#I know the blending is shit btw lmao

[saltycucumbrrs]

So I've become obsessed with the office au that @pikavani has created so I decided to make fanart of it bc I LOVE Ragatha's design

[gaytedlasso]

Passenger Princess Ted is enjoying the roominess of Rebecca’s car that she let him and Trent borrow for their day trip. Meanwhile Trent is blue screening and has almost wrecked the car 12 separate times.

[genericpuff]

oh boy it's that time again

when rachel posts 'video progress' of her work and we proceed to dissect it like a frog in 9th grade science class

like ok first the caption of "is persephone the chicken and hades the egg" makes no fucking sense except to anyone who overthinks it and goes "wait is that a reference to the popularly-perpetuated version of the myth where persephone went down to the underworld willingly and hades didn't actually exist???" because if it is ima scream lmao

but MORE IMPORTANTLY-

Here's the transcript of what she's saying in the video:

"I think I've always wanted to write Hades' and Persephone's story because obviously I really like them. It's like very much a chicken and egg situation because I think in the beginning I thought that I was going to use a very abstract black and white style, and I realized it wasn't very enticing or fun for me, um... and I started drawing these very like vibrant characters and as I drew them I understood more about the story the more that I explored the art style, um and I guess an example of that is, y'know, Persephone is like a very bright color um, and the Underworld, is a very dark dark blue, and so when she says she really sticks out so it's just environmental uh processes like that that really helped inspire the direction of the story."

(despite her expanding on the "chicken and the egg" bit it still doesn't make sense imo lmao)

But what we're seeing isn't S1 LO, it's actually from S3 of LO:

But um... you notice anything interesting about the screenshot I just showed you?

That literally looks NOTHING like what we see in the final panel. At the VERY least I think this goes to show how overcooked it becomes in post-production, when they add the canvas layer and hypersaturate the shit out of the colors, but even the blending technique just isn't matching up?

A lot of what she's doing in this video also feels very... non-existent, like she's brushing her pen around but very little is happening so it feels more like her just putting down random brush strokes to try and make it seem put-together but really she's just kind of pushing colors around and/or doing nothing. Especially when, again, what she's painting here looks nothing like the final picture (so at best it's a lot of wasted work??)

And knowing what we know about the assistants drawing the characters separately so that Rachel can rearrange them in the final episode layout... I don't wanna call foul play here, but this feels like yet another attempt on Rachel's behalf to make her process seem more involved than it is by simply redrawing a scene for the performative aspect of it all. It's like the "sketches" in the books looking way too 'clean' for the final product and giving the impression that she just sketched over the final panels to make them look pretty enough for print.

I also wanna mention that for some reason she's drawing this on her iPad when she owns a Cintiq. It could be because she was drawing this while abroad in the US for her conventions last fall, but despite clearly being ahead of schedule, she still wound up drawing the final episode the night of-

Oh yeah and btw there are like a million clipping layers for what looks like just a simple drawing of Demeter. And this lines up with our previous theories about her using like 128549021809 layers for literally one character.

And aside from all that her commentary, as always, is very nothingburger, just a bunch of word salad. Like she's literally trying to explain LO's color theory as "well Persephone is bright pink and the Underworld is dark blue so she sticks out! That's all you need to know!"

IDK, I'm not coming to any sort of ironclad conclusion based off this one video, but it does feel like yet another desperate attempt to prove that she does work on LO and doesn't just leave it all to her assistants to do at the last minute. But like... she's kind of screwed in that argument either way, because even if she draws the majority of panels in LO, that just further proves the argument that she's stopped trying.

[gold-rhine]

he's SO FUNNY about it btw, like his character stories have so much angst about like oh.... he's forced to pretend to be "normal human"... it's so hard for him.... ppl are so judgemental....

but he de facto makes NO fucking effort to pretend to be human, doesn't even try to "hello my fellow humans" like zhongli does, he refuses to lie, he goes "LMAO archons wear FAKE visions to BLEND IN? imagine being such LOOOSERS"

he could have lied that he's an oceanid or smth when ppl saw that he's too long living for a human, but tho he doesnt disclose hes a dragon, he doesnt give ppl any explanation AT ALL. when asked if he's a trial demon bc ppl didn't know what the fuck he is, he was like no, i'm not and i don't actually care about trials, it's just 9 to 5 for me, so ppl were like ????? High Justice doesn't give a fuck?? it's a springboard job for him??? huh???

like he created so much PR problems for no fucking reason just bc he refuses to compromise even a tiny bit on pretending to be smth he's not. like wow ppl didn't trust you at first? when you obv act nonhuman and refuse to explain shit? asdfghjkl

[snake-snack-stede]

omg visually impaired life hack. I started putting orange tape and colorful rubber bands on objects that blend in with my environment (phone, chapstick, etc.) and it’s SO EASY to find them now.

I highly recommend making your small or solid-color objects more colorful with tape or rubber bands if you can’t see shit 👌

(I know I’m probably late to this revelation btw lmao)

[weirdly-specific-but-ok]

HEY WHO WANTS AN UPDATE ON MY VACATION THAT NO ONE ASKED FOR? Lmao well sucks for you this is a monarchy and I am Prince and you're getting it anyway:

1. My friends and I went down to eat breakfast. The waiter asked them what language their native tongue is, Kannada or Tulu or anything else, and before they could answer he pointed at me and said (in Kannada), "I knew this one speaks English as soon as I looked at them. With people like this I just go full butler and restrict myself to yes or no."

2. Yes I fucking got called out as a whitewashed piece of shit by a random waiter who took one look at me. The worst part is he's right. English is my first language.

3. I saw a lot of human kidneys and they were THE CUTEST THINGS EVER THERE WERE SO MANY I WAS SO HAPPY UNFORTUNATELY I COULDN'T HOLD ANY BUT AT LEAST I GOT TO LOOK AT THE CUTIES.

4. I made a lot of intense eye contact with dead babies to evade the Birds. To be fair, most of the babies had, um, closed eyes. Or no eyes. I promise I wouldn't have been making that much eye contact without the Birds. I'd have been looking at the kidneys instead. No i will not be elaborating for fear of freaking people out.

5. It was legal btw. Aside from the photo my friend took of me making the two fingered salute (like the dude smiling next to the grave meme) next to a foetus that was at least slightly demonic in origin.

6. Anyway so then I spoke to my other friend and told her how I felt (about being afraid that they didn't see me as a guy because they've known me since I was 11) and she said it wasn't that, she was just getting used to the new name and pronouns and that was all (since I only came out to her two days ago). And I hugged her.

7. My friends have all been using Asmi for me and correcting themselves with their pronouns. I love them and I want to cry.

8. I saw two men holding hands in front of me at the mall. A very careful holding of hands, delicately. But I think they saw me glance at them, because when they got on the escalator in front of me, they untangled their hands and when one reached for the other's hand again, he pulled it away, and they both carefully stayed on their phones. I don't know. Just something I'm thinking about.

9. Maybe I should take off the progress pride pin from my denim jacket and just wear it everywhere I go. Fuck blending in with the cishets I want the queers to know I exist and they're not alone.

And those were the highlights of my day <3 A totally normal vacation for real.

Have the loveliest of days my maggots I'll be back home in two days and then I'll have all my attention to annoy you with, my loves. And a social battery, which currently is dead by night because of irl interactions.

I'll sleep now. The Horrors will be occupied with me, I hope they leave you alone.

I love you 💕

[class-1b-bull]

class 1-b kids having a best friend (or love interest teehee) that looks scary because of their quirk but is really super friendly and bubbly?

Not proofread we die like men

Awase - he honestly thinks its really cool. He may tease you ever so often saying your his guard dog and stuff like that lmao

Sen - he loves taking pictures of/with you and seeing peoples reactions when he shows them to someone (only because he knows they will get whiplash when they actually meet you)

Kamakiri - he honestly loves it ngl. Like you are both some intimidating fuckers that no one would dare to approach (and thats just how he likes thing lmaoo)

Kuroiro - he tries to get all emo about how your scary appearance and personality contradict yet compliment eachother (like yin and yang)

Kendo - shes a firm believer of not judging a book by its cover and you are a great example of why she doesnt do that <3

Kodai - she is an unbothered queen. She truly does not give a fuck and we love her for that. Seriously tho she doesnt care how you look as long as your a nice person to be around.

Komori - she constantly tries to dress you up in cute clothes that 'match your personality' but it somehow makes you scarier.

Shiozaki - she would honestly be a little intimated at first but once she gets to know you and relizes you were nothing like she thought she would pray for forgiveness lmao

Shishida - he was honestly a tad intimated when he first met you but now that he knows your personality he finds your contradictory looks to be kinda funny

Shoda - poor dude is already shy and a bit scared of interacting with people so he nearly jumped out of his skin when you went up to him to say hi for the first time. Over time he eventually found you to be a very calming presence for him

Pony - like komori, she tries to dress you up to make you look more like your personality and you both get a kick out of it. (Imagine your worst nightmare dressed as a cat maid lmao)

Tsubaraba - he honestly finds it hilarious and he jokes about it a lot (all light hearted jokes obviously)

Tetsutetsu - he finds your 'scary' appearance to be manly and cool asf. He constantly asks you to work out with him because you could look even cooler if you looked like you could beat the shit out of a bear :D - his words not mine

Tokage - when she first met you she almost got whiplash from how different your personality and looks are. She finds you to be cool asf tho (even tho she was a bit intimated at first)

Manga - he draws you two different ways. Way one is almost like the scary (but badass) and ominous villain at the end of a video game, the other way is like all the things nice in the world were blended into that drawing and somehow they are both correct.

Honenuki - he honestly adores it. Theres been once or twice in his life where hes been told he looks scary so he is kinda the same way lol

Bondo - he was scared of you at first, not because of your appearance but because of your personality. Hes one of the more quiet and shy members of the class so hes allways a tad nervous when meeting someone so energetic. (You both eventually became good friends tho)

Monoma - he teases the shit out of you but at the same time hes very wary around you. He doesnt want to piss off someone scary (especially if their in the better class)

Reiko - she thinks you look cool asf and she loves spending time with you. No metter how long she has known you tho, she will be caught off guard by your personality

Rin - he was a bit intimated at first but over time, once he got to know you, the two of you became good friends and he even forgot that he was ever scared of you to begin with

Sorry for not posting for a week my cat had surgery <3 I will be clearing out my drafts soon tho <3

(This is my cat btw) (she has a massive bald spot on her butt/thigh rn because of her surgery lol)

[itsdappleagain]

alrighty, to steal or not to steal! this one is a little hard to liveblog and I'm not going to go through all the options, so I'm just gonna take you through my favorite path and gush about how hot and gay everything is for the most part! there will be a little commentary on other paths but yeah :)

(thats the ile d'oleron)

notes under the cut as always!

for your viewing pleasure in case its been a while and you haven't played.

fun fact- I am also taking us on close to the first route I ever took with this special. I got waylaid along the way by the trick routes and failed a lot, but I'll get us on the path to the first win I ever got. (the best one.)

i was SHOCKED by how good this special was the first time I played through it. I had just joined the fandom, I was scrounging for content in the waiting-for-s3-desert, and boom- there was a SPECIAL? why didn't anyone tell me?

anyway, this is always super fun to do. I've done every single route multiple times and recorded all of them too for the illegal stash but theres nothing quite like playing it.

in the very first episode (and african ice) devineax mentions an amusement park in shanghai. wonder if the two are related, or if VILE just has a shit ton of properties in there?

she did, in fact, get shanghai'd in shanghai.

oh. thats why its set here. ahha i get it

she loves them 🥺

i choose top floor

carmen trusts her grappling hook in a glass building more than I trust myself

girlie walked into that empty steel door locked vault with an indiana jones trap ass looking phone in the middle that maelstrom was talking from and went to pick it up with ZERO hesitation

ah, carmen sandiego and its weird genre of toilet paper jokes during stressful circumstances

maelstrom's exasperated eyeroll and sigh as the married couple bicker

i choose steal for vile

the first time I played this i obviously chose to try to save zack and ivy. since I know that leads to failure now, I'm skipping it this playthrough, but it was quite the shock the first go around! tsonts plays to my little angst loving heart by making you watch zack and ivy and sometimes carmen meet horrible tragic ends again and again lmao

girlie the old you stole the statue of liberty skill issue

i like the glow of green on carm's face here to show her temporary allegiance change and vile's win

the terracotta warriors are super cool im glad we get to visit them

i think the first time i played this option i talked to tigress. since sneaking just gives bonus material and doesn't actually change anything (plus. puppies) im going that route!

i choose sneak past tigress

oh btw i love the little simplified characters in the choices they r so cute

also carmen's quips if you take too long to choose are hilarious and worth waiting for. dodge the cat or stop to chat?

me

subtitles doing the most

i LOVE how bitchy carmen gets in the special she's hilarious. she's very quietly pissed off the entire time and she mostly takes it out on tigress

those slides down the tunnel are sooo smooth

its impossible, as a canon law, to get zack and ivy's names right if you're a villain

i love the two's looks at each other when she steps on the booby trap its just resigned "ahhh shit."

imagine if there had been spikes at the bottom of the pit and carmen had just saved herself sdgjadsgjds

"im the one sitting in the catbird seat right now" oh you

anyway, i'm choosing leave tigress

this is the choice i made my first time playing! i love carmen's sassy ass "i cant hear you! im in a tunnel, bad connection!" line, and i'm not going the arctic circle path anyway so it doesn't matter.

tigress bugshadowing for s4! lots of foreshadowing for s4 in the special actually

the "theyre stunning" followed by that just. crushed look when she remembers what she's here to do augh

he has a beard and a mustache

she so cute

i choose hide and blend in

my first go around I chose to hitch a ride, as, I thought, was logical. I didn't know carmen had access to stopping time, a disguise, and endless amounts of dirt to camouflage her perfectly with the statues in addition to a handy spot to keep her change of clothes. who knew? im going with hide to speed up my run, but I was pissed off the first time i played this let me tell you sjgdhsgdhs

actually, you know what, let me hit ride for a second because I think there's a carmen death at the end of that one I want to comment on

carmen "historical artifacts are irreplaceable treasures" sandiego, everyone

why are vile's names for zack and ivy so shit

oh yeah here we go

the crash landing! I made a post on that years ago but my headcanon was that carmen was so distracted that she crashed and died I think lmfao. anyway no one came outta that one unscathed. k, back to the route!

OH i also like that the format for this is like the old gameshow a little bit with chief's lines at the end. its fun

they really wanted to call this thing "carmen sandiego: vile operative" didnt they. hamlet? was bela in on the naming of this?

cleo's little shoulder shimmies

abby trott's singing voice this episode <33333333

also THE OLD THEMEEEE this whole thing is just a throwback honestly its a lot of fun

carmens eyeroll at "carmens choice" jsadgha

to steal or not to steal: or, bellum and cleo being married old women for forty minutes

i choose cleo's caper

we just gotta get to the gay dance scene as quickly as possible okay

carmen asked for the specification on the eggs so seriously

cleo speaking french. thats it thats the post

some of the lines in this special are a little weird with repetition. carm does it once with the riding with/hiding among the statues in a way that sounds a little unnatural, and she does it again here with "everything i ever steal from vile goes straight to charity, and now they're making me steal from a charity?" the inflection/repetition is just weird, like the emphasis should have been on steal, not charity. idk maybe gina just reads weird

carmen SLAYS in this dress. i wish it was even more extravagent but i get they needed something simpler for the dance scene. still shes hot as fuuuck for the whole part

her leg split is scandalously high btw??

and JULIA GOOD GRACIOUS SHE'S SO GORGEOUS actually thank god for chase never showing his face in here he gets enough spotlight in the choose your own adventure novels

it took me an embarrassingly long time to realize that julia looks different because shes wearing contacts

her favorite acme agent

how did she find out julia's last name i wonder

noooo carmen dont avoid her ur so sexy ahahaha

carmen's voice. when she says scarlet santa rosa. hdhwidw oh boy. also hello, fake name for hospitals and hotels in every fic ever from this point out. we salute you.

player's "oh boy" he knows carmen's too gay for this shit

also good GOD yes we're dancing. only thing we're missing is carmen saying she likes to tango more than she likes to waltz so there we go. gay time

i choose to accept the dance

"do i cut a rug, or put the 'go' in sandiego?" these lines are GEMS

man this scene is spectacular

adoring how miserable carmen looks the entire time she's dancing with this rando. can she do it? yes. does she want to be? hell no

the guy: :D carmen: 🙁

SHES HOLDING HERSELF SO FAR AWAY FROM HIM ITS SO FUNNY

girl if you were any further apart from this dude you'd be in north america

carmen fantasy mind link with mime bomb where she kicks the man to the curb and engages in a techno dance fantasy where she lets her hair down and goes wild, imagining julia argent seeing her and cheering her on gayly is top ten scenes in all of animation history

carmen's hips in the dance have me in a chokehold figuratively and i wish it was literally

the little prance after carmen kicks herself in the face is so gay you're being so gay dude. she imagines julia watching her and she stares directly at her and PRANCES

love the imaginary dance partner guy. carmen's like hm i wish this guy was fun

also THRILLED that the only canon imagination we ever see carmen having is one. being paranoid about a crusty 20 year old shadowsan stalking her and 2. having a dissociative dance fantasy because dancing the waltz with monaco royalty is torturous to stay grounded for

when she takes her hair out like if you agree

THE LEG SLIT SHINES THROUGH HERE WE ARE INCHES AWAY FROM THE TVY7 GOING OUT THE WINDOW FASTER THAN CARMEN DOES LATER IN THE SCENE

that was fantastic as always, sorry you had to sit through me ranting gayly for that long. time for more gay ranting. ITS JULIA!

carmens little moment of panic when julia comes up behind her is always great

man theyre so gay. julia is confident and girl please bestie i love you but this is the ONE time you're wrong

my favorite frame. goldfish julia

the height difference

"so good to see you again" 😌

julia using they/them pronouns win writers did her dirty in the s3 opener

"I will CERTAINLY be relieved once any stolen treasures MYSTERIOUSLY appear at my doorstep to allow me to return them to the proper authorities" she says in the most seductive voice possible, turning and walking away with a look over her shoulder

shes literally flirting you guys

player said woah because even he knew that the usual writers never let julia have that much personality and gaydar

gay abt it. also obsessed with their little hooves

we never talk about how dirty tsonts does you. it leads you unequivocally to believe that tricking julia is the correct option to keep both carmen and her safe. it ALSO leads you to believe that carmen is just going to pull a "WHATS THAT OVER THERE" trick and leave. SHE DOES NOT. DO THAT. SHE LOCKS JULIA OUT ON THE ROOF, STEALS FROM HER, AND LIES TO HER. WHY

anyway first time i played this i tricked julia thinking i was keeping her safe and was so pissed off by the outcome that I went back and trusted her. we do miss a glorious angy jules moment of her screaming "la femme rogue" with ten times less punch than devineaux, though.

all that is to say i choose trust julia.

either way you slice it i managed to wind up in a pickle at a caviar party

MMGH THE TRUST <3

they say trust like three times in this conversation its so. the core of their relationship

YESSS SHE TRUSTS HER DUGHDUHGDJDHEDHJD SHAKING THEM IN MY TEETH

carms little smile mmmmmmmmmm

ah, the cs 3/4 turn

OKAY even though it'll lead to bad shit happening we cannot skip the stash part because 1. it gives us one of carmen's BEST outfits and 2. i have a funny story about it/this is what i picked the first time

also it again leads us to the wrong choice on purpose in my opinion, which i think tsonts is designed to do

shes my profile picture and shes so killer in the waitress outfit god im so gay about it

okay here's my funny story when mime bomb started choking i was COMPLETELY prepared to have an option to save him or continue to go after the caviar and i was also COMPLETELY prepared to let him die i felt really bad about it once I realized they obviously weren't going to let him choke

NOT ON STAGE, PLAYER, ON FOOD

mime bomb singing opera foreshadowing!! while hes choking to death

carmen could give me the heimlich maneuver

mime bomb hairline reveal

everyone just dissipates once they realize they were laughing at a person actively dying

THE SHE

who is also the me on tumblr

the waitstaff wondering why this piece of fish weighs five times what its supposed to and why this one weighs nothing at all 🤨

you uncouth ninny

i love the cut from zack and ivy trying to fight to them immediately getting brainwashed they didnt stand a chance

btw where does carmen keep just. changing. where is she going. did she mug a waiter for that outfit and leave them naked in a closet. what

anyway ultimately i choose dash

she so cute when she commit acts of violence on innocent people

elsa is that you

man i love that shot of her putting on the glider. where is everyone though. like did they just think she threw herself off the edge and were like ah well

i love getting to see clips of carmen actually pulling the cord on her glider also her WHOLE LEG IS OUT GOD DAMN

imagine if they had just prerecorded zack and ivy and they were way off the mark. and zack and ivy were just mindwiped already

its my favorite background extra!

also the carmen-in-milan extra who was in dubai was also in the earlier scene

they have one RIGHT IN THE CENTER OF THE TOP OF THE WORLD

i choose steal for vile again becauseeee we snubbed tigress so that would fuckin suck for us. i do really enjoy the trust tigress --> arctic circle route, though (i wasnt even aware there was more than one good ending for a really long time because i always left tigress in the hole lmfao) but shes actually decent. i also like when you leave tigress --> arctic circle because carmen just kicks a solid metal foot thick door. and it hurts. like she didnt think about that one

hell???? in a kids show??? 😲

i like how you can see that carmen appreciates how incredible it is that theres soft tissue intact

another weird inflection thing? she says "attempt to clone-" like shes about to put emphasis on the dinosaur part after, when i feel like she would put emphasis on clone? idk whatever

gremlin bellum is the best

editing carmen sandiego clips to be way out of context is my passion. ugh. im going to hell

montana got such a sad info section honestly

carmen slaying that red eyeliner

OKAY first time i did this i tried to catch the plane, which is what im doing now because...it just adds scenes and doesnt actually change anything. however the first time i did this...you know what, tell you when we get there. here we go.

rip carmen's motorcycle which she somehow had in montana

imagine being the pilot

oh yeah okay. so, the first time i played this i literally fucking thought i had just condemned carmen to a horrific and unnecessary painful death. the glider prevented me from having a full out heart attack, I think, but it scared me VERY BADLY!

and then- alright, by this point, I'd chosen wrong pretty much every single time. the van, the soldiers, the stash/dash, everything. i just fucked up EVERYTHING. so when bellum called and was like YOU WASTED SO MUCH TIME i thought OHHH NO FUCK DID I DOOM THEM AGAIN NOOO. it turns out, you get that scene no matter which path you take. so. whatever. but that series of events got me so scared

TSONTS does more for carmen's friendship with zack and ivy/building relationships with allies than the entire main series and you can fight me on that

she thought you were making a funny 🤨

autistic bellum agenda

first time around i picked el topo! there are fun sides to both- el topo's line about being pawns in a bigger game, but also le chevre gets you a chase scene on a rollercoaster where agent zari tries to run carmen over . ride the cyclone her if you will. both are fun, but for the sake of doing my og path im going to go for el topo!

el topo is such a cinnamon roll. hes excited to work with her 🥺 he hates no one 🥺

"very well dressed company" acmeoffical should put that was their tagline

i think my first go around i hid, so I'm doing that. AgAiN, tsonts leads you to the wrong option. like. obviously running seems stupid if the entire place is crawling with them?? to me, anyway. but. i guess its always right in this playthrough. still choosing hide first because i like to see carmen break shit and get caught

she pulls a dokuso on that one. where did she get a smoke bomb

the cranial dranial. btw the noises on that title card are disgusssting. you miss out on so many good gags if you save zack and ivy from dying. bellum and cleo squabbling. bellum renaming the mindwiper every three seconds

anyway onto the good option of run

and my favorite background acme agent <3

carmen being loud af in those vents and REALLY not careful with that one of a kind priceless bone

behold, carmen sandiego

love how embarrassed zari is jdsgdjsh

girlie fit through THAT grate???

AHH THE JULIA AIRPORT SCENE

love how you can see her little foot sticking out from behind the tourist before she pops out

i also love how carmen very clearly notices julia following her

my favorite bg character again

julias so cute

woah, a mindwiping carmen plot?? thats so diabolical! im glad its possible to entirely avoid that fate for carmen in the canon. yep!

lil. gay julia

its so sad when julia rejects her if you decide to lock her out on the roof. but also hilarious because julia tracks her through the airport LITERALLY just to break up with her on her own terms. shes like oh i gotta find carmen and carmen is like hi and then julia just leaves

also the dont trust julia ending is literally the worst ending in the game and its a crime that that symbolism didnt carry to the main series. so angsty and good though i really like that scene

ALSO also the carmen getting mindwiped bad ending?? THATS how carmen should have reacted in s4. shes struggling, shes trying to avoid it, but like?? in the CANON MINDWIPING carmens just like grgrggrgr im biting this. not going to change my behavior of yanking on my wrists as maelstrom reveals a terrible fate to me just going to keep looping "struggle animation" like an npc

sorry. im salty about that. you can tell. back on track to the gay ending.

UM. SURE? shes so cute

PAPER STAR'S THEME!!! i love that being woven into the score

juliaaaa in the hat and coaaaat

zack and ivy's banter in the evil shack is great

oddly specific subtitles?

carmen got the perfect circle capabilities of luz in here

how did she just move that piece of roof aside instead of it falling in help

"since when does carmen sandiego wear glasses" REALLY thats the ONLY thing that looks different about her? not the. race change. or the dark hair pixie cut. or losing half a foot of height

zack hugging carmen <33

man im hitting my image limit for this post help

also carmen just shoving zack away is so funny shes not even gentle shes just like BOOM lets jet.

that vile grunt slamming face first into the helicopter my beloved

"not of helicopters im not!" zack says, flying the helicopter flawlessly

"here's looking at you, crew" is a reference to the 1942 film casablanca which was the first location carmen visited outside of vile island. in this theory i will prove that casablanca was the first movie she ever watched and-

how do you know where julia lives, huh carmen? dont you know thats GAY?

HHAAIHUDGHGGHDSJ i love this ending so fucking much arhsghaggdrg. im carmen sandiego and im here to make your day. she's wearing the hat and coat. shes so cute theyre so gay et cetera et cetera

that gayass little display carmen does for her

the fucking. bouquet of red roses oh its carmens color no shut up she did NOT have to do that that was EXPLICIT. ALSO JULIA BLUSHING ABOUT IT WHILE SHE THANKS HER AND HOLDS THE BOUQUET IM GOING FERAL OVER THEM TSONTS DID SO MUCH FOR US

BONUS SCENE TIMEEEEE

what an absolute treasure i love the recreation of the old rockapellas song. they got to correct their czech republic inaccuracy wheeze. oh to be a geography show during a time when geography isnt staying the same long enough to make content about it

zack submitting himself to chinese water torture just for fun

the vile operatives ajdgshdfaghds

ABBY TROTT <3 love you and ivy's dancing and ivy singing and everyone dancing and everyone singing pop off slay the whole nine yards

obsessed with that little arm move on "berlin down to belize" what was that

carmivy canon

tigress's shoulder shimmies and pinchies of the glider yes

cs color theory ON LOCATION + the gays being gay

ive never understood the mekong from the jungle line honestly. did she steal the whole river. unify east and southeast asia. i guess so. if she can steal the statue of liberty why not

puberty didnt hit player like a truck it hit him like a rocketship

brunt's little jig as she goes to punch the living daylights out of carmen <3

SHE PUT THE MISS IN MISDEMEANOR WHEN SHE STOLE THE BEANS FROM LIMA <3 thats my favorite line

GO BORIS SLAY

i also love zari's line

"A moving violation is any violation of the law committed by the driver of a vehicle while it is in motion" julia literally knows carmen is a cant drive gay

mime bomb's one line <3

ACME SPELLING OUT ACME LIKE ITS YMCA IS HONESTLY SUCH A FUNNY VISUAL GAG BY THE WAY

once again, ABBY TROTT'S VOICE

tigress dances like i dance. badly

GAYS BEIN GAY

SLAY CLEANERS GET IT

the little faculty dance showcases is also fantastic. get bellum'd. maelstrom's doing a mickey mouse clubhouse ass dance. cleo is slaying

the mystery: is coach brunt saying "let me know" or "lambkins, oh" its the first one but i thought it was the latter for a long time

THE GROUP SHOT!!

never noticed the mechanic waving her little wrench around. there are a bunch of cute motions like the gays being gayer, a cleaner singing into his mop, and ivy pumping the air with her fist

anyway, SORRY! this was long af! my bad! it's a lot to cover and. kind of hard to liveblog when there are so many options. if anyone got this far, i hope you enjoyed it! see ya next week for season 3!!

and, yes, i was later again. more late than usual, actually. i've been busy with art fight >:)

[starheirxero]

i want to hear you ramble about your au

I FELL ASLEEP LIKE IMMEDIATELY AFTER I POSTED THAT POST BUT YAYYYY OKOK SO.

In this au, I’ve decided 1) that I want to blend the fnaf sb canon as well as the tsams canon and Also my headcanons for both, 2) THAT EVERYONE IS ALIVE AND OKAY, 3) that the exploration and understanding of the kill code is a big focus!

It’s set in a post-Eclipse world where he no longer has the star and no longer continues his reign of terror because he just. doesn’t have enough anger to fuel him to keep going anymore. Eclipse bitterly gives the star back to Moon (who isn’t reset btw!) who either destroys it or keeps it real real locked away, I haven’t decided yet. I think the next several months would be everyone sort of putting their guards down and setting things aside for the sake of being like, “well. we can actually just live… normal lives. we can be like actual people now if we wanted. we don’t have to worry about a persistent, lurking threat… so. who wants to come make a barbie dreamhouse with me.” ya know AHSJABDD

These are the main situations of everyone in the world right now !! I’m gunna elaborate a lil more on each bc uhmmm I have thoughts and feelings and I’m diseased about my own au. anyways more under the cut LOL

So! Due to a reason I haven’t fully decided on yet (either the pizzaplex is no longer inhabitable or it was shut down because of how much shady shit has happened), Sun and Moon no longer have the pizzaplex to work and stay at and didn’t rlly know what 2 do at that point. Earth says that running their own daycare without the influence of fazbear entertainment over their heads is a possibility, and since it’s mostly second nature to them now, they agreed. The building has an area in the back that is disguised as an “employees only” area but that’s just bc it’s where they have their bedrooms and living space stuff lol

Killcode had insisted it be alone after Eclipse stepped down, but Solar Flare’s base programming said that they must help Killcode at every turn. At this point, their sentience had further developed, and KC was like “dude. buddy. u don’t have to follow ur base code u know that right. u can do whatever u want forever.” and Solar Flare was just kinda like. “well. uhm. well what if i want to still stay with you. what if i just want to be around you, despite my primary objective of protecting you.” and KC was like “that’s. that’s really sweet actually okay if u insist” and now I have to just sort out what their living situation is LMAO

Lunar has their own place!!!! I think this was something I decided almost immediately because I don’t think they’d have a whole HOUSE for themselves, but I do think they’d want their own little one bedroom apartment yk?? So they can actually feel independent!! At the time of the story they haven’t had it long enough to be like, super decorated or anything, but it’s still their own home and they love it to death.

and Bloodmoon is the one who’s often at Lunar’s apartment!!! They visit often enough that Lunar has a little area in the living room for them to call their own, as well as a whole shelf in the fridge dedicated to keeping blood bags so they don’t go hungry when they visit. KC also has the same tho!! Except KC might have a whole room for them, depending on whether I make them settled or wanderers.

Eclipse chose where he lives himself. He knows it’s far, he knows it’s quiet, he knows it’s not really his element, but he knows what he’s done. He knows that most of the cast is still in the area where the pizzaplex was, and he doesn’t want to risk bumping into anyone on the off chance it’s someone who decides they should finish their plan to kill him. He isn’t really better, though. He sits and he stews in his own frustration until he can’t handle it anymore and either breaks something or obsessively buries himself in a project so he doesn’t have to think about his own emotions. A stray cat visits him every few days, though, and he thinks he’s starting to get attached.

ANYWAYS AHAIAHSIAHSD THIS IS ALREADY SO LONG. THE JIST IS THAT LUNAR WANTS TI ACTUALLY KNOW HOW THE KILL CODE WORKS SINCE IT EFFECTS SO MANY PPL IN THEIR FAMILY SO HERE’S A SNIPPET OF THE FIC WHERE LUNAR ASKS BLOODMOON ABOUT IT

[rui-drawsbox]

Hi, it’s me again *blows up several buildings and kills eighty seven bystanders with my sheer aura*

I figured out more stuff for my gay little episode outlines, so anyways, here’s the outline for episode two of my horrifying little plot idea for your Magical Knight Arashi au:

K, so after the bullshit Arashi dealt with she deserves a break, too bad, anyways the sword turned into an aesthetic looking makeup brush when she detransformed. Me thinks, she deserves a transformation item.

Anyways she a student so it’s education time, and by that I mean school + drama

she and Mika talk again, it’s fairly normal, he’s still a weird little man pretending to be a tsundere but he does ask if she liked the bear charm he gave her, she fucking loves it btw cuz it’s adorable. (Little standoffish man ain’t used to interacting with normal people, living with Shu does that to you ig 😔)

Mika, being the self sabotaging king that he is, asks if she has anyone better to talk to. Arashi is of course like “no” but with a tone that clearly means to indicate “are you ok?” But Mika doesn’t get that. So Arashi talk about her friends to him. Izumi, Leo, and Ritsu <3 and then she invites him to eat lunch with them.

Mika declines :( (for good reason but we’ll get to that eventually, he does kind of want to go but he knows he can’t, and it’s a Shu thing btw, Shu wants him to blend in and making friends is kind of part of that, it’s just, another thing)

anyways we cut to the class where Leo is, Shu is introduced via a goofy yah funny way, like he’s the comedically stuck up classmate.

he and Izumi are fighting

Leo is trying to break up the verbal smack down but like, it ain’t really working, eventually once these bitches tire each other out or a teacher intervenes they’ll stop.

Leo tries to calm down and comfort Izumi with a hand on his shoulder but Izumi brushes him off

Leo also tries to invite him to lunch again and he tells Izumi that he, Arashi, and Ritsu all miss him at lunch

Izumi declines and says that he has to go before storming out of that classroom as soon as the bell rings

Leo complains to Arashi and Ritsu about Izumi at lunch.

After Leo is done venting his frustrations Arashi brings up the weird shit from the night before

She tries to show the photo she got of the mannequins? No, weird living dolls. On her phone, but all the photos are blurred out.

Ritsu is like “So, what are we supposed to see here?”

Arashi explains and shows them the gem mark + the makeup brush + the 87 photos she got of her new cat.

Leo and Ritsu believe her cuz like, they’re besties, and also, it’s Leo and Ritsu, they’ve dealt with weirder, Aliens + Rei Sakuma

anyways the besties decide that A. Arashi needs to do something fun to get her mind off things + B. They want to do something for Izumi cuz he’s been super stressed recently

So they go out together to look for something to buy him. Girlboss mall trip <<33

After browsing through a few shops they pick out a couple things for him, a nice shirt and some ink for that pretty glass pen he likes to use. (Leo picked out the second one)

They go to a little cafe with those cute colorful drinks in the mall for a snack. This is the usual hang out spot for a lot of the younger students, like the first years, especially if they like sweets.

Ritsu notices something is up.

there are gold strings creeping along the floor, and they seem to be going toward Arashi’s bag

Ritsu grabs her bag and stand from his chair.

Arashi and Leo are of course like “??????”

but they go along with what he’s doing, the strings start to follow him so he gets up and goes lmao, the three of them leave the table and their drinks behind. (At this establishment you pay at the counter so they’ve already paid for the drinks)

These bitches actually get chased by the strings until they end up in a deserted place (the fucking back alley outside the mall where people usually load stuff from trucks)

Arashi grabs the makeup brush out of her bag so she can transform to do something about the strings, maybe cut them?? She doesn’t really know

So the strings form these circles on the ground right? Cool. They open up little portals and the dolls materialize out of the strings (it kind of looks like they’ve been woven together like a tapestry)

Arashi is trying to transform but she cant figure out how to do it. So Leo starts beating the fuck out of the dolls like the feral street cat that he is.

he starts getting his ass kicked and when he’s about to get slammed into a wall Arashi figures it out and transforms

she deals with the dolls pretty easily and they unravel back into little piles of string

anyways things go on, these three besties go back to the house to play with the cat and also patch up Leo’s scratches.

also Tsukasa saw the whole fight, oops.

yeah he saw them leave the cafe in a panic and decided to follow just incase the kids from his school were in trouble and he legit saw the entire thing. Have fun dealing with this Arashi.

I’m having a lot of fun with this Lmao. I hope you enjoyed this <<33

thank you for the wonderful ideas Rui. I have so much more that I want to write about this Lmao. I’ll be back when I have time and another outline that I want to share <<33

*gets out of a timetravel machine* hello, misano from almost a week ago :)

i would drawn all of this before but 1. i had no idea how and 2. last week i was in my house only to sleep haha /sobs

now going to the central theme!

early series Mika got the same social skills as a 11 years old introverted otaku obsessed with yuno gasai frfr

Shu being unbearable for Izumi is so fking funny to me for no reason. I've always felt like when these two meet they would pull each other's hair idkwhy JDFAS

Izumi is so done with that school that he can't not-be an asshole :)

also i've been acting like i know how tf Arashi's cat looks like but i can't denie it anymorE i think is this cat from that card cuz is the only one i can find

I like to think that some moment out screen she went to the closest pet store and just bought half of the store for her new kitty

thanks to Ritsu for noticing those strings or our series would end up a lot earlier than planned 👏👏

also while they run away from the strings you can't tell they didn't hit at least ONE kid like

Ritsu: *hits a kid with the bag*

Leo: holy shi-

Arashi: SORRY CHILD SORRY MA'AM

also i fully want to think that Tsukasa followed them expecting something surreal, but like drugs or them just doing a joke video surreal, not *now i suppose that i live in a magic world where people can transform and bring out a sword out of nowhere in seconds, and also there's fucking living dolls* surreal

anywys, amazing work as always my dude c:! I can't wait for the next chapter!! <-already read it 5 days ag

ME DESAPAREZCO *throws a smoke bomb**trips and falls*

[vacantgodling]

please feel free to share anything you'd like about hyacinthus - don't know much about him but I'm kinda obsessed with him

(also I'm sorry if things have been rough)

oh thank you for coming to my talk about my favorite terrible man talk :) he’s one of if not the most favorite oc i’ve ever made and the main character in my first book of the fall of galeré quad (or quintet? perhaps? the fifth book is still up in the air of whether or not i’ll make it exist) and my magnum opus paramour which you can read more about here -> teehee

so dis him

prettiest man in the world 😌💅🏽 (i drew all of these btw lmao)

he’s the bastard son of a businessman who ends up getting married to an eldrich entity, cheats on said entity with his butler and learns how to Care About People which is something he did not know how to do LMAO

he’s an asshole. by like. a lot. he’s crass (esp bc paramour is set in a fantastical 1890s-1900s adjacent steampunk world), he’s rude, he’s vain, he doesn’t care about other people as far as he can throw him (and he can throw them pretty far), and he’s so fucking emotionally constipated. He’s SOOOOO emotionally constipated. much of his character and behavior has been influenced by the circumstances of his upbringing—first neglected by both his father and his servants and never allowed to leave the estate he was cooped up in for fear of bringing shame to the family name by merely existing (and suffering many abuses within), then under the thumb of his conniving elder sibling tagetes who’s like a secondary antagonist and subject of the fourth book in the quad empire. he doesn’t trust people because he’s always been used and shit on. so he treats others in kind and never lets anyone close.

this backfires somewhat when he meets his butler amon who’s got so many issues and one of them being INTO hya’s asshole attitude and they start a sexual relationship which is wild bc why talk about feelings when you can call me my lord and choke on my dick ya feel.

hya’s also gnc (he only uses he/him and he doesn’t identify as being feminine or womanly but he does love to and does wear dresses and fashion that we would consider feminine). this is bc in galeré there’s 3 gender categories basically. there’s male, female, and a third one that i have yet to name. but it’s basically for all those we’d consider trans/nb/gnc/cross dressers/the like. hya falls into this category as well as other characters like tagetes, erecia (who’s butch basically) and rumex, etc.

aside from shopping his favorite hobbies are being left alone and reading. he’s very good with money and math and can balance a budget like no one’s business. he doesn’t care for religion at all (only sparing slight interest for his younger half brother aloe who’s deeply religious) and is generally pessimistic. his favorite drink is coffee specifically a fantasy blend in his world called misted ivory geisha. he only wears white and gold clothing as personal preference but he looks good in all colors (his wedding dress was red actually) and speaking of — he didn’t know his mother but he looks EXACTLY like her. (i’m overly fond of his mother but she won’t appear in canon; only in aus and in the series set in this same universe, alizath lol)

oh he’s also a taurus sun with a leo rising (cuz i like astrology and shit lol). he doesn’t like celebrating his birthday so he never shares the date but it’s also because his birthday takes place in the middle of the largest religious festival in galeré and that’s even more annoying to deal with lmao.

why he’s my favorite is for a variety of reasons but it also has to do with the fact that i want to be him and i want to fuck him lmao he’s the best of both worlds :)

[waddledab]

wtf pls tell me abt your splatoon mlp au???

OH boy. oh boy. anon I am so glad you asked. putting this under a read more so I don't clog people's dashes lmao (also forgive me for my thoughts not being organized)

ok so this is based on friendship is magic bc that's the only one I've seen and it's like... if the mane six were in splatoon? specifically splatoon 3 bc that's the one I had on my mind lol anyways. freshness is magic

Twilight is an octarian soldier (like, the only one left for some reason) sent by Octavio to investigate the Splatlands about the disappearances of the other Octarians while he says he "won't be too far behind" (foreshadowing)

on the way there she meets spike. he's the "little buddy" smallfry of this. no he will not tell her what spike is short for or why he was in the middle of the desert when he met her

Oh yeah and only twilight can understand him bc she speaks salmonid. he just sounds like gurgles to the rest of the gang

twilight gets a transmission from Octavio basically telling her to go to Splatsville specifically, "blend in, make friends, keep a low profile, whatever"

just outside of splatsville they run into fluttershy (her name is probably different but I can't think of a good one so she's just fluttershy for now). she's a sea slug (kinda like flow) bc look at this image.

it's literally just her. come on

she's heading into town too and it basically goes like the show where she's like "omg is that a salmonid... wowie......."

MEANWHILE in Splatsville:

Pinkie (inkling), Dash (octoling who grew up in the Splatlands), and Jack (inkling) are all friends but they're in a bit of a pickle. they wanna do turf wars but they need a 4th person and the random people they keep getting matched with just don't vibe very well :(

enter twilight. (and fluttershy) (and spike)

Pinkie goes "GAAAAASP HEY HEY WANNA JOIN OUR TURF WAR TEAM"

at first twilight's like "Ugh no" but then spike is like "heyyyyy part of your missionnnn was making friiiiiends rememeberrrrr?"

so she joins the team. fine sure whatever I'm not gonna get attached (she gets attached)

Twilight is a charger main. e-liter menace

Dash is a dualies main because of course

Pinkie is good with all weapons tbh but her favorites are rollers and blasters

Jack mains N-Zap 64 and she is a tacticooler mvp

At one point they're like "Hey twi love the military drip but like you gotta get some drip"

enter rarity. i don't really have a clear mental image of her yet but she is crab. probably hermit crab? tamatoa ass back I know that for sure

she moved to the splatlands from Inkopolis and started a boutique there

she's a brush main btw "hey Earnest you dipshit only inklings and octolings do turf war" nuh uh big man canonically plays turf war AND salmon run so there

(fluttershy doesn't like doing turf war and doesn't have a main for obvious reasons) (but she does cheer them on) (spike does too bc he's not allowed in the Turf War building :( )

anyways. twilight and the gang are now besties. enter cuttlefish.

Dash: hey is it just me or is that old guy staring at us from the sewers

Pinkie: I'm gonna go follow him lol

this action has consequences.

they're all agent 3 now (3.1-3.7) but cuttlefish only has one set of hero gear. "sorry guys you're all shit out of luck" (of course twilight gets it bc protag disorder) and rarity's all "well Fine I can make hero gear for the rest of us"

crater proceeds as normal with twilight, pinkie, dash, and jack each taking one level. twilight is... *unnerved* by the current status of the octarian troops

enter octavio. hes fucking pissed. this is his natural state of being tho

he calls out twilight for being a TRAITOR and she feels bad blah blah blah they kick his ass

again it proceeds as normal but when twilight wakes up. she's alone (except for spike). as it turns out all of her besties landed on different islands somehow bc this might as well happen

Twilight is island 1, jack is island 2, pinkie is island 3, fluttershy is island 4, dash is island 5, and rarity is island 6 working on everyone's agent outfits all along so they got their group swag by the end of it

again story is pretty much the same from there. kill that bear

and so the world is saved with the power of friendship :)

unfortunately celestia and luna don't really exist by virtue of octavio kind of taking celestia's role? rip queens we loved you so much but you were replaced by old men unfortunately. sad

[heartbrake-hotel]

Lordy honey yall makin me wanna write my own damn prompt. I got some more little tidbits for ya:

Elvis was turned during his first appearance at the International. But who turned him? I'm thinking there's some sort of deal going on between one the old vampires who invested in the building, maybe even the International's owner and Colonel Parker. They want Elvis to play there for as long as possible, and he isn't getting any younger--so they make it so he can't get any older, either.

At first Elvis is in a state of confusion, because fledglings (at least in my thoughts) are in a sort of fog when first turned. It helps them to adapt to feeding; cue Colonel Parker shoving cigarette girls into Elvis's suite, which he drains dry, much to his own horror when the initial feeding frenzy lifts.

And Colonel Parker isn't exactly picky with what he feeds Elvis: whoever is easy to get up into the suite, and high young girls are the easiest. Elvis tries, when he can afford it, to not feed--he doesn't know that if he drinks regularly then the frenzy won't come, but nobody has told him much of anything. His Sire isn't there, there wasn't any sort of ritual to his Turning as there normally is. No, this was just business.

aLRIGHT WOOHOO SMITTY MY LOVE LOOK AT US !!! im finally getting to this lmaoooo oOOPS 🙈 AND i have some mf THOUGHTS,,

(the orig hc post is here btw) ((idk if yall could tell but it Wrecked my Shit))

also it's been Sooooo long since we discussed this that u now have some Other relevant supernatural!au lore to pull from . so,, i hope u don't mind if i conflate the two universes a lil but ur worldbuilding in you ain't nothin' but a overtook my conscious mind weeks ago and has yet to relent 💝 oh nooooo.. whatever shall i dooooo.. 😏

far too many words under the cut. i, uh.. i may have lost control a lil 🤭🦇 ft. a frankly excessive use of pet names and an e who has been babygirlified maybe more than is appropriate within the confines of the plot (shocking, i'm sure).

right ok so !! vegas as a hub for at least some of the supernatural bc of its transient nature, high tourist volume, and seedy reputation. obvious check

for the most part, unaffiliated vamps stay out of vegas. like you said- it's too hard to monitor their blood concentrations when everyone and their dog is doing truckloads of party drugs well into the night.! but there are, of course, some Old Ones, who saw (or perhaps even built??) the city as their own personal playground btw this blends so seamlessly into the irl high-level mob ties its crazy lmao. marina's bringing up elvis is literally never not on my mind 🙏

if you're rich enough, or powerful enough (or have friends who are enough so), you don't have to fend for yourself the same way, so it's less of an issue. sucking out some rando party girl off the street is faaar beneath the pay grade of the handful of guys at the top, who have their meals carefully cultivated and hand-procured thru what is almost certainly a human trafficking ring

kirk kerkorian [or meyer kohn - u can pick ur universe, here] and the entire board of the international is of course among this group, exerting their power and influence (and perhaps Compulsion) to keep the flow of money running smoothly from the casinos below directly into their cash-lined pockets.

colonel tom parker [a demon again? or perhaps nobody in particular - either way he ends up hellspawn lmao whether literally or figuratively] is acutely aware of this when he first signs elvis on for the hotel's opening season - how could he not be? and of course everything goes perfectly smoothly for those first six weeks in 1969. **ik im twisting ur original idea just a tad but bear w me

but the longer the engagement goes, the more trouble colonel has reining elvis in. he had agreed heartily to those first fifty-eight appearances - purely to fund his upcoming world tour, you understand ("the snowman strikes again!"). but no matter how much colonel wheedles, he's not budging; elvis simply will not sign on for the next year.! he's finally holding his ground... and that's his undoing

coming off the back of his comeback special and last movie, e finally feels like he's got his mojo workin' - the king is back on top! after a looong decade stuffed fit to bursting with his botched movie career, he never thought he'd wrest any semblance of creative control away from the powers that be. but the last year or so has really made him see the value of his own opinion, AND the dangers of continued complacency. so with the backing of his family and extended entourage, he's heading halfway across the world just as soon as he gets off that stage for the last time.

colonel can't have that, not with the remainder of his hefty personal debt hanging in the balance. and with all the dough the hotel is raking in during the first dregs of their opening season, nobody up top wants their prize little cash cow flying away to london or japan or the rock of eternity or wherever he's fixin' to go - not if they have anything to say about it !

and so a plan is devised, swiftly, mercilessly, and without any pesky sense of remorse. after all, what do they have to feel bad about? they're just taking care of business

just after elvis' last performance, he's heading to his packed-up suite to shower and change for what he thinks will be the last time.. the boys are downstairs getting the last of the stuff in the cars and then they'll all head to the airport. he's got just a couple minutes to spare, and he assures them he'll be fine alone. just gonna run on up and change real quick, y'all don't needta worry about me none. [*evil colonel voice* wanna bet?]

he steps into his unusually empty suite, but before he can even shuck the towel from around his neck, his throat is being wrenched to the side in a vice grip as an unseen assailant steps from their hiding spot behind the door. he yelps, tries to throw them off, goes for the gun in his boot, but their grip is like steel, solid and unyielding, and before he can move much of anywhere there's a sharp prick in his neck and a sudden heaviness in his muscles he can't quite shake.

he assumes it's a syringe - he's not wholly unfamiliar with a needle, after all, and why would he suspect anything else? he guesses he's been drugged on account of... well, on account of bein' elvis presley. goddamn sonsabitches don't need any more reason than that. 'course, the sensation is a little different than he's used to - the gauge is unfamiliar, and he could swear he feels two distinct track marks - but by then his head is spinning too much to be certain of anything.

the last thing he feels is a rushing sense of complacency as his legs give out. his vision is swimming too much too see his attacker's face, but they let him go down, hard, and he crumples to an undignified heap on the floor helplessly as they turn to... leave? huh. not what he expected, but he supposes beggars can't be choosers

his sluggishly disjointed musings are broken only by the shadowy figure melting back into the shadows... his increasingly-addled mind knows he should be glad at their sudden departure, but all he can concentrate on is the inexplicable swing out of the vague sense of euphoria that had been the "drugs" kicking in, and a sudden accompanying feeling that he didn't like one bit. he could only describe it as a crawling fear, an absence, a kind of ripping deep in his soul... a pervasive sense of distance, of wrongness so festering he feared it was about to tear him apart from the inside out. he's suddenly certain he's not meant to be alone right now.

he gasps in the worst pain he's ever felt, and at the same moment, he's aware of a rush of footsteps in the hallway outside - he barely manages a wobbly gesture to the door and a slurred request to rip his goddamn tongue out b'the roots to the panicked faces of his boys crowding around his supine form before his vision finally goes dark.

when he wakes up, he's in an all-too-familiar bed. before running for the doctor and his daddy, a frazzled jerry sitting vigil at his side hurriedly explains that without him conscious enough to fill them in, all they knew is he wasn't fit to travel, so they'd unpacked his suite again while waiting for him to return to the land of the living. he's grateful, but assures him that as soon as he's feeling better they'll be heading out again.

he asks jerry to turn down the thermostat and flip off the light on his way out. the heavily-drawn drapes had already ensured it'd been near-pitch dark and freezing, just how he liked it, but he murmured it felt like he was burnin' up from the inside out, and his eyes were too sensitive for even the ambient glow of his bedside lamp. jerry does so and also fetches him a pair of big ol' sunglasses, without a word.

the doctors (who'd been summoned to the hotel; despite protests from the mafia, colonel had suggested that moving elvis to a hospital could be even more dangerous, what with this criminal still on the loose, and vernon had reluctantly agreed) hadn't been able to tell what he'd been dosed with - it'd metabolized too quickly to detect, apparently. all they can tell him after the last four days of monitoring his comatose form is that his vitals have been almost astonishingly strong. the only symptom he's had has been a high fever, but it breaks as soon as he's awake again- and actually, his body temp has overcorrected and is a little low now, is he feeling chilly?

they joke that whatever he'd been given seems to have actually helped him, and he's inclined to agree... despite the fact that they hadn't administered anything to him except an IV drip, in case it had any adverse interactions with whatever he'd been on, his chronic pain has mysteriously vanished. and since he's been awake and in recovery, he's only seemed to get more handsome and charming, no sign at all of being out of it and on fluids for so long. you sure wouldn't have known his recent predicament by looking at him !

he's got a host of baffling new symptoms as well, but nothing that seems dangerous or that points to any kind of diagnosis. he's growing increasingly thirsty, but the buckets of water he's drinking aren't quenching him. he seems to have lost his sense of taste (this one hits him the worst) - at first, the smell of food made him nauseous. now he can keep it down, but it feels like ash in his mouth. his light sensitivity lingers, though for the most part it's limited to natural light, and he takes to wearing the sunglasses often. he seems to have developed a sudden allergy to some of his jewelry - his silver rings and pendants now cause a burning rash. he has them remade in gold and doesn't give it a second thought.

he tells and retells his story to the cops, but they're left scratching their heads; it's widely assumed the panicked arrival of the mafia scared off the creep before they could pull off the rest of their plan. kill him, kidnap him for ransom... seemed like they'd never know for sure, but either way everyone agrees he narrowly escaped a much worse fate. colonel doesn't think it wise for him to be on the road, what with this continued threat hanging over his head, but jerry argues it doesn't seem any better to stay in vegas with this freak at large. and elvis points out that if the bastard follows him overseas, they have bigger fish to fry.

the boys seem confused that the attack doesn't appear to have played into his usual paranoia in any way; he doesn't know quite how to explain it, he tells them, but he feels stronger, somehow. more settled. like if it ever came to it again, he could handle himself. it might just be relieved cockiness, but what didn't kill him made it so he's at least not afraid again. he's been reflecting deeply on psalm 23, apparently.

and so the suite is once again packed up, despite colonel's protestations- this time with elvis under constant supervision, much to his good-natured amusement. it goes without incident, and they make it all the way to the runway before elvis is suddenly doubled over in pain in the back of the limo, sweating and shaking like a leaf.

he's groaning that it hurts, hurts s'bad, but can't say anything more than that, and within seconds the whole caravan has whipped around and is careening back to the relative safety of the hotel. by the time he's being ferried hurriedly up to his room, he's improving steadily, and by the time he's settled in bed and the doctors once more fetched, he's weak and badly shaken but seems no worse for wear.

the doctors can't explain this apparent relapse any more than the first, but tentatively give him a clean bill of health, and two days later they try it all again. this time he makes it within a couple miles of the airport, and it takes him four days to recover. the last time they try, he only makes it four blocks away from the Strip and is bedridden for a week. nobody has any sort of explanation, and the tour is put on hold indefinitely while they're seemingly stranded.

the colonel is the one who offers a possible solution. he'd been hovering around elvis' room the whole time (like a bad smell, sonny mutters when he's out of earshot), fluttering around with assurances that the hotel would gladly host them as long as they needed, maybe even sign them on for another season if elvis so wished...

when elvis finally roars that he just wants OUT of this place, goddammit in response to vernon's suggestion that he stop working himself up with leaving, colonel finally pounces.

he must put his foot down, he says. his boy is clearly in no condition to travel- no, no, not physically, he hastily amends, when elvis opens his mouth to remind him what the doctors said, but clearly mentally. something about the attack has left him emotionally unstable, it appears, and the idea of leaving, even though he's so sure he wants to, is clearly triggering some kind of psychosomatic attack. why doesn't he make up his mind to stay- not forever, just until his head is screwed on right. he can keep playing the international, and they can find him some head-shrinkers to fix him right up, eh? elvis doesn't see any choice but to glumly agree.

of course, unbeknownst to elvis, the real issue is that his Maker won't allow him to leave vegas city limits. he's been kept totally in the dark as to his situation and is thus totally suggestible, so when the vampire who Turned him (continually employed by the Ancients for just this kind of dirty work) uses their mental connection to Compel him to stay within a certain radius, elvis doesn't even know he's feeling it, much less that it's possible to fight it. his Bat simply obeys without question, to the confusion of his body and conscious mind.

if his Turning had been accompanied by proper ritual, if his Maker had explained any of his new life to him, if he'd received any guidance at all, he'd know he could override this instinct, break the Bond they shared (especially as ill-cultivated as it is), and be on his way. as it is, he's like a dog with a newly-installed invisible fence. a dog who's also growing steadily weaker since his Turning because of his lack of sustenance, mind you.

the colonel knows all this. he also knows that any doctors or psychiatrists that see elvis from this point on will be in the know, be provided by the hotel, and be payed handsomely to tell elvis exactly what the colonel wants him to hear. he send word to the Council that they've got him at last. they rejoice at the prospect of chaining elvis to their stage for an eternity, elvis begrudgingly signs the contract for another engagement, and this is where the real trouble starts...

it's been three weeks since he was inadvertently Turned, and elvis is feeling the affects of not having Fed, though he doesn't realize it. he's weak, he's thirsty, he's snappish, and can somebody turn off those godDAMNED lights !!! the mafia assume it's due to his mental slump and are at a loss except to wait it out, but the colonel thinks he has something to cheer him up. he winks and tells red that elvis will have a few, ehem.. lady visitors tonight, and surely they shouldn't be disturbed. the boys get the hint.

colonel sends up the ditziest cigarette girl he can find downstairs, a perky little blonde, so doped-up out of her mind she's wobbling in her heels. she gasped and flushed darkly when he told her that mr. presley was in need of her services; he hadn't even needed to slip her any cash to incentivize her troubles. he chomped on his cigar and grinned darkly as he watched her giggle her way to the elevator.

elvis, for his part, almost makes it. he'd answered the rhythmic little knock in his robe, loosely tied, and didn't miss the way the sweet young thing at his door gaped at the sight of all that chest on display. before he can even say anything, she's slipped under his arm and further into the room, and he raises an eyebrow and grins as he eases the door shut. he peruses her wares (the CIGARETTES !! im talking about the cigarettes..) more for show than anything else, and hands her a $20 in exchange for a pack he doesn't plan on smoking, telling her to keep the change.

she bends over far more than necessary while stacking boxes back in her tray, and flutters her lashes when she asks him if there's... anything else she can get him. flattered as he is, he tells her, he isn't sure he needs anything just now, but thank you kindly anyways, honey. truthfully, he's not sure he's feeling up for it, but she pouts so prettily as she swings her hips sadly over to the door, and turns back to ask if he's really really sure... the colonel had sent her up with express instructions to give him anything he wanted, she explains, sultry little whine in her voice, and he finds his resolve crumbling.

surely a little kissing wouldn't hurt, he reasons, might even make him feel a lil better, and her eyes light up in glee when he beckons her back over. but the minute she's in his arms, easing her way up to his lips as her eyes flutter shut, he isn't sure what comes over him. they're so close her heartbeat rushes in his ears, and without a thought he's effortlessly snapped her neck (with strength he didn't know he had) and is lapping frantically from her torn throat (pierced with the aid of sharp fangs he's never felt before). she never even saw it coming.

he moans as he sags to the ground, clutching her limp form and still slurping desperately as, for the first time since his attack, his thirst is quenched. he dimly realizes he's done something unforgivable, but his head feels like it's been stuffed with cotton, everything around him distant and foggy. the sense of panic he knows he should be feeling is a far-off twinge, all but muted by the combined cocktail of ecstasy running through him: fresh blood, dope, and a brain fog he can't quite attribute to either.

when she's dry he's sated, the sense of woozy relief hits him so strong that he barely manages to stagger to his feet and stumble over to the couch, chin and hands still covered in blood, before he's passing out for ten hours of the emptiest sleep he's ever had. when he wakes up, all traces of what happened are gone, and with a mind that finally feels clearer than it has for weeks, he almost manages to convince himself it was an incredibly fucked-up dream, so potent that the sweet metallic tang is still blooming on his tongue...

...until of course, the next time it happens. it goes much the same way: the colonel has no trouble locating a girl who'll never be missed- this is vegas, after all- and sends her, high as a kite of her own volition, up to the penthouse to keep company with a disgruntled and starving elvis. he drains her dry before he can even blink, but stays awake this time to spend the next few hours totally blissed out in an uncomfortably drugged haze. the more he comes down, the more he hates not only what he's done but also the way it makes him feel.

thus starts a vicious cycle: elvis, terrified of feeding, swears off blood, until he's half-starved but fighting himself at every turn. the colonel intervenes, sending throngs of low-risk girls up to the suite, where e simply can't help himself anymore, and enters a violent blood-crazed frenzy. he spends the hours after staggering around half-lucid, waiting for the effects to fade so he can convince himself he'll never do it again.

the stronger he maintains his tenuous mental fortitude- the longer he goes between feeds- the more girls he needs in a night to fill him up, and the higher he gets afterwards. he doesn't ask where colonel finds them or what he does with the bodies. he thinks dully that he doesn't much want to know.. it's hard enough on his conscience already.

of course, yet another thing nobody's bothered to explain to poor frightened fledgling elvis is that every time he refuses to feed when he should, every time he feels the welling signs of that dark hunger within himself and shoves them down in distress, every time his instincts are forced to take over and quite literally make him feed, that it exacerbates the mental fog he's feeling.

vampiric lore (which of course he doesn't know) attributes it to a sort of easing-in countermeasure; it's only newly-turned vampires, not fully in touch with their desires, that attempt to starve themselves so, clearly suffering from a mental block regarding the morality of preying upon their former species. to smooth their transition into acceptance of their new form, every time they're forced to feed rather than do it willingly, a potent release of hormones and neurotransmitters floods their system, both to combat any lingering guilt and to make them crave the mental release of feeding just as much as the physical.

if he were to feed normally, if he were to provide his body with the nourishment it needed on a regular basis, his instincts wouldn't have to override his mind this way. he wouldn't be forced to feed so violently or so much, he'd be able to control himself such that he could select his own victims preferentially and even bring himself to stop before killing them, and he wouldn't feel so overwhelmed afterwards.

elvis thinks of his... condition as an affliction, a temptation he lacks the strength to overcome, but really, it's his body's desperate attempt to stay alive when his mind insists on thwarting his ongoing survival at every turn. the bloodlust isn't a punishment but a protective measure, and one he could prevent if he'd take consistent care of his new needs.

and on top of all that, the particular way his intake is chemically tainted only adds to this anguish, because now he's unknowingly also developing a dependency on the drugs- the painful withdrawal symptoms of which serve to strongarm him into feeding even more frequently.

things are only exacerbated by his performance engagement starting back up; of course, it's even easier to find girls- hordes of them batter the doors to the showroom after every show, desperate for just another glimpse of him- but it also means he's got a responsibility to be right there on that stage twice a night, able-minded or no, and he takes that very seriously.

he's got people to support, after all, so he gets very used to functioning while highly intoxicated, whether that means performing, schmoozing the high rollers in the casino at the behest of his hotel benefactors, or smiling through a never-ending stream of reporters and photographers during every interview and press conference.

this is where the reader steps in !!!

you're one of less than a handful of vamps, just two or three, really, who manage to stick around vegas (and consume healthy blood) without the influence of the Old Ones, a feat you manage by staying off the Strip almost entirely. you stick to the suburbs, both as a way to ensure you're not tripping out after every meal, and to (hopefully) stay out of sight and out of mind of the powerful Ancients who don't want anyone infringing on their territory. this is very fright night remake vibes btw if anyone remembers that

but there's very little to do in the dusty, sprawling desert neighborhoods that isn't centered around maintaining the tourism industry downtown, especially for an immortal with nothing but time (and the occasional meal) to kill. you're nowhere near as experienced as those you seek to avoid, but you've been around the block quite a few times yourself, and sometimes the neon glow of the city lights overrides the quiet boredom of your safely-maintained little perimeter.

tonight is one such night: elvis presley had been headlining the international hotel for what felt like ages, or maybe just a blink - it was hard to judge that pesky human time, when their lifespans were so much shorter than yours. either way, he'd been this era's answer to jesus for a few decades now, and you had to admit you were curious to see him in person at last.

you decide on the midnight show- maybe if you're lucky, you can scrounge up a snack on the way home. you don't bother with a ticket- though you have more than enough human money stored up over the years, you're sure it's no use for what promises to be a sold-out show. the bouncers aren't any deterrent, either- you simply Compel them into checking the list for your name another time, and they let you in without a murmur. the showroom is packed so full, you notice as you survey the area, that nobody could ever notice one more.

you slip into a vacant seat at the end of one of the long tables that line the stage, with a group of screaming fans who don't seem to notice that they don't know you. you can't tell if their distraction is borne more from excitement or alcohol, but either way, you're grateful for the cover. you order a bloody mary as your own personal joke and bide your time until the show starts, perusing the booths that line the floor behind you. you recognize a few familiar Old Ones, by face if not name- no surprise, considering who runs the casino just outside.

eventually, the lights fade and the orchestra bursts into an opening riff. you clap with the rest when elvis struts out on stage, looking resplendent in a white jumpsuit, grinning wide and boyishly and practically glowing under the stage lights. his rings flash as he waves to the audience, courteous and attentive even as he starts singing. when the song's over he introduces himself and some of the VIPs, including the owner of the hotel (now there's a vamp who's been getting himself a lot of press lately), and the heavyset man next to him, apparently elvis' own manager. the man gives a simpering smile and wave to the crowd as the spotlights illuminate the booth, and you wrinkle your nose as you turn back to the main stage. you haven't placed it yet, but something seems off about that one.

elvis puts on a good show, you'll give him that, but the longer you watch, the more puzzled you become. he's slurring just a bit when he jokes with the band in between numbers, and more clumsy than you'd expect for someone so flexible; you'd say it was just another hollywood star using and abusing drugs if he didn't look so... panicked every time. he's twitchy, too, keeps getting down toward the edge of the stage like he's about to move out into the crowd and start planting kisses on his clamoring fans, like you've heard he does, but he keeps jerking himself back at the last second. they seem to think he's teasing, screaming louder every time, and he plays it off with a slow grin, but it's almost like... like he's afraid he won't be able to control himself, like...

ah. there it is

you zero in on just the barest flash of fang in his smile, and immediately suss out what's going on. elvis presley, a fledgling vamp in what is indisputably the worst city in the world for fledgling vamps... strange things are happening every day, aren't they?

that leaves you with more questions than answers, however... questions like where's his Master? why isn't he feeding properly? who's keeping him half-starved and strung-out? and most importantly, does he even know what's going on?

you narrow your eyes contemplatively as you watch him fool with the microphone before prompting the band to start the next song. all it takes is seeing his hands tremble around the cord to make you nod decisively and shoot back the rest of your drink. you suppose you can stick around a little longer than originally planned... after all, it seemed like elvis might need a little help fixing this, whether he knew it or not.

you lingered just a little after the show ended, waiting until the throngs of frantic women had pushed their way back to the lobby before heading after them yourself. you glanced around surreptitiously, locating the nearest elevator bay... and near it, a familiar older man with a cane whispering furtively to a clearly-tipsy young woman, one you recognized from your table during the show. she had caught a silk scarf fluttering down in front of her from the man himself and hadn't stopped screaming until the lights came back on. bingo

you ran one hand through your hair haphazardly, tousling it slightly as you stumbled your way over to them. "oh, there you are! i was looking for you," you chirped. she gasps and waves excitedly in the earnest way only drunk girls do, but your mouth is open again before she can speak and do something incriminating, like ask your name. "who's y'r friend? s'he coming upstairs with us?" you giggle, leering at... what had his name been again? ah yes, colonel parker. you silently gave a sigh of thanks for your heightened senses- you might not have recognized him just from your brief glimpse during the show otherwise.

the colonel glanced you over dismissively, clearly writing you off as another inebriated fan - his mistake, but exactly what you wanted him to think all the same. he gave you a leering grin and tapped his cane as he said "ah, i was just asking your friend here to do a simple personal favor for me..." you hummed disinterestedly until he continued "...on behalf of mister presley, of course." you gasped exaggeratedly and willed your cheeks to flush- lucky you had fed recently.

he seems to buy it, from the way his eyebrow ticks upwards when he sees your reaction "perhaps you would like to... accompany her to his suite, no?" he teases. you nod raptly, artificial stars in your eyes, and he snorts as he pushes the call elevator button for you with the top of his cane. "top floor. you two enjoy yourselves," he chuckles. the two of you giggle as he saunters away, towards the casino entrance.

as soon as the doors slide shut behind you, you straighten up and tidy your hair in the chromatic reflection until you're once again presentable. you brush off your outfit, fiddling until you're satisfied, then take a deep breath. snapping once to get your lightly confused companion's attention, your turn her shoulders towards you so she's making woozy and bewildered eye contact with you.

"hi honey. having a good night? good. this is how the rest of it is gonna go, ok? now you listen to me-"

when the doors opened again at the thirtieth floor, the girl (tracy. she had told you absently her name was tracy) waved distractedly over her shoulder as she walked straight out of the elevator bay and into the nearby stairwell, head filled with what she believed to be an immutable truth about the elevator being out of service. she'd walk back to her room (on the off chance there was anyone downstairs monitoring the floor indicator dial), wake up perfectly safe in the morning, and think nothing of it.

meanwhile, you let yourself into elvis' suite with the key tracy had handed over, a parting gift from the colonel. you left the lights off, made yourself comfortable on the couch facing the door, and waited.

you didn't have to wait long- just minutes later, there was noise outside, multiple male voices speaking over each other as they all piled out of the elevator and headed for the door, elvis' the loudest. "yeah, yeah, i said i'd meet you down there, didn't i? doin' my damn head in... i'll tell ya what, y'all g'head and i'll call down there when i'm done. yes i swear, now git!" laughter and good-natured ribbing faded as the elevator doors presumably closed behind the crowd once again, punctuated with a sigh and the click of the door lock disengaging another time.

elvis didn't seem to notice you as he walked in, leaving the light off as well as he patted his face dry with the damp towel looped around his neck. he leaned against the wall with one hand to brace himself as he toed off his boots, then whipped his dark shades off onto a side table and gripped the bridge of his nose with another deep sigh.

"are you in any pain, mr. presley?" he yelped in undignified surprise and whipped around with a touch of vampiric speed, dropping the towel in his fright to discover the source of your voice. despite the pitch blackness of the room, his eyes locked onto yours immediately through the dark, without needing to scan the empty space around you- another sign of his transition. no mortal could see as perfectly well in this scenario as the two of you could.

"wh- who-" he stuttered some, regaining his bearings, as you cocked your head in evaluation. "i'm sorry to startle you, mr. presley," you say evenly, but pleasantly. "you can drop that shit straightaway, honey, that's my daddy. can jus' call me elvis." he murmurs absentmindedly, as if it hadn't been what he really intended to say but came out by habit. "and now that you know me, may i ask who you are? and better yet what the hell you're doing in my room?" he doesn't sound angry, per se, more resigned than anything, and you smile wryly in response as you introduce yourself. "real pretty, honey, but i'd like an answer to my other question, too." he raises his eyebrow, and you wonder if he's even aware of how much charismatic mental energy he's leaking right now. it was even more apparent to you now why humans throw themselves at him left and right.

"sorry, m- i mean, elvis. the colonel sent me up. i saw your show- you were fantastic, but i had a couple questions." "he did, did he? just wonderful," he almost growls, squeezing his eyes shut. "and some questions, you said? you a reporter?" his voice sounds hard-edged for the first time tonight, but he seems to relax again when you answer with a simple no. "just concerned, i guess." he hums tiredly at your response, vague though it is. "concerned about what, 'bout the show? i'll do my best to answer your questions, honey, but i really don't think there's all too much to be concerned about-"

"elvis, when was the last time you fed?" you can hear his breath catch from clear across the room. "i-i had lunch after rehearsals, but i ain't had dinner yet, if that's what you're askin'... pretty forward way to ask me on a date, but i-" you put a hand up to cut him off. "i think you know perfectly well that's not what i'm asking, elvis. when was the last time you fed properly? on blood?" "...ha! been watching a little too many dark shadows reruns, honey?" his words trip over themselves getting out, and eventually he gives up to just blink at you, speechless, owl-eyed, and afraid despite his frankly pathetic attempt at a cover. he looks like a little boy caught with his hand in the cookie jar only this time the metaphorical cookie jar is a number of very literal human corpses lol

you bite back a sigh- perhaps you pushed too hard there. poor thing is wringing his hands like he thinks you're gonna put him in cuffs any minute. "maybe we should start over- i'm here to help, ok? i wanna make sure you're alright, cuz i think you might have a lot of questions nobody's explained to you yet. c'mere and sit next to me, baby, and we'll just talk" you pat the seat next to you, flipping his casual pet naming back on him effortlessly. to be fair, he is a baby to you- only, what, a couple months old? that's nothing compared to your few hundred years.

he eyes the spot next to you but shakes his head, still looking like a lost puppy. "n-no, i- m'fine over here," he manages. you furrow your brow; he's gonna need to start trusting you if he wants your help, and this is a bad way to begin. "i promise, i'm not gonna hurt you, elvis-" that sure does it. "i'm not worried about that!" he exclaims. "m'worried about me hurting you!"

you breathe out a surprised little oh, suddenly understanding. "is that what you're so worried about, sweetie? i'm not afraid of you." you try to placate him. "y-you should be afraid of me, honey. i am."

and that's the crux of the matter, isn't it? it breaks your heart a little to know that this is what he's been grappling with alone. it's not meant to be like this- with time and acceptance, he was meant to gain eternal companionship (your semi-loner status nonwithstanding). and whoever heard of a scared vampire?

but you put that aside to focus on elvis- and quickly realize there's one more... little thing you might've left out.

"you don't need to be anymore, ok? i'm gonna help you learn to control it." you beckon him over again, and this time he makes it halfway across the floor before you realize you're not sure if you're Compelling him or not. he'll need to learn what it feels like eventually, in order to both use it and combat it, but now's probably not the time. you break eye contact, just in case, and he falters slightly, but keeps coming, putting you at ease.

as he gets close enough to hear your heartbeat, though, his eyes suddenly turn frantic, and he backpedals, once again in the grip of that familiar terror. "you- you have to get out of here, i can't-" you shush him, not unkindly. "oh, sweetheart. that one's my bad, ok? i guess i haven't been very good at this so far," you grin apologetically. "but you couldn't hurt me, even if you tried"

you use your superspeed to whoosh over to his side and back, the only sign you'd moved at all the slight sway of your hair in the breeze it creates- and the golden ankh pendant now swinging from your upturned palm. elvis gapes, hands reaching up to feel the now-empty space around his neck where the necklace rested just moments ago. "how...?" listen i really can't be assed abt the fact he wasn't wearing necklaces this early ok. it was a cool move

"forgot to tell you - i'm souped up, too." you wink at him, flashing your pupils the deep red they turn when you're Feeding. "and also i think a little stronger than you, given what i saw on stage tonight." this is soo cliche im sorry but Spooky Eyes HAWT. i don't feel bad about it actually

the immediate sense of overwhelming relief on his face almost aches to see, and he's crossed the remaining stretch of floor to practically collapse in your arms sobbing before you can blink. it's... very surprising, you'll admit, but not unwelcome, either, and you're sure the uncertainty lingers in your voice as you gentle him softly, petting his hair and rubbing his back and trying not to overthink the fact that you've known elvis presley for all of ten minutes and now... this is happening. whatever this is.

"woah- woah, hey, what's happening? what's the matter, baby?" he's shaking like a leaf as you hold him, trying to work out in what universe this makes sense. "i-i-i ain't-" he manages through tears. "i haven't been able to touch any-anyone this whole time without b-being so goddamned afraid i'd hurt 'em... and i just- i..."

your worst fears for him, first materialized as you watched him onstage and puzzled about the identity of his Master, are confirmed. "baby... have you been alone this whole time?" you whisper. he just nods from his resting place, face buried in your shoulder. IS this a weird level of intimacy for 2 virtual strangers? totally yup. DO i still think its arguably valid considering how desperately lonely i have decided to make this bitch? uh huh :3

you suck in a breath through your teeth, suddenly filled with the fiery emotion you've been tamping down all night- rage. rage at whoever organized this hit, at whoever must be profiting off it while elvis suffers and innocent girls die, at the colonel who's been shepherding bodies in here endlessly and apparently without deigning to give elvis any proper help or training- yeah, don't think you forgot about him.

but before you can do anything about that, you have to do something with the king of rock 'n roll, who's finally quieting down in your lap. you shove the anger back down, the same way you do your bloodlust- the same way you'll teach elvis.

he sits back up, furiously wiping his tear-stained face. "sorry, honey- i don't know what came over me." he barks a laugh but his eyes tell you it's for show. you tut at him, standing up to fetch him a tissue and maybe a bottle of water, if you can find it- you're sure there must have been one waiting for him after the show. his eyes widen again, but before he has time for concern you cup his cheek to brush the last of his tears away with the pad of your thumb, accompanied by a gently chiding look that says i'm not going anywhere

he has enough time to look sheepish before you putter back over to him with your spoils, talking a mile a minute to distract him. "tch, enough of that! that's part of the change- everything you felt before is doubly strong now. it can be hard to separate your emotions sometimes, especially when you're not used to it. you'll feel everything differently now, and twice as hard."

he takes a moment to mull that over as he mops his face and chugs the water bottle, then nods as he meets your eyes again. "i didn't know that, but it sounds- it feels right. what else can ya tell me?" you chuckle darkly, stretching out on the couch. "oh, just bunches, baby. get comfortable, cuz i know you've got questions- and i've got your answers."

over the course of the night, you explain everything to elvis- how he was Turned, the changes his body's going through, all the symptoms and abilities he'll experience now, why he's feeling the way he is, his options for feeding, how his habits need to change if he intends to keep going like this... it's a laborious process, given how little he knows and how much he thinks he does- he's already got a lot of misconceptions to retrain.

"hey, maybe you're the one who's been watching too many dark shadows reruns lately!" you mean it as a joke, but he flushes. "well, s'not like there's a, a handbook or anythin'! i've been tryin' to study up!" you burst out laughing, and he laughs with you.

at one point he orders up dinner for the two of you, which provides the perfect opportunity for you to offer him a creature comfort- "food? yeah, you can eat food. it won't sustain you, but you're free to eat for pleasure." at his pained look, you give him a knowing smirk. "i bet it tastes nasty right now, doesn't it?" he nods glumly, eyeing your super-rare hamburger, and you chuckle, eyeing him as you take an exaggerated bite. he groans in annoyance, and you laugh as you lick your fingers clean. "don't worry- that'll pass. it's your instincts' way of telling you that you're malnourished- kind of a deterrent from stuff that won't actually keep you alive. you'll be back to your peanut butter and banana in no time, promise." he cheers, and orders up a bottle of champagne, just for that.

"that's another thing- we metabolize differently. your system can tell the difference between the liquid calories it needs and the solid calories you're feeding it just for fun. you won't derive any energy from human food, so you can't gain weight. no reason to store fat," you shrug. "but it also means-" you clink your champagne glass with his in a mock toast, "-you can't get drunk." he sputters, "well, why'd you even let me order the bubbly then?? this shit's expensive, so they tell me!" "i like the way it sparkles! it tickles my nose!"

the hours come and go, but the two of you barely notice, so wrapped up in your conversation. that's another thing you explain- how he'll need much less rest now, if he keeps himself healthy, but that until he's being nourished properly he'll be fatigued and need to sleep pretty much like before. he admits that he was practically nocturnal beforehand, anyway- he hadn't even noticed this one change among so many more pressing.

his drapes were heavy-duty, but you could see just the barest sliver of skyline out the window as the sun began to rise. "it's almost dawn," you whisper, conscious of the fact that the vampire before you is very young, and has had a very long night. a very long month, to be perfectly honest. he hums from where his head is resting on your thigh- you'd encouraged him to lie down an hour ago when he kept breaking off his sentences to yawn hugely. actually, you'd encouraged him to get some rest and you'd talk more later, but he'd refused to go to bed, assuring you he wasn't tired 't all, just sore from the show- he got muscle aches, you know, and he needed to stretch out. you hadn't been convinced then, and you were even less so now, keeping a fond eye on him (fond?? when had that happened) as he drowsed in your lap.

his end of the conversation had started lagging about the same time you started running your hand through his hair, until he was practically purring in contentment. you huffed in amusement. "more like a kitty cat than a bat, i think." he cocked an eyebrow and grinned salaciously, though he didn't open his eyes. "oh honey, i'll show you a cat... a pussycat, to be precis-" "HEY!" you swatted him teasingly and he snickered, settling down again. "keep it clean, presley." "yes, Master." you paused in your ministrations at that, just long enough for his brow to furrow. "you don't have to call me that." "yeah... but can i? i mean, would'ya mind if i-?" his voice was quiet, but sincere. "...ok. but only if you want to." he can hear the smile in your voice without looking, and it makes him smile, too.

"you do have a real one out there, y'know." "i know. but they ain't ever helped me none- all they've done for me is turn my life upside down and leave again. but you... hell, honey, i've only known you one night, and already things are starting to feel right side up again." you sit with that for just long enough to feel pleased before you reach down to tweak his nose. he giggles, and your bid to give the both of you a break from being so fucking earnest goes off without a hitch. the tension stays broken, but the tranquil mood remains.

"guess you're stuck with me again- i can't make it all the way home in that," you venture eventually, nodding at the lone streak of sun making its way past the blackout curtains to pool on the floor behind the piano. luckily far out of the way, or he might've had a particularly unpleasant awakening of his own, had he stumbled through the patch accidentally. he shifts minutely, well on his way to sleep by now. "mm, sounds jus' awful," he drawls, answer delayed only slightly by the fact that he's snoozing, his voice is so quiet that without your enhanced senses you'd have to strain to hear it. "can't imagine quite how i'll make it through if you've gotta stick around s'more." "even dead to the world, you maintain your sense of humor, huh, baby? and those lady-killer tendencies, i see" "yeah, well, i have killed quite a few lad-" "elvis!" you laugh, scandalized, as he huffs a laugh as well as he leverages himself up to sitting.

he rubs his eyes as he tries to get his bearings. "s'pose that's my way of asking real tactful... what happens next?" "well, first we've gotta detox you." "what, from the blood? i thought you said-" "nope, not from the blood. from the drugs in the blood." "from the w-" he gapes, looking shocked and hurt, and also a little appalled at himself. "i really am sorry to break it to you, sweetheart- there's a lot going on with you right now, and only some of it is due to... this," you reach up a hand to thumb at one of his fangs, which had slipped out as soon as you started talking about blood. "the rest of it is a combination of the vegas lights and whoever up top orchestrated the whole thing." he nods slowly, expression inscrutable. "we'll take it slow, i promise. ok?" "yeah," he nods more steadily now. "yeah, i trust you."

"well, then, mr. presley- are you ready?" he nods his head as if on instinct, then has the decency to look confused. "ready for what?" you smile, fangs out. "to start getting you fixed up... so we can take down those bastards responsible for this." he just stares at you a moment before a slow grin starts to take over his face, eyes darkening to match the quite literally bloodthirsty expression in yours.

"let's get to it."

[tathrin]

So is au a fusion? Like SW characters are Tolkienized or the other way around?

Yeah, the characters from Lord of the Rings are dropped into a Tolkien-ified version of the Star Wars universe. Aside from a few cases like the Thrawn(Kreia?)/Witch King idea that I posted before, there aren't many straight-up character mash-ups, and even in the case of Thrawn it's more about merging the characters' roles and styles into one than actually blending the characters.

The only other straight-up Combined Character that I've come up with so far is Elrond effectively being either Bail or Breha Organa. Here's thoughts from the unhinged bedtime typing:

Elrond: Bail Organa basically. Elrond, Senator of Alderaan, whose capital city is named Imladris and lies in a valley surrounded by rivers, so it's often nicknamed Rivendell by the locals; it's a peaceful planet that is secretly helping to fund and run the rebellion. His wife and three kids are in on it too (and the twins definitely take advantage of the fact that they look alike in order to alibi each other and generally just cause shit that the Empire has to deal with a la that post about Bail's ships "getting stolen, guess the Empire needs to reimburse me now!" and pre-ANH Leia being…well, Leia, lmao and just basically using her diplomatic status to Be A Shit), and Arwen and Aragorn totally are in love but cannot be together unless the Empire is destroyed and the Jedi can stop being hunted because she won't abandon the Rebellion and he won't turn his back on the Order so they can't just run off together; the only way they can be together in more than secret stolen snatches is after a complete victory. (Or if Alderaan gets exposed for the shit it's pulling and the Alderaanian leadership manages to survive and go on the run, of course. But that's not exactly the result any of them are hoping for.) Maybe when he was younger Elrond used to go on sort of "Space Doctor Without Borders" missions to help in war zones and refugee camps and stuff, and that's part of what radicalized him to join the Rebellion. That bg gives him good holonews cred, motivation, and a backstory that puts him in a position to have potentially been involved in military action in a very media-friendly sort of way (e.g. Last Alliance Herald) without actually having to have had the Clone Wars/Rise of the Empire be a recent thing. Either Celebrían is the queen of Alderaan like Breha, or we're making Alderaan a democracy and he's just their duly elected senator, but she's definitely some kind of Ruling Figure at home like a member of Alderaan Congress or something idk. (Or should she be the senator, who commutes to Coruscant, while he's the one who stays on Alderaan in between Mercy Missions, since he's the one in the "homely house" so to speak?)

Neither Arwen nor her brothers are likely going to serve as straight-up Leia analogs btw, because even the twins are more sensible and prudent than Leia, and we're going more for a Three Hunters And Company storyline (I think, in the story that definitely is not being written) than any sort of direct ANH/ESB/ROTJ sequence of events. But they basically serve the role that Leia did before she took over as senator, e.g. the children of the senator and queen? ish? who go around being an Optics Issue and lowkey pain in the Empire's ass while secretly moving information/supplies/etc around for the Rebellion, getting away with it because of Diplomatic Status.

Although the more I try to think of what to do with him, the more Gandalf seems to be falling into a sort of Kenobi/Yoda role. Which I'm pretty sure leaves Saruman as—a little too appropriately, yes I know—a Dooku/Tarkin combination. Oops?

*I'm keeping links to all the posts I make on this ridiculous au collected here, if you want to see any more rambling about it.

[justfor2am]

hi sry no dog pics today im spending the night w a friend .however i did walk for 45 minutes to a walmart (n back ofc) while also learning how to ride an electric scooter (i do not know how to ride a normal scooter. or a bike. or a skateboard. or roller skates.) it was very fun n the sunset was pretty :3 then i played beat saber n absolutely rocked at one of my favorite songs ever (nee nee nee by pinocchiop u will ALWAYS be famous in my heart 🫶) n then sucked at everything else why r custom charts almost always in expert or expert+ (my shit got completely rocked on a chart of hibana just for both my friend n their roommate to play it after me n easily clear it ..embarrassing) ANYWAYS!! hope ur day was good at least :33 food update uhhh we had pizza!! we each got our own n mine had alfredo sauce n a parmesan/asiago blend on top (i love cheese) ok bye :p just wanted 2 check in n send an ask today!!

wil im gonna level with you i am doing complete fucking ASS rn lol

i got a double middle ear infection, plus my left ear is impacted. which means i can't hear for shit, got hella pain, and have been guzzling ibuprofen like it's my last meal on this bitch of an earth. as i type this i've had several random stabbing pains in both ears, and i am moments away from clawing at the walls of my bedroom in despair

i got meds yesterday tho, which hopefully will help this shit go away. btw the american healthcare system is a sham and i hate it.

anyways: i have HORRIBLE balance so i can't ride a bike either lmao, i've always wanted to learn how to roller blade but for sure would bust my ass immediately

people that do custom beat saber charts are try hards i stg, maybe i just wanna lowkey enjoy a song without a whole ass work out (beat saber makes me dizzy as shit anyways so i can't play it lol)

waough alfredo sauce pizza........ i want pizza >:((( i can't really chew either so it's all been soft things uhhhhhh i had bacon grits earlier tho those were pretty good

kk i'm gonna try not to die bye friend

[ankhisms]

ok hold on now that im thinking about it im gonna ramble some more about theater related things

disclaimer disclaimer despite feeling a bit awkward at times and nervous because everyone else has already been in other shows together and is friends with each other vs me not really knowing anyone everyone still has been nice and the director and stage manager are sweethearts and the lead actor is very cool and talented and its been a better experience than my last show and i certainly dont have any issues where people are being nasty to me like i did with my last production but ok the thing im thinking about is ok. im going to the opening night of this other play tonight right. because this is another play our theater company is putting on right. the way this theater works is that generally two plays are like kind of around the same time where one is being performed and the other one is still in the early to mid rehersal stages but its all the same theater company right and some of my castmates are in this show and we all get in free since we are actors and part of the company right and its good to support your castmates with their hard work on their other production its a lot of work to be doing two plays at once

and anyway there was this time where. ok one thing about me is i blend into the background when im offstage and it is very common for me to overhear things people dont necessarily mean for me to hear or want me to hear for better or for worse. so there was a time recently where i was offstage waiting for my time to go in and these two people start talking about this other play theyre in. and they just start absolutely trashing a girl whos in it with them who i realize is another castmate in the production im in and she just wasnt needed at rehersal that day so she wasnt there to hear them but the way they were talking about her was just so cruel and i moved away at one point because it just felt really gross and i had half a mind to speak up and say something but it was like at the time i didnt know who they were talking about so its not like i could be like hey dont talk badly about her or thinking its none of my business.

but it still bothers me specifically because these people were being so elitist and putting this girl down saying "oh shes trying so hard but shes just not good. she just isnt good!" and i think the director of that play is also kind of weird or making weird decisions but thats not the actors fault if the director is demanding they perform in a weird way. and it really just boiled down to these two people (who btw are twice the age of me and the other girl) were just like... asserting that theyre sooooo good and that theyre so skilled and know the play better and that if it were them theyd do it this way etc etc while just being so nasty and cruel to this poor girl who they admitted is very obviously trying her best and putting a lot of effort. frankly i am more impressed by and rooting for someone who may not have as much experience or skill but is putting a lot of effort and heart into their performance over someone whos got a lot of experience yes but is going to just treat their cast mates like shit like this lmao. i lost my train of thought but oh no wait there it is

its like a pet peeve of mine when people in theater think they know your role better than you do or know better than the director does and tries to like upstage you or says well i could do that role better or i wouldve done it this way. like ok but you arent doing the role. you arent the director. a theatrical production is supposed to be a group effort were all supposed to be working TOGETHER to tell a story and create an experience and get across a specific message and atmosphere to the audience and i hate how often people seem to forget that and want to be like WELL I COULD DO THAT BETTER and to be clear you may be thinking but kes you have said you could out act certain hollywood actors and thats diffwrent because im not a fucking cast mate of those rich and famous actors who barely are able to have a good meaningful deep performance because they got their roles through money and connections and being conventionally attracvtive. its different yknow.

and in the end it makes me sad. it just makes me sad to know that the issues that i have with the usa acting and theater industry are still within a smaller scale community theater. i genuinely think community art spaces are so incredibly important i wouldnt be alive if it hadnt been for community theater and its a disservice to be letting people be so fucking snobbish and elitist and cruel like yes i take our community theater productions seriously and we all put a lot of effort andnheart into it ajd ive seen some really moving and impactful amazing performances done by small community theater groups but also this is not fucking broadway you do not have to be so back stabbing and cruel and you dont have to act like you have some kind of heirarchy ladder to climb, both of these things can be true

also as a note for example like. i dont really agree with some of the acting choices the person im understudying for is making. but thats really just because we are very different people and every performer is going to do things differently! i dont think theyre a bad actor in any way and i can clearly see theyre putting a lot of thought and effort into their performance. and in the end even if i dont agree with how theyre doing it thats not my decision, its the directors decision for how she wants the character to come across so that the story can be cohesive. plus our director knows more about this play than any of us she literally did her thesis on it. but anyway what im saying is that you can not agree with your castmates acting choice while not being a fucking asshole about it

anyway whew thanks if you read this ramble lmao i just want theater to be a safer healthier kinder place and i care a lot about acting and theater. everyone be fucking nice for the love of god