to see my message. Even if she'd ban me, I wanted to see if she'd ever notice my message. And that would've been the end of it if it wasn't for Brook.
I briefly mentioned Brook in the last post. She was another OC of Vic's, and was exactly to Brock what Lord Scarlet was to Master Frown; a carbon copy love interest. Except Lord Scarlet was far more developed and drawn & written about more. Brook didn't even really have a distinct personality, she was a girl Brock and that was it. But with reptilian overlord eyes. (To be fair, Vic drew Brock like that sometimes too)
(I didn't include Vic's art unless it was in chat bgs or whatever in the last post, but for the sake of referencing/proving a point, this is what Brook looks like)
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No one really paid attention to her for the longest time. She was there in the fanfics because according to Vic, "Scarlet needed a friend." And like I said in the first post, Brook wasn't said to be canon so I never found a reason to really care for her. Plus I can only recall someone giving Vic fanart with her, and it was with Scarlet (@plastic-papercuts made it, go follow her she's gr8).
But then one day, for some reason, something in me clicked. I actually thought of a story idea for her. Somehow this bland cutout of a character had potential in my eyes, and I weirdly started liking her because of it. She suddenly felt...more real. I got pretty invested in my idea and newfound interpretation of Brook, and describing it would make this post way longer than it is so if anyone asks about it, I'll probably make a whole other post about it.
Anyway, I came up with a little plan: draw out this idea in the form of a comic and post it to the Lord Scarlet Amino. And see if Vic gets suspicious and checks out my profile and then maybe bans me. It felt a bit better than total silence and she'd probably see that someone gave a crap about Brook after all.
So I started a new chat called "It's Brook" to share my progress with the other members of the Amino, which there weren't too many of but we had fun in it. It was basically me, @friffinx , @soapycocacola, @plastic-papercuts, and a few others who aren't on Tumblr (or at least don't think are) chatting about how awful Vic was and calling out her lazy art tactics like tracing and using assets/clips right from the show. And of course me sharing the comic progress I was making. Again, this doesn't make anything we did right but it felt good getting everything off our chests. We were like a secret rebellion against an absentee dictator. One time Vic came online as we were chatting and even viewed my profile, but nothing happened. And it stayed that way until I opened Amino up one morning. For those of you who don't have it, the menu shows all the communities you're in when you open the app, and all of mine were there except for the Lord Scarlet Amino. I assumed I must've been banned overnight. But I wasn't banned from Vic's other Amino so I commented on her wall on that one. For Vic's sake, I won't show how the conversation went (and I'll explain why at the end) but here's how it went:
Me: Did you ban me from the LS Amino?
Her: There was drama in one of the chat rooms and I'm not having it. I didn't want to do it and it's not a big deal It's just an amino and you're still on this one AM I RIGHT?
Me: Yes, but I assume you read my updated bio. As I hoped you would.
Her: Nope.
Me: Oh. But you know what? Ban me from here too for all I care, I feel like you deserve to know why I left and came back: *insert me finally telling her how I know she lied, that she hurt me, and what I did was wrong here*
Her: Lol ok be that person but keep in mind that I'm one of those people that doesn't gibe a fuck lol
And then she banned me from that Amino too before I could type and submit a fitting farewell reply.
At least I finally got all the built-up emotional pain out of me, but it did help me realize something important: we never really were friends. I wanted more of her content despite all her red flags as a person so I tried enduring them, thinking it'd be worth it, and she only kinda cared about me when I was being a yes man. She never kept any promises and didn't respect me the same way I did her. So I could at least feel confident knowing she most likely didn't care at all when I first left.
@friffinx and the others didn't get banned, though, and Friff even started another chat on the LS Amino called "It's Brook 2" where they talked more about Vic being a terrible person. And it didn't take long for her to shut that chat down too and ban everyone from it that time. Friff sent me screenshots of what happened next (which again, I'm not gonna show), where Vic basically had a meltdown. She changed her username to "Little Miss Guillotine", and made a post about her being "finished with the bushit". In it, she announced that she didn't even like Unikitty! anymore but was still gonna keep/use Lord Scarlet because she wanted to. The part that made my blood almost boil wasn't her views on the show, she's free to have her opinion and I couldn't care less about it. What DID was that she acknowledged that she lied the whole time because "she didn't care anymore" and said that it was "our faults for believing it in the first place" and that "we needed to grow up"/"stop brining it up"
Ooooh boy, victim blaming, my favortie...
Since then she changed the Lord Scarlet Amino's theme to make it about The Penguins of Madagacar (again, fine with me). Either way she was still a narcissist and I thought she'd, sadly, likely never change. And my friends and I all thought that was the end of it.
Until a few hours ago...
I was browsing the Unikitty Amino and saw a new member named BlueCat. Didn't think anything else of it until the user PMed me. And this is what happened:
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I didn't know what to think other than "I thought this day would never come", I was that shaken. This was so left field-ish that what else could I do but believe her? It didn't even seem suspicious or like she was trying to be a suck up, that wasn't Vic at all.
But the one thing I knew I had to do was ban her because even if she meant well and did it for the right(?) reasons, but I still asked if I should in the staff chat. @girly-glorious (also amazing so pls check her out :D) told me that yes, it was ban evasion so since I'm a leader too now I could to it on my own. But I knew I had to message Vic first and Girly told me to be careful, so this is what I sent:
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And then I banned her, the end (not really)
Now I don't understand how or why this sudden behavior change happened but I don't know if I should question it in case it's personal. But again, I at least want to believe that she's really being genuine and had a change of heart because never in a million years could I imagine her being this mature. Again, she didn't demand that I forgive me or probably even expect me to. But the message still does leave me feeling sorry for her.
Now I thought that was the real end of it until I see the Penguins of Madagascar/old Lord Scarlet Amino on my sideboard.
She unbanned me.
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Now I don't know where we'll go from here, if anywhere. I'm not too sure if I can really let my guard down around someone who hurt me so badly just in case she does it again. So I may not talk to her again, but if she really asks something from me, I might try and build up courage to ask her more about how she came to apologizing to me. Plus she followed me on Wattpad too.
But this is why I didn't show our conversation right before my ban or her "f.u." posts. Because I don't want people seeing more of Vic's past behavior and possibly embarrassing her about it if she ever sees this. But that's kinda why I felt like it was 100% necessary to finally make a sequel post in the end; I'm hoping people at least acknowledge Vic has changed and don't keep thinking about based on what I shared out of attempts to gain sympathy like a crybaby.
So before I go: PLEASE, DON'T GO AFTER OR HARASS VIC. I KNOW YOU PROBABLY WON'T, BUT THIS IS SERIOUS. ALL THE PROBLEMATIC LORD SCARLET DRAMA IS STUFF OF THE PAST AND NEITHER OF US WANT TO KEEP LOOKING BACK ON IT.
I hope this helps whoever's reading as much as it did me.
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whats-the-story-tc · 5 years ago
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21st of April, 2020
"The One with the Fairy Tale"
(Pssst! If I were you, I'd read this post first before starting this new one!)
I cannot believe this is my life.
A couple minutes before the 8 AM rush hour, a Google Classroom notification from V arrived. Then another. Someone likes a spam, I thought, before opening the first one.
Sigh of relief. It was only the essay I'd already sent her. On to the next one, the detailed info on what we were covering today. The play on the table is both figuratively and literally a fairy tale. V, pretty critical of the play and its character work itself, made sure to bring one particular monologue to our attention, which tackles a rather difficult topic in a pretty simple play about love and longing — human mortality. "(It's my particular favourite, too, but don't let that influence you.)" She wrote after explaining what it was. The last paragraph though, now that was something else. "For those of you interested in an A level (here you imagine me looking at certain people)" she began, and my eyes widened as I read it. Sure, there are literature buffs in both classes, but... I can't help but think it was first and foremost an indirect to me. I mean, I'm probably the biggest nerd out of all of us, and she's always looking at me anyways... I want to dream big and say she wanted me to see it most. I mean, it's a link to an incredibly long essay. The situation speaks for itself.
"Look at this silence," V said as she entered our server at around 11 AM. Once she was here, we (as in all of us) started chatting about the break and quarantine. "It has been Sunday for two months." I declared, V immediately continuing the thought: "That part of Sunday, no less, where the line between the previous week and the next one blurs." Couldn't have said it better myself.
As V spoke about the story, I just leaned back on my bed, letting myself get immersed in the explanation and the sound of her voice while trying to imagine everything. After a while, it all started sounding like the plot of Mozart's opera, The Magic Flute — especially when V said that our protagonists, a human boy and a fairy girl, both had companions of the same sex along the way. And as soon as she said those companions are actually married, I waited for her to take a tiny break in speaking and said "How surprising." According to Bookworm Friend, she laughed, but I couldn't hear it clearly because someone made a noise. Then she said "Obviously..." and basically shaded the whole plot line, though I don't remember the rest of the sentence. And guess what she brought up immediately? That's right. The Magic Flute. I was floored! "That's what I was thinking, too!" I chimed in immediately. She took the words out of my mouth! And, soon as I said that, I got a text from Bandana Friend.
BanF: "Wow the twinning"
It's official, folks. Even from a distance, V and I are sharing a braincell.
Serious shit went down in class, including pointing out some... very suggestive imagery that caught us all off-guard because the thing she mentioned isn't inherently suggestive, but okay, V, you do you. (Obviously, I'm not going into detail here, nor sharing the conversation Bandana Friend and I had here because... this is simply not the platform.)
But what I can share is a really funny bit that caused a bit of a pandemonium in the separate class chat none of our teachers are in. You see, about half an hour into class, The Boyfriend sneezes with what is probably the volume of a medium-sized family house collapsing. About five seconds of absolute comical silence follows, then we just hear V saying "Sorry. I'm sorry." before carrying on. All this caused quite the stir, featuring texts like:
BanF: "The whole house just quaked"
and
Classmate: "Jesus who was this 😂😂"
Classmate: "Tell me it wasn't [V]"
S: "No, her man"
Classmate: "Good heavens I thought it was her 😂😂"
and
S: "I laughed so hard that I thank God I was on mute"
So yeah. That's on that. Bit later, with the words mentioned here, V ended class, and there I was, on Cloud 9, dancing around my room and humming Disney songs from the sudden serotonin charge. That was probably the moment I decided to read the play V spoke about. You see, she didn't assign it because the wording is quite difficult (the text is quite old) and students usually struggle with it, but she said that we wouldn't lose anything by reading it, if we wanted to. And thus it happened that I sat down on my balcony at around 5 PM with the first chapter open on my phone, ready to read.
I knew she'd be right. I trust her opinion and my reading comprehension skill suffers at the stake of my absolute inability to concentrate for longer than 10 seconds. But guys. Some of the longer sections I had to go over at least three times before I understood what was going on! An hour or so must've passed when I read the last line of the first chapter, and the butterflies in my stomach took flight. It was time to text V about it. It was my original plan, anyway. Figure out how right she was, then tell her about it. I was already incredibly nervous, trying to stick to what I'd planned on writing. My fingers typed on autopilot and as soon as I was done, I could barely believe I was actually going through with this. But alas, you only live once, carpe that fucking diem. One big breath. Two biiiiig breaths.
Send.
S: "Well, Miss, I'm not saying you were right about the text of [the play], but I've only read Chapter 1 and I'm already doubting if I even speak [my native tongue]... 😅"
I immediately tossed the phone on my bed and ran away panicking. What will she say? How will she react to seeing it's me again? What does she think? Am I funny enough? Am I bothering her? When will she reply?
Half a minute later (!!!), I see the icon of The Platform That Shall Not Be Named on my screen. No. No. No. Nonononononono. I picked the phone up and unlocked it with a shaking hand. I was not prepared for what I was about to read.
V: "Hahaha, well, babydoll...You do. You're just not used to [the old-timey wording]."
I only had the time to sink to my knees, eyes wide, lips agape, when the next message followed.
V: "Though, once you're already through it, I'm curious about your opinion on the play's stageability. 😄 (given such a word exists)"
You bet your asses all air left my lungs. Not only did she call me babydoll again, now in a way that I could forever remind myself of it, but she basically just prompted another conversation! She wants to talk to me again! And I'll have you reminded, V's basically trusting my judgement based on the scriptbook I showed her at the dawn of time, that she'd never actually seen in action! I wonder what I did to earn all this trust...
S: "I'll see at the end and tell you :)"
V: "Alright :))"
Then, all brave from the double smiley, I had a really stupid and impulsive thought. (Don't yell.) Me being the little shit that I am, I googled stageability and took a screenshot of no results having been found. I took a screenshot, cropped it and sent it to V, my head being completely empty as I did. I acted purely from gut feeling.
S: "Tough luck this time, it seems😄"
V: "i thought so!"
(I can only hope she took it as a joke. But, the way I know her, she probably understood. Still, the me of right now, exactly two days and two minutes later, wouldn't do it.)
And this is where it ended. This is where I ended. My hands, my legs, even my lips were trembling as I tried to process the sudden load of emotion overcoming me. What did I just do. What did we do. What happened here. All this just echoed in my head, and I went ahead and texted every friend I wanted to tell in all caps.
BanF: "WOAAHHHH"
BanF: "you guys have really warmed up to each other"
Even now, as I was typing, I got the chills just thinking about this conversation. If it wasn't for the 'Miss' and my use of formal pronouns in the very first text, it would've just felt like two friends, who happen to both love literature, talking. And this really warms my heart, because there's this fantastic woman, who I genuinely think is one of the best influences on my life and... she just likes me for me. She immediately answers when she can, comes off genuinely happy to talk to me, prompts another thing I can tell her about and all but tells me that my opinion matters to her. Because this is her. I'm almost convinced that I will never hear her outright say that she likes me or she's proud of me, but, should I have any doubts, she does everything to let me know. I just misunderstand her sometimes, not knowing where to look.
When I tell you all this still doesn't feel real...
~ S ♡
[Every story I share here, no matter how specific I get with my wording, depicts actual events from my own life.]
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lordeasriel · 5 years ago
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just pointing out some of my thoughts, i don’t want to spam too much. like, the trailer was really satisfying, and now that i can think clearly, i thought why not? the only adaptation that ever disappointed me was the radio drama, so i’m not that hard to please lol 
so, here’s some highlights of my own:
we're all astonished with the dæmons CGI, and righteously, but honestly, was there ever any doubt? because as they said themselves, the dæmons are what make the series so great, without them the show (and the books) would be roughly very bland. i'm so glad they could achieve the right settings for the dæmons though, making them lifelike but not overly realistic.
fashion in this world is basically why @parslow and I exist, so we’ve been chatting for a while, especially about marisa, and we realised there’s a lot of thought and meaning behind every single piece of costume in the show. marisa and lyra match a lot, in colours, sometimes they even wear the same outfit with different tweaks in between them. i’ve been praising the costumes since day one, i still am, and even asriel’s lack of variety has a lot of meaning behind it, after all, this is a man who’s rolling in the snow, hence his reason to use the same sweater in all of his scenes.
i love the colours, in general, it reminds me of gotham, contrasted, real, solid, but not as whimsical (when you think that gotham tried to bring the comic style and make it realistic, if that makes any sense to you). it feels like real life, and i like the cloudy mood that lingers in the show. there is no sunlight, except in that zepelin scene, which i’m confident is asriel’s arrival. anything after that is grey and cloudy, including the scene where he is leaving. it probably encapsules the mood of the journey after asriel’s grand plan begins and lyra’s journey as well. i can’t wait to see the episode to see if i’m right about it, probably not lol
the first thing i noticed (also because it was the first scene in the trailer lol) is that asriel is already speaking of war. like, he is already talking about the war, he is already asking for support and for people to pick their sides. that doesn’t bother me, i just think it’s a bit strange in a sense that this is a great way to mischaracterise him, making him too righteous. he does have very good reasons to do what he does, but he also does it because he is a proud man, whose ego has been deeply wounded. hell, if he could have used himself as the energy source, he would have, trust me. so i hope they get him right, it matters to me lmao i’m happy with what i’ve seen so far though, james makes him harsh, yet still human. he’s also a daddy lol
i said it before, i’m saying it again: ruth wilson has the uncanny vibe of a new god and she brings it to marisa shamelessly. she sounds sweet yet still sour, this is an amoral woman, bound by nothing except her own gains and ruth captures every single tone of marisa’s rich personality. listening to her speak is utterly macabre, every time. her daemon only adds to her unsettling behaviour. that eerie smile was horrible, i could barely gif it, i can’t stand it. she is making me fear marisa for the first time, and i love it. (reading the books as an adult, I never feared her, I was just wary of her apathy and amorality, and I found her horribly relatable in many ways, but now there is actual fear in me and I’m living for it)
dafne’s lyra is everything i’ve ever wanted. strong-willed, spiteful, impetuous and fiery, she measures no words, not even to asriel, whom she fears in the books and only barks at him by the end, when she is tired and he is being ungrateful. i love her resemblance to ruth, how she fits nicely in the ambient and how she never stands out, like, “this is a normal brat from oxford. she is anything but special. her whole life is a casuality of bad luck, fate and consequences of other people’s indiscretion. now you love her because she is the best.” yet you still notice her, because dafne makes lyra have a great presence, inherited from her proudful dad uncle. (and her mom, but we don’t talk about that lol)
i’ve seen people talking about lee’s accent, but i don’t know the difference between accents (except for british and american, and i can recognise some scot accent, sometimes irish, but overall i just cant tell), so it doesn’t matter to me all that much. he sounds american, so i can live with it. i like lin in-character though, this is a younger lee scoresby, so it makes more sense to me that he is more proactive when it comes to fighting. (is the duet real? i hope not)
as of iorek’s, i have 3 things in mind: 1) he is not very famous and/or probably scandinavian, so telling us who he is, especially if he didn’t do english voice overs or voice acting at all, wouldn’t make much of a difference (in their mind, i wouldn’t mind getting familiar with a less famous actor) 2) the actor is very known, and/or scandinavian lol, and they want it to be a surprise because his voice is very remarkable and/or he is unrecognisable as iorek, so they want us to be shocked about it. 3) they haven’t finished voicing him yet and/or they just don’t want to tell us whom he is without a final product. i’m not familiar with post-production on this level, so these are wild guesses of mine, my bet is on number 3 tho.
lastly, iorek himself: i like the armor, it’s fitting, rough, simple: it looks like it’s part of him, which is kinda the point. he looks a bit uncanny on the screenshot, not so much while moving. this is good cgi, he looks real, yet this isn’t a polar bear, this is a pansebjorne, they have a civilization, they think, they speak, their soul is their armour. they have a culture of their own, so it makes sense he still resembles a person, because in essence, he is. (if a person is someone with a soul, a culture, and a mind of their own, however different).
stelmaria: “it’s time” asriel: “i know” well, well, my soul was OBLITERATED.
thanks for coming to my TED talk, sorry for the spam
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newsiegirlscout · 5 years ago
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Day-Glow Sonata
If you thought I was dead, you must be sorely disappointed! Presenting: a rare-pair so rare there is only one person who ships it, and that is me!! Bonus points for finding the five songs referenced throughout.
If there was one thing Dressy Killman had learned from her years at Jerome Horwitz, it’s that even what you thought was concrete had the possibility to change at a second. As a result, she’d learned to always live in the present. When there was no real rhyme or rhythm to what would happen one moment, they’d loved, and they’d laughed, and they’d seen that it was good.
But when they’d finally graduated the sixth grade, and her mother had presented her happily with the admission letter for McCracken Middle, the school of the arts, Dressy had cried.
Then, one day near the end of eighth grade, she’d locked eyes with one misbegotten member looking even lonelier than she was, somehow. Dressy approached the table and asked if the spot were free, and the ginger smiled and patted the stool next to her. From that day forth, Dressy and Other Sophie were inseparable, both inside and outside of the arts classroom. 
*******************************************************************************************
For weeks, the two had chatted aimlessly about nothing in subsistence, Dressy carrying on most of the conversation and Other Sophie nodding or shaking her head in response.While to some, it seemed as if she talked little, the truth was, Other Sophie said quite a bit if you knew how to listen. 
“Did you catch that new episode of All the Single Ladies?” Dressy asked excitedly, echoing it with a melody of the last two words, “Who do you think is going to win? My chocolate coins are on Lad Myrabill--the ladies always go for the British accent, and she and him are so cute together!”
Other Sophie smiled and shook her head slightly. Withdrawing her phone, she brought up her photo album and tapped on the cast, zooming in on a man in the background with curly brown hair and thick glasses. 
“Nooo,” Dressy scoffed playfully, “No way, he’s just barely hanging on, and you know she had like three extra carnations last season!”
The ginger scrolled to a screenshot of the bachelorette gazing at the man while on a date with another, then to a side-by-side comparison with the girl giggling at a similar lopsided smile from each of the men. Dressy raised an eyebrow, and Other Sophie grinned and continued with half a dozen more of her comparisons and details, ending with a screenshot of a scientific journal with two lines highlighted.
“Of a selection of otherwise-identical men, women in the study generally found brown-haired men the most handsome, followed by black-haired men, red-headed men, and lastly, blonde men.”
“Women typically find ‘nerdier’ men cuter and more attractive than others.”
Dressy looked up, and Other Sophie adjusted her glasses intentionally with a cute laugh. 
The hipster gave her classmate a friendly punch in the shoulder. 
“Well, we’ll see who’s right about that at the end of the quarter….nerd.” 
*****************************
Other Sophie was right. Of course she was. 
Dressy herself had gotten little sleep the night before, and the last week had been more than a little difficult when she couldn’t find the focus for anything, but her thoughts still ran a mile a minute. Long story short, it wasn’t exactly easy to put aside your own problems to work on Shakespeare’s, especially when a new dilemma surfaced every few minutes to block out everything else like a LightNote pop-up reminding you to log in. 
Art, though? Art was easy, and she did her best to stay upbeat, if just for that forty minutes. That said, the day after the finale had been a day when she reminded herself she should have known better than to try and deceive a girl who saw everything quietly. 
When Other Sophie saw her, her green eyes widened with compassion and she slid her phone across the table, putting her hand on her shoulder. The current image was a screenshot of passive-aggressive fanart depicting Lad Myrabill and the Single Lady herself hand-in-hand. The timid girl hummed a note of question when Dressy looked up, and she shook her head.
“No, this week has just been really arduous--arduous!” she said, echoing herself in song with a wheezing chuckle, “I mean, I guess it sorta has to do with MyraBelle, but also not really?”
Other Sophie, from some hidden pocket of her bookbag or another, took out a hairbrush emblazoned with a lavender star and Dressy, without any real idea of the events, turned around as her friend brushed her disheveled curls out with gentle, tranquilizing strokes. A few minutes later, she received a tap on the shoulder and looked back to be handed a glittery purple pen. A sheet of notebook paper was slid down to her, an array of dots present. While Other Sophie softly clipped a bow ornamented with musical notes into Dressy’s hair, the hipster tapped her pen against the paper reflexively a few times before connecting two of the dots down from the top. 
Her friend leaned over and vertically connected the box to the top corner, but when Dressy connected the upper two dots, trying to close the box, Other Sophie kept the horizontal upper chain going. Finally, Dressy managed to chase her into a corner and neatly initial a box, only to look back and see that, in her convoluted pursuit, she’d managed to capture four other boxes, as compared to Other Sophie’s three….and there were no more profitable moves to be made. 
“Oh my gosh! I’m victorious--victorious!” she cheered. Other Sophie gave her a hug
And the world
Stopped.
Somehow, in the lanky girl’s embrace, there was more love and comfort and hope than there was in the gauziest of arias, the sweetest chirp of morning larks, and all Dressy could think was that she wanted to stop, to step away, but at the same time, to live in this moment forever, to never break away again, to be with Other Sophie forever and wake up next to her and watch the sun sparkle off her hair and sing and make breakfast for her and--
The bell rang, and the chagrined choralist broke apart and gave her best friendly smile to Other Sophie, her face almost as red as her hair. 
*************************************************************************
The sleepover was a bad decision to begin with, but as anyone who’d attended Melvin Sneedly Elementary could tell you, even when the smartest could be kind of an idiot sometimes.
It became a worse decision at the fact that it was at Jessica’s house, and that even her slight discomfort at Other Sophie’s invitation of Dressy couldn’t deter her enthusiasm for the inevitable probability of Truth or Dare. Somehow during the night, she had scooted over a little too close to her friend; Sophie One raised an eyebrow, but if she noticed anything out-of-odds, she didn’t say a word. 
The twelve-ounce bottle spun, and the capped end came to rest a few inches to Jessica’s right, the flipped end between Dressy and Sophie One. The prima donna flicked the bottle with one neatly-manicured fingernail, only to have it skew a few inches to her left. Sighing, she leaned down and adjusted the bottle’s position for a minute longer than necessary before sighing and physically pointing the bottle’s capped end to herself.
“Okay, weird hippie girl--truth, or darr?” she said exasperatedly. 
“I’ll tell the truth…” she sang back warily. 
“Tell me, who’s been fooling you!” Jessica demanded with malicious delight, “Who do you like?”
Dressy rolled her eyes, “That can’t be original. You must have asked that a million times.”
“Like, I asssssssssk…..but no one ever answers, or, at least not, honestly.” 
“How can you tell?”
“‘Cuuuuuuz, they act like it’s no big deal if they answer, and then they get all red and really quiet all of a sudden, and they ask stupid questions to keep stalling.”
Dressy giggled. “Alright, then. I actually--actually!--don’t mind questions like this, since love is really a beautiful thing that I don’t think anyone should be embarrassed about. I don’t really have a crush, so give me a second to think--”
And as she mentally flipped through all the prettiest girls in her classes, somehow, like a LightNote log-in notice, her thoughts sprang to purple glittery gel pens, to lavender stars and musical-noted bows, to freckles and red-rimmed glasses, to mint-colored jumpers and warm embraces and the scent of peaches in spring and.
She was crimson, trying hard, maybe too hard, to avoid Other Sophie’s confused gaze and focusing intently on the bottle and cursing how a twelve-ounce Spite could lead to all this. 
“Oh no.” she whispered.
*******************************************************************************************
George and Harold would know what to do. George and Harold always knew what to do, somehow--from finding a solution to the crocobat infestations to navigating the Doom Dome, even when their ideas were wrong, they ended up working anyway. 
Therefore, running halfway across Piqua to find the fail-safe wingmen made perfect sense. 
Still only a few inches taller than many half her age, she vaulted the fence guarding the entrance between the Beard and Hutchins yards only to stumble, get caught halfway over, kick her way back across, and fall rather painfully to the yard, the gate swinging open lazily in the slight Spring breeze behind her. She stood up and dusted herself off, looking….for what? For two teenage boys to be sitting in a treehouse drawing comics and laughing over acronyms adding up to bathroom jokes? For the firefly-lit lantern to still be blazing in the window while the same two boys, heading into high school, invited her up the rope ladder and gave her a cookie shaped like a dinosaur? 
But she looked up, and the lantern still glowed in the dim evening light, the misfits of her elementary-school career shadowed against the treehouse walls, yelling and laughing at whatever mishaps on their gaming tablet were causing each other so much contorted concentration. 
Everything stays, right where you left it, after all.
She had planned to knock on the floor of their treehouse to at least give some warning, but she tripped on the second rung of the rope ladder, which ended up toppling their lantern into George’s very startled hands. 
“Speak, friend, and enter.” he said, looking out and offering his hand to the girl, “Oh, hey, Dressy! It’s been forever!”
“Uh….need some help?” Harold asked, appearing behind him in an instant as he saw her foot snarled.
“I’ve just been ensnared--ensnared!” she sang, reaching for the higher ladder rungs and pulling herself free, “Can I come in?”
The blond rubbed his neck sheepishly. “Well, uh, we only have the two Switch controllers….”
“It’s fine, I was actually wondering if you might be able to help me with something?” she asked, not sure how they would have deduced her wanting to play video games when she had only realized they’d had them a minute ago.
“As long as it’s not homework”, George said with an air of finality, “We’ll do our best, as varied a scale as that may be.”
“For example”, Harold continued, “If you need help with finding the funniest way to exact revenge on someone? We’re your guys. Seeing what happens when you microwave soap? We’re also your guys.”
“Figuring out how to clean that microwave?” George countered, “We’re kinda your guys.”
“My mom is getting a new microwave.”
“I owe you a Hot Pocket.”
“Guys, guys!” Dressy called, “There’s a girl.”
The duo of discord looked at each other as a quacking sound of confusion was heard. 
“A girl I like.” 
The two grinned and looked at each other with big eyes. 
“Awwwwwwww,” they chorused.
“What’s her name?”
“Is she nice?”
“Can she do anything? Like knitting, or air guitar, or baking?”
“Is she a vampire?”
“Does she like music?”
She held out her hand to halt them.
“It’s….Other Sophie”, she admitted with a blush and fidgeting with the glitter pen in her pocket, “And, I was wondering how I could get her to like me as much as I like her?”
George sat down patted a spot on the floor near him and his friend. 
“I’m gonna be honest, Dressy, love is kind of whack and you can’t do a thing about it, but I think I can get something together if you tell us a little more about her.”
*******************************************************************************************
They’d listened thoughtfully, until at last she finished and George started tossing a baseball into the air and thinking. 
“Alright, I have an idea, and, I’m not sure if it will work.” he said, “And if it doesn’t, I don’t know what to say other than that it will be worth it and she’ll probably like it a lot; but there’s no opt-out because, well, most of my and Harold’s plans are a one-in-a-million shot and you have to be a crazy bastard to think about doing them, but for these crazy bastards, you always get results, and those results always lead to something.” 
And he detailed his ploy emphatically, gesticulating and diagramming along the way and ending with rummaging through their drawing desk for a minute or two before retrieving a set of two softly-glowing jelly bracelets, both in verdant green. He handed them both to her and took her hand. 
“The second one’s for Other Sophie.” he said with a crooked smile, “Good luck.”
*******************************************************************************************
Piqua had only a single karaoke soda bar to its name, but it couldn’t be said that Alpacapella was down on its luck by any means. Of all the forever-surprisingly intricate performances it had seen, most of them from any single artist were from Dressy Killman; therefore, it was no surprise to anyone when she walked in and stood against the upper-level ornate gate, watching the others from above and rubbing a quarter reflexively between her fingers. 
The bar was vibrant with energy, and her heart pounded against her chest as the lyrics to the last song (Judging by the few scattered lines she consciously heard and the melody she was tapping her hands along to, Dressy identified it as “All the Things She Said”) faded out, replaced by the applause of the other patrons.
For a few fleeting seconds, she thought of leaving, letting everything stay the same when all she could taste is the moment, and all she could see is her light….
But sooner or later, it’s over, after all. And besides, in all her years, she’d never once turned down a show. 
The hipster slid down the spiraling staircase, and the group of hesitating kids and teenagers alike in the line quickly made way for her as she took a deep breath and moved up to the stage. All at once, she caught a glimpse of a duo thumbs-up and the lights dimmed. The bar gasped quietly, and the opening verse softly cued in, gentle and slow. 
Her bracelet glowed.
Her breath hitched in her throat.
Another band, the same color as her own, lit up and she calmed.
“This is for the girl who always makes me feel bubbly when I see her.” she said, for once being patient enough to wait for the lyrical verses. The white text lettered in on-screen, but she didn’t see it.
“I’ve been awake for awhile now,
You’ve got me feeling like a child now
‘Cause every time I see your bubbly face,
I start to feel just a bit displaced.”
********************************************************************
At the balcony, Jessica signaled for her signature Shirley Temple. 
“Other Sophie” she said suddenly, “Look, I haven’t seen you in for-evarr, so here’s some advice--have I mentioned yet that you’re totally and completely helpless when it comes to looking for detail? Like, Sophie One? Sophie One picked up that cameo in Comet’s Magical Battle Against Evil, AND she totally remembers how many cherries are in a good drink. But you? You wouldn’t know someone liked you if they stood up and sang your favorite song.”
Sophie One nodded, but gave her friend an apologetic smile.
Conveniently, this was exactly the same time the lights dimmed and Dressy began her serenade. Other Sophie flushed a cherry-blossom pink, but it didn’t take much attention to detail to see the sparkle in her eyes and the hearts practically fluttering around her head.
*******************************************************************************************
“It starts in my toes, and I crinkle my nose
Wherever it goes, I always know
That you make me smile, 
Please, stay for a while now
Just take your time, wherever you go.” 
Dressy had heard the lyrics to this song a hundred times, and definitely not because Other Sophie had once texted her one star-dappled evening that she loved that song. With what little impromptu rhyming and syllabic attention she had, she decided to change the next verse ever-so-slightly, just to see if Other Sophie picked up on it.
“You don’t have to say another word,
I understand everything I’ve heard,
You saved me once when I was done for-or,
You give me feelings that I adore.”
*******************************************************************************************
Jessica gasped, and Other Sophie shrugged off the inevitable question.
“Oh. My. Harrrr, you have to go down there!” she squealed, “That is the cutest thing, and I’m telling you now, if you don’t go see her, I’m marrying you two.”
She had already left halfway through the sentence.
*******************************************************************************************
The glow of her wrist reflected off the beads around her neck, and sure, she’d known Dressy had a lovely voice, but this, this was a serenade Other Sophie wanted to listen to forever and never look back, and all she could think was all that she wanted to leave, to clap politely at the end and play dumb like Dressy was no more than her best friend, but at the same time, to live in this moment forever, to never break away again, to be with Dressy and wake up next to her and watch her play crosswords and listen to her sing in the kitchen and make breakfast for her and--
She was blushing, and Dressy was blushing, and all at once, she was on stage next to her and the chorus started and the lovesick look in Dressy’s eyes hugged her close and told her she didn’t have to do a thing if she didn’t want to, but the ginger cleared her throat, ready, at least, to be with her sensational angel for this minute.
“And it starts in my toes, makes me crinkle my nose,
Wherever it goes, I always know,
That you’ll make me smile, 
Please, stay for a while now,
Just take your time, wherever you go.”
Dressy held up her hand and Other Sophie gave a last nod and laced her fingers with hers, the jelly bracelets glowing against one another. The song cut short, and the world fell back to the hipster, convinced that they could not just be friends, that her companion would forever act wary by her side and speak of her gesture in hushed giggles, that just once, nothing had gone right--
And Other Sophie twirled her back and kissed her with a soft “mwah!” and the world stopped.
6 notes · View notes
comicteaparty · 7 years ago
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December 21st, 2017 CTP Archive
The archive for the Comic Tea Party chat that occurred on December 21st, 2017, from 5PM - 7PM PST.  The chat focused on Legendary Beings Ara & Celi by NAAN.
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✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
Good day everyone~! This week’s Comic Tea Party is now officially beginning. Today we are discussing Legendary Beings Ara & Celi by NAAN~! (https://tapas.io/series/AraandCeli) For those new to CTP, discussions about the comic are freeform, so please feel free to bring up whatever you wish. However, every 30 minutes I will be dropping in a discussion question to help those who would like a prompt. These questions are totally OPTIONAL to answer so pay them no mind if you wish~! Remember, constructive criticism is allowed, but the primary focus here is to have fun and appreciate the amazing comics that the community makes~! Each chat a top comment will be picked and featured on an ad for this chat, so let’s have a great discussion~!
With that said, let us begin with this first question~!
QUESTION 1. What is your favorite scene in the comic so far and why?
🎄🌟Draco ⭐ Plato 🌟🎄
I thought the opening was pretty strong since it started with a lot of tension
made me excited to see where that was going to lead up to
snuffysam
The opening scene was a really strong hook, agreed.
🎄🌟Draco ⭐ Plato 🌟🎄
hook! yeah that's the word for it
NAAN
slips in here, nobody notice me vibrating
✨Tenor✨
-Flops on NAAN!- :D
Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
OLLEH
snuffysam
NAAN alert!
hey everyone!
Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
hai
🎄🌟Draco ⭐ Plato 🌟🎄
hiiiii NAAN~!
✨Tenor✨
UUUGH I don't have a fav sceeeeene. I've pretty much enjoyed the whole trip so far x3
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
yeah the opening scene was definitely very interesting. especially in terms of scale because when looking back in retrospect you can see the difference in terms of epicness? i cant think of a good word
Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
Yeah, the art style is really something
NAAN
Hello, hello!
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
*notices no vibrating lives in blissful ignorance *
Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
Hi there!
Kabocha
I'm gonna agree with Draco! The opening scene was my favorite so far -- mostly because Angels vs Demons is often pretty cool
Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
Great to see ya @NAAN(edited)
And yeah, that opening was spectaculat
Kabocha
also, I really got very curious about the nature of Ara and Celi themselves, so I'm looking forward to finding out more about them. (They're both intriguing and a little scary...)
Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
That scene of everyone doing battle in outer space
NAAN
screams on all these thoughts so far
snuffysam
I think the opening scene also helps bring the other scenes up- because while you're reading through the comic, the thought that this sort of scene may happen again in the future is always in the background.
NAAN
"Intriguing and scary" - this made me laugh so hard
Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
is this character's art style intentional
MathTans the Pun Prince
Hello. ^^ I think my fave was actually when Ara said that Miyara wasn't a chosen one, this is just the way things happened to turn out.
NAAN
MY FAVE PANEL
snuffysam
I love when the art style changes like that. really shows that sort of emotion
Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
yes
snuffysam
@MathTans the Pun Prince that was an incredible line, yeah
MathTans the Pun Prince
I like how the art style stays that way until Miyara comes to terms with her emotion.
NAAN
I do that on purpose @snuffysam, so that makes me happy to hear(edited)
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
@math yes definitely i have to say that is my fave scene actually. i really like how the toning was used and it had a spectacular atmosphere
Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
\
snuffysam
the most recent scene, where ara is explaining miyara's role, is also a strong contender for the best
Kabocha
I am extremely curious to find out what exactly Miyara did in the past to Ara, though. "Surely you don't expect me to forget what she did then!" Gyaaaaaaaaaaaah, I'm expecting something sordid
Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
I wish I had found out about this comic sooner
Do you plan on returnnig to it someday, NAAN?
I'd love to share live updates of the comic as new pages are rolled out
NAAN
@MathTans the Pun Prince one of my favorite lines to write. And it was a new edit too. I'd written something else previously.
MathTans the Pun Prince
Oh, cool. Interesting how these edits can play into things.
Maybe it happened during one of her supposed blackouts?
(The thing that was done in the past I mean.)
NAAN
Oh yes, I will be returning to it once I graduate in May! It's on hiatus bc of grad school, and that + insanity of graphic design makes for no comics.
Kabocha
aaaaaaaaaaaaaa grad school. D: D: D:
snuffysam
real life always finds a way to butt its head into comics (edited)
🎄🌟Draco ⭐ Plato 🌟🎄
yis :<
sorry if i get distracted, i'm lining a page atm too
MathTans the Pun Prince
Related to the blackouts, the dad's a cool character.
NAAN
@Kabocha and @MathTans the Pun Prince your questions are related -- no spoilers but a hint: the blackouts are related, but it didn't happen during
🎄🌟Draco ⭐ Plato 🌟🎄
yeah, i liked her dad a lot too
he was different than i expected, in a good way
MathTans the Pun Prince
He had stealth skillz.
🎄🌟Draco ⭐ Plato 🌟🎄
and i liked that she cared about his well being
Kabocha
oh, also, this page amused me too:
NAAN
also @Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨ the screenshots you posted, I find it enlightening and heartwarming (for me) -- because I'd submitted the comic to a collective once, and most people HATED those XD
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
i liked how he just shrugged to the fact she stayed home from school XD
NAAN
also, fujiro is a lot of fun to write ad you will definitely see more of him ; ))))
Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
lol
XD
🎄🌟Draco ⭐ Plato 🌟🎄
yaaaay~!
MathTans the Pun Prince
I'm guessing when he has his somewhat scary wife to deal with, he takes things in stride.
NAAN
also yes @Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨ those panels were intentional. (sorry I missed this question, so many comments brEEZING)
Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
XD
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
thats mean math. that is clearly best wife. O_O how can you not like the waifu?
Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
we need more sudden/funny art shifts
cause I feel like they work when done right
NAAN
the panel that Kabocha posted, can you all read the tiny text? I've always worried you can't see that
Kabocha
yeah, it's readable on my computer
MathTans the Pun Prince
Heh. I dunno. She has strange vibes, even the friend picked up on that.
snuffysam
not at the scale discord shows for thumbnails, but if I click it I can read it yes
MathTans the Pun Prince
What snuffy said, aye.
Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
lo
🎄🌟Draco ⭐ Plato 🌟🎄
yeah I can read it~!
NAAN
oh good! it's meant to be small, hehe. i've been going through the pages today for future lettering edits and that was one of them
especially for print
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
yeah the tiny text is readable even on my tiny screen
NAAN
i'm a huge believer in shifting the art between humorous / dramatic, just because it lightens the tension. like a small break before continuing
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
yes i agree it can definitely be used to lighten the tension for sure
🎄🌟Draco ⭐ Plato 🌟🎄
hahah, it reminds me of old school clamp
that technique
NAAN
old school clamp was a huge influence on wee bab NAAN (edited)
MathTans the Pun Prince
I'm kind of bad for noticing techniques. ^.^
Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
heehee
🎄🌟Draco ⭐ Plato 🌟🎄
yeah, i love old school clamp~
snuffysam
oh yeah, i guess it is kind of clamp-y
NAAN
I got something related to the waifu~ exclusive, 2nd chapter back cover for the printed edition
Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
OMG
🎄🌟Draco ⭐ Plato 🌟🎄
lol omg XD
Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
Cute!
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
thats is adorable~!
NAAN
may be quiet now, feels like she's derailing the entire discussion(edited)
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
nah dont worry about it. sometimes it happens cause i think most ppl are multitasking at the same time.
i wanna say i really like how wyda(sp?) looks. like of all the things in the comic that struck me as the most clamp like
but in the good way of course
where i got all nostalgic
MathTans the Pun Prince
I'm so bad with names too. ^.^
NAAN
;w; sniffs
wyda is an extremely new character to the cast, compared to the others. I created her recently when I realized some parts of the story needed reworking
Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
lol
I'm kind abad with names as well
NAAN
she ended up being a good foil for ara imo, when I wrote her voice separately
snuffysam
Did you redo old pages at some point, or are you just referring to scripting things?
NAAN
so she stay wyda, u stay
re: wyda, I mean script. HOWEVER, save for the last...3 pages of the first chapter, that was entirely redone
Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
gonna go afk for a bit to respond to some friends in pm
Kabocha
So, how is her name pronounced? for some reason I was imagining Wyda's name to be pronounced as "Vida"(edited)
NAAN
originally hosted it on comic genesis, and when I moved to comicdish, I just decded to redo them.
some of the pages even then, were redone for the print edition
let me show you
snuffysam
and I think you're working on a new site too, iirc?
NAAN
some of the old ones on comicdish before I edited/redid them for the print version (later the actual official thing, christ so many edits)
Yep! I am, hosted at ac.jadinerhinestudios.com (I goofed up in domain registrations, so it's a subdomain for now) @snuffysam People are helping me with the code for it, haha(edited)
snuffysam
cool! yeah, whatever works, ha ha.
NAAN
@Kabocha Her name comes from a part of a classmate's name, so Wee-dah. (Or Wí-dah)
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
QUESTION 2. Though reluctant and rather unwilling, Miyara accepts her destiny and chooses to become one of Ara’s “bodies.” How do you think these new powers will affect Miyara’s life? Will everything go back to the way it was (relatively speaking) or will she, as was ominously mention, lose things she once had? What about her “episodes” that cause her to violently punch her father? Will she be over them or will they continue? What are her episodes anyway and do they relate to her status as one of Ara’s chosen?
NAAN
oh snap, it's a goodie
🎄🌟Draco ⭐ Plato 🌟🎄
you know what's hard about this is that we didn't really see much of her life before
so we don't have much to compare it to
so we'd have to mostly make assumptions based on the little bit we do know that what comes from here after is new
MathTans the Pun Prince
Well, she seems to have lost her ability to dream with this, that's an interesting side effect. I feel like Miyara will TRY to have everything the way it was, even though she can't, which will cause issues.
snuffysam
It was an interesting choice that the "episodes" weren't even mentioned until after the museum scene...
MathTans the Pun Prince
As to the episodes thing, I feel like that's not linked to the chosen thing directly. Might play a role in having her somewhere she doesn't remember going.
Her dad could also have been joking? Like, it's a bit of an odd time to bring that up. Or maybe dad can sense what's going on, that's why he said it?
Kabocha
I think Miyara's screwed. (lol) I think it was mentioned in Ch3/World 3 that Miyara's episodes are related to how her powers aren't like, fully bound to her quite yet? So she's not in a good position as a human, magical girl, or incarnation of an angel's power. SUCKS TO BE YOU MIYARA.
🎄🌟Draco ⭐ Plato 🌟🎄
lolol
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
i wonder if her episodes are actually dreams tho? cause what if they arent full dreams so keep happening
🎄🌟Draco ⭐ Plato 🌟🎄
I was thinking maybe they were memories of her past life or something
MathTans the Pun Prince
Oy, what if she has dreams but they're not really dreams. o.O
Kabocha
The impression I got is that Miyara's human life will basically be subsumed by her life as Ara's servant -- but interestingly, the key that she was given in ch 3 seems to have both an angel and a demon wing...? o_o Is Miyara the link between Ara and Celi somehow?
MathTans the Pun Prince
Why wouldn't Celi want there to be a link then? What with the killing and all.
snuffysam
So far, it seems this magical girl stuff has only made Miyara's life worse. Will it eventually get better when she fully fills that role?
Kabocha
Because if there's a link between her and Ara, that means something's going to be pulled into balance, maybe?
or at least, that's what I would assume. Things seem to be off kilter between Ara and Celi themselves. And Celi's kind of nuts.
Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
Indeed
MathTans the Pun Prince
I feel like Miyara's life was a little off the wall in the first place. Perversely, this might calm her down, giving her an outlet for her more crazy side.
🎄🌟Draco ⭐ Plato 🌟🎄
yeah~
true~!
MathTans the Pun Prince
Celi needs a hug.
(I don't think Miyara will be in the mood to give her one.)
Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
Relievant
Kabocha
Miyara will probably try to kill Celi as payback lol But Celi will then be like "Nope, listen, you can't pay attention to Ara, she's not as good as you think she is. Either you go along with me (since you're no longer easy to kill), or I'll basically make sure your life ends horribly right here."
...also maybe I'm starting down the path to crack theories.
MathTans the Pun Prince
That's a bit of a contradiction though, if she's not easy to kill and ending her life.
Maybe someone should take out a new life insurance policy.
Kabocha
Nah, it'd be an empty threat.
Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
lol Math
Kabocha
'cause if Miyara still is in the dark about a lot of stuff, Celi would then have that on her side.
Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
Have comics ever delt with insurance before?
MathTans the Pun Prince
Does Celi need bodies too, maybe? Or did she at some time in the past, and it went badly, so she's jealous...?
snuffysam
Maybe she's trying to get by without them
NAAN
(bad cell camera, but couldn't resist)
snuffysam
lol NICE
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
nah celi is evil. evil sustains you O_O
MathTans the Pun Prince
Heh, nice.
Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
I love it @NAAN XD
MathTans the Pun Prince
Ara respects Celi still though. Why respect evil...?
🎄🌟Draco ⭐ Plato 🌟🎄
cause there has to be balance in the force
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
maybe its also sort of villain respect. you know when like arch rivals are like "ah yes this is a worthy opponent"
Kabocha
Celi tried to rebel against the creator in the beginning. So it's easy enough to say that Celi is EXTREMELY powerful. Maybe that's part of what makes Celi crazy though.
Ara had to split herself into different bodies, while Celi kept it all in.
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
oh thats definitely an interesting theory
that they started the same but couldnt handle all dat power
snuffysam
maybe keeping all your power inside you makes you stronger, but it's a riskier move somehow
Kabocha
That could also be why Ara has some level of respect for Celi -- they were once the same.
🎄🌟Draco ⭐ Plato 🌟🎄
i like that theory
Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
Me too
Kabocha
OR you shouldn't disrespect something that powerful, because that means you're gonna get cocky and THEY WILL KILL YOU FOR SURE
MathTans the Pun Prince
Hmm! I like that theory. Celi just needs to let it all out... maybe she can't? Maybe that's why she doesn't like Ara, she got the shorter end of the stick?
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
or maybe ara is just nice and is fond of respect, politeness, and good manners
which is why miyara is clearly her mortal enemy in that respect
MathTans the Pun Prince
Heh. Gotta teach Miyara table manners in Book 4.
The loss of temper felt realistic. Also shows that Ara has flaws and a breaking point.
🎄🌟Draco ⭐ Plato 🌟🎄
yeah~
NAAN
so many theories, so many good ones
MathTans the Pun Prince
(All of them wrong, but good theories. )
snuffysam
just because a theory is completely bonkers doesn't mean it isn't good
Kabocha
Indeed. :'3
🎄🌟Draco ⭐ Plato 🌟🎄
they said allah at one point, i was wondering if there's an islam backing to the story or if that was them capturing several religions in one invocation
Kabocha
Well, Celi did ask "Which creator" at the start, didn't she?
snuffysam
I think there were multiple religions referenced on that page
Kabocha
(sorry I've now decided CELI IS MY FAVORITE)
Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
i'm gonna do some stuff AFK, if I don't make it back in time thanks for having me!
snuffysam
see ya!
🎄🌟Draco ⭐ Plato 🌟🎄
bye super~!
Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
Bye-Bye!
🎄🌟Draco ⭐ Plato 🌟🎄
yeah, it seemed to be a mixture of religions~ they mentioned jinns too
in one of the invocations
NAAN
@Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨ thank you for coming and for all your feedback!
Superjusting of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨
You're welcome! It was great checking out your comic @NAAN
Cute illustration too X3
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
i actually enjoyed that is referenced a mixture of religions. it made it a lot more interesting to me and made me want to know how everything works together. like whats the worlds explanation for tying them all together
🎄🌟Draco ⭐ Plato 🌟🎄
yeah I enjoy the mixture feeling as well
MathTans the Pun Prince
OMG, NAAN, you drew something that fast? O.o
NAAN
I can sketch stuff like this pretty quickly XD
MathTans the Pun Prince
I's impressed.
🎄🌟Draco ⭐ Plato 🌟🎄
was curious what the inspiration behind the religious portions of the story were~
NAAN
so long as I don't pay attention to proportions, though lmao
oh! this I can answer, it's not necessarily a huge spoiler i've said it to some people, but I'd really like to try to interpret/show how different religions interpret the idea of an angel + devil (or other beings like the jinn)
like how angels in Buddhism are called dakini -- skydancers
cue the show opening for skydancers the toy(edited)
🎄🌟Draco ⭐ Plato 🌟🎄
oooh~ that's really neat
NAAN
i want to try showing diff religions through that too, but that's a slight back seat haha. too epic for me
🎄🌟Draco ⭐ Plato 🌟🎄
hahah that'll keep me reading to see how you incorporate the different ideologies
Kabocha
bwahahahahaha
MathTans the Pun Prince
Mmm, that's interesting. Ambitious.
snuffysam
so essentially these characters are beings that were interpreted by different religions and cultures throughout history?
NAAN
most of them are my own take/understanding, some may be the literal interpretation by diff religions and cultures, yes ^^ (the latter because sometimes you just have to, especially when it's a religion that has had bare representation)
like
water angels are going to be punk aesthetics
and they won't subscribe to one religion, it's p "whatever mang"
snuffysam
oh ok, cool
🎄🌟Draco ⭐ Plato 🌟🎄
religious mythos is pretty untapped beyond christianity in western stories so it'll be nice to see something that uses a broader scale(edited)
NAAN
@Kabocha good celi go౦ԁ cEli thats some goodceli rightthere rightthere if i do ƽaү so my self i say so thats what im talking about right there right there (chorus: ʳᶦᵍʰᵗ ᵗʰᵉʳᵉ) mMMMMᎷМ НO0ОଠOOOOOОଠଠOoooᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒ Good shiz
snuffysam
lol next question time
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
QUESTION 3. Ara mentions that she needs 11 bodies to survive. Will we meet these other bodies in some form (whether flashback, astral projection, etc.)? If so, what do you think they’re like? If you don’t think they’ll meet, why not? Speaking of bodies, who is Samsa? Is it Miyara? Somehow Miyara and not Miyara? Is it someone else entirely?
the question was summoned
NAAN
@🎄🌟Draco ⭐ Plato 🌟🎄 yep! that's what I'd like to do, since even I get bored XD;;
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
spooky finger wave
MathTans the Pun Prince
Were the other bodies even human, necessarily?
🎄🌟Draco ⭐ Plato 🌟🎄
w
snuffysam
@MathTans the Pun Prince you mean, like, one's a dog?
NAAN
an example of some of the water punk angels, sans wings
snuffysam
cute!
🎄🌟Draco ⭐ Plato 🌟🎄
oooooh, they look bad ass~!
MathTans the Pun Prince
Yeah, or a dolphin or something. Like, we're not the only intelligence on the planet.
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
those are some awesome designs
snuffysam
i mean that's a possibility. i feel like most of the other bodies are probably human though.
Kabocha
Also ooh, I like the punk angels!
MathTans the Pun Prince
Extending a little less then, would they be female?
snuffysam
hmm that's a trickier one to answer
the prototypical magical girl leagues are typically filled with... like... girls
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
im curious about the fact that when wyda came ara mentioned something about having trouble "with the one here ." so does that mean that theyre in different cities? different times? other planets
snuffysam
but I suppose there's nothing saying a boy can't be one of them
MathTans the Pun Prince
And would they also be as young as Miyara? Like, maybe one was an 80 year old woman. And she's passed away, hence why we might not be meeting her.
bends all the rules
NAAN
nyuck nyuck
@snuffysam there's a hint in my DA gallery
MathTans the Pun Prince
It might be fun to meet some ghosts.
snuffysam
the story's themes are pretty multicultural as far as the mystical beings go, yet so far we've stuck to Japan for the human side. so I'm thinking the other bodies will be from other countries.
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
i would be really interested in seeing an 80 year old magical angel girl XD
MathTans the Pun Prince
Miyara did have that one panel where she was old and missing her juice.
🎄🌟Draco ⭐ Plato 🌟🎄
me too XD
80yr old magical girl for the win
snuffysam
I suppose if the magical girls get old and die eventually, that explains why Ara needed a new one right now?
🎄🌟Draco ⭐ Plato 🌟🎄
but do we know for sure they age
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
idk if they get old. im unclear but it kind of sounds like theyre giving up their physical bodies for a higher purpose
Kabocha
They might not live long enough
snuffysam
true true. that could be one of the things Miyara loses
MathTans the Pun Prince
They live long enough to get new threads.
🎄🌟Draco ⭐ Plato 🌟🎄
they're really just energy dolls that get eaten
you are my eleven energy pod meals
Kabocha
See, this is why we should deal with celi instead
MathTans the Pun Prince
At least with her, you know where you stand?
(In front of a firing squad?)
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
im getting suspicious that Kabocha is trying to bring us to the dark side
🎄🌟Draco ⭐ Plato 🌟🎄
kabo must like the dark side
as long as it's not an angels vs. demon where the demons are right story
MathTans the Pun Prince
Hah! NAAN, you're hilarious.
Also, so fast.
Kabocha
Hey, I don't trust Ara very much. I'll trust Celi, who wants to kill everyone instead. At least we know where she stands
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
to be fair i dont trust ara that much either. i feel ara is very much a use them and lose them sort of person cause omg higher purpose yadda yadda yadda
not to say i think celi is right, just i imagine theres a little bit of ara sucks as motivation
MathTans the Pun Prince
Ara is, I think, not used to pushback.
🎄🌟Draco ⭐ Plato 🌟🎄
yeah i don't trust ara either
ara seems too high strung and emotional to be logically rational
snuffysam
But Miyara could be the one to change her ways
MathTans the Pun Prince
(Maybe that's why she picked Miyara on some level. She needs someone to challenge her.)
snuffysam
exactly
MathTans the Pun Prince
wavelengths
As far as Samsa goes, I think that's a type of fried food. Or possibly the person Miyara turns into when she has episodes.
(Episodes when she craves fried foods.)
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
the impression i get is samsa was a past life or something
🎄🌟Draco ⭐ Plato 🌟🎄
i was confused by the samsa thing
snuffysam
maybe she
🎄🌟Draco ⭐ Plato 🌟🎄
but my assumption is that i'm meant to be at this point
snuffysam
's the 80yr old who died
that Miyara is replacing
Kabocha
I feel like Celi's been slowly destroying Ara's spare bodies.
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
if thats the case why cant celi touch miyara now as ara stated?
Kabocha
but if Ara is the Universe. And she has multiple bodies... does that make each body a parallel universe?
MathTans the Pun Prince
Hm, maybe Samsa is a past life, and that's what Miyara's reliving when she has episodes.
NAAN
whispers into the wind 'there's a hint in chapter three ~re: samsa~
tiny
MathTans the Pun Prince
Haaha, now I want to see all the characters in short shorts.
NAAN
they can be more comfortable than a short dress, that's for sure 8'D
🎄🌟Draco ⭐ Plato 🌟🎄
samsa is the beetle?(edited)
Kabocha
"I am the obscure object of desire, that which gods eye; my unkown origin I am she of transcendence I am she of dirt I contain the knowledge of Good and Evil but she has allowed the Living God ---"
🎄🌟Draco ⭐ Plato 🌟🎄
"The Egyptian god Khepri, Ra as the rising sun, was often depicted as a scarab beetle"
is it related to that, lol
MathTans the Pun Prince
(When I do an image search on "samsa", I still just get fried food. Maybe it thinks I typed "samosa".)
Kabocha
I actually thought "Samsa" was short for "Samsara"
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
oh good
🎄🌟Draco ⭐ Plato 🌟🎄
oh noice~!
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
i thought i was the only one who thought samsara XD
NAAN
@🎄🌟Draco ⭐ Plato 🌟🎄 no beetles involved, sadly
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
when i saw samsa
NAAN
cockroaches though
🎄🌟Draco ⭐ Plato 🌟🎄
I kept thinking of samson
shot
Kabocha
:'3
🎄🌟Draco ⭐ Plato 🌟🎄
tear for no beetles
NAAN
dedication in reading and transcribing what it says on page 3, Kabocha XD
Kabocha
You hide stuff in little details
>:3 so it's a good hunt
MathTans the Pun Prince
Check behind the fridge.
NAAN
nah, that's where fujiro's hiding from nonka
🎄🌟Draco ⭐ Plato 🌟🎄
lolol
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
i dont think theres a lot of space behind the fridge for that O_O
MathTans the Pun Prince
You're not thinking 5th dimensionally. (That's where all the other bodies are, in the 5th dimension.)
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
ah i see my mistake XD
so i wonder what this promise samsa made was O_O that miyara cant escape
like the slavery promise
the i hate celi too promise
MathTans the Pun Prince
The you can have my first born child promise.
🎄🌟Draco ⭐ Plato 🌟🎄
looooooooool
make them babies
MathTans the Pun Prince
smol Celi?
🎄🌟Draco ⭐ Plato 🌟🎄
thinking teen preg is highly improbable in this XD
MathTans the Pun Prince
Art Gallery is not the best place to pick up guys.
🎄🌟Draco ⭐ Plato 🌟🎄
d'aaaaaw
Kabocha
The art gallery is a good way to pick up incarnations of oneself though
and targets for murder.
MathTans the Pun Prince
"Oh look, I'm in that painting of 50 years ago. ... ... Waaaaait."
🎄🌟Draco ⭐ Plato 🌟🎄
it's like that episode of yugioh
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
ah these are super cute pics~!
QUESTION 4. The comic opens showing a war between Celi and Ara. While it’s implied that Ara won the battle, what exactly happened is unclear. What do you think the spell that stopped Celi was? What was the war about/what exactly are Celi’s goal? Who is Celi to Ara? Why has Celi returned only now?(edited)
🎄🌟Draco ⭐ Plato 🌟🎄
yus ;3;
i assumed it was a good vs. evil battle
MathTans the Pun Prince
Could be chaos vs order. Maybe Celi wants to sow chaos.
Kabocha
At first, yeah, I was like, "ooh, Lucifer analogue"
but if it's chaos vs order, then Celi and Ara are inextricably linked :3
ONE CANNOT EXIST WITHOUT THE OTHER
🎄🌟Draco ⭐ Plato 🌟🎄
maybe
it's inside someone's head
the inner battle of the mind
MathTans the Pun Prince
Maybe the goal is to devour the other and have one being for both then.
(I make up weird theories a lot.)
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
tbh i was leaning towards celi is trying to destory the system and isnt a fan of the ara angel thing and the servant stuff. and celi just mad cause she somehow feels used.
🎄🌟Draco ⭐ Plato 🌟🎄
aaaaah yeah that's my leaning as well
because that's generally what i assume with angels vs demons
NAAN
(aw man, they're inversed. oh wELL)
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
lol omg XDXD
MathTans the Pun Prince
I want to believe. ^.^
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
i wonder where celi has been this whole time
cause i wouldve assumed imprisoned but ara seemed surprised
well not surprised
but definitely didnt have a concrete when
MathTans the Pun Prince
That's a good question. Why not attack Miyara when she was younger and less able to defend herself? I don't think they exist out of time...
Kabocha
Celi shows up when she wants.
But tbh I think she's more likely to show up where/when Ara exists
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
great now all i can picture is celi sitting back and talking about how everyone needs to chill out and how time is a construct of man to control ppl and how the sheeple need to wake up
Kabocha
see, I was imagining something more... Cartman like
"Screw you guys, I do what I want!"
MathTans the Pun Prince
Celi's been on the talk show circuit.
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
hmm but back more on track, is it possible that by ara scoping out miyara that somehow summoned celi in and of itself. cause they both get a fair shot at the bodies.
🎄🌟Draco ⭐ Plato 🌟🎄
i don't think celi actually wants her dead
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
and so it goes like Ara: Ah man you killed the body this time. Celi: I know right. Well see you next century. Good luck~!
🎄🌟Draco ⭐ Plato 🌟🎄
but to use her
MathTans the Pun Prince
Could be. Actually, does Celi have minions? Why take action when you can send underlings?
Maybe the underlings failed? (All they did was make her eat lots of buns.)
Kabocha
Celi prefers to do things herself. ;3
besides, why share the power. It's so much better in one body
MathTans the Pun Prince
Celi originally wanted her dead. Unless that was all an act to get her in Ara's clutches. O.o
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
idk tho cause in that opening scene it kind of seemed multiple ppl were fighting each other vs. attacking just celi
MathTans the Pun Prince
(The big twist is they've been working together the whole time...)
"So the plan is I attack, you save her, you get the body, I get the soul?"
NAAN
( having too much fun with these, let me know if it gets annoying though )
reads and still vibrates in the meantime
MathTans the Pun Prince
OMG, not annoying at all. You're so good.
Also, I know my theory doesn't really hold water because of the whole transformation thing. ^.^
NAAN
I like everyone's theories for celi's purpose especially. She does have a good reason....( of course i think it's good, i wrote it lmao )
MathTans the Pun Prince
'Tis better to die as the girl you were, than to become a slave to my sister...
Kabocha
of course Miyara would enjoy Kafka lol
is she slowly gonna become a bug
is that how people will see her from now on?
slowly, Miyara becomes a creature beyond her ken -- but yet pitiable somehow.
MathTans the Pun Prince
I think that'd bug her.
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
XD
Kabocha
Come now, let's not ANTagonize with bad puns
NAAN
tis better to roach her than to rooster her(edited)
i tried
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
someone better tell her that shes truly looking like the pest she is if she starts looking like a bug
mostly ara
MathTans the Pun Prince
Puns is, like, actually my name though. ^.^ Flea now.
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
so on a different note im curious what wyda's relationship to ara is
like how do they know each other
did they meet at starbucks
MathTans the Pun Prince
Good point. There's fire deities and water deities, maybe they all have parties?
Oh, maybe Wyda was an old body of hers?
Or maybe she simply officiates at the weddings.
Kabocha
"Yo, I heard you like Caramel Macchiatos -- wanna fight your evil twin sister together?"
Wydanno the answers
🎄🌟Draco ⭐ Plato 🌟🎄
loooool
MathTans the Pun Prince
There was that interesting parallel conversation too, like Wyda wasn't going to stick around for the heavy stuff.
Kabocha
Well, I'm pretty sure she's seen what happens when people are Celi-ng their soul to Ara.
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
well it does sound like wyda just mostly came to "witness," whatever that means in this context
but why would there need to be a witness
is it like getting married for real XD
MathTans the Pun Prince
They exchange magic rings. There's many tears.
Kabocha
Hey, wait
is... Is Ara wearing two rings on one hand
DAMMIT IT ALL COMES BACK TO ZENCHAV
🎄🌟Draco ⭐ Plato 🌟🎄
looooool omg noooooo
MathTans the Pun Prince
Familiar ring to it?
Kabocha
but serious question -- is it "Celi" pronounced "Seli" -- or is it "Celi" pronounced "Sealy"
🎄🌟Draco ⭐ Plato 🌟🎄
i keep reading it as sealy
MathTans the Pun Prince
Miyara climbs out of a well "I have seen the cursed video tape!"
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
so before we close out does anyone have any final thoughts they want to share?
MathTans the Pun Prince
Huh, I read it as Seli.
Kabocha
I kept reading it "seli" ahaha
(hence the "Selling" pun)
MathTans the Pun Prince
Falling sequences were well done, I'll toss that out there.
NAAN
I would pronounce it "seli" -- however, I usually tell people to pronounce it as ce-lai, because my understanding has been that Americans don't know how to pronounce spanish sounding words right. and then it turns out, everyone's pronouncing it correctly anyway! XD for real though, the pronounciations of the names isn't so much a big thing? unless it's like wyda, where it's there haha (I did like the vida idea though)
🎄🌟Draco ⭐ Plato 🌟🎄
i thought the falling sequence was done really well as well
Kabocha
Ahahaha, well, with Wyda, I went all german on it so I mean
'cause I keep seeing german pop up in comic
NAAN
That would be a good presumption though! And probably if the comic were translated into German, that'd happen XD(edited)
I keep saying the f sound anytime I see someone with a germanic sounding last name though (like Justin Verlander, pfft)
Kabocha
Ahahaha
Kabocha
Well, in any case, I do look forward to seeing how the comic progresses once you're done with grad school
MathTans the Pun Prince
Well, here's hoping Miyara comes to terms with whatever she needs to come to terms with.
✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨
Unfortunately, the scheduled Comic Tea Party is now complete~! Thank you everyone so much for joining this week’s chat~! That being said, if you would like to continue discussing the comic, we encourage you to do so~! We want to give a big thank you to NAAN, as well, for volunteering Legendary Beings Ara & Celi for our reading queue. If you liked the comic, please be sure to support NAAN’s efforts. If you have questions, concerns, or suggestions about CTP, please feel free to PM me, or e-mail me at [email protected].
With that said, next week’s Comic Tea Party will focus on Cosmic Fish by Cosmographia. Please use this week to read as much of the comic as you would like. Hope to see you next Thursday (December 28th) from 5PM to 7PM PST~! Until then~! Comic: http://cosmicfishes.com/
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quitbeingbanished · 8 years ago
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Changing my genre (Charlie x Jo)
Title: Changing my genre
Pairing: Charlie x Jo
Prompt: Songfic for #kimsbirthdaychallenge @ilostmyshoe-79
word count: 1215
warnings: AU where Jo is an edgy larp girl and Charlie is normally not into that, Larping, Charlie being awkward and adorable
song: Changing my Major from Fun Home OST
a/n: I had two other fic idea I tried to do with this but...this happened. this is my first wlw fic I’ve written since I came out as trans. I did have my lovely assistant @becomingmyinnerdemons help me make sure it wasn’t uncomfortable. As such pretty rated G and kinda fluffy.
tagging: @brewsthespirit-blog , @smallreferencepools​
Charlie totally loved LARP. She considered herself a bit of a larping queen actually. But she preferred high Fantasy, elves, dragons and magic. She felt comfortable in that setting. She could min-max her way to being the baddest bitch on the game floor. She read books like Harry Potter and the Hobbit. She liked fantasy, it was a happy place where the heroes always won—well, except for Song of Ice and Fire. It was an escape, a warm blanket of an escape. She liked fantasy. She had no interest in dark and gritty settings. Comics in the 90’s had been terrible. Batman was overrated.
She’d seen the source material a few times in her local game store. Books that were marked ADULT as if somehow playing vampires or werewolves were the mature thing to do. Charlie had plenty of adult encounters while in Middle-earth, thank you very much. But when there had been a flyer in her local gamer den for a new larp on the local college campus? Yeah, Charlie had decided to give it a go. Not because she was interested in this pretentious system but because her main game was in its offseason.
Sometimes a girl just needs a larp fix, regardless of the genre.
   She had sent an email to the contact on the flyer for the online group for the game. Roads Not Taken was a silly name for a campaign but Charlie had once been in a D&D game called Elf Quest so who was she to judge? She joined the topic for new players where the Story Teller--how weird was that to call your game master?-- that told her the system was just humans who got tapped with powers to fight monsters. It didn’t sound as goth as she had been expecting.
  Charlie was wowed by just how normal and geeky everyone had seemed. Just normal geeks who were planning on starting a larp about hunting monsters. One of the other players offered to help her build a character for the system. Charlie was fairly sure she could figure out how to build a character by herself but the offer game with the chance to actually know someone before hitting the game floor so she’d agreed.
  They had chatted privately for a couple days before agreeing on a time to meet up before the game to go over the basics. Charlie learned her real name was Jo. Charlie loved talking to her if she was honest. She learned Jo had an older taste in music. She worked with her mom at a bar not too far away. Jo had a wicked sense of humor. Jo also apparently was super well versed in the system. She had pdf copies of all the books for the system that she had emailed to Charlie through an encrypted server. It wasn’t the first time Charlie had gotten a crush on a girl across the internet but she was falling hard for her.
  Charlie felt comfortable enough to talk about her own life. How she worked in IT. What her favorite books and tv shows were and how much she really missed having a game that ran on a set schedule. How her Hogwarts house was Gryffindor and Hermione was her favorite character. 
  Jo said that was adorable. Charlie had screenshot that exchanges to her phone and stared at it sometimes feeling her face go red every time.
  Her favorite character from Harry Potter was Ron. She considered herself to by a Gryffindor as well but Pottermore had sorted her into Slytherin of all things. Jo talked about her collection of fantasy swords as well as just knives in general. She mentioned her favorite shows were a little more mystery than fantasy. She liked terrible B horror movies as well as good horror.
  Jo even made Hunter the Reckoning seem interesting and three dimensional. Jo made it a very human story. How people could just be going about their lives when suddenly the powers that be pulled back the curtain and revealed the monsters that existed in the world. Jo made the dark and gritty world of darkness even seem kind of cool.
  Charlie learned from talking with Jo on her skype that Jo was in at least 3 other larps in the city. Charlie got to learn all the drama of the intersecting Organizations of larps, two vampires and one werewolf. She got to hear some off-topic stories about how her friend Dean was constantly in some new crisis in a game because he couldn’t ignore or not take the bait for a plot. She heard about how the politics of one vampire game screwed up all her fun in the other one.
  Jo even asked for her facebook. Charlie had been hesitant to give it at first, it was full of some memes and her different cosplay pictures. But she gave it anyway. She liked Jo. Jo seemed like a good person. Jo was gorgeous. Her smile in her photos was infectious. Charlie found herself smiling every time she got a text or IM from Jo anyways but now she had a face to go with it.
    Through facebook, she also got to put other faces to names. Jo started a small group chat with some of the other players going to the hunter game to have a slight chance at building a group that sort of knew each other. Charlie found she liked most of them thought Sam and Dean seemed to be constantly getting each other off track. Adam normally only seemed to communicate with memes. Castiel was the assistant Storyteller for the game and seemed to be trying to keep Dean from getting too out there. Charlie was falling in love with Jo’s friends too.
  The only thing Charlie couldn’t seem to ask was whether Jo felt the same way about how they were getting along. They were talking all the time now. Once facebook had been exchanged then Instagram and twitter followed. Charlie wondered if she had a Tumblr but was afraid to ask, her Tumblr was overflowing with personal posts gushing about how much she liked Jo, it seemed a bad plan to open that door right now.
  So when are we meeting tomorrow? Charlie texted Jo.
  Want to catch coffee tomorrow before game? I want to see if the Unicorn thing is as bad as everyone says. Jo responded.
  It’s a date. Charlie had responded without thinking.
  Hope that means you’re paying ;) Jo had texted back.
  Charlie had to lay on the bed and remember how to breathe.
   Charlie totally hadn’t driven herself crazy with what to wear to meet Jo for the first time. She wasn’t sure if it was a date-date or just a ‘gals being pals’ event. That would have been insane to hyper stress about what to wear. She had stuffed her character clothes in her bag and showed up fifteen minutes early to the coffee shop and tried to calm her breathing.
  When Jo walked in with a t-shirt of Captain America’s shield colored in the bisexual flag Charlie was sure she’d died and gone to heaven.
  “Cute shirt.” Charlie has said waving Jo over.
  “thanks. I only save it for first dates with cute girls.” Jo had grinned.
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fellowanxioushuman-blog · 5 years ago
Text
i don’t speak meme
memes and gifs have become part of our language. not “getting” a meme feels like you’ve suddenly become a non-native speaker who doesn’t understand colloquialisms. everyone in the group chat gets the joke without explanation, but you’re in the dark. i’ve found myself in that position for, well... basically every meme.
context: i was born in the 90s so i remember a time before cell phones and laptops and social media. i kind of grew up with the internet. people my age are those hip young adults who fall somewhere between millennials and generation z. the point is: my peers speak meme fluently.
i, on the other hand, never really kept up with the growth of digital communication. never had a myspace (most of my peers did when it first came out), didn’t get a facebook or a smartphone until 2014, didn’t get a snapchat until 2018. i just didn’t see the need to have an account on every new social media site. now that i do, though, i feel like i’ve fallen behind on the lingo.
i think some of it comes back to social anxiety.
the fear of being misunderstood causes me a lot of anxiety. that includes people misunderstanding my intentions as well as being misheard, i,e, “omg i totally thought you just said [inappropriate thing], but you actually said [normal thing].” it’s easy to say the wrong thing and be misunderstood with any unfamiliar language, and therein lies the problem with me and memes.
even more than a spoken language, though, gifs and memes have so much secret context wrapped up in them that i fear my chances of being misunderstood are much higher. maybe i haven’t seen the movie that this screenshot is from, or maybe i’m unaware of the three previous memes from which this one evolved. with so many factors and so many unspoken mutual understandings around these images and words, the language of meme has become one that i can’t even break into if i wanted.
and it’s not like memes can be explained.
i’ve tried to have friends explain memes to me. it doesn’t work. you get a lot of “well, it’s just like... i don’t know... it’s just a thing...”
it’s cool that language is evolving. communication is evolving, rather. that’s awesome and really fascinating to witness. but it doesn’t make it easier for me to understand and participate in meme culture.
i don’t actually like memes anyway.
part of the problem is i actively avoided memes and gifs until it became clear that they had become essential to modern day communication. only then did i begrudgingly start trying to learn.
the eternal repetition of gifs makes me very uncomfortable. when i see one, my instinct is to click “back” or scroll away as fast as i can to get it off my screen. a lot of memes make me uncomfortable as well. “grotesque” is the only word i can think of to describe them. the ones that are clumsily put together, cut-and-pasted, hand-drawn, often with disturbing themes. something about those memes makes me squirm.
if i could avoid memes and gifs altogether, i would. but unfortunately, they’re here to stay.
do you need to speak meme to participate in today’s culture?
i mean, kinda. sometimes my friend texts me a meme or even a little comic ,and i just sit there freaking out because i can’t tell if it’s supposed to be funny or serious, and/or i just straight up don’t understand what it means. like, one time i almost had a panic attack over a little illustrated comic and how to respond to it.
context is everything in memes, so it feels so easy to screw up. especially if it’s is about a serious topic like depression, you don’t want to respond “haha” when really the meme was your friend’s way of reaching out for help. y’know?
you don’t have to speak meme to have friends, participate on social network sites, and have genuine relationships with people. i’ve done okay so far. i just feel left out sometimes when everyone in the group chat is sending memes, or someone posts “describe me in the comments only using gifs” on facebook.  but at the end of the day, that’s not a big deal. i can call it one of my quirks.
memes aren’t bad things. lots of people love them, and they have a fascinating history. some people use them to cope, and if it helps you, that’s wonderful. post all the memes you want. for me, though, i’ll stick with just words.
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afterspark-podcast · 6 years ago
Text
G1 Episode 2: Transcript
Episode Show Notes
[This can also be found on AO3!]
Stinger:
S: What’s your favorite thing out of Rescue Bots so far?
O: Is-is this not feline sleepwear for cat’s pajamas or something?
[Intro music plays]
O: Hello and welcome to the Afterspark podcast, an episode by episode recap of the Generation 1 Transformers cartoon.  I’m Owls!
S: And I’m Specs!
O: Today we’re going to be talking about episode number 2, More than Meets the Eye Part 2.  Let’s talk about giant robots today, shall we?
S: Yeah, yeah, let’s do it.
O: Last time on the Transformers, if you remember, because presumably you listened to us talk about how giant advanced robots clearly can’t see a planet coming.
S:  Uhm-hm.
O: The Autobots and Decepticons have crash landed on Earth and re-engaged in their eons long fight of good versus evil~
S: [snickering]
O: And we open--back on the oil rig, where we left last time, and everything is on fire.
S: Yup.  Cue various Autobots and humans stuck among the oil rig wreckage.  [sighs]
O: Which by stuck, I mean giant robots are being somehow stuck by flimsy little pieces of metal compared to them?
S: Somehow--somehow trapped, they are unable to lift this. [sigh] I don’t know.
O: I don’t know either.  Anyway!  So then, everything’s on fire.  I believe I mentioned that.  Uh, and they decide to put fire out by shooting at it.
S: And it works somehow.  I mean, the Autobots would obviously make bank if they could mass produce Wheeljack’s fire suppression system.  Cause he just, like, does one pass, and he’s like [sound effect] of foam. O: Of foam and all the flame goes out.  And this was not a small fire, because oil rig.
S: Yeah, I mean, I guess this is how he prevents his own lab fires from getting out of control?
O: Which would make sense or the Ark should have exploded, long, long, [chuckles] long ago.
S: Or Iacon.
O: Or Iacon, probably Iacon.  So then, we gotta save the squishies.  Uh, and Optimus suddenly forgets how to swim.
S: With the meager, meager weight of two humans.
O: Which are Sparkplug and uh, Spike, right?
S: Yup.
O: And then he’s gotta be rescued by Jazz’s grappling hook, which will show up a couple of times in this epis--in like the next couple of episodes.
S: Um-hm.
O: Um.
S: [snickers]
O: So, then the Autobots bring the two back to the oil rig and proceed to imprint upon the first squishies they see.  Optimus Prime proceeds to give Sparkplug and Spike what I can only describe as the Autobots’ elevator pitch of, “We’re the good guys, we’re fighting the bad guys, we’ve been fighting the bad guys for-freaking-ever.” [laughs]
S: Pretty much. [laughs]  And then the humans are like, “We know more about Earth than you do.”  And that’s basically the excuse used for literally every other human character that shows up in any other series.
O: Unfortunately.
S: Yeah.
O: [laughs]
S: Yeah.
O: There are good human characters, but then there are bad ones.  I’m thinking of the bad ones right now. [laughs]
S: [laughs]
O: So, the Autobots, imprinting upon their squishies, clearly bring them back to their base and we see Spike monologuing to himself while he writes in his diary.
S: Yeah.
O: It then cuts to Soundwave.  As he creeps on--
S: [laughs]
O: A sixteen year old boy.  Who is, I repeat, writing in his diary. [chuckles]
S: Yup. [chuckles]  And while Spike is--Spike while he’s outside an alien base decides to pick up technology--AKA this super fancy boom box, which is Soundwave, admittedly--that he doesn’t recognize and brings it inside. [laughs]
O: Of which, I can only assume that Soundwave, when trying to come up with a plan to get into the Autobot base said to himself, “Oh wait!  I know how to get in here by doing absolutely nothing.” [laughs]
S: And he actually does this multiple times in uh--like he does this in the Marvel comics too.  He uses, like, two workers to get, like--he’s--he’s just waiting in a parking lot, and one of them’s like--
O: [snorts]
S: here’s this really cool 8 track tape player.  I’m going to pick it up, take it past all of these guns, and all of these soldiers with guns, and I’m going to stick it my locker.
B: [laughter]
O: And then the locker explodes later, right? [laughs]
S: Yes, yes it does, and Soundwave unleashes his cassettes and, like--he broadcasts the transmission of him doing all of this stuff in this base, for you know, psychological warfare purposes I guess.
O: [laughing] Okay-
S: But that’s--that’s where that really great, like, contrapposto--
O: OH, got it.
S: --panel of Soundwave came from. [laughs] But yeah, Soundwave.  Soundwave is totally big on very--disguises that don’t take a whole lot of effort.  And apparently this is just one of his main hobbies, or tactics I guess?
O: I mean if it works, I can’t even blame him.
S: I mean we’ve got two examples out of two pieces of media, so I guess it works...
O: Well, I know he does it in the IDW comics too.
B: [laughter]
S: Oh true!
O: I read that!  I  know he does! So, yeah--
S: True.  Oh god, and I think they do about the same thing in the movies, but it’s with Frenzy.
O: Yes...
S: Yeah, that’s how Frenzy--
O: Something like that.
S: That’s how Frenzy gets on the President’s plane or whatever.
O: Oh god--YEAH, yeah that’s right.  I don’t think I realized that was Frenzy, I am going to completely delete that from my brain now.  Moving on!
S: [laughs] At least I’m pretty sure it’s Frenzy?  But yeah, let’s get back on business!  And so Spike wants to know more about the Autobots and Cybertron and so the Autobots decide to show off for their new--their new buddy--their new pet, umm, I guess.
O: And uh, the Autobots are like, “Wow!  Earth is really pretty,” and I swear to god Spike’s just like, “Yeah, yeah, Earth is nice but tell me more about your awesome alien planet.”
S: Pretty much, pretty much, he’s--he’s super impressed with--with Hound’s hologram projector and then--
O: [laughs] I think you mean ‘hoelo-gram’
S: ‘Hoelo-gram’.
O: This will be a theme.
S: Probably, yeah. [laughs] And then Hound takes Spike for the ‘ride of his life’.  [sighs]
O:  Why--why are all the robots in this episode so inappropriate to Spike!?!  I don’t understand.  We’ve got Soundwave, we’ve got Hound--it’ll be Hound again later!
B: [laughter]
S: I don’t think--I don’t think Hound’s intending to be, it’s just the subtext, except that yeah that screenshot from later is definitely one of the classics.  Yeah.  But they go see a lovely sunset on this ride.  I mean it’s truly beautiful.  It’s lovely, and then they get back.
O: So Soundwave, now being in the Autobot base because Spike brought him in--the front freaking door! [laughs]
S: And just left him there without telling anyone.
O: [laughs]  Right!  Not like I’m gonna take this home--I’m going to leave this over here for no fucking reason.  Anyway!  Soundwave transforms back into robot mode and ejects Ravage, who--turns into a panther, and then turns back into a cassette tape and hops into the Autobots’ computer to steal information as a cassette tape.  Which, yes, I know, I know some old computers did this, but dear lord I didn’t grow up during that time period--so at this point in time in the year of our lord, 2018 it’s just fucking ridiculous because I have no context.
S: [snorts] Neither do I, oh my god.  And then, Spike and Hound have come back and Spike catches Soundwave stealing information, and he strikes a pose!
O: ~Draw me like one of your French girls Soundwave~
S: Such contrapposto, I mean he’s like a model.
O: It’s very pretty.  So Soundwave and Ravage now try to make their escape.  The Autobots capture Ravage...
S: Except like, the first two times they kinda can’t?  Or at least two minibots can’t.
O: They catch him eventually though.
S: Yeah after they make people turn on their headlights and their infrared.
O: Yeah.  So then we cut back to the Decepticons, cause Soundwave has clearly returned, as they gather round Soundwave, who’s playing a cassette tape that I presume is not Ravage, because he’s been captured, for their Earth history lesson.
S: And they’re glued to the radio like a 1940’s family listening to the President’s fireside chats.
O: [snorts] Only, you know, they’re all giant robots.
S: And one of them is a warlord.
O: And one of them is the cassette deck! [laughs]
S: [laughs] Yeah-
O: Anyway, so uh, Starscream says something stupid--don’t remember what it was, all I remember is that at some point during the scene Megatron is like, [terrible Megatron impersonation] “Your knowledge is only overshadowed by your stupidity, Starscream!”  Because of course he does.  Um, and after listening to all of--to the like, Earth history lesson from Soundwave, Megatron’s brillant scheme is to steal energy from a power plant.  By making a tidal wave hit a dam.
S: [groans] That’s not how that works!
O: I don’t know how he expects...any of this to work?  I really, truly, do not, because of course the tidal wave is going to destroy the dam and how do you get the energy?  And I don’t know???
S: But I did really like Soundwave’s sort of descriptive hand motion for that, I mean that was….quite nice?
O: Soundwave dispatches Rumble to start a tidal wave.  Of which, by the way, Soundwave just shouldn’t be allowed to come up with operation names because he literally ejects him from his tape deck going, “OPERATION TIDAL WAVE.”  Which just sounds completely freaking ridiculous.
S: Yup-- and Rumble gets to be a dick to dams.
O: [laughs] The Autobots notice something’s going on so they’re gonna go investigate and then we cut back--so then we basically cut from the Decepticons, to the Autobots, back to the dam and the dam begins to fall apart from like, the force of the water.
S: Uh-hm, and one of the humans hits a malfunctioning read out, like that’ll make it work better?
O: Definitely!  Definitely, that’s how you fix everything, you just hit it. [laughs]
S: Percussive maintenance.  It’s a thing.
O: The Decepticons attack.  Uh, Megatron announcing himself only--as only he can.  And by attack I mean, they burst through the wall like the god damned Kool-Aid Man and then Megatron shoots the ceiling...because he can!
S: [laughing] Yup, yup, that’s--that’s Megatron.  And-and the dam is, as this happens the dam is crumbling because somehow Rumble’s attack is, well, whatever the hell he’s doing is apparently working.  I mean maybe he’s just destabilizing the dam concrete?
O: I have no idea, but I swear it was the same shot as, like, the previous one of the dam crumbling.  And it was just like, “We’re gonna show this again.” [laughs]
S: Hey they have to save some money, so...yeah.
O: So then, one of the humans explains to Megatron that the dam is going to LITERALLY explode and Megatron is happy about this because the electricity output is going to be at its peak.
S: And, well, I mean the human that’s talking to Megatron--he either super cares his work, or he just does not give a shit [laughs] about how squishy he is.
O: Because, again, forty foot robot, or thirty foot, or however fucking tall Megatron is--he’s very  tall.  Anyway--I would like you to stop for moment and say--HOW is any of this okay!?! [laughs]
S:  That’s not how dams work!  At all!  Ever.
O: I guess we have to forgive the alien overlord for not understanding shi-Earth shit for a little while? [laughs]
S: Well, yeah, they probably don’t have water on Cybertron, maybe something else?
O: I don’t know.
S: Erm, I don’t know, there’s the sea of rust?  I think there’s a mercury sea?  It’s been a while since I actually looked at any of my, uh, the books--
O: Yeah, I don’t know.
S: -that go into Cybertron.
O: Uh, so [clears throat] the Autobots show up, by flying to the rescue.
S: Question mark, question mark, question mark. [sighs]
O: This will not be consistent, later in the series they make it relatively clear that only the Decepticons are able to fly, so, yeah this is fun.
S: Yeah, yeah.  With the exception of Swoop, Skyfire, and Sideswipe’s jetpack.  [Specs forgot to mention the Aerialbots among a few others here.]
O: [laughs] We’ll get to that!  So Hound goes swimming to try to get Rumble, and then Ironhide and Bumblebee attempt to channel the water [from the dam] by shooting at the ground using Ironhide’s BUTT BEAM.
S: [laughs]
O: I mean trunk gun! [laughs]
S: [laughs]  Aha, butt beam--
O:  [laughs]
S: Butt beam, [laughs] butt beam!  [laughs]
O: This works...somehow, even though the channels cannot possibly be that deep!
S: I mean, it’s a valid--it’s a valid strategy but I don’t understand how it would work cause they’re just like, zzt, zzt, zzt, zzt, zzzt!  It’s sending things off at sort of weird right angles?
O: It just, it just doesn’t look very ‘effective,’ is the word I think I’m looking for.
S: Yes.
O: But anyway, it works.
S:  Somehow.  Special ground penetrating laser.
O: [snorts] His BUTT ground penetrating laser. [laughs]
S: [laughs]  I don’t know, maybe it’s the same damn laser that comes out of his back later?
O: Ugh, body parts are weird. [laughs] The Autobots go to attack the dam, which is where--or the power plant in the dam, whatever.  Where the Decepticons are now and they blast through a wall, door, something, anyway the point of this is--
S: I think it was already open.
O: Oh, okay, well, we see them shooting at what can only be described as Starscream and his mini me. [laughs]
S: [laughs] Yeah, they um, there were lots and lots of animation errors.
O: There’s about to be more! [laughs] So, we then cut to a shot that includes four Reflectors, three Rumbles, and Soundblaster.  Allow me to break this down for why this does not work.
S: [laughs]
O: There are only three Reflectors, they’re-they’re the three little guys that turn into the camera.  Uh, Rumble is in the water, and there’s only one of him.  Soundblaster doesn’t even show up in Generation 1, but he’s basically the upgrade of Soundwave, um, and he’s basically just black.  So they color Soundblaster [Owl’s meant Soundwave here] black for this shot.
S:  Yeah, and I mean making you go back to rewatch this bit to confirm, confirm it, and the Starscream mini me was kind of hilarious, because your reaction.  [laughs]
O: Basically was--what the hell am I looking at?  And how do you fuck up this badly!?! [laughs]
S: They’re surprisingly versatile at fucking up really badly.
O: Oh yeah, Soundblaster’s gonna show up multiple frickin’ times, because apparently we can’t color Soundwave right.  And then--Megatron, er, Optimus Prime comes busting in and I swear to god he tells Megatron the Cybertronian equivalent of, ‘to fuck off’--
S: [laughs]
O: And it’s beautiful. [laughs]
S: Yup.  And then battle breaks out, there’s some elegant gymnastics by Mirage as he battles against, I think Skywarp and Thundercracker?
O: All I know is he’s like flippin’ all over the place [laughs]
S: Yeah, it’s a 10 out of 10 and completely ignores that these weirdos could fly like, five minutes ago. O: [laughs]
S: Because they’re on this catwalk? [laughs]
O: [laughs] And they’re all fine, but they don’t seem to attempt to fly?
S: Yes, cause MIrage gets knocked off, he grabs hold of it [the railing] and does some fancy ass backflips back on and then tosses some other person off, it’s like, yeah...
O: So then, Optimus Prime pursues Megatron, and Megatron Mufasas Optimus Prime, or at least tries to, because, if you’ll remember, like, a shot ago, or two, Optimus Prime was flying.  They were ALL FLYING!  And everyone’s going to forget that for like, three minutes, because they’re idiots. [laughs]
S: Yup, and Optimus gets to channel some awesome John Wayne around this area.
O: He does sound very John Wayne-ish here.
S: So Starscream shows up with a slingshot to a gunfight but instead of targeting anyone he just shoots it at the machinery.
O: And it works kind of.  I-I don't know what's going on here. [laughs]
S: It sets off some sort of chain reaction I think and Megatron is like kind of pissed about it.
O: When is he not pissed at Starscream I think is the better question here.
S: Yeah that's true.  That's true.
O: Anyway!  So we cut to Megatron and Optimus Prime, um, on top of the dam doing a cunning impersonation of the Rock'em sock'em robots.
S: They truly do. They're just Rock'em sock'em roboting it up, man.
O: And bonking each other on top of the head.
S: So much bonk.
O: So much bonk.
S: It's like the only damn sound effect that they paid the Foley artist for and they were like this will work for everything
O: [laughs] We have to use it for everything!  We've only got this one sound effect.  Umm, so, then we get to some quality dialogue between Optimus Prime and Megatron with Optimus being like, “You destroy Everything You Touch, Megatron!” and Megatron giving one of my favorite lines I've ever heard him say which is, [terrible Megatron impersonation] “Everything I touch is food for my hunger, my hunger for power!” and I'm just like what the hell am I listening to!?! [laughs]
S: Yeah, and then Meg--Megs and Op fight with weapons that never really show up again, though they do show up in toys that get sold.
O: Toys, uh, they also show up to some degree in, ah, in some of the games later, like Optimus very frequently is using an axe in the games.
S: Oh, and I think--that they might show up in the movie?
O: They might, I dunno.
S: They might, it's been awhile since I watched that.
O: I try to forget I did!
S: Well, are we talking about the cartoon or the Michael Bay movie or do you want to forget--
O:  Um, all of them?  All of them. [laughs] Anyway, so we cut back to Hound, who's been under water too long apparently?  Spike is getting worried?
[Disclaimer:  Bumblebee was not out at the time of this recording but we both enjoyed it!.]
S: So he decides that he's going to dive down and help like, his friend the 20-foot tall giant robot.
O: Right!  But before that, Hound and Rumble are fighting underwater which basically means Hound ends up with a bunch of rocks on top of him.
S: Somehow.
O: And Megatron finally knocks Optimus Prime off the dam and then he hela-flails the fuck out of there.  By this I mean he's swinging the flail above his head, as he like, flies off off the dam.  So it kind of looks like like he's flying through the power of hela-flailing!
S: [laughs] Oh the hela-flail, the good old hela-flail.
O: We never see it again. [laughs]
S: Yeah, and then Prime can’t swim again, it’s like water’s his greatest enemy and Jazz needs to rescue him again.
O: Because Optimus is failing at the doggy paddle. [laughs]
S: Yeah, [laughs] he just fucking fails [quietly] oh my God.
O: So--Spike finally reaches Hound,  who stuck under rocks, uh, and he moves a rock, underwater in this really, really strong current and I don't know how any of this works--Spike is superhuman!
S: God, I’d almost say he's techno-organic like Sari, [from Transformers Animated] but...
O: [Cackles] Nope, nope--we’re several series off from that!
S: Yeah and I mean, yeah it wouldn't work anyway [snorts] but maybe someone's written fanfiction about it?
O: I mean..would it make some amount of sense?  Yes?
S: Possibly, I mean, Sparkplug’s like the world's most interesting man.
O: [laughs] I built a robot in my youth--totally!  This is my son.  Although, it does kind of beg the question why he would be named Sparkplug and his son would be named Spike, but whatever.  Anyway--so uh, Spike saves Hound.  Umm, Hound proceeds to give Spike a suggestive back massage to say thank you. [laughs]
S: Well after lifting him to the surface because Spike was like--I need air!
O: There were hand motions.
S: There were hand gestures involved.  And yeah this is like the--one of the classic suggestive screenshots this fandom is sort of...maybe not famous for but it’s like one of the--one of the classic ones if you go look for you know, suggestive screenshots.
O: I would like to take a moment to remind you that all of the robots for being inappropriate Spike here. [laughs] Please make them stop.  Spike needs an adult.  A real adult, not a fucking robot.  Anyway, we cut to the Decepticons stealing energy from various locations, uh, Soundwave is Soundblaster again.
S: Um-hm.
O: Oh, there's a whole bunch of Seekers, I have no idea who they are--they're all over the place.  There's one shot that's like, are they stealing from trees?  There doesn't seem to be an energy source here but okay...
S: There's, yeah, there's a lot of inconsistency running around and it's not very clear.
O: It really isn't.
S: We won’t see any of these other Seekers again.
O: No--well, I think they might pop back up in the back of like other shots?
S: Maybe, but it's never explained.
O: It's never explained.  It seemed pretty clear like, how many Decepticons Megatron had with him, then all these other random ones pop up and we’re like where are these coming from?
S: Why are there duplicates?
O: Yeah that too!  Why are there 3 Rumbles?
S: Four rumbles actually if we consider that one of them is under water.
O: [Quietly] True.  [Normal] So uh, Starscream gets the brilliant of--shooting rocks...rather inefficiently uh, making his spouse mad--I mean his boss.
S:  And he’s do--well, he's doing super questionable science cause I mean I don't see him writing anything down.  Which I mean, this is relevant in future episodes where it’s revealed--Starscream was a scientist and explorer.
O: You would think this would mean he'd know how to science but we don't really see him science very very often.  So, while the Decepticons are arguing, uh, Trailbreaker is spying on them--I mean jacking into Megatron's brain waves, again and, uh, Sparkplug and Spike are in tow for some reason?
S: Hound and Trailbreaker are just super good at overhearing things with their little radio dishes.
O: You-You’d think there be like a blocker or that the Decepticons would have a blocker for this and/or the Decepticons would utilize a similar technique but they don't they usually just send in Laserbeak.
S: [laughs] Hey, he's versatile.
O: He is!
S: And-and Mirage is the spy and we don't really see him eavesdropping on the Decepticons but you did make a good point, which is that he turns invisible so…
O: Yeah, well he can turn invisible so maybe we wouldn't *see* him
S: True.
O: Uh, Megatron and Starscream continue to squabble some more.  Uh, at which point Megatron is like, “Assemble the strike force!” or at least I think that was Megatron and we waste a perfect chance for a Decepticon roll call.  Waste!
S: Absolutely wasted.  And then the Decepticons are on the move, attacking Trailbreaker and the Witwickys. Cuz that's what you do when you’re giant alien robots who are also evil.  And then Sunstreaker and Sideswipe arrive to help chase the Decepticon Seekers off basically by, uh, sort of ending up on either side of Trailbreaker and then Sunstreaker’s butt gun comes out. [laughs]
O: [laughs] There's a lot of butt guns in the show what the hell?
S: Trunk gun, trunk gun. [laughs]
O: Trunk gun [laughs]
S: And it's like Sunstreaker’s and Sideswipe’s breakout characterization moment where Sunstreaker’s, “I want to be pretty” stuff comes out and Sideswipe’s just like, “Everything's a joke.”  Turn left, only make left-hand turns are right hand turns or whatever.
O: The Decepticons are now mining rubies and making it energon cubes from them.
S: Somehow, yes.
O: Somehow.  But this gets better because suddenly we cut to Megatron who while talking about these rubies proceeds to shower himself with...the rubies.  Not once--but twice! [laughs]
S: Um-hmm.
O: As I said, rubies are warlord's best friend.
S: And I wrote a haiku. [laughs]
O: Yes!
S: Rubies glitter in A warlord's eye fly they must To please fiendish mind
O: So then we cut back to the Auto...bots.  Everything is wrong with his shot.  Everything.
S: There's so much.  Ratchet’s head isn't colored in and then-then Bumblebees out front but..
O: Also there's another Autobot which we think is Blue Streak--with Bumblebee’s head and by head I mean it's colored yellow and then Ironhide for some inexplicable reason, is topless.  And by topless I mean he's colored the wrong color but it makes them look topless!
S: He's gray, his-his chest is colored gray so he looks like he's just, like, unpainted.
O: [laughs]
S: Which is probably the Cybertronian equivalent to being topless?  Unless having your armor taken off is the Cybertronian equivalent?
O: So, Bumblebee and Sparkplug are basically picked the infiltrate the mine, to blow it up.  Uhh, Sparkplug has worked here to apparently?
S: He’s the world's most interesting man.  I mean we came to that conclusion with--hey, he's done oil rigs, he's worked here, where else has he worked?  Has he been a secret service agent?
O: I wouldn't doubt it [laughs] considering!
S: Yeah, I mean comic Sparkplug just owns an auto shop.  Cartoon Sparkplug is the op--action dude
O: He’s--[an] action hero. [laughs] So basically, while they're trying to sneak in, we see the two Seekers and they’re basically talking about how they want to go home, my poor bois.  Uh, the explosion is set but then Thundercracker and Skywarp block the exit and bully the bee...again!
S: With much Bonk because, yeah.
O: Again, it’s the only sound effect they paid for.
S: Yeah. [laughs]
O: So then Optimus sends in Roller, which is like, his little baby, tiny robot that lives in his trailer.  And he sends Roller in after Bumblebee and uh--
S: Sparkplug.
O: Thank you.  Uh, and then explosions happen.
S: Because of that, uh, that highly technical explosive that they got from Wheeljack, but-
O: Which was set to go off in 60 Seconds?
S: Yes.
O: Which doesn't seem like enough time.
S: Well, you'd think that Bumblebee would be better at infiltrating things, considering that in, like, most of the other generations he's actually considered to be part of the-the infiltration team or something.
O: So shit explodes.  Uh, the Decepticons are buried uh, and this knocks Optimus Prime off a hill which is where the episode ends.  The next episode, uh, we should to, “Illusions Michael!”, Optimus Prime nearly dying, purple spaceship the second, and ROBOTS IN SPACE (kind of).
S: Kinda.
O: [laughs]
S: [sighs] Yeah and then, yeah.
O: [quietly] Shenanigans will insue.
S: Many shenanigans and also the world's most surprising parachute.
O: [laughs] Yes.  All right Specs--what is our fanfic for the week?
S: Okay well, our two fanfiction recommendations for the week are the, “Grunt’s Guide to Warfare,” by Tirya King.  Which is set in the G1 cartoon continuity, rated T, it's Gen so there aren't any pairings and the characters are the G1 cast.  The summary is, “G1 Some things are universal throughout the galaxy the rules of warfare being some of them. If you wish to be a proper soldier you must learn these very important laws and incorporate them throughout your daily life.” And so, the characters or theme rec for this one was Murphy's Law because so much goes wrong in this episode.
O: Just...so much goes in this episode. [laughs]
S: Yeah...yeah, and then our second recommendation for today is, “Earth studies 101,” by Vaeru.  Which is a G1 alternate universe, rated T, and no pairings so it's Gen. Uh, the main characters are an OC, so Evelyn, and uh, the G1 cast.  So, it’s--in summary, “It’s a Transformers AU, it’s a Sparkbearer side story,” and if you were listening last week I recommended the first part which ss, “Transformers Juxtaposition” [naturally, also by Vaeru] so to continue the summary, “Professor Evelyn Hughes is accustomed to teaching linguistics but when one is friends with a crew of giant Alien robots one must be prepared to teach lessons of a very different sort.  Drabbles and one shots,” and the theme for this one was, “We know Earth better than you!”  That quote.
O: [laughs] Will live in infamy.
S: It will! But so those are our recommendations for today.  I hope you enjoy them I mean review the fics and let the authors know that you liked it.
O: I think we're going to be doing fan art every other episode since we're doing artists instead of stories and it's just less of them overall. [Instead of just doing a few art pieces we’re recommending a singular artist.]
S: And that just about wraps it up for us today.  Remember to check out our Tumblr at Afterspark-Podcast.tumblr.com for any additional information, show notes or links we may have mentioned.  You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter at AftersparkPod (all one word) and SoundCloud and YouTube at AftersparkPodcast. Till next time!
O: I'm Owls!
S: And I'm Specs.
O: And come back and we'll talk to you more about giant robots.
S: Toodles!
0 notes
hotspreadpage · 7 years ago
Text
How to create the perfect 404 page
Optimizing your 404 page is unlikely to top your list in terms of digital marketing priorities. However, it’s not something you should overlook or try to rush – especially if your site is frequently changing URLs.
404s (…or four zero fours if you’re in the military) are just another marketing tool – if made correctly.
What is a 404
Impact of 404s on SEO
What are Soft 404s
Helping your user
Reporting 404s in Google Analytics
Making it fun!
What is a 404?
A 404 is the response code that should be provided by your web server when a user attempts to access a URL that no longer exists/never existed or has been moved without any form of redirection. At a HTTP level the code is also followed by the reason phrase of ‘Not Found’.
It’s important to realize that DNS errors are a totally different kettle of fish and occur when the domain has not been registered or where DNS has been misconfigured. There is no web server to provide a response – see below:
If you’re looking to pass time or have a penchant for intellectual self-harm you may enjoy this list of HTTP status codes, where you can discover the mysterious difference between a 301 and a 308…
Impact of 404s on SEO
We can’t all be blessed with the foresight to develop a well-structured and future-proof site architecture first time around. 404s will happen – whether it’s a new site being tweaked post-launch or a full-blown migration with URL changes, directory updates and a brand spanking new favicon! In themselves, 404s aren’t an issue so long as the content has in fact been removed/deleted without an adequate replacement page.
However, if a URL has links from an external site then you should always consider a redirect to the most appropriate page, both to maintain any equity being passed but also to ensure users who click the link aren’t immediately confronted with a potentially negative experience on your site.
What are soft 404s?
Soft 404s occur when a non-existent page returns a response code other than 404 (not found) or the lesser known 410 (gone). They also happen when redirects are put in place that aren’t relevant such as lazily sending users to the homepage or where there is a gross content mismatch from the requested URL and the resulting redirect. These are often confusing for both users and search engines, and are reported within Google Search Console.
Helping the user
Creating a custom 404 page has been all the rage for a number of years, as they can provide users with a smile, useful links or something quite fun (more on this later). Most importantly, it’s crucial that you ensure your site’s 404s aren’t the end of the road for your users. Below are some handy tips for how to improve your 404 page.
Consistent branding
Don’t make your 404 page an orphan in terms of design. Ensure you retain any branding so that users are not shocked into thinking they may be on the wrong site altogether.
Explanation
Make sure you provide users with some potential reasons as to why they are seeing the error page. Stating that the page ‘no longer exists’ etc can help users to understand that the lovely yellow raincoat they expected to find hasn’t actually been replaced by a browser-based Pacman game…
Useful links
You should know which are the most popular pages or directories on your site. Ensure your 404 page includes obvious links to these above the fold so that (coupled with a fast site) users will find the disruption to their journey to be minimal.
Search
There’s a strong chance that a user landing on a 404 page will know why they were on your site; whether for jeans, graphic design or HR software, their intent is likely set. Providing them with a quick search box may enable them to get back on track – this can be useful if you offer a very wide range of services that can’t be covered in a few links.
Reporting
Providing users with the ability to report the inconvenience can be a great way for you to action 404s immediately, especially if the button can be linked to the most common next step in a user’s journey. For example: “Report this page and get back to the shop!”
Turn it into a positive
Providing a free giveaway of a downloadable asset (by way of an apology) is a great way to turn an otherwise-disgruntled user into a lead. By providing a clear CTA and small amount of data capture, you can help to chip away at those inbound marketing goals!
Reporting 404s in Google Analytics
Reporting on 404s in Google Analytics couldn’t be easier. While in many cases your CMS will have plugins and modules that provide this service, GA can do it without much bother. The only thing you’ll need is the page title from your 404 page. In the case of Zazzle this is ‘Page not found | Zazzle Media’.
The screenshot below contains all the information needed. Simply navigate to Customization > Custom Reports > Add New within your GA console.
Title: The name of the custom report
Name: Tabs within the report (you only need one in this case)
Type: Set to Explorer
Metric Groups: Enter ‘Site Usage’ and add in Unique Page Views (to track occurrences per page) and Bounce Rate (to measure how effective your custom 404 page is).
Dimension Drilldowns: Page > Full Referrer (to track where the visit came from if external)
Filters: Include > Page Title > Exact > (your 404 page title)
Views: Select whichever views you want this on (default to all if you’re unsure)
Save and return to Customization > Custom Reports, then click the report you just made. You’ll be presented with a list of pages that match your specified criteria. Simply alter your data range to suit and then export and start mapping any redirects required.
You may wish to use Google Search Console for reporting on 404s too. These can be found under Crawl > Crawl Errors. It’s always worth running these URLs through a tool such as Screaming Frog or Sitebulb to confirm that the live URL is still producing a 404. Exporting these errors is limited to ~1000 URLs; as such, you’ll need to Export > Mark as Fixed > Wait 24hrs > Repeat.
Making a fun 404 page
Some of the best 404 pages throw caution to the wind, ignore best practice and either leverage their brand/character to comical effect or simply go all out and create something fun and interactive. Let’s face it, there is no better way to turn a bad situation (or Monday morning) into something positive than with a quick game of Space Invaders!
The below examples are just a few popular brands that have a great ‘404 game’.
Lego
It was always going to be on the cards that Lego would have something quirky up their tiny plastic sleeves, and while the page lacks ongoing links it provides a clear visual representation of the disconnect between the content you expected and what you’re getting.
Kualo
Behind every great website, there’s a great host. Kualo have taken their very cost-focused industry and made a fun and interactive game for users who happen across a 404 page.
Bit.ly
If there’s one site that has its URLs copy and pasted more than any other (and often incorrectly) it’s bit.ly. With over 1.2 billion backlinks from over 1.8 million referring domains I reckon there will be a few 404s…don’t you?
Blizzard
Ding! I’ve naturally lost count of how many times it’s given ‘Grats’ – Blizzard’s quirky 404 gives tribute to the commonly-uttered phrase seen in chat boxes across all their games.
Github
It only seems fitting that one of the geekiest corners of the internet be served with an equally geeky 404 page. Github’s page is unique because there is actually a dedicated URL for this design which has over 520 referring domains itself! Not to mention their server error page is equally as cool.
Summary
Hopefully the information detailed in this article has provided you with a great strategy to leverage your 404 page as a content marketing asset or simply to improve the experience for your user. We’d love to see any creative 404 pages you come up with.
How to create the perfect 404 page syndicated from http://ift.tt/2maPRjm
0 notes
kellykperez · 7 years ago
Text
How to create the perfect 404 page
Optimizing your 404 page is unlikely to top your list in terms of digital marketing priorities. However, it’s not something you should overlook or try to rush – especially if your site is frequently changing URLs.
404s (…or four zero fours if you’re in the military) are just another marketing tool – if made correctly.
What is a 404
Impact of 404s on SEO
What are Soft 404s
Helping your user
Reporting 404s in Google Analytics
Making it fun!
What is a 404?
A 404 is the response code that should be provided by your web server when a user attempts to access a URL that no longer exists/never existed or has been moved without any form of redirection. At a HTTP level the code is also followed by the reason phrase of ‘Not Found’.
It’s important to realize that DNS errors are a totally different kettle of fish and occur when the domain has not been registered or where DNS has been misconfigured. There is no web server to provide a response – see below:
If you’re looking to pass time or have a penchant for intellectual self-harm you may enjoy this list of HTTP status codes, where you can discover the mysterious difference between a 301 and a 308…
Impact of 404s on SEO
We can’t all be blessed with the foresight to develop a well-structured and future-proof site architecture first time around. 404s will happen – whether it’s a new site being tweaked post-launch or a full-blown migration with URL changes, directory updates and a brand spanking new favicon! In themselves, 404s aren’t an issue so long as the content has in fact been removed/deleted without an adequate replacement page.
However, if a URL has links from an external site then you should always consider a redirect to the most appropriate page, both to maintain any equity being passed but also to ensure users who click the link aren’t immediately confronted with a potentially negative experience on your site.
What are soft 404s?
Soft 404s occur when a non-existent page returns a response code other than 404 (not found) or the lesser known 410 (gone). They also happen when redirects are put in place that aren’t relevant such as lazily sending users to the homepage or where there is a gross content mismatch from the requested URL and the resulting redirect. These are often confusing for both users and search engines, and are reported within Google Search Console.
Helping the user
Creating a custom 404 page has been all the rage for a number of years, as they can provide users with a smile, useful links or something quite fun (more on this later). Most importantly, it’s crucial that you ensure your site’s 404s aren’t the end of the road for your users. Below are some handy tips for how to improve your 404 page.
Consistent branding
Don’t make your 404 page an orphan in terms of design. Ensure you retain any branding so that users are not shocked into thinking they may be on the wrong site altogether.
Explanation
Make sure you provide users with some potential reasons as to why they are seeing the error page. Stating that the page ‘no longer exists’ etc can help users to understand that the lovely yellow raincoat they expected to find hasn’t actually been replaced by a browser-based Pacman game…
Useful links
You should know which are the most popular pages or directories on your site. Ensure your 404 page includes obvious links to these above the fold so that (coupled with a fast site) users will find the disruption to their journey to be minimal.
Search
There’s a strong chance that a user landing on a 404 page will know why they were on your site; whether for jeans, graphic design or HR software, their intent is likely set. Providing them with a quick search box may enable them to get back on track – this can be useful if you offer a very wide range of services that can’t be covered in a few links.
Reporting
Providing users with the ability to report the inconvenience can be a great way for you to action 404s immediately, especially if the button can be linked to the most common next step in a user’s journey. For example: “Report this page and get back to the shop!”
Turn it into a positive
Providing a free giveaway of a downloadable asset (by way of an apology) is a great way to turn an otherwise-disgruntled user into a lead. By providing a clear CTA and small amount of data capture, you can help to chip away at those inbound marketing goals!
Reporting 404s in Google Analytics
Reporting on 404s in Google Analytics couldn’t be easier. While in many cases your CMS will have plugins and modules that provide this service, GA can do it without much bother. The only thing you’ll need is the page title from your 404 page. In the case of Zazzle this is ‘Page not found | Zazzle Media’.
The screenshot below contains all the information needed. Simply navigate to Customization > Custom Reports > Add New within your GA console.
Title: The name of the custom report
Name: Tabs within the report (you only need one in this case)
Type: Set to Explorer
Metric Groups: Enter ‘Site Usage’ and add in Unique Page Views (to track occurrences per page) and Bounce Rate (to measure how effective your custom 404 page is).
Dimension Drilldowns: Page > Full Referrer (to track where the visit came from if external)
Filters: Include > Page Title > Exact > (your 404 page title)
Views: Select whichever views you want this on (default to all if you’re unsure)
Save and return to Customization > Custom Reports, then click the report you just made. You’ll be presented with a list of pages that match your specified criteria. Simply alter your data range to suit and then export and start mapping any redirects required.
You may wish to use Google Search Console for reporting on 404s too. These can be found under Crawl > Crawl Errors. It’s always worth running these URLs through a tool such as Screaming Frog or Sitebulb to confirm that the live URL is still producing a 404. Exporting these errors is limited to ~1000 URLs; as such, you’ll need to Export > Mark as Fixed > Wait 24hrs > Repeat.
Making a fun 404 page
Some of the best 404 pages throw caution to the wind, ignore best practice and either leverage their brand/character to comical effect or simply go all out and create something fun and interactive. Let’s face it, there is no better way to turn a bad situation (or Monday morning) into something positive than with a quick game of Space Invaders!
The below examples are just a few popular brands that have a great ‘404 game’.
Lego
It was always going to be on the cards that Lego would have something quirky up their tiny plastic sleeves, and while the page lacks ongoing links it provides a clear visual representation of the disconnect between the content you expected and what you’re getting.
Kualo
Behind every great website, there’s a great host. Kualo have taken their very cost-focused industry and made a fun and interactive game for users who happen across a 404 page.
Bit.ly
If there’s one site that has its URLs copy and pasted more than any other (and often incorrectly) it’s bit.ly. With over 1.2 billion backlinks from over 1.8 million referring domains I reckon there will be a few 404s…don’t you?
Blizzard
Ding! I’ve naturally lost count of how many times it’s given ‘Grats’ – Blizzard’s quirky 404 gives tribute to the commonly-uttered phrase seen in chat boxes across all their games.
Github
It only seems fitting that one of the geekiest corners of the internet be served with an equally geeky 404 page. Github’s page is unique because there is actually a dedicated URL for this design which has over 520 referring domains itself! Not to mention their server error page is equally as cool.
Summary
Hopefully the information detailed in this article has provided you with a great strategy to leverage your 404 page as a content marketing asset or simply to improve the experience for your user. We’d love to see any creative 404 pages you come up with.
source https://searchenginewatch.com/2017/09/12/how-to-create-the-perfect-404-page/ from Rising Phoenix SEO http://risingphoenixseo.blogspot.com/2017/09/how-to-create-perfect-404-page.html
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