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butchsophiewalten · 1 year ago

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FINDJACKWALTEN 6/29/23 UPDATE #2 WALKTHOUGH

Findjackwalten updated last night! To properly understand the content of this update, you'll probably wanna check out these other posts on the 6/27/23 update: [HERE] and the 6/29/23 update #1: [HERE] if you haven't seen them already.

This one's a fucking Doozy. The main page has updated to a full on Jack Walten Takeover.

Most of the existing page has been put under a red filter, and images of Jack and Rosemary (cut off in this screenshot) Walten have appeared. The 'page under construction!' text has changed to read "CLOSED PERMANENTLY. (effect:072074)", the second half of that being the date Bon's Burgers shut down. The play button present in the site's previous incarnation is still here, but now plays various Christmas carols, rather than Battle Hymn of The Republic, starting with Silent Night.

The "CONTACT & INFORMATION" button that became clickable earlier in the day still leads to an unchanged /0714-74 page.

The "MEET BON!" button that also became clickable earlier in the day leads to a /mynameis-bon but with Bon himself now missing.

The most significant update has been to /caretakerlibrary, which now contains four new audios from Richie.

Our first new Richie audio, Richie 3, is titled "AUD06-27-74opnn-nights" meaning it's dated for the 27th of June, 1974. The "opnn-nights" referring to it being the night before Bon's Burgers opening day. I've roughly transcribed this audio as follows:

Another day, another dollar, as they always say! Sorry- sorry, dude- just ignore that, I don't know- I don't know what I was doing, okay, uh, forget it. Yeah- yeah! Uh, tomorrow's the big day! You excited? Uh, Boss gave me some instructions to give you for today. So, uh- get those in a second. Uhm, I needed to- wanted to say I uhm, I put the chairs down. That, y'know, next to the tables, so uh, just- save you the hassle of having to do tha- having to do that tomorrow morning, so you're welcome. Uhm, uh, if you can, keep an eye on the uhh, the- whatchamacallit, Poker maze? It's, uh, pretty easy for kids to get lost in there. So, y'know, just, don't want anything to- anything like that happening. Just, uh, y'know, pop in like every minute or so, just make sure there's no kids crying, screaming, y'know. Actually, don't get lost in there yourself, either. You're still a teen, right? How old are you again? That's- doesn't matter, whatever, you'll be fine. Uh, don't worry about it. Unlock the generator room, uh, clean the bathrooms- especially the men's bathroom, more on that later. Uhh, right, right, right! Uh, keep the main stage curtains closed. Uh, for the time being, we uh, we transferred Sha to the secondary stage for this week, so she'll be next to Boozoo. The uh, Bon animatronic won't be performing this week, uh, he's uh- they- they gotta do an extra week of maintenance on him. So, that's a shame, but nothing we can't fix. Uh, luckily we do have a- uh, a costume! A, uh, Bon costume! Uhm, the uh, sister company gave it to us a while ago. So, y'know, if you wanna earn some, uh, extra bucks, you might wanna pop in that thing. Dance around, tell some jokes, whatever. Uh, Felix will probably tell you what to do, they're kids, they're stupid anyway, they won't notice. Uhm, just- try ignore the smell. Right, uh, that, uh- that reminds me. Uhm, uh- apparently, uhm, apparently some employee might've, uh, might've been, uh. Smoking pot. In the men's bathroom. Uh, so, uhm, just, just- um. Y'know, don't mind the smell, if you, uh, keep the windows open, just try and freshen up the place. Uh, make sure Felix doesn't notice. Uh- I- uh, wouldn't want whoever that was to, y'know, get in trouble. If, uh, if they did smoke pot in there, which I doubt. But, y'know, just in case. So, uh, yeah! That's it, goodnight.

The next audio, Richie 4, is titled "AUD07-01-74BCKSTG-DAY", meaning it was recorded on the 1st of July, 1974. I've transcribed it as follows:

Hey man! Okay, so, uh, we got some good news, and some bad news. So I'll start with the good news! So, uh, Boss is happy! He said we did good work- said we did good work on the first week. You did a good job with the Bon costume actually, I was surprised. I actually got it all recorded on film, so, uh, if you want, I can show that to you next week. Or, I could use it to blackmail you at some point in the future? Kidding, kidding, kidding. Uh, nah, I wouldn't do that. Uh, um, oh yeah, uh! I bet you're happy to hear: Bon will be back on stage by tomorrow! Yeah, uh, Felix set it up himself, so uh, maybe they worked out their differences after all! Sorry, just, trying to make a joke. Um, right, ah, okay onto the, uh, the not so good news. Uh, so, um, we- uh, we have a- um. We have a associate. I- uh, I believe she does the, uh, art for the restaurant. Um, she's been coming in a lot lately, she keeps going on about like, her, uh, husband or something. She's not well. Um, to put it lightly, I- I don't wanna sound mean, but. She, uh, there's something wrong with her. And, and uh, I- I believe you know her? Uhm, like, um, you've been talking to her whenever she comes in, um. I- I appreciate it, I appreciate it, right? Um, and I'm glad you are, y'know, helping her. Uh, but, mmn. How do I say this? Um, she's been- uh, she's been, uh, let go out of the company yesterday, and uh, so, it's now a company policy that if a former employee makes any sort of drama inside the restaurant, uhm, they'll be permanently banned from entering, so. Uh, if- if you see her again, tell her to keep quiet. It's, um, Boss' orders. Uhm, I'm sorry if that- I'm sorry if that's insensitive, um. Okay. Okay, uh, lighter note: nobody got lost in the maze! So, good job! Uh, you're a natural! Or whatever. Uhm, uh, okay, on with the, uh, bad news, I guess. More bad news, uhm. The backstage is now locked for the week. Um, I asked staff for explanations and they refused to elaborate, so um. Ba- uhm, Banny will be off the stage for a few days, uh, so, keep the curtain on Banny's stage closed. Uhm, what else? Oh, uhm, all of the, uh, animatronics must be sent to the men's bathroom at night, instead of backstage. So, uh, yeah! Uh, let me know how you've been. Um, I had a blast last week. I will say, uh, you make a really good cook! I'll tell you that. So um, yeah, see you tomorrow then. Goodnight!

The next audio, Richie 5, is titled "AUD07-12-74LLY-NIGHTS", meaning it was recorded on the 12th of July, 1974. The second part of this title likely is "Lily nights" and refers to Lily's birthday party. I have transcribed the audio as follows:

Uh, hola amigo! Is that how you s- is that how you say it? Agh, I never knew how to say it. Uh, yeah! Uh, good things are happening, my friend. Uh, the- the backstage is still locked. Uh, but! The, uh, the generator room is where we sh- should be, uh- should be keeping the robots for now. Right- uh, we actually, uh, we actually have a new one. Uh, agh, what's the name, what's the name? Bob- uh, Bobby the clown! Buh- buh- Billy the clown! Billy- ah- yeah, Billy. He, uh, just arrived yesterday, actually. Um, top of the line technology, man, I'll tell you. I- I was messing with their, uh, little radio thing all day. Uh, Bon seems to be working fine now. Uh, his- his, uh- his gloves keep falling off? Like, uhm- not gloves, uh, what- what're they called? Uhm, blue hand thing- y'know, the suit, uhm. And it's revealing the mech underneath. Uh, so just, uh, be careful with like, the hands and stuff. Okay, whatever, uhm. The, uh, oh yeah, we have a birthday party coming up! A birthday party on the, uh, the tw- no, uh, fourteenth? Yeah, the fourteenth. Uh, we're going to be using the, uh, Billy robot. It's actually, um, the daughter of one of our associates, uhm. Augh, what was the name? Forgot the name, doesn't matter. So yeah, uh, we gotta m-make it look extra good, okay? Uh, I might even come over, y'know, show up in the Bon costume myself. I dunno, we'll see how it goes. Uh, well, if you show up, actually, we could, y'know, stay smokin' in the arcade area? You smoke, right? Ah, whatever. Um, yeah! Look forward to seeing you there. Take care, man!

The last audio, Richie 6, is titled "AUD07-20-74CLSD-MRNING", meaning it was recorded on the 20th of July, 1974, the day Bon's Burgers shut down. Transcribed, it reads as follows:

C'mon, man, where the hell have you been? Some big shit happened, alright!? Whuh- we're- we're sh'down! It's fucking bad, dude, we are SHUTTING DOWN! We're DONE! We're fucking DONE, Alright? Augh, god, I- I- I clocked in last night, right? Some staff were still in the restaurant, right? It's all good, it's all okay. FOUR IN THE MORNING, I get a call from NORMAN, right, telling me the cops BROKE INTO THE PLACE, right? Some call about, like, SCREAMING inside the fucking restaurant? Whole neighborhood was freaked out. They- uh- they checked the place, most doors were locked so they just shrugged it off, anyway. There- there's nobody inside. But, uh, Norman's shutting us down! He said the- the- the scene it caused is humiliating. Alright, everyone's outside the fucking restaurant, claiming that somebody got killed! It's fucking BAD, man. Agh, he gave us, uh, THREE DAYS, we have three days to shut everything down. Ugh, sorry, oh god. Sorry, it's been a fucking crazy night. Uh, there is, uh, the bo- sorry. Uh, the Boss came up with a new plan, alright? He hasn't shared it with CyberFun yet. But, uh, long story short, we gotta take all the fucking items from this place and put them in a truck and take 'em to the storage place somewhere. Tha- he didn't say where. It- uh- it's BIG fucking money, dude, alright? It'll only take a few days. Uh, you in? Also, uh, just for the record, don't- don't tell this to anyone, okay? See you tomorrow, then. See you tomorrow, man. I'll be there at six, Bon's.

Revisiting the main page, the new Silent Night audio contains a peculiarity that might go unnoticed.

If you listen for long enough (a little more than four minutes), you can hear backwards text-to-speech audio overlaid on top of the end of The First Noel. When reversed, this speech can be heard as such:

Transcribed, this audio reads as follows:

"[We] here at BSI apologize for the confusion regarding the shocking scene from last night. Apparently, screams for help were heard inside our installations. Thanks to the help of the Brighton police department, this has been confirmed as a hoax and that nobody has been harmed inside our restaurant. Nevertheless, for budget reasons, we are shutting our doors until further notice. Thanks for joining us on this small adventure. Kindly, the Bunny Smiles family."

#the walten files #sorry this is such a long post there's just so much audio and i needed to write it ALL down

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thecoleopterawithana · 1 year ago

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Eras: The Beatles | Episode 6 - Now and Then

In the final episode of Eras: The Beatles, we hear the story behind The Beatles' final single Now and Then, including new interviews with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. Narrated by Martin Freeman, the episode also features insight on the new track from Sean Ono Lennon, Olivia Harrison and Peter Jackson.

[This episode features more complete audio from the soundbites included in the 'Now and Then' short film/documentary. Under the cut are transcriptions of some of my favorite sections. Including Paul's interpretation of the meaning of 'Now and Then' (bonus points if you guess his answer!)]

PAUL: And then 'Now and Then' just kind of languished in a cupboard and we didn't do anything with it. I kept saying, "You know, maybe we should do something with this, seems a bit—" "Hm, I don't know..." There wasn't a great desire to do anything with it. So it hung around for a while. Years! And every so often, I'd kind of go to the cupboard and think, "There's a new song in there! We should do it! We gotta do it!" But it'd go back in the cupboard.

[...]

PAUL: Peter [Jackson] had sent me a text while he was doing the 'Get Back' thing. He said, "Here's a piece of dialogue of John's that I'd like to use, but George is rehearsing in the background," and you could hear George's guitar and you couldn't really make out quite what John was saying because it was distracting. He said, "But we've got this new technology: Machine Assisted Learning. M.A.L., so we're calling it MAL." Which was like— that was really cool! Because our old road manager and dear friend was Mal [Evans].

[...]

PETER JACKSON: I'd had this idea for two or three years about him [Paul] singing a duet with John. And the fact that we'd developed this software now allows us to separate the voices and the music meant that I could take a song that John and Paul were singing on, just separate John's vocal only, and Paul could have that for playing on stage. And then his band and himself could do the vocals and the playing for the rest of the song. So he could do a duet with John. He didn't even blink, he just said, "That's a fantastic idea, I love it! Let's do it!" And so we quickly turned that around and got that underway. So Paul was now touring with a John Lennon duet on 'I Got a Feeling'.

[...]

PETER JACKSON: I got a phone call from Paul saying, "Is it possible to use that technology for another project I've been thinking about? [...] Would it be possible to take John's vocal and clean it up and get rid of everything else? Because that would allow us to finish this Beatles song." And absolutely, it didn't take me more than about a second to get back to him and say, "Of course we can do it!"

[...]

PETER JACKSON: We assumed that the copy of 'Now and Then' that they were working to in the studio in 1995, where the vocals were coming from, was probably not a first-generation copy. [...] So we though, well this is probably a third generation [tape copy]. [...] And so we contacted Sean Lennon and he was very helpful. And sure enough, we got a digital copy of the original. Which is the same demo, same performance, but two generations better.

[...]

RINGO: I'm sitting there thinking, "I don't remember George doing that solo?" It was just like practicing, maybe. Cus it sounds like George! Then Paul said, "No, it's me." [laughs] But Paul did a great job. I mean, he's very good, you know, Paul. He's a very good musician.

[...]

RINGO: Giles [Martin] had to fly out to LA one day to listen to a four-hour string session that Paul wanted, and then fly back to England! [laughs] There's no string sections in England!

[...]

PAUL: Eventually, when we got to mix number 7 it was, "Wow, this is it! Now it's a Beatle record!" And we played it to various people, some of whom cried. Some of whom said, "Jesus Christ! It's a Beatles record!" But the reaction was very favorable.

[...]

RINGO: The difference from the two tracks of John, the old track of John— you know, we have to thank Sean as well, because he found the original tape. So that's the one you can really hear John, not the copy-copy-copies. And... it's like John's there, you know. It's far out. It's so clear now you know it's him. Cus on the original one we were working to I couldn't tell if it was Paul or John singing half the time. But now you know it's John! [chuckles]

[...]

PAUL: I think it just means 'now and then'. "Now and then, I have a cup of tea". I'm not sure it means an awful lot more than that. But, looking at it from today's perspective, now and then. Then you can start to get all sorts of meanings in. The modern-day, the historical past of the Beatles. It lines up with all of that. But we were always very happy to let people make their own minds up. "Here it is, it's a song. Now, the minute we deliver it to you, it's up to you. You can do anything you want with it." And people do!

[...]

RINGO: And that was what it was like for the three of us when we started this role in the 90s. We had to pretend— it always makes me laugh when I think of it— we had to pretend that he'd gone for a cup of tea or his lunch. But that he was still around. Because it was very strange when we started there's only three of us, after all those years, and all that life, that there were four of us. And I still miss him, man!

[...]

SEAN LENNON: It feels very synchronous that the lyric speaks about time and that it's taken so much time. That it sort of fuses the past and the present. It's like a time capsule. And it all feels very meant to be — or fated, or something — in the nicest sense.

[...]

PAUL: When I remember the Beatles, I remember the joy, the talent, the humor, the love. And I think, if people remembered us for that — for those things — I'd be very happy.

#(the fact that I'm back to spending +2h transcribing audio from these guys is a pretty good indication I'm back in the throws of Beatlemania #The Beatles #John Lennon #Paul McCartney #Ringo Starr #George Harrison #Now and Then #Peter Jackson #Sean Ono Lennon #Mal Evans #the person i actually picked as my partner #solo #2023 #my stuff #audio

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rosethornewrites · 2 months ago

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T & G reading since 8/25

Finished

Teen:

Buried Deep, by NeverEnoughWangxian (🔒)

They proceed to play a somewhat staticky audio recording of the teacher in question. “—if it’d just been me in here I’d vote for the underwater tunnel option, but I’ve got kids in here who can’t swim. We have plenty of snacks and water to last us for a while, so please just focus on getting the rocks cleared away, okay? Safely, of course. Oh, and remind the ones out there that I still expect them to do their homework for tomorrow!” He laughs, bright and clear even through the crackle of the bad reception.

Lan Wangji drops the knife.

It clatters loudly on the cutting board, just barely missing his fingers. He hardly even notices. He’s too focused on that voice he knows so well, on the laugh that he still hears sometimes in his dreams even after all these years.

He exhales shakily. “Wei Ying…”

Wei Wuxian disappears without a trace, and then ten years later, shows up on the news during a cave-in...

Many Bothans Died To Bring Us This Information, by sami (part of 2 series)

"Is that wingdings?" he asks, staring at the screen.

"According to my computer that is goddamn Times New Roman," the geek says. "What it is is some nonsense. You gotta give me access to the real code."

The Top Gear Thing Behind The Scenes, by sami (23rd in a series)

"You know my Mercedes?" Jeremy says, eyes on the Zixuan.

"I'm familiar with it, yes."

"What's it for?"

Catharsis, by Starfell123 (6 chapters)

“Look, I know I’m probably foolish. I know that the chances of this not being a business-meeting are slim to none, but I need to know for sure. If Uncle Jiang wants to apologize, I’ll give him a chance to do so. If not, I want to tell him where to stick it in person.”

Thirteen years after being thrown out by the Jiangs, Jiang Fengmian contacts Wei Wuxian and asks to meet. Wei Wuxian goes in the hopes of reconciling with his adopted family, but the circumstances he finds himself in wont allow that to happen. What will he do when his former guardian tries to arrange a marriage for him that will benefit the Jiang-sect?

General:

Strawberry Wine on an April Evening, by stiltonbasket (52nd in a series)

A little less than a year after their wedding, Wei Ying leaves the Cloud Recesses to go night-hunting on his own.

This is not entirely uncommon. It is true that Wei Ying usually night-hunts with Lan Wangji, or with the juniors: but every now and then, he receives news of mild hauntings within a day’s ride from home and goes off alone to attend to them with Little Apple in tow.

On the fourth such occasion, Lan Wangji finds himself waiting late into the night for Wei Ying to return. Wei Ying sent a messenger talisman to the Jingshi earlier that evening, informing Lan Wangji that he had safely completed his night-hunt and started back for home—and though he ought to have reached the Cloud Recesses within the next two shichen, there has been no sign of him yet.

Drag Me Into Your Coffin (I Will Drag Your Sins Into the Light), by the5leggedCricket (🔒)

During the events in the GuanYin Temple, Jin GuangYao tries to drag Lan XiChen into death with him. When Lan XiChen next opens his eyes, he is faced with a—very alive—Jin GuangYao in Koi Tower, and a Jin ZiXun who is trying to force alcohol down his throat. Lan XiChen has a choice: smile and comply or take a stand once and for all—while still smiling, naturally.

AKA: Lan XiChen goes Off™

whatever it is you imagined (i’ll show you everything), by PrismaticAvocado (🔒)

“Why don’t I chop some wood and till the ground while you clean up a bit inside?” Wei Wuxian suggests.

“Mn,” Lan Wangji agrees. “Bring the wood as soon as you’re done. I bought ingredients in town; I’ll cook the fish soup that you like.”

“Aiya, you spoil me,” Wei Wuxian complains affectionately. “A man as pretty as you should really be the one getting spoiled, not me.”

“You are very pretty,” Lan Wangji says seriously. “And it is not spoiling to cook for my husband who will spend the day working on our farm.”

After decades in Cloud Recesses, Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji start a new chapter together.

Unfinished

Teen:

so i cut the shackles and changed my name, by MichelleFeather

“A-Ying, should anything happen, should you be separated from us or find yourself in need of help, find Lan Qiren in Cloud Recesses. No matter what’s happened, he will keep you safe. He has sworn to me his home will always be open to you, no matter what.”

Following the advice of his late mother, Wei Ying runs away from Lotus Pier, knowing that if he were to stay, he would likely die at the hands of Madam Yu.

And, he finds, the Lan Clan is the place where he was always supposed to be.

Remember, by Amona

Jiang Cheng was 6 years old when his father got him three puppies for his birthday. His first instinct was to look around cautiously, ready to gather the pups into his arms in case they decided to go towards —

His mind drew blank here.

General:

Blooming You a Garden Inside Me, by xxxMiaHikarixxx

After Wei Ying's encounter with the Waterborne Abyss, he sees the Twin Jades of Lan taking a walk. Curiously, he follows them and hears Lan Zhan's distaste for him. The first flower petal lands on his palm. Does Wei Ying have the hanahaki curse? Or is it something even more complicated?

This story started as an one-shot for a challenge and has been an ongoing multi-pov monster that fixes everything through angst, romance and lore.

Reunion, by Yellowcrane

With a sigh, Wei Ying dropped his chin to his chest and closed his eyes. Why was he even here? He couldn’t talk to anyone he used to hang out with because they had all dropped him and moved on with their lives. Even his adoptive siblings hadn’t reached out to him in the ten years since he was kicked out of the Jiang house. He couldn’t blame them. In their eyes, Wei Ying had got caught up in the wrong crowd and made a decision that almost ruined his life. Why would anyone even talk to someone that they assumed had become a deadbeat anyway?

The sound of the auditorium doors opening drew Wei Ying out of his depressive spiral. The auditorium was already silent from the Wen’s arrival, but this silence tasted different. It had a new kind of buzz running through the undercurrents of the crowd. Curious as always, Wei Wuxian looked up, and immediately all he could think was, ah, I guess this is why I’m here.

Or, Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji reminisce about their younger days and realize their competitive tendencies may have been a bit more romantically charged than they both thought.

#the untamed #mo dao zu shi #mdzs #cql #chen qing ling #untamed fanfiction

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bluenet13 · 1 year ago

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I Swear That I Am Up to No Good

Tim and Lucy celebrate four milestones one prank at a time.

Read on AO3

Tim is still smiling when he walks back to the station covered in baby powder. He takes the corner quickly trying to get to the men's locker without running into any of his coworkers. But as the universe will have it, he's not that lucky and from all the possibilities, of course, he runs into Angela.

"Bradford, what the hell happened?" Angela yelps, glaring at the baby powder that got on her clothes when they almost collided.

Tim runs a hand through his hand in pre-exasperation and huffs a simple, "Lucy."

Angela's grin gets impossibly wider, and Tim wishes he had chosen to clean up at home instead.

"She got you with your own trick?" Angela asks knowingly, unable to keep her amusement from her tone.

Tim nods, and levels her with a stern glare, but he should have known that never works with his best friend.

"I knew there was a reason I liked her," Angela says proudly, fixing Tim with a smug look. "So, are you already planning your revenge, or will you give her a pass as a graduation gift?"

"If this wasn't the second time she's gotten me in a row, I might consider it," Tim declares, a sly grin playing at the corners of his mouth. "But I can't afford to get complacent. I need to keep her on her toes."

Angela chuckles, knowing all too well the playful rivalry between Tim and Lucy, and more than suspecting what it might be hiding. "What are you gonna do? Pull at her ponytails or hide her juice box?"

"Ha-ha." Tim mocks, trying to get past Angela but she moves a step and blocks his way again.

"What was her other prank anyway? I didn't hear anything about it," Angela questions, used to finding one or the other moping at the station each time they're on the receiving end of one of their pranks.

Tim's face falls as he remembers Lucy's fake love confessing and the way his heart had jolted at her words for reasons unknown, and he instantly realizes his mistake as Angela's interest is piqued. "Nothing. It was a dumb prank," he tries, glaring at her but he looks too spooked for it to be effective.

"You're hiding things from me, Timothy, and I don't like it," Angela says, waiting him out for a beat before continuing, "But you get a pass today. I gotta go get ready to meet Jackson and Lucy at the bar."

"You're meeting West and Chen up for drinks?" Tim asks, trying to sound nonchalant but failing spectacularly.

Angela nods and looks at him questionably. "What, they didn't invite you? I'm sure they won't mind if we show up together."

Tim shakes his head and squares his shoulder. "I don't want to go get drinks with the rookies. They're insufferable enough as it is but I bet they will be even more extra tonight."

"Whatever you need to tell yourself, Tim," Angela says placatingly, patting him on the shoulder as she steps away.

Tim takes a moment to think his idea through before he rushes behind Angela. "Hey, wait up. Can you do me a favor?"

"Anything," Angela says immediately, even as he eyes him warily.

"Chen and West usually do karaoke while at the bar, right?" He inquires with faux innocence.

"Ye-es," Angela agrees doubtfully, not wanting to get involved in whatever evil idea Tim is concocting.

Tim smiles gleefully, getting closer to Angela as if half-expecting Lucy to be hiding behind a desk, listening to their conversation. "Can you get close to the stage and record her?"

Angela is intrigued but also reluctant to get involved, but it's Tim so, of course, she agrees. "Okay. But if anyone asks, it wasn't me."

"Deal," Tim says with a wicked grin. "Thanks, Ange."

"Right." Angela clicks her tongue and waves goodbye, leaving Tim alone in the hallway.

As expected, Angela comes through and that night Tim's phone pings with a text message. He opens it and immediately bursts out laughing when the audio file starts playing. And it's unfortunate for everybody how Kojo is the only one privy to just how fond his face looks as he listens.

Tim forgets all about the baby powder prank and his revenge until three weeks later when Kojo's sitter calls in the middle of roll call. Lucy's tipsy voice fills the room as Tim rushes to shut it off.

He fumbles with his pocket and then his phone, almost dropping it a few times, but mercifully succeeds in quieting it before Lucy starts the second verse.

"Sorry, sorry. That was K-Kojo's sitter. She knows not to call unless it's an emergency," Tim splutters. He bites his lip uncharacteristically, looking down to hide his blush.

"Was that Lucy?" Nolan wonders, breaking the silence that had fallen over the room after the initial bout of widespread laughter and clapping.

Tim runs his hand down his face and wishes the Earth would break and swallow him whole.

"I'm sure I'm not only talking for Nolan when I say we're all eagerly waiting for an answer," Commander Grey prompts, looking expectantly at Tim.

"Y-yes," Tim eventually says, looking up for the first time and wishing he hadn't. Lucy is bright red and looking more than a little bit murderously directly at him. And the rest of the room is looking between them with a mixture of amusement, second-hand embarrassment, and evil delight. "Can we go back to work?" He tries before anyone asks more questions. "Please."

"I'm sure you'd like that, Sergeant Bradford," Commander Grey agrees, taking obvious pity on him, finishing his speech quickly and sending everyone on their way.

"Thank you," Tim mouths to his boss, making a quick exit as soon as they're all dismissed.

He's almost in the clear when Lucy's voice calls from behind, "Not so fast, Bradford."

Tim sighs and reluctantly turns around, trying to look as innocent as possible. "Yes?"

"What the hell was that?" Lucy shrieks, swatting at his shoulder.

"It was supposed to be a response to your stupid baby powder prank! I only set it as your ringtone, Angela's and anything related to Kojo since neither was supposed to call while on shift," Tim shout-whispers, appalled at his own stupidity. "I didn't mean for it to cause such chaos. My phone is usually on silent but Kojo was sick last night and I wanted to be reachable since the sitter was taking him to the vet today."

Lucy's anger softens into a mix of understanding and concern. "Wait, what happened to Kojo? Is he okay?"

"Yeah, he should be. She sent a text, I think." Tim grabs his phone and reads, showing it to Lucy with a relieved smile upon seeing the good news that their dog is okay and it was something he ate on their walk.

"Phew, alright. You're off the hook because you were worried about Kojo," Lucy says, bumping his shoulder again for good measure. "But next time let's make sure the pranks are a little less public."

Tim chuckles and nods. "I'll make sure to change it to just your ringtone now."

Lucy shakes her head and glares at him. "I don't think that should be the lesson from this experience," she hisses.

Tim raises an eyebrow, a mischievous glint returning to his eyes. "Oh, come on, Chen. Where's the fun in that? Besides, more than half of our pranks happen while on shift."

Lucy sighs, unable to hide her smile, full well knowing she can't disagree with that. They wouldn't be them if they didn't prank each other even if it sometimes carried some risk. "Alright, but no more office-wide chaos."

Tim seems to think about it until he eventually nods. "Ground rules are no fun, but okay. I will do my best not to disrupt the whole precinct again."

Lucy shakes her head in exasperation but reaches forward to take Tim's offered hand, sealing their agreement.

They walk away, side by side, their laughter echoing through the halls of the station. Despite the occasional mishap, Tim and Lucy know their antics are an integral part of their relationship, and neither is willing to give that up.

-x-x-x-

Tim steps into his new office at Metro for the first time, still giddy from the morning with Lucy and his heart bursting with pride as he takes in his nameplate on the door. But as he approaches his desk, he notices something peculiar and his smile turns into a frown.

All the personal pictures he carefully placed on his desk and around the office the night before have been replaced and he blinks in confusion before bursting into laughter. Instead of a picture of him with his Military buddies, there's a snapshot of Smitty and his bowling team. A tipsy Angela and Lucy grin at him from another picture, his girlfriend and best friend making funny faces at the camera. A stark contrast to the picture of his nephews it had replaced. As his eyes move to the other pictures, Tim notices Nolan where his picture in uniform had been, a candid photo of Gerald the Goat instead of Kojo, and picture of the Fire Department Banquet instead of Mid-Wilshire's own celebration.

Finishing his exploration of the whimsical images, Tim finally sits down, looking in his drawers for the original pictures but coming up empty. His amusement quickly turns to annoyance as his eyes land on the pile of documents he should be reading to get acquainted with Metro procedure and up to speed with their cases, but then he hears a familiar giggle coming from outside the door, and his irritation melts away instantly.

"I should have known you were responsible for this," Tim says, glaring at his girlfriend when he opens the door, even as his voice is filled with affection. He can never stay mad at her for long. One look at those eyes and he's always a goner.

Lucy's eyes sparkle with mischief as she steps inside Tim's office. She grins at him and nods, looking so proud of herself. "Guilty as charged. I wanted to celebrate your promotion in a fun way."

"The baby booties weren't enough?" Tim groans and reaches forward, pulling Lucy to him.

Lucy can't contain her laughter and only Tim's kiss manages to silence her, but not for long. "I knew you might wake up before me and ruin the surprise. So I had a back up."

"Right, a backup." Tim sighs but ends up smiling softly when he takes in the little makeover of his new space. "Should I be worried about a second back up? Is a baby powder bomb gonna explode on me as soon as I get into the shop?"

Lucy's disappointment is evident at the missed opportunity as she shakes her head. "Not today, baby."

"Then I guess I should be thankful." Tim shrugs, knowing that when it comes to their pranks, it can always be worse.

Lucy steps closer and wraps her arms around him, raising on her tiptoes to whisper closely, "I wanted to show you how proud I am of you. You deserve every bit of this success and I wanted to make your first day a memorable one."

Tim hugs her tightly back, feeling grateful for her presence in his life and incredibly lucky to have someone who cares so much about him to go the extra mile to make him smile. "Thank you, Luce. You sure know how to make every moment special."

"I try," Lucy says shily, burying her face in his shirt and breathing him in deeply. "And don't worry, all your real pictures are safe and we can replace them back before we go home tonight."

"There's space for all of them," Tim offers, his tone a mix of amusement and mild exasperation. "Well, maybe not for Smitty's bowling league. He can have that one back."

Lucy's laughter fills the air, but Tim swiftly captures her lips with another kiss.

And as they stand there, surrounded by the wonderful people and memories that make their lives special, Tim can't help but laugh back. This silly prank is Lucy's way to show him she's proud, but more than that it's a testament to their bond, and a reminder that in the midst of their chaotic lives, they will always have lighthearted moments like this to show each other how much they are loved.

-x-x-x-

Tim and Lucy lace up their shoes, ready to embark on their run. Tim smiles mischievously as he gets up, and reaches behind him, handing Lucy a small gift box.

"Happy Anniversary, babe," he says softly, his blue eyes sparkling under the morning sun. "I know we said we would exchange gifts at dinner tonight, but I thought this might come in handy right now."

Curiosity piqued, Lucy opens the box to reveal a new smartwatch. She looks up at Tim, her face beaming with delight and jumps into his arms. "Oh, Tim, it's perfect. Thank you!"

"Yeah?" Tim asks shily, when they step away. "I already opened it and got it set up and synced with mine. I hope you don't mind."

Lucy frowns, surprised she didn't notice Tim wearing a new watch, but she blames it on the extracurricular activities they indulged in that morning. "It's okay," she says, leaning forward to gaze at his watch. It's gray with a dark blue strap that matches perfectly with her light blue one.

With the new smartwatches strapped on, they set up on their run, with Kojo bouncing excitedly alongside them. For the first few minutes the run goes on as expected, with Tim setting a quick, steady pace around the pond in their local park. They pass the Little Free Library on the right, and the bench with the guy lifting weights on the left, and it isn't until she almost runs into a tree that Lucy notices something is off.

As they make their way through the familiar park, Tim starts changing their usual route, taking unexpected turns here and there. Lucy almost crashes into a kid on a bicycle at some point and gets tangled in Kojo's leash at least twice.

Lucy laughs when it's Tim who almost trips after taking a sharp turn, but then she almost falls into a fountain as she struggles to keep up with the chaotic rhythm of their run. "What's going on, Tim?" She asks eventually, pulling on his hand so he slows down. They're both winded but Tim is somehow still smiling and for the life of her Lucy can't figure out why. "Did you plan a secret obstacle course for our anniversary? Is this some kind of Tim Test? Did I do something wrong?"

Tim chuckles, feigning innocence and shrugs. "I have no idea what you're talking about. I thought we could switch it up and take the scenic route instead."

Scenic? Lucy mouths, wondering if with scenic Tim means that he wants to explore the bottom of the pond, or get intimately acquainted with the trunk of the trees in the park. Still, she nods, and lets him continue to guide them in their haphazard run.

To her relief, the run ends a few minutes later and they make it back to his truck in one piece. They're all breathing hard, even Kojo needing to stop to catch his breath, and Lucy's thankful they had decided to skip breakfast that morning.

As they return home, Tim gestures towards his laptop on the living room table before heading into the kitchen. "Hey, while I get started on breakfast, why don't you check how our run went? The new app should show us a map and some cool stats."

Intrigued, Lucy logs in to Tim's profile and her brows furrow as the tracking app automatically opens. She loads the map, and her eyes widen in disbelief as she takes in what is being displayed. "T-Tim?" She stammers, trying to raise her voice so it reaches him in the kitchen despite her breath being stuck in her throat.

Tim appears beside her, making her jump, and she turns to face him, then back to the map. The screen showcases a winding line that spells out the words 'marry me?' in bold letters, mirroring the messy yet now memorable path they took during their run.

Lucy turns to Tim again, her heart racing, as realization dawns upon her. Her eyes shimmer with unshed tears, and her voice trembles as she asks, "Tim… is this…?"

Tim chuckles, a warmth in his eyes that matches the love in his voice. Instead of responding, he gracefully drops to one knee, and Lucy's hand instinctively flies to cover her mouth, feeling as if she's been transported into the middle of one of her favorite rom-coms.

"Lucy Chen," Tim begins, his voice filled with genuine emotion, causing tears to stream down Lucy's cheeks. "From the moment I met you, you've changed my life for the better in so many fucking ways. I was a little bit broken when we met, but with your smiles, quick wit, and incredible heart, you managed to put me back together so that I could feel I was deserving of your love… of your loyalty… of you. You make every day brighter, and I can only hope I bring into your life even a fraction of what you bring into mine. I'm the happiest when I'm with you and I can't imagine my life without you, baby. Will you marry me?"

Tears well up in Tim's eyes now as he looks up to Lucy and prepares to wait expectantly. But Lucy's response is immediate. She nods enthusiastically and launches herself into his arms. "Yes, fucking yes! A thousand times, yes!"

The ring box Tim had been holding slips from his hands as he embraces Lucy, their kisses overflowing with promises of love, joy, and the joint future they have both always deserved, but never believed they could have.

When they finally break for air, Tim retrieves the ring and gently slides it onto the fourth finger of Lucy's left hand. The delicate band, adorned with small diamonds and moonstones set in rose gold, perfectly symbolizes their love—simple, yet full of brilliance, and inconspicuous enough that it can be worn to work every day.

"Do you like it?" Tim whispers, and it's only then that Lucy realizes she's been completely enthralled, staring at the ring for who knows how long.

She nods and leans forward, pressing her lips against his. "It's perfect, just like you," she breathes, savoring each word against his mouth.

Eventually, they break apart to continue celebrating, but the taste of each other lingers. Their love intermingled, as they revel in the joy and certainty of a forever filled with pranks, love and laughter that's bound to be nothing short of extraordinary.

-x-x-x-

Tim and Lucy settle down for a cozy game night, ready to dive into a round of Monopoly. The game isn't their usual choice but Lucy had insisted and Tim was more than happy to indulge her.

Lucy has an impish look about her as she pulls out a custom-made Monopoly she had ordered from Etsy. "Look what I found, babe!" She exclaims, excitement evident in her voice. "I thought it would be a fun change to try a personalized game tonight."

Tim raises an eyebrow. "Personalized? How so?"

"Well, I found this Etsy seller that's all about creating personalized versions of famous board games. So she created a custom board and Chance and Community Chest cards that are all about us and our lives." Lucy beams as she explains, revealing the intricately designed cards and familiar locations on the board.

"O-kay," Tim agrees slowly, equally intrigued and apprehensive.

The game starts predictably enough, with the only indication that it is a different version, the fact that Tim is able to buy the 'North Hollywood Police Station' and Lucy buys Angela and Wesley's street. Tim then gets a Community Chest card that gives him $100 because he won the betting pool at the precinct and Lucy has to pay $50 to a charity for rescue dogs.

It isn't until they have been playing for a while that Tim notices the strangely specific nature of some of the cards he keeps receiving. This one tells him to pay $50 for a last-minute nanny replacement, and he frowns but pays anyway. On its own, the card is innocent enough, but then he gets a card that says "your baby ran out of diapers and in your rush to get to the store the cops stop you, go to jail." He goes to jail but now his spidey senses are tingling.

He asks Lucy about it but she shrugs and says that it's probably because she mentioned having friends with kids when placing the order for the custom Monopoly so the creator chose to include some things related to that.

Tim accepts her answer reluctantly. But then Lucy gets a Chance card that sends her to the preschool that they suspiciously pass every morning on the way to work and he glances up, unable to ignore his suspicions anymore. "Lucy, what's going on? These cards seem oddly tailored to our lives. And it's not because Angela and Harper have kids."

Lucy's been grinning ever since the game began, her smile widening ever since Tim got the first strange card. But now, her eyes are twinkling with excitement and something else that Tim can't name as she explains, "Those cards are a clue to something else. Do you want to know now or do you want to keep playing?"

Tim's heart skips a beat as he looks at Lucy, anticipation and nervousness intertwining in his chest. His girlfriend looks positively radiant and now that he really sees her he notices a new glow to her already bright persona. "What is it?" Tim asks, his voice shaking slightly. He has an inclination about what this is about but he needs her to spell it to him out loud.

Lucy's grin turns devious as she reaches into her pocket and hands Tim a card that reads, "Congratulations! You're going to be a parent. Advance to 'Parenthood Avenue' and start building your family!"

Tim's eyes widen, and a wave of emotion rushes through him. He blinks back tears as the dream that always felt just this side of attainable is suddenly staring back at him. He opens his mouth to speak, but is unable to find the words.

Releasing the card from his shaking fingers, Lucy sets his hand over her still flat belly and settles her head over his chest. "Tim, we're going to have a baby. We're going to be parents." Her voice trembles with excitement as she murmurs the words against his shirt, and her own tears start falling when she feels his tears on her skin.

He kisses her cheek and forehead, then gently pushes her back and leans down to kiss her belly. "God, Lucy. This is the best prank… the best surprise, the best news ever! I can't believe we're going to be parents."

"Are you happy?" Lucy asks, bashfully. She stares directly into Tim's beautiful eyes and wishes their baby girl or boy gets blue eyes like his.

Blue gazes into brown as Tim's thoughts mirror the sentiment, desiring not just one but two sets of his beloved brown eyes to meet every day. "Happy doesn't even begin to describe it, Luce. This is everything I've ever wanted," he says softly, taking her hand in his and kissing the two rings on the fourth finger of her left hand.

A beaming smile spreads across Lucy's face as she leans in, her forehead resting against Tim's. "I've never been happier, Tim. And it's all thanks to you."

Tim brushes a strand of hair behind Lucy's ear, and stares pensively up ahead. "You know, I can already see our little one running around, causing mayhem, just like his parents, and playing pranks on us and his or her uncles and aunts every chance they get."

Lucy chuckles and nods, because they will for sure inherit their mischievous spirit. "Good thing we have years of experience to keep up with them."

"Can't wait," Tim muses, ready for 9 months and a lifetime more of that spark that makes their lives special.

#chenford week 2023 #chenfordweek23 #chenford week day 5 #chenford #chenford fanfic #the rookie #the rookie fanfic #love languages #pranking as a love language #but also hands hugs and kisses #tim bradford #lucy chen

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flipping-the-coin · 1 year ago

Text

[Inquisitorial Report: Subject - Head Archivist Orion Pax]

[Authorization Level: Prime]

[Listed Authorizations: Optimus Prime]

[Assigned Inquisitor: Jazz]

[Three deca-cycles into assignment]

═════════════════

Listen, OP. We need to talk. Is there any particular reason why I wasn’t briefed that there's a whole other inquisitor here? She does her job pretty well for the most part, didn’t notice her at all till she climbed out of the slaggin’ wall and started cleaning up the hab!!! I don’t know what’s going on in the new training methods that Smokescreen is running, but I am pretty fragging sure that the person you’re spying on is NOT supposed to know you exist. Megatron definitely knows she’s here. Seems like he’s fond of her. I saw him leaving out a slagging snack for her before he escorted Orion to the Archives! What the actual frag, my mech? WHY WASN’T I TOLD SHE WAS HERE?! Now that that’s out of the way: onto Orion. I can’t get my servos on his medical records, they’re sealed up tighter than a stripped screw on your oil pan, but he takes some medications every cycle, one is some kind of sedative, that he takes before recharge (probably to help with nightmares, if I am guessing correctly. He’s had two since I’ve been watching so far, and they seemed pretty severe), and the others are mainly used for field suppression and anxiety. His field is… I dunno how to describe it…. It’s messed up, OP. Something happened to him cuz his field is different than I remember. When he’s out in public, it’s like he doesn’t even have one. He was always a bit reserved in expressing himself, but now it’s like he doesn’t have a field at all. But when it’s just him and Megatron in their hab, sometimes Megatron encourages him to let his field out and… Primus, OP it’s like slamming into a wall at mach 2 how thick his field is. I’ve only felt it a couple of times, It’s overwhelming, so I tend to stay back from the vents as much as I can when he’s emitting, and rely on my cams and audio. I hope you don’t mind.

It doesn’t seem to bother Megatron at all, though. In fact, he seems to enjoy it. But he was always a little weird, so I’m not really shocked he’d find comfort in something that feels so… smothering? (That’s probably not the right glyph, but I’m going with it.) He dotes on Orion Pax even more than he did before the war, and I gotta admit that it's a little humorous to see Lord Megatron dutifully preparing fuel every morning like some kinda housewife on those old Earth sitcoms.

Anyway, Orion is well cared for. Megatron attends to him dutifully, and Orion happily returns that favor to his Conjunx. As strangely as they present on the outside, their relationship dynamic seems quite healthy, if not a bit codependent. They touch each other a lot more now than they did before the war. I haven’t seen them go through any form of serious disagreement, and the minor one they did have was discussed and rectified (Megatron was frustrated with Orion for not putting the lid back on the rust sticks.)

Orion is odd, and his habits reflect that. I’ve watched him pick up more rocks than I can count on his treks to and from the Archives, and chemical analysis shows they are just… rocks. Sometimes they are in strange shapes, but usually just… rocks. He is very fond of crystals, though as far as I know, he only has two he cares for personally; a small potted one he keeps in his hab, and another, more rare aquamarine cluster that he keeps in his office at the Archives. I’ve heard him singing to that one, a couple of times now. Seems it's very important to him.

He rarely brings his work home. Seems he tries to keep work and home life separate as much as he can, though he does discuss things from work with Megatron at length some cycles, especially if he has to deal with the Council in any fashion. If I can be blunt… Orion Pax is not fond of most of the Council, and when I say ‘not fond’ I really mean ‘he fragging hates them.’ Seems there's been issues with Council Members intentionally goading him into emotional responses.

On a typical work Cycle, Megatron comes online before Orion, and busies himself preparing their fuels. Orion usually comes online just before the fuels are ready, and Megatron sometimes brings it to him in berth. Sometimes Orion wanders out to the table and they refuel together there. Megatron helps him prepare for work. Once at work, Orion tends to finish his official duties relatively quickly. He spends at least two joor a cycle assisting and mentoring his apprentice, Red Alert. The two seem to get along well enough, but there’s some strain there I haven’t quite worked out yet. They both are anxious things around each other, but their working relationship seems warm and friendly. He spends his fuel break on comms with his Conjunx. Afterwards, he spends most of his time, ah… poking around in data he’s probably not authorized to be poking around in. Mostly military records from the war and things in the Decepticon Archives. Before the end of his shift, he spends a joor or so helping the archivists tidy up and organize everything before he goes home.

If Megatron doesn’t pick him up from work and escort him home, he meets him at the door. Regardless, they spend a great amount of time being lovey-dovey with each other once the door closes, talking about how much they missed each other, which can last for quite some time if they kiss their way to berth… or the sofa… or a wall. Once they finish with that, they tend to relax together, usually wrapped up in each other in some fashion until one of them, usually Megatron, goes to prepare fuel.

After they fuel, they either retire to berth or settle to watch something on the holoscreen. Unexpectedly, Orion seems to prefer watching horror, suspense and thrillers. I expected him to be a ‘romcom’ sort of mech. Go figure.

Their berth-time habits are a bit much, honestly. Megatron almost always has some new poem to recite for Orion. Most of the time they’re about how much he loves Orion, how beautiful he finds him to be or ah… what he wants to do to him, if you catch my drift. Sometimes they fool around for a while after that, but once they settle in berth, they’re always as close to each other as possible. Sometimes, Orion will read aloud while they are snuggled up together. He reads a very slowly, but that seems to help Megatron fall into recharge. Sometimes Megatron reads to Orion, though, there’s really no way to tell how it will end up.

On the cycles he’s off duty, both he and Megatron recharge later than normal. Orion seems to enjoy doting on Megatron on his off cycles, especially in the earlier joors. He’ll prepare fuel for the two of them to share in berth. Their behavior during this period of the cycle can only be described as playfully silly. After fueling, they flirt with each other in the strangest way I’ve ever seen. It starts with playful nudges and jabs and ends with them grabbing and tickling at each other until Orion inevitably ends up subdued, either beneath Megatron’s weight or by being trapped in an embrace. There’s plenty of laughter from both parties during the whole exchange.

After that, once they’ve cool off from their game, Orion leads Megatron to the washrack where they thoroughly groom each other. I honestly am not joking when I say those two can’t keep their servos off each other. They will find any excuse to touch each other. Anyway, after grooming they tend to break apart for a while.

Orion works on his pet project of translating what little Kaoni literature survived the war for a few joor, sometimes asking Megatron for assistance in his glyph usage. He takes his work very seriously, though I highly doubt the Council will allow his translations to be integrated into the Archives as he wants. Megatron usually interrupts him at some point, with pleas for attention or reminders not to work too hard, usually with a snack in servo.

Evenings depend on whether Orion has a social call or not. I didn’t actually realize he had any friends, considering his reputation, but it seems First Aid and his gardener, ‘Melody’ (who I am 99.9% sure is the SPY I WASN’T BRIEFED ABOUT on HER off cycles) are fond of him, and come over for energon and goodies on some of Orion’s off cycles. Sometimes they gossip and sometimes they discuss literature. Orion Pax has no clue that his gardener lives inside his walls…

When he doesn’t have guests, he spends his evenings engaging in his various hobbies. He’s very fond of the crystals in his garden and will sometimes help the gardener tend to them. (all things considered, it seems this gardener is his closest friend. I wonder if she feels as weird about spying on him as I do?) He also really enjoys calligraphy and often transcribes Megatron’s poetry in the most exquisite of glyphs. He was good at calligraphy before the war too, you know? Though he didn’t practice it as much back then. I’m glad to see he’s still getting joy from it. The crystal thing is new, though, I never saw him do anything like that before the war. When it’s time to refuel, they have a brief conversation that essentially boils down to whether or not they can bear to part from each other’s company, which decides if they order fuel for delivery or not.

It also seems like both he and Megatron enjoy the human inspired ‘jigsaw puzzle’ as well. Some evenings they work on one together while watching something on the holocreen or chatting. They have quite the collection, and always new ones seem to pop up. I think Megatron orders them as a surprise because Orion is always excited to see it. They only work on these together. (They work on these during the work cycle evenings as well, sorry OP I forgot to mention that. It’s just so common to see that it slipped right through my processor until I was specifically thinking about Orion’s hobbies.)

As for his general interests, I’d say his number one interest is his Conjunx, if I’m to be honest. Megatron is the single most important thing to Orion Pax. I haven’t even been here that long, and I can see that plainly. If something can be done with Megatron, he will do it with Megatron. He chooses Megatron over all of his other interests and hobbies EVERY TIME. He has joked with Megatron several times that it is to ‘make up for lost time.’ He knows more about Megatron than probably anyone else in the entire universe including Megatron himself. In fact, Megatron often has to encourage or remind Orion to pursue his other interests.

Other than that, he has a pretty wide range of things he’s interested in. He’s deeply invested in Kaon: the language and culture, as well as preserving what’s left of it. He has twice now brought up the topic of wishing to live in Kaon like they had originally planned to, before the war. Also, he enjoys crystals and their tending, calligraphy, poetry, holofilms, jigsaw puzzles, and politics (he has OPINIONS, let me TELL YOU). He spends a good deal of time reading about a variety of topics, such as history, mythology, poetry, romance, etymology, cyber-geology, crystals and their assorted sciences, mineralogy, medicine, politics, pro-Decepticon and Neutral works, graffiti and street art, erotica, memoirs, mystery, cyber-biology, and self-help.

He has some less prevalent, superficial interests as well. I’ve either heard him mention an interest in these topics or heard him give some factoid that only someone with some level of interest would know. I admit, some of these come from my pre-war history with him, (considering the ah…. Extremely wide scope you’ve given me, I think it’s relevant): theology, earth plants, drawing, hymns??? I dunno how else to describe it… Ancient songs, gladiator subculture, sparklings and their care, semiology, symbology, linguistics, justice, psychology, ethics, fuel preparation recipes, turbofoxes, warframe maintenance and first aid, archival sciences, relics, decryption, urban exploration, and dance.

That’s about all I got for ya OP. I wasn’t lying when i said he’s a pretty boring mech. He has a few quirks about his romantic life, but other than that, he’s kinda a nerd. Just like he was before the war. He’s just… more clingy and has medical problems now. As with the last one, I’ve enclosed a journal entry. Same as last time, I have no idea when he wrote this. Honestly, I just picked one at random.

═════════════════

I had an appointment with Ratchet this cycle that once again did not go very well. I truly am trying my hardest to understand what he wants from me. It seems no matter how I answer his questions, he is displeased by my words. I fear for him. His hatred of Megatronus and his disgust with me seem to be mixing with his grief for Optimus Prime, driving him mad.

Megatronus has repeatedly pleaded on my behalf for another doctor to take my case, but Ratchet insists that I am too volatile and dangerous to be seen by anyone else, which… honestly, may be true. I cannot always control myself, especially when I feel backed into a corner or feel Megatronus is being threatened. When I fear for his safety… I cannot control what I do anymore. I am so terrified of losing him that I can’t control myself.

Before the war, it was the opposite. Megatronus protected me from dangers, and I had little reason to believe I had the power to protect him from much of anything. He was so righteous and strong… almost like a deity in my optics. Though I never worshiped my champion in a traditional manner, I nonetheless found myself deeply devoted to him and his cause.

His touch has always been different from the touch of any other to me, even before I realized that I wished to belong to him. The first time he touched me was merely a servo upon my shoulder as he greeted me and welcomed me to Kaon. I cannot even recall what he spoke to me considering the nearly explosive reaction my spark had to that simple touch.

Of course, I had no frame of reference for what affection or love felt like, so all I really understood was that I liked it when he touched me. His touches were always patient and gentle, a stark opposite to whenever Alpha Trion would touch me, with little concern for my comfort and completely lacking in any sort of tenderness. I was accustomed to my comfort being disregarded by those around me, but Megatronus cared.

I think he must have sensed it, somehow; how repressed and unhappy I was. I had buried so much of myself in my attempts to please my Sire that I barely had any personality when we initially met. Yet he enjoyed my company regardless and urged me to pursue what I wanted, instead of what was expected of me. I had no way of knowing, in the beginning, that I would ultimately realize that he was what my spark wished for above all else.

There are so many moments I should have realized it… I can still recall how eagerly my spark pulsed with excitement and trust the first time he settled between my thighs… the way his field wrapped around me like a promise as he teased me to ecstasy with digits and glossa… I was so deeply in love with him, yet so oblivious of my own emotions. How foolish I was to not see it for what it was.

I am no fool, however. I know exactly who my lover was and is. I knew that he made a living via extinguishing sparks. I knew that he was known for his brutality in the arena. I witnessed more than enough of his gladiatorial matches to know the violence he was capable of. If I am honest… I think part of his allure is that violence, that he never has turned upon myself. To be loved so dearly by one who is known for their violence, to draw out the gentle in one that most see as a monster… to be touched so lovingly by servos still stained with the energon of his foes… I cannot even begin to describe how that feels.

I knew he would start a war the moment I came online strapped to that table in the tunnels. I could feel him trying to cover up his panic to soothe me as he tried to rescue me from my inevitable fate, and I know that he continues to view it as his greatest failure that he did not reach me in time. My champion started his war far sooner and with far more brutality than he wished to because THEY TOOK ME FROM HIM. He still dreams of that cycle I was taken… and how he felt my agony and terror.

Some cycles I ponder what would have happened if he had reached me in time. Would the war have continued if I had been allowed to stand at his side the way I wanted to? I do not know, but I do know that he never would have lost himself to madness. I know that Cybertron never would have been rendered uninhabitable. I know that our war would not have reached the stars had I been at my lover’s side.

We had promised each other eternity and were ripped apart after only a vorn. He grieved for me, and I felt every bit of his anguish. I was there when he spiraled into brutality. I was powerless as I felt his spark grow colder and colder as his rage took hold of him. Our separation was painful for Megatronus. Both physically and mentally. To have our bond severed so forcefully wounded his very spark. So very few seem to understand that ache as we do.

I begged to be allowed to comfort him. I understand that many believe comfort is the last thing Megatronus deserves, but it would have stopped his rampages. If only he knew I still lived. He would have at least had hope. Instead, he saw a new Prime, wearing his deceased Conjunx’s frame and speaking in his voice like an unholy abomination. Optimus Prime spoke lies about willingly accepting the Matrix, of duty, and freedom, spoke as if he were me, when my love could see and feel so clearly that he was NOT. How could they not expect Megatronus’ wrath?

I know that many hold contempt for me for continuing to stand at his side, but how can they expect anything else? He was the ONLY ONE who saw through Optimus’ lies. He was the only one who fought to FREE me, though he was under the impression I was gone. He still wished for my frame to be laid to rest properly, not to be desecrated by the Council’s puppet Prime. He fought for me… How can they not understand that? He was the only one…

He and I have tasted each other's sparks in the most intimate and forbidden of ways. We have been a united being in both spark and frame. Megatronus did nothing during the war that I did not predict and try to stop. I could feel him spiraling deeper into madness the longer the war dragged on, and along with that, his moral standards fell away. I am not proud of the things my lover has done. There are many things I wish I could have stopped. There are memories of him that are terrifying, disgusting even, especially after he began his dark energon consumption. He forgot who he was, just as I had forgotten who I was before I knew him. There were so many times I thought I had lost him for good…

But then Unicron awoke, and I got the chance to live again. I saw that my Champion was still there, merely buried under millennia of grief and war. And he still loved me as deeply as I loved him. He feared that I would not love what he had become… but to me, he will always be my Champion, for I understand him as none other does, and he likewise is the only one who truly knows me. I know his spark as clearly as I know my own, and I cannot condemn him for his actions while spark-broken. He fought for me just as hard as I fought to get back to him, if not more so. His actions were simply much more visible, and affected far more than necessary.

I am told I am selfish for not allowing the citizens of Cybertron the execution they feel they deserve, but has not Megatronus already perished at the servos of my own sparkling for his crimes? Was he not tormented by the Unmaker before an act of divine intervention brought his spark back to life? Is he not still bearing the weight of his crimes by being restricted more than any other citizen of Cybertron? Megatronus has already been and is currently being punished for his crimes. He wears the frame to prove it.

I don’t care what they say about him, I know his spark. I know he speaks true when he says he wants nothing more than peace and freedom for all Cybertronians. I am proud to be his Conjunx, not ashamed, as so many insist that I should be. He is one choice I will never feel shame for and one I will never regret choosing. I promised him eternity, and I meant that.

[Report Received: Visibility Status - Seen]

#two sides to a coin au #transformers prime au #two sides supplemental writing #maccadam #two sides supplemental inquisitorial report #transformers prime #megaop #orion pax #two sides supplemental Jazz #megop #orion x megatronus #tfp orion pax #megatron

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pandoriasbox · 2 years ago

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I was really hoping doing the spring event would get me in the mood to jump back into the gender essay, clean up my script, record the audio, ect but turns out I can’t even play SSO on my PC anymore. Great job SSE, gotta love making the game completely unplayable during an event I’m sure they won’t have the decency to extend to make up for their flub.

Anyone else getting this issue? I tried reinstalling the game but no matter what I do, delete roaming files, use old ones, repair game files, ect ect nothing’s worked. It just crashes on startup. I guess it’s just a waiting game now. I even tried using epic games but I don’t think anyone’s surprised to find out that won’t even load the launcher lol.

#rant

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audio-luddite · 1 year ago

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I did a browse of Tumblr "Audiophile".

OK weird.

Much of the stuff is photos of old stuff from brochures and magazines (like paper OMG). I guess some people kept all that stuff. Grandpa was a hoarder of audio mags? I see lovely ads for crap product. It was crap 60 years ago and still is today (like the BOSE 901). There are some bits showing good stuff but not much. And there are the confused people who don't understand obsession with vacuum tubes and LP records.

There are links to very artistic audio themed soft-core porn. Some are adds for console stereos draped with girls in lingerie. A good stereo will bring the girls in for sure. At least that was thought in the 60s? And there are people posing as golden ears. Some experts might be expert, but you gotta pay the bills no matter the crap information they put out. Number ten in this guy's top ten turntable list is pure crap now and forever.

I have even seen totally phony photo-shopped systems that I know could never exist. You know a turntable has to be at least a bit more than 12" across to fit an LP which is 12 inches in diameter. So that picture just don't scale right.

I guess in summary it is not much fun to look at that tag as there is so much dross.

If you are an audiophile then you probably know good from bad or want to. If you are just interested or new to this then there is a problem. There is a hell of a lot of misinformation conspiracy and noise.

First problem is the term audiophile. It means literally you love sound. The presumption is you appreciate the quality of sound. That is different than liking music in general, or some specific type of music. That would be a musicophile. All it takes is adding -phile to the end of a word.

So if you like music as opposed to just the sound of steam locomotives passing by and care for good clean sound then you are bumping up against this other -phile thing. Do not be intimidated. I assure you that listening to a favorite artist with all the sounds fully resolved and blasting away in your home is a good thing.

It is strange to me that people will spend a small fortune on a sound system for their car and far less in their home. Though I suppose if you live in an apartment loud music will make no friends, but being a big bass thumper in traffic is OK and even expected. Hey if you love that sound well sorry to tell you... yup audiophile.

Now to cost. There can be a lot of money spent. Some people will spend six figures restoring a car from when they were young. It is a hobby where it is possible to spend gobs of money. And there are many people, and companies who will help you spend your money.

You can spend much less and get good results. My equipment has only two relatively new things in it. One Phono Cartridge, and one vacuum tube. All the rest of the electronics are decades old. My speakers are a few years old but I built those as I know best. The cost has been interesting. By selling off older even collectable stuff I have spent effectively no money over the past 7 or 8 years. Yes I bought that stuff once long ago, but economically it was sunk money.

I have the advantage of experience and know the good stuff from the less good. I know what brands to look for. I also know which products have cults around them that blur the flaws. I call myself a "cheap audiophile" as I will not spend more than low four figures on anything. The most expensive thing I ever bought was under 2k bucks. Most was far less than that.

One of the links the tag search brought up was guy who did not understand why anyone would buy Vinyl Records. The equipment is expensive and the media is less available than digital streams. There was one reply about the tangible nature of an album and actually owning a thing rather than just being allowed to access it. I will go further.

I have avoided high end streaming because of cost and complexity. To get good sound out of numbers you need several lumps and most are expensive. You need a computer or a server that is logged into a provider like "tidal" or "qobuz" or "apple music". Then you need a device that can store the bits on a drive either an SSD or even a spinning magnetic disc to avoid drop outs that can be the music server, but not the computer. Then you need a DAC to convert the particular stream to analog sound which is finally fed into your audio system proper. Aside from the subscription (I have apple music) you need three lumps that each cost more than a good turntable if you want audiophile sound.

In order to add a high end streaming line to my system would cost more than the replacement cost of my system as it is right now. So I have a low end solution. I plug my Iphone into my CD player with a nice-ish DAC in it. It is OK sound. But I swear if I play an LP of the same music after hearing it off my iphone to CD quality there is no comparison the LP is better.

And yes when it comes to vacuum tubes I vacillate. They are expensive and wear out. They sound nice. They have more distortion and artifacts than solid state, but it is nice sounding distortion. A big part of this hobby skews preferences to nice sounding distortion. Vacuum tubes and moving coil phono cartridges are prime examples.

My most recent experience was going from a full vacuum tube preamplifer to a hybrid with only one tube. The sound was rich and deep and involving before. Yummy like a good sticky baklava dripping with honey. Now it is detailed and frankly palpable. I can hear a singer part their lips before a phrase. You have to hear that to appreciate it.

I have been recently been tempted with two vacuum tube unicorn amplifiers for a very good price for that type of device. That price is double what a competitive solid state amplifier would be. And like I say at the local pub after my fourth beer, I want another but I don't need another. I am seriously tempted. I have a nascent love for the sound I know is in them. They have a voice and it is good. Actually this is a key aspect of the hobby. It is an emotional response to something. It is irrational.

Welcome to the irrational!

#audophile #irrational audiophile #cheap audiophile #high end audio #tubes vs transistors #audioblr #vinyl #turntables

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killyertelevision · 2 years ago

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@thecashandandrogyny hi here’s my little collection! i apologize in advance for how terrible the photo quality is and for how long this post is going to be

starting off with stereos👍👍

THIS asshole……i got it for 50 bucks at a garage sale & for breakfast it chewed on my copy of london calling on tape. the only part of it that hasn’t fucked up so far is the cd player which is pretty much all i’m using it for at the moment. wise advice from the guy who runs the local phys media music & records store: never buy a stereo/walkman/whatever if the brand is someone’s name. for the meantime it’s a shelf for my vinyls and hat collection

next is her. the cd player doesn’t work quite right (skips songs & butchers the quality iirc). when i was still using my mom’s old stereo as my main one i’d use this little sony to fast forward and rewind tapes, since those buttons didn’t work on my mom’s. it’s kind of just sitting there on my floor now !

to be honest i haven’t used this one yet but! she’s pretty & looks brand new. i think it was like $12 at a thrift store. score

the shitty ass photo doesn’t do this one justice it’s so cool looking in real life!!! it only plays tapes but it plays them well and it’s actually really small & very lightweight. i wish it ran on batteries too instead of cord only but oh well. i fucking love sanyo’s old music products

now my discmans…..

the two on the right i’ve had for a while and work beautifully. i usually only bring the sony out and about with me because it actually fits in most pockets and bags. the jvc is such an unfortunate shape that it’s pretty much impossible to bring anywhere. sad! & the one on the left i got last weekend at a garage sale. it works fine it’s just super fucking dirty and i gotta clean it still

e walkmans

the first one i ever got & my favourite & the oldest out of all of mine (1982). but i don’t think that even needs to be said because the sheer size of it gives away its age. compared to my hand it’s massive LOL my only gripe with her is the audio quality… it kind of sounds like you’re trying to listen to a stereo on middle volume while its like 30 feet away from you. there’s nothing wrong with it though its just wear and tear! i got it at a value village with the case and all + the leather straps attached to it are so you can carry it like a purse but i don’t dare try and hold it like that out of fear of the straps breaking

this one is somewhere in the mid 90s range + the second one i ever got + my second favourite! it’s waterproof and pretty much built for running with so it’s the one i usually bring with me out in public! like most of the walkmans i have it has a belt clip on the back (unlike the previous one where the belt loop is a part of the vinyl case) (i have to literally remove my belt to take that thing off which is a little embarrassing to do in heavily populated areas)

i originally got one of a very similar model at a thrift store but there was something wrong with it that made it so you could hear this clicking sound every time you’d play a tape. you could hear it even if the volume was way up so i passed it on to a friend of mine who liked the clicking sound and was in desperate need of a walkman. then i found this one on ebay for around the same price & it was in the box which was cool! nothing really special to say about it…….and i do have the headphones pictured on the box

and this is my most recent score!! ft dookie by green day. i got it at a local vintage shop. it’s old enough that it doesn’t have a rewind button which is kind of neat

now kind of miscellaneous stuff i have laying around!

radio headphones LOL. same story as that one sanyo up above: found og at a thrift store, and maybe might have broken it by accidentally leaving it in my bag for too long aand it got crushed by my books. it still worked, the plastic just broke so it didn’t quite sit right on your head & was uncomfortable to wear. a friend of mine willingly asked for them and then i found this pair (same exact model) on ebay and got it for like $15 cause i really liked the old one

these are kind of cool!!! if your car has a cassette player and you want to listen to a cd, you can put that tape into the player and connect the cord to a discman/cd player and it’ll play! vice versa for the other one: if your car has a cd player but you wanna listen to a tape, you plug that into the electric cigarette lighter and the cord into a walkman/tape player. these would be twice as awesome if i actually had a car. Lol

then this little portable radio! it’s kind of fun to walk around the house seeing where the signal cuts out & where it gets stronger. the metal antenna actually gets massive when you fully extend it

these are cool too!!! not pictured is the plastic piece that goes between them but i do have it (you can kind of see it behind the portable radio in the last pic). you put your walkman in the plastic piece and connect it to the speakers and it basically turns your walkman into a custom little stereo

and last but not least my dad’s walmart brand mp3 player he gave to me. it has a shit ton of faith no more, david bowie, and glenn danzig songs on it and it doesn’t stay alive for more than 30 seconds if it’s not plugged in

anyway that’s all i’ve got at the moment thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk about them!!!!

#truly my prides and joys #i think i’ll give this post a tag for future reference #💿#also unless otherwise stated like the ones i got off ebay every one of these i got secondhand!

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thmgau · 1 year ago

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CHAPTER 18 - END OF A CAMPAIGN [wattpad link]

---

The rest of the show went on without a hitch. No puppet attacks, no audio malfunctions, no accidents. As the group walked backstage to the sound of the audience cheering, Juniper stretched its arms.

“Whew! What a performance!” Juniper grinned. “Yea, I see why y’all like doing this now.” Cherry chuckled. “Maybe I should get into acting.” “We can’t have 3 theater kids in the group! 2 is more than enough!” “We should probably take these costumes off, huh?” “Yeah, probably. Let’s go do that.”

The group went on to the dressing room as Natalie sat on a block backstage, browsing her phone. Allie walked up & sat next to her.

“Is your arm feelin’ any better?” she asked. “A little. Probably gonna be bruised by tomorrow morning,” Natalie chuckled. “Well, you better rest up. Maybe skip class or something.” “I’ll be fine. It’s not an animal bite, so risk of infection is low or something.” “Alright, well, at least get a bandage on that or something. Looks bad.” Allie said, walking off.

The group comes back from the dressing room, in their normal clothes.

“Alright, I am starving!” Nora stretched her arms. “We should head by Arby’s or something.” “Yea, absolutely. I could go for some curly fries.” “Hold on,” Leslie said. “Before we go, I wanna do something.”

Leslie walked over to Natalie & sat by her.

“Hey, Nat.” “Oh, uh, hey.” “I just wanted to say, um.. thank you for fending off those puppets earlier. You were very brave to do that.” “Well- They were gonna hurt you, &.. y’know, I can’t let my rival die. Y’know.” “Yea, yea. Your ‘rival.’ If there’s, uh, anything I can do to help with the bite or anything else, I’m a text away. Alright?” “..Alright.”

Leslie got up, waving at Natalie.

“Have a nice night!” “You too.”

Reconvening with the group, Leslie did a little twirl. “Alright! Let’s go get some Arby’s!”

It was a quiet night in the puppet shop. There were barely any customers, especially at this time of night, so Alph was sweeping & cleaning the shop. He had the news up on the TV as well, so it wasn’t completely silent. As she swept, she took a glance up at the TV to see what was happening.

“A performance of Beauty & The Beast at the University of Cincinnati has been hijacked momentarily by 5 puppets. After a fight with an unknown actor, the puppets fled & their location is currently unknown. The following clip is a recording from the audience of the hijack happening.”

The clip started playing on the TV. A person stood onstage as 5 puppets climbed up onto the stage & started attacking the person. Alph recognized the puppets instantly.

“No- It can’t be..”

He continued watching the clip. Another actor ran out onto stage & started tussling with the puppets, pushing the green one off the stage. Alph could see his face clearly. It was Sotry.

“That’s not Sotry, is it?”

Dropping the broom, Alph quickly ran behind the counter & opened up the back room, flipping on the light.

The puppets were gone.

The only things in there were the usual, & a small stack of posters that Alph had never seen before, sitting on the work desk.

Alph grabbed one of the posters & ran.

The group was outside now, heading to Cherry’s car. It was quite dark out, but the street lamps were on, so they could see fairly well.

“Alright! Who’s ready for some Arby’s?!” “Woohoo!!”

As they approached the car, they heard a voice yell at them.

“STOP RIGHT THERE!” “Huh?”

The group spun around. Standing behind them was Sotry, along with 4 other puppets, which were red, yellow, blue, & gray respectively.

“Oh, you’ve gotta be kidding me,” Cherry groaned. “What do you want?”

“You’ve torn down my posters, you’ve broken my arm, you five are actively ruining my campaign.” “What, your campaign to be ‘president of the world?” Juniper asked. “That’s not a real thing!” “Also, we didn’t break your arm.” Kalani said. “That was Natalie.” “Regardless, the damage you’ve done to my reputation is outrageous-” “All we’ve done is tear down your stupid posters-” “SILENCE!” Sotry snapped. “I’m speaking!” “Alright, alright, jeez.”

“Anyways, our revenge comes now. Puppets..” Sotry pointed at the group. “ATTACK!”

The puppets started charging toward the group.

“Oh shit.”

The group quickly pulled on their necklaces, transforming into Hero Mode. As they summoned in their weapons, Leslie paused.

“Wait, I thought we agreed to not fight them!” “We said only to fight when absolutely necessary, & they’re literally about to maul us to death.” “But someone made these puppets! We can’t just- Ow!”

The red puppet had ran up & hit Leslie in the face.

“Leslie!” “Oh, so that’s how you wanna play it?” Sotry chuckled. “You don’t want to hurt us? That makes my job a lot easier then!” “But someone must have built you, yea?” Kalani asked, fending off the blue puppet. “Well, yes, but it’s none of your business.” Sotry said. “Alph was an idiot, accidentally programming sentience into me. He never would have seen this coming.” “Alph.. isn’t that the guy who runs the puppet shop?” “Precisely. & that’s all I’ll say on the matter.”

It seemed like Sotry wasn’t gonna speak for much longer, so all the group could do was fend off the other puppets.

Cherry, despite the couple of weeks she’s spent working out so far, still struggled with wielding her sword a bit. They could see some improvement, though, seeing as how they were successfully using their sword as a shield against the red puppet. Nora, Juniper, & Kalani, with their range-based weapons, could whip, jab, & blast at the puppets from a far-away distance. Leslie, meanwhile, was in hands-on combat (not literally, it was using its scythes) with the gray puppet.

The gray puppet went in for a punch. Panicking, Leslie flung (again, not literally) their scythes at the gray puppet, cutting off its arm & its head. Everyone turned to look over as the now-decapitated puppet collapsed onto the concrete.

“Oops.” Leslie mumbled. “Oh, how disappointing.” Sotry rolled his eyes. “Wyndo was easily replaceable anyway. No need to mourn.”

“Wait,” Nora started, using her whip to fend back the yellow puppet. “You said Alph programmed sentience into you, right? Why?” “Well, it was by accident, of course, but she did program sentience into me nonetheless.” Sotry said, blatantly ignoring his earlier statement about not speaking any further. “To Alph, I’m the star of the show. Shining & elegant. He wanted to make me perfect.. but Alph’s idea of perfect is different from mine.” “& what exactly do you mean by that?” Cherry asked, using her sword to slice the oncoming red puppet in half. “Alph’s goals for me & my goals for me are similar: dazzle the world with my performance. Our methods, however, differ. While Alph expects me to perform & sing & entertain, my plan is purely political.”

“You.. were supposed to be a performance puppet?” Juniper asked, using xaer spear to jab at the yellow puppet’s chest. “That was my.. intended purpose, yes. In an attempt to perfect my code, Alph had accidentally made a grave mistake: giving me sentience.” “& he just.. never bothered to fix it?” “Of course not. I was smart enough to make sure Alph never found out. In the dark hours of the night is when I would work, teaching myself how to code so I could give the others a false sense of sentience. I’m the only true sentient one out of all these other scraps of wood. I gave them all false sentience to follow my every command.”

Everyone paused, even the puppets that weren’t fully destroyed, to look at Sotry.

“What are you all staring at me for?” “You just admitted to, like, some of the most fucked up shit I’ve ever heard!” “So? Not everything is all sunshine & flowers. Sometimes to get what you want, you have to use force.” Sotry snarled. “Well.. that’s not very nice.” Leslie mumbled. “Kindness isn’t always the answer to all your problems, pipsqueak. Now..” he said, grasping Juniper’s spear & yanking it out of buns hands. “Hey!”

Sotry, despite his broken arm, lifted the spear up into the air, aiming it at Juniper. “You, Juniper, were the one who started tearing down my posters. You’re the reason this is all happening.” “How do you know my- oh, yea. The cameras. Carry on.” “You’re acting way too nonchalant for this, Juni-” “MAY I FINISH?” “Sorry, jeez.” “Anyways.. if you & your little friends never started tearing down my posters, we would have left you alone. You just had to go & meddle around in business that wasn’t yours. Prepare to-” “SOTRY!”

A familiar voice rang out in the parking lot. Sotry immediately froze as everyone glanced to see who was there.

It was Alph.

Alph stormed up to Sotry, holding a poster in her hand. Juniper & the others instantly recognized it. It was one of Sotry’s posters.

“What is the meaning of this, Sotry?” Alph asked, holding the poster up to Sotry’s face. “Um.”

Instead of the bold & brash Sotry that the group had been dealing with, he seemed more.. timid, perhaps, now that Alph was here.

“Uhh..” Juniper said. “Your puppet is trying to become president of the world. Also he’s sentient.” “Is that true?” Alph asked, looking straight at Sotry.

Dropping the spear in its hands, Sotry replied, “...yes.” “We’re discussing this later.” Alph said. “Sotry, bring the other puppets back to the shop. Now.”

Without missing a beat, Sotry left, dragging the other puppets along with him.

Sighing with relief, Alph turned to face the group. “I’m so sorry y’all got wrapped up in that-” “WE’RE SORRY FOR DESTROYING YOUR PUPPETS!” Leslie wailed. “In our defense, they were trying to kill us.” “They shouldn’t have been tryin’ to kill ya. Either way, it was all in self defense, & I can fix ‘em up!” “Oh, ok! So you’re not mad at us!” “No! Why would I be mad? Sotry’s the one in trouble here.” Alph chuckled. “Y’all did a good service today, preventing this ‘president of the world’ thing & all. I respect y’all for that.” “It’s the least we could do. We are heroes, after all.”

Alph nodded. “Well, I’ll be on my way to give Sotry a stern talkin’ to. Hope to see y’all by the shop again!” “Goodbye!!”

With that, Alph walked back to her car. The group sighed, tugging on their ties & transforming back into their normal clothes.

“Thank god that’s over with. A fight right after a theatrical performance? Really?” “Yea! We should be getting paid for this, at least!” “We gotta pay rent somehow. These so-called ‘Celestials’ should be giving us, like, a grand each.” “Last time I saw, there wasn’t a finance Celestial.” “Oh, whatever! Let’s just go get some Arby’s!” “Woohoo!! Arby’s!”

“So you LIED to us?!”

Three Celestials stood in a room. One stood at around 10 feet tall, while the other 2 were around 5 feet. They seemed to be in the middle of an argument of some sort.

“I didn’t lie to you!” the tall one said. “I- I was just protecting you!” “Protecting us from WHAT? The TRUTH?!” one of the shorter ones yelled back. “Storm-” “Our mom has been gone for over 2000 years & you only bothered to tell us where ae are NOW?! Why would you not tell us when ae LEFT?!” “You have to understand, Storm, it was for your own good-” “My own good? My own good?! You know what would be for my own good?! If ANYBODY had told us what happened to our mom after Juno shot them!” “I’m sorry, Storm.. please, let me make up for it-” “STAY BACK!”

The taller Celestial tried to approach Storm, but she pushed them away, making them stumble for a moment. She sighed, trying to hold back tears.

“I’m going to Earth.” Storm mumbled. “Goodbye.” “To Earth- Storm, wait!!”

Before nov could do anything, Storm had already flown out of the room.

The taller Celestial turned to the other shorter Celestial that was still in the room.

“Spring.. please tell me you won’t leave too..” “Sorry, Dad, but.. I have to go comfort Storm.”

Spring went to leave the room as well. “We’ll be back, though!” she waved. “But Juno- wait! Spring, wait!”

Before they knew it, Spring was also on her merry way to Earth. Mr. Moon fell to novs knees, sobbing.

#thmgau #end of a campaign

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loopingpyre · 1 year ago

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I've just gotta record audio and some extra footage and we will be right for this review and then i can fall over, sleep and read otorimonogatari.

Once I've gotten home from work and cleaned up and.....

#pyre.txt

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heretic-saint-taliesin · 2 years ago

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AUDIO LOGGING SYSTEM: salvage ship The Wretched_

Flight Engineer Boris Strugatsky reporting. The other members of the crew are dead and the engines remain non-operational, though ship integrity remains good and life support systems are still active. I successfully jettisoned the intruder from the airlock, but it remains alive and continues to try to access the ship. With a little luck I can repair the distress beacon and somebody will pick me up. This is Boris, the last survivor of the Wretched, signing off_

DAY 1 - SALVAGE SHIP THE WRETCHED_

[Communications commence, notable static in recording and an irritated tone of voice_]

Day One, salvage ship The Wretched. Flight Engineer Boris reporting. Don’t ask me why I’m sticking to formalities because I don’t know at this point. Maybe it’ll keep me sane - maybe I’m already beyond hope. Regardless. If this transmitter log is being heard anywhere then please_

[muffled sound of arms flailing_]

Fucking hell, come and get me! I want off of this bucket of bolts sooner rather than later!_

[Audible creaking and groaning noises. Boris makes a shuddering noise_]

Until then… Tasks. This shitbucket will collapse on top of me if I don’t try and maintain what I can_

[Footsteps and the sound of creaking around the edges of the microphone. Boris’ voice is distant as microphone is being held in his hand_]

I’ll just get what I can do, done. That’s the best I can fucking hope for. Maybe talking into this thing while I work can at least be some kinda company. Or at worst it proved I at least tried to live before I died._

[Another loud groan_]

Ship collapse or that thing? I get the best life choices_

It’s hard to think with all this creaking. Everything sounds like it’s on its last fucking legs - because it fucking is! When we fought it… That thing was smashing through walls and tearing up doorways like no tomorrow. I’ve spent five hours patching the worst of the holes and doors at least. Don’t think there’s a way I can get the automatic opening functional again but at least I can slide and lock things shut if I have to - and GOD I hope I don’t have to_

There’s also all the support beams and towers, I checked them over and welded a few extra limbs of scrap on where I could - it might mean they hold up a little more. The central warehouses took the worst damage. Nothing of use in them anyways so I sealed them and barricaded the structures to try and prevent collapse_

[Footsteps, sound of tapping metal with metal_]

I didn’t build this thing so I can’t claim to be an expert on how The Wretched was put together but I did fly the damn thing so they showed me the schematics. I have a vague idea of what should go where and why, but some of it’s so royally fucked I’ve just been guessing where it fits and what it does. World’s worst puzzle. Arkady would have laughed at that_

[Pause. Sniff_]

Not gonna think about Arkady right now. Shit to do_

[Several minutes pass with the sounds of banging and welding static_]

Least I can say I tried. Structurally she’ll hold for… Some amount of time longer_

[Heavy breathing and pained sounds crackle through the recording system_]

I fucking hate manual construction. I’m an engineer who designs and flies not builds. Of fucking course I go and slice my fucking arm open on a bent piece of sheet metal. My coat’s more ruined and bloodier than it was from before and there’s this wound to contend with… God I hope it’s not deep I don’t want to bleed out before I can at least try and see what’s left of the Medbay_

[Footsteps and a door sliding, scrape of a chair_]

Okay okay… Calm. Don’t panic, Borya. Panic will make shit worse. Mary always said it ain’t the wound that does you in it’s the shock. Just gotta not… Not lose it. Where’s_

[Rummaging and clink of bottles_]

Antiseptic. That’s gonna hurt. But the state of this ship, even in space, could mean all kinds of stuff has gotten into this gash right? So Mary would say you gotta clean the wound first. She’d say… What would she say?_

[The sound of a bottle being opened and the rustle of clothing. Boris’ voice does a vain attempt at sounding feminine_ ]

“Oh Borya, you go get into a fight with the training dummies again? ADAM told you not to go busting your knuckles open because you hate the sting of rubbing alcohol! But now I have to clean it up!”_

[His own laughter interrupts him but it quickly dies down to a heavy sigh_]

Yeah. This is gonna fucking sting alright. Mary… I wish you were laughing at me right now_

[Liquid sound and a loud hiss and yell_]

F-FUUUUUUUCK! Fuck… Fuck-k-k! Ow… Ow okay… Okay wound clean… Still bleeding but at least ain’t no chance of infection. Though.. Hm_

[Fabric sounds as Boris bandages his wounds_]

Mary kept tetanus vaccines in her back store - I should use one. Just in case_

[Pause_]

Medbay back store’s off limits. She’s the only one with access_

[Pause_]

I have her ID card on me. I can… No I can’t. No. I… I have to. I need a shot or I’ll be at risk. Mary… Oh fuck I’m so sorry_

[Footsteps and a door sliding open. A beep is heard in the card reader_]

It worked_

[Pause, heavy sigh before footsteps echoing_]

Barely looks different to how she left it before I bet. She was working on all kindsa things for the ship. Bacterial experiments, hydroponics and all that kinda stuff. She’s got samples from probably every known disease and cure up here I bet. But… Vaccines. Mary where’d you have kept those?_

[Rummaging sounds. Several cabinets opening and closing and a few being rattled that are clearly locked. Eventually an exclamation_ ]

Here! Okay… No need to rummage around in her stuff any longer then. Just… Needle prep, jab it in, wash up and then do not disturb any further. She’d hate me being in here messing her organisation up anyway. Okay… Needle… Needle_

[Faint sound of tapping glass_]

That gets the air out right? Looks good. Upper arm… I’ll do the side that ain’t sliced open right now. What would she tell me? Uh… Right! Small prick!_

[Muffled noises and a yelp. The injection needle clatters to the floor and Boris makes a pained hiss_]

Ahhhh-oooow… Well no heroin habit for me because I am not doing that ever fucking again. God I hate this. I fucking hate this. I’m going back to my room for the night. No more of this fixing things up and shit today_

Flight Engineer Boris Strugatsky Signing off_

#tw drugs #tw needle #Reval plays The Wretched #Solo RPG #SRPG

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shoppingshoppingshoppingshopping · 2 months ago

Text

Listen/purchase: I'm Sorry That Happened so Fast by Local Teen

OK new album write up time.

Well, it looks like I screwed up the release date and set it for september 2023 when it was supposed to be september 2024. so the question is will it always be out of order for the rest of time or will i be able to fix it at some point?

cdbaby as usual has awful support and still hasn't gotten back to me to fix the date. why is support so bad everywhere? anyway....

I was doing all the boring technical stuff as i thought it was ready and then cdbaby rejected my files. apparently they don't take 96k audio. so now i am opening up each session and having to re-render at 44/16. Which is a total drag cuz now i have to relisten to the entire album again. I love most of these songs but i am also so damn sick of them now after hearing them 1000 times.

all these songs except the neat neat neat cover are from 2019. Meaning I started them then. Many were just chords and maybe a melody. A few had lyrics and were mostly done except needed clean up and a mix.

ok so first song,

away from home: this one I think I had almost everything except lyrics. All those were recorded this year. This album took forever to put together. I think I finally sat down and decided to finish it right after I released the last one. Lemme check. Oh crap that was december 2023! Damn I take forever. Or not. I know what I like and i get pickier as time goes on. I guess this is just what it takes.

I am finding I have less desire to polish old songs that don't have much to grab me. Like one of the ones in this pile was this really cool bass line and drums. I've spent maybe 20 hours trying to shape it into a song and I haven't figured out yet how to do that. There are a few like this. A few albums back I wouldn't give up and would eventually find it. But I dunno. It's just so much effort and pain. When I have literally 100s of songs that will come together easier when I finally get to them. So I'm wondering why bother.

Another lesson is that album of unfinished songs I put out. A few of those will come on my spotify shuffle and now I can hear exactly how to finish them. So the lesson there is wait. It might come. If not? that's OK. This is life. Ya gotta let go sometimes. There is pain in making music/art. It's uncomfortable. The hard part is figuring out what kind of torture is good and what isn't.

Anyway, Away from home has lyrics about a violent cartel crime situation. I love crime movies. I just rewatched michael clayton again for the 10th time? it's so good. Pulp fiction too. Which took a while to pull me in but after the overdose I was in all the way and didn't want to leave it. Butch's girlfriend isn't as bad as Bill Simmons says she is. In fact she's just fine. John Maclane yelling to himself in the car felt a little forced very "acting".

BTW it's taking at least 20 minutes just to open the 3rd song session. I think there's over 250 tracks in there.

Listening back. Away from home chorus is sooooo good. I couldn't stop myself from recording this really jazzy harmonies. My music theory talk sounds like I know something but really I aint shit but I think there's like 9ths and 7ths and diminished somethings in there.

I played the broken cello I got from craigslist free on this. Some wood glue and a jerry rigged "clamp" using ratchet tie downs and it's playable. I have no idea how to play the cello but I was able to get some good sounds out of it for this song.

2: use a hoe

this is kinda funny. i found an earlier version of this. Spent MONTHS on it. Then towards the end of wrapping up the album figured I needed one more song. Went into the next batch of unfinished songs and found this version. I thought it was so much better. It was completely done except for some clean up and much needed mix changes.

lyrics are about some of the poor folks I spent a lot of time around when I lived in florida. when people say "i don't get trump voters" I always think "Ah you never spent any meaningful time with different kinds of people."

this is one of the negatives of tiered experiences like fast pass at an amusement park or anything not general admission at an event. a society is better when different people mix in positive ways over a shared enjoyment.

It's funny that this is bragging now but my florida experience gave me bonds with fresh off the boat Hatians, Cubans and pretty much all of latin America, not to mention kids whose family have definitely been at a KKK BBQ before (or maybe it was just a rumor that everyone that lived near moon lake was KKK. I dunno. I was too scared to go) and just all sorts of people with lots of debt, loyalty to the strangest things, strong family bonds hidden under resentment and the types of folks the media just never ever shows you.

Lower Middle Class life just isn't romantic. There's a fair amount of substance use, lots of humor, missing teeth and bad tattoos on even worse skin. That doesn't make for good streaming content. One lady I knew had no front teeth and her car was literally infested with roaches. You'd see them crawling all over the seats at any time of day. how the florida heat didn't kill them? I have no idea. Also if her car was like this what was her trailer for of kids like?

Who are they going to cast to depict her in a show? Glenn Close? She has the face of a shoe that only rich people know about.

i'm solid to maybe upper middle class now but those folks still exist inside me like guardian angels. They write a lot of my lyrics. I get them but i also resent them for not doing what i would do. not that that's right, but just reporting from subconscious.

When I was 16 working in fast food, I worked with a 40 year woman named BJ. She said it was short for something like "Billie gives the best blow jobs". Kids, the 90s were wild. or maybe just florida or both. This lady also was kind of illiterate and her kid names on his birth certificate was "BRAIN" no Brian. I hope she's doing well but I doubt it. The world has changed in a way that hasn't been protective of folks like that. That's just sad. I liked these people. We worked together as team. There is a special bond you gain when working on a time crunchy environment. I hope they made it out of poverty OK or least didn't go lower.

3: send the girls over

This was one of those songs I couldn't stop writing. It was so inspiring. So many ideas and lyrics. I saw a songwriting friend recently and told him I wanted to be better at lyrics. Then I went back to finish this song and saw that I'm not crap. I can pull it off sometimes. Cuz I am so proud of these lines:

so you didn't want to lie yet we did watch it grow that thing upon your face that drips when you get cold that looks down on the poor turns up when you get old through which you soon will pay for sticking it where it surely doesn't go

Keith Hopkin of The Blue Album Group and Asobi seksu sang on the woah parts. I love his voice. We used to be in a Weezer cover band together.

So did my nephews, probably the missus as well. I had anyone that came over sing on those woahs for a few weeks.

I just love this song. Listening to it now the "I knew it was you part" still gives me chills. I also played the trumpets on this. I don't know how to play at all. Yet I was so inspired that when I hit record and blew my heart out and ya know what? the right notes just came out! I WAS FUCKING FEELIN' IT! God is good, man. I'm tellin' you.

That's the magic of music, man. It can make you do stuff you can't usually do. It's like a super power. I can feel my version of god in this moment. Thank you universe for the gift to stick with this craft and to keep trying to make songs I like. And thank you for the love I get to feel for myself when I hear what I made.

Ok now I feel exposed.

I'm pretty sure there's 250+ tracks in this. It became impossible to work on because it uses more resources than my computer can handle. But nevertheless he persisted.

4: come on baby

there's a version with 3 other parts not in this one. They were more metal/butt rock than I like. So I wrote all new parts. And then ended up redoing everything. Vocally I was trying to find the right voice then heard a DFA1979 song and thought "oh I should try that".

My les paul through my orange tiny terror is the perfect guitar tone for this kind of song. Its my favorite amp/gtr combo just because when it's right it's just perfect. It's just not always right for each song.

5: why start now - a classic vibe of "why bother? let's get ta slackin'". feels very 90s to me.

I love my funky bass lines. I feel like I should show them off more cuz I do some pretty cool stuff sometimes.

You know what's very un 90s? The amount of self love I have for my work as I write this today. It took lots of therapy, will power and the desire to change to get here. Don't get me wrong I hear the "you suck" voice daily. Just now I thought "you're being really honest here. We feel vulnerable. don't do this" then another voice said "no one listens to your music and never will so who cares?". Then another voice said, "just be in your creative space and flow. this is a gift to have this. so many people wish they could make things. you're lucky".

This song had a completely different feel. Then I went on a dancehall trip with my spotify deep dives and realized I should try that. Re did the drums. Then realized lots of other stuff needed to be redone but cause it didn't work with my new groove. so yeah, this is a dancehall song. for me.

6: neat neat neat - i made this in like a week towards the end of my last album. it came together to quickly. i put it on there but then went i went to release it Landr was like "no covers otherwise you can't make any money from ANY of the other songs on the album".

So I am putting it on this one since I am using CDbaby to release this one and they won't ding all the other album tracks if they get lots of youtube streams.

Keith Hopkin sang on this too!

7: What we are

I have a slight headache. I probably have covid. this morning I had a million great ideas for a new song I am working on. I was also so excited to do all this admin work to release my new album. but now I just feel so scattered and can't wait for this to be over.

first line is something i remember steve albini saying in an interview when asked about movies or tv shows. talk about yucking someones yum! i often have to turn steve off in my head when i am watching something mediocre. i can see the acting and just how silly it all is.

i used a lot of 1176 compressors on the first version of this. ended up removing nearly all except on the gtrs. i dunno why but that thing never worked for me. I have friend that loves it. I don't like his drum sounds. but i get that it's a classic sound.

8: use a hoe slower

spent a long time trying to get this one to work. i like it's chill vibes.

Do I sing about being dead or alive a lot? I think I sang something similar on another song on this album. I dunno. I make a lot of music. I'm bound to repeat myself

Ok i'm done. I just did a proof reading pass about a week later. I definitely have covid. I toggle between dizzy, tired, confused, hungry and inspired to make dance music. I've started 3 tracks with beats and basslines and then stop. That's fine. It takes a lot of practice to get good at a new genre.

#punk #punk rock #indie rock #brooklyn bands #alternative #localteen #one man band

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